#sorry im looking through my archive trying to see if i can. find. anything

[puckpocketed]

about

*had a wave of younger people follow me recently (hello will smith hockey enjoyers) that’s all g, this is a 99% sfw blog and anything otherwise will be marked properly. but my main blog @.sailorvee is not. i am an adult. you are the master of your own destiny etc etc. but please be aware that you might see nsfw content if you choose to also follow me there.

deepest and sincerest apologies if you came here because I was posting about one or more of your guys. this is a Sharks blog first and foremost. navigation, housekeeping, and tierlist below

This is a part-time Australian Ice Hockey League blog that follows the CBR Brave! I take photos of home games when I can, find them under -> #puck!cam Otherwise, feel free to filter #auspuck.

When not LARPing as my local team’s socmed manager:

I write essays about hockey -> #my writing

all gifs i've made filed under -> #puck!gif specific team tags will look like this: #p!gif:[team abbreviation] eg. #p!gif:sharks, #p!gif:wings

transcripts -> #puck!script

gif requests -> #p!gif:req

I also gif my guys and their goals, passing sequences, poke checks, plays that go nowhere, little things I think are super cool -> #puckpocketed details series

I poke around at prospects and produce very unserious vibe checks, filed under -> #puckscouting

I also paint once in a blue moon. watch out!!!!

TIERLIST & politics

Sharks Hockey first always forever ! <3

keeping things light. no enemies only babygirls i havent met!

The most narratively satisfying things are tragedies and tragicomedies!!! All Things Through Her (The Bit)

players aren’t their orgs. If I say I like a team, this doesn’t mean I like every player, and vice versa!!

The narratives are lying to you!!! LOOK PAST THEM. THE HOCKEY TELLS THE TRUTH!!!!!

I love hockey SO much !! Love of the game comes before ANYTHING, including teams!!! Talk to me about strategy. Show me spinoramas and ankle breaking dekes and head fakes and set plays. Talk to me about face-offs and your favourite underrated blorbo.

no seriously please send me propaganda i love propaganda i am a hair trigger away from adopting new guys. i've done it mid-game and id do it again!!!!!!!!!!!

Team rivalries don’t matter to me. My girls are beating the hell out of each other? The beautiful gaeme ...

i’m here for a laff and it truly aint that serious <3

Do Not expect me to have any couth about the CBR Brave!! I keep things light with the NHL but all that doesn’t apply here — I WILL be spiteful and unhinged!! im sorry the sports nationalism got to me!!!

that being said: CALIFORNIA SWEEEP!

housekeeping

hey please dont be weird in the tags of my posts about teams/players i clearly like. yeah even That Team. i don't want to hear about how you hope someone "escapes" or how much you hate xyz player. make your own post.

this is a non-rpf blog. I might lean into the narratives but tbh I’m not into men and don’t get much out of romantic shipping. Nothing against it though! I think everyone should engage with hockey however they like as long as it does no harm to themselves or others. Ride that ship into the sunset my loves we are holding fins 👍

gifs, videos, memes, photos by me will come described with alt text. I try my best as someone who has used a screenreader in the past, but please let me know if I miss anything.

30/07/2024 sources for any media i post will be linked to a live site + using the wayback machine when I can, or just live websites when I can't (in the case of youtube videos). yeah ok i finally gave in @ that one anon calling this wikipedia editor behaviour you are correct and WHAT OF IT!!!!!!!

5/08/2024 - NOTE live website links always precede archive links whether I label them or not. if there is no link 'pair' it means the wayback machine can't snapshot the link i put up. In the case of twitter/instagram and other such sites that require a logged in device to view certain pages i will do my best to grab the direct img link and archive that.

[ link 1, archive link // link 2, archive link ] <- self explanatory, long form.

[ x, x ] <- single source of media, will use for aesthetic purposes on gifsets and formal web weaving. same with: [ x || y // x || y ] <- "//" double slash denotes a new source, x is the live link, y is the archive link.

if a link or source is not immediately obvious I may have: 1) done an in-line link, click any underlined or bold-underlined text; 2) I might have missed it by mistake, please be patient and maybe shoot me a flag about it in my inbox/dms if you want !!! we are all human and I'm doing my best <3

I'm aware this is not the most fastidious archival practice! my goal isn't to be the arbiter of archival standards for sourcing. I don't know how long I'll love hockey or these teams, how long tumblr will be around, but going from here I'd just like this blog to be a place where fans years from now can come back to and not have to do as much digging as I did to source media.

[chaseprice]

hi!! hope i’m not a bother. i just came across u and i wanted to ask something,,,

basically, i joined the life is strange fandom in 2018 so i never got to experience the pre-bts era, meaning i didn’t get to experience what rachel was like to the fandom back then or see the different interpretations of her.

i did some digging and i found some fan content of her from 2015-2016 & i’m absolutely infatuated with all aspects of the fanon version of her, especially her personality & how she looked. i totally wanna embody her. also the love is strange vn was so interesting to play, i love how she was written. i’d love to know more!

i stumbled across ur blog while i was doing my digging and i saw an old long post of urs saying how bts didn’t live up to the fandoms expectations, as almost everyone perceived her differently.

sorry for all the yapping LOL but what i basically wanna ask is,,, how *exactly* did the fandom perceive rachel back then (2015-2016). what were some popular headcanons for her? things you guys even considered to be canon? what were some of your own *personal* headcanons? (can be silly, realistic,,, just anything you thought resonated with her)

do you have any favorite arts from that time period that you thought really captured her? what were your hopes for the prequel/rachels character before it was released? what did you want to see in terms of story? was rachel’s style, appearance, & personality extremely different than what you expected? what did you expect?

i assume that rachels treatment in the fandom was different then than what it is now. whether it’s better or worse, i’m not sure. i was hoping u could answer that too😞. recently i’ve just been seeing constant hatred or lack of care for her character so i’m starting to think that if bts was written differently and based on the fandom’s interpretations instead, the hate now wouldn’t be this bad.

from my digging it seems like you guys had alot of fun sculpting rachel’s character on your own, and the interpretations were probably more realistic than what decknine put together.

anyway i’m sorry for the yapping essay on this random saturday, most old lis accounts are dead & i didn’t know who else to ask☹️. just trying to relive what you guys experienced the best i can. hope i’m not bombarding you with this. thank you so much if u respond !!

hiii u def did not bother me, i am not in a position to answer all of these questions, but although it makes me feel ancient, it's cute to see so much passion for rachel and pre-BTS fandom opinion, so i'll try answer some and for the rest (art, hcs, etc.) im just gonna have to direct you to my archive* (will continue under the readmore)

*(tumblr archive is so broken on mobile so you gotta go on pc for this, but also there's so many gifs from that time so it will Definitely slow down your browser). i was insane and 17 years old so like, just excuse all of the cringe content i guess. you can click tag and filter it by either #lis #rachel amber #amberprice or whatever to try and find stuff like art. and i got into lis sept 2015 so that's like, as far back as it will go, but i was fully lisbrained from 2016 through 2018)

to be honest, in alignment with pre-bts thought lmao, rachel is whoever you want her to be. there was less of 'this is a correct objective fact about her personality/history' and more 'yeah, this is an idea the fandom really likes and has become fanon, most likely because it is a nuanced and entertaining and realistic interpretation of what we have seen of her character in lis1' which means people whose opinions conflicted with that might've be contested/laughed at/unpopular, but they weren't wrong per se. there were plenty of people i'd criticise (and ridicule) back then for implying that this teenage girl was evil, and being a teenager myself back then, i'd call them morally reprehensible and cancellable and whatever, but tbh, as an adult now, i can just see that it was simply a boring interpretation of her character informed by misogyny

i'd disagree with the notion that fandom treatment of rachel's character was better before bts, back then there were plenty of people seemingly excited to characterise her as emotionally manipulative, a cheater, deserved what she got, etc. as well, bc tbh, the story did leave room for that interpretation, but it left room for so much more as well. i feel like bts just really locked in on a certain story they wanted to tell plot-wise, and didn't choose to explore a lot of the questions fans had about rachel as a person. it's hard to turn the ambiguity of a friendship turned situationship over a period of 4 years into a playable experience for an audience - so they didn't. regardless, it got people thinking about rachel more, putting a spotlight on her, hence increased attention both positive and negative. i feel like there's just a fundamental difference between what lis1 fans enjoyed about the potential for her character and how she related with chloe and the world around her, and what deck9 wanted to portray in bts (yes they hit the astrological headcanons, the charmingness, her rebellion, the emotional conflicts... but it personally felt hollow, contrived sometimes, i suppose). but there were a lot of people who loved bts (i enjoyed a lot of parts of it!). just, in my opinion, some of those were quite different people from who loved lis1, and with that wave it brought a lot of emotional immaturity to the fandom (like... ship wars, really? that was an insane change to fandom dynamics for me lmao, but maybe i was just spoiled by surrounding myself with people whose takes i respected)

anyway i highly recommend also that if you're hungry for that kind of content, read fanfiction on AO3 by the old fans - by Mogatrat (TON of rachel centric ones there), explosionshark and tippytypewriter, chicknparm (though Cusp is written post-bts, it's informed by pre-bts characterisations), vicepoint (me hehe), def many more good ones out there those r jus my friends so they come to mind first, e.g. i liked homecoming by kriegersan back in the day, but you could def find some more by sorting the lis ao3 page by kudos and reading the older ones that are highly rated featuring rachel. and lastly, my gf wrote a beautifully worded blog post called "The Assassination of Rachel Amber by the Cowards Dontnod and Deck Nine" which gets into some of this from a media crit perspective (not about fandom) in a very eloquent way thru comparison w twin peaks and i highly recommend that

rachel hcs that def started way before bts: skater rachel, stoner rachel, punk music listener rachel (but also like, fleetwood mac cranberries cocteau twins grungy hippy stuff rachel too), rachel's parents being distant and still living in california, curvy thick rachel, things that i've accepted as canon but were def created by diff people: bri explosionshark hc'd that rachel paid for chloe's sleeve, mogatrat (i think) hc'd that rachel initially went to get her nips pierced with chloe (that's a longtime fan hc now idk who started that one) but chickened out at the last minute, i think she also hc'd that chloe made the earring for rachel which is cute too

[octolich]

I was Scared for Dragon Age: Veilguard.

I take it back, we are so back. The release date trailer fixes so many of the anxieties of this post, Im keeping it up because I ain't no bitch but consider this an archive post of sorts. Ima make a new one glazing the new trailer but for now this is absolute cinema. Nice going Bioware! Still not pre-ordering tho, fuck EA. I want to say before I state anything, I'm still buying the game, I just want to warn fellow DA Fans to be cautious about this game and its potential quality. I could be wrong and this could be game of the year, best in the franchise. I've just got a weird feeling about Bio ware's marketing that I want to get off my chest.

This is just a personal opinion and warning from a Dragon Age Fan. Disagree? You're probably right. Your opinions are valid and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

SPOILERS FOR DRAGON AGE SHTUFF.

TLDR: Bioware has been very sneaky with marketing as well as dodgy choices in design that I do not agree with. They keep on talking about how this is the best game in the franchise and how the characters are the most in-depth yet, but I personally am sceptical. I could be wrong and this could be game of the year, best in the franchise. I've just got a weird feeling about Bioware's marketing I want to get off my chest and warn others about. We're treating breadcrumbs as buffets. They refuse to show anything substantial off and rely too much on "The games good, trust me bro. we've got nudity!"

I love Dragon age Inquisition to death. Played through it multiple times over the course of 7 years (Necromancer homies rise up). I played Dragon age Origins a wee bit and really loved the freedom and gritty setting which was a complete 180 for what I'm used to from DAI. I didn't play dragon age 2 (sorry besties I'll try it at some point) but I've heard it introduced a lot of controversial concepts but ultimately "modernized" the franchise.

Now, I actually didn't mind the trailer! I was jamming to the bombastic song but found the dialogue in it to be extremely corny. It definitely is a major shift in tone from the other trailers but hey! Maybe it won't be like that in the game. Marketing can mislead the perception of a game through the trailer like with Dead Island (amazing trailer btw) But then I saw the gameplay preview.

I was quite shocked to see Minrathous! I loved the city's whole MagicPunk theme and with the floating Archon's palace in the sky? Even though it looked a bit... off, I still liked it. The city looks old, and powerful. I absolutely love that. But then we get to the immediete problem. The Demons. I believe I heard from somewhere that the artists designed them this way to be similar to that of the human nervous system. What I presumed to be despair demons looked creepy with this artistic vision, but the pride demon??? It just looked goofy and not intimidating at all. They really traded how unique each and every demon looked, and went with floating kool aid spirits?

Moving on, Dragon age Inquisition has 8 slots for abilities you can fill in, allowing you to combo them and have a wide arsenal at your disposal. But with Veil guards 3? It was an immediate red flag. Now, I heard from Bioware that Rook can have an ultimate ability, but that is still 4 out of the original 8 you could bring. Companions are said to have a fixed 5 but can only bring in 3. BUT, Bio ware has been said in the game informer to be encouraging combining abilities with other companions, and not with just your own arsenal. But I still don't like the change.

A 60 second cooldown though??? either the fights shall be long, or you'll be a sitting duck spamming basic attacks waiting for your cool spells. I suppose there would be ways to reduce the time with cooldown reduction perks, but again, I do not vibe with this. aswell as following to comment this:

Now, Im no expert on game design, but I loved the combat in DAI AND DAO, yes it had its flaws but I find it was a highlight, now a flaw of the games. To say that Combat was "Uncharitably meh" I find spits in the face of the philosophy of combat in the previous games. DAI was all about about levelling up to build complex arsenals of spells to combo with, and unlocking specializations which further added spells to play with. DAO was all about freedom, you can be a necromancer/pyromancer/blood mage/spirit healer and it would work! Im afraid that Bioware has forgotten why this was fun and risk the chance of making combat one of the worst aspects of Dragon age Veilguard.

Now, instead of Bioware talking about gameplay, they love to talk about companions, throughout all of the game informer articles they talk about Romance, nudity, character creation (I admit I'm a bit hyped about this one though), and the companions.

Again, the wordplay of how Veilguard is even better than all previous dragon age games doesn't sit well with me. Are the previous companions also not complex? Is Dorian not a man who's constantly fighting between hating his father and loving him, while this love is also reflected for his home land? Is Morrigan not a woman who is on a fight between the discovery of ancient magic, the love of her warden and son, as well as the fear of her mother?

I just find it so strange that they focus so much on the companions in these articles, while also keep quiet about the gameplay, spare the game preview (Basically a vague tutorial) and a few pictures. Now, again. They could actually be the best in the entire franchise. I could eat my words and these companions could shake the very foundation on what it means to be a companion, but I just don't buy this narrative bioware is trying to feed us.

"These followers or companions don't exist by themselves" "Your assembling a family." "Everything you do ties into the critical path" "things are done towards a goal." "In Origins things are done just to do them."

https://www.gameinformer.com/exclusive-video/2024/07/19/the-making-of-dragon-age-the-veilguard (blue text is excerpts from this video. There's more but I can't be assed putting every quote into this. You may watch it yourself if you wish to see more)

They continue to use flowery language in these statements. How complex they are, how they're their own people. But where's the proof? these are all just words at the moment. In the 20 minute preview, I wasn't sitting there immersed in Minrathous, (still pretty gorgeous though, love you concept artists and 3d modelers xxx) or sitting there amazed at the characters. I'm just a dude sitting there watching some Batman Arkham knight look ahh combat.

The Video used above is just so much yapping, with re-used footage from the gameplay preview, trailer and images previously released. There is nothing new they are adding or introducing, only saying "The Characters and Story is good, trust."

Honestly? My theory is that this entire campaign is damage control. Lots of people who viewed the trailer immediately hated it (to be fair most of them haven't touched a single dragon age game in their lives) and the gameplay preview was a mixed review at best. After mass effect andromeda? I don't trust them. Not one bit.

I am going to buy the game and either enjoy it or hate it. I don't prefer gameplay over story, I'm a mix of both. I think one cannot exist without the other. I am just extremely worried for the future of not only Dragon age, but Bioware as a whole. I have a feeling that after this, if this game flops, Bioware is headed for the guillotine by the hands of EA (bunch of pricks).

One thing I will say is I like the skill trees!

This type of skill tree I think outdoes Inquisition's skyrim style perk tree, and really leans into the way Origin's does its abilities and perks (which I like more and Inquisition). From the looks of it, you can twist into what type of mage you are, as well as specialization. Control Death Caller? Burst Spellblade? Or maybe mash Control/Sustain together? It really beckons the imagination. THIS is what I want to see. Instead of words I want action! I want snippets! Not reused footage of the trailer or game preview, I want hard proof of how great this game is!

Not only that, but I do have to admit. the New UI puts all of the previous games to shame. I'm a big fan of the prismatic purple UI they've got going on.

I got to hand it to the Artists and graphic designers, It feels like the artists have fully realised their creative vision. I've never wanted a MagicPunk city until I saw Minrathous. I admit its a small thing to like about, but its the small things like these that can elevate a games quality. If there's one thing that I find that Dragon age Veil guard does better than the rest is the UI.

I post this out of love, not hate. I'm terrified that my favourite franchise is going to turn dogshit thanks to questionable choices. Bioware is doing nothing to comfort these fears by pumping out bloated statements like how the characters are the best in the series, and bringing up transmog and hyping up the character creator. Like, yeah? where is it then? are there no snippets? You're willing to post entire skill tree's why not post the character creator? or a sneak at the transmog?

After mass effect andromeda, my faith has been lost on bioware. But I still love the dragon age games. I just wish they do it justice. I will still buy the game, and leave a positive or negative review depending on the quality. If its good then ya'll have full permission to clown on me!

Im uh, still new to Tumblr so I don't know how to end this. Treat yourself to some water, maybe order just eats? Just treat yo self! Thanks immensely for reading this, hopefully you've learned something from this rambling. And hey! If you disagree, that's more than welcome! Your opinions are just as valid as mine. and I'd love to hear what you think and love about Dragon Age. Who knows? we might agree! (Lucanis is so handsome its not even funny)

[tasty-arsenic]

I wrote a fanfic based off the first game of Cleos Blood on the Clocktower because im obsessed

Im using only the information available from Cleos POV so not everything will be here.

Please mind any typos

you could also read it on Ao3 here

CW: death, blood, graphic descriptions of violence

words: 2,619

It was a sunny morning in town, the sun was shining brightly over the horizon and crows were chirping louder then ever before. So loud in fact that it drew the attention of three townsfolk; Xisuma, Gem, and Cub.

The trio of investigators noticed the birds fighting over something red and jam like by the clocktower. Gem pushed forward to see what it could possibly be. She noticed long ginger locks attached to a a pale face. She looked in horror at the mangled body of the village storyteller, Cleo.

Gem screamed at the discovery while Xisuma and Cub stood quiet in horror.

Gems screams brought the attention of the townsfolk and they all gathered by the clocktower.

When everyone was assembled Gem was on the ground crying as Xisuma did his best to calm her, Cub was freeing Cleos body of crows.

“Is that… Cleo?” Ren asked meekly.

Cub moved away from the corpse. “It is,” He paused before continuing. “I believe they have been murdered,”

“Do you think it could’ve been a demon?” Iskall asked. Travellers had brought tails of demons from hell coming up to the human world disguised as a regular people, only to devour innocents during the night.

Xb took a closer look at Cleos body. “It looks like she had been eaten by something very big, and very hungry. So unless a bear got into town I think its safe to say that it was a demon.”

“Are you suggesting that one if us killed them?” Impulse asked.

“It would check out,” Hypno said. “None of us had lived here very long so one if us very well might’ve been a demon from the very start.”

Ren stepped back from the crowd. “I dont like the sound of that,”

“What now?” Cub asked.

“Well we can’t have the demon going around and killing us all!” Impulse exclaimed. “This is our home and we need to defend it!”

“What are you suggesting?” Xb asked.

“During the day we talk to each other and gather as much information as possible, then when evening comes we share the information and based on that we vote someone to be executed,”

“E-Executed?!” Gem exclaimed through a shaky voice.

“We’ll never get rid of the demon otherwise.” Impulse states.

“I think he has the right idea,” Cub said. “Its the only way for anyone to survive this.”

“So we’re just going to kill each other?” Xisuma asked.

“the demon will kill all of us if we dont do anything,” Hypno said. “I think this is the best course of action.”

“And remember that we all have our own abilities,” Iskall reminds. “We can use those to snuff out this dirty imp”

“Cleo did say to use them if something like this happened.” Gem said, dejected.

“We should do this. For her and for everyone here.” Cub announced.

Ren sighed. “You’re right and i dont like it.”

“Lets talk among each other today but not vote. We dont need two deaths in one day,” Hypno said.

“That sounds good,” Xb agreed.

“I guess we scatter,” Ren said before the group split up across the town.

It was almost evening when the townspeople heard a unfamiliar voice calling out in the distance.

“Howdy!” The stranger called out the the people.

“And who might you be?” Xb asked as he gathered around the stranger.

“The names Joe Hills! Im here to visit my good friend Cleo!”

The growing crowd of people grew silent.

“We have a demon problem,” Impulse said, breaking the silence. “They were killed just tonight.”

“Sorry to break the news like this.” Ren said. “We’re trying to find who the demon is and kill them. Its best you leave.”

“A demon you say?” Joe paused, in thought. “I may not be able to stay for long but i want to do what i can to find this demon,”

“Are you sure?” Hypno asked the traveller.

“Of course,” he nodded. “Anything to avenge Cleo.”

“You can stay in her house then,” Gem said. “I’m sure they wont mind.”

“Perfect,” Joe said. “Since you all know that im not the demon ill be transparent as possible and tell you all my ability.”

“Oh, really?” Hypno asked.

Joe nodded. “Im a thief, i can steal votes.”

“A thief…” Gem whispered to herself, deep in thought.

Cub looked at the moon rising in the distance. “Its best we all go to bed, the demon might strike soon.”

The townsfolk all agreed and dispersed into their individual homes.

Hypno woke up in the middle of the night to his own alarm. His job as the empath would be very useful for the townsfolk and he could not rest.

He set up everything needed for the ritual, he double checked everything was in place and not to mess up. If one of his neighbours was evil it would be suicide to mess this up.

Before the ritual Hypno decided to get a drink the calm his nerves. He noted that the drink tasted different then usual but paid no mind to it.

He sat in position and started his chant, by the end of it a voice called out in his head, “two.”

Hypno chuckled, this was interesting.

Morning came and everything was as it was the day before, the birds were satisfied with their meal yesterday and the sun was shining brightly as ever.

The towns folk, however, werent as chipper as usual. Anxiety and dread filled them all as they left their houses and met up at town square.

Everyone looked around and noticed that everyone was accounted for, no one was missing.

“Did the demon.. spare us?” Gem asked the group.

“Probably just the night,” Joe stated. “Demons dont need to eat every day.”

“But they’ll probably continue their rampage tomorrow,” Xb said.

“Correct,” Joe agreed.

“So we have today to talk to everyone before people start dying,” Gem said. “We need to use this time well.”

“Shes right.” Hypno said. “Lets form groups and talk.”

the towns people scattered around the village and naturally formed groups.

Over by the burger place Iskall, Impulse, and Xb were chatting.

"So do we talk about what are roles are?" Iskall asked the group.

"Its probably not completely safe right now but it might be safe to drop hints." Impulse answered.

"Well i can tell you that im definitely not the imp." Xb told the group.

"thats just plain ol' suspicious, Xb." Impulse replied.

"Well im not the imp, i dont have it in my name!" Iskall declared. "Right, IMPulse?"

"Wha, hey! thats just ridiculous." Impulse said. "imagine the chances of that."

"im getting kind of hungry." Xb said, changing the conversation.

"why dont i make us some burgers and we can talk about our roles a bit?" Impulse suggested.

"works for me." Iskall said, sitting down.

Impulse went into the building and started heating the grill.

"So how much should we say about our abilities?" Xb asked.

"Maybe just some hints." Impulse suggested.

"well ill say one thing." Iskall started. "I shall publicly chose someone."

"you'll publicly chose someone, huh?" Impulse said.

Iskall hummed.

Over at the Laundry House Gem, Hypno, and Xisuma were sat on the ground, discussing.

"I dont really understand whats happening," Xisuma admitted to the group.

"I guess its just something that'll become more clear as time goes on," Gem told him.

"I hope so."

"I wanna go chat with other people so i'll be off now." Gem announced before leaving.

The laundry house was silent for moments after.

"If im being honest," Hypno started. "im not sure what information i should be telling people."

"Yeah," Xisuma agrees. "Say the wrong thing to the wrong person and its all over."

"stressful, huh?" Hypno dryly chuckled. "I could have great information, i could have no information, you could have good information, who knows?"

"You never know."

Over again at the burger place the group has changed and now Cub, Xb, and Xisuma were talking.

"So what will happen when someone gets voted out?" Xisuma asked.

"They'll die." Cub answered plainly.

"Yes but how?"

"Theres an old guillotine in the clocktower," Xb told the group. "Im sure that can work."

"there is?" Cub said, surprised.

"Mhm, i saw it once a few months back, around the time Impulse joined the village." Xb paused. "The blade was still sharp."

"Well thats convenient innit?" Xisuma said.

"Very," Xb agreed.

Cub paused for a moment after. "When someone is executed then the undertaker would get to find out their role right?"

"Yes I will." Xb quickly responded.

Joe was wandering around the town. He felt as if he had a slight disadvantage here as he didn't know everyone as well, so he made it his mission to talk to as many people as possible. When he saw Impulse and Cub talking to each other he made his way over the join the conversation.

Impulse seemed to be in the middle of his conversation with Cub as Joe got in hearing distance of the two. "-yor and you're the mo-"

"Howdy!" He called out.

The duo jumped at his arrival but quickly calmed themselves. Cub patted for Joe to sit beside him.

"I was thinking of making some burgers for some people, you want any?" Impulse asked Joe.

"Oh you are?" He said. "In that case id love some!"

"Perfect, i made some for myself, Xb, and Iskall earlier then felt bad that no one else got any."

"Burger time!" Joe exclaimed.

"Burger time!" Cub cheered back.

As the clock reached seven the bell rang across the village, notifying everyone that there time to chat was over. Over the next few minutes the townspeople assembled at the town square.

In the seat directly in front of the clocktower the people noticed the ghastly figure of Cleo standing there.

"Cleo?" Gem exclaimed "Is that you?"

Cleos ghost did nothing.

"why isnt she sayin anything?" Xisuma asked.

Before anyone could answer Cleos ghost spoke up. "Nominations are open."

"Its seems they're policing the trial." Joe stated.

"Thats a bit cruel isnt it?" Gem said.

"Yeah," Ren agreed.

"well we should get started right?" Hypno said.

"We should," Ren said. "And i have some information."

"Go on," Iskall said to Ren.

"Okay, first of all Xisuma refused to reveal any information the whole time. Even during our very intimate moment in the jacuzzi."

"That was a laundry-"

"Yeah it was very intimate." Gem agreed "He joined us randomly and didnt say much so it was very weird."

"yeah it was." Ren said. "Anyways. Number two is that Gem shared very suspicious information that im not going to share at this time. Thats all"

"Way to make me look suspicious." Gem sighed. "Anyways ive been doing some deducting and trying to figure out what everybody's roles are, and someone is lying."

"You dont say." Impulse laughed.

"No, i mean that theres two people claiming to be the same role!" Gem clarified.

noise gathered in the crowd.

"thats all for now." Gem ended.

"I would like to say that in all the groups i was in everyone was quite talkative, except Xb." Iskall stated. "He was very quiet."

"Second call for nominations." Cleo announced to the crowd.

Iskall thought for a second before declaring. "I nominate Xb!"

"Iskall has nominated Xb to be executed." Cleo said. "please take your positions."

Iskall and Xb moved towards two desks that seemed to have found their way in front of the clocktower.

Iskall cleared his throat. "I was walking around town all day, i spoke in many groups with as many people as possible." He started. "Xb here kept quiet in three different occasions,"

The townsfolk took a few moments to think.

"Xb, whats your defense?" Cleos almost robotic voice asked.

"I just think that if someones being shady something that they might do is throw that shade to someone else." Xb said.

the townspeople briefly spoke among themselves, deciding that it was a decent rebuttal.

"Voting starts now." Cleo told the people. "When i look at you your vote will be decided then, and no time after."

She looked at Xb. "turn on your light to vote for Xb to be executed." Cleo gave the group a few moment to vote before continuing.

her gaze moved to Gem, whos light was on. "one."

then she looked at Impulse, whos light was on. "two"

next was Iskall, whos light was on. "three"

she moved on to Joe, whos light was on. "four."

after was Ren, whos light was off.

then was Cub, whos light was on. "five"

next was Hypno, whos light was off.

lastly it was Xisuma, whos light was off.

"thats five votes for Xb to be executed, that is enough. Xb is on the block." cleo told the group. "nominations are still open."

The town went silent.

"theres more?" Ren said.

"I guess if we nominate someone else and they get more votes then Xb theyll get executed instead." Joe thought for a moment. "what if theres a tie?"

"in the situation of a tie no one will be executed." Cleo quickly answers.

"Well has anyone else been suspicious?" Ren asked the group.

the group went silent.

"final call for nominations."

nobody spoke up.

"five"

"four"

"three"

"two"

"on-"

"I would like to nominate Iskall!" Xb declared.

"Xb has nominated Iskall to be executed." Cleo said. "please take your positions."

Iskall and Xb once again found themselves heading toward the two desks in front of the clocktower, only this time in switched positions.

"The reason i believe Iskall to be guilty is because he is so quick to throw the blame on someone else. its very suspicious." Xb stated.

"Iskall, whats your defense?"

"During the day i was very open about who i am and my role, Xb was not." Iskall said. "if we're looking for someone suspicious then we have our guy."

"Voting starts now."

The townsfolk shifted in their seats, preparing for the vote.

She looked at Iskall. "turn on your light to vote for Iskall to be executed."

A few moments passed before the counting started again.

She turned to Joe, whos light was off.

She looked at Ren, whos light was off.

next was Cub, Whos light was off.

then it was Hypno, whos light was off.

after that she looked at Xisuma, whos light was off.

they then looked at Xb, whos light was on. "Negative one."

then was Gem, whos light was off.

last was Impulse whos light was off.

"thats negative one votes for Iskall to be executed, that is not enough. Xb is still on the block." cleo told the group. "nominations are still open."

"five"

"four"

"three"

"two"

"one"

"Xb is to be executed."

"so uh, hows that happening?" Gem asked.

"theres a guillotine in the clocktower." Cub answered.

"why?" Ren asks.

"Dunno, but itll do." Cub answers.

"i regret telling you about that," Xb chuckles nervously.

"Someone come help me bring it out." Cub called out. Impulse and Hypno answered his call and helped out.

"Okay, Xb." Cub gestured to the guillotine. "get in."

"I am really starting to regret telling you about that."

Xb climbed into the guillotine, shaking in fear.

"Are we sure this is a good idea?" Xb pleaded to the crowd. "im an innocent man i swear!"

"Xb is to be executed." Cleos voice sounded through the air as the guillotine activated on its own.

everyone gasped in horror as Xbs head was swiftly cut off, the blood splattering all over the floor.

"the day is over, goodnight." Cleos voice told the crowd. No one dared to argue so everyone made their way back to their homes.

[propertyofmilfs]

Home away from heaven

Chapter 2: Desire, Deception and Shattered hearts

💫authors note💫

Here it is, chapter 2 of home away from heaven. This chapter does contain heavy smut. Enjoy reading 🫶🏻

ALSO artwork by @lavendercrow136 of Lucifer during their talk with desire

-A

Isleens pov

"Isleen where are you baby?" I recognized that voice… Dream…Even my sleep wasn’t sacred anymore these days.

I sighed and looked at him shakily,

"somewhere you won't find me"

Dream frowned, "baby please just tell me where you are I can help you"

I turned away,

"I don't need your help, your the one I'm trying to get away from" Dream looked at me sorrow and hurt in his eyes,

"Isleen that's not funny...baby please where are you?"

I shook my head, "Why can't you understand I don't love you? I love someone else"

Dream scoffed, "Who Lucifer?? Yea that's right Lucienne told me about your foolish crush on them. But Isleen they are bad, they aren't going to make you happy, they won't love you... they don't even love themselves"

I turned to Dream, and glared daggers through him,

"YOU don't know that, and that's not any of your buisness"

Dream slammed his hand on the wall, "Damn it Is, your supposed to be my wife, not lusting after Lucifer"

I banished him from my dreams and sat up in my cell hugging my chest, my stomach growled audibly.

"you have every right to be annoyed with me or hate me, I shouldn't have come here and demanded anything of you, but Dream contacted me and knows where I am”


“Child I know already. That’s what im after. Can’t you understand… you’re the bait” Lucifers voice rang through my head, connecting with me, filling my brain. Was this how they urged people on to commit crimes. 
I flushed embarrassed

"How much of that did you hear?”


“Darling all of it… don’t feel bad though. Many people lust after the things that are dark and mysterious”

It was like they were in my cell in real life, the smell of the bath they were taking, the smell of wine. I closed my eyes and saw them before me, sipping the wine I smelled before.


"ya know its rude to drink wine and not offer some to the key factor of your enemies undoing.”

I saw them smirking.


“It’s rude to demand such a thing when you are eaves dropping and all together be plain rude. So atlas no wine for brats”


"you could punish me for my disobedience, but I think part of you is to afraid you'll get flustered looking at me" I smirked


“Sorry, little mouse’s are not my type I’m afraid you’re wrong. I won’t stop you from picturing such desires later tonight though”


“no, but my parent is your type though..." I snapped throwing a glass of water i had summoned in frustration


“They might… what is it to you?” They chuckled

I didn't respond, their words hurt more then I'd care admit even if it was just a jab to make me flustered. 

A pout formed on the light bringers face

“did the mouse loose her tongue? Doesn’t matter… you’ll talk soon enough. At least if you are anything like desire”

"for someone who says I'm not their type, you keep talking" I snarked a bit of pain in my voice, I wiped away my tears and swallowed the emotion knowing they didn't care for tears

“Only for my entertainment”

"yes but your only doing it in my thoughts your not touching me your not in front of me and therefore I can tune you out and spoil your fun" I teased with a chuckle

“If you are going to torture me at least do it where I can see you.”

“Quite the flirt aren’t you, yet so different then your parent” I teased “I am not going anywhere. Quite frankly I’m still enjoying my bath and I am not going to waste my precious time on a little mouse like you”

Their voice left my head and I couldn’t help to feel heartbroken…

Lucifers POV

Mazikeen entered my room, she sighed. “My lord wasn’t that a little bit too harsh.”

I sighed “I don’t think it was, she was flirting… Desire would have wanted me to decline her efforts so I did. they haven’t visited in a while. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had forgotten about me all together” I sighed sipping my wine trying not to cry

Makikeen’s eyes softened as she looked at me with pity, she walked up to me and rubbed the tension out my shoulders.

‘’Have you tried calling them’’ she sighed.

“Yes, multiple times but, I lost all hope and gave up”

Mazikeen looked at the call log, and pressed call for me, Desire answered, "Luci baby are you there?? Hello hello?"

Mazikeen tossed me my phone.
I shook my head and gave the phone back to mazikeen

“I- I can’t. It’s always me who takes the first step I can’t”

I whispered before leaving stepping out on the balcony


"Hey Desire it's Mazikeen, Lucifer is currently indisposed at the moment, can I take a message?"

Mazikeen paused,

"oh your here, I- I'll ask them if they want company?"

Mazikeen looked at me,

"There- There here”


“Send them in” is all i said, I needed them to explain. I was mad. And sad. All things I have not felt in a while
Mazikeen nodded and went to the front entrance to the grand palace of hell and let Desire in. Desire was wearing Lucifers favorite color on them and was carrying a bouquet of flowers and a basket of treats and a stuffed dragon, and the next book in the game of thrones series wrapped up.

"I -I know I have not been able to call them back.. what am I walking into ? How mad are they?”


Mazikeen gave them a grim look

"You'll find out"


Desire walked into the opulent bedroom and noted the wine, the book with the carefully folded dog eared page and a messy bed. They saw their lover on the balcony, they removed their high heels,

"luci baby? Before you yell at me please let me explain”


I looked at them with my tears stained cheeks

“well?”


"I have been looking everywhere for my daughter, she wasn't at the wedding, I have searched every realm but yours because I knew if you had her you'd tell me.... I also knew that if I came here in my search I'd get distracted because you're my weakness and my greatest treasure I'm sorry.... I shouldn't have ignored you, I shouldn't have muted your calls I should have answered.. I didn't want to hurt you baby, you know how much I love you please, can we talk about it? You can punish me if you really want to but please don't leave me"

Desire whispered feeling extremely weak


“I haven’t spoken to you in MONTHS. Your daughter is in the cells, I caught her snooping on me not too long ago, suit yourself”

I sighed looking back outside


"You don't know what HE has on me, do you think I wanted to be away from you...your the only one who has ever made me feel like I have a home in this world"

Desire said crying softly


"I have been forced to work and make sure everything is perfect for that fucking wedding... and to make sure everyone else is happy, and in doing so I've neglected us? The one thing I actually care about...Do you know how fucking hard that's been"

Desire was sobbing


“Do you know how hard it’s been in here. To let myself love and then feel like I have been thrown from heavens all over again because once again I felt like I was going to be thrown out of someone’s life. He… he embaressed me in front of my kingdom. No one fears me anymore. He took my dignity and took the one thing I loved with him by not letting me see you. In the meantime your daughter has been flirting with me and I’m confused. before you say anything… no, I didn’t do anything. I even declined. Not that it matters to you”

I spat I was angry crying. My heart was shattered.

“If you love me then show me”

i cried harder squeezing the railing for support

Desire wrapped their arms around me and kissed me passionately, taking their time with me. A kiss I desperately needed. My mind was a mess.

"is this what you want?"

Desire kissed me again and I foolishly kissed them back moaning softly but still crying. I pulled them closer and laced my hands in their hair
Desire moaned wiping away my tears and kissed my forehead,

"I love you so much baby, please talk to me, tell me what you need me to do and I'll do it" Desire punctuated their words with kisses


“Love me… make me forget… please”


Desire nodded guiding me back to the bedroom, they shut the balcony door, and removed my robe as well as their own clothes and began to passionately kiss every part of me

"I love you"

"every"

“part"

"of"

“you"

Desire kissed me in between every word and gently trailed their hands along my frame. They began to suck on my inner thighs gently working the shaft of my cock.
I moaned softly pulling their hair softly
They whimpered at my actions wrapping their lips around my shaft and sucking gently, rolling their tongue around the tip of my dick, when suddenly desires phone began to ring. They ignored it continuing to pleasure me. When it rang again. They ignored it and this time began to choke and gasp on my cock.
They stopped for a moment catching their breath, rubbing their neck.

“I missed you” they whispered stroking my cock and starting to suck again.
“Fuck darling” I moaned biting my lip
I noticed dreams reigns on desire were taking their toll. They were bleeding and I cupped their face making them look at me and stop. 
“You’re bleeding” I said my breath heavy
They nodded trying to be seductive, "It's okay just ignore it”


“You’ll die…” I whispered

“just pick up on the little stalker I’ll be in my bed” I sighed
I started cleaning the bed and tucking myself in. Realizing it was just like before.

Desires POV


I looked at them as if I had been slapped, and answered the phone.

"WHAT WHAT COULD YOU POSSIBLY WANT DREAM???" I was sobbing and angry

"NO I HAVENT FOUND HER YET, NO I DONT KNOW WHERE SHE IS, GOD DAMN IT WOULD YOU JUST LET IT GO, SHE DOESNT WANT TO HE WITH YOU I THINK SHE PROVED THAT POINT WHEN SHE RAN AWAY STOP RUINING MY FUCKING LIFE" 
"Why do you want her so bad?? You're like a child with a billion toys but they jump at the opportunity to get the one thing that they can't have. PLEASE, I can't do this anymore I want to break our deal"

I whispered brokenly


"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you of the consequences"

Dream sneered at me and concluded the call. I doubled over in pain, my hair turned bright white and their eyes a yellow color. I frowned,

"Am I still pretty?”


“I’d always think that…am I still attractive?” They asked me, I had never seen them like this before.


"yes darling, always "

I crawled up Lucifers legs to their chest and kissed them passionately

"d-do you still love me?”


“I always will, even if you neglect me” They whispered


I frowned and kissed their face passionately,

"it was not intentional”


“ make it up to me then” They smirked at me. 
I slid their cock inside of me and bounced on their cock wildly riding them,

"fuck baby yes that's it, tell me you love me “


“Fuck” they grabbed my hips and growled in my ear “I love you” they guided my hips to move faster.
I did as their hands commanded and went harder faster pushing myself down on their cock and their cock deeper inside of me,

"fuck Luci yes that's it baby, fucking ruin me make yours”


“Fucking moan for me” They growled biting my neck. Their voice made me shudder and I moaned screaming their name like a prayer over and over again,

"Luci I'm close!! Baby please come for me”


They moaned louder

“cum… cum for me” 


That was all I needed to reach my climax. I moaned cumming on their cock,

"fuck baby yes, fill me up”


They buried their face in my chest cumming deep inside me. 
I kissed their face stroking away the sweat damp blonde curls and moved off of them to spoon them

"I love you, no matter what happens please know that”


Lucifer nodded their head and tried to relax, my legs shaking to match theirs. 
I held them close and sang softly to them till they drifted to sleep in my arms. When I awoke the next morning I was painfully aware of people's needs in the mortal realm I kissed Lucifers cheek told them I'd be back and left.

I returned from my day in the mortal realm around noon and immediately kissed lucifers cheek

"I missed you today, did anything happen while I was gone?”

They started to chuckle.


“I wouldn’t know I was out cold, where did you go last night…” Their voice sounded painfully sad and I knew I had to tell them at this point. They had suffered enough.


I sat up and held my sides,

"I- I need to tell you something and before you get mad at me, or you get angry or freak out I need you to just listen to me...can you do that please?”


They furrowed their brows

“what did you do?”


I stood up away from them, "what if I told you I found a way to spite dream? And I did it. I did it to watch his life divulge into chaos and to make him suffer.... I did it to spite him, to help you so we can destroy him... the mortals are nothing more then our servants, and normally I wouldn't bother with trivial affairs from them because they are nothing more then entertainment for us, they serve us. Not the other way around as my idiotic siblings think. But I've done it, I have found a way to ruin him, I did it for you, for me for all of the others who are sick and tired of being in the King of Dreams shadow. I fucked her, I heard her calling out to me, all she wanted was a child, and I gave her the experience of a life time. Free of charge, I bred her like a bitch in heat, and now she swells with my child, a child that will be a Vortex. I did it to spite him, Mr. Perfect, Mr. Sandman everyone's favorite . I singlehandedly found a way to make his life a living fucking hell. All we need is that girl, the vortex all we need is her. So I cheated on you to spite dream, but if it helps you in the long run baby is it really so bad what I did?" I purred batting my eyelashes at them.

Lucifers POV


I stared at them in blind disbelief I released my hand from their lap and stood up from the bed wanting to be as far away from them as possible sipping my wine and lighting a cigarette. I didn’t even smoke, but it felt like the time to start.


They followed the and laced their hands around my waist like a snake,

"Baby please you have to understand it was all for us, for your plan? You know no one compares to you right?"

They kissed my exposed skin making their way to my neck before trailing down my arms and wincing at the offending cigarette smoke.

"You don't smoke, what is this?"


“What is it to you” I shrugged them off taking a hit.


"Everything, you are Everything to me. I love you... is this gonna be a thing now youre mad at me every time I have to fuck someone ?"

They asked smacking the cigarette from my hands and over the balcony. I could not believe what I was hearing. Desire telling me they had to fuck someone for work. They who never viewed the mortals as superior. I looked at them and spat my words out with venom. 


“It’s not work, you never saw it as work. You don’t serve people they serve you… that’s what is right? If I was everything to you, you would have cried right here right now, pleading to me. But to you I’m just a number. I haven’t been more then that. You’ve proven that again and again. I didn’t hear from you for months, and now you left me for “work” and decide to fuck another mortal whore. I might have fallen from heavens but at least I had some dignity for the ones I love.”

I threw my glass on the floor and smacked the door shut as I left my bed room and headed to the garden. It wasn’t a pretty garden but it would do, it was my own space. One that I confided in when I was alone and just fell. It’s my own version of Eden. And I wanted to seek piece and quiet.


They followed me against my will but Desire only did what they did best. Put themselves first over anyone else even after cheating on me.

"Lucifer you know who I am you know what I am you know what I do for the mortals.... your not just a fucking number for me, I do love you damn it. But I can't change who I am or what I am?!?! So if you wanted some prim virgin with no experience or knowledge of the world then congratulations go fuck my daughter. But if you can accept that this is who I am then baby I'm right here. Take it or leave it" they shouted their voice an angry rasp tears formed in their eyes. 
I looked back and pointed out the behavior

“this… is what I mean. Desires are more then sex you and I both know that. Never in your life did you fuck someone, you refused. I’ve known you since you were old enough to fucking run your realm on your own. I’ve known that real better then you, your tasks, you don’t fool me… you had a choice, you choose the mortals. Go ahead. Sleep your way to the top for all I care, but you are not crying your heart out to me anymore. You know your way out. I’m done talking to you.”

I turned my back towards them crying and curling myself up in a ball. It hurt. I would be alone again. My task for today was to stay out of isleens way. If I saw her, I’d jump on her immediately out of spite and she doesn’t deserve that.


"You know what? Your right... I don't deserve you and the mortals don't deserve me maybe she can serve them better I'm done. A world without you in it is just to painful, I'm done" Desire fled


Mazikeen approached me tentatively from behind, she hugged me,

"I'm sorry my lord, they didn't deserve you”


I cried harder in her arms, sobbing till it felt like my ribs were breaking
She comforted me for as long as I needed, holding me like this, she played with my hair and rubbed my back.


I cried till the crying turned into screaming, and crying again. My sobs carrying through all of hell.

I guess I have always known that love was not meant to be in my cards. God made sure I knew that.

Isleens POV

I heard their desperate cries. I heard everything. The sex, the yelling, glass breaking and then lucifers screams. Even though I too was heartbroken and wanted to say that this was their karma for treating me like this, I couldn’t help to feel sorry for them.

Maybe this would be the time to seek friendship and bond over the heartbreak we both share.

I picked up a pen and paper and wrote them a letter, shoving it under the door for Mazikeen to see.

Now all I needed to do was wait…

[winniethepugh]

CHAPTER 10 !!

THE LONG-AWAITED FIGHT SCENE... I'm very sorry for this one. I pray you can find the humour in it like me, but maybe it's a look back on it later and laugh type of deal. personally the angst makes me giggle and kick my feet cos its SOOOO HEAVILY miscommunication trope which I fkn love. i hope yall see it the same way and don't hate me for it, but even if u do, ill still love u. im dying to see your reactions so pls comment or reply or dm me or anything, just tell me how u feel cos im personally a whirlwind of emotions rn. the biggest one being my enteral love and gratitude for yall <3 enjoy

Synopsis: James has never been happier working behind the sticky, crowded bar than when he comes face to face with the most perfect stranger he's ever met. That is, until he realises that Regulus is engaged to Dorcas. Maybe if he spent a little less time arguing with himself about the morality of flirting with someone else's fiancé, and a little more time talking to Remus and Sirius, he'd piece together that Regulus isn't actually engaged at all...

Here's your chapter sneak peak

“I’m sorry Regulus,” James shook his head, trying to will his body to move away from the other man. It was no use, they were like magnets. The arms draped around his neck and the lingering warmth where another chest was once pressed against his made it all the more difficult. “I can’t. This is wrong.” Regulus moved a hand to gently stroke James’ cheek, shaking his head softly, “It isn’t.” James tried his best to shimmy out of the embrace. He moved barely a centimeter back before banging into the couch again. Regulus reached forward to hold his wrists. Maybe to keep him in place, if James couldn’t leave was it possible the moment would never end? Or maybe just to regain his attention. To break through the smog of thoughts and feelings, the thick hazy smoke of guilt and panic. It was the only way James could truly hear him, but that didn’t mean he liked what he had to say. “It doesn’t feel wrong James. Don’t you feel that?” He felt like an idiot. “Of course I do.” “Then why do you keep doing this?”

[liminalweirdo]

How to spot a scam on tumblr

Scammers are getting smarter and in light of the recent “help my cat” scam posts going around which @meluvcheese22 has a pretty detailed post on here I just thought that this might be a good time to help people know what to look for.

Those message requests that come through your askbox that look similar to this:

[image id: a screenshot of a tumblr ask from user catgirlmacaroni that says:

catgirlmacaroni asked a question

“Heeeeey im really sorry, I know you might find this a bit strange but I really do have a huge favor to ask but im so embarrassed to ask for it but I guess there’s no harm on trying, right? Can you consider boosting/sharing the post I pinned for my cat please? We’re in desperately need of help rn. Im so sorry for coming across your inbox like this. Please also consider answering this privately or send me a msg instead! Wishing you well and I hope that you’ll have an amazing year ahead of you (hear emojis)”

end image id]

Posts like this are almost always a scam. Especially if they’re coming from someone you don’t know.

@you-reblogged-a-scam​ has a great post on this

How can you spot a scam?

Go to the user’s profile and type [their username].tumblr.com/archive you can see that they have only been posting on tumblr for a couple of months before they made their crowdsourcing request for their cat. That should be a red flag as they’re only giving the illusion of being a tumblr user. (This is also a good way to vet for bots that aren’t just empty blogs.)

The fact that they weren’t using a Crowdfunding platform was suspicious to me, especially because those platforms crack down on scammers and afaik, offer protection to people who have donated if they discover it’s a scam. This isn’t failproof as I know a lot of people do use just P*aypal or V*nmo but this should still be a red flag.

 Search the P*ypal account user’s name through Google to see if they’ve done anything like this before. As you can see here, and here this user has posted VERY SIMILAR cat stories under different tumblr accounts but they all go back to the same P*ypal. You can also reverse image search included images or search parts of the text they’ve written to see if it appears as “original posts” under different Tumblr users’ accounts (or whatever other social media you use)

The notes being turned off was also suspicious as you can see that some people got the word in and the scammer realized their mistake.

[image id: a screenshot of the cat post’s notes with the tumblr message stating that Replies have been turned off for this post and Some replies may have been hidden, blocked, or removed.

tumblr user eatingcroutons writes: “Weird how this person had a different cat in a different state needing money for a different treatment just a week ago: http://www.tumblr.com/axellhere/705044183042392064/pay-axell-cruz-apuyan-using-paypalme”

tumblr user hoodiedeer writes: @ eatingcroutons and the oldest posts on their account are a bunch of reblogs a day before this post lol”

end image id]

If you notice something’s a scam, please please say something in the notes and try to spread the word. Please report it to tumblr and report it to P*aypal or whichever cash transfer source they’re using. Make a Tumblr post about it, just get the word out.

Please be careful out there. I know we all want to help, but please make sure your money is actually going to people who need it, and not people like this.

Also, please add to this post if you have any other ideas for how to spot scams.

[dykesbat]

hi. writing here because of your privacy settings, sorry.

from what i’ve seen you’re doing supporting for fundraisers, and i wanted to ask for your help.

i’ve had a person submit an ask to me saying they’re from gaza and need donations. i’ve never had experience with anything like this, but i’m trying to ask questions. they don’t share much info about themselves. their link leads to a something something linktree where you can donate with paypal. they sent me a photo per request, upon looking it up in google it leads to a gofundme https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-the-aqlain-family-evacuate-gaza?modal=donations&tab=all

can’t open it because of the country i live in, but the date is set to 16 feb. the name there doesn’t match name in their link, or the name they’ve sent me per my request.

:•( i’m getting a fishy vibe, but i’m worried it could be a person new to tumblr or eng speaking social media in general.

hi! sorry for responding so late. you did everything correctly and those are all definitely signs of it being a scam. i just talked w a friend about this (ill copy and paste my tips below).

i completely understand the worry. many of these red flags aren't outright indicators that every single blog that fits them is a scam, but the combination of things is what really makes the case. it's unfortunate but, a big red flag generally is if a new blog sends you an ask about donations. it's a common scam tactic from before this nakba. the scammers are just exploiting palestinians' genocide instead of the other issues they typically exploit.

obviously not all of these tips are absolute indicators of a scam and some are already things youve considered! but my general tips:

1. is the blog just new? if the icon is of a real person, is it their image? (you can reverse google image search! w mobile you'll have to save the image first and find a site for it. i typically use labnol but i can help you find alternatives if youd like!) are the posts they're reblogging related to the things that you post? (consider: how did they find you) are the posts they're reblogging coming from an actual dashboard rather than the recommendation page? (indicates that they're reblogging popular posts without any rhyme or reason to look like a real blog) is their first post a donation post and was it just made? (dates the blog. you can look in their archives to see the date of their earliest post)

2. where are they linking to? im not sure if your device has an option to preview a link url before sending you to the page but if it does, i would use that here just to be safe. do the names of the accounts match? (note that in this case, of course, many fundraisers are being raised by people outside of palestine. but if the blog claims to be the account owner, do their names seem to match? if theres a description, do the names match the ones the blog gives?) does it lead to a paypal instead of a gofundme? heavily stressing that this obv doesnt mean every request from someone using paypal is a scam, esp w the way gfm has been screwing over some palestinians, BUT paypal is often what scammers would use. gofundme is generally reliable and every fundraiser is donation protected, meaning its possible to get a refund from gofundme in the rare case that the fundraiser is a scam.

3. verifying gfm's can be a lot harder bc my go to options aren't always available. generally what i do is to look at through the organizer's updates, the fundraiser's description <- which obv you should always do anyways, and the fundraisers photos to see if theres anymore information about social media accounts related to the fundraiser. sometimes people will link twitter profiles, sometimes people will link instagram profiles. its just the same process of scrolling back as far as you can and seeing if you can identify the same face(s) from before more people started exploiting these traumas to scam others, seeing when the profile was made, checking if the images are truly from the profile's owners and not stolen, etc.

the biggest indicators imo are the stolen photos since the originals almost always link back to a name that doesn't match the blog.

[toytulini]

i used to talk about my ocs on here so much and now i almost never do

[purpleglitch]

saw your post and so sorry about what's happening. hope you're hanging in there

from a survivor of other fandom fallouts though, leave the blog, don't deactivate; i did but the memories and the people i made them with i wanted dearly to look back on but i don't have them anymore....!

i /missed/ the good times so much there are still times today when i want to gather what i had, when i glimpse pieces of my posts from back then on other people's blogs so.

make a new side blog if it hurts too much to keep this one is my recommendation

but keep your crew if you can and trust you'll find a new one if you would rather not!!

alllllll the best you'll get through this <3333

Oh my god thank you so much anon! i'll keep it in mind, I think im going to wait a little bit longer to see if the situation continues and then take a decision, I don't want to rush anything because this blog purpleglitch has a lot of memories of who i used to be since 2016 all up until now, and I think it's a bittersweet reminder of who I am and what I've gone through, i feel like i'd regret it some time later if i deleted everything.

Like i said, i'm going to wait maybe a few days more and probably talk with my friends about their opinion on what I should do and then take the decision. most likely I'll do what you said and keep it as an archive and make a new blog, it's a bit sad because this is my main but I'll try and see if there's a way to change blogs and make a new one to replace this one. Or I'll just keep posting here and just avoid stuff of the mcy//t and ds//mp fandom and move on-

Whatever happens, i will keep you guys updated here!! thank you for everything <333 and take care of yourselves too :) if anyone wants to talk my asks are open and i'm pretty sure my dm's are open too.

[jade-of-mourning]

theformat wrote, "im floating with the birds im talking to the weeds look what youve done to me"

in which i spontaneously take several hours to translate nate’s awfully punctuated commentary on dog problems into Comprehensive English Words. partially so i can write my stupid essay on it for fun. but yes here you go, 4.2k words from a 2006 livejournal archive that i managed to snatch out of two saves. here’s a link if you want to read it from the source, but i’ll have you know it’s a nightmare. early 2000′s nate ruess learn how to type properly challenge.

theformat wrote,

[@ 2006-5-18 18:44:00]

"im floating with the birds im talking to the weeds look what youve done to me"

Hi,

Sitting on my couch, watching ESPN. Damn, it’s good to be home. Things have been pretty crazy the last 6 months. As a lot of you know, we were dropped by our label — we went and recorded a new record, labels became interested, [and] we decided to release it ourselves. We went on tour, and now I’m [...] home for the next week: my first week off in six months. What do I do? 

Well, my roommate and I got memberships to the YMCA down the street from our house. It’s an amazing place. Downtown Phoenix is pretty much an amazing place. It’s not like the rest of the state — speaking of which, I’m declaring war on Scottsdale, it’s the opposite of Downtown Phoenix.

Anyways, so I wake up at 9am every morning. I don’t know what it is, really — I’ve been a "pro" musician for about 3 years now, [and] we are supposed to wake up at 11 or 12. I know some dudes that wake up at 1, but no; since I’ve been home the last few days, I’ve been going to bed at 1 and waking up at 9. My roommate has a job, [so] I think it has to do with that. 

See, there are 3 showers total in our house. I have the big bedroom, so I have the big shower, [and] since I’ve been off on tour and recording, he has gotten used to the nice shower in my room (Which is fine — anyone that’s gotten close to me knows I’m not too fond of showers, so it’s not like I use it that much). So every morning around 8:45, I wake up to my door opening and my roommate going through my room to use the shower. 

You know what it’s like when you’re half asleep but you want to act like you’re awake so as not to freak someone out with all the crazy babble, but you just end up saying all the same crazy babble? I do that every morning. I turn and look at him and try to act like I wasn’t just dreaming about tootsie rolls and parrots that shatter like glass. "Hey [Roommate's Name], that was some game last night" [is what usually] comes out of my mouth — something to that extent — and I think he feels sorry for me, but continues to walk right into my bathroom, and use the shower. 

At this point, I’m awake. I usually have to pee, and I have to then use his restroom. It’s a terrible swap, and it always ends with me wide awake on my front porch (har har) smoking a cigarette and wondering how the hell I’m gonna fall back asleep when the air conditioning is broken. Ah, what a wonderful life at home, [but] that’s the weird thing — I love it. Now we wake up and we go to the [YMCA]. We run, we play basketball, we jump in the pool, we play pool basketball, we get yelled at for dunking the ball. We don’t use soap before we go into the sauna, and the night usually ends with a poker tournament. This is the life I love to live when I’m away from the road. It too is the opposite of Scottsdale. It’s who I am, [and] it’s pretty much who I’ve become.

See, for the last 23 years, it’s been about the highs and the lows for me. I’ve got an addictive personality, [so] I stay away from a lot of things because of this; however, when I find things, I get generally excited. I go crazy. It’s all I think about and all I do for the next howeverlong. For the first 23 years, it was either talking non-stop or locking myself in my room. It’s either great or terrible; not good or bad. Dog Problems changed that.

Initially, Dog Problems was supposed to be that — the original concept of Dog Problems was to be 2 sides of music, the first half taking over where Interventions [+ Lullabies] had left off: "We'll be together in the morning…"

We weren’t, in fact. We were over before Interventions was even released. We were over two weeks after it was recorded, [and] I spent the next 2 years feeling terrible. We got back together… we broke up… we got dogs… we broke up… we got back together and got dogs…

I was still miserable, but I wanted Dog Problems to get me through everything. I wanted it to help me, not anyone else — just me. The first side was supposed to be me down in the dumps [and] everything that went down: how the two of us were dealing with it differently, [and] the second half was supposed to be a realization.

The first inkling of realization was a day [when] we were on tour. We were all laughing about something I’m sure Marko or Adam said. Here I was supposed to be depressed, but the fact that I can spend all of my days in different states with my best friends, all of us doing what we love — that was major! Then my mom called… I’ve got my parents! My friends! What else could I possibly need?

At that point, I felt as if a relationship in a Michael Bolton sort of way didn’t mean anything. It was the people you surrounded yourself with — those were the people that made the difference, and that was going to be side two. I was convinced that when I just closed my eyes and thought about the wonderful people around me, I was going to be great. Not good, [but] great.

I didn’t get that far, no. I got back into the relationship. 

I was sure it was going to work. At that point, life would be perfect, and we all want perfection right? [But] things went right back to far from perfect. Things went to terrible. I couldn’t stop feeling sorry for myself, but I had a concept. At that point, I figured that even by singing and recording these positive songs I was going to feel better, so Sam showed me what was then just a short acoustic guitar version of Snails.

This was it. This was my first chance to prove to myself that life can be beautiful. The thing is, I had never been more miserable. I remember writing the lyrics to Snails: my roommate was at work, I was on the bed, on my night stand was a giant bottle of booze, and somewhere off in California she wasn’t calling me back on a Friday night. So I went to work, listened [to it] over and over. I wanted to get it right; I wanted to be positive. I passed out, then I woke up the next morning [with a] big headache (P.S. drinking is not really that cool; it’s cool when you condemn it for the first 22 years of your life, then it becomes not cool, then it becomes ok when you moderate yourself) and I started writing everything positive I could think of. [...] Snails was, in Sam’s mind, supposed to be a 2 minute kid’s song, [but] I wrote so much that there was no going back. I thought that was it — Snails solved all of my problems.

It didn’t get that far either. Nothing could shake the depression, [and] I really started to worry about myself. Here I want to feel great, but I only feel terrible, [and] a few months later it got really really bad. I had to go to my parents house that night, I didn’t want to be at my house. I wanted to feel like a kid.

It’s funny how we always want to be adults when we're younger. We want to drive cars, we want to have girlfriends. I still didn’t consider myself an adult — all I wanted was to come home, be tucked in, know that everything was going to be alright. I woke up the next day [and found out] she met someone new. I’ve got to figure myself out…

In the meantime, we've got 4 songs we are recording over at our friend Aaron’s house (he is an amazing producer and [...] musician, and his house and his roommates have gotten me through a lot of tough times. They’re some of the only people I know who would rather spend their Saturdays getting dinner and watching a movie instead of going to a party. I like that). All of this turmoil in my relationship was going on at the time, and I was trying to write side two [but] I couldn’t. There was more fuel to side one. These songs have to be done, so I wrote about what I knew, and at that point I knew how to feel terrible.

So much for side two. Dog Problems is going to be one giant mess of depression and "look what you’ve done to me".

Atlantic got those four songs, as well as a few others. They were not psyched, to say the least, but some people at the label actually cared about it enough to say "go record". So we were able to pick our producer, we met with a few people, talked to a few more. Things were looking up. Dog Problems was going to happen. 

I remember meeting Steve McDonald at his house — Sam and I were excited to be [there] because we knew his wife Anna would probably be there. Anna was the lead singer/songwriter for a band we used to obsess about called "That Dog", her brother was one of the ten drummers in the world that I actually liked, so Steve couldn't be so bad. And he wanted to produce our record, so he had to be pretty cool! 

He was just that, and more. Sam and I were eating every word that came out of his mouth. He had stories; he was young, hip, energetic, and yet very all knowing. We saw someone that was going to let us do whatever we wanted to do, and in the meantime he was going to make us laugh and make sure we didn't lose our minds. From that point on, I knew there was someone I could always trust. I made a friend pretty quick.

Things were moving forward. Steve McDonald was to be the producer. I hated Los Angeles so there was no way in hell I was going to record there, [so] we decided Palm Springs would be perfect. Weird, but perfect. I had a phone conversation with Steve that night and we were finalizing everything. I was going to call Atlantic in the morning and let them know just how everything was going to work, [but] I didn't get that far.

I was sleeping in a blowup bed at the house when my phone rang. I didn’t wake up and answer like it was my roommate and he was coming into my room to use my shower, [because] this call felt different. Right away, I was awake.

It was our manager: "You’ve been dropped." 

When I heard that, the first thought going through my mind wasn’t "Oh man...how are we going to be famous now and make boat loads of money?" It was more like "fuck...but Dog Problems. We were supposed to go make Dog Problems."

The thing is, Atlantic wasn’t into Dog Problems. They were into whatever it was they thought we were. Never had The First Single made more sense — what was supposed to be a song about getting the band started and doing something with it had actually turned into a song about how stuck we were in the labels eyes because of the song. I was past that; we're proud of something we wrote when we were 19 and 20, but when I think of music, I think of progression. 

I think of all of the wonderful records I had been introduced to when I had nothing to do riding in a van. I think of all of the new influences, all the instruments, all of the "How did they do that?" And I think of how much it gets me through everything.

Music has been the consecutive[ly] great[est] thing in my life. It’s been that one thing, and with Dog Problems, it wasn’t about "I want everyone to sing along because I can write a catchy song." It was about feeling. It was paying tribute to all of the bands that we obsessively listened to. It was for Harry Nilsson and Van Dyke Parks, it was for Jellyfish and XTC. It was our way of saying thanks for making our lives better, whether it be lyrically or musically. It was never about being something, being told something, and sticking to something. It was an adventure, for the artist and for the listener.

[And] they didn't get that. They wanted the old record, the old songs, just with different words and a few different chords here and there. They didn’t care about Snails or Dog problems [or] what it meant to write those songs. They knew it wasn't going to be huge; the guitars were not big enough (if big guitars are your thing that’s fine, it’s just not really our thing right now); it wasn’t going to be competitive, and so they dropped us. And rightfully so: we weren’t going to change, and obviously the major label business is never going to change, [so] now it comes down to who goes down first. And we weren’t ready to go down.

Sam and I had conversations about it, whether the business end of things have been fucking with us so much that we'll never be sane enough to just enjoy it. We thought about getting out — it wasn’t [be]cause we hated each other, or the songs; it was because we hated the business.

Steve called to let us know that he was still onboard, label or not, [and] we let him know we were still on board. We were going to make this record, [and] I was going to feel great! But the record was going to cost something. How could we afford it? 

We were lucky that we had a management company like Nettwerk. Not only are they the most forward-thinking music business people around, [but] they’re also (for the most part) Canadian. Oh, and they care a shit load about the music we make. They could have waited for the ship to sink, but they told us they would pay for the record if need be. Fortunately, we were able to get money for getting dropped — Atlantic actually paid us to leave, so we could afford the recording ourselves. The only stipulation was that it had to be done quicker, and when you want something quick, you have to go to the "right here, right now" capitol of the world: Los Angeles. I was a little irked at the thought at first, then Steve said it was his personal goal to make LA a wonderful city for me. Like I said, I would jump off a cliff if Steve said it was the best way to get coffee, but I wasn’t jumping off of cliffs. I was too excited to make Dog Problems, [so] LA it was.

Sam and I moved to the "Silver Palace" in Silverlake California in the middle of December. We found an amazing studio in Burbank, California and an amazing engineer in Ken Sluiter, and our goal was to just do everything free from a record label and someone constantly messing up the recording process by saying things like "that’s not high octave enough". The only pressure we had at all was from our manager saying "You have a tour you accepted in March, [so] get it done by then.” Other than that, it was me, Sam, Steve, and Ken working 13 hours a day for 6 days a week.

It became our lives we were putting so much of ourselves into. Everyone that worked and played on the record was the same way when they were there contributing. I would leave the studio at 2 in the morning and wake up at 10 to be at the studio by 11. There was no free time — the four of us were so invested in this. We all bought into the concept. 

In the meantime, things outside of the studio were getting interesting. We had a lot of labels calling and constantly asking about it. During one week of recording, I remember at least 3 different label people coming down to the studio. Our minds weren’t made up as to what we were doing with the record once it was recorded — all we wanted to do was finish it — but we kept our options open and let people sit in the big chair and listen to what we had been working on. The response was overwhelmingly positive, but we didn’t really think about it too much beyond the compliments we were receiving. Sam and I got used to LA — I was 10 minutes away from where I had been the previous summer when I was back "on" in my “on and off" relationship. I was ten minutes from her, she was calling every day, I was singing about it… but how was it not getting to me? Why did I not care?

My phone was off. I woke up in Silverlake one morning and started wondering why for the last month I had a smile on my face. Sure, I was down at times, but the thing that had been bringing me down for 3 years was now the last thing on my mind. Apparently, it had been that way for awhile. Something that took 3 years to get over… I was finally just okay with it. No big realization — just the fact that things happen. People make mistakes. And I came out of it alright. I was good; not great… I was good, and that felt good.

I wasn’t looking for great anymore. I was okay. The last song on Dog Problems is all about that. Here, this record was supposed to be the downs, and the ups, and it ended with the middle: the realization that I don’t need to be talking; I don’t need to be locked in my room — I need to enjoy what’s going on around me. And if things go wrong, they go wrong. There’s always tomorrow.

Dog Problems means so much to me in so many different ways. I’ve never been more proud of anything in my life. I cried so many times during the making of the record. All the money I had spent on therapy, and all I had to do was go make a record, realize that I’m alright, and realize that I made something that I’ll forever be proud of.

Shit… the record was supposed to be about how California can change you for the worse, [but] it played a huge part in doing the opposite!

So as we were putting the finishing touches on the record (all our friends came in and recorded! A ton of people we admired came and worked on the record! All of their responses were so positive that it's hard not to get an ego about it. These are the people I worship. They’re the ones I wanted to pay tribute to, and they think we've made something unique and special. It’s like Michael Jordan telling you that you have a nice jump shot (no more sports references… I swear I’m done)) and we started to think about what we were going to do with it. How we were going to release it. Labels were getting pretty into it, and we knew we would have to make a decision soon.

After much debate and discussion, we decided that the record was something we had made completely on our own, so why not release it completely on our own? Nettwerk was going to take care of the distribution so it would have a major label distro. It would be inside all of the Best Buys; what more did we want? We didn’t want a big fat check — we did that last time. It made us miserable, and nothing came out of it. Barely anyone at the labels helped us, we weren’t making music videos, our songs weren’t on the radio, so why would we take their criticism? After all, everything that we’ve done — any success we’ve had is from being real people who make music. From showing up to play, from 3 years on the road. 

On Interventions [+ Lullabies], there might have been an Elektra logo on the back of the record, but it ended right there. We were the ones SHOWING people who we were. I wouldn’t have it any other way — no one knows us better than ourselves, so why not release it ourselves? To me, it’s not only a testament to the hard work we put into the band (Mike, Don, Marko, Toco, everyone else involved in putting these songs to life — you guys are the best thing we have. It’s pretty special when your best friends are some of the most talented musicians), but I really feel like the people who come to our shows are such good people that they don’t give a fuck what label it’s on.

They are there because we are doing something positive, and because we care about them as much as they care about us. So for the time being we've said "fuck the middleman": we're the only people we can blame at this point. I’m so tired of even talking about major labels and the split and everything like this. The music is the only thing I care about. Dog Problems is the only thing I care about, so why let someone else ruin it?

The Vanity Label was born.

The record got finished. We had no time to rehearse, and we had to go right back out to tour. Our first show before the Motion City Soundtrack tour was in Nashville — I remember the last time we were in Nashville, there were about ten kids. Reuben’s accomplice kept asking them why they hate whales, so we figured why not go there and get some of the rust out of the way. After all, we haven't toured in a year so there should be like 3 kids there; we can mess up if need be.

Unfortunately, we were not allowed to mess up. On a Sunday night in Nashville, with Ted Leo playing across the street (I <3 Ted), our first headlining show outside of Arizona in almost a year was over sold out. What the fuck happened? 

We thought we were going to have to play for another 3 years just to get back to where we were when we left, and yet it’s sold out on a Sunday night? It didn’t end there either — the whole tour went like that… night after night ("nite after nite?"). I couldn't believe it. As if having Dog Problems wasn’t enough, now we have people showing their support in the most positive way: coming to the shows, being there from the only thing they knew before. Those two months were such good months. It was the last thing I expected. Thanks so much to all the bands that played with us, and thanks so much for everyone that came to the shows and sang along. We'll be back in July.

In the meantime, things were going great on the Vanity Label front. Business actually felt natural. We are shooting a video with the directors we had always dreamed of doing a video with (it won’t be serious...no pouty face). There were magazines like AP and online magazines like AP taking notice, supporting the whole idea and concept. We actually took press photos. I’ve never been through any of this before, it’s exciting. I don’t think it’s going to change who we are, not one bit, but it’s still exciting to see people who can help out actually help out.

So where does that leave me now? Sitting on my bed. I’ve rambled for hours, the air still doesn't work, and I’ve been told that Dog Problems (something that isn't supposed to come out till July) has been leaked. Not the best news when you just got out of the pool, but it happens. I freaked out at first — I thought I was going to lock myself in my room. After all, this is something that we spent over two years making. It’s something that you have to take the time… listen to in headphones… play loud… listen to in order of the tracks… the artwork… Sam did the best artwork he has ever done. The packaging is something we paid extra for because Sam’s concept was so brilliant, and now… it’s leaked on the internet? I was locking my door, then our manager called.

"Hello?" 

"We're releasing it on the website today." 

"Wow."

So, here goes. You’ve read enough. I shouldn’t have to go on about it anymore, but I will say, if you wanna wait for the full hard copy release then do so. It’s July 11 — we are gonna be touring right after that — but if you want to get it now,.please do it by purchasing it right here. We released it, it’s our money, it’s our little baby — you should take the time to listen to it all the way through, free of distraction. You should turn the songs into your own. It’s an adventure, and it’s something that we put everything we have into; and if anyone deserves it first, it’s you guys who have been here with us all along.

Without further ado...

"Dog Problems"

- Nate

[ratisnotcrying]

camera

summary: Martin’s written poetry for as long as he can remember - he thinks the first poem he wrote was in year one, probably with some questionable rhyming and no actual link to whatever the task even was, but he had enjoyed it, a lot, and had entered every poetry competition (under a pseudonym) right up until sixth form.

Then, in year twelve, one of his teachers had lent him a photography guide and Martin became obsessed with the idea of taking pictures to go with his poetry.

prompt:  ‘camera’ from creativepromptsforwriting

pairings: jonmartin

warnings: the lonely (entity), hurt/comfort, but otherwise i think it’s just fluff 

word count: 1.4K

a/n: this is cross posted on ao3 and  I thin this is rly ooc - its defo outside my comfort zone and im pretty sure i hate it bUt… i also have tpp on the brain and some of jons lines sounded a bit like juno??

~~~

Martin’s written poetry for as long as he can remember - he thinks the first poem he wrote was in year one, probably with some questionable rhyming and no actual link to whatever the task even was, but he had enjoyed it, a lot, and had entered every poetry competition (under a pseudonym) right up until sixth form.

Then, in year twelve, one of his teachers had lent him a photography guide and Martin became obsessed with the idea of taking pictures to go with his poetry. He would have liked to stay and learn photography, but his life was flipped on its head and he had to drop out. So he did the next best thing: he got a disposable camera and took pictures in his neighbourhood.

It was an… adequate solution - he could take the pictures when he had to walk to the shops or had to wait for his mother somewhere, and he could nip into Boots to get them developed when he was in town. In the few years between dropping out of sixth form and joining the Institute, though, he didn't have much chance to write, let alone have time for photography.

By some miracle, having a stable, full time job changed that because just after he got his first payslip, Martin found a vintage polaroid camera in a heart foundation shop not far from his house - it was quite dear, especially considering that he had to find the right parts, but it gave him the kick he needed to start taking more photographs (trying to get his money’s worth and all that).

He started off taking pictures on his way to and from work. He kept a small notebook with him all the time and tucked the polaroids in between the pages (to stick in at a later date) and would write his poems on the corresponding pages. He had briefly entertained the idea of taking a few pictures inside the institute, though he quickly decided against it - Jon would no doubt have been angry, and Elias seemed to have eyes in the back of his head.

His next venture was more nature based and he took to spending most of his time in various national trust parks and gardens with his camera and notebook, though it was at this point that most of his poetry was touched with elements of his feelings for Jon. And various horrors he read about in the archives. It was a weird time.

It had become such a habit, carrying the camera everywhere he went, that it was no surprise that he ended up with more than a few pictures of him, Tim and Sasha together, though these went in a little photo album rather than his notebook.

Sasha and Tim would tease him about his hobby - not in a malicious way, mind you, and, in fact, it turned out alright for Martin in the end because Sasha had nicked his camera once, when they were all at Tim's and took one of Martin's favourite pictures.

He and Jon had been in a not-so-heated debate about something - he can't remember what anymore - and they had completely forgotten that Tim and Sasha were even there until the camera flashed from over the coffee table and the pair of them had started cackling at the absolute horror on Jon’s face. He had tried to tell them off, but their laughter was infectious and he hadn’t been able to keep a straight face for long enough.

Sasha had given the picture to Martin and told him to put it in his photo album, and Tim had joked he should mark this momentous occasion - “the first and only time a picture of the elusive archivist has ever been taken.”

It was a lovely picture. Jon wasn't scowling at him, which was a nice change, and it was clear as day how utterly besotted Martin was - all soft smiles and heart eyes. He had intended to stick it in his photo album, really, but he decided against it - something about it capturing his feelings so plainly made him want to hide it away.

So he put it in his wallet. Maybe it was a bit weird, but it's not like anyone knew he had it or anything, and likely no one would ever need to know it was there. It wasn’t until a week later he decided to get some double-sided tape and paper to stick a poem to the back.

Wish

I wish that you didn't have to know, I wish that my thoughts would slow, I wish that you would see, How much you mean to me.

~~~

It wasn't until he and Jon were safely tucked away in Scotland that Martin was reminded of the polaroid in his wallet.

“Martin, I’m going to the shop. Do you have any cash?”

“Should do - have a look in my wallet. I think it’s on the coffee table.” Martin called back from the kitchen.

There was silence for a moment and Martin went back to the washing up.

“Martin?” Jon said, the vaguest hint of laughter in his voice. “What’s this?”

Martin lifted soapy hands out the sink and used the back of his hand to push his glasses up before turning around. Jon was standing in the doorway holding up a polaroid. The polaroid. Fuck.

“Uhh…”

They both stood there for a moment. Martin was convinced he was actually about to die of embarrassment.

“Sorry? I didn’t- I wasn’t trying to be weird or anything, I just-”

“Martin, it’s alright. It’s… actually kind of sweet.”

“You think? I mean, I thought it was weird when it was taken. I never thought it would be sweet, I mean, who keeps pictures in their wallet anyway? I don’t-”

“Yes, Martin, I think it’s sweet. Now, do you need anything from the shop?”

~~~

A few nights later, Martin couldn’t sleep. He couldn’t sleep most nights, but this was a bad one, one that found him sitting on the little bench outside in his thin pajamas for most of the night. He stared blankly into the horizon, barely registering the sun rising in muted orange through the thick fog that had wrapped around him.

Martin had never been one to indulge, but since his time with Peter he allowed himself this one luxury. Being here, alone… there was cold comfort in it, a tender stiffness settling in his bones, keeping him firmly in this place - he wasn’t sure if he wanted to be here, but it was familiar; it was safe insofar as he could navigate it.

He startled when he felt a hand on his shoulder, which was soon replaced with a blanket.

“It’s cold, Martin. Come inside?”

Martin hummed noncommittally, slowly becoming aware of how the stiffness was actually near painful, the cold comfort was not comfortable, just deceptive, and he couldn't completely tell where the empty landscape ended and he began. Except it wasn’t empty. It wasn’t empty because Jon was there, perched sideways on his lap and half wrapped in the ratty old blanket that had been on Daisy’s sofa when they arrived. Because it was freezing and Jon’s fingertips and lips were already turning a funny grey shade.

He swallowed, throat dry, “Sometimes I think that I'll wake up and you won't be here. Not… not because you don't want to be, more because I still don't know what I did to deserve this. I can’t tell if this is real.”

“You don’t have to earn this, Martin,” Jon frowned, brushing dew-soaked curls from Martin’s forehead, “You’re allowed to be happy,

Martin didn’t seem to hear him, eyes drifting in and out of focus on something neither of them could quite see, “I- We don’t even really know each other, Jon.”

“We have time, Martin, we can learn. For example, I know how to make your tea properly now - it’s very complicated but I know it’s important to you.”

Martin laughed shakily at how proud Jon sounded of himself, and absently started rubbing Jon’s hands between his own to try and warm them up.

“I wish that you would see, how much you mean to me, Martin.” It was Jon’s turn to laugh now, Martin’s cold-kissed cheeks burning up with an embarrassed blush.

“You’re shivering, come on, I’ll make tea.”

[lauraashley93]

It’s A New Phenomenon

Here’s a little happy story for you my loves.

Hope you enjoy.

Warning:none.

It was a quiet day at the scrap yard. You were there with Letty. You and her had became quite close even though there was an age difference. She had quickly became your best friend when she had defended you from some hang around punks around town. You loved her attitude. You started coming to her place more and she introduced you to her dad Coco. Coco seemed to like you and thought you were a good influence for Letty although he thought you needed to toughen up a bit.

You were a bit shy, always had been. You were a pretty girl but you had always been picked on. Maybe it was because you were some what nerdy? You didn’t know but you never did know quite how to stand up for yourself. Letty had been giving you pointers every now and then and you always shook your head and blushed at some of the things she would tell you to say and do.

“Come on “y/n. You gotta show them you ain’t some pussy bitch!” “LETTY!! I am not gonna throw someone down and threaten to castrate them and say... that... well.. you know...well.. that..” you were starting to blush when Letty cut you off. “What? That if they make fun of you that you will rip their dick off and shove it up their ass?” Letty rolled her eyes as you two walked into the club house. “Really y/n you gotta start sticking up for yourself.” You rolled your eyes and sat down at one of the tables. “I’m gonna go find my dad. I’ll be right back. You nodded your head at her as she walked to the back. Letty found Coco taking a drag of his cigarette when she approached he threw a hand up.

“Where’s y/n? I thought you all were hanging out?” Letty smiled a mischievous smile. “Oh we are. She’s inside. I was trying to give her more pointers on how to stick up for herself she ain’t wanting to listen though.” Coco eyed her suspiciously. “Ah no. I know that look. What are you up to Leticia?” “Nuttin’. I just figured if I can’t talk her into doing it maybe if she’s forced into it, it will help.” Coco raised his eyebrow. “What the fuck did you do?” “I ain’t do nothing. Angel is.” Just then Ez walked up. “What is Angel doing?” Letty shrugged. “Teaching y/n how to defend herself.”

Just then there was a loud crash from inside the clubhouse and and yelling was heard. All three of their eyes grew wide as they took off running when they got inside the sight in front of them was one to be had. Angel was on the ground and you had a look of rage on your face and your hand was balled into a fist. The table was knocked over and the chairs were too. Bishop and a couple of the others were walking out of templo staring at the scene before them. Coco was the first to speak.

“Why is he bleeding?

“Because he is an idiot.” You spoke through clenched teeth.

Letty furrowed her brows and Ez laughed then spoke, “I didn’t know idiocy caused people to just start spontaneously bleeding from the nose?”

“Yeah, well, I think it’s a new phenomenon.” You said as you kicked Angel as you walked by. Angel slowly stood up holding his nose trying to steady himself. Bishop looked at you shocked and smirked. “Yeah but all joking aside, what was that about kiddo?” Bishop questioned. You glared at Angel as you answered him. “Angel said he thought he could show me and Letty a good time and ‘tear that pussy up’ and when I told him that there would be no way in hell that would happen he proceeded to call us both bitches and other not so very nice names and I didn’t appreciate it!!!”

Coco was about to get mad before Letty started laughing. “ so you won’t defend yourself but someone talks about me and you go apeshit? Damn bitch. That’s a true ass friend. Sorry you got punched Angel least we know she can hold her own.”

You looked at Letty, “wait you planned this??” You looked over at Angel. “You set it up?” Letty nodded as Angel slung his arm over you. “We sure did mami. I’d never actually talk to you like that. Especially aboit Coco’s daughter.” Angel smiled at you and kissed the top of your head. You looked up at him. “I should have known better!! You guys are terrible!”

Bishop started laughing. “Remind me not to piss you off y/n.” Everyone started going outside. You went to follow but someone grabbed your arm. You turned around to see Coco staring at you. “What’s up Coco?” You could have swore you seen his cheeks turn a light shade of pink as he stared at the ground. He looked super nervous which you thought was off so you took your hand and gently placed it under his chin and pushed his face to look at you. “Hey, what’s on your mind, love?” He smiled, he always loved when you called him that. Truth was he had really started to fall for you a couple weeks after you came around. There was something about how sweet you were, how gently and kind you were. You were something different and he couldn’t get enough of you. He let out a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding and he grabbed your hand.

“Y/n I just kind of found it sexy the way you stood up for Letty like that. And truth is I’ve liked you for awhile now and I was just maybe wondering if you’d wanna maybe go out to dinner with me or something like on a date?” He quickly took his gaze from your eyes to the floor. You smiled as your cheeks turned red. You couldn’t believe it. You’ve always had a crush on Coco but never knew how Letty would feel about the idea of it so you never said anything but you definitely weren’t gonna turn it down if he was the one initiating it.

“I’d really like that, Johnny.” His head popped up and his smile was huge. He loved the way his name sounded on your lips. He couldn’t help himself. He kissed you and wrapped his arms around you as you kissed him back and tangled your fingers in his hair. You pulled away slowly and smiled and looked at him. “You know, if I knew all I had to do was punch Angel to get you to ask me out. I would have done it a lot sooner” Coco laughed at that and kissed you again. You might not have been happy about it before but you were so thankful Letty set you up with that stupid fight with Angel now.

@angelreyesgirl @auroraariza @spookys-girl @trulysuccubus @stunning-shitz @rosieposie0624 @bigcreatorwombatdreamer @skyofficialxx @strawberrywritings @bucky-iss-bae-archive @miss-nori85 @cind-in-real-life @deeandbobbymcgee @starrynite7114 @louisianalady @itsjaybeast @-im-fantastic- @justatiredfool @scuzmunkie @ly-canthropewrites @yourwonkywriter

[castiel-barnes]

The meeting.

The mandalorian and the Jedi series. Chapter 1.

Pairing: Din Djarin x Jedi! Reader.

Summary: After being assigned a bounty for an asset, the last thing that Din expects is to meet a jedi.

Warnings: angst. Swearing maybe. Mentions of blood and torture.

Wordcount: 1.9k

Chapter 2

Masterlist.

A/N: Decided to make another series. This is probably gonna be bad because my writing is crap but here ya go.

Tags: @scribbledghost @phoenixhalliwell @farfromjustordinary @ginger-swag-rapunzel

Din had been to Karga to get the credits he got from his latest bounties. He'd picked up a new job and headed to the building. Walking inside he was greeted by 4 stormtroopers and the client. The guy who was hiring Din for the job, was imperial.

Din was informed that the asset was fifty years old. And that was it. The only things Din had to help him find the asset was a chain code, last know location and a tracking fob. Not an easy bounty then.

The job was to get an asset on Arvala-7, a desert planet quite barren and quiet.

*********************

Arvala-7:

Din landed on the planet in a canyon area, with a few land marks so he could remember where he landed. Looking through the scope of his pulse rifle, he checked for anyone or thing that might be around. But then out of nowhere a blurg attacked him.

After helping an ugnaught named Kuill with the blurgs, and showing Din the way. He arrived at said compound where the asset was meant to be.

"Damn bounty droids." Din muttered to himself as he saw an IG unit enter the compound.

"IG unit stand down!" Din shouted,

The IG unti turned around and shot Din in the pauldron, which threw Din to the ground winded slightly.

"I'm in the guild!" Din exclaimed sitting up slightly,

"I thought I was the only guild member on this job." The IG unit replied.

"That makes two of us." Din stated. The next few moments happened to go almost down hill. Din and the IG unit got into a huge blaster fight, with the guys who worked and protected the asset at the compound. Entering the room where the fob was beeping erratically, Din and the IG unit scanned the room for the asset.

"They said it was meant to be 50 years old." Din stated quietly,

"Some species age differently, but we'll never know." IG responded pointing the weapon at the small green child like creature.

"No! We'll take it in alive." Din stated firmly but it didn't shake the bounty droids choice. Standing there looking at the child, Din pulled out his pistol and shot the IG unit.

'It's a kid dank ferrik. Im not going to kill a kid.' Din thought to himself, and that's when he heard movement in the corner. Turning around, he quickly fired shot only for it to be deflected by a lightsaber.

"Step away from the child mando." You said calmly emerging from the shadows,

"Why should I?" Din asked.

"Because that child is far more skilled than you and is highly important." You replied in a protective stance moving closer to the child,

"Are you a jedi?" Din asked again.

"If I was, what would you do?" You straightend your posture a little,

"Well im not sure, I've never met one before but I know that mandalorians and jedis never got along in the past." Din stated,

"You're right there mando." You said,

"What is your deal here?" You asked him staring down. He was quiet for a moment,

'There's a bounty on this child, why are you here?' Din thought to himself.

"I'm protecting the child." You smiled,

"Wha- I didn't ask anything." Din said baffled.

"You were thinking it." You replied. The two of you bickered back and forth for almost an hour, discussing why mando shouldn't take the child or why mando should take the child and you come along. It was starting to get a bit annoying.

************************

On the crest:

You wasn't sure how you ended up on the mandalorians ship. But here you were sitting in the co- pilot seat, looking out of the window in hyperspace.

"You always keep that bucket on your head?" You asked,

"Yep." Din replied not looking away from where he was looking. "We can only take them off in front of your riduur." He continued.

"Riddur?" You asked again,

"When you get married." He said. You must've fallen asleep at some point in the chair, because the next thing you realised you was dropping out of hyper space. Waking up fully you find that you're approaching a volcanic planet.

Getting off of the crest, you hid your lightsaber as best you could under your robe and followed the mandalorian.

Walking into a building you were greeted by 4 stormtroopers and you instantly tensed up.

"Mandoalrian it is good to see that you've acquired the asset." The client stated, "and who might this be?" He continued looking over at you,

"An aquintance, what are you going to do it?" Din asked tensing even more,

"No questions asked, isn't that the guild policy? And as for you my darling I know exactly who you are." The client said looking directly at you.

"How?" You asked,

"There are archives left over dear one, you're lucky that you escaped order 66 given by the emperor." The client explained.

"What is he talking about?" Din asked,

"Nearing the end of the clone wars when I was a youngling, the emperor gave order 66 which was to kill all jedi, jedi masters and knights even the younglings. I was one of few to escape, along with the child." You explained looking down, trying to forget those moments.

"And that is why we are lucky that the mandalorian bought you here to help us with our... experiments." The client stated,

"What?!" Din exclaimed stepping forward just to be stopped by a trooper. "This wasn't part of the deal." Din continued looking at you.

"Of course it wasn't but now you've helped us significantly and you will get your reward." The client replied getting a trooper to get the container of beskar.

Din looked at you,

'I'm so sorry. I didn't know this to happen, I didn't know that they were going to experiment.' Din thought and all you could was nod and looked away,

'Don't fight them, it'll make it worse.' He thought again. You looked up at him with a tear in your eye and smiled a little. The stormtroopers pushed the child's pram roughly to a door and grabbed you taking away your lightsaber and pushing you through the same door.

"Hey be gentle!" Din exclaimed frowning under the helmet,

'It'll be ok mando. I'll look after the kid.' You said in his mind.

"Your payment mandalorian, beskar that is rightfully returned." The client stated given the beskar to Din. Din nodded and turned away glancing once more at the door.

Walking out the door he made his way to the covert, beskar in hand.

Din sat there in the armoury as the armourer melted down the beskar he had received to make new armour. He sat there thinking what he had just done. He just gave away 2 jedis or what he thought were jedis, to people from the old empire so they could be experimented on? What kind of sick person would want to experiment on people?

Walking out of the covert and back to the crest. Din sat there for a while thinking. He didn't know why, but he wanted to help you and the child. He was angry with himself. And he didn't know why. He felt like it was his duty to protect you, even though in the past Jedi and Mandalorians were enemies and he knew you could handle yourself.

**********************

The cell:

To say the least you were in far worse shape than the child. Which in your mind was a good thing. You didn't want harm to come to him. But it also meant that you had gotten hit a few times using the force to protect the little guy.

“I’ve seen a lot of good soldiers die at the hand of a weapon like this.” The trooper said igniting your lightsaber in front of you.

“Good?! The empire is the complete opposite of good you ignorant asshole, all you done was cause pain for them.” You hissed back, 

“Watch it Jedi scum, you might end up having your own lightsaber used against you.” The trooper replied placing the lightsaber directly in front of your face. Something exploded somewhere in the building which caused the stormtrooper to go off balance, causing the lightsaber to jolt leaving a nasty cut over your eye. You fell back and screamed in pain until the trooper hit you hard enough to cause you to go unconscious. And he left.

Outside of the building, Din had returned and was causing chaos for the stormtroopers. Sneaking back into the building, Din stuck to the shadows and killed any troopers that he came across. He came across the kid first and he picked the kid up carefully. Somehow he managed to find your lightsaber. Luckily Din had a bag that was big enough to carry the kid, so that if needed be he could carry you aswell. And it was good that he did bring the bad, because then he found you.

Entering your cell quietly, he found you unconscious. Blood rolling down your left cheek from a nasty slash across your eye.

"Hey, hey you got to wake up. Im getting you out of here." Din said shaking you a little,

"M-mando?" You replied falling unconscious again. Din undone your restraints and picked you up gently. Din got stopped by some troopers who had there weapons drawn.

"Give them up mando, we have you outnumbered 4 to 1." A trooper stated,

"I like those odds." Din replied laying you down gently, then all of a sudden he let his whistling birds go and all of the troopers in the room dropped.

Managing to get back to the razor crest with some minor inconveniences from Karga and the rest of the guild. All the while the mandalorians at the covert helped Din, he got you and the child safely back to the crest. Laying you down gently on the floor of the crest, Din made the jump to hyperspace so that the three of you would be somewhat safer.

Coming back to where you were, he saw you still unconscious and now he looked at you properly. Your hair was matted slightly with blood in it, a split lip, bruises everywhere and a nasty slash going right over your left eye.

He picked you up carefully, and laid you gently on one of the cots then walked off to get the med kit. Softly dabbing your cuts with bacta, he moved his hand up to the cut on your eye. As Din went to apply bacta to the inch cut over your eye, you stopped his wrist. Opening the one eye that wasn't swollen and bloody, you looked up at him.

"Mando? What happened?" You asked barely aware of your surroundings,

"I went back for you and the kid." Din replied quietly. "You gonna give me my hand back?" He continued.

"Hmm? Oh yeah sorry." You responded letting go of his hand,

“This might hurt a bit ok? I’m going to apply bacta to your eye, it’s gonna leave a scar. Hold still.” He stated applying the bacta as gently  as he could. You winced a little and clenched the blanket that was under you. Once Din was done he placed a bandage over your eye to help it. After he done that he sat by you for a moment in awkward silence.

“I’m sorry.” Din whispered not directly looking at you,

“It’s ok mando I swear.” You replied patting his hand a little bit.

“It’s not ok, get some rest. We’ll talk about it later.” He stated standing up and climbing up the ladder to the cockpit. You laid your head back and suddenly everything from hours before came into affect in your body. You was tired and still in some pain, so you laid there and closed your eye trying to focus on anything except the pain. You tried thinking about your Jedi training and what your masters had taught you.

As you laid there you slowly drifted off to sleep. Needed rest. You didn't know where Din was taking you, but you hoped to maker that it was somewhere better than where you just were.

[gabriel-agreste-has-no-rights]

Rating: G

Summary: XY tries to steal Luka's non-existent gym badges.  Instead, they both end up making a new friend.  (For @luxyweek day 3: Pokemon)

Word Count: 2071

XXX

Luka woke up to a stranger rummaging in his bag.

He should’ve known better than to fall asleep in the Pokémon Center, especially in a city as big as Lumiose.  Exhaustion after a late concert was no excuse to be careless.  Even if crime was rarer after the takedown of Team Flare, there were still unorganized thieves around.

Like this idiot who thought Luka was an easy target.

“C’mon, he’s gotta have at least one…” The idiot was mumbling.

Without opening his eyes, Luka slowly moved his hand to his pocket.  He pulled out the one pokéball he had on him.

“Who the heck carries so many metronome items…?” 

While the thief was distracted, Luka pressed the button on his pokéball.  One click, and his Loudred burst free.

“GWAHHHH!!!”  She boomed, and the thief jumped back with a shriek.

“Wh-h-hey!” he stammered.  Luka finally got a good look at him.  Tall blonde hair, tacky outfit—was this some remixed Team Flare grunt after all?  He was wearing purple rather than red, though.

“That’s an, uh, nice dude you got there.”  He eyed Luka’s Loudred dubiously.

“Symphony is a girl.”  He scratched her behind the ear, and she made a low rumble.

“Uh.  Nice babe then.”

Luka snorted.  Why had this thief bothered to stick around?  He thought he’d have run off by now.  Luka really hoped he wasn’t going to have to battle.  Symphony had worked hard enough tonight.

“Why were you looking through my bag?”

“Pshaw, I wasn’t doing that.  Besides, you don’t have anything useful.”

Wow.  This guy really was an idiot.  The Team Flare grunts were never too smart, either.  Just a bunch of kids who got mixed up with the wrong crowd.

Well, Luka was no trainer like the ones who’d busted them up last year.  But maybe he could keep one kid from following down that road.

“What do you count as useful?”  Luka asked.  “Money?  Items?  Pokémon?”

“Maybe Pokémon would be useful, if they’d stop being haters and listen to me.”  The guy crossed his arms and pouted.

“...So you’re not a trainer?”  Luka glanced around the Pokémon Center.  Everyone else was very determined to mind their own business.  Not that Luka needed their help to deal with a guy who couldn’t even use his own Pokémon, but still.  Someone could’ve tried.

“I’m going to be a trainer.  Just as soon as I steal a badge and get this Zorro dude to listen to me.”

Luka raised an eyebrow.  “Zorro dude?”

“Yeah.  Dark type?  Sick red ponytail?  Likes to copy me and make me look stupid?”

He sat up straighter.  “You have a Zoroark?”

That Pokémon was rare enough to border on legendary.  They didn’t even live in the Kalos region.

“Yeah, that’s what I said.”  The guy looked at Luka like he was stupid.

“How did you catch a Zoroark if it won’t even listen to you?”

“Dad gave ‘im to me.  He wants me to get famous here, but it’s harder to fake battles than I thought.”  He sighed dramatically and sunk to the seat next to Luka.

Clearly the ‘get famous’ plan wasn’t working.  Luka had no idea who he was.  At least he was pretty sure he wasn’t a Team Flare grunt, though.

“And you’re telling me this… after trying to rob me… why…?”

“Cause you asked.”

Luka blinked.  “Touché.”

He gave Symphony one last pat, then returned her to her pokéball.

“Traded Pokémon won’t listen to you without badges,” he told the would-be thief.  “And I don’t have any of those, if that’s what you were looking for.”

“Really?  But you look—”  The guy gestured to all of him.  “Y’know.  Cool.  Tough.”

“Thanks? I guess?  I’m just a musician, though.”  He patted his guitar next to him.  It was pretty telling that this guy hadn’t tried to steal that.  “I only battle if I have to.”

“Huh.  Well that’s pretty cool too, I guess.”  The guy shrugged.  “I did Pokémon Contests in Hoenn for a while.  Before I got banned for using holograms.”

Luka raised an eyebrow.  “Any other international crimes you want to confess to?”

“Crashed my boat into a herd of Luvdisc in Alola.  But that was an accident.  How was I supposed to know they were endangered?”

“I was being sarcastic, man.”  Luka shook his head.  “Nevermind.  Come on.”

He stood and hoisted his guitar over his shoulder.

“Huh?  Where are we going?”  The guy trotted after him.

“To catch you a Pokémon.  Before you get yourself kicked out of another country.”

XXX

The stranger’s name was XY.  It stood for Xavier-Yves.  It didn’t sound like an Unovan name, but that was still the least weird thing about the guy.  Maybe that was just a pseudonym.  He probably needed one after all of his criminal acts, accidental or not.

“Alright, XY.”  Luka stood knee-deep in the grass of Route 4.  “You’re going to be borrowing Symphony for this.  Borrowing.  If you run off with her, she’ll suplex you into the ground.”

XY eyed the Loudred next to him.  Sweat beaded on his forehead.

“Got it, Mr. Couffaine.”

“Just Luka is fine.”  He sighed.  This was such a weird way to be spending the night after a concert, but it was still better than going home.

“Got it, Mr. Luka.”

Close enough.

“Alright, now follow me into the grass.”

“I can’t do that!  That’s where the Pokémon are!”

Luka rolled his eyes.  “That’s the point.  You’re going to catch one.”

“I thought you were going to catch me one.  Because you’re cool and sexy like that.”

“Flattery’s not getting you out of this.”  Luka grabbed his wrist and tugged him into the grass, Symphony following behind them.

XY squealed again.  “But what if they eat me!”

“We’re on Route 4, dude.  The biggest Pokémon out here is a Skitty.”

“...Those things eat meat, right?”

“No.”  Even if they did, they would probably know better than to eat XY.  They didn’t know where he’d been.

“If I die, you’re paying for my funeral,” XY grumbled, even though he’d already gone off on four tangents about how rich his dad was.  Luka didn’t even bother responding.

Suddenly XY screamed again.  A few Fletching flew out of the red flower patch.  At this rate, they’d never catch anything.

“What is it this ti—oh.”  Luka blinked down at the tiny Pokémon clinging to XY’s ankle.  “It’s just a Flabébé.”

The little girl seemed to have mistaken XY’s socks for a flower.  She was shuddering, cowering against the fabric even as XY tried to shake her off.

“Dude, cut it out.”  Luka gripped him by the shoulders.  “This is perfect.  She already likes you.”

“Y-you think so?”  XY set his foot back on the ground.  The Flabébé tentatively looked up.

“You might not even need Symphony to weaken her.  Here.”  Luka took out a pokéball, but hesitated to hand it over.  “Are you going to take good care of her if I give you this?”

“What gives, man?”  XY snatched the ball.  “You were gonna teach me about catching Pokémon, not about, like, parenting stuff.”

Luka hadn’t thought this through enough before seeing the little Flabébé.  He couldn’t in good conscience condemn her to a life with XY without knowing that he would treat her right.

“Are you staying in Lumiose?  I live at the edge of the city.  I could come check on her.  Just to make sure she’s not giving you too much trouble.”

“I didn’t know you were gonna want joint custody.”  XY smirked.  “But sure, whatever.  Can’t complain if you want to do half my work for me.”

He knelt down and tapped the Flabébé on her head.

“You are just a little thing, aren’t you?”  He let out a nasal laugh.  “How do you feel about me being your new dad?”

“Please don’t say it like that.”  Luka groaned.

The Flabébé fluttered into XY’s palm and nudged the pokéball.  Wow.  She must really have no standards.

“Sorry.  Me and Lu are gonna be your new dads.”  XY grinned.

“Aaaand that’s even worse.”

The Flabébé looked at Luka.  He looked at her.  She looked at him.  He looked at her.

“...I’m not being your other dad.”

Symphony blasted out a honk of laughter.  He glared at her.

“Don’t make me put you back in the pokéball.”

She just smiled innocently.

“Okay, okay.  Shut up.  We’re doing this.”  XY took a deep breath and pressed the button on the pokéball with his thumb.  It split open, sucking the Flabébé into its light.

The ball glowed red while rocking back and forth.  Once.  Twice.  Three times.

Then it went still.

“I—I did it?”  XY stared at the ball in his palm.  Luka swore there was wonder in his eyes.

Hopefully this hadn’t been such a bad idea after all.

“You did it.”  Luka clapped him on the shoulder.  “Why don’t you let her out now?  She should get used to you before you take her home.”

After fumbling for a moment, XY popped the ball open.  The Flabébé flashed back out and hovered in the air.  She quickly zipped down and plucked a red flower, hugging it close.

“Aww, our first date and she’s already giving me flowers.”  XY laughed.

“It’s not for you.  Flabébé has to keep one close for protection.”

“Ah. Like a comfort blanket.”  XY nodded sagely.  “That’s okay!  I’ll pick my own flower.  Then we can match!”

He snatched up another red bloom, then tucked it behind his ear.

Luka was surprised to find himself smiling.  Who would’ve thought XY could actually be cute?  When he wasn’t trying to steal Luka’s non-existent gym badges, anyway.

“Are you going to name her?”  He asked to keep his thoughts away from that tangent.

“Huh?  Oh.  Uh… hmm.”  XY’s brow furrowed.  He stared at the Flabébé, who had fluttered back into his palm.  “You can’t tell me your name, can you?”

She let out a tiny squeak.  

“Hmm.  Yeah.  I feel that.”  He nodded.  “How about Cheeto?”

“Cheeto?”  Luka burst before he could think better of it.  Who named their Pokémon Cheeto?  

“Yeah, ‘cause she’s got that yellow dust all over her.”  XY rubbed a tiny bit of it off with his fingertip.  Flabébé almost seemed to purr.

“You mean… pollen?”

XY raised an eyebrow.  “Ew, gross.  What kind of name is Pollen?  Sounds like Pole-men.  And she’s a girl.”

Luka wanted to smack his forehead.  Symphony gave him a sympathetic pat.

“Well.  Have fun with Cheeto, I guess.”  He sighed.  “I’m going to go get some sleep.  You’ve got my Holo Caster number.”

“Wait!”  XY jogged after him, cradling Cheeto close to his chest.  “I didn’t get to say—thanks, man.”

Luka looked back over his shoulder, surprised.  “No problem.  This is better than stealing gym badges, right?”

“A lot better.”  He looked down at his new Pokémon fondly.  “Uh, sorry about that, by the way.  I—I’m gonna make it up to you.”

“Yeah?”  He raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah!  I’m gonna—take you to the hotel I’m staying at!  So you don’t look homeless!”  XY grabbed him by the arm and started dragging him back towards the city.

“I literally told you I live in town…?”

“Then why were you sleeping in the Pokémon Center like a hobo?”  XY smirked.  Symphony laughed where she was lumbering after them.

You’ve turned my own Pokémon against me.  Luka scowled.

“Didn’t feel like dealing with my mom,” he said under his breath.  

It was stupid, running away just because he’d finally found out about his dad.  His whole band was here. Including his sister.  Lumiose was a big city, but he couldn’t play guitar for Kitty Section and dodge his parents at the same time.

“Perfect!  There’s no moms allowed in my hotel room!”  XY beamed.

If staying out was stupid, then even considering XY’s offer was downright moronic.  XY had tried to rob him just hours ago.

But the dude was rich.  Luka didn’t have anything else he could want.  And whatever hotel room they ended up in was bound to have a more comfortable couch than the Pokémon Center’s.

“...Alright,” he finally agreed.

XY’s holler of joy could probably be heard in the next route over.

“Sweet!  Bro co-parenting slumber party, here we come!”

Luka let Symphony laugh at him.  He deserved it for ending up in such a ridiculous situation.

But somehow, he felt better anyway.

[bowlingshirts]

Statement of Timothy Stoker, regarding his imminent [sigh] survival, in an encounter with entity known as The Stranger. Statement recorded by subject, Archival Assistant to The Magnus Institute, London. Statement number 0212704

I put it off for a while, I suppose.

Maybe it's for the best honestly. It's not like I was in a place to give a particularly good statement before. I was kind of... I don't think it would have been a fair one. Well, not like this ones exactly fair either, huh? Ugh.

Well! Here we go.

You were there before, but you said you wanted everything.

The information in this statement can be counted as a continuation of statement number 0171406. The day was no different from any other, which felt a bit unfair for how angry I was. It should have been hard to feel like anything was right. But, I was always shocked back then with how mundane everything still felt when you weren't involved. Even worse was how comfortable I felt in the tunnels underneath the opera house. You could blame that on how much time I had been spending in the tunnels at the institute by that point I suppose. It had felt right to be in that room, surrounded by those almost people mannequins.

Anyways, we were walking through the underground labyrinth of the Royal Opera House, the chatter we made wasn't pleasant, and I was finding it hard to breathe the stagnant air, I had been harboring suspicion that Jon wasn't breathing it. I had a lot of theories at the time, but I felt that he was rotting it somehow. Somehow he was purposely making it hard to breathe, and that the stink in the room was from him. Becoming whatever he was, was rotting him somehow.

It wasn't him.

It was the mannequins. They reeked so gently you wouldn't recognize it unless you were surrounded by them. Basira was the one who pointed it out. It made me feel a little better that it couldn't be him, that he wasn't poisoning me with his very presence. It didn't make the decision to just, throw it all away and blow it up any easier. Suddenly I wasn't sacrificing my boss who put me in this hell, or the corrupt cop who wanted to kill me just as much as the carnival did. Cold and cruel, she really was awful. It stopped being a room of people I found just as disposable as myself, who I'd honestly be a bit happy to see go. Now there were innocents! Perfect!

I saw my brother in all of them, I suppose.

I couldn't just leave them! And it made me more irritated to hear him saying we should. Wanted to hit something more. But, again, things changed when we saw what was behind the doors, that until now had been muddling the sound of that damned calliope.

I'll never forget how it felt to have my throat clog with the size of the room, the noise. The stale, slightly rotting, smell was bathed in rich popcorn that eminated from nowhere seemingly. They certainly weren't serving any. It just was there.

Just like there just.... WAS a massive crowd of clowns.

And audience.

Puppets.

The song was loud, and it hurt my ears to be there, but it also.... deafened me some.

Made it... hazy.

Like, it wasn't there, and then it starkly was. And then I wasn't. I heard gunshots and screaming, and then someone.... daisy? I think so. Daisy was talking to me, trying to explain something but it couldn't have been, it simply COULDN'T. Because nothing was.

There was nothing and I was no one and trying to convince me she was something was about as damning as if she had put on a face herself and giggled merrily trying to convince me to dance.

Dance!

God the dance...

We didn't dance yet.

I had to get away from her, because I'd forgotten what my hands were, and all I could do was hope I didn't hurt myself turning. I stumbled into Jon's argument. I'm... I don't know what you were doing. But I saw two people fighting and I tackled one, ready to pummel them. It was you, Jon. Not sorry for the hit, still.

You yelled at me, to tell me what I saw, "My asshole boss" I snarled back.

I was taken aback because did I have a boss? I must have, you were here, and I recognized you, I knew you. If I knew you and you didn't have a chance to put that in my mind, then you must be real, you had to be real. Subconsciously, I've later come to assume I recognized you because you had been the only one that still acted like you. I've mentioned this before but although you were wildly annoying, and invasive, and unprofessional, STUPID, you were always like that. Maybe more intense now, but I got it. It was you. It was... hard to keep that in my mind, but I didn't need to.

Grimaldi was next.

I couldn't forget them.

It was hard to know what I said at that point, but I was angry, and it made everything foggy to be so angry. I heard my name, and it was my name I know now, yelled behind me, as I tackled them. I punched them and broke their shell again, as I've been told they were upset that they broke one before. I thought I did.

Apparently the detonator had been the one that helped there, pretty thoroughly destroyed my hands for a while, not beyond function, but I had to work on it, but the hard shell of it was the real brace for bursting through their face.

The song was accompanied by a mournful wail that Jon says, was probably him, after that. And the fighting stopped.

We had to, we had to dance with them. We danced for hours it felt, and I was sick more than once.

It was overpowering at first, dizzy, I lost myself again, and so did he im told. And then it wasn't. And then it was frantic. The frantic dance of the jerking plastic was the hardest part, and the dizziness and fog was wearing off.

My feet hurt, my legs, my back, my hand hurt so much. But more than that, those stupid clowns had stopped moving, confused. They lurched to Jon in a scream, demanding what he'd done. He looked as confused as them, and I was.... still not quite me. But I was enough to see the axe I'd brought in my exhausted state. I grabbed it. And I, simply, started swinging. I knew my partners now, and I knew what to do, and they were too busy in being furious to care about the not people they were losing.

They weren't kidding when they said that losing their numbers was nothing, and that they were just puppets.

No matter how many I smashed, they just let me.

I stopped eventually, but even then they didn't move.

I think they'd given up.

And then, Jon had been screaming at me for a while, but pulled me out completely by grabbing my axe. I was sick again, the amount of pain roaring through my sore body, and he caught me and he didn't manage to help me up, but Basira did, and she was angry about it clearly. I couldn't find Daisy, none of us could.

I passed out then, held in her arms.

She smelt bad.

When I woke up I was in a hospital. We all were for a while, and then we took a break. Apparently they had still blown the thing up. I felt.... good that I had beat them in, even if it didn't do anything.

Right freaked me out that they didn't move or resist, even looking up to me with their unchanging faces, as a sort of shrug. An acceptance. They had lost, and for the life of them they couldn't figure it out. But they were done. They couldn't restart in their lifetime, and it had destroyed them somehow. Cathartic still to beat them in, some.

Even still there were more than I could destroy, exhausted, hand hurt pretty badly, so they left. And they trailed out. And just, remotely detonated it when they reached the limit of the distance.

...

I don't know.

Maybe it was for the best?

I know now why their dance didn't work, but, I suppose so do you.

Statement ends.