#taking a break from the hell of animating Dark to instead...draw Dark. in fantasy hell. huh.

[starlight-eclipsed]

The only lights besides the eerie glow of malice are the dizzying dance of poe lanterns floating through the halls. Dark will never admit the how those little spots of brightness comfort and calm him, even though he does not need light to see.

Howdy, folks. I'm sleepy and can't think of anything funny to say, so I'm just gonna cut to the chase: Go read A Dark Among the Lights by @luckylectio on AO3.

[newpotatomash]

It's so fucking ironic when little shits start pelting the comment section in fics that are clearly tagged with "pedophilia" and "dead dove do not eat" and similar words.

Long fucking rant under the cut-

What is it with these people and being unable to just fucking click the back button? It isn't even my fanfiction, but these people just scream everything between "Go to therapy" and "kill yourself" as if they actually wish for people to deal with whatever might cause an issue in their life??? They fucking don't. They just want to scream at strangers to die while they write "UwU dead dove do not eat" fanfics themselves that include murder and violent fantasies of a fictional character.

But it's fine when they do it because nobody involved is underage as if that makes their stupid fucking rules about thought-crimes any less violent.

Why is it always the same people who insist they love dark media?? Either you're fine with MADE UP ACTS or you're not. You can't just fucking pick and choose and decide that you're the authority of "acceptable" violence that someone thought up in their heads.

I am extremely fickle when it comes to media that involves vaginal sex, and that is my responsibility to curate, which is why I fucking??? Don't??? Walk right into a fanfic that's been tagged with those exact tags and blame the author.

I saw someone going something like, "No sane person would read this. I can only imagine a very impressionable child stumbled upon it and saw it, which breaks my heart ngl"

IF AN IMPRESSIONABLE CHILD STARTS TICKING BOXES FOR A VERY SPECIFIC TYPE OF FANFIC, AND THEY THEN PROCEED TO READ IT, HOW THE HELL IS THAT THE AUTHORS FAULT. we're one goddamn step away from blaming murder on video games here.

These fucking people think that wishing death upon others for writing a piece of fiction is any better than a 14 year old reading said piece of fiction and going, "Whoa. Weird." And then leaving the website because they realized that pretending to be 18+ was a bad idea.

I am in awe over the internet.

The amount of times I see the word "degenerate" on a day is completely bonkers and I wish sites weren't so fucking scared of porn. We're just competing in some fucked up moral olympics and nobody is winning except the advertisers who cry snot at a site allowing 18+ content. I love ao3 so much.

I hate that if I wish to post smutty drawings I have to use twitter? I won't suddenly start using a site like furaffinity when I don't draw anything that would count as furry.

I hate the internet for taking away the immeasurable joy it is to bond with people who just want to play dolls (write fanfics or draw fanart, make oc stuff, all that) with me. I've met some of my best friends online that I've sent and received gifts from over the span of 5, 10, 15 years.

I remember writing an abundance of shotacon fics, and knowing it was an acquired taste, but never seeing the kind of moral-policing we have now. (I know it existed. Of course) Hell, I remember people just saying that Enzai was an amazing anime because to them, it was a given that a yaoi anime would include kids and rape and false imprisonment?? It was the fucking wild west and it's like people saw this and went "Hey... We should start tagging things."

But instead of continuing to have fun with their fictional writings and tagging topics in the stories, we just escalated into "We have a pedophilia tag but people will wish death upon you."

How do these people survive in day-to-day life in actual conversation? Do they start arguing and calling a 15 year old who has a crush on their 14 year old friend a pedophile? Do they start berating young women because they named their boyfriend "daddy" in their phonebook? Why are they like this???

I miss fanfiction.net and livejournal so much when the biggest concern was figuring out what topic I'd discuss while I pretended to speak to characters from Yugioh and yelling "I don't own any of these characters". I miss it so much. It made my life better. I found community, I made friends. I wonder what kind of friends people nowadays will make 15 years from now.

Shout out to my buddies from ffnet who are still following me because you know exactly who you are

[dadaminayellowpie]

Not feeling up for it

It is pathethic that i still draw like a child when i am almost in my thierties, its still horrible i still cant do it.

You know what, here is a summary of all 5 main arcs this “ Fantasy “ series would have featured:

The Original Blossom Flower:

An entire town gets haunted by evil spirits and 2 witches join forces with a demon tu rule over thw world.

It is later revealed that the demon, and in turn alos the witches, go their power from a lost innocent child that did lose her eyesight and got lost in a forest and later a castle that she found. She was confronted by a demon who promised her to help her against heer fear, that contract allowed for the demon to walk on gods ground, since he had the body of an innocent child as a host.

However, the main hero figures it out, finds the actual child who is still trapped all alone and helps her escape from the castlke. The curse breaks and both the witches and the demon get dragged to hell.

It is then revealed that the lost child is the actual ruler of the town and has royal roots, so she becomes the queen.

The Blossom Flower ( aka this Blog )

Over 3000 Years ago the human race died out and the now evolved half animal half human ( furrys basically ) lifeforms wonder what happened and fear the same might happen again.

Mary, the main Character, gets soon haunted by semmingly mutated deer and chased down by a relentless killer called Kayala.

However, she actually befriends with one of the monsters and figures out that the human race was killed because the humans tried to become immortal by creating a virus that could cure and protect its host, however, one of the test subject ( a deer ) was so successful, that the virus could not only heal a bullet wound to the head, but the virus soon started to saw the humans as a threat, the virus let the deer mutate and after a breakout started to grow and grow and basically absorbed the enitre planet, before slowly dieing down.

However the host is still trapped since the virus ( now a seperate creature as well ) doesnt want to let the host go, because it wants to protect.

To keep thing shorts, Annika gets chosen to save the host by becoming her new mother. She actually manages to find the original host, and with the new powers the host has from the virus, they manage to get the host inside her womb,

The virus dies down since it lost its purpose and turns into a gigantic plant to instead protect the entire planet.

It is also revealed, although still changed again and again, that Annikas dark plot twist is either that she is a pedophile and gets hunted down by Kayala because of that or that she at the very least tried to create her own children and lured children into her cottage to use them as a base and tried to grow children, sorta like plants, well, its messed up. She does that because she is either not allowed to have children, because she is also a pedohile or because she isnt able to have children and cant get pregnant.

However, Kayala got hired to hunt her down by one of her own sucessful creations that wants to take revenge.

In the end, after the host is born, Kayala actually manages to hunt her down and decapitate her, ending Annikas storyline.

The Blossom Flowers

This part hasnt been fleshed out, to keep things short:

A group of females see the male gender as a threat and use the Virus from the last story, to systematically wipe them out.

After the virus from the last part got turned into a flower it also brought back all the creatures it absorbed. One of them, a human girl ( although she is now also a furry ) gets the idea, since she fears that the humans, more specifially the males, could destroy this paradise, so she uses the virus and manipulated it that it would react to the male chromosomes and basically makes them vioently burst into pieces.

This horrendous plan gets stopped by the heroes, however, they still succeed in their plans, since they gave samples of the virus to random women all over the planet, one of them lets the virus loose in the end and in an traumatic event the male gender is extinct.

The Blossom Garden

This was supposed the final, it is revealed that some males have survived under ground and it is also revealed that many of the events,were all planned all along by one evil being called Elizabeth Elvador van Belvedere. This Girl has planned a long time to not only wipe out the humans and the males, also all non-pure females and later on all life in general.

Her story is basically that a rich and powerful family had their daughter kidnapped but to not seem weakened their hire Annika to create a duplicate of their child to make the kidnappers appear to be liers.

A random girl gets picked up by the streets by Annika and gets turned into a more lookalike to actual Belvedere. That procedure is so damaging to her body, that she loses her ability to walk properly and is almost at every second in pain.

In order to hide her true identity, all of her family members get killed.

After she now looks like Belvedere, she gets brought to the belvedere family where she gets abused and what not.

After a while she cant take it anmyore runs amok, killing every main member of the belvedere family ( including a younger child ) before trying to commit suicide, she gets stopped by on of the maidens, who now want to use her as the new leader,. since she is the only left alive from the belvedere tree.

She gets forced to stay alive and has basically lost all will to live, however, she gets the idea of curing the world from all suffering and sets the many plans in motion that would slowly erase life in general.

Later the actual Belvedere shows up as well, sees the fake one as a sister and gets an unhelthy obsession with her, the both then go on to try to destroy all life in general by injecting themselves with the virus.

In the end Belvedere finds a friend that manages to enlight hope in her, realizing that all she ever did was being an absolute monster, she jumps off a clock tower and kills herself for good. The actual Belvedere jumps shortly after her and before they both hit the ground, they hug each other before both dying.

THEN, to set off the events of the very last entry, GOD herself shows up and promises that she never let such a traumatic event ever take place again.

The Blossom Forest - The Last One

Basically all the hatred in the world gets absorbed by a being called Lucy and she tried to kill god for all the horrible things she has let happened.

Things happen and at the very end, after Lucy and god fight, Lucy manages to get access to gods memories and it is revealed, that this Version of God was simply the last lifeform to be alive after the first universe collapsed. God is a little human girl who simply created life to not be alone anymore.

Realizing this Lucy loses her hatred and hugs God and the entire world is in peace. Those ending the entire freaking franchise.

DONE

Did you really believe i would have ever been motivated or talented enough to draw all of that? I dont think so.

Then later i got the idea of making yet another sequel, showing the actual real god, which also would have been a female, and life apperently started when one of the first simple lifeforms commited suicide to escape the primitive ways that live has evolved in, those creating a genetic chaos that would set the things in motion for a more developed souls ( actually i was going to write concishnes or whatever thats spelled, but i dont know how thats spelled and at this point i am very tired of typing ).

BLAH BLAH BLAH

THATS IT. IM DONE.I GIVE UP

I HATE MY ART, I HATE MY LIFE, I WANT TO STOP

I AM SO AHPPY ONCE IM DEAD, F*CK THIS WORLD

WHAT AM I EVEN HERE FOR???

Blog is dead.

Thanks for sticking.

by the way, no this is not a suicide post, dont worry

[d3-iseefire]

Nevermore Chapter Three

As a child, Bilba’s favorite game had been a fantasy RPG where she’d spent her time exploring a massive world filled with all manner of amazing creatures and beautiful landscapes. 

It had also been filled with wolves. Not normal ones, but massive creatures known as Dire wolves. She’d used to complain endlessly about them, especially in the early parts of the game when her character was low level with poor weapons and armor. 

Her ire with them had not been improved when her father, who adored random trivia, informed her that the creatures were based on an actual, extinct wolf species that had once roamed the earth. Closer in size to a lion than any wolf currently in existence, the animals would have been apex predators on their own, let alone in a pack. 

The wolf looking at her right now reminded her of those old drawings and descriptions, except she was pretty sure he was bigger. 

He was lounging in front of a tree with his back legs vanishing under a large bush. His fur, thicker and shaggier than a normal wolf’s, was a golden brown, darkest along his back and lightning to near white along his legs and sides. His eyes were a brilliant amber that almost seemed to glow with their own light, and studied her with what felt like an unusual level of intelligence.

Bilba really hoped it was the sort of intelligence that suggested not eating the girl who’d broken up his majestic lounging by using him to break her fall. The tree behind him would have hurt had she hit it, but probably not as much as being eaten by an Eldritch god would. 

The animal was strangely calm, which Bilba took as a good sign. She wasn’t sure how long she stayed frozen in place, but it was long enough that her heart rate slowed and her breathing evened out. Whether this was because her nerves had genuinely settled or she’d moved past sheer terror and into catatonia. 

She started to give what she hoped was a reassuring smile only to cut it off as she realized that baring her teeth at a wolf might not be seen in the positive light she intended. 

Actually, now that she thought about it, how long had she been making direct eye contact with him? Wasn’t direct eye contact with a predator a VERY BAD THING?

She dropped her eyes, only to find them naturally locked onto his paws. His very enormous paws, with curved claws wider than her fingers and probably twice as long. Bilba swallowed, or tried to past the enormous rock suddenly lodged in her throat. 

There was literally nothing she could do. Move or don’t move, slow or fast, in the end it would all depend on whether or not the wolf chose to let her live. 

“Okay,” she said, her voice barely a whisper. She risked a quick glance and saw the wolf’s ears perk up. “Sorry for rolling into you. I’m going to try to scoot away now, okay? Please don’t eat me.”

Her voice dropped to nearly inaudible on the last few words. Be a nice wolf, she thought desperately. A nice wolf like -- oh, crap, she couldn’t think of any nice wolves in media. What did that mean? Even bears had the Care Bears or Yogi or a whole host of others. She could think of friendly snakes, lions and even a shark or two, but not a single friendly wolf. 

That was such a bad, bad sign. 

The wolf caught her eyes and then, in what seemed an oddly deliberate motion, turned his head to where his feet vanished under the bush. He shifted and Bilba heard the distinct rattle of some metal object along with the clink of a chain. 

The wolf’s eyes turned back to focus on her, steadily. 

Trying to avoid any sudden movements, Bilba walked her hands back until she could ease herself into a crouched position. The wolf didn’t seem to mind, so she slowly braced her hands behind her and eased her body into a seated position. Her body protested the action, but nothing felt broken or seriously injured, simply bruised and sore. 

Her new position put her near the wolf’s hind legs. The wolf caught her attention and then deliberately repeated its earlier action, a slow, deliberate look toward its hind legs followed by a shift in movement and the rattle of metal and chains. 

Bilba nodded shakily and scooted back a few feet closer to the bush. An uncontrollable tremor started to run over her, and her stomach was in knots but, overall, she still felt strangely calm. Perhaps she’d finally snapped, and gone insane. 

She leaned over and brushed back some of the branches of the bush. Silver glinted off the jagged teeth of a small trap locked tightly around one of the wolf’s paws. A thick chain led off the trap to a metal stake set deep into a rock jutting out from the roots of the tree. 

Even in the shadows under the bush, she could see how deep the teeth had dug into his foot. Blood matted the fur, and coated the ground underneath. From the pattern, it appeared he’d spent some time fighting to pull himself free by brute force. 

“Ouch,” she murmured, before mentally kicking herself at the inane comment. Now that she knew what to look for, she could see the wolf’s breathing was fast, sides heaving in a near pant as though he’d run a marathon, or was in extreme pain.  

Bilba shivered as her mind conjured just what it must feel like to have those metal teeth ripping through her foot. If she wanted, she could probably leave. The chain was short. If she gathered herself and lunged away from him, it was likely she’d take herself out of his range. She could get up and...only have the one threat to deal with instead of two. 

She could do that, and leave him here to suffer...or she could help and risk him killing her as soon as he was free. 

As if reading her mind, the wolf let out a low whine and laid his head on his front paws, eyes fixed on her. 

Bilba sighed. “Fine, you can put the puppy eyes away.” She leaned in to look closer at the trap. “I really hope I don’t regret this,” she mumbled to herself. She had enough regrets to last her a lifetime. 

At least if helping did end up being a mistake, it’d be a very short lived one. 

The thought was not reassuring. 

She spotted the release lever. She’d have to push it down, forcing the teeth farther into the wolf’s paw, in order to release it. “This is going to hurt.”

He gave another whine and then, to her surprise, thumped his tail on the ground. Bilba frowned, could he be someone’s lost pet? It would certainly explain his behavior. 

She refocused on the trap, and a strange exhilaration ran through her, slicing through the apathy and fog that had shrouded her the last five years. The thought of helping another living being, of mattering to another living being, if even for just a moment…

It made her feel alive again. A being that existed in the world, instead of a shadow merely watching it pass her by. 

It was growing darker, and the gloom gathered under the bush was growing nearly too thick to see through. Bilba got her phone out and thumbed on the flashlight app, bringing the trap back into sharp relief. 

“Here goes nothing.” At the very least, if the wolf killed her, she’d die with the satisfaction of knowing just how truly pissed Lotho would be that she’d finally escaped him. 

Thinking of Lotho dashed some of her exhilaration and the gray pall began to settle over her once again. Bilba grimaced and, desperate to get her mind off it, braced her phone against a few branches of the bush and grabbed the trap. She took a deep breath, got her balance settled and then squeezed on the trap. 

She didn’t immediately die, so that was a good sign. Hopefully. 

The wolf made a low, groaning noise and she clenched her teeth in sympathy. “Sorry.”

The teeth of the trap sank lower into the wolf’s paw, blood bubbling up from the jagged wound. In order to release, the lever needed to ratchet further than she had it so, with a mumbled apology, she rose onto her knees and leaned forward to get her full weight behind it. 

The wolf groaned again and Bilba shivered at the thought of how much pain she must be causing the animal. 

The lever slipped into its final position and, with a sharp click, the trapped popped open. Bilba pried it off the wolf’s paw, and he drew his legs in to lick at the wounded appendage. He showed no interest in harming her, and Bilba sighed and slumped in relief.  

“Hey Girlie! Where’d you get off to?”

Bilba’s heart leapt into her throat and she sucked in a sharp breath. She scrambled for her phone and shut off the flashlight. Darkness fell about her and her eyes widened. She hadn’t been paying attention to how long she’d been there, or how fast the sun was setting. There was still a little light left overhead, past the tree canopy but, underneath, it was fast approaching full dark.

“Come on, now,” the man from the parking lot called. He sounded closer. He must have gotten tired of waiting and come after her. “You can’t stay in there forever. Come on out.”

Beside her, the wolf gathered itself and lumbered up onto its feel. If Bilba had thought it was enormous lying down, it was nothing compared to him when he was standing. He was like a freaking mountain, rising over her. It elicited an instinctive, primal desire to close her eyes, and curl into a fetal position. 

“You’re starting to piss me off, girl! Get out here, now!” The voice was even closer, and it wasn’t dark enough to fully hide her if he should happen to look down the incline. She pulled her legs to her chest and gripped her phone in her hands. 

She really wanted to go home, even if home was hundreds of miles away and five years in the past. 

The wolf limped past her. Bilba watched as he scrambled up the slope and vanished, leaving her alone. The temperature seemed to drop, and the darkness grew heavier. Overhead, she could hear crashing in the undergrowth and she held her breath, desperately praying the man wouldn’t look down and see her. 

“Damn it, Bitch,” she heard him say, “where the hell--”

His voice cut off in a sudden yelp and Bilba flinched in surprise. 

A low, rumbling sound reached her and she struggled to identify it. Something in her subconsciousness seemed to understand what it was and, again, that primal urge ran through her. The same desire that, as a child, would have her diving under the covers to hide from the thunderstorm raging outside. 

Not that hiding under her covers did any good. 

Hiding at all had never done her any good. 

The sound came again and her mind finally registered what it was. 

Growling. Deeper and fuller than anything she’d ever heard, a deep, vibrating thrum on a frequency so low it was almost more felt than heard. 

The wolf. 

The man gave an almost inhuman scream, and then she heard thrashing heading back toward the parking lot. The wolf snarled, a sound that froze her blood despite knowing it wasn’t directed at her, and new thrashing started as it apparently gave chase. 

The distant noise of a car engine started, followed quickly by squealing tires as a truck fled the parking lot. 

Bilba shuddered. She was cold, in pain, and nothing stood before her now but a return to her life, or what passed for it. For a brief second she’d felt normal again, like she’d belonged somewhere, but the feeling was gone now and there was no getting it back. 

She started to get up, but paused as the burning in her ankle registered. She remembered feeling it earlier, but hadn’t been in a position to do anything about it. She tabbed her flashlight app back on and pulled her sock down to check her ankle. 

The light from her phone fell on her ankle, and lit on a small, glowing mark just above the bone. Specifically, the linked, geometric shapes that had appeared when she’d turned eighteen. The ones that had been dark until this very moment when they’d begun to glow a bright, golden color. 

Her ankle wasn’t burning. 

Her soulmark was. 

Her activated soulmark. 

And the only person she’d met since the burning had started was the creep from the parking lot.

Continue Reading on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27298015/chapters/66695635

[whumpqin]

Perfect the Way You Are

Next official chapter installment! This one was a little more difficult to write than I thought, but I pushed through and wrote it. This one’s kind of rough, heed the warnings!

Elisha tag! @faewhump @imagination1reality0

CW: Pet whump, creepy/intimate whumper, noncon touching (non sexual), dehumanization, knifes, torture used as punishment, fantasy racism, victim blaming, mentions of abduction, mentions of broken bones, lotta icky language in here by the whumper

Word count: 2,243

The knife slid into his stomach, cool metal biting against his warm, inflamed skin. Elisha keened, swallowing thickly against the scream that threatened the escape from his lungs.

“You’re perfect, you know that?” the devil’s voice whispered above him. A constant reminder of the hell he was in. “Jeremiah was right about one thing, you do take pain well. You take everything so damn well. Sometimes I wonder what goes on in that fiery head of yours that makes you so reserved.”

“Pl-please… it, it hurts…” A hand was placed on the side of his face, smearing his own blood against him. 

“Shh, I know, pet.” Aridai pulled the blade out, finally letting him breathe without worry of further injury. That’s what they had told him to do, breathe. “It’s supposed to hurt. Now… recite your rules for me while I work on this next bit.”

This was the worst day of his life.

He hadn’t expected it to get any better, of course. They had abducted him. People who do that generally don’t have good intentions. But, for the most part, they left him alone in the dark to either starve or go crazy from the lack of human interaction and stimulus.

Today, Aridai clearly had other intentions. They had wanted a “de-stress” session, and after Elisha had affirmed his false name and his new rules they had gotten right to work cutting off of his shirt and sinking that knife into wherever they felt necessary. Even with the permission to use his voice, no amount of begging aided him against Aridai’s cruelty. Everything went unheard and there was no mercy granted.

“O-one. My, my Masters should, hnnk! Should always be ah, ad-addressed as Ma-Master..!” Elisha’s voice cut off in a shrill cry, unable to keep quiet any longer as Aridai’s knife dipped into his skin again. Terrified tears slipped from the corners of his eyes freely.

Elisha was humiliated at first when he was exposed. Embarrassed that someone else saw his thin frame besides the plants that sat next to his mirror back home. He had always been a private person, and this was just a violation of the boundaries he had put in place for a reason.

It was clear that Aridai had no boundaries. None besides the rules they set for everyone but themselves; a free spirit that rose above the masses of normal folk. 

“Good boy. You’re being so good for me,” they said, pleasantly smiling as if Elisha couldn’t see the metaphorical horns peeking from underneath their cardboard halo. “Keep going, Caleb.”

Two, hnk!” He squeezed his eyes shut as a long draw of the knife cut across his chest, continuing the pattern that only Aridai could see the product of. Like he was some carving of theirs. “Nev-never, hh, question your, nn, m-my Masters.”

Aridai had been angry with him. Elisha’s fear was so intense that he couldn’t stop himself when he tried to squirm out of their grasp, thrashing his tail around in unspoken anxiety. It was hard not to be afraid of someone approaching you with a knife, especially when your hands were tied behind your back and you were chained to a wall.

They had dragged him to the ground and straddled him, effectively preventing him from being able to pull away anymore. Then, Elisha had to face their ire, and he quickly learned that the only thing worse than Aridai was their vicious temper.

“Th-three. Do wha-what I’m, hnn, told, regard… regardless of the- ah, consequences..!” He gazed up to Aridai, pleading, and they only watched him with satisfaction.

“Good. That’s one you’re still working on, isn’t it?” They asked, a light tilt to their head. “Do you feel bad for being mean to me?”

“Ye-yes..! Yes, I do, please, I’m sorry! I’m sorry, I won’t pull away again, I won’t, I won’t..!” Bloodied hands found their way to his face again, this time with a thumb resting over his lips.

“No, you won’t, will you? You’ll learn to know better than to pull away from your Master. And you can stop that mumbling, now.” The thumb rubbed across his lips, gently, inviting for all the wrong reasons.

There was nothing that would provoke a Cambion’s instincts better than to wave a hand in front of their face. It was like asking them to bite you, an instinct whose origin was long forgotten to the old days. It was a lesson that Elisha remembered learning from his mother when he was young and naive and definitely not prepared for a world like this.

Everyone, who was smart, knew this. But most humans who knew well to avoid such things often spread rumors about the dangers of a Cambion’s bite. Elisha knew all it did was break the skin and draw blood, but everyone feared that their devilish nature would seep into them like a venom, tainting their bloodline and cursing their children. Like they were a wild animal.

What Aridai was doing was dangerous, but it was also a challenge. They were daring Elisha to bite, to go against his Master. They were waiting for another slip up.

Instead, Elisha shivered from the cold, wounds weeping blood as he stared up at them like an injured puppy. He merely swallowed, the only giveaway that he was thinking of anything at all, and made no move besides the occasional flick of his gaze as Aridai’s leg shifted. 

Finally, they smiled. “You’re so strange, Caleb. Though I guess that is the appeal.” Aridai’s hand withdrew and instead braced against his chest, preparing another series of cuts to complete their “carving”.

“Wha-what does..?” Elisha clamped his mouth shut, unsure if that was considered “questioning his Masters” or not. He didn’t want to chance it after he had already made them so angry.

“What? What was that? Did you say something to me?” Their gaze landed on Elisha, and he couldn’t tell if their expression was full of curiosity or fury. He couldn’t tell anything about them anymore. “Go on. I’m listening.”

“I-I’m sorry, I ju-just…” Elisha’s gaze frantically searched for something so that he could give them an excuse, something that would make them less angry. But his mind was already burning from the pain, as he quickly realized that he was out of options when Aridai laid the knife on a portion of his skin. “I-I don’t, don’t know what-what you mean…”

“What I mean? Oh! You mean your appeal? What makes you so interesting?” When Elisha nodded nervously, they laughed. Aridai was always laughing for some reason or another. “Oh Caleb, don’t sell yourself so short. You were like a little diamond in the rough.” A pause, a little light flickering on in their head. “I’m gonna call you that now. But, anyway, just a moment.”

They carefully carved more sections into his skin, finishing their work. This next part was more quick than the others, and Elisha was able to take some strange comfort in that. When Aridai pulled away they took some fabric out of their pocket and pressed on his wounds, and he felt parts of his ribs shift in a way they definitely weren’t supposed to. He keened, but he didn’t move. He wasn’t allowed to.

“Had to finish before I lost the image in my head. Now we can have a chat. So! I guess… you’re asking why you of all the easy pickings of the world, huh?” They tilted their head as Elisha nodded with a whine. “Way to be nice to people, Caleb.” The guilt was immediate, and added a further tightness to his chest that he didn’t think possible. “Poor little diamond… so lost on why it won the lottery when it picked stupid numbers on purpose, huh?”

What does that even mean? Elisha’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“Hm… Too ambiguous for you? Alright, lemme dumb it down for you.” Aridai learned close, uncomfortably so, to Elisha face. They used their free hand to brace themselves beside his head. “You were perfect, Caleb. You don’t even realize how long it took for us to find someone as perfect as you. No friends, no family, no one to look for you when you disappeared. When we were watching you, you seemed so much different than other Cambion. They tend to be the talk of the town, y’know? People notice when they leave, because they’re so damned relieved that they’re gone.. But you…” They shifted, removing their hand from the fabric to touch his face again. He resisted the instinct to pull away like he had stupidly done before. 

“Absolutely no one would miss you when you were gone, besides the people who would want money from you.”

Elisha swallowed, trying to not let the immense weight of Aridai’s words crush him.

“Now, I’ve met a fair amount of Cambion. They’re feisty creatures, and way too stubborn for their own good. But you’re different than your kind, Caleb. You’re tamed.” Aridai ruffled his hair, staining it with blood. “You’re so nice and reclusive. Not at all like all the other ones I’ve cut up before.”

A flicker of fear flashed in Elisha’s eyes as he fought to breathe. They had seen Cambion before? Did they kill them?

They tilted their head to the other side. “I guess… in thinking about why you were taken… I guess you were just perfect the way you were. You were practically begging to be taken.” Aridai finally leaned away, pulling the bloodied fabric from his chest. “Jeremiah said it was all an act. Fake, or something. But I can tell. You try too hard to be pretending. You actually think all that nice and kind bullshit makes a difference in the end..”

He felt sick. Elisha didn’t want to believe that what they were saying was right. It all felt wrong.

This wasn’t his fault. There was no way that they were looking for someone like him. He was just in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and they took him. 

Elisha had been trying to change. He had to believe that it was worth it.

“S-someone… they-they have to. Some-someone will look,” he argued quietly, voice wavering from tears unshed. “It’s, it’s the right thing to… to do.”

Aridai laughed again, plenty amused. “Who’s going to look for you, Caleb? Name someone for me.”

He tried to search his mind. His mother? No… he hadn’t talked to her in years. Elisha couldn’t remember the last time he talked to his neighbors… and the only person he carried a conversation with outside of plant life was the grocery clerk at his local store when he craved some sort of interaction from people.

“My, my landlord, sh-she’ll know I’m, I’m missing, she’ll call the, um, the police.” Elisha felt confident in that regard. The police took care of things. They found lost people and brought them home to their families.

“What do you think the police are going to do? Track you down, bring you back home? Let you live comfortably in your house again and lock up the poor, bad people who did this to you?” Aridai’s eyebrows upturned in mock pity. “I’ve been skating underneath their radar for years. They’ll give up after a month or so, and mark you down as another cold case that never gets solved. That is, if they give a Cambion like you the time of day.”

They moved, finally getting off of him and settling into a crouch next to them. Elisha tried to look away, he didn’t want to see their face anymore, but Aridai reached forward and forced their eyes to meet.

“If you had told anyone about yourself, then maybe. Maybe you would have a chance.” They grinned, sinister and cold. “Face it, Caleb. No one is going to look for you, because you’re a nobody. And you only have yourself to blame for that.”

The tears that threatened to fall finally made food on their claim. Elisha gasped, trying to force down the inner hurt that he felt, but he knew that bits floated to the surface. He bit his lower lip hard enough to draw blood, but the taste wasn’t enough to get him to stop.

It felt like Aridai had cut them with broken bits of glass, mentally and physically. He wanted to curl up in a ball of shame but he couldn’t even move to get away, even if he was allowed to. Don’t break down in front of them. Don’t do it. Don’t show weakness.

For once, he agreed with his instincts.

It was a blessing when Aridai finally stood up. “I think I’m done here. This was really fun, Caleb. Maybe we’ll shape you up enough to participate, hm?” They let out another series of lighthearted chuckles, and the sound was like nails on a chalkboard. “I’ll send in Jeremiah to clean you up. Honestly…” Aridai held up both hands, which were covered in Elisha’s own blood. “We’re both a pretty mess.”

They quickly retrieved their implements, looking him over one last time, before ascending the stairs to the rest of the house. The top of the basement shut with a loud slam, and he caught the sound of a lock as it clicked into place.

In the dark, Elisha finally let out the breath he didn’t realize he was holding, and felt the cracks underneath his skin that were beginning to show deepen.

[7-wonders]

M A S T E R L I S T

*denotes smut

+denotes completed series

Updated 10/23/20

Michael Langdon

Series

+As Above, So Below--Your average, mundane life as a college student is flipped upside down when the man you thought you knew as your next-door neighbor turns out to be the God of the dead. When Michael lures you down to Hell, everything that you thought you knew about the world is proven wrong.

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 | Chapter 18 | Chapter 19 | Chapter 20 | Chapter 21 | Chapter 22 | Chapter 23

+Shatter--Your coven is at war with the Antichrist, who has sworn to bring about the total destruction of the world. The only problem is that your mortal enemy just happens to be your boyfriend, Michael Langdon. After the coven decides that your relationship can't stand, Michael takes action.

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Epilogue 

Mad Love--A normal evening of studying quickly goes wrong when you’re kidnapped. Things somehow manage to take a turn for the worse when you find out why: to be the bride of the Antichrist

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 | Chapter 18 | Chapter 19 | Chapter 20

Oneshots

And God Made Eve to Bear the Curse (vampire!Michael)*--Michael wants one thing, and one thing only–to drink from the oasis between your thighs.

Chord Progressions--In the post-apocalyptic world, you find music to be the only thing that makes living in an underground bunker with a bunch of spoiled rich people tolerable. The time finally comes for your interview with the mysterious Cooperative member, Langdon. Will you find your way to salvation? Or will there be more questions than answers?

Bathe Me In Blood*--After your numerous questions, Michael invites you to observe as he conducts one of his rituals. The turn that it takes is a welcome surprise for both parties. 

Late-Night Reading--Your new friend Michael (aka the Antichrist) asks you to read to him one night after he has a nightmare.

Ride It Out--The end of the world is terrifying, even when you’re the Antichrist’s lover. 

Driver’s Ed--Michael really wants to learn how to drive a car.

A Sanctuary Within the Sanctuary--The end of the world is more difficult to deal with than you had anticipated. Michael, appreciative of how you’ve stuck by him, decides to show you his thanks. 

Practice Makes Perfect*--Michael wants a baby. You want a baby.

In the Clouds*--After a heated argument leads Michael to show you who’s in charge, you float off into the clouds.

Baby Love--You find out you’re pregnant, and now comes the hard part: Surprising Michael.

Sacrificial Lambs--What you thought was just going to be an event to meet the members of Michael’s Satanic church turns into a ritual sacrifice, followed by your unofficial ‘dark’ baptism. As any normal person, you don’t take the murders of two innocent people well. 

Hurt--After an intense fight, Michael inadvertently causes what he does best: Hurt.

Sweet as Cyanide--Michael makes his final decisions for the Sanctuary, and leaves you with a cryptic warning about the upcoming Halloween party.

Without a Word--You’ve always been the light to Michael’s dark, the one who makes everyone smile instead of the one who scares people with a mere glance. Michael has never seen the clouds that lurk inside of you, threatening to spill over and ruin your carefully-constructed image. 

Twilight, Eat Your Heart Out (vampire!Michael)--Pondering your own mortality is never a good long-term solution, especially when you have to compare it to the immortal vampire you’ve found yourself entangled in a relationship with.

Family Man--Michael brings his family along to the last Outpost after realizing that he’s not willing to sacrifice his loved ones for his father’s plan.

Lost In the Shadows--As a naturally curious person, the odd mannerisms of your elusive new boss pique your interest, making you determined to figure out who, or what, he is.

Thinking of Sin (CAOS!au)*--Michael, having fully embraced his title as Antichrist and heir to the throne of Hell, invites you to join him as his father’s church, the Church of Night, celebrates one of their most sacred holidays: Lupercalia, the festival of passion.

Creature of the Night (vampire!Michael)*--Michael indulges one of your secret fantasies on Halloween.

Heaven & Hell Were Words to Me*--A surprise takes a turn that should be sickening, but instead only serves to draw you even further into the web that Michael has woven.

Labyrinth King!Michael headcanons

Vampire Michael Musings

The Thrill of the Chase--Your path once again crosses with Michael’s, this time under much more dire circumstances. Life and death, specifically yours, has suddenly never been more prevalent in your mind.

Marry the Night--Outpost 3 has never been quiet. When you awake and find that, for the first time in months, there’s nothing but silence, you’re determined to get to the bottom of it. Soon, you’ll wish that you had stayed in bed.

Warm and Real and Bright--A Tangled!AU, with Michael as a dark Flynn Rider and reader as Rapunzel.

Duncan Shepherd

Series

Love Me Now+--Meeting Duncan’s family for the first time, you’re faced with the glaringly obvious facts: You don’t belong. 

Part One | Part Two

Memento Mori--When being in the wrong place at the wrong time lands (Y/N) in the blood-stained hands of D.C.’s most notorious crime boss, Duncan Shepherd, she finds herself unexpectedly in his debt. Perhaps owing the dangerous man a favor would be more torturous if he weren’t so engaging.

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9

Beauty and the Beast!Duncan Shepherd AU

Wilted Roses Smell Just as Sweet--How Duncan came to become the monster that he is when he and reader’s paths cross.

This Place of Wrath and Tears--Jim is missing, and nothing can prepare you for what you stumble upon in your quest to find him.

A Gentleman’s Guide to Wooing Your Prisoner--You begin to resign yourself to life in a prison cell, when things somehow manage to become even stranger. Alternately, Duncan deals with his staff and fellow prisoners having hope for the first time since the curse was placed on his home and everyone in it.

This Cruel Trick of Fate--A quick blurb from Duncan’s POV.

Down the Rabbit Hole--You make a decision about your stay at the enchanted manor, but at what cost?

Oneshots

Gala Blues*--At a political gala, you’re ridiculed and objectified by some of Duncan’s colleagues. A fight ensues between you and Duncan, continuing to a standoff that can only end in one way.

 Kiss Me Through the Phone--The Republican jerk who follows you on Twitter turns out to actually be kind of nice. You’re more than content with him just being an internet acquaintance, but plans change when it turns out that he’s going to be attending the same event tonight as you.

Come Out and Play*--Your boyfriend, Duncan, has a few tricks up his sleeve to help you relax after the stressful day you had.

From the Desk Of...*--The mandatory class you’re forced to take this semester is enough to make you consider dropping out of college. The only thing that makes it bearable is your teacher: Professor Duncan Shepherd. He’s smart, handsome, witty, and, not to mention, twenty years your senior. 

Like an Animal* (werewolf!Duncan)--Duncan finds himself in big trouble when he gets trapped in an elevator with you the night before his shift and in the midst of his heat. (Werewolf!Duncan Shepherd)

Service With a Scribble--Duncan’s a dick to a cashier, and (Y/N) decides to get back at him with a healthy dose of kindness.

Violent Delights* (incubus!Duncan)--Accidentally summoning a seductive incubus leaves you between a rock and a hard place, but do you really want out of this as much as you claim?

As the World Falls Down--You’ve stood by Duncan through thick and thin, but when the true intention of the app he’s been developing is revealed, everything crashes down around you.

Inside Out--After one too many instances of Duncan being the token stuck-up rich guy, you’re ready to show him how the rest of America lives by taking him through a day in your life.

All the Time In the World--Life has thrown you a few curveballs lately. Between absolute chaos wreaking havoc at your job, being too busy to sleep and your schedule not meshing with Duncan’s, you’re stressed beyond measure. So stressed, in fact, that you don’t notice you miss your period until you’re two weeks late. 

Duncan Shepherd NSFW Alphabet*

Jim Mason

Oneshots

Kiss of Fire*--You only want what’s best for Jim, and that includes staying clean of drugs. Jim, who’s been bottling up his true feelings for so long, finally snaps after he finds out you flushed his stash. 

Half of My Heart--Jim was supposed to be better now. After his psychotic break, you and Medina had made sure that it was impossible for him to slip back into his old habits. But the morning comes, and so does the realization that he’s been lying to both of you. 

Xavier Plympton

Truth or Dare--A oneshot of Xavier being dared to play Seven Minutes in Heaven, and you’re the one that the group chooses to go with him.

Still Lovin’ You--You’re smoking weed with Xavier in the back of the infamous Vanta-C when things get a little steamy.

Shot Through the Heart--Being a ghost, you could handle. Your boyfriend killing people? Not so much.

Welcome Home (Sanitarium)--After two years, Xavier returns to the spot where he nearly lost his life...and where you did.

Cum On Feel the Noize*--Xavier has ideas on how to spice up your boring shift.

[iloveurscratchybeard]

Moirae - Part 4

**NSFW**, for reals. You’ll follow better if you’ve read part 1, part 2, and part 3 of this saga...tagging @today-in-fic @peacenik0 @scully-eats-sushi  @sportsnightnut @pickingoutchinapatterns and anyone else that digs early MSR

They can't seem to catch a break. Mulder feels the truth just outside of his fingertip grasp; he sees the cloak of lies and smells the gunpowder wafting over it. There was purity control and tanks of hybrids. He feels the remnants of toxic fumes in his lungs when he inhales. A father figure was buried in cold earth and he wasn't even allowed to grieve. But it could have been Scully. How it would have killed him had if been her... The whole time he was tied up in that dusty attic, he thought of her. He was in and out of consciousness so much he sometimes forgot where he was. He goes back to that storage room in Alaska, using his body weight to hold her against the wall. Thrusting quickly into her depths and wondering what the hell he is doing but not caring because it feels too damn good. Then he’s back in her apartment, only this time he doesn't make his presence known. He watches her bend over that kitchen table, sees her fully naked for the first time - breasts bouncing lightly and ass pushing back. He praises God for his photographic memory. He wants to watch her get fucked. He wants to see her face contort into anguish and then satisfaction at her release. He wants that boyfriend of hers to flip her over onto the table, take her ankles in his hands and fuck her some more. In his fantasy, Mulder walks over to them, pushes Ethan out of the way, and fucks her himself. It rained for three days straight while he was in the hospital. It seemed there was no end to the torrential downpour. When Scully brings him home from the hospital, there is something different about her. A tremble to her normally controlled veneer. She fumbles around his apartment nervously, gets him settled on his couch. Tells him she threw out the orange juice in his fridge that was two months past the expiration date and bought him some new groceries. Mulder grabs her hand as she paces in front of the couch, rearranging his blanket and glass of water for the third time. "Scully, I'm okay." Her lip trembles a little. "I thought for sure they were going to kill you." She won't look at him. Thunder cracks outside his window. "Hey-" he takes her other hand and turns her so she is facing him. There are tears in her eyes threatening to spill over. "Scully-" She makes eye contact with him and that is all it takes. The tears are spilling over her lashes as he pulls her down onto his lap. He's wiping them away with his thumbs, trying to catch each one as they fall. She smells like wet eucalyptus and spicy chai tea. "You saved me. You risked your own life and you saved me." "Deep Throat saved you. I just followed his instructions. And he was murdered for it." Scully shakes her head. "I questioned his motivation, but he's the reason you're still alive." She's shaking so badly; Mulder brings his arms around her small frame to warm her and calm her adrenaline. She's tense at first but as his hands run up and down her back, scratching lightly, he feels all of that melting away. She brings her arms in front of her and places her hands on his chest, one directly over his heart so the steady thrumming of it bounces into her palm. It's something so small, the heart. Cycling blood throughout the body to keep it going, yet it would take something even smaller - a single bullet - to put an end to it all. A single bullet was all it took to end Deep Throat's life. 70 years of life and learning and experiences and memories and blood and tissue and....what? One tiny thing sends it all crashing down. If Scully had made the exchange instead, it would have been her body bleeding out on the cold asphalt of that bridge just outside of Bethesda. "He may be the reason you're still alive, too," Mulder chokes out. "I could have lost you, and I -" He chokes on his next words. Mulder bites his lip and reaches up to brush a strand of hair back from her forehead. Her eyes are so blue, he thinks. He's close enough to her face that the glow from the fish tank is casting little flecks of green into them, making them looks like tide pools in the summer. Her breath is tickling his upper lip. Without any coherent thought, he's getting closer to her face, her lips... A blinding flash of light and a loud clap of thunder cause Scully to jump slightly. "It's getting really bad out there. I'd feel a lot better if you just stayed here tonight." She looks like she wants to argue, but then smiles slightly and nods in agreement. She looks around his sparse living room and chuckles. "There aren't a lot of sleeping options around here. Do you even own a bed, Mulder?" He chuckles. "It makes a really good shelf to hold all of my extra files in that storage room over there." "So you DO have a bedroom then," Scully smirks. "I guess a long-standing curiosity has just been satisfied." The fact that Scully has spent any amount of time considering whether he had a bedroom is not lost on him. *** A few cans of soup later, and Scully is lounging next to him on his couch wearing a thin Oxford University t-shirt and a pair of his plaid boxer shorts as pjs. She has her third beer in hand and is chuckling to something that Paul Reiser said as "Mad About You" plays on his TV. Mulder's not paying attention to the show, she is distracting him too much with her cute little half ponytail that bounces a little every time she giggles. He rarely gets to see this version of Scully. She seems younger, carefree, and more easy-going. Flirty, even.

The rain is coming down in heavy layers outside and he grabs a blanket from the back of his couch and puts it over her lap. She doesn’t take her eyes off the TV, but scoots a little closer to him and spreads it over her legs and then leans over and covers his legs as well. Her knee rests atop his thigh as she sits cross-legged on the worn leather of his couch. It’s harder to watch her covertly with her body this close. It’s harder to maintain even breathing as well. She is wearing his clothes with his laundry detergent, but her Scully-ness is still filling his nose. The freesia of her shampoo, the mint of her chapstick. She wore her hair like that in Alaska, too. ‘Don’t think about that while she’s right beside you’ he curses himself for the desire boiling up inside his abdomen. He set boundaries for himself the day she walked into his office, all false bravado, new agent green and inconspicuously beautiful. He set the boundaries even higher when she stood in front of him in little cotton panties and he knelt down behind her and inhaled her scent. The careless id in him had wanted to toss her onto the bed and lap her up until she was thrashing around and moaning to her God, and he steeled himself for the amount of self-control he would have to maintain, working beside someone who turned him on in a way that was completely different from the type of woman he was usually attracted to. She turned on his mind as an extremely brilliant counter to his unconventional thinking and wild rebellious ways.

All his thoughts come to a standstill as another synchrony of lighting and thunder rumble through his apartment, and there is a pop- followed by total darkness. Her hand on his thigh as a reflex. “Storm knocked the power out. Happens a lot in this old building,” he reassures her.

She doesn’t say anything. He starts to move and she holds him in place with her hand. “I’m just going to get some candles.”

He feels her shake her head no.

The power must be out beyond his building because there are no street lights or glow from the city to light up his apartment. There is no moon, just the occasional flash of lighting like a strobe in his apartment, giving him a stop-motion animation view of her face.

With the lack of sight, his other senses kick into overdrive. Her hand has moved up his thigh and is grazing up his arm to his bicep. His nerve endings are purring at the touch, sending goosebumps up his spine.

And then she’s climbing back up into his lap and kissing him. He tastes the malt and barley on the tip of her tongue and suddenly the chill in the room is gone as he throws the blanket aside and clutches onto her back, pressing her into his chest. God, she’s not even wearing a bra under his shirt, and his dick leaps at this discovery. Things were so rushed in Alaska, he never even removed her tank top but this time he was going to be sure to worship every inch of her that he could lay his hands on.

She yelps in surprise as he flips her underneath him and presses her body into the cushions of the couch with his body. He takes his Oxford shirt back and is reverently kissing everywhere his mouth can reach, licking the hollow of her collarbone and then down to her breasts that he has only previously seen from afar.

Her hands are in his hair and she’s arching her back up, encouraging him on as he takes first one breast and then the next into his mouth, flicking his tongue at each nipple, biting gently.

His hand trails up the inside of her thigh slowly, all the way up under the boxers she is wearing until he reaches her heat and then he uses his index finger to lift the seam of her underwear, following the leg opening all the way around her thigh. He tongue follows a path down her navel and when he reaches her waistband, he brings both hands up to take the shorts and her panties down ever so slowly...

He removes his own shirt quickly before settling himself between her quivering legs. A flash of lighting just then and he sees her eyes - wide and darkened with arousal. He lowers his head and peppers kisses along the inside of each thigh before using the very tip of his tongue to draw a straight line along her slit.

"Mul-der..." she whispers and all at once he takes two fingers and pushes them all the way inside. Scully grinds her feet into the couch in surprise and then yelps a little as his tongue makes contact with her clit, circling around and around. She tastes better than he ever imagined she would, in those late nights when he fantasized about taking her in that hotel in Oregon.

"God, Mulderrrr..." He feels such satisfaction in pleasing her this way. Ethan probably never went down on her like this, he thinks. He twists his fingers up inside her, finding that secret spot and knows he has it when she locks her legs a little tighter and squeaks. He flattens his tongue over her clit, and pushes into it, moaning a bit to send vibrations through her body.

She's breathing hard, panting and thrashing a bit from side to side. He thinks she must be getting closer, so he wraps his lips fully around her clit and sucks it into his mouth, cracking her open like a seed, and she's coming hard, gushing around his fingers. God damn. She is dripping into his palm.

Scully is still trembling as he slowly pulls his fingers out of her and kisses his way back up her body. He’s planning on giving her a few minutes to recover, so she surprises him when she roughly grabs his head and kisses him fiercely, sucking his tongue into her mouth, her come still dripping off his chin. Her hands are working at the waistband of his sweats, tugging them down as far as her arms can reach. It’s his turn to moan as she takes his cock into her hand firmly and squeezes.

The lightning continues to flash and he feels like he is in a drugged stupor, seeing glimpses of her face in the grips of passion, feeling her small hand using his dick to circle her clit slowly before bringing it down to her opening, and then bringing her legs around his body, and locking her ankles together over his ass as he pushes into her with agonizing slowness.

He thrusts with even languidness, weight on his elbows, hands on either side of her head. He watches her face so when the lightning illuminates the room he can see her eyes. They are so full, unblinking. Scully reaches her hand up and places two fingers on his lips. He opens his mouth and sucks on the tips of them, gently, mimicking the earlier movements of his tongue onto her fingertips. This causes her to clench tightly around his cock and he knows he can’t hold out much longer.

“Touch yourself, Scully. I want to see you come again.”

She brings her other hand down between them, hears her quickening gasps, and that's it for him- he's erupting into her along with the perfectly timed thunder that seems to shake his apartment apart.

"Jesus- Mulder!" As the sky lights up he sees her head thrown back,  her eyes misted over as she quakes around him.

After a few moments of catching his breath, Mulder rolls them on their side, still inside of her, and gathers her body to his chest, pulling the blanket back over their bodies. Their hearts are pounding in crescendo with the storm outside, and for now, he feels like everything might be okay.

[k2-b0]

"I like you."

Ouma's face burned as he held a heart stamped letter out to Saihara. His heart thumped wildly in his chest. What the hell was he even doing? Confessing his love behind the school building just like in one of those school life animes that Shirogane constantly cooed about?

God, he felt like an everyday schoolgirl. How embarrassing. He glanced up at the other boy from his bowing position, waiting anxiously for a response. Thank god patience is a virtue, because after an awkward pause Saihara slowly pulled the letter from his grasp and opened it, the tiny red sticker pulling away from the paper with a quiet ripping sound.

Ouma squeezed his eyes shut while his crush read the letter he'd written. It only existed because he was too scared to tell him through his spoken words. Typical of a coward like him. What was he even thinking? Saihara was way too cool and c-cute to actually like someone like him! Much less like-like!! Ahh, he sounded like Chabashira, going off like that! Stupid, stupid, stupid.

"Ouma-kun..."

Was it too late to take it back? Could he just rewind time? He'd totally compared the situation to an anime earlier, so why couldn't he just pull a trick from one of them and go back?! Fuck, fuck!

"Ouma-kun."

Was suicide an option? No, that would be way too sudden. And to do it in front of Saihara-kun? No way!! Maybe he could--

"Ouma-kun!!"

Ouma blinked as the usually reserved boy yelled at him. Had he done something wrong? Oh, yikes, maybe he was mumbling all of that out loud? Was Saihara going to beat the shit out of him and call him slurs?

"Ouma-kun," Saihara said again, drawing Ouma from his thoughts. "This letter... is this really how you feel?"

The shorter boy swallowed thickly. What a direct question... "Y-Yes," he mumbled, "I... really like Saihara-kun. I was too scared to tell him out loud so I wrote a letter... a-and--“

"So Ouma-kun thinks of me in that way?" Saihara cut in. Ouma froze. Was this where the ridicule came in? Where Momota and Harukawa would jump out and say 'surprise! Loser! You just got pranked!' Ahh. But what else did he expect. The purple haired boy straightened his back out from the bow to look at Saihara on even grounds. Whatever. If he was going to get ridiculed he'd take it with pride.

Saihara put a hand to his face and flushed bright red. What? "So..." he said, "Ouma-kun thinks of me the same way as I do him?"

What.

"I-I'm sorry?" Ouma stuttered. "What was that?" He'd had to of heard wrong. There was no way...

"I really like Ouma-kun too..." Saihara said, still blushing. "I've wanted to tell you for so long but I was afraid... afraid that you would reject me. I'm so glad you feel the same way... now I can do what I've wanted to do for so long..."

Do what? Was Ouma's first thought. His second thought was along the lines of oh, holy shit, what?! His face went bright red as Saihara kissed him. The dark haired boy cupped his neck as he did it, gently tilting his head back and nibbling at his lips. Ouma gripped onto the other's gakuran and closed his eyes, perfectly returning the passionate kiss.

Saihara pulled away first, licking his lips as he lovingly stared Ouma in the eyes. "O-Ouma-kun..." he whispered, "let's get married."

Sakura blossoms blew in the wind around them and the sun shone vibrantly through the clouds in an orange glow. "O-Of course, Saihara-kun," he replied, "lets move to Canada and get married! We can be in love! Forget high school, we can teach ourselves through the power of love!"

"I agree!" Saihara cried, "we can be happy together! I love you, Ouma-kun!"

Ouma buried his head in Saihara's chest. "I love you too, Saihara-kun! Let's be together forever!"

Suddenly a bright red car sped into view, kicking up dust and gleaming in the orange light. It slammed on the brakes in front of the two and the door swung open to reveal Amami wearing a pair of Gucci sunglasses. "Ouma-kun," he yelled happily, flipping his hair back dramatically, "I heard you were getting married so I bought you this Ferrari! Please don't ruin the seats!" He undid his seatbelt and jumped out. "Au revoir, best friend, and happy being married!"

"Thank you very much, Amami-kun," Saihara said with a smile. "We'll never forget you! We'll be sure to send letters from Canada!" He crawled into the driver's seat and turned the key. Ouma sat down in the passengers seat and turned to his fiancé in concern.

"Saihara-kun," he asked, "do you even know how to drive?"

"Of course not! Do I look eighteen to you?" He responded. "But still, I'm willing to break the law for you!"

Tears welled up in Ouma's eyes. "Thank you, Saihara-kun," he said, "I feel the same! Now let's go to Canada! We don't need a plane, let's let the power of love take us there!"

"Right!" Saihara cheered. "Let's!"

And so the two shut the car doors and drove to Canada to get married, fueled by their undying love for each other. They only needed each other to be happy, and happy they were. They sent Amami letters weekly and grew old together, running an orphanage until the day they died: in each other's arms during a house fire set by Harukawa.

Ouma opened his eyes and scanned the classroom, gaze scanning over the teacher and his classmates before falling on a note-taking Saihara's back.

" I love you, Ouma-kun! "

Ha. As if.

The second the bell rang the sound of chairs moving away from desks and fabric ruffling filled the classroom. Ouma stuffed his papers haphazardly into his bag before throwing it over the back of his chair and walking out of the room, ignoring the way the teacher protested.

He sighed in relief as soon as he was in the hallway. Being in the same class as Saihara was really... stressful, to say the least. Between dealing with stupid fantasies and stupid crushes, Ouma would rather staple his eyelids shut. Or die. Either option was better than trying to suffocate the butterflies in his stomach every time he saw the detective.

At least it was lunchtime. During lunchtime he could get away from his problems and make fun of Iruma. Not to mention he could steal scraps of food from his classmates, meaning he wouldn't have to waste money on buying lunch.

He swung open the doors to the back of the school and headed to his usual spot with Gokuhara, Iruma, Hoshi, and Shinguuji. Not that any of them were there yet.

Ah, whatever. They'd show up after placating the teacher on Gokuhara's part and yelling about going to take a break on Iruma's.

Ouma sat down next to the furnace and stretched his back. Pathetic, he thought. You can't even get Saihara-chan out of your head for a second.

The sound of footsteps came from around the corner and he moved to the side to see who it was. Hoshi gave him a wave as he walked into the small area that held the furnace.

"Oho, Hoshi-chan makes an entrance!" Ouma laughed, "but where are his groupies?"

The smaller boy sat down in his usual spot and pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. "Gokuhara and Iruma are still freaking out in the classroom. Shinguuji's on his way." He pressed one of them to his lips and flicked his lighter. "You want one?"

Ouma scoffed. "Hoshi-chan thinks so lowly of me? I'd never do such a thing! Unlike you, I'm a good boy!"

"So you want a light," Hoshi said.

"Ah, yes please!"

Hoshi passed him the item and Ouma moved to take a long drag of it. He sighed out the smoke and watched it swirl up into the air.

Shinguuji appeared around the corner and made his way to the two, holding a bento box in his hands. "Good afternoon," he said, "I see that you two are keeping up your poor habits."

Ouma cheerfully flipped him off before moving from his spot to sit next to the taller boy. After Shinguuji opened his lunch he picked a bit of rice from it.

"What's up, sluts!" A voice yelled, and none of the boys reacted as Iruma threw herself around the bend, dragging Gokuhara along with her. "Did ya miss me? Teach was being a real prick today, y'know? I was about to- oh, shit, are those smokes?"

Gokuhara's face drained of color. "S-Smokes?! Ouma-kun and Hoshi-kun are smoking again?!"

Ouma tapped the cigarette on the side of the furnace and watched as the ashes fell down. "Hey to you too, Iruma-chan, Gonta-chan."

"Yeah, yeah," the blonde waved him off. "What the hell're you doing? You said you'd stop that shit."

"Oh, I lied."

Gokuhara's eyes welled up with tears. "H-Hoshi-kun promised Gonta he would stop though..." The gentle giant moved his arm to push up his glasses and wipe his tears, sniffling into his sleeve.

Hoshi let out a breath of air and slammed the cigarette into the wall, putting it out in a second. The four teens blinked. He opened the door to the furnace and tossed it in. "Okay," he said, "sorry, Gokuhara. Won't happen again. Ouma, take these."

Ouma wheezed and took the pack from his hands. Then he burst into laughter. "Oh my god!!" He screamed, "oh, my god! Imagine being so gay-- I'm losing it!" He broke into coughs. Shinguuji patted his back comfortingly.

A smile broke out on Gokuhara's face. "Gonta is very relieved," he sighed, "he heard that smoking is bad for your lungs! So he wants Hoshi-kun to stop. Ouma-kun too!"

To spite him, Ouma blew a long breath of smoke into the air. Iruma scoffed. "You know he ain't gonna stop," she said, "he's probably been doin' it since he was a fuckin' sperm cell."

"Sperm cells cannot smoke, Iruma-san," Shinguuji replied, thumbing through a book on ancient foods. He'd probably pulled it from his pocket or something while they were arguing. Ouma snuck some more rice from his bento and put out his cigarette butt while he looked through the book with him.

Iruma seemed like she was about to punch the gangly boy. She sat herself down on the ground instead. "Shut the fuck up," she spat eloquently, "you know what I mean." A ring on her finger glinted in the sunlight when she pointed at him.

And, ah, wait. A ring? Ouma swallowed a mouth full of food and pointed at her hand. "Hm? What's this~?" He jeered before crawling towards her, seizing her hand from the air. She squeaked when he did. "Oh my! Iruma-chan, what a cute ring! I wonder where you got it from...?"

Iruma yanked her hand away from him, flustered. "Sh-Shut up! This... This is--!" She gripped her wrist in her other hand tightly, almost like it would just fall off if she let go. The cute ring wasn't on her finger anymore, though. Her eyes went wide and she snapped her gaze towards the small boy in front of her.

Ouma sat on his haunches, holding the little piece of jewelry between his fingers. It was... really cute, actually. There were small flowers engraved in the side of it and a small pink gemstone was set in the middle. The ring was a crisp silver with "Miu" carved on the inside.

"Huh?" Ouma muttered, turning it in one hand and holding a wailing Iruma back with the other. "Huh, huh, huuuuuh? This is super cute Iruma-chaaaaan! Who got it for you?" He moved it to his lips to bite down on it.

"Fucker!" Iruma finally pushed his arm away and leapt towards him, snatching the ring from him before he could bite it. The gem glittered in the light as Iruma looked over it before putting it back onto her finger. She sent a nasty glare towards her friend. "Don't touch my shit, shota! Besides, you don't bite silver, you bite gold!"

"She's right," Hoshi unnecessarily chimed in. He paused for a second. "Actually, you can bite silver, but still."

Ouma let himself fall back onto his butt and laughed. "For real though," he said cheerfully, "who got you the ring?"

The blonde girl squirmed where she sat. A bird called from somewhere in the schoolyard, followed by the sound of teenagers laughing. Sunlight bounced off of the top of the old furnace. Iruma sniffed as a bead of sweat ran down her face.

The four boys there with her watched, curious. Shinguuji's book made a quiet sound when he turned a page. Iruma swallowed and fiddled with the ring again. "A... Akamatsu," she murmured, and red exploded across her face.

Ouma blinked. "Really? How boring. I thought you would say Kiiboy got it for you or something." He pouted. "I'm disappointed."

"Wh-What?!" She shrieked, "you were the one who asked!" Her eyebrows pinched up, an exasperated expression covering her face.

"I don't know what you expected," Shinguuji said, not looking up from his book, "he's proven to do this sort of thing every time."

Well, that was certainly true. Maybe he was starting to get more predictable? That wasn't good. Not good at all! Ouma laid a hand over his forehead and gasped. "My," he lamented, "Shinguuji-chan! What an insult! Are-Are you calling me predictable?" Tears welled up in his eyes and Gokuhara gasped. "You're so cruel! It hurts for you to say that to me!"

"Oh no," Gokuhara whispered, eyes welling up with tears of his own. "Shinguuji-kun! P-Please apologize to Ouma-kun! He's crying!"

Iruma grit her teeth and picked him up by the scarf. "Bitch, stop faking! I ain't fallin' for it, and neither are those two limp dicks! You're just embarrassing yourself, shithead!"

The short boy's face fell flat, tears drying up instantly. He sighed, still being held up by Iruma. His eyes darted to the side before pulling back up to her face. Well, time for his most devastating comeback! A grin crossed lips. "No," he said, curt, "you."

Iruma's jaw dropped. "Did you just 'no you' me?! I'm gonna fuckin'--!!" Just before the blonde could "fuckin'--" the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. Ouma dropped back to the ground when he was suddenly let go of, and he gently straightened his scarf out.

Iruma frowned at him before standing up and dusting off her too-short skirt. She walked off briskly, muttering to herself. Gokuhara jumped up and reached for Ouma, extending a hand towards him. "Aw," the shorter cooed, pushing himself up and leaving his friend hanging, "thanks Gonta! You're so kind!"

"Right..." Gokuhara said, obviously uncomfortable. He pulled his arm back and fidget edited . "Did Ouma-kun need to be so mean to Iruma-san? She seemed upset..."

"It's better than calling her a slut or a whore," Hoshi replied, standing up. "You gonna keep those?" He pointed to the pack of cigarettes that had been left on the ground.

"Huh? Oh, yeah." Ouma grabbed them and slid them into his scarf. A real disappearing act, huh? Yumeno would be jealous.

Shinguuji stood up, bookmarking and closing his book before picking up his empty bento box. He nodded to his friends before leaving the furnace area. Hoshi followed after a second later, Gokuhara on his heels, and Ouma was left alone.

He looked up, squinting at the sunlight. Alone, huh? True enough. He was too much of an asshole to consistently make people happy, so that sort of friendship was pretty much unobtainable. Much less a relationship.

Tears welled up in his eyes from staring up into the bright light.

A sigh pulled from his lips.

He wasn't in the mood to go back to class.

Ouma walked into the classroom the next morning and received a total of fifteen unhappy looks. When he threw himself down into his seat Amami turned around in his own chair and pushed him his belongings. The look in his best friend’s eyes told him that they'd be having a long conversation sooner rather than later. He rolled his eyes at the green-haired boy and started to dig into his bag.

At least, he tried to. A sharp jab into his shoulder blade pulled his attention instead. Ouma looked back up from his school bag only to see his deskmate's face. Oh, great. How wonderful.

"Momota-chan. It's good to see you!" Ouma grinned weakly, "well, that's actually a lie. It's always unpleasant to see you. Anyways, what is it that you need?"

His classmate scowled at him. Ah, if he kept that up his face would freeze that way. Momota crossed his arms. "Where'd you go yesterday?" He growled, "Amami and Iruma were pissed off for the rest of the day."

"Okay?" Ouma said, "why's that matter to me? Or... were you worried for me? How sweet of you, Momota-chan!"

"How the hell did you get that from 'Amami and Iruma were pissed'...?"

Ouma ignored him and pulled his textbook from his bag. "Helloooo?" Momota waved his hand in front of the shorter's face. "Ouma? You there?"

Ouma knocked his arm down, now very aware of Saihara's eyes on the two of them from his seat next to Amami. "Yeah, I'm here," he fumbled. "Could Momota-chan leave me alone now? His idiocy is giving me hives."

Momota sputtered. “Idiocy can't give someone hives! And, oi, are you calling me stupid?!” The wannabe astronaut’s face was flushed with anger, and his voice was starting to get louder and louder. If he didnt put a stop to their argument, Ouma would either end up with a black eye or a write-up. And he had work later, so there was no way in hell he'd let himself get detention now.

"Ehh... what're you going on about," he said, waving the taller off. “I wasn't even talking to you, moron. Just go back to drawing dicks, or spaceships or whatever those are.” He dug a chewed up pencil out of his bag and pinched at the led to check if it was broken. It wasn’t, so Ouma propped his head up on his elbow, looking away from Momota, who just clicked his tongue at him.

From the seat ahead, Saihara sighed in relief. Ouma let a smile creep onto his lips. Crisis averted, in more ways than one.

[freyayuki]

Final Fantasy Record Keeper Daily Free Draws Part 2

Each day, players get 1 free single daily draw on the Final Fantasy Record Keeper (FFRK) mobile game. The rates are trash as always, but there is a very rare chance to get something good from this pull. 

Recently, we got a campaign wherein we get a daily 10-draw instead of a single 1. There’s no guaranteed gold, so you’re more likely to get 10 trash items. Aside from the usual trash, I’d sometimes get a rainbow or 2. They may be new but most are basically useless so I didn’t even bother to take screenshots.

Well, one day, a daily free draw actually gave me something good although I didn’t think so at first. Lately, my pulls have been utter trash with most being all bronze and silver crap or the occasional rainbow or 5-star item.

This particular pull gave me 2 rainbow orbs and 1 disco orb. Dr. Mog didn’t even show up though so was already expecting to be disappointed.

Was like, probably gonna end up with a dupe or a Glint+ or something. Didn’t even pay attention to the 5-stars when they showed up on the screen, not even when they turned out to be new. 

The disco orb turned into this strange thing. It looks like some sort of animal. Didn’t recognize it though and, like I said, I thought I was about to be disappointed again so didn’t bother taking a screenshot.

Then I got to the draw results screen and - OMFG! Couldn’t believe this. Just got Enna Kros’s (from World of Final Fantasy (#ad)) Awakened Arcane Soul Break (AASB), Godly Geocrush.

So freaking pleased to see this because I already have her Synchro Arcane Soul Break (SASB), The Creator’s Rules. 

If I’m remembering correctly, I got her Sync by tossing a Realm/Elemental x11 ticket on the Earth Elemental banner. This banner features all earth-type Soul Breaks.  

Really need more physical and magical earth tech so was very pleased when Enna Kros’s Sync showed up. 

That was my first relic for her though so I’d always hoped that I’d someday be able to get her Awakening as well. Needless to say, really happy her AASB has decided to come home now as well.

This is only my second relic for Enna Kros but these are her best Soul Breaks so it’s fine.

Also, just checked and it looks like most of her relics can actually be obtained from the The Record Lab via Anima Lenses. 

The only things that can’t be bought there are her True Arcane Soul Break (TASB) or Arcane Dyad Soul Break (ADSB) and her Arcane Overstrike Soul Break (AOSB).

On another daily free 10-draw, I actually got 2 disco orbs and 2 rainbow orbs. It was a pleasant surprise, especially when all of them turned out to be new. 

The 5-stars were outdated so I didn’t bother taking note who they belonged to and what they did. One of the 6-stars was a Glint+ Soul Break for a char from Final Fantasy XIV.

The other 6-star I got was Krile Mayer Baldesion’s (from Final Fantasy V) Awakened Arcane Soul Break (AASB), Bestial Exodus. Nice. 

This could go with the other relics I got for her like her Limit Break Glint. Now if I could also get her Sync, then she’d definitely have a place on my magical earth team and possibly even my magical fire team.

Another daily free 10-draw gave me 1 rainbow orb and 2 disco orbs.

The 5-star turned out to be nothing more than a dupe of Goffard Gaffgarion’s (Gaff Gafgarion from Final Fantasy Tactics) Legend Materia Relic (LMR), Dark Knight’s Revelry. Meh. 

Have nothing else for this guy so this LMR was beyond useless to me. Thankfully, the 2 disco orbs more than made up for this lousy 5-star because they both turned into new Awakenings. Hell, yes!

The first AASB I got was Cater’s (from Final Fantasy Type-0) Tri-Color Shot. This is my first BDL relic for her but still pleased to see this since I could always use more BDL relics for Type-0 characters to help me with the Final Fantasy Type-0 Dragonking Dungeon fight and other Type-0 realm content.

The second AASB I got was Tellah’s (from Final Fantasy IV) Earth Vortex. Missing his Sync but I have his other Awakening so I’m pleased to get another BDL relic for him.

Another daily free 10-draw only gave me 1 gold but at least it was new and useful.

Just got Vayne Carudas Solidor’s (from Final Fantasy XII) AASB, Stygian Wave. This is my first BDL relic for him.

Another daily free 10-draw gave me 2 disco orbs. 

The first one was meh since it turned out to be Krile’s Final Fantasy V realm Chain Soul Break (CSB), Dearest Friends. 

I prefer to get an elemental Chain since fights where you’d want a realm Chain will actually provide one via the Roaming Warrior.

At least the second disco orb turned into a new Awakening. Just got Ignis Scientia’s (from Final Fantasy XV) Flameboost Bite.

Have his Sync and a few more of his relics so was pleased to get his AASB. He’ll definitely be of use in Final Fantasy XV realm fights.

Another daily free 10-draw turned out to be a massive disappointment. Got nothing more than a dupe of Lunafreya Nox Fleuret’s (from Final Fantasy XV) AASB. 

Ugh. How utterly disappointing. Was so annoyed when I saw the Soul Break Rank Up screen. Why couldn’t this have been something else instead? Sigh. 

Another daily free 10-draw gave me 2 rainbow orbs and 1 disco orb, all new. One of the 5-stars was Cid Highwind’s (from Final Fantasy VII) Legend Materia Relic, Spacefarer. I don’t use Cid so meh. 

I think I do have his AASB but I’ve never used him since I have plenty of other chars that also deal physical wind damage and who I actually have more BDL relics for.

The second 5-star was Cloud Strife’s (from Final Fantasy VII) Glint Soul Break, Mako Abyss. This is for the dark element so it’s useless for me since most of the relics I have for Cloud are for the wind element. 

The 6-star turned out to be Ovelia Atkascha’s (from Final Fantasy Tactics) AASB, Fleeting Thoughts.

It’s nice to see an Awakening and a new one at that but I don’t think I have anything else for Ovelia. She’s a healer but I already have better healers and supports and even buffers so not sure if she’ll ever see use unless I can get more of her relics.

Another daily free 10-draw gave me a dupe Burst Soul Break (BSB) that belongs to a Final Fantasy XII char. It’s a gun so I guess this belongs to Balthier (Ffamran mied Bunansa).

The 6-star was Hilda’s (from Final Fantasy II) AASB, Blossoming Peace.

She’s a healer like Ovelia. And like Ovelia, don’t have much for her either so she’s been overshadowed by my other supports and healers and buffers.

Conclusion

So, what about you? What relics did you get from the daily free draws? What do you think about the daily free draw banner? Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below or by reblogging this post.

Notes:

screenshots are from my Final Fantasy Record Keeper game account

[fandomscollective]

Works in Progress

This is very long so it’s all under a cut, there are several original fiction stories and a couple fanfiction. I’m trying to decide what to write next so I finally made decent descriptions instead of trying to verbally explain them to people. I might be able to write but I can’t talk in a coherent, linear, concise way to save my life.

Opinions on what to work on next are greatly appreciated. 

Original Fiction

     AER 9833(AER): A sort of Dystopian Future. A.E.R. were created as tools. Toys for the rich and powerful. AER are beautiful, elegant, and capable of tapping in to the background radiation of the universe to preform amazing feats. After an AER goes rouge they are determined to be sentient and therefore responsible for their own actions. Suddenly no one feels safe having these Artificially Intelligent beings around and so they are placed in The City, where a special device suppresses their power. Some time later the world is beset by an unknown force that destroys most life leaving the remnants to flounder. Humans begin to seek shelter in The City, which survived the Apocalypse. Things get complected with AER and humans living side by side. One AER breaks the field that suppresses their power and starts a chain of events that lead to a startling truth: we are not alone. This story has a mad max/cloud atlas thing going on. A hyper futuristic society falls to an outside attack that destroys most of the world, leaving wastelands interspersed with pockets where nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of civilization. A few scattered cities survive and humans struggle for security. In this bleak landscape a single AER possesses the power to save the world from a horrific fate, but the cost might be more than they can pay.

     Beyond the Stars(BTS): Sci-fi/Fantasy epic. In a distant future humans and Martic share a world cut off from both civilizations. What began as a short lived and devastating war between the two has settled into a strange and unbalanced power dynamic. The Martic king rules with a pleasant public facade that hides a dark and devious plot. Soon he will have the power to contact his home world and take the humans as slaves into their great empire. But not everyone is fooled, the Maquiya, a group of guerrilla resistance fighters, know the truth. The story follows the members of this resistance movement and other key players as the fight to save this small pocket of humanity from a terrible fate draws to a startling close. Prophetic dreams, confusing nightmares, double agents, and a century old secret come to light. And there is more than the fate of this world in the balance.

     Descendant Effect(DE): Magical Realism. Davin Khaye and his husband Eric Douglas just adopted a baby girl with a mysterious past. They thought they were leaving that whole occult investigation thing behind when they settled on Staten Island but when and old flame develops a magical illness Davin and Eric find themselves, and their new friends, pulled into a fight for the fate of the world.           Descendant Effect Book One: Sins of the Father, Complete (Looking for Beta and Sensitivity Readers and Editors) Davin, a magical historical fiction writer and former occult investigator,  gets a call from his first boyfriend’s sister saying that Gary is deathly ill. When Davin visits out of sympathy for Sarah he discovers that not all is what it seems. A virulent Wrong Magic has infected Gary and it’s contagious. Davin gathers his Chemist husband, the newly minted Descendant, Kaila, and the not JUST a vampire Jeb, along with Davin’s own personal guardian demon to unravel the mystery. Things get ever more complicated with mysterious Hunter Rex, Angels, demons, and Rex’s erstwhile sorcerer adviser Ambrose getting involved. By the end there are more questions than answers and long road to travel before Davin can finally let go of his terrible past.

     Dirty Deeds(DD): Magical Realism. Lady Luck gifted Clay with Power, now he’s fallen out of favor. Can a Demon with a moral compass guide him back into the limelight or will Clay be forced to watch as tragedy dogs his every step. When a goddess tells you to use your probability power for the good of mankind, taking a trip to Vegas is probably the last thing you should do. Clay learns that the hard way when he ignores his duties and a favorite of the Lady dies in a tragic accident. Lady Luck is no mans fool and she curses Clay to a terrible fate. With his powers severely effected he must still try to help, try being the operative word. After Clay is connected to a series of terrible deaths the FBI steps in. The lead detective is more than she seems and when she figures out clay’s secret she has to make a choice, her career or the man she’s starting to fall in love with. Considering her kind aren’t supposed to be able to fall in love it’s not that hard a choice. But Clay doesn’t seem to feel the same, until he does, and the curse is completed, leaving Clay in a sorry state. Kaezon won’t give up easily though and fights to make sure Clay comes back, but Clay isn’t so sure that’s a good idea. (some inspiration for this came from American Gods by Neil Gaiman)

     Nowhere Places(NP): Sci-fi/ Fantasy, Magical Realism. The history of Earth is secretly intertwined with an alien war thousands of years in the making, and so is it’s fate. To save his people the King of the Fay brought them to earth 15,000 years ago, but something went wrong. From a base on the moon the king directs a war in The Nowhere Places, overlaps in this dimension and another barren dimension. The Fay and the Phaedron have been at war for fifteen centuries and the people have had enough. Two of the Fay princes hatch separate rebellions while a Phaedron warrior, having crashed his vessel near a human school, discovers that humans aren’t the stupid cattle he’d always been told they were. Things take a dramatic turn when an archaeologist finds a massive structure several hundred feet below the exactly center of the Sahara desert and learns that this war, which threatens to take the earth out any time now, was never meant to happen because the Fay king… has been in suspended animation in the Cityship for 15 thousand years. This is one of the least fleshed out stories I currently have. Several scenes popped in my head that inspired the story and they almost all look like anime/mange scenes, the one where the archaeologist discovers the king reminds me of the scene where Integra discovers Alucard in Van Hellsing for instance.

     Prince of Darkness(PoD): Superhero, Magical Realism. Jamie was five when she first met the mysterious white haired boy. He didn’t have a name but Jamie could tell he was smart and creative so she called him Donny after her favorite ninja turtle. When she’s 32  her best friend Donny and his ‘boys’ Raziel and Gadreel are back after a ten year absence. Things are going great for the up and coming journalist and then she hits the big time, the very first real life superhero! Henry, her detective little brother, isn’t so thrilled and Donny and the boys seem strangely reluctant to talk about The Prince of Darkness. Soon things start getting even stranger when three people with white hair begin to try to capture The Prince. Tensions run high and weird people keep popping up at Donny’s lounge club. As Jamie searches for answers Donny searches for a connection. Lost and isolated from his ‘true’ family he begins to forge a new one through his Club, The Nine Circles. But the sort of people that hang out in Hell bring their own kinds of trouble. As Donny’s checkered past starts to come to light, the mysterious man finds that his heart wants more than it can have. Starting a relationship with his sister’s best friend was never Henry’s plan, especially since he knows they both love each other, but when Jamie rejects Donny’s advances what’s a guy supposed to do? Comforting his friend leads to something more but the more that Henry gets to know Donny the more concerned his is that he’s sleeping with the ‘enemy.’             PoD: Raising Cain: The story of Cain. Yes, that Cain. After an accident leads to a terrible curse Cain walks the earth searching for meaning. When he learns of ‘Lucifer’s’ fall and those that walk the earth destroying in his name, Cain finds his purpose, because he knows something is wrong. Hêlêl was the kindest of all angels and he would never have turned on the others. But the road to Hell is paved with good intentions and Cain finds that much of the time his attempts to help only cause more problems. After thousands of years traveling the world Cain encounters a spirited young man who calls him Red and falls in love, then one day, he vanishes. It’s the beginning of the end for Cain’s optimism and he spirals into a place so dark he thinks even his long lost friend would forsake him, but he can’t manage to care. Then Cyd and Nancy come along and drag the grouchy old man out of the depths of his despair. And just in time to find that maybe some friends aren’t as lost as previously thought.          PoD: Cyd's Story. Cyd grew up in the sixties. His little hometown was the picture of middle America. On the outside at least. In truth the town is made up of Hunter’s and their families. People who have dedicated their lives to taking out every last Tecum on earth. Unfortunately for Cyd, his mother had tried to get out of the lifestyle and ended up returning home a single mother. Most of the town whispered that she had fallen in with a ‘bad crowd’ and believed Cyd was a Tecum half breed. Only respect for his mother’s family kept them from doing anything, until it didn’t anymore. After ‘The Incident’ Cyd withdrew ever further from those around him and when his mother died when he was 17 he fled the town and never looked back, until Red and Nancy insist on following a Tecum on the run from Red’s brand of justice straight back to the town.                                       PoD: Saints and Sinners: The story of Casper and friends. Casper has never been one to run from his problems so when his team goes missing on a mission he doesn’t hesitate to comply with their captor’s demand. Of course it helps that he knows the guy. Really really well. After liberating his friends from his long time antagonist Ray, Cas find that, this time, he can’t seem to get rid of the man. That’s OK though, because he’s ready to mend the rift between them. Shadow isn’t happy about sharing his closest friend but when a supernatural threat looms they are happy to have an angel on their side. (this is like leverage if it was set in a world were the supernatural exists)                                                       PoD: Charlemagne Song: The story of Charlemagne. When she was in high school, Elle went by Elliot, and had a best friend named Jessica. Back then Elle was head over heels for the tiny blond girl but that was years ago. After a chance encounter with the famous musician Charlemagne Song leaves Elle single and depressed she discoverers that Jess might still be her best friend even though they haven’t talked in years. Suddenly Elle finds herself in a world of pure imagination as she navigates life with one of the most famous musicians of the day, who just happens to be half angel.                                                               PoD: R.E.D.: Story about a band, few details but some characters and lots of song titles and album titles, two of the band members are part of Donny’s ‘family’

     Sad Story(SS): Lucifer’s punishment wasn’t just banishment and when Michael finds out, all Hell breaks loose. Michael wants to let his brother live out his last days on earth instead of locked in a dark cage so he kidnaps him and with lawyer-angel Raziel and his twin brother Gadreel, find a place to hide the erstwhile devil. But Michael’s absence from heaven does not go unnoticed and while the other angels search for him strange murders have been happening in the city. The few witnesses give a description that strangely matches Michael. Can he prove he didn’t do it, or will he be parted from Lucifer before the Brightest of god’s angels fades away completely. (some cross over potential, very sad but with a happy ending cause I like that)

     Sonnets(Son): Inspired by ‘The Good Place.’ Lucifer misses heaven so he tries to recreate it, but to recreate perfection you have to recreate imperfection. (minimal work, the newest of things that have popped into my head)

     Twilight on the Moon(TotM): A Space Epic. Originally conceived of as a graphic novel, this story follows the exploits of the first human intergalactic journey. Humans reach a point in their development where they attract attention from the Galactic Coalition, a group comprised of advanced races from throughout the universe. These races band together to form a peace keeping force and have strict rules and regulations that they expect all members to adhere to, and if a race refuses to follow the guidelines then they are banned from involvement in the larger community of space faring civilizations. Of course, humans, being humans, don’t much care for the Coalition’s ultimatum. A stealth ship arrives on earth and informs the governing bodies that the Coalition isn’t the only group out there and that humanity can find out how other races live by constructing a ship, from plans provided by the individual in the stealth ship, that can travel to all non member systems and pick up ambassadors to have a conference on what humanity should do. The ship they construct is christened La Luna as it was made on a moon base. The captain of the ship is a short delicate looking man by the name of Rane Laforge. He hand picks a complement of characters for the mission that include his ex-girlfriend, Dr. Sandra Fisk as his CMO, Lt. Cmdr. Lars Tavic, Security Chief Anton Talon, Specialist Translator Rendell Hartford, and many others. They pick up several ambassadors including the accidentally acquired Ares LacTon of the La Mer Ray, who falls in love with Lars. It quickly becomes clear that the mission is going to be stranger than expected when we discover that very few of the people on board are actually human! (a sort of comedy of errors in space with the occasional serious moment, the world this is set in is my most elaborate and most complete but the story itself has no coherence yet. There is significant possibility that it will cross over with BTS as two-three of the characters from that likely served aboard La Luna at some point.)

     Unnamed Prince and Regent Story(PR): Fantasy. A princess gets kidnapped but it’s not what you think! She escapes her captors and flees on foot. She stumbles across a caravan and is taken under the wing of their guard who helps her disguise herself as a man. On the trip back to her home she realizes that she’s never been happier and that she is actually a he and he has fallen in love with the guard who seems to feel the same. After getting back to his home however, his love mysteriously vanishes. The now Prince throws the kingdom into chaos and becomes despondent. Spiraling into a drunken haze until a visiting royal entourage brings an unexpected guest and a wild revelation.(another where I have a fairly thought out world but only a sketch of the plot)

FanFiction

     Sherlock Fan Fiction(Sher): A Ghost From the Past. Someone from Sherlock's past shows up and John finds out how little he truly knows of his best friend. Basically Sherlock’s best friend from childhood shows up and it turns out that she was more than a friend and part of the reason Mycroft and Sherlock don’t get along is that Mycroft had asked her to marry him and she had said yes and Sherlock believed(for actual reasons) that Mycroft purposely stole her from him. That’s only the first big revaluation about Sherlock.

     Strange Sounds Supernatural Fan Fiction(SSFF): A Ghost From the Future. The boys are transported to the future where the supernatural is no longer hidden and some major event created a post apocalyptic fallout, but this time it was humans who did it. The result is that massive creatures are roaming the planet destroying any pockets of civilization they can find. Thanks to a few not so dead and reformed archangels there is a part of the US that’s a ‘safe’ zone. When Past Sam and Dean show up around the time that safe zone begins to come under attack both versions of the boys and the future archangels join forces with Occultist John Constantine, Alien Technology Specialist Mickey Smith and his wife Dr. Martha Smith, and the secret organization known as Torchwood as they travel the world looking for clues to put this new threat to rest at last. Features several original characters and many crossover characters from similar worlds with cameo appearances by characters like Crowley and Aziraphale from Good Omens. (Only about Half plotted but the most written of any FanFiction I have so far.)

     Supernatural/Batman Beyond Fusion(SPN/BB): This plot bunny may not make it, basically just replacing the cast of Batman Beyond with the cast of Supernatural but tweaking the plot for supernatural stuff.

     Ultimate CrossOver Fic(C/O): This fic started out in my head with a few comic panels showing Jack Harness falling comet style out of the sky over the impala. The boys investigate and find a very naked Jack in the crater. He of course starts flirting. At the same time that that is happening, the TARDIS bumps into the hull of the USS Enterprise, manifests on a landing deck, and then they both get sucked into some kind of time distortion. Meanwhile, Gabriel, trapped in a spell that Metatron set up to siphon his power to keep the wards on heaven set, uses the last of his strength to send a dream message to Sam. This story would include Supernatural, Doctor Who, Torchwood, Sherlock, Harry Potter, Good Omens, Marvel, Pushing Daises, and basically anything else I can find a way to add and every conceivable mlm ship. (I can’t write sex that involves women because of dysphoria but feel free to believe those ships happen too)

[fbmajor]

This is Aeryn. She’s pretty cool. That’s... really all there is to say on the matter. The world that she hails from isn’t really built yet, so it’s actually a bit odd that I drew her, but that’s that.

Of course, it has become a tradition in this blog to rant for an excessively long time on every post, and I don’t plan on breaking that just yet. Buckle up, this is going to be a long one, so long that I’m not going to grammar check it.

There’s a lot of interesting stuff behind the scenes of creating this. For starters, I drew in portrait instead of landscape, which really only makes the actual drawing a little bigger, but it ended up confusing the hell out of me when it came to drawing things at a reasonable scale. I think the end result, as is usually the case with my drawings of people (which is all of them at the moment, barring that one logo I did for Graft Theory a while back), has a somewhat large head and short body. But that’s alright, as anyone that knows me will know that I have a fondness for short people, and I haven’t actually decided Aeryn’s height yet anyway.

She also has huge eyes, which isn’t exactly a new concept but I prefer realistically sized ones. Despite the larger scale I was drawing from by doing portrait, I really can’t draw decently shaped eyes at anything smaller than the size they are in this picture. Or rather, I can’t draw two eyes that look reasonably similar to each other and in proper place.

You’ll also notice that she isn’t shaded at all. I usually don’t scan my drawings until they’re finished completely, as the process of scanning while I’m at college involves walking all the way to the campus library and back. However, as this is essentially concept art, I’m debating coloring it as opposed to just shading it, so I wanted to get at least an outline saved somewhere so that I can look back on it fondly after I inevitably turn it into a disaster by using colored pencils.

If you haven’t used them before, accept from experience that colored pencils are really finicky to use and are difficult to use for satisfactory color fillings, particularly the darker ones and the dreaded black pencil. Unfortunately, they’re the only kind of coloring I have available to me at the moment, at least that will work reasonable well with a penciled outline. They do have their strong points, though. Because they have fine points that don’t really splatter or distort like inkpens and markers, it’s not disastrous if you screw up, and you get quite a bit of precision. The real issue is making it look good, which is just a huge pain.

On that note, pencil shading isn’t exactly easy to get right either. The problem with pencils in general is that they will make it easy to see the grain of the paper and any particles that happen to be on your table under the sheet. This doesn’t really show up in lineart but once you add area to your penciling it gets noticeable real quick. The whole lack of distortion thing I talked about earlier becomes a curse as it becomes impossible to get a fill without missing a ton of really tiny spots. You can keep drawing over it, but doing so will cause you to converge on certain levels of darkness, effectively limiting your color palette to around 8 shades, which can be annoying in complex drawings with a lot of adjacent regions.

Speaking of, this is actually one of the more complex character arts I’ve done, particularly in reference to the clothes. Due to the aforementioned difficulty with adequately shading a large cluster of regions, I generally keep clothing pretty simple. This habit is definitely because of that and not because of how difficult it is to draw clothing. Since there really isn’t anything indicating it, allow me to list the pieces of this outfit: cloak/coat, shirt, vest-like thing, skirt, whatever the female equivalent of compression shorts is, boots, and fingerless gloves. It is at this point that I will give a shoutout to a particular person whom I’ve made fun of for having a character with fingerless gloves. You know who you are. I apologize, you were right, they are pretty cool (but my character is still going to make fun of yours for them).

I’ll get back to the outfit design in a minute, as it does require some world context. Aeryn, who is probably in her late teens in this drawing, hails from the world of Graft Theory that thing I mentioned in what I believe was my first post on this blog. The idea behind the story is essentially a fantasy world where there is at least one branch of magic that works via creating graphs with magic energy, and Aeryn and the supporting cast are attempting to overthrow a magocracy. Lot’s of spywork, secret missions, etc. If I eventually get the time, equipment, and skills to create it (the plan is for it to be a comic), it should be pretty fun.

Anyway, Aeryn is a mage herself, but she is only capable of using this branch of magic that involves graph theory, for reasons that exist but I don’t feel like going into because this is already the length of an essay. Anyway, graph theory branch is kind of the joke of the mage community because it takes too long to set up for actual combat, and as a result Aeryn would have a fairly low place in the society’s magic caste system.

Alright back to her fashion. I have very little regard for fashion, male or female, so if you think her choice of clothing is retarded, you’re probably correct but you can still go fuck yourself anyway. This outfit is meant to be usable in combat, which is why it’s mostly form-fitting. The obvious exception to this rule is the cloak, which probably would be a pain in combat, but she can easily drape it around her shoulders without it falling off to allow more arm-freedom. I have a particular fondness for the coat-over-the-shoulders style, which you can see in some anime, notable examples being the captains in Bleach and the high-ranking marines in One Piece. I will admit that I do this with a jacket sometimes, which is probably the most weab-like thing I do.

The cloak was loosely based off of the Grandmaster from Fire Emblem, and will probably get more design added to it whenever I get the time to finish the drawing. The skirt is based much more strictly on the same source as the cloak. It’s pretty much a direct rip with a few modifications. I don’t know what the ring is supposed to be. I just felt like putting there thinking it might be useful. She is also carrying a dagger which is mostly concealed behind her, but if you were wondering what that little handle thing was, there you go.

I’ve always wondered about the combat feasibility of short skirts. In terms of movement, I assume that a skirt that doesn’t form a complete connected ring anywhere other than the waist would allow full freedom of movement (Though at the risk of panty shots, but in this case the compression shorts eliminate the prospect of gratuitous fanservice). I mean, the only reason we started wearing pants was so that we could ride horses. The Romans used skirts and they turned out alright. I think this outfit is actually more limited by the rope-belts than the skirt, but unfortunately I don’t wear skirts often enough to really be able to say for sure.

I don’t wear fingerless gloves either. Frankly, I don’t think there’s any real benefit to fingerless gloves, but maybe someone more experienced in the matter can let me know. Aeryn’s gloves, however, contain prewritten graphs (specifically paths, if you familiar with the lingo) that she can funnel magic into to quickly cast a spell. I would’ve written runes on them, but the gloves will probably be black and the runes lighter, so I thought it would be best if that was left to the final stages.

Her boots, while not the most difficult to draw, were the biggest pain. Look at all of those god damn holes. I was also very particular about ensuring they were laced properly, though I did screw up a few times on her right foot. This greatly displeased me as it ran counter to the vast experience of shoe-lacing I have accrued simply by playing ice hockey. I was forced to drive to the nearest hockey rink and baptize myself in melted ice to wash away the shame.

Oh man that was a long rant. But this picture took a particularly long time, so I suppose it deserves a long rant. Perhaps this rant is so long a tl;dr is warranted.

tl;dr - Her name’s Aeryn, she’s a magical spy, probably in her late teens in this drawing. Pencils suck for coloring. Her gloves are magical. She’s cool. You’re cool. Have a nice day.

[kayla1993-world]

2021 looks to be an exciting year for movies, especially because it will finally see the release of several notable projects that have been stuck development hell. At first glance, development hell is a dark creative abyss that pulls down eagerly-awaited movies and TV shows into an unknown future - shifting around scripts, directors and studios, and frustrating legions of faithful and hungry film fans in the process. Thankfully, some highly-anticipated films have finally escaped development hell, and are scheduled for a 2021 release.

Whether it's Mad Max: Fury Road or the new Guns n' Roses album, development hell is frustrating for fans and creators alike. And the irritation doesn't stop there: indeed, completed movies with a bumpy production history have rarely turned out questionably perfect (see: Alien Vs. Predator, and  John Carter). But despite the term's obviously negative connotations, snags in the creative process can be extremely beneficial to a project. It signals that a studio is unwilling to flippantly rush the film for the sake of filling a tentpole release date, and instead takes reasonable care in finding the right talent to breathe life into an important creative venture. More time on a project typically means more care taken in the thought process.

There are movies that have been gestating for ten years or more that will finally be getting their big pay-off in 2021. Whether they'll sink or swim is anyone's guess, but anticipation is naturally rife -- these films have been a long time coming.

1.  Pinocchio -- The upcoming Pinocchio is Guillermo Del Toro's long-awaited adaptation of the classic children's novel, popularized by Disney's 1940 animated film. Del Toro's project has had a awkward path towards principle production, having been cancelled in 2017 after Del Toro failed to acquire funding for his allegedly darker interpretation of the whimsical tale, which apparently retains its European setting but switches the 19th century setting for Mussolini's Italy. Del Toro has repeatedly called Pinocchio his passion project, claiming a "deep, personal connection" to the character.

After stagnating for over a year, Netflix came to Del Toro's creative aid on his career high from 2017's  The Shape of Water. Along with the Jim Henson Company, Pinocchio will finally materialize with co-director Mark Gustafson in tow. Gustafson's talents as animation director are essential for the film's stop-motion animation -- a unique, surreal style that could potentially be a nice change of pace from today's vapid, CG-overload fantasy tales. Incidentally, Disney's live-action Pinocchio is moving ahead. A release date is not yet set, and the film may be delayed while Del Toro completes Nightmare Alley, but production is progressing nicely with stars Ewan McGregor, Tilda Swinton and Christoph Waltz already on board. A 2021 release date on Netflix seems probable.

2.  Uncharted -- Naughty Dog's hugely successful video game franchise Uncharted is somewhat notorious for failing to muster a film adaptation. Talk of a movie featuring treasure hunter Nathan Drake dates back to 2009, after the success of Uncharted 2, and the project has since sifted through an array of directors. David O’Russell, Neil Burger, Seth Gordon, Shawn Levy, Dan Trachtenberg and Travis Knight have all taken a shot at prepping Sony's eagerly anticipated blockbuster, but each director fled the Uncharted project for undisclosed reasons.

But the future seemingly grows brighter for Drake and company. In what is now an Uncharted origin story, Tom Holland has been cast as a young Nathan, and Mark Wahlberg, in a surprising turnaround, is now on board as Drake's mentor Sully (Wahlberg signed on as Drake in O’Russell's version, that was also to feature Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci). Antonio Banderas has also joined the roster of actors. They will be led by Venom director Ruben Fleischer, who took over from Knight in January, which (yet again) delayed the movie from its previous December 2020 release date, replacing Masters of the Universe on Sony's release schedule in the process. Assuming Fleischer doesn't join his predecessors in walking away from Uncharted, the movie is set for release on March 5th 2021.

3.  Space jam 2 -- The original Space Jam appealed to sports and classic cartoon fans alike, and its $230 million worldwide gross put a sequel on the cards almost immediately. However, plans for Space Jam 2 were scrapped in favor of 2003's Looney Tunes: Back in Action , which is currently Bugs, Daffy and friends' last effort on the silver screen. A sustained interest in the '90s classic has lead to a variety of stalled sequels in recent years. These featured the Tunesquad in different games with different sports celebrities, including golf with Tiger Woods and skateboarding with Tony Hawk.

The upcoming Space Jam 2  sequel is evidently a much more back-to-basics approach. NBA champion LeBron James is set to replace Michael Jordan as the Tunes' captain with director Malcom D. Lee filling Joe Pytka's boots as captain of production. Ryan Coogler even features in a Producer role. Actors Don Cheadle and Sonequa Martin-Green have joined the returning Looney Tunes favourites, who are sure to give the "Monstars" an exciting and madcap rematch.

4.  The batman -- Batman's next solo outing, The Batman , has swerved drastically since the DCEU culminated in 2017's horifically mismanaged Justice League . Initially intended to be directed and co-written by then-incumbent star, Ben Affleck, he left The Batman project in 2017 and recently citied a "loss of interest" in the character.

After briefly dropping out, Matt Reeves is back to oversee yet another reboot of the dark knight legend. Little is known of the narrative, except it will not incorporate the Affleck script, nor be connected to the virtually extinct DCEU. Reeves' ideas are intriguing: he has described it as a more detective-oriented story that takes inspiration from the graphic novel The Long Halloween. The caped crusader definitely has his work cut out in this picture, with Catwoman, The Penguin and The Riddler rounding out the movie's rogue's gallery.

Robert Pattinson was surprisingly Reeves' top choice for the role, and the actor's youthful appearance suggests it will center on Batman's early days. A rough, makeshift costume revealed in February supported this idea; more recently, images of The Batman's Batmobile were revealed. Assisted by Andy Serkis' Alfred, The Batman takes to the streets June 25th 2021.

5.  Sherlock Holmes 3 -- Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law are expected to reprise their roles as Holmes and Dr Watson respectively in the upcoming Sherlock Holmes 3 . The series that has long stalled squarely thanks to Downey Jr.'s MCU commitments, portraying Tony Stark aka Iron Man. Fans may have had three seasons of the BBC's Sherlock to get their fix, but certainly, some are eager to see Downey Jr.'s appealing performance as the Victorian detective once again, particularly after a decade-long absence.  Originally scheduled for December 2020, suspiciously, Sherlock Holmes 3  was delayed for an entire year.

Guy Ritchie directed the original 2009 film as well as its sequel, A Game of Shadows, but has vacated the chair for a potential third film. Hot from Elton John biopic Rocketman, British director Dexter Fletcher will replace him and has noted the inevitability that his sequel will be different to Ritchie's interpretation of the franchise.

Delays have been happening in the screenplay department for Sherlock Holmes 3. Chris Brancato is the latest writer hired to pen a script, after original's screenwriters Drew Pearce and James Coyne each turned in inadequate drafts of their own. Law has stated he and the filmmakers want the film to "be better" than the predecessors, so are understandably cautious about releasing a less-than brilliant "threequel." As the Sherlock Holmes 3 cast gears up, there's still time to perfect everything before its December 2021 release.

6.  Avatar 2 -- If anyone can believe it, Avatar was released more than a decade ago in 2009. Even before the movie's billion-dollar success, James Cameron had a rich vision and universe all laid out, which multiple sequels designed for him to draw from. Initially, Cameron envisioned Pandora and its surrounding worlds to be explored in a total of three sequels, with Avatar 2 finally releasing in December... of 2014.

Cut to seven years and multiple delays later, and there's not been a poster, trailer or much public interest to maintain faith in the continuation of the Na'vi story. But Cameron has evidently been working very hard. Development on the  Avatar sequels, although exhaustively drawn out, has never officially halted; Cameron has blamed an "involved writing process" for the Avatar sequels' setbacks, and even has hired some much-needed help in the form of four additional screenwriters, including Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver.

Always the pioneer, Cameron has also focused his efforts on helping the motion capture and 3D technology that made the original film so ground-breaking, although will not use the controversial HFR. Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang will be back on Pandora on December 17th, 2021.

7.  Indiana Jones -- After the release of 2008's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull , Harrison Ford said that he'd love to do Indiana Jones 5 , if it didn't take "another 20 years" to be released. Well, half of that time has passed, and the quickest the sequel will be released is likely 2021.

Similar to Avatar, Indy 5's mid-2010s release date was replaced by a blowing tumbleweed. In the 12 long years since Crystal Skull, and some back and forth over the sequel's script, director Steven Spielberg has ultimately left the project. This is and isn't surprising. His mixed feelings about the fourth film seemingly indicated that he wanted to close off the series with a more satisfactory story, but his commitment to various projects over the past decade strongly suggested he was dragging his feet on helming the film.

Ford has always been game to return, and Spielberg is expected to join Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall in a Producer capability. There is no word that David Koepp's script is finalised, but production is clearly moving along, as evidenced by Lucasfilm's hasty recruitment of Logan director, James Mangold. Ford himself expects to start shooting Indy 5  in two months.

It's known that the film will not kill off Indy, nor will it integrate Shia LaBeouf's Mutt Williams; however it remains a mystery what Indy's quest will be. Ford has been deliberately vague, only hinting at where the character will go, promising a "resolve" to Indy's story. Given Ford's age and that the series was intended as five films, it's only natural that everything concludes here -- although the ever-eager Disney will inevitably pursue the reboot path in due time. Director and script troubles notwithstanding, Indiana Jones 5 will likely join the other development hell movies to be released in 2021.

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 23 July 2018

Quick Bits:

A Walk Through Hell #3 showcases several times just how good Goran Sudžuka is an artist. His character reactions and facial expressions are among the best in the industry, achieving so much with a brevity of line. Amazing work.

| Published by AfterShock

Amazing Spider-Man #2 continues to set up the new/old status quo for Peter and his supporting cast. I think, ultimately, I like this issue more than the first due to there not being all of the contrived loss this time around, instead working more to build the new in Peter’s life. Great art form Ryan Ottley, Cliff Rathburn, and Laura Martin.

| Published by Marvel

Bedtime Games #2 gets more into the meat of the story, transforming from a simple childhood excursion into more outright horror and supernatural territory. I love how Nick Keller and Conor Nolan are presenting the manipulation and manifestation of a kid’s dreams and nightmares, with his spiel meaning one thing to a child, whereas it would likely be interpreted entirely differently to adults. Great art from Nolan and Kelly Fitzpatrick.

| Published by Dark Horse

Blackwood #3 deals with the fallout of Dennis’ death as the faculty and students of Blackwood continue to try to piece together what’s put them in this mess. Great art from Veronica and Andy Fish.

| Published by Dark Horse

Bone Parish #1 is the incredible debut of this new crime/horror series from Cullen Bunn, Jonas Scharf, and Alex Guimaráes. It’s an interesting hook of voodoo and drugs, creating a product from the bones of the dead that causes you to apparently experience the memories of the dead. Bunn crafts some interesting characters here in the Winters family, and Scharf and Guimaráes’ is spot on darkness and mood bringing this world to life. This is a really good fix.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Britannia: Lost Eagles of Rome #1 returns with the beginning of a new mystery, with Robert Gill, José Villarrubia, and Diego Rodriguez taking over the art chores while Peter Milligan continues the story. I like the set up, with three legions ambushed and their standards stolen, clues being hinted at an inside job pointing at a possible plot against the Emperor, Nero, or just a means to greedy ends of former Legionaries now in Egypt.

| Published by Valiant

Descender #32 is a beautiful end to this series, bittersweet as all machine life is taken...somewhere, setting up part of the premise as the story will continue into the new Ascender series next year. Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen pretty much have a masterpiece on their hands here, gorgeous artwork and a heartwrenching story.

| Published by Image

Dungeons & Dragons: Evil at Baldur’s Gate #3 is worth it just for the modrons. This issue features some beautiful artwork from Harvey Tolibao and Juan Manuel Rodriquez, as Jim Zub focuses this issue on Delina and her quest to rid herself of her wild magic. This is probably my favourite of these character pieces so far, both for the art and for how it deals with growing Delina in a more positive direction, reconciling that a chaotic temperament isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Also, modrons.

| Published by IDW

Hack/Slash: Resurrection #9 is another fun issue guest-starring Vampirella as we discover more of Cassie’s family’s history. The mix of humour and horror is wonderful.

| Published by Image

Harbinger Wars 2 #3 features one of the moments we’ve been waiting for since Harbinger Renegade #5. Though I can’t say it ends in the fashion that we’d necessarily expect or have hoped for, but there’s still a level of satisfaction. Also, the art from Tomás Giorello, Renato Guedes, and Diego Rodriguez is incredible. The design for the Livewire-augmented Bloodshot is just amazing.

| Published by Valiant

Hit-Girl #6 is worth it for Eduardo Risso and Patricia Mulvihill’s artwork alone, perfectly fitting the gritty and violent world that Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. created with Kick-Ass. Jeff Lemire is still an odd fit for this world, as irreverence and violence like this aren’t usually within his standard themes and narrative characteristics, (even when you consider Animal Man or Moon Knight), but he’s doing a great job here. Amidst the violence, there’s a tie to family and some very nice utilization of hallucinations and fever dreams that add depth to the story.

| Published by Image

Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor #3 rushes towards a conclusion as the X-women take on Viper’s femme fatales. I like the story, especially as Jim Zub has been delving into the characters’ past with Logan, mining Domino’s fling of sex and violence here. Can’t say I really like Thony Silas’ art, though. While many of the characters are indistinguishable again apart from their clothes, it feels like the art has been rushed. I liked Silas’ art in Royals, so I’m not sure what happened here.

| Published by Marvel

Infinity Wars Prime #1 has some really nice artwork from Mike Deodato Jr. and Frank Martin, well-suited to the somewhat disjointed, patchwork narrative that Gerry Duggan and others have been putting together since the beginning of Infinity Countdown and now continuing here. It’s not exactly what you’d expect, with some interesting ideas from Loki regarding how reality and stories have been rewritten, and makes me wonder what’s to come throughout the rest of this event.

| Published by Marvel

The Long Con #1 is an interesting beginning from Dylan Meconis, Ben Coleman, EA Denich, and M. Victoria Robado. It’s a decidedly different take on a post-apocalyptic tale, with a localized destruction zone, and an interesting hook by placing the epicentre of survivors within a pop culture convention. The art from Denich and Robado is a real draw. Denich has a style that reminds me a bit of Jim Mahfood and Phil Hester, perfectly fitting the mix of humour and the wasteland.

| Published by Oni Press

Lucy Dreaming #5 is the conclusion to what has been a highly imaginative, lushly illustrated series from Max Bemis and Michael Dialynas. There’s a very interesting theme of male versus female fantasies running throughout the book, but it also works as a surface level coming-of-age adventure.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Marvel Two-in-One #8 takes a step back from the action of recent issues and takes a moment to reflect, as Ben and Johnny deal with being stranded on a strange world ruled by a deranged Spider-Man without their powers. Chip Zdarsky plays with our heartstrings as the two come to terms with their situation.

| Published by Marvel

Mr. & Mrs. X #1 is a continuation of the character arc that began in the recent Rogue & Gambit mini-series, flowed through X-Men Gold #30, and now winds up here with this new ongoing series from Kelly Thompson, Oscar Bazaldua, and Frank D’Armata. This issue takes us back through a more elaborate version of events leading up to the wedding proper, allowing for deeper and fairly humorous character moments, before taking off to the honeymoon. The dialogue is full of Thompson’s welcome sense of humour and the art from Bazaldua and D’Armata is perfect. As I’ve said before, I don’t really care for the Remy & Rogue pairing, but Thompson makes it work and be highly entertaining.

| Published by Marvel

Multiple Man #2 is even more insane than the first issue, with Matthew Rosenberg devising a pretzel of a time travel plot that maybe makes sense to Madrox, but doesn’t to anyone else. It’s a blend of dupes, humour, and a bit of continuity with some truly excellent art from Andy MacDonald and Tamra Bonvillain.

| Published by Marvel

The New World #1 reminds me a bit of Frank Miller and Dave Gibbons’ Martha Washington, but with a decidedly modern bent that takes the patriotism and post-apocalyptic society and turns it into a state run version of Cops with the people voting on whether or not criminals get executed. It’s full of interesting socio-political ideas like any Aleš Kot book, and clean and compelling art from Tradd and Heather Moore.

There’s also a back-up story, wholly unrelated to the main narrative, from a pair of new creators, Aaron Stewart-Ahn and Susando C, that almost overshadows the main book in its quality. It’s a nicely creepy haunted hotel room story that reminds me of Joyce Carol Oates by way of David Lynch.

| Published by Image

Pathfinder: Spiral of Bones #5 is the excellent conclusion to this series, with some interesting and unexpected twists as Crystal Frasier, Tom Garcia, and Morgan Hickman give us Valeros’ final battle with Zeladar. I love the action sequences from Garcia.

| Published by Dynamite

Pestilence: A Story of Satan #3 somehow takes an even darker turn even as a little bit of hope creeps into the story. Frank Tieri, Oleg Okunev, Rob Schwager, and Mark Englert are keeping this ticking along nicely, with some interesting revelations this issue and the introduction to another potential threat. 

| Published by AfterShock

The Punisher #228 brings to an end this particular chapter of Frank’s war against crime. It makes me wonder where Matthew Rosenberg is going to take the next act when he and Szymon Kudranski launch the new Punisher series, whether we’ll still see some Black Widow and Winter Soldier, and if there’ll be some resolution to the Hydra arc. Either way, this arc from Rosenberg, Guiu Vilanova, and Lee Loughridge concludes nicely, with a somewhat surprising resolution.

| Published by Marvel

Punks Not Dead #6 rounds out the first arc, fleshing out a bit of what we already found out in the Black Crown Quarterly flashback story and bringing the disparate elements circling around Fergie’s life down on his head. It is very, very good, capturing some of the spirit of old Vertigo supernatural stories, but doing something decidedly new with it. David Barnett and Martin Simmonds are telling a great tale here and, again, I really can’t say enough about Simmonds’ art (with flats from Dee Cunniffe). The layouts are among the most visually interesting out there right now.

| Published by IDW / Black Crown

Redneck #13 brings up back from the trade break, with Bartlett on the run and a whole new mess in drug-running vampires from his past. Great art as always from Lisandro Estherren and Dee Cunniffe. 

| Published by Image / Skybound

The Sentry #2 works to upend the new status quo created in the first issue, with everything seemingly going wrong for Bob and his simulated world that holds the Sentry. Like with his Moon Knight run, there are some very interesting questions that Jeff Lemire raises here about identity and the possibilities of where this is leading is intriguing. Also, stunning artwork from Kim Jacinto, Joshua Cassara, and Rain Beredo.

| Published by Marvel

Shanghai Red #2 continues the high level of quality set by the first issue as Jack/Red/Molly seeks revenge. This story is compelling and propulsive, sucking you in and refusing to let go. Christopher Sebela and Joshua Hixson have a real hit on their hands here.

| Published by Image

StarCraft: Scavengers #1 is very good, even if you know absolutely nothing about the video game. Jody Houser and Gabriel Guzmán set a tone and story more akin to a horror sci-fi like Alien, setting up the titular scavengers to potentially find terror on a derelict alien ship. When you add the undercurrent of a boyhood crush and a hint of political subterfuge as a side plot, you wind up with a well-rounded beginning here.

| Published by Dark Horse

TMNT #84 concludes the Rat King arc in a fairly inventive way that brings together the Turtles’ journey through strange places and what’s been going on in the city. Again, I have to sing the praises of Dave Wachter and Ronda Pattison. The artwork for this entire arc has just been phenomenal and this issue keeps up that level of quality.

| Published by IDW

Transformers: Lost Light #21 is a little surprising in its pacing, given how quickened the speed of plotlines crashing together and being resolved has been over the past few issues. This one’s more about building and building to the grand reveal on the final page. It works, and it’s very welcome. James Roberts, Jack Lawrence, and Joana Lafuente do a wonderful job with this issue.

| Published by IDW

Transformers: Unicron #2 brings back a number of lost, missing, or presumed dead characters as Starscream makes his play for prominence in the battle to stop Unicron. I like how John Barber has been bringing together the disparate threads, here and in Optimus Prime, as the universe begins to draw to a close. It’s also interesting to see how ROM’s mythology has been woven through the fabric, changing perspective on both his world and here the Dire Wraiths. Also, stunning artwork from Alex Milne and Sebastian Cheng. They’re really making this story feel epic.

| Published by IDW

Venom #4 is an epic revisioning of history, introducing the god of the symbiotes and their true origin to us. It’s great. I’m still amazed by Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer, and Frank Martin’s artwork as it seems to get better and better with subsequent issues, raising the bar for the insane story that they’re telling with Donny Cates. This is great world building within the Marvel Universe, while also telling a highly entertaining overall story.

| Published by Marvel

X-23 #2 is another entertaining issue. Although I do miss Tom Taylor, I think that Mariko Tamaki has perfectly nailed the voice and character for Laura and Gabby. The slightly offbeat humour is still present, but a little muted from the All-New Wolverine run, which allows for the eerie and disturbing parts of the story to take prominence a bit more. It’s good, especially the astonishing artwork from Juann Cabal and Nolan Woodard.

| Published by Marvel

Other Highlights: Barbarella #8, Big Trouble in Little China: Old Man Jack #11, Blackwood #3, Brothers Dracul #4, Charlie’s Angels #2, Dark Souls: Age of Fire #3, Deadpool: Assassin #4, Deep Roots #3, Gasolina #10, Green Hornet #5, Hillbilly #12, Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: Coronation #5, Joe Hill’s The Cape: Fallen #2, Judge Dredd: Under Siege #3, KINO #8, Lumberjanes #52, Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer #2, Modern Fantasy #2, Moon Knight #197, Moonshine #12, Night’s Dominion: Season Three #1, Old Man Logan #44, The Realm #8, Rick & Morty #40, Royal City #13, Saga #54, Songs for the Dead #4, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #22, Star Wars: Lando - Double or Nothing #3, Star Wars Adventures #12, Wayward #27, We Are Danger #2, X-Men: Grand Design - Second Genesis #1, X-Men: Wakanda Forever #1, X-Men Blue #32, X-O Manowar #17

Recommended Collections: Alien Bounty Hunter, Daredevil - Volume 6: Mayor Fisk, Incidentals - Volume 2: Balance of Power, Rasputin: The Voice of the Dragon, Regression - Volume 2: Disciples, SHIELD: Human Machine, Transformers vs. Visionaries, Venomized, Warframe - Volume 1, X-Men - Volume 4: Cry Havoc, Zojaqan

d. emerson eddy was not there on the evening of the 24th of May, 1954 in the rain.

[contryreads]

Author: Parker Sinclair

Genre: Fantasy

Hosted by: Country Reads Promotions

Alex Conner's first book for urban adult fantasy supernatural suspense, paranormal, & magical realism lovers!

Alex Conner’s nights of event planning and partying in San Diego, California have taken a turn for the worse as nightmares invade her mind on a daily basis. The memories of the vile man she exiled using the powers inherited from her mother and grandmother are all but breaking into her living hours, and nothing is working to keep her nightmares at bay. Will she ultimately be the one responsible for bringing this horror back into her life? Who can she trust and how is she to deal with the draw she has towards a new man in her life – a man who is definitely more than meets the eye?

Follow a young woman's journey through a life overcome with hardships. From a neglectful childhood with a mother who couldn't care for Alex let alone herself, to a loss that forces her to live with a father figure who crosses an unforgivable line. A line that turns Alex into something so fierce that her past now comes back to haunt her.

Alex Conner's second book for urban adult fantasy supernatural suspense, paranormal, & magical realism lovers! Truth is best enjoyed after reading book one, Trust.

Now that Alex can no longer deny her heritage as an Earthen Protector, everything comes crashing down around her. Alex’s estranged mom has enlisted her help in finding Alex’s father; a man who was presumed dead since before she was born. While she waits and trains with Dana, the Mistress of Weaponry and Potions, innocent people, some who she dearly loves, face unspeakable horrors. Alex and her small, yet powerful, group of companions confront danger head on while they hunt down those responsible. Is her father really alive and will Alex’s training prove to be enough for her take on some powerful enemies? As if the threats in her life weren’t enough for Alex to handle, her feelings for two men have her torn and tempted. Join Alex on her next adventure and enjoy the mystery, humor, and passion in her second Chronicle—Truth.

Sandra's first book, and the Alex Conner Chronicles Book 2.5, for urban adult fantasy supernatural suspense, paranormal romance, & magical realism lovers! Reader's will enjoy the book best after reading Trust & Truth. 

Sandra is a bombshell. She also happens to be a Seer, and Earthen Protector Alex Conner’s best friend. When Alex goes missing, Sandra seeks help from the one person she is forbidden to contact. Can Sandra, and those she used to be closest to, finally move past all the fear and mistrust? Discover Sandra’s dark and hidden past, one that even Alex doesn’t know about, in this intense novella, and get a peek at what is in the cards for their future. 

Enjoy this Alex Conner Chronicles Novella and get ready for the official book 3, Only.

Only is the official book three in the adult urban fantasy/magical realism series, The Alex Conner Chronicles. Readers will enjoy this book best after reading Trust, Truth, & Forbidden. 

One would think the sassy, sexy hybrid Earthen Protector and Healer Alex Conner deserves some downtime after all she’s been through. But no. Instead, she finds herself trapped by the king of the Fae, and he’s not letting her go until he gets what he wants.

As alternate realities tangle her in confusion and bring her close to forgetting who she is and everyone she loves, will she unwittingly give the king what he craves? If she does escape, will she ever pick up where she left off with her sexy Adonis Ryan? And can she control the new power she never knew she could wield—one over life and death itself—or will she be entangled in a realm whose ruler is hell-bent on entrapping her and someone she holds dear, forever?

A thrilling YA Epic fantasy/HEA Romance that's enjoyable for all ages! 

Join the incredible journey full of magical beings, terrifying and majestic creatures, and the two young hearts destined to save a kingdom. 

When fate brings the young Prince Ryzyn and the rover girl Gem together, not only do their lives become forever entwined, their meeting also ignites the power within an ancient object—the Heart of Cyan. 

With the mystical Heart discovered, the wielder must prepare for an epic battle against a vicious, pervasive darkness that threatens all of Parlethis. Magical forces unite for the good of the land, but will that be enough to stop the Shadowland creatures from destroying them all?

If you love urban fantasy, supernatural suspense, magical realism, and paranormal romance, you’ll love my novels.

 Ms. Sinclair gives credit to the development of her imagination and passion for writing to multiple childhood destinations lacking indoor plumbing. It may sound odd, yet when your journey to adulthood consists of numerous backpacking, camping, and hiking trips to the most out-of-the-way and breathtakingly beautiful places in North America, the creation of games, worlds, and characters are the results. She would never trade the childhood her parents gave her, and she thanks them for raising her to have her own thoughts, dreams, and bountiful imagination. Oh, and she wishes to thank them for teaching her that one should never leave their jeans on the floor of an Everglades campground shower—lest they do the dance of the scorpions in the pants again!

 While attending college, Ms. Sinclair studied biological sciences and psychology, specifically animal behavior, but her love has forever been to write. There are boxes in her house filled with notebooks, journals, and logs with poems, stories, lyrics, and personal rants scratched into them with pencil, marker, pen, whatever she could get her hands on. Words demanded to be thrown out of her mind and onto paper by any means necessary. Ms. Sinclair’s studies have contributed greatly to the worlds, characters, and stories she creates, proving that no matter what path you take, it will all be part of where you end up—sometimes in spectacular ways!

 Since 2007, Ms. Sinclair calls Coastal Virginia home where she is a licensed school counselor currently following her dreams as a professional author & content writer. Ms. Sinclair's writes magical realism, paranormal romance, adult urban fantasy, YA epic fantasy, and romantic fantasy novels.

 Alex Conner Chronicles Reading Order: Trust, Truth, Forbidden, and then Only!

Parker’s Protectors Please join Parker’s Group: Where fans and friends join together as Parker's Protectors Street Team! Parker’s Protectors Please join Parker’s Group:

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[scottymcgeesterwrites]

The Call of the Jersey Devil - Chapter 1: The Discovery

The Call of the Jersey Devil is a current fantasy novel I’m wrestling with, but I know how I want it to start and end. It’s always the middle part that I don’t know what to do with.

The story takes place in New Jersey, if the title didn’t give it away already. It’s specifically set in a particular time period - the turn of the new millennium. The current history will blend with the series, and it’s also heavenly inspired by my childhood in New Jersey - growing up in Catholic school, wandering around the woods, learning of urban legends, and getting into trouble. It’s a dark fantasy since it deals heavily with the occult, but it won’t be without comic relief.

I wasn’t sure what to do when I saw the body. I had never seen one before so I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Should I scream? Yell? I did none of those things. Instead I stared into the remains of death – a girl about 20 years old burned beyond recognition. Instead, curiosity gripped me. It wasn’t the curiosity of stupid little kids that have you touch everything; it was the type that had you stand there in solemnity, wondering about who this person was and what happened that led them to this terrible fate.

The fog still spread across the cranberry bogs – deep in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. I had gotten lost from my school group after wandering around and couldn’t find my way back. I spotted a light and chased after it, thinking it was the school bus or something. Instead, the light led me to the remains of some sick ritual.

The girl laid on her back with her hands tied together across her chest like a mummy. Strange circles in the ground surrounded her body. They looked like somebody made them with a stick. Four circles were on either side of her body, with one above and one below.

Sister Sherry, the principal of St. Veronica’s, always said to pray for the dead. I didn’t understand because if they were dead already then why pray for them? But at that moment I was compelled to kneel and pray, because somehow I knew that this girl’s soul was lost – wandering out there – and only the Pine Barrens knew the truth of it.

I scouted the area hoping to find anything else of interest. I kicked something heavier than the leaves and looked down to find a black notebook – tattered and worn.

The bibliophile in me jumped at the prospect of finding a lost book. This was no Star Wars Expanded Universe book; the language wasn’t even in English. I flipped through pages of incomprehensible writing, complete with circle diagrams that were similar to those drawn on the ground near the dead girl.

Then I came upon a frightening image.

A page depicted a hideous anthropomorphic goat. He sat cross-legged and raised his right hand to the sky and the left hand to the ground. A star was drawn where he pointed in either direction. There was nothing particularly gruesome about the drawing, but the goat-man’s eyes bothered me; they stared straight at me, and he seemed to grin.

In the middle of my reading, I heard twigs snapping. I shifted my attention to the sound. Nothing but fog. What also bothered me was that I hadn’t heard any animals – no birds chirping, no squirrels scurrying, no deer. I breathed in the crisp autumn air, although not too much because the dry leaves could trigger my asthma. That and hay – and it was the season for hayrides. Mom had nagged at me to bring my inhaler. I hated carrying bulky objects in my pockets, so I left it in my backpack in school.

The fog had appeared suddenly when I got lost, despite the fact that the day had been sunny without a single cloud in the sky.

A foreboding presence told me to get out of there as fast as I could. I got that feeling whenever I dangled my feet over the bed, or whenever I gaped in the darkness of the hallway at home in the middle of the night before rushing to the bathroom. You don’t know for sure what’s out there but you’re convinced something is out there.

I slipped the book in my jacket pocket, zipped it up, and ran off in a random direction. I didn’t look back because the foreboding presence still gripped me, raising the hairs on my back. I kicked up leaves and dirt, splashing over mud. The run didn’t bother me for a while – both my parents had pushed me to swim and play soccer, because my doc told them that I could combat my asthma with regular activity.

The fog obscured my visibility. I couldn’t see until maybe 2 feet ahead of me – 2 feet too early to realize that I headed straight for a lake.

I crashed into the water. The water level reached my chest. I sputtered a cry before swallowing a mouthful of cranberries; I had fallen into the cranberry bog.

Hundreds of thoughts flashed through my head, even those as inane as my mother scolding me for wetting my new clothes. The cranberries popped all over me, covering me in red – like blood.

Two great big hands lifted me out by my shoulders. They tossed me roughly back on the ground. Two great big hands could have meant Officer James Foley – the school policeman who tagged along with us in nearly every school trip.

I tried to speak but realized that a tightness in my lungs prevented me from doing so – damn – I was nearly having an attack.

But the face that looked down on me was a hooded man in a goatee – a scraggy, thinly white guy. He dressed in a black cloak, although I spotted a hint of a t-shirt underneath.

“What’s wrong with him?” he said, pointing at me.

I wheezed. “Who—who--who the fuck are you?” I shouted.

Two more hooded men surrounded me. It was starting to become some kind of weird convention, of which I wasn’t keen on becoming a fan.

“Kid’s got a mouth. What is he? Five? Six?”

“I’m eleven!”

“Not anymore, you’re not. You’ve seen too much.” The hooded man who pulled me out of the water gripped me by the collar. He didn’t reek of drugs or alcohol – in fact he didn’t reek at all of anything. I had very little perception of the world and had imagined these were bums or some kind of Satanists.

“HELP!” I cried.

One of them stuffed a cloth in my mouth. He kept my mouth shut while someone started tying my wrists behind my back. Years of growing up roughing it out on the playground made me tumble out of their grasp and fall into the cranberry bog again – only this time I realized I couldn’t break free of my bindings.

The bog was murky and red. I chafed my wrists together furiously hoping to get something loose. When I did, I barely had enough time to break through the surface of the water before I lost my breath. Still, my lungs were on fire. I once again suffered that fish-out-water feeling from an asthma attack.  

The next few moments were blurry. I fell into some kind of shock. I knew how to swim (thank you Mom for all those nagging days pushing me to swim) but I panicked at the shouting hooded figures. I kept thinking they were going to pull a gun and shoot me and then burn me like they did that girl.

“Hey! What the hell are you doing here?”

The voice came from a cranberry bog farmer. A loud humming deafened me after that. A huge trawler collecting cranberries approached me. I thought I’d get eaten up or torn apart or something – apparently I didn’t pay attention to the lecture on how they actually collected cranberries.

The cranberry farmer hoisted me up onto the trawler. I had swallowed a lot of water and coughed up cranberries. I passed out there while watching red and blue flashing lights on the other side of the lake, where the rest of my class watched my rescue.