#the muse do be parkouring

[margoshansons]

oops another oc :: reyna sand in "the old therebefore" ( hotd s1-?? )

the baseborn daughter of Lord Dayne and a Lyseni storyteller, Reyna Sand held no power but that which was given to her. And since that was none, she was forced to take it. Having grown up in the shadow of her legitimate siblings at Starfall with Lady Dayne's disapproving stare around each corner, Reyna decided to make her own way, performing for coin and setting out to King's Landing. It was there she'd landed in the Red Keep, moving up from scullery maid to favorite handmaiden of the Princess. Surrounded by dragons, Reyna is no stranger to the whims and commands of House Targaryen, but when she finds herself catching the eye of the King, her situation goes from dire to grave. For a King who listens to no one is dangerous, but a King who listens to none but his mistress is lethal. A lowborn commoner thrust into power she'd always been denied, Reyna Sand is a pawn in a much larger game, and she intends to win.

@bisexualterror @foxesandmagic @iron-parkr @camiemendess @a-song-of-quill-and-feather

@arrthurpendragon @starcrossedjedis @drbobbimorse @kingsmakers @noratilney

@stanshollaand @astarionbae @darth-caillic @mystic-scripture @aliverse

@misshiraethsworld @asirensrage @eddiemunscns

HOTD TAGLIST: @misskatiewrites (wanna be added? Lmk!)

[byanyan]

one of those headcanons that's been in my head for two years but I've never really touched on: byan? actually pretty strong. they're not scrawny by any means ok, they've got some decent muscle

[chaos--mode]

got another new rien verse to throw around:

[agentcoops]

the way i log in to stare at my drafts, get emotional, and log off again

[spookmemepls]

☠ ― 𝑀𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑆𝑦𝑚𝑏𝑜𝑙 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑛𝑠. (𝐽𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑛, 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑒(𝑠).)

💤 - How does your muse sleep? Are they a light sleeper, or are they out the moment their head hits the pillow? Do they nap? Do they struggle to sleep due to things like insomnia, or nightmares?

❤️ - How did your muse come to realize their romantic and sexual orientations? Was it difficult to accept? Are they proud of who they are?

🧸 - Does your muse own any sentimental objects from their past? What makes it/them so special?

🛍 - Does your muse like to go shopping? What do they usually shop for? What kind of stores do they frequent?

🍔 - What kind of food does your muse usually eat? Do they have a favorite food, or favorite style of food? Do they have allergies? Are they vegan, vegetarian, etc.?

🍺 - How does your muse feel about the consumption of alcohol? Do they drink? Are they a heavy drinker, or are they on the lighter side? What's your muse's favorite alcoholic drink?

🎩 - What would your muse wear to a formal event? Do they dress more modestly, or do they go all out?

👠 - What kind of shoes does your muse usually wear? What is most comfortable for them in regards to footwear? Can your muse walk in high heels?

🎸 - Can your muse play any instruments? Do they play them often, or rarely? How actually skilled are they at playing them?

🎤 - Can your muse sing well? Do they sing often? If they were to stand up in front of a crowd, would they be able to sing in front of all of those people?

🗺️ - How often does your muse travel? Do they like to travel? Would they prefer to travel alone, or with friends? Where have they been? What was their favorite trip?

😖 - Does your muse have any embarrassing moments that they still think about? Do they laugh at them, or do they haunt them?

⛄️ - What would be your muse's ideal weather conditions? Do they prefer being hot or cold? What's their favorite season?

💘 - What is your muse like when they're in love? What does your muse find attractive in someone else? What are their love languages? How do they show affection? Do they show any distinct signs that they're in love?

🍡 - Can your muse cook? Can they bake? How well can they do either? Do they have any kitchen disaster stories?

⚾️ - Does your muse enjoy sports? Do they play any, or do they simply prefer to watch? Do they have a favorite sport?

🤸‍♀️ - How active is your muse? Do they exercise regularly? Do they do things like yoga? What else do they do to keep fit and active? Are they flexible? Can they do parkour?

👻 - How does your muse handle feeling scared? Do they enjoy horror? Do they believe in the paranormal? What calms your muse down? Do they have any scary stories?

🦵 - Does your muse have any physical ailments? How do they live with them?

🧠 - Does your muse have any mental ailments? How do they live with them?

🎶 - What kind of music does your muse listen to? Do they have a favorite genre? Do you think the aux cord would be taken away from them?

[dmwrites]

The royal archer brought his king the head Impulsesv, blood still dripping from where the neck had been severed from its body.

“Thank you, Sir HotGuy,” Rentheking said, voice strong and demanding obedience. He took the head, grasping the hairs of its Mohawk and holding it up for all of the royal court to see. “This, my subjects, is what happens to those who dareth oppose me!”

In the eyes of his subordinates, he saw fear and disgust. Lady Cleo rolled her eyes, but that was to be expected of her. What mattered is that they saw, that this head served as a reminder of consequence, of victory.

After the general assembly finished, and Scar was given a hefty tip for the murder, the hermits left, aside from the king’s right hand man, Bdubs. He bustled around, cleaning up water bottles and crumbs left behind. Ren watched him work, lounging on his throne, one hand idly playing with Impulse’s hair.

“Bdubs. Approach thine king,” King Ren said suddenly.

“Of course,” Bdubs replied warmly, and bowed in front of Ren. “What do you need, my king?”

“You know, as my right hand to the throne, much consideration must be done on the employment of the wenches that serve me.”

“The wenches,” Bdubs echoed. “Of course.”

“How do I know those in the court do not secretly want me gone and dead? How do I know those closest to me do not plan my demise while I sleep?”

“Loyalty tests! Those knaves must prove their loyalty! I could rig up some kind of test, parkour and puzzles and-”

“I like the idea of a loyalty test,” Ren mused, stroking the hair on the decapitated head. “But skill can be faked. True loyalty is proving that you give yourself to me. You are loyal to me, right, Sir Bdubs?”

“Of course I am,” Bdubs replied, bowing again.

“But how do I know that? After all, the wounds are still fresh from our last bout in the death games. And you were on the side of the enemy.”

“You mean Double Life?” Bdubs looked at Ren, confused. “That’s a whole different world, baby. I don’t feel Impulse’s pain here, and BigB isn’t even here. What are you talking about? Respectfully, of course.”

“Are you willing to prove your loyalty, sir Bdubs?” Ren asked.

“Yes. Of course I am,” Bdubs said with a sigh. “Whatever puts these fears to bed, my king.”

“Kiss the head of thine enemy.”

“What?” Bdubs asked, clearly taken aback.

“You would kiss my shoes, no? What difference is this?”

“I…”

“Your soul was bound to this man once, lest ye forget. What difference is a kiss alive or dead?” Ren held out the decapitate head of Impulse, his hand deep in his hair.

Bdubs stared at the head, the open mouth and the blood that dripped from the end of it. It was Impulse, yes, but a gorey, horrible version of him, death leaking from every pore of what remained of him. His scalp stretched horribly from where Ren was holding him by the hair. Bdubs gulped, glancing at his king.

“You know, i was the one who came up with this whole kind idea in the first place, Ren,” Bdubs said nervously. “I don’t think I, of all people, need to prove my loyalty…”

“Kiss the head, Sir Bdubs. Prove you care not for the enemy any longer,” Ren growled, thrusting the head towards Bdubs. More blood sprinkled onto the floor with heavy splats.

Bdubs approached the throne, every fiber of his body telling him to run from this horrid scene. He held Impulse’s dead, rotting head by the sides of his face, and pressed his lips to Impulse’s cold, rubbery ones. Impulse tasted like blood. Bdubs opened his eyes and stared into blank, soulless ones.

RentheKing put a hand to the back of Bdubs’ head, scratching and petting his hair like he was a well behaved dog. “A final kiss to a love no more- you have proved your loyalty well today, Sir Bdubs,” he was holding Bdubs head in such a way that he was forced to stay nose-to-nose with the corpse.

Bdubs swallowed down a shuddering sob. “Of course, your majesty. I am loyal.”

[inherstars]

New Seasons | The Last of Us (5,201 words)

Joel and Ellie go on their first adventure after returning to Jackson, but the day doesn't go as planned.

They were welcomed back in Jackson with open arms.  Literally.  After Tommy nearly squeezed the life out of his brother, he came for Ellie next.

She’d never had an uncle, but apparently they were fucking intense.

“Ribs,” she’d gasped.  Joel rubbed his own ruefully.

“Mm. Get used to it.”

There were stages to getting settled and sorted, and it all took time.  The commune was still experimenting with how and when to run classes for the resident children; though it was still spring, Maria told Ellie it would be easier to simply take an early summer break than bother with the last, dwindling weeks of school.

“Spend some time exploring,” she encouraged them.  “Make some friends.  Get settled.”

“I think she’s probably worn out on exploring,” Joel mused.  Ellie looked at him, incredulous.

“You wish, old man.”  She pointed to the mountains, where stood an abandoned radio tower. “First thing I want to do is see what’s up there.”

Jackson’s borders were walled and well-fortified, although the natural topography of the surrounding area rendered large swathes of unfenced mountains safe from Infected.  Manned watchtowers and regular ground patrols meant Raiders and other dangerous infiltrators were rarely seen, if ever, and just as quickly dispatched.  Joel was assured that a couple pistols were more than enough defense, so long as they kept their wits about them.

He brought the rifle too, just to be safe.

On a warm morning they set out at first light, Ellie alternately following in his shadow and leading the way, parkouring off of fallen logs and limestone formations with the fearlessness of a born explorer.  Joel moved at a more leisurely pace than in the past, their timetable indulgently unrushed.  A safe harbor waited in the foothills below them, a lamp to call them home whenever they felt moved to return.  He wasn’t interested in hurrying, anymore.  He wanted to savor every single moment like a cinnamon candy.

“There’s a creek down there,” Ellie called to him from atop an inadvisably tall boulder.

“Yep.  I can hear it.”

“Should we go down?”

“Let’s check out the ridge first,” he nodded her further up the trail.  “We can see the whole valley from there.  Might be something more interesting.”

“But we’re coming back for that creek eventually, right?”

“We’re coming back for that crick.”

Ellie had a bit more trouble climbing up to the ridge than she expected.  Joel calmly outpaced her by virtue of a few good handholds and a lot of upper body strength, eventually boosting himself up and then pulling her up after him.  No sooner did he get her up than she was standing way closer to the edge of the overlook than he was comfortable with.

“Careful now, Ellie.  Might not be stable.”

She was already well beyond all thoughts of personal safety, gazing over the vastness of the forested valley, undulating in a spiny patchwork of green and brown.  The silhouette of a great blue heron moved like a pterodactyl across the vista, a murmuration of starlings bursting apart and reforming like dynamic fireworks against the rising sun.

“Whoa.  Joel, check it out.”

He joined her more conservatively, thumbs hooking into the front pockets of his jeans as he squinted into the sun.

His first mistake of the day.

There’d been indications of something internally amiss since early that morning -- otherworldly haloes around lamp light, darting shadows and smudges to his vision he mistook for things that weren’t there -- but the spindled sun rays from out the pillowed clouds drove home to him that he was in for a bad time.  He turned his head too swiftly from the view, thumb and forefingers crushing his eyes shut with a grimace, and a subtle wave of nausea rolled over him and passed.

“Nice,” he grunted, pretending to wrist at his eyes.  “Could get used to this view.”

“Must be cool in the fall, I bet.”

“Probably so.”  He let his hand down and blinked rapidly, vision returning slowly from a brief, blotchy blackness.  Not ideal, but maybe it would pass.  The woods were mostly shade and shadow… if he kept cool, let Ellie take the lead, like she was always begging to…

“Looks like we’re on the right path to hit that radio tower, if that’s where you want to go next,” He said.  “Eat lunch, come back down this way.  We’ll be back to camp by dinner.”

“Fuck yeah,” Ellie agreed  softly.  Joel turned to lead the way back down, taking a knee at the ledge, but when they grasped forearms he stopped, meeting her eyes meaningfully.

“I got one rule, kiddo.  You ain’t climbing that tower.”

Ellie rejected this immediately and vehemently.

“Aw, come on!  What good is going to a giant, razor-sharp, questionably stable, rusty metal structure in the middle of the deep woods if I can’t climb it?”

He stared at her.  She stared back.

“Half way,” she said.

“This ain’t a negotiation.”

Ellie scowled, and -- sensing victory -- Joel reinforced his grip and lowered her back down to the path below.  She landed neatly, then backed up to give him room to do the same.  Joel came down with a soft grunt, looking up at the ridge.  Please don’t let this be a mistake.

“A’right. Let’s get goin’.  Why’n’t you take the front this time.”

*******

He was doing his best.

Ellie evidently ascribed Joel’s more laborious pace to his age, overlooking the fact that he’d lifted her handily up and down from the overlook without an ounce of strain.  All fine by him, he didn’t need a lot of unnecessary attention.

He kept to the shaded parts of the trail where possible, and avoided following her pointing indications as best he could, when they led up to the sun.  A pulsing pain settled behind his eyes, growing gradually more intense as the morning became afternoon.  Every pulse of his heart was matched by a steady, sewing-needle stab. 

“Keep up,” Ellie called back every so often, with a drawl he suspected was supposed to be his.

“Ain’t that my line?”

By high noon they made it to the sun-drenched tower plateau, the structure far bigger up close than either of them anticipated.  It was well overgrown with creepers and ivy at least halfway up its legs, the higher levels festooned with active bird nests.  A plain cinderblock building squatted at its base, a few small details suggesting that Tommy’s people had been up at some point to investigate and clear the area.  By the look of it, not for some time.

Ellie crouched to take out her notebook, eager to add some of the birds to her growing list. Joel strolled to the building, giving her room and freedom to explore.  He desperately needed darkness.

“I’m gonna check out the inside.” He looked back at her and, without any elaboration, emphasized, “I mean it.”

She scribbling excitedly, barely looking up.  “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

The cinderblock structure was utilitarian at best, an old steel door loosely hinged and held shut only by a knot of twine.  Joel waved away the glittering motes of dust as he ducked inside, quickly scouting out the spare evidence of its previous life, its most recent occupants: antique radio controls swathed in plastic, likely to keep it as dry in possible in case it could later be salvaged; a few canteens of water and an emergency blanket, presumably in case anyone found themselves in a bad spot; a little waterlogged notebook scribbled with hasty notes.

NO POWER, CAN’T CONNECT TO GRID. LEN THINKS CABLES MIGHT BE SEVERED SOMEWHERE FURTHER DOWN THE MOUNTAIN. TALK TO MARIA ABOUT SETTING UP A LOOKOUT.

He pressed his eyelids with thumb and middle finger as he shut them, rubbing them against the sewing needle stitch of pain.  Another, smaller stab was trying to crack through the midline of his skull, the insides of his eyelids a black projector screen spangled with strange, fever-dream bursts of color and light.

It hadn’t been this bad in awhile.  Since Boston, at least.  The stress of weeks past was finally catching up with him, he supposed.  With a little luck Ellie would get bored enough to turn back right after lunch and--

Scratch. Scraaaaape. Scrabble.  Clunk.  CLUNK.  Outside, the all-too-distinct sounds of someone climbing a goddamned radio tower.

He moved like a bolt.

“Ellie, God--”

Ah, nope.  There she stood, wrestling a fallen branch against a tower leg to approximate the sounds of her being a contrarian little shit.  Ear-to-ear grinning, while she was at it.

“Your. Face,” she howled, dropping the branch with the purest and most infuriating joy, clapping her hands above her head.  “Holy shit.  That was so good. Am… am I the greatest?  Never mind -- trick question.  I am the greatest.”

He let all the breath out of his lungs, hands on hips, and sagged his head forward with a small shake.

“Y’know. I don’t even think I like you all that much.”

“You love me so much it freaks you out, sometimes.”

Joel leveled her a look, gauging, but she was too fabulously pleased with herself to even guess at the accuracy of her words.

“Are we done?” he asked.

“No.  Look.”  Ellie came closer, pointing to draw his attention further up the tower.  He shied away from raising his eyes to the already too-bright sun. “I know you said no climbing, but it looks like they started to build a platform up there.”

“Yeah, there was a notebook inside, talkin’ about setting up a lookout.  Don’t know how far they got, but it looks like they at least put the platform in place.”

“There’s a ladder on the other side,” she wheedled.  “We could go up and check it out?  Maybe have lunch up there?”

“Ellie,” he murmured, softly pained.

“Joel pleeeease?  Come on, the view must be amazing.”

This poor fucking kid had been through hell and back… how could he deny her something so stupidly simple, especially after they’d come all this way.  If he just… kept his head down…

“Alright.  But let me go up first, make sure it’s stable.”

Tease and aggravate him though she might, Ellie nevertheless had a sincere appreciation for the small, gentle strokes of Joel’s protective stewardship.  It wasn’t just about him choking people to death for her, or knifing them through the kneecap, or shooting them in the face… though all those things were pretty cool in their own stunning, horrifying way. Rather, it was the little gestures he probably thought went unnoticed: being vigilant so that she could live more freely in the moment; always remembering and reinforcing the small things that brought her joy; checking on her as she slept, brushing his fingertips softly down the window blinds so the rising sun wouldn’t disturb her.

She made a mental note to be nicer to him.

Joel summited the platform first, his bootfalls clunking and creaking as he prowled it back and forth, looking for weak spots.  After a moment he appeared at the top of the ladder and steadied it for her to follow.

“Nice up here.  Come on up.”

Ellie spidered the rungs, accepting a boosting hand onto the platform proper, then unconsciously mimicked his edge-to-edge prowl.  Whoever built it hadn’t gotten much further than simply laying down and reinforcing the wood, but it was still new and yellow enough to suggest it hadn’t been there overlong.  The view was spectacular, better even than from the lookout below, and from here they could make out the full topography of not just Jackson but much of the surrounding countryside, as well.

“Tommy needs to make this less accessible,” Joel murmured, eyes cutting across the settlement far below them. “Anybody else climbs up here that shouldn’t… they’re gonna be able to learn a lot.  And fast.”

Ellie joined him, already rolling her shoulders to remove her backpack.

“Perfect spot for lunch, though, right?  You ready to eat?”

The mention of food caught him unawares, and Joel paled, skin abruptly clammy.  One hand braced on the tower’s metal leg, his breathing uneasy.

“Uh, you go on.  Don’t think I’m hungry just yet.”  He shook it off, breathing long and slow, in through the nose and out through the mouth, until it passed.  He lowered himself only once Ellie got herself settled, trying to keep his gaze away from the picnic as she unpacked it.

Ellie couldn’t speak to the veracity of woman’s intuition, if in fact she was yet allowed to call herself a woman, but the overall tenor of the day had definitely shifted sideways.  Joel didn’t seem annoyed by her, his manner as easy as ever, as soft-spoken and drawling as ever, but something about him was definably off.

They sat hip-to-hip, Ellie cross-legged and Joel with one leg cocked, one extended. She ate slowly as they gazed out over Jackson’s forested foothills, the sun warm on their backs, the wind cool and light, scented with cedar.

Joel breathed with a heaviness that troubled her, as if minding each slow fill and release of air from his lungs.  She looked over to find his eyes closed, face gray.

“Joel?”

“Hm?”  His eyes cracked, head turning slightly toward her, eyes squinted even more than the sun seemed to demand.

“You OK?”

“Yeah.  Just resting my eyes.”  He nodded at her pack, an easy distraction.  “Get any new birds?”

With excited recall Ellie dug out her notebook.

“Oh yeah.  Check it out…”  She pinned it open on the platform between them, revealing an assortment of decently identifiable birds detailed with crayon-stub spot colors.  Joel hummed and scratched absently at his beard.

“You got a question mark there, that’s not a blue jay?”

“Yeah, I don’t know what it was. It was really dark, like indigo blue.  So cool.”

“Stellar’s jay,” he supplied.  She leaned over, quickly scribbling that alongside the drawing.  When she sat back he indicated another one with a tapping index finger.  “And this one. Yellow?”

“Yelluh,” she echoed his drawl with a grin.  He smirked.  “Yeah, uhh… and… I didn’t have a crayon for it, but the head was, like… super bright orange?”

“Mm. That’s, ah… tanager. Western, I think?  Western tanager.”

She bent again, notating.  Underneath it she wrote the word yelluh, and underlined it.

“Don’t be making fun of the Texas color wheel.”  He sighed again, slow and deep, and pressed his thumb against a closed eye.  “A’right. Oughta pack up.  Start heading back.”

Ellie pushed to hands and knees, then into a crouch, gathering and stow the trappings of lunch as Joel tiredly climbed to his feet.

“Can we just walk around a little bit more?  The path keeps going up into the woods.”

“Kiddo, I really don’t know if I…”  Joel stopped halfway to his feet, swaying, and lurched to catch his balance on the tower leg.  Everything swayed, vision spangling.  He clutched the metal with the awful certainty he was about to be sick all over the brush below.

“Joel--!”

Ellie snatched for him, catching the canvas of his pack in both hands, barely anchoring him back from the edge.  He clutched the metal and breathed through his nose with trembling effort, shaking in every muscle.  Don’t be sick in front of the kid, he willed himself, eyes clenching shut.  Ellie’s voice was close, strained with fear.  

“Joel??”

“I’m… I’m alright… it’s fine.”  Little by little it ebbed, the queasiness easing, lifting.  He groped blindly backward to find her hand, squeezing it.  “I’m fine.”

“That’s complete bullshit, you’re obviously not fine.”  She clutched to his hand until he slowly turned, eyes reopening, still with that pained squint.  “You’re white.  What’s the matter with you?  Are you sick?”

“No.  Well.  It’s a migraine,” he explained. “You know what I mean by that?”

“Like a… like a headache?”

“That’s part of it.”  He straightened, Ellie transferring her grip to his pack strap, fearful he might pitch off the platform without her to hold him in place.  “Felt it coming on this morning.  Doubled up on coffee… caffeine sometimes helps, but. Not this time.”

“Why didn’t you say something?”

“Didn’t want to worry you.  Didn’t think it would get this bad.  I get nauseous.  See things, sometimes.  The light’s rough on my eyes.”

Ellie reluctantly released him, head shaking.

“Can you walk, or--”

“I can walk,” he agreed, gentle.  “But I’d just as soon head back home before this gets worse.”

Ellie’s mind filled with klaxons of alarm.

“Gets worse?  Joel, you almost vomited and fell off a radio tower.  How much worse is it going to get?”

He crossed the platform to the waiting ladder, resting a hand on it ruefully.

“Won’t know until it does.”  He paused to squinted back at her.  “I’ll make it up to you, Ellie.  We’ll come back and follow the trail up as far as you like.  Maybe… bring a tent.  Make a couple days of it.”

She regarded him anxiously, stepping forward to steady the ladder as he climbed down.

“Just don’t die on the way back, old man,” she murmured, but her heart was barely in the jibe.  “You’re like… old tech. Impossible to replace.”

He issued a soft snort, smiling as his head bent to watch the rungs beneath him.

“Don’t you get all soft on me now.”

*******

It was hard for Ellie to conceptualize what Joel meant by things like “bad” or “worse”, because the metaphoric litmus test she had for his physical pain and discomfort was already completely saturated with blood.

There were no subtle gradients, everything was just red.

It didn’t help that he hated revealing weakness of any kind.  The same man who so gently fixed her bedroom window blinds would just as soon knot a bandage with a tug of teeth, then conveniently forget to mention he’d been stabbed.

Whatever discomfort he allowed to show, he had to be feeling worlds worse.

Once again Joel let her take the lead, navigating through a pained squint.  Ellie checked back on him frequently, dispirited by his pallor, the slouch of his shoulders.  It would do no good at all to ask him how he was holding up, so she didn’t try, but now and then he mustered a small, tight smile as a means of reassuring her.  Not that it did much good.

After one particularly troubled glance back he issued a low, roughshod laugh.

“You reminded me of Sarah just now.”

Ellie pressed on, unwilling to have their return delayed. “How’d I do that?”

“She used to look at me just like that.”

“I was looking at you funny?”

“Not funny. Just…in a way.  Can’t put a name to it, exactly.”

“Pretty sure that’s how you look at someone when you’re worried about them.”  She glanced back.

“No reason to be worried.”

Ellie faced forward, muttering under her breath, “...says you.”

“Hm?”

“Okay, so… what did Sarah used to do when you would get these migraines?”

He marched on, thinking, dividing his attention between the girl in his past and the one literally and figuratively leading him now.  It was only recently he’d been able to genuinely think back on his daughter with something other than crippling grief.  It was as if Ellie had shined and polished a window to an earlier time, allowing him a clearer view.

“Well,” he sighed.  “Not much to be done, even then.  Still had to go to work.  Fortunately, I don’t get them too often.  But.  I’d come home at night and she’d… bring me a compress.  We’d sit awhile.  Listen to music, on account of it being hard on my eyes to watch TV.  Some people have trouble with noise, for me it was light.  Music actually helps, don’t know why.  Good distraction, maybe.  She’d just sit with me and trace shapes on my arm, make me figure out what they were.”

Ellie stayed uncharacteristically quiet as they followed the final leg of the trail and, combined with Joel’s own worn silence, it made for a slightly melancholy end to the day.

Or so Joe perceived it, suspecting with guilty discomfort that he might have crossed a line, comparing Ellie to Sarah.  More to the point, comparing her once too often.  He tried to reason that it wasn’t a competition, he certainly wasn’t candling Ellie against the brightness of Sarah’s memory and judging her worthy or otherwise…. but how could explain that?  What words did he have to convey how humbled, how grateful he was to be able to pair together two souls that changed him so profoundly for the better?

When they arrived at the house, boots and sneakers clomping wearily to the porch, Joel finally let out the breath he’d been holding.

“Ellie, can I… Listen, I want to talk to you about something.”

“Can we maybe talk later,” she hedged.  “I need to go run and do some things real quick.”  When this gave him pause, she promised, “They kinda’ can’t wait.”

Softer, suddenly feeling his age, he nodded her on.  He took her pack as she shrugged from it.

“Go on, then.  It’ll keep.”

Joel tried not to beat himself up about it.  He stood on the porch, watching her thunder down the stairs and take off along the street, jogging into the early twilight as if she was just a regular kid in some safe suburban neighborhood.  Off to find her friends, ride a bike, have an adventure.  To find her way in the world.  And ultimately, wasn’t that the best possible thing he could wish for her?  It’s what he wished for Sarah, too: to grow up, to spread wings, to live life.

One of them might actually get to do it.

He had reason to be glad.  He’d just… think on that for awhile.

Joel unloaded both their packs to the hooks by the door, replacing the pistols, the rifle, making sure all were loaded and ready.  He refilled her water bottle and stuck another protein bar into the pocket inside.  Readied water in the coffee pot for the next morning, though nothing short of a miracle would make 20-year-old coffee taste better than swill.

With the house empty of Ellie’s presence -- her absurd, abstract observations and laughter, her vibrancy -- he retired to the sanctuary of his bedroom.  A hot shower helped relax some of the muscles he’d been unconsciously clenching in pain all day, and he spent a long time leaning on his folded arms, forehead pressed to the cool tile, trying to mitigate the icepick stabbing behind his eyes.

When the hot water ran out he shunted it regretfully, heaving out a breath, and fumbled his way through the titanic effort of drying off, changing into dry clothes, feeling his way out into the dark bedroom.  It occurred to him, as he did, that someone had gently brushed shut his windowblinds.

He couldn’t have been more surprised to see Ellie waiting on the edge of his bed.

“Thought you went out, kiddo,” he roughed softly.

“I did.  You must have been in there longer than you thought.”

“Yeah, but I figured…  well.  I’m glad you’re back.  Where’d you go?”

“Had to get some things.”  She stood, crossing to his dresser, where sat a beaten cardboard box.  The only evidence of its contents was something bright pink and plastic, poking into view, but Ellie began digging around before he could identify it.  He sat slowly, and she came to him with a glass jar.

“Hold out your hand.”

He did, and she dipped two fingers into the jar, transferring to his palm a lump of something gold and coated in grains of sugar.

“For your stomach,” she volunteered. “Tommy said candied ginger might help.”

He rolled it between thumb and forefinger like a die, then paused.

“You went to see Tommy?”

“Well, yeah.  I didn’t know who else to ask for help.”

Joel palmed it onto his tongue, letting the crystals dissolve slowly to the ginger’s faint, underlying burn.  He chewed, nodding at her approvingly.

“Got a whole box full of those, did you?”

“Not exactly.  Next…”  She returned to the box, this time fishing out a pink cassette deck radio and a handful of tapes, still in their original cases.  She sorted through them with a soft click-tick-click of plastic.  “For your listening pleasure, we’ve got… Avril… La…vig-nee?”

He hunched forward, elbows on knees, faintly smiling.

“Pass.”

“Mmmm… how about…Spice Girls?”

“Hard pass.”

“Tough crowd. Okay. Uh… this one just says Road Trip Mix, and it’s all written by hand.”

Joel grunted.  “That’ll be the one.”

More staccato clicking as she fumbled it from the case and tucked it into the player.  As the first song filtered through the softly crackling speakers she checked the list carefully folded inside.

“So the first song is--”

“That’s Simple Man.  Lynyrd Skynyrd.”

“Wow, that is not at all how I thought that would be pronounced.”  She tucked the play list into her pocket for later reference, then doubled back to the box.  “And finally…ta-da!”

Ellie turned back around, presenting an enameled bowl in one hand and a washcloth in the other.  Joel didn’t say anything, just gazed at her with her proffered gifts and massaged his mouth in one hand.  He was smiling, so she knew he couldn’t be upset, but he also look pained.  Ellie laughed, wagging both bowl and washcloth.  “What!?”

“Nothin’,” he murmured, but his voice was gritty and tight with emotion. “Just.  Feeling better.”

“It’s just me being the greatest again.  Like I do.”

“Like you do.”

Ellie filled the bowl with cold water at his bathroom sink, then returned to finish bossing him around.  At her direction he reclined to propped pillows, one leg comfortably cocked, and lay still as she soaked, and folded, and laid the damp compress across his closed eyes.

While Joel lay there, one hand behind his head and the other at rest comfortably on his chest, Ellie mounted the bed on his right side, near enough that he could feel her presence.  Little by little she eased down, head on the pillow beside his, staring up a the cracked plaster of the ceiling, 

“You ever going to sing for me, or what,” she asked eventually.  A breath came out through his nose.

“We’ll see.  Been a long while since I tried.”

"You don't even sing in the shower?  Who doesn’t sing in the shower?"

"Usually a little too grateful just to be clean."

A moment of silence, and the next song began.  Ellie fumbled in her pocket for the notes.

“This one is… wait, try to guess.”

“Guess?”  Incredulity.  “Ellie, it’s Hotel California.  The Eagles.”

She checked the notes like a Trivial Pursuit card.

"...Man, you're good."

His laugh was rasped as sandpaper.  "You're throwing me slow balls, kiddo."

Joel knew this song even better than the last, the foot of his bent leg tapping absently along.  The hand at ease on his chest moved as well, rough fingers curling, changing positions, curling again, familiar in their pattern.

Ellie asked suddenly, "Did you ever teach Sarah how to play guitar?"

His head turned toward her, but when the compress began to slip she pushed his temple away with a forefinger until it was squared on the pillow again.  He adjusted and fixed it more firmly in place over his eyes.

"Ellie... what I wanted to talk to you about before..."

"Yeah?"

"Is it…”  He sighed.  “Does it bother you, when I talk about Sarah?"  Sensing her surprise, he amended, "I don't want you to think I'm... holding you up to some kind of standard.  Or… comparing you in a way that diminishes who you are."

"No,” Ellie blurted.  “I like it.  I like hearing about her.  Believe it or not -- and don't expect me to ever admit this out loud again -- I actually like hearing you talk about the stuff you think is worth talking about.  You're not exactly an idle bullshit kind of guy."

Joel exhaled, restful.  "Suppose that's fair. And... good to know."

Ellie watched the hand at his chest resume its rhythmic positioning and repositioning in time with the music.

"So, did you?  Teach her guitar?  Sing for her?"

"Sing for her? Sure.  When she was a baby.  Spent so many nights carrying that girl back and forth across the living room, damn near wore a hole.  I expect she knew a couple albums worth of music by the time she could sleep through the night.  And I got her one of those little pink plastic Barbie guitars when she got old enough, but.  She just never took a shine to it."

Impulsively Ellie reached out, touching his hand as he formed one of the now-familiar gestures.  Joel startled and stopped, but blindly let her inspect the pose of his hand and inexpertly mimic it with her own.  He groped over the positioning of her fingers and smirked.

He said, "Nope.”

“No?”

“Wrong chord.  That's an A sharp.  Here. C’mere."

She inched in sideways and, once she was near enough, Joel looped his arm around her.  He extended her left arm across his chest like the neck of a guitar.  She laughed, eliciting another quick grin from him before he concentrated on going through the song’s chord progressions on her wrist and forearm.  The calluses of his fingers pressed the tendons like steel strings.

"Like this.  G. D. F sharp. B minor. G. D. E minor. F sharp..."

Ellie’s face fell slightly as he played.

"Wait.  Hang on.  How many chords are there?”

Joel hummed and let her take her arm back, transferring the fretting hand behind his head.

“Well.  You can learn three chords and be able to fake your way through a hell of a lot of songs, but if you want to do it right -- and you do want to do it right -- altogether there’s… probably upwards of three hundred or so.”

“Three hundred?”

“On the conservative side.”

“How the hell do you remember all those?"

“Muscle memory, mostly.  Ain’t saying it’s easy.  You’re gonna spend a long time being a really shitty guitar player, but you just keep at it.  It comes, in time.”

Hotel California ended, and after a grainy pause something else started.  Another one Ellie couldn’t identify, and she was growing too sleepy to bother reaching for the list.

“Joel?”

“That’s James Taylor.  Fire and Rain.  Whoever made this was on some kind of soul-searching road trip.”

“We could teach him a thing or two”

He huffed, bemused. “Suppose we could.”

But it was nice. Pretty.  Less sonorous than Simple Man, less haunting and provocative than Hotel California.  Judging by the stillness of Joel’s hand on his chest, even he was more caught up listening than playing phantom chords.  Ellie’s eyes grew heavy, and she grew tired of fighting their weight.

“Can I lay here for awhile?”

“Long as you like, kiddo.”

“If I fall asleep--”

The arm around her shoulders curled her lightly closer, then relaxed.  “I’ll try not to wake you.”

Ellie turned her cheek against the inside of his arm, letting her eyes shut, the back of her hand aligned with his palm.  His fingers closed lightly overtop, breath easy, and the music played on.

[msweebyness]

MiracOlympus- The Science Deities

Here's the next round of MiracOlympus Deities, the science kiddies! Enjoy, and as always, @imsparky2002 and @artzychic27!

Marc:

(Persephone)

God of flowers and the Spring

Very close to his older sister, Mylene

Has the power to restore life

Fell in love with Nath instantly, and went to the Underworld by choice (Mylene ships them)

Soft, sweet boi

Zoe:

(Selene)

Goddess of the moon

Considerably more humble than her sister

Frequently exchanges gossip with Chloe. (She sees everything during the night, like Chloe does during daytime)

Watches over mortal children during the night to keep them from harm

Trying to figure out how to make a lunar rainbow for Cosette

Denise:

(Gaia)

Godex of the Earth

The most Zen of all the deities, great at mediating conflicts

Sees literally everything that happens on Earth, gossips with the sun/moon sisters

Is considerably grumpier during the Winter months

Helps Simon to keep his cool

Simon:

(Ouranos)

God of Space and the Cosmos

A FAR more benevolent version, obvi

Has a bit of an issue with needing routine and anxiety

Another member of the gossip squad

Fascinated by human technology

Cosette:

(Iris)

Deity of the rainbow

Everything it wears is an explosion of color

Official Olympus makeup artist

Rides between Earth and Olympus on a rainbow

Helps Alix with messenger duties

Aurore:

(Zephyrus)

Goddess of the West Wind and warm months

Can actually kick up a hell of a storm when mad

Creates warm winds with her parasol

Still a bit of a perfectionist

Has wings like a dove's

Mireille:

(Boreas)

Goddess of the North Wind and the cold

Temperature drops 20 degrees when she arrives

Only shows emotion around people they trust, like Aurore

All the snow-themed accessories

Has wings like a snowy owl's

Ismael:

(Pan)

God of mischief and the wildlands

Alix's brother in prankster supremacy

Really enjoys freaking out mortals in the woods

VERY protective of nature, like Mylene and Juleka

Is a boss on the reed flute

Also, he has the legs of a goat

Reshma:

(Nyx)

Goddess of the dark

ROCKING that cloak of stars

Mortals fear her, though she wishes this weren't the case

Besties with Ismael, helps with a lot of his pranks

Can talk to shadows

Jean:

(Thalia)

Muse of Theater, specifically comedy

Gets along well with his eight siblings, but loves their sister, Evie (Erato), and twin, Jesse (Melpomene), the most. (Don't tell the others)

The most dramatic deity you will ever meet, lives for the theater

Has a ton of superstitions that they follow to the letter

Is writing a romantic play for his boyfriend, Austin T.

Lacey:

(Nike)

Goddess of Victory

Very competitive, but her friends reign her in

Often attends mortal sporting events

Enjoys doing parkour on the peaks of Olympus

Laurel wreaths are her signature accessory

Leave your thoughts in the comments and reblogs!

[practically-an-x-man]

You get a professional animator to do one (1) animatic for each of your OCs. What song are you chosing, and what vibes are you going for with each OC?

Ooooooh thank you!!! I've thought about hypothetical animatics for some of my OCs before, but... not ALL of them, so this will be interesting!

Rae: Free by Mother Mother. I'm imagining every "Love let my love inside go... free" being a bloom of her abilities, all this bright silver light as she puts shields around what she loves, and all the other parts of the song being some gentler moments from her life.

Robin: I think it would be fun to play into her musical theatre/opera side - Let's Hear It for the Boy by Deniece Williams (from Footloose). The animatic would jump between her onstage, playing out the song as an actor in the musical, and some little soft scenes of her and Peter being all cute together.

Madison: I know when you recommended it first I said that Belladonna by Ava Max was more of a Nikoletta song (and it is, but I have a different animatic idea for her here), but it could work for Madison too I think. It would focus on her mutation, maybe a few fight scenes with her blinking in and out of sight with her glass knives. Then we see her knives get shattered, and the fins and spines breaking through her skin (sort of a stylized version of what happens in her story), and then the final chorus is her with her enhanced mutation (really driving home the "poison/venom" themes there)

Ophelia: Heartbreaker by Pat Benatar. I'd definitely go with a stylized fight scene for her, probably the fight against Charybdis since that's her biggest fight scene. I'm sure there are other songs that would fit her, but... idk man, Heartbreaker is just permanently linked to Ophelia in my mind, I really need a fight scene set to that for her.

Gia: Absolute Lithops Effect by the Mountain Goats. I'm imagining it starting with Gia fresh out of HYDRA, limping on an old and unfitting prosthetic and opening up this rundown and boarded-up shop in Hell's Kitchen. Gradually we see the green come into her life again: she cleans up her shop and paints it in bright colors, flowers bloom, her clover thrives across the back wall of her shop, she gets a new prosthetic and bright tattoos slowly gather on her skin as she rebuilds her life.

Jasper: Falling Away With You by Muse. I already used it for a Heartstrings chapter, but it could also work as this quieter, emotional piece for an animatic. With the lyrics, and the way it switches between these softer verses and a more intense chorus, I could see a series of flashbacks between the soft, lighthearted start to their relationship with Kyle, and then the angsty journey to recovery and readjustment after he dies and is brought back.

Kestrel: This is another one you recommended, but Daffodil by Florence + The Machine. I could see a lot of nature imagery, and a lot of Kestrel's transformations into various different animals. I don't have a particular story in mind, just a cool showcase of Kestrel as a character.

Katherine: The Lion's Roar by First Aid Kit! I can see Katherine wandering through the desert, with golden magic twining around her hands like ribbons, until this mirage appears ahead of her: at first it wavers, then solidifies into a silhouette of a lion, then splits again into two figures walking towards her - Bastet and Sekhmet. They greet her like family members, maybe pull her into a hug or something, then disappear back into the desert.

Quinn: Breakdown by Icon for Hire. I could see this as a past/present thing, where the first half of the video is her before the accident, running and parkouring with her first crew - and then the music cuts off, utter silence, black and white as she falls and hits the ground. The silence lingers for a few long moments.... and then we're back to the song, full color and vibrancy again, with her post-accident still slipping through the crowds and picking pockets.

Eris: Guillotine Dreams by KiNG MALA for sure!! I want to see Eris fighting like an animal, covered in blood but laughing through the whole way, just causing absolute havoc. I just... I want to see them being an utter riot!!

Nikoletta: I still love Whispers by Halsey for her (thanks again for the rec!) and I think that the tone of it really suits her. I think it would be a very stark animatic, a lot of Nikoletta sitting alone in these dark rooms, a lot of black and white with very few details around her (as an echo of her feeling isolated both internally and externally). Either it could just stay there and be an angst piece, or there could be the gradual addition of colors as she bonds with the Squad - yellow for Rick, red for Harley, eventually a whole myriad of colors for Abner.

Jimmy: Hemorrhage (in my Hands) by Fuel. I'm imagining it starting out pretty angsty... Jimmy's lost kiss, him getting shot in the chest and watching the blood spray out into his hands, him waking up as a ghost and wandering Coney Island, and then... right at the end of the song, while he's on his knees and trying desperately to catch the blood spilling out... we see a figure step in and offer him a hand up, and the blood flow begins to slow.

Prometheus: I know I don't usually include them in the lineup, but... I wrote a whole fic about their transformation from a nightmare into a dream, and it's based on The Calling by the Amazing Devil. I would kill to see that whole transformation sequence set to the song.

[googlekromer]

gifts i'd give to the rammboys:

till: a custom made stuffed bear from build a bear with a message recorded by me and perhaps a few other fans. a weighted blanket. a book on foraging and horticulture in general. more notebooks and a gift basket full of candy, including some stuff you can only find in ireland :3

flake: a nintendo 3ds xl that i modded myself and pre loaded with a bunch of my favourite games. the legend of zelda: breath of the wild AND tears of the kingdom for that nintendo switch i saw him lying next to in a photo his wife took. a voucher for a cat café. a book on vintage cars and some nice herbal tea

richard: a custom made lighter to look like a dragon breathing fire (with a message engraved of gratitude). black nail polish. fancy cigarettes and even fancier wine to pair with them. the first few volumes of death note or tokyo ghoul because i feel like he'd like those mangas and a cool shelf to put all his dvds on assuming he has them :))

schneider: a usb with a custom version of the original 1993 doom i made just for him. a nice and romantic date for him and ulrike. gloves to keep his hands from hurting while drumming. tickets to the next major handball tournament in germany and a new yoga mat

paul: the first ever build of a virtual pet game featuring minni. edible confetti that takes like chocolate. a fun day out with richard that may end in kissing 😳 /lh. a bubble machine for his whimsical self and matching outfits for him and minni

olli: the first few volumes of chainsaw man because i can see him enjoying that series as much as i do. a cool stand for his bass. a new surfboard. the chance to learn how to do parkour so he can climb higher walls for his fans and an opportunity to pet so many dogs in a puppy shelter in honour of minni landers :)

---

i kinda just started adding a gift that involves giving a piece of myself to them (i.e: my own interests) to each list of 5 and just rolled with it because i feel like that's so sweet 🥺 i just genuinely love them so much and they are my muses so ofc i'm gonna give a piece of my soul to them each <3

i put a lot of effort into this and tried to pick things i know they'd like so here we are lmaoo. i don't know the boys personally obviously so i went off of interviews, anecdotes, pictures and pure vibes :))

[sp-by-april]

You Could Be My Muse [Chapter 3]

There's a smut writing group at South Park High!

Chapter three: In which the guys all make a bet on who's gonna take April's virginity, Kyle or Kenny?

note: been doing reader fics so long that I forgot how much fun it is to write the guys all hanging out and being dicks 😎

Kenny, Kyle x April

[Chapter one] [Chapter Two] [Read All Three on Ao3] [Kenny Master List] [Kyle Master List]

April finally turned to face him and Mysterion was caught off guard. Her cheeks were flushed as she looked up at him, and her eyes shimmered under the lamplight. His hands hovered over her awkwardly instead of dropping from her waist.

“I mean, I’m 16... I still have time, right?” Her soft lips pushed into a pout, “Although, you probably wouldn’t get it,”

He wondered how the hell he was supposed to respond. He should have never gone off script.

She turned her back to him again, “I mean, you’ve probably done it tons of times,”

“Uh,” He was off-guard again.

How does she keep doing this to me? How am I supposed to answer that?

“...Loads,”

Phrasing.

...And maybe just a few, but sure.

She nervously brushed her hair behind her ear again, “Can I ask you something?”

If she asks me what I think she wants to ask me – What I want her to ask me – I’m gonna lose my fucking mind.

He wanted to leave. Not because she did anything wrong, but because his thoughts were running wild and he needed to bail before he did something stupid, insane, or insanely fucking stupid. The fact Kyle was probably still watching through the security cameras wasn’t lost on him, either.

He wrapped his cloak around himself if only to put an extra barrier between them, “Yeah,”

“There’s a guy I like at school, but I don't think he really knows I exist,”

He inhaled her scent and sighed, "That's hard to believe,"

His phone started vibrating wildly.

Thank fuck.

“That’s my police scanner, could be trouble,”

“Right. Superhero and everything,” She turned back to him with a smile, “Thanks for meeting me,”

He nodded, dropped a smoke bomb, and got the fuck out of dodge.

Once he’d parkoured his way back onto the roof and he was safe from pretty girls he wanted to defile, he whipped out his phone.

It was Kyle. Of course.

He pulled the earbud out of his pocket and slipped it back into his ear, “Look, I already know what you’re about to say,”

 Kyle's voice barked in his ear,  “What the hell, dude?”

“Yeah, that’s pretty much what I expected. Look, it doesn’t matter," Kenny sighed, "She said she’s into someone already,”

“Really?” Kyle sounded indignant and Kenny wasn't sure if it was on his behalf, “Who?”

“Fuck if I know. Don’t worry about it. This was a mistake,”

“What? What do you mean?”

Her first time shouldn’t be quickie on a roof with a vigilante she has a crush on. Even if it sounds like fun.

💜❔💚

Kenny tried to ignore the entire situation at school the next day.

She likes someone already. He tried to shake whatever crush had been forming, but when she hugged him, she pressed her chest against him. When he held her waist he felt a spark. She smells so sweet. Her skin looks so soft. He wanted to touch it. To touch her. If he touched her he could be the first one to–

“So how’d it go, Kenny?” Stan asked.

He frowned, “What?”

“Dude! How’d it go?” Stan asked again.

“She said there’s a guy she already likes,” Kyle interjected.

“Basically, yeah,” Kenny confirmed.

“Oh,” Stan frowned, “...Really?”

“You’re giving up too easily,” Clyde said, “If you’re that into her just make a move,”

“Clyde’s… right, actually,” Tolkien added, “Just cause she’s kinda into someone now doesn’t mean it’ll be that way forever, next month, next week or even tomorrow,”

“I wouldn’t,” Kyle said.

Clyde pointed at Kyle, “And that’s why you have zero bitches,”

“Fuck off, I’m pretty sure I’m the one she likes,” He said confidently.

Stan wrinkled his nose, “What? Why?”

“Just – I don’t know, some stuff she does,” He shrugged.

Kenny’s jaw clenched.

I knew Kyle was full of shit.

“Shocker, Kyle’s having another delusion of grandeur,” Eric smirked as he sat down, “Let me guess, this one’s out of your league too?”

Kenny smirked, “Absolutely,”

“It’s one of the smut writing girls,” Clyde chimed in.

“Those girls are fucking freaks,” Cartman rolled his eyes.

💜❔💚

The next morning, April’s newest story was posted to the Writing Club’s tumblr page.

I gathered up all my courage and put my mouth to his ear, “Fuck me,” Yeah, okay, it was inelegant, but I’m the kind of girl who likes to get straight to the point. He grabbed my chin and scanned my face, “Really?” I nodded as much as I could while he had a hold of me. I took him in my hand and I was enthralled. God, his cock was sticky with precum, blushing, and thick. If I wasn’t so eager to have him inside of me, I would’ve had my mouth on him so fast his head would spin.  As I sank onto him he groaned in such a delicious way, I wished I could bottle it up. How Kyle reacted to my body always made me feel a little feral.

After reading it, Kenny had an intrusive thought about tossing his phone in a nearby garbage can.

It was interrupted by a light tapping on his shoulder.

“Hi, Kenny,” April beamed.

He quickly shoved his phone in his pocket, “Hey, April,”

“I just wanted to say thanks again,” She clutched the textbook in her arms tightly, “Um, do you think that we could talk later?”

“Sure, but if you want another meeting –“

“Oh! It’s not about that – Actually, I was just wondering if maybe you wanna, like… Hang out sometime?” Her cheeks felt like the sun was beating down on them, “No pressure or anything,”

She's… blushing. So she probably did want to see Mysterion again and is trying to save face. Surprised none of the teachers are on her about her skirt being too short. Or how she should button that shirt up more. Then again, that button is straining against her tits, so maybe she just can’t. The way her knee-high socks keep drawing my eyes to her thighs, the ribbon in her hair… If I saw her like this tonight, I definitely wouldn’t be able to keep my hands to myself.

“Uh," Kenny sighed, "It’s probably not a good idea,” 

Her shoulders dropped along with her gaze, “Oh,”

“I wouldn’t want anyone to get the wrong message. You know what I mean?”

How am I not supposed to stare when you look like you do and are dressed like you are?

“...Right. Sorry,”

April quickly turned on her heels and didn’t look back.

Kenny figured it was for the best. Now shit could finally start going back to normal.

💜❔💚

April quickly found Stan after her next period and pulled him aside.

Kyle tilted his head as he watched them from down the hall.

Stan put a comforting hand on her shoulder and she nodded. She peeled Stan’s hand away just before she turned to leave.

Kyle cautiously approached Stan with a hefty dose of suspicion, “Did April just... Are you guys a thing?”

“...What?” Stan quickly shook his head, “I’m not getting roped into whatever unhinged fantasy you have going on,”

Kyle’s face twisted up like he tasted something sour, “Why would she be touching you in my fantasy?”

“Just fucking ask her out,” Stan was getting frustrated already, “Use that Dom energy or whatever, since you’ve cleared Kenny off the board,”

Kyle blinked, “You think Kenny’s off the board?”

“That seems to be the consensus, yeah,” Stan shrugged as he tried to spy down the hall himself.

He thought he saw Luna… talking to Cartman of all people.

Eric had actually been trying to pin Luna down since the day before. Now he’d finally found her.

“This is so embarrassing,” He slid into his most dulcet tone, “I know you said your queue was full or whatever, but… I wanted to buy something from you,”

Luna blinked as she opened her notes app, “Sure, what kind of story?”

He lowered his voice, “Smut,”

“Okay, and about about who? You and someone else probably right?” She asked, ready to take notes.

“Sort of –”

“Okay, so who’s the girl?”

“Uh – Actually,”

She leaned in and her voice fell a few tones quieter to match his, “It doesn’t have to be a girl,”

“It’s a girl,” Cartman insisted before jumping back into his sugary voice, “It’s – See this is the embarrassing part – It’s Kenny and April,”

“Kinky! Any particular vibe you want?”

“Just make it as hot and as absolutely horny as you can,”

Luna nodded with a smile, “I will do my very best work,”

💜❔💚

When lunchtime came, Kyle was a little worried if he didn’t just hurry up and pull the trigger, he never would.

The guys all watched in hushed tones as he leaned on the table the Writing Club was parked at.

“The girls can’t take their eyes off of him,” Stan said, leaning his chin into his palm.

“Except April,” Eric pointed out.

Kenny perked up, “Wait. Really?”

“He’s laying it on thick too,” Clyde added.

Tolkien nudged him, “If he leans over her any more he’ll be on top of her,”

Unbeknownst to them, Kyle was doing his best trying not to lose his nerve. All the girls were staring at him and he felt kind of like an animal at the zoo.

 “You should…" He cleared his throat and tried to summon his inner Dom, "Go out with me,”

“Her?” Honey asked pointing at April.

He glanced between both girls,  “Yeah,”

“You’re not trying to hook up with her 'cause you heard we were all easy or something… Right?” Maxine asked.

The girls all looked at him expectantly.

“What!? Of course not,” Kyle blinked and turned back to April, “I wanna see you. Outside of school. I heard you weren’t dating anyone right?”

“She’s not,” Luna answered.

“This Friday?” Maxine asked.

Kyle thought regular girls were a pain in the ass when they ran interference for each other, but these girls really were on another level, “Sure,”

“You guys know that if we start going out, you’re not allowed to write about him anymore?” April laughed.

Luna pouted, “Really?”

“It’s okay,” April looked up at Kyle with a slight smile, “When I’m finished with him, you girls can have him back,”

Kyle suddenly felt like his cheeks were too close to a flame. He tried not to think too hard about the pretty girls sharing him. He had a mission and he was painfully close to completing it.

💜❔💚

Kyle got his date scheduled, so Kenny was surprised when he woke up the next morning and saw the Writing Club’s tumblr was updated with a story about himself and April.

April slid her panties to the side and his head lolled back as she rubbed the soft, wet skin between her legs over the head of Kenny's swollen cock. His hands gripped her hips, he knew she was just teasing him again. “Please,” His hips started moving, rubbing himself further along her slit, desperate and aching to get inside. She sank onto him and as his cock squeezed inside of her, he groaned so loud they both knew it was audible outside of the car. He gripped her waist tight and his hips moved, writhing underneath her, eager to feel the smallest bit of friction. April started to rock her hips slowly and finally kissed him. His hands grabbed her face as his tongue eagerly rolled over hers like it was his only lifeline.  She broke their kiss and quickly picked up the speed and intensity. She watched Kenny's mouth drop open and his eyes rolled back as he moaned. She’d never seen a boy enjoy her so much before. He was soaked in a lot of pleasure and a little torture. She was more turned on than she’d ever been in her life. God, it looked like Kenny was drooling at the sight of her.

Kyle was surprised too. And pissed.

“Did you really commission a story about fucking my --" He caught himself, "About fucking April?"

Eric snorted while Stan and Kenny almost choked on their lunches, “Your what?”

Kenny frowned, “You haven't even had a date yet,”

“This story?" Kyle deftly ignored him, "This is total creep behavior,”

“It wasn’t me, maybe you should ask 'your' April– Or maybe even the girl who actually wrote it?”

“Guys – That seems unnecessary,” Stan insisted.

Eric agreed, “Causing drama for the whole club seems like a good way for both of you to lose,”

Kenny’s brow furrowed, “It’s crazy how you went from lying to my face about liking her, to turning into some white knight on her behalf,”

“I was trying to be a good friend. It’s not my fault she agreed to go out with me, maybe if you had tried a little harder,”

“That’s the thing – I wasn’t trying before. I walked away, remember? But now you’re gonna piss me off and make me actually try for real,”

Kyle rolled his eyes, “I’m terrified,”

Clyde smirked, “Maybe you two are the ones who need to make ou–“

Kenny and Kyle both turned to Clyde, “Shut the fuck up!”

“Point taken,” Clyde said, shrinking into his seat.

“Kyle, she's super into Mysterion, I think Kenny has this in the bag,“ Cartman chimed in.

“I don't know,” Clyde said, “She writes about Kyle an awful lot,”

Eric slapped his wallet on the table, “I'll bet ten on Kenny,”

Clyde smirked, “Deal,”

“I'll put twenty on Kyle,” Tolkien said, crossing his arms.

Kenny's shoulders dropped, “What the hell, Tolkien?” 

“I mean, she did already say she liked someone else,”

“Yeah, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's Kyle,” Stan smirked.

Kyle's jaw clenched, “What do you know? I swear-- Stan, if I was right–” 

“Kyle, chill,” Stan rolled his eyes, “I just might know who the guy she likes is,”

“What? How?”

“April's not the one from the club I've been seeing, okay? I kind of have a thing going with Luna…”

Clyde's jaw dropped open like a puppet who's actor was mid-cardiac arrest, “What!?”

“So–”

“Stan, shut the fuck up right now!” Eric bellowed, “The bets have been placed,”

“What are we betting on fellas?” Butters asked and he sat down.

“Kenny and Kyle are going after one of the girls from the Writing Club,”

“Which one? They're all hot, but I want dibs on Honey. Have you seen her?”

“We've seen all of them, Butters,” Eric rolled his eyes, “Besides Max is obviously the hottest,”

“April is the hottest, you guys are blind,” Kenny said.

“You just think that because she has the biggest boobs,” Eric snickered, “Is that your thing too, Kyle?”

“What!? No! She has the prettiest eyes and her smile is–”

“Boo!” Eric started it but soon Butters and then Clyde joined in throwing French fries, “Boo, Kyle!!”

“Fuck you guys,” Kyle slammed a ten on the table, “I'm gonna take her and the fucking pot,”

“A Jew is threatening to take our money and convert the girl you like Kenny. You gonna let him get away with that?”

Kyle clenched his jaw, “April is Jewish, you fucking ignorant piece of shit,” 

Butters chimed back in, “She is? Shit, I'll put ten on Kyle,”

Eric's nose wrinkled, “Black and Jewish? Kenny, maybe you’re better off–”

Kenny gritted his teeth and slammed his wallet on the table, “I’m gonna win her over, take the pot and her virginity,”

Every jaw around the table dropped. 

“Her what?!”

“Men,” Eric drummed his knuckles on the table, “The stakes have been raised. Kyle, are you gonna match his bet or are you too scared to deflower this girl?”

Kenny instantly regretted raising the stakes and throwing April's sexual history under the bus. His testosterone may have got the better of him there. That and the fact no one thought he had a chance but Cartman.

Kyle frowned and pulled in a deep breath, “It's a bet,”

[mothvalentino]

Your Muse's Hobbies

Repost & bold whichever applies to your muse !

fishing | camping | sewing | singing | dancing | drawing/painting | baking | cooking | making music | gardening | mixology | playing sports | beekeeping | knitting | chess | video games | working out / doing yoga | playing an instrument | collecting things | hiking | parkour | kite flying | making bread | origami | wood carving | trivia | board games | jigsaw puzzles | juggling | swimming | creative writing | journaling | scrapbooking | thrifting | doing makeup | working on cars | cosplaying | wikipedia editing | genealogy | book club | table tennis | calligraphy | meteorology | astronomy | larping | geocaching | photography | reading | litter picking | scrolling through social media | watching movies / shows | witchcraft | pottery | lego building | ghost hunting | graffiti | poker | people watching | birdwatching

Tagged By: @visage-of-hell

Tagging: @wiltingwoes @queenbeeibee @screentimeoverlord @themosthatedbeing @pcisin @the-one-who-killed-the-radio @voodoodaaddy if you want to do it /haven't done it already :]

[silverwingborn-moved]

YOUR MUSES HOBBIES

repost & bold whichever applies to your muse !

fishing | camping | sewing | singing | dancing | drawing | painting | baking | cooking | making music | gardening | mixology | playing sports | beekeeping | knitting | chess | video games | working out | doing yoga | playing an instrument | collecting things | hiking | parkour | kite flying | making bread | origami | wood carving | trivia | board games | jigsaw puzzles | juggling | swimming | creative writing | journaling | scrapbooking | thrifting | doing makeup | working on cars | cosplaying | wikipedia editing | genealogy | book club | table tennis | calligraphy | meteorology | astronomy | larping | geocaching | photography | reading | litter picking | scrolling through social media | watching movies / shows | witchcraft | pottery | lego building | ghost hunting | graffiti | poker | people watching | birdwatching

Tagged by Stolen from: @compelledcurator

Tagging: @drraphaelmd @hellcab @oleandernights @themosthatedbeing @rockange @divine-gnosis @lettherebemonsters @r-adio @cxncrie @xluciifer @laznivec @cannibalxroses and anyone else who wants to ^^

[externalconceit-1]

YOUR MUSES HOBBIES.

reblog & bold whichever applies to your muse !

fishing | camping | sewing | singing | dancing (ballroom/Old Shit) | drawing | painting | baking | cooking | making music | gardening | mixology | playing sports | beekeeping | knitting | chess | video games | working out | doing yoga | playing an instrument | collecting things | hiking | parkour | kite flying | making bread | origami | wood carving | trivia | board games | jigsaw puzzles | juggling | swimming | creative writing | journaling | scrapbooking | thrifting | doing makeup | working on cars | cosplaying | wikipedia editing | genealogy | book club | table tennis | calligraphy | meteorology | astronomy | larping | geocaching | photography | reading | litter picking | scrolling through social media | watching movies / shows | witchcraft | pottery | lego building | ghost hunting | graffiti | poker | people watching | birdwatching .

Ganked from: @itsaninfestation Tagging: off the top of my head: @brutalage, @collectingmuses, @fatummortem, @red-hemlock, @emmatriarchy @hauntedreality (muse of choice!), @gammaragee, @watsonjackpot, @sanguine-salvation, @bewitchingbaker, @silverjetsystm, @positivelybeastly, anyone!

[bewitchingbaker]

YOUR MUSES HOBBIES. reblog & bold whichever applies to your muse ! fishing | camping | sewing | singing | dancing | drawing | painting | baking | cooking | making music | gardening | mixology | playing sports | beekeeping | knitting | chess | video games | working out | doing yoga | playing an instrument | collecting things | hiking | parkour | kite flying | making bread | origami | wood carving | trivia | board games | jigsaw puzzles | juggling | swimming | creative writing | journaling | scrapbooking | thrifting | doing makeup | working on cars | cosplaying | wikipedia editing | genealogy | book club | table tennis | calligraphy | meteorology | astronomy | larping | geocaching | photography | reading | litter picking | scrolling through social media | watching movies / shows | witchcraft | pottery | lego building | ghost hunting | graffiti | poker | people watching | birdwatching .

One thing that was hard to mark as a hobby was cooking and baking ecause those are his jobs technically. So I imagine he separates it from his more creative hobbies.

Drawing: Chris is always drawing when hehas downtime at the bakery. Often sketching little logos or his friends from memory. If you're his friend, there's more then likely a comic style drawing of you in his sketchbook. It's more of a comforting thing since it reminds him of days with his mom.

Dancing: Not exactly a hobby but it's something he enjoys. His childhood friend often danced with him, his family taught him how to have good footwork and he loves a nice party. But if he wanted to, he could learn to professionally dance but he goes with the flow so he can dance with anyone.

Playing an Instrument/Making Music: Chris's main way to unwind at the end of the day is to play his guitar (A Vintage Acoustic Fender ) and mess with his SP404. As much as he loves listening to music, Chris loves playing/making little tunes. He looks at it as a chill way to do things on his own time. Letting himself mess up, play well or play for a little bit.

Watching Movies/Shows: Chris loves watching movies. Mainly horror but he loves all genres and he's willing to watch anything. As long as the company is good, the baker is happy to watch a movie or a show. If he needs something on in the background he usually sticks to a shitty horror movie, a random episode of the Simpsons or Living Single, sometimes the Parkers.

Tagged By:@hunting-songs

Tagging: @smolcuriouskitten @brooklynislandgirl @everyoneismytoy @escapedartgeek @pyrokineticwarrior @ofteaandmagic @ofsnarkandmagic @siiinfully (any muse)

[swordfright]

transfem dream is so cool i need her

same!! i've been musing real hard about what c!dream would be like as a woman. i think she'd be pretty tomboyish in a lot of ways. one of those trans girls who perhaps enjoys presenting femme but isn't super stressed about it (or maybe it's that being the minecraft equivalent of a ranger and doing crazy parkour stunts in the woods kinda gets in the way of presenting hyper-femininely.) oh man, she'd be so cool. just her and her mask against the world :')