#the prompt was: bad habit

[poemsonmars]

i know they are called

bad habits for a reason,

and i am sorry for using them,

but they are all i have left.

even the good ones

have turned rotten now.

stomach acid eating at the lining,

knives locked away in the cupboards,

a pack a day even on a good day

kind of rotten.

my doctor asks me if i am scared

of what will happen to my lungs

when i am older and i wish

i could find it in me to tell her

i've never once thought that

i might actually live long enough

for that to be a problem one day.

instead, i shrug.

"cancer, probably." i say.

i don't apologize this time.

i don't tell her that

i will let my body rot into nothing

if it gets me through the day.

-mars

[shimmershy]

Chara Week Day 5: Ghost

Every time I see that machine in the True Lab, I wonder if it could possibly be Chara's soul in there? Probably unlikely, but not impossible... It's interesting to think about what the implications of that would be.

A version with no text and then a version with just the machine, because I think it looks pretty cool and ominous alone as well.....

[orbch]

lincoln does the stupid tween boy thing where he says hes not cold in <20° weather (he definitely is) but clyde does NOT let that slide

[kybercrystals94]

Scars and Toothpicks

By KyberCrystals94

Read here on Ao3!

Whumptober 2023 | Day 27 | Prompt 27: Scars

Rating: G

Words: 755

Summary: Omega worries about losing her brothers again.

[Author’s Note: Let’s just pretend for a minute that Tech survived the fall (which I am 100% on board that train, don’t get me wrong), and that Crosshair, Omega, and Tech have all been rescued…this story takes place after that. Okay? Great! Read on…]

Omega has a tiny scar on the outer edge of her left wrist. It is thin, slightly raised, and a touch lighter than the warm color of her skin. She doesn’t remember how she got it, or even when; but for as long as she can remember, she’s found herself rubbing it when she’s anxious, running her right index finger over it, back and forth.

She does it now, the imperfection soothing under her fingertip. “Do you think they’re alright?” she asks.

Crosshair sighs. “Why did you stay with me if you’re not going to be quiet?”

“I asked quietly,” Omega argues, pressing harder on the scar, making it feel more pronounced.

“They’re fine. Shush.”

Omega glares at her brother’s profile, sharp edged features that perfectly match his personality. She lets out a breath, louder than necessary, just to annoy him. By the glance he casts her, it works. She grins at her boots, but the gnawing anxiety in her stomach doesn’t go away, even with Crosshair’s reluctant reassurance.

She and Crosshair are on lookout while the rest of the batch works on the inside, searching for intel. It is a low-risk mission, Rex said; however, it's only been a few months since she, Crosshair and Tech were rescued from Hemlock. The internal and external wounds of their captivity still feel raw and exposed.

She can’t lose her brothers again.

She bites the inside of her cheek and keeps rubbing her scar.

Crosshair looks at her. “What?” he asks, a hiss.

“I didn’t say anything,” Omega protests indignantly.

“You keep messing with your wrist. What? Are you injured?” The question gives the impression of concern, even if the tone is discolored with ire.

Omega drops her hands. She hadn’t really realized she was doing it. “No,” she says, a grumble. “Just a nervous habit.”

Crosshair regards her for a moment more before turning back to the landscape. “I noticed.”

“Then why’d you ask?”

“In case you wanted to talk about it.”

“You said to be quiet.”

“Changed my mind.”

Even after spending weeks together in confinement, Omega still isn’t used to Crosshair’s bladed way of showing concern for his siblings, serrated but deep. It is so different from the rest of her brothers but comforting in its own way.

Omega shrugs, leaning back. “Just paranoid, I guess. I know nothing’s going to happen, but...something might.”

Crosshair reaches into his pocket and pulls out two toothpicks, flicking one at her. Omega catches it, barely, but she can’t help the triumphant grin. Crosshair smirks at her. “Don’t be so proud of yourself,” he mutters, putting his between his teeth.

Omega follows his example, grinding the toothpick between her teeth experimentally. “It tastes gross.”

“Is there a flavor of wood you prefer?” Crosshair snarks, and Omega wrinkles her nose at him. He chuckles and settles back beside her, eyes returning to their watch. “You know, something bad can happen anywhere...even that precious little bed of yours back on Pabu. You could fall out of it and break your neck. Are you going to be paranoid about that too?”

Omega rolls her eyes. “That’s different.”

“Is it?”

“Yes!”

“Hmm. I disagree.”

“You would,” Omega mutters.

“Ah, you know me so well,” Crosshair retorts. He elbows her. Not gently, but not hard enough to hurt. “My point is, kid, stop worrying about what could happen. It’s annoying, and it’s unhelpful. I should know.”

“Really?” Omega asks, looking up at him.

Crosshair pokes the scar on her wrist. “That’s your nervous habit, and this,” he takes out his toothpick, holding it out, “is mine.”

“Wrecker said you chew on toothpicks because you think it looks cool,” Omega says with a grin.

“Wrecker says a lot of ridiculous things.” Crosshair puts the toothpick back in his mouth.

“Are you nervous right now?” Omega asks.

“No,” Crosshair deadpans.

“But you just said...”

“I just said that worrying about what could happen is annoying and unhelpful,” Crosshair interrupts. “So, what are we going to do instead?”

Omega can’t decide if it is a trick question or rhetorical.

Crosshair rolls his eyes and says in a painfully slow voice, “We focus on the job we were given.”

“That’s it?” Omega asks.

“That’s it. Now, be quiet, or next time I’m going to make you go with Hunter, so you don’t bother me.”

Omega leans into him, resting her head against his shoulder. “You love me,” she singsongs.

“Don’t push it, kid,” Crosshair growls, but she feels his head rest on hers and smiles.

END

Tag List: @isthereanechoinhere96 @followthepurrgil @amorfista @mooncommlink

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[gypsypendragon]

I've been playing TF2 for a decade+ and this speedy bastard has been at the top forever. My dog is even named after him.

Gonna attempt to do all days of an October prompt list. Particularly the one by remmys here on tumblr:

[mkaugustpoetry]

Too late, too late, too late,

You tell me,

Again

Again

Again.

As if I am unaware

Of the passage of time.

As if I am unaware

I have lost it all once more.

I am not wasteful,

As you believe me to be.

Time simply, forcefully escapes me,

Again

Again

Again.

After all,

It has no end.

How others seem to hold time in their

steady grasps,

I will never understand,

As the strings of it only twist and squeeze

As they slide right out the gaps in my fingers.

I keep my fingers pressed tight together.

And get nothing but burns in return.

Again

Again

Again.

[sovonight]

surviving on drawing/writing the barest scaffolding and filling in the rest of the blanks in my mind

[dazzelmethat]

Miku from 'Sandplay singing of the dragon' for a challenge.

[promptsforyourwhumpfic]

Whump Prompt #1093

It's a small thing but: nail biting. 

Maybe A measures their recovery/good days by how much they bite their nails, and lately they had been doing well!

But as always, mounting pressure and stress cause them to fall into bad habits... and before long their nails are a mess of sore skin, shredded cuticles and raw, picked at skin. 

[heythered3lilahsblog]

someone: *shows me affection*

me: what is this?

someone: affection

me: disgusting

someone: ...

me: do it again

[youremyonlyhope]

why won't my brain shut up why won't my brain shut up why won't my brain shut up why won't my brain shut up

[ashestoashes7]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, Neil Josten & Andrew Minyard, The Foxes | Palmetto State Foxes Member(s) & Neil Josten Characters: Neil Josten, Andrew Minyard, The Foxes | Palmetto State Foxes Member(s) (All For The Game) Additional Tags: Lies, Character Study, Canon Compliant, Mentioned Nathan Wesninski, Mentioned Mary Hatford, Introspection, Neil Josten Loves Andrew Minyard, POV Neil Josten, Protective Neil Josten, It's Not Paranoia If They're Really Out To Get You, no beta we die like neil's 'i don't start fights' persona, takes place before baltimore Series: Part 1 of AFTG Bingo 2024 Summary:

Neil Josten is a liar. It's a bad habit, he knows, but he can't stop.

@allforthegamebingo

[weebsinstash]

I wanna be Vals smol lil purse puppy now :<

Not cause I “like” him but like <.< who hasn’t looked at a lil yapyap in some hot bitches purse all bedazzled up n pampered and NOT be jealous

Legit i feel like people working for Valentino would become absolutely INCENSED with the Reader in some of these ideas because like.... imagine you die and you've been hooking for some abusive asshole pimp for like god knows HOW many years, because you don't age and can only die from like illness or murder, spent so many years struggling just to earn even the slightest amount of respect, to actually get some sort of reward back for all your hard work, years of Val having you in a 90/10 split on YOUR work with YOUR body, managing to get into his good graces enough that he's beginning to get you presents and jewelry and special spa trips

And then along comes Reader and there's a palpable air of malice and tension as sex workers who have been selling their bodies for decades are essentially being put on equal footing with. A tableserver who brings their boss his drinks. Like even if he becomes your friend Angel Dust can't help but feel some resentment because like... you haven't even fucked the guy and Valentino's calling you baby and inviting you to party with them and giving you free drinks and free drugs and treating you noticeably less shitty than he does everyone else

Honestly could you imagine like, Reader is dressed up all cute in clothes he gifted you and flattering accessories and suddenly someone's coming up to you, "how much?"

"Sorry?"

"How much? You're one of Valentino's hookers, right?"

And you laugh and say, oh I'm not a sex worker I just wait tables for him, and the man visibly looks you up and down, glancing pretty obviously at the other people Val brought along on this same trip, and the stranger raises his brow at you. "Well you're dressed just like em" and walks away, amd Reader is left with this sudden, very uncomfortable realization that, have you really been being pampered and being given nice gifts, or has he been slowly changing and transforming you to suit his own tastes? (I think of a reader who gets into makeup and falls into the trap of self empowerment vs feeding his gaze, fixing yourself up all pretty and feeling confident and not realizing he is being so 'supportive' because he wants you to be his little doll)

But yeah, Valentino definitely has the money to get you some nice shit, and if he's trying to essentially advertise you as "his baby" that no one is allowed to touch, then of course he can only give you the best. After all, the state you're in reflects on him, right? What kind of wealth self respecting pimp would hang out with someone wearing graphic tees and baggy sweatpants? You're getting those luxury hair care products and some red bottoms and he'll be damned if he doesn't drag you somewhere looking like an 11 outta 10

[seeminglyseph]

while like. yeah, I can understand that there are absolutely straight furries out there, het omegaverse always feels like it's like. missing the point of omegaverse to me.

omegaverse feels like it exists as a deliberately queer concept and like. exploration of fucked up mating concepts as well as gender exploration with some kinda kinky animalistic fuckery involved as well as some breeding kink and exploring what it means if gender dynamics and sexuality were like. profoundly *different* from what they are now and we weren't in a society based around "men have gonads which create sperm which are deposited into the female who have gonads which create eggs which receive sperm and are carried in the womb during pregnancy for mating."

like. Het Omegaverse is like. "That but the alphas are more aggressive and the omegas are more submissive and breedable" and it just feels like... I'm not shitting on it entirely because like, if I like the fantasy of being ravished then I'm sure there are girlies out there who want to be ravished but it's like, not subversive. it's just werewolf smut. And half the time they'll like. do *so* much to cut all the furry stuff out of it and just make it toxic psychological dramas with trad-wife fantasies. which like. sure, butter your biscuit to it I guess.

But Queer Omegaverse feels built on "what if gender and sex were independent and society was was built on a foundation of different ideas of what gender meant" and Het Omegaverse feels like "what if gender roles were so fucking traditional and men were so toxic and virile, and women were so dainty and the best ones were fertile, barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen?" and like. I get that it's a romantic and sexual fantasy, and like. sometimes you just want to fantasize about being wanted. and I don't want to take that away from people or say that wanting to just... daydream about some fantasy of a man being really really attracted to you is bad. because daydreaming about that stuff is fun. That's to point of smut. and like. half of gay omegaverse is literally just "I wanna daydream about being bred by my werewolf boyfriend who is feral with his lust for me, and all my lame domestic skills are actually really attractive to him. please find my submissive nature deeply appealing instead of embarrassing." so like. this *isn't* kink shaming entirely. I fully understand like. why it's attractive and why it exists and why it's written and read and indulged in.

I just think the two are fully different genres in a way that like. Is hard to explain without sounding fucking batshit??? like in general het smut can have breeding kinks and stuff really easily already. Omegaverse was created to restructure the universe around new gender dynamics and politics to create whole new systems and medicines and like sometimes even governments to structure a furry eroticism fake breeding system for queer romances and sexualities and genders. Het romance is often too scared to touch on queer subject matter to blend the gender dynamics, so I fully like. Don't know what is explored besides the main character's bodies???

And I mean I have my issues with queer omegaverse! When they make the dude's asshole a cloaca for example! I hate when that happens! like. just do some alternative genital configurations or something, I don't know. or lean into the fact you obviously made it a cloaca, since no one seems to admit that. honestly part of me just is kinda curious how the whole genital configuration makes sense for a lot of omegaverse since there's a lot of misunderstanding about how genitals work, but like. I can write my own if I'm so concerned. that's fine. I just wanna make a point that like, nobody's perfect. while I admire the concept of queer omegaverse for redefining gender roles, that's not how all queer omegaverse works and I know that. and het omegaverse could be written really really well by a talented author. just 'cause I haven't read it and... admittedly am not hugely interested, doesn't mean it's impossible.

But in general I think the only way to fully make omegaverse work is to embrace the weird shit. change the genitals, change the genders, change how society is built, change how people identify, change how relationships are made, change the power structures. Do weird fucked up shit and embrace that it's weird and fucked up. if you do then it will be more a more compelling story.

if it's just smut feel free to disregard because that's fine sometimes you just want daydream fodder and that's fair, but I think sometimes you just need to like. realize you've created a cloaca and that's weirder than just giving a man a pussy??? or a pussy and a dick? or coming up with something new and majestic? or something. I don't know. or if you're gonna have a fucking cloaca lay some eggs. fuck around with it. that's like, my really specific omegaverse pet peeve. the fucking cloaca.

[internutter]

Challenge #04124-K106: Go Touch Grass

A human built a full VR system in their quarters on the station. Their friend had to remind them that there's life outside of that world, too. -- Anon Guest

Virtuality is a hard habit to break. Rescued from a planet in which reality was too harsh for emotional health, Xae spend most of hir waking hours with a screen directly in front of hir eyes. Hir habitat was worse, with the walls showing virtual environments in the rare moments that ze wasn't in hir walk-anywhere harness-platform.

It was not made for guests. It was made for playing.

Given that Xae was an ex-Deregger, some of that was understandable. However, too much of a good thing had definitely met the boundary line for addiction. Such as playing tabletop games via virtual assistant when the other players were on the same ship.

[Check the source for the rest of the story]

[cmweller]

Challenge #04002-J350: Before You Become Ash

They were working 10 hour days, plus several oddball hour meetings with the groups they were in for their hobbies that they treated like a second job. Their companion, who was also their best friend, forced them to take a vacation before their mental, and physical, health began to suffer for it. -- Anon Guest

Nils took in a scene of absolute horror. A tidy domicile, with all of hir craft supplies and tools conspicuous by their absence. All of the tools ze usually used for working at home were not where ze had left them.

Xie had some packed bags. Hirs and theirs, and the coffee table only bore two transit tickets, and not a collection of half-finished projects and assorted scrattle.

"What have you done?" wailed Nils. "Where's all my stuff?"

[Check the source for the rest of the story]