#they are a lot more chill and cool than the power tripping dick head managers that ive gotten in pittsburgh and new york

[thekingdomofdong]

after working 3 dif positions with BNY Mellon i really dont wanna go back but since i have like 5 years total experience there im gonna try. it seems they still have 100% remote jobs, so if i can swing one of those without a dickhead manager id probably be fine, just was hoping something else would come in after applying to like 30-50 jobs a day for the last several months :D

[boop-le-snoot]

PARTY FAVOURS I CHAPTER 6

Rating: Explicit.

‼️TW: Reader is EIGHTEEN! Recreational drug use, smoking and alcohol consumption, deeply internalised self-loathing, very questionable moral standards. Daddy kink taken half-seriously. BDSM themes in later chapters - explicit content will come with it's own TWs. FIRST PERSON POV. There's non-explicit smut in this part!

Summary: You're Peter's classmate, a child of rich and famous but uncaring parents. Getting paired up for a lengthy project with the boy was an interesting turn of events and you don't know whether to feel blessed or cursed when you develop, seemingly, a perfectly normal, harmless crush on Tony Stark. Fueled by feelings of inadequacy and boredom, your life spirals out of control - and you're lucky your newfound friends are there to pick up the pieces even if you cannot find it in yourself to believe these amazing human (and not so human) beings voluntarily give you more than a fleeting glance and an offhanded thought. And they brought cake!

A/N: Remember that questionable morals remark? Yea, this chapter is the reason. Y/N, girl, you gotta stop... But at least it's kinda funny. Okay, it's pretty damn hilarious.

Beta read by the lovely and patient @miscmarvelwritings ! She is amazing. I larb her. 💙

"And then I was like 'No Way!' and he was like 'Totally' and that's how I met Tony Stark," I finished excitedly, opposite a laughing Mr. Davies. The story of how I met Iron Man was a total hit with the teacher and my vigorous mimicking of the facial expressions that described my feelings during the time had my teacher busting a gut something loud. 

"I honestly have some trouble believing that but - hey, what the hell, he's a billionaire superhero, it's basically expected for him to be a little strange," When his laughing fit was over, Mr. Davies reminded me he was, in fact, a psychology doctor. There was serious brain power under that easygoing attitude.

I expected detention to be bearable in his company but Mr. Davies rose above expectations, welcoming me with another cup of tea and some colouring pages. Admittedly, I contemplated stealing some - those mandalas were really captivating.

"Oh, he's strange alright, but nothing I can't handle," I twirled a pencil between my fingers. 

Mr. Davies grinned knowingly, too knowingly for my comfort, and I had no choice but to make a stone face before looking him in the eye. 

He smirked. "So, anything else interesting for you going on?" 

"Nah, not much. Really looking forward to being done with high school and going out into the bigger world, y'know."

"You turned 18 already, right?" I nodded in confirmation. "Maybe get a job, something part-time? OsCorp always hands these leaflets out, they're looking for lab assistants."

I wrinkled my nose. "I don't need a job. Plus, I'm sure Bruce-err, Doctor Banner would smash me if I went to work at OsCorp," I glossed over my slip-up, hoping Mr. Davies would do the same. But no such luck happened.

"Right. Me and Bruce, we actually go way back," He smiled, stirring his tea. I perked up in interest. "We studied psychology together, sat next to each other in half of our classes. It's a shame what happened to him but I hope he's happy now," Mr. Davies was smiling earnestly, looking out of the window where rain had started flowing down on the glass.

"Really? That's cool," I said, lacking anything else to add to his statement.

"He used to skip classes and always lost his glasses even though they'd be on top of his head," My teacher continued. "Banner was actually quite a rowdy student," He added with a smirk.

"Hah, he still routinely loses his glasses, although he wears them on a string around his neck now," I chuckled fondly. Bruce was such a dork.

I chatted with Mr. Davies some more, just casual conversation about everything and nothing in between. His parents were hippies, he had two moms and one dad and according to him, Thor was very overrated. I didn't even notice we were up in each other's space until our knees brushed when Mr. Davies - "Call me Will" - was showing me the pictures of his cats, dog and lizard. I figured that as the hippy child, personal space was kind of a foreign concept to him - and that rang true, I've seen Will give out more shoulder grabs and high fives than anyone else sans the gym teacher.

The clock's ding announced 6 PM and I quickly gathered my things, hastily saying goodbye. I was stopped though.

"If you don't mind a quick stop at my house, I can drop you off. It's pouring buckets outside and I would hate you to get sick," Will spoke casually. 

Technically, I knew he was bending some rules of conduct. But it was also 55° outside and the water coming from the sky was unlikely to be warm. So I caved without any guilty conscience, obediently following Mr. Davies -Will- to the parking lot where a new-ish Jeep Cherokee proudly stood amongst several older, less gently used cars. With New York city traffic being the way it is, I didn't text Bruce yet, fully expecting for the trip to take a whole hour if not more. 

Thankfully the parking gods were merciful and Will managed to find a spot right across his two-story townhouse. "You're welcome to come in if you feel comfortable, I just need to fetch some documents," He said.

And that's where I fucked up. I nodded affirmatively, I followed him through the door and made myself as comfortable as I could on his living room couch. It was a cozy home, his iguana chilled opposite me in it's terrarium and the little mutt that was his dog really reminded me of the atrocity that my parents used to own before they had me. It yipped and yapped, wagging it's bushy tail at me and demanding pets.

The steaming tea mug was dutifully placed in my hand by Will who hopped upstairs immediately after that, skipping steps. I watched the man with a benign stare: he'd removed his sweater and I could see the defined muscles of his back and the admirable backside that he possessed. There was no harm in looking respectfully, right?

I was halfway through my mug when Will came back down, brandishing a truly impressive stack of manila folders, setting it on a nearby table before sitting down on the other end of the couch, maintaining a respectful distance between us. We chatted some more and the more he spoke about his current research, the more passionate he became; by the end of his truly epic description of the effects that anti-depressants have on the learning process of depressed adolescents, I was mesmerized by the way his pink lips formed words.

Sitting with my calves tucked under my butt, leaning against the armrest , I was a goner. He caught my eye, diverting his own stare from my exposed legs to the side, blinking furiously. It calmed my spirits somewhat, knowing that I wasn't the only one affected by the sudden change of atmosphere in the room. My mug landed on the low table with a loud clang as I leaned forward, the sleeves of my sweater accidentally brushing against his leg.

Will cleared his throat and I startled, tilting my head up towards him in confusion. He was staring at me with a mix of fear and delight in his eyes, like a boy preparing for his first kiss. I would have laughed at the absurdity of the situation if the darkness in his stormy grey eyes didn't make my own breath do somersaults somewhere between my lungs and my esophagus.

Fifteen minutes later, both my sweater and my panties were thrown somewhere in the furthest end of the room and those thin lips were making me see stars. For some reason he was convinced I'd had only typical teenage disappointing sex up to this point and was really eager to show me what a grown man can do. I mean, I wasn't complaining, he was really, really good with his mouth - but I didn't have all night, so I flipped the tables and showed off my own oral skills until he had to bodily remove me from his dick and lift me onto it. Every movement felt surreal, like I was living in a dream. Despite my common sense yelling expletives at me, I kissed Will back with twice the heat and none of the finesse, each of us reaching the peak nearly in sync.

"Can I get that ride to the tower now?"

Will let out a decidedly unmanly squeak when he realised where exactly he'd be taking me after we did what we'd done. I smiled at him in hopes of calming down the man but it seemed it came out more predatory. He shivered, his dick twitching within me.

I texted Bruce the same time I was getting into Will's car. My brain was still somewhat in a state of shock and I used the brief moment to tidy up my hair and makeup, taking note of my sex-flushed face. I only hoped I didn't stink like man-sweat and Will's cologne. 

Another realization was startled out of me: that was my first time having had sex without a condom. I was on birth control since I was fourteen so pregnancy wasn't a scare; currently, I was more worried about the mildly uncomfortable, wet feeling in my panties where my teacher's cum had pooled out.

Yikes. That moment Will took a careful monitoring of my facial expression and it took me a lot to keep it somewhere between neutral and happy. Internally, I was freaking the fuck out, torn between horror and incredible arousal.

It morphed into full fledged mortification when I saw Bruce's lab coat from afar, the man standing next to the entrance door. Having had a dumb moment, I texted Banner that a former schoolmate of his was the one giving me a ride and it really shouldn't have been a surprise that Bruce would go downstairs to greet Will.

'Fuck you, you dumbass,' was my approximate train of thought, directed at myself, when all three of us gathered, hiding from the cold rain and the autumn wind under the safety of the roof. Both men shared a brief, warm embrace before Bruce's arm snaked around my waist.

"You go upstairs, okay? I don't want you to get sick," Banner said, eyeing the disastrous weather.

I looked at Will, finding his eyebrow cocked at Bruce's frivolous gesture and a faint flush blossoming on his face. The man shuffled awkwardly, giving me a small wave and a tight-lipped smile before turning his attention back to Bruce. I wished him good night, hastily retreating into the safety of the elevator.

"What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fu-u-uck..." I chanted under my breath, acutely aware of the blossoming bruises on my hips where my teacher held me, the dampness of my underwear. 

The elevator doors opened, revealing the common room couch being occupied by Wanda. Peter, Wanda's brother and the two resident super soldiers setting the table for dinner. Tony was off bickering with Loki and Strange by the coffee maker and Thor was standing outside on the patio, doing something very strange with his hands and his hammer. Was he summoning the shitty weather?! The audacity!

"Hey," Wanda greeted me quietly. Her eyebrows raised upon seeing my face full of perplexed confusion. "You okay?.. Wait, what? Tell me you did not!" As my internal crisis reached its peak, I remembered that a) Wanda is a telepath and b) There were other people in the room.

One ungraceful landing next to her later, I turned my bleary stare onto her. "Oops?" I offered in the way of explanation. What was I supposed to say if I didn't know for myself what the devil possessed me to fuck my social studies teacher after school? He was fucking hot, okay.

The witch smirked, obviously following my defensive internal monologue. "Oops?" Her tone was laced with gleeful sarcasm.

"I'm a human disaster," I groaned, finally caving in and palming my face. Wanda began snickering. "I have zero impulse control," I continued wallowing in self-pity. The redhead just cackled harder.

"I feel so attacked right now," Tony's voice loudly announced the man's presence. I was thankful for the distraction, happy that today, out of all the days, he decided to make the situation about himself. "I am the resident hot mess and nothing you do will change that. Or get out of my tower," He made a dramatic gesture, waving along everybody to the table.

At the dinner table, with Peter on one side of me and Bruce on the other, Wanda's speech was clear. "I think you two are about on the same level, Tony," Her tone was dry. The looks she cast me were cheeky at best and downright gleeful at worst. Not only was she the resident telepath but also, apparently, a huge drama fan.

I, on the other hand, felt like a fish thrown out of water. My mind was still jumping between astounded and horrified like a rabid rabbit and Bruce's excited remark about seeing a former schoolmate only worsened the anxiety. My brain was telling me EVERYBODY knew EVERYTHING whereas in reality, it was only Wanda and it didn't seem like she was upset enough to give up my dirty little secret. If anything, the witch seemed almost impressed. And that dry, mildly interested facial expression only solidified when she put two and two together: my teacher, whom I fucked, also known as Bruce's former study buddy.

"I have some spare sweatpants that might fit you," Wanda directly addressed me as we were finishing up the wonderful chicken roast courtesy of Clint and Bucky. Nobody batted an eye at the sudden exclamation, evidently used to being around someone who could hear their thoughts. 

I nodded, mentally waving a big, red thank you note. With sparkles. And hearts. Wanda chuckled.

"Hey, did you change your perfume?" Peter's innocent remark made me nearly freeze in my spot. 

Kill Bill sirens started playing in my head on repeat as I heard Wanda choke on her asparagus, inadvertently drawing attention to the three of us. Peter looked at us in confusion: Wanda kept on gasping, but it seemed like the dam had finally burst and she was laughing in earnest, snorting, loudly, as I engaged my willpower to stop myself from doing the same. Needless to say, it was a spectacular failure and now both of us were bent over our dinner plates, absolutely losing it - much to the concern of the adults present at the table. The rest of the team was growing concerned.

"Oh my god, your FACE!" Wanda's incoherent mumbling and the accusing finger pointed in my direction did it.

"A lady doesn't... kiss... and tell...." I fervently gulped the oxygen as I tried to articulate my thoughts into something comprehendible. The hysterical laughter won by a wide margin.

"Who's the lucky guy?" Natasha seemed to get the gist, relaxing immediately and picking up her fork to continue her meal. 

I shook my head, unable to form a coherent thought, much less a sentence. Bruce chuckled from somewhere beside me and just like that, the tension broke. The adults in the room traded knowing looks, chuckling and snorting amongst themselves. 

The moments I needed to calm down went to waste really quick: my first laughing fit over, I took one look at Wanda and yet again, both of us were puffing out our cheeks to try and prevent another hysterical fit. 

"Whew," I exaggerated, eyes wide and looking ANYWHERE but at Wanda.

"What a wild ride," She snorted and I put a palm over my face, shaking my head in... 

Disappointment at myself? I wasn't disappointed. Now that I got over the WTF factor, I found the situation to be pretty damn hot. Will was hot. Eh, whatever. 

My casual mood of zero-fucks-given began returning. After few of the last bites of potatoes, I was prepared to face  Natasha. I looked the Black Widow dead in the eye as I firmly stated: "And for the record? We are NOT having this conversation."

She elegantly arched her eyebrow whilst everybody else held their breath. "That bad, huh?" The retort was immediate.

I allowed myself to radiate a bit of that newly acquired smugness I had begun to feel: "You have no idea," I hoped my smirk was as devious as I wished it to be.

"Alright, heartbreaker, colour me impressed," Natasha nodded in affirmation. We shared another meaningful look and reverted back to our plates with the menfolk observing us akin animals at a zoo. 

Somewhat amazed, slightly afraid. Bruce's stare was somewhat concerned, too: he contemplatively eyed me from the corner of his eye, the same way I eyed him, checking out the fact that he appeared somewhat annoyed. Like a proper father would, I suppose. 

Luckily for me, I finished off the remaining food and drink quickly, with Wanda being my saviour once again as she all but bodily dragged me into the elevator, promising to return me to the science den in no more than an hour. Tony went to complain but was promptly stopped by Natasha inconspicuously reaching for the butter knife: the engineer knew how to pick his battles. I didn't doubt that Romanoff was going to hear "all about it" second-hand from Wanda and I was fully prepared to face the redhead spy's judgement. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, escaped that clever woman.

A quick shower and a change of clothes later, I sat on Wanda's couch, nervously fiddling with the two sizes too big sweatpants, occasionally stopping to straighten the plain white tank top that just barely fit me. I washed my hair but didn't  dry it before Wanda was impatiently telling me to hurry up: the mess sat atop my head held up by a single scrunchie.

"Okay... Where do I start?" She asked me, looking like the cat that ate the canary. 

"Don't start," I stopped her with a raised palm. "It was a casual, one-time thing and I've no interest in pursuing that shit on the reg," I answered honestly. The fact that he was my teacher simultaneously worsened the situation and made me elated. But ultimately, I didn't want to risk the trouble that would come along with this mess. Besides, I had no feelings for the guy whatsoever. As I've said previously, it was just bad impulse control on some teenage hormone steroids.

"You're a strange one," Wanda's penetrating gaze made me shiver. "You live without a care in the world but at the same time, your mind is always all over the place. It is interesting."

"Uh, thanks? I guess?"

"I think we should try being friends," The witch remarked after a brief moment of awkward silence. I stared at her, dumbfounded. "Because of my powers, I can literally see through people and predict what they will do before they even think about doing it. With you, it's not like that," She explained, her Slavic accent making a full guest appearance.

"So...you want to be friends because I'm a fucking mess?" I couldn't help but feel a little offended. The occasional shitty decision aside, I didn't think of myself as that bad.

"I want to be friends because I like you," Wanda fondly rolled her eyes, standing up from the couch and motioning for me to follow. "Now let's get you to Tony or he'll blow a gasket. He's already insufferable as he is."

@another-stark-sub @mostly-marvel-musings  @vozit @littlegasps @pilloclock @shereadsinquiet @downeyreads @hermione-grangers-wife @individualistfem

[seemslegitflapjacks]

Chapter 9; Love and War

I stood up straight again, running back out onto the soccer field. My teammates kicked the ball right to me once they noticed me. I sprang into action, dodging through Randy’s teammates while I kept the ball in my range. My heart and head pounding as I swung my leg forwards, kicking the ball with the side of my foot, the goalie missing as she fell. Not too long after making the winning goal, I got surrounded by my teammates, shaking hands and hugging as we all calmed down from the game.

Our group headed to a slushie shack, sitting ourselves down at the tables. I was with Liu and the other three, our usual group. Randy didn't seem too happy, it was like he was side-eyeing me. God, what was his fucking problem? It was always like he wanted to start some shit with me, it was annoying. He’s my friend and all, but sometimes I wanna punch the shit out of the asshat. If I did something, he rushed in to try and beat me, if I won something, he had to one-up me. It was like he was pitting himself against me.

“You guys played pretty well.” Troy congratulated while drinking his slushie.

“Thanks, Troy.” I smiled, Randy rolling his eyes.

“It’s hot out here..” Keith breathed.

“I wonder why.” Randy sighed, eyeing the fact the resident emo was true, wearing solid black.

“Oh shut up Randy.” Keith groaned.

“He’s kinda right, do you have no other colored clothes besides black?” Liu asked, looking up from his phone.

“No any other color makes me look dumb.” Keith pouted.

“No, it doesn’t,” I argued.

“Yeah it does!” he whined.

“You look cool in red!” I reasoned.

“Red’s my color dipshit,” Randy growled.

I looked over, cutting my eyes at him, Randy doing the same in return. A sigh left me as I returned my gaze to my slushie, which was almost half juice at this point. I began swishing my straw around, The other three continuing their conversation while I went busy looking at my phone. By this point I probably had a little sunburn, Randy managed to keep that soccer match going for an hour and a half. Which sucked, and was also a dick move. My lungs were still burning from running and kicking so much. I swore the guy purposely kicked my shins a few times.

About thirty minutes passed when we all got in Keith’s car and drove back into the neighborhood. I could still feel the awkward energy when I sat down next to Randy in the backseat. The drive lasted only a minute or two, before we all got out, Liu decided to go home as the four of us chose to go on the trails in the woods around our neighborhood. We walked together for a few minutes, talking about whatever was currently going on at school. It wasn’t that big, just sports stuff and girls being mean to each other on their snaps.

It was going better than I expected with all the tension, save for a few remarks Randy gave. Up until this redheaded little motherfucker stepped on the back of my heel and made me fall.

“Dude what is your deal!?” I yelled.

“Why are you yelling at me?!” He asked.

“Cause you just fuckin tripped me you city rat!” I snapped, Randy’s face burning red.

“What’d you just call me!?” He testified in a loud voice as I was picking myself up.

“You heard me loud and clear motherfucker!” I cursed.

“I’ll fucking beat the shit out of you!” Randy bellowed, the adrenaline pulsing through me as he stepped closer.

“Oh yeah? I’d like to see you fucking try!” I challenged, raising my voice over his.

Just as Randy began to power walk towards me, Keith and Troy stepped in.

“Woah, dude chill-” Troy interjected, pushing Randy back.

“Yeah calm down, you guys don’t need to fight.’ Keith added.

“Well if he wasn't being such a dick-” I snapped, Keith, throwing his hand over my mouth as troy held Randy back.

I angrily shoved Keith off of me, accidentally tossing him onto the ground.

“Fuck you guys, I’m leaving,” I growled, stomping out of the trails.

It didn’t hit me until after I walked out of the trails. I just pushed my best friend and told him fuck off. God, I’m an idiot. Why’d I do that? Keith probably feels shitty, and it’s my fault. Great, I didn’t even mean for that shit to happen. I need to say sorry. God, I’m such a fucking idiot.

When I got home, I just headed straight for the shower. I sat in the water, thinking about the dumb move I made. My ears began to ring, static overtaking my vision again. I groaned in pain, my head pounding violently. I could feel the blood run down my face, but couldn't see it. I covered my ears, yelling in pain as the sharp noise peaked, it kept ringing in such a high frequency I swore my hearing would be gone. After a few seconds, it went away. My vision became normal again as I got up, turning off the water as I took care of my nosebleed. This one was pretty bad, It made my towel look like a murder scene almost. After a few minutes of standing in front of the mirror with my head down, the blood stopped.

I tossed away the bloody towel, pulling on boxers as I quickly washed my face, before turning to my bed for an afternoon nap. Which I needed. Today had way too much shit I didn’t need to deal with.

I woke up to the sound of something hitting my window. I sat up, looking around to realize I slept through the entire rest of the day. Go figure. I walked over to my window, moving the curtains as I jumped. I stumbled back, nearly knocking over a few things on my dresser before I let out a rough sigh, returning to the window as I opened it.

“You scared the shit out of me.” I scolded.

“Whatever, put a shirt on, we're going somewhere,” Keith told me, resulting in my face turning completely red.

I quickly snatched the white hoodie off my bedpost, pulling it over myself as I walked back to my bedroom window.

Keith gently helped me out, carrying me as he jumped down from the roof. The two of us quickly got in his car as he locked the doors and pulled off down the street.

“Hey uh, I just wanted to say sorry for what happened earlier... I didn’t mean to shove you..” I sighed, looking away.

“Thanks for apologizing, I thought you were mad at me,” Keith replied, a breath of hesitance leaving him.

“I couldn’t get mad at you if I tried.” I chuckled.

I saw Keith smile from the corner of my eye. He was something else. It was weird the way he made me feel. I didn’t start questioning what I liked until I thought more about it. I’d never had much interest in girls, but I did have some weird feelings around a few guys before. It usually went away, but with Keith, the feelings didn't stop. He was always so nice, despite the reputation our group had. I put my hand in the pockets of my hoodie, remembering the day Keith gave it to me. It was kind of mine now. Keith didn't seem to want it back really. I was ok with it, even though the hoodie was a bit big, it still kept me warm. It was like he was hugging me. I wish he was. It would probably feel nice, having his arms around me.

Keith parked his car, I looked ahead, my eyes lighting up. He took us to the beach. I quickly hopped out of the car, Keith discarding his socks and shoes as we hopped on the white sand.

“It's pretty out here,” I stated.

“Yeah.” Keith agreed.

“I’ve always liked the beach, sucked I never really went to it often back at home though,” I told him, the wind blowing through my long hair.

“Really? Hm, I always figured you’d be more of a hiker kind of person.” Keith responded.

“Eh, hiking hurts your feet, swimming doesn’t.” I sighed.

The two of us walked down the beach, the ocean sweeping water over my feet. Keith trying to avoid the water to not get his pants wet. We talked a lot, his voice was calming to hear. My eyes wandered over, slowly reaching for Keith’s hand. I held my breath as I wrapped my hand around his palm. The color rushed to my face as he held it back, softly squeezing my hand in his. My heartfelt like it was going to pop.

“Wanna turn around now?” He asked me.

“Uh, yeah, sure.” I smiled, Keith returning it as we began to walk back down the shore.

After a while, I let go of his hand, a smirk spreading to my face as I sprinted. Keith yelling as he chased after me. The both of us laughing as we ran through the sand. The wind danced through my hair, my heart soaring into the sky as nothing but our laughs and the waves of the ocean disturbed the silence.

Keith ran up, catching me by the waist as we fell into the sand. Our laughs slowly turning to snickers and giggles. I looked down on him. A smile stained my face. Keith laughing as we helped each other up off the wet sand. As he helped me up, there was a pause. He looked at me, and I looked at him. I’d never seen eyes so pretty before. Like a puppy’s eyes.

Keith softened his eyes as he held my arm, using his other hand to brush the loose hairs out from my face.

I pulled him down, kissing him for the first time.

[kileyrose-2003]

Dan Torrance x Fem! Reader Pt. 4

A/N: Hello lovelies, this is Pt.4 of my Dan fic with it revolving around Rose. Bare with me while I write Pt.5. I have a couple of new request coming out through out the course of this week and the next week. Pt. 5 will be picking up with Rose’s perspective on things so be prepared for an emotional roller coaster. I sincerely hope you all are doing well and I love you all. Link to intro is here, Pt.1, Pt.2, and Pt.3

Enjoy!

You spent the rest of the night in yours and Danny's bedroom, never falling asleep and simply staring at the ceiling. "How could she?" Was a recurring question you found your asking over and over as images of the poor baseball boy entered your mind.

He had a family that was never going to see him again. That was always going to wonder where he was and if he was safe. There would never be any closure for them and you found your lip trembling and eyes watering at the very thought of it.

Danny didn't fall back asleep either. Constantly pacing back and forth from the guest bedroom to the kitchen in some sort of attempt to try and release some of his worry about you. He yearned to hold you in his arm and to just make all the pain go away even though he knew he couldn't do that for you. No one could.

He was scared too. Scared that one of the members of The True Knot was going to come after you and hurt you. Or worse, they'd take you from him and all he'd be left with for a clue would be a rummaged through purse and a shoe that had no matching pair. Though he tried his hardest not to think of that. He didn't want to lose you. He feared losing his control that you helped him craft to control his power to not hit the end of the bottle. Because he knew if he didn't have you, he would go back to the end of the bottle.

Around 9:30 you heard a knock on your bedroom and rolled over in bed although you were awake. "You can come in!" You called out. Danny peaked his head through and smiled. "Hey..I didn't know if you were hungry but I made coffee and breakfast. I don't know if it's as good as your cooking but I figured I try."

Despite how dead you felt inside you managed to smile. "Thanks honey...just give me a minute to wash my face and stuff, please?"

"Sure. I'll see you in the kitchen." He blew you a kiss. "I'll be there." You clambered out of bed once he walked away and walked into the bathroom connected to your bedroom and turned the light on.

You turned the water on and stared at your reflection in the mirror, taking note of how puffy your eyes looked and how tired you felt. You hadn't felt that way since you were working in that bar back when you met Danny. "God, I'm a fucking mess."

You lowered your head and threw some water on your face. The coolness alleviating some of the pain from your puffy eyes. You reached out for your face wash to wash some of the smudged makeup from the previous day but something didn't feel right. You were cold and you felt your heart racing. Almost like you were anxious. You set your hands down on the counter and gripped the sink. Trying to get rid of some of the anxiety. You noticed your ring was glimmering from the light shining down on it from your vanity and you found your lips twitching to form a smile.

(That's a nice ring you got there, Y/n. Danny spend his entire paycheck on that or did he inherit it?)

You felt the hairs on your arms standing straight up and you moved your hands away from the sink to see a set of glowing blue eyes staring back at you in the mirror. 'Rose.'

(Well, hi there darlin.)

"Shit!" You tripped over the mat in your bathroom and fell back into the wall, squeezing your eyes shut. "You're not real, you're not real. You can't hurt me here or anymore. Go away!"

(Oh sweetie, I'm very much real.)

"Stop!"

(We've always been connected, you and I. Even all that time we didn't see or speak, I always knew where you were. I just never bothered to reach out. Until now. Now that I know what special people you have in your life now that you hold so dear to you, I feel obliged too.)

"Don't you even think about getting near them or I'll-"

(You'll what? Kill me? Please, you and I both know you don't have guts to come back home and look me in the eye and admit you were wrong. Let alone kill me. You've always been the baby in the group.)

"I'm a lot stronger now, than you think I am."

(We'll see about that when the time come for it. There's no escaping me, Y/n. Or your fate. You were always meant to be with us. One of us. The sooner you accept that, the easier that process will be for you.)

Despite Rose's still face you could see the psychoticness glinting in her eyes. "I could never be like you! I'm nothing like you! Especially after what you did to that little boy."

(Oh yes you are. You're my spitting image. In more ways than one, honeybunch.)

You could feel Rose inside your head, peaking at all your thoughts and memories and you gripped at your hair.

"Stop it! Stop it!"

(My! Aren't you a busy girl?)

"Get out! Get out of my head!" The mirror began to shake and you let out a scream. "GET OUT!"

"Y/n?! Y/n! What's happening?" You could practically feel Rose laughing with malicious glee at the panic she was causing. "Stay away from me, Danny! Stay away!"

(No, come closer Danny Boy. I still haven't gotten the pleasure of seeing your face.)

"Stop! Stop! This has nothing to do with him." As much as you swore to yourself you wouldn't cave in to give her any satisfaction, you couldn't do it anymore and tears started flowing down your cheeks.

"But it does." Her voice. It shouldn't be that close to you. You felt soft hair brush up against your shoulder and the smell of strong musky incenses and flowers enter your nostrils. Her breath was so close to your ear, you could practically feel the moisture from it sitting on your skin. "I'd imagine even after all those years in AA, he still would taste like whiskey."

You started swinging your arms and kicking your legs. "DON'T YOU FUCKING TOUCH HIM! GET AWAY! GET AWAY!"

"Y/n!" Dan went running down the hallway. "What's wrong?!" You could see his feet from the crack of the door. "Don't come in! I-i can handle it."

"Bullshit, you can." You could hear him grabbing the skeleton key and you freaked out. "No! No! No!" You didn't Rose in the mirror or standing next to you anymore but if she was right on you being connected, you didn't know if she could hear or see what you were either.

The knob on the bathroom door began to jiggle and Dan opened the door. "Y/n." You shook your head. "Stay back."

"Y/n-" You pointed a finger up at the bathroom mirror. "She-she was looking at me!

"Who?" He shut the water off and helped you off the ground and held your hands in his to try and stop you from trembling. "Rose, that woman who killed that little boy!" You started sobbing.

"Okay..okay." He pulled you into hug and ran a hand through your hair, looking at the bathroom mirror with contempt. "It's alright, honey. She's gone."

"She knows your name, Danny. I don't like it." He kissed your hair. "If that's all she knows, that's the least of our worries." You tried to interrupt him but he shushed you. "It's all going to be alright, I promise." He wiped a tear from your cheek and held your face in his hands. "Okay?"

"Okay." He let go of you and held your hand. "Come on, let's get out of here." You nodded and flicked the switch in the bathroom, following Danny out to the kitchen.

You sat down at the island and he set your coffee and breakfast of you. "Thank you." He gave a slight nod and you looked him up and down. "Why are you jeans so early?"

"I'm covering Teenytown for Billy this morning, helping out with the train." You giggled and shook your head, taking a sip of your coffee. "You're such a man child."

"True, but I'm your man child." You smiled briefly and Dan's face changed as he watched you for a moment. "Look, about last night...we're good, right?" You were quick to nod. "Yeah..what made you think we weren't?" You asked. "I don't know.. it just made me a little nervous that you wanted to sleep alone last night." You let out a sigh and Dan held your face. "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable or upset you last night because I was acting like an asshole but look..I love you, okay? I just worry about you."

"I know, but I'm okay. I promise." Your eyes interlocked and Dan's lip hinted at a smile. "Alright." You stood up and he kissed you gently on the lips. "I love you."

"Love you too. You'll be home for dinner?" He shook his head. "AA meet tonight then work. I stop vacation today, remember?"

"Damn it. I totally forgot. It's okay though. No big deal." You smiled. "So I'll probably be home around eight tomorrow morning. I can stop at that cafe you like on the way back. Get some coffee and bagels. How's that sound?" You looped your arms around his neck. "Sounds great. You spoil me. You know that? More than I deserve."

"With all you've done for me over the years, I wouldn't call it spoiling. It's my showing of appreciation." He booped your nose and you giggled. You released him from your hold and leaned your body against the fridge as you watched Dan slip his shoes on. "See you later, sweetheart."

"See ya." You looked out the window to watch him leave. "Promise me you'll be alright?" Dan yelled from outside and you let out a sigh. "I'll be fine. Love you!"

"Love you more!" Dan got in his car, giving you a slight wave before pulling out the driveway. You breathed inwardly and turned away from the window, looking at the huge REDRUM on the wall and felt chills run up your spine. "You'll be okay, Y/n..you'll be fine."

"You're not really okay though, are you?" You were thrown off guard and looked behind you. There was a man standing in the corner wearing a navy blue suit. "You must be Dick."

"Indeed I am. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Miss Y/n." His energy felt warm and it brought a smile to your face. "It's nice to meet you too."

"When Danny was a boy he'd talk to me a lot about you. It feels like a second ago but I imagine it's not. This world is a dream of a dream to me now." You nodded. "He's doing okay now? Last time I seen Dan, he was down the gutter bad."

"Yeah, he's okay now. He's been sober 8 years," You hummed. "Good." You stood away from the fridge. "Why are you here?"

"I'm here because it all comes run. Ka is a wheel, Miss Y/n. Though something tells me you know that already." You didn't respond for a moment and Dick sighed.

"He doesn't want to help her. He says it's too dangerous for me." Dick chuckled heartily. "Yeah well, he doesn't have much of a choice in the matter. Does he? He owes a debt. Now he needs to pay it."

"Is it going to hurt him though? To repay it?" You rubbed your face. "Either way, it's out of our control. Over 30 years later I'm still on the hook. Same thing with your mother too. Your debt is partially paid though."

"Partially?" Dick smiled. "I know where you come from, Miss Y/n. I knew since the moment Danny first talked to me about you and I knew you were two of a kind. While the two hollow souls that raised you keep at hurting children while their shine dies and their addiction grows, yours shines bright and you ended the cycle for someone else. Fighting for the separation of identity from that upbringing. I can say only that much."

He turned away. "It seems to me despite all odds, you grew up mighty fine Miss Y/n. You keep at whatever you're doing with Dan because it's working. I'll see him later on but after that, neither of you will see me anymore. You still owe a small sum of debt though: pay it."

Before you could say anymore, Dick was gone and you started crying. "Fuck! I-i can't face them. I'm not strong enough to face them." You sunk down to the floor and started rocking yourself back and forth, glancing up at the REDRUM occasionally. "I should of never of dragged him into this. I'm going to get him killed!"

You desperately wanted Danny to come home. To have him hold you in his arms and tell you it all was a bad dream. The worst nightmare you ever had but you knew that wasn't true.

You looked at your reflection on the metallic surface of the fridge and hated what you seen. You didn't see yourself. You seen that girl. That girl who was so scared of the world because no matter how she got told she was loved and safe, she never felt. Because even when she was in a better place, the pains she buried deep inside would open themselves. Bleeding into her happiness and when people would ask her if she was okay she would smile, giving them a show they always believed because even though she could see the truth she never wanted to face it. You weren't that girl anymore. You were strong and you were true. So why did you see that girl now?

"Because I'm afraid," You answered aloud. You didn't want to go back to Colorado and see Crow and Rose but you knew you had to and you could do it. You weren't a child anymore and they had no control over you. You were in charge of your life now and you were free to make your own decisions. For the time in a while, you felt like you were loved. You loved Danny and he loved you and you weren't about to let go of that so easily. "I won't let them hurt him. Him or that little girl." There was a soft knock at the door and wiped your face. "Just a second, please!"

"Okay!" You knew that voice. Just where from, you didn't know. You looker out the peep hole before unlocking the door. "Hi, Aunt Y/n!"

The nickname sunk deep in your mind and everything clicked together like a puzzle and you stared at child in front you before speaking. "A-abra?!" A pair of small arms wrapped themselves around your waist and hugged you tight. "Yeah. It's nice to finally meet you." You returned the hug back confusedly and eventually let go. "H-honey what are you doing here? Not that I'm not happy not to see you but it's 12. Shouldn't you be at school?" You knew the kid standing in front of you couldn't of been over 13.

"I went for my first three classes but then I skipped because I wanted to see you after everything last night." She noticed your puffy eyes. "You okay?"

"Yeah..I'm fine. I'm just glad you're okay." Abra smiled. "Can I come in?" She gestured to the inside of your house. "Yeah. Did you have lunch yet?"

The young girl stepped inside and shook her head. "I'll make you lunch then. You cool with grilled cheese?"

"Yeah, I'm cool with it."

...

Being a pediatric nurse meant you had met many different children, all of them with their own unique personalities and traits but by far Abra Stone had to be the most fascinating you knew now. Not only was she steamy but she was highly intelligent for her age. Comprehending things on a level you couldn't even picture yourself doing at her age.

The two of you sat next to each other at the island in your kitchen as the two of you talked. You had her go over the weird radios thing on how she found this boy in the first. "..You have it too, you know. Yours is a little different there because yours is more like a tracker thing. Almost like a GPS." You thought about for a moment. "Yeah..I guess you're right." Abra giggled and took a moment to regain her composure. "So..what exactly is what do called? Magic?"

"Dan always called it the Shining, so now that's what I call it." You shrugged and took a sip of water. "We shine..I like that." You nodded. "Me too. It's better than being called special. That's what my mother used to call me. Though I don't think she meant it in a good way." You rolled your eyes and forced a smile.

"There's not a lot of people like us out there?" You nodded. "And many of the people that are out there and like us, are dangerous."

"Like those people?" You breathed in sharply. "Yes." You paused for a moment. "How are you feeling after everything last night?" Abra sighed. "Okay, I guess. Still a little spooked though. Those people..who are they?"

"Empty devils of a sort. Who I don't want you interacting with. At all." Abra raised a brow. "You've seen them before?" You gave a slight cynical smile. "I guess you can say that." You could tell Abra was trying to dissect the meaning of the sentence but let it go. "What does Uncle Dan think about all this?"

"He won't say it to me but it scares him. He's afraid, for me and you. The hat woman, Rose is her name, she's always known who I am. She doesn't who you are though and I want to keep it that way."

"I hate her..I hate her for what she did to that little boy." You frowned. "I know..me too. When she comes back though, because knowing her the way I do, I know she will; I'm going to help you. Because it won't be a few days from now it will be weeks or months later at a time you least expect it."

"What about Uncle Dan?" You made a face. "He doesn't want to help. Yet. He's married to me though so when the time comes, he's going to help. Whether he likes it or not because I already made it clear to him he has no choice in this." Abra chuckled.

"Anyways, back on topic. With that being said, do not chase after these people. Understand? Or even think about them. Because like how we have weird radios that can find people like us, they have it too. A few of them might have it even stronger than we do and the last thing we need is one of them finding who you are."

"Do they know who Uncle Dan is?" You rubbed your face. "They know his name but not who he is and I'm trying to keep that the same too for as long as I can."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't of dragged you both into this. I just panicked and-" You interrupted her. "You don't need to apologize for something you have no control over. I was your age once. I know how it feels to be scared."

"What happens when they find out who we are?" You sighed. "That a mountain we'll conquer when the times but either way, I'm not going to let them hurt you. Got it?"

"Got it." Abra slid off the chairs and gave you a hug. "Thank you for being there for me and believing me." You hugged her back. "Of course."

"I got to go. The bus ride back to my house is about an hour and neither of my parents know I skipped." You nodded and Abra grabbed her bookbag. "Take care of yourself, kiddo. And stay safe please?"

"I will. Bye, Aunt Y/n!" You smiled and waved to her. "Bye honey." As Abra left, you looked at the REDRUM and your posture stiffened. Thinking about how Rose made you seen that girl after you swore to never see her again. You gave her the satisfaction of getting to you but getting Abra, you refused to let that happen. Even if it cost your life.

"I think the fuck not, Rose. I think the fuck not..."

[chyrstis]

I won’t ask for much (but just this once, I’d like you) 2/10

Updates for this’ll probably come every couple of days or so, and I’m already bracing myself for a third wave of edits to come. But here’s the next part, and Sharky, I’m sorry about the skunk, but you were the one to mention it to begin with. ...And the resulting idea was too entertaining to pass up.

Pairing: Sharky Boshaw x John Seed Rating: E (but only for Ch. 10, the rest are a solid T) Word Count: 4.3K  

Link to AO3!

Ch. 1 / Ch. 2 / Ch. 3 / Ch. 4 / Ch. 5 / Ch. 6 / Ch. 7 / Ch. 8 / Ch. 9 / Ch. 10

—

Sharky steals a boat. It just happens to be John’s boat, and when it’s damaged along with his boathouse, John proceeds to lay out a means of having Sharky pay him back. [No Cult AU]

———–

It took two and a half days to tear the old boathouse down.

John hadn’t lied when he mentioned wanting him to get in there and take it apart piece by piece, and hovered over him the entire time.

The whole monitoring bit was easily the part that annoyed him the most. Like he was waiting for him to screw up. To somehow find a way to take the already burnt building and set it on fire again through force of will alone. Which, while badass, was well out of his means, all the wishing and praying he’d sometimes do to monkey Jesus aside.

But that didn’t stop John from acting like he had the ability. Riding him further during smoke breaks, or barking order after order at him from the sidelines.

Every other word out of his mouth was a correction. To tell him to go back to read the blueprints again. To check his measurements. To put out that cigarette, pry out that misplaced nail, and to use some of that delicacy he kept on going back to, making Sharky’s eyes want to roll back into his head.

And music? The one time he’d tried to bring any levity to the situation with the soothing sounds of disco, John put an end to it immediately. Really just made it clear how much of a drag he wanted to be, and only wanted to push the point home.

Seeing as John was some big-shot lawyer, he really expected him to have more to do than nitpick and lord this whole thing over him. Like he’d stick around for a few weeks, use the time to get off on whatever power trip he was having over this, and then go back to bugging the department, the local businesses, Nick, shit, anyone.

But John Seed was also petty as fuck.

Local gossip hadn’t painted the guy as a kind or forgiving figure, and while the Seeds as a whole were alright at best and fucking weird at worst, over the past couple of years John had picked up a rep as a colossal asshole all on his own.

Tickets? Contested. Special orders down at the store or for parts? Made with specific instructions that needed to be followed to the letter. If not, he’d demand and get his money back, damning everyone with the fine print others would skim over.

Hell, Sid, one of the guys that worked down at the cattle ranch, had traded paint with him once. He’d done so while stopping at the general store, and hadn’t paid much mind to the fancy car parked in the lot, getting just close enough to leave a small scuff on the rear bumper.

In those cases, a person would trade numbers, or see what they could buff off before moving on, 'cause insurance claims were a pain in the ass, and half of the cars in the county were a little late on renewing registrations anyway. Shit, he was coming up on a year, and hoping to see how much longer he could go before any of the Deps cottoned on to it.

But no, the minute John caught on, Sid recalled the glint he got in his eye. Then told him he’d slap him with the largest fine possible for both the damage and the late reg. All over trading paint. Not major damage, not even a busted tire.

Just paint.

Sid was still spitting mad about it, months after the fact.

He’d even pulled a fast one when it came to setting up big bro Joe’s compound. Digging up some obscure property laws all but guaranteeing the land could be sold to them.

No, no one earned the title of mega-dick by being sweet and accommodating. His bro had smoothed over a lot of ruffled feathers by being pretty okay after that, even with all of the converts chilling the fuck out on his property, but John was still John.

And now he personally had that shit to deal with. Today, two days from now, and who knew how many weeks or months after that.

So much for those chicks wanting and keeping his number too. Hurk told him he’d snagged at least one number on the way back to their drop off, but when he’d tried to call them back the other day he got no answer. Ghosted him like it was nothing, and he guessed he deserved that.

What with getting himself caught and left to doing whatever the hell John wanted for as long as John wanted.

“As per our agreement,” John would remind him, whenever he felt the point needed pushing.

And he pushed.

Whenever Sharky would drop something, whenever he let his feet drag, whenever he cut something and John was ready to whip out his tape measure.

He pushed, and Sharky shot another prayer up to monkey Jesus, hoping that maybe this would be the day to go Human Torch on the situation. Or at the very least a little Cyclops.

Not today, but he’d try again tomorrow.

But on the days when Sharky was working, it wasn’t always just the two of them. He’d full on expected this whole thing to go on in its own little pocket, with Hurk eventually crashing the party due to a need to bust him out or worse.

The day that Joseph first showed up stood out, for one.

Joseph Seed was kind of like Pastor Jerome. Not his first pick to hang out with, considering they were both on opposite sides here. Of the whole preaching and managing earthly temptations, while not super indulging in the kind of shit that he knew he wanted in his life, period.

It came with the territory, being religious leaders and all that, but when Joseph first rolled in to the county, he’d brought his people with him.

And they were an interesting bunch. The People of Eden’s Gate were some kind of holistic commune where it was pretty hunky-dory roughly ninety percent of the time. The other ten percent was wondering just what to do about the men and women that wanted the simple life. Living humbly while offering help wherever needed.

While their hearts were in the right place, it was pretty boring stuff otherwise, Sharky decided. He’d even considered joining up for the hell of it only until Hurk reminded him that there wasn’t much fucking to be found there. Pretty women, sure, but the kind more focused on spirituality, and less on how many ways they could Clutch Nixon-ify their daily lives.

But Joseph on his own was a different story.

Watching John go from calmly sipping his drink, doubling-down on just how refreshing it was when Sharky happened to push the wheelbarrow past him, to spitting half of it out when Joseph materialized next to him was fucking priceless.

Greeting him warmly, Joseph pulled a sputtering John into a kind-of half-hug gesture, but John’s cool had already been lost, and in front of his entourage too.

Joe’s wife was with him, plus kiddo number one of a baker’s dozen, carrying them up and on her hip as they talked. With them was also a woman dressed in the modest clothes the Peggies stuck to. She wasn’t trying to stand out, but he didn’t need sharp eyes to see how damn pretty she was.

It had to have been a brother thing, Sharky gathered. Embarrassing the shit out of younger siblings seemed almost natural to Joseph, and it might’ve been petty of him too, but watching John try to get his shit back in line in front of all of them was like hitting the jackpot.

So, Sharky kept on working, sneaking looks over at the group every now and then, and at one point gave an awkward wave back whenever they tried acknowledging him. But whenever John glanced his way, Sharky didn’t hide his shit-eating grin. No, it stayed put for the rest of the day.

The next time Joseph came over, however, he didn’t stop by just to say hi. He approached Sharky, ignoring John’s loud protests, and insisted on helping.

He’d get water, and help with any items that needed anchoring, stepping in whenever it looked like Sharky needed another hand. It was the most contact he’d had with the guy outside of the times he’d tried preaching at the Eagle, and outside of that? He was actually pretty okay to be around.

Well, he personally didn’t have a problem with Joe, at least. John’s irritation skyrocketed with every suggestion, especially when Joseph did the impossible. Told him that with a three-person job, you needed three people, and John? John was capable.

“You sure are,” Sharky added, giving him a wicked grin, and John looked mad enough to spit.

But he didn’t say no. Didn’t even try, or attempt it.

Did more than his fair share under the loving supervision of his older bro, and come nightfall, Sharky realized he’d had a damn good day. It was the lightest he’d felt in weeks, and wasn’t about to turn that down. Not when it helped him jump back into things with some extra pep, and the progress was a boost too.

With the actual frame up and the panels and exterior being added piece by piece, Sharky was starting to feel pretty accomplished. Proud even, because he built this. Yeah, he was being needled at every step of the way, but he used his own two hands to get this set up, no one else’s, and at the end of the day could actually see more of this coming together.

If he kept this up, he’d also have some extra skills to add to his repertoire. Might even get a chance to twist Hurk’s arm into trying out that whole ‘building and flipping’ thing that seemed to be hot at the moment, provided he wasn’t here for the next ten years.

But goals. He had goals to work towards and something to show for it, and it was pretty damn nice in the grand scheme of things.

Today, however, John had a guest again. The same Peggie woman as before, holding a basket, flanked by a few other converts.

Full on expecting to see Joe with her, Sharky wondered if he was waiting out in the woods again. Hell, even John was checking the path back up towards his house, looking past her every now and then to see if he’d catch him.

But as the minutes ticked by, and Sharky kept on working, nothing happened. And long after the other Eden’s Gate members had left, the two kept on talking, having what seemed to be a hell of a time going off of the signals they were giving off.

Smiling, laughing. Facing each other directly as they spoke, Sharky had John’s back to him almost completely, which had his eyebrows climbing up.

And judging by the way she was reacting to John in turn, he had to have been turning on the charm. Smiling shyly, twirling her hair around her finger, hell, he’d put money on her being a two-word question away from dropping everything to get a piece of that.

It was annoying as fuck, really. Dry spell or not, watching John pull it off with minimal effort sucked.

Sure, he had a lot of things working for him. The guy was loaded, for one. Had more than enough money to net himself a fancy car, his large-ass ranch, and a plane. He’d also had a boat up until Sharky had wrecked it, but that was beside the point. Man had more money than sense, and worked the slick lawyer angle for all it was worth. He’d listened in on enough convos to know just how many women in the county dug it. Shit, men too.

Plus the whole property on the water was a real panty dropper. At least going off of what his Auntie had said shortly after John had first bought it, gossiping with Sharky about the costs and expenses that came with it.

Then she promptly turned the talk on its head by launching into talking about John’s ass instead.

His drink hadn’t stayed in his mouth for long, and she’d dropped her forlorn sighing long enough to tell him not to stain the carpet. That he had to hear and think about John’s ass at all wasn’t fucking fair, especially since he was pretty damn sure it wasn’t that much of a draw to begin with. He’d checked.

Whenever John’s back was turned towards him, he’d sneak a look to see what the deal was only to be disappointed. Better asses were walking around Hope County right this moment, his included, but good luck trying to argue that with her. Or even get three words in edgewise before wanting to slap some sense into himself.

Besides, John’s eyes were better. Hands down, Sharky knew they’d been his ticket to pound town on more than one occasion, needing only to show them off and say a few fancy words to seal any kind of deal.

Dropping the wood onto the ground, he crouched down low. Stared at the wood grain of the plank to clear his mind a little before shifting his attention back towards John.

Shit, were they still talking?

He rolled his eyes. Whatever John was saying couldn’t have been that good, and any joke? Nowhere near funny enough to get a giggle like that.

At that time, John turned, giving him a look over his shoulder as Sharky became well aware of two sets of eyes on him. The woman for one, and the pretty boy lawyer that had been eating up every last shred of her attention until now.

A cross between smug and expectant, John gestured towards him.

Well?

Sharky knew three ways to tell someone to get fucked, but picked the least subtle one just in case.

Shocked for a second, John closed his mouth. But soon after, he pressed a hand to his chest, looking hurt. It was pretty convincing, making Sharky feel for a moment that he’d done something shitty like kicked a puppy.

Shame it didn’t reach his eyes. Or match the sharp smile that crept in.

“Smug-ass, smirking fuckface,” Sharky muttered, throwing the wooden plank to the side.

But not even that stuck around either. No, John flashed his pearly whites at the woman with him too, making her melt right in front of them.

Salt in the motherfucking wound. That’s what it all was, but lucky for him he only had a few more hours left to go. Then he could go home, get in a kickass shower and see what Hurk was doing.

Standing up, he wiped his face down with his handkerchief. If this had been anytime during the summer he would’ve been dying, but at least the weather was working in his favor. The breeze took the edge off just enough, and he closed his eyes for a few seconds to soak it all in.

“Oh, Charlemagne?”

Grating right on his ears, the pitch John used never failed to make him want to grind his teeth together. That, and saying his name. Kept on doing that well after being told he could call him Sharky. Shit, even his grandma used it sparingly.

“What?”

“Shouldn’t you be focusing over there-“ John froze, and all smugness vanished.

That put him on edge. “Yo, you wanna expand on that, amigo?”

Slowly turning around, Sharky caught the small creature on the ground and felt every hair on him stand on end. Black and white, and assuming the posture any pissed off animal would, it stood tall for its small size with its tail up, ready and aiming right at him.

Skunks, though, had never liked him. Guess he’d earned that after the whole kissing one bit. So, staring down what he was sure had to be some distant relative out for revenge, he did what came naturally.

Yelled. Loudly, and might’ve sealed his fate right then and there.

Hit, but not in the eyes – thank Hurk’s monkey Jesus for that – he sprinted down towards the river and dove right in.

Grabbing his cap, he kept it in hand as he bobbed back up to the surface. The smell hit as he gulped down air, and he furiously paddled away from the shore when he realized he’d been followed.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!”

This was fucking bonkers, and it was only getting worse.

Could skunks swim? Did they have a sense for it, or was he getting played by the only one able to? Was this the moment some poor guy was going to have to act out in the movie about his life? Swimming out, smelling to high heaven as a rich asshole laughed it up from the shore?

Fuck, he hoped to hell not, 'cause he’d lived an okay life up ‘til now. And having that be the moment he’d be known for immortalized up on the silver screen was just lousy at best.

Looking back, he watched as the skunk gave him the evil eye for a minute, pacing back and forth as it thought about shooting at him again. Little fucker wasn’t done yet, but couldn’t fire another round off from where it was.

John on the other hand, was watching the whole thing develop from a distance. He hadn’t taken off, but wasn’t laughing like he thought he would either. If anything, his gaze was sharp as he aimed it over at the skunk camping him out, and kept it set in place as he approached the boathouse.

Whatever the hell he had in mind, Sharky hoped he’d do it, and do it fast.

Shit, if he ended up zapped too, that’d also make his week, but for now he needed to keep swimming, and tried to see if he could make his way back towards land. His arms and legs weren’t tired, but the water wasn’t getting any warmer, and this was more of a workout than he’d planned for.

The skunk did not let up, following his drift.

“Seriously? Don’t you got something better to get up to?”

No, it didn’t, and he paddled harder hoping to get some kind of a lead on it. Kicked enough with the intent of making a break for it as soon as he hit land.

Maybe he could shimmy up a tree? Nah, he’d be a sitting duck, worse off there than here. Get back to his car on the way? His keys were swimming in his pocket right now, along with-

Aw, dammit. There went that phone. Sputtering into the water, he coughed around the word that would’ve come out otherwise, then gave it up to keep on swimming.

On the edge of the shore, he dragged himself up and out and booked it. Didn’t see anything waiting for him, but didn’t waste time either. Just hit the nearest patch of tall bushes and stayed low.

Waiting was the worst part. Waiting, listening, and trying not to make too much noise on his end. Every branch, twig, and leaf was the enemy now, and he wasn’t about to let that skunk get the drop on him again.

Five minutes passed. Then ten.

Loud squeaking sounded off in the distance, and he poked his head out from the bush.

Scanning left and right, Sharky checked for black and white. That and movement. When neither seemed to be present, he pushed his way forward and stepped out into the open.

Letting out a slow breath, he shook his hat out and slipped it back on. Then took in a tentative sniff as he raised his arm. The smell hung around him like a cloud, and getting a bigger whiff of it only made him want to gag.

Peeling the shirt off, he wrung it out, and gave it a smell as well. Now that made his eyes water. With his luck his jeans were just as bad, and he didn’t bother checking. Just pulled them off to get some of the water out of them too, and resigned himself to drip-drying the rest of the day outdoors.

“Charlemagne? You can come out now!”

John. Guess he’d found a way to deal with it after all.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are!”

“Ugh, fucker. Took him long enough.” Groaning to himself, he slung his wet clothes over his shoulder and started heading towards the clearing.

“Well, there you…are?” John gave him a quick once over as he walked past, and pursed his lips. “Hmm.”

The woman with him didn’t even try to make eye contact. Just kept her attention directed elsewhere, her cheeks tinted red.

Great. Not that he was trying, but his odds of getting even a pity look in passing had all but tanked.

“Yo, I don’t wanna know what you did, but after that? My bullshit meter’s maxed, so fuck off.”

Prying his keys out of his pocket, Sharky unlocked the trunk of his car and threw the clothes into the back of it. Between the gas cans and propane tanks he’d thrown back there often enough, skunk wasn’t going to add much to the smell in there.

“Fuck off? That’s not very kind, all things considering.”

The trunk dropped, and he might’ve used more force than necessary. “Kind?”

“Not even a thank you?” John eyed him from a distance, smug, but only for a second. “After chasing off your little tormentor? Such a shame, really.”

“That I ain’t feeling, what? Warm gratitude towards you right now? Like happy and fuzzy shit?”

John scoffed. “Hardly.”

“'Cause you’re making a whole lot of noise for nothing, and I wouldn’t be out here busting my ass at all without you to begin with.”

“Oh, my dear Charlemagne,” he watched as John withdrew a blue handkerchief from his jean pocket, and held it up to his face to cover his nose, “I’m hardly the one at fault here.”

His patience snapped like a brittle twig. Rattling off words as fast as they came to him, Sharky scraped for the bottom, tried actively to come up with the most out of bounds targeted insults he could conjure up just to see if he could wipe what he was sure was a smirk right off of John’s face.

Then nearly crashed into the woman who had stepped into his path. Making full-on eye contact now, she gave him a hesitant, but soft smile. “I think this might help.”

In her hands was a towel. A nice, fluffy one, and she held it out towards him.

The anger drained out of him as he stared at her. Almost as if someone took an ice bucket and dumped it right over his shoulders.

Gingerly taking it, Sharky let it dangle in the air between them. “Uh, thanks?”

“Of course. For anyone in need, and you certainly seemed to be. Considering your lack of…clothing in general right now.”

Still had the underwear on, at least. Blushing five different shades of red, he quickly wrapped the towel around himself. “Yeah, um, thank you again, miss.”

She nodded, and headed back towards John. “We’ll be heading out, but can we expect you at mass later tonight?”

John lowered the handkerchief just enough for Sharky to catch the frown. “If work allows it. There’s still a lot left to do here, but you can let Joseph know I’ll try.”

Sharky pulled up a corner of the towel to wipe his face, no longer able to hear much of what was traded between them. Lady hadn’t even flinched at the smell up close, and the towel was a nice one. Nicer than any of the kind he had at home, and must’ve been in the basket she had with her.

Yeah, got that pity look after all. Great.

Staring down at his feet, he removed his cap to run a hand through his hair. The hushed voices behind him eventually stopped, and by the time John walked over he’d switched to looking out over the water.

“That was interesting.”

“Sure,” Sharky said, tired of arguing with him.

“And there went our progress for the afternoon. At least the morning wasn’t a complete waste, but our guest derailed us thoroughly. And I don’t believe you have a change of clothes, do you?”

Sharky rubbed his shoulder, and felt it twinge in response as he moved it. He badly needed a cigarette, and was desperate enough to see how many times it’d take for a wet one to actually light.

“Do you?”

“Look, I get what you’re asking. And no, I’d have-“ John raised the handkerchief again, and the words died in his mouth. “You know what? Forget it. And if you’re looking to avoid this shit, don’t stand downwind of it. Basic Scouting 101 right there.”

Sharky whipped the towel off and threw it at him.

John snatched it out of the air, keeping it from smacking him in the face. “Leaving?”

Not bothering to check behind him as he approached his car, Sharky flashed him the finger.

“You can take this with you, you know.”

That John didn’t take the bait, or fight him on it, only irritated him further. He also seemed to be following him, and Sharky scowled at him. “Don’t need it.”

John sighed, and put away the cloth. “Charlemagne, it’s a towel, and you’re still soaking wet.”

“And maybe I want the draft to help dry the swamp ass brewing here, okay?” he shot, climbing in behind the wheel. “And if you wanna give me shit for cutting out early, tack on more hours as a penalty, whatever, I’ll deal with that next time. Or, hell, the time after, as long as it doesn’t mean I’m still standing here talking any of this shit with you. That work?”

The thin line John had pressed his lips into told him otherwise, but he said nothing. Just crossed his arms before holding out the towel to him one last time.

Sharky hit the gas and didn’t look back.

[fathertaurus]

Late Night Parking Lot 🍃

i keep getting inspired as soon as i wake up so here’s some semi-angry/semi-public sex:

“God, lighten up a little,” he groaned. You were in the candy aisle of Target, watching your boyfriend shovel variety packs of sweets into your basket.

“Your diet is shit,” you reprimanded. “If you keep eating like this you’re not going to live past twenty-five David.”

“You’ve been in a bad mood all day. Just give me a break,” he sighed. He tried to reach out and tickle your side, hoping you might crack a smile for the first time since sunrise. It was no use. The physical contact made you shift away from him, tossing him an aggravated look, and darting off to the next aisle on your own. You weren’t in the mood.

The next time you spoke to him was at the checkout counter, arguing which of you would pay. You both insisted. He shoved his credit card into the sales person’s hand.

“This one has more money on it anyway,” he said bitterly, his eyes scanning yours to watch your anger play over your expression.

“Asshole,” you muttered under your breath. You resigned to let him pay. Why should you indulge his habits anyway?

You carried two of the bags and he carried the others as you made your way to the top floor of the store’s parking garage. The elevator trip was silent, except for the sound of plastic as he swung his bag back and forth.

“Can you just sit still for like five seconds?” you demanded.

“What is your problem,” he asked, exasperated.

“Nothing,” you mumbled. It was nothing. It wasn’t. You knew it was no big deal, but it mattered to you.

Last night he’d taken you out for dinner. He’d paid. You venmo’ed your half to him, but when you checked your phone this morning the money was back in your account. The little note with the payment read, “It’s on me.”

Fuck off, was your only thought. Yes it was a kind gesture, but every time he paid for things you felt like you were just racking up some big debt to him.

The elevator door dinged open on a nearly empty lot. It was very late in the evening, maybe early morning by now. He had parked the Tesla on the highest point of the parking garage. The gentle coolness and the pallor of the LA sky exhaled above you. A couple cars remained on the top deck with his but their owners were elsewhere. He followed your lead as you shuffled toward the Tesla in the far corner of the lot.

He hit a button, popped the trunk, and stowed his groceries. You stayed frozen, bad day getting the best of you.

“Why don’t we ever take my car?” you asked. You knew why, but you wanted to hear him say it.

“The Tesla’s nicer,” he didn’t shy away from it. “This is like a luxury vacation in a car. Why the fuck would we drive your car when we have this one? Plus you know I like to be the one driving.”

“Do you have to control everything?” you groaned.

“Yes,” he laughed. He wasn’t making it easy to be mad at him. Your anger wavered and then toppled into resignation. You leaned forward and let your forehead fall against his chest, bags still straining in your grip.

“You can’t do everything for me,” you murmured against his black t-shirt.

“But I want to,” he cooed, wrapping his arms around you.

You peered up at him, “I want to do things for you. Treat you to stuff. Give you things.”

“You do,” he smirked.

“Not like that. I wish I could afford to get stuff for you like you do for me. If I could get you that dumbass Ferrari you want, I would. In a heartbeat. I feel like I owe you so much.”

He squeezed you tighter in his arms, “You don’t owe me shit. This is enough.”

You groaned again, banging your head against his chest. He trailed his arms down your body to your hands, grabbing the bags from them. He released you, shifting around you to stow the last two bags in the trunk, and pushing the button to close it.

“Let’s just talk about it on the way home,” he suggested.

“No,” you pouted, arms crossed. You didn’t want to go to his multimillion dollar home and revel more in how broke you were compared to him. “I want to stay right here.”

You kept your feet firmly on the ground, at the tail of the car. He stood to face you now, reaching out and placing both hands on your hips.

“Stop being a baby,” he chided. You stuck out your tongue in response. He pushed you back, his thumbs pressing harshly into the fabric of your shirt. Your back collided with the car. A part of your shirt was hitched up behind you and you could feel the metal car frame, cold from the autumn night, tense against your exposed skin. You swallowed hard. He brought his lips to your ear and you could hear his unsteady breath.

“Do you need me to fuck this attitude out of you?” he whispered. The depth of his voice sent chills down your spine. Suddenly the air was jarringly cold and the only source of heat emanated from his mouth against your ear. You heard the click of him undoing his belt. You just nodded, trying to close your mouth and swallow evenly. The sound of him slipping his zipper down boomed like gunfire around the silent parking lot. He took your hand and guided it into his pants, bringing you directly to his cock, helping you stroke him at first. Then he left you alone there. He used his hands to hold the base of your neck and give himself something to do while he began kissing you. You jerked him off slowly, basking in what little control you had. He wasn’t pleased. His lips left yours and found your ear again.

“You really want to give me something?” he asked. You could only nod. “Then get on your knees.”

You looked behind you first, eyes scanning the quiet parking lot. You two were at the trunk of his car in the furthest corner of the space, unable to be seen fully from the elevator but definitely able to be heard. If you got down on your knees, you knew no one would be able to see you behind the body of the Tesla. They’d still have full view of the upper portion of David though, and you didn’t want to risk it. Still, there was no one around. You considered it. He could tell you were worried.

“Have a little fun,” he suggested. His smug smile got the better of you. You wanted to impress him. To make him appreciate you. You swallowed hard and fell to your knees.

You reached up to free his cock from inside his boxers. He ran his hands through your hair, collecting it and holding it out of the way for you. You looked up at him, your eyes holding his. You flattened your tongue against the base of his dick and brought it to the tip. And again. You felt him twitch against your slow movements, desperate for more, but he managed not to break eye contact.

“You’re so pretty baby,” he said, pulling you off of him by his grip in your hair. He still needed control. You were both playing back and forth for that power. “Open your mouth.”

You did what he said, thinking he would just shove his cock in at that point. Instead, he leaned over a little and spit on your waiting tongue. He left one hand tangled in your hair but he brought the other to your chin and forced your mouth closed.

“Swallow,” he commanded, no hesitation in his low voice. You did as you were told. If it were anyone else you would have gagged, but you were greedy with him. You wanted everything he had to give. If he was letting you, you would take it.

He pried your lips back open with his thumb, encouraging you to return to the dick in front of you. You weren’t teasing him this time. You took as much of him as you could into your mouth, your hands around what didn’t fit. You found a rhythm between sucking him off and stroking him. Every few seconds you would deep throat him, allowing your lips to vibrate around him, building up spit for lubrication as you choked and gagged around him. You sucked all the way off, letting a pop escape as your lips left him momentarily. Then you licked the tip before taking him all the way back.

At the exact moment you were about to pull him out again, the elevator dinged. You both froze. You tried to breath normally through your nose as his cock sat at the back of your throat.

“Don’t move,” he whispered to you. He let go of your hair, took his phone out of his back pocket, and leaned an elbow against the trunk of his car. He tried to look like he’d just been standing there, scrolling though his phone. You sat still. You listened as the elevator doors opened and the voices of an older couple filled the parking lot. You looked up at David who was doing his best to look casual. You could hear the man’s voice chastising the woman for buying far more groceries than they needed.

You laughed a little at the situation, but the vibration made David double over slightly. He looked down at you with anger in his eyes. You were ruining his poorly constructed façade. Fun. And didn’t he want you to have a little fun?

As quietly as you could you pulled him out of your mouth, but your hand stayed on him. You stroked him slowly once, and then returned your lips. You starting to blow him again, at half the pace this time. You focused more on licking around his cock like a popsicle. You took one of his balls in your mouth and he broke, moaning loudly. He caught himself, coughing ridiculously loud to try and cover it up.

“You okay son?” the man called from across the parking lot.

“Ye— yep, yes. All good here.” David stumbled over his words as you licked around the head of his cock.

“Alright,” you could hear the confusion in the older mans voice, unconvinced but not willing to keep questioning. You heard the trunk slam shut, then two doors, then an engine, then wheels spinning and a quiet rooftop again.

“You think you’re funny, huh?” David shot down at you. You just smiled up at him. He jammed his phone in his pocket and found your hair again. This time he didn’t feel bad fucking your mouth a little, enjoying the gag it earned him. You breathed through it as best you could, loving the thrust of his hips toward your eager mouth. Alone again, he let himself moan and encourage you.

“Fuck that feels so good. You’re gonna make me me cum babe.” He cried out. “You want me to cum in your pretty little mouth?” he asked in a whine. You nodded while his cock slammed your throat.

He bucked forward a few more times until he finally came against your tongue, slowing the pace of his final thrusts. He pulled out, admiring the way his cum looked on your tongue. You swallowed it.

“Thank you,” he said, exhausted and rubbing his thumb against your lips. You smiled again.

“You’re welcome.”

[kaiju-z]

Seon Adventures Episode 15: Dicks and Danger

Following the dramatic conclusion of the Ogre confrontation and the moment of respite under the white willow tree, our party is now back on their feet, all but Burk well rested. As Luctan checks on everyone, he is somewhat worried for Burk, who had spent the entire evening awake and alert, now quite exhausted from this venture.

Checking with the little elf child, Luctan feeds him and, after what a good five to ten minutes of baby jokes (the best kind, really), the party take off on their way to Crystalgate.

By the point, where it would be 2pm-ish is when they reach said town, which, much to some surprised, is a place governed mainly by changelings. The most noticeable is that it just really springs out of nowhere, there’s not a forested area, little bit of trees every now and then. )So, basically, mostly fantasy California town.)

By when they reach the town, Belli even tries to make a baby carrier for Luctan, so he can have a hands free experience, carrying the little one onward. But that doesn’t go perfectly, seeing as they had been in motion during the trip. (But half a sling is still better than none! I believe in you, Belli!)

There are baby shenanigans along the way, trying to feed the crying baby, trying to change his diapers.

What the party immediatelly notice is that the town is mostly made of stone and brick and for every 4-5 buildings, there are tents. From what they learn, given the territory, the folk here work their trade with fishing and the occasional smithing work. It’s where Luctan sells the Ogre clubs, at that, to a beefy looking changeling woman, to whom he shows respect. (Also, fun fact, smithing in Seon is a lot more magical!  Local blacksmith use magic rocks and wheels. It’s how Ricardo, the elven blacksmith in the town/village Luctan recuperated in back in the day made the Evenchord sword).

With Luctan in his human form, he doesn’t really understand why the locals are weary of him, seeing as he’s not really aware of the discrimination the people had suffered from mankind over the years, what with changelings’ inate ability to shapeshift into other ‘noid races.

He learns of this, though, thanks to a conversation with an elderly changeling woman, whom he impresses with his politeness, kindness and udnerstanding. He hopes for a time, where they can walk around and not get second glances and suspicion from those, priviledged.

Luctan kisses the woman’s hand, which looks odd to the party, seeing as she had transformed herself into him to express physically what the “problem” was. But Luctan is cool with it. He chill. And carrying a baby, so there’s that.

(At some point, out of character we break down into a discussion on selling the baby, what the going rate would be and the like. The jokes were a plenty, but this gem from the DM will always stick with me: “People, who buy babies aren’t usually good people.” – Lauren, the DM)

At some point, Amelia goes on a walk. Then hears a sound of a tubby orange cat. She looks to the cat. “I would take a 1,000 arrows for you.” (she says in the best voice ever. We stan a legend). The cat nuzzles her and Amelia immediatelly takes the tomcat with her. A soft boi, she dubs “Archie”. ( Amelia is keeping the cat and if anyone has a problem with that, she’s gonna kill ‘em all. )

By the time she comes back to the carriage, after supplies and baby feeding is done, the cat is resting over her shoulders and Belli tries/fails to draw a dick on the back of Luctan’s jacket. (Luctan will remember this. Luctan makes an owl head turn.) And she also rpeats the funny with Mournimar. ( “What the hell is passive perception?!”we joke ooc-ic, when Mournimar, for some reason mentions that in-universe)

One very extatic Belli gives Amelia a ribbon to collar the kitty. And then she tries to pull on Mournimar’s tail, which immediatelly gives Luctan ye ole’ shell shock as he gets back behind the reigns of the carriage, alongside Burk.

As the party carry on, the red tiefling bonds withthe green goblin over their vengeance paths. Luctan apologizes to Burk for taking his kill from him, by asking Ficus to remove the tiefling. Burk is fine, either way, asl ong as the guy’s dead. As recompence, Luctan offers Burk a pick from any of the remaining three, aside of Landis. Landis was his to deal with. And Burk is fine with this.

On their way out of Pollum, on the first day on the Winding Path, they find a separation at the river. Based on the rainy temperature, this close to the ocean, the water’s more hydrated, so the roots are darker. There’s a lot more shade in the area.

As they make their way on the path, Perception check time.

With Mournimar’s 20, they immediatelly notice “it”.  A very large clump of roots on the way. Part of it seems to twitch. Resolute, the Tiefling Ranger makes his way to inspect.

It is the big mistake that almost costs him his life, however.

Because as he gets close enough, a root tries to grapple Mournimar, Mournimar manages to dodge as a bizzare looking skull comes out from between the darkened roots and looks him in the eye. With the ferocity of a graboid, by way of a messed up tentacle nightmare, the skulled creature screeches a large and mighty screech.

The tree is actually a tree monster. And it wants those tasty tiefling meats.

And this? This signifies the start of the fight. First in line is Mournimar (Both tieflings rolled a 20, but Mournimar’s passive skills are much higher, so it’s his turn first)!

Retaliating for the damage he took from the whipping vines, Mournimar immediatelly discharges his hellish rebuke and unsheathes his blades, striking wild and true, chopping at the creature. One strike, after the other!

No mercy with those sword strikes, as Mournimar occupies the attention of this hellbeast, while Luctan places the baby in the back of the carriage and charges forward, taking his full 30ft of movement, before aiming and discharging a couple of shots with his crossbow (DAVID CROSSBOWIE!!!)

He can tell, from some of the reading he had done. This thing is not Abyssal, like the Kenku. It’s a local realm monster. It’s nothing like he’s seen from the books, but judging by his knowledge, it doesn’t see, but feel movement.

He calls for Mournimar to get out of the thing’s range, believing his archery skills will do him better against it.

As Mournimar gets warned by Luck, he backs away, only to be caught by the thing. He feels his body pulled back and grappled. Necrotic power drains some of his essense as he gets flailed around like a ragdoll, screaming in horror.  . The thing looks as it almost gains back some of the damage it took. It tries to squeeze Mournimar like a slim jim, basically.

All the while, using it’s other vines, the beast tries to strike at Luctan, but the fighter dexterously dodges out of the way, only taking whipping attacks, as opposed to getting full blown caught by the beast.

Enraged, Luctan’s eyes glow as he makes a cutting motion across his throat and casts Hellish Rebuke. Though it does cause certain pain to the beast, it still retaliates, striking the fighter again and again, bludgeoning him, while he keeps his posture. If not for his armor, Luctan thinks at this point that he’d be far more bruised than what he’d be by the end.

Mournimar then gets slammed against the ground and is stunned until the creature’s next turn. As the action continues, Ficus and Morgan hear shuffling and alert the rest to the cliff on the right of their path. Soemthing’s coming. What that is, they’re not certain ,though.

Morgan, being the good dire wolf he is, takes the elf baby and moves a fair distance away from the carriage, alongside Rimefang and Archie, as their moms and dads go fo deal with this disaster.

Ficus makes a move, north west from Luck, where he gets his Dash action on to get to a point, attempting to throw some daggers at it, at a disadvantage. The dagger, the first one, misses, but the second one certainly hits as he sneakily strikes the creature, compensating for the initial failure...

Worried for her adoptive brother, - Belli gets close to danger and tries to cast sleep on the creature. Sadly, the thing is not yet close to a low enough damage and just shakes off the drowsiness.

A desperate Belli winds up giving Mournimar inspiration  with the help of All-Star.

The blue fist’s turn, next,  Amelia makes a dash and throws two darts at the creature, while maneuvering between it and the cliffside. Given the noise, she can definitely tell that anothero ne of these things is fast approaching.

Burk rages and charges the tentacles, throwing a javelin at the creature. With a small person fury, the creature gets struck. With the power of another javelin, he hits the fucker again.

With Mournimar unmoving, he gets lifted around and waved by the creature. Mournimar screams for help as Luctan charges in with shortswords East Ender and West Wounder.

Determined to rescue his taller friend, Luctan reverse grips the blades and leaps at the monster. Slash, slash, slash, slash! There is no mercy at the hand of the crimson fighter as he slices up the monster in a flurry. The closer he gets, the more he resembles a sentient blender, spinning the swords like a dual blade (or a light saber staff. Or Agni and Rudra from Devil May Cry 3), until he gets to the beast’s head.

In a swift motion, Luctan goes 3 for 3 and decapitates the monster, he would later learn was referred to as a Flurry.

Once the monster appears dead, Luctan wastes no time and carries Mournimar back to the carriage. And just in time as the second one climbs over and proceeds to contine from where it’s compatriot had begun.

Not noticing Amelia, however, it walks around her, allowing itself to be struck by the Air Genasi Monk .For that, the monster tries to catch her. Realizing the threat, it  It grapples Amelia and she fails to save herself as she suffers the same kind of damage as Mournimar had before her.

Seeing Burk as close by, it reaches and takes him in it’s grip as well, immobilising the raging barbarian. With it’s last attack, it attempts to catch the source of it’s companion’s death, but Luctan moves just far back enough to only feel the whipping strike of the Flurry.

Frustrated,  the monster screeches and a terrified Ficus goes to grab and yeet his daggers. Though, because he’s in range, he almost gets caught. The first time. He then gets hit and minimal damage to the helpful boy.

A desperate Belli tries to use Shatter on the thing, wanting to rescue her family and friends. With It takes 7 damage at the noise of “Baby Baby Baby”.

The tieflings try to convince Belli to step back. But she refuses to get out of the way. But she refuses to give ground. From where she is, all she can do is just give inspiration to Burk as Amelia’s attempts to fight in this grappled state.

Pulling her darts out, she flings them, one after the other, missing and hitting respectively, at the back of the thing’s roots, only causing it further anger.

Raging, still, Burk brings out the pain axes and starts going Lumberjack on the Flurry!  Strike after strike, after strike, after strike, Burk smashes the thing with the axe, bringing a hell of a lot of damage and by the end, with addition of the armor, Burk deals 33 damage. Though injured, this pisses the monster off all the more.

Amelia manages to free herself, thanks to Burk’s distraction, but this all the more inconveniences the green ball of rage, as the attention on him keeps him from suceeding as well.

Leaping out of the carriage, Mournimar makes some distance, sheathing his blades and pulling out Savon’s Bow. The bow, gifted to him by the centaur of the same name.

Thanking Luctan, Mournimar aims and fires arrow, after arrow, sending them flying true into the tangly body of the horror show the party was having to deal with right now.

On Luctan’s turn, he starts chopping like a madman. Several brutal strikes with both East Ender and West Wounder, missing only twice

The angry creature attacks with, appropriately, a flurry of tentacle attacks.

Amelia gets smashed, Burk gets grounded, Luctan gets whipped, but not grappled and poor Ficus gets captured and critically knocked around by the beast’s powers.

Limp, in it’s grasp, Ficus goes unconscious and steps close to death’s door.

Belli refuses to let her older brother, her last remaining blood family, die!

With the power of her healing words, she brings him back to consciousness and, now very muc pissed off by the abomination’s horrific actions so far, she mocks it. Viciously. With all the force that the Vicious Mockery entails as the creature just. Looks legitimately downtrodden by her commentary and releases her from it’s grip.

With her free, Luck begs her to move back to safety as Amelia can, but only throw her darts again and again. The impact causes a crack to appear at the back of the beast’s skull, forcing it to shriek wildly and madly.

It flails, both Amelia and Burk, forcing the monk into an unconscious state and Burk to suffer all the damage he can, due to his gripped and stunned self.

In retaliation, Mournimar fires the bow again and connects with one of two arrows. 

And it is then that Luctan brings the end to the battle.

East Ender and Westwounder in hand, he starts jumping up the thing’s tentacle limbs, cutting, slashing and chopping as he closes in on the monster’s head. And much like it’s twin, he removes said head after a spinning slash attack.

The monster falls in a gore of it’s blood and vines, while Luctan lands. He wastes no time and runs over to Amelia, who, along with Ficus, have suffered strange black scarring from the monster’s attacks.

Luctan pulls out his Greater Restoration potion and feeds it to the blue monk, bringing her back to consciousness, before taking her back to the carriage.

Eveyrone comes together at their vehicle and the party proceeds to make mild recuperations as they try to get their bearings, over what had just happened.

Arguments go around between Mournimar, Belli and Ficus over who should drink potions, with the boys much more wanting her to have herself a drink. All the while this happens, a vengeful Rimefang flies over to the remains of the second Flurry and gives it a good slapping with his tail as payback for all the hurt it had put on his green papa.

While Belli brings out Orion as a comfort animal for herself and Amelia, alongside Archie’s presence, Luctan makes sure to calm the elf baby with funny faces and voices, seeing as this had been the second time the little one had to deal with terrifying noises and the sounds of violence.

He manages to calm him down, before handing him over to Amelia.

Tired, but determined, he goes to inspect the monsters for any possible loot or identification. He eventually returns, having collected Amelia’s darts and Burk’s javelins, handing them to their respective owners, before he brings out the amulet he had found on one of the things.

Possibly from a previous meal, they identify the amulet as belonging to a follower of Keemis, the goddess of  Birth and Death. A snake, eating it’s own tail, the cycle of life.

Luctan decides to keep the pendant for now, until further prodding, as they collectively agree to just. Get the fuck out of here.

He takes the baby and the reigns, accepting the thanks from his friends. Though they were not necessary. It was the right thing to do, of course. Dive in head first and chop like a mad hatchetman at these monsters, all to free his fellows.

With four heads now occupying the Bag of Colding, Luctan decides to ask the next town over about a follower of Keemis going missing or something along those lines. Maybe get some feedback on the monsters themselves and if there is something they need to worry about, regarding Amelia and Ficus’ injuries.

It takes a while, but at some point, along the way, they reach a hill, servicable for camping. Tired, bruised and beaten up, but victorious, they settle down for the evening, with a fire and food, deciding on the turns of watch service.

Luctan and Amelia go first and, while everyone gets situated and napping, Amelia approaches Luctan.

Amelia thanks Luck for what he did during the fight. He just says she’d do the same. During their conversation, Luctan admits that he doesn’t follow any of the gods. Legal or Illegal. He doesn’t appreciate their inactivity and allowing things to happen as they do. He muses on how they became gods and on the future he wants to bring to the little one. Amelia agrees that there needs to be justice for him and that they will do the best they can.

He thinks of the amulet he has, considering to give it to Amelia. But decides to hold onto it for now. Seeing as he speant his for on her,  Amelia hands Luctan a Normal healing potion (2d4+2).

As their watch ends, Luctan brngs Mournimar up and awake to have a go at night watch.

With the two sleeping, Mournimar has a conversation, bonding with Ficus. They discuss today’s battle and the pain they had experienced.  Mournimar is at least glad that he will know how to fight them from this point onward.

Nodding,  Ficus thanks Mournimar for protecting Belli and gives him a thumbs up, awkwardly.  Honestly, Mourni would give his entire life for Belli, ok?! He’ll make sure she gets her happy ending.

Matter of factly, Ficus tells Mournimar he set up an alarm system, around the area they resided, in case someone tried to attack them again. (Hell yeah, Alarm!)

They agree that there is too much cult activity, yo.  The two bond over their family woes. Mournimar wishes his father was still alive. Having Mourni’s backstory is not fun. He hopes his dad miraculously survived and he just didn’t stick around to see if that was the case.

Mournimar has his head stuck in the past, Ficus states. “Don’t let the things you had make you forget what you have now.” After this wisdom from the Half-Orc rogue, the two seperate for rest times. Ficus evidently still very sore from all the damage he took. And Mournimar tries to eliviate some of that, curing the man of some wounds.

Burk’s watch comes next and frankly? He isn’t impressed by the time he spends awake. It’s nice, quiet and peaceful. Or as he would consider it - boring. With a sleepy Rimefang at his side, Burk just waits until dailight slowly approaches, to wake Belli for her turn, seeing as she always usually takes the last one, for her chef duties.

And creates French Toast. NARAH TOAST!

With the party waking, they can agree on a few things.

They still feel stiff from the previous night, they are much closer to Crystalgate... And they feel they’ve learned somethings, along the way.

Why?

Because the party is now Level 7!

Previous Episode / Next Episode

[beerecordings]

Those We Have Lost

Part 9 of My Brother’s Keeper. (Part 1 l Previous l Next)

My taglist is a separate post. This chapter and probably the next one or two will be really fast-paced and heavy, so I’m sorry about that. Hopefully they’re still enjoyable. There’s a lot of story I want to tell in just a couple chapters.

This is the first time I’ve really stressed about a chapter. I’m glad it’s done, I’m glad I’m happy with it, and I just hope you like it and that I’ve set up everything I need to set up so that I can tell this big dumb story.

Also... I’m sorry about this... lol

Here we are. We meet, we fight. My brothers know blood and battle and they always have. Jackie, I’ve missed you, Chase, do you know him?

They move up the stairs of the skeleton building together, with Chase behind Jackie.

“Chase,” says Jackie. “You've never actually met Anti, have you?”

Chase swallows. “No,” he says.

He's only ever been there in the aftermath, in blood and in grief.

“I know, though,” he says. “I know that he's dangerous. I get that.”

Jackie turns to him for a moment, with sorrowful eyes. “Okay,” he murmurs. “I really hope you do. I love you, okay?”

“I love you too, Jackie.”

“And we're going to be really careful because... is that him?”

They've stepped onto the third floor and there's a body at the end of the open room.

Chase grips at Jackie's shoulder.

Something giggles from the boards over the windows.

“There's Schneep,” Jackie whispers, staring at the body collapsed across the room. “You go get him. I've got your back.”

“Okay,” Chase whispers back, and curses his voice for shaking. He steps towards his fallen brother, and Anti strikes like a snake.

Jackie takes his first blow, a burst of electricity, right to the chest, and hisses through his teeth. He whips out his wood knuckles and strikes out at the glitching manifestation of his nemesis.

“It's been too long,” Anti hisses, and his image appears on Jackie's every side, crouching as though about to strike and holding a knife longer than his forearm. “I've missed you, Jackieboy!”

“Back off, Anti,” says Jackie, and slashes forward again, but Anti is already gone, standing on the stairs.

“Come on, Jackie, let's play tag!” he calls, laughing from all around him. “Or are the stairs too painful for you since I shattered your body into pieces and stab wounds?”

To be fair, yeah, the stairs will hurt like hell. But Chase hasn't wavered. He's sprinting towards Henrik, laid out on the other side of the room, and Jackie knows that the more time he can buy them and the farther away he can chase Anti, the more likely they are to escape. Nothing else matters.

He pushes his pain away, sucks in a deep breath, and takes off after Anti.

Howling with laughter, Anti glitches up the stairs, up the stairs, sitting on the railway, playing with his knife, reappearing, reappearing, reappearing. He's showing off and Jackie knows it. One of them is far more powerful than the other tonight, and Anti won't let him forget it.

“Come on!” he crows, spinning his knife about in one hand. “Come on, you false little hero! When was the last time the street-wise criminals and Londontown drug lords saw you? I'm so glad you've finally come out of hiding, big brother! I think you need a warm-up. Look out!”

His blade comes slamming through the air towards him and Jackie barely manages to throw himself out of the way instead of it shattering his collarbone. “Fucker,” he yells, and retaliates with a blast of his power – pure bright light.

Anti laughs manically as light burns painful at his eyes and tears into his impure and chaotic energy, falling back and reeling from the pain. He glitches again, retreating to the next floor, and summons a second knife as he waits for Jackie to join him.

“Now you're just being a dick,” Jackie snaps, panting at the top of the stairs.

“That really does hurt you, doesn't it?” purrs Anti, watching him try to straighten up. “The old wounds. I hope it's as humiliating as it is painful.”

“Yeah? I'd watch your mouth, cause I'm about to make you pay for it.”

Anti laughs and lets Jackie throw a pair of light beams, avoiding both with a quick glitch. “Oh, Jackie, I have missed you. I'm so tempted to dance with you the same way we did last time – to defeat you, destroy you, and then go after your darling baby brother.”

“But you hate going in circles, don't you?”

“Yes, precisely. And why settle? I've been planning something even better than my last triumph. Come on, Jackie, calm down for a moment. There's some things I think you should know.”

Jackie breathes hard, watching Anti with narrow eyes. They know each other well.

“Fine,” he says, his hands relaxing around his wood knuckles. “What?”

It's a cool night, and at this height, the crickets fade into a distant symphony. Cars pass occasionally and their light cuts through the boarded windows like water spraying up at the end of the ocean.

“I just want you to be here when Chase Brody dies,” says Anti.

Jackie grits his teeth hard. “Fuck you,” he says. “Fuck you. Forget my chest and my neck and my stupid fucking heart. If you try to go near Chase, I'll kill you one way or another, little brother.”

Anti laughs so hard his chest glitches into nothing but color. “Oh, darling, that is the fun part. I'm not going to kill Chase. I left my dog with him downstairs.”

“Your... what?”

“Sorry. I meant my brother.”

Jackie's heart misses a beat.

“You're lying. You haven't had enough time with Schneep to make him yours.”

Anti glitches, and for just a second, he is a black dog with barred teeth, and then he is Jack again. “Oh, Jackie, I'm not talking about Schneep.”

It can't be. It can't fucking be. His heart shivers.

“Marvin?” he whispers, though he can barely form the word.

For just a second, Anti shows his surprise.

“Marvin?” he repeats. “You still think...”

The wind chills Jackie's blood and bones.

“You still think Marvin's alive?”

He'd give the world to make Anti unsay those words.

“Oh, now, that is too funny.” He laughs like a hyena and it echoes and magnifies as he draws closer, flicking his knife from hand to hand. “You still think Marvin's alive! You still hope! You still wait for him!”

Jackie yells and darts forward, throwing punch after punch at Anti's face. Anti is quicker and more violent, but Jackie's always had the strength advantage, and he shoves Anti back until he glitches away and reappears on the other side of the room, his teeth bared.

“Poor Jackieboy,” he snarls, letting blood run out of his mouth and his eyes glaze black. “You've always been so fucking deluded. But don't worry, my darling. I'll tell you what happened that night, when Jack slept, and Henrik was mine, and Marvin died alone.”

Jackie's breathing is choking him up. He's just going to ignore him. He's just going to ignore him, put his hands up, and fucking swing.

Hit, miss, miss, Anti catches his wrists and drives him back, his knife catching on Jackie's knuckles. Jackie burns him blind with light, but Anti just closes his eyes and swings forward, unfearing and careless. Pain means little to him and violence is his world, and Jackie is forced back, only managing one more good blow before they catch each other's wrists. Together they stumble back, two great forces locked together, but the moon is high and the sun is missing, and Jackie trips up first.

“You've been wondering for so long,” says Anti, slamming Jackie's head against the wall again, and again, until he screams for the pain and slumps in the demon's arms. “Let me tell you, big brother, what happened that wonderful night. I defeated you, destroyed you, left you splayed on the ground like a rabbit dropped from the mouth of a vulture, your pathetic body shattered into different layers of agony and bone dust. You failed to protect him. He should have known then that the fight was lost, but he always did take after you when it comes to stupidity. I came for Jack. Marvin was there. He cried for you, but you didn't come.”

“You son of a bitch!” Jackie screams, shoving at Anti's glitching arms. He summons light to make Anti burn, but the demon just tightens his grip on his throat and continues, his eyes blazing blue and green and his wicked teeth curved in a smile full of hatred and euphoria.

“He tried so hard to put up a good fight! He threw all the magic he'd been granted at me and moved between dimensions like a mouse moves through the walls of your house. Tiny, skittering little pest! But I caught him by the hair and dragged him down, and he wept for you, and promised me that you would kill me, that Jack would never be mine, that I would never win. And then, Jackieboy, oh, then... you wouldn't believe, couldn't understand how wonderful...”

Anti leans in close and sighs. Jackie shivers and waits, held tight by his terror, by his desperation, by a long year of wondering, wondering, wondering.

“Oh!” says Anti. “To taste the thick flesh of his pulsing heart!”

Jackie screams so loud his throat tears.

He is a sun given humanity and he thrashes in Anti's arms, kicking, striking, struggling, though his back burns and his whole body wails its protest. He howls like an animal shot, like a dog trapped in a fighting ring. Marvin could be a ghost beside him – he can swear he feels the blue haze of his little brother's magic, sees the curve of his cool, loving smile, hears his dancing laughter become a cry of terror, of fear, a cry for Jackie to save him –

“No! Marvin! No!”

“Does that hurt? Is it bad? Come on, Jackie, get up. Where's your fight gone, big brother? Where's your fight gone? Fuck, you're so weak. I should have made you watch as I killed him and left his corpse splayed over you as you bled. And now my little Jameson is going to slaughter your Chaser and give me his heart. Will you grieve, Jackie? Or will you just die?”

Jameson?

The world stills. Tears weep down his cheeks.

And instead of blue magic, Jackie sees the uncolored flicker of an old movie screen, feels brass in his hands, hears the steady ticking of a clock, watches the little one's warm eyes smile up at him, smiles back at him, feels his heart beat calm beneath his hands –

That is when a gunshot sounds.

Anti howls his triumph, filling the whole room up with glitches and wild ferocious energy. Jackie screams fear. And Chase, staring in horror at Jameson Jackson stood before him, clutches at the bullet lodged deeply in his chest, and crumples, soundless, to the ground.

Terror, grief, and love all burning together make Jackie powerful. Beneath Anti's hands, he glows and struggles, his body filling up with heat and light.

“So you do have some power left,” Anti smiles, pressing down hard on his throat and letting his fingers burn. “Maybe even enough to send me away. But, mo deartháir, it won't be enough to save him. It's never been enough to save any of them.”

Jackie screams.

Lashes out.

For a moment, it is like his whole body has vanished from the earth, and he is only light, white and ethereal, floating painless above the earth. Jackie senses the beating hearts of his brothers, the raw hatred that makes Anti whole, and, downstairs, another little soul he does not know, one full of pain, fury, confusion, and a regret so deep his heart threatens to shatter.

The room fills up with light, and Anti shatters into pixels. Jackie watches as he heaves up a mouthful of blood, laughs for joy and for agony, and disappears as though he never existed.

“I didn't mean to,” says Jameson Jackson.

His hands are full of blood. Chase Brody does not move.

“I didn't mean to,” says Jameson, but the damage is done.

[zenosanalytic]

4/20/19 HSE 8

Ok back at it

MEAT 15

Cool Fight; Not terribly surprising.

MEAT 16

Dirk’s as much Rose’s father as Rose is his Mother. I guess maybe it’s more convenient, psychologically, to choose a causative direction and stick with it, rather than accept the Mobial nature of their genesis, but for some reason it bugs me this keeps getting overlooked.

Dirk’s over here talking about how right he is all the time and I dont think he was ever right about anything even once in canon(aside from certain aspects of his talk with Dave, and choosing not to kill Hal) XD The only “plan” of his to work was the one re: entering the Session, and 1)he outsourced it to Hal and 2)it only worked because he managed to improvise his way through every aspect of it failing to go the way he thought it would, and even that probably had more to do with their entry being part of HiC’s plan to use them, so she wasn’t trying to wipe them.

Another Thing: I dont think the Ascent Differential is Aspect so much as Personality.

Another Another Thing: That Rose, when discussing her life-long fear of knowledge as a corrupting and ruining outside force(this being a person who always felt her mother wasn’t her mother, in some sense, and responded to that fear by rejecting emotional intimacy with said mother), doesnt see the connection between that life-long fear and her fear that Ascending will be bad, damaging, and corrupting, is Notable. Perspective continues to be important, and lack of self-awareness continues to hamstring ppl in this narrative.

MEAT 17

I feel like this new narrative belligerence on Dirk’s part isn’t going to work out too well for him with a person as aware and recalcitrant to narrative meddling as John. It’s going to be John and WV all over again. This is also a wonderful example of how personal flaw and specificity isn’t solved by Godhood in HS, and can really trip you up; basically all of this, including the “impotence” applies to Dirk, too, when others disagree with the direction he’s trying to push them in, and this whole rant may be meant, ironically, as an example of dramatic irony: basically, that Dirk’s rant about total control and knowledge reveals the limits of his knowledge and will be followed by examples of how limited his control is, which he can’t be aware of, but which the “impotent” audience will.

MEAT 18

...And, almost immediately, John’s objecting to the narration and doing things before Dirk “writes” him doing them(the sigh).

MEAT 19

“So yeah, I’m gonna allow it” Notice how he asserts power over situations he does not, in fact, have power over.

Which is kind of an interesting dynamic to bring up in the context of authorship? I mean: in the realm of nonfictional works an author can’t “make” things happen, only alter for their audience what DID happen. In some respect this is being written as equivalent to that dynamic; the simple admission in M17 that Dirk is misrepresenting events also admits those events happened another way than he’d prefer, meaning it’s also an admission of his lack of power over actual events. And, of course, all the other things I’ve been talking about, and the fact that everyone’s “character” is rooted in natures established in the original work. But in a fictional work an author’s creative power is absolute, and this is a fictional work; though I suppose a derivative or transformational one, which accounts for the shortfall. Another interesting aspect of this is that the “Author” is presented as a Narrator; Narrators merely describe what happened, they don’t create it. I was going somewhere more concrete with this but it popped out of my head >:T >:T

Ok so other aspects of this: I agree that Jane’s been established as a pretty ambitious person, but she was also always a pretty moral person and the way she’s going about this so far doesn’t seem to be in keeping with that part of herself. And also: she literally wants to create shortages, and thus the suffering shortages will cause, for... what? Nostalgia? Because she think she can run Capitalism better than the adults from before all this?? Because Hierarchy is Neat??? Seems like a whole handful of really petty, selfish, and juvenile reasons to me. Also one guaranteed to cause social conflict; I doubt a civ that’s never known material want is going to react too well to sudden starvation and financially-manufactured forced-labor(which, lbr, is what most work in our world is).

Obvsl, as a snake and member of the storied gens Atheris, I agree with Roxy&Calli that patriarchal human concepts of gender are not the end-all-be-all of identity, but what really jumps out to me here is Roxy’s description of the nature of their love for, and previous sexual interest in, Dirk which I find really True. Like: the sentiment of wanting to see children of a person because you really like that person and think they should continue, or of thinking having the kids you might have with another person would be pretty interesting. Also that loneliness is a hell of a drug 8T

I’m trying to figure out why this conversation would be circumstantially simultaneous with The Furthest Ring being “destroyed”, but I got Nothing :T :T :T

MEAT 20

So yeah, Jade’s merging with her Alt!Selves, not too surprising since it was heavily foreshadowed in Endgame.

Given that Sessions are located IN the Furthest Ring, and Sessions MAKE new multiverses, I find it being made out of “negative potential. The absence of a future” pretty ironic :p I wonder if the tentacle hair bit is a nod towards the Horror-Terrors, and theories about them being Players? Rose and Dirk’s view of Ascension would seem to suggest HTs might be SUCCESSFUL players who eventually abandoned their universes out of fear of the damage they’d do misusing their godhood(as it doesnt solve your personal problems), rather than the old HC of them being failed Players.

MEAT 21

My theory about “The Economy” being code for sex doesn’t stop feeling ever more confirmed by this narrative :|

Dirk’s anger at the idea of anyone not thinking he’s right about everything is Palpable on this page. Also I’d just like to note that This:

Is being said by a person currently in the middle of metaphysically manipulating a friends towards her worst impulses(and also potentially some amounts of self-hatred, give her thoughts re: femininity) for the sake of establishing a dictatorship through which she, as his agency-dimmed puppet, will enforce his personal politico-philosophical preferences regardless of what anyone else thinks and he’s saying it about people who just said This:

which is to say: a bunch of political pluralists who are NOT seeking to impose their morality on anyone but rather to establish a system where EVERYONE can SHARE their moral understanding of policy issues and come to a consensus decision on them, within the context of a political society DEFINED by the equality of all as political actors. There’s just so much that’s wrong, weak, and easily dismissable about Dirk’s argument here. Not to mention his obvs, undisguised, physical disgust for trolls >:T

And he’s doing all this Purely because, given his fixation on “Winning”, he wants to Win. Like: he’s not actually even pursuing what he considered good policy; he is, literally, doing this all for Pure Ego, which he has the gall(and lack of self-awareness) to accuse others of acting from. And this self-deluding buffoon is a person who believes himself “Ascended” and therefore possessed of a “higher” and “clearer” perspective on matters above their “petty” concerns about, oh non-humans being allowed to live as they like, or practice any political agency at all, and all ppls being spared unnecessary and pointless suffering due to entirely manufactured shortages. So much (real, actual)Irony, of so many types, in all of this, all at once.

An aside: I am really liking the political-mindedness of these Epilogues so far; really playing to my Interests uwu

The bit about Hybrid babs and shipnames is funny, and it doesn’t read like a shot at the fandom to me at all; it’s more a joke at Dave’s expense given the obvs distress Kanaya’s in and his inability to stop making the situation more awkward(itself prob the result of Bro’s neglect/abuse)

Oh hey look: it’s Dirk the “Omniscient” being distracted, caught unawares and off-guard by the actions of others, unable to handle the role&work he’s chosen for himself(ie “out of his depth”), unable to split his attention between even just two conscious ppl at once, and not knowing what others are thinking. Given this and his handling of Jade’s thoughts in the last section, I kinda feel like it’s less he can actually sense the thoughts of others, and more that he gets some kind of inkling or hunch, or maybe that’s it’s purely just him guessing(that’d fit real well with his comments on Roxy being “inscrutable” to him), or even just having an awareness of the plot he is narrating(and thinks he’s writing). Of course it could also be some kind of Heart thing; not really even access to their thoughts at all, but a sort of awareness of their Agency? Like: Heart is The Self and The Self is expressed through Agency, so he has, in some way, developed an awareness of “Self-Action”, which is to say, Agency? Kinda like how Dave “feels” Time and Jade “feels” Space and Rose “feels” Relevance. Which, just as an asnide, would be something super-basic powers-dev wise, since Dave started having a sense of Time way back in the early Acts, long before godhood. Though I can see how Dirk developing an awareness of OTHERS intentions(and feelings, potentially, given Heart’s other associations) would seem like a big step for him, given how self-absorbed he is.

Ok that’s it for this one I think. I know I’m not being terribly kind to Dirk in all this but, tbf, he’s being kind of a huge snide Dick in basically every respect, and I also don’t have a lot of Chill in me when it comes to 1)arrogant people or 2)manipulators (:T