#thinking thinking a lot of Tails favorite stories and this got to me

[tornado1992]

How do you guys think Tails reacted when he first learned about the ugly duckling tale?

Like, do you think he learned about it when he was still alone, maybe he heard little drops of the story and got enough of a peek of a book to learn about the ending. And him, as a little four year old kid getting mocked, hit and abused because he was a little diferent was constantly waiting for things to get better, for him to get better? To change and finally be good enough to be loved?

Or do you think Sonic told him about that story, maybe read it to him a little after he met him, when he just got to see him as a little brother?hoping to cheer him up, giving him his own interpretation of the story, perhaps telling him that he doesn’t need to change anything to be loved, because just like the duckling, there was never anything wrong with him, he never had to change who he was, he was always good, the rest of the world just couldn’t see it.

[redisthenewblue]

JESSICA RABBIT like YUU X DORMLEADERS

(This focuses more on Jessica’s personality than her looks!)

So, he probably heard about you from Cater or Ace. When he first spotted you hanging out in the Monstro Lounge—singing and pouring drinks—poor guy didn’t even know how to handle himself! At first, he had his own thoughts about you, but eventually, he warmed up. I mean, when you hit him with that classic line, "I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way," he totally fumbled his words and turned a shade redder than his hair!

He starts to relax a bit with the rules when you’re around, but if you’re up for the challenge of learning all 810 of them (or at least a third of them, which I bet you are), that’s a wholeee different story! Anytime someone shows a little too much interest in you he’s like, “OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!” Like he loves having an attractive , amazing, dare I say HOT partner but damn is there a lot of things that come as a consequence of such blessing.

And don’t even get me started on how he reacts when you entertain Deuce and Ace’s wild ideas. He loves you to bits, but honestly, you’re stressing him out! Someone save him from the shackles of love🥹‼️

You remind him of the Lionesses back home, embodying their fierce spirit and strength. He never underestimates your capabilities, especially after witnessing someone get their arm caught in a bear trap while attempting to make advances toward you. If anyone crosses the line, he is always prepared to intervene, although he typically ensures that such situations never escalate to that point in the first place.

Your unwavering loyalty is undoubtedly one of his favorite qualities; you are always ready to defend him and are unafraid to remind him to get a grip when necessary. A significant turning point in your relationship came when you allowed him to rest his head on your lap, and this simple act gradually transformed into a cherished routine between the two of you.

Ruggie frequently reaches out to you, expressing his frustrations about Leona and pleading for your assistance in dragging him out of bed and into class.😭 Depending on Leona's mood, he might even pull you down into the bed with him, making it difficult to escape. During nap time, he wraps his tail around your leg like a makeshift sensor, ensuring you remain by his side and do not attempt to leave the bed. Unfortunately, this means you have to say goodbye to your perfect attendance.(RIP)🫡🪦

You and Azul first crossed paths when Floyd and Jade hired you, unbeknownst to Azul, to perform at the Mostro Lounge. After witnessing your debut performance, Azul was so impressed that he promptly offered you a contract, recognizing the influx of new customers you attracted. However, he often feels a twinge of insecurity around you; after all, you are one of the most stunning individuals he has ever encountered (Don’t tell Vil he said that💀)

Adding to his struggles, Jade and Floyd constantly bully😭 tease him, making it nearly impossible for him to focus on his work whenever you're nearby. There was a particularly memorable moment when you accidentally walked in on him changing, prompting him to hide away in embarrassment. Your warm embrace brought him to tears, showcasing the depth of his feelings for you.

In a narrative reminiscent of a mafia boss and his devoted, sweet wife, Azul deeply appreciates your willingness to get your hands dirty in his defense. While he may occasionally take advantage of your fierce loyalty, the silver lining is that you are never entirely constrained by your contracts!🤫

He would totally go above and beyond for you. Out of nowhere, gifts would just show up on your doorstep, which was sweet but also a bit much. You had to remind him that he didn’t need to shower you with presents, but he just couldn’t help himself—everything that reminded him of you ended up in his cart. It got so excessive that Jamil had to step in(per usual)

“Jamil! Do you think they’ll love this?!” Kalim would ask, all excited. And Jamil would just roll his eyes, “You know how they feel about you buying them stuff.” EVERYONE SAY THANK YOU JAMIL‼️‼️

You know you’re always going to be his go-to when he throws a party at the dorm. The whole time, he just clings to you like a koala, and honestly, it’s kind of adorable.

But things got a bit intense when you almost lost it on Jamil after he overblotted and tried to go after Kalim. Ever since then, you’ve kept your guard up around him. Kalim assured you that everything was cool and that there were no hard feelings. He was pretty happy when you said you’d try to move past it for his sake. But let’s be real, that grudge? Not going anywhere. 💀

Absolutely DANGEROUS couple‼️Like the paparazzi just can’t get enough of you two! You’re probably being followed around everywhere with cameras in your face.

Let's be real, you two must be making music together because when you do, those tracks are hitting the TOP 10 on the BILLBOARD charts in no time! Honestly, you guys are just an absolute power couple, and I applaud you for it(I’m jealous)🫡

But seriously, he wouldn’t let you anywhere near Neige. You go to a ball as his plus one and Neige was there? He pulled out every excuse imaginable to get you away from the guy. Like, “I want to introduce you to a co-star of mine,” or dragging you away and saying“Here’s a good friend of mine!” Come on, buddy, you’re not slick😭

He’s just trying to protect himself from losing anything else to Neige. Please, give him a little reassurance (I’m begging you😞).

So, imagine this: a total gamer who's kind of a loser, but somehow he snagged a super hot girl—like, how did he pull that off? I'm honestly a bit confused about how you guys even met since he rarely leaves his room. But if you two ever did bump into each other, you’d totally be the oddest yet cutest couple around! This relationship is probably the closest to Roger Rabbit and Jessica.

You always listen to him go off about his games, and I mean, these rants can get up to four hours. Trust me, he’s not going anywhere if it’s not with you. His hair definitely turns pink whenever you stand up for him or tell a waiter they messed up his order.

He totally fell harder for you when he saw how you interacted with Ortho. You two hit it off right away and became besties, teaming up to coax Idia out of his shell more. Honestly, it’s just one big happy family! 🥹

So, he was super interested in you, right? Lilia had to really push him to make a move and talk to you, even though you might’ve had the reputation to be a bit unapproachable. But hey, that’s probably why you two clicked so well once you finally met! You both totally bond over the fact that no one really wants to come up to you, even if the reasons are different. It just works out perfectly!

When you joined his gargoyle club, he had to seriously hold back a giggle like a school girl. And let’s be real, even though you weren’t really into gargoyles (he could definitely tell🥸), you showed up to every single meeting, listening to him go on and on about those stone creatures. It’s like he’s convinced that you’re the one for him. So, when people start calling you Lady Draconia, just know that this was no mistake 😭

But here’s the thing about dragons: they get super protective over their mate. If anyone tries to mess with you, they're immediately struck down by lightning. He gets all confused when you shake your head and frown, telling him you could’ve handled it on your own.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

june 2024 octa + 4koma manga updates

As a reminder, no Episode of Savanaclaw manga chapter this month ^^ And without further ado, some of the highlights (in my opinion) of the latest manga updates:

This month's cover page illustration features Yuuta and Grim marveling over a chess board (since at this point in the story they're camping out in Savanaclaw). If you look closely, each of the pieces on the chessboard represent the relevant TWST characters; there are two card soldiers (presumably one for Ace and one for Deuce), a wolf for Jack, a hyena for Ruggie, and a lion for Leona on the "white" side. On the opposing "black" side (fitting, since Azul will OB soon) are two eel pieces for the twins and one octopus piece for Azul.

We continue the adorable overly flattering Ace from last month's chapter! Sad to say that I, too, would be completely fooled by this act-- asbfalebqejdqo The older merguard is also very cute and enthusiastic. I love that the manga can give faceless NPCs and mobs actual eyes. It grants them a lot more personality and soul! We continue the adorable overly flattering Ace from last month's chapter! Sad to say that I, too, would be completely fooled by this act-- asbfalebqejdqo The older merguard is also very cute and enthusiastic. I love that the manga can give faceless NPCs and mobs actual eyes. It grants them a lot more personality and soul!

HECK YEAH, IT'S TWEELS tERRORISM TIME BBABY 🤡 Jade and Floyd got sooo many good shots this chapter????? Love that the second page above shows us just how long Floyd is + how the two genuinely delight in scaring our crew (RIP Ace, he looks so close to death's door when he seeks Jade and Floyd peeking at him).

These panels paint the picture of the chase and fight being very frantic for our crew, but really being a chill game to the Leech brothers. They definitely have the upper hand this whole time, and the art helps to convey that feeling!

(Side note: that face Deuce makes with the pinched mouth is also top tier 👌)

So this chapter is the one where Leona swipes the keys to Azul's vault and robs him of all the golden contracts. This results in many, MANY distressed, panicked, and/or desperate expressions from Azul... all of which are soooo delicious <3 There's a ton more than what I've included here (I picked some of my faves), I just couldn't include them all because of Tumblr post image limits.

THE SMUGZUL LAUGH?????? ?? ??? ?? ?????? ? HIS ANSWER TO THE OJOUSAMA LAUGH

Featuring: out-of-shape nerd (relatable) Azul fans fr feasting this update 🙏

RUGGIIIIIIE 🥰 He makes a lot of :3 faces that are just great!!

ANOTHER THING THAT CAUGHT MY ATTENTION WAS THE SHEER AMOUNT OF LEONA SMUG IN THIS CHAPTER I MEAN SEEING LEONA SMUG MAKES ME GRIT MY TEETH AND WANNA KNOCK HIM DOWN A PEG BUT WOW IS HE PRETTY LIKE THIS AUVYFB32T73RANfhbabfobiqrBI/.L;,'KJM;N GGRRRRRRRRRRRRRR I HAT EYOU KINHSCHPLAR I HATE YOU SO MUCH i'm gONA PUNCHHF YOU IN YOUR STUPID SLUTTY ,.,NAFCLAVICLE

anyway Anyway ANYWAY!!!!!! Azul is so close to snapping now, boys :)))) Soon... SOON, OB AZUL AND CHILD!OCTAVINELLE IN HIS FLASHBACK...

Now for 4koma news! This month features a comic about Epel playing Magift/Spelldrive and another comic about Jamil cooking curry.

My favorite segment from the Epel comic! Grim is peak cuteness here, love that he curls into himself to brace for impact, INCLUDING THE FRIGGIN TAIL.

HLBQVUFOQVIYFA; This part made me think of my Gordon Ramsay in Twisted Wonderland series, specifically the fish-themed installment with Jamil and Deuce; in it, Jamil plots on making a seafood dish to serve to Azul as revenge for the events of book 4. In the Jamil 4koma this month, Jamil sees Octavinelle and then considers making a seafood/fish curry with that smug-ass face in the bottom-most panel 💀 That's all for now! See you next month for more~

[larcenywrites]

Hey, I saw that you were taking requests for Kurt, and I have an idea that I would like you to write please. Can you do a Nightcarwler X Reader story where Kurt had a bad day from an unfavorable encounter from earlier that day from an anti-mutant crowd, which called him a monster and demon and other bad things, despite him just wanting to help people. Kurt is now feeling a bit depressed and insecure about his unique appearance. The reader helps reassure him that he’s beautiful and comforts him, and their bonding eventually escalates to NSFW stuff. I would prefer the reader to be of the male sex, but ultimately the reader can be whatever sex you decide. Thank you so much for your time 😊

(I’m sorry this isn’t funny-)

So sorry it took so long D: but I hope this is okay :)

What It Means To Be Human

Nightcrawler x M!Reader

Warnings: male reader but no pronouns used | unprotected because I’m always a slut | do I even have to say a little tail action?? It’s nightcrawler 😏 | some light oral | “somehow” I got into my tongue and spit kink a lil tiny bit sorry | porn with plot but at least the plot is loving on Kurt ����

Word count: ~2,100

It was hardly late afternoon, and already the day had gone to shit. For a handful of people, that is, but unfortunately, that handful included your people and, more importantly, your person. Rogue had already told you about the angry mom of humans. The usual, as she'd typically describe it. But you knew that for Kurt, "the usual" was a little more serious than the term made it sound and a whole lot more familiar— Personal, even.

You quickly made your way to your bedroom, immediately noticing the lump beneath the sheets. You climbed into your side of the bed, lifting the covers to reveal the furball underneath. "You're in bed early," you comment softly, trying to keep a lighthearted edge to your tone. He didn't respond, but after a few moments of playing dead, he finally shifted, sifting up next to you and crossing his legs. Downcast golden orbs studied the sheets.

"You okay?" You ask softly, already knowing the answer. In his silence, you study his bare chest and low-waisted pajama pants, clearly drained from his earlier encounter.

"Yeah," Kurt eventually mumbles back. He turns to look at you, tired eyes studying yours, picking up that you already know. "It shouldn't bother me anymore," he deflects, looking down again.

With a sigh, you lean against him, not taking your eyes off him. "It's okay for it to bother you," you reason, leaning against him to be shoulder-to-shoulder and hip-to-hip. "You don't have to be strong all the time," you continue. "You've had to deal with their name-calling for way too long."

"The name-calling I can handle," he quickly replies. "It's being considered less than human that gets under my skin," he remarks, tail thrashing behind him and resting around you. It was tempting to just tell him it didn't matter what they thought, but for someone like him, it unfortunately does matter. He's had to spend his whole life proving it just to continue helping the very people who ostracize him.

Wanting to take away from the somberness for a moment, you suddenly push a finger between his lips to press at a fang, making him open his mouth a little. "What, you're telling me these things aren't human?" You tease lightly, watching him shrug away.

"Those are probably the most human thing about me," he retorts, clearly trying not to smile as he looks down.

"Then maybe that's why they're not my most favorite thing about you," you tease back, making him snort softly. You study him quietly for a few moments before speaking again. "You know, if they gave you a chance, they would find that you are the most human of us all," you add on much more seriously, resting on his shoulder and watching his reaction.

"That's the issue," he replies somberly, resting his cheek against your head. "I don't think any of us are going to get the chance to prove that."

The statement hangs in the air for several moments. They would never understand what he's done to be like them, nor what he's been through to be just himself, and each time getting the same treatment.

"They know not what they do," he repeats a verse that has left his lips plenty of times, fingers rising to fumble with the silver cross that hangs from the chain around his neck. "That doesn't make it hurt less," he confesses.

With a heavy sigh, you lift your head again to look at him properly. "Everything that you are now is because you don't look human," you state bluntly but lovingly, bringing a hand to his cheek and tilting his face towards you. "And is exactly why you're beautiful," you add tenderly, making him look down shyly.

"I know what I am, liebe," he replies quietly, almost defeatedly, leaning into your touch with a soft sigh. "And what I am not," he continues with conviction, a hint of a double meaning behind his words and a gleam of determination in his solid yellow eyes when they glance back up at you.

You smile softly at him, rubbing your thumb over the fur of his cheek before tracing over his lips. He may, in fact, look like a devil, but he was a handsome devil— your handsome devil.

"I don't know," you start. "They might've been right about one thing…" you insinuate, a hint of suggestiveness in your tone and a mischief in your eyes that he knows well.

"Oh, the 'handsome devil' line again; how clever," he mutters sarcastically before you can even continue, glaring at you with a badly hidden grin.

"Oh, you like it," you retort as you lean into him with a mocking pout.

"I do," Kurt's low chuckle breathes against your lips after happily leaning in with you, the grin he'd been trying to hide now on full display. The soft fur on his face tickled your cheeks and nose as you connected in a kiss. Something short but sweet, loving but innocent. Just the human connection he probably needed after today.

With lips brushing and noses bumping, both of you simply rested against one another for a moment, letting him enjoy some peace of humanity with a soft sigh. You could practically feel his sly grin as he pressed a deeper kiss to your lips, his tail unfurling from your arm to curl over your leg. With your own knowing grin, you eagerly kissed back, playing with the broad tip of his tail.

Kurt teasingly bites into your bottom lip, dragging it with him when he pulls away just enough to let you see the mischievous gleam in his golden eyes and smirking fangs, challenging you to bite back. Shifting yourself to your knees, you plant a hand in the soft fluff of his chest while simultaneously diving into his neck. This time, you sink your teeth into him, still not entirely used to the feeling of fur against your tongue, nor his slinking tail around your thigh.

Lulling his head to the side to give you more room to ravish his throat, his tail tightens around your thigh in excitement, and hands find their way under your shirt, squeezing your sides with similar enthusiasm before wrapping his arms around you instead. His tighter embrace convinces you to fall with him. Right where he wanted you.

Despite his lithe form, Kurt easily rolls you both, switching positions to have you underneath instead. With his arms still hooked around your lower back, it was also his turn to sink his teeth into the crook of your neck, fangs pricking at your skin. You hum lowly and wrap your arms around his back, trailing over the velvety feel of his fur and playing with the longer curls on the back of his neck.

Without warning, he ground into you, making you hiss from the sudden friction. The sound spurred him on, deeply rolling his hips into yours in search of more. The rough fabric of your jeans was both frustrating and delicious, creating just enough tension to have you both twitching and humming in pleasure, but leaving far too much distance between your aching cocks. Yet, you continued, feeling Kurt's hot breath panting over your ear.

The strong hands on your back gripped onto your waist, sliding over your ticklish skin and riding your shirt up with them. He barely lifted himself, letting you take his cue to undress, hardly throwing your shirt to the side before that fluffy chest pressed against yours again. Lips passionately pressed against yours, with tongue tracing your lip and a hand sneaking down to the button of your pants.

You parted your lips only for him to pull away, sitting up to properly straddle you. Your hips twitch towards him in anticipation as he unfastens your jeans with a familiar precision. It's not long before you've both managed to shimmy the rest of your clothes onto the floor.

Now nude beneath him, Kurt eagerly flattens his tongue against your tip, fangs barely peaking from beneath his lips. At your low moan, he continues down your length, purposefully leaving behind a messy trail of saliva and licking back up to gently suck the head of your cock. He's just as sloppy, making sure to coat your length in his dripping spit and using his tongue to spread it.

You can't help but bury your hand into the soft blue and indigo hues of his hair with a soft groan, threading your fingers through his curls. Barely lifting his head enough to make your hand fall to his cheek instead, Kurt gives your palm the same treatment, licking over your skin with an obvious intent in his eyes, simultaneously hooking a thumb beneath the waistband of his pajama pants and awkwardly tugging them off. But there wasn't much time to mull over his graceless maneuver when his own hard length springs out.

As he straddles your waist again, you eagerly take his cock into your wettened hand, digging your other into the thicker fur on his thighs. His moans are soft, like the rest of him, letting you slowly jerk him off while he struggled to align himself with twitching hips. Peach fuzz tickles your thigh as that not-so-sneaky tail sneaks around your leg and tightens on cue with its owner as he sinks onto you. Your own hips thrust up to try and meet him, making the cock in your hand jump.

Kurt moans through bared fangs, caught between the feeling of your gentle touch circling under his leaky tip and heavier pressure filling him, involuntarily rolling his hips even while trying to adjust. The movement, or the lack thereof, left you just as tense and twitching inside him. Panting in frustration, you moved your hand along his shaft again, hoping to spur him on.

With another roll of his hips, he couldn't stop himself from practically grinding on you, lips parting as his gaze is drawn to where your hand pleasures him. He licks his lips at the sight, only moments later letting saliva drip from his mouth and into the base of his dick, making you curse under your breath as you spread it over his sensitive flesh.

Kurt plants his hands on either side of you, back arched and hips finally lifting. You both groan softly, slowly moving against one another. Your nails dig into his thigh and your hand on his cock struggles to match the slow pace. Desperate to chase after the feeling, it's not long before he speeds up, bouncing higher each time.

The long chain that hung from his neck dangled wildly with his movements, a hand coming to your lower tummy to steady himself a little and to brush his fingers over your skin. Lying your head back with a groan aimed at the ceiling, you peered down at him through your lashes, his parted lips panting and the thick curls that hung over his forehead softly bouncing each time his hips reconnected with yours.

The closer you got, the harder it became to keep a steady pace stroking him. With a whimperish moan, he shoos you away, taking his aching cock in his hands, movements desperate as he jerks himself off. You take the other furry thigh in your hand, holding onto him and watching closely. Kurt tenses around you and stops abruptly, working at his blush-red tip and obviously close. Just as desperate for more friction, you thrust up to meet his stilled form, making him moan loudly.

Keeping his hips in your grasp while you fucked into him, it didn't take much longer before he lurched forward, movements slowing as he finally came, dripping onto your stomach with a panted sigh that showed off his fangs. The sight had your own movements faltering, sporadically rolling your tensing hips against him as you released yourself inside him.

Kurt releases himself as you both still, hunched over you and squirming. You're both panting, your hands playing with his fur and his thumbs barely brushing at your sides. The constricting tail around your leg finally unravels itself as he lifts himself from you, falling into your side with his fuzzy cheek on your shoulder and knees drawn up against you. You quickly reached over to the nightstand for a few tissues, taking care of the pool of cum on your stomach.

With his tail curling over your waist once you settled again, he cuddles into you, kissing at your shoulder before turning to meet your lips. Entwined with you in the sunlit room, maybe this was all it took to be human. Something he didn't have to share, something he didn't have to prove. Somewhere where he didn't need to be anything other than loved.

[whateverisbeautiful]

♥️Reveling in Richonne - TOWL

#45: The Son's Best Friend (1.05)

gif cred: @ricksmarlene

He was in love with his son’s best friend. 😭

I had said there were two big lines in TOWL that would basically need a whole reflective post dedicated to them. And one of those lines was Michonne telling Rick the only time she feels safe is when she’s with him in ep 4. The other is this line here in ep 5 where Rick just makes every Richonne moment in TWD even better by confirming that before Richonne became canon, Rick was well aware that he was in love with Carl’s best friend 🥹...

In any post I have on Richonne's season 6 canon scene I have always expressed that it is so clear Rick is fully aware he’s in love with her before they sit on that couch. He knows. Not subconsciously but consciously knows he’s in love with Michonne before they ever kiss.

And for Rick to confirm this years later was just heavenly and it has given me a lot of new thoughts on Richonne’s TWD journey. So you know we gotta go in-depth and talk about it. 😋

After talking about RJ and Judith, Rick turns the attention back to Michonne when he holds up some toothpaste. And I love the playful way he says, “I got you something.”

gif cred: @riickgrimes

I always love a good callback so it’s great hearing him say this when he also told Michonne, "I got you something” regarding the mints during their season 6 canon episode.

Back then he had to make do with mints since the toothpaste sunk to the bottom of a lake - but now years later, Rick finally got her that toothpaste she wanted. Soon as he got it, she did. 😭

I really do marvel over the way TOWL came and just checked pretty much every possible Richonne thing we could have wanted and didn’t even know we wanted off the list.

And seeing Rick get this toothpaste was such a great full-circle callback to the episode where Richonne became official. Dental hygiene has been blessing the Richonne ship since season 5, y’all. And we’re still getting blessed by it in 2024. 🙌🏽

I’ve also always loved that Rick remembers every detail about Michonne so of course he remembers the exact flavor of toothpaste she likes as he walks over to her and says, “I think it was baking soda and spearmint. As requested.” So cute and Rick is the only man ever, just saying. 😋

gif cred: @ex0rin

I love his little playful flirty energy and that Michonne laughs as she immediately remembers the moment he’s calling back to. Michonne being courted by Rick is one of my favorite things and I love seeing her be so smitten by her handsome man yet again. Rick and Michonne are both a pro at getting each other to laugh and smile. 👌🏽

Then I love that she takes the toothpaste and all flirtily says, “Man of his word.” The way she’s smiling at him is so sweet. And then she says, “it only took a couple lifetimes” because they really have lived a whole lot of life since that day in season 6. 

gif cred: @ex0rin

And then next, y’all…I was attacked. I was attacked with a line so good it stayed stuck in my head for weeks. 😊

Because Rick then looks at Michonne and says,

“I was in love with my son’s best friend. I didn’t know what to do.” 🫠

The best. 😭😭😭

gif cred: @ex0rin

I had been hoping that TOWL would give Richonne a reflective moment to talk about and look back on their love story and this was such a great way to do it. It explains so much.

The ‘I was in love with my son's best friend’ line really is informative and got me reflecting back on Richonne's journey in The Walking Dead. And something that hit me was thinking about the tail end of season 4 - which I've always felt Rick was most definitely in love with Michonne by then.

I used to think it was only subconscious for him at that point but honestly...now I like to think he was even more aware he was in love with her than I originally thought at this time. He still was dealing with a lot mentally and externally of course, but he knew the love he had for Michonne was different in 4b.

And here’s where the son’s best friend part factors in - Rick realizes he’s in love with Michonne in 4b and what he also knows full well is that his son adores her and needs her. So at the same time that he’s realizing his feelings for Michonne, Carl is also forming this invaluable bond with Michonne. And Rick very clealry sees that.

gif cred: @tangerineprettygreen

Rick sees the way Carl genuinely laughs and has fun with Michonne over breakfast and on the train tracks. He sees how after the horrific trauma with the Claimers, Carl feels safe enough to fall asleep in Michonne’s lap.  (I like to think that Rick opened the car door to say it was time to head out and he saw his baby restful in her arms)

And while that’s more of a headcanon, we literally see Rick watch Michonne and Carl have a heart-to-heart in the forest that concludes with a hug during the s4 finale.

All of this is part of why this line in TOWL ep 5 is so fitting. Because during that s4 era, Rick had this romantic love for Michonne rising to the surface within him, but he also felt he needed to not act on those feelings because he saw his son needed Michonne just as much.

Every time Rick started looking at Michonne with those ILY eyes, he just had to look slightly to the side and see Carl looking up at Michonne as his best friend and safe space. And so as a caring dad, Rick didn't want to risk getting in the way of Carl and Michonne's bond.

But as Michonne says - Richonne's love can’t be denied - and it also can’t be avoided. So while Rick thought he could fend off or table his feelings - or idk what he thought he could do actually because he didn’t know what to do either - but any denial of their love was always going to be futile because Richonne was inevitable. They were meant to be. 😌

And one of the things that will always make my heart smile is knowing that Carl clearly seemed to feel Rick and Michonne were meant to be too, because he truly was not at all shocked when they finally got together.

When Carl found out about Richonne he fully approved and looked like the only thing that surprised him was that it hadn’t happened already. My boy Carl was looking at both Rick and Michonne with some 'duh, I been knew' energy the day after they got together. 😋

(Also, kids are super perceptive so I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if Carl could tell Rick was a lot happier in his relationship with Michonne than in his previous marriage.)

It turned out Rick never had to be worried about his love for Michonne complicating things between Michonne and Carl because not only was Richonne meant to be but so was Grimes Family 2.0.

They were always going to be the family they became because that’s just how destiny works. Beautiful destiny. 😌

(Side note: A few years ago I wrote a RIR post about that season 4 moment when Rick asks Michonne if she needs help cleaning up those walkers. To me, it really felt like Rick might have been intentionally waking up early to see Michonne. And after this “I was in love with my son's best friend” line now I'm just convinced that it’s true. 😋 Rick wanted to spend some alone time with his crush in that s4 scene. 👌🏽 Hence his cute little pouty face when Michonne warmly declined.)

And I love that Rick also admits he didn’t know what to do about the fact that he’d fallen in love with his son's best friend. That implies he thought about what to do and just came up short with an answer because he so badly didn’t want to potentially jeopardize Michonne’s vital role in his family’s life by trying to advance the relationship if it wasn’t something she also wanted.

It's funny how Rick and Michonne are very observant people but were hesitant to know for sure that the other really was into them romantically pre-canon. Even despite all the blatant attraction between them both. 😊

Had Rick or Michonne been observing any other two characters interact in the same way they do, they would have quickly clocked that the two have feelings for each other. But between them, they thought they had to ‘work up to’ finding out if the feeling was mutual when really they’ve been the others for the taking pretty much since season 4.

But it makes perfect sense that what took Rick so long to make his move wasn’t solely the world screaming at them, or the Lori baggage and PTSD he needed to heal from - it was also that he felt he’d need to tread lightly with his son’s best friend and not do anything to get in the way of Michonne and Carl's connection.

With what a loverboy Rick is, it actually would track that when love hit him he’d become aware of it sooner rather than later. Plus, the time between TWD 4.15 when Rick was looking at Michonne like 😍 on those train tracks & TWD 6.10 when Richonne got together on that couch was years for us but it was a much shorter span of time for the characters.

If Rick knew by the end of season 4 that he was in love with Michonne, to me his actions in season 5 really further solidify that he was in love with her and was at least somewhat aware that love was part of why she has so much influence on him and his decisions.

And when I think about it, even if Rick knew he was in love with Michonne at the end of season 4, there was hardly any room or privacy to forwardly act on the realization of those feelings during the majority of season 5.

They were busy escaping the jaws of cannibals, traveling on the road with scarce resources and team family always around, searching for a home base, and then arriving at ASZ, a place that initially put Rick more on edge than when they were roughing it outside the walls.

So that, on top of feeling like he can’t and won’t intervene in his son’s friendship with her by making his feelings known, makes a lot of sense as to why it took Rick the time it did to finally make his move. 

But even at a time where the weight of the world was on Rick's shoulders and so few could reach him in season 5, Michonne always could. She had his heart and there are moments in s5 where Rick could even be hinting that he knows she has his heart too.

I think about the 'Rules Keep Changing' scene in TWD 5.11 when Rick talks to Michonne about the rules changing regarding when to let someone in. After TOWL, I feel like that moment can be interpreted as Rick slowly coming around to maybe changing the rule that he can’t be with Michonne because she’s Carl’s bestie.

And you know what we gotta address next - when team family arrives at Alexandria, even the extremely brief and messy Jessie situation further aligns with Rick being in love with his son’s best friend if I do say so myself.

With Rick entering ASZ in love with a woman he's told himself is off limits because of his son, that would likely make Rick even more eager to divert that existing energy within him elsewhere since he at the time doesn’t feel he can bring that energy to his sons best friend, despite being in love with her.

It's like, on top of being rooted in his PTSD and paranoia, intervening with the Anderson situation gave Rick something to preoccupy that in-love-with-Michonne part of himself that he's trying to deny.

Even tho Rick still very much does bring that 'ILY' energy to Michonne in so many of Richonne's season 5b/6a scenes. Like how he's very adamant about securing the home she wants, how he 'signs the papers' with ASZ after Michonne confides in him about wanting a job and wanting this place to work, and how he directly lets her know that he knows she could've successfully talked him out of his under-the-table plans.

(Side note: The more I see this great Richonne season 5 finale scene, the more I feel like Rick actively wants to hint to Michonne that she's it for him with everything he's saying and doing here. It's just our girl Michonne was not yet translating all these signs from him as romantic interest in her, even tho Slick Rick was real obvious)

Also I noticed how the driving force of that whole thing with Jessie was never really rooted in Rick thinking ‘I want her’ but rather ‘She needs me.’

Rick mainly seemed to be thinking about how he was right for Jessie as a woman in need of protection, and he never really seemed to be assessing if she was right for him too. Never seemed to be considering his compatibility with her or focusing in on her based on anything unique/specific about her beyond surface-level attraction and the fact that she resembled what he was used to with Lori.

He didn’t evaluate any specifics or long-term outcomes with that Anderson situation (like how Carl would feel about all this) and he didn't tell anyone close to him about his dazed pursuit of her. And now I think that part of that is because Rick already knew the woman who was right for him. He knew the woman who had his heart and love already.

But the woman he wants is the woman he thinks he can't have because, being the selfless guy he is, he was not going to interfere with his son's relationship with his favorite person, even if Michonne had become Rick's favorite person too.

Women like Lori and Jessie were the type who would need to rely heavily on Rick’s protection to survive that world. And that's what Rick had been accustomed to. It's how he came to understand his own worth and value - through what he can do to save and rescue others.

However, Michonne doesn’t need Rick to survive in that way - but she does need him to live.

Michonne ushered in a whole new territory for Rick. One that was so refreshing and welcomed because she and him could lean on each other and not have things be one-sided. And I've always appreciated the way two very capable characters like Rick and Michonne so deeply and healthily need each other even with their individual capabilities. And I'm so happy with how that need for each other evolved into the deepest love for each other.

It just has always been so clear that by the time Rick kissed Michonne in s6 he was already fully in love with her. On that couch, they both kissed each other like they'd been wanting to do that a long while. That's part of why once Rick and Michonne kissed, their status didn't feel like gf/bf but husband and wife.

(Side note: I love how in TWD 6.11 Jesus assumed Rick and Michonne were Carl’s parents after walking in on them in the bedroom. That was Richonne’s very first time sleeping together and Jesus still quickly got the vibe that Rick and Michonne were in a committed relationship. ☺️)

(Another side note: it wasn't until this year that I noticed there's a quick wordless moment on that couch in 6.10 where Rick looks at Michonne and subtly gets permission to get on top of her. 😊 As many times as I've seen Richonne scenes there's always something new to catch.)

This immense love Richonne has for each other - it's not just made out to be this romantic and powerful in their spin-off series, it’s what it’s always been.

And when Rick and Michonne finally got together in 6.10 it wasn’t ushering in this wildly new dynamic between them - it was simply acknowledging their existing married dynamic and finally adding physical intimacy to the union.

Also, another one of the million things that I love about Richonne's first kiss in season 6 is that it seems like they immediately know this is right. Them being together romantically felt so right to them. And not only was connecting that way as good as they thought it'd be...it was even better. 😌

And after their canon ep, Rick was definitely of the mindset that he and Michonne were a ‘together forever’ couple in the way he was telling Michonne's bestie Carl 'This is different' the very next morning. 😋 Rick and Michonne were just in bed what a few hours ago? And Rick still already knew for certain what he has with Michonne is different and long-term. ☺️

Knowing he knew for a while that he was in love with his son's best friend, it makes it even more clear why Rick had that nervous energy when finally telling his son about him and Michonne. Behind that RV, Rick felt like he was approaching Carl not just as his son but as Michonne's best friend. Rick wanted to assure Carl that he has good intentions with his best friend since he knows how much Carl loves and is protective of Michonne.

Rick told Carl, "I was gonna tell you about me and Michonne..." and I'm convinced Rick meant that for a while he's been meaning to tell Carl about him and Michonne, not just since the night before.

(Side note: I was thinking about that scene in 6.12 when Rick leads a meeting in the church, telling ASZ about the plan to take out the Saviors. I always noticed how Rick ends the meeting by seemingly just walking out while they’re all still sitting there...and now, no one can tell me Rick didn’t walk out to go straight to moving Michonne’s stuff into his room. 😂

I believe this was their first time back home since his night with Michonne so Rick was like ‘listen community, I have some equally important matters to attend to like moving a bunch of tight pants and tank tops into my bedroom dresser so meeting adjourned.’ 👌🏽😋)

So now that I personally interpret that Rick was aware that he had fallen in love with Michonne earlier than previously thought, it led me to wonder about when I think Michonne was aware she'd fallen in love with him. While Rick and Michonne fell in love around the same time in season 4 to me, I feel Michonne became conscious of her feelings at a later time than Rick.

I'd say Rick knew his feelings for her before they entered ASZ. Like somewhere in between the train tracks scene in 4.15 and when Michonne takes Rick's hand outside the gates of ASZ in 5.11, he knows he's in love. And I think Michonne started to know consciously that she’d fallen in love with Rick after her chat with Deanna about what she wanted for herself.

It makes sense it would take a bit longer for Michonne to process and be aware of her feelings considering the losses and isolation she’d experienced at the start of the end of the world. She had a lot of time to wall up her heart after losing Mike and Andre, whereas Rick, even after he lost Lori, still had kids and a group he had to be present for.

Michonne was aware she felt safe with Rick and that he meant a lot to her for a while, but she just had to come around to fully realizing she was also utterly in love with him all this time too.

And again, it is always a little funny to me that Michonne thought she had to 'work up to' making her feelings known to Rick and seeing if it’s mutual when so many team family and ASZ members could already see that Rick and Michonne had something special between them and were each other's person.

(Another nother side note: I know we've wondered before why the show didn’t explore more men showing interest in Michonne when she’s an absolute catch in every way, but I think I might know why men weren’t more directly approaching her on that type of timing. After season 3 when the group was really small, season 4a when she was keeping herself at a friendly distance from tf, and 4b when she was pretty much only around the Grimes boys, she then had Rick Grimes - and Season 5 'Ain’t Nothing To Play With' Rick Grimes at that - showing clear signs that Michonne was the special woman in his life. I don’t think many men were gonna be bold enough to risk interfering with that when Richonne was basically out here already spoken for and living about as 'married with kids' as could be even before they became an official couple. 😅)

Also just hearing Michonne be referred to as Carl’s best friend again after all these years is so special. 🥹

She really was his best friend from season 4 to the very end, and I love that Rick has always known and appreciated that about Michonne and Carl’s tight-knit bond. 

So then I'm extra elated when Rick adds, “Then you asked for that toothpaste. I was damned if I didn’t find something.” 🫠💕

gif cred: @ex0rin

Every time I’ve watched that domestic opening scene in their canon ep, I’d always think about how clear it is that Rick was going to be adamant to bring home something to give Michonne. And that 'something' he found - those mints - will always hold a special place in their journey. 🥰

That’s another great thing about TOWL too is it allows you to watch Richonne's TWD journey with fresh eyes. Like the TWD Richonne moments already never got old but now not only do they not get old they almost feel a little fresh and new too.

And I love watching their moment on the couch and knowing when Rick reaches for those mints he's well aware that he pocketed those because he’s in love with her and wanted to show he could provide what Michonne wanted.

Like he acts like 'oh yeah I forgot, I have these mints'…but nah that was not an afterthought. That was a move lol. 😋 And honey, the move worked. 👌🏽

Rick was on that run with Daryl like if I do nothing else today I got to find something for her. He’s loved her a long time, y'all. We been knew and now it’s more than confirmed and it’s great. 🙌🏽

I love how, even after all these years, Rick still remembers the details of the day he and Michonne took their relationship to a new level and that he now gets to recall the details with Michonne. Just as his dreams suggested, falling in love with Michonne and Michonne falling in love with him are some of the things Rick is most grateful for in his life, so of course he remembers these things. I'm sure that man could give a play-by-play of that entire 6.10 day, from the morning to night. 😋

And I love that Rick wants Michonne to know he remembers. He wants her to know that everything about her and their love story is important to him. 🥲

Then it’s so sweet how Michonne hears this and pulls Rick in close to let him know, “You found your moment.” He really did, because bringing home those mints set off a canon. 😌

gif cred: @ex0rin

And then I love their flirty energy with Rick asking, “Is this one?” And Michonne all cutely shrugging and being like, look into my eyes, sir... “You tell me.” 😏 The way she’s smiling at him 🥹 - she’s down bad for her man y'all and it makes total sense.

Also, them playing all coy about whether this is a moment always makes me laugh cuz Richonne can turn any and every moment into a moment. 😋

Like they had a whole horny moment when CRM soldiers were just a few feet away and they didn't even try to align behind the bark of that boneless tree. They also had a quick makeout session mere seconds before a giant building collapsed. So they knew good and well this was a moment in the gift shop. It’s always a moment for Richonne, and we love this about them. 😇

gif cred: @nat111love

And because it’s always a moment, Rick leans in as they kiss and it’s just the best yet again. The way they said kissing is going to be embedded in the plot wherever it can is yet another TOWL blessing.

I love the kiss and then I especially love that Rick then kisses her neck. Prior to the show, I had been hoping for a Richonne gesture like this in TOWL and we got it cuz Richonne is the gift that keeps on giving and we’re spoiled.😋 They made me and @ririchonne's wish come true 🙌🏽😌

gif cred: @lousolversons

Also, Richonne has the best grown youthful love in media if you ask me and this moment was giving young energetic love in the best way. They have so many kisses in TOWL and each one is hot and sweet. 💯

So as they’re again getting lost in their blissful Richonne bubble, Michonne spots something and pulls away, and I love how Rick was so immersed in what they had going on that he’s a little caught off guard when she does that. 😋

And it’s so sweet that Michonne knows this and whispers, "sorry," giving him another kiss before checking out the front desk place. I love that little kiss and the way his arms are still around her until the last second.

Michonne notes that there’s a cabin nearby and Rick asks if she saw the sign on the road. Michonne smiles and takes a key, saying, “Looks like we found a place to stay for the night.” Fuel, food, room and board - I’m telling you, the Universe loves providing for Richonne because they know they’re the best soulmates in the land. 💁🏽‍♀️

gif cred: @nat111love

I love that when Richonne are in sync with each other, things just work out. And Rick notes this as he says, “Luck keeps holding up.” Normally those would be famous last words, but for Richonne they really do just win. 👌🏽

Now, I saw that there was originally a little flirty endbeat to this scene in the script that got cut. If that was filmed then I hope they release it as a deleted scene cuz I'm greedy when it comes to Richonne lol.🤞🏽 Either way, what did make the cut was excellent and I love that there was just so much Richonne gold within one scene.🥰

gif cred: @nat111love

Michonne was in love with her best friend's dad. 🥲 Rick was in love with his son's best friend. 🥲 And my heart will always be warmed thinking about how Rick knew he was in love with his son’s best friend and now that very woman has given him a son that he’ll soon get to meet. 🥲

Rick really went from being in love with his son’s best friend to being in love with his sons' and daughter’s mother. What a journey. 👌🏽🥹

[000marie198]

Are there any sonic au’s you would recommend? I am trying to find more to get into so would love to know if you have any favourites out there :D

Hello! Oh there are so many! :D I definitely have some favorites and some which aren't favs but are pretty great.

Putting these under the cut because there are so many! And there's definitely more cool AUs that I haven't seen or haven't saved.

Anyways, please enjoy my personal selection:

Seven Years Too Soon by NightFuchia. Basically what if a much younger Sonic accidentally set Shadow free from Prison Island. It has awesome characterization and happens to be one of my favorite stories. The rest of Team Sonic is also present

Brotherhood's Twist by @/drawloverlala even though I don't think it counts entirely as Au but it still sort of does. Unbreakable Bond ageswitch due to Zeti's meddling.

Passion's @sonic-tangled-au . I love it! So very much. The lore and backstories are so good.

Noonui's World Restored in Imbalanced Chaos au. Extremely engaging and good. Has a bunch of world building and fun concepts and lore.

Sonic's Super Totally Awesome Mixtape, though it seems to be discontinued, I'm not sure. It's pretty good so far! Takes place in the movie verse.

@brainworms-all-night-long is working on a Dreamtale Au which I'm hyped for. The tag in use is 'dreamtale and sonic tomfoolery'.

@/the-starlight-project comic is pretty good too. Mystery! And emotions. So many emotions ough.

And there's @the-emerald-isle-au by @0vergrowngraveyard . Very intriguing. 👀

Please do check out the Pandora Au by @/starrjoy. It's great!

The Fair Folk by Irritable_Fabulamancer, this fic is one of my favorites! Team Sonic as Fae my beloved! I love fae AUs.

On that note, if you're alright wanting to read a Fae!AU which is pretty much a sonadow fic, there is also I don't believe in fairy tales [but I believe in you and me]. Fantasy and Fae! Satbk inspired, another one that had me hooked.

My Arms Are Blue by thekyuubivixen and its unofficial, fan-continuation (My Arms Are Blue! Final Four Edition) by PlaystationPassenger. The story doesn't completely count as an AU but I'm recommending them anyway cuz they're really really good and has that watching your own show from different dimension trope. It's also hilarious and fun.

Burning Arrow, Wildfire Heart by Taranea is SatSR novelisation AU with Sonic's other friends present too, it's pretty fun. Not very accurate regarding the desert but it's a good read and I come back to reread it often. Must read in my opinion. Just don't dare use it as guide for desert travel or you'll be shriveled up in the sand somewhere

This fic. Read it, I will not elaborate this one. Just trust me :]

And don't miss out on @shadofiredragon's Legends Never Die fic. It's a future fic! And an awesome one. I won't spoil much but it is so good. She also has lots of fun AUs in the works.

Down the Foxhole series by MoonlitNightin. Sonic Prime AU series which is great! Tails' pov. The Shatterverses have their own Sonics. Engaging and great.

Feel free to check out @/Son1c's 10verse and other AUs. Those are some pretty great ones. Love the different lore and variants given to the Shatterverses in 10verse.

Spirit of the Wind by TrenchCoatGecko. Satbk inspired fantasy au. Sonamy, has focus on magic and lore and other characters as well.

If you'd like some Forces angst with Unbreakable Bond focus, please do read Illusionary are your arms around me by @nixoon-again. The feels will kill you /pos

Chaos Barren by but_why_not. I forgot to add this earlier (this is an edited addition). Takes place in the Blue Devils AU, great story!

Baby Tails shenanigans by @myymi . Tails got turned into itty bitty infant kit. (And also check @0vergrowngraveyard 'baby tails' tag for more little gremlin scenarios)

Myla is also working on @tails-and-the-ink-machine au

Feral au by Oneshot_bravo. Little short stories or drabbles taking place in Unleashed but the werehog is feral yet keeps his memories. Very lighthearted and fun and cute

Three or more foxes form a skulk by @/chiropter36 . Post Prime au fic, loved it! Go read.

Also, @donelywell 'roadtrip! sonic au' and 'Casino Nights Au'

Haven't yet started reading The Fox's Burrow by @/space-gutz but I'm planning to. Recommending it either way cuz I feel like it's gonna be good. Unbreakable Bond but ageswaped au.

@/sonicchaoscontrol comic. Another in-progress au which is also quite intriguing. Sonic jumps through a portal and exits in future where the planet is a mess. The mystery of what and how it all happened and what's going on slowly unfolds.

The Buzzsaw Dillemma by redpenship. I haven't personally read it myself but I've heard many good things about it, especially it's world building.

Incomplete and won't be updated anymore but if you haven't read them yet, DO NOT miss out on Ghosts of the Future and The Murder of Me fancomics by Evan Stanley (spiritsonic) and Gigi Deutrix (gigi-D) respectively. They're a must read. Both are available on DeviantArt.

The Heart of a Monster comic, @/the-heart-of-a-monster. It's in progress and updates regularly. Unleashed retelling, really really good with some extra lore and everyone involved.

Sometimes the Picket Fence isn’t Perfect and Sharp Edges (Sonic Prime AU) series by @/skimmingthesurfaces. I'm holding off the first one to read later, like that one book you've been saving so I'm not sure if it completely counts as an AU, still putting it in recs, and the second one is intriguing so far. I have heard a lot of good thing about the Picket Fence series.

Dark Boom by Smash50. The entirety of Team Dark in the Sonic Boom universe. Alongside it, there's also Boomtober by the same author.

It Always Snows by the 24th by Selendred had me hooked even though it's a oneshot. Great au and would love to see it explored more.

No One said I Wish by SylWritesStuff. One of my fav stories from the Sonic Platonic Fairytale Week event. It's really funny.

Sonic Phantom Forces (SPF) au comic. Sonic Forces au, blue boy gets taken away but not in the way you think, pretty cool story so far. It's in-progress and available on both Tumblr and DeviantArt. @/spfau

If Black Doom tried to be a better father by Tirainy. Don't take this one seriously. It's pure comedy and I love every second of it. Shadow is having a time for sure XD.

Silent Talkers by @brainworms-all-night-long. Takes place in the Prime Bros verse, feels intensified, all the good ones. A must read, trust me.

And speaking of the Prime Bros AU (in which all Shatterverse foxes also got adopted by Sonic and are now brothers), feel free to scroll through the 'prime bros' tag here. So many awesome posts for this particular au by everyone!

There's so many more, cool ones, epic ones. I haven't saved all and I'm probably forgetting some great ones too so I'm leaving this open for others to add. If y'all have more cool AUs, plz add to these (I wanna check em out too)

....

And now a few from the Fanfiction.net site because it doesn't have much audience compared to AO3 and there are some actual gems hidden there;

Premonition by thekiyuubivixen (not entirely an au but it feels like one due to the unique ability Sonic gains)

The Sonic Project by SconnieSA. Rated M but it's a pretty awesome AU and the rating is due to more serious themes and uncensored language in some parts. Highly recommending this one

Survivor's Resolve by DC111. Not entirely an AU but I must rec this fic it's so good and doea havs some AU vibes.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Attorney of Law by thedraconicwerewolf. Ace Attorney type AU with Sonic and Tails as main characters. Not too adventurous but very very fun and interesting and still managed to keep Sonic in character. Though it has a sequel started, I only rec the main story, not the sequal as it seems to be abandoned and isn't needed to be read like them cliffhanger stories.

beLIEve by Meow21. I have only read snippets from this, waiting for this story to continue but it seems to be discontinued. Felt like an epic story too and deserves to be recommended.

Sonic and the Golden Journey. Sonic gets thrown in another storybook, this time it's a children's classic fairytale. Short but very comedic and fun. Go read it.

Tales of a Samurai. I am begging you to read this one, please it's so good. Also by Taranea.

Wonderful and it's sequal Sanctuary by Inflamore for some Unbreakable Bond angst. (Kindly ignore the obliviousness of earlier ff.net for not knowing the meaning of certain symbols, there's nothing of the sort in story, trust me.)

Regrets by MazzyBooks. A high school au of sorts. Sonic centric with some heavy angst. I'm not kidding about the angst part, trust me. It had me hooked from the first chapter though and I believe it deserves a rec.

You need the cracks (to let the light shine through) by king.needlemouse. Istg this is the most underrated thing I've ever come across, it's one of my absolute favorite fics which I can never forget. Do read it.

Within this Nightmare by sonicfan1990. Sonic get transported to an alternate universe which has gone post apocalyptic and his counterpart in that universe has been dead. Pretty great story, lots of angst and everything.

And that's all I could remember and have saved for now. I'm leaving this open to more AU recs (yes even self plugs are welcome) so if you know any I missed, plz feel free to add. I hope you enjoy all these great AUs!

Thanks for the ask!

[mochinomnoms]

Mochi, mochi! Hear me out. I love the shrimpy-mer Yuu chronicles, and PTM, and just *kicks feet*

So, let's just imagine. Every relationship has its ups and downs right? Maybe our shrimp has an argument with their eels. Maybe one of the guys hurt their shrimpies feelings. Maybe it was a dumb fight. So Yuu needs a break and maybe some comforting.

If we're going octo poly they go and hang out with Azul. Lots of comfort cuddles in a cozy spot, wrapped up Azul's tentacles while he lets you vent.

Or .. what if you got the rest of the families(s) involved. We kind of can already tell the twins are spoiled by their parents, but I just picture in my mind that Shrimpy/Yuu is adored by the Leech parents, especially Mama leech. So you got Yuu hanging out with Mama or Papa and the next thing you know they're sharing stories about dumb fights they had when they were courting or giving advice dealing with their sons "oh yeah, one time I pissed her off when I was trying to court her so she bit me in the tail hard, still have the scar!" "Listen, give him the cutest pout possible and Floyd will crumble, trust me, he won't admit it but he's just like his dad when it comes to cute things."

or or! Let's get Mama or even Grandma Ashengrotto involved. What's Mama's best comforting method? Food of course! Sharing food is love under the sea after all. Mama Ashengrotto cooking up comfort food. She cooks so much(Yuu's so tiny, please eat!) Sends Yuu home with leftovers, but tells them no sharing with the twins until they apologized.

Grandma Ashengrotto! If I remember correctly she's good at magic/potions and was teaching Azul when he was younger. So Yuu ends up hanging out with grandma. Hugging one of her tentacles as she's working something in the cauldron. Maybe grandma's got some sass(I love me some sassy old lady), "You know, I could send you home with a couple potions. Lot easier to handle a mer if he's the size of your palm..." "Nana no!" "I'm just saying!"

Ah they're so cute too! I think that the boys are each mama's boys and have always been attached to their hips. Mama Leech has been repeatedly referred to as a worrywart, checking in on her boys nearly daily (?) to make sure they're safe. And while we haven't heard as much about Mama Ashengrotto, Azul has mentioned having a close relationship to her, so it's safe to assume they're pretty attached. They're stark defenders of their boys.

They're also fairly aware of what their sons can be like, and are quick to coddle you over them. It's quite sweet, their sons think, until they realize that Mama is showing just a bit of favoritism and telling you all the ways to make him melt into your arms again. Ah, but can they really be mad when their spouse is fitting into their family so well? Plus, they can never really stay mad at you for long for silly arguments, you just too cute sometimes!

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

reading update: October 2024

hello, ahoy, and welcome to my October reading recap.

I made a real effort to focus on spooOOOoooky books this month, in the name of the season; you may even recall that I started early and read some spooky stories at the tail end of September. (read Carmen Maria Machado's comic The Low, Low Woods, btw.)

I've never been great at sticking to a theme but I think it helped that what gets classified as "horror" can vary greatly, so I never really got bored of the genre. I did get disappointed more than once by how Not Spooky some of these books turned out to be, but that's a totally different question.

right at the end of the month you'll notice a couple of outliers with Caped Crusade and Luster, which happened entirely because I was out of library books and on the road for a conference, so I was reading what I could get my hands on! I've been working on rereading Caped Crusade on and off for a couple months and I bought Luster at a cool indie bookstore in the town I was visiting and then inhaled most of it on the way home.

ANYWAY. to the books!

And Then I Woke Up (Malcolm Devlin, 2022) - this is a novella with an interesting spin on the zombie story, where the "zombies" are actually people who have started suffering hallucinations that fill them with paranoia and force them see other people as monsters. so, like, there were never any REAL monsters, but a woman looked at her young son and saw him as a cannibalistic monster, so she killed him. so who's the real monster? it's very deep. this story's explanation for this is "the narrative," an idea so strong that it simply seems to take hold of anyone who's around a sufficiently charismatic ringleader who drives them to join in their delusions and kill innocents who don't share their worldview. it's not a super subtle zombie metaphor, but I guess very few zombie metaphors are. it's fine.

Through the Woods (Emily Carroll, 2014) - I truly wholeheartedly wish I had more to say about this but it's just a very charming creepy collection of comics. my favorite was the one that was the scariest, involving humans getting taken over by body-snatching worm monsters, but on the whole it was a very minor creepy factor. the art's great the whole way through.

Happy Medium (Sarah Adler, 2024) - Happy Medium is October's romance novel as picked by my patreonites, and I will admit: my hopes were not high going in. a conwoman posing as a psychic clashing with a skeptical hottie goat farmer didn't ping me as a great mix, but honestly? HONESTLY? it kind of served. there was a much more well-rounded emotional core to this book than I often encounter in my romance novels; at risk of sounding like a cornball it genuinely had a lot of heart. the conwoman is actually extremely charming, I was rooting for her in a big way, and her emotional journey goes so far beyond just falling in love with the goat farmer. I'll happily claim Happy Medium as my #1 romance of the year unless a challenger arises in the next two months, but it's not looking likely.

The Ones That Got Away (Stephen Graham Jones, 2010) - this is a collection of Graham's short stories that was published long before he became a huge name in horror with books like The Only Good Indians and My Heart Is a Chainsaw. and as much as I hate to say it, I think I personally prefer his longer form fiction. none of these short stories were bad, per se, and they're incredibly stylized and polished, but I think I like Jones' work a lot more when it has time to simmer out. I may have also been biased by the fact that I was desperately seeking something scary to read, because while Jones plays with some pretty narsty concepts, the horror tends not to hit until a last page reveal that recontextualizes everything that's come before. which is cool! but not scaring me as much as I wish it was.

The Salt Grows Heavy (Cassandra Khaw, 2023) - a lot of people told me I should read this because it stars a killer mermaid and a plague doctor, which are two aesthetic archetypes I love, and I will give this to Cassandra Khaw: I liked this a lot more than their other book, Nothing But Blackened Teeth. which is clearing a very low bar, since I didn't really like that book at all, but I do think Salt is genuinely a pretty marked improvement. the prose is still kind of torturously overwrought in many places and I desperately wish that Khaw would put the thesaurus away, but there's like. a Concept here. the core is fun.

Tell Me I'm Worthless (Alison Rumfitt, 2021) - this book is by far the scariest I read, because the horror is hatred and bigotry and a fucked up, evil house that brings out the very worst of everyone who steps inside of it. this book gets so fucked up and bloody and downright nasty in its exploration of the characters and the underlying bigotries that turn them against each other and drive them apart. I don't want to spoil anything, but the book follows a white trans woman named Alice and her mixed race, cis ex-girlfriend Ila. in the past Alice and Ila entered the evil house with their friend Hannah; that ended with Hannah dead and missing and Alice and Ila both scarred and traumatized, each certain that they were raped by the other. so that's what this book is like! not a lighthearted undertaking, but one that I could. not. put. down.

A Sunny Place for Shady People (Mariana Enríquez, trans. Megan McDowell 2024) - what is there to say? Enríquez is my short story queens, and her new release absolutely lived up to the precedent set for me by The Dangers of Smoking in Bed, which was originally published in 2009 but not translated into English until 2021. this collection is sooo aptly named, because many of the stories are obsessed with the terror of places: hotels haunted by memories, neighborhoods filled with ghosts, junkyards where bodies are hidden, towns abandoned and taken over by something sinister. also, completely detached from the quality of the writing, this book has one of the most striking covers I've encountered this year. the screaming yellow cover and bold purple text looked SO COOL under the purple string lights in my bedroom, which was a little +1 to my mood every time I saw it :)

Thirst (Marina Yuszczuk, trans. Heather Cleary 2024) - I think if I had to pick a favorite book from my spooktober reading, Thirst would edge Tell Me I'm Worthless out by just a hair, because I'm just SUCH a sucker for a modern gothic. this novel is split into two chunks. the first is narrated by a vampire (hinted to be one of Dracula's infamous brides) who flees the Old World and crosses the sea to find safety in a young Buenos Aires, where she struggles to figure out how to slake her thirst and escape from loneliness while avoiding detection in a modernizing world. ultimately she seals herself away in a crypt to escape the relentless pace of change around her, and that's when our perspective shifts. here we join a modern woman with a young son, an ex husband, and a dying mother, who's struggling under the pressure of grief as she watches her mother waste away. she ends up accidentally reawakening the vampire from the first half of the book, and you can imagine things get weirder from there. honestly, for me, the part of this book that's most brilliant is the latter half and it's deep meditation on grief, but the historical portion of the book also plays the vampire gothic to the hilt. delicious!

The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture (Glen Weldon, 2016) - this is a really fun piece of pop culture history, tracking how Batman came to be DC's little #1 it boy alongside the developing prominence of nerds and fandom as a cultural force to be reckoned with. as I said above, this was a reread for me, because I wanted to circle back now that I've actually read most of the major comic events discussed in the book. Weldon weaves between Batman in comics, TV, and movies to examine on how one portrayal influences another - for instance: the goofy '66 TV series saw a huge backlash in comics, which went way dark to reinforce a grim and serious Batman for 'real' fans who objected to the show making Batman a joke to much of the normie population - and I think that's a really neat lineage to trace. while I think Weldon is sometimes a bit too transparent with his own disdain for certain adaptations, he overall has an extremely levelheaded approach to Batfandom and a conversationally informative approach that I really enjoy. of particular note is the fact that Weldon is himself a gay man, making him one of the only writers I trust to talk about why he personally dislikes Joel Schmacher's movies without getting homophobic about it.

Luster (Raven Leilani, 2020) - this book!!! this was one of three novels recommended to me by Bonnie at Snowbound Books, and Bonnie if you are on this website I owe you my LIFE because you were 100% correct. I was obsessed from the very first line and it only gets better from there; Leilani's prose is painting a searing, witty Sistine Chapel to render her protagonist's miserable life in vivid color and detail. the short version is that our 23 year old hot mess finds herself jobless and homeless and ends up moving in with her married boyfriend who's 23 years her senior, where she forms a powerfully weird connection with his rage-filled wife and develops a bond with the couple's nerdy adopted daughter, as the two of them are the only Black women in the excessively white neighborhood. (spoiler alert: she also realizes that her married boyfriend is a fucking loser.) it's a simple enough premise but the execution is bananas in its flair. I couldn't believe this is Leilani's first and so far only novel; if she ever drops another I'll drag myself through barbed wire to get my hands on it.

Juniper & Thorn (Ava Reid, 2022) - I first became aware of this novel via twitter thread of Reid's that made its way to tumblr, in which Reid bemoaned being harangued by readers who were shocked that her dark fairy tale retelling had, you know, dark shit in it. having now read the book, I have to say: these people are fucking pussies. going into this book I was under the impression that there was full on-page father/daughter rape happening, which is actually NOT the case, so you can breathe easy if incest is a hard no for you. what's actually here is a wizard dad who's emotionally abusive, non-incestuous sexual abuse in the backstories of the main character and her love interest, some moderately explicit consensual sex, some bulimia, and [spoiler alert!] admittedly a lot more cannibalism than expected. it's not a lighthearted romp but it's also like, come on. come on. grow up. in terms of the actual book, rather than its controversy, I didn't LOVE it but I'm still compelled enough by the world building (particularly Jewish author Reid's Hueli people, who are a fairly obvious stand-in for Jews down to people claiming that they have horns and using phrenology to prove the have an unfair advantage at making money) that I'm going to check out Reid's earlier novel, The Wolf and the Woodsman, a novel set in the same world. it felt a little repetitive in places and the characters were largely pretty predictable, both of which may be a byproduct of trying to encapsulate the vibe of a classic fairy tale, but I had a good time reading it.

[deathworlders-of-e24]

Danny, Security Chief

Part 3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I don’t care if it ‘impedes the experiment’, I want him gone,” Danny said as calmly as he could, which apparently wasn’t calm enough, given that both Captain Skitch and Commander Koatil flinched away from him.

“Chief Ducane, please understand,” Skitch began, “that yes, while what Ensign Grite did was inexcusable, there’s-”

“Inexcusable? Are you fucking kidding me Skitch, he left part of his crew, your crew, out there to die while he ran away! I oughta go out there and kill him myself for that!”

“Chief Ducane, you will calm yourself now or we’ll be talking about your situation here instead, is that clear?” Koatil took a step forward, putting herself between him and the captain. Danny didn’t move an inch, just stared her down until finally Skitch spoke up again.

“Okay, cards on the table, as you humans say. We can’t replace Grite right now. I sent a request for relief personnel the moment I heard what happened, but GAIL command said they couldn’t, or wouldn’t, until at least half the mission duration was up.”

Skitch held his two main arms out in defeat.

“My hands are tied, Ducane. I want him gone as bad as you do, but until command sends us a replacement, we can’t kick him off the ship. However, he’ll be on limited duty, and of course, taken off the security personnel roster. He’ll be put on cleaning duty effective immediately, cleaning toilets or the like. Grite will be little more than a passenger until such time as we can remove him from the Noah without anyone back home being… noisy about it.”

Politics. Damn it.

Leaving less than satisfied at the decision, Danny Ducane left the captains office and stepped into the hall. The bastard in question, Grite, was stood at attention across the way, waiting to be called inside.

Danny saw red.

He stormed across the hall and got inches away from the Sed man’s face. Grite’s eye widened in alarm, and he seemed about to back away, except the wall blocked his escape. Danny didn’t touch him, didn’t wrap his hands around his neck or bury his fist in his gut, just slowly, deliberately, gave his only warning.

“If you ever, ever, endanger a member of this crew again, I’m going to cut pieces off you and throw what’s left out the fucking air lock.”

Danny could see the usual annoying pride in Grite’s eyes turn to fear, then anger, but before the stony alien could act the captain’s door opened again.

“Grite, get in here, now.”

Danny never wavered, didn’t look away from the Sed’s eyes. Finally, Grite blinked first, and awkwardly shuffled away into the office. The door hissed closed.

Danny went back to work.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So there we were, trapped at… I think the humans called it an airport, with these smugglers trying to steal crystals from the Doun ambassadorial package, when in he comes, Ducane the Destroyer!”

It’d been a full cycle since Danny’s meeting with the Captain and Commander, and the team was gathered around the center console in the Security Center with Homet telling the same old story again, with the rest of the security force was eating it up as usual. Danny just rolled his eyes and smiled.

“Come on, don’t keep us in suspense!” Coola said, entranced, scaly tail swishing, “this is my favorite part!”

“This crazy human comes over the railing of the second level, rappels down 10 meters to the floor, firing for accuracy the entire time. He must’ve dropped 4 or 5 of them in a matter of seconds! Never seen anything like it, on any other planet. The man moved from cover to cover, and every time he looked in their direction, there were less and less hostiles than before! Never took a hit, never stopped moving. Finally he’s got the leader pinned up against a wall, and he’s begging us to get him away from the big bad human, and I swear, the Ambassador hired him on the spot for the rest of the delegation.”

“You tell that story a lot, Homet,” Danny said, adjusting his cap.

“It bears repeating!” Homet laughed. The rest of the team was looking at Danny like a movie star just walked into the room to sign autographs. Coola was looking star struck, Ritz in awe, and Hayte, who actually hadn’t heard the story yet, was looking at him incredulously. Danny shrugged, kind of noncommittal, like saying “hey, it happens kid, gotta do what you gotta do.”

“Anyway, listen up people. We have an important job here in the next few cycles,” Danny said, “We’re supposed to take on cargo from the Val’kao and transport it to Outpost 19 on the other side of the system. Apparently cargo consists of some artifacts found during a geological survey, and they wanted some extra muscle moving it.”

“That’s pretty cool, the Vale are one of the oldest species in the quadrant,” Coola said. “I heard the oldest ruins on their planet are over 50,000 years old.”

“What’s the catch Chief? We can’t just be playing with rocks, right?” Homet asked.

“The catch is, ancient Vale apparently used something called Vishal Dirac, which translates into Singing Iron these days.”

“Well that sounds… fun,” Ritz said, skeptically.

“Wait wait wait, I know what that is!” Coola said excitedly. “Yeah, they found a natural deposit of that stuff way back in the day too, on a mining expedition. It made the news on multiple planets before they censored the article. I only read it because our instructor made us do a report on it.”

“What is it?” Hayte asked.

“It’s this rare mineral found deep in the planets crust. Apparently they struck a piece of it by accident with some digging equipment, and it completely destroyed the dig site. The ancient Vale used it in their crafting all the time. Singing Iron takes shock waves and amplifies them a few thousand times until the shaking just explodes outwards.”

“Why the hell did they make tools out of it then?” Homet asked, “if the stuff is that volatile why mess with it at all?”

“Depending on how you refine it, it can be made into weapons or tools that can break through practically anything,” Danny explained. “They sent me that article too. Apparently the ancient Vale had a special method of smelting it to make drills or swords and stuff, made them practically unstoppable.”

“Well they didn’t conquer the galaxy, so I guess that wasn’t true,” said Hayte snidely.

“Yup, volcanic eruptions beat everything,” Danny said. “Anyway, they requested we bring the samples and artifacts to the outpost for research, and the cargo is going to be about half Singing Iron in the form of primitive tools. They got the stuff locked in stasis-gel capsules to make sure we don’t all die, so hopefully that’s checked off.”

“The real problem,” Danny continued, “is gonna be these guys.” He punched a code into the console and brought up a file. A series of images appeared in a hologram above the table. The images showed several individuals with purple skin and scales, faces covered in masks, carrying bags and crates.

“These guys call themselves the Staal Mirac. Intel says they’re from coastal regions of Vale, near the older cities in the mountains. They claim to be confiscating objects important to the history of their people, mainly through theft or extortion.”

“Any use of violence?” Homet asked.

“None that’s been accredited to them, but you never know.”

“They just want to keep their stuff right?” Hayte asked. “What are we supposed to do if they engage us?”

“Technically the ‘stuff’ belongs to the people of Vale, who are members of the GAIL. Their government requested the research of the Singing Iron be done off world as a safety precaution. If they show up, non lethal only. I’m not starting a firefight with a bunch of hippies.”

“Understood, commander.”

As Danny walked away to his office, he heard Ritz ask “what’s a hippie?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Translated to E24; Human; English]

[Both a historic find, and terrible tragedy today at the geological survey in the Vodek province, where 4 people lost their lives in a horrible accident. It’s unclear now just what exactly transpired, but initial reports are saying that a piece of mining equipment struck what seems to be a naturally occurring deposit of Vishal Dirac. Why this wasn’t found during previous scans of the region is unclear, but…]

Danny pinched the bridge of his nose. This was going nowhere. A planets worth of information on the Vale and Singing Iron barely covered two articles. Their government was working double time to ensure nobody learned about it. He’d had to use his GAIL command codes just to get clearance to read the barely 7 pages available at his security level. If this stuff was as dangerous as they said, Danny wanted to be as prepared as possible, and get it off his ship as quickly as he could.

Maybe some food would help clear his head. Danny grabbed a data pad and transferred the articles, leaving his office for the mess hall.

On the way there, he saw ensign Grite pushing a bucket around with a mop. His gray security uniform was replaced with a white jumpsuit, for the custodial staff. It had a bright yellow smear down the left side and on both knees, so he’d probably been cleaning something unsavory in the last few hours.

“You got a little something, right here,” Danny said as he walked past, making a ‘everywhere’ gesture. Grite glared at him, but said nothing. Danny saw 2 of the other 3 Sed down the hall a ways, one male and one female. Maybe they’d come to see what had happened to their 4th, but Danny didn’t say anything to them as he passed, just nodded and moved on.

The mess hall was probably the most interesting place on the ship, at least in Danny’s opinion. The Vending Machines in use on board the Noah might have been made on Earth (with the help of some alien tech to get things started) but they were used by everyone on board. Each unit had been programmed to produce cuisine from each member planet in the GAIL, so everyone had a little slice of home to enjoy during the year long mission. So many people in one place, interacting and living together, it honestly brought a tear to Danny’s eye. The safety of these people was his responsibility, and he was glad they were happily going about their day without worry.

Danny’s Grandfather had been a marine during his service, had fought to bring peace to the Earth during the initial shock of finding out they weren’t alone in the galaxy. A lot of people had trouble adjusting to a new truth. Finding out you weren’t the center of the universe was apparently a hard pill to swallow for some. Rebellions, wars, some pretty bad stuff happened in the first year or two before everything settled. His mom joined the service later as a pilot, flying rescues and aid all over the planet. She had said it was the right thing to do. People were scared and confused, so she felt a need to help, felt it ‘in her bones,’ she’d say.

“It’s the kind of thing heroes do, right Danny?” he remembered her saying one time, after coming back from some mission on the other side of the world.

Danny had always wanted to help people. When he was younger, he’d play knight with sticks and tubes and such with the neighborhood kids, saving the day and fighting bad guys. He didn’t really get the whole ‘soldier’ thing as a kid, but he understood that his family helped people, even the ‘new’ people, just like the knights of the round table from the stories his mom read to him before bed. Danny always figured he’d wield a sword and shield instead of a high powered plasma rifle, but the concept was similar. He’d followed in his family’s wake, taking up arms to help keep people safe.

Danny typed the command into the Vending Machine and got his own little slice of home to eat, a thick slice of pizza with 3 different types of meat on it. He saw a table taken up by the Bravo team from security and asked if he could sit down. He made small talk, gave them a brief overview of the mission and told them to expect a more extensive document to be sent to their data pads, and ate his food.

From across the mess hall he saw the 4 Sed make their way into the room, skip the Vending Machines entirely, and take up a small table against the wall. They seemed… uncomfortable in Danny’s eyes, but they didn’t look outwardly hostile to the other crew anymore. The same couldn’t be said for anyone else though. Apparently word of Grite’s demotion had made its rounds, as well as the reason why, and tables near them got up and moved away. Danny couldn’t say he blamed them. Leaving a man behind was unthinkable to a Marine. If anything, Danny was surprised the other Sed still interacted with the coward Grite. He’d read up on them, the Sed, the Borin, supposedly one of the most ‘ancient races in the galaxy’. They were supposed to be honorable warriors, but Danny had yet to see anything even remotely resembling honor.

Supposedly, the Stone Men, or the Sed, claimed to be the oldest race there was. They were prideful, often called arrogant, of their stony exterior. Their exoskeleton was said to be the mark of their superiority, able to take ray fire without giving way. And apparently, that ‘Highest Peaks’ thing Grite had called himself was the title given to only their most experienced warriors.

Danny hadn’t been that impressed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Noah dropped from WARP at the rendezvous point right on schedule. The Val’kao was a few thousand meters in front of them, waiting.

“Helmsman, bring us around to port, and send word the shuttle bay to get ready for our visitors,” Skitch said.

“Acknowledged.”

“Captain, if you don’t mind, I’d like to be down there to meet them myself,” Danny said from his station.

“Feel free, Chief.”

Danny got up and left the bridge. Walking past the communication center on the way to the shuttle bay, he saw one of the Sed coming out, the female, her stony exterior a lighter tan than her fellows, like the color of good wheat.

There was something there Danny was seeing that he couldn’t reconcile. Her yellow uniform marked her as a communications officer, so it made sense that she’d be coming out of the comm room. There was a ship closing in that would need to stay in radio contact with them, so it made more sense for her to be in the room than not. For all intents and purposes, the Sed woman being there made total sense to any logically minded being.

But that didn’t mean that Danny couldn’t see all the ways it was wrong too. She was staring at him as he walked the hall, her rocky fingers gripping the data pad a little too tight, she flinched ever so slightly when she locked eyes with him. It made perfect sense for her to be there in that moment but every instinct Danny Ducane ever trained was screaming that something was wrong.

So he took note of it. Of everything. He never slowed down, never missed a beat, just continued walking down the hall like his brain hadn’t made the decision to investigate every detail of sensory data it collected. The whole situation, as it was, lasted a grand total of 8 seconds. And then he was past it, in the lift, and on the way to the shuttle bay.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The cargo transfer went smoothly. Various I’s dotted and T’s crossed. Hands shook. The crew from the Val’koa looked relieved when the Singing Iron was off their ship. The stasis gel capsules looked like someone had taken a ton of jello and suspended souvenirs from a museum gift shop in them.

A couple of artifacts had caught the security crew’s eyes. Coola seemed fascinated with a set of drill bits and pick axes. Ritz was looking over a series of what looked like blacksmith tools, long pairs of tongs and a narrow hammer. One artifact in particular caught Danny’s eye. It’s looked like a big pitch fork, but the prongs were all sharpened to a razors edge. The data pad said it was an ancient Vale vibrating sword. Apparently the 13 prongs were struck on the ground to set the body shaking before emitting a massive sonic wave in the direction of the enemy.

“Cool,” Danny said quietly. Maybe it wasn’t a knight’s sword, but hey, swords of any kind have a kind of magic to them.

“Didn’t they make armor or shields or anything to play defense with?” Homet asked, looking at the checklist.

“The stuff vibrates so hard it would sheer your organs apart, bud,” Danny said.

“Oh. Makes sense.”

“Okay guys, once we get all this loaded up, it’s a straight shot to outpost 19.”

“I don’t get it Chief,” Hayte started. “if the thieves wanted to take the cargo, why not just take it now? The outpost would have more security and much better defenses than a freighter in orbit.”

“Maybe they thought it would be safer in a more stable environment,” Danny said. “Any of this stuff takes a bolt of plasma fire and it could rip a hole in the ship.”

“Or maybe,” said a new voice, “only one of the Staal Mirac had the nerve to try and take them from a GAIL ship!”

The group turned in unison, seeing a lone figure. He was wearing a cargo runner uniform, the same as the rest of the Val’koa crew, and in his hands was a Vale pistol. His purple skin had splashes of scales across his hands and up his neck, his head wrapped in a bandana with a mask around his face. To Danny eyes he couldn’t have been more than 20 years old in human years, maybe younger. This was a kid, no doubt about it.

“Nobody move!” The Vale kid said. Danny could see a slight tremble in the hand holding the weapon. He was standing only 20 feet away, more than close enough for anyone to take a clean shot. More than close enough for one of them to get shot, too. They did as they were told.

“Is that your hippie, sir?” Ritz asked quietly, hands raising slowly into the air. Danny ignored him, wishing he’d put his work belt on. What good was a stun gun when it was in your office?

“Now,” said the young man, “you’re going to load this into a shuttle for me, and you,” he pointed at Danny with his free hand, “are going to sit in there with me while they do it.”

Danny said nothing, just nodded, and kept his hands raised as he walked slowly into the nearest shuttle.

He sat down in one of the seats while the Vale boy took the pilots chair. He hit a button and the door sealed shut, locking them in, then another to begin the engine firing sequence.

“You know your way around one of these,” Danny said. “You a pilot?”

“Yes,” they said shortly. “Get on your communicator and tell them to begin loading the artifacts.”

“What’s your plan here?” Danny asked. “Take a GAIL officer hostage, steal one of our shuttles, live happily ever after with those other thieving friends of yours?”

“They are not my friends,” said the Vale boy. “They are liars, and they are scoundrels. They stole those other artifacts to sell to the highest bidder, they do not care about our history, our culture!”

“Is that why you left them behind? So they couldn’t sell off what belonged to all the people of Vale?”

They said nothing. Danny could see little beads or blue sweat on their forehead, but it wasn’t even warm in the shuttle. They took their mask off and wiped their face before tossing it aside. This kid was young even by human standards.

“What’s your name kid?”

“… my name is Valco, and I am not a child.”

“No, of course not, you got a stolen shuttle and a gun on me, that makes you a man don’t it?”

“You would mock me when I could kill you right here?” Valco jabbed the gun just a little too close. Faster than he could think, Danny’s hands shot out and snatched the ray gun from out of the kid’s hands.

“I think I would, yeah,” Danny said, dismantling the weapon. When it was 9 parts on the floor, he looked at the Vale known as Valco. He looked confused, slowly morphing into scared. Neither of them moved.

“Okay, Valco, how long were you acquainted with the Staal Mirac?” Danny asked.

“What?”

“It’s just a question bud. I don’t think it was too terribly long if you’re opposed to their views this badly.”

“I- I- I joined them, a [zelen] [English: month] ago. They were at the grand market looking for supporters, to trick!”

“Easy, easy kid, you’re alright. I just have a couple more questions for you,” Danny said gently. He moved his booted foot to cover the blaster parts just in case.

“Why are you speaking to me like a friend, you are not. I am nobody to you.”

“You’re right. Hello, my name is Daniel Ducane, but you can call me Danny. It’s what friends call me,” he said, as mellow as possible. The kid looked like he was about to stroke out.

“See? Now we’re friends. Danny and Valco, thick as… well, apparently not thieves, which is great!” Danny chuckled. “So I’m assuming you overheard some stuff in that club that didn’t sound great, so now you’re running solo to keep Vale history safe, am I close?”

“What?” Valco said again, visibly sweating bullets now. Danny had to take a new approach. This kid wasn’t a criminal, wasn’t a bad guy, he was just a kid who in his own crazy way was trying to do the right thing, or at least what he thought was right.

“Okay… alright, let’s do this. We’ll make a game out of it, yeah? Do you have 20 questions on Vale?”

Valco shook his head.

“Well it goes something like this, I guess. You ask me a question, I’ll answer honestly, then I’ll ask you one, and so on and so on, okay?”

Valco nodded.

“You first, go ahead,” Danny said. Valco looked at him blankly.

“Why did you take apart the gun?”

“Because if I just left it sitting around, either of us could be tempted to use it. Better if all we can do in here is talk now.” Danny applied pressure to his foot and felt something crack beneath it. Good riddance.

“My turn, okay? Why did you do all this knowing the Staal Mirac were fakes?”

“…because my people are forgetting their culture. We were warriors, we were explorers, and now we are just… just miners, giving pieces of our planet and our history away to people who are not Vale.”

“I get that. You feel like the Vale’s identity is fading away, right?”

“Yes, exactly!” Valco said. “I thought the Staal Mirac understood this, but they do not, they are the problem, selling away pieces of our soul to make profit,” he spat out the word. “I used their name so people would not come looking for me afterwards.”

“Smart, kid,” Danny admitted.

“You asked a question, yes? It is my turn again.”

Danny laughed and nodded.

“What’s going to happen to me?”

There it was.

“Well Valco, you stowed away aboard a ship, impersonated an officer, and held another at gunpoint. And tried to steal a shuttle,” Danny said flatly. Valco’s face dropped further at each word.

“But here’s my input on this. Cargo ships have terrible crew logs. Stuff falls through the cracks all the time.”

Valco looked up, confused.

“What are you-”

“And you didn’t really do anything while aboard the Noah, just kinda sat around and talked more than anything.”

Valco’s mouth hung open in disbelief.

“Honestly, if anything you were actually a huge help in catching known thieves on your planet, the Staal Mirac! Assuming you are going to tell me where they are, yeah?”

Valco’s eyes widened.

“Yes, yes, I know exactly where they are, and I know where the artifacts from other robberies are being stored!”

“Okay then, that’s sorted,” Danny said. “Look kid… Valco, you seem like a good guy. Just got a little confused and made a mistake. So since you didn’t hurt anyone, I’m gonna stick my neck out for you. Here’s the deal…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BANG BANG BANG!

Ritz was banging on the shuttle door with the butt of his rifle while the others were getting into position. Chief Ducane had turned his radio off when he’d gone inside with the Vale, and that had been 20 minutes ago. The small ship had began takeoff preparations, but just as suddenly it had powered down. What was really worrying them was Danny still hadn’t gotten in contact with them.

Just before they were about to start burning a hole in the door with a laser drill, static popped across their comms.

“So if you all could not shoot us when the door opens, I won’t have to dock anyone’s pay, okay?”

“Chief!” Coola cried, relieved, “Are you okay? Did… is the Vale-”

“My new friend Valco here is just fine, and there’s no threat guys, so you can power down those rifles I know you have trained on the door, okay?”

The shuttle door opened, and there was Danny, dusting his hands together. Valco stood behind him, but Danny assured everyone it was fine.

“Homet, get me a line to the Vale security office down on the planet. We know where the Staal Mirac are hiding now.”

“Sir?”

“Today man, before they move.”

“Acknowledged.” Homet took off at a jog to the communications center.

“Coola, Ritz, does the captain know what happened here?”

“We sent a report when you went in, but…” they both shrugged.

“Send another, tell Skitch everything is fine, and we have a guest that needs something to eat. I’ll be in the mess hall with Valco here.”

“Chief?” Haute said questioningly.

“Yeah?”

“We’re not shooting the hippie right?”

“Correct. And he’s not a hippie. You’re a good kid, right Valco?”

Valco nodded.

“See? Totally fine. Now, about that grub I was talking about…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outpost 19 was a refurbished mining rig on an asteroid in the outer stretch of the system. Reinforced walls and deep foundations made for a good environment to test dangerous materials. The Noah sat in the port while the unloading process was carried out.

In the mess hall, once Danny got some decent food in him, Valco really opened up. He told him where the actual Staal Mirac were hiding, what buyers they used, everything. By the time Danny fed him some desserts, Valco trusted him like they spent years together instead of a few hours.

After he was done, Danny walked him back to the shuttle bay.

“So tell me again, what are you gonna do?”

“I’m going to assist in the artifact transfer to outpost 19, then take a shuttle back to Vale with the investigators. Show them where the thieves are hiding.”

“And then?”

“I’m going to send communications to your friend in the embassy,” Valco nodded, “who will check up on the artifacts for me from time to time.”

“Good. Now here’s my information. I’m gonna call you myself in a week, see how you’re doing, make sure you’re staying out of trouble. And if you need anything, you call me, okay?”

Valco nodded, clutching his new comm-link.

“I can’t thank you enough, Mr. Danny,” he said.

“It’s just Danny, kid, we’re friends remember?”

Valco boarded the transfer shuttle and they were off, flying out to Outpost 19. Homet, who’d been standing nearby watching, lumbered over.

“Just when I think you humans can’t surprise me anymore… that was a real nice thing you did for that kid, Danny,” he said.

“He was just a little lost. Everyone’s been that age where they feel the urge to go save the world somehow. He’s just more proactive than some.”

“Could be he ends up in the GAIL fleet if the feeling’s strong. You said he was a pilot? Could be our next helmsman!” Homet laughed.

Danny hoped not. Kids should get to live peacefully, even the big ones like Valco. Leave the fighting to the grownups.

“If you’ll excuse me, I have to go explain this to the captain before he blows an antenna,” Danny said.

After he was gone, Homet looked across the expanse of space while the hangar doors were still open.

“You humans are so weird,” he said. “Hope you never stop surprising me.”

[onskepa]

hello again! Could you make the sully family including Mo"at and tonowari family react to how to train your dragon and both of them to be in the same universe.

hello sweetie! Okie, so its been so loooooooooooooooong since I watched the movies, so I took my sweet ass time to re-watch the first movie [idk if ya wanna ask for more in the future]. So I only placed the important events. So sit back, relax and enjoy~!!

---------------------

Myth or Ancient?

“Here, and be careful not to touch the shiny part with your fingers, it can ruin the colors. So it's super delicate” Norm carefully instructs tsireya and rotxo who nod enthusiastically. “You can trust us Norman sir” rotxo promises with a wide happy grin. Saying their bye’s, tisreya and rotxo run to the village as they start to talk about what sort of ‘snacks’ to eat for when they watch the disk called ‘movie’. 

“Demon technology is very interesting when it is not scary. How can this round thing show colors or people?” tsireya wonders as she stares down at the flat box that is protecting the disk. Rotxo shrugs, “even if lo’ak or kiri explains to us, I get the feeling we will still be confused” he says. They make their way slowly as they look at the cover of the thin box. 

Tsireya squints her eyes and reads the letters but if anything, the bold red kinda annoys her eye site. “That is a lot of red…” she muttered. She usually sees human language in green or white. Rotxo leans in, “do you think the colors have different meanings?” he wonders. This time tsireya shrugged. 

Lo’ak and neteyam were showing ao’nung how a camera works while their parents chat in a not so far distance. Everyone had their noon meal, stomachs full and in a mood for tea as the other villagers enjoy their relaxing day. 

“Wait so I just stare at this circle thing and-” 

*SNAP!* 

“Ow! My eyes! Did it just blind me!?” Ao'nung screeches dramatically as he rubs his eyes, adjusting from the sudden flash of light. Lo’ak was cackling like a madman as neteyam chuckles at the reef prince’s antics. “Oh I have to see the result!” lo’ak says as he snatches the camera from ao’nung. 

As the boys looked at the result, mo’at, jake and neytiri were talking with tonowari and ronal. “There are many ways the people have enjoyed themselves, even with demon technology that causes no harm. We do keep it very limited to usage and the purpose of it” neytiri explains to tonowari and ronal. And as if on que, running towards them was tsireya and rotxo. 

“Mother, father, look what sir Norman granted us to see” tsireya says happily as she shows the thin box to the adults. Tonowari leaned in to see. “There are tiny letters that I cannot read so well,” he says. Tsireya hands it over to Jake to see if he can read which, Jake grins happily. “Babe, it's your favorite movie,” he grins. Neytiri's ears perk up and tail swaying happily, “how to train your dragon?”. Jake nods in confirmation. 

“What is it?” Tonowari asks, “something I believe you might all like. Come, let's prepare for what we call a movie night” Neytiri smiles wide as she answers his question.

Food was cooked and shared, many mats, cushions, and other forms of sitting was set as Jake and norm prepared the projector. Tonowari and his family got the best seats, right at the center where they can see the view perfectly. 

“How will we see this…movie?” Ronal asks as she cradles her young baby. Spider brought little treats for her baby kindly answers. “In simple terms, the movie will be seen like physical people telling their story, like 3D”. Ronal just stared at him, lost at the explanation. He chuckles nervously, “you know what? Best to see the magic yourself”. 

After 30 minutes of everyone huddling together, sharing their portions and for the Eclipse to take full effect of the night, norm began to press play. 

And for the metkayina family, they gasped in awe. Massive colors of mountains, the sea, the clouds! They looked so solid and floating in mid air! 

“Majic of holograms-” 

“Ok shut up lo’ak”

 “This is Berk…” 

The main character began to speak, narrating about his home and life. Show how it is at night, from the animals to the form of the berk village. The whole style captured the reef na’vi attention very well. 

“Incredible….” Tisreya mutters as she leans against lo’aks shoulder. 

“The only problems are the pest” 

The scene zooms in on the poker face sheeps, enjoying their nightly dinner with all of a sudden claws grabbing it. Ao’nung and rotxo gasped, just what was it? 

“Most people have mice, or mosquitos, but we have….” 

A door opens to see the sheep running away, and a monster flying dangerously close looked at the open door and breathed out fire. 

“Dragons!” 

“Dragons? What are those?” Tonowari asks, neytiri not far from his family simply smiles, “proud and fearless creatures, like the ikrans' '. Neytiri pops a popcorn in her mouth as she snuggles with Jake, enjoying her all time favorite movie. 

“Dragons…” Ronal repeats but with wonder. Oh they definitely have the family’s attention now. 

“What is he doing out here ag-what are you doing out here?! Get inside!” 

“That is stoick the Vast, chief of the tribe. They say when he was a baby, he popped a dragon's head clean off from its shoulders. Do I believe it? Yes I do” 

Hiccup narrates of the large man who was able to easily pick him like nothing. 

Tonowari looks at the leader being show, “why is his face mostly hair?” he asks. “Thats how the vikings were back then. Said to attract and scare off anything” Jake replies easily. Tonowari hums at that, slowly liking this stoick guy. 

The movie continues to show the insanity of the dragons attacks. Their fiery breaths destroy so many homes, taking animals left and right. And the people fend them off in many ways. Utter chaos all around, but shows how it is their normal everyday life. 

For lo’ak and spider, hiccup has become their favorite character. Despite the awkwardness and having to be kept inside from dangers, they can understand him on a deep level. Which is why they understand hiccup’s need to kill a dragon, his way of “making his mark”. 

“One day bro…one day” lo’ak whispers to spider. But the human boy nudges him away, “dude you became brothers with a tulkun. I think you already made your mark on that” spider says in a deadpan way.

Spider can understand hiccup from how their own bodies are. Yes spider isn't shaped to stand the planet's environments but he makes it through. Just like how hiccups is small and lanky, he makes his way through his crazy viking life.

“So many different types of dragons….and many are so ugly” Ronal says as hiccup lists different dragon species. Tonowari can't help but chuckle, his guess, dragons are not meant to be a pretty sight if they are considered dangerous creatures of the skies. 

“There are prettier dragons you know” Neytiri comments. 

Ronal turns to her, “how so?” 

“Later you shall see. I rather not spoil the fun”

As the scene goes on, the one, the only, night fury dragon has entered the battlefield. Everyone cheers for that dragon, a common favorite in the clan. “Amazing! I want to see the full view of the nightly beast-what is hiccup doing?” it was rotxo who said that. He enjoyed the building hype until the next part focuses on hiccup setting up what looks like a trapping weapon. 

“He is going to get himself killed!” ao’nung whispers/shouts. 

“Yeah, that is going to happen a lot in this” neteyam calmly answers as he offers popcorn to ao’nung to whom happily accepts. 

“Yes! Did anybody see that?!” hiccup shouts excitedly. 

“He did” tsireya points happily as the monstrous nightmare dragons crawls up from the cliff. 

“Well he is toast” 

Neytiri cringed a bit at Jake's joke, but held in her laugh.

But as the next scenes go, things didn't go as smooth as stoick would have liked. Having more things being burned at the dragon chases hiccup, only for later to be given a lecture in front of the massive crowd. 

“I feel you hiccup” lo’aks voice cracks as a single tea falls from his face.

“The forest looks so pretty” tsireya comments as she admires the pretty view of the berk forest. Similar to the omatikaya forest, yet it is still different. Human environment truly never bores her. But as she admires the scenery, they reach the part as hiccup searches high and low for the night fury dragon he has shot down while ranting and venting his anger. 

“He found it!” rotxo points out the obvious thing but doesn't care. The suspense grows, hiccup takes out his blade which makes the sully’s give out a chuckle. “Tuk’s blade is bigger and sharper than that” neteyam says as he calms himself. Tisreya looks over at him. “Now that you mentioned is, where are your sisters? I figured they would enjoy this too” she wonders. Neteyam shakes his head, “no, they have something better”. 

Not sure what he meant by that, but tsireya accepts his answer. 

“Oh he is a beauty…” ronal admires the slow scene of the night fury. Capturing every detail and its mesmerizing green eyes. The look of a dangerous, unpredictable hunter. Something about it gives chills down her spine. 

“Indeed, he is my second favorite dragon,” Neytiri adds. Ronal wonders if another like the night fury will appear later on in the movie. 

Hiccup takes deep breaths, hesitating, heart racing. 

“He isn't….he isnt going to kill the dragon is he???” ao’nung asks, already feeling sad for the poor beast. Nobody answers. The tension is rising. The music is rising to its peak. Will he do it? Will he cut out the heart? 

Will the night devil accept his fate? 

No because hiccup decided to cut the ropes and only faint a minute later after releasing the dragon. 

“That was crazy of him, but also with the night fury” tsireya looks at the scene. Feeling worried about hiccup. There was a lot of stress happening in those few short minutes. “Makes you think if he still wants to follow the ‘viking’ style like his people” ao’nung comments, making air quotes like how the sully kids do.

“Can you stop that?!” gobber shouts at fishlegs who for some odd reason is doing quick math as gobber lists the dragons that are behind the tight metal gates. 

“Interesting kids…” Tonowari obersves how each teenager is like. From the annoying twins to the tough girl act, Astrid. While at the same time, Jake was able to enjoy how Astrid was like. Reminded him so much of a certain tough girl. 

“Today is about survival. If you get blasted, you’re dead!” Gobber informs. Tisreya claps her hands as ao’nung listens to what gobber is saying. 

“It is just like an iknimaya. Learning at first hand, "Tonowari says in awe. He enjoys the scene as the kids in screen run for their lives and make a fool of themselves. The reef kids all smile as they remember their early stages and future stages of their iknimaya. 

“Is it similar to what you had to go through?” Ao’nung asks neteyam, the young boy nods “similar yes. Remind me of how we tamed out ikrans”. 

“And remember, dragons always go for the kill” Gobber stares at hiccup after his massive mistake. Ao’nung and rotxo tilt their heads on that one. 

“If that is true, why didn't the night fury attack him then?”

Hiccup began to slowly gain the trust of the nightfury, keeping his distance while feeding it fish. 

“I guess for humans its harder since neither the dragon or hiccup have a way to connect” it fascinates tisreya. Using a queue makes a bond easier. However for humans, it takes a lot of work and a lot of patience. And it shows the results. 

The nightfury, who was given the name toothless, has come to enjoy hiccups presence. 

“Their bond grows stronger” Tonowari looks in awe. Reminds him of how the animals bond and grow alongside the na’vi. As the movie continues, seeing how dragons live, and learning through hiccup, it was literally learning a whole new world, or in this case, the old world. 

Ronal however, seems to wonder about future possibilities. Balancing a secret and becoming ‘popular’ is multitasking. “It is only a matter before the truth comes to light…”

Ronal was correct. 

Hiccup’s secret was found out, without meaning to. He has a final test, to defeat a dragon in the trial dome. Everyone was cheering him on, but his life was in danger. Hearing his shouts, toothless heard and ran for his aid. Exposing to the whole village that the infamous nightfury was there all along. 

And to make matters worse, stoick used toothless as a naivator to find the queen of the dragons nest. 

“He is going to get everyone killed!!” tsireya shouts/whispers. Hugging her knees tight, feeling sad for hiccup and toothless. 

Clearly a war with the dragons seems very dangerous, even with the prepared weapons to take all of the dragons down, the queen is not a dragon that can be taken down so easily. And when she came to full view, was she terrifying. 

“So horrid…” 

“Yet to captivating” 

Neytiri and Jake enjoy seeing the metkayina’s reactions. The reveal of the queen never fails. “The queen will surely give me nightmares tonight” Ao’nung says, not liking how many sharp teeths the giant dragon has. Neteyam chuckles at that, “don't worry my friend, a true dragon queen is never ugly. Beautiful in reality”. 

Ao’nung looks over at neteyam with some doubt, “you make it sound as if you met a real dragon” 

Neteyam didnt say anything further and just enjoy the movie.

“NO!” 

Rotxo hid his face with the empty popcorn bucket, not wanting to see the impact of hiccup’s ultimate demise. Tsireya hides her eyes also, ready to cry if the poor boy is dead. “Please tell me he is not dead…I can't look '', lo’ak chuckles at that. “Come on, look, you will miss it” he encourages. Gently lifting tsireya’s chin to face the film, worry clearly seen in her eyes. 

In sigh of happiness and relief, they all see toothless covering passed out hiccup. Stoick goes to see his son, safe and in one piece. Well, almost in one piece. 

“Oh no…” Ronal covers her mouth as it is revealed hiccup lost his leg. Tonowari leans in, whispering to himself, encouraging hiccup he can do it, he can walk with his new leg. “It's not going to stop him, for sure” ao’nung says, his eyes so glued in to the final parts of the movie. 

“If the queen couldn't, nothing will” lo’ak says. 

“It was hardly a queen” netyiri gently scoffing at the dead horrid dragon. 

The door opens to show the village waiting for hiccup, welcoming back. And with a newfound perspective, thanks to him. Now the village embraces the dragons as their new companions. And of course, a new saddle to ride on, hiccup takes his flight in the new era of humans and dragons. 

“This is berk, its snows 9 months of the year and hails the other three. Any food that grows here tough and tasteless, the people that grow here even more sore. The only upsides are the pets. While in some places have ponies, or parrots, we have dragons” 

The credits began to role, thus the movie ended. 

Tsireya and rotxo clapped enthusiastically, as ao’nung nodded in appreciation. Ronal and Tonowari nodded to neytiri and jake, their way of saying thanks for the delightful entertainment. 

“That movie was incredible! But, were dragons indeed real? Have they gone extinct?” Tsireya could help but ask. She learned that the vikings were indeed real, but what else was real? As she asks aways, Ronal couldn't help but just notice something. 

“Neytiri, where are your daughters? I haven't seen them since we got here” she asks. Neytiri chuckles a bit as she prepares some late night meals for everyone, “they will all be here soon” 

“No sooner enough” was the voice of mo’at as she entered their home. The sully family welcomes her in, the metkayina greeting the tsahik. Mo’at sits beside her grandsons and accepts the meal from jake. “Where is kiri and tuk if I may ask? They missed such an amazing film!” Tsireya asks mo’at. 

“That movie of the dragons? I have seen it endless amounts of times I can recite the whole thing. My granddaughters would agree on that” mo’at answers. 

“But where are they?” 

“Enjoying the real dragon experience” 

This confused the reef na’vi a bit. But before anyone else can say anything, there was a loud shreek. It was an unfamiliar sound, at least to tonowari and his family. But this sound brought smiles to the sully family. “Right on time” jake said, everyone running out to see what it was. 

Opening the flaps wide, ronal peeked out and gasped loudly. 

“Is that…” 

“Oh my Eywa they are real!!” 

A dragon! A mighty one at that! It gently flapped its wings, landing down safely on a very thick branch. Climbing down was kiri and tuk, whose hairs were literally everywhere. “We are home!” tuk announces happily, running towards jake who catched her in mid jump. “Mom, you should have joined us, it was simply wonderful,” kiri says as she smiles. 

Tonowari and his family were left stunned and speechless, a dragon, in front of them! 

“Come on, dont just stand there, you want to meet her?” Lo’ak says as he and neteyam go to the dragon. 

“Her…?” tonowari repeats. Neytiri happily goes over to the dragon and gives her many kisses, the dragon releases what sound like pleasing purrs. 

“Yes, this is…..” 

The ending is up to you to interpret. But I hope you guys enjoyed it! Until next time! See ya!

[milliesfishes]

⋆౨ৎbilly teaches you about halloween⋆౨ৎ pirate billy x fem mermaid reader

One of Billy's absolute favorite things about you was how curious you were, how excitedly you coaxed the world to open up to you in beautiful ways. Life was your oyster, but you were the pearl, in his opinion.

On the days when he made it down to your secret spot to meet up, you'd always greet him with a kiss, and he'd sit down to answer any questions that had accumulated in his absence.

Today you'd reached up for him as usual, and he'd bent in the surf to scoop you up and hold you while standing, the way you adored. "Hi baby," he murmured, kissing your nose. "How's m' girl?"

You smiled, wrapping your arms around his neck and pressing a kiss to his nose. "I'm good. I missed you."

"Aww, missed you too, angel." Billy began to wander around the beach, keeping to the routine, keeping a steady pace as he held you firmly. The sun was beaming down, swathing you in a halo of the highest order, only the best for his girl. He finds a nice place at the thick, sturdy base of a palm tree, settling you on his lap. Your tail flutters in a satisfying way, a sure sign of your relaxation.

As expected, you're quiet for a moment, just enjoying being with him after what felt like such a long time of not. But just as always, you raise your head from his shoulder with that remarkably adorable look on your face, lips fixing to ask. “Billy? What’s All Hallow’s Eve?”

That immediately broadens his smile, stretching it like a line to a knot. “Didja hear people talkin’ ‘bout it, sweet girl?”

“A few villagers,” you affirm, nodding to prove your point. A strand of salt combed hair fell over your shoulder, hanging like a stretch of seaweed from the railing. “They were talking about lots of things about it. And I’ve never heard of it before.”

“Hmm.” Billy rakes his fingers through your hair as if smoothing it out. He gathered his words, trying to think of a way to explain the holiday. “Well…it’s a celebration, y’know? For the fall.”

“The fall of what?”

You tilt your head and Billy smiles, dragging the pads of his fingers over your collarbone. “‘s the name of the season baby. When the leaves change colors.”

“Do they?” You lift your chin to look at the palm trees, enormous leaves fanning out in a lengthy curtain blocking the lowering sun.

Billy rested his chin on your head, grinning like he’d come across sunken treasure. “Not these leaves. Leaves in other places. On the continent leaves change colors. Turn red ‘n orange ‘n yellow. ‘S real pretty.”

Gasping in delight, you tugged on his arm securing you. “You need to show me someday. I wanna see the pretty leaves.”

Ducking to press a kiss to your cheek, Billy murmured, “Course I’ll show ya baby.”

Satisfied by this response, you shifted comfortably in his arms, leaning back against him. “So what happens on All Hallow’s Eve?”

“Children dress up ‘n play tricks,” he explains, recalling his own celebration of the holiday when he was a child. “Folks tell ghost stories. Or stories ‘bout anything that ain’t human, really.”

“Would they tell stories about me?” you giggle, turning around in his arms so your belly is pressed right to his.

Pressing his lips to your nose, Billy allows a chuckle to slip past his lips. “Can’t imagine anybody who knows my girl wouldn’t be tellin’ stories ‘bout her.”

“What story would you tell?” you question, drawing seashell patterns into his chest.

“I’d talk ‘bout the prettiest girl to ever cross my way, tell ‘em ‘bout how sweet she is, how she’s got a voice like an angel…” Billy trailed off, getting lost in his own imaginings. Then he came back down to earth, realizing himself and dutifully kissing your forehead. “Anyways, that’s just the beginning.”

“I hope you have it all ready to tell by the time we go see the pretty leaves together,” you said sweetly, resting your cheek on his chest.

“I will, baby,” Billy promised, setting his big hand on your crown. “I will.”

tagging @kellielovesmovies because <3

[heartfullofleeches]

*slowly opens your closet door and hands you the rest of the chips I was eating in there*

What if. Reader kissed King's scars or traced over them n asked if shed tell them how she got em? I think scars are neat and I dunno about you but personally I'd love to know how she got em. Hope your day is well!

Not a scratch on her.

You distinctly remember the claws of your attacker digging into the exposed meat of the knight's bicep her armor failed to shield yet here there is no mark to prove it. The two of you sat in King's dressing room following the incident, and all the time it took you begging to pull her off them. You thought you'd be fine on your own for a little while without her - clearly word hasn't gotten around the casino that you belong to her just yet. After she checked you over and made sure you weren't hurt it was only fair of you to do the same, but once you scrubbed all that blood off her there really wasn't much else for you to take care of.

"Hm......"

King lifts her head from the pile of pillows you both lay on, dismayed by absence of your hands on her. "Everything okay over there? Seems like you got something on your mind."

"Just thinking.... You've got so many scars, but that other demon didn't even put a scratch on you ... Kinda curious why.."

"Oh, that? That was nothing.-" King sits up, pounding a fist against her chest as she rises. "Takes a lot more than a coward like that to put a dent on this body. Hell, my skin's thicker than the steel I throw on. The stories behind every single one of 'em could the tale of centuries."

"Really?.... Then do you think you could tell me how you got your scars? I actually think they're pretty neat, but I didn't know the right time to ask you about them."

The mountain of pillows crumbles under the heavy swish of King's tail. "Yea....course... we'd be here all week if I told you how I got them all, but I can start off with some of my favorites for now."

King removes her chestplate - gesturing for you to climb in her lap as she regroups the pillows beneath her. She leans back down as she takes your smaller hands in hers, placing them on her abdomen. It was almost impossible to tell where her skin began and the old wounds ended. She guides your fingers to a crescent shaped hole just below her left pec - right over her ribs.

"Feel that? Got that one during the first tournament I feared I might lose. Underestimated the little bastard due to their size - barely came up to my knee in this form, the fucker. Unfortunately for them, they got a little too confident and all it took for me to wipe the floor with that small fry was catching them once.

"Amazing...." Your trace your fingers over the scar, dipping your head until in range to place a soft kiss on her hardened skin. King flinches - tail threatening to foundation of the pillows again as it shoots up with her.

"Wha- Huh?!- The fuck was that?"

"Sorry... Was that not okay? I guess I should've asked before I did that."

King's used to people asking about her scars. She may have been asked to be been kissed once or twice, but that was often by drunken fans - not the little treasure she picked out for herself. You are aware she could snap you in half at any second? You most definitely did, and that she'd never put you in serious danger. Still, you being so careless around a beast like her has got feeling a rush that's incomparable to the surge she feels in battle.

"Nah...." King shifts her tail benath her legs to hide the excitement it gave away. "A warning might've been nice - but your boldness makes it kinda hot. I knew I picked the perfect person to call mine.... Let's move on."

King nudges your fingers further north over her heart to anotger oddly shaped scar over her heart. With three points it almost look like a crudely embroidered crown. "This one. Welcoming gift from the boss themselves. Should'a known not to underestimate that other demon after dealing with them, but they're such an airhead it's easy to forget they can take care of themselves just fine."

Again - you kiss the blemish, the dragon's heart hammering loudly in her chest you can feel its rumble from your lips. There's other's she'd like to show you, but it you're so willing to kiss all her marks....

"Hey, got another one I think you might like."

King lifts her helmet over her jaw - shadows pealing away to unveil the wide, branching scar starting from her lower lip to benath her chin. She grins to show off the extent of the injury, the skin of her lips splitting to reveal more of her gums the further her smile creeps up the side of her face.

"This one? First and only time an angel tried to mess with our staff. Something about some demon winning the soul of someone they were watching over in a gang of cards. Made a huge fuss, but it was nothing I couldn't handle. Scar I'm most proudest of."

You ghost your fingers along her jaw, smiling as she slides her large hand down your back. "Uh-huh.... Something tells me there's another reason you wanted to show me this one in particular..."

"Don't get too full of yourself... Heh, who am I kidding." Tossing her mask aside, King pulls you for a kiss - a loud, yet oddly polite banging on the door interrupting the happy moment.

"Ms.King? We are all very glad you have found someone you are willing to protect at any cause, but some guests have raised concerns about your displays of victory. Please stop stringing your prey up over the pool. This is the third time we've had to close it this month."

[lanalaynetalks]

Tenrou Island is one of my favorite arcs! I love this arc so much. I think this is possibly a controversial take. I don’t know. My favorite thing about shows is learning more about systems in the world. I think it’s just so interesting to see how wizards become s-class. This is going to be long. I am so sorry I love this arc so much. It’s a lot of Cana… I ADORE CANA. Plus a lot of Levy and Gajeel! I just think this arc features so many fan favorite characters so well. This is also before The Thunder Legon was nerfed so they have some cool moments. Just I love this arc so much!

1. I do think it’s crazy that they really just throw us into the arc with no filler episodes/arc between. I think this is one of the only arcs that doesn’t have filler episodes before or a filler arc.

2. Fairy Tail having a sacred place implies that other guilds do as well.

3. Something I find weird about S-Class wizards is why does the title follow you from one guild to another. Juvia and Gajeel were S-Class in Phantom Lord, but not Fairy Tail.

4. Silly thing time! Hiro Mashima trying to put all the main characters and main side characters on the island.

5. Lisanna and Juvia. I wish we kept seeing them as friends.

6. Evergreen and Elfman are one of my favorite ships and should be a main ship. It should be the big 5 instead of big 4. They were more together by the end than any of the other ships! I LOVE THEM!

7. Oh Mest… I miss your silly personality. Also how did he go from ok looking, to hot, to Nastu wannabe. I will be mourning when we see hot Mest for the last time.

8. Why did Makarov keep picking Cana? It seems a little cruel.

9. First Mavis mentioned. Mavis is one of my favorite characters of all time. I love her so much. Fairy Tail Zero is so good and made me love her more.

10. While pacing was my biggest issue for the last two arcs I feel like this is when the show found its pace. Without this arc the grand magic games would have not been as good as it was. I said what I said!

11. If I walked into the route and saw it was Mira I would have just walked away. Mirajane scares me the most out of all characters in the show.

12. I’m going to say it! I ship Lily and Carla! I said what I said!

13. I never got why Hades was so obsessed with Zeref. Because Zeref literally taught him how to use magic. I also wish we got more info on why he turned evil. It’s hard for to believe e he would attack Fairy Tail because he was a founder and was like best friends with Mavis. Him being Precht makes no sense because we never get a full explanation on how he turned evil other than he basically accidentally went down the alt right pipeline

14. I will never get over the Iron with a heart in the O. When I saw it for the first time I screamed and I still scream and fangirl over it!

15. Makarov talking Gajeel into joining Fairy Tail will forever be one of my favorite Gajeel scenes.

16. This arc is really when we start seeing Wendy come into her character and she becomes less of just the little kid to a true character.

17. It’s heavily implied you can’t say no to being Fairy Tail’s guild master. We see Makarov be like lol no and Precht being like lol too bad. Then we see Guildarts being like lol no and Makarov being like lol too bad! Then we see Guildarts being like lol as master you are now master again! Like can they really not say no?

18. I wish we could see Makarov in his prime. I know there has been discussion about how the series is going to continue. I don’t want next generation Fairy Tail I want to see old generation Fairy Tail. I want to see Makarov and his old team beating people up. I want to see Precht as guild master. Or even early days of Makarov being guild master! I would even be ok if it was like Fairy Tail Zero where it was a one arc story.

19. I do have a theory that Precht made Fairy Law. I don’t think it’s stated ever that Mavis made all the grand fairy spells but I maybe wrong. So that’s how he was able to make Grimoire Law.

20. Another theory I have is that Precht took care of Makarov after Yuri’s death.

21. Now this is an out there theory. I know it. I believe that Yuri called Laxus back to the island. HEAR ME OUT! We know that some things just happen in Fairy Tail especially with the living and the dead. Yuri promised to always protect Mavis also his son was in danger. His legacy (Fairy Tail) was in danger. I also think that it could have been Mavis, but I think it’s more poetic coming from Yuri.

22. Makarov saying it’s up to his successor and us being shown Laxus… I am going to call it right now. The end of 100 year quest we will be seeing Laxus becoming master. This would be a perfect way to end his character. This is not the post to get into it, but ya that’s my prediction.

23. God Slayers… oh the magic that was sort of forgotten about. How sad.

24. I will die on this hill. Laxus should have been the Lightning God Slayer. This would had been able to connect him, Ivan and Hades together in a perfect way.

25. This arc also has some of my favorite speeches.

26. One thing about me is I am absolutely sat every time Mirajane transforms.

27. Elfgreen is such an underrated ship.

28. I love Evergreen so much.

29. Capricorn is cool! I really like him even if he isn’t used enough. I love him! Probably second favorite spirit. First is Aquarius because I am an Aquarius and she is just awesome.

30. Favorite Juvia moment is when Meredy said she was wanting to kill Gray.

31. Also wow the show that has shown over and over again to become more powerful is to channel your emotions is showing how emotions makes people more powerful. I really don’t get why people give Fairy Tail so much hate using the power of friendship. It’s almost like we are shown over and over again that is literally how it works. More emotion = more power. It also makes me more mad now knowing the show was created because Hiro Mashima was lonely.

32. One of my favorite things to come out of this arc is Juvia and Meredy’s friendship.

33. Honestly Juvia vs Meredy is my favorite Juvia fight.

34. Cana my love. We both have daddy issues. She just like me for real!

35. Me realizing I’ve misspelled Gildarts name this whole time… oops

36. Seeing Cana’s mom’s will and seeing Cana’s cards being around it. I think her mom also used card magic.

37. Can we talk about how Cana was defeated by Laxus in her first S-Class trial. We don’t talk about this enough!

38. I truely believe that any minor inconvenience Cana threatens to use Fairy Glitter.

39. Fairy Tail having grand spells implies that other guild have grand spells

40. Rip thunder legion…. They aren’t dead they just get hella nerfed after this arc. Well more than they already were after the battle of fairy tail.

41. One thing about Gray is going to try to cast ice shell.

42. I love Ultear so much. She is one of my favorite villains.

43. Lily being scared of thunder and lightning. Adorable. I love him.

44. I do think Hades being a founder was added later on because when he revealed he was the second guild master he didn’t mention being a founder and I think that’s something that would have been mentioned.

45. LAXUS IS BACK BABY! ONE THING ABOUT LAXUS HE KNOWS HOW TO MAKE AN ENTRANCE!

46. We are so spoiled in this arc. We got so much of side characters showing their skills.

47. So Nastu just got the flame lighting power. Honestly don’t understand how it worked! But I don’t care because it’s cool! Wanna know what’s not cool? The fact that Wendy is the only 1st generation dragon slayer to not get an extra dragon slayer element. I hope by the end of 100 year quest she gets something. I want cobra to give her poison. Because that would be badass.

48. The exceed side mission is so adorable and goofy. I LOVE IT.

49. To think of Hades just kept his Fairy Tail emblem he would have been able to win the final fight because the tree was restore

50. People say it’s a plot hole that Ultear was able to restore the tree because she said she can’t use her magic on living things, but I think it was just bad phrasing and really it’s like humans and animals she can’t us her magic on.

51. The Laxus ship that makes the most sense to me is that him and the thunder legion are just a poly relationship. Yes Elfman is apart of this.

52. Another reason why I don’t think Hades was always supposed to be a founder of Fairy Tail is because how did he not recognize Zeref as the man who taught him magic?

53. I love Gildarts and Cana so much! I know if Cana told him from the start he would have stopped going on his long jobs to take care of her. He is such a girl dad.

54. Everyone begging Makarov to let them stay and fight is another moment that makes me cry every time. Honestly the whole episode does.

55. Most iconic scene in Fairy Tail is them holding hands and no one can change my mind.

56. Mavis protecting her guild. Her babies! I love her. The foreshadowing of fairy sphere being more powerful than Acnologia.

Tenrou Island is one of the best arcs. It is also a soft reboot of the show. I can’t wait for the grand magic games. I don’t know if I’ll watch the clock arc. I haven’t watched it in years. It is always a skip for me because I want to get to the grand magic games. I know I missed a lot during this arc and forgot to write things down. I watch the show while working on my school work. I love talking about Fairy Tail so don’t be shy send me things! Thank you for reading me fan girling over my favorite piece of media! The grand magic games post will likely be multiple parts because I think it’s peak Fairy Tail.

[otherworldseekers]

Then vs. Now: Severia Zetsuen

Summer, 2017

Severia was my 3rd attempt to create a character to play the game. (The first being a Middle and second a Miqo. Didn't make it past the mid 30s level wise.) Despite not knowing if I would make it that far, we sprang for HW so I could try an Au Ra. Originally her name was Severia Kirigakure. (I was playing a mobile dating sim called Samurai Love Ballad Party a lot at the time and my favorite character was Saizo Kirigakure.) She had red highlights in her hair and white eyeshadow for some reason. At this point, she was nothing more than a body for me to experience the game through.

Summer, 2019

I had made some small changes to her at this point. Got rid of the red highlights and eye shadow. Started using long hairstyles without bangs. It was during my journey through Shadowbringers that she began to feel more real to me. Perhaps because the writing took a much more personal turn. And I felt the twists and turns of the story much more strongly as she began to come into her own. It was after finishing 5.0 that I first began to flesh her out as an OC and changed her name to Severia Zetsuen.

December, 2021

At this point I've gotten into mods and have begun using additional scales, a longer tail and hairstyles more in line with her personality. I also decided to give her some lip gloss. I've been shipping her with Nero for 2 years and she's become a bit of a clothes horse for my gposing. I've also started using reshade which I think makes a big difference.

Late 2024

Post-Dawntrail update and subsequent adjustments, Severia is a little different. The update changed her facial structure a lot more than I liked. I commissioned a mod to make some subtle changes to her nose and mouth. Her limbal rings are much wider, making the red of her irises harder to see. And I decided to make her skin several shades darker. It took me a while to get used to the changes, but at the moment I'm happy with where she is. My delight with the way her skin color looks now really helps lessen the negative effects of the other changes that were out of my control.

Overall, I think over the years her essence has remained the same. As you can see by the fact that she's been wearing the same Choral Chapeau ever since she got it!

Tagged by: @starrysnowdrop and @floweramongstthecold

Thank you!

Tagging: @umbralaether @dragonsongmakhali @airis-ray @haellen-o and anyone who hasn't got a tag yet!

[impala-dreamer]

Like He Owns It

A Story from The Top Gun Universe

~Working late sometimes has its advantages, even if it seems like all you’re getting is annoyed…~

Jake “Hangman” Seresin x F!Reader

1776 Words

NSFW, Snark and Sex, Fun times. | Originally Published to Patreon Sept 2023

Impala-Dreamer’s Masterlist  ~  Patreon  ~ Published Works

He walked in like he owned the place, ignoring the sign on the door clearly stating the bar was closed. 

A burst of hot air accompanied his entrance, battling the air conditioning and making Y/N look up from the till. Shadowed by the night and haloed by the few neon lights still on above the bar, he looked like a romantic lead plucked right out of a Hallmark movie.

Y/N hated Hallmark movies. 

She sighed and shoved the register closed with her hip. “Sorry, we’re closed.”  

Hangman sucked his teeth and grinned. “Yeah, I can read.” 

“And yet- you still walked in.” Y/N narrowed her eyes, trying to appear unimpressed by the sharp, sunkissed jaw and flash of white teeth. 

“I said I can read, not that I care.” 

Rolling her eyes, Y/N grabbed a damp rag from the sink and made a show of buffing the beer taps. “I’m busy and we’re closed. What do you want?” 

Green eyes scanned her body and Y/N felt every second of it. Annoyed but slightly excited by his observation, she leaned over to catch a spill on the bartop and gave him a peek down her tank top. 

He sucked in a quick breath and wet his lips with the tip of his pink tongue. 

“Hello?” Clearing her throat to regain his attention, Y/N asked again, “What do you want?”

Hangman straightened up and rolled his shoulders, pulling her gaze to the thick muscles under his shirt. “I was in here earlier,” he explained. “You might have noticed me.” 

She had, but she wouldn’t admit it. “I see a lot of flyboys around here.”

He grinned and held his hands open as if showing himself off. “But none like me.” He winked.

Y/N rolled her eyes. “They literally all look like you.” She sighed, feigning annoyance and utter exasperation while hiding her growing interest. “For the last time, I beg of you- what do you want?” 

Feeling slightly dejected, Hangman looked away and sucked his teeth. “Sunglasses.” 

“What about them?”

“Lost them.”

Y/N puckered her lips in thought and swept her eyes over the bar. “Not here. Sorry.”

Three strides forward had him against the counter. He set his hand down and drummed his fingertips over the dull lacquered wood. “Mind looking in the lost and found?” he asked with a soft look. “They’re my favorite pair.” 

Y/N laughed. “You think we have a lost and found?” 

“Sure. What happens to all the stuff people leave behind?” 

She nodded in understanding and reached below the bar, pulling up a small black garbage can. “Behold- The Lost and Found. Help yourself.” 

Jake tongued his cheek and narrowed his eyes. “You’re a real peach, you know that?”

“Am I?” She leaned in and set her forearms on the bar. 

His eyes flew to her cleavage. “So far, yeah.” 

“Maybe I’m just irritated and I wanna go home,” she offered. 

A tiny smile twitched in the corner of his lips. He leaned forward and mirrored her pose. “And what’s got you irritated, sweetheart?” 

Slowly, Y/N licked her gently parted lips and moved in closer. She stared into his green eyes and pushed her tits out for him. “Well…” 

He held his breath as his blood rushed south. 

“Right now…” 

She lifted her chin as if she meant to kiss him and his eyes glazed over with desire. 

“What’s irritating me…” 

He leaned closer, pulled to her like a magnet. 

“Is you.” 

Y/N slapped her hands on the bar top and pushed away, leaving him hanging in the air like a kite whose tail got stuck in a tree. 

He shook himself and grit his teeth. “Look- Just… help me find my sunglasses and I’ll be out of your hair.”

“I already told you, I haven’t seen them.”

When she turned back, she found him with a pathetic look on his chiseled face and a slight pout on his lips. 

“Please?” 

Y/N relented. “Fine.” 

Maybe she was overly tired; maybe his puppy-dog eyes had worked on her. She didn’t know which, but whatever it was, she knew the faster she found his glasses, the faster she could get home. 

They checked behind the bar, only once bumping heads as they looked beneath the sink.

They scanned the bathrooms, finding nothing but each other in the connecting hallway. 

She looked by the piano, he investigated the big booth in the back. 

Wherever they turned, they came up short. 

“Are you sure you left them here?” she asked, spinning around with her hands on her hips, clueless and out of ideas. 

Jake was on his knees at the far end of the pool table, surveying the underside. “I’m positive.” 

Y/N followed his voice, her eyes sweeping over the green felt. “I just don’t know where-” A glint of metal tucked into the back corner pocket caught her eye and Y/N rounded the table to grab it. “Well, looky here-” 

His head popped up just as she snatched the glasses. “Nice! Thanks.” He reached for them, but Y/N teased them away. “Hey!”

“Hey, what?” A playful smile pulled at her lips. “Finders keepers.” 

He sat back on his heels. “I don’t think so.” Again, he tried to catch her hand but she hopped up onto the pool table and held him at bay. 

“Nuh uh… Mine now.” She put them on and grinned. “Don’t be upset. They look better on me anyway.” 

Jake bit back a smile. “So you have noticed me.”

Y/N gave in. “Hard not to. You run in here every night and command the room like some kinda royalty.” 

He sat up on his knees. “Maybe I am.” 

She pulled the aviators down onto the tip of her nose, looking at him over the mirrored lenses. “King of the jerks, maybe.”

He held back a chuckle and set his hands on the table, caging her in as he pushed up between her legs. “You think I’m a jerk?” 

Her breath got caught as he slid upwards. He didn’t touch her, but she could feel his heat; smell the day’s work and faded aftershave on his neck. “Um…” Her snark fell away as he stood up fully, his lips flying by hers like a jet around the tower. “You are-” 

“You don’t sound too sure anymore.” He dragged his bottom lip between his teeth and her attention was locked on the flash of white on pure pink. She shivered and he dared to lay his right hand on her hip. 

“P-pretty sure…” Heart pounding, eyes fluttering, she held perfectly still as his left hand ran up her thigh. 

“Pretty sure you don’t really care right now, do you?” 

A lust-drunk laugh fluttered in her chest and Y/N tipped her head back, looking up at him through delicate lashes. “I do not…” 

“That’s good because-”

His words died in her kiss. Y/N grabbed a fistful of his collar and dragged him in, licking between his lips before he could process what was happening. 

They were matched one for one and he loved every second of it. 

Y/N snaked a hand around the back of his head, scratched at his scalp, made him moan into her mouth. 

“You are such a jerk-”

He palmed her tits, rolled his hips up into her, pulled a shocked gasp from her lips when he pinched her nipple. 

“You’re a goddamned peach…” 

Her shirt landed on the booth behind him.

“I think I dislike you very much.”

His jeans knocked the pool cues from the wall. 

“Feeling’s mutual.” 

Her bra hooked onto the hanging light above the table; his boxers slid across the floor. 

Jake laid her back with a trail of kisses that plotted a wet line down her body and Y/N melted into the hard table. She clawed at his massive arms and spread her legs wide. 

“This is really bad for the felt,” he joked, sliding back up to nibble at her ear. 

Y/N tugged at his blond hair and rocked her body up against him. “I’ll send you a bill for any repairs.” 

He laughed. “Deal.” 

Jake pushed up onto his tiptoes and nudged his cock against her slit. She shivered and leaked for him; squirmed down onto his swollen head. His calves strained and he bit down hard into his lip trying to get the angle right. 

“You havin’ issues?” 

He scoffed. “Never.” 

Y/N hummed and pushed him back. He stood there shocked for a moment until she hopped down and bent over, offering her backside. 

“Well?” she teased, spreading her legs and pushing her tits down onto the table. “You gonna fuck me or what?” 

He clicked his tongue. “So classy.” 

“You know it-” 

The moment he slipped inside, all pretense fell away. Every snarky comment, every cocky smile died down as her body clamped down around his thick cock. 

Y/N held on while he pistoned inside of her, jerking his hips with one goal in mind. 

“You’re… pretty good at this,” she moaned, bucking back onto his cock when he slowed. 

A giant palm cracked against her ass. “Peaches, I am the best.” 

She wanted to snap back, give him something to dwell on later, but her mind blanked when he snuck a hand around her body and tapped her clit. Her jaw fell slack and her eyes rolled high. 

“Fuck!” 

“I may be cocky,” he growled, rubbing faster, “but I’m not selfish.” 

Every muscle tightened up and Y/N held her breath as the pleasure peaked. Her legs shook and he gripped her hips, holding her still while he fucked her through it. Each jolt of orgasm made her cunt squeeze him harder, and soon he was thrusting like an animal; all technique and fancy tricks vanishing while he chased his release.  

He came with a tight-lipped moan that trickled down her back like warm honey. Y/N squirmed against him, making sure he gave up every bit he could. 

A moment of silence overtook them and Jake gingerly pulled out. She felt a mess leak down her thigh and she laughed. 

“Man, I’m glad I worked late tonight,” she mused, still high on bliss and aching. 

“Me too.” 

Jake reached around and plucked the glasses from her face, returning them to their rightful spot. She turned to see him: naked and glistening in the dim bar lights, offering a sleek smile and a lazy salute. 

“America thanks you for your service, Miss.”

Y/N rolled her eyes and tried uselessly to hide her blushing grin. “Anytime, Lieutenant.” 

2024 Tag List:

@alwaystiredandconfused @caplanbuckybarnes @cevenasdove-baby @cosicas-cuquis @deanwinchesterswitch

@feelmyroarrrr @foxyjwls007 @illicithallways @jackles010378 @k-slla

@luvr4miya @nightxcreature @peytongoose @shadyloveobject @somebrokeartstudent

@zepskies

Add Yourself To The List

[the-100-days-of-junkan]

Day 67

Tattoos! I actually have an exciting (for me personally) story for this one! 

First let’s focus on the pic though. 

I just thought it’d be cute to have them get some romantic matching tattoos. It is not that complicated unfortunately. 

Okay now the story! 

So you know by now that some of my favorite works of this ship come from good friend of the blog @vanadisvalentine, and i’ve likely mentioned a few times by now that she has a currently ongoing Fic, “A Year of Love and Despair.” Well if you’ve read that (which you should if you haven’t already by the way), this pic might be reminding you of her chapter made for Constitutional Memorial Day. Well if you go down to the description you’ll notice that my previous Alias for both this account and my writing blog is mentioned, CJ! 

That’s right, by some miracle I accidentally inspired that chapter with this pic, a fact that still boggles my mind. And when I found that out at the time I got a crazy adrenaline rush from the excitement. 

You’ll notice that in the fic itself, the design of the tattoo is different from what’s featured in the art. Being a Purple Cross with the Monokuma heart in the middle rather than two different tattoos to represent the two. Fun fact, when this chapter came out I had completely forgotten what I drew for No. 67, so when I went back to look at it for the first time I was like “wait, these aren’t the designs in the fic.” And then I was kicking myself for not coming up with that, because it’s significantly better in my opinion, no idea what was going through my head at the time of drawing.

Oh yeah this is also how I found out that Mauve is a color, and not a descriptor for looking sad. I may be an artist by trade but that does not mean I’m smart about it lsjadhflsdhfsjd.

I’ve actually been thinking a lot lately about getting a Tattoo myself! Now the first and foremost one I want to get is The Fairy Tail Guild Mark across my left hand (the one I draw with). However if I were to say what I’d want to get after that, definitely the tattoo featured in this fic! I feel like this ship at this point is violently woven into my bloodstream enough to where I’m willing to get it permanently etched into my flesh. Maybe on my shoulder? Not sure yet! 

As always, Reblogs, Comments, and Little Notes in the Tags are appreciated!~ They always make my day!~