#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.

[zstartrixxx]

𝑳𝑶𝑽𝑬𝑹, 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑺𝑯𝑶𝑼𝑳𝑫’𝑽𝑬 𝑪𝑶𝑴𝑬 𝑶𝑽𝑬𝑹.

ˡᶦᵒⁿ ᵏᵃᵐᶦⁿˢᵏ ˣ ᶠᵉᵐꜝʳᵉᵃᵈᵉʳ

𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘: Lion Kaminski has exactly seven days to prepare for what his older brother calls "the most important fight of his life"—but focusing is hard when you're no longer by his side. In a manic cycle of memories bleeding into the present, Lion tries—really tries—his best. Yet all he wants is for you to reappear in his life one more time; 'cause burning with love for you, he knows it’s not too late to hold you in his arms again. 𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒: after an incredible 15 days (and a lot of procrastination), i finally finished my humble fanfic about my favorite character from jack, lion kaminski—whose connection with him was very… special, i'd say. that bond with his only brother, that certain vulnerability hidden behind his tough boxer persona, how sweet and funny he is… well, i've already watched this movie three times (which i think is actually too few), and this idea came to me between the first and second viewing. maybe i'll write more one-shots about him—could be in the same vibe (angst with fluffy), or just angst, or just fluffy, or maybe something smuttier, idk… anyway, i also took inspiration from my drabble about him, SWEET EYES. that's it, let's flood this fandom with love and content for our baby—he deserves it!! 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒: sad, hurt/comfort, a lil' bit of smut (it's more a "making love" thing with a slight breeding kink idk), more sadness and hurt&comfort, angst AND fluffy; toxic relationship dynamics and a LOT of dialogues. i really tried to keep the essence of the characters throughout the story. 𝐖𝐂: +7k for whoever is going to read it, a great read! <3 likes, reblogs and comments are greatly appreciated :)

𝖫𝖨𝖮𝖭 𝖪𝖠𝖬𝖨𝖭𝖲𝖪𝖨 𝖯𝖫𝖠𝖸𝖫𝖨𝖲𝖳 | 𝖬𝖠𝖲𝖳𝖤𝖱𝖫𝖨𝖲𝖳

but tonight you're on my mind, so you never know, broken down and hungry for your love with no way to feed it; where are you tonight? child, you know how much I need it. too young to hold on and too old to just break free and run. lover. (you should've come over, jeff buckley)

"And when you wake up, please cry for me. When you wake up, wake up, wake up. Wake up. Wake up, Lion— Wake up, Lion!"

𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐘.

His eyes fluttered open as he felt light taps against his face, followed by an intrusive finger poking his ear. At his feet, Ash wagged his little tail against his shins. The smell of boiled eggs with oatmeal and his brother’s voice—low, almost maternal—woke him fully.

"Alright, I'm up," he grumbled, dodging another playful slap from his older brother, who made a face. He kicked off the blanket and sat up on the bed. Stan looked him up and down, dressed in gray sweatpants, shirtless and barefoot, holding a mug with that protein sludge he called "champion's breakfast." He grinned warmly:

"Ah, Lion, don’t be a pain now, bro! Get your ass outta bed, eat your champion’s breakfast, and get ready. We’re going for a run today. We’ve got less than a week until the big day." He shoved the ceramic mug into Lion’s hands. The smell of eggs mixed with oatmeal hit his nose, making him grimace. He lifted his tired eyes to Stan, who kept that shameless grin on his face: "No cheating! You can’t give it to Ash."

"Fine. Just give me some space—" He took the mug from his brother’s hands. Stan stared at him for a few seconds, studying him, probably reading him like a book. Then he walked out of the room, but not without tossing a sharp comment over his shoulder:

"Walter Kaminski, if you keep moping over your ex like some lovesick fool, we’re not going anywhere. Nowhere."

And with that, he was gone.

Lion glared angrily and exhaustedly at the empty hallway of the apartment they shared. He whistled for Ash, who jumped off the bed and trotted to his feet, tail wagging as he ate the food Lion offered—Stan always left protein bars lying around, knowing Lion would prefer them over his "champion’s breakfast." He grabbed one, tearing it open with his teeth, feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders. He glanced to the side, at the wall opposite his bed, covered in pinned-up photos and collages he’d made—a childhood picture of him and his brother, his Kaminski Kleanners collage, a poster of his brother’s favorite fighter, and a bunch of photos of him with his girlfriend.

You.

Your photos were his favorites—both the ones of you two together, side by side, practically glued at the hip, and the ones of just you, taken with his phone’s camera. His absolute favorite was from the day you met. It was during his shift at the towel factory. He was finishing up a piece he’d just sewn, trying to steady the slight tremble in his hands from the fight the night before, his older brother pushing a cart full of towels when you appeared beside someone else—attentive eyes, polite smile, gentle hands picking up the towels between your fingers. Then your gaze cut through the crowded room and locked with his, staring back with a mix of curiosity and passion.

Love at first sight.

You smiled at him like you were old friends reuniting after years, waved, and kept walking. Lion thought he’d never see you again, but he was wrong. When he least expected it, lost in his sewing, you appeared in front of him, smiling, hands behind your back. You stared at each other for a long moment. Lion was too shy to make the first move, so you spoke up:

"Do I know you from somewhere?"

"I don’t think so…"

"That’s a shame! I thought we’d met before…" You gave him a long look, waiting for something. Anything. Lion smiled gently, glanced around, amused:

"But we can get to know each other. If you want, of course."

Flash.

You both blinked, momentarily blinded by the camera flash, then laughed at each other. Lion turned his phone around to show you the freshly taken photo—you two close together, him smiling shyly, lips pressed together, while you were all smiles. Your eyes were red from the harsh lighting, and Lion pretended he’d delete it when you stopped him:

"No! It’s perfect! We look like two vampires in love or something…"

Lion laughed and stared at you with shining eyes. He was already falling head over heels for you in that little corner bar.

Lion smiled at the memory, rubbing his eye. But then another memory overlapped the first—you, upset, arms flailing as you paced back and forth. Lion tried to grab your hands to calm you down, but you were skittish, crying, your tone sharp. Harsh. Lion fought back tears. Behind you both, Stan sat on the couch, expression serious as he watched you gather your things—backpack, rolling suitcase, another handbag—before stopping by the door, staring at Lion with a pain he’d never seen in your eyes before.

And he did nothing.

He stood there, frozen, passive, while you said something his memory refused to hold onto. And the worst part? He couldn’t even remember the most important things—just watching you walk away. Without looking back.

He closed his eyes, forcing the scene out of his mind. He took a deep breath, finished the protein bar, tossed the wrapper aside, and petted Ash with a sad little smile on his lips. He stood up and stretched. Your face flashed in his mind, followed by the realization that it had been twenty-three days since any contact. The last prolonged argument you’d had was months ago, and by his count, you’d never gone more than twenty-four hours without one of you running back into the other’s arms, full of apologies, desperate kisses, and the (apparently false) certainty that nothing could ever tear you apart.

But something had torn you apart. Something so deep and intense it ripped you from his arms, from the nights curled up in bed, whispering about your future dreams, laughing at stupid jokes, and trading kisses until you fell asleep.

It hurt more than any punch he’d taken in the underground fights. More than the harshest words from his older brother—he was used to those by now. But he wasn’t used to your absence. Maybe this was something he’d never learn to live with.

He took another deep breath as his brother’s voice called from somewhere in the apartment:

"Kid, hurry up, or you’re gonna be screwed for the fight."

"Fuck this damn fight," Lion thought, pressing his slightly trembling fingers—a chronic symptom from fighting bare-knuckled—against the bridge of his nose. He counted slowly to ten, trying to steady the anger and anguish churning in his stomach.

Damn the day he ever listened to his older brother.

𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐘.

Lion pulled his phone from his pocket—an older model you’d gifted him after his previous one had been battered beyond recognition. Compared to his old one, this one was light-years better. The moment the screen lit up, a photo of you appeared: you smiling at the camera, face slightly turned, hands stuffed into his dark blue windbreaker, trying (and failing) to look blasé—"laconic," as you’d put it—but ending up unbearably cute instead. It had been the cause of many laughs and your failed attempts to snatch the phone from his hands.

"Delete it! Delete it right now, Lion!"

"But you look beautiful, babe! I’m not deleting it!" His voice was playful as he held the phone high above his head while you tried to reach it.

"I know! But it’s not how I wanted it to look…"

"Oh, c’mon… Here’s the deal—" He finally lowered his hands but kept a tight grip on the phone, the screen already dark. You looked at him curiously, a small smile playing on your lips.

"Hmm?"

"I’ll keep this photo on my phone for a week—" He held up a finger. "—in exchange, you get to pick my outfits for the next few days."

The effect was instant. You stepped back, eyes lighting up, a goofy grin spreading across your face.

"Really?"

"Would I lie to you?" he teased, smiling sweetly. Disarmed, you jumped on him—not to grab the phone this time, but to hug him with all your strength, cover his face in kisses, and squeal in victory. In the ‘battle’ you’d fought against his older brother for Lion’s independence, getting to dress him the way you wanted—without Stan’s opinions on ‘Italian high fashion’—meant everything to you. And to Lion, too.

Now, all of that was just a memory he struggled to hold onto, grasping at the fleeting sensations of pure joy he’d felt with you. He checked his messaging apps—your contact was still there, but the last message was his, sent twenty-four days ago, unanswered. At least you’d been merciful enough not to block him.

He sighed, shoved the phone back into his sweatpants pocket, and looked up just as Stan jogged toward him. His brother had been waiting outside the training center, leaning against the wall while he handled "whatever the hell he needed to handle."

Lion hated the side jobs Stan took, the borrowed money from Pepper, and how he kept them both in the gutter by dealing with that kind of crowd. As Stan reached him, slightly out of breath but grinning ear to ear, he took note of Lion’s scowl.

"What’s with the shitty face, kid? Don’t tell me—" He gave Lion a condemning look. Lion rolled his eyes.

"Cut the crap, Stan. Did you handle whatever you needed to?"

"Yeah. We’re clear now. We can go into Saturday’s fight without any issues." He smirked proudly, winking at Lion before pulling out a pack of cigarettes. He lit one, took a drag, and nudged Lion’s chest to get him walking. Side by side, he exhaled smoke before asking:

"How’s that heart of yours holding up? You know fighting with a grudge in your chest only makes everything worse, right?"

"Stan, mind your own business," Lion snapped, hands shoved in his pockets, gaze fixed ahead. "I know how to take care of myself."

"I know that, kid! I just want what’s best for you. That’s all." Stan exhaled smoke to the side before pulling Lion into a sideways brotherly hug—the kind he always gave at the worst times. He ruffled Lion’s hair, stopping them both in the middle of the sidewalk.

"Say you love me!"

"Stan—"

"C’mon, Walter Kaminski! Say you love me and that you’re gonna wreck this fight on Saturday, and I’ll let you go!" He laughed at Lion’s pained expression. Lion tried to lean away from Stan’s cigarette breath as passersby shot them odd looks. Finally, he gave in, muttering:

"Fine, fine. I love you… And I’ll wreck the fight… Happy?" He glanced at Stan, whose grin widened as he hugged him tighter.

"That’s my Lion!"

"My Lion," you mimicked Stan’s exaggerated tone, rolling your eyes, arms crossed as you walked ahead of Lion. You’d just gotten home—you from your job as an interior design consultant, him from a fight he’d only been told about after he’d won. Stan had stayed behind, celebrating his cut of the prize money at some bar. Lion dropped his bag, sidestepped Ash (who trotted up to him, tail wagging), and followed you down the hall.

"Hey! Hey! Babe, wait!" He caught up, gently grabbing your shoulder to turn you toward him. "I was gonna tell you, but you know how Stan��"

"Stan’s always in the middle of everything! Unbelievable! When I agreed to date you, I didn’t know I’d get a fucking leech as a bonus!"

"Don’t talk like that, babe. He’s my brother…" Lion replied, slightly offended. You stared at him, the weight of his hand on your shoulder suddenly feeling suffocating in your anger.

"Lion, he treats you like his property. His possession—my Lion, my Lion won for us, my Lion did this for the both of us. For fuck’s sake! He doesn’t include me, doesn’t even have the guts to tell me about these damn fights, which is supposed to be something we talk about! It’s exhausting, Lion. So fucking exhausting!" You jerked away from his touch. Lion’s face twisted in pain—the absence of your touch left him anxious and needy. You took a deep breath, squeezing your eyes shut, fingers pinching the bridge of your nose.

"Sometimes I think I lose you a little more to your older brother every day, Lion. And if that’s your choice, fine. At least you’re making some kind of decision for your life. But if it’s not—if you really want us to work…" You stepped closer, your heart softening at the abandoned-puppy look on his face—lost, sweet, like someone who’d suffered too much but kept going anyway. 

Love exploded inside you, side by side with that anger (and maybe jealousy, possessiveness, a petty competition with his older brother) you felt for and toward Walter Kaminski. Your hands cradled his face gently.

"I need you to fight back. For me—" You pressed your forehead to his, eyes closed, feeling his warm breath against your skin. "—for us. Fight for yourself, Walter. My Walter…"

𝐓𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐃𝐀𝐘.

"My name is Walter Kaminski—spelled with an ‘i’ at the end, but my brother prefers writing it with a ‘y,’ not that I care much…" Lion spoke calmly to the woman in front of him, sweaty hands resting on his knees. "I’m 29, turning 30 this August…"

"I see. And what brings you to our company, Mr. Kaminski?" the woman asked softly, waiting for his response. Lion paused, thinking. He thought about his dreams, his life, but mostly about you—how you always knew exactly where you wanted to be, something he admired deeply. And that was exactly why he was here, sneaking away from his older brother, doing something he’d never had the courage to do in all these years: applying for a real job, one he’d chosen himself, without Stan’s interference.

It made him proud—and he knew it would make you proud too.

Lion scratched his left cheek, met the woman’s eyes, and answered with complete honesty:

"I’m really good with my hands. Look, ma’am, I use them for heavy work—fighting—but I also use them for delicate things, like sewing. Even though I’ve lived like this, my real dream is to start my own business, like a dry cleaner, just like this place. I think working here would help me learn how to handle things the right way."

He smiled hesitantly, unsure if that was the best answer. The woman gave him a polite smile, hands folded on the desk, listening intently. When she realized he was done, she chirped, "Alright, understood!" jotted something down, then typed a few more things on her computer. Lion watched with cautious hope. Finally, she turned back to him.

"Lion, we really appreciate your interest in joining our team! Right now, we’re still in the interview process, so we can’t promise anything solid yet. But we’ll keep in touch over the next few weeks. Who knows? Maybe an internship opportunity will open up at one of our locations?"

Lion relaxed his tense shoulders, leaning back in the chair, head slightly raised. He smiled at her, relieved.

"Of course. I’m at your disposal."

Funny how, as he said that, all he could picture was you looking at him with pride and expectation.

What a fool he was.

He left the store holding a few company pamphlets.

What he didn’t expect was to find Stan across the street, leaning against a wall, smoking, Ash on a leash beside him. Stan waved at Lion, calling out, "Hey, get over here, kid!" Lion crossed the empty street under the gray Wednesday afternoon sky, suspicious.

"What are you doing here? Weren’t you supposed to be at the factory or something?"

"I should be asking you what the hell you’re doing here, little brother," Stan shot back, voice sharp and bitter. He glanced at the dry cleaner above Lion’s head, pointing at it with his cigarette. "In some fucking dry cleaner? You here to clean the shit stains outta your clothes or what?" He laughed mockingly, but Lion knew that look—far from amused, closer to anger barely contained.

"Look, Stan, I don’t owe you an explanation for what I do or don’t do with my life—"

"This is about that ex of yours, isn’t it? Tell me, kid, is this her idea?" Stan took an exasperated drag. The dismissive way he talked about you sent a surge of rage through Lion, who clenched his fists.

"Whoa! Easy there, Lion! Just asking a question!" Stan raised his hands, grinning like always. Lion snarled:

"No, Stan, you’re not just asking shit! You’re just butting into my goddamn life like always, and I’m sick of it!"

Stan exhaled deeply, his grin shifting into disbelief. He shook his head, tossed the half-smoked cigarette on the ground, and crushed it under his sneaker.

"This is so unreal it killed my buzz… Fuck! What did I do to deserve this…?"

"Stan, don’t start—just give me Ash, and let’s go home—" Lion reached for the leash, but Stan dodged.

"We’re not going anywhere!" His voice rose. "You’re gonna tell me what the fuck you’re up to, Walter Kaminski. Now."

Lion could’ve refused. He could’ve shrugged and walked away, head down. But the contempt and fury boiling inside him made the words burst out:

"You wanna know? Fine! I’m trying to get my shit together! Unlike you, who’s only worried about your next fancy outfit or whether you’ll have enough money to pay off Pepper or some other lowlife, I’m trying to get my independence and get out of this mess. Happy now?"

"And you’re gonna do that by working at some shitty dry cleaner?" Stan scoffed, pointing behind Lion, who took a deep breath, the scent of blood and fury filling his lungs. Stan laughed mockingly.

"Man, this is a joke, right? With your boxing future right in front of you, one step away from something real, and you’re out here looking for this kinda work? You’ve lost it…"

"The only one who’s lost it is you, sticking your nose into everything I do!"

"Fuck’s sake, Lion! Don’t mess with me!" Stan threw his hands up, eyes wide. "I’ve spent years training you, always putting you first, in everything, and after all that, just because of some girl who didn’t even love you—’cause if she did, she wouldn’t have left over some stupid shit—you’re out here trying to take on the whole world? It’s fucking pathetic, bro. Fucking pathetic!"

"Don’t talk about her like that," Lion warned. Ash barked at their raised voices, and passersby shot them curious, disapproving looks. Stan sneered.

"What’re you gonna do? Hit me? If you do, at least make it count, ‘cause I didn’t spend all these years teaching you everything—putting you on the path to success—just to lose you over some skirt."

Lion didn’t hold back.

He threw a right hook straight into Stan’s face, making him stagger back. Ash barked louder, and a few people nearby gasped at the sudden violence. Stan laughed, wiping the blood from his nose, a spark of pride in his blue eyes.

"Damn, Lion, if you keep that right hook sharp, we’re definitely closer to our dreams this Saturday…"

"You’re ridiculous," Lion spat, fists still clenched, disgust twisting his mouth. The anger burned through him. "I’m gonna make this crystal clear, Stan—" He grabbed his brother’s shirt, shoving the dry cleaner pamphlets against his chest. "—this is my last fight. After this, we’re each on our own."

Stan stared at him, searching for any hesitation. When he found none—just resolve in Lion’s eyes—his smug grin faded. He opened his mouth to argue, but Lion shoved him away, snatched Ash’s leash, and stormed off down the street.

𝐖𝐄𝐃𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐃𝐀𝐘.

"Lion, oh—" you moaned playfully, shuddering on top of him in the messy bed, listening to his rough, equally teasing groans. His eyes were closed, lips parted as he came inside you, his hips and thighs trembling, his hands gripping your sweaty waist tightly. When he finally opened his eyes—slowly, lazily—and looked at you with all the serenity and sweetness in the world, you melted. But there was still so much love in your heart it threatened to burn you alive, just like the taste of his kisses—sweet, caramelized, scorching.

He smiled, tilting his chin up—a silent request for a kiss. Against your lips, still buried inside you, he teased:

"If I could, I’d keep you connected to me forever…"

"Lion!" you laughed softly, wrapped in his strong arms as he rolled you both over, pinning you beneath him, still inside you, his smile lazy, his gaze dripping with honey.

"I’m not joking, babe. I’m keeping you here. With me. Always."

"Always is a long time," you whispered, exhausted. Lion laughed against your lips in a messy kiss, his hands roaming your arms while yours played with his sweat-damp hair.

"Then let’s make it until we die, I don’t know…"

"Like marriage?"

"It’s our marriage," he affirmed, grinning. You just stared at him, wondering what you’d done to deserve so much sweetness in one person.

And Lion kissed you—tender, devoted, slow—savoring your taste, your saliva, your sweat, you.

But when he turned in bed to reach for you among the blankets, all he found was emptiness.

He opened his eyes slowly, groggily, realizing he was alone. You were gone, leaving behind an empty side of the bed—and an even emptier hole in his heart.

He swallowed the bitterness, wanting to bury his head deeper into the covers. Those dream-memories had been haunting him for days. And it was only getting worse.

But lying there, staring at the indifferent ceiling, wouldn’t help. He had to do something.

He didn’t have to go to the factory today, so he had time to run, clear his head. In the kitchen, as he fixed himself a decent breakfast (unlike Stan’s "champion’s breakfast"), he found a post-it on the fridge in his brother’s messy handwriting:

"Bro,

Gonna be out all day. Took Ash for a walk. Eat well, don’t skip training.

See ya."

Lion nodded, glancing at Ash, who sat at his feet, waiting for scraps.

"Just you and me today, Ash."

Lion picked up his pace as he jogged up a hill, Ash panting beside him.

He tried with all his might to push you out of his thoughts, but the harder he fought, the more they tormented him. The longing mixed with resentment—for not being stronger, for not taking control of his life, for losing you.

God, all he wanted was for you to turn a corner, recognize him, pull him into your arms, and tell him everything was okay. In return, he’d give you his heart. He’d be your home. Together, you’d have the life you’d dreamed of.

Oh, how he ached for it.

The lump of unspoken words choked him. It was hard to run when he felt stuck in place. Worse—he couldn’t outrun himself. Sweat dripped down his face—soon mixing with the sudden tears in his eyes. The dam of unspoken words burst into rough, painful sobs, tearing from his throat. His body gave out, his shadow disappearing into the alley he ducked into, pressing against the brick wall of a building as he sank to the ground, hands covering his face, eyes wet, mouth dry as he gasped for air.

Ash whined softly, licking his owner’s face.

Lion tried to swallow the tears, but all he could do was cry—for losing you, for losing himself, for losing his brother. He’d already lost so many people in his life. Now he’d lost the two most important.

You appeared in his memories, hugging him, warm and soft, dancing to a slow song while Stan laughed and teased in the background—a memory of something that hadn’t even happened yet.

That was his biggest flaw, people said. A guy like him—a fighter, someone who had to be tough—was a hopeful dreamer. Lion sobbed hard, pressing his hands against his eyes, trying to force the tears back in. He took a deep breath, counting with you in his head—just like you’d taught him.

One, two, breathe, Lion—that’s it—three, four… You got this! Five…

And slowly, the crying stopped. His shoulders stilled. The tears dried.

Finally, he was free of the weight he’d been carrying all this time.

𝐓𝐇𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐃𝐀𝐘.

"Lion and I are moving out," you announced casually at the dinner table in the apartment you shared with Stan. He looked up from his cereal, incredulous. Lion sat quietly, listening. You held his hand, smiling at Stan, trying to sound friendly. "We’re leaving as soon as I finish my last project."

"Wait—" Stan’s voice was rough. "—what do you mean you and Lion are moving out? As far as I know, we’ve got a damn important fight in a few weeks, and he needs to train—"

"Stan, man…" Lion cut in, voice steady. You watched Stan with disbelief.

"Of course you’re being an asshole about this, Stan. Selfish—"

"Hey, babe, don’t—" Lion squeezed your hand, hating arguments—especially between you and Stan. It made him feel like a kid watching his parents fight over him. You glared at him, hurt.

"Lion? How can you say that? Stan’s trying to control you like you’re his little toy—"

"If you’re gonna start acting like a bitch too, I have every right to argue against this stupid idea," Stan snapped, slamming his spoon down, splashing milk everywhere. Lion wiped droplets off his face, blinking slowly at Stan. You huffed.

"Why is it stupid, Stan? Scared of your brother living his own life?" You crossed your arms, challenging him. Stan’s smug expression hardened.

"No…" He glanced at Lion. "I just don’t think this is the right way to do things. I’ve been with him longer. I know what he needs—and he needs me to win this fight—"

"Fight this, Lion that—Stan, when are you gonna stop pretending to be something you’re not? Stop dumping all your failed dreams on your brother and start living your own life!?"

Your words cut through the tension like a knife.

Lion looked at you, fear in his eyes. Stan, meanwhile, stared at you like he was seeing into your soul. He took a deep, noisy breath. Then he turned to Lion.

"Is that what you want? Is that what you think of me, Lion?"

"I don’t speak for your brother—unlike you."

"Shut the fuck up!" Stan slammed his hands on the table. Lion flinched.

"Stan, c’mon, don’t—"

"DON’T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!" Stan stood, laughing bitterly before pointing at you. "How am I supposed to stay calm when she’s manipulating you!? She doesn’t love you—not like I do! And I can’t let you throw away your future—"

"Here we go again…" You rolled your eyes, pushing your half-eaten plate away. "... lost my appetite. Look, I’m gonna go before things get worse. Lion—" You turned to him, your boyfriend looking at you with those innocent, lost, sweet eyes. "—we’ll talk when I get back. See you."

"Bye," Stan muttered dryly as you kissed Lion’s cheek, your fingers brushing the scratch on his left cheekbone.

Lion glared at Stan. 

Stan shrugged.

"What can I say? You went and dated a controlling psycho."

Lion gasped for air, eyes fluttering open as he stared at the photo-covered wall, your face everywhere. He’d been trying to meditate—or whatever the hell relaxation technique he’d learned over the years—to clear his mind of everything, of you, but the smallest trigger brought you rushing back.

And this Thursday morning, two days before the fight, his olfactory memory decided to play tricks on him, conjuring your scent—sweet, fruity, like the purple grapes you loved.

And just like that, he was back in that fateful day when everything fell apart.

He wanted to stay focused, but waking up every day to the ghosts of your presence—photos, scraps of paper with your image—things he couldn’t really touch—was torture.

It tore his heart apart.

Just like the growing distance between him and Stan, even before their fight two days ago.

A rift had formed, separating him from the two most important people in his life—his brother, who’d raised him, and you, the soul that completed his.

Lion sniffed, wiping his face. He didn’t want to cry again.

Instead, the hand that wiped his tears became the one that punished him—fists slamming into his own head, over and over, his voice rough:

"Pathetic. Pathetic. Pathetic…"

He only stopped when he felt dizzy, palm pressed over his eyes, muffling a scream.

That’s when Stan appeared with Ash.

"Lion! Lion, hey, bro! Stop!" He crouched, gripping Lion’s shoulders, staring at him with all the love and worry of an older brother. "Lion, listen—it’s okay! Everything’s gonna be okay. I’m here, alright!?" He cupped Lion’s face, Ash nuzzling into his lap. Lion cried silently, chin trembling. Stan smiled warmly, eyes wet too.

"Everything I’ve done—everything I do—is for you, bro. You’re the most important thing in my life, and I just want what’s best for you… I was an asshole to her. I know how much she means to you. If there’s anything I can do to fix this, I will." He pressed his forehead to Lion’s, stroking his hair as Lion—still that scared, pure boy Stan had helped raise—calmed down. "I’d do anything to see you happy, bro. Anything—even if it means swallowing my pride." He laughed at himself. Lion chuckled between sobs.

They looked at each other. Stan kissed Lion’s forehead, pulled back but kept a hand on his face, wiping his own tears.

"Lion, you’re not just gonna win this damn fight—you’re gonna be one of the happiest, most fulfilled men in this godforsaken world." His voice was hopeful—the tone that, though it annoyed Lion on the surface, secretly kept him going. "If I’m wrong, my name isn’t Stanley Kaminski."

Lion laughed.

He petted Ash between his crossed legs, looking past Stan—where, by irony or not, centered above his brother’s blond hair, was one of the only photos the three of you had taken together.

Smiling.

Together and happy.

𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐃𝐀𝐘.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?" you asked between giggles, Lion’s hand stroking your back. Your legs were tangled under the comforter, the dim light from the closed curtains casting a soft glow over you both in the dark room. The sounds of the city were a distant hum, background noise to your quiet, intimate moment.

Your hands were tucked into the embrace, fingers tracing his face while his slid under your shirt, exploring your back, his other arm propping up his head. He smiled at the question, loving when you two drifted into these seemingly silly, profound conversations late at night.

"Besides opening my own business?"

"Yeah, besides your amazing dry-cleaning empire. What else do you want?" You propped yourself up slightly, chin resting on his bare chest, his skin warm, smelling like the blackberry soap you both used—fresh, soft. He looked at you, grinning.

"Well, I’m a simple man, y’know? Have my business, my brother nearby, my woman by my side, my own place, my kids running after Ash and a few more dogs, cats, parrots—whatever. That’d make me happy."

"Kids, huh?" you teased, raising an eyebrow. Lion smiled gently.

"Yeah. I want a whole soccer team."

"You have no mercy on me?" you joked, pouting. He laughed, amused by your fake outrage.

"Fine, fine. How about just seven little Kaminskis running around? Sound good?" He looked at you with playful sincerity. You melted, sitting up to face him properly.

"Instead of counting how many kids we should have…" You gave him a look, full of intention. "...maybe we should start with the best part." Lion grinned, relaxing as he pulled you closer, his arm sliding around your waist.

"Which is?"

"Making one."

"You wanna make a baby with me?" he asked, half-teasing, half-serious. You were already melting, lying back as he settled over you, arms wrapping around you in that perfect fit. Face to face, breathing the same warm air, eyes locked, he saw you—all of you. And you whispered everything you wanted in that moment:

"I wanna make love to you, Lion."

His breath hitched. "Say it again."

You pulled him closer, lips almost touching, so your words would sink deeper into him.

"I want you to love me, Lion. Just love me."

Lion nodded, surrendering just as completely as you, kissing you with all the passion he’d held back, his strong, calloused hands—marked by fights and sewing scars—roaming your body possessively, feeling your warmth under your shirt, squeezing your breasts, groaning at your reaction. Your hips rolled against each other, the urgency of desire burning through you both, heating your bodies, your blood, your souls—the room, the world shrinking to just you and him.

Soft and delicate, Lion pulled your shirt off, gazing at you almost reverently before trailing kisses down your chin to your breast, his tongue swirling around your nipple, making you shiver, your core aching. Your hands tangled in his hair, guiding him lower, his beard scratching your skin, his breath hot against you.

He kissed his way down, pausing to look up at you—waiting for permission.

"You can keep going, baby. I’m yours…"

He smiled, sliding your panties off before spreading your legs, kissing your inner thighs, his breath warm. Then he looked up again, waiting.

"You can taste me, Lion. I’m all yours…"

Lion didn’t hesitate.

His tongue was soft, slow against your clit, lips sucking gently, vibrating just right. Drunk on your taste, he looked up, watching your pleasure, his voice rough.

"Can I fuck you with my fingers, baby?" The question was innocent despite its filthiness. You laughed, nodding. He wet two fingers with his saliva before sliding them inside you, curling just right as his tongue worked you over, your hips bucking, hands gripping the sheets, begging for more.

Then he stopped.

You whined, frustrated, so close.

Lion chuckled, pulling back to admire you, fingers still moving lazily inside you.

"Easy, baby. I haven’t even started fucking you properly yet."

You wanted to smack him for the audacity, but all you could do was moan, squirming.

Then he stopped again.

You panted, trying to steady your breathing, the sudden denial making you ache. Lion smirked, kneeling between your legs. You glanced down at his toned body, the bulge in his black boxers, grinning as you pressed your foot against him, rubbing through the fabric. Lion’s eyes fluttered shut for a second before opening, full of lust. He grabbed your foot gently, lifting it to kiss your ankle—a gesture so tender it made you shiver. His movements were as precise and controlled as when he fought. He draped your leg over his shoulder, positioning himself, the tip of his cock nudging your entrance.

Then he leaned down, kissing you deeply, his tongue tasting you on your own lips before sinking into you with one firm thrust, groaning against your mouth. You wrapped your arms around him, pulling him closer with each thrust, his cock filling you perfectly, melting you from the inside. His moans were just as delicious as having him inside you. When you came, your legs locked around him. He followed soon after, spilling inside you with a long, sweet moan, hips stuttering, pushing deeper.

He collapsed on top of you, sweaty and breathless, nuzzling into your neck.

"I think we just made the most beautiful love in the world."

And you laughed.

Now, Lion paced post-cold shower, phone pressed to his ear, restless, eyes darting everywhere, waiting for the call to connect.

Ring… Ring… Ring…

"Hi, this is my voicemail! If you wanna leave a message, keep it short… And if it’s you, Lion, make it extra short!"

Lion laughed at your voice, the unchanged message. He took a deep breath, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. After the beep, he gathered his courage.

"Hey, babe… It’s Lion. I just—I just want you to know that…" His voice cracked. He sat on the edge of the bed, forcing the words out. "...I’m sorry. I miss you. And most of all, I’m sorry for not standing up to my brother, for not having a voice. I know I’m not in any position to ask you for anything, but… you’re the love of my fucking life, and I want you with me. By my side. And if I have to humiliate myself to get you back, I will. So please—please—just give me a chance to explain, to apologize. Just tell me when and where, and I’ll be there. Just pick the place and time… I’ll be there."

He looked up at the wall of photos—your face, his memories, the puzzle of a life he wanted back.

"Please."

A few seconds of silence. Then he hung up.

He stared at your photo on his phone, head in his hands, mind empty from the emotional storm.

From behind him, knocks on the door and Stan’s voice:

"Kid, hurry up. We’re leaving in thirty."

𝐒𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐃𝐀𝐘. 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑫𝑨𝒀 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑺𝑯𝑶𝑼𝑳𝑫 𝑯𝑨𝑽𝑬 𝑪𝑶𝑴𝑬.

Stan appeared in the doorway of that little room with its bright red walls, a few upholstered chairs of the same color, some dragon and flower decorations, the orange light casting a warm and calm aura over Lion, who sat on a massage table, trying to steady himself. The older brother held the hand wraps for Lion, chewing gum as he strode expansively into the room, disrupting the younger one’s focus.

"How do you feel?"

"Like shit. But I think I can take the hits," Lion opened his eyes slowly, watching his brother approach with a dubious little smile—like he was hiding something.

"If you use the same anger you did when you hit me that one time… Kid, you’ll knock this guy out. I only stayed standing ‘cause I’m tough as hell," he boasted, drawing a tired laugh from Lion. But he managed it. Stan glanced to the side, getting a clearer view of the door, while Walter kept his gaze fixed ahead. Stan’s voice was soft, a whisper, a secret:

"I think there’s someone here who wants to see you, Lion."

"Hm?" The sound slipped from Lion’s lips as he turned his head. His heart could endure any number of blows or falls, but seeing her after a hellish month felt like too much. His pupils dilated, and a nervous smile tugged at his lips, impossible to suppress.

Meanwhile, you stood in the doorway, nervous and shy, one hand in your pocket, the other gripping your bag. Stan patted Lion’s shoulder:

"Good luck, bro," then turned to you, winked, and added, "Try not to distract him too much, alright?"

"No promises…" you shot back, not harshly—it was light, like a joke between friends. Stan laughed, his eyes gleaming as he watched his brother light up at your presence. From the doorway, he called out:

"You’ve got twenty minutes. See you downstairs." With a final wink at both of you, he disappeared down the hall.

You looked at Lion, full of uncertainty about what to say—how to say it. The air was thick, the initial silence awkward. Lion smiled shyly, his eyes tender and glistening as they held yours. Slowly, you stepped closer until you stood right in front of him, your voice soothing:

"I heard the message you left me yesterday, Lion…"

"You heard it?!" He seemed genuinely surprised. You laughed at the way he said it, nodding as your hands trembled with a strange nervousness—there was a desperate urge to touch him, but also a fear of overstepping, of invading a space you sometimes felt you’d lost to distance. Little did you know, that was exactly what Lion wanted most right then: to be held, to feel your arms around him, your heartbeat against his, your voice whispering that everything would be okay because you were here.

But you kept up that austere politeness:

"Yeah, I heard it."

"And… what did you think? I mean… Did you come because of it?" There was hope and pain in his voice, in the anxious way he searched your face for answers. He studied your reaction with precision. You sighed, releasing the tension in your shoulders, set your bag down beside him, and finally reached for him—or rather, for the tape on his hands, finding the end and peeling it back, offering your palm for him to rest his against. He did so immediately, craving your touch, holding his breath as he watched you from up close, close enough to see every answer in your eyes. You spoke as you wrapped the tape around his wrist:

"Yes and no. Let’s just say… before I heard it, I got an unexpected visitor at work. Kind of inconvenient, kind of overbearing, but at the time, it felt like some damn angel had dropped into my life…" You glanced at him with a smile. Lion laughed—Stan, he thought—"And this little hell-angel kinda stole my break time to beg—no, plead—with me to call you back, because, and I quote: ‘My brother is fucked up. Like, really fucking broken.’ And I was already leaning toward fixing some of my own mistakes, some flaws here, some excesses there… And well, you sent me that audio, and let’s just say it was the cherry on top. So here I am!" You finished wrapping the first hand, leaned in to tear the tape with your teeth—the intimate contact sent a jolt through Lion.

You’d never done something like this for him before. You’d always stood aside, watching Stan prepare him for fights. The most you’d ever done was hug him and cover his face in kisses before a match.

When you straightened up, you were met with that melancholic gaze—captivatingly sweet, inherently serene—that made your heart race with love.

"Lion, I’m gonna be honest with you: these have been the worst days of my life. Fuck. I just want to apologize for lashing out, for being cruel, for cutting you off instead of, I dunno… just kicking your brother’s ass to put him in his place." You both laughed. You gestured for his other hand and started wrapping it: "Speaking of, Stan was actually really understanding with me, you know? I was impressed—he even cried and everything. That helped me decide to come here too… You two have such a beautiful bond, something I envy sometimes—" You smiled genuinely, your eyes welling up alongside his as he fought back tears: "I mean it!"

"Stop! Stop, I need to focus…" he whispered, but his eyes never left yours. You rolled your eyes playfully:

"You two have this whole protective thing, this way of wanting the best for each other even when you’re complete opposites. And it’s beautiful… And it made me realize that being between you two, being with you, is a privilege. A privilege because I’m part of this story, your story, and goddamn it, Lion, you’re so fucking special. To me and to Stan." Lion sobbed, tears streaming down his face as you bit the tape to tear it, dampening it with your own tears.

When you straightened again, your hands stayed locked with his, his grip tight—as if afraid you’d vanish. You gazed at each other through tender smiles and tears of redemption. Lion mustered the courage he’d been gathering all these days:

"I don’t ever want to lose you again, and I mean that from the bottom of my soul. I care about you so damn much, and I want you to be the woman of my life."

"But I already am…"

"No, that’s not what I mean, love—" Lion cupped your face, holding you possessively as you leaned in until your noses brushed, sharing the same breath:

"I mean you being mine, and me being yours, for the rest of our lives. Be my wife, and I’ll be your man forever."

He stared deep into your eyes.

You were speechless, pulling him into the embrace you’d been holding back all these days, feeling your hearts speak through flesh, bone, and blood. Lion buried his face in your neck, and you in his, lost in a moment where silence became its own language. Lion whispered warmly:

"Be my wife, and everything will be okay."

He kissed your shoulder, slow and lingering.

You pulled back just enough to look at him, wiping his tears with your thumbs, pressing your foreheads together:

"Yes."

You kissed him, pouring all your longing into his lips—his forgiveness meeting your love, his peaceful passion clashing with your fiery devotion. Softness against brutality. Gentle blood in heavy air.

When you finally parted, a cough from the doorway snapped you back to reality. You both turned—Stan stood there, grinning ear to ear:

"Sorry, but time’s up, and we’ve got a fight for you to win, kid."

"It’s okay," Lion nodded, giving you a knowing look before hugging you tightly one last time, murmuring in your ear: "Thank you for coming."

𝐅𝐎𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒: i just love this character so much, i'd give him my heart, my soul would be his home, and he could do whatever he wanted because he deserves the world. anyway, it was really interesting to write; i hope the timeline wasn't too confusing since i tried to maintain a certain "aesthetic" in the text that matches that feeling of you just living your life normally when—BOOM!!!—a memory you didn't want to remember hits you. i hope it was worth it for anyone who made it this far lololol and i also hope to keep writing about him, my (our) beloved lion!!!

[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~

[e-vay]

Why do you think Amy should get her own year(or not) and What would be your Year of Amy wish-list

There should be a Year of Amy because Amy is the best, of course!

Seriously, I think it would be so beneficial to have a Year of Amy. When I hear from people who tell me they used to hate Amy, it turns out a lot of them had just misunderstood her character (either by their own doing or by some of her prior portrayals). I think it would be a great opportunity to really let her character shine and be able to establish everything she represents in a clear way so SEGA can set the record straight. It's been really encouraging to see Amy included in the lineup more often lately, but personally I still say it doesn't happen enough! (I'm greedy when it comes to my girl, it's just how I am lol). Plus, I think it'd be good to highlight the feminine representation that's in this franchise. This fictional world is full of so many awesome characters, including strong and powerful women, and I think sometimes that gets overlooked when there's so much emphasis on 'The Big Three' (Sonic, Tails and Knuckles).

If I'm shooting for the stars, my wishlist would include Amy having her very own game! I love getting to play as her and she was my favorite part of the Frontiers DLC, and I feel like the story that happened in Frontiers is a great setup for any of the members of Team Sonic to have their own game. OR! If it's too much to ask for Amy to have her own game, I'd be happy with a follow-up game to Frontiers where you get to play large portions of the game as each member of Team Sonic individually. I loved how you got to play as everyone way back in Sonic Adventure, and I'd love to get that experience again now that their characters have developed in different ways.

I'd also love to see some animated shorts with her. Whether it's super-detailed, story-driven animations like SXSG Dark Beginnings or something simple and cute like Chao Tales, I just want to see more! Animation is incredible and I love that the Sonic Team creates a lot of animated shorts; it would be even better if they revolved around my favorite hedgehog!

ALSO! I want more accessories/merch. Amy loves shopping, so this would be an awesome opportunity to sell some skirts/dresses, cutesy mini backpacks (I know there are a couple of Loungefly bags out there but I want more!!! Especially more artistic designs instead of the same character art they've been using for decades), wallets, baking sets, etc. I want to buy ALL the cutesy things!

I don't know that Year of Amy will ever happen, but hey, maybe 2027 will be Year of Amy since that's when Sonic 4 comes out! Either way, every day is Amy Day in my heart!

[erwinsvow]

love both the robby and langdon sister suggestions but i’m still thinking about walsh’s sister!! i think there’s some potential there, walk with me. walsh is a surgical attending meaning there’s a lot of pressure there and big shoes to fill when you’re also going into the medical field. i also think it would add to it since walsh is also night shift

have SOOOOOOO many thoughts on this. when i made that post i was honestly thinking walsh's little sister but i wanted to leave it up in the air. this is SOOOO amazing. i'm not just walking sister i'm running with you. sooo we can decide if reader would be on the surgery team but i personally looove me a first year emergency reader. just bright eyed and bushy tailed, the nurse's favorite, and i think it's fun if you're very different from your sibling!!!! walsh's personality in the show is so fun to watch because i loooove how she snaps at people. and she's not in too much which is sad so i hope we see more of her. i personally headcanon that she and jack didn't have a relationship she just hates him because he's annoying as fuck. "crazy pants" "fancy pants" little sister reader staring between them like guys.. the patient? soooo a little sweetheart reader who is eager to impress and her little mean streak comes out and in those moments you sound just like emery. snapping at a patient who's screaming at his nurses, being a little stickler for the rules, not hesitating to get an opinion from surgery (aka your big sister!) unlike some of the others. it's natural to you to go to her when you have a question you can't figure out the answer to. she helped you decide what field to go into, what shoes are the best for twelve hour shifts, how to adjust to night shift, what type of cookies to bake to bring in because it's been a bad week and everyone needs a pick me. things you cannot go to your big sister about: your crush on your attending, how you see the entire world in the green of his eyes, how you can't focus when he stands next to you and how to not be weird about having a huge crush on your attending. obviously it's not gonna take jack that long to put two and two together—he's always liked you but at some point like turned into really like turned into dot dot dot. turned into midnight conversations and grabbing your arm and ducking behind a wall when your sister shows up so he can finish listening to your story before she takes you away. turned into trying to snap less at her so you don't think it's hopeless when you finally tell her about you two. turned into being the one who gets to console you after a bad loss instead of your sister—that one really bites. also how she finds out—catches you crying in jack's arms behind a curtain and sees jack lean in for a forehead kiss and all hell breaks loose. emery stands by the fact that jack is annoying and has no business dating his residents!!!! except it's clear you two love each other. they both volunteer at the VA together so it's not like he's completely unlikable—everyone knows jack abbot is a good guy and exactly the kind of guy you want dating your sister. does NOT approve of the age difference and is meaner about it than your parents are. you would never hear the end of "i know everyone's got daddy issues these days but this is taking a little far" and "get away from my sister before i stab you with this scalpel." I LOVE THEM!!

[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!

[really-burnt-toast]

Hi! Can you tell us more about your head canons for Fena and the other special followers you drew a bit back?

You don't know how excited I was to answer this! 🙏

Please allow me to ramble a little, because I decided Im going to go through every NPC / OC I made for cotl, specifically my au!

These are them all! I decided to finally get around to drawing Echo, Latra and the concept for Nalen too!

Imma be writing down a brief history of them along with fun facts/head canons (who are technically canon).

(all of that under cut, tw; mentions of abuse and death) (I may have missed something. Also brief mention of fertility struggles.)

Fena

Let's start with Fena first, cuz she's a fan favorite!

Fena was born in Darkwood within a big family that was traditional and mainly worshipped the old faith for protection. Their village was often the target of wolves (who have connections to the teeth in the darkness). During one of these attacks, the Villagers had to evacuate and thus, Fena's family were forcefully split up. Fena and their sibling had to spend days trying to get to another village, but were caught at night once again. Fena managed to get "rescued" by the old faith - only to be offered as a sacrifice to Leshy. Mellia (my Lamb) saved her. Fena is currently the head of disciples and Loyalty enforcement.

Fun facts: Fena is a trans woman. Fena was once married to Thorantre but got divorced. Fena is Mellia's favorite follower. Fena's sibling was later rescued by the Lamb. Fena has Cynophobia (fear of dogs and canines), but it's most aggressive against Wolves. Fena currently thinks Thyma is a spy.

Other hcs: Jumpy, definitely the type to get scared and then act all tough. Loves her body and is a proud lust rite champion (why she wears a flower crown). Unhealthily cautious. Horrible at flirting. Would probably crack someone's rib while attempting to. Kinda like the thought of her getting too obsessed with finding info about Thyma and then eventually she realizes they have lots in common... Like fuck, that guy is kinda funny and cool but also, he's definitely going to kill someone.

Thyma (real name unknown)

Thyma's story, as per they claim, is;

They were raised in Darkwood by their family/pack and one day an "incident" occured which left their family dead. The Lamb rescued them and promised safety. Thyma is not willing to speak any further on it. He is currently Night patrol and trying to dispel any distrust put against him.

Fun facts: Thyma is a Demiboy, born afab. Thyma has Nyctophobia (fear of the dark) and Insomnia. They chose to be a night guard to be alert at night. They also wear the Moon necklace to be awake 24/7. If they sleep, they do so in the day. Thyma has permanent markings on his face that cannot be removed. He is medically noted to suffer from hallucinations.

(More story to be revealed soon)

Other hcs: Sarcasm king. Also King of internal panic. Definitely gets horrible period cramps. Gets sick of seeing blood. Probably tried going vegan to look less suspicious but ended up horribly sick and malnourished. Tucks tail whenever Fena is near. Besties with Agana. Acts cool and stoic but is actually kinda pathetic. Monologues to himself when patrolling. Stares at bright lights, despite being told it could blind them.

Thorantre

Thorantre was also born in Darkwood. During the Genocide, his family were often harmed due to being mistaken for Sheep-kin. After the death of multiple family members, Thorantre decided to protest against the old faith and stand for the protection of Sheep. For his spreading of "propaganda", he was going to be put to the blade but was fortunate to be trialed at the same time as Mellia was beheaded. They rescued him and he became their first ever follower.

Fun facts: Short-fused and dramatic. Has canonically killed another follower during a petty fight. Doesn't really do his job as a disciple and is only still a disciple for Mellia's sake. Often mistaken for a sheep by the Lamb in moments of unclarity - personal gossip girl and somewhat Therapist to them. Close friends with Fena despite being exes.

Other hcs: Girls girl by heart. Shameless flirt but extremely picky with partners. Divorced because he was too high maintenance. Knows of everyone's business and keeps pulling Agana into gossip. Gets annoyed when people ask him for stuff so he makes them pay him to answer. Will say the most gayest thing followed by the most straightest cis-guy take ever. Will just randomly ditch disciple meetings because he's bored. Also suspicious of Thyma but for no particular reason.

Agana

First born in the Cult, raised to become a disciple. As a child they were wild and unruly but settled down with age and is now determined to befriend every cultist.

Fun facts: Is afab genderqueer. Had a huge crush on Fena growing up. Currently has a little crush on Thyma. Is usually the first to know of ANYTHING happening in the cult, even private happenings. Will often share their own savings with children in the cult. Is pretty forgiving with Tax enforcement.

Other hcs: Chronic simp. Fandom girlie, probably. She's the type to ship people unironically. Probably saw the tension between Thyma and Fena and misinterpreted it. Says "hello fellow kids" but is actually up to date with trends. Has been trying to integrate Thyma more into the group. Probably gets the most affected by sin.

Latra

Born in Silkcradle to a family of Shamura's worshippers. Latra ran away and got married on the outskirts of the domain. Her marriage was cruel and abusive, fueled by her husband's growing rage of her infertility. Despite praying daily, no one had come to save her and so she took matters into her own hands. One night she plotted to kill her husband but was caught, resulting in a fight to the death where she was the victor. Latra dragged herself away with two of her limbs damaged beyond repair and managed to run into the Lamb. She was taken into the cult and became a Missionary, as her knowledge from Silkcradle aided her skills. She has been in the cult since the first crusade through Silkcradle and has been resurrected multiple times. Currently she is in retirement again.

Fun facts: Latra was offered a position as disciple but declined. She is known to delay retirement until physically impossible to work. She originally didn't worship the Lamb, but ended up doing so after many years of staying. Latra was one of the people to dissent from Shamura's curse. Currently engaged to Echo.

Other hcs: Has had rumors go around about her past. Has been working with children and has been helping rehabilitate rescues. Has babysat a few times before. Actually great at flirting but prefers pulling dad jokes and bad flirts. Wanted children but gave up on it due to her age. Actually best friends with the Lamb. Only didn't accept discipleship because she is worried about her own reputation straining Mellia's reputation.

Echo

Born in Anchordeep before it had that name and before Kallamar had the crown. Experienced first hand his climb for power and the subsequent events that shaped the downfall of the old faith. Was also a disciple for a short while before becoming a field medic during the genocide of Sheep kind. Echo married the general of their group and the two along with a troop were sent to patrol Anchordeep. That continued even after Mellia was resurrected and started killing the bishops. Once Kallamar started growing paranoid and cowardly, Echo started to question the strength of their god. That was met with backlash and after a huge fight in the group, Echo stayed back a bit. Eventually they found their group having been attacked by the Lamb and Echo mercy killed whoever was still alive. Echo dissented against Kallamar and was later found by Latra during a Mission. Echo was indoctrinated and became the cult nurse.

Fun facts: Echo is intersex. Echo is considered to be mute, but has the ability to talk. They only talk to Latra, Mellia and Kallamar (to screw with him). Echo is widely known to be an asshole, but is the most respected nurse in the cult. Echo suffers from mild PTSD. Is currently Latra's personal caretaker and has been trying to convince her to accept the golden skull necklace Mellia offered her (which is included in discipleship).

Other hcs: Fell in love after having to pull an arrow from Latra's shoulder. Has to go in evacuation after being flirted with because they are worried they'll explode (they won't). Academically smart but Interpersonally stupid. Can communicate with sign language but rather uses their expressions to communicate their opinions. Had begged multiple times for Mellia to resurrect Latra whenever she died. Has been secretly trying to figure out an early form of Fertility treatments in order to grant Latra the wish of having children. Also has been looking into adopting.

Nalen (real name unknown)

(This character is currently still a character concept and might change with time.)

Born and raised in the Lands of the old faith after the Bishops had already died. He was raised as a pup to become a spy that would sneak into the Red crowns cult to find any special information that could allow the old faith to overthrow them. He managed to sneak in during a time where the cult was facing a hectic time - entering with a group of people who were starving and asking to be indoctrinated. Able to avoid detection for a full two years now due to building trust and reliability, building relationships and faking worship. His mind hasn't even been read once yet due to Mellia struggling with their new godhood. Perfect time, perfect alibi.

Fun facts: I don't really have any yet, so I'll offer the description of the concept; I wanted a spy character that looks like they could just be any other cultist and who's a species that's both unassuming but reliable and easily trainable. So the golden retriever it was. And while all followers of the Lamb have a red base, his base colour was dark purple.

(same with hcs, but you know the stories of band kids just pretending to play the instrument all year? Kinda that. Him praying and just mumbling the words bc he has no clue what's going on. It's a miracle he made it this far.)

(Also, sorry for the lack of pictures but I got too impatient and wanted to answer as quickly as possible LOL)

[skojukebox]

IDW Sonic 76: Tying Knots

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Lots of spoilers for Issue 76, don't read this if you haven't read that yet!

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The entire Mimic-Duo plotline was something I was content with for a long time because, for most of it, it seemed so easy and obvious what they were doing with it: you were taking a group of characters who were still attempting to ground themselves and learn to get along, and introducing someone who plays on distrust into the mix. Lanolin, who is having a rocky time with the perils of being a leader, is bamboozled. That is the obvious part of things that people pick up on in this story. 

Something that perplexingly falls to the wayside on surface level reading, particularly by younger readers for whatever reason, is Whisper’s side of this as a character with an arc revolving around relearning to tolerate and trust others. It’s part of what makes Mimic such a perfect villain for her; she is being confronted with a character who literally makes trusting anyone a dicey proposition. The Diamond Cutters as a narrative device for her is less about “Whisper relearns how to make friends” and more “Whisper learns how to trust again”. It’s kind of powerful, even a little daring for a silly comic about funny cartoon animals going on adventures. I think it’s what ultimately made her one of my favorite characters. Whisper got me back into Sonic because of this!

The Mimic infiltration seemed like a perfect plot point for both of these two goals. It’s basically like, the ultimate team building exercise. A deceitful bad guy plays a new leader desperate to prove herself and a tough lady with deep trust issues against each other. It worsens and becomes even more interesting with the Clean Sweep sweepstakes because Whisper actively begins to lie to Lanolin in order to lone wolf things. She even takes Tangle along for the ride! It actually got spicy there for a second. But even with that, this stuff is like… Super basic? Yes. It’s the kind of situation you would see in a Friendship is Magic episode, which would end with a gentle reminder to be good to each other and talk things out with your friends. That was what I was expecting.

 But as the Sweepstakes plotline went along, problems kept mounting. For several arcs now the comics have felt like it was laying out plot points with a fair degree of intricacy and foreshadowing. But in the back half of the arc, a lot of things started to mount which I would call at best snap decisions and at worst “tying knots”

“Tying knots” is a very understandable urge a storyteller gets while putting out a serialized tale with a lot of moving pieces. People become impatient, or lose focus, and your carefully laid plans start to look more daunting to pursue. There is an impetus to just patch things up as quickly as possible, especially when stuff is not being immediately received well. So rather than continuing onwards to an inevitably satisfying conclusion, you just tie off those plot threads into a messy little knot of an early ending and go “good enough.” There were several things that reeked of this at the tail end of the arc (looking at you “Clutch knows things about Surge”), but for the sake of brevity, the worst one was Duo being revealed as Mimic.

The reveal itself is bad. Like, it’s funny! That’s undeniable! But it’s still really bad. It was a plotline that IDW was running for literal months across multiple arcs, and they had it end with a throwaway gag of him accidentally having his phone on speaker. This was a clear case of hole-filling; they had run up against a wall where they either didn’t know where to take it anymore or no longer felt comfortable stretching it out, and they just pruned the plotline. They cared so little they made the reveal a preview page, which pissed me off pretty bad when I just got it randomly tweeted to me by the official account as a spoiler, but that’s beside the point.

That was dumb and definitely the most flagrant case of going “fuck it lets get this over with,” but I honestly think the character who was failed the most by the plotline was Lanolin, because this plot does not end with a message about characters realizing they need to communicate better, or that teamwork makes the dreamwork, or really… Any discernible message or moral?

It ends with Lanolin prostrating herself and announcing that she sucks ass for two issues, profusely apologizing, and none of the characters she is apologizing to even reacting to anything. She apologizes for being fooled by the character who also fooled everyone else for like a year. She apologizes for being lied to by Tangle and Whisper. In response to this, Tangle makes fun of her capability to do something, and Whisper ignores her and says she wants to shoot Mimic in the face because she… Learned nothing from this, and I guess was right all along. You can’t trust anyone except Tangle. She’s just right back to her static state of “I want revenge, I'm a badass.” Like… What was the point of anything she’s done over the past year of comics at all? 

I don’t really care about the Diamond Cutters being broken up. Okay, I do, it’s sad and I liked them! It might be temporary, who knows. It’s a comic book, stuff comes and stuff goes eternally. But like… Holy hell, what a failure on multiple levels for that subplot. It makes Lanolin look like a sadsack, it makes Whisper actively unlikable and regresses her character, makes the message of the whole thing such winning ideas as “it’s okay to lie to your friends” and “you better not ever fuck up”. and makes me feel like I just wasted months being invested in the original cast of this comic at all.  

It feels like a truncated and confused ending to an arc if I am being generous, but less charitably like a panic redirect, or even editorial interference. After aaaaall those months of carefully set up, deliberate pacing and foreshadowing, it just kind of gets wound off into nothing and we merrily jaunt off to something else. This is a very, very good example of why if you set out to play the long game for something, you should keep your patience intact, because I guarantee trying to put a slapdash taped on conclusion to it because it’s not quite as well-received as you might have initially hoped will just make a mess of things.

I’m not usually too critical of IDW. In fact, I liked some of the other stuff going on in this issue and will continue to follow the glacial pace of my current favorite comic! But… In summary: bad taped together conclusion with an even worse moral. The bad guy basically won, which is not only very un-sonic-y, it’s also treated with zero gravity. Very poor, slapdash, and left a bad taste in my mouth. Do better, guys!

[twst-hottest-takes]

The TWST writers treat Ruggie so unfairly. He literally almost dies from one of the people he trusts the most, and it's brushed aside. I wish Ruggie held more of a grudge, he deserves to. He literally has made it so far from his poverty stricken background, almost to be killed by the prince of his OWN COUNTRY. Like come on...nothing?? Also we need to REALLY discuss how mishandled Ruggie's book 7 dream was. I think Ruggie's backstory is one of the most tragic ones in the game, as he literally grew up in the slums and had no formal education before NRC. I REPEAT. HE HAD NO FORMAL EDUCATION BEFORE NRC. So when you factor that while looking into his dream, it's just SO SAD. He's at a school, just as prestigious as NRC, and he is finally well off. While people were out here dreaming about overthrowing governments he was dreaming about being economically stable and not having to go hungry again. And when they wake him up, he (RIGHTFULLY SO) gets on all fours and starts crying. And you know what the story does. They ridicule him. They play that like "funny chaos" music they have going on. Something angered me when I saw Jack just stand there and be like, "I've never seen Ruggie cry so much" and look so awkward about it. I also felt that was so out of character because Jack has shown how much respect he has for Ruggie. You didn't even attempt to comfort him? Like...nobody? And then after he's done crying for like 2 minutes, he just gets up and brushes it off. Ruggie isn't one really seen showing strong emotions often, so having him be vulnerable could've been such a great development for him! Not to mention, he doesn't really like depending on others or again, being vulnerable, so this could've been a moment for him to be like "it's okay to cry ruggie." I honestly feel like Jack should've said more about that if you ask me, for someone who respects him so much.

The Savanaclaw curse strikes again!

Even Ruggie (who I maintain is the developers' favorite Savanaclaw boy) is not immune to it. He's got the most thought put into his backstory and the game has enough brains to make a really tragic situation out of his dream. . .and then come up with an anti-climax to it because reasons. Twisted Wonderland is prone to having those Marvelisms--you know, the ones where heavy scenes aren't allowed to be heavy. I'm not one to favor Ruggie much, but it honestly is annoying that with all he's got going on as far as his past goes the game never uses it for those really emotional beats--only to justify his comical flaws, like penny pinching and pick pocketing. It's kind of tone deaf. Especially considering a lot of people feel like Ruggie has had a lot more reason to Overblot than someone like Leona (that's another conversation though).

I'm stepping up to bat for my boy Jack though. When you're in the dorm where you solve problems with your fists and get made fun of for believing in any kind of honor system, of course it's going to be awkward when your honorary vice-housewarden bawls in front of you. Ruggie's made fun of him for having any kind of moral compass, so trying to comfort him would almost certainly come back to bite Jack in the tail later. He was between a rock and a hard place there. Jack's not looking down on Ruggie for crying, he just didn't expect any of his dorm mates to show that kind of emotion in front of him. It's not out of character for him to not know what to do in that situation and he probably wouldn't know how to bring it up later either. NRC is not an environment conducive to these guys learning how to be emotionally intellegent.

Thank you for your take.

(The blog owner is most certainly not still holding a grudge over the fact that Ruggie got the special card.)

[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!

[myf-this]

Okay....Okay, hear me out. HEAR ME OUT

I just watched httyd live action AND GOT A VISION

So, I present httyd x svsss!!

(Warning, my first language isn't English, so sorry if it looks strange, and theres probably gonna be a lot of nonsense rambling + my knowledge of httyd is a little bit foggy right now so some thing might be inaccurate)

In this household, we have:

Toothless = Luo Binghe

Hiccup = Shen yuan

Stoic = Shen Jiu

Astrid = Ning Yingying

Snotlout = Ming fan

Tuffnut = Liu Qingge

Ruffnut = Liu Mingyan

Fishleg = Shang Qinghua

Gobber = Xiu ya

Drago = Tianlang-Jun

Bewilderbeast (black) = Zhuzhi Lang

Valca = Yue qingyuan

Hookfang = Zhan Zhen

Barf & belch = Sha Hualing & Cheng Luan

Cloud jumper = Xuan Su

Meatlug = Mobei Jun

Stormfly = ummm still thinking on this one

The Red death/queen = Xin mo

Bewilderbeast (white) = Gongyi Xiao

Also

Gothi = system (lol)

Grimmel = huan Hua palace old master

Prob add more in the future idk 🤷‍♀️

Sooo some plot points for the au ig:

—Because of plot reasons, once a dragon reaches a certain age, they go through dragon puberty, which give them the ability to gain a half-human body (😉😉) which is just they human version but with wings, tail, ears, etc.

—While lbh and sy relationship started rocky (the whole shoot down thing) we all know binghe so it wasn't long before binghe become obsessed with our dragon loving boy.

— implied mpreg or fem!Yuan Qingyuan cuz, you know? Shen yuan

—zhuzhi and binghe are still cousins (somehow)

—there is a reason why I chose Zhan Zhen as hookfang! You see, in og story snotlout and hookfang, had kind of a love/hate (not in romantic way, mind you) relationship and now that I rewatched the 1 movie I took notice that hiccup was the first one to act good and friendly towards hookfang and after that he just told snotlout to do it! So I see hookfang going a little bit like "yeah, I like this human(hiccup), so I will tolerate you because he chose you(snotlout)".

There was like a whole complication of snotlout and hookfang interactions and it was so goddamn funny, and now I'm just imagining snotlout being like "I'm your rider!" *Meanwhile hookfang resting his head on top of hiccup with toothless giving him the side eye* "are you sure?".

So you see the dynamic right?

Now....Ming fan and zhan zhen

—binghe (begrudgingly) tolerates Zhan Zhen and even let's him hang out with shen yuan (under his watchful eye!) Bcs he has beef with ming fan and Zhan Zhen conveniently sets him on fire every time!(zhan totally does it just to hang out with shen yuan, but also bcs he likes to fuck up with ming fan)

—at first binghe hated his tail injury but at some point he started seeing it more like a claim from shen yuan "I can't fly without him now and he knows it so now he will never leave me because of his guilt" and he just goes around proudly displaying his tail to the other dragons like "yeah my rider claimed me see?"

—unlike Astrid and hiccup romantic interactions in the movie, ning yingying and shen yuan started to see themselves more like siblings!

—lbh is totally acting normal about him and his A-Yuan having matching injuries that they gave to the other(They are matching!).

-----

Fun facts:

—at first I wanted to put lqg as Astrid for yk romantic interaction and some beef with lbh, but then I got mgf as snotlout and I got like "oh! Nyy and mgf do act like Astrid and snotlout!" And then I got to the twins and the rest is history

—Tianlang-Jun miiight still be lbh father

—toothless is a nickname sy gave lbh

—ning yingying is binghes 2 favorite human

— Vikings call the nest The Abyss

—what? Sj dragged lbh into the Abyss? What are you talking about hahaha!

—sy spent asleep exactly 5 days after his Leg Accident

[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.”