#this drawing took 49 minutes

[confusedmothboy]

GUYSSS I DIDNT ABANDON YALL I WAS JUST WORKING ON THIS 🙏🙏

also i finished the manga a while ago what do i do with my life now

[cattocavo]

A preview of my artwork for @thewholelemon ‘s wonderful fic “Just Remember Me When” - written for Carry On Big Bang. The full artwork will be released sometime in early august, so watch out for that!

This entire drawing took me 49 hours and 23 minutes, breaking my previous record of 35 hours. Unfortunately my drawing program blurred a bunch of stuff when i merged all my layers together, so bazs entire body is just a little blurry, which saddens me greatly. Ive literally never had it happen before, and it was kind of important that he was C r i s p

(Its fine, just pls procreate, dont do it again)

[jomunson]

50 ed headcanons i been thinking about

1. washes his hair with bar soap

2. doesn't like coffee

3. his father is in jail and his mother passed when he was 11

4. secretly gets really scared when it storms

5. says "hubba bubba"

6. gets super miserable in the summer, he burns super easily

7. swims with goggles and a snorkel

8. wears his hair in a towel when he gets out of the shower

9. super good and confident with flirting with men but really awkward and flustered with flirting with women

10. will say "is this guy bothering you, babe?" if you ever run into furniture

11. love language is words of affirmation, he wants to know you don't see him as a freak

12. sleeps with a garfield plush he's had since he was a boy

13. really bad at fishing, like he'll actually catch a boot when he goes on trips to the creek with wayne

14. burps the abc's

15. took his driving test drunk

16. when he gets home from school he's tired from being a tough guy, he reads a book and smokes before falling asleep

17. thinks people are pranking him when they ask him out

18. wears silly red and pink heart designed boxers

19. really sweet with the kids who live in the trailer park

20. will leave a handful of change as a tip

21. can only cook spaghetti. only spaghetti.

22. biggest fear is the koolaid man coming alive

23. minute man munson (iykyk)

24. will ask people to name 3 songs if their wearing a band tee

25. put lipstick on one time and felt pretty

26. prefers apple juice over orange juice

27. absolutely loves halloween

28. extremely competitive

29. hits people when he's excited/laughing

30. sits really close to the tv like an ipad kid

31. moans while getting beat up to make it awkward

32. extremely allergic to cats but loves them to death

33. birthday is april 19th 1966

34. has skinny dipped w his bros in lovers lake

35. fein for chocolate chip pancakes

36. eats skittles for lunch

37. tried to do a karate kick and ripped his pants once

38. calls his van his baby

39. lifts his leg when he farts and thinks it's peak humor

40. won a goldfish from the fair and fed it crushes doritos for 4 months and cried when it died

41. writes reminders on the palm of his hand and it gets smeared on his face

42. always cuts his face when he shaves on accident

43. when he draws and has to erase he does it so hard it rips holes in the paper

44. feels cool because he doesn't carry around a backpack at school

45. scared of moths

46. has lost pencils in his hair

47. flips his boxers inside out so he can wear them longer

48. has to be told to shower

49. tried to pierce his ears and sobbed and then they got infected

50. his nose gets the brightest red in the winter

[svtskneecaps]

a list of timestamps, for no reason :)

thesis statement : No, what blue did tonight and what red did the last two nights are not the same.

disclaimer: this is not a judgement of right / wrong, this is a glorified compare and contrast paper.

a TL;DR is available at the top, immediately following the keep reading link (which i hope, for your sake, is still there).

for each vod i have compiled the time stamps first, and then under the heading "notably" have compiled and compared them.

this is the most toxic i will allow myself to be.

TL;DR:

Blue team on Day 4 took 2 seconds from first task claimed to last. Red team on Day 2 took 5 minutes 14 seconds from first task claimed to last, and on Day 3 took 42 seconds.

Blue team on Day 4 was vulnerable in the area for 2 seconds before claiming their last task. Red team on Day 2 was vulnerable in the area for 8 minutes 31 seconds, and on Day 3 was vulnerable for 12 minutes 10 seconds.

The time blue team spent getting situated before logging out in global is not counted in this as being vulnerable because it is not a viable strategy for an entertainer to waste 4 hours of their limited time camping global to ensure no one is logging out.

Red team claimed their first global task on Day 3 with 13 minutes until the server closed. On Day 4, Etoiles and Roier arrived to stop blue team from applying the same strategy with 15 minutes until the server closed.

Blue team's actions on Day 4 did not leave them open to any reasonable retaliation efforts once Tubbo logged out. The moment he logged back in, the tasks were as good as complete. Unless another content creator metagamed, they would not be able to stop him.

Red team's actions on Day 2 and Day 3 did leave them open to retaliation. They were not fast, they often did not have the items they needed crafted in advance and spent time in sight of the global task dome crafting the items. If a team had been waiting for them to try this at the global task dome as Etoiles and Roier did for Blue team, that team could entirely have succeeded in killing them or ruining their plans.

The global tasks on Day 4 were already functionally blue's 4 hours before they were claimed. Even if the disaster hadn't affected global, the way it was supposed to, the only thing left would have been revenge. There was no preventing it once Tubbo logged out.

The global tasks on Day 2 were open to reclamation for an hour after red team claimed them. By Day 3 blue team was aware of red's strategy and had a full 12 minutes (at a predictable time! see below) in which they could have attacked red and stopped them.

What blue and red team did was not the same.

Below are the time stamps I used to get this data and draw these conclusions. I've included links to vods for verification purposes. These links are not future proofed.

November 7th, 2023: Day 4 of Purgatory

TubboLIVE's VOD:

1:47:20 : Tubbo logs out of the server, behind the blue "contracts" NPC. He has 15 minutes 32 seconds of server time remaining.

5:50:23 : It is 3:48:52 am in Tubbo's time zone. Tubbo shows the clock on his screen. There are 11 minutes and 8 seconds until the server closes.

5:50:49 : Tubbo loads in, behind the blue "contracts" NPC. It is 3:49:41 am. This is the first moment the game is visible on his screen. He has 15 minutes 03 seconds of server time remaining.

5:50:50 : Tubbo claims the first of the global tasks.

5:50:51 : Tubbo claims the last of the global tasks. It is 3:49:43 am.

Notably:

Functionally, tubbo was standing behind the blue NPC, invincible, for 4 hours 3 minutes and 3 seconds

There is a 29 second period of server time that I can't account for.

The total time it took for tubbo to claim every global task after loading in is 2 seconds.

The cooldown for every global task before it can be reclaimed is 10 minutes. In this case these ten minutes started at 3:49:42 and 3:49:43 am. The first moment any of these claimed global tasks can be reclaimed is 3:59:42 am, with 18 seconds until the server closes.

Etoiles's VOD:

4:56:08 : With some leniency, this is the first clear view of the blue "contracts" NPC and the spot Tubbo is "standing" shown on Etoiles's stream.

*(the blue NPC comes into view at 4:56:06 but whether Etoiles would have seen Tubbo there is dubious enough that I have opted for a later time stamp)

4:56:12 : Etoiles and Roier enter the global task dome. They are standing directly to the left of the red NPC; on the opposite side as the blue NPC. The spot Tubbo is "standing" is clearly visible on Etoiles's stream. Etoiles has 10 minutes 40 seconds of server time remaining. There are roughly 15 minutes and 30 seconds until the server closes*.

*(Time calculated roughly using Tubbo's log in message; this is not exact)

4:56:17 : Roier is standing in front of the blue "contracts" NPC.

4:58:03 : Without leaving global spawn, Etoiles disconnects to get a buffer on his time limit. Remembering that there is a disaster coming, he immediately re-logs to avoid the combat logging penalty. Roier does not disconnect during this time.

4:58:18 : The first frame of the game is visible after Etoiles relogs. Etoiles has 8 minutes 53 seconds of server time remaining.

4:58:45 : The quicksand disaster starts, affecting global spawn despite admins having informed Etoiles previously that disasters did not affect global spawn.

5:00:08 : The disaster ends.

5:01:17 : Tubbo logs in. There are roughly 10 minutes 11 seconds until the server closes.

Notably:

Roier is standing three blocks away from Tubbo's log-in point (effectively, three blocks away from Tubbo) at 5 minutes before Tubbo logs in.

Were Tubbo logged in, waiting physically at spawn, Etoiles and Roier would have been able to initiate combat 5 minutes and 5 seconds earlier. Both had plenty of time on their server counters to participate in this combat, albeit Etoiles would have been kicked before server close. Roier would not be (source: Slime's vod, 2:45:05 and on. There is no disconnect message for Roier before the server is closed at roughly 2:45:08).

Were Tubbo logged in, waiting physically at spawn when Etoiles and Roier arrived (at roughly 3:44:37 am in Tubbo's time zone, 15 minutes and 23 seconds before the server closed), and had claimed all global missions at that time rather than risk dying in combat, the missions would have been able to be reclaimed at roughly 3:54:37 am, with about 5 minutes and 23 seconds before the server closed. This is 5 minutes and 5 seconds more than the actual time.

November 5th, 2023 : Day 2 of Purgatory

This is the first day red has used this strategy.

Cellbit's VOD:

6:52:27 : Cellbit arrives at the plaza outside the global task dome (Carre is already here; he wasn't streaming so I don't know when he arrived).

6:52:49 : Cellbit enters the global task dome. He backtracks to the right of the global task dome, and sets up a crafting area to craft items for the tasks somewhat out of sight of the dome. He is 96 meters away from the dome.

6:55:34 : Cellbit re-enters the global task dome.

6:55:44 : Cellbit claims the first global task for red team (electrolytes). The cooldown is 10 minutes 41 seconds.

6:55:49 : Cellbit claims one global task for red team (radiation medicine).

6:55:55 : Cellbit claims one global task for red team (campfires).

6:56:04 : Cellbit leaves the global task dome and sets up a second crafting area to the right of the dome after losing the first. This area is in full view of the dome, and is roughly 61 meters away.

6:57:40 : Cellbit dumps every item in his inventory except for iron and minecarts and a shield into a chest (he is functionally defenseless).

6:58:18 : Cellbit re-enters the global task dome.

6:58:23 : Cellbit claims one global task for red team (minecarts).

6:59:12 : Cellbit claims one global task for red team (diamonds).

6:59:49 : Cellbit gets his sword out of the chest (he is no longer defenseless).

7:00:58 : Jaiden claims the last global task for red team (rails). The bananas task remains unclaimed.

7:01:01 : ElQuackity is visible outside the dome on Cellbit's stream for the first time. Cellbit chases him.

7:04:34 : Cellbit kills ElQuackity, putting red team in the lead.

7:48:07 : The server closes.

Notably:

Red team is physically present, visible, and murderable / stoppable at the global tasks area for 8 minutes 31 seconds.

Red team takes 5 minutes 14 seconds to claim their global tasks.

The cooldown on these global tasks leaves at minimum 36 minutes 28 seconds to reclaim, maximum 41 minutes 42 seconds to reclaim before server close.

If a team were to have come up to the dome during the 8 minute 31 second period, they would have seen the team and could have attacked or stopped them.

There is a 2 minute 9 second period where Cellbit literally does not have a weapon in his inventory.

If a team were to have come up to the dome while the red team was still crafting the global quest items, they could have attacked and prevented the team from crafting the items and forced them to retreat without claiming those goals.

November 6th, 2023 : Day 3 of Purgatory

This is the second day red has used this strategy.

Cellbit's VOD:

3:39:11 : Cellbit sees Bagi on the bridge to global. There are 24 minutes and 2 seconds until the server closes.

3:39:49 : Cellbit enters the global dome, standing just to the right of where the red NPC is on November 7th.

3:40:24 : Cellbit exits the global dome to craft the water bottles needed for the global task.

3:42:58 : Cellbit crafts the final water bottle needed for the global task.

3:43:28 : Cellbit, Foolish, and Carre re-enter the global dome.

3:44:15 : Cellbit and Carre exit the global dome to inspect Bagi's body. Foolish exits the global dome to use the crafting table.

3:45:36 : Cellbit and Carre re-enter the global dome.

(There's a few more entrances and exits from the dome during the following period, though they stay within the area marked with Bagi's body, the global NPCs, and the crafting table as corners : Never much more than 61 meters away and never out of sight of the dome)

3:49:45 : Cellbit sends the message "hey guys we are about to deliver global tasks you should come!" There are 14 minutes and 18 seconds until the server closes.

3:50:39 : Cellbit claims the first global task for red team (tea leaves). There are 13 minutes and 26 seconds until the server closes.

3:50:59 : Carre claims one global task for red team (gas masks).

3:51:01 : Cellbit claims one global task for red team (hot cocoa).

3:51:09 : Cellbit claims one global task for red team (water bottles).

3:51:12 : Cellbit claims one global task for red team (backpacks).

3:51:21 : Carre claims the last global task for red team (tea). There are 11 minutes and 52 seconds until the server closes.

4:03:13 : The server closes.

notably:

Red team is physically present, visible, and murderable / stoppable at the global tasks area for 11 minutes and 28 seconds before they turn in any global tasks.

Red team takes 42 seconds to turn in all of their global tasks.

The cooldown on the global tasks leaves at maximum 3 minutes 26 seconds of time to reclaim, and at minimum 1 minute and 52 seconds to reclaim.

If a team were to have come up to the dome during the 11 minute and 28 second period, they would have seen and could have attacked red team.

If a team were to have come up to the dome in the 3 minutes 47 seconds between red team arriving at the global dome and red team crafting all the water bottles for the global task, they would have seen and could have attacked red team.

[wilbur-rae]

Scraps from Dandy's World! I've been playing the game more, and scraps is my favorite toon before Astro. I also have been getting into digital art more, and I hope you guys enjoy this! Drawing her took me 49 minutes on Ibis paint X!

[capturethechaos]

♡ Event Masterlist ♡

Prompts - fluff “Looks like you’ve had a few drinks!” - “You haven’t had enough if you’re noticing. Come on, bar’s over there.” “Hey, if we don’t find someone by midnight…you and me…maybe?” - “Ask me properly and I might consider it.”

Words - 1.5k

Warnings - Tooth-rotting fluff ♡

11:37 p.m.

You had pressed yourself against a wall twenty minutes ago, because well… there were a lot of people packed into this house, and oh… oh god he was across the room from you, and he was making his way over. 

It wasn’t that you were avoiding him necessarily. You were simply trying to avoid making a fool of yourself in a room full of people. You kicked off the wall, ducking below the arms of two guys having a very enthusiastic conversation, and making your way to the front door. 

In retrospect, it probably would have been helpful to yourself to actually pay attention to who you were walking past, because three steps from your sweet escape, a hand wrapped around your forearm, drawing your attention back into the room. Your eyes locked on Josh as he furrowed his brows at you. “And where do you think you’re going?”

You knew he wasn’t going to be pleased, no matter what your reply, because he saw how you were b-lining for the front door. Across the room, Sam and Danny watched in amusement as Jake wandered around the party looking for you. The two of them approached him as he sipped on whatever concoction was in his red cup, sliding in on either side of him. “You know, if not for Josh coaxing her back into the house, Y/n probably would have left by now, you really need to get a move on, Jacob.”

Jake turned to Sam with a sour look, earning a smug grin in return. Danny clapped his hand against Jake’s shoulder. “I hate to say it, but Sam is right, you have to make your move.”

They were right, Jake knew that. He didn’t want to go into the new year pining after you the way he had been for longer than he cared to admit. He straightened up, clearing his throat and nodding at Sam and Danny before stepping forward, locking his gaze on Josh as he led you further into the house. 

He was almost there, so close to being toe to toe with you, all he had to do was walk past one more group of people, but as he sped up to close the distance, someone within the group called his name, pulling him into their conversation. He pulled out his phone, checking the time as he muttered a response to something one of the people in the group had said.

11:49 p.m.

He glanced in the direction you and Josh had been walking, his eyes locking onto you as you once again leaned against a wall, staring at the floor as Josh animatedly told you a story. Jake excused himself from the group, locking eyes with Josh as he walked over. 

You looked up as Josh abruptly stopped talking, raising an eyebrow at him as he cleared his throat. “I uh- I’ve gotta pee.” He scurried into the crowd, leaving you leaning against the wall, incredibly confused. 

You heard a small grunt from behind you, and turned to see Jake readjusting himself against the wall. He wore a lopsided grin as he looked up from his feet, locking eyes with you and clearing his throat. “Funny seeing you here.”

You furrowed your brows at him, watching as he repeatedly readjusted his hand on the wall. “Looks like you’ve had a few drinks!”

He had, though he was sure the mannerisms you were noticing were caused more by the rapid beating of his heart, and the sweat building up on his palms because of what he was attempting to do. He straightened himself up, wiping his palms onto his pants and swallowing the lump in his throat. “You haven’t had enough if you’re noticing.” He hoped you wouldn’t feel how clammy he was as he reached for your hand. “Come on, bar’s over there.”

You took his hand, feeling a tingle shoot up your arm at the contact as he pulled you through the crowd towards the bar. You were stuck staring at the way his hand was wound so tightly with your own, so when he came to a sudden stop at the bar, you bumped into his side. He turned to you, letting his hand loosen around yours. “What do you want to drink?”

You blinked at him a few times before looking at the large selection of various alcohols and mixers. “Uh… surprise me.”

He grinned, turning and grabbing two cups, his hand hovering over a few bottles before landing on a bottle of rum. He poured a more than generous amount into both before closing the bottle of rum and reaching for the unopened bottle of coke. “So… hey, uh- if we don’t find someone by midnight… you and me… maybe?”

He was murmuring, clearly struggling to formulate the question as he turned to hand you the drink he had made you. You looked from the cup to him, a nervous smile growing on your lips as you lifted the cup to your mouth. “Ask me properly and I might consider it.”

The statement was more bold than you thought you were capable of, and clearly it took both of you by surprise, as Jake let out a nervous giggle. He turned to reach for his own drink, hoping that you wouldn’t notice the crimson blush that was spreading from his chest to his cheeks. He clearly wasn’t paying very much attention to his surroundings, as he elbowed someone trying to make a drink, dumping the contents of their cup all over them. 

Jake's attention turned to the person the second he heard them gasp, immediately muttering an apology and reaching for the napkins to help them clean themself. You were stuck mulling over the proposition he had made, and just the thought of kissing him at midnight had your heart racing. You panicked, turning and b-lining for the door to the backyard, stopping only when Sam stepped out in front of you. “You alright Y/n? You’re red as a tomato.”

You tried to give him your most convincing smile. “Yeah, I’m uh- I’m totally fine. It’s just a bit crowded in here, need some fresh air.”

Sam gave you a knowing smile, but nodded and shuffled out of the way, letting you walk past him and out onto the patio. 

When Jake turned back from helping the person he had dumped alcohol on, he was disappointed to find that you had once again disappeared. He immediately began to search for you, ignoring people as they called his name, and weaving through group upon group in an attempt to find you. 

A hand on his shoulder brought him to an unexpected stop, and he turned to see Josh eyeing him suspiciously. “Lose her again?”

Jake gestured to the lack of a person with him as he stared back at his twin. “Clearly.”

Josh chuckled at the lack of patience from his brother, and pulled his phone from his pocket, checking the time and turning the screen to show Jake. “Better get on with finding her, you’re running out of time.” Jake’s eyes locked onto the phone screen, and he immediately turned to walk away from his brother. 

11:58 p.m.

He found Sam near the back of the house, pulling him from the conversation he was in. “Have you seen Y/n?”

Sam smirked, nodding at him and pointing at the sliding glass doors that lead into the backyard. “She told me she needed some fresh air.”

Jake turned, hearing his little brother call after him as he walked away. “Be fast, brother, you’re running out of time!”

You were shivering, the late winter air seeping into your bones as you tried to compose yourself enough to go back inside. The party inside was somewhat muted by the closed sliding glass doors, but as they slid open, you could hear the crowd inside begin the countdown. You felt a soft tap on your shoulder, and turned to see Jake standing behind you, nervous as ever as he stared at you. 

He opened his mouth a couple times, clearly trying to formulate the right thing to say, and when he did his words came out barely above a whisper. “Can I be your kiss at midnight?”

You heard him, but some part of you couldn’t help but tease him, taking a step closer. “Sorry, what was that?”

His lips turned up into a smile as he shuffled closer to you, looking deeply into your eyes. “Can I kiss you?”

You tilted your head up, brushing your nose against his, realizing just how close his lips were to your own. “Of course you can, Jake.”

The two of you were so lost in your own little world that you hadn’t even realized that midnight had come and gone, the crowd inside turning their attention from the celebration of the new year, to what was going on just outside. Jake had left the back door open, and from against the frame of the door, Sam piped up. “Just kiss her already, you fool!”

Jake smiled, flipping off his little brother as he closed the distance between you, pressing his lips to yours. Everyone erupted into cheers as the two of you melted into each other. You felt the hand that had been flipping off Sam brush along your jaw, pulling you in even closer.

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[leafing-charm-eb]

BOIS SEN GIRLS AND PEOPLE WHOSE GENDER ARE CURRLED I INTRODUCE YOU TO

A NEW FRICKIN PFP. AHAHAOVEOF *chocking on soda*

the fuck why the eyebrows not showing??? eh dont care.

heres something for some of ya folks

i will always find a way to sneak in an amongus reference in my drawings from now on. deal with it

also drew these with omori ost i love omori

weird that it only took 49 minutes. most of the time i do things and it takes long and turns out horrible

[butchkaramazov]

A Shade Darker Than Red: Chapter 8

Chapter 7

A week passed by. Paro was eerily quiet when she was with me, and I thought of what I had said that day. Had I really, truly ruined all my chances of saving even our friendship?

A million thoughts rushed through my head as I turned restlessly in bed, staring at the ceiling.

The ceiling of our bedroom was painted with blue fluorescent stickers shaped like stars. Papa had done that. I had asked Maa to take them off if they bothered her, but we never did.

Beside me, Maa tossed in her sleep. They say if you think of someone, they can’t fall asleep. Could she hear my thoughts?

I had nothing to distract myself with. No phone, no book—nothing. Just me, my thoughts and the stars on the ceiling.

A sudden, vivid memory flashed in my mind. We were six. A year had passed since my meeting with Paro. We were running around like hooligans in the park while our mothers talked about work, pados-wali aunties and whatnot. I still remember what Paro was wearing: a frilly, white frock with Minnie Mouse sewn onto its sleeves. The sky was red and so was our laughter, until Paro bent down and ripped a flower right off its stem. “For you,” she had said, clumsily tucking the flower behind my ear. When she touched my earlobe, the flower was white. When she let go, it was red.

Another memory. We were nine. She sat with me on the bed while I rambled on about my latest hyperfixation: dragons. She listened to every single detail I had mentioned and, by the end of the afternoon, showed me a drawing of a wyvern.

Twelve. I was reading The Priory of the Orange Tree, sitting on the windowsill. I took a sip from my milk tea, letting out a contented hum. I wasn’t on the windowsill anymore. I was Ead, pressing a kiss to Sabran’s brow. Sabran was someone who looked uncannily similar to Paro.

An annoying ding! from my phone forced me back to reality. I heard Maa’s grunts and snores: the coast was clear. 

I climbed off the bed, taking care not to put extra weight anywhere that would make the mattress creak. I walked towards the desk and picked up the phone.

WhatsApp: You have 3 messages.

It was Paro. I checked the time: 3:49 a.m. Paro was a morning person, what was she doing staying up all night?

Paro<3: hi renu are you awake? —00:27 do you wanna hang out on the roof like we used to?  —02:01 its ok if you dont wanna. go back to sleep you have a big day tmrw. actually, if ur awake rn i’ll kill you —03:48

Oh, Paro.

I glanced at Maa, slowly increasing the fan’s regulator. Please don’t wake up soon.

I walked out of the room and closed the door. Thank goodness I’d oiled its hinges last week. 

The main door was locked—opening it meant creating a ruckus. “Shit,” I muttered under my breath. No wait, actually not shit. This meant I’d have to take the old way around. Jeez, fourteen-year-old me was fun.

I opened the door to the balcony and hoisted myself up on its railing. It was an easy jump. I tumbled onto the grass, praying that a grasshopper wouldn’t find its new home in my ear. The grass was wet and the air smelled of petrichor. 

I stood up, smoothening my pyjamas. Staying out late at night was a risky thing, especially in our neighbourhood. Plenty of TicTac-shaped pills here and there, and men on the prowl. I didn’t give a damn. I was eighteen and probably feeling some feelings I wasn’t supposed to be feeling. (That’s a lot of ‘feeling’s, I know.) What could possibly hurt me?

A lot of things, I realised, as I walked up to Paro’s house. Like that mad dog Rathode had warned me about. The creepy guy who keeps children in his basement (just a speculation, but when Madhu speculated about something, it was most probably right). An overspeeding motorcycle that could crash into me any minute. My own mother, with her pots and pans, once she realised I was gone.

Oh well, the damage was done. I found myself opening the gate on instinct, as if I knew Paro’s house better than I did my own.

I stepped into their garden, careful not to trample on any beetles—and made my way to the window of the woman who lived below Paro’s flat. Madame Fosco, I called her, in everything but her looks.

The tin shade Madame Fosco had installed last year was probably on its deathbed by now. Rust had made its edges creaky, but Fosco was deaf, anyway. I grabbed onto it and hoisted myself up, finding myself staring right at Paro’s face, our faces a millimetre away from each other’s. She screamed.

I screamed.

My foot slipped and I fell off the tin shade, tumbling onto the grass once again. At this point, I would be surprised if a grasshopper hadn’t found its home in my ear.

“For Whitman’s sake, hush,” I hissed.

Paro peered out of the window, her mouth forming a perfect ‘o’. “I’m sorry,” she mouthed. 

I shook my head (in case a grasshopper had organised a nice family dinner in my hair) and climbed onto the tin shaft once again, pulling myself onto Paro’s windowsill.

“Come in,” she whispered, switching the lights on. 

I felt comfortable squatting on her windowsill like a failed Spiderman and grumbled as I walked into her bedroom.

Paro switched her phone’s torchlight off. “I’m gonna kill you.”

“What?” I stared at her retreating figure. “What did I do?”

“Why are you still awake?” she snapped. I followed her to the door.

“Why are you still awake and staring out of your window like Oscar fucking Wilde?” I snapped back. Paro flipped me off while trying her hardest to pull the gates across the door. Sweat shone on her forehead, her eyes illuminated in the moonlight.

“Hold on, let me help,” I offered, gently grabbing her wrist. Paro grumbled, stepping aside.

I pushed the gate back and pulled it in again, keeping the screw in with my thumb. It glided into the opening on the other side, miraculously not making a single noise. I turned towards Paro. She was staring at my arms.

“What?” I asked her, incredulously. One moment she said she wanted to kill me, and the next she looked at me like I was something she couldn’t quite wrap her head around.

“N-Nothing,” she muttered. My heart fluttered. Dammit, these butterflies in my stomach had turned into fucking bats at this point.

Paro walked up the stairs while I followed her footsteps in the dark. “Just like the old times, huh?” I heard her say.

I smiled weakly. “You make it sound like we're old.”

Paro opened the door to the roof, the tensed line in her jaw glinting in a sliver of moonlight. God, she was as beautiful as ever.

“Come in,” she said, her words echoing in the marble walls.

I followed her to the railings, leaning against the cool surface. A light breeze rippled through, making her hair fly for a brief second. Dear God, she was poetry herself.

“Where are Auntie and Uncle?” I asked, trying to break the silence.

A light breeze caressed my cheeks. “They won’t be back before tomorrow. Business trip,” Paro explained, edging closer to me.

“Oh.” I was suddenly aware of the pen still tucked behind my ear.

Silence.

“So we’re—we’re all alone, then?” I asked her, hoping she wouldn’t hear the slight quaver in my voice.

Paro nodded. “We are.” Silence, again.

She leaned against the railing. “You’re going away in three weeks.”

I nodded, not quite knowing what to say.

“I asked you a question.” Her voice was cold and harsh, harsher than I deserved. 

“That was a statement,” I snapped. “And don’t use your CEO voice with me.”

Paro frowned. “I’m not.”

“You are.” I glared at her. “And you know it.”

She stared at me, scrutinising my every feature. “I’m sorry,” she finally said, letting out a sigh. “I’m sorry. It’s just been—you’ll be gone—and—”

“I know, it’s okay,” I heard myself murmur, edging closer towards her.

“I—I’ve got that Poe book with me,” she said. “Do you want it now or at the graduation party?”

“Now,” I said, without thinking. “The party will be too loud. And too crowded,” I added as an afterthought.

Paro bit her lip so hard I was scared it would bleed. “Alright,” she nodded. “I’ll get it.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

I watched her retreat into the shadows, taking the white along with her. The night was a pool of blood, again.

I hummed. Did she know about the history of ‘OK’? Probably not. I’d tell her. Not knowing things I wouldn’t be able to tell her before we drifted apart wasn’t a good idea. At least she’d be able to tell her children that their Renu Auntie had told her about the history of ‘OK’. Maybe she’d sigh and think of me, again. Words were a certain but clumsy way into a person’s mind. 

Papa had told me that. Maybe that’s why I can’t stop thinking of him.

Did Paro know about Jinnah? That Netaji might’ve actually been alive? Did she know that birds came from lizard-hipped dinosaurs? There was so much I had to tell her before I vanished from her mind. It was pathetic. Scrambling onto every crumb of unrelated information I could find, just to hang onto her thoughts, stay on in her mind for a little while longer.

“I’m back,” Paro said, stepping into the moonlight.

She looked like Aphrodite, the goddess of love born from love itself, in all her glory—clutching a book of Edgar Allan Poe, the letters of which shone in the lamplight or moonlight, that I do not know.

“For you,” she said, handing me the book.

“It’s beautiful,” I gasped as I ran my fingers along the edge of its spine. It was a leatherbound book, The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe written in shiny gold lettering. I opened the first page. To Renu, it said. Keep me in your mind, always. From, Paro.

I chuckled, flipping through the pages. “Of course I’ll keep you in my mind, Paro,” I laughed. “What a silly thought!”

Paro looked at me, hope faintly glimmering in her eyes. “You will?” Her voice had softened down to a murmur.

I looked at her incredulously. “Well, duh, Paro, I can’t just forget my best friend of thirteen years now, can I?”

Paro’s lower lip trembled. “You promise?”

I smiled. “Always.”

“Always?”

“Always.”

A comfortable silence followed and as we looked at the stars, I knew we were both smiling.

@avani-amulya @manujanolavu @nirmohi-premika @lovesickpdf @arachneofthoughts @sonilaalbindi @desi-yearning @alhad-si-simran @thatpagalchokri @trashmeowcan @waitingforthesunrise @vellibandi @thesunandstarss @chanda-chamke-cham-cham @damnn-dorothea @the-unhinged-fanwinggg @watchingblsnowandforever @disproportionatelysculpting @bundle-of-glitter @bibliophile-dendrophile please let me know if you want to be added or removed from the taglist <3

[shirozora-draws]

I posted 53 times in 2022

49 posts created (92%)

4 posts reblogged (8%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@trashquisitor-shirozora

@shirozora-writes

@shirozora-draws

I tagged 53 of my posts in 2022

#shirozora draws - 46 posts

#the mandalorian - 33 posts

#star wars - 32 posts

#din djarin - 31 posts

#luke skywalker - 28 posts

#dinluke - 28 posts

#skydalorian - 27 posts

#shirozora awkwardly responds to asks - 9 posts

#our flag means death - 9 posts

#tbobf - 9 posts

Longest Tag: 131 characters

#you ever love something so much you just wanna cry and scream and claw at the walls bc it's so hard to breathe?? that's me with din

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

an exercise in "thinking about vague shapes and gestures, how do i flesh that out" that took 4 days longer than i can spare. the companion sketch to the staircase AU scribble that i tinkered with almost every day since Sunday and now it's Friday and i had to tweak the layers 2 minutes ago, so.

seriously though. I really need to stop drawing and actually write like I've been meaning to since last month. get with the program, brain.

1,536 notes - Posted August 12, 2022

#4

Episode 6? What episode 6? I don't know what you're talking about. Din needed help not slicing himself open with the Darksaber and went to the one person who seemed most willing to help.

They have a cheerleader and a snack.

Okay but real talk - I sketched the idea on my phone while waiting in the ER (it was an eventful Tuesday morning - for my mom, I'm all right and so is she!) and had been turning it into a finished doodle when TBOBF ep 6 dropped. Canon can do whatever it wants because I can do whatever I want, too.

P.S. the name of this file is "broad v twunk".

1,649 notes - Posted February 3, 2022

#3

So. I said I wanted to clean up and color one of my sketches and uh. Um. Well. Remembered a post about the "leggy blond" and the whole thing got away from me.

I really need to stop listening to my brain.

Post-S1 cozy warm weekend vibes anyone? *walks into the sea*

1,756 notes - Posted April 23, 2022

#2

"Din needs to do some maintenance on his midlife crisis space bugatti and just happened to be near wherever in the galaxy Luke, Grogu, and Artoo are."

As irritated as I am with how The Book of Boba Fett is being handled, I'm also vibrating with so many thoughts and ideas and cannot draw fast enough. I also have a project with a looming deadline and also, uh, an entire fic to write, if you wanna know how bad I am at self-control.

This doodle came out of some very... spicy thoughts about the Naboo starfighter and negotiating tight spaces. I'm just horribly weak for sleek starships (looking at you, USS Enterprise).

2,359 notes - Posted February 8, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

See the full post

16,159 notes - Posted January 9, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[blind-ar-ti-st]

Character Illustration OC >Lael [He/Him]

My GOSH this drawing took 10 years, 57 days, 6 hours, 49 minutes, and 36 seconds to finish. /j

On top of the dynamic pose, I was designing this character from scratch. Armor is the *worst* thing to draw, might I add. One of my least favorite things, after anatomically correct hands.

And *then* I was like "I wanna try lighting this!" and spent 3 hours doing just that... either way, turned out nice methinks.

Thank you for checking me out!

[theartofeverything]

How long do you typically spend on each TMayNT drawing? Of the ones you've done so far, which one took the longest? Which one was the quickest?

On the drawings themselves I spend around an average of 4 hours on each with this one

being the fastest at 2 hours and 49 minutes (including pose studies)

and this one

taking the longest at 5 1/2 hours.

I often spend a good amount of time before that gathering reference images though, especially for the ones based off other artists.

[whumpflash]

Ashes, Ashes 6: Not Okay, Actually

(for Angstpril, Day 16: "You Have to Let Me Go")

cw: lab whump, knife whump, death mention

prev ///// masterlist ///// next

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

January 7th, 20XX, 6:45PM

Subject: Adult Male Dragon (polymorphed: humanoid form)

Researcher: Eimaan Khanh

Subject transferred to table; restrained.

Presents no physical reaction to Firebreak (heretoafter referred to as 'FB'), when placed, without wounding, against the left thigh, upper and lower torso, and throat.

Following approx. fifteen minutes of skin contact with no change, a small cut (approx. 1.5" in length) was made in subject's left thigh with FB. Reaction near-instantaneous, bubbling and discoloration at the site akin to an acid or chemical burn and spreading approx. 2" beyond the cut on all sides.

Healing factor still enabled, but noticeably slower; muscle fibers don't begin visibly reconnecting until 3 min 49 seconds. Five minutes after cut is made, burned area recedes by 0.23".

Process repeated on a larger scale; cuts of approx. 3" made on left calf, lower left abdomen, lower left ribcage, left forearm, and parallel to left clavicle. Results scalable to first cut.

Subject distressed.

(Note: healing factor seems to slow further when multiple wounds are made in quick succession. Second and third cuts did not visibly begin to close until approx 5 min after they were made, and fourth, fifth, and sixth cuts were halted until approx 7.5 min.)

Following this, FB will be studied to determine exact properties, and more attempts will be made to slow healing factor by applying multiple wounds.

Subject returned to resting place; restrained.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

The cries coming from the basement were muffled, but Nyra put on headphones anyway, to fully drown out the sound while she waited. Eimaan had told her to 'sneak' downstairs and talk to Rhys once she was done with today's experiment, and she hadn't figured out what she was going to say.

By the time her sister came to get her, she was still drawing a blank.

Nyra crept down the stairs, trying to mimic the quiet caution she'd shown two nights ago. Ei had cleaned up her lab, but the faint smell of blood still lingered under the sharper odor of disinfectant. Rhys wasn't strapped to the table anymore, but Eimaan had already warned her about that. A quick scan of the area and Nyra found him, curled up on the far side of the room, arms locked in place behind his back, legs tucked up to his chest.

She wondered if he was cold. Even if he was, she couldn't do much to help him. Her sisters would want to err on the side of caution and not give him anything he might be able to use against them, even something as simple as a blanket.

As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she noticed the cuts running up and down the side of his body that wasn't in contact with the ground. Already healing, but she could tell they'd been nasty.

"Hi," she began as she crossed the room.

Rhys took a moment to respond, his breathing shifting like he was trying to compose himself. "Gun girl," he said at last, raising his head and fixing golden eyes on her.

"...Nyra," she corrected gently.

Rhys struggled to a seated position with a grunt. "Didn't think you'd be coming back, Nyra. Did you miss me?"

"No, I…" Shoot, what should she say? What was the best way to draw him in? "I just wanted to see if you were okay."

He snorted. "Oh I'm great. Nothing like having a psychopath cut you up before bed."

"She's not a psychopath," Nyra said, unable to hold back a scowl.

"Could've fooled me."

She shrugged, turning away. "If you're well enough to insult my sister, I can't find a reason to worry—"

"Wait."

Nyra hid her smile as she glanced back over her shoulder. "What?"

"I'm…" his shoulders slumped. "I'm not okay, actually."

Interesting turn. Eimaan had guessed he'd try using pity against her now that his threats had been proven hollow. Nyra turned back around, waiting for him to continue.

Rhys scoffed. "What? That wasn't obvious? I've been kidnapped. I'm being held here against my will, and I'm being tortured to satisfy human curiosity."

There was that word again. Nyra buried her unease. "It's not—"

"Yeah, you've already said. It's 'research'. Doesn't make a difference to me." He shrugged. "You and your stab-happy sister were right. I can't break out. I can't turn into a dragon, and I can't breathe fire. I'm useless."

It could've been a trick of the light, but she swore she saw the shine of tears in his eyes. He blinked it away before she could be certain.

"I want you to tell me something, Nyra."

"Yeah?"

He met her eyes. At the surface level, his expression was neutral, but there was something deeper there; a thinly veiled desperation. 

For all I know, it's a practiced one. He could still be playing at manipulation.

"What happens when your sister's done with her research? What happens to me?"

"I…" She didn't know. She wasn't sure if even Eimaan had planned that far ahead. What would they do? Letting him go was too big of a risk. Even if he was powerless, that wouldn't stop him from seeking revenge in other ways. Handing him off to a Guild was an option, but that seemed far too cruel. Who knew what those hunters would do? And while rehab programs existed, those were geared towards newly-made vampires and werebeasts. A dragon would have no place there.

Did that mean… were they going to kill him when this was all over?

"Please," Rhys said when she didn't answer. "I can comply with the experiments. I'll be a model prisoner. Just please tell me you'll let me go. When it's over."

Nyra hadn't anticipated that, either. Offering to go along with Ei's plan? Maybe the desperation wasn't being faked.

"What happens if we do?"

"I leave you alone forever."

As much as she wanted to believe that, she couldn't. The last dragon attack had been two decades ago and it had destroyed an entire town, burning it to the ground and taking its occupants with it. If setting Rhys free meant even the smallest chance of that happening again, the Khanhs couldn't allow it.

But Nyra didn't say that. Instead, she said, "I'll see what I can do."

And she left, without another glance back.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

@kira-the-whump-enthusiast @hold-back-on-the-comfort

[vancilocs]

41-50 for konoe and vasili aaand a shared space pair of youir choice?

you get ummmmmmm joe n mae

41. What green flags do they have for one another?

Vasili is unendingly loyal, Konoe is very honest, both are straightforward about their feelings both good and bad

Joe is respectful, patient and honest, gentlemanly. Mae is also honest and straightforward

42. Have they ever been jealous?

As teens before they got together Konoe would deliberately hook up with some noble boys just to see how jealousy affects Vasili. He didn't consider the feelings of these other nobles. As grownups Vasili still gets a bit jealous at times but that's just him being raised to be obsessed with Konoe and not because he thinks Konoe will actually stray

No? If anything then in a platonic sense Mae had a rival in Mor Rioghain

43. Is one more introverted/extroverted than the other?

Konoe is an extrovert, Vasili an introvert

Joe is kinda extroverted, he's probably a bit more outgoing

44. Who’s the better cook?

Vasili, Konoe hasn't cooked for himself in his life and screams if grease pops on the pan

Both are great but Joe takes over the kitchen as a househusband

45. Are they good at comforting one another? Does someone hide their feelings usually?

Neither likes showing negative feelings but they know each other well enough to know when someone's sad, a hug and some verbal reassurance is fine, mostly they want to be alone for a bit and read or something. The worst was when Vasili lost his eye bc he was sad and Konoe was furious

Joe fights seven demons every time he tries to show emotions but Mae knows him and can coax him to talk pretty easily. Hugs work for comfort tho. Joe will wait for Mae to talk about her feelings when she's ready

46. Would they have been friends with each other in school?

Maybe because Konoe would have figured he has something to gain by befriending Vasili.

Mayyyybe. Jock and sassy nerd get paired for an assignment and bond bc both like to draw.

47. Who made the first move?

Vasili would have rather chopped his own head off than to try and rizz his liege, Konoe had to hardcore seduce his ass

Joe but he responded to Mae's signals

48. Do they get on well with each other’s family? Is family important to them?

Vasili's family immediately disowned him when word got out about the relationship, he took it pretty hard. Konoe hates them. His mom was extremely disappointed in him but knew full well when Konoe wants something he gets it. It's slightly tense between her and Vasili.

Joe is pretty close to his family despite it all, they like Mae a lot. Her parents had some getting used to in Joe but he's earned his welcome.

49. Do they tease each other? What about?

Konoe gently ribs Vasili about being so formal and rigid, relax dude. Vasili makes jokes of Konoe's height and him being so high maintenance (Vasili takes about 3 minutes to get from bed to being ready, which Konoe teases him about also)

Joe teases Mae abt her height mainly.

50. Is there anything that scares them about their friendship/relationship?

Not anymore, they overcame the biggest hurdle.

Not really

[flaringfoxsoul03]

Hi! I hope you’re having a good day. Could I please get a TWST/ Obey Me matchup, either one. My name’s Hope and I’m bi with a preference for men. I’m pretty much an open book and I’m very affectionate. I always want to be there for my friends and to be the best person I can be. I also am a tad sarcastic and very much loyal to my friends and anything I get attached to. Though I’m pretty chatty and clingy. I have a habit of adopting introverts in that I’ll keep going up to them until I slowly introduce them to my friend group and they start hanging out with us. I love books and all kinds of stories and writing and reading are big hobbies of mine. Other than those, doing funky makeup and going to the cinema, my interests tend to vary based on my current hyperfixation (I’m autistic) so they’re pretty much all over the place. I do consistently love music though and I will go on a ten minute tangent if anyone disrespects the songwriting ability of Taylor Swift. The main thing that can annoy me about people is when they disrespect others. Like I can befriend pretty much anyone who treats people with respect and kindness. I also hate loud noises so I don’t like people who scream a lot or who would yell at me when they’re angry. Finally my ideal first date is either cinema and a walk/drink after (because I love the cinema and sharing that experience with someone) or going to a bookstore with someone. I go for the rule of pacifism till provoked but if someone does provoke me or disrespects my values I have the option of going absolutely nuclear. I’m an INFP but like I literally got 51% introverted and 49% extroverted so it’s a pretty close call. I like all kinds of stories especially in book or movie form (cinemas and libraries are elite). I also like cats, hamsters, various other small creatures (not insects though they freak me out). And I collect a bunch of different things, I’m kind of a hoarder with most things cause otherwise I get panicked that I’ll run out. So like I have food and stuff stashed in secret spots throughout my room. I hate anyone who doesn’t treat others with respect, loud noises and mornings. As for looks, I’ve got brown hair and hazel eyes. I’m fairly curvy, mainly with chest and thighs but I’m also built pretty stockily which I can be a bit insecure about. And also I have a pet cat who I would sacrifice many many people for. Thankfully she only wants dreamies and head scratches. Thank you so much!PS - I give you this photo of my cat as an offering.

YOU HAVE SUMMONED ME TO FULL CAPACITY WITH THIS OFFERING! I SHALL GRANT THEE WITH 2 FOR 1 DEAL AND GIVE YOU BOTH TWIST AND OBEY ME MATCHUPS! You have greatly pleased me.

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

I match you with… (Twist Edition)

Cater Diamond!

——————————-

I know you said you draw in introverts, but you’ve had to know that you had an extrovert coming in HARD for you when you are more of an outgoing ambivert (combo of extrovert and introvert, the in between of those two) but still leaning towards the quiet side that this crazy social man should try once in awhile. But get hyped, this is the man who gives you all that energy when you’re just too unsure of yourself. But that’s not to say he doesn’t know when to pull the two of you away from the party

When you first met, you’ve gotta admit; you thought Cater was kind of a jerk. Granted he was still trying to follow the ridiculous rules Riddle has insisted to keep in place. But he still took advantage of you and completely walked all over you and the boys (ADeuce and Grim)! How could you not be upset for him just using you? He has some work cut out for him. Luckily, he makes do when Riddle Overblots and he helps you come to and gets outed for not liking sweets at the replacement Merry Unbirthday Party when Riddle accidentally takes Trey’s “advice” too seriously with the oyster sauce and Cater ends up liking the tart so much that Trey outs him in front of the group. Now you have ammo, go and mess with him to your heart’s content! I promise you guys will fall for each other after this threshold has passed

100% enjoys your loyalty to him. Cater never had to worry about putting up a front with only you around, you tore down those walls a long time ago. With all the cuddles and chats you guys constantly have, he’s never bored and almost has so many ideas to show his Magicam followers. He also inadvertently becomes the person the introverts you adopt can get away with the things his partner said they couldn’t do with all the introverts. Not that he minds until he realizes you often have already been asked and said no, so he’s getting on your introverts or he’s coming up with a good explanation that won’t earn him your fury while he’s explaining why your introverts are in the mess they’re in before you

Really loves that you’re so into makeup! And coming up with those crazy designs just fascinates him and his followers! So much so, since you still don’t have Magicam (at this point in the story), Vil finally starts following him. He is in (happy) tears, please get him to stop or stop him from doing anything rash before Vil regrets his decisions (this is because Vil sucks at communicating how he feels so this is how he keeps up with your makeup and you, sorry Cater)

I’m sorry, but since you can go nuclear in seconds, Cater has mastered his signature spell to come out in a matter of seconds faster than he usually does to keep you back. Trust me, he does not want to explain or stop anything stupid things for or to Riddle about why his S/O is fighting with the Head Master again to the point that his Dorm Leader is literally plotting the fall of Crowley and trying to incorporate the others. Save your mans and stop falling for Leona’s taunts with Ruggie

Your hyper fixations are his inspiration for when he’s lost that spark. Just asking you anything related to your favorite expertise gets those creative flows going hard again! Doesn’t know a Taylor Swift, but do you know Vil’s personal long time rival, Neige LeBlanche, has made at least 3 albums? More than Vil has at the moment, though Cater is certain that will change if Vil even gets a whiff of that news. Not important, let’s listen to Neige’s tracks and see if it’s as similar to this Taylor Swift! You can obviously see that Vil is very much Cater’s hyper fixation when it comes to his favorite subjects, so you’re not the only one in the relationship! Though, do occasionally offer apologies to Vil when you see him, he may not act like he needs them, but they really do help his self esteem and inner child

Is in love with this first date idea of yours, though he heard it through the first years when they started talking about relationships and how would they plan out first dates. Definitely was not spying on you guys with a clone, not at all! The clone just happens to be running an errand and is passing by, that’s all! And it’s still lowkey and not too over the top like he heard an idiot share (No Ace, you cannot and should never try to do intense parkour for the first time with a partner! Especially unsupervised!). Expect a lot, and I mean, a lot of pics and photogenic photos afterwards, he just can’t this idea out of his head and has to save it somewhere and show the world how lucky he’s yours~

Gets that sometimes, it’s better to not go to the party at all and stay home to recuperate. It’s one of the many things Cater learns early on in his relationship with you. You don’t like to go out every weekend, much much less every night doing something. He begins to appreciate spending more time with you and now has dedicated at least 3 times a week he spends his nights with you. Not that he’d tell you outright of course, but he’s not necessarily stopping you from finding out. What’s the worse that can come from that? He doesn’t always have to go to Kalim’s numerous parties, Cater can just easily convince him to throw another one on a day he can convince to come with him then, more willing than other times. Please be available to stop Jamil not secretly plan the murder of your S/O though, Jamil can only take so much bullshit from other extroverts and once

Loves your body type. Literally doesn’t care if you don’t like it, he’s gonna help you love it! Since Cater had to be conditioned to love everything “cute” thanks to his two older sisters, he enjoys things that aren’t too cute by his sisters standards, despite the word cute being burned into his brain. You unfortunately would not be able to get along with his sisters by yourself at first (damn them and their societal norms), but he doesn’t let that last long. You’re both each other’s hype. You can be the push he needs to finally set stricter boundaries with his sisters instead of letting them walk all over his S/O. This can be a win-win, but do expect a lot of angst if you ever do end up meeting his family, his father will be completely out of the loop during this unless his sisters Overblot, so don’t fret about getting the adults involved. Just try to solve it, so use words before magical solutions are needed

Cater doesn’t really have a huge opinion on cats or pets in general, his family moved too often to keep a family pet. But that isn’t to say he wouldn’t take care of your sweet feline! He already helps out a lot in Firelit Sky to help you keep Grim in control, what’s another cat gonna do? Give him allergies? On second thought, he’s not gonna jinx it. But he will definitely love your cat and wish to stay with you during holiday breaks!

You make he feel heard and appreciated for him and himself alone. He doesn’t have to be something for someone else, not a duplicate or the comedic relief, him. Cater is always brought to tears when he thinks of you and all that you do for him. He strives to be your person too, every little thing that bugs you (and honestly should because we’re talking about pretty much all of the higher ups of the social latter of Night Raven College), to little feuds to finally breaking down from all the ridiculous stress placed on you. You’re more than guaranteed to have things done with chatty Cater

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

I match you with… (Obey Me Edition)

Leviathan!

——————————-

This is the introvert you adopt and Cater has to share. Am I mixing fandoms? Yes. Should there be a AU where Twisted Wonderland and Obey Me exist in the same universe? Yes. Do I want it where the Night Raven students go to RAD and possibly vice versa? Also yes. Do I care about the mixing? Not in the slightest, but I’m giving this shy otaku lover to you! I also inadvertently have given you a very easily jealous lover, so Cater better watch out and not make the Admiral of Hell’s (or the Devildom, you guys pick mostly because I can’t remember which one is canon descriptions) Navy and Avatar of Envy upset! Though, I’m sure you can run damage control, right?

Meeting Levi was, well, either painful or downright confusing as hell. He’s basically turned you into a pawn for his own gain, all because Mammon basically screwed both you and him over. But sure enough, he shows enough of his real self to you that you’re hooked. And you’re determined to keep this introvert of an otaku in your life! He’s eventually hooked after the TSL tournament, and he’s certainly all curious about you now

You’ll have to reassure him a few times, especially when his sin is peaking aggressively, but he also really appreciates your loyalty to him. Did you pick him over his brothers Mammon and Asmodeus going out to the club to play video games with him? You may have accidentally sent him back to heaven! Did you ask him to help you with dinner instead of Lucifer and Satan who were arguing which one of them would be cooking tonight with you? Faints for a second before praising you with promises of hard work like he didn’t even lose consciousness in front of you within the last five seconds. Did you seriously pull on his hand to the arcade games while Beel and Belphie were debating which store in the mall would be best to start first? He’s letting you win that multiplayer game for a bit as he’s recovering, you do so much for him it makes his envy and love for you soar!

Loves the crazy makeup designs you come up with! You can already expect him begging you to do anime themed ones in your style to see how it compares to how he does it. He actually learns some techniques he’d never think of trying, let alone doing! Levi quickly praises you for the art of makeup and begs to become your pupil. You guys occasionally can drag Asmo and Mammon into the mix, Mammon being Asmo’s dummy (Mammon no matter what is always whipped for you my dear, platonic or romantic, he’s so whipped). It can either go one or two ways: you guys are actually trying out designs, styles, and techniques, or you guys are competing on who has the better whatever the issue of whatever argument they were making. It doesn’t matter, it’s always either chaotic as usually is or it’s a calm moment. No in between on this

Your nuclear phase can also go one or two ways with Levi: one, he’s holding you back and begging for mercy or apologizing hastily to avoid punishment from Lucifer, or two, he’s joining in. There is no in between, other than it really depends on how his sin, envy, decides to act in that moment you go blowing shit up

One of the many things you duo end up doing together; hyper fixations. You both get hooked on this anime or video game? The other brothers and rest of the world can say goodbye and can expect you two to not emerge from Levi’s bedroom for the next 1-2 business weeks. He doesn’t like Taylor Swift at first because he’s convinced it’s just a normie’s songwriter and singer, but after you get him listening to at least three songs, he’s now a Swifty. Congratulations my darling

Really loves your first ideal idea for a date. He’s a hardcore introvert suffering from lots of anxiety and low self esteem just to mama a couple, but you preferring to stay in over going out is his favorite. He would be most excited for this date if you managed to get it to be an anime movie release and a cafe premiere vips. Or maybe he would do this? I’m not sure, but he would be more reluctant to go to a “normie” movie. However, there’s a 50/50 chance he hyper fixates on it and it’s fandom with you if he somehow go hooked on it for a little while

Did I say prefers it if you stay in? I lied, he LOVES it when you guys don’t go out for a date. More or less hopes you’re an introvert than letting your extrovert out. That means he can keep you in his room doing anything from games or watching anime. Or whatever your hyper fixation is and if he can inadvertently prank the household without getting in trouble. I’m like behind this headcanon that Levi often pranks his brothers, but he does it so gracefully, he’s not at fault for any rule breaking because it dances so close yet never crossed the threshold of breaking or finding loopholes and it’s all because this poor sea demon just wants to connect with his brothers

I don’t think I can repeat this enough; if you don’t like your body, Levi, no matter what, is gonna compare you to anime characters that are similar to you. Even to the point where they’re uncannily resembling of you. He doesn’t and could never find you unattractive, which is why he’s more confused about you hating your body (minus the envy) to the point where he asks Asmo to help him figure out what was wrong (because fuck Solomon he’s too shady for this Avatar of Envy in the midst of having a breakdown on how to comfort his partner). Eventually he gets a process down where he feels just as confident as Ruri-Chan in her new adventure, with some help from Asmo and secretly Solomon because the man can not handle not helping you from the brothers

According to a Q&A WAY way WAY back when they were advertising Obey Me, there was a question asking who liked cats and dogs and Levi was on the dogs list. So safe to say your cat isn’t earning brownie points already. Fortunately, if your cat is just looking for a safe quiet place to nap, Levi sure doesn’t mind. It might grow a little on him, but it really depends on what your cat does while they’re with him

All in all, Levi is your safety in grounding in the chaotic world you live in. He can sure join in on the chaos, but more often than not he’s quietly on the sidelines watching the ridiculousness unfold while listening to a podcast about a game or an anime, take your pick. But for you? Levi in a heartbeat would be your grounding buddy when it’s all too much. Best part is he can enjoy the solitude with you and get better at being outside of his comfort zone little by little. You’re that quiet couple who just would rather quietly hang out than join parties, though the occasional laser tag games with the exchange group doesn’t hurt

——————————-

And the FOUR follow ups are:

Kalim Al-Asim,

Lilia Vanrouge,

Simeon,

And finally,

Barbatos

===================

THAT TOOK SO LONG!But I’m so happy I took that time to properly finish this! I hope this is worth the wait! Duel matchups are so hard!

That’s all folks!

~Fox

[avidbeader]

I posted 3,202 times in 2022

That's 1,249 more posts than 2021!

86 posts created (3%)

3,116 posts reblogged (97%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@avidbeader

@josilverdragon

@flashedarrow

@story-kat

@tattooedsiren

I tagged 2,948 of my posts in 2022

Only 8% of my posts had no tags

#voltron - 2,222 posts

#sheith - 2,127 posts

#the great sheith reblog - 1,389 posts

#sheithart - 1,303 posts

#sheith meta - 129 posts

#dent-de-leon - 94 posts

#sheith fic - 81 posts

#lightningstrikes-art - 69 posts

#pretty - 63 posts

#avid writes - 59 posts

Longest Tag: 137 characters

#look i'm just saying that in at least three of those languages they chose the most passionate and romantic version of the phrase possible

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Finally upgraded my Google Docs into a nice basic website. Things will be added when I have the opportunity and if you have suggestions/corrections, please let me know through a DM!

47 notes - Posted March 30, 2022

#4

100 followers on Twitter!

30 followers here on Tumblr!

37 fics in the tag where there were 9 two weeks ago!

Hope everyone is thinking about what to write/draw!

49 notes - Posted March 18, 2022

#3

Commission from @Macu_artz on Twitter! This is a scene from my Sheith fairy-tale AU The Six Cursed Heirs. I am so happy to have this.

101 notes - Posted December 4, 2022

#2

Okay, so, about “The Sandman”...

It’s amazing.They pulled off a really elegant adaptation, based on the fact that I cannot point to either the comics or the series and say one was better than the other. Plots were tightened up. Characters got shifted here and there. They did the wise thing, in my opinion, and removed just about every reference to the DC superheroes other than a pair of name-checks. By allowing characters to be played by actors regardless of race or gender, they ended up with a cast that did a stellar job. Where there was classic bloody gore/horror, they surrounded it with intense psychological horror so that even those of us who are the type to look away from the screen got almost the full impact. And they took full advantage of the medium to produce incredibly rich and lush visuals and bring iconic pages in the comics to life.

As I said last night, if you feared what a live-action version would do to a story you treasure, don’t be afraid. And if you’re hesitant to watch a series without having read the source material, don’t hesitate. This feels like the once-in-a-generation event where the adaptation not only lives up to the original, but can stand beside it as an equal.

Spoilery thoughts under the cut for both the series and the comics.

I am still really astonished at just how deft an adaptation the series it. Every time I went, “Wait a minute, I don’t like this change,” by the end of that episode or the next I was sold. For example, I was missing Miranda, Rose’s mother, at the beginning of Episode 7, as the buffer between Rose and Unity and also because we were shown the circumstances of their separation from Jed and not just told. But when Gault took on Miranda’s appearance and then railed against Dream because she didn’t want to be a nightmare anymore, it made perfect sense.

And Gault herself was a revelation. In the comics we have a team called Brute and Glob, a rather dumb pair of nightmares, trying to make their own little Dreaming in Jed’s mind. (And if I remember correctly, they’re a reference to one of DC’s older horror comic titles.) They are the ones who capture Hector Hall at his death and bring Lyta to live with him in their fledgling kingdom, and Hector is the “Sandman” of Jed’s dream world. It works in the comics because the text and art pay homage to an early 20th-century comic strip called “Little Nemo”. But it would have been extremely hard to do that on screen without losing the viewers, so they made Jed the star of his dreams instead and gave him all the hokey superhero trappings. And that works because Jed is a kid, with a kid’s imagination. But it gets even better when we see that Gault’s motivations weren’t about power, but about protecting Jed from his abusers because she had changed and wanted to be free of the limitations of her origins. It hit me a little later--it’s such an elegant metaphor for those who are constricted by society because of their race or sexuality, constantly fighting the huge obstacles wanting to prevent such people from any kind of metamorphosis (I mean, Dream gave her butterfly wings when he recreated her as she wanted to be). Which leads me to the one giant tonal shift that has me curious about future seasons. Dream in the comics is almost completely without humor. He is ultra-serious about his duties and responsibilities and way too proud, unwilling to change as the aeons go by. And his inability to change leads him to his end in a classic literary tragedy - even though he knows change will be necessary, he resists and even plans for his demise by setting up for the possibility with Lyta’s child as his successor. But it’s really hard to get a TV series off the ground when your leading man is not just the aloof emo archetype but stoic and stern to the point of needing to be introduced as a prisoner to garner sympathy for him. My husband and I were genuinely surprised in the first episode when Dream cried over Jessamy’s death, because it signaled a depth of caring that we don’t see until much later in the comics. But the TV Dream does show emotion, albeit mostly quietly and with a lot of amazing face acting by Tom Sturridge, does appreciate humor and irony, and at the end of this season does seem to see the need for change.

So now I’m very curious as to how they will herd Dream to his death. Will there be a back-and-forth because Dream can’t change enough? Or will the undertone about the universe having rules mean that Dream’s arc will be less about tragic choices and more about circumstances, with him having to accept the consequences of spilling family blood when he gives Orpheus the coup?

(Of course this is assuming that Netflix allows the series to be completed instead of cutting it off after 2-3 seasons. Yes, I’m still bitter about Sense8.)

TL;DR - I loved it, I think Neil Gaiman has taken full advantage of his previous TV experiences to find what works and find who will work best with him, and I will re-watch this series many times and keep watching any future seasons.

145 notes - Posted August 10, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

tagged by @josilverdragon

favorite color: royal blue, purple, red and black together

currently reading: The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

last song: “Fire and Rain” by Matt Kearney

last movie: I genuinely don’t remember

sweet/savory/spicy: Sweet

currently working on: a major work deadline so I can get back to writing fic

Tagging: @attheendofsummer @goldentruth813 @stlgeekgirl @rangergirl3 and anyone else who would like to play

177 notes - Posted October 28, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[bekoobove]

Fazbear Fears #20: The Bucking Bull

 

9 Years Ago

 Jared Montgomery knew his eleventh birthday party would be great. His parents were throwing him a party at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza- in his eyes, they might as well have booked a venue in heaven. He loved the place- though only this location.

 That may sound strange to say, but it was true. In all honesty he had no interest in the dancing bears, bunnies, birds, or any other weird robots these restaurants had. He found them creepy, uncanny. The food wasn’t the draw, either- Jared had always felt the pizza was only marginally more tasty than the box it came in. No, what made him love Freddy Fazbear’s was the arcade. And what made this location his favorite were his high scores.

 The letters JRD could be seen flashing in the high scores on every cabinet’s screen. Combat Kids, Zany Sword, Mangle’s Quest- you name it, he’d mastered them all.

 Well, almost all…

 As soon as he passed through the doors, he heard it. The cheesy western music and squeaking mechanical parts.

 Jared caught sight of the large platform. The outside was lined with a fence, each corner topped with a plastic cattle skull. The platform itself was surrounded by inflatable cactuses and encouraging-looking cutouts of the Fazbear gang dressed like cowboys. And, at the platform’s center, bounding back and forth, was Jared’s nemesis: The Bucking Bull.

 It was a fearsome foe. Two quarters was all it took to get it moving, but Jared had easily sunk forty dollars into trying to get the high score. Obviously most bucking rides like this didn’t have any such thing, but this one was different. There was a sensor in the saddle that tracked how long you could stay on, which transmitted the times to a screen hanging above the game. Jared was on the board- number four- which would be enough for most people, but not him.

 But today, Jared had a good feeling. The high score was 2 minutes and 49 seconds, which he ultimately felt he could beat. And that high score would be the sweetest present of all.

 He warmed up with a few rounds of Air Hockey with some of his friends- Sally, Benjamin, and Jacob. The first two were no problem, but Jacob presented a challenge. Jared didn’t mind- he liked a challenge (It helped that he won, best two out of three). Jacob had always been the best at these games of his friends, JCB usually lingering just below JRD.

 It was Jacob who stood by his side as he approached the Bucking Bull. Jared glared at it. Its empty plastic eyes glared back, as a quick burst of steam shot out its nostrils. It felt like a Mexican standoff, with Jared almost expecting a tumbleweed to roll past. Still, the true confrontation wouldn’t begin until he mounted the ride.

 He slid the quarters into the slot, causing the gate inside to open up. An employee standing at a small booth gestured him inside.

 “Good luck.” Jacob said, smacking him on the back.

 “Thanks, but not needed.” Jared smirked. He climbed up to the platform. “This is the last time, you stupid bull.” He muttered under his breath.

 He climbed on and gave a thumbs up to the employee. They flipped a switch on their booth, and the rodeo began.

 The next few minutes were a blur- literally. Try as he might, Jared couldn’t make out any faces cheering him on, although there were many. The western music blared louder than ever, and there was a voice on the soundtrack yelling YEE-HAW! Still, he kept a firm grip on the bull, not letting up for even a moment.

 Eventually, though, he faltered, and was flung from the bull. He braced himself as he fell- less for the platform, and more for fear of failure

 Jared crashed into the inflatable platform, but didn’t either bother trying to get up. He simply listened.

 There was silence for a moment. Then, from the screen, he heard it.

 “2 MINUTES AND 58 SECONDS. WE HAVE A NEW HIGH SCORE!”

 Jared cheered, and jumped over the fence. His friends surrounded him, just as excited, congratulating him. There wasn’t any other fanfare, but Jared hardly cared. “I’m king of the arcade!” He yelled victoriously.

 The employee winced at his sudden scream. “Yeah, great job, kid.” They said unenthusiastically, rubbing their temples in irritation. “Ok, do any of you other guys want to go?”

 “Ooh, me!” Jacob crowed.

 “You sure?” Jared asked. “I’ve seen you on the bull before, you’re not that good.”

 “Why do you care? Scared I'll snatch your high score from under your nose?”

 Jared chuckled. “Just trying to save you some quarters, buddy. But have at it.”

 And Jacob did, depositing his quarters and boarding the bull. The ride began, and Jared prepared for him to be thrown off.

 He wasn’t though, which impressed Jared- an attempt longer than five seconds for Jacob was rare. Even more seconds rushed by, until Jacob had beaten his personal record of 31 seconds.

 Jared clapped. “Great job, dude! Best you’ve ever done.” He braced again, certain his friend wouldn’t last much longer. But to his shock which increased by the moment, he did. Jared would never be able to figure out what caused it- encouragement by seeing Jared’s high score ride, some elaborate rodeo training he’d undergone since his last try, or just some kind of luck. What mattered was that at this moment, Jacob was entering the top ten, and an unpleasant thought crossed Jared’s mind: “Am I gonna lose the high score?”

 It was ridiculous. The previous high score had lasted for years, surely his wouldn’t be conquered within five minutes. And yet, no matter how quickly the bull spun and bounced, Jacob’s hands clamped onto it.

 Jared had counted in his head. Only twenty seconds left and his high score would be gone.

 He knew it was stupid. He’d still have second place, and he was undefeated on every other machine in this building; why care so much about this one?

 Seventeen seconds.

 It’s just…this was one of the only things he was good at. Jared wasn’t particularly athletic, or intelligent, or innovative- his teachers would often tell him as much. If he couldn’t be the best at this, then what was he?

 Twelve seconds.

 It didn’t matter what he thought or whether it mattered, it was over. Jared stumbled backwards…and realized he was right next to the control panel. He could make out a small lever set to HARD. A few inches above it was another setting. It read NIGHTMARE.

 The ride could be made harder.

 Ten seconds.

 If Jared had thought about it even a moment longer, he would have realized how utterly stupid this was. There was an employee right there- even if he did the deed, he would be caught and get into major trouble. Definitely not worth it in the grand scheme of things. But Jared didn't have that moment. Instead, with one swift movement, he grabbed the lever and yanked it upwards.

 Seven seconds.

 The employee obviously noticed his movement, but rather than anger, horror grew on their face. Jared could hear the bull spinning faster, with scraping and squeaking from its machinery. He heard Jacob yell, startled and a little afraid.

 Four seconds.

 Jacred saw one last thing before his life changed forever. A small piece of duct tape stuck next to the NIGHTMARE setting, with a short note in permanent marker- POWER OUTPUT UNSTABLE AT THIS LEVEL- OFF LIMITS UNTIL REPAIRS.

 Two seconds.

 There was a scream, and for just a moment, Jared thought maybe everything would be ok. Surely Jacob had merely been thrown off, right?

 Jared turned to see he had, but things would hardly be ok.

 The sheer power of the bull’s buck had sent Jacob soaring, above the platform, over the fence, through the arcade-

 Until he slammed skull first into a concrete pillar nearby. There was a nightmarish cracking sound, and Jacob’s body fell to the ground, limp.

 “Jacob!” Jared screamed. He ran over to the pillar, as everyone else stared on in stunned silence.

 Jacob’s hair was matted with blood, which dribbled out of his head. Jared swore he could see cracked chunks of bone peeking through the hair as well. His skull had been seriously fractured by the impact, and Jared knew there was no hope.

 His friends tried to deny it, but Jared had always been a bit more shrewd than them. He was old enough to understand that there were some things doctors couldn’t heal you from, and this was one of those things. Jacob was declared dead as soon as EMTs arrived on the scene.

 Dead.

 Jacob was dead.

 And Jared had killed them.

 That simple fact whipped into a storm of conflict and controversy. How should he be charged? What were his intentions when he messed with the controls? There was no denying he had, the employee had caught him in the act, but his parents tried. “Our son wouldn’t do this, he’s a good boy!”, they would protest to anyone who reasoned with them. That pithy line was practically etched into his brain, as well as requests for testimony in his favor, advice for a lawsuit over the Bucking Bull’s faulty machinery, anything to shift the blame from their good boy.

 And there Jared sat, huddled up in the eye of the storm. While the adults screamed and screamed, he was left alone with the fact that Jacob was gone because of him. It hadn’t been intentional, but did that even make a difference?

 Eventually his family decided to move. They told anyone who listened they weren’t running from the accusations, they merely worried for Jared and his future. Anyone who asked Jared how he felt was met with silence and averted eyes.

 Two months after his birthday, Jared’s family left their town, Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, and the Bucking Bull behind.

 But it wasn’t finished with him yet.

8 Years Ago

 His birthday had been empty.

 Not of fun, or of gifts, or of friends. No, of joy.

 Jared’s mind had finally begun to sift through his grief and guilt, and comprehend that if nothing else, feeling this broken and wrong wouldn’t bring Jacob back. He had emerged from his shell, and begun reaching out to people again. His trauma had been present, but buried, muffled.

 Now, though, it was as if every cry of “Happy Birthday” sought to uncover the self-hate and agonizing regret that dwelled below. Every smiling face he saw brought horrible thoughts to his mind: “How am I going to kill you? What selfish mistake will I make to ruin everything?”

 Eventually it was too much for him. He excused himself and locked himself in his bedroom. His parents tried to coax him out with promises of presents and cakes, but he couldn’t even begin to care about such things. He simply laid quietly on his bed, hoping they’d leave. Soon enough they did, and he drifted off into the sweet release of sleep.

 But this was not a dreamless slumber.

 Jared opened his eyes and picked himself off the dusty ground. “What…”

 He immediately realized this was a dream, which had never happened to him before. It seemed like a lucid dream. After he’d first heard the term a few years ago, he’d spent weeks attempting to trigger one, not that he had any idea how to do that.

 Still, this didn’t even feel like that. The environment felt- for lack of a better term- real. His eyes even watered a bit at the dust he’d kicked up while he moved. Jared tried to get a bearing of his surroundings.

 He was in a small, fenced-in square. A firm wooden fence lined it, and beyond there was nothing but unnerving, endless void. There was nothing left to see.

 Then, a snarl from the middle of the ring. And yes, Jared was certain this was a ring.

 Sure enough, a cloud of dust was being kicked up at the center by the Bucking Bull. This wasn’t the first time this reminder of his past had stampeded through his dreams, but he could tell it had always just been flotsam, drifting in and out, like anything else your mind occupied itself with during the day. But this dream felt like it had been made for the Bull. Not only that, the Bull was not right. The plastic form itself wasn’t the disturbing part- it was the same bucking ride which had gobbled Jared’s quarters for months, though its eyes were now empty sockets. What scared him were the additions- the arms and legs it used to stamp the ground even now. And yes, that was the right term- arms and legs. They were smaller than the Bull, in a way that would be comical under different circumstances, and clearly belonged to a child.

 To Jacob.

 The boy and Bull had fused into one horrifying hybrid of man and machine. A hybrid that came charging at Jared.

 So enraptured by the monstrosity, Jared didn’t even move. The Bull bucked upwards, and its horns (had they always been so long and pointy?) impaled Jared.

 Jared screamed. The pain was real- more real than any dream had any right to be. He could feel fractured bone shifting in his torso, and he struggled to breathe. Warm blood cascaded out, forming a dark stain on his shirt.

 The creature huffed, in a way that indicated grim satisfaction. It braced its hands against his body and pulled its horns out. Jared collapsed to the ground.

 At least, he would have. As he fell, he suddenly awoke in a cold sweat. Jared was shell-shocked. “What- what was that?” he whispered to himself. What chilled him most of all was that it felt like he had woken just as his dream-self died. As if he had only been allowed to wake because that thing had finished with him.

 That thing…

 “Jacob. That was you.” Jared didn’t know if Jacob was still present, but he spoke anyway. It was insane to say, but it was true- some figment of Jacob had returned to torment him.

 Jared didn’t sleep the rest of the night. He wouldn’t sleep for many more nights.

5 Years Ago

 It was like tradition at this point.

 Eventually Jared returned to some sense of normalcy after that first nightmare. But it wouldn’t be the last. His following birthday bore the same fruit- the same horrid dream, down to the smallest detail and up to the grisly end. He attempted to stay awake the whole night the year after, but failed (Jared was unsure if it was supernatural interference or if he just wasn’t good at staying up that long). Three made a pattern, and Jared accepted his fate- annual torment that he honestly felt he deserved.

 In a way it was almost relieving. This birthday was the best one he’d had since his mistake, because he no longer felt the guilty need to torture himself- someone else was doing it for him. And today had truly been great- his parents, who had been quite distant lately, treated him and his friends to dinner at a great Mexican place in town. He’d gotten some great gifts, including flying lessons from his parents (He’d always wanted to be a pilot). Overall, it had been one of the best days he’d had in years, and made him reluctant to climb into bed. He knew this wouldn’t be a pleasant sleep, but what choice did he have?

 After a restless hour, bracing for what was to come, Jared drifted off. As expected, he found himself in that arena. It was the same as always.

 At least, until the Bull appeared. Jared could never see it happen- it always materialized just out of sight. Still, he heard the huff, and turned. The Bull had changed. Rather than being just as it was with the grotesque additions of its limbs, the abomination before him was constructed of marbled flesh, bone, and muscle. It looked greasy and rotten, and there was a long, needle-toothed mouth along its upper back, from which a deep growl emanated. Its head was covered in several extra eyes, which all glared at Jared accusingly. Even in his dream, he could feel vomit rising in his throat.

 That was nothing compared to what happened when it spoke.

 “JARED.”

“I SAW YOU. YOUR PARTY.”

“YOU WERE LAUGHING. SMILING.

“YOU KNOW YOU DON’T DESERVE THAT.”

 The Bull’s words were a kick in the gut. And yet, Jared felt like it was right. He had always known he didn’t deserve any happiness, but tried to deny it.

“THIS IS WHAT YOU DESERVE. THIS PLACE HERE.”

“YOU WILL DIE, OVER AND OVER AGAIN.”

“YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR CRIMES.”

“YOUR CARELESSNESS.”

“YOUR SELFISHNESS.”

“YOU WILL SUFFER. AND YOUR SUFFERING WILL HAVE NO END.”

 With that, the abomination- a stitched-up, bleeding reminder that Jared wasn’t worthy of joy- charged and gored.

 Jared didn’t even put up a fight.

1 Year Ago

 It had to just be in his head.

 Not the Bull, no. Jared knew very well that that was real. Each year they became more brutal. The pain of his goring wasn’t just familiar- he knew it like he knew the flight controls of a plane, except he had no power to change the course. What was in question was the feeling of agony that occasionally erupted from his torso while he was awake. It was like two red-hot knives were being driven into his chest, puncturing organs and cracking ribs.

 Obviously it was the Bull’s horns. But that had always been confined to his dreams.

 He had made certain to have no plans the day after his birthday: he usually needed the time to recover from the increasingly violent mental assaults. But a particularly vicious spike of pain left him speeding to the hospital, praying they’d have a rational answer for what was wrong with him.

 He eventually was looked over by a woman named Dr Gray. She ran some tests, but still couldn’t find anything wrong- at least, until she had some technicians run an x-ray.

 Jared waited in the examination room for a few minutes, before she reentered looking concerned.

 “Ok, so I got a look at the x-ray in the lab, and I can bring it up here on this screen. Maybe you can explain the…oddity present.”

 Dr Gray grabbed a remote and flicked the screen to display the scan. It showed Jared’s torso, most prominently his ribcage. The bones looked slightly bent and displayed cracks.

 “It appears your ribcage was broken, but not severely. In fact, it looks like it healed more quickly than should be possible. Even stranger, some examination of the fractures gives the impression this injury occurred multiple times.”

 She sighed. “Can you shed some light on this? Even apart from the bizarre nature of your condition, there is no reason it should be causing pain like this.”

 Jared hesitated, before deciding to let a little of the truth slip. “I’ve had this recurring nightmare for years. I’m trapped with a monster, and it always kills me, goring me on its horns right there. It feels so real. Do you think that might have anything to do with it?”

 Dr Gray frowned. “There’s a known phenomena called psychogenic pain, where your psychology and emotions can cause you to imagine pain. It could even result in true physical symptoms, but nothing this severe. And this is severe.

 The damage is building up, and the bones are weaker than they’d otherwise be. I fear if whatever has been happening to you occurs one more time, it could completely fracture your rib cage. This could very well be fatal.”

 She began prescribing an anti-anxiety medication for his dreams, which was hardly a novel experience for Jared. The last word echoed through his mind: FATAL.

 Was this what Jacob had intended the whole time? Not just mental torment for the sake of it, but to slowly wear down his body. Now, he was running out of time.

 Jared didn’t deserve this.

 It was such an absurd thought. He had spent nearly a decade enduring the attacks of the demonic Bull because he felt like it was his punishment. He was a bad person, who had killed a boy. But now, when confronted with death, he wasn’t sure. Did he really deserve everything he had suffered, for what had ultimately been a mistake? Why shouldn’t he be allowed a happy life?

 These questions piling up in his head were a shock to the system. Jared had never even questioned his place. But now, he was tired of being pushed around, and he was angry that Jacob would do this to him. Yes, as bizarre as it sounded, Jacob had crossed a line in the quest for post-mortem vengeance he’d set out on. And he needed to be stopped.

 No matter how long it took.

Now

 “Cutting it close, are we?” Jared sighed as he pulled into the abandoned parking lot.

 He had begun his mission of searching for the Bull mere days after his troubling diagnosis. Jared had assumed it was still located in his hometown pizzeria, which had closed shortly after Jacob’s death. Alas, it wasn’t so simple. Jared was somewhat disgusted to learn the company had simply relocated the best animatronics and attractions to other restaurants, which included the Bucking Bull.

 From there the ride had been pawned off from place to place. Over one six-month period, it had gone from a junkyard to a local sports bar to a Fazbear location to an inflatable-attraction renter. From what Jared could learn, the ride no longer functioned well, and carried a rotting smell no matter how much it was washed, thus no one holding onto it long after it was purchased. But Jared had finally pinned it down. The most recent Freddy Fazbear’s it had been installed in had quickly folded, and no one had touched its contents since.

 And here he was. Jared stepped out of his pickup truck, a crowbar in one hand and a holstered pistol at his side. “One way or another, it ends tonight.”

 The doors were boarded up, but he easily pried them off. He walked inside the building, scanning for the machine.

 The info Jared had received was accurate. The restaurant hadn’t even been touched- rows of arcade games without any gaps, and the three animatronics powered down on the main stage. If he didn’t know any better, he’d assume it was just closed for the night.

 The Bull wasn’t in sight, though. It had been purchased extremely recently; perhaps it was still uninstalled, stored in the back?

 Jared spotted a door at the back: STAFF ONLY. “Good place to start, I guess.”

  He swiftly walked across the main room, but paused. Had he just heard a voice, echoing through the empty restaurant?

 No, no. It was in his head.

 But was that enough to say it wasn’t real?

 Jared grasped the doorknob and turned. The door swung open, and there it was.

 The Bucking Bull.

 He hadn’t seen it for a decade in its ordinary state, surely it would be easier to stomach than the flesh beast that haunted his dreams? Nothing but a torso and head molded from shiny black plastic. And yet he almost vomited. It was all coming back- the control panel, the red duct tape with a scrawled warning, the smashed, bloody skull of his best friend.

 Jared stumbled forward, trembling. The platform around the bull had been deflated, leaving nothing but the central motor with trailing wires. It was dead center in the room, surrounded by other animatronic parts- almost like it was a place of honor.

 With all his strength, Jared raised his crowbar. He closed his eyes, and brought it down onto the machine’s plastic head-

 CLANG

 Before Jared even opened his eyes he knew something was wrong. That wasn’t the hollow sound of metal hitting plastic. That was the harsh sound of metal striking metal. However, that observation didn’t prepare him for what he saw.

 Before him stood the Bull- yes, stood. Silently, and faster than Jared thought possible, the Bull had gained legs formed of nearby parts. It had swiftly brought one up to block his blow, and had succeeded.

 Jared couldn’t even process this before the limb reshifted, closing around his crowbar, gripping it tight. It pulled it out of his grasp and threw it against the wall.

 Jared tried to scream, but no sound came out. The Bull approached, lumbering along on its horrible legs of mangled metal. Once it was within a foot of him, it spoke.

“JARED.”

“THANK YOU FOR COMING.”

“BUT PLEASE. CEASE THIS NONSENSE.”

 Jared wasn’t sure if it read his mind or the confused expression on his face, because it clarified.

“THESE DELUSIONS THAT THIS IS A FIGHT YOU SHOULD WIN.”

“YOU DESERVE TO DIE. I THOUGHT YOU HAD FINALLY UNDERSTOOD WHEN YOU CAME.”

“THAT OUR BOUTS WITHIN YOUR HEAD WERE AN INVITATION. YOUR MOUNTING INJURIES MY WAY OF LIGHTING A FIRE UNDER YOU.”

“YOU WERE MEANT TO COME READY TO DIE. YOUR FINAL BREATH BEGETTING LONG OVERDUE JUSTICE.”

“PERHAPS NOW YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?”

 Jared did. He stopped his slow retreat. He lowered his arms from their defensive pose. And he prepared to die.

 The Bull’s leg reshaped again, into a long, oily spike of gears and pistons. It positioned it against Jared’s chest- one slight movement would drive it through his heart.

 “I’m sorry, Jacob.” Jared said, as a tear rolled down his cheek. He knew it would earn him no mercy from the Bull, and he hardly felt he deserved any, but he just felt the need to say it.

 And then, a voice.

 “Jared, please! Run!”

 Jacob.

 Jared gasped, and somewhat awoke from his trance. He grabbed the Bull’s limb and twisted it away from himself. The Bull was clearly thrown off guard, and stumbled backwards. This gave Jared the chance to run.

 He burst out of the backroom and into the main showroom. He ducked behind an arcade machine and tried to be as quiet as possible.

 The backroom door slammed open, and Jared could hear the lumbering Bull, creaking on its amalgamated limbs.

 As the monster moved, Jared tried to concentrate. “Jacob?” he thought as strongly as he could, hoping his friend would be able to hear.

 “Hey, Jared.”

 Suddenly, the world around Jared collapsed, and he resurfaced in the ring. The same place that had been home to so many deaths. But it felt different, more peaceful in a weird way.

 And standing there was Jacob- a short brown-haired kid in a striped shirt, smiling awkwardly. There were no remnants on his body of his fatal injury.

 Jared stared, unsure of what to say. Eventually he forced himself to speak. “Uh, hey. Why’d you tell me to run?”

 Jacob stared back, confused. “Because you were just standing there even though you were about to be stabbed?”

 “But isn’t that what you wanted? Weren’t you just telling me about how I deserved to die?”

 Jacob sighed. “Jared, that wasn’t me. I’m not the Bucking Bull.”

 “What?!” Jared asked incredulously. “Then why are you here?”

 “Ok, maybe I sort of am. Ever since…the accident, when I died, I’ve possessed the Bull. I’m not sure why, it just sort of happened. But I’m not the one that tormented you in your dreams and is trying to kill you now.”

 “Who is?”

 “You.”

 There was a completely deafening silence. “No.” Jared muttered. “That’s ridiculous. I’m not trying to kill myself.”

 “In some subconscious way, you are. I’m not an expert on how this works, but from my time as a spirit, I’ve learned that the emotions of the living and the dead are powerful. They can animate nonliving objects, or hurt people. And one of the most powerful emotions is guilt.”

 “So you’re saying because I felt bad for killing you this thing is gonna kill me? I haven't even been close to it since what happened.”

 “First off, my theory is that since you knew the Bull so well, and it was so directly connected to your guilt, it caused a connection that helped your emotions be transferred no matter how far away you got. And secondly, stop saying you killed me.”

 “What do you want me to say?!” Jared cried. His knees trembled, and he fell to the dusty ground. “I messed with the controls of a ride you were on, all because I wanted to keep a stupid high score! You’d be alive today if not for me. Maybe the Bull- maybe I- was right all along. I don’t deserve to live.”

 Jared felt a hand on his shoulder. “You’re wrong.” Jacob said. “You made a dumb mistake. You were eleven. I’m glad you’re willing to accept responsibility, but you can’t let your guilt tear you apart.”

 Jared wiped his eyes. “Why are you even comforting me? Why is this your problem?”

 Jacob grinned. “Honestly? I think this is why I stayed after I died. You’re my friend. I wanted to help you.”

 Suddenly, the arena was consumed with unimaginably bright light. “Guess that’s my cue.” Jacob said as the white consumed him. “Good luck, Jared. See you again, someday.”

 When the light faded, Jared could see the dusty arena- his place of self-torment- was gone.

 And then Jared awoke. He was back in the pizzeria, and the Bull was still raging.

 Quietly, with no urgency, Jared climbed to his feet and walked out from behind the arcade machine.

 The Bull caught him out of the corner of its eye. It snarled, and stamped the ground, preparing to charge.

 “Listen.” Jared began. “I know what you are now. You’re me.”

 The Bull barely reacted.

 “I made a mistake. And because of that, Jacob died. For so long, I’ve been unable to forgive myself.”

YOU DON’T DESERVE FORGIVENESS.

 “I’m not denying what I did. But torturing myself like this won’t bring Jacob back. He’s forgiven me; maybe I should too.”

JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED.

 “You are kind of right. I left town so quickly, it didn’t give me the chance to do some things. Apologize to Jacob’s family, and his friends…I should do that.” Jared stared the beast down, determined. “But I won’t accept you killing me. I’m done being haunted by a past I can’t change.”

 There was silence. It was as if the Bull was, for the first time, struggling to condemn him.

I JUST WANT PEACE. FOR THIS NIGHTMARE WE BEGAN TO END.

 “Then end it.”

 The Bull was still. Then, it crumbled. The plastic body hit the ground with a THUD, and the metal joints and limbs it had used clattered apart.

 The Bull was gone.

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

 Jared slid into his car, tossing his crowbar into the back seat. He pulled out of the parking lot, and eventually made it onto the highway.

 The sun peered over the horizon, coloring the distance pink and red. The rolled-down windows ushered a calming, cool breeze into the vehicle. The world was alive and hopeful, and for the first time in almost a decade Jared felt the same.

 “Thank you, Jacob.” he said quietly, once again certain there would be no answer.

 He continued his drive, making sure to enjoy the dawn as he went.