#this all on top of the fact that i had a massive massive panic attack trying to find parking downtown where her office is so I was

[erodasfishtacos]

Digging A Deeper Hole || MLB ||

Prompt: Harry is going through a rough adjustment to his new life. At twenty-one, he was the face of a massive franchise, a father, and a husband with millions watching his every mood. He starts to feel it. Word Count: 7.8k Warnings: Depression, Anxiety, Angst - please keep in mind H is young here so he’s a bit more immature than one shots where he’s older. He’s still figuring stuff out

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========================= Harry had the weight on the world on his shoulders.

The past year had been the best but most stressful time that he has ever had in his life.

He hadn’t had a break, it was go, go, go.

At the age of twenty-one, it felt like he had responsibilities that most people never had this amount of.

He had expectations from every side, especially from work, though it sounded like a dream to be the new face of Major League Baseball, to be the highest paid rookie to start, or the fact that he was a projected to be one of the best players of all time.

It came at a cost.

A really fucking big cost.

It took Harry a while to realize that he was experiencing some depression, the pressure of his coaches, the team, the public, and on top of that, he was navigating being newly married with a baby.

++

”Styles, get off the phone!” His assistant coach shouted from the field, he should be jogging onto the mound because practice was nearly over, and everyone was ready to head back to the hotels.

“Hold the fuck on!” Harry shouts back without looking up, waiting for the FaceTime call to connect, he had thought he had more time before they started up again.

Harry’s heart leaps when it connects, his perfect baby in the camera view, blowing raspberries between chewing on teether that looked like car keys, “Say ‘hi’ to your daddy!”

Easton is too little to quite comprehend the phone but he blinks in confusion at the screen before blowing another wet raspberry towards his father.

”Hi East, look at how handsome you look,” Harry croons, trying to memorize every little feature because he’s only going to be this small for a little while, “Your daddy misses you so much.”

YN pulls the phone to her face for a moment, “I took him on a walk around Central Park earlier today and he saw a group of pigeons. He squealed so loudly that they all flew away in a flock and he started giggling. I wish I would have gotten it on video.”

”He really does love the pigeons-“ Harry begins but is cut off.

”Styles, final warning. Get off your phone or I’m locking it up! Now,” The other coach yells, starting to actually get pissed, and Harry has to resist the urge to flip them off.

”H,” YN says knowingly, it was pretty common that he was getting yelled at, “Go practice.”

“I want to be home with you,” Harry frowns, he truly means it.

”I know,” YN agrees with kind understanding on her face, “Go kick some ass for us.”

++

He didn’t get to spend the time he wanted at home with his family, the away games caused him to panic, and he was starting to have anxiety attacks as he steps onto the private jet.

Harry was blowing YN’s phone up at any free moment he got, asking to FaceTime to see her and Easton, and YN had noticed how much more he was asking for reassurance, it was frequent.

++

”He’s sleepy. He just fed for almost an hour,” YN murmurs, tired herself and her eyes were heavy, it was undeniable that she had a lot on her plate with taking care of Easton by herself.

YN did see Anne once or twice a week but she was adamant that she did not need help raising her own baby, that she was fully capable of taking care of Easton by herself when Harry wasn’t home.

Easton was ten-months at this point, splayed on his mother’s chest with a milk-drunk little smile as he laid his small fist on her neck, easily starting to drift to sleep.

Harry feels a pang of disgusting, gnarly guilt and disappointment that he’s not there to lay in bed with them, and he felt like a piece of shit for sitting in this swanky hotel room by himself.

”Harry?” YN asks after he doesn’t respond, he was just watching the screen as his wife ran her fingers through Easton’s soft baby curls, silky smooth.

Harry swallows harshly to avoid the tears prickling, “I love you so much. You know that?”

YN smiles at him, soft and warm, “We love you so much. We miss you and cannot wait for you to get home. We both want so many cuddles with you.”

Harry’s jaw clenches, scrunching his nose, and feel the pit in his stomach get deeper, darker, rawer, and it felt overwhelming as he sat alone with his family on the other side of the country.

It felt suffocating that he wanted to go home but he couldn’t because he had a contract, a job, he had to provide, and he worked his whole life to be where he’s at.

He’s in a position that billions would want to be in but all he can think about is being with his family, he would give up everything he’d ever accomplished to cuddle with them every night.

But he couldn’t, deep down, he knew that it was his emotions getting the best of him, and it’s disappointing that he’s not enjoying baseball like he thought he would right now.

“I…I’m sorry,” Harry sniffles, rubbing his eye roughly to catch the tears before they fall any further.

YN’s smile falls which makes him feel even worse, “Baby, what’s wrong? Why are you apologizing?”

”I’m not there to help you,” Harry presses his face into his forearm to try to stop the tears, “I’m just sittin’ here in a hotel room, I’m fuckin’ useless to you.”

”Hey,” YN says firmly, lips going into a straight line, “Harry, you are not useless. How could you think that? You’re providing for us. You make it possible for me to stay at home, in this beautiful home, with everything we’d ever need, and spend every moment with Easton. That’s because of you.”

It makes Harry feel a bit better, that perspective on the situation because he hadn’t looked at it like that, “I’ll always provide for you two.”

”You’re the best provider. We love you so much. We are so proud of you. Easton is going to be so so proud of his daddy and what a good man you are to us,” YN tells him confidently, thter’s no wavering in her voice as she watches Harry’s reaction.

Harry hangs his head, done trying to stop the tears, he didn’t feel good.

He had felt depression a few times in his life, the most when he was going through his struggles with his sexuality, and it was starting to feel like that again.

”Harry,” YN’s voice is soft, careful, “Are you okay, baby? What made you so upset?”

Harry wipes his face with the back of his hand, he didn’t want to worry YN.

She had so much on her plate right now that the last thing she needed to worry about was his mental health because he needed to pull it together and stop being so emotional.

”I just miss you,” Harry tells her, it wasn’t a lie but it really wasn’t the full truth, there was so much more to it than what he was letting on but he could handle it on his own.

Lord knows he had enough time while he was sitting in this hotel room alone or had a flight on the private jet.

++

Harry felt like a car ran him over, twice, and then backed up over him.

He did as good as everyone expected him to do during the games in San Diego, he won all three of the games with too many strikeouts to count, and two home runs to get them scores.

Harry was able to shut his mind off during the games, all he was thinking about was his job, and what he needed to do to make sure that they won the games - that was it.

Afterwards, the creeping feelings that had been haunting him especially hard this past month or so wouldn’t wait very long to pop up again after the games.

He started demanding a flight home the night of the last game, everyone else always waited until the next day because traveling right after playing was near torture with the exhaustion.

Harry felt like death as he landed in New York City, his bones were heavy as if they weighed a thousand pounds each, his arm was sore from how many pitches he had to throw, and he hadn’t been sleeping well when he was away from YN and the baby.

His heart was a bit lighter as he opened the front door to their home, the smell of his favorite brownies hitting his nose, and a peel of bubbly, angelic baby giggles echoed through the hallway.

Harry needed to see them, he dropped his bag and didn’t care that his cologne bottle most likely just shattered inside because of how careless he was being.

No, he was making his way toward the smell and sounds, and when he found what he waas looking for - his stomach untwisted just the slightest and everything didn’t seem so bleak for a moment.

YN turns around, having been alerted to his entrance by his bag dropping, Easton was on her hip and had a spatula in his hand, gnawing on it happily.

”Who is that, East?” YN bounces him up and down, “Is that your daddy?”

Harry wants to cry tears of relief when Easton drops the spatula, letting it clatter onto the tile, and starts to cry.

He was the cutest little thing.

Whenever Harry got home from work, Easton would start to cry because he wanted him, and was sad like he just realized that he had been missing him all day and he was finally home with him.

”Oh my goodness,” YN hums as Easton wiggles, starting to reach out for him with grabbing hands, dramatic tears running down his face as his pouty bottom lip wobbles.

”No tears, bub,” Harry coos as he steps forward, taking Easton out of her arms, and giving him the biggest hug he can manage as he presses kisses to the side of his face, his hair, his nose, “I missed you so much. I hate being away from you, East, miss you every moment.”

YN is watching with a content smile, patiently waiting her turn as he blinks over at her, his voice still soft and raspy, “Hi mama.”

”Hi H,” YN whispers back, stepping forward to cup his jaw and bring their lips together in a kiss, her thumb rubbing the stubble of his jawline and her other squeezing his hip, “I missed you.”

Harry hates that he feels the lump in his throat, “I fuckin’ missed you so much. I can’t explain how much I hate being away from you and him. I am so grateful that you’re so good to me and East. You know that?”

One of YN’s love languages was definitely words of affirmation so to hear such nice compliments really did mean a lot to her because she didn’t always feel the most secure either.

It was a lot to have her husband traveling all the time, where if he wanted, there would be unlimited opportunities for him to make bad choices because there was not a shortage of men and women who would bed him without a second thought.

YN had complete and utter trust in him.

It wasn’t ever a real concern but when Harry was as gorgeous as he was, it was hard not to feel a bit of insecurity when people often let it be known how much they found him attractive.

”Thank you, H,” YN brings him in for another kiss, “Dinner is almost ready. Brownies are also baking in the oven. Easton was my little helper but was trying to get his chunky fingers in the raw batter which he had an attitude about when I told him ‘no’.”

”You better listen to your mama,” Harry hums at his son, munching at his neck until Easton is giggling and pulling at his curls to keep him close, he loved his father so much, “Be nice to mama, Easton Robin.”

YN reaches forward, “Go get a shower. Settle in a little bit.”

Harry passes Easton back but frowns, “Darling, I can take him and manage. You have had him for the last week.”

YN waves him off, “I got him for a few minutes longer. Get showered, dressed, then we can eat dinner, and cuddle. Okay?”

”Sounds like a dream,” Harry replies because it really does, all that he wants is to be able to hold them in his arms, and start filling this hole that starts to eat away at him every time he has to leave.`

++

After Harry showers, he tugs on his briefs, and sits on the edge of the bed.

He doesn’t know how he fell asleep like that but it seemed to happen nearly as soon as he plopped down on the plush of their bed because he hadn’t slept in nearly twenty-four hours, after an exhausting game and seven hours of travel.

The next time he wakes up, it’s completely dark in the bedroom, and he blinks his eyes open to see the alarm clock reading that it was three in the morning.

YN was fast asleep on her side of the bed, baby monitor on the side table, and Easton was sleeping in his nursery on his back with a binky halfway out of his mouth.

Harry squeezes his eyes shut, putting his fists to them for a moment as he grits his teeth, “Fuck fuck fuck.”

He gets out of bed, not wanting to disturb YN, she looked so fucking pretty while she slept and Harry was in disbelief of what a fucking idiot he was.

YN not only watched Easton for the past week, she managed everything else for their household, made Harry dinner and dessert, all for him to fall asleep.

She needs a break from the baby, YN should have gotten one last night after all her hard work, and Harry just went and fell asleep like a bloody teenager with no responsibilities.

He grabs the baby monitor so that YN won’t be woken up, hoping that she will sleep in for as long as possible in the morning, and Harry can take on baby duties.

Harry’s plan was to clean the house, the least he could do as an apology but everything was near spotless thanks to his wife, and when he went into the kitchen to clean the dishes from dinner.

There were none, YN had put all the leftovers away, wrapped the brownies, and cleaned all the pots and pans - as well as all of Easton’s bottles.

”Fuck me,” Harry grunts as he resists the urge to hit something, instead slamming his fists on the countertop, and staring at nothing as he feels the deep hole become bigger, “Such a fuck-up.”

Harry doesn’t even know what he can do to repay her, to make it up to her, and the mixture of his anxiety and depression had to be the gnarliest combination because they were kicking his ass.

His anxiety starts taking over and an intrusive thought starts to pop into his brain and he can’t shake it.

What if she leaves you?

What if she doesn’t think you’re a good enough father?

She does all this for you and you treat her like shit the moment you come home?

You don’t deserve her.

Harry’s throat tightens up, it feels hard to breathe for a few minutes as he tries taking slow, deep inhales before repeating the process to help try to regulate his breathing.

He had to make this up to her.

++

Harry manages Easton by himself, that wasn’t an issue, and he was even able to run out to grab YN’s favorite donuts from a few blocks down before she was up.

Harry was currently in the living room, laying on the floor with Easton as he played with these soft, big blocks, and smiled at his father with only two little teeth showing on his bottom gums.

”Morning, well afternoon,” YN laughs as she looks at the clock on the wall, it was nearly twelve and she was able to catch up on all the sleep she desperately needs, “You didn’t need to let me sleep for that long, H. I appreciate it though, felt super nice to be able to get re-energized.”

”It’s the least I could do,” Harry replies, the enthusiasm that was usually in his voice was missing, and he struggled to meet her eye because he was embarassed.

YN knows something is off as she sits down next to them, scooping Easton up and tucking him under her big shirt where he can excitedly start to nurse - he very begrudgingly used a bottle but it was always a bit more difficult to get him to eat with one.

”Are you sure you’re okay?” YN frowns as she rubs his knee, “You seem down. Did something happen?”

”I’m a piece of shit,” Harry chuckles without humor, throwing his hands up, “Isn’t it obvious? I leave you at home with the baby and then the minute I get home, I fall asleep and don’t do shit to help you. On top of that, you made dinner and I didn’t even eat it.”

YN’s frown turns into more of a scowl, “Harry, what has you talking like this? Did someone say something to you? I don’t like when you talk like that. You were exhausted! You were just away for a week, training and playing, and have so much other than that going on. Do you really think that I’m mad about that?”

“I’m mad about how I acted because it effects you,” Harry grits back, his anxiety and depression had a tendency to make him cranky in a way that he normally wouldn’t be, “It’s no excuse. You get no excuses. I need to do better.”

”You need to stop talking like that,” YN retorts as she stares back at him with a twitch of her brow, “Everything is fine. We are fine. Nothing is wrong. This is how our life looks sometimes and that’s okay. You are doing this to take care of us.”

“It feels pretty fuckin’ selfish right now,” Harry shakes his head, standing up and trying to hide the wince from how achey his muscles were, he should do a cold plunge but he’s not going to take anymore time for himself - he dosn’t deserve it.

“How is it selfish?” YN is getting frustrated, her leg shaking slightly but then she stops when she realizes that it’s jostling Easton and he whines in displeasure.

”I get to get a full night’s sleep in a luxury hotel room, you’re here.”

YN scoffs, licking over her teeth, “Yeah, Harry. It’s a massive hardship, living in a three million dollar home in the middle of the Upper East Side. I think I’ll survive.”

“That’s not the fuckin’ point,” Harry cracks his neck, his anxiety made his heart rate feel like he was constantly running a marathon, it was hard for him to keep his composure.

”Don’t talk to me like that,” YN raises her voice, moving to get up with Easton still suckling away, “This isn’t how you show appreciation, Harry. I’m just trying to have a conversation and you have an attitude.”

Harry knows that he’s just going to continue to dig himself a deeper pit than he’s already in if he keeps talking.

Most of the time, he did not feel like like a twenty-one year old despite his boyish looks but right now, he felt like he was acting his age and it wasn’t a good thing.

”Why don’t you take Easton and see your mom today,” YN offers, her voice is still tight but trying to keep it cordial as she brings Easton out from under her shirt.

He was blinking languidly, his lips smacking in satisfaction as his belly was full, and YN hands him over to Harry to take, “Yeah, I’ll get him ready and go.”

It was a good opportunity to give YN a break but he was honestly a bit surprised that she took him up on it or that she didn’t want to come with because when Harry came home, they tried to stay together as much as possible.

He does know that he’s acting like a complete dickhead which makes sense why she wasn’t dying to spend time with him right night, still it was just odd because it’s unlike her.

”Sounds good,” YN pulls out her phone, looking down and fingers flitting across the screen which was also a bit odd, how she was a distracted by it because it was unlike her just like her letting him go alone.

God, Harry was making a fucking mess, wasn’t he? +++++++++++++++++

It stuck out like a sore thumb when Harry was off.

Normally, he was the most easy-going, bubbly, funny person who stole most of the attention when he wasn’t even trying.

It was how he captured everyone’s interest whether it was his big grin that had his dimples showing deep in the pockets of his cheeks, the way he threw his head back and let out these low raspy chuckles, or just how he nodded attentively when someone else was talking.

So when he wasn’t feeling like himself, all those things that lit up rooms disappeared, and it was hard for him to socialize.

Harry was still beating himself up the entire ride outside of the city to his mother’s house, Easton was napping in the back and this would be a nice sleep before the excitement of Nana’s house.

Harry was replaying everything with YN, from the way he was sharp with her to get short with her when she did absolutely nothing to deserve that from him because she was so fucking good to him - all the time.

YN never complained about anything.

She never complained about being at home with the baby alone.

YN never tied to guilt Harry because he was away during the season so much.

It makes it so much worse that he’s not able to hold his shit together even just for YN, he didn’t want her to worry about his mental health, that’s the last thing she needed on her plate.

He was going to figure this out himself.

It wasn’t that he didn’t feel like he couldn’t talk to her, it was more that he knew she cares so much that it might upset her or make her worry when he’s on the road, all he wants for her is to focus on Easton and herself.

Harry normally loves going up to his mom’s, a little lake house that he had bought her with one of his first paychecks, despite how much she huffed and puffed, he knew that it was a dream of hers to live on the water.

It was the least he could do after she did so much to make his dreams come true.

However, despite Harry getting a decent amount of sleep, he felt bone tired and just drained was the best way to explain it - he felt like all the energy that he normally feels has been sucked clean out of him.

He wanted to turn the car around, go home, crawl into bed with YN and Easton, and not have to interact with anyone else for at least a week but that wasn’t possible with his schedule.

Harry should be enjoying his time right now.

They have an off week which meant that he had nearly two and a half weeks at home because the following week were games at their home stadium so he could be home every night.

Harry just couldn’t wait for this season to be over.

And that thought alone alarmed him because he fucking loved baseball, he loved being the best of the best, he loved all the recognition he got but right now his desire was lower than it’s been in a really long time.

When he pulls down the long driveway, a house sat back off the residential road where she had neighbors but there was a good amount of distance between the them to give privacy and seclusion.

He sees that there are multiple cars in the driveway which makes Harry groan because he didn’t realize that his mom was going to call over friends and family since he was coming to visit.

Anne did that sometimes, when Harry called saying that he’d be up, she would call aunts, uncles, relatives, and close friends to come for a barbecue, and it was the last thing he wanted right now.

He was already a bit peeved that his mother didn’t ask him first because he would have very clearly told her that he wasn’t in the mood to entertain people, to answer questions, and talk about baseball for a good five hours.

When Harry opens the back door, Easton’s already awake and smiling at his father with a gummy smile, his two bottom baby teeth made him look so adorable but he knew that more were going to popping through soon.

”Hi, sweetheart,” Harry hums softly as he unbuckles his baby, bringing him up into his arms and into a hug, kissing his temple, “I love you so much, you know that? M’only away so that you have everythin’ you’d ever want. Miss you every second-“

A smack comes heartily on his back, right on his throwing shoulder where the soreness is radiating like a motherfucker, and he has to grit his teeth to not curse and startle Easton.

”Buddy, how much did this ride cost ya?” His Uncle Chuck, his mom’s brother asks obnoxiously, “Saw these things were going for a hundred and some change?”

Harry takes a deep breath, his patience was wearing thin, and he had barely made it out of the car, “I don’t remember how much it cost.”

“That’s what being rich gets you, huh? Twenty-one with a fat bank account and no responsibilities. I would have loved to have a life like yours,” Chuck chortles as he leans up against said expensive SUV, beer in his hand.

“I have plenty of fuckin’ responsibilities,” Harry bites back, scolding himself for cursing in from of Easton, even if he was too young to understand, he tried not to make it a habit.

“Sure you do, bud,” His uncle laughs, clearly not catching onto Harry’s mood, “Last thing I’d want is a baby with everything that you have going on. Growing up too fast.”

“Luckily, it’s not your life,” Harry brushes him off, picking up Easton’s diaper bag on his free shoulder and hikes him up, “We’ll be in soon. Give us a minute.”

His uncle shrugs before staggering off, a drunken sway in his step as he stumbles back towards the house.

Harry buries his nose in Easton’s downy, fresh smelling wispy curls to steady his breathing, he feels a bit emotional as he talks to his son.

“M’sorry, East. Daddy doesn’t feel good right now,” Harry swallows hard, squeezing his eyes shut, “I just have to pull it together. God, I love you. My baby.”

Harry gives himself another minute of grounding before taking a deep exhale and shutting the door, walking towards the house.

Everyone was on the back patio, sipping on drinks, and cheering when they saw him.

Dread settles heavy in Harry’s stomach as his family members as they start asking him about his games, wanting to recap every play he’s made, his sponsorships and his much he’s getting paid.

Harry’s trying to keep up the conversation but all he can think about is how much he didn’t want to be there, and he should have just taken Easton to the park or something more low-key.

When he bumps into his mom in the kitchen, Anne is prepping a salad and smiles back at her son - unaware of his mood.

“Isn’t this fun, hun?” Anne asks happily, sprinkling in some spices as she hums.

“Why couldn’t it have just been us? I have to be around people all the time and I thought it was just going to be you. Now I have to entertain all of them,” Harry’s tone definitely takes her aback as she puts down the tongs she was using.

“Usually you love when everyone’s here, I don’t understand,” Anne’s smile drops, wiping her hands on the dishrag.

“Does anybody ever consider that I don’t love talking about baseball every second of the day or how much money is in my bank account?” Harry’s tone is venomous and resentful, unfairly harsh on his mom when she hadn’t tried to upset him.

“Harr-“ Anne begins to apologize, albeit, a bit confused.

“Easton’s almost ready for a nap,” He cuts her off as he checks his watch, it didn’t really matter what time it was, he was done.

“My bedroom-“

“No, I’m going home,” Harry shakes his head, turning on his heel. He has the decency to look back and say, “Sorry, mom. I just can’t be here.”

Easton was currently being held by his Aunt Jane, he was starting to fuss because he had a bottle not too long ago and he was starting to get cranky.

“Alright, we’re going to head out. East needs his nap,” Harry announces, hiking on the diaper bag, and starting to walk over.

“Oh, we barely see him! Just a few more minutes with this little one. You can hold off his nap for a little!” His Aunt Jane jokingly holds him tighter for a minute and nothing right now is funny to Harry.

Harry doesn’t get loud but his voice gets steely as he reaches down and scoops Easton up from her lap, “Don’t tell me how to take care of my baby, understood?”

His poor aunt is taken aback, just like his mom, and nods.

Harry storms out without another glance back, ignoring the whispers about how odd he was acting and rude.

When he straps Easton in, the dark bubble in belly subsides for a moment- like sun breaking through storm clouds.

“Daaa,” Easton coos, happy but tired, tucking his binky back between his lips.

“Good job, baby,” Harry sniffles, blinking up towards the sky to keep the tears away, “Fuck, get it together.”

Harry had to pepper at least ten kisses on Easton’s warm, sleepy face before he’s able to close the door and get in the driver’s seat.

Harry presses on the console touch screen, calling YN, and he frowns when it goes straight to voicemail which was very unlike her.

He tries again.

Voicemail.

He pulls out his phone, trying to check her location, and it hasn’t updated in the past hour - it was just unusual for her phone to die, always on standby but he tries not to worry.

YN was probably still very pissed off at him, if he was to bet, she put her phone on ‘do not disturb’ so that she could take a well deserved nap and not be bothered.

Harry squeezes the steering wheel, reminding himself once again, “Pull yourself together.”

But in the back of his mind, an anxious thought pops in, well multiple.

What is YN is leaving you?

What if she’s sick of not having you around as much as other wives have their husbands?

First time you see her in a week and you treat her like shit. You really think she’ll stay?

Harry has never once thought like that, even when they’ve gotten in serious fights but god damn, he couldn’t stop his mind from going a million miles a minute, and it felt like shit.

Nothing was wrong.

Everything felt like it’s crumbling.

[rockingbytheseaside]

✦ Honey and Violetgrass

Pantalone with an innocent reader, who is an adventurer but strong in their own regard. Still gets spoiled by him. 

Tw: none, pure silly fluff. 

The richest man of Teyvat requires no introduction. He is a man of affluent taste, be it the most exquisite fashion to most daily commodities - his gaze sojourns only on the highest of qualities. He is the 9th of the Fatui Harbingers, after all, hence being the face of business and the Snezhnayan economy itself. Therefore, it is natural for the public to assume that his inclination in people is as wealthy as his spacious manor, correct? He is young, he is powerful and his looks are as influential as his status. If The Regrator has a significant other, surely they must be a dream partner, basked in expensive perfumes and working as a high-class model? 

So imagine the people’s bewilderment when Pantalone’s darling, who casually bursts into his office, is some adventurer…? A person of common status, with bruises adorning their knuckles from climbing and fighting the wildlife. And yet the moment you waltz into his office, whatever important business matter was at hand is now completely forgotten by the Harbinger. In fact, Pantalone’s whole exhibition of demeanor switches in an instant. 

“Oh, honey bunny! My little gem, you're finally back!” - Pantalone stood up from his desk, completely disregarding his Fatui subordinates who remained seated. With a concerned expression, he rushed to you and cupped your cheeks. “How was your expedition? You’re back later than usual… I was worried about you.” 

“Sorry! Just had a little mishap, but I am back.” - you replied with the brightest of smiles, your face beaming despite the scratches and messy hair locks. “Ah, I’m sorry, Pantalone. Did I interrupt a business meeting?” 

The Regrator froze and ceased his check-up. He remembered that some of his business associates were still in the office. He glanced at them, then glanced back at you. 

“Oh, sweetie, nonsense!” - The Harbinger let out a haughty laugh and clasped his hands together. All it took was a single stern look towards his subordinates to convey: ‘This meeting is over. Leave.’ 

The poor associates were left to their confusion, as they were silently dismissed. Now all alone in his office, your dear Harbinger helped you brush the dust of your clothes, gently sliding your coat out of your smaller form. “Where were you anyway, dear?”   

“So I was on my way to find something… But I stumbled upon a Pyro Abyss mage!” 

“Oh!” - Pantalone’s face contorted into concern behind his glasses.

“But don’t worry, because the abyss mage was stuck on a rock in the middle of a lake. They couldn’t attack me, so instead I helped the abyss mage cross the lake without drowning.” 

“Oh,” - Now the man smiled, relieved at your kind gesture towards the most boorish creatures. 

“But the abyss mage got so scared when I carried him out of the lake that a massive Lawachurl heard us and came to attack!” 

“Oh!” - that look of panic was back. 

“Turns out there was a small camp of hilichurls nearby… So I tried to convince them I meant no harm. I guess they saw what I did, and didn’t attack me.” 

“Oh…” 

“Instead I asked them to take me to the top of a cliff and help me gather some local herbs! And they surprisingly understood because that’s what we did!” 

Silence. In the past few minutes that you conveyed your story, the 9th’s face changed into an array of emotional rollercoasters. The man adjusted his glasses, and wrapped his arms around you: 

“Dear, my honey, my little heart. You know I love you but please don’t make me have a heart attack…! You must exercise caution when you’re out there exploring the wild. And on high terrain cliffs?! Just what was so important that you had to ask some… brutish hilichurls to help you?” 

You smiled at him - that bright and sunny little smile that erased any of his trouble and melted the Harbinger’s heart. You pulled out of his warm embrace, reaching somewhere in your bag to bring something carefully wrapped in cloth. You held it close and unwrapped it before Pantalone. 

“Fresh Violetgrass, Pantalone. I know they are your favorite, but you hate store-bought ones. They’re hard to acquire since they only grow on high-rise cliffs in Jueyun Karst… So it took me a while to hike and find them. Sorry to make you wait.” 

You clarified delicately, standing there with your vibrant batch of Violentgrass, as if afraid that Pantalone might scold you for such a reckless expedition. But how could he be mad at you? How could he do anything but melt and be flustered at your adorable disposition? His little dear, so bravely hiking all the way to Liyue just to get his favorite flora as a gift? 

“O-oh, dear my. All this, just to bring it to me?” - The Regrator gasped, his arms instantly reaching to embrace you as if you were his favorite plush, smothering you with tight squeezes. “My honey bunny, you shouldn’t! These flowers look precious in full bloom; as precious as you.” 

“Ah! Pantalone, you’ll squish me… And the flowers.”  

Thus, the lovely Violetgrass flowers were now rightfully placed in a vase back home. Their purple petals emit a fragrant aroma throughout the bedroom where you and Pantalone now rest. That’s how your relationship with The Regrator was; the richest man of Teyvat who could easily buy the entire world with a single glance, was actually the one swooning over your innocent yet loving gestures. Maybe it was your sincerity, or perhaps your adventurous nature. Nonetheless, that didn’t stop the Harbinger from sitting all day and daydreaming of your experienced arms carrying him bridal style. Even if he was technically taller than you, you possessed some lovely muscles from your years of adventuring. And they certainly enticed him further. 

Most amusingly, you’d know he’s having those silly little thoughts whenever he sat silently with an endearing grin on his face. You stepped out of the bathroom, refreshed and dressed in comfortable loungewear. So you decided to ask him: “Hm? What’re you thinking about?”

“Nothing important, my dear.” - he chuckled, beckoning you to hop into bed with him for some well-earned cuddles. “Just thinking about how your arms would look gorgeous while carrying me. And I’ll instead spoil you with anything you want in the world as a reward.” 

You bury yourself against his lean chest and mumble with a smile “You want me to carry you like a princess?” 

“Anyway you deem fit - and you’ll have me at your feet, my sweet. Say, how should I reward you for your gift today? Should we go on a shopping spree? I’ll commission the best tailors of Snezhnaya to sew all the garments you dream of. Oh, or perhaps I should spoil you with newly bought cosmetics?” 

Pantalone mused to himself, all while caressing your hair. You shook your head: “No, no. You know I don’t like when you spoil me too much. I feel guilty when you spend money on me. Besides, I’ve got everything I want.”

“Don’t be too humble, my dear. If you asked me to bathe you in a honeyed milk bath and drape you with silk, you know I’d drop every Mora to do so in an instance.” - he kissed the top of your head and whispered in your ear. “Unless you wish me to bathe with you in such sweet waters, instead.” 

Pantalone expected a reaction, but instead, you quickly asked him: “Put your glasses away for a moment, please.” 

He obliged, “...Yes? -Ah!” 

Your response was slapping him with a pillow across his face. At least you were considerate with his glasses. 

“Preposterous. Can't a man feel proud at the prospect of spoiling his beloved with luxuries?”

“Pantaloons, I warn you.” - you said threateningly, though your act of bravery looked more endearing as you clutched the pillows for another attack. 

Pantalone furrowed his eyebrow “Don't start me with those nicknames, honey.”

You grinned “... Pantyhose.”

“Dear.”

“Mr… Panties.”

“That's it, you come here!” 

Not heeding his warning, the man enveloped you in ticklish embraces so you wouldn't escape. Your giggles of help and mercy were left unheard as you were pinned to the soft batch of pillows. His lips sought your own to silence those ridiculous nicknames that kept testing his patience. And undoubtedly, your kisses tasted sweeter than honey and violetgrass. 

A small illustration for this fic is here! I don't know how else to portray 'reader' without it looking awkward, so instead I drew the Traveler in it. Hope no one minds!

[sweetbunpura]

No. 1: RACE AGAINST THE CLOCK (Word count: 857)

Search Party | Panic Attack | "If only we could hold on.” (Icysami x Renegaderr, Strangers.)

“What do you mean you can’t find her?”

Crowley sweats as he’s met with the various glares of the dorm leaders. He had called to give them all important information, which turned out to be the fact that Yuu was missing.

“Y-you see.” Crowley clears his throat. “After a talk with our dear prefect, she left my office and disappeared. I have no idea what could’ve caused it.”

Leona’s eyes take in the office, Crowley hadn’t had much of a chance to clean up given that there were things thrown all over his office in what looked to the beastman to be in a fit of anger. A chair was missing and judging by the splintered wood and hole in the wall, Leona could piece together what happened.

“It’s unlike Yuu to do something as dangerous as this.” Riddle spoke. “What did you tell her, Headmage?”

“I was just handing her the weekly allowance I allotted her with.” The fae speaks as he nervously clicks his metal finger accessories together. “It was-”

“Listen.” Leona interrupted him as all of their attention turned to him. “Stop dancing around the subject and tell these guys what you’ve been doing to Herbivore.”

“W-Why, Mr. Kingscholar, I have no idea-”

He let out a low growl. “I ain’t got time for you to be pussyfooting around the issue of starving her right now.” Leona turned on his heel and marched out of the room just as it exploded to demands to tell them the truth.

He shoved his hands in his pockets, his ears were pinned to his head and his tail lashed angrily behind him. Leona already knew for a fact that Yuu wouldn’t have stayed anywhere in NRC if she ran... but he had a clue as to where she might be going. Wordlessly, he started on the path towards the front gate, where he opened it and departed from the school grounds. The woods surrounding the base of the school were massive, birds and other animals fled upon seeing a very angry lion making tracks through everything.

“She wouldn’t be in the woods, even if she does love nature...” Leona grumbled as he flicked a piece of foliage off his tail. “Too many places to hide and she ain’t one to turn tail.” He paused as he heard the sound of a river flowing nearby. “By the water maybe...” 

Leona followed the river to where it led out of the dense thicket and sloped down to a medium sized lake nearby. He stood at the top of the slope, his eyes scanning the ground until they locked onto someone sitting at the edge of the water. Quietly, he approached them and lowered himself to sit down next to them.

“This is fucking bullshit.” Yuu speaks as she glares at the water. “He cuts the money every time someone new joins Ramshackle. He did it with Rollo and then he did it again with Fellow and Gidel.”

“What excuse did he give?”

“He said they had money to pay and thus I didn’t need a full check anymore.” Yuu’s hands dig into the grass and she tears out clumps of them. “Rokudenashi Tori.”

Leona glanced over at her as she started muttering in her native language, his eyes shifted to her bloody knuckles that had splinters in them. The beastman gently took her hand and started to pry the slivers out.

“Don’t do this to your hands.”

She viscously tugged her hand back. “Fuck off.”

“Can’t do that.” He pulled her hand back and continued. “You’re too proud of what you can do and you’re letting someone tell you what you can’t.”

“Leona, I don’t have any money to feed Grim, or Rollo, or Fellow and Gidel.” Her voice is soft. “Anytime I ask him for anything, he skirts around the subject. And then I’m supposed to help everyone out with their problems, I don’t have time to myself. I can’t say no, or he holds Ramshackle over me, reminding me of the fact that he so “graciously” let me stay.”

Yuu starts sobbing. “I’m so tired, I want to go home, I don’t want to be his worker ant anymore. I want to rest for once and not worry if part of Ramshackle is going to break while I sleep. That I won’t have to be called on to fix another one of Grim or Ace’s mistakes. I’m tired of spending a majority of my money on a bottomless pit of cat who only way of thanking me is getting into more fucking trouble!”

She suddenly stands up. “Overblot after overblot, scar after scar. When is it going to be e-fucking-nough? Is this going to be the rest of my life here at this shitty excuse of a school?! Cause if this is what I was handed, then take it the fuck back!”

Leona gets up and silently watches her, Yuu digs her hands into her hair and sobs out. His heart tightens as he wraps her in a tight hug, they both fall to their knees as Yuu clutches onto Leona’s vest and sobs into his shoulder. 

[fernlessbastard]

You guys aren't ready for the conversation of how Quackity sincerely loves bottoming

I'm not at all saying he wants to always bottom, I'd say he still prefers topping most of the time, but whenever he's down to get something up his ass, he's DOWN to get something up his ass, if you know what I mean

(the switching applies to position only, tho. I sincerely can't see him genuinely enjoying subbing, and neither can I see Wilbur actually domming unless they're both being influenced by years of internalised homophobia and patriarchy and all that bullshit, but even then it's just cringe and they're just both pretending it's not cause it's easier that way (and the sex itself isn't like, actively bad, not to mention that it provides some degree of an emotional connection which they both desperately crave), plus it's still basically vanilla just with a little bit of dirty talk - that's how i see them in Pogtopia (with Q bottoming - if you want another huge post on their Pogtopia dynamic let me know cause I have so many thoughts on it and how their traumas affected them and their relationship and how complicated it all was))

That being said, man's 10000% intensely fucking traumatised

(tw personal hc and following the logical path from canon implications idfk)(also exaggeration) like, if he were ACTIVELY evil and had ZERO (even personal) moral code, then the amount of anger he feels towards Schlatt for taking away the enjoyment of it is probably enough to ignore all ethics and torture Dream so utterly unimaginably he ends up violating entirety of the Geneva convention, and then having 50 new ones written specifically to condemn his actions, just to break every single one of those as well on the way, just so that Dream gives him the revival book so that he can re-kill Schlatt with his own hands

Also he absolutely re-traumatised himself with Karl and Sapnap cause he was for sure like "I shouldn't be having an intense panic attack right now, I'm going to push all my energy into pretending that everything's ok and that I don't want to cry and scream and rip my skin off. I'm just being silly and dramatic anyway ha ha" which just resulted in them unknowingly hurting him all over again. I take no criticism. Q's got MASSIVE communication issues when it comes to validating his feelings and Karl and Sapnap are "everything's fine"-ing way too much on the daily. And whole Quackity should work on his issues, it IS a partner's job to at least try to check up on the other(s) (and vice versa), and Karl and Sapnap clearly always preferred to ignore any hints that something might be wrong as a general life rule. The relationship was immaturely focused on "fun and good vibes" from the very start, so any bad topic obviously felt out of place. It started off with lack of communication and it died cause of it too.

That's also actually why I will always firmly stand by the fact that Wilbur (during las Nevadas era) is the only person with whom he could ever heal, btw (yes, including Charlie as a hypothetical romantic interest). Cause Schlatt's abusive, Karl and Sapnap "deserve better" in his eyes (so he pretends to be fine until shit hits the fan and everything falls apart)(that also applies to his hypothetical relationship with Charlie). But with Wilbur there's enough distance to feel safe and call out his bullshit without retaliation in form of abuse, and on the other hand he doesn't care to pretend to be perfect - hell, he probably purposefully shoves his issues onto the guy cause he's like "you think you're so strong and stubborn you can handle me??? You think???? Think again." (Wilbur does the same btw). They're purposefully trying to push each other away, destroy the "relationship", show each other just how fucked up they are. They're psycho-competitive. Even being the first one to be "too much" and get abandoned turns into a competition.

But it backfires. They bond. They're real with each other. They're stubborn, they're determined enough to stay just long enough to see each other's walls crack. And once they do, the feelings are quick to spill. They're each other's only people to be GENUINELY themselves with - no masks, no manipulation, no bullshit. Just themselves. And that's the first, CRUCIAL step to developing a healthy relationship (or at least healthier than all their other relationships).

So with Wilbur he probably only tries to bottom either once he ACTUALLY begins to feel like he could maybe try to reclaim it, or even if he tries it in a self-destructive way, (considering their history+patriarchy and shit) Wilbur'd know and care enough to realise Q's just trying to hurt himself. And as shitty as Wilbur can be sometimes, he's not a bad person - he'd stop Q if things'd go too far, or give him (at least a temporary) safe space to safely go through a breakdown without hurting himself like that. He wouldn't take advantage of such a low moment, and he would know enough to recognise it's a low moment in the first place.

Anyway once they figure all that out and Quackity's genuinely comfortable with it again, it's for sure not uncommon for him to enjoy some nice aggressive pounding, all the while having one hand in Wilbur's hair, pulling it to hold him close, and the other hand on Wilbur's neck, lightly choking him as they're intensely making out

All that to say Q's a massive sadist but he's also a huge massochist and he'll absolutely have Wilbur on a nice leash and call him a pathetic, desperate, horny dog or something like that as the man's (purposefully) sloppily thrusting in and out of him, causing the most "carnage" he can (Wilbur will be double fisting Quackity and Quackity will be just looking at him unfazed like "your hands are small" (they're not)/hj)

Oh btw to clarify [TW ok more direct talk of SA so please be careful and take care of yourselves]- yes, I'm absolutely saying Q got repeatedly SA'd by Schlatt throughout their relationship. The guy was canonically generally verbally and physically abusive, AND basically the whole point of his character is that he's like, the epitome of everything wrong with society. Add to that the sexual comments which were constantly used to demean, insult, and objectify Q, as well as Quackity's intense, palpitable discomfort which noticeably grows each time the topic comes up when they meet after Schlatt's death during Las Nevdas era, it's a pretty safe bet to assume Schlatt didn't stop at "just" verbal and physical violence. Sexual violence is almost a guarantee when you consider all that context - it's hardly even "reading between the lines". And you can't tell me that in our society that views being penetrated during sex as something negative, especially for men, while viewing penetrating someone as an act of "conquering" and "winning" and all that a character who's supposed to embody as many of this world's faults as possible wouldn't shove his dick where it's not wanted, even just purely to prove he can despite lack of consent.

[whatyadrawin]

The Fruit After The Flesh 18+ -Chapter 16

Minors DNI!

Masterlist

Approximately 4,061 words

Pairing: Thomas Hewitt (Headcanon) x AFAB reader

This chapters Warnings:  Sexual language and visual depiction of sexual acts, foul language, panic attack experience. This is Slasher smut, be mindful of that and use your discretion.

A/n: I'm going to likely end this series in the next few chapters as it is coming to a natural end, but you can bet there will be more development and smut in future chapters to come. Been super exhausted and mentally unwell lately so bear with me. Chapters will take time between them but I promise you this series will complete. I appreciate everyone's patience. The censored images can be viewed raw on my google doc (By clicking that link you are consenting to seeing graphic adult imagery and you are over 18). Let me know if you want to be in the tag list. I update chapter progress on the masterlist whenever something changes.

Please enjoy this chapter! I worked very hard on it so reblogs, comments, and likes are appreciated very much.

Tag List: @fan-goddess , @artxasa , @baybaybear1 , @amour-tae , @dij-ology , @jillian-mill , @littlelovebug98 , @hrefna-the-raven

Chapter 16

The day started slow, you were so exhausted from the strenuous workout you got with Tommy from the other day that you slept in quite late. The temperature inside your house was what eventually pushed you out of bed and into the shower for a refreshing rinse. You spent most of the day dealing with emails and a phone call from the company you chose to install the irrigation system for the orchard, it all concluded into a surveyor being scheduled to come out and take measurements and run a cost estimate in the next week or so.

As the day dragged on, the sun began to set and redden the sky, which reflected into your home and reminded you to meet up with Tommy. You finished off the last of your dinner and got changed into a loose spaghetti strap tank top and some shorts with flip flops, the simple clothing accentuated your freshly curled and volumized hair. You stepped out the front door to make your way down to the main house, the night retained the days heat, and the air was thick with humidity. Your excitement grew with each step, -what surprise does he have for me this time?- you keep your focus on the Hewitt house which slowly grew closer as the distance shortened. You were still trying to process the fact that a home so large would one day be yours, it almost felt like a waste to just stay in the small house now. -If I’m going to inherit such a massive property I better start paying for potential repairs or something, maybe I’ll bring it up to Luda Mae and see about updating appliances...-

­­You saw Tommy running towards you from the driveway, he looked like a massive bear in the dark and his speed was frightening. He slowed when he was a few feet away, his breathing was not even slightly elevated which really enforced the fact that he truly is in peak physical fitness. He still had his mask on despite you hoping he would get more used to it being off; he was wearing some cut off jean shorts, a black shirt that was perfectly too small with cut off sleeves, and he was barefoot. You suppressed a smirk at the obvious reminder of him being a backwoods country boy, shoeless in the night.

“Where’d your shoes run off to?” you jab.

 He lets out a rumbling laugh, “Too hot fer shoes, c’mon now” he made it sound like you were ludicrous for even suggesting them. “Shouldn’t be walkin’ when it’s dark, shoulda gave us a call so I come getcha”

You nod in silence, his worry for you was so sweet. He then takes your hand in his, all you can do is hang onto a single finger since your own hand was too small to grasp around his own.

He raises his hand with yours dangling off his finger and huffs out a chuckle as he inspects the pathetic sight,

“Cute” he says.

You give him a playful nudge on his leg with your foot, “Whatever! I can’t grasp your freaking bear claw with my NORMAL size hand.”

He lets out a hearty burst of laughter, you loved hearing him sound so happy, after months of back and forth with the mystery and awkward feelings, you finally felt like you had made a deep connection, it was an incredible feeling; Not only was he your future husband, but he was also your best friend, something you hadn’t had for a very long time.

You look up at him as you both walked together, “Where are we headed?”

He keeps his gaze forward and replies, “Out t’the pond”

You felt a shiver run down your spine and your movement slowed, Tommy noticed this immediately and stopped walking. He tilted his head in confusion, you couldn’t move and your heart rate rose immediately. He sensed a shift in your body language and knew something was up, you let go of his finger and he turned to you and kneeled down,

“Y’ok baby?”

His honey sweet southern drawl helped to stifle the rising panic attack you could feel festering in your core. You didn’t respond and he took a knee and moved you to sit down on his extended leg, it was like sitting on a stone bench.

He softens his voice to a hushed baritone, “Still scared from what all happened huh.”

You give a hurried nod and tried to focus on a small stone on the gravel road. Tommy picks you up and brings you to the house, when he enters you see that the downstairs lights were mostly shut off save for a few lamps dimmed in each room. He carries you to your room and sets you down gently on the bed, he turns a lamp on and leaves the room. You lay there almost paralyzed from fear, you figured your body would get used to the past since the origin of the danger was now dead and erased from the face of the earth.

Tommy comes back into the room and sets a glass of water on the nightstand next to the bed, he then takes a chair and places it next to the bed facing you.

“Breathe easy now baby, it’s gon be alright.” His words released you from the paralysis and you sowly began to come to your senses.

“I’m so sorry Tommy, I don’t know why this happened” you felt so bad for putting the night to a halt.

A heavy wave of tiredness hit you like a ton of bricks, your eyes began to feel like they weighed hundreds of pounds and you could barely keep them open. You manage to push out some words before you became too weak, “I need… sleep…Tom-“

Tommy knew what was going on and got in the bed and lay down beside you, “S’ok baby just let yer mind rest now”

You were asleep for what felt like years, no dreams, no nightmares, just like you shut down. You slowly woke up to your room still lit softly by the lamp Tommy turned on. Your energy came back to you so quickly that you felt like you just drank a pot of espresso. You were so furious with yourself for ruining Tommy’s surprise and ending the night so fast just because of fear, you were angry at the fact that it felt like that disgusting pig Dover was still terrorizing you from beyond the grave. -This is ridiculous, I’m not going to let him control me, I’m taking a stand!- You had never felt more filled with ire and energy before.

You were pinned to the bed by Tommy’s hulking arm which he draped over you before he fell asleep, it was like a stone barricade preventing you from leaving; you tried to lift it off you but it was so heavy you could barely push it away. Tommy was fast asleep, he slept so quietly, all you could hear were some muted gusts of air coming out of his nose from every exhale. You slunk out of Tommys arm by snaking your body from underneath eventually getting free, you smirk to yourself thinking you were so slick until Tommy grunted and spoke,

“Where y’goin’ hun?” his voice was gravely from sleep.

You freeze and try to give a calm response, “Just going to the bathroom, I’ll be back”

He turned onto his back and closed his eyes, “Hurry n’ get on back here baby, come n’ keep me comp’ny”

His breathing immediately turned back into quiet breaths again and you slunk out of the room, he looked so inviting just lying there with his little shorts on and his shirt crinkled up exposing his fluffy stomach, but you were on a mission and had the determination of a scorned god. ­-I want to get myself to the pond, in the dark, on my own! If I can do that then I can overcome this shit I just know it!-

You opened the front door as quietly as you could, and tip toed out onto the porch turning to close the door behind you carefully. Each step on the wooden porch felt like it was the loudest thing ever, soft creaks would come out from the planks and you were scared of it waking someone and ruin your plan. You felt exhilarated, it was like you were a teenager again trying to sneak out to meet with your best friend to go drink at lake Wahtopanah. The night air was still flooded with heat, you finally got off the last of the porch and decided to speed walk away as silently as possible, you managed to get to the silo without raising suspicion and then sprinted as fast as you could to the forest. Your eyes adjusted quickly to the dark, bits of moonlight shone in through the trees and lit up your path.

Your confidence and anger made you feel powerful, like you could take on a thousand Dover’s. You slowed down to catch your breath and when you looked up you saw a dim yellow light in the distance towards the pond. You got closer and noticed the area of the pond was surrounded with a tall fence of solid wood, each plank was so close to the other that it created no slits to see through. You enter the entrance gap in the planks and walk through a fenced in hallway lined with hanging bulbs, at the end of the hallway is a big door with something carved on it ‘Y/N’s pond’ you smiled and felt your anger melt away. You can’t believe he put up a whole fence so quickly, he really was the most romantic man to have ever lived.

You push on the door but it didn’t budge, you noticed the handle had a lock on it. Out of the blue, a large hand passes by you from behind holding a key, it’s Tommy. You turn around swiftly and see him looking down at you with a stern expression, this time his face was without a mask.

You blush “I-I’m sorry I just needed to do this myself. I wanted to face my fears…”

He unlocks the door shaking his head at you,

“I know baby, I just wish you’d take m'warnin'. The dark ain’t no place fer a lil lady t’go wanderin’ about. ‘least not without me ‘round”

You tug on his shirt to get him to bend his head down, you prop yourself up on your tip toes and give him a loving kiss on the lips, then say,

“I’ll be a good girl next time I promise”

He hums and smiles lowering his eyelids slightly to gaze at you,

“I’s worried y’know. If I ain’t ‘round who knows what you’d get into.”

You tilt your head to the side and clasp your hands together low on your hips as you bite your lips and look up at him, one leg bent at the knee rocking your foot back and forth,

“Pwease fowgive me Tommy, I pwomise I’ll nevew wun off again” you made an effort to sound as silly and cute as possible, emphasizing your breasts being squished together by your arms for added effect.

Tommy laughs and looks away pretending to be annoyed, “Y’gon drive me crazy woman”

You turn around and open the door, the hallway continues and the floor becomes the wood planks set there previously from Tommy’s first surprise. The hallway widens up to the dock which now has a tall open wood frame where lights and heavy outdoor lamps now hang; The fence circles the entire pond and is so tall that it has intense privacy, and the lights all along the perimeter brighten the area up with a comfortable yellow glow. You were awestruck, and had no words for how happy this made you. Tommy walked up beside you,

“So, uh… y’like it?” he sounded nervous.

You turned to look at him, your jaw still hung open from the shock of it all,

“Like it? Tommy, this is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Is it seriously all for me?”

He smiled,

“O’course it is baby, I wanna make sure y’get everythin’ y’want or need taken care of.”

He began excitedly pointing out the things he had done and why, like a child showing their parent the treehouse they made,

“I put that there door on so’at no one gets in w’thout y’knowin’, n’ the fence has not one slit so no peekin’ n’ theres a walkway so y’can get ‘round easy, it should be safe as a mama birds nest now.”

You walk up to him and place your arms around his body as best you could, you wanted to squeeze him as hard as possible to show how much this meant to you.

He gently hugs back and says, “Guess I did good then huh?”

“You’re more man than I could ask for Tommy, this is so selflessly thoughtful.”

He lets out some air from his nose, “Well good then, I need t’work t’deserve ya”

You look up at him, “Deserve me? You went through hell yet you still are so caring and loving, especially to me.”

He looked away and his face had a forlorn expression, you knew he was the same as Luda Mae, always clinging onto the hope of retribution for the devastating crimes he was pushed to commit. He loosened his hug,

“I fear I ain’t no good fer ya. Every dang day I ‘member what I did n’ can’t barely stand t’live with m’self. But… y’came ‘round n’ made that feelin’ quiet down” he sounded crestfallen.

You let go of him and went to look in the water, you were about to try something a little risky to get him out of this self-deprecating mood. You pretended to see something in the water,

“Tommy, come look at this, what the hell am I seeing?” you tried to sound sincere and curious if not slightly alarmed.

He came and stood over you, trying to see what you did,

“What y’lookin’ at?” he asks.

You point to a dark spot on the water, “I don’t know what that is, a fish? Come closer to look or you won’t see it well.”

He kneeled down next to you and leaned over to search for the source of your inquiry; You stood up to pretend to get closer to the edge to look and swiftly pushed him as hard as you could into the pond. The splash he made sent large waves of water outward from the source of impact, not unlike that of a glacier falling into the ocean.

You start laughing hysterically, Tommy stands up in the water, his hair hanging over his face. If you gave him leather pants, a black earring and a thick leather bracelet he would have looked like the lead singer for a heavy metal band. Tommy wipes the hair from his eyes and tries to grab you to pull you in but you jumped back just in time.

“Y’lil demon.” he said with a smile, “Y’gon come in or what? Gettin’ lonely in here”

You give a sly look and begin to slowly remove your clothing, turning the dock into a stage for a strip tease. Tommy watched closely with each movement, the more skin he saw the more excited he got. You turned away from him when your shirt came off to tease your reveal, then you dropped your shorts down and stepped out of them gently, leaving only a red underwear showing. Tommy stood there and crossed his arms trying to act like this display wasn’t unraveling his mind into a horny mess.

You turned to face him and dropped the shirt to expose your breasts, you lifted them and pressed them together sensually with your hands, then began to slowly remove the underwear, letting it fall softly to the dock floor. You were now entirely nude, the summer air swirled around your skin; You slinked up to the edge of the dock bending over to look at Tommy more closely, he was so tall that he was basically face to face with you from the water as you knelt.

“Sit down” he commanded

You blushed at his demand and obeyed, you let your legs dangle off the side into the water. Tommy stood between your legs and brought your face in for a passionate kiss, he ran his free hand down to your sternum and playfully pushed you back, you caught yourself with your arms and raised an eyebrow at him.

“Stay there” he growled.

Tommy spread open your legs exposing your already fluid slick folds, you felt a bit of embarrassment at him gazing so intently into such a private spot until he lowered his head down and pressed his mouth onto your clit, sending a shockwave up your chest forcing a loud moan out. Tommy ran his thick tongue all up and down your cunt, the more he lapped up of your juices the more feral he became as if your wetness was a drug.

You lean your head back and lay on the wood, he flicked your clit with his tongue and sucked on it creating a ripple effect of arousal flood down from your navel to your hole causing it to open and close slightly with each clench. Tommy felt the pulsation and slipped his tongue deep into your vaginal opening while pressing his nose into your swollen nub. You were gasping for air, exhausted by the rapid fire mewls and moans you were uncontrollably emitting, Tommy was so good with his tongue that it started to feel overpowering and you tried to pull away but he grabbed your hips and pulled you closer making you scream with intense pleasure.

You had a tight coil form in your core, it tightened harder with each flick of his tongue, and when Tommy slid one finger into your opening you couldn’t restrain yourself and that coil released with a powerful orgasm that made you buck into Tommy’s mouth. He slowed his licking and took some breaths as you twitched from the remaining sparks of release. You were panting from how intense that felt, Tommy came up from below and looked at you to make sure you were smiling.

“Got y’back for that work y’did on me in th’basement” he gruffed.

You looked up at Tommy, he had a smug smirk on his face and with how he just made you feel, he earned it.

“That was unbelievable, was I… ok down there?”

You couldn’t help but feel a little insecure about your natural scent thanks to years of feminine hygiene commercials indoctrinating an entire bloodline of generations with fairytale expectations.

Tommy raised an eyebrow, “That there’s the sweetest tastin’ fruit I ever ate. Almost couldn’t pull m’self away.”

Your body was still brimming with ecstasy, and Tommy looked especially sexy all wet and commanding. You sat up and began to lift off his shirt, he did nothing to stop you and helped to get it removed, tossing it on the dock beside you in a sopping pile. You touched his chest all over and squeezed his pecs,

“I want more”

Tommy smiled and moved in closer, “Y’ready fer more huh? Greedy woman”

You lean back and he starts to lower his head to go a second round but you put your hand on his forehead to stop him,

“What y’stoppin’ me for?” he asks.

“I want to get fucked by you” you plead, pointing to where his shorts are strained.

Tommys eyes widen and he hurriedly begins to remove his shorts, “Y’don’t need t’ask me twice baby”

His dick sprung out from his shorts and was already twitching with excitement, he lunged and grabbed your upper arms pulling you off the dock and into his embrace. He held you up and you straddled him, you kissed his lips with an eager pressure and he reciprocated by slipping his tongue past your lips. He took you to the other side of the pond, you barely noticed as both your lips were locked in a heavy make out. Tommy pulled his face away and smiled,

“Look, s’the last part I didn’t show ya.” He pointed at a small clearing out of the water.

You saw a beautiful moss-covered area where he placed a soft blanket and more tall poles to drape large lanterns. He lifted you past the reeds and came out of the water placing you down on the blanket, you look up at him, he looked like a giant and his cock was still at full mast tantalizing you. Tommy lay down overtop of you and enclosed your body under his, with his arms creating a barrier. He gave you a kiss and then used his legs to spread yours so he could be situated snug between them. He positioned himself further down and angled his head to meet with your entrance, slowly pressing himself in and then pulling away, pushing his penis a little further inside each time until you loosened up and he was able to bottom you out with ease.

You hummed and breathed deeply, the sensation of him inside you felt so incredible that you pulled him in with your legs, he got the hint and began to pump with more aggression. The thrusts intensified and immediately electrified your nerve endings with a sinful sensation.

“I been waitin’ all day fer this baby, I been dreamin’ of ya.” His deep voice rumbled your chest with each word, the yearning just made you slip into ecstasy.

Tommy leaned back and took hold of your thighs, lifting your hips to meet his, your entire lower half was hovering above the ground as he pushed into you with a quickened pace. You were being completely controlled and your movements were not your own, he held onto you and pulled you forward and back on his cock like you were a dirty toy. You loved every minute of it, the deeper he plunged in, the closer to orgasm you got.

His cock was perfectly shaped to fit your pussy, each thick vein was like an extra stimulation, his glans had an incredibly rare lifted lip edge that made it feel like he was scratching an impossible to reach itch. You were a moaning mess, and before you could attempt any movement, he raised you up so you could hang onto his torso while he rammed into you. He lifted and lowered you with intensity, you could feel your walls clenching down on him ready to blow at any moment.

“Ah, baby yer so tight, I’m gonna cum.” He gasped.

He lowered you back down onto the ground and pressed your legs far back so your feet were near your head and he pushed into you hard. You were experiencing euphoria until it became hyper focused into a rush of fire,

“Don’t sto-stop, don’t stop Tommy I’m cumming!” you scream.

You feel surges of orgasm pulse through every inch of your body, and as you moaned and squirmed Tommy lets out a loud groan and you feel that familiar fluid pump into you filling you up as far as it could until it spilled out with his cock still gently thrusting. Tommy was breathing heavily, still over top of you, his head pressed against yours. You lay flat and splayed yourself out in exhaustion, your body was relaxed and your energy spent. Tommy slowly pulled out of you and lay next to you, cum spilled out of your hole and you felt it dribble down your folds and past your anus, dripping salaciously onto the blanket like a filthy faucet.

“I’m too tired to head back, can we just sleep here?” you ask.

He nodded and said, “s’already late anyway. C’mere”

He turned and put his arm over you, and you turn your back to him becoming the little spoon in this embrace. The temperature outside had cooled and his body heat kept you warm and comfortable. That night, you had the best sleep of your life in the arms of the best man in your life.

-To next chapter

[fungusgnat444]

Vampire König headcanons

Just a few hcs for y’all xo. The first part of the series should be done relatively soon so I thought I’d post this to keep you guys hungry lolWarnings: hes a vampire so minor mentions of blood. Nothing super intense tho. Reader is a medic/doctor so medical stuff I guess, könig being delusional and mildly creepy. I think that's it enjoy. Also almost forgot fem reader

-extremely standoffish at first. To the point where you think he probably hates you. In reality he’s obsessed; he just has no idea how to talk to women (it’s been several hundred years since he's had to “court” so he tries his best to keep you at arms length. This doesn’t work very well of course)

-before he turned his family were all poor farmers so he could never have sweet treats as a kid since suger was pretty much only for the rich at the time. So now he has a massive sweet tooth and is regularly gorging himself on sweets.

-in the 1400’s he took the alias Matthias Grunewald, moved to germany and became a painter (Matthias grunewald was a real artist. My history nerd brain couldn’t help throwing that in there. One of my favourite artists tbh)

-since you’re new to Austria he offers to teach you German just to have an excuse to talk to you but he's delusional enough to convince himself it’s to help you. Of course the first thing he teaches you is how to say König correctly. It’s just so annoying to hear you mispronounce it of course… no other reason. 

-refuses to take his mask off when you have to examine him so you have to roll it up just above his top lip. Extremely insecure about his appearance but his face in particular because of all the scars. Plus he has a cleft lip scar that he used to get bullied for.

-he has basically no friends apart from Horangi so he spends most of his time alone painting and watching old German films. His favourite is The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (its really good y’all should totally watch it btw)

-secretly collects little items you leave around the place even though he feels like a massive creep because of it. It started with a bobby pin he saw lying on your desk that he snatched while you weren’t paying attention. Now he has a whole drawer in his bedside table full of little trinkets; his favourite is a lip gloss that you had dropped one day (secretly wears it under his mask so he can feel like he’s tasting you throughout the day because he so desperately wants to kiss your pretty lips :( )

-once he opens up just a little more and you start to become friends, he slowly starts returning the items he stole because he feels too guilty. Hides them in semi-obvious places to make you think you had just misplaced them (can’t bring himself to part with  the lipgloss though)

-avoids touching you at all costs. Feels like he's having a heart attack whenever you have to examine his teeth; feeling your soft little gloved fingers brush against his lips, trying your best to be so gentle with him. Likes that you’re always so nice to him; complimenting his gum health and being so soft and praising him when you have to take venom samples from his fangs, patting his shoulder when it's down to soothe him when you’re done. In reality you’re just trying your best to make you’re patient comfortable but he savours every moment. Gets so flustered every time you compliment him, even if its something generic and medically (he starts to floss several times a day after you casually mention that he has good gums)

-hates that he can always smell you even when you wear scent blockers, its so distracting. He can always smell you approaching before he sees you, making him panic and overthink at the thought of having to interact with you.

-pretty much exclusively drinks your blood type once he finds out what it is and gets all grumpy whenever the base’s blood dispensary runs out of it. Tries his best to fast until they’re restocked. He avoids you when he’s fasting because you smell so delicious. The fact that you’re completely oblivious and still hang around him only frustrates him more.

Hehe hope you degenerates like this. First part of the series should be out soon xo

[ticklishshenanigansau]

LaughterLand - Chapter 28: Hold On

(story by Mod Secret, art delayed by technical difficulties, poem collaboration with the help of @taileflaith based off The Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll)

"Come on! Don't look up!" Sans breathlessly called, making sure Papyrus was right beside him as they ran.

"This way!"

Sky tugged on the right side of the older skeleton's shirt collar, ensuring that they were headed in the right direction out of the floral forest. All around them, they could hear the sweet voices of the giant flowers popping up, trying to beckon the brothers to come join them. The skeletons kept their gaze glued to the ground as they ran.

"How … much … farther?" Papyrus panted heavily. Such intense jogging after going through such a brutal tickle attack was starting to get the better of him.

"Not long now!" Even Sky's cheery demeanor was starting to grow worried. "In fact, I think…."

He trailed off, growing quiet as he peered ahead with squinting eyes. Within a moment, Sans felt his spindly legs fight as he responded with a frightened voice.

“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Hold on! Wait!”

They suddenly flew out of the enormous garden. Sans forced his body to come to a screeching halt just as he noticed the ground disappearing before him. He drew in a petrified gasp as he saw his toes dangling over the edge of a monstrous chasm. Shockwaves of panic surged through his system as he practically stumbled over his feet to back away from the edge.

“OOF—!”

He gasped again as Papyrus accidentally slammed into him on his own way out of the floral forest. Thankfully, Sans — in a momentary fit of panic — launched his body backwards once he felt his brother colliding against him. They both toppled over onto the dirt, frazzled, but unharmed.

They both took a moment to catch their breath, fear practically causing their bones to pulsate as they stared with shock and awe at the size of the massive gorge. It was even bigger and steeper than the one they had come across after their encounter with the Tickle Monster. They peered over the edge and stared into a deep, dark abyss. It seemed to go on and on forever until sunlight no longer had any effect on the distance it traveled. From what they could see, the edges of the cliff were covered with jagged rocks, sharp thorns, and rotting moss. It was a jarring contrast to the bright and overly-colorful world they had known to be LaughterLand. This single terrifying chasm almost made them feel as though they were in a completely different world.

“Whew! You sure know how to save yourself, don’tcha?” Sky breathlessly observed as he crawled back onto the top of Sans’s shoulder. He had barely ducked out of the way just as Papyrus collided into them. After ensuring both brothers were alright, the little spider hopped down to the ground and peered across the gorge, pointing with one of his front legs.

“There!” he called. “The big white door!”

The skeletons shielded their eyes from the sunlight and turned their gazes to where the spider was pointing. Sure enough, on the other side of the ravine was an enormous ivory white door, reaching up to fifty feet tall and glistening in the setting sun. It was a long distance away, even longer than the Haunted House had been before. What was worse was that there was no rope bridge connecting the brothers to the other side.

“How are we supposed to get over there?” Papyrus questioned nervously, though there was a marvel in his tone from how impressive the distance was.

“Can we go around?” Sans looked to his right where he was hopeful to see a solid path around the gorge. But all that lay on the opposite sides of them were more giant flowers off in the distance.

“Afraid not, fellas,” Sky replied. “Besides running into those teasing flowers, it would probably take you all night to go around this whole thing. And trust me, LaughterLand is not the place you two wanna be when it gets dark.”

Papyrus couldn’t help but shiver. The thought of even more terrifying tickling creatures out to pursue them made him tremble with nervousness. He looked back at the faraway door, silently pleading for there to be an easier way to get to it and get back home.

“Okay….” Sans let out a heavy sigh. “How long until it disappears?”

Sky looked up at the sun. It was clear to see since no other clouds were decorating the sky, save for the occasional storm cloud rolling past.

“Until sunset,” he replied with an unnatural certainty in his voice. “That’s when the door will vanish and reappear somewhere different in LaughterLand. After that, it’ll be nearly impossible to find again.” He let out a puff of air as he gazed upwards once more. “Again, I had really hoped I could make this easier by lassoing a cloud for a ride. But … I suppose we’ll just have to try something else.”

Sans looked upwards in turn, he spotted the dark storm cloud and looked back down at the little green spider quizzically.

“So I’m guessing hitching a ride on the dark ones is gonna be a no?”

Papyrus put a heavy hand on his brother’s shoulder. Sans looked back to see the younger skeleton with an unusually dark expression on his face as he shook his head back and forth.

Sans looked back at Sky, noticing the little spider positioning himself onto a nearby boulder that was dangerously close to the edge. Sans took in a breath. He was fearful to ask, almost certain that he already knew the answer.

“So … how do we get across?”

His voice faltered as he noticed Sky aggressively tying up the boulder in his thick, sticky web. Almost as if he were wrapping up a giant bug for dinner. With the thick string still effortlessly spinning from his abdomen, Sky tied one end into another lasso. He reeled back with the sticky loop in hand, letting out a harsh grunt as he flung it across the chasm.

The brothers watched on in amazement as the lasso seemed to fly without any consideration for gravity, as if it were floating on some invisible breeze that was effortlessly carrying it across the treacherous gorge. It took no time at all before it reached its target, the branch of a tree that had been standing just off to the side of the ivory door. Sky gave the string a good, steady tug before securing the tail end of the web to the boulder, now thoroughly coated in the sticky substance.

He experimentally crawled along the long thread that was now secured across the enormous gap, testing its endurance as well as its sturdiness. As Sans watched the little arachnid making his careful trek along the web, a sinking feeling of dread was starting to gather in his bones. He desperately hoped that this didn’t mean what he thought it meant.

“Well, it’s no express elevator,” Sky commented as he started crawling back towards them. “But it’ll get you across, no problem.

“Y-You want us to … CLIMB across that thing?” Papyrus’s nervous stuttering caused Sans to look down into the abyss a second time. His head swam with a dizzying panic seeing just how high up they were.

“We’ll take it as slow as we can,” Sky reassured them. “But keep in mind, we’ve only got until sunset, so we can’t linger for too long.”

“There’s no way…,” Sans muttered, his voice was hushed with fear.

Going across a rickety bridge was one thing, but dangling over a massive ravine relying only on his upper arm strength to stop him from falling? It was just too crazy. Papyrus, in turn, could feel his own bones rattling with anxiety. His fear of heights didn’t even compare to Sans’s level of intimidation, but even he had to admit it felt like too daunting of a task.

“But … it’s so far across,” the younger skeleton fretted. “How would we even keep up that kind of strength?”

“Oh! Not to worry, boys!” Sky’s tone perked up as he demonstrated the strength of the web by crawling underneath it. “This is a special kind of sticky, right here. Even if your strength gives out, it’ll still keep you hanging onto the web.”

The skeletons looked at each other, then back to Sky nervously. They weren’t entirely sure if they should believe it or not. Especially given how small Sky was compared to them. How could he possibly know that the web would hold all three of them?

“Just give it a try!” Sky insisted. “We don’t have a whole lot of time left, anyways. So we’d better get moving soon!”

Papyrus exhaled shakily. He inched his toes towards the edge of the cliff, swallowing hard as he gripped onto the string with both hands. Sure enough, he could feel the sticky residue grabbing onto him tightly, even through the red gloves. It took a considerable amount of effort in order to pull off one hand, but eventually, Papyrus felt comfortable enough to step off the edge.

Sans’s Soul leapt into his throat as he watched his brother’s body leave the safety of the edge. He didn’t even realize how tightly he was holding his breath until he saw Papyrus dangling effortlessly above the ravine.

Papyrus exhaled again, this time his breath sounding like a mixture of mild relief as well as stunned disbelief. “Sans, it works!” he exclaimed. There was still an anxious energy to his tone, but he clearly had felt better about relying on the sky spider’s sticky web. He bravely pulled another hand off the web to move further down the thread. “I’m hardly even holding on, brother! It’s safe, I promise!”

Papyrus turned his head to give Sans a look of reassurance. Though, even from the space where he was dangling, he could still hear his brother's teeth chatter.

"Come on, Sans! You can do it!" Papyrus called out to him.

"Come on!" Sky joined in the reassurance. "You're almost home! You just gotta make it across!"

Sans took in a shaky breath, trying to let the image of home give him the boost of bravery he needed. He just had to make it across the chasm. Just hold on for dear life one last time. Thoughts of all he wanted to do as soon as he reached the Underground filled his mind as he took a trembling step forward. He could almost taste the freshly stocked ketchup at Grillby's, feel the coziness of his favorite napping place at his sentry station. But more than anything, all he craved was the simple pleasure of annoying his brother with his horrible jokes, and laughing for all the right reasons — both with him and at him.

Before he even realized it, he had grasped onto the web, feeling the sticky residue immediately start gluing itself to his hands. He hesitated as he stood inching over the edge of the cliff, staring down into the dark nothingness.

"That's it, brother. You're almost there," Papyrus quietly encouraged him. He was careful not to raise his voice for fear of startling Sans in this delicate state he was in.

Knowing he had no other option, Sans inhaled sharply and allowed his feet to slip off the edge of the cliff. He let out a panicked scream as he felt his feet succumb to gravity and gripped onto the sticky thread with all of his might.

After daring to peek open one socket, he realized just how firm the substance of the web was holding onto him. He hesitantly relaxed his fingers enough to let the tacky residue do most of the work in keeping him elevated. The sight of the darkness below still caused him a great deal of anxiety, but as he allowed his fingers to relax more and more, he was slowly gaining a sense of confidence.

“Well done, Sans!” Papyrus cheered, once he realized that Sans was going to be alright.

“Come on, fellas!” Sky called, turning to head towards the other end. “We don’t have too much time, let’s get you through that door and on your way outta here!”

Papyrus pulled an arm off the web to follow after the little spider. It took Sans a lot of effort, but he managed to pull his own hand off of the thread. He gasped as he instantly felt gravity take hold of it again, but immediately started following after his brother by placing his hand back and climbing along.

It took them a long time to reach the halfway point of the long string. Sky had to continuously stop to make sure they were still right behind him. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to mind. As he turned to wait for them he began humming a jaunty little melody to himself. The skeletons had to keep spending their energy pulling their hands off the sticky substance in order to keep moving forward. While Papyrus had gotten used to their perilous journey, Sans couldn’t keep his Soul from thumping every time he moved forward to catch up. He tried to distract himself by looking up at how close they were to the ivory door.

“Hey Skyder…,” Sans breathed out, “I’ve been … meaning to ask….” It was difficult for the older skeleton to get his words out as he kept swinging his body forward. “What did you … tell your Auntie … that made her … let us go?”

“Well…,” Sky replied with a nervous-sounding chuckle. “I actually convinced her that I had managed to catch an even bigger meal that would feed her and the kids.”

“Oof, how are you … gonna pull that off?” Sans panted.

“Oh I don’t know,” Sky shrugged casually, still keeping his cheerful demeanor. “I guess I’ll just have to tell her that it got away.”

“Well … while I don’t … condone the practice of … being untruthful….” Papyrus stopped to take in a breath; this was far more exhausting than he had anticipated. “We certainly … appreciate … you pulling us … out of there!”

“Yeah…,” Sans agreed. “Hopefully … she won’t … be too STRUNG UP … about it.”

“Sans!” Papyrus let out an exhausted groan. “Really? Now?”

“Heh heh … sorry,” Sans let out a subtle chuckle, silently agreeing to save the jokes for home.

As they continued to move a little ways past the halfway point, Papyrus took note of the upbeat tune that Sky continued to hum. The little spider had been going on with it for so long that he hardly even realized he was still doing it.

“That’s an … interesting song … you're humming…,” Papyrus commented through harsh breathing.

“Oh! Thank you.” Sky looked back, seemingly embarrassed to have been caught humming so loudly. “Afraid the tune itself is more upbeat than what it’s actually about,” he confessed. “It’s based off of the legend of the Chortlewocky.”

“The Chortle … who-what-now?” Sans huffed. Whatever Sky had just mentioned sounded as bad as everything else in this place.

Sky proceeded to recite the lyrics to the song. He described a legendary monster that lived in the dark shadows of LaughterLand. One that fed on the laughter of victims with far more ferocity than anything that the pair of them had ever encountered before.

“’Twas trilling, and the shimmy toads,

Did croak and giggle in the waves:

All whimsy were the borrowed gloves,

And on their whimful wraths outgrabbed.

Beware the Chortlewock, my friend,

With jaws do nibble and claws do scratch.

Beware the feathers like plumage birds,

Naught like the jocular Laughtersnatch.

He took the dreaded thought to heart,

To escape the laughter-hungry foe.

Take no rest past the Tickletum tree,

Where last the torment had been wrought.

And his indelible fate burst through the wood,

The Chortlewock, glee in its eyes aflame,

came chasing, pouncing quickly as it could,

making its prey whimper and babble the same!

One two! One two! No kitchy or koo.

The dulled claws went scritch-a-scratch!

It left him dazed and dumb, under its lack of thumb,

There would be no going back.

Hast thou been snatched by the Chortlewock?

Bid thee thresholds of saneness a swift farewell

Cachinnations resound 'cross saccharine seas and giddiful glens,

On this jovial sojourn to hell.

’Twas trilling, and the shimmy toads,

Did croak and giggle in the waves:

All whimsy were the borrowed gloves,

And on their whimful wraths outgrabbed.”

“Wowie…,” Papyrus sighed. “I … couldn’t follow most of that. But this … Chortlewocky … sounds like a … nightmare!”

“Oh, yes,” Sky agreed. “He’s nothing like the other critters of LaughterLand. You wouldn’t wanna meet him down a dark alley.”

“I don’t think … we wanna meet him down … ANY kind of alley,” Sans replied breathlessly.

“Well, don’t worry,” Sky reassured them. “There hasn’t been any Chortlewocky sightings for at least nine-and-a-quarter months! And you two will be outta here before you ever get your chance to see one.”

“Thank Asgore,” Sans muttered.

As the older skeleton got ready to remove another hand from the web, he noticed that Papyrus had not moved forward enough for him to continue on. The younger skeleton was stuck in place, tugging onto his left hand.

“Hey Pap, what’s the hold up?” Sans asked. He leaned his head to try and catch his brother’s expression.

“I’m … stuck!” Papyrus grunted, now fiercely tugging onto his hand. “I can’t … get loose!”

“Pap, be careful!”

Sans’s anxiety began to rise in his chest again as he watched Papyrus start tugging harder and harder. He became nervous that his brother would accidentally pull both hands away from the web.

“Papyrus!”

Sans harshly whispered trying to get his attention, but it was too late. By the time Sans had finished speaking, Papyrus let out a huge grunt, finally pulling his hand loose from the web. Unfortunately, he had managed to pull his hand out of his left glove in the process. He made a frantic grab for it, but it flew clear past his fingertips. He let out a sad sigh as he watched it tumble down to the darkness below.

“Ohh, my glove!” He let out a mournful whine.

“It’s okay, Pap.” Sans let out a sigh of relief, seeing that that was the only part of Papyrus falling into the abyss. “You’ve got another one.”

Papyrus grumbled to himself as he continued forward, not feeling very good about losing both his scarf as well as one of his gloves all in one day. Little did both skeletons know that on its way down into the darkness, the glove had brushed past an unseen nest located several miles under the ground. The creature who had been sleeping there for most of the year had awoken to the sight of the bright red accessory reflecting off of the sunlight.

A ferocious roar suddenly tore through the air causing the world around them to violently shake. Both skeletons let out a scream of terror, now using the entirety of their strength to grip onto the web.

"What the hell is that?!" Sans shouted above the primal screech.

They looked up to see Sky completely frozen in place. The little spider had to hunker down onto the thread, also gripping onto it with all of his might. Clearly shaken by the abrupt sound, but unmoving in his shock.

"Sky!!" Papyrus shrieked as the roar came to a halt. "What's going on?! What IS that?!"

"It can't be."

Sky's voice no longer had that same cheery tone as he spoke. It was cold and frightened, sending a sharp chill up both brothers’ spines. They had never heard such a sound coming from the otherwise chipper spider. Before either brother could question him further, Sky had spun another thread from his abdomen. After taking a moment to attach it to the thread pulling them across, he began descending down into the darkness, gliding down on his own string.

Both brothers dangled there in the tense silence just watching him disappear into the shadows. As the world rumbled around them with the sound of a second roar, it didn't take long before they saw Sky climbing back up the line with a terrified look in his many eyes. He didn't finish reaching the top before speaking to them in a panicked voice.

"Come on guys! We gotta move fast!!"

"Why?! What's happening now?!"

Papyrus matched his fearful tone without wasting a second in following after him along the web. Sans felt his Soul beginning to sink, he had a feeling that he already knew.

"Wait … please don't tell me it's a—"

"Chortlewocky," Sky finished with an adamant nod. "You fellas sure have a way of running into trouble around here!"

The trio froze as another roar ripped through the air causing the skeletons to jolt in terror.

"Nononononono!! This can't be happening!!" Papyrus quietly panicked, fearing what would happen if he raised his voice.

"It's worse, I'm afraid," Sky replied nervously, pausing to let the skeletons keep up with him.

"What?!" Sans shouted, though immediately pulled back on his volume to follow Papyrus. "How could it possibly be worse?!"

"Well, it turns out the Chortlewocky is actually a female," Sky answered.

For a moment, both skeletons dangled there with confused expressions. But as another screech vibrated the sticky web, they kept moving forward.

"I don't … understand!" Papyrus exclaimed breathlessly. "Why is … THAT … the worst part?"

"W-Well...." Sky paused as he stammered, looking unsure of just how to clarify himself. "Let's just say, there was a reason she was gone for nine months."

But before another word could be said, a new sound erupted through the sky. It sounded like a series of high-pitched screeches. Each one overlapping the other until it became clear that there was more than one creature making the horrific ruckus. As the screeching was replaced by the sounds of large flapping wings, the brothers looked down to see a horde of terrifying new creatures rising up from the darkness. They had disturbed an entire nest of small Chortlewockies!

They were far more horrifying than the poem had described. Their skin was leathery like a lizard and was a pale lavender color. They had webbed feet on their hind legs that were reminiscent of a strange bird with large talons. They had long scaly tails that were decorated with a blue fluffy feather on the end of each one. Despite their reptile-like appearance, their arms were covered with a thick layer of soft fur, and each hand held three absurdly long purple claws. As to be expected, the tip of each claw had been dulled to make for ideal tickling tools. Their enormous black wings were decked out with long slender feathers that made an intense 'WHOOSHING' sound as they flew.

They had long slender necks that carried their round and wrinkled heads in a bobbing motion. They had long feathers sticking out of their heads, looking like the antenna of giant moths. Their glowing pink eyes were enormous, almost taking up as much space as their giant smiles. They bared their teeth, showing off their soft rounded gnashers, obviously perfect for nibbling. It was disturbing how intensely they stared at the skeletons with their mouths open wide.

"Oh no!" cried Sky, quickly turning tail to run across the thread. "Quick! Let's get out of here!"

Forgetting that the brothers needed time to unstick their hands in order to move, the little spider took off running towards the other side. Sans and Papyrus tried to follow after him, but couldn't get their hands to cooperate fast enough. It didn't take long before they were surrounded by the horrifying creatures. There must have been around seven of them, all close to Sans's size, give or take a couple of inches. They growled and screeched as they circled the brothers, their wings whipping up warm air as they flapped.

“AAAGH!! No! Get away! Get away!” Papyrus shrieked as he began kicking.

Almost immediately, a Chortlewocky that was flying close enough to him grabbed one of his kicking feet with its long claws. Papyrus let out a sharp gasp, not expecting such quick reflexes. But his shock was soon replaced with hysterical laughter as the beast immediately lifted the tip of its feathered tail to tease at his captured toes.

“AGH!! NYAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! OH NO!! NOHOHOHO STAHAHAHAP!!” the younger skeleton screamed while trying to pull his foot back. But as to be expected, the Chortlewockies were brutally strong, and no amount of tugging was going to help.

Papyrus’s reaction quickly elicited a series of excited reactions from the remaining Chortlewockies and they began swarming the brothers with even more vicious tickle attacks. Feathery tails whipped in every direction, brushing against spines and hips, long purple claws began digging into their ribs and underarms. Even their soft rounded teeth started nibbling away at their toes, knees, and the back of their skulls, followed by the fluttering of their soft antenna.

With their hands helplessly stuck to the web, all they could do was kick and squirm as they were consumed with screaming and laughter. It wasn’t like the other creatures of LaughterLand; the Chortlewockies didn’t waste their time methodically exploring which spot would draw out which reaction. They attacked every spot they could get their clutches on, brutally and without mercy.

“WAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!! N-NOHOHOHOHO!! NONONONOHOHO!! STAHAHAHAP!! NYAHAHAHA!!” Papyrus screeched. He still struggled to pull his foot away from the first Chortlewocky, but was now hopelessly squirming away as another one nibbled the toes of his other foot while brushing its tail along his spine.

“AAAAGGHAHAHAHAHA!! ST-STAHAHAHAP!! GET AHAHAHAHAFF!! GET OFF MEHEEHEEHEEHEE!! HAHAHAHA!!” Sans wasn’t faring much better himself.

Miraculously, the older skeleton managed to gather enough upper body strength to scrunch up enough to keep them out of his underarms. But as he wriggled against a Chortlewocky that had latched onto his back and was nibbling at his skull, he let out an undignified squeal as he felt its claws getting dangerously close as it scribbled up his ribs.

The seconds seemed to drag on like hours since the harsh tickling began. Besides being held down by their ankles and ribs, the brothers almost didn’t want to risk trying to make a break for it. The thought of them taking advantage of them losing any grip on their literal lifeline and dragging them down to the abyss consumed their anxiety-ridden heads.

Their ferocious attack never once slowed down. Their claws, teeth, and talons dug in so viciously it was borderline painful. But whatever abrasive treatment was applied to their defenseless bodies, the tickling sensation never faltered and completely overwhelmed their ability to feel anything besides the teasing torment.

Sans was rapidly losing energy as he flinched harder and harder whenever one of the creatures came close to his sensitive underarms. He desperately wished that he could just pull his arms down to protect himself. In his hysteria, he played with the idea of just releasing one arm to attempt to defend himself. As terrifying as it was, he knew that he wasn’t going to last much longer if they invaded under his arms.

Another frantic squeak caught in his throat as he felt the Chortlewocky’s teeth abruptly move to the front of his neck and began inching down his shoulder. The intense tingling overwhelmed him in an instant, he couldn’t take it anymore! Rationality fled, and he quickly unstuck his left hand to smack his fist against the beast’s face. The Chortlewocky let out a pained screech as the blow landed directly between its eyes. In its startled state, it released Sans and flew off to the side to recover.

Sans quickly wrapped his free hand around himself, still laughing as he felt the other Chortlewockies nibbling and scratching along his feet, knees, and spine. But at least his underarms were now protected. Even through the horrid sensations of being attacked in so many places at once, Sans couldn’t help but realize that his hand had slipped off of the sticky web so easily. He didn’t even have to pull very hard.

Unbeknownst to the skeletons, the sweat from their hands was starting to affect the stickiness of the web. Which meant the more they struggled, the more the sticky residue was becoming unbound to their hands. Sans didn’t even realize what was happening until he heard the screech of the Chortlewocky he had punched in the face. The beast had recovered from the blow and was charging through the air to rush him. Sans didn’t have time to react before the hideous creature pounced on him, ferociously scribbling at his ribs and trying to pull at his loose arm. Gravity swiftly took hold of the pair as the web slipped from Sans’s fingertips.

Sans released a horrified scream as he began to fall. The Chortlewockies around him screeched and backed away, startled by the sudden gravitational pull. Sans mindlessly flailed as he screamed. He desperately reached for Papyrus, somehow managing to grab onto his brother’s ankle just in the nick of time.

Papyrus shrieked as Sans’s weight abruptly pulled him down. He managed to keep one hand latched onto the web, but the force had yanked his right hand downwards. That’s when he realized that the sticky substance was beginning to lose its tackiness. He could feel his left hand starting to grow weak as the sticky web was loosening. He looked down to see Sans clutching onto his leg with both hands while using his feet to try and kick at the Chortlewockies.

“SAAAANS!!” he shrieked right before another Chortlewocky grabbed his underarms from behind. “S-S-SAHAHAHANS!! HELP!! I-I-I-HEEHEEHEEM SLIHIHIHIHIPPING!! NYAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!”

Sans tried his best to fend the horrible creatures away, but with him having already lost so much stamina, he felt his body slip as his brother’s ankle ended up over his head. His underarms were exposed again, and this time the Chortlewockies wasted no time digging their claws into them.

“WAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! NONONOHOHO STAHAHAP!! ST-STAHAHAHAAA…!”

He trailed off into silent laughter, but managed to inhale again letting out a startled shriek as he felt another Chortlewocky start grabbing onto his shirt with its teeth. The winged beast growled and snarled as it pulled and tugged at the rim of his top. Sans felt his ribs and spine exposed to the warm air as a sharp tearing noise echoed off of the walls of the ravine.

RRRRIIIIIP!!

The Chortlewocky had ripped the front of Sans’s shirt completely in half leaving the lower half of his upper body totally exposed. The beast wasted no time digging its teeth and fluffy antenna into his mid-section, leaving Sans utterly lost in squealing silent laughter.

Meanwhile, Sky had just barely made it to the other side. He let out an exhausted sigh, completely expecting the skeletons to be right behind him.

“Whew! We made it!” he huffed as he reached the grassy edge. “Don’t worry, they won’t follow us into the….”

He trailed off, realizing that they were not following after him. The sound of screaming laughter pulled his attention back to the web as he saw the helpless brothers struggling to hang on while fighting off the Chortlewockies.

“I-I-I-HEEHEEHEEHEE!! I CAHAHAHAN’T HANG AHAHAHAHAN!! NYAHAHAHAHA!!” Papyrus cachinnated loudly. “I’M SLIHIHIHIHIPPING!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!”

“Hold on, boys!” Sky called. “I’ll getcha outta there!”

He knew that his web-slinging abilities weren’t going to be enough to stop them like he had stopped the flowers. They were too fast to get a clear enough shot. There was no time to make a net for the brothers to land in — the other end of the gorge was too far — and he could tell that Papyrus was losing his grip. There was only one way. He just hoped that the younger skeleton could hold on just a little bit longer.

He quickly started examining the thread that he had successfully lassoed to the tree branch. Looking through the billions of tiny, nearly-invisible seams that constructed the sticky string, he found what he was looking for… the single link in the chain that was the stronghold thread ensuring that the web was going to stay stuck to the boulder on the other side. He knew that if the link was severed, then it would take little-to-no effort to pull that end of the web loose. It was risky, not to mention it was going to be a rough ride for his poor skeleton friends, but there was no other option.

Sky bit down and severed the tiny thread connecting the strength of the string to the boulder. Immediately, he could feel the stamina of the web start to give, as could the brothers. This was it, one last desperate plan.

“Hang on, fellas!” he called loudly, unsure if they could even hear him. “Whatever you do, don’t let go!!”

Sky gave the web a strong, hearty pull. Papyrus could feel the pulsing energy of Sky’s action travel across the web until it reached the boulder. The other end of the web snapped, and before anyone knew what to do, the brothers started falling downwards.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!”

They screamed louder than ever, never minding the exhaustion in their voices. Miraculously, Papyrus kept his grip on the web, only sliding down an inch as they swung on it like a wayward feather-vine. The Chortlewockies screeched loudly and flew after them, so close that the brothers could still feel the wind of their flapping wings against the breeze that flew past them as they fell.

As they were pulled to the other side of the ravine, they watched with wide-eyed horror as the wall of the gorge was coming up fast. The Chortlewockies didn’t seem to notice — or care — that they were heading straight for the large flat surface as their eyes were locked on the brothers, still screeching and snapping at them as they flew.

Sans and Papyrus clenched their bodies and braced for impact, but they collided with the wall of the ravine with a loud and painful…

BANG!!

Sans managed to turn and put most of the weight of the blow onto his side. Papyrus, however, took the brunt of the ravine wall directly onto his front. The world seemed to finally go quiet as they groaned with pain, and essentially began ‘peeling’ their bodies off of the hard surface.

“Owww…,” Papyrus groaned. His voice was slightly muffled from his face planting directly into the dirt. “My … solar … plexus.…”

There was an incoming zooming noise as the horde of Chortlewockies came screeching after them. The brothers braced again when they suddenly heard the sound of the creatures' bodies splatting into the ravine wall one by one. They landed very close, but not a single feather, tooth, or claw touched them.

Pained and aggravated, the hideous beasts peeled themselves off the walls of the gorge and aggressively flew back down into the darkness to lick at their wounds.

For several moments, the brothers just dangled there, breathing heavily and silently recovering. Their Souls still pounded in their chests as the effects of adrenaline was still coursing through their bones. Finally, Sans let out a puff of air in a moment of total disbelief.

“B…. Bro!” he panted. “I think…. I think we just … survived the … most powerful t…. tickle monster … in the whole world!”

“Oh…,” Papyrus breathed out, still shaking the dirt from his face. “Ohh … f-frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!” His voice sounded slightly disoriented as he spoke the nonsense words.

“Uh Pap…?” Sans blinked up at him with a look of concern. “You don’t have a concussion, do you?”

Papyrus shook his head again. He looked down at Sans, reassuring him with a glance. “No…. I think I’m okay.” He sighed deeply. “I guess it just … felt like the thing to say?” he questioned himself.

“Hey! You boys alright?” They looked up to see Sky staring down at them from the edge.

“That depends!” Sans called back. “Is the door still there?!”

“It sure is!” Sky replied. “But it won’t stay forever! Get up here so we can get you home!”

Both skeletons let out a heavy sigh of relief. It was a strain on both of them to have to climb up the sticky web, but it didn’t matter. They made it to the door, they were going home!

[thebluntstudent]

FOUR ANXOUS THOUGHTS YOU MAY BE HAVING PRE-EXAM, AND WAYS TO RATIONALISE THEM ...

Also, a little commentary about panic attacks because I been there babs, in fact was there 30 mins ago~

°•☆•°

Tomorrow, I have an exam that I have been dreading for a long time. So naturally, today when I woke up a couple hours later than I was anticipating and opened up my notes to make the most of my last day of revising, I was hit with a flood of overwhelming anxiety and a panic attack followed suit.

I was struggling to move, I felt so overtaken by my thoughts- so I lay down, hugged myself, and did my best to calm down and rationalise my thoughts. This is how I got through it, and this is how I contended with a few of the emotionally-loaded thoughts that were driving my pre-exam panic:

Firstly, getting through it. If you are having a panic attack, don't try to push it down or ignore it- it sucks babs, but much like escaping a burning building by jumping through the fire, it's happening now and the only way past it is going through. So feel it. If you can talk to someone to support you through and ground you then do, and use whatever aids you to help calm the physical effects enough that you can start to fight that negative filter making you feel like the worlds biggest failure right now- you're not. You're a human, and if you didn't care about this exam you wouldn't be curled up in bed hyperventilating about it!

°•☆•°

Just physically calming yourself down doesn't help you fight the thoughts you're having that may be caused by or be the cause of your anxiety in the first place- so here are a few anxious thoughts I have had that you may also be experiencing and the rationalisation that helped me through them- in hopes that if you aren't doing okie dokie right now that maybe this will give you something to focus on and help you be the devil's advocate to your own anxiety too:

"I woke up later than I wanted to, I've lost important study time." So you slept through your alarm, or forgot to set one- fretting about lost time is only going to make you lose your mind and lose focus more, and the day before an exam you need as much rest as the night before. A few hours may feel like a lot of time, but you probably wouldn't have made the most of that in a groggy sleep-deprived state anyway. You're looking after yourself, you still have time, and that is okay.

"I have so much to get through, I'm never going to understand everything now." There is still plenty that you can do! I have been moderately unwell for 2 months and it has had a massive impact on my capacity to study consistently. There's a fair bit of content I know that I don't have enough time to understand at a first grade level- but I still have hours to lock down a little bit more confidence in preparation for the exam. Stop thinking 'I have to do ALL of this in the next 24 hours', start thinking 'what can I do to make myself feel a little more confident for tomorrow?'- as I mentioned in my last post, in just a 5-10 minute revision session you can go over a topic's worth of content via flashcards, and you literally have hours to go yet.

"I'm a bad student, I should have started prepping weeks ago/I should have done more." Hindsight is a bitch. Even if your reason for not studying before now is simply procrastination (which does not make you a bad student, it makes you a normal student- and also, a human being), mourning the time you've lost will not get you a top grade. You still have so much time to make yourself feel a little more prepared- you aren't a bad person, and you can still do something now even if you didn't a week ago! <3

"I don't even know where I'm supposed to start now, everything feels so overwhelming." take 20. Stop envisioning your subject as a whole (easier said than done, I know), and instead try to break it down into little segments of info you have to learn- you've already been taught the subject, so you don't have to learn the WHOLE thing in 24 hours. I like to write a list breaking down my module lecture by lecture, with three little check boxes next to it (though this depends on the subject you're doing): content, flashcards, practise. Cross off anything you've already done, pick one topic- one task you want to focus on and ignore everything except for that for however long you'll be working on it. It doesn't matter if you can't get through the whole list- every little section you do is another set of questions in the exam that you now have a better chance at answering. Isn't that a win?

This won't get rid of your anxiety like some magic solution, and it isn't always an easy task to dismiss your restless mind's accusations- but hopefully this is a little helpful for any fellow messy, anxious students out there who want the best but aren't in the best circumstances to get there <3 also, good luck!

[clumsiestgiantess]

Chapter 21 of The Other-world Universe; is promising to save an entire city of people from an apocalypse the smartest thing to do? No. Is it the right thing? Hopefully.

all chapters listed here

[Calm Before the Storm]

I woke up the next day with the immense relief that I had not rolled over in my sleep.  Yet when I yawned, I didn’t feel Erica's form shift on top of me.  My head shot upright in a mini panic attack as I searched for her, trying to make as little movement as possible.  I was a few seconds away from fully sitting up before I finally found her.  

Erica had — either intentionally or subconsciously in sleep — managed to slip her way into my bra, and was sleeping soundly in the center of my chest.  Bewilderment and relief flooded through me so suddenly, I nearly laughed aloud at the sight.  Heat already began seeping across my cheeks as I watched her snuggle against me.  I was slightly suspicious that this might have been her plan all along, but it was entirely possible that it was a mistake.  After all, she had no blanket, and her spot tucked between fabric and my skin had to be rather cozy.  I have to admit, I don't blame her for sleeping there.

For a while I lay in the field trying to get control over my furious blush, but soon I felt Erica stirring on my chest.  I quickly shut my eyes, pretending to have been asleep.  Obviously, I couldn't see her reaction, but I could feel her flinch slightly once she awoke.  There was a split second of confused crawling around before she gasped; the audible shock behind its sound convinced me that she had in fact not planned for this.

"Holy shit!" I heard her whisper faintly, "How the hell did I get here?"  I bit my lip, desperately trying to keep myself from smiling at her reaction.  Thankfully, I hid my bemusement quickly.  Erica slowly crawled out from the top of my bra, trying her best not to wake me.  As quickly as she dared, she clambered down my side to the ground below.  The echoes of her faint touch still danced across my skin long after she'd stepped away.

When I was certain she had moved further from me, I pretended to wake up.  Erica was sitting on my cast-off clothing when I opened my eyes, no doubt pretending that was where she'd slept.  "Good morning," I addressed her with another yawn, "Did you sleep well on my shirt?"  Even with the slight distance between us, I could see the massive amount of guilt written over every one of her features.  To hide this, Erica busied herself by looking for the top half of her own clothes, which had been tossed off into the darkness the night before.  "Uhh, yeah!  I enjoyed spending the night with you."  Even her voice sounded slightly off-pitch with embarrassment.

"Something wrong?" I asked her.  "No!  Nothing's wrong; I just.. I can't find my stuff."  "Mhm, sure."  My mocking tone gave everything away.  She turned to look up at me, eyes wide.  "You woke up before me, didn't you?" she accused, a bit shaken.  "I may have," I replied, sliding closer to her.  "I.. That was an accident, I swear.  I wouldn't have done that unless you were awake.  You know, in case you disagreed."  "Well.. I don’t think I am disagreeing with it."

For once, Erica became a blushing mess instead of myself.  She collected her things from the ground with flushed cheeks and an embarrassed smile, pressing them to her chest.  We had breakfast together, and Erica promised to come sleep with me at least once every week.  "To keep you company out here," she clarified, "Not because of, you know, anything that happened last night."  “Really?” I mocked a shocked expression, “That’s not the reason?”  Erica rolled her eyes, “Alright, that’s part of the reason.  It’s like.. a billion times more exhilarating making out with someone who’s building-sized.”

With a bemused chuckle, I finished my meal.  "Let's go see what everyone else is up to today, shall we?" I asked after we'd readied ourselves for the day.  "I'm supposed to be guarding the town, but lately I feel like I've just been slacking off."  "Alright," Erica agreed, "I'll go bother Ivan, then."  I smiled, shaking my head slightly.  Ivan is, to say the least, almost the opposite of Erica personality-wise.  I can easily imagine the havoc she undoubtedly thrusts upon him in the Cavern Town.  Usually, I was around to deal with her charisma myself, but I guess he'd been having to deal with it for the past few days that I’d been away.  

I held out my hand for Erica to climb on.  It was an unspoken rule that she would ride on my shoulder whenever we traveled together.  She stretched tiredly across its length before sitting up sideways, her back tucked against my neck.  With her settled in, I started off towards the town.  I couldn’t help but sneak a glance at her every so often.  Erica always seemed the most comfortable perched on my shoulder.  Half of me thinks it’s adorable, but my more reasonable half always reminds me of the times she nearly fell off.  Despite this, the former part of me always wins in the end, and I let her stay.

Reaching the valley of the Cavern Town, I checked in with the guards before anything else.  However, they were nowhere to be found.  Erica and I exchanged puzzled glances as I bent closer to one of the wooden structures.  Multiple large guns greeted me in response.

I flinched harshly, feeling Erica’s grip tighten on me as she was thrown backwards.  After a few tenuous seconds, someone recognized me.  “Get down!” a guard whisper-yelled at me, “There were giants spotted on the horizon to the west!”  My nerves spiked instantly and I dropped onto the valley floor.  If the scientists come back now, I might not be able to fight them off!  Sure, I have my new weapon, but I barely had time to practice with it yesterday.  I haven’t even put up a barrier around the town, either.  What if they attack it again?!

Worst-case-scenarios drifted through my head while I pressed myself to one of the mountains behind me.  They're here for the other-world people, not me.  I tried unsuccessfully to calm myself down, but I knew that wasn’t true.  In fact, they might've come back specifically because of me.  After all, I'd killed a few of them in my rage the last time we'd clashed.  

What if the scientists came to kill me?  I don't think I can fight any more than five of them at a time.  And I only managed to do that because I'd caught them off-guard.  What if they lock me away like everyone else — an oddity from a world that isn’t there?

Suddenly, I was startled from my thoughts by a whisper to my side.  "You're alright; it's ok,"  Erica comforted me, carefully laying a hand on my neck.  "The hazmat giants aren't here.  Just- Just calm down.. you're shaking."  I am?  I am.  I hadn't even realized that my shot nerves were vibrating my body with fear-induced adrenaline.  Try as I might, I couldn't get myself to stop.  My heartbeat pounded in my ears, and I was almost pulled into another downward spiral of worries.  Thankfully, Erica snapped me back out of it.  She tapped my shoulder lightly and I turned to see her.  With one small gesture, she slid into my awaiting palms.

I tried in vain to stop myself from shaking as I slowly brought her in front of me.  Despite that, Erica still wobbled in my cupped hands as she stood, reaching out to gently grip my face for balance.  Once she steadied herself, she stood directly in front of my vision.  "Focus on me, alright?"  My head was brought closer to herself.  "You'll be ok.  Just focus on me."  I listened raptly, trying to match my erratic breathing to her calmer breaths.  Her chest grazed my fingertips with every inhale as she leaned over them.  Erica’s concerned expression filled my view while she tried to take my focus off the possibly vengeful scientists.

Is this how Erica sees me? I wondered, watching her concerned expression inch ever-closer to my eyes.  Do I take up her vision like this when I get close?  It was strangely comforting now, but I could certainly see how overwhelming I would’ve been to her before we got to know one another.

I kept my gaze on her, though she only really fit into my view one eye at a time. Before long, a guard from the structure opposite us gave the all-clear.  I stood up with Erica grasped lightly in my clutches, gazing out at the horizon beyond the mountains around me.  “Where’d they go?” I wondered aloud.  “Must’ve been on the hunt for a different town,” Erica noted, “They know better than to mess with this one, thanks to you.”  I smiled down at her thankfully.  She met my gaze with such tenderness I nearly went in for a kiss before remembering where we were and deciding otherwise.

Together we made it the rest of the way to the cavern, where a small crowd had gathered outside.  I recognized Ivan immediately; he stood at the front, nervously shifting from foot to foot.  He flagged me down, but two vaguely familiar people stepped in the way before I could get to him.

Erica quietly explained from her spot in my hands that they were the co-founders of the Cavern Town: Isabel Ashford and Marcus Stoll.  She’d met them briefly when she’d been ‘kidnapped’ from the cliffside.  These were the same two people who’d negotiated the protection deal.  I knelt in front of them, letting Erica off shortly afterwards.  “Defender,” the kinder one, Ms. Ashford, addressed me as I settled cross-legged on the ground.  'Defender' is my nickname amongst some of the people living there; many of the guards called me by it.  

“The giants could have attacked us earlier, and you would not have been here to do your job.  The one thing we asked of you is that you protect our city as amends for destroying it.”  I nodded my head solemnly, “I’m sorry I wasn’t here to protect you.  I have no excuse.”  Silently, I shifted to feel the smooth crystalline structure embedded in my neck.  “However,” I continued, remembering why I’d wanted to return to the Cavern Town, “I might have a solution.  At least, I hope I do.”

With a slight flourish, I slid my gun out from behind me.  A murmur rose from the group of people gathered outside.  “I made and tested this yesterday.  Working properly, it’ll be able to create a protective barrier over your whole town.”  The shorter gruffer one, Mr. Stoll, was ready with multiple questions: How strong is the barrier?  What is it made of?  How deep does it go?  Would people be able to leave once it was put up?  Would they be able to breathe inside it?  Will I continue to stay in the valley after I've set it up?  All good questions; I answered every last concern until the two leaders reconvened and headed back towards the town to debate my idea.

A large number of Cavern Town residents stayed behind once they heard Erica tell me to demonstrate the barrier setting for her, including one of the founders, Mr. Stoll.  He broke away from the other founder and slunk along the edges of the crowd, watching me intently.  I pretended not to take notice, but I could feel him watching me.

After covering various pieces of land with green, glassy covers, I realized I’d yet to figure out how to take them down.  Oh no, please don’t make me recreate this thing again.  Ivan managed to slip through the crowd towards me as everyone gathered around to see the small barriers for themselves — walking through them and testing their strength with various objects nearby.  I watched them intently.  None of them were strong enough to cause much more than a strong ricochet, which worked out perfectly.  I didn’t need anything blowing up by mistake.

Erica surveyed everything from atop one of my knees while I sat in the midst of the crowd, trying my best not to get overwhelmed by the amount of small people surrounding me.  Once he’d made it to my side, Ivan called up to me, but I strained to hear his voice over the crowd and his distance from me.  Erica noticed my confusion.  “He asked if the barriers are really going to do anything, because it looks like they can’t!  Everyone’s just walking through them!” she yelled to me.  Ivan yelled at her and motioned for me to lower my hand to him, learning from Erica’s little gestures.

When my hand touched the ground, everyone around Ivan scattered as if I’d put down an explosive.  I tried not to dwell on the fact that everyone there seemed so frightened of me, or the fact that I had to pick people up just to understand them.  My height was quite the advantage in an apocalypse where ‘giants’ were invading, but it was such a hindrance for so many other things.  I want to help people.  If those same people are frightened of me, then are they really going to want my help?  A small sinking feeling arose in my chest.  These barriers better work…

With Ivan in my palm, I lifted him to my face.  “I didn't say any of that!” he told me, waving a hand at Erica.  “I asked if it was strong enough to keep giants out while still letting people through.”  Erica rolled her eyes behind his back.  “Hopefully,” I answered Ivan.  “there’s no way for anything besides your people and me to pass through one.  The scientists and whoever else tries to get in will be blocked, though I can’t exactly test it with the ‘giants’,” I confessed, “I did test it with a few different objects.  Nothing got through.”

“If they can’t get through it, won’t they try to dig beneath the barrier instead?”  I shook my head, “Even if they tried digging beneath it, the barrier will grow to cover anything they dig out.”  “Won’t it grow over the tunnels we make to get materials and things in and out, too?”  “Don’t worry, I thought of that.  The barrier will stay open around them so long as you make them before I put it up.  If you do it beforehand, the barrier will grow around the tunnels when it forms.  If you do it afterwards, like the scientists might try, it’ll sense that there’s a breach and grow to fill any gaps.”

Ivan seemed satisfied at that, and I let him off beside Erica. She gave him a teasing look and he said something to her. It was hard to tell sometimes whether those two were getting along or not, but Erica burst out laughing and Ivan grinned, so I guessed they were both fine. Before long, the crowd dispersed, leaving me, Erica, and Ivan behind along with a few stragglers.  I glanced around inconspicuously, trying to spot the founder who’d been watching me, but it seemed Mr. Stoll had disappeared along with most of the crowd.

By lunchtime, I was the only one left outside to patrol the mountains and practice with my new weapon — besides the other-worldians in the watchtowers, of course.  They came out in shifts, but there was always someone there occupying every lookout.  The others had left for the Cavern Town by then, hoping to find news about the debate and my idea. I toyed with my barriers, trying to seem like I knew what I was doing while the guards were watching.  Thankfully, I found that I had to hold my hand on top of a barrier and will it to stop existing if I wanted it to fall away.  The idea was somewhere in the back of my mind when I’d first created the crystalline bar. 

I’d just returned to the valley after eating lunch in my field when the founders returned.  Thankfully, they hadn’t arrived sooner, or they would’ve found me missing once again.  “We’ve come to a conclusion,” Ms. Ashford announced.  “You may place the barrier over the town, but only after we put hidden passages in place for our people.”  “Which means you stay nearby until they’re finished,” Mr. Stoll told me with a hint of distrust, “You will sleep right here in the valley, and return to your place in the field only after the barrier is up and functioning properly. Afterwards, I suppose we could cut back on your working hours so long as you make an appearance daily to scout for other giants.”  

The rules were fair enough.  I didn’t like the idea of sleeping in the slim space between the mountains, but it wouldn’t be for very long.  Erica had immediately complained once she heard about my sleeping in the valley.  However, I reminded her about her perfectly fine bed in the Cavern Town.  “At least you have an actual bed, and a house,” I said after she grumbled over the fact she couldn’t secretly sleep with me.  Erica mumbled a half-hearted apology before leaving for the town, yelling: “Steal a bed from your own world if you want one so badly!”  Before I could tell her that was a dumb idea, and the scientists would definitely be able to spot it, she’d vanished into the rocks.

With the plan underway and a full-time job taking up most of my time, the days blurred together quicker than I thought.  Erica would come visit me on the mountainside at least once or twice a day to keep me from getting too bored or too worried.  Ever since those scientists made their way along the horizon, I was anxious that they’d be back to take the town while it wasn’t protected by the barrier.  I trained with my weapon with every opportunity I got, which sometimes included late nights.  I didn’t sleep much anyways; the restricting space between the valley, and the potential to damage more of the mountainsides, kept me up.

Several weeks later, a few crude passages had been established.  They would be smoothed, tiled, and lit eventually, but they were solid enough in their current state to count as complete.  With crossed fingers, I pulled out my gun and shifted it into the fourth and final mode.  The whole town — which had really grown into a city — had to evacuate just in case something went wrong and the barrier somehow failed dangerously.

I was shocked at the amount of people that filed out of the gaping cavern in the side of the mountain.  I’d never seen the whole population in one place before.  Every day a scouting group would come back with various items and occasionally people in tow, but I hadn’t realized just how many other-worldians had settled there.  This has to work, I realized suddenly, Otherwise everyone here might not have a safe space to live anymore.  The scientists know all of this is here.  Why haven’t they come to take it yet?

With everyone finally out of the cavern, the founders gave the signal that it was completely empty.  With careful aim, I guided the barrel to the center of the hollow mountain and fired.  A firework-esque crackle resonated through the valley, making my hair stand on end.  Pieces of rock fell off the mountainside and exploded on the barrier’s face.  Small landslides tumbled dangerously close to the crowd, but I quickly swept them away with my free hand, blocking anything from falling too close.

It was a rather raucous creation, but once everything settled down, the barrier looked stunning.  Tension released from my taunt muscles as my plan fell into place, and I let out a breath I felt like I’d been holding for days.  Soon, everyone from the Cavern Town returned inside — marveling at their brand-new protection.  I could hear the faint noises of celebration coming from within; cheers and music drifted through the barrier and the tunnels. 

As my reward, I was allowed to collect my things and return to the field.  The valley looked a bit more barren than usual without me in it.  I don’t know why I was so melancholy leaving it; I hadn’t liked sleeping there at all. Longingly, I watched the festivities from afar.  “If only I could actually celebrate my accomplishments with them,” I whispered, “but I bet everyone will get uncomfortable if I get too close.” I rubbed the bar on my neck unconsciously.  If only this thing worked how I made it…

Dark clouds rolled in on a strong breeze that smelled of rain.  I put up a barrier around my blankets in anticipation for the storm to come, then lay down and curled up in my empty patch of grass alone, left daydreaming about what I would be doing if I were other-world size with Erica and Ivan out celebrating.

The next morning, I woke up extremely early.  Too early. A storm had started up while I slept, and I was startled awake by a sudden downpour.  The sound of the rain pelting the barrier was horrendous.  For the whole city inside the other barrier, the sound was probably dulled by how full the hemisphere was with rock and machinery and patched-together houses.  For me in my almost empty barrier, the hollowness amplified the noise until it was impossible to sleep or even think.

I angrily took down the barrier and almost went to grab an umbrella from my own world before lightning suddenly streaked across the sky.  Shit, that’s close!  I hit the dirt, realizing that I was definitely the tallest thing in the field.  An umbrella would only make things worse.  If I got struck, I would probably just end up back in the basement rather than dying — just like what had happened on my very first day.  However, the electrical surge from an actual bolt of lightning, no matter how small, might be enough to knock me out.  At the very least, it would be tremendously painful.

Again I found myself hating my stupid living arrangements.  I was wet, my blankets and pillow were soaked, and I could barely keep my eyes open due to my early wake-up call.  The storm stopped a few hours later, but by then I’d stayed up for so long and was so soaking wet that I was already wide awake and shaking slightly with the cold.  I internally rejoiced when the sun came out, warming me up and drying me off a bit.

The whole field was practically underwater — flooded by the rain — so I took my meal to go.  I must’ve looked like an absolute mess.  The moment Erica saw me, she gave me a look that was equally pitying and slightly amused.  “You might want to borrow a brush from your world,” she chuckled, “You look like you were hit by a train.”  “Or a thunderstorm,” I grumbled, “I’ll be back.”  In a moment, I was in my own world.  

Thankfully, everyone was preoccupied with other things at the time, so I was able to get a hairbrush and a fresh change of clothes without anyone noticing me.  I stayed a bit longer once I heard my family making plans in the living room.  Soon enough they would come over to my room to bring me up to speed on their ideas, so I avoided them by taking a shower.  Minutes later, my dad yelled through the bathroom door that he and the others were heading out.  He offered to wait for me, but I turned him down.  I had to get back to the other-world.

With everyone gone, and myself finally pampered and warmed up, I took a moment to stroll through the house, marveling at how everything was just perfectly scaled to me.  Back in the basement, I packed a few extra items for my settlement — including a hairbrush.  When I went to put my things away, however; I got an ingenious idea.  Grabbing my blanket and pillow, I brought them into my world.  “I’ve had just about enough of being uncomfortable,” I grumbled.  

Taking them both into the field of strange energy, I gave them each special abilities.  I imbued the pillow with the ability to make it feel like I was sleeping on a mattress while I used it, and I imbued the blanket with the ability to be the perfect temperature at all times.  “There,” I sighed, placing them down.  “I’ll check on you later.  First, I’ve got to get back to the town.”

Erica was waiting for me in the same spot she'd stood before, milling around aimlessly, waiting for me to come back.  She did a double take once I re-appeared, then nodded.  "Yup, that's much better."  I rolled my eyes with a smile and gently scooped Erica up.  Or, more accurately, I’d barely reached for her before she scrambled up into my hand.  “Where are we going?” she asked, peering over my cupped fingers in excitement.

“Now that I have some time off, I was thinking of exploring the rest of the mountains over here.  I’ll get a lay of the land, maybe find another town.”  “Another town?” Ivan echoed.  He’d just stepped out of one of the new tunnels and overhead me.  “I don’t think that’s a good idea..  You’ll just terrify a bunch of innocent people.”  

“But I could help them!  I could give everyone a barrier just like this one,” I explained, gesturing towards the Cavern Town, now sealed off by an indestructible opaque hemisphere.  “You should wait until we know the barrier actually works before you do that.”  My brows furrowed in concern, and I knelt to see Ivan’s expression.  “You don’t think it’ll work?” I asked, slightly offended.  I’d worked hard to create something that would protect everyone from the likes of the scientists.

“All I’m saying is that we have no proof that it does work,” he reasoned, “I’m fairly confident it will keep the giants out, and so are most people, or else we wouldn’t have let you put it up.  But no one knows that for sure because no one’s ever tried to break in. You said so yourself that you couldn’t fully test it.”  I nodded, seeing the logic behind Ivan’s argument.  I wanted to solve everything desperately — to keep awful things from happening and to prove I wasn’t a part of such awful things myself — but not so desperate that I was willing to give false hope to people just to relieve some of the stress.

However, Erica scoffed in my cupped hands.  “And?  What are you suggesting?  Do you want us to lure some giants over to test it?” She asked sarcastically.  “No!” Ivan yelled, exasperation growing in his voice.  “We should know for a fact that the barrier keeps giants out before we go promising it to others!  If they’re depending on it to keep them alive and it fails, you’re going to be responsible for their capture!”  Erica was ready to quip something snide in return, but I placed my hand over her — holding her in an interlocking cage of my own fingers.  Again, it was hard to tell if they were getting along or genuinely fighting.

“Erica, let it go.  He has a point; we can’t go around giving out barriers claiming they can stop the scientists when we don’t know if they actually do.”  I could hear her grumble in protest, but her voice was too muffled by my fingers to understand.  “I’ll just patrol around the valley today.  Want to come with us, Ivan?”

He shook his head, “I have plenty of things to do in town.”  I nodded, watching him leave.  Was that an excuse not to come, or does he genuinely have stuff to get done?  Erica yelled something and I quickly released her.  “What did you say?”  “I said forget about him.  If he wants to sit around in the rocks, let him.  He doesn’t know what he’s missing out on.”  With an annoyed huff, Erica gave a running leap out into the open air before landing on my chest, clinging to the fabric of my shirt.  She clambered up to one of my shoulders and sat atop it — perched a dizzying height above the ground for someone as tiny as her.  

“Alright I’m set, let’s go,” she said as nonchalantly as if she’d got into a car rather than jumped over a deadly long gap.  Speechless, I glanced over at her with wide eyes.  She snickered and leaned back slightly, grinning at me.  “Something wrong?” Erica asked in an innocent voice.  I shook my head at her reproachfully.  “You’re crazy.  I don’t know how you get the confidence to do half the things you do.”

Erica thought silently as I meandered around the outskirts of the valley.  “Well, I know you’ll always be there to stop anything bad from happening,” she answered with a nonchalant shrug.  Of course I’ll always take care of her, but she she should still be at least a little self-conscious, shouldn’t she? It’s not just her I have to worry about anymore; it’s the whole town. The daunting reality had dawned in my mind watching the crowds of people outside the mountain, but now it had really settled in.

“We've.. stopped," Erica stated in confusion.  I could feel her edge forward slightly, trying to gauge my pensive expression from the side.  "Alexis?  Are you alright?"  A long sigh escaped my lips and I put a hand to one of my temples to massage it.  A slight headache had tormented me for the past few days.  The storm the night before had only worsened it.

"Yeah.  I'm just.. tired, I guess."  I sat down heavily on a flatter part of the mountainside.  "You haven't been getting much sleep in the valley, have you?" Erica asked, realizing how exhausted I really was.  "Well, there's that.  But I've also been so stressed with the whole 'this barrier better work because if it doesn't you might be leaving a few thousand people defenseless' thing too,” I added.  Erica patted the side of my neck comfortingly, I turned to her and she brushed a stray lock of hair from my face.  

“I know, love.  People talk in that mountain, too.  They know they have to rely on you…  It’s a mixed reaction, really.  All those people — I can’t imagine the burden,” she said softly.  “Even-” she paused, shook her head, then started again.  “I’m here.  I’ll help in every way I can, I promise.  I hate that this is happening to you.. to us, but I’m with you.  Even if I’m not physically fighting beside you.  Even if I really want to be…” Erica gave me a little pleading look and I returned it with a half smile.  “If you’re scared or stressed or anything, pick me up anytime and let me help you.”

“Thank you,” I sighed. Smiling softly at her, I reached up and stroked her arm, then carefully rested the pad of my thumb against the side of her head.  A rare genuine smile passed Erica’s lips as she closed her eyes, leaning into my touch.  “I didn’t get a lot of sleep-” I paused to yawn, “last night too, so you aren’t entirely wrong about the no sleep thing either. Stupid thunderstorm kept me up.”  “Then what are you doing carrying me around?” Erica asked incredulously, “Go and get some sleep, you big dork!”  “But, it’s not even dark-”  “If you’re stressed and tired, you have no reason to be up right now!  Go to bed.  No excuses.”

Sighing, I lifted Erica off my shoulder to get a better look at her.  She knelt in my palms, looking meaningfully up at me, gesturing for me to bring her closer.  The moment I bridged the small gap between us, Erica pressed a small kiss onto my cheek.  “Go rest,” she said softly, “You deserve a break, Alexis.”  I gave in — nodding my agreement as I headed back to the right mountain to let Erica off.  Leaving her and everyone behind the safety of the barrier, I trudged off to my things that I’d returned to the field.

When I flopped over onto my blanket, it felt like heaven.  I’d forgotten that I gave little powers to my bedding.  I spread out completely, enjoying all the room I had out in the field.  The tight walls of the valley near the Cavern Town had previously restricted my sleeping space — it had been close to claustrophobic.  Now I had all the room I could want, as well as my new more comfortable sleeping arrangements.  Though there were still plenty more hours of daylight left, I was asleep in minutes.

[lucky-clover-gazette]

i think i really like the dark pictures anthology because they put. so much freaking effort into every aspect of these games.

yeah the mocap is a little janky, yeah there are glitches, but they're working with what they've got in terms of funding and technology. it's the WRITING, man, that blows me away. what a (super)massive undertaking that must be!! the script writer for until dawn said in an interview that he used microsoft excel to keep all the branching story beats straight, and it was only after the game's release that the studio developed their own program specifically to write this flavor of game. so so so cool, are you kidding me??

until dawn gets so much love and deserves it, but i want more people to talk about dark pictures too. these games are just so earnest about what they want to be, and the creative integrity shown by the studio is refreshing compared to the majority of media that's designed to appeal to the widest audience possible. each story is completely unashamed to emulate a specific horror subgenre, and you can just tell the devs had fun when coming up with the plot, mechanics, and visuals.

and on top of that, they put in the extra thought and effort necessary to give these stories genuinely meaningful themes; in little hope, dealing with self-forgiveness in the midst of grief, in house of ashes, an anti-war stance that a lot of studios wouldn't touch for commercial reasons, and in the devil in me, commentary on art of all things. they could have totally just done a simple saw trap route a la josh's maniac setup in until dawn, but instead they made the overarching story about the artistic process, especially relating to macabre subject matter like true crime. of course there are still plenty of ridiculous saw traps and genre-typical cliches, but there's MORE to it than that, and the game probably would have sold just as well if deeper themes hadn't been included. if they don't know supermassive, people are most likely playing the game for the saw trap stuff, but surprise! this game has a really cool story too! it has fantastic execution of branching storytelling, brilliant atmospheric tension, and a mystery with the curator than spans over multiple games! i could say similar things about each of the other entries, that they go far beyond their gimmicks and deserve your attention.

i see the dark pictures games and think to myself, "yeah, these are where supermassive's creative passion really lies." say what you want about the quarry, but it felt dryer, less inspired, more phoning-it-in storywise compared to until dawn and dpa. it's still a cool game, but compared to dpa i just don't think it was supermassive's favorite project to work on. i almost wonder if some of the artistic commentary in the devil in me is a projection of the development staff having to split their time between dpa and the quarry, given the fact that both games were 2022 releases.

i don't really have a point here, except that the dark pictures anthology is a very cool and innovative flavor of horror media and i love it to bits. i can't play it, because i'd have a panic attack, but i sure do wish more people talked about it. and i'm SUPER excited to see what supermassive does next with dpa in directive 8020!!

[rockshox-squared]

KNY X NARUTO AU???

MAIN PLOT: 

Basically, Kumo successfully kidnaps Hinata, she grows up there in the care of Kanae’s family(who basically see her as their own child). Kumo makes Hinata take on a new name, which is Kocho Shinobu (Hinata does not remember her name or last name well due to being 3 when she was kidnaped). Years pass, and both Kanae and Shinobu become missing nin when they leave Kumo, half because they don’t feel like being a shinobi is the right thing for them, and half other motivations. 

They both have a knack for kenjutsu(weapons based fighting) and end up catching wind of the demon slayer corps when they are funnily enough, in the land of fire. At this point Konoha knows that there is an unaccounted for Hyuuga running around the land of fire. Due to them thinking Hinata is dead they don’t realise that oh shit, that’s the missing Hyuua heir.

They end up joining the demon slayer corps when Kanae was 14 and when Shinobu was 13. Events in cannon follow after this (Kanae dying, finding Kanao and Aoi, etc etc). Years pass and Shinobu becomes a Hashira. Throughout the years, Shinobu gets flashbacks of living in the village hidden in the leaves in brief glimpses, including shinobi training and usage of the byakugan. Shinobu trains her byakugan, but chooses not to use it unless absolutely necessary. On the run up to Shinobu’s fight with Douma, Shinobu and the demon slayers that are there in cannon (+Tengen and Rengoku maybe still active/ alive hashira due to Mugen Train and entertainment district turning out differently or being slightly stronger?) team up with a group of shinobi(rest of Konoha 12 + their teachers) that have been sent from Konoha to get rid of Douma. After initial surprise because oh shit, that's the missing Hyuuga heir, they team up to fight against the upper moons (fire jutsu,  chakra conductive metals and maybe the rasengan and other jutsu’s like that come in clutch here).

After the battle,the KNY characters that die survive. Hinata Shinobu remembers a ton more memories. The demon slayers present agree to go and see what Konohagakure is like and maybe get questioned in T&I.

AU HEADCANONS:

Tengen Uzui is Jiraya’s grandson or great grandson from a one night stand when Jiraya was younger

The Rengoku are an offshoot of the Uzumaki clan that did not want to be known as shinobi

Uzushio had a close relationship with the demon slayer corps before they were annihilated

the Ubayashiki are distantly related to the Hyuuga

One of Sanemi and Genya’s parents was a Hatake(maybe Sakumo’s cousin???)

The Kamado were a reasonably wealthy merchant clan that used to be samurai before their downfall which was lack of offspring, illness and a demon attack. The Harunos knew of them and had trade deals with them

The Tsugikuni were a famous samurai clan once employed by the fire daimyo’s court

The Kages know of the demon slayer organisation and categorise them as a missing nin group, but they never put them in the bingo book due to the fact that it would cause widespread panic they’ve also had testimonials that the demon slayer corps are in fact legitimate due to shinobi getting caught up in demon hunter vs demon battles 

All missions where shinobi run into demon slayer vs demon battles are immediately changed to S Rank(top secret), and kept in a cabinet only the current Hokage can access

Shinobi have been turned into demons before, and depending on how powerful they are their blood demon art is normally nearly at a lower moon rank in sheer power. They have get killed as fast as possible to stop massive civilian casualties

if a person with a dojutsu (byakugan/sharingan/rinnegan etc) trains to use a breathing technique, their dojutsu eyes appear darker

[lordmartiya]

A More Discrete Calling Out, a Miraculous Ladybug fanfic

Summary: What if Ladybug had been calmer and more discrete in calling Lila out for her day 1 lies?

Hey, it's me again for @mlsecretsanta exchange, this year for @lajudit I'm basing Lila's characterization on her Volpina appearance, plus the idea she's just a teenager doing teenager things. I mean, who didn't do stupid things at 14? Now on with the story.

Lila was happy with her first day at the new school. She had made an impression on most of her class (though not the class representative. The poor girl was horribly sleep deprived, and there was nothing to gain from waking her up), got the class hottie’s attention to listen to her (and to top it off he was the only son of Gabriel Agreste. A possible in for a modeling career), set up a massive prank that would make her the talk of the school, and got a cute fox-themed necklace. She knew nothing could ruin her day now.

Then a hand grabbed her and pulled her in a side halley, and she was face to face with a hotirate Ladybug.

“Uh… Hi?” Lila said.

“Hi, best friend.” the superheroine said, her voice dripping with sarcasm (maybe she hadn’t appreciated the prank). Then she pulled out her yo-yo, that apparently doubled as a communicator, and showed her a video – the interview with Cesaire, straight from the Ladyblog. “Care to explain?”

“She published it without verifying?!” Lila whisper-screamed, looking in horror at the yo-yo.

“Wait, what?”

Lila started hyperventilating. This was bad, her castle of cards was going to collapse the wrong way, and she was going to need to lock herself in her house until she was twenty! Or go for that weird plan and turn her hair into a wig while fabricating some identity and use it to get a new life, and-

“Calm down and breath with me.” Ladybug said as she put Lila’s hand on her back.

And from there Ladybug helped Lila out of her panic attack. Because of course one of Paris’ Heroes would learn to help with panic attacks.

“So… What was supposed to happen?” Ladybug asked once Lila was calmer.

“Just… Just a big prank.” Lila admitted. “My mom’s a diplomat, so we move around the world all the time, and when I get to a new school I like to try and see what I can get my new classmates to believe, and with the new class full of big names and a girl that thinks I’m actually a friend of Prince Ali rather than friendy acquaintances I decided to go big, and the Alya Cesaire calling me out was supposed to be when I pulled the rag from under everyone! She was supposed to check with you before publishing, and then give me the chance to tell everyone to guess which of my tales were true!”

“Why did you think Alya would do that? Or even could?”

“Well, I thought the exclusive interview…”

“One of her friends had accidentally deleted a video for the Ladyblog, found me, and asked me for the interview to repay her. Alya had already saved a copy, but I did it anyway.”

Lila’s palm met her forehead at terminal velocity.

“Then why didn’t she hunt you down?” Lila asked. That was what she would have done, publishing such a video with the notoriety of the Ladyblog could be suicidal.

“Because when I’m involved she stops thinking things through, and rationalizes after the fact.” Ladybug replied, exhasperation (and fondness?) clear in her voice. “I mean, the whole Lady Wi-Fi incident happened because she thought Chloé Borgeouis was me in spite of seeing me saving her in my second outing, and right after she came up with the idea I had Lucky Charmed a fake Chloé to throw off investigators…”

That was surprisingly plausible, if one didn’t know Ladybug can’t conjure living stuff – something she actually had only explained in the exclusive interview. Lila wondered why the heroine was so sure Cesaire had come to that idea only after the Lady Wi-Fi incident. Better not ask, such a train of thought could potentially lead her to stumble on her secret identity and she didn’t want nor need both the knowledge and the danger of knowing.

Speaking of knowing...

“Were you into my school’s library earlier?” Lila asked, remembering the flashes of red she had spotted.

“NO! Why would I be there?! There was nothing for me to look for!” Ladybug denied. Badly.

“Well, my guess was that you have some kind of surveillance in place due the far too many Akumatizations and spotted a certain suspicious thing or were after me for the interview, but now…” Lila made a point to try and tease Ladybug if she ever had the chance again, her faces were adorablehilarious. But pleasure could wait, she had more pressing things to do. Like giving her a certain book. “Nevermind why you were there, you certainly spotted this.”

“Why do you have it?”

“There’s Chinese-style drawings of what look like Miraculous and their users, every page has enough nonsense in nyctography to make me think it’s a code based on Chinese writing, and one page had a drawing that looks weirdly like an ancestor of mine that family lore says wore that exact costume, was involved in weird stuff, and liked to play with illusions and tricks. There’s enough to make me think it has to do with Miraculous, meaning you would want it and I was in the right place to help. Also, I need to ask my grandmother about family lore.”

Ladybug blinked for a moment, processing how she just stumbled on someone who was apparently related to a past Miraculous user, then summoned a micro camera through her Lucky Charm.

“I’ll make copies of all pages, then you give the book back to Adrien before his father goes mad.” Ladybug explained.

“Wait, you decide what to conjure?” Lila asked.

“I can, but it’s usually better left to the magic. Also, no more lies about us being friends, that could turn out to be dangerous if Hawk Moth believes it.”

“But that one wasn’t a lie, it was a prophecy.” Lila replied, pointing out how their interaction had more or less made them friends after Ladybug saved her from a mess partly of her own making.

“Just… Just try and stay safe.”

________

Given the circumstances, Lila had abandoned the plan to impress Adrien. Sure, he was cute and well connected, but a boy she barely even knew wasn’t worth a friendship, even a tentative one. Though she had given him a scare by asking him where the book was before giving it back – seriously, that was an obviously antique book. And you keep antique books safe, no matter how much or how little someone was willing to pay (and if someone had paid three millions and two hundred thousand dollars for Action Comic #1, she didn’t even want to Imagine how much this book could be valued if the right people found out about it).

The next day at school she had been approached by Gabriel Agreste’s secretary (and almost certainly the actual bodyguard. The other guy was large and intimidating and moved quite gracefully for someone his size, but this woman looked like someone who had killed before), who informed her the scare was the only reason Adrien was simply grounded after school for a week and politely asked not to do anything like that again.

Then, after collecting herself from the second most terrifying encounter in her life, she went to class and fessed up on the attempted prank chain – better face some anger now rather than face a castle of cards that could collapse the wrong way and turn her into a pariah any moment. And of course Alya Cesaire was pissed.

“Alya, did you check with Ladybug before publishing that interview?” said the pigtailed and really cute class representative, one Marinette Dupain-Cheng, right as the Ladyblogger was about to start.

“Uuuuhhhh…” Cesaire replied, her rant stopped before it could start.

“It’s my fault. I thought she could contact Ladybug with ease, and did the wrong thing.” Lila admitted.

“If I could I’d have already asked her her real identity.”

“By how she reacted to the interview, and no, we’re not friends” or rather she wasn’t gonna admit it in public now that it was true “that would be the fastest way to piss her off.”

“But how can she get rewarded for her heroism?!”

Oh. Good intentions and utter ignorance of how countries dealt with that. There were international regulations about that, as nobody wanted to either enrage a superhero or force them to quit to make a living.

“Obviously through the special account she got from the City of Paris, with money coming from either the state police or the defense budget, as per United Nations regulations.” the blonde Chloé Borgeouis, class bully and daughter of the mayor of Paris and the Queen of Style, obnoxiously pointed out. And reigniting Cesaire’s anger by pointing out that fact in the worst possible way without being vulgar.

As Marinette moved in to prevent an argument, Lila decided she liked it there. Sure, it hadn’t gone as expected but her classmates were interesting in the right way. And who knew, maybe she’d get to stand out for more than her mother or her tales.

[crispy-bonnie]

HIIII BESTIE HI

SO LIKE I'VE GOT A REALLY ANGSTY REQUEST LOL BE PREPARED

- Okay okay so can I get uhmmmm

- Dallas, Sokol, Hoxton, Houston and Jacket for this?

- Okay so, Reader and heister are already dating and they match pretty well

- They've been assigned to do the diamond (garnet) heist together bc they can blend in as a couple

- But just before the heist they have a fight

- (It was over some misunderstanding idk)

- Heister says something kinda rude and readers rlly offended

- So they're like 'clearly you need time to cool off so I'll just go on my own'

- Heister's like 'Fine go on ur own >:/' bc the heist is stealth and it should be easy

- But what they don't know is that an unknown rival group already knew that they were going and ambush the place with reader inside

- Heister's waiting for reader to come back as they scroll through channels on the TV

- He sees the news and it shows that there was a massive attack on the building reader was heisting on

- He rushes to the building to see the building surrounded by police tape + cops, ambulances and so on

- He sneaks inside to see partygoers still in the place, all of them shaken up and evacuating

- He asks if they saw someone (reader)

- One of them just says 'I saw someone that looked like that. They were fighting the criminals.... now....' and they point over to a smashed window with some blood surrounding it

- Heister's heart sinks into his stomach as he walks over and looks down from the smashed window

- As he looks over the edge he just sees reader

- Or what's left of them

- Yeah.... they were pushed off

- Haha guilt time for Heister (😭😭😭😭)

- Uh sorry if this is too intense I've had this idea in my head for a WHILE

hahahahahAHAHAHAHAAAA YOU FOOL !! YOU’VE GIVEN ME TOO MUCH POWER AND NOW A L L WILL BOW TO THE POWER OF MY CREATIVITY AND KEYBOARD !! I WILL MAKE YOU SOB FOR YEARS TO COME EVERY TIME YOU THINK OF THIS-

ahem anyways ,, i love this prompt ajdbajs /gen

i’m not gonna specify who this rival gang is , but it’s definitely not the golden aces bc they wouldn’t kill a heister , only do a minor bit of trolling

!! TRIGGER/CONTENT WARNINGS !!

- Heavy angst - Suicide / Suicidal thoughts - Major character death - Derealization - Spoilers for PAYDAY 2's ending

!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED !!

Oyasumi — PAYDAY HEADCANONS

Dallas

So basically this mf is overworking himself as always

When you try to get him away from his desk for the heist he kinda just snaps at you

Even if you continue to try and pull him from his work, he just continues to push you away

So you end up leaving him to his work and go on the heist alone, in which he kinda just dismisses you

Later on, he ends up finishing his work, but he notices a headline on the news just as he’s about to close his computer

Dallas took a minute before it finally clicked

The Garnet group building was ambushed

And you were in there

First was panic, and he immediately got Bile to pick him up and drop him off at the roof of the building while under the disguise of law enforcement

Among the partygoers who were fleeing and screaming for their lives, he tried desperately to look for you, but he couldn’t seem to spot you

Eventually he managed to find an injured partygoer, whom he asked about your whereabouts

This partygoer said that you put up a big fight with the ambushers, but you ‘didn’t come out on top’

When Dallas asked tor clarification, the person pointed towards a shattered window. There didn’t seem to be much, but it was the minuscule blood splatters that struck fear

He wasted no time rushing over, peeking over the edge and praying that he wouldn’t see what he thought he would see

But alas, it was exactly what he thought

You were on the roof of an adjacent building attached to the Garnet tower, your blood spread across its surface in such a beautiful yet horrifying manner

His heart seemed to sink upon seeing this, and he wasn’t even paying attention to the fact that he was nearly about to fall off of the edge

It was only when the rest of the Payday gang arrived on the scene, to retrieve Dallas and finish off the heist at hand

Luckily, Dallas managed to get a breather when he was taken back to the safe house, but he still was in shock

Surely it was an elaborate prank, right? You’ll walk in all fine and give him a kiss on the cheek while telling him you were okay… right?

Well, his despair seemed to grow when the others came back, but you were nowhere to be seen

He ends up feeling so awful for pushing you away that he ends up slacking on his own work and avoids doing heists, ESPECIALLY heists that have to do with diamonds or gems

Sometimes he would wake up and expect to see you next to him, but he would end up remembering that you’re not there and he’d cry himself back to sleep

He’s no longer allowed to do any mission that involves heights, because the crew knows damn well that he might have a panic attack, or worse, jump off the ledge

Dallas never recovers from this state, and he ends up leaving the Payday gang as a result of it

He still keeps your belongings and does his best to preserve them as much as possible, leaving them untouched like memories locked in its place

He basically turns into a hikikomori, withdrawing from pretty much everything and becoming a fucking mess

Hoxton

So y’know how Hector ratted Hoxton out?

Well this takes place before they find out, and he’s still extremely pissed about the fact that someone fucked him over

He’d spent every bit of time trying to figure out who the hell it was, and even when he gets a break, he still always talks about it

You tried to pull him away from it by offering up a diamond heist, but he dismissed you

However, unlike Dallas, he lashed out at you the second time you tried to offer, saying that he was too busy to deal with the likes of you

You just huff and turn on your heel, saying that you’ll go on your own if “he was going to be such a whiny bitch about it”

Hoxton was about to yell at you again because of your insult, but you were already out the door

A few hours pass, and Dallas speaks up from his desk

“Uh- Hoxton? I think you might wanna look at this.”

Hoxton finally seems to be drawn away from his investigation, as Dallas’s concerned tone caught his attention

The second he saw the headline, Hoxton wasted no time getting his equipment ready so that he could not only see if you were okay, but kick the shit outta the ambushers in question

After pestering Bile for a minute or two, he finally found himself in the Garnet building, searching frantically for you

In his panic, he ends up bumping into a civilian and he desperately asks about your whereabouts

The civilian pointed towards the shattered window, and Hoxton rushed towards it so fast that he nearly tripped on himself just as he made it to the ledge

When he saw your corpse laying almost peacefully on the now blood-coated concrete, he nearly had a heart attack

He called your name several times, but there was no answer, nor was there any movement from you

Hoxton continued calling your name, desperately hoping that you would wake up

But as he was dragged away by the rest of the gang, who had just arrived on the scene, he finally realized that you were truly gone

Once that part clicked, he went into full on anger, literally fucking incinerating any cop that got in his way as him and the rest finished the heist

He continued to express this aggression, on anyone and anything he could. It reached to the point where Aldstone couldn’t even let him in the safe house because he was wrecking shit like there was no tomorrow

And it sure as hell felt like there was no tomorrow, at least not in his eyes

His life was over now that you were gone. All of the plans he had, thrown away like garbage

And there was no one else to blame but himself, yet he refused to believe it

He was in so much denial, that he even tried to blame you for your own death. Yet deep inside, he was beating himself up for not accompanying you

Perhaps if he had just listened to you, you’d still be waking up next to him, or holding his hand, or even just talking to him

He missed you. Every last part of you.

Looking at anything that even remotely reminded him of you filled him with sorrow and rage, so much to the point where he tries to destroy it

But he can’t destroy those memories, he held them too dear, but they hurt so much

There was only one way to get rid of them

And the price of it was his life

Houston

Houston absolutely hates it when a single mistake is made during a stealth heist

Knowing a lot of heists that have gone loud after a failed stealth, he decided to make a very elaborate plan for this heist in particular, as he wanted to make sure that it went perfectly

Unlike the rest of these, the two of you managed to make it to the heist without fighting

It was only during the heist when the two of you started to argue

You wanted to keep talking with the partygoers to keep them distracted while Houston went ahead to start the process of hacking the laptops for the vault's code

However, it went against his plan, making him frustrated

He didn't want to protest too much with you, so he just left you to do whatever

The rival gang eventually intruded, causing everything to go to shit just as he was hacking into one of the laptops

It was only when he heard the sound of screaming and glass shattering when he finally snapped out of his initial anger

Getting his weapons out, he went to go and look for you, calling your name, only to recieve nothing

Due to the small talk that had popped up beforehand, one of the civilians recognized the name, pointing towards the very broken window that had pulled him out of his angry daze in the first place

He peaked over the edge and his heart dropped

His plan, not even Houston himself, was prepared for the possibility of seeing your corpse splattered on concrete

Houston eventually fled, as he knew that if he stayed long, he wouldn't make it out alive

However, even so, he didn't even know if he wanted to make it out alive

All of his planning, all those hours thinking just to make sure that both you and him made it out safely

It all amounted to nothing

He was trying to rethink every step of the plan, every moment of that heist

Houston was trying to find some sort of loophole or way to predict and prevent the events from happening

He spent months doing this, but it was futile

Nothing could predict that rival gang's assault, nothing could predict your untimely fate

And nobody could predict the way he reacted after coming to terms with the truth

Sokol

You didn't have any ill intention when you said this

Sokol had asked how you would feel if he left the Payday gang to return to hockey, and you said you wouldn't mind

You said this because you didn't want him to be held back by the job if he doesn't enjoy doing it

However, he didn't interpret that part, resulting in him getting angry

After nearly punching you in the face, you retreat to go on the heist that you were assigned to, but you had to go alone instead of with Sokol like you intended

It took a while before Sokol cooled off, and just as he was about to go and join you, Sydney stopped him

He was confused as to why Sydney was so persistent on making sure that he didn't go, but he was just as persistent on heading to the Garnet Group building

Sokol seemed to panic when he saw SWATs storming the building and civilians rushing out

What happened?

Sokol rushed his way inside, careless about the law enforcement officers telling him not to.

He looked everywhere for you, hearing the distant noises of chaos from the roof above.

Sokol was about to call up Bain when he registered the broken window, blood staining the glass

He hurriedly made his way over, and his eyes couldn't believe the sight before him

He saw you, laying motionless on the concrete with blood spread across its surface

He wanted to break down then and there, tears streaming down and some even dripping down onto roof below that you were dead on

However, Sokol knew you would want him to stay strong, and so he did

He proceeded with the heist, alone, and he even managed to get rid of the rival gang who had your blood on their hands

Afterwards, Sokol returned to the Payday gang, and he proceeded with his jobs as per usual

Even after all of it came to an end, when he moved to Cyprus with friends and family, he couldn't help but think about you

He had you on his mind all the time, and just the thought of you was his whole reason of staying alive and pushing forward

Sokol never got over you, but he knew that if he were able to see your face, even if it was for one last time, he would see you smiling and telling him how proud you were of him

He wanted to create a life that he wished he could share with you, even though your own was cut short by the incident

The image of your bright smile is what got him up in the morning to try and make changes for the better, for both himself and the world

It was what you would've wanted

Jacket

So y'know how in Prison Nightmare, you can hear faint lines expressing the greatest fears of some of the heisters?

Well, one of those biggest fears for Jacket happens to be his tape recorder running out of batteries. No wonder he spends a fortune on them!

Whether it be because it would either force him to talk or render him unable to communicate, he's terrified of his tape recorder running out of batteries mid-heist. He always makes sure to have a fresh pair.

Today was a little different, but this difference was HUGE to Jacket

For some reason, he couldn't find his stash of spare batteries, and his tape recorder was starting to run low

He searched frantically, looking high and low for those batteries, but they never turned up. He couldn't even find any stray ones lying around

You were just about ready to go on the heist, but Jacket was nowhere near prepared

He didn't even pay attention to you when you called his name, or when you walked into his room to tell him that the two of you had to go

Jacket was so invested with finding his batteries, not responding to you. Not even in sign language.

You eventually left due to Twitch's nagging, as well as the fact that you were just fed up that Jacket couldn't at least put his search on hold for until the two of you got back

Eventually, Jacket found his battery stash [which was hidden by Sokol underneath one of the staircases], and he managed to relax

He thought he would be able to hop in on the heist to help you out, but when he arrived, he wasn't expecting to see SWAT units all over the place and a few civilians running out of the building

Thinking that he would be able to make it through even if caught by the authorities, he snuck his way in, his confusion growing upon seeing the mess of the building. What happened here?

Eventually, one of the civilians who was running away stopped by him, grabbing his arm as if to try to encourage him out.

"What are you doing!? C'mon! We gotta get outta here!"

When Jacket expressed confusion once more, the civilian went from worry to anger as they said:

"Fine! If you wanna end up like that bitch then go ahead! I'm outta here!"

When they said this, they gestured towards the broken window before making a sprint for the exit. Curious about what this civilian was talking about, Jacket made his way towards the shattered and somewhat bloodied window.

His heart seemed to drop upon seeing your corpse splattered against the roof of the shorter building below.

Despite having his tape recorder, it felt as if he couldn't communicate or even call out to you. He wanted to scream, hoping that you would hear, but everything was stuck in his throat as he tried to comprehend the image before his eyes.

Surely... this was a nightmare... right?

It was so unreal to him, he could barely even feel his palms sliding slowly off of the glass-sprinkled edge.

He wondered if this was all a bad dream and that when he woke up, you'd be next to him and sleeping peacefully.

Well,

He would be disappointed by the answer by the time his head hit the concrete next to you.

[moonlight-tmd]

Oh okay, cuz I have an au where instead of just Elita getting trapped on archa 7, all three of them get trapped there. Like during her fall, Optimus jumps down after her instead of getting Sentinel out of the cave, so all of them suffer during the explosion. Per usual, Elita uses her download on the spiders in her panic and turns into a techno-organic, which I guess somehow healed her enough to be able to move around despite being so close to the explosion. The boys end up critically injured tho and go into emergency stasis lock. Elita didn’t want her friends to die or be left alone on the hostile planet, so she started trying to repair them using what’s left of the decepticon ship and organic material from spiders.

(Oppy takes more after a web builder spider and Sentinel takes after tarantula)

When they finally reactivated as techno-organics, Sentinel was raging at Elita for his new body, while Optimus quietly accepted it, choosing to focus on finding fuel and a way out of the cave. When they get out, they find out the ship they used to get there had been retrieved by the autobots, meaning they had no way of getting off the planet. They figured that the only way to escape now was to create a distress bacon from what little materials they had left and hope someone would pick up on it. Of course, it would be many cycles before anyone would find them, and in that time, their energon supply ran dry. So, despite their disgust, they had to rely on hunting down and eating the local wildlife. It gave them the chance to learn how to best utilize their new bodies and abilities, as well as growing closer together.

Team Chaar ends up picking up on their signal and assumed that one of the desepticons survived the crash there, so they chose to investigate it. Strika sent in Cyclonus and Oilslick into the caves while the rest of them searched the surface. When they failed to report back, Strika and Spittor went in to find them while Blackout guarded the ship. They are ambushed by Taratech (Sentinel) and Blackaracnia injects her venom cocktail into them while they are distracted, knocking them out cold. When Strika comes to, she finds herself trapped in a massive web with the rest of her companions. She watches as another giant spider busies itself with spinning Blackout into a cocoon of silk until it notices she’s awake. They start talking and she learns that the spiders name is Venomex (Optimus) and he apologizes for the fact that they were going to take their ship and leave them here, and hoped that the decepticons would come and get her and her crew before the organic spiders find out the three “top predators” on the planet are missing and start reclaiming the cave. But Strika tells him that even if they got away, the decepticons would still track them down for attacking them, saying that they would be seen as aggressors to the empire. She offers that they instead join her and the decepticons, as they may be able to help them find what they are looking for.

Venomex ponders her offer before returning to his partners, telling them what she had told him. Taratech (Sentinel) was protested at first, bringing up autobot propaganda. But Blackaracnia brought up the point that the autobots wouldn’t welcome them if they returned to cybertron with their anti-organic views, and they’d be strained for resources if they have to dodge both autobots and decepticons while looking for a cure. Venomex also mentioned that they’d probably have access to better resources if they worked with a faction instead of going neutral. They came to an agreement and decided to let the ‘cons loose, starting with Strika so she can calm down her subordinates while BA delivered the anti-venom. They ended up having to carry Blackout back to the ship since he hadn’t woken up yet.

And that’s how the decepticons ended up with not one, but three techno-organic spiders in their midst. She’s still a scientist for them who jumps at any opportunity to fix her and her friends, and if she’s gotta do some shade stuff for the decepticons to make it happen, then so be it. (Because BA wasn’t abandoned in this version, she doesn’t become the sadistic version in canon and has partners to fall back on who know her pain and trust her, so she isn’t as isolated in that case). Venomex ends up taking a spot in spec ops as his stealth and combat skills make him a great candidate to handle delicate situations. He’s known among the decepticons for being as kind as he is dangerous (as well as being a huge history nerd). Lastly, Taratech found himself a place among the soldiers, he's a capable fighter and a tenacious hunter, and he stays focused on what he sets his mind to - even if it gives him tunnel vision. His main issue tho is that he has beef with basically every mech he comes across and has started enough cafeteria fights to get perma banned.

(I haven’t decided yet on whether I should make them a gestalt or not so that they combine into a even larger spider, but it ain’t important :p )

OH BOY A TEXT WALL, HERE I GO-

aaah so Blackarachnia but more. huh.

Well, that's interesting. Idk, possibly they could have an additional combiner mode to be one big-aft spider.

I wonder how the other part of the team would join in.

Bumblebee and Bulkhead, maybe after too many bad luck incidents they ended up in the lowest place and Longarm, who was their friend in boot camp, offered them a job, and since they had nothing more to lose they accepted.

Prowl, idk i think Yoketron was murdered? So i think he found the one who killed him and got revenge- after that he got arrested and sentenced for said revenge. The decepticons broke him out and he started a new life.

Ratchet, hmmm. He was very useful as a medic in the war but since "he is so old" he cannot possibly be a good medic anymore right? That's what the council thought when they forced him out of his one and only dream job. The cons heard of what wonders the old doc can do so they kind of kidnapped him and gave him a purpose again. He is working with Blackarachnia to get the cure for her and her companions.

And so, the Decepticon!Autobot team is formed. They somehow end up on an exploration mission, find the Allspark and end up on earth. The twist is that they don't want to hurt the organics (courtesy of Venomex) so they make allies with them and meet Sari and then the other Elite Guard comes to take the Allspark and they have to protect both that and the citizen cuz anti-organic propaganda of the Autobots. Then Blitz and Lug show up and they work together. Possible BlitzBee? Up to you.

Here you go, that's my opinion on that ask.

[stereo-slime4]

Okay, I've been scrolling through the Rise Angst I have saved on TikTok and all the "what if the Krang spike killed Raph?" kind of stuff, and had an idea.

(Not an actual fic thing, just sort of an in-depth headcanon ig?? Or like an imagine sort of thing? Idk)

Tw: Raph dies, Mikey dies, Donnie dies, probably pretty graphic descriptions of zombification

So, imagine Raph actually died from the spike thing, like it impaled all the way through his chest, blood and plastron shards all over, probably some falling on Leo too just for good measure y'know.

Then, he gets dragged back to the lair in Raph's Donnie Pod TM having a full-blown panic attack just like in the movie, but now he's covered in his brother's blood and has to tell everyone that Raph is dead.

Like, bro would be 10x more pissed at poor Casey, Casey's trying to come to terms with the fact that one of the turtles died probably years before he did in Casey's future(partially insinuating that Casey's involvement made this timeline worse), everyone else is freaking out over the fact that Raph died period, and now, instead of his impulsive manhunt being to find and save Raph, Leo's out for blood and vengeance any way he can get it.

He and the team go on to Metro Tower, get split up, Casey starts lecturing him, but instead of taking the character development and learning any sort of lesson from it, he starts yelling back, and the whole thing turns into a massive screaming match because they're both trying to blame the other for what's going on, but they also both can't help but blame themselves more than anything.

After a while, Donnie's transmission asking where the hell they are comes in and they agree to accept the Krang as a common enemy for now.

They all meet up in Metro Tower, and before they spot each other Donnie uses his tracker to try and find Leo

He ends up seeing that Raph is almost directly on top of them and immediately points this out to the group, saying something along the lines of "Hey Leo, I thought you said Raph died in the Foot base..." Leo would respond with a glare: "Yea, he did, why?" And Donnie goes "Then why does my tracker say he's here????"

They all start looking around in a panic until they see the giant cocoon thing dangling from the ceiling. It falls down and cracks open, revealing Raph's bloody corpse slowly morphing into a Krang Zombie.

Out of the 6 living people there (April, Splinter, Mikey, Donnie, Leo, and Casey Jr), at least 3 of them immediately start throwing up at the sight of Krangified Corpse Raph (looks basically the same as OG Krangified Raph except with a giant bleeding hole in his chest maybe with some organs showing and blood dripping from his mouth) and the scene continues as canon with Krang Raph taking the key and the rest of the gang running and dragging each other away.

The Technodrome comes through the portal, and this time, Leo's inspiring speech is more of a half- baked denial-fueled desperate attempt at convincing his remaining family (and himself) that there's still a chance for everything to be okay (especially since none of them have gotten any chance to process or grieve Raph's death whatsoever).

They come up with their plan, Mikey and Donnie do their thing trying to fly the Technodrome, and Leo ends up fighting Raph and it's just so absolutely horrifying for him because imagine watching your oldest brother literally die trying to save you, then watching that same brother's corpse essentially mutated into the thing that killed him, and then having to fight his mutated corpse. Adrenaline is the only thing keeping him from hyperventilating and passing out.

He spends most of the fight desperately trying not to get killed while sobbing and pleading with his brother who very much cannot hear him. Eventually (at some point after Mikey and Donnie get dragged out of the control room, where in canon Leo would be giving his whole apology speech), Raph attacks attacks Leo, who is on the floor backed into a wall, and Leo picks up his sword, screws his eyes shut, and swings as hard as he can. Raph's head falls into his lap, the rest of Raph's body falls off the platform, and the battle is technically won (though it really doesn't feel like it).

Krang Prime is incredibly smug about this development, and it looks like all hope is finally lost. Just then, Raph's ninpo projection shows up (bc they need to get their powers back somehow), shocking literally everyone (himself included). The other brothers are flooded with relief that Raph is alive (he's not. He's still dead, the ninpo projection is legit just his ghost, but they're all in denial so we'll let them have this), and they get their ninpo back through the power of family and love

They decide not to talk about Leo killing Raph's corpse right now because there are infinitely bigger fish to fry and they'll have plenty of time to talk about it after everything else (spoiler alert: they won't)

They do the whole midair fight with the Krang, Raph jumps Mikey and Donnie to the ground ("Don't worry! This is not a hug! It's a rescue!!") except this time when his projection breaks, there no real Raph inside it, so it's just a bunch of disintegrating red particles.

Leo goes through the portal, and Mikey and Donnie don't have enough energy to survive getting him back. Leo exits the portal so happy and relieved to see at least two of his brothers left, tackling them into a bear hug almost immediately, only to notice that they're cracking and flaking apart. He screams and cries and begs them not to leave but there's nothing he can do to save them now. They fall apart in his arms.

April, Splinter, and Casey Jr pick him up in a car that they definitely didn't steal, and Leo has to break the news that he's the only turtle left to save.

Splinter later tries to get Leo to learn meditation to talk to his brothers again, but he's so convinced that they'd hate him that he refuses to even try.

They all watch over him as ghosts, and he feels their presence, but Leo assumes that it's judgement, when they really just miss him and wish he would talk to them

[llycaons]

ep15 (part 1): compels me though

starting off, sect leader yao gets such a bad rap in fics because he'a annoying/a symbol of mindless agreement with the popular opinion, but it seems a bit mean to me. the dude got really badly hurt to protect his guys

oh, wwx. poor sweet naive wwx. it's wild to think he once had faith that the JIN clan would be on the side of justice here

honestly I find this a very stupid pretext to get jfm out of LP. there is no need for him to personally go in such tense times, and no need for jyl to go with him

GIRL DISCIPLES! OH BOY!

myu in this episode is so fascinating to me. I don't think it's a stretch to say she genuinely cares about jfm even though she treats him like garbage. those two things can, and often do co-exist. she expresses her affection sideways because...what, she's embarrassed? because she's as emotionally repressed as adult jc is? because jfm would refuse it? he doesn't look very happy hearing that she's packing him something to help him. he looks resentful, if anything. man, this family is screwy

look at her being concerned and protective over her daughter! she may be villainized in a lot of scenes but honestly most fics I've read don't capture the balance between 'shrieking, cruel, bitter harpy' and 'genuinely concerned mother and wife'. the area between those two extremes is massive and I don't know that many fan works bother to explore that space without just redeeming her and pretending like she never did anything wrong, or saying 'deep down she loved them all so it's okay'. it's like they worry if they show a scrap of care or humanity then they're excusing everything else she did. but I don't agree. she has nuance but that doesn't mean she's not a horrible mother, and in real life it's not like (most) abusive parents are screaming criticisms and attacking their kids 100% of the time anyway

the way everyone talks about LP in this episode hurts me. 'our Lotus Pier" from wwx "my home" from jc "my Lotus Pier" from myu. interesting 😭

oh dammit. I talked so much about how the wens would have attacked anyway and jc and myu were wrong to blame wwx only for it to be a personal grudge anyway. fuck. well wen chao's actions still aren't wwx's fault and even if they were he did enough to pay it back tenfold

...which is probably the facts that jc has to grapple with post-gc reveal. fuck

so mean to him

ppl like to talk about jc protecting ww from dogs (and he does, in the past) and a certain type of fan seems to think that because jc used to be like this, it means he still is, deep down. he is not. by the postres inn scene with fairy, he clearly is not

I've said that jc never changes, but that's a lie. he becomes so much worse. I grieve for this kid

oh huh. wwx being trapped at LP isn't ever anything that's rly talked about in fics bc LP signifies youth and innocence and happiness and freedom but here it is. wwx suspects he's being spied on by myu too, which 😬

jc's panic and anger vs. wwx's cool, clearheaded response and reminder. jc is really not suited to leadership I feel so bad for him

THIS SCENE FUCKS SEVERELY. it's everything ramped up to 100. it's one of my favorite sequences in the show, and absolutely one of the top three non-wx related scenes. maybe the very best for me. the arrogance of this woman is breathtaking and if you know a thing about myu you can see where it's going

YOU SAID THAT??? MISS FORMER MAID??? YOU HAVE THE GALL TO SAY THAT TO A CULTIVATOR OBSESSED WITH BLOODLINES???

glaring at wwx OKAY way to make every convo about beating him down

obviously this is a really hard scene to watch and I always have mixed feelings on it bc on the one hand. obviously really upsetting. on the other, myu is acting to appease a sect that will destroy their entire home if not satisfied. she is not harming him permanently, and MAY be pulling her punches so the damage isn't as bad as it looks (tho arguments like 'he can walk later!' don't rly pull weight for me bc wwx walks off horrific pain all the time)

I don't think this means she secretly cares about wwx further than as a tool to keep jc/the sect safe (she needs him functional, after all), or that it means she's a good person, but it's a strategic decision that wwx understands and accepts because of the political situation they're in.

logically myu obviously uses zidian on wwx in other cases, because he talks about it, bc it's talked about enough that lwj knows about it, and because she didn't need to close the doors (implying it's a commonplace sight that nobody would balk at) but we don't actually see any of her whipping as punishment onscreen

and yeah he's bleeding from his mouth already so it's not like it was nothing

just fucking shoot me I guess. jc doesn't even know what's going on here does he? the others had to hold him back at the beginning too

and myu thinks this is it! she doesn't want to disable her top disciple, who she entrusts with her son's life! she doesn't want the wens to have that kind of power over her people in her domain. but like. I think it's pretty clear she would have if pushed to it. like she was ready for it

FORESHADOWING. ugh because of all the trauma you get it?

^^^ again, whipping isn't an uncommon occurrence

wwx is so good at adapting to situations he's already planning on training with his left. and he could have done it. I'm sure he could have. jc is thinking this is the end, he's ready to start begging. when he loses his core, he's ready to give up. but wwx always thinks beyond whatever horrible, world-ending situation is going on now. it's why his suicide is so shocking and powerful. he's never been one to give up, even through seemingly insurmountable odds