#this funky little man is so delighted by a dog

[mouse-of-mischief]

Rereading some of the original stories to try and help my current writer's block, and I rediscover this little gem.

Sherlock Holmes saying, "doggy".

[qibsichan]

Sharing my Smaller Bodies Initiative playlists with you guys because ily and also I jam to them :)

Catnap

Listen in order for her story :) listen on shuffle for general cat pookie slay queen

This also includes hints to thinks that haven’t happened in the canon yet! The ending songs were very deliberately done :)))

Kitty’s overall vibe is “emotional baby bean who slowly turns evil”

Dogday

Doesn’t have to be in order :) for me it’s very day and very dog. It’s my boy in his pre-Destroyed era.

Doggy’s vibe is “just a wholesome guy who gets mistreated occasionally but is trying to live his best life”.

Miss Delight

She’s delightful.

I’ll see myself out 😇

As you can see from the title, this thing is a WIP and therefore is a little funky because to be honest I don’t think Miss Delight likes music…

Ollie

This phone is my absolute comfort character. You don’t understand how serotonin this stupid little high-pitched battery-spitting maniac gives me

I know he isn’t a super main character in the canon… but…

I am attached VIOLENTLY to this kid. Him. HIM. Little phone man

Ollie’s vibe is “I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing lol”

HOUR OF JOY

DEATH MUSIC DEATH MUSIC RAWAAAAAAAARRRRRRR

It’s for when I actually have to write the event so I can get sufficiently death-y.

Enjoy!!! :D

[k00286723]

Sketches of my primary research!!

had loads to work with thanks to my little vlogs! I want to show some things that I saw often and talk about them cos its cool!

firstly I saw so many birds! lots lot murmuration (groups moving in unison) they were more or less everywhere, regardless of where i was. its been one of those things that won't you see them you can't unsee them. birds everywhere now. I had a video of a crow flying on and off of a spar sign so I drew that frame by frame. really beautiful to see how every little piece moves when they take off, I had to rewatch all of these videos over and over while editing so they're slightly engrained in my brain but also it means I've been able to really look at them and the details of everyday things. birds were so interesting with this frame of mind. the way a robin bops around vs a crow is like a little stalker.

secondly I saw so much human movement. this example is from my friend getting stuck in an alleyway because of her umbrella. it was a really windy day when I took this so I got the nice detail of the flow scarf. I got a lot of videos like this one, my friends bodies being weird, like jumping or falling (had loads of them not all postable though unfortunately). Just made me look at things like walking, dancing and bouncing around, more than usual. its strange paying attention to the way people just move unconsciously because then I stated thinking about the way I move! that was not fun let me tell you.

thirdly so much transport. used a bus eireann bus for this example, a picture I took while also on a bus! bus-ception! I had loads of examples to choose from of cars, bikes, buses, trains etc. even when the area was quiet, when I was in limerick there would be cars everywhere , constantly going. its interesting since they move as w whole form but when you really look at them , its just the wheels. I've Never been mad into cars before (outside of fast and furious movies) so this is when I started noticing the aesthetic details. also accidentally made eye contact with lots of drivers and got some insight into the people in the cars. the moving people. where were they going? what kind of journey are they having? what are they listening to on the radio, if they even are !? I have lots of questions no answers.

fourth was animals. So lots and lots and lots of dogs during this collecting. so many dogs it was brilliant. I love dogs. loads of other animals too though ! it was easier to get videos of my animals though and those are cats and dogs. thinking about how all us animals are made of muscle and bone and ligaments but are all moving in such different ways ? the dog in this example is a dog who walks around near my friends house, we don't know his name but he follows her everywhere. he walks in little strides, kind of like a gentle old man. has a harness on but we've never seen him with a leash. wonder what his movements are like when my friends not there , where does he go when there's no one to follow around ?

fifth is hands, I loved looking at hands honestly. they're so funky and have so many small minute movements. peoples hands are constantly moving I've noticed, for everything. mental reasons like anxiety, glee, fear, anger , nerves all make people move their hands. but physical reasons do too like an itch, heat, cold, greeting, grabbing a door last minute, catching a friend drink as it falls. so many movements and im so delighted to have caught some on camera. there's something very wholesome about watching humans be humans and that has spring forward. seeing holding hands, dancing together , head pats and high fives etc. I remember from biology that the hand has so many bones it it , and so many points of connection even when just looking at the fingers. when using hands as a language , there's so much you can say

6th (ill combine them) man made moments of movement. like the flag and the tire swing. both were only so active because of the windy day it was when I filmed. the tire swing called out to me because it was such a cool little frozen moment in time , like a time capsule! got me thinking about the motion of swinging, of kids waiting for turns, of plaits and pigtails swishing in the wind while u swing around to unfathomable (to little you) heights. the flag being there , means it was erected, many hands moved it from place to place, all the materials came from somewhere. how many hands touched the pole ? how many since it's been put up? the fabric in the wind is gorgeous, the light material got picked up so easily by the wind . other examples of this

fifth plants. they were boogying around all the time, when movement happened near them, when weather conditions changed, in response to animals interacting with. grass in the wind was my example here , grass is so cool and lightweight and moveable I loved watching it bend directions. lots of trees got recorded as well, sometimes the whole thing billowing around , sometimes just a few twigs

[lemony-snickers]

🍋🍋🍋🍋

Hello! For the celebration may I have kakashi + expectation or elation + coffee shop au + fem reader please?

hey anon, sorry for the wait.  i went sort of half-in on both expectation and elation.  sorry about that.  hope you’re having a good day.  <3

Title:  Puppy Love  (AO3 Link Here) Summary:  Your favorite coffee shop is the Hound Dog Café.  Though you swear it’s because they do something special to their coffee to make it taste better, the real reason you like it so much probably has more to do with the handsome man behind the counter than the way they roast their beans.  (Elation: The quality or state of being filled with joy or pride. / Expectation:  A belief that something will happen or is likely to happen.) Word Count:  3,487 Warnings:  fem!reader, otherwise none, this be fluff. .

The smell of coffee beans is always such a comfort when you walk into the Hound Dog Café.  You’re not exactly sure what they do differently—if they do anything differently at all—but you’ll swear up and down to your friends that there is something unique about their coffee.  A special je ne sais qua that brings you back day after day even though their beverages are more expensive than pretty much every other spot in town.

You’ll deny, of course, that your repeat visits have anything to do with the handsome barista behind the counter, but it certainly doesn’t hurt that you get to steal plenty of glances at your favorite piece of eye candy when you post up at a table to relax or read for a few hours.  Especially odd, your friends think, considering you can only see half the man’s face.

Kakashi, as his nametag states, is a rather strange person.  His stooped posture and typically monotone voice make it clear he doesn’t exactly find the job the most exciting.  He always wears a paper mask over his nose and mouth, and there’s a long scar over his left eyelid that looks like it must have been quite painful when he received it.

You heard another customer ask about the mask once, cringing internally at the stranger’s invasion of the man’s privacy, only for Kakashi to shrug and say, “Would you rather I breathe all over your food?”

The customer in front of you was dumbfounded by the dry response and you covered the snort Kakashi’s answer induced in you with a strange hacking cough that drew both his and the customer’s attention while you waved one hand and assured them you’d just swallowed wrong.

Swallowed what, you weren’t really sure, since you hadn’t placed your order, yet, but they both looked away from you, at least.

You tipped Kakashi extra that day after he took your order for an oat milk latte and a blueberry scone for the much-needed amusement at the expense of your fellow caffeine addict. When you’re drink came, it was with a pretty little fern etched into the foam and you grinned in delight.  It was the first time Kakashi had ever shown off his latte art skills and when you looked up to catch his eye, he unexpectedly winked at you and your eyes flew wide as saucers.

Appearing not to notice your reaction, Kakashi just turned back to help the next customer and you scurried away to your table, careful to turn your back toward the counter so you wouldn’t meet his gaze for the duration of your visit.  You were sure if he winked at you again, you’d die right there in the café, and that seemed a wholly too embarrassing prospect to face.

Your lattes almost always come with some kind of art after that unless the café is particularly busy—ferns or flowers, mostly.  A heart on Valentine’s day.  The occasional funky spiral or lightning bolt.  You hate to admit it, but the little designs definitely make you feel special, so you purposefully ignore whether anyone else’s drink has them as you make your way through the café to your seat each day.

You like to let yourself believe he’s only creating them for you; it makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside, adding a little spark of joy to your otherwise mundane days.

One of the things you especially like about Hound Dog is that they donate five percent of all their profits to animal charities in your city, with a new one indicated each week by the flyer they place next to the tip jar.  One unassuming Wednesday while you’re waiting at the counter for Kakashi to finish making the drink he’s working on so he can take your order, you peer over to see which charity or shelter will be the beneficiary this week only to see a sign that makes your eyes light up.

“Do you like animals?”

The question startles you and you jump a little, looking up to find Kakashi staring at you over the edge of his mask, eyes half-lidded and dull as usual.  His entire demeanor typically screams boredom, and you often wonder why he chooses to work at the café rather than somewhere more exciting.

“I… uh, yeah!  I do!” you say, cringing internally at the unnecessary volume of your voice.  “Do… uh… do you?”

Kakashi just stares at you for a moment, then starts punching something into his register.  “The adoption event was my idea, so… yes,” he says, slowly.

It’s not until he looks up at you and gives you a closed-eye smile that you realize he’s already placed your order without asking.  You’re too struck by how cute he looks to really care, though, with both eyes creased into pleasant half-moons, the slightest hint of laughter lines appearing at their corners.

You take a slow breath, willing your heart to stop beating so fast, and try to hand him the money for your latte, ignoring the fact that the bills between your fingers are trembling ever-so-slightly in your grip.

But Kakashi waves you off. “On the house today,” he says, pointing to the sign advertising an upcoming adoption event at the café, “save your money in case you want to take home a new friend.”

You’re not really sure how to respond to that, so you dig out several smaller bills and stuff them into his tip jar before beating a hasty retreat to your table once your latte is ready.  There’s no fern this time.  No flower. Instead, you notice the rudimentary face of a dog staring up at you from the foam.

You’re too afraid to look back at the counter and thank Kakashi properly because you’re pretty sure you’d jump over the counter to declare your love for him if he so much as met your gaze.

That Friday, you head over to the Hound Dog Café after work to check out the adoption event.  You’re not really sure what to expect, but the sheer number of animals on the premises when you arrive is definitely a pleasant surprise.

You don’t know who might have helped Kakashi organize the event, but it certainly looks like a success already.  In addition to plenty of friendly-looking dogs and cats, there are also a few birds and lizards, all with plaques displaying their names and backstories, many of them sad enough to tug on your heartstrings with all their might.

In one corner of the café, there’s a musician playing acoustic music and you notice the menu above the counter has been altered to have animal puns listed for all the drinks, some of them more successful than others.

A cat-puccino, a cup of pup-fee, espuurrresso and mutt-cha.  You’re chuckling at some of the lamer attempts at humor when suddenly a voice directly next to your ear startles you.

“Could I interest you in a dog biscuit?”

You turn to find Kakashi standing behind you. His eyes look brighter than usual and he’s drawn a dog’s nose and mouth onto his usual paper mask with a marker, complete with a lolling tongue, which makes you smile despite yourself.

“Uh… I’m not sure I’m the target audience for dog biscuits,” you say, smiling.

Kakashi leans forward conspiratorially.  “Can I let you in on a secret?”

You nod, heart racing at his sudden proximity, which only gets worse when he leans close to whisper against your ear again.

“They’re actually blueberry scones.  Your favorite.”

You’re not sure if it’s how close he is, how intimate it seems to feel the warmth of his breath puffing over your ear through his mask, or the fact that he knows your favorite pastry, but you’re fairly certain you’re going to pass out before you can answer.

Thankfully, you’re saved when you feel something jump against your leg.  Looking down, you find the plaintive brown eyes of a pug, it’s spiral tail wagging madly as it peers up at you, front paws balanced against your naked shin below the hem of your sundress.

You crouch down to pet the friendly pup, smiling giddily as you do.

“Well, hello there. What’s your name?” you ask, looking for a name tag.

To your surprise, Kakashi answers from above you, “That’s Pakkun.”

You look up, still scratching behind Pakkun’s ears as the dog grumbles appreciatively.  “Is he yours?”

“I like to think we’re each other’s,” Kakashi says, and you melt a little more.

“He’s very sweet.”

Kakashi chuckles, crouching down beside you as Pakkun rolls onto his back so you can provide some much-needed belly rubs.

“Don’t let him fool you,” Kakashi says, “he can be a complete asshole when he wants to be.”

You swear Pakkun growls lowly in response to Kakashi’s assertion.

“But he generally has a good read on people.  I figured he’d like you.”

You turn to find Kakashi looking at you already, expression still mostly unreadable, but definitely softer than usual.

Eventually, you stand and Kakashi scoops Pakkun up in one arm as the two of you make your way toward the table selling baked goods, which has been set up to the side of the main coffee bar to allow more people to order at once.  You see the blueberry scones Kakashi mentioned—which are, in fact, labelled ‘dog biscuits’ above their actual description alongside some ‘cat treats’ that are really sugar cookies cut in the shape of paws—and draw out your wallet to purchase one.

“I’m surprised they don’t have you working today,” you say, taking a bite of your scone.

Kakashi and Pakkun tilt their heads at you in tandem and you almost choke on your food as you stifle a laugh.

“Why would I schedule myself to work on adoption day?” Kakashi asks, and you’re certain you detect a glint of mischief in his eyes as you do.

“Oh.  Do you do the scheduling usually?”

Kakashi is smiling in earnest, now, you can tell from the way the mask puckers on his cheeks and his eyes crease at the corners, even if they don’t close all the way.

“I own the café,” he says, “so I guess you could say that, yes.”

This time you do choke on your scone, and you sputter and cough, doing your best not to send crumbs flying out of your mouth so you can maintain what little dignity remains to you. Pakkun yips and then you feel something warm and wet against your cheek, only to realize Kakashi has stepped even closer to you and Pakkun is leaning over to lick your face as you recover yourself.

“S-sorry about that,” you say, “I guess I just wasn’t expecting that.  You seem so… young.”

It’s Kakashi’s turn to laugh, though he looks much less ridiculous doing it since he isn’t also choking on a baked good.

“You know, usually people see my hair and think I’m a lot older,” he says, pointing to the mess of silver locks atop his head.

You frown.  “But your eyes look young,” you say, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

Kakashi just hums, regarding you in a way you can’t quite parse out.  “The café was my dad’s.  When he died, I took it over.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” you say awkwardly, “about your dad.”

“Thanks.”

An awkward silence stretches between you both after that because neither of you know how to pivot the conversation.  The strange atmosphere is eventually broken by Pakkun’s whining when he sees a few dogs wrestling in one of the pens, clearly impatient to join them.  Kakashi obliges, setting the pug down so he can make some new friends and shoving his hands into his pockets as he looks on.

“Have you always been an animal lover?” you ask, finally, unwilling to simmer in painful silence any longer.

He nods.  “Yep.  I even went to school to become a veterinarian.”  He turns to you, one hand emerging from his pockets to point at his scarred lid.  “I got this during my first examination.  Damn cat nearly blinded me.”

Your eyes go wide at his explanation, and you lean up on your toes to get a closer look, only backing away when you realize you’re probably uncomfortably close.

“Is that why you’re a dog person?” you ask slyly.

This time, Kakashi tilts his head back and laughs—full-throated and loud, his whole body shaking with the movement.  It’s the first time you’ve ever seen him do anything more than chuckle softly and it’s exhilarating to see him so happy, even if it’s only for a moment.

“No,” he says eventually, still laughing a little, “but it certainly didn’t help the feline cause.”

You and Kakashi talk throughout the rest of the event, milling around with him while he answers questions and helps a few folks decide on which harness or leash to use for their new companions.  It’s nice, spending time with him not just as his customer, and you feel the crush you’ve been nursing for months growing stronger and more insistent with every moment.

By the time the event is set to close down, and the Hound Dog is mostly empty, you feel reluctance at the prospect of leaving.  While Kakashi discusses a few stray details with the animal shelter volunteers responsible for transporting the animals back, you take some time to survey the remaining adoptables and your heart aches at all the curious eyes staring back at you.

Of course, it’s impossible for a single event to find every animal a new home, but you still wish that weren’t the case.

As you’re scanning the remaining pets, you notice Pakkun curled up with a dog at least ten times his size, both snoring loudly.  You bend down to look at the name plaque.

Bull¸it reads, approximately 7-10 years old.  Came to the shelter when his previous owner passed away two years ago.  Sweet and loving, but occasionally stubborn.  Well-trained, but loves to cuddle on the sofa with his humans and will not be dissuaded from jumping on the furniture to be with you. Would make a great companion for someone with plenty of room in their house and their heart.

You look at the picture accompanying his story and notice how pleased he looks with himself in it, a large bone jutting out of one side of his mouth as his enormous tongue lolls out of the other.

You hadn’t really come here expecting to leave with a new pet.  But something about Bull draws you in.  One of the volunteers, a woman with a nametag that says Hana, notices and comes over to chat with you about him, letting you know he’s good on a leash unless he sees a squirrel, and he is crate trained if that’s your preference, though he’s never really shown any interest in chewing on furniture or being destructive in any way.

“He’s pretty food-motivated, so even though he’s stubborn, you can usually get him to listen with a well-timed treat.”  She chuckles, “Honestly, he’s just a big cuddle bug.  Sleeps most of the day, but does enjoy his long walks when we have the staff to take him.  He… doesn’t do great at the shelter because we don’t have a ton of space for him.”

“My yard isn’t that big,” you admit, “but there is a dog park a short walk away that allows large dogs.”

Hana smiles, showing off a set of particularly sharp canines you think is ironic for a woman who works with animals.  “Would you like to meet him?”

You smile and nod, stepping into the pen with Hana, who gently coaxes the large dog awake with a few well-placed head scratches.  He looks at you drowsily, shaking his head as he comes to, sending some drool flying at you.

Hana cringes.  “Sorry about that.”

But you just laugh, “Oh, it’s fine, I think it’s kind of cute, actually.”

You sit on the floor with Hana, carefully stroking Bull’s fur only to find it’s much softer than you expected.  The dog shifts, moving his giant head into your lap, and he huffs as he settles in, closing his eyes as you continue to pet him.

“He likes you already,” Hana says, grinning.

Pakkun, grunting as he’s awoken by Bull’s movements, curls up on your other side, pressed close against your thigh.  You whine, looking at Hana with a face that shows just how adorable you think it all is.

You know you’re a goner.

The two of you continue chatting, going over the adoption requirements.  You don’t have a veterinarian in mind, but she assures you as long as you contact them within two weeks to update the records it shouldn’t be a problem.  She will need to perform a house inspection to make sure you have enough room for Bull, since he’s a large dog and they want to be sure he’ll have the space he needs to be comfortable.

So the two of you set a time for her to come by the following day and she promises to bring Bull with her. If all goes well, you’ll be able to start snuggling with him on your couch tomorrow evening.

Reluctantly, you give Bull a final head pat, leaning down to kiss his wrinkled forehead as you promise to see him tomorrow. He huffs in return, pressing his nose against your palm as you stand.

When you shake Hana’s hand, she’s grinning again.  “I’m so glad you stuck around to meet him,” she says, “he’s really a special dog.”

“I think so, too,” you say, and suddenly your mind is reeling with all the things you’ll need to do before tomorrow.  Food, a bed, a leash, a collar, toys… you realize you should probably get a move on if you want to make it to the local pet store before it closes for the day.

“Find a new friend?”

Kakashi’s voice surprises you and you look up at him only for your breath to hitch in your throat.

Because he isn’t wearing the mask anymore and seeing the full extent of his warm smile is something wholly unexpected, though definitely not unwanted.

“I… oh!  Uh... err… you’re so handsome,” you say, only to smack yourself on the forehead when he laughs at your reaction.  You groan.  “Can we forget I said that?”

“No,” he says, “we definitely cannot.”

You smile despite yourself and look at him again, less distracted this time.  “I think I did find a new friend, yes.”  You turn to look back at Bull, who’s snoring softly again as the volunteers begin moving the smaller animals into their carriers first. “I’m actually gonna head out, I think, I want to get some supplies before Hana comes by for her inspection tomorrow.”

Something flickers across Kakashi’s eyes and for a moment you think he’s going to ask you to stay.  You realize with a little disappointment that’s a ridiculous notion, so you tug your hair behind your ear nervously and smile at him instead.

“Thanks for putting this event together, it was a lot of fun.”

“Thanks for coming,” he says, shifting awkwardly from one foot to the other.

“I’m sure I’ll see you soon. Have a good one!”

You turn, heading toward the door as you feel disappointment curl inside your chest.  It’s stupid, you know, to want to spend more time with him. You’re sure he’s busy.  After all, he has a business to run.

Just as you’re about to push the door of the Hound Dog open, you feel something push against your left calf. You turn to find Pakkun behind you, barking insistently and turning in manic circles.

You grin.  “Sorry, buddy, but I think you’ve gotta wait for Kakashi.”

“Actually,” Kakashi jogs his way over and scoops Pakkun up in his arms again, “I was just thinking I should head to the store myself to pick up some more of Pakkun’s favorite treats. Isn’t that right?” he says, turning to face Pakkun whose tail goes wild as he licks Kakashi’s face excitedly.

“Oh,” you say, feeling that bubbling hope return to your chest.  “Do you wanna… go together?”

He smiles that closed-eye smile again and you can’t help but notice how much nicer it is now that you can see his whole face.  “I’d love that.”

As the two of you step outside, chatting about the things you’ll need to get to prepare for Bull’s arrival the following day, you feel like you’re floating.  Because when Kakashi suggests the two of you exchange numbers so you can set up a playdate at the dog park, you can’t help but notice the way his cheeks turn obviously pink.

And you’re elated to realize you aren’t the only one who looks forward to your frequent visits to the Hound Dog.

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Funky

Debut: Pac-Mania

Happy Funky Friday! Did you know that this year is the fourth anniversary of the Pac-Man franchise? Wouldn’t it be great if it landed on a Friday? And not just a Friday, but a Funky Friday? And wouldn’t it be great if I was posting about a Pac-Man character named Funky on a Funky Friday that was also the 40th anniversary of Pac-Man?

Good news! The day of the 40th anniversary was May 22nd, which was indeed a Funky Friday! And why didn’t I make this post then? Because I didn’t realize until it was too late! So I’ll tell you about Funky now!

Now, everyone and their dog and their dog’s mom knows the good ol’ Ghost gang of Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde, and yes, they are criminally delightful (especially Clyde, just look at him!), but they’re far from the only ghosts in the Pac-Man World! For example, do you know Sue? Tim? Yum-Yum?

It wasn’t until Pac-Mania where any ghosts outside of the main four REALLY got their chance to shine. Not only is Sue here alongside Clyde, but there are two all-new ghosts with never-before-seen abilities, the Commons! I don’t know why they’re called that.

It’s Funky and Spunky! Despite the post beginning with Funky for obvious reasons, I appreciate both equally. What makes them unique? They can jump! You may be thinking, “that’s weird, but I don’t really care, they’ll just jump over Pac-Man, right?” But here’s the thing! Pac-Man can jump in this game, too! It’s one thing to lose a life by colliding with a ghost, but to jump over an approaching ghost and have it jump and hit you in midair... you’d do well to get familiar with Funky and Spunky, so let’s do that now!

See this green ghost here? This may be Funky. It also may not be. They never told us. This ghost appears in Pac-Man Vs, and is only ever referred to as “Green” by Mario. That’s right! Mario! The funny little jumping man we love so much! He’s the announcer in the GameCube version!

In Pac-Mania, Funky spends a lot of time around Sue, but NEVER stops pursuing Pac-Man, jumping whenever he does! However, he can’t jump QUITE as high, so with good timing, Pac can evade him. Many, many years later, he’s appeared in Pac-Man 256, traveling in groups of four. He doesn’t need Sue anymore, he’s his own best company!

Funky’s cousin, Spunky, is less aggressive, but can jump even higher! Still, she can be avoided with even BETTER timing. I’m sure someone good at Pac-Man can avoid both jumping ghosts. I am not good at it. I just like the silly characters.

After Mania, though, Spunky got sleepy. She appears in 256 as well as in The Sandbox Evolution, in both games sleeping until approached, at which point she’ll become aggressive! She was trying to sleep! Be quiet!

Spunky may not have official art, but here’s a quick edit I did of Funky’s art to at least give her SOMETHING. I think she deserves something.

[mattprivettwrites]

The best songs of the 1970s

“What started out as a joke has turned into a disaster!” - Stu Nahan, Rocky IV

So my employment has me in my car a lot, which means I’m listening to the radio a lot. If I’m not listening to a podcast or baseball game through my phone I also have SiriusXM, which of course has a plethora of musical options. I gravitate to the 70s and 80s channels because, well, of course I do.

Something else about me you may or may not know is that I love ranking things. I have a Note on my phone I’m regularly accessing that is nothing but different types of rankings. 

Thus, you can imagine my excitement when the 70s on 7 station announced a listener-voted Top 700 Songs of the 70s countdown over Labor Day weekend. It was a fun listen. They went through it twice over the four day weekend, and I was laboring much so I heard much.

It prompted me to think: What are my top seventy songs of the 70s? Surely I wasn’t going to come up with a top 700. After all, some in that list were real stinkers. But seventy? No problem. And indeed, it wasn’t hard to come up with that many songs. The hard part was narrowing it down. And once I did, there were still so many songs on my list I had enough for more lists, so I expanded it to 140, then 210, and... well...

I’m about to give you the authoritative list of the 350 best songs of the 1970s. I originally put out a Top 70 list on Facebook a few weeks ago. Much that of that list remains the same, with a few changes. But now there is much more. I’ve divided these into five “volumes” of seventy songs. They are my picks, but I welcome your feedback, because what’s a good set of rankings without debate and discussion.

Vol. 1 (1–70)

Chicago - “25 or 6 to 4”

Billy Joel - “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”

The Doobie Brothers - “What a Fool Believes”

Queen - “Bohemian Rhapsody”

Boston - “More Than a Feeling”

Elton John & Kiki Dee - “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”

Gerry Rafferty - “Baker Street”

ABBA - “Waterloo”

Don McLean - “American Pie”

The Eagles - “Take It to the Limit”

Fleetwood Mac - “The Chain”

Lynyrd Skynyrd - “Free Bird”

Billy Joel - “Until the Night”

Looking Glass - “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)”

Stevie Wonder - “Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours”

Elton John - “Philadelphia Freedom”

The Bee Gees - “Stayin’ Alive”

The Knack - “My Sharona”

Derek & The Dominos - “Layla”

Chicago - “Just You ’N’ Me”

The Emotions - “Best of My Love”

Jefferson Starship - “Miracles”

Aerosmith - “Dream On”

Joe Cocker - “You Are So Beautiful”

The Who - “Won’t Get Fooled Again”

Carly Simon - “You’re So Vain”

Electric Light Orchestra - “Livin’ Thing”

The Rolling Stones - “Beast of Burden”

Queen - “We Will Rock You / We Are the Champions”

Billy Joel - “My Life”

Journey - “Lights”

Toto - “Hold the Line”

Michael Jackson - “Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough”

Pilot - “Magic”

Bruce Springsteen - “Born to Run”

Led Zeppelin - “Stairway to Heaven”

Styx - “Babe”

Stevie Wonder - “Sir Duke”

Orleans - “Still the One”

Samantha Sang - “Emotion”

Foreigner - “Feels Like the First Time”

ABBA - “Dancing Queen”

The Four Seasons - “December, 1963 (Oh What a Night)”

Marvin Gaye - “Trouble Man”

The Spinners - “Rubberband Man”

Kansas - “Carry On Wayward Son”

The Jackson 5 - “I Want You Back”

Chicago - “If You Leave Me Now”

Bill Withers - “Ain’t No Sunshine”

Earth, Wind, & Fire - “Shining Star”

Olivia Newton-John & John Travolta - “You’re the One That I Want”

Yvonne Ellman - “If I Can’t Have You”

Fleetwood Mac - “Don’t Stop”

Billy Joel - “Just the Way You Are”

The Eagles - “I Can’t Tell You Why”

Free - “All Right Now”

Kenny Rogers - “The Gambler”

The Bee Gees - “Night Fever”

Player - “Baby Come Back”

The Ides of March - “Vehicle”

David Bowie - “Starman”

The Five Stairsteps - “O-O-H Child”

Carole King - “I Feel the Earth Move”

Elton John - “My Father’s Gun”

Jefferson Starship - “Jane”

Stevie Wonder - “Higher Ground”

Electric Light Orchestra - “Mr. Blue Sky”

Seals & Croft - “Summer Breeze”

The Temptations - “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone”

Chicago - “Old Days”

——

Vol. 2 (71–140)

The Who - “Baba O’Riley”

The Eagles - “Hotel California”

Billy Joel - “Prelude/Angry Young Man”

Aerosmith - “Walk This Way”

The Four Seasons - “Who Loves You”

Gerry Rafferty - “Right Down the Line”

Chicago - “Make Me Smile”

The Bee Gees - “Too Much Heaven”

Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band - “Old Time Rock and Roll”

Elton John - “Your Song”

Earth, Wind, & Fire - “September”

Queen - “Somebody to Love”

Paul McCartney & Wings - “Live and Let Die”

The Village People - “Y.M.C.A.”

James Taylor - “Fire and Rain”

Led Zeppelin - “Whole Lotta Love”

The Spinners - “Could It Be I’m Falling in Love”

Three Dog Night - “Joy to the World”

Jim Croce - “I Got a Name”

Billy Joel - “Stiletto”

The Jackson 5 - “ABC”

Styx - “Come Sail Away”

Dobie Gray - “Drift Away”

Ozark Mountain Daredevils - “Jackie Blue”

Stevie Wonder - “I Wish”

Credence Clearwater Revival - “Up Around the Bend”

The Hollies - “Long Cool Woman (In a Black Dress)”

Daryl Hall & John Oates - “Rich Girl”

Elton John - “Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)”

KISS - “Rock and Roll All Nite”

Fleetwood Mac - “Go Your Own Way”

Carl Douglas - “Kung Fu Fighting”

Steve Miller Band - “Jet Airliner”

Chicago - “Saturday in the Park”

Led Zeppelin - “Immigrant Song”

The Beatles - “Let It Be”

Three Dog Night - “An Old Fashioned Love Song”

Bad Company - “Can’t Get Enough”

Grand Funk Railroad - “We’re an American Band”

The Bee Gees - “More Than a Woman”

The Charlie Daniels Band - “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”

The Doobie Brothers - “Listen to the Music” 

Black Sabbath - “Iron Man”

Chic - “Good Times”

Billy Joel - “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)”

Harry Chapin - “Cat’s in the Cradle”

The Bay City Rollers - “Saturday Night”

Elton John - Bennie and the Jets”

K.C. & The Sunshine Band - “That’s the Way (I Like It)”

Lynyrd Skynyrd - “Sweet Home Alabama”

Carole King - “It’s Too Late”

The O’Jays - “Love Train”

Billy Joel - “Piano Man”

Foreigner - “Double Vision”

Chicago - “Feelin’ Stronger Every Day”

Peaches & Herb - “Reunited”

Deep Purple - “Smoke on the Water”

Wild Cherry - “Play That Funky Music”

Marvin Gaye - “I Want You”

Orleans - “Dance With Me”

Earth, Wind, & Fire - “After the Love Has Gone”

Van Halen - “Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love”

Paul McCartney & Wings - “My Love”

Little River Band - “Lonesome Loser”

Stevie Wonder - “Isn’t She Lovely?”

Steely Dan - “Reelin’ in the Years”

Cheap Trick - “Surrender”

The Sugarhill Gang - “Rapper’s Delight”

Maxine Nightingale - “Right Back Where We Started From”

The Who - “Who Are You”

——

Vol. 3 (141–210)

Gloria Gaynor - “I Will Survive”

Led Zeppelin - “Kashmir”

Chicago - “Baby, What a Big Surprise”

Sister Sledge - “We Are Family”

Jackson Browne - “Running on Empty”

Olivia Newton John - “Hopelessly Devoted to You”

Vicki Sue Robinson - “Turn the Beat Around”

Billy Joel - “Big Shot”

Starland Vocal Band - “Afternoon Delight”

Rupert Holmes - “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)”

Queen - “Don’t Stop Me Now”

Andrea True Connection - “More More More”

The Guess Who - “American Woman”

The Doobie Brothers - “Black Water”

Paul McCartney & Wings - “Band on the Run”

Stevie Wonder - “Superstition”

Elton John - “Someone Saved My Life Tonight”

James Taylor - “Your Smiling Face”

The Rolling Stones - “Miss You”

Chicago - “Beginnings”

Bachman-Turner Overdrive - “Let It Ride”

Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band - “We’ve Got Tonight”

Styx - “Lady”

Three Dog Night - “Mama Told Me (Not to Come)”

Journey - “Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’”

Foreigner - “Cold As Ice”

10cc - “I’m Not in Love”

Credence Clearwater Revival - “Have You Ever Seen the Rain”

K.C. & The Sunshine Band - “Get Down Tonight”

Billy Joel - “Summer Highland Falls”

The Delfonics - “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time)”

Electric Light Orchestra - “Don’t Bring Me Down”

The Bee Gees - “How Deep Is Your Love”

Ike & Tina Turner - “Proud Mary”

Elton John - “Levon”

The Doobie Brothers - “Long Train Runnin’”

Seals & Croft - “Diamond Girl”

Redbone - “Come and Get Your Love”

Kenny Loggins - “This Is It”

Manfred Mann’s Earth Band - “Blinded By the Light”

Roberta Flack - “Killing Me Softly With His Song”

Paul McCartney & Wings - “With a Little Luck”

The Bellamy Brothers - “Let Your Love Flow”

The Carpenters - “Superstar”

Blue Oyster Cult - “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper”

Stevie Wonder - “You Are the Sunshine of My Life”

Eddie Money - “Baby Hold On”

Ted Nugent - “Cat Scratch Fever”

The Eagles - “Best of My Love”

The Four Tops - “Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I’ve Got)”

Chicago - “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?

Chairmen of the Board - “Give Me Just a Little More Time”

The Cars - “Just What I Needed”

Queen - “You’re My Best Friend”

Thelma Houston - “Don’t Leave Me This Way”

Heart - “Barracuda”

Isaac Hayes - “Theme from Shaft”

Daryl Hall & John Oates - “She’s Gone”

Rod Stewart - “You’re in My Heart (The Final Acclaim)”

Billy Joel - “She’s Got a Way”

The Hues Corporation - “Rock the Boat”

Steve Miller Band - “Fly Like an Eagle”

Thin Lizzy - “Jailbreak”

Supertramp - “Give a Little Bit”

Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes - “If You Don’t Know Me By Now”

America - “Sister Golden Hair”

Pure Prairie League - “Amie”

The Temptations - “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)”

Prince - “I Wanna Be Your Lover”

Van Halen - “Eruption / You Really Got Me”

——

Vol. 4 (211–280)

Led Zeppelin - “When the Levee Breaks”

The Clash - “London Calling”

Chicago - “(I’ve Been) Searchin’ So Long”

KISS - “Detroit Rock City”

Bobby Womack - “Across 110th Street”

Bad Company - “Feel Like Makin’ Love”

Billy Joel - “I’ve Loved These Days”

Jim Croce - “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown”

Aerosmith - “Sweet Emotion”

Ace - “How Long”

James Taylor - “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)”

The Chi-Lites - “Oh Girl”

Frank Mills - “Music Box Dancer”

Amii Stewart - “Knock on Wood”

ABBA - “Take a Chance on Me”

Grand Funk Railroad - “Some Kind of Wonderful”

Elton John - “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds”

Fleetwood Mac - “Dreams”

The Sweet - “Fox on the Run”

Herb Alpert - “Rise”

The Eagles - “The Long Run”

K.C. & The Sunshine Band - “Boogie Shoes”

Marvin Gaye - “What’s Going On”

Todd Rundgren - “Hello, It’s Me”

Black Sabbath - “Paranoid”

Paul McCartney - “Maybe I’m Amazed”

The Rolling Stones - “It’s Only Rock and Roll (But I Like It)”

Boston - “Don’t Look Back”

Billy Joel - “Streetlife Serenader”

Journey - “Wheel in the Sky”

Poco - “Crazy Love”

Blondie - “Heart of Glass”

James Gang - “Funk #49”

Kansas - “Dust in the Wind”

Kenny Loggins & Stevie Nicks - “Whenever I Call You ‘Friend’”

Steely Dan - “Do It Again”

Natalie Cole “This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)”

Billy Preston - “Outa-Space”

Boz Skaggs - “Lido Shuffle”

Leo Sayer - “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing”

Alicia Bridges - “I Love the Nightlife (Disco ‘Round)”

10cc - “The Things We Do For Love”

America - “Ventura Highway”

Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - “Tears of a Clown”

Donna Summer - “Hot Stuff”

Edgar Winter Group - “Free Ride”

Chicago - “Wishing You Were Here”

The Jackson 5 - “The Love You Save”

Carly Simon - “Nobody Does It Better”

Parliament - “Flashlight”

T. Rex - “Bang a Gong (Get It On)”

Ohio Players - “Love Rollercoaster”

Chuck Mangione - “Feels So Good”

Jackson Browne - “Doctor My Eyes”

The Eagles - “Take It Easy”

The Ramones - “Blitzkrieg Bop”

Seals & Croft - “Get Closer”

Queen - “Killer Queen”

Carol Douglas - “Doctor’s Orders”

Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band - “Her Strut”

Billy Joel - “Vienna”

Average White Band - “Pick Up the Pieces”

James Taylor - “Handy Man”

Thin Lizzy - “The Boys Are Back in Town”

Walter Murphy - “A Fifth of Beethoven”

Three Dog Night - “Shambala”

The Three Degrees - “When Will I See You Again”

Jim Croce - “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim”

The Commodores - “Machine Gun”

Led Zeppelin - “The Song Remains the Same”

——

Vol. 5 (281–350)

Bachman-Turner Overdrive - “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet”

Billy Joel - “Miami 2017 (I’ve Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)”

Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band - “Still the Same”

Al Green - “Let’s Stay Together”

ABBA - “S.O.S.”

The Cars - “Let’s Go”

Ted Nugent - “Stranglehold”

Elton John - “Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going To Be A Long Long Time)”

Styx - “Renegade”

Eddie Rabbitt - “Every Which Way But Loose”

Alice Cooper - “No More Mr. Nice Guy”

Daryl Hall & John Oates - “Sara Smile”

Chicago - “Lowdown”

Love Unlimited Orchestra - “Love’s Theme”

Rod Stewart - “Maggie May”

Paul Simon - “Slip, Slidin’ Away”

Robert Palmer - “Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)”

MFSB - “The Sound of Philadelphia”

Ambrosia - “How Much I Feel”

Electric Light Orchestra - “Evil Woman”

Bruce Springsteen - “Thunder Road”

ZZ Top - “La Grange”

Gino Vannelli - “I Just Wanna Stop”

Gilbert O’Sullivan - “Alone Again (Naturally)”

Fleetwood Mac - “Say You Love Me”

The Doobie Brothers - “Rockin’ Down the Highway”

Golden Earring - “Radar Love”

Ram Jam - “Black Betty”

The Eagles - “One of These Nights”

Meco - “Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band”

Billy Joel - “Honesty”

The Bee Gees - “Tragedy”

Queen - “Stone Cold Crazy”

Chic - “Everybody Dance”

Bread - “Everything I Own”

Olivia Newton John - “A Little More Love”

The Trammps - “Disco Inferno”

Neil Sedaka - “Laughter in the Rain”

Marvin Gaye - “Got to Give It Up”

B.J. Thomas - “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head”

The Village People - “In the Navy”

King Harvest - “Dancing in the Moonlight”

Ohio Players - “Fire”

Nicolette Larson - “Lotta Love”

Main Ingredient - “Everybody Plays the Fool”

Barry White - “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe”

The Kinks - “Everybody’s A Star”

Michael Jackson - “Ben”

Elton John - “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”

Dionne Warwick & The Spinners - “Then Came You”

Nazareth - “Love Hurts”

Eric Carmen - “All By Myself”

Foreigner - “Hot Blooded”

Bobby Caldwell - “What You Won’t Do For Love”

Foghat - “Slow Ride”

Andy Kim - “Rock Me Gently”

Cheryl Lynn - “Got to Be Real”

Captain & Tennille - “Love Will Keep Us Together”

The Miracles - “Love Machine”

Blondie - “One Way or Another”

Elvin Bishop - “Fooled Around and Fell in Love”

Leo Sayer - “When I Need You”

Little River Band - “Reminiscing”

Hudson Brothers - “So You Are A Star”

Exile - “Kiss You All Over”

Mountain - “Mississippi Queen”

Heat Wave - “Groove Line”

Sugarloaf - “Don’t Call Us (We’ll Call You)”

Hot Butter - “Popcorn”

ABBA - “Mamma Mia”

[spacegaywritings]

Sweet, sweet Birthday Boy (A Happy Birthday fic for Casper)

General

Relationship: Remus X Casper (OC /Attachment)

Tags: QPR, QPP, tentacles, SFW, sweets, eating, candy, this is the epitome of a sugar sweet aesthetic, scavenger hunt, Remus is a sweetheart, he is just an excited puppy, light hint that the light sides are kinda uncool, (esp young Roman), talking candy, ellipses, This Story Contains Lactose, This Story Is not Diabetes- compatible, mentions and vague descriptions of candy gore, mentions of bunny and duck onesies, Breaking and Entering, nighttime, caps like once, they are threatened like twice,  jawbreaker nightmares, mentions of christmas treats, ethnic candies, killer popsicles, the Dragon Witch!, small bits of angst you will not notice, hurt comfort, kinda, tears, goo, acceptance, love.

Summary: It‘s Casper‘s birthday and Remus would be a rotten partner if he did not go all out of his way to turn the world upside down for his horrible love.

Note: Casper is “Attachment“. He is an OC and his birthday is Pink Shirt Day - an action to raise awareness of bullying, prevent it and stand up against it. For more info on Casper, refer to my other Casper stories such as “Cursing into Emancipation“.

Also, if you are triggered by certain candy brands, you are lucky, cuz I avoid mentioning any specific one!

My KoFi  - Support me ♥ or Commission me

Note: If you miss any tags, have issues with links or any other concerns, please feel free to contact me. Anon is on and my DMs are open.♥

Links broken? Inform me, please!

(Story under the cut: 13,7k)

***

 11.59pm.

 Remus crept over the floor. Darkness was flooding his vision. He was lucky to be Creativity, albeit the more or less forbidden one for Thomas. He fulfilled anything people would consider to be “cursed“ thoughts. He brought about nightmares, taboo topics and horrible or even dangerous ideas. He resided in the Imagination but sometimes, he liked to come out and mess around. Tonight, he was not up for messing around.

 The man had a mission!

 His tentacles and he slid over the floor of the light side territory.

 For a group call liked that, there was a whole lot of awful darkness down here! Not that he was complaining. It made things easier for him.

The dark side of creativity turned his head from one side, to the other, then back to where he had started. After a whole 360° of turning, he proceeded. Nobody was around.

 HA!

 Even logic was asleep. Virgil had not noticed a thing, or maybe had noticed, yet did not care for him and his shenanigans. It was just him, a harmless little octopus yeeting himself into someone‘s room through the slit between the door and the floor.

His body was flattened to be as thin as a shadow. Indeed, he was a shadow trying to get to all the other shadows in this room. Remus squeezed himself through the little slit and soon enough had his thicc butt on the other side of that door.

 He allowed his body to take proper, three-dimensional shape again. Instead of tentacle shadows, he returned to his full body. A proud butt, a rather regular body and toned limbs.

If he had a say, he would make Thomas work out less and eat gross things more! But that was another topic. He was here on a mission.

 The dark side peeked up to a little night light. It was shaped like a heart and just a s rosy. Remus smirked.

How cute!

His body crept over to the bed.

 Yes, he had let himself into a bedroom and it was just about time.

The clock ticked and his body rang like a bell! Vibrations shook him, running through his body. The dark side felt himself leap into the air like a cartoon character struck by lightning. He squeaked and with yet another leap, landed in the bed he had been busy approaching.

 A figure moved.

 Midnight! Midnight!

 Remus flung himself at the person.

 “Cas! Awful birthday to you!! I wish you all the slimy horrible things to happen!“

 The sleepy figure hummed softly, barely capable of verbally communicating. The night light was prominent enough to illuminate his smiling face. It took them a few more moments, Remus grinning patiently.

Then, Cas was awake enough to process what had been said to him. He threw his body at the other and engulfed him in a hug. He squeezed his partner and Remus squeaked in delight!

 Casper giggled.

 “Shhh!“

 He shunned the other and both giggled, stopped because they might have altered the others, then giggled again, this time quieter. Their eyes met, conspiracy giving them a wild gleam.

 “I have a plan for you! For us! It has been your birthday for seven minutes already!“

 Casper hummed softly. His body sacked against Remus‘ chest. Casper was a bit smaller and meeker than Thomas. Every side was a bit different in terms of body and personality. The pink side was about as pink and sweet as he seemed like a rather childish kid.

Remus brushed through his chestnut hair and patted his head ever so softly. It was soft like a breeze, fluttering like a kiss to Remus‘ heart. The weight of a grown man was in Remus‘ lap and he felt it more and more as Casper dozed off into his warm, sweet sleep.

 “Caaaaaas~“

 He grinned softly.

The body in his lap twitched. The dark side brushed over his  back. Attachment responded with yet another hum. This time, it seemed less warm and lethargic.

 “Huh?“

 Casper‘s body jumped back into place, upright and awake at once. The green side giggled and gathered him back into his  arms. He heaved him up and kissed him onto the top of his head.

 “I made you breakfast!“

 Casper curled up in Remus‘ arms as he teleported them into the Imagination. Of course he could have teleported into his room, but where would the fun have been? So, he promptly changed their location from a pink room to a pink world.

Remus had modelled his part of the Imagination to look like a candy wonderland. There were huge candy canes, striped with glittery rainbow colours. They stood, framing paths like trees. Sugar crusts with cute faces were hanging from them like baby mobiles.

 Casper blinked himself awake. His body was lethargic, still heavy with sleep. He turned his head to look around. Surrounded by cotton candy clouds and dog-sized gummibears, the pink side found himself right in front of a row of tables standing close together to form a heightened path of space. It was decorated with funny strings all over and even a table cloth which was made of edible “paper“. Sprinkles and heaps of whipped cream adorned the table at every seat. The seats were made of chocolate wavers and had icing to glue it together and decorate it.

 Attachment perked up at the sight and hopped into one of the seats. His arms reached out to drag Remus down with him. They shared their stead and Remus eventually broke off a part of the wavers and reattached it with a bit more space for the two. A bit of whipped cream was whisked off the table to serve as glue.

Remus huffed, satisfied with the space he had now established.

 “We shall feast, birthday man!“

 Casper giggled.

A little bit of sleep was still veiling his eyes.

 He looked at the table of sweets. A huge grin spread over his face and he turned back to face Remus. Was that for real? This seemed like a dream! Also, the Imagination usually looked like a huge mess, all  colourful and straining for the eyes and full of bad smells and things but-

... Casper blinked.

Oh! It smelled like pancakes in the morning!! And chocolate syrup to balance out the chocolate-mint chips. His stomach habitually bubbled at the temptation of a scent.

 Did that mean he would get pancakes? Any of them were great, but personally, he really liked them with sprinkles inside and sugar on top (optionally! - it depended on the amount of sprinkles inside of the pancakes.

Remus turned to exchange a knowing look with the other and Casper felt himself become somewhat warm inside and all fuzzy.

 “We can get pancakes“, he whispered in realisation.

 Wow.

 Remus simply nodded back at him. The birthday boy perked up.

Before he could try and materialise his own pancakes like the other had shown him once, he realised something else. It was a realisation worth noting!

Looking at the other, he realised that Remus was not in his usual attire of fancy clothes and funky accessories. Instead, Creativity was dressed in a fuzzy suit of furriness. An eye-strain of colours met Casper. It made him wonder how he had not noticed it before. Remus was wearing a bunny suit, but it was something that Casper would call „“candy gore“ in appearance. It was about the only kind of gore things he could handle.

 Remus must have worn it just for him and his birthday. After all, scary things were not okay to him. He still slept with a night light in order to keep the mean things away. Especially because the light sides were not okay with the two having regular sleepovers.

They did not know the two were somewhat dating, either.

 A breeze to the face distracted him from his thoughts. He blinked, reality slowly fading back into his awareness.

Remus was blowing air to his face and making weird movements with his hands. Was he trying to fan Casper some air? He was okay!

 Before he could ask, Creativity already cheered.

 “Finally! It has taken me ages to blow your dummy thoughts away!“

 Casper giggled, his love soon joining in.

He was blessed with the best of the best! No matter what the others were thinking about them! They were as they were, but they were happy.

 “Thanks, Ree!! Now, back to the pancakes? I want the cute ones with sprinkles inside, the colourful chocolate ones! And AND AND!“

Casper hopped in Remus‘ lap.

“Can they be shaped like cute animal faces? Pleaaaaase?“

 His pink eyes seemed wide like a doe‘s. The irises were hearts that seemed to grow and throb as he looked at the other in anticipation. Remus could get lost in them, but he was pre-occupied. He had planned a birthday for his boy and he would give a birthday to his boy!

 “You can have anything! You know I would give you my heart!“

 Casper squeaked.

That was a literal statement. Remus had offered him his bloody organ more than once and while his reactions to it had dulled down to an awkward giggle, Attachment still did not enjoy the action.

 “No hearts!! I am happy with a funky bunny in my arms!“

 He squished his body closer to the other as if to demonstrate how close they were. Remus chuckled softly and pushed himself against the other too, their bodies snug.

 “Pancakes, then~ I will give you little kitty cats, my ducky~“

 Casper blinked at the nickname.

Thomas had resorted to calling Remus “Dukey“ but what was “ducky“ all about? Remus summoned a plate made of oblaten wafers. Soon enough, pancakes started falling onto them. One by one, Remus caught them. His hand moved around, nowhere yet in all places at the same time as he brandished the plate around like an acrobat.

Casper clapped his hands together, giggling.

 “Yay!! You are doing it, Ree!“

 He grinned at his best friend and platonic partner. The mustache grinned back.

Remus summoned himself a plate as he retreated his arm with the plate to his chest where Casper leaned against. The duck-onesie-clad man was curled up and hugged the thin plate to his chest at once.

Dogs and cats had their faces marked into the colourful sprinkle pancakes he had in front of him.

 “For you, Cas!~“

 What was better than this?

Casper could not imagine anything better. However, knowing Remus, there was much to come for sure! So, he took what he had and dug into the food. He had no cutlery but those were pancakes and they were just perfect~

 Warmth spread in his mouth. The soft, dough-y texture of pancake flopped onto his tongue and he started to chew. The sprinkles were partly molten but his teeth still made some parts of them crack and crush under their power.

 “..wow.“

 Chocolate, sugar and wonderful dough melted in his mouth, combining to an amazing taste of a breakfast way too sweet to be consumed by any ordinary person.

But none of them was ordinary. Also, Casper could swear that the cat faces made cute kitty purr sounds in his mind when he ate them. The dog ones were making dog sounds, like yawning and stretching and panting.

 It was amazing.

 He never would have thought about any of these things. Attachment had never known just how much he had needed these things and wanted them before he had gotten them. They were not necessary for his regular life but they did make it much better!

 Remus seemed to be done with his plate, already devouring the kitchenware. Considering it was made of sweets, Casper bit into his, too.

Crystals of sweetness broke inside of his mouth, slowly melting on his tongue, or cracking and exploding between his teeth.

 He had never had anything as tasty as this. Not even Patton‘s home-made cookies were as good!

 They ate for a while and eventually, Casper called it a meal. He was not sick of the sugar, nor sick from it. The pink side was energised and sufficiently filled.

Remus snuggled him from behind and brought his tickling fingers to his sides.

 “Ah, Ree, nO- AHH!“

 Attachment squealed in delight. Giggles made the air vibrate. Remus‘ mustache was twitching in cheerfulness. The screams of pure delight and ecstasy were enough to replace his need for agony and blood.

Plus, Casper was one of these people to squirm when tickled. A pure gift to Dark Creativity.

 “Reeeee~“, Casper whined.

 He was breathless and mindless. Giggles had overridden his thinking, his common sense. All he could think of was pushing Remus away to stop the tickles.

Or..

A devious grin spread over his mental mouth. He was perpetually grinning and chuckling at the moment. His body wormed around like an excited dog, trying to get away from the tingles spreading from Remus‘ chaos hands.

 He took a huge breath.

Remus was taking a break. One glance at his eyes suggested he was only waiting for Casper to catch his breath. The pink side was unaware of the little glitter tears in his eyes, the wetness from being tickled throughout.

While the dark side bathed in the triumph of their one-sided tickle fight, Casper angled his body and got into position. Remus was grinning at him with that huge mustache all over his face. Sugar crystals adorned the corners of his lips. A few crumbs of cookies resided on his cheeks, still.

 Casper charged at him.

His (baby) duck-onesie-clad body made him fluffy. He appeared to be even smaller and cuter than usual. To be fair, he was objectively the most adorable side in the Thomasphere but that was not the topic in this context.

The topic was this pink boy of sugar slamming his body against Remus‘, effectively pinning the long boy down. It certainly was a sight to behold. A duck was hovering over a neon-gore bunny accident, driving hands up and down the messed up fur.

 “I got you !! HA!“

 Casper asserted in triumph.

Remus was squirming and writhing underneath him. Despite his wild movements, he was chuckling like a madman.

 “YOu!“

 He nearly snapped but laughs and breathlessness cut him down to mere chuckles and incoherent sounds. Casper grinned at him from above, finally in the position to give back what he had gone through beforehand.

 “You!“, Casper mimicked sassily.

 Fingers flew.

Hands sought out the best spots, ears accounted for which reaction was greater than the other. All the while, mouths were only moved to complain or giggle - rarely to suck in the sweet, sweet relief of oxygen, which the nose could not provide enough for.

 They ended up entangled, limbs going anywhere as they had flopped over again and again like a pan-fried cheese sandwich.

The sound of heavy pants filled the air. Both pushed at each other‘s chest to successfully de-tangle the mess of their intertwined bodies. Remus rolled down onto his back, right next to Casper.

 Casper‘s lungs were burning. His eyes fluttered shut.

He was tired, technically. He had not slept the whole night. His mind knew he was supposed to be tired, to be asleep. The amount of adrenaline and dopamine running through his body were not on par with getting back on track with his sleep-wake cycle. His serotonin wanted to complain but there was nothing to do about it now.

The pink side was numb to complains. He only heard the rhythmic pants of himself and his love. He turned to watch Remus. His chest fell and rose fast but the creative side restrained his lungs to fall back into a more slow and natural dynamic.

 Warmth bloomed inside of his chest. Little flowers of hearts seemed to grow and spread inside of him. Looking at Ree bore no more but good feelings to him.

It was illegal to think bad of him, to see him as mean or harmful when he had been the only one to be open, honest and caring with the other. To Casper, Remus was the farthest away from being an unreflected hypocrite of all the sides in Thomas.

 His face grew warm. Casper‘s, not Remus‘! The little heart-shaped freckles of his cheeks were starting to sparkle with colour. Whenever the pink side got excited or really emotional, the freckles would become bright and show off their amicable shape.

 “One more thing!“

 Remus rolled his body up into a squatting position, then jumped to his feet. How was that dude so fit? They were both part of Thomas, simply representations of their functioning inside of him. How was Casper so unfit compared to someone made of the same stuff?

It did not make sense to him, but considering they were residing on a path of chocolate stones, green grass of almond paste all around them, he could not complain about a lack of logic at all. Instead he sat up and stretched out his hands.

 “Reee~“

 Remus gently took them and helped him up. The pink side was beaming up at him. The sight of his warm freckles, bright and wide, brought a red dust to Remus‘ pale cheeks.

 “Yes, yes! You need to have your present- well, a part of it, maybe!“

 Casper gasped.

 “You got me a present? But this was a huge breakfast and it was secret!“

 Remus wiggled his eyebrows as if he had started a career in it.

 “A present for the gift to my life!“

 A part of Casper‘s mind was still stuck on the fact that his present was not one but multiple parts. He was, in fact, so occupied by this thought, he had to blink when a new something appeared in front of him.

The present was wrapped up in almost see-through paper. Was that rice paper? It seemed to be .. no, that was candy glass!

 Casper stared at Remus, then back at the gift. Again, he looked at Remus and then at the gift and at Remus-

H-

How was he supposed to open th-

 Something ding!“ed in his head. He lowered the gift and threw himself against Remus, squeezing him in his arms. It was a huuuuge bear hug. Creativity squealed in his arms. He shook his head and hugged Casper close in return. The pink side sighed softly.

 “Reeee~ I need your hammer thing!“

 The dark side stopped dead in his tracks.

For a moment, Casper had the feeling the other had frozen. Time seemed to stand still and suddenly, he was heaved up into the air.

 “CAS!! YOU ARE LEARNING!“

 The squeaky delight was evident in the increased scratchiness of Remus‘ voice. He almost sounded like a messed up record from the 60s or whatever. Scratchy, horribly quality and a complete ear-fuck to listen to.

However, he caught Casper like a pancake and pushed a huge pole into his hands before letting him go. Attachment landed on his feet, a bit wobbly. The weight of the pole tilted his balance to the side. It was the side on which end the pole had a huge ball to it.

 “I am so proud of you“

 Casper tried to balance the pole in his hands. The spiky end was a giant weight to him, really unbalanced. It was unusual to him to actually do any heavy lifting. He was attachment! He held hands and liked people and cried for them and over them. He suggested how to handle relationships and whether or not to detach.

Holding a big-boned bastard of a bone-crusher in his hands was NOT his expertise, but as Remus had mentioned, he was learning.

 And he was proud of him.

His freckles felt brighter again, cheeks and heart warm. Casper liked to imagine that Remus‘ nice words and weird ways of showing affection liked to mend the broken heart that was his symbol. He wanted to wonder about whether or not a side‘s logo could change but he saw the gift again, his mission right in front of it.

 Crush the bomb!

 Casper pushed his hands a bit away from his chest. His arms were angled to his upper body, in the right position to best provide muscular support to heave the immense weight of this unusual weapon of choice. He focused his eyes on the gift and thrusted the mace into the air, letting it crush down with his arms tensing as much as possible against the obstacle.

 The sound of a pathetic crushing and breaking filled the air. Sugar flaked and cracked, pieces of it flew through the air, seeking to hit and destroy in revenge. Other parts of the hardened gift wrapper was pulverised and seemed to spread over the ground like sweet snow.

 It was pink and green.

Remus caught a few of the pieces and offered one to Casper.

 “I‘m good but thanks a lot!“

 Casper grinned up at him. The green side shrugged and started snacking on the razor-sharp bones of what used to be a loving gift‘s shell.

Small, pale hands reached into the splinters of candy glass. If it had not been for the plans he had yet to be informed about, he would have tried to play with the shards, trying to put together a sweet and colourful mosaic of sugar and uniqueness.

 “Huh..“

 The birthday boy pursed his lips ever so slightly. He trained his gaze on the shards, hands starting to push the broken shell out of the way. Slowly, a little piece of paper seemed to appear. It was folded, string keeping it together.

If this was candy, then it was no candy he knew how to name it. It was new.. felt like actual paper in his hands. The ink seemed to be dark chocolate, darker than Thomas‘ eyes. He smiled at the thought about it.

 “What is this, huh?“

 Ree grinned widely. His face seemed to get larger, just large enough to accommodate the growing grin of his lips. Casper was squinting at the paper as he unfolded it properly and inspected it carefully. There were more lines than words. A few symbols indicated a deeper meaning.

 He was holding a map in his hands.

WAit a moment-

 He turned over the map only to find instructions plastered all over its back.

 “You made riddles for me! This- This is a whole treasure hunt!“

 Casper jumped up.

Energy fuelled his body enough to make him jump. Being physically idle did not do well in letting out all the feelings he was experiencing. Thus, he had to wiggle his body a bit. Remus happily joined in on their improvised, weird dance.

The dark side giggled at his partner. Casper felt his heart halves melt together.

 “This is a map!! Thank you so much, Ree!“

 There was an unspoken transfer in this action. While Remus‘ present was a whole adventure and a lot of work, there were implied values attached to it. Casper was rather childish and seemed to be more like a young child, rather than an adult side.

He was pink, he was cheerful and he liked candy and childhood friendships more than adult topics, mature matters and questions of morality. All he cared for was playing catch with his friends, cuddling his favourite pets and finding someone to really feel complete with. Someone he would never have to be fully separated from.

 Thus, the light sides treated him like a young child.

The map in his hands was more than just a task, a means to build up tension to an even bigger gift. It was trust in Casper‘s leading abilities, trust in him understanding and being competent enough to navigate them through this wild candy land.

 His heart swelled up until it felt like it was twice its original size.

 “Thank you.. really. Thanks a lot.“

 Tears started to well up in his eyes. He smiled despite of it - or maybe he smiled because of it, smiled along with the tears in his face.

Remus drew him into a hug.

 “Aw, Cas!“

 He papped the other ever so gently and gently nudged him with his shoulder. A compass appeared in the hand of the arm that had nudged the other. The pink side looked up at him, eyebrows narrowed.

 “Ree, this is wonderful- I.. May I lead?“

 His big, wide eyes looked up at him. They were magenta around a dark heart at its core.  Remus blinked at him, his eyelashes like lavish fans.

 “That‘s your gift. Your present wants you to lead.“

 The compass in his hands was chocolate, laced by gold. A few sugar crystals adorned the round device. The little pointers were made of sugar, too. The little letters were licorice on an oblate base. In Remus‘ hands, the pointers went into any and all directions. Once in Casper‘s palm, it seemed to recalibrate, to organise itself.

The thing was reacting to him and him alone. After a bit of watching the pointers dance, the little tip came to a shaky stop.

 It pointed them towards South at the moment.

 Casper checked with the map.

The candle table was.. there, at the left top of the map. The x-mark was on the other side of the map, in the very corner. The candy table rose on the map until it was materialised.

 “Wow-“

 Ree nudged him to keep looking at the map. South was downwards, according to the compass of the map. The map started illuminating a spot below their current location. A sketch of a forest was light, yet did not rise like the candy table and the wonderful arches they had here.

If Casper found the spot, maybe the map would save it and materialise it, like the one they were at. Maybe it would only show the spot they currently were at with a three-dimensional model.

 Attachment gripped the map tight, then gently folded it, his fists melting onto the parchment. Rivers of fingers curled around the paper and gently decreased its size. He put the map into his onesie pocket and cleared his throat. The compass was firm in his right palm.

 “We shall get on track with this adventure!“

 Ree squeaked like a dog toy. His body twitched up into the air, just a few inches above the ground. His limbs wiggled a bit before he came down again, attaching himself to the slightly smaller Casper.

 “Aye, we shall, Leader Cas!“

 Pink returned to his cheeks, marking his name as “pink side“ as a rather literal phenomenon. Creativity grinned at him, eyebrows arching.

 “You shall come with me, oh yee... uh.. thee magical union of creation and dis-creation!“

 Remus nodded, a hand over his chest as if to contain his wild heart. Casper believed this to be not unlikely at all. He gently smiled, pride gleaming in his eyes.

 “I shall!“, Ree agreed. His voice was strong, resonating with his body. Casper felt almost taken aback by it. He grinned over it, after regaining his posture, and used his finger to indicate what the compass wanted from them.

 “There we have to go to! March!“

 Ree groaned playfully.

Their feet started to march away, down to south, to the mysterious forest. It did not take a lot of time for them to see the scenery change. The candy table and wide space seemed to disappear, swallowed by how narrow the path got. The chocolate stones and pebbles faded until sparkling sugar sands  took over, turning darker and giving way to almond paste grass, green like Remus‘ wonderful logo.

 Casper‘s free hand intertwined with Ree‘s. The taller one gently squeezed the hand in his bigger one. It took only a few moments for Casper to squeeze back - but not in response to Remus‘ actions.

 Cake pillars of trees were dancing around them. The map seemed to vibrate in Casper‘s pocket, so he let the compass plop into his pocket and pulled the curious map to his sight.

 “There seems to be something going on, mate!“

 Ree giggled like a maniac at Casper‘s comment. He grinned, nodding again and again as if the pink side had said so much more than he actually verbalised.

The birthday boy peeked at the map. There was a change, indeed. The forest was starting to rise from the paper, drinking up colour until it was bright. Huge strings of gummy-like sweets were hanging from the trees, sometimes intertwined with the chocolate flakes of bark. The real trees in front of them were more detailed, had the natural carvings of tree bark, the wrinkles of plants. Here and there, golden syrup was leaking from a few injured trees. Others had dried trails of such syrup on them, marking them as recovering trees.

 The pink side swiftly turned to the other, mouth slightly agape.

 “You are doing all of this? This is so cool! Ree, you outdid yourself!“

 Attachment beamed brighter than the soda candy sun in the sky. It was smiling a candied slice of lemon. The pink side, however, was grinning white teeth and excitement. His hand tugged at Ree‘s and dragged him into the forest. His feet moving swiftly.

 The bigger, elder trees had huge branches of churro sticks. They built a sort of canopy above Casper and Remus, shielding them with shadows from the soda sun and cotton candy clouds.

A lake of purple grape pop crossed their way.

 “Will we just f- UAHHHH!“

 Casper turned to Remus to ask something, steps slowing down together. However, something made him trip over. Casper landed on the grass which seemed to become darker in colour and more in numbers.

Rock candies were glistening from underneath blankets of chocolate crumble earth and almond paste grass. A few stray rays of sunlight warmed the solid, translucent rocks. They seemed to shimmer. A few beams of light reached up to Casper - or rather, down. He was currently sitting up, Remus squatting down next to him.

 “You alright?“

 Casper had a smudge of green on his elbows and quickly licked it away. The action curled his and Remus‘ mouths upwards.

 “Yup!“

 The pink side wanted to ask something, but a marshmallow with strawberry “softies“ on top walked over. Was this a little mushroom?

Casper squealed.

 “ Ree!! Look!! I want to be friends with them!“

 He hopped back onto his feet. The candy mushroom approached them, a few smaller mushrooms following after. All of them had little black eyes but only the bigger ones had enough face to fit a mouth onto them. They looked like black candy tint on them. The eyes were in different colours.

 “Are you one of the biped heroes? Will you help us?“

 The mushroom hopped up. How did it jump without feet? Well, how did it talk when it was fully candy. This was a paradisical dream world, not a logical report on extraterrestrial objects. Of course there was no real logic in here.

 “A hero?“

 Casper repeated. His eyes grew wide. Pink hearts seemed to sparkle at the word.

Hero.

Who in this sugar forest was a  hero?  Remus was the classical villain to everyone but Casper. The pink side was just him, right?

 The mushroom nodded.

An umbrella of red leaned close, facing the ground for a moment, then stopped right before touching it. The mushroom sighed back into position, the red umbrella resting in its intended place.

 “The legend says only biped heroes can mend our issues! You need to help us!“

 The pink side blinked.

This was getting interesting. So, he did the natural thing and -

 “But this can‘t be. We just happen to be on two legs. That means nothing!“

 -doubted himself.

 Remus nudged him.

His mustache seemed to transform to licorice curls. He looked at his partner, eyebrows arching.

 “You have to be the heroes! You are our only hope! We cannot leave the forest because we cannot climb down the beach where the water comes from. Please, we need help!“

 Remus whistled softly.

The crowd of mushrooms was trembling a bit, collectively staring at the others.

Attachment looked at them, eyebrows cast downwards. His eyes seemed to decrease in size as he observed the little mushrooms. They barely got us to his thighs.

They were so helpless.

 “...Alright, we can try. What do you need us to do? What‘s outside of the forest that matters so much to you?“

 Casper got back down onto his knees. He wanted to be on eye level with the mushroom people.

 “Our flower friends need a lot of strawberry milk. We get our milk from a river outside of the forest! It usually fills up a whole pond and our flower friends grow all around it. But.. but now they are hurting a lot because they are so hungry. Everyone has syrup, but that is not enough for them. Some gummy bats fly around to help them bring some strawberry milk. They take chocolate egg shells to transport it but it is not enough. Please, our flower friends need help!“

 Casper nodded.

The tallest mushroom of all was starting to shed little marshmallow fluff tears. Attachment‘s heart felt hurt, too. He placed a heart on the red umbrella part as the smaller mushrooms started to wail along.

 “Don‘t worry! We will do our best to help. I- I don‘t think any of us is a hero, but we can do our best to mess things up!“

 Remus cheered him on and nodded wildly. He glomped Casper from behind. The pink side giggled softly.

 “You would?? Thank you so much!“

 A few smaller mushrooms started to stray from them. They seemed to line up with a path away from where they had come from.

 “The smaller mushrooms will lead you the way out of the forest.“

 As if this sentence had been a clue, the small mushrooms jumped up, their marshmallow torsos buried by their bright red umbrella heads. Promptly, they started glowing.

Casper gasped at the sight.

 “Wow! That is so cool!“

 He turned to Ree, then to the mushrooms. The small ones were radiating a halo of glow around them. It was slightly greenish. Maybe that came from the rich surroundings of the jungle-like forest they were in.

The dark side nodded. To him, that was just one of the most normal sights. It was usual, so he saw nothing outstanding or gasp-worthy in that. But he saw Casper‘s excitement and it brought a smile to underneath his mustache.

 „“Let‘s go follow them, then, huh?“

 Casper nodded.

His mouth was still slightly agape but he closed it then and there. The pink side hopped on the spot and turned his whole body towards the glow path.

 „“Farewell, biped heroes. Farewell. Our trust is in you!“

 Casper felt a warmth in his heart. It seemed as though it had started to grow wings. It lifted itself up inside of his chest and it was wild and swollen in power.

He waved at the big mushroom with eyes and a mouth, then let his hand intertwine with Remus‘. The taller one gave him a squeeze.

 And off they were.

 The partners followed the glowing mushrooms for a while. At some point, they had walked for a long time and Casper sighed softly.

 “How long do we have to travel? I am getting hungry.“

 Remus shrugged.

His free hand indicated the worlds of sugar around them.

Casper hummed softly.

 “We could take a break, how about that?“

 Just as he said so, they got a peek on a huge tree. It seemed broken, so Remus suggested having some of it. Casper agreed. The two walked over, four legs approaching the broken tree.

As they did so, they realised that fog started to come up. At first, Casper thought that light cotton candy clouds were coming down on them. Instead, something heavier seemed

 “Oh, is it really okay to just..- huh?“

 Attachment stopped himself.

More and more sugar thread seemed to come down onto them. At the end, it felt as though the whole forest was covered in hair made of sugar. This was the oddest thing to ever happen to him, even despite all the years he had spent with Remus, visiting the weirdest places of the Imagination and so on.

This really made an example of how odd things tended to be, sometimes.

 “Ree, I think we have a problem-“

 Said side already tugged Casper closer.

 “I bet it is too late to check the map now, isn‘t it?“

 Casper snorted.

 “Great idea, but too late indeed. Now.. what can we-“

Again, the pink side stopped himself. He looked up at.. uh.. well, more and more hair, considering he was unable to detect Remus at all. His gleaming spark of ideas in his eyes was not visible to the other, nor were his own hands before him.

 “I have an idea instead, Ree. I know we can‘t see one another, so it is really important to stick together. Don‘t let go of my hand.“

 Ree nodded.

It took him about three moments to realise the birthday boy could not see him. So, he cleared his throat and played a loud “Aye, Sir! Mister Casper, Sir!“.

The pink side jumped on the other side of his hand, but regained his posture enough to squeeze back in reply.

 “Very well then. Listen to where my voice is coming from, follow to where your hand seems to be with mine.. and slowly eat the fog away with me.“

 The idea his Ree like  a truck. Without seeming him, Casper could physically feel the other snap into action and suddenly start eating away the fog. It was pismaniye. It tastes sweet, mostly, but also a bit nutty. It was nothing like cotton candy. It fell like hair.

It was almost creepy to be surrounded by something that looked and felt and fell like hair, yet was sugary sweet and kind of tastes like sesame and pistachio.

 Attachment followed his own advice after becoming oddly aware of his own inaction. He started to eat, his hungry body grateful for the input of actual sustenance. They had been walking for a few hours, so breakfast had been a longer while ago. The steady exploring had exhausted him.

Now, he just wanted to see his Ree and be sure they were with one another, even if he could feel him on his hand.

 Diligently, almost as if they were quite enjoying it, the two were eating away the barriers between their love. Hands held softly were the guidance to their inner compass directing them. It took them a short while, but eventually, they had eaten away enough fog to start seeing colours shimmering through, then even pieces of actual clothes appearing behind the thick curtains of light blonde angel hair.

 “Ree! There you are!“

 The dark side did not let himself be called twice. He reached out and picked up his smaller partner. Carefully, he drew him to his chest.

 “This is my Cas, and the forest won‘t get a single piece of you!“

 The pink side giggled. Remus brushed a piece of sugar wool off his face and instead stuck it into his own mouth. His partner giggled.

 “We should get out of here. Maybe the fog will get worse. We need to be quick. As much as this was a good snack, we need to think of moving first.“

 Cas commanded. He quickly checked the map and the compass. They needed to go to the west. The funky trees on the map started to retreat. So, they were almost outside of the forest!

 “Let‘s see for the lights!“

 Maybe the mushrooms were glowing because they knew the fog would be coming? In any case, Casper held onto Ree‘s hand again and started walking, when he experienced the worst deja-vu of all-

Once more, he tripped, once more, this triggered a whole bunch of plot.

 Remus was helping him up when they heard ripping, the sound of branches breaking. Something heavy was breaching through the forest and it would not be kind to them, as it sounded.

 “Ree, we need to go!“

 Casper pushed the other over the dead tree and they tripped over it, curling into a ball of a falling and rotating mess. Their bodies stuck together due to their hands finding one another, but it did nothing to help with the rapid movements as well as the intense churning they experienced.

When the pink side laid eyes on what was chasing them, he was more than glad to experience this rather than.. that!

 A huge jawbreaker was rolling after them, breaking and running over many plants and animals. A “squish“ noise reminded him of the mushmallows.

 “I hope they are okay..“

 Casper had a last thought before a horrid squeak cut through his mind. All worries about the others were gone when his hand was gripped tightly. It was so tight, it started to hurt, his bones aching already. He wanted to turn around, ask Remus to stop.

He could not.

His body was drawn in and engulfed by arms. Remus was was holding him close, blocking his mouth with a whole bunch of furry onesie. He thought he was actually breathing in the gore-bunny‘s heart or whatever kind of monstrosity was growing from it‘s chest.

 While Casper was unable to ask or scream about what was happening, he clearly heard wind whooshing around him. The ground under his feet was gone and all the safety he knew was Remus‘ grasp on him.

He was sure he was going to be safe, yet his broken heart was aching. His lungs seemed to string.

 He closed his eyes harder and focused on Remus‘ smell.

This time, he did not have pickled poo logs on. No, he was wearing vinegar and rotten roses. What a romantic.

As Casper tried his best to focus on Remus being warm, being smelly as always, he did not notice the heat rising around them.

 However, a soft thud occurred. It was followed by millions of variations of one single sound. It was difficult to describe, but Casper felt as if it sounded like plastic pieces crashing together. It was a series of dull noise.

To Casper, it was an unspoken sign, a permission to look again. Now he would be able to open his eyes again.

 Slowly, he did exactly that.

His eyelids fluttered. The pressure on his face decreased.

 “Oh, we fell and landed softly! How wonderful!“

 Remus‘ voice reached him.

It was close. His voice box was so close, it made Casper‘s ears rumble a bit from Remus‘ vibrating chest. His lips curled up, just a tiny bit.

 “Fell?“

 He detached himself from the other‘s chest and blinked, trying to slowly let reality dawn onto him. The world was different now.

A thought flashed inside of his mind and he quickly took his map and his compass out of his pocket. He looked around, trying to filter out certain landmarks which would tell him where exactly they were.

 “Oh.. we did fall. Where-“

 He blinked at his map.

The jungle.. this.. forest.. it was gone, away away. Instead, a new space was rising from the map and even making a sound. He could hear the rushing of wav-

 “CAS!“

 Remus jumped into him.

The dull sounds of plastic meeting plastic started to sound up again. It kind of felt drowned out in all of the sounds of waves. Coming closer and closer and crashing over them, breaking and burying them in..

Candy beans?

 Different colours filled his vision. Huge logs of colour fell from the sky, rained down onto him. Casper could not hear more than the deafening noise of dull plastic crashes.

His whole body was walled in by a huge Remus as well as the plastic sounds and big colour logs. He wanted to narrow his eyes but felt himself close them instead.

 “WOO~“

 Casper felt his chest become free with the sound of Remus cheering.

Attachment did not know what was happening but he knew that a LOT was happening. The sounds of Remus being Remus were closer but not louder than the plastic ones.

But it was warmer.

 He felt a warmth spread inside of his chest.

 Slowly, the noise subsided again. It faded away but never really disappeared.

Maybe he had internalised it by now. Who knew.

 Casper, for his part, was giggling a bit. He had his things, still, so he took what he had and tried to get up. Beans were around him and as he got up, Ree followed.

 “This was a nice ride!“

 He hopped up and looked around, one hand over his eyebrows as if to build a makeshift roof with it.

 “Huh, we-“

 Casper interrupted him.

The golden colour before them cued him.

 “WE ARE AT THE BEACH!“

 He squealed and screamed. His body turned towards Remus once more. The dark side was more than happy to reply with screams and squeals from his own side.

 “AHHHHH!“

 Casper grinned: „“WE DID IT!!“

 Remus wiggled his body and nodded. He looked like a Golden Retriever.

 “WE DIIIIIID!“

 The duo giggled at one another before jumping at one another, chests first. They melted into a hug, laughing still the soundtrack to their current situation.

Casper was the first to pull away but Remus quickly picked him up, pulling him closer. He gently rested the other on his shoulders.

 “Look out for waves. I will walk us back to the beach.“

 Casper nodded. Not, that the other could see it. He still had his compass and his map in his hands, so he put the compass away. But he did shoot a glance at the map, considering he wanted to see the “beach“ part of the map start to rise up.

Carefully, he observed it, witnessing how the candy bean sea became more prominent in colour. They seemed to roll a bit, much like a regular sea‘s many waves.

 “Will do.“

 He looked over at the waves, but the sea was rather calm now. The next few waves were barely one full layer of beans reaching over to them. By the time a bigger one started to build up, Remus was ankle-deep in the “water“.

A few more steps and he was outside. He softly put Casper down.

 „“We did it!“

 Casper giggled softly.

Now that he was standing on the shore, he took the time to examine the land around them more closely. Previously, he had focused on looking out for the waves, but now his attention could be redirected to their mission again.

He checked the map.

It very much was the beach, it really was.

 Casper felt as though his heart was being lifted in his chest. It was an almost violent feeling but it made him want to hug Remus close.

And so he did.

 “Come here, Ree“

 He pulled the other into a huge bear hug. Casper gave those a lot to Ree, especially when they had not seen one another in a while. It was their “welcome hug“ when Casper was not too tired or exited to give it.

The dark side could feel himself being squeezed tightly. Warmth surrounded him. Warmth seeped into him.

 “Aww, Cas. I am proud of you. You got us right here where we needed to be.“

 Casper nodded softly.

He was unsure about it but his success did the talking.

 “Hey, wait a moment!“, he exclaimed. Remus looked at him, a loyal companion as always, “there are sandwiches!“

 Indeed, there were.

Casper flashed his pointer at a row of cacti around the beach. They seemed to be never-melting popsicles rising from the sandy ground. A few fruits seemed to hang there.

 “Cas, I think that‘s jus-“

 Yet the other was running before Ree got to finish his talk. He was about to say something important even, or so he thought. But there was no stopping the other, so it was apparent that the taller one had to follow the birthday boy. Said person was getting closer and closer to the cacti.

Like, he actually did.

Remus could not believe it while Casper believed and knew it all the way.

 “Sandwiches!! They are sandwiches!“

 For the first time in the sweet little world, - quite literally sweet - Casper found something not exactly made of sweets and sugar. This was bread, actual bread.

Ree stopped right behind him as he gripped the “fruit“ until it came off. The dark side cleared his throat.

 “Is that safe?“

 He was mimicking Patton‘s voice. Casper only shrugged. He rolled his eyes as he turned to face his partner.

 “Do you want to try it?“

 He handed the round-ish ball over. The “fruit“ had a little stem of cheese.

Why did such things come from a popsicle cactus?

One would never know.

 Ree inspected the thing.

It was.. somewhat circular, kind of golden in colour. Some were a bit different in colour, like more green or more red. It was funny. The one he took out of Casper‘s hands was clearly golden like the sun - well, the sun in the non-candy world.

He looked back at the other fruits. His mind held the fruit absent-mindedly, squeezing about tighter as usual. Casper gasped.

 “Ree! Let go! Look, look! I told you it was sandwiches! I could see it, I could smell it!“

 The pink side‘s hands came around Remus‘ larger ones. He carefully eased his grip on the fruit. Remus just let him do and shift as he pleased. His hands were almost limp, making it easier for Attachment to move them around and pry them away from the fruit just a bit.

The cactus fruit had unfurled itself, revealing a golden crust. In fact, it seemed as it had shed a little case in which the sandwich had been stored.

 “You were right!“

 Ree concluded in awe. Casper nudged him playfully.

 “Stop sounding so surprised! I know my food. Let‘s sit down and eat. I can study the map and you and I could need a little break. Also, I am hungry. What about you? Aren‘t you hungry, too?“

 Ree shrugged but picked a fruit for himself as well.

Around the popsicles, it was a bit cooler. The soda sun was actually burning down pretty hard, but the cacti provided more than enough cool and shadow for them to not really sweat a lot. The run and fall had done a number on them, so the warm breeze and sunny heat was enough to dry them off and give them a nice time to relax.

 “Those are not bad. I got tomato on mine.“

 Casper giggled.

He had unpacked his map, eyes fixed on the compass on it as well as the beach rising from the flat parchment again. Slowly, he started biting into his own sandwich. He took his eyes off the map, letting it process all the changes around them.

As he ate, an explosion of warm, umami flavour flooded his mouth. The sandwiches were warm, but not hot. The cheese was molten pleasantly. He did not seem to have tomato in it. Instead, it was just a whole lot of cheese.

 Attachment loved it.

 “Jus‘ chees‘“, he mumbled around his food.

Ree giggled.

His hand swung over to his partner, silently presenting it to the other. The dark side took a huge bite from it. In return, he grinned and started chewing away at it while offering Casper some of his. The pink side was staring at the map, yet noticed just enough to react and bite into the tomato-fed piece of delicious.

 “Mhmm...“

 Both sat in silence. Relative silence. A few chewing, humming as well as general eating sounds occurred from them.

They both reached for another sandwich when one was done.

 “Oh, see. Is that the river they talked about? It was not there before, but now it is flowing. It looks pink. Hey! Like me!“

 He smiled softly. Ree shrugged.

 “Looks rad. Does that mean we can go on?“

 Casper shrugged.

 “I think so. We must have fallen through the barricades or whatever was annoying the strawberry river. Well, we can go further to here.“

 He pointed at a place further below the beach they were currently at. At least when considering the positions on the map.

 “It seems like a forest or something else is gonna await us.“

 Remus shrugged.

He had already finished his food and was interested in biting into the cactus. Would it hurt? Pain only made sensations more interesting. He leaned in and bit into the plant.

 “AHHH!“

 Remus pulled away at once. Casper flinched closer to his partner and best friend. His forehead was wrinkled up. Remus looked almost offended in contrast to the pink side.

 “What did you do?!“

 The cacti started to bow over them, arching their bodies.

 “Why did you bite me!“

 A new voice arose, demanding and accusatory. Casper looked at the cactus, the source of sound coming from that direction. He could see the bodies of the cacti turning a bit, revealing faces.

Angry faces.

The cacti were colourful, white and red and orange up until the tip where they were green again with a few red dots and little pricks to them. One of them seemed to be missing. Remus pulled it out of his mouth and threw it into the sand.

 “Bite?“

 Casper repeated softly. The moment he said it, he realised just what has been said. The cactus was accusing them of having bitten them. Sadly, Attachment looked at Remus holding his mouth in mild pain. A small pout was making his lips appear bigger and more innocent than usual.

He wanted to hold him but also push him away for being such an impulsive idiot. Exasperation took hold of him and he sighed.

 “Ree, you cannot just bite people!“

 Ree‘s pout grew bigger.

 “I didn‘t know! I just wanted to test the cronch!“

 The cactus cried out as if having been bitten even harder. It shook. Casper squeezed against Remus‘ side. The taller side was hurting, but put one arm around the smaller one, carefully holding his partner a bit closer.

 “Cronch?! I am no cronch! You hurt me!“

 Remus shrugged.

 “Well, sorry about that. I cannot change it now, tho.“

 Casper nudged him.

 “Can we do anything to make it up to you?“

 He felt a pit inside of him. There was emptiness. Despite the sandwiches, he felt as if nothing but self-eating emptiness was inside of him. And it hurt.

No, actually, the sandwiches probably made it worse. They were the poison in the well that was his body. Casper wanted to wince but he tried to be as nice as possible. It must have hurt to be bitten by Remus.

Remus was quite the strong one after all.

 The dark side huffed stubbornly. The cactus stood as tall as possible. Casper had the feeling the cacti were trying to stand even taller and broader than before, maybe to just look a bit bigger.

The shadow they cast onto them was growing huger, longer. They were dooming stripes, thick prison bars in the sand, trapping them in place.

The cacti were actually growing, the middle one, the talking one, more than the others and much  faster at that.

 Casper took Remus‘ hand again.

 “I think we tried a lot to be friends with the cactus again, but they won‘t listen. We should go, really-“

 Attachment‘s voice spoke with a much more intense haste than usual. He checked his compass and started to take the initiative.

He was the leader of their little troop, their small team. He was to make decisions and do things. So, he made the decision to run away at once. Behind them, cactus pricks shot through the air. They bore into the sand, digging deep into the loose sand.

Remus turned his head to throw one last glance at the angered cactus, now much taller than them, surrounded by a few cacti which grew into similar sizes. They started to free themselves from the sand, popsicle stick feet  were hopping through the sand.

They were after them.

 “We need to hurry!“

 Casper was running like the wind.

His partner alerting him was more than enough to push his mind over the edge. He had to make a decision fast and quick. Where would they go? There were sugar bean oceans, strawberry rivers-

 There!

A huge pond!

 Casper pulled Remus after him. His feet were almost flying over to the pond. It was a temple of safety in Casper‘s mind, the kind of place were they would be sheltered from the mean cactus.

Well, the cacti were kind of right to be mad, but chasing them around and trying to prick them? That was a lot!

 The cactus monster was hot on their heels, nearly breathing down their necks. Remus had the feeling they were melting down onto their exposed body parts and absolutely non-innocent skin.

The pink side felt an idea hit him much harder than a prick could have. The cactus started to “reload“, prepared to pierce sharpness into them.

 The leader was against that. So, Attachment took a sharp cut into another direction. The cactus monstrosity was huge and did not react well. The sudden change of direction had the meanie baffled. The cacti union wanted to turn around just as sharply, but lost balance. The many branches of cactus heads were too enormous in size and different ideas. One wanted to gather their balance again, while others were arguing whether to give it up or actually still pursue them at all.

By then, the pink side had them safely  hidden away in the muddy warmth of a dark chocolate fondue. He waited a bit, dragging the curious Remus behind him before his air was out and he had to get up and breathe again.

He squeezed Ree‘s hand and gently tugged it upwards as he returned to the surface. Two heads, completely immersed in dark chocolate, popped out of the darkness.

 It smelled like cocoa butter, a bit bitter, even.

The two cleaned their faces carefully, trying to free their eyes and mouths and noses first, so they could breathe and see right.

The cacti seemed all gone.. they were safe?

 “Good idea!“

 Remus‘ mustache was now double its size. Casper started to giggle.

 “Ree!!“

He chuckled to himself.

“You look so funny!“

The dark side grinned.

He tried to glance at his mustache, but it was hard. How was he supposed to see his face? He scrunched up his nose. He craned his neck a bit, showing off the side of his throat.

No, he could not see better like this either.

 Casper could not hold his laughter back.

He was curling in on himself, shook by his own amusement. Seeing Remus trying to turn his face upside down and whatnot just to see himself was hilarious. The pink side shook his head, little crystal tears appearing at the corner of his eyes once more.

 “You..You-“

 He tried to express anything with even a hint of coherence.

Needless to say, he did not manage. His breath was short from how much he was laughing, also, he was laughing way too much to actually say more than one or two syllables in one go.

Remus pouted playfully.

 “Cas, you are being meeean~“

 A huge grin adorned his chocolate features.

Time to take matters into his own hands! He approached the laughing side. His partner was currently wiping tears from his eyes. They were squeezed out from how much he was laughing, balled up cheeks squishing his eyes like lemons.

 He realised the other too late, and even later.

Casper could barely squeak out a plead, a word to turn Remus‘ mood more mild. The other already threw himself onto him, arms finding his muddy wet sides. Warm chocolate covered his ticklish spots, but did not desensitise them.

Attachment was squirming.

 „“Ah..Ahhhh~ Ree!!!“

 His giggles had barely faded, just to be resumed once more. A new force  was accompanying the sounds of his laughter. Casper‘s little body was flailing its limbs into every direction it could possible reach. He squealed like prey.

 „“You deserved that!!“

 Remus playfully shot back. Attachment wiggled away, trying to move out of Ree‘s reach. He  reached the end of the chocolate pot and heaved himself out eventually.

Sweet, sweet - ouch!

 He landed much harder than expected.

It was a deep fall, leaving him to roll over a bunch of leaves. He blinked softly. His sides were hurting now, but he was okay.

A loud breaking sound rushed to his ears.

 „“Hu-“

 He gasped. Obviously, his mind was going many places.

They had faced a lot of obstacles, nice and mean people. Now, the sound was promising a fall -

...a fall of Remus, apparently.

As Casper before him, he was breaking out of the pot without a lot of grace. He had broken some branches in the process but took it with a giggle, as he too, rolled over.

 “That was fuun!! Wooo!“

 He cheered.

The taller one sat up, his hands up in the air. They were all chocolate.

 “It was, but it hurt.“

 Casper retorted.

He shrugged it off, though, and simply looked at his hands. They were full of leaves - as much chocolated as he was. Chocolatified? Chocolate-covered.

 “Ha, look at this! We are covering everything in chocolate!“

 The light side beamed up at his partner. Remus slid over to him.

 “Truce. No more tickling!“

 Casper nodded. They shook chocolate-hands on that!

 “Alright! But we need to do something about this chocolate stuff!“

 Remus shrugged.

 “We can wait this out. Just take a nap and the chocolate will be hard as a d-“

 Casper nudged him away.

 “Staaaaahp! We can take a nap, alright alright!“

 He had a pout on his lips now, too.

 They playfully pushed one another before paying down and curling up together, one against the other. Remus curled around Casper like a bowl, or maybe a nest. Casper nuzzled his chest softly.

He was sure he would have a hard time sleeping now. He had been up all night, they had been chased yet again. Adrenaline was rushing through his veins, his brain. The chase, the fall, the tickles and the rest of it all. They were in his mind, flashing before his inner eye.

He could see what had happened to them, he thought about everything they had experienced so far. Before he knew it, he was caught in a deep sleep.

His body was snug against Remus‘. Together, they slept into a state of hardened chocolate.

 When they woke up, they felt odd.

Hardness kept them in place. They were restrained, even when they tried to breathe a bit deeper. Chocolate armour was attached to them like a second skin. It was not tight, nor was it really heavy, but it was everywhere, even in their hair as they now realised.

 “Oh.. oh, what‘s that?“

 Casper nagged.

He wanted to un-curl, get up and see the world, but every twitch of muscles was met with resistance. He felt pressure against his skin when he tried to move. Very much from his chin down, he felt immobile and restricted. Little walls were keeping him in space.

A frown fell over his features.

 He had been soft, even a bit disoriented from switching over to reality after his warm, heavy sleep and dreams. Now, he was surrounded by so much confusion, he barely knew what to do. The world was odd, their situation was odd.

For a moment, he feared being unable to ever move again. His throat tightened.

 Oh no.

Now, even the rest of him would freeze and become unmovable! The rigidity around him seemed to worsen. It pressed a moan out of him. Little tears formed at his eyes again.

Instinctively, his throat formulated what he usually did when Casper did not know what else to do. The helplessness of having no more logical thoughts to help but only panic to guide him made his chest heavy.

 But his automatism kicked out a powerful: “Remus!“

 Instead of a whine, a pathetic plead, he strongly pronounced the other back into their reality. Remus awoke with a sudden jolt through his body. Though, he could barely move. The twitches resulted in pressure against his skin.

There was a whole lot of pressure instead of the nice, heavy warmth of a chocolate blanket from before.

 Remus caught on rather fast.

 He wiggled his body as powerfully as he could. Little grunts and moans came from him. He sounded like a character from Dragon Ball in a ten-episode filler fist-fight.

Cracking was soon to be heard. It filled the air, much like the sounds of opening an egg.

 A louder sound breached Casper‘s ears.

He was unable to see much, considering he was much glued to Remus‘ chest shell. Yet, he could see and hear how Remus removed himself from Casper‘s face with a sudden motion. The dark side rolled all over the space around them. This time, his body did not pick up any more leaves or straws of grass. He jumped to his feet and yelled.

 “I AMST FREEEEE.“

 Remus shed a last piece of dried muddiness around him. The dark, bitter shell crashed to the floor and burst into pieces. Casper flinched into an embryo position, trying to curl up as much as possible. The dark side shrugged and sat down to his friend.

 “Actually, I can get you out even better!“

 He gave Casper a smug grin. Before Attachment could think twice, the other was leaned over him and bit into his necK!

 “AH! Ree!“

 While Casper wanted to complain, he.. felt no pain. He looked up. Actually, he COULD look up once more. He felt his neck crane ever so softly. IT worked! He could move again!

 Oh.

 The pink side felt the other carefully bite and push until the shell gave in. Casper giggled at times. The chocolate was brushing against his skin, sometimes with the warmth of Remus‘ breath.

 “That tickles!“

 He started to squirms.

Soon enough, Remus‘ work as well as his additional wiggling helped him out of the shell. Casper chuckled, snuggling up to his partner.

 “Thank you, Ree. I got really scared.“

 The dark side shrugged.

As nonchalant as he acted, he still leaned down to kiss the tears building up in the corners of Casper‘s eyes. They were crystal-like, precious like sugar.

 “Awww, what for?“, Ree reasoned softly. Casper was giggling but still holding onto the other. The dark side held his partner softly, „“there is nothing I wouldn‘t save you from. See? I defeated the chocolate!“

 Casper chuckled.

When he looked up at, Remus‘ face was smudged with chocolate. It was all dark brown around his mustache and lips. Attachment chuckled and  snuggled into Ree‘s arms again.

 “You are so silly! You are full of chocolate!“

 He was giggling with the other but when Remus brought both his arms around the  smaller side, he sighed softly. His heart was melting inside and he felt.. right, being so close to the other.

They stayed like this for a while.

Only after a longer while did they part. Casper wiped his eyes. Remus wiped his mouth.

 “I have the feeling we can use the chocolate leaves a bit. Let‘s take them with us.“

 Remus nodded. They took a sugar glass cup from the trees around them and collected the leaves. They then locked their hands again, fingers intertwining. They smiled as they walked through the calm trees of the forest.

It seemed different than the other, more plain, less crowded. There were no funny mushrooms... marshrooms? Well, they were none, so it did not matter. However, they saw some cute mice racing around. Some birds and bats flew around. Licorice and yoghurt gummy bears crossed their ways.

They kept on walking.

 Eventually, Casper checked the map again.

The last stage before the treasure seemed to be highlighted. Much like the others before, they rose from the map and stopped, slightly moving since mice from the map were moving around, too. Gummy birds were tweeting and chirping.

It felt like a song for these two alone.

 “Hey, there is a funky thing here.“

 Casper pointed at something. Remus nodded softly.

 “Yes, yes.“

 The dark side‘s response prompted him to go on.

 “Let‘s go there.“

 They did as they decided on and eventually came around to a clearing. There, their favourite mixed-race person was sitting!

The dragon witch!

 “Good day, children.“

 She had a table set up, a few plates made of stroopwafel were laid out. Little cups of chocolate were prepared. There even was a little kettle.

The table looked like a horizontal yule log, lazy in the sun. It was surrounded by smaller Baumstriezel which formed little things like chairs. Candy glass covered the hollow inside on top, so people could sit on it. It had funny colours. The dragon witch gestured to the seats. They were two free ones, the exact number of butts that needed a rest after nearly walking and falling all day. Even their nap was not enough. They had walked for over one hour once more after this.

The duo sat down with the witch, happy to be welcomed.

 “I hope you brought some leaves for our tea.“

 Casper perked up.

 “We have chocolate-coated ones!“

 The dragon witch giggled.

She was a huge dragon with a stereotypical witch-hat adorning her head. Roman had made her up. Remus had befriended her after his light-reflection kept on fighting her. She was his first friend on the “dark“ side.

She opened her hands. They were claws and wonderfully colourful. Scales of all colours decorated her body. Casper smiled and put the leaves into her opened palm.

 “Thank you young man! This shall make a wonderful, spiced hot cocoa.“

 Gently, she started to blow her hot, steaming and flaming breath onto the bottom of the tea kettle. Soon, it started whistling.

Casper giggled.

The warmth was very much welcome. He and Remus warmed up on it, hands stretched out.

 “Nice..“, they breathed out softly. Smiles decorated their faces.

Behind them, the bushes rustled. Little mice and other animals came to join them. Casper picked a bit of stroopwafel and handed it over to them, bit by bit - crumble by small crumble.

 The dragon witch giggled at him. Her hands moved and a new piece of food entered the scene. A few mice ran over, bringing them a loaf of dense, dark bread. It looked like dark caramel on the outside. On the inside, it was much more yellow than people would expect bread to be.

Of course, it was something special.

 “I made Ontijkoek for you. I hope you can enjoy it, child.“

 Casper grinned up at her.

His and Remus‘ hand intertwined under the table. The dragon witch paid that no mind. She cut the bread and gave everyone a little piece.

 “Happy birthday, Casper.“

 She started to take everyone‘s cup. One by one, she filled in some of the tea which had steeped for a while. Well, it was less tea and more chocolate chai whatever.. He did not know. But what he knew was that the second the dragon witch started the fill his cup with this chocolate mix of hot liquid, little animals of chocolate liquid started to rise from his  cup.

They danced above their heads, chasing one another.

 He looked up, eyes gleaming.

 “Ohh!“

 Remus giggled.

 “That‘s cool! I want too! Please, dragon witch!“

 The dragon witch shook her head. She pulled out a wand. It seemed to be made of crystal candy. Colourful, shining, powerful.

She poked Remus‘ nose with it.

 “Nah, nah, little naive man. You shall get a little surprise for your birthday when it comes about. Until then, we are celebrating for Casper.“

 Ree‘s lips were fallen into a pout for just another moment. Then, he gently nudged the other.

 “I bet on the funky horse.“

 Casper frowned.

 “No, no! The cat will win.“

 The dragon witch let one animal per cup rise above their heads. Now, her cup had its turn. She catapulted a bit of the steaming liquid into the air. Promptly, a raccoon formed.

 “I hope my raccoon friend can show you what counts~“

 They ate their bread as the animals raced for them. Sometimes, they ran into one another for fun, jumped at one another and so on.

     Like that, they let the world move on for a bit longer. The animals ended up playing around and flowing into a little puddle for the other animals to enjoy. The Dragon Witch gave a little gift to Casper, but left it under his bed, like a secret.

 The duo travelled on.

They had passed the last stage, had a nice afternoon tea and now, the sun was slowly sinking down. Casper was yawning again.

 “This was a cool birthday..“

 The pink side snuggled up to Remus who held him loyally.

 “What‘s the last stage?“

 He asked softly. Remus shrugged. Casper felt his head move along, considering he was leaning onto the other with most of his weight. He stifled yet another yawn.

Remus pressed a kiss to his forehead.

 “We are right there. Come on there, my prince. I will carry you.“

 Casper did not answer verbally. His body moved to spoon Remus half-way from behind. His body was snug against the dark side‘s back. Swiftly, the journey continued.

 His eyes blinked.

 The forest seemed to be over.

There was the little hill they had seen. From there, the jungle-like forest they had been in at first was visible. It was far away, but Casper felt it in his heart that they were somewhat back where they had been before. The strawberry lake trickled into the side of the jungle. It was a fine line of thread, coloured like self-made strawberry yogurt in the summer.

 The nostalgia made Casper feel more like he was in his bed. Remus usually made him feel liker that, but also remembering nice and simple times.

He was sure the other knew about this.

Mentally, Casper focused on this for just a while. He barely realised when Remus gently settled himself and the lighter side down onto a nest. It was green and made of funny candy. Casper new it was edible Easter grass, but he did not know how it was made. It looked weird and he had never really liked the taste.

Still, he would usually ask for it, ask for the completion of a holiday child dream.

 However, he noticed a change of pressure on his butt. He hummed softly. The nest was soft, but not as soft as the air his butt had nestled against beforehand.

 “Hmm... Ree..“

 He smiled softly and patted the space next to him.

Ree sat down next to him. They enjoyed the view for a while.

 “The strawberry lake.“

 Ree nodded. He hummed, because he realised the other did not look at him but at the world created for him and him alone.

 “Can we go back here, sometimes?“

 Ree nodded once more.

Again, he made it more clear to the other, even when Casper looked up at him with his big, pink eyes.

 “Of course we can, Cas.“

 A calmness settled over his head.

 “Thank you, Ree. Really.“

 They both looked at each other, then, as if they had communicated about it, they looked back at the jungle for a while.

 “You made a great world.“

 Remus smiled.

He had made it for Casper only. Casper was more than a world to him, so he knew he would build more and more worlds for him - as long as the other would let him.

 But of course he did not say that.

He smiled, his mustache twitching a bit with it.

 “I am ready for the end.“

 Ree nodded.

This time, he did not have to indicate his approval, his understanding, any more in order for Casper to understand.

 Sounds of rustling tickled Casper‘s ears. Like a set of butterfly kisses, the light touch delighted his skin and caused some areas to curl up in a veil of goosebumps. He tilted his head a bit, towards the source of this new noise.

Around them were eggs. Not the small ones.

 Oval balls of all colours were in the lime green nest. They were sprinkled with some spots of the dark chocolate, revealing its true nature of chocolate at heart.

 “Oh?“

 Casper felt the sound leave his lips, slipping from him like a fleeting thought.

He sighed softly. A smile warmed his lips.  

Each egg was huge. Had he been standing, it would have reached just below his knees, he was sure. It was similarly broad, but definitely taller than broad.

The pink side reached out, feeling drawn to touch the eggs.

 Softly, he approached one by one. He placed his ear against the shells. All of them had sounds. Only one of them was quiet. When he listened to all of them, he glanced at Remus for just a moment, then returned to look at this egg.

 It was yellow, less oval than the others. It also did not seem as sprinkled. In fact, the golden like colour was spot-on. Or rather: spotless.

While other eggs had vibrated against his ear, sounds and movement keeping him mentally engaged, he saw this motionless egg.

 It was almost lifeless.

 A feeling of knowing came upon him.

His eyes were fixed on the one egg. Golden, glistening. It seemed to be sparkling at him and him alone.

 Attachment placed his palms onto the peculiar egg‘s shell. It seemed... surprisingly thin. Instead of a robust, thick shell, it felt as though Casper could reach right through it, almost like tracing his finger tips over the see-through veil of rice paper.

 A part of him wanted to look at Remus.  He did not know why. At this point, it felt like instinct, maybe habit. In any case, he experienced the urge to look at the dark side. Yet, he refused it.

The egg first.

This, he mused, was his time. Although provided by his lovely partner, it was a moment for him alone and he wanted to value it - for the sake of himself, really.

 Almost as if following a deeply ingrained ritual, his fingers started to grasp at the egg, carefully cracking its top. His nails scraped off the thin layer of colour. Golden fractures of colour split off of the egg.

Soon enough, the little mountain top of gold was melting away under Casper‘s magical hands. He worked until he could see enough and even reach into the inner of the egg. A little bag was inside of it. Dark.

Not candy.

 Casper‘s fingers brushed over the fabric, trying to take in which candy it could be until it occurred to him that it actually was no candy at all. It was too smooth, not sticky enough. It was light, breezy. It did not feel air-tight at all.

 He wanted to ask what this was, but his eyes were focused, his brain not even considering the idea of opening up his mouth in order to even try and produce a single sound. All he did was to open the bag and insert one hand.

The inside was.. odd? To the touch at least, he felt nothing but weirdness. Somehow, it was several textures at the same time. It was somewhat gooey, yet also firm. Was that slime over something?

 His eyebrows narrowed together, nearly meeting above his nose.

 He pushed his thumb into the item.

It felt very much solid, covered in something like grime.

 Attachment gently retreated his hand. He had his eyes closed. He had not even realised it, but he must have done it during the time of him trying to feel just what it was. He was guessing mentally, was attempting to understand it all.

When his eyes fluttered open, his freckles were a faded, peach colour. He blinked a few times.

 The item was not just small enough to fit into his palm, it also seemed to reach around his palm. It was spheric, hollow inside. His hand fit right through.

He looked properly at it, squinting ever so carefully. The line around his hand was made of interwoven tentacles. Green goo was dripping from it. It was translucent, yet did not feel disgusting. It was smooth and silky, instead of sticky and stranger.

It felt as natural as water to his hand but did not stain him or wet his fingers.

 “Wh-“

 Now, his mouth was moving. But he stopped himself at once.

He did not know what to say. He wanted to say so much, wanted to what this was. His brain assembled the pieces, slowly solving the puzzle one object at a time.

 This was the most Remus gift ever, for the most Casper person in the world.

Attachment scratched at his friendship bracelet. He had made them all, for any side Thomas had, any side he knew and liked. He had made them and sometimes, the others did not even wear theirs.

Not once person had returned the favour, had given him a similar treatment.

 “Thank you..“

 He took a really deep breath.

His body was in Remus‘ arms all of a sudden, his body moving into its right place right by his partner.

 This piece of weird string, eternally dripping its weird, unaffecting goo, was a symbol of so much more. The tentacles never-ending, never stopping. It was snug against his ankle soon. Remus‘ hands hugged the root of his foot, gently squeezing it before putting it back down onto the bottom of the nest.

 The first eggs started to crack around them. Little blocks of Turkish delights, flush and warm in colour were starting to jump around them, up and down. They made funky, wet sounds.

Slurp, Smorf.

 They shared a giggle.

This time, Ree let the other cry.

 When Remus curled up in bed, Casper was with him, a little ball of ducky onesie in his arms, a trail of crystal sparkles over his cheeks, stopping right above the curl of his smile.

[where-s-all-blue]

Modern Hospital AU

Strawhats

In this AU, the Straw Hat Crew is a small gang led by Monkey D. Luffy. The crew isn't actually interested in causing trouble, they just want their own turf, which just so happens to be The former Turf of one Gol D. Roger.

Monkey D. Luffy

Young man who wishes to claim the old turf of Gol D. Roger's gang.

Lives with his two older brothers.

He's the leader of his own little gang, but nobody knows how or why he managed to become the boss.

He's just the type of person you want to see what they'll do next and then 24 hours later you're attached.

Likes Law and is 100% convinced that he and Ace would make a nice couple.

Sends Law memes and cursed images constantly.

Chaotic dumbass/sunshine gremlin.

Roronoa Zoro

Second in command of the group.

Is partially deaf.

Looks like could kill you, might either actually kill you or give you a head pat.

Is the big bro™ of the group.

He's there to stop Luffy from doing anything stupid unless he wants to see where it goes, in which case he's there to stop the person trying to stop Luffy.

Casually sweeps in to eat your fridge empty and drink your booze.

Vinsmoke Sanji

Can use sign language (Reiju taught him as the helmet their father forced him to use made talking hard).

Only uses them in order to communicate with Zoro and/or Zeff as both of them has trouble hearing.

Works at Zeff's, which is considered to be the grey area where all gangs can eat in without being attacked.

Is arguably the kindest person you'll ever meet.

While he has declared himself as the protector of women, he also treats men with kindness.

He later on boardens this into protecting the minorities without caring about their gender.

Usopp

He's known as the eagle-eyed sniper thanks to his ability to stay accurate with his shots no matter the distance.

He prefers to use rooftops as his road, it makes it a lot easier for him to observe and see where his targets are, plus go unnoticed by most people.

Works at the local music store, sometimes being rented as the DJ to parties.

He has connections everywhere thanks to his ability to read and adapt to the way other people act.

Nami

Former receptionist at the Arlong Park Hotel, which was located in the centre of the turf owned by the Arlong Crew. Currently works for Zeff as a receptionist.

Sometimes helps Zeff sort out accounts and do the inventory, the old man is delighted to have her as Sanji can't do math to save his life.

Similar to Usopp, she has connections everywhere.

She also does heists as a cat burglar/phantom thief.

Master of disguises.

Tony Tony Chopper

Intern at the hospital, and he's absolutely terrified of Law.

Currently, his job only includes watching how Marco works, take notes, help the man and to make coffee.

His goal is to become the best doctor ever, he hasn't yet chosen a specialisation.

In this AU, he's a teenaged human boy, who collects cute reindeer mascot merch. The said reindeer mascot is called Toni.

Nico Robin

An archaeologist turned museum guard.

Joined Luffy's gang because she wanted to get back into the thrill of adventure.

She might use the tunnels/catacombs under the city to move around, nobody can prove it though.

Franky

An entrepreneur who builds anything you need. Need a house? He'll do it. In need of a ship? You got it boss. Need an emergency escape pod that'll launch you to the opposite side of that planet where nobody can find you? Give him a minute.

His personal record of getting anything built is twenty-four and a half seconds. It was a bridge. Very detailed bridge.

Takes great pride in his craft.

Sometimes complains about the thing not being 100% like he want them to.

Brook

Local skeleton man becomes accidentally Beyoncé.

All he did was play a guitar someone left on the graveyard and someone heard him. They now call it the raveyard.

Loves cats, has complex feelings towards dogs.

"Please return my feemur Mister Dog".

Jinbe

Has no idea how the hell he ended up joining the Strawhats, but he's now attached and he ain't leaving.

Funky uncle™.

Is friends with the majority of WB group.

Can walk anywhere without being attacked because everyone knows that he's technically under the protection of the WB himself.

Often gives Ace hints on how to charm Law. They don't work. Because Jinbe has no idea how humans romance.

[atinyrabbit]

love/hate songs

Since 8tracks is messed up and playmoss is gonna disappear and Spotify doesn't have many songs, I’m posting some of my playlists here. This is a list of songs about love/hate relationships for pairings. Enemies to lovers, tsundere personalities, hero/villain couplings, opposites attract, loving someone you know you shouldn't. This list is several years old so the songs are older and kinda ‘scene.’

Major trigger warnings for the lyrics of these songs. Some songs have violent lyrics. This playlist romanticizes conflict.

Song list under read more:

Love to Hate You - Erasure Nicotine - Panic! at the Disco Don't Let It Go To Your Head - Fefe Dobson Your Love Will Kill Me - Daniel Lavoie Bruises and Bitemarks (Remix) - Good With Grenades October & April - The Rasmus feat. Anette Olzon Violator - Son of Rust Sick Amore - El Creepo Disgusting - Ke$ha Dangerous - Depeche Mode Oleander - Mother Mother Fear & Delight - The Correspondents Love is a Suicide - Natalia Kills Sex as a Weapon - Pat Benatar I'd Love To Kill You - Katie Melua Before I Ever Met You - Banks Rent - Pet Shop Boys Helpless When She Smiles - Backstreet Boys Holy - Zolita Strangelove - Depeche Mode I Won't Say (I'm In Love) - Susan Egan Can't Feel My Face - The Weeknd Only You - Ellie Goulding Devil Devil - Milck Livin' In A World Without You - The Rasmus  

Hate Love - Adelitas Way Suddenly - Peter Heppner Sick and Twisted Affair - My Darkest Days Radioactive Mirrors - Amazinglyjon Dangerous - Cascada Violence (Club Mix) - Grimes & i_o This Is Love - Air Traffic Controller Make Hate To Me - Citizen Soldier Gently Break It - Beck Pete Portrait of a Female - Cruel Youth This Could Be Love - Alkaline Trio Lie, Lie, Lie - Myra You Give Love a Bad Name - Bon Jovi I Only Wanna Be With You - Volbeat Maybe You're Not the Worst Thing Ever - Cast of Galavant I've Got You Under My Skin - Seether Human - Oh Land Le Bien Qui Fait Mal - Mozart, L'Opera Rock Can't Help Falling In Love [Light x Dark Remix] - feat. Brooke Tommee Profitt Fell For You - Green Day Stupid Grin - Dragonette Broken - Lauren Hoffman Take Me to Church - Hozier Super Psycho Love - Simon Curtis Whip - Mr.Kitty   Get You Off - Fefe Dobson Crazy Girl - Ke$ha Vice - POP ETC Cannibal - Silversun Pickups Rest in Peace - Original Cast of Buffy The Vampire Slayer Hem of Your Garment - Cake Tear You Apart - She Wants Revenge Truth Or Dare - Marianas Trench We Sink - CHVRCHES Gingerbread Man - Melanie Martinez You Stupid Girl - Framing Hanley   Die For You - Red F*cking Boyfriend - The Bird & The Bee Mean - Nicole Dollanganger Must Be Crazy for Me - Melissa Etheridge That Girl - Alexz Johnson FMLYHM - Seether Bad Romance - Halestorm Aquarius - Within Temptation Flirt (With Me) - Zeromancer I'm With Stupid - Pet Shop Boys Stop This Song (Love Sick Melody) - Paramore Trying Not To Love You - Nickelback Kill for You - Zolita A Love Like War - All Time Low You Need Me - SWANS Hatef--k - The Bravery Bottled Affection - Cold War Kids True Love - ThouShaltNot Terrible Thing - Ag I Can't Decide - Scissor Sisters Exit Wounds - The Romanovs Gun - Chvrches Every Breath You Take - Chase Holfelder Whole Lotta Love - Smash Mouth Bloodsport - Sneaker Pimps XXX - Imran-C Bitter Rivals - Sleigh Bells Destruction Of Us - Mr.Kitty Teeth - 5 Seconds of Summer Love Me Dead - Ludo Paralyzed - The Used River - Bishop Briggs Neon - VERSA Sucker For Pain - Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa & Imagine Dragons I'm Your Villain - Franz Ferdinand Beautiful Monster - Ne-Yo I Own You - Birgit Let Me Be Your Armor - ASSEMBLAGE 23 Perfect Enemy - t.A.T.u. Straight for the Knife - Sia One More Night - Maroon 5 I Hate You (Don't Leave Me) - Ke$ha The Moth - Aimee Mann Mad Love - The Veronicas Toxic (Acoustic Britney Spears Cover) - Johnny Goth Bad Intentions - Digital Daggers Shut Up - Nick Lachey Soldier - Bitter Ruin First Bad Habit - Vanessa Hudgens In The Darkness - Dead By Sunrise Tearin' Up My Heart - *NSYNC You'll Be Back - Original Broadway Cast of Hamilton & Jonathan Groff Crazy In A Good Way - VERIDIA Combat Baby - Metric In Bluebeard's Castle - Unwoman When Doves Cry - Prince State of Seduction - Digital Daggers Whataya Want From Me - Adam Lambert Broken Inside - Broken Iris Murder (feat. Minx, Chilled) - Boyinaband Why Do You Love Me - Charlotte Lawrence Follow You Home - Nickelback Love To See You Cry - Enrique Iglesias Impressed - Natalie Imbruglia Die For You - Megan McCauley Your Kind (Speak to Me) - Danger Radio Tyrant - The Bravery Violent Games - Polica Toxicated Love - NEO Nemeses (feat. John Roderick) - Jonathan Coulton Miserable - Lit Running From My Shadow - The Velvet Teaparty Barricade - Stars Trouble (Stripped) - Halsey Brutal Hearts - Bedouin Soundclash Desire - Meg Myers Sticks And Stones - The Pierces Just the Girl - The Click Five Himerus and Eros - The Spill Canvas Blood - In This Moment I'm Insane - Myah Marie Fiction (Dreams In Digital) - Orgy Whore - In This Moment Monster - Ryan Adames Foundations - Kate Nash Only When I Lose Myself - Depeche Mode Hatchet - Archive The Beginning of the Twist - The Futureheads Change - Deftones Trust Me - Marc Senter Love Me Hate Kiss Me Kill Me (Scndl Remix) - Fukkk Offf Big Bad Handsome Man - Imelda May The Mighty Fall - Fall Out Boy My Obsession - Cinema Bizarre Stitches - Orgy Miss Kiss Kiss Bang - Alex Swings Oscar Sings! Sweet Dreams - Beyonce Fuel To The Fire - The Maine Closer (Nine Inch Nails Cover) - Niki Barr Band Clueless - Orla Gartland Devil Woman - Cliff Richard Hatefuck - Motionless In White I Love You But I Don’t Like You - Molly Moore Overpower Thee - AUF dER MAUR Get Down On Your Knees And Tell Me You Love Me - All Time Low Post Blue - Placebo Genghis Khan - Miike Snow Poison - Alice Cooper I Know I'm A Wolf - Young Heretics Little Toy Gun - honeyhoney I Miss the Misery - Halestorm Dirty Sticky Floors (radio mix) - Dave Gahan Clarity - Zedd I Get A Kick Out Of You - Frank Sinatra I Hate Myself for Loving You - Joan Jett and the Blackhearts Die for You - Otherwise Labyrinth - Oomph! Black Black Heart - David Usher I Want to Destroy Something Beautiful - Josh Woodward I'm a Priest - Daniel Lavoie You Need Me - SWANS Afraid of the Dark - Phildel Virus - Ryan Adames I Wanna Be Your Dog (remix) - Emilie Simon Hello Goodbye - The Beatles Sarcasm (Album Version) - Get Scared Use Me - Hinder Poison & Wine - The Civil Wars Pretty When You Cry - VAST Tainted Love - Soft Cell Scream - Avenged Sevenfold Think About It - Danger Radio Gallery Piece - Of Montreal Bang Bang Bang Bang - Sohodolls Little Girls - Say Anything I Hate Everything About You - Three Days Grace Love Runs Out - OneRepublic Disarm - Smashing Pumpkins Hit Me Like a Man - The Pretty Reckless Bang Bang (feat. Adam Levine) - K'naan Hurts So Good - John Mellencamp Addicted - Kelly Clarkson Whiplash - FEMM Paralyzer - Finger Eleven Crime - Temposhark Misery Loves Company - Emilie Autumn It Was Good for You Too - Marian Call Price Of Company - The White Tie Affair Burn! - Kobra And The Lotus I Love My Lawyer - Ofelia K I Want Blood - empires (I Always Kill) The Things I Love (ft. The Real Tuesday Weld) - Claudia Brucken Misery (Cutmore Radio) - Maroon 5 Fire and Ice - Pat Benatar I Lust You - Neon Neon Pistol Whipped - Marilyn Manson Bitches Brew - Crosses A Formidable Marinade - Mikelangelo And The Black Sea Gentlemen Control - Puddle of Mudd Scary Love - Skye Sweetnam Loveyouhateyou - Sad Robot Untangle Me - Snow Ghosts A Little Taste - Skyler Stonestreet E.V.O.L - Marina and the Diamonds   (You're the) Devil in Disguise - Elvis Presley Shut Up & Kiss - Me Orianthi Cool for Chaos - Nostalghia Oyeme - Enrique Iglesias I Hate You - Sick Puppies GirlShapedLoveDrug - Gomez You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk - Pet Shop Boys Need You Like A Drug - Zeromancer Werewolf - Cat Power Bathwater - No Doubt Bad Dog - Neon Hitch Guns And Horses - Ellie Goulding Rev 22-20 - Puscifer Won't You Please Be Nice - Nellie McKay The Perfect Drug - Nine Inch Nails Until The Day I Die - Story of the Year Womanizer - Britney Spears Build Me Up Buttercup - The Foundations I Think I Love You David Cassidy Stalkers - Mindless Self Indulgence   Kill Me Every Time - Blue Stahli Preface - FKA twigs Every You Every Me - Placebo Want - Disturbed Spit It Out - IAMX Destroy Me - Mr Kitty My Sweet Prince - Placebo Psycho - Imelda May Monster - Meg Myers Figured You Out - Nickelback Suffocated Love - Tricky Satisfy Me One More Time - Frank Sinatra This Love - Maroon 5 Miss Jackson (feat. Lolo) - Panic! At The Disco Fire and Ice - Pat Benatar Every Other Time Lyte - Funky Ones How Do You Love Someone - Ashley Tisdale Poison - Gin Wigmore Bitter and Sick - One Two The Outsider - Marina & the Diamonds True Love (feat Lily Rose Cooper) - Pink Bad Boy - Cascada Irresistible - Temposhark Painkiller - The Queenstons Born to Die / Russian Roulette - Amazinglyjon Like Sugar - Matchbox Twenty Mad About You - Hooverphonic Stupify - Disturbed Problems - Mother Mother What Is Love - Haddaway Animal - The Cab Marionette - Antonia I Hate You But I Love You - Russian Red Carve A Name - Mother Mother Criminal - Britney Spears Danger - Hilary Duff Fell in Love w/an Android - Simon Curtis Demon Lover - Róisín Murphy Always - Saliva Too Close - Alex Clare Little of Your Time - Maroon 5 Sex and Violence - Scissor Sisters Electric Storm - Delta Goodrem Black widow - Susanne Sundfør Dangerous Kind - Rasmus You've Really Got a Hold on Me - The Miracles Over and Over - Three Days Grace Devour - Marilyn Manson Nature of Inviting - IAMX The Odd Couple - Weezer Hurt Me Harder - Zolita Terrible Love - The National Mad Love - Jojo Boomerang - Reliant K Bad News - Sleeper Agent I Was An Island (EP Version) - Allison Weiss Rock Bottom - Hailee Steinfeld You’re the One That I Want - Lo Fang Poison - Rita Ora Kill For You - Skylar Grey ft Eminem Wouldn't Be Love - Ritual Hate Me - Nico Collins Irresistible - Fall Out Boy I Love You... I'll Kill You - Enigma

[pearlposts]

The Best of Soft Rock: More Than A Feeling

 SONG TITLE                                ARTIST       TIME

Lowdown                                     Boz Scaggs    5:18

Whenever I Call You “Friend”  Kenny Loggins    3:18

Piano Man                                    Billy Joel         5:40

Longer                                     Dan Fogelberg    3:18

Miracles                                Jefferson Starship  3:33

Lost in Love                              Air Supply          3:55

More Than I Can Say              Leo Sayer            3:39

Rosanna                                         Toto              4:03

More Than a Feeling                  Boston              3:26

Take It on the Run               REO Speedwagon  3:37

Make Me Lose Control           Eric Carmen         4:48

Total Eclipse of the Heart       Bonnie Tyler         5:35

Living Inside Myself              Gino Vannelli          4:25

The Flame                            Cheap Trick            4:50

Sara                                        Starship               4:23

SONG TITLE                                  ARTIST                   TIME

Livin’ Thing                         Electric Light Orchestra        3:34

This Is It                                   Kenny Loggins                 3:59

Africa                                                Toto                          4:59

Eye In The Sky                      Alan Parsons Project          4:35

Look What You’ve Done to Me       Boz Scaggs                5:18

You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling Daryl Hall & John Oates  4:36

All Out Of Love                              Air Supply                    4:03

Can’t Fight This Feeling           REO Speedwagon            4:55

The Search Is Over                        Survivor                       4:14

All by Myself                               Eric Carmen                    7:11

Without You                               Harry Nilsson                   3:21

Year of the Cat                           Al Stewart                        6:38

Dust in the Wind                         Kansas                            3:27

Vincent                                    Don McLean                       4:01

Please Come to Boston         David Loggins                     4:09

SONG TITLE                                    ARTIST                                  TIME

Baby I’m-a Want You                           Bread                                   2:32

A Horse with No Name                       America                                 4:09

Diamond Girl                                    Seals & Crofts                          4:04

I Saw the Light                                 Todd Rundgren                         3:01

Blinded by the Light                Manfred Mann's Earth Band              3:51

It Might Be You                               Stephen Bishop                          4:14

She’s Gone/Sara Smile/Rich Girl        Hall & Oates                           3:29

Minute By Minute                         The Doobie Brothers                     3:28

Sentimental Lady                                Bob Welch                              3:46

How Much I Feel                                 Ambrosia                                 4:44

Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime The Korgis                               4:12

If You Leave Me Now                          Chicago                                   3:57

Sailing                                        Christopher Cross                             4:17

Waiting For A Girl Like You             Foreigner                                     4:52

Against All Odds                            Phil Collins                                    3:25

SONG TITLE                                    ARTIST                                              TIME

Ride Like the Wind                        Christopher Cross                                  4:32

Saturday in the Park                          Chicago                                              3:57

Sister Golden Hair                              America                                              3:20

You’re So Vain                                Carly Simon                                            4:18

If                                                          Bread                                                  2:35

Ooh Baby Baby                              Linda Ronstadt                                        2:42

Him                                                Rupert Holmes                                         3:40

You Are the Woman                         Firefall                                                    2:45

All I Need                                       Jack Wagner                                             3:32

Walking In Memphis                       Marc Cohn                                                4:19

Making Love Out Of Nothing At All  Air Supply                                                5:01

I Want to Know What Love Is        Foreigner                                                   5:00

The Living Years                    Mike + the Mechanics                                       5:33

Drive                                               The Cars                                                   3:57

One More Night                           Phil Collins                                                   4:48

I’ll Be There                             The Escape Club                                             4:57

SONG TITLE                                                     ARTIST                                TIME

Summer Breeze                                           Seals & Crofts                             3:26

Key Largo                                                     Bertie Higgins                             3:19

Make It with You                                                 Bread                                    3:12

Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?     Chicago                               3:22

Dream Weaver                                           Gary Wright                                  4:18

Hello It’s Me                                            Todd Rundgren                                3:52

Sara Smile                                      Daryl Hall and John Oates                       3:12

Chuck E.’s In Love                             Rickie Lee Jones                                  3:28

Black Water                                  The Doobie Brothers                                 4:16

Still the One                                             Orleans                                           3:56

Hurt So Bad                                      Linda Ronstadt                                      3:18

Cool Change                                  Little River Band                                      4:08

Biggest Part Of Me                            Ambrosia                                              5:27

Never Be the Same                    Christopher Cross                                       4:41

You Can Do Magic                           America                                                 3:57

SONG TITLE                                    ARTIST                                                TIME

The Guitar Man                                 Bread                                                   3:45

Tin Man                                           America                                                  3:27

Wildfire                               Michael Martin Murphey                                     4:50

25 or 6 to 4                                  Chicago                                                     4:52

Lotta Love                               Nicolette Larson                                             2:43

What a Fool Believes         The Doobie Brothers                                          2:27

Steal Away                              Robbie Dupree                                              3:31

You’re the Only Woman              Ambrosia                                                   4:22

Sexy Eyes                                Dr. Hook                                                       3:00

Kiss You All Over                       Exile                                                           3:30

Even the Nights Are Better   Air Supply                                                       3:59

Arthur’s Theme                  Christopher Cross                                             3:55

Dance with Me                       Orleans                                                         3:21

Beautiful in My Eyes            Joshua Kadison                                              4:10

Black Velvet                        Alannah Myles                                                 4:48

SONG TITLE                        ARTIST                                                         TIME

California Dreamin’      The Mamas & The Papas                                       2:54

Kokomo                        The Beach Boys                                                     3:36

Ventura Highway             America                                                               3:32

Listen to the Music      The Doobie Brothers                                               3:27

I Can See Clearly Now     Johnny Nash                                                     2:43

It Never Rains in Southern California  Albert Hammond                             3:38

Thank You For Being A Friend            Andrew Gold                                   4:45

Everything I Own                                    Bread                                           3:07

When Will I Be Loved                     Linda Ronstadt                                     2:10

I Keep Forgettin’                         Michael McDonald                                    3:41

Baby Come Back                               Player                                                2:16

Circle in the Sand                       Belinda Carlisle                                         4:27

Hold On                                     Wilson Phillips                                            3:41

I’ll Be Over You                              Toto                                                        3:50

Just the Way It Is, Baby          The Rembrandts                                           4:09

 SONG TITLE                            ARTIST                                                     TIME

We Don’t Talk Anymore       Cliff Richard                                                      4:13

Baker Street                       Gerry Rafferty                                                     2:13

When Your in Love with a Beautiful Woman  Dr. Hook                                  2:56

Fool (If You Think It’s Over)       Chris Rea                                                     3:33

You’re No Good                     Linda Ronstadt                                                 3:46

Reminiscing                        Little River Band                                                 3:17

The Air That I Breathe           The Hollies                                                       4:12

Sad Eyes                            Robert John                                                        1:55

I Go Crazy                          Paul Davis                                                           5:23

Hearts                                Marty Balin                                                           4:19

These Dreams                     Heart                                                                  4:17

Jessie                           Joshua Kadison                                                         4:22

Release Me                   Wilson Phillips                                                          3:54

The Doctor                 The Doobie Brothers                                                    3:45

SONG TITLE                    ARTIST                                                               TIME

Maggie May                Rod Stewart                                                               5:15

Higher and Higher      Rita Coolidge                                                             4:01

Whatcha Gonna Do?  Pablo Cruise                                                              4:15

I’m in You                   Peter Frampton                                                           4:11

Drift Away                     Dobie Gray                                                              3:56

More Love                   Kim Carnes                                                               3:37

Babe                             Styx                                                                         4:01

Into The Night        Benny Mardones                                                            4:31

It’s a Heartache       Bonnie Tyler                                                                 3:45

While You See a Chance   Steve Winwood                                                 4:06

Show Me the Way       Peter Frampton                                                        2:30

Fooled Around and Fell in Love    Elvin Bishop                                           4:37

Lonesome Loser           Little River Band                                                     3:54

I’m Not in Love                10 CC                                                                    6:07

I Just Wanna Stop         Gino Vannelli                                                           3:37

SONG TITLE                    ARTIST                                                              TIME

Daniel                          Elton John                                                                3:53

I Need You                   America                                                                    3:07

I Can Dream About You    Dan Hartman                                                       4:11

Escape                      Rupert Holmes                                                            3:54

I’d Really Love to See You Tonight  England Dan & John Ford Coley          2:38

On and On                 Stephen Bishop                                                          3:01

Tempted                        Squeeze                                                                  4:01

The Things We Do For Love   10 CC                                                           3:31

The Best of Times           Styx                                                                      4:18

Cry                       Godley and Creme                                                          3:55

Your Wildest Dreams   The Moody Blues                                                    4:51

Higher Love                 Steve Winwood                                                       5:46

More Than Words           Extreme                                                               5:36

I’d Do Anything for Love    Meat Loaf                                                          5:17

Do You Feel Like We Do      Peter Frampton                                              7:20

SONG TITLE                      ARTIST                                                          TIME

So In to You             Atlanta Rhythm Section                                             4:23

Fly, Robin, Fly           Silver Connection                                                     3:50

Sentimental Lady        Bob Welch                                                              3:46

Show And Tell             Al Wilson                                                                 3:29

Wild Flower             The New Birth                                                             3:59

Delta Dawn             Helen Reddy                                                               3:09

American Pie          Don McLean                                                                8:35

Rock Me Gently      Andy Kim                                                                     3:29

Go All The Way      The Raspberries                                                          3:22

Mr. Big Stuff            Jean Knight                                                                 2:49

Oh Babe, What Would You Say     Hurricane Smith                                   3:26

Hooked On A Feeling     Blue Swede                                                         2:53

 Having My Baby           Paul Anka                                                             2:33

Last Song                     Edward Bear                                                          3:13

The Streak                   Ray Stevens                                                           3:18

SONG TITLE                  ARTIST                                                               TIME

Rhinestone Cowboy   Glen Campbell                                                         3:16

Too Late To Turn Back Now  Cornelius Brothers And Sister Rose             3:20

Boogie Fever             The Sylvers                                                              3:30

Reminiscing            Little River Band                                                         3:17

I Just Want To Celebrate    Rare Earth                                                      2:54

One Bad Apple           The Osmonds                                                         2:43

Have You Never Been Mellow   Olivia Newton-John                                 3:33

Magic                            Pilot                                                                      3:05

Boogie Oogie Oogie     A Taste of Honey                                                  3:38

Right Back Where We Started From   Maxine Nightingale                        3:15

Sad Eyes                        Robert John                                                        1:55

Gonna Fly Now                Bill Conti                                                            2:48

My Sharona                  The Knack                                                            4:02

You Sexy Thing          Hot Chocolate                                                        4:05

Puppy Love               Donny Osmond                                                       3:06

SONG TITLE                 ARTIST                                                              TIME

Love Train                  The O'Jays                                                              2:58

Knock Three Times     Dawn                                                                      2:55

Brandy                    Looking Glass                                                             3:04

Little Willy                  Sweet                                                                       3:12

Baby Don’t Get Hooked on Me    Mac Davis                                              3:06

Take Me Home, Country Roads    John Denver                                         3:13

It Never Rains in Southern California   Albert Hammond                           3:38

Brand New Key                Melanie                                                              2:26

Come and Get Your Love       Redbone                                                      3:32

More. More, More (Part 1)      Andrea True Connection                              3:02

I Can See Clearly Now         Johnny Nash                                                  2:43

Everybody Plays the Fool     The Main Ingredient                                       3:22

Indian Reservation             Paul Revere & The Raiders                              2:52

The Cover of “Rolling Stone”   Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show                2:55

When Will I See You Again      The Three Degrees                                     3:00

SONG TITLE                           ARTIST                                                      TIME

Rich Girl                    Daryl Hall and John Oates                                        2:23

Lady Marmalade                    LaBelle                                                         3:21

Best of My Love              The Emotions                                                      3:41

Fire                             The Pointer Sisters                                                  3:28

Miracles                        Jefferson Starship                                                 3:33

You Make Me Feel Like Dancing    Leo Sayer                                            2:51

Here You Come Again         Dolly Parton                                                   2:58

Disco Lady                        Johnnie Taylor                                                  4:25

Saturday Night                Bay City Rollers                                                  2:56

Rock On                           David Essex                                                      3:26

Wildfire                  Michael Martin Murphey                                              4:50

You Take My Breath Away   Rex Smith                                                    3:15

I Go Crazy                      Paul Davis                                                         5:23

Stumblin’ In        Suzi Quatro and Chris Norman                                      3:31

Torn Between Two Lovers    Mary MacGregor                                         3:44

SONG TITLE                      ARTIST                                                          TIME

Bad, Bad Leroy Brown     Jim Croce                                                         3:00

Don’t Pull Your Love     Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds                          2:41

Love Will Keep Us Together  Captain and Tennille with Neil Sedaka        3:24

Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song  B.J. Thomas             3:22

She’s A Lady                 Tom Jones                                                           2:51

How Do You Do?       Mouth & MacNeal                                                   4:07

Black and White        Three Dog Night                                                      3:51

Escape                      Rupert Holmes                                                        3:54

Drift Away                 Dobie Gray                                                              3:56

It’s a Love Beat     The DeFranco Family                                                 3:09

I’m in You               Peter Frampton                                                          4:11

The Candy Man     Sammy Davis, Jr.                                                      3:10

Spiders & Snakes   Jim Stafford                                                              3:05

Billy, Don’t Be A Hero  Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods                       3:40

The Morning After     Maureen McGovern                                                2:20

SONG TITLE                                   ARTIST                                          TIME

Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves          Cher                                               2:36

Maggie May                                Rod Stewart                                         5:15

Baby Come Back                            Player                                              2:16

I Just Wanna Stop                   Gino Vannelli                                           3:37

Jackie Blue                 Ozark Mountain Daredevils                                  3:37

Higher And Higher               Rita Coolidge                                              4:01

I’m Not in Love                           10 CC                                                   6:07

Y.M.C.A.                               Village People                                            3:45

Will It Go Round in Circles     Billy Preston                                              3:46

I Just Want to Be Your Everything   Andy Gibb                                        3:44

Do You Wanna Make Love        Peter McCann                                        4:01

Signs                            Five Man Electrical Band                                    4:02

Disco Duck                              Rick Dees                                                3:14

Montego Bay                       Bobby Bloom                                               2:55

If I Can’t Have You            Yvonne Elliman                                              3:00

SONG TITLE                         ARTIST                                                     TIME

Play That Funky Music      Wild Cherry                                                    3:16

One Toke Over the Line    Brewer & Shipley                                            3:21

Afternoon Delight          Starland Vocal Band                                           3:14

Life is a Rock                      Reunion                                                        3:31

I Can Help                         Billy Swan                                                       2:57

My Maria                       B.W. Stevenson                                                  2:31

Magnet and Steel            Walter Egan                                                     3:25

Beach Baby                    First Class                                                         2:42

The Rapper                   The Jaggerz                                                        2:45

Brother Louie                  Stories                                                               3:57

Precious and Few            Climax                                                              2:46

O-o-h Child               The 5 Stairsteps                                                      3:15

Playground in My Mind    Clint Holmes                                                     2:57

Put Your Hand In The Hand   Ocean                                                        2:53

Please Come to Boston    David Loggins                                                  4:09

SONG TITLE                      ARTIST                                                         TIME

Turn The Beat Around    Vicki Sue Robinson                                            3:24

Ring My Bell                     Anita Ward                                                        3:31

Sometimes When We Touch   Dan Hill                                                      2:22

Rose Garden               Lynn Anderson                                                      2:49

In The Summertime      Mungo Jerry                                                         3:37

Seasons in the Sun      Terry Jacks                                                           3:30

The Night Chicago Died   Paper Lace                                                       3:32

Rock The Boat            Hues Corporation                                                  3:09

Don’t Give Up on Us        David Soul                                                        3:39

Kung Fu Fighting         Carl Douglas                                                         3:17

Love Grows                Edison Lighthouse                                                  2:51

Sweet Mary              Wadsworth Mansion                                                 2:42

The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia   Vicki Lawrence                     3:36

TSOP             MFSB featuring the Three Degrees                                   3:35

Feelings                    Morris Albert                                                            3:45

[tisfan]

Earth Girls are Easy

@rarepairsevents

Prompt: #8 - Carol comes across a truly lost human on her travels. Darcy was just doing her job when the bifrost went off. Now they’re on the weirdest intergalactic road trip. Bonus points if: bed sharing while mutual pining on an alien planet.

Carol Danvers/Darcy Lewis

Tag: Meet awkward, earth girls in space

Summary - Carol gets contracted to give a Terran a lift home. Cons: the pay sucks, Quill is an asshole, and the Collector’s been giving the girl a place to stay. Pros: She’s damn cute.

“Vers!” Someone bellowed across the Promenade. 

Carol Danvers resisted the urge to immediately blast him. She’d been Vers for a mere six years with the Kree, and working under her own name -- or sometimes Captain Marvel, named after her Kree mentor and friend -- for almost twenty. You’d think some aliens would get the fucking memo already.

“Vers, hi, how are you?”

“Carol,” she said.

“What, no, my name’s Peter--”

“MY name is Carol.”

“Oh, right, okay, yeah, the-- the thing, with the Kree, yeah, you know, I really hate those guys,” Quill said.

“What do you want, asshole?”

“So, like you’re from Terra and I’m from Terra, and I thought, maybe, one Terran to the other, you could do me a little, tiny favor.”

“No.” That was easy. She started to walk away.

(more below the cut)

“Look, no, I’ll give you a cut,” Quill said. He was jogging to keep up with her, because her leave-me-the-fuck-alone stride was pretty damn fast. She had to give him credit for perseverance, but out of a perverse sense of humor, she kept walking until he was out of breath and sweating. He still hadn’t gone away.

“Of what?”

“The job,” Quill said. “Look, I got us a job, and then a really sweet opportunity fell into our laps and--”

“You already made a commitment and then something bigger came along, you can’t do both at the same time, even though you’ve already said you would, and now you’re hoping that I’m an idiot and I’ll do your first job for you, for half the price. Keep dreaming, Star Lord.”

“It’s an easy job,” Quill protested. “Look, you can have seventy percent, consider the other thirty a finder’s fee.”

“I’m gonna break your ‘finder’ right off and shove it someplace unpleasant if you put your hand on me, so don’t,” Carol said. “What’s the job?”

“Just drop this girl off on Terra, okay? She’s super lost.”

It had to be a girl, right? It couldn’t be some white male asshole lost in space that she wouldn’t feel a hint of guilt at neglecting. Carol sighed. “Where is she?”

“Great, you won’t regre--”

“Zzzt. Shut up. The only thing out of your mouth better be a location and the amount of units you’re going to be handing me. Otherwise, I’m gonna blast you into next week, and then you’ll miss out on both jobs.”

“She’s at the Collector’s,” Quill squeaked. “And fifteen Asgardian urus. She didn’t have units.”

“Urus will do,” Carol said, practically. Urus had a better trade value in some of the outer rim systems. “And what, do you not like her? Why leave her there?”

“You said not to talk!” And Quill smacked his faceplate down, clicked his rocket boots, and flew off like a slightly paranoid Dorothy Gale. Asshole. Honestly, Carol was never sure if Quill was an asshole on purpose just because it kept people from having expectations of him, or, if like, his emotional growth had gotten stunted at age eight.

Decided she didn’t care, Carol changed her trajectory just enough to be pointed in the general direction of the Collector’s. 

At least she was one of the few people who could just barge in on him. He wasn’t exactly afraid of her, but she wasn’t afraid of him, either. They were sort of, not quite, equals in a way where both of them thought they’d win if it came to a throw down, and neither of them disliked the other enough to try it.

“Hey Taneleer,” she bellowed, slipping lightly between the displays. “I hear you got a package for me?”

“Do I? I was just thinking I might keep her. Earthlings are so delicate, they just don’t survive very long.”

“Yeah, yeah, your coat is lovely by the way, where did you get it?” She pushed into Taneleer’s personal space. “Give me the girl.”

“Right, one human woman, coming right up--” the Collector said, brushing down his coat, which appeared to, in fact, be alive. Gross. “Miss Lewis, if you please. This is Captain Marvel. She’ll be taking you home.”

The woman who Taneleer coaxed out of the corner was pretty in a coffee-shop, slam poet, studying to be a CPA on the side, and volunteering at the dog shelter on the weekends.

Oh, I am in so much trouble.

“Miss Lewis,” Carol said. 

“Darcy, Darcy is fine, I’m-- yeah, nice to meet you.”

“You can call me Carol.”

Both Taneleer’s bushy eyebrows went up.

So much trouble.

*

“So, you’re a human,” Darcy said. Like when she was walking near Thor -- she never walked with Thor, Thor was a one man show, and sometimes he let other people accompany him -- she had to practically run to keep up. “Do I even want to know how you got to space?”

“I was kidnapped,” Captain Carol Marvel thingie said, not looking around. 

“Lot of that going around, that’s the same thing that Star Guy said, and I know Jane’s been to space a few times, but usually Thor takes her. It’d be nice, I think, if there were some humans who got to space by themselves, don’t you? I feel so-- unadvanced.”

“Humans are, compared to the larger galaxy,” Carol said, “rather primitive.”

“Fuck you. We have great margaritas,” Darcy sniffed. “Around here they have random varieties of ‘we distilled this shit next to our power core and it probably won’t kill you.’”

“I’ll give you that much,” Carol said. “I haven’t been to a decent bar in… well, probably longer than you’ve been alive.”

“You don’t look that much older than me,” Darcy said. She was, however, familiar with gods, and their age issues. Thor was something around fifteen hundred years old, or the rough equivalent of a soccer mom. Of course, by that notion, Loki was all of sixteen or so, and the more Darcy thought about that, the more logical it seemed. Loki had all the sense and restraint of an angry white boy with daddy issues and a gun, and the Asgardians did seem to be the primeval angry white boys.

“Looks can be deceiving,” Carol said, “although, not possibly as old as you’re now thinking. I was born on Earth in 1966, standard planetary time.”

“There is exactly no way you’re twenty years older than I am,” Darcy spluttered. “Not with an ass like that.”

Carol looked over her shoulder. “What’s wrong with my ass.”

“Not a damn thing,” Darcy said. “And I’ve seen Tony Stark up close, so believe me when I say, I know a fine ass when I see one.”

“Tony Stark? Is that supposed to mean something?”

“Iron Man? Earth’s greatest defender? How long have you been gone?”

“Since ‘89, with a brief visit in 1995 to deal with some alien issues.”

“We had aliens back in the 90s? Well, that explains some things,” Darcy said. Really, nothing surprised her anymore.

“Quill is half alien,” Carol said, “and his mom popped out that delightful ass in the eighties or thereabouts. So you’ve had aliens on Terra that I personally know about since the mid seventies. And the Asgardians were there centuries ago. Face it, little green men are a thing, and probably always have been.”

“What even is my reaction to that supposed to be?” Darcy demanded, trotting to catch up, because Carol had stopped listening and was striding off toward… well, Darcy hoped it was her ship, or something. She was used to it, though. Being left behind. Forgotten. She wasn’t very interesting, or very smart, or very beautiful. She was a mostly normal-thank-you-very-much human grad student who was going to have a lot of freaking college loans to pay off. Which was why she kept putting off actually graduating, because at least being Jane’s assistant paid some bills and kept her in kitchen and booze funds.

It also ended up with her being accidentally zotted to the other end of the galaxy when one of Jane’s experiments either went drastically wrong, or incredibly right. Hard to say, and she wouldn’t really know until she got home and found out of Jane had just popped off to a different party of the galaxy. And rest assured that Thor probably knew where she was and went after her. Which, it might not occur to them for a while that Darcy also needed to be rescued.

To be fair, Jane often managed to find trouble when she was out of line of sight, and getting popped of, she might have, for instance, immediately have stuck her pen into some swirly goo and gotten infected with Bad Space Things. You know, just saying.

Not like it had ever happened before.

“So,” she said, when she finally caught up, panting for breath, because, damn, in addition to having a killer ass, Carol also apparently had increased lung capacity. Well, Darcy might be able to make use of that if she was going to entertain the idea of getting funky with a space diva. And she just might consider it. “Sounds like you’ve been missing the bar scene for a while, and maybe a drink or two, and cheese sticks? Want to hit the Applebees when we get back? I mean, I know it’s basic and everything, but I don’t get paid all that often and their happy hour is--”

“Don’t you have fifteen Uru? At least?” Carol stopped walking and Darcy slammed into her, and they engaged in a little rocking back and forth before Carol steadied them out.

“Well, yeah,” Darcy said. “I’ve got hundreds of them, Thor gives them to us all the time for stuff. But there’s no exchange rate on Earth for god-money.”

“How many do you have with you?”

“A hundred or so,” Darcy hedged. She’d told Quill she only had twenty because he’d looked very… untrustworthy.

“Right, we’ll hit up the exchange on our way out of the port,” Carol said. “Minus my delivery fee, of course.”

“Of course. Does that mean yes to a date?”

“If you have a hundred uru, you could probably buy the bar,” Carol said. “So, yes. Date. sounds fun. Do they still do karaoke on Earth?”

“Yass, Queen,” Darcy said, holding her hand up to be high fived and after a moment, Carol seemed to recall the custom. “What’s the exchange rate?”

Carol swiped a few gestures over her wrist, popping up a display holograph, which Darcy would think was really cool if she wasn’t actually in Goddamn space and had seen some actual motherfreaking aliens, thanks very much. “About six and a half to one.”

“Six hundred dollar’s isn’t bad, but it’s hardly buying real estate--”

“Six and a half thousand. To one Uru. So, about half a million dollars, or so, after processing fees.”

Darcy almost stopped breathing. “I have hundreds of those things at home,” she squeaked.

“So, yeah. Date?”

“Date.” She could think about the rest of it later. Like, when she was writing a check to pay off her student loans.

fin 

A/n - in the book, Dorothy Gale had silver shoes, and she could use them to fly, which is what Carol is thinking of here.

Earth Girls are Easy is an 80s movie staring Jeff Goldblum, so... make of that what you will

[devilsknotrp]

Congratulations, Honey! You are accepted for the role of Mandy Silverman. This is another sample application for potential applicants to have a look at. You’ll notice that this is quite a long application, but that’s just how I write. You can do whatever you like with yours! If you have any questions about this application or any characters with a connection to Mandy, don’t hesitate to let me know.

OUT OF CHARACTER

Name: Honey Age: Twenty five Pronouns: She/her Timezone: GMT+11 Activity estimation: I essentially work full time and have several obligations, but this group is so tightly organised and planned that I’m confident in participating regularly on the dashboard and as an admin! My admin duties will always take precedence but I will be able to reply to threads several times a week. Triggers: (REDACTED)

IN CHARACTER: BASICS

Full name: Amanda “Mandy” Silverman Age (DD/MM/YYY): Thirty (02/03/1966) - Pisces (Sun), Virgo (Rising), Cancer (Moon) Gender: Cisgender female Pronouns: She/her Sexuality: Homosexual homoromantic Occupation: Adult Education Coordinator Connection to Victim: Mandy did not know the Goode family. She knew of them in the way all newcomers to Devil’s Knot are known: through rumor and glimpses in the Piggly Wiggly parking lot. Mandy had little to do with Linda; she’d seen David and Beth at school, when she’d gone in to meet Mary after work; but she’d never met Brian at all. Alibi: Mandy was at home that Saturday working on a craft project. She ran out of glue at around three, then walked into town to go to the craft store, where she spent a few dollars too many on a crocheting kit. She decided to pick up some coffee and doughnuts then walked back home, where she stayed for the rest of the day.  Faceclaim: Elizabeth Olsen

WRITING SAMPLE

 This is a self para written for the Mandy in 1984.

The Datsun.

It was such a shit little car. Really, it was. Sandy’s miscellaneous paraphernalia littered the dashboard. Her dad’s manuals and work shit stuffed beneath the front seats. Pete had stamped grubby hands all over the back windows - people asked them all the time if they had a dog. “No,” Mandy replied grimly, hoisting Pete up on one hip. “Just a kid.” The motor turned over more often than she could count, which would put her father, ever the optimist, into an agitated but vaguely amused mood. Him, hunched over the wheel, grinding the key, revving the engine, If I… could just... Then, Sandy, cranky and likely hungover, snapping from the passenger side: I told you we needed it serviced! They had about a thousand tapes in the center console, most of them in the wrong cases, with a mix that spanned from Bob Dylan to Pete’s ABC children’s songs. Them, zooming along a damp highway, rain splattering the glass, her dad cheerfully singing, The wheels on the bus go ‘round and ‘round! as Pete laughed in delight. Mandy tries to forget that she’d eventually lose her temper and shout, Can we turn this stupid shit off? as her mother mumbled, Amen, behind enormous sunglasses and a gas station Slurpee.

The Datsun, which was rotting away at the police station right this second. Mandy hasn’t asked when they’ll get it back. It’s evidence, that’s it. She has her bike or her skates and Sandy doesn’t leave the house unless she has a ride (Aisha pulling up front and blasting the horn; Sandy, clattering around gathering her things, muttering, Where’s my goddamn…). Their family car is nothing more than a shell, a marker in the Pete and Phillip Silverman’s trail to murder. Kind of like a pit stop. Wrappers marked with imaginary blood stains littering the cab floor. That clean-sour smell of nervous sweat. Her Dad was always a sweater, mopping his brow and fanning himself, Jeez, it’s hot today. Mandy kind of loved that about him. How when she was looking for him in a crowd, she just had to search for the slightly damp white button-down, the back of his nearly-balding head. His hair was soft, like down, and Pete’s was too. Two twin sandy blonde heads sitting in front of the television, Pete curled into his father’s side, Phillip slowly stroking back those baby-shampoo-soft curls.

So, yeah. The Datsun. Scene of family road trips and midnight grocery store emergencies. A wreck that managed to limp from point A to B, with her dad faithfully in the front, eager to drive her to friends’ houses or cheer practice or a competition two towns over. She still thinks about winding the windows down as far as they could go when they were on the highway. Her dad would look over, catch her eye, and grin in a way that made her think of him as a teenager, a young man, that cheerful abandon of youth that was infectious as a whisper, goose-bumps prickling her arms.

“Shall we see how fast this baby can go?” He’d yell, and Mandy would laugh and laugh: “Go, Dad, go!”

ANYTHING ELSE?

Here is my Pinterest board for Mandy (featuring ‘84 and ‘96 boards, because I’m that kind of person), and her account can be found here.

HEADCANONS

Mandy works at the Community Centre as an Adult Education Coordinator. Which is just a fancy way of saying she organises craft classes for senior citizens. Seriously. Mandy picked up the job mainly to get Sandy off her back. After commuting to Lansing to attend community college, her decision to drop out and live and work in Devil’s Knot was met, unsurprisingly, with a pointedly raised eyebrow and a loud slurp from a glass of wine. And Mandy knew, she just damn knew, that if she stuck around her childhood home any longer, she and Sandy would end up killing each other. The job isn’t taxing: she works a few days a week, has a desk up on the mayor’s floor in the Community Centre, and spends way too much time putting flyers together for their new pasta making courses or adult literacy classes. The administration is what really bothers her, because the students are lovely. Little old ladies she’s known for years; grandfathers who remember her father back in the day. Best of all, they like her. Mandy wouldn’t consider herself a charismatic person, but she is a patient one. She’ll listen to a grandmother’s story a thousand times, nodding in the right places, exclaiming, asking questions. She’s gentle. Around other people it can be a slightly different story. She’s not clipped, exactly, nor is she rude. But she is shy, and Mandy is naturally suspicious. When people stop her to talk, she hesitates. It would be too much to link that back to ‘84, although there’s little doubt that that October and the months that followed succeeded in severing her trust in adult figures for life. No, Mandy prefers to keep to herself, to the people she knows. It’s safer that way; controllable.

Mandy loves movies -- always has. Bobby, Mandy, and Perry always went on about music, talking rapturously about guitar solos and funky beats, all while Mandy pretended to grimace and trade teasing looks with Jenny and Mike. But movies. Mandy’s favourite genre is horror. Surprising, maybe, but she can’t get enough. Sci-fi is her second favourite. Her ritual is to go down to the Videoport on a Friday afternoon and stock up for the weekend. She trails down the aisles, fingers skating over the titles, looking for some weird German expressionist thing or a summer blockbuster she can zone out to. Mandy would hardly consider herself a connoisseur, but she has an encyclopedic knowledge for actors and actresses, and can name their filmography from memory just by looking at them. It’s like, one of her only talents.

Mandy enjoys cooking. She mainly enjoys cooking for Mary, who will always, without fail, praise her skills until Mandy’s rolling her eyes and begging her to stop. Even if it’s crap (which it is a lot of the time; God knows Sandy never taught her to cook; this was all the result of afternoon cable and Reader’s Digest), Mary will come up and hug her from behind, kissing the side of her neck, suffusing Mandy in warmth and her spicy perfume. That was so good. You’re so good to me. Doing things for people is Mandy’s way of showing she loves them. It doesn’t matter what it is -- laundry, vacuuming, cooking -- she’ll find herself doing things automatically. It’s a little funny that she’s turned into a housewife ever since moving out with Mary, but it’s also really damn nice. Mandy looks after their small apartment so tenderly. Watering the plants on the windowsill, buying kitsch ornaments from the thrift store, airing out their cramped bedroom in the spring sunlight. Much of Mandy’s life revolves around domestic duties. She picks up the mail, pays bills, goes grocery shopping. Mary comes too, of course, but doing things together in public can get difficult when all Mandy wants to do is kiss her deeply in the fruit and vegetable section. Mary’s full-time job is also demanding, and Mandy only works a few days a week (despite what you may believe, there are not that many adult education classes to organise; the biggest scandal was when they introduced a salsa class and everyone collectively lost their minds). Maybe, in some way, it’s Mandy’s way of holding up her end of their relationship. And maybe, in a deeper, smaller way, it’s also an excuse. If she’s busy, how can she possibly go back to college? Who’ll make apple crumble and fold the socks? Huh? The pixies? If this makes Mandy sound territorial, it’s because she is. She clings to these chores because it’s far easier than thinking about the alternative, which is to get off her ass and actually make something of her life. She’s thirty years old. Nearly thirty one. And she’s got absolutely nothing to show for it. That hurts more than anything. Maybe that hurts most of all.

Mandy is a lesbian. She knew. Even when she was a teenager, she sort of knew. She and Mike started dating when they were thirteen and just... kept going. Certain things seemed inevitable: prom, college, maybe even marriage. It was so simple to imagine her life with Mike, whose family, the Hawkers, were best friends with her parents; they’d all been born months apart; they were raised together. Most of Mandy’s childhood memories involve Mike and Mary, Jenny. They tumbled around together like puppies, climbing trees and having sleepovers. Then they started to grow up, and Mandy and Mike got together, and the atmosphere shifted a little. Mandy liked Mike. She did. Maybe she loved him, in a way. But it was so, so platonic, and the way she felt when she looked at Mary was anything but. Mary used to scare her; still does, sometimes. She was a force of nature and Mandy was the eye of the storm. Looking back, the signs were obvious, but then again, they always are.

Mandy used to dress the way people expected her to dress. T-shirts and jeans, bleached white sneakers and cheer uniforms. Not feminine enough to please Jenny, who’d wrinkle her nose and fondly say, “Mandy, are you kidding? You cannot wear that,” and not masculine enough for her dad, who’d hand her wrenches as he worked on the Cadillac on weekends, shooting sidelong glances at her squad jumper, mumbling, “You’ll get grease all over you, honey.” Scrunchies and high ponytails. Pale pink jackets and a signet ring Mike gave her when they were fourteen. Just enough to be acceptable; to be palatable. To blend in, fade away, be nothing at all. These days it’s the opposite: Mandy dresses like an amorphous blob. In fact, she’d rather people hazard a guess at what she really looks like underneath her oversized flannel shirts and huge boots. The more clothing she has on, the more protected she feels. Layers upon layers. Band shirts worn soft with too many washes; jeans more grey than black. She still has her pink jacket from high school (Mary hung it up in their wardrobe and shrugged when Mandy found it, saying, “You always looked cute, and I’m a sucker. So sue me.”) Mandy pulls her hair up and away from her face; she doesn’t wear make-up. Still has the signet ring, though. She’s a sentimental doofus, she knows.

Mandy loves arts and crafts. Pottery, weaving, knitting; painting, sketching, cooking. These are things that bring her peace, that quieten her inner world. Growing up, she wasn’t creative in the slightest. Mandy was decidedly pedestrian: the most creative thing she ever did was design banners for the cheer squad or doodle in the margins of her school notebooks. But after Pete was returned, she needed something, anything, to stifle the panic static in her brain. Countless nights were spent sitting on the couch in front of the television, Pete curled into her side, her doing finger knitting or making a collage, eyes darting between her project and the cartoon onscreen. Over the years she’s gotten better -- last winter she managed to knit Mary a hideous scarf -- but her hobbies were never pursued in the same vein as her other achievements. Mandy still remembers practicing for cheer for hours in the cold, or studying in her room until midnight, eyes dry and head aching, quietly panicking about a test the next day. Everything she did, she did obsessively. These days, Mandy just wants to be still. Their apartment is stuffed with half finished craft projects: stacks of coloured paper, jars of beads, wool in miscellaneous piles, flowers drying on the windowsill. Sometimes Mary will come home to find her sitting cross-legged at the kitchen table, a pot of sauce bubbling on the stove, Stevie Nicks in the background, Mandy carefully cutting out prints for her art journal. She started journaling when she was a teenager, mainly to help with her father’s murder and the stress of the subsequent trial, but it’s a habit that has followed her happily into adulthood. Mandy would be lost without her projects, her art. It’s a channel for everything she feels; it clarifies her. And it’s never undertaken with any attempt at perfection. Mandy’s learning, slowly, to let go of unattainable ideas. Life is messy. She’s trying to accept that about the world, herself.

Mandy failed community college. Well, it felt like she failed. In reality, she dropped out. There were only so many classes about psych and childhood trauma that she could take (and ironic, right? That she studied psych? Mandy remembers the day she flicked through the brochure to pick her classes, ticking boxes on the vague notion she’d specialise in children, maybe, in kids who’d been taken or abandoned, and help them find their childhood again). The people were too much. Tons of people like her -- great in high school, but not good enough for a decent college out of state -- and older people too, people who reminded her of her dad (not that he’d gone to college; he used to joke that that was all above his pay grade, No, no, I’m happy where I am! Although Mandy knew how avidly he poured over science magazines, and how impressed he was with Apple and that computer stuff. Maybe in another world he would have done something else, been someone great. Maybe it runs in the family). Mandy felt boring in turning down invitations to parties or even drinks down the campus bar. She’d cite anything -- Pete’s homework, the long drive home, dinner waiting -- and soon that got old. She felt old. Like she’d skipped the fun part of her twenties and jumped right into middle age. It didn’t help that everything after ‘84 melted her brain into goop. The minute Mandy received her final marks from school, she shoved the paperwork back into the envelope and hid it with her dad’s old things. The word failure pounded in her head. How did it happen? How could she have gone from mathletes and cheer to barely scraping by? To holding on by a thread? And why? Why did it all affect her so much; why was she such a damn baby about everything? Pete was back safe. That should have been enough, right? But his return didn’t come with everything. Somewhere between Pete disappearing and that Christmas, Mandy cut herself loose. Swapped SAT prep for making spaghetti for her returned little brother. Watching reruns on TV until it was way too late, tucking him into bed. Some nights she didn’t want to leave him, so she put out a sleeping bag on the floor by his bed between him and the door. Just in case. Mandy always wanted to go to Oberlin for one reason: it was far away from Devil’s Knot (and, okay, she liked the name). Ambition was a thing she wore because it fit, not because she liked it. Watching her dad’s face light up when she showed him her grades was reason enough to try hard; and studying with Bobby made her feel light, if only for a little while, them laughing and whispering about D&D campaigns, teasing each other like siblings. Being smart felt good, even if it didn’t come wholly naturally, and Mandy worked damn hard to keep it up. Giving it away should have been freeing. Instead, Mandy knows she disappointed everyone. She’s just another person who raced to the state line only to stop dead, toes at the edge, and feel fear prick the back of her neck. 

[littlelostbluejay]

Dinner In The Wolf’s Den I/3

*This is already posted on my wattpad account*

Part 1 2 3

Oneshot summary: Lucas is on his way home from the club with food on his mind, but it may be something out of the ordinary for Cristi to consider appetizing.

Rating: 18+ (Gets semi-explict at the end)

Scenery of the metropolitan city flew past the windows of his pickup truck, the gorgeous artificial lights that partially vanquishes the periodic presence of total darkness nightfall provides once the sun descends beyond a line where the skies and earth meets, paves a way for this unearthly inhabitant of an urban center as he drove on the road on his way home.

A while ago, Lucas departed from the energetic venue of a club he visits frequently, pleased by the execution of his performance where little error was found when he supplied his melodic skills into harmony with his live band. Since it was a Friday night in New York City, the establishment was packed with plentiful of people who mingled on the dance floor throughout the night, mainly ones whose visage appeared to belong in the middle age group where a few still held onto their groove they managed to keep since early youth, and many who seemed to fit the visual standards of above twenty-one years. But anyone below that age requirement was denied access into the building, unless there was family involved – the locale's sole purpose was to entertain a specific mature crowd, and the owner did a splendid job at upholding the old fashion décor of the interior that complemented the classic soulful vibe of RnB, Blues, Jazz, and Funky melodies where a few bands performs on stage every week from the amount of people who arrived.

Lucas blew the saxophone, or whom he'd affectionately address the brass instrument by name as his favored 'Dandelion', for about two hours since the beginning of their live performance at seven o clock that night, whilst his associate, a black man who go by a jazz nickname, Bebop, sang out a couple of songs to the lively audience. Lucas and Bebop were the only two singers in their group while the other band mates were only capable of fiddling with instruments, but whereas Bebops's abilities were only limited to singing, Lucas's talents were distinctive in comparison because he could play instruments and sing till his heart's content. And that's exactly what he did later on when Bebop switched spots with him after a short intermission passed, allows the 'Wolf' an opportunity to shine under the spotlight where he offered passionate howls into the mic.

The experience on the platform with the mic against his lips always incited a spike of adrenaline to course through his veins, and that integrated with the high energy which the crowd suffused in waves within the building he absorbed to fuel his stamina, he receives a sensational high off from exerting his vocal capabilities to their limit, putting on a show that keeps the extra cash flowing from people who comes every week. It was a strenuous activity that wasn't for the faint of heart but one he found pleasurable delight in, enjoyed it to the fullest that enabled him to give his all in each gig, and the thought of hitting the hay anytime soon was never considered.

One hand loosely griped the steering wheel, revolving it at a 90-degree angle as he rounded a corner, his head lightly bobbing to the stream of music from the radio on an RnB station as his vehicle neared close to his destination, and on occasion does his eyes take mild interest of the city lights and large buildings he drove by. His other hand hangs out the open window where fresh air blew across his face that offered a sense of fresh relief from the perspiration that lined his forehead. Singing always worked up quite a sweat from the amount of physical effort he put into it, and hunger was definitely a feeling he needed to satisfy after the end of every show. As late as it was, he assumed his wife would have dinner hot and ready for him once he got back home, as if food may redeem herself for not accompanying him, she usually prepared a delicious meal for him if she wasn't going to one of his gigs, not that he didn't complain because she was such a huge supporter to his craft. But Lucas knew huge crowds wasn't her type of scene, but he, nonetheless, appreciated her efforts when she attended his gigs with him.

Once he gently hit the brakes to a complete stop at a red light, he dug his hand into his pants pocket to pull out his cell phone, the pad of his thumb lightly tapping against the screen before he held it to his ear. His fingers drums on the wheel to the beat of the music as the dial rung a few times before the person picks up.

"Hi, honey." A soft note carries over from the other line, gently caresses his ear as the music fades away in the background.

The corner of Lucas's mouth quirks at the sound his wife's voice. "Aye puppy, I'm on my way home, should be there in about -" he pauses to quickly glance at the time, "- I'd say fifteen minutes tops depending on traffic, but it's goin' along smoothly soo far."

"Alright, I'll jus be waiting here doing whatever." He heard her give a tired sigh. "How was the show tonight though? Did a lot of people come?"

"Oh yea, me an the cats blew up the joint. It was the same ole same ole like every week, people throwin' a lot of their bread at us ta pick up off the ground, y'know how it is baybeh, enough for us ta paint this town." He responds in terms considered old-fashioned, outdated for this modern time period he now lived in, unless you were a true bred jazz musician.

"That's good baby, and jus so you'll know I took Butterscotch out on a walk a little earlier." His eyebrows furrowed at this piece of intel she shared with him.

"How early we talkin?"

There was a short pause on the other end of the line before she replies. "Sometime around nine." His eyes roll and presses his foot down on the gas pedal that sets his truck into motion when the light transitioned to a green light.

"Cristi, y'know how I feel 'bout you walkin 'round alone at night, especially when I'm not home." Though he chides her on a soft timbre, hints of annoyance were evident in his voice as Lucas was quick to express his displeasure in her decision making. He was never too fond of her strolling about these streets at night even though she's been doing it for a long time. "Look, these horny dogs out here will snatch up a pretty young thang like you one day then I'll have ta go out and sniff ya out, lookin' ta draw some unfortunate fool's blood for messin' with my lady."

"I know but... I was bored and she was restless so I jus took her out to drain her energy, plus she needed to pee anyway." He heard shuffling on her end. "Are you upset with me?"

Between full lips does he issue a drawled-out sigh at the slight fear in her voice. "Naw, I wouldn't get mad over somethin' lil like that. I'm jus being paranoid for good reason since I literally jus made you my mate, an I emphasize the word 'Mate'. It would kill me if somethin' bad happened to you, ya dig wha' I'm sayin, baby?" Cristi wasn't necessarily great at rejecting a stranger's advances who showed interest in her, which made her an easy target for males to take advantage of her due to her lack of self-confidence, and this insight about her worried him sometimes. She was too...nice. "Aye, at least you were honest with me... I appreciate that." But one thing Lucas loved about her was her veracity, she didn't have to share certain things with him but she did.

"Yea, I'm sorry though."

"Hey, this isn't somethin' ta trip over with an apology, it's pass us now, jus watch yer tail when ya go out, a'write? I know my Butterscotch will protect you, that pup packs quite a powerful bite." He licks his lips and decides to flip the subject. "I'm 'bout to let ya go, love, I'll be pullin' up in a few minutes...jus wanted ta see how ma baybeh was doin."

He listens to her chuckle over the phone. "Ahahaha you're so sweet, honey...I got dinner ready for you by the way."

At the mere mention of food, his stomach gurgles, and couldn't help but grin to himself. "Good lawd, that's music to my ears ya have no idea! I'm soo hungry I could devour a whole buffalo in one single bite, no wait, a whole buffalo an a side of beaver tail as an appetizer with a tubful full of rain water ta wash all that shit down." They both share a laugh as Lucas seemingly goes back to his wild roots when the woods were the only home he ever knew. "Now tha' I think about it, why do they call tha' dish Buffalo Wings? Those are chicken wings, buffalo don't have wings, chicken and buffalo have no correlation to the other whatsoever...I mean, I know it was first created in Buffalo, New York in the 1960's but ya get the idea." He rambled on.

"You're soo crazy."

"Yea?" a small upturn of his lips bears a thoughtful grin as he literally sees her shaking her head at him, "but ya the one crazy for gettin' with a wild man like me dawlin', makin me feel special gurl cause ya chose a dire wolf instead of gettin' with a human, y'know what's up." He teases her lightly. "But listen, one of these days we gonna head up north an I'm gonna cook up somethangs for ya ta try out, taste some high-quality meat I use ta feed on without all em hormones an steroids an shit that America is known for."

"Ohhh! I would love that! We need to talk more about planning a trip soon!" She said with excitement at the very thought of a road trip.

"Yea we will, I got you baby; I got sum wild adventures in store for us so ya can experience a part of my natural world. But I'm 'bout ta go now, love... I'd rather speak ta ya in person so I can see ya beautiful face an talk at the same time."

"Okay, um I'll see you till then, Luke. Bye, love you."

"Love you... see ya in a few, babe." He waits for the click on the receiving end before ending the call, tossing his phone onto the passenger seat as black eyes fixates on the road that led straight towards home.

Lucas pulled up on the curve and shifts his gear into park after he managed to find a space for his automobile outside his building. He stared upward at the grey ceiling of his truck, the back of his head resting against the headrest, not yet ready to exit out the car door as he mulls over his thoughts that suddenly aroused confliction within himself.

During the time on his way home once he got off the phone, an intense desire for something growled in the pit of his stomach – there was no doubt he was hungry, yes, and he anticipated what his wife had in store for him upstairs, but the issue lies in craving raw flesh... fresh, untainted blood actively pumping through the veins of a live creature that was born in the bosom of nature. It was an instinctive pulse of hunger that proved difficult to quell when such desires, brought on by the spirit of his inner wolf, overwhelmed his sense of reasoning and intellectual perception he sought hard to exercise while in the company of humans. Lucas can endure through cravings for a taste of blood for a while until the wolf got what it wanted, what he wanted, what 'Lusio' wanted, no matter how much amount of effort he applied in restraining carnivorous beastly urges that was a part of his nature.

But it seems like tonight would be one of those occurrences the wolf indulges in one of its many animalistic covets for a short while.  

And with this impulsive idea in mind as he sighs in defeat, a grunt left his lips when he leans over to open the small compartment and grabs one of the plastic bags he stored inside for situations like this. Lucas leaves the vehicle before sweeping his hands down his white dress shirt to rid of any wrinkles, deciding to keep his saxophone case and suit jacket inside until he finishes his little hunt. Dark eyes like starry nights above scans his surroundings first, takes note that despite being close to twelve am, how the night was still alive where cars headlights lit up the streets, utilizes his keen hearing abilities for any voices nearby that'll keep him alert in case someone happens to stumble upon him unexpectedly. Someone could always be watching, he had no room for mistakes - to be extra cautious of his environment while living in the city was a necessity to preserve his secret.

Lucas stands tall as he directs his nose upward to the sky for the breeze to drift up his nostrils, sniffs the air in concentration where a multitude of different scents he can distinguish one from the other filling his powerful lungs with each strong swift inhale, and immediately, he catches a fine scent of a furry critter three blocks down from him. It was one of his favorites. Wolfish characteristics emerges in a subtle manner when his tongue laps over his plump lips, licking his chops as saliva accumulated in his mouth at the thought of eating it as a second dinner later that night. He turns on his heel before feet picks up a brisk gait along the sidewalk, heads off in the direction where the scent left a trail in the wind for him to follow.

Lucas twists the doorknob to the entrance of his apartment, the hinge issuing a light squeaking sound as he opened it all the way before crossing through the threshold towards the living room. "Honey, I'm home!" In a loud voice Lucas announces his presence to the inhabitants of his abode, his nose being met with the relaxing scent of burning incense that a while ago had dispersed into the air blended with the delicious aroma of onions and garlic that also integrated itself into the mix.

Upon his annunciation as he shut the door close, Butterscotch lifted her head from between her white paws in interest at her owner's arrival, the adult Pitbull eyes closing when he pets her head in a greeting fashion with a smile before his hand moves down to the little brown bunny, BunBun, to stroke her tiny head in the same manner who laid snuggled up next to the canine inside the dog bed. They had a few pets to care for, a dog, rabbit, and a bird who was now probably asleep since her cage was currently covered by a thin sheet. Lucas also have a raven as a companion who is usually close by somewhere outside.

Lucas props his instrument against the wall next to his piano keyboard, placing his car keys on a side table and tossing his suit jacket onto the sofa. He peeks down into the plastic bag where he stuffed a dead animal inside a while ago, a possum whose fate made an unfortunate turn in its short life when it was caught between Lucas's jaws, and he couldn't wait to eat the creature as a snack. The plastic crumples when he closes the bag, his fingers hooking around the handle as he walks into the kitchen before he stops in his tracks under the archway. His pupils dilate as they grow enamored where they took in the lovely sight of his beautiful wife in front of the stove with a plate in hand as she busily fills it with food. "I'm home, baybeh." He repeats from his position in the doorway, drawing his bottom lip between his teeth as obsidian eyes make an eager rove about her nightwear, mainly consist of a white tank top and low-rise black lace panties, its sheer intricate flower design elegantly hugging the round shape of her backside, barely covers her toned butt cheeks - she earned from squats - left on display in his view for him to admire when he so pleased.

Damn was he a blessed man that mother nature molded her just for him as a gift; he wished he could thank her parents for making an exquisite woman, god bless their souls. Lucas might be a dire wolf, but he still possessed a male mindset who was amorously affected by the physical appearance of a curvaceous woman like any other common man. Only his mate, however, held this type of power over him.

"Yeah, I heard..." she glances over her shoulder, meeting his eyes that grazed over her figure without no hint of embarrassment that she caught him in the act of staring. But she becomes bashful by the way those obsidian eyes observe her with a carnal aspect within his gaze upon what's rightfully his, and such intensity and focus never fails to make her shy away from his lustful stare. "...Sounding like one of those husbands who just got home on tv when shows were still black & white without color."  Cristi conceals her timidity with a tease about his use of old phrases, a small smirk on her lips as she turns her attention back to preparing the plate.

Her comment blinked him out of the enchantment she casts upon him, in which a chuckle bubbles up his throat as he then quickly walked over to the refrigerator before rearranging items on the lowest shelf within to make room for the corpse he shoved into the back of the fridge, hiding it before she could notice. "Yea, well, don' think ya realize it yet, sweetheart, but I was actually born in the 1920's, so that black & white time is still a part of me. Can't shake my fur of it y'know?" Lucas shuts the fridge with a soft thud, and after he takes a moment to ogle her behind once more, he approaches her from behind and presses his front against her back, his muscular arms circling around her waist in a warm embrace. Her body relaxes into his hold as he lowers his head to sniff her tresses - they were separated in twists as part of her natural hair care regimen, the sweet scent of vanilla lavender imbedded between each coiled strand, and his eyes flutter shut as he emits a deep hum at the pleasant scent of her hair. He snoops down over her shoulder at the meal she prepared for dinner. "Well somethin' smells good and looks tasty too." His remark held praise as he examines the scrumptious view of pork-chops with a contribution of fresh, sliced mushrooms added to the recipe, green beans and mashed potatoes in their own separate pots as side dishes, but once his gaze falls on her platter, his eyes widen at how much food she was still pilling on it. "Damn, you gonna eat all'a that baby gurl?"

The ridiculous question makes her grant a breathy scoff in amusement. "Y'know I can't eat all this. This is for you, baby, I don't got a bottomless stomach like you do." She answers in a matter a fact tone that ends in a small laugh, turning her head at an angle to peer up at him before her eyes closes briefly when she felt his soft lips plant a kiss between her eyes.

"There was no need ta make my plate, love. The least I could do was make my own since ya took the time to make dinner for us." His hands rose up in front of her, abruptly catches her off guard as he lifts the plate full of food out of her hands and up over her head with ease due to his height, and sets the dish on the kitchen table before grabbing a clean plate from the dish rack. "Go sit down an rest while I return the favor by makin' yer plate then since ya made mine." It was a gentle command he imposed upon her, but a layer of dominance laid flat beneath the words he uttered.

Lucas appreciated her need to cater to him anyway she was able, but there were times he thought many of the things she did for him was unnecessary, believes that he, instead, should do everything for the both of them as the alpha of the household because the well-known trait expected of an excellent alpha was they took care of the needs of their family pack. But it should be mentioned that another reason stems from the fact that he was used to independence. For decades, Lucas did everything on his own without much help from anybody, he wasn't accustomed to anyone caring for him the way Cristi had; the last person he could think of that gave a semblance of this much love and attention was his wolf mother, although this particular scenario was obviously different because romantic feelings are involved. Nonetheless, he was grateful for the love Cristi has shown in her own special ways, sometimes even when he tells her not to. But it was the thought that counts.

"You're not tired, Luke?" The question fell softly from parted lips as she peers up at him with big doe-eyes that held a pinch of concern, ignores his command for a moment due to being curious about his well-being because he was gone for most of the day; she wasn't sure if he ever had the chance to really rest earlier while he was out and about.

One eye squints while his mouth twists to the side as he thought over her query, only to offer a casual shrug of his shoulders before his free hand gently pushed her aside from blocking the stove. "I'm a'ight, jus a lil bit but it's nothin' ta be concerned about, pumpkin. But y'know me, I don' tire out that easily so don' worry y'self." He assays to soothe Cristi's sensitivity over his welfare, not wanting her to concern herself with his health – he could empathize somewhat with her anxious thoughts because he was a busy man, he did a lot for the both of them. But his assurance proved little to tranquilize her worries for out of the corner of his eye he notices she still stood next to him, so as a motivator to help her listen, he sent a wide-open slap against her butt, startling her with a surprised yelp at the stinging sensation of his strike on her behind. "Go on baybeh get! I got you, stop all tha' worryin' an let me fix my lady's plate." Although he attempted to sound serious, there was laughter hinted in his tone, onyx eyes full of mischief and wanton desire as they followed the hypnotizing motion of her ass bouncing between each hurried step, his wet tongue running across his bottom lip as he watched her rush to the table and sit down like a good girl.

Submissive tendencies of her character were influenced by her upbringing in her youth where obedience was essential to the unfair circumstances she had no control over, which made her easily inclined to act on what Lucas asked of her in general, even the smallest things, for the most part. And as for Lucas, well, he enjoyed the power and sense of authority he had over her to a certain degree, it demonstrated something akin to a predator and prey dynamic between them, especially in the bedroom. But despite his knowledge of her past, he never once exploited her docile characteristics for his own selfish gain, rather, all of what he told her to do was always for her own benefit and interest.

From a short distance away, Cristi chews on her inner cheek in silence while observing him as he gathers food on her plate, brown hues inspecting his attire with his back turned towards her. Lucas looked devilishly handsome in a white dress shirt, the hem tucked inside his beige colored slacks that deliciously fitted around the curve of his firm round buttocks, ones she likes to pinch between her fingers in passing, and what complemented the entire getup was black suspenders he wore that forms a 'X' from behind. Chris didn't know many men in his age group who wore suspenders on occasion as Lucas did, the accessory was part of his old soul, debonair fashion sense which she thought gave a spiffy touch to his appearance, and in her opinion, made him look more masculine and attractive than most guys she's seen – definitely daddy material in her book. And a sense of voyeurism takes hold over her conscious when she embeds her top teeth into her bottom lip, her eyes traveling back and forth from his broad shoulders, down to his nice ass and shoulders repeatedly as she imagines his body on top of hers in bed.

"So," she sighs quietly, body leans forward in her seat before a forearm rests atop the other on the table, exhales slow through her nose to try to calm her nerves that laps at her sudden fire of desire for him, "did anything interesting happen at the club today?" Chris liked asking him what goes on about at the club when she couldn't accompany him, the stories he told were always amusing, there was rarely a dull moment among that wild crowded space he loved soo much.

He cocks his head to the left. "Hmmm nothin' really," was his immediate response as he scooped some green beans onto her plate, "oh wait!" his eyes widen when something in his recollections kicks in, and glances over his shoulder at her, "some woman did sum outta pocket shit by throwin' their god forsaken panties on stage durin' my performance! Wild right?!"

"WHAT?!" In disbelief does she burst out laughing, a hand swiftly raising to muffle her mouth to quell down her giggles, not at all expecting him to say that. "Lucas, you're telling me a random person just threw their underwear on stage outta nowhere?!"

A hearty chuckle rumbled his chest with amusement at her reaction before his attention is brought back to the stove in front of him. "I ain't being a card right now, babe. I mean...I didn't know who in the crowd did it but I swore on my life I heard someone amongst the music scream: Oh Wolf ya sang my panties off!" The last portion of his sentence is where he, to the best of his ability, attempts to mimic the woman's voice in a girly tone, which only made Chris's stomach shake with laughter even more as Lucas joined in with her mirth as well.

Her plate now finished, he grabs a few utensils from a drawer before positioning her food on the table along with the silverware, hunching over enough for Chris to take a chance to show her gratitude by kissing the side of his jaw. "Thank you, honey." And he returns the affectionate gesture when he pressed his lips against her cheek, smiling into the side of her face.

"Anything for my queen." He spoke in a mumble where he addresses his fond regard for her before he sat in his seat beside her around the table's corner. His toned forearms were made visible as he rolls the long sleeves of his shirt up till they stop just above his elbows, and immediately, felt one of her legs brush against his underneath the table, moving it between his longer limbs.

"Did you pick them up?" She asks as she scoops up a spoonful of the white potato glob into her mouth.

"What? Them undergarments? Heh, hell to the no." Lucas expounds with a slight grin on his face, knife and fork in both hands as he began slicing his meat with them. "I ain't gonna shorten my lifespan by getting infected with whatevah diseases tha' broad might have swimming up in her pussy." He pauses to take a big bite out of the pork, chewing on the grub while chattering away. "I'm sure if I touched em knickers, the next thing I know I'll be breakin' out in hives an get diagnosed with AIDS or somethin'. They were white an the shit looked dingy anyways, so I let the janitor do me a favor by picking that trash up."

His words prompt a nasal snort through her nose with a shake her head from side to side, head remains low, eyes on her meal as she stuck her spoon into her mouth where a faint smile graced her lips that conveys amusement at her husband's foolishness. "Wooow, that is the funniest thing I heard this week."  Chris knew he wouldn't ever think to pick up someone's unclean underwear, but it was fun to at least hear what he would say because she figured she'd get a good laugh out of it.

"Yea?" He arches a thick brow while his tongue wipes across his top row of white teeth to get rid of any remnants of food trapped between them, and the corner of his lips curves ever so slightly. "I gotta few other tales tha's bound ta bring a smile to tha' face, dawlin'." He reaches a hand towards her, caresses the smooth surface of her cheek with the back of his finger that called forth a blush to rise upon her features beneath his stare; it always made him feel good when he could make her laugh, it made him keenly mindful of where her state of mind laid in regards to their relationship - if she was happy, he was happy too.  

They went without exchangeable words for a few seconds while dining. Chris consumed small bites, was hardly done with her food in contrast to Lucas who was in the process of gobbling everything down like he hadn't an ounce of sustenance all day. He licked his lips as he looked at what remained left on his platter, which composed of some green beans. Carnivorous instincts were bred into his psyche and it made no surprise that Lucas preferred meat more so than vegetables, but whatever dish Chris prepared for them, veggies or not, it would be disrespectful to not eat what she cooked. "This was a good meal, love." He issued words of praise that exhibits his satisfaction to her cooking skills, his fork pricking the last bit of greens before placing them in his mouth. "Thanks for makin' it an for fixin' my plate."

She gave a slow nod that was accompanied by a closed, modest smile. "Yeah," she shrugs a shoulder as if her accomplishment wasn't nothing, but nonetheless content that he expressed his pleasure in what she cooked, "I tried my best to remember your recipe so..." She said in reference to the garlic butter pork-chops she made by following his special recipe.

"And succeeded." Underneath the table his long legs stretch out far as he reclines back in his seat, muscles seemingly relax where he slouches, eyelids droop half-way as he observes her eat at a slow pace with a warm grin set on his full lips. "This old wolf will make a fine chef outta ya yet, jus ya watch."

"Riight." Her eyes roll in a playful manner as she starts cutting her pork-chop with her knife, a thought crossing her mind from earlier when he first arrived home. "What did you bring home earlier?"

The simple question that falls forth out her mouth causes a rapid blinking of his eyes, feels his heart skip a beat in unspoken surprise as muscles in his shoulders once loose of stress now grew tense from the image that sprang in his mind's eye. The animal carcass he hived away in the back of the fridge! And caught in the moment before he could fully process his thoughts, he decides to resort to playing dumb. "What?"

She swallows her food before speaking again. "Y'know, in that bag you brought with you. You took more than fifteen minutes to come back home, remember?" Cristi utilizes her excellent memory to explain, but she was unaware of where he put it because she was busy over the stove. "Did you pick something up at the store on the way back?"

He lifts a hand for long fingers to rub the shaven surface of his jaw, the cool texture of a few rings that adorns his digits rubbing against his skin, his mouth slightly ajar as his tongue clicks inside his mouth while thoughts race to conjure a plausible statement that wouldn't disclose his secret. "Yeah, uh, I did." His voice titters on the edge of nervousness as he bounces his leg, a characteristic unusual for anybody to witness in the limits of his personality that often demonstrated confidence and sureness of self. "But it's nothin you'll be interested in, jus sum protein for ya man ta be big an strong ta fight off em dirty dogs that be tryin' ta sniff ya tail, y'know how it is, baybeh..." It wasn't a whole lie because meat, no matter if cooked or raw, was still protein in his book. But it was near impossible to slip a lie around his mate; he hoped her empathetic ability to detect untruthful words wasn't operating at this time. He didn't realize she even noticed of the bag.

Lucas never spoke an utterance to her about his vile cravings. Cristi was incognizant of Lucas sneaking dead animals into their apartment at night and feeding on them uncooked, raw chunks of flesh that included the bones as well, and although he's certain she should reckon such wretched behavior to be expectant of his species, he couldn't bring himself to express this part of himself to her in fear of being judged, labeled as disgusting and possibly a savage. But after every feeding he prioritized a sufficient extreme cleansing of his face and mouth to rid of germs and bacteria whereas is not harmful to him, but may be harmful to her body, which was the least he could do.

And to his utter relief, she didn't think too much of his response. "Oh, okay then."

"Wha' about you, Cristi?" He tilts his head to the left, brushes his leg against hers as he straightens his spine before leaning forward in his seat, and quickly switches topics from (the bag) him to her because he never got the chance to ask about how her day went. "Did the city treat my baybeh alright?"

They're conversation proceeds with Chris speaking of events that transpired from the day before: her job at the New York Public Library and what she did at home, which involved working on a new personal artistic piece while he was at the club. Lucas been finished with his plate, but he wanted to talk while waiting for her to finish the remains of her food. The private times they ate together, breakfast, lunch and dinner, were filled with discussions where they checked on the other, exchanged plans, and shared their personal projects outside the house, anything that passes their minds were brought up at the table.

With now a full stomach, a low hum resonates up her throat in contentment once she sets her silverware down and leans back in her chair as she releases a yawn, signifies she was finished with her meal for the night. Lucas grabs their empty plates, and after shoving the scraps in the trash, he walks over to the sink to busy his hands by washing the debris off the platters down the drain. Chris wasn't the only one who kept their apartment clean; Lucas contributed his services in the housework every so often to lessen the burden on her, despite him being a little messy and disorganized with his own things, but who's to say her wolf bae didn't try?

As he occupied himself with washing the dishware, Chris exited the kitchen, stifling a giggle as she ambled close to Butterscotch and Bunbun who both appeared to have fallen asleep in the dog bed; the canine and bunny looked adorable snuggled up together, she trusted the pibble to not harm her brown mini rex rabbit whom was in her care for years sometime after she got this apartment. Bunbun, along with Sapphire, were her first sense of companionship before she eventually, as shy as she was, developed friendships with some people. But her pets were the first friends she ever had, and she loves them dearly.

"C'mon sweetie." She whispers gently as her hands wraps around the furry little critter, in the process rouses Bunbun awake as Chris holds her in her arms while fingers thread themselves between her incredibly soft fur as she strokes her. She sat on her knees to put Bunbun in her cage, grabs a handful of hay which the bunny begins munching on as soon as she placed it inside for her to eat. Chris stood to her feet, turning around to see Lucas staring at her from his spot in the entrance of the kitchen who had his thumbs hooked under his suspenders with his gaze fixated on her.

"I'm bout ta go hop in the shower." Within his voice breathes a low, smoky aftertaste that saturates the timbre he speaks, and from where she stands in the darkness of the living room, notices how the color of his irises switches from its normal inky pigmentation to that of a cryptic yellow, bright orbs you'll only encounter flickering amongst the abundant foliage of the woods where nocturnal creatures dwell in the desolate company of creeping shadows by nightfall. His next sentence drops an invitation of sorts as he takes one step forward, eyes half-lid that held a simmering calm smolder for the young women who stands in his line of vision. "Ya mind joining me, sugah plum? I'll make it worth yer while."

The gleam of his eyes, however gentle they reflected back onto her person, sent a cold chill that spilled down the length of her spine. Yes, Lucas was her husband whom she loved with all her heart, but Cristi could never determine whether to be frightened or turned on by him, it was complicated; she summarized the perspective of these feelings towards him were a mixture of both: arousal and intimidation that his unearthly essence set her mind on edge. Nonetheless, it gave her a certain type of thrill considered dangerous that she's unable to express in words, like she was sticking her hand in the mouth of a wolf, all the while, foolishly places her trust in its predatory jaws to not chomp down on her.

And although she felt this way from time to time, his suggestive words produce a pool of wetness to leak onto the material of her panties from between her folds, envisions on the mental screen in her imagination of themselves engaged in the sexual acts of lovemaking beneath the streaming showerhead. The bathtub was a common place where they had sex and she didn't doubt it was something he had on his mind at this very moment, but if she was to be honest, she was tired, unsure if her body possess the vigor that such an activity demands to keep up with him. "You seriously have energy for 'that' right now?"

From the depths of his chest brings forth the arrival of a deep, sexy chuckle at her remark, recognizes the low intensity and huskiness of each breath as his gaze descends to concentrate on unbuckling his suspenders, and tosses the straps onto the leather couch before swaggering forward to meet her half way as she walks up to him. The crinkle about his mouth present a sly grin as an arm sneaks around her waist while his left hand dips behind her where he grabs a handful of her ass, her breasts smushing against his ribs as he then pulls her against the front of his body. "Dawlin', one thang ya need ta know about me is I'm never too tired for a good solid fuck." His voice pours into her ear canal like fine red wine, the soft, velvet fluidity that saturates his timbre causing her body to flood with spicy warmth, and she peers up into Lucas's haunting eyes where a mystical glow inhabits them, somehow finds the strength to suppress a moan at the feel of his warm breath that breezes over the expanse of her face as words continues rolling off his tongue. "But if yer tired, I have no problem doin' all the dirty work for you...all lil mama gotta do is back that ass up on daddy an ya get a ride for free." She watches his tongue peek out to lick the side of his upper lip, feeling his hand dip into the tight space of her lace black underwear from behind. "It's fairly easy...anyone can do it baby..."

Her breath hitches as she averts her gaze for a second, top teeth gently nibbling on the plush mound of her bottom lip as she considers his tempting offer while staring at the middle of his dark chest where his dress shirt was unbuttoned, eyes focuses on a round jewel that hangs from his necklace. "I am sleepy b-but..." she swallows a thick lump in her throat at the sudden feeling of his clothed member that teasingly presses on her lower stomach, results in a larger pool of her juices to gush involuntary between her legs as her words trail off course.

It didn't take much for Lucas to awaken the sexual prowess hidden within the depths of her shy nature, and her temperature was steadily rising as his palm rounded the curve of her backside, his fingers inches away from her slit that drips with burning desire for the feel of him inside her.

"Look at me, sweetheart." On a calm note he utters a gentle command, all the while, raises his hand from her waist to grip the twists of her hair, compels the release of a soft moan when her jaw falls open as her neck cranes so she may be forced to look up at him, doesn't give her an option in the matter at all. And as she stares at him, discovers his canines had extended their length on the verge of surpassing the line of his lips. In the dark room, her vision was slow to adjust to the low light, but his eyes swirls with evidential lust that appears to intensify their radiance as he held strong eye contact with her submissive brown orbs, his handsome visage dangling on both borders of man and beast as the top of his ears develop a pointy edge. But his level of sex appeal had amplified significantly with a dash of fear his countenance now officially displays, solely exclusive for her to behold.

"Yo body tells me otherwise cause tha' sweet pussy of yours smells wide awake an ready ta play, mama." With the aid of his keen sense of smell that grants him intel of her state of mind, Lucas utilizes this secretive knowledge about her sexual awakening by means of the feminine scent her womanhood diffuses into the air to his advantage. But in the way his fingertips easily slicks between the slippery smoothness of her juicy folds, forces her eyes to squeeze shut as a quiet moan crawls up her throat, tells him much. And with her neck now exposed to him, a gasp escapes her when she feels his mouth assault her neck, his soft lips sucking hard on her sensitive skin. Cristi embeds her teeth between her lower lip as she felt him tightly tug at her hair follicles that jerks her head back even more.

His thick wet muscle leaves streaks of sloppy saliva within the crook of her neck, switching the motions of his full lips between sucking and lapping over honey flavored areas the most erogenous he anticipates would get her heart pumping with lustful excitement. "Uhng L-lu..." Wrinkles emerge on the back of his shirt where her hands clutch the white cloth, expels out puffs of air from parted lips as her thighs squeezes together while he orbits a sturdy finger around the entrance of her womanhood in a teasing manner, pulling her small body flush against him that space between them was nonexistent.

"What ya doin' wearin' these tight ass panties gurl?" Hot air breathes onto her neck that became moist by the dampness of his hungry mouth, drags his bottom lip agonizingly slow up along her neck, and she shudders as his plump lips lightly brush against the shell of her ear where he murmurs in a sultry whisper. "Watchin tha' fat ass bouncing as ya walk all over the place. It's like ya wanted yo pussy ta get this dick wet tonight, was tha' yer plan baby?" His words, as well as his breath that induces ripples of goosebumps to run across the skin of her arms as it tickles her ear, sends a fresh wave of heat to course throughout her body as her heartbeat escalates to new heights.

"I-I jus..." Cristi stutters as the small pain where the sharp point of his lower and top fangs gives a tiny pinch at the lobe of her ear, and gently pulls it as his throat emits a low hum before slithering his tongue over the soft flesh. Lucas wasn't even deep in her guts yet and already she struggles to form a complete sentence. Her body was ultra sensitive to his touch. "I j-just wanted to b-be comfortable." She confesses, although within her subconscious foresaw this encounter of a possibility to happen.

"Hmmm...is tha' so..." He only hums in response as his hips push hard against her stomach, his manhood steadily making its presence known she can feel as his member prods her repeatedly when he starts dry humping her. "Not gonna lie that these look sexy as fuck on you," he removes his fingers from her heat, prompts her to whine from the lost contact of his finger that now gently tugs at the lace helm of her undergarment. And his eyes fall shut as he shifts the position of his head to rub his face over her own, breathes heavy through his nostrils as his face nuzzles cheek to cheek against hers as the affectionate maneuver forces her head to shift in whichever direction he moves - a lovesome gesture often seen amongst animals that demonstrates their love for the other, "but my dick wanna get comfortable inside yer walls. I'm sure ya pussy can handle it with all that nectar drippin' as water from the shower drenches our bodies, hot steam rising around us, yea?" He incorporates lascivious imagery in his words that implies the events that will take place in a few minutes from now, exercises his skills of storytelling to paint a picture in her mind, brings forth energy of pure lust for him.

"Can ya see it?" Glowing yellow eyes peeks at her through his lashes when his eyelids pry open, releases his grip on her hair before sliding the same hand down to rest on her upper back with a little pressure applied.

"Mmm Wolf yes..."

"Do you taste the water slidin' down my chest, baybeh? Ya like how I taste?"

"Y-ye -" Before Cristi could utter a word, Lucas catches her off guard when she feels the plush surface of his lips smothering her own, creates a wave of tingles to scatter across her body as his lips assaults her with an insatiable hunger for her flavor. His eyes squeeze tight, eyebrows furrowed as he moves his mouth against hers, their lips molding and conforming as they glide over the other, their loud moans filling the space as their heads shifts at different angles, and feels her small hands traveling up and down his back before they rest on his butt, her small palms squeezing a handful of his deliciously firm buttocks. Not that he didn't mind the gesture at all, but he couldn't repress his amusement as he smiles into the kiss when he felt her grope his glutes, and in response, he smacks her ass.

Lucas was an absolute master at this; he knew exactly, EXACTLY, what to say and how to say it to get Chris yearning with desire for him. And the fact that he was well endowed with a huge package, it was a requirement to ascertain she was soaking wet in order to accommodate him with as little pain as possible. His human mate was quiet and rather meek like a mother doe, but she transforms into a naughty vixen while in the heat of the moment who enjoyed being dominated by her one and only wolf.

His heart pounds against the cage of his ribs as their tongues dance in motion through an open mouth kiss, takes into consideration by offering proper care in the way – for the moment - his pointy fangs avoid piercing her tongue. She wraps her arms around his neck to pull him closer as Lucas turns them around, backing Cristi up as he guides her backwards in the direction of the bathroom without breaking their lips from each other. Once they get inside, his hand roughly pats the tile wall for the light switch, and though Cristi wishes for them to not part when the light brightens the bathroom, her lips grow cold from the lack of warmth of his mouth when he separates from her. But a slim line of saliva connects their lips as they split apart, the wet trail only breaking in two as he stands to his full height with a breathy huff, his hands on her waist as he takes a good look at her.

The urge to bite his lip is granted as Lucas analyzes the bouncy movement of her breast heaving up and down where she exhales heavy breaths of air, notices the outline of her thick nipples poking through the thin material of her tank top without the concealment of a bra, the lascivious sight sending a strong electric charge of arousal towards his dick that twitches visibly in his boxer briefs. Cristi, on the other hand, licks her lips while her eyes remained locked on the huge bulge protruding through the fabric of his pants. Lucas wasn't completely hard but even semi-flaccid he was packing tremendously; the thought made her clit throb with want and empty walls aching to be filled up by the thickness of his length she knew she can't ever handle, but that didn't stop his little mate from pining after his cock. She extends a curious hand towards his groin to feel him, but her motion is held on pause when he stops her by grabbing her wrist, causes her to stare up at him with subtle confusion as he holds her back, realizes his ears had shrunk to normal size and registers his eyes were now their regular midnight black.

"Ah ah ah, my dear, patience." Sharp fangs decorate the mischievous grin that settles in place on his full lips as Lucas waves a teasing finger in her face, and to her disbelief, she watches his left hand slowly slide down his torso till he reaches his crotch, and through thick lips he expels a sexy groan as he clutches his big member. His ringed fingers fondle the large mass of his juicy bulge and rubs his hand up and down before giving his palm a soft thrust of his hips - all this carried out while a smug, lopsided toothy smile laid stretched across his handsome face as he silently gauges her reaction to his lecherous gesticulations. "Ya like when I play with myself, baby?"

Obvious traces of lust and frustration were etched upon soft features where an overwhelming rise of heat blossoms within her cheeks, unmistakably flustered, hot and bothered as she observes him touch himself in front of her, making her gulp. "L-Lucas c'mon stop playin'." Cristi was beyond aroused, wide awake, and somewhat embarrassed of her own lewd actions, suddenly feel her panties become overly drenched with her fluids, so much so that her slimy wetness seeps through the cloth and smears between the skin of her inner thighs, the more she stares at the motions of his hand massaging his bulge. Lucas loves to take his time to give her a little tease and was, as she'll put it, extremely kinky.

Beneath the low hood of his dark eyes he examines her facial expressions, and with his right hand wrapped around her wrist, he leads her hand to touch his shirt where her palm lays flat on his torso, her fingers grazing the small buttons of his garb. "What I need ya to do is unbutton me first. Think ya can do that for me?"

[chrysaliseuro2019]

Deliverance

A relaxed start to the the day in Vrsar. Breakfast laid on and it was a little different. Basically at the mostly open air restaurant which was adjacent to the rooms. We sat under a large tree called a Ladonja. Famed in these parts as a tree for the locals to sit under and chew the fat. Spot on. This was in a little area opposite the main part of the restaurant overlooking the town and out to sea. Quite a panoramic spot. So panoramic was it that they had set up a false window which you could stand in front of, as if the sea and town were the backdrop view you had from your room. We of course took a photo there but were more amused by the people who took a photo from the reverse way ie. looking into the “non room” from the sea.

Breakfast was a laid back affair sitting under the tree listening to the various foreign voices around us (mostly German) and made more laid back by the same waitress we had been chatting to the night before about the Fantasy duo. She was in fine droll form.

Post breakfast we had determined to visit Rovinj. It’s regarded as the star of the Istrian peninsula. Medieval town with all sorts of stone laneways and nooks and crannies which are very attractive. Topped by the church of St Euphemia, the largest baroque building in Istria, which we made our way up to. Luckily, though it overlooks the town, it’s not too high up as temperature in the 30s and humid and the shade ran out near the top.

Rovinj is a sizeable town, full of tourist shops of all categories, from tasteful to the usual fridge magnet pap. We had arrived around 12.30 and strolled around for perhaps a couple of hours with a view to staying the night. Interestingly, accommodation was not jumping out at us. Often, the various signs “zimmer, sobe, camere, apartments, rooms for rent” and of course plain old “hotel and B&B” are very prominent but not here.

We decided that though it had plenty of charms Rovinj was not for us. At least to stay the night in. From what we could see, accommodation was costly, scant or out of town. It also wasn’t quite pushing our buttons in terms of having to stay there. A little too busy, a little too commercial and of course not user friendly in terms of bed for the night. We continued on with Liz scanning possible next destinations. She came up with Fasana. Coastal town, didn’t know too much about it but it was worth a try. As we headed there we came across a delightful little beach at a place called Peroj. Around 5 kms shy of Fazana. We turned off the main road and drove along a wide stone road, adjacent to the beach and saw a few beach umbrellas and beds but not too busy. Liz went to the local beach bar and struck a deal on a couple of beds and umbrella (just beat the German couple to the last available beds) and so we spent the next 3 hours+ relaxing in this delightful location.

I was researching ferries from Split or Zadar to Ancona for the next leg of our trip and got very close to booking but it was a prolonged research process and around 6.45 we thought we had better find somewhere to stay this night as time was marching on. Liz had been looking at Fazan but hard to get anything in town as it was booked out or prohibitive. There were some possibilities at 1.2kms out of town or 2kms +. We went into town tried the tourist bureau where they simply recommended pricey hotels. Parked up and walked into the centre by the beach looking for accommodation signs. A few apartments but they were either booked or not responding to phone calls. The delightfully named Hotel Feral was unfortunately also full. We would have loved to stay there. A couple of ferals in the feral hotel. Tried a couple of flash hotels but one was full and the other too pricey.

Now getting towards 8.00 pm and nowhere to stay the night and fair to say we were getting a little toey. Probably more because we could see this funky town and could not find anywhere close. We knew we would find somewhere but ideally didn’t want to be too far from town.

Amusingly we found one B&B advertised close to town and headed there. Approaching it we started to feel a little disquieted. Scrubby old garden and gate with a bit of looped wire keeping it closed. As we stood at the gate contemplating whether to go in a man appeared out of the house. Let’s say he looked a bit like a good old boy from Deliverance the movie. Bare feet, trousers which had seen much better days (years) and possibly weren’t his. Also roaming around the yard (garden is too flattering - there was all sorts of bric a brac lying around) was a large dog I’m thinking Shetland pony size. He looked friendly enough but was of the guard dog variety (a shepherd) and the “beware of the dog sign” made us even more wary. As did his loud bark.

Anyway having come this far we called out to deliverance man, in our slowest and well enunciated English, something along the lines of “do you speak English - is this a B&B and do you have a room?” Already beginning to pray that the answer was no (to either of the last 2 questions). We could have garbled the effort as he didn’t speak English and so opened a door and called out to someone to come out from inside the house. They yelled back but did not appear so he showed us up to the room. The door being opened allowed a waft of cigarette smoke to waft out which again was unpleasant.

Meanwhile the hound of the Baskervilles took a liking to me. Liz was showing him all the affection but he was slobbering around against my leg trying to be my best mate including proudly fetching his semi crushed plastic bottle for me to see. We all four went to the room, Liz, me, Wilbur and Fido. We thought the dog was going to come into it for a mo to help us check it out but obviously he knew his place and sat by the door curiously watching on and waiting to continue his slobbering.

The room looked like it had last been occupied 10 years earlier. Possibly by the person who left our host’s trousers behind. Dark, dank, musty and very hot (the room though also probably applicable to the trousers). We couldn’t imagine spending 5 minutes in there let alone a night. Especially with the Clampetts and Rover for company. We mumbled that we would think about it and retreated as fast as we could. The old boy couldn’t have given a stuff (he was v friendly) but the dog watched us go a mite sadly I thought.

In the end we succumbed and booked a place 1.2 kms from town. Not too bad, we thought we could waltz in from there relatively easily, though we did have a bit of trouble locating it via Apple maps so another 20 mins down the drain. But eventually we rolled up. I had read an article about the locals being masters (and mistresses) at gilding the lily and making places seem much better than they truly are. Well we got dudded. 1.2 kms was to the signpost to the start of town. Let’s say it was about 4/5 kms out from the centre. Delightful landlady. Spoke German fluently but virtually no English (which forced me to try and recollect high school German from 50 years ago).

Room was fine but we realised that the walk into town was not on so pretty quickly changed and drove in. By now it was 9.00pm and they don’t eat as late in Croatia as they do in Greece. Town though was still rocking. It’s relatively small but obviously a favoured tourist destination as plenty of people (without being overwhelming) were doing their evening promenade or still having dinner by the waterfront.

We found a restaurant right on the front and had drinks followed by dinner. Grilled squid for me and mussels for Liz. Very good. Staff extremely helpful and friendly. Our seats were close to a little market area where the nearest stall was a guy blowing glass with plenty of onlookers. Great spot for people watching and we spent a very enjoyable couple of hours in perfect temperatures. Liz also managed to book a hotel for the next night right smack in town so we were set up for the next day. It was one of the pricey ones from night before but obviously they had a room free for one night so brought down the price on booking.com and we were in. Great. Went for a walk around town and then headed home.

It had been yet another different day. Laid back Vrsar to kick off, followed by picturesque though touristy Rovinj, a glorious laze for several hours on the beach, serious contemplation of the next move and the ferry. Followed by a couple of tense hours looking for a place to stay including the trouble finding the location of the B&B. Then a great dinner and relaxing remainder of the evening.

Next day we were able to check out of our B&B and the room was free at the hotel. Easy switch. They also provided free car parking at a car park which was about 150 metres away so easy bag transition and nice though snuggish room, though we didn’t care, being smack in town was the key.

We had one plan for the day. Head straight to the beach of yesterday at Peroj and grab one of those few beach umbrellas and beds. Liz was getting toey as to whether we would make it in time. The transfer to the hotel soaked up a little time and of course I needed to complete suitable ablutions prior to departure. The tension was rising in the car as we headed there and a lack of beach facilities for the day was going to cause repercussions. Relief. Only one umbrella was taken when we arrived so we had the pick of 5/6 others. We chose and immediately headed to the little beach bar for a toasted sandwich breakfast. Now around 11.00am.

The rest of the day was spent lazing, swimming, sleeping, blogging, reading followed by lazing, swimming, blogging, sleeping and reading. We were feeling very chilled.

Also took a decision to forget the ferry from Croatia to Italy. Neither of us are very keen on them. Our experience, at least of overnight ferries, in this part of the world has not been great. We were also happy to drive around. Cost might end up similar when comparing ferry costs including small cabin overnight to petrol, toll and accommodation cost for one night driving around top of Italy down.

We didn’t leave the beach till 6.30 and couldn’t believe where the time went. That evening we did pretty much the same as the night before. Went to the same restaurant given it was a great place to sit and watch the sunset and passing throng and had good food and uber friendly staff. Didn’t disappoint. Grilled squid for Liz , grilled sardines for me. Went to the No1 gelato shop in town post that and strolled around the little town again before heading the 50 metres home. Great day.

[oisinwrites]

Scooby-Doo Team Up - It’s Scooby Time! (Review)

Now that I’ve reviewed the full 6-part Aggretsuko series, its back to Scooby-doo team-up, since I had only reviewed one of them so far. It was difficult to find book two in the comic-book shop, since there was an issue#4, an issue#5 and some un-numbered ones, so this is an un-numbered cross-over comic which features seven mad-cap stories, each one a crossover involving Scooby-Doo and other classic cartoons. Some of them are classic DC super-heroes, such as classic Batman and Mister Miracle.  Unfortunately, it still doesn’t feature Green Lantern but, on the plus side, does feature Dastardly and Muttley.

For those unfamiliar, this is a classic cartoon about a wacky air-force squadron who are always inventing bizarre flying contraptions to catch the messenger pigeon who is smarter than the humans trying to catch him. their leader is a man called Dick Dastardly who is actually stupid but thinks he's a genius and has a pet dog called but Muttley who is actually smarter than him but isn't loyal and only does anything for medals and dog biscuits.

In the first one, the Dastardly flying machine-team have failed to catch the pigeon for exactly the 3608th  time, so they call upon the four meddling kids and their dog for assistance, lying to them that it's a ghost pigeon. Soon the joke is on them when it turns out the Scooby-Doo Team were only pretending to be fooled.  They caught the pigeon, painted it luminous green and released it again, to make Dastardly & Muttley think that the story they made up was actually true all along.  Frightened by what they think is a ghost pigeon, they run into a hidden trap and get themselves caught instead. Mystery Inc. reveal the hoax and promptly release them, while Velma argues it is only fair that they get to trick them back. It is also revealed that this wasn’t to do with war but pizza-delivery.

Since world war one and world war two are both long past, the pigeon was actually working for a rival pizza-chain and Dick Dastardly is just a vintage enthusiast who thinks that old-model air-planes dating back to world war one can still be useful today. This story had wackiness, double-crossing and a creative way to update an old war-era cartoon, keeping the characters the same age but changing what time it’s set in. Personally, I was delighted, as Dastardly and Muttley in their flying machines is one of my favourite cartoons that was on all the time when I was a little kid, but I haven’t seen it in a very long time.

Next, mystery Inc. Team up with two super-heroes who are married to each other yet they are from two different planets, Mister Miracle and Big Barda. They go through the portal and are transported to the planet Apokolips, where an old woman called “Granny” is a charismatic leader but she might be involved in something suspicious. It turns out Granny is raising an army, but Daphne, Velma and Big Barda outsmart her by pretending to be affected by Grannies mind-control, and attacking her at just the right moment. A story with two charming superhero characters and some more sophisticated double-crossing.

Next, they visit Garfield high school for careers day and talk about being crime-solvers. They then find out the teacher is secretly a super-hero called Black Lightning and he wants their help fighting a villain who’s raising an army of school drop-outs, all of whom are making very bad decisions. The stay-in-school message was pretty corny, but what was even more hilarious was its ending which addressed one of the most common criticisms of scooby-doo as a series: Black Lighting actually asks the mystery gang why they aren’t in school. It turns out they all managed to graduate early but still embrace learning by taking online classes and Scooby attends Obedience School. This one also had them visiting a costume shop for some disguises, and it was fun seeing them in fancy masquerade and funky disco costumes.

Story number four begins right after they’ve dealt with a case involving a muck monster resulting in scooby being covered in muck and its never pleasant when a dog is covered in something smelly, especially when you’re driving. They stop by at Peebles pet-shop, hoping to find a doggy-bath but then Mr. Peebles has just found out that a particularly loyal customer was actually a mad scientist who is using them in twisted experiments and they must stop him or the pet-shop will lose its cruelty-free certificate. This one had a very weird ending, where the mad scientists head-swapping machine had created hybrids like a lion-mouse and Mr. Peebles decided to sell the hybrids because this made them more rare and exotic, meaning that it ended without them being changed back to normal. Presumably, this would also mean the mad scientist still has his head accidently stuck on to a parrots body and is on sale. It is after all, an exotic pet-shop. Story number six sees them visiting the home-town of the flash, where this time they are called on by crooks to catch another crook, someone who’s been stealing everything they steal and ruining their grand robberies. After they defeat “The Top”, a villain who uses spinning tops, some small, some big, some giant, as weapons, "The Rogues” then begin a grand robbery of the Flash museum, now that the Top isn’t there to ruin it anymore, but are stopped by a magician and two of the Flashes, (referred to as “Kid Flash” and “The Original Flash”) since the other Flash is in a different galaxy.

The second-last story in this comic-book begins with the mystery gang visiting Stagg enterprise, where they meet the boss, Mr. Stagg, his daughter, Sapphire and his Neanderthal assistant named Java. Mr Stagg turns out to be evil and they are now faced with the boss using the ancient Egyptian orb of Ra to control Urania, a super-heroine with the power turn herself into any substance or compound and his extremely strong Neanderthal henchman who still doesn’t know he’s evil in a scramble for the orb which gets dropped on the floor and everyone rushes to be the first to pick it up. Scooby has it for a while, but Daphne decides it should go to Sapphire.

This one seemed to be the toughest battle, but they had ways of outsmarting the toughest opponents which I thought were cool, such as Daphne, not just the “girly” girl, using her rarely seen kung-Fu skills to turn Java’s strength against him and Metamorpho, another hero with the same power asking shaggy to throw water on him as he changes into sodium just before he succumbs to mind-control too. This ends with Metamorpho mentioning a holiday away from him, while Fred waves, which presumably means they’re sending him to jail?

The seventh and last story begins with the mystery gang unmasking a particularly ridiculous Gotham villain called the Camera Man, who is dressed like a performing magician but with a helmet that is a giant camera. They are thanked by Batman and Robin, but then other Batmen and other versions of Mystery Inc. from different genres start appearing. It turns out to be Bat-mite and Scooby-mite, who aren’t evil but just don’t realise the trouble they’re causing when they’re making things “fun”, and they are using their reality-warping powers to bring them all into one dimension. However, it actually took all of them, each dividing into teams of the same character working with themselves, to take down a giant Scrappy-Doo crying “puppy power!” and they soon discover a giant belly-zip which they altogether un-zip, revealing Vincent van ghoul, the Hex Girls, Robi the robot butler, Flim Flam and Red herring. Once they are out of the giant scrappy-doo costume, they are then scared away by all the different Scrappy-Doo’s. Then the two mites finally get bored, sending them all back to their own universes and replacing them with the special, ultra-tall anniversary cake with both logos of Scooby-doo and Batman.

And so, this comic-book ends with a special dual “Happy Anniversary” message, but they should have known Scooby and shaggy would just eat all the cake and leave none for the rest. These were seven fun-filled stories with lots of cartoon craziness and enough double-crossing to impress James Bond, but the second one seemed lazily written. Apparently, an effective method of brainwashing is to put your subjects in a cinema-room and expose them to rapid-fire images, but it wont work on someone who either has, or is wearing the glasses of someone who has, terrible eye-sight? Since that lazily explains how Velma and Daphne resisted mind-control, Big Barda used the same sci-fi tech that transported them to this planet, the “mother-box” which also has the power of mind-control protection as well as planet-hopping? All that techno-babble seemed to me like it was hastily thrown together at the last minute, but this comic-book still brings me back to Scooby and other classic cartoons, while also being an introduction to some unfamiliar ones and was a delight to read. 

[damedarcy]

Tune in every Thursday folks, for the next excerpt of Hi Jax & Hi Jinx! A costume drama DD Autobiography to be published by Feral House fall 2018 thanks @AdamParfrey @DameDarcy ___________________________ MOVIES Act 1 Just a little back story of my experiences contacting the directors I loved, (or on second thought, was this a gentle form of stalking them?) Costume dramas? Hell yes to a delicious brocade delight. Then next in order of love, surrealist and I guess horror then art movies. Like Eraserhead, The Forbidden Zone by Richard Elfman, Superstar by Todd Haynes, and Careful by Guy Madden were all huge influences on me while I was in Art school as a film major, and after. I had the good fortune to meet all of these directors. I love Matthew Barney’s movies, particulary the Cremaster Cycle, and met him Once Upon a Time at his art studio in the Meat Packing District He revealed to me he is also from Idaho and was a fashion model, and afterwards we partied. I like silent films. Pandora’s Box, Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari, and Metropolis being good examples. Barry Lyndon by Kubrick and anything by Kubrick. Anything by Werner Herzog, anything by Wes Anderson, but particularly of course The Life Aquatic. I know I will meet Wes one day. Anything by Terry Gilliam, Brazil being the best. Michel Gondry does good contempory work, Spike Jonze has right on social commentary. The movies, Spider Baby, and Daisies are like my life with Lisa “Suckdog” Carver. And Skidoo is the best role Carol Channing ever played, and wins for best cast, having Groucho Marx as God, Donyale Luna, Mickey Roonie, Frankie Avalon, Slim Pickins , Jackie Gleason and many more. I love those really Da Da Betty Boop cartoons from the 20's that cab Callaway sings on, the 30's being the 20's dark and sad twin. The best time in the world was 1927. Marie Antoinette movie by Girly Copula looks great but is less filling on plotline. Isabelle Doll loves it though. She doesn't care about stuff like intellectual content, she's just a Rococo fetishist. Another movie Isabelle loves is Interview With A Vampire, which she thinks is a romantic comedy. Isabelle is also never going to die and sleeps in a little pink coffin too, so finally she saw something in her reality portrayed in a movie, plus pushing all the other dolls around. She thinks it’s funny that the little girl Dunst character uses a pile of dolls as a fridge in which to keep her dead nanny for a snack. Five Stars in doll land: Whatever happened to Baby Jane. And Night Of The Hunter, where Lillian Gish plays an old Christian lady battling a demented preacher with a shotgun while she sings a hymn in Harmony with him. I now realize this is an analogy to life in the South. Isabelle thinks the dolls are the stars of these movies, that’s why she loves them, and the sad little song the little girl, Pearl, sings in the boat. Isabelle also loves Death Becomes Her because the ladies in that movie become dolls. Also, because Isabelle Doll is a flapper from the 20’s she likes the Isabella Rossellini character playing the hottest 20's flapper that lives eternally and has hundreds of hot male sex slaves. Wow! Back to what I like: Beauty and The Beast, by Jean Cocteau. It has a scene where Beauty glides ethereally down the corridor, the wall sconces made of men’s arms holding candles move to light her way. So sexy, and Sooooo good! Brother Sun Sister Moon about St. Francis Assi, and speaking of churchy stuff... The Devils By Ken Russell 1971 An account of the apparent demoniacal possession of the 17th-century nuns of Louden, climaxing in the burning of their priest as a sorcerer. There is the cutest cabaret scene in it where a gorgeous boy plays the Venus Di Milo. More movie hits, picked because they are dreamlike twisted fairytale moving paintings: The Fall, Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind, Come Along Do, Breathless, Holy Motors, The Holy Mountain, Citizen Kane, The Maltese Fountain, anything by the Coen Brothers, and anything by the Brothers Quay. Surreal plotlines of Being John Malkovitch, Last Year at Marionbad, Mulholand Drive, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, A Ghost Story, It Follows, Rubber, Funky Forrest, and Back To The Future. The crazy jewel tones and harsh lighting contrasts of Hammer Horror Movies, and The Cook The Theif His Wife and Her Lover. The stunning visuals and general atmosphere of A Pigeon Sat on A Branch Reflecting on Existence, Russian Ark, The City Of Lost Children, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and Enter The Void. The social commentary of Where The Green Ants Dream, Bubble,The Bicycle Thief, There Will Be Blood, and The Dark Backward plus all animations by Steve Cutts, who I truly love with a passion (like I wanna marry him, sight unseen, or maybe my brain just wants to marry his brain). The campy and poignient portrayals of artists about art, in Pink Flamingos, Big Eyes, Loving Vincent, Blow Up, Black Swan, The Mirror, The Dving Bell and The Butterfly, Waking Life, The Five Obstructions, My Best Fiend and Minute Movies by The Residents. The Nautical themed and true examples of what it’s like to dream and astral project to another world of Master and Commander, Cloud Atlas and Time Bandits. And the way Sunset Boulevard, Gummo, and Slumdog Millionaire show a reality specific to the portrayer. And of course all the stuff I saw in Larry Jordan’s animation class and dollar Matanee at The Red Vic on Haight Street while in art school in San Francisco. Still classic favorites : A Colour Box, La Jetee, Un Chein Andalou, Meshes Of The Afternoon, Anemic Cinema, Ballet Mechanique, Man With The Movie Camera, Flicker, Blue, Back and Forth, The Life and Death of a Hollywood Extra, Surface Tension, Chelsa Girl, and Dog Star Man about a man trying to climb a mountain with his dog in this scratch emulsion found footage mess madness that is one of the most deeply original movies of all time.