#wait guys i need that hole in my tank just like him

[writer-by-the-sea]

Can I ask for a gender neutral drabble request about farmer feeling insecure and asking Elliott if he thinks they’re sexy and he admits to thinking about them when he touches himself? 🥺

“Have you ever just felt so unattractive that you don’t even think a turtle would be interested in you?”

Elliot startled beside me, I forgot that we hadn’t spoken in a few minutes… Or was it more than an hour now? I wasn’t sure. We would often hang out at the beach together after Elliott finished his yoga for the day. I’ve even joined him a few times, but honestly I stretch enough getting eggs out from under the chickens little bums that I couldn’t bare to do one more damn ‘triangle downward pose’ even if I wanted to.

“In your defense,” Elliot began. “I don’t believe turtles can be sexually attracted to humans.”

I snorted. Of course he would reply with the facts. And it was a silly question to begin with, the man looked like a bronze god sitting next to me. Shirtless and wearing those god damn red shorts that have me drooling in my sleep. “Never mind,” I replied with a laugh. “It was a dumb question—“

“No, it wasn’t.” Elliott’s voice was firm as he stared at me, his frown actually making me feel bad for even asking. “And, for the record, you’re very good looking.”

Um.

What?

I said nothing and just stared back at him, his eyes soft and caring as he gazed back at me. He had a single elbow propped on his knee, smiling now as he watched me— waiting for me to say something, anything in reply.

“I think about you,” Elliot said before I could manage to mumble out literally anything. “As in, when I’m in bed, or in the shower…” He paused, pressing his lips together as he thought to himself. “In the bathroom at the pub once, it was the day you walked in after being at the mines and the monsters tore half your clothes off...”

Hang on.

WHAT.

I held my hand up, stopping him from continuing and shook my head as I tried to process what the hell he was saying. He thought of me? In the shower? In bed? At the pub? What the hell did that even mean—

“I cum so easily when I think of you.”

Well there’s my answer.

Elliott was so relaxed as he spoke, shrugging after he just dropped a bomb on me as if it was nothing at all. “You’re very good looking, I never saw myself fantasying about the only farmer in town. However, it’s become a daily event now.”

“Elliott,” I paused. How does one even reply to this? Sure, the question I asked may have been a been asinine— but! To reply, and to reply so causally. “Ar you— are you saying to jerk off to me?”

“Everyday, yes.”

I dropped myself into the sand, uncaring anymore about the hot sand as it burned the back of my neck and arms, my hair was going to be a real bitch to wash later but I couldn’t even think about that right now. Elliott, the hottest guy in town, who writes poems and short stories with ease, who does yoga on the beach, who laughs with me at Gus’ pub, who is actually a dork that’s obsessed with Star Wars—

Jerks off to me.

Every. Single. Day.

Elliott laid down beside me on his side, worry painted all over his gorgeous face. “Farmer? Do you want me to stop?”

I laughed, just amazed at the entire situation. “No, you don’t… no.”

“Thank goodness,” Elliot said with a sigh and rolled to his back. “I don’t think I would have been able to stop. Especially after today.”

“Elliott,” I said and sat up, looking down at him with narrowed eyes. “What on earth would have happened today that would make it any harder to stop?”

“Well—“

I gestured down to myself. “I stink like chickens, my jeans were so beat up I cut them into shorts, I’m wearing an old hole filled white tank top— none of this,” I took a beat to gesture to myself one again. “Would give you the material needed to jerk off to.”

“Your shirt is absolutely soaked from the swim you took earlier, I can see your nipples.”

….

I looked down and groaned. “Elliot!”

“They’re very sexy nipples.”

And I could die.

[mushroommanstan]

university!au please!! infamous!shiggy with average s/o 🤼‍♀️ pls i

Oh anon, how did you know I’ve been wanting to write a college au Shig for a while? You must be psychic or something, very impressive!

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

Creepy Tenko Part One:

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

Anyways, I know you want the smut and shit but there’s a few things about Tenko that make him so infamous.

First off, his backstory. Basically, he was kidnapped by AFO as usual, but he was rescued by heroes this time a few months after. Unfortunately, a lot of damage had already been done.

The heroes were embarrassed as hell that they took so long to save him, and as a publicity act, paid to put him through elementary school, middle school, high school and hell even college. The big package.

Because of that, his entry was guaranteed since he was like 6. Obviously, this is gonna turn some heads.

Now this guy was infamous around campus for many reasons. For starters, growing up murdering his family and spending a summer with your local serial killer is gonna be the headline of his life. Everyone knows about that, and he doesn’t even deny it.

Also, because of that experience he has major ptsd and schizophrenia, causing a few tiny violent outbursts throughout his childhood. But it’s fine, he’s medicated now… most of the time.

He’s also very aloof, not talking to anyone if he can help it. He’s used to bullying, and at this point has pretty much given up making any friends. He’s so used to people being scared of him, just like his old master said, that he kind of embraces it, not even trying to hide when he stares at people for hours on end.

Oh yeah, and the stares. This guys got a dark ass aura. His blazing red eyes burn a hole in the back of the women he stares at. He’s a smart guy, he doesn’t need to pay attention to the whole lesson to get the gist. So lucky him, he can spend the rest of the class period staring at some chick while discreetly touching himself under the desk. Make eye contact with him if you dare.

The thing that completely tanked his reputation however, was when one guy got pissed at him for making goo-goo eyes at his girlfriend all day. He stopped him on his way to his dorm, punching him which made him stumble.

Something flew out of his hoodie pocket, and the man picked it up, students gathering around as he faced poor Tenko.

Tenko looked mortified, tears gathering in his eyes, but he wasn’t looking at his attacker. He was looking at his stolen object. The assailant hadn’t gotten a good look at what he was holding, and by the look on the freaks face it meant something to him.

The other students who gathered around screamed, some running to hurl in the nearby trash cans. When he finally looked at what he was holding it took him a good second to figure out what it was.

It was cold and grey. Fleshy with a golden back and… fingernails. Wait… was that… oh my god.

He yelled throwing the detached hand into the air, Tenko diving to catch it. He could feel himself losing control, his old senseis voice overtaking his brain and making his whole body shiver. He-he needed to calm down.

Tenko rose, pressing the cool hand into his face as he took deep breaths. He stopped trembling, and for a second, even with the screaming and yelling and trampling, everything was calm.

Obviously he got in trouble for having a murder scene victim’s body part in his possession, but Tenko knew from experience that no matter whatever bullshit they tried to scare him with, they couldn’t expel him.

He was like a mascot for the heroes’s new scholarship program. No way they would let him get expelled just because he kept a memento of his lost family. So, like always they payed them off. But the students remembered, and the guy who held the disembodied hand needed therapy.

So, not only was he a creep who got off to pictures of feet in the bathroom during homeroom, he also was a creep who kept a souvenir of his first murder victim with him at all times. Weird weird weird.

And then you came along.

He didn’t think much of you, that was, until you decided to sit down in one of multiple empty seats bordering his desk. No one ever sits this close.

Well… he had to admit… you were pretty. With your silky (h/c) hair, and your brilliant eyes, and your juicy, plump…. Eh-hum, personality.

He couldn’t stop himself from staring, not like he tried. You’ll learn soon enough that he’s a creep, and then he’ll be alone again. Yep. All on his own. Terrific.

His eyes bore into you, not just in one place but all over. Scanning over your body and memorizing every detail. From this close he could truly see how smooth and soft your skin was. And he could smell your perfume. What was that, lilac?

“Oh, do you like the perfume? I just got it! It’s lilac!”

Shit. You must have a mind reading quirk. He could feel his face growing bright red at the idea of you seeing the foul things he imagined in the last minute or so.

Truthfully you only knew because you could hear him sniffing the air like a puppy exploring a grassy field for the first time.

As the class went on you looked at him occasionally, not flinching whatsoever at the intense eye contact he returned. You had to admit… he was pretty cute. With eyes like those he should be the center of attention yet here he is sulking in the back of the class. Well, whatever, not your business.

The professor droned on about who knows what, making the both of you slump over your desks with boredom. You were praying for an oasis in the midst of this dry, dull desert of a classroom, when you heard a familiar sound.

Beep-boop, boop bleep!

You could recognize that sound anywhere! That was… that was…

You had to stop yourself from slamming your hands on the table in shock. The cute guy sitting next to you was playing the limited edition “Super Hero Adventure Deluxe” for the gameboy advance. (Not an actual game I think)

Aka, the only game in the Super Hero Adventure franchise you had yet to play. The one you had scoured EBay for forever. Holy shit, marry me!

You couldn’t help yourself, despite not knowing this guy in the slightest you pressed yourself into his shoulder, scaring the shit out of him and causing almost everyone to stop and look at you. You looked down at the pixelated screen, currently being death gripped by gloved hands as your cheek smushed against his fluffy black hair.

Tenko could feel his body shutting down from the inside. The sudden physical contact, the fact it was from a hot girl, and the realization she had an interest in his favorite game was all too much. Everyone watched as he pushed you away, screaming at you to stay away from him with some fairly colorful language.

Your expression darkened, and you grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. Having used to people tucking in their tail, he had to say he was not at all prepared for this. He didn’t actually want to fight you, he just wanted you to back off! … don’t make him fight you, you’re the first girl to touch him in years.

You both held intense eye contact for what felt like forever, but in reality was for only a second.

“You do not talk to me like that. Understand?”

Oh boy. Oh-ho-ho BOY you were awakening something in him he didn’t know he had. His face turned tomato red and his ire-filled glare turned into a soft gaze filled with child-like wonder. Not being able to speak he shakily nodded, hand raising up to feel along the one gripping his shirt. His fluffy hair bounced a little as he nodded.

You let go, returning to your seat with a huff and turned your head, and you were met with the utterly shocked faces of your classmates. They looked at you like you had just slain a dragon.

Meanwhile Tenko said nothing, face still completely red as his foggy mind spent the rest of class processing these new feelings that came up. The way you touched him, the way you scolded him! It was so… mean. So entitled. So dominant.

He wants more.

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

Believe me, I will be doing a part two! Thanks again for the ask, it finally gave me the kick in the pants I needed to write this!

[vinnystarman]

EDDSWORLD LORE ANALYSIS BUT I'M ABSOLUTELY DERANGED!!!!

"Wait this thing has LORE????" Yes!!! IT HAS LORE

I just rewatched eddsworld for the 2334idfk443th time in a row and realized I haven't seen (not that there isn't I just haven't seen) people talking about the fact that the series seems to have a really weird (and quite frankly fragile) canon, this goes to some minor details like differences between the stages of the series (retro, classical, legacy and beyond) and other stuff like how I think we actually kind of know what in the actuall hell was Tord even doing in those 8 years between his original departure and the end in eddsworld legacy BUT I'M GETTING AHEAD OF MYSELF before we start I want to make some points clear for the sake of clarity:

☆ I will be talking about the series and it's characters specifically in the context of the series, for example: I know why Tord the irl person left the series but I would be speaking only about Tord's (the character) departure, the same goes to any other irl event that had an impact on the series

☆ keep in mind this is only what I think (even though I think i'm absolutely right about everything) so if you disagree in any of my points that's absolutely fine!

☆ I will be speculating about future stuff so take all of those bits with a grain of salt because i'm a great observer but (unfortunatelly) not god so I can't acurrately see the future lolz

so…. how do we start?

well… we could start strong by one of the most interesting points I thought about!

as ridiculous as it sounds, i'm pretty convinced that Tom always knew about Tord's laboratory! and I have proof of it actually

one of the most solid proof I have appears in the episode "The Snogre" to be fair, that episode is gonna come up A LOT in this so you might want to re watch it first :3

in the minute 1:57 Tom apears with a "snow tank" that he uses to defeat the snogre, later, him and Edd have this exchange:

How'd you build that snow tank so fast?

Snow tank? (the snow falls off the ACTUALL TANK TOM CASUALLY IS OPERATING???)

this tank has the (i don't know how to call it so let's just say) serial number "CDT-01" which at the time was a nice little nudge to "moving targets" since it's the same tank the guys use in that episode but in this post "The end" world it should be noted that the "CDT-01" tank also appears in the minute 3:25 meaning up to that point the only way to access the tank was getting into Tord's laboratory and figure out what to press to get it (This tank might also be the one portrayed in movie makers but it's most likely that they are the same tank since they have the same serial number and in moving targets, this tank is stolen from Paul in that same episode AND THIS IS RELATED TO SOMETHING ELSE THAT I'M GONNA SAY HERE SO IT'S NOT A PLOT HOLE OK? BARE WITH ME)

the second one is that the lab was in Tom's room aka Tord's old room, this is the primary reason why Tord came back anyways, to get back to his laboratory (OR IS IT)

This is what I think happened:

Tom found a really suspicious button behind two frames (or one) maybe when he was moving his stuff into it and painting the walls (I highly doubt Tord had blue walls on his room), made a little mess trying to figure out what the actual fuck was going on, realized what it was and decided not to tell the guys because well… as we can see they LOVE pressing buttons and Tom knew it was gonna end up in catastrophe and shut his mouth because of that

that aside of ourselves, my second point:

The real reason why Tord was so hostile to Tom in the end wasn't (or at least not exclusively) because of his rivarly with him but more so because Tord wanted to capture monster Tom!

what do I mean by this? well to understand my point we need to understand how (i think) Tord and his army were operating at that time:

The red army as a whole has only been described once at this point in time and it was in the episode "Fun Dead" in the second 0:08 by the news lady as "Armed vigilantes" that were controlling the Zombie situation (that they [even though accidentally] caused) this meaning that as for now they aren't seen as a threat, on the contrary! They were helping the population! and maybe i'm giving Tord too much credit for this but I bet THAT (beeing seen as vigilantes and not some terrorist group) was intentional, you see, Tord is smart and a little manipulative, the most "evil" thing to do was letting the zombie infection run free and then take control of the post apocaliptic, in shambles world but he didn't, Why? you may ask; because he is more treacherous than Judas, that's why, maybe i'm looking a little too much into this but if this is the route he is going he would need more than one threat right? this is where monster Tom comes into play, I DON'T KNOW WHY ANY OF YOU HAVE EVER ASKED IT BUT WHY DID TOM BECAME A MONSTER RANDOMLY IN POWEREDD? I know it was hinted before that maybe he is half demon somehow??? BUT LIKE… MAYBE I'M DUMB BUT THAT'S WEIRD. And as the scientist he is (why don't I see more scientist Tord fanart?) Tord asked himself the same question, we know that because when we took a look into his laboratory we saw that he was studying monster Tom as it's shown in the end part 2 in the minute 2:42 (THIS GUY'S LAB IS SO MUCH TO UNPACK) this indicates that it isn't crazy to assume he was trying to take Tom out of his senses to get to monster Tom, because as we can see in that same episode he is wanted by the authorities for a large amount of money, probably because they got caught doing some sketchy stuff so, in an attempt to hype up his organization's reputation once more he tried to cause another problem for them to solve

this is what I think happened: Tord somehow knew about monster Tom and realized he could use him not only as another way to make his organization look like heroes to the public eye but also for studying (and maybe experimentation but not really sure since at that point Tord already had that weird chemical that gave life to stuff and converted people to zombies) he assumed the way to get to the monster was making Tom furious so that's what he tried, that's why he was specially hostile to Tom, that's why he was so surprised when Tom left the house (because i've seen people assume that was his objective but if it was then why did he looked so taken aback?)

continuing with Tord my next point is: We kind of know what Tord was up to all along and i'm not so sure he created the red army

WHAAAT???? VINCENT YOU ARE CRAZY FOR THAT ONE!!! WHAT MADE YOU THINK THAT TORD DIDN'T CREATED THE RED ARMY? THAT'S LITERALLY HIS TRADE MARK!!! HE IS THE RED LEADER, EVERYWHERE HE GOES THE RED ARMY SYMBOL APPEARS!!!

well yes, that is true but just because he later on becomes the red leader it doesn't mean he created the red army as it is.

let me explain: in the episode "moving targets" not only do we are shown Tord's fondness of militaristic activities but also in the minute 6:12 we see Paul and some unnamed enemy base guard (that i'm pretty sure had a fanon name but I completely forgot oh well) and you may ask "ok so what?" ... Sir that's Paul, this openly states that before he joined the red army, Paul was with this other random army which if you look closely has a suspiciously similar design to the red army's uniform, not only that but again, in Tord's lab we can see a picture of 4 people (minute 2:42) and these people are: Tord, the enemy base guard marked with a big X (maybe he's dead or simply left the army), Paul and Patryck, this meaning that Tord knew them from before, now, as always, here is what I think happened: After his departure in the episode 25ft under the seat, Tord at some point found the enemy army from the episode moving targets and considering how the gang messed them up they weren't in the best conditions, so at some point between the episodes movie makers and space face Tord takes control of this army and makes it HIS red army, this could've been by force or (what I see more plausible but who knows) joined the army as it is and began working his way up until he ended up leader of it CONTINUING WITH TORD BECAUSE HE IS A SNEAKY BASTARD (i love him i hate him so much) WHAT IS GOING ON WITH HIS LAB??? Tord's laboratory even though solves some questions it opens up even MORE questions like these: HOW DID HE KNEW ABOUT MONSTER TOM IF HE ONLY APPEARED IN POWEREDD AND THAT EPISODE AIRED LONG AFTER HE LEFT?? WHY DOES HE HAVE BARRELS OF THE WEIRD LIFE-GIVING CHEMICAL FROM "THE SNOGRE" AND "FUN DEAD" IF THAT ALSO HAPPENED LONG AFTER HIS DEPARTURE??? WHY DID HE INSTALLED A SECURITY SYSTEM IN THE HOUSE???

WHAT DOES THE MAP WITH THE NOTE MEAN???

well I have answers for 3 of those 4 questions, so, hear me out on this one: Tord kept using his laboratory even after he left. THIS SOUNDS CRAZY AND IT IS BUT HEAR ME OUT.

in the end part one, even though he was let in by edd Tord tried to sneak into Tom's room anyway, and he did it in a way that showed that maybe, just maybe it wasn't his first time doing it and if we look at it from a strategic perspective it's basically the perfect place to hide something like that.

it's a place that no one would search him in because well... at that point it had been years since he left, it's just a normal house where three friends live, nothing suspicious going on with that so if he had his laboratory right there it would be convenient... Really convenient, this is the reason he has stuff from stuff he couldn't have possibly had from before, that's why he had time to build his giant robot, he had all the time he was living there and also when he wasn't, that's what he knew about monster tom. that's why he had pictures of his army friends, that's why he had the chemical, because he never truly left.

this would also make my first idea even more possible because Tom wasn't even surprised to see Tord's laboratory in his room and Tord wasn't surprised either to see Tom there, this meaning that maybe somehow they had seen eachother before, maybe while Tord was sneaking in or out and Tom in an act of friendship decided to not get Edd or Matt involved for their own good

AND NOW, LET'S STOP SPEAKING ABOUT TORD FOR A MOMENT BECAUSE I NEED TO SAY SOMETHING ABOUT EDD.

IS FUTURE EDD GONNA PROTAGONIZE THE COMICS MATT SPOKE ABOUT IN HIS UPDATES VIDEO?????

I HAVE PLENTY OF REASONS TO THINK THAT WE ARE GOING TO SEE MORE ABOUT THE FUTURE BRIEFLY POSTRAYED IN WTFUTURE BECAUSE IF WE TAKE AN ACTUALL LOOK AT THE TEASERS MATT SHOWED THEY SHOW A FUTURISTIC CITY WITH DRONES AND SOMEONE WITH EDD'S DISTINCT HAIR AND FUTURE EDD'S COAT ENTERING A BUILDING THROUGH THE WINDOW SO IN MY OPINION WE ARE GOING TO GET EVEN MORE INSIGHT ON HOW'S THE WORLD DOING UNDER THE RED LEADER'S LEADERSHIP WHOHOOOOO long live cola

that aside because I got overly happy when I remembered that

WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THE LOBSTERS.

in the episodes "the surf and turf wars pt 1 and 2" we are presented with a new problem, for the ones that haven't seen it or don't remember, in the episodes, Matt gets turned into a lobster monster by a chemical with dubious origin, we actually have a name for this chemical! it's named "NM-8" and ok, this is maybe a far FAR stretch BUT I CAN'T POSSIBLY BE THE ONLY ONE WITH THE THEORIE THAT MAYBE, JUST MAYBE THIS CHEMICAL IS AN ADVANCED FORMULA OF THAT LIFE-GIVING CHEMICAL OF TORD'S I say this since both substances have similar effects, and according to this, in the same episode, the barrel of nm-8 ends up there anyways because while transporting the chemical THAT IS WIDELY STATED THE ORIGIN OF IT IS HIGLY CONFIDENTIAL NO QUESTIONS ASKED the ship hits a bump and when the captain asked "what happened" is sent to the brig because he broke the rule of not asking questions, this leading to the barrel falling overboard and ending up in the beach where it's found by Matt and the episode continues

who would need such level of secretism? who would need that much confidentiality? well I have certain people in mind, if we think about it from a narrative perspective it would make sense for the chemical to be property of the same guy (or guys) that made the other chemical to be responsible for it, maybe in some elaborate scheme to finally get back at the world after the giant robot fiasco and hey, maybe it was impossible before but now with the Tord Youtooz? WITH TORD APPEARING IN MATT'S VIDEO AS AN INTERRUPTION WITH THE STYLE OF A STOLEN TV SIGNAL???? IT'S PLAUSIBLE AND IT WOULD MAKE A LOT OF SENSE! but as always that is only speculation, I can't see the future, just theorize and communicate what I think and let's be honest, the next episode will probably be about the guys cleaning up the lobster mess (WHICH IS AMAZING AND I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE) but always remember, Tord ends up taking the world in the future anyways so stopping him right now, whatever he is up to is not really an option unless someone comes back from the future to help

AND THAT'S ALL SORRY IF IT'S MESSY, I STARTED WRITING THIS AT 3 AM AND HAD TO WRITE IT IN SEPARATED MOMENTS SO YEAH THE CONTINUITY IS NOT GREAT AND ALSO ENGLISH IS NOT MY FIRST LENGUAJE SO YEAHHHHHH

[pretty-bois2023]

🙈 So Jay (the roommate) brought a friend of his over, and basically planned to have a threesome without telling him. (See texts above)

I honestly think tonight might have been one of the hottest experiences of my life. I’m not even being dramatic, it was just amazing 🥵. I apologize in advance because this is going to be a LONG post, but there’s a lot to tell.

So anyway, I did what he asked and waited about 5 minutes, then went out to the living room in just a tank top and boxers trying to look cute. His friend was sitting on the couch naked and my roommate was on his knees sucking him. He looked REALLY embarrassed and grabbed his shirt and covered his dick. My roommate kinda laughed and said ��come here for a sec”, so I went over to the couch. He moved his friend’s hand and said “You want some?”

Honestly, it felt a little weird because I didn’t want the guy to feel pressured or anything… so I asked if it was okay. He seemed a little embarrassed, but he said “umm… sure”. So I got on my knees next to my roommate and started sucking him. His dick is actually really nice. Uncut, probably like 6.5”, and sort of thick. But with a really big head and a really defined slit and a kinda big hole (I know that might sound a little weird, but I loooove that 😅).

Anyway, the embarrassment went away and he got into it, and my roommate and I kept taking turns sucking him. We both got undressed while the other was sucking. It was actually really hot tasting his spit when we switched. After a few minutes of that he said “keep going, I just need some water”. So I kept going.

He came back and sat next to Javier and they started making out, and then I heard Javier say “fuck me”. I don’t think I expected that, because he very much LOOKS like a top. Anyway, like a minute later he was on his hands and knees on the floor, and my roommate was fucking him. I sat on the floor in front of him, and he started sucking me. Every time my roommate thrusted, he would moan… and when he moaned his mouth kinda vibrated on my dick and felt sooooo good. After like 5 minutes, my roommate said “come over here”, so I went over next to him. He pulled his dick out, bent me down, and shoved his dick in me. Javier started kissing me, and it felt like that only lasted like 2 minutes and he switched back to Javier.

That went on for a little while, and then he stopped and told us to come to his room. We got in his bed and they took turns fucking me (no idea how long that lasted, I’m guessing around 30 minutes). Javier came inside me, and then Jay fucked me for a few more minutes and came, too.

When Jay pulled out, Javier got on his hands and knees and told me to fuck him. So I started, and Jay got his dildo, got behind me, and was ramming me REALLY hard with it. Like, at one point I literally said “ouch” out loud… but it was awesome. 😩

Javier’s ass felt amazing and Jay was going crazy with the toy, and I could feel that it was just covered in their cum. Needless to say, I only lasted like 3 minutes before I came in Javier. He leaned forward and my dick slid out. He put a finger in me and then licked it and said he was jealous that I “got most of it” 😂. Jay was still holding the dildo, and he goes “oh, well hang on”. He slid it back in me a few times, then spread Javier’s legs and slid it into him. He didn’t use any lube… just their cum from inside me. It was really hot to watch.

Jay was just slowly sliding the toy in and out of Javier, and Javier had a huge smile on his face. I laid down next to him and started licking his nipples. We were all a little bit sweaty at that point, and he smelled incredible. He put one of his arms behind his head, so I started licking his armpit. I think he was a little surprised because he sort of flinched for a second, but he didn’t stop me. Maybe he’s just ticklish. Anyway, I guess seeing that while he was using the toy on Javier turned him on, because he got hard again. He wrapped his hand around his dick and asked who wanted it, and at the same time Javier and I both said “me!” 🤣🤣

Jay turned me around and started fucking me again, and this part is a little hard to explain, so I hope it makes sense how I’m describing it… Javier got under us and I was basically straddling him in almost a 69 position. My face was right by his dick, and his face was right in between my legs. He was sticking his tongue out and licking Jay’s dick every time he pulled out a little. A few times he pulled it all the way out of me and let Javier suck it, then put it back in.

After a while, he switched and started fucking Javier. I was rock hard again, and Javier was licking my balls. Jay came in him and laid down on the bed looking exhausted, and Javier squeezed my dick and looked up at me and just said “fuck me”. So I fucked him again while Jay watched. It felt like I was going FOREVER, and I finally just stopped and told him I don’t think I can cum again. It felt amazing… warm and wet and slippery, but I just couldn’t get close to cumming again. Sometimes I can cum more than once, but sometimes I just can’t. He rolled over and jacked off, and when he said he was close I started sucking him, and he came in my mouth.

We just kind of collapsed and laid there breathing hard for like a full minute, and Javier said “god damn”, and we all just laughed. We chatted for a bit, and then Javier got dressed and went home. Jay asked if I had fun (obviously I said yes), and I said I was going to go take a shower and get ready for bed.

Guys… that’s STILL not the end of the night. 🤣

He grabbed me and kissed me, and then he asked why I didn’t cum the second time. I told him I probably just needed a little longer to recover. He had his arm wrapped around me and he started playing with my dick and kept kissing me, and then he lifted his arm and said “lick it”. So… I’m there in his bed, he has one arm wrapped around me and holding me close to him, he’s a little sweaty and smells really good, the whole room smells like sex, I have his and Javier’s cum inside me (plus the cum I swallowed), my ass had already been pounded for over an hour, I came inside a cute guy I had only met once before, and my hot roommate had just ordered me to lick his sweaty armpit. So… of course… I got really hard again.

He kissed me again and said “try to cum again”, and he kind of pushed me off of him and put his legs up on my shoulders. I grabbed the lube and fingered a little into him, and then I started fucking him. I leaned down to kiss him, and he put his arm up again and used his other hand to push my face into his armpit (sorry if this part is a little weird… I know armpits aren’t everyone’s thing, but they REALLY turn me on, especially his). I was licking it and he was pushing my face into it so hard it was almost hard to breathe, and he kept saying things like “your cock feels so good” and “my ass is better than his, I can make you cum”. Insanely hot. 🥵

All of that combined just drove me fucking CRAZY. I leaned back up and grabbed his legs and started fucking him really fast and hard. He VERY rarely bottoms, so he’s not very used to it, and he was basically whimpering… which turned me on even more. He reached up and grabbed my right shoulder and dug his nails into my skin, and he kept saying stuff like “oh fuck, oh fuck, harder, fuck”. I leaned down over him again, with his legs almost next to his face, and I told him I was getting close. He was breathing really hard and his breath kept catching in his throat. He wrapped his arms around my back and I kept going as hard and fast as I could, and I finally came inside him.

I pulled out and he put his legs down, and he goes “Jesus! Look…l”, and he pointed at his stomach. He came (a THIRD time) while I was fucking him, without even touching his dick. I asked when he came, and he said “A while ago! You fucked the hell out of me!”

I’m not gonna lie, that made me feel like a god 😂 I bottom like 90% of the time, so it’s nice to know I’m good at topping. I licked the cum off his stomach and tried to lick his dick, but it was way too sensitive and he told me to stop. We laid there for a few minutes, and then he fell asleep so I went and took a shower.

That whole thing was just… perfect. EVERYTHING felt really good, it was really kinky, there was so much cum, they both smelled sooo good, I was VERY thoroughly fucked and bred by 2 really hot guys, I got to cum inside Jay (which is very very very rare), and I fucked him so hard that he came without touching himself. I’m honestly not horny AT ALL at the moment, but I just keep replaying 3 specific things in my head… first, the way his face looked while I was pounding him. Like I could tell it was really hurting him, but that he loved it. He looked almost desperate, if that makes sense. Second, the way his ass felt around my dick like 30 seconds before I came. It was really tight and it felt so wet (I do precum a lot, so I’m guessing that’s why). And third, when Jay took the cum coated toy out of my ass and just spread Javier’s cheeks and slid it inside him without even asking if it was okay. He just had complete control over both of us and that felt so fucking hot.

I’ll absolutely be doing this again, and Javier has already sent me a friend request on Facebook since he doesn’t have my number.

Anyway, I share most of my experiences on here, and I felt like this one deserved a more thorough explanation. I’ll be shocked if anyone takes the time to read this entire post, but I just needed to share. I am beyond exhausted and now I’m going to get some sleep. Good night! ❤️

[havin-fun-imagining-twd]

"fondness" LOL

When -- directly after Scary as a sleepy kitten. We're back to season 2, slowpokes. We had taken a brief trip to pre-season 9 for Still beating

Is there a picture of baby Carl at the end as a prize? -- yes, just as Dale describes it to you!

What -- Andrea and Dale thought you and Daryl were a thing? Lol. But like why are you so defensive about it? While also being defensive about the mangy hick, oh, this is confusing...

Perspective -- 2nd person (you)

Pronouns - nada

Who -- You, Andrea, Papa Dale, and Glenn. Daryl's sleeping, he's concussed and fell down a ridge twice with a bolt hole in him, he needs his rest.

How long is this one? -- shorter, about 10 minutes!

TWs -- a few cusses, and reference to Carol's spousal abuse

Reading assignments -- How's your head? Part 2, then souls stripped bare if you want more emotional context, as well as Invisible tugging strings Part 1 but especially -> Part 2 , then Spell your last name, please. , He hasn't been himself, and Scary as a sleepy kitten.

All that for reading assignments?? -- reading is healthy, y'all :P

Choose your fighter: The Full + Official Masterlist vs Chronological Slowpoke Chapters Only (reading them in publishing order as opposed to chronological order is recommended)

have fun and happy reading!

“Ah, the culprit behind Andrea’s little conclusion. How are you?”

Dale finishes matching a pair of socks as he responds with a quiet chuckle, “Just fine, I hope. I see now that the conclusion caused some…offense?”

“Don’t be silly, Mr. H, you meant nothin’ by it,” you play off, and start to help his sort through the pile of clean, dry socks.

“‘Meant nothing by it’ implying there was some offense taken.”

You tuck in your lip, and meant to return eye contact, but you’re still feeling strange about the whole mix-up. With the simple words, “nazi-bike,” you tell him what you consider a fair reason to have taken some offense.

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

20 minutes ago

“Y/N, I didn’t realize,” Andrea says, slowly walking beside you.

“Realize what?”

“You two.”

“Me, too? What’d I do?” Is she talking about how you’ve got the medical wrap on your upper arm, maybe? “Do you mean this?” you question, looking down at your shoulder.

She peers at you, head tilted to the side.

“You and Daryl,” she softly clarifies. “It was Dale who wondered first, after you had to excuse yourself.”

Me and Daryl? “What’d we do?” Perhaps she's referring to the search today? Andrea isn’t one to not speak her mind, you wonder why she’s not being more succinct. She doesn't know about you having shot that guy. Dale has an idea, but he's tight-lipped about it.

“So, you and he…?” she trails off.

?

So, you start to fill her in about the search. “Before Daryl found the doll, we’d—”

—OH WAIT, now you get it!

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

Once you figured it out, your hands were raised in innocence and you kept your voice lowwww. “Ain’t nothing romantic happened between us two.”

And you weren’t fully sure why you were going into defensive mode so hard, either, but there you went. “C’mon, Andy, there’s a fuckin’ nazi symbol on his drug dealing, motorcycle gang bike,” you’d grit, doing your best to play if cool regardless of how weirdly defensive you’d gotten.

Forcing a smile to cover up for that fact that you licked your teeth in annoyance, you finished up, “He’s my friend, but that right there would be a deal breaker off the bat for aught else. And besides, back at the quarry, we noticed he didn’t seem into people.”

“I’m not entirely sold on that. Maybe, it’s simply that he’s shy and careful and not a pig like his brother was.”

Andrea then had peered at you as if she could see something you couldn’t, which disturbed and annoyed and for some reason thrilled you even more.

You thought about it, and supposed that he did seem to blush that time Amy was headlighting after the first rainstorm at the camp. A squall had come out of nowhere. Last time she ever wore that shirt without a tank top underneath.

Anyway, Daryl had immediately turned his head away, in fact, as opposed to (Merle, obviously, but also) even Glenn, who’d frozen when he’d seen. Amy didn’t know who’d been gaping, but you’d been on the hunt for anyone objectifying your new friend, so had been darting your eyes around like a cat getting ready to pounce, and took inventory of every glance.

That Daryl turned his head so readily was the main reason you’d felt safe enough to ask if him if he’d teach you how to hunt, in all honesty…

“It was his brother’s bike, not his,” Andrea next stated, very like the way older siblings will talk down to younger ones. “Merle was the head, and the dealer. Would you want to be held accountable for what your brother does, his choices?”

That simple reminder made your bow your head, and you could hear your pulse begin to thrum in your ears. You wouldn’t want to be held to Shane’s choices and actions. You still couldn’t (can’t) wrap your head around the fact that he’d just flirted with Lori. And kept flirting after she’d clearly been alarmed by it.

“Something Merle once said made it sound like Daryl wasn’t a big part of the gang,” Andy went on.

However, you got even more defensive at what you were taking as insistence of Dale and Andrea’s little conclusion. “And? He still rode or, or at least hung with them. He still wears the cut sometimes.” 'Sometimes' meaning that spate of a few days when he was particularly sad about Merle...

“‘Cut?’” she repeated, then remembered, “Oh, I remember learning that from Sons of Anarchy, it’s the um, that’s the Boy Scout vest that bikers wear, right?”

Ha. You were cracking up despite yourself, that was funny. Boy Scout vest.

“As for the bike,” Andrea added mildly, “painting over that symbol isn’t on his radar. I mean, routine hygiene isn’t on his radar.”

Nope, you weren’t defensive at all. “…So he’s grimy and desensitized to a nazi symbol. It’s a match.”

With a tut very-like what your eldest sister would make, she stated, “I didn’t remember what the symbol on the bike stood for at first, and I'm a civil rights lawyer. I thought they were stylized lightning bolts.” You heard her breathe deeply as she rested her arms on the livestock fence. “The symbol, the one on Merle’s bike, what’s it mean again?”

“Shoots-stah-full.” You’re bad at pronouncing it and were feeling embarrassed, so spoke it shyly. “SS is easier to say.”

“They were the secret police?” she checked.

“The secret police was the gestapo, the SS were another sort of special branch. Über-jarheads, I guess.”

“See? I only really remembered the swastika as being a nazi symbol, until you and Dale were talking about the symbol on the bike. It’s not unreasonable to think some things in Daryl’s education were forgotten or missed, too.”

That was the point in the conversation when the private knowledge of him having gotten lost for 9 days, as a young child, and without anyone looking for him, slapped you in the metaphorical face. The vivid, awful, and oh-so-fresh memory of seeing his scarred back punched you in the metaphorical gut.

Why did you react so strongly to her assumption in the first place? It’s not a big deal. You’d have probably assumed the same. Like, for goodness sake, you were the one who couldn’t keep the pet names for him from going on parade little over an hour ago. You'd cupped his cheek and kissed his forehead in relief that he was alive!

Either way, there was a (…sane?) inner battle in your head between being offended at Andrea and Dale’s conclusion versus being offended at your own negative reaction to it.

Bitch, he tossed the ‘hard stuff’ this morning, obviously he isn’t a user.

Still ran with the dealers, still was complacent and complicit with it all. And think about how cruelly he insulted you earlier today, how scary he was? You were expecting it to turn into his backhand. It’s something that was plainly done to him, you think he’s unlearned that yet? No, because you remembered how he grabbed you by your arm and dragged you back at the house until you cussed him out.

But then he apologized. Then, when you needed help, he carried you gently and made sure it wasn’t hurting you. You saw how careful he was being, and he isn’t good with touch.

Then he stole Mr. Greene’s horse instead of just asking like a normal person.

He also gave Carol that flower and told her the story to go with it, and meant it.

Before drinking about four beers last night and was hardly buzzed from it.

He carried, buried, and mourned that family of strangers with you today, he’s not some selfish deadbeat, Y/N!

Well, he chain smokes and drives a nazi bike!

And still almost died today three times to give the group—to give Carol—concrete proof that her baby girl’s been near.

Fine! Explain away the r-a-c-i-s-m.

That mangy hick saved Glenn’s life, he saved T-Dog’s life twice. He gave Jacqui extra root beer when she said she loved it, helped the Morales kids learn to throw a punch (and a kick). Y/N, he’s clearly doing some kind of weeding of the bad stuff in him and letting good things take their place, idiot, are you stu—

“Y/N. It wasn’t an attack on you, or a judgment. Amy told me how,” Andy paused to think of a good verb, “discerning you are when it comes to things like that. How strong your boundaries are. And how hesitant you’ve been to enter into a relationship for those reasons.”

She was diplomatic and tactful, you were grateful. You’d have just said ‘old-fashioned, kinda scared, comparatively prudish.’ Lol.

Crossing her arms as she walked, she then drove home, “Maybe I would have trusted your decision, if there was a ‘you two.’”

A slightly stammered “Okay,” was the best you could do right in terms of responding. Let’s be real, sentences aren’t your strong suit on a good day, never mind today.

Andrea stuck her hands into her belt loops and she ambled alongside the fence. You followed, looking out at the cows. One of them had twin calves.

“You gave him the benefit of the doubt before any of us,” she reminded you. “Are you backtracking?”

Your voice cracked when you tried to insist, “I ain’t backtracking on that, it’s j-just been a long day.”

“It’s been something else,” Andrea softly agreed. Her pace slowed a little and she placed her hand on your back as she continued toward the nearest cow field. “I saw Carol washing your stuff. Where’d the bloodstains come from?”

You shrugged. “My stitches ripped.” Ohh damn it, you said it out loud. “Wait, Andy, don’t—please don’t let Shane find out,” came out of your mouth in such a desperate tone of voice that you couldn’t not see a red flag.

“Oh, I won’t.” Andrea’s lips pursed, and she put a hand on her hip. “He’s been acting up.”

One word for it. You closed your eyes, and mumbled, “Thank you. He has been.”

“It doesn’t seem like you to hide stuff from him.”

Hide stuff? “No, it’s the…” After inwardly tugging the halyard to get that red flag down, you give up. Let it fly; you were hiding stuff from your brother, plain fact. Still are. For now, at least.

Andrea said nothing more about it. Again, you were grateful. You also felt stupid.

You stood there in silence for a few minutes, listening to the breeze, the mooing, the birds chirping, the cicadas buzzing.

Once the sun was halfway set, she lead the way back.

“At any rate, back to what we were discussing,” she relaxed her position and gave you something of a teasing smirk. “T-Dog is convinced Daryl’s a good guy, too, so what does that tell you?”

“That Teddy’s a saint,” you answered quietly, mouth twisting into an embarrassed grin. You may or may not sometimes remind her of what a catch you think T-Dog is combined with the fact that he’s single and in her age range. “Andy, where was all this goin’?”

“I have no idea, at first I thought I was being supportive,” she chuckled. “I guess: Daryl is proving to be a different man than we thought. And I’d say you know that better than anyone here.” She inhaled, then made a slight groan. “And, well, I did just shoot him, so maybe I’m biased.”

You held back a giggle. “So you’re tryin’ to set Daryl up to make amends?”

“Mmhm,” she sassed back. “Guess I’ll need a more willing victim.”

“Understood, let’s find Carol, she's half in love with him after today.”

“Perfect, let's get her. She’s probably hanging laundry,” was her initial sarcastic agreement. After a few steps in silence, she grew serious. “Carol needs to learn her worth before we can let a man near near her again. Especially one like Daryl.”

The first half of her statement sent you in for a hug. But the second sentence in her statement put you right back on defense and simultaneous offense. What came out of your mouth as you sought clarification, however, was unproductive. “Seriously?”

Per usual, Andrea remained unruffled. She held a hand up. “Based on what I know, your bar is high enough to do pull-ups on. Now, you’d help hoist someone up to your bar—and would kick off anyone who tried to lower it.” She gave you a pointed look. “Carol’s bar wasn’t only low, Y/N, it was taken down and used to beat her.”

The mental image struck right in the gut.

Blindly, you followed her past the grove of trees where Otis’ cairn lay, so offered a quick blessing in your head for him.

She turned back to look at you. “Do you understand where I was coming from, Y/N?”

You had to swallow some of the emotion down first. “I think so.”

“You and him, I’d be fine with, because your bar is set high and firm. It would imply good things about Daryl.”

After a sniff, you thanked her, that was a very generous compliment. And unfortunately, unable to not be a weirdo, you mumbled this dumb comment: “I can’t be hoistin’ nobody up until my darn shoulder is healed.”

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

Now

“The motorcycle was Merle’s,” Dale lightly defends. Same response as Andrea, but with more of an understanding tone of voice. He was raised Jewish and lost family during the Holocaust, you know that.

Still, why didn't he react with more gusto, then? You hum and end up matching a sock somewhat aggressively. Which is not a sentence you’d ever have imagined thinking.

“Y/N, you can’t fault the man for accepting his dead brother's gas-friendly, easily repairable and reliable mode-of-transport that can go places bigger vehicles cannot. Him being able to go ahead and scope out the roads has been a boon. The emotional connection to the bike in itself would be understandable.”

“Yes, sir.”

He sighs. “My first thought was one of…how to describe it, uh, it was an...” he considers for a moment. “I suppose the best word is ��confidence’ in Daryl’s character, if you had taken a shine to him.”

“‘Taken a shine to him?’”

“You know, a fondness for each other.”

“A 'fondness?'”

“Though I suppose the camaraderie that you two have is a commendation for him in itself,” he went on, eyeing you with something of an exasperated look. Good humored, though.

You scratch your nose. “I think we all have some kind of camaraderie or, y’know, a ‘shine’ with him after today.” It would be impossible not to. “To be fair, I couldn’t stop callin’ him pet names earlier. There’ve been a lot of up and downs we’ve gone through together the past few days, I’m not lookin’ too deep into it.” And you were merely so relieved that he was alive after getting grazed by that bullet, which is why you pressed your forehead to his and gave it a kiss.

“And he was injured, a circumstance which tends to encourage terms of endearment,” he kindly agreed. “Nothing wrong with that, kiddo. And there’s nothing wrong with acknowledging that he’s not so bad.”

Nodding, Dale points his finger after matching another sock. “For me, what solidified it was when he found out that T-Dog had the blood infection.” He pressed his thumb and pointer finger together. “The man immediately gave us those antibiotics, as well as some painkillers.”

The recollection of that blessed relief trickled from your belly down to your toes and fingertips. And hearing that it had been done ‘immediately’ sent a tightness to your throat. You swallowed.

“However, it was before that, at the quarry, when I really started to trust that the, uh,” he raised his brows, then grinned briefly. “That the ‘first impression’ wasn’t accurate in several ways. One, I imagine you will remember, it was a few days prior to the supply run to the city. The last supply run, as it were.”

You nod. You’d been barred from going due to an uptick in getting migraines the previous two-ish weeks. Must’ve been the barometric pressure or something.

“Daryl had been looking for you, found fresh tracks close to the campsite, if I recall.”

Just then, Glenn walks over with his mouth full of something—oh snap, he’s got a container of honey wheat pretzels. Yay!

He plunks it in the middle of you and Dale and begins to help with the sock-sorting and laundry folding.

Like a starving Dickensian orphan, you zero in on the pretzels and quickly stuff a few too many into your mouth. Glenn finds this very funny, cracks up, and now you’re trying not to snarf as you desperately try to chew and swallow.

“I gave half my supper away,” you do your best to enunciate as you crunch.

“Glad you’re doing better after passing out earlier.”

You press a finger to your lips and subtly shake your head, just in case your brother would somehow overhear it.

“Anyway,” Dale gets back to it, with a handful of the pretzels for his own, “after I explained to him that you were indisposed, he seemed irked, wandered off. Some time later, however, he came back to me with a sports drink in his hand, asking if you’d left your tent yet. It seems that he intended the beverage to go to you.”

The memory kicks in and, mid-motion and mid-chew, you stop reaching to grab the mate to the sock in your hand. Another sensation spreads through your belly, a nice but nervous one. Your eyes flit up at Dale, who paused to take a drink from his water bottle.

“I hadn’t seen you or Amy leave your tent at that point, so let him know,” he narrated, capping his bottle again. “Except, on his way back to his and Merle’s spot, he slowed and crouched to look under the truck. Then, he held out the bottle.” Dale next makes a chuckle that probably qualifies as a ‘guffaw,’ it’s a proper old man belly-laugh. “And to my quite vocal alarm, a skinny, pale little arm popped out from underneath and took it!”

The name “Gollum?” is the unfortunately first thing that enters into your head and, yes, you say it out loud…but it’s cool, because Glenn happens to say at the same time, “Like Sméagol.”

“You’re such a nerd.”

“Look who’s talking, dork,” he pokes right back.

“My mind went to the two children hiding behind the Ghost of Christmas Present’s cloak, personally,” Dale muses, then continues the story. “Daryl wandered off on his way after that, but, naturally, I hopped down from the RV to see who on earth was under there." He lifts a shoulder. "I bend down to see who but our young Carl! The boy had already drunk half the bottle, said he felt much better for having done so. It seems he’d felt sick before and crawled under the truck to escape from the sun.”

Daryl gave your Carl a gatorade, too, and said not a word about it.

Good Moses, just when you thought you’d tamped down any notion of irrational affectionate feelings toward that mangy hick...

“With that, little Luis came dragging Miranda over with a cup of water—Miranda had been watching the boys while Lori was out foraging for mushrooms, Eliza must have been with Sophia and Carol.” Another sip from his water bottle. “Mmm. Those mushrooms were a treat,” he said mainly to himself. "Y/N, he found you later and gave you the beverage before you washed up, if I'm not mistaken? He came by with another bottle, I directed him to the quarry lake after seeing you head down with a wash bucket."

You nod. Was it obvious that you flushed when he told you the story?

Because you feel flushed, and that’s with the cool breeze outside this evening. You fold a shirt. Some undies. Match another pair of socks…then you figure you should say something, you’ve been too quiet and Dale is looking at you expectantly. “C-Carl does have a way of, uh, slippin’ out of sight.”

“Like a hobbit.”

“Just like a hobbit, Glenn, the boy coulda burgled us blind.”

Your friend remains mock-serious. “He still might.”

“He’s a tricksy one.” And with that, you take more pretzels. Maybe if you feed the butterflies in there, they’ll get tired and nap. Or, if you stuff enough into your belly, there won’t be enough room for them to fly.

“Hey, saw Shane’s setting up his own tent,” your friend mentions.

“Mm. Privacy will be nice.” You kept your face and voice nonchalant, except for maybe searching a little too intently for the matching sock that was plainly in front of yo—owww, you reached too far with your bad arm.

When you found out from Lori last night about the new baby and who the biological father potentially might could be, it’d felt like the seed of dread that had taken root in you however many months back, regarding Shane, had blossomed.

Now, after you caught him flirting with a very unreceptive and visibly shaken Lori, it feels like the plant shot up and was now pushing against your insides. It’s a wonder the irrational butterflies in your stomach even have room.

“That sound good, Y/N?”

“Huh?”

Glenn nudges you with the side of his foot. “Can you join?”

“Join what?”

“I told you, head was in the clouds,” Dale commented, kindly razzing you.

“Jimmy and I are playing board games later, we want you to come. Beth will be there, too. And maybe Maggie? I-I don’t know…” His cheeks turn purple-red. “Sound good?”

“Yeah, sounds real good. On the porch?”

“Yup.”

“Cool. I’ll be right in the house tonight, anyhow.”

“No way?”

“Way. Daryl needs overnight supervision, I think Carol might will be helping, too?”

Dale looks up from his lap. “Oh, did he enjoy the spam and eggs that she made for him?”

“Not sure, he was asleep last I knew.”

“Ah, that’s right, yes,” he remembered. “Well, maybe in that case she’ll have the pleasure of watching him eat and enjoy. I tell you, it smelled heavenly. She was very intent on making something special for him.”

The first half of what you said was totally innocuous, if maybe on the wishy-washy side.“Who could blame her? After today, she’s probably half in love with the guy.”

But then you followed it up with, “Who isn’t?” and you knew right then that you’d misspoken.

Dale’s made a point to keep his eyebrows level, as if that would help him hide his surprise and suppressed grin better.

But Glenn was under no such pretense, and your best friend dead-ass coughed his mouthful of pretzel.

“Dude—” you go to say.

He held up his hands after getting the pretzel bits off them. “I didn’t say anything.”

You held up yours, too. “I was bein’ objective.”

“Okay, Amy,” he said regarding your choice of word. Amy liked the word ‘objective.’

“Calling me that’s a compliment.”

“We are all objectively in love with Daryl?” he repeated. “Isn’t that a little…wait. Dude, are you saying you—”

“—It was hyperbole.”

“But you’re not, like, do you like him?”

“Now, Glenn,” Dale starts.

That surge of both self-defense that people would think you’d be into a grating racist or that one would be into you collided and was catalyzed with protectiveness against the poor man. That wonderful sumbitch has been on a solid redemption arc, let anybody try to deny it. “Define ‘like.’”

“Like like.”

“Bless your heart, no!” What is with people today? “However, I want you to think back over how he was when we done first met that mangy hick, to today, in terms of his behavior. Try and make like he ain’t grown. Don’t you love a good redemption arc?”

Glenn considered it. “Fair.”

The awful thought that Glenn might not believe you and might think less of you only worsens the mosh pit that is your stomach right now. “I’m gonna, um, g-go grab some of my stuff, bring it inside.”

“Wait, bumpkin, I wasn’t trying to, like—I meant it more as, um,” he can’t seem to get the wording right.

You’re making it worse, man. “Dude, it’s cool, you didn’t mean nothing by it.”

“But like—”

“—Glenn, I’ma start chargin’ a quarter for you using too many ‘likes’ per sentence.”

“Perfect, I’ll charge you for talking too hillbilly.”

Eh. You reckon admit you’ve been speaking a lot more twangy now than you had been at the quarry camp. There’d just been so many new people, you’d toned it down. Maybe being around more folk people who talk like you is why you’ve let it fly. “It’s a deal.”

“Good — you owe a quarter for saying ‘when we done first met’ Daryl,” he races to say.

“And you owe me one for how many likes you done sprinkled durin’ this here conversat—shoot! Did that count?”

“Yup.”

Dale, entertained by the looks of it, cuts in, “See, this is why I’ve been thinking that you two had a fondness for each other.”

“Aw, hear that, buttface?” you giggle, folding the last undershirt from the pile.

“Fondness.” He makes an exaggerated curious face and strokes what would be there if he had a mustache.

“You two expect me to believe there wasn’t fondness between you two?” Dale remarks with a bit of a tut thrown in.

“There still is, it’s just different now,” you insist. And immediately hop into gear to (gently) bust your friend’s balls. “Especially now that Glenny-boy here’s got his eye on a certain mystery lady.”

He’s right there with you. “And now that Y/N’s apparently hopelessly in love with Daryl.”

“There’s such fondness,” you barely manage to say without laughing, as much as it makes your newly stitched abdomen ache.

Dale sighs and throws back a gulp of his water as if it were something stronger. “Glenn, just tread lightly with the certain mystery lady, is all I ask. And Y/N, kiddo,” he looks at you. And winks? “I trust you completely with Daryl.”

“What?” Glenn protests, to which you just slap your leg and snicker “Ha!”

“If between you, there ever was a…” Dale pauses long enough for you to see the twinkle in his eye. “Fondness.”

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

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

And here's the picture from Dale's memory

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

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[noodyl-blasstal]

Blupjeans Week Day 1

It's @blupjeansweek! Blupjeans week last year was the thing that encouraged me to start writing fics, so it's been fun to play with it again! Like last year, it's loosely connected (so far anyway!). So, now I'll stop blethering and here's some words. Day 1 - refuge

16 hours to go.

16 hours until he tanked his viva, fucked up everything he’d been working for, and his supervisor says he hadn’t ever believed Barry was capable, he just wanted his fees... Well, John would definitely say that if Barry could get hold of him but it had become abundently clear over the course of his postgrad research that John wasn’t the easiest guy to reach. Which might not be a problem if it wasn't his literal job to support Barry through his PhD.

At this point Barry hadn’t heard from him in two weeks despite a variety of progressively more panicked emails. The last conversation they had was John's particularly un-comforting statement that Barry should “...expect majors" because "it’s not the worst thesis I’ve ever read, but it certainly isn’t the best.” Barry's secondary supervisor hadn’t even bothered to show up for that meeting, so it was anyone’s guess what his take was. Barry assumed it wasn’t great.

He grabbed the pot from the coffee machine he’d abducted from the kitchen a few days ago and perched on his desk instead. He debated swigging straight from it, that seemed more efficient than using a mug, plus, his hand seemed to be shaking a bit and he didn't want to risk trying to pour it into a mug then into himself - he needed every drop to keep him awake long enough to work out how to fix this disaster.

“Knock knock! This is your 16 hour anxiety check in.” Barry’s door creaked open, but Lup didn’t appear. “Barrrrooollllld?” She sing songed, then added hopefully “...have you finally decided to sleep?” 

“Come in Lup.”

“Damn, you’re still up.” Oh, of course she was disappointed. She was probably sick of having to baby him through his anxiety. “...Not that I don’t want to see you, I was just hoping you were getting some rest.”

Barry held up the coffee pot in a cheers motion then took a swig from it. He was fine, this was fine, but if Lup left in disgust he could get back to scribbling increasingly unhinged and hard to read annotations on his sticky notes and trying to work out how to pull this disaster over the finish line. 

"Doing totally fine, huh?” Lup eyed him disapprovingly. “Barry, you have to take a break. You're going to crash in the middle of it if you keep this up. You've got what, like 15 and a bit hours?" She waited for him to nod in affirmation. "Cool, then you've got time to sleep."

He didn't have time to sleep, he had to try and plug the holes in the sinking ship that represented four years of his life. Suddenly Lup was in front of him, he hadn't noticed her moving, but she had appeared and was gently prying the sticky note monstrosity he hadn’t realised he’d picked up out of his hand. "No, I need to…"

"Sleep." Lup said. "You need to rest. There isn't a single thing in here you don't know. It's fucking brilliant, no, don't argue with me, I've read it." Barry snapped his mouth closed, he wanted to protest, but he wasn't entirely sure he could remember what he was arguing with, there was no fight left in him. "Now give me the coffee pot, Barold." He gripped it more firmly. No, not even for Lup. He couldn't relinquish this, it was the only thing keeping him awake. Lup raised and eyebrow. “Barold, don’t make me full name you. I'll do it! Hand over the pot.” Lup held her hand out expectantly.

"I'll fall asleep."

"That's the idea my guy. C'mon, gimme the sweet sweet bean juice. You don't need that where you're going."

"Where I'm…? Where am I? I'm here." Barry looked down to check.

Lup used his moment of confusion to swipe the coffee pot. Usually it wouldn’t have worked… probably, okay, it would have, but slower and he would have protested more. Right now his hands felt too heavy to even think about taking evasive action. "Yoink!" Lup said triumphantly, holding it aloft. Then he blinked and she didn't have the coffee pot any more. Maybe she magicked it somewhere? Barry turned his head to try and find it, and then she was tugging at his hand. "Not here, Bear, somewhere comfy."

"The chair's comfy, it's ergonomic." He paid a lot of money because the guy in the shop was really confident about that.

Lup snorted and tugged harder. "Barold Jorts Bluejeans, you're coming with me." 

"My name isn't…"

"...Ssssh." Lup might have been laughing. Barry wasn’t entirely sure, maybe it was him actually? Should stand? Oh, actually, he was up and moving and Lup still had hold of his hand and maybe she didn't have to let it go and she could just keep holding his hand and he could hold hers and maybe she’d have a nap with him. They stopped.

"This is your room." Barry wasn't entirely sure how they'd got there, time was doing strange things. 

"Yup, cha'girl decided you couldn't be left unattended in yours, it's too full of anxiety, even if I get you to sleep you'll marinade in it. So, we're here." Lup pushed the door wide.

Her bed had developed some kind of blanket canopy, there were string lights strewn around, and he could hear the soft patter of rain even though there wasn't a cloud in the sky. "It's… this is… magic. You made it all magic."

"Uh huh, now get in." Lup lifted a corner of blanket, it revealed a whole mess of pillows and blankets waiting inside. The bed looked so cosy, so inviting, so much better than his boring bed. He shouldn't, he really shouldn’t, he should study more, he couldn't afford to get off track. "That’s it, Bear." Oh. He was in the process of crawling in, and he was comfy. He flopped bodily into the bed and everything smelled of Lup’s orange body wash. Maybe he could just live here.

"I should do more prep." He mumbled, and sank into the pillow nest, rubbing his face on a soft fleece blanket. 

"Uh huh." Said Lup. 

"There's… I need to… you see, I have..."

"I'll wake you up in a few hours, sleep tight, Bear."

“Sleep tight Lup.” Barry mumbled from the depths of his blanket cocoon.

Part 2 here.

[subjectively-objective]

Lasers and Robots, a Child's Two Greatest Loves: Analyzing Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future (Part 2: Episode 1 "Shattered")

We open with "Scout", well, scouting a Bio-Dread fort (or maybe an outpost. I'm not well versed in post-Metal Wars infrastructure). It looks cool regardless. I like the battlement-looking stuff on the walls. It's like the robots are fighting orcs or something. The spiky radio antenna too. Awesome.

Some robots leave the fort. Did they see Scout? A routine pat rol? Scout stabs a Bio-Dread with a pointy and it overreacts before Scout casts an illusion on himself to look like a Bio-Dread. Somehow the other five robots don't notice this. Seriously? Yeah, he's got a decent mask on, but they're robots, don't they have a computer monitoring their status? Why was one of them set to patrol just around the corner? Did one of the other robots patrol the other corner? Why does their fort have these giant blind spots at its main entrance? Do they have cameras?

I like how Scout pushes the button in one pose, and finishes his transformation in a second pose. In my head his hologram whatever is off by a few inches so most of his body is actually 'grammed to look invisible.

Once inside, Scout immediately undoes his cloak. This will likely turn out to be a bad idea. We get a few shots of the inside, it's a neat industrial set. Lots of pipes and steam and stuff. Scout sets a bomb, and gets found out by the robots. A very good instance of the "two guys shoot you so you duck and they hit each other" trope happens here, I'll let it speak for itself.

Speaking of the robots, they have a neat aesthetic. We see that those two were in some sort of charging mode, so they are robots. The segmented visor is cool, and I like the tubes connecting the head to the chest. Probably pneumatics that make a good 'hiss' whenever it moves. Or oxygen tubes for the human head in there. idk, I'm not Lord Dread, leader of the Bio-Dread Empire. Their chest (and a number of background objects) has this obnoxious red flashing light. The flashing is used during the toy sequences so the toys know when to add points or take damage. So, making them the villain's aesthetic is a smart move that makes the toy sequence less obvious, but it's still a little painful on the eyes. The problem is that the light is digital, which makes it look like a glow from another reality. This makes it stand out more as a special effect rather than an aesthetic choice.

Scout runs out of the building, continuing to shoot at nothing. His lasers are green. Bad guy lasers are purple. This is a subtle nod to Power's team being underequipped rebels as green light is at a lower wavelength (and thus energy level) than purple.

Power spends six of his thirty seconds telling Hawk and Tank to "shoot the bad guys."

Wait, their lasers are blue! That's better than green, but lower than purple. Guess that's why Scout is the scout of the group, he's got the weakest gun. He hasn't shot anyone yet, but I suspect his gun to take a Bio-Dread out in one shot too.

I do appreciate the use of actual spark effects on the robots. Seeing the explosion reflected in their 360p is a nice little detail.

Come on! You can see the sparks coming off him! Don't superimpose a shitty proto-jpeg in front of your real explosion! :/

And Tank's laser is green!? That's as strong as Scout's! To be fair, he is called 'Tank' and not 'Gun,' but damn, they really gave him the worst gun. Biggest one and it has the same firepower as a pistol. I'd do the same though. Giving the person with the best armor the worst weapon is just basic balancing. What does it matter if it takes two shots to kill a Bio-Dread, when you can take a hundred.

So they can all shoot the green? Maybe their lasers have settings, and they use green to save power. Makes sense for a ragtag rebel group to need to conserve energy. Plot hole filled!

Power gets shot and falls over but is otherwise fine. Good to see power armor actually armor. Hawk and Power then set a bomb on the door for five seconds. I think this is a humor moment cause they tell Scout to "Clear the door and count to five" but the bomb only has five seconds left so he says something like "The bomb goes off in five!" or "I don't have five!" Something like that. But, the music is so loud and his mic is so bad that I can't parse what he is saying here.

In the end, Scout makes it out and Power calls Pilot in for a landing.

It's a good opening scene overall. Showed us the strength of the Bio-Dread's by Scout having to run from them, and Power getting shot (and only minorly injured), and also gave a bit of characterization for the team (mostly through Scout's unintelligible yelling moment, and Tank calling Power 'old'). Not enough to know much, but enough to hold the viewer until the next commercial break.

We cut to Volcania and get the shot of Dread turning around and waving his hand to some music from the intro. We learn that it was a power station that Power blew up (nice), and it wasn't his first. We get some silhouexposition of "Project New Order" being delayed by three months (something I doubt we'll ever hear from again given this show's audience of those darn continuity-hating children).

We also get our first clue of what Digitization is. Dread calls it a system he can access, and implies it has knowledge from Power's past. So, it's a sort of human database? Turning a person's memories into bytes. That's fun.

This scene was less good, especially as an intro for the main antagonist. Dread just isn't very interesting in concept and execution. Oh, an evil guy that sits in his chair and is preparing for "Operation: Cell Kill?" Where have I not seen that before. A character monologuing about some future plan we have no context for nor any confirmation it actually will matter means nothing. He may as well said his "Fairy Discovery Program" had been set back eight million ha'seconds. Despite this, I still think he's too scary for a children's show. Especially a live action one. The cybernetic implants and pale skin are disturbing, coupled with repeated references to digitization which we currently know nothing about but it certainly isn't a day at King's Island (my current guess is on par with an evening at Michigan's Adventure).

The next scene is on their ship. It's got Millenium Falcon vibes. Y'know, like a pile of scrap and lights the set crew cobbled together without taking the exterior model into account. Power is still injured, surprisingly. It's good to see that they aren't invincible so early on. Really sells that they are fighting uphill.

They get a message from some lady Power used to know. In "what used to be San Fran." I like the small background banter between Hawk and Tank, even if I'm not sure what they said. It tells me they've been at this a while and are close friends. A good dynamic to have on your first episode. The same can be said with the conversation between Power, Pilot, and Scout.

Mentor looks pretty cool especially because they pronounce it like he's a wizard. More shows need to go the Visionaries route and have cyber-wizards. That and stop making wizards good or evil. I've met wizards. Magic doesn't make you grow morals and ethics, it removes them. Why the fuck would a wizard care about the Metal Wars? He can ponder his bubbling pool of magic goo and cast fireballs. Mentor and Merklynn should kiss. Mentor should take a page from Merklynn's book and make Power and Lord Dread do their chores in exchange for magical items.

On an unrelated note, foggy holograms are both realistic and awesome. If a bit impractical. Mentor says "there's very little left unfrayed" where the message came from. He says this is because the West Coast resistance was eliminated (a bit dark for 8 minutes into your kid's show man.), but what is 'fraying?' I'm sure it's just a word I don't know, but I like to think Dread spaghettified everything.

On their way to the transmission, Power has a really weird conversation with himself. The writing is supposed to be "Pilot is a little jealous of Power's old love" but it comes off more as if she's scared Power is about to describe the scent of Athena's labia. I don't know how you can make "we hung out, played chess." creepy, but he fucking did.

"It was our inside joke!" about "King's knight to Queen's bishop 3??" Can someone who chesses tell me what this means and why is it funny?

We get an ordinary shot of San Francisco from the air and another direct mention of the war. Dread burnt most of the people on the West coast. Jesus. 

I've said it before, but this is super dark for a kid's show. I'm invested, but if I was eight and had just bought a Powerjet XT-7 toy I'd be crying that all his friends are dead and he got shot.

After they land, Pilot gets got by the classic "white gas that makes you cough once then fall over." I need to know where to buy that stuff.

I wonder what keeps these lights all powered. This isn't a Fallout future where we discovered fusion given the smoke in Volcania. Unless it's purely for the looks. If that's the case, Dread gets a lot of villain points. Unnecessary pollution is like, at least five.

The post-apocalyptic sets rule. The flashing traffic light as a centerpiece with the bookstore littered with ashen pages. I kiss the chef on his lips. 

Though, once again this would lose child me. Baby :): doesn't want minute-long stretches of silent atmosphere. :): wants explosions and lasers!

Yay! Lasers!

Hers are purple.

So, Athena was sent by Dread to capture Power, but decided to murder him instead.

Soaron replying to Dread with a "Yeah m'lord" feels unprofessional. I vibe with it though. Too many henchmen are overly formal. Its always "Okay boss" and "right away sir." We need more "whatever"s and "I'll get to it when I get to it"s from the goonion.

So, the digitization happens from Soaron's gun arm (and maybe other guns too), and it is not just making a brain into data. It Matrix-es you.

In a pretty darn good monologue, Athena explains why this experience is so unpleasant.

"It's wires and metal, but it touches you." Yeah, man, that's what matter do. I believe it was Robespierre who said "Matter is when touch stuff. Energy is when touched by unstuff. Mr. LeBas, hand me that pistol."

She literally begs Power to die instead of being put inside "the Machine." It's become a recurring theme with my analysis, but this is way too much for a kid's show. It's good enough for an adult program though, with some decent concepts and themes that could definitely have been expanded upon in a forty-minute time slot. Give a few flashbacks of the Metal Wars and Athena and the resistance and her being so broken after only a few months(?) being digitized would really pull those emotional highs the writers wanted it to. I get the idea, but I don't know who Athena or the world was before everything went to hell. I don't even know how long its been! Power definitely remembers the world before, and acts like he was maybe in college at the time.

Has it only been a few months? So we should feel completely pressed at losing everything so fast.

Has it been a few years? Then we should focus on people forgetting the world before.

With it's current state in Schrodinger Time the show can't focus on either avenue and instead flounders this weird line where it's been long enough to have resistance cells rise and fall, the world to become rubble, but also for Power to not be that old and have been a young adult when it all went down.

Her raving review firmly pushes my verdict of digitization to around "12 hour Vekoma SLC and Flying Dutchman marathon" tier. Extremely in-joyable.

The show then proceeds to remind me it's the 80s and this is a show for kids with some terrible special effects and 'pew pew's.

Soaron was just too ahead of his time. The model is impressive, the animations good, but it just can't interact with actual sets.

Hawk's "flying" reaches Tokusatsu levels of pants, but without the charm of Ultraman and pals. Jimmy Olson could make a decent Ultraman. Also, he and Taro should kiss.

This fight scene of flying cars (they just have those?) and Hawk going "whoosh" and shooting lasers like "pew pew" while Soaron goes all "Woahaa" and fires back with a "Brkow Brkow" and the PNG of Hawk zooms in for the umpteenth time goes on for—I'll give a conservative estimate—twelve years.

Seriously. You had this great emotional scene only to follow it with an action sequence with no emotional weight. If your choreography isn''t good and the fight isn't fun to watch then the fight has to have emotional weight. This fight did for the first few seconds with the SotF saving Power and Athena, but it lost it immediately as the lasers and shots of toys flying stretched into infinity. This scene was made to tie into the toys so you can score points while watching the episode. No kid made it this far, and every adult who did was reminded this was a show for children right here and turned it off (if they even saw it given it aired at 5:00AM Sunday morning on some stations.).

The episode ends with a reminder of what it could be with a heartfelt moment between Power and Athena. Surprising for a children's show, and not quite baked enough for an adult drama. This seems to be this show's favored balance.

Also, there's a refuge called "The Passages." I'm guessing sewers. My heart wants catacombs, but this show only had a $1 million per-episode budget. They couldn't afford catacombs.

Overall, a pretty decent episode. Sets were neat, action sequences sucked (though the last one the toys interacted with lasted until it became funny, then unfunny, then funny again. The perfect length for trash.), and the drama was surprisingly competent.

The show feels fake though. Like, the dark atmosphere and intricate dialogue juxtaposed with toyetic costumes and action sequences makes this feel like a show made by aliens. Aliens don't need to exposit what the Metal Wars and Digitization are; those're just a fact of life for them. Most aliens I've met age sideways too, so they need an adult drama meant to sell them toys.

In conclusion, if you enjoyed the first episode of Captain Power you might be an alien.

[swanno-arts]

👀 🤲 any details about your fallout au gamer

GRIPS YOUR SHOULDERS. can i talk about cygnus and formes' downfalls? can i talk about them being what they once HATED???

okay so this got WAY TOO LONG, I have to splice this into two so here's Cygnus' bit under the cut first!! I'll reblog this and add Formes' after!!

[CW mention of gun violence/injuries and suicide]

Cygnus and The Balancing Act SO, Cygnus! He's the sixth courier from the Mojave Express tasked to deliver packages to Mr. House. Only he has the actual package, the Platinum Chip and because of that he got fucked over by Benny and his gang and was almost left for dead. Thankfully Doc Mitchell saved him even though he has to live with losing one eye and a dreadful amnesia.

Cygnus goes on a wild goose chase to retrieve the package he lost and ends up later in New Vegas. Though he HATED New Vegas as someone who had to survive the hard way and see people die just trying to live while these people are getting high off their asses gambling everything the have. Meeting Mr. House did not make anything better. Distraught and overwhelmed, he told Swanno and Axon (his companions, Swan once being a thief in Primm and Axon being Courier Two) that he'd need some time alone to walk off the stress and that he'll deal with Benny when he's in the right mind to talk things through.

Though, on his lonesome, Cygnus just ends up stumbling into MORE problems. Such as having his entire spine, heart and brain swapped with cybernetics in Old World Blues (though he did get a cool new cybernetic robot eye just because one of the Think Tank guys didn't like an empty face hole?). Got in an entire argument with his own brain and decided to LEAVE it. He's growing more and more distraught and exhausted. My GOD he just want to get this all over with.

THEN, the big kicker, Lonesome Road. Cygnus stumbled into the Divide, and although the place seemed familiar to him, his amnesia just couldn't pin it down. Though, you can IMAGINE the amount of emotions going on in him when he learned that the entire destruction and the creation of the Divide was HIS FAULT. He gave birth to its community, he kept the community alive and YET, it was also him to bring it to its demise. He caused so much hell and he WALKED FREE AWAY FROM IT. Cygnus grew so distraught that he couldn't convince Ulysses to not fire the missile without going down in a fight. As if killing a fellow courier wasn't enough, having to see ED-E sacrifice itself to stop the missile just broke him entirely. He fled the Divide a changed man completely. With the Old Glory in his hands, he decided he'll right the wrongs.

Cygnus returned to New Vegas and stormed into The Tops. Getting access to Benny's room, he waited before he ambushed the poor guy and starts to beat him up senselessly. When Benny begged for mercy, Cygnus shot him twice, on the forehead and on the eye. Snatching the Platinum Chip (and one fun little encounter with Yes Man) he returned to House, demanding his pay (curse his People Pleaser perk, he can't bargain beyond 1000 caps). When House elaborates his plan with the chip, Cygnus simply did as told as he later activated the Securitons (and maybe fuck over Caesar while he's at it). Returning to New Vegas however, he betrays both Yes Man and House, killing House with the strike of the Old Glory. Manipulating his cybernetics, he gains control to House' systems and uses it to control his securitrons in the Battle of Hoover Dam. New Vegas, now independent... sike! Manipulating his cybernetics even more, Cygnus literally wires himself into the system ala House, taking over completely. He enacts what he calls The Balancing Act, a rule for all of New Vegas and the Mojave that EVERYONE is going to live an equal life. There won't be a poor nor a rich, SOMEHOW, everyone has to be in the middle grounds of it. He though YEAH that'll fix everything and everyone's gonna live happily ever after!

Except, no, it can't work that way. The act was so vague and this imaginary middle ground is even vaguer. The Balancing Act was a complete failure and people were MAD about it, but Cygnus... ahem, Mr. Six, had grown oblivious about it while he played dictator and House Part 2. The more people protest or slightly go off the balance, Six would sic a bot on them. Swanno and Axon got wind to the whole crap and when they learned it was CYGNUS that's behind all this, oh boy what the HELL and HOW THE THE HELL did that happened. They tried confronting him once, and Six was kind enough to offer them to stay in the Lucky 38 for several months because hey we're friends and I love you both dearly wanna be my second and third in commands? No? After everything I did for you two? Get out. They both got booted out and oh boy this cannot go on. So both Swanno and Axon planned to confront Six once more.

Axon created a rouse to distract the securitrons while Swanno sneaks his way back into the Lucky 38. Fucking around with the terminals, he finally gained access to where Six was expecting him. Six will threaten Swanno to back out, saying it was for her own good. After debates of the Balancing Act's failure and lots of emotional hell, Six decided that if Swanno won't listen, she can just try to kill him if that's what she wanted so badly. From here, there would be several options.

First Bad End, Swanno chooses to attack Six, initiating a fight. Swanno kills Six and severed his connection to the system, bringing New Vegas and the Mojave back to independence. ... Though, with Six dead, so was Cygnus.

Second Bad End, Swanno tries to reason with Six but failed to pass the needed checks. This will end up with a fight that would also end in Six's death.

Through difficult checks, Swanno manages to reason with Six and convince him to see what he had brought upon. Seeing the reality of the Act, Cygnus snaps back and drops the Six facade. Falling back, he broke into a break down, completely distraught that he was (once again) bringing destruction, this time by his own choice. Swanno attempts to comfort him, but Cygnus insisted that she shouldn't be near him as he tries to sever himself off the system - tripping the security systems as it registered himself being attacked. After disarming the security (through combat), Cygnus finally severs himself off the system, cutting off his control over the securitrons. Swanno attempts to comfort Cygnus once more as he broke down into a sob. Cygnus mentions that what he had done cannot be fixed and he should pay for what he had done. There was no righting his wrongs anymore. Again, Swanno would be given several options to end Cygnus' dilemma.

Third Bad End, either by allowing him or failing to convince him otherwise, Cygnus would commit suicide, claiming death was the only way he could repay everything he had done (referring to not only The Balancing Act, but to the Divide as well).

The Good End, Swanno convinces Cygnus not to take his own life. Instead, he tells him that if he really wanted to disconnect himself to his deeds he could leave (read: exile himself from) the Mojave altogether. Cygnus takes the suggestion but tells Swanno that he'll be going alone, unable to bear the possibility of hurting them again. Swanno refuses and insist that she and Axon would travel with him. Cygnus finally relents and the three of them would make their escape out of New Vegas and the Mojave completely. (Who runs New Vegas now? Who knows, maybe Yes Man came around lol)

The three would end up as wanderers in the greater wastelands with no real destination in mind. Cygnus still finds it hard to disconnect himself from what happened... but he's trying. Really hard.

On their mile long journey across what's left of America... they encounter a peculiar man with his Mr. Handy companion... and a strange feeling of an always lurking gaze.

[pettyshippen]

This Unhinged Watching of Libertys Kids and Making Comments While High Was Made Possible by Viewers Like You.

Thank you.

Postmaster General Franklin

Alright time for season two or what would be season two if this show was made for grown ups.

I know it’s a low budget kids show and all, but they couldn’t have even tried with Sarahs dress? At least make it look like she’s wearing panniers at least.

Oh yes wait a minute Mr. Postman.

Her parents are a hot couple. They’ll be even hotter when they reunite and she sees his beard for the first time.

Henri it’s not that hard to jump from a crate!

Ooooooooh a letter!

La Volpe!

Sir can’t you see the no parking sign.

Hodges is kind of fine

*guitar strings humming* Secret code

James you are too gullible I swear to fuc

AOL isn’t working James where’s my mail

YOU GOT MAIL

They’re picking at those letters like vultures

“Someone opened my nudes I was sending to my mistress!”

The British own AOL

King George going through all the mail to read all the hot gossip firsthand.

“If our colonial army possessed an ounce of your pluck, we’d have nothing to fear.”

Another road trip

“James you missed the exit miles ago”

Wow James that was a smooth lie

James you left the mail where

All this to send a damn message. Just get some fucking Harry Potter owls in this bitch.

Yeah he just grabbed her hand

Um, we work for Franklin bitch

Aw Sarah, that was a great compliment

They had mail horses omg. They need ups logos or sum on the side

Damn Ben F you a straight up g.

“I accept because I know it will piss off King George lol” 😝

Common Sense

Oh here we go. Another episode to enlighten Sarah.

Also, I feel like Sarah and Tom Paine would debate their differences and drink ale at the same time.

Tom Paine said fuck the rich I love him

I have no patience for patience— Honestly, my profile page quote.

I’M FRENCH

“FUCK KING GEORGE M’LADY”

Oh she’s insulted

To make a bowl of soup fly like that, his bones would need to be made out of steel.

Tom is a bleeding heart liberal

Moses is so unphased by Paines abrupt departure

Sarah’s a real boss businesswoman

Paine is me when I’ve had too much tequila

“WHO ARE YOU CALLIN A PUDDIN’ HEAD?” 😭🤣😂

James why. There’s nothing realistic about this at all. Ya’ll ain’t Mystery Inc.

Why did no one go to Bens shop first? Ain’t he the most popular guy?

“That’s good journalism.” He’s done with her.

Is that Sarah’s dress shop. She buys her dresses from that tailor.

Henry why are you chasing cats

That has to be one weak ass crate to cave in to the weight of a nine year old boy.

Sarah the fuck kind of complement is that.

Henris running a hustle. Huslin’ Henri

This is why being a woman is terrifying

He waited that long to go help her tf?

“You’re a woman Sarah. You’re not as free as you think you are.”

Common people don’t need kings

“We have night at home!”

Sarah knows Paines opposing views don’t make him deserving of being tarred and feathered and you do see she has empathy for him

Tom doesn’t give a fuck

Ok kids, pass these around to your neighbors and read them amongst your table mates.

Henris like “Damn he donating all of it?”

Rights of all men, and we mean only men. Fuck the rest of ya.

The Turtle

YOU GUYS THIS IS IT. THIS IS THE EPISODE.

What do the sailors call General Howe!?

They really said lets go fuckin hard on the theme song

Do ya’ll think James and Henri have practiced mock British accents to annoy Sarah

Cookies and milk. A classic.

Oy it be a drunkin sailor

James we are not Mystery Inc

James are you suggesting that said sea monster wants to eat Sarah

“That’s more that I can swallow.” TMI SARAH

“We are journalists sir”

Henri Le Feva! Sounds like a Latin music star.

“I counted 900 holes” God damn it this is the most perverted episode ever

“We are going to blow up the redcoats m’lady.”

“Soldiers understand war m’lady.”

“James get out of the tank!” “You’re not my wife!” “I am your wife, get out of the tank!” “I’m in a tank and you’re not!”

Henri is more honest than James. It’s so wrong he’s keeping that info from her.

It’s time.

OH JESUS FUCKING CHRIST

GIVE US BLACK DICK AND WE FEAR NOTHING

That’s a nice ship. Be a shame if someone set it on fire.

This soldier looks like he’s in fucking preschool

“We were phishing sir”

“Is there anyone the boss doesn’t know!?”

Phishing for facts

Well James you fucked up

Make friends with the press

Imagine Sarah stood up on the boat during her outburst and they all fell in the water

Time to dramatically sulk in my colonial dress.

“I’m sorry you feel that way.” Uhhh gaslight much!?

She looks like she’s watching a battle from a castle in 11th century England.

Gonna poke some holes in your ship nbd

When you have a hard time controlling your character in the underwater levels.

Sarah how are you so compassionate like that after what they did.

“Nothing would change my loyalty to my friends.” That could be romantic if it pertained to just James.

The First Fourth of July

Ah yes, the origin story of why these apes called Americans are so obsessed with blowing shit up.

I need more posters for this show

Hessians are here

Imagine if England did win though

George why so sexy

Oh fuck the Brits invited Germany!?

Why is James alone with George Washington

Henri you dumbass

The Hessians are here ✨

Henri like a lil papillon barking

DR FRANKLIN DR FRANKLIN DR FRANKLIN

“I shan’t let you out of my sight!” Sarah to James and then later their children

Looking into a congress meeting will never be this easy again.

“I’m a journalist” “Yay for you”

Words have great power, especially if your girl wants you to propose properly.

Larry Daley was Thomas Jefferson before Night of the Museum.

NATM: Revolution Edition

Sarah you cunning beast

“Especially when defying a king.” Damn.

ORDA

James he’s a man of God, we’re stopping.

Sarah’s definitely a church girl but thankfully not an annoying church girl.

James go to Delaware so we can get this guy to vote

Bro don’t fall off your horse please

Get this man some oxygen

It’s only July 2nd

Johns got this 4th of July shit figured out

And now it’s July 9th

InDePeNdEnCe!

These men going apeshit now

They raving. Got that crab rave energy.

[fulcrumstardust]

Watch me breathe 👀

*hums every breath you take*

fun fact: it's not a wip, it's finished but I still haven't posted it because I don't know if I love it or hate it . . .

my starting point was an undercover meeting crossing moral lines but Jyn wasn't the one playing the honey pot for a change. In the aftermath they are forced to talk about their feelings, which neither was really ready for I guess. Happy ending still!

random snippets (sfw but serious themes involved):

The three of them slam their cups on the table, universal gesture of celebration. Jyn is eager to close on that deal and bug out. She can’t take much more of this pointless chit-chat.

“Is he yours?”

The unexpected question sends a cold shiver down her spine. The taste of alcohol lingers in her mouth, bitter and strong. She’s dying to reach for a weapon. Not to kill anyone, not yet. To occupy her hands—and maybe to illustrate the threat.

“He’s in my crew.”

“That’s not what I meant,” the Rainmaker mocks her, “and you know it.”

“Yes, he’s mine,” Jyn snaps, baring her teeth on the word.

“That’s too bad…”

The woman eyes Cassian like a candy she’d like to melt on her tongue.

He doesn’t react, patiently waiting for Jyn to handle it. He trusts her way too much, more than she trusts herself. Just thinking of those hands on him, stroking his hair like she did earlier, is enough to throw Jyn into a loop of blinding rage.

“He’s too old for you, forget it. Now, shall we get on it?” she urges, all attempts at politeness gone. “I’ve got places to raid and shit to steal.”

Jyn knows the look of a woman that isn’t used to being told no. Her gleeful expression cracks, showing signs of the fury underneath. For a minute there, Jyn sees the scene unfolding in front of her—and it doesn’t end well. But the Rainmaker doesn’t make the call. She flushes away her irritation and the soft, enticing manners are back. It’s chilling to the bones.

.

.

.

“We’re okay, Jyn.”

“Are you sure? What I did—”

“You didn’t do anything I didn’t tell you to do,” Cassian cuts in, mildly annoyed. “Now, drop it.”

“We should… talk about it, I think.”

“Why? What is there to talk about? Do you think I’m gonna break down because you touched my dick? Come on,” he sneers, “that was nothing.”

Something in his choice of words cuts deep. More than it should.

It’s not entirely her fault if she isn’t a well-adjusted adult—blame it on her upbringing, on the war, on the head injuries—so maybe she can be forgiven for the sudden anger swelling in her chest. Jyn doesn’t take elegantly being pushed away when she’s trying to use her words, for blasted once. Isn’t he the one lamenting that all she does is shoot first and talk later?

Jyn drops from the gurney, pulling her mother’s necklace under her tank top.

“Okay, good to know,” she says on the verge of hostile. “For the record, if you’d put your hands in my pants, I’d need to talk about it… But I’m glad you’re such a tough guy and nothing bothers you. I’m gonna get some sleep, good night.”

When she doesn’t hear footsteps coming after her, Jyn knows that they are, indeed, not okay.

.

.

.

“If the roles were reversed, I wonder how you’d feel.” At that, he winces, tearing his eyes away. “Yeah, exactly! I’m not going to pretend like I don’t care about you just to make it easier on you. And if you have a problem with that, you can fuck right off!”

“You’re still on my ship,” he roars back.

Jyn’s temper short-circuits. She straightens her back and reaches for the closest blade, throwing it across the cockpit with a furious growl. It lands in the middle of a reinforced panel that will now require additional maintenance before they can raise ship. Genius.

Cassian is livid, his neck and face a darker shade than usual.

“Did you just throw a fucking knife at me?”

“I threw it at the wall,” Jyn answers with just as much spite, showing teeth. “And don’t look at me like that. The day I throw a knife at you, you’ll need to patch the hole.”

A gasping sound escapes him, as if he can’t decide between outrage and incredulity. He gestures at the knife sticking out of the ship’s interior like a misplaced handle.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Loose screws, remember?” As soon as she says the words, a crushing weight lands on her chest, stealing the air away. She’s the one averting her eyes now, mumbling in a pathetic voice: “You loved it not so long ago.”

You loved me. But she doesn’t say it. Maybe she really fucked up this time. That’s just so like her, who is she kidding? She’s not good at this, not good for anyone.

“I still do.”

“Only when I’m not an inconvenience to you,” Jyn says, defeated.

Cassian starts pacing circles, going back and forth between the front seats and the sleeping compartment, hands linked on top of his head. She doesn’t think she’s ever seen him this… agitated.

“Blast! You keep poking at me and expect that I spill my guts to you as if I didn’t spend twenty years avoiding my fucking feelings!” he finally explodes, stopping dead in front of her. “Of course, I push back! What did you think would happen, uh? Tell me!”

That’s… a fair point.

[klcthebookworm]

WIP Wednesday

I enjoyed tweaking this call out to take place in Jeneora's Rock.

Vash pulled himself out of the grave next to his coat. He was in his body armor layer and still had his gun in its holster on his leg. Meryl sighed in relief and slowed down but her head throbbed. He picked up a canteen from under his coat, drank, dropped it recapped into the hole, and then pulled on a rope into the ground. He raised up a bucket of dirt and dumped on a pile on the other side of the string that was merging with the piles from the other graves on the row.

A huge man walked from the wasteland end of the row, ignoring all the other holes being dug, and stopped in front of Vash’s. His skin was a gray shade that Meryl had never seen before. She picked up her pace.

Vash straightened and considered the tall man wearing a mustard-colored tank top, black pants, and a maroon bandanna tied around his head. His chest and shoulders tripled Vash’s span. “Need something, friend?” Vash asked.

The stranger’s thick lips under his thin mustache parted. “Au… au… aug… Augusta.”

Vash looked at the stranger steadily.

“I’ll be waiting for you at Augusta, Vash the Stampede. You will acknowledge my request immediately. If you do not meet my request, this is a sample of what will happen.” The stranger raised a handgun to his temple.

“Don’t!” Vash shouted as he lunged forward.

The stranger pulled the trigger and fell to the ground. Everyone stopped working with the gunshot. Meryl dodge around the now still workers.

Vash is bent over over the suicide corpse. “There’s no blood.”

“Vash, did you get shot?” Milly yelled as she jumped to see out of the grave she was in.

Meryl skidded to a stop next to Vash and the corpse. No blood was oozing or gushing from the ragged, star-shaped bullet hole on his temple. The other workers gathered around but she looked up at Vash’s hard expression. “He talked to you but he was already dead?”

“It must be him,” Vash said more to himself than to anyone else. “He’s the only one capable of doing this. Legato.”

Meryl couldn’t stop herself from shivering. How could Bluesummers make a dead man walk and talk?

The worker who knelt next to the corpse looked up at Vash. “Huh? Do you actually know this guy? You know him?”

“What has happened!” Milly yelled. “Somebody help me out of here!”

Vash blinked and returned to the present before turning and reaching a hand down to Milly. “I just got called out by Bluesummers.” He lifted Milly out with one arm.

“Through a corpse!” Meryl thrust her hand down to point to it.

Vash blinked again and focused on her. “Meryl, what are you doing here?”

“We were worried! Chuck’s head started hurting again—”

His blue-green eyes widened. “Chuck? Where are the kids?”

“Back at the hotel—” Vash broke into a run before she even finished speaking. She looked back at Milly.

“You better follow him. I’ll stay with our stuff.”

Meryl nodded and jogged after him, waiting to put on a full-out run when she was around the windmill mountain. Vash must have slowed down when he reached the buildings because she caught up with him at the street door of the hotel. They went up the stairs nearly in sync and Vash went through their hotel room first.

Through the open connection doors, Hannah whirled around and slammed her finger against her lips. Vash froze in response, but left enough room for Meryl to ease into the room. Hannah entered their hotel room. “What the hell?” she asked in a low voice.

“Chuck?” Vash craned his neck trying to look into the room.

“Willingly taking a nap.” Hannah’s green eyes pinched. “Do we need to evacuate?”

“No, no no no,” Vash repeated quickly. “I was afraid that Bluesummers headed this way.”

“So it was him? Who made Chuck’s head hurt?”

“He targeted Vash,” Meryl said. “Chuck felt him doing that.”

Hannah focused on Vash. “Are you okay? Did he steal your coat?”

“No, I left it with Milly. I need to get back. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“My head never hurt, not like Meryl-ma’am and Chuck. And Chuck woke up okay this morning.” Hannah shrugged. “Don’t pick up trouble?”

“Bluesummers talked to you?” Vash looked down at Meryl.

She shook her head. “I just felt pressure, like a storm rolling in. Maybe Bluesummers was concentrating on reaching you? I couldn’t.”

“Sorry, I was compartmentalizing.” His face fell. “I wasn’t trying to shut you out.”

“I’m not upset.” Meryl smiled up at him, even though she was still so worried.

Hannah crossed her arms. “What did Bluesummers do to you, bro?”

“Just called me out. I’ve lost count of how many people have done that. Don’t worry about it.”

“I should warn you that I find that practically impossible. Do we need to pack?”

“No, Bluesummers did it from far away.” Vash took a deep breath. “I better get back out there before Milly yells at me for skipping work.” He looked down at Meryl. “Walk down with me?” Meryl nodded, but it was down in the lobby before Vash exhaled and continued talking. “He wants me there so bad, he would kill the innocent to get me.”

“You have to go after him.” Her stomach clenched around the idea.

“We have to keep the kids away. This is the third time Bluesummers has attacked Chuck. I can’t face him on his home ground and be afraid for them.”

[xkryst4lm3thx]

ONLY

my brother drives swerving carefully jarring slapstick to remind u poke thru holes life is so silly im in this here vehicle big two ton metal machine zoomy zoom rickety wagon hold on tight buckle up and parking can we look for where to park so hey guys and Haha so hey is there a park where should i park and there’s a spot right there never mind fire hydrant ok wait so let’s park and so now we have to park and now i like to drive this way jolting fast whippit so my friends know what an aries sun cancer moon leo rising feels like and cuz if u overthink it u mess it up gotta blackwhiteout gotta go faster fast ur missing something arent u forgetting something dont u want her dont u need him dont u want to feel good even better even more than the sky can contain do u know the tasks do not end or only prosper do u have change to spare do u have insurance do u want to sign up to subscribe to the unsubscribing and check the box on the dotted precipice i miss all of them too much we do right so wrong it wasnt good enough and vice versa and so we look at the tops of buildings under car seats looking for pieces of their eyes hungry satiating filibuster lacquer just talk until they tire spin out dont u wanna read and talk and care and listen and kiss and lick the knife clean as the ship tanks full throttle coral reef ramshackle like run ur finger along the gate during the sunset walk when she’s behind u close but not too close taking a photo taking a deep breath over how we’re doing this thing together that no one else is inside of everyone is just a bot NPC right now they could be famous and we wouldnt ask for a photo we are the only photograph save for (with[in]) a blink then it’s yelling happy birthday merry christmas universal global sentimental collective unconscious rattles the filing cabinets of those tightened loose thread pulls all the ways words scribbles scratches the aching last ditch efforts of romance tiny giant window cracked pickup truck the blurry golden hour pictures of trashy girls so beautiful spikey long dyed two-toned hair shiny piercings red40 spirits concoctions bad good choices run it into the ground oh the pictures the images have u seen her have u seen me until it’s polar icecap i wanna be her no i wanna be with her no i want to be him no i dont want to Be so run away ascetic grift off the coast of brain cavity limejuice beaten pulp rings of saturn pestilence drunk off ancient words furrow the way she goes on and on microscopic detail breathing curtains reactions seemingly most mundane divot writhes into pole vault tilting kaleidoscope such that the agony breaks u free to wail over this confrontation sunday night again again it will end soon and far someday only and do you know wandering answer to pangs from all those wasted cold windy monologued days foggy glum toil suddenly u sense that sweaty wrestling loud broken boombox could rip sew meticulous combinations to a snow day thrill reprieve like mom n dad n cousins were eventually careless n ur best friends what could they say what could a stranger do to quench ur unruly blasphemous ailments girlboy gluttony unblinking stop drop roll into the inferno icecap walk-in fridge stained clothes worcester greasy nonslip steel toe menu receipts spit n sweat knock back too much brandy because well and do you know and so hey do you know that it’s only just only going to Go only whether u like it or feel it or not so only speak now forever curbstomp peace legacy rigid looseleaf left aligned scream fits til morning claws torpor into microchip USB email bathroom stall graffiti about hey and so hey yeah i didnt only get to tell u im so redacted so very redacted over ur only on 11 double triple quadruple revenue investment plan just might turn over in ur grave wonder when she walks in ur room when ur outta town u feel it needle ur forearm voodoo doll u think its bugbite dehydration i think we should get married before it’s too late only thrash the epicene with begrudgingly gesticular nonsense celebratory gagged because do you know that only love is just grief only do you

[eeveefan2024]

The Adventures of Faith Miller - Episode 2

You guys, you're not going to believe this! On July 10th, 2024, I'll be going on a road trip with my dad. For the road trip, I created this story and wanted to show you guys if it was good or not. I'll be putting it in a few parts and yes, this is "The Adventures of Faith Miller" which is a spin-off to "F.L.A.R.E.S to the Rescue".

F.L.A.R.E.S means The Fantastic League of Animal Rescuers and Environment Savers. Without further ado, here's my road trip adventure. Enjoy!

_____________________________________________________________

Season 1, Episode 2: Faith's Road Trip Adventure (Part 1)

On a bright July morning in 2025, Faith Miller stood outside her home in Greenville, South Carolina, bouncing on her toes with excitement. She had been looking forward to this Georgia road trip for weeks. Dressed in her magenta one-piece swim dress, Faith was ready for whatever adventures lay ahead. The swimsuit’s skirt flowed just enough to cover the leg holes, and she could feel her bikini underneath, keeping her comfortably cool as she stood under the rising summer sun.

Her purple suitcase, packed to the brim with essentials for the trip, was by her side. Alongside her one-piece, she had tucked in a bikini top and a matching skirt – everything she’d need for pool days and perhaps a stop at the Georgia Aquarium.

Standing beside her, dressed casually in swim shorts under tank tops, were Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche. Rob’s tank featured Pinky’s wide grin, while Maurice’s tank displayed Brain’s trademark glare, a little nod to their iconic characters. They had both packed their own swim trunks for later, eager to take a dip whenever they reached their destination.

“Can we go now?” Faith asked impatiently, her excitement practically bubbling over.

“Just wait 'till my boyfriend gets here,” her mom, Sharon, said with a small smile.

As Faith shifted from one foot to the other, she suddenly noticed another familiar face approaching – none other than Paul Anthony Christie, the voice of Moose A. Moose. Ever since the Noggin app had shut down last year, she hadn’t heard much of his voice, and seeing him now filled her with joy. Paul’s suitcase rolled along behind him as he approached, dressed in red floral-print swim shorts under an orange rashguard.

“Good to see you all!” Paul greeted, waving his hand. He pulled his suitcase open to reveal his own essentials: an extra pair of swim trunks, a smartphone, a generous bottle of sunscreen, and a full-face diving mask with a double-hosed regulator.

“What’s the diving mask for?” Rob asked, raising an eyebrow.

“In case the Georgia Aquarium has a ‘swimming with sea animals’ exhibit,” Paul replied with a grin, looking every bit as enthusiastic as the others. “Can’t miss the chance if they offer it!”

With a playful smirk, Maurice tapped the Brain on his tank top and chuckled. “The Brain and I won’t be swimming with the fishes… but maybe, if we’re lucky, we’ll get to see them.”

Beside her, Rob turned to Maurice with a mischievous grin. “So, Maurice, remember when we did the Animaniacs reboot back in November 2020? Well, during Season 2 in November 2021, there was that scene in Plight of Hand where Pinky said,” he paused, switching to his Pinky voice, “‘Vicious? No, Brain. I gave that up after I was banned from the aquarium!’”

Faith’s curiosity piqued, and she leaned forward, sounding exactly like her mom, Sharon. “Okay. But what did Pinky do at the aquarium?” she asked with genuine interest.

Suddenly, a playful fantasy began to form in her mind: Pinky, in his 2020 reboot style, appeared at the aquarium in a retro lime green and dark green Victorian one-piece swimsuit—the same one he’d worn on the Las Vegas trip with Brain to build “Brain’s Palace.”

As she daydreamed, Faith smiled, lifting the hem of her light purple one-piece swim dress to reveal her own favorite swimsuit underneath, complete with its cute red bow on the front. “I even wore my lucky swimsuit today,” she said proudly, holding up the dress just enough to show the adorable details.

“I’m gonna see dolphins, fish, crabs, and octopuses,” she said excitedly.

“Octopi,” Maurice corrected with a chuckle. “The plural of octopus is octopi, Ms. Faith.”

Faith grinned, undeterred. “And more fish! After I see the octopi, I’ll head over to the snack bar for fish and fries, maybe even spot some sea turtles while I eat. Then Brain can join us for fish with fries too!”

Maurice shook his head with a smile, amused by her imagination. “Well, it sounds like you have your day all planned out, Faith.”

“Yup!” Faith replied happily. “I even remembered to pack extra swimsuits!”

(Wring TBC...)

[casspurrjoybell-30]

Bonding with the Enemy - Chapter 26

*Warning Adult Content*

Jasper Takes The Case

With Liam still missing, Jasper ended up dragging both Darren and Gerrit to the station. 

In the waiting room, they found Kenny pacing as his wife, a busty brunette in shorts and a tank top, nervously fidgeted with a tissue.

The police were going through everyone's whereabouts and quickly dismissed Darren, Jasper, Mary and Gerrit, all of which had been home and accounted for at the time of Holly's disappearance.��

The only person who was unaccounted for was Liam.

The two police officers glanced at each other when no one was able to say where he was.

This just furthered Darren's suspicions on the guy and as the only person who was not part of the pack, decided to speak on it. 

"Is everyone here really too scared to point fingers? Because I'm placing all mine on Liam," he cocked his head, drawing everyone's attention. 

One of the officers looked at the rogue as though he had just grown an extra arm.

"What are you insinuating?"

"I'm just saying that the guy is suspicious. I mean, what has he even accomplished in this investigation? He stopped sending out search parties. Not to mention this mysterious 'lead' that he said he was chasing after, yet no one has any information on."

"Shut it," Kenny snapped from the back of the room.

"Don't you dare suggest anything like that about our Alpha. I know Liam and I know for a fact that he wouldn't hurt Holly."

"Just like earlier when you thought Jasper would never hurt a pack member?"

"Don't change the subject."

Everyone went quiet and Gerrit put a hand on Darren's shoulder to stop him from retaliating.

Then, a small gust started building up in the room and Kenny's wife quickly stood up to pat him on the back.

"Calm down," she cooed.

"I'm angry too but fighting isn't going to help us find her."

Jasper decided to intervene at this point and moved to shield Darren from the Beta's view.

"That's enough," he said in a calm, even tone. 

Kenny's eyes flicked towards Jasper and after a moment, he obeyed.

Once the wind completely died down, Jasper turned, frowning at the hand on Darren's shoulder but opted to ignore it.

"I'm going to be taking the lead on this till Liam returns. In the meantime, Gerrit, I need you to take my place and be Darren's escort."

"Why can't I help?" the rogue asked. 

"You will still be helping. We need you to keep looking for...." he eyed the nearby officers but decided to continue.

"For ghosts that might know something. Unfortunately, with Liam out of the picture, I've got to cover for him and run the pack until he returns. Which means I won't have time to take you around town anymore."

Gerrit nodded.

"I'll stick with him for now. You focus on your work."

"Thanks," Jasper didn't seem very excited at the prospect of running the pack without his advisor around but he unfortunately didn't have a choice. 

For the next three days, Darren barely saw Jasper and found himself practically glued to Gerrit's side.

Or rather, vice versa since the guy made sure to keep the rogue in sight.

On the bright side, Jasper was so swamped with work that he was no longer pulling on their mate bond.

The downside to all this was that Liam still hadn't returned, which was putting Mary on edge as the woman started holing herself up in the garden, worrying that the worst might have happened to him. 

Likewise, Darren didn't have any luck interrogating more ghosts since they either didn't know anything or didn't see where the kids went.

By the third day he was ready to give up when he saw a familiar shadow figure lurking around the neighborhood next to the preschool.

"Pull over really quick," Darren ordered and Gerrit steered his car closer to the curb so they could get out safely.

This neighborhood had a pond built in the center of it, with a sidewalk and gazebo off in the distance.

He decided to head that way as Gerrit followed close beside him.

"What's wrong?"

"I just thought that it might be a good idea to interrogate a certain creep that also has a thing for kids."

"What do you mean?"

Darren sighed, then explained who or rather what, Jared was, thus causing the mousy man's brow to furrow in alarm.

"Is there any way to get rid of him?"

"Yes actually," Darren dug through is pockets and pulled out the exorcist's card.

"Call him up and he'll get rid of any ghost."

Darren felt encouraged when Gerrit added the number to his contacts instead of stuffing the card in his wallet.

"Why haven't you already done that?" 

"I told Jasper but I don't think he's had time to yet."

"I'll do it then," the man declared.

Darren smiled in response, then returned to his hunt for Jared.

Stepping into the Gazebo, the rogue checked to see where else the spirit might be hiding, only to find him spider walking across the ceiling above.

Jared's head was twisted completely around and he had a mad look on his face as he flashed his rotted teeth at Darren.

The rogue braced himself for the encounter as the being dropped down and twitched it's way closer.

"Darren?" Gerrit called. 

While the man couldn't see the spirit, he did notice the rogue's reaction and became concerned but Darren raised a hand to let him know he was alright. 

Jared tilted his head curiously.

"Looking for me?"

"Yes," Darren replied.

"You stalk children all the time, right? So I figured if anyone would know what was happening to the missing kids, it'd be you."

The creature burst out laughing.

"And why would I help you?"

Darren didn't have an answer for that because he knew there was only one thing this creature would want in return and he refused to give it.

Unfortunately he hadn't planned on what to do if the thing asked for payment in exchange for answering a few questions.

A dark chuckled escaped the evil man as he backed up with a single, bony finger pointing at Darren.

The rogue glanced behind himself but no one was there.

When he turned back, Jared was gone.

"What's going on?" Gerrit asked.

"What did he say? Does he know who took the kids?" 

"No. He won't help."

The mousy man sighed, dejected, then pulled his phone back out.

"I'm calling this exorcist tonight."

"Good idea."

Then, all at once, Darren remembered the vision of Sophie running through the forest.

With everything that was gong on, he had completely forgotten about it.

"Can we make a quick stop?"

Gerrit nodded and they arrived at Sophie's house shortly after.

Darren made sure to knock  before trying to enter this time.

When he received no response, he made a call, only for it to be sent to voicemail.

"I guess she's not home. We'll have to check back later."

He sent a text, asking Sophie where she was at and if they could talk.

Hopefully she'd reply soon, otherwise he was going to start getting suspicious of what she was really up to.

Returning to the Alpha's house, Darren made a bee line for the kitchen.

With Liam still missing, Mary hadn't quite been in the mood to cook, so their dinners now consisted of leftovers or takeout.

"How does a salad sound?" Gerrit offered as he pulled out some lettuce.

"That's not dinner food."

"What about a bowl of Lucky Charms?"

"Now we're talking," the rogue grinned, and switched to the cupboard as he pulled down a box of cereal.

Breakfast for dinner was always a good idea in his opinion.

While pouring the milk, Darren's elbow knocked into the box that he had set on the counter.

Both he and Gerrit hurried to catch it but Darren was quicker and successfully grabbed the box while the other man grabbed his hand instead.

Gerrit looked down, then blushed crimson and quickly let go.

He began fidgeting and pointed out of the room.

"I'm just gonna go call that exorcist now."

"Yeah, sounds good," the rogue tried to act cool as he watched the other man leave in a hurry.

'Did Gerrit have a crush on him? Nah, that can't be it,' Darren decided, and ate his cereal in peace.

A little while later he heard the front door open.

Soon after, Jasper appeared in the hallway.

The young Alpha looked like absolute hell.

There were dark circles under his eyes and he sagged in place, unable to hold himself up properly.

The top two buttons of his shirt were undone and his hair looked like it hadn't been combed in days.

Jasper's eyes slowly roamed over towards the rogue and he started walking towards him.

"Hey," Darren greeted the man with fake enthusiasm, more concerned with the guy's wellbeing than with thinking up a witty remark. 

The Alpha didn't respond and continued his approach.

Then, before Darren could dodge, he embraced the rogue and buried his head in Darren's hair, inhaling deeply.

Darren was so caught off guard that he found himself standing there and accepting it.

Once he wrapped his head around what was happening though, he struggled between pushing the guy off and asking if he was okay.

Just as he was about to go with the latter, Jasper murmured...

"Just for a moment."

His voice sounded like garbled marbles.

'Was he sick?'

Darren cursed mentally and decided to go along with it for now as he turned and hobbled towards the living room so he could guide the Alpha to the couch.

Once the man was seated, he turned to call for Gerrit, only to have Jasper grab his hand and yank him down.

The rogue fell awkwardly beside the Alpha, who proceeded to wrap both arms around him and rest his chin on Darren's head.

This caused an unsettling flutter in his chest, which the rogue tried to ignore.

"Just for a moment," Jasper murmured again, tightening his grasp.

Darren squirmed under the embrace but that only made things worse as he fell backwards, causing Jasper to land on top of him.

This position was extremely compromising, he realized as his body began to react. 

It was bad enough having a sick Alpha treat him like a stuffed animal but getting aroused by it was ridiculous.

What's worse, he felt just a little too comfortable in the man's arms.

If either Gerrit or Mary happened to walk in on them like this, Darren felt he would die from embarrassment.  

Desperately he tried to slip out from under the man, only to be pulled back and pinned as Jasper took another deep breath, clutching the rogue tighter. 

"Stop it," Darren whispered harshly but he received no verbal response. 

Heat was pooling at an alarming rate between his legs and he knew that he had to do something about it soon or else he'd start releasing pheromones and alert everyone in the house to his situation. 

Desperately, he tried reaching up and shaking the Alpha.

When he didn't respond, Darren realized that Jasper had passed out. 

"Seriously?" he grunted and contemplated slipping out from under the man's arm.

Unfortunately the rogue found it difficult to do so.

Somehow, he didn't want to escape just yet, which he decided to blame his sense of sympathy for and absolutely refused to consider any other explanation. 

'Boy was he going to unleash hell when Jasper woke up.' 

Taking a deep breath, Darren did his best to calm his body by thinking up some of the more disturbing images he had seen in his life.

Luckily he managed to calm down much quicker than expected, mostly because he had no interest in messing with an unconscious man. 

With one arm completely free, he pulled his phone out to help pass the time.

He'd endure this for just a little longer but only because Jasper looked like he needed the rest.

No other reason.

Eventually Gerrit returned and found the two on the couch.

He stopped and stared for a bit and Darren scowled back with a blush.

"A little help please?"

"Sure," Gerrit blinked, then went back upstairs.

Darren waved his hand as though to say 'what the hell?' but then he returned with a pillow.

"That's not what I meant," the rogue argued as the man made his way over and started tucking it behind Darren's head.

Suddenly an arm shot out and grabbed Gerrit's wrist.

Jasper's head snapped up and glared at the other man, his grip tightening.

Gerrit flinched, which seemed to help Jasper realize what he was doing and he immediately let go.

"What was that for?" Darren snapped as the Alpha sat up, freeing the rogue.

"Sorry, bad dream," was Jasper's lame excuse, though he cast one more dirty look towards Gerrit.

Gerrit took the hint and backed off.

"No sweat. I've got to prepare for work in the morning anyways."

He then promptly disappeared upstairs. 

Darren hopped off the couch and began to follow but was stopped when Jasper grabbed him and pushed him back down.

The Alpha then leaned over the smaller man like he was going to return to their earlier position.

Darren, feeling embarrassed, wasn't having any of that and instead, jabbed his head forward, instinctively headbutting the Alpha. 

"What the fuck?" Jasper yelped. 

"That's what I should be saying," Darren growled as he sprang from the couch.

"I don't recall giving you permission to use me as a personal body pillow."

The rogue went to follow Gerrit upstairs, then stumbled as a sudden pull on their mate bond caught him off guard.

Shaking his head, he threw a glare back at the Alpha, then froze as he realized that Jasper was staring back at him steadily.

Unsettled, Darren quickly made his way upstairs and stayed there for the rest of the night.

In the morning, he found himself drawn back down by the sound of visitors.

Naturally he went to see who it was, only to find Kenny and Beth standing around, chatting with Jasper near the front door.

Kenny didn't look much better than Jasper did last night.

Both is hair and clothes were just as disgruntled, though the shadows under his eyes were much more noticeable. 

"You really should have gotten some sleep," Jasper was saying to the overworked Beta.

Kenny ran a hand through his hair and sighed.

"Yeah I know."

Beth stepped up and started patting the man on the shoulder.

When she moved, Darren noticed that he wasn't the only one listening in on their conversation. 

Standing by her fathers side and shivering dreadfully was Holly's spirit.

[marteloandfriends]

Scenario [TR.AA]

Serial : The Rodeos - Andrew Andika

Synopsis : Andrew Meets Raphael For the First Time

The clock showed 12:15. Andrew was walking in the school hallway on recess with joy on his smile and warmth on his left hand. This is because he was holding a hot cup of coffee that he got from the cafeteria. His steps following the rhythm of the music he was listening to with one of his wireless earphones in his right ear. Andrew’s heading outside to review and improve his notes at the school park.

There’s doberman dog who was walking right behind Andrew. The guy has slightly curly black hair with bright purple highlight. He was wearing black tank top with a purple StarWars logo on it. “What the hell am I supposed to do with this?” The guy said in a confusion. He’s reading a math problem from his assignment paper that is due tomorrow.

Because he put all his focus on the assignment paper, he accidentally bumped on Andrew from behind.

“Woah!” Andrew yelled right after he got bumped.

The guy spilled Andrew’s coffee little, flying right from the hole on the top of the coffee cup. He also dropped his math assignment next to the spills, touching only at the top left part a little.

The guy looked at Andrew, he taked a deep breath and apologized. “Oh shit man, I’m so so sorry.”

Knowing that the guy bumped him on accident, Andrew forgave the guy as he took some tissues from his own backpack.

“It’s okay, it’s okay.” Andrew said.

They both bent down to wipe the spills and to pick up the math assigment. Andrew glanced both of his eyes to the math assigment, wondering what this guy is up to. Andrew noticed that the guy hasn’t done anything yet to the paper.

An idea then came up to his mind. Andrew offered him a help because he knew what to do with the material the guy is struggling on.

“Hey uh, you need help on that math?” Andrew asked while standing up with wet tissues in his right hand.

The guy who bumped Andrew was glad that he finally found someone that can help him with his confusing math assignment, knowing well that he is not great at math.

The guy picked up his assigment paper. He started to gaze upon Andrew, with his mouth slightly opened. His messy blonde hair, his cute smile, the way he dress formally but casually, the way he looks at him made him flabbergastered. Back in his old school, no one has ever dress as good as Andrew.

He shook his head to get out from his amazed state. He clapped his hands one time but not letting them seperate after it, followed by him accepting Andrew’s offer.

“Wow you are a live saver, man!” Said the guy with a sweet and warm smile.

Andrew then asked him if he wants to do it outside since Andrew wanted to review his notes at the school yard.

“You wanna go like, outside? I usually do my work there?” Andrew asked with his thumb pointing the doors behind him. Andrew was also glad that he can talk to someone again.

“Yeah, sure… great idea!” The guy answered.

They walked outside the school to go to the school yard where they can sit on chairs and work on a table. The outdoors are also great for them to catch fresh air, so they can process and think better. They stepped the outdors, took a deep breath of the fresh air as the sun shine on them.

“Over there,” Andrew said pointing at the table they’re going to sit on.

As they walked their way to the table, the wind blows the bubblegum scent coming from Andrew who was walking in front of Raphael.

“Damn, he smells good!” Raphael said in his mind.

They sat on the table under the tree, where the sun rays beautifully piercing through the leaves, and the calm nature sound pleasuring their ears.

He asked Raphael, "So, I this your first day, or you've been around but I just haven't noticed?

"Oh, uh- I've been here like a week ago. It's pretty interesting to be around. The fact this school has a big ass beautiful yard is what makes me even happy I'm here." Told Raphael.

"Wait, you like the outdoors? So you a sports guy?" Andrew wondered.

"Nah man, I just find the outdoor refreshing." Raphael answered.

"I see," Andrew nodded while closing his backpack by pulling the zipper back.

"Hey, by the way I'm Raphael, Raphael Harrison" The guy said with both of his eyebrows raising and his head nodding upwards.

"Oh I'm Andrew, Andrew Andika." Andrew responded after Raphael introduced himself while puling his backpack's zipper. He pulls his notes out along with his pencil case.

— Like for part two! —

[rainy-wallflower]

Brother

TW: child abuse, physical harm, kidnapping, and yelling

Here's a little story with an OC of mine and the song Brother by Madds Buckley, please be cautious of the heavier content

Thorn gazed at the still figure tied to the chair. They gnawed at their thumbnail as their heart pounded. The room was dark so it was hard to make out any details, but Thorn knew them all by heart. The boy had flame red hair, brown eyes, and was still wearing his school uniform. Thorn huffed, remembering the day they found out the younger boy was enrolled in their favorite high school, an idea that had been vetoed long ago. 

“Hey,” a gentle voice said, pulling Thorn from their thoughts. “You okay?” They turned to see their partner, Cameron, with a soft look in his eyes. He’d been against the whole thing, always the moral compass of the group, but now that they were here, there wasn’t much he could do about it. 

“I’m trying to be,” Thorn grunted, enjoying the way Cameron’s cold hand felt on their shoulder, providing some temporary relief from their own, natural warmth. “It feels like I have too many thoughts swirling around, and you know how I am when it comes to speaking. I don’t think I’ll be able to get the point across.” 

“Well…you have four of us right over here, whether you want us to intervene or not, we’re right within earshot-” 

“No.” 

“...No?” 

Thorn took a deep breath. “I don’t want you guys listening. I love and trust you guys but he’s my brother. He's probably been through hell the same way I have, and the last thing he probably wants is having other people know about it. He’s always been strong like that.” They placed a hand over Cameron’s on their shoulder, ignoring his small wince from their heat. “Can you guys close those doors and just wait until I come and get you? I promise you’ll be able to hear me if I start yelling for you.” 

Cameron’s eyes focused on Thorn’s face, searching for any sign of emotion before nodding reluctantly. “Just don’t be too hard on yourself. The moment you want it to be over, you can walk away. You don’t owe him anything.” He gave Thorn’s shoulder one last squeeze before pulling away. “You got this.” 

Thorn turned back to the boy, watching for signs of him waking up. A door closed loudly behind them, probably shut a bit rougher than it needed to be, but it did the trick and the boy jolted awake. His head shot up and he looked around, struggling against his bonds. His arms were tied behind the back of the chair and his ankles had been secured to the legs. “Who did this?” He called into the dark. “Let me go! I’m not someone you want to mess with!” 

Thorn took another deep breath and padded into the room, trying not to think about how the floorboards creaked under their feet. “Calm down, little brother,” they said, settling themselves next to the fireplace, across from their brother. 

“Little brother?” The boy asked, eyebrows pinching together, trying to follow the movement in the dark. “Show yourself, coward!” 

“You shouldn’t be talking to your older sibling like that,” Rain replied, raising a hand and allowing it to alight with fire. The warm color filled the room and the boy gasped as he was finally allowed to see his captor. Their hair had been shaved except for the top, which was pulled back into a french braid. It was dark like soot with thick streaks of ash grey flowing through it; a far cry from their brother’s bright red. Their eyes, which had once looked at the boy so softly, were now hardened with years of hate. Their clothes were ratty and torn. Their jeans had more holes than jean and their black tank top was covered with various frays. With all the exposed skin, their various burn marks, scars, and other injuries were on display. The older turned their hand to the fireplace and allowed the fresh wood there to take the fire. 

Shadows were chased away and the two got a better look at the room around them, though Thorn knew it quite well. A half charred couch was pushed up against a wall, empty shelves sat around, covered in dust, and glass littered the floor from various broken picture frames. The boy wasn't taking in the room though, his eyes were trained on the figure that had disappeared from his life five years prior. 

“R-Rose?” 

The elder tried not to clench their jaw at their deadname, and instead folded their arms over their now flat chest. “I threw that name away when I left. It’s Thorn now, I’d appreciate it if you address me as such while we’re here.” The younger took a shaky breath and hung his head. “Anyway, it’s been a while. How’s it been?” They asked awkwardly. The younger boy huffed a small laugh wryly. 

“Well, for the record I’m still Ember,” he started. “And I feel like I should be asking you that question. You’re entirely different from what I remember…Thorn.” He raised his head again, his eyes almost unbelieving as he looked at his sibling once more. 

“Well, there’s not much to tell,” Thorn said, glancing back at the fire. “I had to get out of that house.” They ran a hand over their braid, feeling the frayed ends. “Did you know that too much stress can turn a person’s hair grey? I was hiding it while she was around, but once I finally left it came at me full force. Most of this is dye, just so you know.” 

“And all those burns? Don’t tell me you did that yourself?” Ember asked, voice shaking.

“Most were not voluntary,” Thorn shrugged. “Accidents happen when you try to play with fire.” They raised a hand and instead of normal orange flames, they burned bright blue and the temperature in the room went up a number of degrees, though it didn’t bother the two fire elementals too much. “It’s a handy little trick to have,” Thorn commented as they extinguished the fire. “It does come with a price, however. That’s why it’s good to be friends with water and ice elementals.” They gestured at the room around them, bringing attention to some of the smaller details. 

Not only was the couch charred, but various burn marks covered the walls, parts of the floor had fallen in due to damage, and worse of all, the wall above the fireplace had been burned beyond recovery. Where a decorative piece might have hung, only ashes and soot were left and a melted nail was still stuck in the wall. 

“Do you remember that day at all?” Thorn asked. 

“You know, I thought this place was familiar, but now I know where I am,” Ember said meekly. “Why are we here?” 

“Well, for one I didn’t think we’d be looked for here if anyone noticed anything in the, eh, three hours I’d have you,” Thorn started. “Also because I’ve made my peace with it. It’s incredible what can happen when you decide to just move forward. Has she gotten you into therapy yet?” 

Ember laughed without humor. “What makes you think she’d put me in therapy? Have you seen her lately or have you only been watching me? I don’t know what you know, but after you left she only got worse.” He glared at his sibling. “She didn’t stop looking for you for a whole month! She left me alone and literally went out to look for you! When she finally got back, despite having not been involved at all, she blamed me!” Ember snarled. “I am not blind to the fact that I’ve been blessed in certain ways. I had you to protect me when growing up, I got to go to a good school, I’m set up to go to a great college and I have amazing friends and I’m sorry that you didn’t have that, but I can’t see any reason for you to just abandon me with that monster!” 

Thorn balked at the sudden raised voice. They could tell it was only a fraction of Ember’s pent up rage from years of being left alone with her, but before they could even think of a decent reply, something else caught their eye. They stalked forward, a numbness spreading out from their chest. They ignored Ember’s surprised stuttering as they got closer and grabbed his chin, turning his head so they could get a good look at his neck. They hadn’t had the time to notice before, but there on the side of his neck was a burn scar in the shape of a hand. 

“Did she fucking do this?” Thorn’s voice seeped with rage. The flames in the fireplace grew hotter as Thorn examined the injury. They reached up with their free hand and tugged at Ember’s collar, allowing them to see more of the injury. A few scars on Thorn’s body started to burn as they remembered the unbearable pain of someone else’s fury on their skin. 

“What do you think?” Ember spat. “That one is from five years ago. She decided I was the one who told you to get out of the house and she went after me. Do you know how hard it is to convince people that a burn mark in the shape of a hand, on your throat,  is your own fault? If CPS had shown up I’m sure she would have actually killed-” Ember cut himself off as Thorn got up and stumbled back towards the fireplace, a vacant look on their face. 

“I dunno.” They said quietly, staring at a spot on their forearm. “I wonder how hard it would be to tell everyone that the burn marks that keep popping up are your own, even though you tell everyone you literally never use your element because of how much it hurts people.” They fixed Ember with a stare. “I’m sorry that she took it out on you. You were always her golden child so I figured you’d be safe. But you know what? Having a new burn all the time that you didn’t give yourself takes a toll on a person.” They glanced back at the fireplace, and then the area above it. “You didn’t answer me when I asked you about it earlier, but do you remember that day? I’d stashed you in your bedroom before I told her, and when I did she lashed out, so I did as well. 

“Do you know what happens when you try to use a large amount of power when you haven’t practiced with it before?” Thorn grinned and licked at their lips with a strange hunger. “It goes wild. It was the first time I discovered blue flames. It was only for a second but it set everything ablaze. It scared me at first, she cried out and suddenly there was fire raging all around me, but then I realized what was happening. This place where I’d felt trapped my entire life was being destroyed by my own power.” Thorn turned to the fireplace and willed the temperature to rise a little more. “I had just come into adulthood and was about to set out and be independent for the first time in my life, and I was destroying the place that’d held me captive all those years. So I let the fire rage, and I left without a care.” 

“You left me without a care then.” Ember murmured, staring at the flames in the fireplace. Thorn’s silence said everything the younger boy needed to know and he hung his head again, trying to hide the tears that had gathered in his eyes. “You left me! She threw me in some hotel and left me just after you did! I didn’t hear from either of you for a month and when she came back she said she had a new house ready and essentially threw me in my room for the rest of the summer!” He sobbed, trying to curl in on himself. 

Thorn padded closer and wrapped their arms around their younger brother, which only made him curl in on himself more. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know she would do that. I know it’s partly my fault. But listen,” they pulled away and forced Ember to look at them again. “I’m here with my friends. I’m sure you remember them, Cam, Alex, Aither, and Nixie? We’ve all experienced shitty things growing up, which is why we’re out here fending for ourselves, and we’ve never been happier,” they tried for a smile. “The reason I brought you here was to try and catch up a little and see if you’d join us. We’ll get you out of her reach. You’ll disappear from her line of view and she can work herself up into a frenzy on her own and either hurt herself or get herself caught. And then since you’re away from her and with good people you’ll be able to work on yourself! We can help with any types of trauma or feelings, I know we’re not professionals but we’ve been helping each other for the past five years so-”

“So you want me to join your friend group when I told you earlier I have my future planned out ahead of me? I have friends, Thorn. I’m going to college. I’m already on my way to being out of her reach.” Ember glowered. “I don’t know what the hell you’ve been doing but it doesn’t seem healthy and I don’t want any part of it. Besides, why would I want to join the person who left me in the hands of our abuser? You couldn’t have tried to help me get out, or send someone to help get me out? You just burn the place we used to live in and then leave me to deal with the consequences? I’m sorry, but the moment you decided to walk out without considering if anyone else mattered to you, you lost your chance.” 

“You know, if you took all that anger you’re feeling, I’m sure you could turn it into something great,” Thorn sighed and stood up. They moved towards the fireplace and leaned against it. “Strong fire can’t be controlled by someone with weak emotions. If you were to try even a little bit it’d,” they gestured to the room once again, “go everywhere. I’ve made my peace with what happened, and that is what allows me to do what I want. You’re still hurting, and that’s fine, but know that if you don’t do anything with it, it’s only going to get worse, no matter how promising your future looks.” Thorn extinguished the fireplace, plunging the room into darkness so the siblings couldn’t see each other. “I left you alone in that house because if I had stayed I would have died, either by her hands or my own. That place was never home for me, and if I ever wanted to get better I needed to find where my home was, and that was with my friends. Sorry for wanting to share that with you. If you want to go wallow in your self pity and stick by her side like some little lapdog, go ahead. It’s not my responsibility to care for you the rest of your life. I’m sorry if it hurts you, but that’s not my problem anymore.”

“You can’t just say shit like that-!” 

“I watched this room burn with the power of my own flames!” Thorn cried. “I saw everything around me being destroyed and I liked it! It was freeing and for the first time I felt like I had power in a situation and I never looked back! The only thing I learned is that I can still hurt myself no matter how powerful I feel, so I have to be careful with the destruction I cause, because I don’t want to hurt those I care about along with me. Now, since we’re obviously at an impasse, I’m going to leave. We used regular ropes so you can just burn them off if you want, but you should calm down first. We don’t want this room going up in flames again.” 

Ember inhaled sharply, and for a moment Thorn thought there was a small amount of light in the room. They blinked a few times and it left, but a strange feeling of anxiety started to strangle their chest. They put a hand over their heart and rubbed at it slightly before turning to leave the room. 

“Have a good life, little brother. When we meet again I hope you’ll have your shit sorted.”