#we'll either get scraps or fucking nothing

[darlingsfandom]

Steve’s trying his best to rush reader home so she won’t piss herself. Until she does. Until her embarrassment turns Steve on and he’s gotta pull over to fuck her against his car

I have something similar here ✨

"Do you think they survived without us?" You asked as Steve drove you two home from your little get away. It was your one year anniversary and Steve took out to a nice hotel for the weekend.

"I'll be surprised if Eddie has his pants on when we get home." Steve laughed as you shifted in your seat. "Are you okay honey?" He asked as he patted your thigh while keeping his focus on the road.

"Yeah yeah, I'm fine just getting comfortable. We've been in the car for awhile." You patted his hand that was resting on your thigh. You tilted your head to the side and watched as all the trees blurred past.

Another forty five minutes passed when it hit you.

"Uh oh.." you whispered to yourself but Steve heard it.

"What's wrong baby and don't say nothing."

"I have to pee!" You whined as your thighs squeezed together.

"Oh... we'll be home soon." Steve did his best to drive as fast as he could without breaking the law. You nodded along and tried to focus on anything but the feeling of your heavy bladder.

"How soon steve ??" You we're squirming in your seat before you realized that Steve was pulling over on the side of the road. "I'm not peeing on the side of the road!" You pouted your bottom lip at him.

"Either the road or you wait about another hour until ..."

"Oh no!" It was too late. You did your best to get out of the car as the warm liquid dropped down your legs. Steve sat there in shock for a minute before his brain turned into a lump of mashed potatoes. He got out of the car and ran over to your side.

"Steve please! It was an acci.." His lips were on yours as his fingers yanked down your panties.

"Oh my god! Are you turned on by the fact I just pissed myself?" You pushed him off of you. Steve stood there with the familiar look on his face. "You're not serious! I pissed myself and you got a boner?"

Steve cupped your face and slid his tongue into your mouth while pushing you up against the side of his car. You whined into his mouth as his hands ran all over body before he took your leg and lifted it up over the hood. Steve undid his pants , dropped his boxers and spit in his hand to coat his cock before he slipped his dick into you with ease. Your eyes rolled back as you wrapped your arms around steve so you could pull him closer.

"Good girl! Taking my cock so well!" He kissed the side of your neck before biting into it. Steve was an animal on you as he pounded into your pussy. It dawned on you that anyone could drive by and see that Steve was balls deep in you on the hood of his car. He bit down your neck and over your exposed breasts that was peeking from your dress.

"Steve!! I can't believe me kissing myself turned you on this much." Your nails scrapped his scalp as he pulled your hips down on his cock harder .

"Of course it does baby!" Steve panted heavily as he felt his balls starting to tighten as his thrusts were slowing down. "SHIT!" Steve froze as his cum shot deep into you. You whined at the feeling. Steve held onto you as he looked up into your eyes.

"Your turn baby!" Before you could even ask, Steve's thumb was against your clit rubbing fast as he peppered your breasts with warm open kisses. You were close. You pulled on his hair as your orgasm washed over you. "GOD STEVE!" You cried out as you squirmed below him. Steve gave you a soft kiss as he helped you clean yourself up along with the mess in his car.

"Baby... this is our secret, okay ?" Steve kissed your temple as he buckled you up before he got himself buckled up and the two of you back on the road from your little detour .

[howlingday]

new vegas au) LT. Valkire was a simple girl, she liked explosives and she hated bullies. made it pretty easy for her to decide to join up with the NCR military of course now she had to sit in the desert trying to deal with the powder gangers. to make things worse there was no fucking support from the higher ups meaning she had to handle everything solo! That was until the knight rolled unto town. The dude was strange, only spoke in old English, wore metal armor that he'd polished till it was basically a mirror. had probably the only solid steel sword she'd ever seen, not reclaimed scrap metal someone had sharpened till it could stick someone, no, an actually forged sword! and while it was hard to understand what he was saying apparently he was going to help with the powder gangers? well if he wanted to pick off a few of the patrols for her that was fine, she's surprised he even had time to do that in between his charity work with the kids of Primm, he mainly just passed through from time to time handing out sasparilla and candy while helping the community as needed after he helped them liberate it a few days ago. it's a shame, she really liked the guy. why'd all the good ones have to be gay or crazy? (give us jaune singlehandedly taking out the powder gangers in their prison-turned-fortress and nora's reaction to it pls)

Previous

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Whassamatter, sweetheart?" One of them shouted between gunfire. "Did your mommy not pack you a lunch?"

If Nora cared about her mother, she might have taken that as an insult. Instead, she chose to focus her anger on the lack of explosives she had. Try as she'd like, the Powder Gangers had her outnumbered ten to one, outgunned with them still having ample rounds and her with no grenade cartridges, and outwitted since she was trapped in an office above some well-protected radroaches hiding under sturdy barriers. In short; she was fucked, and it wasn't going to get good anytime soon.

"Shit, shit, what do I got?" Nora scanned the office around her for something, anything that could be used as an explosive. The closest she could find was an empty pencil shaver and some old bottle caps. Nothing volatile in the slightest, save for her temper.

And it was her temper that got her into this mess, wasn't it? She didn't like standing around in the base, doing nothing, so they sent her off to clear out a Powder Ganger base and send word to the NCR that it was clear. Too bad the base had fired a flare and sent pretty much every Ganger in the desert to come for her. She'd managed to whittle them down, killing a bunch in the first shot, but there were still too many for her. If she was lucky, they'd kill her quick.

"Just you wait, sweetheart!" One of them called up. "We'll give you exactly what those uptight pricks at the NCR never would!" Judging by the laugh they gave, her spinal chills were justified.

"Hold there, worthy adversaries!" A new voice called, and judging by his tone, he was a loony, too. One of those Caesar's guys? "Pray tell, what kingdom doth thee hail from?"

"The fuck you wanna know for, freak?"

"Don't waste your breath! Just light him up!" Gunfire roared, soon followed by screams of agony.

Nora peered outside to find the loony, all dressed up in some kinda sheet metal tougher than anything those Caesar guys had on, slice one Ganger in half like a lunatic! But he was a lunatic with a chance, since the bullets kept bouncing off him. Anyone dumb enough to get close with a slugger either had it parried or sliced in half with them. Nora'd never seen such carnage before, not even from the Deathclaw attack that stampeded her home all those years ago.

The one her mother left her behind in.

"Hail, fair maiden!" Before she could be sucked into her trauma, a voice called to her. "Are you unharmed?"

"I'm fine!" Nora called back. "Thanks for saving my bacon!"

"Oh, good! You have rations!" The idiom flew over his tin-metal head. "I only have one other question before I enter!" His voice suddenly became less friendly. It was about as dangerous as when he started slicing the gangers like meat. "ARE YOU FRIEND, OR ARE YOU FOE?"

"Dude, you just saved my ass! I think that makes us friends!"

He was quiet for a moment, then he let out a belting laugh. He lifted his helmet from his head, giving a smile to her from beneath golden locks of sweaty hair. He swiped them away, free of sweat, and stepped closer to her.

"It has been some time since anyone had answered as a friend!"

[shellofhappiness]

Day 78984 of someone thinking Dylan didn’t give a fuck about eric the same amount as he did for Dylan whatever reason.. I’m tired like genuinely why the hell do people think this. And please don’t say bc Dylan wanted to plan nbk with a bitch because omg that was a blip compared to the planning with eric. It was a fuckin delusion and was not him planning for anything. There was only one nbk plan and that was between Eric and Dylan. Also people use the dumbass point that, “oh Dylan had more friends so he didn’t care about Eric that much” like huh?? None of Dylan’s friends at that point where as close as he was with Eric by senior yet by a landslide, also you can have a shit ton of friends (which Dylan did not) and still have that one mf you fw a lil bit more than the rest and you’re crazy of you don’t think that mf was eric. But I would like to hear why you think Dylan did not give a shit about eric the same amount

I do not see the point in wasting precious time to examine this topic with you when you are embarrassingly incompetent in misinterpreting my words as whatever wall you want to argue with. To make your point, you sent two paragraphs of avoidable aggression to my inbox. While I agree that I overlooked the prospect of Dylan deliberately warping his tie with Eric to exploit the “narrative” to be in his control as you mentioned in your other anon. But, there is no way to provide solidified proof of that other than it being in line with his "disposition," which would be superfluous considering it's psychologically impossible to "define" anyone's self, even mine and your own. Even then, if we put ourselves in Eric's shoes in this scenario, wouldn't it still be hurtful to find out your best friend was purposefully making the effort to make it seem like you two weren't as close as you were when you didn't agree on it and still talked about him as normal? Why would he do that when you two are practically starting a "revolution" together? Did you misinterpret what you two had? What is the reason?? Point being: my post still applies with this hypothetical in mind.

I'm sorry if my post struck a nerve for you and your model fabrication of superficial postmodernist love being an act of murder-suicide. Yet, I am a stranger on Tumblr Dot Com, likely the reason you feel so comfortable being openly hostile on anonymous because you don't know me, and I don't know you. Why can't we all have fun? Why are we not open to believing what we want to believe? If you are so disturbed by how significantly my post intruded on your sentiments because I articulated my own introspections in a way you weren’t personally accommodated to, just block and move on with your day.

I completely acknowledge the assertion that they were real, living people, surviving living emotions, but NEITHER of us knew them. We could both be right, we could both be wrong. Why get up in arms about a scenario we'll never have an in-depth answer to besides the scraps we've been given to form our own bigger picture, subconsciously echoing our mentality and toils with depicting individuality?

If you had come to me with the knowledge you gave, calm and civilized with the intention to apprise me of the details I either disregarded or didn’t even know about in the first place, I would’ve loved nothing more than to sit down and chat, but you make it a bit too apparent you lack the capability to compel heart, even when you reeeeally don’t want to, and communicate so both of us could depart as sounder, more enlightened, individuals. Jeeesus.

EDIT: I realize in retrospect what may have incited this was when I twisted Eric's quote to be about him and Dylan. I'll admit it when looking directly at it, it was a stretch for me to include. I even thought that to myself when writing the passage, but I still decided to keep it there to describe their own personal ideals on the concept of experiencing love in general, rather than it being towards each other. Hence why I emphasized it wasn't about them being gay or anything along the line of that, including their own personal relationship, love coinciding or not. Somewhat unrelated, but I still feel obligated to mention, I remember someone made a post on here forever ago that Eric possibly instead had, even just a little thought, of Dylan in mind when he spoke about people exaggerating their feelings and assuming them to be love. People who obsess tend to have that problem, so we can connect the dots together. Did this clear things up though? Probably not. Bleeeeh!!!

[loversinthesnow]

Chapter Two: Vampire's Will Never Hurt You

“If I recall correctly, this gets us to the Northside quicker. You live ‘round there too, right?” She asks.

“Yeah,” I sigh, remembering what I have to go back home to, “You sure it's a good idea to go now though? It's late and dark out - who fucking knows what's around at this time, probably some junkies or vampires or something.”

Art credit:  aceandhisfrogs on instagram - raymondrllylikesmcr on tiktok.

“Well it's either that or go back to the hospital - and I'd take my chances with a junkie-vampire hybrid then go back to whatever that place was.” She rolls her eyes at me.

“Fair point.. guess we'll just have to be quick then.”

She nods in agreement, and we continue onwards. We've gotten through to the outskirts of the field - it's a forest area, filled with sad looking birch trees and weeds growing everywhere. It's not a pleasant sight, to be honest. It's sad, there's not a single hint of wildlife anywhere. But maybe that's just because it's dark out. Or maybe they've left - migrated to somewhere better for them. Can't say I blame them. I'd leave if I could too.

“So, how long will it take us to get out of here then - I know the hospital isn't any better but we really shouldn't be out here for too long.” I eye her nervously. The last thing either of us need right now is to get even more hurt.

“I dunno, probably like a 20 minute walk? 15 if we're quick, so it's really not that long, no need to worry.”

I sigh, my breath shaky. We really shouldn't be out here. And definitely not for that long.

“Clyde??? Jesus Christ, relax. Nothing is gonna happen to you. Now c'mon, if you're that worried about being here then let's get going.” She reaches for my hand, and I latch onto it.

“Yeah, I guess you're right..” I mumble, gazing at the moons reflection in her eyes. It's a pretty sight.

-

As we wander through the dark, the sounds of branches breaking under our feet is unsettling to put it lightly. I'm fighting the urge to jump or start crying ever second, while Bonnie rolls her eyes at me about 20 times a minute, which I didn't even think was physically possible - but I guess I stand corrected. I'm a human being - of course I have fears. That's normal, right?

“I swear to fucking God, if have to listen to you breathing like you're on life support for any longer, I’ll leave you here.” She says sternly, and I can feel her eyes practically burning into me.

“I'm sorry, okay? I just have a big fear of vampires and like, all things supernatural. I don't like being out late, especially not in some random forest besides some hospital full of wackos-”

“Or maybe you're just a wuss? What happened to your whole, ‘tough guy' bullshit from earlier? We've been walking for like, ten minutes and you're acting like it's the end of the fucking world. Get over yourself Clyde.”

“I-”

“Look,” she says, cutting me off. “We're here. See, you've been worried over nothing.” She says, grinning proudly. “I told you, everything would work out fine-”

Her smirk disappears almost instantly, as she slips on something and tumbles down.

“Jesus what the fuck,” she whines, “what the hell was that?”

“Here,” I offer her my hand. “What’d you trip on?”

“Do you think I have a clue??”

I look down to see her knee - it's scrapped and looks like it's about to start bleeding. Shit. Blood.

“Bonnie.. I know this might be bad timing, but where the fuck are we?”

As she looks around, a worrying expression growing on her face.

“I think we might've um.. taken a wrong turn..?”

“What the fuck do you mean, ‘might’ve taken a wrong turn’??? Where are we???” I'm fighting the urge to start screaming at her.

“Maybe it just looks different cause it's night! I mean, lighting is a really important factor in determining your surroundings-”

“What is wrong with you?” I feel my voice rising.

“What?-”

“I said what the fuck is wrong with you????” I'm practically yelling at this point, “We're out in the middle of nowhere at God only knows what time of the night - we've just escaped a fucking hospital and you've somehow managed to injure yourself and now you're bleeding. Do you have any idea what your carelessness could get us into? Who knows what's out here, we could be killed, Bonnie.” I find that my fist is curled and I feel like I'm about to challenge God himself to a fistfight. How could she be so stupid? So negligent?

“I'm sorry.. I didn't mean to..”

“Y’know, I should just leave you here. Honestly, I don't even know why I bothered taking you with me. I thought maybe you'd be capable, but I guess not. I'm rarely wrong, so consider yourself a disappointment.”

“I said I'm sorry..” she mutters.

“I think you'd be of more use back in some lab, at least then you might help save someone instead of risking someone's life. Or was this your plan? Lure them in, so they can get me again? You're a nasty little bitch if you think that'd work. A naive one too.”

“I said I'm fucking sorry!” She yells, her voice breaking. “I didn't mean to get us here, I didn't mean to fall. Please don't leave me here - I don't wanna die yet.”

Seeing the tears in her eyes brings me back to reality. Shit, what am I doing? She's obviously not trying to get me killed, God what is wrong with me?

“Don't leave me here..” Her voice is nearly a whisper.

“I'm sorry Bonnie, I'm not gonna leave you here. I didn't mean any of that - We just have to get out of here as soon as possible. You're bad enough as is and I feel like I haven't eaten in days. We're vulnerable, if a vampire or even a regular human went for us we'd be done for. C'mon, we’ll have to find some form of shelter.” I offer my hand to her.

“Please don't let them hurt me..” She mutters, sniffling.

“I won't.”

“You promise?”

“Yeah,” I pull her up, “I promise.”

-

“Are you sure this is the best place to go to?” She asks, as we near the entrance to a shitty looking pub.

“Well, vampires can’t exactly get drunk without a circulatory system, can they? So they wouldn’t have any business in here.”

“But being around a bunch of drunks isn’t much better, is it? Plus, they could look for victims here, so it’s probably not all that safe in here either-”

“Would you rather be outside or in here then?” I roll my eyes at her. “We really don’t have many options right now, do we?”

She looks as if she’s on the verge of debating me, but she stays quiet. The outside of the building’s off-white paint is peeling off, yet from the windows it seems packed.

“Why would anyone willingly go in here?” I question, stepping through the door. It reeks of a mix of piss and bear. And sweat.

“Clyde we literally just walked in-”

“That’s besides the point.”

She giggles at me, and I flip her off in response. It’s not like I wanted to be here - we just didn’t have a choice. It was either this, or almost certainly getting attacked if we stayed outside. By someone, or most likely something.

“You’re a pretty one, aren’t ya?” A grubby looking man slurs, stumbling over to us. His breath is unpleasant - but his face is somehow even worse.

“You got a name, sweetheart?”

I look over to see Bonnie’s annoyed expression. She’s glaring at him like he’s just killed her firstborn.

“I don’t think she’s interested man.” I say, answering his question for her.

“I think the missus has a voice,” He says, stepping towards me.

“And I don’t think she’d be interested in someone like you either.”

“Ooh, look who's got his panties in a twist. What, you can’t handle another man looking at your bitch?”

“What, can you not handle a no?”

“Well, she didn't say nothing, did she?”

I feel Bonnie tugging on my sleeve, and she looks uncomfortable. Please, it's not like they'll hurt her.

“C'mon Bonnie, let's just go get a drink.” I say, taking her hand. She's still glaring at me. I've got no clue why.

“How ‘bout you come with me princess” He says, grabbing her, and he begins to pull her away. She looks scared now. Shit, maybe she had a point.

“Let her go asshole.” I grab her hand back from him, and his face turns red.

Really fucking red.

“Who the fuck do you think you are? D’you really think some fag in a dress could ever scare me?”

Fag in a dress?? Right. The hospital gown. I’m still in that. Fuck.

“Just let her go, I don't want any trouble.”

He inches closer, until he's right in my face, my back against the wall.

“Let me ask you again,” I feel his breath on my face, and his grip around Bonnie tightens, “Do you really think you could scare me?”

“Yeah.” I wish I was as confident as I sound.

Before I even get a chance to think, I feel his hand wrap around my throat. I feel my vision go blurry.

“I'm gonna fuck you up boy.”

I look over to see Bonnie frozen - her eyes are tearful and her face is pale. I mutter to her, “go.”

I suddenly feel a sharp pain in my gut, and a punch to my jaw. I fall to the ground, watching a psychotic smile grow on his face. It's like the world's gone to slow motion - or everything feels like it. I see him move his leg in a forward motion towards my head, but I roll away just in time. Scrambling up on my feet, I know there's no way in hell I can take this guy. I've got to run, but how?

“Where'd all that confidence go, huh?” He says with a shit eating grin.

He throws another punch, aiming for my nose this time, but I dodge, so he punches the wall instead. His face winces in pain, and I kick him hard in the shin. I begin to run out, but he grabs my arm before I get the chance.

“You're in for it now, jackass.” He growls, his fist colliding with my face, my nose taking most of the hit. I stumble slightly, and all I can hear is him chuckling. No one in here seems to care - but Bonnie's gone, so there's that. I feel the blood come running down my nose, and can hear him chuckling. He's cocky for sure. Maybe this can work to my advantage. I step towards the window, hoping he throws another punch near my head.

“If you're so sure, why don't you knock me out right here then?”

“Gladly.”

Like I anticipated, he swings right at my head again, completely disregarding the window behind me. He misses, his fist colliding with the glass, and it shatters on impact, slicing through his knuckles. He yelps in pain, and I take my opportunity to dash. Slamming the door behind me, I see Bonnie pacing outside.

“What the fuc-”

“I don't have time to explain, we have to go.”

I grab her hand, and start running beyond the pub and few houses that surround it, into yet another forest area.

“What the fuck do you think you're doing?” She asks, her voice dripping with bitterness.

“Getting us away from that lunatic? You see what he did to my face?”

We're back in the middle of the woods again - but it's better than being near him.

“I think we're okay here.” I mumble, out of breath. “Y’know, you're lucky I stood up for you, who knows what could've happene-”

I feel another punch to my face again, but this time it's not from a grubby man - it's Bonnie.

“I'm lucky? I'm lucky that you ‘protected’ me? I'm lucky??” She sounds almost confused - offended, even.

“I-”

“Don't you fucking start,” She cuts me off, “If you had listened to me none of this shit would’ve even happened in the first place.”

“But we couldn't just stay outside, it's dangerous-”

“And being completely surrounded by men isn't?” Her voice sounds hurt. Shit, I never thought about it like that.

“I'm sorry, I didn't think about that-”

“Yeah of course you didn't, you've never had to.”

Taking a good look at her now, she still looks scared shitless. She has the same fear in her eyes as she did when I snapped at her earlier. Fuck, did I make her feel like that too?

“Are you okay?” I’m almost too scared to ask. Does she really find men this threatening? Are they really that bad? Am I really that bad?

“Yeah.. I guess so,” She mumbles, almost inaudible. “Your nose is still bleeding.” She wipes some of the blood from above my lip.

“Thanks.” I try and smile at her comfortingly. I hope it works. Or helps in someway.

“We should probably leave.. not back to that pub but somewhere else.. any shelter without too many people should do.”

“Yeah.” I agree, and we begin walking onwards, with no clue where we’re going. She’s still visibly shaken up - I can see it in the way she walks ever so carefully, avoiding even twigs with a paranoid expression glued to her face.

“Would it make you feel better if I held your hand?”

“W-what?” She stutters.

“Like.. hold your hand? The way lovers do, or how a mother holds her child’s hand-”

“No I know what holding hands is dumbass, I’m not stupid, it’s just kind of weird, y’know.”

“Well, you’re obviously scared, so I thought it might help-”

“Am not!” Her cheeks flush, “If anyone’s scared it’s you with your vampire bullshit.”

“Sureeeeee, I’m the scared one when you’re still shaking.” I eyeroll but as I’m about to stick my tongue out at her, I hear something crack.

“See! I’m not scared of your stupid twig breaking pranks, I didn’t even twitch!” She beams. There’s another crack.

It’s louder this time.

“Seriously, again? Jeez, give it a minute, you're not gonna scare me with the same trick twice in a row.”

Something cracks again. But it's not just louder now - it's closer too.

“Okay Clyde, the jokes over. What's even the point of it.”

“Bonnie..” I look behind her, “That wasn't me..”

Her face shifts from one of confusion to one of horror. With her eyes wide, she turns to face me.

“What the fuck do you mean that wasn't you??” She steps towards me. Something is moving behind her.

We're fucked.

“Bonnie,” I begin, “You're gonna have to take my hand and just trust me on this one, okay..?” I grab onto her hand, and she nods, and the fear from earlier has returned to her eyes. The rustling gets loader now, and it sounds closer. It is closer.

“Oh man,” I mutter to myself, “We’re royally fucked.”

With her hand in mine, we start running. God only knows where to.

“Clyde what the fuck was that?” She asks, her eyes wide. I only shush her in response.

“Be quiet!” I whisper shout, “We’ll have to go to some form of holy land - or find a stake. Or a cemetery.”

“Well why the fuck do we have to do that?”

“What comes out at night to pray on humans and hates all things holy?” I ask, almost rhetorically.

“Shit..”

“Yeah..” I exhale, still running, doing my best to not step on any glass or sticks or anything that'd snap under my weight.

“Uh.. Clyde?..”

“Shhhh!”

“Look,” She says, pointing to the left. I freeze.

Is that a dead body?

“What the fuck..” I inch closer.

“D’you think they were..”

“Yeah,” I gaze down at the lifeless body, a rip in it’s neck, blood stained everywhere. I can’t even make out anything else about this person - all I know is remains of their body is all that’s left of them.

I don’t want that to be me.

Or her either.

“Listen, we can’t help them now - they’re long gone at this point. We really need to leave, like, now-” I turn to face her, but her face has gone blank. Her eyes are lifeless.

What?

“Bonnie,” I begin, “I know it’s horrible but we have to leave now or that’ll be us next. C’mon.” I grab her hand, but she’s frozen in place.

“Bonnie,” My grip around her wrist tightens, “I said we need to go. Come on.” She still doesn’t budge.

“Bonnie!” I nearly yell. “You can’t help them - we need to leave. Please.”

The rustling from earlier is back again, but louder this time. I’m torn - what do I do? I can’t just leave her here - she’ll die. But I’ll die **if I stay. Fuck, what am I meant to do?

“Excuse me sir,” A shadow emerges, his face a ghostly white, hair jet black. And I can see blood on his hands. Shit. That could be ours next. “I don’t mean to disturb you, but do you know anything about the.. deceased here?” A man He looks down at the shredded corpse. He doesn’t even blink.

“No.. Me and my uhm..” I look over to Bonnie, whose still motionless, “We were on an evening walk and came across it. We know nothing.”

“I see,” He glances at Bonnie, “Is she alright?” Bonnie blinks in response.

“I, uhm..” She mumbles, eyes still hazy, face still blank.

“Miss, do you know this man?” He points at me, as if I’m some fool. Of course she knows who I am, what does he think she’ll do?

“I,” She turns to me, and I nod. “I don’t.”

I turn to her in horror, “What??? Bonnie, what the fuck??? What are you doing???” I hiss. She begins to walk towards the man, but I grab her before she takes another step.

“Sir,” He whispers, practically in my ear, “Let her go. It’ll be easier.” I see the moonlight reflect on his teeth, and it’s sickeningly bright.

I’m done for.

We’re done for.

“I really don’t want any trouble,” I start, taking a step backwards, still with a hold on Bonnie’s hand.

“There’s a body over there, can that not hold you off?” I attempt to bargain. He looks back briefly, and I quickly grab a branch from the forest floor. God, I hope this works.

“Well, that doesn’t have anything to do with her, now does it?” He smiles down at me, condescendingly, “Just give me the girl and I’ll be on my way.”

“Okay..” I sigh, but as I begin to let go of Bonnie’s hand, I grab his arm, stabbing the branch into it, catching him off guard. I kick him in the knee, and snatch Bonnie. I don’t even bother looking back. All I know is I have to keep running. For both of our sakes.

-

“Bonnie, please,” I shake her once we’re in the church grounds. I had to carry her bridal style, since she was still unresponsive. She blinks once, her eyes regaining their spark.

“Holy shit what the fuck happened? Where are we? What happened to the body-” Her voice is high pitched and shaky. Well at least I know it’s her.

“Hey, it’s okay,” I hold her shoulders as she shakes, “We’re in the grounds of a church, we should be okay for now.”

“I’m so sorry,” She stutters, “I have no idea what happened, I can’t remember anything.. I just remember the corpse and blood and then I think I blacked out or something-” She rambles on.

“I think you must’ve been put under hypnosis or something.. maybe some sort of charm.” I mutter.

“How d’you know? Have you some sort of experience?”

“Uhm..” I pause, “I guess you could say that. But we need some sort of plan to get out of here.”

“I thought you said we’d be safe here? Or at least in the church itself.”

“Well I’d rather be safe than sorry. I want him dead.”

“What??? You want who dead???”

Right. She won’t remember the man - or rather vampire from earlier.

“Well, when you ‘blacked out’ earlier, a man approached us. I think he was the one who hypnotized you. I think he killed that other guy too, his hands were stained red and he was pale as all hell.”

Her eyes widen.

“Anyways, he asked if we knew anything about the dead person, and then asked if you were okay. Then when you didn’t respond, he asked if you knew who I was, and you said you didn’t and started walking over to him.. He kept saying to just let it be and that I could leave.”

“I’m so sorry..”

“I ended up stabbing him in the arm with a branch when his back was turned for a second. I ran and carried you until I found this place. Since we don’t know who he is or what he’s capable of, we need him dead.” ”I..” She trails off, “Why did he even want me in the first place?..” She pauses for a moment, and I watch as it clicks in her head. “Oh.”

“I won’t let him hurt you, okay? I promise.” I take her hand.

“We’ll need to find a stake and some crosses. Holy water too if we can. We can look in the church, since they’ll have to have something in there.”

We walk up towards the church, which seems to be abandoned. The graves surrounding the building are all unkept, weeds growing everywhere. It’s sad to see - graved abandoned by their loved ones. Not even a memory anymore.

“I hate seeing this place so run down.” She says as we walk up the steps to the church’s door.

“Y’know, it was probably the heart of the community - a place for people to bond over their faith. And now it’s just.. this.” She states sadly.

“I guess so..” I pause, “But religion can bring people apart just as much too. I’ve never understood it, the whole ‘faith in God’ thing.”

“I take it you don’t believe in God then.”

“I guess not.” I reply, “Do you?”

“Yeah,” She pushes the door open, “I like to think he’s looking out for me - looking out for all of us.”

We step through the doors, and are inside the building. There’s a strong scent coming from somewhere in here, and I can only cough in response.

“What the fuck is that?..” Bonnie mutters.

“No idea.. C’mon, we have to find some holy water, and a crucifix or two. There might be a stake somewhere in the back if we’re lucky..”

“Okay well, crucifixes and holy water I get - but why the hell would there be a wooden stake in a church of all places?”

“You smell that?” I eye her.

“Yeah…? Obviously, even the dead could smell something that pungent.”

“Well that is the smell of the dead.”

“Oh.” Her face drops in disgust.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re not the first to use this place as a hideout, so there’s probably a stake or something we can use.”

“Right, we should get everything as quick as possible, I feel like I’m gonna pass out with this smell.” She pinches her nose, face still wrenching, and I can’t help but laugh.

“You look ridiculous doing that.” I giggle.

“Yeah, whatever. It reeks, I’m surprised you’re not doing the same.” She rolls her eyes, “Now let’s get the crucifixes and holy water first, then we can look for a stake.”

“Right.. yeah good idea.. So where exactly would they be..?”

She raises an eyebrow, “What happened to being the man with the plan?”

“I just.. don’t know much about churches.. Or their layouts..”

“Here, just follow me.” She walks over to a font of sorts.

“There should be bottles.. or containers around here somewhere” She mumbles, lookin around.

“What’s that?”

“Holy water font. I’m surprised there’s anything in it to be honest.. We need to find a container so we can take some of it with us. There might be some up near the altar.”

We begin to walk up the aisle - and I’ve never felt so out of place.

“I’ve don’t think I’ve been in a church for years.” I say, still walking.

“Well, makes sense as you’re not religious.”

“Yeah, I was raised Catholic, but I refused to go to church when I turned 15. I got kicked out for it.”

“Oh.” She went quiet. “I’m so sorry..”

“No don’t apologize, it’s not your fault. My mom was just a bitch, she would’ve kicked me out over any little thing sooner or later, regardless of my faith, or well, lack of it.” I chuckle.

“Still, I just can’t believe someone doing that to their son. She sucks.” She gives me a sympathetic look.

-

“So, this should do as a container,” She leans over, “And this’ll be the crucifix we use. It’s small but it should work.” She hands me the empty container, with her holding the crucifix.

“We’ll have to fill that up, then we can check if he’s outside, or whatever the next bit of your plan was.” We walk back down the aisle up to the entrance. I can’t help but feel stupid next to her now - this was supposed to be my plan - I’m supposed to be getting everything done here, but I’m just following her around like a lost child. I feel stupid standing next to her, but it’s not like I’ve got a choice, is it? I watch her fill up the container with holy water, as the crucifix lays on the ground.

“Is that not disrespectful, to have it just lying there? Or a bad omen or something?”

“Well here, take this then,” She hands me the holy water. “C’mon, we should check if he’s anywhere to be seen out the front.” And with that, we exit the church.

“I can't see anything.” I frown. Surely he'd come looking for us, I mean, I know for a fact he followed me here. My guess is the body was a trap, lure people in and then do God knows what with them. He only seemed to want Bonnie earlier, the fact that he was willing to let me go for her terrified me - for her sake.

“Yeah, me neither.” She agrees, “But y’know, maybe that's not a bad thing. We could just wait it out here, then leave once the sun comes up.”

“With the way that church is? Fuck no. I don't think it smells that way for no reason.” I shudder.

“I'm sure you can deal with a bad smell for a bit, I know it was awful and smelt like death itself but we'll live for a few hours.”

“I don't think you understand, that was literally the smell of corpses, Bonnie.”

“Oh.. so you weren't joking.. I thought that was just hyperbole- Wait how the fuck do you know that?”

The noise of rustling from earlier cuts her off. I shush her, and she raises an eyebrow at me in response.

“That has to be him. Let's go, keep quiet so we can sneak up.”

“Okay.” We take a step forward, but I stop her quickly.

“Here, take this.” I take off my rosary and hand it to her.

“Why'd you have this? Thought you were a non believer.” She joked.

“I took it from the hospital before we left.. I uhm, had a feeling.” I sound insane.

“I think it's why his hypnosis didn't work on me earlier. This way you can pretend to be hypnotized and distract him, and I'll use the crucifix and Holy water on him.”

“Yeah okay that works.” She nods. We continue walking down the steps, and I stay back. She turns to look at me and I mouth, “Keep going. I have a plan, I promise. Just pretend to be really into him.” She gives me a confused look, but continues walking. Soon enough, she's at the gates. I stoop behind a grave, and can hear the sound of flapping above me.

Perfect.

-

“Hello again miss.” He's walked up to her as she's standing right besides the church’s gates. I'm honestly surprised he's willing to get this close to somewhere this sacred. Then again, I'm surprised I'm here too. I can faintly see a smile form on Bonnie’s face, and it’s.. well convincing enough. Though I doubt some horny, hungry vampire is well versed in human emotions and how to recognize them. Or differentiate real from fake.

“Hello sir, do I know you?” Her voice sounds like a child’s, barely audible from where I am. I see a grin form on his face.

Ew.

“You shouldn’t be out here alone, especially not this late y’know,” He begins to take her hand, “Let’s go home.” I can see his face clearer as he begins to turn, a look of lust plastered across it, as it glows in the moonlight.

Makes me feel sick.

So sick.

Once his back is turned, I begin to creep up on him. I contemplate just dragging him into the church’s grounds and then just taking him out, but I doubt I have the strength to do that. I’ll die trying. He takes another step, and I open the container of Holy water. If I can just pour it on him it should-

I feel something sharp on my wrist, and as if in slow motion, I watch the water spill.

Fuck.

“You didn’t think you were subtle, did you?” He steps towards me, letting go of Bonnie’s hand in the process. He laughs lowly. “Do you not think I’ve encountered fools like you, who think they’d ever even stand a chance against me?” He comes closer again.

“What, do you think you’re special?” He laughs, “You think you’re smart for coming to the same building where dozens have died before you? What do you take me for,” He whispers in my ear now.

“An idiot?”

My grip around the crucifix behind my back tightens.

It’s now or never.

With every ounce of strength in me, I push the crucifix into his chest.

He doesn’t react at all.

Not one bit.

“Silly boy.” He grins, “You need to believe in something other than yourself for that to work.”

He pushes me over, and I feel the thorns prick my skin.

“I’ve always found it funny, the idea of faith.”

I’m dead.

“The way you humans like to worship something that isn’t real. Something you made up, for your sanity’s sake.” He mocks.

“It’s funny to me, how I was always told that I was the crazy one. For refusing to believe in an idealized fantasy.” His face grows dark, his voice angrier now.

“I was ruined. All because of a collection of stories in a book behind “God’s” name.” His eyes go blank.

“I was ruined for nothing.”

He leans over me, looking over at the discarded crucifix and smiling.

“And now,” He pauses, “It’s your turn.”

His hand sweeps to my face, and I feel his nails slash against my cheek. My eyes begin to water, and I feel the blood come running down my cheek.

I’m going to die here, aren’t I?

“Please, just let me go.” I plead. “Find someone else, anyone else. Just let us go. Please.” I try to get on my feet, but he kicks me in the knees before I get the chance.”

“You’re even more pathetic than I thought. Trying to help someone else when you can’t even get on your own two feet.” I cough, seeing the blood on my hands. “And to think you could’ve been safe, if you weren’t so hung up on your little savior complex. It’s sad, really.” He kicks me again, as I keel over. “I wish I could say I was sorry but,” I feel a sharp pain in my foot. “At the end of the day, you’re just another useless pile of flesh and bones. That’s all you’ll ever be.”

All I can think of is how he’s.. right. He’s got a point. My whole life has been nothing but hospitals and failed attempts at starting over. I haven’t achieved much, have I? It’s sad and pitiful but true. That’s what hurts the most. The fact that he’s right. The fact that everyone’s always right about me.

Maybe I should just accept my destiny. Accept this is all I’ll ever be. This is how I-

His body drops.

His body just

dropped?

He makes a choking sound, and I see the stake pierce through his heart.

Bonnie.

“You stupid little- I thought I had you-” He splutters.

She knocks him over, pinning him to the ground. I stumble to my feet and she helps pull me up.

“Asshole.” She spits. “Here, make sure he’s kept face down.”

She pulls out a sword and signals for me to move aside, and I look down to his limp body for one last time. He’s muttering incoherent nonsense, I wish I could make it out.

He splutters one final time, and he’s gone.

“We’ll have to burn the head, just for safety measures-” I cut her off with a hug.

“Thank you,” I mutter into her shoulder, “I thought I was going to die.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Her expression softens, “He can’t hurt anyone now. We’re safe.”

I nod, and she pulls away. She takes out a box of matches, lighting one and setting his head aflame.

“We won’t have to worry about him anymore.” She sighs, as his head burns.

“I wonder what he was like, before he turned into a monster.”

“Probably just as bad. Human or not, he was a mistake from the start.” I remember what he said to me earlier. How cruel words can be.

“Monsters aren’t born Clyde,” She exhales, “They’re made.”

We simply watch his head turn to ashes in silence. But it’s not awkward this time. It’s just silent.

“It can’t be long till dawn now,” She states. “We can just wait it out till the sun comes up.”

“Yeah.” I nod, and we head back to the graves.

“I know I uhm.. kind of exploded on you earlier for what happened in that pub and all. But thank you for that. I know you didn’t mean for any of that to happen.” She says shyly.

“I’m sorry for that too. I should’ve been more mindful, really. You should’ve seen his face though, it was hilarious. Looked like someone had picked apart his ego piece by piece.”

“Wish I could’ve seen that.” She giggles.

We talk till the night turns to day, with her head laying on my shoulder.

Y’know what?

I think I’ll be okay.

I think we’ll be okay.

[mattydemise]

I was going to write this evening, I had something to say, and then it disappeared somehow. Perhaps I left it in my cocktail shaker, or it's on someone else's pillow. It was here and now it isn't, and I think that's a decent analogy for life in general. It's either here or it's not; we have it, or we don't. There's no ambiguity involved. We get taught to look at the grey areas and to find answers outside of the black and white of things, but can anyone tell me with complete honesty that they've found something in the grey? We like to think we're familiar with those grey areas but we're only ever really comfortable in the stark whites or pitch blacks. Is anyone maybe in love? Perhaps we'll kiss? We could fuck like rabbits. We're far too romantic to exist in those spaces. When we love, it's an all-or-nothing thing. When we fuck, it isn't just a little bit of foreplay and soft touching. No. We need more than that. Those grey areas don't appeal to us at all, not one bit. The grey areas are just thin scraps of comfort we cling to. Sorry, I only killed you a little bit. You're either alive or you're dead. Your heart is beating or it isn't. Once you accept the black and white of things, life will open up to you. It'd be much easier if we only ever loved and hated a little, rather than investing our entire human fibre into something, but that's just the way we've been built. From the cradle to the grave, it's a black or white affair, and we don't linger. We're bawling babies and then we're forgetful old-timers and it's only a blink between the two. Embrace love, try hate on for size, but don't flit in the middle of the two, feel the breadth and totality of something, invest in it, because tomorrow you'll be grey, really grey, and you'll wish you gave all of yourself to something; you'll wish for the black and white of things and resent those beautiful greys.

[malfoycest]

What are your thoughts on Snape's relationship to the Malfoy family? There's a lot of different reads + built-up fanon around Snape&/Lucius and Snape+Draco, and I'd be curious to hear your take if you feel like answering.

As usual, I don't really go by fanon. Fanon does get one thing right, though, which is that Lucius and Severus were friends: Severus reacts to his name when Harry names him as Death Eater in GoF, Narcissa names him as Lucius's old friend (but not hers), and Snape heavily favors Draco in his classes. I find their friendship very interesting to think about, firstly because it's atypical in the sense that Severus is a poor half-blood and Lucius is very much not and is even the kind of person we've come to expect to be prejudiced against that sort of thing, and secondly because of how it falls apart over the course of the story.

The class differences are why I do not think that Severus would have been named as Draco's godfather. It's probably largely a symbolic role in wizard society, as in our own, but that doesn't meant that it would be likely (If I had to guess, I'd put Draco's godfather down as either Rodolphus or Mr. Nott). I also don't think that Lucius wouldn't have implicit prejudices against Severus, as they live in very very different worlds. But in some ways I think that the Inner Circle of the Death Eaters is an equalizer . . . and Lucius has a history of not discriminating against half-bloods like Bellatrix does (he works with Rita and Dolores, both confirmed by Word of God as half-bloods, and was willing to follow Harry if he was a new Dark Lord) and in my opinion he at least suspected that Voldemort was, seeing as he would've seen the name "Tom Riddle" in the diary he was given. I think he's in a unique position to genuinely appreciate Severus's (copious) talent and he would also find him genuinely funny while being willing to look on his parentage as his mother's mistake (it also helps here that Severus is descended from a pure-blood family with influence and history, even if he doesn't have the family name. The Malfoys and Princes very possibly intermarried at some point in the past, too.)

We don't actually find out how close they were, but they were close enough that Narcissa thought she could go to him when Draco was in danger. Whether this is because he and Lucius were particularly close (as in, closer than the way Lucius and Severus both knew Igor Karkaroff) or because of Severus's proximity to Draco we don't know, but she does explicitly invoke his relationship with Lucius. Lucius also speaks positively of him to Dolores Umbridge. While I have significant reservations on the levels of affection/loyalty they have for each other, as we'll see, I do love their dynamic and yes I think it's at least plausible they could've fucked.

It's hard to lay out a timeline of their relationship, because all we get are SCRAPS! I'll try to be clear where I'm editorializing and where I'm pointing out canon incidents. The first one is when we see Lucius patting Severus on the back when he gets sorted, showing that he's generally amiable to even impoverished Slytherin first-years. There's basically nothing else on their relationship at this point, but it's very worth noting two of Severus's character traits: attraction to power and desire to be validated by male authority figures in his life. I refuse to believe that Lucius wasn't his first real crush on a man! Beyond that, their relationship would've been at least implicitly imbalanced in the early years, first with Lucius as a Prefect and then as an adult and then as someone in the Dark Lord's favor - and of course on top of all that being a politically influential rich kid. (Snucius opportunity: teenager Severus being coaxed into sexual activity with a much (5y) older boy. Hot, in my opinion, and sketchy as fuck. Checks out as being the sort of thing Lucius might plausibly do and the sort of thing Severus might plausibly enjoy). I imagine Lucius as the first authority figure to genuinely appreciate Severus, or make him feel appreciated and welcomed in general, which would do wonders for a neglected kid. It also explains why they're friends despite some inherent mismatch in their personalities.

However at some point these dynamic became more equal; Lucius doesn't treat Severus any more like a lackey than he treats anyone else. Severus eventually got Marked by Voldemort, became the youngest Hogwarts Professor, and - here's the elephant in the room with them - in 1981 sold him out with everyone else he knew at the time to the Order in order to save Lily's life. Which brings me to my next kind of killjoy point: this was a war. Lucius was facing life in Azkaban or the Dementor's Kiss if Severus's information lead to his capture; Severus was facing Lucius torturing him to death if he was found out. Also, imo, the reason Severus turns his back on the Death Eaters for Lily is that Lily was the first truly no-strings-attached true friendship and relationship and likely the only one that he ever had. And as much as Lucius liked Severus, that man does not do "no strings attached loyalty." I do not think they were what we would imagine as "best friends" or "found family." YMMV on how disillusioned with the Death Eaters Severus was before he went to Dumbledore, but he certainly wasn't risking his life spying for the Order before Lily was put in danger. But . . . I do think they genuinely cared about one another. And they're both bisexual so they could have sex, even though Lucius is . . . way out of his league, unfortunately.

But Lucius escapes Azkaban when the Dark Lord falls and stays friends with Severus (who has Dumbledore's confidence but didn't get anyone arrested, not that Lucius seems to care with how he and Igor get along) for the interim. All we know is that Severus favors Draco when he comes to Hogwarts, but I think they were probably hanging out. Maybe exchanging some nasty poisons and hot Dark Arts tips. Talking about Draco. Etc.

There's no way that Severus knew about Lucius's diary schemes, or Dumbledore would've known, so there were certainly limits to his confidence. I think this was a tipping point in their relationship and very likely one of the things Dumbledore brought up to convince Severus to so ruthlessly sell out his former friend. Lucius is, genuinely, ruthlessly murdering Severus's students. Does Severus like his students? No, not particularly, but by this point I think he's grown some actual morals. These students aren't any older than Lily when she was at Hogwarts - if she was there, she would've been targeted. Lucius isn't any worse than he was in the 70s, but I put this down as a moment that sparked or lit the match for an eventual reckoning with Severus's friendship with him.

Until the Dark Lord comes back and Severus goes back to spying, where particularly in OotP he specifically targets Lucius (Sirius Black calls him his "lapdog," which, okay Sirius, I too believe in Severus's honeytrapping abilities I guess). Lucius is telling him enough for Severus to get a lot of crucial information to the Order, enough so that the Death Eaters (and Voldemort) suspect there's a spy in their ranks, so either Lucius trusts him or this is Inner Circle information. Crucially, Severus doesn't know that Harry intends to go to the Department of Mysteries until Harry tells him, at which point he alerts the Order, and the Order shows up, and Lucius gets so completely screwed. (He may not have known what time they were going to attack, suggesting even Lucius had some reservations about his trustworthiness). So Severus is responsible for Lucius's failure and capture, and general downfall. Which is fantastic for me as a lover of pain, misery, suffering, etc. Severus tanking his one positive Death Eater relationship is just wild to me and I love it so much. It's also great to see Lucius as the victim of abject betrayal and see his trust being taken advantage of by someone he didn't suspect.

Dumbledore hints this was his plan all along in the pseudocanon Tales of Beetle the Bard notes, where he notes his plans to oust Lucius as Voldemort's de facto right-hand-man. Draco's feelings on Snape turn at this point, when he starts (correctly!) accusing Severus of trying to take his father's place and any positive relationship seems to be forgotten. We don't see them interact positively after that even though we know Severus lied to Voldemort about Draco lowering his wand (maybe because Dumbledore asked him to, maybe because he knows Lucius cares about Draco, maybe because Narcissa asked him to, or any combination). At this point Severus has known him for six years and it's not a stretch to think he wouldn't want to see Draco dead. On the other hand, he argues with Dumbledore about having to kill him to save Draco, and seems more attached to him than Draco. Or maybe he's just mad that Dumbledore isn't taking his feelings into account. Severus is hard to get a read on when it comes to feelings sometimes (a lot).

At the end of the war, Lucius is the one to send Severus to his death, which is genuinely so poetic. I have to wonder what Lucius and Draco thought of him after the war: doubtless Lucius was furious, but Lucius and Draco also pull an Igor Karkaroff and sell out every other Death Eater and collaborator they know for a free ride out of Azkaban. I don't think that Lucius would forgive him, but I think Draco, as someone who took on a similar role during the war of not truly wanting to be there and becoming disillusioned, would have more sympathy. This is also why I can't take post-war fluff with them very seriously. What I actually want is Lucius getting sentenced to death after the war or Severus being found out as a spy in the v!wins AU. But they just have SO MUCH there to work with! They can't be too close, but that doesn't mean they didn't care or there wasn't real conflict in their relationship with each other. It's also super compelling to me that Severus was ever friends with someone as, honestly, nakedly evil as Lucius and had a clearly positive relationship with him. I love the idea of Severus's first in-depth experience with watching someone be a loving father being Lucius parenting Draco and him genuinely looking up to Lucius for a very long time. And Lucius taking Severus's virginity . . . and Voldemort forcing Severus to rape Lucius during Deathly Hallows sorry who said that!

[contest-winning-pest]

And so, Steven grumbled in his room, once again arguing with Lustre.

Lustre was clearly winning the argument purely by playing Steven's own words back to him. {"They won't be able to do anything with the orbs."} there was a sound, as if rewinding a tape with the reading head still in place. {"They won't be able to do anything with the orbs."} There's another sound of rewinding, and then, at half speed,

{"T h e y w o n ' t b e a b l e t o d o a n y t h i n g w i t h t h e o r b s."}

"Yes. Okay. I made a mistake."

{"Well! This weather is lovely! It's so sunny and bright,"}

"Oh, for--"

{"We'll assign Sidney to infiltrate the Aqua base in Lilycove. Phoebe, delay them as long as you can at Mt. Pyre."}

"Are you saying we should have been in Lilycove?"

This time, it's Winona's voice on playback. {"The winds blow to Sootopolis and Lavaridge."} and then Sidney's. {"Yeah. Aqua's definitely here, and in force. I can't get a good handle on what they're planning, they aren't recruiting."}

{"T h e w i n d s b l o w t o S o o t o p o l i s a n d L a v a r i d g e."}

"Okay, okay, I get it! ... What do I do now?"

Back to Steven's voice. {"What's the weather report?"}

"-- The Institute? Why?"

{"W h a t ' s t h e w e a t h e r r e p o r t?"}

"... Someone else can do that to find where the super-ancient pokemon are and keep us updated. ... Then... I should go to Lilycove myself."

{"Metagross are my favorite. They're like a supercomputer, all by themselves!"}

"You're not the only one who can calculate where the weather's the worst, Lustre."

{"Apologize to" "Wallace <3" "It's demeaning." "... and hope they let us help."}

"Wallace!? But it's Lavaridge that's in trouble!"

Flannery's voice. {"This is a matter for the Vulcani."} Wallace's voice. {"If you're not even going to listen, why am I here!?"} {"The winds blow to S o o t o p o l i s"}

"You can stop remixing everyone's words now, thank you."

Steven's voice. {"Drake" "Delay them as long as you can." "We're after one thing:" "The lion's head!"}

"... Look, I can't be in two places at once. I can either apologize to Wallace, or I can break into Lilycove. Pick one."

Wattson's voice, from a historic recording on Sea Mauville, with fire in his voice: {"And what's the Corporation got?! A bunch of scrap metal that's fucking useless without us running it!"}

"Wait... You surely don't mean--"

Still Wattson: {"But to the Corporation, what matters is the ship!" "Who cares about the men?" "It's about how they value" "The Ship!"}

"That's why Drake is here."

{"Protecting" "A bunch of scrap metal" "I say, we scuttle" "The Ship!"}

Steven sighs. "Drake isn't a member of the Elite Four for nothing. I have confidence in his abilities."

Back to Steven, more insistently. {"Phoebe lost" "Mt. Pyre" "and" "The orbs."}

"Drake isn't alone this time, and we already know where Team Magma is. Only Team Aqua wants the submarine."

{"Order" "Drake" "to" "scuttle" "the submarine." "if necessary." "Better" "to" "deny it to the enemy." Wattson again: "Ships can and will be refloated! Ships are expensive! But men, ah, men are cheap! Men, you just get a replacement, is that it?"}

"We need that sub as it is!" Steven protests. "You know why! You even suggested we build it!"

Steven's voice. {"So you'd rather the children do it!?"}

Steven winces. "… No. You're right. I'll relay the orders."

It was at that moment that all hell broke loose.

[pertinax--loculos]

Update

Writing So, I'm back on Psyche Shards, primarily because I was trotting along writing down ideas for a new WIP inspired by some media I've been consuming, and I was halfway through that when I stopped and went, 'wait... I already have a lot of these plot-points in a previous WIP'. So I guess that's an advantage of having a gratuitous amount of WIPs? When you get a new idea there's a whole plethora of already-existing stories into which you can incorporate the new ideas?

I'm also giving zero drafting a try. This came about because of my tendency to 'write' things in my head when I'm trying to sleep, which is something I've always done. In the past I've then got up the next day and tried to write the scenes, with varying levels of success (sometimes they're really good! Sometimes I lose a lot of it. Sometimes I'll think up like four 3k+ scenes the night before and by the time I've written one I'm out of brain-juice for the others); and that final point in the brackets is why I started zero drafting. I also haven't written in a while so the words weren't really coming, so I just went fuck it, let's just basically dot-point what I remember and that's how I got down the meat of three scenes in 4k words. It's actually a fun time! I don't have to worry about word choice, if I can't think of a response or a witty remark I just write 'he says something witty here', and if I haven't thought up the end of a scene I can just skip to the next one.

(Yes, I'm aware the above is exactly why people champion the idea of zero drafts in the first place. Sometimes you just have to do something to understand it. 😆)

So yeah, I'm having fun with it! I've now written about 6.5k in the last four-ish days, after months of writing nothing. The plot and structure of this WIP is still hell on earth, but again, the advantage of zero drafting is I can flick through everything quite quickly and see how it shapes up and how that influences the choices the characters make and how everything turns out. Plus, it's a lot less effort to put in the scrap pile if I need to get rid of scenes, etc etc.

In semi-related news, I'm hoping to start getting more active with tags, asks, reblogs, all that good interaction-y stuff. So if you see me answering an ask or a tag from millennia ago, that's why. 😅 We'll see how we go with all the Life things (see below), but that is the plan!

Life So, I've officially dropped back to a single degree, which I did late enough into the semester that I can't pick up units, so I'm on a part-time workload for this semester. Which is good because I'm hoping it will mean I have more time to write and get back into the community. ^_^

In saying that, I've also applied for two jobs recently; #1, which is exceptionally unlikely I'll get very far, and #2, where I've reached stage 3/5 of the (lengthy, competitive) application process. So if either of those go anywhere I'll obviously need to rethink things.

But generally, with any luck this semester will bring more time to write and a lot less stress. :D

I hope everybody is going well! If you've made it this far congrats. <3 If you wanna pop in and let me know how you're going, feel free! I've been lurking on and off over the last few months or so, but I'd love to catch up with what everybody's doing. ^_^

[hellhathfrozethover]

Mega Man 2 Powered Up - Dialogue (*Mega Man route)

uh.

out of nowhere, I know. but also....please...I've been thinking abt this concept for years. turning it over and over in my head for quite literally, years. at least since 7th grade.

it needs to get Out of my system and Put somewhere...even if it sucks and plenty of people have tread this ground before.

It's not just banter either! got ideas for extra modes, challenges, bonus content, dlc....fuck man i just miss mmpu, what can I say? but i need to focus on one aspect at a time or we'll never get a thing done.

this kind of blossomed out of an abandoned project i was doing w former friends. as far as i know (unless one of them wants to step up and take it from me), it was pretty much left to my hands. we didnt get very far, but i'm fairly secure in Rock's, Metal's, and Air's exchanges, and the circumstances surrounding the Wilybots' playability.

i have plenty of thumbnails, but they're all scribbly and just for personal ref. it's hard to tell what's going on in some of them so i decided not to include them. i might do the ones i scrapped up for the opening cinematic and ending, but eh. only if anyone gives a shit lol.

further apologies if these characterisations don't agree with you lmao. you must understand going in that ive got my own ideas of how ppl sound and act and it reflects in the way they're written.this may lead to Cringe. please contact your health provider if you feel an acute sensation of Cringe lasting longer than five hours after reading this script. other side effects such as dizziness, nausea, dry mouth, and diarrhoea have been rep

(OPENING MONOLOGUE)

Narrator: The year is 200X. Dr. Light's former lab assistant, Rock, has since been modified into a super robot named Mega Man. Mega Man was built to stop the evil desires of Dr. Wily. As such, he rescued his fellow creations of Dr. Light from his clutches and saved the people of Earth. After his defeat, Dr. Wily retired to the cover of shadow…only to return boasting eight new robots of his own…

(TUTORIAL STAGE CUTSCENE)

[Mega Man runs across a terrorised city street in the middle of the night.]

[His COM unit begins to ring as he's running. It rings twice before he picks up, still running.]

Mega Man: Professor? Is that you?

Dr. Light: It is. Roll and I have gathered some intel for you: We have the approximate locations of Dr. Wily's robots.

Mega Man: Right. I'll be back to the lab as soon as I can.

Dr. Light: Don't be reckless, Rock. The maps show danger on the roads ahead of you. Please be careful out there.

[Dr. Light hangs up. Shortly after, an explosion is heard. Mega Man narrowly avoids bullet fire and proceeds to the right, beginning the tutorial stage.]

(VS. WILY - 1st TIME)

--WARNING!--

[Dr. Wily approaches from the background in his new capsule. The top opens, and he steps forward. His irises are distinctly red.]

Dr. Wily: Nu-ha-ha! You are too late, Mega Man! My robots are already busy conquering every major institution in your country! Soon, nothing will stand between me, and a seat at the top of this world!

Mega Man: Dr. Wily, why are you doing this?! You told me you were a changed man!

Dr. Wily: And you truly believed me? You are worse than the idiot human who constructed you! But enough talk -- I have business to attend to!

[Dr. Wily retreats into his capsule, and flies vertically out of sight. A cumbersome red battle mech named PLAT-4M stomps in menacingly from the right side of the screen.]

Dr. Wily: Fare-well, you insignificant little helper robot! Nwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!

(POST-TUTORIAL STAGE CUTSCENE)

[PLAT-4M is totaled, but still present after the fight. Mega Man's COM unit rings, twice again, before he picks up.]

Dr. Light: Rock! Are you alright?

Mega Man: Yeah…I just beat the mech Dr. Wily sent after me…

Dr. Light: Let's have a look…oh, that's very interesting…do you think could you do me a favour? Please, send this machine back to the lab. I have an idea.

Mega Man: What is it, Professor?

Dr. Light: Its moving parts in isolation may be useful to you, if reconfigured. I don't know precisely how quite yet, but I'll keep you updated on future developments as I work.

Mega Man: Understood, I'm on it. Over and out!

[PLAT-4M is sent off to Light Laboratories in a beam of red and white light. Mega Man follows shortly thereafter.]

-LOADING...-

[Mega Man touches base and stops in front of a large, idle monitor. Dr. Light and Roll are waiting on the left.]

Roll: Welcome back! Oh -- here's the location data Dr. Light was talking about!

[The screen cuts on, showing the eight robots available on the stage select.]

Dr. Light: They may not be exact, but the readings show they are stationed in these general areas. A quick search may turn up results.

Mega Man: Thanks, Professor. I'll head out as soon as I can.

Roll: Good luck, Rock! We're counting on you!

(VS. METAL MAN)

--WARNING!--

[A Metal Blade flies across the room just over Mega Man's head. Metal Man flips himself up on the belt from below to catch it, and pose.]

Metal Man: Sorry kid, no access past this point. Afraid I'm gonna have to cut you off here.

Mega Man: I'm not leaving until you give up control of the recycling plant, Metal Man!

Metal Man: Stubborn, are we? Heh…if you wanna get sent home in shreds, that's fine by me.

(VS. AIR MAN)

--WARNING!--

[Similarly to his appearance in Mega Man: The Power Battle, Air Man emerges from the eye of a developing tornado.]

Air Man: HARK! The vagabond rapscallion appears! What wind blows you here?

Mega Man: The winds of change! I'm here to stop you!

Air Man: FORSOOTH! The great AIR MAN will not be defeated by an insolent whelp such as yourself! Have at you, MegaMan!

(VS. BUBBLE MAN)

--WARNING!--

[Similarly to his appearance in Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters, Bubble Man rises up in a giant bubble. When it pops, he performs a backflip stroke.]

Bubble Man: Buh, what was it…oh! Ahem... Welcome, Mega Man, to Davy Jones' Locker!

Mega Man: Aww, a bubblemaking robot, he's totally harmless... We don't have to fight, do we?

Bubble Man: B-buh? Harmless?! I…I'm dangerous I tell you, super dangerous! Take me on, I'll make you eat craw!

(VS. QUICK MAN)

--WARNING!--

[Quick Man dashes across the raised floors in a blur. At the peak of his third jump, he flips into a pose on the room's right end.]

Quick Man: What took you so long? Waitin' on slowpokes really drives me crazy, y'know?

Mega Man: Quick Man, hurry and shut this place down! You're gonna wreck the city's central power grid!

Quick Man: No way! Now that you're finally here, I'm runnin' you into the ground! Don't blink -- you'll miss me!

(VS. CRASH MAN)

--WARNING!--

[The pipes on the right end of the room explode violently. Crash Man is blasted in, but recovers with a roll and stumble to a stand.]

Crash Man: You're Mega Man…the evil monster Dr. Wily warned me about…

Mega Man: Evil…? No, you're wrong! I'm fighting against world domination!

Crash Man: I WON'T FALL FOR YOUR TRICKS! For the sake of Dr. Wily, and all my brothers, I WILL DESTROY YOU!!

(VS. FLASH MAN)

--WARNING!--

[Everything freezes until there's a sudden burst of white light. As it clears, Flash Man materialises on the right end of the room in a pose.]

Flash Man: Oh my…even from here, I can see your heart's been blinded by the light…isn't it sad?

Mega Man: Huh? What are you talking about…?

Flash Man: Forced to fight to protect those close to you…hasn't it clicked that we're one in the same?

(VS. HEATMAN)

--WARNING!--

[Heat Man's box sits plainly on the floor until it jumps. His arms and legs pop out, and the lid opens in a flare of fire once he's fully standing.]

Heat Man: Ugh. Guess I don't get my five minutes…hang on, I'll get ignited.

Mega Man: If you don't have the fire, we don't have to fight…

Heat Man: And get roasted by Dr. Wily for ignoring orders? How stupid do you think I am?

(VS. WOODMAN)

--WARNING!--

[The trees and their leaves above shake vigorously. Wood Man falls to the ground in a crouch, with a resonant rumble.]

Wood Man: The air, trees, water, animals, all innocent, all ruined…what kind of hero are you, man?

Mega Man: I…I didn't want to, but if I don't weed you out of here…

Wood Man: I can forgive a lot, but messing with the natural world…you just barked up the wrong tree, little dude.

("WILY CASTLE APPEARS" CUTSCENE)

-LOADING...-

[Mega Man returns to the laboratory. The room's lights are lower. The screen is idle and no longer reflects the stage select.]

Roll: Rock! Look at this!

Dr. Light: We've finally managed to tag Dr. Wily's ship.

[The screen settles into a clouded sky. The camera zooms into it until the perspective is from the sky itself, which is tracking Dr. Wily's capsule as it moves through the growing storm.]

Mega Man: That's him, alright, but…where's he going?

[Dr. Wily flips open the lid. His irises are still red. He briefly acknowledges/teases the camera by pulling a face and waggling his eyebrows. He shuts it again, and tries to outpace the camera.]

Dr. Light: A building mysteriously appeared from underground on a South Pacific island just recently…we have reason to believe it's his base of operations...Wily Castle.

[While Dr. Light is speaking, Dr. Wily vanishes through the clouds. When the camera catches up through the fog, it focuses at the bottom of the fortress. Cue prelude. It tilts up just in time to see Dr. Wily retreating into the eye of the skull. There is a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder.]

Roll: It's under super tight guard...

[The monitor then comes back into play as the view of the fortress becomes a grid map.]

Roll: The only way in, is to break in.

[The camera pulls out and fades back in to Light Labs, where the three are standing, facing the screen.]

Roll: If you climb around the outside wall, you might be able to sneak through the air ducts.

[The three turn to face each other.]

Dr. Light: We'll be geotagging you to build a map of the area as you proceed, so you won't get lost.

Mega Man: Then, I can find Dr. Wily and figure out what's throwing me off about him...

Dr. Light: Throwing you off?

Mega Man: ...N-no, forget it, there's no time. Thank you both -- promise I won't let you down!

Roll: Give it your all, Rock! You can do this!

[The map then becomes selectable, per fortress stage.]

(VS. MECHA DRAGON)

--WARNING!--

[Mecha Dragon's body lurches bit by bit. She then roars out a blaze of flames.]

Mecha Dragon: Rrrrr...chaarrrrrrr…

Mega Man: I-I've been tailed into a corner...there's no backing out now!

Mecha Dragon: Charrr….CHHOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRR!!

(VS. PICOPICO-KUN)

--WARNING!--

[The eyes in the walls peek before flashing various colours in quick succession.]

Picopico: FOREIGN PRESENCE IDENTIFIED. SCANNING...PLEASE STAND BY FOR CLOSING WALLS.

Mega Man: Who's talking to me...? Where are you?!

Picopico: MALICIOUS INTENT DETECTED. PLEASE WAIT...ENGAGING TERMINATION PROTOCOL.

(VS. GUTS TANK)

--WARNING!--

[Guts Tank rolls onscreen, then straightens up, punching its fists together.]

Guts Tank: I'VE...GOT...GUTS.

Mega Man: G-Guts Man? As a tank?! Where does Dr. Wily come up with these things...?

Guts Tank: I'M TAKING...YOU DOWN...WITH ME.

(VS. BOOBEAM TRAP)

--WARNING!--

[The eyes of each cannon rove about and glow until they fix on Mega Man. They then blink in unison.]

Boobeam: Mega Man is here? Mega Man is here! He is? Here! Where? There!

Mega Man: Who's controlling this room...? Can you hear me? Please, let me underground!

Boobeam: Request? Negatory! Invalid? Failed check! Fire? At will! At will? We will!

(VS. THE DR. WILY TELEPORT STATION)

*Conditions for this one being, only the first robot you encounter here is the one you have any dialogue with. The WARNING! also only shows up once.

--WARNING!--

[The robot you're rematching appears in the same manner and pose as they did when you first fought them. Their textures appear somewhat holographic.]

(VS. WILY MACHINE #2)

--WARNING!--

[The mech descends on screen with just a bit of puffing steam. Dr. Wily then drives his capsule into it, and pushes the windshield open. His irises are still red. His skin is now very slightly discoloured.]

Dr. Wily: Ack! You, are still alive?! My robots were better than that human Dr. Light's, so much stronger, and not a one of them could put a stop to you?!

Mega Man: Enough is enough, Dr. Wily! You're finished! Come out of the ship and turn yourself in!

Dr. Wily: I am "finished", am I?! We will see about that! My Wily Machine #2 is bigger and better than ever! One can only get lucky once, Mega Man! Say good-bye -- this is game over! Nu-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!

[He shuts the windshield and prepares the guns.]

(PHASE 2)

[The face of the ship breaks off, revealing Dr. Wily in the cockpit.]

Dr. Wily: RAGE!! No-no-no-no-no-no-no! Now you've gone and done it! But I am not defeated just yet!

[He improvises a temporary solution, shedding any extra broken parts. Wily Machine #2's HP refills.]

(PHASE 2 - END)

[Wily Machine #2 fully breaks down. While it does, the floor begins to rumble.]

Dr. Wily: Irritation...it appears I must rely on my true form after all...if you can break your fall, that is!

Mega Man: What? True form...?

[The floor gives way from underneath of Mega Man before Dr. Wily is seen getting away. This transitions the player directly into the secret final stage.]

(VS. DR. WILY?)

[Quietly, Dr. Wily's capsule descends. He jumps out of it and floats idle in the darkness. It spins away on autopilot without him. Roll is not heard giving a warning.]

Mega Man: What...what is this? Dr. Wily, where are we?!

Dr. Wily?: Tear down my robots, will you? Meddle with my perfect plan, will you? You have no idea WHAT YOU'RE DEALING WITH, MEGA MAN.

[Halfway through the last sentence, his body begins to transform. Mega Man takes a step back, horrified.]

Mega Man: N-no...there's no way...!

[The vast starscape fades in around them once the Alien is fully transformed.]

Alien: EVERLASTING PEACE IS NOTHING BUT A FARCE. HERE AND NOW, EARTHLING, I WILL SHOW YOU JUST HOW MUCH YOUR PRECIOUS JUSTICE IS WORTH.

(POST-ALIEN BATTLE)

[Mega Man looks around as everything begins to deteriorate.]

Mega Man: It was...just a hologram...?

[Dr. Wily is seen trying to get everything back in good working order behind his terminal. He looks quite ragged.]

Dr. Wily: Guh...uh-oh! ...Please, have mercy?

[The machine that generated the alien hologram falls at Mega Man's feet. He shoots it, causing it to explode. The projector atop the room then powers down to dormancy.]

Dr. Wily: YIPE!!!

[Dr. Wily jumps out from behind the terminal, and proceeds to bow frantically.]

Dr. Wily: M-Mega Man, please forgive me! I-I had no intentions of going any farther, really! I'll pay reparations! [Cue fanfare.] I'll even make amends with Dr. Light, alright?! You win! I give, I giiiiiiive!

(ENDING CUTSCENE)

[The camera is focused on the now black stage select screen. Light Laboratories, shrouded in darkness, is then dimly illuminated by it whirring to life. Dr. Light and Roll meet up in front of it from opposite ends of the room. Its display shows Wily Castle billowing with smoke, and returning underground.]

Dr. Light: It's over...it's all over, he's done it! Rock's defeated Dr. Wily!

Roll: Oh, thank goodness he's out safely! So, when can you get him back home?

[Dr. Light immediately gets to work trying to locate Mega Man's signal. The monitor cuts to static.]

Dr. Light: If I can get a read on him, he's...ah...

Roll: Professor? What's the matter? What's wrong with Rock, is he okay?

Dr. Light: ...This...may take a bit longer than I thought...

**[Ending cutscene will be fully animated. There's more than 30 thumbnails. Will need to be a separate post in the future.]

(POST-CREDITS STINGER *pending)

[The screen is black.]

Dr. Wily: I know all the harm I've done. You don't have to forgive me, Thomas.

[The light lifts marginally. The two doctors are silhouetted, sitting in what looks to be a detention center. Cue music: a slow, melancholy remix of Dr. Wily's final boss theme from the original Powered Up.]

Dr. Light: I wouldn't have if I didn't get a chance to see you like this. To punish a man already deep in remorse…that isn't me. I only wish I could help you build a better future.

Dr. Wily: …We could start over.

Dr. Light: What do you mean?

Dr. Wily: Let me join you again. With our strengths combined, I can do what I've always wanted: show the world the true power of robotics.

Dr. Light: If your intentions truly are honest…then working towards everlasting peace is the only way.

Dr. Wily: That's it! A peacekeeping robot! We'll build one so supermassive, no evil could ever threaten it! We could retire MegaMan's hero act for good!

Dr. Light: He has always hated fighting…but to build a guardian for the entire planet…

Dr. Wily: It would take materials beyond what's available on Earth, but that's a non-issue in our modern times! If we work together, I believe all things are possible…don't you?

Dr. Light: …I do.

Dr. Wily: I knew you'd come around. But…I can hardly do anything held captive by the state.

Dr. Light: That won't be a problem. I'll post your bail by tomorrow and hire you back at Light Laboratories ASAP. Your robots, too. For such a big project, we'll need all hands on deck, possibly another set altogether…this is going to be revolutionary. I'm proud of you, Albert, truly.

Dr. Wily: I can't thank you enough. You're making the right decision, Thomas. From now on, I promise…we won't speak anymore of war.

[The player is prompted to save once more before being returned to the company logos and opening cinematic.]

--END--

[gaz-light]

Beyond the Sea

Mile 0

Hello and welcome to Beyond the Sea, a new production by Morrigan Pandora. This is a follow up project to my last personal series of journal entries I kinda half thought about lore bits for. I wanted to write this as an on going roleplay project based on the events in my life. I liked the idea of time passing in terms of distance, the perspective will be from that of the leading lady Violet Edelmont and her partner Dahlia Cosmina. Violet is a groomed to mediocrity middleclass sarariman whose identity as a trans woman is slowly displacing her from even those meager scraps of success. Her search for meaning and identity has brought under fire from the law and into the gaze of Dahlia Cosmina, the bassist for local punk band "Siren Sluts". This is a story about leaving home, or at least I want it to be. We'll start with how it all started moving and you'll get updates as they come.

Recorded on: 6/12/2148 using Halcyon Neurocord

The perspective is of a short woman's limply lying in bed. Her eyes dart around a cold stone tile room decorated with all emerald green furnishings.

This thing working? I think it is? Fuck it let's just start. It's one of those mornings, you know the ones when you fucking reek. Bad. Your shoulder hurts, your legs are both sore in different places, you've been wearing that same shirt for 3 consecutive days.

A pile of clean clothes lay forlorn in the corner of the room, she never focuses on them directly for the duration of her morning routine.

You're not gonna take it off either. It's one of those mornings that has become those days where you wear it into work. Again. But that's ok, I'm cute I can get away with it. I'm also usually covered by a labcoat so it isn't too bad.

the feeling of her eyes glazing over is prominent while she mindlessly scans a fluorescent screen.

This is my life, it's covered in numbers, spreadsheets, and data. Things I was told had value and meant something but doubted a single fucking person here could prove it. But everyone else seemed to think so. Not that they seemed to think much of anything. The people at this place feel off, or maybe it's the whole place. Things in general feel stagnant here. Neither work nor happiness flows in its sterile halls and grey offices. Things have been getting mildly worse but no one seemed to care. They ate it up when we learned we were losing 30% of our PTO to a PLANNED shutdown at the all hands today. I don't know why they stay. Maybe they think that glorified preacher that runs the meetings and signs their paychecks is actually as generous as he claims. Maybe it's because they smell like soap. I smell like sweat, violence, passion. It's the Saturn Sluts crop I wore this time. High cut pants, nothing too slutty, but I didn't want to take it off. I haven't been able to focus all week, everytime I try I think of her. Her voice screams with a fury I wish I could call on. She plays like she cares more about her music than I've cared about anything in my whole life. If I could do more than awkwardly tackle her in her own pit I might figure out what that is. Maybe if I sat down and talked to a therapist I could figure out my own shit too. But it's not like they've got openings during my 9-5 so. Guess I'll just wait for the weekend. Again. Next weeke-

"Hey Violet, Sruthi had been wondering when you'd get form 9561 Fille-"

the voice jolts her to attention and almost out of her seat, the feed cuts out a fraction of a second later cutting off the tail end of a nothing work conversation. The feed cuts back in on a drive home, looking out through the bug smattered visor of a motorcycle helmet. She does not speak, but the feed blares with loud and rowdy punk music, high tempo and full of righteous idignation, it contrasts the thudding first gear 1 rhythm of the motorcycle as she waits, bored in rush hour traffic.

Home. Dinner eaten, laundry still in the corner, folded. Non work email checked and job board perused. Eyes turn to starlight, the moon hangs in the night sky and a faint unrest holds her.

I don't even know exactly why I'm recording this. I just had to tell someone my everything but, well, didn't really have anyone else. I don't wanna forget these feelings either. Something about them tells me I should hold onto them. At least I'll get to document my stupid crushes and finally get a sense for how bad my taste in women is.

I, need to get to know you. I don't know exactly how to take care of you good. Maybe if I study you and record you and examine you I can figure that out. Beats doing this every day.

[browncesario]

i haven’t gotten the chance to listen to Younger Now yet but i really should, i almost feel like a disney channel poser at times cause it’s like “oh i didn’t know that” but you have extraordinary taste so i trust you

i know you’ve probably talked about it before, but if you could how would you write/ direct camp rock 2? are there any elements that remain the same? would it be a complete scrap? would you want to just move on to a third movie and pretend nothing in the second one happened? would it be a shane gray prequel? i want to know all your thoughts! - 🐻

omg thank you?? and yeah the thing about disney channel is that it's like. a tv network. a corporation. so there's SO much and i've cut myself into a very specific niche and know very little about everything else so you are valid.

and this is such a good question pls see under the cut

i've never thought seriously about it before but i am now and i think like. while i think a lot about a shane gray prequel i want it to be a lot edgier than it could be realistically (i have this image of a montage of him partying in different hotel rooms with an ever rotating group of people we've never seen before and another image of him coming back to his hotel room completely trashed after something fucked up happens and jasons there disappointed and resigned like. just go to sleep shane.)

but like a realistic camp rock 2 that actually fits the tone and consistency of the first film i totally think you could do without it being too hard. i think like if you make it mitchie and shane have spent the year trying to spend time together around his schedule and they've done the best they can and have had really good moments and a solid relationship so far but the whole year has been like leading up to it's ok we'll get to spend 6 weeks together uninterrupted and it's very good at first but shane gets some really good offer for somE career thing like that would either require him to leave camp early or maybe he'd decided not to tour again after the last year's one where it was them having to make up the one that was cancelled in the first movie and he's deliberating between this work-life balance before ultimately deciding that the life part is what makes him happy and healthy and for the first time in so long he just wants to Live in all senses of the word.

because like the whole thing with shane in the first movie was the poor little rich kid trope like he's miserable because he has this public life where he's beholden to everyone but himself and he tried his best to escape it while in it and couldn't do it??? and to have it be "no he's fine being famous now <3" when the problem was never actually resolved is unfair to him.

one of the things i really stand by in canon camp rock 2 is mitchie's development since we last saw her. her confidence and radiance is so impactful and absolutely what she deserves. and in the first film she showcases that confidence primarily when she's with shane because the two of them bring out the best in each other partially because the other person needs that aspect of them. but mitchie getting to camp and having a project (unknown. will think. not saving the camp.) and having said project be working with her friends who she barely even talks to in cr2. building on mitchie and caitlyn's relationship through that??

i'd also write tess and caitlyn a lot closer and like taking the time to contrast them and their experiences and caitlyn kinda leading tess to accepting that she doesn't need her mother's approval because she has the approval of her friends.

i like jason working with the junior rockers but you'd have to establish that suddenly there are children at camp when there weren't before. nate i think could join in on whatever mitchie and co. are up to because i think nate and mitchie could be very real friends and especially if mitchie's spent the last year with shane in whatever capacity she'd know him fairly well by now.

i really love the closure to brown's arc in camp rock 2 where he comes to terms with the fact that rose colored glasses lie when he's confronted with what life was actually like when he was in the music industry and i'd like to keep that, so maybe he's part of the shane arc where he's kinda pushing shane to do it in a not heavy handed way bc that isn't his style, but when shane decides to let it go he's like. damn. yeah ok. would probably have him in contact with whoever is offering shane said opportunity (like literally two phone calls throughout the thing, one where he calls shane and one where brown talks to him and could even give the "that's fine i don't want to be in your business" line.)

there's the whole thing with children's media where they respond to a majority of kids polling with "i want to be famous when i grow up" but i think that's unfair to the characters, and i think further that showing that it's not all it's cracked up to be is really valuable. i'm going to keep thinking about this for sure thank you.

[faofinn]

BTHB - Wiping the Other's Tears Away

Fao couldn't help himself, he pulled Harrison in for a hug, crushing him against his chest. “Oh, Tomcat, nothing is ever over.”

He stiffened. "It is."

“No. Come on, you of all people know things can and will get better. Look at where we came from, look at the family we have now.”

Harrison's body trembled as he sobbed, gripping Fao tighter. "They're gone."

“No, they're not. Not at all. They're so worried about you, Hars. Sheila is beside herself. I'd barely even gotten off the plane before she was all over me, asking me if you'd reached out, desperate to know if you were safe.”

"You're lying." He managed, though barely believed it himself. "They hate me."

“No, I don't lie.”

"They hate me." He repeated through sobs.

“No, they don't. Sheila will be so relieved you're safe. That you're alive.”

He shook his head, gripping onto Fao. "No."

“Yeah. We thought you were dead.”

He sniffed, trying to catch his breath. "I wish I was."

“I know, I know.” Fao soothed.

Harrison took a moment, trying to get his breathing back under control. His own wolf itched to be out, unhappy at the uncomfortable situation. "I'm glad you're safe."

Fao hummed. “I'm absolutely fine. Is that what all this is about, eh?”

He swallowed thickly. He wasn't going to admit that, he wouldn't ever admit that.

Harrison’s silence told Fao all he needed to know. “Oh, Tomcat.” He breathed.

His sobs grew harder and he buried his face in Fao's neck. He had no reason to be so nice to him. He'd hurt his brother, ruined the family. Fao should have hated him, not pulled him in for a hug, nor tried to help him.

Fao rubbed his back. “Hey, hey. It's alright, come on now. It'll all be okay. You're okay. I've got you.”

Harrison pulled away, stumbling back to sit on the bed. He reached for Fao though, an olive branch, the best part of an apology he'd give.

Fao sat with him, wrapped his arm around him as he reached up to wipe Harrison’s tears with his thumb. “There we go, you're alright.”

He didn’t pull away. "How long are you staying?"

“As long as you need.”

"That's not what I meant."

“How long am I in the country?”

He nodded; he couldn't bring himself to ask properly.

“I've got nothing on the horizon. So, a fair while. Six months, at least.”

"Six.." It wasn't enough.

“Easily longer. I have to sign up, so… I can take a break. Still gotta train, but…”

"Don't stop for me."

“It's not stopping. I need a rest period anyway.”

"That's just saying it a different way."

“Sure, either way. I'm back now.”

"You'll be gone soon enough."

“It's my job, Hars. But I'll be in the clinic and the hospital now, for a while. It's only the reserves, it's not forever.”

"Until you get hurt."

“I'm not going to get hurt.”

He rolled his eyes. “You can’t promise that.”

“I know. But I’m careful.”

“I know.”

“And I’ll have the best people looking after me if I do get hurt.”

"That's not what I mean." He snapped, tears falling harder.

“What do you mean? Explain it so I can help?”

"Just don't go."

“It’s not quite that simple, Hars.”

“Please.” He turned to face him properly. “Please don’t go.”

“I still have to train, but I’ll take a break.”

“Just please don’t go back.”

“I’ll take some time.”

“Please.”

“You could always call me, yknow?”

“My phone’s fucked.”

“If you were back with Sheila.”

He stiffened. “I’m not going back.”

“Come on, they want you back.”

“I’m not going.”

“Okay. You're gonna walk away from the pack?”

"It's already over."

“Except I've told you it's not.”

“You weren’t there!”

“I know. But I came home to it, I spoke to Sheila.”

“And you could just be lying to me.”

“Call her yourself.”

"Fine." He gritted his teeth.

“You're family.”

“I was.”

“There's no was about family.” Fao said, and pulled away to plug his phone in.

"There is. That's why we're with Sheila. Why I was with Sheila."

“The people who raised us aren't family. The pack is family, Sheila is family. Family's more than just blood.”

“I guess.” He frowned. “But they don’t want me in their pack.”

“They do, Harrison. Of course they do.”

“I hurt Finn.” He whispered.

“Yeah, you made a mistake. But Finn’s okay, and everyone knows it wasn’t you.”

“But it was. I did it.”

“But you weren’t yourself. Scraps happen, we all make mistakes.”

"My whole life is a mistake."

“That’s not true.”

“It is.” He said quietly. “My parents were right.”

“No, Harrison. They weren’t. You’re so much more than them.”

He shook his head. “I hurt Finn.”

“You made a mistake. Just apologise to Finn and move on, he’s okay.”

"How badly did I hurt him?" He barely dared to ask.

“He had to go to the hospital, Steve wanted to be cautious, but he was okay. Broken ribs and a broken bone in his arm. Nothing too dramatic.”

Harrison made a quiet, pained noise. "I fucked it up. I fucked it all up."

“No, you didn’t.”

"I did, I really did."

“He healed just fine.”

"Physically."

“He was upset, but just worried about you.”

Harrison shook his head. He didn't want to talk about it anymore, it just hurt too much.

“I know. It's alright.”

It wasn't alright. He didn't see how it could ever be alright.

“We'll go home, you can apologise to everyone there. And then it'll be okay.”

He leaned into Fao and nodded. He didn't have the energy to refuse, and as much as he tried to deny it, he missed the pack.

“I’ve got you.”

"I'm sorry."

“It's okay.”

"I really am."

“I know you are, I know.”

He was quiet again, his breathing slowly growing more steady. "Do they know?"

“That you're here?”

He shook his head. "That 'm sorry."

“I’m sure they do, but you’d do best telling them yourself.”

His breath hitched. "What if they don't listen?"

“You know they always listen.”

"But what if they don't?"

“It’s Sheila. She’d help you hide a body if you needed to.”

"She doesn't control the pack."

“Of course she does.”

"She doesn't control everyone."

“She’s Sheila.”

"She'd rip me apart."

“It’s fine, Hars. We’ll go back together and you can see the pack.”

He laughed humorlessly. "You'll protect me?"

“Yeah. Don't you know I'm a big tough soldier now?”

Harrison let out a proper laugh. "Tough, maybe."

“Rude.”

He reached for Fao's hand, gripping it tight. "I'm sorry."

“Let's stay here tonight, yeah? And we'll see what we're gonna do in the morning.”

"Okay."

“Get some food. When was the last time you ate?”

He shrugged. "Not too long ago."

“Long enough.”

"It's useful being wolf."

“Mm. Can I grab a shower and then we can get some food?”

“Sure.”

Fao nodded and pulled away to shower. It was nice, after a long while searching for Harrison as a wolf. He was quick, worried Harrison would leave or pull something stupid. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust him, he just knew him too well.

Despite himself, he’d fallen asleep, curled around his backpack. The bed was comfier than he’d expected and had drifted off almost as soon as Fao had got in the shower. His hair was still wet, still dripping down his back, but he was warm and content.

When Fao got out, he was surprised to see Harrison curled up asleep on the bed. With a shake of his head, he quietly got dressed. Poor Hars must be absolutely exhausted, he didn’t blame him for falling asleep.

Harrison stirred as Fao dressed, rubbing his eyes. “Did you shower?”

“Yeah, I did. You have a nice nap?”

"Wasn't even asleep."

“Yeah, okay. Wanna grab some food?”

"Yeah." He frowned. "I've not got any more cash."

“You can pay me back when you get some next.”

"Nowhere's hiring right now."

“I can wait.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be. You want me to keep an eye out for you?”

“I’ve looked everywhere. Nobody wants a wolf.”

“I’ll see if I can find somewhere. But don’t worry about the money. You can pay me back whenever.”

“Thanks.” He muttered quietly.

“I’d say don’t bother paying me back at all, but I know you’ll refuse.”

“Of course I’d refuse.”

“So it can be an open IOU. Hell, just buy me dinner next time you can.”

“Alright. I can do that.”

“Good. I'm hungry, and I bet you are too. Let's eat.”

“I don’t need much.”

“You can have as much as you want. I sure am.”

“It’s okay. A meal deal or something will be more than enough.”

“No, come on, we’re getting a good, hot meal.”

“It’s okay.” Harrison protested.

“Well, I want hot food, so…”

"Fine."

“Might as well.”

"I guess."

Fao hummed and shoved his wallet into his pocket. “You ready to go?”

He shrugged. "Yeah."

“We won't be too long, then you can get some proper sleep.”

“I already slept.” He argued as they headed down the corridor. "And I ate earlier."

Harrison kept up his protests as they found somewhere to eat. He checked the menu several times before finally agreeing to let Fao pay for it. The restaurant smelled amazing, almost overwhelming for his wolf, and his stomach growled loudly. So much for saying he'd eaten recently.

He savoured every bite, eating as slowly as he could, his wolf screaming in protest - he didn't know when his next meal would be, he should be eating as much and as fast as he could. Fao chatted away as he ate, in between large mouthfuls of good food. When Fao got seconds, Harrison was torn. There was an ache in his stomach that had come from the week with barely anything, but his pride bristled. He was already in Fao’s debt. Fao kept persuading gently, and when he refused, ordered for him anyway. He didn't need to be wolf to read Harrison’s mind.

Dessert was another thing - Fao, of course, ordered something. After a quick glance at Harrison, he got the other wolf one too. Just a simple warm sponge, but it had to help the cold in his bones. Fao had only been wolf for a week, living rougher than he was used to, he couldn't imagine how Harrison felt.

As the evening dragged on, Harrison slowly warmed to him again. He'd missed Fao. He had been everything to him and then he'd just left. Of course Harrison knew that he'd had to go, that it was for work and he didn't have a choice. And of course, Harrison was proud of him. So, so proud. He just couldn't tell him yet.

The other customers stared at them, Harrison could feel it and he knew Fao could too. It was easy to see why; it wasn't normal to see a well dressed young man with another who was still very obviously homeless. While Fao held an air of authority, commanding attention in any room he walked in to, Harrison did the opposite. People averted their gaze or stared on in disgust, they'd walk in to him on the street, ignoring his simple questions when he'd ask for directions or the time. Even in the restaurant the stigma followed them, customers giving Harrison a wide berth as they passed, almost as if they were afraid they'd catch something.

Fao's joke about Harrison’s hair being longer than his didn't go down well, just another reminder of how far he'd fallen.

As their plates were cleared, Harrison dug about in his pockets, pulling out his old, almost a brick of a phone. It wasn't his normal phone, that one had ended up being sold before it could be stolen. It wasn't worth much, but he offered it to Fao as payment. Of course the other wolf refused, rolling his eyes and telling Harrison not to be daft. He took it from him though, checked the charger needed, and promised Harrison they'd go grab a charger so at least they'd be able to keep in touch. After a little protest, he gave in, agreeing to nip to the shop with Fao.

It wasn't far, the perks of it being a small town. Security on the door gave Harrison an odd look - he'd been caught trying to go through their bins a few times, and kicked out from their doorway more than once. With Fao by his side though, it seemed he could do anything. He gave him a grateful smile.

Fao grabbed a trolley-full of snacks and drinks, and then as a second thought, some quick meals. Harrison would be going back with him, he was certain. Hopefully.

Despite Harrison’s protests, he headed to the clothes section too - the clothes the other man wore weren’t dirty, but he could definitely do with some that weren't threadbare and holey, and that hadn't been washed in the sink of public bathrooms for months.

The longer they spent in the shop, the quieter Harrison became, only occasionally piping up with suggestions. His first aid kit was sorely lacking, his medications nearly all gone. Fao meant he wasn't going to be kicked out - and he didn't have to steal. Fao was happy to oblige; if Harrison was going to stay away, he needed to be able to take care and look after himself.

While Fao checked out, Harrison braced himself against the trolley. The lack of continuous interruptions from Fao only made him grow more and more tired, almost falling asleep standing up.

Fao was glad Harrison was finally letting him look after him. As they shopped, and Harrison grew more and more tired, Fao shot him a small smile. Braced against the trolley, he looked to be basically sleep walking. They’d gotten what they needed now, and it was getting late. Fao felt just as exhausted as Harrison looked. Resting a hand on his back, he ushered him to the tills.

They paid, shoved everything into their bags, and headed back to the hotel. They still got looks, but Fao countered them with his own, and hoped they didn’t bother Harrison too much. He’d be better in some new clothes, for sure.

Back in their room and away from the prying eyes of the general public, Fao tidied their things away, and flopped onto the bed with a sigh.

“Everything’s sorted now. Do you want to get some sleep before you pass out on me?”

“Not even tired.” He protested, running a hand through his hair.

“Sure.”

“Not a bit.” He said again, sinking onto the chair by the bed.

“Come sit on the bed?”

"I'm okay here."

“You don’t look comfy.”

“It’s better than the floor.”

“Beds exist for a reason.”

"So do chairs."

“Beds are for sleeping.”

"Fine. Shove over."

[mwolf0epsilon]

Two birds, one stone part 2! Warning for gross stuff and you know, zombie typical behaviour.

Summary: It was every man for himself down in hell, and yet Norman still found the time to care for others.

---

[[MORE]]

     If there was something Norman had learned from his pops, it was that it really paid off to be a bit of a Swiss army knife when it came to skills.

Between the pseudo-military training, Norman's own uncanny ability to hide in plain sight and stalk around silently, and the multiple things he knew that made him basically self-sufficient, he was a good (if not the best) person to be allied with in this sort of situation.

Which really begged the question of why he was doing this anymore.

     The world had ended. The dead rose out of their graves with a taste for man beef, spread a strange infectious disease that made you switch to the brain-munching side, and then society had collapsed.

It had happened so quick that he and everyone in the studio had been trapped.

New York was no place to survive a zombie apocalypse, and Joey Drew Studies wasn't stable enough to even serve as some sort of safe haven.

Everything fell into place of this new world order in a matter of weeks, and the few that could hole away did their best to survive on their own.

It was every man for himself down in hell, and yet Norman still found the time to care for others.

He'd established trading systems with groups within the studio, and even shared accomodations with whomever was desperate enough to engage socially.

They never stayed. He didn't mind.

Those who ended up as those gruesome things were put down and mourned, but otherwise everything was strictly business.

And then Sammy happened.

     Sammy Lawrence, once head of the music department now the very last to have managed to escape down into the lower floors after the hoard overwhelmed his group, was not the easiest person to get along with.

He complicated things with his ornery disposition and volatile temper, but he was a decent conversationalist when he didn't shove his own foot in his mouth and he had connections with the survivor group down in the Harbour.

He could hold his own well enough in a fight that Norman was sure he had his back, and with help that didn't seem too keen on leaving the projectionist often got a bigger hawl of supplies when they both went scavenging.

It was a mutual agreement. You scratch my back, I scratch yours. And soon enough it was Polk and Lawrence instead of just Norman going on his usual duties.

And that evolved further.

In the lonelier nights, there was more to be done than just share a cot for warmth

Call it desperation, call it basic human needs, they were more than just companions or allies.

They were partners.

No matter how much they bickered, it was almost always in a loving fashion.

Like an old married couple…

Of course, nothing good ever lasted.

Not in the literal end of times.

-

     Norman hummed as he heated up some bacon soup in the stove he'd managed to fashion out of a few parts and scrap. The Bendy clock on the wall read that it was half past eleven, so he knew Sammy must be aching for some grub.

He'd not been doing well. Not since he came back from his last solo run to the Harbour.

Norman knew why, but let the other keep quiet about it. He knew the ex-music director would admit to it soon. Especially with the speed of his degradation.

He'd caught him coughing blood just an hour prior.

Three more and he'd turn. Like the rest of them had, before Norman put them down.

  "Soup's almost done." He looked over at their shared cot, where Sammy was curled up under several ratty blankets.

He was shivering weakly, trying to breathe with lungs that were steadily filling with fluid. The raspy wet sounds painful to the ears.

  "M'not hungry…"

  "Oh, we both know that ain't true." Norman continued to stir the pot. "Might as well gimme a chance don't yous thinks?"

  "Norman…"

  "Sammy I know the symptoms…" he poured some into a bowl. "I'm not mad, just sad yous would rather waste away like this…"

  "D-didnt want to bother… Was s-stupid and…" he coughed up some gunk. Choking slightly on his own blood and whatever else was coming up. "And got b-bit. D-deserve it…"

  "N'aw… Don't go bein' so harsh to yourself. Shit happens." He walked closer and set down the bowl. Sammy's eyes were red and starting to bleed. His stage of infection was progressing quite rapidly. "Eat… Yous going to be famished soon enough, might as well fill you up a bit before it happens."

  "You shou-should put me down." The blond reached for the soup, slurping it up eagerly. Nerve damage, he couldn't feel it burning his mouth or lips.

  "Woulda asked me before if yous really wanted that." Norman stretched lazily.

  "You're right… I uh, call me p-petty but… I wonna t-take Joey down with me." He coughed and spat out a thick glob of indescribably foul-smelling tar colored blood. Gross. "If I'm g-gonna end up like t-the rest of those things… I wonna e-eat the greedy fuck w-who left us to die…"

  "I can respect that. I'll help yous with that." He reached out and entwined their fingers. The blond seemed to appreciate the gesture.

  "You t-think I'll be a-able to get him?"

  "Knowin' you? I'd say yous got a pretty good chance…" he chuckled.

  "Flatterer…" Sammy laid back down and closed his eyes, suppressing another cough and instead letting Norman thread his fingers through his messy hair. "Just don't end up le-letting me bite you… T-this shit's painful..."

  "Noted… Sleep well Sammy." He planted a kiss on his partner's sweaty forehead. "Love you."

  "Lo-love you too…"

-

  "Norman that's disgusting." Susie was slightly appalled, but no less opposed to watching what used to be Sammy Lawrence dig its teeth into a very much dead Joey Drew's neck.

  "Yep." Norman shrugged. Both of them had been bit in an altercation with a hoard up in the Heavenly Toys department, but that hadn't deterred them from reaching their end goal. Joey's office.

Susie was the newest ally he'd acquired, and had been dead set on killing Drew since he'd damned them all.

It was a shame their quest for revenge ultimately doomed them both as well, but hey… Sammy seemed pretty happy to devour his ex-boss as a mindless corpse. It couldn't be that bad.

  "You think we'll turn fast enough to get in on it?" The petite brunette pointed at the feasting zombie. "As the ultimate fuck you to Joey?"

  "Who knows… Took Sammy five hours to turn." He did feel a bit sluggish, so it was definitely taking effect. "Least he hasn't snapped at us in a while. Think we might be startin' to smell like the rest of 'em…"

  "Damn… Oh well, Joey's probably not a five star meal anyway…"

  "Probably not."

The world had ended. The dead rose out of their graves, Sammy was one of them and soon Norman and Susie would be too.

He wondered if his zombified self would remember his fondness for either, or if it would recall any of the skills he'd had.

Probably not.

It was every man for himself down in hell, and yet Norman still found the time to care for such things.

Funny how some things just didn't change.

[vhanities]

Richard Vamir died almost a month ago and Clair still hadn't moved on.

     It was not entirely visible. You could only see it if you looked closely at the cracks, at the locker left untouched in the dormitory or the seat assigned to him in Moore's Design Strategy classes. And, if you dug deeper, you could see it in the idle chair sitting by the window in Samaira Sheikh's dormitory―the chair that had, in a sense,belonged to Richard. It was empty in a way that made it look like Samaira was almost expecting him to come back, talk about his day and sit down on the plush purple velvet covers to look out of the window while she sat on her desk completing the rest of her pre-mid projects in silence. It was like they were all expecting him to come back and quote pretentious poems, like they were all living their lives wasting every moment in memories.

     All except one.

     Han Kai Tuo had been the first one to arrive at the roof after getting the ominous message from Richard and he knew more than what was just there. He refused to believe Richard committed suicide, contrary to the popular belief among the townsfolk, and today was no exception. He sat on the edge of Samaira's bed, glaring at the white bedspread with lilac undertones. "This isn't right," he said, after a while.

     Dante, who was sprawled on the faux purple fur carpet playing catch all by himself, glanced up. "Kai―" he said with a tired sigh, "―let's just forget that happened okay. Please."

     Kai could not. He could not forget what had happened, he could not unsee it. It was engraved in his brain; branded on his skin. He knew Richard hadn't committed suicide, they all did―but saying even one word of it, just a word, would make them all the prime suspects, no matter what their alibis said.

     "We saw him, he was right there―"

     "Kai!" Samaira, who had been sitting on the desk quietly for a while, slapped the top hard enough for it to resound across the room. "Shut up. Shut up. We saw nothing. We came after he left."

     Kai opened his mouth to retort and shut it back, deciding to lie down on his back instead. He was still wearing his shoes, so he just lay there awkwardly with his feet on the ground and eyes on the whites of the ceiling while his mind floated somewhere else. That day when they'd reached the roof, they weren't alone. There was a man. Black hoodie. Black mask. He'd pushed Richard off. He'd sent them the text. He was the one who'd killed Richard. Kai's jaw flexed and tightened and he sat up again.

     "This isn't right," he repeated.

     "Well damn Sherlock," Dante said. "What do you want to do, then? Tell the police? We've kept quiet about it for a month and we are of legal age. We'll be doomed."

     "We need to do something, we can't just stay here wallowing knowing that our friend was murdered!"

     The silence that followed was terrible. Kai's head ached, and he felt clammy underneath his yellow hoodie. The floor-length mirror in the room's corner made the bags under his eyes look weary and tired and the small silver ear piercings look unnecessary. He ran a hand through the messy black strands of his hair and turned to look at Samaira.

     "You are the sensible one. Do you think this is right?"

     Samaira turned to face them after five hours of ignoring their existence. The look she gave him was tired, it made something inside him drop. They had all been so close and now there was nothing they could manage to tell each other, nothing they could manage to say. They were all dealing with Richard's death in different ways; Filippa had started smoking again and Dante quit the Basketball team, Samaira worked herself to the bone and Kai? He was just hanging in there, not fully there to the conclusion but enough to feel the empty worry in his heart.

     He hated feeling helpless. And he hated the words that came out of Samaira's mouth next. "Kai, go back. Take a break. Just, go cool off somewhere."

     For a minute, he said nothing. Then the anger came bubbling out. He stood up and walked to the door silently, ignoring Dante's quiet refusal. When he got out, he made sure to bang the door as loudly as he could despite horrible pain of protest shooting up his palms in the process. (He'd hurt himself last week and still didn't know how.)

     "Goddamn my life―" he yelled, "Goddamn everything―"

     Someone coughed. Tension shot up his spine. This was the Girl's Dorm and he, a boy, had just caused a scene. He looked up to find half-dressed girls in pajamas and turned away instantly. His insides turned to melted nothings and his eyes scrammed for another pace to latch on to. The board, he thought. Look at the notice board.

     "I'm sorry," someone giggled. "But you should probably leave."

     He probably should.

     Kai apologized under his breath and tried to navigate past the corridor to the staircases without raising his eyes. Almost tripping on a few bottles of only God knew what, he made it to the stairwell and plopped against the opening. The girl's dorm and the boy's dorm of students majoring in Fashion were located in the same stretch of suburban apartment buildings. At least he thought they were suburban apartment buildings. Eight stories high and painted in funky blues and greens with random graffiti on every nook and corner outside while decorating the interior with rouge bricks and black plastic for an industrial look, the house dormitories were made to hold about five hundred students. Each flat was just a large bedroom with two beds, two desks and a kitchenette―not like home but just enough to be one.

     The boy's side was separated from the girl's one by nothing but a small lobby on the first floor and a wall made above it to divide it from the other.

          "Throw a tantrum somewhere else, you little bitch."

     Kai turned to find Dante strolling down the set of stairs taking two at a time. His hands were shoved inside the pocket of his grey pyjamas and the oversized grey hoodie hid the fair tuft of his hair. He looked like shit but still managed to look good at it. Kai bit a smile threatening to let loose and forced himself to look away.

     "Look, if you're here to tell me to get over―"

     "I'm not, idiot," Dante smiled. "Let's get some bread."

     "It's five in the evening."

     "So what?"

     Dante moved forward and Kai followed him, a heavy hole in his chest sewing itself shut in a place where it could hurt only him. They were outside in five seconds, nodding at Manuel who was dozing off by the receiver's desk. The campus was crowded with students; the sky was light―he wasn't sure what they called it but it was in the lightest shade of orange. Sunlight leaked in through little crevices between the artsy buildings around the boulevard and cut through the leaves between each green trees and plants in nets. Dante was waiting for him in silence, sitting on the ledge before the neatly cut bushes that framed the park.

     Kai sat by him, waiting for him to speak.

     "It isn't easy for any of us, you know. Richard is gone, and it isn't just another day―I don't remember one damned day when it wasn't the five of us. He was always there, even when we didn't talk, even when we weren't around each other, even when I was an asshole and he was an asshole―he was always there. I don't expect you to understand what Richard meant to me―"

     "I do," Kai said because he did.

     Richard wasn't the talkative kind. He wasn't the happy kind or the sad kind. He was the kind of person who'd sit by you in silence to let you know he was there for you with his actions instead of words, the kind who'd leave the last piece of his favourite sandwich for you even if he hadn't had the other slices himself. Richard had saved them so many times―had saved Kai so many times―that it hurt to think that just when their turn came, they'd been a second too late.

     "Yes," Dante said. "Maybe you do."

     "I do and I―we should have helped him, he's been there for us so many times," Kai's words got caught in his throat and he reared back, eyes burning and fingers palmed in a fist. He'd wanted to do something. Something. Something that would've led to a different ending other than the one they were faced with now, something that would've led to Richard being alive and safe and there.

     "We've all got things we can never recover from and we've all got things that we carry with us forever." Dante stretched back, hands on either side of him and feet scrapping the cobble. "Life is never your story to tell."

     Kai just stared straight ahead at the entrance to their dormitory, at a group of friends chilling on the steps leading out of it. There were five of them, just like they had once been five too. The blond boy in the middle said something and the brunette sitting by him laughed―Filippa and Richard. Kai closed his eyes. "I don't know," he said, burying his face in his hands. "I don't know."

     That's when Dante's phone rang. Filippa. Unfortunately for them, when taking the call, Dante put it on the speaker for both of them to hear. Filippa was screaming, and it was never pretty when she screamed. She had one of the foulest mouths in the year and her temper tantrums usually included loud one-sided declarations to 'fight her.' The students walking past them stared at the phone in their hand and then at them and Kai realised they were probably dressed like homeless jocks, instantly feeling the embarrassment rise up his spine as blood rushed to his cheeks.

     "GUYS―I AM GOING TO END THAT TRICK ASS FUCKING BITCH―HOW DARE SHE TRY ME? HOW DARE SHE―"

     "Yo calm down woman―" Dante half-grinned. "Who are you talking about?"

     "DARCY FUCKING VAMIR," Filippa's voice grew more shrill, like that was even possible. "THAT BITCH MADE MY GIRLFRIEND BREAK UP WITH ME."

tagging: @astorsa , @inkingfireplace , @jugularss , @etheriiums , @vviciously , @nepeinthe , @vigilantscar , @sapphicsyn , @windswiftcupid , @modeans3 , @agnodice-writes , @liarede , @wherearethecrabs , @nemowritesstuff , @semblanche , @waterfallofinkandpages , @maskedlady , @margswrites , @vandorens , @cafisky , @crimeofmine , @notquitenovelist , @isaakandreyevs @books-of-lunacy , @llesbianwrites , @doevell , @thechapelscrow , @xnmasked , @crypticsx , @thatsadwriter , @where-the-sky-writes , @latrantem , @drewdropps , @noxstories , @writing-instead-of-fighting @elliewritesstories , @kaatiba (to be added and message to be removed. find me and the whole darcy, darcy content on my wattpad!)

[vidkid20ssimblrlair]

Episode 14: Connections

I woke up to find myself alone in the room. No Audrey in sight. Last night had been a strange one. I hadn't seen her most the day yesterday and got caught in a monster of a rainstorm, but yet all I got was the cold shoulder from her that night. She barely spoke to me. Just a bunch one-word responses. What gives? I know Audrey. Well, I know her well enough to know when she's mad at me. Had I done something wrong?

I got up feeling as stiff as a board. The chair I had used for sleeping was doing a number on my back. I stretched, took a long look out the window at the now sunny day, and made my way out into the hallway. There I found Tao and DJ goofing off. They look to be having a sword battle or something. I looked over at DJ who had a broom handle waving it around like a knight and then I looked over at Tao. I nearly choked. There he stood holding Audrey's sword in both hands waving it around making lightsaber noises.

"Boy! Are you crazy? Give me that!" I yelled storming over to him. "That Audrey's sword!"

Tao froze and smiled backing away from me. He stuttered, "I...I was just playing with it."

"No, shit! Give it to me!"

I grabbed it from him taking the hilt in my hand and stored it back in the room. Tao looked mortified turning bright red and DJ came over equally embarrassed.

"Man, we were just borrowing it," he said. "We're sorry."

"Yeah. We're sorry."

"To be honest with you it was Tao's idea."

"What? No way. It was..."

"Shut up both of you!" I snarled. They both jumped. I softened my tone. "I don't care who's idea it was. Audrey would flip if she saw you and it's certainly not something to play with. Someone could get hurt with this thing. Just don't do it again."

They both nodded and Lin appeared coming out a room to our left. She stared at the three of us curiously. Then zeroed in on Tao. She frowned. "What did you do?"

"Uh...um..."

"Nothing. He did nothing. Everything's ok," I said smirking at him.

"Are you sure?"

"Yep. I did nothing," he said laughing nervously.

"Well, you don't mind coming with me then," she said frowning. She grabbed hold of his shirt and dragged him down the stairs. Tao pleading innocence with every step.

"I said I did nothing."

"Yeah right!"

Hey. You’ve seen Audrey?" I yelled down to her as she reached the last step.

"Yeah. Grace's room," she hollered back. She disappeared into the dining room with her brother in tow.

"Grace's room right here," DJ said pointing at the door Lin had just came out of.

I patted DJ on the back as he remained in the hallway as if waiting around for something. I knocked on the door and it suddenly swung open. There stood Mr. Jones. He smiled sensing someone presence.

"Well, hello. Good morning," he said beaming.

"Hey there. Good morning."

"Ah, Vince. How are you? Quite a storm last night."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, tell me about it."

"Hopefully we'll have the lights on for dinner tonight."

"Dinner?"

"Yes, dinner to celebrate your arrival here. We did it for Matthew and his people. It's only right we do it for you and Audrey."

"That's nice of you, but..."

"Don't worry. You won't even have to lift a finger. Everything should be ready for tonight. Well, as soon as DJ gets the generator back on."

"Ok ok, old man. I heard you the first time", I heard DJ shout behind me. He then mumbled, "God, I swear he's faking it sometimes."

"I heard that young man."

"Vince. Meet me downstairs", his grandson then said grinning at me. He stopped at the top of the stairs. "We'll be waiting for you."

"For what?"

"Well, I think I'll go relax in my room, Mr. Martez. Hopefully, breakfast is tolerable today," Jones said heading down the hall. "Oh and find something nice to wear tonight. I'm sure there's some clothes left over from when my son stayed here in the room you're occupying now. Take a look."

He went into his room closing the door behind him and a few seconds later jazz music could be heard playing.

"Hi there sweetie," I heard a woman say.

I turned my attention back to the room that was now wide open. I looked over to see what I assumed was Grace. She stood over Audrey doing her hair. As Grace brushed it, she flinched with every stroke.

I chuckled. "Be careful. Don't want any more of her brains falling out."

She turned her head meeting my eyes and a small smile spread across her face, but she went back to ignoring me. Not even greeting me.

I shrugged. "Well, I'll catch y'all later."

I closed the door to and a small sigh escaped my lips. I promptly headed downstairs and went into the kitchen. There I found DJ, Matthew, and Nathan. The brothers sat at the kitchen table. DJ stood by drinking something. I glanced over to see a plate of pancakes.

"I made them," DJ boasted watching me. "Help yourself."

Nathan smirked. "Hopefully, your dinner is as good as your breakfast."

"It will be."

I scoffed. "What we having pancakes again or some stale crackers?

"No. Pot roast."

"You kidding right?"

"Nah."

I stared at him as if he was crazy. "Where do you find food like this?"

"I have my connections."

"Connections that can get us gas and more supplies," Matthew added. "If we can do that much, we won't even have to hear Wade's whining about us not getting any yesterday."

"Wait. Connections? What kind of connections?"

"Let's just say they are people I know. People willing to trade. Items. Information." DJ said cutting his eye at me.

"Don't worry he won't tell us either," Nate whined.

"They're very private people and they would like to remain that way!"

"Fine, but what type of shit do you trade for a fucking smorgasbord?"

"The question is what do we need to trade for gas?" Matthew inquired furrowing his brow. "Did they say?"

"Yeah and that's the problem. They want metal. Lots of it."

"Like scrap metal?" I asked. "For what?"

"For armor and for building. That's all they said."

"How big is this community?"

"Do you really think I'm going to tell you that?"

"Oh, right. They're mysterious and shit", I scoffed sitting next to Nate. "Well, it looks like we're going end up in a junkyard anyway. Thought it would be for my car, but I guess that's my fucking luck."

"You're a ball of sunshine aren't you?" Nate jested.

"What?"

"Nevermind."

"Still doesn't explain the food."

"I told them about Jade and the possibility of her having a group. Told them they may pose a threat," DJ said putting his cup in the sink. "I also called in a favor."

"So they owe you?"

"Maybe. Let's just say it's a story for another time," DJ said winking. "Now, I'm pretty sure Madison be walking in soon. She's already really suspicious."

"Yeah, I wonder why," I said sarcastically glaring at Matthew.

He rolled his eyes. "I'm going to tell her. Just not now. If I tell her now, she'll just freak out and dinner will be canceled. We need this. This peace. This normalcy."

"Wait. How long have you been planning this dinner?"

"Since yesterday morning. Before we left for the gas station. Why?"

"Is this dinner shit the reason why you won't tell her?"

DJ groaned. "I'm going to check on the generator and get it going again. I'll be back."

"Take me with you!" Nathan exclaimed jokingly.

Aaron then stormed into the room staring daggers at Nathan. He scowled, "Where's my letter, Parker?! You promised!"

"Seriously, take me with you," he shrilled. "I'm coming!"

"Parker!!!!"

Previous chapter

All Episodes

The next episode is going reveal some stuff and will probably be hard to take shots for. Everyone is going to be in it. Most likely to be called “The Dinner.” Vince will also be narrating again as it’s sort of called for. ;)

[thebigshotman]

"Wow are you reaally talking to us like that? Paying customers? Nothing says we're not allowed to talk in store lmao."

"Sorry sorry, we'll get on our way."

"No no no, I wanna know what your deal is with that Spamton. You don't know if he's dead or not, so like, are you hoping he is? Lol did he fuck you over too? Haha, or maybe you were one of his friends. You know people used to go missing all the time back in the 90s, either they lost their homes or some other crap. And you know how resilient some people are, what if he's been living off scraps and trash? So what's your stance on him? Are you hoping he's dead or hoping he's alive?"

*…You wanna know if I think he’s dead or not?

Clem was looking down into the bright orange of the front desk, her nails digging into the material as the Flame Ring glistened brightly. Even though there was no light in the room for it to catch…

*News flash, buddy: He used to work in this very shop, back in Cyber City. We…We…cared about each other, I’ll admit it! But then he started mouthing off about us, and he let it go to his head, and then he just-just disappeared off the face of the map!

*So do I hope he’s dead? Not by a long shot, jerkwad. Even so I can just give him a good slap and ask him what the hell he was thinking…I hope he’s around here somewhere.

Her head raised, a single tear rolling down her left eye. She didn’t like being forced to think about Spamton, because it brought up all sorts of conflicting emotions. So this conversation? She definitely was not a fan.

*Now…please. Get what you need to and leave. I don’t-I don’t like talking about him.