#what's the damn point of hybrid remote???

[tarisilmarwen]

"Hybrid remote", if you can afford to let people wander in and out of the office you should also offer full remote, just saying.

[neko-naruto]

top 5 etho ships ? bonus points for any explanation

my personal top five in no particular order, and like, ya gotta understand im still new here (hermitcraft/life series) so my opinions are poised to change, but the current standings are:

Bdubs/Etho/Cleo, i'll be honest, i haven't written or read any clethubs, but i saw some art of them that made my brain shortcircuit. they are femdom, himbo, and twink. i just think that Etho should have two people who are stronger than he is on either side of him at all times, bonus points if you let Cleo be the tallest. Bdubs being super clingy, Etho reluctantly tagging along, and Cleo making sure they don't fucking die because yeah they are god damn idiots sometimes, but they're her idiots. and she loves them. and probably gives them noogies and headlocks them.

Cleo/Etho, their marriage in limlife is so much fucking fun, especially when read under an aro4allo lens. Etho whose been happily married for over a decade watching his friends enter relationships and realizing that he loves differently, he doesn't even love remotely close to how they love, love isn't even the right word. hes scared so he leaves, hes not doing it right and his wife must be upset about it, that must be why everythings crumbling. and Cleo, not giving two shits, because that's her husband and by god they're gonna make it work if he can realize that being absent is whats breaking up their marriage, not showing affection and intimacy differently.

Gem/Etho, as a canadian i am legally obligated to ship this, as a lesbian i love it when men have chaotic gremlin girlfriends who put them in their place. see that one episode of hermicraft wherein Gem beats his ass on repeat and he keeps coming back for more. its like, like theres an unspoken solidarity, 'hey we're the same even though we're not' and they stick with each other. predator/prey dynamic if you go with deer Gem and fox Etho, you also get it with sea monster Gem and fox Etho, except he's the prey and she has the biological advantage instead. also, when paired with the transfemme Etho headcanon we get some yuri which im always down for.

Grian/Etho, this one came to via an Ao3 commenter and i have seen two pieces of fanart for it and like, seven fics. but i still think the dynamic of bird and fox would be fun to work with in writing depending on the bird Grian is hybridized with, especially if Grian is the smaller one. also in limlife??? hello?? Etho, swearing loyalty and promising to be someones sword is not heterosexual behaviour. what they had in limlife, even if brief, had me shaking i'll be real. also, for their hermitcraft dynamic, it'd be hot if i threw Scar into the mix, for flavour.

Pearl/Etho/Tango, consensual workplace relationships make me absolutely insane, it could tear apart their business or bring it further together. they have the kind of dynamic that makes my head absolutely fucking empty, one of those 'i just think theyre neat' kind of ships. the culture clash between each of their species and their own personal tastes, Tango's a blaze and they mate for life, Pearl's a siren and they don't do much for romance, Etho's a fox and they come and go- but they make it happen in spite of that. im working on getting them a canonized Ao3 tag right now, they have such a fun dynamic. also, they fucked in that post office when no one was looking.

tbh these are all really closely tied, and i also have a soft spot for tangtho and the team ties poly. they're all really fun ships, i just really enjoy polyships to be real with ya'll. and the life series and hermitcraft are full of so many possible polyships that its just making me foam at the fucking mouth. sorry boat boys enjoyers, the vision has not yet engulfed me, but hey im a multishipper it might be yet to happen.

[straykidsnerd255]

Hi Hiiiii !!! I'm new to ur blog but I rly like your work ! I wanna request a Jinwoo x gn!reader (or male reader if you feel comfy writing that) who is basically just a moth in human form- I mean , they wear sweaters n a lot of knitted vests , they like stuff that glows in the dark , pretty lights , flowers , they have insomnia (or maybe they just have a fucked up sleep schedule lol-) , THEY EVEN HAVE FLUFFY HAIR-

Bonus points if 25% of people who know them think that they're either possessed by a moth or is a moth in human disguise .

I hope you have a great day !! :]

I am gonna do GN! Reader for this one. I do not write for male reader. I’m not too comfortable with that.

Here is your request! Hope that you enjoy it! I did this in head cannons so I hope that you are alright with that!<3

When Jinwoo first met you, he thought you were a living moth hybrid. The oversized sweater, the big round glasses, the unholy amount of glow-in-the-dark stars you have. 

Jinwoo is extremely protective of you. So are his shadows. Beru has grown to love you and refuses to leave your side. 

When you were younger, people made fun of the way you dressed and the way that you acted.

They always made fun of your clothing choices or made fun of the fact that you don’t sleep as well. 

Jinwoo saw firsthand what they are like and it pisses him off so badly. 

Jinwoo has grown to find the prettiest of flowers for you and will give them to you on your birthday or just because he noticed them and felt like you deserved them.

He learned about how terrible your sleep schedule is but after asking you to sleep and rest, you told him that you haven’t been able to sleep all that well since you were a kid. 

When he asked you out on a date for the first time, you dressed in a simple white shirt, a brown and tan diamond-patterned vest, and tan shorts. He could feel his cheeks turning red so damn fast he had to clear his throat and look away before it got worse. 

You both walked around town for who knows how long before he placed a hand on your head and froze. You could feel his fingers bury themselves deeper into your hair making you giggle. 

“You can play with my hair, Jinwoo. It doesn’t bother me. “ You said, placing your hand on top of his. 

Jinwoo has found that petting your hair or even running his fingers through your hair makes him happy. 

When someone bad mouths you for being remotely like a moth, he is in their faces with a growl. “Don’t you dare say that about them. They are the sweetest person ever and you but shut your mouth if you know what is good for you.”

All your friends from high school believe that you have been possessed by a spirit of a moth with how much you act like one. 

Even Jinwoo’s family (minus Jinwoo) consider you to be a hybrid of a moth and human with how much you like the glowy things, the pretty lights and flowers, and other things. 

Jinwoo and his shadows are always there to protect you so don’t be shy if something is bothering you. 

“Jinwoo, do you think I’m beautiful?” You asked. 

Jinwoo will stand up from the table and place his hands on your cheeks and squash to make for lips to form a fish mouth. 

“Who told you, that you are not beautiful?” He would bug you with the same question til you gave in and told him. 

“Well, for one, I think you are the most beautiful person in the world. Your heart is so pure and you haven’t hurt a single person. Those are just a few of the things I like about you though. I could go on and on about it.”

You would bury your face in his chest while his deep laugh made you blush. 

“I love you Jinwoo.” You whispered. 

“I love you too, my love.” He whispered back before pressing his lips to yours.

[humming-pokemon-helpers]

[P2 Laboratory, Mar 28, 2024, 08:57.]

The terms were set. All things said, they were quite simple--a one-on-one battle, until one participant could no longer continue the fight. Were Vanilla to win, he would be returned Maaamaa and his friend Rune's Klinklang (much as Vision preferred to call it "Colress's"). Maybe Vision would even pick a different face to take on when she showed herself next.

And if Vision won...

"Isn't that obvious? I carry out my plans, exactly as we've arranged them."

"We?"

"You know who I speak of. He was brought to me after falling into my universe, with quite severe injuries. I found it fortunate, considering Plasma had been lacking in… scientific achievement, lately. Or achievement, generally. Ever since our world’s Colress… passed."

“And when it comes to why you’re here, to ruin my life…”

“Hmph… don’t be so self-absorbed. You’re just convenient. Colress had mentioned this being an interesting match… so hurry up and let’s begin this, already.”

“Fine… not that I've got much of a choice.”

Losing on his first gambit with Cobalion had put Vanilla in a rough position. Sure, he knew strong moves, but what use is a Fighting-type attack against… then again, if Vanilla couldn’t dodge them, what are the odds Vision could? She drew her blade and slashed, hitting only cold air as her enemy’s form wavered. How…?

“Don’t tell me you’re still so inept this battle is a waste. Surely you’re aware our lineage is Ghost-type?”

Aware they are, but how Vision’s physical body suddenly wasn’t there is beyond Vanilla. He switches tactics, swiping at Vision’s pockets and coming back with… some strange machine? She pockets it swiftly before jumping back.

“Pfffhaha… oh, this will be over in no time. All I need to do is…”

Nasty Plot… Vanilla grimaces. If they connect with a Dark Pulse, I'm... They consider the consequences. Lose here, and who knows what happens to Vanilla. Vision seems eager to replace the hybrid all for one more shot at... what? A world without Pokéballs? Is that all? Sure, the rules said no other Pokémon, but...

Forget the rules. I'm here to win. They pull a bit of illusion trickery to make their arms appear at their side as they reach for Chiru’s Poké Ball. And yet… it’s locked? Shit, that must mean...

Before thinking any further, she drops the illusion, snarling the first thing that comes to mind in Pokéspeech to catch Vision off guard.

"You ruining your own life doesn't mean you get to ruin mine! I'm sorry you were in too deep to escape, but that's not my problem! Leave my friends alone! Leave my family alone! Leave my home alone! And go fix things in your own damn world!"

Vision's ear twitches and their tail visibly poofs as they prepare a Dark Pulse, too focused to bother with illusions. Whatever. I know I'm getting to her. As if to confirm, Vision's Dark Pulse whiffs far to the left, nearly grazing poor Cobalion. Left standing around on a remote island. He retaliates with a booming, screeching sound, and... aaaaaaaaaaaaaa-- oh, right. They've both got sensitive hearing.

As soon as Cobalion lets up on the noise, giving Vanilla an apologetic glance, their chosen closes the gap between themselves and Vision, snarling one more time at close range.

"Stay away from--"

Before being cut off and hit full-force with a Dark Pulse, anyways. The attack burns like fire, spreading rapidly from the point of contact in the center of Vanilla's chest to their arms, legs, and eventually, their mind, which swims with rage. Their own, and evidently, Vision's. The rage overtakes them and their vision, and they collapse to the ground, surrounded by dark energy. Cross, hidden in one of his pockets, cries out in pain as well, as Vanilla's ears struggle to pick up on Vision's last words.

"Just one attack... pathetic. I should've expected as much from a coward, though. Colress, do what you will with them. I'm bored here, and there are much better things to handle while they're out cold..."

Slowly, the hybrid's mind sinks into the darkness.

[randomvarious]

Today's compilation:

Vhutemas Archetypi 1986 Industrial / Avant Garde / Experimental / Neo-Classical

Well, it's not spelled exactly the same way, but, according to the Museum of Modern Art's website...

VKhUTEMAS is an acronym for Vysshie khudozhestvenno-tekhnicheskie masterskie (Higher state artistic and technical studios). Established in 1920 in Moscow as the successor of SVOMAS (Free state art studios), it was conceived as a specialized institution that would prepare qualified master artists, professors, and directors to work in both industry and higher education. It aimed to fulfill the state's goals for efficiency and production by linking art with politics. The curriculum of VKhUTEMAS was similar to that of the Bauhaus. First-year students were required to complete the basic course, which covered subjects including color theory, construction, and art history, providing both an artistic and a political education. Other concentrations included metalwork, woodwork, textiles, and architecture.

Now, two things here: one, VKhUTEMAS did not last very long; it shut its doors in 1930, so, this isn't any kind of collection of music by artists who were actually enrolled there. And two, that entry on MoMA's website makes no mention of music being part of the school's curriculum, either. However, given this terrific album art that depicts some classical-looking statues, as well as the release's name itself—Vhutemas Archetypi—I think it's pretty damn safe to assume that this album was made with that VKhUTEMAS school in mind.

And, really, what better way to sonically reflect the linking of things like art, architecture, and politics than through the genre of industrial music, which has a history of both utilizing tools of all kinds as instruments and incorporating the noises that those tools generate into the music itself?

Now, while I can certainly appreciate the freeform experimentalism of industrial artists, I'm definitely not remotely a fan of the music's subversive, abrasive, and generally unsettling nature. However, when industrial stuff does get combined with other genres that I do enjoy, there's an increased chance that I'll end up digging the product.

So, while I hated listening to the vast majority of this mid-80s avant garde industrial comp, I still actually do have a highlight for you all; and it's barely a highlight, but I dig its uniqueness nonetheless. Hunting Lodge is a group from Port Huron, Michigan, and in '85, they put out a 12-inch EP called Tribal Warning Shot. Appearing on this particular comp along with that release's title track is another song from it called "Soul-Vac," which isn't just an industrial tune, but an electro-industrial tune.

Now, maybe you've heard the term electro-industrial before. It's its own subgenre of industrial music that became popular in the 90s, after electronic body music—a form of industrial dance that took root in the 80s, and is referred to as EBM for short—died out. Electro-industrial is known for using hard and gritty beats, scratchy and often modulated vocals, and tends to be more intricate than EBM as well.

But that's actually not the electro-industrial that I'm referring to here. What I'm referring to is a literal hybrid of electro music—the hip hop-adjacent, Afro-futuristic dance music of the 80s that was pioneered by people like Afrika Bambaataa—and industrial music. That's what "Soul-Vac" is: a strange brew of a grainy electro beat with metallic clanging of some kind very prominently laid over the top of it. It's certainly not the greatest thing in the world, but it deserves some points for being a bit different, at the very least.

So, outside of the album art, that one song is the only thing that I can say that I genuinely like about this release. But people with far weirder tastes than mine will probably enjoy this one way more than I do, since it has legendary industrial acts like Laibach, SPK, and Lustmord on it.

Anyway, I don't think that I'll ever end up acquiring the taste for industrial stuff, but at least I managed to find one cool tune in this batch, which is why I always give a chance to music that I myself don't expect to particularly enjoy.

Highlights:

Hunting Lodge - "Soul-Vac"

[janshu]

Inu!Bakugo...for @ultimate-astridwriting's Hybrid collab!

Summary: My part of the hybrid collab. I had so much fun writing an angry Pomeranian Bakugo. 10/10 would do again. I'm not completely happy with it but who ever is? I'm still proud of myself!

Word count: 2.2k.

Warnings: Fem!Reader, Bakugo being an ass, sexual content, somnophilia, collars, choking, humping, creampie, name calling (bitch, slut, whore etc.), use of the word cunt.

You sigh as you rummage around in your pocket to produce the key to your home. After a long day's work all you want to do is get some dinner, take a bath and go to bed but none of those things would be possible would they?

No, not after the spur of the moment decision to adopt a hybrid of all things. The week earlier was one of torrential downpours and near freezing temperatures, the roads making a slushy substance of half-melted ice and salt to prevent the very thing it was being mixed in with. People stayed indoors the best they could when they weren't at work but life had to shit on you and make your car breakdown in the parking garage. Umbrella rested on your shoulder, rain boots on your feet with your spare in your bag and you trudged through cold, mushy hell back home. The streets were barren as a Walmart on a weekday at 4am, no life passing by you until you crossed an alley between two businesses. A pathetic whimper had caught your attention and your gaze drifted down to a soaked cardboard box. What was in that box you weren't sure if you should curse or love. A hybrid.

Narrow red eyes stared at you in suspicion, fangs bared at you but the creature didn't make any attempts to nip at your fingers when they neared to ruffle the spikey head of hair. The hybrid had leaned into your touch before recoiling away as if you had smacked him. The black and orange collar had seen better days, the charm that dangled on the hollow of his neck read "Dynamite" but he didn't give any indication that was his name when you repeated it outloud. He was barely dressed in anything, a thin t-shirt, shorts with ragged Converse that had more holes than Swiss cheese. Truthfully he looked a few days away from starvation and how could you keep that on your conscience if you left him there? After laying your warm coat over his shoulders you somehow, someway, managed to get him back to your place. Everything went downhill from there in the blink of an eye.

The weak puppy persona was gone the moment warm food settled in his belly and within the hour he acted as if you had crowned him king of the house. Beginning his rambles of curses, demands and biting at your fingers. The worst of it happened when you tried to take his collar off for a new one, one that wasn't frayed and barely hanging on. "Katsuki" as he spat out his name with enough venom to put a Black Mamba to shame had flipped over a coffee table, ripped up every couch cushion and went so far to chew on the linoleum on the kitchen floor.

No doubt you'd be greeted with the same sight as always. Messy, dirty, unknown stains everywhere and dishes still in the sink waiting to be moved to the washer. Maybe if he wasn't such a loud ass you could train him but your frazzled nerves were at their wits end. You didn't know what to do, you were about to throw in the towel and put him up for adoption. Yep, you were disappointed to be proven right. Katsuki reclining on the couch lengthwise, remote in his hand with the most bored expression on his face while idly flipping through channels.

"Fucking finally, you're home! I've been waitin' for fucking hours for your ass to get back! I'm hungry, get your shitty ass in the kitchen and make dinner." He barked. Barely giving you any time to hang up your coat and slip off your shoes before his orders began.

"Katsuki...I can't, not tonight." Could your voice portray anymore pleading? Apparently not because he didn't seem to notice, or care.

The fluffy ear at the top of his head only flicked in response, the top lip curling into his signature snarl. "Then what the fuck are you good for? Get your fucking ass in that god damn kitchen and fucking make dinner already."

All that you were good for? All that you were good for? How dare he! He's been freeloading off you for a week now without so much as a thanks for saving him from the streets, feeding him, clothing him, keeping him warm and dealing with his bullshit and this is how he repays you?

"I've fucking had it with you!" Your voice rose higher than you meant to but at this point you didn't care, a line had been crossed. "You fucking sit there and ruin my shit and yet I'm the useless one? I have half a mind to kick you out! You can make your own fucking dinner, I've had it! I'm done! I can't take this anymore!"

Despite not having any clunky shoes on your feet still managed to resonate in the small living room while you stormed past the couch. You had expected anything, anything at all. A slap, a punch, a groan, literally anything but you were met with only silence and that somehow pissed out off even more. How could silence be so infuriating?! You didn't even notice the terror that washed over his face as you screamed at him or the way his chest heaved with the sob or how he trembled underneath your wrathful gaze as you walked away. The bedroom door slamming made short work of that.

"Fuck I'm such an ass.." You mused to yourself already regretting blowing up at him but what would an apology do that wasn't already broken? So better yet why not send yourself to bed without dinner as some kind of punishment? He'd linger at the doorway to the kitchen, staring at you with those intense eyes if you made dinner anyways so why let him win? He could his own shit for fucks sake!

After a quick shower to dethaw your bones and warm up what was left of your dead soul the softness of your pajamas helped ease the guilt gnawing away like a puppy on its first bone. Laying in bed until sleep eventually overcame you and when he knew it was safe to slip in and sneak over towards your bedside.

Rustling was what woke you. The rustling of clothes and the jingle of something metallic in the darkness of the bedroom. Whatever grogginess you normally suffered when waking up was vanishing the more details were dissected and understood by your half-asleep brain, a process that took an embarrassingly long time. Clothes rustling, the bedsheets moving, heavy pants and something incredibly warm nudging up against the sensitive skin of your inner thighs. Naturally your brain assumed the worst and your eyelids flew open to show nothing; at first. As your eyes adjusted to the pitch black room they found the blazing stare of those vermillion eyes, the bared fangs that belonged to your hybrid.

What the hell was Katsuki doing on top of you?

Noticing that you were awake the snarl turned into a smirk as he huffed, his large chest expanding with each desperate pant. Why did your folds feel so good just as you were waking up?

"Feel that?" How could you not? The feel of a scorching cock bumping up your folds and sensitive clit, wet from the pre leaking from the tip. There was so much of it from what you could feel, too sticky to be your own. His hips had yet to cease moving, no word from your shocked form to still his rutting hips.

"W-what the hell are you doing?" Was the most logical question your brain could come up with in the moment.

"Humping...fucking dumbass." His warm breath created goosebumps on your cool skin, his head must've been so close to yours by the hair tickling your forehead. "Tryin'ta...help ya. Shitty woman.."

"Help? How the fuck is this helping?"

"You've been working so hard so I thought maybe...a good fuck would calm ya down, relax ya." Katsuki's voice was so desperate, so needy, the humping of his cock on your labia increasing.

He was trying to help? He was going to fuck the frustration out of you? Is that was he was offering? Having sex with a hybrid was common enough to not be considered taboo but you couldn't help but feel he was trying to worm his way into your good graces. Unless your words had struck some kind of cord with him. "Okay, alright, I'll let you help."

"Fuck yeah!"

With that the head of his cock nudged against your cunt, already spread and waiting for him. How long had he been doing this for? The burn of the stretch was delicious, he was just big enough to fill you up but not hurt. Settling right up to kiss the tip of your cervix when he bottomed out. His hands grip at your thigh and hip, pulling his back to slam his cock right back into you. Over and over, over and over, over and over. Practically using you as a fleshlight to get himself off but damn if it didn't feel good, him bouncing you on his cock so roughly each thrust was sending the headboard against the wall.

"Oh fuck...oh fuck, Katsuki!" Your hands pat around and eventually find his biceps and you cling on for dear life, your nails digging crescent shaped markings into his skin.

"Yeah, yeah...you like this form of stress relief, don'tcha you dirty slut?" Undoing the collar around his neck the frayed cloth of the strap is tied around your neck, the buckle clamping down tightly to constrict your airflow while two fingers slip under it to pull and tug. "You're my dirty fucking slut! Mine...mine...mine...mine, fucking mine!"

Your fingers trailed down the tiny amount of space between your bodies down to the precious, neglected nub between your legs. Barely able to wiggle your index and middle finger down there from the rabid fucking you were receiving to circle the bundle of nerves and send yourself over the edge. Each clap of your thighs smacking against each other forcing your hate for his behavior ebbing away. If he was going to act like this all the time how could you kick him out?

"F-fuck! Gonna cum...fucking cum..cum for me. Cum with me!" Katsuki snarled as the pressure around your throat increased. Your hand was smacked away from your clit and was replaced with the large pad of his thumb, frantic circles sending your body into a writhing mess of flails and kicks.

The orgasm that had been steadily building from your ministrations had been ripped away and replaced with one quickly approaching to push you over the edge. The white hot pleasure-coil that formed underneath your belly button snapped and all of it coursed through your system in one go. Paralyzing your body for a split second as you squirted all over the hybrids cock, his still rubbing hand sending the liquid everywhere. Coating his thighs, your thighs and the bed underneath you.

"Fucking fuck! Such a whore, such a dirty girl for me! Oh my fucking g-god!" One last slam of his hips and his own body stilled, burying his cock deep inside your cunt to shoot his cum deep in your womb. He stuttered before his body collapsed on top of you, suffocating you in his sweaty muscles.

Bathing in the afterglow, coming down from your high you could've sworn you heard something. Mumbling, soft mumbling too indistinct to understand. Katsuki's head laying on your shoulder, his nose brushing along your collarbone and was he laying kisses here and there? No, you must've been seeing things. Still buried to the hilt he turned his head to speak, his fluffy ears perked and his tail gently swishing behind him. The sudden light from your phone illuminated the room, casting light on Katsuki's face and the sight made your breath hitch in your throat. Clearly he had been crying. Tear stains streaked down his cheeks, brows knitted together and the same lost look he had plastered on his face appeared again.

"Please, please don't kick me out. I'll do anything, please...please don't abandon me. Not again." His arms wrapped around your waist, pulling you closer as he hid his face in your neck. Voice breaking, shoulders trembling, the verge of crying all over again quickly approaching.

Your heart broke and you returned the favor by hugging him around the shoulders, a hand carding through his hair to soothe him. Had he been abandoned? Did his previous owners not like him? Was all his aggressiveness some kind of defense mechanism? Was he giving you a reason to kick him out to keep himself from experiencing that kind of pain again? Oh, poor baby. "Never again...just don't destroy things anymore, okay? Help me around the place a little more will ya?"

"Yes." Katsuki snuggled on top of you. Finally believing he had a real home with you, a place where he could belong. "....Master."

[covenofwives]

If u still doing ficlets, may I perhaps trouble you for a sequel to the fic where Ponky got put in a tickle machine? He must want a fair bit of payback against Sam… - Rosa

I had to hold myself back on this one because I could have went so long on this ficlet. Tickling machines are my jam and I will go overboard.

---

Ponk’s plans for revenge were usually simple, but not really thought through. He’d get ideas and follow them through the best he could which could really be down to a coin toss of how they’d turn out. In simple terms, Ponk wanted revenge for being put into the tickle machine by Sam. Now maybe he had deserved it but that wasn’t the point. The point was Sam needed to know how terrible damn machine was. The plan was simple. Ponk would find where the tickle machine was kept, call over Sam under the little lie of hurting himself and when Sam rushed in Ponk would turn on the machine. The plan worked flawlessly until the rushing in part. Ponk had no idea how the machine worked so when Sam came close, Ponk just pushed every button and the machine went crazy. It pounced onto Sam, tangling up the creeper-hybrid in it’s wires before the mechanical hands tickled everywhere.

“POHOHOHOHOHONK! SH-SHUHUHUHUT IHIT OHOHOHOHOFF!” Sam barked out between his spurts of rough laughter. The machine was ruthless, more ruthless than it was with Ponk. Ponk only had a few hands tickling him were as he’d apparently pushed some button that meant every hand possible was tickling Sam. There was no ticklish space left untouched over the Warden’s body. “POHOHOHONK!”

“Uhhh…” Ponk stared blankly at the control panel for the machine. Nothing was labelled or even looked remotely like an off button. There was a lever on the side which Ponk just assumed was an off switch and pulled it. The majority of the hands stopped tickling Sam, but the ones still on him now zeroed in on squeezing and kneading up and down his thighs. His worst spot. Sam’s laughter kicked up to a completely new octave and Ponk looked for another solution. As much fun as this revenge was, Ponk was dreading to think of what payback Sam would be thinking for him now.

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

HASO “The Best Outcome.”

Just wrapping up a few loose ends from the past few months stories. I hope you all like it. And feel free to give me some ideas on what you want to see, or who you want to see more of. I will try to do my best :) 

Breaking News tonight from the Apollo 11 memorial landing site as Admiral Adam Vr and Captains Warren Richarards and Mary Chavez were rescued  from the Pacific Ocean following a journey that was supposed to be historical, turned harrowing. Amy Grey comes to us this morning with the story.

Thank you Julie, it was only a week ago here on the historic Cape Canaveral launch site, that the reconstructed Saturn V rocket was launched by the UNSC International Space and Aeronautics Division on the two thousand and fifty first anniversary of the original Apollo 11 mission. On board The reconstructed rocket were astronauts Fleet Admiral Adam Vir head of the UNSC deep space exploration division, Captain Warren Richards five year veteran and historical aeronautics expert, and Mary Chavez six year shuttle pilot veteran, and communications specialist. 

The reconstructed Saturn V rocket took off thirty minutes behind schedule at 10:03 GMTJuly 16 after delays attributed to engineering standbys. However, reports by UNSC investigation early this morning indicate that the delays were called for by engineering head Jade Clein who noticed something strange during her final checks of the Saturn V recreated rocket. In an interview early today, flight director, Aaliyah Seif of the Apollo re-creation mission informed outlets that there was evidence of attempted tampering on the hull of the Saturn V rocket. The tampering case in the shape of these small silver tape strips covering loosened bolts along one of the Saturn V side panels. Engineers stated that the tape was not heat resistant and would have burned off in time to rattle the bolts loose and, likely, cause a devastating spin that would destroy the rocket.

While this attempted tampering was thwarted, the mission would only become more dire. A sudden and shocking report by Mericanda News 5 showed an uncut image of an unknown alien hybrid woman claiming that the UN President had ordered th attempted assassination of Admiral Vir, in conjuncton with an audio recording by Admiral Colter Massie, Head of the Galactic intelligence division an known isolationist, that admitted to the attempted assasination of Admiral Vir, and the acquisition of twenty thunderhawks which were used to harry the Satern V on it’s way to the moon. Admiral Kelly, long time friend of Admiral Vir, corroborated the story, saying she caught General Massie just after he ordered the deployment of the twenty thunderhawks. During their conversion he attempted to kill her before being detained by two members of Admiral Vir’s crew, and was later seen being escorted into custody by Military Police.

Indeed footage has been captured from the hull of the Saturn V showing approximately twenty thunderhawks attempting to destroy the rocket while Rundi remote piloted drones and an unknown group of what appear to be racing jets, fought back to delay the attack while word was sent to the UNSC to deploy F-90 darkfire pilots to assist. This all after communications between Houston and the rocket were sabotaged shortly after leaving orbit. The  F-90 darkfire pilots were able to arrive on time to rescue the rocket, though a hole was reportedly torn in the hull sucking Admiral Vir out into space, though he was later recovered and returned to his ship without any injuries. Patch teams were then able to repair the torn hull and the astronauts completed their mission landing to crowds on the moon and returning to earth on time on time landing in the Pacific ocean only nine miles away from the waiting ship.

All three astronauts were recovered and are reported to be in good health. 

The investigation into the UN president’s involvement is still ongoing at this time, however preliminary reports from the Global Bureau of Investigation suggest evidence is both staggering and damning to the current UN president, who earlier today, attempted to cut all ties to the sabotage efforts saying she was framed. Political experts report that, even assuming her innocence, she will likely not last to the end of her term.

International News Network was able to interview Admiral Vir shortly after his landing while still on board the rescuing ship UNSS Victory.

Here is what the Admiral had to say.

“I find it…. Really very disheartening that someone we all trusted, and someone that we all should have looked up to could do something like this. It really is a heinous demonstration of what political corruption can lead people to do.”

“And how do you feel, personally about all of this.”

“Personally, I…. well to be honest I am hurt and appalled. Not to mention that I fear for the safety of my family and my friends. Every day I wonder if my involvement with them is going to get someone I love killed…. The thought haunts me, but I hope after all of this is over I… and all of us can breathe a little easier.”

“Were you scared?”

“I don’t think that even needs to be a question. Of course I was scared, getting sucked out of your spaceship isn’t ideal.”

“What do you hope will happen now?”

“I hope that justice can be upheld  to those who deserve it.”

“What do you have to say to the UN president.”

…

“I have nothing to say. Wouldn’t want to waste the air.

****

What followed would be one of the largest scandals in recent political history. At some point an unknown number of classified government documents was leaked onto the internet, and after that it was all over for the Presidency. Thousands of enterprising humans, and aliens alike, viewed the documents to discover all the underhanded and dirty things which had been going on in the UN governmental body over the past few years. Forensic accounting experts (mostly Tesrtaki) uncovered plenty of fiscal tampering  which shed light on plenty of isolationist related projects and bank accounts. There was even evidence that they had something to do with the original assassination attempt against Admiral Vir so many months ago. The drama had even managed to capture the attention of Rundi political experts and Vrul computer science geniuses, and together they unearthed a world of unfathomable, but not unexpected corruption. The process to remove the UN president from office was probably one of the fastest movements of human government ever seen by UN congressional leaders, who were likely trying their very best tro distance themselves from association with the president, who despite not being the only one involved, had become the political scapegoat for everyone else that had a supposed link with isolationism.

Even the VP fell under suspicion and was watched closely for the rest of his term.

Admiral Massie and the UN President were placed under arrest and set up for court dates in the nearing future, though everyone saw a long and arduous litigation process ahead. Even Ramirez’s family had filed for damages against the government after the news came to light confirming that their son had been shot as collateral in one of the UN presidents plans to assassinate Admiral Vir. They settled out of court to the tune of an unknown, but impressive sum of money.

No one really knew how much, but a couple months later Ramirez’s younger sister was seen training at one of the most prestigious olympic academies on earth.

Ramirez himself was suddenly able to afford housing on the moon in a condo just next door to his best friend, though no one else inquired further.

The Rundi chairwoman came forward with her own investigation admitting to being suspicious for a long time though she feared accusations without proper proof. Admiral Vir was seen having lunch with her not so many months after the events took place, suggesting that the trust between the two of them had not been completely dissolved. With much of the isolationist element gone from government, public policy began to lean heavily towards integration with the alliance. The occasional isolationist demonstration or protest was held, but none of them managed to gain traction.

Admiral Vir was finding himself more important than ever, though it was to his chagrin that his ship was grounded for the intervening months while the investigation continued.

No one was entirely sure what the future held.

***

Admiral Vir stepped into Admiral Kelly’s office. The last time he had actually visited her here had been over a few years ago before his promotion to captain of the Harbinger. It seemed so distant now, and he never expected to walk into her office with a star on his shoulder. She stood as he entered, and the two of them shook hands, ignoring all the stuffy formalities that usually come with the meeting of two military officers.

The wall behind her was decorated with a myriad of metals and awards she had received over her career, and he couldn't help but note the slight tinge of grey he could see forming in her hair. He knew that feeling, he was going prematurely white much to his chagrin. She stood and the two of them shook hands.

“Vir.”

“Kelly.”

She motioned him to sit and he sat sighing lightly as he had been on his feet all day consulting with political figures and other members of the UNSC.

“A strange couple months wouldn’t you say.”

“Tell me about it.”{

Kelly reached under her desk and withdrew an amber bottle which she placed between them, “I always forget; Do you drink?”

“On occasion.”

“Well consider this an occasion.” She said popping off the top and pouring two glasses for them. She handed his across the desk and he leaned back in his seat cupping the cool glass in both hands.

She swirled the amber liquid around in her glass, “So what are your plans after all this.”

He took a sip of water warmed by the burning liquid, “Hoping things will go back to normal and I can go back to traveling the galaxy.”

Kelly grunted, “A simple man with simple motivations.”

He laughed , “Sometimes I think a stupid man with simple motivations.”

She chuckled then grew serious, “A lot of people make the mistake of assuming simple people don’[t have the intelligence to match. Some people assume that trusting means gullible means dumb. Just because we are trusting and expect others to do the right thing is not necessarily a fault. I believe there is a kind of beauty in assuming the fundamental goodness of humanity.”

\Admiral Vir shook his head, “How can you after seeing what we have seen.”

“How can you not?” She shrugged, “We always knew that politicians were corrupt, but think about everything else we have seen.”

Admiral Vir nodded slowly, “The enthusiasm for the Apollo 11 recreation mission, the people who flew up to help us. All of those people who went digging through years of information just to uncover the truth.”

SHe raised her glass, “Precisely. Goodness in humanity is all around us, but we tend to overlook the good in favor of the bad.” She placed her hat on the desk and sighed, “It is up to good people to keep their goodness going even when it might seem easier to give into the bad. I I have and will always believe in the fundamental good of humanity. Some may call it naeve, or even stupid. Others have said I have a romanticized view of a species that is fundamentally broken.” She turned her head to look out the window a contemplative expression on her face before turning back to look at Adam.

“You understand me, I think.”

He nodded slowly.

“People need to be believed in. You tell someone for long enough that they are fundamentally bad at their core and they will begin to believe you. For thousands of years pessimists have gotten it into our heads that we are no better than animals, worse even since animals don’t fight in wars. But I believe that is wrong, I have seen people, I have met people, and I have interacted with people who prove to me that humanity cannot just be fundamentally bad or else these people wouldn’t exist.” She tapped her nails against the glass, “I think it is easier to corrupt purity than wash away a stain,”

He listened quietly as she continued.

“Humans are born good, Adam, and life stains us. We aren’t born stained while some of us are wiped clean. “ She shook her head, “Doesn't make sense to me.” She caught him with a look pinning him to the spot with her intense stare, “People like you convince me of this every day.”

“Me….”

She held up a hand. “Adam Vir, I am convinced that the best outcome this universe ever had, was when a happy go lucky science fiction freak was lucky enough to be the first man to meet aliens. Any other way things would have gone horribly wrong.” She leaned across her desk, “The universe needs men and women like you, and not only that but the universe needs people who are going to support men and women like you.” She sat back, “Which is why I have made a decision.”

He raised an eyebrow in curiosity not entirely sure where this could be going.

She smiled, “I have decided to run for President.”

He nearly spit his mouthful of expensive scotch onto the table but managed to choke it mostly down.

Eyes wide he set his glass down, “Are you serious.”

She smiled, “Seriously serious.”

“Well shit, you have my vote for sure.” He raised his glass to her, “I couldn’t think of a better outcome.”

[365days365movies]

May 10, 2021: Blade Runner 2049 (2017) (Recap: Part Two)

Said I’d talk about artificial humans in sci-fi, so...

There are a HELL of a lot of examples of artificial humans in science-fiction, as well as the ethical and philosophical concepts that their existence raises. Now, your definition of “artificial” may differ from medium to medium. At its base form, these are humans that are not born, but made. I’ll be talking fleshy organic humans, not robotic ones. The most common of these is, of course, clones.

A clone, strictly speaking, is a genetically identical copy of a pre-existing organism, in this case a human. While this isn’t technology we’ve applied to humans as of yet (due to the NUMEROUS ethical problems and questions), we have done so with animals, mostly sheep and cats. It’s actually a good way to de-extinct certain species, and we’ve already done experiments with that. Of course...that has its own concerns.

Keeping up the Jurassic Park reference streak! Anyway...

There are a FUCKTON of examples of clones in science-fiction, but since I’m a massive comic book nerd, I’ll use Superboy. The genetic combination of Superman and Lex Luthor, Conner Kent is one of the most prominent clone superheroes. He’s not the only clone of Superman, of course. He’s not even my favorite clone of Superman, to be honest...

Bizarro am the worst. ME WILL LIVE ON THAT HILL.

Oh, and let’s not forget THE most prominent artificial human in comic books PERIOD. I don’t care what her origin in the movies is, that’s never been my favorite version of Wonder Woman. Making her a demigod robs her of something important, in my opinion.

...Should I make a comic book blog? Shit, thinkin’ about it.

OK, before I do that, these are just my favorite examples. Fact is, there are FAR too many examples of artificial humans to go into, whether they’re built, grown, sculpted, conjured, or a chemical reaction with an extra ingredient in the concoction.

And look, I could go on all day about this, but we got a long-ass movie to get back to. SO, lets jump back in. Part One is here!

Recap (2/2)

Understandably exhausted, K returns home, confused and conflicted. However, he’s greeted with a surprise from Joi: a prostitute! Namely, this is Mariette (Mackenzie Davis), one of the girls who approached him earlier. Joi’s called her here in order to be “real” for K, the effect is impressive, if somewhat...off-putting. Still, while K obviously didn’t need this to be happy with their relationship, Joi might, and Mariette’s all on board.

And it doesn’t take K terrible long to get on board, either. As both Mariette and Joi strip, it makes me wonder...how much does this subscription service for Joi cost. There’s no goddamn way this is free, right? Like, how exclusive IS this AI? And they cut from that scene to a Joi commercial, where we hear that Joi becomes anything you want her to be, and does anything you want her to do. But something tells me that...well, that it’s not quite so simple.

Once the night is over, Joi tells Mariette to leave, and not nicely either. Mariette leaves, rebuking her on the way out as well. K, meanwhile, knows that the Blade Runners will soon be coming after him. He’ll be going on the run, and Joi wants to go with him. And so, they put her inside of a remote device, while deleting her information from the main apartment console. This gets the attention of Luv, who head over to the apartment to figure out what’s going on.

K goes to Doc Badger (Barkhad Adbi), who analyzes the horse for him. It’s discovered that old radiation can be found there, and that amount and kind of radiation can only be found in areas where a dirty bomb has been set off. This would be in the desolate and weird-ass ruins of Las Vegas. While nobody lives there at this point, K and Joi go to check it out.

An IMMENSELY frustrated Luv, unaware of K’s discovery about himself, goes to confront Joshi about K’s whereabouts. Luv berates her for being afraid of change, and tells her that she “can’t fend off the tide with a broom”. Which is a great line. However, as Joshi is no use to her at this point, Luv just straight up kills her. Which, I’m sure, will go over well with the whole “Replicants aren’t dangerous” thing.

Meanwhile, in Vegas...shit is WEIRD. First off all, the desolate wasteland is full of statues of giant sexy wimmin, and I mean GIANT statues. Beneath one of them is a series of beehives, which K goes into to get a hand of beeeees. After that, he goes into an abandoned hotel/casino, rigged with tripwires and booby traps. OK. What.

So, somebody’s using this place as a hideaway, despite the entire city being destroyed by a dirty bomb, and probably extremely radioactive. K searches around and finds it empty. He begins to play a piano, hoping to draw someone out. He ends up drawing out a dog, as well as the inhabitant of the hotel.

Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), baby! Quoting Stevenson’s Treasure Island and holding K up at gunpoint with dog at side is the original Blade Runner himself, Rick Fucking Deckard. God, I love this. Deckard hunts K down throughout the casino, where we see some trippy holograms, and the future of Vegas stageshows (probably).

The two fight, but eventually call a truce and decide to get a drink at the bar. K gets to it pretty quickly, and confronts Deckard on his potential child with Rachael. He confirms that Rachael was indeed pregnant by him, but he had never met his child. Which was the plan, to be fair. He wanted their child to be protected, not hunted down and eventually dissected.

Sometimes, to love someone...you gotta be a stranger.

To an old Frank Sinatra song, a forlorn K (now calling himself “Joe”) looks around, and sees carved wooden animals that resemble the horse that’s haunted his life and memories so much by this point. Which makes sense, considering the foil unicorn from the previous film. Neat little tie-in there.

But paradise is not all it’s cracked up to be, as someone soon comes to find both K and Deckard, despite the fact that K came alone. Although, now that I think about it, Joi may not be one that you can truly trust. Deckard and K try to escape their pursuers, but are caught pretty quickly. In the process, K is injured, but manages to get up in order to fight back. However, this is Luv with these people, and she beats K down EASILY. Turns out that Luv is actually an enforcer, rather than just a secretary. And when Joi awakens from K’s device to ask her to stop, well...she kills the device, and she kills K. In the process, she also takes Deckard away, leaving K behind. Fuck.

K wakes up, only to discover Mariette standing over him in the Las Vegas wasteland. She takes care of him as he wakes up, also stitching up with wounds from the explosion. She tells K to trust her, as well as her compatriots. One of them is the hooded woman from earlier, a Replicant named Freysa (Hiam Abbass). An old friend of Sapper’s she saw the delivery of the child, the “miracle”, and also hid the child away, as it was a symbol that the Replicants are more than just slave, that they are their own masters.

Freysa is building a revolution in order to free the Replicants once and for all. And I’m hard-pressed to disagree with their cause, not gonna lie. However, this comes at a price. In order to prevent Wallace from killing the cause, K must prevent Deckard from leading them to Freysa. They must do what they can until they can reveal the child to the world. For she will be their leader.

Fuck.

Understandably COMPLETELY crushed at this revelation, and more confused than ever, K collapses. Freysa tells him that they ALL wish they were the one, and they all believe. It’s at this point, that K realizes exactly who the Hybrid is: Dr. Ana Stelline. The horse from earlier, it turns out, did in fact belong to her, and she planted her childhood memory with the horse in K’s mind as a Replicant. Damn. DAMN! That’s why the memory moved her so: because it was hers.

Meanwhile, Deckard awakens to a separate nightmare: Jared Leto telling him how he feels about him. After all, Deckard helped to create the first Replicant-human hybrid. He asks him for his help in obtaining the child, so that the key of Replicant reproduction can be further unlocked. And he proceeds in convincing Deckard by playing audio of Rachael and his first meeting (from the first film, of course).

Niander fucks with him further, by suggesting Deckard was summoned all those years ago specifically to fall in love with Rachael in order to father a child with her. But despite all of this, Deckard refuses to give up any of his information. And so, Niander pulls out his ace-in-the-hole...and it’s a real shitty thing to do to a man in mourning. 

Damn. Dude rebuilt Rachael, tries to tempt Deckard with her, FAILS, then lets Luv shoot her in the head. Fucking power move, and fuck Niander for playing it. Dude is a DICK. Meanwhile. that one visual from every single ad of this movie is happening, and I can FINALLY use one of the 8000 GIFs of it, goddamn.

Not gonna lie, it’s an iconic appearance, so I get why it’s so famous. Anyway, K considers a suicidal option, now that he knows the truth. However, before we get to see the final decision, we get to see Deckard being taken back to LA for interrogation by Wallace. However, to prevent him from potentially leading Wallace to the secret of Ana Stelline, K suddenly appears, opening fire on their ship.

The craft is downed, and K exits the car to engage in a firefight with Luv. He appears to win, but Luv isn’t killed once she’s shot. The two have a fistfight out in the rain, and Deckard waits for water to slowly kill the craft that he’s still inside of.

As expected, Luv handles herself well, and despite a number of close calls, she JUST. WILL. NOT. DIE. Damn, she’s resilient. However, despite K, Luv, and Deckard all nearly drowning in an INTENSE fight between the Replicants, an enraged and crazed Luv finally eventually drowns, ending her threat for good. 

K saves Deckard from the sinking ship, and agrees to stage his death, allowing him to meet his daughter for the first time. Once at her facility, K returns Deckard’s horse to him, knowing that it was a gift from him. He tells Deckard that his best memories all come from her, implying that this makes him similar to Deckard’s son, which he picks up on when he asks if he’s OK.

Deckard goes to meet his daughter, and K hangs out on the stairs outside. He feels the snow fall on his hand, and he just...watches it all fall around him. He sits, and he watches it all. And meanwhile, Deckard meets his daughter for the first time.

...Can I just say...GODDAMN!

That movie was absolutely stellar, and it’s definitely landing in the high ‘90s for me, calling it now. I...wow. Seriously. Amazing.

See you in the Review!

[troop-scoop]

Mistakes & Regrets VII

Summary: When a trip to your Dad’s hometown of Hawkins goes wrong, you end up in the year 1983, and have to learn how to cope with being stuck in the past.

Pairing: Steve Harrington / Future!Reader (like, a really slow burn)

Warnings: Swearing, name calling

•••

You could feel the sunlight on your eyelids, making everything behind your eyelids appear as a dark red. But almost as soon as the sun was on your eyes, it was gone. The side of your bed dipped down when weight was added to the mattress and a gentle hand was holding your shoulders, a familiar voice coaxing you awake. 

“Y/n. . . c’mon, wake up.”

Opening your eyes you could see Jonathan sitting next to you, Nancy next to him, looking down at you, holding a cardboard cup of coffee in her hands. 

“Wha?” You didn’t have enough energy to pronounce your ‘T’ in the word, knowing that they understood what you were trying to say while laying down in your bed, early in the morning with your hair sprawled out around your head. 

“Get up, c’mon. Get dressed.” Jonathan was being gentler than he had been the day before. Instead of barging in and making a ruckus while you were just waking up, he was being nice about it. 

“Why?” You asked, leaning more into the pillow underneath your head, pulling the duvet closer to your shoulder that were exposed to the cold air. 

Jonathan avoided the answer to the question. “I’ll explain in the car. C’mon, we got you coffee. Rise and shine.” With that he stood from the bed and you grumbled a bit at feeling the sunlight back on your face. The door to your room, wide open. 

Nancy placed the cup on the bedside table, and she stared for a moment at something on the table by the lamp. Something you didn’t have enough effort to even look at. 

You sat up, grabbing the coffee and taking an unsure sip, testing the dirty bean water to see how hot it was. 

“What’s this?” Nancy asked, picking up what she’d been looking at. You turned your head, feeling your knotted hair move across your bare shoulders. She held up your long dead phone, the black screen smudged with your finger prints and a bit of dried goo by the home button. 

It’s not that you couldn’t charge it, you had the charger for it. You supposed out of all of the moments you could have gone missing and end up in the past, you chose the right one, with all of your essentials being in your bag when you ran off. But charging your phone, only to see the photo your Uncle took of a place called Balboa Park in California, made you nervous. The thought of seeing photos in your camera roll of your family scared you. 

“That’s uh. . .” You struggled for a few seconds for words. “My phone.” You answered. 

“ There’s only one button.” Nancy observed. “Oh, sorry, four.” She corrected herself upon seeing the volume and power buttons. 

“Nancy, we don’t know how future technology works.” Jonathan told her, going to the open door and closing it, returning the room to the dim lighting you usually kept it in whenever you went to bed, or wanted to lay in bed and be depressed. 

Your attention turned to Jonathan as he turned back around and saw you staring at him. 

“I believe you. You left this at my house.” He said reaching into his bag and pulling out your sketchbook. With everything going on, you hadn’t even noticed you’d left it at the home when you’d left. But that meant he’d had it for since before the funeral. and hadn’t mentioned it. 

He flipped to a page where there were different doodles you and your Dad had done while eating pastries and drinking warm cafe beverages. He usually always got a coffee, you always got a hot cocoa when you went with him. It was tradition every Friday. 

“That’s not his DnD character. It’s one of his friends.” Jonathan pointed to one figure on the paper, that was colored in with crayon, because yes, you and your father still used crayons. 

“It’s Mike’s. He doesn’t know you, there’s no way you could know his character, so that means you’re not lying” Nancy spoke, placing the dead phone onto the bedside table again while you got out of bed, placing the coffee on the table, not caring that you were wearing a tank top and underwear, with no bra. 

“Y/n-” Jonathan started, only to get cut off by you.

“Why would I lie? What would the benefit be for me, huh?” You demanded, walking to the dresser, pulling out a pair of pale blue jeans and pulling them on over your underwear. “Oh, yeah, I’m Y/n Byers, haha, jk, jk, just fucking with you.” You said in a mocking voice, mostly to yourself as you zipped up the jeans and grabbed your belt. “As if I’m not gonna be talking about this shit in therapy ten years from now, in- oh wait, not my year, but rather fucking 1993! Mean Girls won’t even be out yet, the fucking IPhone won’t be invented yet! I’ll have to continue going to a fucking payphone every time I wanna call someone if I’m not here!” 

It was all getting on your nerves, it wasn’t very late in the morning, meaning they woke you up way before you were supposed to, and while the coffee would help, you didn’t appreciate them somehow finding the spare key you had to the room. 

“Oh, and I’m gonna have to keep saying Czechoslovakia instead of the Czech Republic and Slovakia because they won’t separate for another ten fucking years!” That was directed in Jonathan and Nancy’s way, and they both blinked in surprise, staring at you as though you’d lost your mind, and if a stranger had heard you, they would think you did. 

But Jonathan was the one who stuttered his way back into conversation. “Al- alright. . . Any-anything else?” He asked, holding the strap to his bag that was resting on his shoulder. 

“I have plenty of shit to complain about, Jonathan. I’m choosing to not start a fight right now.” 

Jonathan was stunned back into silence, watching as your demeanor was now that of a sad toddler. Your moods always fluctuated for about an hour or two after you’d woken up. Pulling the belt through your belt loops you reached into another drawer, pulling out a sweater and bra and walking to the bathroom. “Can’t even change in peace, in my own damn room.”

•••

“No! No, we’re not going off of a theory that this thing is like a Lion, Coyote, fucking Bear hybrid in behavior!” You yelled from the backseat, still holding the coffee. “It is 7:52 am, guys! I should be in bed, not yelling at you two for a stupid idea, a- a- a fucking hunch!”

Nancy turned in to face you from her seat, He blue eyes intense with determination as she stared at you. “If Will’s your dad, you want to find him, right?” 

“That’s not fair-”

“If you want to make sure you’re still born, this ‘hunch’ is all we have.” Nancy shot back, silencing you as you sunk into the carseat, holding the cup closer and taking a slow sip, intentionally making the annoying slurping noise, only to be disappointed and even more annoyed when Nancy turned away and faced the windshield again. 

“You’re both gonna get me killed.” You commented lazily, propping your feet up on the center console, continuing to drink your unflavored and unsweetened coffee, grimacing at the taste every time, but hoping and praying that you hadn’t built up a tolerance to caffeine. 

Jonathan pulled into a spot that wasn’t ‘technically’ a parking spot, and turned off the car, turning to face you like Nancy had. 

“Okay, do you- do you know of any way you could possibly get back to, you know. . . your time? I’m sorry what year?” 

You stared at Jonathan for a moment, because he had such a familiar face, and yet, he felt like a stranger. “I think I’d have to go back to that place. And although I really do love being able to say things other people understand, I think I’d rather live through history than go back there.” 

Your attitude changed, going from light-heartedly bitter about being woken up, and annoyed with their plan to get the monster that you called a Wendigo, to sad and down. Because it made it real. 

You’d never fall asleep in the back of the car listening to your Dad and Pa playfully argue and banter while your brother blasted his music so loud you could hear it with your own headphones on. 

Long days where you went to school, your brother’s orchestra performance, and then dinner would no longer be a thing. Your nights wouldn’t end with your Dad putting your music on for you. Because no matter how old you’d gotten, your Dad was still your Dad, and he’d always been there, even if it was for something as simple as turning your music on for you. 

Looking down at your lip you fought against the tears, refusing to cry in front of them. That was only something you did alone. 

“I’m gonna get some food.” You said quickly getting out of the car with your bag in hand. Jonathan followed suit.

“Y/n-”

“Stop.” Your voice shook as you looked at him. Holding the top of your backpack with a death grip, “You two go buy your fucking Sam and Dean Winchester bullshit, I’m gonna get something to eat. It is eight in the morning, on a Saturday! I am tired, I am hungry.” You told him. “So, I am going to go to the cafe down the street and get a muffin or a breakfast sandwich, and I will meet you back here!”

You didn’t mean to constantly be yelling at Jonathan, after all, he was one of your only uncles. But this wasn’t your uncle. He was just Jonathan Byers, whose brother was stuck in a dark and scary place, hiding like you had.

And you were just a kid. A teenage girl who didn’t know what to do. Who felt as if your world was crumbling all around you, pinning you to the ground so you couldn’t get up.

The only thing you could do right now to make anything around you seem even remotely okay, was to eat, try and pretend like you didn’t just choose your fate in the back of an old Ford while a sixteen year old version of your uncle stared at you. 

So you’d gone down the street, fighting against tears until you heard people talking, verging on hushed arguing. So you looked up and saw the movie theatre sign, the letters put into place to say ‘All the Right Moves’ but right after, red spray paint saying ‘Starring Nancy The Slut Wheeler’ 

You knew the hand writing, with Steve having once convinced you to look over Tommy’s English paper. You’d given up barely halfway in, the spelling getting on your nerves and the grammatical errors hurting your head a bit too much. You’d told him to go to one of the tutors in the library. 

Looking down the street a bit more you saw the culprits, Carol, Tommy, Nicole and of course Steve. 

There wasn’t a reason in the world for this. And although you’d never been in a relationship, you knew how a boy's mind worked. Especially a boy like Steve. Who was turning out to be the biggest asshole in disguise. 

The group of four slipped down into an alley, and as if on auto pilot, you followed them, now ignoring your original plan of getting something to eat.

“Steve!” You shouted when you finally reached the alleyway, watching as Tommy was taking a can of red spray paint from inside his jacket. Their attention turned to you as you made your way over the older male, who’s facial expression and body language was unreadable. “What the hell was that?” You demanded.

Tommy uncapped the can and stepped up a small set of stairs that only took him up off the ground about a foot, and started working on a cruel message on a piece of plywood. 

“Y/n, just go home.” Steve said firmly when you reached him. Shaking your head you stared up at him. You didn’t know why you were angry. You had no right to be. He wasn’t your problem, and your dads always told you to ignore men and boys like Steve Harrington. 

“Steve, just tell me what happened.” You urged. You shouldn’t be giving him a chance to explain himself, you could have just turned him and his friends in as the vandalizers of the theatre. You should’ve, because you should still be angry over Jonathan’s camera. 

“What does it matter?” He questioned while you grabbed the sleeve to his navy blue jacket. 

“It matters because that’s public humiliation, not only in general, but to the girl who I’m pretty sure you’re dating?”

Steve only huffed and pulled his arm away from you. “This is why it doesn’t matter. Cause see, you have this little soft spot Jonathan Byers, you’ll defend him no matter what I say.” He huffed, looking away from you and at the letters Tommy was writing with the spray paint. 

“Steve, that’s not fair. You were being a grade A cunt when you broke Jonathan’s camera, okay? And now? You’re acting like a little bitch. Your little feelings are hurt because of something Nancy did, so you’re gonna humiliate her? Stay classy, Harrington.” 

He turned his gaze back to you, glaring. Now his feelings were evident, he was angry and sad. And wouldn’t tell you why. 

“Hey, L/n, wanna know something that even my little sister knows?” Tommy asked, pausing for a brief second and looking down at you, a cigarette between his lips. You quirked up an eyebrow. “Little girls should be seen and not heard.” 

You scoffed a bit at Tommy’s comment, a bitter and fake grin coming across your face as you put your hands on your hips. “I wish I could say I’m surprised that you're a misogynistic piece of shit, but I’m not.” You looked back at Steve, taking a step back from the group. “God. Steve, I thought you could be a good person. But you’re the biggest asshole I’ve ever met”

You went to leave but the moment you turned around, you saw Nancy, close to angry tears as she walked down the alleyway to where you all were. You stood in place, not leaving her side, and not Jonathan’s either as he followed after Nancy. 

“Aw, hey there, princess!” Carol said with feigned happiness as Nancy finally reaches her spot in front of Steve. 

“Uh oh. She looks upset.” Tommy stated the obvious while you gave the couple space, leaning against a parked car and watching as Steve turned to face Nancy. As well as watching while Nancy raised a hand to slap him against the side of his face. The only causing you to flinch being the sound that the three other teens made in reaction to their friend being hit. 

You’d seen worse at school before. Having watched a fight go down where a kid tried to brace his fall after being pushed, and broke the bone in his forearm. You still got shivers whenever you remembered the large bump in his skin where the bone was presing gainst. 

“What is wrong with you?” Nancy inquired. 

“What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with you? I was worried about you. I can’t believe I was actually worried about you.” Steve’s voice trailed off at the end, being followed by a scoff, as if he was disappointed in himself. 

“What are you talking about?” It was clear that Nancy was just as clueless as you were as to what was going on with Steve’s sudden betrayal against Nancy. 

“I wouldn’t lie if I were you. You don’t want to be known as the lying slut do you?” If there was anyone at Hawkins High who you hated more than Tommy, It was Carol. 

“Speak of the devil,” Tommy hopped down from the top of the small set of stairs. “Hi.” He said with a smile, putting the cigarette back in his mouth and wrapping an arm around Carol. 

Turning you saw Jonathan coming closer, his presence finally being registered by the others. It finally clicked. And it seemed to click for nancy too. “You came by last night?” 

“Ding! Ding! Ding! Does she get a prize?”

“Look, I don’t know what you think you saw, but it wasn’t like that.” Looking over to Jonathan he was holding out a hand for you to come over and take. You removed yourself from the situation and went over to your uncle, grabbing onto his sleeve. 

Because at times, he was just the face you knew as your uncle growing up, who bought you your first camera in fifth grade, and bought you lightroom and photoshop in sixth when you were thinking about going into photography in highschool. And right now, he was that familiar face, who could see how uncomfortable you were and was offering comfort. 

“What, you just let him into your room to. . .” Steve gave Jonathan a quick glance before looking back down at Nancy. “study?” 

“Or for another pervy photo session?” Tommy laughed, your grip on Jonathan’s sleeve tightening. 

“We were just-”

“You were just what?” You wished you could intervene, but you couldn’t. Because you didn’t know what happened last night after you left the Wheeler household. “Finish that sentence.” 

You looked up at Jonathan, and saw the way he was looking at the couple. And it slowly made you realize, that this was your aunt. You’d never called her ‘Aunt Nancy’ she was always just ‘Aunt Nan’ to you, and no one ever bothered to correct you. And maybe you were looking too much into things, but she did look very similar to your aunt. 

“Finish the sentence.” Steve challenged. 

Nancy just took deep breaths to stay calm, while you stood and watched as Steve shook his head at her response of choosing silence. “Go to hell, Nancy.” 

Jonathan stepped forward and grabbed onto Nancy’s arm and pulled her back a bit. “C’mon, Nancy. Let’s just go.” 

You went to turn around but Steve began to talk again. “You know what, Byers? I’m actually kind of impressed.” Jonathan and Nancy turned away, beginning to walk to the street again, with you following after until you saw Steve give Jonathan a harsh shove to the back of the shoulder. 

“I always took you for a queer, but I guess you’re just a little screw-up like your father. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah that house is full of screw-ups.” 

The words were getting to you. Because that was your family. Your grandmother, your asshole for a grandfather, and your uncle. And you’d never let words get to you, but these were striking you deep, and hard. But you didn’t turn away, you just kept taking steps like Nancy and Jonathan who tried to ignore the shoving, and Harrington’s cruel words. 

“You know, I guess I shouldn’t really be surprised. An bunch of screw-ups in your family.”

“Steve, walk away.” You snapped turning to him while Nancy told Jonathan to leave it alone. 

“I mean, your mom. . . I’m not even surprised what happened to your brother-” 

You threw the first punch, your dominant hand balling itself into a fist and colliding with Steve’s nose. And the moment you heard the thud of bones cushioned by skin hitting each other, and the deep, yet dull and constant pain in your knuckles you knew you’d made a mistake, even if it felt satisfying to hit him. Because the moment you pulled back swearing and hissing at the pain in your fist, Jonathan had followed your lead. 

Jonathan’s punch had a bit more weight behind it, and made Steve grab onto a pole to regain balance. You started something, but you didn’t know what.

You screamed out at Steve to stop the moment that he tackled Jonathan to the car you’d leaned against, and so had Nancy. 

When Steve had pushed Jonathan onto his back and on the ground, you felt as if the pain was your own, your spine tensing up the moment you heard the thud. 

“Steve!” You yelled while Jonathan switched their positions, rolling them over so he had the better position to hit. You hated that Steve’s friends were encouraging it. Well, at least Tommy was. Carol and Nicole knew when things had to end. 

It happened fast, with barely any time to process it. All you knew was that Jonathan had Steve on the ground a second time, Steve’s face bloodied and already swelling and bruising when the cop car came. Nicole and Carol running off when Tommy told them too. All you knew was that Jonathan hit a cop, and Steve and Tommy ran.

•••

@disneyprincessbuffyannesummers​​​​ @jxnehxpper​​​​ @yllwtaxi​​​​ @songofcosplay​​​​ @potatopooper05​ 

[yourkeeperoftherunners]

6/7: Working From Home (Hedgehog Hybrid!Jungkook)

Rating: G

Characters: Hedgehog Hybrid!Jungkook x Reader (any gender)

Notes: Day 7 of my birthday surprise series. This is part of the Misunderstood Hybrid headcanons I wrote for BTS a while back. Please note that working from home can refer to anyone who does this and it does not specifically reference the current events. I got the idea to write short blurbs after seeing some comical pictures and moments in video conference calls of pets “helping” their owners work. All content is fictional. Please do not repost anywhere!

                                                   ————–

“Of course you don’t wanna work,” you grumbled as you fumbled under your desk, trying to restart the computer. You were trying to fix the issue quietly without waking your hedgehog hybrid Jungkook, who was still sound asleep.

Normally you would be asleep for another hour or so, but today your boss asked you to work from home. In addition, she put you on a last minute conference call with some of your business partners in Europe, which meant you had to get up earlier than usual to make the meeting. Your plan had been to close yourself in your home office, take the meeting, then make breakfast for yourself and Jungkook. But your home computer decided it was an excellent time to not cooperate and work...

You had restarted your internet modem and turned the computer on and off a few times. The screen would show the computer logo for a few seconds, then go black again. It was starting to frustrate you and you were wondering if you were better off hopping in the car and taking the call in the office.

“Jagi?” a sleepy voice murmured.

You nearly hit your head under the desk, but caught yourself as you slowly moved out from under it. You looked over your shoulder to see a sleepy eyed Jungkook outside the office, rubbing a hand across his face.

“It’s so early, why are you up?” he whined as he raised a brow.

You winced and cursed yourself for not closing the door. Damn his good hearing.

“Sorry Kookie,” you apologized, “I have to take a call this morning and I didn’t want to wake you. Only, my computer’s not working and I’m not sure what I can do.”

Jungkook straightened up and pointed to the computer as he shuffled into the office. “I noticed it was slow a few days ago. Can you use your cell phone for the meeting?”

You nodded as you slowly straightened up and picked up your phone from the top of the desk. The young man pointed to the kitchen and suggested you call from there.

“You know how to fix computers now?” you asked, looking a bit bewildered. You knew he was a handy guy, seeing as he managed to figure out how to fix some of the plumbing and other home repairs in your house whenever you were gone. Not that you asked or expected him to do those – he argued that he needed something to keep him busy while you were at work most of the week.

He politely guided you out of the office and insisted he would figure out the problem for you.

                                                  ————–

“I’m sorry it’s on my phone, but my computer had to act up of all days,” you sighed.

“No worries Y/N,” one of your counterparts in the Netherlands reassured you. “I had connection issues with this remote access app. It kept kicking me out until I tried a different browser to launch it from!”

“I’m glad you were able to join the call, period,” your boss replied with an understanding smile. “Great discussion everyone. I’ll have Natalie send out the recap by the end of our day. We’ll update next month, same time.”

Your partners in the Netherlands nodded and bid you goodbye before signing off. Your boss quickly thanked you for jumping on the call last minute, before asking if you could handle your workload at home.

Before you could reply, Jungkook stuck his head out from the office and beamed as he flashed you a thumbs-up. You looked back at your boss and said it looked like you should be all set to work as usual, thanks to your boyfriend.

“He says he fixed the computer,” you replied as you glanced up at Jungkook.

“Now that’s a keeper,” your boss replied. “If you have any problems, let me know and you can come in as usual. We need to work on getting more laptops.” She shook her head, muttering about the delays in getting approval for the request from corporate. “Well, I’m here if you need me. Good luck with the computer and hopefully the boyfriend fixed everything!”

“Thank you,” you replied. You hung up and pocketed your phone as you rose from the table and walked back to the office.

“So, what happened?” you asked as you entered the office. You noticed the screen was up and it had the internet operating like usual.

Jungkook stepped back and rolled your chair over to you. He prompted for you to sit down and you slowly sank into the chair. He smiled as he guided the chair over to the desk and gestured to the hard drive.

“Turns out you had neglected the updates and it was struggling to do them while the computer was shut down,” he explained. “I used your main phone to call I.T. and they helped me work through the issues. Also they were nice enough to run a diagnostics scan remotely and helped remove a questionable file that could have caused some problems if opened. Oh, your browser was out of date too, so I downloaded the newest version too.”

You turned and looked over your shoulder at him in amazement. “Wait, you did all this while I was on that one call?”

He nodded proudly and you stared back in amazement. Part of you was tempted to ask if he was considering a job, seeing as the I.T. team in your company had lost a few bright minds to a bigger company. But maybe that was something to discuss later...

“Thanks Kookie,” you murmured as you settled into the seat. Your stomach made a loud rumbling sound and you remembered you had planned to do the meeting, then make breakfast for him. “I’m so sorry, I had this grand plan of getting the meeting done before you woke up, then I’d make breakfast and keep working from home, and–”

“Y/N, it’s okay,” he stopped you, resting a hand on your shoulder. “And no, you didn’t wake me up. I happened to realize you weren’t next to me and wondered if everything was all right.” He glanced in the direction of the kitchen, then back at you. “What do you want for breakfast?”

“Hmmm...maybe eggs? Some fruit?” you offered. “Kook, I’m done with the meeting, I’ll–”

He raised a hand and began heading to the kitchen. “I’ll make us breakfast, you continue working.”

You made a face and started to protest but he looked back at you, explaining he wanted to do this.

“I don’t mind,” he said. “Actually, I’m happy you’re working from home. It’s nice to be able to do little things for my jagi and see them smile. Besides, if you keep working, you’ll be done sooner, right?”

“Yes...technically speaking,” you replied.

He grinned smugly and closed the door behind him.

“I’ll bring it with your coffee just the way you like it!”

[adventurouspotatoes]

Prompt: An impulse buy leading to intergalactic warfare.

Milo woke up suddenly as he fell to the floor, startled by the aggressive vibration of his phone. He blinked several times, trying to make out the name on the screen through the sleepy blur covering his eyes. A slight groan escaped his lips as he saw the name ‘Brian’ across the display and for a few seconds he debated going back to sleep. However, his curiosity got the better of him and he quickly found himself saying “Accept call.”

Brian and Milo had met during 2208, almost ten years ago, at a summer space camp. Those two months spent on the Lutra Space Station had been incredible and inspired both boys to pursue careers in space tech. For the next eight years, Brian and Milo were inseparable. They spent the majority of their free time together, studying and performing crazy experiments with the hopes of one day becoming famous space explorers like their role models. Unfortunately, as they grew, Milo slowly began to drift away from Brian. His mind was set on realistic goals, he wanted to be the head of the Earth’s Galactic Exploration Program (EGEP) and had been working almost 24/7 since his twentieth birthday to achieve this. Brian, on the other hand, never left his inner child behind and had been slowly building a name for himself as the laughingstock of the EGEP.

Brian and Milo both began working for the EGEP during the winter of 2216, after having completed many intensive space tech programs together. Milo had worked his way up the corporate ladder quickly and was now one of the main technicians on the Galactica spacecrafts - the first and only spaceship built for traveling between galaxies. Although intergalactic space travel had been banned since ‘The Incident’, a small, elite team of specially trained technicians was tasked with maintaining and enhancing the range of Galactica models. This project was kept strictly confidential at a national level and was self-funded by the EGEP, whose “task is to ensure Earth is prepared for any future by broadening horizons in the field of space exploration”, as their digital leaflets state in bright, attractive colours. Brian had also dreamed of being on this team; however, his wild talk of becoming a Galactica pilot had kept him at the lowest branch of the EGEP. In fact, he had managed to cling to his current job only by a thread, one strung out to him by Milo, who spent many hours on a monthly basis convincing his bosses that his friend deserved a spot within the EGEP, despite his occasional mad ramblings. These affairs eventually caused a strain between the young men and they rarely spent time together these days, which is why Brian was pleasantly surprised when Milo’s sleepy hologram appeared through his phone screen.

“It’s 2 am, Brian. And we have work tomorrow. What could possibly be up?” Milo groaned into his phone.

“Well, my dear friend Milo, the sky, space, Andromeda depending on where you stand, and now you, too, are up.” Brian grinned. “It’s late, I know, but I have a very good reason for calling you at this ridiculous hour. I can’t say much on the phone but meet me at our spot in the woods in an hour. You’ll want to see this.” His voice was hushed as if he was worried about being overheard yet there was still a certain bounce to his words, a hint of excitement which Milo hadn’t heard in Brian’s voice for years.

The clear night sky sparkled with the shine of millions of stars, while the moonlight illuminated Milo’s path through the woods. The hills and woods behind EGEP headquarters were the best places for stargazing due to their remote location. The air around the base was the cleanest on Earth, with an Air Quality Index of 71 and getting better by the year with the new advancements in air purifying technology. The flora and fauna here was also the most diverse, providing a home to 80% of the Earth’s remaining species. Milo loved walking through these woods for those very reasons, he liked to be close to nature, to really feel the Earth in a way not many others could.

Brian was pacing rapidly with a big grin on his face when Milo approached him. “So what’s this big secret you woke me up in the middle of the night for then?”

“It’s a little further away, on the other side of the woods. I’ll tell you as we walk.” Brian replied, turning to walk further away from the EGEP base. Milo followed him quietly, waiting to hear his best friend’s newest idea and secretly hoping it wouldn’t land them in trouble in the morning. “So I was scrolling through the backstreet online market… through an encrypted device, don’t give me that look! Anyways, I was looking for some quality hybrid bud, the kind you only get on other planets, when I came across something amazing. Now, it’s a little out there and I know you might think I’m crazy at first but just try to keep an open mind, okay?” Brian smiled at his friend, though his eyes gave off a slight air of nervousness.

“The last time you told me to keep an open mind we ended up buried in lunar soil and the principal made us… OH MY SWEET ROCKS BRIAN WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?” Milo yelled and stared frantically from his friend to the object just 200 paces away from them. It was an exact replica of the Galactica 400X, except for the colouring. “I know how it looks but come on Milo, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Some ex-EGEP technician rebuilt this model and he was selling it for a very decent price and…”

“Wait… WAIT. You are thinking of FLYING this thing!? As your best friend, Brian, it is my job to tell you that you have officially gone off the space pipes! We are not going to space on our own without even a trained pilot let alone the fact that intergalactic travel has been banned for hmm... FOUR HUNDRED YEARS. I mean what were you thinking?” Milo exclaimed.

“Look everyone thinks I’m crazy and maybe I am but this has been my lifelong dream and damn it I am going to make it happen! I am going to fly a Galactica, Milo, whether you come with me or not. Plus we won’t take any outer space pipes, just a few quick spins round the station. And I have been doing extensive research on piloting one.” Brian replied and made his way towards the entrance of the spacecraft. After a few moments Milo groaned and ran into the ship behind him.

They had looped around the station a few times and taken in the magnificent views of Earth, although far less green than it once was, when suddenly the blood drained from Brian’s face. He looked at Milo and gulped. “Try not to panic but… well…” Brian stammered.

“What is it, Brian?”

“I’ve lost control of the spacecraft, I can’t take us back, and I have no idea where we are heading.”

Milo laughed until he realised Brian wasn’t joking, at which point he continued laughing but this time at the absurdity of his life. He looked outside at the vast darkness interspersed with tiny spots of light in the distance and thought of how insignificant he was compared to it all. This thought always gave him comfort in a time of worry.

“Look, Brian, I know we have drifted apart in the last few years and that the guys at EGEP haven’t always been the kindest to you, but I want you to know I love you, man. You’re my best friend and I honestly couldn’t think of anyone else I would rather end up dying on an illegal spaceship with.” Milo smiled at Brian who let out a loud snort. They stood like that in silence for a while, waiting to see what was in store.

“CAUTION! CAUTION! Accelerating speed to intergalactic levels. Please remain seated and keep all seat belts fastened.” The sudden computerized yell startled both men who stared at each other in terror as the spacecraft sped past a sign which read ‘Andromeda Space Pipe - Fast Track’. A few seconds later, once they flew through the Andromeda pipe line entrance, a loud, piercing sound began to radiate outside the ship. “Oh fuck,” Brian exclaimed.

“What could possibly be worse than this?” Milo stared at him.

“So you know how I like to research alien civilizations, especially those of Andromeda… Well, the residents of Stellaris communicate mainly through sounds and… Oh, Milo, I think we’ve started an intergalactic war.”

[wcamino-confessions]

hi I’ve been waiting for species to come up in here, and now that it has, hold on to your asses boys we’re going for a ride

it’s another long one, sorry, but I’m very passionate about the species debate and whether or not you agree with me, you can’t say I’m wrong with some of these points

firstly, species are various ‘hybrids’ or evolutionized/mutated subversions of cats that are commonly found around amino. sometimes they’re simply cats with odd traits that serve no real purpose and were mainly created for aesthetic. some more popular species include delicats, mermyxns, and slimetails. each species has traits that are specific to their genes, although MOST (not all) have the same base traits (horns, wings, steam, fish tails, spikes, random inanimate objects as tails, socks, bandaids, unnatural whiskers, antennae, glass body parts, liquidated body parts, etc).

species really got big upon the first notable creation of warriors species called slimetails back in late 2018/early 2019. the cats featured various colored, themed, textured and substanced tails made from slime after radioactivity consumed the clans homes and resulted in the genetic mutation. they grew very popular very quickly as they were, and are, an open original species. from there, species quickly took off with the members of WA, and with no regulations about who could make them and how you went about doing so, they were quickly overwhelming. well, maybe overwhelming isn’t the right term. the community absolutely ate up the prospect of unnatural, oftentimes irrelevant, cats with pretty features and levels of trait rarity. they’re still a very popular aspect of WA today.

and in today’s standards, they are oftentimes associated with a users level of “popularity.” although this is definitely not the case with all species owners and affiliates, no one can deny that the only reason some members are popular is because of their status as creators, GA’s, or fervent members of that species communities. now, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does tend to rile small bouts of drama in some cases. luckily, they usually remain off of WA, or at least out of the BIG drama category of WA. but there is plenty of drama associated with species nonetheless.

firstly, there is the matter of relevancy that needs to be addressed within species. although the LT did reform their guidelines to ensure that all species do have some form of relation to the warriors books in their lore, we haven’t seen much of a change. in order to “abide” by this new guidelines, many species creators simply said that the cats in their species could be found living in clans either in the wild, on their own accord, or as a whole. WITHOUT altering their lore as required. that’s all fine and dandy. but how does it derive species from the books? well. it doesn’t. because in order for a species to be truly relevant to the warriors fandom, they must have descended DIRECTLY from one of the five clans in the books, or a tribe. rogues and loners, while apart of the series, have never been found to go off and create their own clan(s) for the fun of it. and we have no reason to believe that would change in the series. even the Skyclan cats didn’t reform Skyclan for shits and giggles. they were influenced by clan cats and received prophetic dreams from Starclan cats that basically guilt tripped them into doing this really random thing that they otherwise wouldn’t have even known of.

so, in all technicality, rogue/loner species derivatives do not pertain to the books. in order for a species to be genuinely, unquestionably relevant to warriors they need to either be mutated/evolved counterparts to the clans/tribe, or they need to, by direct lineage, be related to the original clan cats. of course no one expects you to go draw up a family tree on how your flying monkey cats have someone come from Firestar the Greats bloodline. but simply saying so isn’t enough. if they’re truly relevant to the books, then species owners need to add it. to. the lore. yeah, that guideline has already been passed. but it was not followed efficiently. your quirky cats with a clan/tribe hierarchy or something similar to such does not make them relevant. fix the damn lore like the guidelines originally stated. oh, and sorry to break it to you, but this means that your mythical god-like cats, your robo-cats, and your human object cats are immediately out of the running for relevancy. I can see how wings might have some semblance of realistism, but your sparkly candle tailed cats or cats who grow moss in cute little bubbles serve no evolutionary purpose and wouldn’t have any possibility of existing within the warriors universe.

now, onto the next topic of relevancy: evolution. some people say that cats developing fish tails or wings defies the laws of evolution. it probably does. but then again, we are dealing with four territorial cult cats who are very religious and, on occasion, will fight ghost cats and lose so. I’m actually defending species on this part, but don’t get used to it. because in all honesty, who are we to defy the lengths that evolution will go to? we didn’t expect fish to grow legs, but here we are. who’s to say that in this hypothetical universes cats can’t evolve to accommodate wings? don’t get me wrong, I hate the idea of it, but it isn’t COMPLETELY unreasonable.

next on the agenda, we have attribute individuality. granted, there are only so many different ways to make your species unique and really genuinely original, seeing the same handful of base traits repeat themselves in multiple different species (that could honestly just be considered one species altogether) does get old. there are not infinite options for creating a species that is going to be genuinely relevant in some remote aspect, and at some point people need to realize its time to stop. new species sprout up on what seems like a monthly basis on several occasions. and, although they don’t always get big, they still hold a place in clogging the latest feed. specifically with their borderline unacceptably irrelevant adopts. species really test the limits in relevancy, and so do adopts, but that’s for another day. and I’m not saying adopts are bad, so don’t single that out from this entire confess.

there’s another thing. species adopts. they’re constantly flooding the latest feed and drowning out actual warriors/oc related content. “it’s not your place to tell people what they should and shouldn’t post!” yeah, no dip. that’s not what I’m doing. I’m simply expressing my grievances with the amount of UNBEARABLY absurd species adopts that are constantly being uploaded and sold. and pricing? yeesh, that’s also for another day. but I am, again, not blatantly telling anyone to “stop posting species adopts!” or “lower your prices!” so that’s not something that needs to be brought up. so, whether or not you continue to post species adopts is your business. I’m positive that plenty of people adore them and are eating them up like candy. but, coming from a rare non-species lover, it does get tiring to trudge through all those horned bases and eye bleed neons to find some actual content.

don’t get me wrong, I’m not against species, per se. but I am against them being on WA. they don’t serve any actual purpose to the fandom in terms of relevancy. in most cases at least. and while I do applaud the creativity, the uniqueness and the overall joy it brings to the table, I just think that they’d be better off elsewhere. this is not a cat amino. this is a warriors amino. meaning we are only inclusive of cats pertaining to the warriors fandom for validated use in the community. validated use consists of realistic role playing, realistic story writing, realistic artistry and/or realistic character development by any means. so, looking outside of species, any unrealistic characters are still fine for the community because they cannot actually be implimented into WA in the ways that species can for their unnatural complexions. the only reason species are justified for their unnatural complexions is because of loopholes that make them seem relevant and viable for validated use, simple because they are completely feline in the genetic sense.

I hope that paragraph made sense, shit got a little complex right there. but, anyways, I’d like to reiterate relevancy. again. because I don’t see anyone giving up their species on WA for the sake of being canonically relevant because they’re going to find some off the wall way to make their quirky cats seem applicable. to be fair, I wouldn’t want to give up by hard earned creation so easily either. but there ARE other places to take them. and it isn’t up to us to figure out where, it’s up to the species owners. so it’s not like the species would be thrown out altogether, it would just be the irrelevant ones. and the relevant ones would be required to ACTUALLY abide by the guidelines instead of finding loopholes or countering valid points as to how their species are not canonically derived with “they lives in clans.” again, sorry if this paragraph was hard to follow. I’m perfectly fine with clearing up any misunderstandings in those last two paragraphs^^

so, to sum up, I believe the guidelines should be fixed and species should be properly mandated to abide by these new guidelines in order to ensure ACTUAL relevancy. I don’t like species. I don’t want anything to do with them. but I like that they bring a new sense of community and likeness to WA. and I don’t give a rats ass if you choose to associate with them. I personally believe that NONE of the species have any place on WA, but that would be unfair of me, wouldn’t it. so, I did my best to accommodate rationality in this entry, and I apologize if I came off as a stuck up bitch at any point. it wasn’t my intention, but I sure it did happen at some point.

oh, and let me derail any “WA would be boring if it were 100% relevant” arguments. because firstly, it WAS 100% relevant when it first started out, and it thrived. secondly, no where did I claim that species need to be 100% relevant. I made it very clear that it was the lore and the traits that needed to match up to accommodate the terms of relevancy. and thirdly, even on the off chance that species were subtracted from the equation, there are still plenty of other aspects that leave WA out of the running for total relevancy. thank you for coming to my ted talk, have a nice day loves <3

[straykidsnerd255]

Forever Mine; Count Lucio x Hybrid Reader

 Game: The Arcana

Character: Count Lucio x Fem hybrid reader

Genre: Fluff- Shit ton of fluff

Song used: All I want is everything- Victorious

Memory

“One day only! Come see the magnificent giant white wolf!” A man yelled, making her ears flatten against her head. The damned cage she was in was too small and her body was aching and cramped. Her ears picked up when a deep but smooth voice began talking. “Let me see this so-called ‘giant’ Wolf.” The voice said. The cage around her opened and a chain was instantly thrown around her neck. She whined but didn’t do anything. Her blue eyes scanned the area as they led her out. “I’ll buy her.” The same voice said. “I-I’m sorry?” The man said. “Count Lucio, I don’t think that would be a wise choice. This wolf is wild and nothing but trouble.” The man said. The blonde haired male seemed concerned as he walked over to the massive wolf. His right hand reached up and patiently waited for her to drop her nose down. She did so and her entire body screamed out for him. 

“I’m taking her. Here is the money.” He said, placing a massive bag of money on the man’s hand. He took the chain and she gladly stood and followed after him. Her tail wagged and her tongue lulled out of her mouth as she finally was able to breath. Her blue eyes looked down at the blonde male that held the chain connected to the collar around her neck. “You may call me Lucio.” The male said, making her look down at him. She dropped her nose and pressed it against his cheek startling him but ultimately allowing a gentle smile to appear on his lips. He raised his metal arm and placed it against her nose. His eyes closed and he stayed that way for a bit before dropping his hand and looking forward. She could sense that something was wrong and proceeded to lay down. She gently grabbed the back of his suit and tugged him back towards her. 

Lucio was confused and almost fell backwards but he noticed that she was trying to comfort him. He looked at her bright blue eyes and a small smile covered his lips. “Thank you.” He whispered and moved towards her. He climbed onto her back and immediately laid against the fur. His eyes began growing heavy as lack of sleep caught up with him. She slowly rose to her feet and headed for the palace. People didn’t think it was natural for a massive wolf such as herself to be wandering around but no one seemed to care in the least. As she came close to the palace, she could see people panicking and yelling orders to others. She tilted her head and allowed a soft bark out to catch their attention. 

Lucio paced around the dining room. “What is taking her so long to get ready?” He wasn’t angry, he was just scared that she had moved on and didn’t want to see him. “Relax Count Lucio.” Portia said walking into the dining hall smiling brightly. “It took a little longer because she still isn’t quite used to wearing dresses.” Portia said helping the count back into his chair and walking back over to the door. “I present to you, Y/n.” Portia said opening the door. Lucio could feel his heart begin pounding hard in his chest. His eyes could only stay on her as she walked into the room. Her blue eyes still shone beautifully. Her hands had clasped together in front of her. Her hair was drawn back into a beautiful bun. Her make was on point. Most importantly, the dress. The dress had been a gift from a young girl and he never had the use for it ever since Nadia left him. 

His eyes widened when he saw the dress she wore. “You look beautiful.” Lucio said. She felt a blush find its way on her cheeks. She tried to cover her face but Lucio took her hands gently in his and a soft smile played across his lips. “Don’t hide your face darling. You are beautiful. Don’t hide that from me. From the world.” He said placing a small kiss on the back of your hand. She felt her heart begin pounding in her chest as she watched the Count kiss her hand. “I wouldn’t get too comfortable, little wolf.” She jumped and backed away holding her head with her hands. 

Lucio could see that something wasn’t right. “Guards, get Julian up here stat.” He said. The guard nodded his head. Lucio turned and faced the shriveled and scared female with sad eyes. Julian soon arrived and ushered the female into a closed room. Lucio paced the floor waiting for his friend to come back out. When Julian came back out, he noticed that something wasn’t right with him either. “Julian what’s going on?” Lucio asked, looking at him. Julian pulled him aside. “Where did you find her?” He asked sternly. Lucio explained everything to Julian. “Shit.” Julian cursed and ran his fingers through his hair. “That man. He must have placed a charm on her that if she even remotely felt comfort of any sort, a sickening and scary voice would pull her away making her wickedly wild and scared if anyone came near her.” Julian said looking at Lucio. “If you want her to calm down and not have this problem, you need to confront the man that had her before.” Julian said leaving the palace.

Lucio walked into the room and saw her figure laying on the bed and sleeping. He walked over to her side and sat down softly. He ran his right hand through her hair before stopping at her cheek and gently running his thumb over them. His heart raced as she moved closer to his hand. His entire being melted when she reached out and took his hand in hers and nuzzled her cheek against his hand. He leaned down and pressed his forehead against hers. “Don’t worry. I will take the pain away. I promise.” He whispered. He pressed his lips against her forehead and stood from his spot. 

He turned towards the door and walked out. “I want guards positioned by this room at all times. I don’t want anyone getting in that room.” He said sternly. ‘At least, not till I get back.’ He thought. He stormed out of the castle and headed into town. Seeing the same cart that had her locked away, he growled lowly and briskly walked towards the entrance. His eyes narrowed and he looked around. “Ah the Count has returned. What can I do for you? Have you come back because the wolf was too much?” The man that stood before him had a wicked grin on his face and look in his eyes that made Lucio want to punch him square in the jaw.

“Yeah. I want you to stop hurting my beloved before I round kick you in the ass.” He snarled crossing his arms. The man backed away and started shaking. “W-What ever do you mean? I have done nothing to that beast- I mean wolf.” He said. Lucio growled. “DON’T call her a beast you mangy mutt.” Lucio hollered. The man shivered and nodded his head. “Alright, I placed a separation spell on her. If she begin to get comfortable with someone other than me, a voice tells her not to get too cozy.” He said. Lucio slapped his metal arm against the table breaking it in half. “Remove. That. Spell. NOW!” He demanded glowering at the shivering male. 

{Time Skip- 3 years Later}

Lucio watched as his two dogs and Y/n bounded around the backyard. Her wolf and human forms had become Mercedes and Melchior’s favorite being other than Lucio. Y/n soon walked over to Lucio and sat in between his legs. He smiled and sat up. He ran his fingers through her hair and started braiding it. “Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?” Lucio asked, moving his right hand down and under her chin, tilting her head up so she was looking at him. She smiled and used her arm power to press her lips against his. His eyes closed instantaneously and his hand found her hands. “I love you.” He whispered when they parted. 

She smiled and laid her head on his leg. “And I love you too Lucio.” She whispered back. Mercedes and Melchior came bounding over to them and laying across Y/n’s lap with their tongues lolled out of their mouths. Y/n ran her hands across their fur smiling like a child. Lucio watched with adoration in his eyes as you petted his dogs. “One day, me, you, and the dogs should go out and do a little hunting together.” Lucio said smiling down at her. “That sounds like a wonderful idea Lucio.” Y/n said standing up. She turned towards Lucio and held her hands out. He took her hands and was instantly pulled up. He looked down to see their hands intertwined. 

“Finally fallen for me have you?” Lucio asked. You smiled softly. “Yeah. I guess I have fallen for ya.” She whispered, pressing her face against his chest and blushing. He chuckled brightly before spinning her around. Lucio was her everything. Had he not rescued her from her hell, she wouldn’t know what would have overcome her at the moment she was being led out to the crowd. Lucio looked down before leaning closer. He smiled softly before pressing lips against hers. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she returned the kiss. His arms wrapped around her waist and tightened. Pulling apart, the count began swaying. A soft breeze moved through the garden, shifting his cape and her hair. She knew right then and there, she was in a place she wouldn’t want to leave.

Enjoy!!<3

[i-know-i-can]

Long post ahead my dudes.

I just don’t understand why we are opening schools at a time where the cases of this virus are astronomical compared to when they closed school 5 months ago in March. I wish my university decided to hold remote/virtual classes for the first few weeks of class.

3 of my 4 classes that I am taking this fall are hybrid, which means “Combination of in-person and online. Your instructor will divide enrolled students into groups and create a schedule for each group. You are expected to be in the classroom on a regular basis and will also have days where you receive instruction online. The exact schedule and online activities will vary from class to class.”. My other class is completely online (something that I registered for before coronavirus was a concern). I don’t know about y’all but the whole “you are expected to be IN THE CLASSROOM on a regular basis” does NOT sit right with me. I do not like the thought of a university and or professor telling me that I have to go to campus for instruction. I personally learn better face to face than I do via zoom, but when there is a GLOBAL PANDEMIC I do not feel comfortable going to fricken class and being around my classmates who are from all over the damn country. Like shit I don’t even want to go to the grocery store in my college town, let alone campus. In emails that they sent out they’ve also said “More face-to-face and hybrid courses have been added to increase opportunities for in-person instruction.” like what? Do they not understand that cases of this virus are going to SKYROCKET after classes start back as is?

I also have gotten NO EMAILS from my professors. You would think that they would have sent at least an email touching base and explaining how they are going to facilitate their courses. I don’t understand why my univeristy isn’t pushing faculty to send us this email before we all travel back to campus. I know for a fact (from talking to my friend who is registered with the Office of Disabilities) that one of my professors is giving/allowing us the option to chose whether we want to attend class in-person or if we want to have online instruction. I should add that he is allowing us to choose on a person by person basis and not as a whole class, so each person can choose what they want to do. I don’t understand why we haven’t gotten an email about it. This specific class is the only class that is required for my major this semester (my major has a specific order you have to take classes and the classes are only offered during certain semesters), and several of my classmates only take the class that is required of them that semester. So what I’m trying to say is that they are only taking this one class (and they have the choice as to whether they want to take it online or in-person), but they don’t know this so they are traveling to campus and moving into their apartment only to be told that they could have stayed at home (and saved the money that they spent on furniture, groceries, etc.) if they wanted to. Long story short, I don’t understand why the university isn’t pushing faculty to email their students to explain to us how they are holding classes.

Oh and might I add they did tell us that when we leave for thanksgiving break we won’t be coming back to camps and that the week of class that we have left would be remote/online to “avoid unnecessary risks caused by holiday travel”. Like I get it, but what about the thousands of out of state students who will have to take a flight, or drive several days by car, in a couple of weeks so they can attend their IN-PERSON classes that start on the 19th?! They are at a huge risk too! But no all they care about is whether or not we are having a football season in our newly renovated stadium that cost the univeristy $107.7 MILLION to renovate.

My university is also making ALL faculty, staff, and students get tested for the virus within 14 days of returning to campus, and we have to have tested negative before we even step foot on campus. While I understand where they are coming from with this policy, I disagree with it. The COVID-19 test is only good for that one moment. If I get tested for COVID-19 (and didn’t have it), and then went to the store (where I get it from someone), the test would come back negative, when in reality I would have the virus and unknowingly at the time spread it to family, friends, and classmates. Unless we are constantly getting tested throughout the semester, then there is really not point to this policy being in place for when we arrive at the university.

Oh and last thing. Apparently the housing department has decided to move like half of the freshman class into off campus apartments instead of them living in on campus dorms (I guess bc virus concerns and they want to limit how many students are residing in a dorm), without the students and their guardians prior knowledge. Might I add that this is ending up costing these students to pay approximately $2,000 more for housing.

I REALLY don’t understand my university’s decisions. I have a feeling that this is going to be disastrous.

Also might I add that a ton of school systems in the state (including the city school system of my college town) are going virtual for at least the first 9 weeks. If they are doing this to protect elementary-high school students and to not put them at risk, then why is my 40,000 student institution choosing to hold in-person instruction?

Oh one more thing (sorry I literally keep editing this post to add more of my thoughts). I am a senior in college and I too desperately want my senior year to be normal so I could enjoy my last year of having the “college experience” but like obviously everything’s changed since the virus. Also I’m not saying don’t go to your college town because the virus if you have the option. I for one am going back (mainly because I don’t have a choice at the moment) because I have way too many distractions here at home, because I’m paying $605 for my apartment (that I haven’t been lived in since March 🙃), and because I have spent the last 5 months with my family (I love them to death but I have not lived with them for longer than 2 and a 1/2 months since August of 2016) and I am going slightly insane.

But like please be careful if you choose to move to your college town, take precautions, also prioritize your health. If your professor if forcing you come to class and you’re really not comfortable with the thought/idea of it, please don’t be afraid to push back; contact your office of student health and wellbeing, or the dean of your specific college at your univeristy. Wear your mask, social distance, and if someone is too close to you and it makes you uncomfortable, ask them to please take a few steps back (if they get mad then pop off).

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk ™

[naturepointstheway]

"I can't sleep" prompt (Alternate Max and Choe because we need more of them)

In which I experiment with an idea that has been marinating in my brain for a while: what if Alt!Max was the passenger in the SUV that totaled Chloe’s beloved hybrid? Takes place in 2011–I see alt!Max at this point as still being a little more like the Max we know from the main timeline, and I’d say something like this would really hit hard for any iteration of Max, be she alt!Max or main!Max. Chloe’s POV.

Chloe hates waking up these days to her immobile, numb body and the neck brace restricting any movement of her head. All she can do when she opens her eyes to the miasma of fatigue and a constant aching in her skull, is just stare at whatever happens to be in front of her or in her peripheral view. She doesn’t want to be alive, doesn’t want to live like this; she wishes–but does not say it aloud–to have died immediately in the crash. So she didn’t have to wake up in hospital, literally unable to move a muscle. So she didn’t wake up to her parents trying and failing to hide their tears of relief when she opened her eyes for the first time since the accident. At least the painkillers meant she hardly ever dreamed, and if she did, she never remembered them on waking up to the same white walls, the same machines attached to or stuck inside her, the same neck brace, the same everything. 

She can’t feel any modicum of relief or happiness that her friends had come in to visit her in the hospital, or at the very least had sent her flowers and cards to the ward. It was nice, but what could she even do with them? And all the flowers and cards and well-wishers in the world would never help her move or feel anything below her neck ever again. What was the point? They were just sorry for her, sending cards with nonsense stuff like “Get well soon!” and “Hope you get better!” and “Thinking of you”. No one offered to help her with anything–any of her favourite music they could bring, along with an ipod and headphones? There was a tv in this room–what about her favourite movies? What she wouldn’t give for a rewatch of Blade Runner. Back to the Future would be nice, or even Groundhog Day. Just anything, anything to keep her mind off her now useless physical state of being. 

If only Max was here–but Chloe hasn’t heard anything of her, not even a letter or card, let alone visit. She wanted to be angry at Max for never rushing to her side, just to be with her But she doesn’t have the energy to even summon any stronger feelings beyond disappointment. She’d forgive Max for not being here in a heartbeat if she ever visited her at all in the hospital. None of her friends mattered nowhere near as much as Max, who wasn’t even here, not yet anyway. She’d help Chloe with anything, surely, doing it in a heartbeat. 

Please don’t abandon me, Max…

Chloe has long lost count of how many days she has been in the hospital, for each today that passes seems exactly like yesterday, and tomorrow would be the same. The only thing that really changed was the sky outside her window–rainy, overcast, sunny, or all three in one hour. The stars moved past her window as they always did, every night. 

The mornings are the same, the afternoons, the evenings, the nights. Always. 

Until she wakes up one late afternoon from yet another dreamless sleep, to see she is not alone on her bed–someone is sitting in a chair brought flush next to the bed, their arms and head resting up against Chloe’s side, carefully avoiding the IV line. She only needs to see the short brown hair to know it’s Max–her Max. Max Caulfield. Chloe’s mouth twitches into a very brief, faint smile, but it’s the first smile in days. 

Chloe strains to say Max’s name, but for the trach newly inserted in her throat, connected by a tube to a ventilator. The neck brace wasn’t helping matters much either.  

“Max?” 

Max doesn’t move, doesn’t react. She may as well have fallen asleep right there in her chair, resting her head and arms on the bed. 

“Hey…Maxine.” 

A little groan. “It’s Max. You know that.” 

Max falls silent, but a second later, her head jolts up, straightening her posture up enough to make eye contact with Chloe, whose smile faded before it even appeared on her lips at all. 

Max looks terrible. Her hair, usually so tidy and cute in its bob style, is limp and looks like it hasn’t been showered for several days. Dark rings shadow the skin under her bloodshot eyes, and her face is so pale that her freckles look even darker than usual. Her clothes, usually tidy and ironed, look like they were fetched from the laundry pile, all rumpled and tired-looking. 

“You look awful,” Chloe remarks. 

Max slumps back on the chair, hands clasped together, shoulders hunched up and tense. She chews her bottom lip, looking like she’s barely holding back her tears. 

“I can’t sleep,” Max mumbles, voice weak and so quiet Chloe had almost missed what she’d said. 

It’s hard to talk, and it wears Chloe out to force her voice box to work, but she doesn’t care. Max is here, and that’s all that matters right now. 

“Why?” 

Max is quiet–too quiet–as she bends forward to rest her head in her hands, hair falling forward to cover her face. 

What I’d fucking give to hug you right now. What the hell happened? 

After what feels like a long minute, Max raises her head again, hands falling limp in her lap. Her eyes lock onto Chloe’s, gaze never wavering away. 

“It’s…it’s my fault,” Max says in a monotonic voice, “But everyone keeps telling me it’s not.” 

Chloe doesn’t have a good feeling about this. Nevertheless, she stays quiet, silently urging Max to continue. She can hear Max’s shuddering inhalation before speaking again. 

“Chloe, I was there.” 

What? She saw–

“I saw everything. I was–” Max’s arms wrap tight around herself, hands gripping at her shoulders. “I was the passenger.” 

“The SUV?” Chloe rasps, a flash of memory passing through her thoughts–the SUV out of control, ramming into the passenger side of the car, the shattering windscreen–

“Yes. I was–am–on a road trip with some friends, and our driver was an older cousin of one of them. Full license and everything.” Max’s fingers grip so tight on her shoulders, Chloe can see the girl’s knuckles turning white. “We ran out of snacks and…and I volunteered to go with my friend’s cousin for more from the grocery store.” 

Chloe can already see where this is going, but she stays quiet, letting Max tell it at her pace, taking the time she needs. 

“It was late, and there was barely any traffic–and she had to go and speed down the roads just because there wasn’t any cars. I’d–I should’ve done something, Chloe. I should’ve. If I’d have known–” Max’s words catch in her throat, and she squeezes her eyes shut for a few seconds before slowly opening them again. “Chloe…I swear, I never want to hurt you. Everything…it’s so fucking unfair. You didn’t deserve this–if I could–I’d do anything if it meant you…you could move again. But I didn’t stop her, and I–I’m…god.” Max’s hands convulse in her lap. “I saw you. It–I hate thinking about it.” A straggling inhalation, followed by an exhalation. “Chloe…I thought you were dead. I saw–I saw you. You were…” Max’s words fail her and she shakes her head, looking away, cheeks wet. 

Fuck. No wonder she can’t sleep. 

“There was…I don’t want to think about it.” 

“Then don’t.” 

“I can’t! I close my eyes, and I don’t want to sleep. Because I know–I know I’ll see everything again. I don’t want to sleep. Ever again.” Max’s fingers rake through her limp hair, stilling on her scalp. “There was so much glass. So much blood. You were…I thought…your parents should hate me right now–but they don’t. They say–they say it’s not my fault. But Chloe, I can’t help thinking it. If I’d done something–”

“Max.” 

Chloe’s forceful use of Max’s name shuts the other girl up, blue eyes locking back on hers. 

“Not. Your. Fault.”

Silence. Max’s eyes do not waver from Chloe’s face, but nor does she speak again. 

“You weren’t driving…right?” 

Max shakes her head. 

“You didn’t know what would happen.” 

Another shake of her head. Chloe tries her best to smile, aching so much to get up and pull Max into her arms, let her cry into her shoulder, it’s bordering on torture. 

“See?” Chloe wishes it wasn’t so hard to talk. “Not your fault. Mom and dad were right.” 

“I hope so.” 

“I know so.” 

“I wish I could believe that, Chloe.” 

Max just stares down at her hands, looking, if possible, even more despondent than before. Chloe wishes she could move her arms, just so she can grab Max’s shoulders, shake some sense into her, make her see that no one held her to blame, believed her to be at fault. She wants to be able to walk, so she can grab Max and take a walk with her to the only actually decent cafe in the hospital, because she looks like she hasn’t eaten in days either. 

Chloe might not be able to hold Max ever again, but still, she could think of the next closest thing. It wouldn’t be remotely the same, but still. If it gave Max comfort…

“Max?” 

“Yeah?” Max’s voice is barely above a whisper. 

“Come here.” 

She hesitates at first, a long moment passing before Max stands up, shaky on her feet, her hand reaching out to the side-table to stabilise herself as she shuffles up next to the bedside, looking down at Chloe with swollen eyes. 

Chloe offered a small grin, gazing up at her friend. “Damn. You’re so much taller. That growth spurt finally came.”

Max looks down at her own feet, then back up at Chloe’s face. “Really?” 

“Max…” 

“Yeah?” 

“I can’t hug you, but…” Chloe has to pause to rest her voice for a few moments. “Would it help if you…held me?” 

Max’s eyes widen as Chloe’s words sink into her. “You sure?” 

“Sure.” 

Several seconds of hesitance pass before Max carefully sits on the edge of the bed, facing Chloe, leaning to carefully tuck one arm under her shoulders, the other around her chest before resting her head on Chloe’s. Chloe closes her eyes, grateful she can at least feel Max’s warm, but still damp with tears, cheek on her forehead. She hears shoes tumble to the floor–one, two–before Max pulls up her socked feet onto the bed, so she is resting against Chloe. It’s not an easy feat by any means for them both to fit on the same bed, but not impossible. Chloe opens her eyes again, glances down at her feet under the blankets, at Max’s resting next to hers. 

“Oh…still a midget,” Chloe teases in a whisper, “Thought you’d grown taller for a moment there.” 

A muffled sniffle, a little noise that might’ve been the weakest of giggles. 

“Thanks, Chloe.” 

Another moment, quiet and filled with the gravity of Max’s remorse and the grim state of her own body. 

“Not your fault, Max. Not your fault.”