#which is a big chunk of the meat of the show

[zjofierose]

we have been rewatching the mid-2000’s Battlestar Galactica, which i have seen before, and i was realizing last night that part of why i was feeling very meh about it is that, as a bisexual, it is very unusual for me to find basically no one in the cast attractive, but in BSG i really… don’t? like, character or actor, either one. which is wild! there’s a lot of characters! i don’t really find… any of them? compelling? and same with the actors of all genders? there are some that are like… ok. jamie bamber is reasonably hot, but he’s got a bad dye job and apollo is the sort of hotheaded dick i don’t generally go for. dualla is pretty, but a completely uninteresting character. i find starbuck and the chief and callie and boomer and helo and gaius and gaeta and six all actively off putting.

it’s just weird!! as someone who is attracted to all genders, it’s just really unusual for there to be no one in a cast of this size that piques my interest.

[ms-demeanor]

Hey, are you a broke motherfucker trying to save money on groceries and attempting to plan for having food in the house at the end of the month? Do you have a good system for storing frozen meat? If you don't, here's how I do it:

Large Bastard called me when I was at the plasma center (we're broke motherfuckers!) to tell me that Aldi had nearly expired pork chops (use or freeze by tomorrow) for 50% off, so I told him to get 4 packs.

I keep my freezer pretty full with homemade stock, frozen meat, frozen veggies, frozen fruit, and g-free bread, so I can't just stick the big packages of pork chops directly in the freezer, and besides if I do, the pork chops will freeze to each other and then I'll have to thaw the whole mass of them if i want to cook them, which will increase thawing time.

So what I do instead is make an accordion of waxed paper and fill it with pork chops.

This ends up saving a ton of space, and means I can choose to thaw 8 pieces or 1 piece or however much I need at a time.

3 packs stored this way are smaller than 1 pack from the store.

The final accordion of meat gets wrapped in a layer of waxed paper, then put into a freezer bag with the air pressed out, and now if I don't have cash for groceries I've still got something to eat.

This is also the way that I save meat that is close to its spoilage date that I won't be able to cook before it goes bad. If you stick a family pack of chicken breasts in the freezer, you have a family pack of chicken breasts to thaw. If you put them into little waxed paper envelopes, you've got single serving packets that you can easily toss into a soup or bake from frozen.

This is ALSO pretty much the technique I use to freeze banana slices when my bananas are going brown and I'm not in the mood to bake, only I freeze them on a cutting board before breaking them off and sticking them in a bag when they're frozen.

Freeze wet stuff in individual pieces, not big chunks, so you don't have to break up big chunks to use your frozen food.

I know this probably seems pretty obvious to a lot of people, but it wasn't obvious to me until a couple years ago because nobody ever showed me how to do it and I didn't grow up in a family that cooked a lot.

[thewertsearch]

One down.

"One Act, right?"

No, not kids! I mean these curtain dealies. I still need to set up, what, like another five of these rigs? God dammit.

Six sub-Acts, then - and the first ended the same way Act 1 did, with a seemingly-fatal explosion at the Egbert/Crocker household.

Sounds to me like these six sub-Acts will be 'remixes' of Acts 1 through 6, with events that 'rhyme' with the B1 session. I doubt we'll be rehashing everything, but I think I can make a couple of educated guesses about the path we'll be treading.

Act 6.1, as we've just seen, was dedicated mostly to wacky shenanigans in our protagonist's home, as well as hints of intrigue surrounding their friends. It ended with our hero in mortal peril - although everyone knows they're not really in any danger. The story just got started, after all!

Act 6.2 will probably be similar, but I expect to see Roxy and Dirk take to the stage with their official introductions. It may also introduce Jane's Exile, which had better be a Problem Sleuth character at this point.

By Act 6.3, most of our heroes are entering the Medium, and we've come to understand their lives a little better. We might finally begin to get a sense of the Guardians' personalities - and if we're lucky, the Earth's First Guardian might finally show its face.

Act 6.4 is when things will go horribly, horribly wrong, as powerful antagonists finally emerge from the woodwork to wreak havoc on the session. It might be Jack, again - but it could just as easily be the Condesce, or Lord English himself. The session, at this point, seems almost unsalvageable.

If we're really lucky, Act 6.5 will bifurcate again, and we'll start with a remixed version of Hivebent - this time, with the pre-Scratch trolls, explaining what really went wrong with their session. Then, 6.5.2 will compose the meat of the B2 session, as the kids rally, and try to salvage this new mess.

Scratching isn't an option this time - or, at least, I don't think it is - so I'm not sure what'll happen here. I definitely expect to see some God Tier ascensions, and I'm sure the B2 kids will have some crackpot solution for whatever's tearing their session apart.

Finally, we come to the end of our story - Act 6.6, where the callbacks begin to get recursive. I have no idea what the shape of this Act is going to be - except that it'll undoubtedly involve kids and trolls from at least four timelines finally coming together to end the English problem once and for all.

And that, ladies and gaydies, is my big-picture prediction for the rest of Homestuck. As always, I'm sure a good chunk of this speculation is way off-base - but I am confident that, broadly speaking, the next six Acts will be reflections of the previous six. I'm here for it!

[bighungrywolf]

Dan looked at himself in the gym locker room mirror somewhat disappointed with the progress he was making. He had been training his pecs today, and even with the pump he had received from his workout his chest didn't look as big as he wanted it to. It was then that he saw out of the corner of his eye a guy admiring how he was strapping his pecs in front of the mirror, while trying without much success to conceal a clear erection. At the sight of that boy, so weak compared to his great body, an internal fire was lit inside him, a flame that needed embers to ignite even more.

When their gazes met, the boy looked away, pretending he was on to something else. This excited Dan even more. "Oooog, I love it when they play coy, it makes them look like a helpless little lamb."

Without missing a beat, Dan walked up to the boy and said:

-Do you like my pecs? They feel better than they look, wouldn't you like to caress them a little?

The boy, completely losing his shyness and seeing himself engrossed by those mountains that were Dan's pecs, got up from the bench, and started rubbing every inch of Dan's pecs, from his erect nipples to his cleavage all sweaty from the friction of those two pairs of pectorals.

-I see you like them, do you want me to show you a trick? I can make them grow," Dan said, still smiling and not taking his eyes off the boy who was working his tits thoroughly. As he said this, he led the boy's hands to his cleavage, pressing them between his two big man boobs. The boy understood as Dan wanted him to admire that part of his pecs, but however, when he went to pull his hands out to touch his nipples again, he realized that his hands were stuck, and not only that, he could feel how a force was pulling him, inserting part of his arms between Dan's two chunks of pec meat, which were starting to look bigger and bigger. -Oooog, I love to see the surprised face of my prey, they never expect this final trick. Wait, now comes the good part- just as he finished saying this, Dan grabbed the boy's head tightly from behind, pushing him on his chest and making him sink deeper into it, after which he let out a deep moan of pleasure- Hmmmmm, yes, now be a good boy, and worship my pecs from the inside, ok?

Soon there would be nothing left of that boy, except a tremendous pec pump in Dan, who at last looking in the mirror was satisfied with the size of his pectorals, though perhaps adding another incautious guy to the equation wouldn't hurt.

[monayen]

how about something sfw for a change? can you do a ranking of who’s best at cooking?

Cooking Headcannons

➷ Paring - Multi x Fem!Reader [Randal's Friends / Ranfren]

➷ CWs - very light mention of consuming blood and cannibalism. that’s about it !!

a/n - i feel like im a bit rusty at pure sfw stuff… but i will try for NNN ~_~ this isn’t a ranking, since a good chunk are either just bad or barely cook. mostly just hcs about food they like, what’d they’d make you, and habits etc. ratmen are excluded cus you know those boys scavenge rather than cook !!! also ignore any mistakes i wrote this really fast

Sebastian

While Sebastian did work at a pizza place for a bit before becoming Randal’s pet, it was just as a delivery boy

I like to think he was in the training process of learning how to make the food, but he got lost before he learned anything skillful. He does have half the recipe for garlic knots memorized though 

A personal hc is that his parents were semi-absent with him (which probably helped lead him to being in the adoption center in the first place), so he survived a lot on sandwiches and microwave meals since they were easy and available

He wasn’t a big fan of it then, but now he craves them a lot. His favorite were the microwaveable kraft dinner mac & cheese cups. Foods like that are a comfort for him, and he’ll love you forever if you manage to get some for him to eat

Luther doesn’t trust him in the kitchen, so even if Sebastian wanted to cook, he wouldn’t be allowed. Deep down, he doubts his cooking skills anyways

Randal

A terrible cook. He has no idea how to properly prepare a meal and his attempts often end in disaster

Randal doesn't understand the concept of recipes or following instructions. He just throws random ingredients together and hopes for the best. “How to Basic” levels of culinary skills

Despite his terrible cooking skills, Randal still insists on trying to make meals for people (or you) to try. Truly believes he's good and everyone else just can’t handle his exquisite tastes

Once, Randal tried to make surprise pancakes for breakfast. He used baking powder instead of baking soda and the pancakes turned out hard as rocks. He still ate them anyway, breaking a couple of his teeth in the process. Don’t worry, they grew back by supper

He used to try to cook at least a couple times a week, but Luther banned him after he 

somehow managed to set water on fire on the stove. Now he’s restricted to just the microwave. Which is alright, just remind him to add the water in his instant noodles before they explode

Randal will also eat almost anything if it's covered in enough sauce or condiments. He's been known to put ketchup on his cereal and maple syrup on his pizza. Swears by it, will probably make you try all his weird food combinations

Satoru

This little show off!

Cooks and bakes purely to give it away to you or Randal. He doesn’t even eat them himself, always insisting you try his new recipe

The reality is that he steals most of his ideas from cookbooks. While he has the skill to execute them, coming up with his own dishes and perfecting them is a bit beyond him—but that’s a secret he keeps to himself!

He’ll sit there, watching closely as you eat his carefully prepared food, studying your reactions and asking if it’s good, like a chef waiting for feedback

But he’s memorized what you like already, and he makes sure to tailor his dishes just for you, hoping to earn your praise when the flavors hit your tongue

Exceptional at chopping, so fast at it you worry he’ll cut a finger off or something if he’s not careful enough. A part of him doesn’t mind if you taste something that has a little bit of his blood in it…

Doesn’t exactly have a favorite meal or food, he likes whatever you like :) is a bit partial to Japanese cuisine though, especially sashimi

Nyon

Nyon's cooking skills are quite limited. As a catman, his preferences lean more towards raw meats and simple  foods. Or whatever Luther gives him

Doesn’t mean he doesn’t like a good home cooked meal, but if you put him in a kitchen with every ingredient and tool that could potentially make something avant-garde or delicious… he’d probably just end up making hard boiled eggs

He does have an odd skill of picking though. Pickled cucumbers, onions, beets, all in unlabeled, merky, mason jars. Has a goal to pickle everything that can be pickled, just to try

Keeps a stash of it in the pantry and munches on them when he gets high. Will share if you ask (he kinda wants you to, pickling takes practice!) 

Nyon has the stance that he’d much rather wash the dishes and put away the ingredients than actually prepare the food, as it’s a lot of effort and stress on his part that’d he’d rather avoid

Nyen

Really only ever cooks for himself. Not a fan of sharing and to be honest… you probably wouldn’t like what he makes anyways

Lots of slabs of undercooked chicken and beef, barely seasoned because “it doesn’t need that.” Protein buff, but not keen on eating beans… or eggs… or fish… Okay, usually just eats chicken to maintain his muscles

Unironically picky, doesn’t eat a lot of what isn’t what he usually eats. If you give him a plate of pasta or something, he’ll just stare at it like you handed him a severed cow head. Even Luther knows this, making sure he keeps the fridge stocked with Nyen favorite foods so he’s in the best condition to get through the day!

Does have a small sweet tooth, so you can coax him into baking if he’s in a good mood. His favorite are raspberry muffins :)

You still might have to do most of the work, but he’ll mix shit and keep track of the dessert in the oven for you. Don’t ask him for anything else—just hand him a muffin and clean up the mess, okay?

Luther

Quite the chef! 

He’s domestic, and even though Randal always begs him to get fast food to eat, he always prefers to make something at home

Uses “passed down” recipes. Passed down from who? Who knows. He keeps them all in a little old notebook, pages yellowed and worn out. The last ingredient in all the recipes is always “love ♡”

He’s also a big fan of those southern mom baking shows, especially during the holiday season, he’ll bake like a madman!

Likes nature, so he does have a small garden in the backyard of the house he’ll tend to when he has the time. Specializes in exotic vegetables you probably aren’t used to eating. Ask him how his kohlrabi harvest is going, he’s quite proud!

The type of humanoid to surprise you with your favorite meal after a long day. Makes enough for everyone, of course, but Luther puts in effort to see the smile on your face when he presents you with it at the dinner table

He does expect compliments after you eat any of his food, even if it’s something as simple as scrambled eggs. It means a lot to him, so don’t forget to do so. He might take it the wrong way if you don’t 

Luther swears up and down that he’d never eat a human. Cannibalism is wrong! But he did get very close to once… just to “expand his pallet”

[gladiatorcunt]

- DIRT IN CHAINS | X.

i can’t wait for the nights with you, i imagine the things we’ll do

cw: kinktober prompt (feet), semi crack treated seriously (he just comes back and says footjob. now.), pseudo incest (step brother & step sister), no shelly or chris 💀, set in the 90’s with brandon lee’s eric, small-ish age gap (reader’s in her early 20’s), fem ballerina!reader, random kurt cobain crush mention, implied inappropriate behavior when reader was 18 and after (nothing explicit but it could be seen as done with certain intent), attempted non con mention (not involving eric or reader)

please do not repost, translate, or feed this work to ai

kinktober 2024

Body of my body, flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone.

If you serve a chunk of still bleeding meat to a gruesome stray dog, then that is love. If you toss a coin to a crow with a glint in its beady eyes, that too is love. Even when you scoff and grumble at the perceived inconvenience and continue your jaunt down the muddy alleyway. You are assuring an animal that you believe it deserves to have its hunger sated and tended to like a toothache. don’t be surprised when gangrene sets in around your ankles and wrists, bracelets made of red jade. They bite for the same reason that you sharpen their teeth and beaks with roadkill and gemstones. It is life’s greatest gift to ever be well fed, such neglect can open a void from which there is no escape. If only your heart could plug up the hole.

The most painful sentences in existence are hypotheticals that start with if. That's why this will be nothing of the sort, hunting season will be successful.

Your step brother Eric was shot about a month ago the night before halloween, and you’re coping by robotically moving through life as if it couldn’t happen to you too. It’s all too easy to succumb to the panic and the grief but you’ve never been wired that way, it’s safer for you to retreat into a cocoon of numbness.

You don’t want to think about where the woman he saved from being raped is, as happy as you are that she’s okay. Knowing any of that would only remind you of the knife Eric got thrown into his back before he was thrown from her apartment window. He lived in the same building and like the good guy your step brother was at heart, burst in the room with the best intentions.

His good deed got him killed, and all you’ve done is play his music on repeat as you rot in your bed. He’d want you to continue your ballet career, hell, he showed up to your recitals and performances more than your own mother. You always ignored how his presence made you feel simultaneously relaxed and confident but also so stressed you’d be worried about pissing yourself on the stage.

Wide smiles and long dark hair that glistened in the theater’s warm lightning, he would always be the one to stand up and whistle first.

Eric’s favorite ballet was your ballet company’s Swan Lake. He kept a picture of you as Odette in one of the pockets of his leather jacket.

Your parents had only been married 4 years, but you’ve changed a lot from the starry eyed 18 year old that mooned over your older step brother and tripped over your pointe shoes.

Your dad started teaching you how to play guitar before he left, when you were 5 and your chubby hands plucked at the wrong strings. Eric wouldn’t leave you alone when you told him the story, and spent an entire weekend getting you caught up on your missed lessons until you both had a swarm of blisters on your fingers.

Now you’ll never see him again, never get caught in the rain when you’ve begged him to drive you home and wish you could tuck a strand of his wet hair behind ear, never hump your pillow and muffle your sounds into your balled up fists because he’s staying in the next room and you have to be quiet.

You’ll never see him with his band again, caught in that weird space between a groupie and a supportive family member. He liked to embarrass you, make big shows out of looking directly at you and coming to the edge of the stage to poke your cheek. He’d ruffle your hair and your cheeks would be so hot, one wrong burst of electricity from the wires attached to their instruments and you’d go up in flames.

You never told your mom but you always wanted a brother, you should’ve known you weren’t gonna have him for very long.

Hangman’s Joke. God, you wish.

“Hey, peach, ya miss me?”

Hand on your heart you think you’re dreaming at first, but you’ve never really had any dreams where Eric was front and center. He haunts all your other ones, regular strange ones where you’re running around department stores and fucking Kurt Cobain but someintes he turns into your step brother, sometimes you fuck them both.

You shoot up in bed, the straps of your lavender silk nightie slip down your shoulders so you pull them back. It’s the middle of the night, and your vision is blurry, but when your eyes focus properly you see him standing in front of your bed.

It’s Eric, your brother, you don’t even care if there was a gas leak overnight that’s got you fucked up or if this reslly is a dream. You can’t pretend to be fine anymore if he’s right here in front of you, suddenly there’s an umbrella over your head in the pouring rain again.

“Eric, oh my god, what the fuck! How are you even- I mean- How the fuck are you alive?”

He sighs, tonguing his cheek and shaking his head. “I’ll tell you all about it later, I promise, ‘m tired, peach. Missed my girl, didn’t she miss me?”

It’s a little cruel because of course you have, but the dulcet tones lull you into nodding. You don’t want to cry, and you’re scared to reach out to touch him because of the chance that he might disappear. Eric’s haunted eyes soften, and he intertwines his bizarrely muddy fingers with yours. There’s warmth, and maybe it’s just your hummingbird heart but you feel a soft rhythmic thumping under his skin.

It’s different, slow as molasses, more like the chiming of a grandfather clock. But Jesus fucking Christ he’s real.

Your sham of a facade shatters as you bring your joined hands down to your breasts, forcing his knuckles to press into your sternum.

Eric pushes you back down on the bed, his knees dig into the mattress on either side of your hips. His stare is intense, dark and enticing as he reaches down to curl his hand around your calves.

“I used to be obsessed with uh, vampires, ain’t that a bitch?” He chuckles, massaging your ankles and staring off into space. “All that mysticism and unimaginable power and all I could focus on was the way they talked about their cravings. How they get hunger pangs like a normal fuckin’ and it’s bearable until it’s not, it consumes them like they’re boilin’ from the inside out.”

You suck in a breath, Eric’s eyes flick over to you immediately.

“Then I look at you and i’m right back in rehab, toes curlin’ at the thought of getting high again. I think I know how those bloodsuckers feel.”

“Eric- Don’t say that.” Your heart seizes up, but you keep yourself from falling off the ledge.

He kisses your ankle, his black lipstick leaving a stain as he leaves a trail of carnage up to your toes. His lips split wide on a fox’s smile, slipping his tongue in the crease between your toes and sucking each one clean, almost like he’s trying to eat your flesh off the bone. He nuzzles his nose into the sole and inhales deeply, taking in the dirt you didn’t wash off in the shower, the plastic hospital smell from your bath mat, your cherry almond scented body wash.

“Yes, all i fuckin’ need, right here.” He whispers, staring at you dead in your eyes.

He flicks his tongue out to taste the high arch of your foot as his hand caresses your still bruised toes. But they’re faded, you quit ballet a long time ago.

“You have pretty feet, y’know that? Always liked helping you lace up your slippers.” Eric laughs “You’d get so fussy about me doin’ them properly but you’d kiss my cheek after, all sweet on me.”

He lavishes every inch of both your feet with his tongue in broad strokes, making out with your toes because he can’t resist sucking them into his mouth one more time.

You moan, fisting your hands in your nightie, your step brother’s back from the afterlife apparently and the first thing he wants to do is get a footjob from his step sister.

Eric tucks his hair behind his ears so he doesn’t have to bother with it for right now, you can tell that this is like one of those moments on stage, he wants your full attention.

He’ll always have it.

You’re the one that pulls your feet out of his grip to slide them down to his crotch. You keep eye contact as you massage his clothed bulge with your toes, rubbing your heel into his balls and applying light pressure here and there.

You blink up at him, too innocent and too worn down by life already all at the same time, “Like that, big brother? Does that feel good?”

Eric grunts, wrapping his hands back around your ankles and pushing your feet further onto his cock.

“Yeah, peach, feels so fuckin’ good, holy shit. Just like that, keep doin’ me like that, baby.”

You bite your lip, nearly tearing through the skin in your efforts to make your newly risen step brother jizz in his ripped jeans. You wish you had psychic powers and had the foresight to know he was coming over, you would’ve put on those socks with the frilly edges and a red rose stitched on the white fabric.

But he’s so worked up from this already, he’s breathing heavily and rocking his hips forward to hump your feet. He’s grinding his teeth together, already so close to unraveling from how much of a little tease you’re being.

You hum and turn your right foot to ghost the edge of your toenail around the tip of his cock. He groans as he twitches and a bead of pre seeps through his clothes, you can trace the outline of his length so clearly you know he’s not wearing any underwear.

The look in his crazed eyes reminds you of all the times he’d take you to the attic of his loft, making up scary stories and playing guitar with you. When you turned 21 he surprised you with a cheesy golden heart shaped locket, with a picture of you two at your parent’s wedding, joking about how awkward you look with each other there. Eric’s penguin style suit and your agitated face that’s partially covered by gaudy turquoise puffy cap sleeves.

He chuckled and said that every time you look at it, you’ll feel nothing but happiness for what those two losers are about to experience.

Part of that experience is you curling your feet around his clothed cock while giving him just enough of a view of your hairy pussy, you forgot to put a pad on so there’s some blood trickling out of you that Eric is just so utterly enraptured by.

His groans are death rattles now, long and pain stricken, at some point he stops humping your feet and lets you worship him like this. Eric kneeling above you, drooling deep in the back of his throat at the sight of his baby sister caressing his painfully hard dick with her cute dancer’s feet.

Your mind is filled with all the pretty shoes you can put on and do this again, you just got a new camera as an early birthday present too.

“You can come if you promise not to leave again, Eric, I'll hunt you down and kill you myself this time.” You promise, digging the ball of your feet into his perineum.

“I crawled out of the earth back to you, didn’t I? Couldn’t let my sweet peach perform alone, she gets stage fright.”

He comes in his pants and you continue to gingerly move your feet along his length, soaking up the cum that wets your toes like a sunflower does sunlight at golden hour.

[deathworlders-of-e24]

Jane, Medical Technician

Part 5

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

“I miss going out,” Jane groaned. With how little foot traffic the med bay was getting, she’d decided to ditch her desk and work from a tablet on the exam table, reclined all the way back so she could lie down. Dr. Huhuma had joined her, hanging up a spare hammock in the exam suite from some surprisingly sturdy cabinets.

“You know?” Jane continued. “Getting together with my friends, dressing up, going to a nice restaurant, catching a movie. I didn’t realize how much… staying in time there’d be on the ship.”

“Well you did sign on for a year long journey,” the doctor said, “I’d have thought someone as smart as you would’ve seen that coming.”

“From a career perspective sure, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, but I totally didn’t think about how much I’d miss getting a decent meal.”

“Didn’t you humans develop the Vending Machines for just this purpose?”

“It’s not the same,” Jane complained. “Even the best dish from the machines still has that weird nano particulate taste to it. Like I know it’s all edible and full of the necessary proteins, but it’s not the same.”

“So tell me Jane,” Huhuma looked up from her work, “if you were back on E24 right now, what would you be eating?”

“There’s this amazing ramen shop a few blocks away from my apartment,” Jane said, mouth watering. “I’d get the gyoza, some takoyaki, and a giant bowl of tonkatsu.” Jane laughed as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Then probably some sesame seed balls for a snack later.”

Doctor Huhuma looked at her a moment, a queer look on her face.

“I only understood about half of that,” she said, “I don’t think my translator is working.”

“Oh, it probably got confused, I guess it didn’t translate the food names correctly.”

“So what is all that you were talking about?” she asked.

“Regional food from a country on my planet called Japan. It’s absolutely delicious, especially the takoyaki,” Jane explained. “The meat and the dough taste so good with… remind me real quick, Indoprimes are vegetarian right? Sorry.”

“Oh no, it’s no problem,” Huhuma brushed her apology aside, “our diet is mostly fruits and vegetables sure, but we still have meat on occasion. See?” Huhuma opened her mouth and pulled her cheek aside, showing a marvelous set of canines and other teeth synonymous with omnivores. “I think I’d like to try this… takoyaki thing.”

“It’s octopus inside fried dough.”

“Oh… definitely don’t tell a Murlant that, I think that species is a cousin of sorts,” Huhuma joked.

“Right, bad idea.”

The two of them laughed, both an easy yet almost unsatisfying sound, at least for Jane. She kept thinking about what Simms had said, how a year could be up before she knew it, and the mission would be over sooner than she thought. He’d already come in that week to clean, but had remained uncharacteristically quiet, refraining from his usual bouts of complaints and grumblings. He’d seemed almost nervous, like some paranoia had slipped in and out his head on a swivel.

What had been even weirder was the message she’d gotten from Thomas. Something about Grite getting a chunk of exoskeleton burned off his foot and to expect what Thomas called ‘their biggest asshole patient yet’. Only, said asshole had never come in, which if Jane was being honest, she was pretty okay with. Grite had already cost one crew member an arm. A little piece of foot was no big deal, especially to a Sed. It’d probably grow back in a week or two anyway.

“So tell me more about E24,” Huhuma pushed her keyboard away and propped her head up with her hand. “I hear such strange things about your planet, they can’t all be true. Like that regional dish, how many regions are there for food?”

“Oh, wow, easily thousands,” Jane scoffed. “I did a residency in Japan before I joined the Academy, it’s an island nation to the east of my home, and if you walked from end to end you’d find different food every couple miles it seemed like.”

“Really?” Huhuma smiled, and Jane had to glance away before that traitorous blush came back to give her away.

“What about your home? Where’s that?”

“Well, I’m from this place called Houston,” Jane explained. “It’s kinda out in a desert, although if you asked Chief Ducane he’d tell you it’s not even close, Arizona is way worse, but anyway, it’s down in the south of my home country. I think you’d like it, you know, if we could keep you cool. The food is…” Jane waved her hands around looking for the words, “like it’s good for your soul, in a way. It’s comfortable. Even if you’re not from there, it’ll make feel like you’re home.”

“That sounds lovely,” Huhuma sighed. “Although whenever I think of home, I get depressed.”

Jane looked over at the doctor.

“Why? What about your tribe?”

“They’re fine, they’re still important to me, of course, it’s just… I didn’t have anyone who I just fit with on my planet.”

Jane didn’t know what to say, and neither of them spoke for a few seconds. When it was still silent, Jane tried to crack a joke.

“Well, you’re in space now, it kinda opens up your options, right?”

Doctor Huhuma raised an eyebrow and smiled softly at her, causing Jane to stop breathing for a moment. If she’d been standing, she’d be embarrassed to admit her legs would’ve buckled.

My god woman get a hold of yourself, she thought. You did not just swoon because she looked at you.

“Well you’re certainly right about that,” Huhuma said, and winked.

Fuuuck, Jane thought, okay, yeah, swoon you bitch, what else are we gonna do here? God damn.

“Right, so, yeah… what, uhh, how’s that going for you?”

“What, are you asking if I have my eye on someone?” Huhuma’s smile deepened. “You could say that.”

And cue internal screaming.

“All this talk of food has got me hungry,” the good doctor continued. “Shall we get lunch?”

“Yup, yeah, okay,” stuttered Jane.

Smooth, girl. Smooth.

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

“I mean, she’s gotta be doing it on purpose right?” Jane ranted, her captive audience of Liz and the Sprygan Coco watching her quickly devolve into something on the wrong end of fixated. “Like, after that night with the Scrib, and now the constant flirting, it’s gotta be a green light right? But it’s totally inappropriate, she’s my still my boss.”

“Sure, sure,” Liz said, working out the joints in her cyborg hand with a grip trainer. “So we’re just totally ignoring my therapy now, huh?”

“What?”

“What?”

“This conversation seems incredibly one sided,” Coco said, sitting in a pot the two had brought with them, slowly ‘munching’ their way through a bowl of chocolate bars like a kid on Halloween.

“Look Jane,” Liz said, “I really don’t think either of us,” she gestured between herself and the tree, “are going be a lot of help to you here hon. This so is not my area of expertise. And besides, whatever we think, we’re basing it on human standards. Maybe it’s different on Indos, maybe this is just normal behavior for them. You should ask Marrin if you want to be sure.” The corner of Liz mouth twitched, and Jane realized she was stifling a laugh.

“Yes, let me go ask my crush’s cousin if I’ve got the go ahead to…” Jane couldn’t even get through the sentence, getting more flustered by the second. “God, why am I like this? I’ve dated before, guys and girls! I’ve never been a mess like this! It feels like I’m stuck in a cross between a teen magazine and a gawky high school girl’s diary!”

“Yeah, I gave up on getting holos from Earth out here, this has taken over for my soaps these days,” Liz laughed.

“So glad you’re entertained,” Jane said dryly.

“If I might interject,” Coco started.

“Please, any advice that isn’t humiliating is welcome.”

“You could simply go talk to the Doctor,” the Sprygan stated, making a gesture with their vines that Jane assumed was a shrug. “It seems all of this is moot unless the doctor reciprocates, yes?”

“I would love to, Coco,” Jane was getting slightly exasperated, “but the whole reason why I’m so in knots about this is exactly because I can’t do that. I feel like a broken record here, but she’s my boss, I can’t just go up to her and-”

“Yes, you keep repeating that,” Coco interrupted, and Jane looked from the Sprygan to her fellow human and back. “On Spryga, we do not have mates as you non-botanical lifeforms do,” they continued, “but that does not mean we do not understand companionship. Our colonies are built on symbiotic relationships. The outer perimeters defend us, the inner circles distribute water and nutrients. Our roots intertwine and our canopies entangle. We are all constantly communicating with each other, from the further sentinel to the most inclosed Elder. So when you say you can’t simply go and speak to her-”

“You tell her, hon!” Liz said, cackling.

“- I am nothing short of confused. It’s utterly baffling. The very essence of this mission is to foster cooperation and relationships between GAIL member species, and I am certain this qualifies as such. So go back to med bay this instant and talk to the doctor.”

Jane stared open mouthed at the Sprygan for a whole three seconds longer than Coco could tolerate.

“Now Human Jane!”

For someone who could only speak through a synthesizer, Coco managed to put emphasis where they wanted. Jane actually flinched at the words before picking her jaw up and jumping for the door.

Liz turned to Coco and tapped the pot with the toe of her shoe.

“That was fucking awesome, honey.”

“It was… annoying to hear the same excuses again,” Coco said, and despite the voice box Liz thought she could hear a sigh. “You humans are tiresome sometimes.”

“I know right?” Liz threw a piece of chocolate in her mouth as Jane quickly strode out the door.

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

Get it together woman, Jane thought as she walked through the hall of the ship towards Medical. It’s just Huhuma, you can talk to her, you can totally ask if she… returns the favor.

Jane inwardly laughed at the image conjured, which spilled out into the real very quickly. Suddenly she was doubled over laughing, tears quickly streaming down her face as she leaned into the wall to support her as the fit took over her whole body.

Exactly, it’s Huhuma. What the fuck is the matter with me?

Jane let herself crack up a minute or so longer, wheezing and squeaking out little hiccups of giddy before continuing on her way. She ignored the looks and odd stares from the crew who’d seen her snap like a crazy woman in the hallway. Just some more fuel for the humans are weird rumors flooding around the fleets. Standing in the lift now, she wondered what she’d say to the doctor when she saw her. Would she even say anything? Or would she just crack up again and have to explain later that she might just be a little crazy. Yeah, crazy in loOove, she thought, giggling again. Hell, I might as well just go for it. Worst that can happen is I go home early and get some decent food.

Win win, kinda.

The lift doors opened and Jane stepped out, only to quickly jump back into the safe blindspot inside the lift. She wasn’t totally sure why. No, that wasn’t true, she knew exactly why.

There were two Sed standing outside the med bay.

Well, standing was a misnomer for one of them. The one in the white custodian uniform was propped up against the wall, much she’d been not minutes before. They were favoring their left leg, like they’d been hobbled. Jane figured this was probably that Sed guy Grite she’d been warned about. The other she didn’t recognize, so they hadn’t been a patient of hers. They were wearing a yellow communications uniform. The two Sed weren’t exactly being quiet, so Jane reasoned they hadn’t seen her step out of the lift. Despite the warnings and the rumors, there was no real logical reason for her to be hiding. They were all the same crew, weren’t they?

But something kept Jane in the lift all the same. Perhaps it was that she could hear them, and what they were saying didn’t sit well in her gut. Jane carefully poked her head out, just enough to get an eye on them but still be able to jerk her head back out of sight if need be.

“With respect, sir, you have to temper yourself with these Terrans,” said the one in the yellow suit, a woman by the sound of her voice. “These consistent altercations are jeopardizing our mission.”

Mission? The NOAH mission?

“Hold your tongue, Soane. I’m the leader of our squad, your only job is to do as I tell you.”

Definitely a dick, then. And the guys a janitor now, what the hell is he talking about?

“Sir, no one it openly disregarding your orders, but don’t you think it’s time to proceed to the next step?”

“Do your duty, and follow orders given, quoal, or what do you think I will tell my father when he arrives?”

Jane couldn’t see the Sed woman’s face but she could guess what stony expression they were making, getting told off like that. That word Grite had said hadn’t translated, so Jane tapped her ear piece twice to recycle the phrase and tried again.

[Quoal: derogatory; a Sed slur for a lower class individual; foot soldier; born in a lower caste or altitude]

Oh that fucker! Jane thought. She almost wished the Sed man would come into the med bay so she could show off her bedside manners.

Before Jane could give herself away and storm over, the Med Bay doors glided open and Huhuma came out holding a small tray of medical supplies.

“Here,” said the doctor, “bandage him up with these. Or better yet, just get over yourselves and let my nurses treat you.”

“No,” said the Sed woman quickly, and curtly. “No, that will not be necessary. These are… appreciated.”

Jane saw Huhuma lookbetween the two of them before shrugging.

“Best of luck, ensign Soane,” she said.

The Sed woman took the tray and dumped the contents into a pouch on their waste. Huhuma went back inside as the two stony aliens turned away… back towards the lift.

Aw fuck, Jane thought, ducking back into the lift and back against the back wall.

Gotta think gotta think gotta think!!!

Jane smashed her fist against the doors closed button and prayed they didn’t ding when they did that. The lift closed, then just as quickly reopened, with the two Seds standing in the doorway, looking down at her, both literally and figuratively. Even the woman, Soane she guessed her name was, had at least a foot on Jane.

“Excuse me,” she said softly, cautiously trying to slide past them. Grite seemed to want to do something, but given that he winced whenever his foot touched the floor, left it alone, instead continuing to lean on the shoulder of the Sed woman as they shuffled into the lift. Jane scooted out of the way as quick as she could, like a rabbit hopping out of the way of two bucks in the woods. Neither party said anything more, and when the lift doors closed, the ding! made Jane flinch.

And then the lift was away to a different floor, leaving Jane there in the hallway breathing a sigh of relief.

“Well shit,” she said, after her heart rate calmed down a little. “Do I report that or…? Probably, probably. Questions for later.”

“Back to… yup, that, right.”

Jane walked over to the med bay doors, every step simultaneously egregiously long and atrociously short.

Fuck what am I gonna say?

Jane knocked on the door, then cringed, remembering it’s her office too, she could’ve just walked straight in in the first place. The door opened with a whir of hydraulics and then there she was, the good doctor Huhuma, standing in front of her.

“Oh, Jane, hello,” she said smiling. “I didn’t expect to see you again today. Did you forget something?”

The entirety of thousands of years of human instinct rushed through Jane’s body in a single moment.

Fuck it, she thought.

“Yeah, you could say that.” Jane reached out with both hands and grabbed the doctor by the lapels of her lab coat before pulling her into a kiss.

Zero thoughts ran through her head, except to acknowledge how soft the doctor’s lips were. It seemed to go on forever, and when they finally separated, Jane realized she’d been holding her breath the entire time. As calmly as she could, she let her lungs refill with air as she watched the doctor’s face for any sign of… well, anything.

“So,” Huhuma said, blinking a few times, fidgeting slightly from foot to foot. Jane noticed her tail was swaying erratically as well. “Right, well then. You humans are rather forward I suppose. I assumed we’d start with dinner, but whatever you want to do is alright as well.”

“So…,” Jane swallowed dryly, “this is alright with you?”

“Dear, I have been waiting for you to make up your mind for weeks,” Huhuma said. “Honestly I’m going to miss my little game of teasing you, but oh well.” The doctor grinned at her.

Jane looked at her dumbfounded.

“The whole time?”

“Yes, you Terrans are slow on the uptake apparently.”

Jane threw back her head and cackled, Doctor Huhuma joining in soon after.

“Dinner sounds great,” Jane said, stepping back into the hallway, Huhuma close beside her. Their shoulders touched here and there as they walked, but neither made a move to make any space between them.

Down at the other end of the hall, Liz and Coco were walking back to their lab.

“About time,” Liz laughed.

[ryanmarshallryan]

The Foodie Genie

Vincent had purchased a vintage cookie jar from an odd little antique booth at a local county fair. He thought it would be a perfect thing to put his homemade cookies in, which he always kept a batch of dough ready to make on hand, as they were his favorite, and perfect to bring out when hosting guests.

He did not expect it, though, when it began to smoke as he tried to clean it at home. Sparks flew out of it as he dropped it into his sink. Somehow unshattered, but still spewing sparks and purple colored smoke, he heard it make a squelching sound as if someone was prying their hand out of the cookie jar but it was suctioned in.

A great big figure of semi-transparent man jolted up out of the cookie jar and smacked its head into the ceiling.

“Years of hitting my head in my tiny little jar, to finally being released to hit my head again. Go figure,” said the being.

Vincent surveyed its impressive height, its massive belly, its bald head and goatee, and the way its legs seemed to swirl away into almost smoke.

“All right then, let’s get to it, I am Xavier, Genie for the Foodies, great to meet you,” Xavier held out a comically large hand, Vincent stared at it in surprise, “And your name is?”

“Vincent,” he blurted out, “Vincent’s my name, but you - what are you?”

“A genie. You got ears right?” Xavier said as it leaned back in the air, crossed its arms which accentuated its belly forward a bit.

“Of a cookie jar? I’m confused.”

“I could do the whole song and dance introduction, but I don’t want to overwhelm the already overwhelmed.” Xavier stated, magicking a large cushioned chair, and motioning Vincent into it. “You see, I’m a special kind of genie. A previous wish-giver was a foodie if I ever saw one, and made it so I can only grant wishes of a specific nature. For example, any food you could desire I could produce.”

Just then a whole feast of roast duck, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans and more appeared with a pop in front of Vincent. Then in another moment all vanished, and was replaced with a buffet style platter filled with noodles and meats and rolls and veggies, and again vanished and was replaced with a vat of ice cream, steaming in the hot room.

“You get the picture, I can help you experience the rarest of delicacies too… and every once in a while I get someone who wants to become a rare delicacy themself, if you know what I mean.” Xavier raised his eyebrows, and watched as Vincent looked intrigued. “The one who wished I could only grant food related wishes, used his last wish to have me even swallow him whole! He wanted to experience first hand what it would be like to be food,” Xavier, floated upside down and let his large belly hang down and show how massive it is. It seemed to grow and inflate until it was pushing up against Vincent’s face.

In a flash of smoke Vincent suddenly had a gut the size of a yoga ball, and the genie was back to normal.

“Or I can give you more room, so that any meal you desire you’ll be able to finish, and have room for seconds…” Xavier snapped and Vincent’s belly swelled to the size of a compact car, “Thirds… fourths… you get the picture.”

In another puff of smoke the room filled with jello and Vincent felt himself floating in the giant mass and heard a muffled shouting from Xavier say “Or if you’d like to play with your food, I’m sure we could have a fun swim.” Another puff of smoke and Vincent was as small as a soup spoon, looking up at a dollhouse sized castle made of graham crackers and gingerbread. The candy door of it swung open and Xavier popped out, “Come on in, and consider a wish. You get three. No more. No less.”

Vincent entered the graham cracker castle, grabbed a chunk of chocolate that was by the door and nibbled on it. Xavier let him up a staircase made of cake, into a hall with a long table. They sat down and Xavier asked again what wish Vincent would begin with.

Vincent thought for a while. He supposed his wishes didn’t matter as much as a normal genie’s might. He didn’t think the world would collapse if he wished for a fridge with unlimited eclairs or something.

“I wish I had a fridge that could summon any food I desire when I opened it.”

“I can work with that,” said Xavier. A flash of smoke and they were normal sized, sitting on the kitchen floor. The genie gestured behind Vincent who turned to see a purple fridge replacing his old one. He opened it to find his favorite smoothie sitting on the center rack.

“Cool!” Vincent exclaimed, picking up the smoothie, closing the door and opening it again to find a plate of kebab waiting for him as well, “I didn’t even realize I wanted that. Thanks!”

Vincent drank and ate as he considered another wish. How could a wish regarding food be helpful for both himself and others? Maybe he could wish to change the taste of anything he ate to something he loved. That’d make shoving down the burnt stuff his friend made more bearable, even enjoyable. Or perhaps he could wish to not have any allergy to food or poison: to digest anything. But what if he wanted to heat something but not digest it?  “I wish I could change the shape of my gut at will, so if I want to eat a whole roast pig I could do it in one sitting, but then be able to change my gut’s size back to another size to fit my clothes.”

“Hmm that’s an interesting one. Many ways that one could be used without relation to food so it’d be tricky to see if my powers would allow. I think I can grant it, but only if the primary body part you are changing shape is that of your gut and digestive system.”

Vincent felt a surge of energy through him like an electric charge. He looked down at his gut and imagined it ballooning to the size of a watermelon. It did so. He opened the fridge and found a cantaloupe waiting for him, and he stretched open his mouth to an impossible size and fit the melon in easily, swallowing it down if it were a small round candy. He felt his gut with his hands, feeling the soft flesh and the hard melon underneath layers of it. He imagined that his gut would be packed with thick fat to pad the melon inside. He watched as his layers of fat grew thicker and thicker until his gut could easily fit a human inside and have enough fat padding no one would notice a difference in shape. 

“Wow, genie, you outdid yourself with this one. I think my friend Henry is gonna get a kick out of this,” Vincent said, turning back to the fridge. This time, when he opened it, the racks were gone and in their place was a full size human being, looking utterly bewildered at their being in a refrigerator. 

“Hello? Vincent? How on earth - I was just in the library. How did I get here?” said the man in the fridge, stepping out of it into the kitchen, “And who’s this? Or what is this?” he said, gesturing to the genie.

“I know you’ve got a million questions but I’d like to try something if you’re still interested,” Vincent said, “Remember when you told me about those funny fantasies you like to muse about when you’re - well you know what I mean?”

Henry looked between the genie and Vincent, and began to notice their large bellies, “What - ?”

“Wanna make it a reality for a bit? I can let you out later. Like this,” Vincent’s stomach changed shape and the melon popped out of his mouth, good as new. 

Henry looked surprised, but interested. “Wow, you swallowed that whole?”

“And you’re next, Henry,” Vincent said, with a gleam of devilishness in his smile. He glanced down on Henry and saw he wasn’t the only one changing shape. With one quick swoop, Vincent grabbed Henry by the shoulders, and threw him head first into his rapidly stretching mouth, sending him down into his belly, which was swelling to the size of a large couch again. Henry seemed to be quite content with this experience, not even struggling to slide down into his friend's belly.

The genie started clapping, “Oh my, what a show! You’ve got the hang of it quite quickly! But I must warn you, you must make three wishes by the time the clock strikes the hour mark, or all of your wishes will be revoked! And if that happens, your friend might be stuck in there for good with no magical stretching maw to let him back out.”

“The hour mark? Isn’t that like Cinderella and stuff? Why’s there a time limit?” Vincent asked, rubbing his gut and mildly distracted by the lump of Henry inside.

“Someone tried to wait to give me a final wish for 30 years and I got fed up and got special permission to start setting time limits.”

“Oh, I suppose that makes sense,” Vincent said absent mindedly, turning to the clock which read 3:59pm. Sudden panic filled him and he jostled his belly, sending Henry bouncing around. “One minute!”

“30 seconds actually,” said Xavier, not stressed about it.

Vincent’s mind went blank with shock as he tried to think of something good. He gave up and went with something that intrigued him earlier, “You said you ate one of the previous wisher people? That could be interesting I suppose to know what it’s like for Henry. I wish you would swallow me whole for a bit, then let me out before I get digested!”

Xavier looked excited and coy, “Really? Me eat you? I haven’t eaten in years,” the genie said, blushing. He clapped his hands and the room filled with smoke, and suddenly the two of them were steaming in a warm vat of hot fudge together. Xavier leaned in close, “I like a little flavor. But what would suit you best? Hmm…” The genie snapped its fingers and the vat of hot fudge turned to chicken soup… then to a birthday cake… then to a pool filled with chicken parm and pasta… then suddenly Vincent found himself sandwiched between two human sized slices of seeded bread, with an assortment of stuffing, cranberry sauce, turkey and lettuce and tomato. “Just want to say thank you for being a great wish-giver,” said the genie.

Vincent’s eyes grew wide as Xavier’s mouth stretched to the size of a door. Vincent felt air rush past his face as the genie’s throat seemed to start vacuuming the air around them down inside it. The sandwich lurched forward and Vincent watched as the giant mouth came closer and closer and he began falling into it, feeling the wet, mushy expanse of the back of the genie’s throat, and the tight squeeze down its esophagus. He fell what felt like ten feet down a tight, slimy tunnel of saliva, and landed in an opening chamber of stomach juices that tingled his skin. He felt around the giant stomach and felt it shrinking. He began with space to move around, but by the time it stopped shrinking he could barely move his chest to breathe. He hoped Henry was doing alright in his own belly, though his empathy was not deep when he felt Henry’s elbows and knees jabbing directly into his bladder and lungs. He felt the stomach walls around him knead his body, squeezing and contracting, as acid trickled down his sweaty face. He felt like he was dissolving into soup, felt like he could no longer tell where his fat belly ended and the one he was in began.

He began to fade into unconsciousness when, in a puff of purple smoke, he felt all stress upon his body relinquish as if he had been let go of from the tightest, sweatiest hug ever. He landed softly, seated on the ground of his kitchen. He looked around but did not see the genie anywhere. Xavier had gone. He felt a bit groggy. Perhaps he had passed out on the kitchen floor. Had it all been a dream? 

His answer came at once.

“Hey, bud, I’m having a great time… but you might wanna swallow some antacids, or let me out soon… unless you're hoping to make me permanently belly fat, of course, but this stomach acid is getting stronger.”

Vincent turned to the fridge. It was still purple. “Cool,” he whispered to himself. He looked up where the genie had been floating a while before and mouthed a silent “thank you.”

“Vincent? You there? I’m kinda digesting in here.” Henry called with a forced-casual tone showing signs of mild panic.

“Oh, right!” Vincent said, opening the fridge to find antacids and threw the whole unopened bottle in his mouth and right down into his belly.

A while later, after stretching his throat and mouth to let Henry out, the pair of them sat at the table, sharing some cookies. They sat in silence for awhile, enjoying each other’s company and processing what had happened.

“So I’m thinking, maybe I can come over for dinner again next week?” Henry said.

“To be dinner? Or share dinner?” Vincent joked.

“Why not both?” They shared a smile.

[sausage-rolll]

I think it's pretty clear that season 2 of Ncuti's era was rewritten at some point and that a big chunk of the original story was lost.

So I thought I'd write up what I believe the original plan was, or at least what I think would have worked better than what we got.

First of all, I think Ruby was planned to still be the companion in this season. Belinda is depressingly underutilised and somehow less relevant to the ongoing plot than Ruby is, despite the fact that she’s the one actually traveling with the doctor. So unfortunately I think she was not a part of the original plan for the story. So in the version I plan to lay out now, she isn’t going to be present.

Now, I just want to stress that me writing Belinda out of this version of the story isn’t because I do not like her or that I don’t want her in the show. It is because I genuinely believe she wasn’t planned to be a part of it until something happened midway through season 1 that led to Ruby’s role in the story being cut down. In my perfect version of the show Belinda would still be a part of it, she would just be a part of a 3rd season (and beyond) alongside Ncuti where she can be actually plot relevant.

Now, with that cleared up, let me quickly lay the groundwork for this alternate version of the story, then we can really get into the meat of potatoes of things. 

It’s quite simple really, only two major things are different.

Ruby is still traveling with the Doctor during season 2 but frequently takes breaks from the TARDIS in order to live her normal life and spend time with family (this allows the events of Lucky day and Joy to the world to happen basically unchanged.) 

The mystery of Ruby’s past and her mysterious and elusive mother is not solved in ‘Empire of Death’ and Ruby is still silently craving answers about everything.

Now let's finally begin.

The Doctor and Ruby, after another adventure in time and space attempt to return to Earth on the 24th of May so Ruby can spend time at home for a while, only to find that… They bounce right off of it? That’s strange… that’s certainly never happened before. The doctor is silently concerned about the implications of this, but makes sure to keep an upbeat and carefree attitude to hide his worries from Ruby. Ruby isn’t necessarily happy about being unable to return home at the time, but just assumes that it’s another quirky “timey-wimey” thing that the doctor can figure out. Overall she’s slightly annoyed but not worried.

The doctor whips out the vindicator and explains that it can be used to triangulate the coordinates to get them back home. Things continue relatively identical to the original version for now. They go to Earth 1952 where they face off against Lux. During the 3-dimensional part, the doctor confides in Ruby that he is terrified he won’t be able to get her home safely, that he’s worried he’ll never be able to save Rogue. And one other thing… something that (I believe) he’s never admitted to Ruby before. He isn’t just a timelord. He’s the last of the timelords. The soul survivor of his species. This pops him back into full 3D. From here the episode continues as normal.

The well happens essentially unchanged.

Lucky day also happens unchanged but is an episode set slightly in the past during a time Ruby isn’t travelling with the Doctor. However young Conrad sees Ruby and the Doctor together in the opening segment with the vindicator which is part of the reason he tries so hard to get close to her during the events of lucky day. He recognises her from his childhood and it drives him mad because that isn’t possible.

The story and the engine once again happens mainly unchanged, however Poppy does not appear this time. (I can’t think of a way for her to fit into this rewrite)

The interstellar song contest occurs, once again, almost unchanged. They finally have enough vindicator juice to force their way back to May 24th and rush into the TARDIS without saying goodbye after hearing Earth's history and how it ceased to be on that very day. Miss Flood Bigenerates and all the cards are set as she, using her own TARDIS (The Doctor doesn’t have the only one, fuck you) uses the vindicator coordinates to also get back to earth. Well after a quick pit stop to pick up one more thing. Flood is dropped off in modern day to break Conrad out of prison while Rani goes to the past to find their trump card. Desiderium the god of wishes.

-

Wish World

John Smith (The Doctor) wakes up in his house. He’s alone as he starts his day. No partner, no pets, just him in an empty house going about his morning routine. It’s not that he didn’t crave companionship, he did. He deeply did. But he was never particularly interested in women and… well there certainly wasn’t any other options. Not in this world.

Not in this world. This perfect little world.

John realises he’s running late for work and rushes out the door, only to be greeted by an unfamiliar face. A girl. Young, short and blonde. She asks John if he was… The doctor? No, of course not. He’s just an ordinary office worker, but if the young woman needed help he’d be happy to call someone, it’d have to be quick though since he was running late for work.

The girl quickly apologizes and mumbles something about her being mistaken before running off… How strange.

How strange indeed. Desiderium’s power… it doesn’t seem to work too well on Ruby. yet another oddity to add to the list. Her oddness was what drew Ms. Flood to her in the first place, not that Ruby would know this . She wanted to understand what made her tick, she needed to understand what made reality bend around her. 

Now from here things continue as normal. John Smith goes to work and Ruby stews in her confusion and false memories.

After work the doctor sits down in front of his TV and watches Conrad's channel. The only channel. But… then something else fizzled into the picture. The stark white background was drowned out in a deep red and Conrad was replaced by someone else. Seeing him made the Doctor’s heart drop. There was something about the man on the TV. He liked him. He really liked him.

He listens to his advice and slowly begins to snap out of his delusions, but before he can, Miss Flood arrives and takes him to the tower.

From here Rani's plan is revealed and the doctor is plunged into a decaying London.

-

Reality wars

From here, things once again happen almost identically to the original, however without Belinda there is no need for the stasis cube.

The doctor and Ruby free Unit from the Wish, confront Miss Flood and Rani and make the plan to infiltrate their tower, take Desiderium and stop the Rani from freeing Omega.

The doctor encounters Rani, keeping them distracted as Ruby goes after Conrad.

Omega appears, killing Rani and Miss Flood escapes.

The doctor forces Omega back into the underverse and Ruby defeats Conrad and returns the world normal.

Everyone meets back up at Unit and celebrates defeating the Rani and the Wish world. The doctor walks over to Ruby who is still holding Desiderium, a nagging feeling eating away at him as he approaches. The two of them talk for a short while and the doctor neutralises Desiderium powers with a wish.

It isn’t foolproof mind you. There’s no knowing what their life is going to be like. Their powers could reawaken at any moment, and even if they didn’t it could still bend reality around it just by existing. But to the doctor it was worth the risk.

Then why was he so scared?

Ruby sees The Doctor’s concern and offers for him to hold the baby. He agrees.

The doctor picks up Desiderium from Ruby’s arms and looks down at the baby.

And his heart stops.

He’d seen this baby before. He’d held this baby before! But where?!

His mind raced trying to grasp what gave him such a suffocating sense of deja vu.

And then it clicks.

Then it finally made sense.

Everything finally made sense.

The Doctor looks up at Ruby and thanks her.

He shouts out into the Unit headquarters that he knows exactly what to do with Desiderium. They would be safe, happy and loved, he would make sure of it.

He runs into the tardis clicking buttons and pulling levers, all the while never letting go of small Desiderium.

He knew exactly where he was going.

He puts Desiderium down for just a second, just long enough to throw on a long, hooded cloak from his wardrobe. He picked it so the young baby wouldn’t get cold. It had a built-in heat regulator that would stop the small thing from freezing. Ironic that it also covered The Doctor’s body head to toe.

He picks Desiderium up and steps out of the Tardis into a cold, dark alleyway.

He would have parked closer but he knew what was about to happen. He couldn’t risk being spotted by anyone lest the timeline unravel itself at the seams, and he’d had quite enough of reality breaking for one day.

As he walked through the dark street looking down at Desiderium, he thought about his time with this face. It was all so nostalgic. 

His mind wandered to Ruby. He thought about how snow and soft tunes of Christmas hymns followed her everywhere she went. How no technology in the universe could track down her past. How Mistro was terrified of her. How Sutekh was curious about her. How Desiderium’s power failed to keep its grasp on her.

She had defeated the very gods. And now he finally knew how.

After a short walk through the snowy streets he finally found his destination. A small, simple church. Snow falling heavily all around him and the sound of singing getting ever so closer.

He gave the small child a light kiss on the head and set her down on the front step of the church before turning around and walking away.

Away from Desiderium. He didn’t even look back. Afterall, he knew she was in safe hands here. 

He knew she would be safe, at the church on ruby road.

He returned to the present with a grand smile on his face, stepping towards Ruby and pulling her into a hug. They had a lot to discuss.

[layce2015]

Stranger Things (Steve Harrington x Female!Reader)

Chapter 5: The Spy

Previous Chapter/ Next Chapter

*3rd Person POV*

“Wait a sec. How big?” Steve asked Dustin as they drive to Dustin’s house. “First it was like that.” Dustin said as he holds up his pointer finger and thumb a few inches away from each other. “Now he's like this.” Dustin said as he holds up his hands with a big space between them.

”I swear to God, man, it's just some little lizard, okay?” Steve said, annoyed. “It's not a lizard.” Dustin said, defensively. “How do you know?” Steve asked him. “How do I know if it's not?” Dustin asked. “How do you know it's not just a lizard?” Steve asked, annoyed. “Because his face opened up and he ate my cat.” Dustin replied and Steve sits then shrugs and nods.

Once they pull up to Dustin’s house, Steve parks his car then they head to the trunk and he opens it and pulls out the bat with nails. Then they head to the door to the storm cellar and Steve leans over to the door but only hears silence. “I don't hear shit.” He said. “He's in there.” Dustin assures him and Steve taps the door with his bat, nothing happened. Then he hits the bat harder against the door but still nothing.

“All right, listen, kid. I swear, if this is some sort of Halloween prank, you're dead.” Steve warns Dustin, as he aims his flashlight in his face. “It's not.” Dustin said, firmly. “All right?” Steve warns again. “It's not a prank. Get it out of my face.” Dustin tells him and Steve lowers his flashlight then looks back at the door then back to Dustin. “You got a key for this thing?” He asked.

Later, Dustin gave Steve the keys and he opens the door. “Let me see that.” Steve said to Dustin, who was holding the flashlight. He hands Steve the light and he shines the light down the cellar. “He must be further down there. I'll stay up here in case he tries to escape.” Dustin said and Steve glares at him then sighs before he heads down the cellar.

He enters and switches the one lightbulb inside and noticed something on the floor. He picks it up with the bat, seeing that it looked like shedded skin. “Steve? Steve, what's going on down there?” Dustin asked and Steve comes back and shines the light at Dustin. “Get down here.” He tells him.

Dustin makes his way down and Steve shows him the shedded skin. “Oh, shit.” Dustin said then Steve points over to a giant hole in the wall of his cellar. “Oh, shit!” Dustin exclaims and they walk over to the hole. “No way. No way.” Dustin said, disbelieving, as they stare into the hole, which looked like it lead to a long, dark tunnel.

*(y/n)’s POV*

I was sitting in my room, finishing up my homework, when I hear the doorbell ringing, which was almost drowned out by the loud rock music Billy had blasting from the TV. “Max, are you getting that or what?” Billy asked, loudly. “Okay!” Max shouts. “Swear to God, Max!” Billy shouts and I see Max walking past my room and I go back to my homework.

I had just finished work when Max came into my room. “Hey, who was it?” I asked her. “Lucas. He says he has proof.” She tells me, quickly. “What?” I asked her. “C’mon.” She tells me and I follow her to her room. Once we get into her room, she opens her door and I see Lucas on his bike.

“Come on, hop on.” Lucas tells Max as she climbs out first. “Hurry.” Lucas tells us as I climb out and grab an old bike of Max’s that was leaning against the back of the house. “This better be good, stalker.” Max tells Lucas as she gets on the back of his bike, I get on her old bike, and we take off.

*3rd Person POV*

“All right, so let me get this straight. You kept something you knew was probably dangerous in order to impress a girl who...who you just met?” Steve asked Dustin as the two walk down the train tracks and toss down some meat chunks as they keep walking. “All right, that's grossly oversimplifying things.” Dustin said.

“I mean, why would a girl like some nasty slug anyway?” Steve asked him. “An interdimensional slug? Because it's awesome.” Dustin said. “Well, even if she thought it was cool, which she didn't, I...I just...I don't know. I just feel like you're trying too hard.” Steve tells him. “Well, not everyone can have your perfect hair, all right?” Dustin grumbles.

“It's not about the hair, man. The key with girls is just...just acting like you don't care.” Steve said. “Even if you do?” Dustin asked him as Steve walks up next to him. “Yeah, exactly. It drives them nuts.” Steve said. “Then what?” Dustin asked. “You just wait until, uh...until you feel it.” Steve said.

”Feel what?” Dustin asked. “It's like before it's gonna storm, you know? You can't see it, but you can feel it, like this, uh...electricity, you know?” Steve tries to explain. “Oh, like in the electromagnetic field when the clouds in the atmosphere...” Dustin said and Steve shakes his head. “No, no, no, no, no. Like a...Like a sexual electricity.” He said. 

“Oh.” Dustin said, understanding. “You feel that and then you make your move.” Steve said. “So that's when you kiss her?” Dustin asked and Steve turns to him. “No, whoa, whoa. Slow down, Romeo.” He said. “Sorry.” Dustin said, apologetically. “Sure, okay, some girls, yeah, they want you to be aggressive. You know, strong, hot and heavy, like a...I don't know, like a lion.” Steve said and Dustin hums at this.

”But others, you gotta be slow, you gotta be stealthy, like a...like a ninja.” said Steve. “What type is Nancy?” Dustin asked Steve. “Nancy's different. She's different than the other girls.” Steve admits. “Yeah, she seems pretty special, I guess.” Dustin said. “Yeah. Yeah, she is.” Steve mutters.

“But this girl's special, too, you know. It's just, like, something about her.” Dustin said, wistfully. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, hey, hey.” Steve said as he stood and Dustin stood as well to look at him. “What?” He asked. “You're not falling in love with this girl, are you?” Steve asked him. “Uh, no. No.” Dustin said.

“Okay, good. Don't.” Steve said. “I won't.” Dustin said, shaking his head. “She's only gonna break your heart, and you're way too young for that shit.” Steve said as they resume their walk and back to throwing the meat chunks for a bit before Steve looks over at Dustin, who was looking down.

“Fabergé.” Steve said. “What?” Dustin asked as he looks up at Steve, who then points to his hair. “It's Fabergé Organics. Use the shampoo and conditioner, and when your hair's damp...It's not wet, okay?” Steve instructs and Dustin nods. “When it's damp...” Dustin mutters.

”Damp. You do four puffs of the Farrah Fawcett spray.” Steve continues. “Farrah Fawcett spray?” Dustin asked, shocked. “Yeah, Farrah Fawcett. You tell anyone I just told you that and your ass is grass. You're dead, Henderson. Do you understand?” Steve threatens and Dustin nods. “Yup.” He said. “Okay.” Steve said.

“Farrah Fawcett, really?” Dustin asked him. “I mean, she's hot.” Steve admits. “Yeah.” Dustin said.

*(y/n)’s POV*

Lucas leads us to what looked like a junkyard and we get off of our bikes and walk up to it to see Dustin and, surprisingly, Steve as they poured down a big pile of raw meat. “I said medium-well!” Lucas shouts and it looked like Dustin and Steve were shocked to see us. 

Moments later, Dustin and Lucas were huddled together talking while Max, Steve and I started to make a barrier around this little junkyard. None of us really talking as we set up this fort, which Max and I hope we’ll finally get some answers. 

I went over to this large metal sheet and I go to pick it up but realized that this was very heavy. “Son of a bitch.” I muttered as I tried to drag it but it was a struggle. “Here, let me help.” Steve said as he comes around me then goes to the other end of the sheet metal and picks it up. “Thank you.” I said, appreciatively, as we carry over to the old bus.

We place it over at the end of the bus and lean it against it. Once we did that, I back up and wipe my hands, getting rid of the dirt, then I turn to Steve. “Uh, I’m (y/n), by the way. And that’s my little sister, Max.” I introduced to Steve, gesturing over to Max as she was putting up some stuff. Then I hold my right hand out to him, he takes it and we shake hands. “Steve.” He said.

Once we finished shaking hands, I began to speak again. “I wanna apologize for my step-brother’s behavior to you the past few days.” I said and Steve has a confused look on his face before it turns to realization. “Wait, you mean that Hargrove kid? He’s your brother?” He asked me. “Step-brother.” I corrected and Steve looked a little disbelieving. “Don’t worry, I don’t have any love for him anyway.” 

“Yeah, he’s a real piece of work.” Steve mutters and I chuckle alittle. “Yeah, I think his mom didn’t give him enough hugs when he was a kid.” I said and Steve scoffs out a laugh. “Either that or his dad didn’t give him enough attention.” Steve said and I bite my lips. “His dad is a piece of work himself, if you can believe it.” I muttered as I look down and fiddle with my fingers. I raise my head to see Steve giving me a look, either concern or pity I wasn’t for sure, before I decided to go ahead and finish helping out.

It was dark by the time we finished and we all hide in the old school bus, Lucas heads up to the roof. Max and I sat down in a couple of old chairs and I look over to see Steve flipping the lid of his lighter, continuously. “So you really fought one of these things before?” I asked Steve as he flicks his lighter one last time. He looks over at me and nods. “And you're, like, totally, 100% sure it wasn't a bear?” Max asked him. “Shit. Don't be an idiot. Okay? It wasn't a bear. Why are you even here if you don't believe us? Just go home.” Dustin said to Max, a bit rudely.

“Geesh. Someone's cranky. Past your bedtime?” Max said and she goes up to the ladder which leads to the roof of this old bus, where Lucas was up there keeping lookout. “That's good. Just show her you don't care.” Steve tells Dustin and my jaw drops slightly at this. “I don't.” Dustin said and Steve winks at him. “Why are you winking, Steve? Stop.” Dustin said.

”Wait, did he tell you to act that way to get a girl’s attention?” I asked Dustin. Dustin looks over at Steve then back at me before shaking his head, slightly. “No..I just think if you and Max don’t believe us, then go.” Dustin tells me and I scoff out a laugh. “Okay, first of all, it’s not like we don’t believe you guys. We just want to understand and get proof of what you guys are claiming. I mean, it sounds completely insane. Second, Dustin, if you want a girl’s attention, be yourself, show interest…” I explained and Steve scoffs.

”Yeah, that never works.” He said and I turn to him. “And yet acting like an asshole does?” I asked him. “From my experience, yeah.” Steve said. “Yeah, it only works if the girl wants to sleep with you for one night.” I sneered and Steve scoffs again before I turn to Dustin. “If you want a girl’s attention, Dustin, like I said be yourself. And if a girl rejects you, then they’re not worth it. Move on. There will be a girl out there that likes you for you.” I tell him and Dustin looks between me and Steve, who rolls his eyes.

At that moment, we heard a loud growl outside and we all look out the window. “What the hell was that?” I asked as Steve gets up to the window to look outside. “You see him?” Dustin asked Steve. “No.” Steve replied. “Lucas, what's going on?” Dustin shouts up to the roof.

“Hold on!” Lucas shouts and the we heard another low growl and I go to stand next to Steve and look out the window. “I've got eyes! Ten o'clock! Ten o'clock!” Lucas shouts and I look around as Steve said. “There.” I look where he points and couldn’t get a good look as there was fog everywhere but saw a large shape coming through, it honestly looked like a dog from afar.

“What's he doing?” Dustin asked. “I don't know.” Steve said and we kept watching and see the figure getting a bit closer but wasn’t going near the pile of meat Steve and Dustin placed. “He's not taking the bait. Why is he not taking the bait?” Steve asked, confused.

“Maybe he's not hungry?” I asked. “Maybe he's sick of cow.” Steve mutters then he moves away the window the walks over to the side. “Steve? Steve, what are you doing?” Dustin asked him as Steve grabs something. 

“Steve?” I asked, worried, and Steve turns around and holds up his lighter. “Just get ready.” He said and he tosses the lighter to Dustin, who catches it. Then Steve grabs his bat with nails and walks outside. He slowly walks out and holds his bat up then whistles as Dustin and I look out the window. “Come on, buddy.” We hear Steve say as he whistles and Max climbs down the latter.

”What’s he doing?” She asked. “Expanding the menu.” Dustin replied. “He’s insane.” I remarked. “He’s awesome.” Dustin said, proudly, as we watch Steve stop and slightly swings the bat to move the fog out of his way. The fog he cleared off and I could see a dog like figure in front of him. 

“Steve, watch out!” Lucas shouts. “Little busy here.” Steve shouts back at him. “Three o’clock! Three o’clock!” Lucas shouts and I gasp when I look over and see another creature on Steve’s right as it climbs on top of an old car. I head over to one side of the bus and find a large pipe. “What are you doing?!” Max asked me, panicked, as I head to the door.

”Being backup.” I said as I go to the door and run out to help Steve. I hear Dustin and Max shouting after me as I run while one of those creatures runs at Steve in front of him while another was coming up behind him. Steve moves off to the side and I swing at the creature that was trying to come up behind Steve.

I hit the creature and it flies back a bit as the other creature goes at Steve, who hits it with his bat and made it fly back as well. The creature I hit slides a few feet away from me then turns its head to me, which had no face. I stare at it in confusion then fear when it roared and revealed its real face. It had flaps where it’s face were but the flaps open to reveal many small sharp teeth and a large hole that I figured was the mouth.

The monster starts to charge at me but Steve comes up and knocks it away from me. “What are you doing?!” He asked me and I turn to him. “You’re not the only one that has people to protect.” I tell him as another creature comes at us and I swing my pipe, hitting it.

”Guys! Come on! Abort!” I hear the kids shout and we noticed several more creatures coming out of the fog. Steve grabs my hand and we head off back to the bus and make it inside. 

Once we get inside, Dustin and Lucas were able to shut the door before the monsters could get inside. “Are they rabid or something?” Max asked as I catch my breath then I noticed Steve and I were still holding hands. We share a quick look before we let go and Steve grabs a metal sheet and push it up against the door then shoves his feet against it. “They can’t get in! They can’t!” Lucas shouts.

But then the bus shakes and we all fall back, Steve fell back against me. We looked around then one of the creatures break through then Steve grabs his bat and hits the monster continually. “Is anyone there? Mike? Will? God! Anyone!” Dustin shouts in his walkie-talkie as the bus shakes again and we all scream.

”Shit!” Dustin shouts as Max and Lucas head to the back of bus. “We’re at the old junkyard, and we are going to die!” Dustin shouts but then the bus stops shaking and I hear something on the roof. I look up at it and saw indentations on the roof as footprints were heard, Max looks up then she screams and I run over to her and see the monster at the entrance of the roof hatch.

”Out of the way! Out of the way!” Steve shouts and the boys move away while I push Max behind me as I pick up my pipe and Steve holds up his bat. “You want some? Come get this!” Steve shouts as the monster roars at us. “Come on, asshole!” I shout but then the monsters stop and look to the right.

And just like that, the monsters leave and everything goes quiet. We all share a look and I noticed Max and Lucas were holding hands and they quickly let go. “Did they…” I started to ask and Steve shrugs and we slowly head to the door and he opens it. We look out and see nothing but fog.

”What happened?” Lucas asked. “I don’t know.” Max said as Steve walks outside to get a better look. “Steve and your sister scared them off?” Dustin suggested. “No. No way. They’re going somewhere.” Steve said. “To where?” I asked and everyone looked scared and worried. 

[cricky-butspicy]

Don't Go in the Woods Bearing and Non-bearing Creature Facts

Creatures are classified in two groups! Bearing and Non-bearing! This is mostly for mating and role assignments! Bearing and Non-bearing does not necessarily equal Dominant and Submissive. A little bit of a shorter one and the last lore post for the time being!

To bear basically means you have the ability to have children. Creatures don't normally go off of male and female. They go off bearing and non-bearing. Gender is a fluid thing to them and can be anything they feel best fit with. Creatures have a wide variety of presenting and plenty of options of genitalia that can show in both bearing and non-bearing. Sun and Moon are both non-bearing with simple genitalia that you will hear more about later on in the fic. They are both referred to as "he/him" by other characters in the story because of how they present.

Bearing creatures are harder to come by than non-bearing, especially in mimic creatures which is why they often mate with solar and lunar creatures.

Being the dominant mate or submissive mate doesn’t play a role in being a bearing or non-bearing mate. Some mates have only bearing while others have only non-bearing. A bearing and non-bearing mate isn’t necessarily the typical.

Sun's bearing parent was a solar creature while Moon’s bearing parent was a mimic creature. This makes a difference in how the creatures are raised, seeing as the non-bearing parent usually steps back from raising duties and leaves it to the bearing parent to raise the child while the non-bearing parent keeps full guard of the bearing parent and the child, often doing nothing but protecting all surrounding areas even if it means going without meals. Sometimes the non-bearing parent will make appearances to check in with the bearing mate and child, but it is typical of a child not to meet the non-bearing mate until much older when able to hunt and provide for themselves.

The most a non-bearing parent will do normally for interaction is leaving food for the bearing parent and child.

Often non-bearing parents are hunted off this way during the time of the first three years of a child creature’s life due to overprotection and lack of self care. They become weaker to attacks against themselves due to focusing too much on their family.

Solar bearing parents are warm, coddling, and loving to their children. They treat their kin as their everything and will do anything necessary for them. They often keep their children in the sun to keep them warm and energized while growing, especially while sleeping. This is often why solar and solar related creatures end up becoming bigger than typical mimic, lunar, or night creatures. Being omnivorous creatures, they tend to feed their young kin mostly berries and found fruit after weaning off of milk with occasional meats when their kin are starting to show interest in hunting.

Lunar bearing parents are level headed, logical, and careful with their children. They want their kin growing up smart, strong and capable. Lunar bearing parents often hide their children away until a certain age until they show an understanding of words and commands, then they are shown out into the world to develop. After being released from hiding, lunar bearing parents make their children do important tasks in the moonlight such as bathing or big hunts. Being carnivorous creatures, after being weaned off milk, lunar bearing parents rip their kins meat into small chunks until they are able to tear by themselves and eventually hunt for themselves small animals, even if the child has not shown signs or the instinct to hunt yet.

Mimic bearing parents are colder, slightly aggressive, and a little careless with their children. They are too focused on their own drives to fully focus on their child’s at first. Often with a mimic bearing parent, the non-bearing parent must step in, even if they are another mimic creature, to help kick in the parental instincts. This often is done by the non-bearing parent threatening the child in some way for the mimic bearing creature to fully understand their instincts to raise and protect the child. Once understood, the mimic bearing parent will become extremely attached to their young. Mimic bearing parents simply wander around after their child, neither hiding nor exposing their kin to anything in specific. Mimic bearing parents talk a lot to their young and teach them repeated phrases and sound early on to heighten their mimicking skills. Similar to lunar bearing parents, they give their kin meat after being weaned off milk, but will wean their children early to teach them to crave meat. They only rip the meat up for kin that particularly struggle to eat. They force the hunting instinct in their kin early on by taking them on hunts to watch and learn.

Bearing child with different species than the original creature species, such as a human for example, results in three possibilities in this example: 1. a full creature 2. a full human 3. a mix making a completely new creature species or specialty bred human depending on the ratios of creature to human

Bearing children with creatures leaves their “gender” in the air most of the time, but the creature parent will be able to tell if they are bearing or non-bearing which usually leads to an easier guess. Most creature parents pick a “gender” for their child to refer to them as and refer to them as it until the child is old enough to tell them what they truly are. Most creature parents can usually get a good enough idea and get it right on their first try, but some must be corrected later on. Creatures see this as a regular part of their kit growing.

[simplydnp]

personally i cannot get on the marriage hill because i feel like they have already crossed that hill without us knowing, or if they havent already they may just not be planning to. obv i dont know anything about their personal life so maybe im way off base here lol but i just feel like they've already committed to each other for the rest of their lives, thats been done! they did it 15 years ago and they've done it a hundred times since then! buying a house together is the big one where i feel like they either already got married before that and never told us, or they consider that theyre already committed enough that they don't feel the need to get married, since at this point marriage for them would just be a piece of paper. not to mention during the devan wedding video they talked about how uncomfortable a wedding would be so i feel like they've decided that they dont need to make it "official"

i think not being on it is fair. love it, hate it, whatever, but we would Know if they had done so in secret. at least, from a legal standpoint. who knows if they did a little thing for just themselves at some point--but to me, that's different than Marriage-marraige, if that makes sense.

they have been committed for a very, very long time. i hesitate to say right from the start because we just have the benefit of hindsight to know that it ended up there, but it's been there for a while.

maybe it's the romantic in me, but i want them to have that Moment. to celebrate them. where, truly, nothing else matters except them and what they mean to each other. for them to get to bring the important people in their life together and enjoy it. for them to finally breathe. and not have to worry, or think, or hesitate in living their life. obviously there will still be walls and boundaries and i don't expect to see them making out in a video, but to just exist without fear. or stress. or anxiety. to be able to show the things they really Do want to; to be able to go do the things they really want to do. that's what i want for them.

it's less about 'marraige is the final step!' and more like it's the first one into the rest of their lives.

one of the biggest themes throughout this fandom's existence, and particularly since the hiatus began, is that we just want them to be happy. to be free of expectations and pressure and speculation and erasure. and i think that's what marraige hill means to a lot of people.

to speak for myself for a moment: i've got very haggard relationships and depictions of love in my life. it feels hollow in many ways. it's described as vibrant and overwhelming and terrifying and beautiful--but for me it's... empty. i read about how it sweeps people off their feet, or it slowly builds over time, or maybe it's always been there--and i can't help but want that. even just being around it is filling for the soul. i think witnessing joy and happiness is critical to our existence. to physically see love in the world. and maybe it's cheesy and maybe it's parasocial, but i want dnp to have their happy ending. cause the twisted, chunk of meat in my head thinks that's how it's supposed to go. how it should be. is people should get to be happy, and for many of them, that includes being in love. maybe it's outdated maybe it's old-fashioned, maybe it's the ex-catholic in me, but that's what marraige should be. and maybe it's the idea that people do get there and it is possible. and it really is this beautiful thing.

in terms of their stances on it, you offer that you think they're committed enough and they may not want it--which, is a fine opinion to have. it's been a very long time since either of them have really truly talked about marraige and weddings, and add the fact that they're both private people and don't even talk relationship stuff candidly, so anything presented, i take with a grain of salt. and i don't think disliking aspects of a wedding and then also wanting one are mutually exclusive. i think there's plenty of ways to eliminate aspects and still do it. their agreement on it, to me, signals they've talked about it.

and especially with how things have been lately--with how much has changed in the last few months for them even--i don't think the option is off the table for them.

they well and truly killed the joint branding in 2018 and buried it. there were glimpses of their togetherness during the hiatus, but WAD especially pushed back on things. and yet, just a few months after it ended, they agreed to a why not--knowing it would mean inviting us back into it again. inviting in people to see. and instead of hard lines and rigid restrictions, they keep loosening the reins. and i genuinely think them being back, and us being here too, has completely changed the trajectory of their life. i don't think either of them expected to tour together again. for them to truly enjoy this. phil may have hoped, but he wasn't gonna push it if dan wasn't willing. so now that they're here, so many possibilities have opened up. and, to me, it feels like they're building momentum. and while some of that was likely for the tour, it still feels like we're heading somewhere. i've got that same gut feeling i did during ii.

take it or leave it, those are my thoughts. i doubt we'll truly know until they either do it or don't.

[docholligay]

I know GoT only by reputation, and what little I've seen of it on tumblr, but... sometimes, I feel like fantasy, as a genre, has been absolutely ruined by the success of GoT. Everything these days seems to be about making settings and characters as nasty, brutish, and dirty as possible. It's incredibly tiring, and really frustrating, to the point of feeling like these sorts of tropes are being repeated for their own sake rather than because they actually do anything for the story or characters.

(Also, being the sort of person who easily becomes queasy at the sight or thought of blood, and has issues with everything being so darned loud, this tends to be a particular pet peeve in television, but even books aren't completely immune to this effect either, which makes it doubly frustrating.)

I mean this in the nicest possible way, please imagine me saying this with a big smile on my face and laughing as I take a swig from my beer, but you and I are SO diametrically opposed on this!

I mean, anything can be written BADLY, of course, but I fell out of reading fantasy as i got older not because it all became A Song of Ice and Fire but because it all seemed to be "a brave young woman!! IS the chosen one!! And she will prevail over SUPER DARKNESS. And only the parental figure will die, to motivate her, and everyone's intentions and clear and good, and also there are dragons I guess." There's so much narrative safety. There's so many last-minute asspulls to save someone. I would LOVE some well written political machination but there are dragons though. That's why I liked Locke Lamora!

I think we have a tendency to notice the things we hate. So for me, Fantasty now is fucking lousy with ~queer retellings~ that are all very life affirming and nice and all that but all the eating each other out in the world isn't going to get me over the hump of wishing there were actual, painful consequences for being an idiot, or even just unlucky.

Part of why people named Doc, who are me, really like Song of ice and Fire (please note I actually DON'T like Game of Thrones) is that anyone COULD die. The books would not CHEAT TO HELP THE GOOD GUY WIN. And for me, that was everything. As a young teen who had read so so so much fantasy but was starting to feel really resentful of the way it never seemed to mirror the moments of difficulty and pain in life, it meant so much (I think the show edged too hard toward Cheating To Help The bad Guy Win, but that's another matter)

But obviously you and I are totally different people. You admit to being squeamish, so of course you don't care for things that involve violence. I, on the other hand, am an excellent person to have in any given bloody crisis, as I have Done Time in Ag. I am, to give a real life example, the person you calmly call into the kitchen to help when you've nearly taken your finger off with a meat slicer. I have a smile and a "We can handle this!" to give. I, on the third hand, have had life experiences that make, "the magical salvation of being nice and believing really hard" feel like an actual-ass insult. I never met a war that didn't take its chunk, and you don't get to pick where they come from.

These are just differences of personality. Fucking magical princess witches in the forest running from the bad guys but overcoming it all with sass and gay love because we're twelve I guess exists for you, and grimdark machinations toward a lead crown of thorns where evil brings profit and virtue none at all because fuck happiness everyone should be a German concrete salesman is for me. I think there's probably more of what both of us like than either of us are actually admitting.

However, everything is too loud for me all the time also, I really recommend eargasm earplugs, which come with a very small container and are nearly invisible and discreet when in. They block some of the sound but not all of it. Many people in my life casually don't even know I have them or sometimes put them in for louder places.

[localsunnet]

monn rach lore pt 3

hi chat I’m back

if you recall, there were two endings for Monn after Leipzig, he gets infected or survives.

canonically, he survives. :) so pt 3 will dive into the events after Leipzig (ft. Kaub)

any historical inaccuracies are NOT intentional and im sorry if there are any grammatical errors

any interpretations and scenarios are also VERY VERY VERY allowed

After surviving and escaping Leipzig, Monn stays with the remaining group of survivors (including Father Silvio) as they travel in search of a place free from the cannibals.

The events of Leipzig really effected him a lot, and it’s really starting to show after a few weeks as his cannibalistic thoughts spiralled into actual tendencies.

It started off as an occasional bite of flesh here and there, but he started packing cannibals’ limbs into his bag as ‘extra food’. Father Silvio has definitely noticed it but is willing to occasionally consult him about it to see why and how he got these tendencies in the first place. His teammates were very wary of him but they didn’t question him, and just left him alone with his tendency unchecked as they didn’t want to have anything to do with it.

(Monn during this time has also decided to be semi-verbal, mostly quiet but occasionally letting out a word or a short sentence.)

One day, Monn finally snapped and gave into thr temptation of fresh human meat, which ended up with him murdering the only surgeon of the group and a musician in cold blood, chopping up and eating their limbs.

His teammates were NOT HAPPY and in fact is scared, quickly suggesting that Monn should be executed to avoid any incidents like this from happening. But Father Silvio defended Monn, accusing them of causing this in the first place by leaving him alone and with his thoughts unchecked.

Saying their argument was chaotic would be an understatement, but in the end, Father Silvio left the group by his own terms with Monn, with the goal to somehow reach Kaub.

Their journey to Kaub was less than smooth, Silvio was constantly looking out for Monn and making sure he is not visibly insane, while Monn was trying his absolute best to protect Silvio with his Carbine and Heavy Sabre. (He does lose his heavy sabre later because it broke while he was dealing with a small group of shamblers.)

Monn does eventually run out of limbs to snack on and complains to Silvio. So out of irritation, Silvio offered one of his arms to chop off and eat. He was of course hesitant at first, but temptation took over and he chopped off the arm, which kind of started a thing where if Monn runs out of flesh to eat, Silvio just offers a part of his flesh for him to eat,,,

Their journey went on for a while, stopping at towns or villages to get supplies as they slowly reached Kaub.

Silvio has gave Monn a huge chunk of his flesh at this point, covered by bandages and is pretty much in constant pain. But he cares about Monn a lot, even before the Blight happened, so he was willing to give up his life if it meant helping Monn.

but he can’t last forever, Silvio finally told Monn that he might not survive anymore when they encountered a hoard, and motioned him to run and hide as he sacrifices his life to save Monn, only making him promise to reach Kaub.

This, obviously, also took a big toll on poor Monn, watching a trusted ally sacrifice himself for HIM, and he didn’t believe he deserved such ‘herotic’ acts. Along the way to Kaub alone, he picked up a stray black cat whom he named “Missy” and grew very attached to.

He does eventually reach Kaub, fulfilling Father Silvio’s last wish and found fellow survivors in the church and here commencing the events of Kaub.

What happens in Kaub? Well he survives with a mild infection. But for the sillyboard people out there, Monn joins the backups to the castle and insert fanfic stuff here (its 12am forgive me)

And yes, Missy the cat does survive.

And also yes, he very much misses his brothers, which he hoped is still surviving and is looking for him.

AND THATS MONN’S (CURRENT) LORE!!!

If anything doesn’t make sense UHM IM SO SORRY VRO 😭😭🙏🙏

have fun, i would know, Monn Rach rots my brain!!!

any questions are so welcomed, ask thru strawpage or ask feature here and ill be so happy to respond!!!! /gen

[rjalker]

Oh nice butcher as in a literal butcher processing line. Nice. The mooncalves apparently taste really good.

It was a much larger cavern than we had supposed from our first glimpse of it, and we looked up from the lowest portion of its sloping floor. It widened out as it receded from us, and its roof came down and hid the remoter portion altogether. And lying in a line along its length, vanishing at last far away in that tremendous perspective, were a number of huge shapes, huge pallid hulls, upon which the Selenites were busy. At first they seemed big white cylinders of vague import. Then I noted the heads upon them lying towards us, eyeless and skinless like the heads of sheep at a butcher’s, and perceived they were the carcasses of mooncalves being cut up, much as the crew of a whaler might cut up a moored whale. They were cutting off the flesh in strips, and on some of the farther trunks the white ribs were showing. It was the sound of their hatchets that made that chid, chid. Some way away a thing like a trolley cable, drawn and loaded with chunks of lax meat, was running up the slope of the cavern floor. This enormous long avenue of hulls that were destined to be food, gave us a sense of the vast populousness of the moon world second only to the effect of our first glimpse down the shaft.

[reviewcycle]

the sparrow (sajin komamura x reader) part 2

words: 3.3k posted on ao3 first

previous part, next part

jin was fretting, it seems, over you, which was embarrassing enough but his large warm hands were poking and prodding at you. you could barely fight him off, and fight is very generous of a word when all you did with half-heartedly groan and squirm the latter of which hurt you even more.

he feels your head, your neck, your fever had finally broken. he offhandedly notices the necklace again, unknowing it was the maker of your male facade. the fact your spiritual pressure was astonishingly low was possibly why you had asked to accompany him. you had barely enough to defend yourself- which made sense looking at your seemingly unused sword.

by the time you awoke fully, you were warm again, and your eyes focused- as much as they could without the glasses you wore- on jin’s wide expanse of back. he was huddled over the pot, that looked surprisingly normal sized next to him, and the smell of cooking meat- actual meat was fully in the air.

you sit up with a groan, but you can kind of tell he knew you were awake before you even started moving. halfway through the movement, you realize that your tunic was replaced, the one covering you is way too big and heavy for you. instantly, you stop moving. taking a mental check on your faculties. nothing seemed out of place but your clothing, and that makes you relax a bit until he speaks up, not bothering to move. or perhaps, not wanting to startle you.

“i secured some deer, they were milling about, so i got us one.”

your heart flips. us. whatever this fixation you were developing was getting out of hand.

“oh… that’s nice.” he was the only other person around for miles, of course he was the one who watched over you. how pitiful had you been for him to feel the need to nurse you to relative health?

slowly walking over, you sit on his other side. your eyes indulgently sweeping across his form, he wore a close fitting shirt- a surprising upgrade from shirtless. still, the sleeves were short enough both his arms were exposed. you secretly wished you had a mask to cover your face as well- at least you could hide your embarrassment and shame.

on your third glance, you realize he had been looking at you already. you adjust your glasses nervously, the air between you two was heavy, thick. tension weighed down upon your shoulders like the many lies you’ve told; that you must continue to tell. he speaks first, and you resist showing the tingle it sends up your spine by poking the hot embers with the fire poker.

“forgive me for undressing you, but you had sweat through your clothes..” his voice gives away no judgment, and since you couldn’t see his face, you weren’t necessarily sure if what he was saying were what he truly thought, or if he was simply biding his time to trespass against you. he speaks again, his voice rumbling deep in his chest with a mirthless chuckle, “i have no reason to judge you, especially with this helmet.”

your eyes drop from his, unfortunately dragging your gaze from his head, down his wide shoulders and broad chest, past his sculpted- beefy would be more apt- arms and his thick thighs, you snap out of your reverie, poking the fire harder- it makes an ember flop out and you hurriedly toss it back in, feeling jittery.

“thank you,” you say, the added ‘for saving my life’ hung invisibly in the air. you clear your throat again. he offers you one of your (small to him) cups, filled with water. taking it, you chug the cool liquid down.

“also, i understand if you don’t want to travel with me-”

“i will travel with you. we’re going the same way, it would be a waste otherwise.”

he interrupts you, his focus on the deer, flipping a few large chunks in an even larger pan with a pair of chopsticks.

you freeze, that seemed to happen a lot around this man, it was becoming a steadily growing issue.

“are you sure? i mean, i was asleep- sick- for how long..? i couldn’t ask you to protect me just because i’m cooking for you.” it was ridiculous, this guy, whoever he was, had to be absolutely crazy! what was his motivation for doing this?

“those things don’t matter to me, i have seen much worse.” he pauses, but decides to say nothing else this time.

your face feels hot. what the hell was he talking about? and here he was still rambling, you really were a poor conversationalist. here he was, offering you exactly what you asked for free of charge, and yet you refused him. in your despair you notice he was still talking.

“i would have agreed to your terms even if the events of last week hadn’t occurred.”

trying to hide the dumbfounded look on your face, you busy yourself with preparing the food bowls and the thankfully large plates. he’d even managed to find some vegetables, potatoes at that. you needed to change the subject from your ineptitude, so you blurt something out.

“how did you hunt if your sword is sealed shut?”

at that he stiffens a bit more, and there’s more silence than comfortable.

“traps, bare strength, the usual.”

you pause as well, just how strong was he to kill a whole deer (of this size!) with no real weapon? you can’t resist a shudder of palpable fear, and play it off by outstretching your hands toward the fire. he takes notice, obviously. you two sat too close for him not to.

“if you’re cold, you could sit closer to me during dinner.”

what the hell was he talking about?

“don’t think you can just coddle me, i'm a prideful man." but still... you were cold almost always, and sitting close to his wondrous body would be a dream, but you absolutely could not get distracted and falter.

he chuckles, clearly not phased by your posturing. the food is quickly distributed and he turns his back to eat. you do similarly, sneakily leaning your back against his side. he really was warm.

you both pack up relatively quickly, you especially considering you didn't have much to begin with. bag on your back and snowshoes on, you both abandoned your previous dwelling with little fanfare.

*

the air was freezing, biting and nipping at your exposed skin, your lungs feeling.. refreshed actually, with the air so cold. jin was largely unaffected. the mountain of a man made sure, steady footprints, his long, loping gait not faltering once.

needing something, anything to take your mind off of how shapely he looked from behind, you speak up from behind your scarf.

"so how important is this job to travel so far?"

he says nothing for a few more moments than what you think is normal.

"very. the stakes are high, and it's time sensitive." he didn't feel the need to say that he was working that very job now, of course not. however, if you had the brains to ask, he might've told you.

unfortunately, you had no such brains- at least not on this issue. so you hum, nodding very solemnly. "i see. i will make sure not to hold you back."

the trek to the forest was more boring than the actual (unseen to you) path through the wilderness. you both walk through the quiet areas with relative silence. jin pointing out what plants grew despite the frost, you sharing vague stories you'd heard from other villages you'd visited.

the forest itself was quiet, sleeping even, at first glance until you slowed down and noticed the small things, the soft beating heart of the woodland creatures surviving despite the weather. you even see a few deer.

"why did you choose so far west to live?" he asks, you'd started walking side by side, he had a larger stride than you, and so he'd elected to slow down for your sake. already the stinging pain of being a burden was palpable.

"needed to get out of my hometown, there was nothing there for me." he helps you (help being the key word), over a fallen tree by grabbing you around the waist and setting you down gently on the other side. he'd allowed you to keep the tunic he leant you on, and it was warmer than half the clothing you were able to pack.

"who gave you that blade?" you ask, eyes focused on your feet so you didn't trip and make a fool out of yourself. it'd been two days of trekking through the dense forest and he'd caught you so many times, you could feel his strong, firm hands on you even still. ever gentle. shaking the thoughts, you forced yourself to listen.

"my former master... he was killed abruptly." the silence that follows descended like a hungry group of vultures. "he'd taken me in, monstrous as i was. taught me his ways and i had never been able to repay his kindness." with a shrug, his helmet faces your direction but you miss it, seeing as how you're looking at your feet.

"so.. now i help other people. revenge had been my first option, and i deeply regret the routes i took while on that journey. but well..." he swallows, "i decided i wouldn't let my anger speak for me." he places a heavy hand on his sword, as if to remind himself of the weight on his shoulders, his own personal path to redemption and answers for something he felt the vague feelings of but couldn't name. not yet.

you nod, so you were a charity case, basically. but it also explains why he was a ronin, it especially explained why he sealed his blade away.

"sorry if you weren't ready to talk about that," you muster, looking up at him again.

his head shakes, "if I didn't want to share, i wouldn't. as travelling partners, we need at least a bit of trust between us."

your stomach twists painfully. trust. you don't give yourself time to stew before you shoot another question. "so the job is west? how far?"

any further than where you were going (an allegedly pretty coastal town called karakura) ended up in a completely new continent. one sparsely travelled. yes of course you wanted to get away from your clan, but a new continent... that was a bit too extreme, for now.

"well, i'm helping a grieving family find a lost member, she'd been kidnapped in the middle of the night and whisked away. it was unlike her, they say." he doesn't share more, possibly because of some confidentiality he had to uphold, but he does pose his own question.

"wait, you said you came from there," he names your town and you gratefully hold back a cringe. "are you familiar with the area?"

not wanting to seem suspicious, you nod, using the creeping despair you felt to mask your terror. there was just no way he was looking for you. a frown on your face you shake your head woefully, glad to hide your eyes from him.

"i know of the more prominent families, but stealing women? what has this world come to, truly."

before he can ask something else- thankfully - he pauses and sniffs the air. you'd noticed it was one of his habits, sniffing things, gruff noises that- if you were trying hard enough felt like growls. his... fixation with securing the perimeter. you had assumed that he was just someone with keen senses, which wasn't uncommon, but the raw power you felt just by being near him belied something else.

"there's a hot spring nearby." he declares, walking off towards the left somewhere.

forced to keep up, you stumble along behind him, he seemed excited for this. you weren't really sure how he knew, but it soon hit you, the smell of sulfur and the gradual heat from the water wafting over you both.

you two had been together nearly a month by now, and through that time you'd become keenly aware he was diligent, and very serious, but not unkind. his humongous size and helmet simply made him more opposing than he seemed.

coming across the decent sized pool of steaming water, he puts his bag down and starts stripping his clothing again.

having no real thing to hide- your necklace had worked seamlessly so far, using spiritual pressure to conceal and hide your true body was the feat that caused you to be near constantly strained- but it was worth it.

hopefully in karakura town, you'd be able to find a famed tool maker, to optimize your necklace so it used less spiritual pressure. until then, you'd have to make do.

stripping down your clothing, you take quick glances at his back. his shapely ass and fat padded back and legs forced a bit of drool to collect in your mouth and you swallow hastily. though, he looks... more hairy than he did in the cabin. how long ago was that? you were asleep for almost a week of it, maybe you were misremembering.

"do you know how many more days we have until we reach the next town?" you'd been talking about maps, having shared with eachother, hell, he didn't even need a compass apparently. he used the stars to navigate.

despite his excitement for having found the hot spring he answers, finally kicking off his pants, leaving himself in his fundoshi. he turns to look at you, helmet still firmly on his head. "... about a week."

maybe it's because dishonesty had become your own moon and stars, or maybe it was because you'd been memorizing more of his tells than you care to admit to anyone but yourself, but you think he's lying.

still, you nod, averting your eyes as you carefully fold up your clothing until you're sure he's submerged in the water. naked (to his eyes) aside from your own fundoshi, you slip into the heated water with a groan.

the silence that permeates the air, for once, is pleasant. though, you'd misjudged the size of the natural pool, because if you moved anymore, you'd be in his lap. still, you try to reason with yourself, humming as you feel his leg brush yours under the water. he really did seem hairier.

"guess i have to string myself into another tree." you joke. since you two have been in the woods, jin had insisted you make camp up a sturdy tree, yet he still slept on the group. at first you'd joked he'd taken your name- sparrow- a bit too seriously, but it seems that was his only request for you.

he ate the food you cooked without question. most of it meat with whatever strange vegetation he scrounged up, most of which unfamiliar to you. just two days ago you both had milled some plant or another to make some meager bread that actually tasted pretty good.

he doesn't seem amused now, his arms spread across the "lip" of the pool, arms wide, you were sitting across from him, in full view of his hefty chest. his nipples were hard, and in the light of the near setting sun, his eyes glinted.

hell, if you looked hard enough- and trust, you tried- you could scarcely see the soft bobbing of his bulge under the bubbling water. besides that, his knee was clearly slotted between your legs, and he didn't apologize once. which, was unlike him completely.

honestly, you aren't sure how long you were in the hot spring, at least until he got out first, insisting it was time for dinner. you weren't completely sure how he knew you were hungry before you yourself did, but you never complained.

dinner was short, clearly something was on his mind. and if you were reading him right? something he didn't want to talk about. which was fine with you. nearly every time you talked, you had to lie to him, especially now you know he was looking for a missing person. most likely a missing you.

after shaking a few trees, jin finally finds one he thinks is suitable for you to take. and you make the climb, up and up until you find a nice steady branch to wrap yourself up, tie yourself down, and try your best to sleep. truthfully, you wanted to be next to him, snuggled into his strong arms, but he insisted it was the safest way for you to sleep. big strong animals resided in these woods.

*

the next three days were... interesting. despite travelling with him as usual, you felt as if you went nowhere. he was more handsy than usual- his usual being the occasional helping you over something big and making sure you didn't hurt yourself. now his hands lingered, on your back, your hip, you even caught him "discreetly" sniffing at you when he helped you up over something. if you were crazy, you'd assume he was taking the more treacherous path on purpose, especially considering he was the only one who really knew where you both were going.

you'd gotten the ill written map back near your hometown, from some sketchy old woman who said "it'll take you where you need to go" which... was unhelpful especially now. the forest wasn't even on the map!

jin had stopped, you'd walked way later than usual, and now he was checking out trees for you to sleep in. fortunately, a particularly gigantic one had a hollow, just big enough for you. it made you shiver, wondering what creature that huge had made the hole, but you put that aside when you realize how cozy it was. you leave your bag inside and head back down. jin was poking at a fresh fire with way too much interest.

he seemed... prickly, and as the sun made its descent, he rushed you along eating so you could go to bed. jin was clearly worried. and sick of being pushed around (but not necessarily of being manhandled), you speak up.

"jin, stop. what is wrong with you?" you say, not really sure how else to word your concerns.

he pauses, his hands clenching at his sides. he needed to cut his nails, you thought- they were sharp looking, absolutely wicked. "i've seen evidence of wolves in the area, so i need you up the tree."

you bristle, "wolves?!" jaw dropped, you look around, as if they'd be waiting in the shadows to be discovered right then.

"why didn't you say something earlier? we.. you..."

truthfully, what could you do? but you were worried about your travelling partner. and not because you were forming a crush because he was protecting you and forging your path to karakura.

"nothing to be done." he was gently- more gently than he had been in the last three days- nudging you toward your tree. "now get into your nest, and don't bring attention to yourself. no matter what."

unsure of what to say, you barely notice him pushing you along while you're talking, "i- well be careful! wild animals are dangerous, jin."

he gives a dark chuckle, and you aren't sure whether to be giddy with excitement at him herding you, or angry that he was treating another (perceived) man as he would a woman. still, you climb up and up into the hollow and get ready for bed. the moon- full in all her splendor, had arisen beautifully.

on your way to sleep, when you decide to call out to jin, mostly to say goodnight, and half to tell him to be careful again- you hear an ear shaking howl.

way too close for comfort.