#which is absolutely what child!me casually assumed they were doing

[muffinlance]

My mom just started reading Fox’s Tongue and Kirin’s Bone after I raved to her about it lol.

She’s four pages in and she wants to know if the way people sometimes use the phrase “met death” had anything to do with sparking the idea for this story? (As in, “he met his death walking down king street” or “she met her death in November”)

That is EXACTLY where the initial premise came from. I overthought the phrase one day, and here we are. <3

[lostatsea-blog]

Bringing Home the Gold (Part 4)

Alexia Putellas x England Reader

Will Y/N and Alexia find their happy ending?

For a brief moment time stood still. The two of you were frozen, unable to take your eyes off each other. Alexia looked tired and was dressed in her Spain tracksuit with a cap; your heart ached at how utterly beautiful she looked even when dressed so casually. Realising that you had frozen at the top of the stairs just staring at her, you took a step forward and Alexia saw that as her cue to stand. As you took in her appearance, you were drawn to how nervous she looked. She was finding it difficult to keep eye contact, her gaze drifting down to the carpet at her feet. Your heart clenched causing your stomach to roll while your mind filled with a million different reasons why she looked so nervous – none of the reasons your mind conjured were good.  

“Why are you here?” the words were out of your mouth before you could stop them and you frowned at how harsh you sounded. You opened your mouth again, fully intending to correct the tone you had just used, but your mouth was now in control and taking absolutely no direction from you “Your supposed to be in Ibiza enjoying your holiday with Jenni” You knew it was a low blow when you saw the hurt flash across Alexia’s face. It was only there for a second before she regained her composure.  

“No one has been able to contact you for four days and this is what you say?” Alexia challenged “You told me not now and not here and then you just disappear. Did you expect me to just not care?” her voice demanded no longer trying to hide the hurt and frustration she was feeling.

“In all honesty, I didn’t think you would care! It would mean you no longer had to pretend and you could give all of your time to Jenni” You replied. You watched the words hit the Spanish captain and could see her body recoil at the implication behind them. You knew you were being unfair, Alexia had never given you any reason to believe that she would cheat but you were hurt, you were humiliated and you wanted her to feel even a fraction of what you had been feeling.  

A door slamming on the floor above reminded you that you were stood outside your flat, which was not the best place for this conversation.

“Let’s do this inside” You sigh moving past her and opening the door. You walked in and took your coat off assuming that Aleixa was following you – it took a moment to realise that she hadn’t. She remained in a state of uncertainty at the threshold “You can come in Aleixa” you sighed

“I didn’t want to assume” she whispered and you knew, in that moment, Alexia was unsure of her place; something very new to the Spanish midfielder. She did not know how to behave in this space that was only yours or how to interact with this version of you. She followed you in and you led her into the kitchen. You observed her, without being obvious, as she took in your little flat. There were different collectables on the walls and signs of your achievements over the years. You saw the briefest of smiles as her eyes landed on your framed photo from the Euros. You busied yourself making coffee for the two of you, delaying this conversation as long as possible. When you finished making the drinks, you placed hers in front of her. She smiled softly; you had made her favourite drink just the way she liked it. It gave her a renewed sense of hope, like you were thawing a little and were open to what needed to be said.

“You didn’t go to Ibiza” you stated but she understood the question

“Did you think I would go when I had no idea where you were or what was going on” she asked

“And yet, for someone who didn’t know where I was, you seem to have had no trouble finding me” You snarked and again you wanted to kick yourself and tell yourself to shut up! What the fuck was wrong with you? She had come looking for you and somehow tracked you down and you wire sniping like a petulant child

“Y/N” she sighed heavily “Please stop! I used every contact I knew to try and find out where you might be” Your heart swelled at her admission as you understood the effort she made to find you. This had never been a test. You had not done this to see if she would try and find you (you had genuinely felt so overwhelmed you didn’t know how to function) but the fact that she had made you feel like you mattered to her. The other side of your brain wouldn’t allow you the luxury of letting down your guard, reminding you that she could have tracked your down to end your relationship in person. Alexia would not end things in a message or over the phone.

“Alexia, I don’t know what you want me to say” You respond your brashness suddenly deflating

“I hate when you say my name like that” She muttered with a quiet huff

“it is your name” You retort

“Not usually with you” and she was right. It was very rare that you used her full name, preferring to use terms of endearment or just a shortened Lex.

You genuinely wanted to scream. There was no one in the world who could get you as agitated and wound up as Alexia Putellas. The painful irony being that she was also the only person who could calm you down and alleviate the pain you had been feeling the last four days. Your snark came from fear. If you could give her a reason to end the relationship, then it wouldn’t have been about Jenni; It wouldn’t have been that you were second best or just not good enough. You were about to open your mouth to ask her to just get on with it, so you could begin the process of getting over her when she muttered “I’m sorry”

You blinked rapidly trying to process those two small words. Two words that could mean anything. I’m sorry I can’t do this, I’m sorry it’s not worth it, I’m sorry you’re not who I want. She must have seen the confusion and apprehension on your face because she continued “I’m sorry for hurting you the way that I did! My actions, I did not realise at the time what they implied or how it would look to you”

“Look,” you began “I know you and Jenni have history..”

“Don’t excuse what I did” She interrupts “You do that often, allow me to behave selfishly and excuse my actions”

“Lex,” You begin and watch how she swallows at the use of her pet name “I just want you to be happy – what ever that looks like” you step forward and take hold of her hand. You had always found it hard to stay mad at Alexia and when you thought about it, it was probably why you had turned off your phone. What you felt for the blond ran so deep that all it would have taken was a conversation and you needed to be mad at her for a little while.

“My happy is you” she leaned forward and brushed her nose with yours sending shivers down your spine. From the very first night you kissed her, she had the ability to take your breath away with barely a touch. Feeling bolder, she caught your lips in a soft kiss “You are more important than any history or any team. Jenni is my past but you are my forever” her hand reached up and swiped at tears you did not even realise were falling “I would never betray you Y/N, I swear. With everything that has been happening inside the team, In my mind I was showing support and solidarity; Alba helped me realise the implications behind the actions.”

Unable to maintain the distance any longer you surged forward cashing your lips together in a desperate kiss that longed to forget the hurt of the past few days. As you broke apart, you pulled her into your arms, something you had wanted to do since the end of the final. Her arms slipped further around your middle and you felt her grip on the back of your shirt tighten as she held you in a desperate grip afraid that you would pull away.  

“I am so proud of you” you whispered the words you had longer to say before the medal ceremony; the words she had said to you as you spotted the shirt “You are a World Cup Winner and I am so immensely proud of you Lex – Your brought home gold!”

You knew that there was much more to talk about. You knew you would have to tell her about your fears and insecurities but that could wait. The situation with the Spanish National Team was complicated and while you desperately wished you could protect Alexia from all the shit, it was not your fight; it was hers. Your job was to stand by her side while she showed the world just how incredible she truly was; while she made history and while she took strides to improve the game for the girls who would come after her.  

@wosof1

[a-b-riddle]

Kinktober

Day 2: Boot humping (Cassian/Reader)

cw: sex pollen. drugging. dub con. non con. choking. bondage. oral (m receiving) su!cide attempt via window. boot humping. humiliation. Dark Cassian. Dark Inner Circle. No aftercare.

"Please."

"Please." He chuckled. "It sounds so pretty when you say it." Cassian was a tease. He loved making you ache for him. He wasn't possessive which made it easier to share you with the others, but he still wanted to be lusted after.

You wanted to assume that he was offering some sort of penance after what he had did to you. What they all had done to you.

It had been over a month since Feyre and Rhysand had orchestrated your imprisonment. You had tried begging and pleading your case. Promising to never speak of what they had done. Promising to simply disappear. It wasn't until you had seen the anger on all of their faces did you realize that this went far beyond infatuation. They weren't possessive, which was the only reason they had all agreed to share you. But they were certainly obsessed.

It wasn't until Rhys had casually mentioned fucking you on the table during dinner that you attempted to flee. You bolted from the table. Their mocking laughs turning into panic as you ran toward the open window. You were halfway out when an arm wrapped around you, dragging you back inside as Azriel hissed in your ear.

"If you ever do something that foolish again, I will take your maidenhood with my fucking blade."

You went limp in his arms before he let you fall into a still sobbing heap on the floor. When Feyre tenderly touched your shoulder, you flinched. The volume of your cries rising. You missed her broken expression as she turned from you to glare at her mate for making such a poor joke. Even if he did not mean it to be one.

Azriel was not one for offering comfort and she couldn't trust Rhys not to punish you. As High Lady, she adjourned dinner before instructing Cassian to make sure you got to your room.

He took you in his arms in one swoop before carrying you to bed. Your dinner still on the table half eaten.

That was almost a week ago and you had been stowed away in your windowless room since. Pleasuring them as they requested. Letting them touch you without putting up a fuss. Nothing more. Feyre had tried to entice you with an afternoon of Rhys' good wine and painting, but you had refused. Only asking was there anything she needed of you.

You weren't surprised when she instructed you to pull up your skirts and lay back.

Let me make you feel better.

You stopped begging, knowing that your pleading would fall on deaf ears. The others didn't seem to mind your more agreeable state. Cassian, however, did not.

He wanted you eager for him as he had been for you. He had hoped with all they had given you, you would finally see how much they cared for you. He hoped that his affections would be returned only to be met with a blank face and eyes that no longer held anything in them. Not fear. Not anger.

He had entered the study. The tea cup and plate looking like something from a child's play-set in his massive hands. "Brought you some tea." He said. "Sweetened just how you like it."

You thanked him more out of politeness than actual being thankful for his gesture. He said nothing as he sat in the chair across from you watching you drink.

And fuck if it wasn't absolutely delicious.

As sweet as honey, but went down your throat as easily as fairie wine. It wasn't until you made a prominent slurping sound did a cheshire smile came across his handsome face.

"That good?" You felt your cheeks warm in embarrassment. You sat there quietly. Nodding your head in response as your eyes returned to the forgotten book nestled in your lap.

Madja had assured Cassian that it would take several minutes before the effects kicked in. Granted, Cassian had told the healer it was for him. Knowing the dosage would be much stronger, it took hold of you almost immediately.

Instead of the slow and steady rise of arousal, it felt as though your entire body was tingling. "Cassian?" You asked, pressing your hand to the space below your belly button. Trying desperately to relieve the pressure that was building.

You tried standing only to sink down to your shaking knees; your legs becoming boneless.

You rested your head against the carpet as your entire body buzzed. Your core beginning to soak your inner thighs.

The familiar sound of the clink of his belt had your stomach twisting. Looking up to see Cassian standing in front of you.

"Hurts doesn't it?" He asked. "Aching for someone who refuses to help you."

"I-" you began before another wave of pain shot through you. "I let you." You swallow. "I don't fight you anymore." It was a weak excuse and you knew it. Just because you were compliant didn't mean you were actually giving them what they had craved.

To return their affection. They all damn well knew you found them attractive. They also knew that you hated yourself for it. "Need me to help?"

Fucking bastard.

"Beg me to let you cum." His words only stroked the heat inside of you. Fuck. You closed your eyes tightly. Hoping to let whatever this is pass before giving in. "It'll only get worse from here and I don't mind watching you fall apart, sweet girl."

Cassian didn't like to make you cry like Rhys or Azriel. Unlike the other two, Cassian wanted to be desired which was why he didn't facefuck you. He let you do all the work. Even if he forced you to. You knew what was coming.

His cock was inches from your face. Rigid and fucking monstrous. Your throat ached from the sight alone.

"Fine," he shrugged at your pride. Gripping the base of his cock. Offering it to you like a master offering its' dog a bone. "If you don't want to, then you can help me. Open."

You looked up at him. The fight in you having vanished long ago with your dignity. "Please don't-"

His signet flashed. A menacing red reminding you who the fuck you were denying. The Lord of Bloodshed did not take no for an answer from his warriors. He wasn't going to take it from the pet at his feet. His hands looped around your throat, drawing you up higher on your knees.

Fingers digging into your delicate skin as he lowered himself forward until his eyes met yours. "Don't. You. Dare. Say. No." His tone was sharp. Brown eyes burning into your own. "Open your fucking mouth."

It didn't take long for you to feel the effects of the lack of oxygen to convince you to obey. Mouth open, tongue out. Ready to take him and get it over with.

You had to open wide for his cock. The corners of your mouth stinging as he pushed the leaking tip past your lips. He couldn't fit it all in before hitting the back of your throat, making you gag. He kept his hands placed on the back of your head until you start to suck him on your own volition. He let you do all the work and you wondered if that was worse.

Rhys and Azriel didn't make you do anything you simply took it.

Cassian moaned in approval as you moved your tongue around his head. This always made him finish faster and you wanted nothing more than for him to soothe the burn between your legs and be done with it.

"Good girl." He praised. "Taking it so well for me." Your insides involuntarily clenched. Gods damn pollen. If your hands hadn't been tied behind your back you couldn't guarantee that you would be able to resist touching yourself.

They were monsters, but that didn't mean they weren't beautiful and seeing his head thrown back, jaw slackened from the pleasure you were giving him made an unwanted feeling stir inside you.

He exhaled sharply. His cock twitching against your tongue. "Swallow every drop and I'll let you cum, sweet girl." It was the only warning you got as he pressed his hand against the back of your head and thrust into your mouth. His cock throbbing, spurting his cum into your throat.

The taste of him salty and sweetly bitter. And you swallowed it all. Sucking down every last drop from him before he lifted his hand, granting you reprieve. You rested your spinning head against his leather clad thigh. "There's my good girl."

"Please," you begged. The ache between your legs now burning. "Please make it stop." You closed your eyes, trying to concentrate on anything else with little success. Whatever he had given you had not eased. He could have anything from you if he had asked. You were relieved it had only been sucking him off in the study.

"Please what?" He crossed his arms over his chest.

A sob fell from your lips. He was going to make you ask him. "Please touch me. Please just make it stop." Your head hung in shame. He wasn't forcing you to say anything you didn't want. You wanted him to make it stop. Even if that meant having to endure his hands on you once more.

"Do you actually want me to touch you?" He asked. You didn't look up. "Answer me." You shook your head. Sobbing that even if it meant ending this pain, you remained truthful. You didn't want him touching you. You simply wanted this to end, but would simply push through the sickening feeling of his skin touching yours once more.

It wasn't until you heard his footsteps moving away from you did panic well inside you.

"Cassian, please!"

"Not going anywhere." He assured. Sitting back down on his plush chair. "You don't want to touch me. Fine." He leaned back, pushing his right leg forward. "You can use this."

"What?"

"Go on, sweet girl. Don't be shy." He winked. "Had the new recruits clean them for me this morning. Now I just need you to make them shine."

All the air in the room disappeared. Surely he didn't mean-

"Ride my boot." His order was clear. You were left to do nothing, but obey. Straddling his black leather booth. Crying as you did so. Only calming down once the laces began to take away the ache.

Your head swam as pleasure began to take over with each rock of your hips. The delicious friction bringing you closer and closer to your peak.

Cassian's hand stroked your hair as he offered soft praises.

That's my girl.

Doing so well for me.

So fucking beautiful.

It all became too much. Your puffy pussy grinding harder against him as your own orgasm approached. He only egged you on more. His words touching something deep inside you. A part of you that you didn't know existed.

"Fuck!" You cried out as you started to crumble.

"That's it. baby." He urged. "Keeping fucking going."

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck."

As his hand tightened in your hair, pulling your head back, your eyes met his.

You shattered.

You were certain that all of Velaris had heard you as you cried out. Screaming Cassian's name as your orgasm washed over you.

You pulled off his leg. Falling in a sweaty heap on the floor. Panting like a bitch in heat as you tried desparately to get your bearings.

Cassian marveled at the sight. Soaking you in. Already thinking of more ways to slip in the herb that Madja had given him into your food and drink.

Your breathing evened and you were able to open your eyes. Focusing on the warrior in front of you, you breathed out a weakened, "I hate you."

He couldn't stop the smile from spreading across his face as he stood and walked to the door. Only turning to look at you one less time. Hoping to get you in more of a state of undress the next time he drugged you.

Smirking as he asked the question, "If you hate me so much then why didn't you just use your own fingers?"

[skeletboi]

Part 8 of the intridimensional au!

New? Start here!

Silly extra about what Fiddleford is doing during all of this here.

_______________________________________

“We're going to have to stop before Arizona.” Ford said after about thirty minutes of driving.

“That is not a good idea.” Stan replied, his voice thick with pain. “But I wouldn't say no to some whiskey right about now.”

Ford glanced over at him and noted the sheen of sweat over his face.

“What you need is a hospital, not whiskey.” Ford replied.

“Not worth it. Hospitals ask questions and call the police. Whiskey would never do that to me.”

Ford sighed, but couldn't really argue with that logic.

“Fine, but we have to stop before Arizona. I didn't bring my first aid kit so I will be needing some supplies.”

“Let me get whiskey, first. Taking the fabric off the wound is going to be extra shitty if I'm sober.”

Ford dug the map from his pocket and threw it towards Stan.

“Find us a rest stop. I'll go in to purchase supplies and call Fiddleford to let him know what's happening. He's most likely pacing a hole in the floor as we speak.”

Stan picked up the map, but didn't unfold it.

“Fiddleford, huh? That's the guy that picked up the phone when I called.”

“Yes. He's my assistant.”

“Assistant. Is that what they're calling it these days?”

Ford swerved, but quickly righted the car.

“He- he's married, Stanley!”

“That wasn't a denial.” Stan laughed.

“We are not talking about this. Aren't you supposed to be looking for a rest stop?!”

Stan laughed again, but gave in and unfolded the map.

“There's a stop in another 20 miles.” Stan said, glancing at the rear view mirror to make sure no one was following them. “We should be fine to stop there. Which means we have at least twenty minutes for you to tell me all about how you met this ‘assistant’ of yours.”

Ford took a second to glare at Stan, but gave in when he noticed Stan's pained grimace. He needed the distraction, so he figured Fiddleford was at least a distracting topic to start with.

“We were roommates in college.” Ford started, not missing the way Stan winced in his peripheral vision at the word college. “He's a brilliant mechanic and mathematician. I recruited him to help me with my work in Gravity Falls because of his invaluable knowledge of machinery, and he agreed to help for a few months.”

“Invaluable knowledge, huh? Did you say that to him? That's a weird way to flirt.”

“Did you miss the ‘few months’ part?” Ford asked, unable to hide his annoyance. “He plans on going back to his wife and son in Palo Alto in another month or so.”

“So he left his wife and son in California to work with you? That doesn’t sound very casual.”

“We are done talking about this.” Ford said.

“Fine, fine. Tell me more. Why do you need a mechanic? I assumed you'd be hunting bigfoots or whatever.”

“I told you, his knowledge is invaluable.” Ford replied, a bit too quickly.

“Right…” Stan said, not convinced, but ignored it for now. “So you were roommates. You ever drink too much shit beer and check under the hood or…”

“STANLEY!”

“That wasn't a no!”

“We may have- wait! No! We are absolutely done with this conversation! Fiddleford is just a friend, alright?!”

“A friend you fucked in college that left his wife and child to ‘work with you’. Right.”

“I should have left you in that motel room.” Ford mumbled.

“That's what I told you to do! Not my fault you're so damn stubborn!”

“I'm stubborn?! You got caught up in some gang garbage instead of just getting over yourself and talking to our parents!”

“Talking to them wouldn't change a damn thing! You're just a paycheck to Pa, and I'm even less than that!”

“We are worth more than that! Anyway, what about Shermie?! Couldn't you reach out to him?!”

“And what, ruin his life, too? He has a wife and kids! You think I was going to put them in danger! You hate me and I didn’t even want to put you in danger! I just called to let you know I was sorry!”

Ford frowned and glanced over at Stan.

“I don't hate you, Stanley. I'm just angry with you.”

“Whatever. Same shit different day. I ruined your life, I ruined our parents life, I ruined my life and I will probably ruin your boyfriend's life, too. I’m not going to risk ruining Shermie's kid's lives on top of that.”

“Dammit, Stanley! He is not my boyfriend, grow the fuck up! And you didn’t really ruin my life, you just made it ten times harder.”

“Again. Same shit. Different day.”

Ford sighed. He did not get enough sleep for this. He didn't think it was possible to get enough sleep for this. He couldn't just drop ten years of anger in one night, but he didn't want Stanley to think he was worthless, either. He didn't have the time or energy to have this conversation.

“It’s the next exit.” Stan said, tearing Ford from his thoughts.

Ford nodded and took the exit, happy for the distraction.

“I'll park around the side of the building where there is some light to see your injuries. Try to turn towards the door so I can get a better look at your leg, alright?” Ford said, pulling into the parking lot.

“Yeah, yeah. I can patch myself up, ya know? Just get the supplies and I'll deal with it.”

“Stubborn.” Ford mumbled as he got out of the car.

“Takes one to know one.” Stan shot back as Ford closed the door behind him.

Ford grit his teeth and made his way to the store entrance. It was small, but well-stocked, so it was easy enough to find everything he needed.

“Rough night?” The clerk asked as he brought everything to the counter.

“Very much so.” Ford replied tiredly.

“Ya ain't the first one to come in here with a haul like this. Just happens round these parts, I ‘spose. Though, ya don't look the usual type. Ya look more… proffessory.”

“I'll take that as a compliment.” Ford said, paying for his merchandise. “May I get some quarters back? I need to make a call.”

“I'm sure ya do.” The clerk laughed.

Ford frowned, but didn't bother asking as the clerk handed him the change.

“Have a better night, friend.” The clerk called after him as he left.

“I'll do my best.” Ford replied.

He walked over to the car and found Stanley sitting sideways, one and a half legs dangling out of the car, and a revolver in his lap.

“Whiskey first.” Stan said as Ford approached.

Ford handed it over.

“Damn. This stuff isn't bad. I assumed you'd get the cheap shit. You holding out on me, bro?”

“It was only $9.00, I wouldn't exactly call it the best whiskey.”

“Usually I get the $3.00 bottle. This is smooth as silk in comparison.” Stan replied, downing at least a quarter of the bottle without taking a breath.

“I doubt most people would refer to that as ‘smooth’.” Ford said.

“I ain't most people, Sixer.”

“No argument there.” Ford mumbled.

“First time for everything.”

Ford sighed but knelt down in front of Stan to get a closer look at his injury.

“I told ya I could do it myself, Ford. Don't you have a boyfr- ‘assistant’ to call?”

“I would feel better if I did it. You're in pain and might miss some crucial disinfecting.”

“Fine, Doctor Ford, but you should still go make that phone call first. It's going be a minute before this whiskey kicks in.”

Ford nodded and handed the first aid supplies over to Stan.

“I'll be back in five minutes. Don't… run off.”

Stan looked up in shock before breaking into raucous laughter.

“Damn, your ‘assistant’ teach you how to make a joke? That was a good one!”

“Stop saying assistant like that.” Ford replied, attempting to look angry, but failing as he started to laugh, too.

“Whatever. Go call him before he calls the police. We don't need more people after us.”

Ford rolled his eyes, but did as he was told and made his way towards the payphone.

“Hiya, Ford. How goes everythin’?” Fiddleford said in lieu of hello.

“Hi, Fidds. How did you know it would be me?”

“I took that caller identification majig and hooked it up to my computer so it tells me who is callin’. I call it call-ification! I figured no one else would be callin’ me from New Mexico.”

“Fascinating. Did I not leave you enough equations?”

“Oh, you done left me plenty. I just needed a break or I was gonna lose my darn mind. Anyways, ya didn't answer my question, how is it goin’?”

Ford sighed and glanced back towards the car.

“Not well. I have an… issue I need to discuss with you.”

“Well that don’ sound good. What's the problem?”

“Stanley is the problem. As I suspected he got himself in some serious trouble, and he has nowhere to go, so I'm driving him back to Gravity Falls with me.”

“Well that's not so bad. It'll be a pleasure ta finally meet ‘im.”

“Hah, you say that now. Either way, we are driving because he isn't in good enough shape to fly back. It'll probably be another day before we get there.”

“Not good ‘nough shape? What happened ta him?”

“I haven’t asked him for details but he's… well he lost a leg.”

“A LEG?!” Fiddleford practically screamed. “Gosh darnit! I thought you were gonna say he was just beat up a bit! That's terrible!”

“It is less than ideal. I'm going to patch him up to the best of my ability and we will be on our way.”

“You're gonna patch ‘im up?! Take that man to a damn hospital, Stanford!”

“I tried that. He refused because, and I quote, ‘hospitals ask questions and call the police’.”

“Ya really got yerself a conundrum there, then, doncha? Well… keep me updated, alright? Does he have a similar build to ya? I bet I can make him a robot leg…”

Ford chuckled.

“He has a larger build than me, but we'll talk about it when we arrive in Gravity Falls. Sorry I didn't leave you with more equations. You'll have to find your own entertainment.”

“Don't you worry ‘bout me, Stanford. I am plenty fine workin’ on my computers. Keep me updated, though, seriously. I’m gonna be worryin’ ‘til I hear from you again.”

“I will, Fidds. I'll call you at our next stop.”

“Alrighty. See ya soon, Ford.”

Ford hung up and turned back towards the car. This was definitely going to be an interesting road trip.

Ford made his way back to the car and found Stanley already removing some of the makeshift gauze on his leg.

“Damn, that fucking hurts.” Stan thought aloud.

“That is not surprising.” Ford responded, grimacing. “I grabbed you a new shirt as well, since you didn't grab any clothes on our way out the door.”

“That's because I don't have other clothes.” Stan said through his teeth as he peeled off the remaining fabric, leaving only the makeshift tourniquet under his knee.

Ford swallowed hard, but leaned down to get a better look.

“Do I even want to know how this actually happened?” He asked, grabbing the gallon of water he bought and opening it.

“Probably not. Even if you did, I don't exactly want to talk about it right now.”

“Fair enough. This is going to sting.” Ford said, then poured the water over the gaping wound.

Stan stuffed the sleeve of his coat in his mouth and bit down hard, trying his best to focus on the fabric in his teeth and ache in his jaw over the screaming pain in his leg.

“Fuck, Stanley.” Ford mumbled, sounding wobbly. “I've patched up some serious injuries in my time, but this is definitely the worst one.”

“Tell me about them.” Stan said, momentarily removing the fabric from his mouth. “And don't pass out, or we'll really be fucked.”

Ford thought for a moment, then started to tell the story of Fiddleford and the Gremgoblin as he continued his work.

“Damn, that's pretty intense.” Stan said as Ford finished wrapping the cleaned wound. “What did he see when he looked into it's eyes?”

“I have no idea. He never did tell me, and everytime I ask about it he just gets this far-away look, so I decided not to push it.” Ford replied, carefully removing the makeshift tourniquet and checking to make sure the gauze stayed clean.

“A mystery you actually let go of, huh? You really must love this guy.” Stan said.

“You know I could rip this gauze off, right?”

“Alright! Fine! I’ll stop bringing it up! I’m excited to meet him, though.”

“Yes, well, he is excited to meet you as well. He said he would build you a robot leg. Knowing him, he probably already has the blueprints ready. He built himself a metal cast of sorts after he broke his arm. He was already wearing it the day after the incident.”

“That sounds badass. You think he can make it look like a peg leg? I’ll look like a cool pirate.”

Ford laughed and gathered the remaining supplies to store in the trunk. “I'm positive that he could. He would probably enjoy it.”

“I already like this guy.” Stan laughed.

“I'm sure he already likes you, too.” Ford said with a chuckle as he finished packing up and made his way to the driver's side. “He honestly likes everyone. It's fascinating. I'm sure he would be a terrifying villain if he wasn't always so nice.”

“Ooh. A dark side. The plot thickens!”

“I wouldn't call it a dark side, exactly. More of an intense side. He built a bunker with a boobytrap room that wouldn't be out of place in a horror movie, but I don't believe he would ever use it to hurt another human.” Ford mused as he got the car started.

“Why even build it, then?” Stan asked.

“It’s to keep creatures in more than keep humans out, although it functions both ways.”

“You think he'll make one of those to keep some asshole gangsters away?”

“It's feasible. You'll have to ask him yourself.”

“I plan on it. We should switch clothes and see if he can tell the difference.”

“You're missing a leg, Stanley.”

“I'll put a boot in my pant leg and we can both stand still.” Stan suggested with a laugh.

“He is extremely intelligent, he most likely won't fall for that.”

“Are you suggesting that he knows you too well? Intimately, perhaps?”

“I will push you out of this car.” Ford said, but laughed anyway.

Stan laughed with him and Ford couldn't help but feel like a teenager again, laughing alongside his brother over some stupid joke. For a moment he swore he could hear the squeak of a swingset, and smell the salty air of the ocean.

___________________________________

Previous /// Next

I realize that gauze and a tourniquet would not be enough for this wound- he would definitely need to cauatorize it, but suspend disbelief for a moment....

Also, what do you mean it makes more sense to go through Colorado?! It's Janurary and they're in an el diablo. Better to go around the bigger mountains! This was definitely planned and not a mistake.

I didn't mean for the backstory to go on this long, my hands just keep typing! I can't stopppppppp! I swear there is portal content eventually!

Also, I know some of you are not here for Fiddauthor, but I couldn't not have Stan being an annoying brother about it. I needed it to happen.

[viserratargaryen2]

For those who know me from my TikTok @☆Viserra☆ you probably know that I absolutely adore Viserra Targaryen. But I just see more and more hate come to this character and I just feel the need to write down all the things that I think most people overlook when it comes to this girl and why I think she was not just this typical „arrogant, pretty Princess“. Because when I look at this character I see an extremely misunderstood and mischaracterising character. (English in not my first language so excuse the grammar <3)

I think that Viserra was actually a really lonely child during the early years of her life. She was the youngest out of 8 living children and had no real younger siblings that she could spent her time with. Most people probably know this quote about her sister Saera where septon Barth just casually drops how Saera feels like she is constantly overshadowed by her siblings and completely forgotten and how people assume that she is in no need of comfort but she actually is. I think this quote could be just as much related to Viserra as it is to Saera. Because both of these children are glass children in some sense of way. Though this just played out very different in both of them because they have very different personalities. In my opinion what happend here is that both Saera and Viserra were in desperate need of their mother. But Alysanne just simply prioritised Daella more than them. In Saera this led to an extreme amount of misbehaviour and trouble with which she got at least some of her parents attention. However Viserra was very different to Saera. She was recorded to not have cried or screamed as a child which I think let Alysanne believe that Viserra would be fine without much of her attention. However that was not the case.

I believe what Viserra most wanted in life was to be loved, admired and recognised. However she was mostly overshadowed and forgotten. I think in some way she wanted to be like her mother. Loved and admired. But she never got that kind of love and attention from her family as much as she wanted. So I think when she first realised that people would love her for her beauty, she ultimately wanted to never led that feeling of admiration and love go. And this is why she became so obsessed and vain. Because her beauty was for her the only way to get what she most desired. Love.

But I think she ultimately also knew that these people who admired her so much, simply loved her for her beauty and, for example, not for intelligence or other talents that she had. I mean her best friend was described in the book as basically dumb and stupid which I think says a lot about the people in her environment. And this is the point where Baelon becomes important.

Fire and blood tells us that Viserra was very much in love with Baelon but we are never told why. I believe that there are two reasons for this.

1. Viserra wanted to get the recognition of her mother. She probably thought that since Alysanne always wanted for her children to marry each other that she would love Viserra more if she did exactly that and become just like her and Alyssa. So it was probably a big shock for her when Alysanne became so angry with her for wanting to marry Baelon. Personally, I feel like Viserra always wanted to please her mother but at the same time also had the feeling like Alysanne could not stand her presence.

2. Baelon loved Alyssa despite her looks. Viserra always wanted someone who would not simply love her for her looks. So as said before I believe that what Viserra craved was for someone to love her for who she was and not simply for her beauty. And seeing Baelon doing that with Alyssa was probably what made her so fixated on Baelon. Because she thought that if he could love someone who was not pretty, that he could love someone like her perhaps even more and she would finally be loved and cherish like she always wanted.

All in all I feel like everything Viserra ever wanted was the love and admiration of her mother. But from her perspective her mother hated and disliked her or saw her as a competition. I also do not believe that Viserra wanted to become queen.

For me this character is so enjoyable because Viserra is funny and clever but ultimately and extremely tragic and sad character. I know that some people seem to find it extremely easy to hate Viserra for slipping into Baelon‘s bed and „trying to seduce him“ but just straight up don‘t see that this was a fucking 15 year old girl who was completely lost and desperate to get out of an unfair and disgusting betrothal. Something I always do when I meet these kind of characters is to try and put myself in their shoes. I think if more people would do that you would understand easier why Viserra did what she did.

Headcanon: in the last moments of her life, after falling from the horse during her „last night of fun and laughter“, one of her last thoughts before dying was if her mother would cry for her as much as she had for Alyssa and Daella. Or if she would even care.

[kuwajima]

Hi! Hope this ask isn't weird but in the vein of talking about Zenitsu's backstory, what are your thoughts on Zenitsu's 7 evil ex girlfriends? As in, how do you tend to sort of place them on Zenitsu's pre-demon slaying timeline? And overall how do you imagine them, if think of them at all. Love your ideas about Zenitsu's backstory and kinda wanna know what you think of this aspect of his unexplored past!

I've noticed that the fandom rarely, if ever, do much with the knowledge of their existence beyond a passing mention when talking about Zenitsu's insecurities, whether in a fanfic or a meta post, which is interesting since, well, getting scammed 7 times by "romantic" partners seems like something really interesting to dwell into when writing about Zenitsu. I've read some really good fics featuring the inevitably horrible situation Zenitsu had as an orphan in the late Meiji Period, yours especially, but the exes shine by their absence across the whole spectrum of Zenitsu fanfic. I have my own thoughts about this but this is an ask, can't ramble too much lol.

Also, happy birthday! A little late but alas, hope you had a great day in your day and thank you for your fanfics in here! OMWF is just a gem and your other fanfic are just as good ❤️

I love this question!! I have put a lot of thought into them, because it does seem like an excessive number of times to be scammed and not learn your lesson, but it's very indicative of how much Zenitsu deludes himself while chasing what he believes is an ideal life. And now that you mention it, it is very rare to have them included in fanfic or meta outside of a casual reference to them.

I think the reason might be because the timeline is admittedly weird, so we have to believe that he speed ran seven girlfriends in his early teens, or the worse option is that some of them happened before he was a teenager.

And I think it has to be the latter, because I personally believe he was with Jigoro for a few years. I know it's canon that a slayer can usually learn their forms in about a year but there are a few things that indicate Zenitsu was with Jigoro for longer than that. He was hit by lightning and I refuse to believe the only side effect was the hair thing. Plus, Zenitsu is confirmed to be pretty lazy and although he is obviously a very skilled swordsman during the events of canon, Jigoro didn't know about the whole sleep-fighting thing so he should have only sent Zenitsu to Final Selection if he was sure he mostly wasn't going to die. And it's Zenitsu...there's no way he got up to speed in a year.

We are told in canon that Zenitsu dated all types of girls, and they all treated him badly, took his money, and more. The way it's worded (and this could be a translation thing) is that multiple women took his money. Now me personally, if I was a loan shark I would simply not loan money to an orphan child multiple times. There's also no way he was earning large sums of money (see the above point of him being lazy) so there had to be some time between losing his money and getting a new girlfriend. Especially if they were trying to get money out of him, there is no reason to go after a kid with absolutely no assets unless he already had a reputation of being easily manipulated.

I don't think he stayed in one town for very long either, so it's possible he ran away from other owed debts. But even then, we can assume there are probably a few months between girlfriends at least. And I don't think all of them took his money. For example, we know he dated a shopkeeper's daughter and she could have very well just made him work without pay at her father's shop as an act of "love."

Overall, I think it's a situation where Zenitsu would do their bidding for the "honor" of being allowed to say they are his girlfriend. That was the only thing he was getting out of the arrangement, since they didn't even let him hold their hands. I think it's probably incredibly obvious to anyone Zenitsu tells about his ex-girlfriends that he was never actually in a relationship with any of them. But Zenitsu still believes they were his girlfriends, despite being mistreated and sometimes betrayed by them. I think it's telling that only after he meets Jigoro does he understand that Jigoro is the only person in his life who cared about him (until he met Tanjiro, of course!) In the absence of childhood affection, those girlfriends probably did feel like true love at the time.

But you asked about the timeline. My guess is this probably happened over seven times over several years and the older he became, the most he was able to be manipulated (more access to money, a bigger reputation for being easily tricked, etc.) WHICH BRINGS US BACK TO MY EARLIER POINT: these girls were "dating" a tween.

We do see some faceless women when we learn that Zenitsu is full aware that women dislike him and deceive him (yet he keeps going back, because he convinces himself this time is different) and they certainly look like either teenagers or young adults. I assume these are examples of the girls he dated (there are 6 in the flashback and he has 7 exs, so I'm not 100% sure that's who they are) And obviously there was absolutely nothing intimate or romantic going on, but it does add a layer of malice to the whole thing. If he had been dating girls who were his own age, I'm not sure they would have been so malicious with their treatment of him. Their inclusion in his backstory is to show us that he is easily manipulated and repeatedly does not learn his lesson, because Zenitsu tricks himself into ignoring red flags.

And I'm not victim blaming. I think it's clear that he was intentionally victimized by these girls, but it is added to give us insight into Zenitsu's personality.

This is a very long-winded way to say, I believe they were all women older than Zenitsu, who either sought him out as an easy target or quickly realized he could be manipulated simply by being promised the title of Boyfriend. And they all occurred before he turned about 13, maybe 14.

But I would also love to hear your thoughts on the situation as well! I have grand schemes of writing a fic where he and Nezuko run into one of his exes post-canon and she initially thinks he's being tricked by another beautiful woman, but then she realizes that not only do they actually seem to like each other, but Zenitsu isn't the same person he was before.

And thank you for the birthday wishes!!

[bleachbleachbleach]

[Bleach 072]

This scene is important to me for the express reason that Hitsugaya was apparently the one to tell Jidanbou about these rules. Because they are friends! We know this not from any in-story interactions but from one line in Hitsugaya's Souls profile:

[Souls 133]

I'll be honest with you, I've never actually read Souls and have never thought about where it ties to canon temporally, but the answer to that is apparently sometime before Hitsugaya confronts Ichimaru.

This amuses me because at this point we know all of five things about this guy, and one of the five is that he's friends with Jidanbou. We don't even know the name of his Zanpakutou (that's the "?" in his stats profile box), but we know he's FRIENDS WITH JIDANBOU.

I don't have the English version of this page, apologies, but basically it's just like, Hitsugaya is a shinigami who comes from Rukongai, he's the youngest Captain in history, and he's currently investigating the Rukia business and trying to bring Ichimaru's shit to light. By the way, he's friends with Jidanbou and taught him the "Rules of the City." (Then the bottom sidebar is about how Hitsugaya treats Hinamori like blood, and wants to protect her.)

Which honestly makes this Jidanbou connection even funnier because Hinamori, the reason Hitsugaya is even in this story and the only reason we know this much about him (through Hinamori's Academy flashback), gets a neat sidebar, but the line about Jidanbou is just thrown in at the end of the main narrative like, beeeeee-tee-dubs!!

I've always wanted to write fanfic about this, but I haven't yet come up with a premise that was actually interesting to me. I assume they get paired up in this way for the size kink, though internal to the narrative that only gets us so far. After that it's like, okay, they're both associated with West Rukongai, so there's that. They're probably both socially ostracized: According to himself, people in Junrinan find Hitsugaya off-putting because of his white hair and his, well, off-putting demeanor; people probably make fun of Jidanbou because he's enormous and speaks with a lisp (though this doesn't carry into the Viz)/doesn't come across as normatively cognitively developed. But I'm kinda like, okay, sure, whatever. The most interesting part about that for me is still that Hitsugaya has a casual friend at all, because what few relationships we do see are extremely not casual. But also BTW Jidanbou!

I still think my favorite version of this relationship is the one where, while Hinamori's been off at school, Hitsugaya casually mentions to her that he's friends with Jidanbou the Gate Guardian, with absolutely zero explanation, as a child might about a brand new ride-or-die friend, as though this were completely normal and natural for him, and that's all that's ever said about it. Hitsugaya is definitely someone who has a mental white paper for anything he's ever done, which is why I find the contrast/discrepancy so appealing.

If my life depended on writing Hitsugaya Jidanbou friendship, though, I'd probably start with the City Rules. Because:

Jidanbou has been guarding this gate for 300 years. We don't know how long Hitsugaya has been living in Junrinan, but we do know he would not have had first-hand experience with any City Rules more than ~35 years ago. Not that you need to go to the city to know the rules, but I think canon Hitsugaya establishes pretty well that he doesn't talk about things he's not interested in or things that he doesn't have personal verified knowledge of. So for the first 265 years, no one bothered telling Jidanbou very much about this place he was guarding (not even his brother). He's a utility, and one that lives outside the gates (FUGAIKUUUU)--also one that's not perceived as smart enough for that information to be meaningful. But that whole vibe is not really Hitsugaya's style, because he loves an infodump--but also because he has a bone to pick with the notion of instrumentality.

If we're making a point of saying that Hitsugaya taught Jidanbou the "Rules of the City" (in quotation marks), we're introducing an interlocutor's specific POV. I'm not saying Hitsugaya's just making shit up for the hell of it, but how important these rules are, why these would be the top 3, what their original contexts were vs. being pulled out like this, and what's a literal municipal code vs. a social more vs. just something Hitsugaya has personal commentary about, are up in the air. What I'm saying is, I feel like these have "a gigai is for eating beans" energy.

At minimum, I enjoy this because this is all information that is completely incidental not only to the main storyline but ALSO to the Detective Hitsugaya B-side. But I love that Bleach is consistently so, so interesting about all these characters and their POVs and the rules that do or don't exist in the world, particularly at these early junctures, where most of what we've heard about Soul Society is from Rukia, and a lot of it we've already seen contradicted; and we'll continue to as the arc unfolds. Who even NEEDS Kyouka Suigetsu??

[soulprompts]

Ahh, welcome back! I always get so excited to see you on my dash again! How about this for a request: kidfics! I want to write some domestic fluff involving OTP original kiddos, but I can't figure out how to go about it. Help me out? Thank you!

oh man i love this already! i'm gonna be presumptuous as all hell and assume you mean prompts in a more of a "starting off point" sense, but honestly, i'm a sucker for some domestics, so i may make some prompts in the roleplay sense in a while!

first of all, i love domestic stuff in general. and i write a multi myself with a tonne of original characters who are adopted by another OC of mine, so i have a tonne of drabbles and scenes, and one of my absolute faves is when the kids are trying to buy gifts for their parents. in reality this is obviously a very stressful thing, but in a writing context, i love it! mainly because you can play around with the concept of which child knows which parent the best, or the dynamics between the OTP, or the dynamics between the kids. "mom loves cooking, right?" "no, dad loves cooking, mom cooks out of obligation." or "i can't think of anything... dad likes sleeping... right? maybe a new pillow?" "...how sad is it that i think that's the best idea ever?" like the options are very open and easy to work with!

alternatively, if you want the parents involved more, maybe a family day out? a road trip is definitely one of my faves for that option, snacks, music, pit stops, destination, "are we there yet?" like you really have a lot of stuff there! bonus if the car breaks down. bonus bonus if they start bickering in the backseat. (again, reality vs. fiction plays a huge role here!)

another way to lean with this is maybe the siblings are trying to solve a mystery within the family. a strange phone call, a weird note, something off in the calendar. definitely plays more with the thinking of both siblings, whether they're logical or emotional, how they confront challenges, teamwork, all that fun stuff. maybe the mystery is boring as hell, but it gets amped up because of something else that's happening. a bad report card, a family argument, something negative that automatically skews the natural logic surrounding this mystery event and leads the siblings to making outlandish risks and decisions to resolve it.

aaaaand one more because it feels better to give four suggestions than three: you mentioned these are OTP kids, so maybe there's another kid on the way? the other suggestions all involve much more active storylines, but this one could go either way. the idea of the siblings doing homework or playing video games and just idly discussing baby names and favorite siblings and "will they be more like parent A or B?" and casual discussions of how to interact with the new sibling, like you could even have the parents cooking dinner in the background and dropping in a few bits of information to go with the discussion, yk? a more chill, laid-back, ordinary domestic event.

anyway i hope these are what you were looking for! i hope you have lots of fun writing the fics!

[seventeenlovesthree]

@digimon02countdown Day 5 - Adventure Chosen

Among all relationships between the old and new Chosen Children - some of which were, unfortunately, highly underutilized -, one of my absolute favourites is (to nobody's surprise) the "bug buddy geniuses". Granted, you have to pay attention to actually see the dynamic between them, but it's very intriguing to me - and this scene depicted above is one of my favourite moments in all of 02.

Why is that? Because it's incredibly character-defining for BOTH of them.

Koushirou is taking care of Poromon while Miyako is on a school field trip in Kyoto and decides to pay Ken a visit, asking him about the extent of his memory on everything that has happened ever since he has become a Chosen Child. While doing so, he explains quite a few interesting lore aspects he has discovered - or rather: assumes to be correct - at this point and contextualizes it all in front of Ken; that the Digital World is capable of reading and granting people's wishes, that the events of 1999 were responsible for causing more partnerships between humans and Digimon to happen...

Ken is still rather distraught by the whole situation, he deals with memory loss and the constant feeling of guilt due to all the terrible things he has done as Digimon Kaiser. And above all of this - he is baffled at why "Izumi-san" is talking to him about all of this, why he's even bothering to deal with him. It's unclear how much he knows about how involved Koushirou was previously, but he may be aware that he was basically coordinating strategies and plans to take him down for weeks, months even. We're still in a phase in which Ken doesn't feel worthy of forgiveness, where he feels like he isn't even worth anybody's time and he'd have any reason to assume that Koushirou used to be just as fed up with him as everybody else.

Even worse - Ken is incredibly afraid of being used again. He may not be fully aware of the extent of HOW MUCH he was used by Oikawa, but he knows he was made a puppet by the likes of Arukenimon. And now Koushirou sits in front of him - and at first glance, it may appear that he is just interrogating him for the sake of gathering knowledge and information. Because he could at least be useful to them that way, right...?

But there is so much more to this and it's what makes it so beautiful to me - yes, Koushirou's main intention here seems to be to get information, he even confirms that it's in his nature to be curious and wanting to know all there is to know about the Digital World and such. However, he's doing this with incredible openness and kindness - something Ken is still not fully used to, even with the likes of Daisuke being all over him and the others slowly but steadily warming up to him.

Koushirou's whole deal - ever since the end of Adventure - is that he wants to be able to be more casual with other people. He already displayed that throughout the season by being a mentor, guidance and support to the new kids, helping in whatever way he can. The best example here is - he was the one who called Ken to warn him about the others being in danger, as his former fort was on the brink of exploding. If Koushirou hadn't told Ken, he wouldn't have rushed into the Digital World in time, he wouldn't have been able to save the world, he wouldn't have united with Daisuke, letting their hearts beat in sync to create a Jogress evolution to save the day.

And now he is sitting here in Ken's room, gently smiling at and reassuring him. Even if Ken had done cruel and terrible things, what matters to Koushirou is that they are both Chosen Children - and that they should have found him and take him under their wing before darkness could take over. There is a sense of guilt in Koushirou's voice and the expression of absolute sadness and helplessness over Ken's state is so palpable that, even though his words still seem rather matter-of-factly and polite, his body language tells it all.

And it has an impact - the distance between them visibly decreases and Ken is even able to smile in the end. He's being trusted by Koushirou to help and be part of the team, he makes him feel equal, and it's wonderful.

They're becoming better at interacting with people. It's something that isn't easy for either of them, but this scene is proof that they're on a good way - and that it could be the start of an amazing friendship as well.

[empressofmankind]

Team Triassic I - Once in a blue moon

[Crocodile x Shivs (F!OC) ]

ft. their 12-year-old daughter wanting to go to dino summer camp

Teen and up - 4k / 10 pg

(A/N) - I love Camp Cretaceous and nobody can stop me from doing exactly what I want. Which, apparently, was making a cross-over of that series with @tiredemomama and mine highly specific One Piece content. Because what Benji and Iggy deserve is going on dino summer camp. And no amount of strict parenting from Crocodile and Benn Beckman, respectively, can stop it from happening.

Tag(s): Feel good slice-of-life. Mildly diabetes inducing romantic affection. Fluff with plot hints! Family dynamics. Warning for child-parent argument. Overprotective parents. Smoking. Crack fic. CC x OP cross over.

🏝️🏝️🏝️

The acacia wood double doors with their engraved mosasauri loomed over Benji as she stood before them. Her palms were clammy, her fingers leafing through the papers she clutched to her chest - the info brochure about the remodelled VIP resort, a detailed map of the tropical island, booking information and transport timetables. She'd even made a packing list and prepared a thorough estimate of the costs.

She stared up at the doors and swallowed.

He just had to say ‘yes’.

🏝️🏝️🏝️

“No.”

“DAD!” 

Benji stomped her foot before she thought better of it. The scowl that pulled her father’s lips down around his cigar spelled an imminent extinction event as surely as the K-Pg asteroid. She did her best to adjust her speech to a level, business-like tone. The kind her father was amenable to. “I mean, it’s not a big island?” She unfolded the map of Isla Nublar, smoothed out the creases and slid it across his desk in as casual a manner as she could manage.

The sudden shift in his daughter’s demeanour reminded Crocodile of her mother, and he took his cigar in hand to hide his smile as he leaned forward to study the map. “And where would you be staying?”

“Well, we will help the park rangers, sooo,” Benji started, trying to figure out post-haste how to make it sound as safe as possible.

Crocodile caught her gaze. “When you are not with an adult.”

“Oh! At camp, here.” Benji pointed to a spot marked ‘camp’ on the northern side of the island, some kilometres inland from the northern dock, in an area called ‘Sector B’.

Crocodile tapped the map with the tip of his hook. “What is this red marker right here across from where you are staying?”

“That’s the, um,” Benji clasped her hands behind her back and dodged her father’s gaze. “The compsognathus paddock.”

“Aren’t those carnivores?” Crocodile asked from around his cigar, noting similar red markers around the island. Many of them are in Sector B.

Benji rolled up on her toes and back down. “Well, yes. But!” - and she caught his gaze then - “They are quite small, barely above the knee. My knee! Not yours. I could kick them if they come too close.”

Crocodile took the cigar from his mouth, blowing out smoke as he watched her little nervous shifts. She really wanted to go, and he really did not want her to go. Even less now, with this map full of red markers awfully close to their camp.

“Why would you be close to it?”

“I wouldn’t!” Benji immediately agreed. “They’re in a paddock, like I said. People don’t go in the paddocks. That would defeat the point of them.”

“And I assume these paddocks are well secured?” Crocodile said, tapping the various red markers near the camp with the tip of his hook. There were abbreviations across them: MLS, CNT, TSR. The one nearest camp read CSN - compsognathus, she’d said. He frowned. There was an unmarked one, north of the second lake.

“Absolutely. All dinosaurs have ID-chips with which they are tracked at all times, even the herbivores,” Benji said as she tapped one of the green markers. “The carnivores are all in high security paddocks, so it is not dangerous at all.”

“Weighing several tonnes and being carnivorous is the very definition of dangerous,” Crocodile remarked as he leaned back in his seat, watching her little jaw work.

“There are regular boat schedules,” Benji said, as she gave him the booking information and transport timetable. “You and mom could come visit whenever you like?”

According to the timetable, a boat from the mainland arrived every four hours at the northern dock. Though the booking information suggested reserving spots well in advance of the tourist season you meant to visit in.

“Hm.”

It wasn’t a ‘no’, so Benji took it as a positive sign. Smiling widely, she leaned her whole conversational weight into her argument as she unfolded the flyer for the remodelled VIP resort, a short drive north of camp. “You would stay quite close by, here,” she said as she pointed it out on the map while sliding him the brochure, open on the flattering promotional photos of the brand new top floor luxury apartments.

Crocodile shifted his cigar to the other corner of his mouth as he leaned forward to inspect the location and pictures. The shots featured impressive panorama views of the surrounding rainforest, and snaps of modern beige-is-the-new-white interiors with floor to ceiling honeycomb windows. The text boasted of the exclusive resort having a top of the line gym, beautiful spa and a large rooftop pool.

“It has a helipad now, too,” Benji said. “So you and mom wouldn’t even have to take the boat if you didn’t feel like it.”

“That is convenient,” Crocodile agreed, flipping through the brochure.

“And you could take the new Cretaceous cruise,” she added eagerly, pointing out the easternmost lake and the river snaking down from it towards the sea. “It leads past dozens of dinosaurs - herbivores, of course, but very cool ones!” Realising her father’s notion of the word cruise differed from what this was, she quickly added: “Though it is not actually by ship, but with kayaks. But mom would totally love that!”

For one glorious moment, Benji thought she had him.

“Tempting,” Crocodile said as he took his cigar from his mouth to tap the excess ash off. “But no, you’re not going.”

“But dad!”

“I said no.”

“It isn’t even that expensive, and I’ve saved up,” Benji pleaded as she shoved her notepad with all the tabulated costs under his nose. “I can totally pitch in!”

“Benjamine.” Crocodile put the curve of his hook on her notebook and nudged it back to her. “It’s not about that.”

“I want to go.”

“I know you do, sweetheart,” he said as he watched her chew her bottom lip, staring at all the map instead of him. “But your mother and I think it is too dangerous, they---.”

“You think it’s too dangerous,” Benji said, biting back her frustrated tears. She’d asked her mom first. Something like this would have appealed to her as well. She should have said ‘yes’. Instead, she’d said ‘ask your father’. 

“---They have done nothing such as this before,” Crocodile continued, ignoring her comment. “Perhaps you can go next year. How’s that?”

“I want to go this year,” Benji said, bottom lip trembling despite herself. “I’d be… I’d…”

Seeing her small face crumble and tone falter nearly deflated his resolve. He pushed his chair back and beckoned her, and the little girl rushed into the hug. Benji didn’t want to go next year, she wanted to go this year. She’d be one of the first young rangers! She’d be famous for something! Like her parents.

“You can go next year,” Crocodile said as he stroked her long hair, holding the girl close. 

She glanced up at him and her resigned look dug into him. “You promise?”

“I promise,” he said and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

When the door to his office suddenly banged open, Crocodile shielded the girl on instinct alone.

“I am staying with Miguela in Venice in two weeks!” Robin fumed as she stalked straight towards them, boots clacking on the parquetry like a particularly angry woodpecker. Benji felt her father tense - always a bad sign. She glanced at her big sister from across the socket of his hook. Robin was so angry she was actually turning pink.

“Should have thought of that before you pulled that stunt,” Crocodile said. “You can visit your girlfriend some other time.”

“She’s not my! Hng.” Robin balled her hands into fists. All six of them. “It’s during the Venice Carnival! I am not going to the stupid dino dweeb island.”

“Dino dweeb island..?” Benji repeated softly.

Crocodile heard it though and he could now see the cogwheels turn behind her green eyes. “She’s going there as a camp counsellor,” he said as he preemptively raised his hand when Benji opened her mouth. “To work, not to have fun.”

“I am so not going!” Robin said, her voice pitching.

“I could work!” Benji said. “And if she’s going, I’ll be totally safe!”

“I will feed you to the nearest bitchy little sister eating dinosaur I see,” Robin threatened.

“Robin,” Crocodile warned.

“You can’t!” Benji grinned. “All the carni’s are in paddocks!”

“I’ll wrap you in leaves and find one of those big dumb ones!”

“Quiet, both of you!” Crocodile said, but neither of the girls even so much as looked at him.

“They’re not dumb! You’re dumb!” Benji called back, straight past him. “You couldn’t even find the right leaves if you tried.”

“Maybe I’ll find the wrong leaves and poison them,” Robin bit back.

“No! You can’t do that!” Benji exclaimed as she jumped up. “You’re---!”

“QUIET.”

The girls froze at his raised voice and finally held their tongues.

“Robin, pack whatever bags you think you need. You are leaving this Thursday,” Crocodile said in the sudden and oppressive silence. “Benji, you’re staying here and that is final.”

“Why can Robin go?” Benji demanded. “Why isn’t it dangerous for her?”

“She’s older and...”

Benji burst into tears then. “She always gets things first!”

Crocodile rose, moved towards her, but she stepped back as she glared up at him.

“Its not fair!” Benji shouted and stormed out of his office.

“Benji--!” he started, but she was already gone.

Robin shot him a look like a knife right before she pulled the door closed behind her. “I hope she hates you forever.”

Crocodile stared at the door. Then sat down heavily and rubbed his face, tapping his hook across his desk until it hit his box of cigars. Reaching for it, he flicked out a cigar and lit it. He closed his eyes and let the smoke fill his mouth and his thoughts. 

That could have gone better.

🏝️🏝️🏝️

Shivs watched the morning sun sparkle on the lagoon waters as she leaned back in her patio chair and considered the offer.

“I detect some reservations?” the East Asian woman seated across from her remarked. Her Spanish accent was smooth, her tone persuasive. Shivs’ gaze followed the shift of her long, light hair across her perfectly tanned shoulders, and lingered on the way her airy white tunic hugged her figure.

“I can assure you, it is the type of venture you would enjoy.”

The slam of heavy doors within the penthouse snatched Shivs’ attention just in time to see a furious Robin stalk through the living room, Benji in her wake and gaining.

“I hate you all!” Benji shouted, tears in her eyes as she stormed past them.

Shivs raised an eyebrow at Robin but was met by three middle fingers.

“You two have children?”

Shivs didn’t fail to notice the undercurrent of mockery in the woman’s tone. 

“Do you?”

A pleasant smile appeared on her face, setting a sparkle in her eyes that made Shivs wary. “I have velociraptors.”

Shivs pursed her lips. “Lucky you.”

Robin had been contrary from the day they had found her and was a troublesome teenager on the best of days. However, Benji’s outburst concerned her. She’d said ‘all of you’, not just ‘you’. Which implied she was angry with her father, too. And that happened less than once in a blue moon.

“We will continue this conversation later,” Shivs said as she rose.

“I understand,” the woman said, though Shivs noted her self-satisfied smile.

“Anthony will see you out.”

Appearing on cue as ever, Anthony strode towards the women, carrying their visitor’s stylish coat over his arm. “Ma’am,” he said as he handed it to her.

“Thank you, Mr Daz.”

“This way, ma’am,” Shivs heard him say as she made her way in the direction the girls had come from. The direction of her husband’s office.

🏝️🏝️🏝️

“It’s so unfair!” Benji yelled as she slammed the door to her bedroom, the air displacement sending a rustle through the Jurassic World posters covering most of the walls. Her bed had covers depicting a palaeontology dig from above, and an impressive collection of dinosaur plushies sat all along its length against the wall. A small flatscreen TV stood across from it, its stand buried in documentary DVDs. Beside it, a large doggy hatch and a red water bowl with a bone on it.

Benji dropped herself on her bed and stared at the glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to her ceiling. “She totally wouldn’t be able to tell a Carnotaurus from a Ceratosaurus,” she grumped as the hatch creaked. “I can.”

A nudge against her upper arm.

Benji turned onto her side and reached for the baby Sinoceratops’ shield to draw him towards her. “I hope she falls in every pile of dung she comes across, Stumpy,” she said as she pressed her face against its teal and orange scales.The baby animal warbled softly as it rubbed its stump nasal horn against her side.

“Robin always gets to do things first because,” she said, then mimed a painfully accurate impression of her father’s accent: “she is older”.

“Not because she listens better! Or do her chores!” she said as she sat up. “She never does!”

“It’s so unfair.” Benji wrapped her arms around her knees. “I always do, but I never get things first.”

Stumpy nipped her shin with his beak.

“Ouch, what?” Benji said from above her arms, leaning away from him.

Stumpy flopped down onto the carpet with an offended yip, watching her.

“Oh! I am sorry,” she said as she quickly moved to rub his stump horn. “I got you first. That is totally true.”

Stumpy warbled and licked her cheek, making her chuckle.

🏝️🏝️🏝️

“No, I am busy!” Crocodile called at the knock on his office doors.They opened anyway, revealing the wily shape of his wife.

“Is there any particular reason our daughter just stormed past me, shouting she hates us?” Shivs said as she approached him. Gauging by the impressive cloud hanging in the office, she’d been right about their fight. Stress made him smoke faster.

“She wants to join the first draft of a youth ranger program,” Crocodile said as he motioned at the papers Benji had abandoned on his desk.

Shivs raised an eyebrow.

He turned and pushed the map towards her with two fingers. “On Isla Nublar.”

“And you said ‘no’.”

He took the cigar out of his mouth and pointed at her. “I can’t just let her go play baby ranger on a dinosaur-infested island?”

Shivs came around his desk and leaned against the edge. “One that has upward of 20.000 visitors a day.”

Crocodile leaned back in his seat, taking a draw from his cigar. “The camp is in the island's north, away from the main park.”

She glanced at the map, noted the spot marked ‘camp’. “Less the trouble, I would think?”

He tapped the red marks on the map with the tip of his hook. “It’s practically surrounded by carnivore paddocks. Who knows why?”

Shivs nudged her knee against his. “Well, if they are in paddocks?”

“No. I don’t like it,” he said as she pushed herself off the desk. “They’ve done nothing like this before. They’re kids.”

“As are a good amount of those 20.000 visitors,” Shivs said as she walked around him, putting her hands on his broad shoulders. “If it gets dangerous, we gp and get her.”

“Hrm.”

“She’s becoming a big girl.” Shivs slid her hands under his jacket and rubbed his shoulders, kneading the tight muscles. “Wanting to do her own big girl things.”

Crocodile leaned into her touch, glancing sideways at her. “I do not understand why she is so intent on being the first.”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

A pause as he exhaled the smoke through his nose to not blow it in her face. “Enlighten me.”

“She wants to be known for something, too.” Shivs smiled at his askance look and stroked his cheek. “Like you.”

“It doesn’t matter.” He turned his face away from her hand, annoyed. “This year’s season is a closed draft and its three spots have already been allotted.” Shivs caught the undercurrent of disappointment in his grumble. “It isn’t projected to open to the public until at the earliest next year.”

“Well, that sure is inconvenient,” Shivs said as she kneaded his shoulders until he relaxed. “Who runs it?”

“InGen,” Crocodile said, fingertips idly tracing the back or her hand as it snuck to his collarbone. “Though now a subsidiary of Masrani Global Corporation.”

“Don’t you own significant stock in that company?” Shivs said as she toyed with the gold chain around his neck, warm from resting against his skin all day.

He took her hand and rubbed her knuckles with his thumb. “We do.”

“I thought so,” she said as she leaned against him, wrapping her arms around him. “I am sure you can come to an agreement with Mr Masrani so she can go.”

“No, I don’t want her to go.” Crocodile shook his head, but his grip on her hand tightened. “She’s my little girl.”

“And she’ll always be,” she mused against his cheek. “Let her go,” she added as she pressed kisses against the hard set of his jaw. “She’ll have fun.”

He glanced at her, and she smiled mischievously. “We could go too?” Shivs slid her hands into his dress shirt, her cheek resting against his. “Have a brief holiday, just the two of us,” she added as she let her fingers map the familiar shapes of his pecs. “Take your mind off of everything.”

“That does sound good,” he rumbled, and she could feel the noise under her palms as much as she heard it with her ears.

She chuckled, and they shared a kiss as she gave his right pec a little squeeze.

“It will be.” 

🏝️🏝️🏝️

Crocodile glanced up the stairs in between two bites of his dinner.

“I don't think she's coming down, Habibi,” Shivs said as she rolled up her wrap, pushing the falafel and grilled vegetables spilling out back into it. Beside the table, Stumpy was smacking happily as it ate its bowl of palaeobotanical salad. Normally, Benji would make it, but Crocodile had cut and diced it, this time, unable to ignore the animal's sad yips as it sat by its empty bowl.

Putting his utensils down, Crocodile dabbed his mouth with a napkin before rising. “I will go to her, then.”

Shivs pursed her lips as he picked up the envelope he'd put on Benji's plate when they'd sat down for supper.

Crocodile strode up the stairs two steps at a time and made his way down the corridor that led to the girls their rooms. “Benjamine? I want to talk to you,” he said as he pushed down the door handle to her bedroom. The door didn't budge. She'd locked it.

“Benjamine?”

Nothing but deafening silence. He knew she could hear him because the door had an oversized dog hatch for Stumpy. She was in her room. He could tell from the way heard her move about through to it.

“Benji, baby?” Shivs called as she came down the corridor to stand beside him. “Come on out.”

“I am not hungry,” Benji said from beyond the door, her tone curt and muffled.

“She's still angry,” Crocodile muttered.

‘Told you so,’ Shivs mouthed in Alabastan.

“There's no need to be angry, sweetheart,” Crocodile said, holding up the envelope in an apologetic gesture despite the closed door.

Shivs smiled at the soft but curt noise she caught from behind the door. A little scoff.

‘I have an idea,’ Shivs said softly, beckoning him as she turned away. With a last glance at the closed door, he followed her down the stairs and back into the kitchen.

At the table, Stumpy was chomping down on the last of his salad. Glancing up expectantly when he saw them.

“You want more, little cutie?” Shivs said as she went to the cupboards and retrieved a jar. She cracked it open and grabbed her spoon from the table, scoping up a lump.

“Peanut butter has too much sugar,” Crocodile scolded when he saw her hold out the brown lump. Stumpy did, too, and turned on its stubby legs faster than you'd think possible for such a chunky creature. He galloped to Shivs for a mouthful of the creamy, delicious goo.

“That's why Habibi loves it, don't you,” Shivs cooed as she gave the animal another big spoonful. “Come on, you little lump, this way,” she added as she beckoned it with a third spoon full, luring it up the stairs and towards Benji's room.

“It's going to be sick again,” Crocodile snapped in Alabastan as he snatched a fourth spoon full from her. Stumpy immediately turned to him instead, jumping up to reach it.

“No. Down,” he said firmly as he caught it by the frill and set it back down, drawing an angry nip at his hand for his trouble. “Down,” he repeated, holding its frill steady until it stopped struggling. When it was quiet for a minute, he threw Shivs a look before giving the animal the fourth spoonful. It stepped on his foot as it did so.

“What's the plan, Habibti,” Crocodile muttered.

‘Watch and learn, Wani,’ Shivs mouthed as she took the envelope and used one of her elastic bracelets to tie it to dangle from the hole in Stumpy's frill like a paper earring. She then took the spoon from Crocodile, scooped up another lump of peanut butter and lured Stumpy towards the hatch.

Stumpy happily followed and gobbled up more of the peanut butter.

“In you go,” Shivs whispered, and gave it a shove against its rump to make it walk through the doggy hatch and into Benji's room. With a sharp yip, Stumpy resisted, putting its stubby front legs wide and making them catch against the door frame, stopping her from pushing it in.

“A hand and hook, please?” Shivs complained as she leaned her entire weight against the animal to shove it through.

“We'll hurt its legs!” Crocodile said on a lowered tone as he crouched and tried to push the animal inside, but then noticed the way it had lodged itself. And was staring at the peanut butter jar he was holding. “It wants more of this junk. You two spoil it too mu--.”

Shivs snatched the jar from him, swung her arm like a bowling ball toss and slid the jar across the wood straight towards the doggy door. And Stumpy galloped straight after, skidding and sliding as it tried to catch up to it. The jar zipped past the flap, pursued by the scrambling dinosaur.

Followed by a thud, a thump, and a yelp.

“Stumpy!”

Benji.

Crocodile listened, holding his breath without noticing, trying to hear the tear of paper, of an envelope being opened. Hoping she wouldn't simply crumple it up and toss it in her bin. He flinched when the door suddenly banged open, nearly falling backwards off his haunches and onto his ass. The next moment Benji had flung herself around his neck, the boat ticket clenched in her fist.

She was crying, but not of anger this time. “You're the best dad ever,” Benji sobbed, as she hugged him tight enough with her scrawny little arms to hamper his breathing.

Crocodile wrapped his arms around her, holding his daughter close. “I would bring down the moon to shine only for you, if you wanted me to.”

Shivs smiled, happy they were no longer at odds with each other. It wasn't right. She wanted them to be happy.

After a long moment, Benji pulled back but didn't quite let go of him. “But what about Stumpy?”

Crocodile tucked a bang behind her ear with his hook. “We'll look after him exactly the way you'll tell us to,” he said, then added with a huff: “your mother has already been feeding it peanut butter.”

Benji glanced at Shivs, who shrugged with the peanut butter covered spoon in hand.

“Stumpy loves peanut butter,” Benji grinned.

“He sure does,” Crocodile said, and his tone made them laugh.

🏝️🏝️🏝️

PART II

[algolagniaa]

this post is about childhood sexual abuse

I am 99% sure I was sexually abused as a child. it’s hard to say 100% because my memories of the actual abuse happening are very vague and sometimes I think I made them up. but I do remember displaying pretty much every sign of childhood sexual abuse you can think of. and I do remember feeling really small and scared and powerless and…… horny way before I should’ve known what that was lol. and I remember particularly not liking to visit this one uncle who later went into the woods to kill himself and when the police were trying to figure out what tf happened to him they found a shit ton of child porn on his laptop. so I always assumed what I remember happened with him. and my mother absolutely denies it and makes excuses for him and makes Facebook posts about men’s mental health awareness every year on his birthday lmao 🙃 but anyway. that is what it is. I don’t think about it very often and I definitely never talk about it. but a couple weeks ago my sister and I talked on the phone and she’s p fed up with the rest of our family and decided to dump on me about it, which whatever I love a good shit talk sesh. but in this conversation she oh so casually slipped in that she ‘put the pieces together’ thinking about family secrets and strange things that happened and what she knows of my trauma and deduced that actually I was abused by my mom’s old boyfriend who she briefly left my dad for but then left him for an unknown reason that she won’t share but is perpetually emo about. who lived in a place that I remember being TERRIFIED of but am not sure why I was terrified of it?? and like who th fuck knows what the actual truth is, I certainly don’t and I don’t see a point to trying to figure it all out now. all of this happened years before my sister was even born so idk why she’s trying to be a super sleuth. apparently it “explains so much” 🙄🙄🙄 well I’ve been so depressed since that conversation like barely functioning thinking of killing myself and/or others and I’m only now realizing this shit is probably why. and I’m hoping that by writing it out here I will purge it from my thoughts. or be able to move on from it or w/e. idk I’m literally not dwelling on it the stuff I’m dwelling on is more like: is my relationship secretly doomed??? is the midget going to seek revenge???? what should my career goals be??? what is the purpose of my life????? am I ugly???????????? so writing this feels almost pointless yet I’m going in circles with the other stuff and even just having written this down I feel relief. like I feel physically lighter so I do think having that conversation fucked me hp on a subconscious/psychic level even if I didn’t recognize it. and I would rather not carry it forward into the new year. and if anyone is hate reading this and putting the evil eye on me know that using this of all things against me quite literally drags your soul through the dirt and ensures any feeling of superiority you have over me is supremely false

[the1975attheirverybest]

hes just being messy, he was with meredith in la last wednesday and then now is like very public with gab. i actually feel pretty bad for meredith, the unfollow makes me think she thought they were more serious than they were. i dont think dating casually is a crime but all parties should at least be on the same page 😕 (no need to post this just telling you)

I’m very confused by all this and I guess y’all really don’t understand boundaries, respect, or consent. But since I’ve deleted just about 40 asks about this in the past 48 hours or so, fine. I guess we are talking about this. (Not directed at you alone or anything just my general feelings on the subject and on the fandom.) you wanna talk about Matty’s love life? Let’s talk about it.

Matty is 34 years old. Which means he’s well above the legal age of consent and, yeah, god help him, as a cis straight man, he do be acting like an absolute child sometimes, BUT it’s his life. His decisions to make.

From everything that we know about him, and especially after the ENTIRE FUCKIN WORLD turned against him over the summer, he is a lot more kind, compassionate, smart, self-aware, gentle, and pure-hearted than anyone’s ever given him credit for. Even his own fans. Say what you will about Matty Healy, but if it were me, in his shoes, I’d feel more than entitled to be Turner bitter towards the public what with the way we all (yes, we, as his fans too) have been treating him. But NOPE. Matty is a way bigger person than most of us. He didn’t say a damn thing. He kept his mouth shut and his head down and he did what he needed to do, he never let any of it deter him from being vulnerable and honest with us and putting on the best fuckin show that he could possible put on every fuckin night.

If that doesn’t earn him the benefit of the doubt then I don’t know what will.

I’m not sure why or when some of us have decided that it is our place to observe what goes on in his love life, to monitor his following/followers lists, to draw conclusions based on those numbers, or to consume public glimpses of his interior life as if it’s some tv show or movie or reality tv, even when those images are taken without his consent, and decide Meredith is not “marriage material” or Gabriette has “an aesthetic that I can finally get behind” (which, by the way, is a very sexist and disgusting thing to say about them as well as Matty, but I guess this fandom is hypocritical and will turn against its own values as soon as Matty Healy’s dick is involved), but at some point apparently that happened and we started to treat him as less than human.

Fine, fine, I’ll even give you that much. Be sexist. Be judgmental and creepy and all up his ass. But to do all that and then “feel sorry for Meredith” call him a “mess”??? When you LITERALLY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED BETWEEN THEM?!!!!! How do know she thought it was more serious than it is??? Were you there??? Since we’re making judgements and assumptions based on the tiny fragments that we see, I’m gonna go ahead and make a judgment of my own and say since I didn’t see you in the middle holding one of his hands and one of hers, then you weren’t there. So why do you feel qualified to talk about what he may or may not have done??? Do you know him? Is he your bestie???? Did he confide in you??? Hmm? Fuckin tell me!!!!

To summarize: he’s a form of entertainment to you. You don’t care about his boundaries. And you have such a low opinion of him that (despite him proving in what is objectively one of the worst things to happen to a public figure, that he’s endlessly graceful and kind) you will comfortably assume the worst of him without A SHRED OF ANYTHING REMOTELY RESEMBLING EVIDENCE. So….why are you a fan? Hmm? Why do you feel comfortable supporting someone you think so little or and have no respect for as a human being?

If any of you really think “he deserve love” and “he deserves companionship.” Then you’d shut the fuck up, stop engaging with content that commodities and dehumanizes him, and mind your fuckin business for fucks sakes.

I mean, how would you like it if, based on a 7 second story on Instagram, or a tweet you made about your personal life or whatever, I (somehow who knows absolutely nothing about you) came up to you and was like “omg I noticed so and so has unfollowed you. Then two days later you posted a pic with this other person. You must have really crushed someone’s heart and led them on making them believe you were more serious than you actually were. And now you’re using this other person who appeared in a picture with you. That is concerning behavior my friend.” If you’re okay with me doing that to you then you and I must live wildly different realities.

[possiblylisle]

Uncommon Face: Part Two

The settlement streets were busy but not crowded. The paths along which all of the citizens and the travelers walked, were not meant for vehicles. Those roads were rare in Toxe settlements. They were only ever put in places where they were absolutely necessary, and even then, those roads were only meant for caravans and couriers. All others who wished to traverse the city were given other options, which usually amounted to walking, trolleys, or underground trams. This settlement had no underground trams, she noted, the ground was too soft and too much of a risk to even try and dig tunnels through.

Dau and her chose to walk through the streets like so many others did. It was the better option to avoid drawing unnecessary attention; not that any attention would matter. Neither of them were criminals, nor was a human's presence illegal; she just did not want to feel the stares or hear the whispering.

With her hood drawn she hoped that most would assume she was nothing more than a child or a Toxe who had not yet reached their full height. At least then the looks she received would be ones of confusion or indifference. She hoped they did not confuse her for a child, not that she thought about it. Children of the Federation were rarely ever seen without at least some of their creche.

"Cody, this way." Dau guided her, shortening his strides so she could remain in step with him, or, at least try. His strides were still large and she had to walk quickly to keep up.

"Where are we going now?" Her hand still held on to his, her grip just barely big enough to fully grasp the single widened finger that sat where a human's index and middle would be.

"We need more... uh... resources. Did you understand that?" Dau looked down at her. He had moved his goggles from where they had sat on his eyes and pushed them up to rest on his tall head.

"I understood." She did not. The last word was not one she had heard before, but she knew she would be able to guess its meaning once they had reached wherever Dau was leading.

Dau nodded and they continued through the settlement, passing habitats, stores, and workshops with large openings that allowed her to see what the locals needed fixed.

After a few blocks and a couple turns, they stopped in a wide-open market square. Arranged in neat lines throughout the square was a plethora of stalls. Most were decorated and covered in various wares. Some she immediately recognized as the loose-fitting casual clothing preferred by most Toxe, and others she did not recognize with the small glimpses she received.

The stalls that drew her eyes the easiest were those that had been set up in a corner of the square near where they had come in. A beautiful concoction of aromas wafted from the cooktops and pots that were carefully tended by a diverse cast of the settlement's gray-skinned citizens. The smells were tempting and very appetizing.

"Dau, food," she said, tugging at his hand and pointing toward the stalls. His gaze followed her hand and the two of them stopped.

"Do you need food?" He asked, thumbing at the square credit pouch on his hip.

Her stomach loudly rumbled before she could speak her reply and she glanced away in embarrassment. Dau laughed and led her toward the stalls.

They briefly scanned the different offerings of the food stalls before Dau made a selection for them. Cody would have normally objected, saying she could pick for herself, but she did not recognize any of the morsels and cook-pot contents. It was best to let Dau choose something, she reasoned, he would know better what is safe for her.

What he did choose was good. A spicy fried rectangle the size of her hand that tasted like some sort of root vegetable.

"Is it good?" Dau asked, casually consuming his own food.

"Yes. It reminds me of a..." she paused, knowing there was no Touxeen word for what she was going to say. "It reminds me of a hashbrown," she finally said, finishing her sentence with an all too human word.

"What is a 'hashbrown'?"

She opened her mouth to speak but did not begin. She did not know enough basic Touxeen to describe a food that was entirely alien to her companion.

"I do not have the correct words to tell you."

Dau nodded, finishing his food. "We must fix that problem."

Tag List:

@capnmachete @leahnardo-da-veggie @tamiveldura @lorifragolina @liminalgoddessworld

@humbleartspawn

[fangirlwriting-stories]

Before I Go

Chapter One

AO3 Link

Chapter Three:

As expected, Roman at a drag show is absolutely hilarious.

Remus and Janus are regulars at this point, so they’re brought right to their usual table, and Roman walks uncomfortably behind them, then sits down as if the chair is going to break as soon as he sits on it.

Thankfully their usual server Mandy is there that night, and Remus can count on her to roll with any jokes he makes without asking questions.

“Remus, Janus, I take it my favorite patrons are doing just fabulous tonight?” she asks, stopping for a moment as she approaches the table.

“Only as fabulous as you look, Mandy,” Janus says, tipping his head with a flirty smirk in her direction.

“Oh hush you flatterer, I’m taken.”

“As am I,” Janus says, leaning casually on Remus’ shoulder, which earns him a kiss just on the side of his eyebrow.  “But you know, if neither of us were spoken for…”

“Or gay as the day is long,” Mandy agrees with a nod and a smirk of her own.  It’s at that point she turns and realizes there’s a third person at the table, and shifts her smile to something only slightly closer to customer service friendly.

“I didn’t realize you’d be bringing a newcomer, who’s this one?”

“This is my brother Roman,” Remus says, grinning over at Roman as the only warning for how this night is about to start going.  “He’s terrified of gay people.”

“Wha- Remus!”

“Oh hon, we don’t bite,” Mandy says, giving Roman a sympathetic smile.  She reaches over and pats him on the hand as if comforting a small child, and Remus makes a mental note to tip Mandy a little extra tonight.

Roman pulls his hand away and glares to the side, but Mandy just laughs brightly and turns back to Remus and Janus.

“I assume you’ll both want your usual?”

“You know it!” Remus says with a grin, and Janus nods next to him.

“That’ll be coming right up,” Mandy says with a smile.  She gives another smile Roman’s way before she says, “I’ll bring a menu for the frightened one.”

Roman glares at her but doesn’t say anything, and she just winks at him as she walks off.

“Did you have to introduce me like that?” Roman asks, turning his glare to Remus as soon as Mandy is out of earshot.

Remus shrugs.  “I’m just making sure she’s up to speed,” he says.  “The first drink is free for homophobic gays.”

“Remus!”

“Okay fine, it’s not actually.”

“That’s not— I’m not— shut up!”

“Sorry, I can’t hear you, I’m dying.”

“That doesn’t even make sense!”

Janus laughs from his spot on Remus’ other side, leaning forward onto the table.  “I’ve changed my mind, can we bring him everywhere?  I haven’t been this entertained in months.”

“That’s not funny!” Roman snaps.

“Mm, it’s a little funny,” Janus says, holding his fingers up to gesture ‘a little’ to Roman.

Roman growls, leaning back in his chair with a huff.  “Why did I think this was a good idea,” he grumbled.

“I don’t know, I really can’t answer that question for you,” Remus says, leaning against Janus who smiles as he pulls him closer.

Roman sighs and looks up at the ceiling for a second, then turns back to the two of them.  “Look, honestly.  Can you just do me a favor and tell me what to expect so I can be prepared for it?”

“Oh, of course,” Janus says, giving him a look.  “We’re all going to sit down and have a patient civil debate on why we should be allowed to exist, that’s all.”

Roman throws up his hands.  “Nevermind,” he grumbles.

“Oh for pete’s sake, Roman,” Remus says.  “Cheap food, dancing, music, lights, drag queens.  What did you think you were coming to?”

“I didn’t think I was coming to anything, you dragged me along,” Roman snaps.

Remus narrows his eyes.  “Well maybe I won’t next time if you’re just going to ruin it for all three of us,” he snaps back.

That seems to get to Roman, though, and he pauses.  He takes a second to look around, and Remus can see the gears turning in his head, and then see the moment he decides to be okay with it.

“You’re right,” he says with a sigh, sitting back in his chair.  “I’m sorry.”

Remus sighs, leaning over against Janus again.  “Honestly, Roman, get out of your head.  It’s fun.  You’ll enjoy it.”

Roman looks apprehensively at him.  “What makes you so sure?”

Remus shrugs.  “You were the one who was always asking Mom if you could wear her dresses,” he says.

Roman goes pale, looking around as if expecting someone’s going to smack him upside the head like their mom used to do.

“Roman,” Remus says, reaching out and grabbing Roman’s hand.  Roman looks back over at him.

“Literally no one here is going to care,” Remus says, looking pointedly at him as he says it.  “A lot of them do the same thing.  It’s okay.  Seriously.”

Roman doesn’t say anything for a moment, and then finally, he nods, looking fragile.

Remus squeezes his hand hand and gives him a smile, then lets go as he hears Mandy approaches from the other direction.

“Alright, we’ve got chicken wings and wine for Janus, an Anita Bryant Cocktail and a Bacon cheeseburger with extra guacamole for Remus,” she says, setting each down in front of both of them.  “And here’s a menu for you hon,” she adds, passing it over to Roman.  “I’ll give you a couple minutes and then come back to get your order.”

“Thanks,” Roman says as she turns around, though he’s looking at Remus’ meal with his lip curled slightly in disgust.

Remus grins at him, picks up his burger without breaking eye contact and takes a bite, making sure the guacamole dribbles out of his mouth.

“God,” Roman says, holding his hand up in front of his eyes as he looks the other direction.  “Extra guacamole implies it comes with guacamole in the first place, you know.”

“I do know!” Remus says brightly.

“Ugh.”  Roman picks up the menu and holds it in front of his face so he doesn’t have to look at Remus as he reads the options.

Thankfully, Mandy comes back pretty quickly and takes Roman’s order, because not long after he orders (nachos, onion rings, and no drink, like a loser) the lights dim and the focus turns to the stage as everyone in the bar starts cheering.

Remus can see Roman starting to look nervous out of the corner of his eye, but he just grins at him and wiggles his eyebrows a couple times to show his own excitement.

Roman gives his best attempt at a smile at Remus, then turns and faces the stage along with him and Janus.

They may frequent this particular bar, but Remus has more of an interest in new things, so he intentionally picked a show that doesn’t have anyone he’s already seen.  Plus, he figures it’ll probably be easier on Roman if they’re both going into this with the same knowledge on the specifics involved.

So, as everyone comes out on the stage and the music starts playing, Remus leans over towards Roman with another bright smile, and gets ready to enjoy the show with his boyfriend and his brother.

…

Roman was trying to have as few expectations as possible in regards to what tonight would be, but somehow it still managed to surprise him.

Remus was technically right in regards to the things he’d told Roman would be coming, at least when it came to music and dancing and cheap food and lights.  But he was absolutely wrong when he said no one would care.

Everyone cared that the people up on the stage were wearing dresses and makeup and weren’t being normal.  They just also happened to be extremely loud in their support of it.

Roman wasn’t actually one of the people cheering, but only because he was staring around at everyone else doing it and trying to figure out the ache in his chest.

Remus and Janus were cheering next to him, and Roman definitely shouldn’t have felt surprised by that, but… knowing they were probably okay with something and seeing that something in front of him felt a little different, he supposed.

For all Remus and Janus seemed to enjoy themselves, Roman didn’t remember much of the show itself.  What caught his attention more was the overwhelming feeling of safety surrounding him.  The loud music and the dancing and dresses and how much everyone was enjoying all of it.

Roman looked around at the tables surrounding them.  No one here was straight, were they?  And even if they were, they were a different kind of queer.  Did Remus do this kind of thing all the time?

It was near the end of the show that Roman actually managed to pay attention, just in time to join in on everyone in the bar loudly singing along to a Freddie Mercury song.

Remus turned to grin at Roman as the song finished, a clear question in his eyes before he even opened his mouth, but Roman waved him off.  He didn’t want to talk about it yet, and they wouldn’t be able to hear each other right now anyway.  Remus stuck out his tongue, clearly taking Roman’s reaction as something very different, but let it go for now.

But letting things go was not really how Remus worked, so Roman wasn’t all that surprised when as soon as they walked to the car, Remus turned to face him with a giant grin.  “So?”

Roman let out a long, drawn-out sigh.  “Are you going to say I told you so if I tell you I really loved it?”

“Yes!  I told you so I told you so I told you so, HA!”

Roman groaned and shook his head, looking down at the ground in exasperation.  “And you wonder why I don’t tell you anything.”

“I thought you didn’t tell me anything because we haven’t seen each other in over a decade and you need everyone to believe you hate me for being a filthy gay,” Remus said matter of factly, and Roman nearly choked on his own spit.

“Wow, you really haven’t seen Remus in too long if you didn’t expect him to just blurt stuff like that out,” Janus said, leaning over to pat Roman a couple times on the back.

“I figured he’d want to focus on the fun we had tonight instead,” Roman said, looking over at both of them.

“Who says I’m not?  I’m still having fun!  Are you not having fun?  That sounds like a you problem,” Remus said, giving him a toothy grin before bounding ahead towards the car.  Janus called his name, tossed him the keys, and then hung back a little, looking over at Roman.

“He forgave you a long time ago, you know,” he said.

Roman turned to stare at him.  “What?”

“Remus forgave you a long time ago,” Janus repeated.  “No matter how much I personally think he shouldn’t have.”

Roman blinked a couple times, processing that.  “…Why?” he said finally.

Janus shrugged.  “He told me how bad his coming out went,” he said.  “I understand being scared to do the same.  Even if you should have developed more of a spine eventually.”

Roman sputtered.  “Wh- I’m not—”

Janus successfully cut him off with a look.

Roman swallowed and turned to look towards the car, where Remus was standing up in the passengers seat, poking his head out the window and waving.

“Look,” Janus said, and Roman turned to face him again.  “Remus badly wants to make things right with you.  And he doesn’t have a lot of time to do it.”

Roman swallowed again, a little more of a struggle this time with the lump forming in his throat.

“So you are here because that is what Remus wants,” Janus continued.  “And I would never dare keep an opportunity like this from him.  Not— not now.”  Janus took a shaky breath of his own, and for a moment, Roman saw a mask slip.  But then Janus took a deep breath, and the mask smoothed back out over his face.

“But let me make something very clear to you,” Janus said, turning a gaze to Roman that was so viciously angry Roman actually took a step back.  “If you hurt the love of my life, you will find yourself suddenly lacking in your own.”

“Uh,” Roman said.  “Love?”

“Life.”

Roman swallowed one last time.  “…Understood,” he said weakly.

“Good,” Janus said, before turning back towards the car.  He spotted Remus waving, and precisely all of the rage melted from his face, and he walked up to the car and slip into the driver’s seat.

Roman shook himself off after a second and followed.

...

Chapter Four

[undead-potatoes]

SUNNY, did someone ask about Aurora and Jay and whether they like kids?? Do they get along with them, are annoyed by them? Would they want kids for themselves? How have they interacted with the kids in the bg3 world so far?

No-one did, so thanks for asking B)

This is gonna be long as usual so 🐻 with me

- - -

Much like she's with people in general, Aurora is kinda bad with kids. She likes them, quite a lot in fact, but she's awkward and doesn't know how to interact with them in a natural way. She does find them so so charming though, and enjoys being around them and observing their antics. I think she admires them too for how resilient they can be, how even in the face of so many horrors they're still filled with so much of that childlike joy.

But the Urge makes interactions difficult, since they're often extra gruesome around kids (as you pointed out). She tries her best to interact casually with any kids coming her way, but I think she also keeps her distance for the most part while the Urge rages on. Yenna might be the hardest one for her, since she's someone Rory has to interact with on a regular basis. It goes well for the most part, but I think Yenna probably picks up on Rory's weird vibes and just decides to keep interactions to a minimum (maybe she thinks Rory doesn't like her? Like what did she do wrong?)

She does want kids of her own she discovers, once she's free to live life on her own terms, but she's terrified of passing on any bhaalspawn bullshit to a biological child, so that's a route she doesn't even dare explore. There are other ways of becoming a parent though, and I can see her and Shadowheart bringing up a child together at some point (and I imagine Astarion is just mommy's weird boyfriend who teaches them all the wrong things and is over there like "I hate this kid. If anything ever happens to them I'm gonna turn into John Wick tho.")

- - -

First of all, I just posted a Jay backstory bit that's been sitting in my drafts since October, which adds some context to Jay's relationship with kids already in his life.

So very firmly on the other side of the scale we have Jay, who is really great with kids, possibly even better than with most adults. He knows how to talk to them in a way that makes them feel seen and respected, while still keeping in mind that they're children. Chatting with them, joking around, providing them comfort, it all comes pretty natural to him.

He obviously has a soft spot for the tiefling orphans. Looking at them he sees a reflection of himself from 40 years ago, and many of their schemes genuinely amuse him, though some of them are uuuh a little worrying. I think he tries to sway Mol a little bit since she's their leader, to steer her away from the worst of it, but she's just too stubborn for that. Her whole ordeal with Raphael really stressed him out tbh.

Yenna is an interesting one bc usually I would just write her off and say she never joined the party (it's a bit silly tbh), but Jay absolutely would pick her up and have her tag along if he thought she would be safer with them than being on her own. I assume they get along just fine (she mostly just has the personality of "pleasant child" in-game), and I think he enjoys teaching her stuff, for better and for worse. He's totally the kind of guy who will teach kids some questionable things (often by accident), and then go "no wait, do as I say, not as I do".

I initially (like months ago) thought of him as someone who might want kids, but I'm not so sure anymore. At least not in a way where he'll actively go out of his way to have children; any child that just happens to fall into his lap is a different story. This is partly why I'm a little conflicted about Yenna post-game, like what WOULD he do? He'd be very hesitant to send any child to an orphanage unless there were no other options, so idk where she ends up.

Overall I think he's just fine being everyone's favorite uncle. The kids love him, he brings the coolest gifts, and he gets to interact with them on a frequent basis in smaller bursts. He's the first anyone asks to babysit, and he almost always says yes, much to Gale's annoyance I'm sure ("but what about our plans, love" "we can do that tomorrow, they never get time off from the kids").

[thequietmanno1]

Thelreads, MHA 291, Replies Part 1

1) “So, back to the main series we go! And what happened last time- oh right, Dabi. The most expected unexpected revelation to happen in this series besides Dad for One. We all knew this was coming, and we were still quite shocked about it regardless. Or maybe that was just me, I don’t know.”- No, no, it was pretty shocking for us too. Like, we suspected he was most likely Toya, but then he just upfront revealed it as casually as you like with his pre-planned dramatic unmasking (Hair bleaching) it was pretty startling for Horikoshi to just go “yep, your theories were correct, have a cookie and family drama as a reward”. 2) “oh dear god we’re going straight into the source it seems, when Toya dabbed his last breath.

jesus fucking christ- Fine, do your worst Horikoshi.”- Ha! Oh, he ain’t even started yet, believe me. 3) “Nope, back to before he died it seems. 

Fine. Also, he had red hair before it turned white then?”- This actually aligns with the anime’s flashback way back in season 2, wherein young Toya playing ball with the other Todoroki kids was glimpsed, and he has red hair, rather. It was assumed to be an animation error, so either Horikoshi adjusted Toya’s backstory to compensate, or he let the animation team know in advance.

4) “…

Wait, this seems… Odd. This is not way I’d expect Endeavor and him to interact. This felt way too… casual?”- Oh yeah. This family drama ain’t all black and white. Enji didn’t start out a glory-obsessed, abusive father, and Toya didn’t start out hating him. There’s actual love and familial commitment present between them, that’s why the ongoing confrontation is ultimately so tragic at its core. 5) “and going by the way Toya was, it seems like he wanted that as well. Which already is making this way worse than the picture we had of the Todoroki’s back at the start of the series.”- Toya wanted it, because Enji wanted it…at least, to his eyes. He wanted to be the son his father could look at with pride and affection, but when his own body started falling short of that goal, it lead to things going….sour.

6) “OH GOD PLEASE HORIKOSHI YOU’RE ALREADY HURTING ME

BECAUSE NOW I CAN SEE THAT THEY WERE HAPPY AND FULL OF LOVE FOR EACH OTHER BEFORE THINGS SPIRALED OUT OF CONTROL. I GET IT. CAN YOU NOT PUNCH ME THIS HARD IN THE FEELS?”- The other kids weren’t just there to have an “ideal Quirk” child, they were there to support Toya even if he personally fell short of becoming a hero with his own genetic instability. Fuyumi’s ice powers are ideal for helping to cool down Toya’s body when he’s burning up beyond control. Even if the kids had other ambitions than being heroes, they’d be there to support the first-born scion in his ongoing life. 7) “And that’s what caused it all to happen. It wasn’t a lack of love or care, it was ambition overgrowing those feelings. The first page said Toya burned to ashes, which already paints a picture of how he met his “end””- The fire symbolised Toya and Enji’s bond, and by the same token, how that bond lead to Toya disfiguring and twisting himself into the present-day Frankenstein’s monster he’s become, further degrading his human flesh and skin every time he touches upon the intensity of the flame that connects him to his blood kin. 8) “ But Dabi doesn’t have a strong fire resistance, which means even if he could make stronger flames, he’d die in the process.”- A problem then, but now….well, now, Toya’s decided to make use of that fact…

9) “…oh it absolutely is gonna get way worse.

I’m already preparing the bottle, this time not out of anger against the series, but because this is the only way to get through”-Enji would have been satisfied is someone of his bloodline could cross the boundary that he himself could not. For all his tireless, doomed efforts to cross the chasm, Enji didn’t mind not being the one to succeed in the end, only to witness that somebody other than All Might could prove it was possible to stand alongside a giant like him. 10) “And now time to continue the little dance, but now it’s even more grim than before.”- And now Dabi takes it even further, involving other dancers in their Hellfire tango. It’s no longer just about taking down his dad, he wants to take down every hero with him too. 11) “Ah, the Hood one? So that’s why you were so interested in that fight, huh? Not only because Hawks was there and you wanted to kill Endeavor in front of him, no, you wanted to take evidences back.”- I mean, Tomato, Tomato. The thing about Dabi is, he’s very much like the Joker, in a sense. He had a goal, and a lot of little plans to reach that goal, but he could use or discard those plans as it benefitted him depending on the situation without hesitation, because he’d never stick rigidly to any one means of seizing the victory he wants. The act of carnage and destruction itself is what Dabi wants, and specifically to capture the failure of heroes in dealing with that kind of high-level chaos. To that end, whenever he shows up, he’s always ready to adapt as needs be, changing priorities and stances to ways remain one step ahead, all to eventually reach his long-sought goal. If you look back at everything that happened leading up to this moment, there’s no way that Toya planned it all out. Hell, he almost got captured at Kamino before the ball even got rolling! He just kept his cards close to his chest, trusted nobody, not even the league, and rolled with the punches one after another, setting up his own separate plans in the background to take advantage over everything for his own ends – and to a resounding success, were it not for the intervention of our lord and saviour Jeanest at the end here! 12) “oh dear god- you know, that was what we believed happened, but considering that little flashback, it doesn’t seem like that was the case. The abuse only came after Shoto was born, which means it must be around the time Toya died.

…

Oh no, don’t tell me Endeavor became a monster because he pushed Toya to his death”- Stress built up until it boiled over and made Rei burn Shoto. In much the same manner, Guilt and regret could have fed into Enji’s obsession until he had to make a successor strong enough to beat All Might, in order to cope with the accidental loss of his firstborn to his fiery ambition. Of course, Dabi’s cheerfully glossing over that nuance to push forward his anti-hero agenda, and the average Joe on the street won’t really careabout the details in the face of this latest controversy. 13) “oh boy, the number 2 is definitely gonna be dragged through the mud there. And he deserves it for what he did, that there’s no doubt, but the rest of his family doesn’t, and boy are they gonna go through a lot.”- And neither does the rest of the hero industry, but Toya’s ready to spitefully roast them all in his condemnation of his father. 14) “Denial is not only a river in egypt. But true, it’s really hard to accept that those things happened.

But we, the readers, now that they did. But they are even worse than what they are being painted like.”- Worse, and yet, not quite as bad as they first seemed. That Enji isn’t a completely heartless, remorseless bastard of a father just makes his media crucifixion here cut all the deeper, now that he’s taken steps to try and repair the damage, only for Toya to not only render that all for naught, but go one step further and try to drag others down with his sins too! 15) “DABI YOU FUCKING BASTARD YOU ARE USING TWICE’S DEATH TO GET BACK AT YOUR FATHER

OH MY GOD

I DID SAY HOW YOU PUSHED TWICE KNOWING HE WOULD BE KILLED, AND NOW I’M WONDERING IF YOU DIDN’T CARE OR IF YOU EXPECTED THAT TO HAPPEN, BECAUSE THAT’S RECORDED FROM YOUR POV”-And this, right here, is where I lose sympathy for Dabi. I can understand his childhood pain and desire to lash out, but he not only involved an innocent (of that particular tragedy) hero like Hawks in it, he turned his own “friend” into a scapegoat. Even worse, this is the exact same thing Curious tried to do with Toga, and now Dabi’s gleefully and shamelessly broadcasting Twice’s death for the world to see, edited to maximise his nature as a tragic villain, all without care of the man who died believing in him and the bond they seemingly shared! (MHA ch 267)

16) “NOW, UNDERSTANDABLY, DABI IS PRETTY FUCKING PISSED. EVEN THOUGH I REMEMBER TALKING ABOUT HOW HE WAS USING TWICE FOR HIS OWN GOALS, SEEING HIM BEING MURDERED THERE WOULD DEFINITELY AFFECT HIM REGARDLESS.”- Nope, he wasn’t angry at all. In fact, he was ecstatic that Hawks gave him the perfect material for his anti-hero agenda, and now that he can, he could stop holding back. The massive flame blast he unleashed here is indicative that, despite him ‘appearing’ to be trying his hardest to kill Hawks and stop him reaching Twice, he was actually holding himself back and waiting for Hawks’ desperation to reach a tipping point. He was pressuring him with flame blasts just enough to ensure he had no real control over the situation and give Twice a window of opportunity to flee, but if he was serious about stopping him be could have flooded the room with fire the second Twice made it out the door. Instead, he held back just enough so that Hawks would have a slim opportunity to reach Twice at great cost to himself, and then either his hesitation over killing him would allow Twice to unleash the parade, or Hawks would kill Twice and give Toya the exact footage he’d been aiming for from the start- the sight of a popular pro hero committing an unheroic deed. And once he’d done that, he had no further use for him, and was free to stop holding back and indulge in killing him as cruelly as possible, just for his own pleasure. (MHA ch 267) 17) “Yeah Hawks, that does happen when you are being incinerated at point blank. But fear not, Dabi here is trying to stomp the flames away, he`s trying to help (: “- He’s not going to let Hawks escape. Either his body, his spirit, or his public reputation will be left in tatters by the end of this conflict, and Dabi’s relishing every moment of it.

(MHA ch 267) 18) “It`s a good thing that Toga isn`t here, because if she realized your reasons she would turn you into mincemeat.”-I am pretty sure that Dabi’s ultimate ending is going to come from Toga’s knives once she finds out the whole truth behind Jin’s death. It was Hawks’ hands on the blade, but Toya was the one who set the situation up and intentionally let a traitor sabotage the PLF from within, making him arguably more culpable in the end. 19) “DABI, I SWEAR TO GOD, I’M GOING TO FUCKING BEAT YOUR ASS”- Can’t beat it if he burns himself to ashes first…. @thelreads