#zesty tries to write something

[zestyderg]

Ah shit I wrote something again. Aster's encounter with Dynal! Also known as DYNAL NO STOP PLEASE WHAT ARE YOU DOING-

Under a read more because it's uh... long

"ASTER DROMEON!"

Aster and Raptin froze up instantly. The familiar, booming roar of His Majesty echoed throughout Hotspring Heights, and Aster had to fight against every fiber of their being just to turn around and face him.

Slitted eyes burned hot and bright like twin suns. Intense, oppressive anger radiated from the dinaurian king as he stalked toward the pair. Before Aster or Raptin could stammer out a polite greeting, Aster was promptly seized by the throat and they let out a pained yelp as Dynal slammed them into the cold, hard bark of a tree.

Pinned, the pale dinaurian struggled to free themself, and Dynal forced them to face eye to eye as he began to speak.

"TRAITOR!" He bellowed. "Wretched traitor! I know you killed Megora, and I have proof!"

Dynal pulled something out of his pocket, and held it up for Aster to see. A familiar pale, downy feather sat there in the king's claws. Aster's watery eyes widened in horror at the confirmation that Dynal definitely knew.

"I found this on his body!" Dynal hissed.

Aster parted their lips to attempt to defend themself, but only managed to whine as Dynal's grip on their throat tightened.

Their vision grew fuzzy, and they could just barely make out Raptin screaming for Dynal to release them.

"I do not wish to hear your excuses. You have killed a fellow dinaurian, tore his throat out as if he were nothing," Dynal continued on.

"I knew this would happen, deep down. I tried to mask that gut feeling with careful optimism. I thought perhaps I could raise you to be a fine dinaurian, and steer you away from the same dark path Ostrah took. Evidently I was wrong, you are as murderous as her! I have made a grave mistake, and I realize now that I must remedy that..."

The king carelessly tossed the feather to the wind, morphing his hand so they bore massive, curved claws. Poor Aster flailed helplessly, just barely being able to choke out a sound that resembled a dying whale as they watched that clawed hand raise upwards to deal a killing blow.

Something slammed into Dynal in the blink of an eye, and Aster unceremoniously fell to the snowy ground, gasping desperately for air as they struggled to get their bearings.

They stumbled to their feet as soon as they heard Dynal roar again.

There, standing between Aster and Dynal, was Raptin in battle form.

"I WILL NOT LET YOU HARM THEM!" He shouted, determination shone in his eyes and Aster's feathers stood on end when they realized that Raptin was seriously considering fighting King Dynal.

"You DARE to defy me, Raptin? As your king, I command you step aside!" The robed figure of Dynal morphed seamlessly into the imposing spinosaur form Aster was all too familiar with. Hooked claws flexed as the larger king sized up his smaller elite.

Raptin however, did not move.

"I WON'T LET YOU HURT THEM!" Raptin yelled.

Dynal glanced from Raptin to Aster and back to Raptin again.

Suddenly, Dynal lurched forward, attempting to weave around Raptin, long jaws surging forward to crush Aster between conical teeth. Raptin immediately lept onto the king's back with a screech, clawing viciously at deep blue hide.

Aster had scrambled behind the tree they had been pressed against, and they peeked out to see what was happening. Amidst the flurry of kicked up snow, they could make out Raptin and Dynal, roaring and biting and clawing at each other, and Aster's muscles tensed watching the potentially soon-to-be bloody brawl in front of them.

Should they join in? Should they run? They couldn't just leave Raptin here to fight Dynal alone. Raptin was strong, sure, far stronger than Aster was! But Dynal was on another level.

Then an idea came to them, suddenly. They turned their gaze to a satchel they had begun to carry to hold vivosaur medals.

Only one medal resided in it now.

Aster's pale claws fumbled inside of the bag for a few seconds before they pulled out a medal, golden vivosaur displayed proudly in the center.

Aster's eyes darted from the medal to the fighting dinaurians. Their vivosaur may have had a few battles under his belt already, but he wasn't a high rank yet. Still, they flung the medal and watched as Auron's body materialized in front of them.

The golden Ourano sleepily blinked open his eyes and jumped back with a startled warble as Raptin and Dynal clashed a little too close for comfort. Auron hastily turned to Aster, honking his confusion.

"Auron!" Aster breathed. "You have to help Raptin! Help him beat Dynal!"

Auron looked at the carnage before him and quickly honked another apparent question at Aster.

"Dynal's the blue one with a long face and artificial wings!" Aster shouted.

The Ourano's face hardened, and with raised hooves he charged headfirst into the chaotic battle, decking Dynal clean in the face and allowing Raptin to unleash a series of quick assaults on the king.

King Dynal uttered a guttural grumble as he juggled both Raptin and Auron at the same time. Forced into a defensive position, the king's odds of winning seemed far more slim.

At least, that was the hope.

Said hope was quickly stomped on and incinerated when the king snatched Auron by the neck and slammed him into the ground, leaving the Ourano on his side, vulnerable.

NO! AURON, NO! Aster was already making a panicked mad dash to their vivosaur before they could even think about what they were doing.

Raptin moved to defend the two of them, but Dynal seized the poor raptor dinaurian in his jaws and bashed him into cold earth, far harder than he did to Auron.

Before anyone could react, Dynal swiftly swung his massive tail, sending Raptin flying headfirst into a tree, smashing into it so hard the tree's trunk snapped and the massive earth plant fell over, the sickle-clawed elite slumped over motionless at the stump.

"RAPTIN!!" Aster wailed.

Dynal snapped his head towards Aster and Auron, the latter having regained his footing, though his stance was unsteady and faltering.

"I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!" Dynal bellowed. "This ends now!"

He lunged before Aster could issue any commands to Auron. Again, strong jaws got a hold of Auron, and again he was flung to the ground. The earth-type turned to defend himself, but with a mighty THWACK Dynal struck Auron's face with his tail. Aster cried out for their vivosaur, but Dynal did not relent. The king's jaws parted, and a beam of dark, void-like energy surged forth from the king's mouth. Auron let out an agonized honk as he was blasted at near point-blank range, bearing the full brunt of Dynal's Imperial Wrath.

The Ourano's body whited out unceremoniously, reduced back to a tiny medal sitting alone amidst the snow.

For a few moments it was silent, save for the occasional gust of wind. Aster was frozen up in quiet terror, and Dynal loomed over Auron's medal. Both were still as statues.

Then Dynal turned, slowly, murderously, towards the now exposed Aster.

So Aster did what they usually do when faced with things they are utterly terrified of: they ran.

Humanoid form gave way to the long, shaggy-feathered, quick-footed form of an Austroraptor.

Ducking and weaving between trees, around rocks, and over fallen logs, Aster fled from Dynal like a deer would from a hungry wolf.

Keep running and hopefully Dynal won't catch you.

Keep running and hopefully Dynal won't kill you.

Keep running.

A small tree flies by their head.

Keep running.

The thumping of enraged footfalls remained constant and unyielding.

Keep running.

Was there something in the trees following them, or was it just a figment of their imagination?

KEEP RUNNING.

Suddenly the stomping stopped and a dark shadow casted over Aster for a brief, horrific moment.

KEEP RUNNING!

The king crashed down just in front of them, and they swerved to avoid certain death, deadly maw just barely missing their tail feathers.

DO NOT STOP!

The cold air itched their lungs uncomfortably. Smoke billowed from their nostrils in an attempt to warm it.

Dynal remained steady in his pursuit, and showed no signs of slowing down. Aster scanned their surroundings desperately. A thicker patch of forest revealed itself to their right and they dove straight for it, clambering over every obstacle in their path as quickly as possible.

The heavy footsteps grew more distant, and when faced with a path that seemed to be covered in even thicker stretches of forest, Aster raced through it with zero hesitation.

The thick branches scratched at them like claws, and it was harder to navigate, but the frustrating terrain would surely give Dynal a headache.

Unfortunate that they didn't notice the sudden drop as they were busy scrambling over frozen tree bark with the same amount of grace as a newborn Ceros.

They let out a startled ACK as they tumbled down the slope, wings and slender legs flailing about uselessly until they finally landed on their back. As they stood and shook themself off as looked to see that they had somehow fell into a sunken clearing in the forest, surrounded on all sides by a wall of needle-coated trees and jagged rocks.

They trudged through the area toward the massive boulder at the back of the clearing, wheezing as they allowed themself to flop over into the cold snow, looking almost flattened as they took a moment to find relief.

The frustrated scream of their pursuer startled them back on their feet. Dynal sounded closer than they thought he'd be, and even worse, the snapping of trees grew louder and louder.

Aster frantically booked it towards the part of the clearing opposite of the sounds coming from Death on Two Legs. They tried to climb up the slope, but their trembling legs gave out from underneath them and the exhausted Austroraptor dinaurian slipped down to the bottom.

Frustrated, Aster flung themself back onto the ground. They huffed, and opted to watch the gently falling snowflakes as they thought about what to do now. They couldn't run, and they had no chance at fighting. For a moment, they considered just burying themself in all this snow, and lie so still that Dynal wouldn't notice them. Their feathers were already quite pale, so perhaps it wouldn't be too hard to conceal themselves. They quickly tossed out that thought, though. No, stupid, Dynal's eyes are sharp, he'd never fall for something like that!

A figure darted between the trees that surrounded them, and Aster's long, bird-like head and neck shot up. Was that the weird figure from earlier? Whatever it was, it was NOT Dynal.

They snapped their focus back to the loud approach of the king. They could hear him stomping closer and closer. He could find them at any second. The thought of hiding in the snow didn't sound so bad right now...

It took them a moment to notice that they were being watched. The dark silhouette of someone was standing tall amidst the trees, easily missable. It was the crimson eyes that drew the dinaurian's attention, and once they noticed they stood frozen to the spot.

Aster said nothing until the figure strode forward, seemingly gliding down the slope with ease. The shadow was definitely a dinaurian, clearly feathered like Aster. Horrid gashes covered the figure's body, freshly dripping blood the same shade of crimson as its eyes. Aster blinked for a moment just to confirm what they were seeing.

"...mom?" They rasped.

The figure blinked slowly, like a cat.

"Hello, Aster," the figure greeted. "I've been waiting for the right moment to show myself to you in the waking world, and I suppose now is a good time."

Aster looked their mother up and down.

"What do you want?" They questioned in a suspicious manner, shifting uncomfortably.

"Only to help," Ostrah leaned forward, her slitted eyes narrow and hard to read.

"How?" Aster hissed, "Dynal is going to kill me, and I am out of options. I can't run, and I can't hide. I'm going to DIE, mom!"

Dynal roared again, and he sounded as close as ever.

"I can help you, but you must trust me first," she stuck out a clawed, shadowy hand to her child.

"All you have to do is grab hold of my hand. I will do the rest."

Aster stared at her hand. "How will this help me exactly?" They asked.

The sounds of snapping trees and loud stomping was so close now.

"You'll see~," the ghostly dinaurian playfully answered. "Quickly now, take my hand if you wish to live!"

Aster hesitated for a moment. How could their dead mother possibly help them now? They didn't trust her in the slightest considering her murderous tendencies. But what choice did they have?

Aster took Ostrah's hand.

..........................

Dynal abruptly stopped at the edge of the clearing below him. A path of total destruction laid behind him, no tree in his wake left standing. He could see Aster in the center of the clearing, back facing towards him. The king snarled, and gracefully lept down to finish off the traitor.

Aster didn't react, or move at all really. That mattered not. The sooner they were dead the quicker dinaurian kind would be safe from them.

He hardly noticed how much colder the air around him grew.

It was only when he took a step closer that his target raised their head, slowly turning to look over their shoulder. There was a look in Aster's eyes that Dynal found unsettling and vaguely familiar enough to give pause, furthermore, it was definitely not a gaze that Aster had ever given him. No, this was Not Right. Too intense, too... excited? Dynal couldn't clock it.

Aster's long, slender face parted in a toothy grin as they greeted the king with twisted glee.

[clementianos-blog]

From the beginning, Tim and Steph had a kind of chemistry in their lack of chemistry. They were very different - backgrounds, perspectives, family influences, etc. About all they had in common was that they were only children with family troubles, but even those similarities were abundantly different once you scratched the surface even a tad.

But what I find interesting, and seriously questionable, is how their actual relationship comes about. Steph repeatedly makes choices that aren't the best while "trying to help" and Tim repeatedly has to correct her. He's more-or-less acting like a conscience to her. I guess you could look at this as being that strong part of Tim's personality that drives him to help others. It's why he's Robin. Unlike his predecessors (and successors), the main reason he became Robin was to help Batman; helping everyone else was a secondary (and Batman's primary). To Batman, Tim's Robin is the "I'll help you so you can help everyone else." It's ingrained into him to see the shortcomings of others and he intrinsically wants to help.

There are multiple moments in which Steph is ready to walk away from a lowlife thug who is vulnerably facing certain death - and Tim explains why they need to help. But that's a major theme in the Batman comics in general, so it doesn't really fit the bill of what we're talking about here in a way that is unique to Steph and Tim.

But this does:

Steph is willing to steal two Zesti sodas from a convenience store after she and Tim cleared out the bad guys. He sees no problem in taking the Zestis as long as they will be compensating the store for them rather than stealing. He probably thinks "we COULD go to another, open store, but I'd rather help this one out" or even "best to be seen as little as possible" etc. It doesn't really matter. What matters is that he anticipates that she's thinking about stealing them. He asks "this your treat?" to put the burden on her since she was the one who offered to pick them up.

This could also be his subtle and not-enough way of pushing the "this is not a date" vibes he's been lazily humming out at her lately. Which brings us to the scene that follows this directly:

Tim has been emotionally cheating on Ariana for quite some time, relying on Steph for the emotional pick-me-ups and help-me-outs as well as leading her on. He's reflected on this a few times and even tried to do something about it several times before this point. But here, he is pretty open about his resignation.

This is the kind of thing teens do a lot - really, everyone does it at some point or another. We redefine our understanding of the world, of our morals, of our personal resolve to suit what feels nice. Exactly this is why it's a very good piece of advice to write down your goals in distinct, objective terms and keep them visible to you when you make them. If you say you aren't eating sweets for a month, be specific about what that means. If sugar in your coffee is an allowance, then say so. If desserts, pastries, jams and jellies, and candy are not allowed, then say so. Without being specific... we start to think things like "Well, a blueberry muffin isn't really a sweet (even though this one is covered in sugar crystals and tastes sweeter than the candybar I had last month)."

I'm not really cheating on Ariana. I haven't held Steph's hand. I haven't kissed - er, I haven't intentionally kissed Steph.

The problem is often that we don't see the danger of this stage. Just like Steph saw no danger in stealing two Zestis from the convenience store, Tim sees no danger in letting Steph treat their outings as dates. It's just a buck. It's just a game. It's not serious. No one's getting hurt by it.

And this is a problem for the exact reason Tim gives Steph.

What Steph did was so small, so simple, and seemingly so harmless. The shopkeeper probably would have handed them a case of Zestis each for what they did. But the shopkeeper isn't there.

Steph has Tim here to help her understand why it's wrong to compromise even an inch of her integrity.

What Tim is doing is so much worse. SO much worse. There is no justification, no excuse, and no good reason other than "this makes me happy right now."

But unlike Steph, Tim doesn't have a... well... Tim to put it in perspective. To help him see why it's wrong. Why it starts like this, and soon he'll be bending all the rules.

Instead, Tim has a Steph who is the one dragging him into this quagmire where he's blatantly cheating on his girlfriend and cannot see it for what it is.

And yes, it's clear he can see that it's wrong - just like Steph knew that taking the sodas wasn't really right. But just like with the sodas, neither of them recognized the action for what it truly was: stealing/cheating. Once put into that context, Steph immediately pays. If it were simplified like that to Tim, he would cut it off. The end. No more. I'll either say goodbye to Ariana, or I'll say goodbye to Steph.

But he sees something else: he feels happiness, he sees two happy girls, and he thinks, "No one's getting hurt here. It's not really right but it's not like I'm, you know..."

It starts like that. And soon you're bending all the rules.

TimSteph has a lot of positive qualities to it, but the fact that Steph's a project of Tim's - to build into an upstanding citizen from the rough place she's been raised - means that he needs to stay in the role of her pillar of morality. If he doesn't, as we see, then he falls himself.

Tim managed to say no to the Zesti, but the apple was just too tempting.

[starsurface]

Your writings are very good, they make me happy! Would it be possible to write Shang Tsung from the 3d era taking care of an age regressed reader that uses diapers?

Awh, thank you!!! I'm so glad that they make you happy!! <3

I will admit, i know incredibly little about this character!!!! :D (I tried to do research, but do call me our or dm if I wrote some things wrong, I can totally redo or make a pt 2 or something!!)

Like, . . . I know he’s evil. And has an island. And works for Shao Kahn. And is one of the more first big boss fights?? And that 3d is like, Deception, and Armageddon, and Shaolin Monks (the cutscenes only version of that game is so funny, the storyline is so fast).

And not even zesty evil!!! But like, actually evil. :(

Small Warning (?): It just kinda feels like there are some darker undertones in these?? Not exactly yandere like, but mildly possessive, and little to no hesitation to hurt others for you. It’s not implied that he’d kill, but it is implied that he’d use them as experiments (which I can totally change if anyone gets uncomfortable with!!!)

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

CG 3d era Shang Tsung w/ Regressor That Uses Diaper Hcs

🐛 I know I said he’s evil . . . but I think he adores you

🐛 Your his baby, how could he not love you!! He’s cruel and a villain, but your his Precious, he couldn’t just let you go <3

🐛 While a man of evil and Shao Kahn’s sorcerer, he would never make fun of you for using or needing padding

🐛 Babyspace regressor? You’re very tiny!! Of course you might need some help, and that’s okay!!

🐛 Toddler? Well, accidents happen all the time, and he’d rather be safe than sorry anyways

🐛 Big kid? Well he’d still classify you as a baby, but whatever you say <3

🐛 Middlespace regressor? Everyone can use diapers!! Whether for medicine or comfort, that’s your regression, and no one else’s

🐛 And if anyone were to magically tell you otherwise, well, they strangely disappear!! :O (and maybe end up in Shang Tsung’s lab)

🐛 Might get a bit grumpy if you wake him up at night, but almost any thoughts of anger or upset wash away when he sees how upset you are

🐛 . . . Although he’s also super tired and might put on your padding backwards

🐛 It is literally not his fault, it’s two am, and he has work tomorrow

🐛 Although he’d rather you wake him up than sit sobbing in bed, work or no work, you’re his first priority

🐛 He’ll also get some of those potty mattress protections, just in case you may or may not have an accident again (but only if your cool with it)

🐛 Magic show distractions!!!

🐛 He could give you something to fidget with during the process . . . Or he could use his super cool sorcerer powers and make a little light show to distract you

🐛 From what i’ve seen in almost every Shang Tsung, they have a way with words

🐛 So it’s not him buying your regression supplies, it’s Shao Kahn <3

🐛 Shang Tsung works for him, how could he not also supply for his precious baby that he gets very little time with because of how often he has to work and prepare for the tornoment?

🐛 ^ Lies, Shang Tsung can and will pause any type of working if you regress and come for him

🐛 Maybe unless he’s in the middle of an experiment, but he’s left his studies many times before

🐛 Your not really allowed to talk to Shao Kahn though :\ (Shang Tsung’s worried Shao will be mean or cruel to you in your headspace)

🐛 But you get much time with Dada!! :D

🐛 He’ll make a little regression area in his laboratory!! It’s Shang Tsung’s Island, who would tell him he couldn’t put a secret passage way into a small regression area just for you?

🐛 ^ No one, that’s who, so of course he does it!! (and Shao Kahn gets the bill for it >:3)

🐛 He does make sure to put it more where the potions or his study books are and not where his experiments are (he doesn’t like you seeing them in your headspace)

🐛 Don’t you dare ever try to touch his potions, he will get incredibly upset and you’ll get in trouble

🐛 They’re for big kids and big kids only, plus you could get seriously hurt and Dada might not be able to help you from some of them

🐛 Or you could just regress in Dada’s room, which is much comfier anyways

🐛 If you end up having any type of accidents, he’s very gentle about the process, gently shushing and comforting you, drawing you a nice bath and picking out some comfy clothes

🐛 His clothes to be exact, what could be better?

🐛 If you’re ever embarrassed about using padding, he’d call you silly

🐛 There’s no reason too!! Whether for comfort, or medical, or just because, if it works for you, then he’s more than happy to help with the process

🐛 Your his baby after all, and he’s going to make sure you have the world <3

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

I like the Caterpillar emoji, it's cute. :3 (also they didn't have any potions :\)

[razielwritesstuff]

Obey Me! Headcannons ~

I have never and will never hide that I dislike Luci

BUT

I do have thoughts

This man is just constantly sipping a caffeinated beverage he needs it to deal with these mfs

He's a single mother of all 6 of his brothers

I think all demons have sharp teeth. His are the least sharp of the brothers and he is PISSED ABT IT TGURBODFK

Fav song is probably by Mozart. Basic ass.

I discussed how the om! chars would deal wirth being in mlp (pls dont ask) and Luci and Luna give me an evil grinch smile

I feel like he'd curse when angry

Idk.

Gay ass

Smells like pine trees or something

I think he'd have a fear of mascots

Like. character mascots.

Don't ask me okay

Smells like axe bodyspray and SADNESS

Am I WRONG????

We all love mammon but that man.... we know he uses axe...

Befriends the local crows.

There is so many he could be carried off

They all give him shiny shit to sell

Did everyone remember how he's canonically a model

He's attractive. Canonically.

Anyways, second-sharpest teeth of the bros

This is cannon (TO ME) but Mammon is just attached to MC like glue

"STOP FOLLOWING ME!!" "LET GO OF MY HAND THEN????"

He once tried to steal and sell some of leviathan's games

The cast took a while to come off :)

Fav song is something CUNTY ik it

Most girlypop aside from asmo (YTO ME!!!!)

He's great :D

He is so trans to me as a transmasc.

He has a main twitter and an alt twitter. Nobody knows abt the alt so he uses it to doxx ppl he doesn't like

I love Leviathan but I swear to God I don’t think he knows what deodorant is

“man for a guy who sleeps in a bathtub you really have no concept of hygiene”

How many Henrys has he had??? who tf knows.

Fav animal is SNAKES

Loves pokemon. his fav would be gyarados

He will assume anything except romantic intentions at all times

Autistic. As approved by my friend with the 'tism

He would be a brony

Lovable but a Bit Cringe

Has tied Mammon to a chair and forced him to watch stuff before

EXPERT at pirating shit

Would play Undertale.

Speedrunner !!

Would spend like the better part of a month to discover EVERY SINGLE glitch, bug, and exploit in a game to use it to is advantage

Has a sims 4 cc folder that's like 80 terabytes

He's my malewife and he's everything to me.

Would make a shiny living dex on every single Pokémon game

He has multiple cardboard cutouts of his waifus

Satan has an Ao3 account. He writes exclusively on his fav characters

His Ao3 tag has something to do with Sherlock Holmes fight me

He tweets in perfect grammar

He'd kill over a board game

Would cry over a cute cat video

WARRIOR CATS NERD

HE'S COME UP WITH WARRIOR NAMES FOR EVERYONE HE KNOWS AND THE CAT HE THINKS IS MOST SIMILAR

Lucifer got assigned as Tigerclaw LMAO

He would get into Leviathan's fandoms but only bc Leviathan forced him. He comes out liking the thing.

His favorite disney movie would be Aristocats

Loves Luigi

He became a cat person specifically because Lucifer is a dog person

He'd also be a brony

The one that can analyze media properly

His brothers use him to spellcheck their essays

He either watches video essays on YouTube or he makes them

Likes reading about witchkraft from the human realm, he finds it interesting

The one that taught Leviathan to make cardboard cutouts

Knows about 50 stray cats and has named them all

Constantly brags about how he has sharper teeth than Lucifer

Smells like a different scented candle every week

Has that stereotypical gay accent

He's zesty

He's girlypop but we all knew that

Listens to Ayesha Erotica

Goes like "GIRL you would NOT believe what Solomon did!!"

He spills all the tea all the time

King shit

He'd wear a dress in a heartbeat and he'd ROCK IT

He would cry over broken nails but not because of the pain it might cause, only because it looks ugly asf now

"I NEED TO CRY BUT MY MAKEUP WAS 40 GRIMM"

The one who painted everyone's nails

Will threaten you in order to paint your nails, but he will do a color you like

King at make up

Absolutely loves Ru Paul

Keeps trying to get Dia to set up a drag race, he's unsuccessful as of now

Strawberry is his favorite flavor

He's very physically affectionate but would absolutely respect boundaries i will kill you if you think otherwise

He would HYPE. YOU. UP.

Has gum on him 24/7

Also has tampons on him so he can give them to the homies who need them (like Leviathan)

IDK man I didn't used to like him that much but he's grown on me

VERY GOOD COOK because of course he is

Loves giving piggyback rides

Tall enough and beefy enough for you to sit on his shoulders

Would also let Belph sleep on his shoulders

He's a golden retriever. We knew this.

Surprisingly good at Just Dance

Not a dog person not a cat person but a secret third thing (he thinks cows are adorable)

Always spares bugs and spiders when he finds them

Cannot watch cooking shows, he's tried to eat the TV before

Loves going to movie theaters, will pay just for the overpriced popcorn

You can tell he genuinely loves you if he shares his food

Like he shares his food with MC and all the brothers are like "W. WHAT??"

Would INSIST you look great no matter what you look like

You will cuddle with him and Belph this is an Order

Smells like food-scented deodorant

He would be too scared to roughhouse with anyone, boy is too strong

Likes just picking people up and carrying them off

He's done this with Satan once and it actually calmed him down

Favorite show is Bluey probably

Favorite animal is a maned wolf or something

Would kill for a klondike bar

Sharpest teeth out of the brothers + bites as a love language

Every time he bites Leviathan it results in Leviathan squealing higher than able to be heard by humankind

Talks in his sleep. It is adorable thank you for asking!

Smells like Lavendar, vanilla deodorant, and a little bit of "hasn't showered in 2 days" hidden underneath

Drinks a lot of milk

Blueberry is his favorite flavor

Lucid dreams a lot

He does not believe dreams have meanings his are always either incomprehensible or if they did have menains have ones he really doesnt like

Would drink monster energy but he hates the taste of caffeine (he just like me forreal)

Gummies are his favorite snack

He gives off trans energy but i honest to diavolo can't tell if he's transfem or transmasc or neither i CANT TELL

He's girly pop in his own unique way

His DDD's ringtone is Emo Boy by Ayesha Erotica

He's neurodivergent to me i just dont know how

Chews on everything for sensory reasons

Spoiled. Because he's the youngest sibling ofc he is

Every time he drinks hot cocoa he puts marshmallows in it

He considers "barging into your room and scooching you over in your bed to cuddle" a sleepover

Alternatively he'll get Beel to bring you to their room

Hey everyone remember how he's canonically a yandere-

Anyways he's cool :)

[avatarsslut]

Chapter 1: Leaving home

Ever since Ellisia was a little girl she was a shy person always doing her own things never wanting to go out. she was also a HUGE daddy’s girl never wanting her father to leave always trying to get him to take her wherever he went. Most of the time he did…..But that all changed when the sky people came back to pandora. Ellisia was sad when she had to leave her home but had to if her father wanted to protect the people. Ellisia watched as her father title was given to Tarsem he was wise for his age he would lead the people into driving the sky people away from pandora or at least try. During the ride on the way to find sanctuary Ellisia could hear loak,kiri and neteyam bickering and tuk asking if they were there yet the journey was long and rough on them. Finally they arrived to awa’altu villagers started coming towards them surrounding the family. Ellisia was scared to say the least ‘what if they won’t let us stay’ ‘what if they send us away’ all sorts of questions ran through her head. She was quickly snapped out of these thoughts when she saw two boys making fun the appearances her family had. Right when she was about to say something a young girl said “do not Ao’nung. Roxto” she was happy that someone had stuck up for her brothers. “Hey” loak said towards the metkayina girl she smiled at him and looked down. Ellisia and neteyam smirked at each other knowing that something was going to happen between them in the future. Suddenly two loud screeches were made the family looked up to see two large beasts flying down together in sync. The two men jumped off of them and walked to the beach. Ellisia looked at the Olo’eyktan and signed ‘I see you’ to him, while her parents were talking to them she felt someone staring at her she turned her head to see a young metkayina man staring at her. She was quick to turn her head back and pay attention to the conversation “they have demon blood!” Ronal said holding up loaks hand. “Look look” jake said holding up his hand “I was born of the sky people turned na’vi i will adapt we will adapt”. Ellisia felt someone staring at her so she turned her head to see the same man staring at her earlier she blushed and quickly turned her head back towards the conversation. She could still feel him staring at her she tried to pay attention to the conversation going on in front of her. After some convincing tonowari allowed them to stay and learn the ways of the metkayina.

@tiredmamaissy @zestys-stuff

AN:After a while I’m finally done with the first chapter I know it’s not much but I promise you that I will try my best to write more later on in the series

[extraterrestrialechos]

I've really enjoyed reading your meta on Ed (and the show as a whole.) Do you have any predictions/expectations/hopes for how his arc will play out in s2 and s3?

I’ve tried not to set too many expectations on S2 and hopefully S3 so I can just be surprised by and receptive to whatever rolls through.

The fundamental, primordial thing is I'm a big horror fan so of course no one would want me to write a second season of a comedy! Even my jokes are...

Me, making a crazy wall about how Ed and Frenchie are gonna make it work in the end.

Pointing to the mess of red thread and smiling with gleaming-eyed fervor as I corner you and tell you this is so obviously the endgame.

My smile is too wide I have too many teeth.

And clearly my one aspiration will be fruitless!

.

Rhys isn’t in the writer’s room obviously but I was saying in some reply I thought this bit of meta in an early Collider interview was really solid on his part:

Even in his most romantic sequence of thinking about everything he loves about Ed he thought about Ed threatening to stab a man through the eye (I mean it was very sexy of him, I feel you Stede), but obviously the last shot of Ed we see is a man heartbroken from crushed visions of a future denied him.

So, maybe I would like to see a dark but funny reunion, like Stede exulting that Ed has recovered from the awful (shudder) sock folding state Stede reduced him to etc etc and then looking down like “Oh. That’s a knife!”

But have we reached our impalement level with Stede? He’s already been stabbed twice! (Luckily this doesn’t seem too serious for him, but is more impalement a narratively fruitful direction? But then, a third beat can land hardest.)

I want to be entertained as it is impressed upon Stede that no, in fact, Edward does not feel refreshed and un-ruined and zesty about events as they transpired.

.

The show was, ofc, extremely careful to show that Ed didn't just fall apart because one man left him, but gave us a strong confluence of events where his new beau cut out on him and his professional partner and attack dog of however many years (in the post-S2 filming Insta interview series it was said they taught each other swordsmanship) was spooked by getting himself about drowned when left alone for five minutes.

(This was Izzy's own fault for being insufferable at people and open to the wiles of anyone including Black Pete who has like one (1) wile if any, but obvs the impact of the isolation after a season of Unattended Henchman Anxiety Syndrome was acute.)

So I guess my biggest hope is we really see Ed as his own man and being positioned to plot his own course with a clear head.

Which doesn't mean not forging healthy, re-negotiated relationships, but also doesn't mean being rescued by love or something unless it's Frenchie's that Episode 10 already psychological realism'd us out of.

Love by itself doesn't mend a lifetime of unaddressed trauma. Wherever you go, there you are.

[sims3fiend]

Sims 3 Error 12 "fixes"

Been looking at the infamous error 12 today while playing bald gate and have made a lil bit of progress that I think I should put somewhere, mostly so I don't forget. (AKA just use dxvk for smoother gameplay AND less crashes!)

While none of this is really a complete fix, I think it's a step in the right direction and someone smarter than me might be able to skip a couple steps on their path as a result.

The issue: Sims 3 is a 32 bit game and has a hard limit of 4gb RAM. I have no idea what happens if it hits that limit because I don't have a save bloated enough (yet), but I'm guessing it'd crash. The base game on an extremely bloated save (for me) sits around 2600mb-3100. For whatever reason, saving the game causes a spike in RAM usage ranging from 50 - 400mb+, which if you're lucky will error 12 you, and if you're unlucky will crash you, throwing your last hour+ of gameplay into the bin.

In general, if you're around 3200mb usage, you should've saved 10 minutes ago.

A couple "fixes": Part of the issue is that the game seems to load certain objects/textures into RAM, with VRAM being capped at around 840~mb on a good day, and (maybe?) contributing to the overall limit. Easy way to fix this seems to be using DXVK, which, for me at least, removed the RAM bump when objects are loaded. 0 lots detail loaded? 2700mb, 13? 2700mb. I might write a proper installation guide for it, but for now there's a bit in my general performance tweaks post, along with my config. Another fix is, of course, the tried and true, quit your game every hour, clean your save, pray to god thing, but at certain family/save sizes it does seem like you're just kind of circling the drain. I would recommend if you are playing a 300 person household who own the entire town, dropping ObjectSizeCullFactor down in your graphics.sgr file (also in my tweaks). It's personal preference but 20~ should be mostly unnoticeable while greaaattly helping the initial bloating. I've noticed around a 250mb~ drop from the default settings, but that could just be luck. The rest of my settings don't(and shouldn't) have any impact as far as I can tell, but I'll look more later. Another thing that might help if you're already getting the error and desperately need to save, is unloading lots. There's probably a cooler way of doing this, and there's potential for a mod, but try flying your camera into a far corner, entering the map mode, pressing tab and looking up into the sky/towards nothingness before saving. This gets me around 150-200mb

Setting max detail lots to 0 also helps, but isn't exactly doable for most people (lowest is 1 in game). TS3W.exe+86C647 writes to the value if you're feeling zesty. There's other addresses that could potentially help but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Ideally this would be automatically set when saving, or even more ideally, we could just call a purge/reinitialize every so often. I'm pretty sure the game can reclaim memory, I've seen it happen, I just have no idea what triggered it.

Other basic render-based settings seem to have no impact on RAM/VRAM, which is in line with my sgr stutter findings about clipping distance and fog. Still need to test more tho.

Anywhoo that's all for now. I'll probably keep at it tomorrow, I'd like to see what exactly is causing the bloating and if it's vram based or ram, I feel like it's something really silly that should be easy to fix, but we'll find out

[demiesworld]

my current obsessions (warning: very long)

okay so first of all, to all of my followers (if even have any wheezes) i am soooo sorry for not being active. just things have been going south and further south for me. buuuuuut i've also been like hyperfixated on newer animes and on one manhwa (sadly it's killing stalking).

ANYWAYS.... MY CURRENT OBSESSION RN IS FUCKING DEMON SLAYER. i started watching it back in like march or february and i've been simping and focused on this anime ever since. i fucking love it omfg. my favorite characters changes a lot depending on my mood, but i am big on TENGEN (mr. flashy), RENGOKU (donut), AKAZA (donut maker), DOUMA (he puts the G in lGbt), HAGANEZUKA, and lastly... i know yall saw that new episode of season 3 w/ hantengus's fucking clones. tbh i didnt even know he could do that BUT ALL FOUR (i know there's five of them but rn it's four) OF THEM CAN GET IT. IM SORRY.

LIKE DID YALL NOT SEE THE MELANIN IN THOSE MEN?!?! THE MELANIN, THE HAIR, THE ABS, OMG. it makes me soooo excited to see darker skinned ppl in anime shows bc you know they dont hardly get drawn. and even if they are depicted as villains/demons/antagonists representation is representation. A WIN IS A WIN.

so speaking of those four i am heavy, heavy, heavy falling for my boy karaku. i mean yeah sekido can put in that work, aizetsu whimpers like a bish, and urogi is hot and all, but KARAKU?!?! UNGGGGHH. i hear sum puRRRINGGGG~~~

im thinking of writing of maybe a smut, or something platonic and basic with those four in mind. maybe just headcanons though.

another anime im fixated on even though i aint even watched not one damn episode but i feel like i know what going on in it thanks to tiktok spoilers on my FYP is BLUE LOCK. let me explain.

so out of nowhere i get this edit of rin itoshi on my fyp of him w/ the song "trance" by metro boomin and i was like damn he cute af. lemme see what anime this is. and i found out it was blue lock. so i was like ehhh sports anime dont really attract my attention like that so imma pass-

BUT THEN. A MONTH LATER. I SEE THIS FINE ASS GYARUO-LOOKING ZESTY ABOMINATION OF A MAN NAMED SHIDOU RYUSEI ON MY FYP IN AN EDIT AND I WAS LIKE WHO IS HEEEE?!! like not only is his eye color my favorite color, but he has the MELANIN. and ugh he's voiced by gojo (who i simp for too btw) VA.

and then after doing some investigating i find out some important things about this mofo. 1. he almost tried to kill kunigami, 2. he almost tried to kill rin, 3. he has some sort of love, admiration for sae (rins big bro), 4. AW YEAH HERE COMES THE DOPAMINE~, 5. it's canon that this man is so devious he had to get tied up with a muzzle bc he was too much for the blue lock ppl to handle (honestly tying him up w/ a muzzle sounds racist my boi), 6. he is ZESTY.

i just might end up writing some imagines, headcanons, etc. with shidou bc god i love me a toxic man.

LASTLY TO WRAP THIS SHIT UP I AM FIXATED ON MHA. but im not joining the fandom, im just fixated on the following characters: dabi, and aizawa. i love me a man with daddy issues and a man who can be my daddy. i feel like at this point i dont even need to read the manga or watch the anime to know what is going on and who's who thanks to tiktok spoiling every thing for me.

[mixxdpunch]

I'm doing that Nikolai chart reading finally, IDK these are fun lol

His looks kinda cray cray btw but it's kinda similar to mine in someway so maybe it's why I relate to his literature lol

So to start off with - he has a LOT of aspects towards his sun, and his chiron squaring his ascendant. Im just mentioning this first cuz it relates to both the author and the character since they both had identity issues in life, and with your sun heavily aspected it does lead to a feeling of "otherness" in someone. This was a pretty big part of his life and work, so it's worth mentioning.

He has a scorpio ascendant, which could lead to a sort of strange impression people get when first meeting him - he also has a stellium with Uranus, Saturn and Neptune, which all add completely different energies to this. 2 are in Saggitarius, so he might come off as less 'welcoming' and with a leo in the 10th house it does add to the entertaining persona he had in real life and in the show (he was called a funny midget by his school friends when he was younger).

His second house is in Saggitarius, and with the ruler jupiter lying in the 5th house (which he did his work in) he did end up travelling a lot for his job. This isn't always an indicator of travel tbh, but he did gain value from this in his life.

The ruler of his 3rd house is also in the 1st, which means that his sense of identity as a writer is tied to himself. It's also in saggittarius, which probably adds that energy to how he communicated in life (he's a silly guy what can I say)

His 4th house has pluto which tbh is rather ominious (i have this it's a give or take) - he was bullied as a child, but made only a couple of long lasting friendships (something very scorpio like)

Nikolai also has mercury here and he a novice writer back when he was young. He wrote a lot for his fathers theatre and tried to write his own poems book and get it published but it failed, miserably - this was probably a pluto lesson but it was also a mercury one as well.

His 5th house has both his sun and his jupiter - his father owned a theatre and it's where Nikolai started, so he was born pretty lucky there. He also has a large sense of identity in literature and writing, since his sun in this house centers his life here - the arts kind of was meant for him.

His 6th house house is an aries house, the ruler of which is in the 12th - unfortunately that means a lot of the work and routines he has can be rather chaotic, and maybe even secretive. It's also the house of odd jobs, which he did do - both in the show and irl.

Fun fact about IRL Nikolai, but he got a position as a history professor for a year and sucked balls at it. IDK if it's related to the 12th house entirely but it's kind of funny, since BSD Nikolai would do that too.

7th house venus might be an indication of how he thought about his relationships - might also be an indication of him being gay but idk thats jumping. We just know that he was, so that could be a sign. He never married or had children btw, so take all of those "oh your 5th house and 7th house mean you'll have kids" things with a grain of salt fr. I honestly think this just means he was rather zesty guy in his friendships - he had strong ones throughout his life, and also ended up killing himself because of some spiritual guy saying he was sinful (this is the house of open enemies afterall).

Also back to BSD, look at how he treats Fyodor bro.

His 10th house is in leo, which means that his career of an entainer was pretty fitting here. IDK not much to say, it fits him honestly.

11th house is in virgo with a libra moon - which is kind of sad, since despite being rejected so much by Russian society, he was someone who took a lot of emotional energy to actually communicate with others, especially friends (moon opposite sun might have this affect tbh, since his ego and self opposes his emotional well being)

12th house house seems to be a part of his downfall - he clearly is spritual, both in the show and IRL. Mars is weakened here, meaning that the drive someone would usually get from this planet is rather struggling because it's filled with that wishy washy pisces energy - which is why despite the planet being in libra, the 12 house energy might make any mars emotions seem more watery.

BSD Nikolai really got it spot on cuz wtf this dude needs to chill tf out sometimes.

Also, the north node is here, meaning his purpose lies here - which is great for him being a writer. Also not great when you take into account other factors, like his death and life having such oddities, honestly a lot of them outside of his control.

BSD Nikolai kind of shows this, he doesn't have a backstory besides being obsessed with Fyodor and a more empty purpose tbh.

IDK. Shit's wack. His is all over the place tbh.

He clearly is a guy who has a strong identity with what he's doing - entertainment, writing. But when it comes to the smaller details, like love and the self, there seems to be a big gap - he's drawn sort of all over the place. He also suffers from a chronic case of 'being unlikable' since no matter what happens, some government official has it out for him. Even stalin didn't like him and he was dead for like decades at that point.

BSD Nikolai reflects him pretty well tbh.

[sanaexus]

social's as rin's girlfriend

-liked by itoshi_sae, shiidoryu and 121.1k others

yourusername: rin loving something that isn't football (NOT CLICKBAIT GONE WRONG) 😱😱🙀🙀

tagged: rin.itoshi

rin.itoshi: you're acting as if the only thing that's on my mind is football. ↳yourusername: it legit is though ↳isaichii: that IS the only thing in your mind ↳shiidoryu: balls is like the only thing you can think ab ↳hiyori: why did you phrase it like that ↳shiidoryu: bc i felt silly n cute ↳rin.itoshi: hope yall kys.

julian.loki: wow no credits? i'm heartbrocken y/n 💔🙄😭🤬 ↳yourusername: mb bro ↳julian.loki: yes ur bad, i had to watch yall kissing for like 10 minutes like ???

yourusername: picture credits to the amazing (part-time footballer full time photographer) @/julian.loki ↳megubachi: ah yes being surrounded by sweaty men and balls is my fav passtime ↳hiyori: again what the fuck

rin.itoshi: the picture looks a bit weird, maybe we should redo it but with practice? ↳yourusername: 😮 ↳chigi.who: 😮 ↳isaichii: 😮 ↳nikkoki: 😮 ↳shoei.barou: 😮 ↳itoshi_sae: 😮 ↳yourusername: (im omw btw) ↳rin.itoshi: what?

user1: nO WAY BRO'S PICK UP LINE SUMMONED BAROU AND SAE AND THEY USED EMOJIS LIKE ??? ↳user2: FR LIKE THOSE PEOPLE ARE LEGIT GRANDPAS THEY BARELY EVEN USE INSTAGRAM ↳itoshi_sae: fuck off i'm not a grandpa

-liked by chigi.who, karasu_tabito and 152.4k others

rin.itoshi: fuck y'all

tagged: yourusername

yourusername: rin ily but maybe provide some context to the caption pls ↳rin.itoshi: nah ↳yourusername: NAH I'D WIN ↳rin.itoshi: .. ↳yourusername: ok i'm sorry

shiidoryu: bet, when? ↳yourusername: 🤺back🤺you🤺zesty🤺demon🤺 back 🤺 ↳rin.itoshi: blocked.

user3: wait what is the context to the caption? ↳yourusername: his friends were teasing him ab being a shitty bf and only thinking ab football lol ↳rin.itoshi: they aren't my friends, i'm not a shitty bf and i don't only think ab football ↳yourusername: I NEVER SAID aNYTHING I WAS JS EXPLAINING

isaichii: bro got pissed ↳reo.miikage: are we surprised? ↳nagi.seishiro: no

yourusername: ilysm i'm gonna cry ↳rin.itoshi: if it makes you feel better you look rlly pretty when you cry ↳yourusername: screaming crying throwing up rn

eita.otoya: ofc he tried teaching you football and ofc he mentioned it in the post that was supposed to prove he doesn't only think ab football ↳yourusername: he's js a bit silly like that 😝 ↳yourusername: that football training shi was brutal asf imma stick to js watching ↳rin.itoshi: you barely did anything? ↳yourusername: give me a break

-liked by nikkoki, kuniisuke and 124.9k others

yourusername: leave the poor guy alone, he does a perfectly good job at being a bf <3

tagged: rin.itoshi

isaichii: WHAT THE FUCK IS THE LAST SHIRT? NO WAY THAT'S RIN ↳yourusername: YES WAY THAT'S RIN ↳isaichii: ... ↳yourusername: HE'S A SOFTIE FOR ME 🥺💕

rin.itoshi: was the last picture necessary? ↳yourusername: yes ↳rin.itoshi: i fucking hate you ↳yourusername: awww i love you too

user4: the hand placement in the second picture?? it's so cute?? ↳rin.itoshi: she makes it cute ↳chigi.who: what the fuck.

shiidoryu: us when rin? 🥺🥺 ↳rin.itoshi: out of my girlfriend's comments ↳shiidoryu: you didn't say no to us 😏 ↳rin.itoshi: i'd rather admit isagi is better than me then ever be anywhere near you

rin.itoshi: you're so pretty ↳user4: fr like all u do is kick balls how did you pull her ↳yourusername: you're my fav ball kicker dw ↳rin.itoshi: i ask myself that everyday and ofc i'm your fav ↳yourusername: your brother's a close second ↳rin.itoshi: .. ↳yourusername: OK MB I'M SORRY ↳hiyori: FOR FUCKS SAKE CAN NO ONE PROPERLY DESCRIBE SOCCER OR WHAT. ↳mikka.kaiser: football* ↳kenyu.yukimiya: boy if you don't stafu rn

bye i had to repost bc i needed to edit something still had sm writing this

based on this request

[zestyderg]

Bits of debris flew in all different directions as Aster drilled into the rock surrounding the fossil they were cleaning.

Their hands were admittedly a bit shaky. Sure they did well with cleaning a few fake fossils to near perfection but now they had the real deal, their first true fossil, one they could keep.

The dinaurian carefully continued to clean as KL-33N observed with great curiosity. Aster was laser-focused on the task at hand, and remained silent despite the robot's praises or warnings.

More and more of the fossil revealed itself. First, it was just bits of white peeking out from cracks in its stony prison, not yet recognizable as any part of an extinct animal. Now, the unmistakable shape of a skull was visible, closer to being freed from the golden cliffside the austroraptor dinaurian had dug it out from.

A sharp little crack froze Aster up, pale feathers standing on end as they recoiled. Quickly, they inspected the fossil for obvious signs of damage.

"Careful!" KL-33N called out to them, leaning over to see what exactly Aster had done.

Much to the relief of alien and robot, the fossil seemed just fine. Aster had been whittling away at the area surrounding the dead beast's eyesocket, but no cracks were visible.

After that little scare, Aster went right back to diligently removing rock, occasionally blowing away any stray dust or dirt that proved to be an annoyance.

Before long the fossil had been cleaned entirely, and KL-33N spun around with glee as he congratulated Aster on a job well done.

"100%! A perfect score! Excellent work!"

The cleaning bot then looked over the large skull, long face and wide, toothless beak seemed to be enough info for KL-33N to identify it.

"An Ourano skull!" Before Aster could protest the robot gently scooped up the skull into metal claws and carefully deposited it into the revival machine. Aster trailed him in a worried manner.

The dinaurian watched him press a button on the odd contraption, and gazed with awe as electricity surrounded the skull.

"Commence revival!" KL-33N shouted.

Bright light obscured the fossil, and Aster's look of curious awe only grew as a large, sail-backed creature stood where the skull once was.

"The Ourano revival was successful!"

Aster couldn't help but glance down at their shirt, the valiant being portrayed on it was now standing in front of them. Though the one on the shirt and the one before them looked very similar, Aster's Ourano showed some differences.

The deep blue markings on the shirt Ourano did not match the desaturated purples on the living one, nor was the yellow of the shirt Ourano as vibrant as the newly revived one. The shirt Ourano did not have a body, so Aster couldn't say anything there, but they seemed to share the same bandage-like markings, and when the beast opened its eyes, they were unmistakably the same color as the shirt Ourano: a beautiful bright purple.

The Ourano blinked as it lowered its head to peer at Aster through the glass of the revival machine.

Aster slowly lifted their hand to touch the barrier separating them from the ornithopod.

"Uh... h-hello!" Aster greeted giddily. They hadn't realized just how hard their tail was wagging behind them. "I'm Aster, and... I'm going to be your friend!" They were practically bouncing in place now.

The Ourano trilled through a closed beak, nostrils flaring as it raised a hoof to touch Aster's clawed hand.

Aster eyed the very sharp looking spike protruding from the base of the hoof.

KL-33N tapped a monitor off to the side of the machine. Both vivosaur and dinaurian turned to look at the hovering robot, and Aster noticed a bunch of strange writing on its screen, writing that they could not read.

KL-33N pretended to clear his nonexistent throat before reading off the info to Aster, all of said info pertaining to the Ourano's stats and skills.

As they learned about Ourano's first skill, Fist Jab, Aster spared a glance at the thick hooves and the large spikes they were equipped with. Definitely deadly, they noted.

The vivosaur was surrounded by light again, and Aster wilted when it disappeared entirely. A slot on the machine popped open and KL-33N fished a small medal from it.

"Here you are, Aster," KL-33N began as he handed the medal to them, "Take good care of this vivosaur."

Aster gently ran their fluffy thumb over the striped rim of the medal, the Ourano's appearance engraved in the center, seemingly poised for battle.

Their vivosaur. They... had a vivosaur. They had been unsure about fossil battling, and quite frankly the idea still scared them a bit, but their heart already swelled with total adoration for the dinosaur, and if it, no, he, Aster decided, wanted to partake in fossil battling, would be strengthened by it, then Aster would not deny him that.

As they turned to leave, still staring intently at the dino medal, KL-33N spoke up one last time.

"If you don't mind me asking -BEEP-, do you have a name for your new friend?"

Aster looked over their shoulder at the cleaning bot.

"Yeah," they breathed, surprisingly confident.

"His name is Auron."

[hippolotamus]

🤡😬🎶

Hi there and Thank you for these delightful asks 💖🦛

🤡 What's a line, scene, or exchange you've written that made you laugh?

This took a minute (probably a sign my works need more humor?) but I settled on these moments from all in the Jee-tails:

While Chris and Eddie are distracted, Buck tiptoes to the kitchen, wanting to do a final check that everything is accounted for. He blindly feels around the top of the fridge, confusion building as his fingers touch nothing but air and cool metal.

“What the-” Buck mutters to himself. “I could’ve sworn I left it–”

“Looking for this?”

He turns to see his husband wearing a shit-eating grin and holding Buck’s clipboard and checklist.

“Gotta step up your game, Buckley. This one was way too easy to find,” Eddie teases.

When it comes to clipboards, Buck is well aware of his reputation. No sooner did he move into the Diaz household, both father and son made a game of hiding them. Buck tried to change the rules by stashing them in any nook or cranny he could find. That plan backfired when Eddie and Chris quickly caught on and started seeking out his locations like a treasure hunt.

and

He’s nearly reached them when Chris holds out his wand while Jee raises hers and the pink foam shield. She strikes a fierce pose with her wand pointing out, one hot pink shoe in front of the other, an adorable scowl on her face and crown askew on her head.

“Your highness!” Chris clears his throat, flicking his gaze at Eddie then back to Buck. “We must protect the fair maiden!”

Buck nearly loses his balance as he watches Eddie sigh and curse under his breath — probably something in Spanish he hopes the kids won’t understand — stepping up on a dining room chair situated in the corner.

Eddie folds his arms across his broad chest, meekly calling out in a disturbingly high register Buck has most certainly never heard from his husband before. “Help, help! Somebody, er, save me!”

😬 Which of your fics would you be most horrified for friends, family, or coworkers to stumble upon?

Probably any of the spicy ones. I’m self conscious enough about writing them, and how they’re received. If an IRL person told me they found any of my zesty fics, I’d probably pray for death.

🎶 Do you listen to music while you write? What song have you been playing on loop lately?

I listen to music a whole lot while I write. The only exception is when I’m stuck on dialogue or struggling with describing something. But if I’m flowing, so are the tunes.

What I’m listening to? As far as fic is concerned there’s a steady rotation of always remember us this way - Lady Gaga, shallow - Lady Gaga, mum - Luke Hemmings, and across the sea - the sweeplings. These four pretty well sum up the vibes for you’re where I wanna go.

writer asks

[passionatecatalyst-blog]

sometimes i wonder

sometimes i wonder if the underlying reason that people get together is an attempt to heal childhood wounds.

sometimes i wonder if part of the reason that we ended up together is because he needs someone who will provide him the complete attention that he never got as a child.

sometimes i wonder if we ended up together because i romanticised what we had in the past and that i liked the story of who i was when i was younger and wanted to experience it again.

sometimes i wonder if we ended up together because he reminds of me of my dad in some ways - the calm and stable temperament, the reliable presence, the unconditional love.

i notice the times when we trigger each other - when i'm on my phone and not listening to him, when he perceives me to be telling him what to do, when he tries to nudge me in a certain direction, when i express displeasure in his choices or taste.

today, i was thinking that it feels like by moving to london, i've stepped into his universe and when things aren't going well here, i start to blame him as the reason why, which is completely unfair on my end. i need to take more accountability because what i allow is what will continue. therefore, i must be the one to make the changes.

i wish he had a better community around him, i wish he put energy into finding interesting events to go to, but this is what i chose and this is my life now. and because you can't always get what you want, you need to be the one to make it happen.

i got pretty annoyed by him this week because sometimes, it feels like he can have an overpowering presence with his chattiness and it makes me feel invisible when we are out together. will it always feel this way? or is there something i can do to change it? something to ponder.

walking around the neighborhood to brunch today made me feel excited to explore again. i was feeling so uninspired by life on friday and needed to do something to make me feel alive again. after a night of fun, connecting with new people, and dancing at a quirky and vibrant retro bar in dalston last night, it brought that spark back and re-ignited the flame within. it also made me realize that maybe the best way to make friends is through friends of friends. a win from last night - i exchanged numbers with 3 potential new friends, a spanish girl with a phd who teaches film at the london college of communication and bought a home in crouch hill, an extroverted girl who approached me to tell me how beautiful i was, and an asian-american social worker from texas who's been here for 12 years and left early because she proclaimed to be an old fart now.

i know what i need to do in london in order to stay here long-term. i need to manifest a few things into reality - find my tribe and build a community of open-hearted friends, find a flat with a view and balcony overlooking a canal in a neighborhood with a good vibe, find more experiences that make me feel alive and inspired like live music and other events, and get a higher-paying job, which is totally possible considering that i'm making the same salary as i did over 15 years ago pre-master's. i know money isn't everything, but it does make me feel like i've regressed in one way. how sad is that?

is my quality of life better in sf or in london? a question that remains in the front of my consciousness. i have a much lower salary here, much less disposable income, and a less nice place to live. however, i'm probably healthier physically. emotionally? i'm creating my own suffering by making my happiness dependent on the weather.

today he said that he thinks i wallow too much and it becomes a self-perpetuating cycle. he said that he prefers if i expressed anger rather than sadness because at least anger suggests a zestiness rather than nihilism. i told him that maybe i love sauces so much because marinating can be a form of wallowing.

ideas that came to me today - writing as a creative outlet in which i can share my experiences as an expat in london as well as an experiment in self-therapizing. i will take the tools that i've learned as a mental health practitioner and will attempt to apply them to my own life. let's see how it goes.

a mantra from a book that i read and repeat to myself regularly -

we can do hard things.

[yashkonu]

ON IT BOSS

i haven't detailed the setting the girlies are a part of beyond the broad strokes needed for them to exist, which are:

in a post-earth distant future, people are still trying their damnedest to kick each other's asses

in one such altercation, a woman of impossible skill tilts the odds ferociously in the favor of her faction (this is Sci-Fi The Boss mentioned above)

in so doing, she also escalates the stakes of the war and things get scary in a real hurry. she deserts, and not a soul alive can so much as find her

fearing what will happen without her on their side, her former faction scrambles to recreate her--locating a human of comparable skill is an impossibility, so they pour resources into creating a unit of robots, each specializing in a portion of what she had

they'll be easier to control this way right? right?

:)

now they travel together to find their mom/origin point and maybe find a purpose too

THE GIRLIES:

Optic 1

Weapon: sniper rifle

Role: infiltration & assassination

Personality: serious, quiet, kind of mean, tries very hard not to let people know how she feels

Laugh: more like quiet little breaths than an actual laugh, the sort you'd write out as like "hh, hh"

As a Drink: vodka on the rocks, the kind of extremely smooth vodka that just tastes like water until you're on the floor

Biggest Kink: no kinks just shut up and get me off already (overstimulation/forced orgasms)

Fast Food Order: del taco (NOT fucking taco bell i'll KNOW if you get taco bell)

Sine 2

Weapon: none

Role: foundry

Personality: tidy, polite, prone to overreacting, terrible at estimating her own strength

Laugh: the softest sweetest little giggles that she tries to stifle but never succeeds

As a Drink: remember to stay hydrated everyone ♥ (alternatively: a mimosa that's light on champagne and basically just zesty orange juice)

Biggest Kink: praise (humiliation but you have to be soooooo nice to her after)

Fast Food Order: i could make something if you guys want there's no need to pay for dinner (quizno's tuna melt)

Hound 3

Weapon: light arms

Role: scout & tracker

Personality: vicious, stubborn, a brat and a sadist but loyal as all hell

Laugh: kind of raspy hehh hehh hehh sorts of laughs, gets a bit muttley

As a Drink: almost alarmingly high-quality moonshine (alternatively: jet-black coffee that probably sat in the coffee maker a bit too long)

Biggest Kink: petplay all the way if there's no collar and leash involved it means nothing to her

Fast Food Order: arby's (she doesn't remember anything on the menu when you ask what she wants she will just say "i want the meats")

Riptide 4

Weapon: poison

Role: saboteur & trapper

Personality: disarmingly easy to talk to, impossible to tell what she's actually thinking, VERY cruel when she wants to be

Laugh: either a very reserved little hmhmhm or a more open and kind of maniacal laugh

As a Drink: a martini so pretty you feel like you probably shouldn't drink it

Biggest Kink: intox (challenging when you're a robot) (also she will bite you)

Fast Food Order: judging you a little for asking (wendy's spicy chicken sandwich)

Tact 5

Weapon: cqc (dagger, hand to hand)

Role: ambusher & teleporter

Personality: goblin with a dark sense of humor, loves to tease and/or torment people

Laugh: nihihiiiiii~

As a Drink: mike's hard lemonade (blue raspberry flavor) cut with ultra violet monster energy

Biggest Kink: she will brat and she wants you to respond harshly, big masochist

Fast Food Order: five guys (rattles off a long list of burger toppings too fast for anyone to remember the whole thing)

Rem 6

Weapon: artillery

Role: tactician

Personality: sleeps (runs tactical simulations) whenever she can and tends to lose track of what's real until it's go time, then she's dead serious all business laser focus

Laugh: either just a broad warm smile or soft sleepy chuckling, nothing surprises her

As a Drink: the best old-fashioned you've ever had (alternatively: half a bottle of zzzquil)

Biggest Kink: you might think somnophilia! and you'd be close! but actually it's hypno (she likes to get the thoughts out of her head for a while)

Fast Food Order: jamba juice (what? cmooooon it couuuuunts i just want my razzmatazz)

one of these days i have to do a proper write up about Unit Of Six Robot Girls Who Are Collectively Sci-Fi The Boss but i was looking over my notes and i do have all of the especially important character-defining notes on each of them, those being:

Name

Weapon (where applicable)

Role within whatever group they're a part of

Personality (one sentence max)

What their laugh sounds like

What they would be if they were a drink

#1 Kink

Go-to fast food order

[demetriandelibinaryboyfriends]

“They were expecting to find Miguel Diaz. What they weren’t expecting to find was love.”

Imagining of Season 5 in which Demetri and Eli go on a totally straight and totally heterosexual Dudebro road trip to Mexico to find their best friend. Unfortunately, when you’re trapped in a car with someone for hours on end, you might have to start confronting some feelings you wish weren’t there.

Well, everyone, I caved. I fucking caved. I said so many times that I wasn’t going to write CK fanfiction because GODDAMN if I don’t have too many WIPs in other fandoms, but like. The desire to write a homoerotic road trip fic was just too damn much.

I’ve never tried formally writing these two before, so I have no idea if it’s any good, but GOD did I try lol. Not much plot here, mostly just Vibes, gay tension, and missing and worrying about Best Boy Miguel!!! Also written partly out of spite because I’m just constantly seeing Miguel/Demetri friendship erasure in the fandom and it’s gotten me HEATED, so now I’m writing about Demetri going off to find Miguel in Mexico and internally monologuing about how worried he is and y’all just gonna have to deal with it. Fun fact: Miguel and Demetri love each other, and I will not hear otherwise under any circumstances :D

Also I can’t believe I’ve been in this fandom over a year and it took fucking writing this fic to realize Demetri has an extremely bad case of generalized anxiety disorder D: Like he worries about every all the time and honestly? Same

Uhhhhh CW for mentions of human trafficking, even if it’s done in jest (they’re teenage boys after all, this is the kinda thing teenage boys joke about lol) and some zesty...physical references, but the sauciest thing they do is make out because I’m asexual and do not wish to write smut XD

Fic is under the cut!!! Be warned, it is a 4k word longboi!!!

EDIT: There is now a sequel here as well!!!

***

“I cannot even begin to tell you how unsafe this is.”

“Uh huh. Go on.”

“I’m serious, Eli! We’re parked out in the middle of nowhere in a desert that never ends and the only signs of civilization are those cars going by on the highway at like 90 miles an hour. This is how people get kidnapped. And used for…I don’t know, human trafficking or something.”

Eli rolls over from where he lies next to Demetri on the car roof, scowling at him. “You think the traffickers are going to want you?”

Demetri scoffs, offended at the implication. “I’ll have you know I am a catch! The hottest girl in school thought so for a while.”

Eli breaks into a smirk. “Didn’t Yasmine like…use you as a beard, dude?”

“That’s not—she’s not—she didn’t—look, it doesn’t count if she didn’t know she was lesbian until after we got together!” Demetri splutters, gesturing vaguely as he attempts to arrive at a point.

“Wouldn’t that make it even worse?”

“Still speaks volumes to my suave disposition that she had no issue appearing to be dating me.”

“I’ll never understand it.” Eli turns away, gaze flicking back up to the stars.

“As I was saying.” Demetri stubbornly goes on. Someone has to knock some sense into Eli Moskowitz—access that logical coding brain he knows is in there somewhere. “Just because we’re a little ways off the main road doesn’t mean someone isn’t going to see us parked out in the middle of bumfuck nowhere. They could still come out here, break into the car, and do—well, whatever they want! It’s not like anyone would hear us yelling for help. We should have gotten a motel room.”

Eli snorts. “What, are we throwing hundred dollar bills around like we’re Terry Fucking Silver? It was hard enough mooching enough gas money off my mom. Besides, we know karate. If anyone comes after us, we could take them.”

Demetri rolls his eyes. “Right, my bad. I forgot I’m under the protection of the latest AVT champ.”

“Damn right.”

“I’m holding you to that, by the way. If we get kidnapped, and you can’t fend them off, I’m going to be really mad.”

“Completely understandable.”

A lull passes over the boys. For several moments, there’s no sound but desert wind, the hum of crickets and cicadas, and the sound of distant traffic. They had pulled off onto some dirt service road and driven for a while before they arrived and parked at what Eli decided was “the perfect sleeping spot.”

“I can’t believe you’re not tired,” Eli pipes up. “You’ve been driving like…all day.”

Demetri shrugs, car roof cool against his neck and shoulders. The sweltering daytime heat has long since faded from the metal.

“I don’t know. I guess I didn’t know when I’d get the chance to stargaze again. It’s kind of hard with all the light pollution. I remember we used to try on your trampoline, and whenever we’d get excited about a particularly bright one, it would turn out to be LAX’s newest outgoing flight.”

“Yeah, there’s a lot more going on out here. Might as well enjoy it.”

Demetri scans over the flickering shape of the Milky Way before stealing a glance over at Eli. He can’t help but smile.

His friend’s eyes are filled with a kind of shameless awe and wonder he hasn’t seen in years. Eli has always been drawn to the sky—day, night, or otherwise. Sometimes in elementary school, when they were all out of game ideas, they would spend recess cloud-watching. Eli would get so wrapped up in it that sometimes when the lunch bell rang, Demetri would have to poke him several times to get his attention. How appropriate that his eventual karate nickname would be bird-related.

He’s beautiful when he’s like this. And right now, it’s particularly aggravating.

Unfortunately, Demetri’s admiration has not gone unnoticed. Eli turns and gives him a disparaging look.

“Dude, why are you staring at me?”

Demetri snorts, trying to sound as scornful as possible. “I was not! Don’t flatter yourself. I just haven’t seen you this relaxed in a while.”

Eli shrugs. “I guess so. Kind of peaceful out here. Nice to get away from all the city noise. Too bad Sensei LaRusso isn’t around to make us do katas or some shit.”

Demetri snickers. “Yeah, I’d like to see him try and meditate in downtown Guadalajara. Or wherever the hell he and Sensei Lawrence are now.”

“You think they made it to Guadalajara already?” Eli whistles. “That is generous, Demetri.”

“Is it really that far?”

“A good 900 miles from here. I would know—my eyes still hurt from staring at the map app all damn day.”

Demetri considers for a moment before nodding.

“You’re right. Sensei Lawrence probably broke the GPS. Somehow.”

“Either that, or he and Sensei LaRusso spent more time arguing over what route to take than actually driving.”

The boys break out laughing, the noise of it heavy in the quiet desert night. Hours of tense driving drain out of Demetri’s body all at once, and suddenly he feels so carefree he could be 7 again.

It isn’t all that different from how they used to be. Laughing at the stupidest shit, making fun of everyone whose life was just as much a mess as theirs, being wrapped up in their own little world. All a constant that had always given Demetri some semblance of security…before junior year, anyways.

Now, he can finally have that security back. Eli isn’t going anywhere, especially not in the middle of the Sonoran desert. What would he do, tie a little bindle to a stick and run off to live in a cactus?

As the laughter dies down, Demetri turns his head back to the stars. It’s not hard to see how Eli could get entranced by them. They’re stunning—silver on black, with the white puffs and clouds of the Milky Way blotched out above distant mountains.

A blinking red light and a distant hum indicates air travelers passing through the area. Demetri chuckles, something distant resurfacing.

“Remember when we were like…9, and we came up with that big, elaborate plan about what we would do if aliens invaded?”

“Sure,” Eli says. “You wanted to fight them off with swords. I didn’t have the heart to tell you that would be stupid.”

“Ah, yes.” Demetri hums thoughtfully. “That was during my Lord of the Rings phase. In my defense, I thought it would look really cool to fence with an alien. I still maintain it would be…well, interesting.”

Eli snickers. “Dude. They’d just blast you in half with a laser gun. It wouldn’t even be a fight.”

Demetri can only scoff. “Who says they have laser guns? Maybe they’re not that technologically advanced!”

“But they can pilot spaceships multiple light years to other planets?! Bullshit. You just wanted to be Aragorn.”

“Who doesn’t want to be Aragorn?!”

“Uh, Gandalf is way cooler, man.”

Demetri snorts again. “Oh, so now we’re going to defeat extraterrestrial invaders with ancient wizardry? Which we’ll acquire where?”

“Still more likely than you learning how to wield a sword properly.”

“How dare you! I used to watch so many YouTube tutorials! Anyways, it’s ambitious to claim you’re Gandalf, Eli. I think you’re more of a Gollum, personally. You know, with the corruption arc and the conniving and scheming and all.”

“Oh, you take that back!”

Eli pounces on him, shoving him hard to the side. Demetri bursts out laughing, sides aching as he slides toward the edge of the car roof.

He starts to slip. He barely has a moment to panic before strong hands are grabbing his arm.

There’s an awkward moment as their eyes meet, Eli’s fingers still fastened around Demetri’s wrist. Demetri slowly lets out his breath, heart starting to pound.

Always best to diffuse the situation, Demetri figures.

He takes his free hand and presses the back of it against his forehead. “Oh, my hero! My brave, brave Eli ‘Hawk’ Moskowitz! You saved me!”

He expects Eli to make a snide comment, but his eyes instead flick around the way they always do when he’s nervous. When he’s caught off-guard.

“It was instinct,” he mutters. “I…should’ve let you faceplant in the dirt, actually. That would’ve been funny.”

The beginnings of a smirk returns, and the moment is lost.

“But you didn’t.” Demetri smiles shrewdly. For Eli, actions have always spoken a little louder than words.

Eli groans. “I’m going to shove you off for real if you don’t wipe that shit-eating look off your face, man.”

“Doubt it.”

Demetri rolls his eyes, but he’s laughing as Eli pulls him the rest of the way up. When they lay down on the roof again, they’re a little closer than before.

“You know…” Demetri chuckles softly. “I’m actually kind of glad Sensei Lawrence and Mr. L didn’t let us tag along.”

“Oh yeah? Why’s that?” Eli turns to face him, smirk widening. “You think they would’ve taken a wrong turn and gotten us all lost in Chihuahua?”

Demetri shrugs. “I wouldn’t put it past them. Even Sam couldn’t save them from their own ineptitude.”

“Still can’t believe she persuaded them to let her come,” Eli mumbles.

“Samantha LaRusso is a firecracker. Also probably one of the most stubborn people I know. You’re very lucky I persuaded her to take you off her shitlist.”

“You did?” Eli sounds surprised. “How did that go?”

He shrugs. “Well, she nearly punched me a couple times. But I guess when both your boyfriend and your best dojo buddy vouch for a guy, it helps soften the grudge a bit.”

“I was surprised she went after him, to be honest. I guess I was wrong about her. She’s more loyal than I thought.”

Demetri rolls his eyes. Like Eli has any room to make judgments about romantic loyalty, considering Miguel told Demetri that Eli planned on having “an entire rotation of girls” after he broke up with Moon.

“Well, anyways,” Demetri says. “Not that I’d want to get mixed up in our Senseis’ complete lack of competence, but I mostly just like having you all to myself.”

He reaches out and pokes Eli in the chest, earning a glare.

“That so?” Eli’s glower fades, his tone teasing. “So what are you gonna do when we find El Serpiente and you have to share me again?”

Demetri gasps in mock horror. “Excuse me, bold of you to assume I’m not the one graciously lending out my best friend Miguel Diaz to you. If it weren’t for my impeccable sense of humor, he never would have even sat at our table.”

Eli chuckles. “I remember you looked so frantic when you waved him over. Like ‘oh god, when will anyone else ever want to be our friend?’ If only you knew it would be the greatest mistake of your life.”

Demetri snorts. “Hardly. I’d been waiting for ages to see Kyler get his ass handed to him. Besides, finding another person who actually gives a crap about you after, like, 10 years of most everyone hating you is well worth a karate war or two. Even, yes, if it means I don’t get Eli Moskowitz all to myself on occasion. Honestly…” He laughs, feeling suddenly hollow. “Neither of us deserve that kid.”

“Yeah.”

Eli’s smile begins to slip. Demetri knows the feeling.

It’s the same feeling he got when he went to Miyagi-Do practice and saw Amanda LaRusso hugging a sobbing Carmen Diaz. It’s the same feeling he got when he ran up to Miguel after watching him win the All-Valley, only to be almost immediately brushed aside.

The fear of losing Eli had always been loud and vicious and ruthless. It tore at him in the night and left his body trembling until morning. It sent him running to the bathroom, dry-heaving until his stomach ached. It sunk its claws into him and rooted them there. Punched them down harder when he saw Eli in the hallways with rage and hatred and cruelty in his eyes. It was a constant agony that followed him wherever he went

The fear of losing Miguel was different. Quieter. Like a parasite slowly eating its way through his insides, a small but ever-present ache in his gut. The tiny but profoundly persistent feeling that something was very, very wrong. Brief trembles and a few quick breaths and momentary bouts of nausea that seemed to be the opening act for something much worse. His mind dancing through a thousand “what ifs” and eventually drifting to the worst ones, whirring louder than an overheated laptop as it churned out hypothetical disaster after hypothetical disaster. An eternal gnawing, chipping away at him like he was a gemstone being cut for a ring. It was the storm on the horizon—thunder that made him uneasy, but didn’t scare him. Not yet.

If the fear of losing Eli had been a jump scare, or the gory, lethal slice of a killer’s axe, then the fear of losing Miguel was the slow buildup to a horrifying reveal, accompanied by a disquieting soundtrack. The constant anxiety that every corner had a monster behind it.

And right now, it’s carving a tunnel through him that’s only getting wider and wider. Demetri wonders how long it will be before he’s completely emptied out.

“I don’t think I deserve either of you,” Eli says. “Miguel always tried to be there for me. You never gave up on me. And I just…” He trails off.

Demetri snorts. “Well, only one of us was able to stomach having their back repeatedly stabbed with needles for 10+ hours. Or had the absolute balls of steel to dye their hair bright purple.”

Eli chuckles. “That’s true.”

The pit in Demetri’s stomach doesn’t take long to return.

“I’m worried about him,” he admits. “From what I picked up from Mr. L, his dad’s not a good guy. I can’t stop thinking about something happening to him out there. And especially after…”

Demetri trails off.

He knows Eli knows what he means. The fall that shattered Miguel’s back shattered both of their lives, too.

The shorter boy frowns. “Do you think he’s going to be okay?”

Demetri forces a smile, trying to contain the unease leaking through his veins again. “Come on, Eli. If anyone can handle himself out there, it’s Miguel.”

“Are we going to find him?”

Demetri senses him slipping back into the old Eli, timid and soft-spoken and waiting on his loud-mouthed other half to call the shots. It’s a tell-tale sign, he’s learned over the past few months, that his friend is stressed. Or scared.

Often both.

Demetri reaches out, giving Eli’s shoulder a squeeze. “Yes. I promise.”

Demetri Alexopoulos is not usually one to reassure. He’s always turned his nose up at idealism, dismissing anything that could turn out to be false hope. It’s hardly worth indulging in when there’s a high probability you’ll be let down.

But now…

For both his and Eli’s sakes, he needs Miguel to be all right. He needs Miguel to be safe.

Fucking hell, he needs it so badly it hurts.

He isn’t sure if it will ever be quite as bad as worrying about Eli in Cobra Kai, and whatever fucked up training and battle-conditioning and mind-twisting they did to people in there. Still, worrying about Miguel is the kind of soft torment that could kill Demetri slowly if he let it.

“I miss him,” Eli says.

“Me, too.”

“I’m scared for him, Demetri. I’m scared for him and it’s eating me up.”

Eli’s voice shakes as he says it. His eyes are slowly growing wide with terror, tears brimming in the corners.

It reminds Demetri of the olden days, for better or for worse. When he had to be the strong one. And seeing the past cycle back around unexpectedly shakes him to his core.

For all his complaints about ‘Hawk,’ the persona had given Eli a brazen, fearless streak that filled him with the fire to charge into battle. Protect his friends, crush his enemies. Now, it seemed he’d lost hold of the belief he could do either.

“Eli.” Demetri lets his voice soften as he gives his friend’s shoulder another squeeze. “You won the fucking All-Valley Karate Tournament. I made it to the semi-finals. If we find out anyone’s been messing with Miguel, we can—and will—destroy them. No mercy.”

Eli smiles weakly. It’s small, but it’s something. “Never knew you had such a Cobra side to you.”

“Well, don’t get too excited. It only comes out on special occasions.”

Eli sighs, popping his jaw a little. “It would be easier if we knew what we were up against. Like is this guy a drug lord? Some kind of mafia boss? Does he have like…a Mexican karate gang?”

Demetri chuckles. “I know,” he huffs. “Doesn’t help that I’m pretty sure Mr. El Serpiente has not answered a single text since leaving LA. The least he could do is send a courtesy ‘I’m still alive’ text.”

“Probably worried you’ll track his phone.”

“I mean yes. I would. It’s just practical. But that’s beside the point.”

Eli laughs briefly before his face slips back into a frown. He lets out a small sigh.

“It’s just a lot,” Eli says. “To deal with. Um…emotionally, I guess. That might be weird to say. But I had to tell someone.”

“Perfectly understandable. If it helps at all, this whole thing’s been hard on me, too. I’m honestly surprised I’m holding it together as much as I am.”

Demetri realizes his hand has never left Eli’s shoulder. Almost automatically, he squeezes it again.

Eli needs it tonight.

“I’m going to give Miguel the biggest lecture of his life when we find him,” Demetri mumbles. “Who does he think he is, continuously scaring the living crap out of us like this?!”

Eli gives him a courtesy chuckle, but his smile quickly fades again. A sort of heavy melancholy settles over them, like El Segundo fog under cloudy skies.

“Do you think we’d feel better if we kissed?”

Eli speaks, and the fog abruptly clears to make way for a lightning bolt of pure confusion. Demetri blinks several times, stunned into uncharacteristic silence.

“Wh—Eli, what—uh…”

He’s stuttering, completely lost for halfway articulate words. Eli lets out a frustrated sigh, like he’s explaining some complicated math concept to him for the 15th time.

“I’m just saying. You’re sad about Miguel. I’m sad about Miguel. Maybe if we got each other a little hot and bothered, we could take our minds off it.”

“You…want us to kiss?” Demetri has to actively hold back the enormous grin threatening to explode through his cheeks. “As a distraction?”

“Yeah, y’know.” He can tell Eli is trying to sound nonchalant, but his eyes are glancing anywhere but Demetri’s. “Just forget about our friend for a few minutes and indulge in some primal urges and shit. Get off for a bit. At least something can make us feel good.”

“And you’re confident enough that we’ll both be into it to the point it’ll significantly lift our spirits?”

Demetri feels panic begin to crawl through him. Panic, because he suddenly has to act nonchalant. Relaxed. Like this isn’t everything he’s ever wanted.

He’s had hope a few times, over the years. The sensitive streak. The colored hair. The over-the-top theatrics. The girl Eli was most drawn to turning out not to be straight herself.

But Eli pined over Moon and talked about picking up chicks and loved a good brawl and could yell louder than anyone and got manly tattoos of birds of prey and omens of death. None of these things seemed anything but heterosexual.

Demetri always tried to push it down. The sadness, the longing, the desperation to know what the other boy’s lean form felt like cradled in his. These past few months, Demetri had been so relieved to have Eli’s friendship back that he’d forgotten to yearn for more. He thought maybe the feelings would finally die—he could take a step back and appreciate his relationship with his best friend for what it was.

No such luck.

“Hey, I mean.” Eli scoots closer, and Demetri’s trembling so badly that he wonders if he’s going to fall off the car again. “If it helps at all, you can pretend I’m Yas.”

Demetri makes a face, whatever spell Eli was sending his way abruptly broken. “Eli, ew! What kind of pervert do you think I am that my fantasies involve kissing women who aren’t even attracted to men?”

“A pretty standard pervert, actually.” Eli smirks, and Demetri can only shake his head.

He takes a breath, hoping it doesn’t bleed through how anxious he is.

“So, uh…getting off with another guy is sufficiently badass enough for you?”

Demetri has to make sure this isn’t a joke. That Eli isn’t fucking with him. He doesn’t think he could handle it if he was.

Eli’s smirk only widens. “Is it really gay if we’re out in the middle nowhere, and no one ever sees?”

Demetri shrugs. “Yeah, all right. I’m surprised you’re down for it is all.”

“A man’s got needs. And your mouth works just as well as a chick’s. Now should I start or do you—”

Eli doesn’t finish. Demetri clutches his other shoulder and pulls him forward, slotting their lips together.

Demetri is not at all prepared for how hungry Eli is. He feels a sturdy hand work its way into his hair, yanking him closer. Eli’s other arm wraps around his waist, holding him in place more stubbornly than a roller coaster safety bar.

He slides his arms around Eli’s neck, and the other boy uses it as an excuse to push them together even further. It’s as though if he’s not touching every inch of Demetri’s body, he’ll dissolve away.

Demetri doesn’t mind. He just hopes Eli doesn’t feel his heart hammering against his ribcage. That would be embarrassing.

Demetri remembers Moon telling him about her guilt after kissing Eli at the tournament. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, an impulse driven by sudden pity and jumping on whatever she believed would help him feel better. It did its job well enough. Like a video game power-up, it gave Eli the extra boost he needed to smash his way to a victory. Maybe if pretty girls wanted to kiss him in front of an audience, Eli was still the shit.

Moon told Demetri later that she never felt hollower. It was all for show—a simple gesture done out of love for a friend, but nothing with any real feeling or desire behind it.

This didn’t feel like a pity kiss. This didn’t feel like a “just trying to make each other feel good so we get the extra serotonin” kiss. There’s no one to show off to, no tournament they need to hype each other up to win. And Eli is clutching him too tightly and pressing against him too fiercely for this to be about nothing more than momentary pleasures.

Eli is almost kissing him like he’s been desperately longing for this, too. Almost.

Then again, Demetri knows better than to cling to false hope.

At some point they roll over, Demetri sprawled over the top of Eli like the world’s boniest blanket. They keep going, and Demetri is relatively sure he’s ascended into paradise. The dopamine soaring through him is better than the rush he gets winning a karate match. Or beating a particularly hard level of Crucible Control. Or staying up all night bingeing a new season of Doctor Who.

Sad that this is going to be the peak of his life, though. Only 17 years old, and he’s already had what is undoubtedly the best experience he ever will. It’s all downhill from here.

Demetri finally pulls away, panting and gasping for breath. Eli smiles up at him, and Demetri realizes he doesn’t need the desert sun to feel like he’s melting.

It’s faint, but there’s starlight in Eli’s eyes. A tiny piece of the endless cosmos above.

Demetri wants to cry.

“You’re pretty good.”

Eli’s smile widens as he says it—a beautiful, genuine smile, nothing like the smirks and the leers that he used to wear so well.

“So are you.” Demetri laughs softly. “I’ll give it to you, Eli. This was a good idea.”

“Yeah, obviously. Like I didn’t catch you sneaking glances to check me out the whole car ride.”

“Like you didn’t do the same with me.”

He can’t help himself. He leans down and kisses Eli again.

Apparently, it takes quite a while to get it fully out of their systems. When they’ve finally tired themselves out, Demetri pulls back and lays his head on Eli’s chest.

He feels well-muscled arms, once thinner than twigs, wrap around his torso.

His eyes slide shut, and he focuses only on the sound of the crickets, the feel of Eli’s breaths rising and falling below him. The warmth of Eli against him. The breeze drifting across his arm. The dusty smell on the wind, drizzled with the faint aroma of prickly pear. The twittering of nightjars. Cars catapulting by on the distant Carretera Hermosillo-Nogales. The occasional soft hoot of an owl.

He’s slipping into a lull when a coyote howls eerily in the distance. He lifts his head, turning to look at Eli.

“We should probably head to bed,” he says blearily. “We have to make it all the way to Mazatlán tomorrow.”

Eli groans. “Okay, okay. Get off me.”

Demetri obliges, and Eli sits up and crawls to the edge of the car roof. He tenses his legs and leaps off, disappearing from sight and landing on the dirt with a heavy thump.

When Demetri follows, he finds Eli standing below with his arms spread wide and another shit-eating grin on his face. “I’ll catch you, babe.”

Demetri rolls his eyes more dramatically than he has all night. “Right, let me just throw myself off my princess tower.”

He hurls himself off the car roof. Eli catches him, but not well.

They both land in a shrieking mass in the dirt. Before long, they’re laughing again.

Demetri stands up, offering a hand to his friend. Eli takes it, and Demetri tugs him to his feet.

Eli doesn’t pull his hand away as Demetri leads them back to the car.

Demetri wants it to mean something, his fingers locked around Eli’s. It probably doesn’t. But maybe it does.

He’ll have to hold on to that maybe.

[barleyo]

hey babes, we both share an intense and burning passion for boomhauer, maybe you can write a lil zesty piece about that sexy texas ranger 😏 no pressure, love youuuu ❤️❤️ - atticus ;))

Lone Ranger

Boomhauer X Fem! Reader

A/N: I appreciate requests like this one so much, I was so happy to write this! Two things I’d like to apologize for: firstly, I tried to keep his speech mannerisms as accurate as possible, but it's hard for me to keep authenticity when it obstructs the flow of my writing, and secondly, I’m sorry for how long it took me to finish this! I’ve been gone for so long, so please tell me if my writing skills deteriorated while I was on hiatus. You all deserve my best, and if you don’t think I’ve given it to you, please tell me.

Summary: Alcohol and a bit of friendly competition led to you finding yourself in the arms of a handsome stranger.

The bar’s neon sign lit up your face as you pulled into its parking lot. You got out and walked inside. The scent of liquor and sweet smelling syrup hit you as you walked in, as did the sound of scattered conversation. 

You nod at the bartender and take an empty seat nearby, not noticing the man sitting next to you. 

“Don’t believe I’ve seen you here before,” he said, “I assume you’re not from around here?”

“No, I’m a town over. I thought I’d try something new, but you know how that is,” you said with a sigh.

He hummed in response, slid a menu to you and turned to the other patrons. 

You opened the menu and scanned over it, but nothing stuck out to you. You put it back down on the counter and swerved around in your stool to see the rest of the bar. There was a hallway behind the tables that led to a room with a pool table and large television.

Suddenly you heard a tapping near your spot. Turning back around, you saw a blond man sitting next to you pointing at an item on the menu. 

“It’s good, one of my favorites.”

You nodded and called over the barkeep, taking the man’s suggestion.

“Was it obvious I didn’t know what I wanted?” you asked, jokingly.

“No, don’t you worry, it wasn’t too obvious. You could say I’m just good at reading situations, you know?”

The bartender pushed your drink over to you. You took a sip, and hummed in approval.

“Definitely weren’t fibbing, that is pretty damn good,” you giggled.

“Well, I sure wouldn’t lie to you, girl,” he tossed back his drink and turned to face you more. 

You quickly finished your drink and cleared your throat. Your eyes darted down to his hands, they were well groomed and he didn’t have a ring. 

“So, uh,” you started, “this whole time, I didn’t ask you for your name. Pretty rude of me, sorry about that.”

He shook his head.

“Don’t be sorry. It’s Jeff, but most everybody I know just calls me Boomhauer,” he said.

“In that case, nice to meet you, Boomhauer. Mine’s Y/N.”

A small smile graced his face, and he ordered himself another drink. After finishing it, he stood up and looked at you. 

“They put one of them pool tables right there in the back room, I was wondering if you’d like to join me for a game or two?” he asked while putting his jacket on.

You nodded and grabbed your purse, walking with him to the back. Once you two got there, he picked up one of the the cue sticks and handed it to you.

“You know how to play, or do you reckon my help could get you started?”

“Oh, I’d appreciate some help, it’s been a hot minute since I’ve played,” you mused.

He stood behind you and positioned the stick in your hands, leaning further into you as he helped you hit the ball. The feeling of his chest against your back sent a shiver down your spine. You allowed yourself to lightly push back against him, bringing your bodies closer.

“Whole game, honestly, is just about angles. I’m talking real trigonometry, that’s what it’s made of.”

His arms wrapping around you made you feel like you were melting. You could barely keep up with what he was saying due to the heat growing in between your legs.

“Oh that was a beautiful hit, mhm,” he praised your attempt, “felt like you didn’t even need me.” 

Your mind went back to game when you felt the lack of his presence over you. He took the other stick off of the wall and took his shot, hitting two balls into the pockets. You let out a small cheer for him.

“I’m glad we’re not playing for money, because you would clear my purse out easily with that much skill,” you chuckled loudly.

He shot you a grin and put his stick back up, coming up behind you again to guide your aim.

The game concluded awhile later with Boomhauer as the clear winner. 

“Good on you, sweetheart,” you gave him a small clap with a bright smile painted on your face, “go ahead on outside to wait, winner. I’ll pick up your tab as your prize.”

After paying, you left a tip on the counter for the bartender. He smirked at you and put down the shot glass he was polishing.

“You know, he comes here often. Chats it up with the girls who come by, takes ‘em home and such,” he laughed, “Though, it seems like he really likes you, lady.”

“You think so, huh? Maybe you’re right.”

You walked out and joined Boomhauer outside.

“Do want me to drive you home? I don’t want you to have to call a cab or anything of that nature,” you asked him, wanting to spend more time with him.

“Oh, man, you don’t have to worry about me none, I’ll be just fine.“

“No, really. I insist! Besides, there’s no point in wasting your money on a cab.”

He reluctantly agreed and pulled up the directions to his house. When you pulled out onto the main road, he eyed the radio knob.

“You don’t mind if I put something on, do you?” he asked.

“Oh, for sure, go ahead. The silence was getting to me too.”

He popped on a local jazz station, humming along to the song playing.

The drive wasn’t long, but the tension you felt in the air made it feel like you were in that car with him for hours. 

You soon pulled into his driveway. He grabbed his keys from his coat pocket, and unlocked the door, holding it open for you.

“Wanna come in, at least a little while? Consider it a ‘thank you’ for driving all the way out here.”

You accepted and followed him inside. He went into his kitchen to grab a bottle of wine for you two, while you made yourself comfy on the red, velvety couch in his living room, sitting right beside the arm of it. 

He returned with two full glasses and the bottle, handed you one, and sat next to you. 

You sipped from your glass and sat in the silence for a few minutes before asking him a question.

“Did you,” you paused, “feel the same way I did tonight? The, like, tension?”

“Sure did, but it wasn’t bad tension, yeah? I didn’t think it was,” he said, “I was doing it on purpose, you know. The whole leaning into you thing.”

You giggled and positioned yourself onto his lap slowly grinding on him. 

“I had a feeling you were, dreamboat,” you unbuttoned your shirt and tossed to the side.

You leaned back and planted kisses down his neck. He huffed, running his hands up and down your body. He cupped your boobs and ran his thumbs over your covered nipples.

“Oh, let me get that,” you stopped rocking your hips and took off your bra, “there, go on, baby.”

He bit at your neck while he pinched and rolled your nipples between his fingers, sending waves of pleasure throughout your body. 

He pushed his lips onto yours and continued to let his hands travel your body, finally stopping at your clothed cunt. He slipped his fingers past the band of your panties, rubbing circles on your clit. 

Your legs felt shaky and weak as he pushed two fingers into you, curling them. His palm brushed against your clit after every couple of thrusts. The repetitive ramming of his fingers made your walls ache with pleasure, the lusty expression on your face grew tenfold.

He continued to bite and suck on your throat, enhancing the feeling of his fingers. Going down your neck, he left a trail of small, bruise-like hickies. 

You started to contract around his fingers and a familiar heat made its way to your core. You squeezed your legs to ease the pressure of your orgasm. He pulled his fingers out from your dripping cunt. You whined at the loss of the feeling of being full, he popped them into your mouth to silence you.

“Oh, lord, that’s nice, darlin’, real nice. Clean these off for me, alright?” He leaned you over the side of the coffee table and slid into your entrance.

His hands latched onto your hips and he started slamming your body back and forth on his cock. Your nails dug into the wood of the table as you gripped on for stability. Your lewd whines and moans make him quicken his pace, he now reached all the deep, sensitive places he couldn’t with his fingers.

His chest started to rise and fall, and his groans became deep and sultry. He grabbed onto a chunk of your hair and pulled your head back as he pounded into your pussy. You felt your legs squeeze back together as the warm feeling returned to your stomach. 

“Ah, fuck, I’m close, really close,” you squeaked out between gasps.

Your walls scrunched around his cock as you clutched the table further, leaving scratches on the top. He grunted and pushed himself deep inside of you while he came, his seed slowly leaked out as he pulled out. He pulled you back down onto his lap, ignoring the cum dripping on his legs.

“God, you’re something else girl, I’ll tell you that,” he pulled you in for a final kiss.