#Found it again recently and finally got it working on my computer

[impistry]

Just a random detail from Numskull's refsheet I decided to add as I was working on it (him in his skivvies was already done, I just decided to add an extra detail that'll never really be seen in the comic proper). As a side note, the Tourbox took me a few weeks to get used to (setting it up & using it had a learning curve), but it has been immensely helpful in improving my workflow instead of having to rely on my keyboard for all of the shortcuts.

[imwritingthefout]

A mask of my own face

I love this photo it’s so silly :>

Summary:

reader is worried about ford and his recent... outbursts. they decide to check on him, but find him at the wrong time, or rather, they don't find him, but someone else in his body.

basically: reader gets fucked by bill cipher in ford's body and kinda likes it.

(the title is the song by lemon demon bc it fits)

Warnings: non con elements/ dubious consent, rough smut, p in v sex, some fluff at the end, a little angst but it’s fine in the end

also crossposted on ao3

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

Ford was acting… different. More distant than usual, more…. Off-putting.

He always had a sort of off-kiltered charm in the way he interacted with you, always flipping between being overly confident in himself, and tripping over his own words at the sight of you. Like something in his brain didn’t compute that you were together, that you were his. You got used to this after a few months of dating the researcher, and it evened out for a bit… but now it seems he’s reverted back to his old ways, from before you started dating.

One second he would be holding you tight, saying how much he loved you and wanted you by his side for the rest of his life, but then the next he would push you away to go ‘meditate’ in his lab. He would stay there for hours, only coming up for more coffee. (and strangely enough, to shove forks into his hands when he thought you weren’t looking)

You decided that enough was enough when one evening you realised you hadn't seen him all day. He must've gotten up before you to go to his lab, and hadn’t come up since then.

You went on a search for him all around the house, hoping he wasn't in that god-forsaken lab, but it seems god wasn’t on your side.

When you found him, you saw him sitting hunched over at his desk, writing something down aggressively. You tried to gently touch his shoulder, but the movement caused him to jump so high up from his chair he almost hit the ceiling. You, of course, were startled by the sudden movement and took a step back from him.

He slowly turned to you and his face…. His eyes…. Something about them was wrong. Maybe it was the lack of sleep on his part or your worrying, but you could swear his eyes looked… off. They were slightly different than you remembered, but you decided to brush it off for the time being, more focused on talking some sense into your boyfriend.

“Hey ford? Can i… talk to you?” you said gently, trying not to frighten him again. He shook his head a bit, as if trying to shake off some grub from his face and turned to you with an annoyed look. “Not now, honey . Can’t you see I'm working?” He said the pet name with a mocking voice, as if he was making fun of you for thinking you’re more important than his work.

“I know you are, but you're starting to worry me… when was the last time you ate? Or drank water? Or even went to the bathroom?” you tried to push back the uncomfortable feeling threatening to overtake your words, your voice slightly shaking when you asked him the questions. 

“It doesn’t matter . All that matters is finishing this page” and with that he went back to his desk, sitting down and ignoring you as if you didn’t exist.

Now you were starting to get angry. “What do you mean it doesn’t matter? Your health is important! If you don't take care of yourself then you won’t live to see your progress come to fruition!” you put your hand on his shoulder again, more firmly this time. “I made you dinner. Now you’re going to come with me, eat dinner, drink some water and go to sleep. Do you understand?” you turned him around in his chair to look at you. He seemed to flip through several emotions before deciding on one. You didn't quite know what it was, but he was smiling, so you thought he might have finally come to his senses and decided to take a break.

You were only half right.

“You know what? You’re right, toots. I'll take a break, but only if i can take you too” he brought you onto his lap in one swift, strong motion and put his lips against your neck. The sudden movement made a chill run up your spine. You didn’t know if you were more turned on or worried, but ultimately decided that maybe this’ll help ground him and bring the ford you loved back.

You wrapped your hands around his neck and kissed him passionately. It took a moment for him to register what was happening until he kissed you back, hungrily kissing you and suddenly biting at your tongue. It wasn’t something you were used to, and it definitely surprised you, but it wasn’t unwelcomed.

You pulled away a little and he went back to attacking your neck with his lips and teeth, leaving various marks that made your breath hitch. His calloused hands started exploring your body as if it was his first time, awkwardly angling his fingers to touch every part of you from your ankles to your shoulders, and finally down to your breasts.

“God you’re mine now, aren’t you?” The question confused you, since you’ve been dating for a while now, but you decided to go along with it. Maybe it was a new kink of his “yes i’m all yours” you punctuate your point by gently scraping your nails down his chest and onto the waistband of his pants. He groaned at the feeling of your nails on him, his chest puffing up to meet your touch. You chuckle at his desperation. “So needy… you’ve missed me, haven't you?” you tease him lightly, but it didn’t affect him like it usually does. Instead he seems… unfazed “sure i have” he then picks you up and moves you so you’re lying chest down on his desk, and he’s behind you, pushing your middle down so your ass is up in the air for him.

He stands up and you can hear him opening his belt buckle behind you. He seems to be struggling, so you try to turn to him and help him, but he only pushes you down more. “Stupid.. Human… clothes… ugh” you hear him mumbling, but you can’t say anything when you suddenly feel his cold hands under your shirt, feeling you up. You moan under his touch, then hiss as he pinches your waist in an unpleasant way. 

“Hey-ah!” you try to scold him, but are interrupted by the feeling of cold air hitting your sensitive area. Ford has pulled down your pants and underwear, and is now angleing himself behind you. You moan as you feel him push himself against you, his chest flat against your back. It takes him a second to push himself inside you, but when he does, he fills you up immediately. 

You groan at the sharp pain mixed with the pleasure of having him inside you after so long without him. Before you register what's happening, he starts thrusting into you wildly, with no rhythm or consistency. You try your best not to moan, but it's hard when you feel him pushing into you in such a harsh way. 

He holds your hips firmly, trying to stop your squirming. “Come on- ah~ do the thing” you hear him grunting behind you. It feels so good, but the statement still confuses you through the fog of pleasure. What does he mean by ‘the thing’? Your train of thought is stopped when his hand travels to your throat, choking you a little. The sudden feeling of lightheadedness makes you even hornier. This doesn’t feel like something ford would do, but damn it turns you on.

His thrusts start to even out, he doesn't slow down but now they have more of a rhythm. With each one the desk starts to creak under you. It’s straight up animalistic the way he pounds into you, holding onto you like you’re his toy, only used for his pleasure. You feel him twitching inside you, getting close to his release. You clench around him the way you know he likes, and suddenly he cums inside of you. You feel the pleasure inside you come to a peak as he continues to thrust at the same pace, even though he just came. 

The pleasure quickly turns into overstimulation as he continues at his rough pace, not letting you go until he finishes inside you again. Your moans turn into screams as you can't even form a coherent thought. At this point you almost reach a second orgasm, but when he suddenly pulls out at you, you’re forced to come down from your high. You whine at the loss and turn around to see him with his hands up in shock, looking down at you guiltily. 

“What's wrong ford?” you look up at him with lustful eyes, wanting him to continue. 

“I.. uh- nothing is wrong! I'm sorry!” What is he apologising for? “It’s alright, but can you please continue?” now you were frustrated, hoping he would get the hint and continue fucking you. 

“Ye-yeah sure.. Of curse” he gently put his hands on your hips, almost hesitating before feeling you up. He gently runs his hand down your stomach and lands on your thigh, stabilising you before slowly entering you. You moan at the sudden change in him. “What has gotten into you- ah!” you moan as he softly circles your clit with his fingers while he starts thrusting into you. You put your hands around his neck and he buries his head in your chest. You hear him mumbling something but you can’t understand it. 

He starts pushing in and out of you gently, and the stark contrast from just a second ago makes you confused. What is with him today? You try to dwell on it, but when he starts kissing your chest, fondling your breast with his mouth, your thought process is cut short. 

Thanks to his expert fingers on your clit and his even thrusting, you go over the edge. You moan his name as you pull him up to kiss him. It all feels like too much as he stops moving, focusing on kissing you. He pulls out shortly after, taking his time now.

“Does this mean you’re gonna take a break? I think dinner is getting cold” you say softly, kissing his cheek.

“What? Oh yeah- yeah- of course honey” when he says the pet name this time, it feels genuine, like it just rolls off his tongue naturally. You look at him, and find his familiar eyes looking back into yours- slightly confused but loving and caring. This is your ford. The one you fell in love with.

You try to pull yourself off the desk but your legs start wobbling, so ford takes you by the waist and guides you up the stairs. “I’m sorry” he apologises once again, but you reach up to stroke his cheek “it’s alright, i kind of… liked it”

You see a flicker of something dangerous in his eye before it switches to looking terrified, then concerned. “Well.. I'm glad you liked it, but I don't know what came over me. I’m still sorry if i hurt you, my dear” you thought he might be hiding something from you, but that was a discussion for another day. For now, you got your old ford back, and that’s all that matters.

“It’s.. alright. Just give me a warning next time. Jeez” you laugh a little, and you see he starts to relax against you. 

“Yeah.. i’ll try” he seems to be lost in thought, but as you enter the kitchen and he sees the dinner you made him, he suddenly loses his train of thought and looks at you like you just brought him the moon. 

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you so much! I'm starving!” he picks you up and kisses you, slightly wincing as he feels his muscles tense up after not being in use for who knows how long. He lets go of you and you both go to eat. You’ll have to talk to him sometime soon about your worries, but you stop yourself when you see the look he gives you; full of love and adoration, like you’re the sun to his earth. You decide to confront him another day. You wouldn’t want to ruin a perfect dinner, would you?

[scam-alerts]

Hey, could you do a post on the spacers.exe scam on discord please? I got hacked from it and a friend then got hacked by my account and it super sucks!

🔎Scam Exam(ination)🔍

Seen as: Free game / Try my game Scam Type: Malware / Password Stealer

Platform: Discord

Note: This post will contain a collection of data from across the internet, mainly reddit where people have figured out how this malware works and what it does at its core. I will do my best to explain to you what's going on behind the scenes.

Here's a video talking about this same type of scam by NTTS:

If you'd like my take on it, click read more and let's continue!

-----

1 - How it starts

The way this scam works is by a friend of yours, or someone in the same server as you, falling for this scam and downloading then opening the malicious file that their friend had sent to them. In a very long line of things, it's a chain reaction of them hijacking and using the stolen account to then scam someone else. And if you're not quick enough, it can and will steal everything on your computer/phone.

Not everyone on the internet is scam savvy, but that's what guides like these are meant to help with. :)

Here are two images taken from reddit on what it looks like when you're contacted by the hijacked account:

Immediate red flags:

I'm a developer. Try my game. Can you test my game?

Other reported red flags to look out for:

I need you to beta test my game. Download my game and try it for 4-5 minutes then write a review. Here's a free key/password for the game go to this link. I'm working on a project and need someone to try my game. I'll give you free items/vip if you try my game. Try this new mobile game <link> ** and I'll give you items. I'll pay you $ via PayPal or give you Nitro if you try it.

What it boils down to, is that for this scam to work, they need you to download the file they send you, or a file that's uploaded via a link to a file sharing website, and then you have to open the file.

Do not do this, obviously.

Do not accept any suspicious .exe or .jar files from your friends or fellow server members if you do not know what might be inside it.

** Sometimes they will send you an APK file or a link to the google play store for a mobile game, and sadly this too, is malware, and it will steal your passwords. Again, do not download it.

2 - The Malware/Virus

If you were someone who downloaded a file like this and then opened it, you have now infected your computer, and... unfortunately, all of your Passwords, addresses, Crypto info, and credit card information, have now been compromised.

Nothing is safe with this Malware.

A more in depth explanation of spacers.exe can be found here as well as how to remove spacers.exe:

Here's a second NTTS video explaining how the inner workings of this can work from the scammers point of view:

3 - The Goal

The goal of this malware, as noted above, is not just to steal your passwords, credit card info, but also your discord account.

There are people who will pay for this malware (it is being sold for others to use, which sucks) so that they can take over your discord accounts if you have certain badges or names.

If a scummy individual running this scam wants something they don't have that you do, they will try to take it from you.

Do be warned that if you fall for this, you may also receive threatening emails to have your personal information leaked if you don't pay a ransom/money amount after you got infected.

This is a scare tactic.

This was noted in this post from Dec 3rd 2024:

-----

Final Thoughts: All I can say is.. common sense should be a big factor here. Internet safety 101 and all that. You shouldn't be clicking links to anything or anyone saying something's 'free' or with the offer of you getting some reward from it. Nor should you go believing or downloading things from your friends if they start acting weird or weirder than normal.

Pro tip: If you get a message on steam or discord by someone asking you to 'visit this website' to 'vote for my friend in <thing>' that too is a scam and it will steal your login information.

If you're like me and your best friend on the internet is someone you've known online for 18 years, having him suddenly say 'I'm a developer try my game' would be a big indicator to me that his account was compromised.

If you can, try to make sure you're connected with your friends through other outlets like tumblr or bluesky. Or even through e-mail (as old as that seems lol.)

That way if something goes wrong, they can at least let you know about it.

[thestarfishface]

Hello my friends I have been tired and stressed bc of work and moving and my computer exploding, and therefore have not drawn for funsies in a few weeks. I am attempting to remedy this. Behold: Thursday game doodles.

Context:

Pic 1: Parallels between Verity's old and current party, now that the squad is all together! Mira and Barbfin, Ani and Darius, Veil and Willow, and then Verity and Rodin being Awkward off to the side

Pic 2: Soooooo Verity and Rodin had a bit of a fight in the most recent session, that may or may not have ended with Verity literally destroying his paladin's oath with a hammer.

He's been a vengeance paladin since she died, and swore to kill the BBEG (who was responsible for her death and fucked over the old party and did a bunch of other Bad Shit), and in a recent session lured him (and his entire army) out so he could, and I quote, "Hit him in the face with a hammer".

Verity was v frustrated by this, saying it was reckless and stupid to put his life (and everyone else's) in danger by trying to lure him out with no kind of escape plan or backup (R: "I have my own armies and diplomatic connections and my entire spy network!" V: "Cool, WHERE WERE THEY TODAY???"), and he said he's been following the plan he "carved into stone" 150 years ago when he first took his vengeance oath. Conveniently, said stone was hanging on the wall of the room they were arguing in.

Verity says that plans can change, stone can be broken, and that just bc something is "carved into stone" doesn't mean it has to be permanent- especially since they have the entire old party back now and they have more hope now than they ever did. However, Rodin is stubborn that he's not going to change his entire game plan just bc there's slightly more hope than there was a few months ago- we found out during the same session he's only got a few months left to live, and if he's going to die he's going to take out the BBEG and fulfill his revenge as his final act.

Verity, though, is adamant that, with the combined help of both the old party and her new friends, they can make him young again and get a "second chance" at the adventures they wanted as kids- and grabs one of his blacksmithing hammers. She threatens to break the oath stone, but is hesitant at first bc it's obviously important to him. And then he says:

"Go on, break it then. Or admit that I'm right."

So she uses the hammer and divine smite on the giant slab of granite, carved with both his vengeance paladin oath and his plan to take out the BBEG, shatters it, and says he needs to "write his love on his heart and let THAT be the thing that drives him forward, not some stupid stone".

So Verity is now an oathbreaker but not in the way you'd expect lol.

Expect more doodles on this topic bc it was ONE HELL OF A SCENE and I am very sad we don't stream our Thursday game bc I would commit so many crimes to have a recording of it ;-;

Bonus:

[heavens-crown]

And The Were Neighbors PT.3

A/N: There is a brief description of prior domestic violence, it is not graphic details but is talked about

Warnings: Angst, mention of DV, minor wound care

Master list

prev / next

“It’s a date.”

When the door to his apartment shut behind him Robby had to lean against it for support. He couldn’t remember the last time he had spent time with a woman like that, especially one who just seemed to get him. Groaning, he scrubbed his hands over his face. He needed to get it together, he was acting like a horny teenager. Spending half the night trying to fight off an erection had not been in his horoscope for the day he was sure. 

“Get it together,” He muttered to himself. Stalking into the kitchen he grabbed a protein bar and sat heavily on his couch. Apparently peace was too much for him to ask for because the moment he sat down his mind assaulted him with image after image of Delilah. Before his mind could continue to perverse everything his new found friend did his phone began ringing. Grateful for the distraction he grabbed it from the coffee table and answered it. 

“Where the fuck do we get the physical patient sheets?” It was Jack, Robby’s coworker and begrudged best friend. 

“Well hello to you too. I’m doing great thanks for asking.” Robby chuckled hearing Jack’s annoyed huff. “Check in the filing cabinet near my desk. They should be in there if not I got no idea.” 

“All the computers decided now was the best time to just shut down and not work and shit is just crazy here,” Robby could hear him shuffling through papers while he grumbled under his breath. “Found them, thanks brother.” With that Jack hung up. 

Robby shook his head in amusement, he was used to Jack being rather prickly so the attitude didn’t bother him much. Now that it was silent again in his apartment Robby’s mind began to wander again and this time he didn’t stop it. Christ he was a dirty old man, he had no business wondering how soft her skin was. Or how she’d look spread out underneath him while he worked his way down her body. As his mind continued to wander a thought struck him, making him grab his phone. She had mentioned her art blog where she advertised her work, she had even given him the name of it in passing since it was apparently a joke of some kind. 

It didn’t take him long to find it, and when he did he felt a flush work its way up his neck. The profile picture was her alright and when he began scrolling through the posts he damn near threw his phone. The first post that popped up was an art piece she recently finished, tentacles held a woman who looked eerily like Delilah in the air. The woman's legs were spread open and even though it was blurred he could tell the tentacles were in between her thighs, while another one was shoved down her throat. Fucking christ, Robby thought as he continued to scroll through the posts. She hadn’t been kidding when she had warned him about how graphic they could get. One post in particular caught his attention. In the description was a link to a secondary blog that was apparently for all her explicit work. Before he could stop himself he had clicked the link. 

A full hour had gone by the time Robby had finally found the willpower to put his phone down. Apparently the second blog was more of her personal art along with random things she wanted to post at will. When it wasn’t monsters and women it was one particular character drawn in various scenarios. His first look through the blog he had failed to notice the captions and tags on each post but when he went back through his breath had hitched.

-I just want to be someone's toy. Is that too much to ask for?

That caption had been with another drawing of the character she seemed to favor bent over a couch. A fist was bunched in her hair pulling her head back while the other hand gripped her hip holding her in place. Robby’s gut had twisted when he’d seen the caption and he had to stop himself from picturing him and Delilah in that pose. He groaned when he felt his dick throb and laid his head back against the couch. He was a grown man and he should have better self control. A minute passed with no signs of his hard on going away before he groaned and shoved his hand down his pants. Hopefully Delilah never found out that her neighbor was jerking himself off to thoughts of her. 

Delilah busied herself with finishing up a makeshift breakfast while trying to ignore just how horny she was. After Robby had left she had tried to sleep and when she failed at that she had tried to masturbate since that usually helped her sleep. Spoiler: it hadn’t worked. Even using her favorite vibrator hadn’t done jack besides make her over stimulated. So she wasn’t in the best of moods but at least she had cinnamon rolls and fruit to look forward to. Her phone dinged, pulling her attention away from the fruit she was chopping. Before she knew it she had sliced her finger instead of the cantaloupe.

“Fuck!” She yelped. Dropping the knife she grabbed a tea towel and wrapped it around her finger. Tears welled in her eyes as the wound throbbed. Her morning was looking like a real shit show, a few tears rolled down her face as she attempted to survey the damage done to her finger. Before she could there was a knock at the door. With a sniffle and attempt at wiping her Delilah made her way to the door, opening it to Robby standing there. He was all smiles until he saw the tears and her clutching the towel to her hand. 

“Jesus are you ok? What happened?” Robby pushed himself into her apartment gently cradling her hand. He peeled back the tea towel as she explained what had happened. Delilah sniffled as more tears gathered in her eyes. She knew she was crying from more than just the cut, everything was threatening to overwhelm her. 

“I’m sorry for crying so much,” She muttered as he continued to survey the damage. Frowning at her he pressed the towel back to her hand. 

“Why are you apologizing? You’re hurt it’s natural to cry when you get hurt,” He brushed some of her hair out of her face. “Sit on the couch, I'm going to grab my first aid kit. Thankfully you don’t need stitches.” Before she could argue with him he was herding her to the couch and only left once she had sat down. When he returned he sat on her coffee table directly in front of her. His legs bracketed hers as he grabbed supplies out of it. Once he had what he needed pulled on a pair of gloves before gently pulling her hands towards him.

“I’m gonna clean around the cut just to get some of this blood off. Once that's done I'm gonna put these butterfly bandages on it ok?” When she nodded her consent he started cleaning off her hand. “I’m going to use this mild antiseptic solution, it’s gonna sting a bit.” When it did begin stinging Delilah winced.

“Shit you weren’t kidding,” more tears gathered as she tried to not flinch away from him.

“I know I'm sorry just hold still a moment longer,” Robby said as he finished up cleaning the wound. When she took in a shaky breath he gave her a warm smile. “That’s it good girl, take in nice deep breaths for me.” Delilah prayed to whatever higher being there was that he didn’t notice her squeeze her thighs together at his ‘good girl’ comment. Jesus she was a wreck, she shouldn’t be lusting after her neighbor while he bandaged her up. 

“I’m sorry again for crying,” She said softly. “I think it was just sort of a straw that broke the camel's back. Things haven’t  been great up to me moving here.” Robby finished applying the bandages to her finger. He didn’t let go of her hand as he studied her face. 

“If you want to talk about it you can. I’m a really good listener," he offered. His thumb was rubbing soothing circles on the back of her hand while his other hand gently cupped her wrist on her non injured hand. She hesitated for the briefest moment, but seeing the sincerity in his eyes and the way he didn’t push her to share anything made her crack. 

“I have this ex, we met when I was 19 and he was 29. My parents had just died and I was an emotional wreck. He made me feel important and showered me with gifts, it's why when he suddenly criticized anything I did or got in my face during an argument I didn't immediately see what was happening,” Delilah paused, taking a shaky breath. “When I was 21 he started hitting me. It just escalated from there until two years ago he threatened to kill me if I left him. My friend Cherry managed to convince me that he’d kill me even if I stayed so I packed a bag with anything important and I left.” 

“Delilah,” Robby started. 

“You don’t have to say I'm sorry or anything, I know people tend to feel a little uncomfortable at first when I talk about this stuff.” Another deep breath and she felt less shaken. “After I left I bounced around alot, never staying anywhere for long. It was only a year ago that I reactivated my blogs so I could go back to art commissions. Then about 3 months ago my grandma called saying that she was going into a nursing home here in Pittsburgh and she wanted me to be close by. So i decided fuck it, and moved here.” 

They sat in silence for a moment, Robby seemed lost for words and Delilah was just staring down at her hands still held in his. The timer on the oven dinged startling both of them. Laughing a bit Delilah pulled her hands out of his grip and went to stand. 

“That’s the cinnamon rolls, let me go get them before they burn,” she went to stand but Robby stopped her.

“I’ll get them you sit and rest,” He said. “Doctors orders.” Winking at her he got up and made his way into the kitchen. Delilah turned so she could watch him in the Kitchen. He moved around easily, pulling the tray of cinnamon rolls out of the oven and placing them on the stove to cool. He also put the bloodied knife and cutting board in the sink and washed them off. 

“I got the icing ready for the cinnamon rolls. So in a few minutes I can come in there and we can ice them up,” Delilah said, enjoying watching him move about. Robby shot her a mark glare, his fits on his hips. 

“What part of the doctor's orders do you not understand?” He scolded playfully. Making his way back to the couch he dropped down next to her and sighed as if she were a troublesome child. “Am I going to have to tie you to this couch to get you to sit still?” 

Oh my god, Delilah thought. Logically she knew he didn't mean it that way, but her brain still kicked into overdrive at the images that statement produced. He was smirking at her, as if thinking she wouldn’t clap back. Before she could stop herself she found herself talking. 

“My safewords ‘banana’ if you really want to play that game.”

Seeing the satisfied smirk on Delilah’s face damn near made his control snap. It took Robby a moment to get his thoughts together since he honestly hadn’t meant to threaten to tie her down, nor was he expecting her to say that. 

“Cat got your tongue?” She teases. Sitting back with a triumphant look on her face Robby makes a split decision. 

“Keep it up little girl, and i’ll put you over my knee,” it’s not a threat but a promise. He watches as her pupils dilate just slightly and a flush works its way up her face. It’s at that moment Robby has a lightbulb realization. She’s just as attracted to him, and fuck if that doesn’t make some of his self control start to fray. He’s leaning toward her about to say something completely inappropriate when all of a sudden his phone is blaring. Frowning he pulls it out of his pocket and he feels his stomach drop when he sees the message flashing across the screen. 

[MCI Alert: Pittsburgh PA - Train derailment]

[k1tty-me0w]

pairing | haechan x camgirl!reader

warnings | masturbation, stalking, chloroform, kidnapping, noncon, slightly religious themes, slight smut

sum | seeing you through a computer screen wasn’t enough for him..he needed you in the flesh

haechan whined as he thrusted up into his fist. if it was really you he would’ve came bye now. But it wasn’t you, wasn’t the tight cunt you flaunted for hundreds on screen. He hated that other people got to see you this way, sprawled out on your soft sheets with a toy shoved between your legs.

it was ridiculous, he could do so much better. Hell, you were made for him. God told him so. Crafted just for his pleasure, just for his eyes, only his. Haechan felt himself finally climax onto his hand…what a waste, to cum on or in anything that wasn’t you. You ended the live. Fuck. He didn’t get to say goodbye, or that he loved you. He forgot. “Fuck!” he yelped, standing so abruptly it shook his desk. That was his final straw.

yes, haechan knew where you lived. It wasn’t too hard to find, using your camgirl account and all. A small, off campus, apartment. Cute. The fake package he held in his hand was laughable. Quite literally an Amazon box thrown back together with tape and hot glue. delivery guy, that’s what he was, the friendly ol’ delivery guy. Third floor. End of the hall.

His palms were sweating. Bad. He could see it on the flimsy cardboard. He was seriously going to touch you. Fuck you. Keep you. All in due time. honestly, even with the excitement haechan found himself nervous when he made it to your welcome mat. Welcome. That was nice, it made him feel a lot better. His hand shook as he knocked on the door. what if you didn’t even answer the door?

god must’ve listened to his thoughts, the door opening slowly. he felt his heart pounding. “Hello,” you muttered softly. Delivery guys didn’t usually knock. You didn’t order anything recently. Weird. “well..this is yours,” haechan awkwardly shifted on his feet before holding out the package. You let out a small ‘thank you’ before moving to take it. He would miss the opportunity if he didn’t act now..should he? No. Yes? Fine. Haechan shoved his way in, slamming the door with a pathetic sorry.

You yelped, stumbling back until the back of your thigh hit the corner of your coffee table. “I have to do this. It’s my duty. You need me. I need you,” haechan rambled to himself as he set the box down and focused back on you. You were even prettier in person, his jeans were the tightest they’d ever been. One more push and you were draped onto the couch. Hands holding a cloth to your face for a few moments till you were passed out. Haechan sighed, wiping sweat from his forehead. He wished you wouldn’t have pleaded so much, he almost felt bad. but this was important, he had to do this.

he stripped you of your clothes, putting them in a hamper for you. It was the nice thing to do. He could hardly contain himself, the sight before him. It was real, so real, he felt his underwear go damp just from looking at you. He stripped himself of his own pants, there was no time for prep or foreplay. He’d do that another day though, love you harder than you’d ever been loved before. Right now, he had to fuck you harder. So pretty and unconscious, yet you sucked him in with such a purpose. “My angel. Oh my…fuck..I love you. I love you. I love you,”

haechan’s moans, whines, and pussy-drunk rambling filled your small apartment. constellations of hickeys covered your body. his hands were bruised into your hips in addition. He had to have reached his peak five times. When your eyes would flutter open a bit, he’d have to shush you and put the cloth back. Again, all in due time before he could show you real love. Haechan landed a soft kiss on your forehead before pulling out, to his despair. “You’re coming home, angel. Where you belong,” he whispered softly.

tying her up was quick work. He packed all her favorite things, then scooped her up in his arms. Time to go home. A lovely mattress in his attic, sheets your favorite color and rope to match.

[mosneakers]

I was recently sent a WCIF for Erwin's crooked/disheveled version of the pasta strainer hat. Now that I have computer access again (still working on fixing my game though!) and because the aliens took it from Erwin anyway, I'm finally able to share it with you all It's nothing fancy, but it did the trick for my story 😊

Should be base game compatible, but what are you doing with this hat if you don't have Strangerville?

Found in the left bracelet category

Disabled for Random

Free

sorry for not having more preview shots, I'm working with what I've got here!

Let me know if you encounter any issues

Download [sfs]

Check out/catch up on the story here, we've got some big things going down 👀

[sunrisecaminus]

Can you do an Airachnid x (human) fem! reader (this silly little human is enamored by this giant spider alien robot that could potentially kill her)

Message - This is adorable, but so funny! I enjoyed making this one and that is saying something, because I thought I didn't like this spider lady. Probably because of what happened to Arcee, but I guess I can just ignore the red flags. I might be a small fan of the spider lady now :3

Airachnid x Arachnologist Reader SFW

Summary - Airachnid finally feels something, but she never expected it to be for a creature like this human they kidnapped.

Warnings - Spiders?

Being kidnapped was not great, but boy did it give you some fascinating things to look at. Being known as a boring insect scientist in the City of Jasper, not much goes on except you going around and writing in your journal on what spiders you come across. One of the more common spiders you studies in Nevada was the wolf spider, as it was everywhere around the desert. You found one of the more rare spiders that live in Jasper, a Western Desert Tarantula to be exact, when you found the Decepticon fighting. All your friends tell you not to go too far in the middle of no where, but you couldn't help it when the cool spiders don't want to be near humans!

It wasn't too fun on the alien ship, though sometimes insects get inside and they need your help to catch them. Knockout hates spiders to his very core and doesn't want them near his tools so when he can find one, he calls you. Soundwave understands your fascinations and helped you meet Airachnid when she was talking to Megatron. That was when the ship got interesting. Megatron has never seen a human get so interested in one of his soldiers so much that he had to force her on long missions so you wouldn't ask her fifty questions about her culture. Airachnid was being cocky at first about it, she knows how hot she was and thinks you are looking at her because how sexy she was. She figures out that you were mostly just interested in her beast form and what she likes to eat and that made her very confused yet intrigued by your presence. You have explained to her how you studied spiders back on earth and how cool it was to see an alien look and act just like the ones they use to study. Airachnid lets you sketch her sometimes when she is bored and has grown a bit attached to you as a friend from all the things you both do together.

You were recently emailed about a new spider species that came out and so you were very busy writing in your journal, going on skype calls with other scientists to help theorize with each other while watching the very few videos you have with the small arachnid. You close your computer and continue to work on your journal, when you feel a giant claw snatch you up from behind. "Oh!" You yelp from the sudden touch and look to see Airachnid holding you in front of her face. "Hi Airachnid! You doing ok?" The smile you gave her while relaxing in her grip made her a bit annoyed. She has been trying to scare you for a week now and hasn't stopped. She knew you were only scared because you thought it was Starscream. "Y/n I don't like your tone. At least try to act scared." She huffs and puts you down back where you were. "My bad, hold on." You clear your throat and start to scream, but Airachnid glared at you and put a finger against your lips to shut up. "Never mind!" Both of you giggle from the little fun interaction as the ship lands for maintenance. "Alright, I need to go for a few days, I will see you when I get back." Airachnid steps away, but than feels your tiny body cling onto her foot. "Wait! What if I came with you? I can set up a tent near your ship and be able to go on my own adventures again!" She thinks about it, this would be risky if she said yes. First of all, Megatron specifically wants to keep you here so you wouldn't run off. Second, there would be Autobots and Decepticons walking around, who knows who could find you and try to take you away from her. She has taken you as a cute pet, and no one would want to know what would happen if they accidentally took one of her favorite little toys. "Mmmmmmm alright fine, but if you hear anybody around, you go hide on the ship or somewhere tight ok?"

…

It has been 48 hours since you guys landed in a good area to scout and relax. You have been doing nothing but sketch and follow Airachnid around like a good human. She watches you catch and release so many spiders that she gets curious on what kind of spider she would be seen as. Would she just be seen to humans as an alien spider or would they put her down to being a specific spider? Humans were very interesting to her, but she never wanted to tell you something that has been bugging her. Sense day one, she planned on killing you and displaying your head as a trophy like she does with the rest of the other species. She tries to make excuses with herself on why she hasn't killed you yet, but the excuses were dumb. She tells herself "Megatron would kill me", but Airachnid has killed people before when Megatron tells her not to, she doesn't care about his word. How about the excuse "Humans aren't really an extinct species, it would be a waste to kill them.". but that one was dumb as well when she tried to kill Jack that one time. Everything was crumbling down around her in her head, she hated caring about you. Yes, Airachnid always will think Cybertronians are a superior species; Nothing will change her arrogant views on seeing humans as a pet species…but she did still look at you like you were like the rest of the humans. When she tries to ask herself why, her processor just goes blank. It has been eating inside her for so long, though she would never end the suffering by killing you.

When she comes back to camp, Airachnid sees you with a jar. You were sketching a red crab spider and was taking down notes on what it was doing before you caught it. You had your bug hat one that protected you from flies getting in your face while also wearing a nice summer j/c (jacket color) jacket on. You always wore that jacket, but she never knew why it was so important to you. Airachnid looked closure at it, as the jacket looked a bit different and could see tiny white stitching all over it. She realizes you made the jacket have cool spiderweb patterns all over it, having the back of the jacket have a Decepticon symbol made of said webbing patterns. She wondered sometimes why you would stay up for hours at night on the ship. "You part of the Decepticons now?" Her voice made you turn toward her and look at your jacket. "Uh well, Megatron kept saying to either die or be useful, so I put the symbol on me to show him I joined. I gave papers to Shockwave and he was going to call me about whether I can join the science team or not. I can't fight like you guys can, so I might as well be useful in other areas." She knew this was one of Megatron's tactics for a lot of his soldiers. He has killed so many people who rather have died than join so anybody who cared for their lives just was forced to work under his ruling. Airachnid felt a bit guilty, but shook it off before it showed. "Well the design looks cool on you."

After a while of her writing a report about her findings, Airachnid finally had an opportunity to ask. She leaned down to your small body and watched you sketch for a while before she spoke. "What spider am I to humans?" You looked away from your drawing again to look at her in the eyes. "Well most would say a Black Widow, but you could also be good chunk of others. Grand Canyon Tarantula, Wall Jumping Spider, White-tailed spider, and so many more could look like you. Thin black spiders are one of the common types they express, so you could just name a spider and it would be you." You smiled as you finish, but Airachnid huffs and turned away. "Well, I want to be my own spider." You giggled from her little annoyance and put your hand on her digit. "Well than, I here by officially title you the Decoragnus Araneae. A new species of spider!" Airachnid feels your soft hand and turned to your small frame, confused by the scientific name. She never got use to you saying such gibberish to her and never learned how to translate the big words. "What does that mean?" You giggle from her confusion and blush a bit. "It means 'Beautiful Big Spider'. You are now your own species and can be put in my journal with the rest of the rare special spiders." She was taken aback by your answer and gets bit hot. Why is she heating up? She knows she is a hot mech! Airachnid doesn't like feeling this way, but it was a good feeling. She was so excited to know she was beautiful in your eyes. No, she shouldn't, you were nothing to her!

She covered her face to pretend to face palm in disappointment, but in reality Airachnid didn't want you to see her face. You were nothing, but sweet. You never flirted with her, never said anything cruel, and now just looked at her like any normal friend. Now she can't kill you for sure, she could never harm such an innocent soul like yours. "That was so stupid." Airachnid tells you, but she would be lying if she said she wasn't having feelings right now.

[messylxve]

burned hearts | aaron hotchner x reader

part three

content warning : psychotic break, gun, gunshots, injured reader, hospital/ER setting, sad love confessions, happy endings ( I love happy endings)

pt 1 pt 2

If the silence before was sickening, you didn’t even know how to describe it now. You spared him no words as you got out the car and made your way to your apartment.

Aaron only took that as a sign to follow a far distance behind.

Your apartment felt so fitting. It was an amalgamation of everything that reminded him of you and Aaron couldn’t help but feel a sense of belonging in being there.

“I was forced to let go of three officers in the past year,” you uttered as you sat in front of your computer, typing away.

“Two moved away, one was let go for failure of a psych eval.”

Hotch frowned at that one. Placing a hand on the back of your chair, he leaned in close to get a good look at the screen.

“Pull up what you have on him.”

Your glance shifted over to him through your peripheral. He was close, his cheek nearly brushing against yours as his eyes stayed trained on the screen.

Catching yourself, you cleared your throat. “You’re breathing down my neck.”

Quicker than ever, Aaron backed away, clearing his throat as well.

You frowned, your attention now fully on him. “Martin Johnson, described as a family man, always talked about them in work when given the chance. But…”

Aaron looked over at you. “But?”

“They all recently passed. Car accident. Johnson was the only survivor.”

“How many people in his family?”

Your frowned deepened as the dot began to connect in your mind. “Four. His wife…two daughters…and a son.”

“Matches our victims.”

You looked up at Aaron. “He’s recreating his own family.”

Aaron fell silent in agreement. "Do you have an address?"

You nodded your head wordlessly. "Printing off his information now."

"Good, we need to get this back to the rest of my team as soon as possible."

He left your side as you waited by the printer and found himself lingering by the door to your office. His eyes trailed around the room, taking it in again. On a small side table, he saw a collection of pictures in frames of your family.

His face remained stoic, but he could feel the ghost of a smile creeping on his face seeing the pictures of you so happy.

However as his eyes dusted over each one, they snagged on something else: a slip of paper. It looked worn and old. Crumpled, folded, and possibly even cried on, multiple times over.

He would have passed it up had it not been for the pretty handwriting marking it.

'Aaron,' it read.

Instinctively, he grasped it. He held it with so much care, so much cautiousness as if it was to crumble in his hands.

He moved to open it, but it left his hands so quickly, snatched away by you.

"Don't touch my things," you grumbled, storming past him. "C'mon I have the information, we need to get back."

How could things have gone so wrong so quickly?

It was barely even half an hour ago that Aaron Hotchner decided to unturn the memories of a night you didn't ever want to touch again.

It seemed so major in those moments, but now, staring down the barrel of an unsub's gun, you found yourself rethinking every single decision you've ever made.

"Johnson." Your voice wavered as you released your gun from the holster, holding it in the air to show you meant no harm. "You don't want to do this."

"Don't tell me what I want!" His eyes were crazed and rimmed red. They shot all over the place, at the officers, the guns. At Aaron.

The fear clouding Aaron’s eyes squeezed at your heart. No one else could see it, but you did. You always did.

Finally, Martin looked back at you.

"All of you! Abandoned me! When I needed it most!"

"Johnson," an officer barked. "Back away fro—,"

"Get away," Martin screamed, stepping even closer to you, the gun pointed at the bridge of your nose. "Or I will shoot."

"No one is going to shoot, Martin," your words came out in a single breath. Despite the way your hands trembled so furiously, your voice never wavered. "I promise you, just put the gun down."

You saw the hesitation in his stance now. "My family was hurt," he cried. "No one helped me. I put them back together and no one helped me. And now! Now you just want to tear them away from me!"

"Martin."

Your eyes fell away from the man at the sound of a new voice. His voice.

"You didn't get the help you needed before, but we can help your family now. We can't do anything unless you put the gun down."

Everything slowed down in your eyes. You watched as Martin lowered the gun. No longer aimed between your eyes, you slowly let your arms fall to your side. Your attention fell to Aaron and you found a semblance of peace in the center of chaos.

It was calming.

You didn’t realize how much you yearned for that specific kind of peace. That kind of peace that only came from him.

But as quickly as that peace came, it washed away.

You saw the anger in Smith when he first heard the news of his pregnant wife's disappearance. You saw the anger in his eyes when you released him from the case. You saw the anger that burned away at his face when you threatened to withhold his gun.

Yet you never did. You should have taken it. Maybe that would have saved you.

You didn't know where or who the gunshots came from, but you know one of them hit you. You didn't know if you'd live or die, but you knew that between the stress of this case, the resurfaced emotions brought up from seeing Aaron again, and the impact of the gun, your body gave in.

The last thing you saw before it all went black was Aaron.

What a beautiful sight it was.

Aaron stayed by your side the entire time. He never left until he was absolutely forced to. Even then, he couldn’t find it in himself to be very far.

“How’s it looking,” Derek asked Rossi once he finally arrived to the hospital.

“l/n will be okay. Bullet only came in through the shoulder, so it’s a quick recovery.”

Morgan crossed his arms, leaning on the wall next to Rossi. “And Hotch?”

“What about him?”

Derek looked at the man further down the hall. His hands was clasped into each other and his knee bounced repeatedly as he recited unheard words to himself over and over.

“You’re kidding right?”

Rossi spared the man another glance, letting out a deep sigh. “I think he’ll be okay.”

“Are you Aaron Hotchner?”

Hotch doesn’t think he’s ever moved so fast, but he was on his feet quicker than he could even process his actions. “I- yes—that’s. That’s me.”

The nurse smiled softly. “She’s asking for you.”

Rossi could help but let out a chuckle watching Aaron hesitate before opening the door.

No words could sum up what Aaron felt. He supposed fear would be an appropriate word, but it wasn’t all fear. He felt as if an accumulation of all of his life choices waited behind that door.

In a way, it was.

With a final anxious breath, he pushed the door open.

On the other side, there he saw you. You looked oddly uncomfortable. You squirmed in your hospital bed and chewed on your fingernails as you waited for him. And when you saw him, you sat up straight and cleared your throat awkwardly, almost presenting yourself to him.

It reminded Aaron so much of when he first met you. That authoritative Chief of police personality had faded away into this. Something so vulnerable and fragile.

“Aaron…hi.” Your voice was so soft now.

“Hi.” His sigh died upon his lips when he saw you. “Can I…,” he motioned for the chair next to you.

“You don’t have to ask to sit Aaron.” You couldn’t help but breathe out a laugh, but that smile faded just as quick as it came, pain shooting up your arm.

“Don’t hurt yourself trying to make me laugh.”

You watched him as he pulled a chair up to your bed. You couldn’t help but notice the way your hand twitched, almost as if he was holding himself back from grasping your own. Well the one that wasn’t tied back by a sling.

The two of you sat in silence, the both waiting of the other to say something.

You invited him in with hope the words would magically come to you, but you felt the seconds tick by and all you did was get lost in his eyes.

His eyes were brown, but to you it never felt like just brown. It was that gentle shade that for a major portion of your life, you felt so much solace in.

Painfully, your eyes broke away from his saddening ones.

“I…I don’t know how to do this.”

You didn’t see it, but you could practically feel the way Aaron’s eyebrows dipped down in confusion.

“Do what?”

“This,” you tossed your free hand up in exasperation and glared at the fabric of your blanket. “I—, I had so many things I wanted to tell you, I need to tell you but…I don’t even know which words to start with.”

You didn’t know what to expect from him. Some part of him expected you to walk away like you did him, but instead, you found his warm grasp engulfing your own.

He held your hand with such a gentle hold, you couldn’t help but squeeze it to ensure it was really there. Your eyes moved up slowly, meeting his with hesitance and when you finally met his devastating browns, your heart broke for the thousandth time that day.

“I think you already know the words you need to say.”

He didn’t have to say its name for you to know what he was talking about. You bit the inside of your cheek and nodded to bag where your clothes would be.

Wordlessly, Aaron let his hand abandon yours to stand. You watched him sift through your things until he pulled out that infamous piece of notebook paper from your abandoned pant pocket.

He moved at an unbearable pace back to you, gave the note a once over, and passed the paper to you.

Back in your hands, you had this great urge to burn it, or throw it, or drown it away so you’d never have to face it. But you knew that it wouldn’t matter anyways.

“You know,” you breathed out. “You’d laugh but I think I’ve read this so many times, I think I memorized it. I-,” your voice cracked, tears found themselves fight their way to the surface. “I don’t think I even need this.” You waved the note in the air before letting it slap down onto your leg.

“I’m not forcing you to read this,” he reassured, placing a tentative hand on your knee. “You don’t owe me anything.”

“Yes, I do.” Your words came quick. You weren’t sure about much anymore but you were sure about this at the very least. “You deserve an explanation for why I left. Why I really left.”

You didn’t open the note. You didn’t even touch it. Instead, you found a sense of fleeting comfort in staring into the empty space between Aaron and the door.

“Aaron,” you recited. “I feel like I need to preface this by telling you that I don’t expect some grand response out of this. I don’t expect you to feel obligated in reciprocating my feelings and I certainly don’t expect you to feel the need to choose anything.

I’m telling you this because I consider you my best friend and I believe, best friends do not and should not lie to each other. I can’t live with this weighing on me anymore and that is why I’m telling you this.

I…love you Aaron Hotchner.

I love you in a way a best friend shouldn’t love a best friend. And it hurts.”

You didn’t even notice the tears now streaming down your cheeks until a sob broke free from your breath. Your unopened letter laid free on your lap now as you moved to wipe your tears.

“It hurts so much, but I need you to know this because last night was a mistake. Not because I hated every moment of it, I didn’t.

It was a mistake because I’ve been lying to you. It was a mistake because I, as a best friend was supposed to help you grieve your breakup with Haley. Not throw myself at you in a moment of vulnerability.

I’m telling you this in hopes of moving past this because in the end, if I were to do something stupid, something I truly regret, I fear that I’d lose you and that…that would probably break me beyond repair.”

Through your own tears, you realized you had managed to successfully avoid Aaron’s eyes for the entirety of your monologue.

“How ironic of me,” you attempted to laugh off when the silence was just too much to bear.

“You’re doing it again,” Aaron noted.

You stopped yourself, looking down and then back at him. “I know.”

You watched as he process everything he heard. He blinked once. Then twice. Let out a breath of air and let his brows sink barely half an inch lower. “Do you know what I’ve always admired about you?”

This caught your attention.

“What?”

“You’ve always been so selfless. You worried so much about the happiness of others and it shined through in your best moments.”

It was now your turn to shake your head in confusion. “I don’t un—,”

“Please. Let me finish.”

“Sorry…”

You felt his hand leave your knee and find your hand once more. “But, it’s also always been your downfall. You’re so selfless, you forget to put yourself first. It always killed me to see you do it but I never said anything about it because I was young and stupid…”

You moved to disagree with that but he shot you a knowing look.

“I know things now that I wish I had half a brain to fathom then.”

He took your hand and joined it with his other do that now your hand fully disappeared into his own. “More than half of those things are how I feel about you. Us”

Your brows dipped down in vulnerability. “Us?”

“Yes. Us. I don’t know where we stand nor do I know where we go from here, but I know I’d rather figure it out with you in my life than acting like I never knew you at all. Because I love you.”

A final tear fell upon your smiling lips. “You love me?”

“Always.”

taglist: @mackannkees @gghostwriter @person-005

A/N: This is my first criminal minds fic so PLEASE leave criticism, I wanna know how I can improve

[floralpascal]

Taking Care of You

Summary: You've been stressed out and working like crazy lately. John finally has enough and devises a plan to take care of you and make you forget all about your work.

Pairing: John Price x f!reader (no use of y/n)

Word Count: 2.9k

Rating: Explicit (18+ only, minors do not interact)

Warnings: stressed reader, kissing, fingering, oral sex (f receiving), unprotected p-in-v sex (you know the drill, wrap it y'all), orgasm denial, praise

A/N: This one goes out to all my stressed and busy babes out there! This is 100% self indulgent since I've been working day and night recently. We all need us some Price to take that stress away

You knew that you had been distant for a while. Work had been piling up on you, responsibilities pressing in from all sides. It seemed like all you did was work, work, work these days. 

Your husband, John Price, was as supportive as he always was. He, of all people, understood that sometimes you just had to put your head down and get work done. When he was home with you, he always made sure that you ate and stayed hydrated. He limited your caffeine intake. He made sure you took breaks. In all, he was the most supportive, understanding man on the planet. 

…which was why his reaction now was so surprising. 

You saw him approach the makeshift office that you had set up at your kitchen table from over your laptop screen. In a soft, even voice he ordered, “Close the computer, love.”

Continuing to type, you spared him a questioning glance as you shook your head. “I just took a break like… an hour ago.”

“Three,” he corrected. “It’s almost eleven at night.”

You whipped your head up to look at the clock that hung on the wall behind him. Sure enough, he was right. Dread spread through you, your brain already kicking into crisis mode. “Shit. God, I’ve got to get this done.”

“It’ll be there tomorrow,” he countered. “You’ve been workin’ like mad all weekend long. I’m not gonna let you run yourself into the ground. So. Shut. The. Laptop.”

He stressed each word, and suddenly you felt what it must’ve been like to have John as a Captain, calm but commanding. Your eyes met his, your mouth open to fight him on the matter, but you found him ready for it, a testing eyebrow raised. It was rare that he would ever tell you what to do, but it always came when he was worried about you and trying to take care of you. Any time you had gotten a significant injury, he had made sure that you stuck to every word of the doctor’s orders. 

You huffed and leaned back, already sensing defeat. Instead, you tried to plead with him, “John, I won’t be able to sleep unless I get this done. I’ll just keep thinking about it.”

He put one hand on the table, leaned toward you, and pushed the laptop closed with the other hand. With his face barely a breath from yours and his eyes darkening, he rumbled, “I can fix that.”

Your body reacted to his sultry insinuation immediately, your heart rate jumping in an instant. You couldn’t help but drop your gaze to his lips for a moment before meeting his eyes again. “And how’s that?”

“I’ll make it so that you can barely even think anymore. I’ll wear you out so much you’ll fall asleep without even a thought about this,” he said, tapping the closed lid of your laptop. 

At times like this, you hated how easy it was for him to get you riled up. He knew exactly how to play you, exactly how to make his gravelly voice even more enticing, exactly what to say to get you squirming in your seat for him like you were now. 

You pressed your lips together, thinking for a moment. You couldn’t pretend that you didn’t want this. You were so tired of all the work and John knew exactly how to play you. But if he was going to have some fun, then so were you. With a provocative flit to your voice, you challenged, “Then prove it, Captain.”

For a moment, all he did was let a sultry smile pull at his lips. Then he was on you, his hands guiding you up from your chair and his lips finding yours. It was all fire and passion, but yet not too rushed. No, John never rushed this early. He loved to work you up slowly and leave you begging for him to just touch you already. He followed that playbook now, walking you backwards to press you up against the wall, his hand guarding your head from hitting it. 

As he tilted your head to give his lips access to your neck, he rasped against your burning skin, “Never too stressed to tease me, are you?”

Your breath hitched as he found the sensitive part of your neck, your hands clawing at his back and tangling in his short hair. After a moment, he moved back up to kiss you, his tongue dancing with yours for a long while. 

Eventually, his hands on your hips guided you to walk with him towards your shared bedroom. You took turns pulling at the other’s clothes, leaving a trail haphazardly in your wake. By the time you both passed through the doorway, John was only in his boxers and you in your plain black bra and panties. As he laid you back onto the bed, he eyed you as hungrily as he did when you wore lingerie for him. 

“D’ya know how fuckin’ sexy you are, love?” His hands pressed against your stomach before roaming up, up, up as slowly as possible. Your eyes fluttered shut as he ghosted his hands over your bra, arching shamelessly into his touch. Still drinking the sight of you in, he rasped, “Gotta take care of you. Gotta make sure I get rid of all that stress, all those worries.”

“John…” you whined, already needy and falling for his plan. One side of his mustache raised in a smile, clearly understanding that he already had you right how he wanted you. “Just touch me, please.”

John chuckled, giving your breasts a quick squeeze before placing a kiss just over your heart. “I am touchin’ you, baby.”

“Fuck, John, you know what I mean.”

He pressed the faintest of kisses up your chest and to your neck. Against the skin of your neck, he teased, “Maybe I don’t. Tell me. Use your words, love.”

Despite his insistence, he gave you no time to answer. Instead, his lips found the sensitive column of your neck, the touch no longer feather-light like it had been before. Now, he kissed and nipped with a passion that had you gasping beneath him. 

“Hhm? I didn’t catch that. Gotta speak up,” he mumbled next to your ear, the heavy timber of it sending shivers down your spine. But you could feel the curve of his lips against your soft skin, his beard prickling you as he did. 

“Don’t be a tease,” you grumbled halfheartedly. Even now, though, you couldn’t resist him. Giving in, you begged, “God, just fuck me, John.”

He made a sound of appreciation, deep and reverberating, the kind you could feel in your own chest. Leaning up over you, his icy blue eyes came to meet yours. “Now, was that really that hard?”

You rolled your eyes, suppressing your own smile as you grabbed his neck and leaned up to give him a bruising kiss. Returning the heat immediately, he dropped the act for a moment. Lips moving in tandem with yours, urgency lacing every movement, you felt him get lost in it. Surely enough, as he adjusted over top of you, you felt his hard-on graze your lower stomach. You chased him, hooking a leg over his hip to roll your hips against him. He groaned into your mouth, eyes squeezed shut. 

“So impatient today,” John chided. He pulled away and sat up, his hands coming to unhook and discard your bra on the floor. As he went to do the same with your underwear, you breathed a sigh of relief thinking that the torture of his teasing was finally over. 

Settling between your thighs, a man in heaven, he brought his mouth close to where you needed him. However, at the last second, his breath dusting your sensitive skin, he turned and brought his lips to the inside of your thigh instead. He still couldn’t hide his smile when you groaned in frustration. 

You were in for a hell of a ride. When he got in a teasing mood like this, there was no stopping him. 

Beard and mustache picking deliciously against you, he kissed up one thigh. Then, when he almost reached your center again, your breath hitching, he switched to the other thigh. There were some days when he did this that it felt like heaven — days when you were already losing yourself to the feel of him before he even got going. While you tried to conjure up that more present, more patient version of yourself, it didn’t seem possible now. You needed him so badly it ached. 

When your fingers found their way into his hair and gave him a light tug in the direction you needed him, he finally let you have your way. He hooked your legs over his shoulders, a small chuckle shaking the broad plane of his back. As he lowered his head, his hooded eyes meeting yours, he purred, “If tha’s really what you want, love. Have it your way.”

With that, he finally brought his tongue to you. Ever so slowly, he licked into you, drawing a gasp from your chest. Sliding his hands up from your hips to hold the sides of your stomach, his tongue made a twin journey up to your clit. He flicked his tongue a few times, slowly testing you.

Though it was all too slow for your liking, he steadily built up the pace. The scrape of his beard. The flick of his tongue. The reverb of his moan as you tugged on his strands. It was a delicious cycle, speeding up each time through. 

You let your head tip back into the pillow as you finally felt that tension in your stomach — a coil winding tighter and tighter. Your breath was ragged now, your legs already bracing around John’s head. 

“Yes,” you panted, eyes squeezed shut. “Just like that. I’m so- I’m so clo-”

Right as you were about to crest that hill, John pulled away all at once. Your orgasm dissipated like a wave against the beach — there one moment and gone the next. 

You whipped your head up to look at him, disbelief and righteous fury in your eyes. You were met only with a hungry, conniving smirk from the infuriatingly sexy man between your thighs. In this moment, even with his beard and the signs of age on his face, he didn’t seem a day older than the first time you had seen this smirk. The John Price that smirked in triumph at you now was the same as the John Price who had done it for the first time nearly a decade earlier. Had you not just had euphoria ripped away from you, you probably would’ve been more sentimental about this revelation. 

“Jonathan Price, I swear to god-”

You were cut off by another one of his chuckles. He licked his lips slowly, making sure you watched as he tasted you. “Still too stressed, love. Don’t think you’re ready yet.”

“You teasing asshole,” you huffed, but the edge was lost to it. 

It only made him smirk even more. “Fine,” he acquiesced, leaning back down. “Let’s try this again.”

At the same time that his mouth found your clit again, one of his hands traveled down to slip a finger into your dripping entrance. A small moan escaped you at the new sensation. As he started to build you back up again, his mouth and finger moving in tandem, you couldn’t help but forget his past transgressions. All that mattered now was the buildup leading to the big drop, the wonder that John could work between your thighs. 

Suddenly, he slipped a second finger into you, drawing a surprised whine from your lips. “Ohh… oh, fuck…”

He groaned in approval, the vibrations of his mouth against you only upping the unbearable pleasure. 

You were there again, so close to the edge that you could practically see it. Your body tensed in anticipation of the drop like a rollercoaster. It was just-

John pulled away again, shattering the buildup to your orgasm for the second time.

You let out a pained hybrid of a groan and a whine. Now, rather than annoyance coursing its way through you, all you had was desperation. “Fuck! John, please!”

“Hmmm, there we go,” he mused. “Now we’re gettin’ somewhere.”

“Please let me come, baby,” you pleaded. “I need it so bad.”

Pushing himself up, your heart sunk at the thought that he might keep teasing you and leave you hanging. Though he was never, ever one to leave you wanting, you were too far out of it to think straight anymore. All you knew was that you needed him and he was holding that just out of reach. 

Instead, he climbed up to lean over you. With a gentle hand, he cradled your jaw, making you look at him. Your slick glistened on his chin and beard. His pupils were blown wide, the icy blue of them nearly lost to it. With how much self control he had, his eyes and the tent in his boxers were the only indications that he was as affected by this as you were. 

“D’ya think you’re ready for me, beautiful? Think you can take me?”

You nodded immediately, still breathless. “Need you so bad, baby. Please. I can take it.”

He searched your eyes for a moment before nodding. “That’s my girl.”

Finally, he stripped off his boxers, revealing his red, leaking cock. You couldn’t stop the small whine you made at the sight, your need for him overriding any coherent thought.

John pushed into you in one swift stroke, drawing your nails to scrape across his back. The stretch was delicious, tearing you apart and soothing the insatiable ache in your core at the same time.

“Feel so fuckin’ perfect. So fuckin’ perfect for me,” he praised. If the feeling of him seated inside you wasn’t already enough to set you ablaze, his praise was. It always was. 

His arms came to rest by either side of your head as he leaned down and stole a heated kiss from your lips. Then, he drew himself slowly out of you before sharply driving back into you again. Your body shook with the force of it, forcing you to break from his lips as you let out the most lewd moan of the night. 

But, of course, that was just the beginning. John continued like that, fucking you harder with every quick snap of his hips until the only sound in your bedroom was the slap of skin on skin and both of your grunts and moans of pleasure.

“This what you needed, baby?” John asked, voice gravelly and breathy. “You needed to get fucked this good?”

Your voice caught in your throat, a strangled sound coming out in place of an affirmation.

He sped up his pace, his cock hitting so deep within you that you had to squeeze your eyes shut. He groaned, “My good girl. Always workin’ so bloody hard. You deserve this — deserve to just let me take care of you.”

Your pussy clenched around him at his praise, drawing groans from you both. You clawed at his back, searching for some sort of tether in the tidal wave of pleasure you were trapped in now. For the third time tonight, you could see the salvation of your orgasm on the horizon. Having been denied it so many times, its immensity and force was almost alarming. 

Though you were too lost in John to think clearly, you were able to gasp out one plea. “Don’t stop! Baby, don’t- don’t stop!”

Rhythm growing sloppy, John assured, “Not gonna stop this time. Been so fuckin’ good for me. Come for me, love.”

That’s all it took to have you falling apart on his cock, the tension in your stomach snapping in an overwhelming flood of euphoria. Breath catching in your chest as you rode out the high, John continued to fuck you through it, murmuring deep praises all the while. 

Just as you were coming back down to earth, your body finally feeling like it was yours again, John was nearing his high. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” He groaned, head lowered by your ear. With a few more sloppy thrusts, he was burying himself to the hilt in you, his warm cum coating your walls. You gasped at the feeling as he ground his hips into yours a little.

Still propped on his arms, he sagged down over you, his breath ragged like yours. You dragged a hand up from his shoulder blade and into his hair, letting your fingers card through the soft strands as John came back to you and pulled out. Then, he lifted up enough to meet your gaze again. He took you in for a moment before leaning down and giving you one last heated kiss. 

The two of you clearly spent, he leaned his forehead against yours after he broke away. He brought a large, calloused hand to brush against your cheek. 

“You’re so bloody gorgeous,” he mused. “I love you.”

You smiled, leaning into his touch. “I love you.”

“Feelin’ better?”

“So much better,” you answered. The stress and pressure you had felt for days was gone now, replaced only with the feeling of John. For the first time in a long time, you truly felt relaxed. 

“I told you I could fix it,” he said triumphantly, wiggling an eyebrow at you.

After taking a moment to clean you both up, John crawled back into bed and shifted to spoon you from behind. With his strong arm over your stomach and your legs intertwined, you let him envelop you. As sleep slowly pulled you under, the only thought on your mind was him.

[sen-ya]

Life After Info Post

[Click here to access the Life After Digital Comic Book]

Summary: Two years ago, a viral outbreak rose the dead. Considering how his life had gone up to this point, surgeon Trafalgar Law figured this might as well happen too. When a supply run into the nearby city gets intercepted by a seemingly reckless and impulsive former patient, the dependable routine Law had settled into in this new life shatters. He finds himself exposed — his body out in the infected landscape, his conscious clawing to define what he believes is right, his heart begrudgingly deciding to find a new home on his sleeve. Maybe there’s more than a virus roaming the new world that can bring a dead man back to life.

Content Warnings: Canon typical violence, zombies/body horror (but lbr I am not good at making scary things look scary)

Relationships: Luffy x Law

Update Schedule: New page every Monday/Wednesday/Friday

Page Count: [37 posted | 55 drawn]

Latest Update: [7/21/24] WOWEE did I get myself carried away this morning. I just spent 5 hours organizing my comics and creating the digital comic book pages. I could have spent that time drawing or idk not doing what I do for my job, but I cannot be stopped. Anyway I blocked out 30 pages of this comic last week and they include the most intense action sequence I've ever done in my gotdang life. Wish me luck because I am nervous about tying down all my drawings lmao.

OLD UPDATES:

[6/29/24] HULLO! I'm doing so bad at keeping my masterposts updated lately I am sorry. All pages of life after are tagged life after if you're ever looking between masterpost updates! Also exciting update, I finally have figured out all the different plot points i'm gonna be hitting (yay!). I got hung up on something for awhile that made me not wanna work on this project, but I'm back at it. I think we'll end up with 6-7 parts! I have probably another 80-100 pages to draw lol. Also i got the app Magic Poser and it's AWESOME and I immediately used it to block out sets cuz MAN I hate backgrounds.

[6/10/24] HELLO. I'm sorry I've been shit at updating my masterposts lately. It's easiest to do from my computer, which I rarely use, and life has been happening. I also can't believe I bungled the queue and posted pg19 before pg18 i am very sorry 🤦 Eventually I'll have to turn this into an airtable base I'm sure, but until that day comes where I have like 100 pages of this comic we're stickin to the regular post lmao

[5/26/23] I got real caught up in doing summer of lawlu comics this week and this is the first week since the first week of April I haven't drawn new Life After pages and it feels weird 🙊

[5/19/24] More Luffy backstory comin' this week! :^)

[5/12/24] Updating now so get myself on schedule to update on Sundays like I had been with my other comic master post!

[5/8/24] Thank you to everyone who's liked/reblogged/comment on the first few pages!! It means the world to me that anyone's reading my silly little comics.

[4/28/24] HULLO. It’s happeninnng. I’ve spent the last few weeks working on this comic, and I gotta make this post so I can start queuing pages & link this in them! This is the most like….legit? Comic endeavor I’ve undertaken perhaps….ever. I’m very nervous about committing to how long it will need to be lol. This story is dear to my heart — zombie content is kind of my very favorite. I’ve always found it to be a great backdrop for exploring themes like grief, coping with change, community, and learning to live again. It’ll be a long haul but I hope you’ll ride it out with me!! Tomorrow I’ll be posting the first two pages. After that a page will post every Monday/Wednesday/Friday. As of this post I’ve completed over 20 pages so that I have a good lead on what’s posting and continuing to write, so I’m hopeful that’s a cadence I’ll be able to maintain. I’ll update this post weekly to include the most recent pages the way I do with my main comics master post. All pages will be tagged 'Life After' and I'll tag any pages with zombies in them with 'zombie' for blacklisting etc.

[wowbright]

Anderson’s Guide to the Birds of North America, Chapter 1: Lover Boy

Summary: Fourteen scenes from the lives of Blaine Anderson, grad student and avid birder, and Kurt Hummel, clothing designer and Vogue writer, from before their first meeting in the spring of 2020 through falling in love.

Note: Back during the COVID lockdowns I wrote a couple hundred words of Klaine lockdown meet-cute. I thought I would write more, but I guess I didn't feel like writing about the COVID lockdown during the COVID lockdown, so I never did and I never posted the tiny bit I had written. Thanks to Klaine Valentine’s Challenge 2025, I’m finally doing the thing! I'm trying to keep each chapter to around 500 words. Thanks @spaceorphan!

AO3

~~~

Chapter 1: Lover Boy

Blaine was going to go insane.

He knew he should be grateful. He had it better than a lot of other people. He didn't have to worry about where his next paycheck was coming from, because he didn't get a paycheck, because he was an idiot who had, for some reason, decided his fascination with birds was enough to carry him through another five years of school at minimum after completing college. More to the point, he received monthly distributions from a trust fund his grandparents had set up for him in their wills, and though it didn't make him filthy rich, it gave him enough to live on without having to worry about finances.

But he never would have moved in with Cooper if he’d known they'd be locked up together for weeks (or would it be months?) on end. He loved his brother, but his brother was a lot. At least they had separate bedrooms, plus Cooper had the recording studio and was staying fairly busy with audiobook work. Unfortunately, Cooper did not keep all of his acting and voice exercises to the studio. Nor did he keep his opinions to himself, no matter how many times Blaine said, “I'm not changing what I'm making for dinner,” and “This is what I choose to wear and your opinion has no bearing on the matter,” and “I'm sorry you can't go to the gym, but no, you do not have my permission to use me as a dumbbell for bench presses.”

Blaine was spending increasing amounts of time shut in his bedroom with ear plugs and noise canceling headphones on, working on compiling and coding his field research notes and, when that became too tiresome, checking recently submitted species sightings on ebird.org for potential errors.

Today, he was listening to his Upbeat Sexy With a Twist of Romance playlist—the one he used to listen to while getting dressed for a night out on the town. Oh, what a different time that had been. Now instead of gelling his hair while crooning along to Freddie Mercury singing Ooh, love, ooh, loverboy, whatcha doin’ tonight?  while hoping to get laid or better yet find love, he was bobbing along to the song while entering numbers into a spreadsheet.

But that could be good, too. The rhythm of the music combined with the spreadsheet sent him into a near hypnotic trance that made him forget time and boredom and COVID. It was as close as Blaine got to heaven these days.

A sudden weight on his shoulder jarred him out of his trance.

His brother period of course. Just when Blaine’s mind had found some semblance of peace, Cooper had to disturb it.

He removed his headphones and one ear plug. “What is it, Coop?”

“New lockdown project: I’m going to turbocharge my manscaping routine. I need waxing tips.”

“You interrupted my work for that?”

Cooper waved at the computer screen dismissively. “You should be thanking me. That must be incredibly boring. What do all those numbers even mean?”

Blaine looked at his brother. He looked at the numbers. He looked at his brother again. “I mean this with all due respect, but I seriously want to kill you right now.” He closed his eyes. He took a breath. “I'm going for a walk.”

Blaine had already been for a walk that morning. It was the migratory season, so of course he had. He’d gone out with his binoculars as soon as the sun started twinkling over the horizon. He’d ticked off twenty-seven species, including his first American redstart of the season along with plenty of palm and yellow-rumped warblers, but apparently two hours of birding in the morning wasn't enough to keep him sane.

He jumped from his chair, pulled on a jacket, and grabbed his binoculars. “I'm going to walk until I no longer feel murderous. Love you!” The door slammed behind him.

[another-supernova-girl]

An Exercise in Control - Cooper Adams/Abbott x F. OC

* Part 1 : The Beginning of the End *

This story is *VERY LOOSELY* based on some of my own personal experiences, not with a serial killer, but with a security guard at a place I worked at, who paid way more attention to me than he should have at the time - something I wouldn't really come to comprehend until many years later. This story will feature explicit sexual content in some future chapters (I'm currently aiming for 5-6 chapters total), all of which should basically be considered dubious consent (let's be honest, that's about the only consent there really could be, given the power dynamic issues). There will be no DDLG kink, breeding kink, degradation kink, or...some other kinks popular with this character's fandom that is prominent in other fics. Other writers are thoroughly filling that niche. It's more of a...love bombing-ish situation, with plenty of manipulation for the aim of control. ( gif is mine, watermarked because I witnessed one of my gifs being stolen recently )

(( word count ~ 4,600 ))

🔪 🔪 🔪 🔪 🔪 🔪 🔪 🔪 🔪 🔪

There had been no answer when Cooper had called out and rattled the metal shutters to the bookstore within the mall he patrolled, but the faint sound of lofi and very soft human speech clearly indicated an occupant. When he called out once more, received no response once again, he reached for his ring of keys and went to work opening the aluminum gating. It was almost one in the morning, and even the cleaning crew had gone home. There should not have been a soul in the building save for the assigned security guard, and Cooper just happened to be the man tasked with that assignment.

After the concert in Pennsylvania, the confrontation, and his subsequent escape from the incompetent police department, the Butcher had gone on the run, inadvertently aided by the media's purposeful downplaying of his escape that would have shamed all law enforcement involved. Cowards, the way Cooper saw them, but convenient cowards. In the months that followed, he had moved around quite a bit, never settling anywhere for too long, utilizing a slew of motel rooms and stolen identities. When he finally felt like he'd reached a destination he could call permanent, he'd gone in search of work and found himself right at home in the convenience of mall security. The idea had seemed laughable at first as he'd scanned the wanted ads in a local paper, weeks after chopping up one of the previously employed night guards, but the more he'd contemplated it, the more perfect of a fit it seemed to be. That had been about a month ago, and now he found himself in one of the stores, hours after closing, not as alone as he should be.

Officially armed with a flash light and a baton, unofficially armed with a taser and chloroform, Cooper proceeded through the store, quiet and alert, glancing in all directions as he moved toward the back corner of the store, the source of the soft music, and the the faint glow of an electronic device. Expecting to find some stoned teens or a homeless person, Cooper instead stumbled upon a store employee, ambient synthwave streaming from the speakers of her laptop as she typed away. Apparently, she was so engrossed in her after-hours work that she failed to notice him until he switched on his flashlight and shone it against the wall in front of her, and all around her. She nearly fell out of the store chair that cradled her body when she finally took notice of him.

“Who the f-...oh, thank god, security,” she breathed a sigh of relief when she noticed his uniform, her vision not yet reaching the stern look across his face.

“Mall's closed,” he stated simply, switching off his flashlight and sliding it back into the assigned holster.

“Yeah, I know. Sorry. I, uh...the other security guard just lets me hang after hours,” she explained, closing her computer and sliding it into her bag.

“That's probably why he got fired,” Cooper commented harshly in return. Well, fired in the literal since, as Cooper had burned his body to reduce the evidence. He was far less bold in his disposal of victims' remains, since his temporary capture. The bookstore worker paused at his statement. She hadn't seen the other guard in weeks, and had assumed he'd simply quit. If she were really the cause...she felt a twinge of guilt at the idea.

“I'm sorry, I hadn't heard that. I...I'll get my stuff. It won't happen again,” she assured, keeping her focus on her belongings she gathered, making sure to pick up her accumulated garbage from her food court-sourced dinner so she could dump it in the trash. Cooper nodded, but said nothing, as he watched her move about, and followed her as they trudged back out of the store, the door coming down in a noisy crash at the insistence of Cooper's harsh yank. It felt excessive to the bookstore employee, but she said nothing. If she'd already gotten someone fired for bending the rules, she certainly didn't want to end up on the bad side of his replacement. The store didn't exactly pay well, but she couldn't afford to lose the income.

“Um...sorry, again,” she mumbled as Cooper walked a few steps behind her, seeing that she got to an exit so he could re-lock the doors. The Butcher shifted his gaze from the empty corridor stretched out before him, to the young woman a few steps ahead of him. Already nearly a foot shorter than himself, she seemed even smaller with her shoulders hunched and her arms meeting at her clasped hands before her.

“It's...it's fine,” he finally uttered, and her head seemed to tilt briefly toward his voice, before focusing on her destination again. “I need this job. I can't afford write-ups, already.”

“Right...s-” she began to apologize again, but her words were cut short by the light contact of his fingertips upon her shoulder, and her feet slowed to a stop as she turned around to look back at him, confused at his odd touch.

“Stop apologizing. I get it. You're sorry,” his voice was firm, but less harsh than it had been in the bookstore. “Let's just...make it a habit of being out by midnight, alright?” he offered, his thick, dark brows raising as if to punctuate his request.

“S-...sure,” she managed, and no more words were exchanged between the two strangers the last hundred-ish feet to the exit nearest her automobile. She paused at the door, but said nothing, as Cooper unlocked it and held it open, watching her exit. She glanced back at him briefly, before heading for her car, Cooper's dark eyes focused on the lock as he re-secured the exit. His gaze rose to watch her walk alone, along the empty parking lot, until she reached a car he reckoned was hers, the guard not turning around to resume his patrol until her lights were on, and her vehicle set into motion.

🔪

A few evenings had passed since the incident at the bookstore, Cooper's night off falling the day after, a different shift the day after that, and he was back to night duty. He didn't mind it. He enjoyed the silence. During the day shifts, his gaze would wander, taking in the multitude of mall patrons, contemplating his next kill, but the evenings were peaceful. More time to think. More time to plan without distractions.

It had also been a few nights since he'd stopped by the bookstore, and though he'd avoided it for the bulk of regular operating hours, his feet did eventually guide him in the shop's direction, and he found himself standing against the wall across from it, staring in through the door-less entry. His eyes followed the movements and actions of a slightly familiar figure inside, Cooper watching as the young woman he'd escorted out a few nights before flitted around the store, assisting what few customers stepped inside, straightening books, re-homing the tomes that wound up in the wrong locations. Cooper had watched for a full fifteen minutes, almost unflinching, before she looked up from her work long enough to notice him, and she made no secret of it when she did.

“Hey!,” she waved him down, completely unnecessarily, as she crossed the short distance through the store and out into the corridor to greet the security guard. “Hi, I just wanted to apologize again for the other night, I don't usually-”

“Ah, no need,” Cooper raised a hand as if to put a barrier between the two of them. “It's these late nights, you know? I'm not used to the overnight shift and I was just...” he shrugged his shoulders, and put on a smile that didn't reach his eyes. “I was just...kinda grumpy” he suggested.

“I get that, but, um...I mean, I really don't usually hang around that long-”

“Really, it's fine,” he reiterated, the false smile still in place. “Hey, I'm Cooper. I didn't catch your name,” he offered his hand, and she hesitated only for a couple of seconds before accepting it, a half smile forming on her lips that was far more sincere than his.

“Delilah. It's, um...nice to meet you, Cooper,” she shook the hand he'd offered lightly before withdrawing her own again. “Hey, um...did I really get the other guard fired? I feel terrible-”

“Oh, no, he, uh...” Cooper began, his mind searching, quick as lightning, for a reasonable lie. “He didn't show up to work a couple of days in a row, and no one heard from him, so he got let go...apparently,” he quickly tossed in.

Delilah's brows knit together as she contemplated his words. “Well, I'm glad it wasn't me...I hope he's okay. I don't think he had much family,” she thought aloud.

Cooper considered her briefly before speaking again, “Did you know him?”

“I mean, not well, but...about as much as anyone around here who works the night shift, and...doesn't keep their face buried in their phones,” she shrugged.

“Well, I'm sure he'll turn out to be...just fine,” Cooper lied, his umber eyes fixed on her forest green ones.

“Yeah, I...I hope so,” she nodded, her gaze transfixed by the strange intensity of his stare, as if he were waiting to see if she believed him. “Well...I gotta get back before we lose another customer to Amazon. It was nice to meet you, again,” she explained as her eyes finally glanced back to the store, and the annoyed-looking customer inside. When she looked back again, just inside the entrance below the giant letters that spelled out PAGE TURNERS, he had vanished.

🔪

Days turned to weeks as Cooper acclimated to his position as the primary evening security officer, scoping out all the stores, and the dark hallways that led to back rooms, every inch of the oversized shopping destination. He was attentive to his duties, though less than invested on a personal level. His job was nothing but a cover, and a convenient location for his executions, in the basement levels that most were either unaware of, or considered abandoned. He'd stored away plenty of money over the years in a dozen locations in case he were ever discovered and had to run, and his home was far more comfortable than any normal security guard could truly hope for. Unfulfilling as his duties were, however, his employ did lend him opportunities to gain trust within the micro-community of this retail mega-facility, meeting various store employees, making nice with managers, cleaning crew...book sellers.

Nearly every evening that they shared a coinciding schedule, Cooper found an excuse to at least pass by the Page Turners book store on the top floor, a shop that he silently questioned the need for in the age of giant online sellers that an independent bookseller could not complete with the prices of. Business appeared fairly slow to him, but the main evening employee he'd began having brief, friendly interactions with, seemed to always find something to do. He usually had to clear his throat just to gain her attention when he'd enter the store, but she always seemed pleased to see him.

“You always manage to look busy,” Cooper commented from just beyond the threshold between the store interior and the walkway, and he watched her shoulders jump slightly in surprise, before she turned in the direction of his voice from where she crouched beside a bookcase on the floor.

“And you always manage to make me jump,” she answered, though nothing else about her demeanor suggested that his presence bothered her. “I'll have you know that I've had a whopping...three? No, four groups of customers, tonight,” she declared, rising up to full height, nearly a foot shorter than the security guard, and dusting her polyester slacks off.

“That many?” Cooper asked, his eyes following her form as she abandoned the half-stocked box of tween novellas to circle around to the employee side of the register desk. “I guess it's only Tuesday, though.” Delilah shrugged as she slid her phone into a compartment out of sight, the need for distraction lessened by Cooper's companionship. “Do you ever manage to get a night off?” he asked suddenly, and her eyes that had already been trained on his features lit up with surprise at the inquiry.

“Um...well, yeah, of course. I just, uh...I'm the only non-manager who actually volunteers for the night shift, so my schedule is pretty predictable,” she explained, and he nodded, leaning his weight into his hands that gripped at the side of the register table opposite her.

“Night owl?” he suggested, and she shrugged, her expression unaltered, though her gaze diverted from his, as it often did when his proximity to her increased.

“I guess...it's more like, most of the other employees are teenagers, and they don't want to waste their summer vacation working the night shift,” she concluded. Honestly, they didn't do much of anything while they were there to begin with, but someone had to mind the store.

“Yeah, I've noticed it's mostly teenagers. I guess they probably make for the best customers, too,” he continued, adjusting his weight so it fell against his crossed arms on the recently wiped-down surface. “How old are you, anyway? I mean, if it's okay to ask,” he questioned suddenly, and she finally looked back up at him again, surprised.

“Um...thirty one,” she answered, brows furrowing as she watched him curiously.

Cooper's face displayed a look of surprise, as he pushed off, raising back to his full, towering height. “Really? I wouldn't have guess that.”

“What would you have guessed?” Delilah asked, her arms crossing in subconscious defense.

“I don't know. Maybe...twenty six? Twenty seven?” His answer was honest, and her demeanor seemed to visibly soften. “How's that possible?”

“I, uh...well, I don't drink, or smoke, or use drugs, or...spend much time in the sun,” she explained, waving a hand in the direction of the hall way, and the enormous overhead skylights that naturally brightened the walkways during the day.

“I imagine you must burn pretty easy,” he mentioned, his body maneuvering around the corner of the register table, reaching out to fondle a few strands of her auburn hair that fell past her shoulders, his vision trained on her, even as passersby glanced in to perceive the two of them.

“Yeah, I, uh...I try not to put myself in that position, anymore,” she mumbled, her gaze focused on his large hand as it abandoned her as quickly as it had reached out. “I don't wanna get burned.”

Cooper nodded but remained silent for several seconds, watching the confusion and anxiousness present itself on her features. Eventually, when it seemed she might excuse herself, he finally spoke up again. “So, how old do I look?”

“I...it must be a really slow night for you, too,” she commented, glancing briefly to the corridor for possible customers, the mall mostly dead, typical for a weeknight.

“Come on,” he encouraged, dark eyes ever watchful, clocking the mild discomfort across her features and ignoring it. “You're not gonna hurt my feelings.”

“Um...” she paused in her tiny steps backward, Cooper standing quite still, and finally took the opportunity to really look him over, something she'd done many times, but never so closely and obviously. “I'm really bad at this,” she mumbled, but he shook his head, a non-deranged smile in place. “Maybe...forty...four?” she hedged, and his expression told her that she at least had not insulted him.

“Forty six,” he corrected, and Delilah nodded, and shrugged. She wasn't quite sure why he cared about either of their ages, figured he must be desperate to run down the clock before his next round of surveillance was scheduled. “Pretty close. Maybe I need to start taking better care of my skin,” he thought aloud, rubbing absently at the short whiskers that cast a dark shadow over his chin. “Not so long ago, I was getting mistaken for...thirties,” he threw out the words in a casual tone, but the look Delilah immediately gave him – brows quirked, and a strange smile that seemed to silently say 'Yeah, right!' - gave him a tiny moment of pause, followed by a simple, “Ouch!”

“Sorry! I just...I mean, I don't know why you would want to confused for thirties,” she shrugged, suddenly a bit more at ease from the renewed levity of his company. “Like, have you met men in their thirties? They're barely men. They act like they're in their twenties, and guys in their twenties act like they're still in high school...”

“So...you're saying that forties is better?” Cooper prodded, and before he could take a step closer, the chatter of mall patrons suddenly reached their ears, and said patrons' feet led them into the bookstore before Cooper could take their conversation any further.

“Don't you have something to secure,” Delilah mumbled, a grin she couldn't defy pulling at her lips as Cooper maneuvered behind her.

“I'm just gonna go do some 'older guy' stuff,” he whispered in return, his large hand passing over the small of her back as he slipped by.

“Go secure something,” she called back as he disappeared out the door, her face flushed, smile still firmly in place. He'd never exactly struck her as insecure in their correspondence so far. As far as she was concerned, it didn't matter how old he actually was when he looked like that.

🔪

“So...movie theater...other movie theater...call center, office job...bookseller at a dying mall?” Cooper rattled off the jobs she'd detailed, counting them on his fingers, watching her nod along as she dusted the countless shelves of books. “How does that happen?”

“Well,” she began, pulling out an incorrectly placed book and sliding it toward the direction of its proper location. “The theaters paid awful wages, but I still lived with my mother, so I didn't need much. Quit the first one, got fired from the second one.”

“How do-”

“Nepotism. I pointed out some nepotism to the wrong co-worker, and it turned out they had a bigger mouth than I thought. And after that...a year at a call center that made me never want to talk on the phone again...and nine soul-sucking years at the office.”

“And then you ended up here,” Cooper concluded aloud, and she nodded, moving on to the next set of shelves. “Was it worth it?” he asked, and she shifted to look back over to the security guard whose body leaned against the sturdy register desk. “I mean, I can't imagine the pay is any better than where you were at.”

“It's not,” she admitted, her voice a little softer. She didn't like being reminded of her financial problems, wondering about the choices she'd made in her life to lead her here. “It's less money, for sure, but...a different company bought us out, and our jobs got more difficult, and our work loads doubled...and the raises turned into a joke. I hated it. I made enough to live on my own, but only barely, and...” Delilah's words dropped away, her fingers stilling over the spines of the books she had been correcting the placement of. Cooper simply stood in silence, taking in every ounce of information she spilled. “And what about you?” she suddenly questioned, an attempt to deflect some attention.

“Me?” Cooper asked, his brows raising. “Well, there's not much to tell,” he answered. It wasn't wise to give away too much, even his own trained lies. His resume had been full of falsehoods, but the hiring manager had been so desperate to bring someone on with the sudden disappearance of the guard Cooper had annihilated, that he hadn't even checked up on his references. A clean background check and some forged documents of training had been enough to secure the position Cooper now found himself in. “I've mostly worked...I guess you'd call them positions of authority.” Hadn't that been what the FBI profile had said? Surely, that was vague enough.

“And you never, um...” Cooper observed as the bookseller tapped her empty ring finger on her left hand.

“I, uh...I'm divorced,” he lied, though in fairness, he was certain Rachel would have divorced him, had the authorities actually managed to keep him in custody beyond the Prisoner Transport vehicle. “I don't really like talking about that part of my life.”

“You don't really like talking about yourself at all,” she observed, and Cooper couldn't exactly argue. Obviously, there was very little of his life he could safely share, as his interactions with the FBI and Philadelphia police had been far too close for comfort.

“Maybe I just find you fascinating,” he hedged, and received a sigh and an eye roll, but she ceased her questions, all the same.

🔪

It was another late night, later than usual for Cooper to find Delilah's dented-up car in the mall parking lot, so late that he cut his outside patrol short to re-enter the enormous structure. Ever since their first meeting, when he had acted so harshly toward her, before he had selected her as the subject of his strange experiment, she had actually made efforts to be out of the mall before midnight. Though there were nights that she didn't quite make their agreed-upon curfew, he had never witnessed her in the building so late that it almost classified as early. By the time he'd completed the trek to the metal gates outside of Page Turners' store front, it was just after 3am.

Cooper called out her name, called again louder, but received no answer. He didn't even hear the typical wave of soft music that usually emanated from the store when she stuck around after-hours. Giving the metal barrier a loud shake and still hearing nothing beyond it that indicated life, he reached to his large ring of keys and let himself inside.

He wasn't sure what it was that drove him. It felt like something almost comparable to concern, but he was certain that wasn't it. She was just an experiment, a little toy to manipulate and eventually play with. Replaceable. So why was he relieved when he found her at the back of the store that he trudged through, not ignoring him at all, not consciously anyway?

“Delilah,” Cooper spoke just above a whisper after he carefully tugged the headphones she wore away from her ears, watching her stir, barely aware of his presence. He received a tiny 'Hmm?' in response, but nothing else, her eyes still closed. Crouching down next to the well-worn bean bag chair she snoozed in, he pushed some stray strands of hair away from her ear, and leaned in closer, his voice a bit louder as he spoke her name again.

“It's too early,” she mumbled, closed eyes scrunching tight with annoyance as she shifted in the nearly-shapeless seat.

“Or too late,” Cooper answered, and finally recognizing his voice, Delilah managed to open her eyes long enough to look over her shoulder, toward him.

“Cooper?” she asked, her tone and the expression on her face full of confusion. “What are you...what time is it?”

“Way past midnight,” he answered, dragging out his phone when she failed to locate her own, showing her the time, watching her eyes widen with realization.

“Oh my g-...shit!” she exclaimed, scrambling out of the so-called chair and unsteadily to her feet. “I am so sorry. I can't believe I actually fell asleep,” she continued, searching for her belongings to gather in her messenger bag.

“I can,” Cooper responded, and she gave him a confused look before returning her attention to her bag to make sure she had everything. “I can believe that you fell asleep, I mean,” he clarified. “Delilah...is there a reason you don't want to go home?”

“What?” she asked, finally standing up to full height again, grasping her purse, and the bag big enough to hold her laptop.

“That's why you stay so late, isn't it? You stay at the store for hours after it closes, after you've clocked out. You volunteer to work these late shifts, when most people are off work, and at home. No one likes the night shift that much,” Cooper concluded, his dark eyes focused on the young woman before him, who had noticeably stopped fidgeting. “Boyfriend?”

That single word prompted a look akin to the one she'd given him the night he'd suggested he could pass for a man in his thirties. “Do you really think I'd spend so much time around you if I...no, there's no boyfriend. It's, uh...it's my roommate...and her boyfriend, usually.”

Cooper registered all of her words, but chose not to comment on the first half. He'd tuck that away for later. “Continue,” he invited, simply, not too firmly.

“She just...I kinda hate her,” Delilah admitted, letting out a sigh of defeat. She did her best to not mix her time around Cooper in with her home life, but he was frustratingly perceptive. She watched as the security guard lowered himself to the vacuumed floor and reached his hand out in her direction, encouraging her to join him. She plopped down far less gracefully. “We didn't even really know each other when I moved in. She was looking for a roommate to split the bills with, and I was month-to-month at my apartment, and running out of what passed for my savings from my old job, and...it seemed like a good match at the time.”

“So, what changed?” he questioned, hesitating for a few moments, before reaching out his hand again and taking hers carefully in his grasp. She stared at it for a noticeable length of time before her words resumed.

“Well...she ended up getting this boyfriend, and at first it was nice, because they were almost always at his place. Then, they started fighting, like...all the time. And when they weren't fighting, they were fucking so loud, the neighbors would bang on the walls, and...”

“And that's when you started staying here so late?” he offered, and she shrugged.

“Yeah...I started looking for freelance stuff online to make more money so I could move out on my own again, but...everything just keeps getting so much more expensive. I just...I feel so stuck. And up here,” her words paused for a moment, and she indicated with her free hand her general surroundings, “it's about the only peace I get that doesn't involve earplugs.” She gave a faint smile that didn't reach her eyes, focused on an invisible spot on the floor. When silence overtook the room, it became harder to ignore his large hand that still encompassed hers, and she finally took in a deep breath, letting it out in a slightly dramatic sigh. “So...now that you know my sob story...any words of wisdom?”

Her gaze finally lifted to Cooper's umber eyes that had not left her own green ones since she'd began to speak, but she found his expression unreadable. “Well?” she asked again.

“I'm not sure I have much wisdom to impart,” Cooper admitted, “and it's probably selfish, but...I kind of like having you up here, alone...all to myself.”

🔪 🔪 🔪 🔪 🔪 🔪 🔪 🔪 🔪 🔪

CHAPTER 2 CAN BE FOUND HERE!

🔪 🔪 🔪 🔪 🔪 🔪 🔪 🔪 🔪 🔪

tagging as requested : @one-of-thewalkingdead , @gissellec1 , @rainingrabbits89-blog , @pinkflowerwombat , @sashimeep , @strangererotica @the-butchers-baby

If I forgot anyone, I apologize, and please let me know if you want to be tagged in the next one

COMMENTS AND REBLOGS AND TAGS ARE DEEPLY APPRECIATED. I KNOW THIS IS A BIT DIFFERENT THAN MOST OF THE OTHER COOPER STORIES BEING WRITTEN, BUT I HOPE IT APPEALS TO SOMEONE BESIDES MYSELF 💙

[stevenbasic]

Growing into the Job, Post 427: Sharpening the Weapons: Stephanie, Prologue, p1

Marisela and Stephanie were touching palms, hand to hand, across the breakroom table. Some of the girls have learned recently that the effects of the Bliss could be intensified if they were in contact with each other. On this bright, crisp November Friday morning, it was obvious that Melissa and Dr. J were  together somewhere, enjoying one another’s company. Marisela and Stephanie were now savoring the benefits, enjoying the sensations of the the expansion in their busts and limbs, their minds and muscles.  

“W-wow, that was a good one,” Stephanie chuckled, almost shyly, as the final flutters of growth ebbed out of her body. She drew her hands back from her co-worker, feeling a tingle in her fingers before, tucking a strand of long blond hair behind her ear. Her swollen bicep inadvertently flexed, stretching the sleeve of her pink scrub top a bit further than it had when she put it on this morning. 

“Yeah,” Marisela agreed, her dark hair shimmering in a sunbeam filtered through the breakroom’s window as she  ran her tongue across her canines. Just a little sharp, thankfully. The fangs, she knew from experience, would fade after a couple minutes, and luckily nothing had  sprung from her shoulders this time. That’d be embarrassing. Plus, this wasn’t even her dress. She didn't really do ‘color’ in her basically all-black wardrobe, so, just for today,  she’d borrowed this luridly pink, body-hugging dress from Josie. She basically hated the thing, but still that didn't mean she wanted to ruin it with a pair of giant black raven wings busting through the back. 

These moments of Bliss, though, especially when shared, always brought the girls of FHMA closer together. Marisela hadn’t known Stephanie for too long. The blonde was a friend of Melissa’s, the two having worked together at the car dealership.So many of the new staff had migrated from there, and like so many of the others Marisela had bonded with her over the past couple months. It was strange, she realized, the affinity she felt for all these girls. Marisela knew herself, she knew she’d never been what people would call “open” or “friendly” or “nice”. She knew she had her sharp edges. And now, well…some of those edges were very sharp. Still, though, the connections she’d been making - connections they’d all been making - were now some of the most important things in her life. 

On the other side of the table, Stephanie also found it unusual how well she and this goth-nerd chick with the tattoos, the piercings and the acerbic tongue got along. While she herself had always been a generally conservative girl, pretty but actually relatively shy, Marisela was anything but. Quiet at times, yes, and darkly gorgeous, but she was edgy to a fault. And so, so smart. Where Stephanie had spent the larger part of the last several years in pursuit of fitness as a die-hard gym-bunny, Marisela spoke of her past days in the underground clubs, in art school, and on her computer. And, Stephanie knew, there were the more recent times that Marisela decidedly didn’t speak about, the hours she spent alone after dark. No one seemed to know exactly what she did, and they didn’t ask a lot of questions. So far the police, such as they were, hadn’t caught up to her. 

The two young women had been sharing tea together, taking a break from work before the big event of the day. The news team would be arriving after lunch to film the ribbon-cutting for the new wings, and then there’d be the party in the atrium later tonight. Stephanie blew on her oolong, and took a sip. 

Stephanie made an attempt to break the moment of awkward silence.“So, I like your dress,” she commented. 

“Yeah I hate it,” Marisela immediately clipped back, glancing quickly down at the sheath of spandex-or-whatever that covered her like a second skin, “Pink is most certainly not my color.”

“I dunno I think you look pretty,” Stephanie smiled, amused if anything by Marisela’s consternation. It made her look cute, in her own bat-girl-from-the-dungeon way. She watched the pale-skinned girl awkwardly pull the swooping neckline up over her chest. On most people, the dress would actually be relatively modest, long-sleeved and not too short. On someone with Marisela’s curves and new height, though, it wasn’t modest at all. 

“I think it just makes my tits look huge,” Marisela quipped back, huffing in annoyance. The new growth spurt certainly didn’t help matters. She couldn’t wait to change, when all this was over. 

Stephanie giggled, and adjusted her own bra strap through her scrubs. Her muscles were pleasantly sore after last night's monster gym session, and now her DD-cups were squashed inside too-tight confines. She knew she should have worn the new expandable bra Melissa had given her, but this one was so cute, and she wasn’t ready to give it up just yet. Tea mug back on the table between them, Stephanie reached up behind her head to tie her hair up into a messy bun. 

“Speaking of huge, though,” Marisela continued, now taking a sip of her own tea and appraising her new friend with a careful eye. The girl’s biceps were impressive, for sure, dancing and flexing as Stephanie finished with her hair. “Look at your crazy muscles.”

Stephanie chuckled, again a bit shyly, and lowered her arms. 

“Really, I mean, how long have you been working out?” Marisela asked. Despite her (now) seemingly supernatural strength and agility, Marisela had never stepped foot in a gym. Like, ever. She’d never had the patience for it, or the desire to be surrounded by meatheads leering at her chest, and vapid girls just trying to grow their instas. She did, however, have quiet admiration for the girls that were there for real. Stephanie was one of them.

“Oh, I dunno,” Stephanie replied, “Like, years.” Stephanie did know, actually. She knew exactly how many years she’d been lifting. It had been five years and three weeks to the day since she started lifting as heavy as she could, to get as strong as she could. It all harkened back to that October night, her sophomore year at Southern State, and the night in Kurt’s car, with his friends. 

If only Kurt could see me now.

Marisela, technically, should not have known any of this; Stephanie was careful to never tell anyone, not wanting to be seen as a victim - even though the trauma had followed her to this day. Marisela, though, had ways of finding things out. She had seen the police report, and Stephanie’s abbreviated files at the University. It was important to Marisela to know with whom she was working.

“So, how’s it been going? Recently?” Marisela asked, knowing the answer already, “You know, with all the…lifting?” 

Stephanie chuckled again hugging her arms together as she swayed back and forth.

Dang she’s adorable, thought Marisela.

“At the gym? Ah, I can’t do what I want anymore,” she answered, before idly picking up her mug and tracing her finger along its lip. “It’s all gotten…too small.”

“Sounds like you might have to find yourself a new gym,” Marisela proposed, sipping her own tea. “There’s that one down the road that everyone’s talking about…”

Stephanie nodded, but didn’t offer any more. Many of the girls, she knew, were gaining powers. But no one talked about it too much.

“It’s okay, it's not that hard to guess,” Marisela offered gently, “I may have heard a little.”

Stephanie paused, unsure of how much she should say. The changes that were happening in her had been unsettling at first. It had all been a bit much, the changes, the urges. They scared her, but they also thrilled her. It was not something she normally talked about much. She looked at Marisela, though - into her bright, piercing blue eyes - and immediately knew that she was dealing with a kindred spirit. It was clear - as everyone knew, even if it was never discussed - that Marisela was dealing with her own private demons.

Stephanie set down her tea, took a breath, and let the words come out.

“I mean, all this time I’ve put in at the gym to build my body, year, and, like, yeah…I got in shape. But I never really got super strong. And then it’s like: boom, just overnight,” she began, “Gains. Like, gains upon gains upon gains. But, like, not just stronger. When I want to, I can get, like….bigger. Like big. Big big big.”

Marisela nodded, making mental notes, subconsciously running her tongue over her eye teeth again. She stayed quiet, eager for Stephanie to continue.

“I’ve been experimenting with it at home,” Stephanie explained, “...what I can do.” The blond fidgeted, hesitating. “It’s pretty fucking scary.”

Marisela nodded again, adopting a gentle tone, “Some of us girls are getting these abilities, these new…powers. You know that. Even he - Dr J -…he’s starting to know it.”

“Yeah,” Stephanie agreed.

“And you know this is all coming from Melissa, right?”

“Yeah,” she nodded, agreeing again.

“So, some of  the girls are getting these abilities to support Melissa, get her new followers, expand the…whatever you want to call it.”

“The Hive?”

“Yeah I guess,” Marisela conceded - though she didn’t love the term. “But then there’s girls like us,” she continued, “You, me, Amelia. Maybe even Brittni and Bobbi. We’re a little different.” 

Stephanie paused, thinking for a moment before she looked at Marisela. In her, despite the dark makeup, the piercings, and the pale skin, she saw herself. Like a mirror image shadowed, reflected in her eyes.

 “So…what are we?” Stephanie asked, her voice having dropped, not knowing if she was ready for the answer..

“We’re weapons,” Marisela answered, immediately.

“W-weapons?” 

“Yes, weapons, whatever. We’re getting strong, dangerous, and we’re going to be asked to do things we haven’t done before, to protect ourselves. To protect Melissa, and to protect him.”

As disturbing as what Marisela was saying sounded, Stephanie wasn’t surprised. Not really anyway. She’d been afraid of it, the urges, the ones she felt when she let herself grow late at night. The thoughts, the fantasies she had, she knew they weren’t natural. But she knew that what Marisela said made sense. “I’ve never hurt anyone in my life…I don’t know if I could do it.”

”I can change that,” Marisela offered, her eyes gleaming as she put her hand delicately on Stephanie's shoulder. A dark thrill ran through both of them.

“Wh-what do you mean?” Stephaine asked, in an innocent tone betrayed by an imbalanced smile slowly creeping across her face.

Marisela took Stephanie by the hand and looked into the blonde young woman’s eyes. ”You and me, Saturday night. We’re going out, for a little practice session.”

Stephanie’s smile widened, her eyes flashed. “Okay,” she agreed.

Marisela’s own eyes glittered in response. “Well then,” she spoke, “it’s a date.”

===============================

[ashleymasenado]

TADC: Pomni Through the Looking Glass (and What She Found There)

@endomentendo, be glad that you have inspired me, but prepare to be spited cause that's exactly why I'm writing this. If I got most stuff wrong including the tech (look I had to improvise the looking glass okay no one really cares if it's different from yours (wow for once I don't care about getting canon right)) I'm probably just a little sorry.

Also if Pomni's name is the same in the real world and digital wonderland, then I'm glad I got this right then.

But for anyone else who's also enjoying this, please enjoy! And maybe leave a little comment on what you thought; I haven't written a full-length story, much less a one-shot in a long time, and I'm excited to be back into my natural talent of writing!

(P.S. before we move on: I might write a little thing based on Endo's little opening comic for in Wonderland…)

(Also apologies if my writing style feels old, I had just reread the original Through the Looking Glass recently lol)

——————————————————————————————————

The little white kitty robot had been malfunctioning lately. At least, that's what her sister had been saying based on her own observations. And this time, the little thing had been moving on its own, all because a simple move of its shelf had flicked a switch and now it was just about to fall off said shelf. When it was close to hitting the ground, it was just barely caught by the only worker in the store that day, Pomni Gardner.

"There you go," she smiled tiredly, petting the furry kitty's head and shelfing it again. In all her five years of working at Cable and Analog Convenience, the little robot kitty she had made in high school was sometimes her rare source of company when her sister was out of town making supply trips. That, and the other two robot kittens on display only. But the little white kitten, which she had named Snowy, was one of the more active ones due to a little floor accident she figured was the cause of her random turn-ons these days.

Pomni leaned on the counter with a sigh, looking over the blank account of the past few mundane days on the computer for the store's records. No one had come into the store in a long time, so she had mostly felt that there was no need to come in at all. But ever since her sister's insistence for her to take her place just a day before she left, Pomni hadn't really had a choice in the manner.

She leaned back in her chair and stared up thoughtfully at the ceiling, desperate to get away from her boredom. It hadn't been a very long time ago since she had somehow dreamt of a strange place, created of her own imagination yet of very real sensations somehow. The little white clown with the giant pocket watch hopping from monitor to monitor and ending up in one that hadn't worked in years… she still wasn't sure it was such a wise choice to follow it and fall into the small screen, with a new form that forced her to question her new identity: was she the same person she was that morning, or a different one entirely? Hey, English class was finally coming in handy.

Even thought it was all a dream in the end, it was a very strange one. Even stranger, somehow she had woken up with a VR headset on her head, which she suspected her sister had placed on her to try and shake her awake, yet it hadn't really helped much. But she appreciated the effort, even if she hadn't asked her about it yet. The whole thing was very curious though.

Pomni groaned, more out of exasperation than anything else. She grabbed the little white cat off the nearby shelf and flicked the switch, watching it move around the table in a cute and almost realistic manner like an actual kitten. She had been quite proud of being the sole builder of this little mechanism, even if she had to use a few parts from their own store when it was only her sister running it back in the day. But in the end, she never really noticed, so it was all fine.

"You know, Snowy," she started, leaning her head on her hand as her elbow settled on the counter. She chuckled at the cliche nickname, her bored smile growing wider as the little cat came over to her hand and gave a small robotic purr. "It was the darndest thing, that dream I had a few months ago. It only feels like yesterday I had become a very different person, or atleast, that's what my body experienced. It was more of a physical change than anything. But can it really be considered physical if it was inside of a digital world? Anyway, it still gave me a weird existential crisis."

Pomni pulled the little white robot kitten onto her lap, feeling it settle there like a regular cat as she began to stroke its head. She and her sister, the only employees at C&A Convenience, weren't allowed to bring in any pets for the sake of their customers, so it was nice to have this little girl for company, even if she wasn't the real thing. "I wonder what it would be like to have you with me, Snowy. What would a little robot cat be like in that strange digital world? Would you be able to talk and be your own person, or would you still be as you are now? Gosh, when did I start asking so many questions?"

Pomni rubbed her own head, returning to petting the little kitten afterwards. She directed her attention to the newly imported wide-screen TV, which her sister had repaired with the help of their uncle. Now it looked just like new, which she really appreciated as she smiled and admired her reflection for just a moment. The screen was so big and clear, it was just like looking through a giant mirror. It was these kind of televisions that they said had images so vivid and lifelike it was like they were jumping out of the screen or they could pull you into the video itself. Pomni had never had a chance to see what that was like, and there was sadly no video player to plug into the TV, so she was just going to imagine it best she could.

"Could you imagine if an image could actually pull you into it, Snowy?" She said with a light chuckle, putting the little robot on the counter and standing up to get her fourth cup of coffee. She sat back down and started sipping her cup, looking over at Snowy who she had shut down so it wouldn't waddle off the counter and fall again. "It'd probably be a weird experience, just like when I accidentally fell through the monitor as if it were a hole in the ground. Just imagine the whole thing—the space just warping around you, like a vacuum cleaner, slowly taking you into a different place…"

Pomni was surprised at her own bravery to describe this fascinating and yet horrifying scenario, but not as surprised as she was to see the lights around her dim and the TV slowly flickering to life. She put down her cup on the counter and carefully leaned closer to the screen, which showed just a little bit of static and that same annoying buzzing sound you'd hear when the TV wouldn't work and all you'd get was said static. But as she leaned in closer to the screen for curiosity's sake, she saw the static was like a misty veil, like a lacy white curtain or the kind of mist you'd see on your window on a cold or snowy day.

"What in the…?"

Out of instinct, she reached out her hand to the screen and almost drew her hand back at its warmth. It wasn't an unwelcoming warmth, like a boiling pot or a fever, but it was a strange warmth nonetheless. And the screen seemed to ripple where she touched it… how curious.

She tried it again, keeping her hand there for longer. Using her other hand, she wiped at the misty veil of static, and drew back with a sound gasp.

For in the place of her normal reflection, of a young human 25-year-old woman, was the same character she had become in that dream of a digital Wonderland.

With a frustrated frown, she tried to pull her hand away from the screen, which she found was soundly stuck and was even beginning to sink into it. Gosh darn it, why didn't she learn anything from the last time?! Was this about to become a new adventure that she didn't want to be dragged into? Why did she ever come close to this TV in the first place…

Her reflection seemed to mirror her distress, even though she was yet to take that form—which she would soon take if she didn't pull back. But the warm feeling of her hand going through and next her arm was almost like rapidly falling into quicksand—no way out unless someone pulled you free.

And with a silent curse falling from her lips, Pomni was sucked through the television screen, which was as clear as the looking glass, before it was as silent and blank as it was before.

[strobichie]

just sae.

♡⸝⸝ summary: poor you decided to replay ddlc, but something seems wrong... why is monika sae?

little note: bachira is sayori, rin is natsuki, and isagi is yuri!!

your perspective:

i had recently gotten a new computer, there are so many things i still need to work with and customise to my liking.

so, to cure my boredom, i'm installing ddlc again and replaying it!

my favourite character is natsuki, i absolutely loved how adorable and relatable she just is. she reminded me of one of the kids i babysat.

after installing the win files i extracted them all and started the game up, as usual, i see the 4 dokis on the main screen on startup.

i entered my name of choice and started the game ---

wait, bachira??? FROM BLUE LOCK??

why was he sayori? not gonna lie, his sprites are really cute, but how..??

i re-checked the website i downloaded the game from but it displayed the 4 dokis there and there was nothing wrong..

huh, why am i being scared?

i should be grateful, honestly.

i've been blessed by the gods above!! for once i'm fucking lucky!

no way was i gonna pass up the opportunity to interact with my favourite anime characters especially since they somehow ended up in my favourite childhood game..!

i wonder who natsuki, yuri, and monika would be, though?

this is interesting! as i progress even more reading the dialogues and clicking on the chat box, after a few minutes of suffering i finally got to the literature club with bachira!

"seriously, a girl? way to be a killjoy." rin... RIN?!?!?!?!?!

OH MY GOD RIN IS SO HOT? HIS ATTRACTIVENESS SCALE WENT TO 100 TO 1000 SO QUICK!!

wait.. could that mean ---

ISAGI IS YURI!! YES!! MY FAVOURITES ALL IN ONE ROOM!!

i hope monika is kaiser or even better, anri..!!

gosh this got me feelin' so giddy and chipper in the early fucking morning..

i skipped a few of the dialogues, and abruptly stopped when a certain person came into view.

...sae? really?

what an eyesore. i hate sae, of all people, why sae?

sure he was similar to monika, but only in appearance. kaiser or anri could have been able to fulfill this role.

i sighed in annoyance, at least i have rin and the others...

i continuously skipped many dialogues and had finally gotten to the part where sayori, or in this situation bachira, hangs himself..

right, this was a horror game after all. did i really forget about the main plot?

i stared at the screen with an obvious frown. rin and isagi are next..

and the person behind all this was saeshit. ugh, seriously... well, good thing i can just delete his files at any given time.

progressing through the story even further, i got a special poem and cringed at the 'drawing'. it was bachira hanging in a humorous manner.

this was unfortunate.

i clicked on the chat box endlessly, wanting to speedrun to the moments of all my favourite characters deaths..

seeing rin crack his neck and isagi stab himself looking like a crazed maniac broke my heart. good things don't last.. this will probably be the last time i'll ever be able to play this version of the game.

then, here sae was, fuck was he smiling for?

"let me take a quick one of rin's cupcakes, these such are really good for a brother so shitty and nasty." i scoffed and gritted my teeth in anger, sae was clearly the asshole in their brother-ship.

i was met face-to-face with sae, i pursed my lips and stared at my computer screen.

"it's nice to talk to you even if it's by a dialogue box." is this even real?

"i know that you're thinking: is this legitimate? to answer your question, yes it is. i became self aware after everything in that god damn manga and anime called blue lock, i felt sick and tired of not being able to show up in the manga after a long period of time. somehow, i found a way to break the barrier between the fictional animanga world and reality as you call it." that was a mouthful. he was pretty talkative now. my burning hatred for sae cooled down a bit as he spoke more ---

"i found this 'cutesy romance horror' game and it had all the things i needed in order to cross over to the real world. this version of the game only exists on your desktop, {user}. is {user} even your name? are you even a girl?" he shot me a confused expression.

"honestly, i don't care anymore. even i started falling in love with you. i thought i wasn't capable of love, just like the original character monika, i fell in love with you." this sent a shiver down my spine, i sweat-dropped and continued reading his dialogues.

"you read that right, i love you. even if i'm not real, i love you. i won't ever let you leave me. i'll kill you even if you think of it." he coldly stated and i opened my file explorer, ready to delete his character file --- huh.. why couldn't i delete it?

"i'm disappointed, why would you wanna try to delete me? i love you, you should be grateful i love you." but i hated sae, i hate him!

"i've been practicing for a while, i think i can finally break the laws of physics and rules of nature between our worlds." uhm, does he even know what the fuck's he saying?

"i'll see you soon, goodbye {name}. i love you." HOW DID HE GET MY NAME? DID HE HACK INTO MY COMPUTER BECAUSE WHAT THE FUCK..?!?!?!

i was scared shitless, jesus christ, just what did he mean by all that? i force shut down my computer and rolled to my bed covering myself in my blankets. time to go back to sleep after that eventful experience.

short little fic, should i make a part two?

finally made a part 2!