#Zephyr is my favorite in a figurative way

[plausible-possible-perhaps]

Had these in my WIPs since last year... Anyway, here are some of my favorite 90s Catwoman villains!

Morella

Cyber-Cat (aka Christina Chiles)

Head Hunter (aka Morland McShane)

Zephyr

[arcaneacolyte]

May I Present: The Ghouls as Quirks My or My Close friends' Animals Have Exhibited:

**Alpha**: Favorite game is "oh look how sneaky I am, stealing the thing you're doing/playing with so I can play with it" but gets SO mad when it's done to him.

**Omega**: Can't help but make the "stinky" big cat face when he smells something he doesn't like. He can't hide it if he tried.

**Mist**: If she touches a texture she wasn't expecting, she basically jumps out of her skin and onto the nearest elevated surface.

**Zephyr**: Despite having good night vision, has *terrible* lowlight vision, so if they see something at dusk that's unfamiliar? Instant hackles up and growling. Turns out it's just a garbage bag.

**Ifrit**: Upon first meeting someone, is all guard dog and grumpy and "Don't touch me", but once you scritch around his horns and ears, he loves you forever and will trail after you wanting more pets, tail wagging.

**Aether**: Very friendly, but if someone he knows puts on a hat or changes their silhouette in any way? Stranger Danger, who the fuck are you?!

**Dewdrop**: Must be in an hot bed, in an hot house, in an hot climate. Will steal any coals he finds to either eat or rub his face against.

**Mountain**: If he hasn't worn shoes in a while (which is usually any time outside of touring) and he has to put some on, he waggles and high steps weird for a while because he can't feel the ground.

**Rain**: Thunder and lightening or fireworks? No problem, unbothered and can sleep like the dead. Balloons in any form? Pure Evil and must be destroyed.

**Swiss**: Literally an escape artist, cannot be contained if you tried. They put a camera in a containment room to try to see how he escapes and they still can't even figure it out.

**Phantom/Aeon**: No eye self preservation. Doesn't close his eyes when water gets poured on him, will not shut them when you threaten to poke them. It's so bad that he's had multiple eye tests to see if he has poor vision, but his vision is perfect.

**Cirrus**: Got one of her nails cut down too close to the quick ONE time and now refuses to get her nails trimmed and will run or fuss if its determined she needs a trim. Has to be asleep or put under sedatives to get them done.

**Cumulus**: Is completely fine with getting a bath or shower, but hates going out in the rain. Also, to her, water is water no matter how gross it is and she WILL try to drink it if she's thirsty enough.

**Sunshine**: Will get excited and get all up in other peoples' faces, then suddenly panic and get upset that their face is too close to hers. She might snap at them because of it.

**Aurora**: Has very sensitive ears and gets very upset at loud noises, but has a hard time self regulating and the only thing that will help is the Ghoul version of a happy hoodie. Unfortunately she doesn't think she can move her neck while she's wearing it, so she turns her head like 1989 Batman.

[thelampisaflashlight]

Complicated Affair

[Listening to Peacefield and writing ZephDew for no particular reason on a Sunday.] Below the cut.

It's not gentle.

Gentle is the brushing of fingers, soft glances at a distance, words whispered against fever warm flesh...

This is not gentle.

"Where are you now, my star? L... Lost in that pretty little head of yours? Hah..." Zephyr gasps, pulling Dew back down with unexpected force, punching out a whine that almost sounds like... "Trying to sing for me, hm~?"

Dew clutches at Zephyr's chest, palms slick from sweat struggling to find purchase as he grinds his hips down on their lap.

"You're so lovely like this... So angelic, like a... Ohh... like a... yes, like that... like a bust of Lucifer himself come to life." They moan, grip tightening, holding Dew in place, "A minute... Lord below, I need a moment... let me breathe."

"Fuck..." Dew pants, taking a moment to gain his bearings again, "You're not... you're not normally so full of energy... Something happen?"

Zephyr inhales, and Dew watches as his chest returns to a less frantic rise and fall, moving their hands up and down his legs in a soothing gesture.

Whether it's to calm themself or Dew, neither can say for certain.

"Does something have to have happened for me to want you?" they ask, "And before you say anything silly like, 'No, but-', really, I am fine. Just..."

"Just?"

"It's silly." they say, rubbing their thumb into the meat of Dew's thigh, "I saw something today that reminded me of you while on my walk around the lake, can you guess what it was?"

"Something you saw at the lake, hm? And what could that be?" Dew decides to change his position as he thinks, carefully leaning forward so he can lie on Zephyr, propping his chin up with his hands to look in their eyes, "A frog?"

Zephyr bites their lip.

"No!" Dew jumps in mock offense, making them both groan before he settles again, "A frog, really??"

"To be fair..." Zephyr closes their eyes, "...it was a very cute frog. I almost wanted to bring it home with me, but then I remembered I have my own lovely tadpole here already so..."

"You got horny looking at a frog."

"Hey now..."

"I'm only teasing, Birdy." Dew sits up, "...whatever the reason was, I'm glad you came."

"Well, not yet-"

Dew lifts himself up, only to drop back down a moment later.

"You absolute demon...!" Zephyr throws their arm over their eyes, "Just casually bouncing on me like that..."

"I'm a frog apparently, so I figured why not h-hop..."

Zephyr snorts, and after a short pause, begins to laugh outright, and something about the way the giggles shake out of them, vibrating through Dew's core, makes him laugh, too.

"Shit, I love you, you silly, silly man..." Zephyr sighs, uncovering their face, instead raising their hand to cup Dew's cheek as he leans down to kiss them, "...You're the best secret I've ever kept..."

"And you're my favorite lie I've never told." Dew speaks into their mouth, "Do you... think they'd understand?"

"Maybe. Probably." Zephyr hums, nuzzling their nose against Dew's, "If we told them, they'd have no room to judge. I don't think they would anyway, but it's so hard to share what we have... beyond this, I don't know what they'd make of it. I... don't know."

Dew sets his forehead against Zephyr's, looking into their eyes.

"It would feel too... vulnerable, wouldn't it?" he says, softly, gently, "Too intimate to be exposed."

"Something we'll always share in the shadows..." Zephyr nods, "Like fools..."

"Would you want them to know? To put a name to it?"

"Our love is a nameless, abandoned station that no train of thought save our own should ever pass through."

"How poetic."

It's not gentle.

This is not gentle.

[rjalker]

ah.. hi! Are you still doing the chrochet flatlanders?

If so, could you make Zephyr?

(you don't have to do all the insides/squiggly bits if you dont want to)

heres what his tie is supposed to be.. i oversimplified it quite a bit.. and it's not at an angle in the 1st image where i could have done that.. i don't really think things through...

(Butterfly knot image from a video tutorial "5 amazing ways to tie a tie" by How to tie a tie on youtube)(<-really neat video btw if ur interested in tying cool looking neckties... the butterfly is my personal favorite :] )(oopsie went a little off topic...)

[ID: Two pictures of a Flatland OC named Zephyr, then a picture of a "butterfly knot" tie. Zephyr is a 2D Pentagon with an eyeglass in front of his single eye, with two longer limbs in the front, and smaller sensory hairs around his body. He wears an orange and gold striped tie in a butterfly knot, which has multiple folds at the top. The first image of him is a cutout sitting on a dark surface, the next is a colored drawing on lined paper. The last photo is a close up of a "butterfly knot" tie. End ID.]

heck yeah, the more the merrier. It lets me figure out how to make new patterns :) I'll @ you / send you an ask when it's done, I'll be doing them in order of submitted whenever I get time :)

[rain-ghoul-appreciator]

turn my headphones up real loud

i yapped more about this post because i couldn't stop thinking about it

2345 words of me projecting onto rain coming right up 😼

under the cut or on AO3

being topside for the first time is most definitely a huge adjustment. especially for rain. his first most hated thing about being topside is the fact that he cant live in the water full time anymore, meaning he was drying out way quicker than he would have liked. not even the lotions that mist had given him really helped sooth his dry and cracked skin. at least there was a lake nearby.

second on the list of rain's current most hated thing about being topside is the amount of freedom he has to do basically anything he wants. he's still trying to get used to the fact that he can just eat whenever he wants, wherever he wants, and he gets to choose what he eats. because of his new found freedom, the pop tarts have been hidden for his safety.

the final thing rain hates the most about being topside is how much stuff he has to figure out so he can build a personality around it. all those ice breaker questions on the piece of paper copia handed out to help the ghouls get to know their new pack did absolutely nothing for him. he had no idea what his favorite movie was. he didn't even know what a movie was. he was clearly falling a little behind the swiss, who came crawling from the pits with him. swiss had accumulated to topside life very quickly, although hesitantly. and all rain could do was sit in the lake and maybe learn a bit of human manners from mist.

despite all his hatred for being topside, rain wanted nothing more than to find something he liked so that he could be just a bit more interesting, because as of right now, he was about as interesting as a piece of cardboard. he didn't count the fact that he took an interest to bass as a part of his personality because thats what basically all water ghouls summoned topside are here to do.

he started by trying to find a favorite color, but quickly found that he was to mesmerized by the way zephyr dragged the paintbrush across the canvas to get a good look at the colors of the paint. so he abandoned color for now.

then he moved on to movies. he tried to sit through the whole hunger games series with mountain, he really did. but yet again, he got distracted, this time by how shockingly beautiful finnick odair was. so he abandoned movies for now.

he tried to find a hobby next, which went well for the first few days. he got pretty okay at stick figures and cats, but backed away from drawing when he learned he would have to use color eventually to learn more about art. and seeing that he abandoned color for now, he abandoned art as well.

rain stopped himself after about three weeks of coming up empty on things he liked. so he sat in his room, staring at the blank walls. he tilted his head to the side, trying to imagine his walls covered in stuff he found interesting, like ifrit's room was. but all he could envision was the miserable looking cat drawing he had kept after he had given up on art.

he laid his head against his pillow and looked up at the ceiling, head empty. until something hit his ears. music. obviously he knew what music was, he was summoned to be in a band. but he had never truly listened to it.

rain stood up quickly, following the sound into the greenhouse. he found mountain there, jamming to whatever was playing out of the speaker. he silently sat down on the little bench in the corner, watching mountain curiously.

"what are you listening too?" rain asked, effectively startling mountain, who hadn't noticed his arrival.

"queen," mountain replied simply, going back to whatever he had on his work bench. rain tilted his head to the side.

"queen?"

"yeah, it's a band." mountain looked back at rain, smiling at his confused face.

"a really good band," he clarified, reaching over to the speaker to turn the volume up. rain sat there for a second, just listening to the music. it was good, sure, had a nice melody, but it just wasn't it.

it didn't tickle his brain the way he thought it would. he sat there with mountain for a while, getting up once to help water some plants. eventually mountain turned off the music and looked back at rain.

"did you like it?" he asked, wiping the dirt on his hands onto his jeans. rain shrugged.

"it was okay," he mumbled, watching mountain wipe the dirt off his work bench. he stared at mountain unintentionally, lost in thought. he wanted to give up looking for music he liked, wanted to find something else he liked before eventually circling back around to music again. but something about it was different. maybe it was the musician piece of him that was programmed into his brain upon his summoning. maybe it was desperately longing for something to attach itself onto to make itself useful.

"you okay?" mountain asked, snapping rain out of his thoughts. "you spaced out there."

"im okay, just thinking," he responded, standing up from the little bench. he followed mountain out off the greenhouse, trying to figure out how he could find the music he liked.

after two full nights of thinking about what he should do about his music problem, rain decided to go to dew. the fire ghoul seemed like he knew his way around music, so he seemed credible enough in rain's journey to find something he liked.

he snuck into dew's room one evening, cautiously sitting on the fire ghoul's bed as he waited for him to get out of the shower. he could hear the music from here, and he was absolutely, positively confused. maybe it was just the sound being muffled by the wall, but rain was sure that he couldn't understand a single thing being sung. was it even singing? is he watching a horror movie in there?

rain sat for a little while longer, anxiously waiting for dew to get out of the shower so he could ask his questions. finally, dew walked out of the bathroom, sopping wet hair sticking to his bare chest.

"unholy fuck, rain, you scared me," was the first thing he said upon noticing rain sitting there.

"im sorry, i, uh...." rain trailed off, trying to find the words he wanted to say without coming off and rude or weird.

"do you need something?" dew asked, looking back at rain curiously as he worked on putting his laundry away.

"i just wanted to ask what music you were listening too," rain replied, biting the inside of his cheek. dew threw his phone on the bed, which was opened to his playlist.

"you can skip through it, see if you like any of it." so that's what rain did. he skipped through dew's playlist, concerned by the amount of screaming their was. he wanted to ask if dew was okay, but he didn't have the emotional capacity to listen to the smaller ghoul vent at the moment (if he was going to).

eventually dew flopped down on the bed next to rain, his hands behind his head. "what's that face for?" dew asked, looking up at rain. rain blinked and looked over at dew, shrugging slightly.

"why is there so much... screaming?" rain muttered, his brows furrowed. dew laughed and sat up.

"that's what makes it good," dew replied, wrapping an arm around rain's shoulders.

"oh," rain murmured, looking over at dew curiously.

"do you like it?"

"it's okay... just really loud."

dew laughed again and squeezed rain's shoulders.

"you'll get used to it."

he did, in fact, not get used to it.

rain's next target was copia. the cardinal was an interesting man, so rain assumed he had an interesting music taste.

he was not wrong.

when he tried to get music recommendations from copia, he was subjected to listening to the entire hamilton soundtrack, the entire little mermaid soundtrack, 15 different instrumentals from various movies, and the occasional 80s song. rain has never wanted to pull his ears off more in his life.

so now he sat in his room, on the brink of giving up on trying to find the music he liked. it had been two weeks, and it was slowly eating away at his mind. the urge to give up and try something new was strong. so so so strong.

one more day, he told himself before falling asleep, one more day before i find something else to do.

rain awoke the next morning to the smell of pancakes and the sound of music. but it wasn't what mountain had on in the greenhouse. it wasn't what dew damaged his eardrums with. it wasn't copia's eccentric playlist. it was something new, and different. groggily, rain sat up and rubbed his eyes, eager to find out what the hell he was listening to right now.

when he finally reached the kitchen, rain was met with the sight of aether and ifrit dancing around each other as they prepared breakfast. he sat down at the counter next to swiss, his eyes darting to the speaker sitting a couple feet away.

"you're up early," swiss commented, looking over at rain with a wide grin on his face. rain rubbed his eyes before smiling back at swiss.

"i heard the music and wanted to see what it was," rain replied, absentmindedly picking at his semi-glamoured nails.

"oh, was it too loud?" ifrit asked, looking up from the pancakes he was flipping.

"did we wake you?" aether chimed in. rain shook his head quickly.

"no! i mean yes- but i don't mind," he stammered, "i kinda like it."

aether smiled. "good!"

the kitchen fell back into a comfortable silence, aside from the music playing from the speaker and the occasional clinking of dishes. rain looked over at the speaker, trying to figure out what the hell it was playing. it was kind of like what mountain listened to, just with more guitars. but it wasn't as screamy as dew's music. after a few more beats of silence, rain spoke up.

"what are you listening to?"

"hm? what'd you say?" ifrit lifted his head up, tilting it to the side.

"oh, uh, what are you listening to?" rain repeated a little louder, cracking his knuckles nervously. he didn't know why he was nervous. he had no reason to be nervous. but the feeling was still there, lingering. however the feeling diminished as aether tapped his phone to see the song that was playing.

"it's called never to late, by, uh, three days grace," aether replied. rain nodded silently, processing what he was hearing. it was just the right pace and just the right volume for him. and suddenly everything clicked.

oh.

this was it. he finally found something he liked. he finally had something to say when someone asks about his interests. he can finally make playlists like ifrit does. he can finally ask ifrit to make a playlist for him.

throughout the rest of the breakfast preparing process, rain listened intently to the music playing, occasionally asking what the song was called. aether and ifrit were happy to provide answers, smiling every time rain asked.

"whats this one called?"

"november rain, it's by a band called guns n roses. you should check em out."

"how about this one, whats this one called?"

"it's called before i forget, by slipknot."

"what's the name of this one?"

"save today, by seether. one of my personal favorites."

eventually, aether just handed the phone to rain, not wanting to have to look at it every three minutes anymore. rain was content with this idea, curiously tapping at the screen every time a new song came on. this continued until everyone filed into the kitchen when aether called out that breakfast was ready. unfortunately, that meant the music had to go away. rain sighed, quietly passing the phone back to aether before moving to grab breakfast for himself.

he sat down in between mountain and cumulus, smiling at both of them before shoveling the pancakes into his face kirby style. he was to busy thinking about all the playlists he could make his pack mates with his new found music taste to care about whether or not he would get a stomach ache.

rain was the first to leave the dining room after everyone stood up to clean their dishes, darting to his room. his thoughts were running in circles, filled with all the happy tingles he got from the music. he immediately pulled a piece of paper out of his desk drawer once he got into his room, writing down all the songs he could remember hearing.

finally, he had something about himself that was interesting. he was practically vibrating in his seat, just staring at his list of liked songs. im not a piece of cardboard anymore!!

as the days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months and months turned into years, rain listened to more and more of the bands he liked. he occasionally went to mist or aether if he needed more recommendations. he even went to dew once, who showed him some not so screamy music that he could actually get into. he made playlists that reminded him of his pack mates and playlists for his pack mates. and nothing makes him happier than returning to his room after a long day of chores to listen to music.

now he waits nervously as they prepare to summon new ghouls. he wants to be the one to show them music first. because nothing would mean more to rain than the music he listens to being the music that gives the new ghouls that tingly feeling in their brains. that oh, this is it, feeling. the feeling that altered his brain chemistry for life.

rain just really likes music.

[divine-misfortune]

Favorite headcanon for every ghoul! Go!

Oo!!!

Aether

Chronic migrane haver.

Loves the taste of strawberry but fucking hates the texture of them.

Developed a sense of paranoia after the old Papas deaths.

Mountain

Puppy mountain. Oh my GOD puppy mountain. Just a little (large) guy.

Terrible posture, even worse back pain because of it.

Growing plants off based off his vibes... I love the idea of him growing moss when he gets some real good sleep.

Dewdrop

Need I even say kitty dew? Because kitty dew.

So in love with Rain. Like, it's honestly concerning the way in which they're into each other. Everyone knows not to say anything about it.

All bark, no bite. Was a lot more dangerous in his water days, but he is a fire that is hard to maintain now.

Has congenital insensitivity to pain (CIPA)

Swiss

Tactical as all hell, needs to touch and be touched.

ADHD to the extreme. Put this ghoul on some Adderall.

Such a softie.

Multi ghoul that leans real heavily into quintessence and fire.

Rain (he gets multiple because he's my favorite)

Trans masc but gender is an option and he checked most of the boxes. It is a game and he is winning.

Sleepwalker, mild insomniac.

A little too obsessed with Dew. If it were any other couple, this would be a toxic relationship, but it's cool. They're happy and so in love with each other. (I could honestly go on about these two in particular for an hour).

Siren boy. Siren boy oh goodness.

Throws knives with alarming accuracy.

Way more dangerous than you think he'd be. Volatile at times.

Phantom

Asthmatic.

Is so painfully weak to having his hair touched, it's an instant off switch if you want the bug to be a purring dopey mess.

Terrified of failure, playing cocky and cool to cover it up.

Lil bug being able to turn into a sentient shadow.

Sunshine

Hasn't had to sleep alone since she was summoned, physically can't sleep alone anymore. Her body gets too stressed out.

Fallen angel sunny, something I'll elaborate on someday.

Multi ghoul, more practiced in earth and air. Surprisingly good with fire but a little too volatile to be trusted.

Local horror movie enthusiast.

Cirrus

Lowkey pack leader, they all know it. Aether just gets to pretend to be.

Looks up to Zephyr so much, they were the only person aside from Cumulus she said a word to for months after her summoning.

Probably one of the more dangerous ghouls, one hell of a hunter.

Cumulus

Summoned with Cirrus as a bonded pair.

Plays the church organ during mass.

Perfect sense of direction.

Most elementally reactive.

Aurora

Literally has every other ghoul wrapped around her finger. Princess coded. Girly pop barbie moments.

Absolutely covered in tattoos, like, her clothes cover most everything but she is completely inked up under it all.

Multi ghoul, very water inclined. They haven't figured out what her second strongest elemental tie is.

[sapphicxstarknight]

It had been a quiet night,all things considered today had been one of the most productive that Zephyr could recall. They had gotten the infernal iron to ensure Karlach wouldn’t burn out, saved everyone in Waukeen’s rest and managed to root out the shadow druids in the grove and put Kagha on the right path.

Plus they had saved Barcus and made friends with Lump. Fighting the paladins and the gnolls had came last but they knew where the Zhentarim were and if anyone was going to know where More Infernal Iron would be it would be the seediest syndicate in Faerun.

Installing it and getting back to the grove had been difficult especially on a day where they had already been rushing on empty but knowing that she was approaching okay was enough.

They were sure that they would do anything to make sure that Karlach was okay and the thought of that didn’t scare them.

When they got back to camp and set up for the night Zephyr was just happy to eat and set up their bed but there was something missing. They felt the most alone tonight that they had at camp since this whole affair had started,

Zephyr was always hungry, they always had been since they were a child, that was how Ethel had cursed them. It was usually for meat, for blood, for fights, for company, to not be alone. For love and care and for anything other than the dark.

They knew it was all consuming, they knew one day if they didn’t find Ethel and kill her that they would eventually go feral and die but they figured that was an impossibility.

To just be wanted and to be cared for but with Karlach it was different.Every time they looked at her even after they had a meal.

Which did little for their hunger, they wanted more from her,They wanted to hear her laugh, they wanted to dance with her and see the way her chest glowed when she blushed.

They didn’t care about the way it would hurt them if they touched because they would be near to her and that’s all that mattered.

Fuck this was bad, they knew this was going to get worse and they couldn’t even look away. They had already eaten, They could eat half of the forest even in wild shape and it would still go unsatiated. The tadpole could only help so much when it was this bad and they could feel the hunger starting to take over.

They found themselves on top of her tent hanging upside down. They didn’t mean to startle her but without thinking went to tap her shoulder in an attempt to get their attention. Their finger caught fire.

Gasping in pain they muttered an incantation to put it out before looking her in the eyes. Not even thinking about their burnt finger “Sorry I missed you. I was thinking about you.”

Zephyr immediately realized what they said and then blushed and then continued flustered.” Because I enjoy spending time with you and you’re my favorite.” Zephyr wanted to drown in the lake but they maintained eye contact face as red as the blood they often drank. They stared at her waiting for a reply like a needy puppy beady eyes

@odditymuse

[running-tweezers]

After a lot of encouraging from my bestie @phantasmechanical, and some interest from a few folks here, I’ve decided to post the first part of an AU fic I’m writing (and have been hyperfixated on) with my favorite ocs. There are currently 6 parts written, over 13k words, and I’m still working on it. If you enjoy, I live and breathe off comments and reblogs and asks and such. And I’ll continue posting more here on occasion. SO, without further ado.

~ Pictures Of You - Part 1 ~

The year is 1989. Nate, with his sunshiney smile, his love of plants, and his mostly “normal” tastes, has fallen head over heels. There’s only one issue. He’s fallen for a gorgeous goth named Zephyr he only sees on public access TV once a week.

Rated: T

2255 words

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

~ April 28, 1989 ~

Nate’s eyelids drooped a bit as the clock made its way closer to 1 AM. He would regret this in the morning. He always did. But it was worth it.

This Thursday night routine was all a secret for a while, until his sister started calling him out for nearly nodding off during their Friday lunch catch up sessions. He couldn’t hide it from her, he had to fess up. She had just laughed and rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, that figures,” she’d said. “You’ve always had a thing for the freaks.” She scolded him gently for not getting enough sleep and that was that, aside from the odd comment occasionally about his “hot TV goth.”

Nate poured a cup of the coffee he brewed just for this, hoping the caffeine would pull him through the next half hour without making him jittery all night. It was either that, or risk falling asleep on his uncomfortable couch again. Then he’d really regret it.

He settled in and flicked on the TV, switching it to the public access station before the screen could even fully light up. What played before varied from week to week. Sometimes it was this phony TV psychic, sometimes reruns of some televangelist, sometimes just infomercials selling Ginsu knives and love song compilations. He figured they couldn’t find someone willing to stick to such a late time slot. This week it was some New Wave guy with questionable talent and even more questionable haircut, banging on a Cassio keyboard and singing off key. He hit the mute button and sipped from his mug, waiting for the last few minutes to pass.

Soon the irritating Duran Duran wannabe cut out, and the screen filled with familiar color bars. He unmuted, just in time to hear the last bit of ringing dead air cut suddenly to the sound of guitars and deep droning vocals.

And there they were.

Behind a dimly lit desk in a brick walled basement, with thick black eye makeup and wild, ratted up hair, sat the whole reason Nate was still awake at this time every Thursday night.

“Welcome, night owls and creatures of the darkness.” The figure on the screen spoke to the camera, in a cold, deadpan voice, never letting their face show anything more than a wry smirk. “My name’s Zephyr and you’ve stumbled into my world for the next half hour. Aren’t you lucky.”

A phone number hung at the bottom of the screen as they continued their introduction. “If you have something worthwhile to say, call in. If not, don’t bother.”

They launched immediately into a long and rambling explanation of the song playing in the background that kicked off the show. Nate recognized the name of the band, ‘Sisters of Mercy,” from their music recommendations in the past. He barely knew anything about the goth scene they talked about. What he did know, however, was that they were gorgeous. There was something so entrancing about them. Something dark and mysterious that he couldn’t look away from.

Maybe Mick was right. Maybe he was just into freaks.

“Speaking of music, I got my hands on the single The Cure put out last week, the one from the new album coming out soon. I’m gonna get the album as soon as it hits the shelves, but whatever, I couldn’t resist.” Their face remained apathetic, but there was an undeniable light behind their eyes. It was obvious they were excited behind the thin mask of indifference. It was endlessly endearing.

“Fascination Street is the single, and it’s incredible, even the B-side is great—��� They paused looking down at their switchboard. “Looks like there’s someone on the line,” they muttered, fiddling with the buttons on the desk in front of them. “Hello, you’re on the air.”

“Yeah, me and my friend have a question,” the distorted phone voice slurred with the distinct cadence of a drunk college kid, with said friend laughing in the background. “Are you a guy or a girl?”

Zephyr breathed a weary sigh, and leaned back in their chair. “Doesn’t matter, I’m not gonna fuck you either way.”

“Who the hell said I wanted to fuck you, you ugly fucking frea-“

“Bite me,” they flatly interrupted, disconnecting the line. “Anyway, Facination Street…”

Calls like that were too common. More people called in to be rude than to actually talk. It just seemed to come with the territory, but they handled them pretty well. It took a person with a ton of courage to come on TV and deal with people like that, just so they could talk about things they loved. That only made them that much more intriguing.

“I got the cassette version, the 12-inch vinyl has an extended intro, plus an extra B-side. I heard that extended intro for the first time at the club the other night. I swear it was a fucking spiritual experience. Being on the floor at The Underground, listening to The Cure, with all those other people? That's church to me. That’s my religion.” He continued with that same intensity, as if nothing happened. That was their favorite band, they talked about them all the time. He’d never listened to any of their music, but every time he saw one of their albums on the shelf at the store, his mind lit up with recognition.

He daydreamed occasionally of bumping into them at Sam Goody, just by pure coincidence. Striking up a conversation. Asking them about what music they’d recommend. Hearing their passionate rambling in person. It was dumb. They probably went to much cooler, underground record stores than some mall chain. But it was nice to think about.

“We have another caller.” Once again they paused their stream of consciousness and pressed buttons on the switchboard. “Hello, you’re on the air.”

“The Cure sucks shit.” The voice on the other side of the phone managed to sound even more bored and detached, almost like it was a competition. “They’re nothing but mainstream garbage now.”

“Have you heard the new single?”

“No, but their whole last album was poppy bullshit.”

“It had a little bit of a pop sound, yeah, but the meat of what makes them good was still there,” they argued. “You’re acting like they became fuckin, Tiffany and started doing mall shows or something.”

“They might as well be.”

“I don’t think you know what you’re talking about.”

“Well I think you’re a poser.”

They noticeably bristled at the accusation. “I’m already halfway through my slot, I don’t have time for this shit.” They disconnected the call, looking a bit more shaken than usual.

Why did people call in just to be assholes? Maybe the anonymity combined with an audience was too sweet a deal to people like that. Nate genuinely couldn’t understand that way of thinking. Where was the joy in being mean to a stranger?

He glanced at the phone sitting on the end table by the couch. Calling in had crossed his mind before. He had even had the number dialed, ready to press the call button a few times, but he always chickened out in the end. What would he even say? He didn’t know anything about any of this. So he remained a silent observer, content to just watch this beautiful goth waxing poetic about the things they cared about.

They didn’t have to wait much longer for another call. They answered with a touch of exasperation. “Hello, you’re on the air.”

“Yeah, remember me, bitch?”

Without wasting a second, what was obviously the drunk caller from earlier, dove in with some of the most brutal nastiness Nate had ever heard anyone spew, much less a caller on their show. The onslaught of insults and hate speech seemed to be unending, attacking every aspect that he could think of. Nothing was off limits to this guy. It turned Nate’s stomach to be reminded so vividly how awful some people could be.

Zephyr didn’t look like they were faring well either. They scrambled to disconnect the call, blurting out a single shaky “fuck you,” before silencing him. They let out a heavy breath, their silence only accentuated by their faint music still playing in the background.

Something broke. The nonchalant, confident Zephyr he’d come to know through the screen was completely gone for a few brief seconds. Like they’d never been there.

They cleared their throat and sat back up straight in their chair, trying to regain composure. “Sorry about that,” they said, as solidly as they could muster. “Maybe we should just move on to something else…”

Nate made up his mind in an instant.

He grabbed the phone next to him and carefully dialed the on screen number, not hesitating to press the call button this time.

He twisted the cord around his finger as he waited to connect. The shift in Zephyr’s demeanor on screen let him know he’d gotten through. They looked defeated, like they were debating even picking this one up. He prayed that they did.

He saw the press of the button and heard the click from the phone a split second later.

“Hello?” They had dropped their regular script, too exhausted and annoyed to even finish it.

“Hi!” The first word out of their mouth was entirely too much energy, but once he heard that call connect, he was acting on pure instinct.

They relaxed, if only a little, obviously relieved to hear any voice other than the previous caller. “Hi?” they repeated, puzzled.

It hit him all at once, and he could only sit in silence for a split second. He was actually talking to them. Live on the air. He acted on such impulse, the only thought in his head was to block that asshole from calling back. He hadn’t thought past this moment.

“I uh… I didn’t really think through what I was gonna say.” Nate laughed nervously as he floundered for the right words. “I guess I just wanted to tell you that I really like your show? I’ve been watching every week for the last couple of months. I don’t know much about all this, but I like hearing you talk about it.”

Zephyr looked skeptical. “Is this some kind of joke?”

“No! No, I mean it!” Nate summoned every ounce of sincerity he could, to try and make Zephyr believe him. “You’re obviously really passionate about it, and I like watching you because of that.”

Yes. Because of their passion for their interests. No other reason. Especially not because he found them unbelievably sexy.

“Oh.” Zephyr’s drawn on eyebrows raised in surprise. “Well, uh. Thanks, I guess.” They struggled to accept the compliment and still maintain that mysterious facade. Nate thought for a second he caught the beginnings of a smile, but it may have been a trick of the cameras.

“You’re welcome.” He glanced at the clock. Just over 10 minutes of airtime left. If that guy wanted to call in again, he would have plenty of time to do it. He had to stay on the line and get them talking about something else.

“So, I do have a question,” he began, thinking back to his stupid record store daydream. “If I just walk into any regular mall record store, what would you recommend looking for if I want to ease my way into listening to stuff like this? Or do I need to look somewhere else for the good stuff?”

“Oh, that’s a good question, actually.” Their eyes lit up again, and they were off. “You can find good stuff there, it’s just gonna be the more mainstream artists. But there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m always gonna recommend The Cure, obviously. And no matter what that prick earlier said, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with their last album, and I feel like it’s pretty accessible. A good gateway, I think.”

He stayed on the phone, asking questions, and they were more than happy to answer them all. The next 10 minutes flew by, and soon he had a list of artists and albums scribbled on the back of an envelope.

Eventually, Zephyr cut themself off from the tangent they had been going on. “Oh shit, I’m almost out of time.”

“That’s ok, thanks for all the suggestions!” He couldn’t hide the smile in his voice, and it threatened to draw a smile out of the stone faced goth on the TV.

“Of course.” They answered, having turned that creeping smile quickly into a smug smirk, to maintain the illusion. “Have a good night.”

“You too!” He hung up the phone and watched as Zephyr went through their regular show wrap up. Only now did he realize how hot his face was. He made his dumb little fantasy come true, if not in the exact way he’d imagined it. And they came out of the horrible first half of their show unscathed. That’s all he could ask for.

“I suppose that about does it then,” they said, fully back in the swing of things. “Thanks for spending some time with me tonight. And remember, there’s beauty in the darkness, if you’re willing to let it in. Goodnight, and I’ll see you next week.”

The screen went black yet again, and Nate switched off the TV. He had to try to sleep. But between the coffee and what just happened, he wasn’t sure if he’d ever get there.

At least he’d have a hell of a story to tell his sister tomorrow.

[skele-bunny]

pay for my therapy after that dew fic /j /silly

could we possibly get something abt him waking up after the coma? Like how it was for him & maybe how he felt toward missing out on not just that time with his pack, but with his Very Young Daughter? I mean a good few milestones got reached when he was comatose, surely? There's gotta be some feelings toward waking up after and realizing just how much he missed.

WELL MAYBE IF YOU GUYS STOPPED DESTROYING MY HEART I WOULDN'T BE PAYING UR THERAPYYYYYY /SILLY

CW Light Medical Talk, Self Blame, and Medium Description of Suicidal Thoughts

Tags: Heavy Angst/Light Comfort, hospital setting, recovery talk

Characters: Dewdrop, Calida (Kit), Misc

Oh gosh when Dew is finally out of his coma? He's miserable. Everything hurts. He can't speak, it hurts to swallow, everything feels too loud, too bright, he can't even sit up.

But you bet your fucking ass his favorite quad is in that room the moment they find out he's awake. Zephyr, Aether, Mountain, and... That's not his daughter.

Sure, it's a small fire kit. But Calida was smaller. Calida wasn't chewing on her tail. Calida wasn't able to squeal "Daba!" Calida wasn't able to hold herself up and tilt her head with curiosity.

That is not his daughter.

They take Dewdrop's obvious discomforted look as post-awakening. But they still bring her around, just like the entire time he's been under.

See, the issue is when Dewdrop transitioned Calida was about to turn 6 months old. Calida was now 9 months. When it's calmly explained to him how long he's been under, the extent of his injuries, and what exactly happened the first noise that comes out of him is a distressed wail. He just cries, although nothing physical comes out as his eyes are trying to work again. He's inconsolable, not even able to hold a pen or sign desperately to just tell Special to fucking kill him. This isn't worth living anymore. He doesn't want to live like this.

When he's sedated because of the pain and wakes up again, it's visiting hours once more. His eyes slowly opening as these high pitch squeals are giving him such a bad headache on top of the one already existing. He's watching... "Calida". She's waddling after Zephyr who's walking with their crutches, trying to be quiet with xer laughter as she stumbles trying to catch their tail.

Once again, he's crying and the group notices.

That's not his daughter. There's just no way.

They can see him eyeing her, Aether carefully picking the kit up and bringing her close in a misunderstanding that Dew wants her. She just smiles and Dew can't do anything but stare back into those ruby red eyes he's confused belongs to him or not. Aether very carefully lowering her down onto his chest like he had been for so long and something in Dew just... Clicks.

Fighting with his own body to raise his right hand albeit shaking, resting on her back and her smell... Her scent is his. It finally processes that this really is Calida. He really was gone for 3 ½ months. His body can't take the mental distress and he promptly passes out again.

Through his recovery he's able to do more and more. Finally able to sit up in bed, NJ tube in his nose, and hold Calida with both his arms. She's just babbling and saying little sentences here and there, but she just looks at Dew while holding a picture book. It's two fishes in a pond, labeled as a mommy fish and a baby fish. She just smiles and points at Dew.

"Mana." Points back at the fish. "Mana."

He just nods, leaning down and snuggling against her hair.

What hurts the most is when Calida took a nap on him. She only truly recognized her mother from his semi-scent, so when she woke up still in a somewhat daze she had a moment—smelling her Mana faintly but not seeing him. Just screaming and reaching for Aether trying to figure out why she was cuddled with this stranger, unable to calm her cries. Dewdrop is now just as miserable.

"That's Mana, little banana! It's Mana, everything's okay."

"S' not mana! S' not mana!"

His heart being crushed doesn't even get close to how he feels. He just asks Aether to leave, point blank. He's left to himself and cries. It seems like that's all he can do now, all he's been doing. Calida is having issues recognizing him, he's missed her crawling, missed her first steps, her first word, everything. Fucking. Everything.

He rips everything out of him in a flash of rage. His tube, his two IVs, his heart monitor, he's throwing his blankets off and using his hands to push the equipment over. It's the first time Dew lights himself on fire, screaming at nurses and Phil that come rushing in as their screens showed him as a flatline. He's fighting with everything he has to get out of bed, to do just SOMETHING. He doesn't know what, but all his mind can think of is killing himself and when he held Calida for the first time.

His recovery isn't pretty... He's unable to cope with the fact he missed Calida's biggest milestones, wallowing in turmoil. He can't help but hate himself for not just rejecting the forced proposition, for not fighting harder. For not accepting the threat to return to the pit with her. He knows he's not being very logical but it's all him mind will allow him to think.

Calida still comes around and it takes her a really long time to get used to her Mana's new scent and appearance, but she does! She honestly, truly does. Aether and Mountain show their phone recordings of the milestones and that also somewhat helps, able to see it in just some form.

When he's released and able to go back to the den, he refuses for anyone to touch Calida. Go near her. Nobody. She's upset about it, wanting her Daba and Paba, but Dew simply won't let her.

He's constantly scenting over her, holding her while in shambles, and just doing anything he can to just... Make up for loss time.

No matter what Dew does, however, will never really fix it. What's done is done, and there's no going back. It takes him a while to process that he can go forward with her, still

[patchworkpoltergeist]

16 and 31 for the fanfiction asks?

16: What do you struggle with most when writing?

Starting. I'll know what I want to write but not HOW to tell it, and the how is the important part. Sometimes I have an opening in mind and work naturally from there, but more often I turn in circles like a dog looking for a place to lie down. I know the story, I know the plot, I just don't know where the actual words should put us when we begin. What's important to see and what can be better utilized as flashbacks or summaries, or revealed later in the story? I spent the better part of a month figuring out where to start The Martyr Of Zephyr Mountain, and literally a year for The Crying Gambit. And I'm still not 100% confident about the latter.

This is also related to struggling with long stretches of time. Or rather, conciously writing longer stretches of time. If you look at my bodies of work, you'll notice the bulk of them are detailed little scene, and those scenes usually take place within a few days, with maybe jump cuts to demonstrate weeks or months inbetween those actual scenes. You know, like most writing does; knowing when to show and when to tell. Telling is for "montages" and filling in time and telling what we don't need to see super close.

However, thinking of covering a multi-year timeline (especially from an outline standpoint) gets very overwhelming very fast. It feels as if I suddenly have to write hundreds of those super-detailed scenes to properly cover all that time, and that's SO much and what if I bore people, and so on. This is kind of why I don't do detailed outlines for longfics, and instead have detailed outlines for chapters instead.

31: What fic meant the most to you to write?

Whatever I'm writing at the moment is The Most Important Thing I've Ever Done. I don't really have favorites. That said, Final Exam was something special. It was a bizarre idea with an unusual tone for the character and told in second person of all things, but I knew it HAD to be told that specific way with that specific POV. I knew it was going to be a hard sell from the drop, but sometimes a story just HAS to exist and won't take no for an answer. It also offered a hard reset reminder that I'm my first audience. I'm doing this for me, so first priority should be making what I want to make.

[forlorn-crows]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💗

im not usually good with these, but i can share some of the ones ive really enjoyed writing:

Learning to Swim

my first in depth gill fic; just something about rain being obsessed with himself and mountain being so loving, attentive, and zoned in on rain's pleasure . . . it was after a period of writing where nothing felt "right," and i think this fic helped me tap back in to my writing voice. i wanted to showcase the emotions of teaching moments; i dont think we get to see that too often, let alone the 'clumsiness' and hesitation of them.

2. this ficlet featuring transmasc cirrus & aether

i dont think very many people read this one. but i love the idea of a magick strap where the user can feel everything while in a hot, gender affirming scene. i dont see very often that we 'trans' any of the ghoulettes, and i love the dynamic cirrus and aether have, so i thought they'd fit well here. something about he/him cirrus feels right to me, and nice to explore.

3. tough love

void's [@divine-misfortune's] fault (affectionate). we have so many discussions about quintosis and hypno kink that i love, and this was borne from one of them. omega's backwards way of showing his love, while also getting to Fuck with zephyr. going against their will to do something for their benefit, even though you know they'll wake up later and curse out omega for doing it.

4. mushy may 2024 day 5: animals

hank the raccoon and juniper the cat, two of my beloved animal OCs. theyre just fun to write about, and have a simple, yet fun love for each other. mountain, of course, is always caught in the middle.

5. Yours In The End

a fic meant really to channel negative feelings into. im still feeling a lot of the emotions that went into writing this. but also the dynamic of dew and mountain and aether's relationship after Everything Happened is meaningful in so many ways to me. the way they have to navigate a scary new world, and all they have is each other.

6. this big boy quintosis sandwich ficlet

to be honest its one of my own fics i go back and re-read all the time. i just like mountain zonked and helpless between two beefy, daddy quint ghouls, okay?

7. mushy may 2023 day 8: first time

another one of my own fics i go back to. the pause they have before falling into one another; you just know theyve danced around each other for a hot minute. but they're both new, freshly summoned. they have to figure out their own bodies, let alone who and how they want to share them with. but its just . . . easy for them to make that jump. and i do enjoy little dick mountain from time to time.

8. this terzomega ficlet

the one and only time ive written these two, though i dont know why that is. but this one i had fun with the scene setting and action descriptions, i felt like i had a clear image in my mind's eye and really put it down on paper. i really love omega and terzo's dynamic too, so that made it an enjoyable writing session. this was shortly after JHKM came out, so i snuck a reference to the line "get on your knees and start prayin'" in there.

you'll notice Lady of the Lake is not on this list, because all i did was cry about it for months, and then beat myself up to finish it for the first day of kinktober '23. it was not necessarily fun to write, but the concept itself i enjoyed, lmao

xx

@iamthecomet, @waywardsamaritan, @askingforthesun, @wrathofrats, and @ghoul-slime id be interested to know some of the fics you'd put on your own lists!

[spotsupstuff]

I wanna learn more about Blessing / Boreas. What’s up with all the bat flies with him? What’s his city like?

-rubs my hands together like a fly- uuuuuu boy, time to shake my blatantly favorite child Hell yeah huhuhuhuhuuu

the batflies enter the scene a good while after the Mass Ascension- they are his coping mechanism after Zephyr collapses and goes dark!

from the comic where they talk about Euros' n Sparrows' relationship, one can probably guess how close these two are. Boreas might be the big scary dog of the whole Eo family that punches things in the face rather than take any miniscule amount of shit, but when it comes to Zephyr he is very open and sweet. she's the only person who can actually influence his opinions and ideas greatly, because he loves and trusts her enough to allow her to do so. so when she collapses, he takes it the worst out of everyone. in a very quiet way. his pain if for him to keep, nobody else can know he's hurting

bear witness to Ňuňu

this lil shit was basically Boreas' therapy dog. just.. very very feckin teeny

child...

she is as smart as your typical bat, but the thing was that when she accidentally made her way into his chamber, he didn't have much will in himself to send the animal to eeby deeby so she got to flutter about. and as animals do, girlie used the empathy trap card to figure out this person who doesn't seem to be posing any danger is Sad. so she landed on his head, crawled up to look into his eyes and chirped

n that was the straw that broke the camel's back and Boreas had his first grief-inflicted breakdown ever. Ňuňu stayed during it and even after it, so emotionally-empty-feeling Boreas decided to take her in. hardly can replace Zephyr, but at least he isn't alone

Ňuňu later brought friends and Bee decided that he will look after them then. even after Ňuňu passes away, he still houses and raises them. the younglings like sleeping on his antennas so he has to watch himself to not move them too much sometimes. Euros has a folder full of photos like that

to his city- the name kush is:

originally from me looking for latin words for Rage. ended up going with Desaevio, because Bee is indeed positioned in a fitting place for the word

and the storm connection plus the last two are the main reasons why the Ancients called the city as such. after project Abet Zephyr ended in such a failure, they had to vent some stuff out. and we are going to claim that it is anger because that isn't as pitiful as shame or embarrassment

(the fact that almost every translator i put it into gives me "i'm sorry" works wonderfully, too. because what else will ultimately Boreas do, but quietly mutter to himself a mantra of apologies when he'll be lying in his chamber 30 seconds from his death, drowning in his regrets and mistakes?)

Desaevio was capable of comfortably supporting over 5 million people (no other Iterator city ever reaches that far- the max is ambitious Gen 3 cities that only ever reached around an estimate of 2.7 million) but at times housed over 6-7 million. despite lying close to the geographical location of Bergen in real life, Desaevio is very far from reaching such nice vibes (the old towns Boreas' structure overshadows come close, though). it is way closer to New York, but more dystopian. if u look up dystopian city on google images u get to see pretty closely what it looked like. combine it with Coruscant from star wars for bonus authencity with the layering

made up of skyscrapers, with endless layered bridges for means of transport (most commonly expres trains), with what little decoration of the buildings chipped away by time without anybody caring enough to restore the beauty- the grey, gloomy expanse of Desaevio is as majestic to witness as it is absolutely harrowing

with it being a layered city and one with Boreas' consciousness/structure, some wonder when does one truly leaves the borders of the city and enters the giant's actual insides. it's hard to tell, with old models of Iterators not being all that enclosed and isolated like Five Pebbles is. there is no karma gate to tell you when exactly the walls turn from homes for people to homes for wires, tubes and alien-like organic life of a colossal Hivemind

despite the whole "Iterators are above the cloud level" thing, i like to imagine that it rains in Desaevio either way. at least- some levels are just straight up Wet like after rain. but it'd be those normal rains like we have, not the annihilating ones that the old towns need to bear with down below. or maybe it's just the upper layers' waste water seeping through the ceilings

most of light of the lower levels comes from streetlights, neon signs and Boreas' own systems once deep enough

cameras and such security systems litter all the streets and every public room- and the private homes are still accessable by overseers- and All of that feeds directly into Boreas' memory cache

this omnipresence is why Boreas later suffers with the fuckin

nobody is as unhappy with Boreas' omnipresence as Boreas himself. no wonder he's always ticked off, imagine being a witness to All of New York's road rage 24/7

[freshmemes6669]

I made a lot of progress in Sea of Stars.. and forgot to post any of it. So here we are. This is a long post, and it’s one where I actually learned that the Tumblr app has a photo limit

First and Foremost, I did get past that area. I was able to use the Colbalt Hammer to free Zephyr. Honestly, getting here was the hardest part of the entire Sky Islands section. This led me into a false sense of security though.

I had no idea just how bad I would be at the Hydralion boss fight. I had 6 different attempts with this fight alone. For reference, if we look at all of the Dwellers we’ve fought at this point in the game (Woe, Torment, Strife) the three of them combined only had 5 attempts total.

I did manage to get through there. I didn’t get any screenshots during the next major segment though, which is Garl’s actual death. From a player standpoint, this segment is incredibly hard for me to go through. He is one of my two favorite party members, and I got very attatched to him from the start.

However, from a game design standpoint, I love how well this segment is handled. Dare I say, it’s actually one of my favorite death scenes in a game, just because of how it’s written. It has minimal distractions, and incredibly emotionally charged. One of the things that really sticks out to me though is the cutscene of the days after the funeral. The cutscene isn’t done in the usual way, with it instead being more like a visual novel. The primary focus is our protagonists, but specifically on how they’re handling their grief in their own ways. This was unexpected, as I haven’t really seen many games where something like this happens, and the protagonists actually take the time to process. Most of the time, they just get right back on the road to defeat the main antagonist, so this was a good change of pace.

After that, I went back to the Sky Kingdom and officially gained access to the Sea of Stars. This area still blows me away, if I’m being honest, and a part of me sort of wishes it was longer, just because it’s a very pretty location.

Upon reaching this area, we’re met with a dark room, where I can finally show off my favorite detail with the protagonists- the fabrics they made at the start of the game glow in the dark. I can’t show this off as well in their world, as they also glow in the dark.

Upon clearing this area, we get to the final fight I did in this segment. The Guardian. This fight actually reminds me a lot of the Guardian boss fight in Chrono Trigger, as it’s a large robot in a futuristic location, that summons bits to help with counterattacks and protection of some kind, and honestly? The fight is handled almost identically, where you have to take out the bits before focusing on the main boss, and the bits do come back. (Chrono Trigger screenshot for reference). Me drawing this conclusion does make sense, considering how Chrono Trigger was one of the inspirations behind Sea of Stars

Of course, one small thing I do appreciate though is that any kind of robotic boss actually takes visible damage when it’s almost dead.

After this fight, Seraï reveals her true identity, as well as her reasons for seeking out Solstice Warriors specifically. Overall, this is a neat reveal, and I wish I had more to say. I do love just how chill that the party is with this revelation as well, they just appreciate the fact she’s been helping them this long, and it’sjust a nice scene

Figured I’d end off the session at this campsite just by the Derelict Factory, which leads to Repine. Admittedly, I do struggle going through the dungeons in this world slightly, so if this playthrough isn’t done by the time the multiplayer update comes out, these dungeons are probably why

[jollyfang]

I was debating whether to make this post but I figured- why the hell not?! I’ve been playing a fuck ton of BG3 so here’s a few of my tavs!

(Putting everything under the read more cuz it might get long lol)

Starting off with my very first tav- Vallere

Guild artisan, thief, and the sweetest pickpocket you’ll ever meet. Val loves drawing and finds small mechanisms fascinating. She’s also horrifyingly persuasive and good at forgeries. She’d make good career criminal if she found the idea even remotely interesting. She fell head over heels for Astarion like the second she met him.

Next up; My first dark urge (yes, I said first), Asura

My nonbinary beast master ranger. They’re a sarcastic ass at times but that’s mostly to cover up how vulnerable they feel sometimes. Probably my favorite tav I’ve made so far, and that’s not just because every scene with them and their two boyfriends is absolutely adorable. (Started with Astarion but Halsin wore me down in the end 😂)

And last but not least! My second dark urge; Zephyr. (Yes, I know they all have R’s in their names. It’s a trend and now I must stick to it for hilarities sake)

Zeph is so much fun to play. He’s a Barbarian, intimidates his way out of every situation he can get away with and takes great enjoyment just chucking things at enemies. Bro has 18 strength and he’s making the most of it. He’d hooked up with both Astarion and Lae’zel before Act 2 even started and immediately broke things off with both of them for Wyll. They’re just too cute. Big scary Barbarian tiefling getting treated like the little princess he is. I love it… 🥰 I gave them matching camp outfits just in different colors so they match…Oh and he’s trans- can’t forget to mention that. It’s kinda important…

Aaaaaaanyway- I think that’s enough rambling for now. This post was definitely unnecessary but I just felt like sharing.

[kurtkunkleismybbg]

THiTR SPNAU

Grymmid!Dean holds a special place in my heart like- 

He’s so fun to write about!

Like he turns into a Boelen Python², which is fucking huge btw, and it totally freaks out Sam the first time he sees him shift, bc ‘wholly shit that is a bigass snake’.

But it’s just Dean with that derpy little look pythons have. And Zephyr eats it UP. Even though Grimics are reclusive (which makes Grymmids exceedingly rare), they know that as a species they are hardly likely to attack.

That's not to say he's not badass- bc he totally is!

Despite his derpy little face, he is a deadly efficient hunter, doubly so in his snake form.

He can hear demons from miles away due to low vibrations they emit. Angels emit higher vibrations, but they are strong, and it rattles his bones in a way that is most uncomfortable.

Regular monsters are no match for Dean, bc his reflexes are as quick as a pythons' and his grip is near impossible to escape with the way he constricts.

He also brunates!

When fall begins, he starts sleeping longer and deeper, depending on where in the USA they are. By November, he's waking up less, but a few hours can be coaxed out of him if they bury him in blankets and warm clothes.

And by the time December rolls around he only wakes up once every 48-36 hours to sip some water before falling back asleep.

Sam absolutely loses it the first time it happens, despite both Dean and Zephyr saying that it'll be over when the weather warms up.

Speaking of angels; let's mention one of our favorites: Cas!

While he doesn't get the chance to raise Dean from hell, he does get to meet the Winchesters and Zephyr.

Heaven sends him to spy on the brothers and help figure out what went wrong and how to get things Back On Track.

Zephyr and Sam are immediately suspicious of this rookie hunter that no one's heard of wanting to join them but Dean? Dean is takes to him instantly.

Ofc, it's just before brumation, so Sam sends him up to Bobby's so Cas doesn't notice him sleeping like the almost-dead all winter. The moment the frost melts, Dean is raring to go, and totally not because he's looking forward to see Cas again, nope!

Sam and Zephyr still don't trust him that much, but Dean still likes him just as much as he did before brumating, if not a little more.

As Dean sees it, Cas is warm like a perfect rock to sun on, he tastes like thunderstorms, and his voice is the most perfect thing he's ever heard. Who cares that he's probably a spy?

This leaves Zephyr and Sam baffled, because loverboy and Dean just don't correlate well together. It's to the point that Zeph flies back to Fearielynd just to ask her half brother's mom what's going on. (they may be Destined)

Gabriel also gets to meet Dean, but his experience isn't as fun as Cas's.

The moment they get to the same town the trickster's in, Dean just shifts (higher ranking angels are loud, which gives humunoid!Dean headaches) without an explanation.

Poor Gabe gets his own just desserts from the 8 foot long python in the form of tricks and scares.

¹ Grymmids are half Grimic (a creature I created) and you can read about them here:

² Grimics look like snakes and function similarly, so I use snake terminology.

(for reference)

[bi-bi-want-dragon]

Chapter 29: Our Light in the Darkness

Read Here: AO3 | FF

A/N: Hello my lovely readers! I hope you enjoy! :)

TW: childbirth

~~~

Zephyr knew from her earliest years that she would be the one to take her father’s place as Chief. Well, Chieftess. Whether the people of New Berk were ready for a change like that or not. Unfortunately, it seems that more people were not ready for that change than she had hoped. But with a new threat slashing its way through the Archipelago, eyes set on New Berk and the secrets that flew away 2 years before Zephyr was born, she would have the chance to prove herself to her people soon enough. Whether she was ready for a change like that or not.

Rated Mature for Explicit Violence and Sensitive Subjects

~Chapter 28~

“Good morning, beautiful.”

Zephyr closed the door behind her and smiled at Eirson, Aurboda perched on his shoulder. “Good morning, handsome. How’d you sleep?” She reached up and gently scratched Aurboda’s head.

He chuckled. “Like a rock. I didn’t realize your dad could party like that.”

“Only sometimes on his birthday,” Zephyr laughed. “I should’ve warned you he’d be extra bad this year with how hard he’s had to work lately.”

“Does he remember anything? I don’t think I’ve ever seen him drink that much.”

“Well, he’s still asleep, so why don’t you ask him when he wakes up?”

He laughed as he wrapped an arm around Zephyr’s waist. Aurboda left her perch and flew off into the trees ahead of them. “I’ll be shocked if I see him out at all today.”

She giggled and leaned into him as they started down the path towards the Great Hall. “He better figure it out before dinner. Mom is making his favorite stew today.”

“So are you chief for the day then?” Eirson teased.

Zephyr smiled and shrugged. “I suppose so, co-chief.”

“Oh, I’ve been demoted?”

Zephyr took a few quick steps and turned around to look back at Eirson with a wide, teasing smile. “I don’t know, Chief, why don’t you get your ass moving and prove me wrong?”

He smiled mischievously. “You’re gonna pay for that.” He quickened his pace.

~Continue reading on AO3/FF~