#though there may be a dab of my ships

[evilbookworm]

Gonna make an edit of the losers club to don’t you by simple minds who wants in

[ambrosiagourmet]

I've been thinking about Laios' succubus lately. Mulling it over a bit.

Because I've seen these pages brought up a fair bit, but almost entirely in the context of shipping (on all sides, really). And I really want to understand what they are doing for the story beyond that.

When I went back to reread the scene and section, a few things caught my interest: the way Laios responds to both forms of his succubus, the themes of the volume the chapter is found in, and the other events of the chapter itself.

So let's dive into those three things, and what I think they say about the succubus scene's purpose.

Laios is never fully frozen by the succubus

So. If you compare Marcille and Chilchuck's reactions...

to Laios':

-

There is a difference. Sure, the basics may look the same once it turns into Scylla Marcille, but even then, it functions differently.

Chilchuck and Marcille are completely frozen once they catch sight of their succubus. Izutsumi, as well, isn't able to look away, and completely freezes up once her 'mom' starts talking to her. As Chilchuck describes, "just looking at them makes you unable to move."

And yet, Scylla Marcille has to actively convince Laios to comply. He even looks away from her at one point!

Laios accepts this succubus, but he is never actually helpless to it in the same way. Taken in? Convinced? Sure, at least enough to let things happen that he probably should question more than he does. But magically compelled? Not really. Not the same way as everyone else is. So that's interesting. But let's move on for now.

2. Volume 9 is all about drive and desire

I don't often look at chapters within the context of the volume they are included in, but I think there's some really fun things to be found with that perspective in mind.

For one, volume 9 starts with an exploration of what desire brought Laios to the dungeon:

And ends with a question of what desire brought Laios to the dungeon:

It's also very concerned in general with questions of why people do what they do. Why they are in the dungeon, why they are with the people they are with, why they stay, what they fight for.

In addition to Laios, we see it with Marcille...

Izutsumi

Kabru

and Mithrun

Hell, we even get it for the demon!

It's certainly not the only volume concerned with desires and motives, but it is particularly focused on these ideas.

The succubus scene fits quite well into the ongoing question about desires, especially Laios' desires. It is even placed at an interesting spot within the volume. The volume is six chapters long, and the scene takes place at the start of the 4th chapter. It's almost smack-dab in the middle.

With all this in mind, it is interesting that, with both versions of the succubus Marcille, it's not totally clear which parts of her Laios is rejecting.

The first version of Marcille looks human, but Laios attacks when he identifies her as a monster. The second Marcille looks like a monster, but he seems to believe that she is the real (human)(ish) person that he knows. So is he rejecting the monster at first, and then accepting the person? Or is he rejecting humanity and only interested in the monstrous?

Something to consider as we look at the next point...

3. the rest of the chapter is a seduction, too

This is one of those things that might not be apparent on a first reading, but is crystal clear on a revisit. We see the succubus try and charm Laios over 7 pages, and then see the Winged Lion do the same thing for the next 19.

Much like the succubus, it offers the mingling of monsters and humans. Much like the succubus, it offers belonging.

(and this is the point where I absolutely must also link this post by fumifooms on the succubus, which has some great ideas on how the scene is informed by Laios' trauma and desire for acceptance!!!)

But, back to the point. The Winged Lion wants to feed on Laios just as much as the succubus did, and it uses similar strategies to try and make that happen. Though this chapter isn't really the turning point for the next Lord of the Dungeon (it is Marcille who will, eventually, become the Lion's next victim), it certainly behaves like it is.

Laios is convinced. The succubus gets its meal. By the end of the volume, the reader begins to understand how concerning his desires are. Together, it is all very good at building up that sense of dread and pending disaster, as we see exactly how and why Laios might just fall into the Lion's open arms and bring about the end of the world.

-

So that's the three things I noticed. But there's still something I want to touch on by looking at the way these observations overlap, and what they reveal, together.

As I said, by the end of the volume, you can feel the tension growing. Just as Kabru and Mithrun do, you look back for an answer to the questions that have been built, chapter by chapter: why is Laios here? Where will his loyalties fall? This chapter, and scene, seem to prove the inevitable truth: he will choose the monster, of course. He will choose the seductive, easy power of the Winged Lion.

But the details of what actually happens tell different story: one in which the Lion is wrong.

First, as a reminder - even in Scylla Marcille mode, the succubus never fully entrances Laios. It convinces him, but it doesn't have him completely under its thrall.

Similarly, in the dream, the Lion does convince Laios to embrace the world he is offering. But even within that dream, Laios continues to ask questions that will be vital to him later. It is because of those questions that Laios comes to a new understanding about Thistle.

And it's this realization that he cites later as part of his reason for refusing the Lion's offer.

He is thinking through things the entire time, just like he continues to question the succubus even after it turns into Scylla Marcille.

Laios also expresses an interesting reason for why he wants to see the future of this world. He's not just invested because it would mean people liking what he likes, or him getting to spend time with monsters. The thought that comes immediately before his acceptance is about what he wants for monsters and people.

I don't think it's a coincidence that this statement - "we're living beings that share the same world, but all we can do is keep killing each other" - can apply to the various humans races just as much as it does to humans and monsters. The thing he is thinking about here isn't just a matter of his personal daydreams. It's an idea that underpins every conflict in the story.

Laios caring about how people as well as monsters in this manner is something that the Lion gets wrong every time. Even at the end, he still frames Laios' desires entirely around hating people and loving monsters.

The Lion has heard him express an opinion about the future of the world! It happened right there in the dream, right in front of him! He just didn't take it seriously, and didn't view it through any lens other than "Laios likes monsters more".

He's convinced that he understands how to get to Laios. Maybe the Lion can't truly see everything, or maybe his vision into everyone's deepest desires has made it hard for him to realize how much choice still matters. That people can, and do, choose which desires to act on, and how to act on them.

Whatever the case, he's wrong about Laios, and the story shows us this over and over again.

After all, look at how the succubus interaction plays out:

A monster uses Marcille to appeal to Laios...

He realizes that something about the situation is wrong, and rejects her.

It changes strategies, and makes new offer: to turn him into a monster.

It also assures him that his friends are, or will be, taken care of.

He accepts. Or rather, allows the monster to have its way with him.

But Laios is not as helpless as he initially appears, and what the Lion thinks is a successful seduction also contains the seed of an idea that will allow Laios to later resist him.

We even get to see Izutsumi playing a similar role in both instances, as the one person fully able to take action in the face to the illusion.

The story lays out what is going happen, and then explicitly tells us that the demon and the succubus are thematically related.

The chapter performs a great sleight of hand here - everything about it seems to indicate that Laios is doomed give in to the option to have his deepest desires realized. But if you look closer, it also contains the evidence that he won't. There's a lot more going on for him.

Yes, he still falls for obvious tricks. He is still extremely into monsters, and he still doesn't feel like he fits in with other people. He may, deep down, crave to surrender to the monstrous - to let it absorb him. But he questions more than he seems to. He considers more than people realize. He cares so much more than anyone gives him credit for.

And I think this is part of why we see the succubus called back to so many times, especially with the wolf head addition to his Monster Form, which he specifically added due to his encounter with the Scylla Marcille.

This all stays with Laios. It doesn't just foreshadow the path of the story, it is fundamental to how and why he walks that path. It's not about him choosing monsters, and it's not about him choosing people. It's about how he considers both, and cares about both.

And it's about the forces that think they already know his answer. Mithrun and Kabru. The Winged Lion. The succubus.

It's about how they are wrong.

[grandlinedreams]

hey babes!!! i just want to say that i love your law fics! and i stumbled across the soulmate law fic and you talked how law is so kaz brekker coded 🥹 glad im not the only one!! i would love to see more law in kaz moments just like the scene when kaz treated inej in the bathroom (im not sure if you've done this trope before but i love the tension between kanej) 🤣

GOD BLESS YOU you know what i'm talking abt they're so similar yet different but OUGH YES i had to find my copy and reread the chapter so i could get a good read again hhhfnd

[Heads up!: some good ol' pining, mention of injuries, pre-dressrosa/post punk hazard]

The door to the bathroom is open, shiny tile and bright lighting �� and you, making neat strips of clean cloth for bandaging. Law doesn't knock to announce his presence, knows he doesn't have to. Though you don't look up, you're aware of him.

"There are two doctors on this ship," he intones, "you could have had one of us patch you up."

Snip. Another strip of bandage. "Both of you are injured. I hardly think it fair to ask you to do more while you heal."

"I think you're still bleeding." Law nods to the bright red that blossoms through the bandage that you have wound around your upper arm, approaching. "I can help."

You secure yourself further against the basin, watching him. In the reflection, he catches a peek of the tattoo stamped over the topmost knot of your spine ㅡ he looks away.

"I'm sorry."

You don't ask him what he's apologizing for ㅡ there are a thousand things he could be apologizing for, a thousand that he should.

Apologies don't come easy for a man like him.

"Were you the one who shot me?" He doesn't like the way you stare at him, Law realizes. Too analytical, too much like you're pulling him apart meticulously, piece by piece. He wonders ㅡ if you reach in far enough to pull the dark, wild thing of his heart out, would you be afraid of him?

"No. Butㅡ"

"Then you have nothing to apologize for." His teeth grit, jaw aching with the force of it. You make it sound as though the world deals in absolutes, measured evenly and doled out in the same way.

It doesn't, he knows that. If the world were fair, he may still not have his family, but he'd still have Cora.

"You shouldn't have come with me." He still hasn't moved towards you, evaluating you like a cornered animal despite the relaxed set of your shoulders, the loose curl of your hands for balance on the basin.

"I pledged my loyalty to you, not to a ship crew without their captain."

Law wonders if you've ever lied in your life. You meet his gaze, and his eyes narrow. He should demand you leave ㅡ find some way to get ahold of Bepo and the others, make you leave.

(He needs you to stay.)

He finally slots himself in the space between your knees, takes hold of your arm with one hand, the scissors you'd been using with the other.

Despite the blood seeping through, the wind of bandage is neat, efficient ㅡ you've watched him do it so many times.

Snip.

Bare skin, marred only for the clean, punched hole that oozes fresh blood. If it hurts, you don't show it.

He holds his hand out without looking at you, soft cloth against his fingers that he dabs your wound with.

"What's your intention in Dressrosa?"

Blood seeps into the cloth. "This should be stitched."

He doesn't need to look up to know you're staring at him. He can feel your gaze, fights the urge to look at you. "It's fine."

He winds white bandage around it, lost in the soft loop around your arm as he finally answers your question. "To bring down Doflamingo."

Scissors gleam in the lighting overhead. Your eyes, dark moon pupils haloed by color ㅡ dismantling him, piece by piece. "What are you really after?"

Snip.

The scissors clatter into the basin as his hands meet the mirror on either side of your head. This close, he could kiss you. Let his hands wander, touch, selfishly covet the way he so badly wants to. But he doesn't.

(His hands are bloodstained, and yours are not.)

His eyes lock with yours, his fingers curling. "The means to an end."

[nsfwordwitch]

Kinktober 2023 Day 24

Prompt: Crossdressing

Pairing: Gale x Halsin

1497 Words

🔞Adults Only Blog🔞

Gale checks his shave in the mirror, thinking it's as close as he can get, though something of a shadow remains. He applies the lightest touch of red to his cheeks, and more than his usual black around the eyes. Finally, he dabs some dusty pink to his lips. His hair he's unsure what to do with, but leaving it the same doesn't feel right, either. Eventually he decides to part it off-center, letting some of it fall across his face. That will do.

He makes sure the dress is on straight. It's not quite as revealing as the robes Weft had received from the Wavemother priestesses years ago, but he had had it in mind when he conceived of this evening. He walks out of his bedroom and calls out to Halsin in the kitchen.

"Are you ready, Halsin?"

"I am!"

"Alright, I'm going outside now."

Gale heads out his own front door and closes it behind him. He pauses for a moment, then knocks.

He hears Halsin hurrying to the door, and smiles at him when he opens it. "Miss Dekarios," Halsin says. "Thank you again for accepting my invitation. Please, come in."

"You have a lovely home," Gale remarks, looking around at his own possessions. "Dinner smells wonderful."

"Let me show you to the balcony, and I can serve us." Halsin gestures, and Gale follows his lead. Halsin pulls a chair out for him, and Gale accepts the gesture graciously. "Please, enjoy the view. I shall be right back."

Gale looks out at the familiar view of the harbor, the salt breeze on his skin. Halsin returns with two plates of food, pan fried fish and garlic potatoes. Gale smiles up at him as he sets his plate down, and Halsin smiles back. "May I pour you a glass of wine?" Halsin asks.

"Yes, thank you."

Halsin continues as he pours. "You look lovely this evening, by the way. That's quite a gown."

"Oh, you are too kind." Gale says. Halsin sits, and Gale looks at him, thoughtful. "You know, a lady might get a certain idea in her head when you invite her to dinner at your home."

Halsin chuckles. "A lady might have a very active imagination. I resolve to be a perfect gentleman."

"Hm," Gale says, picking up his glass. "Perhaps we need not strive for 'perfect'." Halsin smiles, and Gale feels a thrill to see a blush form on his cheeks.

They dine. Without entirely dropping the act, they make small talk about their respective projects, Halsin with the druids and Gale at the academy. Gale is full of questions tonight, letting Halsin steer the conversation.

"I hope you saved room for dessert," Halsin says, pouring Gale's third glass of wine.

"Naturally."

Halsin takes their plates and returns to the kitchen, while Gale sips the wine. A ship is passing through the harbor, and Gale watches it with a detached interest. Why does it feel like a gloom has dropped over the evening?

"A chocolate tart, from your favorite bakery," Halsin says. Gale smiles in genuine surprise. Halsin had kept the dessert a secret and Gale is glad he did. Halsin breaks a piece off of Gale's serving and holds out the fork, and Gale smiles before taking the bite.

"It's perfect."

"I am glad to hear it."

When the tart is finished, Halsin sighs and leans back in his seat.

"I would be happy to walk you home, whenever you are ready to go."

"No, that won't be necessary." Gale lays a hand on Halsin's and gazes out to sea. "I'd like to stay a while, if that's alright."

"Of course."

Gale feels Halsin's eyes, but opts not to make a comment.

"If I may be so bold, Miss Dekarios–"

"Please call me Gale. We've become familiar enough for that."

"Gale. You seem…not quite your usual talkative self tonight. Was the meal not to your liking?"

"Oh, no, it was delicious. You really know your way around a salmon. I suppose you're right, though. Perhaps I'm feeling a touch of nerves about being unaccompanied in a man's home?"

Halsin smiles, but it doesn't quite reach his eyes. "I hope that this evening was…what you were looking for?"

"It was most satisfactory." Gale pauses, and holds Halsin's gaze. "Thank you for all the trouble."

"It was no trouble at all. But, Gale. I wish to remind you of what I said when you first suggested this."

A mild dread creeps up Gale's spine.

"You do not need a special occasion to be a woman. We have friends who chose to change their lives in ways that defied their births. You could do that, too."

"I know that," Gale sighs. "But I'm not…I'm not like them."

"How so?"

"I'm not…I don't wish to change my body. My name doesn't cause me any grief. And I don't feel unhappy when people refer to me as a man. I simply…being a man is a lot of work, sometimes." Gale pauses. "Don't you think so, too?"

Halsin's hand squeezes Gale's. "No, my heart. Being a man is quite effortless for me."

"But…" Gale searches for the words. "But there's so much pressure. To do it right."

Halsin takes Gale's hand in both of his and leans forward, getting closer than he has all evening. "There is no wrong way to be a man. Or a woman, or anything else. Whoever you are, whatever form you wish to take, it is right. I just hope it makes you happy."

The blood in Gale's ears is nearly deafening. Easy for Halsin to say. He's exactly what a man should be, tall, strong, confident. Not like Gale. Gale, who has failed to keep a lover for long without constantly fighting for their approval. What kind of man fails at that?

Yet…Halsin has stayed, in his fashion. Halsin asks so little, even meeting Gale's disparate and somewhat demanding requests, and he makes no demands in return. Perhaps that's a kind of man he can be.

He squeezes Halsin's hand and smiles at him. "You've given me much to think about. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. As for tonight…" Gale bats his eyelashes and holds Halsin's gaze. "This lady would very much like to go to bed with you."

"Hm," Halsin says, a smile crossing his closed lips. "Would it be more gentlemanly to refuse, to preserve your virtue, or to grant my lady's request?"

"I think you should carry me to my bed and damn my virtue."

"My lady's requests will not go ungranted, then." He stands, then scoops Gale up in his arms. Gale gasps and grasps at Halsin's neck, and Halsin carries him to his own bed.

He drops Gale on the bed and kisses him, hands traveling down his body. Gale sighs and abandons himself, letting Halsin's presence overwhelm him. Halsin's hands move to his back and start unbuttoning the dress, but Gale stops him.

"I would rather, I think, leave it on."

Halsin growls in surprise and pleasure, and moves his hands to hike up Gale's skirt. Gale squirms under his hands, and Halsin draws his underwear off slowly, making his erection spring back against him. Halsin spits onto his fingers and slips one of them into Gale's hole. Gale moans and rolls his hips, and Halsin takes the hint and adds another.

"Oh, Halsin," Gale sighs, "please, take me."

"As you wish," Halsin says, and he undoes his pants and pulls out his erection with one hand. He lifts Gale under the ass and swaps his fingers for his cock, and Gale throws his head back in pleasure.

"Yes," Gale breathes, "that's it, I–ah!" Halsin hits him deep, filling him totally. Gale wonders how he looks, now, his hair splayed around his head, his lip color smudged now, surely, his skirt tossed carelessly past his hips. He looks up at Halsin, still in his nice suit. Like they're stealing a moment in public, like they were so overcome with passion they could not wait for clothes to be removed.

Gale feels an orgasm rising, and he presses both hands to his cock. "Don't stop, Halsin, don't stop." Halsin grunts and grips his hips tighter, thrusting harder into him, shaking Gale's whole body. When Gale comes, it lands on the inside of his dress, and in his craze he thrills at the thought of the stain being hidden next time he goes out in public.

Halsin sees him come and moans. He presses hard against Gale, deep as he can, and comes with a cry. He eases out of Gale and sets him down, then collapses beside him.

Gale turns to him, and Halsin draws a thumb across his cheek. "You do look beautiful tonight, Gale. If it would bring you joy, I hope you dress up more often."

"I'm glad you think so," Gale says, smiling. "But truthfully? It's far too much work."

[kiigan]

KNOWING YOUR PARTNER WELL CAN POTENTIALLY MAKE WRITING TOGETHER A LOT EASIER.

REPOST DO NOT REBLOG !!

NAME: Theia

PRONOUNS : she/her or they/them

PREFERENCE OF COMMUNICATION : Discord please! It's faster and it's easier and it has a lot of extra functionalities for both chatting and roleplay. I don't mind the tumblr DMs but they are very unreliable and more than once I've experienced not being notified that somebody messaged me or vice-versa.

NAME OF MUSE(s) : Itachi, basically. However, on discord I've dabbed a bit at writing Kimimaro, Temari, and Rock Lee mostly for fun with friends. And I suppose I should mention I also write muses in other fandoms? Though the Naruto hyperfixation has been real as of late, but yeah, I also have muses in Star Wars, Fullmetal Alchemist, Resident Evil, and several Final Fantasy games.

BEST EXPERIENCE : I would say it's that moment you look at a reply from your partner and 1) you are in awe at their writing and portrayal and wondering how did you get so lucky to write with someone so talented, and 2) you can't wait to get to replying back, no matter how long the thread may be, and in fact you find yourself having so much fun with it and getting so engaged that you easily write back twice as much.

RP PET PEEVES / DEALBREAKERS : Uhhh I would say it's probably to feel that my partner isn't as invested as I am. For example, if we agree to plot but I'm the only one suggesting ideas and coming up with scenarios, and all I get back is short replies or something generic like "I'm okay with anything". Or if we have a ship together (doesn't even have to be a romantic ship) and I'm the only one coming up with headcanons and sharing stuff that reminds me of our muses. By all means, we don't need to talk/ plot/ roleplay every single day! I get very busy myself and sometimes go radio silent. And, as someone who's autistic, trust me that I know very well the feeling of being socially awkward. But roleplay is a partnership and requires mutual investment. If I start feeling like I'm the only one excited about our muses and plots, that's gonna make me feel like I'm annoying you and, in turn, that's gonna be the fastest way to make me withdraw from it.

MUSE PREFERENCES: I have recently confirmed that my muse type is Tall and Handsome and Full of Trauma, and occasionally also full of eye gore. But also I am very drawn to "accidental" heroes, heroes that are heroes not out of a prophecy but because, within their limitations, they choose to do what is right and what is needed. And I am also very drawn to big brother figures?? A lot of my muses seem to end up adopting orphans and/or raising other people's children lmao.

PLOTS OR MEMES : I prefer plotting because, from my self-experience, non-plotted interactions get dropped far too easily (either by myself or by my rp partners). That said, I am also a big fan of letting the muses talk and choose what they want, even if it may go against something previously plotted. And I don't think this is incompatible with memes? I do love memes and they are super good for breaking the ice between people who never wrote together! And also super good to provide new scenarios with which to plot and develop upon.

LONG OR SHORT REPLIES : I have the tendency to write a lot, so I'd say long replies? Which doesn't mean I'm not interested in short ones! Especially because, sometimes, my brain is too mush to handle the long stuff so it's nice to have short ones to get some writing done. I just find it that, with muses like Itachi who rely heavily on introspection, it really is easy for me to get into it and write a lot more than originally planned.

BEST TIME TO WRITE : Whenever my brain is not dead from work, I guess. As of late, it's been a lot easier for me to write during weekends for this reason. I care a lot about my replies and I don't like to give back half-assed stuff, so really the best time is whenever I can sit down, relax, blast some music, and get to writing.

ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSE(S) : I am definitely a nerd like Tachi and his perfectionism + obsessiveness come from my own. We are also both introverts and we both often occasionally have... trouble to keep a normal conversation going lol. And, honestly, we are both idealists.

tagged by: @fightaers & @fighterbound ♡ tagging: if you're reading this you're tagged by default~

[mamamittens]

Fluffy thoughts for my OC ship with Thatch and Izou, just reacting to their scars.

I don't have one in particular planned for Nikia (though if I wanted to, it would be funny to repurpose my own facial scar over my brow, nearly at my hairline, from my cat flipping his shit at being picked up suddenly), but her reacting to both of their facial scars. Maybe other scars they've picked up over the years.

So, for Thatch, if she was there when it happened, she'd absolutely fret over it. He's a grown man but I imagine he'd be touched at how worried she is about it. It's awful close to his eye and definitely in a place that would pull if he makes a face while it's healing.

Gentle, she'd offer to put medicine over it to help it heal. Thatch probably is of the opinion that scars are both inevitable and sexy, but he'd fold so fast at her attempt to lessen it. Especially if she explains that it would mess with his ability to express if its too bad. Thankfully it heals fine and his smile is unaltered. Every so often he pretends it's feeling a little off (or maybe it actually is sometimes) and she gladly dabs some moisturizer on it to help loosen the scar tissue.

For if she hears about it later down the line, how he got it--well, if Thatch wasn't in love before, the soft way she asks if it's okay to touch and cradles his face to examine it would have him down bad.

"Hmm, it still hurts sometimes. Maybe you should kiss it better?" Thatch mumbles cheekily but falters when she smiles and presses her lips to the curve of his scar. Whispering over it like he isn't shocked she actually did it.

"The last thing I want is for you to be hurting if I can help it."

He melts, pulling her into a close hug to hide how red his face is.

He's a big, strong man! But the soft, caring affection about kills him.

Kissing his scar is now his favorite kind of kiss that he can't kiss back through. Hands down. No contest. Instantly shuts him up, no matter what he's saying. Loses all thoughts.

Scars elsewhere probably receive similar attention, though maybe not kisses if they're somewhere... Suggestive outside of bedroom activities. Like, she's not going to casually kiss the scar he has on his hip from a gunshot wound. And probably not fondle it unless they're already both naked lol

He would suggest 'healing kisses' frequently though for 'phantom pains'. If they actually bother him, he may just handle it himself rather than embarrass her with helping pull off his clothes unless they're already in bed. Like, he won't ask for help like that in public lol, she's just smack his arm for the trouble.

For Izou, it would be very similar but she'd definitely ask if she can touch his face beforehand given his makeup situation. And with it literally going over his eye, she'd be super concerned. Izou is generally less... Enthusiastic about affection, but she's still offer to help with whatever she can. Fretting over him and treating every scar with a breathless reverence.

Izou would, however, be way more sensitive to physical contact concerning his scars though. He generally gives off "don't fucking touch me" vibes that she usually respects. But after hearing how he got his old scars or the addition of a new one, she very gently explores the area. Stroking and inspecting his skin. Checking if he's in any pain or generally offering affection for past injuries.

He's very moved by it and always returns the kisses. For days afterwards, he frequently gives her surprise kisses. He's not self conscious about his scars, but the tender care is very appreciated.

Now, as for scars for Nikia...

Well, part of it depends on how it happened.

They'd be super pissed if it happened in a fight. They respect their life is dangerous and that some injury is inevitable, but that doesn't make them any more forgiving about it. And (because I have issues) it's also a bit of a possessive thing. Like, a, "no one has the right to touch you but us, and we'd never hurt you" kind of way. They fret over the fresh injury and follow any care instructions to a 'T'.

If she starts to feel self conscious, they make sure to emphasize how their feelings remain unchanged about her and her looks. It's a little different for women to get scars, after all, even for pirates.

Accidents get very fretted over and they're super cautious about her doing dangerous shit for a long while. They trust her to mind herself but... They really didn't enjoy seeing her injured.

For old scars, Thatch is the most sensually reassuring, being a romantic sort of hands on kind of guy. Izou isn't too far behind him, but he's not as flowery about it. They both still respect her, even if the story is kind of hilarious. They do get worried if she has a lot she can't identify where they're from though.

If she wants to reduce the scars, they facilitate it to the best of their abilities. Thatch bravely volunteers to physically apply any and all lotion, medication, or other topical application.

So brave.

Utterly pure intentions.

Ignore how his hands start to wander, it's nothing. Izou will likely smack him but can be persuaded to join in. Nikia will quickly get overwhelmed and they won't complain, they think it's cute.

[thorntonkrell-blog-blog]

I was still pretty smart when we lived on Parsells Avenue. I hadn't taken geometry yet. Still, I knew what a triangle looked like, and a square, and a circle. I knew what perpendicular was but didn't know the word… same with parallel. I most definitely knew the shortest distance between two places was a straight line, especially if someone or something was chasing me. I knew all the backyards that I could cut through without running into barbed wire or yapping dogs.

Parsells Avenue was located right smack dab in the middle of the Culver Merchants Neighborhood. The house where I grew up was built in 1920. My grandfather had owned the place before my parents. My cousin Moonyeen was born in that house. Our house was closer to Merchants than to Culver.

On the corner of Parsells and Merchants there was a white church. I never knew the denomination but on the side of the church there was a fire escape that we used to climb and jump from when we were encountered by some crabby guy who would yell at us.

The whole area is shaped like a triangle, with the sides converging at Merchants and Culver. Culver extends all the way through suburban Irondequoit to Lake Ontario. Within the triangle, there is another triangle which constitutes the 18th ward, and within that triangle is another nearly equilateral triangle. This was my hood.

By 1955, the triangular-shaped Culver-Merchants Neighborhood had become a busy retail area where businesses set up shop within boundaries that extend south to East Main Street, north to Culver Parkway, west to Culver Road, and east to Merchants Road.

One point of the inner triangle was located at Burnsie's. Another point was located at Dee's. The triangle came to a point on Culver Road called Star Fruit and Vegetable. Down the road apiece from Star Fruit and Vegetable was the bus loop where we used to catch the bus to go uptown to see a movie and where we got off after the show.

This is a tale of three stores.

Burnsie's was on the way to school, so we passed that place every day. The owner was a guy named Burns who everybody called Red. Red knew my father from my father's boyhood days. Red liked me. I was one of the few people who called him Mr. Burns. I was uncomfortable calling such an older man Burnsie or Red, which he seemed to appreciate. He'd throw in a piece of Bazooka bubble gum pro bono now and again.

Burnsie's was located at a four way stop. Mrs. Johnsons was the crossing guard and we all loved her. She knew everybody's name. Also at that stop was a guy everybody called Wilson who had been brain injured during WW2. He knew my father before his injuries so he always greeted me by drawling out "hey boy". He just nodded at the other kids. Mrs Johnson cared for him as she cared for us. Perhaps they were related.

Dee's was headed north toward Irondequoit. For all the years that I went there, I never got past a nodding relationship with the owner. He was a Greek guy who didn't speak much English, plus he had a weird, lazy-eyed glance. He knew that if I was there, I wanted baseball cards. This we both understood, even though I don't think he understood either baseball or cards. He kinda gave me that "you're wasting your money" kind of shrug when he handed me the cards. I'm sure he would have preferred selling me a pickle from the awesome pickle jar that he kept on his counter. I knew that wasn't gonna happen.

The Culver-Merchants neighborhood homes may have been built, for the most part, only a century ago, but area streets date back many years earlier as trails for Native Americans, European explorers, and settlers. Nearby Ellison Park was the site of Native American and French collaboration in the 1700s and was a place where travelers beached their canoes before following the Portage Trail to the Genesee River. Others traveled the Seneca Trail to native villages farther south. Later, commercial ships brought goods to Irondequoit Bay to be carried overland on what is today’s Merchants Road.

If you headed north and traveled diagonally (which was of course impossible because of all the houses and dogs and fences in the way) from either Burnsie's or Dee's, you would wind up at Star Fruit and Vegetable.

Johnny was the owner of Star Fruit and Vegetable. He was younger than "Red" or "Dee". He was a portly, moody dude with an indeterminable hairstyle. Some days he'd be friendly, other days he'd be suspicious, and other days he'd just want you to buy something and get the hell out of his store. He had fresh grapes, apples, and oranges, none of which could be had at the other two places. He also was the only place that sold both grape and cream soda.

Each store had its allure and raison d'etre. Each had a liability. Dee's was out of the way with a weirdo behind the counter, but he had baseball cards. Star Fruit and Vegetable was on the way home from the movies. Sometimes all we wanted was an apple. Johnny had some baseball cards, but you never knew whether he had any or not, and if he did, they were Bowman's, not Topps. Burnsie's was on the way to school. He didn't have baseball cards, but he was our friend.

Another big difference: Red was the only guy who sold Clark bars. Clark bars were my favorite over Three Musketeers, Baby Ruth, Butterfingers, or Snickers. If you were in the mood for a Clark bar, you headed east.

Clark Bars were a classic American candy bar that had been enjoyed for almost thirty years by the time I came along. The Clark Bar was first introduced in 1917 by the D.L. Clark Company, founded by David L. Clark in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It quickly became a popular treat across the United States. The candy bar consisted of a crunchy peanut butter center covered in a layer of milk chocolate. Plus, each bar was cut in half, so it was easy to share and split the cost.

Clark Bars were wrapped in bright orange packaging. The orange color was used as the dominant hue for the wrapper, with the brand name, logo, and other text often printed in contrasting colors, such as white or black, to enhance visibility. The bars were easily recognizable on store shelves or glaring in their absence. They attracted my attention or disappointment every time I entered any kind of Mom and Pop store for the next dozen years until I went away to college.

The original formula of the Clark Bar was pioneered by Irish immigrant David L. Clark in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1917. Its manufacture took advantage of a recently developed approach that allowed a thin milk chocolate shell to surround a non-chocolate filling. In the case of the Clark Bar, the interior consisted of a crispy confection that included ground peanuts around a caramel core. As such, the Clark Bar became the first successful 'combination' candy bar.

The bar was developed to be sent to troops during World War I, individually wrapped for ease of delivery. It began to be distributed nationally after the war's end, inspiring many manufacturers to produce their own combination bars. During World War II, the company was sending daily 1.5 million bars to the armed forces, and when several labor strikes at its plant led to shortages among the troops, the federal government stepped in, calling production "essential" to the war effort.

The Clark Bar was produced by a process taking about 90 minutes. The core ingredients were heated into a taffy-like consistency and flattened into a sheet, which was then coated with a layer of peanut butter and rolled. After cutting into bar-sized lengths, it was enrobed in liquid chocolate, cooled to harden both core and coating, then packaged.

Many of the fathers in the Culver-Merchants neighborhood were WW2 veterans who had their own memories of Clark bars. My father liked them. I inherited his preference for Clark Bars. My grandfather and his two brothers also liked Clark Bars from their time in WW1. I haven't had a Clark Bar in 40 years.

The company changed hands a few times in the late twentieth century. The D. L. Clark Co. and its Clark Bar were acquired by Beatrice Foods in 1955, then sold to Leaf Candy Company in 1983. It was under Leaf that production was moved to a new facility in O'Hara Township (suburban Pittsburgh) in 1986. In late 1990, Leaf announced plans to close its O'Hara facility and move production of two other D. L. Clark candy bars, the Zagnut and P. B. Crunchers, to the Chicago area. They decided to cease production of the other Clark products, including the Clark Bar, for which their marketing efforts had failed to achieve a national profile.

Pittsburgh-area entrepreneur Michael Carlow purchased D. L. Clark Co. and its remaining brands from Leaf and combined it with another struggling but iconic local producer, the Pittsburgh Brewing Company and its Iron City beer, as well as a local bakery and a glass manufacturer, plus the Fort Wayne, Indiana-based producer of Bun Bars under the umbrella of the Pittsburgh Food & Beverage Company, continuing production of the Clark Bar in O'Hara. However, amidst accusations of a check-kiting scheme that would lead to Carlow's eventual imprisonment, he was forced to relinquish control in 1995, and production ceased. Leaf then foreclosed on a $3 million loan they were still owed and commenced making Clark Bars at their Illinois facility with an altered recipe. Months later, Clark's assets were sold through bankruptcy court to the newly-formed Clark Bar America, Inc., which restarted production at the O'Hara facility using the prior recipe. This was short-lived, and the company was shuttered in 1999. The recipe and production equipment were bought at bankruptcy by … wait for it … Necco for $4.1 million, and they moved production to their facility in Revere, Massachusetts.

Almost two decades later, Necco would in turn fail and in May 2018 was sold at bankruptcy court to Round Hill Investments LLC, who briefly operated the candy manufacturer under a Sweetheart Candy Co. subsidiary before selling the assets in July 2018 and abruptly closing Necco's Revere production facility. At the time of purchase, Boyer planned to restart production of the Clark Bar in western Pennsylvania within six months. Challenges with production machinery speed and reproducing the bar's consistency and shape pusehd back their reintroduction.

Clark bars were available at the factory outlet in 2019 but have never been nationally reintroduced.

Meanwhile back in the hood, Red Burns sold his store which was converted into a nifty, trendy liquor store. Dees disappeared shortly after and was replaced by a sports collectible shop called The Hot Stove League at the exact moment that the value of baseball cards was exploding. Meanwhile Star fruit and vegetable added something new and formidable to its inventory….records. It began with 45's and expanded to albums.  I headed off to college. When I came home to visit in 1966. I bought some Thunderbird Wine at the liquor store, bought a bunch of cards at the Hot Stove and finally stopped at Star for the last time and bought The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan album. Everything but a Clark Bar. Instead, I settled for a roll of chocolate necco wafers.

[traipseartist]

May 13th - YESconsin

We reluctantly bade Henrietta and Lucas's farewell after luxuriating in a bed that wasn't an egg crate or owned by a multi-million dollar corporation. We stuffed our things back into Stacey's innards, propped Zolpa back up on the bike rack, and decided to head towards Wisconsin for the day.

When I was in high school, I had a photography teacher bravely ship his 101 class in a mini-bus from Culver, Indiana to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to culture us. He brought us to the Art Museum there, and though I was fifteen and didn't know that Milwaukee was not a glorious land full of sharp edges and thoughtful photography exhibits, I'd been fantasizing about a return ever since. So when Lewis's friend Ellery in Chicago unfortunately caught COVID a few days before our planned arrival, I quietly rejoiced in the possible pivot (Sorry Ellery, feel better!).

...howwwever upon crossing state lines my Googling revealed that the museum in question was closed Mondays and Tuesdays to visitors and we were smack dab in those dreaded early work-week hours. Exasperated I called upon my resources, and Henrietta eagerly pointed us to Frank Lloyd Wright's estate, Taliesin, off in the Wisconsin nowheres. Elaina chipped in with some very solid directives for Madison, which was only 60 miles on, and we cobbled together this Wisconsin plane as we were flying it.

The wildfire smoke trickling in from Canada cloaked much of the landscape as we wiggled out of Minnesota and into, what I was informed by Sue, (the kind lass in the Frank Lloyd Wright Trail Gift Shop) the edge of America's great inland sea. You see, the reason why Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and the like are so flat is because once upon a time when dinosaurs bonked their heads on chandeliers and door frames everywhere (nay, nay, even earlier!) North America had a huge inner ocean and as this water found its way into the sky, the ground, and local rivers, it left behind a flat, silty landscape rich with minerals and good for farming now known as America's heartland, the Midwest. However, Wisconsin was not invited to the big-inland-sea party and maintained it's beautiful, sloping, Appalachian-like curves as sweet revenge.

Despite the heavy smoke cloak, I felt most at home in Wisconsin's rippling green blanket of hills and moody cows. Lakes and swamps and rivers threaded the landscape and just as we began to seek out ice cream we found ourselves wading into Westby, Wisconsin. After we realized literally every sign and lamp post was adorned in Norwegian, we found ourselves unable to resist the allure of the local cheese shop, manned by a kind Richard who had left Madison to study the quiet and odd Norwegian lineage of Westby. This only took Richard a few years though, and now he's moved on to life's next greatest endeavor--selling ice cream and Amish goods and ungodly amounts of cottage cheese to passing-through tourists such as ourselves.

Lewis and I dawdled a bit around tired old Westby, amused at the Norwegian themed everything and dismayed we were to miss out on Syttende Mai, or Norway's independence day festival, celebrated, as it is says on the tin, on the 17th of May. Distracted only for a moment, I slurped my cookies n' cream, took up leading Stacey ever onward, and we slithered through ancient hills towards Frank Lloyd Wright's childhood farmland and early home.

The name "Wisconsin" is actually the French's fault. The Miami--an American Indian tribe found all throughout the midwest--named the land known for angry Green Bay Packers fans and rivers of beer "Meskonsang." When transcribed by French Lewis & Clark: Marquette & Joliet, they apparently got a little too relaxed with the cursive and their successor Rene Robert Cavalier read that big loopy "M-e" as "O-u-i" and thus Ouisconsin (and its current pronunciation) was born. Oui! Yesconsin had much to offer--but I did not know one of the most prolific American architects of all time cut his teeth on this pillowish, farmy landscape. Lewis and I sheared the timing too close pointing at Norwegian antiques in a dusty shop window, so we missed the last tour of the Frank Lloyd Wright estate, but those hanging around the ticket office waiting for closing directed us to a small family chapel on the edge of the property that the tour itself doesn't normally visit--a chapel that "the young architect" designed the inside of at the wee age of 15.

Lewis and I shuffled through the wooded edge of the premises (never had I heard anyone rejoice upon seeing mosquitoes again, but Idaho has really done a number on our boy, Lewis) out towards the freestanding chapel and discussed the concept of idolization. Thematically, the thought of glorifying perfectly complex human beings had been on our minds since the beginning on the trip--our voyage dotted with homages and altars to long dead, famous men with matching Wikipedia articles of similar exultation. Why do we press to promote people beyond their own humanity?

I chewed on the thought, slapped angry blood suckers of every variety from my inviting skin, and we crawled out of the over-grown miniature trail to be dumped on the side of the road across from a small outbuilding with a cemetery already threatening to outdo the building's square footage.

The chapel was also closed for renovations, but a barefoot Randy--a contractor who'd been working on the estate long enough to be blasè about tearing up the blueprint work of our generation's architectural genius--let us gawk at the very simple but signature design of the small, two-room church house. I asked of Randy's joys and pains handling the first fabergè egg of many he worked on around here and he gave us a sweet, watery-eyed ode to peeling up the foundation of this building only to find wood so far gone he had nicknamed the action of clearing it out to replace with new joists "scooping up floor-pudding."

Lewis and I paced the little graveyard looking at the shapes and edges of the Lloyd Wrights, including Frank himself. Here he was, buried next to his very first, as was only (W)right.

We jogged back along the path that cut away from the road, back between two deciduous trees, and into the parking lot to dust off clinging ticks and make our way towards a place with food, beer, and a few less dead people in Madison, WI.

I had been to Madison when Elaina was living here, working and saving money for grad school, and the weather could not have been more pamphlet-perfect to welcome me back. We parked right in front of "The Old Fashioned" and had the Midwest dinner of our lives. Cheese Curds and beer, at least one namesaked Brandy Old-Fashioned, and a LAZY SUSAN of central Europe's greatest hits, America edition.

Lewis and I argued about debated the meaning of certain clues in our latest Cryptic lineup until the sun dipped and we realized we'd need to scramble to the campsite to see our hand a foot in front of our face before long, let alone unwieldy tent poles. We thanked Brooke the bartender who advised on sauces for cheese curds and pushed Stacey up to Pike Lake to set up camp and plead with the fireflies to reconsider their strike in the late Wisconsin Spring darkness.

[feyrevelry]

THE SUDDEN, ROUGH TOUCH against his face made Sylverian flinch, but it served to snap him out of his hysterics — and it sparked his sharp tongue.

“As tragic as your exile may have been, I doubt it even begins to compare to my situation,” he said with a hint of condescension in his tone ( he assumed Rein was probably cast out from some savage tribe ).

He pushed his hands away and straightened himself. Rein was right — self-pity, as cathartic as it felt in the moment, would do him no good. And though he trusted his mother’s impeccable judgment in choosing a competent, loyal guard, there were limits to that trust. Rein had the money and could simply leave the noble to his fate ; and Sylverian would have no means of stopping him.

“Fine,” he muttered, his voice steadier now, though a trace of irritation lingered. Making his own food? Fixing his own clothes?? Tsk!! Ridiculous...

“Staying here is out of the question. We shall head North — to Waterdeep, perhaps. A city that size will have opportunities. Candlekeep will do as a waypoint... There should be a ship we can board there to carry us further up the coast—”

I wonder if you caught my name.

Sylverian blinked, thrown off his train of thought. “Why of course,” he said with a dismissive scoff, dabbing the remnants of his tears away before he picked up his pomeranian Princess Bonbon. She seemed rather excited to be going on an adventure.

“Reynold, was it?”

"Well this..." He gestured up and down at him, "This won't solve shit, if I may be so blunt." He wiped his tears a bit less gently and took each side of his face, "You need to stop feeling sorry for yourself. You're gonna be great."

He let him go and backed away, face hardening slightly, "Straighten your shoulders, hold up your head! Fuck the money. Fuck the fancy clothes." His eyes narrowed at him, "You're stronger than you think. You have to be. I'm your guard, but not your savior. You need to fight to survive. And you can't do that when you're blubbering and trying to reason with no one. It's just going to hurt you more." Rein sighed, placing a hand on his head, dragging it down his tight ponytail.

His shoulders relaxed a bit as rubbed the back of his neck, "Look..." His tone went soft, and so did those mismatched eyes of his, "I know... Okay? I do." Rein patted his own chest, "Being exiled... Being told you can't return to the one place you've always known... Terrifying. Scary." The barbarian nodded, "You'll live. I promise. We'll travel to another place. Far away from the people who you call your friends because you give them a good party and free booze." He raised a brow, knowing what he just said was probably not a 'nice' thing to say, but Rein was always honest. Sometimes to a fault.

"I'll use what I was given for this job to get you clothes that'll help you fit in and I'm definitely not gonna let you starve. That would be the opposite of guarding you, but also I'm going to teach you how to make your own food. How to fix your own clothes. You need to learn to use your hands to work. And I-... I can help. But I can't work with you like..." He looked him up and down, again, "...this. Understand?"

"I wonder if you caught my name, earlier, my Lord. Should I repeat it?" He didn't ask this with a chip on his shoulder, surprisingly. He sort of just assumed Sylverian was too in hysterics, before.

[helianskies]

Chained

engspa; 806 words; gen; for @needcake

"You.”

“You.”

“Leave me alone…"

"You're the one on my bed."

Spain shoots him a glare, though it is too tired to really mean anything, and he raises his left hand into the air. It doesn't travel far; with it rattle chains, a single cuff attaching him to the bed frame. Arthur briefly purses his lips while he thinks.

It was not an order he gave. But, he supposes he will have to roll with it, and treat it as though it is. His advantage surely depends on it.

“Since you’re here,” the blonde begins, wandering past Spain and to his desk to busy himself with papers long dealt with, “I may as well give you a little update on where we now stand…”

Spain scoffs, quiet, weakened. “We don’t stand,” he replies. England glances at him over his shoulder, perplexed, but the other stares ahead at the door back out to the deck. His freedom. His escape. “I am on your ship, sitting on your bed. You stand. You are in the better position, here.”

He turns to England. There is no fight left in his eyes, like there had been only an hour before. It is as though it sailed away with the other’s crew the moment they were told to return to Spain, tail between their legs. Maybe he realised, as soon as he was dragged onto the wrong ship, that fighting would get him nowhere…

“There is no update to give me, England,” Spain duly concludes. “Do what you will, I no longer care. You did what I asked of you. The rest…” He pauses. His eyes drift back towards the cabin door. “The rest does not matter…”

Arthur’s confusion remains intact. He doesn’t understand. He doesn’t understand what has happened to the other’s bravado, the fire he used to have, the near-tangible bite to his words that Arthur could feel every time they crossed paths at sea or on shore. It makes no sense. Spain is still a global power, an empire, an enemy. Yet, fatigue clings to him like a shadow, hanging under his eyes and crawling in his veins.

It is only when the other sighs and fixes his position (he lifts his bare feet up onto the bed and faces England, though he still refuses to look at him directly) that the Brit notices the blood, not yet fully dry, dripping down the side of his face.

He was not the one to spill it. Seeing it makes his stomach lurch.

Without a word, he walks again—this time, to a cabinet—and finds in one of the drawers some old cloth. There is some fresh water in the basin. The least he can do for him, he feels, is to help clean him up.

Naturally, Spain is wildly perturbed when England appears right next to him with a damp cloth. He asks, “What are you doing?” with the wariness of a child, and England—Arthur—who lacks the patience he wants to have, simply takes a hand to the other’s face and turns his head to begin carefully wiping away at the little red streams.

“Just because you are on my ship for the foreseeable future,” the blonde muses, “does not mean I want to hurt you.”

He catches Spain's gaze as he peers out of the corner of his eyes. He is still tense, he is still reluctant to trust him. Though… that is only fair. England—Arthur—has not been kind to him. Not for years. To fear his hands and intentions is far wiser than lowering his guard.

At least, that is what he thinks, and what he thinks Spain thinks, for the first few seconds. But as he dabs and dabs away, one hand wiping away his enemy's blood, the other hand becomes subjected to something all the more unexpected: Antonio leans into his palm, eyes closed, walls down.

Arthur is stunned, but says nothing, lest he ruin it.

Still, it takes him back. The feeling of holding another—of holding Antonio specifically in such a way—reminds him of a brief time between them he had long thought discarded. As impossible as it sounds, Arthur has… missed that, a little bit. He has missed the tenderness and warmth that they had once shared. Perhaps Antonio feels the same. Perhaps that is why he does not fight him. Perhaps that is why Antonio wanted Arthur to stay away from him before…

His thumb cautiously strokes over the other's cradled cheek. Antonio hums, raspy and dry, and he seems to now hang precariously on the edge of sleep, serene.

Arthur continues to gently clean his face while there is no resistance and wonders, in the meantime, if they can ever forgive each other for the things they have done, the people they have hurt, and the others they have loved.

[imthepunchlord]

Different nonnie, but I totally wouldn’t mind a poly ship of Happiness x Marinette x Self-Confidence if you decide on it, especially in a fic where two big forces in her life are actively trying to keep her down, consistently for years with Chloe in the form of bullying and now a False Friend in First Friend’s clothing trying to groom her into her own Sabrina. With canon at the point that it is as well, I really just don’t have any problems with fics that have Marinette not ending up in any romantic relationship AT ALL, even with authors like yourself who’ve shown that they know how to do it right in previous work. You’re right in that Felix comes in way later and it may be contrived by the point in the story to include him at all, but if you do decide to include him I’m throwing my hat in for canon!Felix, relation and genetic twinning to Adrien included, because it would be really interesting to see how he would bounce off of DaB!Marinette with her not giving a hoot about his cousin’s—and therefore HIS—looks or status and actually personally disliking their whole monochrome, same-clothes-different-pattern fashion deal. Plus, though this might be me projecting and please feel free to correct me if I am, I get real aesthete and/or demi Marinette vibes from how Marinette describes Adrien’s appearance, so it would be interesting to see what Felix thinks of a girl who, on both beats, just isn’t super interested in him given what he’s probably used to. Plus, with the story not really focusing on Adrien outside of his interactions with Lila, Marinette, and maybe Nino, it would interesting seeing Felix figure out the whole Evil Butterfly deal going on with Gabriel and helping out given how hyper competent he is (or only how hyper competent the writers want you to think he is in his later episodes unfortunately) in-show.

Oh that'll be the first and for most for Marinette. It is going to be an angsty start for her, but it will get better for her.

And man I get that, especially with what I know of canon at this point and where she's at emotionally. She needs therapy far more than she needs a romantic partner. And you know, not all writings, fics, books, and even shows, need romance. I still stand that the best romances in a series that's an adventure story are the ones that are hinted at, but aren't the focus. And at this point in ML, I would rather that love and support of friends and family than her ONLY getting love and support from of her love interest. Especially with how they have been handling it >_>

On Felix preferences, noted. Luckily, this being fanfic, it can be easily arranged for him to come to Paris earlier; though I will put off him learning of the Agreste plot as I will need HM for a while as characters grow and relationships change and akumas can play a part in that. It's still the main reason I haven't had Felix figure it out yet in Copycat cause once he does, that fic should be close to coming to a close.

And to answer what you picked up on, yes, Marinette is on the ace spectrum for DaB (and for most of my fics), which is more me projecting cause I am ace myself. Felix is another I've always headcanoned to be more on the ace spectrum too. So if/when he shows up, expect him to also be ace coded.

[echos-newlegs]

If you're in a Wrecker mood may I also requested 16. “I got you, it’s going to be okay, you’re going to be okay.” for him bc u know I love hurt and comfort 👀

Accident Prone

Bro yes, of course. We love comforting our space teddy bear 😩

Wrecker x NB! Reader: "I got you, it's going to be okay, you're going to be okay."

Warnings: angst and fluff guys. Wrecker being clumsy. I've been thinking about how he got his face scars and kind just went with this.

Words: 768

Tag List: @murdertoothpick @andiebell2023 @kaitou2417 @tacticalsparkles @baroclinicinstability @captain-rexs-girlfriend @kirinpl

If you want added or removed just let me know in the comments, message me, or send me an ask once I reopen them!

"Wrecker!" You shouted when you saw him come back to the Marauder with his brothers. Your friend was in and out of consciousness as he had Tech and Hunter on either side of him. His helmet under Crosshairs arm. Leavibg his bloodied face uncovered. 

"I can't feel my face," he muttered as they hauled him past you. You following by like a worried, mother hen. "What happened?" You asked with a shrill voice as they laid him down. Tech rushing to the cockpit to ready the engines. Crosshair shutting the door of the Marauder. 

"He was caught in crossfire, a droid set off a detonator near him and he got most the damage." Hunter told you. Watching as you moved over to help with his wounds. 

Crosshair handing you and Hunter both a damp towel. 

Wreckers eyes opened to look at you. Though his one eye was practically gone. You cringed, and he caught sight of it with his good eye, frowning a bit. "Bad?" He asked. Voice wavy. Evident that he was in a lot of pain. 

"You're going to be okay, Wrecker. Okay? I'm here for you." You told him. Dabbing some of the areas on his face with the cloth. The areas you could tell weren't that sensitive. He let out a scream when Hunter pressed the cloth on a wound. Tears pricking his eye. You reached over to grab his hand and sush him. Trying to keep him calm as Hunter hurried to remove some of the pieces he knew wouldn't kill him. 

The ride back to Kamino was rough, to say the least. You spent most of it comforting Wrecker. While the rest tried to help stop the bleeding and fly there without crashing the ship. Since everyone was worried for their brother, your friend. 

You went to their quarters as they unloaded the brute and brought him to the medical center. Grabbing his Lula for him. You knew it would be the one thing that helped hold him together. No matter what sort of eye roll Crosshair gave you, you knew it would make him feel better. 

It took almost 3 hours of you pacing back and forth in front of the medical center with Lula in your arms before you could go in and see them. You got a few weird glances from clones since you weren't a Kaminoan or a clone, yourself. You were "normal," compared to them. 

You stepped through the doorway. Creeping up to the bed to see Wrecker looking away. A frown on your lips. "Hey there," he wouldn't look at you. So you reached out. Placing a hand on his good arm. "I brought you somethin," you spoke gently. 

You handed him the tooka doll, and watched his eyes light up. "Thank you," his voice was quieter than normal, but you were sure the burns hurt too much for him to move his mouth a lot. 

"I probably look horrible." He stated, causing you to shrug. 

"I'd say you look better than you would six feet under." He grinned at that. A wince following after. 

"What if I don't recover?" He asked. Eyes darting down. "They'll throw me out, I'm already a reject." 

You frowned. Sitting in a chair next to the bed. Watching as he tried to move up, but you placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "Wrecker, I got you, it's going to be okay, you're going to be okay." You soothed him. Rubbing his shoulder with a smile. 

His eye watched you. Half smiling back. The most he could, at least. Without hurting himself. 

"Can you hold my hand, like you did on the ship?" He asked. You felt your stomach tense at his words. Your smile growing sheepish as you glanced down to his free hand. That was now open and free of the doll. Waiting patiently for you to place your smaller hand in his. 

"'Course," you placed your hand in his. Watching as your fingers intertwined. To think it took an explosion and him nearly dying for this to happen was beyond the both of you. 

"You're really pretty, y'know." He spoke, and you giggled. Rolling your eyes.

"You're on pain medication right now, Wrecker. Say that again when you're sober." You leaned in to press a kiss to his temple. A giddy smile on his face. "Sure thing, gorgeous." "You're a dork." You followed his words. Using your free hand to rub his wrist a bit while.you pulled his hand into your lap. Watching as he drifted back to sleep with a rather content smile. 

[partypanic]

Infodumping about my ghost au because I can

I'll start off with inspo for it

— Inspo ::

Soft fuzzy man (song by :: lemon demon), your at a party (song by :: lemon demon), sometimes (song by :: bo-en), pale machine (song by :: bo-en), stranded lullaby (song by :: miracle musical)

— characters ::

[ main : ] Gordon : a decently "regular" man who grew up with his mother in Seattle, he shares custody with joshua.

[ 2nd main : ] benrey : a decently annoying ghost who just haunts the house he died in, he usually chases away the people who buys the house he haunts, but no matter how much he tried Gordon refuses to go.

[ semi-background : ] Tommy coolatta : one of Gordon's neighbors and one of few co-workers, he lives with his 'dad' and dog, Sunkist!, Seems to have a crush on darnold, maybe?

[ semi-background : ] g-man / Garry man coolatta / "grandpa-man" (gave from joshua) :

A somewhat "mysterious" guy who lives with his son and sons dog Sunkist.

[ semi-background : ] bubby / "bub" (gave from joshua.)

One of Gordon's co-workers, and proclaimed grandpa (by Joshua), he's married to harold P. Coomer.

[ semi-background : ] Harold P. Coomer / Dr. Coomer / "Ganpy coomer" (from Joshua)

One of Gordons co-workers, he babysits for Gordon sometimes, and also a proclaimed grandpa from Joshua, sometimes dabs in "ghost hunting" things as a hobby from time to time!

[ semi-background : ] Joshua / "baby-man" (from benrey)

Gordon's kid, who absolutely loves cowboys, he's usually with his other parent (Maria), and visits his dad on weekends, and for extra info he's non-verbal and is autistic!

[ semi background : ] darnold pepper / "uncle pepper" (from joshua)

Tommy had introduced Gordon to darnold, they hang out occasionally, but usually just for tommy, hes very passionate about his potions, and seems to have some sort of crush on Tommy. Or something-?

[ background : ] Maria M. Smith.

Maria, a woman who grew up in Seattle, was collage-sweet hearts with Gordon but divorced him later on, they ended in good terms though, she also wouldn't give Joshua for the world.

— story ::

Gordon buys a very cheap house, though it was nice for it's price (gonna need a few repairs though.), He settles in, most of his stuff unboxed and put where it was supposed to go.

A week later and he notices that alot things are weird, doors opening by themselves, things getting knocked off, weirdly cold sometimes, and the sound of someone playing his PS4 at night.

He always plays this off, ghosts aren't real, they cant be, right?

Well, aparentally, they can be..!

— other (stuff) ::

Ships : peplatta(?), boomer, and maybe frenrey(?) but probably not.

This au is definitely not finished like at all.

Will I write for it?? Maybe, designs may come, i don't feel like drawing today though.

We all work on aus, so it, like, might be messy?, I swear we try to communicate when working on them-

Uh, ya? I'll update this if anything changes, and if I remember...

[murdertoothpick]

in your arms

Summary: Crosshair allows himself to find comfort in your presence after a rough mission.

Pairing: Crosshair x gn!Reader

Warnings: minor injury, mentions of dried blood, very slight angst, Crosshair being a little insecure. SFW.

Word count: 732

A/N: omg omg this is definitely not the first fic ive ever written not at all haha (it is) but im so obsessed with crosshair right now that i really needed to self indulge and figured hey, might as well give this a stab...hope y'all like it!

It was close. You could all feel it: the heat of the surrounding flames, the struggle to get back to the Marauder. This was never going to be an easy battle.

Your arm is strung around Hunter’s neck as he helps you limp back to the ship, passing you to Crosshair before turning back to assist Wrecker in fending off the oncoming droids. 

You hold your breath as Crosshair lifts you up, bringing you into the cool space of metal enclosed walls. A single hand goes to hold your face, eyes meeting yours. 

Are you okay? He wants to ask.

But his lips don't move. He stays quiet, like he always does. 

A shake of the Marauder is enough to separate the two of you from each other, the tension is quelled by the ship’s engine roaring to life. You hear Tech’s voice from where he sits in the cockpit, followed by the echo over the comms.

‘Hunter, the ship is ready, get here now.’ 

You let out a sigh of relief at the sight of Hunter and Wrecker approaching the ship, watching the latter lift his vod to the door before climbing in himself. 

-

A knock on the fresher door pulls your attention away from the scrubbing of your hands, head rising to look at the person’s reflection in the mirror. 

‘Terrible mission hey?’ Crosshair starts, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck. He immediately wants to slap himself for sounding so pathetic.

You scoff, a smile forming on your lips as you return to the dried blood still on your knuckles. ‘You’re terrible at small talk, Cross.’  

He frowns, feigning offence, not at all surprised by your comment. 

Drying off your hands, you turn to him, smirking. ‘Maybe if you were as smooth around me as you are with a blaster, we wouldn’t be constantly dancing around each other.’ 

‘How perceptive,’ he snarks, pushing himself off the door-frame to step towards you. His eyes drop to the moist rag in your hands. ‘May I?’ he gestures to it, taking it from your hands. 

You absentmindedly lean forward as he holds your face, dabbing away the dried smears of blood on your forehead. Your lips rise to a smile, eyes closed as he softly wipes your eyelids. 

‘What's on your mind cyar’ika?’ His voice pulls you out of your reverie, in which you're too absorbed to register the pet name.

You inhale, thinking for a moment. 'I like this.'

A smirk immediately covers his face, the sniper returning to his smugness. 'Of course you do.' Cocky bastard.

You roll your eyes, playfully shoving him away.

'...Though, I'd prefer if you were more careful on the field.'

Crossing your arms, you attempt to size him up, prepared to defend yourself. 'Please, you try running straight into an enemy base without a scratch,' you challenge, grinning when you see the subtle furrowing of his brows. He hums in agreement. 'And besides, what good is a sniper if he's not watching my back?'

His face falls, and you realise your mistake.

'Guess I didn't do a great job did I?' he ponders, loud enough for you to hear. The silence that surrounds the two of you as a result of your ill-thought-out jest is deafening. You mentally curse yourself, considering your next words carefully, but to no avail.

Sighing, you reach for him again, forcing his gaze onto yours. 'I didn't mean it' you apologise, following with a string of 'I'm okay''s and 'don't worry''s that become muffled as you pull the sniper in for a hug.

You can feel him freeze, the rag falling out of his hands. Your arms wrap around him anyways. A silent gesture as to say, I'm not going anywhere.

It's funny—he thinks to himself—that it is you holding him, providing him comfort when he secretly sought out to do it for you. He wants to tell you that he will always look after you, that he will always protect you, that you are the reason he knows what love is. But Crosshair isn't good with words. He knows that.

His actions speak louder. With you, in this dimly lit fresher, he lets his walls fall, much like the rag that left his hands moments before. He snakes his arms around your shoulders, breathing you in. It is in these moments, when he's alone with you and temporarily away from danger, that Crosshair allows himself to find solace in your presence.

[kalinara]

Every time I see someone post something like “And THIS IS WHY MY SHIP WILL HAPPEN” about Ted Lasso (the show), I keep thinking about Ted’s dark forest speech.

We’ve all taken that thing to heart.  We’ve all been going through the harder parts of season two and quoted the damn thing.  But I feel like everyone misses the key part:

“Fairy tales do not start, nor do they end, at the dark forest. That’s only something that shows up smack dab in the middle of the story, but it will all work out. It may not work out how you think it will or how you hope it does. But believe me, it will all work out, exactly as it’s supposed to.”

Emphasis mine.

If you ask me, that’s a pretty strong hint that the most obvious or likely seeming outcome may not actually be the outcome we get.

Unless we have an X-Man hiding in our midst, none of us are mind readers, so none of us know exactly what Sudeikis, Lawrence and the others mean by this.  We don’t know that the outcome that THEY think we expect or want is the same as the outcomes that we actually expect or want.

Just to be on the safe side, I think we should all brace ourselves for the idea that our predictions might...gasp...be WRONG.

It happens sometimes!  We don’t run the show.  We don’t always have the same perspective that the writers do, and vice versa.  Things happen and we don’t expect them.  Ted wasn’t the Bantr guy, after all.

I’ve seen shows that ended with the main characters dating their rapists.  That, thankfully, isn’t likely here.  But it is the sort of thing that puts this crap in perspective.  The showrunners aren’t us.  And they’re not always going to prioritize the same things that we do.

Maybe you’ll be right after all.  Maybe you’ll be wrong, but it will be a good story anyway.  Maybe it’ll all go to hell as a giant trashfire and no one will be happy.

But I think every one of us needs to be able to take a breath occasionally and go “Okay, what if I AM wrong?”  And get our heads out of our asses and stop basing our sense of identity and self-worth on whether or not these two fictional characters, written by people who aren’t us, end up fucking on our television screens.

This is what fandom is FOR.  A show is finite.  It will live and die and then the canon is pretty much done.  (Usually.  Barring soaps and Doctor Who.)  Fandom lives forever though.  And you can define it however you want for the rest of your life.  THAT’s your power here.  Embrace it.

[thorntonkrell-blog-blog]

I was still pretty smart when we lived on Parsells Avenue. I hadn't taken geometry yet.

Still, I knew what a triangle looked like and a square and a circle. I knew what perpendicular was but didn't know the word...same with parallel. I mos def knew the shortest distance between two places was a straight line, especially if someone or something was chasing me. I knew all the backyards that I could cut through without running into barbed wire or yapping dogs.

Parsells Avenue was right smack dab in the middle of the Culver Merchants Neighborhood. The house where I grew up was built in 1920. My grandfather had owned the place before my parent. My cousin Moonyeen was born in that house. Our house was closer to Merchants than to Culver.

The whole area is shaped like a triangle with the sides converging at Merchants and Culver. Culver extends all the way through suburban Irondequoit to Lake Ontario. Within the triangle there is another triangle which constitutes the 18th ward and within that triangle is another nearly equilateral triangle. This was my hood.

By 1955, the triangular-shaped Culver-Merchants Neighborhood had become a busy retail area where businesses set up shop within boundaries that extend south to East Main Street, north to Culver Parkway, west to Culver Road and east to Merchants Road.

One point of the triangle inner triangle was located at Burnsie's. Another point was located at Dee's. The triangle came to a point on Culver Road called Star Fruit and Vegetable. Down the road apiece from Star Fruit and Vegetable was the bus loop where we used to catch the bus to go uptown to see and where we got off after the show.

This a is a tale of three stores.

Burnsie's was on the way to school so we passed that place every day. The owner was a guy named Burns who everybody called Red. Red knew my father from my father's boyhood days. Red liked me. I was one of the few people who called him Mr. Burns. I was uncomfortable calling such an older man Burnsie or Red which he appreciated. He'd throw in a piece of Bazooka bubble gum pro bono now and again.

Dees was headed north toward Irondequoit. For all the years that I went there, I never got past a nodding relationship with the owner. He was Greek guy who didn't speak much English plus he had a weird, lazy eyed glance. He knew that If I was there, I wanted baseball cards. This we both understood even though I don't think he understood either baseball or cards. He kinda gave me that "you're wasting your money" kind of shrug when he handed me the cards. I'm sure he would have preferred selling me a pickle from his awesome pickle jar that he kept on his counter. I knew that wasn't gonna happen.

The Culver-Merchants neighborhood homes may have been built, for the most part, only a century ago, but area streets date back many years earlier as trails for Native Americans, European explorers and settlers. Nearby Ellison Park was the site of Native American and French collaboration in the 1700's and was a place where travelers beached their canoes before following the Portage Trail to the Genesee River. Others traveled the Seneca Trail to native villages farther south. Later, commercial ships brought goods to Irondequoit Bay to be carried overland on what is today’s Merchants Road.

If you headed north and travelled diagonally (which was of course impossible because of all the houses and dogs and fences in the way) from either Burnsie's or Dee's you would wind up at Star Fruit and Vegetable.

Johnny was the owner of Star Fruit and Vegetable. He was younger than "Red" or "Dee". He was a portly, moody dude with an indeterminable hair style. Somedays he's be friendly and other days he'd be suspicious and other days he's just want you to buy something and get the hell out of his store. He had fresh grapes, apples and oranges none of which could be had at the other two places. He also was the only place that sold both grape and cream soda.

Each store had its allure and raison d'etre. Each had a liability. Dees was out of the way with a weirdo behind the counter but he had baseball cards. Star Fruit and Vegetable was on the way home from the movies. Sometimes all we wanted was an apple. Johnny had some baseball cards but ya never knew wheter he had any or not and if he did they were Bowman's not Topps. He was Burns was on the way to school but he didn't have baseball cards but he was our friend.

Another big difference; Red was the only guy who sold Clark bars. Clark bars were my favorite over Three Musketeers, Baby Ruth, Butterfingers.

If you were in the mood for a Clark bar, you headed East.

Clark Bars were a classic American candy bar that has been enjoyed for almost forty years by the time I came along.

The Clark Bar was first introduced in 1917 by the D.L. Clark Company, founded by David L. Clark in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It quickly became a popular treat across the United States. The candy bar consisted of a crunchy peanut butter center covered in a layer of milk chocolate. Plus each bar was cut in half so it was easy to share and split the cost.

Clark Bars were wrapped in a bright orange packaging. The orange color was used as the dominant hue for the wrapper, with the brand name, logo, and other text often printed in contrasting colors, such as white or black, to enhance visibility. The bars were easily recognizable on store shelves or glaring in their absence. They attracted my attention or disappointment every time I entered any kind of Mom and Pop store for the next dozen years until I went away to college.

The original formula of the Clark Bar was pioneered by Irish immigrant David L. Clark in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1917. Its manufacture took advantage of a recently-developed approach that allowed a thin milk chocolate shell to surround a non-chocolate filling. In the case of the Clark Bar, the interior consisted of a crispy confection that included ground peanuts around a caramel core. As such, the Clark Bar became the first successful 'combination' candy bar.

The bar was developed to be sent to troops during World War I, individually wrapped for ease of delivery. It began to be distributed nationally after the war's end, inspiring many manufacturers to produce their own combination bars. During World War II the company was sending daily 1.5 million bars to the armed forces, and when several labor strikes at its plant led to shortages among the troops, the federal government stepped in, calling production "essential" to the war effort.

The Clark Bar was produced by a process taking about 90 minutes. The core ingredients are heated into a taffy-like consistency and flattened into a sheet, which is then coated with a layer of peanut butter, and rolled. After cutting into bar-sized lengths, it is enrobed in liquid chocolate, cooled to harden both core and coating, then packaged.[

Many of the fathers in the Culver Merchants neighborhood were WW2 veterans who had their own memories of Clark bars. My father liked them. I inherited his preference for Clark Bars. My grandfather and his two brothers also liked Clark Bars from their time in WW1.

I haven't had a Clark bar in 20 years.

The company changed hands a few times in the late twentieth century.

The D. L. Clark Co. and its Clark Bar were acquired by Beatrice Foods in 1955, then sold to Leaf Candy Company in 1983. It was under Leaf that production was moved to a new facility in O'Hara Township (suburban Pittsburgh) in 1986. In late 1990, Leaf announced plans to close its O'Hara facility and move production of two other D. L. Clark candy bars, the Zagnut and P. B. Crunchers, to the Chicago area. They decided to cease production of the other Clark products, including the Clark Bar, for which their marketing efforts had failed to achieve a national profile.

Pittsburgh-area entrepreneur Michael Carlow purchased D. L. Clark Co. and its remaining brands from Leaf, and combined it with another struggling but iconic local producer, the Pittsburgh Brewing Company and its Iron City beer, as well as a local bakery and a glass manufacturer, plus the Fort Wayne, Indiana-based producer of Bun Bars under the umbrella of the Pittsburgh Food & Beverage Company, continuing production of the Clark Bar in O'Hara.[However, amidst accusations of a check kiting scheme that would lead to Carlow's eventual imprisonment, he was forced to relinquish control in 1995, and production ceased.[ Leaf then foreclosed on a $3 million loan they were still owed, and commenced making Clark Bars at their Illinois facility with an altered recipe. Months later, Clark's assets were sold through bankruptcy court to the newly-formed Clark Bar America, Inc., which restarted production at the O'Hara facility using the prior recipe.[10] This was short-lived, and the company was shuttered in 1999.[6] The recipe and production equipment were bought at bankruptcy by ......wait for it...... Necco for $4.1 million, and they moved production to their facility in Revere, Massachusetts.[3]

Almost two decades later, Necco would in turn fail and in May 2018 was sold at bankruptcy court to Round Hill Investments LLC, who briefly operated the candy manufacturer under a Sweetheart Candy Co. subsidiary before selling the assets in July 2018 and abruptly closing Necco's Revere production facility.] At the time of purchase, Boyer planned to restart production of the Clark Bar in western Pennsylvania within six months. Challenges with production machinery speed and reproducing the bar's consistency and shape pushed back their reintroduction, but did provide the raw material for Boyer's first Clark-related product, the Clark Cup, a peanut butter cup that originally included ground misshapen Clark Bar in the filling. Once Boyer resolved these production issues, the Clark Bar was available at the factory outlet in late-December 2019,[26] and was released on a limited basis to stores in the Pittsburgh area in mid-February 2020, to be followed first by a full Pittsburgh release, and then sale nationwide, but as of December 2021, production was still limited, with distribution only to Pittsburgh-area speciality candy stores.

Meanwhile back in the hood Red Burns sold his store which was converted into a nifty, trendy liquor store. Dees disappeared shortly after and was replaced by a sports collectible shop called The Hot Stove League at the exact moment that the value of baseball cards was exploding. Meanwhile Star fruit and vegetable added something new and formidable to its inventory....records. It began with 45's and expanded to albums.

I headed off to college.

When I came home to visit in 1966. I bought some Thunderbird Wine at the liquor store, bought a bunch of cards at the Hot Stove and finally stopped at Star for the last time and bought The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan album.

Everything but a Clark Bar. Instead, I settled for a roll of chocolate necco wafers.

The Clark Bar originally included a caramel 'center of attraction'.[8] In 1965, the recipe was changed to increase the peanut butter content and thus enhance flavor.[9] The caramel center would be removed from the recipe in the 1980s to increase its shelf-life.[8] In 1995, an alternative recipe would briefly be used.[10]

The orange packaging of Clark Bars helped make them easily recognizable on store shelves and gave them a distinctive appearance among other candy bars. The color choice was likely a deliberate marketing decision to attract attention and create brand recognition.

In terms of packaging, Clark Bars have undergone several changes throughout their history. Initially, they were packaged in a simple wax paper wrapping with the Clark Bar logo and name printed on it. Over the years, as packaging technology evolved, the candy bar started being wrapped in foil, similar to many other chocolate bars.

The traditional packaging of Clark Bars featured a silver foil wrapper with the brand name and logo imprinted on it. The logo typically displayed the word "Clark" in bold, stylized lettering. The foil wrapping helped to preserve the freshness and quality of the candy while also providing an attractive and recognizable appearance.

In recent years, the packaging of Clark Bars has seen some updates. The bar is now typically wrapped in a plastic wrapper with the Clark Bar logo prominently displayed. The design may vary slightly, but it generally features the brand name and logo in a bold and eye-catching manner.

It's worth noting that in September 2018, the Boyer Candy Company acquired the Clark Bar brand from the New England Confectionery Company (NECCO), which was facing financial difficulties at the time. Boyer Candy has continued the production and distribution of Clark Bars, ensuring that this classic candy bar remains available to consumers.

Please keep in mind that while this information was accurate up until my knowledge cutoff in September 2021, there may have been further updates or changes to the packaging of Clark Bars since then.

it seems to me that the packaging was orangeChatGPT

I apologize for any confusion caused by my previous response. I appreciate your correction. You are right, the packaging of Clark Bars indeed featured an orange color scheme. Thank you for bringing that to my attention.

Traditionally, Clark Bars were wrapped in a bright orange packaging. The orange color was used as the dominant hue for the wrapper, with the brand name, logo, and other text often printed in contrasting colors, such as white or black, to enhance visibility.

The orange packaging of Clark Bars helped make them easily recognizable on store shelves and gave them a distinctive appearance among other candy bars. The color choice was likely a deliberate marketing decision to attract attention and create brand recognition.

It's important to note that packaging designs can evolve over time, so there may have been variations or updates to the packaging of Clark Bars since my knowledge cutoff in September 2021. For the most accurate and up-to-date information, I recommend referring to the packaging of Clark Bars as they are currently available in stores or reaching out to the Boyer Candy Company, the current owner of the brand.

The original formula of the Clark Bar was pioneered by Irish immigrant David L. Clark in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1917. Its manufacture took advantage of a recently-developed approach that allowed a thin milk chocolate shell to surround a non-chocolate filling. In the case of the Clark Bar, the interior consisted of a crispy confection that included ground peanuts around a caramel core. As such, the Clark Bar became the first successful 'combination' candy bar.[1] The bar was developed to be sent to troops during World War I,[2] individually wrapped for ease of delivery.[3] It began to be distributed nationally after the war's end, inspiring many manufacturers to produce their own combination bars.[4] The small size of its double-bars contributed to their popularity.[5] During World War II the company was sending daily 1.5 million bars to the armed forces, and when several labor strikes at its plant led to shortages among the troops, the federal government stepped in, calling production "essential" to the war effort.[6] Related products were also produced, such as the smaller-sized Clark Bar Miniatures, Clark Bar Bites and Clark Bar Juniors,[3] along with seasonal Clark Bar Easter Eggs,[7] and a dark chocolate variety.

The Clark Bar originally included a caramel 'center of attraction'.[8] In 1965, the recipe was changed to increase the peanut butter content and thus enhance flavor.[9] The caramel center would be removed from the recipe in the 1980s to increase its shelf-life.[8] In 1995, an alternative recipe would briefly be used.[10]

Ownership changes From 1911, the Clark company operated out of a North Side production facility, and this was long where the Clark Bar was produced. The illuminated oversized roof-top Clark Bar sign that decorated the original North Side factory would become a Pittsburgh landmark,[11] while a restaurant that operates in the retasked building is named the Clark Bar & Grill in reflection of the treat once made there.[12]

The D. L. Clark Co. and its Clark Bar were acquired by Beatrice Foods in 1955, then sold to Leaf Candy Company in 1983. It was under Leaf that production was moved to a new facility in O'Hara Township (suburban Pittsburgh) in 1986. In late 1990, Leaf announced plans to close its O'Hara facility and move production of two other D. L. Clark candy bars, the Zagnut and P. B. Crunchers, to the Chicago area. They decided to cease production of the other Clark products, including the Clark Bar, for which their marketing efforts had failed to achieve a national profile.[13][14][15]

Pittsburgh-area entrepreneur Michael Carlow purchased D. L. Clark Co. and its remaining brands from Leaf, and combined it with another struggling but iconic local producer, the Pittsburgh Brewing Company and its Iron City beer, as well as a local bakery and a glass manufacturer, plus the Fort Wayne, Indiana-based producer of Bun Bars under the umbrella of the Pittsburgh Food & Beverage Company, continuing production of the Clark Bar in O'Hara.[16] However, amidst accusations of a check kiting scheme that would lead to Carlow's eventual imprisonment,[17][18] he was forced to relinquish control in 1995, and production ceased.[16][19] Leaf then foreclosed on a $3 million loan they were still owed, and commenced making Clark Bars at their Illinois facility with an altered recipe. Months later, Clark's assets were sold through bankruptcy court to the newly-formed Clark Bar America, Inc., which restarted production at the O'Hara facility using the prior recipe.[10] This was short-lived, and the company was shuttered in 1999.[6] The recipe and production equipment were bought at bankruptcy by Necco for $4.1 million, and they moved production to their facility in Revere, Massachusetts.[3]

Almost two decades later, Necco would in turn fail and in May 2018 was sold at bankruptcy court to Round Hill Investments LLC, who briefly operated the candy manufacturer under a Sweetheart Candy Co. subsidiary before selling the assets in July 2018 and abruptly closing Necco's Revere production facility.[20] The undisclosed buyer, later revealed to have been Spangler Candy Company,[21] would in turn sell the rights to the Clark Bar to the Boyer Candy Company, maker of the Mallo Cup.[22] Based in Altoona, Pennsylvania, they had originally bid on the Clark Bar in the 1990s.[23] At the time of purchase, Boyer planned to restart production of the Clark Bar in western Pennsylvania within six months.[22] Challenges with production machinery speed[24] and reproducing the bar's consistency and shape pushed back their reintroduction, but did provide the raw material for Boyer's first Clark-related product, the Clark Cup, a peanut butter cup that originally included ground misshapen Clark Bar in the filling.[25] Once Boyer resolved these production issues, the Clark Bar was available at the factory outlet in late-December 2019,[26] and was released on a limited basis to stores in the Pittsburgh area in mid-February 2020, to be followed first by a full Pittsburgh release, and then sale nationwide,[27][28] but as of December 2021, production was still limited, with distribution only to Pittsburgh-area specialty candy stores.[29]

In part due to its historical association with the military, the Clark Bar was selected to feature repeatedly in the 2022 debut season of the Amazon Prime Video series, Reacher.[30]

Manufacturing process As described during the period of Necco's ownership, the Clark Bar is produced by a process taking about 90 minutes. The core ingredients are heated into a taffy-like consistency and flattened into a sheet, which is then coated with a layer of peanut butter, and rolled. After cutting into bar-sized lengths, it is enrobed in liquid chocolate, cooled to harden both core and coating, then packaged.[31] The process of manufacturing the Clark Bar was featured on a segment of the documentary television series How It's Made in 2016.[32]

I haven't seen a clark bar in years do they still existChatGPT

Yes, Clark Bars do still exist. While they may not be as widely available as some other popular candy bars, they continue to be produced and can be found in certain stores and online retailers.

As mentioned earlier, the Boyer Candy Company acquired the Clark Bar brand in 2018 and has continued to manufacture and distribute Clark Bars. They are dedicated to preserving the heritage and taste of the original Clark Bar.

However, it's worth noting that the availability of Clark Bars may vary depending on your location. They may be more commonly found in certain regions or specialty stores. Online retailers can be a good resource for purchasing Clark Bars if they are not readily available in your local area.

If you have trouble finding Clark Bars, you can also reach out to the Boyer Candy Company directly for information on where to purchase them or for any other inquiries related to the candy bar.

In 1954, we had two places to spend our pennies, nickles and dimes, Burnsies and Dees. They were both on Culver Road. We passed by Burnsies on our way to school each day if we didn't take the shoert cut through the field. Dees was in the other direction about equidistant from my home but heading towards Empire Boulevard rather than Winton Road. One road, diverging on two different stores and the way we turned made a lot of difference.

When I say spending our pennies, I mean it literally. This was the era of penny candy. For two cents, you could get two rolls of Necco Wafers. Necco Wafers were a classic American candy known for their colorful, round, and flat shape. They have been enjoyed by generations since their introduction in 1847. Necco, short for New England Confectionery Company, was the original manufacturer of these candies.

Necco Wafers came in a roll-style packaging, similar to many other candy rolls. The packaging was made of a cylindrical tube, made of paper. The tube was designed to be compact and portable, making it convenient to carry and enjoy the candy on the mile long journey to school.

We could buy a roll of Neccos on the way to school and another roll on the way back from school and still have change if we had a nickel. Burnsies did not sell baseball cards. If he did, we would have sacrificed the wafers. Baseball cards and comics were only available at Dees which made further difference in the divergent stores.

So we bought our wafers and went on our merry way. The wafer packaging prominently featured the Necco logo, which typically appeared on a colored background. The logo had a vintage feel with a stylized font and often included an image of a candy wafer. The color scheme varied over the years, but it usually featured bold and vibrant colors to match the assortment of flavors inside.

Inside the packaging, the Necco Wafers were neatly stacked in a circular formation. The wafers themselves were approximately 1.5 inches in diameter and about 0.1 inches thick. They had a smooth, slightly chalky texture and were imprinted with the word "NECCO" on one side.

The original Necco Wafers came in a distinctive assortment of flavors and colors, including:

Lemon (yellow)

Lime (green)

Orange (orange)

Clove (purple)

Cinnamon (white)

Wintergreen (pink)

Licorice (black)

Chocolate (brown)

Caramel (tan)

Each flavor had its own distinct taste, ranging from sweet and fruity to spicy and aromatic.My favorite wafer was the chocolate wafer by a mile. I was fair to neutral on the rest. The chocolate wafer was usually towards the bottom of the pack so by the time I got to the choccolate, I was getting close to school or home.

After a while, it became clear that I wasn't alone in my preference for the chalkalate chocolate.

I had an idea

Wouldn't it be great if Necco made wafer rolls that were only one flavor...that flavor being chocolate. Most of the kids I walked with loved the idea but not everybody. Licorice was still a big deal back then so some kids didn't want to give up the licorice. I told them don't worry about it. The roll of all chocolate wafers will never happen.

Then one bright, sunshiny day a rumor started. Dees had Necco wafer chocolate rolls available. I couldn't believe my ears especially because my aunt Rose had given me my first half dollar. Me and my buddy Al made our way to Dees and there they were. They actually existed. I had a nickel in my pocket before Rose gave me the half dollar. I bought five rolls of chocolate Necco wafers and ten packs of baseball cards. I had never spent that much money in my life. Within the baseball cards, I got the most valuable card of the time...the Willie Mays card.....not only one but twice. I had doubles of the card that everybody was after and enough wafers to walk to and from school for a week, if I mixed in a Clark Bar. My parents didn't know about Rose's generosity and she asked me to keep it quiet so I could get the usual nickel from my parents. I kept her secret for the rest of her life.

It was a great, great day...to this day, one of the best.

It's worth mentioning that while Necco Wafers were once discontinued, they made a comeback in 2020 after being acquired by the Spangler Candy Company. However, the packaging and specific details may have changed since the time of my knowledge cutoff in September 2021.

what caused their discontinuationChatGPT

Necco Wafers were discontinued in 2018 due to the closure of the New England Confectionery Company (Necco). Necco faced financial difficulties and went through a bankruptcy auction. The company's assets, including its candy brands, were sold off to different buyers.

At that time, the future of Necco Wafers was uncertain, and there was a period where production and distribution ceased. The candy became increasingly difficult to find as existing stock diminished from store shelves.

However, in 2020, the Spangler Candy Company acquired the Necco Wafers brand and resumed production. Spangler Candy Company is known for its popular candies like Dum Dums and Circus Peanuts. They recognized the nostalgic appeal of Necco Wafers and decided to revive the iconic candy for its fans.

did they experiment with packages of chocolate wafersChatGPT

I apologize for any confusion, but as of my knowledge cutoff in September 2021, there were no official reports or information about Necco Wafers experimenting with packages of chocolate wafers. The original Necco Wafers assortment included a chocolate-flavored wafer, but it was one of several flavors in the mix. The primary focus of Necco Wafers was the colorful assortment of flavors rather than solely chocolate.

However, it's important to note that after the Spangler Candy Company acquired Necco Wafers in 2020, they may have made changes or introduced new variations to the product line. For the most accurate and up-to-date information, I recommend checking with the Spangler Candy Company or referring to their official product descriptions and announcements.

Chocolate was everybody's favorite wafer so I recall tubes that were only chocolateChatGPT

I apologize for any confusion caused by my previous response. While Necco Wafers did include a chocolate-flavored wafer in their original assortment, it's important to note that my knowledge is based on information available up until September 2021. As a result, I may not have the most recent updates on product variations or changes.

However, it is possible that at some point in the history of Necco Wafers, they may have experimented with packaging tubes that contained only chocolate-flavored wafers. Candy manufacturers often introduce different packaging options or limited edition variations to cater to specific preferences or seasonal demand.

If there were tubes that contained only chocolate-flavored wafers, it would have been a variation of the traditional Necco Wafers assortment. To obtain the most accurate and up-to-date information, I recommend reaching out to the Spangler Candy Company, the current owner of Necco Wafers, for details about their product offerings, including any variations or changes they may have made since my knowledge cutoff in September 2021.

Necco Wafers date back to 1847. Oliver Chase, an English immigrant, invented a lozenge cutting machine with which he produced the wafers. At the time of the Civil War, these were called "hub wafers" and were carried by Union soldiers. In 1901, Chase and Company merged with two other companies to incorporate the New England Confectionery Company (Necco). By 1912, the wafers were being advertised as "Necco Wafers", a name they have carried since.[2]

During World War II, the United States government ordered Necco to produce its wafers for soldiers overseas. As a result of this action, Necco saw its sales of the wafers peak. Upon returning home, many former soldiers became faithful customers who continued to buy the wafers.[1]

The Necco company was acquired several times, first in 1963, and most recently in 2018.[3][4] In 2018, the future of Necco Wafers was unclear after the Necco company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.[5] Round Hill Investments purchased the company out of bankruptcy for $17.3 million in May 2018, but then abruptly ended operations at Necco on July 24, 2018, citing "sanitation issues" it claimed it was previously unaware of.

Round Hill sold off various Necco lines to other candy companies. Necco Wafers (which retains the Necco name and logo), Sweethearts, and Canada Mints, as well as the equipment used to manufacture them, were sold to the Spangler Candy Company of Bryan, Ohio. In September 2018, Spangler announced plans to return the Necco Wafer to the market, initially giving a target date of November 2019.[6] In May 2020, Spangler said that Necco Wafers were back in production at a facility in Mexico and ready for release.[7]

history and packaging of Clark barsChatGPT

Clark Bars are a classic American candy bar that has been enjoyed for over a century. Here is a brief history and description of Clark Bars, including their packaging.

The Clark Bar was first introduced in 1917 by the D.L. Clark Company, founded by David L. Clark in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It quickly became a popular treat across the United States. The candy bar consists of a crunchy peanut butter center covered in a layer of milk chocolate.

In terms of packaging, Clark Bars have undergone several changes throughout their history. Initially, they were packaged in a simple wax paper wrapping with the Clark Bar logo and name printed on it. Over the years, as packaging technology evolved, the candy bar started being wrapped in foil, similar to many other chocolate bars.

The traditional packaging of Clark Bars featured a silver foil wrapper with the brand name and logo imprinted on it. The logo typically displayed the word "Clark" in bold, stylized lettering. The foil wrapping helped to preserve the freshness and quality of the candy while also providing an attractive and recognizable appearance.

In recent years, the packaging of Clark Bars has seen some updates. The bar is now typically wrapped in a plastic wrapper with the Clark Bar logo prominently displayed. The design may vary slightly, but it generally features the brand name and logo in a bold and eye-catching manner.

It's worth noting that in September 2018, the Boyer Candy Company acquired the Clark Bar brand from the New England Confectionery Company (NECCO), which was facing financial difficulties at the time. Boyer Candy has continued the production and distribution of Clark Bars, ensuring that this classic candy bar remains available to consumers.

Please keep in mind that while this information was accurate up until my knowledge cutoff in September 2021, there may have been further updates or changes to the packaging of Clark Bars since then.

it seems to me that the packaging was orangeChatGPT

I apologize for any confusion caused by my previous response. I appreciate your correction. You are right, the packaging of Clark Bars indeed featured an orange color scheme. Thank you for bringing that to my attention.

Traditionally, Clark Bars were wrapped in a bright orange packaging. The orange color was used as the dominant hue for the wrapper, with the brand name, logo, and other text often printed in contrasting colors, such as white or black, to enhance visibility.

The orange packaging of Clark Bars helped make them easily recognizable on store shelves and gave them a distinctive appearance among other candy bars. The color choice was likely a deliberate marketing decision to attract attention and create brand recognition.

It's important to note that packaging designs can evolve over time, so there may have been variations or updates to the packaging of Clark Bars since my knowledge cutoff in September 2021. For the most accurate and up-to-date information, I recommend referring to the packaging of Clark Bars as they are currently available in stores or reaching out to the Boyer Candy Company, the current owner of the brand.

The original formula of the Clark Bar was pioneered by Irish immigrant David L. Clark in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1917. Its manufacture took advantage of a recently-developed approach that allowed a thin milk chocolate shell to surround a non-chocolate filling. In the case of the Clark Bar, the interior consisted of a crispy confection that included ground peanuts around a caramel core. As such, the Clark Bar became the first successful 'combination' candy bar.[1] The bar was developed to be sent to troops during World War I,[2] individually wrapped for ease of delivery.[3] It began to be distributed nationally after the war's end, inspiring many manufacturers to produce their own combination bars.[4] The small size of its double-bars contributed to their popularity.[5] During World War II the company was sending daily 1.5 million bars to the armed forces, and when several labor strikes at its plant led to shortages among the troops, the federal government stepped in, calling production "essential" to the war effort.[6] Related products were also produced, such as the smaller-sized Clark Bar Miniatures, Clark Bar Bites and Clark Bar Juniors,[3] along with seasonal Clark Bar Easter Eggs,[7] and a dark chocolate variety.

The Clark Bar originally included a caramel 'center of attraction'.[8] In 1965, the recipe was changed to increase the peanut butter content and thus enhance flavor.[9] The caramel center would be removed from the recipe in the 1980s to increase its shelf-life.[8] In 1995, an alternative recipe would briefly be used.[10]

Ownership changes From 1911, the Clark company operated out of a North Side production facility, and this was long where the Clark Bar was produced. The illuminated oversized roof-top Clark Bar sign that decorated the original North Side factory would become a Pittsburgh landmark,[11] while a restaurant that operates in the retasked building is named the Clark Bar & Grill in reflection of the treat once made there.[12]

The D. L. Clark Co. and its Clark Bar were acquired by Beatrice Foods in 1955, then sold to Leaf Candy Company in 1983. It was under Leaf that production was moved to a new facility in O'Hara Township (suburban Pittsburgh) in 1986. In late 1990, Leaf announced plans to close its O'Hara facility and move production of two other D. L. Clark candy bars, the Zagnut and P. B. Crunchers, to the Chicago area. They decided to cease production of the other Clark products, including the Clark Bar, for which their marketing efforts had failed to achieve a national profile.[13][14][15]

Pittsburgh-area entrepreneur Michael Carlow purchased D. L. Clark Co. and its remaining brands from Leaf, and combined it with another struggling but iconic local producer, the Pittsburgh Brewing Company and its Iron City beer, as well as a local bakery and a glass manufacturer, plus the Fort Wayne, Indiana-based producer of Bun Bars under the umbrella of the Pittsburgh Food & Beverage Company, continuing production of the Clark Bar in O'Hara.[16] However, amidst accusations of a check kiting scheme that would lead to Carlow's eventual imprisonment,[17][18] he was forced to relinquish control in 1995, and production ceased.[16][19] Leaf then foreclosed on a $3 million loan they were still owed, and commenced making Clark Bars at their Illinois facility with an altered recipe. Months later, Clark's assets were sold through bankruptcy court to the newly-formed Clark Bar America, Inc., which restarted production at the O'Hara facility using the prior recipe.[10] This was short-lived, and the company was shuttered in 1999.[6] The recipe and production equipment were bought at bankruptcy by Necco for $4.1 million, and they moved production to their facility in Revere, Massachusetts.[3]

Almost two decades later, Necco would in turn fail and in May 2018 was sold at bankruptcy court to Round Hill Investments LLC, who briefly operated the candy manufacturer under a Sweetheart Candy Co. subsidiary before selling the assets in July 2018 and abruptly closing Necco's Revere production facility.[20] The undisclosed buyer, later revealed to have been Spangler Candy Company,[21] would in turn sell the rights to the Clark Bar to the Boyer Candy Company, maker of the Mallo Cup.[22] Based in Altoona, Pennsylvania, they had originally bid on the Clark Bar in the 1990s.[23] At the time of purchase, Boyer planned to restart production of the Clark Bar in western Pennsylvania within six months.[22] Challenges with production machinery speed[24] and reproducing the bar's consistency and shape pushed back their reintroduction, but did provide the raw material for Boyer's first Clark-related product, the Clark Cup, a peanut butter cup that originally included ground misshapen Clark Bar in the filling.[25] Once Boyer resolved these production issues, the Clark Bar was available at the factory outlet in late-December 2019,[26] and was released on a limited basis to stores in the Pittsburgh area in mid-February 2020, to be followed first by a full Pittsburgh release, and then sale nationwide,[27][28] but as of December 2021, production was still limited, with distribution only to Pittsburgh-area specialty candy stores.[29]

In part due to its historical association with the military, the Clark Bar was selected to feature repeatedly in the 2022 debut season of the Amazon Prime Video series, Reacher.[30]

Manufacturing process As described during the period of Necco's ownership, the Clark Bar is produced by a process taking about 90 minutes. The core ingredients are heated into a taffy-like consistency and flattened into a sheet, which is then coated with a layer of peanut butter, and rolled. After cutting into bar-sized lengths, it is enrobed in liquid chocolate, cooled to harden both core and coating, then packaged.[31] The process of manufacturing the Clark Bar was featured on a segment of the documentary television series How It's Made in 2016.[32]

I haven't seen a clark bar in years do they still existChatGPT

Yes, Clark Bars do still exist. While they may not be as widely available as some other popular candy bars, they continue to be produced and can be found in certain stores and online retailers.

As mentioned earlier, the Boyer Candy Company acquired the Clark Bar brand in 2018 and has continued to manufacture and distribute Clark Bars. They are dedicated to preserving the heritage and taste of the original Clark Bar.

However, it's worth noting that the availability of Clark Bars may vary depending on your location. They may be more commonly found in certain regions or specialty stores. Online retailers can be a good resource for purchasing Clark Bars if they are not readily available in your local area.

If you have trouble finding Clark Bars, you can also reach out to the Boyer Candy Company directly for information on where to purchase them or for any other inquiries related to the candy bar.