#Been through some changes lately but cosplaying is still a constant

[littlemissazure]

You may think this cosplay is complete but little do you know that I still have to hem the sleeves again and make a new crown before I can even wear this out.

You guys should cosplay childhood crushes, it's fun! Daphne from Dragon's Lair was mine since I was 8.

[bizarrelovesquare]

Hello, it’s Evie, and this is my new account!

brief explanation under the cut so I can get it off my chest, but it’s not required to read <3

I realized over the last several months that I did not like being perceived the way I was online, and that I have the power to just walk away and start over on a smaller scale and avoid anything I don’t want to be part of. In July, with no warning, I cleared out and abandoned/deactivated any accounts around the web that didn’t make me happy. All I have now are this, pinterest, ao3, and a new private twitter just for close friends.

Being online had come to feel like an expectation, no longer something for recreation, and most of it wasn’t fun. It honestly had been feeling that way for awhile, but I reached the last straw when I briefly got involved with a fandom on twitter (yuck) several months ago that was absolutely horrid. I realized what a mess it all really was, I finally snapped, and I got the hell away from everything and everyone.

It was easy to leave other sites because there was so much that I wanted to escape from--the hostility and toxicity, people’s dumbassery, the feeling of not being adequate enough as an artist, the pressure to get constant interaction, feeling like I was being watched all the time by hundreds to thousands of people who didn’t care about me as a person, etc. Social media was too much for my introvert self. However, I was on the fence about what I wanted to do with tumblr, so I sat on it for two months and mulled it over. I actually love this site because it’s mostly chill and has the best format, it’s creative, and it’s easy to avoid anything you don’t want to see, but I just didn’t love the baggage that I had on my old blog. I’d been on there since 2013 and had grown and changed a lot, particularly over the past year, and there was so much way back in there that didn’t represent who I’ve come to be, and it honestly made me feel stuck, even after I tried changing my url, giving that blog a makeover, and being more myself.

Several years ago, I spent an ungodly amount of time on this site trying to appeal to others, instead of letting myself just exist authentically and showcase all of my personality. I got fandom popular pretty early on, and for a long time, it made me feel like it was my duty to post about the things that got me popular and make original posts that my heart wasn’t even halfway into, worded in a way that would get notes. Keep in mind, I was younger and dumber when doing that and had nothing else going for me at that time (it was a low point in life). I definitely grew out of that mentality, but I couldn’t get away from all the posts I’d made that I no longer cared about that wouldn’t stop getting notes and the reputation I had developed for being known for a particular thing. I felt like there were too many followers who weren’t really there for me as a person or any other niche interests of mine, and it was really holding me back from just posting what I want and as much as I want, even after I quit caring and tried to just present as the real me. I knew it was my blog and it didn’t matter what others wanted, but I think the main thing was that I felt held back by my older ways of using tumblr, and I realized that I don’t want anything from that period of my life still attached to me. I didn’t know who I was back then, so I defined myself by an obsession. These days, I want people to see me as a whole person with a real life who just happens to also really like some things.

On top of that, again back when I was several years younger and at the lowest point of my life, I used to vent way too much about negative things in my personal life that don’t matter anymore, and even though I went through my archive and deleted them all, even though I know nobody else remembers them or is looking at them, I still knew that they happened, and I didn’t want that energy to keep following me. There was also evidence of ex-friendships and relationships I’m not proud of, ways I acted that I just don’t vibe with now, and just too much I remember that didn’t represent current-day me, and I want to actually break the connection to those memories. So with all of that, I decided I’d feel best to remake and start fresh. I got away from negative feelings everywhere else, so why not here, too? Any posts on the old blog that I love can eventually be reblogged over here. I’m going to curate a fresh new gallery of things I love, while feeling at peace about the whole thing.

My life is nothing like it was years ago. I’m actually happy with myself and my life and have been for nearly a year now. I know who I am now. I’ve healed/am healing from a lot of personal things. I have budding careers in everything I love and am working towards my dream life. I’m not ashamed of anything about myself. I still have bad days sometimes, but I don’t live in my misery. I like being positive and want to stay that way as much as possible.

I also never really let me show myself as a creator as much as I would have liked before, and I want to focus more on that from now on. As far as fan content goes, I’ve gotten back into writing fics and am no longer scared to share them. I’ve been working more on cosplay this year than I have in years. I also want to try to get into making gifs. Additionally, I am a writer (fiction and non), photographer, and aspiring designer in real life, so some original work might show up now and then, too, if it’s something I’m really proud of. I also want to post about mental health and recovery. My blog will still have plenty of fan content, but I want to sprinkle in some other things that are important to me as well.

I just want to be in a quiet peaceful corner among good people. Lately, I’ve realized that I want my life to be as lowkey as possible, both online and irl. I just want to vibe and do my thing for myself, surrounded by a few good friends. I learned way too late that fandoms are hell if you branch out too far, and that I also hate being in the spotlight, even in regards to things I create. I don’t exist for the consumption of others, and that’s such a freeing thing to realize. Anything I post/rb is solely because I want it on my blog; I don’t care what happens to it after I put it there. I post for me, I make my art for me (and sometimes my jobs), and if my friends enjoy it, and if I make new friends along the way, that’s awesome! But impressing everybody is just not a thing I can nor want to do anymore. You don’t have to run yourself ragged trying to spread yourself across the internet, whether as a fan or a creator. If a site was to disappear, what do all those likes and followers mean? Absolutely nothing. At the end of the day, all you have is you and how YOU feel about yourself, so spend your time on here (or anywhere, really) existing for you, first and foremost.

I’ve gone back to my very old internet days of not trying to impress anyone, while combining that mentality with the wisdom and sense of self that I’ve gained with age. Maybe you won’t be able to tell a difference, but I’m the one living in my head, and I definitely can tell that I’ve grown, a lot in my life has changed, and I am much more confident in myself, and I want to have a blog that 100% feels like me and has no bad associations attached. I’m not the first person to make a new account and won’t be the last. Things like this are supposed to mostly be FOR FUN, and too many people these days have gotten away from that. Don’t feel like you have to keep living up to some reputation that was built years ago, and don’t feel like you exist for others. Be yourself, embrace changes as you grow, do what’s comfortable and healthy for you and makes you happy, and the right people will like you for that. The most important of them being you. <3

[blackfemmecharacterdependency]

12. On Your Side

Decided to publish what I had worked on before my hiatus, mainly for Tina and nem, as a Xmas thing. Ion celebrate that shit, happy holidays or whatever. I was hoping to have completed the story by now, but with my break for mental health, I guess it's either pushed back or gonna be abandoned. Will know in a couple of weeks or so what, if anything I intend to do with it. Its an Apex centered chapter. I'm still on hiatus. You can leave a review if you want to, but don't message me about Simon or this story. Thanks.

*The Grace St. Catherine Playlist, featuring songs used in chapter and songs that inspired the chapter*

“Even through the darkest phase

Be it thick or thin

Always someone marches brave

Here beneath my skin…” Grace let the music play in the background as she tried to do all of the things suggested to her by her “spiritual advisor,” Sunny, whenever she moved into the place. She was doing more drawing - mostly sketches of carnage and rage. She was journaling a lot, mostly in the form of a narrative told by a hypothetical fictional character, because admitting to the things that she was doing on paper was a huge no-no, so she simply projected her life through her journaling character, The Saint, whom would never be referred to by name in any of the entries. In this particular one, The Saint was contemplating calling The Shadow. What would the conversation even be like? He would tell her how bad she was for being mad at him. She would tell him that she only hurt bad people, but he hurt a friend… he hurt her. That was different. So different. But she MISSED him.

She had began to sketch him. She was more of a doodler/drew cartoons and comics on her phone and stuff… but she was shut up in this place for hours at a time and hadn’t really used a pencil and a sketch book seriously in a while. Then, it got away from her. After a few days, she had almost filled up a sketch book with drawings of Simon. She winced when she thought of his name. She had been avoiding speaking it and thinking it. “And constant craving has always been…” She stared at the phone, then changed the track. The last thing she needed was to think about craving, of all things…

Now, that the phone was in her hand, she glanced around, feeling that paranoia that she had since she left home. Nobody was watching her here, but she felt obligated to check, anyway, and upon verifying what she already knew - that nobody was fucking watching her - she went to visit his social media. Private? Since when? She checked another. Same thing. A third, same fucking thing! “UGH!!!” She threw her phone onto the couch and went to go chop wood. She didn’t really like to chop wood, but it did make her feel better to swing a tool and see destruction come out of it.

“Old wounds

Old fights

Another day goes by

I'm not playing by the rules

They can't take me for no fool…” Her phone continued singing as she went outside.

.

Jalicia Barrett was not the same type of watch as Grace was. She obviously wasn’t as upscale as Grace, so she wound up having much to do that was necessary, unlike Grace’s schedule of playing a typical woman. Now, to say that Jalicia was typical would be a stretch of the imagination, as Simon knew that none of Grace’s people were that and she had possibly an unreasonable amount of tiger items, but she was closer to an average person than Grace was.

She went to Seattle University, but hadn't selected a major. She was still doing general studies after taking a few years to get her GED (She began trying at 16 and only successfully received it less than a year ago), so.. a freshman in college, which wasn't bad. She was 19. She worked on campus and seemed to have other odd jobs, like being a delivery driver or personal cab, and stuff at that Infinity Foundation place.

She didn’t have rich parents. From what Simon was able to find, she was never reunited with them, whoever they were. If they had lived in Seattle when she was taken, there was nothing on file to indicate that she was reported missing. Of course… he didn’t know what her real name was. The name Jalicia Barrett only became a name for her in the year after Grace left the mental institution. He knew that was likely connected.

Maybe… she wound up in the system after Grace touched base with them? At any rate… whoever the girl who was brought into trafficking had been, she was now Jalicia Barrett, a girl who began existing when she was 13 or 14 and obviously probably didn’t know her DOB either, as it was on record as the day that her name was given, her documents were created all around the same time, so she had to either have been a baby whenever she was taken, or simply never knew her personal information like birth date and full name.

BUT, she did have prints on file, so she probably had birth records that could be matched to them somewhere. He didn’t know if he wanted to get into that… or if she hadn’t done so herself and simply decided that life was easier being the person that she knew herself to be now. He certainly couldn’t imagine separating from his loved ones and then not finding them for a decade or so and then just… trying to pretend that they were family after all or something. She had the family she wanted… Well… she lost one. He felt bad for her. It wasn’t the same, but whenever he lost Grace, he felt like his world collapsed. To even pretend to understand how this woman must feel losing her life partner after years of being together, he wouldn’t insult her like that. Instead, he looked into the details surrounding that. Whatever happened to that investigation?

He’d provided an alibi for them and the police never spoke with him again. He’d done his best playing ignorant and pretending that everything was casual. Whenever they asked him about Heath, he said that he didn’t know Heath. “I’ve only met him once and he didn’t show up to the gathering… Is he alright?” They didn’t answer, just wished him a good day.

Now, he was looking through their paperwork and he was sure that he might find something interesting, if not useful. Simon had no idea what he was looking for with these other people. Something that led him back to Grace’s trail, and he had to figure out how they worked to even presume that…

Here’s the thing… Simon wasn’t going to write himself off as wrong or going too far. For crying out loud, the things that these people did, and they felt justified in their reasonings, so he wasn’t going to allow himself to feel bad. Grace might need him, and Xander was keeping her away from him. He cursed himself over that gun, though. However, IF she would have just let him explain that he only had it to keep Xander from getting it! He didn’t know what to think when he holstered it, but it wasn’t for her! Why would he hurt her? He scanned through paperwork, trying to take his mind off of Grace’s lack of faith in him and then, he was sure that he found what he needed. If not; he’d found something interesting. “Huh.”

.

Grace called Sunny for more tips. She was doing everything that she told her to, and reading all these books and articles, ordering all sorts of holistic woo woo shit, and trying SO HARD just to not lose it out there… Sunny was always a mood lifter for her though. They would talk for however long, laugh, joke, sometimes get entirely too serious and cry… they hadn’t done this in a long time, but Grace had been calling her more frequently lately and, well… it was necessary for her to be available.

“It’s like… I don’t want to use this word lightly, and I especially can’t tell Xan, but I feel like I’m like… addicted… Does that sound stupid?”

“Xander doesn’t own the word addicted, Grace. He’s struggled with a few drugs over the years, but one of the reasons is because he’s sick. Some people can try things and never really become addicted to them because those things didn’t appeal to them in that way. This dude appealed to you in a way that your body wasn’t used to. He got into your mind, and most likely changed the chemical balance. Affected your hormones and shit, only to find that he wasn’t what you thought and now your chemicals gotta try to balance back out without his influence, so no, it doesn’t sound stupid. Perhaps melodramatic, but I don’t know. You could be addicted to the way that he made you feel. Going through dick withdrawals is a struggle that people don’t give enough credence, too.”

Grace snorted. “I’m… not… going through that. We weren’t like that. I don’t even know if he ever was into me that way? It was like… I don’t know… I never got the feeling that he desired me physically.”

“What feeling did you get?”

“For the most part, that he wanted me around. I don’t know why. He never seemed to be asking anything of me but to let him be near me. He was very good about not entering my personal space, and even when I got comfortable, he still never made any move on me or anything like that. He just seemed to like to be… present.”

“Okay, but what would he be doing when he was present?”

“Sometimes nothing, really. Just looking at me, or listening to me. Sometimes, we were doing our own thing - me reading a book. Him playing video games or writing, or… Idk, working on a cosplay outfit.”

“Girl, on what?”

“He’s a fantasy fanboy before he’s a fantasy writer, so he you know… makes cosplay costumes and stuff for conventions. Whenever he’s not scheduled to be on a panel at one… This is something that I’ve observed, not something that he’s said. He… doesn’t talk about himself a lot. Not at all, come to think about it.”

“Xander makes him out to be a literal serial killer.”

“Xander hates him. What about 808? What does she say? Xan seems to think that he “got to her” or played some kind of mind games or something?”

“Well… she didn’t say anything to me about him, except that he was very talkative and apparently worships you. She was pretty thrown off guard at how comfortable he seemed with being caught and held hostage. She said that he is either the most nonchalant person ever or the craziest fucking person that she’s ever drawn a weapon on, because he acted like they were buddies just chitchatting, and we all know that he knows what we do to people.” Grace didn’t reply. Sunny offered, “Well, whenever I think about the shit that I went through with Xander and how we always seem to find each other in the dark, it's usually in terms of No Angel.”

Grace said, “Beyonce’s No Angel?”

“”Is… Is there another one? Because, if there’s anything AND a Beyonce song, just go ahead and assume that I am only speaking of the Beyonce option.” Grace laughed. Sunny recited, “ I love you even more than who I thought you were before.” Grace held her breath, unsure of what to say to this. Sunny continued, “All I mean to say is that sometimes people aren’t who we initially thought. Sometimes they’re worse. Sometimes they are seriously fucked up. Sometimes, they’re absolute trash… But… you might still love their ass.”

“Damn, Sis… Is this how you feel about Xan? Because those are some hard descriptions.”

“No. Xander is definitely a hot mess, but I was absolutely describing your… thing… over there. Jimony?”

“Simon,” Grace said, trying not to laugh.

“Right. I knew it had “mon” in it.”

.

Jalicia didn’t know what it was about that station that made her put it on all of the time, but her streaming service generally stayed on an old r&b from the 60s and 70s station, and sometimes 80s and 90s, whenever she was at work. She had a journal with a tiger on the front that she was writing down poetry in, but she could never think of titles for any of her work, and she didn’t feel like she was that artistically creative, so she’d title everything, “(Song Title) Plays in the Background,” whether or not the song had any bearing on the poem. Today’s? Let’s Groove Plays in the Background.

Work was a little bit overwhelming, these days, but only because of the things that had nothing to do with it. The fact that she wouldn’t just receive flowers sometimes and have her coworkers wonder why her boyfriend was this thoughtful, but they never saw him. Or the days where she would pout about being broke and having to pack a stupid sandwich and he would insist on having something sent to her at lunchtime, if he didn’t just make her a different, more fulfilling lunch instead. The way that she would get a text whenever he went on his own lunch break, and it would just be some hilarious video or a new thing that they just HAD to buy. Work was overwhelming, because what she had leaned on every shift was the fact that he’d interrupt it with something nice and that she would leave there and get to see him every day.

Now, she was listening to Earth Wind & Fire, in a gray pantsuit and fooling around on her computer while she waited for something to do. She heard the tone of the doorway and she got up to see if somebody needed help. It was a college bookstore and she was often far overdressed, but all she had aside from her typical attire were the pantsuits she wore when she had to do something other than be casual - like functions and interviews or whatever, so that was what she wore to work.

The O. He looked at her like they were friends or something. A polite smile and warmth in his eyes. She stared him down and reached for her phone. “Hi. Can I just have a moment?” He asked. She texted: The O is here and hit “send” to 747. “It won’t take long, I just wanted to give you something.” The O reached into his bag and Jalicia had already identified four common objects in her immediate surroundings that she would definitely use as a weapon against him if he tried something slick. He handed her an envelope, one of the big yellow ones and she frowned.

“I’m not taking whatever that is. For all I know it’s got anthrax in it.”

He laughed and opened it himself, pulled out the paperwork and handed it to her. “I figured out a better method of tracking people down than Heath had the resources for. I know that Xander is trying his hardest, God help him, but he’s not much on a computer and some of these things are hard to find.” She took the pages and glanced through them. Simon helped her find a certain page, “I’ve guessed that you maybe didn’t know much about this part of the situation that you all walked into. The… X, I suppose you’d call him, was very paranoid that he might be on your list and he hired protection.” He pointed out a few key lines that he had highlighted. “Professional protection, and yet when the time came to protect him, Heath wasn’t shot in the arm, or hell, if they didn’t want him to escape, the leg is an option as well.”

“They killed Heath on purpose,” She said, the wind knocked out of her as she did. She tried to take a seat, but just fell back onto a table and leaned against it, knocking down several books.

“They wanted to send a message and since you all slacked up since then, I’m sure that they think that they did.” She started crying angrily and wiped her face. “Flip to the next page.” Her hands were shaking and she wasn’t sure of what she might see, but she flipped to the next page anyway. “That’s your shooter. Since he was on the job, he confessed to being the one who fired and because Heath was breaking an entering and had no family to intercede for an investigation… the cops seem to be fine with what happened to him, despite the fact that our laws state that a person may not use more force than is necessary given the situation.” She shut her eyes and squeezed out tears, her fists tightly holding onto the phot0 of the man. “Next page are his personal details. Do with it whatever you think is best. I just thought that you would want to know.”

She shivered and cried, “This doesn’t mean that I owe you anything. I didn’t ask you for this and I don’t feel indebted to you for it.”

“Jalicia… I’m on your side. Whatever side Grace is on, that’s where I am. I did this because I want to help.”

“Well… This is the most help you’re getting from me - Xander’s on his way.”

“Then, I’ll be on my way.” He had that polite smile again and she was almost terrified how easily it came to him. He left quite a few minutes before Xander arrived.

She instantly fell apart as soon as she saw him, handing him the papers and explaining to him what he was looking at. She left work and was going to call Grace, but Xander snatched her phone while he was driving. “No, what if he. like, cloned your phone or something?”

“What? This ain’t Person of Interest, Boy. What the fuck are you talking about, Bro? He’s rich but it’s not like he’s Lex Luthor.”

“We can’t chance it. He’d do anything to find out where she is.”

“Give me yours, then.”

“Just hold off. I need to check this dude out. For all we know, Simon is just blowing smoke up our asses to get us to lead him to Grace.”

“The fact that you think it’s more likely that he falsified a bunch of police documents than that he simply sneaked them away is making me wonder about you .”

“I let him get too close to her before, and I’m not doing that again.”

Jalicia snatched her phone back from him and they wrestled for it but, he eventually heard Grace on speaker.

“What is happening on that end?” She asked, laughing a little bit nervously.

“We need to talk about Simon,” Jalicia said.

“I disagree with that sentiment!” Xander said in the background.

There was a pause. Grace was panicking a little bit. Did they know that she was trying to check his pages? That she was trying to see if she could make a temporary account just to try to get to them? How would they know that, Girl?

Jalicia added, “It’s about Heath.” Xander turned red in the face and he shook his head and tried to breathe. “Oh, fuck you, Xan. You left him there to die. The least you could do is chill out while I speak to Grace about this.”

“Whoa… That’s not extremely fair. The Apex protocol is that if somebody is hit, we leave and regroup. We go in with the expectation that if we’re hit, we would slow everyone down and jeopardize everything. So, Xander and I both left him,” Grace said the last statement laced with sadness and guilt.

“He pulled you out and sped away,” Jalicia said.

Xander scoffed and then burst into tears, “I’m glad that you’re telling us how you really feel.” His voice was surprisingly calm, but the ladies knew that hurt him more than anything ever had in this world.

“Tell me what you need to say,” Grace said.

“Simon found Heath’s killer.”

“Simon found a person he alleges is Heath’s killer.”

“He had all of the paperwork to corroborate it. More than Heath has ever collected on any X.”

“He had paperwork on a man who works in security who may have shot Heath dead, but as far as we know is not a bad person. He probably was just on a security job. Somebody broke into the house he was guarding and he shot!”

“WHY DID HE SHOOT HIM IN THE HEAD???” Jalicia squealed. “I’ve been over this myself, before Simon EVER said anything about it, but WHY didn’t they shoot him to survive and answer questions about what is one of the most infamous string of serial murders to ever hit the city? Why would he risk his job to kill someone that way in security, if there wasn’t a reason that Heath needed to be dead?”

“You… you think that the security dude is old Apex?”

“I think that at best, the security dude wanted to kill a person that he didn’t HAVE to kill and he used Heath as a perfect excuse, making him a shitty person, in my opinion, and at worst, he didn’t want us saying anything to anybody, because he knew why we were there!”

“But, we did release what we had on the X. The information is out there now. Nothing was done about it,” Grace added.

“Precisely! Just as nothing was done about this trigger happy buttfuck, even though our laws state that you’re not supposed to kill motherfuckers if you don’t have to!” Jalicia said. She looked at Xander, poked him in the arm and reminded him, “You were the first one to claim you’ll avenge him”

“And you told me to go fuck myself.”

“Emotions were definitely running high, but if you’re looking for the chance to make good on your word, you’ll have to suck it up and just live with the fact that Simon gave us this, like I have to live with the fact that Heath is never fucking coming home!” She got louder than she intended. Xander wiped his tears with the back of his hand, but more just poured out. He nodded, but he was still extremely upset.

“Send me what Simon sent you. I’ll let you know what I decide from there.”

“Thank you, Grace.”

Grace sighed, paused, then said, “Heath would have wanted us to get out, but even if you had driven away and left us all, we wouldn’t have faulted you… That’s the protocol. Heath knew that…”

“Does that make it easier for you?”

“No. But, we shouldn’t make it harder on each other, either…” Jalicia sighed, rolled her eyes and let more tears fall. “I’m sorry, Jalicia. Heath was the first person in the warehouse that I ever cared about. I would trade myself for him, if I could.”

“He’d never let you,” she hung up and reached out for Xander. He accepted her hand. “I was mean to you…”

“You were honest. It just fucking hurts. Heath was the backbone of this family, and everyday he isn’t here, I lose more and more respect and control. He kept me grounded.”

“Doesn’t Sunny do that too?”

“That’s not the same thing.”

“Maybe you don’t let it be. Maybe the reason Heath was your rock was because you thought that you only needed one. That’s what I did, too. I didn’t even realize how much of my life revolved around him until I was just spinning in space, with nothing to pull me back. Why do you think I moved in with your ass?”

“To split rent.”

She gave a resigned shrug, but shook her head, “I thought that it would make things better, if even just to put me in a spot where I could just not think about it and not be alone. I figured I wouldn’t get over it, but that at least I would logically be able to grant myself some peace because you’re there too, and that there would be some type of comfort. Not emotionally. That’s gonna take more time than I even believe that I have left in this world. But… at least I wanted that solid ground to stand on, to be able to say, Heath would want his two favorite people to lean on each other and find some strength in his absence.” Xander sniffled. She finished, “But it didn’t matter, and I don’t even know what to do, because I thought that being around you would guarantee some balance, even if it didn’t truly help… I still have all of my grief, and I’m..” she whimpered, “So tired. And empty. And distant. My closest living friend is sitting right next to me, and I have been so alone…”

Xander pulled the van over, unlatched his seatbelt and hugged her. She wasn’t done. She was so focused on her train of thought that she hadn’t even actually noticed that Xander was hugging her. “Heath was always in my life. Before any other human that I can remember. Like, logically, I know that Grace took care of Todd and Heath took care of me… but… I don’t even remember anybody else until maybe I was 5 or 6. I know he wasn’t the only person around, but in my mind, he was. I have NO frame of reference that doesn’t involve him. He was…” She finally realized both that Xander was already holding her and that she was crying again.

She remembered something. She was 4 or 5, her brain was never good at that part. She wasn’t in school or anything. All of her special days were simply moments and occurrences. This particular occurrence. A boy with light hair, getting hurt really bad by the stewards. Heath covered her eyes and started talking about flowers. He found a new book about them. He’d help her try to read later. The noise of the boy being beaten up was in the background, but at the time, she was too young to pay any attention to it and listen to Heath. So, she listened to Heath and the beating was background noise filtered out. Afterwards, he took her to the side of the building and let her pick flowers for their new friend. The new boy was mean. He was mean to Heath and Grace had to help Heath. Then, he was nice. She looked at Xander’s face and saw that same boy, just as hurt and just as angry as the first day she recalled a memory of him.

“He wasn’t always in mine… but he was the first person who was ever just nice to me for no reason other than to be nice,” Xander said. “There’s nothing that I want more than to punish a person who would take him away from us, but to have Simon, SIMON, give us that…” He was red in the face and shaking his head. “He’s using it to get to Grace, and I just didn’t want to give him that kind of power.”

“Then why didn’t you just say, ‘Hey, lets not tell her where we got the information?’ If you had just sent it to her with X confirmed, instead of fighting me in traffic…”

“You didn’t give me a chance!”

“I just… This ONE thing, then maybe I can move on.” He nodded and buckled back in. “I’ll get to work on the logistics. In case Grace gives us the go ahead, I want to be ready to move as soon as possible.”

.

Simon pulled his hair up into a high ponytail. He was going to try to get it into a bun, but it had been getting longer and thicker, and while he’d normally just pull the top part into a pony and let the rest hang, but it was windy and he was going to be pretty active, so high ponytail, it was. He had been checking out the X that he gave Jalicia, to see if they were going to make a move on him. He wasn’t positive of the typical turnaround time on an X, so he simply went to watch every night. He wasn’t going to do the car. Dude was in security. He’d probably make him.

Instead, he parked around the block and went to a big tree across the street from the X’s home to post up. He had binoculars and an awkwardly applied hunting tree seat. It wasn’t made for him to be up this high, but he situated it only to have a seat that wasn’t tree bark. He spent the time that he wasn’t watching the house on social media, checking out Sunetra’s pages… which… apparently she went by “Sunny…” which… Simon noted to himself that he had seen a little sun tattoo on Xander, and whenever he came across Sunny’s very tasteful artistic nudes, he saw that she had a little tattoo, as well, on her chest, of an “X.”

Her photos were really nice and she seemed to… possibly be a stripper? He checked a few of her posts and captions. She hashtagged #burlesque in some of them, so maybe not a stripper, but something risque. She was in the fine arts program in college, for dance and had many posts from the Infinity Foundation of her doing dance workshops, yoga, and stuff. She had a lot of witchy posts, too. Simon rolled his eyes, but kept scrolling. Several of her posts were really funny. He noticed a yoga and meditation program that she would be doing at a community center and saved the post.

He watched the X for about a week and a half when he saw the van pull up. In the dark, he couldn’t tell who people were, but two had gotten out and through the binoculars, he could tell that Xander was one and the other was Jalicia. He checked the van. That was an unfamiliar one behind the wheel, but he presumed that it was Sunny or 808, and that he simply couldn’t see them... There was a loud noise and screaming in the house. He turned to see that Jalicia had a knife to a woman’s throat while Xander was escorting the X out, with his hands up. He got him to the van, injected something into his neck and tossed him in. Jalicia unhanded the woman, but appeared to take a bag along with her and the woman ran next door.

Jalicia had taken all the phones with her. The woman had to run next door to call the police. Simon realized that she was probably doing that, and he got out of the tree to get back to his car. If he hurried, he might be able to catch the van!

He went the direction that they had, and when he came to what he thought might be them, he put on a mask of his own, but it was a medical mask, just because that was… possibly not as weird as if he wore like a clown mask or something. They had NOT handled that in the way that he expected. Something told him that they either were rushing or desperate. He wondered why.

But, whenever they pulled the van into an old train station, he parked behind the building and got out of his car. This is fucked up. This is fucked up. This is fucked up. This is fucked up. This is fucked up. This is fucked up. This is fucked up. This is fucked up.  

He could hear their voices, and he followed the sound of them, but didn’t come from the shadows of the building. They were dragging the bag into a field that Simon knew that he had passed several times in his life, but never paid much attention to. Nobody really did. Was this where they buried them? He wondered. He only saw Jalicia and Xander, pulling the body bag with one hand and carrying shovels in their free hands. Where was the driver? He went around the other side of the building and the van was pulling off. Where were THEY going? He couldn’t start his car. Jalicia and Xander weren’t far enough away to not hear him. He groaned and went to look back towards the field. He couldn’t see anything beyond the tall grass, but he used his phone to try to record where they were… maybe he could find it in the daytime. Besides, they were now far enough away that he could start his car without alerting him. He felt like he had enough.

Simon drove home, wary of a van behind him for a portion of the way. He took some loops and turnarounds that he wouldn’t usually take before he was comfortable that they weren’t following him and it wasn’t the van… but after he got home, he noticed at the bottom of the hill a van, and it looked like the van that they used. It looked like the van that he was nervous might be following him. But. There was no way that the van had found him after those turns. Was it one of them, just letting him know that they knew he had followed them?

He rushed inside and looked out of the curtains. They were there for a moment. They turned the van off and he took a deep gulp and reached for one of his guns. They got out of the van and stood, staring up at the house. DEFINITELY APEX. This is fucked up.This is fucked up.This is fucked up.This is fucked up.This is fucked up.This is fucked up.This is fucked up.This is fucked up.This is fucked up.This is fucked up.This is fucked up.This is fucked up.This is fucked up.This is fucked up.

They stared, wearing a gold mask, a tam hat, and the all black outfit that he had gotten used to, but then not seen for a while. “Grace!” He said. He put his gun down and rushed out of his door. “Grace?” He called, but she rushed back into the van, tossed something out, and peeled off. “Grace…” He ran down the hill and out to the road. She was gone… He looked down to see what she had thrown down on her way off. It was a Stop sign with a red squiggly line underneath the word “Stop.” He picked it up, roared and began to smash it against the pavement, before flinging it into the middle of the road and going back into his house. He called Jalicia and she looked at her phone, not recognizing the number, so she answered it. “Hello?”

“Was that Grace?” a voice asked.

“What?”

“The person who just followed me home and told me to stop. Was that Grace?”

“No,” was all that she said. He hung up. She put her phone away.

“Who’s that?” Xander wondered.

“Non issue,” she said. It wasn’t a complete lie, and there was no way that she was about to ruin their night with… whatever that had been about. She and Xander were still digging when their third came walking up, her gold mask on her face and a shovel in hand. “Girl, where did you rush off to?”

“I knew he was gonna still be alive,” she said and pulled up the mask onto her head. Sunny. “Had to make a stop,” she said with a shrug. She and Jalicia stared at each other a moment, and Xander kept digging, oblivious to the exchange of them questioning each other with their eyes. It was short lived, because Grace was connecting for the video call. “Hey, Girl, Hey!” Sunny cheered.

“Bitch, I’m so mad that I’m not there right now.”

“Be mad at Jimona,” Sunny said.

“Simon!” Grace said, laughing. Then, more solemnly, said, “Draw a squiggle right across his face, for me.”

“Sure will,” Sunny said, pulling her knife out. “What are you listening to, Woman?”

Grace checked the info on her streaming, “Hurts by Emeli Sande.”

“That’s dope. Send me the link to that.”

.

Simon was at the apartment now, crying and sitting in front of the cameras. He wondered if she would return with them, but looking at the feeds he had placed to check the outside of their homes, he noted that the three entered Xander and Jalicia’s home at 3:47 am… and that… wasn’t Grace. It was the woman that he had initially identified as, “One who looks like Grace.” It was Sunny… He flared his nostrils and set an alert to remind him about the yoga and meditation at the community center.

His phone began to ring while it was in his hands. It was a private number. For a moment, he let his heart accelerate. “Hello?” He answered.

Silence. He sighed and almost hung up, but… he felt something. His tears stopped, he sat up erect and waited. She was silent, still. He was afraid to break it, but more afraid of her losing whatever nerve she had at the moment and hanging up. So, he dared to speak. He kept his voice soft and low. Gentle, like he knew she would remember him being. “Hey…” He said. He heard her sniffle and it tore at his heart. “Hey,” he managed to say even softer. “Are you okay?” She sniffled again. “Tell me what I can do to make you okay?”

“Why did you do that, Simon? Why did you?”

“I wanted to be close to you. I wanted to know you. I wanted you… I didn’t know what to do. I was desperate. I am desperate. Please, tell me where you are…”

“You let Xander catch you.” There was the longest pause since the conversation started. Eventually, she spoke again. “I feel like the kids walked in on me doing something dirty…”

“I feel like it’s none of ‘the kids’ damn business what we do.”

“They can’t see stuff like that. They can’t see me being followed and watched, obsessively. They can’t just move on from that. You have no idea the kind of people who… Why did you have a gun?”

“Because, I had just been attacked by somebody that I know is a murderer and I was on edge…” They were quiet again. “I can keep them out of sight from now on. I can keep them away from you, at all times…”

“If I come back into town, my crew is gonna get… difficult. It won’t be safe for you.”

“I can’t prove myself to them? To you? Did you see what I found for them? For Heath? For Jalicia?... For you?”

“Yeah. Yeah, Jalicia told me right away…”

“You sound like you’re smiling,” he observed, daring to smile, himself.

“I can’t help it… but… we can’t… do this, Simon.”

“Don’t…”

“We’re both in really weird places and us coming together isn’t good… for either of us, I think…”

“Please…”

“We shouldn’t be together, see each other, anything. You should… get on with your life.”

“No!”

“Bye, Simon.”

“NO!!” She hung up. He bit into his lip so hard that he drew blood, trying to keep his composure. He couldn’t even go to the gun range right now! But.. He could… go back to that field. He knew where it was. He knew where the bodies were now… he… was running out of patience, but he reminded himself that it wasn’t her fault. The longer they kept her away from him, the more confused she would be. She just needed to understand that he was on her side. If she couldn’t… she would have to learn that there were consequences for going against him.

13. A Shot in the Dark Pt 1

[swampgallows]

i got distracted earlier and forgot to post but im thankful for my mutuals who have helped me time and again, even if it’s in ways you may not know. i appreciate you all so much and i am so grateful for the friends i’ve made here and the small but intimate community cultivated through tumblr. 

zbfc and wch, thank you for everything. @zeyan i love you with all my heart and i’m so fucking thankful i could have funny airbnb time with you and @aeiroki grimlock hunterpunter. you make me laugh every single day and i always want the best for you both (and jack!!! and PARKER!!!)

@lokaror thank you for letting me share my love of rexxar and bears with you. we’ve shared a lot of fantastic laughs together, some very fun stuff and some very deep shit too. i treasure every one of our convos together, and your playlists too!

@reglei thankful i finally got to beat you into submission at blizzcon. youre a sweetheart and a sleepyhead. thanks for listening to me ramble late into the night. i appreciate all the times youve had my back, whether it was creepy dudes or spoilers or w/e. you shoulda killed me w gorehowl when you had the chance

I LOVE @amarysue i miss you when you work long hours but i’m always so happy when we get to play games together. i hope you can leave the mcdonalds playplace soon. also i dont get to say it much but i love talking about academic stuff with you. i know i rib you about dark leafy greens but you are very educated in a lot of amazing fields and i love when you share your knowledge with me!!! i love amary!!!!

@theabsolutevoid i know youre the void but youre a golden human being of radiant light. you are so spectacular, we are all always in amazement of your passion and creativity and constant flow of ideas, and your compassion seems boundless. i am so grateful to know such a special person and spent many late nights laughing to tears with you

@perce the dynamic duo... im thankful daygo got me into ladybug so i could hear all of your amazing takes on it as they are equally as hilarious as your wow takes. i admire your resilience, though that might be weird to say, and though i know i’m an old crone youre definitely a role model for me taking command of my own life and establishing boundaries to become the person i want to be. i’m so grateful we got to spend blizzcon together again!! and thank you for getting me the long-forgotten hippogryph. its a very important memory to me.

refugees i know i dont pop in much but i still love you all dearly. im embarrassed actually because you are all functional adults and i’m not but when i get a job and reenter society i want to be able to come back and say i’m a big kid now

thrainosh squad @irenthel @wckhamm etc thank you for letting me indulge my interests without ridicule or judgment. @fitzefitcher i dunno you changed my life SORRY there is not a less fucked up way to say that. no pressure

@sithisis & crew thank you for so many incredible hots games and wonderful memories and all of your sweetness and fun times!!! sith you have inspired and supported so much of my writing and my ideas and i am in awe that you are getting so many amazing opportunities working in games journalism!!! i know theres a lot of grunt work but at the end of the day it seems like youre really doing something you genuinely love (and are good at!!) and i’m so happy for you. you work hard and you deserve it. im love skitty w a gun 

@steblynkaagain your art is such an inspiration to me, and i’m amazed by your cosplay too! i’m thankful that even across language barriers we can enjoy thraina and silly modern AUs together. i am so impressed by your intelligence and achievements. your comic where you pledge yourself to Thrall’s Horde is still so important to me, and every day i think about your mechanic garrosh..... and doctor drek’thar, and doctor thrall, and SHAMAN GARROSH....... (sob)

@captainkaprozyx and @sdei ... i am so thankful for all of your artwork and your amazing gifts. i am working on getting them framed, and your zine was amazing! you are a great team and I love your collaborations. also sdei’s birthday gift is still my discord icon. we just really love a big guy huh....... cannot express how inspiring your artwork is. the detail, the colors... it brings me to tears, i am so stunned. you are both so incredibly talented!

@omnifariousness bro i dont even know where to start. many good dog times and we can strike up the late night jawin again soon i hope. shit has been scattered and i know youve been dippin back n forth on the road but i hope the shit evens out soon for you. excited for you to see tool in feb and damn dude every DAY i think about the reading you treated me to of the 40k stuff for your reel. god man i want that VA shit to work out for you bad. your diction is impeccable and you so deserve it

@darnjam i know you guys dont read this but i love you so much and every day i’m so thankful we’re all still friends. @daygloow thank you for being like the sole source and catalyst for my personal development for like the last 3 years, im so proud of you and everything youve worked so hard to achieve and i’m so glad youre getting the recognition you deserve. thank you for always picking me up (vehicular and emotional) and for watching cartoons n playin vidya with me. god whens the next GOOD rave? i need to make you proud and actually dj so i can play banana

@bluntcrusher every day i’m like god when will king tori take the throne... im so thankful that youre in a good spot finally and that youre getting the love you deserve. and plus a sweet pucci mane. my blogs a mess but im glad youre still stickin around for it haha. always happy to see youre safe and THRIVING

@swarnpert love you dude thank you for lettin me harass you w 420 snaps. bro when you sent me those sabaton snaps i was in line for the haunted mansion at disneyland during blizzcon and it was just like... my heart was so full, it meant so much to me ALSO HOLY SHIT i love your art please NEVER STOP drawing

@nelfs i love your blog and your art and your FEELINGS like I dunno how to word it in a not-weird way. i think you are a very bright person with a good heart, and i’m thankful to know someone like that, even tangentially. it is fortifying also to see someone stand up for the things they love, whether it’s just a cartoon show or something of serious concern like animal welfare. i admire your healthy relationship to yourself and your strong integrity.

@neophyte-redglare i think about bead world garrosh every fucking day of my life. cannot thank you enough. i treasure it

@redpandalori THIS IS THE MVP RIGHT HERE. i dunno when you started sending me floods of kittums but every day i look forward to it and every single one means so much to me. i wear the kandi you handcrafted for me every single day and i show it off constantly to my friends because it’s just mindblowing. you are so sweet and thoughtful and i love sendin you snaps and it’s just incredible how the internet is. thank you for sending me rain snaps and kito & harley/ears & lilith pics all the time

@hungwy i dunno WHAT you get outta my blog but i’m thankful for the reams of sweet animal pics and interesting linguistic and anthropology posts on your blog. you’re a very positive force on my dash and you seem a wonderful person irl too!

@ubersaur im so happy we’re still mutuals after all this time lmao. you were one of the first aces id ever known so we’ll always have that solidarity and i’ll always be thankful. and i have to seriously catch up on magus bride haha. thank you for all of your love and support after all this time, i hope i offer the same to you!!

@18milliondeadplebs the rare and beautiful nexus of my two sole interests... warcraft and raving. dude just thank you for existing man LMAO i hope we can go ravin together some day

@kontextmaschine what a strange long fuckin trip it’s been dude. super surreal to have raved with you and had you come all the way down for burst but i knew i’d be remiss if youd missed it. you definitely deserved a potent taste of the 90s. thank you for the usb sticks, im still waiting on a worthy recipient for the other two. the majority of your blog is practically in hieroglyphics to me but man when the posts hit... they fuckin hit. i know you dont need me to tell you, but youve got a great talent and weirdass fuckin eye. a very very particular eye. love you man. please kiss badger for me.

@ironbull thank you for suffering in wisdom tooth hell with me. i am glad you had a good time at disney world and im hoping we can both be free of all of our tooth woes soon. thank you also for your advice and support in my personal stuff too!!

@kittensceilidh thank you for your sweet messages! every one of your hugs means a lot to me!!! it is nice to feel seen when i am in dark places.

@dimedog warcraft and foggy forests... hell yeah dude

@tim-official man sometimes it really is as simple as just laughing at the same funny shit, but youve reached out to me too and i appreciate it!!!

@peanotbotter thank you for all of the laughs and the kind words! thank you for caring about me, i care about you too!! i hope we can play hots again or wow together soon!!! 

wow this got long but i love a bunch of people. there are more of you that i love and are very special to me and i apologize if i didnt get to you. i hope you all had a nice holiday, if you celebrated. thank you for believing in me

[ask-garnet-n-ruby]

Halloween Special: Costume Mishaps

Summary: It’s the end of the Halloween/Birthday Party, and Garnet finds himself surrounded by his sisters and friend dressed up in sexy costumes. What’s bound to happen next? 

Word Count: 4,225

Life...was cruel. That was the thought of one Garnet Rose as he sat down the couch. A huge blush on his face. 

It was late in the evening as the Birthday Bash/Halloween Costume Party had finished; coming to a satisfying end within the shared House of Garnet, his sisters Ruby and Yang; along with Weiss & Blake. The four girls and lone boy resting after hosting such an amazing festive night for their friends. 

“That was actually pretty fun,” Blake said with a smile. Despite not being one for parties, she had actually enjoyed herself.

“See what I’d tell ya?” Yang smirked, as she laid back in her seat. Feeling proud at the successful party they had. 

“I suppose you were right,” Weiss said with a small smile. “At the very least, I’m just glad we aren’t left with a huge mess to clean up.”

“That’s true after party clean ups SUCKS,” Ruby whined as she slumped down on the couch next to her brother. Smiling as she leaned on his shoulder. “What about you Garnet? What’d you think of this party?” 

“H-Huh?” The teenage boy, who had been utterly silent until now. Finally registered what his twin sister had asked him. “I-It was fun,” He stuttered, “H-Happy that we all had a great time.” 

Ruby blinked, raising a brow at her twin brother’s stutter. “Huh? Garnet is everything okay?” She asked, grabbing the attention of the rest of the RWBY Girls. “Your face is kinda red.” She said, noting the hot blush staining Garnet’s cheeks. But not for the reason the cute Rose believed it to be. 

“I-I’m fine Rubes, really, I’m just probably a little lightheaded from the punch. You know how Nora tried to spike it earlier.” He lied; though technically, it wasn’t a lie. Nora really did attempt to spike the punch earlier, saying she had wanted to make the party a little more ‘Fun’. It was thanks to the efforts of Ren Pyrrha, and Jaune, that they managed to stop the girl from doing something stupid. And would undoubtedly get her shit knocked out by Yang. 

Hey, Yang loved her alcohol, make no mistake; but she drew a hard line on any alcohol being consumed by her young twin siblings. Especially on their birthday. 

Regardless, the semi-lie worked, and Garnet managed to get Ruby to buy it. Even more so as Weiss crinkled her nose at the moment. 

“Ugh, I swear, Valkyrie is that girl to use any form of celebration or parties to go absolutely nuts at.” The lovely heiress said with a huffed. “Well, if you’re not feeling well, why don’t go rest?” 

“Weiss is right Garnet,” Blake chimed in with a smile. “We’ll check up on you after we get done cleaning the house, it’s not like it’s a huge mess.”

Garnet nodded and stood up, quickly running to the room and leaving the rest of the girls behind. Yang frowning a bit with furrowed eyebrows. 

“I hope he’s alright.” The busty blonde said. 

Little did any of the ladies realize, their little evening was about to get started in the most unsuspected way. 

-X- 

“Finally!” Garnet let out a huge sigh of relief as he entered his and Ruby’s bedroom. Happy to have gotten away from his friends and sisters. “I’m not sure how much more I could’ve taken being in the same room as them.” He groaned as he trudged to his bed. 

Now some of you might be wondering to yourself, just what exactly had Garnet in such a state earlier with the girls. The answer to that was rather simple.

“I’m not sure how long I could’ve hidden this from them,” Garnet muttered, staring at the massive tent pitched in his costume.

Garnet couldn’t handle just how hot friends and family were, this evening. 

He should’ve seen it coming honestly, Halloween was Ruby and Yang’s favorite time of the year. Not only because of the sweets and parties; but also, it was because they could dress down however they wanted. And while Garnet didn’t mind at first, over the years as they all got older. Did he start to notice, and realize just how much his sisters had developed in terms of their figures. He was positive that Ruby and Yang knew about this as well, as they had started wearing costumes that would help show off what they had. 

Not to the point where it could be considered slutty. But it WOULD turn the heads of those who managed to see them. When they met and became friends with Blake and Weiss and even manage to live together under the same house when they all started college. It just added more to crimsonette’s problems and pent up frustrations. Sun and Neptune often claimed that Garnet had a sweet life, living under the roof with four hotties. The painful constant erection that Garnet sported on a daily basis, was more than happy to disagree with that statement. 

You try waking up seeing all of the roommates walking around in nothing but their panties. Not bothering with their clothes until they had something to get their day started. 

But back to the main issue; this year’s Halloween was no different in have Ruby and Yang unconsciously frustrate poor Garnet. Along with the combined efforts of Weiss and Blake as well. As stated before, they had managed to make each of their costumes show off their figures. 

Ruby had dressed up as Android 21 from Dragonball FighterZ; her reason for the costume was due to how much she and the Majin had a shared love for sweets. So that’s why she wanted to cosplay as her for the evening. The bellydancer-like outfit just served to remind Garnet of the curves, chest, and ass, he didn’t know that his sister had. While not completely on Yang’s level, it definitely caught the attention of some of the guys during the party. And with the way Ruby had been all over the place, hopped up on candy and cookies. It was nothing short of amazing, that small black tube top kept her, not so little puppies, contained. 

Speaking of Yang, her choice of costume wasn’t any better. Deciding to go with the classic icon Dark Magician Girl; Garnet wasn’t the least bit surprised that she had decided to come to the party dressed up like that. But he was CONVINCED that Yang purposely got a costume that was one size too small for her. Cause unless she went through another growth spurt that he didn’t know about. There was no way that outfit should’ve had trouble containing her jugs and keeping that ass hidden. Seriously, with how tight it looked on her, one sneeze. One good sneeze was all it took for Yang, that’s all that would be said on the matter.

Garnet let out a sigh, smiling weakly. “But at least Ruby and Yang’s outfit was better than Blake and Weiss’.” He muttered.

In hindsight, they should’ve never made that bet with Yang, and let her have control over what the blonde should choose for their costume when she had won. He had never their faces so turn so red out of anger and embarrassment when Yang showed them what they would be wearing.

For Blake, Yang had gotten her to dress up as Raynare from Highschool DxD. Anyone who knew the character or had seen that series wouldn’t need any further explanation beyond that. Just that the borderline BDSM costume did a spectacular job in not only showing off Blake’s tits trapped behind that bundle of straps that was considered the top of the outfit. But also the amazingly dubbed ‘Bellabooty’, housed in that form-fitting black panty-like bottom.

To this hour, Garnet still wasn’t sure how Yang managed to convince Blake to wear that willingly. And to be honest, he didn’t want to know; he’d be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy seeing Blake walking around dressed that that. He knew the others did. 

And then there was Weiss. 

Truthfully, Weiss’ costume was arguably better than Blake’s. But considering it was still Yang who chose it for her, that wasn’t really saying much. Nor did that piece of knowledge offer much comfort. Regardless, Yang had Weiss dressed up as Ishtar, the Goddess from Fate Grand Order. Naturally, Weiss wasn’t happy when she had been shown her costume. And even made her discontent for it apparent; so Garnet and even Yang was surprised when she appeared at the party dressed up as the beautiful Goddess. Again, he wasn’t sure what managed to make Weiss change her mind on wearing it. But like with Blake, he wasn’t going to look the Gift Horse in its mouth.

As for him, and his choice of costume; he should’ve never considered a skin-hugging costume, like Starforce Megaman’s outfit. Especially if he knew what he would be exposed to this evening. With another sigh, he quickly snapped his head up and looked at the door, before back to his bulge. A look of contemplation on his face, as he gulped silently. 

“M-Maybe I can rub one out quickly.” He muttered, feeling himself throbbing intensely again the fabric. He knew if he left this unchecked, Ruby and the others would see him like this. And he really didn’t want the awkwardness of explaining his hard-on to the others. But before he could even get started, he found himself interrupted. 

“Garnet” Came Ruby’s voice from the other side, as the door opened. Revealing the still in costume younger twin. “I just came in to check on up you. How are you- Eh?!” 

There was a long, LONG silence as both twins stared at one another, one in pure horror, and the other in pure shock. Neither one managing to say anything as Ruby’s eyes slowly cascaded down to the massive bulge housed in her brother’s costume. A blush forming on her cheeks from the sight of it, h-had Garnet always been this big? Realizing she was staring, she quickly ripped her eyes away and scratched her cheek with an awkward laugh.

“U-Um… I-I just… came here to- to check up on you. See if you were alright.” She said, trying to look anywhere that wasn’t her brother and his big long… *Ahem* you know. “I-I see that was disturbing you, so I think I’ll just…” 

Ruby turned to leave but was stopped when she felt Garnet grab her by the shoulder. Making the girl jump a bit and look up at her older twin. Who had his eyes, completely shadowed by the bangs of his hair. Ruby shifted a bit as she had a confused look on her face. Unknowingly giving her brother a nice view of her bust. 

“U-Um… something wrong Garnet?” 

-X-

“Ruby’s certainly taking a long time isn’t she?” Blake commented. 

By the time Ruby had left to go check on the sole male of the house. The rest of the ladies just finished up cleaning the house. And were looking to end the evening with a scary movie night, they had wondered if Garnet would be willing to join. And Ruby had all but eagerly volunteered to see if he would be okay with joining them. 

It had been a good bit since she had run upstairs to check on her brother. 

“It is odd for the dolt to be taking this long,” Weiss commented, folding her arms underneath her petite breasts. “What on earth could she be doing up-”

“Wait,” Yang interrupted with a hand “Do you hear that?” 

“Huh?”

Upon hearing that question, both Weiss and Blake became silent. Their ears perking up to listen for something; in return, they were greeted to muffled sounds coming from upstairs. Sounding oddly like Ruby and Garnet’s voices. But they couldn’t figure out what was going on.

“Is… Is that Ruby and Garnet?” Blake said with perplexed narrowed eyes. “What are they doing?” 

Looking at each other, the girls left for upstairs. Wondering what was going on, or what the twins were doing. As they got closer, the noises and voices started becoming more profound. Gripping the handle, Yang opened the door, and what they were greeted too. Shocked every last one of them. 

“WHAT THE-?!” 

Weiss, Blake, and even Yang were rendered speechless as the sight before them. There was Garnet, on his bed; and underneath him, taking his massive dick was Ruby. The pants to her outfit torn around the crotch as they witnessed Garnet’s cock savagely being pumped in and out of Ruby’s tight wet folds. The fleshy slaps of Garnet’s heavy balls plapping against Ruby’s shapely ass filling the air. While one of her sizable tits freed itself from her tube top, bouncing erratically from the intense fucking she was receiving from her twin. 

“GAH! NGH! G-Garnet! W-Wait! It-It’s… too much. I-I’m gonna break!” Ruby squealed loudly, her silver eyes going crossed with pleasure as she unconsciously wrapped her arms around her twin’s neck. Her legs bouncing wildly in the air at Garnet’s sides. The speed and power behind his thrusting causing her to cum her brains out once again. Soaking not only her costume but also her brother’s bed. 

With one final thrust, Garnet came, his hips colliding with Ruby’s violently as he blasted her insides with a heavy load of his hot seed. Ruby’s pussy, milking his cock as much it could for his cum. Moaning brokenly as her womb and insides were quickly filled, causing the excess to spill out the sides with a soft splash. Her legs twitching with ecstasy. 

Yang and the others were shellshocked at what they had just witnessed. What could they after seeing Garnet and Ruby commit the sinful taboo of twincest. And so shamelessly right before their eyes. Neither Yang nor Blake could find anything to say on the matter. Their eyes still transfixed on the thick creampie oozing out of Ruby’s cunt. Weiss, on the other hand, was another story. 

“Garnet! What in God’s name are you doing?!” She yelled, her voice nearly shrill, as she had a ripe blush on her face. Whether from anger or embarrassment, no one would know. “That’s your sister! How could you do such a thing to her?!” 

Had Weiss been in a more level headed state of mind, she would’ve caught the wild look in Garnet’s eyes as he pulled out of the cock drunk Ruby. The lust-fueled teen glancing in their general direction now; Blake, however, spotted the look and tried calling to the irate Schnee. “Uh, Weiss?” She said tapping the girl’s shoulder. 

Weiss, however, ignored her friend’s warnings; too lost in her anger to really think. “Well?! Answer me, Rose! I demand to know what possessed you to do such a thing to your sister!” She watched Garnet make her way towards her. “Are you listening to me you perverted… d-dolt…?” 

Looking up at Garnet, Weiss’ anger started to dwindle down in time to see Garnet standing before her. His appearance suddenly putting her off, as his taller frame, mixed with his crazed look in his eyes. Made the costume-clad Schnee feel very small all of a sudden. Though that didn’t stop the heiress from maintaining her stern gaze at him, even if it was weakened. 

“W-Well? Aren’t you going to say anything?” She said, her voice wavering a bit under the wild gaze.  

-X-

“Holy Shit...” That was all Yang could say to the scene before her. Being the only girl left compared to the limp bodies littered all over the floor or bed inside of Garnet and Ruby’s bedroom. Weiss and Blake joining Ruby in her cock drunk high state, completely out of it as their holes leaked with Garnet’s seed. 

Weiss had been the first to go down, pulling her close and smashing his lips against hers. Garnet’s actions on the ivory-haired beauty managed to sap all of her strength away considerably. The dominance behind his kiss, acting like some sort of makeshift drug to the girl. Prompting soft moaned to leave her, a ripe blush forming on her flustered face. Before she knew it, her back was against the wall, her body pressed up against Garnet’s, the scantily designed costumed provided easy access for Garnet. Who pulled off the bottom half, tossing it aside before plunging his still hardened cock into Weiss’ core. 

A cry of pleasure and pain from the massive cock left the girl as she helplessly bounced up and down like a whore on her roommate’s dick. Her legs held up by the boy in question while her hands dug into the wall behind her. Letting loose a serious of moans and screams throughout the room that Yang and Blake didn’t even know Weiss had been capable of making. Which only grew more perverse and slutty as the cock drilling inside of the petite Heiress, brought deeper into the depths of depravity and lust. Feeling her bouncing legs from Garnet’s hold and wrapping it around the boy’s powerful waist. Her arms around his neck, pulling him in for a deep kiss. Not even caring that her stunned friends were witnessing her in this unsightly state; her mind long since shattered from the pleasure washing throughout her entire body. 

Once Garnet brought the two of them to their limit, Weiss’ visible toes curled up tightly. Breaking her kiss with Garnet to let out another whorish scream as she and the stud pounding her reached a simultaneous climax. Her juices creaming all over the fat cock lodged inside of her while Garnet pumped a hefty load of his pearly white jizz into Weiss’ folds. The amount just as much as he unloaded into Ruby, causing a thin stream to run down the lithe girl’s thigh and drip onto the floor. Weiss going limp in Garnet’s arms as the teen pulled out of her. Letting her body slid to the floor in a twitching daze. 

That’s when Blake decided to step in, but much to Yang’s surprise, it wasn’t to stop the boy. Blake instead coaxed him, wanting him to do the same thing he had done to Ruby and Weiss, unto her. The sight of Garnet taking her two friends so aggressively like a wild animal turned her on to no end. Even causing her to pull him into a heated kiss; shuddering excited with no form of resistance as Garnet ripped parts of her skimpy costume off of her body. Managed to somehow get onto the bed, where Yang’s little brother started fucking her Doggystyle. 

Yang had to admit, hearing and seeing the normally level-headed Blake lose herself to her lust, was actually really hot. The dark-haired girl was definitely letting the faunus part of her heritage take control. Having the girl shaking her hips and ass like a woman possessed, meeting it halfway with Garnet’s powerful thrusts. Her large chest smushed against the bed; her face contorted into absolute bliss. Letting out a yelp then moan when Garnet grabbed her by her hair and yanked roughly, causing the girl to seize up and clench his did tightly. 

Soon it wasn’t long before Yang witnessed her friend reached a bone-rattling orgasm with Garnet. The boy letting out a grunt, as he creampied yet another one of his friend’s cunts. Smiling, Yang finally started walking towards Garnet, whom she noticed, was beginning to come down from his lustful frenzy. Looking a little confused and stunned at what happened. 

“Wait, what did I…?” He jumped when he felt a pair of large breasts press up against his back.

“Seems like you came down from your little sex crusade,” Yang smirked, giggling cutely whilst wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling him close. Running a finger down the fabric of Garnet’s now messy costume. “I hope after all of that, you still have some leftover for me.” She purred with a small salacious grin. 

“You… planned this…” Garnet said between labored pants. 

“Jeez Garnet,” Yang laughed. “You make it sound like some sort of sinister plot when you phrase it like that. Though...” Yang gently moved his head to make him face her. “Would you believe me if I said, Ruby and the others had a part in this, too?” 

Garnet looked at his unconscious sister and friend stunned, before back to a grinning Yang. “W-What?” 

“Who knows, it might be just the words of a playful little witch this evening.” Yang winked. “Now are you going to just sit there, or am I going to get a piece of this alpha dick tonight as well?” She said, grabbing and stroking off, the still amazingly hard member. “Seems you’re good for at least a few more- Eep!” 

Yang jumped as she was pushed flat on her back, Garnet looking at her with lust and a grin on his face. Yang could feel her heart skip a beat as her baby bro yanked off her costume’s top. Letting her massive tits pop out and bounce freely, her thighs rubbing together with excitement, her arousal already soaked clean through her panties. 

“You’re a cheeky little blonde aren’t you?” Garnet smiled. 

“O-Only for you.” Yang panted softly, feeling Garnet peel her wet panties off and tossed them aside. Spreading her legs, and using two fingers to open her lower lips. She felt him stab his cum coated member into her. Her walls slowly spreading, taking her brother in inch by thick deliciously throbbing inch. 

“H-Holy fuck!” She gasped, gripping the bedsheet underneath her as Garnet started plowing. Her tits bounced wildly, her hips slapping against lewdly, filling the air and mixing with the prominent moans already beginning to leave Yang. Her tight walls already drenched, squeezing down tight wanting to keep his cock deep inside of her as much as possible. Yang reached up and pulled Garnet close to her, smothering the boy deep inside soft bosoms. Her legs wrapping around the powerful small stud’s waist. 

Garnet groan muffled in between the valley of Yang’s chest. His pace and speed of thrusting picking up. The very tip of his shaft kissing Yang’s womb entrance, rubbing along the sweet spots in the process. 

“F-Fuck, y-yes, like that Garnet! Harder, Hard- Mmph!” Garnet silenced her with a passionate kiss, the sibling’s tongues fighting for dominance. Their bodies drawing closer to their climax impending climax, unaware of the three other girls slowly coming to. Slowly attempting to pick up their weakened bodies from either the floor or bed. 

Feeling Garnet stabbed her sweet spot once again, Yang let out a muffled squeal as her folds coiled around him like a snake. Tightening up and cumming all over her brother, her juices spraying all over. But that didn’t stop Garnet in the least, riding through the climax. He soon repositioned himself, lifting up Yang’s legs and pinned them to her sides. Effectively putting the girl in a mating press, giving everyone a nice view of her ass. The healthy skin-colored rear rippling from the impacts of Garnet’s balls slapping against it. 

“N-Ngh, Yang! I’m-” Garnet couldn’t even finish his sentence as he came. Burying his cock balls deep inside of her, piercing into her womb and flooding it with his hot creamy baby batter. Yang’s lilac eyes rolled slowly in her head, her mind becoming hazy with euphoria. Garnet remained still, his cock throbbing with each spurt as the last of his discharge was pumped into his older sister. Panting heavily at the release, slowly pulling out, his cock now starting to soften after four heavy ball draining loads. He looked down at Yang, who was panting, struggling to catch her breath. But had a satisfied smirk grace her soft lips. 

“Heh, you didn’t hold back did ya?” She commented, looking down at her oozing pussy. Even after cumming four times, her brother could still let out this much? Talk about stamina. “But don’t think we’re done just yet.” 

“Eh?” Garnet blinked before feeling Blake, Weiss, and Ruby started to rub up against him. With grins and seductive looks on their faces. 

“We can consider this your’s and Ruby’s extra special presents,” Yang smirked, rubbing her chin. “I hope you still some left in ya. Cause now that you claimed all of us; we’re not gonna stop until you successfully ‘Megabusted’ inside each and every one of us. And keep it up until you brought our HP doing to Zero. Our cute little Megaman.” She giggled with a tap on his nose for emphasis. 

Garnet blushed as he realized the situation he was now in. The redness on his face deepening as he felt Ruby and the others pressed their bodies into him more. Each one, eager to get their turn with him the crimson-haired boy first. And yet, despite him being complete terrified at what would happen next. His body couldn’t help but twitch in excitement. Happy and eager for what the rest of the Halloween night would entail. Something the girls couldn’t help but take notice too. 

“Seems we’re in agreement then.” Yang hummed with a pleasant filled smile, looking at the twitching cock. “Now then. How about we get you all comfortable, huh?” 

And for the rest of the night, loud moans and screams of pleasure would be heard coming from the Team RWBY household. As a new annual Halloween tradition would be born that night. 

[dropintomanga]

Junji Ito Was Right - Get Some Sleep

Earlier this year, Junji Ito, probably the most well-known horror mangaka today, was at Toronto Comic Art Festival to meet and greet fans of his works. He talked about a bunch of things and one of his remarks made a big splash on the internet - which was about sleep.

Ito said that everyone should get enough sleep and that the best ideas come to you when you do sleep well.

Now as I’m personally going through a case of either sleep apnea or insomnia or maybe both, he has a damn good point.

Around spring of this year, my pet finch of 12 years died. Seeing his dead body bought me down to my knees and I was struggling to figure out what to do with him. I thought about cremation and then I learned how expensive it is to cremate a pet in New York City. Cremating a dog in my area costs $230 USD. My bird would cost probably $60. I wish I could have buried him, but the urban landscape of NYC doesn’t have good space for such a things compared to other parts of the U.S. I had to throw him away in the trash as I discussed the issue with my family. 

Since that incident, my sleep hygiene slowly fell off the map. I started waking up in the middle of the night after a dream. I didn’t think much of it at the start of it all. Then one night around August 2019, I woke up after a sudden dream and couldn’t go back to sleep. That’s when the constant waking became a problem. I rushed to see a neurologist who freaked me out, went to an ENT, and then to some sleep physician who suggested a sleep study (which I haven’t done yet).

In-between all of this, I’ve been struggling to look for answers on how to cope with my fractured sleep. Even though I keep my sleep schedule, the frequent wakings began to distract me. My head was racing, my heart was aching, and I just wanted to cry. 

I had two horrible dreams. One was about seeing children being used in some news report to draw attention to some tragedy. One of the child was shown crying, but their face was scary. I had some control and said it was fake news as in real life, I’m wary of how media outlets try to target our raw emotions with children to get views.

The 2nd nightmare involved a man who killed someone in front of my place. He killed that person with some electric powers. My dad said “I saw everything” and the killer decided to rush to my door. I locked the door right away, Then I woke up.

There was one good dream I had through all of this. I even wrote it all down on a journal. I was with some Asian girls who were all into anime and also my best friend. We all hung out in the Bay Area checking out anime-themed events. I was in a cosplay contest and beat a female cosplayer who was a bit of a drama queen. I asked one of the girls on how I managed to win and she said that I showed more genuine heart than my rival. I told the girls that we would have to part and they sounded sad. It had to be done as I woke up shortly thereafter.

That dream was wonderful because it meshed a lot of things I loved about life.

And I wonder how any of this frequent dreaming is any good. What I want to say is that sleep is important for anyone who has mental health issues. We’ve all been down that road where we think about what happened that hurt us and it seems like the road never ends. It keeps us up all day and night. Bad sleep can lead to depression and anxiety or magnifies them to a huge degree. 

I started to force myself to sleep. I kept asking myself “Why can’t I go to sleep?” I was telling myself to sleep because I need it. All that led to me just jumpy and my brain treating my bed like it was a chair to sit on, not a place to sleep. Please don’t treat sleep like it’s a job. I know it’s not easy as it feels like there’s so much to do with the limited time we have. I do think we have to change our perception of time and that’s another topic altogether.

Anyway, I’ve been doing research on sleep disorders for the sake of my mental health. I realize how crazy it is that people worship the idea of sleep being a problem. They equate rest with laziness when that’s not the truth. There’s also problems on the other side of the spectrum. People who want to emphasize good sleep talk about what happens when you don’t. They shout things like you will get cancer/diabetes/etc. Not getting enough sleep does do harm, but how does using a fright tactic really help anyone?

I know late night anime and gaming are big parts in some fans’ lives and will tell them to “go do you.” In fact, maybe they can help with sleep problems. There was one fun story I read in my research from a book called Sleepyhead where someone with cataplexy, a huge problem associated with narcolepsy where your body just crumbles from experiencing heavy emotion of any kind, actually does a pseudo-Dragon Ball Z Super Saiyan transformation method to deal with sudden cataplectic seizures. He closes his eyes, breathes in, yells and roles his eyeballs to the point of being dilated. The man also emphasized on keeping your ears open. He’s noted to be a unique person who had the ability to withstand and stop cataplexy when it strikes him.

Right now for me, I’m still trying to figure out what my sleep problem is. I’ve tried a bunch of things to some success and failure. I wonder if there’s more to the situation as I learned that some parts of my body might be flawed and my home environment may not exactly be the most comfortable. I don’t feel too compelled to blog because I’m scared I’m losing my memory due to lack of sleep. I do realize that my fears might be stretching it a bit as I’m writing this right now.

So please, if you’re working really hard to get ahead in life and sacrificing sleep for it, it’s not worth it or should I say, it’s worth not sacrificing sleep as you’ll get the much-needed energy of a young shonen protagonist who wants to move ahead as much you do. If you all have sleep problems and/or advice to share, feel free to share!

[dontheevilbassman]

Concert Time!

Concert Time!

               The sun had barely touched the horizon, ending the early spring day in Canterlot. Princess Cadence walked through the entrance hall of the castle, escorted by a deep purple earth pony on one side and a dark red pegasus on the other. Both were dressed in the full battle armor of the royal guard, suits reserved for times of heightened security.

               A green coated unicorn mare dressed in a light blue sun gown exclaimed, “I say!” to the blue unicorn stallion wearing a black suit coat walking next to her as they came around the corner in the entry hall and saw the light pink alicorn. “The Royal Guard has been out in force lately.”

               “It must be due to those degenerates that are in the Canterlot Stadium,” The stallion responded in a nasally whine. “The poor princess is under constant heavy guard because of it!” he scoffed.

               The green mare rolled her eyes, “We would be better off if they were not allowed anywhere NEAR Canterlot!”

               “I agree!” The blue unicorn stated as the pair exited the castle, with a nod to the armored brown pegasus stallion standing to the side of the door. The blue pegasus guard standing on the other side gave the unicorns a slight bow as they walked by.

               After the pair of unicorns passed beyond the front doors of the entrance hall, the two guards closed the large doors and locked them. Once the doors were secured, they turned and nodded to the princess’s escorts.

               The two heavily armored guards grabbed Princess Cadence, pulled her into a room just off the entry hall, and shut the door. In the room was a light green pegasus mare in a black denim jacket with her lavender mane spiked in a mohawk. Two bright red hoofprints were over her left eye.

               “Hey Dart, give us a second to drop our armor,” the dark purple guard said as she began to remove her armor as quickly as she could. “Can you help Steelsong with her armor?”

               Cadence moved to help the dark red pegasus mare with her armor after placing her tiara into a saddlebag that was hanging nearby. “Sure, I can do that!” Dart nodded and moved to lend her assistance as well.

               “Thank you!” Steelsong stated, pulling her helmet off, revealing a black mane and 2 bright red hoof prints over her left eye. “This spare suit doesn’t fit right so it’s,” she grunted as she tried to pull a piece of armor off her hind leg, “hard to get off!”

               Cadence started to pull the armor off the other hind leg using her magic, “What happened to your set?” The princess asked the pegasus. Dart deftly removed the wing armor from the pegasus.

               “Falling bookcase,” Steelsong exhaled in relief as the armor on her hind legs came off. “Ahhhhh.” She stretched her legs, her joints softly popping with the movement. “Oh, that feels sooooo much better.” The mare started to unbuckle the armor on a foreleg. “Anyway, I got pinned by a falling bookcase in the west library and it bent up my armor so bad that the straps had to be cut off for me to get out of it.”

               “Oh, that sounds painful!” Cadence undid the straps on Steelsongs chest plate and Dart pulled it off the mare.

               “Eh, it didn’t really hurt.” Steelsong managed to pull the armor off her front leg, leaving only one front leg piece left. “Was really uncomfortable though, but I managed to push the fillies that were about to be smushed out of the wayayayay-!” The red mare exclaimed as she flinched away from Dart who had started poking the mare’s ribs. “That tickles!”

               “OH!” Dart stopped and looked at Steelsong a little sheepishly. “Sorry, habit.” She dropped her hoof and gave the guard pony an embarrassed smile. “Usually when I help a pony out of something it’s in the emergency room.”

               “Steelsong, this is my sister, Dart, she’s a doctor at Canterlot General Hospital.” Shadow stated as she stepped up, shaking out her dark aqua colored mane. As with the other two ponies she had two bright red hoof prints over her left eye. “Dart, this is Steelsong, she’s the newest member of the guard.”

               “Nice to properly meet you, doc!” Steelsong smiled at Dart, extending a hoof. “And I appreciate you making sure I’m okay.” The red pegasus grinned at the green pony, who shook the offered hoof with a grin of her own.

               With a soft pop, Cadence removed the final piece of armor from Steelsong. “There you go!” She exclaimed, tossing the leg armor onto the pile.

               Shadow looked at the discarded pieces of armor that Steelsong had been wearing. “I’m going to decommission that old suit.” She looked back to the red guardpony, “Sorry that you got stuffed into that this morning.” Then the purple mare shook her head. “Okay, now to get Cadence into disguise!” Shadow declared as she pulled three spray cans of orange dye out of a silvery saddle bag that was nearby. “We are on a bit of a time crunch since that meeting ran long. Cadence, lift your wings, close your eyes, and hold your breath!” She warned the princess as she tossed a can to each of the other ponies.

               The alicorn nodded and took a deep breath while lifting her wings. She closed her eyes as Shadow lifted the mare’s mane and started to spray. Cadence resisted the urge to shout as the cold spray hit her sides and face but was unable to keep herself from dancing a little.

               “Okay, you can breathe,” stated Shadow as wiped Cadence’s eyes with a cloth, removing the excess dye, then she moved to the alicorn’s neck.  The ponies continued to apply the dye to the princess, giving her a coat that resembled the evening sunset.

               Dart finished with the side of Cadence she was on and looked to Steelsong, “Don’t worry about her wings, they’ll be covered by the jacket.” She told the young pegasus as she retrieved a small makeup kit from the same bag that Shadow had produced the spray dye from.

               “Put this on her tail,” Shadow told Steelsong, tossing the mare a small jar.

               “Why are we disguising you?” The red pegasus inquired as she opened the jar and pulled a hooffull of blue gel. “I mean, you were walking around the market with us just this morning.”

               Cadence stood still with her eyes closed as Dart began to put makeup on her, evening out the dye around her eyes, “A princess going to a concert would be a disruption.” The princess replied, “Ponies would be more interested in me rather than the band.” Shadow began to put the same blue gel on the alicorn’s mane that Steelsong was applying to her tail. “And I want to just enjoy the show.”

               Steelsong nodded, “That makes sense.” She continued to work the blue gel into Cadence’s tail.

               Dart opened her wings and started to fan the princess, “Hey Steelsong, can you help fan her? It’ll help the dye dry faster.”

               “Oh! Okay!” Steelsong exclaimed, spreading her own wings and helping Dart fan the mare.

               The door to the armory opened and the two guards from the entry hall entered. The blue pegasus stallion called to the ponies, “The halls are clear but ya’ll are runnin’ a bit late.”

               “Hey Artic Sweeper, the meeting ran long,” Shadow Star stated as she finished applying the mane gel to Cadence about the same time that Steelsong finished with her tail, leaving the alicorn with a mane and tail the color of the early night sky. Dart put the makeup kit back in the bag and pulled a black jacket out. She tapped Cadence on the side, checking to see if the dye had finished drying. Finding that the dye wasn’t quite there yet, she quickened the pace of her wings as she fanned the alicorn and Steelsong followed suit.

               “We’ll help you out, Lieutenant,” The brown pegasus said as he started picking up the spare armor suit that Steelsong had been wearing. Shadow pulled a couple strings of crystals out of a side pocket on the silvery saddle bag and began to quickly braid Cadence’s mane, working the crystals into it.

               “Yeah, we’ll clean up so you four can get out of here.” Arctic Sweeper grabbed a cloth and started wiping up some of the spray dye that had gotten on the floor.

               “Thank you, Wild Rock!” Shadow smiled at the guards, “And you too, Artic!” She looked to the brown stallion, “Just toss that suit into the junk chest, I’m going to get Captain Thunder to decommission it.” Wild Rock nodded and continued to pick up the pieces of armor, but with a bit less care than he was before.

               “Do I need to braid her tail?” Asked Steelsong as Dart checked Cadence’s coat again.

               Shadow shook her head, “Nope, just doing her mane.”

               “Alright.”

               Dart closed her wings and gestured to Steelsong to stop as well. With the air no longer moving, Dart put the jacket on Cadence, covering the princess’s wings and cutie mark. “Just about ready to go!” She picked up a small case and opened it, revealing a red ink pad. “Only one more thing!”

               Shadow, having finished the alicorn’s mane, turned to the green pegasus and tapped her front hooves on the ink pad. She quickly turned to Cadence and tapped her face, leaving two red hoofprints over the princess’ left eye. “Now we’re ready!” The purple mare called out.

               “How do I look?” Cadence asked.

               “Not like a princess,” Steelsong stated with a grin. She stepped back and looked at the evening colored pony. “You look like a sunset turning into night.” The red mare looked to Dart and Shadow, “You’ve done this before, haven’t you?”

               “Cosplay at conventions.” Shadow said as she put on a black jacket that Dart passed to her. “Sometimes you have to change and get to a panel really quick.”

               “You gotta get going!” Artic Sweeper called out as he opened the door. “You’re still running behind!”

               “Thanks for cleaning up for us!” Cadence called as the four ponies bolted out the door. With a wave, Artic Sweeper and Wild Rock turned back to cleaning and shut the door.

               The four mares sprinted out of the castle and straight to Canterlot Stadium, managing to make up time by alternating between flying and running. The mares entered the stadium through a side door that a unicorn guard was standing next to. Cadence and Steelsong trotted in front of Dart and Shadow Star.

               “This is going to be so much FUN!!” Cadence said to Steelsong, with a little prance. “I’ve never been able to go to a heavy metal concert!”

               “I’ve only been to a couple before, but they were small,” Steelsong chimed in, “I’ve never been to ANYTHING like this before!”

               “EEE! I’m so EXCITED!” The evening colored unicorn called out as the pair turned a corner.

               “I KNOW, RI-!” Steelsong started to say but was cut off as she ran into a heavily armored, grey coated pegasus pony. The red mare backed up, “Oh sorry about thaaaa-.” She stalled on the final word as both mares stared at the stallion.

               “Guardpony Steelsong,” The large pegasus regarded the mares with a stern gaze. “Princess Cadence.”

               “Ummm, hello, Captain Steel Thunder,” Cadence stammered as Steelsong snapped to attention and gave the guard captain a salute with her wing. Shadow Star and Dart came around the corner and stopped. Cadence looked back at them and then back to the captain in front of them. As she opened her mouth to continue speaking the captain held up a wing, stopping her.

               “Lieutenant,” Steel Thunder looked to Shadow as she stepped forward. With a flourish of his other wing, the guard captain revealed four passes and held them out with a smile.

               “Thanks, Captain!” Shadow said as she grabbed a pass from the armored pegasus. Dart stepped up and grabbed one as well.

               “Just down that hall and you will be at the main area,” Captain Thunder pointed with his empty wing down another hallway, “Shining Armor has already claimed a spot.” Steelsong and Cadence grinned as they grabbed their passes. “Enjoy the concert!” The captain said as he returned the mares grins with one of his own.

               Cadence gave the large pegasus a quick hug, “Thank you, Captain!”

               “Get going,” He said, returning the embrace. “Hurry and get in there.”

               The unicorn mare nodded and ran to catch up with the others. After showing security their passes, the mares entered the stadium and worked their way through the crowd of fans. Every pony Cadence passed gave her a hoof bump and seemed to be just as excited to be there as she was, happy to greet another friend that was there to enjoy seeing the band perform. Once they got up to Shining Armor, she threw her hooves around him, giving him a tight hug.

               “Wow,” Shining Armor laughed as he returned the disguised princess’s hug. “Not quite what I was expecting, and if it weren’t for your eyes, I wouldn’t have had any idea that was you!”

                Cadence released Shining and gave him a blushing smile.

The stallion smiled at the blushing mare, “I was beginning to worry you weren’t going to make it.”

               “I was too!” The mare replied, “The officials just kept talking in circles, over and over and over.” She rolled her head in circles and then leaned against the white coated stallion. “I can’t even remember what the meeting was about, nothing got accomplished. I still can’t figure out why Celestia wanted me to attend it.”

               “Probably exposing you to the full life of a princess.” Shadow said as she approached the pair, Steelsong and Dart coming up behind her.

               Dart walked up to Shining Armor, “Hold still.” She told the stallion. With a quick movement, the green pegasus mare stamped Shining’s face with her hooves, leaving two red hoofprints over his left eye, startling him. Shadow closed an inkpad and stashed it in her jacket.

               “Hey!” The stallion exclaimed, “I didn’t even see you pull that out!”

               “Ninja tricks.”

               “I figured as much.”

               The sun sank below the horizon and as the last rays of light faded, a hush fell over the audience. Shining Armor smiled at Cadence and stood up. The mare looked around and saw that all the ponies were standing, facing the stage.

               A soft click, resembling the sound of drumsticks being struck, came from the direction of the darkened stage and all of the ponies ducked down. A single guitar note started softly and the ponies started growling along with a voice from the stage. As the note and voice grew louder, the audience matched their volume. Cadence mimicked the crowd and hunkered down, joining in the growl.

              A small flash came from the stage, and all the ponies jumped in unison.

              The ponies landed with a yell and the stage lit up. The thunder of the ponies landing punctuated the start of the drums and guitars. The singer, a tan colored unicorn stallion, took to the front of stage with a microphone on a stand being held in his red colored magic. A dark blue pegasus was pounding on the drums while a dark green griffon was flying above playing a guitar. On one side of the stage, a green pegasus was playing guitar as well, and on the other side, a crimson earth pony played a bass guitar.

              “I’m growing so distant,” sang the unicorn, “Nothing makes sense to me anymore. I’m learning to resist. Becoming more than you ever were! Can’t explain, what’s come over me!” He held the microphone out to the crowd.

             “Come over Me!” The audience called back.

             “Can’t explain,” the singer continued, “why it’s so hard for me,”

             “So hard to see your side!” He sang with the audience.

              Cadence found herself swept up in the songs, loosing track of the time as the music swept over her. The primal force of the raw emotion that poured out from the musicians filled her and as the last song finished, the princess found herself both energized and exhausted, all from the exhilaration of the music that blasted though the audience.

               _________________________________

                 It was close to midnight when Cadence bid goodnight to Steelsong and Shadow as they escorted her to entrance of the hall leading to the royal chambers. With her magic, she carried a set of saddle bags with “2 Hoof Death Buck” emblazoned on the sides. As she walked, the alicorn took off the black jacket that had covered her wings and stretched them.

               “I will not be forgotten,” she softly sang, as she lightly danced, heading towards her room. “This is my time to shine.” She spun the jacket in the air, “I’ve got the s-“

               “Sounds like somepony-“

               Cadence’s terrified scream echoed throughout the halls.

               The hall doors slammed open as Shadow Star flew in, five batons in a wing formation at her sides and above her, Steelsong was winging in, a baton clutched in her mouth. Two more armored guardponies followed just a breath behind them.

               Princess Celestia, with a plate of cake and ice cream held in her hoof and a bemused expression on her face, looked at the guardponies as they entered. Cadence stared at the sun-marked alicorn with a hoof to her heart, breathing heavily, while held in Celestia’s golden magic along with her bag and a vase that she had knocked over.

               “I believe everything’s okay,” Shadow stated as she landed, “somepony just got startled.”

               Steelsong landed near the purple mare and handed the baton to Shadow. “Yup.” She responded, obviously trying to keep from laughing now that she knew everyone was safe.

               Shadow collapsed the six batons and secreted them back on herself. Quickly, the guard ponies exited the hallway. As the doors to the hall shut, Celestia released Cadence, “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

               “Well,” Cadence gasped, still trying to catch her breath. “I’m awake now!”

               “Want some cake and ice cream?”

               The young princess nodded and followed Celestia into the nearby parlor, her breathing starting to get back under control. The older princess set a glass of water on the small table for Cadence, who quickly downed it. The young mare sat down on one of the chairs next to the table and placed the glass back down. “You really scared me!”

               “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.” Celestia said, as she cut a large piece of chocolate cake and placed it on a plate. “I just saw you come in and wanted to ask how the concert went.” She scooped some ice cream and placed it next to the slice of cake. “I guess you didn’t realize that I was there.” The princess set the plate down next to Cadence along with a fork.

               Cadence exhaled slowly, finally getting her heart to stop racing. “I wasn’t expecting anypony to be up.” She looked at the older alicorn with a curious expression.

               “I couldn’t sleep and wanted a snack.” Celestia sat in the chair opposite of the young princess. “So, did you enjoy yourself?” She asked, taking a bite of her own slice of cake.

               “I should have known you knew about it. I mean the captain knew, he was the one who gave us the passes.” The heart marked mare stated.

               “It was his idea, and he asked if he could get you in. He always volunteers to help out with concerts so he can get free tickets for some of the guards.”

               “Aww, that was nice of him!” The evening colored princess took a bite of her cake and ice cream. “But yes, I had SOOOO much fun!!!” She fluttered her wings a bit. “It was so much different than the pop concerts that I’ve been too. The band engaged with the audience so much more!” Cadence paused and regarded Celestia for a moment. “They’re the reason why all the guards were in heavy armor weren’t they?”

               The sun-marked princess smiled warmly at her niece. “Exactly. The band was able to tour the castle and I met with them along with half of the guard. The armor was a way to disguise them and not have anypony fuss or make a scene.”

               “That is so cool! I would love to meet them!” Cadence stated with a grin.

               “You can tomorrow. They are coming in for one last meet and greet with the guard, so you can meet them then.”

               “REALLY?!?” Cadence sat up, looking at Celestia with wide eyes.

               “Yes. They are going to be here tomorrow around noon for lunch with the guard,” the elder princess took another bite of her cake. “And you already have that on your calendar. They are looking forward to meeting you.”

               “EEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”

This story takes place after Confrontation and has my friend’s character, Steelsong, in it. Without meaning to I started a friendship between Cadence and Steelsong that has continued to other stories, but those will be told later.

Opening Song: “Hard to See” – Five Finger Death Punch

Video link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUuOc5Atfx0

Cadence singing: “Welcome to the Pride” – Five Finger Death Punch

Video link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6iFVpGlBrM

[vixenfur]

In the mood for more positivity around! Tell us how much you love your friends and how they have made an impact in your life!

!!!! I love this!!!! OFF I GO!

@zeta-jane - Zeta, you’re unlike anyone else I’ve ever had the chance to know. You’re filled with sarcastic remarks and random facts and you never fail to amaze me, make me laugh and teach me new things (sometimes all at the same time). Your writing skills are phenomenal and it’s always so much fun writing with you. Even if I take ages sometimes to get a project rolling with you, believe me I really enjoy myself the entire time!! :D Thank you for always being honest with me and never sugarcoating stuff, I need realism in my life more often than not xD Thank you for being a constant force in my life and being true to yourself above all. Seeing your bold personality and mentality grounds me a lot and I really love that about you!!

@yuudefensesquad - my DAWTER. my precious sunshine child. You have made me soso happy and I hope you can say the same about me. I feel like we’re on the same wavelength and we understand each other a lot. Beyond quoting the same vine at the same time or sending the same/similar memes to each other, sometimes when you talk about your experiences it feels like listening to myself. I feel really lucky to know someone like you and I absolutely adore what you create. You’re so amazingly talented and sweethearted and I want the best for you.

@crazyloststar - AAAAAH you’re just incredible. I’ve always seen you as one of my closest friends in fandom, and at the same time I look up to you. Not only in terms of your writing & the things you create, but just your attitude on things, from your own personal struggles to your advice for my own problems. I really strive to think more like you, and thanks for always being reasonable and truthful with me!! and of course, thanks for all the laughs and fun times!! I find it hard to stop smiling when we talk!! :D

@absolute-exclusivity - omg girl. I can’t tell you how grateful I am that you’re in my life. You are so full of energy and joy and sunshine that it’s impossible for me to be sad anymore after talking with you or seeing your smile. Spending time with you during my abroad experience was so worth it every time and I miss you tons!! All the laughs we shared and more–I will never forget them. Most of all I love your outlook on life. Even when things get rough, you motivate yourself and power through. You don’t let yourself get dragged down no matter what shit is thrown at you and your strength is so admirable. Even in your most painful moments you find a way to see the light and I love that about you. Just know you have a shoulder to lean on when you need it– I’m right here for you. Thank you for being in my life.

@ Feli even tho she’s not on tumblr - girl !! you are the most cursed fuckin person I’ve ever met LMAO but honestly thank you for all the laughs. You crack me up constantly!! but more than that, thank you for being there for me. We’ve only gotten close as of lately but I really enjoy talking with you & I’m glad to know we’re both the same level of filth™ as each other XD Your advice is really helpful to me personally and I hope I can be a help to you, too! Rock on girl & keep up that amazing art and writing talent you’ve got going. You’re incredible and never think otherwise.

@balefulvengeance - You are soooo sososososo COOL and I am so freakin thrilled to be your friend. I’ve always admired your art and writing and cosplay, and I can’t say how excited I am to cosplay with you coming up!!

@anyonguk - you are so incredible!!! We met so long ago but both of us have changed and grown so much. Despite our interests going different directions, I’m still so happy that you remain in my life & spread your loving, positive energy. You’re so full of happiness and joy even during the hardest times and I really admire how you get through the hurdles in your life. Even when things seem bleak you find a way to pick yourself up and carry on! But you don’t do it alone– you let us friends help you and support you and I think the fact that you can rely on us is really amazing. It’s so good that you know when to reach out and how you want us to help you. I’m so honored to be someone you can turn to.

@ Kris, who’s tumblr I also can’t find atm - girl!!! You are so so full of love. Your posts always bring a smile to my face and I absolutely love the energy you have. You’re always out there wanting the best for this world and it’s so admirable. Your drive and motivation to stay positive and be the best person you can be is amongst the strongest I’ve ever seen in people. I appreciate your memes, your creations, and your kind words in rough times. I hope my words can comfort you too. You’re doing great & I want nothing but the best for you!!!

@just-another-dream-about-yuu - Hey girl I know we don’t talk a whole lot one on one but I am so so happy to know you. You have the best attitude imo, always being your best self and doing what you love. You’re unashamed to be who you are, to express yourself how you want, and to do what makes you happy!! I may not always understand what your posts are sayin but I LOVE seeing you out with your friends and smiling and enjoying yourself. I Love your art SO MUCH even if it isn’t always OnS, I adore your style and always have. I love your enthusiasm and you’ve always, always made my fandom experience so, SO worth it. Thank you for being you. Keep it up!!!

@ Theo who also might not have a tumblr idk - Again we don’t talk a lot one on one but you’re so freakin sweet!! I don’t even know how to explain it!! You make me so very happy; your art is so soft and though you might have parted ways from ONS, I’m so happy you still wanna be friends & stay close. I am excited to see your creations from now on while treasuring what you’ve given the fandom. Most of all, thanks for being such a bright person in my life! When I think of you I think of sparkles and smiles, so thank you for always being so positive and fun to chat with!!

@seraph-star - you’ve done so much for me and you probably don’t even know it!! Everything from your fanart, your posts and your comments on my works have always left a huge impact on me. I hope we can become closer friends because you really rock and I adore your edits, your art and everything else you create. You’re so inspiring to me and I love seeing your story & what you’re up to. I wish we lived closer so we could hang out cause man I think it’d be so much fun!! :D Keep up the amazing work and keep being you. You’re one of the coolest online friends I’ve had the pleasure of meeting!!

@weirdfairytales - I MISS YOUUUUU! yo i Know life be that way but I think about you lots. Not only your amazing fics but just chatting with you– its been far too long and we gotta catch up soon. You’re so freaking awesome and unique and I love our convos, our deep talks and the times when we meme each other into nothingness XD you’re doing so many cool things and I am cheering for you always, even if you’re not aware of it all the time. Keep being amazing girl and I’m here when you wanna chat.

shoutouts to Gia, Helen and Angeru for being the coolest beans ever as well ;) though we aren’t as close I still appreciate you guys!!!!

THERE’S SO MANY PEOPLE I LOVE AND WANNA SHOWER IN LOVE but I kept it to this group for now. you’re all so great and I took this ask and ran with it. I hope it brought a little smile to your face if nothing else. This isn’t for anything in particular, & don’t feel obligated to give me a long response or anything!! this was just a chance for me to express how much i love and appreciate you all.

[choisgirls]

Hoi! I mean hi! So ummmmm idk if ur still doing requests but....* is shy for no reason ahdnfn* could you do a rfa+V+ Saeran wrap ( yes I call him that) where mc has a service dog because they have ptsd or something like that...???

A/N: Hi love! Sorry ittook so long, but no need to be shy! You’re free to stop by any time~ I’ll domy best here. I’ve never experienced PTSD /myself/ so I did some research andtook what I knew from previous psych and health classes, but still felt if Iwere to… attempt to reference PTSD itself, I wouldn’t have represented it sowell ^^;;; so im sorry it’s a little vague there, i went more for how they’d react to the dog!! But i hope this is okay!!

(and no worries, iused to call saeran that all the time~)

Masterlist~

*YOOSUNG:

               -He honestly thought you justreally liked your dog and wanted to bring it along

               -But if you’re comfortableenough to tell him, “Hey, this is my service dog” he’ll freak out

               -Because!!! He didn’t know!!!He’s been trying to pet the dog this whole time and your baby was just tryingto do its job, MC, he’s so sorry

               -Out of all of them though, yourdog is the safest in his hands

               -??? He’s in school to be a vet,of course your baby is safest in his hands

               -Not to mention, he was aroundhis cousin when she had a dog she relied on for support and help as well, sohe’s actually really glad you have your service pup because he knows how muchof a difference they can make

*ZEN:

               -When you tell him that yousuffer from something like PTSD, he’s immediately concerned for you. Are youalright? What can he do to help you through the harder times?

               -Extremely relieved to hear youhave a companion- questioned once if it was another man and was only 73%joking.

               -Was nervous at first because?If it’s a pet he really hopes it isn’t a cat… he’d try to suffer through hisallergy but knows he wouldn’t be able to. But you would’ve told him in thebeginning that you had a cat… wouldn’t you have?

               -Upon finding out you have adog, he’s head over heels. He can see how much the dog cares about you and howstrong they are. Respects that they’re so professional

               -But you have to scold him everynow and then when he’s spoiling the dog. Yes love and care is always needed foryour service dog but giving them too many treats is bad, Zen, stop

               -Hey if you need your dog towork out, ya know, he can take them on jogs with him. Totally not because hewants to test his endurance against your dogs. Nope, not at all

 *JAEHEE:

               -Honestly surprised by yourservice dog?

               -She isn’t afraid of dogs persay but sometimes she’s wary of them. The smaller they are, the meaner theyare. “They have less space to diffuse their anger, MC.”

               -When she first met your servicedog and they stood at attention she just stared at them, engaging in a staringcontest. She whispered to you, “Can they sense fear???”

               -A long conversation and lots ofcomforting touches later, she realized why you need the comfort of your servicedog and see’s them in a completely new light

               -Knew dogs were a humans bestfriend but didn’t know that they could be this reliable and understanding

               -Actually goes to your dog whenshe’s upset as well, but is sure never to overwhelm them because you are theirmain priority always and refuses to upset either of you

*JUMIN:

               -He was pretty much against thedog because? What if it hurts his dear Elizabeth? He would never accept that

               -Unless you tell him that, uh,you kinda need your baby. They’re your service dog and they help you out witheveryday life sometimes

               -Then he’ll offer to sit downand talk it out with you

               -Because in a way, Elizabethbecame a sort of therapy cat of his own, so hearing how your dog helps youthrough things like PTSD, he’ll come up with something the two of you couldwork out.

               -Honestly though? Your dog isn’tgoing to harm Elizabeth and once he observes them for a while and realizesthat, he’ll actually grow to enjoy your dogs company

               -Says he doesn’t, but he spoilsyour dog when you aren’t looking. He’ll give them belly rubs, expensive collarsand vests, and he definitely makes sure they’re allowed into everywhere you go-if they weren’t allowed before, they are now

*SAEYOUNG:

               -Honestly when you tell him he’sbasically like “Yeah, that’s okay, no problem MC! I like dogs!” You’vegone through some heavy stuff, if your dog helps you then of /COURSE/ he’s okaywith it. Tries to be calm, cool, collected, c h i l l. But it changes when heactually meets your dog.

               -He’s created a whole new socialmedia following for them. Their Instagram is full of amazing pictures of themlooking majestic, strong, and at attention- ya know, working.

               -Doesn’t try to distract yourdog at all, just admires him from afar and loves to watch the two of youinteract

               -Though sometimes he /does/ usesome of his agent training to see if he can sneak around and get close to you-kind of like testing your dog. “I’m training them to be even better,MC!”

               -You admit that it is prettyfunny to watch him dangle from on top of the bookshelf to give you a kiss whileyour dog furiously barks at him to get down and away from you

               -10/10 supporter of dressing upyour dog. They are his cosplay buddy and he’s very happy. It’s not taking themaway from their job, MC! They’re just dressed up! It’s okay!

 *JIHYUN:

               -Thrilled!

               -Jumin tried multiple times whenJihyun was having eyesight troubles to get a service dog to help him out, andat one point he seriously considered it

               -So he’s done research on how totreat them, care for them, things of the sort and will remember all of that sohe can interact correctly with your dog!

               -Respects his distance and letsyour dog get used to him before ever petting him or even ghosting his fingersover any part of you.

               -Forgot once and hugged you frombehind- you were alright with it because you heard him walk up but your servicedog blew up. Constant barking, pulling on his pants leg, trying to get inbetween the two of you. You thought it was funny but Jihyun didn’t walk upbehind the two of you for a few weeks

               -Loves your service dog andloves how much love they have for you, instantly accepts them as part of yourlittle family- he can trust them to take care of you when he’s away

 *SAERAN:

               -You’ve been through some stuff,he’s been through some stuff too- respects that you may need some help withdealing with it all, so he’s totally okay with your dog. Wants to fightwhatever haunts you though

               -Honestly, I can see the /dog/being the one to initiate the relationship with Saeran

               -Because they’re trained tosense the negative emotions and distress in people, so of course they couldsense Saeran’s

               -But obviously they’re trainedfor you and you’re their main priority, so he kind of just pushes the dog awayfrom him because??? Leave me alone?? You’re MC’s?? Take care of them??

               -Tries to pretend that hedoesn’t like their attention, but he does. When they jump up and lay next tohim, head in his lap, he can’t help but scratch behind their ear and ithonestly is relaxing but he won’t tell you

               -THE DOG TAKES YOUR PLACE IN THEBED SOMETIMES. If you come to bed late, your dog’s laying there instead.They’re cuddling. Neither of them move. What little bitches

[drv3imagines]

I’m pretty sure this is what anon meant when they said Neko Maid… (Someone stop me please…I am having way too much fun) anyway, if this is an anime reference (outside of the popular AU/costume) I have never seen the anime and I am very sorry. For this ask I will assume by Neko Maid you are referring to the typical anime maid style with cat ears, a tail, and sometimes paws, if that is not correct I will accept criticisms and change it as soon as I can. Thanks for bearing with me and enjoy~ Sidenote: I’m keeping it gender neutral because there was no specified pronouns.

Rantaro Amami * The two of you were doing some season transitionary cleaning one afternoon, when you found it. * Rantaro was helping you dust off some antique snow globes one moment, then rushed out of the attic the next. * He had no idea what just happened, and your not-even-half explanation was no help either. * Fifteen minutes had almost passed before his curiosity began to eat away at him, that’s when finally you revealed yourself. * “Ohohoho~ So that’s what was taking you so long?~” * You smiled and stepped down completely from the ladder, doing a showing twirl of your entire outfit. * “And a tail? I wonder what I’d have to do to see you like this all the time~”

Korekiyo Shinguuji * Korekiyo had recently began to show interests in animal companionship in humanity. It only occurred to him after a certain animal loving classmate accidentally relayed their high interest in animals. * Every time you’d visit his home, his room had been left in a worse condition than your last visit. Who knew that animal companionship had soooo much research built into it. * But he was managing the work load, while his organization skills seemed to be lacking as of late. * That’s when an idea struck you. * While he was locked away in his room, nose-deep in a book relating to felines and their history amongst Egyptians, the doorbell sounded. * He heavily desired to just ignore whoever it was and continue his reading…but they were persistent. * Sighing, he finished the last portion of the paragraph, and made his way to rejoin society. * Although the situation did strike him as odd…hardly did he ever have visitors unless they were you…and you always called…perhaps– * Nope, throw all theories out the window. * “Nya~ Hello, Mr. Shinguuji. I heard your home was in need of some special cleaning~” * “Well I will most certainly accept the assistance of such an interesting and generous maid~ Please watch your step.”

Kaito Momota * Honestly…how you even got on the subject of Neko Maids is still a mystery to this very day… * But Kaito admits that he didn’t really like the whole vibe of it. * I mean, it was cute sure, a lot of people can pull off the look, but it’s just not his thing. * Major disappointing… * Maybe…there was a way to convince him otherwise~ * After dropping the topic, you moved your conversation onto something else, but your plot was still burning in the back of your mind. * A few days later, you and Kaito meet up again and- * “S/o?! Wow…you look…wow…” * “Maybe Mewmota would apurrtiate the quality of Neko Maids neow that his wuver is going to dress like one furever~” * “And to think I didn’t have a thing for Neko Maids ;)”

Kokichi Ouma * Even though he wouldn’t say, you could tell something was off about your jokester boyfriend. * It was like a huge rain cloud was just above his head, but the sun was was still visible confusing you about whether it would rain or not. * So you decided to set up an adorable surprise for him. * Even though it was hecka illegal…Ouma had done this plenty of times to you…so you figured it’d be okay…hopefully… Anyway you picked his front lock, as you’ve seen him done plenty of times before and awaited for him to return for his “secret society” meet. * An hour had gone by when he finally returned looking exhausted…maybe it was wrong to– * “Alright, whoever you are, I know you’re hiding! I’m armed and not afraid to use this!” * Whoa?? What??? * You slowly revealed yourself from behind his couch, completely at the mercy of your boyfriend. * “S/o?” * “I know what you’re going to say! And I-I just wanna say at the time it seemed like a good idea…but now…” * “You look sooooo cute~~~” * He’s latched onto you in seconds, covering your face with butterfly kisses. * Later on, you find out he was bluffing about being armed, but how the heck did he know you were there???

Shuuichi Saihara * It started when Shuuichi wasn’t paying any attention to you while he was visiting your house. * Call it clingy, but you did invite him so that you two could hang out. * It was understandable that he had a ton of work, but he could have just declined your offer… * Hmm…perhaps it was time mister detective took a short break from his most recent case. * He was absolutely lost in his work, failing to notice you slipping out of the room. However, when he finally became aware of your absence, he raised a small alarm. * It had been quiet for a long time… * He sets his notebook aside to go check on you, wherever you had disappeared off to. * Guest room? No, this is their house, why would they be in the guest room? Bathroom? The light was off and the door was open. * He had searched just about every room, leaving your parents’ room and your room. His money was going to be on the only room with a light on…which he should’ve checked first…but y'know…thoroughness… * The door was obviously wide open, hence the light flooding out of it…but he didn’t expect you to be struggling to change still. * Insta-nosebleed. * “Shuuichi…you do know that all I had left to put on were socks right?” * “I-I know…but you look…really…nice…” * Help him…

Kiibo * This whole thing started out with him asking questions about cosplaying. * “Why do humans do it? Is there any benefit one reaps by pretending to be someone or something else?” * Um yes?!? Is that even a question?!? * Before you went on a huge rant about how effing amazing cosplay is, you decided you could show him better than you could tell him. * Digging through your old cosplays you found the most classic of the classic… * “Alright, Kiiboi time to show you the great power of the Neko Maid!~ Nya (roar)~” * … * It takes a minute for him to analyze what exactly he was seeing. * “Perhaps Kirumi would appreciate the aesthetic of your maid costume?” * 🙃 * You spend the rest of the afternoon explaining with charts, 2010 YouTube videos, and PowerPoints just how important this relic was to the anime community.

Gonta Gokuhara * Today you decided to go through your closet, prepping your old clothes for donations, or tossing out the really worn ones when you found it. * Ah yes, the pinnacle of your cosplaying days…the blessed Neko Maid costume. * You figured it would be fun to try it on one last time before prepping it for give away to some other otaku– that’s when the doorbell rang. * Just as you answered the door, you took in the spiffy image of your giant boyfriend in a nice suit, sporting a bouquet of flowers. * “Gonta hopes you like the flowers he got for you for our date! He thinks they match your eyes perfectly! Oh?” * Mother… * You completely forgot about your date tonight with all the reminiscing in your closet. * “Sorry Gonta, I-I should hurry and go get dressed…” * “But Gonta thinks you look really nice in your maid outfit! He thinks it is really…cute!” * His blushing face was just too much to say no to…even though it would be really embarrassing…you agreed to go out to dinner in your Neko Maid costume. * Despite all the strange looks you received, Gonta’s constant compliments were enough to block off all the haters. Perhaps you should make this a regular thing on your dates~

Ryoma Hoshi * You know the guy has a strong fondness when it comes to cats, and you didn’t wanna give off the wrong impression by dressing in an entire cat suit. * So instead you settled for a more popular and socially acceptable genre. * Neko Maid! * “Nya~ Ryomew~ Look! I dressed like a kitty cat maid~ Meow!” * As soon as he looks up– * *internal screams* * He’s gotta keep his cool. * But. You. Look. So. Effing. Cute!!!!! * KEEP. YOUR. COOL. * He tries to tell you that it looks nice, but due to his internal conflicts, his voice slightly cracks, and after that you haven’t seen or heard from him for the rest of the week day. * But he absolutely adores this outfit, maybe someday he will be Adult™ enough to stick around and say it to your face. * As of right now…he’s got a bad boi image to protect, at least he’s gotta make you think he’s cool.

[thewitchandthebeasthimself]

The Witch and The Beast Himself: Chapter 1

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It may seem like another love story to you, and it probably is. However this is a story of how two very unalike yet very similar people met and fall for each other in a city full of constant chaos where it was just everyday life to them. It was a story about a man known for his rampages throughout the city, dubbing him to be a beast in man’s flesh. It was a story of a woman who was a young witch looking to start a new life in the city where no one knew what she was and to meet the dullahan she had heard about.

In a city where nothing changed, life as they once knew it was about to change forever.

For him, and for her.

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“Umm, Miss (last name)?” A woman’s voice startled me out of my nap.

“Hmmmmh?” I replied, barely awake.

“I’m sorry, did you fall asleep? The other passengers have already left the plane, we were about to board our next set of passengers until I noticed you were still on board.”

“AH! I’m so sorry!” I jumped up quickly, straightening up my (hair type, hair color) hair and swinging my carry on bag over my shoulder. I can’t believe I slept through the plane landing and everyone else being escorted off of it!

The flight attendant that woke me laughed and waved her hand at me, “It's okay, you’re not the first person to do this. But thanks for flying with us, have a safe time in Ikebukuro!”

“Okay, thanks a lot!” I stepped out of the plane and down the walkway to Ikebukuro Airport's welcoming center. The brightly lit center swarmed with people from all over the world. There were so many new faces, and so many different kinds of energy from each one…

One thing I should probably mention about myself is that I am not a normal human. I’m actually a 23 year old witch from Salem, Massachusetts in the US. I’ve been a witch since I was a little girl; my parents were also witches and helped me become the witch I am today so that I could learn to uncover some of the Earth’s strangest, wondrous mysteries, and to master witchcraft. I feel like I’ve mastered enough magic to handle myself in a real fight, plus I have the ability to heal others through hands on healing. Because of my healing ability I sense energies everywhere I go and can usually tell how a situation would turn out before it happens. I have read through every book that we have and been all over the USA since then, but I just feel that it wasn’t interesting enough to stay there. I really wanted to travel the world and see all this beautiful planet has to offer and get away from the boring everyday life I had before.

One thing that had attracted me here were the rumors of an Irish urban legend called a dullahan riding a motorcycle that neighed like a horse through the streets of Ikebukuro supposedly in search of her head. It had been said to be living and working like a human. I had seen other unreal super natural entities like vampires, ghosts, spirits, and more but a dullahan living amongst humans in a Japanese city? Now that’s a sight to see.

I never really did think I would get to pursue such a thing until I met an online friend of mine named Erika Karisawa. We had met through a online cosplay group; to be honest she’d always been very nice to me and would always tell me all about her crazy adventures here with her friends “Dotachin”, Walker, and Saburo. One day she extended an invite out to me to come meet her and her friends so I decided to get an apartment together there and settle in for a bit. I had also accepted a job there as a barista in a local coffee shop to keep my life somewhat interesting while I was there. Being a smart witch I had also picked up on speaking Japanese fluently so that I could speak to others there.

I haven’t told her about me being a witch yet and I probably won’t for a while because knowing her, she’d probably ask me to conjure up something weird like one of her favorite manga characters or to hex people on the streets for fun. While it does sound fun pranking people with magic and fulfilling Erika’s fetishes and fantasies, I do try to follow the Witch’s Threefold Law, anything you do will come back at you times three. I’ve experienced the wrath of the threefold law too many times so I really don’t wanna mess up here. Another thing i really don't want to mess up is another friendship because of being a witch.

I stepped down to the floor level of the center and followed the signs that lead out to the streets of Ikebukuro where Erika and her friends were supposed to meet me.

Shit I can’t believe I slept like that, I thought. I should probably text Erika and tell her I’m gonna be a bit late, I hope she won’t be mad at me.

I pulled out my phone and went through my texts to find her number. I seen that I had two missed calls from her and a few texts asking where I was. Suddenly, I sensed a familiar energy walking towards me, and two other unfamiliar ones following. I looked up to see that it was in fact Erika and two of her best friends walking up to me.

“Erika!” I smiled and called out to her, waving my hands at her.

Her face lit up the moment she saw me. “Hey (your name)!” She had to have recognized me as well after all of those Skipe video chats we’ve had. She ran up to me and hugged me for a second, then pulled back.“You’re late! Where were you? Did you stop to check out the souvenir shop or something?”

I laughed nervously, “I fell asleep on the plane and didn’t get up when the other passengers were leaving.”

“Oh wow, geez (your name)!” She shoved me playfully. “Its okay, the guys and I were talking about heading up to Russia Sushi for a quick bite then we can show you around the city. How does that sound?”

“Sounds great, let’s go!” I said, excited to start our adventure.

“Okay!” She wrapped her arm around my shoulder and spun us around the other way to face the men behind us. “Lemme introduce you to the guys! This is Walker,” pointing at a squinty-eyed guy with blonde hair in a light blue hoodie who smiled and waved at me. “And this is Dotachin.” pointing at a tall man with a beanie tugged over his forehead and wearing a dark green jacket. “Saburo’s usually with us but he was off doing something today, I'm sure you'll meet him though.”

Dotachin groaned and extended his hand out to me to shake, “Call me Kyouhei. Dotachin is just a nickname Erika gave me a while back. She’s told us so much about you, it’s nice to finally meet you.”

“Yeah, its nice to finally meet you too!” I replied, accepting his firm handshake. Upon taking his hand I could sense he had a very warm energy that made him seem like the leader of their little group.

We began walking down the street heading to this Russia Sushi place Erika was talking about, talking along the way. The city outside of the airport was bustling with even more energy and life. There were tall buildings every which way I looked, lighting up the sky with an array of different colors as the evening set in.

“So where were you from again?” Kyouhei asked.

“She’s from a town called Salem in the US!” Erika butted in. “I’ve heard that in the 1600’s 19 of its townspeople were victims of a public execution because they were accused of being witches. Apparently there are still witches there today.”

“Sounds like a crazy background.” Kyouhei said.

“Oh that’s really cool!” said Walker from behind us. “Have you seen any, (your name)? Are YOU one?”

I tensed up a bit at the question. Nobody here needs to know I’m a witch.

I breathe in and out to change the nature of my energy to appear as if I were baffled by the question. “No way, thats ridiculous! There were just a lot of crazy Christians and Catholics there during that time that wanted to accuse innocent people of such crazy things but they weren’t actually witches there. And I’ve never actually seen one. I guess my hometown just went along with opening up all of those witch related shops to attract more tourists and what not since that’s what it’s known for.”

“I don’t believe you!” Erika said, teasing me again. “But ya know, that would make a pretty sexy cosplay outfit wouldn’t it, Walker?”

“For sure!” Walker replied. “Maybe you could try out cosplaying Blair from Soul Eater!”

“Ooooooh I love Blair! She’s a fine ass witch! Pumpkin pumpkin pumpkin!” Erika mushed, unwrapping her arm from my shoulder and fantasizing over this character they were talking about.

Kyouhei smirked, “Are you sure you know what you’re getting into with them? They can be a bit overwhelming with all of their otaku talk.”

“Yeah I’m pretty sure I do. That is how Erika and I met.” I said. Then the question popped into my mind. “Hey do you know anything about a dullahan living here? That’s kinda one of the reasons why I came here.”

“Hmm, I don’t think I’ve heard of a dullahan living here but we have seen the Headless Rider from time to time. She doesn’t ever just stop to talk to anyone, she mostly keeps to herself. I honestly don’t blame her with all the crazy stuff going on these days.”

Sounds like that may be what I’m looking for, I thought. We’ll see.  

“Crazy stuff huh? Yeah I’ve heard a bit about it.” I said.

“What exactly did you hear?” he asked.

“Just things about a bunch of gang wars and some pretty nasty attacks from ‘the Slasher’.”

“Oh okay,” he said. “Since you’ll be staying here there’s some key things you should know about this place that I'm sure Erika hasn't mentioned yet. Stay away from all of the color gangs here in the city. The fights can get pretty nasty and they don't care who gets in the way. Color gangs will usually wear a color to represent the gang they’re in, like how the Yellow Scarves wear yellow and the Blue Squares wear blue. There’s the Dollars that don’t have a color so it’s hard to tell who’s in it and who’s not. And there’s word of a new color gang called the Blood Diamonds.”

“So they’d wear red or blood colors to represent themselves, right?” I asked.

“Exactly,” he said. They've been going around busting people up for no reason, raping local women and either killing them or leaving them on the street with their clothes burned, so be careful. Also, there are quite a few dangerous people here that you should stay away from…” the moment he said that I was suddenly overcome by a dark, sinister energy that was incredibly strong, cunning and unstable. Then a slim man in a black coat with tan fur, short black hair and his hands stuffed in his coat pockets jumped down from literally out of nowhere in front of us, stopping us in our tracks.

“Hello, Dotachin.” said the man, with a smile on his face. The energy I had felt came off of this man. He didn’t seem to look like much, but he gave off a vibe that he could shatter someone’s mind in an instant. How could someone come off with such a strong energy like that? It’s almost… sickening.

“Hey, Izaya.” said Kyouhei, producing an annoyed energy at the sight of him. “We thought you were living in Saitama now.”

Izaya smiled and said, “I am, but its gotten boring very fast so I decided to come back to visit some old friends. So who should she stay away from?” he asked, looking at me.

“Definitely pricks like you.” Kyouhei said, pretending to be joking with him.

“Haha you’re so funny Dotachin! I’m the nicest man you’ve ever met!” He came forward to me and spoke to me in English, his accent changing with his words, “I’m Izaya, an information broker that used to work here. And you are?”

“Um hi I’m (your name).” I said in an awkward tone. His stare sent chills up my spine. He was oddly very fluent in my first language.

“You’re an American. What brings you here?” he asked.

“Um I’m looking for someone.”

“Are you? Well it just so happens that finding people is an skill of mine, maybe I can help. Here’s my card.” He pulled out a card with his full name, Izaya Orihara, and his number on it. “Give me a call if you’re ever interested.”

 I took the card from him, “Umm thanks, I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”

 His energy is so weird, I thought. I doubt he’d know anything about the dullahan but I guess I could give him a call later on. Despite his energy he may actually be pretty decent at his job.  

And that’s when I first met him.

  I felt another energy coming towards us. It felt like electric. It appeared to feel like a …. A vending machine?! Yes, a VENDING MACHINE came hurling at us.

While I could use a force push spell to hurl the object back at the sender, I didn’t want to risk anyone finding out what I am. The only other thing I could do was warn everyone.

“Everyone get out of the way!” I yelled in Japanese. Luckily everyone had jumped out of the way just in time before the vending machine smashed into the sidewalk in front of us.

What the hell just happened?! I think to myself before a light, soft and mellow energy comes charging towards us. There was also another side to this energy that appeared which was very enraged and filled with hate towards Izaya.

“IIIIZAAAYAAAAAA!!!!” I heard his voice in the distance. “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!”

Izaya sighed, switching back to Japanese. “Looks like Shizu-chan has found me. I guess I’ll be taking off.” he said before darting away.

“GET BACK HERE YOU BASTARD!!!” yelled the man coming towards us. The energy that came from this man didn’t appear to match him either. He was a slender man that had blonde hair, sunglasses, a bartender uniform, and literally steam coming off of him, or at least from what I could see. He was somehow… I don’t know… perfect. Even in this enraged form he’d taken on. He looked like the man I had a dream about before I was woken up on the plane. As he approached Kyouhei the enraged side calmed down slightly.  

“Where’d he go, Kadota?! I’m gonna kill that fleabag for stepping foot here again!”

“Calm down a sec Shizuo, you’re scaring our friend here.” Kyouhei said.

“Hmm?” He said before turning to look at me. His enraged energy vanished instantly, making him appear completely calm, the steam around him disappearing causing him to appear even more attractive than before. As we locked eyes for a second I felt his curiosity of me rush over me like a wave. I blushed away after staring into his light brown eyes for what felt like an eternity. I’d been taught that the eyes were the window to the soul, and it definitely showed on him. He appeared to be the most kind hearted man i’d ever met. I’ll have to figure out that raging, vengeful energy he had and how he was able to fling a vending machine at us like it was a frisbee.

“Sorry about that,” he said. “I just hate that scumbag so much I wish he’d never came back.”

“Um it's okay,” I said.

“This is Shizuo Heiwajima.” said Kyouhei. “He may seem a bit scary at times but he’s a good friend of ours. He’s probably another guy I’d recommend you stay away from,” he laughed.

“Hahahaha yeah stay away from me!” Shizuo joked back, slapping Kyouhei on the arm which made Kyouhei cry out a bit.

Shizuo reached into his pockets and pulled out a pack of blue American Spirit cigarettes and a lighter, took one cig from the pack and lit it, and stuffed the pack back into his pocket.

“Well Tom is probably wondering where I went so i’m gonna go back to him. I’ll see you guys later.” He turns around and walks in the direction he came from.  

Whoa. I thought. He's…

Walker interrupted my thoughts, “Wow, you got to meet with two of the most dangerous people in the city upon arriving!”

“Yeah they sure know how to make an entrance,” Kyouhei commented. “Anyway you should definitely stay away from Izaya. He’s usually involved in everything that's happened in this city. While Shizuo can be a great guy at times you don't want to be around while he's on one of his rampages. He can tear up everything in his path.”

“He pretty much turns into the Hulk when he's mad, especially when he sees Izaya. I’m surprised he was able to stop when he saw us.” said Erika. “Man, I wish they’d just announce their love already. It’d make a perfect yaoi.”

“Ha, a yaoi? Those two look like they hate each other's guts! There's no way it'd work out between them.” I laughed.

“Yeah we keep trying to tell her but she's dead set on writing up some fan fic about them,” Walker said.

“Alright guys let's get going its getting dark out,” Kyouhei said.

As we headed up to Russia Sushi all I could think about was him.

 I wonder if I'll see him again? I guess if he's one of the most dangerous men in the city that goes on crazy rampages then I probably will.