#DO. NOT. TRUST. DINGO. DINGO. WITH. YOU. BABIES.

[dragontag420]

wat do u mean dingodingo is scary???? no... gabo is good dog... trust gabo with ur babies.... dingodingo will watch them for u! babysit! not eat!

these scary teeth??? no... gabo gabo would never... gabo is a Good Dog, trust... trust gabo...

[chloeillustrates16]

Dance the Night Away

Summary: You and Darry for once get the house alone. Darry and you dance (Dirty Dancing style).

Paring: Darry X reader

Warning: Sexual Themes. Small angst. Happy ending. Kinda long. Cursing.

Every once in a blue moon, you and Darry would have the house to yourselves. Darry had one of his rare days off due to his boss forcing him to take a break. You and Darry have been dating for a year now, you were with him when his parents died and continued to help him and be by his side while going to college and working at the Dingo.

You were cleaning when you pulled out a record and started to play it. Be My Baby by The Ronettes. Darry glanced over from where he was cleaning off the counters. You swayed your hips to the song, he watched grinning, "What are you doing?"

"Dancing, come join me," you offered your hand out to him. He shook his head, smiling before taking your hand. You two danced a bit, before he grabbed your waist and spun you around. You laugh, wrapping your arms around his neck, whipping your head to the right and then to the left. He dipped you a bit low, your hands moving to his forearms.

"You're amazing," Darry whispered as your eyes locked; he pulled you into a kiss.

"I've missed having you to myself," you whisper. He hums in agreement. Your hands run down his arms up to his button-down, your hands move to his chest, slowly unbutton the shirt,

"Y/N, they guys could come in any minute."

"Let's get away for a few days," you suggest. "I'm sure they would be fine on their own," Darry cocks an eyebrow, you sigh. "Maybe not."

"Trust me, I've missed having the time with you, but I just can't."

"Darrel, you work as hard as it is. You should let yourself have some days off. You'll make yourself sick," you look into his blue eyes trying to break the cold demeanor of his face. He lets out a sigh,

"I'll think about it," you smile before bringing him into another kiss. You gasp as he spun you again; your back pressing against his chest. Darry's lips kiss along your shoulder and neck, "Y/N, you're making me crazy."

"I believe that's a good thing, Mr. Curtis." He groans, his forehead pressed against your shoulder blade as you laugh,

"You make me feel old."

"If we have a getaway, I'll make you feel young again," he stares at you for a moment. You shove his face up, he laughs, "Get your mind out of the gutter."

"Not my fault when that's what you're implying."

"No wasn't." You glanced at the door before back to him, "This is implying," you grab his collar pulling him closer to face before grinding a bit. His hands moved your waist, his leg moving in between yours. You two swayed a bit to the beat, before his hands moved down to the rim of your shirt, leaning you down, kissing your collarbone. Pulling you back up to meet him, Darry looked into your (e/c) eyes his hand running through your (h/c) hair. The sound of voices approaching the house sounded,

"That must be the gang." He whispered pulling away from you. You glance back at him before pressing your lips against his cheek.

"We're not finished," you mumble before going and putting all the cleaning equipment up. The door swung open, Darry went back to what he was doing,

"Don't slam the door!" you yell from the broom closet. The door slammed closed; you groan. You forgot that the music was still playing in the living room. The record was switched out, probably by Sodapop to something louder.

Later that night, the house was starting to die down, most of the guys had left. Ponyboy and Sodapop had gone to bed, you too went to bed. You woke up at the middle of the night to the empy space of your and Darry's shared bed. Pulling your head off your pillow and walking out of the room, you saw Darry sitting at the kitchen table, envelopes with bills scattered everywhere. He had his head in his hands,

"Darrel?" you whisper crouching down next to him.

"What am I going to do?"

"What's going on?"

"I was going to tell you earlier, I just, didn't want to worry you."

"Darry, come on, tell me."

"I'm behind on bills, I thought I paid them all, I guess I didn't and now I can't find the money." he looked like he was about to cry, "I don't," you whip his tears away.

"Darry, everything will be all right, I'll be right back," you whisper. You got in the closet, pulling a box out from the top shelf that you kept hidden from Darry and the others, pulling the lid open, you had saved by money for a vacation, but this was more important that than a vacation. Walking back into the kitchen, you placed the dollars on the table.

"Y/N?"

"I was saving this for something else, but you need this now," he stared at the cash wide-eyed.

"I can't, how long?"

"A few months," you answer.

"Y/N, I can't just. You worked hard for this, why would you give it to me?"

"Because I love you and I don't know about you, but I want to keep these boys as much as you do," you explain. As much as you wouldn't admit it in front of their faces, but you viewed Pony and Soda as your own children. You loved them to death and would do anything for them. Before, you thought of them as brothers, however, after taking care of them for long, you would go out of your way to call them you and Darry's sons.

"Y/N," he stood up pulling you into a tight hug. "Thank you, I love you too." You pressed a kiss in his hair, your cheek pressing into it.

Months after that, you were working longer hours, the downside is that you didn't have time to see the gang all that often. You were working late one night, when Darry came in per usual but this time, he wasn't in his work uniform. "Darry?" you ask, curiously.

"Hey, call off work earlier, I want to take you somewhere," you stare at him wildly.

"Darry, I can't just leave earlier, my shift is about to finish and..."

"Y/N, please, you're always bugging me about taking off more. Now it's your turn," he argues, grabbing your hands. You glance at your co-worker, who only smiled at you.

"Um...can you finish out my shift for me, Ronni?"

"Of course, I'll make sure that you have your hours full," he smiles. Ronni had always been by your side; you couldn't ask for a better co-worker.

"Thanks, Ronni," you pull off your apron and hung it up before following Darry outside to the truck. Slipping inside, Darry closed the door behind you, "Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise."

"Where are the others?"

"At the movies, I told them this morning not the burn the house down while we were gone," he explains.

"That's asking a lot," he laughs turning towards you.

"I had to thank you one way," after a few hours, you arrived at the place. You were already passed out in the passenger seat, Darry hosted you up and took you inside before going back and grabbing your bags. You groan, opening your eyes, not recongizing where you were, you jerked up. Darry smirking, "Surprise."

"What is this place?"

"A cabin near the woods and a lake, I thought you might like it," he explains crawling on the bed towards you.

"I love it, I'm sure this costed you a lot for a few days."

"I was so worth it," his lips captured yours in a passionate kiss, your arms wrapping around his neck as he pushed you on the bed, your legs wrapping around his waist. "You're so beautiful/handsome."

"Darry," you blush. You composed yourself, "Dance with me," you whisper. He let you get up from under him, walking over to the record player, a song you've never heard of in the sort of records.

When your baby, leaves you all alone. And nobody, calls you on the phone. Oh, don't you feel like crying. Don't you feel like crying. Well, here I am now, honey, come on, cry to me.

You walk up to Darry, moving your hands up to his shoulders, swaying a bit. Your hand moves up to his hair as he lowers you both before going back up. His hand on your back, you let yourself fall back a little, exposing your neck a bit. Darry pulled you back up, swaying a bit faster, he dips you down swing you back up. His face presses against your shoulder. As he thrusts a bit, before pulling you back down you two do this for a bit like a pendulum. You press kisses against Darry's neck, as he dips you down and grabs your leg. You move to his side, continuing along as you press soft kisses against his firm shoulders, your hand grazing against his ass.

Your arms wrap themselves back around his neck, Darry moving them put above your head before reaching down to the rim of your shirt and pulling it off, He tosses your shirt to the floor. Pulling you into a kiss, Darry's lips grazes against your exposed chest and neck. You two move to the bed, Darry unbuckling his belt, pulling his jeans down and kicking them away with your shirt and jeans. He crawls on top of you, Pressing kisses against your stomach up to your jaw. "Darry," you moan.

"Y/N," his voice was barely a whisper as he brought you into another kiss.

[ask-an-aussie]

Aussie Wildlife FAQ

So here's questions I'm frequently asked as both a wildlife rescuer and carer and keeper at a wildlife sanctuary. Heads up, this is a long post, I've made the questions stick out so you can easily skip through. I've tried to make it as easy to read as possible, and to find what you're after, whilst also providing lots of info.

Poison Vs Venom, what's the difference?

Well, mostly, poison just never stops killing. Like if you poison an insect, then a bird or small mammal eats that insect and they slowly get poisoned by all the poisoned insects they eat, then something eats them, like an owl, and that gets poisoned, then as it rots the poison goes into the environment, etc. Poison never dies. Venom has to be injected, so yes you can be envenomated by a dead animal, if you are stupid. Poison can be inhaled, eaten/drunk or even through touch. So if a cow is poisoned you have to dispose of the body safely, if a cow is bitten by a venomous snake, technically you can still have steak for dinner.

Are all Australian animals out to kill you?

Maybe.

They could want to kill us, I mean as a species we aren't that great. Their ability to kill us however is limited. So are all Aussie animals able to kill you? No. So we have lots of cute small mammals, like antechinus, dunnarts, pygmy possums and the like, that can bite and scratch but are very tiny bois. We even have lots of non-venomous snakes, pythons and blind snakes. Most lizards outside of Goannas can't cause too much damage. Echidna's are completely defensive, have no attack whatsoever. Lots of birds have no interest in you, unless you get near their nest. Freshwater Turtles, Little Penguins and Tawny Frogmouths all main defense is shitting really stinky shit at you. Even our venomous snakes, as long as you seek medical attention you should be fine. Considering we have the top 10 most venomous snakes in the world but average only 1 death a year that's pretty good.

But you still have lots of dangerous animals right?

Yes.

Maybe I should elaborate. Any animal is dangerous, including you, if given the right circumstances. I'm a lovely person but hurt my dog and you better run. Most animals don't want a bar of you. However, if you are a threat to them, or their babies, they will defend themselves. A lot of animals get tagged with the word 'aggressive' which I don't like, aggression is a human emotion that I've never seen in wild animals, or even pets and things. Mostly it's defensive behaviours that people read wrong. For example, the most venomous snake in the world is the Inland Taipan (found in Aust.), however the most dangerous snake in Australia is the Eastern Brown snake, less venomous but also less shy and lives in suburbia. Still, it only ever strikes at people when it feels cornered and needs to get you to back the hell off. And lets be real here, what else can they do? They can't yell and scream, they can't punch or kick. Legit their only option is to bite, and even then mostly it's a closed mouth strike to freak you out into stepping back, and most people bitten by snakes are given a 'dry bite' where no venom is injected, as they want to use it on their food not waste it on us. And 90% of snake bites that happen in Australia are people either trying to catch or kill a snake.

It's fairly simple. Don't threaten animals, don't give them a reason to be dangerous and you are fine. Crocodiles in the water? Don't swim there. Sharks around? Avoid swimming at twilight. Snake? Leave it alone. Nest with baby birds? walk away. You don't randomly show up in some strangers home and expect them not to react, so why do we expect different from animals?

What animals are on the most 'dangerous list' then? Which animals should I really avoid pissing off?

Start with the obvious. Crocodiles, venomous snakes, sharks, some jellyfish, venomous spiders, stone fish, blue ringed octopus, birds of prey (our Wedge Tailed Eagle WILL attack drones, hang-gliders and helicopters if they come into their territory) Then you've got the less obvious. Ants - like meat ants, they will swarm over you then all bite down at once. 1 bite isn't so bad, a whole colony biting you, deadly. Then there's other ants in the Myrmecia family (bull ants and the like) that are just HUGE, and have massive mandables for biting and also can sting you, and are one of the most toxic insects in the world.

Wombats - Can run at 40km/hr, skull so hard it's the only thing a Tassie Devil can't eat, able to bite your calf muscle clean off your leg, oh and they have killer booty. A hard cartilage plate in their lower back that they use to block their burrows, and if threatened can lay down and as the animal tries to get past jam their legs straight and crush the skull of a fox against the roof of their burrow, easily break a dingoes jaw or even destroy your hand.

Kangaroos - yes they box, hahaha wouldn't it be funny to box with a kangaroo. NO. Kangroos box for fun but also to defend themselves and their mob. The Alpha male is the big buff one that looks like he's on steroids. He looks like that for a reason, to defend and protect his mob. DO NOT MESS WITH ANY KANGAROOs, but really don't mess with Big Daddy (for being the alpha he gets all the ladies) Kangaroos are made for this. A punch from a Kangaroo can easily break you ribs. They can lean back on their tail and bring both legs up to kick you, easily tearing you open, which they can do with the claws on their toes, and so basically dissecting you from sternum down. Oh and if they gran you round the neck for a 'Cuddle' DUCK AND RUN. They will hold you in a kind of choke hold and then bring their legs up to kick you and basically snap you in half. Don't even mess with Wallabies man, they may be smaller but can still do damage.

Tassie Devils - are extremely shy and slower than you, like you can actually run away from them. BUT. They have the strongest bite strength compared to size of any animal. The have a PSI of 1200 and males weigh around 8 kg. For perspective, Hyenas have a PSI of 1100 and males weigh around 50kg

Brushtail Possums - They may be cuter than the American Opossums but trust me, they don't want you around. They are solitary so most people have heard them fighting of a night, screeching, shrieking, hissing, growling and making darth vadar noises. Heads up from someone who has had to rescue them from awkward places (fire-places, BBQs, closets) They are stronger than you and they will f*** you up. Even without them meaning to I've gotten injuries from my joey Brushies, they get so keen on their milk when you put it in that they climb your arm and their claws are sharper than cats. Also the sheer strength of them. I'm stronger than I look but if they are clinging on to a tree you are gonna need all your strength to get them off. The can also bite your finger clean off. And I've seen injuries from people who feed wild ones and for some reason have been late to put out the food or something and they've climbed their leg or even jumped on them - stitches were required in a few of those cases (human skin is not thick like tree bark)

What's with Magpies and swooping?

Simple, they have nests/babies and are protecting them. Australia Magpies are very smart and can recognise faces. If they think you are a threat they will try and scare you off. Just like if you're walking along with your toddler and there's a weirdo doing something strange you hold the kid tighter and closer to you and move through faster. But these guys can't just move their nests or their babies. The spot is chosen based on food availability and shelter from sun and rain, but also not being too cold. It's their spot. I've never been swooped by Magpies, other birds yes, but not Magpies. My local birds know me as the lady that cleans and fills the bird bath. Legit the Magpies sing a specific song when it needs filling to call me out to do it. So don't be a threat. If they are swooping in that area, try to avoid it or go through quickly. We used to have Plovers at my school, in the bush at the end of the oval. Never a problem. One day some kids go into the bush and stomp on their nest and eggs. After that they would swoop anyone who came close to there. So the school blocked off that end of the oval. Fair call. Wasn't the birds fault.

Why is everything named so basic?

Oh you mean the snake that's black with a red belly being balled a Red Belly Black Snake, and the tree with all the doodles on it being called a Scribbly Gum? 80% of plants and animals found in Australia are found NO WHERE ELSE. So the early Europeans had a lot of things to name and when they tried naming it themselves they would get it wrong. 2 good examples are: The Death Adder (only considered highly venomous, not deadly, and not an Adder). Also you're only likely to get bitten if you stand on it or try to pick it up. The Australian Magpie, they saw a black and white bird so it must be a magpie. Nope. Actually not in the corvidae family but in the butcherbird family - Artamidae. So their solution was to either take the Aboriginal word, for example, Quoll, Kookaburra, Koala, Quokka, Taipan. Or name it after what it looks like/sounds like/ is found Boobook Owl - makes a sound like booooo-book Squirrel Glider Eastern Water Dragon Grey Headed Flying Fox Flaky Bark Tea Tree Old man Banksia This can cause confusion though as not every brown coloured snake is a brown snake, and not all Eastern brown snakes are brown. Squirrel Gliders aren't related to squirrels. Flying foxes are bats not actual foxes that fly.

What do I do if I find injured wildlife?

Well, depends on the wildlife and where it is. If it's in a dangerous position, like the middle of a highway, don't try anything. First thing, call a wildlife rescue group, there are plenty around and they have trained people who know what to do. A quick google search should show you all you need to know, also the IFAW's Wildlife Rescue App will identify the closest group to you.

If it's a snake, adult wombat or kangaroo, or any other animal that can cause you serious injury, leave it be. The wildlife rescuers you call can give you basic info on how to help but mostly calling them is the main thing.

If it's something smaller, like a young animal or glider or baby bird and you are able to put it into a cardboard box that will be perfect. The 3 main things injured/ill wildlife need are warmth, dark and quiet. You don't need to worry about food or water. The rescuers will organise that. If you give food or water to an animal in shock you can cause more damage.

THE BEST THING IS TO DO NOTHING. I know this sounds stupid. But so many problems can occur from people who don't know what they are doing helping out. You know what they say about good intentions. For example, picking up a Koala like you would pick up a human child (under the armpits, around the chest) you could actually break their ribs. Also so many Koalas end up needing vet care during heat waves because people pour water into their mouths - they can get pneumonia as the water goes in too fast, it is not a natural way for them to drink. You can also get yourself injured or make the animals injuries worse. I have seen Kangaroos with broken legs get up and try to hop away from people. I have seen severe scratches on other people because they tried to pick up an animal.

What diseases can wildlife give me?

Well. I only know about Australian wildlife, and it's very different to other parts of the world. If you get a bad bite or scratch from wildlife you should see your doctor ASAP, get the wound cleaned properly and make sure your tetanus is up to date (same as if a pet gives you a bad bite or scratch).

There aren't that many Zoonosis that are around in Australia that are easy to catch. Mostly you have to be dealing directly with sick wildlife to get them.

The main thing is Australian Bat Lyssavirus. ABL for short. Now our bats can carry it. About 1 in 1000 bats may have it and you HAVE to be bitten or scratched for it to be transmitted to you. If you are bitten or scratched by a bat your chance is 0.1% of getting ABL but it is related to Rabies, so head straight to hospital for treatment. If you don't touch a bat you won't get bitten or scratched and so your chance of getting it is 0. Hendra is the other virus our bats carry, however it has to go through a horse before it mutates enough for humans to get it.

Basically it's only when you get involved with wildlife that your risk of getting a disease from them is higher than VERY unlikely. If you happen to help some wildlife, and you maybe wrap them in a towel or jumper, even if they urinate on it. You can just chuck it in the wash (I usually add a little extra disinfectant) and it will be fine. Treat it the same as if a pet had used it or urinated on it.

What's some Good Wildlife Apps to have?

Well, there's so many out there now hey? Here's some that I've found handy or know people that use. WomSAT EchidnaCSI PlatypusSPOT are all for recording sightings of these animals (wombats/echidnas/platypus) this helps researches track where they are and how they are going which means we can help them more as well. OzAtlas - record a sighting of anything Australian, animal, plant, fungus, insect. FrogID - need to identify a frog? This is the app for you. Use photos or sound recordings, Field Guide to *insert state/territory* Fauna - Have a field guide on you wherever you are without having to carry a book. Seek by inaturalist - Helps you identify any animals, plants, insect, fungus. IFAW Wildlife Rescue - wildlife rescue app (currently for NSW only but soon expanding) will give you advice on what to do and put you into contact with the local wildlife rescue groups.

Besides Cats and Foxes, what other invasive species have you got that cause problems?

First up, any invasive species causes a problem. In Tasmania they have issues with Sugar Gliders, because they are not naturally found there and use up tree hollows that other animals need. Invasive species cause competition for food, water and shelter. They can also bring in diseases that didn't exist in Australia before and that our natives have no defence against (like cats and Toxoplasmosis) Here's a quick list of invasive animal species in Australia. Cats, dogs, foxes, pigs, water buffalo, ferrets rabbits, horses/brumbies, goats, camels, Cane Toad, European Honey Bee, Common Myna bird, deer, donkey, common starling, common pigeon, black rat, brown rat.

There's more, there's reptiles, and weeds and fish but those guys ^ are the main ones that cause problems.

I am an animal lover but unless we get rid of these animals you loose more in the long run. I'm 100% against use of poisons, I prefer having people hunt them to be honest. If you know what you are doing and have the right equipment you can give them a quick, painless death. To give you an idea how bad invasives are:

The introduction of the rabbit is the main cause the Lesser Bilby became extinct.

The introduction of cats and toxoplasmosis is believed to be the main reason Eastern Quolls became extinct on mainland Australia

Rats led directly to the extinction of 5 of Lord Howe Island's bird species

30% of our land snakes and Goannas are at risk as Cane Toads are rapidly spreading and eat their eggs.

The Common Myna Bird is the 2nd greatest threat to Australian native birds (habitat loss being the 1st)

The fox population has been estimated at 72 million and consume around 190 million birds a year

There's an estimated 23 million wild pigs/boars and an estimated 2.6 million goats - all eating whatever they come across.

How can I help Australian Wildlife?

There's the stuff we already know, like reduce/reuse/recycle and don't litter. But there's other things you may not know about.

Turn off lights at night - any lights that you don't need, don't have them on, especially if they are outside. Lots of animals require insects in their diets, particularly moths, which can be distracted by lights. Zoos Victoria have launched educational stuff for this https://youtu.be/ZAcL4FKPtHw

Learn about them - It's not hard, there's multiple ways you can do it. There's books, tv shows, pod casts, you can follow sanctuaries and other people who work with wildlife on social media. Planting flora that's native to your area is great as different plants can attract different animals and it's much lower maintenance, being made for that environment. You can even find cool life-hacks like Lemon Scented Tea-Tree doesn't just smell amazing and feed lots of wildlife, it keeps the mozzies away! There's different kinds of nesting boxes out there specific to different species that you can put up to help 'foster' that species. You can even become friends with your local Magpies! Mine know me as the lady who cleans and fills the bird bath and all I had to do was whistle to them when I was done and now they are really chill around me and I get to watch their antics. Debunk Myths! - In learning about wildlife you can debunk lots of myths like: a mother bird won't take it's chick back if you've touched it (fake news!) or that snakes dislocate their jaw to swallow their prey (that would be soooo painful!)

Put out water - have a bird bath and keep it clean and full. Or if you don't have one or want to get one just put water out on hot days. Summer's getting hotter and hotter and our animals really suffer. So put out a nice pot or container of water. Don't forget to put a rock or a stick in it if it's a slippery surface (like plastic or metal) so that little animals and bugs don't fall in and drown, and keep it out of the sun if it's likely to heat up.

Check roadkill - it's not pleasant but needs to be done. Don't do it if it's a motorway or somewhere dangerous, but if you can PLEASE do. Roadkill sometimes looks dead but isn't and you don't want them laying there suffering. They may have pouch young if they are a marsupial or young nearby that will need care without their parent. And where possible get it off the road. Species like Tasmanian Devils, Goannas and Wedge Tailed Eagles feed on roadkill and can then end up as roadkill themselves. Even if you have to drag it, it's dead and not gonna feel any more pain. 100% of people I have attended a rescue for who have called because they stopped and found a joey or young in a pouch or hiding nearby have not regretted their decision at all. Even if they were late for work, they saved a life and it was worth it.

Avoid using poisons - insecticides, pesticides, snail bait and straight up rat poison. Like mentioned in POISON VS VENOM, it just keeps killing. There are so many other options out there and they aren't hard to find. There's stuff on the internet but also at Bunnings I've found more environmentally sound options that use Tea Tree oils and Eucalyptus instead and work just as well.

Don't feed them! - Most Aussie animals are gluten and lactose intolerant. BREAD IS REALLY BAD! and if not eaten it gets mouldy and causes disease. Putting out bird seed is the number 1 problem when we talk 'feeding wildlife'. WHY?

The 'wild birdseed' that you buy in shops isn't actually for wild birds. JUST LOOK AT IT, you don't see those seeds growing out in the wild. The main seed wild birds eat are Bottle-brush, She-oaks, Banksias, Wattle and Eucalypts. None of those are found in these bags of seed.

Even for seed eaters that seed you buy is too fatty and unbalanced

For those that don't usually eat seed, like Lorikeets, eating the seed destroys the specialised bristles on their tongues that they need to eat their natural food - nectar and pollen.

If you don't keep it clean you will spread diseases, especially psittacosis (beak and feather) for which there is no cure just a slow, drawn out death. You can also catch it and end up in hospital.

You cause an imbalance. Animals breed based on food availability, if you make food available they will breed but there might not be enough space or trees available and you create more competition and also they end up relying on you and if you go on holiday or anything they can die without that food.

You can cause health issues in other animals. Possums love bird seed but it makes them fat, making it harder for them to escape predators.

You will be feeding non-natives. For example, the Common Myna bird cannot survive on wild plants, but if there is a food source around they can. Got rid of Common Mynas in my neighbourhood by convincing my neighbours to stop putting out bird seed.

RATS LOVE BIRD SEED. Specially feral rats. Mice also love bird seed.

You make a predator hot-spot. It won't take long for predators to realised animals they prey on visit your feeding station and they will come. The most common predator I find around bird seed? Snakes. Snakes love rats and mice, rats and mice love bird seed. You do the maths.

If you want to feed them just do some research and plant trees that are food for them.

How many species are endangered?

Sadly, it's almost quicker to list what's NOT endangered in Australia.

That's hard to say as there is different ways they can be endangered. In one area they may be common, but in another they could be disappearing. You can have Endangered lists at different levels; local, state, national and international.

But the most used list is the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species has evolved to become the world’s most comprehensive information source on the global extinction risk status of animal, fungus and plant species. AKA the IUNC Red List

Here's a bit of a breakdown: EXTINCT 26 mammals 7 birds 4 amphibians CRITICALLY ENDANGERED 7 mammals 8 birds 15 amphibians 13 reptiles ENDANGERED 18 mammals 29 birds 18 amphibians 21 Reptiles VULNERABLE 51 mammals 40 birds 23 amphibians 35 reptiles NEAR THREATENED 43 mammals 37 birds 9 amphibians 21 reptiles

Then there's the "data deficient" category where they really just don't have the info. 10 mammals 11 amphibians 42 reptiles

I will continue to update this post as I think of other things. Feel free to send me any questions you have

[quickspinner]

Indelible - Ch 12 White Space

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 | Chapter 18 | Chapter 19 | Chapter 20 | AO3

“A vacation?” Luka frowned, his brow wrinkling. His eyes flicked from Jagged and Penny to the tall, well-dressed black woman sitting ramrod straight beside them. Lucille had been his agent since this whole thing started, but since Luka wasn’t Jagged, Lucille couldn’t be with him constantly. She had other clients and obligations besides Luka, so he rarely saw her in person except when they were in the studio’s corporate offices. She kept in touch regularly by phone and video conference, though, and Luka liked and trusted her. He liked her more because she didn’t baby him the way Penny did Jagged, and was more than willing to call him out when he was being unreasonable.

Now Lucille met his gaze evenly, a hint of a smile at the corner of her mouth, but said nothing.�� 

Jagged was tense, fingers tapping restlessly on the table, and he wouldn’t look at Luka, but none of that was especially unusual. Jagged hated sitting still and he hated meetings, and he and Luka had had enough artistic differences by now that things were always a little tense between them these days. Penny...well, Penny was hard to read, but he thought there was a little tension in her as well.

Luka’s own fingers began to tap the top of the conference table unconsciously as he glanced at Dingo beside him, and the two band members seated on his other side. “Why?” he asked slowly. “I know it’s the down season, but—aren’t there usually plenty of shows playing during the holidays? Should we really miss out on that?” He directed the question to Lucille; no matter how cool Penny was, Luka knew exactly where her loyalties lay. 

Lucille shrugged, and her lack of concern at the prospect eased his sudden nerves a little. The sparkly gold nail polish she wore flashed as she leaned her elbows on the table and folded her hands. “You’ve been going pretty flat out for a few years now. I think this is a good time for a break.” She glanced at Jagged and pressed her lips together slightly as her dark eyes came back to Luka’s and held them for a moment. She wanted to say more, Luka guessed, but not here. Luka shifted his gaze back to Penny. 

“The lineups for holiday and New Years concerts are pretty eclectic,” Penny demurred. “Lots of big names. We won’t really need an opening act, and—well.” She glanced at Jagged. “We figured you could use a break,” she finished, a little too cheerfully. “The last tour was rough on everybody, and you’ve been spending a lot of time in the studio since we got back. It’ll be good for you to get a little downtime with your family—” she glanced at the rest of the band. “Families, before we start locking things down here and gearing up for the summer.”    

Luka regarded her for a moment longer, and then turned his seat to face Jenna. She shrugged. “I wouldn’t say no to a break,” she admitted, her cheeks taking on a bit of a flush. “The schedule’s been a bit rougher than I expected, to be honest. I wouldn’t mind a breather, and my brother’s supposed to be bringing his new wife to meet the family this Christmas. If you need me I’m there, of course, but it would be nice to go home for a bit.”

Crusher, clearly bored and slumped so low in his chair that he was practically on the floor, just snorted when Luka looked at him. “You’re the brand here,” he said, a slightly sour note in his tone. “If you burn out, we’re all out of the job, so I’m on board with whatever.” 

His attitude irritated Luka, but, taking a deep breath, Luka turned to his other side to look at Dingo. Dingo’s thumbs were moving over his phone, apparently oblivious to the entire conversation, although Luka was sure he had heard every word. 

Luka slumped back in his chair and faced back towards Jagged and Penny, regarding them silently for a moment. Penny looked professional as always, but her face softened a little as he looked at her. Jagged had his arms folded around his chest and still wouldn’t meet Luka’s eyes. He was practically vibrating, clearly ready to be done with this whole thing.

Part of Luka wanted to refuse, to put up the fight Penny and Jagged were clearly expecting, to force Jagged to include him in whatever the hell was going on, to remind him that Luka would not be shoved aside and ignored, but…he glanced at Lucille one more time. Her eyes flicked to Jagged and then back to Luka. Luka stared back at her for a moment, and then sighed as he looked away.

“Okay, sure,” he said finally, and Jagged visibly relaxed, getting up almost at once..  

“That’s the spirit. Go home, kid,” Jagged leaned over the table to slap a hand down on Luka’s shoulder, and then started for the door. “Show your ma you’re okay and get her off my back.” 

“Mom?” Luka asked, confused, but Jagged was already gone. For a moment, nobody else moved. Jenna and Crusher looked at each other, and then they both got up and slipped out of the conference room. Dingo continued to text, still apparently oblivious. 

“I think this is a good choice, Luka,” Penny said, pushing back from the table. “You’ve really hit the ground running since you came with us. I know you want to make the most of this opportunity and that’s fine, but we can all see you need a break. This life,” she made a broad gesture that encompassed the studio’s offices, and everything that went along with them, “it’s a lot. You’re not the only young artist to feel a bit overwhelmed by it all. We just want you to pace yourself, that’s all.”

"Why is this suddenly all about me? I’m overwhelmed, but the others are fine?” Luka demanded, aware that he was getting defensive. 

“Oi, some of us actually know how to take a break,” Dingo spoke up, without looking up from his phone. “You’re the one flying around and networking and getting mentored by the greats whenever we get some down time. You’re exhausted and you know it, dumbass.” 

“You’re the face of the band, Luka, and you have run yourself a little ragged,” Penny agreed. “We can tell it’s wearing on you. There’s no shame in taking a break now and then.” 

“Right. Just looking out for me,” Luka muttered. Unreasonably irritated, he stood up and began picking up his things, sliding on the sunglasses Marinette had made him. He didn’t trust himself to speak. He needed to get somewhere private before he took his confused tangle of feelings out on someone who didn’t deserve it. He could read the message here; he’d been butting heads with Jagged for months now, and the rock star was clearly over it. Jagged wanted Luka gone, so they’d cooked up some crap about Luka needing a break. As if Luka couldn’t handle anything the old man could handle, and with a hell of a lot more grace. 

Penny hesitated, watching him, and then stood herself, leaning forward over the table a little. “Listen, Luka. Whatever you think you needed to prove, you’ve more than done it. We all see how hard you work, including Jagged. You’ve made the most of every chance he’s given you and nobody doubts that you deserve to be here. Not anymore. So just...take the break. We all want to see you succeed, but not everybody can be Jagged.”

“I don’t want to be Jagged,” Luka huffed, and then gritted his teeth to keep back the rest of what he was tempted to say.

“We know. Your mom knows. That’s why we’re sending you home. You need those connections, and you need to recharge a little bit before—” She jumped slightly, and then glanced at Lucille. “Well, anyway. I think this will be good for you,” she said, picking up her tablet quickly. 

Luka watched her mutter something to Lucille and make a hasty exit, and then turned back to his agent, raising an eyebrow. “Did you just step on her foot?”

Lucille flashed him a grin. “Damn straight. You’re my lookout, not hers. Sit back down for a second.” 

Luka did, slowly, and Lucile leaned forward. “Listen, we can all tell that things are getting tense between you and Jagged. That’s to be expected, frankly. Jagged never did share the spotlight well, and you’ve got your own vision and you’re committed to it. That’s a good thing , Luka. It’s about time that you started thinking about your career separate from Jagged. This new album release will be a great time to start really hyping you up as an artist, and start separating your name from his.”

Luka blinked. “...Really? You think I’m— we’re —ready for that?” 

Lucille nodded. “It’ll mean a lot of work, it’ll mean playing extra gigs on your own as well as opening the big arena shows for him. It’s going to be exhausting.” She sighed. “Here’s the thing, Luka. You know and I know that part of this is Jagged throwing a snit, but the fact is, all of us can see that you’re running on empty. The rest of the band won’t say it, but you’re starting to run them into the ground too.” 

Dingo huffed beside him. “I’ll damn well say it.” 

Lucille ignored him. “Go home. Spend some time with your family. Unwind and maybe work out some of those knots you’ve tied yourself in. If you really can’t handle doing nothing for that long, I can book you some local shows if you want. Maybe some of those smaller venue gigs you said you’ve been missing?” 

“That...would be nice,” Luka sighed, taking the glasses back off to rub his hand over his face. Juleka was supposed to be in Paris for the next three months, too, so he’d actually have a home to go to. It would be nice to spend some time with her.  Luka nodded slowly, and Lucille reached out and patted his hand. 

“Go home,” she repeated. “Do whatever you’ve gotta do to recharge, because come the new year we’re going to work, and before long it’s going to be your name on the marquee.” 

Luka sighed, and then mustered a smile. “Has my mom seriously been calling Jagged?” 

“Every damn day for the last month, Penny said,” Lucille grinned. “I heard the last one, it was beautiful. I’ll have to stop by Paris while you’re there so I can meet her, I’d like to shake her hand.” 

Luka grinned. “You’d get along.” 

“I bet.” Lucille stood up. “I’m on your side, Luka. Don’t forget it, okay? Whatever you need, I’ll make it happen.” 

“I know,” Luka’s smile turned a little more genuine. “Thanks.” 

“Hey,” Lucille leaned down, putting a hand on the table and tapping her other finger on it for emphasis. “This is not a setback. This is not a punishment. This is the deep breath before the dive into the deep end, okay?”

Luka nodded, and Lucille straightened. “Have a nice trip, okay?” she grinned, and then left. 

“Can we go now?” Dingo grunted, and Luka rolled his eyes, grabbing his things again.

Neither of them said anything on the walk back to the hotel. Luka was brooding, he knew it, and Dingo was still so deep in his phone that Luka had to steer him around obstacles.

Not until they were back in the room did Dingo finally shove his phone back in his pocket and look Luka in the face. 

“Why are you so sour about taking a vacation?” Dingo demanded, throwing himself down on the couch in their suite. “Vacations are a good thing!

“Yeah, of course,” Luka said, walking over to the window and opening the curtain to look out at the city. He’d never really clicked with London, but then he hadn’t ever really gotten out and looked at it, either. He spent most of the time in the studio when they were here, and by the time they returned from tour, the last thing he really cared about was sightseeing and crowds. 

“Normal people go home more than twice a year, Lulu.” 

“Jagged doesn’t,” Luka pointed out. “He barely even has a home."

“As if Jagged was ever normal,” Dingo snorted, but then he pushed himself up with a sigh. “Luka.” He put his hands on Luka’s shoulders and steered him over to the couch, shoving him down in it. “Mate, you don’t want to be Jagged.” Dingo sat down in the armchair chair and scooted it over until they were practically knee to knee. “You know you don’t. Even if you did, you’re not built like him. You’d bleed to death trying to cut out the people you love.”

Luka took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. “It feels like admitting he’s right,” he said finally. “If I can’t juggle both, if I can’t stay connected with my family and still kill it on the road...it feels like admitting he wouldn’t have been able to achieve everything he’s achieved if he’d kept us in his lives. I mean if…if he really did that...if he really is my...” 

“No if’s here, mate,” Dingo said, uncharacteristically solemn. “They don’t have to admit it for it to be true, and I think we both know it is.” 

Luka sighed, propping his elbows on his knees and burying his face in his hands. 

“Oi,” Dingo said, and Luka felt his friend’s hand fall on his shoulder and squeeze. “Maybe he is right. That doesn’t make him less of an ass for making the choices he did. It doesn’t mean you have to forgive him. He doesn’t get a free pass for being a shit dad just because he’s the greatest rock n’ roll legend who ever lived. So fuck him. You didn’t start this because of Jagged, and even if he opened some doors, we’ve earned our place here. Don’t lose sight of that.”

Luka reached up and put his hand over Dingo’s, and took a few shaky breaths. Then he nodded, and Dingo squeezed his shoulder one more time before letting go. “Fuck him,” Dingo repeated, leaning back. “Go home. Spend some time with Juleka and the Captain.” He grinned. “Take Marinette on a date that doesn’t involve a phone.” He slid his sunglasses down his nose and winked. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed how often you’ve been disappearing lately.” 

Luka rolled his eyes but couldn’t help the smile that tugged at the corner of his mouth as he straightened up and leaned back in his chair. Instead of denying it he found himself saying, “I don’t even know what her schedule is. She might not even plan to be in Paris over New Years.”

“Well get the lead out, mate, what are you waiting for?” Dingo got up and slapped Luka’s arm as he walked by. “Hell, I’ve already booked my tickets to meet up with Bri in Nice before we head back to Paris. Think I can talk her into hitting the beaches with me?” He wiggled his eyebrows at Luka. 

“It’ll be December and the beaches in Nice are made of rocks, so I’m gonna go with ‘no,’” Luka said absently, pulling out his phone. 

He texted Juleka first, and then his mom. Once he knew what dates they were planning to be in Paris he’d be better able to make his own plans. Then he sat there, his thumb hovering over Marinette’s picture. 

It didn’t have to be a date, but...it would be nice to see Marinette in person. It didn’t hurt to ask. If she was busy, that would be fine.  He tapped out a message and sent it, and then turned his chair towards the window again, staring blankly out at the city. 

A few moments later his phone lit up and buzzed in his hand, and then buzzed again, and then a third time. Luka chuckled as he turned it over to look as another message came through. 

He still wasn’t sure it was the right call, but...if they wanted him to take a vacation, he might as well make the most of it, right?

Fiction Master Post

[phoenixfire-thewizardgoddess]

if you have a question about aussie slang, for a fic or whatevs, please just ask i don't know all of it, but we do have some fun words and sayings that are day to day statements

esp. the more rural you go

not everyone has the full accent though, because you do get a lot of pressure at work to come across... professional or whatever.

the only one i've never been sure of being an Actual Phrase, or if it Became A Phrase after popularisation on a tv show, is "Stone the Flaming Crows" bc a dude from Neighbours used to say it frequently.

examples of day to day stuff i can think of right now

mad as a frog in a sock (angry about something, went off, off the shits)

mad as a cut snake (usually means 'they're nuts', but can also mean they exploded with anger, usually contextual)

she'll be right (it's fine - can be a flippant statement, can be reassurance, etc)

drongo / galah - (idiot, not very smart, wanker, etc)

dunny = toilet

thunderbox/outhouse / long-drop - usually outdoor toilet

dry as a nun's nasty / dry as a dead dingo's donger (I am thirsty, or It Is Hot AF/we need rain so bad)

chuck a u-ey (do a u-turn)

Oi! (Hey I want your attention/i was surprised, general exclamation, stop that, you are in a lot of fucking trouble mate - depends on the tone of voice and volume) like "OI!" says aunty ruth has just found her dentures in jello and she knows you did it, etc

Bugger off (go away, or sometimes a statement of disbelief)

Yeah nah /Nah yeah (can mean yes, no or maybe depending on what was said directly before the statement)

you cant pull the wool over my eyes - you can't lie to me like that / i can see you are not telling the truth

shut your gob / put a sock in it / put a cork in it - (shut up / shut the FUCK up / close your mouth or i will shut it for you) depends on tone

Ya wally (you idiot)

Roo = kangaroo

o = can be affixed to anything to shorten it at the servo - gone to the service station, arvo - afternoon, smoko - morning tea, bottlo - where the grog is

goon/goonsack - wine in a box

grog - alcohol

stubbie - beer, ususally

boardies - board shorts

rashie - swimming shirt,

slip, slop, slap - ancient proverb for avoiding sunburn. singing pelican.

thongs - footwear

sheila = female / woman, don't hear this a lot at the moment tbh except in certain contexts or from specific people

'Getting rowdy' = things are heating up, people are riled up, a fight is about to/has just broken out, etc.

DJ's like a mad cunt = one very specific meme about a bad PM we had like 10 years ago. i can't tell you how many PM's ago, it's been game of thrones here lmao

Beyond the black stump / Out whoop-whoop / references to timbuktu (quite a distance away)

strewth!/crickey!/bloody hell - (exclamation of surprise, expletive replacement, etc)

flat out like a lizard drinking (tired / drunk / exhausted / sleeping)

pull a harry holt - (I've heard a dozens variations of this one, it means Go Missing / Disappear, often used as a joke. PM Holt went swimming one day and disappeared)

have a stickybeak (to poke your nose in/investigate/look around)

chuck a wobbly/throw a tanty/chuck a tanty/throw a wobbly (throw a tantrum, i have legit never seen anyone successfully deescalate a situation by telling someone not to chuck a wobbly or throw a tanty, go figure lmao)

bogan - (very specific kind of low-income, generally white, people. sort of like rednecks, but with more stereotypical aussie features like a mullet, singlet tops, sunnies, stubbies, etc. tend to fall under the liberal party ideology - who are our republicans... )

ankle-biters / rugrats / little takkers / gremlins / nippers - (kids, usually the littler ones)

tiff - argument, small fight (had a tiff, had a row)

pav = pavlova

piss/whizz/take a piss = going to pee

vegemite - delicious

Kiwi = New Zealander

Banana benders - the disrespectful bs that apparently other states call anyone living in Queensland, the wankers

station - farming areas that have sheep or livestock usually, have farmhands etc.

dole bludger(s) - (anyone on Centrelink, whether they want to be or not, with no other employment. but like, a lot of people on centrelink have a job that does not cover enough and need additional financial supports to meet a minimum wage, or are students or apprentices, etc. there are people who go on centrelink on and off to avoid engaging in the jobseeking stuff, they are the real dole bludgers, but a lot of richer people tend to call anyone on 'welfare' bludgers)

don't you come the raw prawn with me - (do not lie to me / don't try that shit with me, mate / I wasn't born yesterday /etc)

dak/dack - to dack someone is to come up behind them and yank their pants down (or skirts). Often taking out your boxers, too.)

budgie smugglers - (speedoes, male swimwear)

togs/toggs or cozzie (swimwear, any kind. cozzie = costume)

mozzie - (mosquito)

better than a kick up the backside /better than a kick in the arse - (pretty self explanatory, one of those phrases parents use to get slightly hurt kids to start laughing and/or coworkers to commisserate about new work rules, etc)

I wouldn't piss on (name) if they were on fire - (self-explanatory, you hate them, or they're a useless tit or an insufferable person /a suckup etc, and you would gladly hand them a match)

one for the road = getting a drink for the road, usually. can also make a joke of it like, "one last piss for the road" = I'm going to the bathroom before I leave

here's your handbag, what's your hurry - probs not an aussie phrase but a common joke in my family

----------------

So like, there's some words and items from Australian Indigenous culture that often get used wrong in stereotypical characters, like saying 'gone walkabout', using 'cooee', making digeridoo jokes, and making some really uncomfy 'savages' statements can be very disrespectful. You might want to go looking into Australia's fucked up policies and historical (and only recent) situations before starting any arguments about this stuff... in many ways it mirrors the cruelty of american colonisers to native american peoples, etc.

Avoid some phrases. Your character gone to cool their head? He's gone off on to soak his head, or he's on his bike (gone away) but he'll be back... You can use 'Oi, dickhead!'

Please don't mock the names of towns or places, they are often the names from the traditional custodians and inhabitants.

-----------------

Random things:

We drive on the left side of the road, driver's side reversed.

More of our cars are automatic than manual. Utes aren't atypical, but bigger vehicles are out in rural areas because more than a few of the rural roads are poorly maintained or dirt, with potholes that yoyo your soul into your body.

If you have a character on a long drive on a non-highway, or rural road: +if you are on a one-lane road and someone is comingthe other way, you both move half-on, half-off; for big vehicles or trucks, you can choose to pull off completely and stop. Just for safety, esp. in rain, fog, mist or late at night. +at one-lane bridges, you have a give way sign on one side. if you want your characters to have a moment of 'pause to look at each other while driving' or 'a quiet moment of reflection', have them wait for another car or truck to pass from the other side. These can be a few metres long, to like, a really long bridge. +They may pass markers that say 'flood level marker' with numbers of 2, 3 or 5 metres. Could be useful to remark on if your fic needs a reason for them to have a crisis. +Bushfire warning signs (from Low to Catastrophic) are frequent +Animal Crossing signs are very frequent, and often have a wildlife rescue number on them +Water restriction signs are in most small towns, they range from levels 1 to 6. This can change what the characters are allowed to do with water in little towns, etc. +You may occasionally find a small servo and one or two houses. +pubs don't open/won't serve alcohol until after 10am. the joke has always been, 'beer on your cornflakes' but you will never be able to actually get that unless you preplanned the night before in your hotel room. +Around dawn and dusk, a lot of animals like hares, kangaroos, wallabies, sometimes echidnas and koalas and little numbat things, and snakes and bushmice will be close to the road. Sometimes dashing across. They do not react logically to cars approaching, and will leap out at random. Hares do this zigzag nonsense. If you need the character to hit the brakes frantically, or swerve, this is a good reason. If you are ever driving here and see an animal on the side of the road, flip lights to low beam, slow down and watch to see how they react. If you can. If there's a truck blaring down on you, you may not be able to.

+Emus are in more rural areas. Echidnas sometimes appear on fringes of towns though.

+Kookaburras are a lovely creature, I have rescued a few and they are nice... but their laugh is very grating when it goes off super early in the morning. They eat snakes (good) and baby birds (not so good).

+Lots of snakes round here. LOTS. Carpet Snakes are pretty common, red-belly black snakes, eastern brown (big danger!!!), whip snakes have declined in my region, keelback snakes, this one black and white banded one we found deceased, etc. Snakes can climb, snakes can SWIM. Putting something that stinks around a campsite MAY help, but not always.

+Never go swimming in a dam you don't own, and that hasn't been checked, and if no one knows where you are. How deep is it? What's on the bottom? How stirred is the water? etc.

+Kangaroos CAN drown you. They have perfected this attack, and will do it to humans, dogs and other pursuers alike. They can also eviscerate you with their hind paws or shatter your ribs with a kick. The 'boxing' they do is exceptionally violent. This seems to surprise people, but like, giraffes can kill each other by slamming their heads into each other, you think a 7 ft swole motherfucking cryptid can't do harm? They can be lovely tho, if they trust you. But DO NOT GO PETTING WILDLIFE.

+Dropbears, austrilanicus vericanthus bitus, are real. We do make jokes about them, but they are a Problem. The pee on yourself thing won't ward them off, that's more about working out which tourists are the most gullible (and if they run with it, the moistest) lmao. Akubras and other thicker-layered headwear,

+We have wild dogs and feral pigs. Do not fuck with the feral pigs, some are HUGE, and no... they're not just pigs who escaped farms, these are MASSIVE motherfuckers who will Get You if they See You. Rustling in the night outside the tent? Good Luck.

+Koalas should not be picked up directly. They have claws, and a lot of them have chamydia. I mean if a character saves one in a fic that's fine I guess, but like... someone's getting antibiotics after that lmao. They are bigger than you think, dumber than you think, and sometimes they have to be chased across a highway with a windscreen cover bc they're not very bright and keep failing to climb metal fences, lmaoooo

+Towns of about 20-30k will have more shops (some franchise, some local owned), servos, fast food places and usually at least two to three shopping centres. Usually small level entertainments like a cinema, or local groups. +Towns with 10-20k, may have one or two major shopping centres, servos (tracks and RVs catered to), possibly a maccas, and the majority of stores will be local-owned. May have a cinema, but not one that has the newest releases. Local council may have more festivals, or 'that one thing they're known for'. +0-10k towns have a small local store, prices usually a bit higher. A servo, often with capacity for trucks. Local festivals. Characters can cop a bit of side-eye in these places, esp. if they don't fit the traditional ideas or are loud/violently american. +Grey nomads are a thing. Old people with fancy caravans who drive So Slow, and move all around aus. Several refused to stop during covid and it was like, WHO DO YOU THNK WE'RE TRYING TO KEEP ALIVE BY STOPPING YOU MOVING THROUGH MULTIPLE TOWNS???

+Some rural areas have legit red dirt, its always super cool to look at. Some places have light brown to dark brown, some have more chalky colours or yellowish dirt. Depends.

+Reminder: Australia has very specific gun laws, if your character/s have weapons then they may need to be sneaky or store them specifically in the vehicle. Although if you're talking about like, mad max type rules, then who cares. But if you have them get into a gun fight in a town, the police will come, etc.

Dunno, just ask if you have a question... just trying to think of random things to paint a picture if you have a character over here for a roadtrip or mission or whatever.

[fenheart87]

Sprint Challenge 2 - Colorwheel

The silence echoed in the room, Marinette and Adrien were glaring at each other, a battle of wills making the silence oppressive and settled like a heavy weight on the other occupants of the room. Juleka never glanced up from her phone, Rose watched the heated debate-turned-argument unfold and Nino was fighting to keep Alix from adding fuel to the fire. Dingo had just left to pick up Luka and the rest of Kitty Section from the repair shop.

“You are unbelievable, seriously Adrien!”

“How did they even get into this argument again?" 

"No Idea I place my bets on Marinette.” Juleka murmured, eyes flicking to the arguing pair and back to her phone.

“Not even your own brother? So does that mean that you are going to bet Against me?” Alix chimed in, somehow holding resigned Nino in a headlock.

“Leave them alone dude, they will figure it out when they stop listening to respond and listen to talk.”

“Would you just stop being stubborn-”

“Me?! Pot meet kettle, you stop being stubborn!”

“Hey does anybody know what started all this like they seem that they might try to kill each other…” Rose cut in, concern growing as the quarrel was getting louder and louder. 

“Why are you being so dramatic over this?!” Marinette was well past being just plain worked up, rolling her eyes with a huff.

“Because it doesn’t make sense Marinette.” Adrien shot back, crossing his arms again.

“It makes perfect sense! It you would just do your job and let me do mine-” The designer exploded, pointing aggressively with her words.

“Not when you don’t make sense!” Adrien interrupted again, frowning hard enough that his resemblance to Gabriel uncanny.

“How?! How doesn’t it? I’ve been staring at these with you for at least six hours! I need to know which shades!”

“Why can’t fashion just have some good old color names, why do they always have to be so weird and unique and why can’t we just call them simple colors as what they are! Blue, dark blue, light blue I get. Cerulean, regal and bahama are just different shades of the same blues! They don’t need ten names for ten colors that look exactly the same.”

All eyes snapped to the quarreling pair, a dramatic offended gasp from the other pink person matched Marinette’s outraged face. Dingo and Luka slid into the room quietly as to not draw atttention to themselves. She straightened to her full height and Adrien shrunk a bit but didn’t fully back down.

“Uh Lulu, you might want to save the groom…”

“Nah, he deserves it.”

“You take that back right now Agreste or I quit and you can explain to Kagami why she has to pick a new wedding dress!”

“They’re just colors Marinette.”

“Oi! Lime green and electric green ill have you know are two completely different colors!” Dingo chimed in to defend Marinette.

Heaving a big sigh and rolling his green eyes, the blond admitted, “I just don’t see what the big deal is, that’s all. It’s just for our wedding, one event of many that we will share together.”

“Adrien Michelle Quincy Salvatore Athanase Agretste I will end you if you do not take back those words right now!” Rose threw her notebook she had long abandoned into her chair and marched over the taller blonde, blue eyes narrowed and frown marring her pixie like face. Adrien glanced between the two women and stepped back, growing more and more nervous.

Luka moved closer, sliding in between the scared lamb and lionesses about to tear into his hide. “Look I admit most of the time I can’t tell the difference between Tiger and Tangerine, even though Marinette uses both colors often. What I do know is she has a passion and drive for colors, fabrics and sewing, like I do for my music. Just means while we see pink and light pink, she sees mauve and baby pink just like we can hear different keys in different remakes.”

“Ah I didn’t think about it that way I guess you’re right… I’m sorry Marinette I wasn’t trying to be insensitive or a jerk..”

“You’re forgiven only if you forgive me. Im sorry too, we are all stressed and I shouldn’t have started that argument. This is a big day and while I know you and Kagami won’t notice the little details I put into this, I just want it to be as special as possible. The cocoa color was your mom wore for her wedding, that’s why I wanted to include it so she could be included too. The pinks are rose and myself, Luka is hard to pin down on which blue, I still think Azure and Cyan is a great idea mixed if you trust me to dye the fabric.”

“There’s a whole story hiding in this…” Adrien moved closer to the quilted banner that Marinette had been pestering him about for days.

“Nino and Alya,” she pointed to other color swatches, “Chloe and of course our heros to help watch over and keep you both safe… That’s why I’m being a pain, your colors are red and gold with hints of blacks and whites but this is my wedding gift for the both of you. Kagami was upset she cannot wear her chosen wedding dress but I was able to get free reign for the after party and we might need an EMT at the party.”

“Marinette… I love it and thank you for being so thoughtful. I don’t know the color names but I think I can at least pick out the colors with the swatches”

Marinette sniffled and pulled Adrien into a hug, surprising the ex-model for a moment before he returned it. Rose joined in, dragging Juleka and Alix, Nino wandering over on his own.

“Group hug!” Dingo shoved Luka in behind Marinette and with the help of Ivan, squished everyone together until they broke apart in laughter.

“So Marinette, what are your dream wedding colors?”

“Periwinkle.” The color choice slipped out as she stretched, meeting Luka’s frozen blue eyes. “Pink and blue make purple after all!”

[stevelovbot]

this is my first time asking for some outsiders stuff soooo if your writing for them rn could I ask for dating Johnny headcannons? Maybe what’s it like going out dancing with Johnny? :) ❤️❤️thank you!

sure! thanks for the request! 💖  

dating johnny headcanons

your relationship w him would have to involve an unbreakable trust factor

because we all know he has reasons for not trusting easily

but once you two are together, you are literally inseparable

you both never let go of each other

dally gets pissed but he learns to deal with it

you and johnny support each other so muchh

if you play sports or do any other recreational activities, he will come watch you

did that sound creepy i’m sorry

but he will support you with everything you do endlessly

he took mma classes (karate kid reference hehe) for a few weeks and you came to watch him every time

when you two get into fights, he will always be the first to apologize

a l w a y s

like you’ll be going to the curtis house to apologize to him, and he’ll already be there holding flowers

the thought of loss scares him so much, so you always have to assure him that you’ll stay with him

he loves cuddles so much

he’ll be the little spoon most of the time when you two cuddle at night

most nights, he’ll sneak into your house and spend the night for you

it’s good for both of you because you know that you both are safe

he loves going on dates so so much

he feels like he’s appreciated when you two go on dates and he loves that feeling

especially since he doesn’t get that closure at home 

he always tries to pay but you end up doing it always

your dates are usually at the dingo or some local diner

once, though, he took you to a dance studio where his cousin worked

you were both ballroom dancing and it was the. most. magical. thing. ever.

of course neither of you actually knew how to ballroom dance, but it was as close to perfection as it could get

that night ended with the first “i love you” exchanged between both of you

ever since that night, things with johnny had been different

you both truly knew that you wanted to spend your lives together

oml that made me emotional

when/if you left for college, he was sososo sad

he literally forced you to keep your pillow and some of your clothes behind

you guys talked every night on the phone and i mean EVERY

even if college was hard for you, you always looked forward to talking with johnny

when you finally graduated college, johnny came to your graduation as a surprise

you were like !!!! because you never expected him to fly over all the way from tulsa

you got all emotional and you guys hugged for the longest time ever

this surprise made you so happy - little did you know there was anOTHER surprise waiting for you

the day you guys flew back to tulsa, johnny proposed to you

it took him sososo much courage but he did it

the gang helped him prepare what he was going to say, it was what he had been doing for the past month

when you two were alone (or so you thought), johnny looked over at you as you were unboxing your books

he took your hands slowly and looked into your eyes

“y/n...”  “what, johnny?”

oh man oh man oh mann his nerves were like jdjdjsjdj

“i. uhm. i-i wanted to tell you that iwannamarryyou.”

your eyes widened and you put your hands over your mouth

“i wanna marry you because you’re the first person i want to look at when i wake up in the morning and the only one i want to kiss goodnight. the way you’ve taken care of me and turned me into such a better, more positive person. before i met you, i wanted to kill myself, ya know that? no matter how much dal and the rest of the gang tried to talk me outta it. and then you came into my life and changed it. i wanna marry you because i could look at you for a minute and find out infinite things that i love about you. so. will you, um, marry me, y/n?”

i put sm effort into that lmao

there’s only one accurate way to put your reaction into words : you screamed

“yes yes yes! oh my gosh, johnny yes!”

and with that he put a cute little ring on your finger and pulled you in with a sweet kiss

he’s such a cute baby can i have a johnny cade please

i hope you liked it!

[feminaexlux]

A Day or 3 in the Life Of...

It was @bloody-no-kissu‘s birthday a week ago (oTL) and I made a Body Swap AU fic for her! Happy (belated) Birthday Bloody! Btw this is Part 1 of 2 🧡

Rated T for a little bit of language I guess

∴

"Hey."

Marinette was still asleep sprawled out over her bed, sheets pushed off.

"Hey, wake up." She felt someone jab her in the side, so Marinette grumbled and turned away from the annoyance. Oddly enough, that other voice sounded like Juleka. "Are you still Marinette?"

Wh-what? Oh no, that's right. Marinette slowly opened her eyes and looked around. She was in Luka's room. In his bed.

In his body. Still.

Which meant that the akuma she defeated yesterday (in Luka's body, that was a surreal experience) wasn't the origin of this problem. She bolted upright, startling Juleka. "Wh-what time is it?!"

"Still Mar, then," Juleka sighed. "It's so weird seeing Lu all… like you, I guess," she mumbled, shaking her head. "Time for class."

"Which class?" Marinette groaned, covering Luka's face with Luka's hands. "Oh god I… I probably… ugh." She needed to… take a shower? Why was Luka's face so itchy? Did Luka need to shave?

Why was Luka's crotch so itchy? Oh no. How did he deal with this every day?

She got a ping on her phone from Luka. They had swapped phones just in case.

Next class is ____, I'll send you directions

Because Luka was in Marinette's body.

This was a very surreal sort of nightmare, but… on one hand Luka seemed very… respectful of the situation. If it had to be anyone, and if it had to be any boy in particular, Marinette had begrudgingly accepted that Luka was the best choice.

Neither Marinette nor Luka answered any calls but they kept sending out texts as needed. For the most part everyone around them didn't find things too strange about either of them. No one but Juleka and Luka's best friend figured it out for Marinette. Surprisingly, Alya immediately picked it up for Luka, but Alya never said a word to anyone else. Alya had followed enough akumas and spoke to enough victims to know that sometimes people were affected in deeply private ways.

But most people didn't notice the switch, which was a relief. Except it was almost heartbreaking that Adrien didn't seem to notice a change.

"Okay, Marinette, you can do this," she said, Luka's voice coming back instead of her own. She still needed to get used to how different his voice sounded when she was in his body.

thanks Luka. Here's my schedule…

how are you doing?

Fine, are you okay?

He seemed to be managing things for her well enough. Marinette wasn't sure if she should be upset or not, but he'd made and sold the excuse that Marinette had caught a cold and was feeling under the weather. That's why "Marinette" had been so… "chillax", as Alya called it.

as ok as we'll be

The only bad thing was he hadn't been nearly as concerned with dressing the part of a Fashion Designer (still in university) as Marinette had hoped for. He had just kinda thrown on whatever seemed comfortable and left her tiny dormitory room. Maybe he might have a better idea today? Marinette wasn't sure. Then again it didn't feel right to expect that from Luka, except for what happened yesterday.

Chloe Bourgouis had stopped him in the afternoon and tried to ridicule him in front of the whole campus. Marinette was there to watch it unfold (mostly because Luka didn't have anything scheduled at the time and Marinette was a natural busybody). Luka stood there calmly listening to Chloe provide a bulleted list of everything that had been such an atrocious fashion faux pas about lame Marinette Dupain-Cheng's choice in clothing.

Luka had looked thoughtful while Marinette was fuming. Chloe couldn't talk to Luka that way! Especially not when he was piloting her body!

Luka (as Marinette) had spoken up after thinking for a few seconds. "Interesting points. I'll consider that. But next time you don't have to be such a bitch about it." He had adjusted the backpack and continued walking off, leaving Chloe and Sabrina (and everyone really) in a relatively stunned silence.

Well, okay, Marinette supposed that was handled… alright. Marinette probably would have sputtered and squawked and made herself look worse but Luka seemed just… observant more than anything.

Now she was just overthinking. She shook her head to refocus on what to do next. Take a shower, get dressed, I should get some breakfast maybe? Head to Luka's class and maybe try to talk with Tikki after to figure out how the heck to break this… curse thing. If it wasn't the akuma yesterday… could it have been another akuma?

Empress was a trickier Butterfly user than Hawkmoth ever was, so maybe Empress had sent out a secondary akuma to wreak havoc more passively while the flashier one took Ladybug (or rather, Red Beetle for Luka's body) and Chat Noir's attention.

God, as if it wasn't hard enough trying to get through university. Now she and Chat Noir had to deal with a villain that was smart enough to use diversionary tactics. She got into Luka's class and sat at the back with Dingo, Luka's best friend. "Hey Dingo," Marinette sighed.

Dingo raised his heart-shaped sunglasses to his forehead and squinted at her. At Marinette in Luka's body. "Hey babes," he said casually. "Still a lil' scrambled, ain'tcha?" Marinette just nodded sadly. "Aww, come on baby girl don't worry. I'm sure Ladybub and Cat Nerd will figure it out!"

"God, I hope so," she said, leaning forward on the desk and dropping Luka's head in his arms. Luka would look like he'd passed out to anyone else but at least Marinette been recording the lessons on her phone for Luka so he'd be able to catch up. That had been what they agreed to when they first found out after waking up that they'd been swapped yesterday morning.

Now that was such a painfully awkward memory. Thankfully Luka was cool enough to accept her pathetic and inane attempt at an excuse to swap earrings. "They're a family heirloom," Marinette had pleaded. "I mean, they mean a whole lot to me! The me me, you know? I… I need to be the one to wear them?"

Marinette ended up being more thankful than anything that it had been Luka that fate had bound her to. He had just nodded and gently took the black studs off, handing it over to her without complaint.

She wasn't going to assume it meant anything more than his taking her word for it. If he knew she'd been Ladybug all this time, that'd… that'd be something, and that something wasn't good. Probably.

Dingo leaned in and whispered "How's Lulu?"

Marinette rolled her eyes. "I thought you and Luka text each other all the time."

"Pfft, like he'd say anything," Dingo snorted. He hid a smile from Marinette. "But you got a way with him, yanno? Maybe that feminine wiles of yours."

"Yeah, like I have any of that right now," Marinette rolled her eyes again. "It's just so awkward though. He's doing so much better than I am and I'm… I just hope I'm not messing anything up for him." She sighed and sat up only to slump down low in the chair.

"You're alright, Mari. Well. Probably. Imma say that maybe this whole body swap thing hopefully won't be permanent or anything you know? Me and Lulu have a gig coming up in a few weeks. You see I'm thinking maybe you didn't pay attention much to his 'guitar lessons'," Dingo had said with air quotes. "Not sure Luka was really teaching you at his best either," he snickered.

"Oh, oh God, I hope it's not permanent! Oh God Dingo why did you have to go and even suggest that?" Marinette groaned, putting Luka's head in Luka's hands. "This is already pretty stressful! Ugh, I wish I knew how to deal with it like Luka does."

Dingo snorted. "Trust me, he's 100% as freaked out as you are."

"No way."

"Yeah? Next time you see him, you take a good look at his hands."

∴

Okay, Marinette wanted to meet up so they could swap notes for the day. This was fine, this was perfectly reasonable. She had wanted to do that yesterday and that went fine, just fine. Everything was just fine.

Luka wasn't going to mention that maybe he spent maybe an hour staring at… himself? Well, okay, at Marinette. He hadn't been sure it'd be comfortable going to bed with her hair still up in pigtails. When he pulled off the hairbands as gently as he could and her hair came undone like it did, it caught his eye and he looked up at the mirror and saw that Marinette was…

Gorgeous, that was the word.

He'd lost his ability to think for a while. She'd never let her hair loose in front of anyone and he had no idea why. He knew she was already pretty and cute and adorable but… something about the loose hair took it up a couple of notches.

So yeah, he wouldn't mention that little detail to her. He'd be seen as kind of a hypocrite after he told her he didn't… didn't really think about her that way. God, why did he say that? "Bodies are bodies, Marinette," he had told her, when she had freaked out about him having to… do anything in the bathroom.

He'd meant it at the time. He'd treat her body like a temple. He did. He really tried to anyway. He just also… appreciated like any good tourist would, maybe? Oh God that was creepy, stop thinking about it Couffaine.

Okay, she was going to get here in a few minutes.

He wasn't going to mention anything about her hair. He wasn't sure how to get it back into the pigtails again but he tied it back in low ponytail. Hopefully she'd be okay with that? He wanted to keep things fairly consistent for her, and he'd never seen her not have her hair tied so he managed a ponytail.

He also tried dressing up, sort of. It hadn't been at all what he intended but he got more attention yesterday trying to dress casually rather than less. That… Bourgeois lady had tried to bitch at him for wearing track pants or something. Along with a hoodie. Luka was honestly baffled at how seriously Chloe took everything about Marinette's clothes. He had heard from Juleka that Chloe was a major pain in the ass, but having to deal with it in person was… an experience. And it was over clothes? Did Chloe Bourgeois have nothing better to do?

He knew Marinette had a little drama and spitfire in her too, but the way Marinette used her force of personality was to help everyone.

Luka loved her for that. Still.

But she wasn't supposed to know that. He did his best to let her know it back 5 years ago when he was 16 and a bit less reserved with his stupid music puns, but she wasn't into him. That was fine, that was totally fine.

Except maybe it wasn't entirely. And this? This body swap thing? Probably pure karma for him just… being an idiot or something. Or being a complete and utter… coward. Now Hawkmoth or Empress or Karma or whatever spiteful Divine Entity had punished him by putting his mind in her body.

The really unfair bit was that she was in his. Marinette didn't deserve any of this crap. Still, it wasn't like he was Ladybug and could fix everything with a Lucky Charm. God he had no idea how to fix this, and it hadn't been the akuma yesterday!

"Hey?" It was something like his voice coming from nearby. Luka looked up and saw… himself, looking somewhat amused. "Did you wait long?"

"Not really. What's up?"

Marinette, in his body, sat down and pulled out her phone. "Just wanted to send over the class notes before I forgot. Also I wanted to check in and um, I guess, see how it was going with you?"

"It's fine." It was fine. It was all just fine. He finally noticed she was staring at his hands, and he looked down and saw that he'd been tapping the little café table with her pen. Apparently hard enough that he made a slight indentation to the wood top. Whoops. "Oh." He stopped and put the pen back in Marinette's bag. "Sorry about that."

"Hey, Luka, you know it's… Are you sure you're okay?"

He stared up… into his own face. God that was going to take some getting used to… then again he really didn't want to get used to having a literal out-of-body experience. Somehow even though Luka was a generally expressive guy, Marinette being the pilot meant that the facial expressions on him were slightly… more? Maybe not exaggerated but definitely more obvious. He actually thought he looked kinda goofy and winced. "Uh, just… it's still weird. That's all."

"Yeah. I'm really hoping it's something Ladybug and Chat Noir can fix. And soon."

"Oh, did something come up?" Luka asked.

"Er, um. Well, no?" Marinette stumbled. "I just meant I'd… not that your body's like bad or anything but I'd love to be back in my own body! I'm sure you hate being in me." Marinette choked. "I-I-I mean… oh god." She facepalmed. "A-anyway, ahem. Yeah." She pushed her phone out toward him. "Here, uh, just so you're not missing anything relevant!" She laughed nervously.

"Do you think it's actually an akuma?" Luka asked, suddenly hit with a suspicion. "I'm wondering why the Ladybugs didn't… fix this. Do you know anyone else that's going through this?"

Marinette blinked, then frowned, putting a finger to her chin. His chin. Whatever. "No, actually. Not even the LadyBlog mentioned anything like this. But what else could it be?"

"I don't know. I'm throwing it out there just in case it's not the obvious answer. I don't have a suggestion on what it could be though."

"Ugh," Marinette groaned, resting his head on the table. "Why is this happening…" She raised his head back up. "Oh, good choice in clothes, by the way."

He stifled a laugh. "Thanks. Didn't want to get you in trouble with Chloe again."

"Pfft, ignore her. She's just petty."

"Did you have to deal with that before?" Luka asked, feeling slightly guilty that he'd unintentionally made Marinette an easy target.

"For the past 10 years or so, yeah. Don't worry, she's always been kind of a bi--bothersome." Marinette had caught herself in time before uttering anything untoward. "Where'd you find that jacket? I thought I lost it a while back," Marinette giggled.

Oh crap. He probably should have thought about what to say about all this but he had… he really had gone through her closet and dresser trying to find something that he thought Marinette would wear. He wasn't a designer in any sense of the word, but he kind of remembered Juleka talking about some of the clothes and the styles she'd modeled when she got steady gigs from a punk design house.

He also figured that Marinette would look good in red and black.

It'd been a somewhat self-indulgent early morning of him trying out a few different outfits Marinette had, and trying to figure out what she looked best in. He had grabbed a red half-jacket and a slim, short black dress and almost tried wearing heels but went for the practical ballet flats Marinette usually wore. He wanted to be stylish, not accident-prone.

"Hey?" Marinette waved a hand in front of him.

"Sorry, was trying to remember where," he smiled. "But I can't. I'm just glad you approve," he said. Oh, that… that was another thing. "And… a couple of other people approved as well." This was going to hurt. "Adrien said you looked lovely in this." She did, but it felt kind of wrong to say that while he was inhabiting her body.

"O-oh really?" Marinette had blushed and tried to cover it up by coughing. "That's nice!"

This was really going to hurt. "Yeah. He asked you out, by the way, but I said you… you'd think about it. He says he's good next weekend for dinner and a movie."

Marinette looked pale. Which was pretty odd in his skin tone. "We have a problem," Marinette groaned. She took her phone back from in front of Luka and scrolled to her messages.

Hi Marinette, it turns out that I didn't have next weekend free. Let's meet up tomorrow!

"I didn't know what Adrien was talking about until you just explained it," Marinette said anxiously.

"Maybe you should tell him no?" Luka half-asked, already knowing that she'd never shoot down Adrien. He knew it was the one chance she had to finally have Adrien notice her as more than just-a-friend. Only Luka was the one that looked like Marinette right now.

"I-I think… I mean we could… we could wake up back to normal tomorrow?" she laughed, brushing hair away from her… his face in a nervous gesture. She stopped, staring down at something. He looked at the same place and noticed she was staring at his… her hand.

Luka had been unconsciously tightening Marinette's hands into fists so hard they had white knuckles.

"You're… right. I should say no, I'll go ahead and say no." Marinette said simply. "If we're still in… this mess tomorrow it's… not fair to you." She smiled down sadly at Luka, reaching out with his hands to unclench and massage hers. It felt… intimate. And… it felt like he was asking Marinette to keep silently suffering like she'd been all these years. He knew how much that sucked.

"I'll do it," Luka said impulsively. "If we're still… like this tomorrow, I'll go ahead and… make it work."

"Luka, you don't need to…" Marinette trailed off, their hands still intertwined.

He tried to smile. "Hey, I think it's time, right? Finally Adrien's noticed. You gotta take this chance."

Marinette looked back down at their hands. "Adrien noticed… the outfit," she muttered to herself. "And he noticed you…"

"Mar--"

"But… if you're willing to help me out, I… I think this is a good opportunity. I've always wanted to see what would happen, and… maybe this is a blessing. You won't be a wreck like I'd be, anyway!"

Luka had his doubts.

∴

Marinette had a plan. She had almost decided on an outfit for Luka to wear except… well that wasn't what Adrien had noticed. She had asked if Luka wanted to style himself again, but… his reply was oddly sweet. Luka had just said "This is your date. I want you to feel comfortable and be happy with it. That includes wearing whatever you want me to."

It wasn't as if she hadn't already planned out the whole date thing in her head about 25 million times and 25 million variations. She knew exactly how she wanted it to go: what to wear, which movie to see, where to go for dinner that encompassed both convenience and privacy. She'd tried to be considerate of Adrien Agreste, semi-permanent bachelor supermodel (and how it might look to other people). She had checked the weather and the sunset time and if certain places were open for the day and if everything was walkable. She just had to adjust for the fact that it was Luka that would actually be on the date and not her.

Actually, if she thought about it, it was a lot better this way for multiple reasons. She'd be free to go out and do her Ladybug duties if the need arose, and Luka was a mirror-surface lake compared to her turbulent white water nerves.

Marinette and Luka had agreed on a somewhat discreet earpiece if there was something that had to be communicated immediately. Marinette didn't want to admit it to herself, but… there was something about this whole situation where she felt… her future was safe in Luka's capable hands. She owed him big time.

Which was why when the date ended, she was so, so thankful that she'd been in Luka's body instead of her own.

∴

"Hey, that was fun!" Adrien said cheerfully. "Next time we should bring Alya and Nino with us."

That sounded… wrong. At least, that sounded like it didn't belong in a romantic date. "… What do you mean?" Luka asked. He'd been doing everything Marinette had asked and it still lead to this? Did Luka really ruin this somehow?

"It was great to hang out, just the two of us, but I think the more the merrier right?"

Luka was confused. "… Hang out? This wasn't a date?"

"Yeah, like a friend-date, right? You'd been so down recently that Nino said I should take you out to cheer you up!"

Oh jeez. "Are… are you kidding me, Agreste? You invite a girl out to dinner and a movie and you say it's not a date?" Luka asked, an edge of acidity in his voice. "How could you lead a girl on like that?"

Adrien looked taken aback. "We've been friends forever, Marinette. You've been feeling down. I thought friends did things like this to cheer you up?" Adrien started looking panicked. "Oh no, did… did you think this was a date? I-I thought Kagami was just being weird when I said you wouldn't think of me like that! I should have listened--"

"What the hell does Kagami have to do with all of this?"

"I'm dating Kagami, Marinette! I've been with Kagami ever since you got us together! That's why I didn't think you'd mistake this for a date!"

"Luka…" he heard Marinette sigh shakily over the earpiece. But no, this was… this was bad. And Luka was angry.

"For a man who's a freaking model and supposed to be meticulously worried about your image, can't you pull your head out of your ass for one second and take a good look at what's happening? You do not take a girl out to dinner alone, especially a girl that's been in love with you for ages, and say that it's not a date after it's done."

"'In love'?! Wh-what? Marinette, I'm… I'm sorry that it happened this way but… I don't understand. I'm with Kagami!"

The Couffaine Chaos energy nearly overtook Luka and he realized he had drawn back Marinette's arm and fist in preparation for decking the ignorant blond. But… this wasn't going to help. Luka lowered her arm and started breathing to calm himself down, realizing a little after the fact that Marinette was yelling at him over the earpiece. "Okay. Fine. If you wanna play it this way, Adrien, fine. I have to tell you, though. I hope you treat Kagami better than this." Luka got Marinette's jacket back from Adrien and threw her evening bag over his… her shoulder. "I'm out. I'll make my way back home."

"Marinette, I'm really sorry!" Adrien yelled after her, trying to grab her arm.

Luka spun back around, batting Adrien's reaching arm away and said "Shut it if you know what's good for you, Agreste. Don't touch me."

∴

Marinette slumped down in her chair outside the theater. Well, that could have gone worse, maybe? she thought at herself. She shook her head and jumped up, running after Luka, who was more or less stomping away in her body. If she'd been able to see clearly she might have commented to herself that basically everyone in Luka's path dove out of the way of his murder walk. But she had… some problems seeing that had nothing to do with the nighttime or Luka's vision and more to do with the fact that she'd been crying.

Because she made Luka have to go through that.

Because she felt more relief than anything, after the fact.

Not because of the final nail in her Agreste Infatuation coffin sinking in and closing off forever her already long-dead feelings over Adrien.

"Luka!" She yelled at him. With his voice. "Luka, wait."

He spun and looked back at Marinette. At himself. He was… he was both angry and extremely worried. "Marinette, I am so sorry," he said to her. "I… I'm sorry. I messed this up for you. God I am so--"

Marinette started laughing. She wasn't sure what had come over her, but Luka was actually acting like she would have and it looked… comical. Because he did nothing wrong. She brushed the tears from Luka's face and sighed. "No, don't be sorry, Luka. You didn't mess anything up. I… I think we were set up!" Marinette laughed again. "God, I'm glad that's over," she breathed out.

"Are… you alright?" Luka asked, as still and as quiet as a mouse. He tightened his grip on her bag and she knew he'd been trying to hide his discomfort.

"I'm… I'll be fine," Marinette giggled, a spillover of the increasingly bizarre reaction of hers. "I'm just… I gotta take a few to um… process this," she continued giggling.

Luka continued holding her bag in a death grip. "Alright. I'm… we should head home."

"No, wait," Marinette said, reaching for… her own hand. "Wait." She gently unfurled Luka's grip and straightened out the fingers, massaging the hand again. "We should talk. Let's… let's get a drink. Like a smoothie or something, not like at a bar. I'm not sad, really."

Luka looked skeptical and Marinette had to laugh. The less exaggerated doubt on her own face was somehow more effective than the overly dramatic disbelief she usually had. "Sure," he said, still doubtful. "But… Juleka's probably at Rose's right now. Let's head back to my place and we'll talk there."

"Better yet," Marinette said, her giggling finally under control. "Let's go back to my place." She didn't have to worry about roommates, at least.

"Hey. I really am sorry about the whole thing," Luka said quietly.

Marinette smiled at him. "Luka, you're…" She pulled him into a hug. "You're wonderful, I hope you know that. You did exactly what I asked for. None of this is your fault." God she was so tiny in his arms. "Thank you. For everything."

"Right," he said slowly. "Okay. Let's go get some smoothies."

∴

End pt 1

[disasterinadress97]

Dallas Winston Headcannons nobody asked for 🤷🏻‍♀️

Trigger warning ⚠️

A bit of nsfw in there too

Pre Tulsa, life in New York

• His mom was a drug addict and had Bipolar 1 disorder

• He has/had 4 siblings, an older brother (six years older) from his moms previous relationship, older sister (five years older) from his dads past relationship, a twin brother (who was trans ftm) and a little sister (eight years younger than him)

• He was always the one to take care of his mom during her depressive episodes when she wouldn’t leave her bed.

• She often left days-weeks at a time when she was in a manic state

• He practically raises his baby sister, she died when she was four due to cancer

• That was when he decided he hates kids cause they always reminded him of her

• he was always stealing and dealing to get his twin brother anything to help his body dismorphia and feel more comfortable in his body

• His mom often sold his body and his brother’s to her drug dealer when they couldn’t afford drugs (his dad did not know this at the time)

• his dad was actually a good dad till their mom walked out on them when he was 9, that was when he started drinking and abused Dallas because ‘you fuckin look so much like her’

• He was apart of two gangs in New York, one of which was a Drag Queen gang

• The one Queen lived beside him and always heard fighting, she took him under her wing and after his mom left they were practically the ones who raised him and his little sister

• the two older siblings and his twin left a little while after their mom did, that was when he learned you can’t trust anyone

• you bet your ass this boy dressed in drag with his queens, a master with make up, can’t change my mind

• can walk in high heels/‘stripper shoes’ like no other!

• started selling his body to strangers for money after his mom left and his dad started drinking to afford to feed his sister and himself

• His other gang was a bunch of stereotypical big mean, manly gang members

• He started dating a guy from said gang, this guy was hella abusive, controlling and manipulative. Also was twice Dal’s age

• when Dallas left New York he broke up with him and the guy beat the shit out of him and burned him with a poker ‘so you’ll never forget me’

In Tulsa/present?

• has some severe PTSD, also suffers from abandonment issues, anxiety, depression and Bipolar 2 disorder

• Loves him some Rupauls drag race, reminds him of his Queens and how much he misses them

• Acts so tough and mean because In New York he was tough and knew it but was always seen as the ‘little kid’ so going to Tulsa that wasn’t gonna happen again

• first people he came out to about being bi was Mr and Mrs Curtis

• they also found out he was selling his body for rent/food money and that was when they realised how much they care about him

• him and Mrs. Curtis were super close, she was the closest thing he had to a real mom.

• He is actually so soft behind the tough guy act

• cuddles? All the time

• is a total brat sub/bottom don’t @ me

• the gang found out about his Drag Queen past when he accidentally sent pony the wrong photo from his phone ‘you tell them you die!’

• he obviously blabbed

• everyone was shook.

• Johnny was amazed because ‘he’s so tough but so pretty!’

• two bit laughed but lowkey was impressed with Dallys confidence to do that

• Steve was just ‘if it makes him nicer and happier than whateva’

• you already know soda begged him to do his make up let’s ge honest

• Darrel was quiet but was also a good dad and was like ‘as long as it keeps him out of jail we will always love him’

• he was touched but also super embarrassed the gang found out about it, but was thankful they were cool with it

• gang 100% harassed him to wear drag for them Atleast once

• one day dallas brought his make up and shoes over, he did his and soda’s make up and wore his shoes and the gang was shook! ‘How can you walk in those?! So easily??’ ‘He looks prettier than half the girls at school!’

• all the support from the gang!

• Dallas actually reads a lot like pony does but doesn’t talk about it incase he gets made fun of for the books he likes

• is also really smart but plays dumb

• this boy LOVES vampires, they’re his guilty pleasure. We talking the vampire chronicles, the vampire diaries, true blood, he even liked the twilight books but will never tell a soul!

Dating headcanons!

General:

• cuddles all the time

• is very insecure and gets jealous easy

• surprisingly isn’t violent or aggressive when jealous, he’s scared if he is they will leave

• plot twist! Sylvia was actually a beard so Soc’s and other gangs wouldn’t know he’s bi

• they only said she cheated cause she was caught with another dude. The hate and hurt was all an act

• is a brat so will tease his dom in public subtly but so much

• is super clingy

• wants to be together all the time

• always needs reassurance ‘are you sure you’re still happy? Like I didn’t do anything wrong?’ ‘No, babe I love you’. ‘Oh okay, are you sure tho?’ 24/7

Johnny

• always getting Johnny to stay at bucks or his dads when his dad isn’t home so Johnny is safe

• feeding this boy all the time!

• when he hears dal is a bottom Johnny is shook but surpringly into a ‘daddy’ role

• drive in dates whenever they can

• they watch the stars a lot

• when Dallas is super anxious he picks at his nails a lot and Johnny holds his hands to help him feel a bit at ease

• when Dallas is in a manic state Johnny follows him anywhere he goes. Parties, fights, anything. He just wants to make sure he doesn’t get jailed again or hurt

• Johnny highkey loves when Dallas dresses in drag ‘you’re just so confident and hot!’

Steve

• watches while Steve works on his cars, he likes seeing Steve so interested and content

• when either of them fight with their dads they drive around all night and talk. They are both quiet about feelings usually but wanna be there for each other

• hangs around the DX while Steve and soda work

• both don’t say a lot normally but are always touching each other

• when Dallas is in a depressive episode Steve will come to bucks and just lay with him for hours

• They talk about both their moms walking out on them sometimes. They both swear if they ever met these women there would be hell to pay ‘how could she abandon this beautiful person?’

Soda

• all the spooning you could ask for

• Dallas is always complimenting him. ‘You’re so pretty wtf’

• on the anniversary of sodas parents death Dallas buys him flowers and they go to their graves

• when Dallas doesn’t answer his phone Soda highkey panics ‘what if he’s hurt?! What if he’s in jail ahain?’

• Dallas always feels bad about this and tries to make it up to him

• soda is always reminding Dallas he’s not alone and he loves him

• when soda really misses his mom Dallas and him talk about some of their favourite memories with her. Soda is still sad but it makes him a little happier knowing how much she cared about him and the one he loves so much

Two bit

• jokes 24/7

• when the gang isn’t around Dallas only calls him Keith or babe

• two doesn’t usually like his name but when Dallas says it he hates it a little less every time

• two bits mom wasn’t a fan of Dallas at first but after a while and gets to know him she loves him so much ‘mom I’m home’ ‘where is dallas’ ‘idk’ ‘tell him to come over I’m making his favourite dish’

• when two bit gets jealous or feels Dallas is he always puts his arm around his waist or kissing him so the person gets the hint

• twos little sister looks up to their relationship a lot and loves how happy her brother is

• two doesn’t stop drinking but slows down on it when Dallas mentions once it worries him sometimes

• Dallas and twos little sister get close really fast. Dallas is always giving her advice and one day brings her some old make up of his and she loves it!

• two doesn’t understand why dallas seems a little sad after times like these until one day dallas tells him about his little sister and how two should spend more time with her, ‘just in case something happens. I don’t want you to regret anything like I do’

• two makes a point to spend more time together the three of them after that

Pony

• they read together sometimes

• Dallas will go to literally any movie if pony is interested

• picks pony up from school everyday

• if Dallas gets arrested you know pony is lecturing him for Atleast a half hour. Dallas just sits there with heart eyes because ‘damn I missed this pain in my ass’

• dates at the Dingo are their Friday night ritual

• they both have terrible nightmares and are always cuddling and comforting eachother after

• Dallas is always saying little things to pony about his relationship with Darrel ‘I know he’s on your case all the time but it’s cause he means well’. Dallas then tells pony about his brothers and sister and how he wishes he could live with them and see them like pony can with Darrel

• pony and dar still fight sometimes after this but never in front of Dallas

Darrel

• they don’t go out a lot for dates but like to watch their favourite shows together (they kick the gang out for a few hours on these nights)

• Darrel brings out the brat in Dallas 24/7 and he teases him all the time until Darrel gets to a point he just looks at him and with a deep voice ‘bedroom now’ and Dallas practically trips over his own feet running to the room

• they are not quiet either! The gang sees them go in Dar’s room and they all groan and leave ASAP

• the gang found out about them when the gang came over and heard Dallas call out ‘daddy!’ And never let him live it down ‘how’s it going daddy’s boy’ ‘I will literally kill you two bitch’

• Darrel never celebrates his birthday after his parents die and Dallas puts an end to that so fast. He goes all out, flowers, presents, sexy time. Anything he can do

• always sitting on Darrel’s lap, clinging to him, hugging. All of it. He’s just amazed and thankful he has such a strong and beautiful bf who loves him

• dar once let dallas do make up on him and Darrel borderline didn’t like how good he looked in it

• Dallas got him to experiment in drag and Darrel felt hella empowered. Now they dress up together sometimes. But dar says only Dallas is allowed to see him like that

• this makes dal feel extra special and close to dar and he loves it

Tim

• sarcastism never stops

• Tim is quiet but really protective, he can say whatever he wants about Dallas but once someone says one bad thing they best be ready to square up

• patching eachother up after fights al the time

• they be kinky bitches man!

• after a nightmare Dallas told Tim a little bit about his ex and it took dallas an hour to talk him out of going to New York to kill this man

• Dallas does strip teases for Tim in his stripper shoes on special occasions.

• Tim didn’t tease him for his make up or anything, he actually found it real pretty on him

• Tim never lets him stay at his own place or bucks after they get together.

• Tim is Demi sexual

• Dallas heard his ex was released out of prison and has a sever panic attack. Tim was right there reassuring him ‘babe I’m right here. No ones gonna hurt you’.

• dals mom comes to town and Tim got Angela and her friends to give her a ‘Tulsa greeting’. Needless to say she left as soon as she came

This was so long and horrible I’m sorry

Special thanks to @sunlitcigars for helping with some ideas and encouraging me to post these

[iiasha-archived]

I saw your svt dynamics post and I just wanted to ask about scoups. 🥺🥺🥺 Where are his dynamic bros??

okay the last post but s.coups edition

scoups and jeonghan: they are effectively the “mom and dad” of the group lmao they really do bicker like an old married couple. the way scoups jokes about how he got his “scar” by “getting into an argument with jeonghan” basically sums up their whole dynamic also their arguing on weverse is also really funny

in general the 95z dynamic is super fun because it’s just constant jihan ganging up on scoups at every possible opportunity (the first two videos in that compilation showcase some really fun 95z vlives)

scoups and woozi: tbh i’m not super attuned to this pairing but they’re definitely mentioned a lot. obviously they have a close friendship but i also get the sense that they have a higher formal degree of respect for each other as compared to some other relationships within seventeen. they both carry a lot of responsibility what with being the leader and main producer of the group and as such i get the sense that they have exceptional trust and faith in one another

scoups and wonwoo: this is another pairing that i feel like is more lowkey but their friendship is really well highlighted in this dingo series and idk the way they talk so comfortably about each other is so 🥺

scoups and mingyu: honestly a lot of scoups’ relationships involve a lot of bickering bc scoups is literally a giant baby... and this dynamic is no exception LMAO look at them bickering like children. scoups seems to bicker a lot with mingyu in particular it almost rivals 95z jdfalksjds

scoups and dino: i think scoups and dino have a super interesting relationship because while they are the oldest and youngest age-wise, personality-wise scoups is the youngest of his family while dino is the oldest and you can really tell in the way they interact ajfdklja

[badlydrawnmanic]

time for episode 3 i guess! wish i could focus on the things i gotta do but something’s bugging me and i just can’t, i might have to start from scratch but anyway...

• manic wants to find a place where he belongs... • why were the triplets born in... an alternate dimension??? what • dingo is a tree and it’s freaking me out • sonic: hey did you notice anything strange about that tree   manic and sonia: no we did not see the canine face with stupid glasses staring at us directly as we passed by • the fact that manic’s drums can cause earthquakes and stuff is pretty neat • i seriously feel bad for dingo at this point • there’s a camera angle where it looks like manic’s levitating in front of sonic when sonic is supposed to be dragging him along real fast • i don’t understand why the bad guys are like “lmao nature and clean things are stinky” like i know you’re bad but like ??? man • i think this show would be much more visually appealing if they used brighter backgrounds like in mobodoon • again how old are they supposed to be, it’s their birthday? they’re so small • i know mayor winnieham (how the fuck do you spell that) is a horse but she looks like a soft dragon, she’s so nice and i actually like her voice • hooray for socialism • sonic sniffs and it sounds like jaleel had a stuffy nose that day • horse lady is so nice but a ton of nice people in this cartoon are traitors so i’m like :grimace: • A CHAOS EMERALD • manic is so overwhelmed by the fact that someone cared about him and his siblings that he starts to like fall backwards and the lady has to push a chair under him, he’s crying someone hug this boy • “sonic’s always been cool, having this mondo world as his home” sorta implies that he had adventures before all this, i only say this because i’ve been trying to slap together a timeline and i think i made underground take place between satam and sonic 3? i forget exactly

• h • you’d think horse lady would be more excited that they’ve returned and stuff • gee sonia why does your mom let you have super speed and strength • did she recognize dingo this time?? she got mud on her and immediately attacked him so like... would she do that to anyone??? • the people who wrote this show don’t understand how siblings interact with each other, i don’t call my brother “bro” every two seconds and i don’t think anybody does • okay why does the horse lady say they were born in this nursery room, i would assume that that’s... not true... please tell me there’s a hospital or something in this city • three episodes into the series and manic’s like “i’m gonna stay here and break up the band :D” • horse lady made evil eyebrows i don’t trust her all adults are bad • SONG TIME AGAIN, SONIC UNDERGROUND STYLE • I think this is one of the only songs where manic sings and it’s not even clear that it’s him? i was told that it was him singing • GSDJG MANIC’S HAIR IS BIRDS • sometimes the baby triplets are cute and sometimes they’re terrifying • they reused animation that was used like just before the song started • manic goes “wow” in his normal voice right in the middle of the song • i actually really like this song, but like... the singing voice is odd, a bit nasally. other than that it’s good and i’d listen to it again, like... 9/10 i think, i’ll hum it absentmindedly after the episode is done. if they re-recorded this for any reason or if there was a cover of it i’d be pretty happy about that! • sleet unrolls a huge sheet of paper with absolutely nothing on it • the background characters in mobodoon aren’t as hideous as the normal background characters • sonic leaving fire everywhere when he runs seems like it would be an issue at some point • sleet and dingo are terrorists • they deadass just stole a family’s whole house • THE CHAOS EMERALD • i’m calling it a chaos emerald, apparently it controls the daylight cycle and structural integrity of the whole dimension which is odd • if she’s so worried that mobodoon will fade why don’t they evacuate? unless they can’t without the chaos emerald or something • apparently they can leave whenever because sonic’s back with sleet and dingo • they used footage from this episode in the previous episode’s music segment...? i wonder how production was • sonia and manic fall from the sky • “manic, hold all the important doohickeys while we do the cool stuff” • dingo’s fucking feral in this segment holy shit calm down • the cave of wonders................ • MANIC HAS LITTLE SHARP TEETH • manic did it!! • i still don’t get how mobodoon works • how unstable is that dimension if the chaos emerald being gone for an hour max is enough to make it nearly collapse • sonic called dingo “dingus” and i have no idea how old that term is

• manic looks like a very small child waiting for his mom to say he did a good job saying “thank you” to the grocery store checkout person and that’s adorable but also he looks goofy as shit • this poor boy, i imagine he just wants a mother figure, horse lady has her hand on his shoulder and she’s probably one of the few dependably nice people they’ve encountered in a while • aw, sonic and sonia like... acknowledge that manic is happy here and are willing to let him stay in mobodoon, that’s pretty wholesome. i feel like this was supposed to be an emotional beat but like... bad pacing kinda mucks it up

• “don’t forget to visit” god, my heart, he says it so gently like poor baby • “oh i almost forgot that your mother who has been absent in your lives since you were literal babies and that you’ve been risking your lives to find stopped by during the climax of the episode, my mistake”

• okay, i can see the horse part of her now maybe more of a donkey • “together at last” is one of the audio blurbs they play and they say it like they’ve been separated forever • they knocked sleet back into mobodoon like that solves the problem??? • i kinda like how they replay part of the song at the end of the episode to like... reestablish an idea in a different light? like when it played the first time it’s like “oh i found my childhood home and the place where i came from” and now it’s like “i’ve found the place where i belong with my loved ones” and that’s actually really good imo • i feel like manic has the most potential for depth out of all of them just because if you look any deeper into what’s happening in the show it gets kinda sad? [slaps roof of manic] this bad boy can fit so much emotional trauma in it

[goodwriterwithbadhabits]

EXO as Hybrids

Requested by @equesasprokishi​

Master List

~~

Xiumin- Norwegian Forest Cat

He's way too pretty for this shit

Spends like 4 hours a day just brushing his tail

Big ole bottle-brush tail

People think he's a squirrel

He will then proudly point out his big fluffy ears

Adores being pet

and complimented

seriously, you want him to fall in love with you,

do one of those things

When he's stressed or anxious, he pets his own tail

Mom's his friends a lot and blames it on his cat instincts

Hisses if you piss him off

He's not social

but not exactly anti-social

mostly just doesn't like humans

He's probably never gotten in trouble once

Everyone swears he should be a model

but he's actually a writer

doesn't like big public meetings or gatherings

so no one has ever actually met him

likes to brush Jongdae's tail when it's full of mud or burrs

hates that Jongdae can get him to purr so easily

Luhan- Deer

No one was actually sure what he was when he was a kid

now that he's older he's got these kinda small horns that poke out from his hair

sometimes he lets them grow out

but hates when they get too long

Has the littlest tail that sticks out above his pants

His big eyes mean he can con anyone into doing anything

not a pushover, just a pacifist

Photographer

and a really damn good one

has spreads in magazines from Wildlife to GQ and Elle

Avid Vegetarian

Which makes him super wary around the predator breeds like Suho and Tao mostly

Not so much Chen and Chan

cause they're scavengers, technically

and idiots

close to Sehun and Lay, as fellow prey breeds

Not around a lot

Travels a lot for work

Suho- Wolf

Is pretty much just a very large, fluffy dog

Is 100% a momma dog

an alpha by nature

but the only wolf in his pack

he gets a little ashamed of the fact that Baek and Chan are derived from his species

Makes a lot of threats about “eating the idiots”

But his fluffy ears and tail give him away

Really likes red meat

but won't eat it around the prey types

Looks intimidating

but wouldn't hurt a fly

unless they hurt his pack

Is actually only scared of DO

For good reason

He has scars from that kid

Lay- Ram

Looks really scary

You know, with the spiraled horns that wrap down by his cheekbones

#IntimidatinguntilIsmileclub

Always has jewelry on his horns

He's a bit of a scatterbrain, but not stupid

likes to make things brighter by making jokes

like that he only hangs around predators to look punk rock

he just genuinely enjoys their company

Is the most fun to be around

his presence is super soothing

he has so many rock climbing stories?

Like more than you think he should

People call him a sheep in wolfs clothing

-Baekhyun- Corgi

Its so easy to tell what he is

He's tiny

did you say the cutest smile ever?

Lil bit of pudge to his cheeks

no tail

so when he's excited his butt wiggles

He's a battery

just full of energy

loves attention

once got kicked out of Ikea because a kid started petting his ears and he fell over onto a display

adores kids

never says no when one of them asks to pet his ears

loves being pet

preens worse than Xiu

gets into trouble with Chen and Chan but can cute his way out of any situation

“The cute one” is his official position

no one can take his anger seriously

D.O. Likes to make fun of him

but it never sticks

even though he's an older member all the others watch out for him

way too trusting

its hard to make him mad

when he gets upset his ears flop down

Chen- Fox

Mischievous little shit

He has a tendency to just scream

Which makes his tail bristle and stick straight out

Always laughing

and his laugh is super contagious

Always looks like he's up to something

usually is

then does nothing

which is worse

Uses Chan as a scapegoat a lot

Likes being pet

A lot

Probably more than he should

Loves petting Xiu more

Cause he can't purr, but he likes making Xiu purr

Chan- Dingo

Usually  has a goofy smile on his face

not dumb

just oblivious

He's got big blond ears

So he gets mistaken for a corgi a lot

but he is always quick to point out his tail

and that he's way too tall to be a corgi

he's like freakishly long

people used to joke that the ears were fake

he was actually a giraffe

considered a protector

cause so intimidating

but he's a puffball

#intimidatinguntilismileclub

plays a whole bunch of instruments

piano

guitar

bass

is a video game designer

spends  most days in a dark room working on things on his computer

Introverted, not antisocial

D.O. -Black Cat

A whole ass Eboy

wears all black, all the time

and has black hair

and black ears

has a couple of gold rings in his ears

and a tear in one

claims the tear is from a fight

But it was just his earring getting caught and pulled out 

Kai once bought him a studded collar as a gag

but now he wears it all the time

looks super intimidating

but has the cutest smile

won't admit it:

Loves being pet

Gets into a lot of fights with humans

constantly getting reprimanded by Suho

low-key enjoys being babied

if he purrs because of you

and you bring it up to his friends

he will ignore you

cause he's punk rock

and punk rock kitties hate pets

and they don't purr

Tao- Siberian Tiger

What is black and white and fuzzy all over?

Zitao

Has the most beautiful black and white stripes

and only wears monochromatic clothing (same)

is actually a model

considered a “Rare Breed Hybrid”

his fur is crazy soft

which keeps him warm

he still lives for winter

has like 400 winter jackets

another member of the #intimidatinguntilismileclub

likes to joke about eating Sehun the most

but straight up couldn't

he tried once

for real

but he just couldn't

Kai- Red Panda

People usually think he's a cat breed

but his tail is much longer

also, his tail never touches the ground

unless he's really upset

its usually either in his hands

or wrapped around his leg

occasionally he'll entwine it with D.O.s

just to see the kitty blush

D.O. Hangs around him the most

Kai swears its cause he's too cute to ignore

but its actually cause he only acts dumb sometimes

another model

part of the preening club

likes to climb things

everything

doesn't sit normally in chairs

usually sits on the back of them

has a collection of cool rocks

Sehun- Rabbit

Sassy lil bastard

Calls Baek, Chan and Suho all “Doggos”

Xiu and D.O. Are “pretty kitties”

when people get mad at him he just pouts

and how can you say no when one of his ears flops down and the other one stays up?

Answer: you don't

He and Luhan bonded over their tiny tails

easily annoyed

always snacking

everything from blueberries to whole sandwiches

usually in places, he shouldn't logically have food

like airplanes or police stations

works at a daycare

Every kid's favorite teacher

refers to his apartment as his burrow

sleeps in a burrito

Owns a full blood rabbit that matches him

calls it Boba

I don’t own the gifs used. Sorry my dudes

[thankskenpenders]

Archie presents Ken Penders’ Knuckles the Echidna: A Postmortem

At long last, we’ve come to the end of the Knuckles solo series. Again, this is far from the end of the Penders Knuckles stories, but he no longer gets a whole series to himself. And thank God for that

While a 32 issue run (or really, 35, counting the first miniseries) might pale in comparison to Sonic’s nearly 300 issues, it’s a pretty impressive feat. That’s a lot of comics! A lot of series these days don’t get to enjoy runs that long. Hell, a lot are lucky to even last a year. And assuming that’s 22 pages of story in each issue, that means Penders got a whopping 770 pages of Knuckles comics where he got to do whatever he wanted

What did Penders spend those 770 pages doing? Well, he sure introduced a lot of new echidnas, that’s for damn sure. Let’s break down the Knuckles series arc by arc and briefly summarize what each one actually contributed to the world of Archie Sonic

Sonic’s Friendly Nemesis Knuckles miniseries #1-3

Characters Introduced: Enerjak. Knuckles also first meets Archimedes, who had been previously set up

Summary: Knuckles meets and begins to work together with Archimedes, who he inexplicably trusts right away. Enerjak comes back and announces he still wants to take over the world. Knuckles beats him up

Lasting Impact: Archimedes and Enerjak/Dimitri stick around as important-ish characters

Knuckles #1-3: The Dark Legion miniseries

Characters Introduced: The Dark Legion, Kragok, Steppenwolf, Christopholes, Menniker

Summary: The Dark Legion returns. The founding of the Brotherhood of Guardians is touched upon, as is their dumb pro-/anti-technology feud with the Dark Legion. Locke uses some sort of Chaos Emerald magic from afar to stop the Legion’s guns from firing so Knuckles can beat them up

Lasting Impact: The Dark Legion and the Brotherhood would be major players for the rest of the story

Knuckles #4-6: Lost Paradise

Characters Introduced: Julie-Su, Lara-Le, Remington, Helmut von Stryker, Gerbil, Hawking, Sabre, Wynmacher, some other fire ant whose name I forget

Summary: Ex-Dark Legionnaire Julie-Su suddenly defects from her faction to seek out Knuckles, because they “soul-touched” and now they’re destined to be lovers or something. Echidnaopolis suddenly comes back because reasons, and boy do they sure still have a lot of technology for people who said they renounced it. The dingoes are apparently evil fascists, and Hawking explains how racist he is to Knuckles.

Lasting Impact: Julie-Su and many of the characters here become mainstays in Knuckles’ supporting cast, and obviously Echidnaopolis becomes the main setting of the comic

#7-9: Dark Vengeance

Characters Introduced: The Echidna High Council, High Councilor Pravda

Summary: Enerjak comes back (again) and immediately becomes the new leader of the Dark Legion. Hawking is on life support. Enerjak kills Knuckles, but then the Ancient Walkers bring him back so he can be a Christ metaphor. Enerjak is defeated and turns back into Dimitri, who ages rapidly. Mammoth Mogul shows up so he can be trapped in the Master Emerald in the following Sonic issue

Lasting Impact: Dimitri’s old now

#10-12: The Other Road Taken

Characters Introduced: The Lost Tribe, Yanar, Athair’s mom (I forget her name), Rob O’ the Hedge and friends, Mari-An, Zax, Raynor, Gala-Na. Athair makes his first appearance in a Knuckles comic

Summary: The Lost Tribe is introduced. They’ve apparently been searching for the ancient echidna homeland of Albion in a big caravan for centuries. The Day of Fury happens, which doesn’t amount to much here compared to the literal apocalypses that share the title in the lore. They make a pit stop over in Snottingham in the Sonic series for some Robin Hood shenanigans, then Knuckles walks on water to lead them to Albion and continue being a Christ metaphor

Lasting Impact: These characters and locations are EVENTUALLY revisited, but not in the remainder of the Knuckles solo series

#13-15: The Chaotix Caper

Characters Introduced: Harry the cab driver, Mello (while dying), Unnamed(?) Echidna Doctor and Nurse, Downtown Ebony Hare, his fox girlfriend, his bulldog goon, the scientist guy who was making the drugs, Charmy’s family, Saffron, Jeepers the Bee Butler, a bear biker gang, Bimmy

Summary: Charmy’s apparent best friend Mello dies of a drug overdose. To investigate, the Chaotix all go to an amusement park, eat the drug-laced food, trip balls, and almost die. Charmy’s past is expanded upon so that he can then go home and get written out of the series. Knuckles starts to show off his Chaos powers

Lasting Impact: Harry sorta stuck around. We know more about Charmy, who is now gone

#16-18: Reunions, Deep Cover

Characters Introduced: Tobor, Moritori Rex, Spectre, Sojourner, Thunderhawk, Tobor’s family

Summary: Knuckles finds out his mom is getting married to Wynmacher. We find out that Lara-Le had major problems with the way Locke raised Knuckles, which goes nowhere. The Brotherhood convenes. We find out that one of them has been replaced with someone evil for years through one of the dumbest twists in the history of these comics. Knuckles beats up Kragok in jail, then Kragok and Tobor fuck off into a “quantum beam,” apparently killing them both. I didn’t even realize they died when I first read this. That may be a retcon

Lasting Impact: Tobor and Kragok died I guess. Lara-Le and Wynmacher’s marriage is teased

#19-21: The Forbidden Zone

Characters Introduced: Prince Elias Acorn, Queen Alicia Acorn, the bulldog colonel and his wife, a baby

Summary: Geoffrey and pals show up from the main series to rescue the Queen, only to walk right up to the Acorn family compound on Angel Island with no trouble and meet Sally’s long lost brother Elias, who nobody knew about. The Queen, meanwhile, is in a pod. Locke and Lara-Le meet up and he tries to kiss her for some mindboggling reason. Knuckles gets mad about all the secrets and finally meets the Brotherhood, but his dad isn’t there at the time. He also fights Moritori Rex (fake Tobor), who gets away 

Lasting Impact: Elias would become quite important... over in the Bollers stories in the main series. He had nothing to do with Knuckles.

#22-24: Dark Alliance

Characters Introduced: Lien-Da, Benedict, Xenin

Summary: Echidna/dingo tensions rise in the runup to the election. Dimitri is a cyborg now. Lien-Da is apparently the new leader of the Dark Legion, and she kidnaps and brainwashes the High Councilor so they can rig the election. Tons and tons and tons of tasteless allusions to Nazi Germany and the Holocaust are made. Knuckles shows off his Chaos powers a little more. The fact that Remington is Kragok’s son is alluded to, but Penders never actually remembered to reveal this in a comic

Lasting Impact: None

#25: Childhood’s End

Characters Introduced: Harlan, Rembrandt, Aaron, one of Robotnik’s ancestors

Summary: Knuckles finally finds his dad... because he didn’t run away fast enough when Knuckles spotted him. Locke tells him the baby microwave story. He also tells him about a vision of the future he had, which scared him into doing all the horrible things he did, but this future never actually comes to pass in the comics. Knuckles immediately forgives his dad for experimenting on him

Lasting Impact: Locke’s not hiding from Knuckles anymore

#26-28: The First Date (feat. Friend in Need)

Characters Introduced: Raynor (not to be confused with the other echidna named Raynor), a bunch of nameless furry girls for Vector to ogle; Nic the Weasel, the real Fiona Fox, Ray the Flying Squirrel

Summary: Julie-Su is mad at Knuckles, so she goes out with some other guy for half a day. Vector tries to get laid and acts like an incel. Locke gives Knuckles the talk. Knuckles finally actually asks Julie-Su out, then has his 16th birthday party. In the backup story, Mighty, Nic, and Fiona rescue Ray from a time anomaly, and Fiona’s past is explained

Lasting Impact: Knuckles and Julie-Su are dating now. Nic, Fiona, and Ray stuck around as important characters in the main series

#29: My Special Friend

Characters Introduced: None (but this is only one issue)

Summary: Sally tries to get help from the Brotherhood now that Robotnik is back in the main series, but they refuse because Sally won’t use guns. Knuckles is a centrist who won’t firmly side with Sally, so she leaves angrily. Along the way, Sally rationalizes her dad’s attempt at Robian genocide

Lasting Impact: None

#30-32: King of the Hill (feat. Espio the Chameleon)

Characters Introduced: Monk, Hunter, Snowpidgeon, Aryu One-Two; Barney, Liza, and several other unimportant chameleons

Summary: Knuckles’ childhood bully, a large purple gorilla, returns to Angel Island after being yeeted into the ocean by the Brotherhood years ago. A human hunter named Hunter shows up to reenact The Most Dangerous Game. Monk falls during the fight and dies. Hunter is captured. In the backup story, Espio has a run-in with the roboticized Valdez, his apparent best friend, who he then murders

Lasting Impact: Hunter eventually made a minor appearance in a Bollers story years later. Valdez dies

Are you noticing a trend? Things keep happening in these stories, but it rarely has much of an impact. One of the Guardians was a traitor all along? Eh, doesn’t affect much. The Dark Legion candidate in the election ends up being a robot and dies? Eh, they had a replacement ready--but also, the election didn’t matter anyway.

Rarely do we learn anything of value about the characters. Knuckles doesn’t grow much as a person, and he never gets much of a personality. Julie-Su’s whole life revolves around being soul bound to Knuckles with only the faintest hint of her own personality. The Chaotix never contribute anything of value. When something comes up to make us question Locke and the Brotherhood, Penders then goes “No, no, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

Supporting characters and subplots that go nowhere keep getting introduced just so it can feel like a lot is going on, but it’s all shallow. Knuckles has like 12 grandpas, most of whom are still alive, and only maybe three of them are distinct in any way. They all just talk like Penders, just like every character in these comics (except for Vector, who gets to be Urban). Things just keep happening around Knuckles, often without his actual involvement, while Penders says that every other arc is the biggest most important thing that’s ever happened.

It’s the oldest trick in comics. End on a cliffhanger. Say that NEXT ISSUE something interesting will DEFINITELY happen. Promise that the story is going somewhere. Just keep buying more issues! But the payoff never comes

While Sonic’s better stories have him sprinting around the world, the Knuckles series just plops him down on a treadmill for 35 issues. In the background, he’s listening to a boring documentary about echidna lore and genealogies

His life is in shambles

[jedi-mabari]

Snitched

Imagine being the Curtis’ sister and secretly dating Tim Shepard, and your brothers find out...

Word Count:1082 Warnings: Fighting, bickering, but a pretty happy ending. A/N:This was requested an anonymous made, and I love it. I hope you like it nony!  I’m sorry that it isn’t very much Tim Shepard, but I wanted to focus on the Curtis brothers finding out. ___________________________________________________________

You knew it was a bad idea from the get go. The Shepard gang wasn't like your brother's gang, which was more like a small band of brothers clinging together in hopes of keeping afloat. It was a real gang, that sold drugs, and rumbled with rival gangs at least once a month. But even knowing all this, you still fell head over heals for the head of the gang, Tim Shepard. You had known Tim most of your life. He was only a two years older than you, but to Darry, Soda, and Pony, he may as well have been 100.

Tim dropped you off a block down the road from your house after your date, like always so your brothers wouldn't see you with him. Tim's window was down, letting the cool evening June air waft through the car. He pulled up to the curb and turned to you with that cat like smile of his, making you blush something fierce.

"That movie was," he trailed off, trying to think of the words.

"Bizarre," you chuckled, tucking some hair behind your ear. He laughed and nodded.

"Yeah, that's the word." You sat in silence for a moment and just watched the cool blue of twilight fill the streets, telling you you'd need to leave the comfort of your boyfriends car in just a few minutes to be home before curfew.

"Will I see you tomorrow," you asked quietly, watching his face with a small smile. He grinned and nodded, leaning towards you, just inches from your face.

"If you want," he said, and you nodded.

"I'll meet you at the Dingo." You leaned forward and kiss him, letting him pull you to his side of the car. You were almost in his lap when you heard what sounded like Steve.

"Is that, (Y/N)?" You froze against Tim and pulled away to see Two-bit and Steve standing across the street from the car, obvious shock all over their faces. You felt Tim stiffen under you from being caught, and you scrambled back to your side of the car, grabbing your bag before bailing out of the car, giving Tim and short goodbye before darting after the other two boys, who were booking it down the street towards your house, to inform your brothers about what was going on.

"Steve, Two," you called after them, but they were already on the front porch pulling the door open by the time you reached the front gate. Then you heard Two-bit spill the beans.

"We just saw your baby sister making out with Tim Shepard," he announced, out of breath but full of excitement.

"She what," Darry yelled. You jumped when you heard his feet hit the floor and thought about running back to Tim and staying with him for a while, but it was too late. Darry was standing on the porch, looking like a shaken cola, like he was about the explode. He didn't say anything as he descended the steps and grabbed your arm, dragging you into the house. He wan't meaning to hurt you, he just doesn't know his own strength.

"Darry, you're hurting me," you snap, pulling your arm out of his grip as soon as you were in the living room.

"What the hell are you thinking," he snapped, letting go of you. You glanced around, noticing Pony standing by the kitchen, Soda was sitting up on the couch now, and Steve and Two-bit were still standing by the door, and you glared at them.

"It's none of your business who I kiss!" You could feel everyone in the room freeze except for Darrel. He fumed, pointing a finger in your direction, his ice blue eyes turning to fire with rage.

"Except that it is my business kiddo, seeing as how you're my responsibility!" You stood toe to toe with Darry, glaring at him as hard as he glared at you. "He's a hood!"

"He treats me better than any soc would!" Darry's face got red and it looked like he was about to blow his top, Steve and Two-bit stepped back, Pony took a step back into the kitchen, and Soda sunk further into the couch.

"Go to your damn room!" Darry roared, and you set your jaw, turning on heel, and heading to the bedroom you shared with Ponyboy. You slammed your door hard enough to make sure Darry could hear how pissed you were. You sat on your bed and fumed, your arms crossed over your chest until enough time passed that you were calmed down enough to lay down.

When you woke up in the next morning, Pony was snoring in the bed across from yours, and the pale light of the early summer morning was filtering through the window above Pony's desk. You got out of bed and headed to the kitchen, tiptoeing past Darry's room to the kitchen. You made a cup of tea and moved out to the front porch, leaning against the porch railing as you began drinking.

"How did you sleep, (Y/N)," Darry asked from the other side of the screen door. You shrugged, still staring out across the street. You heard the screen door creek open and, from the corner of your eyes, you saw him lean against the porch railing next to you. "I didn't mean to hurt you last night." You nod and take a sip from your tea.

Neither of you spoke for a while, just standing in the cool morning air. You had finished your tea and decided you should say something to him.

"It's okay Darry, I know you're just looking out for me." You looked at him and gave him half a smile. "But you have to understand, I won't do anything to put myself in danger, or to get us taken away from you." Darry nodded and put an arm out, offering you a hug, which you leaned into.

"I just don't understand why you didn't tell us," Darry sighed, "did you not trust me or something?" You pulled away from him and raised an eyebrow, a small smirk on your face.

"Were you not there last night, Dar?" He gave you an ashamed smile and nodded.

"I'm sorry, (Y/N). I may have over reacted. At least he's never made you late for curfew. And look, if you wanna keep dating him, I don't really care, I just don't want to see you two doing anything, okay?" You laugh and nod.

"Whatever you want, Darry," you said, kissing his cheek, taking you empty cup back inside.

[newbeginningsfamilyservices-blog]

Weeds and Flowers

WEEDS AND FLOWERS

Are you seriously adopting a teenager???

(Insert thunder and screaming in the distance)

Ok so I have no idea what I am doing. About a year ago, my husband and I took a placement of a teenage girl. A year in, we have decided to adopt her. So the “not knowing what I am doing” feeling happens a lot in my world. Not with the choice I have made to adopt a teenager. That was the easy part. But writing this blog post scares me to death.

I initially started posting my journey of adopting a teenage girl through the Kentucky foster care system on Facebook. Where my friends could see it. Where my family could see it. Where I could post as it went so I could track the adventure for my soon to be daughter. Someone mentioned I should blog it. I was hesitant. I am not a writer by trade. So bear with me .. this is an ongoing story of adopting a teenage girl. One who has already stolen my heart. And probably some of my sanity. But isn’t that what teenagers do? Drive you crazy.

There is no “once upon a time” in this story. No “dark and stormy night”. I currently train and license foster parents for New Beginnings Family Services in Elizabethtown Kentucky. I also am the event coordinator for Via Colori Kentucky, which is a street painting festival to raise money and awareness for foster children. (shameless self promoting plug – look it up .. it is the most awesome festival in Kentucky)

For five years, I have trained bunches of parents and they have taken placements of foster children. I have stood in front them, not as a fellow foster parent, but as their trainer. I encouraged them, prepared them the best that I could and taught them from a book. I am a mom – not a foster mom – but just a mom to three boys. I had no foster care experience outside of my training manual – yet week in and week out – I passionately trained foster parents to take on a role I had not.

My husband and I opened our home 3 years ago and prior to our current youth, we had a teenager who aged out of the system and then two toddlers who were moved to an adoptive home. We took a break for about a year after the toddlers. We were tired. We were sad and we just need time to rest from the ups and downs of the first two placements.

The week we were slated to open back up, I got wind of a young lady who desperately needed a placement. She was described as super smart and quirky in a fun way. Without going into too much detail – we jumped and the universe aligned and we brought her home.

Our relationship started at the dining room table where we had to convince her that she would be ok and that she was safe. The rest is history. This past summer, she came out of her shell. She planted a garden in the backyard. This garden was made up of anything and everything that was green, including weeds.

Now I am not an avid gardener, I usually throw some seeds into my garden bed and hope for the best. My nature loving foster daughter was the exact opposite. We “gifted her” a portion of the back yard and let her dig her way to china. It was a healthy outlet for her emotional needs. Plants and weeds started to flourish in this little flower bed.

Weeds, by definition, are wild plants growing where they are not wanted and in competition with cultivated plants. Kind of like teenagers in foster care. I see it every day. People come in, want to be foster parents, want to save a kiddo and always seem to want babies or little ones. They say “Little ones are great and young enough to turn around”…. I always twitch when they say this. There is not one thing wrong with wanting little ones. Kids of all ages that are in the system need love. And truthfully – I do not want little ones anymore – this job taught me that – teens are where it is at for me.

But my heart breaks a little every time, because I know personally how many teens really need a home. Really need a chance. Really need to not wind up aging out of the system without ever knowing that “forever” family. They are like weeds.

People seem to be scared of teenagers. There is a social stigma with teens in general and the social stigma of teens in the system — they are sometimes viewed as defiant, rebellious and hard to handle. They can be these things and more. But let me tell you something –  trust me, they are not deviant serial killers in the making who will feed your babies to dingoes in the woods for fun. So not the case. They are still just kids. Most of them are angry, not trusting and they have been let down and very hurt by so many people, it is easier to have a wall or behaviors that scare people from getting too close. And those behaviors can overshadow life. Like weeds.

I am not here to push people to run to us at New Beginnings Family Services and proclaim to the rooftops “I will foster teenagers” – (that would be fantastic though if you want to do that … just sayin) – I am just here to tell my story – her story – our story.

Now mind you, I am not a mom to girls. My sons are 14, 17 and 25. Girls are a whole different ball of wax. But we jumped and have yet to look back with any regret. I don’t think I will. There will some hard times coming as is expected of teenagers – but really, we are her chance to blossom and that is worth the hard times. In my book.

So we hope to plant the seeds to help her handle adulthood and the leave the weeds that define her acceptance of everything, as that is beautiful. And our garden grows … a little differently than before .. but it grows …

www.kentuckyfostercare.com

[yhwhrulz]

Today's Daily Encounter Monday, May 15, 2023

Sweet Release

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see…. By faith Moses' parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child…1

This week during our nightly reading, my daughter and I read a book that took place in the forests of Australia. We came upon a traumatic scene where a kangaroo and her joey became prey to a pack of dingoes. The kangaroo ran and hopped as high and as fast as she could, but her offspring, safely nuzzled in her pouch, weighed her down. In these cases, a kangaroo will drop her baby and allow the predator to continue to seize her, while giving herself and her child their best chance of survival; knowing that she might not ever see him again! As I read this scene, I couldn't help but feel sadness, for both the mother and child, and the way life separated them so cruelly.

Like this baby kangaroo, Moses was also cruelly separated from his mother, Jocabed. When Pharaoh pursued the death of all the Hebrew male babies, Jocabed had no choice but to drop her child in a river to give him his best chance. What anguish she must have felt in doing so! Yet, at the same time, she trusted God with her whole heart and when she released her child, Jocabed put him right into the Lord's hands!

While our children are young, we hold them tightly when we can, we watch their steps and shield them from harm. As they grow, we slowly begin to let go of their hands and allow them to walk on their own, protectively watching at a close distance. Soon, the day comes for us to "drop" them out of our care and into the wild and unprotected big world. On this day, we entrust our children to the Lord, and we can trust that He will put exactly who they need in their path, from teachers, to supervisors, and even friends. We can trust that God has a perfect plan for our children that is far better than any plan we might have had for them. God created them for a purpose, and he will see it fulfilled in His time. And although it is hard to imagine, we can trust that God loves our children more than we ever could!

Releasing our children takes great faith, whether you are a new mother on the first day of school or a seasoned mother releasing her child to adulthood. Trusting that God is faithful and has a beautiful plan for our children allows us the courage to face the sweet release into His hands.

Suggested Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, you, better than anyone, know how hard it is to release your child into the world. I trust in you to help me release my children knowing that you will be there right beside them. Thank you for your promises. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Hebrews 11:1, 23 (NIV).

Today's Encounter was written by: Veronica B.