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upsidedownwithsteve · 9 months

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Simmer #6

CH6. Spilled Milk | The Menu [4.3K] Eddie Munson x shy fem!reader: a line cook au.

The diner was busy.

Too busy. In fact, it was chaotic. An unusual brunch time rush on the hottest Saturday in August. The first in the month and the official marking of your two month birthday at Jim’s Grill. Not that it mattered, no one was able to celebrate it, not even yourself.

A greyhound and a private coach had pulled into the parking lot within ten minutes of each other, tourists pouring out of them in big families, clusters of hikers, campers and back water town enthusiasts ready to order everything from the menu. Jim had lit up at the sight, the bell above the diner door jingling over and over and over again, before the man looked at Eddie through the hatch and his face fell into a panicked expression.

“Shit.”

Steve was already smiling until his cheeks ached, his customer service voice ringing out through the din of the crowd as he tried his best to get everyone seated, him and Jonathan pushing tables together to cater for the family that arrived with seven kids in tow.

Jim was on the phone in his office, barking out orders before they turned into pleas, the garish orange receiver clutched between two hands before he closed his eyes, mouthed a prayer and then pumped his fist in the air. Twenty minutes later, Dustin Henderson was storming through the diner with two other teens trailing behind him, looking far more begrudging about whatever they’d obviously been roped into.

Hopper handed them aprons and promised, “cash in hand at the end of the night and an extra twenty if you get through this without breaking anything.”

A deal was made and soon, a red headed girl called Max Mayfield was flying between tables on bright green roller skates, bussing tables with a bored expression on her freckled face. Behind her, Jonathan’s little brother Will was delivering trays of drinks, narrowly avoiding Dustin as he brought Eddie’s famous stacked burgers out by the dozen.

It was chaos. It was too warm, and god, it was so loud. But fuck, the tips were great. Your apron was stuffed with bills and order tickets, your fingertips red from the amount of times you’d caught them between the metal clips you hung them from above Eddie’s station. It was too busy to talk, to chat and flirt quietly in this new way you’d both grown brave enough to do. The boy was frazzled, side by side with Argyle by the grill as the flipped patties and fried eggs and bacon, a new batch of rolls dangerously close to burning in the oven. The timer was screaming, something else was buzzing, the workstations were the messiest you’d ever seen them and there was a puddle of spilled milk by the door.

“Door! Behind!” You yelled out amongst the noise, eyes wide at the orders sitting by the hatch still to be delivered. Nancy and Robin were taking plates six at a time, hands and arms full, their balance nothing short of impressive. “Eddie, sorry, but table six wanted extra hash browns with their brunch combo not an egg—”

You didn’t get to finish your sentence before Eddie was taking the plate from you and sliding the perfectly fried egg into the trash. He barely looked at you, something you tried not to frown at because his mouth was set in a strained line and there were beads of sweat gathering at curls on his forehead. “Argyle, time on those hash browns?” Eddie barked, eyes still on the burgers he was placing cheddar slices on top of.

Argyle was scraping crispy potato pieces around the griddle, salt and pepper and some other spices poured on top as he worked at breakneck speed. “Three minutes, chef,” Argyle called back and Eddie grunted in return.

You felt stupid, standing there aimlessly with a customer's plate in your hand and before you could get out of the way, Eddie was moving you himself. Big, wide hands on the tops of your arms, guiding you out of the path of the door just before Steve burst through it. He narrowly missed the spilled milk.

“Door!” He yelled a fraction later than he should’ve. Eddie glared at him. “Corner! Fuck, where’s the fucking syrups? Eddie? Ed! Where’s the syrup!”

You watched Eddie squeeze his eyes shut before he groaned, killing the heat on the grill just as Argyle appeared at your side to slide the freshly cooked hash browns onto the plate. You smiled, grateful. “Thank you.”

“Open your fuckin’ eyes, man! They’re on the shelf!” Eddie was furiously wiping his hands on his stained chef whites, a dish towel tucked into the ties of his apron as he started assembling burger after burger.

Bun. Sauce. Patty. Cheese. Bacon. More sauce. Lettuce. Pickles. Tomato. Fried egg. Perfect yolk. Crispy onions. More sauce. Bun.

“What shelf?!” Steve yelled back, the pantry contents rattling as he pushed his way past huge bags of sugar and jars of homemade jam. “Eddie, it’s not fucking there!”

Robin barged in the door, not announcing her arrival to anyone and the edge of it slammed Argyle as he walked past carrying piles of grease filled frying pans. “Oh shit, I’m so sorry dude!” Eddie glared at her. “Door?” She said weakly.

“Why is everyone in my fuckin’ kitchen!” Eddie yelled and diners closest to the hatch peered in at him, disapproving expressions on their faces as their kids with ketchup smeared chins laughed. “Buckley! What is it?”

“There’s like, seven tables asking for maple syrup. Where is it?”

Everyone groaned, eyes rolling and Eddie threw his hands to the ceiling. “It’s on the fuckin’ shelf, but Harrington is too blind to see them. Christ, Argyle, start getting these burgers out, Harrington fuckin’ move man—”

It all happened a bit too fast, that’s all. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, not really. Just a classic case of spilled milk. No need to cry over it, right? That’s what they said.

Argyle dumped the pans into the sink with a crash, slipping between you and Eddie’s workstation as he tried to get to the burgers before they went cold. Eddie was pushing past Robin to get to Steve who was still arguing and well, Robin might’ve stepped forward at the same time you stepped back to avoid Argyle. Plateful of hash browns held high, you tried to stop them from falling. You tried not to elbow Argyle in the face and god, you tried really hard not to completely crash into Robin despite the way her shoulder caught yours.

You stepped back again, someone yelled ‘door!’ and the sound of Max’s roller blades ripped through onto the kitchen tiles, sending everyone into a loud panic. Your foot found the puddle of milk, sneakers slipping through the liquid and the inevitable happened.

There was an awful crack when your head hit the worktop on the way down. Ass hitting the tiles, a horrible spine numbing pain licking up your back. The bones in your hips tingled with it before tears sprung to your eyes as a searing pain set in everywhere at once. You heard the kitchen go quiet for just a second, a blissful peace before the plate you’d been holding finally joined you on the floor and smashed into a hundred different pieces. Argyle’s perfectly crispy hash browns skittered under the workstation and you heard someone swear.

Then everyone was clamouring at once, hands hesitated to touch you as you brought your own to the back of your head and held it there. There was a strange kind of heat to it that made you hope it wasn’t blood, but you were too scared to look. Milk seeped into your wrinkled sock, your legs splayed out in front of you like a forgotten doll, but you didn’t feel half as pretty as one. You gazed mournfully at the smashed plate and couldn’t help the way your bottom lip twisted and trembled. God, your head hurt.

“Oh my god, are you okay?”

“I’m sorry, shit— I’m sorry, I should’ve said I was coming in, right?”

“It’s fine Max, it’s not your fault—”

“How many fingers am I holding up? Can you stand? Hey, who’s the president—?”

“Lil’ Chicago slice got laid out.”

“Everyone move.”

Eddie’s voice rang out the loudest, clear and gruff with an authoritative tone that bordered on scary. Everyone listened, the kitchen and its team quietening down again when they all saw how you winced at the noise. Eddie pushed past Steve, and Robin, dropping down to hunker next to you. His brows were stitched together with concern and he tutted softly at the tear slipping down your cheek. You hadn’t even noticed, but his thumb brushed it away before anyone else could see.

He murmured your name and it sounded like a question you were supposed to answer, so you hummed, face scrunched up as more sharp needles of pain prickled at the back of your skull. Your hand was still pressed to it, scared to let go as if your whole head would simply roll off of your neck.

But Eddie’s hand curled around your wrist and he tugged gently, murmuring words of nonsense that were nothing more than soft placations. With a bit of coaxing, you let him take your hand away and you slammed your eyes shut before you could look. No one hissed or gasped, so it seemed safe enough.

But still, you asked, “there’s no blood, right?”

The boy gave you a soft smile as everyone circled closer to peer at your hand. “Nah,” Eddie told you reassuringly. “No blood, you’ll live.” Then he was cupping your chin in his hand, thumb pressed to the corner of your mouth and his brow wrinkled with more concern. “Can I take a look though?”

You wanted to say no. All this fuss and attention was making you feel too hot, embarrassment from falling starting to roll in with the pain and it mixed in your stomach to create an awfully uncomfortable concoction. Steve and Robin were still gazing down at you, eyes wide with shock and Max looked stricken with guilt, as if she thought her coming into the kitchen unannounced caused this. Argyle was already moving between everyone, sweeping broken pieces of plate and squished food out of the way.

But you nodded and let Eddie peer at the back of your head. His hands gentle as he turned you this way and that, parting your hair so he could look for any cuts. He whistled at the sight of a bump and ran his thumb over it softly. You winced and he murmured a sorry before squeezed your knee, a comforting thing that Robin raised her brows at.

“Think you can stand?” Eddie asked.

You didn’t get a chance to answer, because Hopper was bursting through the doors with a red face and seven ticket orders clutched in his hand. “Why is half my staff on the kitchen fucking floor?” He yelled. “It’s crazy out there! What’s going on?”

You brought your knees to your chest as Steve explained what had happened, gesturing to the puddle of milk, the broken pieces of plate in the trash. Eddie didn’t move, didn’t take his eyes off you, even when you winced in embarrassment and tried to hide your face in your hands.

You heard Jim sigh and then he was clapping his hands and demanding that Steve and Robin went back to the dining floor. “There’s four tables waitin’ for coffee, never mind food, c’mon! And Max— Jesus, Maxine, take those skates off before someone else ends up with a concussion.”

Argyle was sent back to the grill before Hop patted Eddie on the shoulder and told him to do the same. Eddie screwed up his face, confusion wrinkling his brow. “What? No, Hop, someone’s gotta take her home.”

“Ed—” you started to interrupt, mortified at the idea of causing an upset.

Hop laughed, not meanly, just amused. “And what? You think you should be the one to take her, Casanova? You’re the only guy I got here that knows how to cook an omelette, you’re not going anywhere Munson.”

Eddie’s ears burned with the quip, cheeks flushed pink and he scowled at his boss, uncaring about the repercussions. But his attention was quickly stolen by you as you made an attempt to move, standing shakily as you protested that you were fine. The boy scoffed, holding your forearms so you could grip his, knuckles white as the shock of it all set in.

You did feel a little dizzy.

“She’s not going back out there to take orders,” Eddie told the older man as they both looked at your peaky expression, your glassy eyes.

“Well, I ain’t got the bodies to get someone to take her home, kid,” Hop shrugged regretfully. “Wayne at the garage?”

“Fishing trip,” Eddie answered sourly. “Here, c’mon, sit down, yeah?” He guided you to the stool by his station and helped you onto it, eyes filled with concern as you clutched the edge of the worktop and closed your eyes. “Should we be callin’ a doctor?” Eddie asked Hop.

“Don’t you dare,” you managed to bark at him, even though your voice sounded shaky. “I’m fine. I’ll just, I’ll just sit for a bit.”

You couldn’t hear what the two men were whispering about, but embarrassment told you it was most definitely about you. You only looked up when someone set a glass of water in front of you and you smiled in thanks at Argyle before he squeezed your shoulder and went back to flipping pancakes.

“Drink that, please,” Eddie mumbled softly as he appeared by your side. Hopper had left, standing awkwardly in the middle of the diner instead of his office as he wrote down orders listed off by a frantic Nancy. “Okay, we’ve come to an agreement.”

You snorted into your glass. “We have?” You asked as you wiped at your lips.

“Hop’s gonna take over and I’ll drive you home when this place finally calms down. Or we run out of eggs, whatever comes first.”

You rolled your eyes but the action was fond, just like the smile on your lips. You could barely bring yourself to look up at the boy for fear of giving too much away in your gaze, but when you did, you saw the same softness in Eddie’s own expression. “You don’t have to do that,” you told him. “I’ll just sit for a bit and then walk home.”

Eddie snorted and began chopping slices of tomatoes at a speed your eyes could barely keep up with. “No you fuckin’ won’t,” he told you. “Part of this agreement was that you park your cute ass where I can see you. No passing out in the walk-in, alright?”

You tried not to dwell on the compliment too much. Weeks had passed since the night you’d gotten high with the boy, too close on his bed, too close to doing something that was interrupted. You’d been back to the Munson trailer since, but you spent evenings on the sofa with both Eddie and Wayne, yelling at Alex Trebek and trying out new dishes that Eddie created for late nice dinners. No other attempt at a kiss - if that’s what had been about to happen. No other attempt at asking for a date - if that’s what the boy had been about to say.

“Are there any other conditions to this agreement?” You asked, wincing when Argyle dropped a pot into the sink. “Or did you just sell my soul to Jim without me knowing?”

Eddie laughed as he threw some mushroom halves onto the grill, dropping in some butter until they sizzled. “Sweetheart, c’mon now, you did that yourself when you agreed to work in his hellhole.” Eddie moved away just for a few seconds, long enough to return with a new glass of ice water that he replaced your empty one with. “But he did say you’re not allowed to sue him.”

You smiled, laughing weakly because your head still throbbed and the diner was too loud but Eddie Munson was grinning at you with his dimples on show and a stray curl falling into his big, brown eyes.

“Damn,” you tried to joke. “There goes my plan.”

—————

You’d been slumped on the stool for the best part of two hours before someone roused you from your semi sleeping state. Heels of your hands pressed to your closed eyes, the sounds of the diner sounding further and further away as you let yourself be lulled into haze by the sounds of Eddie and Argyle talking over the sizzle of the grill, the popping of bacon, the whir of a whisk.

Then, a palm on your back, wide and warm. You startled only slightly, sitting up and reappearing from behind your hands to see a bowl of soup being slid in front of you. A deep red, flecked with cracked black pepper and smelling like tomato and basil. There was a swirl of some cream in the centre, artfully placed, and a spoon was dipped into the middle of it.

“Eat up,” Eddie instructed softly. “Then I can try ‘n’ find you some Advil or somethin’, Nancy probably got some stashed somewhere.”

You eyed the soup with a sudden greed, mouth watering at the aroma, your fingers finding the spoon. “You didn’t even ask if I was hungry,” you gently scolded the boy.

Eddie knew what it meant. ‘Thank you. You shouldn’t have.’

“Don’t start,” he grumbled back, already going back to cracking more eggs into a bowl. Only six this time, which meant service must’ve been slowing. “You’ve had a coffee and half a slice of toast all day, eat your fuckin’ soup.”

You knew what that meant too. ‘You’re welcome. Please eat, so I stop worrying.’

So you ate and Eddie made omelettes, folding each so meticulously that you couldn’t help but watch. Butter on top, chives diced, fresh tomato and Italian ham in the middle. He knew you were staring, he always did. But now he smiled instead of scowled, let his gaze flicker to you every time he put his knife down and he nodded appreciatively when your spoon scraped the last of the soup from the bowl.

“Good?” He asked like always, sliding the omelette dishes out of the hatch for Steve to deliver to the waiting tables.

Jim was back in the office and the younger kids were long gone, sent home with leftover doughnuts from the pastry cabinet and an extra twenty in each of their back pockets. Regular slowness has resumed. Only Mr Creel sat at the bar, under the television as always, nursing a lukewarm cup of coffee he wouldn’t let Jonathan refill. There was a family at one table, an older couple at another, and three teens sharing a plate of fries in a booth at the back.

You nodded, humming. “So good, Eddie. Best soup I’ve had.”

Eddie grinned and tried to hide it, bashful and pink in the face at your praise. There was a lull in the kitchen as Argyle disappeared into the walk-in and for the first time that day, there was nothing on the grills in danger of burning. So the boy cleared his station and leant his elbows on it, so close to you that you could let your hand touch his, if you’d felt brave enough.

“How’s the head?”

You made a face at the reminder, reaching back to gingerly feel at the small lump there, tender and embarrassing. “It’s fine,” you told him. “Just another injury for the collection.”

Eddie snorted, knowing about your bumps and bruises you’d gathered working in the diner. You were insistent someone was moving table eight a few inches to the right each day, just to fuck with you and your hip. “Gonna have to keep you in a bubble.”

You smiled, “can’t feed me in a bubble, Munson.”

Another grin from Eddie, shy and pretty and so incredibly genuine. The boy that had scowled at you from the minute you’d appeared now couldn’t hide how happy you seemed to make him. Pink cheeks and dimples, a shine to his eyes that made your knees a little weak and you wanted to tell him then, right there, kiss me please.

Kiss me without smoke between us, kiss me without having an excuse to be close. Kiss me ‘cause you want to.

“Yeah, yeah you’re right, that seems— that would be, uh, less than ideal,” Eddie coughed, suddenly nervous. He straightened up and took his hands away from the counter, away from any ideas you had about holding them in your own. “I could, uh, I could - y’know - ask you if you wanted to grab dinner later, instead.”

You sucked in a breath, eyes wide. You didn’t say anything, you just blinked and your silence urged Eddie to fill it, so he rambled on further, voice coming out rushed and a little rough. “Like, I mean, so I can make sure, you know… you eat. God. And you don’t hit your head again, ‘cause you could totally have a concussion and that would su—”

“Eddie?” You interrupted, heart beating too fast, your chest too tight. It felt like it was ready to crack in two, ready to bloom. Excitement was caught in your throat, maybe hope. “Are you asking me on a date?”

The boy faltered and then smiled, a dopey, lopsided thing that you were sure was the most endearing sight you’d ever come across. Those cheeks went pink again and suddenly he was the furthest thing from the grumpy line cook that grunted his greetings to everyone. But maybe, you guessed, he just didn’t do that to you.

“I’m definitely trying to, yeah.” Eddie grinned then, only once he saw your smile too.

Giddy, feeling like a schoolgirl with her first crush, you squinted at him, eyes crinkling in the corners with a new type of joy. You wanted to laugh at his attempt, his shyness for a change instead of your own but you couldn’t keep it together. You were bursting at the seams, chest splintering as the butterflies roared. You felt breathless, you felt warm, you felt like you could look at yourself in the mirrored edge of a frying pan and watch yourself glitter.

“I’d love to,” you told him, soft, quiet, happy.

The boy lazed back against the worktop, the stainless steel between you littered with spilled sugar and the lonely top of a carrot. He played with the edge of his dish towel that was tucked into the front of his apron, narrowed his eyes at you comically and tried to contain his own grin. He was beaming.

“You’re not just saying that ‘cause you’re concussed, right?”

You laughed, a bright, sharp sound and you shook your head. “I’m not concussed.” You hummed, happy. “And even if I was, I’d still wanna go on a date with you.”

Eddie looked brighter than the sun.

—————

That evening, Eddie picked you up outside your apartment with freshly washed curls and a shirt that didn’t have any rips in it.

His boots were clean and his jeans weren’t creased and you’d have said something about it all if you weren’t as nervous as he looked. With what appeared to be a permanent flush on his cheeks, he hopped out the van as he saw you lock up, jogging round the front so he could open the door for you.

“You look nice,” he murmured as he helped you in, his hand holding yours, his gaze unable to stop from wandering over all the bare thigh your dress showed off.

A summery thing, cherry red with a hem that erred on the side of almost too short, with short sleeves and a pretty frilled neckline. It was lower than your uniform, showing off more skin and cleavage than he’d ever seen before. You’d changed seven times between getting out of the shower and watching the window for Eddie’s van, throwing your rejected outfits on your bedroom floor as you stood in your pyjama shirt, wondering if it was far too presumptuous to change into your best lace underwear.

The butterflies inside your ribcage were rattling.

“Thank you,” you answered politely and you let yourself look at him too, like you were allowed to now. He still had the rings he wore outside of the kitchen, a plain black T-shirt that smelled like he always did, like lemongrass and freshly spritzed cologne. “You look nice too.”

He went pink at your words and duked his chin to hide his smile. And when he got back into the driver's seat, you looked at him expectantly, nervously.

“So, uh, there’s only really one place to go for food in this town,” Eddie cleared his throat awkwardly and he smiled, nose scrunched. “And rumour has it, the chef is out on a hot date…”

You laughed, tension broken for a second or two and you hummed, nodding. “Hot date, huh?”

Eddie nodded furiously, letting his eyes dip to look over your bare legs, the short hem of your dress, scarlet against your skin. He looked bravely, not trying to hide it the way he used to. “The hottest,” he confirmed.

“Where are you taking me then?” you asked softly, leaning your cheek against the seat. It was dangerous looking at him like this, like you wanted him, like you were over trying to hide it. Your workplace crush had bloomed into something else, something more and it made your chest ache.

“Wayne’s not home,” Eddie replied just as soft, just as quiet. His gaze kept falling to your mouth, the way it turned up in the corners. “I have it on good authority that the food at Casa Munson is top tier.”

It made your stomach flip, the idea of being alone with the boy. It barely happened, a rarity, really. The butterflies in your stomach were pushing at your bones, gnawing to get out. You were dizzy with it.

“Yeah?” you smiled at him, putting Eddie’s own nerves at ease. “Think you could get us a table?”

#eddie munson #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson fics #eddie munson fic #eddie munson fanfiction #eddie munson smut #eddie munson oneshot #eddie munson imagine #linecook!eddie

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liulith · 1 month

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Some of my favorite Alastor-centric animatics, fan animations and parodies!

Alastor animation (Hell's greatest dad) by zalima

Alastor Hates Birds by Tomotasauce (and all his other parodies like Alastor's Attitude, Alastor's Jokes, Alastor's Jealousy, Alastor's True Love and more)

Alastor is WHAT?! by disGHOSTing

Alastor, it's French! (Alastor & Rosie) by 花末

Alastor Makes Dinner 🎵by v s

Alastor's body count by antie's antics

Alastor's sneeze by Kaledya

Alastor's tail by Trench Man & brojayajorb

Alastor writes a p0rn0 (ft. Angel) by animatedmau

Angel Dust & Alastor switch bodies by pastafantasy, theluckyestclover7 & Lou's dubs

Betty Boop 🎵 by flameghost/YiGui 或鬼鬼

Confrontation by Kaledya

Dad jokes by TB Trash

Fun with Friends by DAZYNITE (Alastor & Husk & Niffty) @dashnroll

Good for You 🎵 (ft. Mimzy, Rosie and Vox) by Kalopaaa

Happy face 🎵by IPine

Hell's tea party 2: Alastor returns by Killbent

Here piggy! (ft. Fat Nuggets) by ICanElf

Husk and Alastor have a battle of wits, drinking, and jazz 🎵 by @theroselens

I'm breaking the window (ft. Lucifer & Charlie) by Kaledya | I'm breaking the window by novahee

I am the man 🎵 (Alastor & Husk & Niffty) by DAZYNITE @dashnroll

Insane (Fan Animatic) 🎵 by Shelly Ryan | INSANE 🎵 by arrow

Is it a cat or a sheep? (Cursed Cat) by zalima

Llamas with hats by danaconunaene (Alastor & Charlie)

Lucifer and Alastor are floormates by @theroselens

Minnie the moocher 🎵 by AnimatedMau

Mixed Messages 🎵 (Alastor & Charlie & Lucifer)

One lost hiker suggests cannibalism Way Too Soon by Mentally Chill

Perception check 🎵 (Alastor & Lucifer) by @diabloku

Radiorose by kokiories

Say my Name 🎵 (Beetlejuice!Alastor & Charlie) by NeelisHD

Smile Like You Mean It animatic 🎵by pochik art

Susan roasts Alastor by @theroselens

TANGLED UP meme 🎵 (Alastor & Husk & Niffty) by DAZYNITE @dashnroll

The Family Friendly Noose Song 🎵 by Daria Cohen

The Hunting Song 🎵 by @bunnieswithknives

The One Thing You Can't Replace (Angel Dust & Alastor) by Sushi Cat333

The Other Side 🎵 (Alastor & Husk) by RokiAnimationa

They're only human 🎵 by Dragajam | They're only human by Kaledya

This piece is called 'anxiety' by zar

Who broke it? by eighthsun

Wings (gif, Alastor & Husk) by Kressent Rhodes

World on Fire 🎵 (demon!Alastor, human!Alastor & his mom) by Luna Art Gallery

You need a whole new wig by zar

You're Short (Lucifer & Alastor) by INUbis

Wrong Number by HanyMuse

Stay tuned for more <3 in the meantime, check out these Vox animatics!

#liu's recs #hazbin hotel alastor #radiostatic #radioapple #radiorose #hazbin hotel rosie #charlie morningstar #animatics #angel dust #hazbin hotel husk #hazbin hotel niffty #radiohusk #hazbin hotel lucifer morningstar #hazbin hotel vox

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cherryfennec · 2 months

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So this was originally supposed to have a kickass artwork of the bros using the power- up and stuff but then I got sick and then I realised Im out of time and here we are so uh hieee everyone and welcome to my post-

Happy MAR10 Day! For the occasion, let's go back to the (not discussed in a long time) Power-Up headcanons. This time I'll focus on the Ice Flower (most of the lore under cut like last time)!

This was surprisingly requested by some (3) people. I'm going to be honest, I barely remembered this one at first. I kinda know how it looks and generally what it does, which will have to be enough to base this entire thing on. With that being said, I did some thinking and here's what I've got:

General headcanons;

This one has difficulty surviving outside of it's original environment. If you want to keep a batch in the house your best bet is to use the fridge/freezer, otherwise it looses both it's blue look and the stored energy. See, the Ice Flower originally wasn't (and still technically isn't) it's own flower species. Let me elaborate:

Nowadays the conditions there are not as harsh, however a rather long time ago travelers heading towards places like the Snow Mountain needed to be both be specially trained and very well equipped to even attempt a climb. A heat source was a big must, and it so happens that it often consisted of Fire Flowers. They'd put some in their coats to keep warm, as well as store a few in the backpack just in case they needed to protect themselves from monsters. When setting camp during their journeys these hikers would use the Power-Ups energy to start fires and cook food. After the flowers were depleted of their energy and entered their hibernation stage (I talked about it in my Fire Flower post), they would be simply thrown away like trash. Waiting for them to recharge was often not beneficial, especially in conditions like this, so there was ultimately no point in keeping them. However like I mentioned before, Fire Flowers are very adaptable, which actually wasn't that known at the time. Instead of wilting, these stubborn plants would try gathering energy like the usual, but since it was very cold and direct sunlight was limited, they decided to collect something else. While not all flowers made it, a few managed to amass the eminating frost and turn it into a new kind of energy which proved to be enough for their survival. With time even their petal colour changed to blueish hues. And thus the Fire Flowers in the area became Ice Flowers and over the years started populating the mountains and snowfields.

The Ice Flower is a multiple use Power-Up in theory but more often than not you'll find yourself without a place to freeze it after using one. If it's not placed in a cold environment during it's hibernation it'll either die or, more uncommonly, simply revert back to being a Fire Flower after a long process.

Mario and Luigi specific headcanons;

While the idea of being able to freeze stuff sounded cool it wasn't very fun to learn.

In Marios case imagine: you're good at something, really, REALLY good at something. Okay great, now imagine being told that your knowledge doesn't matter because now you need to do the opposite of what you've learned. Back with the theme of "elements don't mix", Mario absolutely hated how much effort he needed to put into focusing the newfound energy to barely make a tiny projectile. Even before he got the Firebrand he had enough difficulty with it, so it only got worse from there. This was one of the rare times where learning the bare basics instead of mastering a Power-Up was enough for him.

Luigi didn't really mind. The main complications came more from the vague instructions he received during training rather than his own inability. Suprisingly or not the Thunderhand didn't make this one much of a pain either, I guess anomalies attract eachother. While he doesn't consider this Power-Up as a favourite he still finds it pretty fun that he can freeze and walk on water. Did you know, he used to be pretty good at skating in high school. If you didn't he'll make sure to bring it up at a given occasion. Back to ice powers, he definitely outdoes his brother on this one, even if not by much.

There's probably one more thing I should mention. Despite the contrary belief the Ice Flower does NOT increase ones tolerance to cold temperatures. To be frank it might even decrease it by lowering the bodys natural temperature, making the chances of frostbite higher. And so, they learned it the hard way.

In conclusion, this is more of a situational Power-Up. It's neither easy to find or preserve which can be annoying but despite all this it's hard to deny that it's ultimately a useful tool.

Few bonus headcanons!

I don't know how much sense I conveyed through my broken wording and less than average writing skills but it's not that shabby if I say so myself. Just like last time some details might change in the future but for now that's the general idea that I have considering the Ice Flower. Once again thank you to whoever took the time to read this!

#super mario #mario bros #smb #mario #luigi #myart #mar10 #mar10day #super mario bros #mydesigns

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rebeccathenaturalist · 7 months

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You may have heard that "a fed bear is a dead bear". This is often said in cases where people were hand-feeding bears, such as along roads in Yellowstone and other parks. But it goes for bears being able to access food-related garbage as well. Once a bear figures out that humans are a source of food, they quickly become habituated to us and lose their fear. That not only puts us at risk of injury or death, but is often harmful or fatal for the bear as well.

We have a lot of black bears (Ursus americanus) on the Long Beach Peninsula; you learn pretty quickly not to put your trash can out on the curb until the morning of pickup. And walking through the woods here I've more than once found piles of bear scat with plastic bags and other refuse in them. We even had someone who was deliberately feeding bears and had been ticketed multiple times by WDFW, and eventually ended up in court over it.

Thankfully we haven't had any incidents of bear attacks, but it's certainly possible, even with black bears. Recently a habituated brown bear (Ursus arctos) was euthanized after killing a hiker in Yellowstone; the bear had a long history of seeking food from human habitations and had even killed another person in 2017 when she felt her cub was threatened.

These bear deaths are just the latest manifestation of the tendency of people to treat wild animals like pets, and to not be mindful of how our actions affect them. It doesn't take much effort to keep potential food sources contained, and while it may be an amazing thing to see large, charismatic wildlife in person, it's a simple choice to keep one's safe distance rather than trying to get closer for a picture. While there are unfortunate accidents, such as hikers startling a bear when rounding a bend, habituation is a process that happens when humans routinely disrespect the boundaries around wild animals--and it's the animals that are generally the ones who pay the price.

#animal death #cw animal death #tw animal death #animal cruelty #animal welfare #wildlife #bears #nature #animals #wild animals #ecology #environment #conservation #scicomm #science #biology #zoology

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thenixkat · 20 days

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Mundane AU!Laios thoughts

Note:

Probably contains spoilers

Mundane au= no magic and no fantasy 'races' (like... little people are a thing, they exist in reality, some people just have dwarfism. The elves are just skinny racist and xenophobic Europeans like? And there's already parralells made with the demi humans so if I do anything the orcs are Afro Native and Kobolds are somewhere African or Arab. And for the ogres... gigantism is a thing that exists in real like and totally a teen girl would just wear some horns.)

Thoughts:

The Toudens are European-born. From somewhere cold as hell, really isolated and conservative, that's close to some mountains, that's racist towards the local indigenous people.

(The sibs, but especially Laios got chewed out about some shit and has been trying to be better, slips up every now and then but takes criticism well so long as folks tell him what he did/said wrong).

Local weird kids put off vibes that the rest of the village didn't like, Laios and Falin grew up bullied and ostracized. Falin got sent off to schooling in the big city and later to a university in Italy where she met Marcille.

Laios dropped out of high school and joined the military as soon as he was able to b/c he wanted to get the hell out of dodge. Served for a few shitty years b4 just... deserting and backpacking across Europe just straight up homeless and working whatever odd jobs he could find. Man was going through it. Wound up in the same city where Falin was studying at a university in and decided to visit her. She took one look at him and refused to let him just go back to what he was doing, so Laios started couch surfing with her (very much against dorm rules but he looked terrible and Falin wasn't about to let anyone stop her from making sure her brother has a roof over his head and food).

Eventually, she takes him with her when she does a work-study in the USA for her ecology degree and they ended up staying/Falin kinda maybe sorta dropped out and got a job with a vet near where she was doing her work-study.

Laios and Falin are technically illegal immigrants but they're white so no one really questions their citizenship (their working on getting citizenship/papers)

Laios gets a GED. Does some self-study from Falin's textbooks and online stuff but that's about it for his schooling.

Laios definitely, like, lives in Falin's basement. Falin is the primary breadwinner in this household, Laios is aware of this and has learned to accept it even tho he would like to take care of his baby sister and sometimes feels bad about not being able to. They used to share a room in a cheap apartment but after building up enough savings they managed to buy a suspiciously cheap house in a rural town bordering a reservation and not far from a national park.

Laios still works odd jobs, mostly physical labor and stuff where they won't ask for a degree. Has worked retail, where his customer service was trash but he's darn good at just stocking and shelving shit.

Met Chilchuck while working retail, Chilchuck introduced him to the concept of a union which Laios thinks is really neat.

The town where the Touden's moved has a sizable population of people with dwarfism, Chilchuck is a notable member of the little person community in the area. The Touden's go to Chilchuck for help with paperwork (they pay him a small fee) and he doesn't ask too many questions about why they don't have this or that piece of documentation.

Laios enjoys doing citizen science and bird watching. During the tourist season, he runs a small wilderness guide giving campers and hikers tours in the local national park.

There's a hermit that lives in the national park illegally (Senshi) that Laios and Falin made friends with. They love his cooking.

Laios is active in the online furry community. He does commissions, mostly of digital and physical art or people's fursonas and vore stuff. He does great ferals, and decent anthros, but his human art is not good (he's working on it).

Laios is decidedly chubby in this, his weight goes up and down depending on the season and how much physical activity he's doing. But ever since he reunited with Falin, she's been making sure he doesn't skip meals if they can afford to eat. And ever since he met Senshi he's gotten heftier since he loves that man's cooking.

#nix meows #dungeon meshi #laios touden #mundane au #just a few thoughts

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blxxdyivory · 1 month

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Short story on setting a girl free in the woods while you set her up for ... You finish - I like your dark little thoughts ???

Everything is… dark. I feel so heavy and everything hurts… it feels dry and smells like.. nature?

The wind gently moved against her and told her the truth. She felt every cut and bruise on her body. She wiggled her weight to determine how bad the situation was only to be met with sharp pain from every direction.

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck FUCK. You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me!

She heard rustled leaves and snapping twigs in the distance. Leaves being kicked up and falling where they may, sticks trampled and discarded as if they posed no obstacle.

This someone is approaching with far too confident strides to be just anyone. That doesn’t sound like a normal hiker… that person knows exactly where I am. To no avail, she tried to scream in protest of the stranger. She whined a broken cry, her voice hardly came through for more than a split second. She cleared her throat to try again, but it was just the same as before.

This is pitiful, she thought. I can’t even say anything!! Her voice was gravel now and the straining from the makeshift gag forcing her jaw shut was just another addition to the list of things that hurt right now.

The crunching and cracking from the stranger’s path was getting too close for comfort. Fear crawled inside her and made itself at home. A tear on each side soaked into the blindfold as she wept quietly for a moment.

Whatever I did to deserve this I’m so sorry…

She suddenly remembered all the dirty depraved trash she posted and reblogged every day as the stranger got within talking distance. It oddly gave her a glint of hope.

Maybe this won’t be as bad as I’m making it out to be? Maybe he’s hot and he’s here to escort me back to civilization? Maybe he won’t actually try to kill me… what a silly thought.

“Alright pretty girl, let’s get you out of here.” Great. His voice is making me wet while I’m tied to a fucking tree in the middle of nowhere. The knots binding her wrists and ankles to the tree begin being cut one by one.

Starting with the left ankle… odd.

“What a psychopath, he really didn’t want you getting away did he?” He sounded serious but something was off about his tone. He continues sawing the rope as she groans a painful and tired ‘nuh-uh’. Left ankle is free… maybe if I act helpless he’ll take pity on me.

“It’s alright doll, we’ll get you to a doctor… as soon.. as possible. Everything is gonna be okay, okay?”

‘mm-hmm..’ she let her voice trail off to sound as desperate as possible.

“You’re doing so… well,” the rope around her right ankle finally snapped. “There’s your feet for you.”

She let out a sigh of relief through her nose as blood rushed into her feet. After a moment, the tingling blossomed from the restraint points to her toes. It’s so aggressive, there’s no way I’d be able to run away right now anyways. She let her knees drop to the sides while waiting for her sense of touch to return. I could care less if he looks up my skirt right now, I didn’t think I’d ever actually get kidnapped. Tying me to a tree is just cruel. At least lock me in a room or something.

“Must’ve liked you quite a bit to tie each limb to a trunk individually…” he saws away at the knots on her wrists as she feels the cold sting of the blade brush her arm every few seconds. “Don’t lean too much darling, you’ve got rope real tight around your abdomen and chest.”

Great, more being ominously set free in the woods while I wonder if I’m about to get fucked on the forest floor… My eyes and mouth… the blindfold and gag. Shit. “Mmm!” She managed something resembling a voice in panic trying to get his attention up to her head.

“Oh so you are more than just a drowsy damsel in distress? Thought you wouldn’t mind if I got your limbs free first. One moment, my priceless little hostage…” She huffed in protest. Finally, she could tell she had feet again. The static was dissipating and leaving a trail of bruising pressure.

snap — my arms are free! “MMM!”

“Such urgency!” He growled in his unmitigated voice. Almost mocking her helplessness. “Yes princess, I know I know,” he untied the rope locking her torso and chest to the base of the tree and swiftly removed the blindfold. She winced sharply as the light scorched her entire field of view, forcing her eyes shut again while they adjusted.

She pulled the gag out of her mouth and let it fall beneath her chin. The taste of restraint on the edges of her mouth lingered on her tongue as she continued to wet her lips and worked moisture around where the gag was drying everything up inside. “Ff-uck that.. hurts.” She whispered painfully, trying her best to get back to normal as soon as possible. She cleared her throat again and maneuvered the gag up and off her head.

She held out her hand to shake his, “Thank you, sir. I hope you’ll be the one escorting me out of the woods?” His hand wrapped around hers. She fully embraced his warmth and put her other hand on top of his. Veins…

“Escorting you… yeah you could say that.” I don’t like that wording… but maybe I do.. she thought, noting the honey leaking through her panties and trickling down her thighs. His grip loosened and he wrapped the arm behind her, hand resting on her shoulder. “Ready?” She squinted to see if the daylight was still too invasive. It wasn’t. She got a good look at his face and gave him a gleeful nod while admiring the size difference. He kneeled as his other arm went behind her knees and stood back up, pulling her into his arms. “Let’s go.”

He begins the trek downhill through the trees carrying the girl. The fog obscured everything outside of tossing distance and left the air feeling humid and heavy. The sun is falling, she supposed. It was beginning to get dark quite quickly. The trees bounced with every stomp through the leaves as the man continued on down the hill towards—what looks like a possible clearing?

“I’ve always wanted to be carried like this.” He smirked at her, “I can do much more than carry you, doll.” She thought about the implications while she was being ‘escorted’ to safety. She loved toying with the idea of being held up and fucked as hard as he could slam her down on his throbbing dick… but that sinking feeling about him returned.

They finally got close to the clearing…

Something is definitely off, he didn’t even give me a name. He’s not with any intelligence or rescue agency… fuck fuck fu- “You’re too good to be true…”

As quick as the words were spoken were they manifested. Several more trails of movement through the leaves approached them from all around. Four figures broke through the fog with a fifth sounding like a vehicle approaching. Her heart rate spiked up to a visceral pounding, “Oh no no no no nonononono-“

She screamed as a bag went over her head and the vehicle’s engine quaked the world around her.

She heard the trunk open and the man carrying her stopped before tossing her in. “You’re right.”

#blxxdyivory #blxxdy.txt #blxxdy.ask #bd/sm blog #bd/sm community #cnc k!nk #bd/sm relationship #bd/sm dom #bd/sm breeding #bd/sm kink #cnc stalking #cnc kidnapping #nsft concept #cnc free use #cnc fr33use #bd/sm pet

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swvawildlifecenter · 2 years

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We have been brought animals in a lot of unusual containers. From herons from hikers in a backpack, woodpeckers in an office trash can, and opossums in an empty coffee cup, we've seen a lot of creative ways to contain injured wildlife when there aren't boxes around! This Northern Cardinal was caught by a cat and injured -- his quick-thinking rescuer didn't have any kind of container to put him in other than this small grill! Thanks to her quick efforts getting him to us he is recovering from several cat-inflicted injuries.

#northern cardinal #cardinal #wildlife #bird #birds #red #grill #wildlife rehab #animal rescue #bird rescue

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pcttrailsidereader · 22 days

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Trash on the Trail -- What's Out There

Bandages, balloons, bullet casings: Here’s how much trash is on the Pacific Crest Trail

A pair of environmental scientists who thru-hiked the trail last year conducted the largest known and most comprehensive survey of litter on the Pacific Crest Trail. Illustration by Sophie D'Amato/The Chronicle from No Trace Trails elements.

Their findings reflected my own perception of trash on the PCT. The litter I have encountered does seem to be concentrated around highway crossings, campgrounds, trailheads, and high-use areas with easy road access. The issue of toilet paper along the trail is a more complicated issue . . . one that seemingly combines awareness, behavioral change, and some infrastructure support.

ByGregory Thomas and Harsha Devulapalli

Roughly 1 million people per year venture onto the wild and scenic Pacific Crest Trail, the 2,650-mile hiking route that winds through the West Coast’s soaring mountain ranges between Mexico and Canada.

That includes hikers out for a day in the woods, backpackers on multiday trips and thru-hikers seeking to conquer the whole thing in one long trek. Inevitably, some of those nature lovers leave behind micro-trash and bits of plastic litter. No one has sought to quantify the impact of trash on the trail — until now.

A pair of environmental scientists who thru-hiked the trail last year conducted the largest known survey of litter on the PCT, providing a sharp look at the kinds of materials people leave on the trail, in what concentrations, and where. The project was carried out, mile by mile, by Tori McGruer, 29, who holds a doctorate in environmental toxicology, and Macy Gustavus, 25, who holds a master’s degree in watershed sciences.

Here’s what they found.

A look at a few of McGruer and Gustavus’ findings

Graphic by Sophie D'Amato/The Chronicle from No Trace Trails elements

McGruer and Gustavus started their journey in March 2023 in Campo (San Diego County), near the Mexican border, the launchpad for northbound thru-hikers. They’d secured $16,000 in funding through grants and partnerships, quit their jobs and hit the trail.

From the get-go, they found significant concentrations of litter — bottle caps, gum wrappers and rubber fragments.

Over the next six months, McGruer (right) and Gustavus hiked the full 2,650-mile trail, which crosses the High Sierra and the Cascade Range, to the Canadian border. They cataloged — and usually collected — more than 1,000 pieces of trash. They found lots of snack wrappers, used toilet paper, Band-Aids and cigarette butts as well as novelties like Mylar balloons, a spent shotgun cartridge and a rusty horseshoe.

The researchers surveyed 1-kilometer segments of trail at 10-mile intervals — a total of 260 survey areas ● (a rate of about 2-3 per day). Each hiker scoped for litter on her respective side of the trail to a distance of about 6 feet from its center.

They handled trash objects with plastic salad tongs for sanitary reasons and deposited them into waterproof stuff sacks, “so if there was something gross we could put it in there and not worry about it leaching out,” McGruer said.

Certain heavy or cumbersome items, like pieces of an abandoned car, were cataloged but left on the trail. They categorized each item using Rubbish, a mobile app that helps users organize and geolocate litter in open spaces.

So, the dirtiest stretch of the entire trail?

A long segment bookending the San Gabriel Mountains on the outskirts of Los Angeles was the dirtiest of the entire PCT, presumably due to its proximity to a major metropolis. One-third of all the trash the researchers logged during their trip came from this region.

A few survey areas there contained hundreds of litter items. However, the researchers set a 100-item maximum when counting litter in a given survey area. When they hit that threshold, they believed they could extrapolate the trash concentration with reasonable accuracy, they said.

Mylar Balloons

Those shiny, metallic, helium-filled balloons are remarkably durable and capable of floating long distances. Strangely, they are winding up in remote wilderness areas at a rate that is concerning to biologists, as the Chronicle has recently reported.

McGruer retrieved several of them in the Southern California desert — one stuck in a patch of bushes, another submerged in a river. Survey aside, she made it a personal mission to remove the ones she found.

“One day I had like three partially inflated ones attached to my pack and someone passing us on the trail said ‘happy birthday’ to me,” she said.

The researchers found trash in about 60% of the 260 survey zones, meaning 40% contained no discernible litter. The hot spots along the trail tended to correlate with areas of easy access and high human traffic like highway crossings, campgrounds and day-use areas.

Brian Feulner/Special to the Chronicle

Many of the zero-trash areas were in remote mountain regions like Northern California’s High Sierra and Washington’s Cascade Range, where few people set foot.

That finding tracks with the experience of Jack Haskel, trail information manager for the Pacific Crest Trail Association, which maintains the trail on behalf of the U.S. Forest Service.

“Much of the trail is pretty pristine regarding trash but you do find hot spots where there’s a lot of it,” he said.

The most common trash materials found were: soft plastics, such as bits of bar wrappers or cuts of duct tape; hard plastics like water bottles and broken trekking pole baskets; brass bullet casings; paper shreds and used toilet paper; cigarette butts; and miscellaneous fragments.

In many instances, researchers encountered single pieces of stray trash, one at a time. But sometimes they’d find dozens of pieces of litter linked to a single event. For instance, in the backcountry of Shasta County they found 50 or more strands of tree-flagging tape used by foresters scattered on the ground.

What’s that?

In some cases, differentiating rubbish from natural ground materials was challenging. Identifying and classifying objects required four of the five senses — sight, smell, touch and, at one point, taste.

Unsure about the makeup of a smooth chunk of translucent detritus they found in the dirt –— was it plastic? glass? a natural mineral? — Gustavus popped it into her mouth and bit down. Glass, she decided.

“That’s not common,” Gustavus said. “I don’t encourage people to do that.”

Toilet paper

Used toilet paper left along the trail — half-buried, stuffed under a rock, clinging to bushes — is the PCT’s single, stand-out trash problem, according to Haskel of the Pacific Crest Trail Association. It is a gross, unsightly bane of trail rangers and volunteer stewards. The trash researchers found a lot of it — particularly in the northern states.

“In Oregon and Washington there was toilet paper everywhere,” McGruer said. “I was like, what is happening?”

In lieu of using a toilet, backpackers and hikers should bury their waste several inches deep in the ground, or use a wag bag and carry it out, and take their soiled toilet paper with them. Poop carries toxins and bacteria that, even when buried, can leach into nearby water sources and infect wildlife, Haskel said.

Biodegradables

Sunflower seeds, pistachio and peanut shells, orange peels — the researchers found them scattered along the entire trail route, and seeing them drove Gustavus “absolutely insane.” Yes, they should technically break down over time, she said, but hikers shouldn’t feel free to dump them in the natural environment.

“It’s kind of a misguided principle,” Gustavus said. “That stuff does not belong out there.”

Pictured: Pistachio shells on the trail in the mountains of Washington State.

The pair completed their thru-hike in September 2023. McGruer (left) and Gustavus are shown here at the PCT's northern terminus in the remote mountains where Washington State meets Canada.

It’s important to note that many PCT users actively beautify the trail each year.

Local volunteer groups, rangers and backpackers are all known to pick up trash they encounter on their outings as a simple act of altruism. Also, eight years ago a pair of young men made it their mission to remove the junk they encountered during their thru-hike; they ended up with more than 700 pounds of stuff, including a mattress.

Extrapolating from their data, McGruer and Gustavus estimate there to be about 200,000 pieces of trash along the trail at any given moment. But that’s not to say the trail feels trashy, McGruer said.

“We frequently saw trash, but often there would be a small piece in one of our 1-kilometer surveys. You wouldn't register that as a ton of trash,” she said. “I think what our survey findings say is that people leave a trash footprint wherever we go with these materials that really don't break down in the environment.”

The survey project, which the researchers dubbed No Trace Trails, was supported by grant funding and financial backing through the Moore Institute for Plastic Pollution Research in Long Beach via the Richard Lounsbery Foundation in Washington, D.C., and the American Alpine Club.

McGruer and Gustavus are putting together a research manuscript for peer review. They’re also seeking funds to help analyze the microplastic content of a series of soil samples they collected during their hike.

Sarah “Mountain Goat” Steinbauer from Austria hikes the Pacific Crest Trail near Quincy (Plumas County) on June 19, 2023. The heavy snowfall in the Sierra Nevada that year created special challenges for thru-hikers along the PCT. Brian Feulner / Special To The Chronicle

Credits

Reporting by Gregory Thomas. Reporting and graphics development by Harsha Devulapalli. Editing by Yoohyun Jung and Kate Galbraith. Design, development and illustration by Sophie D'Amato. Design editing by Alex K. Fong. Visuals editing by Ramin Rahimian. Powered by the Hearst Newspapers DevHub.

#Trash #Garbage #Mylar balloons #Trash on the PCT #Toilet Paper

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darklylucid · 10 months

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Another Bleating Wolf

Lester is what I call a ‘skimmer’.

Aside from those who wander into Ambrose all on their own, lost hikers, campers, and the occasional ‘Urban Explorer’ who found an old advertisement for ‘Trudy’s House Of Wax’ stuck in-between the pages of an old phone book, sometimes, when ‘tourist traffic’ is particularly low and Vincent starts feeling antsy, Lester will, at Bo’s request, deliberately bring people into town.

However, not everyone actually makes it into Ambrose.

If you’re rude. If you’re belligerent. If you’re insulting, derogatory or even happen to catch his eye the right way, he’s going to keep you for himself, and the dozens of shallow graves scattered throughout the woods surrounding Ambrose are undeniable proof that Bo and Vincent aren’t the only ones with a body count.

Proof of this is right there in the movie - for the majority of the scene he’s in, he’s charming and witty and very ‘graciously’ offers to give Carly and Wade a lift into town, right up until the point where they don’t believe him that the town is ‘just around the bend’ and refuse to help him ‘flip his hubs into four-wheel’.

That look of anger on his face after he rips his knife out of the dash is very telling, and I sincerely believe that if either Carly or wade had been alone, they most definitely wouldn’t have made it past the wash, and Vincent would’ve had a longer wait for a new ‘model’.

Lester was right when he said that his knife will cut through anything, and the achilles tendon, well, that really does makes a very satisfying wet ‘snap’ sound when it’s sliced clean through with a knife, especially after it’s owner blithely comments that they’d rather wait for AAA to come rescue them than take their chances with, and I quote, “a repulsive bit of redneck yokel trash” like Lester giving them a ride into town.

Oh yes...Lester makes his own fun, and his brothers, content as they are to let the ‘tourists’ come to them, are none the wiser.

#House Of Wax #Lester Sinclair #Slasher #Slashers #Slasher fandom #Be kind to Lester...OR ELSE #Holy fuck...I ACTUALLY WROTE A THING 😱

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therealvinelle · 1 year

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Hello. It's another anon with a silly/weird question. Imagine this situation: the Cullens are gone. Puff, there are none. Not at all. People were interested in where they were, what had happened to them. Police arrived at their home. They open the door and go inside.What's the most bizarre, weird, unusual thing they'll see? The Cullens are vampires who pretend to be human. What are your thoughts on that?

Carlisle's art collection, easy.

So, people will notice the Cullens disappeared fairly quickly, as Carlisle's not coming in for work and not picking up the phone, just as his kids are suddenly not showing up for school. Charlie probably comes by as Chief Swan to see if everything is alright, and he finds an empty but very well cared for house.

That the beds aren't slept in, no food remnants in the fridge, a weird lack of trash or general clutter, all of that can be explained with the Cullens being neat people who have gone on unannounced sabbatical. There's nothing there to suggest anything criminal occurred, and while Charlie will be impressed at the nice art in Carlisle's office I doubt he'd realize the value of the collection. There's a Solimena there, yes, but there's also a painting of clouds that made Carlisle think of sadness.

I imagine in time, when the Cullens don't turn up, and a wider search of the area doesn't give any results, they are assumed to have died in a hiking accident.

There's no indication anything criminal happened to them, they were known to be avid hikers, and the house being as clean as it is makes sense if the Cullens knew they were going away for a few days and wanted things to look nice when they got back.

The art collection would be Charlie's clue that something's amiss, but I doubt anyone would recognize there are gems in that collection. Even Carlisle's Egyptian sarcophagus is something so ridiculously extravagant that they think it's fake, especially as there are no other ancient treasures around to corroborate Carlisle having been a curator of some kind.

#cullens #twilight #twilight meta #twilight renaissance #charlie swan

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cutekittenlady · 3 months

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Tumblr Plays Pokemon White 2 - Part 3

Picking up where we left off, I decide to do some last minute exploring around Aspertia City and managed to get an ultra ball! I think its only available from an npc in one of the houses after you beat the gym. Still happy I chose to explore. An ultra ball is a pretty good item this early in the game.

Heading towards Virbank from Aspertia I KO a few wild pokemon on the way. Once on my way out of Floccesy town Bianca catches up. Turns out she wants to update our pokedex to add a habitat feature which helps figure out which pokemon are in an area.

She also tells us about rustling grass which is one of hte only ways to get certain pokemon in this game. I will likely be including such pokemon in the polls in the future.

Once we get onto route 20 a hiker is blocking our path and wont let us through without a gym badge. When we show him we have one he immediately starts a battle.

He starts with a riolu and I send out aries. Riolu hits with a quick attack while I have Aries use cotton spore to slow it down. I then use thunderwave to paralyze the little tyke. Riolu used foresight making Aries easier to hit and followed up with endure. Aries used thundershcok to deal some damage but while it does decent damage its not enough to get into the red. Riolu hits with another quick attack and I have Aries use thundershock again. This gets riolu in the red. I try to finish him off with tackle but he uses endure before I can, letting him hang on by 1 hp. Paralysis keeps riolu from counterattacking though so Aries next tackle takes him out.

After that I head down the stairs and run into Hugh and Cheren again. Cheren tells us about the dark grass where you can sometimes face 2 pokemon instead of just 1 and they can be stronger than regular pokemon. He then gives us some Pecha berries and takes off.

I decide to have Aries beat up a small childs psyduck for exp. I mean, there IS going to be another gym coming up. With that concious clearing thought I beat up a little girls lillipup.

This is pokemon. You gotta harden your heart a little XD

After beating up several little childrens pets Bentley winds up at level 15 and Aries at level 13. On our way through the gate to Virbank the desk lady stops me, judges me by the number of pokemon I have and gives me some great balls.

RUDE

I mean I'm not saying no to free stuff but still

RUDE

Not two steps into Virbank and our mom calls. UUUUUGH I'm only one town over MOM. I even have a murder bean and an electricfied wool blanket to keep me safe! LET ME LIVE MY LIFE.

Good thing we hung up on ma when we did or else we wouldn't get to see this juicy drama unfold.

This guy wants to be both a ship captain AND movie star!

Yeah home boy dream BIG

But his... daughter? tells him how hes already a captain with, like, responsibilities and stuff and how if he doesnt move his ship stuff will go bad. But daddy-boy has a good comeback. evidently his daughter is the gym leader but also a member of a band. If she can do it why can't he? He then swaggers off like a BOSS

ROXIE! That is no way to speak to your father!

Maybe I should go to the gym and teach her a leson about respecting her elders.... later. I gotta heal up the team at the pokecenter. Plus, honestly? This is the first town I've been to on my own. Imma EXPLORING.

And with that I do things like talk to strangers, find "antidotes" in trash cans, be given burn medicine, pokeballs by complete strangers, etc.

I'm also going to go play in a construction zone and (checks polls) try and catch a growlithe! This is also the first area where shaking grass becomes available which means Audino is now available for grin training which is going to come in handy down the line. At the moment though I really don't want to over level my team so I think I may try prioitizing catching a growlithe over trainer battles for as long as I can. Although I am going to opt to hunt for a growlithe in the dark grass to both increases my chances for an encounter, as well as increase my chances for a higher level growlithe.

Not only do I eventually successfully encounter a growlithe, but the very start of the fight lets me see that it has the Intimidate ability which is arguably one of the great core abilities of the game.

I have Bentley at the front of the party so he is sent out first but I pretty quickly swap into Aries to paralyze Growlithe. Plus this Growlithe is level 14 so using Aries, who is one level under it, might be the better call. It helps that fire types take neutral damage to electric as well. Although the fact htat its raining in gme may change that a bit. After two thundershocks and taking a couple of embers Aries successfully gets Growlithe into the yellow. Not wanting to repeat Bentleys murder spree from earlier, and wanting a new team member of the poison type gym, I opt to go ahead and try throwing a great ball. (I'd like to save the ultra ball I got in Aspertia for later potential catches).

And with that our little lady Growlithe is caught!

In a bit of selfish irl insertment I've opted to name this little spitfire after my families elderly dog. (I'm not the first person to name one of their pokemon after an irl pet and I wont be the last)

Course after giving it such a personal name I was relieved to see she had a Hardy nature and could fit into the team dynamic!

Welcome to the team Molly!

With Molly successfully caught, I can now safely construct and release the next set of catching polls! Once I have those posted up, I'm going to go ahead and play through the Virbank Complex more or less on my own so i can train up my team in preparation for Roxies gym battle!

For now though I'm going to end this post here and we'll be able to tackle Roxies gym battle, POkestar studios, and potentially the beginnings of Castelia City in the next part!

Thanks for reading and keep an eye out for those polls!

#pokemon #tumblr plays pokemon #pokemon poll #pokemon playthrough #tumblr plays pokemon white 2 #pokemon white 2 #white 2 #pokemon black2 and white 2 #pkmn b2w2 #b2w2 #pokemon black 2 #black 2

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endlesslystarlitskies · 1 year

Text

Lost and Found- Part 3

A/N: Here is the third chapter! I’ve finally finished the game and have a firm idea of where I am taking this story, so I’m excited! However, I am realizing that I signed up for a pretty long fic, so. . .we’ll see how that goes. I don’t know how I feel about this chapter, so please let me know if you like it! Genre: Horror, action, adventure, Slow-Burn,

Pairing: Leon Kennedy x Named Reader (Named but not Described)

Summary: Ella was one of the missing hikers who was kidnapped by the villagers. She narrowly escaped being sacrificed, but her friends weren’t so lucky. Managing to survive out in the woods with her previous skills and knowledge, she runs into Leon, and that meeting begins the longest, most dangerous adventure of her life as she tries to help him save the girl she saw being taken into the church. What will happen along the way? Only one way to find out.

Warnings: Canon typical violence and gore, Death, Murder, Monsters, Suicidal ideations mentioned, Ella has little regard for her own life and is dealing with the loss of someone closest to her while also fighting to survive with waning self-preservation instincts. Please be cautious if that triggers you. Word Count: 6,439 Part 1 Part 2 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

Story Masterlist xXx

They stopped by the merchant’s table, as they figured they should stock up while they could. That, and they had found a ruby in one of the villagers houses, strangely enough, so they sold that to him for a good amount of Pesetas.

It was almost as if the Merchant was aware of what had happened back in the village. He was still his charismatic self, but Ella could have swore he had given her a look of empathy for a moment.

She didn’t comment on it, just thanking him for the ammo and some first aid spray before she and Leon went on their way.

Getting the door open, they followed the path into what looked like a barricade post, though there were only two villagers inside which were quickly taken care of. Ella took care of the bear traps, but just as she was about to get the last one, a female villager with a small sickle came out from behind the boxes, taking a swing at her that she barely dodged before she fell on her ass.

Leon moved quickly, shooting her in the chest before kicking her to the ground, the female villager now unmoving.

“Sorry, must’ve slipped.”

Ella stopped then, her eyes slightly wide as she replayed what he had said in her head. Leon turned, looking over at her.

“You okay?” He asked, but Ella could only shake her head as she got to her feet, giving him an amused look and barely containing her laughs behind pursed lips.

“Did you just trash talk that villager?” She finally said, a giggle escaping past her lips as she did. “What are you, some cheesy 90’s action hero?” Saying those words out loud made it impossible to hold in her laugh, and she had to put a hand to her mouth to keep herself from being too loud.

She couldn’t help it. After everything, the air had been quiet and a bit tense (because of her), and this had been just what she needed to feel the last of her sorrow fade back into the dark corner of her mind.

As her laughs finally subsided, she sucked in a breath, looking at Leon. He was smiling. Not a half smile, either. A real smile, that pulled at both edges of his lips. It was small but it was there.

“Oh my god, you’re smiling.” She called out before she could stop herself. “I can’t believe it. It’s a miracle.” She said in mock awe, and Leon rolled his eyes as he shook his head.

She’s back.

“Believe it or not, I do smile.” He responded in an annoyed tone, though Ella knew he wasn’t actually annoyed. She could tell by the look in his eyes.

“If you had told me that before, I wouldn’t have believed you, but now I’ve seen it with my own two eyes. The eighth wonder of the world.” She teased, watching him visibly deflate with a sigh.

“I liked you better when you were quiet.” He muttered, but his words were unserious.

“Well, then you shouldn’t have spouted out some cheesy one liner, because that has got to be the funniest thing I’ve heard in a while.” She had to stop herself from laughing again just at the thought of it.

“Happy to entertain.” He breathed out as he started forward, and Ella couldn’t see it, but a hint of the previous smile was still there on his lips.

xXx

They didn’t make it far before the low rumbling of something could be heard up ahead, Ella being unable to make out what the sound was. It sounded familiar, but neither she or Leon could place it.

He gave her a look, and she knew he was telling her to be careful, Ella nodding in return as they both slowly moved forward, the sound getting louder as they did.

Getting further up the hill, Ella noticed there was a figure standing ahead, as if waiting for them, and it was holding a chainsaw.

The sound was a chainsaw.

Before she could move a little bit back so they could figure out a plan, there was the snap of a stick under Ella’s boot, her eyes widening.

She didn’t even have time to wonder if the thing had heard them, because the chainsaw roared to life as it let out a screech, running towards them at a fast speed.

Ella jumped to the side, barely dodging the guy as he swung the chainsaw around wildly. She pulled out her gun, and she tried to get a shot on him, but he was moving too much and too fast, immediately going for Leon next.

Leon rolled out of the way, landing in a kneeling position and firing a few shots that got the guy in the chest. He didn’t even flinch, which meant he would be harder than regular villagers to take down.

“Did you even feel that?” Ella heard Leon grumble in aggravation, but it was then she saw the two villagers coming up behind him.

“Leon watch out!” She called, quickly getting to her feet as Leon narrowly dodged an ax coming down on him.

Ella had aimed her gun to take care of the villagers, but one grabbed hold of Leon before she got a shot, the taller man holding Leon’s arms back as he struggled.

This wouldn’t be much of a concern, Leon being in harder predicaments and usually able to break the hold and take care of the problem, but the man with the cloth sack over his head revved his chainsaw, ready to strike Leon.

Ella panicked, turning her gun on him and shooting him instead in hopes of stopping him or at least gaining his attention, but it was no use, the thing not reacting the slightest bit and Ella unable to get a headshot.

Thinking quickly and knowing she only had seconds, Ella ran forward, before leaping onto the man's back just as he was about to slash Leon with the weapon. In the next second, Ella pulled out her knife and stabbed it right into its head.

The force of her weight suddenly hitting him knocked the chainsaw man off balance, and the knife in his head stunned him, giving Leon the time to finally break the hold of the villager and flip him over his shoulder, taking care of him with his knife.

Ella could only be relieved for a second before she saw the chainsaw begin to come around the guy's shoulder with the intent to hit her, Ella releasing the grip she had around the thing’s neck and falling to the ground and out of the way of the chainsaw- well, mostly.

It just barely nicked her shoulder, tearing the flesh there, and Ella sucked in a breath through her teeth, her hand finding the wound as she fell back onto the dirt. She saw Leon behind the man as he turned towards her, distracted, and she watched as Leon pulled out his shotgun.

Ella took that as her cue to get out of the way, scrambling to the side and giving Leon the opening to land a shot directly to the things chest, creating a gaping hole in its back as it finally fell to the floor dead.

“Felt that, didn’t you fucker?” Ella gave a try at her own little one liner, looking at Leon with a grin. However, she was surprised to see anger in his eyes.

“Are you crazy?!” He practically growled in a low voice, taking Ella back.

“What?” She was confused, before she realized what he meant, anger replacing the confusion. “He was about to kill you, Leon. I saved your life, again! You should be thanking me!” She pointed out in indignation as she got to her feet, but that only seemed to piss him off more.

“You could have gotten killed. That was reckless.” Ella scoffed.

“Ah right, because being careful is so easy out here.” She rolled her eyes, not understanding what his problem was.

Leon was quiet at that, but she could see the anger hadn’t subsided in the slightest bit, meeting his hard gaze with one of her own as she refused to back down.

He seemed to understand then that he wouldn’t get anywhere with this, opting to take a deep breath through his nose, before reaching into his pack.

“Take off your overshirt.” His words caught her off guard, Ella not understanding why she would do that until she saw him take out a small first aid can and a bandage.

She debated on being defiant, but decided against it as she knew it was pointlessly confrontational, and she didn’t want to argue over something so stupid.

Why was he even mad at her? Sure, what she had done was dangerous, but he could have died had she not done what she did. She just didn’t understand it.

She shrugged the left part of her flannel off, wincing at the pain the movement brought, and Leon moved over to her. She held her hand out, but he didn’t give the items to her, not even offering an explanation as to why.

She supposed she didn’t need one. It was closer to the back of her shoulder, so she really wouldn’t be able to do it herself, at least not easily. She just sighed, before turning around to give him a better look.

“It’s not bad. It’s barely bleeding.” She told him, there being only a bit of blood smeared on the palm of her hand. She hadn’t gotten a good look at it, but it had seemed like a small gash, so she wasn’t worried, and he didn’t need to be either.

He didn’t respond, and she guessed he was giving her the silent treatment, rolling her eyes once more.

The silent treatment was a bit childish in her opinion, but if that was how he wanted to act, then fine.

She grit her teeth when he sprayed the wound with the antiseptic, the sting catching her off guard as she glared at him over her shoulder.

A bit of warning would have been nice.

She didn’t voice that out loud, biting her tongue instead.

Ella felt herself freeze, however, when she felt his fingers brush against her back as he moved her shirt further out of the way for the bandage, not expecting the gentle touch to send goosebumps over her skin.

Stupid, traitorous body.

When he was finally done, she practically shrugged him off of her, putting her now slightly torn flannel shirt back on as she refused to meet his eyes.

Mostly out of anger, but also, just slightly, because of the way her body reacted to him.

“Just be careful. Please.” Was all he said before he turned, and Ella let out another sigh as she relented for the time being.

She moved over to the man, putting her boot to his head as she pulled out her knife.

Way to make waves, Chainsaw man.

xXx

They had just gotten out of the tense and serious atmosphere, just to end right back up in it as they continued up the hill. At least it was for different reasons this time. Ella tried to think of a way to cut the tension, but they came upon a tripwire at the top of the stone steps they had come across.

“You wanted to learn how to disarm these, right?” Leon spoke up, slightly surprising Ella, who had thought she’d be the one to break the silence between them.

“Uh, yeah.” She answered after a moment, and Leon gestured for her to get closer, Ella moving to do that so she could watch as he disarmed the trap. She was leaning forward, palms on her knees as her head was over his shoulder, Leon crouching in front of the device.

“That’s it?” She asked, slightly surprised by how simple it looked. “I feel like I could do that in my sleep.” She chuckled as she turned to look at Leon at the same time he turned to her, her nose brushing against his.

Ella’s heart jumped in her chest, and she straightened almost immediately as she willed the heat from her cheeks. There was a smirk pulling at Leon’s lips as he cast his eyes downward for a moment, clearly amused by what had just occurred, as well as Ella’s reaction. His lips parted as he went to speak, and Ella could only assume he was about to say something that would further her embarrassment, quickly moving to cut him off.

“Okay cool, anyway, um. . .I’ll try not to be a dumbass and blow myself up with the next one we find, but I can’t make any promises.” She joked, hoping that would help hide her embarrassment, but perhaps talking about her getting herself killed hadn’t been the best way to go about that, as the amusement left Leon’s expression, his lips falling back into the usual light frown. He stood up straight, just giving her a nod of acknowledgement, before he continued on, the two back to square one.

The good news was, he didn’t comment on what had just happened, and that was all Ella could care about at that moment. She couldn’t believe she had even been that close to him. At the time, she was just trying to see what he had been doing and memorize it in case she’d need it, but had she known, she would have given him some space. Though, he hadn’t mentioned it either, to be fair, but maybe he was just being polite, or he hadn’t even noticed.

Ella pushed away the thoughts, not wanting to think back on them anymore, lest the embarrassment swirling in her stomach never leave her, and she focused on the walk forward. As they got to the top of the steps, Ella noticed the large house for the first time. It was unlike any of the other houses they had come across, being bigger and made of stone instead of wood, and Ella knew they had to get into it.

When the gate leading ahead was locked, she was proven right. However, the large wooden doors to the house were also locked, so they had to find an alternative way in. Fortunately the back door was unlocked, and the two made their way inside.

When they passed by the stairs, Ella noticed the almost hidden wooden door, only seeing it due to the same colored handle sticking out. She opened it, excepting some kind of small storage room, but was instead met with a villager, the room being a bathroom. She panicked, a light yelp coming from her mouth as she pulled out her gun and immediately landed a head shot, which fortunately took care of the guy very quickly as he fell back onto the toilet. She heard the lightest chuckle, turning to see Leon looking at her in amusement. Embarrassment once again filled her as she realized how silly that must have looked.

“What? I didn’t expect the room under the stairs to be a bathroom, let alone have someone in it!” She defended, feeling embarrassed by her reaction. However, she quickly realized the opportunity to lighten the air had presented itself once more as she turned back to the villager.

“Poor guy just finished using the bathroom. He never saw it coming.” She tsk’d, shaking her head. Her antics were rewarded with a half-smile and a slight shake of the head before Leon turned back to finish clearing the house, and Ella found herself smiling as well. She was glad they could get over hiccups like what happened before quickly. Traveling in a tense atmosphere like that was not pleasant.

“I’ll just give him some privacy.” She closed the door, the hinges creaking a bit and adding to the humor of the situation somehow.

“Not going to look for any Pesetas?” She heard Leon ask from the other room, and she was glad he was joking back with her, hoping it meant that the tense atmosphere was finally gone.

“No, I think I’m good.” She chuckled as she passed a wooden stand, opening the drawer it held. She smiled as she found a jewel, picking it up and showing it to Leon. “See, I’ve got this.” She grinned, and he let out a breathy laugh, making Ella’s grin turn into a smile. They were definitely back to normal.

xXx

The house was pretty large, and very fancy compared to every other house they’d seen.

“Not too shabby. Someone is showing up their neighbors.” Leon commented as he looked at all the decorations, and Ella hummed her agreement, picking up a picture of two people and recognizing the villager she had just killed. She grimaced, before putting the picture down and moving on.

“Hey, there’s a locked cabinet over here.” Leon called, having gone down a small hallway by the kitchen. “It’s got a strange three symbol combination lock.”

“What are the symbols?” Maybe they could find the combination somewhere in the house.

“Uh. . .Chalice, wheat, baby-” Ella’s brows furrowed. Leon wasn’t kidding, as that was definitely strange.

“Alright, keep a look out to see if the key’s somewhere around here.” She made her way up the stairs, her eyes scanning her surroundings as she got to the top floor. There wasn’t much that was interesting, other than the fancy but locked door with a weird looking hole in it, but she did find a book. She flipped through the pages, though she noticed some sort of marking on one of the pages in the middle that she had barely caught a glimpse of.

Finding it once more, she read the page, seeing that three words were underlined in pencil.

Crop, pig, babe.

Well, that was relatively easy to find.

“Hey, try the crop, pig, and baby!” She called, turning her head. However, Leon was not downstairs like she had thought, and was instead standing right beside her. Ella jumped, gasping in surprise.

“Oh my god.” She breathed as she tried to calm her heart down. How did she not hear him come up the stairs? And how did he manage to keep scaring the shit out of her?

“No need to yell, I’m right here.” She could hear the smirk in his voice and she turned to glare at him. His expression was smug, Leon clearly pleased with himself. She had no idea what she had done to him to make him enjoy messing with her so much, if he even did it on purpose. Maybe she was just jumpy, which was entirely possible considering what she had been through the past few days.

“Yeah, I realized. Thanks.” She sassed, before letting out a breath as her heart finally calmed. Heading back downstairs, they got the cabinet open, finding a crystal ball.

“What’s this?” Leon questioned as he examined it, but Ella realized quickly.

“Oh, I think it goes to that big fancy door up there! It was locked, but it had a hole in it with that symbol that’s everywhere, and that thing looks just about the right size.” She explained as she already started her way back to the stairs, gesturing for him to follow her.

Getting in front of the door, Leon put the ball into the hole, and sure enough, it fit.

“Hm. Looks like it has to be oriented the right way.” Leon murmured, before beginning to turn the ball into the hole. Ella took in his look of concentration, his brows pinched together and his eyes focused intently on the design behind the crystal ball as he tried to match it correctly. His jaw was set in determination as the seconds ticked by, Ella able to see the muscles tense as his frustration grew.

It was then she realized she had been staring at him, looking away and hoping Leon had been too focused to notice. She didn’t want him to get the wrong idea, and god forbid, tease her about it. He was insufferable enough as it was.

However, when almost five minutes passed, Ella finally let out a sigh, deciding to take over as it was clear he wasn’t getting anywhere.

“Move, let me try.” She told him, gently pushing him out of the way. Leon didn’t offer any protest, annoyed at himself and hoping she would have more luck than him.

Ella matched the small balls in the crystal to the symbol perfectly, and it was then that she heard the door unlock. It was a neat mechanism, but Ella also found it weird and unnecessarily complicated.

Despite that, she grinned triumphantly at Leon, proud of herself for getting it pretty quickly.

“What would you ever do without me?” She teased, getting a roll of the eyes as she opened the door.

The room was well lit by a large window, and as they walked inside, Ella couldn’t help but marvel at how nice the room was. She noticed Leon pick up a book, moving to look over his shoulder so she could see it too.

It was labeled village records, and it mentioned how crops were dying and animals and people were starving to death, but then it mentioned lots, Ella’s brows furrowing in confusion at the different numbers, wondering what they meant. Her eyes widened slightly after Leon turned the page again, the next entry making her breath catch in her throat.

“Four outsiders got lost and wandered into the village. We took them to the altar for the ritual. One escaped. Even so, no need to cast lots today.”

Lots were sacrifices. Alice and her friends were sacrifices. . .For Lord Saddler.

As she continued the journey with Leon, her personal interest in this mission became greater.

Ella had been lost in her thoughts for a moment, but as she came back to herself she noticed Leon had closed the book and set it down, glancing over at her in concern. He must have also connected the dots. They weren’t that hard to connect.

“I’m good.” She told him, before turning to continue the search of the room. Fortunately, he didn’t say anything about it.

Her eyes fell on a portrait on the wall ahead, and it didn’t take genius to know who was in it. His robe was far more decorated than the man who had killed Alice and her friends, and it was a purple color. He was also missing the gold necklace with the red jewel, instead holding a large fancy staff. She knew that this man is the one that caused all of this, his name repeating in her head. The only person who could possibly have a portrait of himself in this village.

Lord Saddler.

She brought out her knife, stabbing the blade into the portrait where his face was and pulling it down, destroying it. It didn’t actually do anything to hurt the wretched man, but it made her feel better. A visible representation of what she thought about their stupid Lord and his religion.

As she turned, Leon was once again looking at her, this time with raised brows. “Okay, now I’m good.” Was all she said, putting the knife away and turning to the cabinet she was beside, not wanting to explain herself further.

She appreciated that Leon always seemed to know when not to comment on something.

There wasn’t anything interesting in the cabinet, but fortunately Leon found a key in the desk drawer.

“Alright, let’s go.” He pocketed the key, and Ella nodded, letting him lead the way out of the room.

However, the tall man in the dark hat and robe suddenly filled the doorway, both Ella and Leon stepping back and drawing their weapons. Leon was the first to fire, but the man just walked forward, kicking him in the chest and sending him sliding across the floor.

Despite its obvious futility, Ella continued shooting as well, just about to land a headshot when he stepped forward and grabbed her by the throat. Her airway was cut off, Ella grabbing the man’s hand in an attempt to gain any kind of leverage. He stared at her with scrutiny, as if contemplating something, before he threw her right into the already damaged portrait of Saddler, pain shooting down her back as she crumpled to the floor. She sucked in a breath, coughing as her lungs filled with air again.

Her throat throbbed, and moving sent a shooting pain up her back.

The man grabbed Leon in the same way he had her, carrying the grown man with ease. Ella looked for her gun, but it was across the room and out of reach, though Ella still tried to make her way towards it.

“Your blood has accepted the gift.” She heard the man say, just before two gunshots and glass breaking was heard.

An ally?

Ella turned, seeing the shadow of a person disappear as the man looked in the direction of the window, throwing Leon into the wooden frame of the bed.

After that, the man simply left the room, uncaring of either of them.

She wasn’t going to question it or complain, just glad he hadn’t killed Leon, who was slowly getting up as he moved over to her.

“You alright?” He asked, his voice a bit hoarse and out of breath, but otherwise normal.

Ella nodded, but she winced as she tried to get up, the pain in her back halting her immediately.

Leon took her by the arms, helping her stand up straight, and she grit her teeth as an audible pop sounded in her back, though the worst of the pain immediately subsided, Ella letting out a breath.

“Yeah, I’m okay.” She responded, her own voice hoarse but undamaged. “Gotta say though, getting thrown like a ragdoll is not my favorite thing.” She could only joke about what just happened, as for a moment there she thought they were going to die.

“I’d have to agree.” He murmured as he released her, moving to grab his gun.

“Why’d he just leave though? And what did he mean by gift in your blood?” She questioned, confused why either of them were alive right now. He had clearly had the advantage, and obviously gunshots didn’t faze him much so she didn’t know why he had stopped even with their unknown ally. It just didn’t make sense.

“I don’t know, but I don’t like the sound of it.” Leon sounded genuinely confused himself, probably wondering the same.

“Is there any situation where those words wouldn’t sound creepy?” She asked him as she moved towards her own gun. Her back was sore now, as well as her throat, but considering what happened she supposed she was lucky to get away with just that.

“I guess not.” Ella holstered her gun, looking to the broken window.

“Any idea who our mystery helper is?” She asked, having so many questions about what just occurred.

“No, I didn’t get a look at them.” He answered, though there was something behind his voice that made Ella think he had an idea as to who it was. She wouldn’t question it further, however, as he clearly didn’t want to mention it.

“Yeah I guess you were a bit preoccupied.” Her best way of coping with traumatic situations was humor, if that wasn’t already apparent. Ella moved to the door, cautiously opening it and peeking out, but there was no sign of the tall man. “I manage to avoid him all this time, and then I’m with you for a few hours and look what happens.” She tsk’d, though there wasn’t any real bite to her voice.

“Sorry about that. You asked to come along.” Leon pointed out as they made their way down the stairs.

“Right, but I think we’ve noticed by now that I don’t make the best life decisions.” That one earned her an unamused look, but she just grinned, finding it worth it.

xXx

As they left the house, Ella was ready to get the large gate open. However, the sound of whining and whimpering caught both her and Leon’s attention. They rounded the edge of the house, Ella’s heart falling at the sight of the trapped wolf.

“Oh no,” She murmured, before slowly moving forward with the intent to help the poor creature. She half-expected Leon to scold her, but to her pleasant surprise, he was right behind her, the both of them prying open the bear trap and releasing the wolf before stepping back. It limped a few steps away, whimpering lightly, before looking back at them. Ella gave the wolf a small smile, and soon it was running off into the woods.

“Take care of yourself buddy.” Leon murmured behind her, and she looked at him. Somehow she was not surprised that he had a soft spot for animals. She didn’t call it out though.

“We’ve got to make sure to set off all the bear traps we come across from now on.” She told him, and he didn’t voice any objection as they once again headed towards the gate.

xXx

Ella could not get what the man said out of her mind as they walked, having passed a small hut and a cave. There was something about it that was setting warning bells off in her head. She tried to think about the things she had seen in the villages when she was in the woods, or even what she had went through, though that was harder to think about.

However, as she recalled something she had seen the man in the hat himself do on her first night in the woods, her eyes widened.

“Leon-” She grabbed his arm, stopping him. “Your eyes, let me see your eyes.” She practically ordered, the blonde’s brows furrowing as he opened his mouth to question what she was going on about. Ella didn’t wait as she took his chin in her hands, letting go of his arm and brushing his hair out of his eyes so she could get a better look. She was too focused to notice the way his body had tensed, her worry about her fear giving her a one track mind.

Fortunately the sun was on her side. Unfortunately, her fear was confirmed.

“You’re infected. . .” She murmured in realization, Leon taking a gente hold of her her wrist and freeing his chin.

“What?” Surely he hadn’t heard her right.

“You’re infected Leon.” She repeated in a more firm voice. “It must have been when he took you.” There was no other time it could have happened- unless it was before Leon ran into her. “I saw the man inject a villager they had found hiding with a syringe my first day in the woods. They tied him up to a wooden post and left him there. I tried to help him when the villagers left for church later on, but when I got there, he was. . .angry and violent. His eyes had these tiny black veins-” She paused. “His skin did too!” She remembered at that moment, and she took his arm again, straightening it out so she could see the inside of his elbow. “See! There-” His visible veins were darker than normal, though they weren’t fully black yet, and they couldn’t see any veins they weren’t supposed to, so that was a good sign, but he was still infected.

Leon’s eyes scanned his inner arm, processing.

“Shit.” He could say that again. “How long did it take for the guy you saw to change?” He asked her, sounding more calm than she would be if she was in his position but his eyes not leaving his arm.

“Um. . .I don’t know, maybe a little less than 8 or 9 hours?” She was guessing, but she had spent a full night out in the woods waiting for her chance to try and help. Leon didn’t seem happy with the news, which could only mean he didn’t have much time left if he was following the same path. Ella had to guess her earlier assumption was right and he was infected when the man took him, which meant it had been a couple hours.

Ella was taken back when he turned, beginning to walk forward once more, while she was frozen, processing this new information.

“You coming?” He called to her when he noticed she hadn’t moved, and Ella gave him an incredulous look.

“Leon, you’re infected! You could turn into one of those things at any moment! We have no idea how the effects of the infection differ from person to person! I don’t know about you, but I know for a fact I couldn’t take you in a fight! And what if that girl is with us? You co-” She hadn’t even realized he had walked back towards her until he rested his hand on her uninjured shoulder, cutting off her rant.

“Hey, It’s gonna be okay. If I feel like I’m losing control, then I’ll take myself out of the situation.” He promised her. “Until then, Ashley still needs me, and I can’t abandon her. But you can leave, if you want. I won’t blame you.”

Ella found her anxiety and worry fading at the mention of who she assumed to be the President’s daughter, as well as his promise. She knew there were still so many risks associated with going forward, but he was right. They couldn’t leave Ashley behind. Who knows what those cult freaks want with the president’s daughter, but she was sure it wasn’t good. She sighed, relenting.

“Who said anything about leaving, or abandoning her? I was just making sure you were aware of what it all meant, with the crazy way you handled something that would have had me- Well, not being calm, that’s for sure.” She decided against what she was originally going to say, as that would not have been a fun joke for Leon.

Leon seemed to appreciate her making a joke, and maybe she saw relief in his eyes that she wasn’t leaving, but that could have been her imagination.

She had never planned to leave, and she knew that. The information had just been. . .shocking, and saddening. Leon’s fate was somehow more uncertain than it was before, and much darker as well.

Hell, maybe there’s a cure lying around somewhere. They’d have to hold out hope, because otherwise she didn’t see Leon making it out of this. And if Leon didn’t make it out of this, then Ashley likely wasn’t making it out of this either. All Ashley would have left is her, and she wasn’t a highly trained and skilled agent, let alone a hero.

The only thing they could do was move forward, and hope for the best, even if hope was a hard thing to find in this situation.

xXx

They made their way through the village beyond the gate, it being one that Leon had already been through before. Now, however, he had a key that could get him into the large building on the other side, which was a good thing.

The bad thing, however, was the tower beside the building had suddenly collapsed, blocking their way.

“Of course.” Ella had muttered, not at all surprised that their advancement was made harder, as nothing on this journey had been easy thus far.

They had to take down some of the scariest dogs she had ever seen, their teeth huge and terrifying, and Ella had made a quip about reconsidering her love for dogs, which had earned her a chuckle from Leon.

Soon, they found a ladder leading down into a tunnel that would get them to the other side, which would be easier than jumping down from the platform by the house as Ella wasn’t sure her back could handle the tuck and roll at the moment.

Making it out the other side, they got into the large building, being greeted by an altar and another large portrait of Lord Saddler, and Ella rolled her eyes.

“Geez, this guy is really full of himself isn’t he?” She grumbled with a shake of her head.

“I think you have to be to start a cult.” Leon quipped back, and he had Ella there. Still, she couldn’t help but wonder if all these portraits of his ugly grin and his stupid robes were necessary.

She took a look at the altar, seeing some candles but they were spaced out enough that she thought she could definitely make the jump.

Taking a step back to get a running start, she started forward, using the altar as steps and jumping up, before lodging her blade into the portrait and allowing gravity to do the rest as she fell back to the stone. With a satisfied grin, she put her knife away and hopped down, looking to Leon to see him staring at her with a look that said “really?”.

“What? It makes me feel better.” She shrugged, and he didn’t comment on it further as they made their way through the building. Opening the side door, the first thing Ella noticed was the glow of a purple flame, her eyes widening.

The Merchant!

She stepped out, a smile coming to her lips as she saw she was right.

“Hey! I was starting to worry we wouldn’t see you again.” She greeted him, the Merchant laughing.

“Oh don’t you worry, I’ll be around Miss. I like to make money after all.” He assured her, and she was glad to hear it, even if she didn’t understand how he got around. Hey, she didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth- though maybe that wasn’t the best analogy. Either way, she wasn’t going to question it.

His items were good, so she was going to take advantage of his offers.

Both Leon and Ella stocked up on ammo after selling what they could. Ella had been picking up the knives she found still, purely to sell them and get extra pesetas, so she got a bit more than Leon.

“You know, I have half a mind to ask you where you get all this stuff.” Ella spoke up as she and Leon pocketed all the supplies they bought, and the Merchant responded with a bellowing laugh, Ella having a feeling she wasn’t about to get a straight answer.

“Does it really matter how I’ve procured these items as long as they’re up to standard?” Yup, just as she suspected.

“I guess not.” She sighed with a light smile as she clipped the new holster she got on the opposite hip to her pouch. It would be much safer than keeping it tucked in her shorts, that was for sure.

“That’s the spirit.” He winked, and Ella chuckled, holstering her gun and looking at Leon, silently asking if he was ready. The blonde nodded, putting the bullet in his gun and cocking it before he started ahead. “Don’t get yourselves killed now!” The Merchant called after them before laughing.

“You know, even after everything I’ve seen so far, he might be the strangest.” Ella murmured, and Leon hummed his agreement as they walked up in the incline.

As they got closer, Ella realized she recognized the area they were in, her brows furrowing as she tried to place where she had seen it.Her eyes widened in realization a moment later.

They were right in front of the church.

#Leon Kennedy x reader #Leon Kennedy #Leon Kennedy x OC #Leon Kennedy Fanfiction #Leon S. Kennedy #Resident Evil #Resident Evil 4 #Resident Evil 4 Remake #Lost and Found

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