#I will make another version of shark teeth moon

[meemo32]

Finally, I finish this🥲

And the ref I used

[yourcoolfriendwithallthecandy]

Hearthway Hollow Chef Ryker Part 1

So what happened when I commissioned @momolady​ for the Hearthway Hollow Chef thing was there was a miscommunication/misunderstanding and when I got the commission back, I loved it! But there were just a few details that I wanted changed and instead of letting Momo change it, I noticed that I could change the document itself and so I, like an inexperienced commissioner- went ahead and changed the details myself in the original document - like Del was actually 8 because Del is based off of my daughter, who is actually about to turn 8 and Zara is my OC of myself so I put in more details about me personally in there. And what started off as a little tweak here and there...turned into a remodel of a house and by the time I was done, if you read this, you’ll notice the bones are kind of the same but everything else is mostly different, I bastardized my own commission because I couldn’t let go of tiny little details. I rather innocently and unintentionally broke probably every rule there is about commissioning writers. And I’m sorry. I have apologized to Momo who has been so patient and so kind and so good to me and she totally held my hand through all of it because while I have done commissions for other people, it was the first time I was the commissioner for once and then of course, I had to write FANFICTION of my own commission, but did I base it on the original? no. I based it on my bastardized version. But Momo is very very very cool in letting me show the bastard version and the fanfic to the...however many followers I have that might like this other than me and if no one does, that’s fine, at least it gets to see the light of day. 

Enjoy. This is basically my hypothetical dark but sweet fantasy if my husband died and Werewolves were real and what I would do after I would grieve. 

Hearthway Hollow- Chef Ryker

I was hoping a trip would be what we needed, something Del and I could share even through our subsiding grief. My husband and Del’s father- Michael, passed away last year and I felt it was time that I start living again and try to move on with my life. Del chose the location of our vacation after hearing some of her friends talking about it. I had also decided that driving would be fun, nothing like a good ol’ fashioned road trip. I’d be able to show Del tourist traps, fun locations, and introduce her to some very good food. 

After Michael passed, Del did a 180 and became just as picky of an eater like her father was when he was alive, what once had been an adventurous eater, she quickly transformed into the kind of kid who only eats chicken nuggets, much less only would eat the foods Michael had once enjoyed. I think that was how she was choosing to grieve his loss and keep his memory alive in herself. But being a foodie myself, I was getting a little frustrated from eating the same things over and over and over again, I wanted to try to gently coax her out of that shell she put herself in. What better way to do that then a fresh change of scenery? 

The trip down south was going to take us a couple of days, we were headed to Myrtle Beach. I hadn’t traveled like this in years, back in the day, Michael and I used to go on roadtrips all the time, trips up to Michigan and the Great Lakes to see my family that remained there, to Cedar Point, Kings Island, things like that because we all loved roller coasters. We even went on a vacation when I was pregnant with Del. Michael and I had always hoped that one day, we’d be able to take Del on road trips more often because traveling with small children could be a nightmare. Michael had an old camaro he restored himself as a teenager and a motorcycle, both were great in helping make kids but neither were very kid friendly once they were born but he had been so patient in waiting for Del to grow up and be big enough to be able to join him. But then...well, time ran out, cut so very short. Now it was up to me to pick up where he left off. This was step one. 

We stopped in North Carolina for a rest stop, I got gas and took Del to the bathroom. While there we got some drinks and a couple of snacks for the road. As we were checking out Del was looking over the brochures for tourist attractions by the door.

She gasped dramatically and loudly. “Mom!” She yanked a brochure from the stand and all of the ones in that cubby came shooting out.

“Delilah!” I huffed as I knelt down to help her pick them all up. “You have to be mindful and aware of what you're doing." I gently reminded her. 

“But Mom!” She prances excitedly as she holds it out to me.

I sigh and take it. “Hearthway Hollow Forest Wolf Reserve,” I murmur as I look over the pamphlet. “Wolf rehabilitation and study center, located in Hearthway Hollow. Come see the wolves that make Hearthway Hollow the treasure of the mountains. Donations help in the rehabilitation of the endangered wolves of the area. Hmm”

“I can pet a wolf, Mom!” Del bounces excitedly.

I turn to the cashier at the register. “This Hearthway Hollow, is it close by?”

“Oh yeah,” she says with a cheery smile. “You just follow Locklear Road and the signs will direct you the rest of the way.” She says as she points in the direction of the road itself. 

“What’s it like?” I ask cautiously.

“It’s amazing!” The cashier gushes. “I go to the local college there and I plan on moving into town soon.”

I think for a long moment. “Any good restaurants? Places to stay?”

“Oh there’s tons of good places to eat. I would check out Guillermo’s, it’s my favorite place to go. My friends and I go there to celebrate after tests and junk.” She then smiles at Del. “There’s a killer park and a community pool there too, she’ll love it. If you’re looking for a place to stay overnight, just go to Big Billy’s Hardware.”

I furrow my brow. “A hardware store?”

“It’s the heart of the town! Big Billy looks scary, but don’t worry, he’s just a big pappa bear kind of guy and he’s a sucker for cute kids. Take your daughter in there and he’ll find you a four star place to stay dirt cheap,” she laughs.

I think for another long moment while I pay. As I get back in the car I look over to see Del clutching that brochure for the wolf reserve. Wolves have always been her favorite animal, aside from sharks... and snakes... and tigers... and unicorns, her father used to watch nature documentaries with her, and both of them would play wolves on full moons. Perk of living in the middle of nowhere, so many stars to shine in all their glory in the night sky. 

“Are we gonna go, Mom?” Del pleads.

 “Honey, we have a schedule to at least try to stick to.” But she can sense that my resolve is weak. 

Del giggles and wriggles in the passenger seat. “So we’re going?” Well, what’s a few more hours on a detour? 

“... Yeah ok." I find Locklear road and started traveling down it. Sure enough, I started seeing all sorts of signs for Hearthway Hollow pop up. There was a turn coming where the massive ‘Welcome to Hearthway Hollow’ sign stuck out like a sunrise against the dark trees.

Entering the town was like stepping into one of those picturesque paintings. The main downtown area was all old brick buildings with enchanting storefronts. But I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve come home, it was strange yet familiar and I didn’t realize how much my soul had ached for it. But by the time we found the reserve, it was closed for the day. Well, it would be open tomorrow. We could afford to stay in town for a night and see it first thing in the morning then get to Myrtle. 

“Let's find Big Billy's hardware store then,” I say. “We’ll find a place to stay the night, get something good to eat for dinner, and tomorrow we’ll go visit the wolf reserve? Sound like a plan?”

“Yes!!” Del cheers excitedly. 

The hardware store was easy to find, it looked like many of the other buildings, but there was just something about it that stuck out like a sore thumb. It was the classic hardware store, but the sign hanging above the door was a black wolf’s head, snarling and gnashed teeth, with Billy burned into the side.

As we walked inside there was old music playing over a stereo, a young man was behind the counter and arguing with someone in the back.

“Hello?” I ask. “I’m sorry to bother.”

The young man looks at me and smiles. “One sec, let me get through with this.” His smile vanishes and he snaps towards the back. “I’ve got a customer! Shut the hell up!” He glances back to me. “Hi, I’m Jack. Sorry about that, arguing with the old man.”

“Don’t call me that!” A thunder like snarl comes from the back and the walls nearly shake.

“Oh uhm-” I hesitate. “I’m in town for maybe a day or two with my daughter." 

“Hi,” she waves.

Jack breaks into a big grin. “Hi there!” As he waves back. 

“I was told if I came here we’d be able to find a place?” I ask. “I’m sorry if I was misled. I don’t mean to be a bother.”

Jack shakes his head. “Nonsense, I’m sure the old man has a few places he can rent for a couple of days.” He turns and whistles. “Yo! Billy! You got some potential renters up here!”

There is snarling and growling before a man who is more mountain than anything comes from the back. I’m sure back in his day he was a real looker, hell he’s quite good looking now, but there is a dark look in his eyes as he walks out.

“I’ve got a couple of cabins,” he huffs as he takes out a three ring binder without looking up at me. “Lemme see here, lemme see.” He glances down, seeing Del staring up at him with big bright blue eyes that matched mine and an awed expression. “What’s this here,” he leaned forward with a big grin which she quickly mirrors. “How old are you?”

"I’m eight.” Del beamed proudly. 

“You’re really close in age to my granddaughter,” he chuckles. 

“My daughter,” Jack huffs. Ah, so he’s either his son or son in law, that dynamic makes sense now. 

Billy rolls his eyes. “What are you doing here then?” He asks Del.

“The Wolf reserve, but it was closed by the time we got there,” Del answered as she starts to pout in disappointment and I see Billy sympathetically mirror her expression. Yeah, papa bear for sure. 

I pet her long blonde hair comfortingly as I stand beside her. “She saw a brochure for the wolf reserve and they’re her favorite animal.” I add. 

“Besides sharks,” Del corrects me.

“Two very good choices,” Billy takes a key from behind the desk and hands it to me. “Address and everything is on the keychain,” he says. “Small cabin, good for a new family.”

A cold, stabbing pain radiates through my chest. “It’s just me and Del,” I softly corrected. 

“Ah,” Billy nods. “Well, it’ll still work out for you. How long you plan on staying? A week?” He asks.

“Just tonight,” I say with a nod. 

Billy chuckles. “Well, $65 a night, regardless.”

I balk for a moment, letting my jaw drop. “That’s it? For a cabin?”

“I got a lot of cabins, they ain’t getting used.” Billy says with a shrug. “Kid discount.” He motions to Del.

“Oh wow, thank you. I promise, we’ll keep it clean.” I pay in cash in advance which makes Billy happy and then I take Del’s hand to go back outside. “Oh uhm...I was told to try Guillermo’s,” I reply. “Where is it in town?”

“You go down Main Street and make a left on Lupine Avenue, it’ll be right next to the Silver Bullet a few blocks that way,” Jack replies as he points and gestures in the right direction. “It’s great, you really should try it before you leave.” He added.

“Ok, thank you!” I wave goodbye as I take Del back to the car.

We find the cabin, which is located pretty close to town. It’s behind a house where there is a moving truck parked out front. I see a woman sitting outside fanning herself by a stack of boxes.

Del and I go into the cabin, and aside from it being a little stuffy from being shut in for a little while, it’s cute and cozy and even has air conditioners in the bedrooms and the living room, and it’s pretty clean and still really nice. There’s plates and cups in the cupboards and silverware in the drawer even and a coffee maker. Nice. 

“This is like the Three Bears house, Mom!” Del races around, investigating every inch of the place. She then opens the curtains in front of a sliding glass door in the back off the kitchen. She gasps loudly as she sees the endless void of woods behind the cabin and presses her face to the glass.

“You think wolves can see us?” She bounces on her toes.

“If you leave that curtain open,” I chuckle. 

“Come on! Let’s check out the woods! They call to me, I must explore!” She dramatically implores me as she gestures to them. 

But before we can, I hear a knock at the door.

A bit timid, I peek through the window to see the woman from the house below at the door. As I open the door she has an embarrassed look at her face. 

“Hi, sorry,” she scoffs. “I know you’re here just trying to enjoy your vacation, but uhm-” she fidgets in place. “The electricity at my place was supposed to get turned on today and it’s not.” She holds up her phone and charger. “Do you mind?”

I shake my head. “Not at all, come in.” I readily invite her in. 

“I’m Amelie, by the way,” she says quickly.

“Zara, and this my daughter Delilah, Del for short.” I reply and shake her hand. 

“Thank you, so much, Zara. I need to call my boyfriend and tell him the electricity isn’t on yet, but of course my phone dies.” Amelie goes into the kitchen and plugs her phone in there.

“Are you just moving here?” I ask.

Amelie shakes her head. “I moved to Hearthway Hollow about a year ago. I just got engaged, so my fiance and I decided to find a new place together. He didn’t wanna live in a house so close to his work, I didn’t want to live directly in the woods. This was a compromise,” she chuckles. “So, how did you end up here?”

“The wolf reserve,” I say with a shrug. “Me and my daughter are headed to Myrtle Beach for a vacation and decided to take a detour on the scenic route.”

“The wolf reserve is pretty cool. If you’re lucky they may have the rescued wolf pups out by now.”

“Oohhh,” Del and I ooh. 

“So a beach vacation with just the girls,” Amelie chuckles. “Did you have to leave dad at home?” 

“Oh uh-” I start off unsurely and fidget with my wedding ring. “No I mean-” I press my lips into a tight line. “Michael, my husband, he died about a year ago so its just us." I say as I gesture to Del and I.

"He dropped dead of a heart attack at work out of the blue." Del blurted out and I huff and fix her with a look. 

Amelie gasps horrified. “Oh, oh I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s ok,” I shake my head. “It’s taken some time and a lot of therapy but we're OK. Michael planned ahead and had his affairs in order so we're taken care of and now we get to get back to living and try to move forward. We wanted to create some new happy memories, get us out of the house and a change of scenery.” I explained as she nodded solemnly. 

“Well, you came to a great place. Hearthway Hollow,” she smiles for a moment. “I don’t know what it is about this place, but it’s a perfect spot for healing. When I came here I was-” she shakes her head as her eyes grow glassy for a second. “I was in a really, extremely, horribly bad place. Hearthway Hollow, in a way, saved my life.”

“Oh wow,” I murmur.

“I suggest letting yourself linger here for a while, you’ll never know what you might find.” Amelie gives me an encouraging smile. “Aside from the reserve, what were your plans?”

 “Oh! Well, I was told to go to Gueillermo’s,” I start.

Amelie gasps. “That place is awesome! My fiance’s best friend is the owner and head chef there, he does absolute miracles with food it’s a fusion restaurant so there’s a little bit of everything. Shahan and I were going there tonight, you should join us and get the special treatment,” she says with a grin. “Shahan and Ryker grew up together, they’re practically brothers.”

“Ryker?” I murmured to myself. 

That evening, Del and I get dressed up and go to dinner with Amelie and her fiance Shahan. The restaurant already looks packed, but we are taken to a back room into the most comfortable booth that’s a half moon shape as I slide in the middle with Amelie on my left and Shahan on the other side of her with Del being on the other side of me on the end and the booth itself has a front row view of the kitchen and the chefs already hard at work like a well oiled machine, I noticed everyone is in baseball caps so I can't tell who the head chef is. It's an upscale Spanish fusion restaurant and the smells coming out of the kitchen are making my mouth water and stomach growl. The menu is killer and I want to order all of it because it's all Michelin star quality food but at Olive Garden prices. And it's mostly farm to table and seasonal, featuring produce and meats from right here in Hearthway with only a few exceptions, like the seafood. I'm impressed. 

“So, what do you like to eat, Del?” Shahan asks as we look over the menus. 

“Chicken nuggets,” Del says, grabbing at some crayons on the table and drawing on the paper place mat in front of her, fllipping it over to the back and using it as her canvas to create another masterpiece. 

“She’s a picky eater as of late,” I sigh. “I’ve been using this trip to broaden her horizons a little.” I explained. 

“How is that going?” Shahan asks.

“Stalemate,” I grumble. 

“Well, if anyone can get her to try new things, I think it would be Ryker,” Shahan chuckles. “We grew up together, basically lived with me and my family after his dad passed away.”

“His dad died too?” Del asks softly and the look on Amelie’s face tells me she didn’t get a chance to tell him that yet as she looked at me apologetically which prompted me to smile reassuringly at her. 

“Oh uh, sorry kid,” Shahan says gently. “You miss your dad?”

Del nods. “He dropped dead of a heart attack at work, so his last words to me were from that morning ‘Hurry up or you’ll miss the bus, have a good day at school, I love you.’ We used to do everything together, he was teaching me archery and how to ride a fourwheeler and a dirt bike and how to handle a knife, because I’m not in school I get to carry it around all the time again, this was his.” She explained as she stopped drawing and brings out the pocket knife from her pocket and shows Shahan and Amelia who both have a myriad of emotions on their face as she expertly flipped the knife open to show them before I take mine from my purse and open mine and reveal that it was a matched engraved set and Amelie and Shahan look almost near tears. 

“Wow, that’s an awesome knife, can I see it?” Shahan asks respectfully before she let him take it as he looked it over before Amelie took mine, both of them studying them for a moment, appreciating the excellent quality of them before he tested it’s sharpness by shaving a patch of hair off of his forearm before he handed it back to her before she folded it up and put it back in her pocket as Amelie handed mine back before Del continued to draw on the paper placemat, her crayons nearly snapping in her hands with the force she’s using to color with them now so that she doesn’t start to cry. 

“Shahan!” A man comes around to the table before he sees me and his eyes grow soft yet excited. “Oh wow, new people.” He smiles at me like I’m the moon and I can’t help but mirror his smile. 

The man that stands in front of me has me dumbstruck like I’m a high school girl again. All I can think of is ‘Hello Mr. Beefy Beef Man’ because he’s this tall- like probably almost six foot, maybe an inch or two short of it, but a big burly guy, his chest is like a barrel and his shoulders and chest are really big and well muscled like a lumberjack with tree trunks for arms and a bit of a beer belly because guys, especially bigger ones who love food often have those too and I take that as a sign I’m going to eat very well tonight. He has a heavy dose of farmer’s market hot to him and is giving me the strong but soft vibes that I am digging. He’s wearing the white chef jacket but a nice heavy duty apron on and a baseball cap from Cedar Point of all places, which is my favorite place on earth. He’s got dark brown, almost black hair judging by his immaculate beard. His bright blue eyes look me over and I am smitten instantly.

“Well, hello there,” he says with a deep charming voice but bright friendly tone. “Is this couple here bothering you?” He teases and I can’t help but laugh. 

“No!” Del blurts from her spot.“They invited us.”

The man then suddenly seems to realize there’s a child next to me but he doesn’t falter, instead he chuckles. “Well, I am certainly happy to hear that.” He smiles at her. 

“This is Zara and Del, they’re renting the cabin above the new house for a spell,” Shahan replies. “Amelie invited them out.”

“You did?” The man laughs looking at Amelie with surprise. 

“I’m growing, learning to trust,” Amelie defends herself. “This is the Ryker, by the way,” she says to me.

“THE Ryker, I like that,” he laughs. His bright smile turns on me and I am that dumbstruck teenage girl again with a hurricane of butterflies in my stomach. “Ryker Guillermo, at your service.” He holds out his big, meaty but sexy hand to me and it’s all I can do to not giggle like a loon as I shake it firmly. My small hand disappearing into his. His hands are so warm and a bit calloused from hard work which for me is another really good sign. He has a good grip but so do I. 

“Huh-hi,” I choke out. “Nice to meet the miracle worker. I’ve heard so much about you.” I say. 

“Aww, are they bragging on me?” He says. “I just try to make good food, that’s all.” He shrugged as his cheeks stained cherry and he kicked at an invisible stone on the floor as his smile turns bashful. 

“What’s the special tonight?” Shahan asks.

“Good question,” Ryker laughs. “What are you in the mood for?”

“Chicken nuggets,” Del chimes in.

Ryker makes a face. “Bad news sweetie, this is an anti-chicken nuggets restaurant.”

“Excuse me?!” Del blurts as she puts her hand over her chest and fixes him with a look like a true southern bell who’s just been scandalously outraged and I have to cover my mouth to keep from laughing too hard as Amelie and Shahan lose it because the girl has spunk and personality for days as I smile up apologetically at Ryker.

“You do realize if you eat too much chicken, you’ll become a chicken?” Ryker says. “Do you want to become a chicken?" He asked and I want to kiss him for taking that so well and using humor to diffuse this situation.

"That's not true." She countered suspiciously as she narrowed her eyes at him, seemingly measuring him up. 

"Are you sure? There's a saying, 'you are what you eat', where do you think that saying came from?" Ryker teases and Del seriously thinks it over. "Could you trust me to make you something just as delicious as chicken nuggets but way, way better? Because I can." Ryker offers as Del considers that too. “It will be super awesome, I promise.” Ryker crosses his heart. He then winks at me and I melt like butter as Del looks him up and down a little wearily before she makes her decision and simply reaches out and offers him her pinky for a pinky swear. 

“Pinky swear.” Ryker immediately swears and hooks her pinky with his and shakes before Del finally gives him a smile. Before I offer my pinky too and he does the same to me, both of us laughing again. 

“Surprise me, I trust you.” I offer which makes him smile even brighter. 

“You got it.” Ryker beams before he leaves the table and I can see his hair is short  and well cut and I greatly appreciate his fine figure from behind and I have to bite my lip when he has one hell of an ass on him. The thirst is killing me.  

A few moments later the waitress brings by a basket full of screaming hot freshly fried tortilla chips and a bowl of salsa and a bowl of white queso along with a charcuterie board with meats and cheeses and all kinds of stuff on it. 

“Wait, is that queso blanco?” Del realizes as her eyes grow wide before she grabs a chip and dunks it and eats it and then tries to hog the bowl all to herself as I sample the salsa first and I feel like I’m just shoving a whole garden into my mouth. 

“Oh my god,” I gasp. “That’s some Willy Wonka intense flavors, but it’s the best salsa I've ever had.” I practically moan before the waitress comes back with a second bowl of queso for the rest of us having seen Del try to hog the first one and gives us our drinks including a bottle of wine on the house. But one sip and I realize it’s dry and I make a face. 

“Do you not like dry wine?” The waitress asks. 

“No, I’m very tannin sensitive, do you have anything sweet?” I asked hopefully. 

“Like sangria sweet or alcoholic juice sweet?”  She asks. 

“Alcoholic juice sweet.” I immediately answer. 

“I gotcha girl.” She nods sagely with a grin before she returns with another bottle, this one is AMAZING and I take a picture of the label so I can find it and buy it for myself. 

“Much better,” I praise as Amelie takes my previous cup and pours the contents into her wine glass. 

“Can’t let this wine go to waste.” She tells me which makes me giggle. 

Ryker returns several moments later, carrying out the plates for us. “I hope you all enjoy,” he says. “I tried something a little different tonight, after all I have a pinky promise to make good on.” And my heart melts like the queso. 

Del giggles as she looks at her plate and her eyes light up when she sees a moat of queso around the main dish and her eyes light up. And for my platter, it’s like I have at least six different dishes loaded onto it and I can’t decide what I want to dig into first but one of them is a mini copy of Del’s plate.  

“These are my special Shawarma enchiladas.” Ryker explained as he gestured to Del’s plate before he points to each thing on mine and tells me what each thing is as my smile grows bigger and bigger and brighter and brighter with every new thing until I feel my smile is making my face split in half is so big and excited. He really did put half the menu on this plate and it’s everything I had my eye on too. How did he know?!

“Do your tattoos mean something special to you or did you get them just because they look cool?” Del suddenly asks as Ryker is thrown for a loop but recovers quickly as a big smile blooms on his face.  

“A bit of both…” Ryker says as he starts to point out each one that shows on his forearms and explains each one as Del listens closely and respectfully as she continues to eat, talking with her mouth full occasionally and before I know it, Ryker has pulled up his sleeves to really show her the other tattoos on his arms which she eagerly looks at as I can not help but notice how strong and muscular his arms are and start fantasizing about massaging them and them wrapping around me. He looked so strong, I wonder if he’s strong enough to pick me up and toss me over his shoulder and haul me off and pound..whew, ok, gotta get my mind out of the gutter. I gotta actually listen to the conversation he’s having with Del since Del has then showed him her temporary tattoos on the back of her hands that she got at the supermarket. 

“So does your mom have any tattoos?” Ryker asks since Del’s attitude was typical of kids with parents with tattoos and I nearly choke on my food and furiously shake my head no. 

“No, I’m scared of needles.” I answer, my mouth covered because I still have a bite of food in my mouth before I quickly try to finish it. 

“She has to give herself shots every month for her migraines and she has a hard time not getting panic attacks just doing that.” Del added and I have to nod in agreement to that. 

“Wow migraines bad enough you give yourself shots for it?” Ryker asked as he looked physically pained by that.  

“Oh yeah, I get the kind where I lose my vision, I’m super sensitive to light, sound, motion and throw my guts up for four to five days at a time, several times a month. With the medicine, I get one or two a month and with my other two migraine meds, it’s reduced to feeling awful for not even an hour before they kick in and then it’s over, it doesn’t get downgraded to a headache the size of Texas either. It’s worth trying to get over my fear of needles for.” You explained with a nod and big gestures.  

“Well I’m happy you’re getting relief.” Ryker smiled, his own relief visible on his face. “Well, bon appetit, I gotta get back.” Ryker excused himself. 

The enchiladas are served with a vibrant salad and a small dish of black rice mixed with chorizo and what tastes like heaven. I have never seen Del eat something with as much fervor as she did those enchiladas and I of course feel like I’m inhaling my food and my eyes want to roll back into my head but I keep catching Ryker looking over to me while he continues to work, stealing glances at me and Del and all I can do is try to smile over my bulging cheeks and offer two big thumbs up and every other hand gesture I know that means good and now my eyes instantly seem to find him in the kitchen and I can’t take my eyes off of him and I notice he’s not yelling at anyone and while he gives clear direction, it’s always given respectfully and kindly.  

“I take it she liked the meal?” Ryker asks, coming back to the table after we finished eating and getting the leftovers boxed up. 

“It's been forever since I've seen her so excited to eat something new, we loved it, it was so good, best meal of my life, thank you,” I gush. “Thank you so so so much.”

“It was exquisite, that queso blanco was sublime.” Del praises and Ryker is impressed with her vocabulary. 

“How old are you again?” He asks curiously. 

“Eight, I just graduated the second grade and I’ll be in third grade in the fall.” Del answered proudly. 

“That’s awesome, high five.” He offers which she readily gives. “Well, I wanted to send something else home with you I thought you might enjoy these later. You can warm them up for breakfast even.” Ryker invited as he revealed the largest ‘to go’ bag already filled with to go boxes of more food. Having been working on this while we were eating. 

“Oh wow, thank you so much!” I gasp. “We will probably be back before we have to leave again,” I say with a big grin as I suppress the urge to get up and hug him and kiss him all over for being as awesome and amazing as he is. 

“I hope you do,” his voice is gentle yet so hopeful. “Well uhm, back to work!” He seems to want to linger but he pulls himself away. When the waitress comes back, I ask for the bill but she informs me that there isn’t one. That Ryker waived the bill for our whole table. 

“Aww, he didn’t have to do that, he’s so sweet!” I fawned before I made sure to give the waitress a very hefty tip, which was what I thought I would be paying for the meal to begin with which makes her happy. 

As we leave, we don’t notice Ryker come out and talk with the waitress and pick up Del’s drawing that she left and look at it appreciatively before he carefully folded it up and put it into his pocket. 

That evening after Del has a shower and she’s taken to a food coma in bed, I go to the kitchen to unpack the to go bag and I find a bottle of wine! It’s the same wine I enjoyed with dinner! As I place the containers into the fridge a piece of paper falls out and floats to the ground. It’s the kitchen’s receipt for our table and I see that we were coded as ‘Chef’s special guests’ with instructions for Del’s food ‘Make it perfect- pinky promise’ and mine is ‘greatest hits, give her everything’. And I’m just so touched I start tearing up but I can’t stop smiling before I turn it over to see a note written on the back and I see a phone number and a message scrawled on it. “If you need any advice to combat your picky eater, call me. Ryker.”

My head nearly explodes, I have the cute chef’s number!  

“Yyeeeaaaasssss!” I squeal before I clamp my hand over my mouth to keep myself from waking Del up but I can’t help but jump up and down and celebrate and do a victory dance in the kitchen in front of the sliding glass doors who’s curtains are still pulled back before I put the number into my phone and dig into the cheesecake Ryker had sent with me as I plug in my headphones and dance around the kitchen while eating the cheesecake which is my favorite dessert and it totally tastes homemade and out of this world. I’m so lost in my own little world that I don’t see two light green eye shines from in the woods and I definitely don’t notice them getting closer until their right at the edge of the woods before I get tired and put the left over cheesecake away and start stripping down to my underwear because my impromptu workout has me sweating and I had turned off the airconditioners downstairs before we left as I go through the cabin and start turning the lights off as I go. I get ready for bed and I’m on cloud nine. I can’t help but think of Ryker as I try to fall asleep, keeping the window open since it has a screen so it won’t let any bugs in and the spring mountain air is just so sweet and refreshingly cool so I don’t need to run the air conditioner and before I know it I have a need that needs to be fulfilled so I grab my little vibrator that I packed and a little bottle of lube and get down to business and in no time at all I’m trying to stamp down my voice but still let a pleasured keen escape as I find my release before I heard clawing on the side of the house that almost sounded like it was right underneath my window... on the second floor of the cabin. 

“What the hell?” I frown as I get my phone and use the flashlight feature to look out the window to see if I could see anything and I wonder if there’s a raccoon or something outside. But the clawing stops and I hear the tell tale signs of something running back into the woods, must have been a big raccoon, I just shrug it off and go to sleep. 

[dukeofriven]

Okay, I’ve looked into the Young Wizards series and... I have questions. It seems to be just the usual fantasy where light is good, dark is evil, and thinking is bad. I read the whale book a long time ago and didn’t think it was very interesting, but it was a long time ago. I also saw you mention an asexual character? Are they a good person and not the usual heartless freak stereotype? Even then, I’m not sure if one positive rep is worth reading a series it seems like I wouldn’t enjoy. Any help?

Young Wizard is the most thinking-positive  book series I can think of. If I wizard doesn’t know their shit, the die. if they go to the moon not knowing their exact breathing rate and take along enough oxygen for the trip they asphyxiate to death. The entire point of the wizardly speech is that before you utter a syllable you have to think about what it is you have to do - not just from a technical standpoint, but in accordance with that most important precept of the Wizard’s Oath, that a wizard “will change no object or creature unless its growth and life, or that of the system of which it is part, are threatened.” At its best it is a philosophic musings on just about anything you can think of, especially as the series goes on and kids who started as 12 year olds find themselves facing adulthood. What does it mean to kill in the service of life? What does it mean to take you human biases out into the universe when you find yourselves facing aliens who don’t even think of the same dimensional plane as you? Questions are constantly asked about morality, love, mortality, the ritual of death, the right and wisdom of youth employing agency and - as the books go on, the nature of gender, of sex, of the importance of so complex a relationship as friendship.If you’ve only read the first book then yes, its presentation of good and bad are written more overtly in terms of light/dark than later books. Even by book 2, however, the protagonists spend most of their time becoming a bloodthirsty, violent shark (one of the series’ best characters), and they (the protagonists) have to unlearn their biases and thinking this shark as ‘evil’ just because he kills and consumes without hesitation or remorse. he is not evil, merely different, his purpose in life -and in the ecosystem - exactly what the Earth requires: to change his nature based purely on human notions of morality would be itself an amoral act.In Young Wizards dark is many things, but is never evil in and of itself - it is merely an absence of light, which is not intrinsically virtuous either, just a state of photos. Evil is always evil - it is corruption unlike that of useful fungus, natural decay, ordinary rot that happens in any properly cyclical system - it is an aberration in the natural order. It is not change, or the cycle of beginnings and endings, but entropy itself, of suffering out of a cruel and malicious presence in the universe - who may be neither so cruel, nor malicious, nor as evil as anyone might have first presumed. As the books go own so too does the morality within them change too: simplicity is often the first casualty of learning the world is a complicated place.Now, up-front, the only openly asexual character is a late-comer to the series , though she has a bigger presence if you read the supplementary material. That being said one of the series’ major characters has an intense relationship with another that they themselves are still struggling to try and define  as they learn more about another. From our current vantage point in the series (which is far from over) it most resembles that which we would call ‘queerplatonic’ - intense, at once adversarial and supportive, incredibly close without being sexual, but also still something they are working out (which is difficult in some of the alter books as Big Events happen that make easily solving knotty questions of relationships harder than usual).So if you’re looking for an out and proud asexual character to be an obvious part of the series from book one, this will disappoint you in the short term, with the caveat. however, that sexuality comes into the series slowly as the characters reach and undergo puberty. In the first book they’re nowhere near that yet: sex and their relation to it isn’t even on their horizon, they’re just kids. its not even until book four that the idea of intimate relationships starts to occur to anyone, and even then they’re first interactions with puberty are more focussed on seeing if wizardry can be used to talk pimples out of existing. If you find that description of the queerplatonic relationship - as much as I am being purposefully vague to avoid spoilers - too vague, and you’re hunting for something more immediately about the adventures of someone openly self-identifying as asexual this may not be the series for you. If you’re someone who feels uncomfortable with any discussion or depictions - however g-rated - of sex then the later books, and especially the short stories (which deal with, amongst other things, an in-depth look at the indescribably complex socio-biological history of one of the series major alien characters and their species), you may find the later series not to your tastes.However: Diane Duane, the series author, would rather be thrown into a star than ever write a series that didn’t encourage children to think. I hold her up in opposition to Harry Potter precisely because she actual cares about morality: unlike Rowling��s cut-and-dried Calvinistic determinism, Duane gives readers no such easy answers: while the books are never so dark as to trick its characters into doing something seriously heinous, its not afraid to sit them down in front of the hard questions and say “other people can’t make these decisions for you: you’ve to make a choice even if none of your options are ‘good’ ones.” Good might be virtuous, but that doesn’t make it safe, and just because you’re one of the good guys doesn’t mean you’ll live to see eighteen.Oh, and yes, the asexual character’s a fucking riot - unquestionably one of the good guys, as are the series other queer characters, neuro-divergent characters, and characters for whom mere human concepts of gender and sexual modality would be not only inappropriate but downright inapplicable.Is it the greatest representation ever? No, of course not - but Duane knows, going so far to rewrite an entire book of the series to update it with a decade’s worth of new autism research and to listen to the input of her autistic readers who said the original didn’t represent them right. Diane Duane was writing polyamorous multi-species queer-celebrating fantasy novels when she was cutting her teeth of Star Trek back in the eighties  - i can’t think of another fantasy writer who has tried so hard for so long to not rest on her privileges and stay confined in the heteronormative tropes of multiple genres.I think she’s worth reading. i think she’s worth reading more now than I did when I first read her as a kid. The New Millenium Editions (the updated, modernized books) which cover the first nine books are on sale again. (One of these days i will post my Preferred Reading order for the series, but the short version is that there are ten novels, two novella collections, several shorts stories, and three spin-off, for-adult books about cat wizards that are still waiting on a re-write to make them line-up with the canon timeline).Look, I think these are some of the smarted, most-thought books ever written - a refreshing change not only from a young adult market saturated with ditzy, consequence-free escapist fantasies, but also media so up their own ass that brutally murdering their own characters is the way they demonstrate maturity. the first book, with the youngest version of the characters, may be a stumbling block if you’re not used to reading about kid-kids, but it very much is a series about growing up - and how much more complicated that is than pop-culture always seems to suggest.

[gildedink]

Gods of Tenruon'ou - Tsakiri, Goddess of the Moon

The Goddess of the Moon, Tsakiri is both the literal and metaphysical embodiment of the heavenly body within the world of Tenruon’ou. She is one of the first two divine beings to emerge from the ether of The Void and in affiliated with human females. She is also known as the Holy Nurturer, the Protector, the Goddess of Tragedy, Mystery, Misery, Lovers, Repentance, Mercy and Protectress of Women. Commonly referred to as Lady Moon or Lady Tsakiri, she was the one to create the oceans and the Sea Realm. Alone she created the Great Silver Shark, Kural, to rule the watery domains she had made and is thus referred to as The Great Mother by Sea Spirits.

Symbols

There are several symbols, motifs, plants and animals that are connected to Tsakiri. They are listed below.

Animals: sharks, coral, starfish

Plants: moonflowers, jasmine, lavender

Stones: emeralds, pearls, white marble

Objects: shark teeth, sea shells, sea glass

  Physical Appearance

Within the lore of Vidy'aa, Tsakiri is described as a female figure with three sets of arms and a long, semi-sheer veil that covers her body. In the full version of The Legend of the Sun and Moon, Tsakiri is described thus;

       “With long tresses, dark as the cosmos, she extended her white arms up, down and out to her sides. Delicate fingers grabbed starfoam with which she molded Kural, the Great Silver Shark, first-born of the Great Spirits. The Bright Mother than ripped out the eighth row of her teeth and affixed them to her child’s mouth so that he may use both teeth and tongue as weapon in place of claws. Thus, seven rows of razor sharp teeth remained in the Goddess’s lovely pink mouth.”

Later within the story, her appearance changes as a result of pushing her brother, the Sun God Zoleko, out of their shared Celestial Palace;

       “Thus with a great, furious cry the white Goddess pushed her brother and friend from the tower on high in the cosmos. Noble Zoleko tumbled down, shocked at the betrayal of his sister and friend. When her shadow-lurid rage subsided, Tsakiri recoiled at her actions. With a wail she scratched at her face, furrows deep as her sorrow becoming etched on her cheeks. The marks wept silver as her eyes, her tears falling into the Sky Realm as stars.”

It is due to this event that the Moon Goddess begins veiling herself and creating the phases of the moon humans see today, as well as the stars in the night sky.

Through various legends and stories, a concise description for the Goddess is as follows; long, wavy black hair that melts into the dark night sky or cosmos, silver eyes and pale-white skin. Three sets of arms are on her torso; the top set is studded with the gemstones of the Sea, the middle set is swirled with black characters in a language known only to the Gods, and the bottom set has been completely blackened due to her sin of evicting the Sun God, Zoleko. Within her mouth are seven rows of pointed teeth (previously eight before the Great Silver Shark was created) and clawed marks on her cheeks like tear tracts that weep silver liquid. It is unclear if this liquid is the Goddess’s blood or another manifestation of her remorse.

  Genealogy

The following is the family tree of the Goddess Tsakiri.

Mother: Unknown

Father: Unknown

Siblings: Zoleko, God of the Sun; Sheliirpa, The Demon King

Children: Kural, The Great Silver Shark; all Sea Spirits

  Lovers and Offspring

Lovers

Currently, it is unknown if Tsakiri has ever had any lovers. By creating Kural, it was shown she does not require a male counterpart to create. However, all other Sea Spirits were created by herself and Kural. It is unclear if this union was purely in the crafting sense or in the sexual sense.

Some local retellings of The Legend of the Sun and Moon state that Tsakiri and Zoleko were lovers.

Offspring

All Sea Spirits are the offspring of the Moon Goddess. Kural, The Great Silver Shark, is the only Spirit she created alone. Humans who are Blessed by Sea Spirits see themselves, by extension, as children of Tsakiri. The most notable family is the Jurai Clan who have been Blessed by Kural for as far back as human records go. Those Blessed by The Great Silver Shark inherit silver eyes that match both Kural and Tsakiri.

  Key Myths

The following are the myths and legends that are integral to Tsakiri either in regards to characterization by the religion, cosmic role or moral lesson.

The Legend of the Sun and Moon

The story of the creation of the universe. It also tells of the awakening of the Goddess Tsakiri and her brother, Zoleko.

The Legend of the Great Silver Shark

The story detailing the creation of the Great Silver Shark by the Goddess. He was created by Tsakiri alone with no other aid.

The Legend of the Great Drowning

The myth of how the second great human city, Hajitanjō, was drowned at the request of the Great Silver Shark Kural by the Goddess Tsakiri. The city was flooded in order to hide the body of a brave warrior from the Demon Prince Xi’hasa who, it is claimed, to have threatened to defile and puppet the body.

The Legend of the Dragon’s Eye

The tale of how a powerful gem called the Dragon’s Eye is made. There have only been two recorded sightings of the gemstone and both times it has been wielded by someone within the Tanaka Clan.

The Legend of the Constellations

The story of how a young woman showed the Goddess how to make pictures with the stars. A touching tale of female friendship that crossed both station and time.

The Legend of the Lanterns

The tale of three pairs of forbidden lovers; a young priest and a male acolyte of his, an elderly maid and an elderly widowed man, and two female prostitutes. The story blends the three tales into one as the six people encourage and influence one another. It is a love story of hope, kindness and joy. Vastly popular with the common people. Not a religious text.

The Legend of the Bow

A story that tells of how the Moon Goddess inspired a blacksmith to create the bow weapon. Because it was inspired by the crescent shape of the Moon, it became a common weapon for female nobility and linked to the Goddess herself, though the Goddess herself does not wield a bow.

The Legend of Many Scarves

The story of how a male dancer captured the eye of the Moon Goddess. In return for his companionship, she taught him the way of silent movement. It some retellings they become lovers. In others the relationship is that of mentor-student.

The Legend of Destruction

A conspiracy story that is at the crux of the Cult of Rebirth. The story claims that when the end of days comes for the Universe, Alohirona will ascend to the Heavens and the Goddess Tsariri shall unhinge her 7-rowed maw and devour the world whole. She will then give birth to the world once again in another dimension of reality, where Alohirona does not exist.

  Known Favor

While Tsakiri is not known to often interact with humanity, some mortals have caught her eye on occasion.

  Javed Sherazi No record exists of this man, but The Legend of Many Scarves claims he was a clerk in service to Lord Prakash of the Bhāharas’ City-States. By night he would be taught by his elder sister, who excelled in the art of ritual dance. Over time, with Javed dancing under the moonlight, he caught the eye of Tsakiri. In some version they became companions of the night with the Goddess whispering secrets to the young man of the cosmos. In other versions he became a lover to the Goddess and laid with her. It in unclear how true this story is.

Jianyi Li The blacksmith of the providence of Sunwen from the destroyed Zhohang Empire. A well-known blacksmith, he is credited with creating the bow during a sleepless. He was inspired by the shape of the Goddess’ mostly-veiled face. In his notes there is line that seems to be either a prayer of a promise to the Goddess; ‘Though you shield your face, I shall make grief a weapon. Your sorrow will protect those of fair form.’

Roshan Terzi A young, Sea Blessed woman from the destroyed Ērsia Kingdom. Legend claims she is the one who created the first constellations by mapping the stars in the sky and noting the pattern of their movements in relation to the earth. All that is known about her comes from The Legend of the Constellations. She may have been a nobleman’s daughter, a favored concubine within the court or simply a fisherman’s daughter depending on the telling.

Himiko Fujita The sculptor of the largest statue of Tsakiri. A flower seller in Hachiiru, it is said she one day awoke with an insatiable need to create the largest image of the Goddess possible. She spent the next several years tirelessly working. The nobility of Mikaizu, moved by her dedication and fierce piety, provided her with gemstones, the finest stone to be mined, sculpting tools, food, water and silver. Though the then head of the Jurai Clan, Ryouta Jurai, offered to send workers to help her, Himiko vehemently refused. When the sculpture was completed, she collapsed on the ground in front of the statue, dead. The statue is enshrined in Haachiiru with an additional small shrine made on the spot Himiko collapsed to honor her. The Smarnians believe she was driven to madness by the Masked Muse.

The Drowned Warrior An unknown warrior whose death caused the flooding and concealment of the rumored second settlement of humanity, Hajitanjō. While no sex is specified by the legend, some scholars speculate them to be Kibou Jurai is the story states that it was at Kural’s request that the city was drowned. Those of the Smarnian Villages believe the drowning occurred due to an offence caused by the people against the Great Shark. The version of the legend told by the Far North Descendants says the warrior was a woman, a virginal maiden who was beloved by Kural but defiled by the demon Xi’hasa. The drowning was a means to purify her soul and allow it to be changed by the Goddess into a shark Spirit so that he may wed her.

Ayako Jurai While there is no record nor rumor that Lady Ayako Jurai has direct favor with the Moon Goddess, it is speculated she is highly favored by her son, Kural. As such, it can be said she is indirectly favored by the Goddess. One of the few female Jurai clan leaders, under her command the region of Mikaizu flourished both economically and socially. Many new temples dedicated to the Goddess were erected, worship of her increased within the region and women were given more freedoms both in possible job occupation and personal health rights. As all women are under Tsakiri’s care, such progressive strides may be seen as worthy of favor by the Goddess.

Kibou Jurai The first human to be Blessed by the Great Shark Spirit, Kural, on record. Kural was the last Great Spirit to Bless humanity and as such, it is surmised that Kibou also received the goddess’ favor.

[millimallow]

pt 16 - all the wolves will dance

part 16 of the world of owa anthology. set in the fantastical corilid range.

A mysterious brew and the full moon. Travelling isn't always so bad.

“i’ve been all around this fucking continent, and i gotta hand it to you- this place sucks like ass.”

“shut up and hand me the xylis.”

the corilid range is a mysterious place. it possesses a dense magical energy, all due to the weave overflow occurring here and refracting off of the mountains. the further into it you get, the more danger and excitement awaits you. i’ll be frank with you, though: i couldn’t give two shits about it with a crossbow to my head. now, i’m not a pussy or something, but this place.. well, it’s weird as shit. anything else you can just brute force, but this place pulls the rug out from under you like it’s a competitive sport.

so if i felt like this about it, i’d have to fuck up bad to willingly let myself come there, right?

precisely. and i’d have to be an even bigger sucker to hand over the xylis.

“hell no.”

“why not?”

“because it’s mine, genius. i bought it, i packed it, i drink it.”

now my travelling companion is giving me that weird look again. she really did a number on me getting me to come here with her.

“that shit has so much alcohol in it.” now she’s eyeing the canister rather than me. honestly, i feel more protective over it than myself. “if you drink all of that, you’re going to knock yourself unconscious in an hour.”

so i take another swig and smile.

“i think you forgot to mention the downside.”

it tastes herbal, bitter, with a hint of aniseed. aside from wanting to remain tipsy for as much as this journey as possible, i’m reluctant to hand it over because i know this shit is pretty terrible for most. you have to grow up drinking it to get accustomed. well, not that i drank as a child. i mean the non-alcoholic version.

“the downside,” she says, “is that if you pass out, i’m going to leave you here so you can be eaten by wolves.”

“wait, there are wolves around here?” i ask.

“of course there are wolves around here! what do you think has been howling through the night for the last half an hour or so?”

oh yeah. the howling. i kind of didn’t think about that as much as i should have.

“…other drunk, bored people smuggling artifacts across the border?” i know it’s not a good answer, especially when she tuts and rolls her eyes, their oceanic shine revealing their position in the night.

“i can’t believe that you were born in trevailia and i can still recognize a wolf better than you.”

“i come from the part where there aren’t any wolves, actually. the… th- the part without the big foresty trees.”

“city.” i splutter with laughter.

“shitty.”

“right, i’m leaving you for the wolves regardless of whether you hand over the fucking xylis or not.” with nothing to lose now, i shove the canister back into my hip bag.

“you lost your chance there, buddy.”

“that stuff tastes like hell anyway.” my tipsy brain ignores the many logical fallacies wound up in this.

“where do you come from that makes anything better, then?” xylis is not my favourite alcohol by far, but it’s the historical produce of my home dissel back in trevailia, and the whole “smuggling historical artifacts to enemies of the state” guilt sets in when anything about it gets bought up. as if i could redeem myself after this.

“you know exactly where the hell i come from. i told you, earlier, and also you could just look at me-“

oh yeah. pointy ears like mine, but darker skin and pitch-black hair. yeah, and shark teeth. stuff that should have been harder to miss or forget about, honestly.

“i got it, i got it! u’baani. mangrove elf. one of my cousins many, many times removed.” her eyes shut to a slit.

“we made out yesterday, so don’t make this weird by saying stuff like that. otherwise i’ll leave you for the wolves, and i won’t even give you a kiss goodbye, you weirdo.”

“i dunno why you’re so sure that the wolves will eat me.” i’m looking down onto the valley beneath us now, sitting under where we’re perched on a steepening hill. from here, shadowy four-legged figures move in conjunction under the light of the full moon, unnaturally soft and quiet. hypnotic, almost. “they seem pretty occupied right now. all that running around and shit.”

“they’re wolves, nylos. i think that running around is pretty important to what they do.”

“i know, but, like… they’re in tandem, aren’t they? they’re doing it in some kind of pattern, as a pack.” it feels like a stupid statement to make, but i can feel her eyes squinting for a better look. she ditched her glasses earlier on for disguise purposes, and never put them back on until we were hiding around the mountain edges.

“woah. yeah.”

the leader of the pack runs forward in one direction, following the trail of the flat land. behind them are two others, almost as fast and swift but trailing in respect to their leader. then four more, increasingly subservient, followed eventually by pups defended by the strong and well-built at the back. eventually, after running for a great length in one direction, they curve back, fur swept by the wind and illuminated by the moon. howling loud and strong in the freedom of the wild.

“you think this is something to do with the corilid range?” she asks, and i shrug.

“i’ve never seen wolves do anything like this. except the howling at the moon. what about you?”

“i don’t exactly see wolves very often in the mangroves.”

when the pack leader howls, it reverberates across the steep sides as if it were a silver bell.

“oh. so this must be kind of special for you, right?”

“yeah.”

without a word, i slide the xylis canister over to her, and she takes a swig.

“these things are a long way from home for me."

[thechosenferret]

The Myth of the Tom God

(Since I’ve been kinda busy (and lazy) this week, here’s a random story that we had to do in english class so here you go that I’m quite proud of.. Credit to @watermelani and @noonelikesnoah for helping with a few ideas of this work of not-quite-art. Also I swear I didn’t misspell Earth, you can thank another human that isn’t on tumblr for the quality name after misreading Earth, which sparked this whole disaster.)

It was the first day that the suns would finally shine on Erbth. After decades of fighting the suns and moons back into the void, constantly arguing over everyone’s roles, and trying to make the place livable after all the destruction that the constant fighting caused, all the gods and goddesses could start their work on bringing Erbth to existence. The Tom God, Tim, allowed at last to prepare his land as the god of all tom cats everywhere.

Every god had their creation. There was the Tree God, Jellyfish God, Dog God, and of course the Tom God. Well, technically he was the Cat God, it was, after all, the name he was given at the creation of the universe and the name he trained to hold. However, with his actual name being Tim, everyone just started to call him Tom God the minute they were old enough to understand names. Everyone seemed to find it hilarious that Tim, the most scrawny and weak god of them all, was given the name of the strongest, male cats of the, what everyone else liked to call, very weak species. Over the years, Tim thought long and hard about how to prove to everyone that cats can be just as strong or stronger than everything else.

“So what do you think of this land little guy?” Tim bent down and asked his trusted friend, Firstina, the first cat he created. Tim wasn’t as creative as other gods with names but he was definitely better at designing. Firstina was a small, fluffy, brown and white spotted cat that was only about the size of the first design of a monkey’s foot, which the Monkey God, Cace, deemed “too small and weak,” so Cace very quickly changed their feet into a much larger design.

Firstina nodded in reply, then started to find a comfy spot on Tim’s slightly hovering foot to have a quick nap.

Just as Firstina began to purr, the Goddess of Sharks, Puddle, approached, brushing a few pieces of stray seaweed off her arms, with her first and smallest shark swimming around in a little bubble of water that was hovering above her shoulders, the very tip of the fin slightly emerging from the water. Puddle had the curliest hair out of all of the gods that was dark black almost matching the void with streaks of dark green weaved in. She had hazel eyes and wore a long sleeve shirt with long leggings that looked more like a tangle of more seaweed than actual clothing.

“So, how’s your land of bunnies going?” She sneered, slightly breaking through the water to pet her shark.

“Cats, I have the cats.”

“Cats, bunnies, same thing.” Tim got back up from the ground, ready to speak after trying to suppress his anger when Puddle continued, satisfied with the anger she’s caused. “Sorry, almost the same thing, the God of Bunnies gave them the anger to do a bit of harm on occasion.”

“Actually, the- um- purring can make you vibrate a bit. If enough cats purr on you, they could make you uncomfortably shake for a second.”

“Okay, I change my mind. Bunnies are much more dangerous.”

Tim humphed as Firstina slightly woke up long enough to stretch and let out the biggest yawn before getting more onto Tim’s foot and passing out once again.

“Don’t you have some water you need to make more salty for them or something?”

“Actually I need to finish making defenses so that they don’t murder the rest of the world, which I guess is fairly important. I don’t think that it would be that bad, but everyone else says that would be bad so I guess I shouldn’t let them go crazy and kill all the cats and bunnies.”

Tim held back his anger and disgust. “Yea, you should do that.”

“Well, anyways,” Puddle said, breaking the silence.” This has been such a joy! Tata!” She put her hand on the back of the bubble of water, slowly pushing it back towards the see, out of Tim’s line of sight.

Even more discouraged, Tim began to raise a few trees out of the ground and grow the grass high enough so that the cats could play and hide in it, leaving a batch in the middle with lower grass, a small pound, and a giant tree casting a shadow over the area.

Just as Tim started to place fake fish and sharks into the pound for the cats to chase around, the God of Snakes slowly started to creep up the mountain with his small green snake curled up on the top of his head. The God of Snakes, Sleethy, was one slithery boy, as most of the other gods liked to call him. He was a shorter, thin man, who could easily slide through any spot and constantly seemed to appear out of thin air. Always carrying a smirk, he made sure his caramel brown hair would never see a day where it wasn’t slicked back.

“Ssso, what are your little sssoft balls getting sscared of now?”

“Something that is perfectly reasonable to be afraid of.”

“Like cucumbers?”

“What! They look just like your wicked creature, not like the snakes are more dangerous or anything.”

“Sssure.” Just as Sleethy stroked the back of his snake, the little creature woke up and glided down onto his arm where he curled up around his wrist, sticking his head between the gap of Sleethy’s thumb and index finger.

“So,” Tim asked, nervously playing with his fingers behind his back. For some reason, whenever Sleethy is around he just doesn’t feel as safe as he could be. Maybe it was because of hanging out with so many cats who are constantly jumping at cucumbers or because Sleethy has a habit of arriving out of nowhere, but Tim may never really know. “How is your newest design going?”

“Oh, that little thing. Well, I’m finally ssstarting to make them even bigger than they ssshould be. I’m thinking of making the reticulated python about, I don’t know, maybe 30 feet long. No big deal.”

“Yea, no big deal. You know, I’m starting to work on some ideas for bigger cats, too.”

“Oh really? I’ll be surprised to see how you can possibly make those things bigger without making them fall over even more.”

Tim tried to think of some kind of argument against that, because his cats rarely ever fall over, but it’s not like they don’t even have to since they’re already on the floor so much.

“Well, I mussst be going now, gotta work out how to make the larger ones move easier without any arms of legs,” Sleethy smirked, already sneaking away without any sign that he was ever there in the first place.

Finally alone again, Tim sat down under the main tree in the middle and spread out a few empty blueprints to try and make his design a bit more dangerous. Firstina bounced around the tree for a second before getting too tired and finding a comfy place in the middle of one of the empty blueprints, causing most of the page to slowly start getting more crumbly, but Tim didn’t care, he was too focused on his mission at hand.

Tim spent the next few moons creating and erasing lines, and pulling up a few prototypes made of mist that ran around for an hour before fading away once the wind blew across the land. He had almost finished his newest version of a cat that he wanted to be able to live in more of a desert environment when the Goddess of Eagles swooped down on her prototype of wings she had strapped onto her back.

Talon, the Goddess of all Eagles, had a short pixie cut like hairstyle with her strawberry blonde hair glowing from the sun behind her. She wore a brown and white dress that went down to her knees that was made to have the appearance of feathers without having to kill anything, and a flowy fabric for her sleeve that fell slightly past the end of her hand.

Talon immediately sprinted over to Firstina who was running around, swatting at a few fake fish in the river. She pulled the small cat into her arms, petting the top of Firstina’s head.

“Please, make sure these things are always this cute!”

“No Hi?”

“Oh, how could I forget! Hi Firstina,” she replied, picking up the cat’s paw and shaking it very gently. “And, of course, you too.” Talon pulled Tim into a tight hug, letting Firstina climb up onto her head in the process.

Talon is one of the few gods that Tim actually likes to hang around with, except for the one week where her eagles first thought about having a nice little snack on his babies, but now they’ve limited the murder to only on rare occasions.

“So, whatcha got there?” she asked, admiring the hundreds of spread out papers surrounding the area, half of them wrinkled by a sleeping cat.

“Oh, just a few new designs I had in mind.”

Talon picked up a page labeled Machairodus. It was the biggest model that Tim wanted to make, being about 2 meters long, with long teeth and an extremely intimidating face. “So, straying away from the cuteness a little I see.”

“Just a bit, maybe.”

“Why is that?”

“I don’t know, I just thought that they could be a little scarier, that’s all.”

“But can’t something be adorable and scary? So far every other god also wants to make their animal the most dangerous version possible, and I just want one animal that is at least slightly cute.” Talon strooked Firstina’s head, looking into Firstina’s shining eyes as she did. “Plus, wouldn’t it be funner to make them look cuddly, but then they pull out a surprise move? It’s what I wanted to do with the eagles but all the other gods complained that I can’t make everything look cute.”

“I guess keeping the fluffiness could help them. Except this dude is staying, he won’t last too long anyway.”

“Hurray!” Talon screamed, waking up the cat for a second.

“Anyway, how’s trying to figure out the best possible wings going for you?”

“I think I’m close to getting them now. I’m thinking of maybe a prototype with more pointed edges next time, and then I’ll gather a few ones made of mist to help test out a few new techniques I have ideas for. I am still struggling though with figuring out a better combination of wings and claws for them.”

There was a distant cry from Talon’s bird who had decided to go on a hunting trip earlier that morning, followed by the shriek of an innocent animal.

“You should probably go take care of that, huh.”

“Most likely,” Talon replied, starting her wings up again, sending most of the leaves nearby flying all around. “I’ll see you late though!” She lifted herself off the ground and disappeared before Tim could yell a reply.

After getting all the papers to stop flying, Tim sat down and worked for even more moons, barely sleeping and living off the new idea of coffee, but he has work to do and not much time to do it before they have to start placing the animals permanently on Erbth.

When Tim was finally done, he felt that the bags under his eyes could hold a few million souls, but, at last, he was done with most of his designs and was finally ready to show them to someone, and he knew exactly who should see them first. Tim sent out the cat hair covered letters by the bird prototypes the very next day, asking for them to come in about a moon.

Before he knew it, the morning came where he could see Puddle, Sleethy, and Talon coming to the tree in the middle from all different directions.

“So, what exactly did you want us to see?” Puddle asked, her words cutting through the silence.

“My newest designs for cats.”

“What, is it 100% more fur or something?”

“More like 500% more fur so it can cover up their new, huge design.” Tim pulled a few mists of the sketches up from his blueprints laying on the ground, and soon about a dozen ferocious cats were pouncing on everything, still acting like they were the size of a pea, while having the ability to murder anything they touch.

“Ssso, what’sss ssso different about these overgrown ssscaredy catsss?” Sleethy asked, backing away from where a jaguar was trying to lay over his feet.

“Well, they’re clearly bigger, and with that now you can clearly see their wit, claws, and teeth.”

“Where did that wit come from?” Puddle commented, backing away from where a tiger was trying to hug her.

“Oh, they always had it. It was the first trait I gave them. It’s just no one got to see it because the fur blocked it out. All the deadliness was just hiding under the layers of fluff, and it took a while to figure out the perfect combination of cuteness, deadliness, and easiness, but I think they’re perfect now.”

“And you will still keep the smallest models right?” Talon asked, already on the floor, cuddling one of the lions.

“You mean Firstina’s prototype. Of course, but I’m thinking about making the fur a bit shorter so they can live in a more hot area, but I had more ideas for the longer fur in the colder climates. I’m thinking of calling them the rusty-spotted cat.”

“And what’s the name of this cutie?” Talon asked, still hugging the giant spotted cat, making the cat purr in reply.

“That’s the cheetah. They’re made to be the fastest land animal and their claws can never be hidden.”

“Still not as great as the megalodon, tho.” Puddle snickered, stepping back into the water, not looking affected at all, but clearly Tim had hit something since she only mentions that creation when she really tries to be impressive against the other, fiercer gods.

“Well, I think it’s great!”

“Ssssure you do, Talon, everything is alwaysss ssso great.”

“Well everything is great.” Talon embraced a lion, starting to braid the misty version of its mane.

Defeated, Sleethy and Puddle went back to their animals to pretend that the conversation never happened. The only one left was Talon, who managed to get all the cats to surround her in a giant hug before the cats slowly disappeared into the mist.

She got up, brushing off some of the grass off of her, before throwing her arm around Tim. “Hey, I bet we can convince Gaius, the God of Pancakes and the Universe, that a few of these cats could be at the top of the food web.”

“Really?’

“Duh, they’re the perfect combination of everything, he’ll love it. Plus I personally know that he has a soft spot for cute animal noises.” She reassured, leading Tim and Firstina, who was resting on Tim’s shoulder, to the steps of clouds to go visit Gaius up on his flying pancake.

[katrinawritesthings]

Junghee/Taeyeon; Fucktown Academy (Part 1/4): PG-13

so hey au where tae goes to a school for Troublemaker Kids (tm) and jung’s the new nanogirl that tae has to show around and it’s just jung never shutting up and tae barely ever talking and both of them being Real Gay

“If we go back here,” Taeyeon mumbles, sticking her hand through the gap between the fence and the gate to finegle the latch open. She shoulders the gate open and tugs Junghee through it and onto the little dirt path that winds away from the library and into the little ravine behind the school. “We’ll go behind the prep dorms and wind up at the observatory.” She points lazily into the distance where they can’t see the top of the building over the rocks.

“Are we allowed to be back here?” Junghee asks as she fits the latch back into place.

“No,” Taeyeon says, and tugs Junghee forward.

ao3

1-2-3-4

What Taeyeon loves the most about her butterfly knife is that the tip of the blade is the perfect shape and size for picking grunk out from under her fingernails. She lies on her bed, one leg bent at the knee and the other crossed over it, foot bobbing lazily in the air, as she works a little speck of dirt away from her pinky. The metallic mint green of it is a nice color too and she’s glad she spent the extra money for that. She rubs the dirt off of the blade with her thumb before wiggling it gently back under her pinky nail to pick out another.

Outside, the sun lowers orange and heavy through her window, warming her skin but thankfully not shining in her eyes. She got in trouble for moving her bed to just the right position to attain that feat, but no one ever actually made her move it back, so. She’s the winner here.

Her pinky nail is getting a little too long, she thinks, so after she finishes cleaning under it she turns her knife and uses it to cut it down to a better size. She flicks the clipped nail in the general direction of her garbage can and holds her pinky close to her face to inspect it better. Yeah. Looks g--

“Taeyeon.” A sharp knock on her door and a sharper voice make her look up. Her knife is flicked closed and slotted into her long sleeve before the dorm leader opens the door without waiting for permission and barges in like usual.

Unlike usual, she’s followed by another person, someone with dark brown eyes and a long brown ponytail and warm golden skin. They have on casual clothes, ripped skinny jeans and a grungy band tshirt, but over their shoulder is a bag and over their arm is a set of school clothes. Taeyeon looks them up and down quietly once before looking back to the authority figure in the room.

“This is Junghee,” she says, placing a hand on Junghee’s shoulder that looks entirely unwanted if the quick scowl Junghee sends her is any indicator. “She’s your new roommate. Be nice. Show her around. And--” she gives Taeyeon a hard, warning look--”Don’t scare this one away.” And then she’s gone, walking back outside and closing the door behind her. Taeyeon snorts at her back. She didn’t scare her old roommates away. They were just too neurotypical for her.

“Hi,” Junghee says, and Taeyeon looks back to her. She doesn’t look scared, or intimidated; just annoyed and grumpy to be here, an emotion that Taeyeon can relate to.

“Hey,” she says, and slips her knife back out of her sleeve. She flips it open to continue doing her nails, foot starting to bob in the air again automatically. “Just throw all my shit on your bed at the end of mine, I’ll clean it up later,” she says, gesturing with her knife to the pile of clothes she’d been throwing on the spare bed on the other side of her room since her last roommate moved out. “Welcome to Fucktown Academy,” she adds in a mumble, remembering the order to be nice. Junghee’s soft snort is barely audible.

“They allow switchblades in Fucktown Academy?” she asks. When Taeyeon glances at her she’s shrugging her bag off of her shoulder and onto her new bed. She looks back to her nails.

“It’s a gravity knife,” she says, “and no.” She shaves off a little extra nail from her pointer finger. “Why, you gonna tell on me?” she asks. She really doesn’t care if Junghee does or not. She has her usual hiding spots for when teachers come snooping in her business. A soft flump at her feet makes her glance up again at the pile of clothes that now sits there.

“I don’t know, are you in here for stabbing someone?” Junghee asks. She’s already turned back to fix her bedsheets out and pick up her pillow to inspect. Taeyeon watches her for another few seconds before focusing on her nails and snorting softly.

“This isn’t jail,” she says. No need to talk like it is. This time Junghee scoffs, yanks the zipper of her bag with a little more force than Taeyeon thinks is usual.

“No, it’s where rich parents send their rulebreaking kids when they’ve gotten into too much trouble and no other schools will take them anymore,” she mutters. “They can act like it’s some regular fancy private school but we all know. It’s like they think we don’t know how to research the shit they’re sending us to. It’s like they don’t care that we know that they’re just dumping us here so they don’t have to deal with us anymore.” Taeyeon hums shortly as she contemplates the length of her middle fingernail. She’s not too far off, honestly.

“You know how fucked up it is, to even have schools like this, by the way?” Junghee adds. Taeyeon hears her pulling stuff out of her bag and tossing it all onto her bed. “Like, just to pile a bunch of troubled kids together and act like fancy uniforms and a prestigious name and constant discipline for the tiniest infractions is the key to ‘fixing’ us instead of, oh, I don’t know, personal attention for each individual child and actually taking the time to understand the reasoning behind their behavior? Not to even fucking mention the disproportionate race populations--you know half these kids wouldn’t be here if they were white--or the higher ratio of neurodivergent and queer and, just, you know, oppressed kids? This whole place is fucked up, don’t get me started.”

Taeyeon hums again as she carefully carves little nicks in her nail to make it pointy like shark teeth. She thought Junghee already had started. So far her first impression of her new roommate is talkative.

“Like, the only reason this place isn’t full of poor kids too is because the school is more interested in taking in money than actually helping the students, and--”

“I’m not in here for stabbing anyone,” Taeyeon says blandly. She glances up to gauge how Junghee feels about being interrupted. She’s glancing back at Taeyeon, just a regular searching look instead of a pissed and offended one. Nice.

“I don’t care about your knife then,” Junghee tells her. She turns back to her bag to keep unpacking her stuff. Taeyeon looks back to her business as well. That’s also nice.

“So what are you in here for then, fellow delinquent?” she asks. Junghee snorts as she pulls out a whole ass pillow from her bag, pink and fluffy, and drops it on top of the school one.

“Forty-seven different reasons, give or take,” she says. “Do you want the long version or the short version?” She glances over her shoulder after she asks to look at Taeyeon like she’s waiting for an answer. Taemin feels like she’ll wind up getting a long story either way, so she shrugs and taps her spiky nail against her thumb to see how it feels.

“Long,” she shrugs. Why not. Junghee nods and moves to start organizing her desk in the corner of the room.

“So the first time I got suspended, I was seven,” she says, pulling out a Sailor Moon figure and placing casually it on the desk. “I don’t really remember all of the details, but. It was Friday, right , during arts and crafts time, and my fucko teacher was being a real shit and--okay, lemme explain him first, actually, it’ll make more sense.”

~

“And then again in second grade, in the third school, like, there was the most awful little goblin boy, his name was Andrew. And every day, every fucking day he would touch me, because I had to walk passed his desk to get to my desk, right. And I told him every time to get his ugly goblin hands off of me, but of course he didn’t listen, because of course his shitty parents didn’t teach him basic respect, and when I told the teacher she just said that he liked me, to which I replied, “alright then, I guess you won’t mind if I grab your ass every time you walk by me, right?” Which, on top of all the other shit--this was like a month in, remember, so I was already considered a mouthy little shit by the teachers at this school too--got me suspended. And you might be thinking, like, ‘Junghee, why did you threaten the teacher instead of threatening the boy?’ And to which I would say, that I did threaten the boy, when I got back from my suspension, because obviously my teacher wasn’t going to do shit. And then after me warning him for three days--which was honestly a really fucking impressive amount of time to restrain myself--I punched him in the mouth and broke two of his teeth. And of course they didn’t care that it was self-defense. So that’s how I got expelled a third time.”

Junghee has a really pretty profile.

Taeyeon sits with her head in her hand, her fingers stimming with the short hairs of her wavy blonde undercut, her elbow propped up on the desk, and just watches Junghee talk, mildly interested. Junghee is looking down at her literature work, scribbling her way through worksheets and vocab shit without breaking stride in her story. Her nose is soft and round, her lips thick and plush, her jaw sharp and square, her eyelashes long and delicate, her ponytail draped soft and long over her shoulder. There’s something about her face, maybe something in her makeup or her lotion, that makes her skin have the faintest glitter. As she speaks, sometimes, her mouth moves in just the right way that a particular little speck of glitter on her cheek twinkles at Taeyeon.

“Probably wouldn’t have been expelled if it wasn’t right after I got back from being suspended,” she’s saying, a contemplative little puff to her lips. “But, you know. Whatever.” She shrugs and flips her pencil around to erase something. “So then I was schoolless for a while, but not as long as the last time before my parents found me a new place. So, this is still second grade, and I didn’t get expelled again yet, but--”

She’s cut off by the bell ringing to end the class. Taeyeon glances at the clock as she stands up and pulls her bag over her shoulder. Neat. Junghee takes more time to get up because she has to shove all of her work into her bag first, but when she finally stands up, she looks expectantly at Taeyeon.

“Where now, boss?” she asks. Taeyeon snorts at the new title, but reaches to tug once on Junghee’s sleeve to get her to follow.

“Nowhere,” she says. “Lit class is last on Mondays. Now I go back to the dorm and chill.” She gestures blandly in the direction of the dorm rooms as they leave the classroom, then looks at Junghee out of the corner of her eye. “Unless you want a tour of the school,” she adds. That should probably be included in the whole “show her around” thing that she’s supposed to be doing. At the suggestion, though, Junghee scrunches her nose.

“That’ll be so much work,” she mumbles. “I’m tired. Give me a tour on the weekend or something.” She stops at a vending machine in the hallway to get a water bottle. Taeyeon takes it from her hand after she takes her first drink and has a sip for herself, then hits four of the buttons on the machine and kicks it on the left side, then collects the four quarters that tinkle into the change slot, and hands it all back. Junghee takes another drink and pockets the change without commenting on her hacking skills or the theft.

“Anyway,” she says after swallowing. “So second grade, fourth school. By now I’m realizing that all schools are the same bullshit. Kinda early I guess, but we already know I was a cynical little eight year old.”

“Mmhmm,” Taeyeon hums. She stuffs her hands into the pockets of her slacks as they leave the school building. Her fingers play with the half stick of chalk she snapped and stole from math class earlier. The teacher hasn’t said anything but she knows that he knows that someone is fucking with him.

Junghee keeps talking as they walk across the campus to the dorms, and then as they enter the dorms, and then when Taeyeon flops and melts into her bed. Junghee sits on her own bed and pulls out a notebook that Taeyeon didn’t see her using in any of their classes earlier. It looks like there's just short lines of words written, crossed out, and heavily edited; poetry or something. Taeyeon isn’t sure how Junghee plans to write some artsy shit while also telling her life story, but she doesn’t seem to find it difficult at all.

“And it’s like, yeah, I was right, but also, like, I didn’t start to grasp the concept of picking my battles until, like, sophomore year, so,” she says as she reads over what she has written down. Taeyeon closes her eyes and runs her spiky nail back and forth over the pad of her thumb in a very nice new stim as she listens.

And listens, and listens, and listens some more. Junghee can really go on for a while. Taeyeon is impressed; she can’t hold a conversation for more than half an hour without getting a sore throat. Half the time she can’t even talk.

When the sun starts going down she yawns and turns to her side to watch Junghee speak instead of keeping her eyes closed or staring at the ceiling like usual. She’s speaking through a bitten lip as she focuses on her work. Her left hand writes out words and her right plays with her long ponytail. She twists it through her fingers, brushes it slowly, plays with the ends. Taeyeon watches her hair shift and move against her hand in a daze. It looks really soft.

“So, I’m coming up on the end of second grade in this school relatively okay, but, like--”

“Can I play with your hair?” Taeyeon asks. Junghee pauses and looks up; after a few moments, Taeyeon flicks her gaze from her ponytail to her nose and back to pretend to make eye contact for a second. She’s found that that helps in asking for permission for things. After another moment, Junghee shrugs.

“Sure, but you come over here,” she says, pointing at Taeyeon and then to the bed. “I’m not moving.”

“Okay,” Taeyeon mumbles. She takes a deep breath, rolls herself off of the bed, catches herself before she falls all the way, and straightens up with a stretch and a yawn. Digging in her desk drawers first, she pushes aside her collection of color-organized paper hole punch holes and grabs her secret packet of cookies. Then she shuffles over to Junghee’s bed and gets on.

“They let you stash food in here?” Junghee asks, frowning at her cookies. “Sit behind me,” she adds, scooting forward a little.

“No,” Taeyeon says, and offers Junghee a cookie as she wiggles behind her, legs on either side of her hips. “Gonna tell on me?” she asks.

“No,” Junghee says around her cookie. She leans back against Taeyeon, nuzzles into her neck, breathes deep, and lets out a relaxed breath. “So, anyway, I make it to the end of the year fine, but everyone knows I’m loud and feisty or whatever, so everyone’s, like, pre wary of me going into third grade,” she says. Taeyeon thinks it’s rad how she can just pick up where she left off with no problem.

She picks up Junghee’s ponytail and tugs it gently from in front of her to more of the side, where she can run her fingers through its length and appreciate the softness. It’s a relaxing movement for her arm as well and she breathes easy, closing her eyes again and resting her cheek on the top of Junghee’s head. When she’s done with her snack she slips her other arm around Junghee’s waist to hold her close for comfort. This is so nice.

And it’s even nicer when, half an hour later, Junghee reaches behind herself during in her story of her fifth expulsion to tug her hair bobble off. She spreads her fingers to slide it down to bracelet her wrist and then goes back to her writing. Taeyeon at first pouts at the loss of the easy access, but once she threads her fingers all the way through Junghee’s hair a few times, she discovers a very familiar scratchy sensation.

“Oh my god, you have an undercut,” she breathes. Immediately her palm is against the back of Junghee’s head, fingers rubbing the short hairs gently and making her whole hand all tingly. This is incredibly nice. Junghee hums a small noise of agreement in the middle of her story and keeps going.

~

The bustle and chatter of the cafeteria hurts Taeyeon’s head, but she has a headphone in her right ear and she’s leaning the other side of her head against Junghee’s, so it’s not too overwhelming yet. She can handle it. And Junghee asked her to bring her to the school queers, so she brought Junghee to the school queers. The good ones anyway; the ones that haven’t been assholes to her.  Eunsook, Gwi, and Minjung, all in their usual little circle table in the corner of the room, accepted them into their little group easily. Now Junghee sits and munches her way through an ugly school lunch while she talks to her new friends.

Taeyeon already ate during their second class so she just chills, eyes closed, one hand stimming with her spiky nail and the other stimming with Junghee’s undercut. She thinks it’s very nice of Junghee to let her keep doing this near constantly over the passed three days.

The other three asked for the short version of how Junghee got here, which, like Taeyeon expected, is still pretty long. Lunch is almost over and she hasn’t even gotten from her first expulsion to where she was with Taeyeon somewhere in the middle of fourth grade. Taeyeon is only half listening to the review of the story because it helps her keep her mind off of the rest of the noise in the room.

“Did you ever think, like, maybe you should keep your mouth shut?” Minjung asks lazily. “So you wouldn’t get in trouble?”

“No,” Junghee says promptly. “Anyway, so then I told her that she shouldn’t be in charge of children if she didn’t know how to talk to them like they were human beings instead of, like, animals, and maybe she should go be a vet instead since she seemed more qualified for it, which as you can imagine didn’t go down too well with the literal principal, so.” When she shifts to get more comfortable on the bench her thigh rubs and presses against Taeyeon’s. Taeyeon blinks her eyes open sleepily to look down at where their sides are pressed together. Hmm. That’s warm and good.

“Please tell me the rest of the school found out you said that and--”

“Can I hold you in my lap?” Taeyeon asks, tapping the back of Junghee’s head lightly to get her attention.

“Don’t interrupt me,” Gwi snaps. Taeyeon glances up at their little frown, shrugs, and looks back to nudge Junghee’s head with her nose.

“You’re warm,” she murmurs.

“Sure,” Junghee says. She slips her bag off of her lap and moves to sit on top of Taeyeon’s thighs, wiggling to get comfortable as Taeyeon wraps her arms snug around her and fits her chin on her shoulder. Her weight is a heavy pressure that makes Taeyeon feel warm on the inside. Nice.

“I always knew you were a giant lesbian too,” Eunsook says fondly. Taeyeon snorts without looking up.

“Of course I’m a fucking lesbian, have you seen me?” she asks. She doesn’t know what kind of not lesbian would wear as much denim and plaid as she does, or go to the lengths to modify a school uniform to include so much denim and plaid. Plus all the other smaller shit she’s sure Eunsook just picked up on because she also knows the lesbian code.

“Oh, that reminds me,” Junghee says, snapping her fingers. She sounds like she has a broad smirk on her lips as she says, “One time I got expelled because I was talking about my gaydar and then when a cishet tried to straightsplain to me why gaydar is a bad thing I corrected her so thoroughly she ran to the teacher and told them the big mean lesbian--I’m pan--was harassing her.” She finds Taeyeon’s hand on her stomach and lifts it up to the back of her head; Taeyeon rubs her thumb over her undercut again immediately. She guesses Junghee likes it too, then. Rad. “But that was, like, two years ago,” Junghee adds. “Back to third grade.”

Without Junghee’s head to muffle the cafeteria noise, Taeyeon pulls out her other earbud and wiggles it into her left ear. From there, Junghee’s voice is just a quiet murmur and Taeyeon dozes off easily until she’s poked awake for their last class.

~

“And then here behind the--hup--library,” Taeyeon says, getting her hands on the cracked low wall and hoisting herself up. She drops back down in the dirt on the other side and turns to watch Junghee follow and hold her hand as she hops down. “If you hop that wall and follow that little path right, you’ll wind up hopping another wall and landing in the ugly little lawn gnome habitat the preps have set up by their dorms.” She scrunches her nose in distaste. Like it wasn’t ugly enough that they have a lawn for no reason, they had to populate it with expensive ass high quality gnomes instead of cheap funny ones. A double waste.

“Lawns are such classist trash,” Junghee says as she fixes the school hoodie that she borrowed from Taeyeon around her waist. She said she would give it back once she got around to buying one herself from the school shop, but Taeyeon doesn’t mind. Her entire wardrobe is just hoodies, binders, and jeans. It’s not like she doesn’t have a bunch to spare. And it was one of the hoodies she hadn’t gotten around to sewing weights into yet so she wasn’t going to wear it any time soon anyway. She hums in agreement of Junghee’s continued little grumbles about lawns and slips her arm around her shoulders to tug her forward and to the chain link fence that encloses this little area.

“If we go back here,” she mumbles, sticking her hand through the gap between the fence and the gate to finegle the latch open. She shoulders the gate open and tugs Junghee through it and onto the little dirt path that winds away from the library and into the little ravine behind the school. “We’ll go behind the prep dorms and wind up at the observatory.” She points lazily into the distance where they can’t see the top of the building over the rocks.

“Are we allowed to be back here?” Junghee asks as she fits the latch back into place.

“No,” Taeyeon says, and tugs Junghee forward.

“Thought so,” Junghee mutters, and follows. “This wasn’t what I meant when I asked for a tour, you know. You’re not in here for trespassing, are you?” she asks.

“No,” Taeyeon says again.

“Mm,” Junghee hums, and then, “Where was I?” she asks.

“Fifth grade, school one, suspension one,” Taeyeon says.

“Right,” Junghee says. “So, like, I didn’t get expelled, yet, but that was the first time I got suspended at this school, so I had the reputation and the warning, you know? Though this wasn’t like a bad reputation or anything, like, everyone knew it was just a technicality, and like, the rubber chicken thing was awesome, so. I’m good so far.” The sun peeps at them through thin layers of clouds, too covered up to be warm but not covered enough to stop shining into Taeyeon’s eyes if she looks the wrong way. Inconvenient.

She slips her hand up to rub Junghee’s undercut again. She couldn’t do this yesterday because yesterday Junghee decided to spend her Friday night doing whatever it is that the queers do on Friday nights. Taeyeon saw them chilling outside the music store when she biked over to the town to grab the week’s new comic book releases, so she guesses it was that. She’s glad they had a nice time.

This is a nice time too, just walking through the ravine with a cute nanogirl under her arm. Taeyeon should do this more often. Maybe when it gets warmer. For now, she yawns into the back of her hand and stares at their feet as they kick up little poofs of dirt.

“What’s through that tunnel there?”

“What’s what?” Taeyeon asks. She looks up, confused, at Junghee, who’s looking at her, also confused. Junghee points behind her.

“The t--”

“Oh, the tunnel, yeah,” Taeyeon says as her processing catches up. She knows what Junghee meant, yeah. The little walkway in the rocks behind her that’s only blocked off by an easily hoppable fence and a vandalized “keep out” sign. She glances at it as they pass. “It goes to a path from the train tracks to almost all the way around the school,” she says, pointing a vague circle in the air. “It ends at that dirt path by the parking lot. Also it branches off again to a secret little beach, but sand puts me into sensory hell, so.” They’re not going there. Junghee hums shortly at her answer. Taeyeon doesn’t know what that means but she also feels like she doesn’t really have to, so. Whatever.

“Oh, wait,” she says suddenly, stopping short. That reminds her. “Here,” she says. She pulls Junghee to a small tree and sits down with her back against it. “Here,” she says again, and fumbles in her bag for the snacks she brought. “Hungry.” She’s not actually hungry, she thinks, but she can never really tell what the fuck her tummy wants from her so she finds it’s easier to just eat something every few hours anyway. She pulls out a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and then holds out her bag.

“Oh, sure, thanks,” Junghee says. She sits cross legged across from Taeyeon and takes an apple and the bag of peanut butter cracker sandwiches. “Do the staff know about the secret beach?” she asks. Taeyeon pauses for a moment, thinking, and then shrugs. She’s sure some of the older staff do but she doesn’t know how much this year’s round of prefects and new teachers know. Junghee shrugs back at her and leans back on one hand to look around.

“This is so plant gay,” she mumbles. She reaches into her own bag and pulls out her notebook. Flipping it open to a green little tab, she finds a fresh page and starts writing. Taeyeon reads “plant gay and pb&j” upside down and nods. That’s gonna be a song about her all right. As she writes and eats, Junghee continues on with her life story. Taeyeon is again impressed with how well she can multitask. She can barely eat and pay attention at the same time, but she does her best because so far tiny fifth grade Junghee is turning out to be a real crackerjack.

[robininthelabyrinth]

"New writer ask meme: based on my body of work, what’s something you’d like to see me try to write?" like. you wrote a story within a /menu/ so you can take this as a prompt or just respond but. if you can make a menu compelling, what about something else. like a professor binn's history lecture, swapping in for the teacher and subject of your choice, but something where the students have fallen asleep five minutes in but there's a compelling story under the surface. idk if it's possible, (cont)

re: the hist lecture thnx for letting me know tumblr didn’t send it! can’t remember xactly what was in each ½ of the ask but short version: if any1 can make a dry lecture (note: not just any lecture, but a boring one), abt history or other, compelling, it’d be u. just as people say that x celeb reading the phone book could be cool, I feel the same could be true for u, which brings me to thing I’d like to see u write 2: a phone book story. idk how the flip it would work but it’d be interesting

————————————————————————————————

I think that my Makers of History fic might fulfill your first craving - it’s not boring, but it’s written in the style of a history textbook :) 

That being said, your SECOND prompt irresistibly caught my eye.

It’s not a phone book, but I hope you still enjoy!

Fic:  Central City Classifieds: December 2017 Edition (direct link to Ao3)

Fandom: Flash, Arrow, Legends of TomorrowPairing: Leonard Snart/Mick Rory, suggestions of unfulfilled Mick Rory/Caitlin Snow

Summary: Central City Picture News is a respectable news organization, with serious journalism, editorials, opinion columns, sports coverage, arts review, and international news.

So why does everyone keep reading the classifieds?

(Answer: because they’re hilarious.)

———————————————————————————————–

CENTRAL CITY CLASSIFIEDS - December 2017

New Business Opening:Super Tailoring: For All Your Superhero or Supervillain NeedsAsk for ~Leo~–New Business Opening:Supersuit Construction Corp.Super-suits for Superheroes, Supervillains, and More!Theme-appropriate nicknames included!Ask for C. RamonOur Motto: “We make proper supersuits here – our competitors should just go back to their stupid earth where the bad guys need suspenders to hold their outfits together.”–New Business Opening:Super-RepairsWe Fix Mistakes In Science Done By Supersuit Construction Corp.Ask for Harry W.–Announcement:All creditors to whom Harrison Wells owed money, please come to STAR Labs for a pleasant surprise. Ask for C. Ramon; he’ll direct you to the right place.–New Business Opening:TherapyVery Reasonable Prices – Sliding Scale AvailableFree to Superheroes and SupervillainsPLEASE YOU SHOULD ALL GO GET THERAPY RIGHT NOWAsk for ~Leo~

–Announcement:39 Surprisingly High-End Possibly-From-The-Future Toasters for Sale. No returns.Ask for B. Allen.–For sale, goods:One Cold Gun, barely used. Must go to good home. Must agree to take angst, hallucinations, budding drinking problem, and mourning of 30 years of partnership and marriage with you.–New Business Announcement:John Constantine – Exorcist, Demonologist and Master of the Dark ArtsIn Town for a Limited Time Only!–Wanted:Better security system capable of removing unwanted stowaways from advanced-future time ship. Call and ask for Sara.–Wanted:Any security system. At all. Please. Villains just walk in all the time.Call STAR Labs.–New Business Opening:Legendary Security ServicesBe Protected By the Legends of Tomorrow(no warranties apply, please ensure you have appropriate insurance before hiring)–Job Opening:Legendary Security ServicesSeeking Security Consultant – Superhero Experience WelcomeMust have Zambezi Totem To ApplyAsk for A. Jiwe and Z. Tomaz.All Time Periods Welcome.–Wanted:Any OTHER security system.Call STAR Labs.–New Business Opening:Colorful Light Show & Anger Management TherapyProcess Your Emotions, See Beautiful ColorsAsk for R. G. Biv.–Job Opening:Individual with meta powers wanted for long-term scheme against the Flash.Applications can be left by the statue of the Thinker in Central City Art Museum.–Announcement:Are you fucking kidding me?? Does that actually work?? – B. Allen.–Job Opening:New Mentor Figure. Must Not Be Evil.Harrison Wells doppleganger preferred.No individuals named Eobard need apply.Stringent interview process being implemented.Applications can be sent to STAR Labs. Honestly, just walk in, there’s no security system.–New Business Opening:Outdoor Wedding ServicesPlanning Your Outdoor Wedding? Worried About the Weather?Don’t Be!Call M. Mardon To Ensure Your Perfect Day!(Also available to ruin your exes’ wedding, but it costs extra.)–New Business Opening:Welcome to The FLASH Museum!Learn all about your favorite local Supehero in intimate, behind-the-scenes detail!Call: the H.R. Wells Estate.–Cease and Desist Order Lawsuit Filed Against the Flash Museum. C/O the Flash, STAR Labs.–While I’m at it, Cease and Desist Order Filed Against Local “Team Flashers” Club. It’s not funny! C/O the Flash, STAR Labs.–Wanted:Someone capable of making puppets in a wide variety of shapes and sizes.Preferably soft and capable of resisting impact; designed to be used in therapy sessions.Ask for ~Leo~–For sale, goods:Slutty clothing, barely used. Very reasonable price, just need to get rid of it.Ask for Snow at Star Labs.–For sale, goods:All clothing in my closet. Basically free. Need to get rid of it in revenge.Ask for Frost at Star Labs.–For sale, services:All the ice you could possibly want, no need for ice machine.Ask for Frost at Star Labs. Say that Snow sent you.–For sale, services:Under-the-table medical care. Reasonable prices.Feel free to report to the local medical licensing board afterwards if dissatisfied.Ask for Snow at Star Labs. Say that Frost sent you.–Announcement:Local man with flamethrower seeking attractive girl with ice powers for NSA good time while he is in the present location/time. Willing to annoy additional personality for free.–Announcement:Nice try. No.– Snow and Frost–Business Announcement:Therapy – now offering relationship and family counsellingAlso lessons in pre-planning, emotional openness, and honest communicationAsk for ~Leo~–New Business Opening:Ever wanted to swim with the sharks, but afraid or unwilling to pay for travel? Never fear!Swimming Lessons with King SharkReasonable prices.Call ARGUS for additional details.–Wanted:Secret room for plotting and/or emotional processing of grief. No spying devices allowed.If you have any locations, call John Constantine, Leo Snart, or Mick Rory.Payment available only in Earth-X cash, since the other two are broke.–Announcement:Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak are pleased to announce that they will be wed in a ceremony on the Star City Central Green at the end of this week.–Announcement:Another one?! Didn’t you two get married ALREADY?A Totally Not Bitter Central City Picture News Journalist–Announcement:Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak are pleased to announce that they will be renewing their vows at the end of this week, this time before a rabbi and their friends.–Announcement:You didn’t have a rabbi the FIRST time?Noah Kutler & Donna Smoak–Announcement:What the hell are you two doing filing a joint newspaper announcement???Felicity Smoak–Announcement:Answer us about the rabbi question.Noah Kutler & Donna Smoak–Announcement:They would’ve been able to use the rabbi we used at my wedding, but they got him killed.Frost–Announcement:That was MY wedding, not yours!Snow–Announcement:Best wishes to Felicity Smoak and Oliver Queen on their upcoming vow renewal.We’re sorry for accidentally setting your entire extended family on you.Team Flash–Announcement:Did you REALLY re-gift us the espresso machine we gave you??Oliver Queen–Announcement:It was on your registry in exactly the same way it was on ours.Iris West.–Wanted:Someone willing to obtain a list of ingredients, some very esoteric, without asking too many questions as to why. Speed of the essence – need to get all the ingredients before the next full moon.Call John Constantine, Leo Snart, or Mick Rory.–Wanted:An army willing to destroy the world and worship at the feet of GRODD.No need to apply. Just think the name of GRODD and we will come for you.–For Sale:Telepathy-Resistant Emergency Evacuation Devices, available to help you resist Grodd’s mind control long enough to escape. The newest fashion statement. Also, basically free.Available at STAR Labs.–Job Opening:Qualified therapists with an advanced understanding of ethics, client confidentiality, and self-defense. As many as possible. At once. This is so much worse than I could have possibly believed.Ask for ~Leo~–New Business Opening:Freaky Supervillain Carnival(Totally NOT a set up trap for the Flash)Come see the Dangerous MIRROR MAZE! The magnificent, nauseating WHIRLYGIG!Job opening available for a clown, preferably with teeth, to keep away certain unwanted old acquaintances.Call S. Scudder and R. Dillon.–Wanted:Surveillance method capable of keeping an eye on three grown men with the capabilities of John Constantine, Leo Snart, and Mick Rory (included for comparison).Something’s up, and Gideon’s not sharing.Must be compatible with 25th century technology.–For sale, goods:Exploding dreidels, for a ridiculously deadly Hannukah prank!Totally not the CCPD trying to trap the Trickster again.Entirely by coincidence, please call the CCPD if you’re interested.–Wanted:Young black men who for a variety of flimsy reasons are no longer currently engaged in active super-heroing except in awesome but sadly brief cameos.We’re making our own club over in Keystone.Call c/o W. West and J. Jackson.–Wanted:Bounty Hunter capable of tracking and eliminating that pesky C. Ramon for having made a crude comment at my precious and perfect daughter.Call Josh (Breacher) on Earth-19–Wanted:Bodyguard capable of protecting me from a crazy overprotective asshole dad who can’t accept the fact that we’re ALREADY SLEEPING TOGETHER.Female bodyguard capable of extreme badassery preferred.Call C. Ramon on Earth-1–Announcement:I, Josh, hereby apologize to my adult daughter for having sought to control her sexuality in such an inappropriate manner. She is free to date whomever she wishes and progress in her relationship at her own chosen speed.Please call off your Amazons.–Business Name Change:Legendary Security Services will now be known as Legendary Amazon Security.Because we’re just that awesome.A. Jiwe, Z. Tomaz, K. Saunders–Police Announcement:Will anyone with any knowledge of what caused that giant blue-green explosion in STAR Labs please call the CCPD immediately? Ask to speak with Detective West.–Retraction:Cold gun no longer available for sale following explosive retrieval process.Bill for all property damage may be directed c/o John Constantine.–Announcement:We are sad to announce that John Constantine has passed away.Please send any bills for property damage care of Zatana.–Announcement:John Constantine is not actually dead. He’s just hiding away on the Waverider again.Personal note: John, if I get one more bill, I’m coming for your balls.Zatanna–Retraction:The reports of John Constantine’s death are greatly exaggerated.We apologize for the inconvenience.He is, however, unavailable to accept any bills.–New Business Opening:Magic Tricks by Abra KadabraMention Harry Potter One More Time And I Will Break My Parole And Kill You All–Invitation:The Epic Len and Leo Welcome Back/Going Away PartyAll Welcome – Bring Presents(Puns preferred)–For sale, goods:One freaky supervillain carnival set up, barely used. Very reasonable price.Have to leave town ASAP because there are now TWO Snarts and that’s two too many.Call S. Scudder and R. Dillon.–Wanted:Seeds for Golden Delicious Apples, Golden Berries, and Golden Corn.Please send to Gotham City, c/o Lisa Snart.–Announcement:Lisa, why are you in Gotham? And what’s with all the plants???With love,Your Concerned Friends and Family

[torathedemigod-blog]

Captured - A Mermaids Tale

Coming of age is a scary thing for all mers. Everything you think you know changes, and you are expected to make many life changing decisions. It is also when you become receptive, and when you start searching for a mate.

The first sign I when your old, dull colored scales start to come off in sheets like sea-snake skin. They're replaced by bright, vibrant scales.

I was sitting in my room, reading a book, and scratching my tail once and a while. All of a sudden, a patch of skin floated off. I looked down to see ribbon like strips of skin floating around my tail. I gasped.

As soon as your parents see that you are coming of age, they send you out to find materials for a fancy, new Skæ. The more skilled you are at weaving and sewing, the better quality your Skæ will be, and more males will take notice of you.

During the period of Coming of Age, you will be in a great deal of pain. For the females, your breasts begin to grow and fill out, you will take on more of a curvy shape, and your reproductive system becomes active. The pheromones that you give off shows males you're receptive. For the males, the reproductive system will be growing, you become taller, more square shouldered, your voice deepens and the webbing on your hands grows to about one inch past your fingertips.

It had been three days since my tail started shedding. The cramps had started. I lay in my sponge bed, naked. It helped to be naked. Not as much pressure. My breasts hurt, my tail hurt, my stomach hurt. I caught a small whiff of what males seemed to go wild for. To me it just smelled like sickly sweet smell of a rotting corpse. I sighed, blowing the noxious scent out of my throat. I had raided the kitchen last night, and the cravings were hitting me hard. I reached under my bed for a candied crab-apple and some manatee-milk cookies, shoving them in my mouth and crunching grudgingly. I got up and swam over to my window, pulled the curtains closed, and then swam to my mirror. I looked awful. My tail was blotchy and sickly, my hair was matted and tangled, my eyes were tired, but my breasts were a little bit plumper since the last I had looked at them. As I stood examining myself, there was a knock on my door. I hurriedly tugged on a Skæ that was too small and wrapped my blankets around me.

I opened the door to my father.

"Hello, Papa."

"Hello, Saskia- Ugh.....what's that smell?"

I sniffed. It reeked of pheromones.

"Oona next door is coming of age." I said quickly, trying to keep from blushing.

It wasn't entirely a lie. Four days ago I saw her mating with a boy of a dark blue tail in her room, and she came of age only a few weeks ago. Guess she forgot to close the curtains...

"How do you know about coming of age?" He asked suspiciously.

I blushed.

"Oona told me about it."

I said, embarrassed. She had told me briefly, but yesterday I had gotten a book on it from Ala the bookkeeper. He shrugged.

"It's about time you learned. I guess I should have a chat with you."

He swam in and sat on my bed.

The dreaded 'talk'

I thought.

I closed the door and sat on a cushy sea sponge. Unlike human skin, which infects the coral and kills its outer layer, mermaid tails are covered in an insulating slime which helps the coral grow.

"As you know," My father began, "Around this age mermaids begin to change. They mature into beautiful merwomen. They're tails start to shed, giving way to shiny brilliant scales, their breasts grow, enabling them to feed their future children, and their reproductive systems become active. This will happen to you eventually, and when it does you must find a mate. Many males will ask you to become theirs, and to give birth to their spawn. You must choose carefully, my dear, for merpeople mate for life. You choose the male that you think suitable, and then you bring him to us. He will tell us the plan of his mating display. We will ask him questions and inspect him, and then he will take you to a quiet place and perform a mating display. I may be anything from dancing and flickering around to.......exposing himself to you. You will decide if you are impressed by the display, and if you are, then you will bond. If you aren't, you will move on and look for a different courtship partner. I found this book shoved under the couch and thought it might be useful to explaining past my knowledge."

He brought out the book I had gotten from Ala. Lucky thing my mother hadn't found it first or she would have known that I had come of age immediately. I took it from him hesitantly.

"Thanks, Papa. I'll read it."

"Good." He looked relived. He got up and swam out the door, closing it behind him. flopped back on my bed, slowly scrolling through the pages of the book. My father had always wanted a son. He had told my mother that he wouldn't know what to do with a girl. I suspect he didn't want to try.

The next day I left for the kelp forest, in order to collect resources for my Skæ. I swam through the kelp for a little while,once and a while picking some pretty seaweed or collecting a few good shells. I didn't know what I wanted to do for my Skæ yet. Frankly, I didn't care. I had no intention of searching for a mate. I was going to take my time and wait for my mate to come to me, if he even came at all. I didn't want to stay home every day, listening to the whining of children and then have my mate come home and expect me to lay in bed and take it as he sweats over me. I didn't want to give birth to 15 screaming babies and lose my shape and beauty to sleepless nights and motionless days. It's all give and no get, and I have no time for that. But, I'll go through the motions leading up to it for the sake of my mother, who is a hopeless romantic, especially when it concerns me.

I eventually got to a little clearing, where there was a good amount of delicate new kelp sprouts and small colorful rocks. Perfect for a fancy Skæ. I unloaded the contents of my bag onto the ground. I had brought with me my weaving board, a small abrasive rock for polishing rocks, a few bone knives, some seal leather, and my fishbone needle. I collected what I needed and started on my Skæ. A few hours later I had completed it. A fresh green wrap around, weaved with colored rocks and shells, and red tassels that flowed down to my navel. I packed up my things and began to head home.

When I was about halfway back, I felt my back muscles tense and tingle with anticipation. I turned and spotted a Great White Shark swimming towards me, its beady emotionless eyes staring right through my body. My breath quickened as I thrashed my tail and sped foreward, manuvering through the kelp. As I swam, the seaweed became more and more tangled, forcing me to take a path that was unfamiliar to me. I looked behind me again. The shark was approaching quickly, its mouth gaping and full of sharp serrated teeth. My eyes widend as I imagined my body being torn and battered as it gobbled me down. All of a sudden I slammed into a wall of matted kelp. I struggled to free myself from it as the shark approached, but only succeeded in tangling myself further. I looked back at the shark as it swam towards me. All of a sudden a dark shape bolted across the shark's path. A cloud of blood erupted from its gills and it jerked its head, swimming off in a hurry. I stared after it, desheveled and gasping. After I untangled myself from the kelp, I hurried home, hiding under the covers of my bed until nightfall.

Now I'm sneaking out and heading to the beach. There was no moon tonight, so the darkness aided me as I made my escape. I swam along the soft rippled sand, breathing in the cool water as it flowed over me. I reached the beach, and sped up, leaping out of the water and onto the sand. I couldn't breathe for a few seconds. I closed my eyes and waited, feeling my throat tighten as my trachea opened up and my gills laid flat against my neck. I slid farther up the beach, and began to grind my tail against the sand, hoping to scratch and scrape at the scales until they were too ruined for any merman to be attracted to. Once I heard a disturbance in the water, right behind some boulders. I spotted the glitter of eyes too. I hunkered down in the sand, piling it around me, and watched. There was another disturbance, and the thing disappeared into the water. I let out a sigh of relief and continued to thrash around in the sand until there were grains underneath each scale, then I slipped back in the water and swam home, cuddling underneath the blankets and drifting into an exhausted sleep.

***********

Want to read more? Go to

https://www.wattpad.com/story/136852736-captured-edited-continued-version

Or go to Wattpad.com, search for rue4life, and click on Captured. (I suggest edited version, much less clingy)

[cafechaussette]

[complete and revised version of some fragments I published here]        

  The island has a firm grip. I am slamming against the ripped cliff. I am slamming against the black sand. I move away I withdraw to the depths I build a city at the heart of the mainland but always I keep slamming against the black sand. I spend nights folded in spider webs. In the distance the white, long-tailed birds watch the harbour. Above the forest, where the mountain raptors race, a few bonfires cast dark columns of smoke to warm the rice because it’s Sunday.

           The island has a firm grip. We’re asleep in a hammock under a full moon. We’re on the beach and the moon is huge as if it were going to fall on the black sand and crush us. But neither do we nor the moon fall. Though the swell rages. The moon tickles the waves and they groan and bite fiercely like wild dogs. When we wake up with the white pale dawn the waves come licking the trunks of the Australian pine trees and soon they will steal our bags full of potato cakes and beans and drag them to the heart of the Indian ocean. But we leave our hammocks and we save the picnic. The guitar is safe. We believe the tide is not a friendly tide. The wind rises as though it wanted to back up the missing moon. We say we must leave. We pack the guitar and the beans and the hammocks and we leave. I’m at the back of the car. Mum is driving. We find mushrooms. Dad will cook them. I love the ferns. Everything is bright. Where we live it’s always misty. Bright air from dawn to ten and then mist. We say “i farin’”. Often I go up into the forest and if I find a friendly dog on my way I let him follow and we pick goyaviers which are like little guavas, sweet berries red on the outside and white on the inside. In the mountains, they grow everywhere.

           The black sand beach spreads over miles and miles. There, we slept in the hammocks beneath the huge moon and near the mean tide. There is another place. The sand turns to black rock. It’s volcano dust that did not scatter yet. It makes a passage and there the swell really is raging. It never never stops slamming against the dark cliff. There the sun is never tamed, or when it is tamed the sky challenges the ocean with pouring rain. There is no reef but the low tide allows an odd field of rocks to emerge from the sea. Black rocks that leave holes. Tiny abysses. There in the holes, even when the water has withdrawn, the sea remains. It’s an aquarium. The best aquarium. When the tide is low we go there and we have a picnic and then we go to the holes, carefully, from afar they’re like really big puddles but actually they’re pools, the rocks are hurting our feet. We swim and we play for hours inside the holes. The holes are really like the lagoon, but tiny. Lots and lots of corals and fishes. Once I saw a lion-fish. Once I also stepped on an urchin. I had spines in my skin for two days. When the waves come back and they come back real quick, we must leave. The holes will disappear for a while. We pack again and we leave again. At home, everything ends up smelling like salt. I’ve got sand in my pyjamas. In the morning birds wake me up with tedious tweeting they sit on my desk and the moment I stretch my arms they fly away in panic.

           Once we saved a tiny little baby bird. We fed it milk and bread crumbs. It was getting better already. Then we went to school and when we came back my dog was all happy-go-proudy with the baby bird in its mouth. I didn’t cry.

           Mist gets bleak sometimes. Quite wearisome. Though you can jump on the yellow bus to go down the mountain where there’s a lot of sun but also awful webless jumping spiders and way too many people. I like it better up in the mountains anyway. Less dusty. Lots of plants. And the dogs aren’t mean up in the mountains.

           I watch the bamboos grow. Bigger each day (Icheck each day). Dad is tired. The chicken has pooped in the living room. Sometimes it even lays an egg in the living room and of course the egg breaks. Even I can tell how stupid chickens are.

             The island has a firm grip. I didn’t cry when my dog killed the tiny little bird and I didn’t cry when the neighbour’s dog killed the three kittens (bowels out, scattered about the yard). I miss the tree on which I cried when my dog died.

           School is okay. The older ones say they go swimming with the sharks and they show their scars but they must be knife scars, I think. Or coral wounds.

           The black sand is black because of the volcano. The volcano is in love with the raging swell. Soft tyrants. They meet with tempests. The sea clasps its wide violent arms around the mountain’s waist. It’s going to kiss the whole island. The volcano pours its love. The forest ignites. School is okay but the classrooms are too hot.

           Dusk. On the playground in front of the house. Lungs filled with tar. I hide crouching by the electric board when a car passes by. No dogs. No one no nothing. Orange lights start catching the fog. Even here up in the mountains one can hear the sea singing. I can hear the sea. Soon I get back home. We have a fireplace but make no fire. My elder sister lives many adventures. I protect her. My little sister grows like the bamboos. I protect her. My older sister has fits and she’s training to get an iron heart. I protect her. We stand. We protect. We watch. We are a wounded tribe. We stand. There are too many men. I will knock them down. I hide by the electric board. Mum is anxious. Dad is ill. Dad is ill and we know the enemy is inside it has gotten in sneakily like the chicken.

           We stand. They’re bright. My sisters. They’re bright. They’re fierce, they crouch by the river, they walk three days through the mountains, they burn up like beacons we’re wounded but we stand.

           When a man comes my tongue is ready. I taste him. If he’s okay I get my tongue back in. If he’s not okay I get my teeth out and I bite his hand off.

[amhmfilm]

Part 4 of 5

Envy + Yaphet Kotto + This Machine Kills - A Collaboration Song

Mare - Anisette

Mare - They Sent You

Gods And Queens - Untitled 14

Gods And Queens - Untitled 16

On The Might Of Princes - For Meg

On The Might Of Princes - Here Come The Sirens

On The Might Of Princes - They Made Me Do It

City Of Caterpillar - And You're Wondering How A Top Floor Could Replace Heaven

City Of Caterpillar - A Little Change Could Go A Long Ways

Malady - Tongue

Malady - Well Again

Pygmy Lush - Send Bombs (Band Version)

Pygmy Lush - In A Well

Pygmy Lush - Frozen Man

Verse En Coma - In A Factory

Verse En Coma - DCC Cassette

Haram - Plastic Hearts

Haram - Fever Sleep

Haram - Death Blues

Jawbox - Mirrorful

Jawbox - 68

Jawbox - Cooling Card

Burning Airlines - 3 Sisters

Burning Airlines - Meccano

Burning Airlines - The Surgeon's House

Channels - To Mt. Wilson From The Magpie Cage

Faraquet - Cut Self Not

Faraquet - The Fourth Introduction

Medications - Opinions

Medications - Long Day

Medications - Home Is Where We Are

Q And Not U - Busy Lights Busy Carpet

Q And Not U - Kiss Distinctly American

The Ladies - So Much For The Fourth Wall

Division Day - My Prisoner

Division Day - Leveler

Division Day - Carrier

Aereogramme - Nightmares

Aereogramme - A Life Worth Living

Aereogramme - Dreams And Bridges

Far - Bury White

Far - Another Way Out

Far - Man O' The Year

Jonah Matranga - May00 (The Two Ashleighs)

Jonah Matranga - Nov00

Jonah Matranga - We Had A Deal

New End Original - Hostage

New End Original - 14-41

Gratitude - This Is The Part

Texas Is The Reason - Antique

Texas Is The Reason - Something To Forget (Version II)

Texas Is The Reason - The Day's Refrain

Solea - Shotgun Wounds

Solea - Sunny

Solea - Clouds In My Way

Piebald - They Don't Understand Us At The Academy

Piebald - It's Going To Get Worse Before It Gets Better

Limbeck - The Sun Woke The Whole State

Cub Country - Butterfly

Murder By Death - Steal Away

Murder By Death - Foxglove

Murder By Death - Killbot 2000

Bear Vs. Shark - Baraga Embankment

Bear Vs. Shark - Song About Old Roller Coaster

A Day In Black And White - There Are Objects And Objects

Stop It!! - Remove Your Teeth

Stop It!! - Name And Number

The Holy Shroud - Sound The Death Knell

The Holy Shroud - Say What You Are

North Of America - Fin To Fin

North Of America - Keep It On The Download

North Of America - Wet To Dance

The Red Light Sting - Dirt Eating Zombies

Desaparecidos - $$$$

The Faint - There's Something Not As Valid When The Scenery Is A Postcard

Despistado - Test Tube

Despistado - A Stirstick's Prediction

Despistado - Can I Please Have An Order Of Girl With A Side Of Confused

Sylvie - Notes On Counters

Pretty Girls Make Graves - Sad Girls Por Vida

Pretty Girls Make Graves - The Getaway

Pretty Girls Make Graves - The Grandmother Wolf

The Anniversary - Till We Earned A Holiday

The Anniversary - Perfectly

The Anniversary - Husam Husam

Mates Of State - I Have Space

Mates Of State - Ride Again

Mates Of State - A Duel Will Settle This

The Little Ones - Waltz

The Little Ones - Like A Spoke On A Wheel

Sunday's Best - The Hardest Part

Ben Kweller - Lizzy

Ben Kweller - In Other Words

Kyle Fischer - Should Your Way Ever Need Finding Back

The Prom - Brighter Than The Moon

Elliott - Shallow Like Your Breath

Sunny Day Real Estate - How It Feels To Be Something On

Sunny Day Real Estate - The Prophet

The Fire Theft - Over

[vrheadsets]

Can VR Make You Smarter? The VR Games Designed to Educate

Virtual reality (VR) is a great place to while away a few hours in some fantastical universe, go on an adventure, shoot some bad guys, or just relax in some tranquil surroundings. The technology isn’t just for entertainment purposes though as it can be used as an educational tool if you want to get that grey matter fired up. So VRFocus has decided to compile a list of edutainment titles available today that are worth a look.

Number Hunt

Perfectly falling into this category is Number Hunt, a mathematical videogame which was recently launched on Steam Early Access by two-person indie team PaleBlue XYZ. The premise is very simple, all you have to do is shoot numbers wandering around a level. The difficulty comes by the fact that you’re given five specific numbers to achieve on each round, and a gun that can Add, Multiply, Subtract and Divide.

The numbers wandering around range from one to nine, while the target numbers can go all the way up to 900. So you have to use some arithmetic skills to shoot the right numbers and hit those targets as quickly as possible. Plus there’s a time limit so there’s no hanging around.

Featuring both single-player and multiplayer modes Number Hunt is still early in development but showcases one of the best ideas for combining mathematics and fun gameplay.

HoloLAB Champions

The latest VR title from Schell Games (I Expect You to Die), HoloLAB Champions isn’t actually out just yet as its due to be released on 10th July for HTC Vive. VRFocus decide to include the videogame as it was so close to launch and accurately fitted the edutainment profile. 

Created with support from the Institute of Education Science, HoloLAB Champions is focused on teaching chemistry via way of a game show layout. The single-player experience has each person interact with equipment and materials that they’d find in an actual lab, challenging them to scoop, pour, and burn their way through several mini-labs before the final lab challenge.

Whether you’re already learning Chemistry or just want to know more about the subject, HoloLAB Champions offers a fun approach to the subject.

VRobot: Robotics in VR

Another Steam Early Access title, VRobot: Robotics in VR is a far more technological offering than the last two, providing a virtual engineering workspace with all the tools and educational materials needed to build your own mechanised being.

Inspired by the work of past projects helping children engage with STEM subjects developer VRobot decided to create a practical and informative experience to teach anyone across the world about robotic design, without the usual expense.

You’re not going to create a T-800 just quite yet with the software currently offering a basic design to learn about LEGO EV3 Mindstorms. You’ll learn not only how to build it but also the programming side as well. Then in future iterations of VRobot: Robotics in VR more robots will be added.

Brush Up VR

One for the younger VR players among you, Brush Up VR is a humorous take on teaching children how to better brush their teeth.

Developed by GamesThatWork, Brush Up VR teams the player up with a friendly blue robot named Budd. Armed with a giant toothbrush, the player must brush all the green gunk from Budd’s teeth within the time limit. Failure to do so will be bad for your little blue buddy.

Titanic VR

Created by Immersive VR Education – the team behind Apollo 11 VR – Titanic VR takes you beneath the waves to learn about one of the most famous maritime disasters of the 20th Century.

The educational experience is set in the near future, but explores a more-intact 1985 model of the wreck. Players take on the role of Dr. Ethan Lynch, Associate Professor of Maritime Archaeology at the fictional University of Nova Scotia. With funding from a mysterious investor, Dr. Lynch and his PhD Candidate Jean Robinson have set out aboard a research vessel to dive the wreck and answer questions that have remained submerged for a century.

The Steam Early Access version features seven dive missions and seven lab missions, with additional content to be added over the course of the next 6 to eight months.

Star Chart

One of the earliest educational apps for devices like HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, Star Chart is a VR planetarium where you can look up at the night sky and through the solar system to see a real-time simulation. Explore all 88 constellations as well as out nearest planets, from the smallest moons of Saturn to the coldest, darkest, farthest reaches of Pluto.

Google Earth VR

For those interested in a more terrestrial journey then there’s always Google Earth VR. Launched for free in 2016 for HTC Vive, the app then came to Oculus Rift the following year. Allowing you to explore virtually anywhere on Earth, from the driest deserts to the busiest cities, the most recent update to the app also introduced Street View, so you can get an even better look at the world around you.

Discovery VR

The Discovery Channel doing what its does best, just this time in 360-degrees. A one stop shop for the channels many immersive productions, the app originally launched in 2015 with nine short experiences. Since then the content has expanded dramatically, showcasing films from shark-infested shipwrecks to freeboarding the windiest street in the world.

3D Organon VR Anatomy

Designed as a fully-featured VR anatomy atlas, 3D Organon VR Anatomy enables users to learn about the human body, with full 3D male and female body models and systems including: Skeletal, Connective, Muscular, Arterial, Venous, Nervous, Lymphatic, Heart, Respiratory, Digestive, Endocrine, Urinary, Reproductive, Sensory organs, and Integumentary (skin).

Supporting both HTC Vive and Oculus Rift 3D Organon VR Anatomy is one of those apps designed for users who want better sense at what makes the body tick.

Operation Apex

Time to head below the ocean waves again just this time for very different reasons. Operation Apex teaches players all about the underwater eco-system while on the hunt for a Great White shark. They play a marine scientist looking for the largest Great White ever known but in the process need to scan the local aquatic life to build up data and a better understanding of what’s being hunted.

from VRFocus https://ift.tt/2KCBlBO

[maurinekirkcaldi-blog]

The 10 Finest 'Friday' Songs EVER, Component One! The Spunk.

Micheal Ferland as well as Sean Monahan both racked up when and assisted one another's target amidst a controling 2nd time period to lead the Calgary Flames to a 4-3 gain the L.a Kings on Thursday evening at Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta. Oral cavity protectors or night guards are produced coming from resilient plastic component and are actually meant to stop your teeth coming from touching while you sleep. Along with the music, apparel and also the dance, this creates a great motif for an event. You recognize, the great programmers, excellent people which discovered musical cultural motions as well as intended to introduce all of them. Higher power, adrenaline as well as action loaded time out, that's terrific fun but be notified - this harms when you receive struck. In addition to that, this cars and truck version possesses a Flexible Cornering Body that adheres to every activity from your steering wheel. Additionally, you will have a lot to keep in mind concerning that evening for a very long time ahead. I you wish to up your amounts select a moon illuminated night for your night fishing expedition. Even if you are actually certainly http://b3st-di3t-blog.info not in the mood to dance, the Hamptons is still the best spot to chill out and also just coldness the whole night. Board games are a great means to aid trump the dullness that comes with surviving on university. Cam bag - An electronic camera bag need to additionally be on your have to have listing for club photography. Yet consistently possessing less than three stiffness minutes in the course of the night may be a sign from a bigger concern, like hypertension, nerves concerns, stress and anxiety, clinical depression or diabetes mellitus. The clear night heavens beckons yet you hold back on heading out since you will definitely need to carry your telescope out of the cellar, set this up and also permit that thermally stabilize before you can easily start looking at. For most of the year the scuba divers do not use air or even snorkels in the cage as the blisters usually make the Great White sharks worried and very watchful. Yet although children do adore creature ofthe night pearly whites they are actually actually prominent and a relatively apparent selection for Halloween evening. Likewise, ensure that your area environment is one that is conducive to a good evening sleep - factors like area temperature level, ambient sound, or even the cushion that you sleep on are crucial factors to think about. This impressive Shrewsbury Guest House Great Yarmouth is actually situated only a brief stroll coming from the beach front. The lunch counter is actually closed in the course of night shift so I typically generate a salad to collaborate with some actually prepared chick breasts and also rice or even squash. I 'd love to recognize which of J-Lo's top 10 rules meant the best to you, had the biggest influence. A system I have actually personally made use of is the Nikon SB-600 which performed fantastic for a 2 hour job. I possess a friend of a friend appointment me in Bogotá, with any luck, that has actually invited me to remain with her and her family members for an evening while I get positioned as well as get to the Brazilian consular office. Thus, if you are seeking to change the oil you currently use when cooking food, this is actually certainly a fantastic option. Simple one colour shirts are going to be actually more affordable but possibly a t-shirt with more colours would fit better with your hen night theme, bear in mind, you are actually not likely to use all of them once again. Make a celebration out of it. A great means to perform that is actually to rent a hotel area and go certainly there initially. I wish we have featured your best choices, otherwise there is actually a spot at the end of the list to incorporate your preferences.

[iimmcrtalis-archive]

DARK ELVES 

the ins & outs of dark elves, at least my interpretation of them. in bullet form bc its a lot lmao.

do not reblog pls.

  Dark Elves exist in tribes spread throughout svartalfheimr. The different tribes have different physiology but in general they all look similar.

  Tribes have different markings & scarifications/brandings that tell others who they’re with.

  Elves are still usually put into slavery for the dwarves to maintain their contract to live there. 

  Gender doesn’t really exist as a social construct for them. but they have preferred pronouns that aren’t really the same as ours? but w/e its complicated.

  weigh a lot less than humans usually but still have a lot more strength because svartalfheim is weird as heck with gravity in comparison to earth shit.

also hollow boned? they can jump REALLY high in svartalfheim and like to fly through the trees.

could probably jump pretty high on midgard too??? but not to the same extent as they can in svartalfheim??? 

floaty fuckers tbh

  have serious top notch inhuman level of senses, ofc. can smell your pheromones & that type of nonsense. really good hearing too??

can see perfectly in the dark

  teeth? weird and REALLY pointy. probably look a bit like shark teeth. at least their fangs. which like they have four of. and their teeth are weird in general bc they’re meant for ripping apart fresh meat.

can digest raw af meats w/ no problem.

  tongue? probably long as heck. not reptile long but like. longer than a normal human. sort of like a bunch of that dude from kiss. just.. better looking l m ao

  Their ears are pretty long and pointy, of course, but they’re sort of i guess like a longer version of what someone can equate to qunari ears?? but they don’t stick out like that usually. they also use ears as a part of their body language as their ears move with their emotions and stuff.

  they make some weird as fuck noises??? like, really weird. Usually can hear them chirping, chirring, or purring. Make weird cat like sounds too? they could probably accurately talk to cats & birds. It’s weird. 

  All dark elves have a specialty magic that comes to them pretty early and they’re usually named around it. But sometimes it’s p common so its like meh.

  dark elves can alter dna, and usually see magic all around them. it’s like a weird floaty type thing around them they can see. it’s real pretty. got that Future Aesthetic.

  All of them are connected via a hivemind. and its weird as heck to not be connected to it. and being disconnected to it randomly can fuck an elf up real hard. 

  there’s some magic they learn that they can’t learn until they’re like 10,000 so. 

such as soul capturing and stuff that can perma kill one another.

  they can be REAL old and probably existed long before humans did bc they’re like. old as heck and the other realms times move weirder and slower than midgards so. 

  like. 7+ midgard years to a year or so in svartalfheimr. if not longer lmao.

  this also means they probably age a lot slower than humans, even on midgard. and times probs real tricky for them 

  defo don’t have “normal” blood color i unno what color it is but it aint normal 

   can defo beat you at dancing games & anything requiring flexibility.

  can’t die by general means. 

killing them takes an EXTRAORDINARY amount of effort. 

they can die via 

being starved

pure iron to the heart

being torn a part and scattered

capturing their soul after they leave their body to find a new one after being critically injured.

when fataly wounded, they can generally go form another body or inhabit something till they can pull themselves together again. 

nocturnal af creatures and probably stay indoors during the day. lethargic as fuck when its day time unless they’re used to it? but still probably fuckin out of it.

don’t usually have red eyes. they can be any color. but they can go all black if they’re hunting or angry/upset. black sclera is also not extremely common but it happens in various tribes.

actually are extremely advanced with technology and have a lot of knowledge about space and exploration long before midgard even thought about it too hard. 

have a small itty bitty colony on the dark side of a moon.

know a lot about the stars and space in general 

if they existed in mass effect they’d be like wtf @ ppl acting like this is New Info that there’s aliens. tbh. 

there’s a lot more shit but this is just the general condensed form!!! because i really don’t wanna write all the details out completely rn but if you wanna talk about it, ask any question!!