#No one was ejected (skipped)

[bettyfrommars]

Bloodstream

vampire!eddie x supernatural!fem!reader

from the Death Becomes Us au

18+ONLY, smut, period sex, (f) receiving oral while on their period, unprotected p in v, wet dream, blood, the pet name 'sweetheart', drinking blood.

wc: 3.4k

Reader in Death Becomes Us is also supernatural and has some physical scars that are mentioned in this. Eddie is her neighbor in a trailer park filled with vampires, in a town where vampires are basically a tourist attraction. Bits of these things are mentioned, but this can easily be enjoyed as a stand-alone.

ALSO, this is pure smut that does not progress the story one bit 😂 So, if you'd rather skip it, you won't miss any crucial information.

I've had several requests for vampire!eddie smut and, even more specifically, vampire!eddie with a reader who is on their period, and so this was born. I've had this sitting finished for so long, I wasn't sure I would post it.

You hadn’t realized you’d drifted off to sleep on the sofa in front of an episode of The Twilight Zone until a knock at the door made your adrenaline race into action.  It was a dark, moonless night, and the only illumination in your trailer was from the television, a string of tiny pumpkin lights along the window, and a flickering candle on the counter in the kitchen.

The time on the VCR said 11:46 and you got to your feet with caution, figuring it had to be a vampire at the door—you just weren’t sure which one.

“It’s me. Eddie,” his voice was a mumble out on the porch.

The sound made your heart stutter.

“What do you want?” You asked, pausing with your hand on the doorknob so you could look out the peephole.  He was standing back a ways, hands in his pockets, elbows out, and a black shirt unbuttoned down his chest. He looked particularly dressed up, as if he’d been hustling the unsuspecting wealthy widows down at the country club.

You watched him smirk at your question.  “Can’t a neighbor come by and say hi? I saw your TV was on.”

You gave a quick glance down at what you were wearing, making sure you were decent, but also to make sure you didn’t have crumbs all over you from the dry cereal you were eating earlier.

 “I haven’t seen you around all week,” you got flustered after you said it, not wanting it to sound like you were waiting around for him and counting the minutes.  

“Yeah,” he gave his lips a generous lick, wetting them until they were shiny. “You realized I was gone? Does that mean you missed me?.”

There was no formal understanding or commitment between the two of you, but also, there was something unspoken that compelled you to worry about him when you didn’t see the whites of his eyes for a few days.  

You opened the door and inclined your head, motioning for him to come in, and moved back so he could step in off the porch.  You’d already invited him in once, and unless you rescinded that invite, he could technically come in whenever he wanted.  

He waltzed in like he owned the place, picking up small things as he went to inspect them, looking around as if trying to catch you in the act of doing something.  You were just about to offer him some of the NuBlood you had in your cabinet in the event of a vampire guest when he stopped abruptly and took a long, violent inhale, and held the breath in his puffed out chest.

His eyes narrowed on you and began to darken.  He sniffed the air again, and then his eyelids fluttered a bit as if he’d caught a whiff of heaven.  The tip of his tongue shot out from between his ejected fangs.

“It’s that time of the month huh?” He asked it very casually, like a doctor might, and at first you wondered what he was referring to, but then you felt a sudden wetness in your underwear and a pang from your uterus.

“You can smell it?” You asked, stepping away.  “I didn’t even realize that I—” 

“You just started,” he told you in the same matter-of-fact way, turning on his heel.  He walked over to the vanilla sugar candle, hoping it would mask the scent so that his cock wouldn’t come to attention right there in your trailer because his mouth was already watering.  “Maybe I should come back another time,” he gripped the side of the counter so hard, he almost broke a piece of it off.

“Um, it’s okay, just, well, give me a second to—” you were about to walk by him on the way to the bathroom when his arm shot out as a barrier, catching you at your chest.

“No, stay,” he whispered.  When your eyes met, you wondered if he was using that glamouring technique on you to make you do whatever he wanted, but then you remembered that you were impervious to vampire powers.  

He took a step, closing the distance.  You could see his abnormally slow heartbeat under the cold, pale, tattooed landscape of his throat.  He tilted his chin up an inch as if exposing it more for you, watching with attentive eyes as you drank in the curve from his jaw to his neck, to the collar of his shirt.

“Like what you see?” Cocky and bold as ever, but this time, he was really asking.  He really wanted to know.

You ignored his question, searching his face.  “Why haven’t we ever kissed before?”

He choked at that abrupt outburst and attempted to smirk, but then cleared his throat.  “Would you like to change that, sweetheart?”

“Maybe,” you stepped so that your leg was touching his, and his plump pink lips parted, eyelids drooping, anticipating your next move.  Eddie opened himself up to you, pulling his shoulder blades back so that you could have his chest and throat, accepting whatever offer you had in mind.

"You're so cold," you mused, and then you were moving in, putting your warm mouth to his throat, relishing the smooth, cool flesh on your lips.  You flicked your tongue out to make him groan a little, his hands moving to dig his fingers into your hips.  He smelled like Ivory bar soap and fresh earth and vanilla musk, with those soft, nicotine undertones.  

“I might be on the verge of melting,” he slid one hand between your legs and the damp heat that was building there.  You nipped at his cool skin, sucking it through your teeth, while your hands worked up his ribs to find his nipples with your thumbs.  

“I was wondering when you’d finally take advantage of me,” he offered a low chuckle. The laugh had a bit of nervousness in it, though, and his voice cracked at the end.  

You could feel the vibration from his sound, licking a stripe up until you found his chin.  He dropped his head, catching your mouth with his, and there was nothing practiced or cautious about the kiss—it was messy and desperate, and his ringed fingers found a home between your legs, making you moan.

The blood was seeping through your clothes, and for sure there was a stain through the material of your sweats by now. 

“Your smell is making my mouth water,” he broke free from the kiss to put his forehead to yours, but his fingers continued moving in circles on the right spot.  You blinked up to find that his eyes were closed.  “It’s probably not a good idea for me to be here right now," he bit out, reluctantly.

But he didn’t move, and you curled your thumbs into his belt loops to catch him if he tried.  He rolled his forehead back and forth across yours, making your noses brush while the pads of his fingers applied more pressure.  

“Have you ever—” you trailed off, words catching in your throat as his hand breach the elastic of your bottoms.  “---done this while someone was on their—-”

Eddie paused with his fingers on the skin of your lower belly, making their way down.  He pulled his head back to get a read on your facial expression, but you were one of the few people in the world that was a mystery to him.  “I’ve never had the pleasure.”

“Won’t it be…messy?” 

“I like messy,” and then he chomped his teeth, biting the air between the two of you, before moving in to find your lips again, cupping the side of your face with his hand.  His mouth did not close in on yours fully, but the tip of his tongue came out to catch your top lip.

You were up against the kitchen counter now, and you latched onto Eddie’s strong arm, encouraging his hand further down.  You gave a muffled cry into his mouth when the pads of his fingers found the wetness seeping through your underwear.

It was too wet to be pure arousal, and just then the coppery tang scent hit the air, making Eddie suck in a sharp breath.  “Blood from the uterus lining is some of the sweetest there is,” he growled the words, bypassing your underwear so that he could dip a finger down through your folds, rings clicking together.  You pulled down on his arm like a lever until one of his fingers was sinking inside of  you, making you gasp. Your walls clenched him, and you begged for another finger, “more,” so he obliged.  

“The way you’re gripping around me—fuck,” Eddie said against your lips. 

Your knees trembled as he fucked his fingers in you a few times, twisting them, curling them in deep, and then he started to pull out, slowly.

His eyes were pure black when his lids flicked open; tips of his fangs peeking out from between parted lips. 

He brought his fingers up into view, and they were glistening with your crimson gift, dripping down his knuckles, and he admired the sight.  You wondered what he would do, at first, but then you watched those digits disappear deep into his mouth, lips sealing around them at the base.

He swallowed a few times, and then sucked each one individually, cleaning up the drips on his hand with a greedy, quick tongue. When he was done, there were signs of his feast in the corners of his mouth, and in the shadowy flicker from the candle flame, it looked like he’d just devoured something smothered in barbeque sauce.   

“You taste so good,” he breathed, forehead on yours again, his hands making fists in the material of your sweats, arm muscles tense, using all of his willpower not to rip them from your body. His tongue lashed out, tip beckoning in little curls, and you met the need with your own, tasting yourself on him.

It didn’t take long for you to be on the sofa in the living room with your sweats off and Eddie kneeling between your spread legs; a multitude of scars from ankles to hips on full display.  He looked up at you first, eyes a pure, marble black, and you nodded, scooting hips forward so he could push your legs further apart.  

A bit of tinted drool shone at the edge of his chin as his mouth found the mound of your arousal over your underwear, licking and sucking over the fabric, tasting you, nipping with his teeth.  His tongue flattened out and dragged long and hard up your slit, making you cry out under your breath.

“Eddie,” you whimpered, sucking your bottom lip in through your teeth.  Your pussy was literally aching for him, throbbing under the weight of his licks.

You had a hungry vampire between your legs, and he could snap your leg off at the hip like a twig if he wanted to. He could bite down on your femoral artery and drain you without breaking a sweat. 

Your menstrual juices were painting his chin when he sat back to pull your underwear off and get rid of the final barrier, staring up at you as he did so.  You sat forward, and he thought maybe you were going to push him off, but you held his head with both of your hands, guiding him in.  “I want to cum in your mouth.”

His head lowered without pause, with the tremble of a grin on his soft lips, and he kissed your cunt first before you felt his tongue sink into your hole. Low moans were coming from deep in his chest as he fed, taking generous swallows.  You rocked your hips up against his face and held his head there, whining when he moved his mouth up to roll his tongue in circles over your clit.  

“Oh god, Eddie, oh fuck,” you shuddered.  

He’d been starving for you for so long, not only for your blood, but for your scent, your pheromones, your taste. He wanted to kiss you from the inside out, he wanted to swallow you whole again and again, and still have you left over. He wanted you to know his secrets, to see the darkness in him and not be afraid.

You pushed his mouth off of you, for a second, to find that he was panting and pussy drunk, and you could see your reflection in his two black pools.  You ran your thumb down his lips, catching the mess, and then pushed the thumb into his mouth, and he moaned, closing his eyes to suck it clean, one sharp fang dragging along your flesh.  

You locked eyes with him, jaw going slack, and he dropped back down again to draw a few deliberate licks through your folds, fingers digging into your thighs.  

With a gust of determination, he decided to switch the position. Eddie went to his back, flat on the ground, and pulled you with him so that you were on your knees above his head, straddling his shoulders.  

Staring up at your pussy, he buried two of his fingers into you again and muttered, “god, you’re so fucking beautiful open wide for me like this.” He watched your hole spread out as a drip of blood rolled down his palm. 

“Sit down,” he murmured, removing his fingers so that you whimpered, clenching on nothing. “Sit all the way down, pull all your weight on me, sweetheart.”

He coaxed you where he wanted you, his strong hands firm at your hips.  You went down until you could feel his nose nestled at your clit and then his tongue darted inside of you with supernatural force.  He fed on you for a few seconds, and then he was sucking at your bundle of nerves again, humming as he did so.

“Eddie! That’s—I’m so close,” you rolled your hips and grabbed some of his hair in your fist, making him mumble with pleasure.  You braced your other hand on the ground at his shoulder to anchor yourself, even though you knew he had the strength to hold you.  You were all but suffocating him now, bucking against his face.

 Eddie could feel your sweet bud under his tongue get hard and he knew you were close.  His cock twitched in anticipation, leaking arousal in his jeans.  

“I’m gonna cum…fuck, I’m cumming!” It was then that the velvet walls began to crash around you, and your hole rippled at his chin.  You arched back and released into his mouth, losing control.  Between the cum and the blood, you felt like he owned a part of you know—you’d given him a potent cocktail that no one else would ever know the pleasure of.

He didn’t want anyone else to know the pleasure of it.

He let out a sound that was part man, part beast, and pulled the cheeks of your ass apart so that he could retrieve every drop from your slit, slurping as he did so. He drank while you came back to earth, trembling, moving your core back and forth over his face.

You went to crawl off, to move away and give him some air, but he locked you in place.  “I’m not done,” his voice was muffled.  You giggled at the sound of his lips smacking, but then you quivered at the way he continued to lap at your slit .

Once his grip loosened, you moved to get off of him completely, but he coaxed you back to sit on his chest, rubbing his hands up and down your thighs.  

When he lifted his head up, his chocolate eyes were human again, his pale skin smeared with blood; down his chin, across his cheeks, even the tip of his nose.  He bit down on his bottom lip and sucked it through to catch some of the excess, giving a contented sigh.

You reached behind you to feel the outline of his cock straining in his denim. 

“Yeah?” He asked, searching your face as he moved to undo his belt buckle.  “You want that?”

You nodded, at a loss for words at what was happening. Once you heard his jeans unzip, you sent your hand down to breach the elastic of his boxers, salivating when you found the wet tip.  “Can I?”

“Oh, sweetheart,” Eddie reach down over your legs to push his jeans down further, releasing the thick, hard length. “You don’t even have to ask.”

He lifted his head to watch  you line his cock up with your dripping hole, and when you began to ease down, your warm, wet walls contracted around the head and Eddie hissed.  Your mouth opened as you sank, needing the way he stretched you out to the point that it was almost painful.  

You gasped as you bottomed out, meeting his hooded gaze.

“You know, you can have this whenever you want,” he breathed. “This is all yours.”

“All mine? No one else’s?” You were riding him now, teasing him at the tip with a few muscle clenches before dropping all the way down again.

You lowered your torso so that your bodies were pressed together and Eddie bucked up into you deep and slow a few times. 

Your lips were an inch or two away from his, and you watched his eyes go black again as another hunger seized him.  “Tell me,” you pushed. “Tell me that you belong to me now,” you purred.

Somehow, you could feel another orgasm mounting when the smell of your blood on his lips crowded your senses.

He slotted one hand at your jaw, thumb cradling your ear, and with the other, he coaxed your hips down to take him deeper, and his thrusts snapped up to meet you.

“I’ve always been yours,” he whispered it around a hard swallow, just before your mouth came crashing down, tasting yourself on him, wanting to inhale his words so they could feed you in a different way.  There were tears building for some reason, and you blinked your eyes open to meet his gaze, to see if he was emotional too.

And then, you woke up.

It took you a full minute to adjust to the harsh, unwelcome morning light as you became aware of the full sun exposure of your bedroom. 

You coughed a few times, feeling the wind get literally knocked out of you when you realized the truth of the situation.

You’d had too many vampire Eddie sex dreams to count at that point, ever since you’d ingested his blood that night after you were attacked, but this one in particular left your heart heavy and your pussy aching.  

Normally, you’d have to reach for your vibrator to finish yourself off when you woke up from the throes of one of those wet dreams, but this time, you only felt sad, and the desire for pleasure was gone as soon as you adjusted to reality.  

You hadn’t fallen asleep in front of the tv, Eddie had never come knocking, and the two of you had never so much as kissed.  You also had not caught a glimpse of him in over a week, since he’d taken you to visit Sacrament, the vampire bar in The Upside Down.  You’d seen a different car at his place a few times, probably just popping in to take care of his cat, but other than that—nothing. 

You wondered where he went at night, and you wondered if he ever thought of you.  

In real life, you wanted nothing to do with him, but these vampire-blood induced dreams were really starting to mess with the integrity of your resolve. 

Also, you realized that you’d just started your period.

You stood wearily from your bedside and carried the remnants of a familiar disappointment with you to the bathroom, and then the kitchen, angling for some coffee to make it better.  You poured water into the Brewmaster you found at a thrift store and flipped it on to percolate while you went to water your one plant in the window. 

Your eyes lifted groggily to look outside as you hydrated your potted friend and noticed that Eddie’s GTO was parked out front of his place.  The blackout curtains to his trailer were all pulled shut so tight, you couldn’t get a glimpse inside, so at least you knew he was home.

Suddenly, you were flooded with a sexually frustrated irritation that made you curse his name into the void.

Part 7

[wolfytoothy]

venom

summery: you got a simbio, aka venom. Yiu were missing for 2 weeks, and that's how you got him. But when you escaped, and that's when Miles found. Well the prowler but you know. But now you guys went on a date, till the friend came after you while you were leaving the date. Then he was reviled

........

You had venom for a full week now. And lord can he be annoying. When you first met him lord was it chaos. When you were escaping, you had no idea what the hell was wrong with you.

‘Oh shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. Okay maybe if I-’

Don’t move

A voice said you followed instructions and luckily you were clear. All of a sudden some of the guards found you. “HEY.STOP RIGHT THERE” some one yelled.Then those big body’s started shooting at you. You then started run.

“Ah fuck, fuck, fuck” you yelled. That’s when you got shot in the leg. You stummbed down and held your thigh in pain. One of the men came up to you, he watched as you rolled on the floor in agony. “I got eyes on the experiment. Taking her in right now” he said into the radio.

As soon as he was about to grab you, a black gooey type thing ejected from her hand. The thing grab the guard by the neck lifting him into the air as venom took over. Then but his head off.

Time skip:

after everyone was dead and severely injured He retracted back into your body. “EWW, ew, ew,ew,ew,ew. Did I- we just-, did YOU JUST BIT ALL THERE HEADS OFF” you screamed.

Yes, and if you wanna make it out alive and not get caught, i suggest we go. Now.

“Who-who are you” you asked as you started running.

I am venom

And from that day on, he had been stuck with you. Its been a good 2 weeks now and it’s… been something.

You were walking down the street to get venom some chocolate, after he’s been bugging you for the past few days.

“ you see you can’t just eat people, theres bad, an theres good, but theres very very bad people that don’t deserve a chance you know” you whispered as you said high to a person that was looking at you weird.

So only eat the bad guys?

“Yes,yes only them, you will never and I mean NEVER eat the good guys” you said as you entered the convenience store. “Hi miss lee” you greeted. “Hey n/n”. You went to the back of the store and grabbed a bunch of chocolate bars.

We need a hero name. A cap, oh or maybe-

“Wow, wow huh”

We are the lethal protectors

“...I- okay bud”

Wait, really

“Yea, you can do whatever, as long as it doesn't necessarily interfere with my school life you know and my work life cuz those are very important” you whispered as you but another box of chocolate in the basket.

Hmm, sure.

“Good” you nodded as you made your way to the counter, and paid for it all. “Thank you, Miss Lee” you said.

How bout we go have some fun, like weee, go eat some heads.

“Bud I literally just bout you a fucking loads of chocholet, what more do you want” you complained. You opened the door of your home and went up to your room as you listened to venom whin. You zoned out as you ‘listened’ to him rant on. Till your phone rang.

Who is that?

“Its my boyfriend”

Can i eat him?

“ NO” you yelled as you answered the phone

The phone call:

You:Hey Miles

M: sup ma, you ready?

You:r-ready, for what, were we goin’

M: remember our date… you forget huh

You:what. No, I have no idea what you on about fr hehe

M: just say you forgot

You:yea i forgot, sorry. But ima get ready

M: better grt ready quick, I’m out side

Time skip:

You got dressed and made your way outside to see Miles leaning on his car on his phone.

Ooo, he is handsome… can i eat him“If you eat him, I will expose you” you whispered, making Miles' heads perk up and smile. “ hey ma” he greeted, kissing your cheek. Another

time skip:

You and Miles went on a little date, you guys went to a little cool cafe. It was nice. Then you guys went to the ghetto to pick up something.“Boy why you bring me to the ghetto” you complained. “relaxe, This is part of the date mami” Miles reassured as he pulled up to, what looks like an abandoned warehouse. “Oh hell no, nigga I’m black, you know black people always die first” you joked. “And besides If anything happens you know I’ll protect you”

And me

“Whatever you say fr” you sighed. You opened the door till Miles shut it again. “Wow,wow,wow. What you doin’ “ he said. “Getting outta the car what it looks like” you sassed. “How bout we drop that attitude and try again”.

Oooo. now can I eat him

You rolled your eyes as Venom's words and bit back a strong ‘NO’ from coming out of your mouth.

“ I’m comin’ with”, “no your not. This is prowler work—” You completely zoned out on what he was saying as venom started talking.

Isn’t the Prowler one of the bad guys… I’m bout to start munching.

Right as he said that a black tentacle ascended from your back. You slam you back against the car door making venom recoil.

OW!

“I-... the hell was that about, you good?”You gulped and nodded. “Yea I’m straight" you nodded. "But I'm comin with regardless" you said stepping out of the car.

"Listen it's a long story, I'll explain when we're alone or sum. Just, lay low ight' " you whispered as Miles came up behind you in his prowler suit.

"What the-, how did you change so quickly" you asked. "Skill. Here, take this. If your gonna come with me, I don't need them knowing who you are" he explained.

You took the purple mask and put it on. "Okay... do you just keep mask on you" You chuckled. "Sometimes" he chuckled.

"Stay close ight baby" he said kissing your forehead before letting his mask cover his face.

"Okay-oooo a voice changer thingy" you chirped.

You both then started climbing the fire escape. There were a lot of stories. It was high.

"I swear if I fall, I will haunt you for the rest of your life" you warned as you looked down. "Don't worry I got you ma"

If he does not then I got us

You guys climbed up 9 more levels before reaching the top.

Miles pulled you up and you quickly got away from the edge. You looked up to see multiple guys standing there with guns.

"Oh shit" you muttered.

"Ah, prowler" the guy greeted. "Mr. Hawthorn", Miles, prowler replied. Then all eyes were on you. You gulped as the very big man approached you, staring you down.

Oh shit, quick act cool or something

"And who might you be" the man asked. Prowler grabbed you waist pulling you closer to him. "She's-", "no. I wanna here it from her" he ordered stopping your lovely boyfriend from helping you.

You gulped hard.

Make it seem like your dangerous. Make it seem like you blow up children for fun, say something. Call your self star glazer, NO. Call your self venom

You played it off and placed a sly smirk on your face, but it showed threw your eyes.

"I am venom,and you are..." You asked shaking his hand. "I'm scarface, nice to meet you Doll" he flirted as he kissed your hand. You could feel the jealousy radiating from Miles.

"Oh, well hello scarface,"

More like butt face, he looks like if DJ kalida and drake had a baby

You bit back a laugh as you grimace at the fact he was touching you.

"So we're are you from, what do you do? You have very pretty eyes Doll. Can I call you Doll" he asked looking at you. Lord did you wanna throw up.

Uhh, he does know your only 17...right.

"Hehe, thank you,and no you can not" you sassed taking your hand back and whiping it on your pants. "And Don't look for any redeeming qualities, I have nun" you said. Making him laugh.

Wow, this guy is really stupid, can he not take the hint?

"Yea,yea, hey what's your name again doll" he said holding out his hand.

"I am venom" you repeated. This time, a flash of white flashed in your eyes, making scarface snatch his hand back.

"Right, uh, let's go" he stammered as he began walking.

You two followed along.

"Okay,bad ass" Mile's chuckled. You rolled you eyes and went on with it.

Time skip:

You found your way back to them and waited to leave.They men walked you and Miles back outside. “Pleasure doing business with you, Prowler” Scarface said shake his hand. Scar face looked at you and held out his hand for you to shake. “Venom” he bowed his head slightly. You retired the gesture not shaking his hand. “Pleasure meeting you” you said.

It really wasn’t he’s annoying

You rolled your eyes at his words but agreed silently,some of the guys stood back while the others walked with you and Miles.As soon as you opened the door there were police and FBI. A bunch of dots were on you, “FREEZE,”one guy yelled

“GET ON THE GROUND NOW!” another yelled.

You and held your hands up in the air while Miles got ready to fight. While the other men got their guns out ready to shoot back.

“You guys, you do not wanna do this, trust me” you started, Miles looked at you then back at them, wondering what was going on fr.“MASK”

“COPY” then everyone got their mask out, and put it on. Now you knew what you had to do.

“Alright, have it your way.MASK”

Copy

In a matter of seconds Venom took over, snartching a guy up and biting his head off. Then they shot a bag as thing, but he caught it with his teeth, bursting it, making the gas escape it’s capsule.

Then.. Venom did his thing, while Miles did his.When everyone was dead or severely injured, you/venom was about to transform back, till bullets were being shot. You tured around and started walking towards him till the round was done. you/he, grabbed him by the leg holding him up by the ankle, about to bit his head off till…

“OHH What the hell?!” a voice said. you/he snapped his head in the direction of the voice to see the prowler. Aka Miles standing there. “Oh shit”In seconds you/he dropped the victim and you transformed back.

As soon as he say it was you he backed up a bit. “y/n what the hell,what-whats was that”.

“Yea so long story short i have a symbiote” you smiled sheepishly. You say his confused face and nodded slightly.

“Yeaaaaa, remember when i went missing for a few weeks. Sooo I got kidnapped into a lab, they did an experiment on me and multiple other people, and it turns out that I now have a symbiote named venom” you say all in one breath. Miles stared at you in aw then snapped out of it when back up came. He cut you off and grabbed you hands, his mask retracted back onto his face as he spoke.

“Okay,okay, breath, you can tell me when were out of danger.” he said, you nodded and went along.

Back at the house:

It had been few hours of when you got home and explained everything to him. “espera, espera, espera, espera, so you have a parasite-”

PARASITE.

You flinched at the loudness a little and stopped Miles. “Symbiote” you corrected. “He doesn't like being called ‘parasite’ but you're on the right track” you nodded.

“Yea symbiote or something. That you got from an organization that was doing experiments on people, which those others failed. But they found you, apartly you were a match or somethin. They were keeping you in there, for… whatever reason, you escaped cuz you realized you were gonna die if you don’t. Not its been 2 weeks or so, you and this… thing somehow bonded, now this guy lives rent free in your body” he explained

Wow, this guy is good. No wonder you like him so much.

“Yes, i know fast learner, we love that fr” you smiled. “His name is…v-venom” he said slowly, not sure if he was right.

“Correct”

Correct

“So he can like…here me right now. He talks… to you”

“Yea, wanna meet him”

“Uhh…will it depend… Does he like me? Cuz it seems buddy loves to eat heads” he said timidly.

Mmmm, well he’s not that bad, he’s not my type, but he’s not that bad, I can get used to him. But when you kissed him I can tell he was rather delicious. If he was a girl I would most definitely like him more. Buuuut he’s fine.

You nodded.

"He said he would like you better as a girl but he can work with you...also he said when we kissed you tasted good." You blurted.

"...is...that a good or a bad?"

" it's a good, he likes you very much actually" you nodded. "But don't worry, I won't let him hurt you papa" you reassured, giving him a peck. A sigh of relief could he heared from the boy.

"This is why I love you"

[runabout-river]

Thoughts on JJK chapter 251 (spoilers)

As I thought, Yuta's slash didn't do that much damage but it's still enough that Sukuna has to actively heal himself and we also find out that Sukuna's assumption from before the time skip was true: the good guys do have the last finger and that's most likely because of Gojo.

I wonder how Yuta managed to copy his CT though because he needs to ingest part of the person and it doesn't look like he was the one ingesting Sukuna's last finger. Maybe Yuji did and Yuta ate part of him? Maybe Sukuna is also wrong and the last finger was never eaten at all.

Yuji and Sukuna have an awesome brawl right in front of us and I'm living for it especially with how menacing Sukuna looks here and how Yuji spat in his face.

Yuji pumps himself up by thinking about his last chance to save Megumi while Sukuna thinks about how his control of his body is slipping and how his CE output is weakening. It looks good for Yuji's team because Sukuna is taking a beating instead of turning the tables on them.

Sukuna decides on tanking the Jacob's Ladder and cutting his three opponents up but they had already planned for that so:

Yuta rips Bellymouth's tongue out, Rika is holding two of Sukuna's arms, Yuji is holding one arm, Sukuna attacks Yuta but his slashes are too weak to stop him so Sukuna's mouth gets slashed, his face explodes because Yuji's blood and one arm gets cut off.

They really trained for this event with all their might.

We go into a flashback about Yuki's notes and how souls work. Basically, they'll never become one even if they can get mixed up a little. Choso says sth interesting here: the soul of the person he inhabits is completely gone, Yuki's notes say that that soul has sunken into extreme depths

This means that the soul was either ejected from the body by the cursed object, or its sunken so deep that it can't be pulled out again because otherwise Yuki would've talked about the moral dilemma that every incarnated sorcerer + plus Choso would face about giving back their stolen bodies

If I remember correctly, Mahito wasn't able to combine two souls either because they rejected each other. In Megumi's case however we know that Sukuna and Megumi's souls are separate so their plan should work...

😢

Sukuna's plan to completely subjugate Megumi was stronger than this part of Yuji's plan to simply shake him awake. But I'm sure that they also planned for this outcome because:

Yuji knows the feeling of despair that Sukuna will put you under. He and Gojo also knew what Tsumiki meant to Megumi and they definitely found out that she was killed by Sukuna. Yuji would've feared this outcome and prepared himself accordingly. Now he has to be the one to save not only Megumi's body but also his soul.

To get to this level of despair, Megumi went through:

Shock of Tsumiki's possession

The Bath in cursed energy

The killing of Tsumiki

Sukuna eating 4 additional fingers + his old head

Megumi suffering through 1700 years of information through UV inflicted on him by his teacher (I counted)

Killing Gojo

This boy really had enough but Yuji once stood in the exact same place. He got up again and so will Megumi.

However weak, Sukuna uses his World Ending Slash on Yuji, Yuta and Rika. Megumi might or might not have managed to take his body back at this point if he had had the will to do it.

Yuta's arm is definitely cut but his torso looks a bit better. At least it's still drawn in one line. Yuji looks better off overall but unlike Yuta he actually has a bit of an immunity to Sukuna's CE.

Yuta's DE breaks and this might be the point for him where he taps out but no fear, Maki is here

Sukuna smiles at her because he most likely wanted to fight her properly and we have a break next week

What now, some more thoughts:

Like I said, the fight for Megumi goes on if he wants to or not, Yuji is here to save him

We now have a concrete point on where his story went down to: it's not the crazy or evil path but the crushed path

The other paths might still come though

As I've pointed out a hundred times, Tsumiki's soul is here! She already made contact with Megumi before the Yorozu reveal! She only has to find a way to communicate with her brother

Mai's soul too could come to help him. Her soul is in Maki's Split Soul Katana. Every time she cuts Sukuna with it, Mai could try to talk with Megumi just like Yuji does with his fists.

When Sukuna's CE is finally on normal sorcerer levels, Nobara might make her grand return with Resonance and show Megumi that at least one dead friend came back to him

Phew, this was an emotional chapter.

[zeonomicon]

I gotta ask: I've been craving G1 Soundeave having his buttons played with, either SFW or NSFW, I just *shakes fist* I need them to be pressed. Soundwave my beloved <333

Wonderful ask, I see you are a fellow person of culture. Shout out to Soundwave, gotta be one of my favourite stim toys.

Since the pairing wasn't specified, I went with a Cybertronian reader.

Answer under the cut, mostly SFW but suggestive.

G1 Soundwave x Cybertronian!Reader

It was nice to have moments like this with just the two of you, when Soundwave had a chance to take a break from his multifarious duties keeping the ship running and neither of you were being roped into the latest of Megatron's grand plans to take down the Autobots once and for all. You were reclined on the berth with the TIC in your lap, playing some pre-war song he'd kept in his databanks while you caught up on a holonovel you'd become engrossed in. You hadn't been paying much attention to the lyrics, captivated by the story unfolding in your datapad, but as a few lines caught your attention you decided to play it back to hear the last verse again. You snaked your arm around Soundwave's waist, feeling for the raised surfaces of his buttons, and Soundwave stiffened a bit; you supposed in surprise. You pressed his stop button, then your digits found the narrow-angled edge of his rewind button and you held it down for a few seconds before pressing play. Each button lit up energon magenta when you pressed it. Soundwave's buttons were quite satisfying to press, offering a little resistance and making a pleasing click once activated.

Soundwave's servo had gripped your knee while you fiddled with his buttons, but now he laid himself against you with his backstrut to your chassis and his helm on your shoulder, leaving not much room for you to pick up your datapad and read again. You didn't mind, content to enjoy your lover's music for a little while. You moved your servo, intending to set your datapad aside, but he placed his own servo over it quickly. Curious. Experimentally, you stroked his play button with one digit, feeling the texture of the raised symbol, and then slowly applied pressure, holding it just before its active position. Soundwave's cooling fans clicked on.

Emboldened, you held down the rewind and fast forward buttons at the same time, causing the music to stutter and skip before smoothing back out as Soundwave corrected the contradicting inputs internally. He pushed up into your touch keenly. You pressed all of his buttons at once, then alternated quickly switching between each of them in random order, deriving equal gratification from the sheer fun of playing with him as from the way Soundwave arched and shifted in your hold, vents growing shallow.

You pressed the record button and moved in close to him, winding your arms about his chassis and running your digits up the smooth glass. Soundwave let out a whine filled with static when your digits left his buttons, but then you found the eject button on his shoulder and his visor brightened in anticipation. You splayed your servo over his chest compartment and pushed, the spring mechanism attempting to propel the tape deck open only to be met with resistance. He pressed himself even more firmly back against you to give it room to open, but you pushed it shut with a click, holding the button down. Soundwave's visor flickered. "Release it."

"Or what?" You massaged his compartment, pushing hard with your thumb just above his lower hinge to keep it closed, your digits stretching to mess with the buttons on his abdomen again, playing back Soundwave's melodious sighs and the hum of cooling fans.

"Or Soundwave: Will press your buttons."

[gamerwoman3d]

◜ mk1 men using their powers in the bedroom part 1 of ?◞

▸ includes: reptile [mk1 versions] ◂

If you ask Syzoth whether or not Zaterrans are sexual creatures, he will answer that yes, it takes two Zaterrans in order to reproduce. But if you ask him whether he himself has an interest in sex, he would reply with a smile, saying "Pay me, and I might answer you."

[Spicy/Explicit after the cut 🔞]

The answer is that with very few exceptions, he views sex as an opportunity to perform. And he views performance as a way to earn money. You'd certainly not have been the first creature to pay for his honest answer, and you likely will not be the last.

People have paid good money to have Syzoth's freakish powers used for their pleasure. If you want to know details of his encounters with clients, he's happy to share, for the cost of a few koin. The higher the payout, the hotter the tea.

"Or perhaps you would rather we show, not tell," he might say while reaching out an empty palm as an offer to accept payment.

For pay, he will show you his body. His human body, nude, with elegant tattoos that tort and stretch with his movements, is an alluring sight to most. He has never been picky about the shape of his paying clients: all humans seem equally adorable and strange to him, while money makes anyone alluring in his eyes. He would waste no time in giving you whatever you desire from his body. In fact, his professional experience with pleasing others makes it highly likely that he can guess what you want and how deeply you desire it just from the skipping beat of your heart.

He cannot hear your heartbeat from a distance, but its imperceptible rhythm gently rattles the floor beneath his feet, and as his body evolved to detect such vibrations from the earth in order to hunt prey, he will know when the heart's rhythm changes. His eyes would take a slow tour of your body, and when he looked at the parts of you that you're most excited for him to play with, your heart would speed up naturally. The second he figures out what your heart truly desires, it is yours.

At first, he uses his tongue mostly for talking. He tells about past patron's kinks, such as the one who liked him to ride them reverse cowgirl style in his human form, only to strangle them with his tail during climax. Or the one that preferred to be pinned face down and very lightly scratched with razor sharp talons all down their back. He might tell cautionary tales of the ones that begged him to use his tongue on their genitals, not realizing that removing it can feel like tearing duct tape from the skin without the appropriate lubricants. Syzoth has an ulterior motive - while telling his stories, he's sensing your temperature. He knows when you're aroused because no matter what you have between your legs, it will emit heat.

He may move his face closer, hinting and teasing that he could go down. The tips of his forked tongue might flicker in the air just between your thighs, fanning the air towards his nostrils so he can better smell and taste the heat that rises from your body.

If you become a beggar in these moments, the same as many other patrons have done, he will insist that he's first allowed to test his tongue against less sensitive parts of your body. If you can tolerate the feel on your chest, perhaps you might enjoy the things you've proposed he do to your most sensitive spots.

He would eject his tongue to catch your nipple, then pull the tender tissue up as his face is drawn down to your chest by the tension in his tongue. He would suckle and mouth at this spot for a while, feeling your heartbeat rattle throughout his entire skull. He's gentle when he comes up for air, but it does indeed feel like ripping a bandaid off. He's only chosen this moment to risk causing you pain because he believes you're too aroused to care about or even feel pain.

He would tell you that for his most requested trick, he requires a funhouse mirror - the kind that makes everything seem bigger. He has no hesitation in telling you that he had one while in the circus, and that he'd put it behind him before fucking certain patrons. He'd hold them in a very specific way that would force them to look at their own reflection... *through* his invisible chest, angled so they could practically see inside themselves as he worked them open with the invisible phallic objects of their choice. For some, fingers sufficed. For most, seeing his cock disappearing inside them over and over again was the pinnacle of pleasure. Still others preferred invisible toys, or the tongue, or even something more creative.

His favorite thing is the look on a patron's face when he's suddenly visible again. By the time he drops the invisibility, both he and his patrons are fuckdrunk and often have cute, dumbfounded expressions on their faces. Syzoth knows his open mouthed grin is cuter when his face flushes at the brink of his orgasm. He knows he's as adorable as he is silly looking when he's slackjawed, panting, and pressing the tips of his tongue weirdly to the roof of his mouth.

He's still performing, and would work you until you get what you paid for.

The final upsell he pitches to his wealthiest clients is a territorial marking - a visible acid brand. At his most extreme, and reserved only for the healthiest, wealthiest patrons, he has, as a service, permanently branded the bodies of his highest paying clients. Even Outworld royalty can be found with his mark - the scars of a human-sized bite wound, carved deeper by the use of a strange acid. The meaning of these brands are clear to the others that share in his profession- "This one pays the most, and both he and his wallet are mine. Touch my man or my money and you will suffer my bite." A less drastic, less permanent brand might be the reddened imprint of a forked tongue, which lets the competition know that "we are just starting out and testing the waters - try me again later to see if I stuck around, or if I've healed and moved on."

He readily admits that just as many patrons refuse the branding service as there are patrons who find it of interest. As long as you are satisfied, Syzoth has no preference for which acts you chose to pay him to perform upon you.

[End for now]

For Part 2 - subzero - click here

Also thanks to @visionsofmagic for inspiring this writing with a similar set of imagines at https://www.tumblr.com/visionsofmagic/729107508174651392/mk1-men-using-their-powers-while-fcking-you?source=share

[Need more MK1 smut? Check the pin 📌]

[cherrycola27]

afterglow

Series Warnings: Language, alcohol and drinking. Military inaccuracies. Allusions to and eventual smut. Friends to lovers. Mutual pining. Unrequited love. Minors DNI. 18+. Banner Credit: @thedroneranger

Masterlist Previous Part Next Part

...........................................

Chapter 1: In My Head

The week passed in a blur of jets and clouds and sunshine. By Thursday, you were finally able to choke down the feelings you had for Jake, just in time for him to wreck them on Friday.

As the squadron sat in the briefing room Thursday evening, Cyclone came in, whispered something to Maverick, and then left.

"Well, folks, it looks like we need someone to make a late afternoon flight before they head home to test out some new software. Any takers?" Maverick asked.

There was a collective groan before Jake's hang shot up. "Glow and I can." He volunteered the two of you with a smile. He knew that you loved flying in the afternoon as the sun was starting to set. You always had.

"Are you okay with that, Glow?" Maverick asked you. "Yes, sir," you responded. Maverick sent everyone else home for the day. He met the two of you out on the tarmac to prep you for what you would be doing.

"Also, Admiral Simpson said whoever stayed late today could have tomorrow off. So, it looks like you two get a three day weekend." Maverick smiled at the pair of you. You and Jake exchanged a high- five before he helped you up and got himself situated.

The evening sky was absolutely beautiful as the two of you flew. The sun painted it in shades of pinks and oranges, and purples. The hues danced off the water and floated around the jet. You couldn't help but smile as Jake piloted back towards base.

"I can see why this is your favorite time to be up here." He said to you. "It's gorgeous."

"It is. There is just something about the afterglow that always gets me." You told him. And you meant it. In more ways than one.

After landing, showering, and changing, you ducked out of the locker room to find Jake leaning against the wall waiting on you. "Oh!" You exclaimed when you saw him. "I thought you would have already left by now."

"I was waiting on you, silly." He smiled before falling in step beside you. He lazily tossed an arm over your shoulders as you walked. His hair was still slightly damp, and you could smell his cologne. The scent of oak, whiskey, and tobacco filled your olfactory receptors. It was mixed with a hint of sunshine and salt water. A combination that was so perfect, so unique, so—Jake.

"So I was thinking." Jake began. "That's terrifying." You snorted. He lightly shoved you before pulling you back to him. "But seriously. I don't have any pressing issues I need to take care of tomorrow, and I assume you don't. So, I was thinking, what if we spent the day together?" Jake asked you as you reached your cars in the parking lot.

"And do what?" You asked him. "'We could get breakfast at that diner you love, and we could take the tops off of your jeep and cruise for a bit to our favorite ice cream place, hit the beach, get dinner, oh and Phoenix told me about the movie she and Lukas saw over the weekend. I thought we would check it out and maybe skip the Hard Deck because I, for one, don't want to hear Rooster bitching about how we got the day off." Jake smiled. He had the whole thing planned out.

"So? What do you think?" He asked you with a smile.

You knew this was a bad idea. If you were up in the jet, you'd have warning lights going off everywhere, and you'd be ejecting. "Sounds like a plan. What time do I need to pick you up if we are taking my car?" You asked him.

"Now, Glowy, you no good and well that I'm not going to let you pick me up." I'll be at your house at 9:30 sharp." He stated. You rolled your eyes and agreed. Jake pulled you into a tight hug before climbing into his Silverado and leaving.

....................

You set your alarm for 6:30 the next morning. Even though he said he would be there around 9:30, Jake Seresin was notoriously early for everything.

You got up and took a shower before drying and styling your hair. You took your time dawning some simple makeup for the day. After your finished with your hair and your face, you packed a bag for the day.

You grabbed towels, sunscreen, a change of clothes, some snacks and a few other odds and ends that you thought you might need.

Jake had mentioned the beach, so you slipped a simple purple two-piece on before deciding on a tea-length, bright pink floral sundress. You slipped on a pair of sandals and spritzed your favorite perfume on your wrists and neck.

You were giddy as you were getting ready. You had to keep reminding yourself that this wasn't a date. Just two friends enjoying an unexpected day off.

At nine on the dot, there was a knock at your door. "Good morning, Jake." You greeted him as you opened it. "Morning Y/N. I brought coffee and these." Jake smiled as he walked in. He handed you your favorite iced carmel latte and a bundle of fresh daisies. "They're your favorite, right?" He nodded to the flowers.

"Yeah, um—why did you get me these?" You ask him a little confused.

"My mother told me you never go to a lady's house without flowers." Jake stated matter of factly. "Plus, the farmers market is right near the coffee shop, and I saw these and thought of you." He smiled.

You quickly turned away from him to find a vase. You wouldn't let him see the pink rise in your cheeks.

After securing the flowers, he promptly stole the keys from their hook in your hallway and pulled the tops off of your jeep. He secured them in your garage. The weather was supposed to be bright and sunny all day, so you didn't bother storing them in the trunk.

You tried to argue with him that you should be the one driving, but he simply shook his head stating thst he was the pilot and you would forever be his back seater, or in this case, passenger princess.

..................

The weather was spectacular as the two of you drove to your favorite diner. You laughed and joked as the two of you feasted on bacon, eggs, potatoes, and French toast.

"I'm so glad that I got orders to come here. Lemoore sucked without you. The pilot they assigned to me after you got recalled was even more of a dick than you." You told Jake as you speared a potato square.

"Really? I doubt that." He chuckled. "And it is great that you got moved here." He smiled. Jake prayed you didn't catch the guilt behind his eyes.

It was no accident that you ended up in San Diego with him.

When pilots were being recalled for the uranium plant mission, the rule was that no pairs of pilots and their weapons systems officers could be called together. They didn't want to leave the original squadrons hanging for too long. That's why Jake flew a singe seater. He refused to have anyone in his back seat besides you.

It killed him to leave you. So, after getting word that he would be permanently stationed at Top Gun, he begged asked Cyclone and Warlock if they could transfer you, and he could get back in a two-seater.

Admiral Simpson and Admiral Bates reluctantly agreed, but it worked out for the better. Jake was much more tolerable with you around.

After you finished breakfast, Jake swiped the bill before you could set your card down, claiming once again that his mother would have his head if he let a lady pay. You had to take a deep breath and remind yourself that this wasn't a date.

You silenced the warning bells once again before getting into your car.

The two of you drove along the coast, stopping at a few shops and sent selfies to the rest of your friends who were stuck at work.

You had ice cream on the boardwalk for lunch. The two of you sat side by side and watched the waves roll in. Jake had asked you something, and when you turned to answer, he noticed you at the smallest smear of mint chip on your face. He leaned in with his thumb to brush it away, but he lingered before pulling back. His eyes darted to your lips, and he leaned forward ever so slightly.

The caution lights flashed before your eyes. No, he wasn't about to kiss you. Not here. Not out in the open like this. Your brain was screaming at you to eject.

You pulled away from him and cleared your throat. He pulled back and coughed before licking the melted ice cream from his thumb.

"So, beach?" You asked him after a beat of silence.

"Yeah, beach" He nodded.

The two of you tossed your cones before going back to your car and grabbing the beach bag you'd packed. You slipped off your sundress, and Jake's breath caught in his throat when he saw you in your purple swimsuit. His was barely able to keep his tough guy charade up as he helped you apply sunscreen.

The two of you froliced through the waves, splashing and laughing until the sun began to sink. After a quick use of the beach showers and a pit stop in the changing room, both of you were relatively sand free as you sat back in your car. You'd pulled your hair into a high ponytail and were humming along to the music as Jake drove the two of you towards the movie theater.

After getting more popcorn and candy than necessary, and two icees that would give you the worst brain freeze ever, the two of you found yourselves in the last row of an almost empty theater.

Jake had moved the armrest separating your seats out of the way, claiming it was easier to share snacks that way. But you didn't miss the way his bare knee bumped against yours through the slit of your sundress.

..................

At the Hard Deck, the rest of the Daggers finally concluded that the two of you probably weren't showing up tonight.

"It's not fair," Fanboy groaned as he leaned over the pool table.

"I mean, they did volunteer to take a later test flight yesterday, so it is kind of fair." Bob shrugged.

"Bob is right. We all had the same opportunity." Payback stated.

"So what do you think they are doing that is better than hanging out with us?" Coyote asked the group.

"Probably fucking." Rooster shrugged causing half of the group to choke on their drinks.

"Jesus, Bradshaw. Have some tact, man." Payback scolded him.

"What, I'm just saying what we are all thinking." Rooster defended himself. "Glow assures me that they are just friends. Very good friends." Phoenix tells the group.

"Yeah, and I'm a front seater." Fanboy laughed.

"Nix, you can't really believe that. I mean, haven't you seen they way they look at each other? Or noticed how they always leave together from here? And they are together right now?" Rooster pressed.

"Rooster does have a point." Bob chimed in.

"So I have a theory, well three, of what the situation could be." Payback began. "I'm going to present them in order from least plausible to most likely." He continued.

"One, they are secretly dating or maybe married. That would explain why she got transferred to here from Lemoore. Two, they really are just good friends and have worked together so long that they act like a couple. Or, three, and what I feel is most likely, they are hooking up, and one of them, Hangman, wants to keep it more casual, while ignoring the fact that the other, Glow, has feelings for him." Payback finished.

"Well, I don't know what it is. All I know is that Hangman is way easier to deal with when she's around." Phoenix said as she held up her beer. Everyone mumbled out an agreement as they went about their pool game.

.................

Nat was right. The movie was great, and you were glad you had seen it.

You and Jake were walking back to your car as the last rays of the sun began to dip below the horizon.

"Ugh, the sunsets here are so much prettier than the ones in Lemoore." You told Jake.

"Yeah, they are." He agreed with you. "Looks like some clouds are rolling in. We'd better get a move on." He said. You took note of the weather and agreed. You definitely didn't want to get caught in the rain with no cover on your jeep.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans. The two of you were about halfway back to your house when the heavens opened up and rain came pouring down. Jake desperately tried to find an overpass for shelter, but there was nothing in sight.

He broke a few traffic laws to get you home, sliding into your garage on two wheels. The two of you sat there for a moment, soaking wet and out of breath.

You shared a look before breaking out into a laugh.

As the laughter faded, the air shifted between the you. The electricity flowing wasn't just the lightening from the storm. Desire radiated off your bodies as you both surged forward and connected your lips.

You basked in the salty, sweet taste of him, as you tried to ignore the warning bells going off. But eventually, you gave in and pulled away from him.

"We can't keep doing this, Jake." You told him.

"I know." He replied as he cupped your jaw, dragging his lips almost criminally slow against your skin. You could feel the subtle hint of the stubble on his chin.

Heat flushed in your cheeks and spread across you from the tips of your ears to the curl of your toes. You felt like you were doused in gasoline, and his touch was the strike of the match, ready to burn you down.

"One last time?" You breathed out.

"One last time." He whispered against the shell of your ear.

Taglist: @thedroneranger @roosterscock @shanimallina87 @desert-fern @teacupsandtopgun @mayhemmanaged @lovinglyeternal @lovingbradshawafterdark @wkndwlff @roosterforme @daggerspare-standingby @dakotakazansky @startrekfangirl2233 @hecate-steps-on-me @cassiemitchell @na-ta-sh-aa @milestellerlover @katieshook02 @mak-32 @je-suis-prest-rachel @soulmates8 @ohgodnotagainn @diorrfairy @eli2447 @xoxabs88xox @potato-girl99981 @djs8891 @roosterbruiser @roosters-girl @sebsxphia @roostette @rosiahills22 @dempy @olliepig

[bengiyo]

Last Twilight Ep 7 Stray Thoughts

Last week, August tried to make up with Day after standing him up on their date. Aon also showed up that day and mentioned that he is participating in a race with his new girlfriend. Day and August started practicing together, making Mhok a bit jealous. August organized a surprise party for Day with the rest of the badminton folks and kissed Day. Unfortunately, August only sees Day as a friend and walked off. Mhok confronted August and then took Day to a rooftop where he then kissed Day as well.

Oh hell yeah! I am so glad we’re not skipping over the kiss aftermath. Mhok is his caregiver, so this is going to immediately change things.

I love Porjai. Got her all worked up just to tell her what she already knew. These two are my favorite exes of the year.

“I didn’t say it.” Well he’s technically not lying.

This show is excellent. August is leaving, so we’ll deal with his mess and then eject him in the first part!

Despite being mad at August last episode, I’m really glad these two get closure. Friend break ups are worse than romantic ones.

They used “delulu” as a translation! Who is on the sub team for this show?? I want to send them flowers!

“That’s so fast.” I love Gee.

“About last night…” Don’t get me started, y’all.

Alright. That rejection in the car hurt my feelings.

Ope. I’m back. Day told on himself and Mhok is back in the game.

Mhok fixed the headband. I love you and your unsubtle metaphors, Aof.

Okay, I love Mhok blaming the shoes August picked for them not being able to sync.

I’m glad Sea is actually an athlete, so he doesn’t have to fake a cramp.

Night definitely notices how comfortable these two have gotten with each other.

This bed scene was probably super easy for them. Sea is always falling asleep easily on set.

OMG they’re stayin gat Mhok’s place before the event.

Porjai said, “Really, in front of my sardine salad?”

Namtam is actually so good. I like the way she uses her eyes.

Mhok planted jasmine at his house!!

She’s naming the baby Mee because Mhok has been practicing reading the book! I’m going to explode.

This show is doing a great job of making me miss Rung.

We have hit on a rare trope I love: Two people who are working out their feelings for each other are sharing a bed and hearing others go at it through the walls.

I’m glad we’re seeing more of Night. Mark is so good at communicating without saying much.

Oh, Day, don’t read too much into that conversation. Mhok’s friend is just looking out for him.

Shoot your shot, Porjai!

I am with Mhok. That’s enough games. Let’s make it clear.

Aof, please continue to be unsubtle. I love you.

Porjai and Night begins! Look at me rooting for hets in BL again.

I’m gonna lose it. Mhok is acting out Aon’s proposal for Day.

I see we were having too much fun. Let’s crank up the angst.

Look at them trying to assuage us with this PPL.

Beach trip next week! This was a lovely episode. It’s so smooth.

[holly-fixation]

Imagine CC Sephiroth finding a CCTV footage of something related to his early developement where in the background he can see a woman (Jenova, from his photo) and can faintly hear her screaming at Hojo "let me hold him" and "you can't take my son away from me"

Snooping around the data room was bound to cut through the web of Hojo's lies and half truths eventually, which is exactly why he kept going back. Occasionally, he found old tapes and took them to his apartment for further inspection, hiding each one under his long uniform coat and returning them before anyone noticed.

At first he doesn't believe what he's seeing.

It was his recovery from his first mako procedure, long before he could speak or crawl or remember. He was in a pod not much larger than he was, an egg of glass protecting him and regulating the oxygen levels as necessary.

The baby in the incubator shivered, scratching at the wires in its skin in an attempt to break free. Each wire was anchored with metal shackles, presumably one of the only things it couldn't break, probably also reused from the many dogs Hojo bred for the President's son. The first five minutes only showed his cold and discomfort as he struggled to heal.

But he recognized the woman in the observation glass. He heard her muffled cries and chose to ignore them until her face entered the frame. A face he held close to his chest for as long as he could.

It was her. It was Jenova, her brown hair in the exact same ponytail as her photo. Her pleas no longer drowned in his ears.

"Let me hold him!"

Then Hojo entered the screen as well, though his face was cut off Sephiroth knew every mannerism of that wicked man like the back of his hand. Every step, every gesture, every shift of dark glasses.

"Just once! Please!"

His heart ached. He felt his hand move to his chest, to where her photo used to remain.

"Absolutely not. Your presence at this stage will damage him beyond repair. I will not allow you to ruin this with your meddling."

"Hojo, please!"

He did not budge. "I allowed you this far. You may look at him through that window before security escorts you out."

"You can't take my son away from me!"

"This is my laboratory, and I will do as I please. You have seven seconds."

She surrendered, placing her hands against the glass, turning away from the scientist with tears down her cheeks. "Sephiroth!"

His breath hitched. His name. Her voice. Her undeniable care.

"Sephiroth, my son, know your mother loves you! I love you so much and I would break you free if I was strong enough! I love you, my son! I would do anything to be by your side!"

The helmeted officers came and pulled her arms back.

"Sephiroth! SEPHIROTH!"

A door opened and closed, and the recording continued as if nothing happened.

Sephiroth ejected the tape before taking his weapon and rushing to the labs, the evidence again hidden under his coat until he met his target.

The scientist's side glance infuriated his already burning nerves. He said nothing as he pushed the scientist away from the desk and inserted the tape into an old player connected to a CRT screen. He skipped ahead and paused the video when Jenova came into full view against the window.

Hojo groaned in annoyance, literally rolling his eyes. "Why are you showing me this, boy? I was there, you know."

"You said she died in childbirth."

"I said she died after you were born."

"You ripped me away."

"And I made you better for it. Do you have any idea how pathetic you'd become under a mentally unstable mess like her?"

"Don't you dare speak of my mother that way!"

"I knew her well. I will speak of her as I please."

"...where is she?"

"Pardon?"

"Where. Is she?"

"I just said she's dead."

"And why would I believe you?"

"You're wasting my time."

"Why would I believe you?"

The room turned cold. "Because I am the only source you have, and you know it."

That deep reality tainted the entirety of the interrogation, and Sephiroth was forced to leave with the exact same knowledge he walked in with. He couldn't stop hearing her voice. He couldn't stop the looping plea in his mind.

Know your mother loves you!

Sephiroth!

Sephiroth.

[firepower-if]

An artillery battery is a unit of cannons, missiles, and other weapons grouped to ensure command and control of the battlefield. In the 1860s, baseball statistician Henry Chadwick first described the teamwork of a pitcher and a catcher as a battery: the firepower of the staff.

DEMO TBA.

Before reaching the stardom of grand slams in Yankee Stadium or World Series shutouts, every professional baseball player was once where you are now: the Minor Leagues. Divided into levels from Rookie ball to Triple A, everyone working their way through the Minors has the same goal: to get promoted up to the Big Leagues. The Major Leagues. The Show. And you?

You are no exception.

You are the newest addition to the Double-A Okmulgee Pecans, a Minor League affiliate of the successful and storied Oklahoma City 66s. Surrounded by young, talented, hungry ballplayers, it’s your job to not only succeed in this competitive league, but stand out. As a catcher, you play one of the toughest positions in baseball— and the most important. Your chemistry with your pitchers and your team can make or break a play, an inning, or a whole game. With the constant eye of coaches, team management, and baseball fans on your back, will you find your swing? Can you help lead your team to victory? And can you keep yourself from getting distracted by the potential affections of those around you— or lean into them?

FIREPOWER is an upcoming interactive fiction novel about the love that lives in the infield dirt, the outfield grass, the diamond, and the dugout. In short: it’s about baseball, it’s about falling in love, and it’s about falling in love with baseball.

It is cautiously rated 18+ for themes and/or mentions of substance abuse, past traumas, and structural inequities in professional sports. Warnings will be toggle-able for potentially triggering scenes, which may be skipped.

FEATURES.

Customize your character’s appearance, handedness, and strengths in the game. Play as a man, woman, or nonbinary with options to be gay, straight, or bisexual.

Play through competitive at-bats, bat in your teammates and hit powerful home runs. Make skillful defensive plays; throw out runners trying to steal bases and tag runners out at home with quick reflexes.

Catch bullpens one-on-one with your pitchers to build your chemistry— on the field and off of it. Become a better catcher, and make them better too.

Lead a locker room and become part of a tight-knit team aiming for victory— and maybe a promotion.

Flirt with and romance any combination of your pitchers, other teammates, or the competent Front Office intern. Choose the gender of 2 out of the 4 ROs.

ROMANCE OPTIONS.

JJ Kim (gender selectable). 23. A rising star pitcher who is almost, but not quite, the team’s ace. Has a temper that has gotten them ejected from a couple games, but uses that intensity towards being the best on the mound. Friendly, but soon it becomes clear they’re difficult to truly get to know.

Olivia Lawson (f). 25. The cheeky second baseman who, despite her unflappably positive attitude, is aching to prove herself. A locker room leader and part of the Pecans for two years, she’s seeking a standout season and wants nothing but the best from her teammates. A cheerful, loyal presence underscored by fiery determination and grit.

Hirohito Kinoshita (m). 24. The best pitcher on the team by a long shot. A rising star who previously played professionally in Japan before signing as a free agent in the offseason. It’s widely assumed that he’ll be in the Major Leagues in the next year or two. Sarcastic, cocky, and kind of an asshole, with a genuine curiosity for his new home.

Dakota “Junie” McIntosh (gender selectable). 22. A college senior and D1 athlete trying their hand at baseball administration on the off chance they don’t get drafted. Though they pitched in high school, they now exclusively play shortstop, but at the moment all they’re playing with is paperwork and Excel formatting.

This will be my first IF project. More information, including RO descriptions and Artbreeder portraits, will be coming soon. Any interaction including reblogs, likes, and asks, are greatly appreciated!

[lonestarflight]

The complete Shuttle Fleet AU

This is just my thoughts about how things might align for Enterprise to be refitted into an operational shuttle. This comes after reading a lot of the behind the scenes decisions and abandoned plans NASA had over the last 40 years. I only listed major events.

It wasn't meant to be this long but I hyperfocused too much on it one morning. Anyways, I hope you enjoy it.

• 1972: NASA started the Space Shuttle Program.

• OV-101 Enterprise: same rollout and testing as our timeline in 1976-77

•STA-099: delivered to Lockheed for structural load tests to simulate the launch and re-entry of an operational orbiter in February 1978.

• Point of divergent: The decision to use STA-099 instead of OV-101 as the second operational orbiter came too late as the frame was already tested to 90% stress load. At this point, it would be too costly to repair and bring it back inline. It was decided to continue testing to destruction (as was originally planned in our timeline), although some parts are removed to be refurbished for OV-103.

• OV-102 Columbia completed and rolled out in March 1980. (NASA doesn't relocate Columbia to KSC in March 1979 in an attempt to speed up her tile installation, which only delayed her completion).

•STS-1 is launched in December 1980 (instead of April 1981)

• NASA gives the go ahead to add Enterprise to the fleet and have her rebuilt after Congress increases their budget, but the work would start once OV-104 is completed.

• 1981: long led items for Enterprise's rebuild are started. This includes a new crew pressure vessel and a new aft-fuselage.

• OV-103, starts earlier and it's production is accelerated with parts salvaged from STA-099 (such as the forward fuselage upper section, elevons and vertical stabilizer). Construction completed in 1982 and christened Challenger.

source

• 1983: STS-7 is Challenger's maiden mission. Onboard is Sally Ride.

• 1983: OV-104 is competed and christened Discovery.

source

• STS-12 is Discovery's first mission.

Note: NASA never uses the STS-41-D format. Where the first digit indicating the federal fiscal year, second digit indicating the launch site (1 was Kennedy Space Center and 2 was Space Launch Complex 6 at Vandenberg Air Force Base), and the letter indicating scheduling sequence. This was due NASA Administrator James M. Beggs's triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13). In this timeline, the assistant admins were able to talk him out of it and simply skip STS-13.

• 1983: Enterprise is returned to Palmdale for her disassembled and rebuild. As a weight saving measure her mid-fuselage is returned to Convair for a complete rebuild to bring it inline with OV-103 and OV-104.

source

• 1985: at long last, Enterprise is rolled out and joins the fleet. She weighs about the same as Columbia despite weight saving implemented during her rebuild.

• 1985: Columbia is returned to Palmdale for refurbishment and to remove testing equipment (most notable is the ejection seats). This sees her thermal protection system revised and her 32,000 tiles reduced to 24,300. Most are replaced by Advanced Flexible Reusable Surface Insulation blankets which was used on the other three orbiters.

• September 1985: STS-21 is Enterprise's first mission

• STS-25 (STS-51-L in our timeline) launches at a later date due to NASA management listening to the Engineers about icy conditions on January 26, 1986. NASA quietly orders the complete redesign of the Solid Rocket Boosters.

• May 1986: tragedy strikes OV-103 Challenger during STS-27, when the attempted launch of the Centaur carrying the Ulysses probe explodes killing all those onboard. (A real fear in our timeline.)

source

• The Shuttle fleet is grounded for a year, during the investigation. Ultimately the Investigation board concluds NASA was trying to do too much with too limited a system/funding and is used by the administration to demand a bigger budget. (It has less of an impact on the American psyche since it wasn't televised).

• The USAF cancels all Shuttle missions from Vandeberg Air Force Base. (Same as our timeline)

• With an increased budget, NASA agrees to Rockwell's offer to build two new orbiters for the price of one offer.

• 1986: Columbia is returned to NASA after her refurbishment. However, he is placed into storage with the rest of the fleet.

• 1987: return to flight with STS-28 with Discovery. Also first launch with the redesigned SRBs.

• 1988: NASA launches the Shuttle-C program (or Cargo Transportation System), an expendable unmanned cargo pod, using the existing shuttle hardware. The goal is to increase the number of launches by augmenting the Orbiters and reduce the risks to human lives.

•1988: STS-29 Atlantis suffers a foam strike during launch. Post flight analysis determines the foam came from the bipod connected the ET near the top to the front underside of the orbiter. The orbiter was nearly lost during re-entry if it weren't for the fact the strike happened to a tile that was over less critical areas and the missing tile was over a steel patch for an antenna, which gave extra protection to the spacecraft structure. NASA removes the foam from the bipod connection on all missions going forward.

• OV-105 is built from spares from Challenger and Discovery. Completed in 1990 and christened Atlantis. Her design is the first to include a glass cockpit and other improvements.

• 1991: STS-45 is Atlantis's first mission

• OV-106 is a complete to an slightly improved design, making her lighter and stronger than her sisters. Externally she looks the same. Completed in 1992 and is christened Endeavour.

source

- Structural spares are built to replace the ones used in Atlantis's construction and are designated OV-107.

• 1992: first launch of the Shuttle-C (CTS-1). Mission was a success, carrying a DoD payload.

Shuttle-C render by Nathan Koga for Space Flight Insider: link, link

• CTS-3: launches the Ulysses II probe

NASA image: link

• 1993: STS-59 is Endeavour's first mission

• Rockwell International merges with Lockheed to become Lockheed-Rockwell.

• December 1993: OV-101 Enterprise is retired due to being the oldest in the fleet. Endeavour takes her place in the fleet. Enterprise is given to the Smithsonian with the option of being recalled by NASA if needed.

• 1994: NASA launches the X-33 program to compliment the shuttle as an unmanned reusable launch vehicle (RLV) and replace the Shuttle-C.

• 1996: CTS-5 carries the first component of the International Space Station.

Artwork by okan170: link

•1996: the Shuttle-C program is cancelled to divert funds to the X-33 program.

• 1998: Lockheed-Rockwell design is selected over proposals from McDonnell-Douglas and Northrop-Grumman/Boeing

SDASM Archives: 08_00991

• 1998: NASA begins the X-38 CRV (Crew Return Vehicle) program. The CRV is designed to be a lifeboat for the ISS.

• 2001: X-33 RLV program is shelved due to technical challenges and budget cuts.

• 2003: STS-118, Columbia conducts her first (and only) mission to the International Space Station. While docked, it was discovered an ice strike damaged her reinforced carbon–carbon leading wing edge panel. The crew stays in the ISS a week while waiting for rescue from STS-119 Atlantis. NASA jerry-riggs an autopilot system to have Columbia re-enter the atmosphere unmanned after her leading edge was temporarily repaired. It was expected for her to burn up in the atmosphere and what remained to land in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii. However, against all odds Columbia survives and lands at Edwards Air Force Base. Although her port land gear collapsed during breaking after tough down and caused additional damage to the batter shuttle.

• The crew of STS-118 ride back on STS-119 Atlantis and land in Kennedy Space Center.

• Unfortunately, the damage to Columbia is too extensive and she is retired. She is placed in storage at Palmdale, California.

• In the wake, NASA begins Project Constellation, with the goal being to complete the original space transportation system (STS) mission. Which was a reusable system to carry astronauts to the moon and beyond. NASA and the US calls on the international community to fund and build the components.

NASA ID: MSFC-70-PD-4085 B

• The ET is modified with a half shell to remove the risks of form/ice strikes and the Shuttle TPS is upgraded with the materials from the shelved X-33 program.

• OV-101 Enterprise is recalled by NASA to be the prototype of an unmanned shuttle and is given a thorough rebuild with newer and lighter wings and other components but entirely unmanned. Some joking refer to her as Enterprise-A, as a reference to Star Trek.

• NASA funds Lockheed-Rockwell to build OV-107, another uncrewed version, to augment Enterprise.

• The ISS construction continues but becomes a research/launching platform for missions to the moon and ultimately beyond

• 2004: the X-38 is launched on a liftover Shuttle-C, modified for lifting body, to the ISS (CTS-10).

source

Artwork by SpacePozzolo: link

• 2005: return to flight with STS-121 Discovery.

• 2008: first flight of Enterprise-A (CTS-11).

• 2008: the ISS is completed

Artwork by NanoRacks: link

• 2009: OV-107 construction is completed and christened Constitution. Her first flight happens later that year (CTS-16).

• 2009: NASA announces the rocket that will carry the components of the Constellation programs beyond Earth orbit will be called the SLS (Space Launch System). Boeing was selected to build the core stage. The SLS will used SSME at the end of their life's and newly constructed expendable versions. A third launch, pad 39C, will be constructed for the SLS.

• 2009: Lunar Transfer Vehicle (LTV, later renamed Orion) is used to transfer crews from LEO to Lunar orbit. Two components make up the vehicle. The crew section is to be built by NASA/CSA and the fuel/propulsion section built by the ESA. The SLS will be used to launch the fuel/propulsion section of the LTV.

- OV-101 and OV-107 are used to launch the crew section of the LTV. Which will rendezvous with the ISS.

- SLS Block II, an upgraded version, is use to launch the Gateway components. Gateway components will be built in the ESA and Japan.

- A Lunar space station, Gateway, launched and constructed in lunar orbit for Orion to rendezvous and house the Altair lunar lander. Three Orions are kept in orbit, one at each station in case of an emergency and a third in use.

• The first is find locations with abundant raw materials for fuel the future moonbase.

• 2010: NASA announces the X-50 SSTO Program and the Commercial Crew Program, with the goal of replacing the Shuttle (including the Enterprise and Constitution). The X-50 is the successor to the X-33.

• 2012: Lockheed-Rockwell is selected to build the X-50

• 2014: SpaceX Dragon and Sierra Space Dreamchaser are selected as part of the Commercial Crew Program.

• 2017: OV-104, OV-105 & OV-106 are retired when th Dreamchaser and SpaceX Dragon are brought online. List of each shuttle's last mission:

- STS-203 Discovery

- STS-204 Endeavour

- STS-205 Atlantis

• 2018: the maiden flight (CTS-70) of the X-50 Starlight (OV-201 Constellation)

• 2019: OV-101 is retired for the final time when the X-50 Starlight shuttles are brought online. OV-107 is kept in standby but eventually is turned over to a museum. List of their missions:

- CTS-74 Enterprise

- CTS-75 Constitution

• NASA has three operational Starlights. Spares are construction, OV-204.

-OV-201 Constellation

-OV-202 Columbia II

-OV-203 Adventure

• 2019: the first launch of the SLS was a success

Artwork by okan170: link

• 2020: the Space Shuttles are displayed in the following cities:

- OV-101 Enterprise: Space Center Houston

- OV-102 Columbia: California Science Center in Los Angeles, California (volunteers at Lockheed-Rockwell repair her enough to be put on display)

- OV-104 Discovery: Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Smithsonian, in Washington DC

- OV-105 Atlantis: Kennedy Space Center, Florida

- OV-106 Endeavour: Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City, New York

- OV-107 Constitution: National Museum of the US Air Force in Riverside, Ohio

• 2022: the first Orion (LTV-101: Pathfinder) is launched into orbital aboard SLS-2. It conducts tests over several orbits and docks with the ISS.

• 2023: OV-202 Columbia II launches and fuels up the Pathfinder. Four crewmen board the spacecraft and depart from the moon...

Artwork by Seth Pritchard: link

[voltstone]

stagger (Wenclair One-Shot)

Enid is her one exception, so Wednesday tries. Again, and again, and again. She gets it right, asking Enid to…not a date. Eventually.

[3,276] | [Last Edit: 12/10/2022] (Full One-Shot Post)

Note: This one-shot has been reposted from my old account onto this one. If it looks familiar, that's why. (The issues with that account are why you can't see the "blocked" comments on posts, like the one I initially responded to; I was shadow-banned for...no reason? Some reason? Oh well.)

Hope you enjoy! :)

It has been decided:

Wednesday Addams would court Enid Sinclair.

On a Wednesday, no less.

Because nobody deserved Enid, and Enid was loyal to heart so, logically, if Wednesday courted her, no other would have the chance. There would not be another Ajax. No more forgotten dates, nor absent mental function. Nor, potentially, any acts of sabotage. Wednesday still kept the rope and pulleys in her desk for just in case. Regardless, this had been decided, and all there needed to be done was the courtship itself—something that was more of a work in progress than Wednesday liked to admit.

She now stood at the courtyard’s rim, watching a grotesque sea of midnight violets and stripes. Amongst them, however, was life, was spirit. Wednesday's luna dorada…

Enid was crafted by her blue moon eyes—more than her haunting blonde, splashed by berry shades—, for they were piercing, and they carried more than the Wednesday’s dead-weighted stare. They had a way of striking every insult to dust, and a way of worming beneath her gaunt complexion. Or, when they would drown, the blue to her eyes were what Wednesday sought to mend. Every time. Without fail.

And they drowned after Ajax.

And every subsequent boy.

Then girl. There was a girl too, but that didn’t last. None of them did, but she certainly didn’t.

…Enid was particularly upset with that one. Only now did Wednesday begin to begrudgingly admit that, perhaps, being the reason why a student jumped from academy to mental institution like a tick should’ve weighed heavier on her conscious. Begrudgingly, though. Wednesday still couldn’t find hers, so she borrowed Enid’s conscious, and as it turned out, that whole…incident weighed like an anvil.

It took a moment for Wednesday to realize she had been reflecting for much too long. She hadn’t moved from the pillar. And with a bark of laughter from the midnight sea, her attention snapped.

Blue moon found the ink of her eyes. Enid beamed at Wednesday, dared to spite what scars slashed her face, from across the tables.

A threat. (Enid merely smiled.) What sick behavior. (Sure, Wednesday.) She was going to vomit. (From the stress.) From the agony. (…no.)

There was a blink. Her heart urged ejection—orally.

So.

Wednesday flipped her off.

It was an honest reflex.

…

This exchange would be the one. A swift, passing moment between classes, with Enid skipping her way to interspecies biology, and Wednesday, cryptic humanities, at a stroll. Five minutes at most. The corridor they used was…occupied, as it usually was, though far from the bustling wing it would devolve to at other hours.

As usual, they stopped before the odd display case—to commemorate the school’s history of its students on milk cartons.

“Enid.”

Her smile grew in ways Wednesday would never understand, yet would come to…notice. Often. As fleeting, busy thoughts. They were often gnats. Never to leave until Wednesday paid them their due time. This particular smile dug into Enid’s cheeks, and it was a toothy one, with sly eyes, and a chin leaned towards her shoulder. (It would be one to ponder on for a while. Before bed, namely.) “…Wednesday?" Enid humored, "You’ve been a little mean today, you know.”

“It is my day,” Wednesday muttered.

She also noticed that Enid did grow a few inches after all. Her eyes flecked along Enid’s pinstriped, midnight uniform and concluded that, yes, her skirt looked a little shorter than it had before. "Do you…have something to say?“

Wednesday crept her stare back to Enid’s blue moon. There’s a pause, then Enid pressed, from the corner of her mouth, ”Or…ask?“

A blink. She swallowed down a sludge of webbed thoughts. "Enid. I…" That skirt needed to be longer. Since when did Enid grow? Over break, surely. Behind Wednesday’s back, no doubt. "I think that…" It hardly mattered. Wednesday was asking— Wednesday was courting Enid, and she— "Would— Would…you…”  She didn’t. Know. Where?! “To the—" Where would she court Enid? A funeral? "Go to…” No, she couldn’t.

“Wednesday…?”

Why did she not check the obituary this week?! This morning, for the—

Her eyes snapped to Enid. And she blinked. Twice this time. “What?”

Enid’s sly eyes had a mild twitch to them. Which was…new. Almost. She didn’t do that with Wednesday often. The last time was before their occasion at the last fair. And before that had been the night where they danced as one, at the masquerade—music to harmonize, words left unsaid. (It was a favorite moment.) “Do you want to go to town together?” A question, like the couple times before. Enid toyed with her hands, then added, quietly, “And we can go to that creepy antique store you like?”

“With the roadkill?”

“Yeah.”

Wednesday did like that store. "Yes. That would be…worthwhile.“

"…and then ice cream?”

She fought a grimace. Stamped it down. “The one that smells desperate for attention?”

“Uh, yeah, that one,” Enid said. Her eyes watched Wednesday, as full as ever.

“Okay.” Wednesday nodded, though it was slow, and it was cautious. Enid had a way of writhing guilt to her chest as heartworm. 

(She also had a way of patience:) “They have the vanilla you like.”

“Yes, then.”

Wednesday spoke the route to Enid’s apparent gaiety. “Okay!" she near-squealed, her hands clasped together. Before Wednesday found them latched on either shoulder. That gaiety, as it bloomed full in her eyes, threatened to chip the color from her nails and into the black of Wednesday’s uniform. "So after class then!”

She found she didn’t mind it. Enid could leave her sediment of color all she liked, so long as she kept her eyes from drowning. “Fine,” Wednesday said, with an added, “Don’t bother me until the hour.”

Enid’s nodding was frantic. The twitch in her eye skewed the smile in her cheek. 

Wednesday meandered around Enid with a thick mouth, and a heavy mind. She didn’t court her. Forgot to know what, exactly, the courting would be in the first place. How that blunder managed to come to fruition, she didn’t know. But Wednesday did know that it needed to be rectified. Near-immediately. Before their excursion to town, if she could help it—

“YES. FINALLY. JESUS CHRIST!" 

She wasn’t ten strides away, and already, Enid bothered her before the hour. Bothered, or rather startled her.

Wednesday craned her eyes to Enid. Enid, who, stood frigid, eyes round and face strained to another wide, toothy smile. This one curled her scars into an awkward, bent geometry. With a swallow, she explained, "…th-this is, um, our first time shopping together. Alone.”

A long, sharp exhale forced what stammer in Wednesday’s heart that shouldn’t have been, though Enid always managed, somehow. She stared for a good moment. Then: “We can stop by the funeral home, Enid. I know how to obtain a discount for a casket your size.”

Enid gulped sheepishly.

(Nothing she ever did was particularly wolfish, now that Wednesday realized.)

…

Wednesday, against her better judgement, sat herself at her desk, in her chair. Her eyes bore through Thing’s palm as he drabbled a meandering, smug tune. [You look chipper.]

“I’ll throw you in one. Quit with the shit-eating, you don’t even have a mouth.”

Thing rolled himself into a fist, exasperated. (He really should have expected this.) Then, he flopped, and waved, and signed: [Okay. Fine. But you do look…very schoolgirl.] Wednesday stared. [Without the dimples.] She frowned. [Or the giggling.]

“Don’t flatter me.”

[I know what a schoolgirl who needs advice looks like.] Thing jabbed his thumb to Enid’s blaring side of the room.

She didn’t follow his gesture. There was no need. She heard such schoolgirl who needed advice on a daily basis. But, given that, Wednesday finally relented. Because as much as this was against her better judgement, her better judgement was floundering or flipping Enid off—panicking, in other words, as she figured the mere hour before. So, she relented, and grumbled, “…it’s about her, actually.” She didn’t look at Thing. Not as he swayed his self-satisfaction, the filthy romantic. “I have decided that no one is good for Enid, and if I am to kill anyone who has done wrong by her, I might as well be by her side too.”

She glanced at him. Rocked her jaw. Blinked. Then stared into his favorite stitch. “I don’t know how to court her.”

[I knew it.]

“Doesn’t matter.”

[Don’t be like that.]

Wednesday gnawed the inside of her cheek in stewed silence. She hated it whenever Thing did that—chastised her. He was a hand. She wasn’t a child.

The moment between them throbbed a familiar strain, where the hand talked back, and Wednesday was left to configure whether or not she missed something. Which happened. A lot. Particularly with Enid and whatever bout of emotions had twisted to obscurity. Anger often was blurred with frustration, and guilt did the same. Enid was explosive, that way. Had Wednesday start to suspect that anger wasn’t an emotion at all, but rather an armor set…

She watched Thing expectantly. He drummed nonsense, then asked, [What have you done so far? ]

…that was not a good question to answer.

Wednesday stalled. Avoided him entirely.

Unfortunately for her, Thing’s drumming turned morse:

[…W E D N E S D A Y.]

She scowled. “You know I hate it when you do that,” she muttered. 

Thing, once her eyes flecked back to him, beneath her desk lamp, signed, [Then look at me.] A nail leaned from the light, towards Enid’s half. [How can I help if you do not look? ]

Wednesday sat with herself for a second that felt too long. If every two shoulders were birthed with an angel and a demon on either side, Wednesday was born with only the latter, until the former spawned far too late. And that angel was Enid, and she very much wanted to flick the damn thing off.

Because this moment felt like it should be an apology. For…something. Being too calloused, or, in Enid’s words, a stone-cold bitch.

Exhaled, Wednesday begrudgingly appeased the worst part of herself: “…sorry.” She might as well have molted off her tongue. From her peripheral, however, Thing fluttered in the lamplight. He was happy about it, at least.

“Now just tell me what to do.”

Surprise teemed from his skin. [How bad were you?! ] 

“Thing.”

He paused, heard the something in her voice which Wednesday didn’t know to swallow down, then signed, methodically, [Swoon then kiss her.]

Wednesday leaned forward, brows strewn together. She must have popped a vessel. “What?”

[Swoon. Then kiss her.]

She didn’t. Apparently.

[Don’t you want to court her? ] Thing continued, if tentative. Slowly, Wednesday nodded. [And…kiss her? ] Another question… [Hold hands? ] And another question… […pet names? ] And another which she couldn’t answer. Not really. They weren’t good ones, anyway.

Regardless, Wednesday managed the only semblance of one she could: “I’m not my parents, Thing." There was a consideration. "Nor Enid for the matter. I told you. I want to court her, and then kill— Dissuade anybody who tries to hurt her.”

Thing slumped, and Wednesday could practically see the disappointment pale in his fingertips. [You’re not killing Ajax.]

“I amended what I said.”

[You’re also not buying a mirror.]

Wednesday bit her inner-cheek—hoped for blood.

[Or azaleas. Or larkspurs.]

“…fine," she grated, with a gaze swept across her drawers. "And don’t steal my grocery lists.”

Thing took that as the best he would get. (It was.) He drummed again, then waved for her attention. Wednesday read closely:

[You are not romantic. I get that.

[But if you want to court her, you have to meet in the middle.

[Do something Enid would like.]

She hesitated, then leaned into the back of her seat. Something Enid would like… There were many things, too many which Wednesday didn’t know if she could stomach. She would have to, of course. Courtships were, after all, matters of covenant. A pact. A promise. Through life. Beyond death.

If only she knew what about her appeased Enid.

(The answer was everything, really. Enid’s far from picky when it came to Wednesday.)

…

Wednesday admired the roadkill. Enid looked green, though she still managed a smile or two.

They bought one wearing an astronaut’s suit.

(Enid said something about ink being her whole world. Blue moon looked far from drowning as she did.)

Then, Enid got herself a harrowing display of color vomited on a cone. With sprinkles.

She brought Wednesday her vanilla. It tasted plain. It was savored.

Throughout it all, Wednesday rummaged for their courtship. Because eyes stalked Enid. Eyes not her own.

…

“You finished the ice cream.”

They decided to walk back to the academy. Enid figured that it’d do her good to burn off the ice cream (despite the Lycan’s metabolism being the gift from the gods), and Wednesday liked to roam in the biting chill. It didn’t threaten rain, unfortunately, though the wind mused about a night of hail. That almost brought a smile to Wednesday’s face. Almost. It brought a clipped scowl to Enid’s.

“I did,” she answered, after a moment.

Wednesday felt her eyes wander to her—across her profile, down her braids. “And you’ve been…thinking this whole time,” Enid remarked, her voice awfully intimate. It got that way frequently, as of late. 

Her dead-weighted stare matched the tempo to their strides, darted along each splash of color to Enid’s autumn wear. Wednesday decided those awfully intimate words felt warmer than the scarf around her neck. And that warmth was…lively. The same kind that adorned a casket before burial, as a bouquet of leaves and flowers, color and white. It was acceptable. A homely embrace.

“Yes.” Wednesday looked forward—watched for the bend down the road. Her admission stirred from her lips, quietly: “About you.”

Enid smiled, and that smile lingered as she remarked, “I mean I would hope so.” A laugh. Kind to the ears. “It’d be honestly so tragic if you weren’t.”

Wednesday merely hummed. An itch, then, plagued itself. There was no swallowing it. So she noted, “People looked at you.”

“I…” Enid sounded softer. Not like leaves and flowers, though, nor color and white. Like a lamb. Before headlights. “They…did?”

Together, they stopped dead.

As Enid reached for her scars, brushed down their lines by her fingertips, Wednesday said, “You’re a pink mess. And you're…giddy.” Amongst other things, of course. Enid was far from sore on the eyes. She was a bundle of energy, yet swift of mind, all at once. “Of course they did.” Wednesday frowned, however. For the look in Enid’s eyes looked close to drowning—though rather than to a hurricane, a still, frigid blanket. “Enid?”

She snapped back, and her eyes found Wednesday’s. "It’s nothing. Just checking my make-up.“

Neither moved. Stuck in place, locked in the passing minute.

"They’re only scars, I’ve told you,” Wednesday murmured. 

“I know." She heard Enid’s armor—that non-emotion—synch in place. "But they’re still on my face, Wednesday!" she hissed. "People see these first. And when I meet new people, they’re not going to remember me as Enid, they’re just going to see a girl who probably got mauled by a stupid bear.”

This felt like another moment. Not an apology, though, no.

Yet Wednesday was twinged by the same hesitance. And that hesitance had a name, and it was one she bitterly knew well: remorse. An ugly thing.

She would mend it. Fix the guilt from Enid’s face. Keep those drowned eyes from leaking into those lines.

“I’ll give them matching ones.”

“No.”

“They can have their own to look in the mirror.”

“Wednesday, no." 

She had to. Because those lines were tallies, and those tallies marked each failure. Each snide retort. The window. The taped border. 

And that damn. Fucking. Manor.

…that scar, Wednesday imagined, was the deepest one. Rather than a ravine, a gorge. 

"I do know some bears,” Wednesday said, almost desperate. “They would do it.”

“No!" The desperation wasn’t for naught. Because Enid’s smile bled to her voice, and Wednesday felt as though, perhaps, the gorge was an increment closer to being another ravine, then, someday, a mere trench.

Her blue moon eyes grew bright. Wednesday felt her webbed thoughts sludge again. They were thick to swallow, though she let strands coat her words: "Enid. When I look at your face, I don’t think of your scars first.”

Wednesday felt herself tip towards asphyxiation. The moment twitched. Her throat tightened.

Enid watched her. “Then…how do you think of it?” she asked, as quiet as ever. Their eyes met.

As they did, Wednesday knew one thing:

Nobody was worth Enid’s affection. Herself least of all.

Those scars would never truly heal, nor the ravines beneath her eyes, beneath her words. Wednesday did, however, want to heal. Somehow. She didn’t know how. The urge was a shadow cloaked behind her. It was mute. It didn’t say anything. But, Wednesday felt it, somewhere. And it was different from what had her tear a chest open and gut, or curl an erratic melody. Perhaps she could learn how to mend blindly, though. To reach into those eyes, and those words, and pull Enid to safety.

And she did just that. Ink clothed Enid’s blue moon, stared deep for her words. Her skin flushed beneath Wednesday’s hand. But, Enid didn’t break away. Neither did.

So Wednesday reigned her close. She heard Enid’s breath hitch, and she felt her anxiety coil to her palm.

The kiss felt like lips.

(It burned, and seared, as a prickle down Enid’s spine.)

Once broken apart, Wednesday watched her. It was…a nice thing. Better than she expected. Less than the hurricane she just subjected Enid to, but more than a mere graze of skin. Maybe. It sounded right, for the moment. Her lurking shadow fidgeted, anyway, so it had to have been.

Wednesday swallowed down a chill. Savored it, for Enid felt like vanilla. Her jaw itched to speak, and—

Wait. Oh no.

She still couldn’t think of anything.

And— And oh no her lips were actually buzzing. Slightly. Like she just kissed a bee.

“U-Uh, Wednesday…?”

“Shut up.” That lurking shadow winced. This wasn’t going well. Wednesday didn’t mean that, so to clarify, she muttered, “I’m thinking.”

“…you could just—”

“Shut up. I’m thinking.” Thinking and forgetting. Wednesday couldn’t scrounge what she thought to ask. (This, she assumed, was why Thing told her to swoon and then kiss. Enid’s mouth didn’t even feel like much, but it was still biting her on the ass. Figuratively.)

Wednesday glanced, and she caught a smug, growing smile. “Enid.”

“Yeah…?” Enid purred.

She opened her mouth, figured an insult wouldn’t help matters, and closed it. Wednesday rifled through every idea she could flounder. “Tomorrow night.” That was a start. “Grave-robbing. I have…a kit for two.” A very, very good idea. Except— Wait no. Enid looked perturbed. “I know— I know where every colonizer was buried in the town. We could…sell everything to the antique…store…”

“…grave-robbing. …okay.”

“Yes.” Wednesday, unfortunately, then found what she should’ve thought of before. So: “And…p-picnic.”

Enid brightens. There’s a nod, followed by a swift peck to Wednesday’s cheek. “It’s a date then.”

Wednesday felt her throat gravel noise. Then, she felt clockwork turn behind her ears. The hour struck, and her gut squirmed. “Was this a date?” She stared. Enid’s blue moon eyes stagnated. “Enid.” They darted. “Enid, answer me.”

“…n-no?”

“Enid. How— How many have we had?”

“U-Uh…” Enid’s grin was, of course, sheepish. “…seven?”

Hope you enjoyed! :)

[lordofdestructionm]

The fear behind the manic grin

I know I have a reputation as a feral Vikdecai account (I mean can you blame me?) but all the characters in Lackadaisy are amazing and the main cast all have their own interesting stories playing out

Case in point the musical, poetic and lovably derranged Rocky Rockaby

There is one moment in the pilot where the feral energetic grinning persona slips and we see the face a of a broken young man in a state of total despair, before mercifully Mitzi decides to lighten the tone

This is key to understanding Rocky and his motivations

After being abandoned by his father and his mothers death from illness, Rocky was raised in his early years for a period of time by his Aunt Nina along with his cousin Calvin (Freckle)

However, due to some as yet unrevealed tragedy, Rocky was ejected from the Mcmurray house and spent the following years riding the rails

This is what we see the tail end of in the trailer for Season one

He stayed in touch with Calvin, writing him letters about his adventures, and as you would expect from a flamboyant personality he exaggerates what a big adventure it was how optimistic he was feeling at this time as he travelled from place to place working various assorted odd jobs between 1921 and 1924

The Lackadaisy Wicki provides a nice breakdown

But of course the reality is quite different. Having no home, no family and no friends outside what brief and fleeting acquaintances he made on the road took its toll

When he finally returns "home" to St Louis he attempts to reconnect with his deadbeat dad only to realize that he had skipped town quite some time ago and once again is not there for him.

Knowing better than to expect a warm welcome from Aunt Nina he is once again all alone with nowhere to go. Simply living on the streets with pidgeons as his only companions

But all that changes when he meets Mitzi May by chance around 1925 while busking in the street with his violin after charming her with his music.

This makes Mitzi his patron, and indeed his saviour from a vagrant existence when she lets him join Zib's band, then playing exclusively at the Lackadaisy speakeasy.

For the first time in years he has not only found somewhere seemingly more long term to be but back in the town he thinks of as home

But even this seemingly positive change does not get to last long. Atlas's death in 1926 throws everything into uncertainty and without its leader and despite Mitzi's best efforts things begin to decline both financially and in terms of manpower.

Those that remain do so for various reasons despite leaving arguably being the smartest option. Rocky does so because he is done with drifting and is determined to hold onto the solid ground he has found no matter what. He makes this desperation clear to Calvin

Though it should be noted while he wants the Lackadaisy to be saved he wants it done on very specific terms.

Specifically ones where he is the golden boy that saved the day.

He is desperate to ingratiate himself to Mitzi. This is in part due to gratitude to her as his "saviour", partly him having a crush on her, mostly its tied to his perception of her as a "damsel in distress" that he can ride in and rescue, and in the process secure a permanant place for himself

This is why in both the pilot and the comic he is so devastated when he sees that she is dissapointed with his efforts.

This is also why in both you can see a (barely) passive aggressive attitude towards Wick.

Its not just that he is a rival for Mitzi's affection. The friendly wealthy industrialist, who clearly has a thing for the beautiful widow, threatens to make Rocky and his efforts to be the Knight in shining armour redundant, and equally so Rocky himself.

If he invested his money in the Speakeasy he would be the hero and Rocky would just be the clown that tried so hard (risking his life even) but failed, only for some handsome aristocrat to stroll in with his chequebook

Rocky fears being adrift again. Of feeling alone and unwanted again. He is willing to go to extreme lengths to prevent that from happening.

To feel wanted, included and loved he will start as many fires and thow as much dynamite and dodge was many bullets as it takes

[pizzaqueen]

picnic time with you

Part two of three

Rated T / getting together fluff / currently 8k

For @thefreakandthehair’s spring fanworks challenge / my prompt was picnic

In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love…and picnics.

“Why are you so keen on this, anyway?” Steve looks at Eddie, pulse skipping. He drums his fingers on the floor. “You can’t be that bored.”

Eddie turns to Steve, lit by the flickering glow of the projector, and says, “I like knowing things about you.”

When Eddie convinces Steve to show him some old family photos and home movies, it unearths a happy memory of a picnic Steve went on as a child. It was just an ordinary picnic, but it was special to Steve, and it gives him an idea. He's going to take Eddie on a picnic—a romantic one—and finally tell him how he feels. And Robin’s going to help him plan it.

Excerpt:

“What do you think of picnics?”

”I—” Robin’s face screws up. “I…don’t think about them? Why?”

Steve picks up the toy cat again, untying the bow around its neck, then retying it. “I was thinking of taking Eddie on one.”

There are a few moments of silence before Robin says, “You want to take Eddie on a picnic?”

Steve’s heart leaps. “Yeah.”

“Eddie Munson?”

“No, Eddie Van Halen.” This is going well already. “Yes, Eddie Munson.”

Robin pushes off the bed and goes over to the television, ejecting the tape from the player. “You’ve never taken me on a picnic.”

The tightness in Steve eases, and his lips twitch. “Are you jealous?”

“No.” Robin slides the tape—it’s a bootleg from some pen pal of hers—into the nondescript box and turns the television off. “Why would I be jealous? We’ve been friends way longer, but it’s Eddie you want to take on a picnic.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“Hey, that’s my line!”

“Whatever, you’re the best of my best friends, and you know it,” Steve says, “but I don’t want to date you.”

Robin gets back on the bed, one leg bent at the knee, the other stretched out before her. “Ew, no, of course not.” She grabs the cat back from Steve, hugging it to her chest, then stares at Steve. “Wait… What?”

“What what?”

“Does that— Are you implying you want to date Eddie?”

Steve swallows. “Maybe.”

Read the rest of part two on AO3

[duhragonball]

Neon Genesis Evangelion 13

I was looking forward to this, because it was a Ritsuko episode, but it kind of falls flat. At least she's nice to look at.

Let's get this part out of the way. The Eva pilot kids are participating in some weird experiment where they have to sit in simulations of their Eva units and they gotta be butt-ass naked the entire time. Ritsuko says some bullshit about how they're trying to eliminate any interference in their bodies' connection to the user-interface. So they had to get super-clean and I guess even wearing the plugsuits would introduce unknown variables to the experiment.

I mean, the real reason is to do another gag where the kids are made to feel uncomfortable for the audience's amusement. It's also to write them out of the story, because they'll spend the whole episode stuck inside their entry plugs, unable to leave because of an evacuation order and their nudity.

However, the experiment has to be aborted when some sort of unknown corrosion occurs and contaminants enter the purified water that the Eva simulators are soaking in. All efforts to remove the contamination fail, and when Ritsuko tries to burn it off the simulators, its protected by an AT field, which means...

It's an Angel. I'm not clear on whether it's been inside the NERV base for a long time, and it's only now just making its move, or whether it just got here. But check this out first.

While Admiral Clownshoes gets the report from Ritsuko, Gendo Ikari just rises up from the floor like Cody Rhodes on his magic stage elevator.

Except it looks like his lower body has been cropped off. I think he's supposed to be sitting at a desk that's rising up with him, but it's the same color as the wall, so it looks really, really bad.

Gendo immediately orders that the Evas should be launched. The real ones, not the simulators. His staff point out that they'll need the Evas to defeat the Angel that's infiltrated their base, but Gendo is worried that the Evas might be compromised by the contamination. At least this way, if they lose the base, the Evas will be safe outside.

As for the pilots, they were already ejected from the simulators when the crisis began. Here, let me skip to the end real quick.

Those are their entry plugs, which are just... floating in a lake for some reason? The kids spend the rest of the episode here. I guess they could climb out and swim to shore, but...

... they're nude, and also they have no idea what's going on, or that their Evas are also outside the base. I guess in theory they could mount up and fight the Angel as usual, but this isn't your typical Angel.

It's more like a microbial infection, or an algal bloom. Somehow, it's evolving, becoming hardier and more powerful as it makes its way through the base. Briefly, the gang notice that it might have an aversion to the ozone they use to sterilize the water, so they pump more ozone into try to kill it. That works... for a little while, until the Angel suddenly recovers and flourishes in the ozone-rich environment. It adapted to its new conditions.

I think when it made contact with Rei's Eva simulator, it learned... computers? I don't know a more sophisticated way to say that. Anyway, once that happened, the Angel started moving through NERV's... computer... stuff. Eventually it got into the MAGI.

All right, let's talk about the MAGI. These are a trio of supercomputers that run all of Tokyo-3. In particular, the MAGI function as the main OS for the NERV base, but they also serve as the de facto municipal government of the city. They have elections and human officials, but that's just a dog and pony show. The real decisions are made by AI.

When the Angel infects one of the three MAGI, Melchior, it attempts to trigger a self-destruct command, but the other two MAGI overrule it. So the Angel infects a second MAGI, Belshazzar, and Ritsuko manages to halt its advance by... well, I don't actually know how she does it.

This gives them two hours to figure out how to deal with this. Misato proposes destroying the MAGI before it's too late, but Ritsuko objects, since that would mean destroying their entire base. I don't know if she means that literally or metaphorically. I mean, the Angel is trying to destroy the base literally, so it sounds like Misato's plan would just be giving the Angel what it wants.

The problem is that the Angel keeps evolving to cope with any threat, so if they can't destroy the MAGI, then the only other alternative is to accelerate its evolution until it reaches a dead end. Uh, okay?

Eventually, the Angel might "choose to co-exist with the MAGI system", if its only alternative is to stagnate and die. I feel like we're making a lot of assumptions about what the Angel is and what its motivations are.

I just assumed these things are sentient life forms, an their attacks on NERV were deliberate acts against an enemy. This particular Angel infiltrated their base and immediately went into the heart of their operation--the computer that controls everything-- and tried to activate a self-destruct mechanism. It's not trying to communicate, and it's not an emergent consciousness. It seems to know exactly what's its doing, and it's trying to kill them, just like the last several Angels that made a beeline for this base.

My point here is that I don't think it has a strong survival instinct beyond completing its mission. Given the choice between co-existing with the MAGI and mutually assured destruction, I think the Angel would choose the latter. But maybe I've been misreading these things all along.

Ritsuko's proposal is to reprogram the third MAGI, Casper to... I don't even know. She's going to do something to it. Then they'll allow the Angel to contaminate that MAGI as well, and whichever one is faster will win. If the Angel can take control of all three MAGI, it can trigger the self-destruct, so unless Casper wins, they all die.

So Ritsuko crawls inside of Casper's... uh... computer junk, to make the necessary changes to its program. Inside, they find a bunch of handwritten developer notes, which supposedly will help them reprogram this thing even faster. Wouldn't these notes have been more helpful on the outside of the computer? I get that they were going for a particular visual here, but I'm really having a hard time keeping up.

While Ritsuko works, Misato asks her about the MAGI, which... okay, this is a huge pet peeve of mine, where I'm trying to fix some complicated piece of equipment, and someone tries to make idle conversation while I need to concentrate on what I'm doing. And this is a hundred times worse than that, because Ritsuko's on the clock, and when the clock runs out, they all die.

But Ritsuko plays along, so either she's just that good at multi-tasking, or she's too polite to object. Anyway, her mother was the one who invented the MAGI technology, and she imprinted her own personality into its systems. Ritsuko says her mom set them up to represent three aspects of her personality: Scientists, mother, and woman. Ritsuko always respected her mother as a scientist, and she could never relate to her as a mother, but she hated her as a woman. Okay?

Basically, Ritsuko didn't like her mom much, but she feels a special connection with the MAGI anyway, because they carry her mother's personality and legacy. It's a lot like the deal with Misato and her dad, or Shinji with his dad. Is this a theme, or did the writers just only have the one idea?

It's a good thing Ritsuko is so hot, or this episode would be a total mess. She does whatever she does, and it works, but with less than a second to spare. The Angel is... gone? They don't really get into that, but it doesn't explode like all the others, and the contamination is eliminated, so I don't know what exactly happened to it. Maybe it really is co-existing with the MAGI system.

Oh, wow, I'm out of episode. This was the pits.

A huge chunk of this one was just technobabble, which works pretty well on a show like Star Trek: The Next Generation, but not on an anime like this, which relies on flashy visuals instead of live actors. The problem is fairly simple: An Angel got in their base and tried to hack the supercomputer. But the solution is utter gobbledygook. I have no idea what they did to fix it, or even whether the Angel was alive or dead afterward.

I'm reminded a lot of the TNG episode "Final Mission". It's about Wesley Crusher's last day on the Enterprise before he goes to Starfleet Academy, and he, Captain Picard, and a dirtbag shuttle pilot get marooned on a desert planet. Picard is injured and the pilot gets killed, so it's up to Wesley to save Picard from some weird energy sentry that's preventing them from getting fresh water. Wesley figures it out, but the climax of the episode is just him tapping buttons on his tricorder until the sentry finally just... goes away.

It's a real letdown, because the rest of the episode was really good. The problem is that normally when they solve a problem on Star Trek, you have one of the crew explain the solution to the others, and they mull it over and eventually agree to a plan. But in "Final Mission", Wesley's got no one to talk to. Picard's unconscious and Dirgo's dead, and the Enterprise hasn't found them yet. So he's stuck in the unfortunate position of having to come up with this clever solution with his tricorder, but never getting the chance to tell anyone how he did it.

A good counterexample to this is "The Enemy", where Geordi La Forge is marooned on a planet with a hostile Romulan, and they have to work together to track a homing beacon to escape. It's much more effective, because it's two characters in a collaboration, so they have to explain what they're doing. Geordi has a tricorder and his VISOR, but the planet's environment has messed up his brain to where he can't use the VISOR, and his tricorder isn't sensitive to the beacon. So the Romulan suggests he connect them together. Good idea, but Geordi can't do it because he can't see, so the Romulan does it while Geordi talks him through the procedure.

That's not what we get in NGE 13. The Angel contaminates the base, and you have a lot of panicky dialogue and characters giving status updates and issuing orders, but none of it means anything.

"Reroute the main server into the backup neurohub!" "Disengage Pipe #6!" "It's entered the Matthew vinculum! Heading for Mark, now Luke! Isolate the John vinculum, quickly!" "Execute protocols A, F, and 37." "Shut off the frammistat and bring the Longius Introspection online." "But sir...!" "To hell with the safety checks, there's no time!"

You can kind of get away with this stuff, but there has to be a balance. Technobabble is for aesthetic purposes, to establish that it's science fiction. At some point you gotta come up for air and fill in your audience on the stakes. Let them know what the problem is and what obstacles the characters need to overcome to fix it. Otherwise you're just showing people typing on computers until the alarms switch off.

The biggest gripe I have with this episode is that Ritsuko's plan worked perfectly. There was zero tension or conflict to any of it. The alternative--destroying the MAGI, as Misato proposed-- was apparently so unthinkable that it barely got any traction. So Ritsuko's plan was the only option. Ritsuko herself had no problem implementing the plan. It would have been nice if she felt some sort of inner turmoil over this. Like, maybe she could have been worried that she wasn't good enough to pull this off. Maybe she had some unpleasant memory of her mother inside Casper's inner workings, so she just has an aversion to crawling back inside. Anything, as long as it's more than just sitting inside a computer and typing on another computer.

Well, at least she looks good doing it.

[niphredil-14]

The Tim one has me tearing up, could we get a death scene for Toby?

They knew the whole "not feeling pain" thing would turn out bad eventually. It was a large part of their worry for him. They would toss and turn on nights that he was out for "work," worrying about if he would get badly injured and not notice until it was too late. They had never been much of a psychic, but the unseen abilities grace everybody now and again. That, or they had just worried about it so much that the universe thought it would be funny to make their worst nightmare come to life.

They were half asleep when he got home, throwing his pants and hoodie off after climbing through the window, and before climbing into bed with them. He pressed a kiss to their cheek and cuddled up. His temperature was a surprise to them. He felt like ice, a strange occurrence considering how warm he typically ran. It wasn't enough to cause them too much worry though, still much too out of it. That drowsiness was all but ejected from them when they felt a warm sticky liquid pooling around them. They shot up, reaching over to turn on the bedside lamp, fear and tears beginning to glaze their eyes when they saw the deep red, nearly black, puddle soaking into their sheets. 

“Oh my god, Toby.” They croaked out, their voice shaking. “What the hell happened?”

“Uh...” He started, thinking, though it as clear that the fogginess in his brain wasn’t from exhaustion after a long day. 

“Don’t answer that, just, just” They began to stutter, their lungs failing them. “Just keep pressure on the wound, okay? I’m gonna get the first aid kit.” They rushed, time seeming to skip from terror and speed, until they reentered the bedroom. Toby was leaning against the headboard, shirt off, wadded up against the wound. They were quick to get to work, neither of them speaking throughout the process. Their lack of skill when it came to stitching were only accompanied by shaky hands and a head spinning to fast to think, though they tried nonetheless. Minutes passed, and they only looked up when they felt his hand rest on the nape of their neck. He smiled sympathetically, fingers toying with their hair.

“You’re my favorite person, sunshine.” He said, voice quiet. Despite how affectionate he had always been, he was scared to admit his love for them. He had lost too many loved ones. Oh, how the turn tables. 

[silvergomez]

House Of Ashes In Among us 6 : Dead Body

*Body reported*

Joey : Well, I found Dar's body alone in the dark.

Jason : Just that? More details..!!!

Joey : I found his body on the balcony. I just didn't see anyone around.

Jason : I see...

rachel : This is suspicious...

Nick : My God! Guys stop nonsense, it's obviously Salim!

Salim : What? Me again? I already said I had nothing to do with this, I proved my innocence!

Nick : Negative! You may have escaped being caught as an impostor last time but now there are no excuses!

Jason : What it is? It doesn't make sense to be Salim!

Nick : And why not?

Jason : He was with me the whole time after the first vote! It can't be him!

Nick : Oh... Well, anyway Salim is not innocent!

Clarice : How are you so sure of this?

Nick : Because I'm investigating this case! My main suspect is Salim!

Joey : It's ok! But there's no proof that it's him, right? So for now let's just skip it!

Nick : Do we need proof??

Clarice : Of course yes, idiot! If not, we may vote for the wrong person.

Salim : I just don't understand why you don't like me.

Nick : I know you are the impostor! And if that's the case I really don't like you.

Salim : But..But I'm so kind.... Why hate me like this? I'm not an impostor, right?

Nick : Keep your words to yourself! I do not trust you! I don't trust! I will prove that you is the impostor no matter what I do!

Rachel : Guys.. Stop! Let's not vote for anyone! I don't think it's Salim anyway. We will not vote in this round.

Nick : What? Serious?

Salim : Thanks...

Clarice: That’s fine for me.

Joey : I agree too.

Jason : If it's for this bitch's happiness.

Nick : Shit..whatever..

*No one was ejected 1 impostor Remaining*

Rachel : Don't worry Salim, I will prove your innocence...

Salim : Thank you for helping me prove my innocence Rachel, I don't know what I would do without you now.

Rachel : No problem, now let's continue doing the tasks.

Clarice : What's your problem man? Accusing the guy like that out of nowhere! You could have been ejected.

Nick : I know he's the impostor, just because I don't have proof doesn't mean I'm wrong.

Clarice : Don't be empty-headed! Think with the brain you have. My God! It's not difficult to behave and don't do stupid things until the next meeting, okay?

Nick : I won't do anything wrong.. I promise...

[Joey walks to the lab]

Joey : well, I have three tasks here, I hope it doesn't take that long.

Merwin: Badah!

Joey : Outch! Don't scare me, Egghead!

Merwin : Egghead huh? That's not what your mother told me yesterday while she was in my bed.

Joey : Oh I see, hahaha.

Rachel : Are you guys going to stay here talking about each other's moms? Don't have any taks to do?

Joey : Of course! I was already going to do mine.

Rachel : And you ?

Merwin : I was already going madam!

Rachel : That's how I like it... Everyone obeying me... Aaahh Oh damn! I have tasks too...

[ Everyone was doing their tasks, right? But someone sneaked into the ventilation and is now sneaking in there. oh no! He is sabotaging the ship]

*Sabotaged ship*

Clarice : You have to be joking!! *Puts hand on face*

merwin : Who was the idiot who did this???

[Everyone goes towards sabotage, and luckily they manage to do it before the ship explodes. How lucky! Then before they can breathe a sigh of relief a body falls among them all]

merwin: Oh fuck!

Rachel : Looks like we have a new corpse on our hands...

Jason : Oh God and now?

Joey : Let's report!

*Body reported*

??? : hahahahaha, It's so funny how they fall for my words... manipulable...

Continue...