#So on and so forth. Maybe I'll draw some of these- or something else with partial demon Medic- in the future. or maybe not. idk lol

[gracefireheart]

Idk I just wanted to sketch Medic but as a partial demon or something

[tanicus-caesareth]

guarana drama, damage control

[echantedtoon]

The Way The Cookie Crumbles

When dreams dance and fantasies swirl, the shadows prance and hallucinations whirl. Tis not but a dream, not what it seems. But to be fair, you should beware. For not everything in the dream is a fake scheme. 

(Or a Yandere Shadow Milk Cookie x Reader Oneshot based on my Dream Demon S.M.C Au. And no he's not a cookie in this au, I based what his demon design looks like as the pic I used as the Coverart/linked. Found on Pinterest. I used some of his voice lines. Warnings for demon summoning(??), yandere themes, and blood mentioned.

The song used is Circus Monster (English Cover) by Jubyphonic. He might be ooc in this cuz it's my first time writing for him.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=aQgXq42nD8I&pp=ygUcY2lyY3VzIG1vbnN0ZXIgZW5nbGlzaCBjb3Zlcg==  )

Would you take a deal with the devil?

The foggy memories and distant dreams are one of the few things you've experienced since taking part in that strange bet. It wasn't supposed to be a real thing. Just a silly game to be had at a sleepover with the girlfriends. Someone had brought up the typical game traditional for the event. A ouija board but that would not suffice.

"That old thing again? It never works when we use it anyways so what's the point?"

"You got any better ideas?"

"Let's try summoning something like in the movies!"

"Seriously?"

"Oh c'mon. It's all fake anyways. It'll be a fun. I know this urban legend we can try out!"

You all were uneasy, but didn't believe in anything like this. After all things like ghosts and goblins only existed in movies and fairy tales, plus it might've even been fun! So you all went along with it. As the urban legend goes if you take a black glass and fill it with milk, place a single drop of blood, then leave it in the darkest corner of the house, and then say an incantation, the Shadow Milk Man will appear. Sorta like Bloody Mary but only more ridiculous sounding. Drawing straws it was you who had the short end and so you were the one who had to prick their finger and offer a drop of blood into your friend's black mug which she then stuck in the closet. Then you all stood back holding back giggles at the ridiculousness of the situation. 

"Shadow, shadow will arise, new moon hides from eyes. Shadow shadow will arise, new moon hies from eyes," your friend dramatically changed at the door as you all giggled. "Deep dreamscapes veer and steer away, for the darkness of minds comes to play. Unholy follies are to pay. We call the one whom creeps in dark, for our words he must harm. Come forth to accept the offer for the one you seek is the one who's blood has been leaked."

The giggling persisted as you all waited for something to happen. And waited. And waited long enough for enough to not find this entertaining anymore. Your chanting friend pressed their ear to the door listening before opening the door and finding the still full mug of milk sat there untouched.

"Told you it wouldn't work. Oh well. It was good for a laugh."

"Maybe we have to wait longer?"

"Are you seriously going to just leave that sitting in your closet all night?", you asked raising a brow. 

With a shrug your friend just closed the door and turned back around. "Eh. I'll dump it out in the morning."

"Now I know you're crazy. *Sigh* Whatever. It's your closet you're stinking up. Can I have a bandaid for my finger now?"

"Sure. Give me a second. They're in the kitchen." 

In the darkness of the closet, unseen from prying eyes, and behind the darkened door shadows moved. Eyes opened wide between hung clothes and random knickknacks. And a razor sharp smile widened. Claws ensnared around cold porcelain and lips wrapped themselves up around the rim. The sound of a satisfied sigh, and then the sinister chuckling of evil.

When morning came and the door was opened, and the empty mug was there to everyone's surprise. No one would confess to dumping out the milk. You knew one of them must've done it to mess with everyone else but no one would fess up. Whatever. You dropped it and moved on with your life. 

However that's when the dreams started to happen soon after. Usually you'd fall into a dreamless slumber only to wake up groggily the next morning, but lately you'd have very strange dreams. Dreams of being floating in a black abyss with multiple blue eyes staring at you in the endless void. Sometimes it was nothing in the darkness but loud giggles and invisible arms reaching out to grab your arms or touch your cheek but as soon as you awoke, there'd be nothing there. You brushed it off as stress from work and reading one too many horror novels, but oh how you were wrong. So, so wrong.

Because tonight was the night shadows danced in the dreamscapes of memories and emotions, of hearts and souls, fear and delight. 

For when your eyes closed that night you felt your world shift until you were standing upright and walking through a dark abyss. It felt so real, so solid. Your arms extended out in front of you to feel around in the dark for anything solid you might bump into. Until in the darkness a light appeared, far away at first but soon rapidly approaching. FAST. What was akin to a giant bright flashlight being shined in your eyes. Instinctually your arms covered your face for impact, and suddenly everything was bright. When you next opened your eyes-

You squealed out jumping back as a face was in front of you. YOUR face. Everywhere you turned to a throw, there was nothing but endless copies of your faces everywhere you looked. On the ceiling, beneath your feet, behind you- It took you a long moment to figure out that you were in fact surrounded by mirrors. Slowly a hand extended to touch the cold, smooth surface of the nearest wall flinching at how realistically cold it felt.

"This is the weirdest dream yet," you mumbled under your breath looking around.

There seemed to be a hallway in front of you, so with a dead end behind you, you started walking forward following the hallway of mirrors with an awestruck on your face. The hallway of mirrors never seemed to end, only going onwards and onwards, until unexpectedly you finally hit a corner. Turning the corner slowly you came to another strange sight.

It was a door.

A very...strange door. It was all blue minus the gold accents on the corners, the shiny golfed knob, and strangest of all a happy face comedy mask in the middle. Like the kind you'd find in theaters or plays. 

"This just keeps getting weirder and weirder doesn't it?"

Well you still couldn't go back until you eventually woke up again, so you might as well continue onwards until you couldn't go anymore or until you woke up. Slowly approaching the door you reached out a hand to slowly grab the doorknob, finding it as cold as the mirrors, with a twist it opened wide open and you were surprised to see how dark it was on the other side...Whelp. There wasn't anything to lose. Walking forward inside, the door slowly closed behind you leaving you in darkness once more. You could barely see three yards in front of you as you continued to walk. The cold reflective floor gone now replaced by what felt like wood under your feet. You couldn't see anything no matter how much you squinted in the dark. Barely being able to see-

Until something brushed up against your face!

"AH?!"

You jumped back swatting at the long tendril as it swayed back and forth from you hitting it. You panted as it harmlessly hung there... before you blinked.

"A rope?"

A brown rope dangled from the dark above. Your eyesight could make out the top but you saw other roles dangling from the ceiling too. A quick sweep of the floor had you noticing sand bags and to your far right was a massive wall of felt also dangling from the ceiling. A...curtain?

"Oh please don't tell me I'm having a nightmare about my fourth grade Christmas pageant," you mumbled in dread, "I hated being dressed up as the Hallmart knock off gingerbread man."

Curiously you approached the heavy curtain, knelt down reaching out to pull up the bottom and rose your brows when light flooded out. An exit maybe? Nothing ventured nothing gained you guess. The curtain was surprisingly thick and heavy, and you struggled to lift it up enough to duck under it coming out of the other side. Only to find even another surprise.

"Ok. Now this is getting ridiculous!"

Before you was more tented walls lit up by some unknown light source. The thick curtains making up the walls were various blues or white in color, all having glittery gold accents along the bottom train and studded with various cresent moon and star imagery. Before you there was two ways, left and right. It was like a maze at this point! A dark void, hallway of mirrors, and then this giant tent thing...No. Not a maze.

A fun house. A citrus. 

"What the heck did I read to give me this random dream?"

Debating a second you eventually turned left and made it two steps before something made you stop. It was...music. Pausing, you blinked before slowly looking behind you down the hallway of tents as it came from that direction. A loud blast of music echoed out that sounded like...a saxophone and violin??

"Time is dead and gone.~ Show must go on.~ It's time for our our act.~ They all scream at me.~ They cannot see this curtain hides me.~ An amazing gift.~ So quick and swift.~ You are amazing.~"

A melodist voice wafted over you from behind that sentence chills down your spine and goosebumps on your skin. Fear injected your veins like a virus as you stood frozen amongst the noises.

"By myself I can't.~ They start to chant.~ Why are you not here?~ Grinning at me.~ I lay at my knees.~ They want to hear me.~ Why can they not see?~"

You've..never heard that voice before. It was clearly male but it was..off somehow. A feeling that made your guts churn with unease. But you still walked towards the symphony of music and singing to get to the bottom of this.

"I swear if this stupid dreams ends with there being a creepy clown in here, I am never celebrating Halloween again."

"I want to see you.~ I have to see you.~ I need to see you.~ What happened to you?~ We go up on stage.~ They jump to enrage.~ Why are you not here?~Why is he so near?~ He wants me to sing.~ I just cannot bring. I say he's not you.~ What else can I do?~"

You quickly sped walked down the hallway that again split off in two directions. Your head turning both directions as the music sounded like it was coming from both directions. Eventually you went right again increasing your speed walk to a light jog.

"Singing it's silent of misery.~ A monster lies trapped in its own nightmare.~ He is a tyrant.~ He let's out a plea.~ Why did she have to leave it all alone?~"

You quickly picked up your pace before turning left on a whim, finding more and more curtains and hallways no matter which way you turned. 

"Bound to sing for us.~ A worthless monster.~ It never sees us ~ It despises us.~ Lying so useless we start to holler.~ Hey get up you worthless circus monster.~ I lay all alone. I should've known you would've left me.~ He smiles at me.~ I cannot see why he's in your place.~ They can't tell me why you said goodbye right before our act.~ Those two lions were always fun.~ Why did they leave too?~"

The endless maze laughed at your frantic almost panicked form now full on running through these halls after some ghost. Were you chasing it or were you running away at this point?!

"Roaring at me.~ I lay on my knees. What is happening?~ I can hear you sing.~ They will not obey.~ They've been lead astray.~ Will I still see you?~ I have to see you.~ I panic and flee.~ They both pounce on me.~ I fell to ground.~ I fell to the ground.~"

You turned again and skidded to a stop. Mouth open and panting as you froze as you were in the center of a small room and there was a least six different pathways leading off into different directions from you and all looked exactly the same. Now what?!

"I look up to see you're not here with me.~ Am I all alone?~ Where could you have gone?~ Singing it's silent of misery.~ A monster lies trapped in its own nightmare.~ He is a tyrant.~ He let's out a plea.~ Why did she have to leave it all alone?~ Bound to sing for us.~ A worthless monster.~ It never sees us ~ It despises us.~ Lying so useless we start to holler.~ Hey get up you worthless circus monster.~"

THERE!! The one in the very center! You quickly chased after the musical number as it started to slow down the rhythm and fade away. 

"Singing it's silent of misery.~ A monster lies trapped in its own nightmare.~ He is a tyrant.~ He let's out a plea.~ Why did she have to leave it all alone?~ Bound to sing for us.~ A worthless monster.~ It never sees us ~ It despises us.~ Lying so useless we start to holler.~ Hey get up you worthless circus monster.~"

You ran and ran until you made one last turn and ran to what looked like a part in the curtains. Things slowly came to a full stop as soon as you ran through the open and you stopped. Panting and having for air while looking around the room you happened to find yourself in. It was a room as big as about three bedrooms with floor black and glittery beneath your feet. The curtains surrounding you were all a dark blue and there wasn't any parts or hallways leading anywhere...in fact the doorway you stepped through was magically gone as well leaving you trapped within.

"Am I having a stroke in my sleep or something?!"

"Maybe not a stroke but definitely tripping over yourself. Maybe it was something you ate."

You jumped whirling around wide eyed at the sounds of the male voice, but found no one around the room but the curtains. "Who's there?!"

"Whaaaat? You don't recognize the sounds of my scrumptious voice?~"

The voice sounded like it was coming from no where and everywhere at once so it was hard to pinpoint where exactly you should look. "You don't sound like anyone my brain would conjure up." Didn't sound familiar at all.

A small silence followed as you continued to look around the strange room.

"You spent so much time here right under my gaze for so long, and yet you have no idea who I am? I am hurt I must say."

"I don't even know where I am right now." Other than inside your own head in a dream. "Who are you anyways?" A figment of your imagination obviously not sure why you were asking. But who knows where this was going?

"Ugh. That question again? Booooring! I get asked that so many times I might as well ask myself it whenever I meet someone at this point," the echoing man's voice responded. 

"Wow. I didn't know my inner voice could be so sarcastic to me." That got a loud chuckle from the voice as you just stared up at the dark ceiling and crossed your arms. Well you were getting no where so maybe a more intuitive question. "Ok. Then can I talk to you face to face? Dream or not, it's rude not to be able to see whoever you're talking to."

"Finally! A question for me! And it only took five minutes of meeting you! What a record!"

Your brow rose. "So where are you?"

You jumped when the sounds of a LITERAL drum roll dramatically sounded off from no where just like the previous instruments had. 

"Im heeeeere! Ladies and gentledemons. The world's finest playwright, post, director, actor, clown, and everyone's most beloved trickster!"

Before you the curtains parted wide open. A loud explosion sounded out like a loud firecracker, white fog flowing out from the other side as the drumroll continued. Before from out of the fog, a figure twirled you leaned back as something landed with a thud in front of you.

"TADA! The star of the show has arrived!" The talk figure announced twirling a scepter and smirking like anyone would be impressed with his mere presence. "Whatcha think? Entrance stage right as the theater nerds say."

You...blinked. Could only stare at this..thing before you as he smiled down at your form. You were right. It definitely was a clown but a very ODD looking clown. Dressed up mostly in black from the shoes up with a few blue diamond patterns, except for a puffy white collar, and two puffy sleeves one white one black with blue stripes. Speaking of blue, his skin and eyes was various shades of blue too, as well as his hair with white and black sprinkled in but the thing that weirded you out the most was the plethora of eyes that stared back at you from the locks. 

You continued to stare, shaking your head blinking as your brain tried to make sense of what you were seeing. Before something tapped you hard on your head. 

"Hellooooo! Was my appearance too much for your fragile mindset or somethin'? Wouldn't be the first time I broke a mortal."

"Hey! Stop that!" You swatted his hands harmlessly away as he giggled, giving a glare. "Who even are you anyways?"

"Oh. Where are my manners?" Reaching up a blue hand, he pulled off a blue,black, and white jester hat you hadn't noticed before and dramatically bowed. "Shadow Milk at your service, or well you're more of a MY service now that I think about it." He popped back up just tossing the hat up and somehow it miraculously landed on his head again, before one hand went to his hip as the other tapped against his scepter whick had some kind of shiny blue gem in the shape of an eye on it's end. "Now that the boring introductions are outta the way, what say we get down to the bare crumbs?"

"Shadow...Milk?? That's a pretty weird name even for a clown."

He instantly frowned. "Hey!" The end of that scepter was pointed at your face. "Look here. You humans name your spawn Porsche and Mercedes. Last time I was on the human plane, those were the names of those guzzling metal carriages you ride in. Looots of death in those things."

"...Ok. Point taken." You guessed clowns were supposed to have ridiculous names anyways. You took a moment to really look over his frowning man jester thing as his foot tapped against the sparkly obsidian black floor beneath your feets. "What movie did I watch to conjure you up?"

"Pfft! Ahahaha!!" Throwing his head back he laughed loudly at the very thought he could be anything but a thing conjured up in your dream. "Absolutely NOTHING! Hate to break it to you, Cupcake, but this-" His hands gestured to his talk body with a proud smile. "-is aaaalllll natural! One hundred percent dark matter with a two percentage of calcium and hellfire from where I was baked in the fiery Dante's Inferno oven with guaranteed sinful actions!!"

You chuckled at his actions. "So you're what? A demon?"

"DING, DING, DING!! WE GOT OURSELVES A WINNER FOLKS!!" His hands clapped together letting the scepter float mid air. "A round of applause for you. You're actually the second fastest one to figure that out. The first one was the guy who wanted me to torture this rival king in his dreams. Ah. Such deliciously soul crushing memories.~ Brings a tear to my eyes."

"This is unbelievably." A hand reached up to rub your head. "It was probably the litter of coke I drank."

"Unbelievably or not we got a few things to go over. This part's boring so I just like to get it outta the way." With a snap of his fingers a rolled up paper and gold monocle appeared out of thin air only to Unravel by itself and the man, Shadow Milk, to place the monocle on his left eye to boredly read it. "Alright. As according to the rules between the different realms any deal made between a demon and mortal is binding until the task is completed or the higher ups cancel the contract, but you put us in quite the problem."

You couldn't believe this was happening. You were never drinking that much soda before bed again if it gave you a stroke level hallucinating fever dream like this- Wait. "Wait." He boredly glanced up as you pointed to yourself. "What do mean my fault?"

"To put it in little words you're inferior human brain would understand, I was summoned but it's all mixed up and not in the fun 'mess with the heads of the inoocents'" way I prefer." He looked annoyed pointing the monocle at nothing as he gestured with his hands. "I was summoned here by someone but YOU were my offering."

You blinked. "I was your WHAT?!"

He groaned rolling his eyes. "Don't any humans know basic rites anymore? Ok! I'll explain it the long way then." He took a dramatic deep inhale and turned to you. "When you summon a demon you can't just summon something for nothin', Cupcake. We expect to be paid for our work-" he made a money motion with a hand. "-just like anyone else. Usually it's something like sacrificing an animal or mutual benefits like getting to stay on this plane of existence for a spell, but in my infinite power and life I've never been in a puzzle like this."

"Wha-?" He cut you off by pointing a finger in your face.

"Your human friend summoned me, however it wasn't her blood but yours used in the offering so technically YOU are the one bound to me but usually the one who actually summoned me is who I serve. So you see? I'm literally stuck between a rock and a hard place."

"Then .. can't you serve us both if that's what's wrong?" You didn't know why you were going along with this.

"Usually yeah. It wouldn't be the first time I served a group of people." He leaned back against an invisible wall in mid air as he looked you over. "Problem is that you didn't exactly partake in the ritual itself and didn't concent to be an offering if you didn't know that you WERE gonna be one."

"Demons need concent for contracts?"

He shrugged. "The bosses down there are very touchy on rules what can I say?"

"Have you even tried talking to Margo?!" This was starting to get WAY too detailed to be real and it was starting to freak you out. 

"Ugh! Yes. But as soon as she found out your little game wasn't legend she freaked out. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I'm not getting anywhere with that lost cause. Sssooooo- You can see the problem I have here." He started holding up fingers with the listed off points. "She doesn't want anything. Technically I can't go back because I was summoned and I have to complete a task before I get off. There's no getting through to her, so that means I'm stuck in limbo which is WAY more difficult than Purgatory. At least their place has a waiting list. No completed ritual means I'm stuck between realms and can't get out until I'm banished back or a deal is completed! But there's problems with that too."

"Im a-afraid to ask."

"Technically you are my offering since it was your blood. So technically you're mine,  Dolly. Problem is that I can't claim you either as you weren't a part of the ritual by technicality, and while human sacrifices aren't unheard of, it's usually only certain types of beings that can accept unwilling souls as payments. Your friend doesn't even want anything from me so I can't complete anything for her, I can't just claim you without fulfilling my part of your concent, so this means I'm not going anywhere anytime soon."

You stared at him. He stared at you cocking a brow at your face. The entire place going quiet as you felt the immense weight of the situation hit you. And if he didn't snap his fingers materializing a chair beneath you, you might've fallen to the sparkly ground in shock.

"I...You...Wh-What happens now then?!" You looked at him desperately. "Do you just make a deal with me then?!"

"That'd be the ideal choice, but unfortunately it's no longer up to me." Head in his hand he pointed the other one down. "The higher ups are discussin' this boring show as we speak, and they're already getting a headaches over it."

MORE demons!? "What are THEY going to do?!"

"They're trying to decide if there's anything to do here. It's confusing though since this hasn't exactly happened before, but worst case scenario they'll decide everything's null and void and arrange for an angel to come banish me back down there."

"An..Angel??"

"Mm hm." Then he made a face. "Knowing my luck it'll be Pure Vanilla."

..You blinked. "There's an angel called Pure Vanilla??.. You're joking this time."

"Oh I WISH I could joke about his existence being fake but unfortunately this isn't scripted or staged."...He then chuckled and smiled a maw of fangs at you. "Guess if worst comes to worst, Pure Vanilla is just gonna 'extract' me!~"

You stared at him.

"Oh, c'mon. Pure Vanilla extract?? That's a golden joke!" He sighed as you still stared. "Nevermind. I have better ones anyways." With a snap of his fingers everything disappeared minus the chair you sat on and he smiled wider in sinful delight as he floated on over. "Personally speaking, I hope they decide to let me keep you for my troubles.~"

You blinked as an arm skunk around your shoulders suddenly pulling you against his cold body. "Wha- WHY?!"

"I've been in your head for a while watching you work away on your stories, what you think, seeing how you do things. And I must say.." He almost purred the next few words. "I LIKE what I see.~ You're just my type of human.~" he pinched your cheek as you swatted his hand away quickly. 

"That's creepy!! And that's not gonna happen!"

"I'm afraid it's out of both of our hands, Cupcake. As they say 'that's how the cookie crumbles.'" A black pointed nail tapped your cheek as his smile widened more. "I'm afraid you're not going to be rid of me for a long, long time. Ehehehe!"

[stupidlittlespirit]

trying to find any semblance of privacy with ford while he's still living with his brother, especially over the summer when the kids are there. just. tugging him into empty rooms and closets during the day, waiting for stan to go to bed and take his hearing aids out, maybe even sneaking out to his car and going for drives to secluded places at night. god. trying to keep quiet when there's no other choice or fool proof way of hiding. ford feels like a teenager again sneaking around like this- well, the kind of teenager he never was, he was sneaking around to stay up studying, but he can see why stan was climbing through the window to meet his girlfriends.

also getting caught but that's just my kind of thing i like to read about in fic since it's both funny and embarrassing for everyone involved

dwasjkhdsakjfhjsdf oh my god how did you know..... My main weakness...... Tearing my skin off at the thought /pos

I'm so, so obsessed with the concept of sneaking around like this (and getting caught), it's literally a main feature of mtb because I love it so much. There's something very fun (and sexy) about having to sneak around, either behind someone's back or just for privacy reasons. I think Ford is a bit of a thrill seeker too, so this plays really well into that concept as well.

I have this little scenario in my mind with mtb!Reader which I'll very likely write as a one shot eventually but it's similar to what you've described here:

In this silly daydream, the house is very busy. People are everywhere, and neither you nor Ford have had the opportunity to even brush up against each other because of it. You've had to keep each other at arms length and every time you have tried to get a little closer, someone has barged into the room and spoiled the moment/almost caught you.

So, things are tense and you're both desperate to off-load some of it on each other.

You end up being invited to stay after work and watch a movie with the family. Maybe the kids are having their other friends stay over for the night too and they've roped everyone (Ford, Stan and you) into joining them for it in the living room.

Stan is snoozing (already) in his favourite chair. Some of the kids are sprawled out on the floor. Mabel is lounging on the couch beside Ford, but the moment she spots you, she shuffles up to give you room and you take a seat beside her.

Everything is very kosher. Everyone settles in to watch the movie, everyone is glued to the screen or making silly comments etc, but.... You're hardly paying attention: your mind is full of thoughts of Ford and you find your gaze drifts a little halfway through the movie. You use the excuse of readjusting in your seat to sneak a glance at Ford, or you *ahem* stretch your neck and just so happen to look over towards him, but it doesn't seem as though the favour it returned. Frustrating, however not the end of the world. He's probably just focused on the film.....

And yet, after you've given up on trying to very subtly check him out, something touches the back of your neck. It's feather light and very gentle, and you almost jump right out of your skin (though you're saved by the fact a scary scene is playing and the kids all jump too). You turn to look but Ford is resolutely still engrossed in the screen and pointedly not looking at you. Except..... his arm is stretched along the length of the back of the couch. It's super casual, as though he's only resting it there for convenience sake, but his hand has crept up from its place behind the cushions and he's very softly caressing the side of your neck.

You're surprised, but you don't move away. If anything, you lean imperceptibly closer. It's a pretty bold move on both of your parts, even though it seems like no one else is paying enough attention to notice.

Ford's fingers gently ghost the side of your throat and your trapezius muscle. They draw out goosebumps and you have to supress several dramatic shivers as he skates his fingertips back and forth over your skin. It's a light touch really, hardly even there at all, but it's intimate and risky, and it makes you hot all over. Your heart beats faster and your skin feels like it's on fire, and after barely ten minutes of it, you have to clear your throat and announce that you're going to get a drink refill.

Ford snatches his hand away very carefully because the kids turn to look at you the moment you speak, and they beg you to get them something too so they don't have to miss anything on screen. You oblige and then turn to him, and for a moment, Ford looks as though he's concerned that you might not have received his touch in the way that he hoped you would.

You can't comfort him in front of everyone, of course, so instead you ask very sweetly: "lend me a hand, would you? I don't think I can carry everything by myself...."

Ford nods wordlessly, always ready and happy to help you no matter the task. He follows your lead and strides after you into the kitchen, kicking the door shut behind himself and already quietly babbling his apologies for "-being inappropriate. I'm terribly sorry, my love, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable or-!"

And he's silenced instantly when you drag him down by the collar into a very hot, very eager kiss the second you're out of sight. The kitchen is mercifully empty and there's no risk of anyone else catching the two of you in the moment. You're as alone as you're going to get for this evening and you're ready to take advantage of that.

Ford's panicky words are cut short and replaced with a very happy little groan, and he wastes no time at all in cornering you against the kitchen counter. You throw your arms around his neck and encourage him closer, and Ford obliges without hesitation. It devolves rapidly into a very heated makeout/heavy petting session; lots of groping and grasping and sighing and gasping. You make it last as long as the two of you feasibly can without arousing the suspicion of the others with your absence or letting things get too far, and you both have to spend a good five minutes calming down after you decide to put a pin in it so you can return to the movie.

You're both visibly flustered when you pull apart: hair and clothes astray, hot all over, rumpled to high heaven. The second you catch sight of each other, you're both laughing at the other's messy look. You have to de-fog and straighten poor Ford's glasses before re-entering the sitting room, too, bless him.

By the time you return, no one notices you've been out there for twenty minutes or so. The kids are still far too focused on the movie and Stan is fast asleep. You and Ford refill the drinks and retake your seats, and only the two of you know why you're both smothering smug little grins behind your hands for the rest of the evening.

[abysshare]

I feel like this needs to be said but i feel like I'll just be talking to a brick wall for the billionth time.

The ableism of disabled villains in fandom is so beyond tiring. Its bad enough when a grey or protag character gets it.

Today I'll be using Curly from Mouthwashing and William Afton from FNAF as an example.

Curly, isn't really a grey character. Maybe more of a protag, but since we play as Jimmy for most of it, he is kind of an antag. But for this post i will be putting him as a protag. Which reminder.

Protag doesn't mean good guy exactly.

Anyway.

Captain Curly is a burn survivor as well as a disabled man, with no skin, no hands or feet, and is left with one eye. The damage is pretty bad, and the Nurse ( Anya ) has done the best she could with what she had, which is pretty damn good considering all things.

How does the fandom treat him? Its a mixed bag but of course. Ableism.

They either give him "dog buttons", or infantalize him, coquette-ify him, erase the situation just because "its easier" or whatever else. And then theres some people who genuinely try by getting him to a proper hospital so Anya or another doctor can try and fix what they can, as well as give him an AAC device or a wheelchair, so on and so forth.

Its either shit as unfortunately expected or good enough that makes people genuinely do research or call out ableism.

Now lets look at William Afton. A villain, murderer, mad scientist and so forth. For this post I'll be strictly talking about The Fourth Closet William Afton and Burntrap.

For those who are not into FNAF. The Fourth Closet is a seperate timeline from the games, an AU. And Burntrap is TECHNICALLY not William now, but when Security Breach came out, we didn't know this.

A bit more backstory for those who do not know. William has an Animatronic suit that he can go into to perform or kill, but it has these things called springlocks. If something happens, they can go off and hurt and eventually kill him.

Moving on.

William Afton is a Springlock Victim ( and even though no fire happens in the book before the ending of The Fourth Closet, i would argue and say he does indeed have burn scars as well in the graphic novel ) aka ragged Metal throughout his skin.

As Burntrap, he is a metal burned skeleton with leftovers of Springtrap/Scraptrap with burnt flesh.

How does the fandom treat both versions of him?

As Burntrap: some people like him, some don't. Its purely because at the first reveal we all thought it was William himself somehow even though he is supposed to be dead-dead for real. His design CAN be cool, scary and great in the right spotlight.

However.....

Most people took the "haha peepaw" route of memes. Some being ageist and some being ableist. Making him a senile old man in a wheelchair or a walker with Vanny being his caretaker. Most of the time throwing him down the stairs or beating him with his mobility aid or threatening to. Sometimes they would also draw him in diapers with poop in it.

Utterly disgusting, ageist and ableist behavior all because this is a villain.

How do they treat TFC version of William? Well.... i don't see much of him to be frank. But either its coquette-ifying him ( which is just as gross as coquette-ifying Curly ), genuinely calling him pretty or being absolutely being ableist/rancid, or removing his scars all together.

What is the point I'm getting at?

If its a villain, like William, to Darth Vader to Hordak from the She Ra remake, to Belos from TOH.......

They get mocked for their disabilities because abled folks ( and even some disabled folks ) thinks the Villain or whoever deserves it as punishment.

But these same people will turn around and infantilize and baby, or dogify or coquetteify "good guy" disabled characters.

I haven't seen this in the Arcane fandom, while i don't doubt people have been ableist to Jinx, Silco or Viktor , at least it isn't as "loud".

Ableism isn't cute or funny. And while i UNDERSTAND these are characters- and that they are not real.

It HURTs real people.

And I'm talking as a disabled chronic pain person, so don't even start with me.

Ableists and shit will be deleted, ty.

Edit ( 12 / 9 / 2024 ): to add to this, i still see people making jokes, especially to make self shippers feel bad ( those who self ship with springtrap ), about how William most likely passed human fluids and gasses as he died-

Yeah. News flash: you do that no matter how you die. Even later in a casket as you're rotting away.

Now.. the act of him doing that as he dies isn't ableist within itself. But the fact that these people using the bit of him urinating and defecating himself as a joke Is ableist as there are folks with disabilities that can't control it, and there is no shame in that.

Also if you're trying to say "Springtrap smells like literal shit". Consider people already know this and either ignore that ( which is valid ) or yk. Have their insert take Springtrap home and clean him up and fix him.

Or have Springtrap clean himself up ( i imagine he does by the time he become Scraptrap, as best as he can anyway ).

.

As for Curly, i am seeing a lot of Videos that are finally talking about it. Thank the gods, moon, whatever.

Mouthwashing is one of those things you really don't need to ship anyone with anyone ( if you must i highly suggest making an oc because thats awesome ).

On top of that though I'm still seeing ableist art of Curly and probably will for awhile 😮‍💨

[coridallasmultipass]

I've never done one of these before, am I doing it right??

( The bag is really cool, thanks @ender--slime !! )

Wow tho, finally found a use for the old Homestuck charms I made in like 2012 or 2013!! They were originally going to be another decoden phone case, but I scrapped that idea when I had a cooler idea for a Derse-themed 'the prince is awake' case, and then later got into different fandoms for the next cases.

(My favourite is still the teeny tiny Squarewave!)

I hot-glued some earring posts and stuck plastic backs on the Strider charms to pin them down. They of course all popped off the hot glue when I tried scrunching the panel in there, but I managed. I left the second white panel sandwiching the backs, so they don't tear up the bag itself.

I also offloaded four heavy Gurren Lagann charms that were hanging on my phone. They've been clattering around on my phone for a whole year, now. (Actually, just a few days shy of a whole year.) I'm feeling SO naked handling my phone without them causing a racket, now. They were so heavy and so loud. I might miss them already, but I don't know if I have enough flat Homestuck things to put on here yet? (I WAS going to like just draw and print my own collage or something. But I still forgot to get printer ink.) So. I'll probably take those off once I figure out how else to fill this with a unified Strider concept. ((I wish I knew the GL charm artist, but I bought them second-hand.))

I seriously have no idea what I'm doing at all, so I watched some videos, and one person put fairy lights, so I went and robbed my Valentine's tree of its red battery-powered lights for this. It had to be wrapped weirdly, and I was all pushing a pen in there to shove it into shape (and popping the charms off the earring posts again, sigh).

The shitty holographic foil wrapping paper I added kept getting torn, too, but it's gold and matches the hardware, so I had to try it. (I LOVE GOLD.) Maybe it will work better if I glue it down onto foam instead lol, but IDK if foam will bend to squish in there. And I threw on an extra M56 lanyard I had, just because?? I usually have a red one on my phone. IDK what else to use the lanyards for, besides my phone.

I still have a TON of handmade smuppet charms, but they all have charm loops baked into them, so I don't want to put those inside the bag. Maybe on the outside somewhere?? The orange smuppet in the bag was THE original I used to make the mold for the other clay smuppets. (Was going to make a smuppet charm bracelet, but never got around to chaining them together. Art college was rough, man. Left so many projects behind while flying back and forth.) I gotta think about it.

Anyway, yeah. Here's my first go at assembling an ita-bag panel.

[kumikokane]

Moonlight song competition cards

SR Whitney R. Bristol

"O-oh man, there's so many people... I sure hope March actually got the dress code correct."

SR March Hawthorne

"Hah! Nah, I totally nailed the dress code. See? I know what I'm doing. Just sit back and have fun, I'll take care of the complicated stuff."

Some art I made for @sunnysidesevenup 's event! This was really fun, I enjoyed the ocean-esque theme a lot. Here's the full body outfits I designed for them:

For Whitney, I decided I wanted to go with a jellyfish inspired look. The little ribbons attached to her skirt are supposed to be like tentacles, and the layers are transparent because a lot of jellyfish are too. I drew her barefoot here, but in my mind thats really only during the actual preformence. She'd bring a pair of sandles or flats to wear around town, cause concrete and sand get HOT in the sun. I've burned my feet way too many times going to the beach. I also added a little clock to her headpiece, because she's inspired by the white rabbit but I couldn't figure out how else to incorporate the staple pocket watch. I absolutely adore the way her outfit turned out, but all the layers being transparent makes them such a pain to draw LMAO 😭 Never again....... *I whisper as I imagine myself drawing a groovy art for her*

For March's, I didn't really think an animal theme would fit him? So instead I decided to take some inspiration from sunken treasure chests/pirate ships. I gave him a coin belt cause gold coins, he's also wearing a net because it kinda makes me think of worn down sails and stuff. I replaced his usual clunky earring with huge pearls, and instead of a headpiece I had him stick stray pieces of coral in his hair. The leaves on his right knee are supposed to be like seaweed, and the outfit is covered in barnacles because uh. Yeah! I'm so bad at explaining things sorry guys 😔 I'm just praying yall see the vision

Along with the drawings, I also wrote a little story! I'm gonna leave it at the bottom so you don't have to scroll through it to read my notes. It's not very long, but I had free time and thought it'd be fun to write something about how they got to the competition in the first place, since it wasn't by conventional means. I don't write often, but I might write a little more for this when I have free time. I've got a little story going on in my head and it'd be cool to try and put it somewhere. Any criticism is appreciated, I'm always looking to improve my writing skills :) Once again, this was a lot of fun to make! Both the story and the outfits, and I'm happy I could participate. Not good at putting my thoughts out but uh ⭐️ gold star!

"So... That's it? That's why Cay Cay the cake slice is gonna be gone?" March tilted his head to the side, the large piercings on his ears clattering against his phone mic. "Arlo, Arlo.... Sounds familiar. I'm sure I've heard that name pass my ears before. Can't really remember though- he must not be important. Well, maybe a little bit if Cater knows him."

Whitney winces, adjusting the grip she had on her phone as she walked back and forth in her empty dorm room. "Uh, I-I think that's.. Well, I mean..." She sighs, trying to find the words. "You don't go to our school, so of course you wouldn't know people from here. I'm more surprised the name actually sounds familiar to you, I didn't think you've heard of anyone outside of Heartslabyul."

"Oh, he's not a Heartslabyul student? Makes more sense. What's he look like, then? Maybe I saw him in passing once, or something." March tries his best to recall any information he might have on anyone named Arlo.

"Arlo..? Uh, well... He has like, black fluffy hair with blonde bangs. And greenish eyes? I think?" Whitney stops, trying to think of any good descriptions of him. "Oh, he's short. Shorter than me. He's part of the newspaper club. Um... He's likes to take pictures of flowers and stuff."

"Huh... Little guy who likes to take pictures?" March scratches at his head. "... Oh. Oh! OH! Ha, that's the little loverboy!" He suddenly starts laughing hysterically.

"Little... Loverboy? That's not really a word I think most people would use to describe him. A-are you sure we're talking about the same person..?"

"Absolutely! I know the little guy veryyy well! Even if he doesn't know a lot about me." March takes a swig from his water bottle, still trying to calm down his laughter. "Oh, man! Imagining him, singing? That's hilarious, I didn't think he had it in him."

Whitney's ears twitch as she listens to March laugh. "Uh... Okay, explanation? Maybe..?? When you say it like that, i-it just sounds like you're stalking him."

"Oh please, he wishes I was stalking him. Almost everything I know about him is against my will. Yeah, I call him loverboy because he's like... Dating Neige, or something. I don't really know, but Neige will sometimes spend the entirety of lunch gushing about the guy. I call him little because, he's short. And it makes him mad when I call him little."

"So... You have met him? Since when? He doesn't come anywhere near Heartslabyul. At least, I haven't seen him around here."

"Yeah, once. Maybe twice, I can't remember. Neige was talking about the guy so much I just had to see what all the buzz was about. He was so angry, like a little Chihuahua, it was fucking hilarious bro." He says, chucking at the memory. "But yeah, I just followed Neige here once to meet him before going to the unbirthday party."

"You followed Neige to meet Arlo? It still sounds like you're stalking him, March. Do I need to report you to school security? I have the app, you know."

"Yeah yeah yeah, whatever. As if your shitty headmage would do anything about it anyways." March rolls his eyes, thinking about the NRC headmage. The only way he could picture the guy actually doing anything is if it made it on the news or something. "Back to the topic at hand, please? So, do you know where the town is?"

".. Huh..?" She pauses again. "Uh, no, not really. B-but if you need the address, Cater would probably give it to you." Whitney takes a seat at her bed now, a bad feeling crawling up her spine.

"Nah, won't ask him. The town's name is what again? We can find it on Google maps or something." Shuffling comes from the other side of the phone. "You're on speaker now, say hi to the wind."

Whitney frowned, not liking the way the conversation was heading. "We? Wait, why- Hi wind... W-why do we need to figure out where the town is? I'm sure Cater will remember to post pictures and videos, if that's what you want-"

"Nah, this ain't about him Nini. We're gonna go to the competition too." March declares, texting Whitney a link on Google maps to the town's location. "Look, see? It's not that bad. We don't even need a car or anything, you can just create a rabbit hole and boom! We'll be there in no time."

"You want to go to the competition?! Why?!" Whitney yells out louder then intended, suddenly covering her mouth and whispering into the phone. "W-we can't go! We weren't invited!"

"Really? So what if we weren't invited? It's a public event, isn't it? We don't need anyone's permission to be there. It'll be easy, we'll just go sign up and preform and then win the big grand prize at the end! You don't even have to sing, you can just sit back and look pretty while I enchant the crowd with my dazzling vocals. Hear, listen-" March takes a deep breath, preparing to demonstrate his singing skills.

"No!" Whitney interrupts, "Y-you don't get it! They all know who I am! Everyone i-in the group he brought along- Arlo knows who I am! A-and I don't think he likes me very much..." She says with a dejected tone, unbraiding her hair to try and de-stress. "I-I can't just show up to his home town for some event! Do you know how weird that is?? He's in the newspaper club too, he'll probably tell everyone what a creep I am and then everyone at school will know! 'Hey guys, uhh you know that weird bunny girl from class C? Yeahhh she like totally followed me to my hometown and then tried to play it off by bringing her friend with her.' I can't live like that!"

March scowls, huffing loudly into the phone mic to voice his displeasure. "Well, first of all don't interrupt me. Second of all, there's no reason to freak out. He's just an asshole who hates everyone, his hatred won't be specifically aimed at you. If anything, he'll probably aim it at me cause I like pissing him off- Always remember Nini, please everyone is hard. Making everyone mad is easy, and funny."

Whitney stays silent, brushing through her hair with her fingers. "... I-I don't know, March. Even if nobody will hate my guts for the rest of my school life..." She trails off, not knowing how to finish her sentence.

March groans dramatically at this, moving his phone closer to his mouth as he speaks. "Nini! You're such a party pooper cause you're so indecisive. I'm making the decision for you, we're going to the competition. You're gonna have fun, so quit fussing about every little detail! One of these days we're gonna get you some benzodiazpines for whatever anxiety you got, I swear." March mumbles the last part under his breath, rolling his eyes. "I'll do all the planning and stuff, just be ready to head out by tomorrow, k? I guess by like, 3 or something. Great, bye!"

"W-what? March, wait-!" She tries to stop, but March suddenly hangs up the phone on her, leaving her alone in the quiet dorm. She sighs, taking out her pocket watch to check the time. "3pm tomorrow..? We'd probably arrive before Arlo's group does. I'll have to take all my assignments with me, and triple tell Riddle that I'll be leaving. And pick out all my money for the trip to make sure we don't starve..." Whitney frowns, not exactly fond of this suddenly change in her usual schedule. "I hate taking trips..." She shakes her head, her ears twitching again as she stands up from her bed and looks around. "... Well, we're doing this I guess. Better start preparing.."

Thanks for reading!

[docholligay]

Okay, yes, I am EXTREMELY interested in this. What was Roy doing there? And why?

The show is basically telling me through Ed right now, that Roy was there to talk to the family of the doctors he killed. That he was there to put forth an important part of what I'm going to call teshuvah because I'm Jewish and that is the frame through which I look at the world. He has to confess to her what he did, and try, however possible, to make some sort of restitution. I don't know if that was part of his plan or what the fuck he had in mind for that if it was.*

But he chickened out! At the end of the day, he saw a broken kid who destroyed himself in the pursuit of alchemy and went, "Oh thank fuck, something to distract me." I feel like Roy carries around this sense of immense shame about what he did, but there's no unringing a bell. However, CONFESSING something to another person is FUCKING HARD. Ask me how much I fucking hate Yom Kippur and how often I have chickened the fuck out of confessing myself. And I haven't killed anyone so far**!! I don't find this good or defensible, but as a person I find it very understandable.

Like i said in that long post earlier that I actually should reread, I wrote it so fast without thinking, but, I am getting really interesting in what Roy and Ed are to each other and the way their relationship functions, or doesn't, as the case may be. I have some more thoughts on that but maybe i'll wait till i rewatch the first episodes

*Which leads me to, 'Why isn't Hawkeye there?" The show may want me to believe she doesn't know what he did but I refuse to believe that on personal grounds because I don't like it. What I CAN believe though, is that he didn't...tell her where he was fucking going. (I can also believe that Hawkeye wants to fucking kill him herself adn save everyone else the trouble at least once a year) I can also believe that he DID tell her, and told her he had to go do it himself and maybe she's waiting in town or something. Either one of those works me for people named doc who are me.

**Which actually leads me to another thing: Why, in-universe, would they have Roy kill the Rockbells? DO NOT TELL ME. I know the extradiegetic answer, but if Roy is an alchemist, and his specialized skills have a high level of value, why waste him on something that can be accomplished by most soldiers easily? We can handwave it as lazy writing, but I don't actually want to. I want to think about the reasons they would have Roy do it. Was his star on the rise and they were like, "Hey, you know the closer a killing is, the more personal it is and the more likely it is to cause long-term trauma, want to give this arrogant fucking kid some PTSD?" And Roy said yes because DEATH GRIP ON THE WATCH.

PLEASE DO NOT COMMENT ANYTHING THAT COULD EVEN REMOTELY LEAD TO ME REALIZING SOMETHING OR KNOWING SOMETHING NEW. Do not confirm, deny, draw attention to something I missed EVEN IF I SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT, contextualize in a cultural or historical way, anything. I hate that I have to be so specific but I am trying to experience this show totally clean. IF YOU SPOIL ME I WILL BLOCK YOU.

QUICK LINK TO THE SPOILER-FILLED FUNTIMES DISCORD HERE. THEY WOULD LOVE TO HEAR THE THINGS YOU KNOW AND YELL ABOUT ME

[theythembehavior]

(first time submitting an ask ever sorry for the length of this thing or if there’s an expectation I didn’t follow! so do feel free to ignore or delete! - on mobile it looks really long - also might be more angsty rather than hurt I’m not sure if I know the difference writing wise)

you say hurt/comfort

I say step 2 for sure or the transition between barely civil qiu and tamarack to friendly or even friends qiu and tamarack - warning that this is not necessarily a healthy dynamic and probably ooc I’ve only played the demo twice, platonic in mind

something along the lines of a mc that really wants to bring back together the cul de sac kids and keeps trying to hang out with qiu and tamarack at the same time with not the greatest results

and over time they get more and more tired of being the glue of the “group” and get to the point where they stop trying with the group and individually with the both of them as well, maybe even self isolate fully

that is what brings together qiu and tamarack again although begrudgingly

I would think tamarack would reach out to qiu first (would depend) and then they both plot to do something (I’m not really sure what) to try to learn how to communicate and mend their relationship between the two of them and then with mc as well

I am ecstatic about this ask. I do not have a writing skills to do justice to exactly how much I love this idea. Don't be afraid to hit an OOC moment. We don't know too much about our lovely characters yet, but we can dream! There are very slight differences in the handful of lines we can get with both of them in the preview.

Also love, don't worry about the length, it feeds into my thoughts more <3

Slight layout for any warning considering friendship problems (Basically possessive and jealous behavior between Qiu and Tamarack, arguing)

Note: For the sole reason of updating, this is only one part of this ask. I'll do the other part when I'm feeling it and have the time!

It sucked, pretty badly.

They couldn't even hold an conversation together. Getting them in the same room was difficult if it wasn't in your house. It was like having divorced parents with split custody, if both of your parents were sending you back and forth every hour. You could swear that it became a competition to who could find you first for lunch. And ever since Tamarack had to switch lunch period, she acts defeated around Qiu.

It was almost sickening, this game a push and pull of theirs. You didn't want this jealousy in the cul-de-sac kids, they were supposed to be friends. There was no winner or loser for your attention, you were both of their friend, and they should be friends too.

One star moment was when you went to one of Tamarack's band practices, and Qiu insisted on coming as well. You thought that you and Qiu would just watch and enjoy the band play all sorts of songs for an oncoming assembly, but nooooo. Qiu spent the entire time trying to distracte you. Leaning on you, poking you, trying to get your eyes on them. And it couldn't be that they just love attention, you would notice, they don't act like that around Ren. At most they would lean on you but nothing else, it's only with Tamarack.

Not to say Tamarack's in the clear either. It's the same thing at Qiu's ballet practices. She's not as persistent, at some point she just draws on your arm, not that you really mind too much.

This consistent unspoken dispute the two was exhausting, you don't remember the last time you had to put so much effort into a mutual friendship. Perhaps it was unfair of you to try and force them to be friends, that's what your mom said. You couldn't say you disagreed but it didn't change the fact it was taking a toll on your mental health.

It was obvious to everyone that distance had built since your burn out, even Qui and Tamarack tried talking to you about it, only to be dismissed. It wasn't your fault! You have better things to do than be an object of their seemingly never-ending game of tug-of-war. Ren was merciful enough to spare you the questions.

It actually allowed you the chance to focus on other relations with teachers, peers, other friends, even your mother. While you did miss both Qui and Tamarack, they were currently both just.... you couldn't now with them.

But not being able to became simply ignoring them. Perhaps you were in the wrong, maybe you shouldn't have pushed too hard. It wasn't your life but you hated being a subject in which they fought over. If they didn't want to be friends, then they didn't have to be. You would've let it go if they simply told you that, but they chose to fight.

Of course, you always thought about apologizing, but how sincere would it be if you felt like you didn't do anything wrong?

[just-another-lost-moth]

Hesitation (eyeless jack x afab mc)

a/n: if I need to add any content warnings, please politely let me know in the comments.

005

You were still wandering the halls. You hadn't come across anyone yet, and you didn't want to find out what was behind any of the doors. Eventually, you'd come across the main room or something. You kept thinking about EJ and the way he acted toward you. He was gentle and didn't scare you at first as the others did. Jane didn't scare you. She just intimidated you, plus she was very pretty.

You stare down at your boots, watching the laces clink against the black leather. You were mesmerized by the way your dress flows around you. You feel weightless. You knew you were lost, just didn't want to admit it. You didn't want to call out for Jane either because you didn't want to draw unwanted attention toward yourself. You weren't even sure if you were supposed to be here. Or if you were supposed to go back to that dingy ass room.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

EJ's POV

I follow her as she wanders the mansion, seeming lost in her own little world, and lost quite literally.

Yeah, because following her isn't creepy or anything, Jack. Way to go. You want her to like you, not think you're some creep.

She's dressed in Jane's clothing, that style suits her. She looks pretty in all black.

Did I just say she was pretty?

I notice she's stopped walking and was staring right at me. I freeze and hope she didn't see me. But she did, and she was making her way toward me.

Shit, she's definitely going to think I'm a creep now. She's probably going to yell at me or something. I don't blame her. I should have said something sooner. Like "Are you lost?"... No, Jack, that's stupid. Of course, she's lost. Just add being an idiot to the list why don't you?

"Hey EJ, right? I guess I didn't see you there and walked right past you. I'm kind of lost."

She's not mad or scared? Maybe she didn't know I was following her.

"I um, I'm really hungry and I was hoping I could find a way outside before I attacked someone again. I really don't want to hurt anyone. Oh, but don't worry I won't hurt you. I just really need to get the hell out of this place."

She seems anxious as she rocks back and forth on her heels. She was fidgeting with the end of her dress.

"Yeah, you can just follow me. I'm going out hunting anyway. You can come with me so that way you don't get lost. These woods are dangerous and you'll need to find your way back to the mansion before dark."

Her face lights up and a smile spreads across her face. I haven't seen anyone smile at me in so long. It was weird and kind of nice at the same time?

"Thank you, EJ. I just need to eat something. I seriously feel myself losing control again."

She finally stopped fidgeting and was waiting for me to show her the way. I'll make sure she eats and gets back safely. I really don't want to deal with the Rake or anything else out there.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

You have finally found someone to get you the hell out of here. EJ was kind enough to lead you out of this labyrinth. You seriously did not understand how anyone got around in this place.

It was quiet outside and the fresh air feels wonderful. It feels like you haven't breathed fresh air in forever. You walk alongside EJ and take in the details of his mask. You took in every detail regarding his presence as well. He notices you staring and you feel heat rise to the surface of your cheeks.

"O-Oh sorry, I didn't mean to stare. I was just looking at your mask."

He faces forward again and mumbles something you couldn't quite understand.

Oof- I struck a nerve there, didn't I, my bad.

The two of you continue walking for a while until a familiar scent catches your attention. Your senses go on high alert, and you take off running toward the scent. You had completely forgotten about EJ and him telling you to stay close by so you don't get lost. But damn you were hungry.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

EJ's POV

I keep walking until I couldn't feel her presence anymore.

Where the hell did she go? I told her to stay close. Did I really think she'd listen to me? I don't even know what she is.

I inhale her lingering scent and take off running. I have to find her before anything bad happens. Slender is keeping her at the mansion for a reason, and he'd be royally pissed if I lost her.

I find her bent over an animal. Her eyes are almost glowing. She has blood smeared across her lips. She leans back down toward the animal's neck and bites down.

Is she a vampire or something? She's clearly drinking its blood, but what the hell? I mean, I guess I have no room to judge, I eat human organs after all.

She notices me staring and covers her face. Was she embarrassed or scared?

"I-I'm sorry. Please don't look at me. I'm a monster. I don't mean to do this, I don't want to do this. I was just so thirsty, I couldn't control myself."

She shakes and frantically wipes her mouth with her sleeve. I put my hands in my pockets and turn around to give her privacy. She wasn't a monster, but I understand how she feels.

I hear the leaves crunching a few minutes later signaling she was finished and making her way toward me.

"So you're the one who's been leaving the trail of dead animals throughout these woods?"

"Yeah."

She kicks the leaves which stirs up some dirt. She's embarrassed and flustered. I signal for her to follow me. I didn't need to hunt, I did that earlier. I just didn't want her out here by herself. I wanted an excuse to be near her. But she doesn't need to know that.

"You're not a monster."

"What?"

I look at her and slow my pace so I could walk beside her.

"I said you're not a monster. I don't know what you are, but you aren't a monster. You do what you have to do to survive. That's all anyone does in life. You don't have to be embarrassed or scared about it. I eat human organs, you drink blood from animals, who gives a shit."

She looks at me with a puzzled look.

Shit, did I just tell her that?

"Okay. Well, I guess you're right."

She starts to walk again and we make our way back to the mansion in silence. A comfortable silence. To me at least. I don't know about her, but she seems calmer now.

004

[astroaeroace]

Sight and Shadow

DX-TR's always been good at hiding from people. MR-SN is the one exception.

DX-TR watched from a shadowed alcove along the narrow halls of Candlekeep as MR-SN said his goodnights to the young mechanite scholar standing in the glow of an open doorway. VR-LA, as his contact had told him, was a talented wizard and an even more talented researcher. Exactly the kind of person they needed to take the scant scraps of knowledge they had and turn it into something useful. A heading. A path forward. Anything to get them out of the unbearable holding pattern they'd been stuck in for the last few months.

Unfortunately, DX-TR had yet to be impressed.

He watched silently as VR-LA stumbled his way through returning MR-SN's farewell, hands fiddling nervously with the poorly stitched-together scarf around his neck, and nearly tripped over a stack of books as he closed the door. The patch of light from the doorway died with a thunk and a muffled curse, leaving the hallway in darkness.

MR-SN laughed lightly, turning down the hallway towards DX-TR. His crescent eyes glowed brightly in the dim light, sparkling in that now long-familiar way that told DX-TR his friend was lost in a daydream.

A faint smile flickered across DX-TR's mechanical face. Distracted, perfect. MR-SN might have his psionics, but DX-TR had his ways. The great library of Candlekeep had many books on the art of mindshielding and he was nothing if not a quick study. He'd get MR-SN this time. Surely, he'd get him this time.

He stepped out of the alcove a pace behind MR-SN. Metal feet silent against stone, the faint mechanical whirring of his frame hidden by the soft conversations drifting up from the courtyard below. He reached out a hand towards MR-SN's shoulder. Just one step more and —

"He's the one," MR-SN said as he stopped sharply. Even without seeing his face, DX-TR could hear the smile in his voice. "Good work, my friend."

"Damn it," DX-TR cursed softly, stepping forward into MR-SN's line of sight.

"You're getting better. I could hardly sense you this time."

A hiss of steam escaped as he sighed in frustration. So close and yet so far.

MR-SN patted his shoulder consolingly, turning away to continue walking.

"A good try, Dex. Next time maybe."

He couldn't help but soften at the familiar nickname, the heat fading from his tone even as he fired back.

"You say that every time, Em."

"And every time it's true." DX-TR fell into step beside MR-SN as he continued on. "Tell me, what do you think of our new chronicler?"

"You intend to make him an offer, then?"

"Tell me what you think of him first."

DX-TR considered for a moment, letting the dim hallways of the Avowed's chambers pass by as they kept walking. When he spoke, it was careful. Deliberate.

"He will be an asset as long as he doesn't get himself killed."

"You think he's reckless?" MR-SN sounded surprised.

"No, I think he's clueless. My contact said he at least had some combat experience. Not much, but enough to hold his own until help could arrive."

He scoffed harshly, thinking back to a moment earlier in the day when he'd watched VR-LA struggle to catch a spider that had been sitting perfectly still on his desk.

"From what I've seen, I doubt it. I can't see him lasting more than five seconds in a fight, and that's assuming he's up against nothing more ferocious than an imp."

"I'm not interested in him for his combat skills."

It was said lightly, almost teasingly, but with a faint edge of reproach.

"He's not going to be much use as a researcher if he's dead."

"Ah, but that's what we have C-RA for. And AS-TR, if needs must. He'll be fine."

He studied MR-SN closely, taking in the firm set of his stare, the way his eyes flicked back and forth like he was looking into a future no one else could see.

"You're not going to take no for an answer, are you?"

"He's the one," MR-SN repeated. "I just know it."

DX-TR sighed in defeat. "I'll draw up the standard contract and have it ready by morning."

"Excellent." MR-SN clapped a hand on DX-TR's shoulders, his eyes gleaming with excitement. "Now, fancy another try on the way back to the ship?"

DX-TR couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, I'll get you this time."

MR-SN's reply echoed not in DX-TR's ears but in his mind, the tone warm and fond.

Oh, my friend, you could never hide from me.

[soaringonblackwings]

Title: Soft Echos of a Fading Life

Fandom: Yugioh 5ds.

Summary: Pearson was a moment in Crow's life. A person that gave him direction, knowledge, and hope.

Notes: I saw an ask game were one of the questions was to write from a different perspective in a fanfic you wrote. So, my mind went to writing from Pearson's point-of-view in the anime.

External: AO3 / Squidgeworld

Satellite as it stands now is nothing more than a wasteland. There is no where to go. Nothing but stagnation everywhere you look. The factory sucks the citizens dry, Sector Security isn't that keen on helping us, It's difficult to leave the island.

However, despite all of that, I do believe that their is hope for the future. Hope that there is way to get off the island and make a way for ourselves.

Though that begins with having knowledge and skills. Something that the majority of Satellite children don't have. There are no schools here, no opportunity to learn. Many children will be stuck in a rut or a path to nowhere. Heck, this place give no sense of hometown pride for them to latch onto make them want better for their place of birth.

I gained my proficiency over the years due to the tutelage I got lucky with. Maybe I can do the same for the children of Satellite. But what do I teach them?

I look over at my deck. The children are fans of dueling. It gave me the idea to teach them how to build a duel runner. A lot goes into that. Coding, blueprint reading, science and math. I'll admit that some of the more advanced stuff will go over their young minds, so I won't be able to teach everything. Teamwork is a skill they will learn by doing this too. It very important that they learn to work with others.

By doing this we will be the first ones to make a duel runner in Satellite. A smile crept onto my face at the thought. It will feel good and give the kids a sense of pride and accomplishment.

I have a lot to do. I run my thoughts by my trusted friend, Bolton and together we get started.

-

Things are going slow, but what else do you expect with little resources.

Another day, another problem. Bolton and I were on our way to visit someone we knew. We had to take down some guys bothering him. During my visit I was approached by some kids. They tanked me and said how cool I was.

"Is It true that you are building a duel runner?" One of the kids asked me. I was surprised that my little endevor had reached his little ears. The kids already under my guidance had spread this through the grapevine apparently.

"Yes I am. My goal is to teach children skills that will help them in the future." I say to the boy. It was a joy to see his eye light up.

Our visit was over so me and Bolton said out goodbyes and headed back to the warehouse.

-

As the days passed by, my ideas became clearer. I wanted to base the duel runner on my deck, the Blackwings. Black with yellow accents. One of the kids suggested talons for the kickstands so that is definitely getting incorporated somehow.

No computers means doing all of this by hand. It took longer but that was just how it was in Satellite. I resting from drawing when someone appeared at the entrance. The shadow did not resemble Bolton and it was too long to be one of the kids. I looked up to see a new face.

Well sort of a new face. I kinda of remember seeing him from that day. Hid bright orange hair is hard to forget. He was fidgeting around. Trying to figure out what to say or do. He also had no direction. This kid was the embodiment of the fears I had about the children. Aimless, no knowledge, he was crushed by the world around him.

Despite all of that, I saw endless potential in him. He was a lot older than the children so he should be able to handle more difficult engineering topics. That is he is if he is here to learn like the others.

I decided to put forth my most relaxed attitude. Hoping that will help the young teen to calm down. "You can come in. I don't bite."

He stiffened up for a split second before relaxing. As he came closer he did not break eye contact with me. It was a little unnerving but I had to meet his resolve.

"You may not remember me from that day, but I thought you were cool when you beat those guys that night."

I expected that. He does look like the type of ruffian who follows people stronger than himself.

"I also like that you are teaching the kids to help them in the future. I don't know what I can offer, but I want to help you too."

It had sound like he already gave up on himself. His voice was small and at the end of his sentence he had broken eye contact with me. His act didn't last long, but I remained looking at him.

"You talk as if I am not going to teach you."

I don't know what it was, but something inside of him changed. His eyes got brighter and he was standing much straighter. The change was overwhelming enough to stun me for a second. There was no doubt about what I now saw in his eye: hope.

"My name is Robert Pearson. Tell me yours."

"Crow. Crow Hogan."

"Welcome to the team." I smiled.

Having Crow on the team was a huge addition. Since he was older and had experience watching kids, he could keep an eye on them. Not only that. What I taught hm, he could pass onto the kids too. It took a lot of work off my shoulders.

Crow was excited to learn. Even if he didn’t get it, he was happy to absorb what I was teaching him. It was an enjoyable experience for me seeing the happiness on his face from learning. Everything was going great… until it wasn’t

It costs money to build a duel runner, something we struggled with since the beginning. I guess news of my project reached the ears of some big heads in the city. They came offering me money for my project in exchange that they take all of the credit. I can’t have that. It’s not what I want from this project. I want us to finish this with our own hands. No hand outs from the city.

I declined them. I’ll figure things out myself. Besides, we are finished for the most part anyways.

It seemed that Bolton did not agree with my decision.

"Why! Why would you decline them!?” I hear him yell. This was the angriest I have ever seen him.

"After all this time you still don’t understand.” I cold do nothing but sigh. How could he not understand that I want this to be an achievement for the kids of Satellite. I try to tell him but was cut off.

"Let’s duel for the blueprints. If I win I get the blueprints.” 

I got ready albeit reluctantly.

During the duel Bolton summoned a monster I never seen before. I don’t remember him ever having such a card. What came as a surprise was the real damage I felt when it attacked me. It blew me back into the table knocking over the oil lamp causing a fire.

I couldn’t get up, that blast did so much amaze to me. I was expecting Bolton to have a heart and help me but… I was wrong. He looked at as if contemplating on what to do and choose the blueprints over me! Did our years of friendship mean nothing to him? Sadly I will never know that answer.

I heard footsteps running into the building.

"Pearson!” I heard Crow shout.

He was trying to save me but I it was too late for me. 

“Crow! Take the duel runner and go!” I throw the duel disk at him with my deck in it. “Take care of the kids!”

I could feel my strength slipping.

Crow, I leave everything to you….

[hospitalterrorizer]

diary575

4/29/25

tuesday

wanna sleep right now.

still need to work out and then wash my face though.

i did a lot of music stuff today, 3 songs improved, a lot, i think. one went from sounding flat and fake to sounding much more textured. i'm pleased about that. the other two i did i think may end up needing to be thought about more, we'll see though. i should make a list of songs i'll need to go back on to check. i also wrote a riff, in my notebook. not a big deal really, but noodling around on guitar being productive feels nice.

okay, the list was made. not a huge deal, also, but it's nice to have it down, so a week from now i'm gonna go check those songs, and then there's some other stuff i can shore up between then. i should also be writing nonsense down for the lyrics on some songs on the ep and see what comes out, and what ideas pool together, i should take the ep as an opportunity to do some more loose and weird stuff w/ lyrics.

this manga is so true to life sometimes...

i feel like the sounds i'm getting right now are good and it's in a way / with a method that is easy to carry between sounds, at least as a way to test, it's just using multiband distortion surgically on the lower frequencies to give them more body/prominence either earlier in the chain or right at the end to tighten everything. it's very simple but it's good. the other thing is a little embarrassing, but in trash 2, the distortion plugin, there's a lot of sounds i like that i can get from it, using fucked up waveshapes i draw in, but the issue would be that they create a ton of noise, and are nearly useless because that noise drowns everything else out. i realized, though... there is a filter thing on the waveshaping stage that's hidden in a tab i never looked at really, that lets me filter away that noise that drowns everything out. so that helps me get clankier sounds...

this makes my mood better at least. i find tatsun relatable for some reason. i am not feeling normal or clear enough to explain it. i think it must just be the glasses and that despite trying to appear competent at things she is kind of messy and strange. i also like the way she looks in her maid outfit. i should like to look as good.

now i'm going to cry. why does this ping pong between good jokes and making me want to cry. it's strange when things are so good. or it's really not weird at all. that kind of thing, both things amplify one another, tonal whiplash makes you more vulnerable generally or it opens one up to the possibility of vulnerability. it is tethered to the carnivalesque in that way, where you're rocking between two extremes and feeling something really strange, a laughter at the same register of tears where no distinction is necessary. which is to say, weirdly touching gag manga has as much claim to that realm as bataille and all the insane french writers and transgressive artists.

this dong is making me sad too... it reminds me of a dog we used to have, my stepdad loved her a lot. she died a few years ago. i wasn't around when it happened but she meant a lot to him, she wasn't doing well. the dog having such serious eyes makes me think of her looking at me from heaven. something like that is too depressing to deal with, it brings forth images of her judging my entire life, and also some kind of sadness in her over it or something. or maybe the general niceness of the afterlife and having to see earth. of course, none of that is real. it's a strange image, and often stuff like that affects me a lot, weird images and evocations of the afterlife.

another volume complete .

i will be sleeping soon, but the situation from yesterday has become even more stupid. for some reason, this feels so ridiculous to explain, i can't even go into all of it, but basically it's a server that the people / friend group who run it are really weird and anal so they have it set that you need to have roles to see channels, they like removed access from me, today, and then more recently, just removed me. which i'm offended and mildly hurt by, not like my feelings are what's hurt really, if anything i dislike that it's easy for me to feel 'okay fuck you then,' in situations like this, it's just a vague, shock i guess, which is something sort of like pain. so i'm like offended and shocked, that it's about something this stupid and i don't really grasp why. i guess they just didn't care for me that much and wanted to jettison me since the friend who i'm actually closer to there left because they're bad at being funny. it sucks, there were people who i thought of as friends and liked talking to. i imagine it's not like that went two ways though. so whatever. one of them, the guy who the whole group is centered around, i thought we were pretty close we'd talked for years in dms, about music and his life, he was the one who traveled to brazil and had that awful time. somehow not really finding the ironic anime gooner bit funny is enough cause to make me less present in someone's life. i guess i'm not really bothered that i can be 'fuck you,' about that. how stupid.

oh well,

how quaint, you can spit farther than me,

it's like nothing ultimately. internet nonsense. at least it's something to be annoyed by that keeps my mind off feeling so ugly that i should stop existing or something. i need to go outside more... it sort of hurts, emotionally, that something like this figures into my life at all. all the other people i know online, it's like, if they were bothered by me, if they were like i don't want to talk anymore, and stuff, it wouldn't feel so pathetic, it'd be an actual interpersonal thing. this feels like being removed from a forum because you necro a post or something. just totally weird anal stuff from internet community people. that friend group that guy acquired over the years was all wikia people, so i guess that makes sense, that they'd be retentive in that way.

i'm sure there are plenty that aren't like this. i imagine another reason i was removed is also that i'm not from where they're from, online. which is also just so stupid.

i can't believe (some of) my irl friends will start fighting about hasan and ethan klein and then (some of) my internet friends will become strange over anime gooner bits. having my gf in my life definitely makes this all more bearable. as well as my writer friends.

so,

byebye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[thoughtsaboutshows]

For the ask game (please and thank you!):

do you prefer dialogue or description?

do you know how your story ends before you start writing?

give us a spoiler for one of your stories (if you're willing).

You're so welcome!!

I prefer to write dialogue! It comes much easier to me and I love playing out the scenes in my head and seeing the characters talk back and forth. It can be hard for me to take the descriptions I see in my brain and put it on paper so it's a writing skill I'm trying to strengthen

Typically yes I do know how my story will end at least in a general sense. Sometimes the circumstances or the details of the ending change but overall I have a clear idea of where we're going.

Hmmmm I'll give you a few. The first is just a general idea of a fic I had rolling around in my mind where Xaden is being tortured by Venin and part of that torture is seeing Violet be tortured (or at least thats what he thinks he's seeing 👀) but as of now that only exists in my brain and hasn't been written yet.

Here's a sadder/angsty snippet from Let's Play Pretend that's waaaay down the road. The specific words may change but the general idea of this scene will stay the same.

A laugh that I hardly recognize falls out of my lips, so much louder than his soft almost silent laugh.  Yet somehow they go together.  But it’s his eyes that draw me in, riddled with devotion and awe and admiration as they lock in on me.  I feel his emotions as if they’re my own and a deep joy wells in me. But with the next wave of it, comes a jarring pain and all consuming fear, the emotions of a twenty year old Violet demanding to be felt and warning me not to fall for it again.

“Stop.”  I mutter out and pull away from him jerkily.  He flinches but doesn’t let go of my hand.  “Don’t look at me like that.” 

“Like what?”  He’s confused but the devotion is still there and it makes me want to bolt.  I don’t trust it.  I don’t trust him

“Like you did back then.”  He lets me pull my hand away as he frowns, trying to fix his face into something else.  “Before…” 

“Violet-” He starts but I’m shaking my head and turning away before I can see the devastation on his face.  Good.  Maybe now he can feel a fraction of what I felt. 

And how about a lighter snippet just because:

“You two have the strangest relationship.”  Imogen says with a shake of her head.  I scoff, as if she and Garrick aren’t two giant weirdos themselves.  “Do you ever act like a normal couple?” 

“They’re pretty normal.”  Liam buts in with a shrug.  As the only friend who “knew” about us the gang turns to him with baited breath.  His grin turns cheeky.  “I mean at least I thought so until I walked in on them-”

“Okay!”  I cover Liam’s hand with my palm before he can claim that Xaden and I have some freaky kinks or fetish that would change how they look at me forever.

Thank you so much for asking!! 😄 😄 😄 😄

[lakesparkles]

(abuse tw for some of this)

awwwe glad I'm not bothering you!! my experience in the scott pilgrim fandom has been one of the worst... it's good to hear people talk about it. I could go on for hours

I'm sorry people are so terrible to you :(( some of those comments you got are really vile (especially the fatphobic and fetish-y ones about wlw)

and yeah. I definitely get what you mean about gideon and ramona. I'm a domestic abuse survivor (like. a real one. not fictional characters, real life!!!) and I found a lot of comfort in thinking about their story. understanding them helped me understand myself a little better so I could get the closure I needed and move on. maybe that's bad! maybe I was romanticizing! I very very rarely ship things, like, ever, and when I write scary things I do so with the intent of character exploration, not fluff. I was never squealing and kicking my feet back and forth on my bed about them, lol, I was thinking "why is gideon the way he is? why is ramona? how did they affect each other? how are they alike? how are they different?"

I don't actually like toxicity, I find it kinda boring, and I prefer tragedy when I want angst. but gideon and ramona drew me in because I had been through something horrific and I saw pieces of that in them. I wanted to understand what happened to me. and through writing and therapy and lots of time I got my closure, I moved on. maybe that's romanticization, idk. maybe we should just never think about anything bad or scary at all. I guess if it makes me a bad person, then I'm a bad person. I'll live!

as for scott, I can't stand him. maybe because of his fans and how many men I've met who are just like him, lol. the cutesy version from takes off didn't help (at least the comic version was more grounded and felt more like a person I could sympathize with)

much love,

-🦊

Yeeees I noticed this fandom was mean since the start but usually no one else talked about it 😔 like, did you see the times people on Twitter reposted Todd x Wallace art there just to say how much they hated the drawing??? (In the end, they just hated the ship and used this as an excuse to bully artists)

Everytime I posted on dailyrammy, I couldn't stop overthinking about "what will be the reason for hate comments this time??" Because I just knew it'd happen. The fatphobic ones were the comments that made me feel the worst... I surely like the way I draw Ramona, but the amount of hate because of this was too much to me.

Now, about Ramona and Gideon. I understand you so much! It was the exact same to me!! Being able to relate to Ramona in this situation made me feel so much better about my own experiences. Especially in the moments Ramona mentioned how being with Gideon made her feel like a bad person. This really changed me. I never felt comfortable talking about my own abusive relationship because in that moment I was the worst version of myself. And Ramona was just like me and talking about it and their relationship made me feel way better about myself.

But guess what? People would prefer if I only said "Gideon was abusive to Ramona, he sucks!!" And never mentioned this subject again. Maybe this way I would get head pets for telling the obvious. However, I decided to explore their thoughts and reasons - showing how awful you feel about yourself when this happens to you - and this was the same as romanticizing to some. They even started doubting my own experiences and used the abuse I suffered as a gotcha moment. As a "how don't you feel bad writing about something so dark when the same happened to you?? Doesn't it make you feel bad???"

And actually, no. It makes me feel less alone, in fact. If it wasn't for Ramona, I would still feel so ashamed to even talk about what happened to me. But okay, I guess. I'm bad because I like Gideon - a very cartoony villain, I should add.

Last thing about Scott, you're so right!! And the dudes that claim to be like him are most times so annoying.... I like comic Scott a little better, but nothing close to a favorite character.

[wingherc]

｢𓆄｣ "Well. That's not good." Days had come and gone so easily in Spirale, it was nice. But, the black smoke that gave rise to the city, had Hawks grabbing his agency issued walkie.

'Hawks, here. Somebody at the office want to report a fire? I don't need any backup, responding now. 'S probably just an electrical fire or something' The whipping of wind made it hard to make out if he said anything afterwards. But with fervor, Hawks sped over to the burning hi-rise building, expelling all the feathers he could. Which appeared just to be the little ones. Which was fine, those were strong enough to carry and drag people to safety.

Without much else he could do, the fire was still relatively small, he figured he'd be able to put it out himself and smother the flames. While it was his greatest weakness, the smallest of flames could consume the largest of cities, and preventing that was more of a concern than burning up his feathers.

Though, what was hopeful thinking ended up being far from the truth. This was very much premeditated, and a way to draw Hawks out of his patrol. Two of these criminals, one a thief and the other a mugger, were from a few weeks ago respectively. Hawks had previously stopped these two and now they've decided to team up as a play on some sort of stupid revenge?

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." A sword is drawn and pointed their way, he'd have to take these two out quickly, if he wanted any hopes of stopping the fire where it stood.

"Didn't anyone tell you there's safety in numbers? Speed can only get you so far." And speed didn't help if you were surrounded.

And that's where it all went wrong. When he was knocked out shortly after their fight broke out.

--

A few days later that was when he woke up, given that he didn't end up in the blacks of the Abyss, but rather: the sterile whites of a hospital room, Hawks could assume he wasn't dead.

Though, when he went to cough, a sharp inhalation of ice cold oxygen made him realize he was fitted with a support mask. The smoke must've done a lot of damage to his lungs, which was fair, he didn't know how long he was out.

"Knock knock!" A nurse called in, gently rapping at his hospital door before opening it, the shock on her face evident as she entered the room. "Wow, maybe we were wrong to deny you visitors. With that mask, you won't be able to communicate your needs vocally, but there is a handy text-to-speech app on your phone. Tell me. How are you feeling?"

It's necessary small talk, to gauge how much pain he was in physically as well as maybe mentally. Which...Speaking of that, something was different. Memories that were clearly his that he couldn't remember before, though recounted to him by others, were finally his own. He'd just killed Jin and was basically thrown into a war. Pain etched the man's eyes, now reaching for his phone.

"Terrible." The mechanical voice chimed in as he typed away. "Not for the reasons you may think." His wings felt different too. Where his longest feathers used to be, they were now replaced by prosthetics. Probably to help him fly? He didn't know, but he couldn't try now. "Physically is a different story. Besides the burning sensation crawling on my back." Very intensely, mind you.

The nurse dutifully took notes of Hawks' condition on her clipboard as he spoke with him, filling out his chart to the best of her ability. "And what about visitors? We've had a couple people ask if they could see you, but denied them because your condition wasn't stable yet."

"No visitors." The deadpan text to speech voice answered far too quickly, which caused the nurse to raise her eyebrows. She had assumed maybe he'd want to see someone who requested to see him. But, no?

"I'll respect your wishes. Anyone who asks to see you will be denied until you tell us otherwise."

And for a couple of days, Hawks and this woman would have required back and forths. And on the last day, after some walking sessions, to ensure the pro-hero had enough strength to walk and carry himself, was the day he checked himself out of the hospital.

It was the middle of the night when he'd left, Hawks had to ensure he didn't run into anyone he knew, so that was his reasoning at least. And, once the crisp city air made contact with his face, he pushed off of the remnants of what had remained of his quirk to take to the skies. Hawks had a lot to mull over, he wasn't in a war now, which left him actually able to think about his actions.

And how he had to kill someone he knew was a good guy. None of them deserved to be in this war, they were all just rungs on the ladder for AFO, and that wasn't fair to any of them.