#a good one. but an acid trip all the same

[riaki]

ur highschool bully gojo was chefs kiss 💋 what do u think about them going to the same college and taking the same classes?? and the reader sitting next/talking to some other guy and satoru gets jealous?? arwahhhshdhshshs so many possibilities, i hope u continue writing it!!

hi nonnie !! thank you so much :) this is ur official part 2 ! i was struggling to think up some possibilities but this helped a lot :oo | read part 1 here ! -> cw: swearing, jealousy, i let it get fic length oops

(former) highschoolbully!gojo on the brain again… like. when you end up seeing him again however many months later, and you can tell that he’s changed. it’s not like its immediately obvious to anyone who doesn’t really know him like you (used to); but he’s a little softer-spoken and his smiles seem nine times more genuine. it’s not a hundred percent; the kind that really lights up his face instead of just barely falling short of his stark blue eyes, but it's something.

of course, you have nothing to base it off of, because when you do inevitably see him again it's the very definition of meet ugly.

college is a new frontier, but its also a clean slate. its your first time going into something so new without your old bestfriend at your side, but some faint flickering thought reminds you that it might be better that way. but the universe is against you from the very first day, when youre gettin yourself some coffee from the same chain you did the morning of that fateful presentation so many moons ago. you're too busy thinking to yourself what kind of strange parting ritual it is to relive your trauma to notice the lanky, white-haired boy who hits his head on the chiming bell over the doorway. people are giggling around you n sighing dreamily but youre too deep in the music pumping through your headphones to notice and your eyes are glued to the class schedule on your phone, trying to ensure you dont get lost on the first day when—

you blink and your ass is flat on the dirty floor of the coffee shop, and the first thing you register is that your stomach is soaked and burning. you'd spilled your coffee. it takes you a moment to realize, but when you do you're pissed. so you quickly get to your feet, trying to reign in what little of your ego you have left to give the offender who bumped into you a piece of your mind as you look up, then..

how unlucky do you have to be?

just like that, satoru's slid himself back into your life, after ramming through its locked gates. you forget that he always forgets the point of keys, both when it comes to his apartment (which you still have the spare key of in case of emergencies), and the door to your heart. to rub salt in the wound, the only thing that's stained with your coffee order are his shoes, which look like they cost three weeks of your old job salary, but it's all over your shirt. of course it is. because why not? make it look like you tripped and fell into a patch of mud on your way to the lecture hall and tack on an unwelcome reunion with your ex-bestfriend.

to you, it's like the cloud of gloom from your highschool youth has resettled over your head like a swarm of gnats on a dreary, hot summer day. the stars always seem to skew and misalign themselves for you. but for satoru, the stars have handed him one of those huge swirly lollipops that you only ever see being paraded about by toddlers. he recovers almost instantly, trading the burn on his feet and the way it sours your expression like he's just squirted pure citric acid into your throat for a pleasant burn of his own on his cheeks. but it's whatever. girls seem to like it when he blushes, for some reason. he won't question it, if it works on the only one he cares about.

he holds his hand out, ready to help you out like the good samaritan he's become— and it's like a real burn to his heart this time when you ignore it and stand up on your own, refusing to look up and meet his pleading gaze. might as well have taken an iron stoker right out of the fire and jabbed him with it. but he's gojo satoru! he won't be defeated by this one mere, maybe very significant reunion. he's got stamina.

so he offers to buy you a new drink, feels his heart sink when you shake your head (can't even spare a little 'no' in his direction), and talks enough for the both of you when you leave the dingy little store make your way down to campus and the lecture building. you clearly don't want to see him, but he ignores that in exchange to notice the way you shiver every so often. the previously searing-hot coffee that stains your shirt turns cold fast, and moisture n wind don't mix well. he wishes he could offer you some of his own warm coffee, no doubt sickeningly sweet, but he has some sensitivity now, apparently. so, in a brash moment, he decides to take his blazer off and drape it over your shoulders instead.

when you cross the threshold between city and campus, you expect him to yank it off your back and be on his merry way. but he keeps walking next to you, so you walk a little faster, and you absolutely loathe the cheeky little grin that curves the corners of his lips up to show a glint of teeth when he effortlessly keeps up. you curse his long legs when you find yourself winded, but at least you can lose him when you get there.

or, that's what you think. once again, your constellations break themselves to rebuild anew for satoru. you're about to call him a stalker when he follows you all the way to your classroom with that smirk that's growing exponentially until— oh, no.

your phone that's been on the schedule up until now desperately scrolls to the roster— and there it is. he's in your class. needless to say, not another word goes between you as you stomp in and take a seat. luckily for you, you've already corresponded with your roommate's brother (who's annoyingly cute, satoru notices) and agreed to sit next to each other. satoru takes the seat right above you and never stops kicking his freakishly long legs against the wood the entire time.

so yeah, it's obvious he's not a saint; he still has that undoable ego and he's cocky as fuck (as you have the misfortune of finding out when he quickly bullies your professor), but there's a certain familiarity in that no matter how ugly it might appear to others. and if you asked (which he really, really hopes you will someday), he doesn't hang around douchebags who use kids' foreheads for ashtrays and treat girls like they're candy from a glittery pez dispenser. and at least he's switched harassment targets. even though he has an overwhelming sense of superiority over others and never has his lips together for more than five seconds, and even though he has this hellish habit of clicking his pen whenever he's not talking (or when someone else is), it seems like he's changed.

and over time, you gradually find yourself warming up to him. the spunkiness that used to get on your nerves ceaselessly becomes an object of endearment, and you don't really mind the way he never seems to stop moving anymore. it's a nice sort of distraction in the lifeless still of the lecture hall, albeit the pen clicking still drives you near insanity. you notice he always does it obnoxiously and quickly when you're talking to your roommate's brother, but you ignore it.

and for satoru? he hates that he can kinda sorta really tell that you're the only one who can read him like he's a damn book, cus you slowly start to soften up in the nostalgia of his presence like cold playdough between warm fingers that tell you he may have finally caught you again after letting you slip the first time. and he notices it. this time, he's determined not to let you be the one that got away again. but youre really giving him a shit time outta it with the way you constantly entertain the guy who always has his breath in your face.

yeah, he's got a cute face that's sunkissed by freckles. yeah, his hair looks like he models for shampoo companies. and fuck, he has a nice voice. but what of it? satoru's the one with the mesmerizing blue irises and the cloudy white hair your professor wishes he had instead of sad little wisps of old age. still, as chilly days turn into frigid weeks, he gets the perfect backseat angle of the growing relationship between the two of you. the boy's kinda dumb so you copy off of satoru’s work when you need to (he has to hide the 1-0 scoreboard between him and the guy on a sticky note from you when you take his notes), but said guy’s always buying you stuff and lending you erasers and laughing when you flick the shavings at the annoying girl who never stops whispering in the front of the room.

satoru tries to act unbothered, and he almost convinces everyone. including himself. but the angry, burning knot in his chest that's entirely different from coffee stains suggests something more. that should be him at your side. him, making balls of paper with rude scribbles and silly doodles to throw at the people he knows you don't like. him, surprising you with little gifts and the cheap trinkets he knows you adore so much instead of all the luxury things he could afford. there's no way this punk could possibly measure up to him, right? but at least you and satoru are well on your way to becoming friends again. not as close as you used to be, but it's something. substantial. and he's learned to be patient in the time you've been gone.

but he'd be lying through his teeth if he said he wasn't tired of it. he’s endlessly plagued with thoughts of increasing intensity— first, it starts out with just you. only you. the way he likes it. the way he likes your face, and your pretty eyes and your gorgeous lips and your soft hair and your figure and the complimenting clothes you wear. but it takes a turn; thoughts turn into dreams that turn into fantasies and he's lying when he says he doesn't enjoy them when he accidentally lets it slip during a group study session— and it’s all fine— but then, that guy appears. the brat who seems to sit a centimeter closer to you with each coming day. not only does he haunt satoru in real life, he’s tormenting his dreams, too. tainting the image of beautiful you.

needless to say, satoru starts to wake up with his hands gripping his damp pillow like he's choking it, acutely aware of the sweat sliding down his neck and over his chest as he stares up at the ceiling, listening to the dorm's air conditioner run and thinking of what it'd be like for dreams (the ones where he replaces the boy) to become reality.

it's a buildup. and soon, he reaches the apex; it's like a rollercoaster, that stomach-twisting moment when you reach the top of the rail that points to the steep descent downward. but this time, he hopes it's a thrill he gets instead of the usual falling fright; the one he got when he realized he’d slipped between your fingers in highschool.

and satoru finally comes to a grinding halt at the top of the ride one breezy fall day when he decides he wants you back in his life after you smile brightly at him and wave goodbye for the day. he’s tired of you having one foot in and one foot out of his heart; he wants, needs more. he always has, he realizes.

so he’s thinking about you and how to approach the feelings he’s realized during those long lectures, and one morning he comes up with some semblance of a plan when he’s high on the sugar from the fruit tea you bought him that morning. and he hopes that, by the end of it, he'll leave your apartment with your hand in his currently empty one, chilled with the remnants of cold condensation from the bottle.

soon enough, satoru finds himself extinguishing his nerves and raising a tense fist to knock on the door with nothing but the clothes on his back and a flimsy plan to ask you out on a midterm study sesh and maybe even a date, but he stops when he realizes it’s slightly ajar. a brief thought of what look might be on your face when he surprises you crosses his mind, so he lets himself in quietly, because he knows every single floorboard that creaks like the back of his palm from his childhood. he’s hit with a wave of warmth and an achingly familiar scent that twists at his heart, and your apartment is cozy and safe and it screams you and he thinks he catches sight of his jacket slung across the back of the couch in your living room, but he’s not sure so he takes a step forward and—

he’s greeted with the sight of that stupid guy with the nice hair and the freckles, and it makes his heart drop. but even worse, he’s kissing you and his arms are winding around your waist but you’re kissing him back with a slight hesitation that’s blinded to satoru by his shock and the fingers he thought would end up in his own tonight card through the boy’s hair and your lips glisten with the strawberry-kiwi flavored gloss he watched the boy give you a few days back and his world is turning red and he feels like his throat is constricting and he can’t breathe—

and he doesn’t even realize you’ve parted lips and you’re calling his name through the newfound tightness of his chest and the painful ringing in his ears thats even louder than any silence of a lecture hall, or the void that should’ve been filled with your voice during the time you were apart. but now satoru realizes he’d take that any fucking chance to have that again because it’s so much better than what he’s stuck with now. having you, but not really having you, because you’re there but you’re someone else’s and you’re not his and he isn’t yours. the best thing he could ever hope for was for you to own an article of his clothing and a piece of his shattered heart, broken into a million fragments. some cruel voice in his buzzing head reminds him to change the scoreboard to 0-100.

and he could buy you cheap hot coffee or earn your smiles from scrunched up paper balls or even hear your laugh with crude jokes, but there’s no point when he realizes he can’t buy you with caffeine or earn you with hitting the back of people’s heads with his bio notes or have you and your laugh all to himself anymore.

it’s almost pathetic, the way satoru’s voice cracks and changes. the look of unadulterated concern on the face of the boy who stole your lips just adds fuel to the fire.

“gojo? what are you doing here— hey, are you okay? you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

he noticed you’d stopped calling him satoru a few weeks back. he should’ve seen it coming.

“huh? oh, yeah. i’m good. i think you’re the one hallucinating.”

he’d never told a bigger lie in his life.

satoru had left after excusing himself for intruding. how very unlike him to be so polite, you think.

so in the end, he leaves your apartment with something in his hand, after all. but it's not your own— just his blazer that you’d given back to him before he stepped out the door, taunting him with the faint scent of coffee and lingering perfume. his hope was foolish, so it seems. it’s too bad, he thinks. if it were him, he would’ve sandwiched you against your counter while he kissed. but it wasn’t. apparently, it was your turn for your stars to align at the price of his.

and so, gojo satoru, the boy force-turned man with a chipped ego and a completely broken heart, loses you again.

bonus bonus.. part 2….

[drchucktingle]

POUNDED BY DR. GLOBUS

wanted to post today about recent health journey of chuck. ALL STARTED at texas show when i began to feel tightness in throat. i have learned this is called GLOBUS which is a tingler character name if ive ever heard one. got through appearance and had blast but felt terrible

plane journey home was even worse. first thought i strained my voice, then tested for covid (negative) and then figured it was just some kind of virus. had running nose and hoarse and extreme pain behind face and MOST of all this golf ball throat

figured i would get better as viruses tend to go but I DID NOT. after a few weeks went to way of urgent care and they took one look and said you have EXTREME FORM OF ACID REFLUX called laryngopharyngeal reflux (also great tingler character name)

basically this is when your stomach acid comes all the way back up into your throat and erodes it. they immediately put me on medications name of pepcid plus tums plus gaviscon and on and on. was inhaling a dang pharmacy every morning

problem is, NO CHANGE. in fact it started getting worse. in addition to previous symptoms i now couldnt keep any food down. upset stomach all the time. could barely sleep. plus it is scary to have a sickness that gets WORSE over time like this

more doctor talks. i up doses of medication to combat sickness but does not seem to work. one night wake up and think 'dang i need to go to er my stomach is going to just melt or something' (keep in mind because i cant keep food down i am always hungry too).

i go to hospital and they say 'WHOA we need to intervene right now we are doing some tests and putting you on SERIOUS LIFE CHANGING MEDICINE. but here is catch to do the tests we need you to stop all your medication for 48 hours and it will be HECK but you gotta do it bud'

so i stop all medication in preparation for new SICK LIFE and suddenly… i start feeling better. not just a little but after weeks of this awful way i wake up in ONE DAY and feel fully cured. now heres twist: at the same time this was happening I started taking allergy medicine

you may already know where i am going with so i will just hit you with it. my INITIAL SICKNESS was just extreme seasonal allergies that required nothing more than claritin and flonase. however i was misdiagnosed with ACID REFLUX and medication was making my stomach a wasteland

the second i stopped taking acid reflux meds and started on allergy trot i was better almost instantly. today i feel HECKIN GREAT. (SIDE NOTE: after 4 years of chronic pain i am so thankful to not have some OTHER long term health trot to deal with. DANG)

so what is lesson here? first of all please do not think this is in ANY WAY anti-doctor rant or anti-medicine. my doctors were trying their best and made a mistake, they are just people. ALSO while acid reflux medicine made me sick, allergy meds made me better. i am SO fortunate

but what is REALLY fortunate is that chuck is covered under SWEET BARBARAS HEALTH CARE (she gets very good coverage under the frozen lake). most artist buckaroos, even WILDLY successful ones, do not have health care which is huge issue that should be talked on more.

point is EVERYONE should have healthcare. this whole adventure was bad, but it also only cost me 50 dollars. hundreds of thousands of other buckaroos would have to deal with this PLUS it would completely upend their life to cover medical expenses because of a SIMPLE MISTAKE

so that is my story, usually there is more of a lesson to these rants but this one is really just ‘dang what a trip.’ so grateful for my health and my way and the fact i can get simple allergy medicine over the counter. most of all THANKFUL FOR MY BODY it is such a treat to exist

thank you for reading and remember to advocate for yourself and your feelings both BODY and MIND at the doctor. listen to your trot and do not forget that LOVING YOURSELF AND THE SYSTEMS OF YOUR BODY proves love just as much as loving others. trot on buckaroos

[peachesofteal]

Ghoap x reader zombie apocalypse AU? 👀 just gonna leave that here...

Ooh anon you got me with this. Thought about it all night. A full fic of this dynamic in an apocalypse setting would be so good. Sadly, I don't have it in me to write an entire fic for this but I scratched it out as a dead disco au down below on my phone (I took bits and pieces of zombie media and smashed them together as I like):

18+ MDNI / angst, death

It was an accident.

All you had wanted to do was try to find some mushrooms. You knew this part of the woods usually had a fair amount to forage, and you were pretty good at distinguishing the good ones from the not so good ones. You hadn't meant to get distracted.

You knelt down to the forest floor, picking at a piece of bark on a downed log when you heard the rustling, the suspect sound of something moving through the brush near you.

You expected one of the slow ones. The ones that usually found themselves this far from the city, wandering aimlessly, looking for the next meal. Decaying and rotting flesh hanging from their limbs, a sign they had been long infected, the decomposition marking them as something easily escapable.

You did not expect a runner.

You screamed- a huge no no, as Simon had been drilling into your head- when you saw it, far too late, tripping over yourself to try to get away, your hunting knife pressed into the palm of your hand.

You stood little chance against a runner. They were fresh, muscles still intact, lactic acid burning through their bodies, movements fast and sharp, able to take down an entire human in one fell swoop. They even looked like you, still holding their pallor, their posture, their fine motor skills.

Only their minds were gone. Addled by the infection, brains turned to hot mush inside their skulls.

They had one objective.

Eat.

You managed to clear the log, sprinting as fast as you possibly could, trying to take long, deep breaths through your nose just as Johnny taught you.

"More oxygen that way, love. It'll help your endurance, keep you runnin' longer."

They were always doing that now, equipping you for survival. Trying to train you like a solider, teaching you the finer points they thought you should know.

"We're gonna make it, together." Simon had said, the morning they showed up in the middle being away for work, clad in full tactical gear, guns in hand. "As a family."

"Ye have to listen to everything we say, alright darling? Everything's goin' to be okay." Johnny promised at the same time as you tried to pack some essentials into your backpack with trembling fingers.

They were obsessed with trying to instill as much of their knowledge into as possible, trying to prepare you, help you, listing off rules they thought were key, ensuring you knew to follow them.

One being: don't get distracted.

You curse yourself, feet flying underneath your body and heart thrumming in your chest with panic. You're too slow, and you can hear it behind you, sprinting just as fast as you are, preparing to launch and take down it's next meal.

You don't see the snare of brambles until you're in them, nearly slamming to a stop, thorns scratching against your skin as you fight against the thicket. It's too dense, slowing your ability to get away... and the runner is still hot on your heels, working its way through the mess, snapping its jaw like a shark.

Simon comes out of nowhere. One second you're hacking away at the branches and the next, there's a massive, solid warmth at your back, standing between you and the snarling monster. He's facing away from you, brandishing a knife, engaged in a full fight with the runner, taking it to the ground in an attempt to get the blade into its temple. You watch mouth wide, frozen, holding your breath until the job is done, and Simon is hauling himself upwards, pulling you into his arms before stepping back to look you over.

You burst into tears. You've always told them, you're not for this kind of world. You're too gentle, too sensitive. You're a painter, for fucks sake. Not a killer. You're too soft to survive.

They say it doesn't matter. That you can be as soft as you want, because you have them, and they'll be the killers. They'll be the hard ones.

"Did it get you? Let me see, c'mon-" He checks your arms, your neck, the tear on your shirt but finds nothing. "Alright, you're alright." He's telling you, and himself, relief exhaling from his body with each syllable. "You're alright, darling. I've got ya. Come here." He holds you tight, rubbing your back, kissing your cheek, your forehead until you're calm, breathing deeply and wiping your face.

You believe the worst has passed, until you blink up at him, and see the blood on his neck.

The bite.

"We need to make a plan."

"We're nae makin' a bloody plan." Johnny hisses, and Simon closes his eyes like he's tired. "We keep goin'. We'll make it to the rendezvous with Price and they'll have a solution. We dinnae even know how fast it spreads."

Simon lets loose a sigh, heavy with exhaustion. With the toll that this life has become. With the weight, of everything. He tucks you into his body, wrapping his other arm around Johnny, and holds the two of you close. Tightly. Tighter than he ever has before.

"Alright."

The next morning, everything is different.

You woke up last, fire still barely smoldering, little energy bar on the ground next to you. The guys sleeping bags were already rolled up, stacked neatly with Simon's pack, and the long gun that Johnny carries.

But they were nowhere to be found.

Confused, you slid free, stretching with a silent groan, scanning your surroundings until you spot them on the edge of the woods, locked together on their feet, Johnny's face mashed against Simon's neck, strong arms holding him close.

"What's going on?" The question comes out confused when you get close, and Johnny pulls away with wet eyes, hands shaking. What's happening? Why are they both crying? Fear screams through your body, red alert systems firing up as your brain struggles to put all the pieces together.

"Simon-" Johnny begins, but stops abruptly, eyes slamming shut, lips pressed together in agony.

"'m not feelin' too well." Simon explains gently. "You and Johnny are gon’ start on ahead, and 'm gonna stay here for a while." Something, something logical, something smart, is shouting at you from the back of your mind but you shove it away, opting for delusion instead.

"Okay, you're going to catch up though, right? You said. We'll find-" You frowned, looking from him to Johnny as a sick feeling grew in your stomach. "Johnny?"

“Look at me.” Simon combs through your hair with trembling fingers, unsteady for the first time in your entire existence. “I love you, darling. I love you so, so much.”

“S-stop, we're supposed to stay together, you- you said-“

“You have to go with Johnny now, okay? He’s gonna take care of you.” He jerks you forward, closed mouth pressing against your forehead. "I love you."

“No, Si.” You sob, fingers curled in his vest. “You have to come with us. You have to, we’ll fi-find a cure, they’ll be help, somewhere.”

“Johnny.” He chokes, and a strong arm wraps around your waist, Johnny’s heavy, tearful breathing echoing just above your ear. Someone works your fingers free, pulling your hand away but not letting go, holding onto you like a lifeline.

You look up between him, to his face, to Simon’s and realize. They’ve already said goodbye.

Simon strokes the back of his fingers down Johnny’s cheek, tears dripping down his own.

“I love you both, more than anything. More than life.” He squeezes your hand, rubbing a thumb over the back of your knuckles, and then steps away, pulling the handgun from the holster on his thigh. "Take care of each other."

"NO!" you scream, but Johnny is dragging you backwards like a rag doll, away from where Simon stands in clearing, gaze never breaking from the two of you, face wet with tears. "Johnny!"

"Darling-" he chokes out amidst a sob. "Shhh, please. Please." He begs you to be quiet, to hush, but you can't, you can't stop screaming, or fighting him, trying to get back to Simon, to reunite your family, to stay together. You scream and scream until Johnny’s hand claps over your mouth, his own words clogged by his cries, pleading and begging until he's cutting off your oxygen with a desperate apology and lifting you over his shoulder like dead weight.

The last thing you hear before you lose consciousness is the sound of a gunshot.

[nohoney]

just a lil something that’s inspired from a lil something i did while at edc ☆ ～('▽^人)

warnings: rave bf! bakugou, lil bit of drug use (acid tripping and rolling -> taking ecstasy), exhibitionism (sorta), petting

bakugou looks around, inhaling deeply as he subtly adjusts the boner he has. he’s pretty certain that no one has noticed. there’s hundreds if not thousands of people walking the festival grounds with too many spectacles that he’s sure are grabbing their attention instead. fireworks from one spot, laser shows emitting from adjacent stages, the statues that spit fire—so so many things to look at.

and yet his eyes keep drawing to the strappy fit you’ve chosen to wear.

he’d never known about microkinis before until you held up the tiny top and panty before him. the patch of fabric meant to cover you is small, just enough to cover your nipples and show off the tasty bit of skin underneath your tits. he helped tie the straps into place for you at the hotel, feeling you up and hoping that he could convince you to have a quickie.

instead you guys had to rush out the hotel to start lining up for the shuttles.

it’s four in the morning and you’re now taking a break from the back to back sets from the artists you wanted to see for the night. you and bakugou relax in an area of light up trees and light up structures. when he looks into your eyes, he can see your pupils still a bit dilated wider than they’re supposed to be but your trip is pretty much easing off.

he’s sure that his eyes are the same too.

good thing you and him only took small hits of what mina offered; the two of you only wanted to trip a little on the acid she offered that was rolled up into the joint. it was fun to see you all woozy and dreamy as you watched your favorite artists at the stage they performed at or how in awe you were earlier when the fireworks show had gone off earlier in the night.

you and bakugou took it easy though to save enough reserves for tomorrow night, the very last day. you’ve got the little dime bag that has the pills and at one point you were tempted to take one to further enhance the night. luckily bakugou was able to convince you to hold off.

“for tomorrow, okay baby? remember who we’re seeing tomorrow.”

“mmkay, you’re right.”

you and him sit against a light up structure, other people relaxing in the area as well. bakugou takes off his hydropack so that he can sit back comfortably. he unzips the storage compartment and brings out your pashmina to cover you up. you cozy up, laying back against him and not having any comments when bakugou lays the pashmina over your lap.

“this was soooo fun katsuki… i think it was the right idea for us to take it easy tonight.” you comment, sliding his hands underneath the pashmina so that they rested on your tummy, “you look out for me.”

“of course i do, didn’t want you to run yourself raggedy before you even got to see your favorite.” bakugou hums, drumming his fingers a little against your stomach and seeing the movement beneath the pashmina. he’s still tripping a little because the sight of it looks funny.

you nod your head against him, sighing quietly and relaxing against him.

bakugou doesn’t shut his eyes, only just idly looking over the sights in front of him like the crowds that still walk or the light shows that can be seen from where he’s sitting at. there are other people in the area that resting, getting massages from their friends, and just relishing in whatever mood they seem to be in.

his hands are warm on your stomach, his thumb brushing over your belly button and making you giggle. you pull your legs up a little closer to you so that you can cover the pashmina over your knees as well before relaxing against bakugou again. your lower half is completely covered from the pashmina as you cozy up and relax. his fingers pluck a little at the red straps that he helped cross around your body. out of all the rave outfits you’ve worn in front of him, this one is his all time favorite.

he’s been so painfully hard the entire night because of your fit, needing to adjust discretely every so often.

and you fucking knew that he liked it too because occasionally when you were sure no one was looking, you’d ghost your palm over his erection. he’d look at you and you’d flash him a coy smile, you looking extra doe eyed with the acid in your system and just a bit more giggly. worst was when he stood behind you for one set with kirishima and mina, you sung your little heart out with them and they were none the wiser to one of your hands discreetly rubbing over his boner.

if he had less control, bakugou would have cum in his shorts from the dirty secret that your friends were too fucked up to notice.

so he decides to return the favor.

your body tenses when you feel bakugou’s hands slide lower beneath the pashmina, his fingers skimming past the edge of the tiny bikini bottom and the pad of his fingers pressing right where your clit is. he leans down to your ear and hums a little before muttering, “i like this one, it’s my favorite.”

“i know, chose it ‘cause i knew you’d love it.” you mutter back before your eyes look over the people that are relaxing in the area. other people’s eyes are glossing over as well but no eyes are staring at you in particular.

still, you can’t help but feel that there must be someone that knows that your boyfriend’s fingers are touching you beneath the pashmina.

bakugou is good with his hands, he’s shown it by making you cum from just playing with your clit alone. he applies the right pressure, petting you and kissing your temple that makes you want to whimper. your boyfriend is the best at rough sex but when he’s actually gentle and endearing, it stirs you up more than usual.

your pussy reacts to his touch, the remaining acid in your body still making you a touch more sensitive, and you’re a bit shamed that a wet patch is forming in between your legs. “made me so fuckin’ happy to see you enjoy yourself. you know how pretty you looked when the fireworks were going off earlier?” bakugou mutters against your temple, “you make me so goddamn happy.”

his words are sweet but his touch is making you come undone. you breathe deeply to try to maintain some composure, your mouth dropping occasionally and you let out a quiet sigh. again, you look over to see if anyone has caught on to what the two of you are doing but no one has paid any mind.

they’re all off in their own world.

“so fuckin’ pretty, my baby is so pretty.” bakugou tells you more, his voice dripping with a sentiment that you hear only inside the bedroom. images of your last lovemaking flash in your head, making your mind swim in a euphoric sea of love. you love how he sounds when you’re sucking him off leisurely, how he seems to be weaker for your blowjobs when the two of you take your time and take it slow. all the fucks you and bakugou during the trip were all done in desperation and haste, enough to get it out your system and be presentable enough in front of your friends.

you’re dying for a passionate, slow fuck with your boyfriend.

you hastily grab onto his hand and press it against your stomach, whimpering slightly and hoping that you’re maintaining a straight face. bakugou presses a kiss to your cheek and whispers in your ear, “did i make you cum?”

he’s answered with a stiff nod.

bakugou’s eyes briefly glance up to the sky, recognizing the light orange coming from the hills. the sun is about to rise and now there’s only one more day to attend. one more outfit to help you into, two more pills to take for when both of your favorite artist plays for the final day of the festival, and then one plane ride home to collapse and have a proper rest after the most sleep deprived weekend you’ve ever had.

“c’mon, let’s get back to the shuttles and back to our room.”

bakugou gives you the hydro pack to wear on your back instead, opting to piggy you back across the festival grounds and to the shuttle pick up. you tied the pashmina around your waist for some modesty before hopping onto his back, clinging onto him like a sloth and whimpering small sounds as he made the trek across the festival grounds.

“you’re so bad katsuki.” you whisper in his ear, “how dare you.”

he only chuckles, hoisting you up a little to readjust you on his back for better leverage and continues on, seeing kirishima and mina waiting for them by the shuttle pick up.

“one more day baby, alright? that’s when we can go all out.”

“mm-hmm, ‘m excited.” you yawn, smiling over the hidden pills you and your boyfriend will consume in another fifteen hours when you return for the very last day of the festival.

[ohbo-ohno]

bo, first of all i adore your writing!!

but you've mentioned a few shall we say 'darker themed' books you've read in asks here and there, can you give some recs of your faves?? pretty please??

first of all, i love you! and also yes always, i never mind giving book recs! i sorta ramble under the cut, sorry lol

alright i'll start with the darker romances. these are hard noncon, and depict abusive relationships that aren't always framed as bad. when i say dark i mean dark lmao, always be aware of what you're going itno before you read a dark romance

If you like my fics, I can almost guarantee you'll like Taken by Felicity Brandon. This is about an author who writes dark erotica and gets kidnapped by a fan, who forces her to live out some of her scenes. Includes petplay! I have my issues with the book (and I DNF'd the sequel) but ohhhh the smut is so good

I mentioned them a while back, but Measha Stone's Owned and Protected series is a 6 book series with noncon/dubcon petplay in every single book. Calling these "romance" is a stretch, but god if you like my noncon petplay stuff (and you're alright with reading explicit noncon and forced relationships), you might like these

I haaated the ending of Distorted by Nyla K. but dear fucking god it is a good prison dark romance. Also it is SO Ghoap coded, I would recommend reading the first ~80% of it lmfao

Corrupt Idol by Dinah Harper is the first book in a series that will probably never get finished, but honestly it's pretty good as a standalone. Dark step-brother romance, and I thought the writing (at least in the first half) was so good, I genuinely felt for the FMC at times (even if I was screaming at her)

Ok I'm not confident in this rec because I'm still not suuuuper sure how I feel about this book, but Torment by Dylan Page is a dark step-brother biker romance. The FMC is the MMC's "rock", and the only thing that keeps him from flying off into a violent rage when he's upset, and he develops an unhealthy attachment to her that everyone around them allows because they don't want to deal with him. I never read the second book, but this is another one where you really feel for the FMC

One of my favoriteeee dark A/B/O (specifically the first book) is Born to be Bound by Addison Cane. I would suggest not reading anything past the third book, and I'm not a huuge fan of the side plots, but the stuff with the FMC and MMC is just. God it's the perfect brand of dark A/B/O (in MY head)

I've recommended it before, but for my truly fucked in the head followers - Under His Heel by Adara Wolf is probably the darkest book I've ever read. It's a four book series (and I think the whole thing is worth reading) and it's got every single trigger warning except for (i think) scat, pedophilia, and necrophilia. it has rape, incest that's also rape, extreme body modification (though it's not permanent), severe public humiliation, severe mental torture, and just about 0 aftercare for our MMC. The book follows a man in a far distant future who's working as an indentured servant to pay off his debts & his incredibly sadistic and evil master. These books are far from "for everyone", but if you really want some fucked up romance (with heavy smut) I think these are worth reading!

aaand some softer dark romances. to me, these are books with some lighter kidnapping or soft noncon, abuse in a mental but not physical way, and MMCs who just think they're in the right

Gemma Weir's Montana Mountain Men is like an acid trip and it's kinda crack, but i read all 7 in like a day, so take that as you will. Each book is about a different brother in the same family as they fall in love - except, in this family the men supposedly know who their soulmate is the moment they lay eyes on them. So there's some light kidnapping, some manipulation/unhealthy behavior, and some birth control tampering in these. For what they are, I enjoyed almost all of them lmao

The Darkest Temptation by Danielle Lori is like a kidnapping romance written for non-dark romance readers tbh. It toes the line of noncon/dubcon, and it's definitely a kidnapping romance, but it's really not that dark.

Nicky the Driver by Cate C. Wells is (in my opinion) not as good as the first book in the series, but it's way lighter in terms of darkness level

Shiver by Ella Frank & Brooke Blaine is a stalker romance that fell a little short for me, but was overall enjoyable (iirc lol). It's about a young man who goes into a kink club and attracts the attention of the owner, who then stalks him. I think it just wasn't as dark as I wanted tbh, but if you like lighter dark stuff I think you might like this!

[tokuvivor]

Due to circumstances beyond the control of any others, @violetganache42 and I are splitting duty on this week’s highlights post (Competition Night edition). She did it for the shorts and episodes, I’m doing it for An Extremely Goofy Movie.

So without further ado, here we go.

“Polar Trappers”:

We bring ‘em back alive

@puffyducks: bro where is pabo

Donald hunting a penguin, which is now illegal to do so

Not the kid!

The baby penguin’s tear becoming a massive snowball

“Need 4 Speed”:

QUACK PACK (Again!)

Disney Ducks meet The Fast and the Furious

@spamtoon: huey you guys aren't in phineas and ferb

Daisy appearance!

The idea of Comet Guy Night

@ducklooney and puffy going off about humans being in the Duckverse

Us calling Donald and the authorities to kill Rocky the Rocket Throttle

From Negaduck ass car to Ratcatcher

@writebackatya: "This is like the Family Guy of the Duckverse"

Ludwig appearance!

puffy: "where's dick dastardly"

Puffy, Missy, and I using 90s slang

Daisy seeing the triplets in the race:

RIP ethnically stereotyped racers

WriteBackAtYa: "DuckTales 2017 needed a car race episode"

Violet: "Would Huey and Launchpad be commentators?"

WriteBackAtYa: "Yes Always"

Violet: "SOLD!"

Ludwig's toy kangaroo winning the race

@tealottie: erection joke

“The Missing Links of Moorshire!”:

Webby giving Scrooge semi-permanent hearing loss

Launchpad: "This lake will be used for the swimming portion of the competition."

Huey: T_T

Violet: "Cue theme song!"

Missy betraying Della with Daisy

Tony the Tiger?!

The entire coin toss scene 🤣

Us praising Glomgold

Missy commenting how Scrooge and Glomgold can't tuck their tails for golfing

The audio glitching like CRAZY

Fluttershy and Bubbles the Kelpies

Webby: "Talking animals wearing clothes?! :D"

@fantasticenthusiasttale: "Webby…"

Violet, internally:

"Bologna. Trampoline."

THE MUSIC USED FOR THE MONTAGE!

Louie yoinking money out of Glomgold's sweater pocket

Emo Dewey

"You people are no fun."

Webby: "Not everything has to be a life lesson."

Violet:

Violet pretending to be turned to stone by the Medusa Mist (as I like to call it)

Launchpad ending the episode with a life lesson… before trying to devour golf balls

“Dog Show”:

puffy: "you know who else is an orphan"

Dreamy: "Everyone in this shit is an orphan"

The dog show people being dogs

Goofy literally begging

Pixar ball

Mickey unleashing his inner dog

An Extremely Goofy Movie

Calling out all the characters from the previous movie as they show up

The fact that Pete is celebrating his own son leaving💀

How is Goofy single?

Goofy having major rizz (this point comes up quite a bit during the movie, and for good reason)

Max’s character development from A Goofy Movie being undone

Sad Goofy☹️

HDL mention!

Bradley Uppercrust III

@kaitosduckmania: “god this shit is so pretentious LMAO”

Will: “I want this review on the back of the DVD”

Max/Roxanne vs. Max/Bradley on Tumblr

Beret Girl!

Puffy: “you know who ELSE is called tank”

Violet: “MY MOM”

Puffy: “they’re snapping at us…MENACINGLY”

Bradley having the same VA as Johnny Bravo (also, The Man with the Yellow Hat)

Max’s horrified face when he sees that he and his dad are in the same class

Bobby wearing pink panties/briefs

Hidden Mickey

Goofy’s mispronunciation of the word “trigonometry”

Puffy: “the WHAT decimal system”

Sylvia being adorable

Goofy does a Donald-esque voice

Kai: “WHAT THE FUCK GOOFY YOU CAN MAKE THAT VOICE?”

Will: “Max’s whole character is that he doesn’t want to be like Goofy but like he is so much like his father that he doesn’t even know it”

More cheese pull (pizza in the last movie, nachos in this one)

BONGO MUSIC

PJ has rizz, too

Goofy and Sylvia dancing to Shake Your Groove Thing

Papa Dog

Us dumping on the inherent cult-like nature of fraternities, sororities, and the National Honor Society

The German judge low-balling everyone

Dreamy: “Is this the olympics all again”

Puffy: “this is MY olympics”

Max shooting down Goofy in the worst way possible

Goofy’s weed/acid trip dream (plus the Goofy holler!)

More Goofy sadness

Meta humor about almost everyone wearing gloves

Missy betraying Daisy with Sylvia

CHEATING!!!!!

PJ flying off

Dreamy: “He went to visit Della”

“Mud! My only weakness!”

Will mentioning that the scene with the X crashing down was removed from the broadcast version of the movie after 9/11 (which we completely understand, because holy shit)

Also, sort of a Hindenburg reference

Goofy graduating! (And then telling Max he was getting a job at the school)

Sylvia having the same VA as Emma Glamour

Spam floating the idea of Max vs. Gosalyn for the X Games

Disco end credits!

Also, that was a goofy movie. Extremely, even.

[hikariale]

love overflow!

"want to place that hoodie you took off by our pillow and eventually eat rice from its warmth. i know. that's not something that's easily understood, but i won't give up and i'll keep telling you how i feel!"

headcanons about peculiar habits formed out of love

characters: jade, jax briggs, shang tsung, skarlet, tanya

content warnings: mentions of injury and gore, smoking, timeline ambiguous but written with the original timeline in mind, ask to tag!

Jade will gossip with you. She takes her job extremely seriously and tends to distance herself from unprofessional things, so even the way she interacts in casual settings can feel uptight. Though she claims she has no vested interest in gossip, she always seems to know the juiciest things. Being in touch with court intrigue is just another duty of protecting Kitana, so she always has an ear to the floor. Technically, since they're palace secrets, telling them to an outsider is unthinkable and borderline treasonous... But if you press her, it's rather easy. She has her own opinions, even if she pretends to be above it all, so once you break the dam, you'll get the entire flood. Being able to confide in someone without courtly pretences is a treat to her, so she actually looks forward to you asking her about it.

Jax won't smoke around you if you aren't a smoker. He doesn't quit smoking, but the only time you will see his lighter is during camping trips. His clothes still smell of smoke, but if you spend the entire day with him, you're more likely to learn what kind of laundry detergent he uses. He doesn't want you to be stuck inhaling his secondhand smoke because he knows that it is objectively bad for people, so even if you say it's alright, he will probably abstain. If you are a smoker, he may have casual banter with you over your respective brand picks. Still, he won't knock it until he tries it, so you may end up swapping cigs one day. Though it's his biggest vice, he will unquestionably kick it if you ask him to. And if you're both smokers, he will try to keep both of you accountable and responsible with intake.

Shang Tsung will never treat you like a glass doll, but he will micromanage your health. Unless he takes care of things with his own hands, he won't feel satisfied that everything is in order. In some ways, it's a blessing. But depending on your tolerance for unconventional treatment, it can be a bit of a curse. The good news is that you could be sliced down the middle and thrown into a pool of acid and still live to see the next day. The bad news is that, if he cannot prevent your death, he will rouse you from your eternal slumber. The words "favourite person" may not seem to mean much from him, but the key term is "person," as opposed to "subject" or "pawn." A person may be physically cloned, but Shang Tsung knows better than anybody that clones are not the same person.

Skarlet will take the blood from your wounds like a keepsake. Though it might make you uneasy, she doesn't have any ill will. In her mind, it is the same as keeping a photo of you in a locket. No matter the severity of the injury, Skarlet can keep you from bleeding out, so you could joke with her that she's taking a blood tax for her services. Depending on the situation, she might even crack a smile! It is hard for her to explain why she takes your blood when she doesn't really need it for anything, but just be assured that she could distinguish your blood from anybody else's. Even if yours was a single drop in a bloody ocean. That attachment is, in its own morbid way, the red string that she's tied between the both of you.

Tanya will just lie on your behalf. You don't want to go to a meeting? You can't because your ceiling caved and you had to stay home all day to deal with the issue. Someone is giving you unwanted attention? Better luck next time because Tanya will make up a list of reasons about why that person shouldn't try to approach you anymore long enough to be a legal document. It would be nice if she let you know ahead of time, but she will set a wedge between you and your petty inconveniences as soon as she hears about them. You can fight your own battles, but if she doesn't think it's worth your time, she will swiftly sweep and smother them under a rug. If it is something that has been causing you a lot of duress, she might go the extra mile of stomping on that spot as you walk along your merry way.

[sapphic-woes]

When You Met Her pt. 1

A/N: You're an omega sold and forced to work at a brothel to survive. Sevika is an alpha, leader of a specialized unit made just to save omegas like you. However, when she finally does find you, it's seven years too late. MINORS DNI

Word Count: 2k. AO3 Link

_____________

Your cheek is sticky. You lift your head only to have a hand gather your hair and slam you back down. Your brain rattles hard enough to see stars.

"Lick." The sneer of hot breath by your ear makes you sick. This is what you get for not being good. Not being obedient. The client holds you down, gleeful to have you obey. To watch you mop up a puddle of your own blood. You know resisting would only make this punishment worse, and you dread the thought of having to take another dose of shimmer.

Or worse, being forced into re-training. 

"Y-yes master." So you suck it up like the bitch you are. Let this alpha take away what little pride you have left. You stick out your tongue to wipe up the bloody mess off the floor. It's grimy with substances and dirt you don't want to think about. Metallic and bitter and oh-so gag worthy. 

The liquid that leaked out of your nose when the client backhanded you was still warm at least. You take a long drag, and can smell the arousal spreading from the alpha above you like battery acid. Sick bastard. You nearly puke.

You were like that–a pitiful omega licking up her own blood off the floor of an illegal whore house–when you met Sevika.

Smelled her, actually. Sharp jasmine. Rich, earthy spices. A tingle of cinnamon so sweet it made your mouth water. It's thick. It's powerful. It's distinctly alpha in a way that doesn't disgust you. 

Bullshit, the shimmer was finally making you insane.

No alpha smelled like that. Not perfectly safe and secure. Certainly not relaxing. Your ass was on a trip. The stupid fucking heat-inducer was making you hallucinate. The only smells from alphas in this brothel were nauseating lust and gut wrenching anger. The kind of rage that makes you shrink. The kind that makes you kneel.

The fury in her eyes has the same effect on the alpha on top of you.

The weight on your back is suddenly gone. You twist to look back, breath hitching in your throat. The alpha is being lifted up, choking as they struggle against the hand gripping their throat tight. They claw, kick, and beg, tugging as rich dark skin only flexes and squeezes tighter. 

She's huge. Terrifyingly huge. Muscles bigger than your own head cover her arms, healthy thighs making your throat anxiously bob. She's the type of alpha you hate to see enter the brothel, because they never care to control the strength of their hands, let alone the thrust of their hips. 

However, this one is different. She's not dressed in casual attire but a uniform. She has on a bulletproof vest, guns strapped to her side. She doesn't have the sick smell of arousal clinging to her skin. Her earpiece buzzes with noises, but she only grumbles shut the fuck up at whoever speaks, focusing on the alpha suffering under her grip.

"Your filthy piece of shit…" She growls. It's low and primal, possessive in a way that makes you shudder. You can't move, petrified by the raw waves of anger coming off of her. The pressure of her pheromones causes you to scramble, and you're in the corner of the private room in an instant. Instinctively you keel over. Your head nearly touches the ground as you cower, hands tightly wrapped around the back of your neck. 

"How dare you. You hurt her, humiliated her…" there's a heavy thud as your client is slammed onto their back, letting out a strangled grunt of pain. Smaller, yet chilling smacks emit through the room as Sevika begins to pound the alpha into the ground. You flinch with punch after punch, horrified by the blood splattering across her knuckles. You didn't understand who she was or why she was here, but that didn't matter.

All that mattered to you was that she smelled so angry, and you were an omega she could easily vent her anger onto.

"Touching. My fucking. My goddamn ma–" Another scent, more calming and less invasive, suddenly filled your nose. A woman not as large as the dark skinned alpha curses, wrestling to drag her comrade off your client. 

"Sevika! Shit–you're gonna kill them at this point!" You recognize that this new red haired woman smells distinctly of a beta. Somehow, she manages to pull Sevika off of your beat up client to glare up at her. Sevika towers right back.

"So?" Her voice is like iron. The entire room is heavy with the scent of Sevika's rage and the beta's defiant aggression. You can hardly breathe, huddling more into yourself. Omegas were more sensitive to scents than the other designations, making it hard to function under the presence of intense emotions. Your brain was a jumble of desperate thoughts, all keen on pleasing the both more dominant women in the room. 

"So the first thing you want her to see is you killing someone? She's terrified, Sev." Panic fills your stomach like bile. It threatens to spew out onto the floor. You're painfully aware of the shift in attention. Frightened when a harsh curse passes by the alpha's lips and slow footsteps come toward you. 

She's simmering with fury. It's less than before but still so overbearing. Your heart feels like it's going to break through your ribcage, you're struggling not to hyperventilate. You close your eyes and dig the heel of your palms hard against the back of your neck with bated breath. 

"Cool it." The beta mutters, voice full of concern. It's odd, given that you're just a whore. The alpha before you pauses. She's just a few feet away, but she takes a deep breath. 

"Right. Fuck." Her words are snarled, making you pathetically shrink into a tighter ball. Long and slow, she inhales and exhales. The alpha reins in her emotions inch by inch, until her natural scent wafts over you.

There it is again. Her intoxicating scent is back. You can breathe again. For a moment, you take in several gulps of oxygen. You refuse to unwind your body, but you do speak, voice weak and breaking as you beg. 

"I-I sorry. I'm sorry can–I'm. I'm useful. I'm g-good at it. Please, p-please don't ki–" Your babbling usually brought about scents of sadistic joy. Alphas loved to see omegas lower their heads, to see you belittle yourself without even asking you to. However, all you get is a low growl, and knees hit the ground.

Wait. Knees?

Alphas didn't kneel. They stood and cast haunting shadows over you. They ground the bottom of their heels into your head with a sneer. Yet when you dare to glance up, the woman is doing just that. She's level with you, taking deep breaths to keep herself calm. Hands on her thighs so you can see them clearly, gaze steady. You tear your own eyes away, because what the fuck else are you supposed to do, shoulders bunching up as she speaks. 

"Get up. You've…done nothing wrong." Her voice is a gentle rumble. It's calming. It's like honey dripping down your spine. Wait, what did she say? You blink. You glance up at her. She raises an eyebrow and it kicks your body into gear. An order was an order even if you didn't understand it, and you had to be good. Mindlessly you obey, rising just as she does too. Your legs are shaky and hardly holding you up, but you know better than to complain. You keep your head bowed, limbs stiff. 

"Y-yes master. Thank you master." As trained, you address her with respect. However, it didn't seem to work. Her body went rigid, and the woman next to her winced. A wave of fury had you shrinking and taking a hasty step back, even though you knew that wasn't allowed. Resistance would only spur on a game of cat and mouse, and you were too tired for that. 

"Sev." The beta whispered, a hand on the alpha's arm. Sevika sucked in a sharp breath. She exhaled through her nose.

"I know. I know…shit, I know." You're a ball of nerves from the tone of her voice alone. Clearly you've messed up. Clearly, she was seconds away from using those bloody hands to put you in your place. Stupid. So fucking stupid. You couldn't even a fucking whore correctly. 

"Don't…don't call me that." The command is strained. You don't understand it. What did she want you to call her instead?  

"S-sorry…?"

"Sevika. When you address me," her sudden touch under your chin is so gentle, you fail to flinch away out of shock alone. She holds your head up patiently, waits for you to nervously meet her gaze. 

Serious, dark cloudy eyes make your stomach twist something awful. You don't feel like she's looking at the object you've grown accustomed to having become. She's looking at you as a person, a person that matters more to her than you could ever fathom.

"I want you to call me Sevika." Your heartbeat is loud and relentless. Your cheeks are red, and it's not only from the blood. You gap. You stutter. Sevika only hums low in encouragement, and it makes the coils in your stomach tighten.

"S-Sevika…" your voice is weak, but you muster up her name like it's thorns on your lips. The smile she rewards you is enough to make your heart soar.

"Good girl, now up we go." You squeak, only given that small warning before Sevika lifts you up in her arms. So high. Smells good. It wasn't the shimmer. It really was her own scent making you melt, and you didn't know why. 

The smell of an alpha was usually revolting to omegas within your line of work. It came with pain in one way or another, making your gut reaction ice cold fear. You'd puked from the tight, sick anticipation their pheromones suffocated you under alone more times than not, but Sevika's scent did the exact opposite.

It calms you down, and you take a deep breath of it with a sigh. Your nerves are still bundled up, aware that regardless of her kindness she's an alpha and even the nicest alphas end up hurting you–but you can't resist this. You need this warmth, this scent laced with sweet security, and somehow your brain manages to finally shut off as you blissfully fall asleep.

[littleeyesofpallas]

I have always loved this final(ish) boss design in Wild Arms 2nd Ignition so I'm just gonna babble for a bit here, apropos of nothing. So, spoilers I guess(?) for a quarter of a century year old game --I think it's still available on the PlaystationStore, but obviously emus are always an option. Large flightless Australian birds are crafty like that.

Even though, design-wise, a good chunk of it falls in line with pretty standard JRPG angelic monster/grotesque angel/now-your-teen-hero-fights-god motifs, it was just so out there in terms of lore.

The game starts with you gathering a band of heroes --A fresh faced army recruit, a grizzled war hero, a magical girl, a sacrificial martyr, a brooding anti-hero, and an optional vampire-- to fight an evil organization out to take over the world.

The evil organization, Odessa, declares that the world is changing, monsters are popping everywhere, and the kingdoms of the world do nothing about it, and so they threaten that if kings and queens and politicians cannot or will not do anything about it, then Odessa will conquer their kingdoms, seize their resources and manpower, and they will fix the problem thru unilateral authority.

But while there is a certain righteous anger behind their manifesto, they of course end up attacking innocent civilians, staffing themselves with war criminals and homicidal lunatics, sacrificing people to summon demons, using the monsters they claim to want gone as weapons, and ultimately trying to threaten the world's governments into submission with a nuke that is also a dragon...

So you smack their four generals around, corner their boss in his giant flying fortress, and then when he knows he's done for he tries to launch himself and the heroes into space to kill them all. It mostly fails, in so much as your party escapes the fortress, but the protagonist stays behind like the big damn hero that he is and consequently dies in space... He gets better tho, don't worry.

But then comes the sort of inverted 3rd act twist --instead of all hope being lost and then a reveal saves the day, everything seems like we should be done with the world ending threats and the world should be safe, until it's revealed that it is very much not-- an alternate universe is colliding with this one, and has been the whole time...

What that really means and how that works and how to envision that is left meaningfully abstract. Metaphorically the other world threatens to "devour" theirs, but it's not clear what that consumption even means... The slowly merging realities are actually why those monsters Odessa swore to eradicate had been appearing at all, and as the two alternate realities collide, the shape of the extra dimensional invasion isn't just a flood of monsters, but that the very nature of reality in this other world will come to replace this one.

Also in a cool throw back to the original Wild Arms, in which the extraterrestrial demon invasion the kicks off the game's plot is heralded by the sky cracking and chipping away, when the protag recovers from his whole died-in-space situation, he awakens to a literally unfamiliar, alien sky... a shifting, sloshing, iridescent acid trip looming over a doomed planet.

In fact the terrorist threat that had consumed so much of the heroes efforts until now was part of an elaborate long con by a certain wealthy would-be-hero out to save the world from the existential threat of total annihilation... The same man who recruited your heroes to fight terrorist in the first place.

Convinced that the world governments would be too fickle and petty to set aside their differences and personal interests to combat something as incomprehensible as (another)reality itself, he actually funded the terrorist organization in order to scare the world into cooperation against something much more concrete and straight forward --or, if international cooperation really did prove impossible, then as an owner of the new dictatorial world government, he'd simply make Odessa to save the world for him.

(A Note: The whole thing has strong american cape comic energy running thru it, specifically Watchmen and DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths.)

But then even his Xanatos gambit falls just short of saving the world in the final stages, and he's pushed into a corner. It turns out that even after tricking the nations of the world into allowing him access to harnessing the raw life force of the planet itself, the life force of a planet with a dying ecosystem just isn't enough to contain this hungry eldritch reality. So, in a last ditch effort he turns to the raw energy of creation, the miracle of life itself, to contain the menace and shackle it to a tangible reality in which it can be fought and killed... and so in a prison of otherworldly flesh contained in the belly of the earth itself, you confront the alternate universe in the form of an unborn child, and with his mind speaking thru it he tells you to kill him.

Anyway, yeah, that's you end up in a big red meat room fighting a vaguely angelic baby in an orb.

Immediately the thing that jumps out is, "Hey, that's the Starchild from 2001: A Space Odyssey!" Which is of course, very cool because everyone loves an unnerving weird fetus. But when it comes to JRPGS and weird fetuses, and incomprehensible reality destroying menaces, of course, the first thing to come to mind is Gigyas in Earthbound.

But more over, I really love that --where as, by point of comparison, there have been questionable theories about the layout of the Devil's Machine dungeon map looking like a womb, piggybacking off Giygas's ultrasound looking fetus shadow pattern-- the rest of the boss form surrounding the little Starchild core actually do appear to be modeled off a reproductive system, complete with ovaries and fallopian tubes, even going so far as to include the fimbriae as stylized angelic wings.

And I like the odd little detail that, because most babies develop upside down, the design with the fetus upright seems to have taken that into account by also rotating the reproductive anatomy accordingly? The baby is upright, so the organs are upside down.

Plus, even though it's not how fallopian tubes look in a real body, most anatomical diagram will show them as having this kind of flared arc over and around the ovaries beneath them, but the wings of the Kupier core arc under the two green orbs approximating ovaries. All that just to say that the big metal golden halo structure hanging under the core is technically oriented toward the "top" of the implied anatomy.

Also the game has a whole big subplot about a Christlike martyr --as an extension of the broader themes of heroism, and what it really means to be a hero-- and there is even a moment just before this final dungeon where Irving refers to his sister, the mother carrying this alternate reality made flesh, as "The Madonna of Destruction"... That all being context to support that, although it can be hard to notice or discern meaningful details on, that weird little fetus is definitely wearing what I can only assume is a crown of thorns.(I mean, that or it could be a pair of little devil horns? but I find that a less interesting alternative) Because he was, after all, conceived(although not so immaculately...) so that he could die to save the world.

Also not at all related to any fun themes or anything but I like how there's this big mouth it's seated in, that I only just realized has a "bottom" jaw to it. The top teeth are most noticeable and go around the front and sides, and I always kinda assumed they were a nod to the whole vagina dentata myth, but on a scale and at an angle that would've been imperceptible thru the blur of a CRT, there's definitely 4 little teeth normally hidden by the glare of the little uterus bubble

Oh and I didn't even get into the name itself being named after the Kuiper Belt, the asteroid belt around our real world solarsystem, as a play into some other astronomical terminology the story borrows from; namely the event horizon of a blackhole being referred to as the thing sealing away the mythic evil demon that started the whole world decay thing that makes the setting a desert wasteland in the first place, and became the wrench in the aforementioned plan to harness the planet's life force as a weapon against the parallel universe.(that ancient evil demon is the actual/surprise final boss of the game after this fight, btw...) There's so much more going on just in general, but that doesn't really play into the way this boss mosnters looks or why.

[mash-masha2011]

Chapter 3: Next stop, anywhere!

Hey, I'm back!

You really motivated me back on previous post, 'cause I really doubted should I continue!

Also I'll try being faster! I just need to fight laziness and 'good' concentration!

Anyway, hope you like this chapter!

By the time Raps, Eugene and Cassandra brought Varian to the castle and led him to his room he was sick of glares, staring people terrified faces and parents holding or hiding their children close. it also didn't help that there were two guards standing at his door who seemed to listen to every sound he made. 

Since he didn't remember much useful on a trip information, once woke up he immediately decided to go in the library and spend there, like, at lest half of week. Of course guards were pretty annoying but he soon got used to their quiet chatter and to the feeling of eyes watching him. His plans were interrupted when Raps barged into the library startling him with Eugene walking in behind her and said that they were going shopping. Varian wasn't too happy about it at first but when he looked at his clothes he agreed that he needs new.

When they walked on the shopping street first thing Varian bought was a black cloak with bright blue treads and a big hood. Rapunzel was against it at first but Varian told her about all those looks people were giving him and she - reluctantly - agreed. Then she bought him a few pairs of dark blue jeans, black and white t-shirts, black really comfy boots and after Eugene asked her a leather vest matching his but brown. Raps also bought him a brown pretty big satchel and said she will paint it when she has time. 

When they returned to the castle and lunched he went straight to the library and the next day woke up sitting in the armchair with the book on his lap in the same Royal library and after a minute of confusion continued studying. At midday Cass walked into his room, led him to stables, gave him horse, walked with Varian to the training grounds and for a few hours was teaching him riding a horse. After that he returned to the library and read some more. He found some interesting information about the sundrop and following the thread learned about Demanitus and got fascinated by him and his work!

Next two days went the same. He read, in the midday Cass taught him riding horse, he ate, went back to library and fell asleep it the armchair. Fifth day though was different. Raps came into his room/library - since no one was ever in library at that week it practically became his room - and handed him journal. His journal. She told him it's where he kept all his alchemy records and formulas, and when she saw how fascinated he was she managed him a lab, which became his new room. 

After that and 'till the end of that week he didn't leave his lab except when needed and made dozens of 'clean' bombs, 'goo' bombs, 'smoke' bombs, 'stink' bombs and a few small drops of acid and Ruddiger transformers - just in case. 

He also discovered that since he lost his memories he could think more out of the box, so he invented a 'smink' bomb, which is a mix of 'stink' and 'smoke' bomb,  'fire' bomb, which in contact with air inflames, 'anti-fire' bomb - compound that stops the fire from fire bomb, 'ice' bomb, which is basically a water bomb but in contact with same air becomes ice and 'anti-ice' bomb which melts the 'ice-bomb''s effect in seconds.

In a few hours before starting their trip Varian packed all solutions he made and put a few in his new satchel - which he really liked - put all his alchemical stuff in caravan - with Eugene's help, he could hardly lift any of them - and finally the journey began!

So naw he was sitting in the end of the caravan and watched the kingdom he barely knew fading in the distance. It was strange. He felt like he should miss this place - he knew he should, it's his home after all - but... he couldn't honestly say he did.

"Hey!" soft voice said behind him and he recognised Raps's "How're you doing?"

"I'm fine!" He didn't fully lie, he didn't know how he felt "And you? You must be so excited about the journey!"

"Yes!" she squealed "It's my first time seeing the real world outside Corona! I can't wait to see what people we'll meet out there!"

"Yeah!" Varian was glad for this distraction from his thoughts. His mind never helped him lighten his mood "What if we meet some alchemists on the road! We could exchange useful formulas!"

"Yeah!" Raps said dreamily "Oh, look!" She added suddenly "That cloud is just like a cat!"

"Wow! And look! That one's a flower!"

"And that looks like a horse!" said voice behind their back. Varian jumped and turned his head so fast his neck hurt. To his relief it was only Eugene, standing there, hands on hips and smirking.

"Hey! You did it on purpose!" Varian couldn't keep smile from his face. He was glad his friends were here.

"Did what?" innocently asked Eugene 

"Startled us!" 

"I did?" Varian glared at him playfully and Eugene exclaimed in fake fear "Okay, okay, sorry! Stop looking at me like that!"

They all started laughing, and laughed for a few minutes before stopping and falling in comfortable silence

"I'm gonna check how Cass is doing!" Rapunzel said finally and climbed on the roof

"I'm gonna go look after her! She's just like a child, needs supervision all the time!" With that Eugene climbed after Raps

Varian looked out of the window again and smiled when saw a cloud that looked like a girl with unnaturally long hair. He was still stressed and guilty for probably terrible stuff he did, - he couldn't been put in chains only because of taking some ancient flower, and people shouldn't look at him the way they do if stealing Sunflower was the only thing he did - but right now he felt better. 

"Hey!" Varian turned and saw Lance. He didn't know much about him. He met him a few times, but they never talked much. So he was surprised when he sat next to him and smiled.

"Hi...?"

"How's the mood?" Lance looked at clouds

"Good, actually!" Varian also looked at the sky

"Me too. I'm kinda excited! We will visit so many new places! So many people to steal from!" He said dreamily, and then added quickly with a tiny dramatically offended note to his voice "Not that I ever would do such thing, of course!"

"Yeah" Varian saddened a bit remembering his worries and fears.

They sat watching clouds for a bit. It wasn't like with Rapunzel, a fun time spent together, more like an excuse not to try finding topic for conversation. It wasn't a comfortable silence though. At least for Varian. He didn't know how to act around Lance since they hadn't spent much time together before now, so...

Their cloud-watching was interrupted by Cass angry yelling "Lance! Did you eat all the berries again?!" 

"I better go!" with these words Lance ran on the rooftop.

In the next second caravan stopped and Cass barged through the door "Where's Lance?" she barked at Varian who shrank into himself a little 

"I-I don't know!" He answered quickly. Varian didn't want to give away Lance, because he himself wouldn't want to be found by angry at him Cass under any circumstances ...except if he got kidnapped. Or injured and bleeding. Or lost without anything. Or- Stop!  His mind never helped him calm down.

Meanwhile Cassandra rolled her eyes and walked out of boy's section into girl's. After a minute - in which she probably checked every place Lance could possibly be hiding - caravan started moving again and Lance climbed down from the roof.

"Thanks, Goggles!"  he said and ruffled Varian's hair. Varian stiffened a little at that but Lance didn't notice and sat nearby. 

"What do you think Raps is doing?" Varian asked the first question that he could think of to fill the uncomfortable silence.

"As far as I know her, probably runs around, sings songs, and having Eugene chase her!" Lance smiled at something he imagined "I can totally see Raps taking him in a mud puddle and dirtying his hair!"

"Yeah... Imagine how angry Eugene would be!" Varian shuddered a little at the memory of Eugene looking at him with mix or anger, fear and protectiveness toward Raps when he woke up.

"Nah, he would forgive anything to Raps!" Lance chuckled "He changed so much since he was Flynn Rider! He was so much more... fun? I guess I can say that!" 

"Tell me more about his days being Flynn?" Varian said. He wanted to know Eugene better than he does now since he already knew Raps's and Cassandras's stories.

"Well... there is a story when we were both fifteen" Lance chuckled again "There was a Baron. He was, how to say it... 'king' in crime. He was really powerful, so powerful that if he said something to his people it will happen no matter what. And he had his most loyal 'friend', Anthony the Weasel"

"'The Weasel'?! Why 'Weasel'?" Varian said holding the laugh

"Well, we gave him this nickname!" Lance said proudly "We called him that and then it just stuck with him. And why? Hmm, probably because of his long nose and how sneaky he is! Anyway! We were young, reckless, sassy, master-thieves teenagers. And we were broke. Were searched for a solution, trying to rob popular bakeries and shops, but none of it ended well! We or ended up caught - and escaped after an hour - or stole a small amount of money which last us for a few days. And we started to lose hope and even thinking about trying taking a job - can you imagine it! - when Eugene had an idea! He offered to rob The Baron! I was really against it, but he convinced me, and so we did it! At night we broke into his manor, stalked down to the basement where we knew he kept all his values, lockpicked the lock, opened the door and walked straight to the meeting! Turned out we came into wrong door ! They captured Flynn, - I ran away - took all his lockpicks and I needed to rescue him! I still remind him of that sometimes! How famous Flynn Rider needed rescue! Also that's when he met his ex-girlfriend Stalyan"

"What a strange name!" Varian laughed a bit. He felt a little closer to Lance and felt like they could become pretty good friends with time.

Suddenly they heard Cass talking to Raps from outside "You've got to exercise at least some caution out here. Trust me, Raps, the real world isn't all fun and games!" Varian could almost see Cassandra's eyeroll and Raps sitting there and smiling like nothing happened

"That's my line!" Lance said quietly to Varian and in the blink of an eye he was on the roof saying "Next stop, Vardaros! City of fun and games!" 

Both laughed when Cassandra mumbled just loud enough for them to hear "I am so glad we decided to bring those two along!" 

"Oh, come on, Cass! Vardaros is an amazing city! You're gonna have fun... which I guess is a new thing for you!" Eugene added from the rooftop where he apparently climbed after washing the mud from his precious hair

"Come on, Pascal! It's our first big city outside of Corona!" Rapunzel spoke excitedly "You heard them, Cass, this is gonna be fun!"

They rode for a few more hours and to Varian's surprise he had a pretty fun talk with Lance! Man told him few more stories about Eugene, and promised to buy him few 'Flynnigan Rider' books, and Varian told him about his alchemy and 'hard-not-sticky-goo' he wants to make. Also he discovered that Lance is very interested in alchemy, and decided to teach him a bit. 

Hey! I know it was long, I'm sorry again! I don't really have excuses.

BUT I wrote you a scene for Warriors fan! No one asked for it buuuuuuut here you go!

I'm a Warriors fan myself, and I saw a potential in V/Raps cloud scene, so... well, here you go!

Anyway, see you next time, love you all!

ALSO!!! If you didn't read The Prophesies Begin (first series) 'till the end there are SPOILERS!!!

"Yeah!" Raps said dreamily "Oh, look! That cloud is just like a cat! And it's almost like he's on fire! And that's just like a star on his head!"

"Wow! Clouds can be almost magical sometimes!" Varian looked at the sky again "And look! That one's a tabby cat! And wow! That looks like a tiger behind him!"

"And that's just like a star on his head too! Just like the Fire one's! And wow! There is another cat! He's darker! And look, he has a cute white paw!"

"That's beautiful! An- oh my god! Did White-paw just killed Tiger?"

"I think so!" Raps placed a hand on her mouth in shock

They watched as White-paw killed the Fire-star, and how the star on Fire's head became a bit smaller before he shuddered, stood up and killed the white pawed one and how much more cats appeared and seemingly praised the Fire one.

"Those are the strangest clouds I ever saw" said Varian quietly still in deep deep shock

"Yeah" Said a voice behind them

Anyway again, see you next time, love you all!

[keow]

I also wrestle with that same conundrum. I don't know the solution to it. All my life I wanted to believe in God but I just can't make it happen since I can't wrap my head around why women are supposed to be one way but the way we're supposed to be is not a fully rounded person. why do men get to be full people but we don't? I understand that in life we are made to suffer and learn from our suffering but like unironically what are men suffering from and learning from because I don't see them suffering or learning 🫠🫠🫠 after i got sexually harassed the other day by a man and I just broke down crying in my car because I kept thinking that I wish I could believe in God but how can I when men of all walks of life do these things and women suffer for it? I am agnostic but I do hold onto faith that one day I'll understand or just let it go enough to participate in church.

Some days I believe a man wrote the Bible on an acid trip about his ideal society and some days I believe it is the truth. I didn't grow up religious but I have always wanted to believe in God so I just let myself start believing and it's so incredibly hard to jump through all the mental hoops of what's supposedly right and wrong.

Idk sorry for rambling. I hope you find peace in your wrasslin'

I appreciate the rambling, I don’t have much to add because we’re both pretty much on similar pages. I’m sorry that you were sexually harassed and I hope that man gets what’s coming to him (bullet to the head). I think there’s room for belief in a God that wants good things for people but can’t/doesn’t want to intervene for some reason or another that we can’t understand. It sucks that women face the brunt of this suffering, almost always at the hands of men. And still, even after all of this, we’re diminished in spiritual matters which are our only means of making something out of all this pain.

It’s no wonder that so many women are just trying to play along now and pretend like they’re fine being considered less than human and less deserving of respect. Trying desperately to convince themselves that this is how it was intended to be, because if you don’t convince yourself of that, the entirety of human history stares back at you and you realize there’s no escape or hope for us.

[nei-ning]

Woke up 8:30am, left with mom to nearby city at 9:00am. She stopped to get some fuel before we continued our trip. Billy Idol's Rebel Yell plays in the radio and I love it! :D We arrived to this city a bit before 11am (it takes 1h to drive there).

We first went to piercing shop to show my piercings to the piercer. She was happy to see how well my piercings have healed (earlobes fully, cartilage too even that it's still a bit swollen - this is normal!) so I bought myself little tiny diamond earrings from her and she even changed them for me to my earlobes! :3

Then mom and I visited this BIG cemetery where her father and brother rests. I found 2 huge white feathers there! A good sign :)

Then to store 1: I found myself very nice scented candles with "take 3, pay for 2" offer, feet "mask", feet bath salt, some Christmas gifts and other stuff. After shopping we came to a car, got in, turned power on and again Billy Idol is playing from the radio! :D

Store 2: Found more Christmas gifts - even if only few.

Store 3: I planned on getting only 3 items from this food store BUT they had so good and different offers that I fell for them, ahah! So I bought myself some berry soups, vegetables etc.

Store 4: Biggest food market in the said city (to my knowledge). I bought so.much.food! I spent 87 euros on food AT ONCE! I NEVER buy food so much at once! But they had some sales too which I fell for, ahah! I bought 2 HUGE cauliflowers since they were 1€ / kilo, I bought lots of fruits and vegetables, chicken meats, eggs, butter made of plants etc. and I also found 2 last shirts with discounts! My whole point to this trip WAS to get 2 new shirts since my (acid) back sweat has eat holes to my 3 other shirts! (Yes, I don't have much clothes overall. I like to use the one and the sames as long until you can't wear them anymore since they break... :'D)

Store 5: I bought new flavored waters since they didn't have my favorite water. Bravely I bought 6 bottles of 1,5 liter bottles. Flavor: Pineapple-lime. I DON'T LIKE pineapple juice or anything like that! I like pineapple ONLY from the can and on top of pizza, nothing else. So I was skeptic when I took the first taste test.... and that water... was so freaking YUMMY! So so good! :D Not only that but it has VERY LOW calories and sugar levels so yay! (I did check these two with protein level from most ingredients I bought today)

Store 6: Just fast walking through. Didn't find anything. We drove another 1h to get back home.

And during this whole 11H LONG shopping I saw cars with number 44 on them SO MANY TIMES! I think I broke my record of seeing them during one day! Wherever I looked, there was 44! All the freaking time! But that was really nice and assuring, too :) Now I'm sitting in dark living room, TV on on Olympics while it's thundering outside <3 (just rain and few rumbles then and there - probably the edge of the cloud as always).

I should warm sauna and go to bath since I always feel sick, cold and feverish after these exhausting shopping trips (we didn't even go to this big mall where we usually always go) but I also wouldn't want to go - and I know I will be shivering in bed if I won't go wash myself. Simple shower is just njah...

But overall super nice day <3

[spinchip]

NEVER THE DARK

Chapter 10

Read on Ao3

Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9

WARNINGS for his chapter: Kai feels minor effects of alcohol withdrawal. Kai and Samira drink together, feeding Kais alcoholism. discussions of blood and passing mention of needles. Discussions of death and murder. Chapter art includes depictions of body horror focusing on multiple eyes

WE DANCE ROUND IN A RING AND SUPPOSE// BUT THE SECRET SITS IN THE MIDDLE AND KNOWS

They don’t leave immediately. In fact, Samira insists on dessert- which ends up being the petals off a sweet flower grilled and served hot that she doesn’t stay to eat. 

“I have other things to attend to,” she says pointedly, “I’m the one that keeps this place running. I can’t shirk my duties to hang out with you every time you show your face, Birds. Even if we are best friends.” She grins teasingly at that before her face turns serious again.

“I’ll arrange supplies for your trip and have a room prepared for the rest of you.” She announces, standing with a clap. “You do not need to check in before you leave. Come back in one piece, Birdy.” She says the last part directly to him, pinning him with a stern look that’s soft on the edges.

Kai can’t help the creeping dread that blooms from the center of his chest, a malignant tumor of suspicion and worry that increases each time Samira smiles at Birdy. They were awfully chummy. Didn’t Birdy say Samira was bad news? Then why did they seem so close? The whole situation makes his skull throb. Or maybe that’s just his persistent headache.

“I will return with three funeral flowers.” He promises with a nod.

And now Lloyd is going off alone with the possible double agent. Kai’s only solace is that Samira hadn’t had the chance to speak to Birdy alone, so if he was planning on double crossing them she had no way to know who they were or what they were capable of. If it comes down to it, their elemental abilities might be the card up their sleeve that saves them.

“Wox will return to escort you to your room. For now- sit, eat, talk about me behind my back, I don’t care.” She sweeps out of the room, the click of her black heels fading as she retreats.

Kai rounds on Birdy, pinning him with a sour look he says, “So how dangerous is this mission you two are going on?” At the same time Nya asks, “What else can you tell us about the gauntlet?”

Birdy chooses to engage Nyas question first, “Nothing.” He says, angling his mask towards her, “I did not know the true origins of the armor. I was bluffing.”

“What?” Jay squawks.

Up on the Dias, Barath throws his head back and laughs. It’s a hearty guffaw, one that makes the Ninja jump since they’d completely forgotten the man's presence. He pushes his chair back and trots down the stairs, “Oh, that’s rich! She would be so mad!” He giggles, “Only you could pull off something like that. How’d you know she’d cut in?” He pulls out his chair and throws himself into it, forgoing a spoon to drink his cold soup directly out of the bowl.

“She is from Cloud Kingdom,” Birdy explains, “She cannot allow a story to be told poorly, not one that she knows well.”

“That’s quick thinking.” Nya praises.

Kai crosses his arms, “Can we get back to the matter at hand? Super dangerous mission, remember?”

“Yeah,” Uneasily, Lloyd laces his fingers together, “What exactly are we going up against?”

Barath speaks before Birdy can, “Poisonous gas!” He announces enthusiastically, “Caustic, acidic, deadly- it attacks living cells quickly, burns through skin and bone until you’re dead. Sad.” He takes a moment to make a sad face before snapping out of it, “Not immediately of course. There’s a time limit before it eats you to the point of no return. But it makes your head fuzzy, all disoriented until you can’t find your way out. It’s called the Graveyard, and for good reason! That’s where you’re headed.” He pokes Lloyd in the chest with his unused spoon.

Cole looks at Birdy, ”How are you and Lloyd supposed to go in there?”

“Lloyd will not be going in at all.” Birdy says firmly, “I will go in alone.”

“Birdy’s whole situation, whatever it is, makes him unusually resistant to the mist. Wish he’d let me put him under a microscope! Your mutation must be incredible.” Barath informs them with a dreamy sigh, “He can last longer than any other man brave enough to make the trip- hours, in fact. The mist will get to the point where it will start to eat at his clothes before Birdy here feels a tingle. Please let me dissect you?”

“No thank you.” Birdy lets him down gently.

“You’ve never seen his mutation either?” Nya jumps onto that piece of information curiously.

Birdy answers for him this time, “No.”

Barath leans forward to whisper slyly, “Only one person has seen his face and lived to tell the tale!” He sits back and lets a heartbeat pass, “That’s Samira.” He clarifies.

“We figured.” Kai comments dryly. “You look normal, what’s your mutation?”

“It’s rude to ask about others mutations.” Barath says blithely as he sets down his empty bowl, “Lucky for you I don’t care for manners!” He grabs the hem of his shirt and lifts it up to reveal a torso criss-crossed with scars upon scars, some fresh and pink and others old and faded. they’re big nasty looking things, as if his skin had been brutally flayed and torn.

He points right above his belly button where a teeny tiny protrusion is budding, just barely formed enough for them to be able to tell that it’s a little hand, “Extra limbs! Arms on arms, really. I grow them easy! And I lose them quickly, but it’s for my research so it’s worth it.” He puffs out his chest proudly, “I’ve pet some of the most ferocious animals the realm has to offer! Not without casualties of a few arms, but who cares about that when the pursuit of knowledge is a fine justification.”

He drops his shirt and goes for his dessert, chewing on the leaves absently.

An awkward pause passes, but before any of the ninja can break it the sound of clunky boots fades in. Wox thunders his way up to the cavern opening with a sour look on his face, “Oy, you lot ready to be shown to your chamber? It’s all nice and ready for ya.”

“Wox!” Barath greets pleasantly, “You’re overdue for a check up. Do let me look at your mutation sometime soon, yes yes!”

“Sure thing Doc. Maybe once I’m off duty as these trespassers babysitter.” He sneers the last word as the Ninja stand from the table and approach him.

Nya bristles, “We don’t need a babysitter.”

“No, you don’t, because you shouldn’t even be here. Samira should have thrown you in prison after she first laid eyes on you! But for some reason she likes you,” He swings his head around to pin Birdy with a yellow-eyed glare, targeting him with that last accusation, “Even after you-“

“If you want a rematch, Wox, all you have to do is ask.” Birdy says, but his voice is… off. Monotonous. Dead. It’s like Wox triggered a coldness in his demeanor that the Ninja hadn’t seen before, “Allow me to end this pettiness and stop wasting both of our times.”

The insult makes Wox’s lips curl to bare brutal white fangs, and he responds by crowding into Birdys space, “Oh you can bet this fight won’t be a waste, Butcher. You remember our first scrap, don’t ya? Not so cocky then, were you?”

Birdy takes a step back, and Kai can almost see him snap out of and shake off that chilling persona he’d just worn so easily. He knows for certain that Birdy doesn’t break eye contact with Wox out of fear. His mask tilts toward the ground in some deeper, more insidious shame or guilt, “I apologize for lashing out. We have made a deal with Samira. Please, escort us.”

Wox’s fur, which had stood up stiff and straight at Birdy's initial insult, lays flat again. He backs down too, stepping back out of his space “I spoke outta line too.” He says and even he seems surprised at his words, “Let me show you to your room.” He turns and marches out of the room. Birdy follows him and determinedly doesn't look back at the Ninja. When Kai glances at the others, he sees his own expression mirrored on their face. What was that?

Finally, they were feeling that same suspicion he was.

He leads them back down the hall to a fork in the pathway, taking them into the dark of the new tunnel without missing a step. He pauses briefly as they come upon another fork in the road. He motions to the left path and jerks his head at Birdy, “This is your stop. Down the hall to the left, you know the way. Ila is waiting for you two.” He glances back at the others, “The rest of you will follow me.”

Birdy looks at Lloyd for a moment before they both split off from the group. “Wait, Lloyd-'' Kai breaks away too, going to Lloyd's side. He pulls him into a hug, “Be safe. Don’t let your guard down.” He says it loud enough for everyone to hear, not hiding the dark look he shoots Birdy's way that promises swift and violent retribution if Lloyd comes back with a single hair out of place.

“I won’t.” Lloyd promises, “Don’t get too bored waiting on us to come back.” He gives him a pointed look that Kai knows means snoop around!

He waves to the rest of them as he and Birdy finally disappear into the darkness.

“I have a bad feeling about this.” Kai mutters, continuously glancing back at the path where they parted. Wox’s ear flicks like the words irritate him, but doesn’t comment.

“Birdy has been nothing but helpful.” Cole reassures him.

“I don’t trust Birdy.” Kai ignores Cole's words, running a hand through his Mohawk nervously.

Wox leads them through a series of elaborate interconnected tunnels going up and down and around so many times Kai’s not sure he knows his left from his right anymore. He leads them down another hallway filled with doors and stops at a random door, pushing it open with his foot. The room… is nicer than Kai was expecting. It’s huge and cavernous, with high vaulted ceilings and stone floor. This is no architectural craftsman ship to the walls, just smooth stone that rounds where it meets floor and ceiling. Several bed palettes are set up on the floor layered upon plush carpets and dry purple moss that insulates from the cold floor. There’s a low table on the other side of the room with pillows on the floor as seats, a pitcher filled with water and a stack of cups sitting on top for them. Thin fabrics are hung up around the walls to add a bit of warmth to the sterile walls.

As the Ninja file in, Wox starts on what sounds like a memorized speech, “As you are guests, you are permitted to leave your room at any time and use the amenities offered by the palace as follows: Restrooms, Public Bathhouse, Kitchen, and Library. At your request and with supervision, you are welcome to tour the rooftop garden or the Jelly farm. As your allowance to stay here depends on an agreement between another member of your party, you are not permitted to leave the premises until the deal has been completed. Caphishe?”

“We understand.” Nya nods with a tense smile, “Thank you.”

Wox ducks his head a bit, suddenly shy, “Ain’t nothing.” He says gruffly, looking away from Nya, “Boss asked me to make sure you all are settled, so call my name if you need anything.”

“Well, actually, I am interested in the Rooftop gardens or the jelly farm.” He’d already thrown himself down on a bed mat, but Cole sits up in curiosity at Wox’s words.

Tilting his head, Wox ruminates over the request, “Didn’t expect ya to want a tour so soon,” He admits, “I’ve a few things I’ve gotta tend to, but I can come back in an hour or two and escort you.”

“That’s… very kind.” Kai says slowly.

Wox seems to understand the implication of the words, “Samira appointed me as your lots handler. It’s my job, and I’ll do it well.” He crosses his arms but there’s no fire to the action, “We may be warlords, tyrants, and monsters but there are rules here we follow. It’s just how it is.”

He steps out of the door and does a casual salute, disappearing down the hall before they can ask any further questions. Nya makes sure the door is closed before turning back to the others.

“So this is bad.” She grimaces.

“That’s an understatement.” Kai crosses his arms, flopping back onto a random bedroll.

Cole lays back down himself, “We’ve trusted Birdy to get us this far,” he starts, “We just have to trust him to get us to the end.”

Nya busies herself by dumping the realm of madness water from the pitcher out in the corner and filling it with clean water they can freely drink. That done, she paces for a moment before rearranging the pillows on her own chosen bed. Kai stares up at the ceiling, thinking. He’d just let Lloyd walk away. It’s not like he could stop him- Lloyd was his own person, a whole grown man who could probably whip Kai’s butt in a fight if he wanted to (Damn chosen one special powers…) but the image of him disappearing into that dark hallway plays on repeat in his head. What if Lloyd didn’t come back? And Kai just let him go without a fight? With a stranger? He was being ridiculous, Lloyd could handle himself, especially against someone like Birdy. He would be fine. Kai worried anyway. FSM his head hurt, all he wanted was a drink.

A shadow passes over Kai's face and he opens one eye to Jay standing at the edge of his bedroll. He’s about to ask what he wants when Jay nudges him with his foot, “Scoot.” He orders, looking at Kai expectantly. When Kai stares at him too long he eloquently clarifies, “Scoot over.” with a firmer love tap.

Kai shuffles over and Jay collapses next to him, sighing as he melts into Kais warmth. It’s… nice. It’s been a long time. He puts his palm flat against Jay's back and tries not to think about Zane.

At some point, he falls asleep, because next thing he knows is Nyas hand on his shoulder shaking him awake. “Do you want to go with us to see the rest of this place? Wox is at the door.”

Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Kai dislodges his arm from under Jay's head (waking up the man in the process if the sleepy ow! is any indication.) “I'm coming,” Kai shakes the remnants of sleep off as he stands up, stretching. He would be more snappy with her for waking him if he wasn’t instantly reminded of their predicament. That was the first substantial rest he’d managed to get the entire time he’d been in the Realm. These past few nights he’d felt so restless and off.

Cole lingers on the edge of the conversation. He waits a moment before saying, “You two looked cute.” Which he offers carefully.

“You should have joined us.” Kai says automatically.

Shrugging, Cole averts his eyes, “I didn’t want to ruin the moment.” He admits with a cough as Jay stands, finally dragging himself to the land of the living.

Frowning, Kai squints at him quizzically, “How would you have ruined it?”

Cole pins him with a bewildered expression, as if he can’t believe Kai would even ask. “Nevermind.” he says with a sigh, turning away.

“Hey,” Kai reaches out and takes Cole's elbow, “What’s up? I'm listening.”

“That’s a surprise.” Cole shoots back immediately.

Kai recoils at that, totally lost. Behind him, Jay is looking awkwardly between the two of them, just as lost.

“Let's just drop it.” Cole mumbles, “C’mon, Nya is waiting on us.”

They join Wox and Nya at the door, “Hey, you look nice.” Jay comments, “What's the occasion? Got a hot date?”

Wox, who’s fur has been freshly washed and combed, and who’s wearing a noticeably cleaner looking tunic and wraps, flattens his ears at Jay, “I always look like this. I appreciate hygiene and fashion.” He says with a scrunch to his eyebrows, as if attempting to read off a cue card in his head “And I have a sensitive soul.” He adds randomly, sneaking a glance at Nyas face.

Nya blanches, catching on, “RIGHT. Well! Why don’t we get this tour over with?” She guides Wox ahead of her, turning to shoot Kai a look that screams why me?

“Of course, my lady.” He snatches up the opportunity to link their arms, even if it’s awkward with his mutation, “I’ll start with the bathrooms-”

After a quick potty break and a snack in the kitchens, Wox motions to a large set of double doors, “The Library, but trust me, ya don’t want to go in there. The place doubles as Baraths study, and the good doctor is a bit… unhinged in his work. One second you’re stopping in to say hello and the next the fur on your face is burnt off as a result of one o his experiments.” He scratches at his chin fur irritably, “Let’s move on to the Garden.”

As they turn away, Nya shoots Kai a look over her shoulder before turning to Wox, “So, what do you like to do in your free time?” She asks sweetly, stepping in time with him.

Kai gets the hint as Wox’s attention is centered solely on Nya. He nudges Jay and motions back to the library and Jay connects the dots with a thumbs up. He slips away from the group to go poking around. The pattern repeats in the rooftop gardens, this time Cole gracefully bowing out to poke around the seed beds and strange plants. Kai is given the opportunity to snoop once they cross into the Jelly Farm.

The hallway they’re trekking down dramatically opens up to a massive cave, the ceiling vaulted hundreds of feet above their heads and the floor dropping away into deep black pits. Archways branch off the path they walk like intricate natural scaffolding, some natural but several more are manmade, all looping in on each other. Each pathway connects to others to make large round enclosures, and within each of these floats a massive sky jelly. They look even bigger than Kai first thought they were, the ghostly sheet-like bell nearly bouncing off the ceiling and the arms and tentacles glowing softly far beneath him. Railings made of steel and rope line each of the bridges other than certain access points, where workers covered in strange full body hazmat suits seem to be rappelling down the animals to collect the venom dripping from the tentacles.

Wox motions down a path towards the far wall, a little notch cut out, “That’s Samira's office. Off limits to anyone other than her.” He says warningly as Nya opens her mouth, apparently not smitten enough to bend the rules for her.

Which is Kais' cue to leave. As Nya prods Wox to tell her more about the Jellys, Kai splits off from the pair and expertly sneaks around the occasional worker or patrol before slipping into Samiras office. It’s a short hallway that leads to a heavy wooden door that he picks the lock open easily. Once he’s inside, he closes the door silently and gets to snooping.

Or he would have. He stalls once he turns around to face the room and there, sitting on her desk, is a nicely bottled dark liquor that calls his name. He swallows thickly before snatching up the bottle and immediately uncorking the top- it smells like some deep spice that doesn’t exist in Ninjago, tantalizing and exotic. He brings it to hover at his lips before his rational brain bonks him on the head. No! Now is really not the time, Kai! He scolds himself, setting it down with a thunk and rounding her desk to get a look at the paper stack there. He doesn't read a word of it, glancing back up at the drink.

A taste couldn’t hurt. All he’d wanted since entering this realm was a drink- it was all he could think about. He deserved it, didn’t he? For doing so much? For putting up with that stranger? He flips over the glass that was next to the decanter and pours himself a generous glass before he can think. He dilly dallies again, swirling the cup. He really shouldn’t. He stares at if for a long time, longer than he cares to admit.

He puts the glass down and shifts a stack of papers to the side- it looks like Samiras personal notes. He paws through the pages and grimaces as fresh ink streaks his fingers, lingering on each page until a specific word sticks out to him. The page was dated a handful of months ago.

Birdy scared me today. He lashed out after I confronted him about Farley, I thought he was going to hurt me-

Kai doesn’t process the words, his eyes skittering back over to that drink. He licks his lips. Fuck it.

As he picks up the glass to take a drink, the door opens.

Samira doesn’t look surprised to see him, but she does raise a brow at his actions. Nobody says anything for a long moment before Kai slowly sets the glass down, hand twitching towards the handle of his sword that he kind of can’t believe they let him keep, “Calm down.” Samira rolls her eyes, stepping over to a cabinet shoved against the wall and pulling out another glass from the top drawer, “I’m not upset.”

“You’re not?” He asks as he watches her pour herself a glass.

She sighs and it's a put upon thing, “You’re a ninja. It’s in your nature to snoop, and Wox is woefully easy to distract.” She tips back the drink and savors the taste, “Though I figured I'd find this room ransacked for information, not… used as a refreshment bar.”

He winces but picks up his cup again, “Yeah, well…” He doesn't have anything to say so he just swallows down a gulp of whisky-adjacent liquor.

“Hey,” She warns, “This is for sipping. Savor it.” She orders. When he obliges, she doesn’t quite smile but she does nod her head back towards the main room, “Take a walk with me.”

It is an exceptionally smooth drink, spiced and warm. It still burns going down, but it's a good burn. Kai feels like all his headache and lingering irritation melts away with each sip.

He falls into step beside her as they drink together. She swirls her drink in her cup as people call out hellos to her, “It was chaos when I first came here.” Samira runs her fingers lightly over the rope banister, “You may think my methods are harsh, but please remember who I am dealing with- these people have been exiled for grievous crimes. They cannot think I am soft. My strength as their leader is what makes this place run so smoothly.”

“...Okay.” Kai doesn’t know what to do with this conversation.

She motions him along another path, taking him down a hallway into a room filled with machinery. Vials of paralytic poison sit to one side with several people working around the humming contraption. Kai and Samira watch as bottles upon bottles of glowing pink liquid are fed into the assembly line. It chugs and churns until a measly five perfectly round pink marbles come rolling out on the conveyor belt at the end of the line. Samira picks one up, examining it, “There was no community, no society- just violence and lots of pain.”

“Mutations are hard on the body, Kai. uncomfortable at best, agony at worst.” She keeps the marble and leads him back out to the jellys. She walks up to one- this Jelly is older. Its bell lay flat and thin across its head with scars and tears along the edge, it’s missing a few tentacles and several lures, and it’s a few shades duller than the other animals that fill the room. It’s floating lower than all the rest too, the luminescent tentacles it has left drag across the floor so far beneath their feet. Samira leans against the rope confidently, “I saw Miss Emma here use her poison on a horse-“ She starts, patting the animal on the head where the poison doesn’t seep, “Paralyzed it and ate it right up, and it gave me an idea. She numbs you first, before she eats you. If I could use her poison, refine it just right, maybe I could take that numbness and use it to take away that pain.” She holds up the marble- the pill, “And with a bit of help from Barath, I did it, and I built Oasis around this thing right here. It’s amazing how easy it is to bring people together when pain is out of the equation.”

“Why are you telling me all this?” Kai asks with narrowed eyes.

She sobers up, sipping at her whisky, “After all I’ve been through, Red, I know pain. I can see it.” She takes a moment to really study him, “You’re in a lot of pain, Kai. Aren’t you?”

He looks away, down at the glass he’s suddenly gripping so tight his knuckles are turning pale.

“That’s why you chose to drink instead of looking for information, isn’t it?” She looks at him kindly, face the very picture of a supportive and worried mother.

Kai’s not sure why his hands are shaking or why he suddenly feels so exposed and vulnerable- maybe because he hasn’t been able to drink since they came here, and he’s been deprived of the usual escape into intoxication, but he finds himself talking before he can think, “His name was Zane. He died saving me and I… I was too helpless to do anything to help him.” he blinks down at his cup. He should stop drinking. He throws the rest of it back like a shot anyway.

“Here.” She says gently, handing him the pill, “It works just as well on emotional pain.”

He looks up at her suspiciously, “You don’t want anything in return? I just saw how hard it is to make these.”

“Oh Kai,” She smiles and pushes the pill into his hand, closing his fingers around it herself, “The first one is always free.”

Barath doesn’t blink from where he’s huddled at his desk, writing chicken scratch in a leather-bound notebook when Jay slips in. There’s no way he doesn’t notice him, not with how his large desk directly faces the door, or how Jay immediately side steps into a stack of books and sends them thumping to the ground. For a place Wox had called the Library, there’s not much library happening. There are a few shelves lined along the wall, sure, but most of the books are piled into sections on the floor while the actual shelves are filled with notebooks, files folders, and active experiments or samples. Jay carefully avoids looking at the clear front glass container packed with bags of blood.

That’s the first time Barath addresses him, “Squeamish, Jay?” He sounds more subdued than he had at dinner, the energy in his private lab more serious and careful than the looseness of Samiras grand hall. “It’s quite normal to feel that way. Not used to blood?”

Jay approaches the desk that Barath still hasn’t looked up from, “I’ve dealt with blood plenty, but it’s not something I can get used to.” He laughs awkwardly, “blood belongs in the body, not out of it.” He jokes.

“You would be surprised, perhaps, at how prevalent hemophobia is here. I’ve drawn blood from warlords, serial killers, and much worse who close their eyes as I prep the needle. Seems a bit backwards, doesn’t it? I suppose it's different when it’s their blood.” He finishes his entry in the book and flips it shut, finally looking up at Jay, “I’ve never been frightened of blood! It’s fascinating, really, especially the samples I've seen here. So unique. Would you like to see?” already he’s stood up and strode to the fridge, pulling out a drawer filled with blood cultures neatly labeled.

“Uh, I'm- it’s okay! Really. I mean it.” He laughs nervously, “Uh, shouldn’t you be more careful with those? Whoever organized them is probably gonna be ticked off.” He adds on, raising a brow.

Barath continues to paw through the samples, humming as he picks up a few possible candidates before casually tossing them back. The neat labels on top juxtapose his haphazard actions, “I organized them.” He says blithely, finally picking out a sample he liked and slotting the draw back into place with a slam, “I have never cared much for consistency, Jay. That's why I chose to come here.”

Jay feels his jaw drop, “You chose to come here?”

“Of course!” Some of that energy from dinner spills into his body language, a pep in his step as he approaches one of the large sheets in the room, “Look around you, Jay! This is a veritable garden of Eden- a buffet for the mind. This world is ever changing, ever growing! I’ve learned more here than I ever thought possible. What I thought I knew in my home realm has all been dashed away by this realm's chaos. What I thought I knew yesterday will be wrong today. How delightful!”

He pulls away the tarp to reveal a mechanical monstrosity, several tubes and knobs, cords that lead into a strange metal box. There’s blinking lights and baubles and it takes Jay too long to realize it was a microscope. “I am on the front line of an uncharted world, Jay. My books, my papers, my research is the first of its kind. How thrilling! What ecstasy!” He slots the blood sample into place.

Jay can’t help but be drawn to the machine like a moth to flame. It’s not exactly well put together- the welds are a bit ugly, the machine is over engineered and clunky, but it’s clearly far more advanced than the microscopes Jay had seen in Ninjago. “Did you build this?” He asks, ghosting fingers over mis-matched metal.

Barath grinned with all his teeth, “It took a while to figure it out. I admit, I took some of my old equipment for granted.” He had years here to try new things, and the cobbled together mishmash of it showed. “Are you sure you don’t want to look? The way the mutations affect the blood is quite a show.”

It’s tempting, but Jay felt a little queasy just thinking about it, “I… didn’t come here to talk about blood.”

With a shrug, Barath looks into the barrel himself. He takes a moment to adjust the knobs, “I know that.” He says, picking up a small trigger stick and holding the button. There's a series of several flashes and the box next to the microscope hums to life, printing off several sheets of paper, “You came to snoop.”

Jay blanches, “W-What! No way, I just wanted to- Wox led us on a tour, and the library is free for us to use so- so-”

Barath leans away from the instrument to smile at Jay, “I’m not angry, Jay! Come now, you really believe that Samira, Wox, and I don’t know your intentions sneaking off from the tour like you did? Do you really believe Wox, one of the more fearsome and brutal warlords of Chima, didn’t notice the party getting lighter? We are criminals, Jay. We expect this!” He grabs the stack of papers and scurries back to his desk, taking out a quill and ink so he can begin to carefully label and date each image he took of the blood.

“Oh.” Jay says simple. There’s a pause, “So you don’t mind if I poke around?”

Barath looks up from his work and sizes Jay up for a moment. He takes a break from labeling the papers to lace his fingers together on top of his desk, “I’ll do you one better: Any questions you have, you are free to ask. My mission is the pursuit of knowledge first and foremost, and I will share that knowledge whether Samira wants me to or not. I will tell you the truth!”

Well, that sounds a lot easier than flipping through books all night. He moves another stack of books off of the chair in front of Baraths desk and sits, twiddling his thumbs.

“Well?” Barath prompts.

“I uh… don’t know what to ask.” He admits.

That seems to baffle Barath, “You’re in a world where people grow multiple eyes and it rains acid, and you have no questions whatsoever? Where’s your whimsy?!”

“Okay, okay! Um… So, Samira, is she like- the original banished person? She was here first? Is that why everyone listens to her?”

“Oh, no!” Barath leans back in his far more comfortable looking chair, “Samira is far from the first! But you won’t run into any of those- we call them the Ancients. They are gone now. Dead, mostly, or lost to their mutations long, long ago other than- well.” He gets a sparkle in his eyes, “I have this theory on mutations- it’s physical of course, but I believe a great deal of how and why you mutate depends on the strength of your character and will! The stronger your constitution, the longer you keep your sanity.”

“The last of the Ancients was alive just a handful of years ago. It’s a name you know! Birdy.”

“Birdy…? But Birdy is still alive.”

Barath grins, “The Birdy you know is alive, yes, but he didn't just take that mask from her. He took her name as well- of course, that was not her true name, just the moniker she went by here. She had an iron will and never once bowed before anyone, even at her lowest.” He shifts back to Jay's original questions, “Samira is the leader of Oasis because she is good at bending people to her will, at figuring out exactly what people want, what they need, and how to use that to control them. Samira made these people rely on her, and how she has all the power.”

Jay picks at his nails, dread filling his stomach as he thinks over Baraths earlier words, “Did Birdy- current Birdy... kill the old one?” He asks, feeling a cold wash over him at the idea that Lloyd was out with a murderer.

Barath takes a long moment to think, “Perhaps I should tell you all I know about Birdy.” He says, suddenly solemn, “But you must be warned- this is not a conversation had lightly. Can you handle this truth?”

“I have to know.” Jay says firmly.

Barath begins to speak.

“Oh!” Ila says, startled.

Cole spins around to face her, feeling a hot flush of embarrassment that she’d caught him playing in the dirt in one of the garden's grow beds, “Uh, I wasn’t doing anything weird.”

She laughs a little, stepping into the greenhouse more. The garden sprawled up one half of the palace roof (mountain top?), stairs leading from one platform to the next. They were on the second platform out of three where several large greenhouses took up nearly every available inch of space other than walkways, “You just surprised me,” She says lightly, “I took longer than normal to clean up the kitchen, I thought I would have missed you.”

That seemed… weird. Did she know he would be there? Maybe Wox told her they were going on a tour..? “Were you trying to miss me?”

She pauses too long to be anything other than strange, “No.” She says finally, “Do you like the greenhouses?” She asks politely.

He drops it uneasily, “It’s cool in here, yeah. I’m not familiar with any of these plants, though.”

“I help tend to the garden, I could probably give you a quick rundown.” She offers, stepping up beside him to examine the plant he was in front of.

“No, that’s okay- but I was wondering… If these Funeral flowers are so important, why don’t you grow them here?” He gestures around, “Instead of making dangerous trips into the Graveyard?”

“Oh, well,” She turns around and sits on the edge of the wooden planter, “Funeral flowers don’t produce outside the graveyard, despite our efforts. We tried filling a greenhouse with the fog but it never lasts, and the plants never flower. In fact, come with me!” She stands again and beckons him to follow with one of her tentacles, leading him out one greenhouse and into the next. They weave between planters until they come upon an ordinary looking bundle of green grass. It looks like it would be right at home in a field on Ninjago, “Here they are. Funeral flowers.”

“These?” He squints at the plain green things.

“I told you, they won’t flower. Usually a flower stalk would be right in the middle of these with a white bud, but no matter what we try they just don’t grow outside the graveyard.” She sits down again, “They’re strange, delicate plants.”

“So now you have to trek into the mist for them.” He nods.

“We didn’t used to have to go so far,” She admits, stretching each of her tentacles out like she's working out a sore muscle, “They used to grow right on the edge of the mist- big patches of them. Barath was the one who discovered them. We didn’t know what we know now, and we picked them without thought- but Funeral plants don’t survive a rough harvest. We yanked the flowers, and the roots died, and now we have to travel deeper and deeper for them.”

“What’s so special about them?” He finally asks, sitting next to her.

She tips her head to the side, looking up through the glass ceiling at the swirling red sky, “It’s a cure.” She says seriously, “It reverses mutations, brings back fingers and skin as long as you're not too far gone. One plant is enough for thirty pills, each enough to significantly improve mutation symptoms. One pill can buy you nearly anything you could ever want here, that’s how valuable they are.”

Cole whistles low, “Wow.” He looks at Ila, considers how human she still looks, other than the tentacles, “You’ve had one?”

“Three total over the years.”

“Samiras had a lot more than that, I'm guessing.”

Ila shrugs at that, “I’m sure she has, but I don't know exactly. Samira has looked the same for a long, long time, so I think she uses her supply to regulate instead of cure.”

“Birdy?”

“Birdy has never accepted a cure pill.” She tells him, “He’s got some issues about that stuff.”

Cole quirks a brow, “What, does he not want to owe Samira anything?”

“More like he doesn’t think he deserves good things.”

There’s a pause as Cole chews on that. Birdy had been nothing but understanding and kind to them, even listening to Cole's input when he had it. He hadn’t seen a dark side to Birdy other than maybe his earlier interaction with Wox, but everyone was so certain he was this dangerous, unstable guy. Even Birdy himself.

“What can you tell me about Birdy?” He asks finally.

“He’s courteous and polite,” She starts, “He always offers to help me clean the kitchen, or even cook. He does favors without asking for anything in return.”

She stops, and Cole waits.

“And?”

“...And he’s hurt a lot of people.” She forces out, and then begins to talk.

Nya hangs off Wox’s arm and tries to keep him talking, both of them marching along random hallways as he tells her about the construction they did to reinforce the walls along this particular corridor, “This whole place was a nest, once. Like a termite mound, but for some other animal- we don’t know what. It was long abandoned when Samira laid claim to it.”

She hums along, prompting him to go on when they round a familiar hall. The hall with their room in the middle- Nya glances behind them and there are no Ninjas in sight, “Why don’t you show me the library again?” She asks, leaning against him with a bright smile.

He rumbles out a low laugh, “I like ya, Nya, so I’ll let you in on a little secret.” He leans in a bit, “I know your friends aren’t behind me anymore.”

She jumps away, fully expecting him to be angry at their trickery, but he doesn’t seem bothered at all. Nothing happens for a long moment, they just stare at each other, “...You’re cool with that?”

“We expected it.” He says simply.

“Oh. huh.” She runs a hand through her hair, “Well, thank you I guess. I’m just gonna…” She motions to her door awkwardly, stepping over to it and going for the handle.

“Nya, wait.” He takes a step towards her, “There’s something I need to tell you.”

“Oh, Wox.. um, i’m flattered but I don’t…”

He snorts at her attempt at a gentle rejection, “Don’t worry, darling, that’s not what I was going to say.” He debates for a moment, “I was not lying before, I do like you, Nya. You remind me of someone I once had the privilege to love, but there is no room in my heart for anyone but my better half.” It occurs to her suddenly that all his earlier nerves around her had simply... vanished. He was... pretending? So that she would think she had the upper hand..?

She feels her confusion show on her face, “Then…?”

His face grows serious, “The people of this realm are not good people. I know that, I've seen many of them at their worst… But Birdy is by far one of the most dangerous people here. It is wise for you to cut your losses and leave him, for your own sake.”

“What are you saying?” She feels herself turn pale, sweat beading on her forehead.

“Banishment to this realm is rare now. It doesn’t happen anymore, the people here now are all that there will be. Ever. Yes, we all have our dark and violent pasts, but there is an honor code between us all now- we don’t kill. We fight, we hurt, we steal and we lie, but we do not kill. Those that do are exiled, made to live in the deserts and wastelands… But Samira likes Birdy, so she allows him to break some of our rules. He should not be here, Nya. He is a murderer.”

Kai pockets the pill, unsure about taking it. He wants another drink, But Samira seems less inclined to share her liquor. They walk together for a while longer in silence.

“Birdy and I are not friends,” She says suddenly.

Kai looks over at her, confused, “Huh?”

“He is a valuable asset to me, but we are not friends. I protect him because it is in my best interest to stay on his good side… but I see myself in you, Kai and I must be honest with you. I have to warn you.” She says seriously, coming to a dead stop in a dark corner between the scaffolding walkways.

“Warn me? About Birdy? I knew he was bad news!” He huddles closer to her, eager to uncover the truth.

“You have good instincts, Kai. Bad news is an understatement.” She motions him to follow her and she quickly leads him back to her office, pouring the both of them another glass of whisky to steel her nerves before she lays everything out on the table for him. “This is a place for the realms worst villains, Kai. You don’t know the kind of horrors I've listened to people brag about- but what little I’ve learned about Birdy has eclipsed those stories completely. He was the Emperor to the Never Realm, and while he was in power… he destroyed crops, leaving his people with nothing. His dungeons were always empty because he killed his prisoners before they ever stepped foot in a cell. Devastation, wanton destruction, massacres, genocide- he took part in it all. He didn’t even bat an eye. He decimated his land for power, Kai.”

Kai feels dizzy, sipping at his drink so the burn will center him. Sure, he wasn’t the most trusting, but even he wouldn’t have expected that type of laundry list for the soft spoken Birdy, “But he seems…”

Samira looks down at her cup, face pinching in sorrow, “Not too long ago, only a year and a half at most… he came into Oasis drenched in blood. He had a traveling companion, a fox from Chima…” She looks up at Kai, anguish in her eyes, “He wasn’t a threat to anyone, Kai. Farley wasn’t even supposed to be here. Birdy slaughtered him- we never found his body.”

Kai shook his head because that just… it couldn’t be. Not Birdy. It didn’t even sound plausible!

Samira reaches into her desk and pulls out a photo- it’s obviously old, not taken by a modern camera like the ones from Ninjago. It shows the market on the outskirts of town, filled with people. Ila is at the center of the photo smiling sweetly. Samira points behind her, at a figure in the crowd.

“Look.” She says urgently, “Really look.”

It’s a fox, slender and young, but everything else falls away. Kai’s vision tunnels. Strapped to the foxes hip is a unique copper dagger, blade curved and wickedly sharp, with an amber stone embedded in the hilt.

It’s the same dagger he’d seen Birdy use almost every day since they’d met.

The same dagger he’d used to prepare meals, to shred wood for kindling, to cut away stubborn vines so they could easily walk along the forest path. It’s the same dagger.

“That knife belongs to a dead man, the mask belongs to a dead woman. I know he killed Farley, he told me himself. He’s carrying around trophies, Kai…and I am scared to think that you or any of your friends might be next. I believe you're safe for now- he wants you alive for some reason, it’s important you are alive… but wherever he’s leading you… I don't know, Kai. I worry the next time I see him, he’ll be wearing red. Another trophy.”

Kai swallows down the rest of his cup and shakily pours another.

Birdy was a murderer. A monster.

And Lloyd was alone with him.

[hooked-on-elvis]

ELVIS FELT BETTER SINGING DIRECTLY TO SOMEONE ON HIS MOVIES 🎬🎠

— BEHIND THE SCENES: 'HAVE A HAPPY' PRODUCTION NUMBER IN 'CHANGE OF HABIT' (1969)

The above 'Have A Happy' production number was filmed on the Universal back lot park (between March and April, 1969).

The scene was in fact shot three times. The first shoot used a small old merry-go-round, which looked out of place. The second shoot had technical problems with the sync and the camera, (The playback system had just been used on 'Sweet Charity', another 1969 movie with, among others, Sammy Davis Jr. on the cast, using quarter inch tape) then after a third attempt, some pick ups were still needed because Amanda (Autistic child character played by Lorena Kirk) wasn't smiling at the end of the number.

About that 'no smile' issue, Cynnie Troup (assistant trainee script supervisor) said:

To get that little girl to smile, oh my god! They had a day of re-takes, after the whole movie was over, after the wrap party, which Elvis was certainly involved. It was not a very good song, that scene was awful. It was tough to match, who sitting on what horse, it wasn't fun scene at all.

I highly disagree with 'the scene was awful' thing, but possibly Cynnie Troup is talking about the production work behind the cameras and not the final cut properly, but even if those are her thoughts on the final scene, it's a matter of opinion, really. Even though the scene is perceived as 'silly' mainly by adult audience, to me it looks joyful and carefree and personally I enjoy the song very much. The merry-go-round scene is cute, except one of the final moments when Mary Tyler Moore arches her back so slowly while she's silly smiling, looking kinda horny even, and it looks the character is on a acid trip (something common back in the 60s, so it's funny watching her look like that on the movie but it's a just a brief moment). The only thing I say as a viewer that slightly bothers me on the scene is that I get a little dizzy while watching it because of the obvious - the camera work and the actors walking around in that gyrating thing. I can't even imagine how Elvis must have felt filming this, since he is the only actor moving around that merry-go-round the entire time - and they filmed it 3 times fully!

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On the same scene, Director William A. Graham recalled:

We were shooting this musical number on a merry-go-round where he's taken this little girl to the park. He takes her on the merry-go-round and she's riding around and Elvis is singing to her. Well, she was a very young girl and she could only work for a few hours a day with us getting into all kinds of penalties and overtime. So when it came time to do Elvis' close up the little girl wasn't available to do the offstage. Also, you know, her attention span was not that great. So Elvis said to me, 'I always feel better when I'm singing a song if I can look at somebody and if I can sing to somebody'. He says, 'I wonder if you would mind standing beside the camera and let me sing to you when I do my close ups'. So I had Elvis Presley sing a song directly to me in a movie, and that was quite a thrill.

Source: This article comes from the website www.elvis.com.au.

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Taking the opportunity since we're mentioning 'Change of Habit', there's one brief interview from elvis.com.au with another actor on the cast of the movie, you can find it in HERE: Interview with Ed Asner (below), who played a cop in 'Change of Habit'.

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I shared this article because, watching all the Elvis movies, I often wondered if Elvis felt even slightly shy while having to sing directly at one person over and over again while filming his movies. Yes, he was used to sing to people, obviously, but singing in a movie set while there's more actors in the scene with him is one thing, while singing looking directly at one person (normally his love interests in the movies, all attractive females) is another, so I wondered if he ever felt uncomfortable singing directly at the ladies in his movies but it turns out he probably didn't. He liked it better this way. Haha, funny. ♥

[knoxville-coroner]

Hey ravers it’s festival season and it’s getting hotter so here’s some tips to be safe and have a fun time!

Non drug related tips:

*always try to wear ear protection. I know. Everyone says it. But honestly you’ll know why if you’ve gone to a rave.

*kandi beads melt with sunscreen. If you want to wear Kandi a sleeve under or putting it around a belt will protect them

*for the underground/indoor ravers: vapor nose sticks. Please invest. Those places smell like cigarettes and weed and ass but one of these little guys fixed it

*I cannot stress this enough TURN ON FIND MY PHONE AND PASSWORD LOCK IT. If you can afford any sort of phone holder/anti theft device I would suggest that. Phone thief’s run wild. I have seen these around to help prevent that but I suggest clipping it inside your bag

*hand sanitizer on the back of your neck and on your forehead both helps cool you off and keep you from feeling all sticky and gross after awhile!

* pair it with a hand fan. I know a lot of ravers say they hate fans but honestly as long as ur not continuously clacking it you should not have an issue. Those fans save so many people from heat stroke. Also YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BUY THEM FROM FESTIVALS!!!!!! you can buy them at the dollar store. They may be smaller but they work just the same.

*for first time ravers please take note of what age group your event is for. If it’s all ages you should be prepared to interact with people sometimes as young as 13 14-adult age. If it’s 18+ be prepared to talk to anyone 18-40’s (that doesn’t mean older ravers don’t exist I just never met many personally) and 21+ is also self explanatory

*etsy and this website are cool for fancy beads! In fact on the basehead beads website rn you can buy palastine beads that support Palestine! So it’s a double win. However if you can’t afford the fancier beads Walmart and other stores have the normal Kandi beads as well as some charms to spice it up!

*there is more ways to trade Kandi than plur! However not many of them are well known but when a raver wants to show you a new version pass on the knowledge! (I cannot find a video of the other ways and they are hard to describe)

*bring little items to give out! I personally like cheap rubber ducks and small solid ducks as well but I have been given erasers, little cheap toys, worm on a string etc!

!Drug Cw under more!

Drug related tips

* if you are rolling/tripping please PLEASE set timers to drink water every 30-40 minutes or so. No matter how your stomach feels take at least a sip.

*pacifers and gum work VERY well for protecting the sides of your mouth

*B12 vitamins help if you are consuming nitrous. Also please make sure to take deep breaths in between.

*molly should not only be tested for fent but meth as well

*test acid for NBOMBs

*DO NOT do substances if you have to hike a long way to get to the rave spot. I don’t know WHY people think it’s a good idea to be rolling near cliff edges or in caves. But you know

*if you are taking acid Uber home. Your trip has NOT ended by the time that rave is over unless you are at a festival.

*here’s a guide for supplements you should take before and after rolling to prevent serotonin syndrome and a bad come down

Tips for oding:

*always administer narcan even if you don’t know what substance they are on. If it’s not fent or an opioid it will do nothing. But if it is you can save a life

*call 911 immediately or have someone do it for you

*WAIT FOR MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS TO GET THERE TO DISCLOSE WHAT THEY TOOK! But do not hide it from medical professionals/ambulance workers but do not say a word to police or operators about the possibility of an od. Say you need emergency help now and the person seems to be struggling to breath.

*when the ambulance gets there THEN disclose if you know what drugs they have taken anything ONLY TO MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS.

*how to administer narcan

[eridanidreams]

Cait and Cora: Lightning bugs in a dark field please

Cait was sitting at one of the computer consoles, reading a slate, when Cora finally got done with her homework. She looked up, her face brightening with the smile she only gave Cora. (Cora knew that was true—she'd watched. Cait had a smile—actually, she had several smiles—for Dad, but she had one in particular that was for Cora, and it made her feel all warm inside.) "Here I am! You wanted to see me?"

"I did," Cait agreed. "I thought we might take a walk. Something I want to show you."

"It's dark out," Cora said dubiously. "Is it going to be okay?"

"Sam's okay with it," Cait said reassuringly. "And I did a sweep and nothing big's in the area. But… what's rule number one on an unexplored world?"

"Treat every trip outside the ship like it's the first," Cora recited obediently. "So… I should get my pistol?"

Cait nodded. "Locker's open for you." Cora walked—walked, because this was a big deal and it was important to show everyone how mature she was, to the weapons locker and removed her pistol—just a basic Solstice that fired only EM beams, but hers nonetheless, carefully checked the charge and verified the safety, put it back into its holster and fitted the holster on her belt, then walked back to the main hatch.

"Rule number two," Cora said. "If I'm running with a gun, something had better be chasing me."

"Good girl," Cait said approvingly, and opened the hatch. They walked side-by-side down the ramp into the night. It was a comfortable twenty degrees, with only a little bit of a breeze.

The breeze reminded Cora—"Shouldn't I have a mask?"

"We're not going close enough to one of the fungal groves for you to need it," Cait replied easily. "And even so, most of the fungal spores are pretty harmless to adults; I just didn't want to take the risk with you."

"Because they're psychotropic," Cora said. "Which means they do weird things to your brain." She looked up at Cait.

"And we all like your brain just like it is," Cait teased, rubbing a hand affectionately over Cora's hair. "Permanently overclocked."

Cora stared at Cait, trying to make her face as expressionless as she could. "You… have… discovered… my… greatest… secret." She stuck her hands out in front of her like a robot in one of the really old movies Dad and Cait liked. "Crush… kill… destroy!!!"

Cait's eyes went wide. "Oh, no!" she gasped theatrically, putting a hand to her heart. "The Coe-bot is after me! I must flee!" Cait flailed like a particularly dense damsel. "Run, run, the Coe-bot is on the loose!" Somehow, all Cait's flailing only kept her a few feet ahead of Cora's grasping arms… right until Cora 'caught' her and they tumbled into the grass, giggling. (Cait did the same thing Dad did, making sure she hit the ground first so Cora landed on her; Cora wondered if that was an adult thing or… something else.)

Cait's eyes were bright, even in the darkness, shimmering and shifting like they had a prism playing across them. "Cora," she whispered, "look at that." All around them, tiny points of light rose up from the ground, blinking in colors that ranged from pastel purple to pale yellow to an almost acid green, painting the two of them in a kaleidoscope of colors. She rolled to her side, holding Cora in an effortless embrace, to give them both a better view.

"Is this what you wanted to show me?" Cora also whispered. She wasn't sure why, but she felt somehow that she didn't want to do anything that would make the moment end.

"Yes," Cait's voice was warm with affection. "There was a field like this near where I lived… after. And every spring, I'd go out there and lie in the grass and just… watch."

Cora flopped over onto her back, gazing upward at the dancing lightbugs. "What do you see? Do you feel them?"

"Hmm," Cait imitated Cora, folding her hands behind her head in a makeshift pillow and coaxing Cora into laying on one of her shoulders. "I'm pretty sure I see the same thing you are; they aren't putting off IR or UV. And I don't think I'm feeling them—they're too small to have much of a brain…" She trailed off, getting that kind of intent look on her face, like she did sometimes around the Artifacts, or when she was trying to get the sense of something tricky. "But you know, you might be on to something. I never thought about it, but when I'm in the middle of them like this…" She let out a soft, wondering sigh. "I always thought that this was what joy was."

Cora thought about that, too, while the lightbugs wheeled and flickered above them. "Is that why you wanted to show this to me?"

"Mmm-hmm," Cait said. "I thought you'd like it. Things keep getting busy, and weird, and dangerous, and I wanted to share this with you, and make sure you were doing okay. Outside of Andi tossing you around the gym, that is."

"Ugh," Cora groaned, not meaning it at all. "Andi's brutal. But I'm learning a lot." She twisted her head back a little; Cait was still looking up at the sky with a contented smile. "So… why not show this to Dad?"

"I will," Cait said reassuringly. "I just thought you deserved to see it first. A little something special." She took a deep breath. "Cora… you know your dad and I love each other."

Cora laughed. "Duh! I mean, you're only absolutely disgustingly cute together, you know." Cait started to chuckle with her. "Dad's the happiest I've ever seen him."

"What about you?" Cait asked out of nowhere.

"Me?" Cora squeaked.

"You," Cait said firmly. "Your happiness matters, too. To both of us."

Cora really needed to think about that one, and Cait seemed perfectly willing to let her. With a shock, she realized she hadn't thought about Mom in days. And when she thought about all the things a mom was supposed to do… well, whether she realized it or not, Cait was. There was just one thing… Worry stabbed through her, but it was too late to go back. "Cait? Um… what would you say if I said I love you?"

Cait was very, very still for a moment, and Cora thought for sure she'd said the wrong thing, and then Cait's arm was around her and her voice was fogged by tears. "I'd say that would make me the luckiest person in the Systems, and that I love you right back." She laughed a little, like she couldn't quite believe it. "Well, in that case, Cora Coe… may I have your permission to marry your father?"