#and like formatting that fucker is impossible

[mydemonsdrivealimo]

please send me some asks of anything art or writing wise you wanna see from the priate au!! im trying to muscle through the last of the second chapter before the end of the month :)

[ask-james-madison-stuff]

Josephine Payne

(My fankid of James Madison and Doley Madison when James left Doley she was pregnant but Doley but never told James and Doley raised Josephine making her believe James abandoned them so she is acting like a bitch to Caroline but Caroline doesn’t say anything about Josephine to her dads but she also didn’t knew Josephine was her half sister)

Josephine:

- That fucker is back!

Diane(Josephine’s girlfriend):

-Yeah, I thought he was gone for good too

Josephine:

-It’s been so long!!!

Diane:

-You still pissed she almost beat you that time?

Josephine:

-Uh, fuck you!

Diane:

-Just saying

Josephine:

-Things have changed a lot since she left town!

Diane:

-That's for sure

Josephine:

-I gotta send a message of who's really in charge of things now

(sung)

Welcome home

I'm gonna make you wish that you'd stayed gone

Say hello to a new status quo

Everyone knows that there's a brand new dawn

Turn the TV on!

*Josephine opens her life stream*

Diane spoken:

-Camera speeds

Rolling in three, two

Background music:

-Welcome to the show!

Josephine:

-Top of the hour, and we're discussing a certain has-been

Who has been spotted cavorting around town

Background music:

-Welcome to the show

Josephine:

-After a seven-year absence

Did anybody miss her?

Did anybody notice?

More on tonight's program!

So, the Treasury States

is back in town

Why is she hanging around?

What does that mean for your family?

Well handily, I've got good news

She's a loser, a fossil

And I don't mean to sound hostile, but the Girl is a coward!

You can take that as gospel

Pulling my viewers? Impossible

I'm visual, she's barely audible

Stop giving her the time of day, don't listen to a word she say

I hope she had a nice vacay, but she should've stayed away

While she hid in Italy, we've pivoted to video

Now her medium is getting bloody rare

America been better since she split

Where's she been? Who gives a shit?

Caroline enters the chat:

-Salutations!

Good to be back on the air

Yes, I know it's been a while

Since someone with style treated America to a broadcast

People, rejoice!

Josephine:

-What a dated voice!

Caroline:

-Instead of a clout-chasing mediocre video podcast

Josephine:

-Come on!

Caroline:

-Is Josephine insecure, pursuing allure?

Flitting between this fad and that, is nothing working?

Josephine:

-Ignore her chirping!

Caroline:

-Every day, she's got a new format!

Josephine:

-You're looking at a queen, she's the shit that comes before that!

Caroline:

-Is Josephine as strong as she purports?

Or is it based on her support?

She'd be powerless without her Mommy and Gal!

Josephine:

-Oh, please!

Caroline:

-And here's the sugar on the cream she told me I ruined her life

Josephine:

-H-hold on!

Caroline:

-I said Whatever now she's pissy

That's the tea!

Josephine’s camera glitching:

-You old-timey prick, I'll show you suf-ffering

Caroline:

-Uh oh, the Star is buffering!

Josephine:

-I'll destroy you, yo-ou lit-tle—

Josephine camera lost its signal and ended

Caroline opens her live stream:

-I'm afraid you've lost your signal

Let's begin

I'm gonna make you wish that I'd stayed gone, tune on in

When I'm done, your status quo will know its race is run

Oh, this will be fun

Caroline said than ending the livestream smirking

(*wheezing due to how funny this is* also that's interesting! way to make Thomas and James look bad though-)

*James was working in his office and for some reason he got a glimpse of that live stream and saw Josephine, it shocked him how much that kid looked like him which has him overthinking now*

[freakattack]

I really want everyone to be playable in wario party (mario party but fast) but i also want everyone to have a wario party board. I want to have it all

Everything past this point is diagnostic info for my doctor↓

Orbulon: a space world obviously but you can get ate by the giant planet in warioware twisted and lose your coins or maybe a star if you suck bad enough. This one would be fucked up compared to the other boards in some way, maybe upside down, maybe in 5/4 time. I dont know. Shops are run by alien bunnies.

Mona: pizza world. Sorry girl but i am typecasting you as pizza. At first i thoguht it should be like koopas tycoon town where the more pizzas you sell the more star you get, or something, but no. You walk on a giant pizza. The spaces are pepperonis. Its what she would have wanted

Jimmy T- Club sugar everything is DANCING THEMED and if you land on a special space then you have to do a dance off where you move the switch/wiimote/whatever like its just dance in the correct formation or else you lose everything. Dance fucker dance like you never had a chance.

9-volt: Awww fuck. Th

INTERMISSION: i cant stop saying Aw fuck i got the meat sweats in the fucked up meatwad voice vinny uses in his warioware dubs. Sorry if this affects my communication in any way.

e obvious answer would be making it inside a giant gameboy, or Gamecube, remember the mario kart battle track/nintendogs house that was just a giant DS? This. But its also like, you're shrunk real tiny and inside someones house, on their giant gamecube. Theres nintendo references everywhere natch and all of the sound effects are changed to become chiptunes. You can get punched out by Punch-Out from Punch-Out.

Ashley: Its a haunted house. Whaddaya want.

Dr. Crygor: so the obvious thing to do here is to make it be themed around his laboratory but SIKE, pennys got the lab, instead Dr Crygor is leaning into the "tropical deserted island" theme that surrounds his laboratory and you get to be eaten by a giant plant! Yaaay

I kinda wanna have this be like a survivor style total drama thing where you can get voted off the island somehow

Kat and ana: This one would be really somber and depressing for no reason.

Dribblenspitz: They should get a dusty route 66 desert highway filled with drag racers and whatnot, like whatever they are doing in warioware diy wii version. Orbulon took the space theme but it would be mean to just plop them in diamond city so its only fair.

wario: It would be a treasure land, packed with music boxes and golden pyramids and such so that the wario land people dont get on my case. Instead of stars your goal is to get as many coins as possible and there are so many ways to steal coins from people that it is impossible to keep the lead for more than 2 seconds.

Kat and ana: I changed my mind i want to explain this one for real now anyways it would be a ninja land obviously and there would be like, ninjas appearing and disappearing in places.....like you could teleport across the board and the game would be like oh its a ninja thing. You know? Lots of trickery afoot.

Waluigi: Secret level. The boss level actually. Hes pissed off that you didnt invite him to the wario party. You have to shoot him in the nose

[telltale-apologist]

Okay, I've got a lot to get through and not a lot of time

And I feel like you weren't hearing me before

So here it goes

I know Hell's population is out of control

It's a bad situation

It's taking a toll

If we rehab these Sinners

And cleanse all their souls

At my Hazbin Hotel

Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself!

Right! Extermination!

I know you guys fly down

Just to kill once a year

And it must be annoying

To schlep all the way here

If they join you in Heaven

That trip disappears!

You can wave that chore farewell

It'll be a happy day in he-

Let me stop you right there

Oh

Save us all precious time

Okay

If what you're suggesting

Is letting them climb

Up the ladder

Oh, they'd rather cross the Pearly Gates?

Well, uh

Sorry, sweetie

But there's no defyin' their fates!

'Cause Hell is forever

Whether you like it or not

Had their chance to behave better

Now they boil in the pot

'Cause the rules are black and white

There's no use in tryin' to fight it

They're burnin' for their lives

Until we kill 'em again!

Okay, but

Just try to chillax, babe

You're wasting your breath

Did I hear you imply

That they don't deserve death?

Are they Winners?

Are they Sinners?

'Cause it's cut and dry

Well, actually, if you take a look

Fair is fair, an eye for an eye!

And when all's said and done (said and done)

There's the question of fun (fun)

And for those of us with Divine Ordainment

Extermination is entertainment!

Bow-now-now-nownow

Guitar solo, fuck yeah!

Oh, da-ah-ah now-now-n-now-n-now-n-now-n-nownownow

Ugh

Hell is forever

Whether you like it or not

Had their chance to behave better (where the Hell did you people come from?)

Now they boil in the pot

'Cause the rules are black and white

There's no use in tryin' to fight it

They're burnin' for their lives

Until we kill 'em again!

Fuckin' Hell's forever

And it's meant to suck a lot

So give up your dumb endeavor

'Cause you don't have a shot!

Long as I've got your attention

I guess I should probably mention

That we made the determination

To move up the next Extermination!

What?

Can't wait a whole year

To slaughter those little cunts

I know it's just been a week

But we'll be back in six months!

Um, wait, didn't you

Ugh, shit!

That fucker is back!

Yeah, I thought he was gone for good too

It's been seven years!

You still pissed he almost beat you that time?

Uh, fuck you

Just sayin'

Things have changed a lot since he left town

That's for sure

I gotta send a message of who's really in charge of things now

Welcome home

I'm gonna make you wish that you'd stayed gone

Say hello to a new status quo

Everyone knows that there's a brand-new dawn

Turn the TV on! (Camera speeds, rollin' in three, two)

Top of the hour, and we're discussing a certain has-been

Who has been spotted cavorting around town (welcome to the show)

After a seven-year absence

Did anybody miss him? (Welcome to the show)

Did anybody notice?

More on tonight's program

So, the radio demon is back in town

Why is he hanging around?

What does that mean for your family?

Well handily, I've got good news

He's a loser, a fossil and I don't mean to sound hostile

But the demon is a coward!

You can take that as gospel

Pulling my viewers? Impossible!

I'm visual, he's barely audible

Stop givin' him the time of day

Don't listen to a word he'd say

I hope he had a nice vacay

But he should've stayed away

While he hid in radio

We pivoted to video

Now his medium is gettin' bloody rare

Hell's been better since he split

Where's he been?

Who gives a shit!

Salutations!

Good to be back on the air

Yes, I know it's been a while

Since someone with style treated hell to a broadcast

Sinners, rejoice!

What a dated voice!

Instead of a clout-chasin' mediocre video podcast

Come on!

Is Vox insecure? Pursuing allure?

Flitting between this fad and that, is nothin' working?

Ignore his chirping!

Every day, he's got a new format

You're lookin' at the future, he's the shit that comes before that!

Is Vox as strong as he purports

Or is it based on his support?

He'd be powerless without the other Vees

Oh, please!

And here's the sugar on the cream

He asked me to join his team

Hold on!

I said no, and now he's pissy, that's the tea

You old-timey prick

I'll show you suffering

Uh oh, the TV is buffering!

I'll destroy you, you little–

I'm afraid you've lost your signal

Let's begin

I'm gonna make you wish that I'd stayed gone

Tune on in when I'm done

Your status quo will know its race is run

Oh, this will be fun

Fuck!

[syscultureis]

Cw: kind of sys/course but not really I just mention End0s. Also sorry if I described this poorly, brain is loud right now.

Plural culture is wanting to steal end0genic terms to use to describe how different alters formed.

Like- as part of a CDID system, obviously end0genic is impossible as a system formation, but like. We’ve had alters form for seemingly no reason. We have had alters form because of stress alone, or because of Maladaptive Daydreaming, or, for me, xenogenders (I’m split off cat themed ones :3). Admin is so old they might as well have been here forever (and has been mistaken for having just been here forever). I’m 99% sure B0ffy formed just to piss people off (that’s literally all he wants to do). And like half these fuckers got made cause autism.

Terms like these do a way better job at describing specifics about alters than “other origins” of a trauma disorder. And as an autistic system that loves to organize stuff into boxes and labels, I wish we could just- yoink and then pretend those other guys don’t exist. -Skrungled

Felt

[l3m0ngal5]

Bustar:That fucker is back!

Ship:Yeah, I thought he was gone for good too

BustarIt's been seven years!

Ship:You still pissed he almost beat you that time?

Bustar:Uh, fuck you

Ship:Just sayin'

Bustar:Things have changed a lot since he left town

Ship:That's for sure

Bustar:I gotta send a message of who's really in charge of things now

Welcome home

I'm gonna make you wish that you'd stayed gone

Say hello to a new status quo

Everyone knows that there's a brand-new dawn

Turn the TV on! (Camera speeds, rollin' in three, two)

Top of the hour, and we're discussing a certain has-been

Who has been spotted cavorting around town (welcome to the show)

After a seven-year absence

Did anybody miss him? (Welcome to the show)

Did anybody notice?

More on tonight's program

So, Harold is back in town

Why is he hanging around?

What does that mean for your family?

Well handily, I've got good news

He's a loser, a fossil and I don't mean to sound hostile

But the man is a coward!

You can take that as gospel

Pulling my viewers? Impossible!

I'm visual, he's barely audible

Stop givin' him the time of day

Don't listen to a word he'd say

I hope he had a nice vacay

But he should've stayed away

While he hid in radio

We pivoted to video

Now his medium is gettin' bloody rare

Hell's been better since he split

Where's he been?

Who gives a shit!

Harold:Salutations!

Good to be back on the air

Yes, I know it's been a while

Since someone with style treated hell to a broadcast

Sinners, rejoice!

Bustar:What a dated voice!

Harold:Instead of a clout-chasin' mediocre video podcast

Bustar:Come on!

Harold:Is Bustar insecure? Pursuing allure?

Flitting between this fad and that, is nothin' working?

Bustar:Ignore his chirping!

Harold:Every day, he's got a new format

Bustar:You're lookin' at the future, he's the shit that comes before that!

Is Bustar as strong as he purports

Or is it based on his support?

He'd be powerless without his ship

Bustar:Oh, please!

Harold:And here's the sugar on the cream

He asked me to join his team

Bustar:Hold on!

Harold:I said no, and now he's pissy, that's the tea

Bustar:You old-timey prick

I'll show you suffering

Harold:Uh oh, the TV is buffering!

Bustar:I'll destroy you, you little–

Harold:I'm afraid you've lost your signal

Let's begin

I'm gonna make you wish that I'd stayed gone

Tune on in when I'm done

Your status quo will know its race is run

Oh, this will be fun

Bustar: Fuck!

I mean, Harold already dresses like Alistair.He just put a cowboy Hat on And honestly I can't wait for these 2 actually Interact

[hozaloza]

Aiden v Thomas thingy (Rainbow Factory AU)

Song- Stayed Gone from Hazbin Hotel

(This is a parody in a way)

Aiden-That fucker is back! Ben (on speech device)-Yeah, I thought he was gone for good too. A-It's been years! B-You still pissed he almost beat you that time? A-Uh, fuck you!? B-Just saying. A-Things have changed a lot since he went back to the main company.. B-That's for sure. A-I gotta send a message of who's really in charge of things now… {Aiden} Welcome home I'm gonna make you wish that you'd stayed gone Say hello to a new status quo Everyone knows that there's a brand new dawn Turn the TV on! {Rainbow Swans Logo broadcast} Camera speeds Rolling in three, two (Welcome to the show) A-Top of the hour, and we're discussing a certain has-been Who has been spotted cavorting around town (Welcome to the show) After a long-year absence! Did anybody miss him? (Welcome to the show) Did anybody notice? More on tonight's program So, the Smiling Crane is back in town, Why is he hanging around? What does that mean for your family? Well handily, I've got good news! He's a loser, a fossil! And I don't mean to sound hostile, {but the Crane is a coward!} You can take that as gospel. Pulling my viewers? Impossible!! I'm visual, he's barely audible! Stop giving him the time of day, don't listen to a word he'd say :) I hope he had a nice vacay, {but he should've stayed away}

A-While he hid in radio, we've pivoted to video (Thomas walking in the Company official broadcast rooms) Now his medium is getting bloody rare! Rainbow Origami's been better since he split :) Where's he been? Who gives a shit?! :D {Thomas} Salutations! Good to be back on the air Yes, I know it's been a while Since someone with style treated Georgia to a broadcast Georgians, rejoice! A-What a dated voice! T-Instead of a clout-chasing mediocre video podcast A-Come on! T-Is Aiden insecure, pursuing allure? Flitting between this fad and that, is nothing working? A-Ignore his chirping! T-Every day, he's got a new format! A-You're looking at the future, he's the shit that comes before that! T-Is Aiden as strong as he purports? Or is it based on his support? He'd be powerless without the other Clarks A-Oh, please! T-And here's the sugar on the cream His dad asked me to join his team! A- H-hold on! T-I said no, and now the child's pissy That's the tea! A-You old-timey prick, I'll show you suf-ffering T-Uh oh, the golden child is buffering! A-I'll destroy you, yo-ou lit-tle— {Thomas} I'm afraid you've lost your signal Let's begin I'm gonna make you wish that I'd stayed gone, tune on in When I'm done, your status quo will know its race is run Oh, this will be fun {Aiden} Fuck!

-------

Daniel asked Thomas if he wanted to join the Rainbow Swans sub-organization for a deal, but Thomas declined, rather working at the main company. Daniel himself didn't care, understanding Thomas, but Aiden was pissy about it.

"Oh, why didn't he join my family's sub-group?? Does he think he's too good for us??? Well, I'll show him >:("

And so Thomas had a grudge against a child for like 5-7 years (he sees it as a silly thing, Aiden sees it as serious competition).

Imagine Aiden's horror (comedically) when he found out where Thomas was working at for the company.

[vex-bittys]

Bittybones Chapter 8: Organics and Botanicals (part 1)

The phrase "the more, the merrier" clearly does not extend to bittybone adoption, a fact which I learned on the drive home from the bitty convention. First I had to politely ask Phantom not to smoke in enclosed spaces when he took out a pack of bitty sized cigarettes. Who even makes teeny, tiny cigarettes anyway? Next, I chastised my jealous little Edgy and Brassberry bittys because their combined glower power was well over 9000 and aimed directly at Phantom.

(he deserved it)

That's when the swearing started. The source of the swearing? One adorable, innocent-looking Yanberry with an impressive vocabulary of wildly inappropriate language.

(enough to make an edgy proud)

Little Buttons the Blank bitty stared, sockets wide with admiration as the freckle-faced gremlin described everything as an [adjective] ass [noun], used f-bombs in a grammatically correct format for almost every single word in a sentence, and loudly suggested that an aggressive driver should do things that were both physically impossible and legally frowned upon with graphic detail. Now, I myself am known to use an occasional ass expletive to tell some fucker what they can do with their own genitalia and mother (go momma!), but I knew I would have to have a conversation with Yanberry about reining it in… a lot. 

The last thing I want is for sweet, innocent Buttons to start talking like a sailor at a swearing competition. 

Gigi covered her mouth with her hand, trying to muffle her laughter as I explained that Yanberry would have to censor his language. The deceptively cute little bastard then proceeded to go through his entire repertoire of vulgarity, asking me one at a time and alphabetically if each individual word or phrase was acceptable. It took every scrap of patience that I had, plus a 30 year, high interest patience loan to deal with the utter and unrivaled sass. Maybe I should have adopted several more Edgy bittys instead.

(she looked like she might explode. it was great.)

Red and Brassberry cackled like hyenas at Yanberry's antics until Phantom decided to give me a comforting kiss on the back of my hand. Suddenly my two jelly skellies decided that a round of no-holds barred, every bitty for himself wrestling death match would be a fun travel activity (it was!). I quickly put a stop to it (boo) just as we pulled up in front of the house.

Yanberry, Buttons, Jealous 1 (me!), Jealous 2 (Why can't I be Jealous 1?), and Phantom all opted to ride in my infinity scarf for the best vantage point going into the house. After getting them somewhat situated, I gathered my shopping bags and peeked into the basket carrier to check on my last two bittys.

Corvus the Kara bitty gave a sleepy "koo~" before snuggling back down into the nest he'd made from the soft blankets inside. I spotted two itsy, bitsy slipper-clad feet sticking out from under the nest.

Apparently Corvus thought little Softbones was some sort of egg in need of incubation. Cute! I lifted the basket into my arms and headed into the house. We were fine. Everything was just fine. Nothing to see here, especially if I deliberately choose not to see it.

I pretended that Red hadn't just shoved his little hands in Brassy's face. 

I pretended that Brassy didn’t bite one of the offending hands.

I pretended not to hear an already-long-suffering sigh from Phantom.

I pretended that Yanberry didn't let out a string of creative curses about his "awesome ass new home."

I pretended that Buttons didn't quietly repeat one of the words in a tone of wonderment.

We were all going to be one big happy family.

Maybe.

Hopefully.

…

…

What have I gotten myself into?

READ ON AO3

INDEX | NEXT

[excalculus]

Here we are, heading into another COVID winter.  The fucker’s still here and sadly we aren’t likely to get rid of it any time soon.  You kill diseases by cutting off transmission and slowly strangling them to death.  We tried that.  We locked down the whole world and it didn’t work.

I won’t deny that things look really ugly right now, especially with other respiratory diseases coming back.  But as the sequencing results keep coming in, it’s really starting to look like something incredible happened.

Sure, the lockdowns didn’t succeed in killing COVID.  That doesn’t mean they killed nothing.

Hey, I wonder how the influenza viruses are holding up?

There are two types of influenza that cause the epidemics we get every winter: A and B.  (C and D don’t really get up to the same level of mischief so let’s ignore them for now.)  Type A infects both animals and people, and includes things like the H1N1 bird flu pandemic strain, swine flu, et al.  The H[number]N[number] format points out which subtype of two important viral proteins it has, and usually strains are reported with that code, what animal they jumped into humans from, and where they were first sequenced.  Type B only affects humans, especially children.  It doesn’t have subtypes like Type A.  Instead it has two distinct lineages: B/Victoria and B/Yamagata. 

Today’s best flu vaccines are called “quadrivalent” because they target B/Victoria, B/Yamagata, and our best guess at which two Type A’s are going to blow up this year.  The guess is based on global sequencing of flu infections, so we have at least a decent idea of both past and current circulation logged in databases like GISAID and the WHO’s FluNet. 

Cases went way down during the lockdowns - masking and social distancing pushed spread down to a fraction of what it usually is.  Influenza in general is now back in force as people go back to their normal behavior.  There’s plenty of Type A flying around.  There’s been B/Victoria.

B/Yamagata has not been conclusively identified since March of 2020.

As early as 2021, flu researchers noticed the lack of new B/Yamagata sequences coming in and started to suspect something was fishy.  Look at this graph of GISAID flu data by lineage:

[GISAID] [paper]

Let’s, uh, check FluNet maybe?  That shows that in a typical year you see tens of thousands of cases of B/Yamagata on PCR tests.  2017 had 30,552; 2018 had 51,524.  Then... 3,464 in 2019.  364 in 2020 in only 9 countries.  It does seem like there are still signs of life in 2021 with 8 hits, but keep in mind these detections are based on simple PCR tests like what we do for COVID.  PCR tests are exquisitely sensitive, to the point where it’s been shown that giving flu vaccines and then later using the same room to give flu tests can throw a weak positive by picking up viral RNA from the vaccine.  More specifically, as of March 2022 there’s been a case of this exact thing happening with what looked like a B/Yamagata detection.  So it’s going to be more reliable to look at only the results from full sequencing, where you can yeet anything that matches the vaccine ingredients and only look at wild viruses. 

[paper]

Zero.  Nothing.  All signs point to we shot at COVID and blew up an entire flu lineage as collateral damage!  What the fuck!  We’re probably going to have to change how we do flu vaccines because fully a quarter of what they aim at looks to be gone from the face of the earth!

True, influenza B/Yamagata could still be out there somewhere that hasn’t been sequenced.  Proving absence is hard.  But the fact that Type A and its sibling B/Victoria are back and easy to find really does suggest it’s gone, or stomped down so far it’s near impossible to find.  Time to watch and wait and feed every sample we can into the sequencers, but if we keep not finding it...

A disease is considered eradicated when we’re sure there’s no more transmission “in the wild”.  For smallpox, which was also wildly contagious and also had no nonhuman reservoir, that was three years from the last known case. 

Clock’s ticking.

[buttdawg]

G1 Climax 33 Standings/Predictions/Whatever

One big advantage to this year's G1 Climax format is that it's a lot harder to tell who's going to make it to the finals. There's four blocks, and the first and second place scorers for each block will advance to a quarterfinal round. Usually, with these round robin tournaments, one or two guys pulls ahead pretty early on, and it's fairly obvious who's winning the block. At best, a couple of guys in the block will manage to catch up enough to threaten the leader, but the rest of the field ends up being mathematically eliminated.

I wanted to write up a thing with who I want to win, and who will probably win, but I kept putting it off because I wanted to see how the tournament played out, and now we're near the end and I still don't have a clear picture. We'll talk about it under the cut.

For example, this year's A Block winner is already SANADA, since he's leading with 10 points and no one can catch up to him with the matches that are left. But there's some stiff competition for second place. Kaito Kiyomiya and Shooter Umino are tied at 6, and the next four guys have enough points that they could conceivably pull ahead if they win their last two matches. I'm pretty sure Ren Narita's dead in the water, but that's still a lot more competitive than what I'm used to seeing in a G1 Block.

I would like Shota Umino to capture that second place spot, although it's his first G1, so that seems kind of unlikely. Then again, he and Kaito Kiyomiya are tied for second at the moment, and it's Kaito's first G1 also. And Kaito's not even a New Japan guy, so maybe it's not such a pipe dream for either of them to make the playoffs.

For that matter, the rest of A-Block seems to be first-timers, except SANADA and Chase Owens, and let's be real, they're not letting that fucker Chase Owns into the quarterfinals. I'm low-key annoyed that they put him in the tournament at all, and if he wins second place I might ragequit my subscription. You're telling me he's the 30th best wrester in NJPW? No. Anyway, Chase would need to beat SANADA to stand a chance at advancing to the playoffs, so I doubt that's going to happen. So it looks like it's going to be SANADA and a newbie, so why not Shota Umino, who's already ahead of most of the competition?

The other three blocks are less certain. Okada and Ospreay are in the lead in B-Block, with 8 points apiece. But Taichi's in 3rd place with 6, so it's not impossible that he might pull ahead of Ospreay. If he can tie Ospreay, he'd win because he beat him in their league match, so that'd be pretty awesome, because fuck Will Ospreay. He and Dave Meltzer can go fist each other in the forest.

But they'll probably send Okada and Ospreay to the playoffs, because Okada's their biggest star and they need Ospreay to continue this never-ending bullshit saga of who's going to lead NJPW into the future.

In C-Block, the current leaders are David Finlay and EVIL. Finlay took over Bullet Club while I wasn't watching, and his policy seems to be that Bullet Club should be hyper-agressive and mean all the time. This directly conflict with EVIL's "House of Torture" subgroup, which was founded on a philosophy of winning matches by kicking opponents in the balls over and over and over again. Seriously, EVIL's been a Bullet Club guy for three years now and he's wrestled exactly one match style that entire time. I hated the guy before he turned heel, and now he's even worse because his shitty heel act has become shitty AND stale. Evil fucking sucks.

I don't have strong opinions about David Finlay. Anything that gets him away from Juice Robinson is a good thing, but I don't think it's a good sign when Kevin Kelly has to keep reminding us of how everyone wrote him off as Jay White 2.0, but he's totally proven that he's not just a cheap Jay White clone. If that were true, Kevin, you probably wouldn't still feel the need to tell us that six months on.

Anyway, I can accept one shitty Bullet Club leader going to the playoffs, but not two. I'd much rather see Eddie Kingston make it to the quarterfinals, and that seems to be possible. He'[s in 4th place at the moment, behind Finlay, EVIL, and Tama Tonga, and he's also facing Finlay and Tonga in his last two block matches. So if he managed to win both of those, he'd be at 10 points with tiebreakers over each of them. I think that would get him where he needs to be.

As for D-Block, you've got Jeff Cobb and Zack Sabre Junior in the lead, and that's a-okay with me. They're tied at 8, which I don't think is 100% safe, but it's still pretty good.

Naito and Tanahashi are behind them with 6 points apiece, so it's probable that one or both of them could make it to the playoffs instead. I don't care for this, since the ongoing narrative with Tanahashi is that he's a big star who's slowly falling apart, and he keeps losing his matches because he can't accept that his finishing move, the Top Rope Fuckinator, might not be tactically sound for a 46-year-old man. I suspect that Naito's in the same storyline as Tanahashi, but no one's told him or the NJPW bookers that. All I know is these guys used to be big deals in New Japan, so every year they're presented as major players who could win the big one, only to get absolutely destroyed by guys like Jeff Cobb and Zack Sabre Junior. Whoever wins D-Block is probably just going to get beaten by Okada or Finlay, so let's just have a fresh match for that, okay?

The bottom line here is that I'm pretty satisfied with where this tournament seems to be heading. I don't particularly want Ospreay or EVIL in the lead, but it doesn't surprise me that they might advance, and my faves still have a strong chance. Mostly, it's just refreshing that I'm this far into the G1 and I still don't know who's going to the finals, which is a welcome change of pace from "Fuck you, we're doing Ibushi again."

[honeybunnybeez]

IF ITS ALRIGHT CAN YOU DO A PART 2 OF KISS IT BETTER THAT WAS SO CUTE AND FLUFFY I LOVED IT

Love me sweeter

♡Genre: Fluff!

♡Poly!Karlnapity x crush!GN!reader

♡Format: Fanfiction

♡Reader is Gender Neutral!

♡Summary: Part 2 of, Kiss it better. Karl, Sapnap and Quackity still cling onto that promise of yours for a lunch date and more kisses. However, you certainly didn't expect it to go this way at all. You certainly aren't complaining though.

Quackity: (y/n)

Quackity: (y/n)

Quackity: (y/n)

Quackity: (Y/N)!

Sapnap: Babe, give it a rest, they're probably busy.

Karl: Wait, let me try.

Quackity: If they didn't respond to me what makes you think they'd respond to you?

Sapnap: He's got you there, Karl.

Karl: Watch this.

Karl: (y/n)?

(Y/n): Yes, Karl my beloved?

Sapnap: What the heck!?

Quackity: (Y/N), HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME!?

You can't help but laugh as they accuse you of favouritism, jokingly arguing amongst themselves about it. You had just finished patching up Sam after another recent burn injury and were currently putting away your bandages and empty potion bottles. Taking out your clock real quick, you panic a little seeing that it was already 11:30, you haven't even gathered the ingredients for lunch you promised them yet.

"I really should stop talking about the kids to Sam when I'm in a rush," you mumble to yourself, knowing full well that you aren't going to stick to what you said.

Once everything is placed back where it should be you finally check your communicator again.

Quackity: (y/n), come oooon, don't ignore us again.

Karl: You ignored me as well :(

Sapnap: (y/n), it's importaaant.

(Y/n): Alright, alright, I'm back on.

(Y/n): You guys are so needy

Karl: I thought you loved that about us?

(Y/n): Not when I'm working, sweetheart.

You couldn't hear it (of course you couldn't, you lived pretty far away from them after all), but Karl was currently giggling like a mad man while Sapnap and Quackity playfully argued with him once again.

"Seriously!? You get the pet name too?

"Karl Jacobs, is there some sort of trick to wooing them that you aren't telling us?"

"I'm just adorable, you two," and his fiances couldn't even deny that. Instead of continuing to 'fight' over it, they huddle closer to Karl with fake pouts on their faces, eyes glued back onto their communicators.

(Y/n): Anyways, any reason why you three were blowing up my phone?

Karl: Don't cook lunch.

You hate how instantly you sighed in relief at that message-

Quackity: And wear something nice that you don't mind getting destroyed!

Sapnap: In case our little picnic trip goes south :P

(Y/n): A picnic?

Karl: Yeah, something romantic!

(Y/n): You three are pretty serious about this date, huh?

Sapnap: Of course we are, you didn't think we were kidding did you?

You feel yourself getting embarrassed as you read Sapnap's message over again. You genuinely did think this was more of a friendly date than a romantic one, and could anyone blame you? The three of them have always been rather physically affectionate with you, so you had always assumed that the feelings you all shared were simply platonic. You're glad to be proven wrong of course but still, you feel your heart race as you realized that they meant business.

Quackity: (y/n)?

(Y/n): Yup, yup, still here, sorry, I was just eyeing a creeper from across my home.

Sapnap: Everything safe?

(Y/n): Yup, the fucker got taken out by a skeleton, anyways!

(Y/n): When are you guys coming over?

Karl: 1:30 sound good to you?

(Y/n): Perfect, I'll see you fella's soon

Sapnap: ♡!!!

Karl: ♡! :D

Quackity: ♡ ;)

A sudden knock on your door almost makes the cookie you were holding in your mouth drop to the floor as you let out a startled gasp. Thankfully, you catch it in time and yell out that you'd be at the door in a moment. Grabbing the container of cookies you managed to bake thanks to some leftover dough from days before, you make your way over to your front door quickly, throwing it open with much more enthusiasm than you were hoping to show.

"Surprise!" Karl happily exclaims while giving you a giant hug. You can't help but giggle and hug him back tightly as well. Over his shoulder you see Sapnap carrying a basket while Quackity carries a blanket. They give you excited smiles paired with a little wave, something you can't help but return.

When Karl pulls away, you can see him giggling nervously and flushing a little red, rubbing the back of his neck while he does so.

"Sorry, got a little excited there."

You tell him with a smile that it's fine and take a step back to admire all three of them in their clean clothes and neat hair. It's pretty rare to catch all three of them looking like this, especially Sapnap.

"Taking in how handsome we look?" Sapnap can't help but joke.

"Nah, more like how this is the first time you three have visited me without looking like a bunch of stray cats." A chorus yell of, "Hey!" causes a breath of laughter to escape your lips.

"We'll try to be on our best behavior," Quackity tries to reassure.

Karl isn't having it though and adds in a, "The keyword being try, (y/n)," causing Quackity to lightly punch his arm.

You roll your eyes, knowing that by the end of today they'll probably need quick patch ups anyways, but hey, that just means they'll be spending more time with you.

"Alright, alright, enough talking! Let's get going before the sun sets," taking one of your free hands, Sapnap is quick to take ahold of it and start walking you to the direction of their little picnic site. Along the way, Karl had taken your cookie container to hold your other hand while Quackity linked arms with Sapnap's free arm. They wouldn't let go of you or one another for the entire trip and the feeling gave you butterflies as you felt incredibly included and tended to.

The area was quite a walk away from the rest of society, you had to go through quite the trip before finally arriving. However, the trip was certainly worth it as you four finally arrived at a lovely, almost impossibly serene area deep in a forest biome. Under a specific oak tree they had lead you to, you can see torches lit up with flowers decorating the small area around it. You can't help but hide your face as you feel yourself growing impossibly flustered by the incredibly simple but cheesy setting.

"It isn't much, but we thought it would be nice to do something cute," Sapnap explains sheepishly. "Since this is our first date together and all."

"Do you like it?" Quackity asks, looking at you hopefully.

"I-I, I love it a lot," you say, trying your best to keep your voice from cracking. The words lay on the tip of your tongue as you hesitate to say it, but after peaking through your fingers a little and seeing the lovestruck expression they send your way, you can't help but let your confession slip past your lips, "I love you guys a whole lot too..."

At your confession, the three of them are quick to drop what they were holding to the side and pull you in for a tight hug. They giggle as they watch you press your hands closer to your face, kissing the top of you head and telling you how adorable they think you are.

"You have no idea how relieved we are to hear that, (y/n)," Karl confesses.

"I thought my heart was going to drop onto the floor when I heard it," Sapnap can't help but add with a chuckle.

"Does this mean we can steal all the kisses we want from you now, (y/n)?" Quackity asks, pressing one more kiss against your temple.

Slowly, you start to lower your hands away from your face, looking into the eyes of the three men smiling down on you with huge grins stuck on their faces.

"Like all of us not dating ever stopped you guys from stealing them before," you quietly sass back, causing the three of them to start kissing you more and more until you're squealing with laughter.

Well, sure they did steal countless of kisses from you before you four were an item but now things were different. You were theirs just as much as they were yours, and that just made the kisses and cuddles all the more sweeter.

A/N: Hhh, I'm so glad some of you guys enjoyed my little KarlNapIty blurb! I really hope this lives up to the first one but I'm not very confident in it if I'm being honest ^^'. I genuinely love this pair with all my heart and writing for them is lowkey an addiction XD Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed reading this!

(Requests are open and anon is on!)

[kent0bean]

malaysia

sooo this is my first ever jjk fic and attempt at writing in a while so please be nice!! i guess its a drabble since its so short? i’m on chapter 126 rn so the storyline in this may be a little tangled/warped. i really do wanna try to write more and im not sure how ill format future fics if i do. im kinda just winging it here but i hope you enjoy!! if you have any tips or anything please let me know!

genre: angst

warnings: blood, injury, death, spoilers for ch. 120+

wc: 378

nanami kento x reader

Coughing was all you could do. Alone and cold on the bathroom floor, but not completely. The cursed spirit stood above you smiling mockingly. Laughing just to spit in your face. Blood was seeping from the wound in your stomach. It wasn’t stopping, why wasn’t it stopping? Arata had used his cursed technique to hold you over so why was it still bleeding? You were numb.

There wasn’t much time left for you, you knew that. Sorcerers much stronger than you had died at the hands of the curse above you. Just kill me already, you thought. But he wouldn’t, he was enjoying this too much.

Earlier, it seemed the fight leaned in your favor. You moved fast. It was impossible for him to touch you. Outsmarting Mahito and landing attack after attack, it was over, it had to be. One misstep was all it took. A fatal blow landed between your already wounded ribs rendering you immobile.

“Got a little cocky earlier” Mahito laughed, “couldn’t have died gracefully like your little boyfriend?”

No. He couldn’t be gone. Nanami was strong right? He had to be bluffing to whittle away what little resolve you had left. There was no way you weren’t able to say goodbye. You tried to keep calm, to save face, but there was no hiding the fear in your eyes. Not of dying, not of the monster above you, but of that fact that Nanami was truly gone.

“Your student, although has some resolve. Itadori Yuji I think it was? Little fucker wouldn’t die. Oh and your Nanami said had some odd last words, something about Malaysia I think?”

Malaysia, Nanami’s and your upcoming honeymoon destination. Late nights coddled up in his bed discussing plans of your future and the wedding, all gone and these words from Mahito had confirmed it. You mustered up the energy to spit at him, but all that came up was blood.

“God I really wish I would’ve killed you first. Would have loved to have seen the look on his face.”

With a single hand Mahito ripped into you, creating another hole. He gripped and clawed your heart from your chest all while morphing you until you were unrecognizable.

Malaysia did sound nice. But not without your Nanami.

[hellishhin]

Hello! Day 21 is another of those questions I love haha: How would either Sadie or K'lai'a'la (I love them now okay) react if the other were turned to stone by a basilisk/gorgon etc? What if the fight took a turn for the worse and it'd mean they'd have to flee and possibly leave the other behind?

The can of words you have just unleashed.... is below the cut (and is fluff not canon at this point)

Content warning: monster, petrification, pain, injury, combat, death

"K'lai'a'la, can you see anything?" Sadie hissed through the darkness. The rough-hewn cloth of K'lai'a'la's tunic and the scent of dank rot were the only things invading her senses.

K'lai'a'la just shushed her and gave Sadie's hand a squeeze to ensure she was holding on tightly. Her eyes could pick up the miniscule amounts of light outlining the craggy path ahead. This network of tunnels was supposed to be safer than the mountain pass, or so they thought. Perhaps they could have bartered with Cryax to let them through. Surely there was something a dragon wanted but Sadie is convincing when she wants to be so they chose the tunnels.

It was clear to the elf very early on that light amongst the darkness would only draw unwanted attention. The tunnels were supposed to only be a few miles long in the westerly direction but K'lai'a'la was used to navigating amongst the trees. Without the sun or the stars to guide her, she had to hope that their path was obvious or perhaps they would stumble into more trouble than they bargained for.

Only K'lai'a'la's highly trained senses detected the slight scuff of moving across stone that did not match up with her or Sadie's footfalls. She threw Sadie behind her and pressed their backs up against the cold wall of the tunnel. As much as she had wanted them to stay quiet, it was almost impossible when Sadie could not see her feet. They had been found.

Smooshed up against the wall, Sadie pushed against K'lai'a'la's thigh so she could free her mouth enough to speak. "What is it? Let me cast some light," she hissed.

"No light," K'lai'a'la breathed, eyes scanning the dim rock formations for any movement but could not see any as of yet.

"Well what did you see then? You have to tell me something otherwise I can't help."

That just got a hand pressed over Sadie's entire face. The small one needed to be silent or she could not sense what approached. Despite the distraction, her eyes still caught a sliver of movement just between two stalagmites followed by quiet clicks and a near silent hiss. This creature had multiple legs, claws, and a tail. From the sound of its tail, K'lai'a'la would have to guess that it was either scaled or skin. Fur would not make that sound on stone.

They had passed a few smaller off-shoots a few dozen yards back. She did not know where they led but it was unlikely they could run a four-legged creature and fighting it, especially if they didn't know what it was, would be a risk K'lai'a'la wanted to avoid. As she opened her mouth to tell Sadie what they were going to do, a growl emanated from beyond them, near where the movement was just a moment ago.

She felt Sadie clutch her shirt tighter at the sound which was all the motivation she needed. One arm around the small halfling, she guided her quickly back the way they came.

"What is going on gods damn it K'lai'a'la let me cast light!" her voice rose just slightly and K'lai'a'la could feel her grip loosen to cast the spell.

"Do. Not." K'lai'a'la demanded in a hushed tone, fear adding more color than she would have liked.

But Sadie picked up on that fear. Her friend knew what was going on and she trusted her friend to keep her safe so she clung to K'lai'a'la even tighter and stumbled next to her.

As they approached the nearest off-shoot, it spanned just about the width her her arms if they were held out to either side. Before the opening was fully in view, K'lai'a'la knocked an arrow and prepared herself before stepping out and scanning the opening.

A mere yard in front of her stood a behemoth of a creature. A mouth full of dagger-like teeth seemed to grin at her just below a pair of hollow shining eyes set in pale rock-like skin. It only took the briefest of moments, one singular glance into those depthless, magic-filled eyes and she felt her body begin to stiffen. Several thoughts raced through her mind, lightning-quick. If she succumbed, Sadie would die. This creature is intelligent, it knew these tunnels connected and it sent them back here. It was waiting. There would be no escape, surely the creature knew the tunnel system and would find them again. But if she could make sure this was the last prey this creature had then perhaps her friend had a chance.

"Do not look," K'lai'a'la's voice was so calm that Sadie's heart leapt into her throat. Then the twang of her bow echoed off the stone. Sadie did not need another command. She wasn't going to be useless. She had spells and she would fight. A quiet word of encouragement to the weave and a few deft finger movements tied the strands into a small ball of light that shone brilliantly out of her wedding ring. Unfortunately the sudden light blinded her and she stumbled back from K'lai'a'la who did not seem to be moving to stop her spell.

Off course the stubborn small one did not listen but the creature whose life was lived in the darkness, also seemed to shrink from the sudden light. This was her chance, she could feel her legs becoming slow to respond, the stone beneath her feet feeling far too familiar for her liking. Her sight was compromised by the light as well but the creature was straight ahead. Exchanging her bow for a shortsword across her hip, K'lai'a'la charged, less than half the speed she could normally. Her sword tip reached out, she saw it sailing directly toward the basilisk's eye but then another wave of the creature's evil magic washed over her, and her sword stopped, mere inches from her target. Then everything went dark.

Sadie's eyes finally adjusted to the light and when she looked down the tunnel, she saw a strange stone formation blocking the way. This formation looked like it had arms and legs and a bow... and long hair... Sadie's gaze moved to the several pairs of scaled gray legs behind her. She would know the legs of a basilisk anywhere.

A shriek of anger burst from her tearing through the wave of pain that threatened to engulf her in that same moment. Her friend was hurt, perhaps even gone permanently and the creature that did it still had the guts to hang around.

The weave snapped and crackled around her "you fucker, I will kill you for hurting her!" Sadie began throwing spell after spell between her friend's statued legs. From her angle, the basilisk's eyes were hidden behind K'lai'a'la's midriff but it wouldn't be that way for long. With too much agility for a creature of that size, it scaled the wall up and over the barrier it created but Sadie was ready. She shut her eyes and thrust her rapier up toward the creature's gaping maw. It sunk into something soft and a shriek came out of it but it barreled down on her anyway.

More spells came from Sadie sinking into its flesh. She only let herself look at the legs all around her, she felt the weight of the creature snap one of her limbs but she was going to make it pay. It would pay in honor of her best friend who was absolutely not dead. There was magic in this world that would bring people back to life, Sadie had experienced it for herself. This was not the end for K'lai'a'la but it would be for this damned basilisk.

She fought valiantly for a halfling, the basilisk burned and scorched across its length but Sadie's resilience wore faster. She couldn't predict where the bit was coming next, only try to stay beneath its feet but it was not long before she slipped up. Jaws locked around her arm and she screamed, punching its face with her other. Her mind was simply full of rage and nothing but the creatures corpse could sate it, or her own.

[derekcasey]

He Knows | Dasey Fic

Derek and Casey haven’t spoken in 7 years, but they meet once again at a bar where Casey’s friends are trying to hook her up with someone.

Read on FF.net 

For Best Formatting Read on Ao3

----

Haley: Casey. Come out with us! It’ll be fun!

Lindz: Not gonna happen Hale. The last time she came out was like… freshman year. And that was only because she was trying to impress us.

Haley: Pleeeeeease Caaaase.

Casey sighs, looking at her phone. She doesn’t want to go out. What’s the point? She’s aware her standards are pretty high. If they weren’t she’d be married already. She just wishes she knew what her standards were. It just seems that every man she meets fails some sort of internalized test that she doesn’t even know the questions to.

But they’re right. It has been a while. Not as long as Linz said, but it had definitely been a few years. And maybe there’s a different crop of men to choose from. So she agrees to go with them. Nearing 30 years old, they aren’t really in the “go out every weekend” stage of their lives. Haley is actually married already and Linz is in a long-term relationship with her girlfriend. So Casey knows that this outing is really just an excuse for them to try to hook her up.

She puts on a tight red dress, curls her hair in loose curls, does her make-up to impress. But her heart isn’t in it. Maybe she’s just meant to die alone, an old spinster with ten cats.

When she hears the horn of Haley’s car sound, she puts on some strappy heels and heads out.

-

“Open yourself up, Casey.”

“What do you mean? I’m open!” She argues.

Haley raises an eyebrow and gestures to Casey’s arms that are crossed over her chest. Casey huffs, letting her arms fall to her side.

Linz comes back to their table with their drinks and hands them out. "Your seltzer m’lady.” She smirks, giving it to Haley.

Haley rolls her eyes, “Did you scope the place out?”

"Yes. A few potentials… there-” Linz flicks her head to the left of them where a group of three guys are huddled at the end of the bar. Casey takes them in, they’re cute… but… missing something. Haley looks at Casey for her reaction. Casey grimaces.

Linz nods, lowering her voice, “Then there’s him.” She tilts her head just slightly to the right and backwards. Casey looks over her shoulder to see a mess of reddish-brown curls. Her heart stops. She could only see the back of his head but it was unmistakably, regrettably him.

Her lack of response seemed to spur the girls on and as some other guy comes up to his right to talk to him, Haley gets a glimpse of his profile.

“Didn’t he go to Queens?”

Casey feels her breath leave her body. This can’t be happening.

Linz turns to take another look at him. “Looks familiar. Maybe.”

“Yeah, I think he was the captain of the Gaels for a couple years.”

And then they’re all looking at him and Casey still hasn’t said a word, but someone scoots past him and he turns around to see and catches Casey’s glance. It’s only for a second, but it feels like an eternity and her cheeks are burning when he looks away.

Linz turns back quickly, laughing. “Shit. Whoops.”

Haley is elbowing her. “You have to go talk to him.”

Casey finally finds her voice, though she clears her throat first, “No- I mean. You said it yourself. Hockey. We’d have nothing in common.”

Linz supplies, "No one’s saying you have to marry the guy.” She pauses, noting the pink of Casey’s cheeks, “Case. You’re blushing, and the dude looked at you all of one millisecond.”

“I am not blushing.” But the blood rushing to her face betrays her even further.

“I’m going over there.” Linz announces before turning on her boot-clad heel and walking over to him.

Casey is mortified. She gets up from her stool and runs after her but it’s too late. Linz taps him on the shoulder and gives a smooth, “Hey there.”

She’s not his type, but he still gives her a once-over and smirks, “Hey to you too.”

“My fri-” Casey clears her throat, garnering the attention of them both.

“Lindsay, hey. I- uh- Haley needs- you at- over at the table.” Casey says, and his smirk grows wider, watching her flounder for words. Linz is confused, but seems to view this as Casey taking it upon herself to start a conversation with him, so she shrugs and walks back to the table.

“Casey.”

And she can’t breathe again. She hasn’t seen him in… who knows how long (she knows, it’s been 6 years, 9 months, and 3 weeks). He looks different but the same. And he looks at her differently but also the same way.

“Derek.”

The eyebrow raise, and the smirk, and she wants to punch him.

“Who’s your friend?”

Yeah, she’s gonna punch him.

“A lesbian.”

Both eyebrows go up at that point. “Hmm. I guess that checks out. Not married at 30, so you decide to switch teams?”

She rolls her eyes. “As fun as this little reunion has been, I’m going to go back to my friends and pretend you don’t exist.” Casey turns to leave.

“You are a pro at that.” She stops in her tracks. He’s baiting her, she knows it. She takes a breath and keeps walking.

“Nonono, you go back there right now!” Haley demands.

“He’s a jerk.” Casey explains, grabbing her drink and taking a large sip.

“Was he a jerk? Or was he just sexually interested in you, Case?” Linz asks. Casey scowls at her. “What?" Sometimes you have trouble deciphering the difference.”

“He did watch you walk away.” Haley points out and okay. That’s… information she didn’t need.

Casey folds her arms on the table and lays face-down onto them. Haley tries, “Come on, Case. You gotta get out there and have some fun.”

“But at what cost?” She whines.

“Hey…” Linz says, softer. Casey lifts her head a bit to look at her. Linz is smiling at her, “Let’s take a shot, and get on that dance floor. You can stun all these fuckers with your rhythm and they’ll be falling all over you.”

And something in her, some primal desire, lifts her from her stool and heads to the bar for the aforementioned shots. The music is pounding and as the alcohol courses through her veins, she feels emboldened. The three of them get lost in the music, the bodies on the dance floor weaving in and out of each other. She’s not drunk, but her inhibitions are definitely falling to the wayside.

After a few songs, a hand snakes around her waist. When her head falls back against the person’s chest, she expects to see Linz or Haley. Instead she sees his familiar brown eyes. It’s not the first time they’ve danced with each other. It’s not even the first time they’ve been this close to one another, but something about it is different.

She tries not to overthink it, just moves with the music. When he breathes, she feels his chest expand. His hand is gripping her waist at just the right pressure. She sees Haley in her peripheral and her wide-eyed glee is almost enough to take her out of the moment but this might be the only time she gets to enjoy this with him. So she shuts her eyes, and leans closer against him, wrapping an arm around his neck, hand nestling in his hair.

She can feel his breath on her neck, and it sends a shiver of delight down her spine. She can’t bring herself to face him, but just for these few minutes, she allows herself to feel him, to be close, to touch, to be touched. When the song shifts, the rhythm is stagnant but the variance brings her to reality. She slows her movements. His grip tightens on her waist. “Case.” He breathes. The music is loud, but his mouth is so close (too close) to her ear that she feels the vibrations of the word, rather than hears it.

She pulls away from him, turning to see the look in his eyes. She can’t read him, which seems impossible. She always can. But it has been seven years (6 years 9 months and 3 weeks). So who is she to say she can read him? She barely knows him, really. She thinks he looks disappointed, but he can’t be, shouldn’t be.

She doesn’t say anything else and neither does he as she walks away. She keeps walking until she’s outside. It only takes Linz and Haley 30 seconds to find their way out as well and get to Casey, who is leaning against the brick of the building, eyes shut tight, hand on her chest.

“You okay, Case?” Haley asks, and Linz rubs Casey’s shoulder soothingly.

“I’m fine. I just- I needed some air.”

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

“About what?” Casey asks, because what is there to talk about? They won’t ever understand the scope of how badly she just monumentally screwed up.

“I mean… how seriously into each other you and that dude are?”

“Honestly, I thought I’d have to hose the two of you down.”

“No, I would not like to talk about it. What I would really like is to go back three hours in time, politely decline your offer to go out, put my pajamas on and watch grey’s anatomy for the 20th time like I normally do on a Friday night.”

“You are just a barrel of fun, aren’t you?” And he’s back. Her head falls back against the brick, knocking it just enough to ground her, not enough to hurt.

“Would you just leave me alone?” She whines, and her heart isn’t in it.

“Is that really what you want?” And he already knows the answer.

She looks at him. “Stop it. I don’t know what- what you think is going to happen here, but-”

“Fine.” His jaw is set. Maybe it’s anger…

“Good.”

He looks like he’s going to say something else, but he just turns, shows his stamp to the bouncer and goes back into the bar. She watches the whole thing, and there’s a part of her that wants to follow him, flow with the music again and get lost in him, just for tonight.

Haley must notice the forlorn look on her face, “Let's… let’s get you home, Case.”

-

So… are we gonna talk about last night?

No.

You knew each other, didn’t you?

She doesn’t answer. She doesn’t have it in her right now.

-

There’s a knock on her door, she expects Linz. She’s the type to not let things fester. She goes to couples’ therapy with her girlfriend Erin even though they were already the most functional and healthy couple to begin with. She’s always saying “We need to address our feelings as they come up.” and it’s just… exhausting. After running from her feelings for over a decade, she’s thinks she has that whole process under control, thank you very much.

But it’s not Linz.

It’s him.

“Got your address from George.”

She pinches the bridge of her nose. She might kill George, and then this whole issue will be moot. Because then they’d no longer be step-siblings. So there’s that.

“Kinda sad, if you think about it, sis."

She takes a deep breath, fire in her eyes. “If I wanted you to know where I live, I would have told you.”

“You’re really gonna keep going with this ‘I hate Derek’ schtick?”

“Oh, it is sincerely not a schtick.”

“Your hips say otherwise, Case.”

And she wants to say her hips are dirty liars. But that’s really lame and Derek would never let her live it down (let’s not forget it’s also, of course, untrue), “Why are you here, Derek?”

“Not even gonna invite me in?”

She sighs but steps aside for him to enter. He looks around her living room. She notices him eyeing her pictures. She has pictures of Nora & George. Lizzie. Marti. Edwin. Of Emily, of Haley and her husband, of Linz and Erin. But none of him.

“You were always quite the decorator. Take after Nora that way.”

“Can you just get to it, Derek?”

He sits on the couch, making himself at home in a ways that makes her furious. “No pleasantries?” He puts a foot on the coffee table. She raises her eyebrow at it and he puts it back down on the floor.

“Okay then. Let’s start with, what the fuck, Casey?” He lets out a laugh but it’s not funny and the laugh seems to know that too. She looks at the floor, hoping that it would open up and swallow her into it.

“I don-”

“Seven fucking years. You sure have gone to a lot of trouble just to cut me out of your life.”

She’s pictured this moment a thousand times. She didn’t know it would hurt this badly.

“What do you want me to say?”

He laughs. “God. You really - you hate me that much? Won’t even give me a proper explanation?”

“Things change. People grow apart.” She lies. He stands up, and they’re close (too close).

“No. What you did was purposeful.” He takes a step toward her, “And I know I can be a piece of shit sometimes, but I thought-” He searches her eyes, for what? She looks away. He’s right, but she can’t admit it.

“We’ve always hated each other, Derek. Why should we put the family through our fighting? It was easier to-”

“Yeah, that’s just it isn’t it. It was easy. Easy for you to just-” He takes a breath, shakes his head. Why is he even this angry? “We don’t fucking hate each other, Casey.” He’s looking at the wall of photos, “I don’t hate you.”

“I don’t hate you either.” It’s small. So small, she hopes he doesn’t hear it, but he does.

He looks at her. Even though he seemingly knows this is true, it looks like her admission just saved his life.

“That’s- that’s why I had to. Do what I did.”

“You’ve avoided me at all costs because you don’t hate me?” He looks confused, but why? He knows already. They’ve both known it. For years. But admitting it… giving it breath and letting it sit out in the open between them… that’s a whole other beast.

“You should go.”

“Fuck that. We’re finally getting somewhere. I haven’t seen you in 7 years and then- then we meet at a club we fucking dance together like that and-”

“I was drunk.”

“Buzzed, maybe. Come on, Case. You were always a terrible liar.”

“We can’t do this.”

“Do what?” And why is he making her say it. He knows what.

“You know what.”

“Say it.”

She doesn’t.

“You should go.” She tries again.

“I’m not leaving until you fucking say it, Casey. Tell me the real reason you want me to leave, and I’ll go, if that’s what you really want.”

She doesn’t know when she started crying. It’s a silent cry. The tears just well up and slide down her cheeks. He’s still close and he’s still staring at her and she can’t take it. She shuts her eyes, tears getting caught in her eyelashes.

He reaches a hand to her face and thumbs away some of the tears.

“I love you.”

It spills from her mouth, and his thumb moves from her cheek to her lips.

“Do you want me to leave?” He asks, simply, patiently, and it’s so unlike Derek, but so like him. In his moments of softness, of kindness.

She shakes her head, opening her eyes. He’s staring back at her, eyes her lips momentarily. It’s a question, she knows, and she nods minutely before he leans in and captures her lips with his own.

It’s everything. All of their pent-up aggression and rage towards one another, all of their love, all of their desire. It’s in this kiss. It’s in their hands as they hold each other. Finding balance within one another. They breathe and kiss and bite, and gasp and they move together. And he returns the I love you into her skin.

It ends with them on the floor, like many other times in the past, their bodies tangled together, just with less clothing than normal.

“What do we- what do we tell them?” She asks, when it’s over.

“Casey, they already know.”

[whumpyhouse]

Location: Sunset Ocean, south of Mount Ares somewhere. Date: August 1st, 2021. Anemone was drifting. For hours, the Enchantress waged fruitless war against what a less skeptical person would consider to be the might of Zephyrus himself, the Anemoi of the west wind pushing the aviatrix ever toward his favored cardinal direction, bearing her away from the rest of the Enchanters. With each gust of wind, Anemone found herself drifting further and further, first losing sight of her squadron, and then, away from the mountains themselves. Far from the objective, far from home, far from the security of her formation. Each gale rattled her wings, sent her wobbling, one wing dipping before she righted it with a herculean push of her own against the control wheel. At first, Nem had attempted to call out, but she was met with silence. Not even a crackle over her comms signaled that anyone heard her. Not Enchanter 1, not from Tower Control, not from High Command, not from anyone. Anemone Sideris was alone, a swallow displaced during migration, one lone bird seeking its companions and finding none in their wake. A lesser-trained person might have panicked, and for one, terrifying instant, fear seized Anemone's heart. But Nem was not a lesser person. One thing Nem could not be called was weak-willed. She sucked in her breath through her mask, which suddenly felt entirely too snug and claustrophobic around her face. She willed the bunched musculature of her shoulders to relax. Her white-knuckled grip on the throttle went lax for a moment before the next gale rattled Honeybee's wings, a metallic whir that Nem could hear even within the cockpit. She frowned, giving a loving pat to her control panel, even though her fingers trembled in leftover fear. Easy, Honeybee, momma's got you. She longed to reassure the struggling LAF, in spite of knowing full well that it was no living creature, despite how it roared to life and bore her into the skies. Skies that were just beginning to lighten with the first, golden rays of the coming dawn, gilded fingers spreading skyward from a ribbon of blue, a grand portent of the arrival of Helios to carry the sun across the sky, west to east, the barrier between sea and sky near impossible to discern for those unaccustomed to it. Nem knew well what had happened- she had been blown so far off course to the west that now she was no longer on the boundary of Mount Ares at all. The endless stretch of blue below was the Sunset Ocean. It didn't connect at first. All Nem could think about was in how much trouble she was in, the tongue lashing she'd receive for not only getting blown adrift like this when an important mission was on the line, but for being unable to respond to any questions or commands that she was sure were peppered in the comms. She could only pray that her announcement that she had been blown west had come through before the grid went down. It was only once she broke through the cloud cover entirely that it hit her. Below, ships. Enemy ships. And not just a harmless fishing fleet. Spread below her like pieces on a chessboard was the entirety of the Solis fleet. It was then that she began to panic, her breath coming in terrified, hitched gasps. Her fingers curled hard against her control wheel again, just in time for the first volley of bullets to ping loudly against Bee's armored plating. All along her wings, the shells punched in, and Nem gave a savage hiss between her teeth. She pushed the throttle as hard as it would go... and began to barrel roll, sea and sky becoming one, the ribbons intertwined as she danced along the drafts, a suicidal downward dart like a crane diving for fish, embellished with the flourishing spins of a ballerina en pointe. Nem cursed heartily. She was surrounded, outgunned, outmanned, with but her Bee between herself and those shells, those missiles hurtling her way. She pulled up at the last minute, inches to spare before the Honeybee's nose kissed the water, launching herself up, up, up, toward the slowly brightening canvas of the sky, cobalt making way for azure. Her spindly arms trembled with the effort, feet dug in hard beneath her, muscles screaming with the effort, and G forces pushing her tiny body to its limit. She sucked in her breath and held it, keenly feeling the shriek of her bones and muscles as gravity fought against her, the corners of her eyes briefly painted in grey before she righted herself again. Climb, climb, albatross, dart and weave, honeybee, relevée, pirouette, en garde. All around her were bright flashes of light, plumes of smoke, the ring and rumble of battle, the scream of mortar fire. If she was going to go down, she reasoned, grimly, with more than a hint of hatred in her heart, she was going to do down swinging, god damn it. With a flick of her thumb, she engaged her anti-ship missiles. She had four; she could only pray that would be enough to take down the one currently raining more hellfire upon her than the other. Both were destroyers, well provisioned, dangerous as all Hades, looming large and foreboding as Kronos himself, and two each would not be enough. Damaging both was insufficient. No, she'd send the fuckers to Hades if she had her way. A mechanical chirp as Bee notified her that the weapons were ready. Weaving side to side, spinning and rolling and turning and pitching every step of the way, Anemone stilled briefly in the air as she lined up her shots, pale, kohl-smudged eyes narrowing from behind her mask as she aligned herself with the objective. Bam. She mouthed the word as Bee shuddered back from the recoil, her missiles seeking home, trailing white smoke as they spiraled down to the ship below. She exhaled as she witnessed her projectiles colliding exactly where she had wanted them: punching cleanly through the ship's hull, just at the waterline, taking out the mortars and a chunk of the deck with it. The control tower was burning, the guns were offline, and she was taking water. She was dead where she lie, and Anemone's lips, hidden from view, curled upward in a savage grin. Serves you right, fuckers. Anemone lavished in her momentary victory just seconds before Bee screamed all around her, the entire craft giving a hard jerk, sending Nem spiraling again. Spinning, struggling in free fall, Nem barely noticed the smoke that was obscuring her vision, or the fact that it was filling her cockpit. She was on fire, she had lost control, and she was spiraling to the sea. She peered over to her left, and found, to her horror, no wing there anymore. Bee's wing had been cleanly sheared off by retaliating fire from the other destroyer. Anemone swore again, more insistently, her vision briefly obscured by tears. Fuck, fuck, fuck! She was downed, her Bee was mortally wounded. And if she didn't eject, she, too, was done for. She peered up, to the sky just beginning to crest the horizon, as though Helios himself was mocking her, the patron deity of her enemies having clearly shown his favor, his dominion, over gentle, mysterious Luna. Her goddess was nowhere to be found. Anemone had been correct, for she had been in the domain of the gods and had found them empty. There was no favor to be granted to the forsaken. She peered down through the smoky haze, even as the flames began to climb up into her cockpit, licking along her skin, the flesh crackling and peeling like old parchment from the touch of fire. Resignation settled in. No, she decided. She would not eject. She and Bee would go down together, sinking beneath the waves. She only hoped the impact of her nose upon the waves would kill her before anything else. But once again, the depths of her forsakenness had escaped her. An air to air missile sent from one of the angry hornets above and behind her exploded along that same nose, crumpling the entire front of the craft into Anemone's lap. A pained shriek tore from her lips as she felt her bones give way, legs and torso pinned beneath the wreckage, as the gathering smoke and flame within the cockpit choked and scalded her. A scream that was cut short with the collision of Bee as the craft slammed into the ocean below. Enchanter Three had gone silent in its entirety, the fragile honeybee sliding down into the depths below, scattering her wings along the wreckage.

[lumiereswig]

5, 12, 15, AND BONUS: can you recommend some good adelle content cuz i need

5. How do you get over a bad writing day? i scream “FUCK IT” really, really loudly, and then i fling my laptop across the room, barely missing the cat, and after banging my head against the nearest hard object i go outside and stand in the grass, fuming at the sparrows. this eventually brings me back round to something that might be termed ‘sanity,’ and i usually get even better ideas, and then i stomp in again and get back to it. and that’s how you write WIPs that never actually get published!!!!

12. What’s the longest time you have worked on a WIP? see above. i have never yet finished a WIP, because i’m always having a bad writing day. that’s why YOU HAVE TO KEEP WRITING.

15. What’s the best writing advice you have come across? What’s the worst? the worst is ANY sort of advice—very common here on the old tumblr.com—that tells you ‘rules’ (don’t use adverbs ever! romantic pairings MUST be written like this! never use the word ‘moist!’). Cuz you see, those fuckers on the internet dont know what youre writing! you are a WHOLE ASS PERSON, writer, you have enough worlds in you to WRITE WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU WANT without some stupid bossy internet english teacher standing over your shoulder yelling “COMMAS” whenever you wanna write a long run-on sentence. so never ever read tumblr writer advice. advice given in ‘advice’ format is bullshit.

the best advice has come not from advice, per se, but just from reading good writers and picking up on what they do in their own writing. and i know i just said you shouldn’t believe in absolutes given to you by someone on the internet, but you cannot be a good writer without reading widely and well. It is impossible to be a writer without being a reader first. and i see this online all the time—there’s a post floating around about where to use commas and periods when you’re writing dialogue, all of which you never need taught to you in this weird, formal, rules-y way if you simply read from a bunch of different people. If you only read one certain genre, that’s not bad from a reading standpoint—but if you want to write and write well, you have to dip your toe into a lot of different ponds, even if some of the ponds make you go “my god that is some disgusting slime!” and whip it back out again.

good adelle content: UHH im actually rlly bad at this ship! like as a general rule!! but i would definitely go check out the fics of @je-suis-em-jee, @tinydooms, @batbobsession​, and @sweetfayetanner​—and if i find more good fics i’ll send them your way.

merci, mon ami!