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myteavsricochet · 5 months

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Latest fanfics read (firstprince edition) part 5:

(part 1) (part 2) (part 3) (part 4)

Two's Company, Three's a Crowd

When David, Henry's introverted beagle is scared of everyone, finding a new roommate becomes a challenge for Henry. But when David's obsession with a potential roommate, the charming Alex comes to light, their living arrangement becomes set in stone. As Alex and Henry navigate their living arrangement, a unique bond forms between them, sparking a journey of heartwarming friendship and eventually, love.

David doesn’t like anyone but Henry because everyone Henry’s around before he moved to the US is awful, except Bea. So Henry’s having trouble finding a roommate. During their roommate interview, David curls up in Alex’s lap and goes to sleep.

When Alex and Henry move in together, David becomes strangely obsessed with Alex. When Alex leaves for school/work, he remembers Henry exists too.

make me your god

There’s no such thing as soulmates. Not for gods.

But then Henry meets Alex, and everything changes.

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, gods and mortals, Soulmates, Immortality

starry eyes sparking up my darkest nights

Any time, son.”

This time, Alex knows it’s not a nickname.

Or, 5 times Arthur and Catherine act like Alex's family and 1 time they become one.

Additional Tags: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, Coming Out, Alex has ADHD, Found Family, Pining, but very little, Cuddling & Snuggling, Friends to Lovers, Ellen is kind of an asshole

in other words, until eternity (baby, i'm yours)

Henry reaches up and traces Alex’s cheek. Alex closes his eyes at his touch and lets Henry map his face with the pads of his fingers. He brushes over the curve of Alex’s ear, thumbs at the cut of his jaw and the indent of his chin dimple. Alex feels himself practically trembling, half in anticipation and half in response to the tenderness of the moment. His nose is next, then the line of his brows before Henry finally, finally traces the shape of his lips.

---

or: domestic bliss, firstprince edition

speak now (or forever hold your peace)

Then the preacher is saying, speak now or forever hold your peace…

This is his last chance. His heart is beating wildly in his chest, pounding in his ears, he gulps…

A second later, Henry is on his feet, standing tall.

*****

Alex left Kensington when Henry told him. And now, five years since then, Henry is invited to Alex’s wedding.

And you know how the saying goes, “If you love something, let it go. If it comes back to you, it’s yours forever. If it doesn't, then it was never meant to be.”

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Post-The Storming of Kensington Palace (Red White & Royal Blue), Pining, Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Exes to Lovers, Getting Back Together, Angst with a Happy Ending

be my mistake

“So, like, I don’t usually do this.”

Henry raises an eyebrow. He knows Alex’s reputation across campus. Everyone does.

“I mean with guys.”

Oh. Right.

Henry nods. “I won’t say anything.”

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - College/University, Frat Parties, Drinking, Implied/Referenced Sex, Fuckbuddies, Casual Sex, Sex Without Feelings, Fuckboi Alex Claremont-Diaz

King of My Heart

Alex, as always, is utterly captivating.

He accepts his crown with grace and a crooked grin; it’s a duality that only he can pull off. Alex’s megawatt smile is brighter than the hundreds of multicolored shards of light reflecting off the mirrorball in the center of the room. Henry knows that Alex looks good on stage, he knows that Alex knows that he looks good on stage, and apparently, everyone else knows it as well. Henry thinks he sees a girl faint at the sight out of the corner of his eye.

And yet, no one knows about Alex and him. Everyone in the crowd wants Alex, but it’s a losing battle — Henry already won that fight a couple of weeks ago.

Or, When Alex wins Prom King, Henry sneaks him away for a moment alone and realizes that his feelings may run deeper than their clandestine hookups suggest

The Weight of Confession

The careful balance of his time was tipping. He was supposed to be 33.3% Lawyer, 33.3% Spider-Man, and 33.3% Alex... Not always in the order. But yeah, okay, often in that order.

But, that balance had been tipping too far towards Alex time for a few weeks. Which, took away from time as Spider-Man. Then, work got busy, which meant there was less time for Alex to catch up with June... It never ends.

There aren’t enough hours in the day for Alex to feel satisfied in every role. And, June paid the price.

Or: The point in time where a housewarming party and an origin story converge.

part 2 of What's up, danger?

solace in my star(s)

thinking that maybe henry likes being an insomniac because without the darkness of the night you wouldn't see the stars and that's his way of connecting with arthur and then eventually he has alex and he finds the same solace and love in alex

Additional tags: henry fox-mountchristen-windsor needs a hug, depression, stargazing, insomnia, established relationship

i scratch your head, you fall asleep

“Long day?” Henry asked quietly and carded his fingers through Alex’s curls. The other man relaxed heavily into him with another sigh and Henry felt him nod against his leg.

“Long month, really,” Alex murmured. “But we finished prep for a case early today and Marge said I can’t come back until I’ve slept for at least twelve consecutive hours, so. Here I am.”

“Here you are,” Henry echoed fondly.

or, alex really, really needs a nap and henry really, really loves him

you don't know the answer (til someone's on their knees and asks you)

“This might be the best one yet,” Henry comments, picking up another forkful of cheesecake and holding it out toward Alex. “Cheers to another successful con.”

They clink their forks, sharing small secret smiles over their free dessert before exiting the restaurant with their fingers interlocked and thanking the hostess, while all the servers watch them leave with hearts in their eyes.

Exactly the way they’d fucking planned it.

---

Best friends Alex and Henry pretending to get engaged every week to get free dessert, until those pesky feelings get in the way.

falling in love (every time i see you)

“Henry, I love you.” He says it without knowing what it means, just that it feels right on his tongue, and Henry’s eyes go wide like he can’t believe anyone would say that to him. Alex would say it a thousand times. He’s just waiting for Henry to say it back.

(or, five times alex tells henry he loves him, one time henry finally says it back)

with all these nights we're spending (my broken bones are mending)

It’s unexpected, and the softness that Prince Henry maintains is a shock to his system.

It makes him want to say something, even if it’s only to ask how his day was or to request an explanation for why he spent nearly fifteen fucking minutes looking at Cupid and Psyche with a forlorn look in his eyes. When he moves on, Alex gazes up at the sculpture and tries to discern the magic that must have captured the prince’s attention, but he comes up with no answers.

Which makes him want to ask more.

But he isn’t supposed to.

----

Or, Alex is the new V&A night guard and Henry is the prince that Alex has been explicitly instructed to leave alone.

#rwrb #red white and royal blue #firstprince #rwrb fics

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carnivalcarriondiscarded · 9 months

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Wait im sorry if like youve talked about this before but what is everyones roles in the fantasy au 👁️👁️ or jobs?

i've just Thought Aloud in bits and pieces but hey. i feel like talking today so i'll put it all in one place with Updated Thinkings

(i like to imagine that they all kinda Quit their initial jobs/lives to go adventuring with each other, either by choice or... not. except Howdy, who's a multitasking king). the Neighborhood party earns their wages by completing jobs/quests, though some of them have minor supplemental ways of adding to the coin collection

Wally, of course, didn't really have much of a Before. he didn't intend on becoming a warlock/wizard - that choice was kinda made for him by the circumstances of his existence. but Wally had to pretend to be a wizard for his own safety, and wizards have a sort of societal expectation to be Helpful and Magical and Wise and Existing For Public Service. so while Wally would have rather just been a painter, he's obligated to be a wizard - that's technically his role/job. within the Neighborhood party, he's a bit of a distance fighter/support! he doesn't really do the whole up-close / physical aspect of battle, though he technically knows how. He casts spells from afar, which tend to be widely benign. artsy little cantrips and inconveniences to make it harder for the enemy to fight. he's also a bit of a bloodhound - illusions don't trick him, he can "see" most magic, and he's really good at getting around unnoticed. if they're stuck somewhere, Wally can probably get them out

Barnaby's "job" before going adventuring with Wally - it started out as just the two of them! - was just working on the farm with Ms. Beagle, where he had been his entire life. Sure he'd sometimes do public performances/acts in town, which would earn him extra coin, but that was more of a paying hobby than anything (a paying hobby he will Continue) in the Neighborhood, he's... uh. their cheerleader? that's not entirely inaccurate! he's not big on combat or effort i'd reckon, so he prefers to just keep morale high. offer background music, funny commentary, jokes to lighten the mood, mediate tensions, etc. if necessary, he makes good backup - he has his illusions of course, and he Does pack a mighty punch if need be! he's also very helpful when retreating - he can grab the smaller party members and run

Wormie is the group mascot <3

Sally was a bit lost before joining the party - i like to think that she was constantly on the move as part of a traveling theater troupe, but she wasn't the star or director. she was just part of the group, uninspired and with a full well of untapped potential. one day she up and left (dramatically) to find her own inspiration/muse & path to stardom, which ended up being several years of wandering until she happened across the budding Neighborhood and went "this! this will be the source of my stories!" as for her role, she's a bit of an everyman. front lines fighter, entertainer, mediator, etc. she views herself as the party "leader", or rather, their Manager. she keeps the party entertained with stories, and bolsters their reputation in the same manner. in a battle she's a bit of a powerhouse - her light magic is useful both in combat and entertainment! she keeps a "book" of the Neighborhood's exploits (she swears it will be edited/published someday) holy shit she's moominpappa, and in their Extended downtime she writes and throws plays inspired by their adventures at their home base (town).

Eddie was still, originally, a mailman. or i suppose in a fantasy setting - a courier! until one day he saw a group of people being attacked by some bandits, managed to fight them off, and immediately got roped into helping rescue the folks' entire town from the bigger group of bandits. then they told others about Eddie's help, they wanted his help too, one thing after another and now he's got a full set of armor, a sword, a shield, and his whole thing is saving people. huh? how did that happen? he was delivering letters a month ago! if i had to give him a title... i'd say he's a Protector! he seems like the type! he always has his fellow adventurer's backs - i bet he has his hands full trying to cover everyone at once. outside of combat, he's still very helpful and does whatever is asked of him / needed. collecting firewood! pitching tents! stirring soup! getting Frank to remove a centipede from camp! in downtime he probably takes small bodyguarding gigs. he also is a minor healer - he took some sorta oath for some sorta god (or virtue) that he can't remember, but he has minor healing/cleansing powers. he's also good at sniffing out evil & dark magic! some would joke that he's the party's guard dog

Frank was raised in a monastery that believes in "using your body to fight for the greater good". this was not his job when they became old enough to actually Act on his training! nah they ran away in his mid teens because they wanted to fight things on his own terms. also they want to study bugs more than anything, which he does! for a long time! then they meet a certain princess, befriends her, and helps her run away. he only joins the Neighborhood because Julie wants to, and it's a good way to travel - read: study more arthropods - and earn coin. fighting is a bonus aspect Frank's role is... front line fighter, bookkeeper, and the Guy Who Knows Things! what monster are they dealing with? what are its strengths/weaknesses? Frank probably knows! can they afford a room or two at an Inn? Frank knows (no, they cannot)! who's throwing themself into direct mortal danger with gusto? it's Frank! no but really, Frank is like their resident nerd who can beat pretty much all of them in hand-to-hand. in downtime he probably has a garden purposefully full of plants that can be left alone for long periods of time... maybe they sell half the things grown for extra coin!

Julie, of course, was a princess! that was her whole job! it was incredibly boring and restricting, so she ran away with the help of a funny nerd. after that her whole life was just "avoid getting recognized while figuring out how to live in a world without the comforts/ease of castle life". i'd think she much prefers her new one! as a role, Julie joins Barn and Sally in the "entertainment category". while they entertain with humor/stories respectively, Julie goes straight for games and activities to fill the lull between action. keep the blood pumping, spirits high, and bonds Solid! camp games, road games, locked-in-a-dungeon games! in combat, she's on the front lines with her oversized sword. i think another fitting role would be "navigator" - she can ask plants for directions! technically Julie is a secret powerhouse. her flora magic is insanely powerful, though she prefers not to use it for several reasons

Poppy, i like to think, did indeed have a bakery. it was well-loved in her community, her staff were wonderful people, and it all burned down in a night due to raiders. luckily for Poppy and her town, Eddie was nearby and got on the case to get rid of their problem - maybe Poppy felt obligated to help in some shape or form, and Eddie wound up inspiring her to learn healing magic. She moved into the town that would become the not-yet-existing Neighborhood's HQ to try and restart her business, but it just wasn't the same, and she had gotten a taste of what it would be like to directly save/heal people Poppy is the party's cook, healer, and ultimate voice of caution! the most she'll do in battle is sprint into danger to drag an injured person to safety for healing - she doesn't have a combative bone in her body i'd guess! does she enjoy being in the Neighborhood? eh... it's stressful and terrifying, but she couldn't live with herself if she let them all brave the wild without an adequate healer OR an adequate cook. i like to think that she saw the state they were traveling in and went "oh no"

Howdy, of course, has his tavern! it's a popular hub for travelers, townsfolk, pretty much anyone and everyone. of course it helps that it's the only tavern in town! the only reason Barnaby managed to convince Howdy to join the Neighborhood on one of their jobs is because Howdy realized that he can widen his net & sell to new people On The Go. finally, a use for that magic backpack collecting dust in his room! Howdy got a taste for adventuring and joins the Neighborhood every once in a while, usually only for shorter jobs - he doesn't want to be away from his tavern for too long his roles are support, professional haggler, sarcastic commentary. he doesn't have a crumb of magic in him, but he's clever! he's learned how to make his own support items - including his fancy revolvers with magical crayonsbullets. Howdy rarely fights, choosing to watch over his pack, dole out items when needed, and listen to Barnaby's running commentary. when it is necessary that he join in on combat, he can usually clear the playing field in a matter of moments. he's skilled with both the revolvers and using his own items - he's a one man four armed army!

Home's job is "keep Wally upright and powered". they prefer to be an observer in all situations, even after their existence becomes common knowledge to the Neighborhood. the most Home will do is nudge Wally in the right direction or alert him to something important. Home's literally just hanging out behind Wally's eyes w/ a bucket of popcorn. unless something happens to his beloved little puppet, in which case Home becomes the biggest baddest bitch around and sends everyone else to the bench

tl;dr: Wally: support fighter, magic geiger counter, escape artist Barnaby: entertainer, backup Wormie: mascot Sally: storyteller, fighter, Manager Eddie: protector, minor healer, "paladin" Frank: bookkeeper, fighter, scholar Julie: activities director, navigator, fighter Poppy: cook, healer, overthinker Howdy: tavernkeeper, inventor, support Home: just keeping an eye out

#THERE'S A TL;DR AT THE END BTW #YOU DONT HAFTA READ ALL THAT #honestly thinking about them fighting is so funny #bc like... out of the 9 of them technically only 5 actually fight #Unless frank needs to sit one out to research #then its 4!#so you've got four guys fighting for their fucking lives while everyone else is just vibing off to the side #honestly half of the appeal of fantasy aus is the Fun Combat Aspect #not only the actual fights but also! sparring! practicing with each other!#its about frank teaching wally how to throw a punch & wally immediately decking him right in the face! Accidentally!#its also about the Camping. and the Healing. and the Trusting Each Other With Your Lives.#found family it up babeyyyyyyy #rambles from the bog #wh fantasy au #just realized that ~In Canon~ if anything the neighbors are Forced Family #they dont have a choice! they're in it together whether they like it or not!#and i say 'if anything' bc ehhhh i dont really think they count... are they more like coworkers? but yk #this is an au post i cant be speculating on The Delightful Source here

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rollercoasterwords · 2 months

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What do you think the other marauders besides Remus/Lily would like to read?

hmm interesting question....honestly lily & remus r the only ones i really imagine as big readers...

assuming this is in a canon-ish/canon-adjacent setting. i think mary would be a big poetry girly she'd fuck w plath & glück & césaire...also think she'd be into romantic fantasies like goldman's princess bride & dianna wynne jones' howl's moving castle...beagle's last unicorn as well perhaps...

don't think marlene would be big into reading but i do think lily would put her onto some sci-fi she'd enjoy--vonnegut, joanna russ, charlotte perkins gilman...i imagine her as a sci-fi fan as well but less into reading more into like. star wars & alien movies. same w james i don't imagine him as a big reader but i do think lily would find some sci-fi he'd enjoy...maybe more of like the philip k. dick lane than the vonnegut/russ lane tho. i think he might like some leguin as well; i imagine he'd be one of those people who really just wants to read a book that feels like a movie, nothing too dense or slow-moving.

i think all of the marauders would get a kick out of lord of the flies lol. & i imagine peter might find greek mythology interesting i could potentially see him reading like the odyssey or something. i think sirius would lowkey fuck w poetry but have a bit of a complex about it--think his faves would be the classic romantics so like shelley, byron, keats, etc. i think he would also fw baldwin & wilde, due to the homosexuality. also wuthering heights, & would have a complex abt that as well lol.

dorcas i imagine favoring a writing style that's a bit more brutal & dry...maybe some flannery o'connor, steinbeck, faulkner, etc...could also see her being big into like agatha christia murder mysteries. maybe some shirley jackson as well. emmeline would be into atwood i think...in my mind she'd also fuck hard w stone butch blues & would be reading lorde & butler (judith, not octavia) in the 90s. pandora would be into the weird gory shit she'd be reading like jack ketchum...probably stephen king & angela carter as well. maybe some more classic horror like poe & stoker's dracula, etc. also think she'd get really into octavia butler.

& regulus wouldn't read shit but if he did it would probably be like. fucking ayn rand. & maybe bukowski

#ask #if anyone else has opinions feel free 2 share...

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yoshiyoshitaniart · 1 year

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I got to do all 6 covers for Harley Quinn the Animated Series: Legion of Bats

(W) Tee Franklin, (A) Shae Beagle, Roberto Poggi, (C) Lee Loughridge, (L)Taylor Esposito

Issue 2 has our girls taking a much needed break shopping at the mall. And features cameos from the Riddler and his boyfriend Clock King, Bane, and a couple others you'll just have to read and find out

I've attached my initial sketches as well as the model I posed in ClipStudio. I was having such a hard time with the angles and proportions, it was great to be able to get a rough idea of what belonged where

And I have this one as a poster!

#harley x ivy #harlivy #harley quinn comics #poison ivy #date night #comic covers #let them kiss #riddler x clock king

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camelliagwerm · 2 months

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okay so i realised the last ask game i reblogged would be perfectly suited to a poll :) and i think polls are fun :) Speculative routes under the cut so some of the lesser talked about OCs get a chance vs. say, the popular ones.

(Note: I did not include everyone as I figured some of these would overlap significantly, and each one would need something a bit unique about them. Sorry Byron)

Leonelle (she/her, human, lesbian, 25) — to win the pretty, petty (and a little bit pathetic) Chelish Diva's heart, you must understand she has a lot of baggage from being raised in a strict household with a Cardinal of Asmodeus for a father. She is angry, a bit immature, a bundle of nerves, but she is also vivacious, charming, and eager to explore thanks to her newfound freedom. She is also very opinionated when it comes to matters of the arts, particularly as a Chelish trained bard. Expect events at the opera but also... patricide :)

Valerius (he/him, dhampir, bisexual, 57) — a tyrant, a scion to a family fallen on hard times, a silver tongued prince. Valerius has been called many things, but the most accurate of them all is to call him a beautiful, honourable parasite. He keeps to his word, even if he may twist it to suit his agenda. He worships a goddess of gluttony and undeath, and understanding this is key to thawing his icy heart. Decadent dinners, blood rituals, cannibalism, obssession. A quintessential gothic romance awaits.

Magni (they/he, dwarf, polyamorous & queer, 27) — once, Magni was the favoured Prince of King Endrin Aeducan, and then it all went to hell. After being found guilty of fratricide (he did do it), they have become a Grey Warden on the surface. Ruthless, pragmatic and a political aspirant, Magni is open to a relationship of any kind - open or closed.

Arthur (he/him, human, biromantic asexual (sex favourable), 50) — dilf enjoyers, this is potentially one for you. Calm and compassionate, but grieving, Arthur's heart is mending after the loss of his previous partner and he might be ready for love again. He keeps his noble upbringing well but doesn't put on airs, instead using his position to try levy a better life for those suffering. Rank does not matter if one is in his care. Also comes with a beagle called Chutney.

Leto (he/him, human, pan & demiace, 23) — a young Navy Officer from the Navis Imperialis, Leto has never had much interest in people, preferring his star charts and travel journals instead. But with the right person, he might feel the stirring of something, and more inclined to go by the old courting manuals than think of something outside of the box.

Veszeth (they/them, drow bhaalspawn, aro lesbian, 62) — to court the Dark Urge is to court death. After all, Veszeth means bloody obssession. Flesh taker. They will keep you at arm's length, fighting against their nature just to love you. But that love is a twisted thing, warped by their perception of what love is by their quasi-divine father. Unless you manage to give them the courage to fight back against their destiny before it is too late, then this will be a tragedy. Thee Toxic Yuri Route™️

Luminița (she/her, changeling, demisexual lesbian, 26) — as a cleric of Pharasma who has spent her life being raised, tutored and working in Lepidstadt's graveyards, Lumi is a light and a balm to those who grieve for their departed loved ones. Patient, kind, and with a strong moral character. She will heal those who surrender to her, but allow no quarter against the enemies of her goddess and can have as much of a biting tongue as those who might test her patience. Expect tension if you were in any form sympathetic to the undead, but that makes the relationship all the juicier. Just don't worry too much about her hag mother coming to Call.

#polls #oc: valerius #oc: leonelle #oc: veszeth #oc: leto #oc: magni #oc: arthur #oc: luminița

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babycharmander · 7 months

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The unicorn was weary of human beings. Watching her companions as they slept, seeing the shadows of their dreams scurry over their faces, she would feel herself bending under the heaviness of knowing their names. Then she would run until morning to ease the ache; swifter than rain, swift as loss, racing to catch up with the time when she had known nothing at all but the sweetness of being herself. Often then, between the rush of one breath and the reach of another, it came to her that Schmendrick and Molly were long dead, and King Haggard as well, and the Red Bull met and mastered--so long ago that the grandchildren of the stars that had seen it all happen were withering now, turning to coal--and that she was still the only unicorn left in the world.

The Last Unicorn, Peter S. Beagle

#the last unicorn #this passage has been haunting me since I encountered it on my reread #the unicorn is not human and yet I feel her #the very human emotions of grieving simpler times past #of feeling the grief of loss before the loss has even happened #of dreading the worst possible future to the point where you can practically see it

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olympic-paris · 12 days

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THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more …

September 14

1306 – France: Philip IV orders the arrest of two Knights Templar because they exchanged an obscene "kiss" that pretty much covered their entire bodies.

1769 – Alexander von Humboldt, German naturalist and explorer, born. (d.1859); The younger brother of the Prussian minister, Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835), Alexander von Humboldt's work on botanical geography is considered foundational to the fields of biogeography, physical geography and meteorology. He is a prime example of a Renaissance man of the sciences, studying in astronomy, vulcanology, and geology. Thomas Jefferson called him, The most important scientist I ever met. 19th century Freethinker, Robert G. Ingersoll said, "He was to science what Shakespeare was to the drama."

In the 19th Century, Alexander von Humboldt was one of the most famous men in Europe and is remembered for not only his own scientific achievement, but for his nurturing and mentoring of young, up-and-coming scientists. The American painter Rembrandt Peale painted him, between 1808 and 1810, as one of the most prominent figures in Europe at the time.

Between 1799 and 1804, Humboldt traveled extensively in Latin America, exploring and describing it for the first time in a manner generally considered to be a modern scientific point of view. His description of the journey was written up and published in an enormous set of volumes over 21 years. He was one of the first to propose that the lands bordering the Atlantic Ocean were once joined (South America and Africa in particular). His five-volume work, Kosmos (1845), attempted to unify the various branches of scientific knowledge. In Voyage of the Beagle, where Darwin describes his own scientific exploration of the Americas, Darwin says "He was the greatest traveling scientist who ever lived. I have always admired him; now I worship him."

Much of Humboldt's private life remains a mystery because he destroyed his private letters. In 1908 the sexual researcher Paul Näcke, who worked with outspoken gay activist Magnus Hirschfeld, gathered reminiscences of him from people who recalled his participation in the homosexual subculture of Berlin. A travelling companion, the pious Francisco José de Caldas, accused him of frequenting houses where 'impure love reigned', of making friends with 'obscene dissolute youths', and giving vent to 'shameful passions of his heart'.

On the question of homosexuality, author Robert F. Aldrich concludes, "As for so many men of his age, a definite answer is impossible." But throughout his life Humboldt formed strong emotional attachments to men. In a letter to Reinhard von Haeften, a soldier, he wrote: "I know that I live only through you, my good precious Reinhard, and that I can only be happy in your presence."

1954 – Michael Patrick King is an openly gay, Emmy winning director, writer and producer for television shows. He started out doing stand-up and sketch comedy comedy but eventually moved into writing for television.

His most famous work has been for Sex and the City where he wrote all the season finales and premieres since the second season. King has also recently directed the show's film adaptation.

He has also written for another HBO show, Lisa Kudrow's post-Friends project The Comeback, and as well as for broadcast shows Will & Grace, Cybill, and Murphy Brown. He owns Arcade Productions.

1954 – David Wojnarowicz (d.1992) was a gay painter, photographer, writer, filmmaker, performance artist, and activist who was prominent in the New York City art world of the 1980s. The first American gay artist to respond to the AIDS crisis with anger and moral outrage, he used his art as a polemical tool with which to indict those he held responsible for the AIDS epidemic and to document his own suffering.

Wojnarowicz had no extensive formal training. Born in Red Bank, New Jersey into a severely dysfunctional family in 1954, he dropped out of high school soon after acknowledging his homosexuality as an adolescent. He was a street kid in New York City at the age of sixteen, turning tricks in Times Square and keeping company with hustlers and other outsiders.

Wojnarowicz found salvation in making art and writing. Yet the rawness of his life experiences would always be the stuff of a highly personal and confrontational art.

As a young man, Wojnarowicz hitchhiked across the United States and lived in San Francisco and Paris for several months. In 1978, he settled in New York. By the early 1980s he had become, like graffiti artists Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, a vital fixture in the East Village art scene in lower Manhattan.

Wojnarowicz came to maturity as a contemporary artist and writer during a decade when the arts sought increasingly to address issues of gender, race, and ethnicity. A younger postmodern generation of artists gave expression to these concerns in non-traditional media and often worked in multimedia. For example, Wojnarowicz expressed himself in film, installation art, sculpture, photography, performance art, painting, collage, drawing, and writing. Indeed, he became as fine a writer as he was a visual artist.

Before being diagnosed HIV-positive in 1987, Wojnarowicz tracked in his confessional art a life that vacillated between sensual abandon and despair, bringing into focus a dark vision of existence that drew upon the examples of Arthur Rimbaud and Jean Genet.

With the onset of his disease, Wojnarowicz turned fiercely political. The tragedy and injustices of the AIDS epidemic within the gay community became the central subject in his art and writings. He took to task the medical community and the federal government for their indifference to the pressing health issues of gay men. He passionately protested the fact that, as he put it, so many people were dying 'slow and vicious and unnecessary deaths because fags and dykes and junkies are expendable in this country'.

Wojnarowicz was the first American gay artist to step forward in anger and give expression to his moral outrage. His 'post-diagnostic art', as he called it, indicted all those he held responsible for the social and private horrors of those dying from AIDS, including himself. Toward the end of his life, his defiant art was a polemical and poignant record of his cruel demise.

Wojnarowicz died of AIDS on July 22, 1992.

1957 – Steven Jay Russell is a U.S. con artist known for escaping from prison multiple times. A film about his life and crimes was produced in 2009, named I Love You Phillip Morris. In 2011, his crimes were featured on the TV show I Almost Got Away with It in the episode "Got a Boyfriend to Support.". He is known to be the only con artist in the world serving a life sentence (since he is sentenced to 140 years). A documentary about his crimes was aired on TV in 2005 On The Run episode "King of Cons" on Discovery Channel.

Russell's life of crime started in the early 1990s when he was fired from his job as an executive of a food service company after his employers found out he was gay. He was later arrested for fraud for faking a slip-and-fall accident, and was sentenced to six months in prison. After serving four weeks in jail, Russell escaped by using a spare set of civilian clothes and a walkie talkie to impersonate a guard. He later went to take care of his boyfriend Jimmy Cambell who was dying of AIDS; Cambell died three weeks after Russell was re-arrested and sent back to Harris County jail.

In prison Russell met Phillip Morris, whom he quickly fell in love with. The two were later released from prison, and wanting to give Morris a glamorous lifestyle, Russell managed to get a job as the chief financial officer of the North American Medical Management Company (NAMM). He then started embezzling funds, stealing $800,000 before the activity was detected and Russell and Morris were arrested.

Sent back to the Harris County jail, Russell, considered a flight risk, had his bail set at $950,000, but later made his next escape by calling the Harris County Records Office, pretending to be a judge, and lowering his bail from $950,000 to $45,000 before posting the reduced bail. He was arrested in a hotel room in West Palm Beach, Florida one week after his second escape.

Russell was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the NAMM fraud and was sent back to prison. Russell concocted a new escape after he began collecting green highlighter markers and a spare prison uniform and used his cell toilet to dye the uniform green to look like doctor's scrubs. He then walked out of the front door. After tracking down Morris, he convinced him to run with him and the two fled to Biloxi, Mississippi, making money in casinos, where Russell was later identified and arrested by a U.S Marshal. Morris was also quickly found and arrested.

He was sent back to a maximum security prison in Texas to serve an additional 45-year sentence. From here, Russell made his most inventive escape ever; he used acting and laxatives to fake the symptoms of AIDS, and a prison typewriter to fake his medical records to show him as HIV positive, being granted a special-needs parole to a nursing home to die. He then called the prison and parole board, posing as a doctor and AIDS specialist, asking for prisoners interested in an experimental treatment, and volunteered. Once out of Texas, he then sent death certificates to the prison and parole board stating he had died.

U.S. Marshals later tracked Russell down in Florida where they arrested him once more. Russell was then sentenced to a total of 140 years in prison (119 for the escapes and subsequent scams).

His release date from prison is July 12, 2140.

1978 – Heterosexual Ben Cohen, MBE is an activist and former England rugby union international player. He began his professional career with Northampton Saints in 1996; in 2007 he moved to France to represent Brive before returning to England two years later to join Sale Sharks. In May 2011, Cohen retired from professional rugby, and will focus on The Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation he created to combat homophobia and bullying.

In November 2000, Cohen's father Peter Cohen, brother of English World Cup winning football player George Cohen, was fatally injured while protecting an attack victim at the Eternity nightclub in Northampton which Peter Cohen managed. He died a month later from head injuries sustained in the assault. Three men were found guilty of violent conduct.

Cohen wass married to Abbie Cohen (Blayney), with twin children. The couple have been estranged since 2014, and divorced in March 2016. In January 2016 it was announced, his former Strictly Come Dancing dance partner and now girlfriend, Kristina Rihanoff, will be expecting their first child together.

He is clinically deaf, with about 30 to 33 percent hearing loss in each ear, and has been involved in efforts to make rugby more accessible to the hard of hearing, especially younger deaf players.

In 2011, Cohen founded The Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation, Inc., which is, according to its website, "the world's first foundation dedicated to raising awareness of the long-term, damaging effects of bullying, and funding those doing real-world work to stop it".

Off the field he is considered a gay icon, and often speaks favourably of his gay following. He ousted David Beckham as Gay Times' sports personality of the year in 2008, and came second as their sexiest man of the year. Among other Ben Cohen merchandise, he has released calendars since 2009 in which he is often shirtless. Ben appeared on the cover of Attitude's October 2009 issue.

In 2010, Cohen donated a signed jockstrap to support GMFA, a British charity addressing gay men's health issues, which was sold at auction at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern. He also featured on the front cover and in an interview section of GMFA's printed FS Magazine in November 2010.

2000 – Five police officers raid Pussy Palace, a women's bathhouse event in Toronto. No charges were laid against customers, although police recorded the names of ten women, and two organizers, Rachael Aitcheson and J.P. Hornick, were charged under the bawdyhouse law. Subsequent protest action characterizes the event as essentially little more than a panty raid; and a march on the offices of the Toronto Police Services' 52 Division on October 28 featured protestors waving underwear in the air.

Police estimate some 125 women and men — swinging their boxers, sober cotton undies, raunchy red lingerie and bustiers — showed up at the Oct 28 Panty Picket protest in front of 52 Division.

"Fuck you 52" was one of the chants — hearkening back to a slogan from the 1981 bathhouse raids, where police destroyed hundreds of thousands of dollars in property and arrested more than 300 gay men in a carefully orchestrated raid of Toronto bathhouses.

The demo protested the hour-and-a-half-long raid on the Pussy Palace — filled with 300 women — by the five male plainclothes police officers on what they call a "routine liquor inspection" and what the women call harassment.

One picket sign read "Sluts can't be shamed," and props included a giant vulva and a clothesline of lacey underthings.

A call and reply went: "What do we want?"

"Pussy!"

"When do we want it?"

"Now!"

Even the cops laughed — at least 18 of whom lined the entrance to 52 Division during the protest.

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kayselyn-axe-the-third-goddamnit · 2 days

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Because Now I’m trying to write down Manon’s lore - I couldn’t miss such an important element of her life as the gobbgoats (my head hurts aaaaa)

First, about gobbgoats as a species: these animals (fan-made!) are captive-bred hybrids of gobbals and other ungulate mammals. They appeared at the end of the Dofus era and quickly spread throughout Amakna (although the population reminded smaller) as were smaller than gobbals, swam well and had water-repellent coats. At the beginning of the Waven era, these herbivores are an endangered species, bc most of them drowned due to the Great Wave, and there were few people willing to care for livestock in post-apocalypse conditions (so mostly the poor things become victims of poachers).

Now, let's move on to the herd itself. It is small in number, exists for about five years , but the herd is very close-knit.

Members (I’ll write briefly, otherwise it will be very long):

1) Moxie. Role: dominant female. The most intelligent and charismatic individual.

2) Otto. The role is deputy. A much calmer, but nonetheless impressive boy.

3)Dingo. Role: Queen. Strong and slightly aggressive, she has tried to dislodge Moxxie in the past but failed. Otto's sister.

4) Pebble. The role is collector. Very useful for the herd, because has a nose for medicinal plants and a non-conflict character. Dingo's partner.

5) Swirl. The role is sentry. Has good eyesight and a cunning personality. Pebble`s sis.

6)Chesnut. Role: Elder. Harmful glutton, mother of Otto and Dingo. She love it when they scratch her chin.

7) Pluto. Role: elder, king. The former leader of the herd, now takes care of the offspring, in which he is very successful. His kids: Moxie, Cloud, Snowwhite, Icy and Moss.

8) Krampus. The role is king. A blind single male who was lucky enough to get here. He doesn`t have his own cubs, but he is involved in caring for them.

9) Bush. The role is collector. One of the most resilient members of the herd, she takes care of searching for additional food.

10)Thistleface. The role is collector. The fastest gobbgoat, very attentive.

11) Bella. The role is collector. Frankly stupid, but lucky creature, has the ability to get into all sorts of troubles. Thistleface's sister.

12) Snowwhite. Role: Queen. An albino with poor health and a leg injury, but despite this she leads a very good life. Thistleface's partner.

13) Plum. Role-elder. Stubborn as hell, she has the same qualities as Bella (although she is luckier with brains). Mom of Bella and Thistleface.

14) Cloud. Role: sentry. Gloomy ram, nothing more to say about him :)

Cubs:

•Cotton, Turtle and Toadhead (parents - Dingo and Pabble)

•Beagle, Fluffball and Nappy (parents - Snowwhite and Thistleface)

• Icy and Moss (parents - Pluto and unknown female)

#wakfu #ankama #krosmoz #dofus #axeartmuto #oc #wakfu oc #digital art #character design #waven #manon #gobbal #gobbgoat

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ctl-yuejie · 9 months

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10 BL men I want carnally (or so the title goes)

really ristricted myself to the roles + only men (otherwise this would take me days to compile) - I will be taking the "carnally" seriously.

tagged by @williamrikers and @bengiyo (I believe) <3

Gong Jun as Xia Yao in Advance Bravely

listen, I am focusing on the roles but also: it's Gong Jun - one of the most gorgeous men I have ever seen. He is both feisty and baby in this. I do like hunky men, I like short kings. But from time to time I feel like sparring with a tall guy who I can later bully in bed. And he is also bratty and pouty in this series and gets spanked. I think I can work with that.

2. Mark Pakin as Nick in Only Friends

I think I have said enough that Boston is a dick and also that I can see my younger self in him. So with Mark's *gestures wildly* everything, Nick clearly falls into the most gorgeous men alive category that I also want to make cry in bed. We know Boston is great at sex. But he also stuck with Nick, so I really want to know what he can do. He should probably ride me.

3. Mix Sahaphab as Wen in Moonlight Chicken

besides Mix being stunning, both in terms of looks and in terms of character Wen is not someone I would usually go for. But he has sensuality down, and that first look at Uncle Jim had Uncle Jim feeling a specific type of way and agree to take him home with him and I cannot argue with that. And I do like a guy who can do a one night stand.

4. Tay Tawan as Shin in 3 Will Be Free

why are you, as a man, holding a guys waist while craning your head to get all the french kisses? well, you could be Tay Tawan as Shin. Both beautiful and oh so moody and brooding when you think your first crush is into the the stunning women at your side. This is the perfect threesome and I would very much like to be part of it.

5. Joong Archen as Joke in Hidden Agenda

whatever this series was and despite his character being a bit underwritten, one thing the writing team made sure of was to let us know that Joke can arrange your body in any way he wants. he's both very caring and soft which doesn't quite fit the intensity of the "carnally" theme, but just watching him lift Zo up gives me so many ideas to what else he can do. and he said himself, that sex with him is going to make you feel very good.

6. Fandy Fan as Hsia Yu Hao and Zach Lu as Qiu Ziu Xuan in Crossing the Line

both stunning. I appreciate that Hsia Yu Hao dreams of getting dominated a bit and while they are young and inexperienced the electricity in the shower room scene gives me all the confidence that they both know what to do. Plus points for the possibilities to fuck all over the gym when you're young and horny and don't care that much about the mood of a place.

7. Net Siraphob as King in Bed Friend

do I still have to watch the show? yes. but just by looking at the gifsets I am very certain that he should be at the top of any "desiring carnally" list. he is cocky, knows what to do with his hands, has some great moves (that bed jump), is kinky and his eyes convey how much he loves to fuck and how turned on he is at all times. he also seems very sweet and caring. even I would consider him as boyfriend material. and that is wildly out of the norm.

8. Kouhei Takeda as Nozue and Kimura Tatsunari as Togawa in Oldfashion Cupcake

you just know that they are great at sex, even before the infamous thumb scene. the sensuality, the amount of pent-up horniness togawa brings to the table. and while he probably hasn't gotten laid for some time i get the feeling that nozue is naturally good in bed once he feels comfortable in his body. they would make for some really great slow and dirty saturday evening sex.

9. Boss Chaikamon as Phayu in Love in The Air

yes, this is Boss being an excellent kisser but that makes it canon for Phayu in the show. Usually not that into getting dommed necessarily but oh boy would I make an exception for him. (Prapai and his beagle energy and sex at the workplace was a hot contender though).

10. Gap Jakarin as Yai in The Sign

cannot believe I only now arrived at a himbo character but here he is. you could offer to ride him and he would say thank you and maybe shed a little tear about it. maybe not the best technique but definitely the energy to balance it out.

honorary mentions: Daddy Dan (Papang Phromphiriya) in Only Friends...maybe not the most adventerous but he is very charming and a great kisser, Daddy Chan (Peter Knight) in KinnPorsche ...while the whole cast is stupidly hot all characters would annoy me too much to even consider for a one night stand. daddy chan however..., Time (JJ Chalach) in KinnPorsche that being said..he cheats on the most beautiful being that is Tay who still sticks with him so I guess the dick has to be fantastic

tagging everyone who wants to have a go!

#ctlyuejie writes #10 bl boys i want carnally #idk where all the older men went #my brain is working against me...#this is solely a list in terms of fuckability #which was a lot of fun #long post

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seizethedre · 2 months

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(In the Land of Gods and Monsters)

Chapter Twelve: Motel Sprees, Sprees

As reality would have it, the King of Hell was not, in fact, a duck, proverbial or otherwise, and thus he was only slightly less capable of permitting the nasty waters of this life to simply roll off his shoulders. In fact, if he had to continue with the metaphor, he would say that he was thoroughly soaked, drenched all the way down to his weary bones for reasons he wasn’t quite yet ready to admit to himself.

Let it be understood that when the angels of Heaven were tasked with creating the florals and fauna of the earth, they weren’t exactly given a lot of material to work with. As with all other celestial creations, they were each to serve a unique purpose with the greater intention of providing mankind with the tools they would need in order to fulfill the Plan.

Now I know what you’re wondering: why bother making so many different everythings? Why put in the effort to make over twenty species of oak trees instead of one? Or create the common dolphin if you’re just going to turn around and whip up the objectively much cooler bottle-nose dolphin right after?

The answer to that, clearly, was because it was much more fun to have a little bit of variety among species. Why settle for the plainness of a leghorn chicken when you could have all the glamorous appeal of a silkie bobbing around your backyard? They all tasted the same in the end, might as well get something worthwhile from the experience.

That’s not to say that every creation was a win-win. In fact, Lucifer could recall several, erm, interesting choices that just barely made the cut. Choices, also, that should have probably stayed in the drafts folder. The list included arachnids the size of dinner plates, STI-carrying marsupials, and cuddly-looking rodents the size of a beagle that wouldn’t hesitate to chew through human fingers.

Hindsight, maybe some of their design flaws were a tad obvious, but at the time of their creation, the main focus on everyone’s minds was how each animal would provide for humanity, and of course they were of the mind that bigger animals meant more food to go around. Errors fully realized, Heaven made quick and easy work of gathering the more unsavory picks and dumping them all onto one of the lonelier, desolate corners of the earth, far away from Eden and hot enough to give the pits of Hell a run for their money–-rhymes with Shmaustralia, perhaps you’ve heard of it?

Well, Lucifer could hardly be blamed for the humans who decided to settle that wasteland.

Abominations aside, most of what they created was pretty sweet. His favorite, if not yet apparent, was the duck. Runner ducks, specifically. Something about those long bodies and stubby little wings tugged at his heartstrings and they were quite useful in the field of pest control.

Ducks were great, not just because they were created by yours truly, one of the first to be created, as a matter of fact, but because their design was, perhaps, the most perfect. Bias? Never heard of them. They were all precious beady eyes and compact little bodies, propelled forward by their little paddle-feet and the cutest call of the entire animal kingdom. Aerodynamics aside, they had all the marvels of science working for them as the oils coating their feathers made it easy for them to keep dry and warm, their environment simply rolling right off their hydrophobic backs in perfectly inconsequential droplets.

Yes, Lucifer had reconsidered his ranking time and time again over the centuries, but nothing had captured the spotlight in his heart quite like the duck had. My, how he envied them sometimes.

He couldn’t exactly place why he was in such a funk. Okay, that was definitely a big fat lie. He knew exactly why he was upset, but he was more concerned with the fact that he continued to be upset a whole week after his argument with Alastor. Try as he might, he just couldn’t get over it.

For a moment, when he had first stormed back to his room, his chest still tight with anger and hurt, he contemplated going back to the palace for a few days to cool off a bit, create some distance between him and certain residents, but he threw that idea out really quick.

While isolation felt like the proper remedy to his current situation, he had gained enough self-awareness in the last few months to understand that whatever desires he had to be alone during times of emotional crises were only a defense mechanism which stemmed from centuries of self-loathing due in part from the trauma he received because of his fall.

Ultimately, being alone would do more harm than good. Not only was he unwilling to put himself on the path to self-destruction again, but he had Charlie to think of. The hotel, too. Not to mention his art therapy classes. Point of the matter was that Lucifer had so many more reasons to stick around than he did to leave. He wouldn’t be chased out of this little nook he’s carved out for himself just because some asshole was mean to him and he definitely wouldn’t be dedicating any more emotional energy to the demon, period.

Or at least that’s what he told himself.

It was an undertaking easier said than done, if he was being honest.

So he turned to another mechanism, this time of the coping kind, which was definitely far less destructive than his first option. He threw himself into his work around the hotel. He took over a few more of Charlie’s duties, such as going through the rest of the interviewees for the yoga instructor position, helped Niffty with some of the chores around the hotel, and he even took over the last-minute details for the Open House that was comin up. It was mainly flier business and securing multi-modal advertisement slots across Pentagram City, but it seemed to be enough.

Another big distraction was the painting he was working on for that same occasion. It was a pleasant distraction, and perhaps the only healthy outlet that the king had at the moment. On the off chance that Charlie had run out of chores or errands for him to run, he snuck into the art studio to work, sometimes all night long and into the early hours of the morning. He was happy with the progress he made, thinking that it should only take a few more sessions before he could call it completed. He could get it done by the end of the week if he skipped a few more dinners. Truthfully, he was glad he didn’t really need to eat, otherwise Charlie would definitely be on his case more about his recent absence at the dinner table.

Unfortunately for him, paint could only dry so fast and he refused to use his power to speed up the process. Some things were better left to nature, after all. Which is exactly how he found himself in his current predicament. He could sit around and literally watch paint dry–he was using oils, so that would take an obscene amount of time–or he could leave it until tomorrow and find something else to occupy his time with in the meantime.

Yup, the latter option seemed much more appealing to him.

Tucking his occupied easel against the wall of the studio, he made quick work of cleaning his brushes and storing his tubes of paint in their rightful place.

Locking the door behind him, Lucifer stood in the hall for a few seconds, glancing first down the hall to his right and then down the hall to his left, pondering what to do next. Dinner should have ended well over an hour ago and there were no more therapy sessions tonight. Around this time, the residents were usually winding down before bed, which meant his possibilities for entertainment were pretty limited.

The night was still young and the thought of him holing himself up in his rooms for a few hours with nothing to do but stare at the ceiling didn’t really appeal to him. It wasn’t like he planned on getting any sleep anyways. If he was being completely honest, he just didn’t feel like being alone at the moment.

Mulling over his options, he opted with heading down to the bar and scoping out the scene. If anything, he could at least count on Husk’s company, granted the bartender wasn’t swamped with patrons. Having made up his mind, Lucifer made the quick walk over to the front of the hotel, crossing the empty lobby before turning into the bar.

It was, by his standards, an improvement from the bar in the original hotel. A lot less green and spooky looking. The ambiance was warmer, much more relaxing and befitting of a place where people could come to unwind and step away from their woes for a bit. Marquise lights lined the walls, filling the room with a perky brightness during the day, though in this late hour they tended to dim them down a bit more. What few posters could be salvaged from the original bar had been framed and hung neatly on the walls alongside a few new vintage pieces and decor. Per Alastor’s insistence, they kept a few other choice decorations, mainly the mounted exotic skulls that he seemed to like for some reason.

Most notable was the massive cork board, hung up at Angel’s insistence. His vision was to turn it into a picture wall where all residents, whether permanent or just passing through, could document their experiences at the hotel. It was a sweet idea, a surprisingly sincere suggestion coming from the spider, but one that was supported wholeheartedly by the staff.

No one really talked about it, but Lucifer knew that they were all thinking of Pentious, the colorful wannabe-overlord-turned-martyr who gave his life defending the hotel against the Exorcists. Lucifer had overheard Angel talking to Husk about how he wished he had taken more photos with his friend before the battle. Although he didn’t know him well, it was obvious that the demon had been a part of the family and his absence was felt deeply.

The photo wall was, in its own way, a means through which they could keep his spirit alive all while serving as a manifestation of the hotel’s core values and beliefs. Looking over it now, Lucifer could see that it had become quite the popular attraction. The space was filling up nicely and he found that he recognized a few of the faces he saw. There was a whole lot of Angel Dust, all sly grins and sultry-eyed in his selfies, but he was pleased to see a lot of the usual suspects too. A few of them boasted a somewhat smiling Husk, which was a miracle in and of itself, while another displayed a gleeful Niffty wielding a knife in one hand with a crown of roaches adorning her bright hair. Her cheeky grin was deceptively sweet.

Lucifer smiled fondly at a photo of Charlie as she threw her arms happily around Vaggie who was planting a sweet kiss on her cheek. His chest filled with warmth at the sight of them, so young and in love, having faced so much already yet never losing sight of what was important to them.

His gaze eventually landed on the largest of the photos, pinned front and center. It was inevitable that he'd see it, really, given its location and the fact that it was the only image printed entirely in black and white. It was a picture of all of them taken at the front of the newly-rebuilt Hazbin Hotel. Behind them was the proud, gleaming statue they had erected in memoriam to Charlie’s beloved Dazzle.

The whole lot of them were smiling, proud of the outcome born of days and weeks of hard work. His daughter stood in the middle, eyes shining as she held up the portrait they’d commissioned of Sir Pentious. Vaggie stood to her right, an arm wound tightly around her partner. She was looking up at Charlie, adoration clear in her gaze as she smiled softly. Next to them, Niffty was standing on top of Cheri’s shoulders, both cyclops grinning widely at the camera, one of Cheri’s decommissioned bombs held tightly in the little housekeeper’s hands as she brandished it over her head menacingly. Cheri, ever the bold character, was flipping off the camera.

He stood on Charlie’s left, eyes squinty in delight, an expression that he found, for some reason, to be odd on himself. Strange, but genuine, and he couldn’t argue with that, he supposed. Husk and Angel stood on his other side, the grumpy old cat having managed to crack a smile as he held a fan of cards in one hand. Angel looked like he was mid-laugh, one arm draped over Husk’s shoulders while another hung loosely around his waist. He leaned into the cat’s side gleefully. The pair was a peculiar one, and while Lucifer was no expert in the realm of relationships, romantic or otherwise, he felt that the two complimented each other well enough.

Finally, his eyes fixated on the last, lone figure at the end. Alastor, in all his cruel glory, stood tall, his cheshire grin tight and arrogant as his eyes shone devilishly. His hands were hidden behind him, his cane was nowhere to be seen, but at least now he knew why. The longer he looked at that stupid face the tighter the knots coiled in his stomach. He was angry. So, so angry. Unreasonably angry. At Alastor and his pride, his sharp tongue, his biting words. He was angry at the sinner’s selfishness, his inability to accept help, his insistence that he didn’t need anyone. More than anything, he was angry at the fact that he was, beyond what he felt for the demon, most angry at himself for feeling guilty about how much he hated him. At the same time, he couldn’t fucking look away from him.

He closed his eyes, willing his fists to unclench. He took deep, cleansing breaths as he counted along in his head to the exercises Charlie had taught them. When he finally managed to wrangle those unpleasant thoughts back into the shitty little box in the back of his mind where they belonged, he opened his eyes again and blew the air out slowly.

Cool. I’m cool. So so cool. Cool and collected and unbothered by life’s many atrocities.

Stepping away from the wall, the king turned his attention back to his original task and wandered over to the back of the room. Now, Lucifer was no expert on bars or anything, mainly because he’d never really visited a human bar and honestly wasn’t particularly fond of the ones they had down here either. Alcohol never appealed to him, though perhaps his opinion on the matter would be different if we could actually get drunk, but he’d seen enough tomfoolery and received enough second-hand embarrassment from inebriated jackasses to know that it wasn’t something he’d ever want to experience anyways. Not that anyone was ballsy enough to invite the King of Hell out for a few cold ones.

That wasn’t to say that he didn’t indulge in a drink or two every so often, and as he hopped himself up onto a stool, that was exactly the kind of plan he had in mind. Husk was busy down at the other end of the long counter talking to a few guests and Lucifer busied himself with taking a good look around, swiveling in his seat and leaning back against the bar.

The room itself was sparse, with only a dozen or so demons milling about. A few booths were filled with the odd pair or trio, but for the most part a lot of the patrons were seated alone. Music was playing from the speakers, just loud enough to provide ample ambient sound throughout the room. From the looks of it, no one appeared to be too drunk and Lucifer hoped their luck would be drawn out until the end of the night. The last thing he wanted was to have to deal with an obnoxious sinner who didn’t know when they’d had enough to drink. Somewhere to his left some bug-looking demon burst out into a flurry of clicking sounds which Lucifer reckoned were meant to be laughter.

Quiet night, he thought to himself. To be expected of a weeknight, definitely, especially at a place where drinking to forget was typically discouraged and traded for healthier coping mechanisms. That’s okay, Lucifer could do with a quiet night. He swiveled back around.

A few spaces down was, what he assumed to be, an abandoned drink. It was in an opulent looking glass, filled almost all the way with a pretty pink shimmery concoction and garnished with a cherry skewered through with a tiny electric blue umbrella. He eyed it appreciatively.

“What can I get for ya, Your Majesty?” Husk, finally free, made his way over to the ruler, wiping down the bar as he went.

“Husk, we’ve been over this already. You , don’t have to call me that,” he admonished with a look. The bartender simply shrugged his shoulders, swinging the towel over one of his shoulders.

“Whatever you say, Your Majesty ,” he responded with a mischievous smirk. Lucifer groaned while the old cat laughed. “Alright, alright. Fine. What can I get for you, Lucifer?”

“I’ll have one of whatever that’s supposed to be,” he said, gesturing over to the pretty little glitter bomb to his right. Husk looked over at it too, not at all surprised by the man’s choice.

“Should’ve guessed as much. I reckoned you were more of a fruity type of guy. One Primadonna coming right up.”

“Not much use going for the harder stuff if it has no effect on you,” he replied easily, propping up his head with one of his hands. “Plus, the fruity stuff tastes much better. All that other shit tastes like, well, shit.”

“Can’t argue with that,” Husk agreed.

Lucifer watched as the man worked behind the counter, marveling at how easy he made it look. Lucifer himself had a pretty shitty memory, so to say he was impressed by the bartender’s ability to put together all sorts of drink combinations at the drop of a hat without having to consult some kind of recipe was an understatement. It was incredible.

“So what brings you down here tonight, if you don’t mind my asking. You don’t seem like the drinking kind of guy.” The words were aimed at him, even if Husk hadn’t looked up at him while talking.

“I’m not usually,” he shrugged. “I don’t know. Guess I was just tired of being cooped up in my room.” It was an honest response, Lucifer had no reason to say otherwise. Especially to Husk. “I figured it wouldn’t hurt to drain the old social battery a bit before calling it a night.”

Husk hummed, cleaning up the edge of the glass before sliding it over to him. “We haven’t seen much of you around here lately.” It wasn’t exactly posed as a question, simply a statement of fact, and while Lucifer knew he meant no harm of it, he deflated a bit at the words. He wrapped both hands around the tall, cold glass, stalling for time while he took a sip. It was, as predicted, very sweet, tangy and cool with a hint of something spicy that added well to the flavor profile. He hummed appreciatively. Husk picked up another glass and began polishing it.

If there was something that Lucifer admired about the bartender, it was his ability to stay in his own lane. He wasn’t offended by what Husk had to say by any means and he assumed that this was just his way of offering a listening ear to the angel’s woes. Or, on the contrary, it could very much be true that the bartender simply didn’t care and was just trying to make small talk. It wouldn’t be entirely out of the question, sure. He was forced into being here, but Lucifer had been around the guy long enough to know that there was a heart somewhere beneath all that tough-as-nails exterior and larger-than-life eyebrows. Either way, Lucifer could respect that he never tried to pry for answers.

He heaved out a long sigh, rubbing a hand over his face. “I know,” he said, deciding to move forward with that line of conversation. “I’ve been…busy.” Busy was maybe not the best way to describe whatever emotional rollercoaster he was going through, but it wasn’t exactly a lie either. “Hotel stuff, you know? Helping Charlie with Open House stuff. I’ve been working on a new painting, too.”

“So I’ve heard,” Husk nodded. He turned around to set the crystal-clear glass on a shelf behind him before going back to the king and picking up another one, setting to work once more. “Angel says it’s coming along well.” Lucifer blinked in surprise.

“He said that?”

“Yup. Says it’s pretty impressive. He was going on and on about it the other night at dinner. Got Charlie all up in tears over it too.” He smirked, pausing as he served Lucifer with a quirked brow. “I gotta say, you’ve got some high expectations to meet.”

“You’re telling me,” he groaned, clapping his hands over his face. “Me and expectations have never quite seen eye-to-eye,” he mumbled.

“I’m sure you’ll be just fine,” Husk said. He placed the glass down next to him taking another look at the angel in front of him. “You sure that’s all you got on your mind?”

Lucifer pushed one of his fingers aside, fixing the man with a suspicious, narrowed eye through the gap in his hands. “Why do you ask?” Husk lifted his shoulder noncommittally, picking up the glass to resume his cleaning.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re not exactly a relaxed man,” he said plainly. “There’s always something you gotta be doing or someone you gotta be talkin’ to. If you’re not out running some errand then you’re hanging around here spazzing the fuck out and scaring the residents with you loud company.” He looked the seated king up and down. “These days have been a little too quiet around here is all I’m saying, and in Hell that’s never a good thing. Figured of there was something botherin’ you, I’m probably the right bartender to talk to.”

Lucifer dropped his hands from his face and hunched his shoulders. Husk was right, there was something bothering him. His problems with a certain red-eyed demon aside, much of his attention had been preoccupied with trying to figure out whose memories he had seen that night in Alastor’s room when he finally broke through the walls of holy energy in Alastor’s cane. He looked down at his hands, bandaged haphazardly. That was another reason why he was making himself scarce: he didn’t know how he would explain how he, an ex-Seraphim of Heaven and the Almighty Ruler of the Damned, was sporting injuries that he couldn’t automatically heal.

He looked up, noticing that Husk was also looking at his open palms. He closed them quickly, hiding them on his lap under the counter. If he was suspicious of anything, Husk didn’t show it, nor did he say a word.

“There are certain, erm, things ,” he started slowly, mindful of his phrasing and careful not to reveal too much. They couldn’t know about this. Not yet, at least. Not until Lucifer knew what “this” even was. “That I’m working through right now. Things I’m not at liberty to discuss. Sorry,” he added sheepishly. He hoped Husk would understand his secrecy. The last thing he wanted was to make the cat feel that he didn’t trust him, but his silence on the matter was for the best.

“Don’t apologize. I get it,” Husk said. Lucifer felt himself relax a little bit. “You’re not the first man to come around here with secrets. You won’t be the last one, either.” Lucifer was expecting the shift in conversation coming up, grateful that Husk was willing to drop the conversation for now. He was not, however, prepared for what exactly that new conversation would be, nor the sidelong glance thrown his way.

“You know, Alastor hasn’t been ‘round much these days either.” And yeah, that was a surefire way to get the gears turning in Lucifer’s head.

“He hasn’t?”

He wasn't sure why that particular fact made him uneasy. Alastor had a tendency to wander off, his own agenda to fulfill and whatnot. Him being gone for a while wasn’t surprising by any means, but it unsettled him nonetheless. Husk hummed, unperturbed.

“It was about time. I’m surprised he’s spent as much time around the hotel as he has in recent months. That guy’s just like you: he can’t sit still.”

Lucifer tried not to be offended that Husk had just compared him to the Radio Demon, choosing to let it go instead of pouting over it like he wanted to.

He cleared his throat, swirling his drink around the glass with his straw and trying so hard to look unbothered by the intel. “So, uh, where’s he been?”

“Fuck if I know. In town somewhere is my best guess. Probably doing something shady, conning some poor asshole out of their soul.” Husk was scowling now, probably recalling how he had come to lose his own soul to the demon in question.

“Town? By himself?” Lucifer couldn’t imagine Alastor wandering around Pentagram City without his cane, his main source for channeling his power. Wasn’t that why he had brought Husk along that one time? For backup?

Maybe his concern was more evident than he had thought, because Husk was looking at him again all weird, eyes narrowed and making Lucifer feel like he was an unwanted smudge on one of the bartender’s glasses.

“Yeah alone, what about it? Boss usually goes out alone.” And Lucifer really didn’t care. He really didn’t want to ask, but he just had to know.

“Did he take his staff?” he blurted. Husk looked at him like he was stupid.

“Yes?”

Oh. Okay. There’s that answer then.

But how ? Alastor knew how dangerous it was to be walking around and it seemed especially irresponsible and illogical that he would risk himself like that. Not to mention how bad his hands would get. Lucifer had already healed them once, he wasn’t too keen on doing that again just because Alastor refused to be seen as anything less powerful than he was. Lucifer gnawed on his lip, anxiety flaring up inside of him for whole new reasons.

“Funny thing is,” Husk interjected his spiraling thoughts, “looked a little different now that you mention it. Newer, not as dramatic. The asshole probably finally got some commonsense and upgraded his equipment.”

Oh .

Against his better judgment, Lucifer went a little gold in the face. Was it hot in here, or was it just the hellfire acting up again?

“A new staff, you said? I have to agree with you there, Husk, it was about time, huh? Ha-ha,” he laughed weakly, suddenly uninterested in his drink and talking to Husk and being anywhere other than his nice warm bed and his dark room where nothing else existed except for him and his hundreds of beloved ducks.

Still, not wanting to be rude, he sipped on his drink until it was all gone. Husk, having seen whatever expression was on his face, didn’t ask any more questions or try to rope him into another unwanted conversation. Instead, he went about collecting glasses and wiping down the countertops, consistent in his never-ending routine.

Once done, Lucifer hopped off his perch, mind swimming with all kinds of thoughts and feelings as he left some money on the counter. He waved a small farewell to the bartender, wishing him good night as he headed out the entryway.

Once out in the hall and out of eyesight, he quickly opened up a portal to his room, eager to put a stop to all this incessant thinking for the rest of the night. Stepping through, he brushed the red sparkles off of his clothes and nearly stumbled over a foreign object placed right in front of his closed door.

Scowling, he looked down at the culprit, finding not one, but two of them.

They were boots. More specifically, they were his boots. Boots that he hadn’t seen in over a week. Boots that he had abandoned in another room in a fit of rage.

Boots he never thought he would see again, to be frank. Yet there they were. One stood neatly in front of his door while the other had been kicked to the side by him by accident.

Boots that could have only been left there by one person.

Fuck me .

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