#cave and scrap one of the outfits

[sodacowboy]

so. the dolls of my original characters. for now I’m only planning for Sol and Lazul and I’ve run into the problem of wanting them to have outfits that fit with their respective home planet’s fashions and also wanting them to match.

[moonfromearth]

This was done as a part of the cozy cave's monthly challenge! For this month the challenge was to create a sim based on you based off of your favorite aesthetic.

While I don't have an all time favorite aesthetic, I did have a lot of ballet themed cc leftover from a costume that got cut from my Halloween photo shoot, so I chose to do a balletcore outfit. 😁

Lila Brunner (pictured above) is a bit of an "always the bridesmaid never the bride" type of sim for me. For how much I adore her and place her in saves she never really gets a chance to be in the spotlight. Maybe someday lol 😅

[sunrisecaminus]

Think we could get something along the line of waiting for smokescreen in his room all dolled up waiting for him to come back to spend the night together having some fun id let him eat me out all night

Message - Getting transferred to another college and getting more classes for summer, yaayyyy. Anyway here you go you little demon.

Smokescreen x Cute Reader NSFW

Summary - Smokescreen is late to your planned date night. You give him a good yelling, but he pays you back.

Warning - NSFW

The most horrible thing you could possibly imagine was right outside the door…Smokescreen being fucking late. You have dressed up an hour ago, and he has still not made it back from his mission. He was suppose to just pick up Miko and drive back, but he has been gone for 45 minutes. It only takes around 10 minutes to go all the way to the school and 10 minutes back, Smokescreen is in big trouble once he opens that door. You got dressed up for him and everything!

You dressed up in a lovely maid outfit. The black flowy dress goes up to your knees and the white ruffles lightly touch your arms with cute little sleeves that only cover your shoulders. His birth room was filthy anyway so you might as well clean while this stupid Conjunx of yours is still hanging out with Miko. You dump a full bucket of soapy water all over the floors and start to mop up. The floors was filled with dust and little drops of energon here and there. For Cybertronians who are trying to conserve their energon, Smokescreen still is a messy eater. Putting your hair away out of your face, you go through the drawers to throw away stuff he does not need to have. Rolled up wrappers, drawings from Miko that he would never look at again (the ones he keeps are in his chassis), and bits of dirt that fall off of his whenever you aren't there to force him to take a fucking bath.

…

Smokescreen is driving like crazy, being chased by Decepticons right now. Specifically, Starscream is flying above him right now, following him. Miko was the one who pointed him out and so they are right now trying to hide themselves. If Starscream figures out where the base was, it was no more for the Autobots. Calling Optimus to tell him what was happening, he drives on the highway that is on the outskirts of Jasper. Smokescreen was speeding 80 in a 55, trying to get as far away from the second in command the best he can. Mountains start to be seen in the background, making Smokescreen relieved that they were coming across the canyons of Jasper. He speeds up and zigzags around the rocks, trying his best to confuse Starscream and getting inside some small cave that isn't seen in the sky. He waits for about ten minutes to make sure Starscream's jets weren't heard anywhere around them. He looks over at Miko and sighs. "Aren't you and Y/n having a date night?" Miko states to him. Smokescreen blanks for a second and gasps. "Scrap!" Immediately, he texts you in coms and states that the Decepticons were on their trail for a while and he needed to stay hidden. He puts that he will come home in 20 minutes just to make sure he is not followed. It takes about a minute of waiting before he gets a notification from you. "You are in trouble when you get home." Miko sees Smokescreens face to see a reaction and shakes her head. "You are screwed, have fun with that." Smokescreen side eyes Miko and just reacts to your message with a heart. He knows you understand what he has been dealing with, but he also knows you and him have been planning this "date night" for over a month now. being angry about this was valid, but he also will beg for mercy when he gets over to the base.

…

You and Smokescreen was suppose to have your time together at 5 pm and it is now 6:30 pm. Hearing him drive inside the base made you drop everything and stand next to the door. You were prepared to fight him and give him an ear full, knowing Smokescreen had to do something to attract a high ranking officer of the Decepticons. You heard footsteps from the hallway as the door opens up to the birth room. Smokescreen looks around and catches your frame next to his pedes. He sees the anger on your face and bends one knee to be a bit closure to you. "How dare you! We had a full plan! I dressed up for you and did everything! Of course you got Starscream to chase you around! You better just say Miko was being too loud or I sw- AH!" You were interrupted by Smokescreen grabbing your entire body and standing back up. You didn't know what he was doing until he turned your body around to look at your frame. "…You look stunning." Trying to hide your face to not show him you were blushing, you kept trying to complain to him. "Hey! I am not done! Don't think you can sweet talk me out of this!" Smokescreen just looks at you and puts his face closure to you. You try not to look at him, crossing your arms in a huff. He presses his mouth to your face with a little kiss, ignoring all your complaining. He keeps kissing you all over as you try to push him away, but obviously you really did like the sweet touches he was giving you.

Feeling his nice touch helped you relax, but than your skirt is lifted by his digits as he glides them around your legs. "Hmm! You little shit…" You tried to yell like you were doing for the past few minutes, but the nice massages were giving you a second thought on being mad at him. If he was going to pleasure you…than why complain? You close your eyes, feeling the nice touches, the kisses, and the cool air hitting you both with the air conditioning coming on. Finally you were able to lovingly snuggle with your Conjunx without any interruptions. He walks over to the birth and sets himself down, putting you on the sheets to lay down. You smirk and set your small body in between his legs. "Smokey, let me see that spike of yours." He blushes and does as he was told, his spike being put out in the cold air as you sit yourself down on your butt. "Now, touch yourself. I want to watch you~" Smokescreen blushes from your request and looks down at your face. He grabs his spike and starts to stroke himself. "A-ah…Y/n. This is embarrassing." You give him an evil smirk and climb on top of his chassis, walking down to his Spike and rubs the top of it. "Oh? Is it now." He arches his back from your warm hands touching him. Smokescreen realizes your little demon is coming out and his optics locks in to watch you help stroke his Spike with his servo next to you, jacking himself off.

The pleasure was becoming too much and cum splatters all of your body. Smokescreen moans out loud, dripping himself all over the sheets. He sees your body as you try to lick his cum off your hand, but he grabs you quickly before you could do such a thing. "H-hey what are-Hmm!" You feel his glossa licking your body as he takes off your dress, licking off his own cum and getting you all cleaned up. Gasping from the sensual touches, he puts his face in between your legs and start to lick your folds with his glossa. His cold touches meets your hot area as he goes in deep inside your flower. "Ah! Smokey!" Screaming from his fast pace, you grab ahold of his servo that has you in a tight grip. He was a monster, harvesting you from the inside and not letting you breath. You cum right than and there, letting him feast upon your vagina.

Taking a small breather, Smokescreen looks at you to see if you were alright. You look at him and give him a tired smile. "When did I tell you we were done~"

[acindra]

Dan and Phil dressed in Kuromi and My Melody themed outfits

If you'd like to see more Dan and Phil dolls, I recently made Sister Daniel and Devil!Phil from Halloween Baking Slime and Sadness Cinnamon Rolls (plus some bonus flirty pics here)

I also made dolls of My Melody and Kuromi way back in 2012.

Check out more of my creations here!

Notes under the cut

After making the Halloween Baking dolls I wanted to make more dnp dolls but had no concrete outfit ideas until I saw @danrifics 's meet and greet pics of them with Kuromi and My Melody headbands. The idea of making them in themed outfits would not leave my head so I caved and here we are.

I wanted the dolls to be a good balance of reflective and opposing of each other so they'd still look like a matching pair while being unique to their own styles, allowing for Phil's outfit to be relatively simple whilst Dan's has a lot of little embellishments. This also let Phil have a bolder light pink whilst Dan's is a very pale almost white (though both of the lighter pinks are a bit pale in the pics compared to the actual dolls, sorry about that).

Often when My Melody has head decoration she gets lop ears and I thought that'd be cute for Phil, especially because I wanted to give him a crown (give! Phil! a grape!). This is partially due to his 2024 Birthday Stream's outfit being inspiration for the doll's outfit (and a happy belated birthday to him!) in place of the cape My Melody normally has. The lop ears also reads very puppy-ish in contrast to Dan/Kuromi's kitty-ish appearance (even though both of them are rabbits).

I was originally going to give him a black heart decal where My Melody usually has a flower but it distracted from the crown so I put it on his shirt because he does like graphic tees and it gives him an additional black accessory (which was helpful because the black belt I was going to give him looked awful).

Dan has a similar heart decal in pink in place of the skull decal Kuromi normally has- I did try making the hood have the point at the top of the face but it made his curls look weird. I considered adding a pink bow as well but it looked excessive.

I had planned to give Dan fingerless gloves but they looked weird with the sleeves so instead I gave him a black bracelet opposite his earring and eventually gave Phil one on his opposing hand to match. Coincidentally those are their dominant hands.

Kuromi already has a devil tail so instead of My Melody's bunny tail I gave Phil (precious baby) angel wings. Their top half outfits are both technically removable but Dan's head is too big to actually do so. Their underwear is the other's primary colour, just for fun (though that's only visible in the wip pics)

I'm really pleased with how the hair turned out- I got Dan's fringe to listen to me this time because I used a less stiff yarn so it swoops better and Phil's got his roots visible slightly from the back. And also the only reason why Phil's doll was completed at all was thanks to @yharnamsnewslug 's suggestion I use a darker pink for the shorts instead of the same light pink as the overshirt because I definitely would've run out of yarn. I really lucked out finding the dark pink in my scrap yarn, it was just barely enough for the shorts.

I technically made these to celebrate Phil's birthday and the end of the Terrible Influence Tour but managed to finish them and take the pics just as the sun set on Feb 13 which also feels very appropriate considering all of the pink and hearts, so Happy Valentine's Day!

In honor of Valentine's Day I've included a bonus pic of them about to smooch :3

(listen it's so hard to position dolls that are weird shapes and aren't exactly stable enough to stand on their own in a kissing position i tried so hard but i only have 2 hands and i needed them both to take the picture i tried i'm sorry this is why the sister daniel and devil phil ones ended up lying down i tried i promise you i did try)

[talkingaboutmybullshit]

I will tag the original post if i can find it but I wrote this unedited bare bones thing inspired by Jason after returning to life just fucking around in the manor bc they all assume he’s a hallucination.

Edit i think it’s by @mentallyunawareofpapaya but i cannot find the og post to link it

most often Jason was in the library. Curled up in a chair that in no way looked conferable. His nose deep into a book.

Dick made sure to avoid the library.

Jason wasn’t stuck to the library though. Dick saw him all over the manor. Sometimes he was in his Robin uniform. Dick hated seeing him in his uniform. It stood out brightly and drew his eyes to Jason immediately. The traffic lights color outfit forced him to stare at him. When he was dressed like that he couldn’t tell himself that he didn’t see Jason. He couldn’t ignore him like he usually could. That cape mocked him as it fluttered as Jason ran around corners. Being the only thing Dick saw out of the corner of his eyes. Taunting him.

Jason complained that the manor had a certain unshakable chill. Down in the cave was no better. It was a good 20 degrees cooler than the manor and had a persistent soft draft. So more often than not Jason wore his favorite sweat pants and hoodie. A black pair of sweatpants with the words wonder woman embroidered on the left side. On the right were three red, white, and blue stars. The hoodie was one of Bruce’s from his childhood from his dad’s alma mater. It was a dark blue and swallowed up Jason’s frame. It was Dick’s favorite look because Jason often blended into the shadows.

Sometimes in his Gotham academy uniform. A simple black button up, a messily done tie, some slacks dark blue slacks, and a matching blazer with the school’s crest imbedded. Though more often than not Dick spotted him in some casual blue jeans and an old red AC/DC T shirt that originally belonged to Dick. One of the first non circus clothes Bruce bought him when he was first adopted.

It no longer fit Dick not by a long shot. Hell it didn’t even fit Dick when he 13. But at 13 Jason was much smaller than Dick and the T shirt fit him. It was even a bit baggy. It became Jason’s favorite even though he had new clothes and better fitting ones. He said he liked how soft the fabric was. Stretched out from use and time. That shirt got regular use by Jason until he was 15.

He saw Jason at all ages. Sometimes he sees a toddler he’s never met toddle down the hall ways. The same dark brown mop on his head and the same sparkle in his eyes. He hears the unmistakable laugh as he sees a 8 year old Jason across the living room like he’s playing tag. He hears the unmistakable light hearted laugh of 13 year old Jason in the dinning room. He sees the turmoil of 15 year old Jason in the library.

But lately he’s been seeing the last few weeks is an older Jason.

That’s a lie actually. About a year after his death Dick saw a mid to late teens Jason wonder the streets of Gotham. The Jason he sees usually sticks to the manor. Along with the cracks between him and Bruce being bigger than ever, Jason’s presence was why he avoided the manor.

But Dick doesn’t know how this ghost/hallucination thing works so he doesnt question it much.

The Jason he sees on the streets is about 16 maybe 17. He wore a dark blue suit and roamed around like a zombie. There’s nothing behind his eyes and he never says anything. Dick often sees him at a distance. In dark alleys wondering aimlessly. This version of Jason disappears in after a few months. He chalks it up to a weird greif manifestation.

But now the Jason he sees is unlike any other Jason he saw before. He’s tall. Taller than Dick. Jason was a short kid. Even after puberty lightly hit. Jason Barley scrapped 5 foot. His doctors confirmed it was childhood malnutrition and the stress of living in the streets for so long. Even after Bruce brought him in his immune system was in a constant state of fight of flight. His body prioritized survival over actually growing.

Dick also figured the stress of being Robin didn’t help him grow but he never mentioned it.

Maybe he should have.

Maybe Jason would have grown taller if he wasn’t Robin.

Death did tend to stunt your growth.

This Jason was over 6 foot and had infinity more muscle than Jason had when he was alive. As if Jason grew up getting 3 meals a day and wasn’t in a constant fight for survival.

Despite this Jason looked the same. Even if his hair had a white strip and his eyes leaned more green than blue. Dick just knew.

He had no idea why Jason manifested like this after all this time. This hallucination/ghost/whatever the fuck in front of him was Jason at 19 or 20ish. The same age if he lived.

Dick figured it was a way to taunt him. The universe laughing at him. Whispering in his ear and saying “What if Jason was able to grow? What if Jason lived a good life? What if Jason was saved?”

This Jason usually wore casual clothes. He leaned more towards sweats. Maybe Jason was always destined to be cold.

He followed him in the alley ways of Blüdhaven, his apartment, the manor, and even the Bat cave on occasion. He swears sometimes he can feel him breathing on his neck. Like Jason is behind him peering over his shoulder.

Everytime Dick turns around he isn’t. Most of the time Jason isn’t even there. But that still doesnt make the feeling go away.

Dick knew he’d be haunted by Jason for the rest of his life.

[flowerbetweenfangs]

Marked by the Moon: Part 02

This is part two of a previous story, which you can read here!

Originally posted on A03

(CW for Dubcon in part one. Part 02 does discuss infertility and there is an animal harm in a dream. If anything else needs to be tagged, let me know)

Carmen stared at the face of the older man and her breathing became labored. The thoughts of the night before clawed their way out, making her stomach drop. He rose up, rubbing his eyes. She could see small red lines across his back. Looking down at her fingers, she saw the small bits of dried blood under her nails. 

Her throat closed up, and she started to scoot away.

No. 

What happened couldn’t have possibly been real. But the way her body felt, the scents in the air, and the fact that she had already woken up meant that it had to be true. 

Esau sniffed. In the silence of the cave, the noise was amplified. His nose and brow wrinkled, his jaw setting. 

“What the?” He turned around, the bewilderment clear on his face. She saw the silver ring on his shoulder, indicating a bite mark. 

Getting to her feet, Carmen looked around the den. The only thing she had on her was the necklace, which felt like a lead weight trying to drag her back to the ground. She could see scraps of fabric across the floor. Her clothes. The only thing she could even recognize as a piece of an outfit was her shirt, but the edges were torn and frayed. 

She ran, her body protesting every movement. 

“Carmen!” He yelled after her, but she put the voice out of her head. 

The world around her became a blur and Carmen’s vision swam. As she ran, every noise sounded like it was coming through the end of a tube, echoing and buzzing directly into her ears. The scents of the reserve were strong, as if each bit of flora was being shoved directly into her nostrils. Gagging, Carmen fell to her knees and tried to catch her breath. 

Cradling her head, Carmen fell into the fetal position. How could last night have happened? Werewolves were real? Several had spoken to her. One had… 

The thought made her heave. Her body was shaking and sweating, her injured arm burning like it had been dipped in liquid fire. 

When she managed to get her wind back, she brought down her hands and saw the statue above her. Worn down and in need of some restoration, but she recognized the crescent moon mask and wolf across the woman’s lap. 

“Please.” She said, grabbing it by the base and pressing her forehead to it, “I need some answers. Give them to me.” Shivering, she felt the stone become slick in her fingers. Small vines and thorns pricked at her skin and she finally let go. 

The woman’s voice had vanished from the wind. 

A scent on the wind made her turn, pressing her cheek against the base. 

The hair was ginger and shaggy, covering his face with a beard, with the lupine eyes she’d looked into enough times to recognize them on sight. But he was a man now, maybe in his late twenties, like Carmen. He’d dressed in a simple baggy shirt with a faded sports logo and basketball shorts. 

And he made a rage boil over in her stomach and heart. Clenching her jaw and fists, she tasted blood and saw red. 

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” He asked, looking at the statue. 

Carmen was on him in an instant, slamming her fists into him and screaming with a primal fury she didn’t even realize was possible. He snarled, snapping at her with teeth just long enough to not be human. 

“Hey!”

Carmen was yanked off him. Her hands clawed at the air, her feet kicking at the empty space being created. 

Esau’s scent overpowered her nose, his arms wrapped securely around her torso and pulling her away. She fought against him, slamming the heels of her palms into his wrists and twisting her body, howling with rage. The strange sounds scraped her throat raw. 

A dark haired and bearded man was grabbing onto the ginger, hauling him back. Both were now sporting scratches and bruises. His scent hit Carmen, she felt herself trying to place it. Snapping her jaw, she continued to thrash and try to get free of Esau’s grip. 

Esau was breathing heavily, his whole body sweaty against Carmen’s. For an old man, he certainly had a strength she wasn’t expecting. His fingers dug into her, and she could feel his nails, curved and sharp. 

“Enough!” He said, his voice dropping to a pitch that made Carmen’s ears hurt. It almost made her want to drop flat against the ground. The sound seemed to rattle her very being, threatening to break her open. 

 “You’re hurting yourself.” And it was gone, his tone more gentle. 

Carmen looked down and saw her sutures had burst open. The pain that she’d pushed back registered, and she felt her whole body shaking again. 

“Give her your shirt.” Esau slowly let Carmen go. She fell to her knees on the ground. Blood dribbled from her arm, the drops staining the grass below. 

The bearded man walked over, offering up the balled up shirt to her. Taking it, she hugged the article of clothing to her chest. Almost as if on cue, she could hear them turning away so she could dress in privacy. 

Despite being taller than most women, Carmen still found the shirt hanging almost to her knees. 

The scent of the dark haired man overpowered her, and she finally placed him. The beard had aged him, but the smell was familiar because he had been at the clinic only a couple days prior, pulling the wolf away just an instant too late. Max. His name had been Max. He’d signed the paperwork. 

  Taking a few deep breaths, she got to her feet. How far did all of this go? Before she could think, her head began to pound. 

“Listen here,” The ginger got back in her face, his eyes flashing with fury. “Don’t think just because you’re a-” 

“Quit!” Esau barked, his voice dropping low again. Carmen could hear the click of his teeth as they snapped together. “This is your fault, Peter.” 

“He’s right.” Max finally spoke up. “You were the dumbass who was running through bear territory. And you fucking tried to bite her!” Carmen wondered if he’d been so harsh with Anna. 

Peter’s eyes flickered, losing the hunter’s glint and his pupils dilating. Carmen was sure that if he still had his tail, it would be lowered into submission. His whole body shifted and he pressed himself closer to the ground.  

“How was I supposed to know there would be traps there? It’s not hunting season.” Peter scowled. “Although having a bunch of rednecks attempt drunk triage on me in the bed of the pick up truck was an adventure.” 

Carmen was about to lecture him on how rules and laws didn’t deter people from still doing illegal things, but she held her tongue. How had she been so worried for him less than a day ago? 

Her arm stung and she yanked back, before realizing it was Esau trying to check her for injuries. His fingers were tinted red with her blood.

Holding his hand to her, Esau let out a deep breath, his whole body going slack. When he looked up, he just looked exhausted. 

“Can I look at your arm, please? I want to make sure it’s not going to get infected.” 

Reluctantly, she held it out to him. 

Having the man touch her again made her squirm, knowing he’d been a monster only a few hours before. But aside from the hirsute body and slightly elongated nails, he looked no different than the doctor from the clinic. 

Taking Carmen’s arm, Esau tilted it back and forth, before rubbing his face. His jaw clenched and unclenched as he glared at Peter. 

“There’s a first aid kit in the visitor center. I can patch you up.” He sighed. “I know you’ve probably got a thousand questions, and I can hopefully answer some of them. Just… Come with us, please?” 

Mouth dry, Carmen nodded. What could she even do at this point? 

“Are you two the only ones who decided to stay human?” Esau asked as they went down the hill. 

“Reluctantly.” Peter snarled as he walked ahead. “Diana would have probably let me die if I stayed in my wolf form.” He tilted his head side to side and cracked his neck. “I thought you wanted to actually kill me when you struck me last night. Some leader.” 

Esau shot him a look, and the younger man visibly shrunk back into Max. 

“Someone’s got to work at the reserve.” The dark haired agent said, “Did you get shaving cream this time?” He scratched his face. “I look too much like a mountain man with this scruff.” 

“How many of you are there?” Carmen asked, walking into the visitor center. The scent hit her. The barest amount of nature to set off a human nose and make them feel closer to the forest around them, but compared to outside, it was… Bare. 

“Half a dozen werewolves.” Esau said as he went to the front office. “And a dozen actual wolves. We can pick which form we want to stay in at the full moon, but I try to urge people to stay in one or the other because people going missing can be… Noticeable. And the wolves get stressed if they lose and gain pack members too rapidly.” 

He looked through the cabinets as Peter went to the cafeteria, a stove firing up. The scent of meat made Carmen’s mouth water. She looked down at her hand when she felt liquid and saw a silvery puddle of drool forming around her palm. Wiping her mouth, she shook her head. What on earth was going on with her. 

Max let the sink run in the bathroom, starting to shave. He was humming a tune she could place, but the lyrics wouldn’t come. 

“You said last night you try to keep the social circle small.” She wanted to ask him about their… Other activities, but couldn’t bring herself to do it. Esau couldn’t meet her eyes. Was he feeling the same way she was? 

“Yes.” Esau finally found the first aid kit, setting it on the desk next to him and holding out his hand for Carmen. Sighing, she let him take her arm and start to work. “Because otherwise things like this happen.” He sniffed, the confusion coming back to his face. 

“There’s normally a more formal vetting process, to make sure we’re not changing someone who has a young child at home or has a lifestyle that won’t allow them to make the change.” He sighed, before glowering in the direction of the kitchen. 

“Or changing someone literally days before the full moon and then having them run around as a crazy monster of fangs and claws with no preparation. The fact that you didn’t start chasing down random people and animals is a miracle.” He swallowed, taking care to dab at her arm and clean off any dirt and dried blood. 

“The first few months are rough, but if you have a pack then it becomes easier and you’re able to keep your mind.” Turning toward the kitchen, he gave a nod. “That’s why we took in Peter. Although he’s still learning to be a team player.” 

Swallowing, Carmen stared at the desk in silence outside of a wince or a hiss as Esau applied the disinfectant to her arm. What would have happened if Anna had been the one scratched instead of her? 

“When you visited me at the Urgent Care, I saw the wound, but I couldn’t smell the wolf inside you.” He continued to explain, before he finished bandaging up her arm. 

The phrasing gave her pause. 

“Wait, smell the wolf inside me?” Carmen asked, flexing her fingers. “The one you were trying to make come out?” 

Esau clicked his tongue. “When you’re bitten, the wolf inside you starts to wake up, becoming stronger the closer you are to the full moon.” He frowned. 

“It’s like… having two minds able to control you, but only one of you gets to be in the driver’s seat at a time.” He held up two fingers, waving both up and down. “I assumed that since you were only scratched, that meant that Peter wasn’t able to infect you.” 

“I was just thinking we had to add something to break up the sausage party.” Peter said as he came out of the kitchen, a plate piled high with food. “Welcome to the pack, girlie. You’re the first bitch we’ve ha-” 

Carmen glowered at him and he withered under her look, mouth opening and closing without sound. Muttering to himself, he set the plate on the desk and walked back into the kitchen, legs slightly bent, an invisible tail curling between them. 

“ Normally,” Esau emphasized. “But so far, it’s been the farthest thing from normal in this whole process.” He rubbed his face, shot a dirty look at Peter, then shook his head with a sigh. “I understand you’re probably feeling all sorts of… Everything. But you’re in this now, and there’s nothing we can do about it. I’m sorry. And I can’t say it enough.” 

Carmen stared at the food, then felt her stomach heave. Fatigue, disgust, and sickness all warred, before the nausea finally won out. 

Max yelped as she shoved past him into the bathroom, kneeling down at the toilet and vomiting her guts out. Her whole body shook with fatigue and she pressed her forehead against the bowl. Max carefully put down the razor. 

“... You want me to hold your hair back?” Water ran and Max toweled off his face, suddenly very interested in the wall. 

Carmen shook her head. With a noise of understanding, Max stepped out of the bathroom. Then, a moment later, he tossed in a pair of boxers through the door and retreated again. 

After what felt like forever, Carmen drug herself out of the bathroom, boxers now on. The three men had eaten most of the food from the plate. 

“So what do we do now?” Her stomach flipped, but she knew there was nothing left. Picking up a slice of toast, she forced herself to eat it. Esau handed her a water bottle, which she sipped. 

“Back to normal life.” Esau shrugged. “Make sure everyone is healthy, then meet up again next month.” He looked over at Peter. “Although I’m going to have a new roommate for the next cycle.” 

“Not my fault,” Peter said without looking up from his food. “Someone decided to throw me off a cliff and make me shift to my human form.” 

Carmen and Esau both shot him a dirty look, and he got up and headed back to the kitchen with the dirty dishes. 

“I’m going home.” Max announced. “My roommate is worried sick about me. I keep getting texts.” He looked at Carmen and sighed.

“You can uh… Keep those.” He gestured to the clothing and exited the Reserve, putting the phone to his ear. 

Carmen looked at Esau, who set a keyring on the table. Carmen realized it was hers. Taking it, she went to shove them in her pockets, then remembered there wasn’t any on the boxers. 

“I’m sorry about everything.” Esau said insistently. “I know it’s a lot to take in. But I also need to remind you that you can’t go telling everyone about what happened last night.” Looking down at the table, he sighed. 

“Not only would no one believe you, but those that would are the type of people we need to keep out of the pack.” He swallowed, eyes flicking back and forth between her and the wound. 

“Look, about what went down.” Swallowing hard, he pinched the bridge of his nose and then looked up at the ceiling. 

“I don’t have a good excuse for myself. I don’t take women into the pack for that reason. Because the full moon triggers a heat cycle in you and it can be painful if…” He suddenly looked very flustered. “Well, that doesn’t happen. As you found out.” 

He scratched nervously at the desktop, scraping up shavings of wood. 

“While most others can control themselves, I never wanted to try and take that chance.” He rubbed the side of his head, “I understand if you can’t forgive me, nor do I expect you to. I can offer you apologies and a safe place to change each month.” He leaned against the desk. 

“I promise I will do what I can to make this right.” 

The events of last night finally cascaded, hitting her all at once. Carmen looked at the desk, seeing the tears landing on the wooden surface. 

Covering her face, Carmen clenched a fist and felt the rage and sorrow swirling inside. How could one event cause such a ripple effect? What would she even tell everyone when she came back to the clinic? 

“Is it safe for me to go home?” Her sides heaved. “I don’t… I don’t have anyone there but myself. But I don’t want to suddenly wolf out and destroy my apartment.” She made a growling noise and wiggled her fingers like claws. 

Esau nodded, wincing at her impression. “The change only happens at the full moon.” 

Carmen then licked her lips, the thoughts rattling around in her mind. “You mentioned that the full moon triggers a heat in female wolves…” Her breathing was shaky and she felt the toast about to come back up again. 

“Does that mean that they can get pregnant?” Each word was a chore to push back her lips. Dreading the answer, Carmen stared at him. The desk seemed to groan against the grip she had on it. 

Esau’s eyes went wide, and he quickly shook his head. “No. The only way we can increase our numbers is through the bite.” He scratched the back of his neck. “I’m… Sorry if you had plans to do that.” 

Carmen felt relief wash over her. 

“Oh, thank god.” She pressed her forehead to the desk and felt more tears squeeze out. Esau offered her a paper towel, which she used to blow her nose and dry her eyes. “You uh… Also you don't have any wolf … stuff, do you?” The amount of viruses and diseases she had to vaccinate for flashed across her mind. How would she even treat them? 

Esau shook his head. “I can run a few tests for you at the clinic, having another person process them if you don’t trust me.” His face was pale as he spoke. “I’m still so sorry for what happened. Had I known, I would have done so many things differently.” 

“What’s going to happen to Peter?” Carmen looked at the man as he paced back and forth. The limp was a lot more pronounced. Maybe he hadn’t been completely healed from his injuries after all. Or he was faking again. 

“I’ll come up with some sort of punishment for him.” Esau looked back at him. “What would you want done?” 

Carmen couldn’t come up with an answer. There were so many thoughts rattling around in her mind, but none stuck. She had been willing to kill him earlier, trying to claw out his throat. But seeing how pathetic he was… She almost felt sorry for him. 

Almost. 

“Let’s put a pin in that.” She drank down another water bottle, then got up. She needed to leave. This was starting to make her feel sick all over again. She was also probably behind on her medicine. And she needed to check back in with Anna and the clinic.  

“One more thing.” Esau grabbed a scrap of paper and scribbled down on it. “If you have any other questions, or just need to talk, here’s my phone number.” 

Carmen clutched the paper tightly. What could she even say? 

“I guess… See you next full moon?” She couldn’t even bring herself to force a smile. Everything was happening too fast. 

“Hopefully. You know how to get here. But I’ll be in contact with you just in case.” He watched her leave, and Carmen wondered how someone who looked so… Tired and frail could have been the same beast that was about to tear her apart only a few hours before. 

“Jesus, Carmen,” Anna remarked when she came back into the clinic three days later. “You look like Hell. But I’m glad to have you back. Full moon makes everyone act a fool.” 

“Turns out when a wolf scratches you that it can be a horrible experience.” Carmen remarked as she started to look through the files of the clients they had coming in for the day. As she flipped through the papers, she picked up on the scent of Anna. It brought to mind the coffee they’d drank, and the fear and worry she’d been feeling. 

“I’m fine,” Carmen said, turning and trying to smile. But her teeth suddenly felt too big for her mouth and the scowl returned. Her skin still hurt from the scalding hot showers she’d subjected herself to. She’d probably seared off the top three layers of tissue in an attempt to feel clean. 

“I just…” Anna sniffed. “I just worried that I had done something wrong. I’d missed his dose or something, or I hadn’t secured him properly. God, if he didn’t have the muzzle… Then when you vanished for a week, I worried you’d-” 

Carmen got up and hugged her. Anna sniffed again and rested her head on Carmen’s shoulder. Her scent of sorrow, worry, regret, wafted up and about made Carmen reel back from it all. 

“I’ve seen what they can do,” Anna sobbed. “I know nature is beautiful and everything, but when I worked on the reserve…” Sniffling, she pulled back and wiped her eyes. “God, I’m sobbing and I wasn’t even hurt.” 

Shrugging, Carmen turned to face the door when the bell chimed, a howling maine coon being carried in by a distraught looking man. 

“Hello, Kelser, is Bruiser giving you trouble again?” 

In the back room, Carmen worked through the patients almost mechanically. Sure, she smiled and waved, but she could feel… Something stirring in the back of her mind that she was pressing down. 

The thought of harming the animals wasn’t flitting across her mind, but she just saw them in a way that was hard to put her finger on. Bruiser yowled, and she found herself giving a sour look to the cat. He stopped the act almost immediately as soon as Kelser was out the door. 

“Dramatic.” She mumbled to herself, before checking him over. The feline purred and rubbed up against her. Cradling his squishy face, Carmen sighed. 

Then, his ears went flat. Pulling back, he hissed and swiped at her arm, nearly ripping the wound open. Snarling, he backed himself into a corner and continued trying to phase through the wall, spitting and hissing. 

Carmen found herself snarling back, and she bore her teeth. 

“ Quit it .” Something in her throat rumbled in a way that made it sore. But Bruiser was suddenly laying on the ground, pupils dilated as he stared at her. Then, he gave her a slow blink. 

Shaking her head, Carmen felt a twinge of worry about what had just happened. Bruiser didn’t seem hurt, but he was suddenly a lot more submissive. He made irritated chirps, but allowed her to work. 

Once the day was over, Carmen stretched her arms above her head and looked over at Anna, who was shuffling their last customer out the door. 

The clinic closed, Carmen dashed out the door and checked her phone. 

“ Hw ws ur 1st dy bck ?” Esau's message lit up her screen. Carmen messaged him back, then saw she had two more messages. 

“Here’s my number in case you need it, Max .” 

“ E wants you to have my number. So here it is. Peter.” 

Carmen sent a response to both and slipped the phone in her pocket. Anna was calling someone, making plans for the weekend. She gave Carmen a friendly wave, before pulling the phone down and covering the speaker. 

“Hey. Me and the gang are going to get together tonight. You want in?” 

Carmen opened her mouth to agree, but the thought of so many people around her, scents assaulting her nose, loud cries and wails making her ears ache… She didn’t feel like it would be wise. A craving to be around others was stoked in her, but it felt hollow. 

“Sure.” Carmen cracked a smile, feeling the muscles in her neck strain. 

Anna nodded, then went back to the conversation. 

At the bar, she met up with Anna’s college friends, a man and a woman. 

They all said their greetings, making small talk that Carmen tried to participate in, but she couldn’t really come up with much other than “ Yeah, I’m Anna’s friend ” and “ Yeah. I was sick as a dog for the past week. ” 

“Oh! You’re the one who bought the necklace!” Mae smiled broadly. “I’m glad you liked it! When Anna told me her coworker wanted it, I just had to make it extra special! The wolf-” 

“Don’t talk her ear off.” The man, Nick, lectured. 

But Carmen didn’t need to do much talking. Once she was around others, Anna took control and began to catch them up on current events. 

“So get this, this huge ass wolf comes in,” Anna said, recounting the story, a wine cooler in her hand as they were served an entree of greasy food. 

Carmen stared down at the sandwich she’d ordered, picking and prodding at it with her silverware. Overstuffed, with oily meat that would fall out if she lifted it up. The scent coming off the cocktails and bottles was making her sick. 

“Jesus,” Nick winced when they got to the part about Carmen’s injury. “Good thing it wasn’t a bite, eh?” 

He looked at Carmen’s arm, which she slipped off the table and settled into her lap.

 “So what about the wolf?” Mae asked. “I mean… I know they sometimes put down dogs for biting people…” 

“He’s been relocated.” Carmen answered quickly, drawing the attention of the table. “...I was talking to one of the agents while I was recovering.” 

Anna stared at Carmen with confusion, and she realized that it had never come up. But then again, she’d been keeping him out of her thoughts. 

A sudden wave of fury came over her at the reminder of Peter. He’d scratched her, and for what? So he could get laid? Set her up to be at the mercy of the pack? What would have happened if Esau hadn’t intervened? 

 The knife in her hand cracked the plate as she continued to saw at the sandwich with it. She looked at the mess she’d made as the bits of food sprayed across the table. 

Everyone looked at the broken plate, before staring at Carmen with what she hoped was concern. But the fear and confusion started to penetrate her nose. The scent it put off made her stomach churn. Even Anna was staring at her with wide eyes. 

“ It’s fine .” She felt her voice trying to slip into the calming pitch that she’d used on the animals, but she fell into a coughing fit instead. Taking her water, Carmen took a drink and sighed, knowing the night was ruined. 

The tension around them began to rise. Carmen apologized, excusing herself to the restroom and staring at herself in the mirror. Her face was clammy, sweat soaked hair clinging to her skin. Taking a deep breath, she fished money out of her purse and headed back to pay her portion of the bill. 

“Do you mind if I walk you out to your car?” Nick asked. “You don’t look so good.” 

Carmen looked to Anna and Mae, who both nodded. 

They walked outside, and Carmen leaned against the vehicle. Her legs felt like they were about to give out. A familiar shiver of a fever began to creep up her body. 

“You alright?” Nick asked.  

“I’m okay.” She insisted. “I’ve just been having a rough patch.” Turning to the side, Carmen gave an exaggerated fake cough, hoping it would deter him. 

With a nod of understanding, Nick gave her a pat on the shoulder. 

And it was like he’d stabbed her. Her legs buckled and if she hadn’t been leaning against her car, she probably would have hit the pavement. When Nick pulled his hand away, she saw the flash of silver on his finger. If he noticed her reaction, he didn’t say anything. Opening her car door, Carmen ducked inside.

Clutching her shoulder, Carmen took a few deep breaths. Giving herself a squeeze, she jolted awake. Ears ringing, she started the drive back home. 

When she got back to her apartment, Carmen tore off her shirt. The skin on her shoulder was now raised and angry, marbled with red and silver. Grabbing a bag of frozen peas, she set it on the wound. 

Sitting on the couch, she fluffed up the pillows and tried to lay on them and focus on the television to take her mind off the pain. But nothing could hold her attention. 

Holding the biggest body pillow, Carmen curled her entire body around it. Looping her legs and arms around the softness, she sighed and sniffed. She wormed her way into the pile, pushing them off the bed and making a sort of nest on the floor. 

Laying between two and peeking at the television, she finally was able to watch it. But something still felt… Off. 

She found herself tearing through her laundry, then her trash. After a few moments of searching, she found the baggy shirt and boxers that Max had given her. Taking the shirt, she draped it over the pillow and rested her cheek against it. 

Taking the trash, she found the bandages Esau had used to patch up her arm and the piece of paper he’d given her. Not wanting to touch them directly, she slipped them under the pillowcase. 

Despite it having lost most of their scents, it still brought Carmen some degree of comfort. She hung the rose quartz necklace above her head, then felt herself slipping into sleep. 

She was sitting in the field, but her vision was distorted, almost as if she was looking through a telescope. Something warm rested against her. Looking down, Carmen saw a wolf laying across her lap, shivering and bloodied. 

“Shhh…” Leaning down, she dropped her voice and watched the wolf lift its head, sniffing at the air. Fingers running through its fur, Carmen continued to soothe it as it whimpered and whined, nosing against her palm. A strange heat was coming off it. As it whimpered, she saw the silver arrowhead in its haunch. 

“Please…” It whined. “It hurts. Like my blood is turning to fire. Turn me back...” 

Despite her efforts, she wasn’t able to pull out the arrow. The silver sliced through her own fingers, leaving the whole thing a mess of fleshy ribbons and blood. The wolf whimpered and whined, looking up at her with piteous eyes, before it slowly turned to stone. 

Something called out. When Carmen looked up, she saw a woman running toward them, her stomach swollen with pregnancy. Her eyes fell on the wolf and she fell to the ground, sobbing. 

“You were supposed to keep this from happening,” She said as sobs wracked her body. “They were supposed to be smarter than this.” Hands beat at the earth, and a look of pure hatred pierced into Carmen. 

“I will never forgive you.” 

In the distance, she could see a silhouette of a deer. More hunters walked alongside it, notching more silver headed arrows as their necks craned. Distant howls echoed in the forest, followed by yelps and snarls. 

Carmen sat up, tangled in blankets and pillows. Her sweat soaked through the fabric. Pulling herself free, she flinched when touching the now warm bag of squishy peas. 

Taking in shaking breaths, she got to her feet. The necklace had become entangled around her wrist again. Going to the sink, Carmen splashed cold water on her face to wake herself up, then shoved the peas back into the freezer. Her shoulder was still sore, but it was just uncomfortably warm rather than white hot. 

Sitting in her pillow pile, she pulled out her phone and sent a message to Esau. 

“ Hey. Sorry it’s late. But are dreams normal ?” She paused, before sending up a follow up message. “ Like, dreams about the Statue Lady? Diana? ” 

Opening the window, she sat on the windowsill and stared up at the moon. The cool night air felt better on her skin. They’d talked about the gods in school, but it wasn’t something Carmen took to heart. 

Her phone buzzed. Slipping back inside, she closed the window when she saw a video call incoming. Reluctantly, she answered it. 

Esau grumbled as he rubbed his bloodshot eyes. His face was pale in the blue light of the camera. 

“Sorry, fat fingers.” His voice was still groggy with sleep. “You okay?” 

“Yeah.”  Carmen recounted the dream. “But it was weird because… I had a dream the night I turned.” 

“You’ll only turn on the full moon if that’s your worry.” He rubbed his face and shook his head as if that would loosen sleep’s hold on him. 

“Diana… Sometimes you’ll have dreams about her. She is the goddess of the moon, so a lot of wolves think she’s a dream walker of sorts. One of the theories is that we’re descended from her hounds that she hunted with.” Taking in a deep breath, he rose from the bed and she realized he was shirtless. Carmen made sure that she had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. 

“Aside from the dreams, you feeling alright?” 

“A little sick.” She admitted. “And… Kinda lonely.” 

As soon as the words left her mouth, Carmen berated herself. Why did she say that? It wasn’t like she could command someone to come over. Looking over her shoulder, Carmen winced at the little den she’d made of the pillows again. No way would she show him that.

“That’s normal.” He assured her. “Your body is going through a change. And… We’re pack animals.” He paused, as if mulling over his options. 

“You want me to send Max down to check on you?” His mouth opened to say something, but he clicked it closed, before glowering as something shuffled off camera. 

“Don’t worry about it.” Carmen didn’t want to drag Max out of bed. He would probably come to resent her for making things so difficult right off the bat. She already felt guilty about waking up Esau. And she was sure that if Peter was sent over, he wouldn’t leave the apartment alive. Thankfully, Esau never brought up that option. Nor did he invite himself over. 

They stared at one another in silence, before Carmen inhaled sharply and gave a wave. 

“Well, have a good night. Sorry for waking you up!” 

Hanging up the call, Carmen tossed her phone away. It clattered noisily on the floor, skidding into the pillow cavern. 

Another restless night had Carmen feeling like a slug in the morning. More sweat and heat rolled off her. 

Groaning, she looked at the homescreen of her phone and tried to will it to an earlier time so she could go back to sleep without guilt. Being a werewolf didn’t come with reversal powers, it seemed. Just a lot of sickness and irritation. 

After dragging herself to the shower, Carmen felt a wave of fatigue and soreness come over her. The tile slammed against her head. Groaning, she curled into a ball on the shower floor and just let the water pour over her. 

Grabbing a blanket, she burritoed herself inside and called the clinic, apologizing profusely. 

“Just… Get some rest, okay?” Anna swallowed. “Nick said you didn’t look so good when he walked you to your car." 

 Carmen groaned and shivered, her body feeling like it was on the point of a convulsion. 

Anna swallowed hard as a dog bayed in the background. “Carmen, please let me know if you feel any worse, okay?” 

“Anna, you’re the real MVP, you know that?”

“...Carmen, go back to sleep. You can barely string together a sentence, don’t leave your apartment.” Anna snorted. “And feel better, okay?” 

Sighing, Carmen hung up and looked at the ceiling. 

“ How much longer is this supposed to last? ” She messaged Esau. “ Because I do not want to deal with this and keep missing work .” Pausing, she let her thumb hover over the screen, before she added. “ And hit Peter, for me, okay ?” 

“ Wts ur adrss ?” 

Carmen sighed. How old was this man? Sending her address, she laid her head back down. 

Sleep continued to be elusive, so Carmen laid in her little pile of pillows, watching the tiles and shadows on the ceiling. 

A couple hours later, there was a knock at the door. Rising from the pile on the floor, Carmen shuffled to the door and opened it. 

Esau was standing at the door, a plastic bag in hand. His scent rolled over her and she suddenly was ravenous. The fatigue and the nausea fell off like heavy manacles, leaving Carmen feeling lighter than before. 

They stared at one another, awkward silence following. Shifting from foot to foot, Esau looked around at the halls, before clearing his throat. 

“Don’t you have work?” She stepped back and let him in. He walked in, looking around with raised brows. Carmen was suddenly aware of the state of disarray of the apartment. Her clothes and blankets were strewn about, the pillow pile in the middle of the living room, positioned so she could peer out and rest her head on the coffee table to eat. 

“I’m on break.” He set a plastic container on the counter. “I couldn’t sleep last night after your call, so I did some cooking. I figured you’d want to eat something. I managed to rescue some ingredients from Peter before he ate me out of house and home.” 

Carmen scowled, before she found herself rushing over when he popped the lid on the container. Her stomach growled.. 

“I thought you were feeling sick.” He put his palm to her forehead. “At least it feels like your fever broke.” 

The touch was warm, his hands soft. Fingertips brushed against brow and temple. Carmen found herself leaning into the touch, the familiar scent of Pack washing over her. Quickly, he pulled his hand away. 

“Sorry.” Sliding the container to her, he inhaled, putting a hand on his hip. His eyes swept around the apartment, taking in everything. The silence was suffocating. 

“Thanks for coming by.” Carmen forced a smile, but she felt a flicker of happiness that made it somewhat more real. She grabbed his arm to escort him out. 

It was like a jolt went through her. Her vision became tinted with silver and blue again, and her grip on his wrist tightened enough for him to grunt with discomfort. She stared up at him, her lips parting slightly. The familiar sensation of arousal stirred between her legs. Nowhere near as intense at the first time, but she recognized it. 

Esau looked down at Carmen, hands not leaving hers. 

“You’ve got wolf eyes…” He said softly, brows coming together. “But it’s not the full moon…” Sniffing the air, he stared at her, the confusion and fear rolling off him. But it was quickly overpowered by curiosity. 

Carmen let him go, rubbing her eyes. “Sorry.” She blinked, shaking her head and looking at him again. “Are they gone?” 

But her vision still remained the same silvery blue. The aching need was filling her again. The attraction she felt toward Esau was something she wasn’t sure about. Or was she just feeling that lonely?

Esau’s eyes never left her. There was something familiar about how he looked at her. The way the beast tried to push her away while he fought his own arousal. However, she felt them slowly coming closer together. 

“Carmen,” He said softly, “It’s not the full moon. You shouldn’t be looking at me like that.” 

“What if I’m not being affected by the moon?” Tongue flitting across her lip, she stared at him. "What if I just… really like you?" She’d never been too terribly into older men, but if someone was attractive, they were attractive. 

His eyes wouldn’t meet hers. “It’s not right. I’m so much older than you. And I made too many mistakes already.” Placing his hands on her shoulders, he let out his breath. 

“I’ve contacted an all female pack about three hours away from here. You should be able to get along there just fine without having to worry about-” 

“Are you kidding me!?” Carmen jerked away. “I’m not moving. I’ve got a life here. A job. People who rely on me! If you should be sending anyone away, it should be Peter, he’s the one who did this to me!” 

Esau flinched at her words. “I know. And I’m sorry. But if I send him away, then he's going to get himself killed.”

He clenched his fist, his whole body shaking with an effort to contain himself. “I lost control once. I’ll never do it again. And the best thing for that is to send you away.” 

Carmen grit her teeth. 

They stared at one another, not breaking eye contact. 

“ No. ” Carmen’s throat felt raw at the word. Esau’s face went pale and he fell to one knee, his whole body shaking. Hands clenched and opened, scratching at the hardwood floor. Veins bulged, joints twisted, and he let out a pained whimper. 

Could she really hold so much power? Her eyes widened as Esau slowly got to his feet, his body slick with sweat. Breathing heavily, he stared at Carmen. There was a flicker of the wolf in his eyes, but his body strained and it was snuffed out. She opened her mouth, almost ready to call for him to change. 

Horror filled her and she backed away. 

"You keep talking about staying in control, keeping it, never losing it." Carmen flexed her fingers. 

"But you didn't hurt me when you…" Cheeks burning, she shook her head, remembering how she was crying out with a need that frightened the both of them. And it was starting to rise again. 

And she didn't want to stop it. 

 "What do you want to do?" She asked, nearly begging. 

Esau turned away from her, staring at the den of pillows. "What I want isn't important. I need to keep the pack safe. I've sent away people before. That's why I took in a lone wolf like Peter, because he needed a pack to ground him. And that's why I need to send you away, before I-" 

Carmen reached out and touched his chest. She could feel his heart racing, hear the blood singing in his veins. Shifting, he turned to her touch. Fingers curled around the back of her hand, slowly lifting it away and cupping Esau's face. 

"We shouldn't be doing this." But he only leaned more into her hand as he spoke. 

 "Do you not want to?" 

"I do. By Diana, I do. But you're…" His words trailed off and he sighed. "I owe it to the pack. And to you." 

"You're not the pack leader right now." She reminded him. "You're just a man checking in on one of his patients." 

Standing on her toes, Carmen brushed her lips against his. The small bit of friction lit a flame. Fingers twisted in Esau's hair and brought him down. 

Arms looped around her waist and he pushed himself against Carmen. She could smell the shaving gel that he'd used that morning, the cologne he barely applied to cover up the faint scent of animal on him, and the desire. 

Head swimming, Carmen pressed her nose to the curve of his neck and inhaled his scent. Lips rain across scorching hot skin, making Esau's knees buckle. A raspy moan rattled in his throat, years of desire and repression finally unraveling. 

 Squeezing her shoulders, Esau brought her mouth back up to his. Stubble from the day scratched against her chin, but she didn't care. Their lips parted for an instant, only to come crashing back together. She shoved him, hard. With a grunt, he landed on the couch. 

Taking his shirt between her teeth, Carmen realized she wanted to tear it off him. Sanity came back an instant later, and the garment was pulled over his head instead. She inhaled his scent deeply, the arousal making her shiver. 

Her eyes went to the silvery bite on his shoulder. Fingers traced the wound, and it seemed to pucker and raise under her touch. Esau flinched, sucking in a breath, his fist making a white knuckled grip on the couch. 

Slipping off her pants and underwear, Carmen straddled him. Hands cupped the small of her back and rear. Nails pressed into skin, making it prickle at the touch. 

"This is going to be different." He warned her. 

“That doesn’t make it bad.” She kissed him again, grinding her hips against his. 

Fabric rustled, and she felt him pressing against her. Even the brief touches seemed to send a jolt through both of them. His nails dug more into her skin, making the contact last just an instant longer. 

The tip pressed inside her, already damp and slick with precum. 

“Are you sure?” He asked, even though his cock was pulsing, twitching against her wet slit. 

In response, she slid down onto him. Esau gasped, pushing Carmen’s shoulders and burying himself to the hilt. Panting, he began to thrust up into her as she met him in the opposite direction. 

They continued their movement, becoming entangled in one another, skin slick, breath catching, soft noises escaping as they explored one another with hands and mouths. 

“You alright?” She asked, trying to not moan too loudly and keep her rhythm going. Her breasts began to bounce as she took more control, putting her hand on the back of the couch to allow her better balance. 

Esau continued to gasp and whimper, each movement seeming to awaken something new to him. When she took him to the hilt, he'd toss his head back and let out a growl that rumbled through Carmen. 

“It’s just…” He took in a couple breaths, holding her to him. “Been a while.” Cupping her cheek, he stared at her. "It's a lot different when… you're human." 

"Just let me take care of it." She laced her fingers with his and continued to roll her hips. There was something about the two of them that just fit , and she couldn't put her finger on it. 

Picking up her pace, Carmen buried her face in Esau's neck. Moans escaped them both, before becoming muffled by lips. Carmen felt herself approaching climax, the orgasm building before she could even think to slow down and enjoy it. 

This was what she had craved. What she'd needed. 

Esau's nails dug into Carmen's hips, and he held her down. At first, she struggled, but he hilted himself, grinding against her to push in more than she thought possible.

A cry went past her lips as he twitched and she clenched, their climaxes within an instant of one another. With labored breaths, he weakly thrust upward as fluid covered the both of them, before finally slowing when he was spent. 

Pressing her forehead to his, Carmen inhaled their mingling scents. They kissed, Esau slipping hands inside her shirt and not allowing any space between them.

When he finally pulled back, there was a look of awe on his face. It was the glow and glint in his eyes as man and primal need were both satisfied.

Resting against him, Carmen closed her eyes. His hands remained around her waist, and her arms around his neck, cheeks, torsos, and groins pressed together. 

"What do we do now?" He asked, sounding genuinely lost. 

"I guess leave it up to the mercy of Diana."

The next part is out, you can read it here.

[dannybobany]

RUN WHEN YOU HEAR THE BELLS JINGLE!

(Aubrey’s Marzenie Desgin)

The beetle is dead long live the Horned Album!! Which is what this thing is called by the way, I feel bad for scrapping the beetle thing but while I was doing this my friend (thank you Jamie) suggested that maybe the horned album has a pet beetle and I said YES rabbit sized beetle with a dumb little jester hat.

Now due to. Uh. Well several things, this change in design means I’ll be altering the map and Kim’s design to see fit since both were originally connected to the beetle idea, and while I hate to see that lizard thing go she wasn’t remotely my favorite design so I can live with replacing her

So what’s going on with The Horned Album? Well the main theme I was going for is the ruining or tainting of something good, for Basil that’s mainly memories, Sunny, Mari and Hero can all be ignored easily since they don’t have a presence in Basil’s life anymore, Kel is more difficult to ignore but his current self is continuous with his young self, the person Kel is now has little effect on who he was in the last and Basil’s memories of him

But Aubrey? Her current presence in Basil’s life can neither be ignored and doesn’t connect well with his memories of her, the attitude she has toward him ranges from dismissive to rude to downright violent, sure Aubrey’s treatment isn’t remotely the worst Basil has experienced but her change of identity has put a stain on Basil’s memories of her… which namely, many are separate old ones he has of Mari which were also ruined by her death… the reason this is different is because Aubrey was Basil’s first true friend, Sure he later became closer with Sunny but Aubrey was first, and there’s many memories of her that are entirely separate from ones of the rest of the group or of Sunny

The day Aubrey began to hate Basil was also the day Basil lost the first person who truly accepted him outside his family… Aubrey was a milestone, Being friends with Aubrey was the only reason he even MET Sunny and the rest of the group, it’s that which has become tainted now

Furthermore, the other choices of goat-features and a clown outfit are sort of their own spin of the idea, the goat’s most popular symbolic use is as the perversion of the lamb (the lamb being a symbol for Jesus Christ, this is why goats are accociated with Satan, they can be mistaken for each other at a glance but upon closer inspection a goat and a sheep are very different)

The clown thing is kind of just a thing about “ruined joy”, clowns are meant to be entertainers and bringers of happiness to the masses, for one to become twisted and dangerous… ahh well this is not a new idea, using clowns in this way is very popular but as someone who likes clowns it was inevitable I’d have one in Marzenie although Aubrey wasn’t going to be the first choice, there were two other characters I’d intended to make clowns … the fact that I’m changing the cave to a circus makes them fit much better actually…hmm

It’s also worth noting that I wanted this character to be very… violent looking, anyhow, will be adding her to the master post plus an updated height chart tomorrow! I guarantee y’all she is. Uh. Big

Alright that’s all for now! Couldnt find anywhere to shove a gladiolus but I figure that’s fine, reflection doesn’t have any roses and Ziemia no lily or the valley, not all Marzenie characters are gonna have flowers in their design’s in fact most won’t… and yes I did phone in the coloring here, It’s 11:44 pm as I’m writing this and I’ve been working on it for two hours now so… yeah okay bye! Scheduling this to post in the morning now

[shnashq]

caved in and finally did dandy's world redesigns

boxten, poppy, and glisten.

boxten's a music box, so i swapped his key out for a handle, and made him look a lil more formal.

poppy sure does look like a bubble... but what if she was a lil more transparent?

and i made glisten's fruitiness more obvious (i don't think i phrased that correctly😶)

goob!!!! and flutter :3

i made flutter a little more moth like... also gave her stubby lil arms. i think i also swapped her colors.

accidentally gave goob an overhaul. idk, gave him paws and more floof cuz he's a silly lil fellow.

razzle and dazzle, finn, and scraps.

i gave razzle and dazzle new cheek designs, then gave razzle different eyes to counterbalance dazzle's, and made a new outfit based on stage curtains. (like why were they running around with only a black dress-thing on)

i made finn slightly transparent (like poppy), gave him fins ("give finn fins and tail" we all say in unison), and gave him a cool new outfit.

scraps (if you ignore the fact i went all out on her 😬) has some of goob's colors because they somehow didn't look related to each other.

her head, arms, legs, and tail are made of cardboard, and has a blue collar with a bell on it. her paper dress is slightly pink and is filled with doodles (i had fun doing that), and has a big fluff-ball on the end her tail.

i couldn't choose between making the inside of her mouth look like it's been colored in with crayon or just leave it brown, so i naturally put the two together. which one looks better?

also unnatural mouth colors for ✨VARIETY✨

will be adding more soon with more characters

[thoughtportal]

One of seven brothers, Nick Cave grew up watching his family create magic out of scraps. His aunts would cut paper bags into patterns, and in just one day, make an entire new outfit to wear that night. Since then, the artist has been dedicated to studying how to lay ornamental patterns on the body.

Leading the way for a current groundswell of adornment in art, Cave is known for highly decorated, maximalist works, particularly in his “Soundsuits,” which are both unapologetically joyous and respond to the deep pain of police brutality against Black people. His newest body of work, on view in “Amalgams and Graphts” at Jack Shainman Gallery’s large space in the Clock Tower Building through March 29, pushes and pulls the forms he’s known for playing with. Introducing needlepoint and portraiture, he flattened out his meticulous collections of objects into riotous rectangles, winking at the heritage of 19th-century floral paintings. But he’s also elongated his humanoid figures, using bronze casts of 3D scans of his own body that burst into tree forms branching toward the heavens.

For this episode of the Hyperallergic Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Hrag Vartanian visited Cave at his studio in Chicago. You’ll hear them discuss how queerness informs his sensibility, his perspectives on fashion, preservation, politics, his memories of dressing in his Sunday best for church, and how the self-taught women crafters in his family planted the seeds for him to become the artist he is today.

[only-by-the-stars]

TotK is so frustrating because there are genuinely several things I would love to incorporate into fics (mostly items, but also some NPCs and a handful of concepts and little areas), but Unfortunately the Plot. if it was just mediocre, that'd be one thing, but it's so disconnected from BOTW and so disjointed from itself that I'm at a loss for how I'd even begin to salvage it without doing something else that barely resembles it. at that point I might as well come up with my own plot, you know?

what I'm gonna end up doing is just... taking all those little scraps and working them into various AUs. like the Adventure Time one, for instance. that one's the most ripe, I think, for a lot of this.

hmm. gonna make a list, I think, under a cut.

first of all, let's not lie to ourselves: 'secret passageway under the castle that contains long-concealed/sealed Horrors' is a banger of a concept. unfortunately. unfortunately this was not executed as well as it could've been. I would love to do something neat with this sometime. I think it would fit especially well in the AT AU as stated. perhaps even with a take on those nuclear warnings.

Penn was a genuinely entertaining new NPC and I enjoyed the Lucky Clover Gazette chain of sidequests for the most part. like, could've done without the stuff setting up Zelda as being omni-talented and so super special (it really flattens her character, you know? such amateurish writing), but the concept of investigating rumors for a newspaper was fun. also the All-Clucking Cucco one was hilarious.

the Stable Trotters were so charming! I really liked this sidequest chain too.

the Stormwind Ark was actually kinda cool too, gave me Skies of Arcadia vibes. I wonder if I could do anything with it...

I want to stress, before I go any further, that if you've read or are planning to read my fic Song of a Champion... Yunobo using the Boulder Breaker and Riju using scimitars are things I had planned before the trailer revealing this was a thing in TotK. it is yet another entertaining instance of me predicting/guessing things correctly. xD

if I ever do anything with a version of the Depths, they're gonna have more, well, depth. they should've had settlements, or at least the ruins of them, or... something, you know? love the concept, meh on the execution. :/

same with the sky islands. and the explanation for the Great Sky Island in that one sidequest there was... really not satisfying, sadly. deffo something I could toy with and improve on.

Hyrulean pizza. 'nuff said. I applaud wholeheartedly the decision to give us cheese and tomatoes and let us make one of the greatest culinary creations known to mankind.

I'm iffy on the mushroom fashion/additions to Hateno, but I like the idea of Cece opening a shop in Hateno and selling some of those new outfits I like. I especially liked the sets based on the three dragons, this would be a neat way to get them on Link in that SoaC follow-up I wanna do. especially because Mipha NEEDS to see him in the slutty ones

if I ever do a version of the episode Wizards Only, Fools for the AT AU, the Depths outfit would make a neat disguise to get Link in.

obviously I plan to have AT Link lose his arm. obviously.

the wells and caves were pretty fun. though I do wish there'd been something genuinely creepy at the bottom of at least one well...

the Desert Rift is something that I would love to put into the desert area in the AT AU, it has tons of potential. I definitely have Ideas.

I really want to have Mipha and Link go to the salt spa in Lurelin as a couples' thing. it's a small thing, but I think it'd be cute.

I do actually enjoy weapon fusion and I think those magic rods/staves in particular would be a neat addition to some AUs.

almost every enemy was a great addition to the roster (I say almost because THOSE ARE NOT PROPER GIBDOS I AM STILL MAD ABOUT THIS). hopefully the next game will have even more things to fight (I especially want ReDeads and ACTUAL Poes back).

speaking of Poes, I just. sigh. so many interesting things that could've been done there, that just... weren't. at bare minimum, if they were adamant about making them a form of currency, it would've been more fun to bring back the Poe Collector than have those statues. I want to work him into the AT AU (and I have ideas that kinda meld how Poes worked in past games with this one, I just need to sit and nail them down).

back on foodstuffs, I liked all the new ingredients. I already worked golden apples into Under a Strange Moon, and I'd love to find uses for the elemental fruits somewhere too. stambulbs and sundelions are neat too, as are the new pumpkin, the oil, and the mushroom and fish that make you glow.

on the less edible side, puffshrooms and especially muddle buds were a LOT of fun to play with.

on the "dubiously edible" side (because you can turn these into elixirs but not straight up FOOD), I really like the design of the deep fireflies. the sticky frogs and lizards were also really handy!

brightbloom seeds/flowers could be neat to use too...

that's all I can think of for now, but I'm sure I'm forgetting something

[yourbestpalpercy]

Escape

(Tw: Mild gore)

Sarah sighed the next day, stirring awake. Wires were tightly around her arms and torso. Heh..Pal’s own way of hugging her. She didn’t mind in the slightest. “Sarah, I heard some voices. They sounded like they were talking about you. I heard your name..” Sarah couldn’t tell if Pal was talking louder than usual or if..

It sounded like Pal was in her head..!

Sarah shook her head and instead, murmured, “Repeat what they said, please,” Sarah couldn’t hide the fact that she was angry with her so-called friends. “Erm. Alright.”

“Do you think she’s still here?”

“Her corpse maybe. We were gone for a long time.”

“Sarah was tough. Maybe she did survive?”

“Tough? She could barely speak for herself when we first found her out in her rat cave in the library.”

“Yeah. Is it even worth trying to find her? Either the crew found her or she’s long dead.”

“And that’s all I heard. ..Your “friends” don’t seem to have a lot of faith in you…” Pal sounded rather annoyed by this fact. The wires slowly poked at the roof of the rubble. A large piece fell down and just a lick more of sunlight could be seen. The wires quickly drew back from the piece and disappeared into the wall.

Sarah looked up at the small hole and hummed. “..Well, they’re about to see how tough I can be!” Sarah hissed and suddenly dug one of her hands out of the hole. The rubble was rougher than expected and dug deep cuts into her hands.

Hiss..!

Sarah shoved her other hand into the hole and pulled as roughly as she could. Rapidly, dust from the rubble powdered her cuts from the initial digging. More of the rubble collapsed and filled the hole. Sarah could already smell the fresh air.

With each shove…

With each pull…

Her hands scratched and burned from the digging. The feeling of sunlight filtering through the cracks and cravases. Sarah couldn’t care less about being buried..she NEEDED out of here.

With a final pull, the rubble collapsed around her and sunlight flooded her eyes. The warmth and brightness made her flinch away for a moment.

Sarah slowly looked around, her eyes adjusting to the light when she heard Pal’s panic, “S-Sarah?! Sarah, are you there?! Please respond!! I felt the rubble collapse!! Please tell me you’re okay!”

“Please…don’t leave me alone again…” Pal sounded like he was about to start sobbing.

Sarah slowly stood up and climbed out of the rubble. Her hands stung..but she was free..! She was finally free from the rubble! Sarah took a moment to breathe fresh air and stood up. “I’m..I’m out of the rubble, Pal. I’m okay,” Sarah said, looking over to where Pal rested in the rubble.

Pal didn’t seem to have heard her, judging by the tears running down his screen. Sarah sighed and carefully picked up the toy. An exclamation mark appeared on Pal’s screen before he stared at Sarah. The tears quickly changed to joyous ones as he tightly hugged Sarah.

Sarah sighed and sank into the wiry hug. Sarah chuckled softly; a proper hug felt nice. Even if it was from a Pal Percy toy turned sentient. “You’re out! You’re out of the rubble!! We can play! We can have fun at last!” Cheered Pal as he pulled away from the hug. “And wow! You look ragged! But I mean, what was I expecting? I don’t look too good myself!” Pal excitedly chuckled and looked at some of his own scraps and scratches.

Sarah snickered before hearing a small gasp. Turning around revealed one of her friends. Abbigale. She was dressed in an overall skirt sort of outfit. She, admittedly, looked a little faint when she saw Sarah. Pal attached himself to Sarah’s shoulder and whispered to Sarah what Abbigale said about her. Pal even managed to mimic her voice, “Do you think she’s still here? Sarah was tough. Maybe she did survive?” Abbigale stared at Sarah and then Pal. She could clearly see the burning malice shining in Sarah’s eyes. “Sarah..! You-..you’re still alive!” Abbigale feigned cheer. She smiled at Sarah and stepped forward. Sarah did not share this smile..

“Where were you..?”

“E-Excuse me?”

“Where. Were. You?” Sarah asked coldly. Her glare shot through Abbigale.

“I-I..”

“ANSWER ME!” Sarah stomped her foot down and if looks could kill, Abbigale would lay dead on the ground.

“W-We were removed from the area. I-It took forever..! I-I kept trying to come back and find you..! I finally convinced the others to come today but we couldn’t find you!”

Pal rolled his eyes and made a throwaway comment, “Liar much..?” Judging by his surprised face, he didn’t expect Sarah to not only repeat this, but also yell it!

“LIAR! You had multiple chances to come back and save me! The crew didn’t stay for that long..! You’re a damn LIAR!” Pal wiped the few tears away from Sarah’s face as they came. “I was starving in there..! The only reason I’m still alive is because of the rain! 4 days..4 weeks..I’m almost dead actually!” Sarah began to giggle softly. “And it’s all because of you..my so-called “Friends”..! Leaving me for dead! You pressured me into entering that stupid playhouse and NOW look at me! I had no one else to talk to besides this-! …” Sarah looked down at Pal who looked a little excited admittedly. “..Besides Pal Percy..he kept me sane and I can’t thank him enough..” Sarah gently petted his head, causing clear surprise again. Abbigale opened her mouth to talk.

“Sarah, that’s a tamagot-”

Everything became red. Everything was static and screams of pain.

Sarah hadn’t known what had even happened until the rubble dropped from her hand, stained in blood. Pal was laughing; wires were wrapping around her arms slowly. “Sarah..! Look at what you’ve done! Look at it! Isn’t it beautiful..?” Sarah slowly looked up and stared at the scene before her.

Blood was splattered all over her hands, traveling onto her chest, all over her face..! Sarah covered her mouth and gasped, stumbling back from the scene. Pal kept laughing and the wires spread to Sarah’s fingertips. It was like Pal was claiming her like some kind of toy of his.

Abbigale rested eternally in the rubble. Her face was brutalized. Sarah resisted the urge to puke at the smell. The sight of it all, splattered on the rubble and all over her..!

“Oh god..what have I done..?”

[revalentine2]

Forecast: Steven! - Team Objective plays Pokemon Emerald

With these two at my side, the oceans and skies can no longer stand in my way!

Hello, loyal members of Team Objective! Last time, we crossed the waves and reformatted the team going forward! This time, we head east of Mauville to finally see what's up ahead.

In the time between, I've gained enough fundings to outfit the team with some TM moves. Wish I had more, but we are...still pretty scrapped for cash.

(...I'll need solid funding if this is to be a serious endeavor...)

WHATEVER! Steven's here. let's see what he wants!

...Steven, you've met me, right? Of COURSE I'm only going to use my favorites! Object pokemon are my entire identity!

Ignore the HM user Marill.

Uh, sure? Will you have better pokemon than birds in suits of armor by then? Gotta say, your lineup has been pretty disappointing.

This jungle is quite beautiful, but really doesn't have what I'm looking for. We're here for objects, not objectively beautiful scenery!

Team Aqua's raining this weather institute! And they just threatened to KILL ME!

Fat chance!

I know I am! You're disgustingly weak!

Team Magma again, too? Heading for Mt. Pyre...I think I've heard of that. It's the local pokemon gravesite, like the Lost Tower back home. If that's the case, it's worth a look...

Wha-HUH? They're giving me a pokemon!?

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MY GOD IT'S ABORABLE.

The scientists are filling me in about this thing! A pokemon MADE by science? It's like Porygon! And it manipulates the WEATHER...It's body is made of cells like water molecules! It's basically a living cloud! I love it!

Sadly, my team doesn't really have the space for Castform at the moment. I wonder if Dad would like it? Maybe I'll send it over.

Oh, it's Bozo again. He was really strong last time we fought, quite the roadblock actually-but we've grown exponentially since then! Let's crush him.

Not even worth commenting on. Loser.

HA! I made him mad! Wait, who are you again? Eh, who cares.

This region keeps nailing it with its environments. I don't think I could live in a place where bugs fly in the window every day, though. Give me a volcanic cave or a polluted factory any time.

Let's not waste our time here. We can probably wrap up gym number six today-

...

W H A T.

I...guess we go forward, then?

That pokemon looks even more like a beach ball than marill, but I can tell it's a whale. A mammal masquerading as a fish masquerading as an object. How strange.

Oh, hello again Steven. What's that, you want me to prove myself against...one of these invisible things? Well, that's fortuitous. Still, we've known each other this long and I still have no idea what you're all about other than being the kid of a CEO.

Anyway. I hope this invisible pokemon is a ghost! Maybe it's possessing something cool?

Oh it's a lizard. Whatever. Hey. 'Splodey, wanna use your namesake?

Glorious.

And with that, we now have the means to enter the next gym! Turns out we didn't need Steven's thing after all and the lizards still die if you explode near them. Cool! Uuuuuuunfortunately, I've ran all out of time for today. Oh well. Next time it is!

Team Objective, because Object pokemon are Objectively the best!

Team: StepStone the Graveler (F) Skybomb the Koffing (F) Sungaze the Solrock Iris the Baltoy 'Splodey the Electrode Maximum the Magneton

...

He liked it :)

[my2phetaliaheadcanons]

Christmas Special - Part 3: Can You Create A Cease-Fire?

Part 1 Previous Part

As you and Blitzen flew far away from the Snow Miser, the sky around you began to warm. As much as you appreciated the warmth, the speed at which the temperature climbed was that of starting a car from a dead state in winter. Slow, but overly hot once the set temperature was reached.

Over the hours, you started to shed some of the heavier layers. All that was left of your winter outfit was thick, aviator pants paired with the thick hoodie that you wore.

At sun high, you notice a dark spot in the distance. The closer you came the larger the spot grew. Until it became a dark plume of smoke. It rose and moved like a dragon in flight. Below it was a volcano, red in stone and covered in darkened caverns. 

“There it is,” You yelled to Blitzen. Your happy laugh filled the empty sky as you patted his thick neck. “Let’s get this over with so we can go home.”

The big deer bellowed in agreement as he zoomed faster. His legs moved as if he were racing along the water toward the smoke’s source.

As you encircled on the volcano; Blitzen had to fly lower. The salt spray rose from the tropical waters, coating all six legs, as a large cave on the volcano side came into sight. Smoke pouring out of the nearby smaller caves like a first-time smoker choking on nicotine.

Blitzen landed, this time, unlike at the Snow Miser’s smooth fort, the hot rock and rough terrain scrapped against his hooves. He squealed and tip-toed while you held tightly to his neck fur.

“Oh, poor Blitzie!” You cooed while attempting to calm the beast. “I’m sorry, so sorry!”

You repeated your soothing phrases until the deer stopped. A few more pets from you, helped his tender movements as he allowed you off. With a couple of steps forward, you were able to take his bridle in a steady hand and guide his head to your chest. You placed a kiss on his face. Muttering one more simple sorry and promising a first pick of carrots once y'all were home.

The big cervid nudged you excitedly. He gave a heavy breath as he nuzzled you. It seemed like he liked the idea of it, almost like it alone eased the suffering in his toes.

Giggling, you stepped back and looked toward the cave’s mouth. It was dark, except for the small glint of sunlight that led inside, disclosing a series of pipes lining the walls. Their hissing echoed, sounding like draconic snakes were hidden within.

A simple side-eyed was exchanged by you and Blitzen. Before, you nodded to him in a silent ‘are you ready?’

He puffed while he did a single excited hop. Ready to confront the Miser ahead.

“Let’s go.”

This time, you walked beside your noble steed. Your pace was a little faster than normal to match the deer’s placid pace as you entered the dark cavern.

The darker it became, you more you struggled to remove the flashlight from your left pants pocket. Nearly, popping the seams of your pants, it fell from your hands to the stone floor. You couldn't help the 'oh' that left your mouth as you picked it up. A quick click turned it on and illuminated the path ahead.

The further down you trekked, the higher the temperature rose. The additional heat forced you once again to strip layers. This time putting the additional jackets into the packs strapped to Blitzen.

As you reached your flimsy, cheesy, Christmas tee shirt the sharp sound of striking metal rang in the air.

You sighed in relief, following the sound as it became joined by an additional chorus of metal bells. As it became louder other sounds joined in. High-pitched barks and the sound of a man yelling.

A ruby, red light reached toward you as you came closer to the chaos. Crossing the threshold, you saw another workyard. This one was similar to the last, yet the differences made it uniquely cute.

Instead of logger tools to create the supplies needed for winter, this one matched a steel mill. Heavy flows of what you assumed was, metal was being poured into molds. Steam hissed as they were formed into shapes, things like little suns, iron birds, and beach balls.

Little, black puppies ran around on their hind legs; covered in a heavy layer of soot as their orange hard hats made them look like little Nerf darts. Their tiny, plush-looking paws carried either the metal trinkets or chunks of minerals as they frantically moved about.

At the center of it all was a tan, broad-shouldered man. He was wearing a sooty, white tank top with a pair of heavy, welder’s pants and thick work boots. His orange hat towered above the rest as he moved from station to station, encouraging them to either hurry up and meet their quota or snap at them for ignoring the safety guidelines he placed.

You continued to stare, wondering why this Miser was so involved with supply until you felt a tug on your pants.

Gazing downward, you saw the smallest little soot ball with eyes that rivaled diamonds. In his other hand was a hat, which he held up to you with both of his paws.

The squeally giggle that came from you was loud enough to stop the whole production line. Everything from the barking and the hissing to the yelling stopped.

All eyes were on you.

So, you did what any embarrassed human would do. Take the hat from the adorable puppy and wave awkwardly.

The man with eyes that could rival hot coals, screamed.

“WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!”

As he stomped toward you like pissed off bull, Blitzen stood in front of you. Pawing at the dirt, ready to defend.

Nose to nose, Miser and deer glared off. Ready to rip each other apart, all it would take was a spark to lit the keg.

“Uh, Blitzen,” You pulled on his halter. Moving yourself in front of him, whispering. “I’m sure this is who we have to talk to.”

Turning back to the assumed Miser, you frowned as you realized that he was checking you out. His eyes roved over you as if you were about to offer yourself to him. His posture was now loose, as he shifted his weight to one leg.

“Hey, baby.” He purred with a wink. “What brings you to the kingdom of heat?”

You felt Blitzen tense up again, ready to charge the man. But refused to move as you replied.

“I’m looking for Heat Miser, do you by chance know where I can find him?”

The man smiled, showing off his missing canine as he puffed his chest. “You’re looking at him. What can I do for ya, Sweet cheeks?”

“Ah.” You spoke as you moved closer. “Well, I’ve come on business from both the Claus family and Snow Miser.”

At that statement, he frowned before removing his hat and running his fingers through his auburn locks. “Come on,” He began walking away. “Let’s discuss this in my office.”

The three of you moved toward his office. The Miser screamed a quick back “BACK TO WORK OR ELSE I’LL SEND MAKWA ON YOUR ASSES!”, as he escorted you and Blitzen through an iron door into his office.

Inside was a cavern carved into an office. Deep obsidian shelves, with an iron desk covered by glossy papers. The Miser sat down in his cushy office chair, pulling it closer to the metal table as he gestured for you to sit in one of the chairs in front of him.

While Blitzen kneeled at your side, you sat in the plush leather chair. A metallic squeal echoed in the silence from one of the lower drawers. You watched as the Heat Miser pulled a large, brown bottle out of the bottom one. He took a swig before wiping off the excess with the back of his hand.

He offered the bottle to you, a smirk on his face as he waited for your reaction.

You shook your head ‘no’ as you sat up. Your spine straightened as you looked the Miser in the eye.

“Heat Mis-“

“Call me Al, doll.”

Huffing, you started again. Albeit a little strained. “Al, the Claus family would like you and Snow Miser to sign a Christmas cease-fire.”

“Seriously,” He leaned back with a frown and kicked his thick boots up on the desk. “That’s what they sent you on. Not as ah” The Miser waved his open calloused hand in a circle. “Diplomat. Or as a present for me?”

As he continued his over-dramatic lament about how cute it would have been had you shown up in red ribbon or been delivered in a box, you couldn’t but feel your eye twitch. How weird it was that for the second time in a twenty-four-hour period, someone hoped you were their gift.

Like seriously, you couldn’t have been that cute. Especially when you thought about the various cute animals that worked for each of the Misers.

“Anyway, I won’t sign.”

That smacked your attention out of the clouds.

“What do you mean you won’t sign?!” You practically shouted, planting your hands on the metal desk. “Your brother won’t sign unless you do. And I need you to sign!”

Al oh ’ed as his smirk became shark-like as he placed his feet down. He leaned closer to you. “You need me to sign?”

A frustrated yes groaned from your throat as you looked down at the Miser.

He stood up, now leaning over your form. “Would you do anything for it then?”

“Uhm, almost anything.”

“That works for me,” Al’s rough hand pulled you around the desk towards him. Cradling you under his arm as he directed you to a large painting of a melting ice block on the right. In front of it sat a blue and white rotary phone on a red side table.

He kept you under his arm as the other reached out to the device. The phone was in his palm as his fingers spun the dial. A quiet click as the rotor returned the numbers to their original spots. Once the tenth number was input, the painting split.

For a moment, the screen behind it flickered. Showing that staticky blizzard of an old tube television before a familiar face flashed into existence.

Snow Miser.

The icy man’s face was distorted into a frown as his frosty glare cut through the warmth, bringing down the temperature several degrees.

You shivered at the rapid change, but Al remained unmoved. A large, feral smile as he squeezed you closer. Your body squished as you were forced against the Miser’s iron-hot warmth.

“Hey-a, Assicle.” He waved with his free hand. “I gotta this lil’ doll here. Says that y’all talked about a cease of sorts?”

Ice Miser nodded; his face contorted into confusion as he regarded Al cautiously. “Ya’ gonna sign, eh?”

“Not,” He started with a click of his tongue. “unless certain agreements are made.”

You hummed questionably while failing to shrug off his arm. Your squirms were quickly squished as Allen’s leather-gloved hand bore down on your fleshy shoulder. His fingers bruised your tender muscles as he began to speak about his condition with an all-too-wide grin.

“I want both the poles and this” He squeezed you harder. “cute lil’ thing for three months.”

The last syllable of his statement was greeted with silent shock.

Slack-jawed, you could only stare as your brain scrambled and fumbled with statements and actions as to what to do next.

“YA SCIVEY SQUATCH!!” The loud yell from the screen made you cringe. Survival instincts kicked in as your vision turned to the enraged man of ice. “Why would I let you have either of those?!” His pale hand was raised to the screen, and the following blast of icy fury caused you to squeak as you flailed to avoid the sharp beam.

The sharp ice scrapped your back as Al pushed you away. The force collided you with the far wall. Your breath was forced out of you like a punch to the gut as you slid to the floor.

Before you could fully comprehend the heaviness of the impact. Blitzen was on you. His heavy body shielded you as he attempted to nose you to a stand.

With the deer snout bracing your weight, you could only watch in horror as fire and ice began to fight.

Al’s mocking laughter ran out like shattered glass against a concrete floor as his hands lit up in flames. “Get ready ya, Frosty Bozo.” The miser brought his hands together in a loud clap, the flames spun around the joined palms. It was like the flames were the charge point of a laser. “Because here I come!”

The flames leaped to life. The beam entered through the screen causing the frosty one to bounce off screen.

As Blitzen nudged you to his saddle, the duo exchanged insults and blows using the magical screen like some sick twisted VR game. Unluckily, you and Blitzen were ignored leaving the two of you in the crossfire of many ill-fired attacks.

You felt the balls of flame signed the back of your thin t-shirt as Blitzen bolted through the metal door. A frosty gale flung the two of you onto the work floor.

The tiny, working dogs didn’t seem shocked as they ran past you and Blitzen into the icy blaze of the office ruins. Their cute growls and yips echoed as they fought alongside their miser. Soon enough, the heavy growls of what you could only guess were the bear cubs joined the cacophonous band.

As Blitzen dashed away through the cavernous halls, you kept one hand on his neck while the other reached around to clutch the gun. Fearful that soon enough, you would be dragged into their battle.

Soon enough the sun’s rays shined like a new coin as you came to the entrance. You couldn’t help the yells of encouragement that escaped your throat as you urged the reindeer forward.

The volcanic dust puffed out like activated gunpowder from a cannon as the two of you shot out like a cannon.

Despite the distance, your spine still trembled. The hairs on the back of your neck refused to lie flat and a bitter feeling coated the inside of your dry mouth.

What were you going to do now? Neither miser would entertain the thought of a ceasefire. And as far as you were concerned, your involvement made it worse.

As those thoughts swirled, your heart rate continued to spike. The world around you became a tinnitus ring as the thought of hopeless failure loomed. You could feel Blitzen’s fur slip from between your fingers.

The sound of Christmas bells.

Its light, airy sound was like a strike of lightning. It was grounding as you reached for the back pocket of Blitzen’s saddle.

You pulled out a simple, red and white phone. The screen flashed with Niilo’s name. What were you to do?

[yellowjacketslesbian]

(Inspired by the last wedding ask) What do you imagine a Wilderness Wedding for Tai and Van looking like?

oh, I've actually thought about this A LOT!

I really think they'll get married the second summer around late S3. I think things will be a little bit better by then, they may not have a shelter, but at least they have food to forage and animals to hunt again. I think they'll have kind of resigned themselves to their fate, like rescue isn't coming anytime soon but maybe they can at least survive the next few months and they have each other, and they have the freedom to love each other openly out there that they don't believe they would have ever had back home.

I think the wilderness proposal started off playfully, and was almost accidental, the same way they fell in love.

they're out in the lake together late one summer night drawing on each other's backs, joking until they're not, when Van says it, mostly joking, almost her old self again, "you know, if we weren't like doomed or whatever, I probably would've asked you to marry me someday."

then of course, because Tai is Tai, she doesn't let it go, and is like, "only probably, huh?"

then van instantly takes the bait, "well, you would've had to get it legalized first once you were lawyer, lady."

and then after some more banter back and forth Taissa basically dares Van to ask her, "well, there aren't any laws stopping you out here, are there?"

of course Van beams, "you make a compelling case, Turner."

"and?"

"proposals are supposed to be a surprise..."

cut to a few days later and Taissa is already impatient that Van hasn't proposed yet so she takes matters into her own hands (because she's Tai) and makes them rings out on scrap metal from the plane and stones she forages. that night, after dinner, she pulls Van away from the group under the guise of stargazing and proposes and ofc Van says yes.

when they tell the others, Lottie believes it will be a good way to bring everyone together and immediately gets almost everyone on board with planning a wedding. (Nat is a bit reluctant at first because she thinks they should be using their time and energy for survival, but she ultimately caves since Van is her childhood best friend).

everyone pitches in to help decorate and they make berry wine for the occasion, just like with doomcoming. they set up a makeshift altar around the tree stump, with garland made from interwoven flowers overhead. taivan both wear their doomcoming outfits with Taissa wearing a flower crown as a veil to match Van's boutonniere.

their friends all sing the wedding march while Van beams at Taissa as she walks down the flower petal covered forest floor aisle, and maybe, this is why she was willing to kill to survive this with Tai, to have a future that even bleakly resembles this together.

of course, Lottie officiates the wedding and Taissa doesn't roll her eyes once when Lottie leads them all in a prayer to the wilderness for Van and Taissa's marriage.

they exchange heartfelt vows to stay together as long as they both live, truly believing the only thing that can separate them is their likely inevitable death - it's better that they don't know that they'll survive to break all their vows. (well, all except one - because they truly do still love each other, even during their decades apart).

sorry, I got a bit sidetracked with their wilderness proposal, first. also, apologies for any typos, I didn't proofread this at all. lol

[ellaofoakhill]

BIG LIFE UPDATE!!!

Hello all and sundry! I am happy to announce that, in a few short weeks, I will be leaving my job as a massage therapist, and pursuing a career as a full-time writer and digital artist.

If you've seen and liked my work up on here and my instagram, I have good news: you're going to be seeing a lot more of it! Part of that is because, once I'm doing this full-time, I'll have a lot more time for my own work, but also because, at least for the foreseeable future, I will be taking art commissions, starting now!

I'm in the process of starting up a Patreon, as well as my own independent website where you can look over all of my collected work, but for now this is the main way to help me out, so if you like what I do, and want to support me, this is a great way for you to do that.

My Terms of Service regarding said commissions are below the cut, for anyone who's interested. Please read them before commissioning.

But first, in case anyone wanted to see close-ups of these. Here's one of my oc's, Lanthialdn of Leaning Boughs; you won't meet her (and sometimes him) for a while.

Has anyone else ever wondered what would happen if a dragon and a fasolasuchus got into a scrap? Just me?

A wyvern. That isn't fur or feathers, in case anyone was curious; just scales like a pangolin.

And this guy (girl?) is a bit of fanart, a Behemotherium maxwelli from Biblaridion's Alien Biospheres speculative biology series on youtube. I forgot to include the calculation for something similar on the page above, so I'll throw it in here:

Full Body + Flats + Shading + 2h BG fee = $45 + $12 + $12 + $46 = $115

Anyway, here's the ToS!

Terms of Service

Service Description.

Will Draw: characters, creatures, and light nsfw (i.e. revealing outfits [no nips, no clits, no butts, no nuts], suggestive poses, PDA)

WON'T Draw: porn, graphic violence/gore, hatemongery (racist/sexist/homophobic/transphobic, etc.)

---

Characters: Bust $23USD; Waist $34USD; Full Body $45USD

Creatures: Head & Neck $23USD; 'Waist' $34USD; Full Body $45USD

Flat Colours: +$12USD

Shading: +$12USD

Extra Character/Creature: Double above $$$ amounts (each character/creature beyond 2 will be an additional $30USD)

Background: A blank background/simple pattern is free. Complex backgrounds are $23USD per hour of work I spend on them.

Complexity Fees: If you ask me to draw something extremely complicated/time-consuming (an intricate pattern on an outfit, for instance), I will apply a complexity fee of $23USD per hour spent drawing said thing. Again, I will notify you as soon as I think something you commission me for will entail a complexity fee.

Anatomical Drawings: $91USD. Think like a 19th-century naturalist's journal sketches of creatures new to Western science. I will draw a full-body illustration of your creature, along with any 3 of the following: 1 superficial anatomy highlight (your cave monster has some glow-in-the-dark antennae? I draw them specifically [and, as an option, include a short blurb, which you write, talking about them]), skeletal elements (hollow bones? unusual jaws? I draw [you blurb]), muscular elements (powerful digger? unusual tongue?), visceral elements (gas bladder? metal-digesting GI tract?). Anatomical highlights beyond 3 will entail a complexity fee.

-I reserve the right to refuse commission requests for any reason.

-Reference pictures are extremely helpful. Please include some with your commission request. The more specific your commission, the more helpful the pics are. -Each commission includes two revisionary periods: one after the sketch phase, and one when the commission is complete. -major changes can be made during the first period, only minor changes after the second. -3 edits maximum per period (ex. you can ask for 2 posing changes and 1 perspective change) -I will not make the above changes after these periods have passed. -I will send your commission to you upon completion, assuming said commission has been paid for in full, according to our most recent agreement regarding same, in a file form of your choosing (.png, .jpeg, etc.).

Payment.

-all monetary quantities above are in USD. -Payment is through Paypal only. No chargebacks. -Payment is to be made upfront before I will start working on your commission. -If a commission is anticipated to be greater than 200USD, you can make one payment of 100USD upfront, and pay the rest upon completion. If a commission is anticipated to be greater than 500USD, you can make one payment of 200USD upfront, a second upon the beginning of the first revisionary period, and the remainder upon completion of the piece.

-I reserve the right to apply complexity fees if I deem them appropriate. I will notify you if I make this decision, I will stop work on your commission until you reply to said notification, and I will provide you with an invoice detailing the time spent on your project.

Communication Termination. -If I contact you at any point in this process, and receive no reply within 14 days, your commission spot will be forfeit, i.e. I will move on to other work. -I will contact you when this happens. -If I receive no reply after an additional 14 days, any funds you have paid will be considered forfeit.

Illustration Rights. -I retain the rights to use your commission for personal promotion, and as a commission example. -I retain the original .csp image. -Neither you nor I can use your commission to sell merchandise. -You cannot use your commission for purposes including but not limited to: AI training, reselling, relicensing, or NFT usage.

-You may not alter or repurpose your commission without my consent.

[cafalla]

Dorothy, Volume 1 (2005) Scans - Chapters 3 & 4 + Bonus Covers // Part 3 of 3

Here is Part 3 of my Dorothy comic post!

Please refer to Part 1 for some background info about this book and its old website, and Part 2 for scans/story overview of Chapters 1 & 2!

In this post (Part 3), I'll cover Chapters 3 & 4 of the comic, completing the Volume 1 book.

Chapter 3 begins with Dorothy and To-2 aimlessly wandering around, unsure of which way they are supposed to go to get to the munchkin village. They stumble across the scarecrow shown at the end of Chapter 2.

Dorothy and the Scarecrow banter back and forth for a bit.

He's so creepy looking! But he is harmless. According to Dorothy, useless even.

Dorothy begins walking away, and she has quite a funny thought as she's leaving.

Dorothy and To-2 keep walking on, and stop at a beautiful blue river to drink and rest. Dorothy is so hungry that she contemplates eating a bug that looks like a ladybug with spider legs.

She takes a breather to collect herself, and realizes there is a cave located behind a waterfall. Dorothy and To-2 walk underneath the waterfall into a cave, video game style.

Exhausted, they curl up on the cave floor for a nap. Dorothy dreams of being a kid, and of Aunt Em giving her a little stuffed doll that used to belong to her father. Aunt Em calls the doll a Scarecrow, and says the doll can scare the bad dreams away. Dorothy muses on how the doll is nothing more than scraps at the bottom of her backpack now.

Dorothy awakes to a giant snake, who claims that she was sent to him as a sign, as prey for him to eat.

Dorothy tries to offer the snake the wrapper of a long gone Baby Ruth bar from her backpack.

Remember when I said there was foreshadowing earlier?

Well, when the snake isn't impressed with the empty candy wrapper, Dorothy remembers one thing she does have available to defend herself.

Dorothy manages to incapacitate the snake, and her and To-2 run out of the cave to safety. Unfortunately, Dorothy did get bit during this altercation, and the wound looks quite nasty.

Homegirl ain't looking so hot.

Good little To-2 helps lead Dorothy back to the Scarecrow, where she asks for him to accompany her.

It's quite sad and sweet really, considering we now know her comfort toy was a stuffed plush meant to be a scarecrow.

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Instead of starting with Chapter 4, there is a small interlude chapter that opens up with a man writing a letter. Essentially he states that he knows this is his last day in Oz, and that the one most dear to him is away and safe. He concludes with "Despite those who seek to choke that spirit, Oz never dies".

The man is then taken away by robots, but saved by...some guy who just wandered in?

This page is actually so funny to me.

The laser gun? His outfit? Him basically saying "Get down, Mr. President!!" His pose and expression in the bottom panel?

Either way, we learn that letter guy is a Lord of some sort. The Lord of Oz, perhaps?

We also learn our laser gun man is Malo, and that he was supposed to be with her, who we can only assume is the Lord's dearest person he hid away.

Oh no.

Oh god.

I've only just met you, and now you are gone.

Goodnight, sweet Prince. My favorite character, brought into my life and taken away from me in the span of a couple pages.

So yeah, Malo is killed by the robots, and the Lord is knocked unconscious by the robot army.

We then go back to Dorothy and company to start Chapter 4.

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Chapter 4 starts with Scarecrow on the ground. I'm assuming the Scarecrow is meant to be the Lord from the interlude, who we saw get knocked out and fall to the ground.

Dorothy is not looking good for wear, after her injury from the snake monster. Her and Scarecrow talk as they're on their way to the munchkin kingdom. We get a LOT of exposition about the war and the Wicked Witch and all that jazz, which honestly...I don't care too much about. So I'm skipping it LOL.

The crew make a fire and stop trekking for the night, and Dorothy wakes up feeling worse. Here is a page depicting how long and gangly Scarecrow looks.

Actually terrifying. Would never want to be approached by THAT in a dark alley.

However, he is harmless, and seems to care about Dorothy's dwindling health.

We cut back into the exposition story. Scarecrow had been describing a man as "the Fool", who is meant to be the Lord that was kidnapped by the robots.

He is brought before the Evil Queen. They go back and forth, and she sentences him to "the hallowing".

Which is not a good thing.

As the text says, he believed he would have been killed, and is surprised to find himself still alive. Weirdly enough, the man recognizes where he is, and pleads for his life with his interrogator.

He ends up tortured and beheaded. Don't worry, I won't show those panels, they're actually quite graphic.

While he is recounting this story, Scarecrow begins to see flashes of the man's life, and begins questioning himself.

Scarecrow recalls being shown the head of the man by his "maker" (the interrogator/torturer), and is told that he (the Scarecrow) will be a symbol used to put fear into the people and scare away the rebellion.

Scarecrow tells Dorothy that he was brought out to the field and strung up for this reason. At this time, Dorothy begins falling against Scarecrow, unable to keep walking.

Scarecrow thinks back on this some more, and remembers a woman being brought into the dungeon he was in before being taken out to the field.

He doesn't recognize her, but she seems to recognize him. She is the woman shown in the flashback panel and is the "dearest person" mentioned earlier.

She is then killed in front of Scarecrow, and he puts it as them "making her go away". Dorothy is practically unconscious at this point, and Scarecrow picks her up in the present time and says that he doesn't think he likes it when people "go away".

Dorothy weakly looks up at Scarecrow and muses how he reminds her of the stuffed doll her father had. Here are the final two pages.

Gasp, cliffhanger!

Poor Scarecrow and Dorothy.

At least the munchkin kingdom is in sight? I don't have the remaining three comics, but I imagine it picks up with them going there.

Sadly enough, even if I did have the remaining comics, the series abruptly ends on a cliffhanger and is never resolved.

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And that's it for Dorothy, Volume 1!

It's been pretty cool visiting the first four chapters of this old, abandoned comic.

After the fourth chapter, the book includes copies of all the comic covers.

Here they are!

Love love love that these were included.

There are also a couple of what appear to be teaser comic covers/promotional pages for the upcoming chapters.

Very cool!

As much as I personally am not that interested in The Wizard of Oz or retellings of it, I do appreciate the vision and work that went into creating this comic. The photographic acting against a digital backdrop is such a unique concept, I haven't seen anything like it before.

All in all, I think this was an awesome thrift find!

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As always, you can read the whole book and see higher quality scans on my Internet Archive account.

Thanks for stopping by!

Part 1 -> Intro & Background Part 2 -> Chapters 1 & 2 Part 3 -> You're Here!