#decided to draw two things I never draw with sal:

[fireflyanimates]

ehe

[lennons-lemonade]

the sally face gang because i recently realized that there truly isn’t ever enough art of them🫶

except, in true lennon fashion i had to add all of my headcanons and modernize them !!! here’s some info about each of my designs for them!!

in my design, the gang as a whole makes up a band called LAST (their first initials). they have matching necklaces for their corresponding instruments. i’ll go further into detail for that during their personal designs!

I was never able to totally describe Ash’s style, but some version of mall goth (not pictured here ofc) and biker-ish were the closest descriptors i could find. she and sal have hair dying parties where he’ll dye her tips and she’ll touch up his roots. idk how to draw ladder-laced docs, but if she were following lace code then they’d signify that she’s lgbtq. i think she doodles on her arms (similarly to larry) but her parents bug her about it, so she wears long fingerless gloves. ash is LAST’s singer and bassist! her necklace has a small, poorly drawn, microphone on it!

Larry’s style was much easier to describe. he’s a metal head with a side of grunge. he’s wearing homemade patch pants with random patterns and other details about him on the patches themselves. i still don’t know how to draw ladder laces, but larry does follow lace code and his laces are yellow for anti-racist and purple for lgbtq. he’s a huge doodler and spends a lot of time in school drawing on himself. he’s got Sanity Falls’ logo on his arm nearby LAST’s logo. he has other random paranormal details (a ghost and an eye) dotted around on his arm aswell. he’s LAST’s backup guitarist and will do vocals when the song calls for it. his necklace is a pick to signify this!

You may notice that Sal has a chest. in my mind he’s always been transmasc, but for this drawing i decided to draw him when he wasn’t binding. I describe their style as hippie grunge most of the time, but i think they also dabble further into the grunge style. he doesn’t draw on his shoes himself, but every now and then ash or larry will. since their mom was blonde and blue isn’t a natural hair-color, i thought them dying their blonde hair blue was really fun! he doesn’t always keep make up on his mask, but he didn’t have the time to clean it today. they’re LAST��s lead guitarist and have a pick necklace to reference this!

Todd is generally under-appreciated. i think if he were to generally put more effort into his appearance he would dress in dark academia. he got his left ear pierced with ash and his right pierced with neil. i feel like in most fanart his hair is suspiciously straight, so i did my best to make it generally curlier. he’s telling larry some kind of fun fact and the gang is reacting to it. he doesn’t draw on things around him like larry and ash, but he does write poetry! dead poets society is his favorite movie of all time. he’s LAST’s drummer because i think he needs some kind of outlet to deal with his anger. he also helps with band management. there are two drumsticks on his necklace!

[multi-lefaiye]

SALVATORE INKTOBER 11-12. STRANGER TO VIOLENCE, GUARDIAN ANGEL

content warnings: non-graphic descriptions of violence and death

In April of 1963, Seamus O'Neal was attacked while walking home from a drop for Clarence. Joseph McCartney (1916-1963), a dock worker and long-time associate of the Emerald Devils, had heard the boy arguing with his boss regarding payment for the most recent shipment. Most of the conversation didn't matter to Joseph, but one thing became clear: the brat had at least $150 on him, maybe more. It didn't take long for Joseph, drunk and angry after being talked down to by that uppity teen, to decide to relieve him of the cash burning a hole in his pocket. A few hours later, just as the sun was setting, he cornered Seamus in an alleyway and pounced, slamming the boy against the wall and pulling a switchblade on him. Drunk as he was, however, he was swaying on his feet and struggling to hold Seamus in place. He lost his grip on the boy after only a few blows, and the fight was over within seconds. Panicked and thrashing about, Seamus stabbed Joseph in the throat with his own switchblade. For a few moments, Joseph continued to struggle as blood spilled onto Seamus and the pavement below, before he slumped to the ground. He died moments later. Seamus, covered in the blood of the man who tried to kill him, sat there, shaking as he processed what had just happened. It wasn't long before he began to cry, covering his mouth with one bloodstained hand as he scrambled away from his attacker's corpse. He was injured, but he hardly registered the pain as he began to stumble away from the scene, running in a random direction to try and escape what he had just done. The boy was so delirious with fear and pain, he hardly knew where he was going, up until he ran headfirst into a broad chest. A pair of warm hands closed around his shoulders, and a gentle voice said, Whoa, whoa, hold on, kid. In his haste to escape, he'd run face-first into a man he'd never met before, a tow truck driver named Donovan Graves (born 1921). Donovan was alarmed by the sight of the young teen covered in blood and tears, and he immediately stopped to see what he could do to help. He was the one to comfort Seamus, holding him until the sobbing subsided as he tearfully explained the night's events. And afterwards, he helped clean the boy up, patching up his wounds with a first-aid kit he kept in his truck. Once Seamus was calm and his wounds tended to, Donovan gave him a ride home, not wanting the poor kid to wander the streets after the night he'd had. When they arrived, Donovan put a hand on Seamus's shoulder and said, You take care of yourself, alright? Though Seamus never saw Donovan again after that night, he never forgot the man's kindness, nor the warm, gentle hands that held him.

this inktober isn't as polished as the other ones, but honestly i don't think i have it in me to finish them all like i've been doing them, haha! ah well. but i do really like this sketch i made, so i wanted to make sure to get it done and out there :> i once again combined two prompts that work well thematically, since they're centered around the same event: the first time salvatore killed someone.

as a bit of a refresher, at this point, sal was using the name seamus, so that's what i called him here.

anyway, i don't think i'm gonna try and actually draw the remaining prompts, but i do want to share the blurbs for them! so.... if any of y'all think you'd be interested in seeing those, lmk and i'll gladly tag you as i post them! :> thanks to everyone who's shown interest in this!!

art taglist (ask to be + or - ): @skitzo-kero @anexor @jezifster @albatris @transmasc-wizard @lychniscitrus @abysslll @whonsper @presidentquinn @midnight-and-his-melodiverse @approximately20eggs @astral-runic @invaderskoodge @rosesandartss @moonflowerrss @chaieyestea

[dmagedgoods]

Oooh I kind of want to ask all of these for all of your OCs 😳

For Sal: 🍑, 💧, 🌷

For Eneas: 🍒, 🍊, 🥝, 🔮

Aaaa, this took forever, I'm so sorry. And thank you so much for the great questions. 💕

Salvadore

🍑 Where is your OC’s favourite place to relax or calm down? Recount a story of their time spent in this place! What makes it so special to them? Answered here! 😊 But I forgot the second part of the question and use the opportunity to add it now, ha: Is there anywhere your OC hates to go to? Anywhere that stresses them out or have negative memories of? If we talk about in-game places? Salvadore isn’t good with insects and almost died at Leper’s Smile just by having to run through the first part of the caverns. In a wider sense? He is never as stressed or feels as tense as in his parent’s estate. Even more so during family meetings. The whole house, despite being quite beautiful, fills him with a feeling of threat and underlying anger caused by bitter, painful childhood memories and anything resulting from those. 💧 What is the earliest memory your OC can recall? Do they know what their first words were or remember where they took their first steps? Do they have any mementos of their childhood they’ve kept such as a stuffed toy or tiny baby clothes? Salvadore remembers a scene in the garden of the estate of his parents during a small party, he must have been 3 or 4 years old and sat on the ground near a table, trying to build a tower from wooden cubes. His brother, two years older than him, was running around, saw the tower, and destroyed it. There is the vague memory of how he tried to complain to his father who barely took notice of him. But he picked up his brother to greet some guests with him on his arm. It’s weird, the casual moments deciding to stay. He also remembers the pride in the eyes of his father whenever he looked at his brother. Those are the only moments he can recall them showing anything but cold and discontentment. Salvadore doesn't know what his first word has been. (It was Mama.) His first steps he did in his rooms of the family estate with one of the nannies. He rarely feels sentimental towards objects, definitely not towards baby clothes or stuffed toys, or other things reminding him of his childhood. – Except for some of his own drawings, books, and gifts he got from Eneas. Those he all kept. 🌷 In what ways would your OC alter their body if they could? How would they do it using mundane means (hair dye, surgery, make-up?). What is their ideal look for themself? There is nothing about his body Salvadore would alter. Quite the contrary. If it’s in his power, he will prevent his body from changing. (Aside from very small things maybe, should life lead in this direction or that, growing his hair, a tattoo, or something similar, but he needs a strong reason before he alters his body.) Salvadore is terribly conceited regarding his appearance too and he works hard to look as flawless as he does: intense physical training, an extensive body-care routine, expensive products …, it belongs to his expectations for himself to always look as immaculate as possible. ~~~ Eneas

🍒 What kind of things do they expect from their relationships? Does this differ between platonic relationships and romantic ones? Is your OC “demanding” or a door mat? What kinds of things do people expect from them in a relationship? Eneas doesn’t expect. If a person captivates him so much and causes feelings in him that are strong enough for him to break his codex, he wants to see where it leads and only follows intuition instead of a plan. Of course, the more it grows the more he yearns for it to last forever and is willing to shape the bond in the necessary ways he starts to long for too. It’s not an expectation, not a demand, but what he needs in it: loyalty, faithfulness, devotion, for his partner to move on his side even if they’re apart for a small piece of the way, attention, and unrestricted love. If not in a true relationship, Eneas doesn’t differ much between platonic and “romantic” forms of affection. He sees interesting people and plays his games, whatever they involve. Of course, there are rare cases where people get closer. But he doesn’t have firm expectations for his friends either and just enjoys what there is and where it develops. In a relationship with someone, this person will become his exception, what guides him, his meaning, and of intense importance to him. He is neither demanding nor overly submissive in his behavior, instead, he needs to be invited into the person’s realm and will invite them into his in return. People expected a lot from Eneas during his long life, they all had slightly (sometimes strongly) different ideas of who he is or should be, and in most cases, he directed those expectations in ways that were useful for him. 🍊 What is your OC’s favourite meal? Snack? Dessert? Drink? Any reasons behind this besides liking how it tastes? I answered this one here and, you won’t believe it, once more forgot to write about the second part. 😂 What is your OC’s most hated food? Stuff they can’t stand to eat or drink? Eneas lived on the streets, I don’t think anyone could find him food worse than some of the things he ate to survive. Furthermore, he’s curious and loves to discover new dishes and tastes, and even collects interesting recipes. He’s not too fond of oysters and other mussels (with exceptions) and food with slimy consistency in general, but he’s far from picky and has no strong aversions. 🥝 What does a bad mental health day look like for your OC? Walk us through it with them. What kind of things can help them out of this slump and what kinds of things comfort them when they start to feel like this? During bad mental health days, Eneas becomes wistful, sometimes slightly anxious should it be caused by an actual threat to his life, power, or loved ones. In most cases, though, it’s a heavy melancholy combined with agonizing thoughts. He will lose himself in his own bitterness for a while and muse heavily and intensely about life, the gods, and humankind. What helps him a little in those phases, is music – his own or listening –, or watching people in mundane, but peaceful and happy scenarios. If it’s a truly bad case caused by a reason, only an actual resolution will help and until he found a way to reach it, he will stay much more distant in his wanderings and observations. 🔮 Star gazing or cloud watching? Hand-holding or snuggles? Early mornings or late nights? Star gazing and a conversation about all the different worlds out there. Handholding and snuggles. There is a right time for each. Not too rarely even a time for both simultaneously. Late nights after an eventful or relaxed day full of impressions with the time to deepen them or contemplate or add some more.

[counterfictional]

(bows) Well, this is one I've been aching to do (and I'm half certain I haven't answered these before).

30 Day Fictionkind Challenge - day 1

What is your fictotype? Are you a specific character, a nonhuman species, or both?

A specific character!

Specifically, I'm a salmon shark with a humanoid form. I direly believe my name (not counting my true name) was the fan-translated "Sal" rather than the correct translation "Syakesan". I remember thinking I was a kappa, before deciding it must have been shark fins felt instead of a kappa's backside. But other than that, I'm certain I've never felt any "shifts" connected to being a shark. It's mostly centered about being the character than sharkly instincts. I would not count as therian, essentially.

I'm also an OC, specific character but can be seen as a "nonhuman species" of... fictional characterness.

Here's the very first drawing of my half-body all cropped down to a size that's small on computers but most likely obscenely big on mobile. Sorry about that.

Without using first personal pronouns, he is an OC named Blorbo whose whole thing, to put it shortly, is whoever looks at him will see their favorite fictional character. He's an entity created from fictional character adoration. If any of that makes sense, aha--! As much as I want to call myself Blorbo, it's rather embarrassing to do so -- but the urge is very strong.

I have "memories" as Sal, but no memories of Blorbo. My inner world's self will often look like Blorbo (though it really does take turns being shark or him), and I will often feel like I am him. I think I became him due to peculiar stress, which mirrors how some of my plurality sorta springs up due to peculiar stress.

It's really weird, really hard to explain in words. it's also funny that I am two white guys who both wear white suits. Terrifying!

[rainbowtvz]

🩷 ❤️ 🌘 ~ rebeccaselfships

🩷sal -

sal's not really an abstract ideas kind of guy when it comes to art. he's more of a hands on crafty guy. it's why he's amazing at crafting himself masks (though it took him a while to get there) but not as great with painting them, or art in general. what little he's picked up with drawing and painting is definitely osmosis from larry and ash. give him some sculpting clay and he'll know exactly what he wants to do with it but a canvas and a brush? it's why what ash and larry can do with said canvas is so fucking amazing to him. and what (either s/i) can do with a pencil and paper is even more amazing.

🩷john

i like to think that since john is extremely sentimental in canon that it goes a step further and he carries something that reminds him of his partners, past and present, on him, to keep them a part of himself. with helen it was their wedding ring he swore to never take off (now worn on a chain around his neck) and with me it changes every so often as we're still finding our dynamic to settle into. (sometimes its a phone charm, other times it's a scarf i got him as a present.. what goes unsaid is what the final item would be if i were to leave his life prematurely.)

❤️sal

sal and i are just two silly lil goobers trying to make something with our lives, unaware that the evil cult is about to upend our lives. however we both have a sort of sixth sense that things are gonna get chaotic in the near future so we're more or less living like it's our honeymoon to get the most out of our relationship before one or both of us dies :(

so there's a lot of intimacy and a bit of co-dependency going on, and just living one day at a time, and just fully putting all our love into it like it's our last day on earth.

❤️john

john and i met because i just saw him get shot in the fucking street and stumble away and nobody batted an eye like it was somehow normal? i followed him to a hideout of his to see if he needed help only for him to put me at gunpoint because he thought i was an assassin there to finish the job. i almost ran and didn't look back but decided to see it through because i can't just.. ignore somebody getting severely hurt like that and not feel awful about it when i could've tried to help at least. we are still figuring things out between us so i don't have a lot of facts n stuff about us but things r going well so far!

🌘sal

sal loves my sense of humor, just point blank. its a good mix of silly and gallows. he can both relate to it and fall back on it to lighten the mood up anytime. and it usually makes his day when i come up with something particularly hilarious. sometimes i catch him staring off into space only to start giggling. i ask him why and he says it's because he remembered a joke i made.

🌘john

sometimes i'm not sure what's going on in john's head, but i get the feeling that just my presence is enough to keep him grounded. i think i'm sort of a break from the madness and i appreciate that i can be, because the kind of world he lives in sounds extreme, and scary. when he's with me in my corner of reality it's like he can slow down and enjoy life again. i think it makes him feel normal and like there's a light and the end of the tunnel. it's the least i can be for him. as for if he loves it about me? wel i hope it's not the only thing 😗

[stickynotestoletters]

may i ask for some poly relationship w larry & sal x male reader hcs?

Ah! Of course! :) Sorry I've been taking so long school is getting to me cause of finals;-;

Warnings: Noncannon compliant (their parents aren't together, no one dies, etc), NSFW (implied teen NSFW otherwise they're out of highschool), no weird cult stuff but they still ghost hunt, more modernish (?) phones and stuff

Sal x Male Reader x Larry hcs

highschool

I think that Sal and Larry would have gotten together before you got there

Like, I say gotten together but the way they started it was literally best friends that were super hornknee and decided to have sex together

They started then developing romantic feelings for each other though

And although the sex dynamic wasn't perfect (refer to my Sal x reader NSFW fic) it was good and they loved each other

It became an on and off thing until they actually worked it out

they talked about it and decided that it was better that they stay friends until they can sort out their own sexual desires and endeavors

Sal didn't even know he could do both as a switch and verse so he wanted to just re-examine his sexual self

And Larry was okay with that

So they decided to date but just without sex for a while

Then you moved to Nockfell their sophomore year

and god were you cool

Sal was the first one to see you in the hallway

It wasn't love at first sight really

He thought you were cool and he wanted to talk to you

Then that same day he told Larry about you during lunch

"I want to talk to him I just don't know how to approach him"

"Oh, well who is it?"

Ngl Larry was kinda jealous about how flustered Sal was getting at the prospect of a new friend but then Sal pointed at you and Larry was like "Oh, okay, I get it."

So Larry just approaches you

It was kinda to tease Sal about how shy he was being

Also kinda because you looked rad as fuck

So Larry approaches you sitting at a table alone

You were actually quite chill

You were happy since no one was approaching you

You guys hit it off and ended up becoming really good friends!

So for the duration of your sophomore year and the summer of your junior year, you guys were really good pals and hung out a lot

Then Larry started developing feelings first

And he was super confused since he knew he still liked Sal, no doubt about it

So he was just super confused and conflicted because he didn’t want to break up with Sal

So during, about the first half, of all of your junior year he kept this to himself and tried to keep himself from feeling for you

Sal on the other hand already accepted his feelings, he realized it later than Larry

And he read yp on what being polygamous meant

So although there was a lot of confusion at first he figured it's no different from people in love triangles

He realizes it a couple weeks after Larry and decides to bring this up to Larry during winter break

The conversation pretty much just went like Sal explaining polyamory to Larry for an hour

They end up deciding to just wait a bit and try to flirt with you individually

you know,

because they don't remember that you don't know they're attracted to you at this point

:)

So basically you think that they're both trying to cheat on each other for the week they're flirting with you

At the end of that week, you tell them to meet you together

And they don't know any better than to meet you

And then you come to them, don't let them explain, and cry because you don't want two of your best friends to cheat on each other like this even though you like them

And then they realize why you're saying this

So although this was not the time they expected to confess to you they told you what they were trying to do

So you just sat there

With these two idiots

and told them "No guys, cause I was literally having a breakdown about losing my two best friends."

And they confess to you

and everything is emotional and raw and you accept

Your guys' dynamic doesn't change because you’re dating now

The only difference is you guys make out together and show lots more pda

although you always bring up what they did when they were trying to give you hints

"We just really wanted to flirt with you okay??? Is it such a crime to want your crush to fall for you???"

"When you guys don't explain you're looking to expand your relationship, yes. Yes, it is Larry."

"He's kind of right babe-"

"SAL-"

Y'all spend a lot of time communicating with each other on stuff like that now

Your senior year goes without any bumps between all of you and you then graduate

College Dynamic

so you and the gang (except Ash, she moves to the city of course) goes and makes a college house

once you all move in together there it's a new routine

You all agreed and talked about the move together and what it would entail

And then you all finally realized how different it was from a monogamous relationship it was

But you all had your learning curves within the relationship

You find out more about their dynamic as a couple

For example, Larry and Sal never liked to fall asleep without you anymore

They had trouble sleeping without you beforehand and the first time you all slept in the same bed together it was just... so... peaceful

They'll spoon and cuddle without you individually (Sal is always the big spoon with Larry)

but they just love falling asleep next to you

They also refuse to do homework without you there

Even if it's just the simplest this they're just gonna need to have you in the room to finish it

Sal likes to make songs about you guys

He records them and edits some but he never lets you two listen to them

"It's just embarrassing if you two were to listen to it. It's like confessing my love for you guys all over again except I can't hide behind the mask."

So until he decides to release his songs online or plays those at gigs he's never going to let you listen to them

Larry likes to paint you guys

His paintings of you before the "disaster confession" were okay, it just looked like he was making a painting of a friend, except for the occasional rose

But now he paints you and draws you two whenever he can

He finds it funny how flustered you and Sal get whenever he makes suggestive paintings or sketches of you two

One time he painted a whole sex portrait of you and Sal together (A 12 by 28 specifically) hung it upright in front of the door to your rooms and didn't tell anyone

So after you and Sal got home that day you were welcomed with Larry lounging on your bed with the giant picture of you fucking Sal next to him

It was definitely beautiful though, even if it's hard to call your nudes beautiful

"Larry Johnson, this painting, as always, masterful. Beautiful craftsmanship but please-" "-we mean this in the most loving way possible Larry-" "-STOP PAINTING OUR NUDES BABE"

He put it away to be hung up in your apartment for when you all move out

Non-College Life

Once you all finish college you guys move into an apartment outside of Nockfell

The minute after you and Sal leave to get food Larry puts up all his private paintings of you guys

It's funny to him

I imagine you guys moving to a really populated city

Somewhere where it's a good place for people wanting to have creative jobs but still close to Nockfell

Maybe not back to New Jersey but probably not as far as New York or LA

you guys do all the cute stuff you never got to in Nockfell together

It's not like the majority of Nockfell was homophobic, mostly just the people who went to the church

But a lot more of them didn't think that polyamory was possible

So now it's easier

It's not like you never experience any polyphobia anymore but it's easier because you're in a more open-minded place

Sal's favorite thing is to go to concerts now

And pride

He also likes coffee house dates too

Larry gets hit on a lot though whenever you guys go out anywhere though

He finds it funny how jealous you both get

Sometimes if he wants Sal to get really mad he'll play along

But most of the time he shuts it down before it begins

Sal gets hit on a lot at concerts the most though

He gets kind of awkward about it, he's not going to edge them on but he gets uncomfortable enough to just not know how to shut them down

Usually, you and Larry will just appear behind him and whisk him away

Larry likes to use it as teasing leverage for a good rough one that night but you usually make sure he's okay with it before Larry does anything

You get hit on the most casually

Here and there but there aren't really specific places

It just sort of happens

You mostly shut them down alone

But occasionally you'll have to go to Sal and Larry if they're persistent

And they'll be mean too

One of the first times you saw Sal and Larry ever legitimately get that mean was when you got hit on in a club and they both just pulled you behind them and absolutely ripped the person a new one

You guys really like to stay at home if you guys have dates though that way everyone feels included

But when you all do go around together it's always specifically for three people you never tell anyone it's a date for dinner reservations, you always make sure you go on rides everyone wants to go on at amusement parks, and hey if worse comes to worst smoking is a group activity (if you have asthma or any other breathing condition Larry makes you edibles if you really wanna do edibles with them)

Starting jobs there are tough and all but you make it off your feet

Sal ends up booking a lot of gigs and Larry's commission request skyrocket when he moves to the city and makes a blog about his art

You all get an apartment with affordable rent and one that allows Gizmo

I hc that Gizmo is an esp but I don't know if that's real

So regardless you'll still be able to have room for him

Sal proposes to both of you

You guys talked about marriage and decided that it would be easier legally to just not get married through a court

So you guys have a friends wedding and Gizmo is the ring bearer

You guys don't get a fancy venue or anything

You guys all just have a city wedding

NSFW

So, the first time you all decide to hook up it's mostly just very communicative rules beforehand

Sal is more comfortable with being fucked than fucking someone else at most times but "It's not like I never want to stick my dick in you two" as he puts it

He also likes background music on most of the time

It's kinda weird if there isn't just a little bit of music

It isn't really bothersome, you guys keep it below 20 at most times

Sal's also super submissive

He liked it rough, make him cry out for you two

A bit of a pillow prince

Especially enjoys being tied up by you two

gags and blindfolds are on the table

Although whenever he does feel up to fucking you and Larry he'll usually end up having you two ride him because he gets to be such a mess with you two unless he's jealous or upset

Usually, when he's upset he's gonna lift you two up and fuck you against the headboard or wherever you two are if he's impatient enough

One time you were chilling with Larry in your bedroom and he was painting over his easel

Sal burst through the door where it slammed back on itself and closed itself

He then tracks his eyes on you

immediately asks you "Can I please fuck you right now"

and as soon as your safe word and consent comes out of your mouth he's holding you down on the bed and fucking into you so hard you can barely breath

Larry doesn't mind it and just continues painting with you moaning and being so pathetic in the background of his music

He kinda finds it funny because before you all got together and he and Larry would angry fuck it never worked out

Sal was just being a brat most of the time because Larry still wouldn't let him fuck him submissively

Speaking of which, Larry's more comfortable with being dominant, he'll bottom but only if he can still be dominant otherwise forget it

Larry's just a rough fucker anyway

He really likes pushing and holding you two up against walls when he fucks you guys

He likes showing off the muscles he got helping his mom with handy work and stuff like that

The first time he did this was to Sal when you were studying in your guy's room

You said you didn't really wanna participate today so they fucked like they would without you

And so they're talking back and forth, teasing each other

and Larry corners him

And just

lifts him up

It looked like he was just lifting a bag of sugar up

Sal seemed weightless as Larry just rocks into him

It was one of the hottest things you'd seen at the time so you joined them

You do that a couple more times but then it just becomes normal and you decide you need to start finishing all those assignments

Larry does that to you one on one as well without Sal but it happens to Sal a lot more spontaneously

Larry though is kinkier than Sal in some respects

He'll try anything at least once "Lisa didn't raise no bitch-"

He's really into breeding and long fucking sessions though

Like, lowkey he has omegaverse fantasies

Not because of the weird stuff just because a lot of the time..... they have breeding written in

He'll never admit to reading any of it but you know he has at least once

Super into dirty talk

And he's really good at it

He also had a praise kink and a degradation kin

He likes degrading you and you telling him thank you and how good he's treating a filthy little brat like you

"What're my filthy little brats good for other than sucking my dick so well. Taking me so well like the dirty little whores you are?"

"Yes sir-" "-we're made for your big cock-" "-thank you for fucking us like this-"

He especially likes breeding you and having Sal suck you off while he does it, he finds your crying cute

And an added bonus is rewarding Sal after for it

You guys talk about long-term consent and all that and decide that it's a good idea, you all trust and love each other so there isn't a problem

lol this kinda went to shit at the end but I still like it enough! Thanks for the Sally Face request I really like this game and the dynamic between a poly reader hc :)

-Laika

[theotheroccassionalfanficwriter]

Between Lust and Love 2/?

Summary:  You are standing on a bridge enjoying the view; Someone’s watching you from a balcony. The moon adorns your window; You adorn someone else’s dream. (Fragments, Bian Zhilin)

Rated E for explicit description of Zhongli’s wet dream

A/N: implied semi-public 3some

Chapter 2: I Adorn Your Dreams

-

The gentle and almost reverent touch of your fingertips as it ghosted through the skin of his chest was enough for Zhongli to be drunk on. The usually kept and proper funeral parlor consultant was lounging atop of his soft bed, his outer coat was left lying on the floor, his vest unbuttoned along with his white shirt. You sat between his legs, crawling on top of him with a sultry look in your eyes.

The tent of his pants was noticeable, and Zhongli knew that he would not be able to remove the stain of his precum as your other hand lightly touched his groin, all the while smiling like a vixen as you placed kisses on his stomach slowly making your way up, each touch of your lip sent an electric shot down his spine, making his cock ache for you. And yet he made no move to hasten you, he waited for you to serve yourself to him, an arrogance well-deserved for a man—nay, a god like Zhongli.

The way the soft orange light of his room illuminated you brought out your sensual side, the kind of eroticism that only existed between lovers found in stories, the red color of your hanfu was enough to make Zhongli think that this was the bridal chamber, and you were his eager newly wedded wife. The redness of your plump lips as it hovered before his lips tempted him to grab a hold of you, pressing your groin against his as he captured your lips. And that was what Zhongli did, the sudden friction caused by his hard cock that was pressing itself against your wet groin made you moan.

Opening your mouth wide enough for Zhongli to slip his tongue in and devour you, like a parched dragon finding a sweet oasis after a drought. Your sweet moans as your body surrendered itself to him only drew to make him want you more. Your clothes were removed from your body as Zhongli’s large hands explored the smooth expanse of your skin, he paid a particular attention to your chest, groping it and teasing it in the exact same way he had seen Childe done. His mouth had moved itself from your mouth to your neck biting  and kissing as he listened to the melody of your moans.

The broken call for his name as one hand groped your chest and the other gently caressed your thighs, sliding it open to rub your wet pussy easier against his hard cock. Your slick had drenched his pants and Zhongli let out a soft grunt of pleasure as you began to move your hips on your own.

His tied up hair was left undone, making it fall to the side and frame his face as he laid you on the bed, gently kissing your lips and committing into memory the taste of your sweetness. 

“Zhongli…” Your sweet voice called him and he smiled, you were such a sight to behold.

Your flushed face, coupled with tears that gathered at the edges of your eyes made his heart burn, the rapid rise and fall of your chest from the lust only made his cock harden further.

“Shhhhh” He comforted you as he placed a gentle kiss between your breasts before leaving a mark. He stood up and freed his hard cock from its confines, delighting at the way you drooled at the sight of it.

“Please...put it in already…” You begged, the innocent begging coupled with your lewd action of spreading your legs further apart and using your own fingers to spread your own pussy brought a tantalizing erotic sight that spurred him on.

“Anything for you” Zhongli replied as he grabbed his dick and slowly entered your wet pussy.

You moaned and your body arched as you felt his tip slowly enter, and then all at once you were filled with his thick and long cock, your toes curled in pleasure as you felt him move slowly before finding the perfect rhythm that made your mind melt from the amount of pleasure he was giving you.

The soft moans you let out, with the occasional broken call of his name made Zhongli pleased. He fucked you like the whore that you were, hands leaving bruises on your thighs with each hard and fast thrust he gave to your squelching pussy. 

“Zhongli—I—!” You came from one of his particularly hard thrusts, your pussy squeezing his cock so good that Zhongli came inside you. Spilling his thick white seed inside your pretty and glistening cavern. His eyes were closed from the pleasure of fucking you, the feel of your cunt and the sound of his name as you moaned appeased his inhuman side.

Zhongli let himself rest for a few moments before opening his eyes, to an empty room, devoid of you and any evidence of the lascivious deeds you had done together with him. The soft morning chirps of the birds outside his bedroom window, and the sizable stain in front of his sleeping robe made him pensive.

Zhongli sighed, and closed his eyes before opening it again.

“How am I going to face them today?”

While Zhongli pondered on his own day, neither you nor Childe were doing nothing. You were doing commissions for both the Mondstadt and Liyue Adventurer’s Guild while Childe was collecting information to prove your claim of Zhongli’s inhumanity.

Though you both knew that the Adventurer’s Guild was a strict non-partisan guild that held no ties to any of the nations of Teyvat, Childe also knew that it was an open secret within the Adventurer’s Guild HeadQuarters that you took private commissions.

Commissions that were illegal in nature, ones that were almost no different from the ones the Northland Bank occasionally did. So it hadn’t surprised the new recruits that you were to lead them for the day, Childe made no secret of his ties with you, though both you and him kept your romantic entanglement under strict wraps, that the two of you knew each other from birth was not unknown to those who knew to ask.

Your strength and undeniable mastery of your Cryo vision also led to the awe of the new recruits that was lent to you. It made your job considerably easier, more so since you were collecting information on the events that took place in Mondstadt, the Honorary Knight and the Dragon.

You knew how the Fatui worked, there was no reason why La Signora and Scaramouche would linger in the vicinity of Liyue. The Tsaritsa made sure to never let her Harbingers gather in one place for too long. 

‘Signora should have left after taking the Gnosis, there’s no reason for her to stay here this long and in hiding unlike Scaramouche’ You thought as you coldly watched over the recruits practice in Sal Terrae, ‘Scaramouche has been stationed here to prepare for Inazuma...there’s no reason for the two to linger, not when the entire plan has been ironed out.’

“Good job, Men!” You praised them, facade easily taking over your serious face “Lord Tartaglia would be pleased to know this particular batch of recruits are talented.”

Your smile turned sweeter upon seeing their pleased and puppy-like enthusiasm, “I’ll be sure to tell him that you lot are worthy of a spar for him.”

“““Thank you, Lady Columbina!!!””” 

You hummed as you looked in the direction of the dawn winery, the cogs of your brain turning, ‘Unless there’s another plan...one that my darling Tartaglia was not made aware of…’

As you played with this thought, the more likely it seemed, “Well then, as good as your battle prowess is, the Fatui must also be discreet in its dealings…”

The recruits listened attentively, standing straight as you walked between their ranks, inspecting them with the cat-like glimmer in your eye. You were living up to your fame as an S-class adventurer, you continued as you stopped behind them, smiling in the direction of Mondstadt and its repurposed castle walls, “For your next training, infiltrate Mondstadt without alerting your fellow Fatui and the Lord Harbinger assigned to it.”

You paused at their silence, “Ah, hesitating? How smart” 

Their unease could be felt in the air, and you couldn’t fault them. You weren’t a Fatui, you were just someone who was strong enough to work exclusively with one of their harbingers. 

“Face to the left!Face!” You barked at them, and they did so, “Face to the left! Face!”

You smiled at them once they were facing you, and yet the recruits could tell that despite the smile on your face, you weren’t smiling at all. You invoked a certain fear and awe, one that reminded them of Her Majesty’s Ever Winter.

“Lord Tartaglia would be pleased to know that this bunch of recruits can think for themselves…” You dropped your smile and leveled them a cold look, “Don’t worry, this training was meticulously planned by our beloved Lord Harbinger, Tartaglia.”

It was a lie but no one needed to know that.

“You have three days to prepare for the training mission, once you’ve decided on how to infiltrate Mondstadt, report to Ekatrina of the Northland Bank. You’ll be given your funds and then be dispatched.”

You left them and began your trek back to Liyue, Mondstadt’s wind gently blowing through your hair. You felt your good mood coming back, 

‘Ah~Today would be a good day.’

There were a few things in his life that brought him great unease, for Childe one of them was being subjected to your displeasure, the other was being on the receiving end of Zhongli-xiansheng’s unfathomable stare. And right now he was experiencing both, Childe cursed himself for forgetting his schedule.

He knew of your suspicions towards Zhongli, and he also knew that you understood Zhongli was necessary to achieve the Tsaritsa’s goals. He was lucky in that regard, you knew how to draw a clear line between your professional and personal life. It was one of the reasons why he had pursued a relationship with you. Beyond the love and bond forged from the harsh winter of Snezhnaya, whether he was Tartaglia, Childe or Ajax, the one thing constant among his identities was his love for you.

Which was why he had always done his best to make you happy, ensuring that you would live a comfortable and carefree life. It was the least he could do for being the way he was.

“My dear—”

“Mr. Zhongli, I know how lovely my Childe is but there’s no reason for you to intrude on our date.”

“Actually I’m—”

“Yes, our Childe is certainly a lovely individual, however our lunch appointment had already been scheduled prior to your arrival.”

“Xiansheng, I’ll buy you whatever you—”

“Oh? You’ve booked my Childe for lunch for his entire stay here in Liyue?”

“That-Darling it isn’t set in stone so—”

“Yes, after all is he not the diplomat sent over by the Tsaritsa herself?” Zhongli smirked, it was an uncharacteristic sight for him. One Childe hardly ever saw unless the man had solved a particularly interesting puzzle or problem.

Childe glanced at you and saw the hard look in your eyes, bit by bit the cogs of his brain turning rapidly as he pieced together your revelation and the information he had gathered over the course of the morning. Slowly the fog was lifting and the bigger picture was slowly becoming clearer.

He didn’t really understand what was happening yet but Childe trusted you, even though the churning of his gut was unpleasant... he could and easily stowed the unpleasant feeling away.

“Xiansheng.”

Zhongli turned and found himself the recipient of Childe’s charming smile, one devoid of any honesty. It was his business smile, often directed to the bank’s clients or in one particular case the Liyue Qixing.

“We’ve known each other for a while now,” Childe began as his hand reached for his teacup, “You aren’t the type to push something unless it was important.”

Zhongli could feel the temperature in the air change, and privately thanked Childe’s foresight to book a private room. On the other side of the table, you sat with your back straight and deceptively relaxed as you poured Childe his tea.

“Yes” Zhongli admitted as he stared at the floating tea leaves on his cup of green tea, he lifted his head to stare straight in Childe’s blue eyes, “I would like to offer a contract between you, your lover, and me.”

Childe blinked, his eyes staring at the odd glow in Zhongli’s eyes, one oddly reminiscent of a beast. A warrior.

‘Adepti’ his mind whispered. 

Childe wasn’t aware but the slow lift of his mouth, curving into a smile carried no trace of humanity, it was a smile that reminded Zhongli of the height of the Archon Wars. It was a captivating smile that took Zhongli’s breath away.

‘Ah, I really want both of them right now.’

Once lunchtime was over, the streets of Liyue was ripe with new gossip. In particular, involving the esteemed gentleman of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, the consultant Mr. Zhongli, the Childe of Northland Bank, and the S-Class Adventurer from Snezhnaya. 

The three had left Liuli Pavillion, you and Childe were flanking Zhongli, attached on either side of him in a suggestive way. That you had left both Childe and him with a kiss on the cheek only served to fuel the confusion. No one knew what had occured over the private room of Liuli Pavillion but the barely noticeable mark on Zhongli’s neck and the slightly disheveled look of your clothes and Childe’s knowing grin left much to imagination.

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[cicadabooks]

a review of Haunted Castle on Hallows Eve (Magic Tree House book)

because some friends were waxing nostalgic for these books, and I never read them, and so I finally picked up a few of them.

looks promising? castles and stuff.

wait, didn’t these kids go learn about dinosaurs, but now there’s Merlin? Ok... we’re just going with it. (idk, The Time Warp Trio was MY jam back in the day.)

stuff happens, they meet someone who barks at them, but it’s a friend, also there’s Merlin for like a micro second, anyway they get to the castle

what

Wait, this is legit kind of scary and creepy. I don’t like this. Little kid me would have not liked it either. I was not expecting to be actually spooked.

....“safe from the bone” is a pretty good line.

anyway it turns out there’s a pretty easy explanation: there’s a ghost/invisible dog thing carrying the bone. Whew! we like to see some order and reason around here.

Moving on,

sick! they all turn into ravens! that’s what I’m talking about. Classic. also they fly around and do stuff as ravens.

(Animorphs was also my jam back in the day, why do you ask. I’m too scared to reread it now though.)

oh shit look who showed up. well at least the Raven King is polite.

Now I need to explain some context. And the context is: what image do you think of, reading this? Your immediate mental character design, based on the description?

Below is something like what assumed:

Real scraggity - maybe Howl’s Moving Castle movie version Howl (in bird mode) plus general scruffyness. This wierdo lives with, and resides, over some corvids.

Anyway,

below is what the illustrator, Sal Murdocca, slaps on the page.

who tf

pecs + armor muscle

what

I thought this character was a nerd who had a bird beak for a nose, what is this

I’ve been reading a book full of placid drawings of children wandering around and cute little ravens - where did this come from. Sal Murdocca letting loose I guess.

Anyway here’s another shot of the raven king

To wrap up the story, the protagonist kids save the day, the raven king turns into a baby raven (!?), the ghost dog turns back into a real dog, etc etc.

The children walk through Ye Olde Town

frankly the two kids look kinda bored here. Like they’re trying to be politely excited. 30 books in, they’ve seen it all.

The two children go back to their own time, it’s halloween,

oh my god, the protagonist kids aren’t even trying. I know the gag is that they are now not scared of pretend costumes, after their adventures - but these kids look seriously jaded. Meanwhile, take a study of these fellow childrens’ costumes. They’re actually pretty well crafted. Like, effort / money went into those. Also because Sal Murdocca once again went a lil wild and drew the hell out of that hairy eye ball. Anyway, these kids could at least pretend to be a little scared, even if they are jaded adventures, just for the other kids’ sake. Right now they look like they’re giving the royal wave to passerbyers.

Final notes: Although I came upon these books years too late, I could see younger kid me maybe getting into this book in particular. I did already have Animorphs, The Time Warp Trio, and also Camp Haunted Hills (esp book 3 with the time travel) - maybe my taste was a little more out there / different than what the Magic Tree House books offered?

Bonus: Also, I saw that the current edition of this book has this cover -

which tbh is probably savvier from a marketing perspective. “slap that sal murdocca version raven king on the cover STAT,” I can see the marketing team saying. Personally, I’m still glad I went in not knowing anything and having my wtf moment when I saw the illustration reveal of the raven king.

(Also, for some reason, the marketing team/whoever deciding - “and UP the muscles even more on the raven king on the cover.” Because... these book are ‘More challenging adventures for experienced readers, ages 7-10’ (from the publisher site) and that’s what we do?)

Also small nitpick but I read the chain mail as more silvery (in sal murdocca’s pencil drawings), not the sameish charcoal black as the raven kind’s skin color. (Also sal murdocca‘s illustration was better tbh, I’m assuming someone else maybe illustrated this cover. idk who, because I started looking around the website and both illustrators involved in this series have chops, so idk who did this cover)

Also, wait, is the brother pushing his little sister towards the raven king? There’s a lot happening in this cover.

[sunmoonandeddie]

saturdays

pairing: bucky barnes x reader

word count: 3,467

summary: Bucky Barnes has a new routine.

warnings: Some swearing

a/n:  This was my March 2020 one shot for my Patreon that they received early access to.  Let me know what y’all think!

Bucky Barnes has a new routine.

Sundays are for sleeping in before eventually making his way to Brooklyn, where he picks up three bouquets and an egg, bacon, and cheese breakfast sandwich from Sal’s bodega before going to the cemetery.  He sits against his sister’s tombstone—his parents’ to his right—and eats his late breakfast.  He sits and talks for a few hours before leaving the flowers on their graves.  He always has to have peonies, since those were Becca’s favorites.

Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are for training.  He wakes up at five in the morning to go running with Sam, something he thought would end when Steve went back to be with Peggy Carter.  But he wasn’t bitter.  No.

But which thing he wasn’t bitter about, he’d never tell.

Along with the run, he spends most of the day sparring and battling simulations in the gym.  He has short breaks for meals, but he pretty much is on go until after dinner, when he goes straight to bed.

But Fridays are his favorite.  Because he gets to sleep in until nine-thirty in the morning, which is a luxury he’s not used to.  Then Sam and him grab a late breakfast together before Bucky goes into the city for his therapy session.

And Bucky likes his therapist!  Which he was really, really surprised about!  But Marlene is good.  Marlene is good because she doesn’t placate him.  She calls him out on his shit, and pushes him forward.  Because if it had been up to him, he would’ve stopped seeing her after their third meeting, when she had him drawing with fucking crayons that snapped in his hand way too easily.  But it’s been over a year since he started seeing her, and even though he still has his bad days, his bad days now would’ve been his best days before.

“So, you think you’re finally ready to go through Rebecca’s things?” Marlene asks, looking at him with a peaceful expression.

“I don’t think so, I am,” he says firmly, feeling a rush of triumph as a smile spreads across her lips.  “It’s time, you know?”

She nods in understanding, humming.  “Do you have someone going with you?”

Usually, Sam would go with him for things like this, and just in general.  They were attached at the hip, especially after the whole Steve leaving thing.

Yeah, they were both hit pretty hard with that.

“Yes, but I…”  He sighs, rubbing his hands on his jeans.  “I think this is something I need to do alone.  At least, the going through her stuff part…  But he is going with me to move the stuff to the Tower.”

“Good, good,” she says, her brows slightly furrowed.  “And how are you feeling today about Steve leaving?”

Bucky lets out a huff of air, taking a moment to think about it.  “To be completely honest with you…  I’m kind of over it today.  I have other things to do and yeah, I would’ve liked him to be here for it, but that’s not how it is.  And him leaving is more about him than it is about me.”  He shrugs, his lips pressed into a thin line.  “Just because he decided to go back doesn’t mean he wanted to leave me.”

Marlene sets her clipboard to the side, a warm smile on her face.  “Well, Bucky, I think we’ll end today on that thought.”  She stands up, offering her hand for him to shake as she does everyday.  “You’ve done well today.  You should be proud of yourself.”

He leaves with a wave and a “See you next week!” as he always does.

He hadn’t known about the storage unit full of his sister’s stuff until about eight months ago, when he asked Maria Hill if there was anything left of hers.  He knew that SHIELD had been the ones to take control of her assets when she had no children, since she was the sister of a Howling Commando and the best friend of Captain America.

Becca had died in December of 2013.  He’d missed her by less than six months.

It was heartbreaking when he first found out, and still is, if he was being honest.  But at least he has her stuff to go through, even though he has no idea what all is going to be in the storage unit.  Stevie hadn’t had anything other than what the Smithsonian had snatched up.

The car ride to the storage facility is quiet, Sam at the wheel.  Bucky still hasn’t gotten his license, since he doesn’t see a point.  Why should he when there’s the subway and Uber and even just good old fashioned walking?  “You’ve gotta save the Earth, Sam,” he says when he really feels like irritating the other man.

“You sure you’re ready for this, man?” Sam asks as they stand in front of storage unit 429.

“Yeah,” Buck says, punching in the key code and lifting up the door.  “Yeah, I’m ready.”  He flips the light switch on the wall, and is shocked by just how much stuff there is.  There’s boxes upon boxes upon boxes.

Sam’s hands go to his hips as he looks at it, whistling.  “Alright.  Let’s get it loaded.”

It takes several hours and three trips to get everything from the storage unit to the Tower, and by the end of it, the both of them just collapse on the couch with a couple of beers and a pizza to share between them.

But Saturday morning comes bright and early, and even though it’s his only day out of the week where he has absolutely nothing to do, Bucky knows he has to start going through her things.

The first four boxes are just clothes.  Clothes upon clothes upon clothes.  He finds a baby blue dress that she used to wear for church, starched to perfection, and he holds it to his chest for a long time.  He cries then.

And he knows that the fact that she’s hoarded so many clothes has a lot to do from growing up during the Depression.  He still finds himself falling into old habits of checking the price of food, despite the fact that he never has to worry about money again with his Avengers salary and the backpay from being a POW.

He finds his parents’ wedding rings, and the string of pearls his ma wore for special occasions.

And then he finds an old shoe box, and when he opens it up, he finds letters.  Letters upon letters upon letters.  They’re in bundles, tied together with fraying ribbon.  The paper is yellowed and soft from being folded and unfolded so many times, and he can see the looping black letters that covered the pages.

He takes the ones that look the oldest and unties them, he takes the top one from the stack and sets the rest to the side, before carefully unfolding it.

“Ruthie,” he says quietly as he reads the name at the bottom, not even bothering to read it yet.  “Ruthie…”  His eyes pop open as he suddenly remembers, remembers receiving letters everyday from a girl in the Bronx.  They were never romantic, but it was nice being able to write to someone and not having to hide how bad it was, like he had to with his ma and Becca.  She even sent her picture once, so he could know who he was writing to.  “Ruthie!”

He spends the rest of the day reading the letters, and passes out sometime around four in the morning with his face on a letter.  He takes the letters with him to his family’s graves the next day, reading to them after he replaces the flowers.

It takes him two more days to finish reading all the letters, in between breaks while training and staying up until he absolutely can’t.

He cries a lot while he reads it.  He’s not afraid to admit that.  But it’s nice to remember that he had a friend to listen to him during one of the worst times of his life.

Bucky’s almost afraid to look her up, to find out if she was still alive, and if he could go see her, to thank her.  They wrote back and forth until the day he fell off the train, and he knows that had to be pretty jarring for her.

But then Sam finds out about the letters—it would be hard for him not to, considering that he was walking around with his nose in the letters for days—and it’s all over.

Turns out, she’s alive.  She’s alive, and she’s still in Queens.

He goes the next Saturday, taking his bike all the way to the other borough.  He looks a little intimidating and extremely different from how he looked back then, but he hopes she recognizes him.  He really, really hopes she recognizes him, because otherwise this’ll be real awkward.

He stands in front of the door for a long time, taking his hands in and out of his pockets about eight times before he finally reaches up and knocks.

And then the door opens, and there’s Ruthie.

Well, not Ruthie, though at first glance, you’re the perfect picture of her.  You’ve got her hair and her eyes, and the curve of her lips.  But the nose is different.

“Can I help you?” You ask, raising your eyebrows at him.  You’re wiping your hand on a hand towel, peering at him like you recognize him from somewhere but you don’t know where.

“Hi, uh,” he says slowly.  His throat is suddenly so dry that he can barely talk.  “I’m Bucky.  Bucky Barnes.  I was pen pals with—”

He’s cut off by Ruthie herself appearing in the doorway.  She’s much older—she is ninety-nine, after all—but it’s definitely her.  “Did you say Bucky Barnes?”  The little old lady’s eyes widened as she saw him, her hand over her heart.  “Oh, my stars, it’s really you.  I heard about what happened to you, and I…”  She shakes her head, clicking her tongue.  “Why, it almost gave me a heart attack, you know.”

“Little Ruthie Pratt from Queens,” he says, reaching in his pocket and holding up the letters.  “I found these while, uh, going through my sister’s stuff.”

“I still have mine!” Ruthie says, pulling him inside.

It’s nice and homey and everything that Bucky had thought it would be.  The front foyer is covered in photos, and there’s quite a few of you.  You’re clearly one of Ruthie’s pride and joys, if the sheer amount of them has anything to do about it.

“I used to read these to my grandbaby here,” Ruthie says as she comes back with an old oak jewelry box in hand.  “Anytime she stayed the night—her parents worked a lot when she was growing up—she always asked me to read her one of my ‘Bucky letters.’”

“Grandmama,” you say, cheeks flushing as you avoid his eyes.

“It was so cute!  She used to recite them word for word along with me!” Ruthie teases as they go to the living room.

It’s quaint, with soft pastel colors dominating the room.  He sits on a floral sofa that’s got a circle with dark hair on it, the marking of a furry friend’s favorite spot.  He watches as you move to the kitchen, grabbing a pitcher of what looks like tea and a few glasses.

You sit beside her with the ease of knowing that you belong here, pouring yourself a glass.  “Grandmama, do you want some tea?”

She scoffs, rolling her eyes as she opens the box and looks for the oldest one.  “You keep that monstrosity away from me,” she says.  Seemingly remembering Bucky’s presence, she says, “My daughter’s husband is from Louisiana.  Ridiculous man got both her and my grandbaby addicted to that absolute sludge.”

The secret smile you give him as the two of you listen to her tirade about sweet tea makes him feel at ease, and sets the tone for the rest of the afternoon.

Things go on as normal, or as normal as they can.

And Marlene happens to think that all of this is absolutely fantastic for him.  She loves that he’s now spending time with Ruthie and you, reconnecting with his past while understanding that he doesn’t have to be the person he was in the letters.

He’s different.  He’s not the Bucky that Ruthie knew back then.

It’s an unusually warm day in November four months later when he takes you out for a coffee, just the two of you.  And it isn’t a date—really, it isn’t—but he finds himself wanting it to be about halfway through his second coffee.

And that’s why he starts talking about dating to Marlene, who had, quite frankly, been waiting for him to realize his feelings for a while.

“I think I’m in love with her,” he says as he storms into his therapy session, eyes wild and hair a disarray.  He’s clearly been worrying real hard about it.

Marlene looks up at him, peering over the silver rim of her glasses.  “Oh, really?” She says nonchalantly, as though she doesn’t have you in her notes about him.  “And why is that?”

Bucky can’t help the frown on his face as he realizes that she didn’t even ask who he was talking about, because she knew.  “I…  I don’t know,” he says, slumping into his usual chair.  “She makes me happy.  Happier than I’ve ever been.  And she always makes me laugh, even at the most inappropriate of times.”  His gaze softens the more he thinks about you.  “And she isn’t scared of me.  She doesn’t judge me.  She’s read about everything I did in the war, even before HYDRA, and she doesn’t care.”  His hands are sweating as he rubs them together.  “Actually, it’s not that she doesn’t care—she does care—but she cares because she… she loves me.”

You love him.  And sure, he knows that.  You’ve said that you love him multiple times, even if you only mean it as a friend way.

But the thought that he has someone who loves him that doesn’t have to is… groundbreaking.

“She loves me, and she wants me to be okay,” he says, looking up at Marlene then.

His therapist has a pleased look in her eyes, even if she won’t let it show with a smile.  “I think she’s good for you,” she says simply, her pen held loosely in her hand.  “Are you seeing her again soon?”

“I’m seeing her tomorrow night,” he says, his heart growing light.  “We’re grabbing a few drinks to celebrate her finally graduating from cosmetology school.”

It’s a big deal for you, completely something.  You’re smart, there’s no denying that, but when it comes to schooling…  You’d done well in high school, but college proved to be the bane of your existence.

You’d dropped out in the middle of your junior year, and that had been it.  You’d moved to Queens to live with Ruthie after, working various low level jobs and trying to find something that fit.

But you’d fit in at cosmetology school.  Hell, you excelled.  And you enjoyed it!  You enjoyed waking up in the morning and going to your classes!

You cried when you got your certificate, and it was now framed in Ruthie’s house until you start your first salon job in two weeks.

“Are you going to tell her about your feelings?” Marlene asks curiously.

Now that makes him pause.

“... Should I?” Bucky asks, feeling a wave of anxiety coming over him.  “What if she doesn’t feel the same way?  And she sees me as just a friend?”

“If she’s really your friend, she won’t abandon you just because you tell her you have romantic feelings for her.”

“You sure about that?”

Marlene fixes him with a look, raising one perfectly sculpted eyebrow.

He runs his tongue over his teeth.  “Fine.  You’re sure,” he says, slumping a little in his chair.  “Doesn’t mean it’s easy.”

She snorts, making a note on her pad.  “I never said it was going to be easy, Bucky.  Doesn’t mean it can’t be done.”

The next night, he spends an hour and a half trying to decide what to wear.  “It shouldn’t be this hard,” he grumbles as he switches shirts for the forty-ninth time.  “It’s just drinks.”

Sam, however, is having a great time watching his new best friend freak out over seeing a girl for the first time.  “I mean, she already agreed to going out with your ugly mug, man.  It’s not gonna matter what you wear.”

And in some way, that helps.  A little.

But he does have to threaten Sam with bodily harm if he spies on his date that’s not really a date.

He almost boxes him the ear when he insists for the fourth time that it’s a date.

He shows up at your door with a bouquet of flowers from Sal’s bodega, the buttons of his dark blue henley left open, exposing a smattering of chest hair.

When you open the door, the air is knocked from his lungs.  You look absolutely radiant.  The light from the sinking sun is giving you a halo-like glow, and he’s sure, not for the first time, that you’re an actual angel.

“Hi,” you say, a flush on your cheeks as you see the flowers.  “Are those…  Are those for me?”

He nods dumbly, trying to swallow down the lump in his throat.  “Y-Yes,” he says, pushing them into your arms.  “As a congrats.  For, you know, graduating.  And stuff.”

“Thank you,” you say as you take them, handing them to Ruthie.

She’s standing just inside the door, a giddy look on her face as she holds the flowers, watching you take the motorcycle helmet from his hands.  “Have her back by twelve!”

“Grandmama!”

“Fine!  Twelve-thirty!”

You’re clearly embarrassed by her antics as he helps you on behind him, guiding your arms around his waist.

“You ready?” He asks, his voice breathy.

A shiver runs down your spine as you nod, wrapping your arms tighter around him as he starts the bike, taking off.

“She doesn’t actually mean that,” you say as he leads you into the tiny, out of the way bar.  You’re fixing your hair, trying your best to appear presentable.  “I’m grown, you know.  I don’t…  I don’t have a curfew.”

A slow smile spreads over his lips as he listens to you ramble.  “I know,” he says finally, figuring he should put you out of your misery.  “Ruthie does like to tease those she loves.”

The bar is quaint, clearly a local place that tourists haven’t invaded.  He leads you to a high table, calling out your order to the lone bartender.

“So, I—”

“I like you,” Bucky says, unintentionally cutting you off with a wince.  “I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to interrupt you, but I really, really like you, and I really, really want this to be a date, but if you don’t feel the same way then I completely understand and we can just forget that I ever said anything and everything can just go back to normal and that might be the best thing because, quite frankly, I haven’t dated since the forties and I have no idea how dating is supposed to work nowadays, but I’d really like to try it with you but only if you—”

His rambling is cut off as you place your hand on his, intertwining your fingers.  “Okay,” you say, like it’s the easiest thing ever.  “It’s a date.”

He stares at you for an embarrassingly long time, his mouth dry.  “Uh…  What?” He says quietly.  His heart is pounding at an unnaturally fast pace, and he honestly thinks he might be on the verge of a heart attack.

“I like you, too,” you say, smiling at the bartender as he brings you over your drinks.  You look so beautiful, your eyes the brightest thing in the dim lighting of the bar.  “So this is a date.”

“Okay,” he breathes out, a wave of relief washing over him.  “It’s a date.”

He’s a little starstruck as you continue on with what you were going to say before, a pink blush dusting his cheeks.  Your hand stays in his for the rest of the night, occasionally giving a little squeeze as though you’re reminding him that you’re still there and you’re not going to disappear.

And it feels good.

And okay, Marlene may have been right.

And yeah, Fridays might be good.  But as he sits there with you until the late hours of the night, he’s sure: Saturdays are his new favorite day.  Because Saturdays brought him a new beginning when he wasn’t expecting it.

[casterisks]

Art Reference

Larry doesn't draw faces very often because he struggles with it. Sal accidentally ends up becoming his reference.

content warnings: mentions of past bullying, mild language (but it's sf so not unexpected)

do NOT tag as ship. I explicitly write their relationship as brotherly.

Sal and Larry’s hair was messy from an earlier session of headbanging, per usual Larry showed him his newest paintings and his works in progress.

Sal stared over at Larry’s art, the newest piece being a landscape, clearly inspired by the nearby lake. He grinned looking down at a painting he had done, which was a circle and a few poorly drawn lines, dead potato, but Larry liked it, so he kept it near his workspace.  He was bouncing a leg as he stood, he took another glance over at the paintings, all of them were of landscapes or animals, “How come you never draw people?”

Larry shrugged, “I’m not that good at faces, they’re really hard.”

The blue hair grinned under his mask, tilting his head to make sure at least his body language read well, “I think drawing me wouldn’t be too hard then, huh?”

Larry laughed a little, then got a certain look in his eyes, grinning at Sal, “Actually- I think your face- like under the prosthetic- would be pretty good reference.”

The shorter teen mentally played over how he saw himself every morning. His face on the left side, his left, was missing an eye. The eyelids were flat over the hole. He had burn scars going from his forehead down towards the beginning of his neck, they were a darker shade than the rest of his face. His eyebrows were thin, never having the chance to grow properly. His jaw sunk in, teeth sticking out on one side without his mouth being able to properly close. Most of his nose was gone, it was easy to see the two dark triangles, which were what was left of his nostrils. His scars also brought attention to the dark circles he had, which were caused by a severe lack of sleep. Sal anxiously put a hand on his neck, subconsciously rubbing at the strap. Larry had seen him twice without his mask, both on accident, he hadn’t judged him both times but, “Well are you sure? I mean. I- uh- …” The first time was when he accidentally didn’t buckle his prosthetic enough and gave Larry a nosebleed, the second was when Larry had been sleeping in his apartment and Sal took off his mask without thinking.

Larry waves a hand, “No, I think you look pretty badass actually!”

Sal chuckled, looking up at Larry, “I know it’s just…” How could he put this? He chose his words carefully, “It’s a lot of things really, you know, people who look like me are normally the villains of horror movies and people don’t like looking at me- it’s- are you sure it’s a good idea?”

The taller boy gave him a sympathetic look, fidgeting with a pencil he’d grabbed during this conversation, “Hey man, if you’re uncomfortable with it, you can tell me. It’s my job as your older brother to make fun of you for dumb shit, but I get it, the main thing I need practice with is shadows anyways.”

Sal giggled, “Okay- okay, asshole! Who decided you were the older brother when I’m four months older than you?”

Larry grinned, “Grow ten inches then, little bitch boy.”

“BROTHER LAW!” Sal jumped up, tackling Larry, the two landed on the ground with a light thud.

Larry cringed, “...Fuck.”

Sal got off him immediately, “Shit- are you okay? Did I knock the breath out of you again?”

Larry gasped dramatically, “Tell my mom I said…” Larry got up suddenly, tackling the other, “BROTHER LAW!” The two land on the floor, this time Larry on top of Sal.

The two laughed loudly together, slowly getting up and getting back to their normal conversation.

Sal anxiously fidgeted with his hair, taking it down to redo his pigtails, “You really think I don’t look…” Sal mentally heard the taunts and words of other kids over the years, “Like a freak?”

Larry shakes his head, “Nah man, you look like you.” With reluctance, Sal started unbuckling his prosthetic, “I’ve never thought about it like that.” He felt the cold air hit his face, his skin, out in the open for once other than before he went to bed. He put the mask on Larry’s dresser, he met Larry in the eyes staring up. He didn’t look away. Sal averted his eyes, “Right, so where should I sit?” He sniffed slightly, forcing himself not to full out cry again.

“Oh yeah, the bean bag is fine.” Larry grabbed the pencil he had dropped and a large sketchbook, he sat cross legged in front of Sal. The blue hair fidgeted, he hated staying still, it felt somehow inherently wrong, Larry noticed the discomfort, shaking the pencil lightly in his hand, “Don’t worry, just get comfortable.” Sal breathed a mild sigh of relief, nodding as he got into a comfortable position.

For the next fifteen to twenty minutes Sal watched Larry draw in front of him. He admired the way that he seemed to know what he was doing, working with a messy work-flow. He couldn’t help but feel jealous, just of the way he and Ashley seemed to know how to work with materials he could hardly wrap his mind around. He had tried, only to feel disappointed every time.

At one point Sal felt the need to ask, “Am I doing good?” he tilted his head, Larry gave him a thumbs up, “Doing great, dude!"

After a few more minutes, Larry flipped the sketch page around, showing Sal his drawing, Sal’s eyes widened. The blue hair sat up straight, noticing with the feeling of stillness he must’ve started rocking at some point. He stared at it for a few seconds, picking it up from Larry. He forced himself not to trace over the lines (that'd smudge it!), it was so.. Larry. The line art was messy but had a certain organization to them, most of his scars were drawn in the same way that the lines of his shirt or hair had been drawn, it looked neutral. Not overdone or really a focus of the drawing at all.

Larry cringed, looking away, “Shit.. You hate it don’t you?”

Sal shook his head quickly, “No! No! Not at all! Can I.. keep this?”

Larry looked at Sal with a twinge of surprise, then shrugging, “Yeah, no problem dude.”

Sal slowly ripped out the paper, making sure not to tear it, “I’m going to have to find somewhere to put this later, it’s really good, I just.. Didn’t know what to say.” The blue hair suddenly sniffles, he holds his mouth in a hand, he was surprised Larry hadn’t looked away, or cringed, let alone spent the time drawing him trying to work in the details.

“Woah, dude are you alright?” Larry scooted over to Sal, offering a hug.

Sal sniffled more, heavily leaning into him, crying into Larry’s shoulder, slowly breaking into sobs. Sal felt the brunet’s messy hair, it was in his face, he could actually feel it. It was tangled. It was a normal texture, but it felt strange nonetheless. They sat like that for a couple minutes, Sal crying as Larry said calming things, and rubbing circles into his back. Sal couldn’t understand a thing the other was mumbling, but it sounded nice. After he had cried it out, he felt a lot better, regaining his breath and his composure.

The two let go, Larry stretched, getting up, “Okay, change of subject. Do you want some energy drinks? I got monster the other day.”

Sal grinned, noting how weird his exposed teeth felt in the room without something blocking the air, “Yeah! Did you get the silver ones?”

Larry rolled his eyes, walking over to the door, “Of course I got the silver ones, the other flavors suck ass.”

Sal waited for Larry to come back, looking over at the dresser he debated putting the prosthetic back on, but he felt oddly safe in the other’s room. He sat on Larry’s couch, looking through the collection of movies they had underneath the cushions.

[parismystere]

Hoping that the finale (or maybe season five if the whole thing about season four having a shocking/sad ending is to be believed) will have a point of showing that no matter how many people she recruits by her side she can’t replace her actual partner, who was all she needed all along. The other half. Maybe predictable, but I really do miss when it was just the two of them as well.

oh, anon, how do i answer thee without being salty (sal-thee?).

if you had asked me this summer (i mean. this blog didn't exist this summer, but moving on), i would have said that's exactly what's going on and what the show is trying to do with the rena storyline. i would have subscribed to the popular theory that chat blanc caused the rift in their relationship. i would have told you to keep an eye on the end of the season, perhaps even the 100th episode. well. what can i say, i love clowning.

remember when the script leaks for 'ephemeral' came out, and all of us thought that since ladybug needs only his cataclysm, then maybe that's a sign that there would be a ladynoir fallout, or that adrien is so hurt that he refuses to show up to akuma fights, blah blah? welp. that came and went.

hm, my controversial opinion is that perhaps ml just isn't the show we signed up for anymore, and it's up to people to decide if they want to keep up with it and enjoy the ride, or move on. because let me tell you, i've been seeing bits of s1 episodes the past few days, and the difference is staggering. i don't blame anyone for not liking ml anymore.

i'm just personally saddened about it, i guess, because, once again, ladynoir supremacy, and because to me ml is losing its charm, kind of. growing up, i had all the female protagonists i could want. i refused to watch things without girls in them. i had the superhero teams, the trios, and so on. what i didn't have was a cartoon whose sole point was the romance, because i was desperate for romance for at an early age, and children's shows didn't expand on that front, or relegated the romance to a subplot for a few episodes here and there. so ml felt revolutionary for me, because, holy shit, it's a CARTOON and its whole plot is ROMANTIC LOVE??? where was this when i was a kid??? and they'd be super daring with the ladynoir flirting, them falling on top of each other and other visual cues and so on, once again, WHERE WAS THIS??? i love it so much. it's exactly what little me needed and would have loved.

but what's the point in including the fifty-eleven superheroes, the ginormous cast of side characters and so on, if the idea is that they have to be discarded in the final season for... what? for ladynoir to triumph stronger than ever? they were already as strong as it's possible. and i just dislike it because it turns into your run-of-the-mill superhero show. the idea of the franchise, the 328718349 miracle boxes, the american superheroes and fei, whose existence i blocked out, isn't my tempo, and idk. i don't know if anybody even watches ml for that stuff, since the love square is the drawing point of the show, and maybe the agreste mysteries keep some of us occupied.

i understand that they wanted to make ladybug the leader (idk how you can be a leader of a partnership, but what do i know, please, astruc, tell me how i'm a dumb woman again) and make her the central character in the show, and that's fine. the yin and yang thing is for purely aesthetic purposes, it seems like. but at this point... what is the difference between chat noir and the other heroes, in terms of powers? ladybug is the only one essential. chat noir's cataclysm is usually seen as a hindrance in battles with sentimonsters. the bee can actually freeze them. i don't think that people were overdramatic about rena this summer, because she also has one power only like chat noir, but was allowed to showcase this strategic acumen that chat never did, except maybe in 'miracle queen'.

i think that either the show doesn't know what it wants to be, or it started as one thing, and is going to end up as another. i'm going to refrain from judgement because, hey, i do try to be a graceful person and i do have a lot of hope, but i'm also a lil wary of how things are going, and i hope nobody misconstrues this as me being salty. i think i'm just confused with what the idea is.

[corvus--rex]

Semi-abandoned soulmate au. I actually started this one before The Sound of Color, although this is vastly different from that one. This particular au also doesn't have the requirement that soulmates are always romantic (ie Pidge and their soulmate). It jumps around a little, and those sections are marked with dividers. Soulmate strangers-to-lovers. . .

~*~*~*~

Soulmarks. Everyone had one. An indelible mark that bound two people together. Age 13 was when it would start. The mark “waking up” as some called it, and reaching out for its companion mark. Most soulmates were within a few years of each other, so the lingering tingle of a mark searching for its mate usually didn’t last long.

Lance was lucky that way. His mark sprang to life on his thirteenth birthday and quieted three months later. There was no way to know who or where his soulmate was at that point, but he knew they were three months younger than him. He had been getting ready for school that day when the constant tingle in his mark faded.

He’d always liked the quarter note-shaped mark on the inside of his left wrist. What confused him were the numbers that circled it. No two marks were the same, and Lance knew that his soulmate would have something different. But those numbers confused him. 1030211933. Trying to figure it out was a favorite pastime throughout middle and high school, but he never could get there. He hadn’t met his soulmate yet, but he hoped that it would make sense when he did.

Once two marks found each other, the secondary connection opened. The marks on the soul allowed for marks on the body. Words, doodles, full-blown artwork. Drawing or writing on skin would appear on a connected soulmate. Once Lance’s mark had connected, the first thing he did was ask his soulmate about the numbers. They didn’t know either. But he did find out that his soulmate’s mark sat on their right hip, it was a feather, and they didn’t have those numbers but they did have a series of roman numerals along the feather’s shaft that read:

X X X X X X I X I X X X X I I I

They continued to talk for years, learning about each other. They had decided not to share identifying information like names or location, but Lance knew that his soulmate had a twin and that their parents had adopted their cousin when their cousin’s parents died in an accident. They didn’t know anything about the accident because they’d been too young at the time and no one had explained it since. Lance told them that he had three siblings, that he was a twin, too, and that his older sister connected with her soulmate the same day he had.

He lay in his bed in the dorm he shared with his best friend Hunk, rereading the last message his soulmate had sent him about how college sucked and how they already had an in-class performance a month into the semester. He’d responded with a note about how trying to balance classes with rehearsals as the lead in his school’s fall musical was kicking his ass. Lance already knew that his soulmate was studying music at a college close to where they grew up. And they knew that he was majoring in theatre at a college a three-hour drive from home.

Hunk trudged into their dorm room and threw himself onto his bed. “Remind me again why I decided this was a good idea?” he groaned.

“Which part?” Lance asked in return.

“The part where I decided to be a pastry chef and subject myself to the hell that is the one professor I can’t get away from?”

“Because you love baking and always have and one asshole can’t make you hate doing what you love.”

“I swear she just likes to terrorize us. There’s that guy I told you about – Sal, the one I had a class with freshman year and he transferred to general culinary and now he’s back – she hates him. And I don’t know why. But then, she hates me, too. Pretty sure it’s that bun. It’s so tight she doesn’t need a face lift. But I’m also convinced that Chef Dayak is just evil.”

“Hey, at least you have Shay there with you. Not everyone gets to have their soulmate in class with them all day,” Lance pointed out.

“How’s it with yours?” Hunk asked.

“We’re working our way up to talking about meeting. I know I wanted to wait until after graduation, but I’m getting impatient, y’know? It’s been eight years and I don’t want to wait anymore. But I get that they do. So…yeah. Anyway,” he said, shaking himself out of that particular spiral, “You going to the Halloween party this year?”

“Dude! It’s a month away!”

Lance sat up, turning to his best friend, one eyebrow arched. “Seriously? You say this like there’s such a thing as too early. And no, it’s only three weeks. We need to start now.”

Hunk groaned again, this time in only partial exasperation, and sat up. “Fine. The fuck are you planning this year?”

Lance just laughed. Hunk threw a pillow at him, collapsing in his own fit of giggling when a startled Lance took the pillow directly to the face. Lance’s alarm sounded, loud and annoying. He groaned, throwing Hunk’s pillow back, and fumbled for his phone to turn the blaring sound off.

“Fuck me. I have to get to rehearsal.”

In an apartment just off campus, Keith stopped playing and pulled the pencil out of his hair, making yet another correction to his scribbled sheet music. He started over, again, ignoring the key in the door and his roommate coming back in. He ignored their slight form dropping their overpacked backpack on the floor and throwing themselves onto the other end of the couch with their laptop and notebook. Keith was too focused on his music to pay much attention to Pidge.

Except that Pidge wanted his attention right then. “Hey. Asshole,” they said, throwing a ball of notebook paper at him.

“Yes, hellspawn?” he asked casually, setting his guitar on its stand by the couch, “What the fuck do you want?”

“I’m on the committee for the party. You’re coming,” they said while typing away on their laptop.

“No. I’m not. I don’t go to parties, and you know it. Why the fuck are you so determined for me to go?”

Pidge looked up, fixing him with their stare. “Because I said so. And because Matt’s going to be there. His girlfriend’s going too. You actually like Neve. So you’re going.”

“Including you, that’s three people I’d be willing to talk to. Why should I bother?” he stopped, a dreaded thought sparking as to why they were so hellbent on his going to the party. “It’s because it’s a week after my birthday, isn’t it?”

“What? You mean that thing you ignore every year except for the proliferation of doodles from your soulmate? Why would that have anything to do with it?”

“I'm still not going,” Keith insisted.

“We’ll see about that,” Pidge answered cryptically. They went back to their laptop, typing furiously. They stayed that way, ignoring Keith’s death glare until he gave up and went back to his music.

Eventually, Keith decided that the music portion of his brain was fried and gave up for the night. Pidge was buried in their laptop, writing a paper for their robotics class at top speed. Ignoring them for the moment, Keith opened his own laptop, going back to the English assignment he still hadn’t finished. It was due by the next class, which was two days away, but he’d been putting it off for longer than that. He typed lazily at it for a while before a horrible thought hit him and he realized that his previous assessment had been wrong. He glared up at Pidge over his screen.

“She’s going, isn’t she?” he asked.

“Who?” Pidge asked back, pretending they didn’t know what he meant.

“You know who.”

“If you’re referring to your sister, then yes, she is.”

Keith sighed. “Just because she knows who her soulmate is now, that doesn’t mean that you’re right. Mine could be literally anyone.”

Pidge closed their laptop. “And you’re in denial. I can not believe that your twin sister happens to have a soulmate who has a younger brother who is also a twin and his soulmate has a twin. The odds of that happening are so small as to be inconceivable! Not to mention the part where Acxa’s soulmate and her brother both connected with theirs on the same day.”

“Ok, I’ll give you that it’s weird. But you don’t know anything about Acxa’s soulmate’s siblings, and neither does she. And not everyone’s met theirs yet. You haven’t! All you know is their handle on Steam!”

“So? I also know that Beezer’s on the other side of the country. I know that we won’t get to meet in person until after graduation. All I'm saying is that this is a little too weird to be a coincidence.”

“And I’m not going to let you harass my sister’s soulmate about her siblings on the day they’re meeting face to face for the first time. Leave it alone, Pidge.”

“Fine,” they said, going back to their paper.

Keith knew full well that Pidge would not leave it alone, but there was only so much he could do to stop them.

A few days later, Lance dragged his twin sister, Hunk, and Shay to the nearest Halloween pop-up costume store. None of them had found anything they liked, and Lance was getting bored. Shay had wandered off to the decoration part of the store, and Hunk was making sure the twins didn’t get into trouble. But Hunk had gotten briefly distracted and lost them.

“Jules no.” Ah, there was Lance.

“Jules yes.” And his sister.

“Are you two still arguing?” Hunk asked as he approached the twins.

“Hunk,” Lance said, putting his hands on Hunk’s shoulders, “She wants us to be the Wonder Twins again. I absolutely refuse. We did that once when we were like nine.” He felt something hit his back and whipped around to find his sister holding a Wonder Twins costume. “Ana Julieta Alameda-McClain, get that fucking thing away from me.”

“Oh, fine. You’re no fun,” Jules pouted. She put it back, then turned around, spotting something else. “Ooh! Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch?”

“What the fuck – no! I’m never going Halloween shopping with you again. You’re on your own,” Lance said, wandering off and taking Hunk with him.

Hunk was laughing. “Why do you keep letting her do this, dude?”

“I don’t know. Anyway, I say we go over to The Costume Company. I think I’m done with mass-produced crap.”

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll go find Shay and meet up with you two at the car,” Hunk agreed, heading in the direction he’d last seen Shay.

Lance reluctantly went back to his sister. “We’re going to The Costume Company,” he said without getting her attention.

“Hm? Ok,” Jules answered, not paying attention to her twin.

“Bye, then.” He started to leave without her, getting halfway down the aisle of the Halloween pop-up before she realized what he’d said.

“Lance! Get back here, you ass!” she yelled after him.

He ignored her as payback for her insistence on twin costumes and kept going. She chased him all the way to his car, where Hunk and Shay were already waiting. Lance finally lost his composure, cracking up when he reached his waiting friends.

“Leandro. Alejandro. Alameda. McClain. I am going to kill you,” Jules growled while out of breath from chasing him.

“No you won’t,” he said, “Mamá would kill you in return.”

Shay saw her opportunity and took it. “Shotgun!” she announced, hopping into the passenger seat.

“Shay, I love you,” Hunk said, getting in behind Lance, effectively separating the twins.

~*~*~*~*~*~

“Acxa, just promise me you won’t give in to Pidge. They’re being totally insufferable with this,” Keith said. He lay on his bed, earbuds connected to the call he was on with his twin.

“You know me better than that. Gremlin won’t get shit out of me. And she’s not getting anywhere near V at the party."

~*~*~*~

Links to the rest of the series:

1 | 2 | 3* | 4 | 5* | 6* | 7 | 8 | 9* | 10 | 11 | 12* | 13 | 14 | 15* | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19*

[kaiowut99]

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX Episodes 65 and 66 Subbed (Finalized)

(Check out my Subbed!GX Stream Masterpost!)

Hell Kaiser Ryou! Chimeratech Overdragon

Since his defeat to Ed in the Pro Leagues, the life in Kaiser Ryou has faded.  But at the invitation of a suspicious promoter, he participates in an underground duel--duels in which, crucially, one risks their life to treat their savage audience to a show.  As Acidic Last Machine Virus causes his Machine-Types like Cyber Dragon to rust, the Kaiser is not only cut off from summoning any Monsters, but it causes him to take damage.  With each drop in his LP, an electric current flows through his body, exciting the spectators...

Judai’s First Dream Duel!

Lost in the forest, Judai’s consciousness starts to fade from hunger, causing him to reminisce about his duels thus far--taking down Instructor Chronos’s Ancient Gear Golem with Flame Wingman during his Entrance Exam, battling the then-Blue elite Manjoume and his V-to-Z Dragon Catapult Cannon shortly after his enrollment, battling Misawa’s seventh deck with the right to represent the Academia on the line, and his first loss in the face of Kaiser Ryou’s Cyber End Dragon...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*crashes onto your TL months late with non-corporate coffee*

And these two are finally up and finalized! Sorry for the wait, if you were looking forward to ‘em--as I mentioned in my post on Sunday, they were pushed back a bit while I did one final lookover on 1-64′s scripts and hardsubs so I could actually call them “finalized.” I’d started to get them out of the way while waiting for some potential editing help, then just decided to finish it after scrapping the last little thing I hoped to work on (I planned to break briefly after 66 to do these re-finalizations anyway, but the timing happened to work out).  More details there.

But leaving that aside, here we have a pretty popular episode in Hell Kaiser Ryou’s debut, as he’s pushed to the brink by Mad Dog Inukai after Monkey Monkey Mountain Saruyama invites him to his first underground duel. They do a really good job of portraying Ryou as having lost his mojo post-Ed, showing a realistic view of what the big leagues in sports are like when that happens to you and you lose out on sponsorships/etc, and so when he gets cornered and Saruyama drills into him how he never once thought of winning since that duel, wanting to just stick with his respectful dueling, a spark lights up in him and... well, RIP Mad Dog. (Also, s/o to Takeshi Maeda for really selling Ryou’s shift in mindset by the end, and to his dub VA for sounding similarly good, imo.)

66 is probably less popular in comparison, treating us to our first clipshow of the series, though 66 episodes in isn’t a bad time (could be worse, VRAINS jk).  It’s endearing enough, though--kinda nice seeing SAL again; Judai’s hunger-induced visions give us Chronos, Misawa, and Manjoume making monkey noises; and the duels featured were important for Judai early on.  I also like the bit of new animation as vision!Ryou follows up with Judai about respecting his opponents; goes with what I’d noticed before about Judai adding his Fusion Undone/De-Fusion strategy to his own dueling after losing to him. (also Judai making a signpost sweatdrop from his aloofness pls)

Part of the initial delay with these were the footage fixes I wanted to work on, as well as a couple visual translations here/there which were fun to work on.  Really want to thank @paradoxi-kay for their great work as always in helping to translate the cover of the copy of Duel Magazine that Judai comes across early in 65, and starting the one on Shou’s copy that I finished up.  List of everything worked on below the cut, as usual, if you’re curious.

Enjoy, folks! I’ve gotten some work started on 67 already, and my plan is to try and work on some double releases to make up a bit of time, lol.  I’ll be posting these two on NAC in the next couple of days along with the re-finalized hardsubs and scripts/DVDRips; while I work on getting 67 and 68 done, I’ll also start some work on prepping softsub MKVs (also to go up on NAC) for everything I’ve fully finalized, since it’s been a while on that front.

Fixes/Edits! (65)

As Judai wanders in the forest early in the episode, he comes across a stack of old Duel Magazines; the front cover shows Ryou and is an issue from his winning streak days before his more recent loss to Ed.  Thanks to @paradoxi-kay​‘s great work in typesetting my translation onto the cover I blanked (which I detailed here), you’ll see it in English in the hardsub above.  The translation was first applied to the close-up of the cover that comes after #2 below, and then I took the translated cover and made it its own image that I put into the earlier shot as Judai approaches it while they’re all still tied up (detailed here).  The text reads, “Exclusive!! Kaiser Ryou Marufuji / Breaking down his Cyber Dragon deck!!! / In this issue: / -Duelists Du Jour / -Pro League Battle Data! / -Reader-Submitted Best Duels! / -Strategic Attack Decks by Type!” (Really appreciated Kay’s input on “Du Jour” because my original translation for that, “Duelists Who Are All the Rage,” wasn’t as catchy, lol.)

As Judai picks up one of the older Duel Magazines and flips it open, we see on the back cover an ad featuring the three Phantasms--it’s actually an in-show ad for Shadows of Infinity (since the episode aired around the time the pack came out in Japan); I detailed the process in blanking and translating it here (shared above).  The ad reads, "The Three Phantasms Descend!" featuring Uria and Raviel’s names on their images.

As we go to the Red dorm as Shou narrates about the Kaiser’s slump, we see a magazine page describing what happened to him since his loss to Ed; I covered my blanking/translating this in the link shared in #2.

We then see that it’s Shou reading the page from his own copy of Duel Magazine, this one more recent than Judai’s featuring Ed on the cover, though it features the same SOI/Phantasms ad on its back cover (now showing Hamon and its name as well).  Like with Judai’s issue, I used the Japanese cover and the dub’s edit as reference to just redraw Ed and Diamondguy enough to remove Ed’s name; Kay had started the translation placement and I finished it up.  For the SOI ad, like with #2, I added in the dub’s edit in pieces, tweaking it to match the original image more (since they again oddly edited the text out or redrew Uria/et al weirdly to do so).  We do now see more of the ad which shows that the trio’s names are on each of them, the English of which I added.

As Asuka snatches the magazine from Shou to work on cheering him up, to be consistent, I also worked in these cover translations to the magazine as she lifts then curls it up, using the dub’s blanked Phantasms edit as a base that I touched up a bit while adding back the Japanese cards.  Detailed more in #2′s link.  (We now also see that the ad reads on, “New! Shadow of Infinity - On Sale November 11th [2005]!”; the IRL booster pack came out in Japan on Nov. 17th, 2005, a few weeks before 65 aired.)

Asuka then lifts the curled-up magazine into view in a close-up, with the SOI/Phantasms ad visible which I also applied my translations above to as needed, using the dub’s blank edit as a base that I redrew parts of to touch up and match the Japanese image more.  Detailed more in #2′s link.

As Ryou meets Monkey Saruyama, he introduces himself by handing out his business card reading, "Saruyama Promotion - Representative Monkey Saruyama;" as detailed in #2′s link, I cleaned it up using Photoshop’s Clone Tool, then slapped the translation on using Calibri as the font.

As Ryou contemplates attacking Acid Slime with his Cyber Dragon and Mad Dog Inukai taunts him, as Mad Dog then slides in on a split-screen to “clear his doubts,” there’s a quick frame as Inukai takes over the screen where there’s a gap between his pecs and the split-screen edge.  I fixed it by just drawing in the rest of his chest in Photoshop to fill his side of the split-screen.

As Inukai starts his turn and activates his Contingency Fee Magic Card, there’s a frame where, as he’s sliding his hand with the card into the shot, the card itself slides ahead in his hand before his hand does; as a result, you can see a bit of the background just under the card before his hand catches up to the card in the next frame.  I fixed this by just duplicating the first frame here over it in Vegas.

Two here--first, after Ryou has his Proto Cyber Dragon attack Clone Slime, as Inukai begins to explain its effect, there’s a quick frame before the shot goes from a close-up to a slow zoom as he moves where his neck vanishes (new meme format go); I fixed this by just duplicating the previous frame in Vegas, while also correcting one of his looping lip-flap frames so that the scar on his chin is above the shading under his lip.  Then, as Inukai goes into Clone Slime’s effect and the shot slowly zooms out, we see Clone Slime on his Disk in Attack Mode when it’s in Defense Mode right now; fixed it by placing a proxy in Defense in AfterEffects for a frame, then re-keyframing that frame to the zoom-out in Vegas to put it in place.

After Acid Slime slips out of Inukai’s Cemetery as Clone Slime’s effect activates, Inukai moves to grab it before the two Slimes switch out, but Clone Slime’s still in Attack Mode on his Disk; fixed by placing the Defense-Mode proxy over it in AE, then moving it as he moves his Disk and applying a brief brightness increase as the light from Clone Slime being replaced with Acid Slime grazes it.

As Proto Cyber Dragon’s attack approaches Acid Slime in a quick shot, the card under it in Defense Mode is reversed (the name box should face to the left to match how it’s placed on his Disk); fixed by first applying the correctly-facing proxy in AfterEffects and moving it as the shot moves, then masking Acid Slime back in over it, along with the light coming from the attack as it starts to shine over its card.

As Ryou explains Overload Fusion’s effect, just before it starts to zoom out as he then chooses the six Monsters he’ll fuse, there are a few frames I noticed where Ryou’s whooshing hair throughout this shot suddenly stops whooshing; I fixed it by just masking in his whooshing hair from the previous frames for a few.

As Ryou taunts Inukai about how his Acidic Last Machine Virus will bother him no more, Inukai starts to slide in on a split-screen, but until his split-screen has fully slid in, there’s no border on its edge; I fixed it in Vegas by first masking out the border once it’s fully slid in, then moving it in another video layer with his split-screen for those nine frames.

As Ryou explains Chimeratech Overdragon’s multiple attacks, we see it reversed on his Disk; fixed by slapping on the correctly-facing proxy in AfterEffects, then re-keyframing it to the slow zoom in Vegas for the 94 frames it zooms out in (phew).

One error that I hoped to fix but scrapped happens as Chimeratech Overdragon’s first attack closes in on Inukai’s Multiple Slime, where we see a Defense-Mode card under it despite it being in Attack Mode the way Inukai summoned it (and since he then takes damage from the attack); couldn’t quite figure out how to light up the floor I’d redrawn under it with the ensuing explosion, and had sought a bit of help to get it right but ultimately that fell through. (Incidentally, not only did the dub not catch this as they dubified its card, but they reversed the card, at that, lol.)

Fixes/Edits! (66)

(Note: These are all flashback-related, and I detailed most of them [including a few new ones] in my post from Sunday that I linked just under the summaries; I went on to apply the fixes I’d applied in 66 to the respective episodes, so I’ll be brief here.  Reinserted fixes from a while back are in italics.)

(Episode 1 Flashback) I reinserted the fix I did to replace the blank Normal Monster on Judai’s Disk in Flame Wingman’s spot with its card as Antique Gear Golem crashes onto Chronos.  [Ep. 1 Flashback End]

(Episode 22 Flashback) As Misawa attacks with Litmus Death Swordsman to start his flashback, I reinserted the fix I did to detail the blank cards on his Disk with Diamond Dragon and Litmus Death.

As Misawa finishes explaining Wingbeat of Giant Dragon’s effect and it zooms out to Litmus Death, I reinserted my fix to his reversed card on Misawa’s Disk to flip it right-side-up.

Reinserted my fix to the repeat of #3 as Skyscraper fades.

Reinserted my fix to another repeat as Misawa explains Spirit Barrier’s effect.

R-R-Reinserted my fix to the r-r-repeat again as we see Misawa’s Disk while Judai explains Cyclone Boomerang’s effect (gotta love reused animation!) [Ep. 22 Flashback End]

(Episode 4 Flashback) As Judai prods Manjoume into choosing a card from his hand for A Hero Appears’s effect, I fixed Manjoume’s blazer looking semi-faded for a frame on his split-screen.

As Judai’s LP take a hit from V-to-Z destroying Burstlady, I fixed the four frames where the upper part of his Disk is missing the little bottom part that extends out a bit and Judai’s vanishing Disk wrist grip.

A bit complex, but I fixed Judai’s briefly-still-missing-then-vanishing-again wrist grip, the shading near his Cemetery slot, Judai’s arm becoming part of his Disk, and his wrist grip suddenly consuming his whole wrist. (Detailed in that Sunday post)

Reinserted my fix to the Attack-Mode Winged Kuriboh on Judai’s Disk to put it in Defense Mode as he discards two to activate Evolutionary/Transcendent Wings.

As Judai swings his arm around telling Winged Kuriboh LV10 to “send [V-to-Z’s] energy right back” at Manjoume, I reinserted my fix to put its Defense-Mode card in the spot on his Disk colored like the Monster Zone it’s on for a few frames.

A bit complex again recycling the Judai shot in #9, but I fixed his again-vanishing Disk wrist grip and half-Disk arm, his wrist grip suddenly consuming his whole wrist again, and his yet-again-vanished wrist grip, miscolored undershirt, and his half-Disk elbow while restoring some previous detail to his Disk. (Detailed in that Sunday post)

As Judai summons Featherman–to Shou and Chronos’s surprise–and has him lunge at Manjoume for the finisher, I reinserted my fix to keep the black faraway box that is Featherman on his Disk both as those two slide in on split-screens and as they slide back out. [Ep. 4 Flashback End]

(Episode 8 Flashback) I reinserted my fix to remove Featherman from Judai’s Disk as his LP drop from Cyber Dragon destroying it.

Reinserted my fix to a repeat of #14 as Judai’s excited about Ryou’s Time Capsule.

As Judai draws for his turn, I added a Fusion card over the dark-orange rectangle briefly in his hand as he draws it.

After Judai’s first hit on him, I fixed the error as Ryou Special-Summons another Cyber Dragon as a Monster in face-down Defense Mode on his second Monster Zone (detailed in that Sunday post).

Reinserted my fix adding Cyber Twin Dragon to Ryou’s Disk over a yellow rectangle.

As the screen zooms in on Judai after Ryou declares Cyber Twin’s attack, I added Thunder Giant to Judai’s third Monster Zone, then reinserted my previous fix adding it as it zooms back out while Judai uses A Hero Appears.

Reinserted my fix adding a few quick lip flaps to Judai as he says, “Partner,” out loud.

As Judai thinks about how Evolutionary Wings would evolve his Winged Kuriboh and we then see Bubbleman on his field, I added a missing Bubbleman card to his Disk.

Right after #21, I revised my previous fix to replace the Defense-Mode Mudballman on his Disk with an Attack-Mode Bubbleman, after I accidentally put it in Defense Mode before.

As Ryou grabs Power Bond from his hand before activating it, I reinserted my fix adding Ryou’s two missing Cyber Dragons to his Disk and then one over the blank Normal Monster card in his left hand.

As Ryou slips Power Bond into his Disk, I reinserted my fix adding those two missing Cyber Dragons onto his Disk.  [Ep. 8 Flashback End]

For the Ep. 67 preview, I added my translation of the notice left on the Red dorm by Napoleon which I’ll be using in the episode proper.

[lysmune]

Fleur de Sel

     Across the waters, an algae bloom of salt crystals blossom.

[Genshin Impact | Zhongli]

      Here, the air shimmers with clustering voices, coalescing hopes, a soft-carved smile ringing like chimes across the cloudless blue of a sun-graced afternoon. Zhongli sets the lacquer box down and unlatches it, unearthing the contents in an orderly, single-file form, laying them out on the ground.

      The pouch is his first gift, filled with the seeds of hope her people had sown, an end to the blood-red dawn. In his palm, it weighs heavy, but it makes no mark when he places it upon the mound of salt centred between the monuments of a village swallowed whole.

      He exhales.

      Persimmons, mandarins, rice buns and a bowl of rice next, heaped tall so she and her people need no longer conflict over who goes home in starvation. Let these tide your suffering, if for a day. He goes onto his feet, then, and gathers all he needs for his final offering.

      This one starts with a strike.

      The brimstone-tipped match bursts alight as Zhongli burns the fallen maple leaves he’s collected. He dips the gaiwan into the surrounding sea, underground minerals swirling at his fingertips as he purifies the water clean before letting it heat. Once it does, he pours the liquid over the two teacups.

     Zhongli draws the pot full again and brings it to warm, tipping the water from the gaiwan after briefly blooming a spoonful of tea leaves. He repeats the steps for the last time, counting until thirty beats under his breath before he fills the cups with freshly brewed tea.

     Autumn petrichor and the scent of the woods, warm and rich, faintly sweetened by elderberries.

     The breeze today carries well.

     Sitting under the shade of the maple tree, Zhongli places the cup beside him. “I hope you’ve been well, old friend,” and in response, the surface of the tea in her teacup ripples. A small smile curls his lips.

     He blows the steam rising from his drink before taking a sip. Shoumei is an unaccustomed brew for him, who prefers the darker roasted oolongs or pu’er to the mild flavours of white tea, but this is surprisingly pleasant.

     I can understand why it is your favourite.

     At the back of his throat, the taste of brine lingers, an unforgotten memory.

     “Us divines,” Zhongli starts, “we belong no longer in the present Liyue.”

     Another drink and Zhongli empties his cup. “Would you like yours filled?” The wind answers with a laugh, disturbing the calm of her unfinished tea. He takes that as a polite decline and refreshes his own.

     Emboldened by the longer steep, the fragrance sharpens, a tart note akin to unripened sunsettias.

     Zhongli presses his back against the tree’s trunk. “The people have come to decide their own fates.” Through the rustling leaves, he watches the lights shift, a translucence of fire and gold. “Whatever dominion I held over them has now ended.”

     Exhaling, he glances down to the reflection of him, an amber visage on the tea’s surface. Zhongli swirls the cup between his fingers and stares at his own twisting distortion.

     “Rex Lapis, Morax—I have consigned them to the earth from whence they came,” he pauses; the air stills. A pair of eyes affixes upon him, as bright as Cor Lapis’ in the dark, glimmering into focus.

     And yet, I am never truly unbound.

     “Liyue has no need for gods.”

     Because we have created, and destroyed, and ravaged, and built.

     “We have bled and made blood,” Zhongli mumbles, “and Liyue has bled enough.”

     Beside him, she quiets at the mention of their past, shared and heavy with iron. Zhongli simply looks toward the horizon, where the sea borders the sky and splits. Whose bones is he sitting upon? How vast is this graveyard underneath? Whose history will time erase, erode, forget?

     “This land is at relative peace, now,” he states. A bare whisper flickers through the islands of Sal Terrae; it sounds like hope. How she holds the people with boundless kindness, so much forgiveness, Zhongli could never understand.

     He finishes his tea and pours himself another cup.

     This time, the scent is bittersweet.

     “I wish you could see the Liyue of today, dear friend.”

     When the breeze blows gentle against his cheek, Zhongli offers a smile to reassure her. He hears her echo, and he tells her he understands. Cruel as their actions were, their hearts held mercy, a value scarce available in such times of strife.

     “I desire naught of change, or regret.” What is done, is done; Zhongli fully subscribes to this. Still, that does not mean he feels no sorrow for the transgressions of a bygone past, of a well-intentioned mercy that begot a death deemed as salvation.

     Bringing the cup to his lips, he takes a sip of his tea. A lingering sourness is all he can taste.

     I wish that you lived in gentler times.

     A comforting hand on his shoulder makes him chuckle, an act of consolation whose wearied seams betray him. Zhongli gazes out into the distance, to the shimmering tides ebbing away at the creases in their history.

     Six thousand years. He will be the first to remember, the last to forget.

     Six thousand years more, these plains he’ll walk upon alone.

     It’s a foolish thing, for this notion is one he has learned to come to terms with, but his heart aches.

     Sung in waves, she calls out to him and he looks towards the brightest star atop the waters. Tiny crystals flowering into a field, blooms of salt rime the surface in patches, like winter preserving spring blossoms in white before it melts away into the snow.

     Traceless, soundless, wordless, her presence leaves him with only the fragrance of sweet rice to contemplate upon.

     On the tip of his tongue, the tea’s aftertaste is a pleasant jasmine, mildly honeyed. Zhongli smiles.

     “Thank you.”

     In silence, in solitude, he watches as time slowly pulls the sun’s descent into the earth, accompanied by the stars, the spines of the many mountains and the untouched cup of tea gone cold.

[stringing-words-onto-a-chain]

Vampire!Ash AU (NOT SEXUAL)

I found a few different fan arts of vampire Ash recently, and I decided to write some. Yes, I fell into the “uncontrollable thirst” trap, but I’m a sucker for angst where the perpetrator can’t be blamed. Also there are like a bazillion different ways to tag this ship, so I just wrote   A L L   O F   T H E M.

Sal POV:

As Sal ate, his eyes wandered over to Ash, and he frowned, setting down his food and lowering his mask. She was shifting in her seat, licking her lips, and her emerald eyes were darting all over the street. While he watched, the whites of her eyes flickered briefly to a soul-piercing coal black, and back again. His movement drew her gaze for a split second, and she tensed as her eyes fell on his wrist, pausing momentarily before she shook herself.

“Hey, Ash?”

She finally met his eyes, still turning her head towards the slightest sounds around them.

“Yeah?”

“Is… something wrong?”

Ash tried for her signature smirk, but her fang caught the top of her lip in a way that reminded Sal of Larry’s nervous habit. 

“No, no, I’m alright.”

He raised an eyebrow behind his mask.

“Don’t lie to me, Ash. I may not have super senses or anything, but I can tell when something’s bothering my best friends. So get talking.”

“I -” she began, then sighed deeply, dropping her head. When she looked up again, her eyes were black once more, the green smouldering like an ethereal flame. “Sal, can you possibly do me a huge favour?”

His eyes narrowed in concern, and he swung round to face her, straddling the bench.

“Of course, you can ask me anything.”

Ash glanced round the room. Her unsettledness was beginning to unnerve him; it wasn’t like her at all.

“Okay, so usually I don’t drink from people. You know that. But it is better than most other blood - more fulfilling.”

“I’m not sure I like where this is going…”

She laughed, but there was something off about it. Sal couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but his hand crept to the cross Ash had insisted all of them carry in case of an “accident”.

“Sorry, Sally. But anyway, I didn’t have time to drink bottled animal blood this morning, and I… wait, I never told you what happens if I don’t drink enough, did I?”

“I don’t think I wanna know.”

“No, you definitely don’t. Point is, I don’t drink, your friend Ash disappears, and something much more aggressive comes out instead.”

His fingers curled around the cross behind his back, slowly drawing it from his pocket. Ash’s eyes fell on his hand knowingly, and she smiled sadly.

“Don’t worry, it’s not desperate yet. I’m still me - for now.” He slipped the cross back in his pocket with an exaggerated sigh of relief, but he kept on alert, his hand still on it, just in case. “Now, I could, theoretically, go hunt some animals in bat form, but that will drain me quicker, and considering we’re in a relatively clean and busy town, if I can’t find anything…”

Sal laid his other hand consolingly on her shoulder, and almost immediately regretted his decision as Ash’s eyes fell hungrily on his wrist again. He settled for leaning forward and speaking softly, gently removing his hand.

“What can I do to help?”

“Well, as I see it, I have two options.” Ash’s eyes bored into him, not having changed back. “I can go bat-form and pray to… I don’t know, Satan or something, that I can find something in time, or…” She looked at him meaningfully, and he understood exactly what she meant.

“Or you can drink from me.”

“I swear I won’t take enough to kill you, or turn you, or even knock you out, and I will only do it if you let me. I’d never hurt you if you didn't tell me it was okay.”

Sal considered, weighing up how much she needed it with how much he trusted her.

“Alright.”

Her unnatural eyes widened.

“Really?”

“Yeah. You’re clearly struggling to not… go psycho, or whatever it is that happens. I’m here, and you won’t actually damage me at all, so why not? Heck, I’ve probably gone through more painful operations.”

She threw her arms around him tightly.

“Holy crap, Sally Face, you’re the best!”

A slow smile spread across his face, and he returned the hug, letting his already unbuckled mask fall into his lap. She pulled back for a second, looking pleased at the visibility of his face, and running a hand through her hair.

“There’s one more thing I can do to make it easier for you.”

“Which is?”

Her eyes shifted sideways, and she smirked bashfully.

“One of my weird-ass powers is… sort of like hypnotism. I can’t control you or anything, but I can put you in a trance. If I do that, you won’t feel a thing while I drink. Otherwise, it’s gonna hurt. But again, I won’t do it unless you let me.”

“That’s probably a good idea. Thanks, I guess.”

“No, thank you. You didn’t have to do this.” She stopped, tilting her head to examine him. “Seriously, you don’t have to do this. I’m not sure what you think it’s gonna be like, but Hollywood lied to you. This would normally hurt like hell, and it’s blood, so it’s sticky, and messy, and gross, and… yeah. Just generally not fun.”

“I know.” Sal leaned forward again, knowing exactly how dangerous it was, but this time not caring. “I trust you. I don’t think you’ll hurt me.”

“I won’t. I mean, I will, I’m literally about to, but I won’t do any major damage, and I’ll do my best to minimize the pain. Ready?”

He tugged down the front of his jumper quickly, brushing his hair out of his eyes, and shifting to face Ash.

“Yeah. See you in a minute?”

“Maybe a few.”

Ash POV:

“Maybe a few.”

She closed her eyes, focusing hard on the tiny pinprick of power inside her. It wasn’t much, vampires were an extremely diluted type of magic, but it was enough for this. She let her eyes slide open again, throbbing with her will, and met Sal’s eyes. She could feel him instinctively resisting the pull, trying to keep his head clear.

“Don’t fight it, Sally, you agreed to this. Remember?”

He smiled. Honestly surprising he could hold out this long.

“Is this the part where you tell me to stare into your eyes and just relax?”

She snorted.

“Pretty much. Kinda shocked you’re still lucid enough to make that joke.”

“Yeah, it’s not going to last. You do know how to wake me up, right?”

She just smirked, leaving herself the last laugh as Sal’s joking eyes widened in nervousness for a split second before they glazed over, and his expression became completely neutral. The smile faded off her face, and she looked over her statue-still friend remorsefully. She stuck a hand in front of his face and waved, but there was no acknowledgement. He was utterly bewitched.

“Sorry, Sal.”

She made to grab his wrist, then stopped. She looked up at his blank, scarred face, then gently rose up on one knee, kissing his forehead tenderly.

“You really are incredible”, she told him, but she knew he didn’t hear.

Sal POV:

“Sally?”

A voice cut through the haze surrounding him, and for a split second of clarity, he realized his mind had been completely shut down, not registering anything at all.

“Sal.”

Such a beautiful voice. Silvery, flowing, and gorgeous, like ribbon.

“Come on, Sally Face, you’re stronger than this.”

Familiar? 

“Goddamn it, Sal, snap out of it.”

The voice was almost pitying, but there was a soft edge to it, and it sounded like it was holding back laughter. 

No, not it. Her. 

Green eyes settled into focus in front of his own listless pair. The rest of her face spiralled into his vision as well, and the pieces of her slowly connected, becoming more and more familiar. Like an old friend.

Ash.

  All at once, everything sharpened, and Sal’s hand flew up to his head, an abrupt awareness of his rebooting mind. As he did, he registered a dull pain somewhere on his body, where she must have bitten him, but he wasn’t quite conscious enough to pinpoint exactly where it was coming from. The memory of what he’d just thought about her voice sprung up on him, and, realizing the mask was no longer in place to hide his blush, he decided to dismiss it as a result of the enchantment.

“Hey, sleeping beauty. You in there?” asked Ash teasingly, but there was something heavier behind her words, something a little too sober to be good. 

“I… I think so. Your weird power thingy really did a number on me, but I’m just a little groggy.” He let his hand fall back in his lap, bumping against his discarded mask as he did, and gave her a tired smile. Now he was actually himself again, he noticed a roll of gauze and a clinical looking spray on the table next to them, and he glanced up at Ash. Her eyes were back to their normal human-passing appearance, and there was a subtle smudge of red at the corner of her mouth.

“I figured it was best to keep you under while I cleaned up the bite. Antiseptic spray is a little bitch.”

He smiled at that, but it dropped off his face at the thought of what she’d had to do. Absently, he put a hand up to his neck, feeling for the bite mark, and frowned.

“Where’s the -”

“The whole thing about vampires and necks is mostly a myth,” Ash replied, the weight behind her words still prominent. “Check your other pulse points.”

A vague dread began to settle over him, and hesitantly he looked down at his hands. Gauze was poking out from his sleeve, and upon seeing it, he instantly knew exactly what was wrong. He pulled his jumper back to reveal two twin holes bound under the fabric bandages, where she’d drank, then pulled the thick cotton back further. The neat gashes lined up across his arm were bound as well. A quick tap on his other arm told him the marks there were treated too. Shame washed over him, and trying to meet Ash’s eyes was like fighting a brick wall with his non-existent powers of telekinesis. Her hand slid under his chin, cold from the wind like one of the undead bloodsuckers he’d seen in movies, and brought his face up level to hers.

“Sally…”

“What can I say to pass this off as not a big deal?”

Out of the corner of his eyes, Ash curled back her lips, revealing her gleaming fangs, and her brow furrowed, her eyes earnest in their utter horror, before she dropped her head, letting out a long, slow breath.

“Listen, Sal, I don’t know why you’re doing this to yourself. I don’t know what could have driven someone like you to pick up a blade and… I just don’t. But I also know I can’t stop you. It’s an addictive habit, I know, and you’ll find a way to do it if you’ve made up your mind that’s what you’re gonna do.” He finally turned towards her, needing to see her expression clearly. It was pointless, though, as she’d looked away, hiding her face. “Knowing how deep your self-hatred goes, I don’t think I can convince you to stop. And vampire hypno powers only go so far. But please, I am begging you, stay relatively safe while you do it. I can’t lose you.” She met his gaze, desperation lining her body as she leaned towards him, cupping his face. “At least get yourself some fucking bandages.”

“I’m sorry.” The hoarseness of Sal’s voice caught him by just as much surprise as the hot tears that spilled over his lids out of nowhere. Ash’s face softened, and she leaned still further forward, her hands bunching up the back of the jumper as she pulled him in for a hug. He squeezed his eyes shut, the tears forcing themselves out, and tucked his head against her shoulder. 

“You should be apologizing to yourself, but I’m not delusional enough to think that’s gonna happen.” She stroked his hair understandingly, the feeling registering through the despairing numbness. “I know I literally just had you under a spell, which I did to give me an opportunity to take some of your blood, but… I genuinely don’t want you getting hurt.” Her grip tightened, and she rested her chin on his head. “I love you, Sally Face. You know that. And if you won’t take self-preservation as a reason to stop, maybe you’ll take the three of us needing you as one. We need you, Sal.”

“Thank you…” he mumbled, clutching at his mask. Ash seemed to understand; she gently pulled back, watching him buckle on the mask sadly. He paused, feeling her gaze still on him, and looked up. “I mean it, Ash. I love you too, and that… really helped.”