#do you want to see some of them recorded with my commentary?

[united-under-skyfall]

btw if someone is listening to music it’s kind of shitty if you just go “this is a terrible song”. if you don’t like it, ask them to turn it off, or skip it, or leave the room. tell them you strongly dislike it. don’t just tell them it’s awful and expect them to fix your problem.

[k0juki]

Hiii!!

Could you please do a one-shot with jealous! Kimi? Maybe during an interview, he's already had enough and wants to leave, but after seeing a journalist or somebody else trying to flirt with his gf (they both agreed to keep their relationship private), he loses it and once he goes up to her after telling that guy to get lost, he physically relaxes and basically melts to her touch...forgetting that they were surrounded by cameras that had just recorded every second of the exchange.

I'd like to imagine how the other drivers and the fans in general would react to that :))

Thanxx <3

Yur!!!🧊 Sorry it took me too so long...school is pain.

His girl

Kimi Räikkönen x fem!reader

English is not my first language so feel free to point out any mistakes or errors!

More stuff here!

Words: 573

---

It wasn't strange to see Kimi annoyed. Most people that worked with him knew how he could get and this was no different. But what annoys him the most are only two things. 

Firstly, not winning the race and media being dick about it and secondly, when anyone flirts with his girl. Of course nobody knows that you are together, but still, it makes his Finnish blood boil.

And let's just say that today wasn't his best day at all. Not only he fucked up the rece, but as the interview progressed, Kimi patience wore thinner with each passing question. He'd had enough of the same inquiries, the same stupid questions and the same attempts to extract emotions from him that he preferred to keep hidden. Yet, he maintained his ice cool demeanor, answering tersely but efficiently. 

However, his face cracked when he caught a glimpse of someone leaning a bit too close to his girlfriend, Y/n, who was standing just a few feet away, watching the interview with a supportive smile that he loves. She is his safe place. When something happens, he knows that he can go to her. To make him feel loved. 

And when he heard the journalist's flirtatious tone and lingering gaze he held on her, made Kimi's blood boil beneath his calm exterior. In a rare moment of unfiltered emotion, Kimi abruptly ended the interview, muttering something about needing a break and with determined strides, he made his way over to Y/n, who looked surprised at his sudden approach. 

"Hey, is everything okay?" she asked, concern evident in her voice, but Kimi ignored her question and pulled her into his arms possessively, caging her in and casting a sharp glare at the journalist who had dared to encroach on his territory. His girl.

"Get lost" he growled, the words were laced with a dangerous edge and it almost sounded like a threat. Once the unwanted intruder had retreated, Kimi felt a wave of relief wash over him. His tense muscles gradually relaxed as he buried his face in Y/n's hair, inhaling her familiar scent that he loves so much. 

The anger started to melt away and was replaced by a sense of calm and contentment that only she could bring him. Unbeknownst to Kimi, their intimate moment had been captured by the surrounding cameras, broadcasting his uncharacteristic display of jealousy to the world. 

Among the other drivers, reactions varied. Some were surprised, having never seen this side of Kimi before, while others like Sebastian just gave a knowing look, he understood the depth of Kimi's feelings for Y/n. As for the fans, social media and everyone else erupted with speculation and commentary. 

"I think everyone knows that we are together now." You murmured against him. His strong arms still wrapped around you.

"Yeah, but at least they won't be flirting with you before my eyes."

---

In the days that followed, Kimi and Y/n found themselves surrounded by an outpouring of support and affection from fans, friends, and fellow drivers. Despite initially feeling exposed by the public display of their relationship, they soon realized that it had only brought them closer together. 

As they retreated to the quiet sanctuary of their home, Kimi and Y/n reveled in the simple joys of each other's company. They shared laughter, tender moments and whispered words of love that were meant for each other's ears alone. 

---

Requests are open!

Don't copy or translate my work! Also the picture is not mine! Credit goes to owner!

[omegalomania]

so im sure everyones fully well aware of the magic 8 ball site fob is using to promote a contest to win some tickets to see them in nashville. the little 8ball widget theyve got in browser is also modeled on the physical 8ball that they had in the vip merch packages for tourdust's first leg, which is cool! but of particular note is the way that, to fill out the contest form, you have to pick your favorite fall out boy songs. and the sheer breadth of what is allowed is...interesting? it's not cohesive by any means, but it is really wild the selection of songs they have here because not all of them are fob songs. in fact, quite a few of them aren't.

i went directly to the source code and got a full list of all possible songs that you could input (which you can check for yourself by right-clicking and selecting "view source"). i'm going to list them here for archival purposes, with a few notes/explanations cause some of these are WILD.

there are 187 songs total listed.

bolded songs indicate songs that are demos or never received an official release

italicized songs are songs by other bands

underlined songs indicate songs that are covers

songs with an asterisk beside them (*) indicate they are from patrick's solo catalogue. two asterisks (**) are for pete's.

additional commentary by me will be [in brackets]

20 Dollar Nose Bleed 27 7 Minutes in Heaven (Atavan Halen) 7-9 Legendary A Little Less Sixteen Candles, a Little More "Touch Me" A Nice Myth [one of the earliest fall out boy demos, found on their first ep, and only the casette version at that] Allie* Alone Together Alpha Dog America's Suitehearts American Beauty/American Psycho (song) American Made Art of Keeping Up Disappearances As Long as I Know I'm Getting Paid* Austin, We Have a Problem Baby Annihilation Bad Side of 25* Bang the Doldrums Beat It Big Hype* Bishops Knife Trick Bob Dylan Bounce [this is a song that came out on then-Decaydance labelmates The Cab's debut record, Whisper War, which patrick produced. he has writing credit and also is credited with background vocals (and also shows up in the music video)] Caffeine Cold Calm Before the Storm Centuries Champagne for My Real Friends, Real Pain for My Sham Friends Champion Check Your Phone** Chicago is So Two Years Ago Church City in a Garden Coast (It's Gonna Get Better)* Coffee's for Closers Cryptozoology* Cute Girls* Cyanide** [this is a nothing,nowhere song that pete did some spoken word parts and backing vocals on] Dance Miserable* Dance, Dance Dead on Arrival Dear Future Self (Hands Up) Death Valley Deep Blue Love* [song patrick did for the indie short film "spell"] Demigods Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes Don't You Know Who I Think I Am? Electric Touch [the (in?)famous taylor swift song patrick featured on] Eternal Summer Everybody Wants Somebody* Explode* Fake Out Fame Less than Infamy Favorite Record Fellowship of the Nerd [this is an alternate title for world's not waiting, as far as i can tell] Flu Game Flu Game [yes flu game is listed twice for some reason] Footprints in the Snow [demo from the Llamania ep] Fourth of July From Now on We Are Enemies G.I.N.A.S.F.S. Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying (Do Your Part to Save the Scene and Stop Going to Shows) Ghostbusters (I'm Not Afraid) Golden Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy Greed* Grenade Jumper Grow Up and Be Kids [this song is on The Cab's sophomore album Symphony Soldier, which release after they left decaydance. nonetheless, pete does have some writing credits on it. give it a listen and you'll hear for yourself in the first 10 seconds or so] Growing Up Hand Crushed by a Mallet [this is a remix of the 100gecs song of the same name; patrick did some vocals for it] Hand of God Have I Got a Gift for You* [song patrick did for the horror movie black friday] Headfirst Slide into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet Heartbreak Feels So Good Heaven's Gate Heaven, Iowa Hold Me Like a Grudge Hold Me Tight or Don't Homesick at Space Camp Honorable Mention Hot to the Touch, Cold on the Inside Hum Hallelujah I Am My Own Muse I Don't Care

I Got Nothing, But You Got Something [this is the one that really perplexes me. there's no evidence of this song actually existing, other than an unverified genius post and an article on a single fandom wiki. it is inexplicably listed here despite its very existence being questionable at best.]

I Slept with Someone in Fall Out Boy and All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me) I'm Like a Lawyer with the Way I'm Always Trying to Get You Off (Me & You) I've Been Waiting [this is technically a lil peep song with fall out boy as a feature] I've Got a Dark Alley and a Bad Idea That Says You Should Shut Your Mouth (Summer Song) I've Got All This Ringing in My Ears and None on My Fingers Immortals Irresistible It's Hard to Say 'I Do', When I Don't It's Not a Side Effect of the Cocaine, I Am Thinking It Must Be Love Jet Pack Blues Just One Yesterday Lake Effect Kid (song) Lake Shore Drive [this is a song patrick covered on the piano at wrigley, first night of tourdust] Love from the Other Side Love Will Tear Us Apart Love, Selfish Love* Love, Sex, Death Lullabye Mad at Nothing* Miss Missing You Moving Pictures My Heart Is the Worst Kind of Weapon My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up) New Dreams [this is a bonus track on pax am days, a naked rayguns cover] Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner Novocaine Of All the Gin Joints in All the World One of Those Nights [another song from the cab's whisper war. this one has patrick doing vocals very prominently] Open Happiness [this was a huge collaborative piece done for a coca cola commercial. patrick was on it along with big names like cee lo green, janelle monae, and labelmates travie mccoy and brendon urie] Our Lawyer Made Us Change the Name of This Song So We Wouldn't Get Sued Parker Lewis Can't Lose (But I'm Gonna Give It My Best Shot) Past Life [llamania ep] Pavlove People Never Done a Good Thing* Porcelain* Pretty in Punk Rat a Tat Reinventing the Wheel to Run Myself Over Roxanne Run Dry (X Heart X Fingers)* San Diego [this is a blink-182 song that patrick did some writing for] Saturday Saturday Night Again* Save Rock and Roll (song) Sending Postcards from a Plane Crash (Wish You Were Here) She's My Winona Short, Fast, and Loud Snitches and Talkers Get Stitches and Walkers So Good Right Now So Much (For) Stardust (song) So Sick [this is a song patrick has exclusively covered live, so it's a fascinating inclusion] Sober [another blink-182 song patrick did some writing for] Sophomore Slump or Comeback of the Year Star 67 Stay Frosty Royal Milk Tea Sugar, We're Goin Down Summer Days (song) [this is a martin garrix song patrick lent some vocals to] Sunshine Riptide Super Fade Switchblades and Infidelity Tell That Mick He Just Made My List of Things to Do Today The "I" In Lie* The (After) Life of the Party The (Shipped) Gold Standard The Carpal Tunnel of Love The Kids Aren't Alright The Kintsugi Kid (Ten Years) The Last of the Real Ones The Mighty Fall The Music or the Misery The Patron Saint of Liars and Fakes The Phoenix The Pink Seashell The Pros and Cons of Breathing The Take Over, the Breaks Over The World's Not Waiting (For Five Tired Boys in a Broken Down Van) This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race This City* Thnks fr th Mmrs (song) [for some reason the site specifies song here, despite that not being necessary. the only other times this distinction is relevant is when songs share a title with their albums, i.e. save rock and roll] Thriller Tiffany Blews Twin Skeleton's (Hotel in NYC) Uma Thurman Untitled 1 (Colorado Song) Untitled 2 (Jakus Song) [both of these are recently released tttyg era demos] W.A.M.S. We Didn't Start the Fire We Don’t Take Hits, We Write Them [this is a song that famously was only ever performed live. we don't have a studio recording or even a demo, as only live versions exist] We Were Doomed from the Start (The King is Dead) West Coast Smoker What a Catch, Donnie What a Time To Be Alive What's This? When I Made You Cry* Where Did the Party Go Wilson (Expensive Mistakes) Wrong Side of Paradise [llamania ep] XO You're Crashing, But You're No Wave Young and Menace Young Volcanoes Yule Shoot Your Eye Out

in conclusion i have no idea who compiled this list. it doesn't include every song patrick and pete have ever touched (notice the lack of gym class heroes, cobra starship, and hush sound discography) but it has a really weird selection of songs. i mean, blink songs patrick wrote on?? its bizarre.

anyway do you think if we mass request swing me by the rafters they'll have to do it

[neolxzr]

OK so heres some of my favorite things that were talked about during the enter the florpus commentary thing yesterday:

one of jhonen's favorite things in the whole movie is the writing in zim's kitchen that says "do anything is real?"

they clarified specifically that gir was not lying and he did in fact eat a baby at the crazy taco

gir smells REALLY bad. theres like rotting organic matter in his body at all times. he stinks

zim's human suit is made out of actual human skin

zim is acting drunk on nacho cheese during that scene in his house because richard horvitz recorded it while drunk

they planned to have this whole thing with tak's ship only agreeing to go to moo-ping 10 because it knows tak is there. they wouldve shown her in silhouette during that brief explosion and she wouldve stowed away on the ship without anyone knowing and then wouldve shown up towards the end of the movie, but they decided to cut it out

zim did not need to frame membrane for a crime in order to get him into space prison and likely just tossed the guards like 5 bucks for it. its a shady place. they did specify though that if he did frame him for something, it would have been jaywalking

they pointed out during that scene where zim is celebrating peace day on dib's lawn that zim's reaction to seeing dib was very much genuine and that's just how his brain works. he is genuinely surprised to see him pop out of his own house. (they also described his reaction as like "being surprised to see your best friend")

the ham joke was ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL to the film and at some point jhonen remembered it and was like GUYS. WE ALMOST FORGOT THE HAM

there was supposed to be this joke where it cuts to and from gaz and dib in tak's ship and they would've had to stop at like a warp station or something and theyd be waiting in a long queue of spaceships and the radio is broken in the ship so theyre stuck listening to that one song. then itd cut to them like totally braindead drooling from listening to it for so long. and then a little later itd cut back a FINAL time and theyd know all of the words and both be singing along to it. but this was also cut out so only the last bit remained

when asked "who would win: minimoose or mrs. bitters?" the answer was along the lines of "neither, i think all of us lose in that scenario"

the tallest are just two dudes who happen to be the same height and therefore have to share the same job. they are not brothers and they are also not gay lovers ("as much as you want them to be, they are not. there is no love in this universe")

skooge is in fact alive and lives in zim's basement. they wanted to keep the number of "hey remember this thing from the tv show!" moments to a minimum so he was not mentioned in the movie. but he is there

[mysteryshoptls]

Twisted Entertainment News ～April Fools 2024～

The Aniplex Youtube Channel dropped a parody news segment for April Fools Day, which had Kazuki Furuta (Kalim) and Kaname Futaba (Jamil) as "commentators." A full official MMD clip of Absolutely Beautiful was shown, and afterwards, Furuta and Futaba "taught" the viewers back home how to do the dance. I don't normally do transcriptions of videos, but this one made me laugh with enjoyment that I wanted to make sure that everyone else could enjoy it too, especially since I know this video is region-locked. I've highlighted Furuta and Futaba's names with the colors for Kalim and Jamil's that I usually use for their vignettes. I've also added small commentary on their movements and expressions, which is not something I normally have to do for vignettes. I also only translated the "news" portion of the video and left out the final part, which was them returning to reality and talking about the monitors in the in-game shop that could be bought for the Guest Room. I hope this transcription is enjoyable for everyone else, too! Please check it out under the cut!

Newscaster Yasuda: Good evening to Twisted Wonderland and to all those who have found themselves transported here. It’s time for Twisted Entertainment News, where we report on all the hottest entertainment topics. I have with me today two very well-known commentators who have appeared on so many of the variety talk shows as of late: Kazuki Furuta-san and Kaname Futaba-san.

Commentator Kazuki Furuta: Good evening, I’m Kazuki Furuta. I’m beyond honored to have been asked to come on this show as a commentator. Thank you very much for inviting me.

Commentator Kaname Futaba: Good evening, I’m Kaname Futaba. You know, I really dig Twisted Entertainment News.

Furuta: I do hear you say that often.

Futaba: Yeah. I watch it every week, and even record it.

Furuta: Indeed.

Futaba: I’m really hoping we’ll have a ton of great things to talk about. Thanks for having me.

Yasuda: Well, let’s get right into today’s entertainment news. First, Magical Motors is finally venturing into space. Second, are the rumors that the Mysterious Amusement Park is closing true!? And finally, the Absolute Dance is the current breakout trend. Of these three topics, the Absolute Dance is probably the most eye-catching, so, Furuta-san, Futaba-san, have you heard of this dance before?

Furuta: Very much so. It is very popular even in my circles, so not a day goes by that I do not come across it.

Futaba: I’ve known about it for some time now, too. So, I guess it feels like the times have finally caught up.

Furuta: You’re so right.

Futaba: Yeah.

Yasuda: Now then, we’ve prepared a video to show what exactly this dance is all about. Please take a look.

[Absolutely Beautiful Official Dance MMD plays while Yasuda, Furuta, and Futaba are shown in the top right corner, watching]

[clip ends, Yasuda, Furuta, and Futaba applaud politely]

Furuta: How amazing was that?

Futaba: Yeah, a great clip.

Furuta: Indeed.

Yasuda: So, this “Absolute Dance” originally comes from the dance movements of the song “Absolutely Beautiful.” It seems that thanks to the performance by Night Raven College stu－

Furuta: [interrupting] Night Raven College!

Yasuda: …Right. The students performed this song and dance at the school’s cultural festival and this garnered a lot of hype.

Furuta: [jumping in] Hype!

Yasuda: …Right. I do believe that this is a rather complicated dance that cannot be mastered just from watching it once. So, today I hoped to have our commentators, Furuta-san and Futaba-san, to show those of you watching this show at home how to perform it so that everyone can dance along.

Futaba: I see.

Furuta: Of course.

Yasuda: Furuta-san, I’ve heard that you may be a commentator, but you are also a very good dancer.

Furuta: [sounding like he wants to protest politely but is also smug at the praise] Ah, well― that is― by myself, I― [background music cuts] Yes, I am!

Yasuda: Right, thank you. And so, I was hoping we could receive an instructional demonstration from you on how this dance is performed.

Furuta: [politely but smugly trying to refute] Ah, that― Heh― Of course.

Yasuda: Wonderful, we would be so grateful.

Furuta: Of course! Now, I’ve chosen 4 specific points of the song to dance to in order to help anyone master the Absolute Dance. Those of you watching, please feel free to dance along!

[screen transitions to Furuta standing in front of the desk, with Futaba and Yasuda sitting and watching]

Furuta: Now for the first dance point: I’ll start with the opening dance for the song.

[Furuta dances Vil's movements from the chorus at the beginning of the song while Futaba's eyes widen as he watches intently]

[dance ends]

Futaba: Just hold on a sec. That’s so amazing?! I’m so shocked. Like, especially the third part of the second-eighths was really good.

Furuta: The third part of the second-eighths, you mean this movement, yes? [shows off the specific dance move again]

Futaba: It’s fantastic! And this dance looks like it moves your entire body, so I bet it’s really good for your health, too.

Furuta: Oh yes, especially that movement. It uses the whole shoulder joint so I believe it could be good for relieving any stiffness in the shoulder.

Futaba: This is spectacular.

Furuta: Thank you very much.

Futaba: Man…

Furuta: Now then, I think it’s time to move onto the second part.

Futaba: [quietly, to himself] That was shocking.

Furuta: The second dance point:

Futaba: [quietly, to himself] I’m so shocked.

Furuta: Jamil’s― [turns to address Futaba] Oh, was it shocking?

Futaba: Yeah, totally shocking. Sorry.

Furuta: I’m so glad to hear that. [turns back to the camera] I'll now dance the part with Jamil’s rap.

Futaba: [quietly, to himself] Really shocking.

[Music begins to lead into Jamil's rap, Furuta prepares himself to start dancing]

Futaba: [quietly, to himself] Man, I’m still reeling from that shocker.

[Furuta starts by dancing Ace/Deuce's movements while Futaba stares in awe]

Futaba: No way...

[Furuta continues by dancing Kalim/Rook's movements while Futaba continues watching him in awe]

[dance ends]

Futaba: This part… I mean, your dance was just astounding, don’t get me wrong. But… this voice rapping just now… I really like this voice!

Furuta: [turns to address Futaba] It’s a very familiar voice, isn’t it?

Futaba: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Furuta: [turns back to the camera] Almost like it feels really close to me, that’s right.

Futaba: It’s just so smooth.

Furuta: Smoothly, yes, the lyrics just come so smoothly.

Futaba: So smoothly.

Furuta: Yes, it just enters my mind so smoothly.

Futaba: It really gets me hyped.

Furuta: Just from the first sound, it just― [Furuta starts dancing] I can just flow with the music.

Futaba: Yeah, this’ll just get your body dancing on its own. Amazing.

Furuta: [turns to address Futaba] Would you like to dance up here together?

Futaba: [background music cuts] Ah, no, I’m good.

Furuta: [turns back to the camera] It seems he’s good, so I’ll move on to the third dancing point: The solo dances by each student during the song’s interlude. And for this― [a little out of breath] for this…

Futaba: Uh-huh.

Furuta: Well, for this part, I will be dancing Kalim’s portion.

Futaba: You’re breathing a bit hard, you good?

Furuta: [turns to address Futaba] Oh, I’m fine.

Futaba: You sure?

Furuta: [turns back to the camera] I’m not tired whatsoever. I am very used to dancing, after all.

Futaba: Then please, go on.

Furuta: Of course.

[Furuta begins dancing Kalim's movements during the interlude while Futaba keeps gazing intently]

[dance ends]

Futaba: No way, that’s so aggressive! Woaaah, this part feels like the most aggressive of the whole set!

Furuta: [turns to address Futaba] How about it, Futaba-san, would you like to dance this aggressive part with me?

Futaba: [background music cuts] Ah, no, I’m good.

Furuta: [addresses Yasuda] Yasuda-san, would you like to dance with me?

Yasuda: No, thank you.

Furuta: [turns back to the camera] Alright then, moving on! Time for the fourth and final dance point: I’ll dance from the song's hook to the end!

[Furuta dances Kalim/Ace's movements for the end of the song while Futaba looks on in amazement and awe]

[dancing ends, Futaba starts a slow clap, picks up speed, then stands up]

Futaba: EXCELLENT! PERFECT! BEAUTIFUL! Futaba-kun, you’re amazing! You’re an absolute genius!

Furuta: [turns to address Futaba] Thank you very much. Shall we share a dance together?

Futaba: [background music cuts] Ah, no, I’m good. [sits back down]

Furuta: [turns back to the camera] It seems he’s good, so for everyone else, I hope you were able to learn how to dance this song. After all the energy and effort I put into this instructional demonstration, there’s no way you can’t dance it now, I’m sure.

Futaba: Absolutely. Thank you for the dance lecture, Furuta-san.

Furuta: [turns to address Futaba] Futaba-san, I do hope you’ll dance with me on the next occasion.

Futaba: [background music cuts] Ah, no, I’m good.

Furuta: [turns back to the camera] It seems he’s good.

Fin

[nrdmssgs]

Sorry but I NEED a happy ending for Nikto and that reader. An AU, What If, whatever, but I need fluff and happiness

Pieces of them

Masterlist

Part 1

Pairing: Nikto x f reader Angst\comfort Reader goes KIA

Thank you @amongthe141 for encouraging me for writing more for this guy, thank you to a very dear @atenceladusiaawfytbwb for reminding me about this story. @iwanncry @bogboyfriendbreadslice @sinner-sinta loves, sorry for bothering you, but just in case, you wanted a happy ending - here it is.

"Are you out or not? I don't have all night!" She laughs.

Nikto doesn't like it when she laughs - it feels as if someone tickles him from the inside.

"Dumb ritual," he mutters, taking a step outside and facing dark night skies.

"Anything, I come up with is dumb, of course." Her voice is calm and unbothered by his commentaries. "Now tell me, which one do you see?"

He lifts his head. Usually he manages to recognize two, or at best three, constellations. But today he is almost going blind from the brightness of the myriad stars. They are so large that it seems that he can reach some of them with his hand.

Niktos breath catches in his throat. Why didn't he notice this before? Why didn't he see all these stars hovering right above his head? The night sky became so wildly mesmerizing, since...

"Hello, it seems you are trying to reach me, while I'm deployed. Leave your message, and I'll call back after an ungodly amount of sleep, hot shower and a few decent meals. Bye!"

He winces. Just recently, she called him every evening and forced him to go outside before bed and tell her at least two constellations that he could see above his head. Recently. Or maybe it was a million years ago, in a past life? Or did this not happen at all? Maybe he made her up?

Nikto shakes his head. Her voice, pre-recorded for the inbox, is not a figment of his imagination. And this sky above is unusually bright, but still real. He raises his head, covers his mouth and howls in horror and pain.

***

The worst thing is that there's even no body left to bury. She was confirmed to be KIA, yet Nikto couldn't even say goodbye.

First he waited by her door. Like a dog on a leash. Scared and desperate. Like a beggar. Hopeless.

He wrote her, he wrote so much, but never got an answer. So Nikto ran away, not being able to spend one more night at her doorstep, waiting for nothing. Ever since, he was on the run, chasing the last traces of her. He barely slept or ate and just drove from one hospital to another, inspecting their list of deceived soldiers.

Nikto deserved that last goodbye. Even if her body was all deformed, even if there were just a few bones left - it was still better than chasing her pre-recorded voice every evening and suffocate himself to not howl at the moon.

His squadmates try to reach out to him, buts it's no use - Nikto ignores their calls and doesn't bother reading messages. He keeps chasing her ghost and that is all that matters.

Until one day he stumbles upon König himself at one of the hospitals. Nikto notices a printed list of names in his hand and pulls it harshly, almost tearing the paper apart.

"She's not there."

Nikto ignores Colonels words and goes through the list, quietly muttering names. Only to find out, that König is right.

A crumpled piece of paper flies into the wall, to the displeasure of the head nurse. The Colonel picks it up, carefully straightens it and places it back on the counter.

"We are not ok about her fate, just as you. We can search together, An-"

"Shut up! I'm not searching just for a squadmate, not trying to lighten my conscience! You don't know who she was! Even she didn't..." Nikto stops himself in the middle of the sentence. He knows, It's wrong to vent his anger to the Colonel, who did nothing wrong in the first place.

***

König starts sending Nikto strange addresses: they switch from military hospitals to the organizations helping war survivors. The search becomes much more complicated, because many people, who end up in such facilities, have no IDs. So Nikto has to visit each ward and have long talks with nurses.

It drains his last bits of energy, so when he hears 'we actually have someone fitting your description', he doesn't even react right away. Nikto nods automatically, stands up and stops only at the doors.

"Wait, there is someone?" He rushes back and nearly knocks the nurse over.

Grabbing her hands, he barely whispers 'please, let me see, just one glance, please' with his white, dry lips.

He expects to be escorted to the basement, where the morgue is usually located, but is taken to the common room. A few people slowly walk along it with absolutely lost faces. But Nikto doesn’t look at them - his gaze rests on the painfully familiar profile. Her face.

Eyes tired and faded. Her skin is pale, her hair is very short, and there is a long and voluminous scar on the head. Nikto notices that she is shaking.

“She’s cold. Do you have warmer clothes or a blanket here? I’ll pay for anything!” He turns and meets the sympathetic gaze of the nurse. Irritated, he knocks on the glass door. Several people turn to look at him, but she doesn't pay any attention.

"Sir, I'm afraid you don't quite understand the situation correctly. She experienced clinical death, woke up from a coma. These tremors are not from the cold." After these words, Nikto already feels his hands getting colder.

He begs the nurse to let them speak. "A minute, just a minute!" But she leads him away from the room.

"Sir, she needs to be prepared for any meeting. Meanwhile, we will need some documentary evidence of your affiliation. We have to protect our patients from any illegal encounters."

For a split second Nikto imagines, how long would it take him to push her to any room on their way and block the door, so he can run back. But he shakes his head, banishing the mental image.

He patiently listens and even writes down, what documents he has to provide. He covers his own mouth, when the voices inside line up in the choir, asking him to scream.

***

Nikto fights for a single chance to talk to her, as if his life depends on it: despite his anger, he contacts König, asks for a help with forging required papers, he takes his own meds religiously, fearing to harm her otherwise.

He counts minutes, till he can hold her hand, just make sure, it is really her. Alive.

When he is finally allowed to talk to her - the nurse asks Nikto to wait, while she makes sure, the patient is ready. He stands awkwardly in the doorway, as the nurse sits on the bed next to her and tells her something softly.

In a few minutes she nods and the nurse walks past Nikto. "No sudden moves, keep your voice down. She gets scared easily. There will be personnel right behind her door," she whispers and leaves them alone.

Nikto walks around the bed and finally sees her: a mere shadow of a warrior, an almost lifeless shell, curled up, hugging her knees. Words roll up in a lump in his throat, and he just descends on his knees, trying to meet her lost gaze.

At first, she hides her eyes, as if not looking at him would make him not existing in her world. Nikto cant believe, this is all that left of the smiling, lively, skillful amazing her. His hand raises to the huge, ugly scar on her head automatically, but she catches him and shakes her head in a silent plea.

"Of course. I-I`m sorry, I won't touch... Of course, I won't. I'm so sorry." His voice is just a tad louder than a whisper.

Feeling, that his voice is shaking, Nikto takes a deep breath and looks her in the eyes. He wants to tell her so much, every cell in his body begs to hold her, cover her with a blanket, warm her. But he knows better than to stress her with too much information or questions or contact. He's been reading days and nights now about her current state. That's why Nikto just sits before her, staring into her face.

She reaches out to his cheeks, and he wakes from his stupor.

"My face must be scary. I brought a mask, but they said, it might scare you even more." Nikto shows her the mask, but she pushes it away and rests her hands on his face. It's only when her fingers touch his skin - he realizes, his cheeks, chin and neck are wet with tears.

He tries to get a grip on himself, but her touch crushes the last bit of self-control, he had. Tears keep running down his face as she cups it with all the care of this world.

"They will come. They will come. They will come. They will come." At first, he doesn't make anything from the words, leaving her lips. He is so shocked by her tenderness, that he is afraid to move or talk back.

She brings him closer and closer, until she hugs Nikto, clinging to him desperately and repeating 'they will come'. Only when her face hides on his shoulder, Nikto masters a simple question.

"Who will come? You're waiting for someone?"

She keeps muttering the same mantra, but points at a bed drawer. Nikto hesitates for a few long minutes, not wanting to scare her off by a sudden movement.

He reaches out and opens the drawer, which appears to be full of... pieces of paper. He hugs her back with one hand and takes a handful of pieces with the other.

Several pieces of paper fall to the floor with a dry rustle. Nikto squints his eyes at the remaining pieces of paper and freezes. A star map. Torn into tiny pieces. Their nightly ritual has survived everything - even death.

Maybe she didn’t remember him, maybe she didn’t remember what exactly they did in the evenings, but this starry sky, even in the form of a map, remained with her as small pieces of hope. Pieces from which she assembled him and herself.

Nikto opens his palm, letting the remaining paper fall on the ground, and hugs her with both hands finally. He finally finds the right words for her.

"We've come for you, love."

[pharawee]

It's been a week already, so here I am with the third part of my Pit Babe novel commentary.

(You can find the first two parts here and here.)

First things first, though. North is an omega. Do with that information what you will. 🤡

Meanwhile, Charlie and Babe are back at it again (because of course they are) and this time they're not taking any prisoners. Poor Way is on the phone with Babe as Charlie does his best to please~ him. In various ways. Way is very confused. All he wants is for Babe to tell him which car he wants him to buy. You know, if this is Way's villain origin story then I'm not even mad.

Charlie mercifully ends the call before things can get a bit too obvious, only for Babe to pick up the phone again to make an x-rated recording of them going at it like bunnies. Keep this in mind for later.

But anyway. It's finally time for Charlie's initiation into Team X-Hunter - that is, if he manages to pass Alan's test: compete against Pit Babe himself. As if Charlie wasn't nervous enough about it already. Naturally, he loses, and he's really upset about it too - not because he failed the test but because he failed his friends. Aw. But no one really expected him to win against Babe anyway, Alan merely wanted to test his determination, and so he's welcomed as the newest member of the team. Competitive racing really is that easy, I guess.

One almost-love confession later (Babe can't quite bring himself to say it but he doesn't need to. Charlie knows.) they're back to actually teaching Charlie how to race. Since Babe is still healing from his injuries, he can only (very stylishly) watch from the sidelines as the other members of X-Hunter take over as Charlie's teachers. Today it's North's turn and remember? He's the only omega on the team. Naturally, Babe is jealous. They (dirty-)talk it out. Charlie can now smell Babe's emotions, while Babe has all but lost his heightened senses. Hm.

Later, in the locker room while Charlie is busy racing, Babe comes across Way. Or is it the other way around? It seems like Way really wants to talk to him - or rather, talk him out of being with Charlie. Something's really fishy about the way he phrases things. Manipulate, mansplain, malewife. Or something. But the thing is? For some strange reason it's working, even on someone as headstrong and stubborn as Babe (and the only reason why Babe isn't immediately giving in to Way's weirdly cruel love confession is because his heart is full of Charlie). All these moments when Way and he seemed so flirty and close? Suddenly they've become very, very creepy. Hmm.

Anyway. It's time for Charlie to pay another visit to his mysterious clients and/or family. He never really says (but we now know better). But, oh no! He's left his wallet! Luckily, he's got the world's best not-quite-boyfriend to try and catch up with him before it's too late.

And here's where things go very, very wrong.

(I'm putting the rest of this post under a cut because of major spoilers and a content warning for SA and grooming. Please take care.💜)

Because that's not a taxi Babe sees Charlie getting into. It's one of his "father's" limousines, along with some of his men. Preparing for the worst, Babe follows.

Meanwhile, Charlie is meeting up with his adopted father. Their coversation goes about as expected, with Charlie refusing to return home and bring Babe with him while he's at it, because they've indeed been adopted by the same man. Charming.

This is the moment when Babe barges into the room, thinking that he's here to save Charlie before very quickly realising the truth: that he's been manipulated and played and lied to.

I need you to realise how much of a nightmare this is for Babe. He's spent over a decade running from an adoptive father who wants to trap and abuse him, and now the only person he trusts (and loves, but we don't talk about that) has led him straight back into that trap.

So basically, Babe's sanity is slowly unravelling at the seams. He immediately takes off, with Charlie following him outside and into the rain (because of course it's raining - it's much more dramatic that way). When Charlie attempts to stop him and explain, Babe (understandably) lashes out. He punches Charlie's glasses right off his face, failing to understand why he's the one who's hurting when it's Charlie who should be feeling guilty.

Oh, and then there's this bit:

"I thought you liked racing…" Babe's voice was trembling and soft, completely different from before, "…I thought you loved me."

I barely survived reading this. I'm here for fun omegaverse shenanigans dammit!!

So, yeah, Babe returns home alone, and even though he doesn't want to, he forces himself to remember what happened with his adoptive father, because as it turns out Charlie's betrayal has the most horrifying of implications:

You see, Babe was adopted because he was an alpha with special abilities. But he wasn't the only one, there were other adopted alpha children with special abilities that Babe was never allowed to meet. Eventually, Babe learned about the existence of enigmas who stand above even alphas and are so strong (and thankfully rare) that they can turn any alpha they have sex with into omegas and impregnate them. Children from these unions have a 99% chance to be alphas with special abilities. See where this is going?

Let me spell it out for you - because clearly this isn't wtf-inducing enough: Babe is essentially the main ingredient in his adoptive father's breeding program.

But wait! It gets even worse! 🤡🤡

Babe, alone and at his lowest, deduces that Charlie must the enigma that was sent to lure him back.

And if that's true, then maybe he's already been changed from an alpha into an omega (because his heightened senses are gone, remember?). Maybe he's already pregnant.

And this is what sends Babe completely over the edge (same here, Babe, same here...) because he is positively traumatised by the thought of having children and fulfilling his adoptive father's sick wishes. He doesn't want children. The very thought makes him sick. He values his autonomy above all else. He never even has sex with omegas because he refuses to get anyone pregnant.

Only now he's about to get a pregnancy test because he was stupid enough to fall for a cute, innocent boy with glasses.

Enter Charlie who of course still knows the code to Babe's condo. Babe barricades himself in his bedroom while Charlie tells him his side of the story. How he was adopted by the same man, and how he was quite content with his life until he learned about his father's plan to get one of his other adoptive children pregnant - by force if necessary. Charlie felt sorry for this older adoptive brother but since he only knew his name - Babe - he bid his time until he heard about a racer named Pit Babe. Charlie started hanging out at the races and in turn fell in love with racing (and with Babe).

Fast forward to now, only of course Babe doesn't believe him because he must be the enigma, right?

Nope, turns out Charlie is an alpha after all, only his special ability is stealing other alphas' special abilities.

And his grand plan? To take away what makes Babe special so their adoptive father will no longer be interested in breeding (ugh...) him.

Which leaves us (and Babe) with one problem: Wtf Charlie, you don't just steal people's abilities without their consent - especially not when you claim to love them.

So yeah, their whole relationship is based on lies and manipulation, and Charlie essentially stole Babe's heightened senses by having sex with him.

Babe starts crying, Charlie starts crying, then they start having hatesex (which usually ends all their arguments). This fixes things for about five minutes until Babe starts sobbing for real. He wants Charlie to leave. He can't even stand to look at him.

And so Charlie leaves and moves in with his other adoptive brother, Jeff. We'd already established that Jeff is an omega. However, he's a special omega (because why else would he have been adopted too?).

Jeff can see the future. 🤡🤡🤡

He was incredibly valuable to their adoptive father until he probably realised what that meant for him, so one day Jeff took a stroll outside and let himself get hit by a car, claiming that this had him lose his abilities. Naturally, he was promptly discarded, but he seems to live a comfortable life protected by Charlie. He's exactly as aloof as Pon plays him in the series. I love Jeff, ok?

Meanwhile, Babe's back to his old habits, trying to chase away his thoughts of Charlie by getting it on with other alphas. Only it doesn't work. He blames their scent, of course, but he's clearly still hung up on Charlie. Drunk and miserable, he rediscovers the spicy video of Charlie and him that he recorded on his phone and promptly starts masturbating (as you do). When Charlie calls him, he picks up out of habit. Babe is angry (and horny) and Charlie is sad (and horny) so they have phone sex (and they're still really into calling each other papa and daddy - which, you know, there might be better pet names considering who's their adoptive father but ok).

Babe still doesn't want to see Charlie, and as Charlie later aptly puts it:

"Because I chose the starting point myself without asking him. So now I have to let him choose the ending he is most comfortable with."

Much, much later, the racing season picks back up again. Turns out the whole race track had to shut down for an investigation into Babe's accident. It's Charlie's first race and there's some kind of qualifying for future rounds. But, surprise! Babe will be racing too. He's too stubborn to let Charlie win the title. To the surprise of absolutely no one (except for Charlie who's worried about Babe's barely-healed injuries) Babe easily wins, with Charlie (who's overwhelmed by his new heightened senses) coming in fourth place. Plot twist (but really actually not...): Babe doesn't need to rely on his senses to win because he has years of experience to draw from.

After the race, Charlie follows Babe into the locker room. They talk it out. This somehow involves a blowjob but I'm not judging. Babe still won't forgive Charlie, saying:

"You think I love you more than I love myself?"

Which is an incredibly powerful thing to say and I hope they keep this for the series.

Later that night, Babe meets up with Way because he doesn't want to be alone. Things with him have been awkward since that day in the locker room when Way basically confessed, but for some reason Babe won't hold it against him. Way is right, after all (Hmmm.). Only, Way won't let things be and somehow, without Babe noticing, they're suddenly kissing.

And then Babe goes motionless and still as Way starts undressing him. He's stopped just in time by a very panicky Charlie. When Babe comes to he doesn't know what's going on until Charlie tells him.

Way is their adoptive brother and he can hypnotise alphas.

Because DUN DUN DUN! Way is the enigma.

To be continued. 🤡🤡🤡🤡

[jennamoran]

The Far Roofs: the Rats' Books of Names

cover art by Isip Xin

Hi!

Today I’m going to talk a little bit more about my forthcoming RPG, the Far Roofs. I’ve previously talked about

general principles,

the rats,

the campaign,

the Mysteries, and

my favorite Mystery.

Today, I want to talk about a key setting element:

The rats' "books of names."

So, the high concept here is pretty simple. The rats of this game are pretty cool, but not cool enough to deal with god-monsters on any kind of equal basis. The Mysteries aren't like Goliath to their David, at least not usually; they're more like Scylla and Charybdis to their Odysseus. Sometimes it's possible to negotiate. Sometimes it's possible to fight back. But a lot of the time, "winning" a confrontation with a Mystery is more about surviving. Making it through.

Except ...

Just like it was for human mariners, a situation where the whole environment they travel through is full of impossible horrors one just can't do anything about ... that's kind of untenable. Humans never made the sea safe, but they did learn to navigate it. They figured out how to sail, how to chart, how to not get constant scurvy, how to knot rigging, all that stuff.

In like fashion, the rats have this multi-generational project to, basically, nibble away at the "Mystery" part of the Mysteries. To not just survive their encounters, but to come away with a bit more information every time.

To learn, eventually, how to handle all of this stuff, all these monstrous divinities that haunt the Far Roofs.

The Books of Names, in short, are a sacred tradition of the rats and pretty much a defining feature of their interactions with the Mysteries. Most families of rats keep their own set. The shelves of the rats' great libraries overflow with huge and magnificently illuminated Books of Names—dozens or hundreds for any given Name. Over the generations, at a grievous cost, the rats are grinding down the impossible magic of the roofs into something comprehensible, something they can grapple with. To record truth, and insightful commentary, and eventually learn to live with even the greatest and most awful Mysteries.

What this all means to the rats is a little tangled. They worship the Mysteries, I think, and hunt them; they are hunted by the Mysteries in turn. They dream of one day defeating or destroying them, but I don’t think they’d like the world where they’d been destroyed. They are hammered into shape, both as individuals and a people, by the Mysteries, and I don’t think I can ever really fully express what these books, or the Mysteries themselves, mean to them.

They are rich, like cake, like wine, like a well-loved and annotated cookbook. They are generations of wisdom, bound in form.

To the rats, they are, I think, life itself.

Let me show you what an example is like! Like, what you might see opening up some rat family's Book on the Mystery Hoop Snake.

.

Quick Hoop Snake sketches, by Jenna

.

So your typical Book of Names is going to start with a couple of introductory pages, maybe some sketches or whatever, and then move on to what the rats call a Mystery's "heralds," the ... ways you know that the Mystery is near. The things that you see when it's interested in you, when it's considering haunting you, or just passing by. The things that it emerges from, in the world.

It'll usually start with a list, with lots of room left to go, like:

.

Heralds of Hoop Snake ...

* blurred vision * getting turned about * sudden light or sudden darkness * the sudden realization that something is, and has been, very wrong * * * * * ...

and then, like, a couple pages set aside to go into each of those more, with a mix of personal statements (often newsletter clippings, because the rats send these comments around) and summarized opinions or facts.

Like:

.

Blurred Vision

“I saw it on the road. Down the alley, past the milk crate, in front of that old cabinet someone left out on the street. I was rubbing my eyes, and they were a little blurry, and for a moment, I wasn’t sure I’d seen it, or what I’d seen. It was just this blur of colors rushing by, all these colors. And I thought, a flag? A mural? Someone’s shopping bag, caught by the wind? It wasn’t until I’d had that happen like three more times, these half-caught glimpses of color, in the rain, when I didn’t have my glasses on, from the corner of my eye, that I actually saw Hoop Snake direct.” — Alyona Waynwright, 2018

.

NOTES

Gavrilo writes that Hoop Snake lives in the confused sensorium. The world jumbles up, and Hoop Snake comes out.

Ioanna comments: “Little incongruities become bigger ones.”

Constantinope Volkov accidentally summoned Hoop Snake through an abstract in-progress painting. He could not later replicate this feat.

Elsibet Križ proposes a mechanism similar to the way that new, unknown scents temporarily seem like improbable combinations of the known—how your first encounter with a cat does not produce the sensation, “Ah, this is the smell of cat” but “oh no, my parents are being ripped apart. The world is shaking. Why is there peppermint?” You mistake the world, and Hoop Snake is there.

Meredith McCawley (human) comments that when she is very sleepy a pile of colored yarn can look like a snake to her; the passing lights of the cars, like eyes.

Kesterley Novác pushed on her eyelids to watch shapes spin. They got more and more detailed until one day she saw Hoop Snake! Trying to chase Hoop Snake into her eyes she wound up headbutting the wall.

.

Getting Turned Around

You are nodding along. You are small, they say. And meek. You are but a child. I will fix that for you, they say. You think, “Wait, what?” In that “Wait, what?” there is a snake. — Iodine Petrova, 2012

.

NOTES

Maria Augustine, Leverage Jordan, and Daisuke Ozlov attest this experience of Hoop Snake: “we are confused, and then, we are not confused. A snake takes its tail into its mouth, and rolls.”

Kaeda Vanagir was noted as having frequently become lost in the weeks before her June 1993 disappearance chasing after Hoop Snake. (May she one day return.)

Jezdimir Czerny likened the moment of seeing Hoop Snake to becoming turned around, to feeling like you know where you are and where you’re going, and then you look up, and you’re actually somewhere else.

Violeta Schulz was flung from a spinning ferris wheel and, before she landed, a snake burst from the bushes to, as the witnesses described it, “drink her down like wine.”

I found a Hoop Snake scale in a little store that I’ve never seen again.

Hoop Snake Scale

.

“I was literally just popping out to buy the news. Only, I hadn’t had my coffee yet, and somehow I wound up … I don’t even know where. It was a garden, up on the roofs, but it wasn’t a rat garden, and I don’t know where it is, and I can't find that place now. There was a colored banner, there, tied to a tree. It fluttered like a snake in the wind.” — Presley Weekes, 2014

.

Sudden light, by Jenna Moran

.

Sudden Light, or Sudden Darkness “There were noises in the dark. Thumping. Crashing. I thought it was the cats. My brain was so sleepy. I couldn’t put it together, except: oh, the cats got down here. We don’t even have cats. So I stagger out there. I’m not even dressed, just a long shirt on. I didn’t have my glasses on. Everything was just a blur. And I look at the cats, the thing I thought was cats, and like, for just a moment it was. For just a moment, it was cats, moving in the dark. Then it was ‘cats,’ like, one thing, one item, one animal, with two parts, that were shaped like cats. Like a dromedary, if cats were humps. It stuck its tail in its mouth. It began to roll away. ‘Like Hell,’ I said, but I didn’t give chase. I wasn’t dressed!” — Lucy Stokes (human), 2004

.

NOTES

Valery Merlin experienced frequent incidents of his electric lantern coming on unexpectedly and blinding his eyes, sometimes accompanied by a fulgurative scent. This ended when the flare of the light revealed a snake like a coiled spring; he fell over, the lantern broke, and the incident thus resolved.

Priscilla Augustine reports a summer cold that stuffed up her nose to the point of intermittent blindness, during which intervals objects would fall of their shelves, slithering or rolling noises echo through the halls, and glittering snake scales appear in unlikely places. Later, Hoop Snake appeared; when she complained that she could not chase it owing to her cold, it leapt up her sinus passages, cleared them out ... and vanished.

In 2007, Tsubasa Kysely reported such high levels of paparazzi harassment that “I can hardly see from all the flashing.” He would ultimately disappear in what is believed to be a Hoop Snake incident; may he one day return.

When our senses become unreliable, Eureka writes, the world becomes the inexplicable.

.

The Sudden Realization that Something Is, or Has Been, Very Wrong

“The funny thing was, that wasn’t the first time I saw the snake. It had already been there. It was in that picture frame, hanging over my bed: this picture of a snake. Sometimes it moved. It was in the background on this show I watched. I would go outside, and sit on the edge of the roof, and there’d be a snake there, all curled up with its tail in its mouth, and I’d say to it ‘hey.’ I had to keep moving it out of the sink. One time, I think, I walked into my house, but it wasn’t my house. It was the snake. And I still didn’t realize. I still wasn’t able to really process, here is something inexplicable. It was just part of the world I thought I knew, until one day, I looked at it with fresh eyes and went ‘oh my freaking saints, that is a snake.’ It was like it was laughing at me, when it stuck its tail in its mouth. Like it was making fun of me. I took a step towards it, and it rolled away. Another step. Another. But there wasn’t roof underneath me any more, so I fell.” — Mikhael Bygones, 2015

.

NOTES

Gavrilo writes that we often fail to recognize the presence of Hoop Snake in our lives until it has already been present for some time.

Meriadoc Ozoles was famous as “the Chasing Mayor” because she kept running after bits of colored string floating by in the breeze. It wasn’t until she caught one and it turned out to be Hoop Snake that people remembered that colored string doesn’t normally just float by all the time.

Maglev Brunsinick grew up in a burrow that turned out not to be real: he wandered out one day, and looked back, and there was only a snake. "I should have known," he says, "looking back, what with the way Mom and Dad were just internal organs. But, like, I was a kit?"

Torrin kept tripping over her grandmother's tail everywhere in the house. One day, she spilled hot oatmeal all over her grandmother's tail. "Oh no!" she said, and tried to clean it off, but her grandmother wasn't in the room. The tail wasn't reacting to the heat. Also, it was a snake tail. She dashed in to confront Hoop Snake; startled, it threw aside her grandmother's shawl, looked every which way in a panic, and then flung itself away down the drain.

Vasilisa writes: "What is reality but a snake we won't see?"

.

“At some point I realized that I did not work at the company. I think it was the looks people were giving me. Steve. Like, there was Steve, and he had this look in his eye like, ‘why is there a rat here. Why is the rat wearing a suit. Why is the rat carrying a folder with our third quarter projections.’ I was just strolling along, on top of my game and on top of the world, but I couldn’t help shriveling a little at all the looks. At this growing disorientation, like: Why is this place? What is it for? Why was I heading to my cubicle to spin around and around and around on my swivel chair when the skies were so blue; when the roofs were so high? Who even hired me? Who decided that this was the way life would be? Why do people who don’t do any work get paid so much more than us rats down here in the trenches who do? And the more I tried to just cope and keep moving, the louder the questions got inside my heart, until I spun around and I pointed and I said, ‘because I’m damn good at this, STEVE.’ He was so gentle. I was … I wasn’t expecting that he’d be so gentle. ‘If only,’ he said. ‘If only that was why anyone found their way here.’” — Rufica du Lac, 2016

.

Jenna Talking Again

It's basically that kind of thing! Plus a lot of blank room left for more.

After that section on the Heralds, it'd move on to the "weapons" of the Mystery, the way it hurts you, the way it messes around with your life; like, for Hoop Snake ...

.

The Weapons of Hoop Snake ...

* ridicule * confusion * anything you don't expect them to be * * * * ...

.

... but, I think I'll stop there for now.

I hope you enjoyed this glimpse at the rats' Books of Names! Don't forget to check the kickstarter out!

[front-facing-pokemon]

I bring you: two front-facing pictures of My Dog (pretend he's a Herdier)

a very beautiful herdier. with the shot at the end of the nose particularly wonderful. everyone admire this immediately before i blast you with 900 more asks attack

good? okay. asks blast

re: persian: i'm SORRY i know some of those in that line suck i'm TRYING to make them better but they're. hard. so. gimme a break if you would thank you. i am also mutuals with tumblr user demifiendcruithne i think we should all have a moment of appreciation for tumblr user demifiendcruithne for existing

ok. what do you want me to do about this. you've already had sylveon twice. sylveon is the most requested pokémon i get by far. i did the original "back-facing-pokemon" joke months ago with sylveon wayyyy before we were even in gen 6. how much more sylveon do you need

↑ now THIS ask i love. because it's TRUE it happens every single time i say that but. to be quite honest with you. SOMETIMES i just say that so that i can get everyone in the comments to tell me how much they love that pokémon instead. i love seeing how every pokémon in the natdex has at least some diehard fans who would do anything to see their baby on the big screen. so i'll be a little mean to them sometimes just to get folks in the notes to tell me off. and i love reading those notes. so. i'm gonna continue doing it if i have no better commentary, for the record. every pokémon is someone's favorite and it's just. ugh. pokémon, guys. i love it

this is wrong because of tumblr user demifiendcruithne. okay?

[azrielsshadows42]

A Court of Scales and Fire VI

A/n: The story should start to speed up from here, umm, but I have found myself in a bit of a predicament, I have no idea how to introduce Everest to the other characters, so if you guys have any ideas, please don't be afraid to let me know.

Word Count: 4161 And I know nobody cares but, my character count for this (Including spaces) was exactly 22222

Warnings: Swearing, Eris hate from the ic (Inner Circle), protective Cassian, Eris is a bit of a prick, snakes, over-thinking

Dividers by @tsunami-of-tears

Italics = thoughts

Bold = Draconic

Both = Telepathic communication (Colour will vary)

Y/n's Pov

I stood there a little stunned at how blunt Eris had been. That's ridiculous, you'll stay in Autumn, track them down and then I shall assist in getting them back to Elethairia. I was expecting more of a back and forth you know, like I don't trust you! You don't have a choice! My Court, my rules! My mission, my inhibitions, I'm going there with or without your permission Fire newt! Then we'd have a few rounds insulting each other, Cassian would cheer me on and eventually I'd have to get all up in his face like Listen jerk face, I don't care who you are, I've got a duty to fulfil, and you're not gonna stop me! Then, like a total badass, I would walk out onto the pavilion, Everest would fly into view in slow motion behind me, so it looked like I was the one with wings at the right angle, I'd jump of, land on Everests back and we'd ride to Autumn against the sunset.

I may have taken some creative liberties with that last part, but it would've been really cool if that did happen. While I was busy imagining how the interaction should have gone, everyone was looking at me. "Sorry, did you say something? I zoned out" Disappointed Azriel noises "Y/n" My focus went to Rhysand as he spoke to me, his expression was solemn. Who the fuck died in the five seconds I disassociated? "It's your choice, whether you choose to stay in Autumn or not" Oh, I did

It took me a second to realise they actually wanted me to give an answer, while they were all looking at me which I think is a little inconsiderate, who can make a decision with that much pressure? 1, 2, 3, 4 Fi-, five pairs of eyes just waiting for your response. Granted Amren wasn't actually looking at me, but her presence is intimidating. She should honestly count as three pairs of eyes all on her own.

On to more serious matters, I do need to decide if I stay there or not, staying there would be more convenient for me, and them, no one would have to winnow me there and back, but from my training I know that the main Autumn building is the forest house, which the majority of it is underground and is heavily guarded thanks to the former High lord's paranoia, perhaps that had changed since Eris ascended the throne, but I don't exactly feel like taking my chances with him. Being underground meant no windows that Everest could use to sneak in.

Ev, what do you think?

I think we need to find them and get home, I'll stay out of trouble See, I want to believe her, really, I do, but she doesn't have the best track record.

You know that Fire Newt is a High Lord, right? Specifically, the High Lord of the place we need to be in, meaning you can't do anything to him for attacking me despite the proximity. Judging by her grumbling lack of commentary, I could tell that was exactly what she had planned to do.

Fine. I promise I will not bite, scratch, hunt, or burn him. Nor will I drop him off a cliff, because according to your stupid high fae laws, that somehow counts as me killing him, even though gravity is clearly at fault, making it natural causes. She knows that's not how it works, but Everest has been adamant that cliff dropping should not count as murder ever since I explained to her that someone buying the last salmon while we were there to buy some doesn't count as stealing.

"I'll stay in Autumn" I could see Cassian tense in the corner of my eye. Rhysand and Feyre looked to each other, communicating through their bond. They locked eyes with me simultaneously which was a little unnerving, Rhysand was still unsure about me but I could tell that despite her mates worries, Feyre believed that I was telling the truth by the look in her steely eyes as she said to me "Be careful, he's dangerous, sleep with one eye open"

I began to wonder if I'd just made a deal with the devil. What exactly had Eris done to make them all react this way? Even Azriel hiding in his shadow puddle tensed at the High Lords offer. I got the feeling that he didn't like me very much, neither did Rhysand which both made sense, but I just felt like Azriel's dislike for me ran deeper.

Despite this, he still didn't like the idea of me going to Autumn and that raised my guard more than anything. "I'll send word to Eris, in the meantime, you should start preparing" There was a strange ominousness to his words that crawled up my spine. What the hell am I getting myself into?

-Time skip, 2 days-

Each member of the inner circle had come to me to give some kind of warning or bit of advice, all of it ran along the lines of, be careful, he's dangerous. Other than Cassian of course, whose advice was "if he tries anything, fuck him up and come here, we'll create an alibi for you" And while that plan would be ineffective, it was funny and soothed some of my anxiety knowing I could count on him if shit went south.

Today I would be willowed to Autumn. Oh, during the two days of preparations I learned it's called winnowing, not willowing and I have been saying it in my head wrong the entire time. I personally prefer my version, but I digress.

Everest was not particularly pleased with this development and demanded that I wear something she could hide in to avoid having to take a trip more than halfway across the continent. I wore a fur coat that was a little baggy on me for her to slip in, she hid around my neck with her tail curling around the top of my arm.

Rhysand walked in with Feyre on his arm, both dressed impeccably in distinctly Night Court attire. "Are you ready?" His voice was deeper than usual, just slightly, already slipping on the mask to speak to Eris. "As ready as I can be"

Rhysand would obviously be taking us there, Feyre was coming for diplomatic reasons, which as far as I've observed meant that Feyre told Rhysand she wanted to go as well, and he was all too happy to hang the stars for her. After about an hour-long argument, it was decided that Cassian could join for, as he so stoically put it 'my protection'. As if the sparring we'd done the past two days, and my years of training and experience wasn't enough.

Rhysand winnowed us there in the blink of an eye, and it was only as I felt Everest's claws dig into my shoulder that I wondered if he could sense her with his magic. I had put on a glamour to mask her magical signature, but I was unfamiliar with winnowing, would he feel her presence? It seemed either all my worries were for naught, or he was a good actor, for once we reached Autumn, he made no comment.

We all approached the entrance as one, I could see Fire Newt and another fae standing there. The High Lord was looking at my coat as if it had offended him and panic struck through me at the thought that he might sense her.

"High Lord Eris, General Madoc" Rhysand greeted them cooly, Feyre standing by his side mimicking his almost bored expression while Cassian stood like he thought the leaves were out to get him.

Eris greeted his fellow High Lord and Feyre, but pointedly ignored Cassian and I. The tension hung thick in the air as silence broke out, I almost flinched when Cassian shifted his footing making the leaves crunch. Everest moved, accidently tickling my neck and I masked it as a shiver, though thankfully Rhysand had chosen to break the spell that had befallen us.

"I expect updates on any progress, and we will be back in a week to ensure Y/n's well-being, there will be consequences if she is harmed here" The threat in his voice was clear. Just like that, they were gone, and I was left with Fire Newt. I should probably start calling him Eris in my head, otherwise I might call him 'Fire Newt' out loud, which I don't really wanna do. Actually, yes I do, but not while I need to be on his good side, I can call him that to his face when I'm back home.

The silence was becoming awkward as I waited for him to say something. "There is a room waiting for you. You are to settle in then join me at dinner so we can discuss a course of action" His words were clipped, as if I was making him late for something.

Eris turned swiftly, his coat flaring out behind him, but Madoc stayed in place, so I wasn't sure if I should stay, or follow. I was about to ask but small dainty footsteps sounded from inside. A lesser fae with a furred orange tail appeared in the doorway shyly, her head was bowed, and her dress was covered in stains. "This is Daphne, she will show you to your room, if you need anything, she will bring it to you"

She gave me a small smile and then started walking down the hall to a grand staircase. The entire floor was carpeted in red with golden embroidery, torches lined the walls giving it that homey glow, like candles. The walls were a dark spruce colour, and every door was had intricate engravings of different things, trees mostly, but some were of the woodland creatures like foxes, squirrels, and swans, it was beautiful but also, eerily quiet.

The entire way I had seen not a single other fae, the loudest sound was my foot falls, it felt like I'd stepped into a vacuum so nothing could be heard. Daphne stopped in front of a door with an autumn leaf, she opened it, motioning inside.

The room was furnished nicely, it had a four-poster bed with entirely too many pillows and a blanket draped over the bottom, it was so so soft. The room did in fact have a window, tinted with red, orange and yellow, giving the evening light that shone through a few extra tones. It was smaller than my room in night, I was actually a little thankful for that, it didn't seem as hollow. There was a desk with an obnoxiously fancy quill in ridiculously expensive ink and a velvet chair lay before it. A little gaudy in my opinion but was certainly better than what I was expecting.

I had honestly forgotten that Daphne was in the room until she cleared her throat softly. "Is there anything you need?"

"No, no everything is perfect, thank you, Daphne." She nodded her head politely and left the room on silent feet, closing the door behind her. Not even the hinges made a noise in this place. As soon as the door had closed, Everest wriggled out of the coat, immediately exploring the room, the thing that interested her the most was the ornate lamp, carved in the shape of a tree with more tinted glass as a covering to act as leaves that sat on the bedside table.

Everest landed on it, her claws making a soft clink as she did. She lay down, absorbing the heat it radiated, her scales slowly shifted colour, melding to the shades of the lamp until she looked like she was part of it. Show off

Everest's only response was a happy, satisfied purr as the lamp warmed her stomach. I looked around some more, opening the cupboards and drawers. Autumn clothes both male and female were there, ready to be worn. The dresser contained a small assortment of jewellery and clips. A brush made of acacia laid neatly on the right side, a comb on the left.

It was not long before a knock landed on the door. "Lady Y/n, I have been sent to tell you that it is an hour before you are expected to be at the dining hall, your servant will show you the way when the time arrives." My servant? Does he mean Daphne? Was she really expected to be my servant? Her hesitant demeanour made sense now.

I don't know about you, but I'm hungry, and I highly doubt I'm invited to dinner, I'll have to catch my own food, again.

You realise you're a dragon, right? You're supposed to catch your own food.

Everest growled at that. You realise you're a fae, right? You're supposed to be my food.

You don't like the taste of fae, you prefer other meats, but you'd rather eat exotic fruits if given the choice. I shot back.

Just shut up and primp, you have a prince to seduce. She teased. I saw the way he looked at you.

So did I, he looked like he wanted me dead. He's a High Lord, not a prince, and I'm not going to be seducing anyone. It didn't matter what retort I gave, she had already dived out the window, blending in with her surroundings and closed her end of the bond.

I didn't have time to question Everest's where she found that particular line of thought, I had to figure out what I was going to wear to dinner. After going in circles for a good five minutes, I knocked on Everests walls.

I need your help to pick out an outfit I heard her long, drawn out, suffering sigh reverberate through our connection.

Fine, go ahead.

I don't know whether I should wear Night court clothes, Autumn court clothes, or my armour.

...Does it matter?

Of course it does! They may have an alliance, but it is strenuous at best, so wearing Night court attire might be disrespectful. If I wear Autumn court clothing, there might be a traditional way to wear certain things, and wearing it wrong could be offensive, or worse, he could think I'm trying to mock them. But if I wear my armour, it could be seen as a threat. Now do you understand my predicament?

No, not in the slightest, you're such an over thinker, making everything so unnecessarily complicated She closed her side of the bond again, more firmly this time. Cassian was right, courtier work sucks.

I was about to start undressing myself when I got the feeling I was being watched. A tingling sensation from my upper back travelled up my neck, down my arms and to the tips of my fingers. I recognised that feeling, a smile broke out on my face as I opened the window. "Night Shade!" My two snakes, Night and Shade, named after the plant their venom was made of, slithered inside. "By the mother, I've missed you guys, my arms don't look like they're mine without you there." I offered both my hands to them, and they climbed up, crossing over each other behind my head, before coiling themselves around my arms, once again merging with my skin to become tattoos.

I'll wear Night court attire, that's what they like best, and they've had to travel a long way to get here. I knew that technically, they're not alive, they don't need food or water, they don't tire, and they don't have minds of their own, they're made entirely out of magic, but I'd made personalities for them in my head, and based on that, they preferred Night court clothes, it matches their scales.

Eris's Pov-when Y/n arrived in Autumn

I stood outside the forest house beside Madoc, the past two days could not have gone by any slower. I had gotten a response from Rhysand a mere hour after my proposal, what in the name of the Mother could she have needed to pack that required two DAYS to do it?

It was early evening now, the sun had just started to set causing soft shadows to be cast across the ground like blankets. Rhysand winnowed in with Feyre on his arm, both dressed like they were going to a sophisticated event instead of a three minute drop off. Had to give it to them, they had style, though it was dulled by the company they kept, the brute followed along slightly behind the witch, looking around like he expected an ambush.

I knew Rhysand made sure there was space to walk up to him as a power move, so that they could take their bloody time strolling up to the doors with bored expressions to grate on my nerves, and any other time, it would have, but right now, I was very thankful for the few moments it afforded me.

The witch wore a fur coat, white and grey with flecks of black, I assumed it was to fight off the Autumn wind, and she looked beautiful, but it didn't suit her, it gave her skin an ashen tone that I did not like. There were much better alternatives for warmth, like me, for example, I could warm her much quicker and much more effectively than that poor attempt at comfort.

What am I thinking? I thought the strange thoughts had ended in Night, this needs to stop, now. I greeted Rhysand and Feyre, ignoring her and the brute, I accepted his demand for updates and barely registered his threat as I noticed the witch shiver in my peripheral vision and chose to be ignorant of the way my hand twitched toward her, convincing myself it meant nothing.

Rhysand and his company left, it was just me, her, and Madoc. I stared at her, wondering if it was too late to send her back, call it off, anything so that she wasn't staying near me, making me act a fool.

"There is a room waiting for you. You are to settle in then join me at dinner so we can discuss a course of action" I tried to keep my voice professional, like how I talked amongst other High Lords, but it came out too curt, too harsh. Anything I said would just fuck things up further, as I had apparently lost all control of my vocal cords, so I left, striding quickly to my bedchambers.

My pace slowed once I reached my door, it was engraved with two baying hounds and a small acorn in each corner. I slipped inside, feeling like an imposter in my own home. I leaned against the door breathing deeply, trying desperately to get my thoughts in order.

Once my heart was beating at regular speeds I got up and started shuffling through my armoire (Fancy French word for a closet). I spent the better part of thirty minutes pulling out different cloaks and shirts, laying them flat against me to see what would look best to Y/n. Not that that mattered of course, I wasn't trying to impress her, merely appealing to my audience.

Madoc knocked on my door, reminding me that I had an hour left to get ready. I had chosen a dark under shirt with gold buttons, but I had yet to choose what should go over it. I considered the one with golden fire embroidery but decided against it, thinking it might make me seem juvenile, flaunting my abilities about, she knows very well what they are. Wearing the celebratory one would be entirely too flashy for a dinner, so I ultimately decided less was more, choosing one of my simpler over coats but no less elegant.

I finished prepping myself, making sure there was not a hair out of place. Madoc greeted me at the door to the dining room, and we walked inside. A smaller table had been moved in, seeing as it would just be the three of us, I didn't want the Lords bombarding her with irrelevant questions, many of them were firmly stuck in their ways and would scoff at the idea that a female could be useful beyond cleaning and child rearing. I took a seat at the head of the table, Madoc to my left, and a seat for the witch was left open on the other end. The room felt very empty without a large table to fill it. Traditional Autumn foods filled the table as she drew near, the massive arched doors swung open slowly.

Once she entered, the torches flared, the distance made her look small, details blurred, but I could still clearly see that her outfit originated from Night, my jaw tightened at the sight. I could see matching snake tattoos coiled around her arms, the rest of their bodies hidden beneath her dress. They reminded me of the snake under the mountain that had seemingly come from nowhere and bitten me, it sent a creeping feeling up my spine to my neck where the serpent had sunk its fangs into.

As she got closer, this dress admittedly suited her much better than that dreadful coat, aided by the firelight, her skin now looked warm instead of ashen. "High Lord, General" We both nodded back to her, and I motioned toward the empty seat. Once she was seated, she folded her hands over her lap, waiting for permission to begin eating. "Please, help yourself"

I tried desperately to ignore it, but I couldn't help but take notice of what she did and did not select. The mashed potatoes and roast beef along with the tangy coleslaw made it to her plate, but not the steamed broccoli or baked gem squash. She prefers savoury food. We eat in silence, it was a little awkward but not terribly tense, once finished I sought more information.

"Exactly what weapons are these people smuggling from Elethairia?" She looked up at me and our eyes locked for the first time tonight, it sent tingles through my traitorous body and my heartbeat picked up.

"They've been smuggling all sorts of weapons for centuries, but what we are concerned about is the newest ones, a type of stone that can store magical energy, problem is, some of them don't have a limit, but the more magic stored inside, the more unstable it is."

"How come you are only concerned about it now?" It seemed suspicious that this was suddenly a problem, why hadn't anything been done about it before?

"Like I said, they've been doing this for centuries, they've gained experience and size, they have more than one base of operations and apparently the guy who runs it is scary enough that they'd rather live a life in prison or die than talk. It feels like fighting a hydra, you stop one and two more show up."

Depending on how many they have, it could be extremely dangerous, people are still recovering from under the mountain and Hybern's war, having explosions everywhere will make this worse, the court can't handle much more, Beron really did a number on these people. If only I'd been stronger, gotten rid of him sooner, stopped the tyranny so fae could hope again, stop fighting each other for the scraps Beron dangled in front of them. This is my fault, and I will fix this.

"I plan to find the shipment, and bring it back to Elethairia where they can be activated in a safe place so that no one can use them"

"What about the fae responsible, what is to happen with them? Are they supposed to go free?"

"They can be dealt with later, the main priority are the explosives" My face hardened. She was planning to leave them here where they could harm Autumn civilians while she ran off and played hero?

"I promise, once we have the opals out of their hands, I can come back and assist with arresting them, but they've already desolated one of our larger towns, almost five thousand died, I think you can see why this takes precedence. You can decide how they are to be punished seeing as this is all taking place in your territory."

Yes, begrudgingly, I could see why obtaining the stones was more important than obtaining the people, and the sooner one happened, the sooner the other could follow. I nodded showing that I understood. "Will you be needing anything else?"

"No, all good, everything is ready, and I'll be out of your way as soon as possible" My heart clenched and tugged at my insides to do or say something to prevent it. I found that I once again had no control over the words coming out of my mouth.

"Perfect, we can start first thing tomorrow" She froze, and even Madoc looked to me in question

"I'm sorry, we?" Too late to turn back now.

"Yes, We"

Chapter 7

ok, hope that was good, but I have a question, do you guys like that I colour code the mind speak dialogue? I originally did it cause I noticed I had a lot of unseparated dialogue, and it might get confusing, but I now realise it also might be distracting.

Taglist: @imma-too-many-fandoms @rcarbo1

A/n: Did anyone get the game of thrones reference right at the beginning?

[cyanide-latte]

So after Book 6 left me completely and utterly devastated and a crying wreck in my bedroom, I've finally started Book 7 of Twisted Wonderland and I figured I'd just do a basic drop of my thoughts so far. I'm keeping them under a "read more" cut and I'll also tag this post as having spoilers (even though it's not really the more recent spoilers) just to be safe and considerate.

Beyond that though, my thoughts aren't going to have a filter so please take this with a grain of salt. (I'll mention at the end where I've stopped for now in the plot, so please don't spoil past that point for me if you reply to or reblog this post. I really really don't want spoilers.)

Got it? Good. Here we go.

- Exasperation and loathing, thy form is Michael Mouse, I viciously beseech thee to get out of my house

- we need more of the freshmen just interacting with one another in general

- Rook wanting to take an internship in archeology make so much sense for him. "I'm not a patient person but this will challenge that" BRO, SAME.

- Idia just interning at Google basically

- Lilia like "btw I need to drop out of school, gonna throw a party later before I leave, kthnxbai"

- all of the characters doing impersonations in this book is a DELIGHT

- "I declare the mopefest official over!" Spoken like a man who bottles his stronger emotions up out of fear of having to face them, Ace

- Fucking love the meta commentary

- Idia "I'm not going to some farewell party for a junior I barely know because I need to actually mourn losing contact with an internet friend who ghosted me and I'm despairing the possibility I could ever possibly make a friend again" Shroud is too fucking real, he's relatable honestly

Malleus: here's my lil sob story abt the time I threw a tantrum so bad I almost froze an entire castle of people to death. Lilia made it all better but gave me a stern talking-to I've never forgotten.

Me: why do I feel like you learned nothing.

Also Malleus not long after: because I took your words to heart Lilia I've been looking for a solution to this problem, and Silver and the Ramshackle prefect with their random venting to me gave me the perfect idea, so I'm going to trap THE ENTIRE ISLAND in stasis sleep so NOBODY CAN EVER LEAVE ME AGAIN a good hoard knows to stay put for the dragon who owns it haha you'll all be fine, dw about it, I've got everything under control

Me: so you learned nothing.

- Malleus has no rights, he needs to be sent to the Time-Out Corner

- I also love that that Malmal fight loads up with an infinity symbol because it's like oh lol yeah, infinite-turn battle but then you see Malleus's fucking 300K HP bar and I was instantly like "hmmmm I think you're lying" and then his regen heals for like 60K damage each turn and he casts fire damage immunity on himself and I was like "mmhmm I knew you were lying to me"

- I demanded Mickey get the fuck out of my house so of course naturally the game decides to be cheeky and put me the fuck in his instead

- no but why the fuck is he here. I'm so fucking annoyed

- WE DON'T NEED MICKEY.

- I get it, I get why he's here but he really doesn't need to be. Disney you CAN in fact make a fucking video game without shoehorning the damn mouse into it. The Hidden Mickeys in various backgrounds were fine, we didn't need more than that.

- for the record, I've been pissed off about this since it started happening books ago, but I remain aggravated by Mickey just being shoved into this.

- I love that Silver shows up to bail MC and Grim's collective ass out of danger and then meanwhile you've got Ortho like "I've seen dial-up faster than this shit, what the FUCK bro, I expected better of you, logging this in my database as an Epic Fail."

- but also ORTHO MY CHILD. BE FREE. YOU GOT THIS.

- The Shroud parents are EXACTLY how I imagined. They're everything I wanted from their characters and more. They even SOUND like I hoped they would. Beautiful. 10/10. My intuition about their entire family remains, as ever, on-point.

- I do love everything I've gotten with Silver to this point. I was very baseline neutral on his character until now, but the more I'm seeing of him, the more I appreciate what I am getting.

- Sebek is autistic. I will die on this hill. Even if he represents autistic traits the internet DOESN'T like to woobify for the most part, that boy is autistic. He's autistic as fuck. This book is so far just further proving it.

- I mentioned earlier that Malleus has no rights but I'm saying it again because it's fucking rude as shit he's got epic choral BGM in Sebek's dream. Also creeping on people's dreams and threatening to forcibly make them sleep forever when they defy you because you feel entitled to ownership of your victims? Wow. Hey by the way Malleus, you got a phone call, we got a guy from Ohio on the other line, says his name's Freddy, you're one set of full-body burn scars away from him sueing your scaly ass. Yeah, just thought you'd wanna know.

- Listen I really want to appreciate and like the Malleus I hear everyone among my friends and mutuals say they see him as but no. No. Is he well-written? Well, I'm still early into this, so I'm withholding judgment on that point though I AM hopeful that I'll eventually appreciate how he's written. But do I like him? No. I didn't give a single flying fuck about him to begin with and I still don't. Throw onto it he's being a bitch right now, and that's not helping. If you genuinely like Malleus as a person, that's your prerogative, that's whatever. I'm not entirely sure what you see in him to like as a person but again, your prerogative. If you like him as a character because of how he's written for the role he is in, in the overall story, power to you, I REALLY hope I'll eventually agree with you. But as of right now, just so you're aware if you've read this far, I still don't give a single flying fuck about Malleus and I'm slowly starting to teeter into the direction of actually disliking him as a person.

- Silver: QUICK, TAKE MY HAND!!! Sebek: ew.

- Currently I've stopped on the chapter where Silver has dream-hopped from Sebek's dream with Sebek, Yuu and Grim in tow, into the dream of a mysterious bat-masked figure with a familiar voice who couldn't POSSIBLY be Lilia, not at ALL. So please don't talk to me about anything past that yet. I'll reblog this post with an update when I get further.

[idrawprettyboys]

Please watch the IMPROVED version of my Kai video!

I'm putting photos here instead of the video. Please click on this link to see the video! If I put the video on tumblr, and people watch it on here, it looks like it doesn't count towards my views on youtube!

I reuploaded the Kai painting video with the HUGE addition of audio commentary, which was very daunting! Please watch and give me some encouragement!

This video took me 3-4 hours to put together, and I had to do it all in one sitting, since the free version of ClipChamp doesn't let me save my progress before exporting the final video file. After importing the videos from my phone and putting them together, I decided to use Sound Recorder for the first time. I was very nervous and realized I had no idea how to talk during these videos. The problem wasn't so much what to say but how to say it. I quickly realized my intonation sounded like I was unenthusiastically reading a powerpoint for a class. I want to figure out how to make myself sound more natural. I'll probably experiment with my tone through my videos. For this, I decided to talk softly and steadily and tried not to sound too nervous. I almost felt like I was voice acting. I want to find the right voice for my videos. I like my voice a lot, but it's a complicated instrument. After a lot of trial and error, I think these recordings turned out okay. After adding audio, I decided my voice needed closed captions, since I'm so quiet and stumbled on my words a little. This was a tricky procedure, as the text had a lot of defaults that I couldn't change. This meant that for every sentence I added, I had to adjust the size, placement, and color of the font. It was a lot of tedious work. Despite that, I'm happy with how this turned out. I imagine it will get easier as it goes on. I want to find a way to improve the lighting, either in the room where I'm recording, on my camera, or digitally after uploading. I tried adjusting the hue of the video clips, but it just turns out a weird blue-ish color rather than making the paper look white. The yellow tint at least has a nice warm sunlight feel. If you like my videos, please subscribe! Please consider supporting me with a "coffee" on ko-fi.com/idrawprettyboys or subscribing to patreon.com/idrawprettyboys Thank you for your time!

[gunbun]

this post is about the cultural concerns regarding ffxiv: dawntrail

Hi doods. Activism has brushed up against fandom YET AGAIN but this time it punches me straight in the heritage and this time I wanna talk about it.

I'm a non-status Qalipu Mik'maq, for the record. An Indigenous American, if thou wilt.

I discuss some pretty heavy shit below the cut. I pray it persists across all devices. Please advise if you want me to tag this as something, or block the tags I have used. I do not need anyone to spread this on my behalf, I do not need anyone's defense. I just have some thoughts and I want to think them.

So it's been less than 24 hours since Dawntrail was announced and we got the Keynote.

We're going to Fantasy The Americas! Before Industrialization!

Many people went "oh hell yeah, that's Brazil, this is gonna be great! We don't usually see this!"

On Twitter especially, many MORE people lost their goddamn minds, citing CBU3's prior wobbles with depicting foreign/indigenous persons.

And of course, the White Community Leaders are out in force performing pre-emptive outrage or even asking people to quit FFXIV in light of this announcement.

I'm here to ask folks not to do that.

What follows is my tweet-thread about it.

"It is perfectly okay to be waiting and seeing how Tural is going to be portrayed in Dawntrail. It's okay to have a concern.

It is NOT okay to come out preemptively swinging and performing outrage.

Because blood quanta are their own touchy subject I usually don't bring this up, but I am the class of indigenous person what represents "what's left".

And I fucking tell you now I don't need the opinions of Concerned White People.

I do not need Concerned White People telling me what colonialism is.

I do not need Concerned White People telling me to be mad.

I do need Concerned White People to realise that the above two actions are microaggressive as fuuuuck.

"but Jai, aren't you White?"

colonialism and genocide comes in many forms. this includes forcing indigenous persons to assimilate or be killed.

also stuff like reinforcing the idea that being indigenous is shameful so that when their descendants find out, they deny it."

Thus ended my tweet thread. There's one more tweet linking to qalipu.ca.

So I want to write more about this on Tumblr.

I really want to make sure that folks take a hard look at what they're concerned about and why.

Like… a lot of White Concern about the use of indigenous motifs in Dawntrail is itself a brand of anti-indigenous racism.

Thinking that the MSQ is going to automatically be about the Scions starting a colonialism in Tural? That's a pretty gross thing to say in the same breath y'all complain about Always Fantasy Europe.

Calling "cultural appropriation" when everyday items are displayed and depicted in the manner in which they were/are used (gulal, curry)? Way to exoticise foreign and indigenous cultures by thinking that everything they make, wear, use, or eat is something of Deep Cultural Significance that Cannot Ever Be Shared With Outsiders. Saris and salwar kameez are just as culturally significant as skirts and slacks. Moccasins are just shoes.

And moreover, getting preemptively Concerned when thus far THERE IS LITERALLY NO NEED TO BE CONCERNED is actually kind of beyond the pale. I haven't seen many indigenous folks and/or folks from South America being anything but pleased that this time The Americas gets a cool pastiche like Europe, Asia, and India have gotten in the past. There's an undercurrent of "oh no, I hope it's not bad stereotypes" which is ABSOLUTELY OKAY. Reblog and retweet what THOSE people are saying. Do not add commentary.

Preemptively saying "you're worried" about your South American/Indigenous friends with zero indication that they're bothered? Come the actual fuck on. We are not a monolithic group that you can "be concerned" for to get a pat on the back later as a Good Person. Do not Perform the I'm A Good Person And The Worst Thing You Could Do is CALL Me A Racist dance.

Don't "get ahead of the discourse". Not every conversation needs your fucking input. Shut your mouth.

What is and isn't an Offensive Portrayal of Indigenous Americans is a lot more nuanced than most people who like to perform outrage make it out to be.

We can and will speak up for ourselves. Share our words and our concerns if you must. Do not go and distill our words and turn us into the monolith you hide behind to perpetuate white saviourism and neocolonialism.

We aren't a monolith of poor uneducated people who don't understand what the europeans did that need to be uwu protected.

[madraleen]

Delicious in Dungeon - Ryōko Kui Vol.10-11: "Oh, just Thistle, Mithrun and Kabru things" - A Commentary.

Vol.10 -for the record, second most well-designed character award goes to thistle, my beloved.

-low-key worried about laios' party now that we know the mithrun-goat backstory.

-no, truly, do we trust the winged lion? or did thistle seal it so that the mithrun thing wouldn't happen to him too?

-yeah, the lion "really doesn’t want to lose you here," laios, because he'll wanna devour you later! i don't trust that lion.

-ooooooh NICE, marcille wanting to make all races' lifespans equal, such a solid wish that could go horribly wrong, nice!!

-"kabru, make him stop"? really, canaries? really? everybody say "thank you kabru, for being a good influence for mithrun."

-YUH-HUH, "you're good at dealing with the captain" OBVIOUSLY!!! he eats when he should, he sleeps without help, everyone say "THANK YOU KABRU." ffs, canaries.

-thistle be watching everyone like "...wtf?"

-really, the teleportation expert is the most dangerous one, thistle? not the ones freeing the lion? interesting.

-right, that's what i'm saying. go seal the winged lion first. see, you only needed some food in you in order to think clearly, thistle

-argh, that's sweet, how falin's sleeping on her monster body, stop that's cute

-"laios! you okay!?" i don't know how he can ever be okay after suffocating falin, but hey ho. that was a hard sequence. that was hard. oof.

-oh wait, thistle's "wand" is his flute, that's cool

-no, not the "best by" date! lmao, laios, what a way to put it

-that's my deranged boy (thistle). standing on the table. for no reason. you show them. well. "deranged." it's more complicated than that. delgal literally pushed him to become a magician and put the weight of the entire kingdom on his shoulders, and then thistle had to use ancient magic, build a kingdom, create monsters, move everyone down there, protect everyone at all times, fend off invaders again and again, ALL OF THAT ON HIS OWN, had everyone praise him for it, and then had his nearest and dearest be like "actually, the thing we pushed you to do and praised you for, yeah, we don't want that anymore." thistle isn't randomly deranged.

-fumu fumu, that's a lot of dragons.

Vol.11 -lmfao that was kabru's dream that the nightmares ate, wasn't it

-gotta hand it to laios, that's good thinking, quick thinking, the whole dragons thing

-thistle's epiphany is to get everyone on feeding tubes...? like 24/7? for eternity?

-LION, STOP! LEAVE THISTLE ALONE! HELP, SOMEONE!

-wait, so thistle doesn't remember why he sealed the lion? 'cause i was theorizing he sealed him to protect himself, and lion confirms it, but not thistle

-MY HEART, thistle holding marcille's hand. SOMEONE HELP THEM! WHERE THE FUCK IS KABRU?!

-did thistle resurrect marcille??? OOOHHH

-erm, hold up, thistle will be fine though, right?

-kabru warning laios, good boy kabru. but also, tell him about the dungeon's lord!

-not kabru dissociating in real time as he eats bavarois

-goodbye, izutsumi, who knows where you've been teleported to. mithrun probably doesn't.

-ASFDHJ, marcille leaping onto laios to escape mithrun, SO CUTE

-pattadol is sweet, i like her. keep her around mithrun.

-oooh nooo the lion is unsealed, i don't like thisss

-i expect the anime to do justice to just how fast mithrun is

-it's a pity it's come to this. marcille would understand, if mithrun had had time to explain, but now he's trying to kill her and she's terrified and she only has the lion to lean on -.-

-THE FIRST PERSON TO REALIZE MITHRUN WILL RUN OUT OF MANA IS KABRU, ffs, have the canaries spared a second to think of mithrun's- ARGH

-kabru out there doing the lord's work. everyone else is useless. USELESS, WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITHOUT KABRU

-YES KABRU, KEEP MITHRUN THERE! good boy. and yes, manga, feed me more mithrun and kabru moments, pls and thank you.

-of course it would be kabru that carried mithrun. don't worry, king, no one's taking him from you.

-kabru trying to talk to laios and laios trying to cut him off and leave is excruciating to read

-people really only listen to kabru when he's being honest and not putting up a facade, just sayin'. at least the people that matter to us do.

-i'm confused though. mithrun was the lord of a different dungeon, the one sealing goat demon. this one seals lion demon. why does lion demon know mithrun?

[1960z]

ok so I’m finished with case 1!!

when playing aa5 and aa6 I said I didn’t like their first cases because they felt slow and yeah there’s still some of that here: I feel like there were a few points in the case that could’ve been cut out to make it feel a bit more concise - also as I mentioned before I find this case to be a little hand holdy in a way I don’t appreciate. like even in the first game you could still check the court record before mia tells you about it. here you have to wait to be told about the court record, or examining evidence, or pressing before you can actually do them and that’s not as fun. even if I was a first time player, I’m still someone who likes having the option to get to know the controls myself without being made to sit through an explanation before I can use them. and as someone who isn’t a first time player, it’s all extremely tedious from a gameplay standpoint.

with that all being said this is still my favourite case 1 I’ve played of the 3ds era games. it introduces the new characters very well and has a decently compelling case and villain. I liked the inclusion of a real poison - aa has the tendency to just make shit up to serve the story they want to tell which imo is fine but there was something that felt kinda special about googling curare when it came up and realising it, its effects and history were real.

this case also does a really good job in regards to setting up themes.

the meiji era setting clearly isn’t just for show, it seems the story has a lot to say about what westernisation meant for japan and who got prioritised because of it. this is shown in the constant protection of jezaille brett throughout the trial and the willingness to throw ryunosuke under the bus all because she’s an english woman. and then of course at the end of the case there’s the invocation of consular jurisdiction throwing into question whether she’ll truly ever face justice. its a very pointed historical critique, and it reminds me of how the first game was meant to be, first and foremost, a satirical commentary about the japanese legal system.

so yeah case 1 definitely shows a lot of potential and has me very interested to see where it’ll go from here! I’m enjoying it a lot so far!!

[stusbunker]

Spotless: Giocoso

Chapter Nine

Featuring: Dean Winchester/Reader, Dean/Bela

Other characters: Charlie, Kevin, Annie, Bobby, Sam/Madison, Pamela/Lee, goth karaoke hostess, Dawn the bartender

Word Count: 2650

Warnings, etc: Mutual pining, drinking and antics, Dean tries to measure the depth of the hole he dug himself into, unbeta'd

Series Masterlist

Divider courtesy of @cafekitsune

You almost fell into Dean’s arms, the awkwardness of Charlie’s little reveal felt like you were on display and you let yourself hide against his chest instead. The energy of the band around you was both comforting and triumphant. A victory you hadn’t earned, but were still welcomed to take part in. He held you differently than Charlie, letting his hands sink lower onto your back, letting you burrow into his warmth.

His cologne was faint, the alcohol and sweat softening it into something raw and grounding. You hadn’t realized how much you missed him, or how long it had been since you’d even seen him with the week you’d had. But that all melted away as he pulled back and gripped your collar bone.

“Let’s get you ladies something to drink!” He grinned wolfishly and corralled both you and Charlie towards the bar, which was filled with a crowd that looked like they owned their very stools.

Charlie had shown up on your doorstep without warning, giddy as ever as she demanded your presence. Of course, if you’d been paying attention you would have been more prepared for the usual post-recording shenanigans. But she had blindsided you and pushed you into your bedroom to change, then plopped herself down onto your couch and gave running commentary on your Dawson’s Creek rewatch.

An hour later and you were still shaking your head at her ability to just pop into any situation and have fun. 

“So, Springsteen, we gonna get to hear this thing this year, or what? What’s your timeframe look like?” she asked as Dean waited to get the bartender’s attention from a regular.

“We’ll see. Gotta go over the rough cuts with Ash yet, but I think I’ll have it out to the group before we take off for Christmas. You going home this year?” Dean hopped from one subject to the next before you could verify for the label’s sake.

You weren’t supposed to be working tonight anyway.

“Not much left for me there, besides some not so great foster families and an empty cemetery where I’d only freeze my nonballs off this time of year,” Charlie said cynically.

“Well, you’re always welcome with us, you know that,” Dean replied, getting serious.

“Uh, no. No way I’m going to sit through all that testosterone and pretend that you all get along for more than an hour once a year. You just want a buffer.”

You barked out a laugh at Charlie’s bluntness, she wasn’t wrong.

Dean dropped his head trying not to laugh, but he was already too tipsy. “Sue me for trying!” was his lame rebuttal between giggles. “What about you, Trouble? When do you fly out?”

Dean turned at once, he had finally caught the bartender’s eye. “Hey Dawn, can you hook up my friends here? We need some tequila shots and some chasers.”

You and Charlie shared a look, holding back more laughter at Dean’s urgency to get you caught up in the inebriation department.

From there the night kind of got away from you. Dean got called back to the pool tables by Pamela and then Kevin and Charlie started heckling Bobby and suddenly the bar was packed more than you thought possible and an emo chick was making announcements in the corner about karaoke. Suddenly, you realized this was going to become a headache for you because there was no way the band was going to sit this one out. 

Sam was in a corner booth with Madison and Annie and you squeezed your way across the room to sit on the bench next to Annie, with a warm buzz beneath your skin. 

“How drunk is everyone? Are we gonna need to haul ass out of here?” You asked Sam, who had somehow become the voice of reason for them all.

“I think we’re good.” Sam glanced around the room, ignoring your look of disbelief. “Seriously, Trouble, relax. Let them have their fun. It’s not the worst thing we’ve done after an album.”

You swallowed back your retort, because, sure, it wasn’t streaking through the commons once they finished their first record in Lee’s dorm room. And it wasn’t the strippers and blow that they supposedly topped off their first studio album with. But you still had to keep it under wraps. Crowley was counting on only good publicity from here out, especially for Dean.

Kevin appeared with a fresh pitcher of beer and you poured yourself a cup before he even got a word out. He grinned at Sam.

“I got us three slots. These people are serious about their karaoke,” Kevin said once everyone was done giving you the questioning eyebrow.

“What are you singing?” Annie asked, amusement dancing in her eyes.

“You’ll see,” Kevin’s brows pop up, chin jutting out.

“Okay, this I gotta, see,” Madison insisted and turned to Sam. “Let’s get a better spot.”

After twenty minutes of negotiations with different tables, and you’re pretty sure a bribe, you, Sam, Madison, Charlie, Dean and Annie were all huddled around a high top to the right of the stage. Bobby, Lee, Pamela and Kevin were at a booth behind you, everyone waiting for the fallout of whatever Kevin signed them up for.

You sipped your beer, watching as the first victims of the evening took the stage. Or perhaps they were the heroes for going first. By the way the crowd reacted, they knew them well, welcoming them up to the mics with cheers and pounding on tables. You could feel everyone’s excitement and your worry started to unwind somewhere between the beer and the warmth of Dean’s shoulder against yours, and the enthusiastic and surprisingly talented singers. An hour in, Lee was the first band member to take the stage, unaware what he’d be singing because Kevin was somehow a master at subterfuge.

A melancholy piano intro began and Annie gasped.

“What?!”

“Oh that poor thing,” was all she said before Lee began reading the lyrics off the screen.

“I’ve been alone with you inside my mind–”

Dean cackled and then put his fingers in his mouth and whistled. It was deafening. And even though everyone around you was giggling, Lee was holding his own with the Lionel Richie classic.

“Hello? Is it me you’re looking for?”

Around you people started holding up their cellphones like lighters of years gone by and you couldn’t help but snap a few pictures of the long haired guitarist crooning. Out of the corner of your eye you saw Pamela drinking in her ex husband’s talents, among other things. Dean leaned in to see what shots you got and didn’t take his arm off the back of your chair the entire song, until it was time to clap. The proximity made you dizzy, but you hooted and hollered for Lee’s performance right along with him, and the entire bar.

There was a short intermission, probably for the hostess to take a smoke break and piss. But it broke up the bubble a little and gave everyone more of a chance to talk, since you were all respectful of the performers, trying not to interrupt any songs with your fucking around.

“Who’s up next?” You asked Sam, hoping he’d spill if Kevin had clued him in.

He held up his hands. “Don’t look at me, I’m not pissing the kid off, he’s ruthless.”

Dean laughed and took a drink of his beer, somehow he was the only one drinking out of a bottle. “Yeah, he is.”

Then Sam gave Dean a bitchface which meant something, but you didn't quite know what. Madison rubbed Sam’s forearm and you could see the little smirk on Sam’s face, though he tried to hide it as he turned to her, whispering in her ear. 

Not wanting to creep out your friend by staring at their little moment, you turned to Annie to ask, “would you sing? If he put your name down?” 

“Hell yeah, though I don’t think the kid’s quite got the balls to throw Bobby’s old lady under the bus.” She winked and took a sip of her tonic.

“You’re not old,” you said emphatically, turning to look her dead in the eyes.

She giggled in her throat and shook her head at you. “Trouble, I don’t know how you do it. But you’re right and wrong all at the same time.”

Dean huffed and threw his arm around your shoulder, “I know, right?” Then he proceeded to give you the worst noogie you’d have this side of your teens. You howled and backhanded him in the ribs, making him flinch to protect himself. Then Charlie kicked him under the table, which had him slowly backing towards Bobby’s booth.

“Asshole!” You tried to straighten your hair, and you felt more than saw Annie glaring at Dean on your behalf, which made it slightly better. Did he always have to think you were some kid to pick on?

Tap-tap-tap, a piercing feedback broke through the banter.

“Second verse, same as the first, folks! Let’s get back to it!” the hostess bellowed and everyone turned back to the stage. “Can I get Dean Smith to the stage please?”

It was all worth it, to be able to see Dean’s face the moment he realized what Kevin had signed him up for. The music blasted through the speakers and Dean looked around the room and deadpanned, “let’s go girls.”

“No!” You and Sam balked in unison. You beamed at Kevin, he was really starting to grow on you.

“I’m goin’ out tonight, I’m feelin’ alright. Gonna let it all hang oo-out–”

Dean swayed his hips and really got into it. You couldn’t help the rush of it all. He must have been pretty toasted to be able to let himself have fun with it.

The song was building up and you had to get this on camera.

“The best thing about being a woman– is the prerogative to have a little fun,”

The crowd supplied another “fun” and Dean went falsetto. “Oh-oh-e-oh, go totally crazy!”

By the second refrain everyone was singing along and Dean was playing up to the crowd. You were getting the shakiest of videos on your phone, but you didn’t care. Charlie was kneeling on her seat and dancing with her arms above her head as she sang along. Dean pointed at her and almost lost his spot, bending in half with laughter.

“Oh-oh-e-oh, get in—-- and feel the attraction—Color my hair, do what I dare.---Oh-oh-e-oh, I wanna be free, yeah!---To feel the way I feel—Man, I feel like a woman!”

He earned a standing ovation. The entire bar erupted as he took a bow, no, he fucking curtsied and handed the mic back to the hostess like it was a precious award. He left the stage pumping his fist and beelining it for your tables. 

“Here he is, folks, the man not afraid to feel like a woman!” Charlie crowed, grabbing Dean in an uneven hug around his now sweaty head. Dean tossed Charlie over his shoulder and did a little victory lap over to Bobby’s booth, letting the crowd calm down for the next performer.

Sam chuckled and admitted to you, Madison and Annie. “You know I think that might have been more of a punk-out if Dean hadn’t had a Shania Twain poster on his wall in high school. Kevin really tried to get his goat.”

“Well, he’ll learn all of y’all’s buttons soon enough,” Annie pointed out about the impending tour.

Sam cringed. “Probably.”

You sighed and drank the last bit of beer in your cup. The pitcher hadn’t lasted nearly as long as you had hoped and that meant you had to go wait in line for another. Careful not to make too much of a distraction from the duet of “A Whole New World” going on, you ducked behind the table and squished your way through the crowd.

But as you spotted the line for drinks, your bladder decided it had more urgent needs to attend to. You found the bathrooms, tucked away by a service entrance and only had one other person ahead of you. After you finished your business, Dean stopped you outside in the stunted hallway.

“Hey, can we talk?” His voice was hoarse, but he’d been singing on and off all day, add on hours of bar conversation, it made sense.

“Suuuuure,” you looked around and Dean just kind of drew you further into the hall, blocking the rest of the bar with his back, he leaned behind the men’s room door. “What’s up?”

“Is everything alright? Like with you and me? You seem kind of quiet lately. And I wanted to make sure you weren’t pissed at me.”

You thought back to your busy ass week and couldn’t think of anything that would make him think that. But maybe something had happened and you just didn’t know about it yet. “Is there a reason I should be pissed at you?”

You glared up at his impossible face, trying to read something besides the clear panic flashing now in his eyes. God, bars were always so dark, you felt like you were hiding with Dean in the shadows. Like maybe he had brought you here for something besides talking.

No, you wouldn’t get your stupid drunken hopes up.

You straightened your stance and waited for him to man up.

He licked his lips and it was like you could see the wheels working in his head about what to say next. “Look, did Bela say anything?”

“I haven’t talked to her either, Dean. I have been busy working out one million schedules for interviews before we can even get started on the tour dates.”

“Right, you’ve been working.” Dean looked around like he needed someplace to hide. “That’s good though, means I didn’t get on her shit list either.”

“You are not making me feel any better, Dean. What is going on?”

Dean pushed off the wall, leaning on his palm instead of his shoulder. “Nothing, just she had a big ball— event— thing and I wanted to make sure I didn’t embarrass her or anything. You know, things she’d bitch to you about.”

“From everything I’ve seen, it went well. And she didn’t even complain about your questionable table manners.” You felt like he was fishing for something, but you didn’t know what.

Dean grinned at your jab. “That so? You think I’m sloppy?”

You rolled your eyes. “No, I think you shove whatever you can get into your mouth, whenever you can.”

Dean bit his bottom lip and leaned towards you. “Yeah, alright. I’ll give you that, that does sound like me.”

You got lost in the way his face had shifted, from worry to playful and almost hungry. “What?”

“Nothin’, just thinkin’.”

“Care to clue me in?” You asked worried he was gonna give you another noogie, or maybe the Charlie treatment of tossing you over his shoulder and parading you around.

Dean leaned in to say something when the men’s room door slammed open and nearly knocked him out cold. 

“Oh! Are you okay?” You gasped, but suddenly your eyes were on Lee as he helped Pamela slide her bra straps back underneath her muscle tank. She was fastening her belt with the most sinful look on her face.

“Hey! Keep it in your pants, will ya? We’re in public!” Dean chastised.

“Speak for yourself,” Lee said, looking at you and Dean with amusement. “At least we know when to have fun.”

They strutted away, Lee with his arm around Pamela’s shoulders, her with an extra sway in her hips. You didn’t know what to say.

“Are they?”

“Fucking again? Looks like it. I am not standing up for another goddamn wedding for those two, I swear to God,” Dean muttered. “Come on, Trouble, lets get another round.”

And so you followed Dean to the bar.

Tagging: @deans-spinster-witch

@mrswhozeewhatsis

@cosicas-cuquis

@fics-pics-andotherthings-i-like

@suckitands33

@ladysparkles78

@deans-baby-momma

@stoneyggirl2

@sassy-pelican

@leigh70

@globetrotter28

@winharry

@lastactiontricia

@rockhoochie

Chapter Ten: Cuivre