#klepto's writing tag

[homoeroticvillain]

halloween blakeworth is now on ao3 :]

[tortricidae]

Hive-Minded

Worm Money offers Klepto a water bottle as he slinks out of the fencing “tournament” covered in dust and sporting a few new cuts on his face. He can tell that Klepto doesn’t want to talk about the defeat at the hands of some random CCCat he was partnered with. Some slimy gray guy with teal scars and a bad attitude. The gloating was just salt in the wound.

Klepto takes the water bottle, grumbling something about poor sportsmanship before he hooks his arm with Worm Money’s and drags him away at record speeds.

“I still have to keep an eye on the others,” Worm Money says unconvincingly as he immediately loses sight of the younger Crooks he is supposed to be monitoring. It’s a favor to Idris, but he doesn’t think anything will really come of it.

And besides, his boyfriend is in a grumpy mood so it’s his responsibility to cheer him up.

Klepto doesn’t stop until the two of them are in the market stalls. The air is filled with conflicting scents and Worm Money pats Klepto on the arm reassuringly, still not bothering to mention anything about the fencing.

“I need a distraction,” Klepto says finally. Worm Money can hear the embarrassment in his voice. It’s an odd sound. One he’s never heard before and it is almost funny.

Worm Money doesn’t see what the big deal is. Every fight in theory has a winner and a loser, even if it’s a play fight. The gears in his mind start turning though as he notices that Klepto’s cuts still haven’t healed. Klepto, so heated, is spending more energy being embarrassed. Perhaps he thinks it’s a badge of failure, or something to spur him into getting more adept at poking people with a stick with a rubber cap on the tip.

“Hold on,” Worm Money says, stopping in his tracks. Klepto tries to keep marching forward but his refusal to let go of Worm Money supersedes his huffing and puffing. “I have to show you something.”

Klepto stares, only mildly annoyed. More hurt. Pouting a little. “Oh yeah? Is it a participation prize?”

Worm Money wriggles his arm out from Klepto’s grip and he pushes him across the way to a series of picnic tables that are oriented around the main market stalls. Klepto resists only enough to be endearing, but does eventually relent, sitting down on the tabletop when Worm Money forces him to. They are eye to eye when Klepto quirks a thick handsome brow.

“Planning something?”

“I’m going to show you a new party trick,” Worm Money says.

Klepto can’t help but laugh, and when Worm Money messes up his bright pink mohawk in retaliation, that only serves to make him laugh harder. “Oh, a new one, huh? I’ve seen all your sets before, dude.”

Worm Money pulls away. Now it is his turn to huff and puff. “Oh yeah? Just watch me.”

And he hurries off to one of the booths. Klepto can see him chatting the CCCat attendant up. Some guy who looks like a bumblebee. The stall is surrounded by swarms of bees, and Klepto tries in vain to read Worm Money’s cute lips. He almost forgets that he’s supposed to be mad until Worm Money is on his way back with a small first aid tin and two hexagonal packages.

“Really?” Klepto says. “This is your ‘new party trick’?”

Worm Money hushes him with a quick, harmless slap on the shoulder. “Just wait.”

Klepto does so with quiet anticipation as Worm Money opens the tin and pulls out a simple cloth. He takes the water bottle and douses the cloth with cool water before he stands directly in front of Klepto and cups his cheek with his free hand.

Klepto flinches.

“I am not going to hurt you.”

Worm Money dabs the damp cloth on Klepto’s wounds. He can already see that they are starting to heal, but he said he was going to do a party trick and he’s not a liar about these kinds of things. Klepto squirms a little, but doesn’t move. There’s not a lot of sleight of hand going on, but he wants to be the center of Worm Money’s attention for as long as he can get it.

He missed this Worm Money, as sappy as it sounds.

When all the dust and dirt is wiped away, Worm Money takes Klepto’s face in both his hands. There is no flinching this time and Worm Money gives Klepto a good look over.

“Okay,” Worm Money says. “I want you to close your eyes.”

Klepto can’t help but grin. He knows he’s supposed to be moping, but he also already knows what Worm Money is going to do. As professional as he can be when on the job, Worm Money doesn’t have an ounce of subtlety outside of that. Wears his heart on his sleeves and that’s what Klepto loves so much about him.

He expects a kiss, but not on the gentle line across his cheek. The wound heals immediately, not that it would have taken that much energy anyway. And Klepto feels another kiss on the bridge of his nose. Worm Money smells good, like bergamot and cedar, a warm invitation and expensive paper.

“You’re doing well.”

Worm Money responds with a light exhalation, a hidden laugh. “Well, I’ve had plenty of chances to practice.”

It’s Klepto’s turn to hide his laugh and he opens his eyes. Worm Money puffs his cheeks out and presses his thumb over the last minor scrape. It disappears in an instant.

“And you didn’t even let me finish.”

“Sorry.” Klepto is not sorry. “Let me make it up to you.”

The two of them are very warm. Even after all this time, it’s not clear how relaxed they should be and how they should hold their bodies and where to put their hands. Oftentimes, they are content just giving it a shot, clicking teeth together and laughing. Sharing the moment because it’s hard for a Crook who hasn’t been banished to understand all the nuances of what came before them.

Worm Money tries. And he is gentle and lets Klepto be the one to pull away from their kiss when he needs to. Worm Money feels a little dizzy. He likes kissing his boyfriend who is really bad at fencing.

Like, really bad.

“I also brought you this as a part of the party trick,” Worm Money says, unwrapping one of the honeycombs. “Fresh off the hive and a free prize for you.”

Klepto snorts. “I had him on the ropes and you know it.” He takes a big bite of the honeycomb. It is sweet and sticky, but not as good as Worm Money is.

“Yeah, I know.”

[the-crustation-sensation]

Even more Hobie x reader hc’s!!

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

A/N Just SFW for now bc I have NO ideas for smut currently 😭

I might post some later tho <3

As always I write these for anyone to insert, so non-gendered terms are used (:

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚

* I am SICK AND TIRED of you guys hcing him as a dirty troll. just bc he’s a punk does not mean he doesn’t have fucking hygiene skills. Yes ofc he’s Spider-Man so he doesn’t have a lot of free time but it’s not like he goes a month without showering

* I feel like most of the time he smells like old cologne (probably something with musk, oak, or vanilla) and weed

* I’m also tired of you guys hcing him as a toxic asshole (bro LITERALLY helped miles without even knowing him, and how already homies within like the first 10 minutes of meeting)

* With that said you already know he’d be the most caring and attentive partner

* He definitely has a note on his phone of things you like, are passionate about, and mentioned wanting. It just keeps growing bc he wants to keep track of everything you love 😭

* Anytime he gives you a gift he hand makes it (or alternatively gets it from a small business) he says it feels more meaningful and personal

* I think his love languages are acts of service and physical touch

* This man is obsessed with showing you off to EVERYONEEE. He would definitely pull you onstage during one of his concerts just to be like “hey everyone this is my S/O”

* He would love walking around with his hand in your back pocket, or yours In his

* He’s a crow, 100% picks up random stuff off of the sidewalk that caught his eye and gives it to you

* kind of a huge klepto He does not hesitate shoplifting from big corporations when he sees something he knows you’d like

* Although he would never EVER steal from a small business

* Just imagine he comes home and gives you a shirt for a band you like and you see the security tag is still on 😭 and he’s like “what 🤨”

* Definitely a “hmm?” “Oh yeah?” “Is that so?” “Make me” type of guy (SCREAMING)

* He’s such a tease, and just a brat in general. Just imagine your fed up and ask him to do something and he pulls the “yes ma’am/sir” move

* He’s the type of help bust you out of a holding cell/help you run from the police (he’s your partner in crime I’ll die on this hill)

* He love starting harmless beef with people online for no reason, specifically getting into fights with kids on ROBLOX just to see them get mad

* Man has like 1029292 emails to make new accounts bc he’s gotten banned from doing this so many times 😭

* He loves playing video games with you. especially if your playing something like cod or a racing game he would aggressively wiggle your controls to mess you up and act like nothing happened

* Ok ok hear me out, he doesn’t believe in games or things having an age limit, so he would play those 2 player ROBLOX obbys with you. He also LOVES playing horror games with you, you guys always yell at eachother over who has to go in front tho

* Y’all can communicate without even speaking ISTG

* He discreetly nudges your shoulder during a meeting and side eyes someone in the room, translates to “you see this shit??” Glancing towards the door then at you “let’s ditch this” peeking over someone’s shoulder and making eye contact with you while he’s talking to someone “HELP ME.” Or alternatively “is this bitch FR??”

* He has the mouth of a sailor, has taught mayday multiple cus words and acts like nothing happened

* He LOVES kids, absolutely loves them, he would be such an amazing parent

THIS IS HIM PROVE ME WRONG

* This might be an unpopular opinion but I don’t think he would give a shit what race/gender you are, he loves you for YOU and doesn’t care what color you are or what’s in-between your legs (in short he’s bisexual and doesn’t give a shit about whatever you are, he’s here for your personality)

* I think his favorite flavor of juice would be cranberry, but like the rlly tart cranberry juice

* Height thing’s but not because your short, just bc he’s freakishly tall

* As a fandom we’ve already established he does the thing where your cooking, or minding your own business, and he hugs you from behind and puts his chin on your head/shoulder

* I don’t think he has a “type” per say, but I feel like he’d prefer people who are also in any sort of alternative culture (punk, goth, emo, alt, and I dare say earthy/fairy TO AN EXTENT counts for that)

* I am biased because you can’t tell me this man wouldn’t fuck with a goth bitch, or just another punk (his WEAKNESS is punk girls)

* He loves doing makeup for you, especially eyeliner because that gives him and excuse to get you to sit in his lap

* If you don’t already play guitar, he would defiantly teach you by sitting behind you with his head on your shoulder to show you the right cords

* And he’s definitely gonna be praising tf outta you “good job” “yeah, you got it love” “mhm just like that”

* He also loves doing your hair/helping you do/cut your hair, no matter what texture it is

* I feel like before he settled in punk he went through an emo phase in middle school, and HATES his pictures from that era, like he would tackle someone to get it away if they found any trace of it

* He probably had some fuck ass fake piercings because his parents wouldn’t let him get real ones, and crusty eyeliner in his 7Th grade school photo

* I think his first face piercing was a nose piercing he got done in the school bathrooms in 10th grade by some girl with a safety pin

* It 100% got hella infected and he got so grounded for that

* He puts you first in almost every situation, like it he’s in the middle of a mission with another spider, and you text him, it will be like that scene with miles fighting the spot because he will text you back no matter WHAT

* I’m not sure about this one but I think his world is set in the early 70s (when punk fashion started getting more popular) so when he first came to HQ and saw all of this new text he was amazed and confused as hell

* It took him like a week to figure out most of that shit at HQ

* Most people don’t know he lives on a house houseboat, but I absolutely love that.

* Shit constantly falls off of his shelves from the waves but he couldn’t give 2 fucks about it

* he hates being called “Hobart” if you call him that he’ll either not respond, or know that your PISSED and shits about to go down

* he’s definitely pansexual or bisexual, like I said he loves pussy and dick equally, I feel like also hes either a transman, or AMAB and gender-fluid. Either way there’s no way he’s a cis man, he ATLEAST is he/they

* if he is a transman he would get top surgery but I don’t think he would get bottom surgery, he loves his man-pussy and he thinks if your too brainwashed by society’s gender norms then fuck you

* I think he would also get vines or mushrooms, or like barbed wire tattooed near his top scars

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

Alright that’s everything I have for today! If you have any ideas please don’t hesitate to comment or to hit up my asks! I have a few asks I’m currently working on but I also have a bigger original story I’m writing so I’ve kinda been in writers block

If you want to be apart of my tag list don’t hesitate to ask (:

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚

[wintfleur]

ꔫ ˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚ BABES IN BAHAMAS! — Stella Hughes AU!

au masterlist - you can find everything under #👩🏻‍🎨 ͡ ꒱ Stella Hughes!

°. — asks about stella and rut are under #⋆ ˚｡⋆୨🩷୧˚ stella & rut!

﹕─┈ pairings ( Estella Hughes oc! X Rutger McGroarty )

°. — summary ( Stella and rut in the Bahamas )

˖ ་ 💭 roro’s notes ( I def want to write a small blurb for them and there trip !!! )

°. — ( feel free to send any requests of things you would like to see in this series, or if you just want to share some thoughts! I would absolutely love that! Please comment if you would like to be added to the tag list! )

stellahughes

liked by _willsmith2, g.brindley4, _alexturcotte and others

🏷️ rutgermcgroarty

🎵Pink + White - Frank Ocean

stellahughes; sorry guys but I’m never leaving 🐚

view all 4,361 comments

📍 rutgermcgroarty the beach ? the bed ? me ?

stellahughes all of above 💋

username HE TOOK HER TO THE BAHAMAS??? 😭

username I think her favorite color is pink . . just a guess

username the shells are everything :(

username Rutgers comment and her response stop I can’t 😫😭

Lilybaileys where’s the bikini pics you promised bbg 😮‍💨

stellahughes check ur dms 🫣

carmenbarlowe THAT CAKE IS STUNNING

stellahughes IT WAS DELICIOUS OMG 🤤

colecaufield not you posting a surf board when we all know you refuse to surf 🤔

stellahughes rut pushed me around on it and it matched my bikini :(

username I wanna be her so bad

username2 I wanna be Rutger so bad 😍

username REALLL

jackhughes going to the Bahamas with your bf while your brother is home struggling from a shoulder surgery is BARBARIC 😑

stellahughes ‘struggling’ hmm sure, Luke has been keeping me updated . . . Mr I can’t stay still.

jackhughes I DONT CARE COME BACK 😡

edwards.73 she’s a mermaid your honor 🧜🏼‍♀️

markestapa we have to watch aquamarine when she comes back

stellahughes DEAL SOLD ‼️

_quinnhughes should have taken me with you guys.

stellahughes YOU HAVE A CUP TO WIN SIR ⁉️⁉️

rutgermcgroarty Next time q!

jackhughes lol imagine being a third wheel @/_quinnhughes

_quinnhughes at least they want me there @/jackhughes

rutgermcgroarty 😦

luca.fantilli wanna play mermaids 🤓 ??

stellahughes I’m Emma ur Cleo 🫵

username imagine going on vacation instead of supporting your brothers…

username she’s such a pick me

elblue6 🩵

trevorzegras why didn’t you tell me YOU WERE LEAVING THE COUNTRY ???

stellahughes i didn’t know until we got to the airport 🤗

trevorzegras . . . bring me back some seashells.

lhughes_06 please come back, I can’t deal with Jack anymore

stellahughes and you think I want to ??

lhughes_06 WE HAVE PLAYED CHESS 6 TIMES TODAY ?!?!

rutgermcgroarty

liked by cuttergauthier_, franknazar14, gabeperreault44 and others

🏷️ stellahughes

rutgermcgroarty; my girl

comments have been limited

stellahughes ‘my girl’ SORRY THE MOAN I LET OUT

carmenbarlowe STELLA ?

stellahughes 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨 🛌 👌🏻👈🏻🤰🏻

carmenbarlowe PUT THE PHONE DOWN

rutgermcgroarty 🧑‍🧑‍🧒🩷 @/stellahughes

carmenbarlowe no no no

stellahughes Alexa play the boy is mine by Ariana Grande 🥰

stellahughes I love you stud 🩷

rutgermcgroarty I love you pretty girl 🩷

lhughes_06 BRING MY SISTER BACK NOW PLEASE

lhughes_06 I TAKE BACK MY APPROVAL

lhughes_06 THIS HAS TO BE KIDNAPPING IN SOME WAY?

luca.fantilli the babes in the bahamas 😍

colecaufield YOU CANT SURF STELLA

stellahughes STOP BEING SUCH A HATER 😡

elblue6 my beautiful daughter 🩵

stellahughes love you mama 🩵

carmenbarlowe not you stealing my job as Stella photographer 😑

rutgermcgroarty what can I say, she prefers me 😏

jackhughes THATS MY SHIRT STELLA ⁉️

jackhughes you klepto 😒

jackhughes UMM WHY DOES SHE HAVE NO TOP ON HUH ???

rutgermcgroarty she’s in her mermaid era 🧜🏼‍♀️

_quinnhughes you look so pretty sissy 🤍

stellahughes I miss you :(

Lilybaileys damnn bbg can I have your number??? 😮‍💨

rutgermcgroarty SHES TAKEN 📵

Lilybaileys RUTGER CAN YOU FIGHT??

rutgermcgroarty I CAN AND I WILL

markestapa pookie is enchanting

stellahughes stopp it 🤭 (keep going)

jacob_truscott20 hurry back children

rutgermcgroarty yes dad

Lilybaileys omg bbg need you so bad 😵‍💫

rutgermcgroarty READ THE CAPTION YOU FREAK

rutgermcgroarty added to their story!

🎵 ordinary girl - Kate Alexa

[caption1: I think she loves the water now 🩵] [caption2: she fell 2 seconds after I took this pic]

edwards.73 reacted with 🧜🏼‍♀️

_quinnhughes reacted with 🤍

stellahughes replied to your story ‘Iysm but you did not have to expose me like that 🙁’

lhughes_06 reacted with 😒

stellahughes added to their story!

[caption: take me back 🤍 @/rutgermcgroarty]

carmenbarlowe reacted with 🦶🏻

Lilybaileys reacted with 😝

adamfantilli reacted with ❌

edwards.73 reacted with 👅

g.brindley4 reacted with 🤩

nick_moldenhauer reacted with 😮‍💨

dylanduke25 reacted with 💋

tyler__duke5 reacted with 🦶🏻

luca.fantilli replied to your story ‘For freeeee 🤑🤑’

stellahughes replied with ‘I CANT STAND YOU GUYS’

lhughes_06 replied to your story ‘no I refuse your staying with me’

jackhughes reacted with 👎🏻

˖ ་ 💭 roro’s notes ( can you guys tell I was struggling with the comments 🙁 gosh I love them mhm )

°. — taglist ( @toasttt11 @lovings4turn @cixrosie @bunbunbl0gs )

[littlesoot]

stargaze - cg!klepto!wilbur x little!reader

note; klepto!wilbur has been on my mind for days !! i luv him sooo much and just had to write this :p

tags; @koithelittle , @eyluvu , @wilburstamagotchi ask or dm to be added!

⤷ gn!little + ghost!little, comfort/fluff, very brief mention of passing

you woke up in a groggy state, laying on a random bench in the local park. you didn’t know how or why you ended up there, but you did notice one thing; a new locket around your neck.

your hand clutched the small locked quickly, finding something to try and keep you distracted from being in an unfamiliar place. you had only ever visited the park with a cg, never alone.

“hello?” a sudden voice startled you, looking around in a frightened state to try and find the source of it. a taller figure slowly approached you, kneeling down in front of you and removed their hood.

“you okay there, little one?” the man’s voice was soft, stretching a hand out for you to take, a light smile forming on his face. “you can trust me.. i’m here to help.”

you always knew never talk to strangers and never to just go with them, but something about him was different. you couldn’t bring yourself to speak, simply wearing a skeptical expression as you stared down at his hand.

“let me introduce myself, okay? i’m wilbur.” he moved to sit next to you, making sure to keep some distance so you could warm up to him. “i’ve met many people like you. this is all so.. confusing, i know.” he lightly chuckled, watching as you smiled slightly and looked up at him.

“i’m.. y/n.” your voice was quiet and hesitant, but it was still enough for his smile to grow wider. “i love your name. it’s one of a kind around here, isn’t it?” he gently tapped your nose, earning a giggle from you.

“you wanna go for a walk? the playground is a bit dirty right now.. someone needs to clean it up for the little ones.” he reached a hand out to you again, watching as your own wrapped around two of his fingers. “off we go?”

of course, he knew what he had to do. it always upset wilbur whenever a lost soul was stuck in a little mindset, he never knew how to properly explain to them what happened and why they were there. but something about you made him wanna keep you around.

by the time he had reached your destination, he quickly covered your eyes. “don’t look, okay? i gotta clean up something.” he gestured for you to turn around, which you did, covering your eyes as you listened to the shuffling of feet atop of leaves, and him lifting something.

“you can look now.” you quickly did so, turning around to see a small run down shed, a spot where the leaves looked smushed, and him awkwardly standing in front of a well. “so.. you wanna help me decorate it? could make it your little hang out.” he lightly tapped the side of the shed, watching as your eyes lit up at the idea.

thankfully wilbur had a few things in him, mostly just his coat you could use as a blanket for now, and a keychain you could play with. he sat you down on a barrel inside the shed, using an old broken broom he found to sweep out the insides.

“how does fairy lights sound? little book cubby and stuffed animal bin maybe? if i clean up that window sill, i could maybe turn it into a nap spot.” he was mostly speaking to himself, but would glance over at you to see if you approved of his ideas. “and maybe.. when you’re big again, i can explain what’s going on. yeah?” you nodded at his words, not fully understanding what he was talking about but.. you’d understand at some point.

“it’s getting late. you can see the stars outside.” he sighed and shut the shed door, pulling the small string that attached to a faulty light. “you wanna stargaze before bed?” you nodded eagerly, hopping up into the dusty window sill, your hands pressed against the window as you looked up at the sky.

wilbur could feel himself smiling more, walking up behind you and gently wrapped his arms around you in a hug, his chin on your shoulder. “want me to stay?” he whispered to you, earning a smile and light head pat from you, which he took as a yes.

“alright.. i’ll stay. just don’t cause me too much trouble.” he chuckled lightly, before kissing your head and turned his attention to the sky, watching as you pointed out different constellations and shapes in the stars.

[sitp-recs]

Another year is almost over, and what a year this was for the Drarry community! This list is a “thank you” to everyone’s continuous patience and support during my recent break. I considered not doing anything but in the end I got some free time and didn’t have the heart to break tradition. So here it is, my last reclist of the year showing I’ve actually read A LOT in the first semester alone lol. I did my best to include different tropes and lengths, popular works and hidden gems. As a side note there are no Erised works in here, as the fest is still going on and authors are yet to be revealed. Classic disclaimer goes “pls mind the tags, this is not intended as the ultimate reclist etc etc.” It’s a personal selection based on my tastes and preferences; the idea is to celebrate these fantastic works and their beloved creators. This fandom keeps on giving and I’m so happy to be part of it. Enjoy, give these some love and see you next year!🥂

Drarry:

Without Sunshine by @sweet-s0rr0w (T, 1k) 

Trust SS to come back from a writing break with this banger, holy shit. Brilliant concept, perfect execution. I can’t believe this is only 1k, there’s so much build up and details I wanna learn more about. This tender and urgent apocalyptic AU will steal your heart with perfect vibes and the softest flower shop romance.

Receipts by @moonflower-rose (M, 2k)

Rosie never fails to blow my mind with her creative mind and brilliant sense of humor. This is the perfect bite-size snack, hilarious and so very sweet. I am obsessed with Draco & Pansy’s brOTP, their banter made me laugh out loud and we are treated with Drarry and Ginsy! Here’s your next read if you’re looking for something short, sexy and witty. You’re welcome 💅

Bright Side by @floydig (T, 2k)

Floyd is another master of short form and here’s why. This series of vignettes made my heart ache for these two broken boys finding their place - and each other - in he war aftermath. I’m impressed by how sharp, nuanced and sensorial this is. The heat! The humidity! Love the strong sense of place, it’s so intimate it feels like you’re intruding into something private and special.

Willing Blood by @lqtraintracks and @the-starryknight (E, 2k)

This iconic duo tailored a short yet intense creature fic dripping UST and gorgeous characterization as per. The way Harry and Draco are drawn by - and crave - each other left me salivating, I’m feral for their dynamics. Ultimate power couple vibes (reluctant Draco + fearless Harry make such a great match!) and great evocative 1st person POV.

The Mating Habits of Snidgets by @shealynn88 (G, 3.5k)

I can’t believe this doesn’t have more comments, such a lovely hidden gem. I found it when I needed a soft read before taking a break, and have been thinking about “am I your little bird, then?” since. Quidditch rivals to lovers is becoming my kryptonite and this story does a great job exploring what brings them together despite their social gap. The character development is so good this feels like a 30k story packed within 3.5k.

Magpie by @corvuscrowned (E, 4k)

If you ever have to choose a dark!Harry fic to read, I urge you to go with this one. His klepto characterization is so damn lush and compelling I was half terrified half turned on the whole time 😔✌🏼Thanks to Crow’s masterful and addictive writing, there’s no possible way to resist his charm when it comes with razor sharp dialogue and sexy power dynamics. Come collect my jaw on the floor pls

No Distance by @skeptiquewrites (E, 4.8k)

Is it fair to include a sequel in order to make everyone go read this fabulous verse? Who cares, not me 🤷🏻‍♀️ Tee’s way of writing Drarry always leaves me aching for this kind of love. Their longing for each other is strong but unhurried, the dialogue is fantastic (the nose piercing exchange!) and the smutty scenes hit all my boxes. The characters feel so lovely, tangible and relatable as real people. I will never get enough of this verse, no matter when or where they are, as long as they’re together.

An Emerald In The Sky by @corvuscrowned (M, 6.6k)

My favorite read of the year - as you probably already know since I haven’t stopped screaming about it. My heart belongs to this breathtaking Draco, so full of yearning and melancholy, as he falls in love with time traveller Harry and wonders if they’ll ever get to be on the same page. The astronomy motif only makes it all even more poetic and devastating (but in a cathartic, hopeful way!). This hurts as much as falling in love and I wanna wrap myself in this fic and never let go.

Per my last letter (I hope you choke on it) by @fluxweeed and @lastontheboat (T, 10k)

Possibly the funniest thing I’ve read all year, which is not surprising considering flux’s inimitable brand when it comes to humor. This epistolary slow burn is light and creative and such a delight. I got immediately attached to the characters and giggled my way through Drarry’s banter; special kudos to Harry’s amazing crew and their perfect spot-on voices. An adorable comfort fic to be revisited at all times!

Witness Marks by @gryffindorhearts (M, 15k)

After so many excellent vampire fics this year, it’s getting hard to resist this trope. Here’s a quiet and atmospheric gem that made me fall hard for clockmaker!Draco. Such an original concept! I adore the lore behind his job, his strained relationship with Lucius, the way he’s pulled towards mysterious Auror Harry. Also- the flirting and sexual tension at the Tate Magique?!! Chefs kiss

Yours Truly by @skeptiquewrites (M, 15k)

It’s getting impossible to choose a Tee favorite, my god. Go check her brilliant microfics then come feast on this stunning take on fake dating, choke-full of light humor, found family feels and wonderful world building. Smooth pacing, phenomenal cast, have I mentioned Draco’s into magical ecology?! My favorite kind of slow burn, sweet, tentative, heartwarming and so damn romantic.

Take the Moon by @tackytigerfic (M, 15k)

The perfect kid fic exists and I can prove it! Nothing leaves me aching and raw open like Tacky’s Harry with his soft, gentle yearning for hot dad Draco. I’m so in love with his love, I could actually feel my chest expand with this series of incredibly tender and precious moments of friendship, complicity and domesticity many couples will never experience. Extra bonus points for the SEXIEST non-explicit smut and the brilliant commentary on the autistic spectrum, especially related to kids. My whole kingdom for little Scorpius 👑

With Hands Full of Dusk by @corvuscrowned (E, 15k)

Yes I’m proposing to Crow after posting this because I suddenly feel exposed with 3 recs 😳 hands down the best case fic I’ve read this year, I’m obsessed with Drarry as creature hunters and the suspense-y vibes here. The slow burn is mature and thought-provoking, heavy with a deep sense of loneliness and so evocative it hit me just right. This story is sharp but also strangely comforting, a perfect read for a rainy or foggy day. I wish I could bask in its atmosphere for the first time, over and over again.

Preserving Lemons by @saintgarbanzo, art by @ihopeyoubothstaysafefromharm (E, 17k)

I’m so happy I found the time to check this one fic from Fan Fair because this was a truly special read, surprising in the best ways and very cathartic. The gorgeous prose finds a perfect tone between sexy and contemplative bringing food, gender, racial and political discussions together in a coherent and powerful way I wouldn’t think possible for a 17k fic. Loved seeing Harry and Draco so open and vulnerable, experiencing who they really are together. Lush, powerful and healing.

Heartlines by @sorrybutblog (T, 22k)

One of my first reads this year remains a iota fave, this was so much fun and so charming. A delightful case fic combining sentient house, Auror Harry, smitten Draco, everything we deserve. The best thing is the surprisingly clever and charming humour, it made me giggle at the most unexpected times, giving the suspense a light tone I can’t get enough of. Despite the underlying tension, this will make you smile from beginning to end.

What Makes a House a Home by @writcraft (E, 27k)

The only Drarry fic Writ writes this year ends up being a banger, figures 🙌 honestly this is a masterclass in tension building with a gorgeous take on recluse!Harry and delicious slow burn. It was so cool to learn more about this Harry through Draco’s curious eyes, as the forced proximity pushes them together. Sexy adult dynamics and compelling characters, right up my alley!

At the Doorway, On the Stair by dwell_the_brave and @p1013 (T, 30k)

I love myself a good mystery fic and this was such a nice surprise, so very spooky and immersive. The author did a fantastic job creating an intriguing atmosphere while advancing the plot, I was at the edge of my seat trying to figure things out while falling in love with “ghost” Draco as he tried to help Harry along the way. Excellent slow burn and a gorgeous setting that will lure you in!

Eager for the Sky by @oknowkiss (M, 35k)

This list wouldn’t be complete without a classic 8th year and here’s my 2022 pick by this author whose talent and range blows my mind. This fic pulled me back from my fandom break quite violently; I ate it up in one night and was immediately taken by their Quidditch rivalry and achingly sweet romance. The Drarry journey is so very wholesome it filled me with wonder and nostalgia for my teenage years. Being the multishipper I am, the brief nod to Harry/Ron at the end was just my kind of extra treat!

Rush (For A Gap That Exists) by @sleepstxtic-drarry (M, 42k)

I never thought I’d get obsessed with a F1 AU but here we are. Another incredible ride that pulled me in with impressive, detailed world building and sexual tension so insanely electric it was hard to resist. Brilliant movie adaptation keeping the Drarry dynamics recognizable with sexy and complicated UST. I’ve also loved the interesting storytelling format and exciting twists which kept me at the edge of my seat.

Heal Thyself by astolat (T, 47k)

This fic requires no introduction, I imagine everyone has read it by now. Once again Astolat slaps us in the face with her superior storytelling skills, effortlessly building this rich and compelling magical healing universe told from this brilliant Draco POV. His arc is a triumph, his voice perfectly spot-on, sharp but charming, proud and bratty and competent in ways that made me very emo. This has become an instant Healer!Draco classic and has one of my all-time favorite characterizations. A masterpiece to be thought of - and talked about - for years to come.

Vis-à-Vis-à-Vis by @vukovich (E, 50k)

I wasn’t prepared for how immersive and exciting this would be, what a ride! The secret identity motif and case fic atmosphere got me immediately hooked, I couldn’t get enough of those perfect cat-mouse dynamics, the thrilling twists, the delicious pining and the intense, hot smut I deserve 🤌🏼 Vuk’s narrative voice is a delight, lush, full of personality and with an easy humor that makes this story even more surprising and remarkable.

what husbands are for by @softlystarstruck (E, 52k)

Yet another charming creature fic I’ve read in one sitting, this has the most wonderful sloooow burn - with lots of tension and non-sexual intimacy - and some great world building full of interesting lore and political shenanigans about vampire & wolf verse that I found quite interesting. I’m fascinated by fashionista and prosthetic artist Draco, such a cool job idea! A refreshing take on “enemies to friends to lovers” with Bee’s soft & sweet trademark.

Meet Me at Midnight by @the-starryknight (T, 57k)

I’ve been in love with Starry’s work for so long, and they still render me speechless when a new fics comes out. MMM is the most creative and cathartic fic I’ve read this year. This jaded craftsman Harry holds my heart in his hands, and the impressive amount of world building and lore behind the Dreamwalker figure sets an enchanting atmosphere. The settings are vivid and immersive, the slow burn so very tender and romantic it left me aching. And Teddy is absolutely perfect which is a big bonus on my book since I love him so much. This is a heartfelt love letter to every creator out there struggling with burnout. Here you’ll find hope, healing, and resistance to start 2023 the right way.

The Trouble with Wanting by waldorph (E, 60k)

Draco fans, rejoice! Those who adore a convincing posh and quirky characterization need to check this brilliant rendition asap. Positively Slytherin with its mischievous charm, this is fun and sexy af. Love myself a good old Draco-centric story following his post-war journey until he finds Harry his place in the new order. The Silver Trio is an absolute delight and this smitten Harry instantly found his way into my (and Draco’s) heart. One of the best get together fics I’ve read in the past few years.

9 ½ Days by @magpiefngrl (E, 69k)

Technically I’m cheating since this is from 2017, but I want to take a minute to appreciate Magpie’s generosity and hard work finishing this even after going on a Drarry break. One of my all-time faves when it comes to canon divergent war fics, the flawless narrative combines an urgent and dangerous “on the run” atmosphere with the softest teenage love, gentle, charming and tentative. It was bittersweet to see their journey coming to an end but this adventure was so well done and the ending was so emotionally satisfying, I can’t rec it enough.

Kept in Cages by @sweet-s0rr0w and @ihopeyoubothstaysafefromharm (E, 76k)

An epic Drarry romance mixing two tropes we all love: down & out Draco and magical creatures! This fic is very creative with a rich and detailed world building, and also many interesting and charming creatures. SS brings her tender melancholy trademark and an intriguing subplot involving Draco’s parents that I found very engaging. I loved this lonely Draco arc, his quirky personality and all the little things that make him strong and proud instead of meek and pitiful. Joy’s artwork is a masterpiece on its own and helps bringing this beautiful, magical universe into life.

A Case of You by @epitomereally (E, 97k)

This lovely reunion fic combines so many of my favorite tropes it felt like a special treat for me. Case fic, break up/make up, Unspeakable Draco, non-linear narrative, forced proximity, sparking sexual tension, what a feast! I found myself invested in both timelines, waiting for those beautiful, competent and stupid men to get their shit together and become the power couple we deserve. The pacing and character development are so smooth this barely feels like 100k, and have I mentioned how hot bossy Harry is? Oof!

In the Bleak Midwinter by @the-fools-errand (E, 105k)

Once again this author takes my breath away with another excellent, refreshing and exciting AU - this time based on Peaky Blinders - and I’m so impressed by the inventive world building here. Not only it expands to accommodate a huge cast, but also translates every little detail into the HP universe. Gripping narrative, clever plot, delicious enemies-to-lovers sexual tension and a heartbreaking Sirius arc that will hit you right in the solar plexus. You can’t go wrong with this author’s AUs, 10/10 recommend.

When Times are Dire by @aibidil (E, 130k)

I’ve been following this fake marriage epic since it first started posting and was super excited to see it being finished this year. Trust aibidil to do older!Drarry justice: their witty personalities, fond camaraderie and clever dialogue serve impeccable friends-to-lovers dynamics. I’m so into this brand of old couple domesticity and their exchanges with the grown-up kids are sweet and fun. Perfect balance of light humor, found family vibes, sweet romance and sexy times, this story has everything!

Rarepairs:

Mischief Managed by @maesterchill (E, 1.7k) - Harry/Sirius

Few things left me as emotional as this perfect gift that marked Em’s first (and maesterful! ha!) exploration of this ship. The way she grasped everything that hits me right in the feels is almost terrifying: it’s as if she looked into the most vulnerable parts of my brain and went “hmm tender devotion, idyllic aesthetics, foreplay, cute endearments, filthy wall sex, happy ending”👩‍🍳 and put together this light, sexy, fun and wonderfully hopeful smutty short that made me cry at the spot. Don’t forget to check the equally lush and self-indulgent sequel here!

Weather Warning by @sweet-s0rr0w (T, 1.7k) - Draco/Albus 

One of the best, most refreshing takes I’ve ever seen on this ship, this is so very different from your usual age gap tone and vibe, and I’m here for it. I was immediately charmed by their voices and light yet charged dynamics, T-rated but still holding so much heat and promise. This short leaves a strong impression and will make you crave for more ;) it’s also the perfect way to be introduced to this ship, come along and satisfy your curiosity!

Coming Up for Air by @lqtraintracks (M, 2k) - Harry/Teddy

*sigh* the amount of times I’ve read and cried over this stunning Harry/Teddy romance... this fic means so much to me because it was written by the one who set the foundation for how I see this ship, my favorite rarepair ship, so many years ago. With an incredible amount of character and feeling packed within 2k, this has the flavor of mutual devotion I yearn for, and a tormented Harry being loved and seen by this wise, generous and understanding Teddy, as they find their way back to each other. It doesn’t get any better than this!

Like A Brother Would by @wolfpants (E, 5k) - Harry/Ron

Tent sex my beloved! Another rarepair master, Wolf delivers everything I love the most about this ship - the easy familiarity, the tenderness and quiet devotion, the shared understanding and delicious sexual exploration amidst war chaos. It’s painfully clear how much they care about each other. Hung service top Ron is a sight to behold and I wonder how such a short fic was able to convey the depth of their trust and connection. Oh, to be young and feel love's keen sting… *Dumbledore’s voice*

Green Light by @sorrybutblog (E, 6k) - Ginny/Hermione

I got obsessed with Ginny/Hermione very recently and this was my first venture into this ship - not gonna lie, it was so much more than I had expected. Don’t let the (deliciously hot and self-indulgent - as it should be!!!) smutty tags distract you, this has fascinating dream-like summer vibes and perfect characterization, with spot on voices and a light tone of mirth and freedom that made my heart smile. Living for the edging and the “no one’s cheating everyone’s getting laid” tags 💦

The Hollow by @wolfpants (E, 12k) - Draco/Remus

This ship had never even crossed my mind before and here I am, utterly obsessed with this verse Wolf created so masterfully. Poignant and devastating, this fic has such a compelling narrative. My jaw was on the floor as the story went on and both characters revealed their layers through sexy smut and heartbreaking melancholy. There’s so much nuance to them, so much yearning and pain bringing them together and informing their decisions. Trust me when I say Drarry and Wolfstar fans will also adore this!

Still the pine-woods scent the moon by @fluxweeed (E, 15k) - Harry/Remus

I rarely read fics featuring Remus but both Flux and Wolf decided to slap me in the face with hot daddy vibes, and who am I to say no? Hands down one of the hottest, most erotic things I’ve read this year, a masterclass in UST that had my heart racing in anticipation. Scorching smut and a mesmerizing Harry desperate to be seen and treated right. I love how easily they fit together, I was immediately sold on this rare pair. Don’t read this at family dinner kids, you’ve been warned!

A Life Worth Remembering by @writcraft (E, 23k) - Established Drarry + Severus

Never thought I’d read this triad with de-aged Snape but watching his delightfully stubborn young version trying to resist those hot daddies was way too satisfying. This fic surprised me in so many ways, especially in tone and characterization. I love how their dynamics are slowly established here; Severus’ POV actually delivers not 1 but 3 superb character studies and we get to see how loving Harry changes these two difficult men and brings them all together. A nuanced and adult portrayal of open relationships, this is a must read for anyone who’s into voyeurism intrigued by this triad.

just call this what it is by @queenscrown (M, 27k) - Harry/Draco/Theo

The softest poly fic you’ll read today, this 8th year triad was based on this art by @t4tdrarry​ and celebrates wholesome friendships and gentle healing. Harry, Draco and Theo come together first as friends then as lovers in such an organic, uncomplicated way I wanted to live inside this verse. Love their easy banter, Harry’s sass (!), his camaraderie with Hermione and the way she helps him figure things out. A sweet and comforting hidden gem that deserves more readers and love.

you will burn right now but then you won't regret it by @thistlecatfics, art by SecondSilk and @veelawings - Fleur/Tonks

I’d never expect to find such a complete fic for this rare pair (which I admit I haven’t explored much), this was an absolute feast bringing together fascinating characters (love this badass Fleur!), politics and A+ family drama. I loved this deep dive into the Black family - so much angst, so much plot! Complicated and heartbreaking, this is a a wonderful exploration of trauma and a treat for any femslash fan looking for a nuanced and carefully developed romance that makes both characters justice.

Passion, Patents, and Pen Pals at the Ministry by yrfrndfrnkly and @violetclarity, art by @anaxandria-writes and @veelawings (T, 32k) - Hermione/Pansy

Easily my favorite Pansmione fic this year, this was such a surprising and refreshing story. The charming protagonists and clever development mixing dialogue and epistolary create a lively and exciting work universe at the Ministry. I felt immediately immersed in their routine None of that would work without the perfect supporting cast (meddling Harry is such a gem!) and the unique spice only an identity porn + epistolary combo can bring. Fun and refreshing, a must read for all femslash fans who are thirsty for good long fics. 

[athenamarie]

You might or might not remember but you reblogged Makkari's gifs yesterday yeah? And you might or might not remember but I put in the tags that "I love her but I never watch the show" yeah? And then I faintly remembered that there was a chaos about rareship involving Makkari yeah? And then my curious ass found the videos on Youtube yeah? I said, "Oh it's called Drukkari" so then I watched it yeah? And I was SHOCKED at the chemistry yeah? ("My beautiful beautiful Makkari" WHAT????) And then I got hit by the overwhelming urge to ship yeah? Then I got the dread of "Shucks, does this mean I'll go back to Marvel????" And then I found that you are the one creating the videos yeah?

Okay, in short: WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME?

YES I REMEMBER HAHA THIS ALL HAS ME SCREAMINGGGGG HEHEHEEE

SHAMELESS SELF PROMO yes I make a lot of Drukkari videos for YouTube THEY ARE MY BABES I LOVE THEM SM I COULD WRITE A 100 PAGE ESSAY ON THEM THEIR CHEMISTRY IS INSANE I COULD GO ON AND ONNN 🤟🏻

Lemme just go ahead and welcome you to the Drukkari fandom 😈 I love this for you haha

Link to my Drukkari videos playlist 🤭

I always seek to bring more people into the Drukkari fandom hehe

[corvuscrowned]

my year in fic

big smooches to @oknowkiss (x), @lqtraintracks (x),  @maesterchill (x), and @cavendishbutterfly (x) for the challenge to share one line from each fic i wrote this year. it was such a nice way to look back on my year in fic writing! p.s. we are interpreting the word “one line” v loosely here folks

shades of dawn | E, 3k, angsty ginlav

The night after Lavender comes and goes, the moon always appears to be just as full as the night before, but Ginny knows that the smallest part of it is missing.

magpie | T, 4k, klepto harry

Draco thinks Potter might be able to take things from him not just with his hands, but with those eyes alone. He thinks if Potter keeps looking at him this way for long enough, Draco might just offer it all up. 

lovesick | T, 13k, healer draco, love potion victim harry

“Maybe I’m a bit tired of all of the swooning and heart eyes and —” of watching you love anyone else. Draco shakes his head. “Forget it.” 

ad infinitum | E, 14k, angsty getting-back-together + sentient house

“I love you,” Harry says. “I don’t care about any of it. I love you.”

“I know,” Draco murmurs. “You always did the most idiotic things.”

from the same cloth | T, 8k, t4t  idiots to lovers

Draco nods, and Harry realizes his face is stitched with the same nerves that are butterflying through her stomach — and the feeling the two of them are standing side by side on the precipice of something new, and there’s nothing left to do but fall into it.

undergrowth | M, 2.5k, horror + floral pining

Draco worries that Potter’s eyes might carry sunlight, and if they shine on him too long, he’ll have no choice but to grow, and grow, and grow.

the seventh life | E, 18k, vampire!draco & immortal!harry reunited in paris

“Oh, I don’t know,” Draco said. “I only know the times I’ve loved you.”

“How many times has that been?” Harry pushed.

“Since the very first time I met you,” Draco said. “Six lifetimes ago.”

ash, fire, ash | G, 1k, arsonists to lovers

Malfoy tosses the butt of their cigarette into the flames. “They’ll know it’s you doing it eventually.”

“Good,” Harry says. “Then maybe it’ll make them remember my name.”

an emerald in the sky | M, 6k, time traveling fuckbuddies to lovers

There are so many Harrys sitting in front of him right now, so many men he’s met once and then lost, threading their way in and out of his life at the sharp point of a needle. The composite sum of so many strangers, and a single man whom Draco has been fighting, from the very beginning, not to fall in love with.

with hands full of dusk | E, 15k, drarry as mythical creature hunters

But Harry is older now, and has long since learned that doubt and hope are just two shades of the same color. 

the night of the fireworks | E, 6k, porn with feelings

Harry’s mind was swirling, still slightly loopy in a post-sex haze. “You love me,” he said. “You said it first.”

“I didn’t say it,” Draco said. “It doesn’t count. Fuck off.”

twelve moons | T, 6k, innkeeper harry & potioneer draco

Draco climbs the first step to the door, and Harry joins him on it, learning immediately that there isn’t space for two, unless you’d like to see the other person up close — the way the glow of the moonlight might be captured on their hair, or on their skin, or in their eyes.

im tagging @teledild0nix, @sorrybutblog, @thehoneybeet, @orange-peony, @moonstruckwytch, @jalesidor, @basicallyahedgehog, @pennygalleon, @the-sinking-ship, @mystickitten42, @geesenoises, @makeitp1nk, and @m0srael if any of you havent been tagged!

[phxntomsdusk]

100 follower event!

i am so so so happy to reach this milestone!! thank you all for following along with my writing, reblogging, commenting, etc. this is so amazing to be able to say i got 100 followers because of my writing. and when you reach a milestone, why not have an event?

tagging peeps: @ax-y10 , @joviepog , @pheliiaa , @idontreallyexistyet , @rqvii , @ivvees-blog , @average-vibe , @lillylvjy , @witheredroseanon , @whos-nicooo , @haunted-headset

characters i’ll write for;

softball!wilma

baseball!wilbur

cc!wilbur

cc!ted

klepto!wilbur

cc!charlie

cc!jschlatt

tropes;

friends to lovers

enemies to lovers

best friends sibling

second chance

au’s;

royal / medieval

soulmate

highschool / childhood

afterlife (klepto!wilbur)

normal / cc!

finished;

Highschool sweethearts - Softball!Wilma (request)

Morning routine - Dad!Wilbur, Dad!Ted, Mom!Softball!Wilma (request)

Anxious - CC!Wilbur (request)

Totally friendly way - CC!Ted (request)

One number away - Baseball!Wilbur

Somebody’s problem - Softball!Wilma

Just pretend - Klepto!Wilbur

Hurricane - Softball!wilma

Don’t you dare (make me fall in love with you) - Klepto!wilbur

More than my hometown - Baseball!Wilbur

7 summers - Softball!Wilma (request)

to be completed;

Must’ve never met you - Softball!Wilma

Promise - Klepto!Wilbur

Dawns - Softball!Wilma (request)

Every time I hear that song - Softball!Wilma

Stick season - Baseball!Wilbur

dividers; @saradika-graphics

[shadowqueen402]

Balan Wonderworld TV Show Summaries (Season 3)

Here are the summaries of Season 3 if Balan Wonderworld were to become a TV show.

The Show Must Go On!: When a few of the cast members get sick, Leo and Haoyu offer to take to their places…only, neither of them are good at acting.

Hot, Hot, Hot: Summer is here and already all of Highland Isle is experiencing a black-out. How will they deal with this?

Emma Has A What!?: Leo hears rumors of Emma dating someone in school. And it's bad enough that he gets jealous easily. Who is this boy that Emma is allegedly dating?

Sweet Tooth: Leo's favorite dessert ends up giving him a terrible toothache. The only way he could have it treated is by facing his worst fear—going to the dentist.

Klepto-Kitty: Cass's kitten loves giving her presents, though the presents she gives her are stuff that she stole from the others…

Seaside Serenade: Haoyu wants to write a serenade for Fiona so that he could confess to her, but writing songs prove to be a lot harder than he anticipated.

Memory Loss: During his fight with NiGHTS, Reala accidentally hits his head and loses his memory. Will he be able to get his memory back?

The Case Of The Strange Fertilizer: Someone leaves a package for Jose, containing a brand of fertilizer that he's never heard of. But as soon as Jose uses it, funny things happen to his crops.

John And Jane Doe: Iben encounters a man and a woman who claim to be relatives of her. Later on, news spread around about an unidentified couple who are actually scam artists…

Butterfly Bestie: Yuri finds an injured butterfly and nurses it back to health. But when she tries to let it go, the butterfly won't leave.

Raggedy—NiGHTS and Reala!?: NiGHTS's and Reala's fight causes them to get caught in the middle of a spell, transforming them into…cute dolls. Will they be able to change back to their usual selves before Wizeman finds out?

Welcome To The World Of Art: Lucy finds a beautiful sculpture of herself in her stage that she could have sworn wasn't there before. But everyday, the sculpture's position changes…

The Wager: Balan and Lance make a bet on whether or not Sana and Eis would fall for each other.

Shopping Spree!: Leo and Haoyu learn the hard (and hilarious) way on what happens when they tag along with Emma when it comes to shopping.

Balan's Wonderworld Juice: Balan always keeps a stash of his "Wonderworld Juice" as he likes to call it. But what happens when NiGHTS takes a swig of it?

NiGHTS's New Ability?: NiGHTS's decision in taking a power tablet causes them to gain a new ability. The question is: what ability did they gain?

A Present For Cal: With his birthday coming up, Lucy wants to get him the best present ever. So she decides to try her hand at sculpting.

Saturday Is For Chores: Just when NiGHTS believes they could relax on a Saturday, they find themselves doing the one thing that they hate the most: chores.

Silly Lance!: After accidentally eating some catnip, Lance starts to behave…like a playful and mischievous kitten.

The New Girl: A new girl moves into Leo's neighborhood. Yet, she's rarely seen in public…

Attilio And The Search For Daisy: When Cass's kitten goes missing, Attilio offers to help her look for Daisy.

Prank Wars: Both Balan and NiGHTS love pranks. So they both decide to start a prank war, inviting everyone to join them.

What do you think of these episodes?

[deafbimbo]

All acts described in this blog are purely fictional

[ID: All Acts in this blog are purely fictional.]

Hello, liftblr :))

[ID: Hello, liftblr :))]

From this point on, I come to tumblr as a borrowing rp space. My user is Deafbimbo, as opposed to any names related to my content simply because this is account used to be for other thingz. Aside from being a new lifting account, I’m also new to tumble in general so any tips for either would be appreciated:)).

• About mee!•

Hi!! You can call me wynz! My pronouns r he/they nd I am 14 yrs old! My favorite color, as you mb could tell, is pink. My favorite thing is space and I have been borrowing for 1/2 yr! I actually dont know how much I’ve lifted, however I know itz around 1000-1500$. Since I dnt know how much, I’m gonna have 1500$ put in my bio nd increasing it as I go from this point!

• Why I’ve joined the tumblr community •

Ever since I started, I’ve gotten more nd more confident about my skills, however that means that I want more people to value my skill. Plus I think my friens are tired of my bragging :))

• My area •

Now, I live in the us, so prices will typically be in usd, however I will try to give prices in euros and Aud!I live in a small town and rarely visit bigger places, so often mentioned stores include :

Walmart

The mall, mall stores

Dollar store

Hobby lobby

Michaels

• Attention!•

I dont condone anything wrote in my blog! Shoplifting is a crime and your actions belong to you, any inspiration taken from this blog and the actions that stem from it are of your free will! Totally do not take from mega corps n make millionaires deal with the consequences!;)

• Closing!! •

Feel free to comment if you have any questions! I would like to mention that I have no idea how to write a tumblr blog so future posts will vary in quality! This post, however, took inspiration from klepto-fool as I wanted to make sure I included everything I should. One thing other blogs like theirs have helped me know is not to use tags on a blog of this type. If there is something wrong with anything I post, please feel free to tell me and I will gladly fix my mistake! Thank you<33

[homoeroticvillain]

i keep forgetting to post this so this is chapter one for the varied account of geist [2.4k words]

“Hey, Jello, Buddy? What are we even looking for here?” Said the young women as she peered around the dusty attic her friend had lead her to.

“No clue, Ang. Anything you interesting you can find, I guess” Replied Jello, a name that should be spelled Gelo due to it being a short form but all their friends took the much more fun approach for spelling

“How helpful.” Angie had known Jello since preschool and this whole situation smelled off, and she swore that it wasn’t just the smell of the sheer amount of dust and probably mold in the attic. Examining the room she side eyed her friend as she asked another question, “I’m surprised you aren’t more broken up about this, you and your grandpa were pretty close weren’t you?”

“Yeah.” Came Jello’s halfhearted reply as they dug through a box in a corner that spit up a cloud of dust at them as they tried to card through it.

“Okay, spill.” Angie got to work on another side of the room while waiting for her friend to tell her what the hell was going on. It wouldn’t be the first time for Jello to close of their emotions but Angie was pretty damn sure she knew what that looked like and this wasn’t that.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about!” Jello turned around to flash a grin at their friend, an act that received the gift of some waded up paper tossed at their head, “Ow… what was that for?”

“For you being an idiot, just tell me what the hell is going on in that stupid little head of yours.” Angie glared at her friend, who was pouting at her in a way she had seen billions of times. She pitied anyone it still worked on.

“Okay. Okay.” Jello seemed to ponder to themself for a second, “Are you sure?”

“Yes!” Angie was annoyed with their antics at this point, apparently this is what she gets for trying to actually be a good friend for once.

“No need to shout!” Jello shouted back, “I don’t think Nonno is dead.”

“What? You think he faked his death or something?” Angie raised an eyebrow before turning back around to flip through what she was pretty sure was a box of old tapes, most of them labeled as movies she vaguely remembered watching with Jello when she was young.

“Pretty much, yeah.” Jello nodded as they flipped through the old books stacked everywhere, “Around a week before he quote unquote died, I remember him genuinely telling me he always wanted to fake his death.”

“…That’d do it, wouldn’t it?” Angie sighed, she wasn’t surprised really. It had been a long time since she’d seen Jello’s grandfather but it’d take a lot to forget that the guy was kind of off his rocker. Faking his death didn’t really seem like that much of a stretch.

“Mhm!” Jello loudly hummed in agreement as they held a book obviously upside down, “Either way Nonno left me all the junk in his attic in the will so there’s gotta be something good up here.” They tossed the book aside.

“Watch where you’re throwing things,” Angie barely dodged the flying book, “Anyways couldn’t you have gotten you’re brother to help with this instead of me?”

“Oh, c’mon, Ang. You know you know Nonno better then him.” Jello looked over at Angie with exaggerated disappointment, “Besides you know Adam wouldn’t want to get dirt under his fingernails.”

“God, yeah. I can hear him now.” And she could, she knew Adam well enough at this point that she could hear the exact cadence of his voice pitching higher as he complained about how he had just gotten his nails done and he wasn’t about to ruin them for this.

There conversation died out into a companionable silence as they both dug through boxes, flipped through books, examined old photographs, and on one notable occasion batted off a rat with a broom. An incident that resulted in Jello leaping up into Angie’s arms as she tried her best to balance both her friend and a broom to get the rat to run off down the ladder so they didn’t have to deal with it. Fortunately for the both of them, the rat commotion unearthed a box that looked like it had been dug through recently despite neither of them having touched it so far.

After they, read Jello, had thoroughly calmed down from the rat scare they both peered into the box. It was christened with a fresh envelope on top that read “To my dear grandchild, and Angelica who they likely brought along”

“Hey, what do ya know? Your granddad could read the future.” Angie joked as she picked up the envelope and ripped it open.

“Oh shut up.” Jello rolled their eyes but didn’t stop Angie from opening the letter herself.

Angie cleared her throat before starting to read the letter:

Kids, I assume if you are reading this letter then my will has been read, that or you have managed to scavenge through here without me noticing in which case good on you! Either way this letter is to tell you that I wish for you to carry on my legacy. You are welcome to share this legacy to any you see fit, although perhaps not my son, I doubt he would be happy I’m telling you about this at all. Nonetheless! It’s best to dig through this box a bit more to figure everything out. I wish you kids luck.

With Love, Your Nonno <3

“Huh. Okay.” Angie tossed the letter to Jello who only barely caught it and read it over again themself. Under the letter lay a thoroughly annotated book, “Hey, Jello? Do you know a Geist?”

“Geist the gentlemen thief?” Jello looked up from the letter which they folded and shoved in their pocket, “Yes. Obviously? Who do you think I am?”

“Well, I don’t know him. Who was he?” Angie stared down at the book she was holding as he prodded her friend with questions. She wasn’t surprised they knew extensively about some sort of gentlemen thief, she had heard plenty of rants about that sort of thing before from Jello.

“Well, he was only the most successful thief to ever live. He was active from the 60s to the 00s, do you know how long that is? He didn’t even stop cause he was caught, he just…. Disappeared.” Jello spoke excitedly while waving their hands enough that Angie had to lean forward more so as to not get caught in the crossfire. “He was mostly active across Europe but there are allegedly some cases of him traveling all across the world, I wish I could have been alive when he was still stealing but he stopped right around the time I was born, which is an absolutely awful coincidence, I curse God for it everyday… Why?” Jello seemed to finally realize Angie randomly asking about a famous thief from decades ago was odd, as they turned to her and raised an eyebrow. Or at least tried to, they couldn’t seem to get only one to raise.

“Well.” Angie held up the book which was adorned with a silhouette of a formally dressed men wearing a mask, “I think your Granddad was Geist.” She dug through the box for a second before holding up the mask the figure was wearing on the cover, a venetian style bauta mask that look old but well maintained.

“I think I need to sit down for a second.” Jello almost fell on the their way down, Angie joined them on the ground for solidarity, “Okay so. Nonno is Geist.” Angie nodded along, “And he is passing this title down to me, to us.” Angie nodded again, “I think I need 5 to 10 business days to process this.” Angie snorted.

“I’ll give you 20 minutes, this attic is stuffing up my nose.” Angie acquiesced and Jello nodded at what they were being given. They immediately collapsed face down into Angie’s lap, she patted their head in comfort. She was honestly impressed they didn’t explode, just completely blown to bits scattered across the room the moment they processed what they were being told.

Angie ran her finger through her friend’s hair, attempted to untangle the curly black mess residing on their head while she waited for them to become functional again. She let herself think for a moment about what this whole gentlemen thief thing would entail, probably crime but that wasn’t really a big hurdle for her. She’d been friend’s with Jello long enough to have broken into a few buildings for the sake of exploring, and she knew that she was the only reason they hadn’t been caught yet. That and calling Adam to pick them up a few times before she could drive. She remembered one time where they’d only known Adam for a few months and him being Jello’s new brother was still a bit of a rough subject for them but the two of them got locked in somewhere on accident and there was only one person she knew they could call. Then sure enough, Adam came rolling down the street to free them in full drag since apparently they had called in the middle of a show and the three of them agreed to never talk about it again. That was a lie since it came up at least once a month. Thinking about it now, it was sweet of him to drop everything to help even if she framed it like that both of them would deny that that was what happened. Idiots the both of them. Although speaking of idiots, it seems Thing 1 was finally alive again.

“We need more people if we we’re doing this.” Jello sat straight up only barely dodging knocking their head on Angie’s chin, “And we are doing this.” Despite their words Jello looked over at Angie for confirmation.

“That we are.” Angie confirmed, “No idea who you want to ask though, it’s not like you talk to people besides me. Unless you suddenly got busy after I graduated?”

“I talk to people!” Jello wave Angie off who had her doubts about their claim, “Wasn’t there some other junk in here?” They asked as they scoured the box some more, and held a stack of business cards held together by twine up in victory.

Jello untied the stack apparently forgetting that doing so would send cards drifting off all over the room, which is exactly what happened. Thankfully Angie managed to grab one of them before they scattered to every corner of the room. Angie inspected the card to find it was for a local mask artist, probably the person responsible for the original Geist mask that had gotten moved onto the floor. One of them should probably move that… It seemed old and expensive.

“What is it?” Jello popped behind Angie, an action that would have made her jump if she wasn’t used to their antics by now.

“Business card for a mask guy,” Angie gestured towards the now scattered cards, “These are presumably all of your Granddad’s old contacts.” Angie flipped over the card to see a handwritten message on it about the artist wanting to help Geist in the future, sounded useful to say the least.

“Ohh coool…” Jello trailed off as they started trying to gather up some more of the cards, Angie made a note to herself to buy a folder or something for all these. It seemed better then trusting Jello to not do this exact same thing again.

“Not very helpful for finding people to help as directly though.” Jello spoke up again after they had apparently decided they had collected enough cards for now, which they were now shuffling in their hands like playing cards.

“Why?” Angie raised an eyebrow, an act that Jello immediately tried to copy seemingly still upset about their earlier failed attempt to do so. It still wasn’t quite working.

“They’re probs all old geezers by now. Their knees couldn’t handle it.” Jello shrugged and shook their head, “We need someone around our age who’d be willing to help us with some most likely very illegal activities.”

“I suppose we do need someone else for that, two people isn’t enough for a proper group of thieves.” Angie tried to think on the people she knew, unfortunately despite graduating high school three years ago now, she hadn’t actually gotten to know anyone that much still. Turns out the only person you hang out with being your childhood friend two years your junior will do that to you. Not to mention that it was the summer and classes weren’t running at the moment so it’d be pretty weird for her to ask any of her school friends about something.

“How many people do we actually need?” Angie stopped her thinking to ask.

“4 to 5 I think? 4 consistent people then a love interest that switches out every new movie or season.” Jello thought to themself for a second before answering.

“I can’t imagine you getting that many people interested in you.” Angie stifled a laugh at the idea, she couldn’t remember her friend going on a date once in their life.

“Hey! I could if I wanted to!” Jello crossed their arms and pouted at Angie before cracking, their face bursting into a smile. A big grin crossed both of their faces and they bumped their shoulders into each other.

“Maybe I’ll be the one with the rotating love interests. I could do it.” Angie’s voice had the undertone of laughter as she spoke, even she knew that was unlikely but damn could a girl dream.

“Mhmm…. Sure you could.” Jello humoured her before laughing at her in the face.

“Okay. Okay. 4 people. We can do that, we already have 2.” Angie tried her best to get them back on track, a task she was thankfully succeeding in.

“Yeah! We’re already half-way there.” Jello seemed to be already patting themself on the back for that, as if they hadn’t just arbitrarily decided a number of people they needed for thievery.

“You know who we could ask?” Angie asked after a second, her brain suddenly striking gold. A gold that she wasn’t sure yet if she was happy with.

“Who?” Jello asked, their brows furrowed. An eyebrow focuses expression they could actually perform.

“Your brother.”

[tortricidae]

Seeds of Memoria

The flyers were scattered all over the city. Worm Money had been hesitant about leaving his home for a while. After the monster attack in the Compendium, there was this lingering malaise that plagued him. For a moment - however irrational it was - he had feared that he was back at that event at The Prance Center.

Serving drinks, tripping over his own feet in an uncharacteristic display of clumsiness, spilling them all over the guests. Trying to make it better and then failing instead of just leaving it alone. His heart was racing and his thoughts were scrambled. He had seen those eyes and knew he was going to die.

It was the same feeling but to a slightly lesser degree.

He didn’t blame Klepto for what happened at the Compendium, but he did feel bad that he kept putting off the texts and phone calls and elected to stay out of the party scene whenever possible. Worm Money wouldn’t have been surprised if Klepto had decided to break up with him after all this. Klepto deserved better than whatever this was.

There was a knock at the door. Worm Money had managed to drag himself over to answer, though he had also been perfectly content with sitting in the dark, staring at the ceiling and hoping that his visitor would leave.

“Hey!” More rigorous knocking. “Worm Money, I know you’re in there. It’s Klepto. Open up.”

Worm Money immediately shrank from his rather meager ordinary size, to that of a human. He preferred it this way, especially if he was going to be answering the door. Gone were the shaggy pinks, yellows, and blues, all replaced with human features, though he did keep his lower half distinctly digitigrade. It made him appear more blended with the humanity that Skire was familiar with. A humanity that was affected by wild magic.

“Oh,” Worm Money said, opening the door, but refusing to look Klepto in the eye. “Hey, Klepto. Sorry, I was just. Dealing with some work stuff.”

Klepto was a Crook, just like Worm Money. He was taller and more muscular, though all his strength was in his limber legs. He was mostly a deep magenta that trailed off into purple and was lined with thick black stripes with a massive white patch on his chest and belly. Though that was covered up mostly with heavy leather attire and metal spikes. Rugged and punkish.

Klepto arched an eyebrow and leaned to look past Worm Money in the doorway to the dark house that was littered with the remains of everyday living.

“I’m worried about you, man,” he said earnestly. “Like, I know you’re busy with work, but you’ve been, well, y’know. Off.”

Worm Money felt his cheeks burn and the colorful eyes on his belly closed in shame. “Right. I’m just. I’m, uh.”

No matter how hard he tried to organize his words, Worm Money was tripping over them. He felt so off-kilter that even when he tried to lie about how he was feeling, it was obvious that he was just trying to buy time. Why was Klepto even tolerating this, again? The two of them liked to party and get into shenanigans in the thriving nightlife. Make friends, play games, fool around.

The Compendium was months ago.

Klepto seemed unfazed. “I’m your friend still, silly. You go off the grid and I’m naturally gonna worry about you is all. Listen. Even Nagisa said something about it and you know how cool and collected they are. I was gonna let you just do your thing until you felt better, but I can’t let my boyfriend down. That would make me look like an asshole. So I’m here to do you a solid!”

“A solid?” Worm Money replied though a relieving smile tugged at the corner of his lips. “And what does that entail?”

“Trees, man.”

Klepto eased a bit. He’d been nervous about this whole ordeal from the jump and had considered a variety of options to cheer Worm Money up, but instead, he’d just helped himself to a little five-finger discount at the train station as an excuse to come. Relationships were complicated.

Worm Money’s eyes were on Klepto now. Of all the suggestions he’d been expecting, trees were not one of them. Now that he thought of it, there was a lot of commotion about a tree-related festival. Something about seeds and a thing called a Memoria.

Klepto balked. “You know! Trees! This one’s apparently really special or something. I already got the tickets for the train to take us to the closest place. I thought you’d like to go. It’s like, romantic, or whatever. Special and quiet. Thought it might help. I even brought my best jacket for the occasion.”

Worm Money’s smile grew wider. Oh, it must be special if Klepto was bringing out the best jacket for the event. That smile quickly turned into a frown again as he instinctively reached up to touch his hair, which was unkempt.

“Yeah, just get ready. I don’t mind waiting.” Klepto winked. “Been working on a new tag that’s gonna blow your socks off.”

Worm Money didn’t argue, but all his cluster eyes closed again in shame as he let Klepto into the house.

It was messy. There were halfhearted attempts to keep the place clean, but it had grown overwhelming so fast and Worm Money burned with the shame, though Klepto made no comment about it. Klepto had plopped right on the couch and flipped the television on, upping the volume just enough for Worm Money to get the privacy he needed to go and shower for the first time in...a while...and get the kinks out of his fur.

It had taken a while, but Klepto was still there when all was said and done. Worm Money dressed casually, sporting likely the only clean shirt and shorts he had at the moment. The living room had fewer empty takeout containers and piles of paper, and Klepto was not so subtly drying his hands on a dishtowel.

“Ready to go?” Klepto asked.

Worm Money nodded. “Yeah, let’s go. It’s warm where we’re going, right?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

And so they went.

The train took about six hours, and in those six hours, Klepto filled every second of it with his big plans for the new tag. He’d been practicing for the last week and had selected the perfect colors. And this time, he wasn’t going to be disrupted. Worm Money mostly listened and stared out the window at the altering landscape.

They were heading into deep mountains with dense forest tightly knitted like a brambly wall. He appreciated that Klepto was filling the silence for him, normally it was the other way around. Worm Money had been known to be able to talk to anybody about anything. This dark cloud that rested on his shoulders made the whole world seem gloomy and grey.

“I heard they have this fruit called the Hornsberry,” Klepto said as the train was finally coming to a stop. “It’s supposed to be good for you or something. I heard it tastes like quinoa. I like the taste of quinoa.”

Worm Money had never heard of quinoa before.

After disembarking from the train alongside a number of CCCats and Crooks who were also making the trek into the forest to see the Memoria tree, Klepto and Worm Money were greeted with a beautifully carved hole through the bramble wall that surrounded the lush meadow that the grand Memoria tree called home. It was every bit as breathtaking as the flyer had suggested, and the area was already filled with visitors.

Some were occupying stalls that sold a variety of foods, drinks, and souvenirs. Some were exploring the base of the Memoria tree, and some were lounging in the public park. Worm Money was rendered speechless. The world had come to a complete stop for just a moment.

“Beautiful, right?” Klepto said with a playful nudge. “It was mostly Nagisa’s idea that I bring you here, but I’m kinda glad that I actually entertained it.”

Klepto didn’t wait for a response, nor did he really expect one. He offered his hand for Worm Money to take and was relieved when Worm Money did so without hesitation. The plan was simple. Make their way up the trunk of the tree on the tour. And when an opportunity presented itself to branch away, they would take it.

They trailed behind the back of the group for the most part. Klepto had taken human form to better blend in with the other humans in the group and he kept a firm grasp on Worm Money’s hand. It felt nice to hold his hand like this. Soft and unbothered by the world. Temporarily tense, but would soon return to normal. Short nails and long fingers. And so warm.

As the bulk of the group rounded a corner, Klepto tugged Worm Money back.

“We’re going this way instead,” he whispered, lifting the chains to another part of the Memoria walkway. There was a sign warding trespassers away. “I got something to show you.”

Worm Money, briefly, considered fighting it but there was a spark that captured his heart. This was shifty and probably dangerous, but it would lend itself to an interesting adventure and Worm Money liked adventure. For all his depressive thoughts and the sinking feeling in his chest about the Compendium, Worm Money loved adventure and with little encouragement from Klepto, he hopped the chain fence.

Klepto rushed forward until the two of them were out of sight of the trail. The path was much less stable than the main path, but it was going to get them into an alcove that would allow for him to work his magic. The path wound through twisted branches that formed a tunnel of sorts and opened into a part of the tree that had been damaged at some point in the past. Klepto vaguely recalled the tour guide mentioning a war and the damage being done to the tree in the aftermath. Or whatever.

The scar in the tree was the perfect place for them to settle down. The wood was split open, but the healing done over the hundreds of years was still apparent. Bark had grown over the wound and had made a somewhat flat open area in the private alcove. There was a vague aroma of pine and flowers, likely coming from the huge pale leaves that fanned out from the branches.

Klepto dropped his backpack and unzipped it, digging through the contents and producing a tarp.

“Is this the surprise?” Worm Money cautioned.

“Yeah, kinda,” Klepto replied. “I wanted to talk, but also maybe do something that wasn’t talking. So that you feel comfortable.”

Klepto pulled out a variety of spray paint cans and a sketchbook. He flipped through the pages that he had been working on during the train ride. All the tags. Better and more grand than before.

“I like to make art for the people that I like,” Klepto started. He motioned for Worm Money to make himself comfortable and then got to work, spraying his lines onto the large flat surface of the tree’s wound.

Worm Money grabbed a can and fiddled with it. He didn’t want to sit down while Klepto worked. It felt rude. And he was antsy anyway.

“I’ve noticed that you’ve been really out of sorts ever since the thing at the Compendium.”

“Yeah,” Worm Money replied.

“I get it. It’s kind of crazy that something like that happened. I guess I was worried, but it wasn’t something I was necessarily unused to, y’know?” More spraying. “Talking is hard for me sometimes. I’m, uh, well. I guess I just sort of reverted to a version of me that is different than the version you see now.

“I, uh, experienced the banishment.” Klepto went quiet for a long time, resisting the urge to look back at Worm Money, for fear that he would see something that he wasn’t ready for.

“Sorry,” Worm Money said. “I don’t really know what that’s like, but I heard some stories.”

“It was rough. I can’t even compare it to anything you would have seen in your life. It was like the Compendium, but all the time. Crooks instead of big monsters, but some Crooks are just as big and horrifying.

“Anyway, I didn’t really think too hard about what happened afterward. I kind of just got over it because I’d seen horrible things like that for basically my whole life up until a few years ago. It didn’t faze me. And I’ll admit that the first week, I thought it was weird that you weren’t over it.”

Worm Money curled inward a little.

“But I realized that you were just different. Newer I guess.”

“It’s not that.”

Worm Money was scared suddenly. How could he get into it? It was just a feeling he had that made no sense. He couldn’t put it into words. Or maybe he could and he was just afraid of what would happen if he spoke the negativity into the world. There was no real reason behind it. He knew it was irrational. But he also knew an older Crook when he saw one.

“Then what’s wrong?” Klepto asked. “I want to help you but I don’t know how.”

“It’s silly.”

“It isn’t!”

Klepto finally turned around and forced his eyes to stay open. He didn’t see anything he wasn’t expecting. Just Worm Money wringing his hands around a spray paint can. No contempt. No fear of him. No intent to harm. Just Worm Money.

Worm Money tensed again. “It is silly. I think there’s someone out there who wants to hurt me. It’s just me being paranoid. And when we were at the Compendium, it felt like I was looking at the same kind of monster. Someone who wanted to kill me. For no reason.

“I’m not a fighter, Klepto. I’m just a guy.”

“Is that why you always want to be human?”

“I. No.” Worm Money offered the spray paint can to Klepto, but Klepto shook his head.

“I need the purple one first.”

Worm Money fetched it and Klepto accepted it with a grateful smile before he got back to work.

“Tell me about it then,” Klepto added. “The thing that’s worrying you.”

“You don’t want to know why I’m human all the time?” Worm Money pressed.

“If it’s not because you are worried, you don’t have to tell me. I care more about why you haven’t left the house in a month and why you don’t want to come outside with me, or go to parties, or any of the things you used to like to do.”

“I guess the monster at the Compendium affected me a lot more than I thought.” Worm Money finally sat down, though he made the effort to sit closer to Klepto and gather all the paint cans so he could hand them over when asked. “I thought, for one second, that I was back at The Prance Center. That I was going to die for making a mistake. I know it’s stupid.”

“It’s not stupid.” A pause. “Can I have the darker pink?”

Worm Money handed it over. “It feels stupid. Like maybe I should have done something about it. I should have fought or used magic or something. But I can’t do any of those things. I should have defended myself, even if it was just a little bit. Instead, I froze up. Until you yelled at me. What would have happened if you weren’t there?”

“I was there, though.”

“I know.”

“What happened at The Prance Center?”

Worm Money went quiet for a while. “I was hosting a party for a particularly influential client of mine. They were a singer if I recall. And I was serving drinks. I guess I was a lot more tired and overworked than I thought at the time. I, uh, spilled some drinks all over the guests. My client, all their friends. It was a mess. And one of the guests took it badly. I tried to make it better but that didn’t go well.

“I don’t really remember what happened after that. One of the guests went wild. They turned into a huge monstrosity and everyone was running and screaming. I saw the look in his eyes. He wanted to kill me and I...don’t remember how I got out of that alive.”

Worm Money trailed off and Klepto let him.

“I’m sorry that happened,” Klepto said finally. “I’m glad that you made it out, though. I’m glad I was with you in the Compendium. And I’m glad that I’m here with you now. I know it’s hard to go through stuff like that.”

“I can’t help but feel like that one guest, in particular, is still not over what happened. It was so long ago. I even took a break from event planning for a while. I thought I was over it, but given how I’ve been acting, I guess not. I’m sorry I haven’t been a good boyfriend to you.”

“I get it.” Klepto frowned and pointed to a pink can, which Worm Money handed him. “I don’t think you’re being a bad boyfriend, Worm Money. I just wish you had told me sooner. I would have come over and helped you. Because you don’t have to do all this alone, you know. Like in banishment, being alone hedged your bets, but it’s not like that out here.”

“I let everything get out of control so fast. I don’t even want to go back.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Klepto said. “I asked Ducky to help me out while we were gone.”

Worm Money’s face went from a stern sadness to relief almost instantly. Klepto motioned to another series of colors and Worm Money gladly handed them over, with a renewed sense of self almost. He didn’t have to do this alone.

“Yeah, she knew something was up and she and her team are gonna get your place back in working order.” Klepto continued spraying. “And I’m putting the final touches on this tag. You won’t really be able to see it up close, but when I’m done. You just gotta step back. And then we’re gonna get a seed.”

“A seed?”

“Yah, it’s free real estate. Grab a seed and then go. We can plant it together if you want.”

Worm Money sighed wistfully. “Yeah, I think I’d like that.”

“Perfect.”

They spent the next hour just enjoying each other’s company. Worm Money felt a lot better about where he was and felt like he knew what he needed to get better. Not necessarily get over it, but have a better way of dealing with it. And he’d be on that as soon as he could. When the painting was finally done, Klepto pulled Worm Money to his feet and covered as many eyes as he could, though Worm Money was gracious enough to close all his cluster eyes as he was led to the entrance of the alcove.

“Ta-da!”

Klepto removed his hands and Worm Money was able to take in the full extent of the art that he’d spent all his time up close to.

It was wormlings. Two of them to be exact. Wreathed in the colors of his eye clusters, as well as several of Kleptos. The stripes and angles crested around the wormlings and made an abstract heart shape. In the center, under the wormlings, were Klepto’s and Worm Money’s names, along with the date.

“Of course I don’t remember being a wormling,” Klepto started. “But I heard it’s our tendrils, you know? I just picked one. And I had to guess with you. I hope that’s okay.” Worm Money twirled a finger around one of his twisted locs. “You got it exactly.”

There was a moment of intimacy between them. The fact that Klepto would go through all this just to make some art of them together like this? Worm Money’s heart pounded in his chest and his eye clusters began to spin in every direction. Klepto didn’t let him think too long about it before giving him a swift kiss.

“We can’t stay here much longer.” Klepto hurried to his art supplies and threw them unceremoniously into his backpack. “Someone’s bound to have noticed that we’re gone by now. We gotta get that seed.”

“Right,” Worm Money said, cheeks burning.

“Wait!” Klepto stopped and took a spray paint can and handed it to Worm Money. “You should add something to it.”

“Oh, I’m not really an artist.”

“You’ll do fine. It can be whatever you want!”

Worm Money thought for a moment as Klepto finished putting his supplies away. As he thought, he began to spray, and a shaky, but content smiley face in bright blue was added to the piece.

“Perfect.”

Satisfied, the two of them left the alcove, the art ready to greet the next person to go back there. As they made their way back down to the meadow, the sun was long gone and the tree’s leaves were glowing faintly as a wild wind whipped through the canopy. The rustling was subtle, though seeds began to drop from the highest section of the Memoria tree and filter down, guided by feathery fronds sprouting from the top of the seedpods.

As the seeds floated to the ground, Klepto and Worm Money and all the other guests reached out to grab them.

“I think we should get the fattest seed,” Klepto said. “Or the one with the biggest whatever this feathery thing is.”

Worm Money laughed. The sound was music to Klepto’s ears and he was glad to hear it again after so long without it.

“Sure thing. How about this one?” Worm Money asked, holding up a comparatively tiny seed with a comically long frond curling out of it. “Seems pretty ridiculous to me.” Klepto took out his phone and snapped a picture as the frond flopped over, its job finally done. Worm Money looked surprised as the feathery fronds broke apart and stuck to his face and hair.

“Picture perfect. I can’t wait to show this to Nagisa and Ducky. They’ll laugh.”

“I sure hope so.”

Klepto stowed the seed in his bag as well. The last thing on the list was the Hornsberry, and then they could go. As it turned out, the Hornsberry did taste exactly like quinoa. And also as it turned out, Worm Money did not like the taste of quinoa at all.

Aww well, more for Klepto this time.

[saturniias]

A Thief's Curse

Apparently I never posted this???? I swear that I did omfg

Once again, I wrote this for class. This was the shortest I could condense this giant story to without losing important plot that fit the style of the assignment LMAO

I actually wrote this one in one sitting, and pulled an all nighter doing it cause I forgot to write it until the night before.

I was originally going to edit this to have the character's actual names cause as of putting together this post, I finally named them like 30 minutes ago. However I decided it better fits the vibe to keep it the way it is.

Though for the sake of tags since their names are in there, I'll list out their actual names.

Elian - Thief Edith - Mage Cylix - Soldier

-

Once upon a time, there was a thief. The thief had been out at sea for many years, he just took what he needed to survive, and never from those who needed it more than him. Despite his klepto tendencies being rather mild, he was still labelled a pirate by the public. Because he stole, and he travelled in a ship, of course he was a pirate. Who knew the bar was so low to become a pirate these days.

Thinking back to his outfit, it could be understandable why most would think he’s a pirate. He is in fact, wearing a large coat, puffy white sleeves, and leather boots. On top of it being an almost entirely black outfit, and it was doubtful his rather shaggy dark hair helped his case. But at least he didn’t have the hat, that would just be too much.

The thief, just before he started travelling, was cursed by a forest spirit. All he did was take fruit, which enraged the spirit who had claimed that all of it was hers. The thief had apologised profusely, but it wasn’t enough and she placed a lethal curse on him. The curse was a painful one, and would eventually kill him. He decided that if he was going to die someday soon, he wanted to make the most out of his remaining lifetime. He took the small stock of supplies he had, and stole a whole ship from the bay, throwing himself right into the jaws of adventure. The first thing he did? He created a huge bucket list of all the things he was determined to experience.

This curse of his manifested as a growing taint on his body. The skin would turn black, the colour reaching up his arm in frightening vein shapes further and further as time passed. Every time the taint grew, it was excruciating. The curse felt like a hot iron as it moved upwards a few centimetres, followed by a terrible headache that would last up to hours.

But it was ok. 

If death chasing his tail was what got him to finally go out and truly live, then it was for the best. While he may die in a few months, at least he could say that he lived without regret.

Regret. Out of all the things he had listed, the one he absolutely could not bear to regret, was never returning home. So he vowed to return home when he was nearing the end of his journey. The thief’s working theory about the curse is that it’ll finally claim his life when the taint reaches his heart. Now that it has reached just over his shoulders, he decided that now was the time to go back. 

His bordering ramshackle and poor excuse of a ship pulled into the docs of his home town. Well, town was an understatement. It was a rather large city, one of the largest in the country in fact. The first thing he noticed was the tall spire of a wizard's tower. It was much different than when he had left all those years ago, and he wondered if his old good friend the mage still resided there. His suspicions were soon shown to be truthful when the secret code to unlock the door was the same as he remembered.

Upon entering the room at the summit of the spire, the thief was met with the familiar sight of his best friend through his childhood. His auburn hair still styled messily in a bun just like he saw him last. The only thing he didn’t recognize was his new outfit, a rather simple combination of pants and a long sleeved shirt. The part of his outfit that stood out was the intricate cloak he wore, a gorgeous shade of green with golden patterning. He smiled wide, lightly knocking his knuckles against the door frame to get his attention.

“Knock knock”

The thief watched in amusement as the mage whipped around frantically, his round glasses threatening to fly off his face, startled by the sudden presence of another person. 

“Wh- How did you get in here-!” The mage stopped short, freezing when he saw who the voice belonged to. “It’s…you”

The mage nearly started bawling right then and there, he bolted towards the thief and grappled him into a tight hug.

“oOF-” The thief nearly fell over from the mage’s sudden embrace, but took no time in returning the gesture. “It’s me. I’m home” He held the mage’s head into his chest.

When the mage pulled away, he was surprised to see a rather angry face.

“You disappeared! What the hell is wrong with you, you had us worried sick! We thought you died!” He weakly hit the thief’s arm, he was staring straight into the thief’s eyes.

He didn’t know how to break it to his friend what had happened. “It’s… It’s a long story…”

“Well then you better get to explaining!”

The thief sighed, and told him everything. The forest spirit, the curse, the adventures, all the amazing things he’s seen. At the end of his tales, the mage stood up and marched over to his desk. He was rapidly flipping through papers, picking up and identifying objects, back and forth between the different parts of the room.

“What-” He jumped out of the way of the mage when he flipped a 180 to go to yet another stack of books. “What are you doing?”

“Looking for a cure, what else?” “What? No it’s fine, I’m fine” “No you’re not! You’re dying, what do you mean you're fine??” The mage was beyond furious at these words.

“So what? I’m gonna die eventually anyway, that’s just how life is”

“You are NOT dying NOW” The mage was much shorter than the thief, so to look him in the eyes he yanked down on the collar of his coat. “You aren’t going to die on me you- you absolute idiot. What, you’re just going to show up one day after disappearing for months and then tell me that when I finally have you back you’re going to die? I’m calling him up, maybe he can talk some damn sense into you”

The thief knew exactly who the mage was referring to, and that made him panic.

“No no no- We can NOT tell him!” The thief would do anything to avoid telling the soldier about his situation. “If we told him, you know what he’ll do. I can’t have him risking his life just because my death has been rescheduled for sooner rather than later. He’ll get himself killed, please” 

The pained look in the mage’s eyes was almost too much to bear, but he knew that he understood.

“...Fine. We won’t tell him” The mage leaned his back against the desk in defeat. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to help you. I will find a way to reverse this curse”

The thief opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by the mage.

“No. If you won’t tell him, then I’m going to continue searching myself. Understood?”

The thief knew it was useless to argue any further, once the mage had made up his mind there was no way it was going to be changed. He was headstrong like that sometimes.

“...Understood-” The thief couldn’t finish his sentence, and doubled down in pain. The taint moved up again. His head was pounding, only clearing up slightly when the taint had finished its spreading. He hadn’t screamed from the pain in a long while, but it always left him heaving for a few moments as he recovered.

There was a horrified look on the mage’s face.

“It’s…” The thief’s voice was shaky. “It’s alright, I’m ok” “This is the exact OPPOSITE of ok” The mage couldn’t decide whether or not he should even approach him, not wanting to put him in further pain. When the thief had fully stood up, the mage gently guided him to the bed in the far corner of the room and forced him to lay down.

“Hey there’s no need I’m fin-” “If you say you’re fine one more time I’m going to give you a reason to finally say you’re not” The mage scowled at him, not understanding how he could think any of this was ok. “You are staying right here, you are going to let me take care of you. Tomorrow we can go see him, but for now you will rest…I don’t like seeing you in pain” That last part was almost too soft to hear.

The thief couldn’t find it in himself to argue, and relaxed in the bed he had been confined to. “I’m sorry for worrying you…”

The mage gently put his arms around the thief, who was now laying down. “I missed you so much, never do that again”

The two of them dozed off.

When the next morning had come, the mage had now dragged the thief to the soldier’s current place of residence. The thief may have casually gone up to the mage, but the soldier he was beyond anxious about reuniting with. He had been just as close to him as the mage, but he always felt nervous around him for a reason he could never pinpoint. The mage knocked on the door, rather harshly at that, and the thief felt his shoulders tense slightly when the door opened. 

The thief took in the sight of his other childhood friend. Unlike the mage, he had changed a lot since he last saw him. His blonde hair was much longer now, neatly tied back in a loose low ponytail. Just under the long bangs, he could just make out a rather large scar around his eye. It was a pretty nasty looking injury, but it didn’t seem to have caused any vision loss to his knowledge. The thief was used to seeing him in his guards uniform, so it was strange to see him in such domestic clothing.

The soldier could only stare, for a moment he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Just like the mage, his first instinct was to pull him into a death grip of a hug. He almost didn’t want to let go in fear he would disappear again. The soldier pulled away slightly, and his hands moved to cusp the thief’s face. 

“You’ve barely changed a day heh” He traced his thumb over a scar. “Oh come on now, what did I say about fights?” He teased the thief, luckily the scar didn’t look like it was that bad of an injury. Suddenly aware of how close he was holding him, the soldier let go and stepped back a bit. Recovering smoothly, he crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow playfully.

“You know I can’t stay outta trouble” The thief laughed it off, though he’d be lying if he said the encounter didn’t leave him flustered.

The three of them were throwing jokes around left and right as they receded into the soldier’s home, and settled on the couches in the living room.

The thief recovered from his fit of laughter at the last joke and looked over to the soldier. “So, prized soldier, how’s the job going?” “Ah well, I can tell you it isn’t nearly as exhilarating anymore. You might as well just say I’m retired, all they ever do anymore is dress me up in ceremonials and parade me around” The soldier made a comical pout, nearly sending the other two into another raging fit of laughter. “Now come on, tell me where you’ve been. You disappeared for 5 years, we honestly thought you had died on us”

“Ah, well” The thief had pre prepared a lie, he couldn’t let him know about the curse. “I kinda got whisked away, for the past few years I’ve been out at sea. Thought while I was making my way back home, I might as well see what the world has to offer!” 

It wasn’t entirely a lie, some of it was true, he just left out some of the more concerning details. If the soldier had any suspicion, he couldn’t see it.

“Well it sure took you long enough!” The soldier gently punched him in the shoulder. “You’ve missed so much, so many things around here have changed”

“Well then maybe a stroll through the city is in order! Show me around the new stuff~” The thief wiggled his eyebrows at the soldier and the mage, who both laughed at the site.

“Maybe it is, haha!” The mage stood up, hands on his hips and fully ready to have an outing with his most cherished people in his life.

For the next few weeks, the three were constantly going out. The thief only recognised about half of the city as how it used to be, he was a little astonished at how much could change in 5 years. During these outings, the thief had many close calls regarding his curse and the soldier finding out. But he was just barely able to conceal it, he could tell the soldier was worried for him even if he didn’t know what was going on. During the night, the thief would stay with the mage in his spire.

The mage grimaced, the thief’s curse had once again started spreading. It pained him to see him suffering.

“We should ask him for help”

The thief didn’t respond immediately, still shakily taking deep breaths. “No, we aren’t going to tell him. Even if he wasn’t self destructive, I can’t ask him for this. Not after he’s done so much for me in the past already”

“You say that like he doesn’t want to help, I’m sure if you just-”

“That’s enough, I’m not telling him. That is final” The thief was still hunched over, but he lifted his head up enough to stare into the mage’s eyes to make sure he understood.

Unfortunately, the very next day when the three were lounging in the mage’s spire, the thief’s worst case scenario happened. 

He was hit with a pain worse than others he’s had before. He inhaled sharply, trying not to let out a cry. His eyes were watering, a few tears falling down his cheeks. He clutched at his chest, gripping the fabric of his shirt tightly. The soldier had rushed to his side and caught him as he started to fall to the ground.

“Hey! What’s going on? Are you alright-” The soldier was in a panic, sure he had his worries about the thief but he didn’t think it was this bad. He caught a glimpse of the taint beneath the thief’s shirt. The soldier reached to move the shirt so he could see it, but his hand was caught by one of the thief's.

“N-no, please don’t” His eyes were squeezed shut from the pain, and he was muttering pleas softly. 

“I’m sorry but I need to see what’s wrong. Let me look” His voice was gentle but firm.

“You can’t hide this anymore, let him help” The mage had knelt next to the other two, and was trying to help calm the thief down by running his hands through his hair.

The thief’s pleas stopped, and his grip on the soldier’s hand loosened allowing him to continue. He unbuttoned the top of the thief’s shirt, revealing the taint, only a few inches away from his heart. It was a dreadful sight. Eyes still squeezed shut, the thief was gently sobbing. The mage was still playing with his hair, and his unoccupied hand was being gripped tightly by the thief.

“What did this to you” His voice was rough, and almost sounded like a growl. The soldier was beyond angry. How long had the thief been suffering from this? And why didn’t he tell him? He was only answered with a pained whimper.

“A forest spirit. He took something not knowing it was hers” The mage answered for the thief, now that the cat was out of the bag he deemed it ok to tell the soldier. He looked at the thief with worry and added in a grumble. “He refused to ask you for help, stubborn idiot. Going on about how you’ve already done enough for him”

He looked down at the man in his arms and sighed. “There is never too much help one can receive, you don’t need to be afraid to ask for it. You can’t shoulder everything on your own, you must realise when it is time to ask for help” 

The soldier glanced around the room, spotting the bed in the corner. He as softly as he could picked up the bordering unconscious man into his arms, and set him on the bed.

“Where”

The mage knew this tone all too well. This was the tone of voice the soldier used when he was about to do something out of pure rage. “Don’t. You are going to get yourself killed” Or, the mage worried silently. It’ll worsen the thief’s condition.

“Tell. Me. Where” The soldier was already halfway out the door, pausing and turning just his head back as he demanded a response.

“If you’re going then I’m going with you”

“Absolutely not. You’re staying here and watching over him” “And you just expect me to let you go alone to a forest spirit that could kill you?”

“And you expect me to just sit around and do NOTHING about…this?!?!” The soldier gestured wildly towards the thief, who had finally faded into sleep. “You are staying by his side and that’s final. Now tell me where” 

The mage groaned in disbelief. “Both of you are so damn STUBBORN” He furrowed his eyebrows before he finally broke. “She’s in the back part of the forest of…of the place we used to live as kids. You happy?”

The soldier didn’t reply, just simply turned around and started down the spire.

“You better not die, you hear me! I’ll-.. I’ll find a way to bring you back to life just to kill you again!” The mage’s hollow threat didn’t reach the soldier’s ears, the unbridled rage drowning out the sounds around him.

The soldier only detoured from his beeline to the forest spirit to visit his home, picking up his old armour and weapons. He hadn’t used any of this equipment in many years, and he was planning on breaking that streak today by slaying the creature that had cause the thief such agonising pain. 

The forest spirit was irritated at the presence of someone in her territory, but she wasn’t truly angry until the soldier had started yelling obscenities into the vast forest around him. He was demanding for her to show herself so he could face her.

“A foolish mortal, challenging a forest spirit? How cute”

The soldier stood in the center of a large clearing, whipping around to face any noises he heard. His sword was drawn, he gripped it tight in his hands as he searched around him.

The forest spirit was toying with him, circling the clearing in the shadows. “Do you wish to die? Why do you invade my territory”

“The only one dying around here is you foul creature!” 

With a roar the forest spirit appeared before him, taking a swipe at him with its vines that extended from her arms. The soldier rolled to the side to dodge, cutting a few away with his sword in the process. 

Being so far deep in the forest, no one was even close to being able to hear the cries of battle between the soldier and the forest spirit. After what had felt like ages, the soldier, heavily wounded and exhausted, had finally pinned down the spirit. He raised his sword up high, readying a forceful plunge of his sword directly into the heart of the spirit. Before he could lay the final blow, there was a yell and the pain of something ramming into his side.

When the soldier had finally come back to his senses, he realised that the thing that rammed into his side and had yelled, was the thief. Then, to his horror, the second thing he realised was that his skin was growing cold.

“What are you doing here?!” The soldier shifted both of their bodies, and he was now cradling the thief in his arms. Tears threatened to fall, his voice starting to crack. “You idiot, why did you do that”

“Someone has to stop you from pulling stupid stunts” He joked weakly.

The sound of rapid approaching footsteps cued them both to the arrival of the mage. He kneeled to the ground, sliding into place on the other side of the thief. 

“Well-” The thief let out a few violent coughs, one of them leaving blood dribbling on his lips. “It seems this is the end of the road for me”

“Shut up, don’t say that” The mage was in denial about his curse as per usual, in a way the thief found it endearing. The mage was once again running his hands through his hair, it seemed more like a way to calm himself than the thief though.

“Let me talk, com'on, hear a man's dying words?” He chuckled, what a time to make jokes. 

He only continued when both of them acknowledged his request.

“Listen, I know I disappeared. I got cursed and decided that, if I was going to die sooner than I thought, I needed to go out and live so I wouldn’t have regrets” He reached both of his arms up, placing one on the backs of each of the other two. “And to keep that promise to myself, the last thing I needed to cross off my list was to tell you both that I loved you. To finally reconnect for my last days I walked this plane, I wanted my last memories to be of you two”

The mage was leaning over his body slightly, failing to hold back the tears that had been forming. The soldier had grabbed the thief’s arm and was holding it, moving it from its previous position on his back.

Neither of them could even try to say a word.

“Both of you mean the world to me. These past 5 years I thought of you everyday.”

He turned his head to look at the mage.

“You are so smart, your intelligence is sharper than any sword. Please never give up on your aspirations, you are enough. And please never change your style, while it may look “strange” to some it is downright beautiful”

He then faced the soldier. “You don’t have to have a purpose to keep going, and you’re gorgeous in that ceremonial armour. You should take your own advice too, don’t be afraid to ask for help. You don’t have to shoulder everything on your own”

He closed his eyes, sensing the end was close.

“I love you both so so much” 

The thief waited for his consciousness to fade out, but to his confusion, it never came. In fact, he felt a little different if anything.

“Hm, kinda expected to die right there. Well this kinda ruins my whole dramatic exit” He jokingly pouted, which got disapproving looks from both the mage and the soldier.

“Wait…look!” The mage pulled the thief’s shirt down a little. They all watched as the taint slowly receded, moving away from his heart and back down his arms.

“What-But how? That curse was supposed to kill me”

“...I retracted your curse” The forest spirit spoke up, startling the three of them.

“Aww, did my love confession move you?” The thief sat up, giving her a goofy smile.

` “Absolutely not, that was sappy and gross. What a terrible way to confess. No, I retracted your curse because for some reason you stopped your lover from killing me. I don’t like owing people, so I retracted your curse” The spirit was no longer angry, but was still definitely irritated.

“O-oh” The thief had forgotten about that part. “T-thank you!”

“Now get out of my forest. If I see any of you three ever again I won’t hesitate to kill you on the spot” The forest spirit then disappeared into the trees, leaving the three alone.

The three sat there dumbfounded for a few moments, before the thief pulled them all into a tight group hug. “Guess I’m not going anywhere after all”

If this is where finally asking for help brought him, the only thing he wished was letting it happen sooner. He happily lay in the embrace of the two he loved most in the world.

[newjerseystreetlvlguardian]

A History of Graffiti - The 60's and 70's

Given the monumental influence graffiti art has had on our popular culture, from music, film, and television to fine art, toys, and clothing, it’s easy to forget the form’s humble roots and remarkable evolution -- how what started as a way for bored kids to pass the time grew into a movement larger than anyone could possibly have imagined.

Indeed, long before the giant murals, fashion runways, larger-than-life art shows and unlikely street art millionaires, modern graffiti art got its start in the belly of a Philadelphia juvenile corrections facility, with a single word scrawled in small caps across a cell wall: CORNBREAD In 1965, Darryl “Cornbread” McCray, now 

widely considered the world’s first modern graffiti artist, was a 12-year-old troublemaker housed at Philadelphia’s Youth Development Center (YDC).As you may have guessed, McCray loved cornbread. He loved it so much, in fact, that the YDC’s cooks nicknamed him “Cornbread” when he would not stop pestering 

them to make him the cornmeal quick bread he’d grown up eating with his grandmother Instantly taken with his new name, Cornbread felt compelled to share it with the other boys. Rather than take part in the drug use and violence 

that ran rampant at the YDC, Cornbread passed the time by adding his unique signature to the facility’s walls, which, until then, had been covered exclusively in gang names and symbols.Cornbread spent day and night hunting for fresh spots, scrawling his newly-acquired moniker on nearly every surface in the YDC. 

He tagged the visitor hall, chow hall, church, and bathrooms, writing “Cornbread” so obsessively that social workers thought he might be suffering from a mental disorder.Upon his release, Cornbread doubled-down on the work he’d started in juvie. He took to the streets of Philadelphia, joining forces with friends (and future graffiti legends) like Cool Earl and Kool Klepto Kid to tag walls across the city.He even used the blank brick canvases of North Philadelphia to win over his 

junior high crush, writing “Cornbread Loves Cynthia” all over the girl’s neighborhood and along the bus route she took to school.The plan worked, and Cornbread’s enigmatic tag soon inspired others, the city’s walls growing dense with various names and numbers, each writer trying to snag their share of the 

glory.When a local paper mistakenly reported that Cornbread had been killed in a gang shooting, the prideful young writer was determined to prove the legend was still alive. “I knew it was up to me to bring my name back to life,” he told Philadelphia Weekly

[oknowkiss]

friday flash recs: april 15 2022

i’ve fixated on a lot of ships in my (big inhale) two decades of being in and out of HP fandom. it started with harry/zacharias, then harry/luna, harry/ron. now i enjoy a bit of harry/neville, harry/charlie, harry/pansy, and of course my constant companion (even though i only started writing it this year) harry/draco. for me, it’s always been about harry, my forever idiot.  

truly the hardest part of putting together this week’s theme was limiting myself. so many people’s interpretations of harry ruin me. it’s a wonder i function at all. so, without further ado, and in my best rupert grint voice, this week’s theme is MURDER ME, HARRY - a harry so good I left my body behind. (in the interest of not being 100 fics long, this particular list is only drarry harrys)

> blue sunny day || @firethesound || 26K i get the whole vampire thing now. i am not normally a creature fic person. but between this and @shiftylinguini‘s two weeks, which features veela!harry phone sex, i need to accept that i am a creature lover, so long as harry is a disaster at it. in blue sunny day, harry is a terrible vampire. he’s half-starving. he speaks with a lisp because he can’t retract his teeth. draco comes to his rescue for initially self-serving reasons (read: sex). the best way i can rec this is to admit i’ve erased 15 versions of this that spoil all the incredible ways they romance each other because all i EVER want to do is shout about the tea, the garden, the ending that made me fall to the floor and become a bug. 

> deal with the devil || @jalesidor​ || 3.3K my favorite harry is dark harry; i’ll take him at any shade. light gray (selfish, proud, etc), medium gray (anger issues, manipulative), and of course just straight up dark (murder daddy hiii *twirls hair*). this harry i think falls firmly in the medium+ half of the spectrum, but the beautiful part of this fic is that you can see him becoming so much worse. the writing is so teasingly spare, giving you JUST enough, and the entire time there’s this creeping sense of a pin needing to drop. when it does it’s awful and delicious and i expect i’ll spend many hours gleefully imagining what terrible things happen next. 

> gryffindors never kiss and tell || feelsforbreakfast || 9.9K give me a confident sexy harry & i’ll fling myself into the sun. this harry is so casually promiscuous, but in a charming & semi-innocent way, like he doesn’t realize the extent to which he’s doing it. the premise is: everyone is friends (trope! love!) and they realize draco’s the only one who hasn’t kissed harry. everyone proceeds to be a monster about it (lovingly). i sat down to this like a businessman in 1952 would sit down to a fancy steak dinner: utensils gripped tight, bib on, eyes and mouth watering. 

> magpie || @corvuscrowned || 4K this is the best dark harry ever written. look. i now have to measure my life in pre-magpie years and post-magpie years. when i say this harry changed me, i mean that i’m like, 2 days old now. i do not want to say anything else about this fic because to give away a single detail would make me a robber of joy. all i will say is what’s in the tags, which is: klepto harry. read it and reset. 

> too busy being yours to fall || ignatioustrout || 6.9K harry is incredible at dirty talk; both draco & i are UPSET. we all know ig. we all love ig. bi disaster harry in here’s the pencil is iconic, for damn good reason. and they were roommates harry in around you moves made me almost fall off my bed, i was so delighted. but this harry? this harry has a dirty mouth (insert brief call & response pause for any directioners reading) and is so unabashed about it. this is casual sex, kink negotiation, and past-harry/luna that made me want to eat my hair. a warning: this is a WIP that seemingly will not be finished. alas! that’s life. we say thanks for what we have.  & here’s some longer fics i’m currently reading: > the bolthole || aideomai, gallaplacidia, @tepre || yes, i’m still reading this. i don’t want it to end. if i read one word a day for the rest of my life maybe it won’t.   > modern love & a little death never hurt anyone || @tackytigerfic​ || i have to plan tacky’s fics like a fancy prix fixe meal, a treat i allow myself for good behavior. an amuse bouche of “a little death” followed by the entrée of “modern love” will be just the thing.  > vis-à-vis-à-vis || @vukovich​ || i’ve embarrassed myself gasping at this in public TWICE now. i’d be finished except i keep pausing between chapters to die of joy at everyone’s suffering. resurrection takes ages, turns out. < last time: smut that awoke something in me