#maybe one day i'll have em' fleshed out..

[withahappyrefrain]

for those smutty prompts you reblogged ☺️ 29, which also goes pretty well with 7 too 💁🏼‍♀️

They do and they fit Birdie and Roo very well!

Warnings: Bradley's hands, reader has a nickname (no appearance described), smut, mentions of insecurities, did I mention Bradley's hands?

You should've noticed it earlier. Any other time when you weren't at your job, when you didn't have to be a professional.

But when Bradley went to give one of your students a high five, the stark juxtaposition of his hand compared to an eight year old's was astounding.

They were huge.

You wanted to entwine your hand with his, to feel his calloused fingertips. You wanted to feel them all over your body, particularly your throat.

But you were at your job. He was here to talk about his job for Career Day, filling in for a last minute cancellation.

So instead, you cleared your throat, "Let's give a big thank you to Mr. Bradshaw for coming in!"

Your professionalism nearly faltered when his hand laid itself on your shoulder, giving you a gentle squeeze.

"I'll see you later?" Bradley whispered, brown eyes full of hope.

One could see your quiet nod as a way to not draw attention to the interaction.

But you knew the truth. It was to keep yourself from saying something highly inappropriate in front of twenty third graders.

After your illy-timed revelation, it felt like the universe was doing everything within it's power to draw attention to Bradley's hands.

When you came home, you found Bradley in your kitchen, long fingers splayed out across one of your cabinets as his other hand worked to tighten a screw. His brows were knitted together in concentration, the tip of his pink tongue sticking out between his teeth as he focused.

His sweet brown eyes lit up when he saw you at the doorway of the kitchen.

"You'd think for how much your landlord charges, they'd have the decency to make sure all the screws are on tight."

It was such a sweet gesture. You hadn't mentioned it at all, meaning he must have noticed it himself. He took the time to grab his toolbox, bring it over here, and begin fixing it himself.

And all you could do was stare at his hands.

"Birdie? You okay?" His question broke you out of your trance.

"Oh yeah! Thanks Roo," you quickly kissed his warm cheek before excusing yourself to change.

This was bad. It was too early in the relationship to say something. You two had only slept together a handful of times. You still fucked in missionary there was no way you could ask him to choke you.

And what if he wasn't into that? What if he thought it was weird? Wouldn't be the first guy. But the difference now was that you really liked Bradley. You could see a future with him and he felt the same way.

The last thing you needed was to make him run for the hills.

So when you went into the kitchen after changing, you focused on reheating leftovers. Not the way Bradley was playing with Ladybug in the living room, those God damn hands scratching the dog's belly much to her delight.

This plan was going pretty well, until you felt large palms skimming across your bare thighs, a broad chest pressed against your back.

"Are those new?" Bradley asked, referring to the soft lounge shorts you had on.

"Uh yeah. They were on sale so I decided to treat myself," you quietly explained. God, his hands covered so much of your flesh. The way they gently kneaded the soft muscle of your thighs was heavenly combined with the hairs of his mustache brushing against your neck.

"D-do you like them?" Your voice was shaky, though it was an honest question. Okay, maybe you were trying to distract yourself again because thinking of the least attractive thing wasn't taking your mind off the way his fingers had slipped underneath the hem of your shorts.

Usually thinking of the way Stephen King wrote female characters always did trick. At least it did until Bradley Bradshaw came along.

"Love 'em. Love when you show off your thighs," he rasps in your ear.

"Really?" It was never a body part you noticed. In fact, you tried not to think about your thighs and the stretch marks that danced along the skin there or how much space they took up when you sat down.

Bradley nods before placing a soft kiss on your cheek, "Yeah. Don't get me wrong, I love everything about you Birdie."

His declaration makes your heart flutter.

"Guess I've always been a thigh guy? But yeah, your's are pretty damn amazing." You don't have to turn around, the small chuckle he lets out at the end indicates he's flustered.

When you turn around, you're met with rosy cheeks and bashful eyes. Bradley ducks his head into the crook of your neck, placing small kisses along your jawline.

His admission makes you feel at ease, your worries melting away. Your hands find his, several of your fingers wrapping around only one of his.

"I...I like your hands. A lot," you admit.

Bradley's mouth stills, "Really?"

You giggle, "Yeah. Like how big they are. Like how they feel when I hold them."

His mouth moves upward, now against the shell of your ear, "Saw you looking at them earlier. Is that all you were thinking about? Holding them?"

You could say yes and Bradley will drop it. He's had his suspicions about you, that there was more than you lead on when it came to the bedroom. Little things here and there have led him to believe it, as well as that you needed someone to open that door for you.

"I...." You took a deep breath, "I like how your fingers feel inside of me. And....I want to know how they'd feel around my throat."

The groan Bradley let out was gutteral, causing your thighs to clench.

"Jesus fucking Christ Birdie." For a brief moment, anxiety raced through your mind. You had messed up, had gone too far.

But then Bradley's mouth crashed against yours, his hands gripping the backs of your thighs as he picked you up. While the sudden show of strength made your head spin, it was feeling his erection that made you wonder why you worried in the first place.

Once you were placed on the counter, Bradley's hands trailed up your body, squeezing and kneading your soft flesh. His fingers reminded you that you had opted to go braless when you changed, the deft digits paying particularly close attention to your breasts.

All you could do was hold on, your fingers gripping the fabric of his shirt. Before you could even mark up that pretty neck of his, Bradley's hand found yours. His fingers spanned the entirety of your throat.

The grip he had on your neck forced you to look up, allowing Bradley's lips to crash against yours. It was dizzying, how small he made you feel.

Then his hand pressed against your throat and you were a goner. Broken moans filled your kitchen, your hips rutting against Bradley's in a feeble attempt to get more of him.

His other hand slipped past the waistband of your shorts, your body arching into his when his fingers skimmed the thin fabric of your panties.

You loved his touch. You were pretty sure you loved him too but that was a future you problem.

And all too soon, it was gone- his hand around your throat, the other rubbing your clothed core.

If it weren't for the cloud of anxiety beginning to form in your brain, you may have been able to say something witty, like taking it back to the bedroom. But that would require your brain to not jump to the worst conclusion, such as Bradley realizing how weird it was to be obsessed with hands.

Before you could say anything, Bradley dropped to his knees, now at eye level with your lap.

His long fingers trailed up your legs, leaving goosebumps in their wake. They finally stopped at the waistband of your shorts.

Shit.

Yes, you knew Bradley was coming over. God, you even had the chance to change into something more appealing than the plain underwear that could only be described as 'granny panties'. And yet, it completely slipped your mind that perhaps you and Bradley would be doing something more intimate this evening.

Alright, that was a lie. You had been hoping that would be the case, but expecting it would be rude.

So you went to apologize, like you always did. Apologize for not being sexy enough, thoughtful enough, not considerate enough-

Bradley's mouth silenced you as soon as it latched onto one of your bare thighs. Your fingers found his sun kissed hair, clinging onto the roots to stay somewhat stable, which was extremely difficult considering the attention Bradley was giving to your thighs.

You thought he would give them a kiss or two, maybe a bite and then move on.

Instead, Bradley had developed an unpredictable pattern when it came to your thighs. A bite here, sometimes followed by his tongue lapping over the mark, other times his lips pressing open mouthed kisses over your skin.

It was nice. Borderline unusual, considering those you dated in the past hardly spent anytime on one specific body part. Was he doing this because of your unappealing underwear?

No. Bradley said he liked-no-loved your thighs. And Bradley Bradshaw actually meant what he said.

The seed of doubt that had tried to grow in your mind withered away with each kiss, with each love bite and mark he placed on your thighs. With every action done by his stupidly talented mouth, worries about what you were wearing faded away.

Instead, you could just enjoy the insanely attractive man who was in between your legs.

God, he was so fucking hot. In such a short time, he had mastered your body, knowing the perfect amount of pressure when he sunk his teeth into your skin. His fingers gripped your soft flesh, hard enough to leave hand-shaped bruises but soft enough to still be pleasurable.

Tension melted off your body. Your head lolled back, mind focused on how enjoyable it was-

Oh.

This is what it was supposed to be like all along, wasn't it?

"Birdie? You okay baby?" When you opened your eyes, Bradley was at eye level with you.

You could only let out a confused huh.

"You stopped making those cute noises." He thought those were cute? You had been trying to hold back, not wanting to be too loud.

Maybe you should be louder.

"Yeah, sorry, I was just enjoying myself," you said sheepishly.

Bradley shook his head, "Nothing you have to apologize for."

When you looked up, he was giving you that earnest smile that made your heart flutter.

It's that exact smile that gives you the courage to learn forward and kiss him, trying to pour as much passion as one can with one simple action.

Your body arches into his, fingers weaving through those soft curls.

One of Bradley's hands snaked down your body, going past the waistband of your panties. A jolt of electricity went up your spine upon feeling his fingers brush against your soaked core.

When his fingers traced over your entrance, you didn't hold back.

Which was great for Bradley, as the desperate moan you let out made his cock twitch.

Of course his fingers were quick and talented, considering his job. You just never considered how it would translate to the bedroom (or kitchen in this case). The first time he thrusted his fingers inside of you, you thought it was a fluke. It had been ages since someone had touched you, which explained why you came so quickly.

But now? You knew better.

Your small kitchen was quickly filled with the sounds of your moans and heavy breathing. Each time his fingers stroked that one spot, you saw stars behinds your eyelids.

How did he find it so quickly?

When his thumb reached up to draw circles on your clit, all you could say was his name over and over again.

Your head felt like cotton, but in a good way. Maybe he could feel the heat radiating off of your body, but for once you didn't care. A particularly hard yank of his locks earned you a low, guttural growl from Bradley, making your walls clench around his fingers.

His free hand quickly found the sides of your neck, squeezing just enough to make a broken wail fall from your lips.

You were fucking gorgeous like this, ears teary from pleasure, lips parted. Bradley had a strong feeling there was more than what you had initially shown him. But that strong wall of reservation had broken down over time. Seeing you like this was nearly enough to make him cum right then and there.

"Br-Bradley," you barely got out, as he changed the angle of his hand, his fingers now able to thrust deeper inside you. Fuck, were you hearing yourself? Did he make you that wet?

It was absolutely certain.

"Yeah?" His voice was smooth like honeyed wine, "You gonna come for Mrs. Bradshaw?"

Fuck.

All at once it hit you like a tidal wave. Your hips jerked erratically, desperate to get as much of his fingers as possible, trying to ride out the wave as much as possible.

Thank god he didn't stop. You were addicted to the pure bliss that was running through your veins. No worries, seeds of doubt miles away. All you could focus on was the gorgeous man in front of you who was making you see stars.

You could process what he said later.

For now, you just rode it out.

"So fucking pretty like this," He rasped in your ear, fingers continuing their ministrations, "Y'know that?" All you could do was weakly nod, sensitivity beginning to overtake your body as you were pulled back to that pleasurable edge.

"Yeah, you're my pretty girl. All mine." The declaration made your head spin.

"A-All yours-Bradley!"

This time when you came, your hands clutched the soft fabric of his shirt, clinging onto him for dear life. Second orgasms were really a thing? You always thought that your inability to experience it in the past indicated that something was wrong with you.

You were beginning to learn the problem wasn't always you.

When he pulled out, his arms wrapped around your back, pulling you in for a hug. Bradley quietly rocked you back and forth, pressing soft kisses to your temple.

"You good Birdie girl?" He asked, the smile evident in his voice.

You nodded, a dozy grin appearing on your face, "Yeah I just-wow. Never came twice before. Thought it was a myth or something."

"I think you've just been with shit people," Bradley stated, feeling comfortable enough to finally address it.

"I think you're right," your arms around his waist and your head settled against his chest.

"I-sorry about what I said earlier," Bradley muttered.

Oh yeah. That was something to talk about.

"The Mrs. Bradshaw thing?" you asked.

Heat rushed to Bradley's cheeks as he rubbed a hand against the back of his neck, "Yeah....I'm sorry if that weirded you out. You were just really pretty-I mean you're always pretty-"

"It's not the first time you've called me that." You felt calm talking about it. Part of that was seeing Bradley visibly nervous.

You did what you would have wanted someone to do. You take his hands into yours, giving them a gentle squeeze as you looked up at him with a soft smile.

"I mean it. I don't mind at all. It was actually....sweet but also kinda hot," you admitted, feeling heat rise to your face.

Bradley raised an eyebrow, "Oh really?"

You playfully rolled your eyes, "Oh God are you going to use this against me?"

"Absolutely I am." Before you could even protest, Bradley had already picked you up.

"C'mon Mrs. Bradshaw, I'm far from done with you."

[whumpshaped]

whumptober 21

prompt list masterlist

tw nonhuman whumper (vampire), mind control, dehumanisation, extreme power dynamics

"Don't move."

Whumpee's eyes glazed over instantly at the quiet but firm command. There was someone right on top of them, their hands planted on the bed on either side of their head. All they could make out in the darkness of the room was a silhouette and those enticing, deep red eyes. Why had they been struggling again? They couldn't remember. It wasn't like this was a robbery, it was merely their master taking what belonged to them.

"I'll let you sleep afterwards," Master whispered, and Whumpee felt their heart swell with gratitude. Master was gracious for mentioning a reward, for mentioning an afterwards — that meant there was going to be an afterwards. They weren't going to be drained, not tonight.

"Thank you, Master," they said in a similarly hushed tone as they turned their head, exposing their neck.

They shuddered when Master leaned down and their lips brushed against their skin, their muscles unable to tense up with anticipation as a result of the spell. They didn't fear the bite, nor could they remember a time when they had feared it. The pain of it felt like the most natural thing in the world, and they welcomed it with a small gasp as those sharp fangs sank deep into their flesh, piercing veins and allowing their nutritious blood to flow into Master's mouth.

This was their purpose. They knew that with overwhelming certainty.

They didn't move even after Master had pulled away, just in case they changed their mind and decided to go for seconds. But instead, the vampire merely let out a content sigh and got off the bed. "What fine blood you have," they murmured. "Quite... difficult to resist, really."

Whumpee lit up at the praise. "Thank you, Master. Please, do drink more if it's to your liking." Their own lightheadedness didn't matter one bit, all they wanted were those fangs right back in their neck and their master pleased.

"And kill such a fine human? No, I think I won't." They waved a hand the rest of the apartment. "Go and stop the bleeding."

Whumpee obeyed without hesitation. They walked straight to the bathroom to clean up, then put a bandaid on top of the two neat puncture wounds. They could only hear the footsteps following behind before their master put their hands on their shoulders. The mirror reflected only them.

"I think I'll come back in a couple days to drink from you again. It's a hassle to find new people every time, and especially delicious ones like you."

"I would be honoured, Master," they said reverently, and the vampire sighed again.

"Of course, of course. Maybe next time I'll skip the charm... I'm getting awfully bored of all the scripted responses." They let go and stepped out of the small bathroom. "Until next time, then."

Whumpee came to in front of the mirror, staring at themself in confusion. Why was there a bandaid–

They yelped as their head cleared a bit more, suddenly overcome with pure terror and disgust. Fuck, fuck, a fucking vampire had just been here, they'd been bitten– and the thing threatened to come back... They rushed over to their window and leaned out, desperate for some fresh air.

They were just in time to see a cloaked figure exit their apartment complex below, glancing up at them when they heard the sound of their panting. They pushed themself away from the window with a startled cry, squeezing their eyes shut and curling up on the floor instead.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Was there anything in their lease pertaining to a potential vampire threat?

~

general drabbles taglist: @ashh-ed @whumpsday @whump-queen @the-scrapegoat @hidden-dreamland @rosewriteswhump @dismemberment-on-a-tuesday-night @whumpkinpie @delicateprincepaper @whumppmuhw @whump-em @cyborg0109 @morning-star-whump @justanotherlokifan @2in1whump @lthrboy @justletmereadmywhump @florissimps

[ghostboneswrites2]

Doe Eyes || Ch.1 - Woodbury

Overview: You (y/n) are taken captive by the Governor and recruited as one of his fiercest soldiers. As you slowly uncover the atrocities committed behind the walls of Woodbury and at the hands of the Governor himself, your already questionable loyalty begins to dwindle. When Woodbury falls, your only friend (a sassy, formerly rich farmer's daughter type named Brandy) decides to take the offer from the rival group to join them at their secure home in a prison. Despite your apprehensiveness -- and your preference to be out on your own -- you decide to tag along with your friend and seek refuge with Rick's group. You become a valuable, able-bodied asset to them, and that's when a certain crossbow slinging southerner becomes a part of your life.

Story begins in S3 and ends when Aaron finds the group to take them to Alexandria. It is mostly canon compliant. Lots of canonical dialogue. This story is finished. There is one OC: Brandy

18+ MDNI || Warnings: Story contains TWD typical violence, profanity, deaths of major and minor characters, gore, etc etc.

Chapter list

        "Well, so far, so good, except the dehydration. I'm going to give you these electrolyte powders. Drink them twice a day in a glass of water, and make sure to drink plenty more in between." The doctor lady told you, handing you six slender packets. "Someone will be in to show you around."

        With that, she walked out of the room and you just sat there, stunned. A doctor? In today's world? Where the hell were you? Maybe you were dead and this was some kind of strange DMT trip before your lights went out for good.

        The door opened and in walked a tall man with a fake smile. He was the type to work at a law firm or something. 

        "Good afternoon." He greeted cordially. "Name's Philip. Most people just call me Governor."

        "Governor?" You snorted. "Like 'ello gov-nah'?" You joked, mimicking a sad excuse for a British accent.

        "Funny." He chuckled, but something told you it wasn't actually that amusing. "Come on. I'll show you around, then I'll take you to where you'll be staying."

        "Staying? I don't know about that. I was doing alright on my own." 

        "Alright?" He considered your words for a moment, slowly pacing his way toward you. "Wouldn't you rather be doing well? Great, even? Just let me show you around, give you a place to stay for a day or two, and then if you still want to go, fine. We'll send you off, maybe give you some supplies to get you started."

        "What about my weapons?" You inquired. When they took you, you had a .38 and a crowbar. You'd become pretty efficient in the arts of melee since the world fell to shit.

        "Of course. You can have 'em, and we'll even give you a box of ammunition for that pretty piece of yours. It's nice, by the way. Where'd you get it?"

        "Oh, I got it when I got my first place on my own." You shrugged. "You know, wasn't in the best area and all."

        "Understandable." He nodded, showing off that eerily friendly grin of his. "Good thing you had it."

----

        "So, what do you think?" He asked. He'd just given you a quick tour of the town. Woodbury, he called it.

        "It's real cute. Never seen anything like it." You admitted.

        "No different than any other little town in the south." He chuckled.         

        "The walls, I mean." You clarified. "The armed guards. So many people. How'd you do it?"

        "Well, Rome wasn't built in a day." He shrugged, feigning humility.

        "It also wasn't built in a world infested with flesh-starved freaks." You retorted. His eyes narrowed. He was growing tired of your observations and the way you questioned everything. It threatened him, really. But he'd seen the way you fought out there. They'd been watching you for a few days, Philip and Merle and whatever goons they'd bring along for the day. They watched you fight two grown men off as they tried to raid your supplies and probably yourself. You took down the biters with ease, one swift blow to the side of the head, and another down on top. You were quick and sneaky. You made it look effortless. You had survival down to a science, which was either a threat or an asset. He hadn't decided. 

        He forced a smile that more closely resembled a sneer. 

        "I'm sure you've got loads of questions. You're a smart gal. However, I have some things that need attending, and you still haven't been shown to your place." 

        "What, like my own house?" You furrowed you eyebrows. He looked around.

        "You see any houses around here? C'mon, it's in here." He said as he led you inside the building you two had stopped in front of. It was a small apartment building it seemed, maybe twelve apartments total, if that. Yours was on the second floor. It was small, but it had everything anyone could need. "There's some food in the kitchen, and running water. Come find me if you need anything. Feel free to wander and make friends." 

----

        When you'd been at Woodbury for a few days, the Governor had cornered you, asking you to make a decision, because anyone who stayed had a job to do, and if you were going to leave, it needed to be soon so not to use up any more valuable supplies. You told him you'd stay, but he seemed skeptical all of a sudden, asking what value you had to offer. Of course, you told him about the only skill you had in this new world. You were a fighter. He seemed to like that response. He assigned you to the wall at first, then he started bringing you on runs.

        That was weeks ago. Just recently you guys brought in two women, Michonne and Andrea. They made it clear they weren't sticking around, so the Governor gave them the same offer he gave you; chill out for a few days then be on their way.

        Andrea eventually decided to stay but Michonne wanted no part of it. Thing was, Philip never intended on letting them leave alive. You and Merle were tasked with killing her. She got away from Merle, and you let her. The two of you had decided to just tell him she was dead and be done with it. Not like she had much of a chance up against their paramilitary militia anyways. That was when you truly lost any trust for Woodbury. The benevolent ruler façade was already less than believable, and the hit on Michonne did nothing but prove your suspicions. 

        Really, the only  upside to any of this was that for the first time since everyone you knew was eaten alive -- or doing the eating -- you made a friend. Brandy was a tan, dirty blonde, supermodel of a woman. She grew up on a very profitable farm. A plantation, really. She was your typical southern belle, or as she would call it, a 'Georgia Peach.' She was sassy and classy and everything in between. She was probably the only person in the world that still wore mascara and lip gloss and carried a purse. You were drinking with her at her place that night.

        "So, what did you do, anyways? Before all this?" She asked, pouring another glass of wine. 

        "Honestly?" You giggled. "I was a clerk at a pawnshop."

        "Wow, a real classy place, I bet." She joked. You rolled your eyes. 

        "Oh, yeah. The tweakers trying to pawn their decade old VHS players for a sack was real classy."

        "I didn't have a job." She admitted as she poured you a glass. "Daddy pretty much gave me whatever. Paid for my college classes." She lamented. "I had a real good life."

        "That's good." You smiled. "Mine wasn't so bad, but I definitely lacked in the rich dad department."

        "Yeah, well, I'm sure you got a lot more life experience than I could ever dream of. I used to wish I could just live like a normal girl sometimes. Life with a silver spoon ain't all it's cracked up to be, you know?"

        "Oh, yeah. I'm sure that was real tough." You snorted.

        "Only when I wanted a boyfriend who wasn't studying to be a doctor or a lawyer." She giggled. "Or that one time they caught me smokin' pot with my friends in high school."

        "Pot?" You raised your eyebrows. "My, my. A rebel, I see."

        "Something like that, yeah." She nodded.

        "Got any pot now?" You wondered. She laughed.

        "No but if you find any, let me know." 

        "So, what's up around here?" You asked, breaking away from the casual banter. She gave you a confused look. "I mean, like, how come nobody gets to leave this place?"

        "Why would anyone want to?" She scoffed. When she realized you were serious, her smiled dropped. "What do you mean? We're free to go whenever we want. Nobody ever wants to, though."

        "I don't know about that." You mumbled.

        "What are you on about?" She asked warily.

        "Look, you cant tell anyone." You said, growing more serious as you leaned forward on the table where she sat across from you. "That girl Michonne, she left. Governor sent me and Merle after her."

        "What, to bring her back? I thought you said nobody gets to leave?" Brandy tilted her head.

        "That's what I'm saying. He sent us to kill her." You whispered.

        "You killed her?" She gasped.

        "No no no no!" You shook your head and waved your hands. "She got away and I let her."

        "Well why the hell would he send y'all after her? What did she do?"

        "Nothing, man." You shook your head. "Not a damn thing. She just didn't want to stay. I don't get it."

[strawberrymilk-sunshine]

The only choice

Love love love the idea of real-world fish biology applying to merfolk

Warning(s): yandere behavior, forced unconsciousness, biting

"You thinking 'bout that cute little betta fishy again~?" Floyd playfully asked.

"W-why would you think that...?" Azul asked, looking away.

"You've been quite obsessed with them recently." Jade said.

"I... suppose you're right..." Azul admitted. "But... I have no idea how I'd even approach them..."

"You 'don't know how to approach them'?" Floyd asked. "That's stupid. You have ten limbs, just grab 'em and make them talk to you."

"Grab them?!" Azul yelled out in surprise. "No- I-I can't do something like that to them! They'd hate me!"

"It may be your only choice, Azul." Jade said. "Use your venom if you have to."

"...maybe you two are right."

He's never actually... you know, spoken to you...

But that will change soon! Soon, soon, you'll be closer than you've ever been before.

You were a beautiful betta-mer with a dark blue and red colouration, your fins were like those things humans wear... what are they called again? Oh right, a dress! Your fins made it look like you were wearing a fancy dress.

Azul couldn't help but feel like he was in love with you.

You looked so... lovely. So he needs you to become his.

Maybe just... grabbing you like the twins suggested is his only option. Maybe he just needs to... paralyze you... and take you for his own.

That would be so easy.

You would be his.

You would be his soon, so soon.

As you were out for a short swim one day, you felt something grab your tail. You thought it was some seaweed, so you shook it off and continued along.

Then, it grabbed you again. And this time it tugged you back. Then it grabbed you a bit further up, and tugged you back with more force.

"Hello, (Y/N)~"

You turned around to see a merman with pale purple skin, grey hair and blue eyes. Instead of a tail, he had tentacles... you were fairly surprised, as octopus merfolk are quite the uncommon sight around here.

"Who... w-who are you...?" You asked.

"Oh right, you don't know who I am... my apologies for not introducing myself, darling." He apologized, placing his hand on your cheek. "My name is Azul Ashengrotto."

"Why did you... grab me like this...?" You asked, brushing some of his tentacles off of you.

"It's because... I love you." A blue blush spread across his face. "And this was my only option."

"What-? No it wasn't!" You yelled out. "Y-you had countless other options!"

"No, I didn't, (Y/N)." Azul stared into your eyes. "If I, an octopus, told you I was in love you... there's no way you would accept!"

Azul grabbed your arm, and his tentacles wrapped around your body, pulling you closer to him and keeping you from struggling too much.

"I'm sorry about this, (Y/N)... but I have to do this."

Azul bit you on the arm.

You screamed out in pain as you felt his teeth pierce your flesh.

You freaked out and tried to escape his grasp, but you couldn't.

"Don't worry darling, it's not a lethal amount." Azul assured you, letting go of your arm and lifting up his head. His teeth were coated with something... not blood, not ink... some kind of yellow substance. "Just enough to paralyze you for a short while."

You were breathing heavily, you could feel your body going numb, starting from where he bit you.

"Please, don't panic. It'll be ok if you just relax." Azul told you. "I'll make sure you don't die. You trust me, right?"

There was a horrible, throbbing pain in your head. Your chest felt tight. You were dizzy and felt like you were about to feint.

"You'll be just fine, darling." He seemed very happy with himself. "Oh! My mother will be delighted to meet you! Come on, let's go, (Y/N)!"

You could barely tell what was real.

As Azul pulled you along with him, he eventually realized that you were being suspiciously quiet.

"Oh dear, they're unconscious..." Azul said to himself.

You looked so adorable while asleep.

"I'm so glad I did this... because now I have you, here with me forever. All mine, only mine..." He sighed contently, pulling you into a hug. "It seems my only choice was the right one to make in the end."

[fluffytheocelot]

Hello it’s extremely late oops. Did not realize how long this thing would take (28 and a half hours apparently according to procreate lmao) but finally, here it is!

Carmen Week Day 8: La Femme Rouge

Holy crap that was a lot of characters! For day 8 I wanted to draw all the ways I've drawn/imagined Carmen over the last 5 years! There are many I didn't do for one reason or another, but it mainly boiled down to space lol. These 10 (11 including canon Carmen) are (most) of my favorites of my AUs :)

this turned out so cool im putting it in a frame when i get a chance lol

Info and solo drawings for each under the cut! it is. so long lol

as usual, i'll gladly answer asks about em :) i have plans to write a few for sure, but it's gonna be A While for them lol

Cat:

Both a Warriors AU and also just my "_____ as a cat" style!

This ones a lot less fleshed out so just bear with me lol. (ATM there might only be 2 clans, ACME and VILE, idk yet lol. idk what to name em either cos stickin "clan" on the end don't feel right XD)

In the Warriors AU, Sheeppaw grows up learning 2 contradictory versions of the Warrior Code: The true one from Shadowstalk, and the VILE version from older warriors. She gets made an apprentice a couple moons early, but is relegated only to camp duties until shes 6 moons old.

She trains alongside Cracklepaw, Tigerpaw, Molepaw, Goatpaw, and Silentpaw. At her first gathering she meets another apprentice, maybe a few moons older, from the other clan: Jewelpaw. The two hit it off and become good friends (and develop little mutual crushes). Sheeppaw also sneaks out and meets a kittypet: Player, who she also becomes very good friends with.

When her mentor, the deputy, Shadowstalk fails her on her final warrior assessment she pretty much has most of the same reaction as the show, just in the WC style.

After witnessing a murder, she hightails it out of there and encounters the newly named Crackletail. Panicked, she hastily and vaguely tells him she saw something and needs to Leave.

She makes it to Players yard and lays low for a while, and he introduces her to the neighbor cats, a sibling pair named Zack and Ivy. The four brainstorm and Sheeppaw is renamed Carmen. They know they cant let VILE keep doing what they're doing. So rogue Carmen and her kittypet friends start figuring things out from behind the scenes.

Pirate Cat:

Exactly as it says, bipedal cat world. Black Sheep was dropped off at a random orphanage in England, with a small stuffed black sheep (where she got her name). Since everybody are cats, Black Sheep isn't that atypical of a name. Sorta a mix of normal people names and cat names.

She grows up there alongside her self-appointed older brother Graham. When she's about 10-11ish she meets the princess: Julia Argent. Childhood friends to lovers letsgoo (its a recurring theme in these lol. its cute i like it).

The two eventually get together (in secret, yay homophobia and also societal status) It doesn't help that Black Sheep had a habit of getting in trouble so she could see the princess her princess.

The two get caught one night, and Black Sheep is nearly executed for "corrupting royalty", but Julia manages to talk her father down from that. Instead, she is exiled. If she ever sets foot in the kingdom after dawn, she WILL be killed this time.

Julia visits one last time, and Black Sheep promises to return someday when she finds somewhere where they can be together freely. She gives Julia her stuffed sheep to look after while she's gone, and asks her to take care of Fuega while she's gone (on one of their sneak-outs, they found a baby dragon that Julia managed to convince her dad to let her keep). Julia gives her the triangle choker. yay tearful goodbyes ;-;

Black Sheep and Graham (because no way is he letting his little sister go into exile without him) go from place to place, stealing when they need to and end up accidentally stowing away on a VILE pirate ship.

VILE pirate training to avoid death, they escape. Graham appoints the newly named Carmen Sandiego captain of their little ship, and they also pick up Zack, Ivy, and Player along the way. Carmen becomes very well known around the globe: civilians/lower class people see her as a Robin Hood hero (correct), while most royals and nobles see her as nothing but a filthy pirate (incorrect).

A few years go by when suddenly the crew gets word that the King of England is trying to marry off his daughter, who has recently come of age. Cue panicked race home + childhood lover reunion.

Daughter of Poseidon (Carmen Sandiego and the Olympians):

Percy Jackson AU! Replace Percy with Carmen, Grover with Player, Annabeth with Julia, and switch/move around some plot points and that's about it lol. I keep telling myself I'll do some scene rewrites of this one so we'll see. Includes PJO and HOO acting as prequels for Carmen Sandiego. Def wanna do dome rewrites for the canon show for this AU too lol

Dino Squad:

I'm out here combining one obscure kids show with another lol. If you haven't seen it, Dino Squad is this early 2000s animated show about these 5 teenagers that get mutated and can turn into dinosaurs, and go around stopping the bad guy from turning everything into dinosaurs. (I think the entire series may be on youtube lol. its goofy but man i loved it as a kid. i wanted dino powers so bad)

This is basically a high school au but most of Team Red has dinosaur powers. :P

In this, Dr. Bellum is experimenting with bringing dinosaurs back, but instead of just cloning them, she figures out how to mutate already-existing organisms into others.

(in the OG dino squad, the bad guy IS a dinosaur that evolved into a human--long story--and believes everything should still be dinosaurs. hes technically right, tbf, if the meteor hadn't hit they prolly still WOULD be dinosaurs. why does bellum want dinosaurs? because she's Bellum and she Can lol)

Carmen Wolfe and her twin brother Graham (they're fraternal twins. why? bc i thought it would be funny. yes he still has his accent. its my world i do what i want) are raised by Carlotta and Dexter Wolfe in Kittery Point, Maine. Carlotta is a paleontologist/biologist and Dexter is a history and geography teacher at the high school. They do know of VILE and what Bellum was working on and have been monitoring it in secret from the kids.

Carmen and Julia are those friends that met bc they were both hiding under the slide in like. Preschool and just stayed friends lol. They're the kind of best friends that will just. Show Up. usually Julia at Carmen's house because "You have better snacks" also Julia's parents just Don't Like Carmen. (Why? idk bc i said so. idk they think she's a bad influence. she's really not lol) Literally Julia has like a spot on the couch and a table setting. She's basically the third twin these three have known each other essentially their entire lives.

Zack and Ivy joined the group in middle school, when Ivy had the same class as Carmen, Julia, and Gray. Zack joined via association. (Zack and Ivy, on the other hand are not twins. again. bc its funny. each sibling pair thought the other was like them. zack and ivy thought Carmen and Gray were just normal siblings, and Carmen and Gray thought Zack and Ivy were twins. Julia had to explain to all of them it was not the case lol)

Player is Carmen's online friend that the whole group includes. they all game together and he gets ALL the public school tea. hes about the same age as Zack, so about a year-ish younger than Carmen, Gray, Ivy, and Julia.

At the end of their freshman year, Carmen and Julia start dating. Their friends and Carmen's parents know, they keep it secret from everyone else. At the end of the summer everybody (aside from Player) go to the beach for one last day of freedom before school starts. They swim through the mutant goo, and over the next few days discover their powers.

Carlotta IDs each dino: Carmen is a (large/person sized) pyroraptor, Gray is a T. rex, Julia is a troodon, and I still cant decide on Zack and Ivy's dino forms lol. Carlotta and Dexter explain the whole VILE thing and the group just kinda simultaneously goes "welp guess we're superheroes now. cool"

so yea dealing w highschool and also mutant dinosaurs and superpowers. this ones fun bc they can just be stupid kids lol

The Last Wolf:

My werewolf AU. The one that started all this mess and my love for making AUs of this show. It was my first fanfic i ever wrote, and it is very near to my heart. it's also gotten out of hand and become a franchise at this point it's ridiculous. (Seriously i've got a prequel of her parents planned and also a series of shorts set in the universe) It's gonna be a long ride, boys. Hope people still like CS by the time it's done lol

A Thief's Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse:

Zombie apocalypse AU! Talked about this one a bit for AU day, and also as of this post I have ~1k words written of the first chapter! I also have a bunch of the major plot points outlined too ;) I wouldn't expect anything soon tho lol.

She wears a wetsuit under the coat bc it's really hard to bite through, especially with rotten jaws. She's got some boots she probably scavenged or traded for, and of course: the Walkman she probably found looting some abandoned building. She collects cassettes to listen to. Gotta keep sane in the end of the world.

How is this one a literal apocalypse and its still more lighthearted than the one based on FNAF lol

Redd Wolf (Five Nights at Redd's):

FNAF AU. I've truly lost it lol. I have this one completely outlined, nothing written but a lot of things are VERY clear in my mind. This ones uh. a lot more intense than even Thief's Guide. It's FNAF. its immense violence and child death. Seriously, Carmen, Player, Gray, Ivy, Zack, and Julia all end up possessing animatronics at some point. It ends happily, but it is based off a horror thing so if that's not your thing b careful <3

its supposed to be more of a mystery that gets unraveled, but if anyone wants specifics of it u can drop an ask :) i only have animatronic designs for Carmen, Julia, and Gray so far tho. I have ideas for the others too.

This is one I wanna share with y'all at some point. its probably the shortest of the AUs I have outlined so far, so yk. maybe in this lifetime lol.

Carmen and the Age of Wonderbeasts:

Mega Jaguar Carmen. This ones more of a ~vibe~ than an actual plot but i like drawing mega jag carm :)

Plushie Dragon:

This one's not an AU, but actually based on doodles of these 2 plush dragons! Matching red/gold and blue/silver dragons named after carmen and julia lol. I'll get around to posting more drawings of em cause they're cute

the plushies <3 (they have spikes u just cant see em:

ik they look goofy i lov them anyways

Wings of Fire:

Wings of Fire AU! Carmen is a rainwing/skywing hybrid (rainwing dad, skywing mom) She can camoflauge, fly decently fast, and has a prehensile tail. She can't breathe fire or use typical venom, BUT she figures out her venom, while not face-melting by itself, IS in fact flammable. again, more of a ~vibe~ than a story and plot, but I like drawing dragons.

Canon Carmen:

She's front and center, the one that started all this.

Way back in 2019, the autism and ADHD departments in my brain came to an agreement: This show is the greatest show of all time.

It was the first fandom I actively contributed to/interacted with. (I still read fics from other fandoms before, but had never been active in a fandom) Like I mentioned with Last Wolf, I had never actually written fanfiction before, and definitely never posted it. I love writing and telling stories (and boy howdy do I have A Lot of stories rolling around my brain). between all of the AUs ive come up with, I've gotten to practice so much worldbuilding and characterization. English classes usually focused on expository stuff, with like. a brief fiction writing thing. So I've definitely gotten to stretch my creative writing muscles with this show, and hopefully I can put em to use on original projects someday <3

I fell in love with the first season, and got ridiculously excited for every new season and the interactive. (heck, i played every possible option for the interactive the day it came out, and binged every subsequent season the day they aired.)

This show has been a big part of my life the last five years, and the original show will always be special to me. It's the reason I started learning to draw people lol, I have a drawing of Carmen from 2020 that I'm still really proud of. It's hung on my bedroom wall to this day.

So thank you, Carmen Sandiego. For everything.

[theonemarvelousness]

Problem Child

"--and I expect you to verse your freshmen in proper lab etiquette after this incident, Leona Kingscholar." Professor Crewel is such a blow hard.

A scowl won't leave Leona's face as he glances over at the wild child Rook Hunt, who won't stop grinning wide despite the explosive disaster he conducted his second day in the Science Club. Great. This one's been a nightmare since day one and he hasn't even been Housewarden that long.

The sacrifice of being top dog is dealing with this bullshit. Why isn't the head of the Science Club here? Oh right, they're in the infirmary.

Eh, they'll be fine. Didn't like 'em anyway.

"Yeah, yeah, c'mon Hunt. You're cleaning up the lab." He can probably nap while he works, right...?

---

Well, when he wakes up on instinct to something being shot at him (an arrow), he realizes that this isn't just a wild child, he's absolutely fucking feral. A snarl rips from his lips.

"Ah! What sharp instincts!" Why does he look overjoyed?

What the fuck did he get himself into being Housewarden, anyway?

"Do it again and I'll rip it out of your flesh." The snarl from his lips means he's serious.

"Oui, oui! I cannot wait~! Ah, what would it be like to feel your claws in my flesh? What thrill would be the chase~?"

He needs an adult. He is an adult.

The lab is at least restored to its formerly clean state. Impressive, but at the same time he just doesn't want to be in the same breathing space as this one for awhile. Can anyone blame him? "You're done. You're free to go. Don't fuck up again." And Leona? Oh, he fucks off.

---

When Rook Hunt stands there with a broad smile and a stack of transfer paperwork at the end of the term, he's actually surprised. Considering how much he loves to challenge and fight his fellow Savanaclaw members... why would he want to leave? But he takes it, flipping--"Pomefiore?"

"Oui!"

"I don't want to know." It's going to be their problem soon. He easily signs the forms, and doesn't even read through whatever nonsense this guy's got penned. He's rid of him, that's all that matters.

Maybe they won't have an incident every night of bullshit shenanigans. He's looking forward to napping more.

Handing it back. "Off you go. Pack everything, you won't be coming back here next term."

"Oui! I will be in Pomefiore to help temper a beautiful blade~"

Ah.

Well, he feels a little sorry for whomever is his next victim, then.

But at least it's no longer his problem.

---

Seeing Rook, all gussied up in Pomefiore attire--hair cut, and made up like... well, a priss. Now that's something.

He's a bit curious, so he does watch more than he needs. Ah--he recognizes that one. Vil Schoenheit. Actor. Model. Probably intolerable. Another Pomefiore Freshman that's currently adjusting the feather on Rook's hat and fussing over his appearance. So that's what he left for...

With that grin plastered on Hunt's face? Yeah.

Hopefully that keeps his attention for the next couple years. He's not taking that back.

[indydrawsstuff]

-> For Undertale September. <-

Those first days after she exiled herself must have been hard.

Meals just weren't the same. They were smaller. She kept forgetting she didn't have to make so much food anymore. She wasn't even really sure why she kept the chairs, but they stayed. She just couldn't bring herself to move them. Still, she was resolute. This was best. If any children fell down, she would keep them safe. She would keep them safe from Asgore.

…

So… uh… ever notice how there are three chairs around the table in Toriel's house in Undertale? And one of them is smaller than the other two. I figure there are a few ways to interpret that. Maybe for both of her lost children (and she removed Asgore's chair altogether), or perhaps they represent the son and husband she lost, one abruptly, and one slowly over anger, heartache, and grief.

Even in her anger, it couldn't have been an easy transition.

I'm sad to say I just don't have the energy to finish this right now. I might flesh it out a lot more one day. Maybe right a little ficlet or something. In the meantime, I've spent too much time on this when I've got tons to do this week. <_<' But the idea I could be "caught up" with Undertale September was too tempting, so here ya goes.

…

Also… I've done two happy pics of Toriel in the last couple months (er, I'll post 'em eventually, promise), so… I did a sad one. Sorry. 'Specially since my last couple for this were kinda… er… not happy, either.

-> Masterpost with all the pieces I've done for it!

[ligamystickut]

"Dear Mama"

This is a short horror story I wrote on reddit about 2 years ago under UndeadLocklear. I want to get back into writing, so I'm reposting it here. If there are typos in it,,, I didn't go back over and edit it, so that makes sense. Hope you enjoy, and I'd love feedback, even if it's from a couple years ago.

Trigger Warnings for allusions to pregnancy, and for body horror. Oh, and.. religious trauma? Yes, I think.

-----

Dear Mama,

You taught me to be a good boy. You taught me to be a good man. And I believe and trust in God with all my heart, but Mama... I've done something bad. Or maybe I'm in something bad. This apartment is a body and I'm in it's stomach. It's eaten me alive, Mama. I can't look outside anymore, the lord's grace from the sun's touch burns, and it stinks on my skin, and I can feel it all peel away when I try to touch the sky, Mama. I met people here. They were nice, God fearin' folks, I thought. Told me they prayed every day and every night. Mama I ain't seen a church in a while. I ain't stepped outside in a while. My skins pale and I'm cold. My feet look blue, Mama. Like when I was young and played outside too much. You said I was born blue, Mama. You said a snake wrapped around my neck in the womb, but God saved me and freed me from Satan's grasp. You said I was a miracle. Mama, can't he pull one more miracle for me? I'm turnin' blue again, can't he, just one more time, Mama, please? Don't let me die cold here, Lord. Don't let me die cold.

They told me they prayed to God. They invited me into their home. God, Mama, the smell. The smell on my skin is as putrid as the bile that finds its way outta my belly every mornin' now. I'm tired, Mama. I'm cold, Mama. I was in their home, Mama. The apartment is a belly. I can smell it digesting me, as it digested them. Oh, Mama, I'm sick. Mama, please, one more miracle.

They fed me food, and it was all like normal. Chattin', havin' fun. It all seemed to okay. I was okay. I'm not okay. I ate their food and got sleepy. Mama, my eyes closed on their own, like Satan gently kissed each eyelid and seared them shut with the heat of his skin. I shoulda never talked to strangers, Mama. You told me never to talk to 'em. Shoulda listened. You were always right.

I woke up in a bed, and my arms and legs were tied. I was as naked as the day I was born, Mama, and I was so afraid. They stood over me, but I couldn't see their faces. Oh, Mama, they didn't have faces. They were a twirling, swirling mess of flesh and skin and hair. They had blood on their hands and they spread it all over my body. I was all red, Ma. So red. Red as the Devil himself. It smelled so bad. I vomited on myself, but that didn't shake them a bit. They kept rubbing blood on my skin, Ma. I feel disgusting. I can never get clean.

I don't know what happened after a while, I passed out. But when I woke up, they were back with something else in their hands. It moved, Mama. It moved and squirmed and I could HEAR IT CRYING. MAMA, it was CRYING. CRYING LIKE A CHILD, BUT IT WASN'T A CHILD, MAMA. Mama, they put in on my belly and it CUT ME. IT CUT ME DEEP, and burrowed inside of me. Mama I still feel it. It's crying inside me. My belly is stiff.

I don't remember how I got away, but I was back in my apartment and I ain't gone out since. I can't do it, Ma. I can't stay in here anymore. It's all cramped, I can't breathe, and what they wanted was for me to hold this thing. I won't do it Mama. I won't let this thing eat me and tear through me into this world. I'll stop it, Ma.

Oh, Mama. I don't wanna be cold anymore. I wanna feel the sun, even if it burns and boils and turns me to liquid, at least IT will melt with me. I wish you were here, Mama. I wish you were still on this earth with me, I'd feel braver than I really am. Maybe you woulda given me the courage to do what I gotta do sooner. Maybe I woulda still been a human. My bones are different, Mama. They bend. If I tried hard enough, I could mold myself into a hole like a slug lookin' to hide. I can't stand anymore. I crawl. I'm so thankful I can still write. I'll see you soon, Mama. I'll be back in the Lord's warm, holy embrace soon. I won't be molded into something I can barely look at. I'll be home, Mama.

Love,

Whatever is left of your miracle boy.

[yandeiros]

This one is all kinds of decent, my first real effort at anything approaching fanfiction. Yea, gonna write about this group a bunch cos I think they're cool.

***

Eorzean days, much like Eorzean nights, were often quiet, peaceful ones. Most did not have it easy, but many did not have it hard. Alas, Gyr'Abania was one such place that times were harder than most. These were the days before the Warrior of Light would sound revolution's horn across the imperial holdings of Garlemald. When one's talents and ambition were far less important than one's race. The dusty village of Resarch's Quay was yet another place where the wretched and unwanted by 'civilized' society would gather and make a life for themselves as best they could.

It was so named for its position by the sea, and for a deep quarry nearby opened in times lost to the Great Flood by a woman named Resarch, though few residents knew or cared for that story. "What has the sea brought us," they'd lament, "save for pirates and tidal waves?". "What the quarry but monsters of another age?". So it was that this small village, already fearful of outsiders and others of all stripes, came to be host to a most strange man, and his stranger occupation.

***

M'Pliish and his sister M'Naarey had been returning from fishing what little lived in the briny seas near their home when a patrol of Garlean soldiers accosted them. They knew it was unwise to be out past their curfew, but the sting of hunger present was a stricter master than the specter of violence threatened. "What are a starveling boy and girl such as yourselves doing out this early in the day? Mighty suspicious, if you ask me..." Said one, fearsome truncheon in hand. "All else equal, maybe we should bring 'em for questioning by lord Arvinas? Always more room for the curious..."

"Pliishey...?" Came Naarey's small voice. Pliish gritted his teeth as a soldier's hand fell upon his sister's shoulder. Naarey was merely 8 summers old, too young to remember the day their parents had been dragged out of the village by the depraved scientist's men. Pliish did not have the full story, but the elders had whispered of "just desserts" and "comeuppance", so the reckless Miquote of 13 had stalked the kidnappers to their foul nest that very night. What he saw that night at once stoked his heart's hatred, and cowed his soul's bravery. As it often does, hatred won out over good sense, and he lashed out at the nearest guard.

Pliish was a hunter, and like a hunter he went for the throat. Perhaps it was surprise, perhaps luck, either way Naarey's claws found soft flesh, and the first soldier of four fell in a gargling, gasping heap, his throat sliced open. Naarey shrieked. The remaining Garleans, seeing Pliish for the threat he was, drew their gun swords as their captain stepped back. "Waste not your bullets on this gutter trash. The 'munition's worth far more than any of your lives, and I'll not have the Commander chew me out on your lot's behalf! Spare the girl, we need summaught for our troubles."

"Naarey, run! Run home and hide yourself! I'll be right behind you!" Pliish had never killed another man, and his trembling voice betrayed the adrenaline coursing through him. The world was a dusty red haze, and even through this some part of him knew to keep what family he had left safe. Naarey, woken from her shock by her brother's snarl ran as fast as her small legs would carry her. With a bitter smile, he noticed that she still had the satchel with their catch in it.

Good girl, at least you'll have food tonight if...if I don't make it home...

He bared his own knives, the familiar hilts quieting the noise within. 50 years of oppression, the Ala'Mhigans had endured, his entire life had been thus, but by Rhalgr it felt liberating to lash out at the Imperials. They surrounded him, as wolves do a lone gazelle, waiting for their moment, salivating. Pliish had been so often the predator that he knew how best prey might survive: a brutal assault. This thought carried him, screaming, forward, forward...forward to an imperial blade impaling his chest. Now that the element of surprise was his no longer, he was again but a boy of 18, against butchers of 30 and more. A child still, despite his bravery, and he was no hero.

Mother, father...Naarey... I'm sorry. Pliish crumpled to the dirt as his assailant pulled his blade out, setting his blood freely flowing. He dully heard his sister shriek again, vaguely heard his name, then was lost to darkness.

***

It is said that in battlefields of old, where excessive aether has been spent, the rift between our world and The Void is thin, as a bandage stanching a deep wound. The Voidsent are drawn to such places, seeking the rich souls of the dead and dying to feast upon before retreating to their unholy domain. So it was that Pliish had, with his own spark of violence, caught the attention of an otherworldly predator...

The Garleans were reading the official condemnation of Pliish as he bled out, half dead already. The captain had his blade at the ready to execute him when the voidgate screeched open. Malice. Cold. Hunger. Black tendrils coursed forth from the gate, coalescing into the form of an Ahriman, it's tongue languidly tasting the aether and blood rich air. It fixed its beady eye upon the captain, and his flesh lithified quickly. Perhaps if the Garleans had stood their ground and struck, they could have overcome the ambushing fiend. Alas, their officer overcome, and already down a man, they instead beat a hasty retreat.

"Stand...cowards...trait-" the stone had crept up the captain's face by now, freezing his face in a gaunt expression of rage and shock. Confident in it's victory, the voidsent began eating the remains of the first imperial, messily tearing through his body.

So, a disgrace to my family, my village, my people, and voidsent food to boot. Hydaelin, what did I do to deserve this?

So resigned was Pliish to his fate, that he did not notice the approaching footsteps accompanied by the rhythmic tap, tap, tap of a metal staff on the ground. A cold, arrogant voice grated out, "Invaders from a backward, ignorant nation of Spoken I can abide, they will learn their place in time. Oft they've the good sense to leave me and mine alone, this breach of conduct aside. Invaders from another world...that is something utterly unacceptable." The aether around Pliish was swept away and reformed as a ball of flame beside a strangely dressed Au Ra man. With an incomprehensible utterance, it flew forward from him, and struck the voidsent in the center of its mass, boiling its malign eye and incinerating its foul body.

He strode forward at a casual, easy pace, casting Pliish a glance. "You are dying, boy. I shall ease your pain." Again, he held his staff aloft, again the firey mass gathered about him. This time, rather than a blazing inferno, it slowly trickled into Pliish, more akin to a warm fireplace on a bitterly cold night. His wound closed, his energy returned, even his hunger abated. "There. Run along now, I've much to do, and vanishingly little time to do it." Without even a pause for Pliish to give thanks to his grimly dressed savior, the man strode off towards the voidgate with a flourish of his longcoat. "Uh, w-wait, who are you?" He called to the stranger's back.

"Run along, I shan't say it a third time. The Void is not something one trifles with carelessly, and you haven't even the wisdom to not spill blood nearby a seam. Be glad I was here when I was, boy, else your soul would be part of that monster's body. Perhaps you'd even be aware of it supping on your village, growing in power with each victim! Your sister no doubt is sobbing to herself in fear. Go to her." With that, he slammed his staff to the earth, and began chanting"O soul of the land, that feeds hungry flame, soul of the sky that does thunder tame. Soul of the sea that burns bitter cold, in my empty heart establish your hold!" Another strike, somehow reverberating louder than it had any right to, and a lattice of aether gathered at the Au Ra's feet, orbiting him as Dalamud orbits the Greater Moon.

Powerful magicks coursed through the air, flowing inwardly to the voidgate. Pliish had already started to run, but something caught his eye. An imp, lowest of the lower voidsent, had also snuck through the portal with the Ahriman...and it was conjuring a blade of wicked ice towards the stranger's head.

"Ser! Look out!" On instinct, Pliish nocked an arrow into his hunting bow, and loosed it at the imp. Yet the shot was too slow, the magick too fast, and the imp fell to his shot just after hurling its icicle towards the Au Ra. Pliish yelled in dismay as the ice...harmlessly dissipated against an invisible wall surrounding the man. Young man, said the stranger's voice in Pliish's head. You are sorely testing my patience. Your assistance, while generous, is neither needed nor welcome. I will be coming to your village on the morrow, and shall seek you out then. Now, I command you, GO.

Terrible, dark currents of aether swirled around Pliish as he felt himself being funneled...somewhere. His body felt distant, his mind grew dim. Pliish was in fact being teleported home, the mage having grown truly tired of his distracting presence.

***

The voidgate was closing as the mage had expected it to. "Some things never change. Even here in the Colonies, They take advantage of our lapse in might. Still, that boy holds some promise. Perhaps his sister as well. But, I am getting ahead of myself." With a deafening silence, the gate sealed, and with it the barrier between worlds strengthened. The mage spent some time carving wards and dispersing stagnant aether, to dissuade future interlopers.

"Still...it is quite concerning that none of my countrymen cleansed this area before me. This aether has been volatile for...what, fifty years by the feel of it? Most concerning...and those soldiers...they had weapons the like of which I've not seen before. They belong to none of the Three Great Nations... Just what has transpired in my absence..."

With those uneasy thoughts in his head, he continued his easy stride to the outpost quarry, to meet his fellows and make up for lost time. It was not every day a Magus of his standing visited lonely places like these, and he was eager to be among his own people after such a long time away.

***

Pliish did not awake until the following morning, and Naarey scarcely left his side the whole night. She had seen the hole in his tunic where a sword had pierced, seen the dried blood about his chest and mouth, yet she could not find his wound. "Pliishey...please don't you leave me too..." Fresh water welled at her eyes as she thought of her brother in the same lonely grave their parents' bodies were absent from. She almost couldn't believe it when he weakly wiped her tears away, and said with an exhausted smile, "Naa, what did I tell you? I said I'd be right behind you..." She grabbed him and hugged him as hard as her small arms would allow, before striking at his chest with tear-stained fists. "What if you died! What if you died and left me all alone, what if you died you stupid, stupid..." Her words quickly gave way to new tears and choked, ragged breaths. Pliish stroked her hair gently as she got all of her fear, despair and relief out of her system.

Their home, such as it was was a simple one. Even among the destitute peoples of Resarch's Quay, the stand of mud and thatch Pliish and Naarey called theirs was spartan. Few supplies and fewer decorations, what little they owned was utilitarian and spoke to their lives. Pliish's hunting supplies, and a few books on trapping and foraging local flora and fauna; Naarey's cooking supplies and books on farming and selling goods; a simple statue from a local sculptor in the image of their once-happy family; a table, simple beds, simple clothes.

Naarey was nothing if not diligent. She had been able to stifle her fear long enough when she saw Pliish appear in his bed, somehow alive, to prepare a basic porridge for when he woke. He told her as much as he could about what had happened, in their home, the only home the orphans had ever known.

They had what was to be their last meal together as a family before their whole world was upended, as a stray bird in a hurricane.

***

Naarey heard it first, she'd always had better hearing than he, and her attention turned to the street. "Pliishey, there's a strange man yelling at elder Rhaz Nuhn, is he the Au Ra you were talking about? He sounds...scary." her ears flexed back, and her expression grew wan. Strangers making demands of the elder usually ended in kidnappings or robberies, so she was rightly afraid. Pliish knew that the stranger was, if not friendly, not overtly hostile, which put him up several levels from their usual 'guests'. "I think we can trust him, Naarey. At least not to rob us, though I have no idea what someone that strong wants here. I'll go try to smooth things over with the Elder, avoid any more death today." He shakily walked out of his home towards the noise, ignoring his sister's protestations.

It did not take long to find the outlander, emphatically gesticulating at the Elder. "You will find, you bumpkin, that my paperwork is in order. I have already had my missives signed off by The Coven, and I will not be impeded any further! Your security is a joke, your wards non-existent, and an Ahriman was able to creep through a seam not an hour's walk outside the town limits! An Ahriman! What if a child was to be taken by it? I ask again, who is your Archmagus? I have many complaints to level at their frankly insulting lack of care for the territory they've been entrusted with!" He noticed Pliish limping towards the crowd, most of the town roused by his vocal entrance. "Ah, young Pliish. I would expect you'd still be resting, given the grievous hurts you sustained. 'Twould seem you are hardier than I gave you credit for." He gave a thin, ashen smile. Elder Rhaz considered Pliish for a moment. "Elder Rhaz, I can explai-" "Pliish of the M tribe...that this stranger knows your name, yet only arrived here early this morning, tells me that you met him outside of town yesterday, after the curfew the occupiers have set. Would you like to tell me what you were thinking, antagonizing them, setting them on our tail, endangering not only yourself, but all of us as well?" With disarming agility, the former Monk struck Pliish in the chest, knocking him clean off his feet, causing him to cough up blood. As he braced for the Elder's subsequent blows, he found instead the village leader was frozen in place, his eyes flitting about with confusion.

"Elder...Rhaz, was it?" Said the stranger, lazily pointing a finger towards him. A tendril of cold vapor flowed from it towards the Elder. "Did you know that harming potential initiates carries a fine no less than 20% of the assailant's yearly earnings, a year's hard labor in the Grimstone mines and, should the Magus overseeing the case be of the mood, contractual exchange?" His voice dripped with a horrid venom at that last phrase. "Seeing as your Magus is either dead, indisposed or nonexistent, that would make me the ranking authority of this backwater. Now, I'm going to remove you from stasis, that you might explain to me whether it was ignorance or stupidity that moved you to strike my property." At this, the vapor ceased and Rhaz's motion wheeled around to strike at the man calling himself Magus. The onetime Monk struck as fast as a coeurl, and where he expected to strike flesh he instead found...force? As though a wall made of wind was between him and his quarry, Rhaz's hand was stayed.

"Ignorance, then. Even the lowliest of the low knows better than to attempt battle with a Voidmage." The stranger's smile grew cruel and thin as electrical energy swirled about his finger tips. "Seeing as you are so unaware of your place, it stands to reason that others may be as well." With a flick and a whisper, a searing bolt of lightning struck the elder in the chest, sending him reeling with convulsions, gasping for breath that would not be drawn. The stranger approached his prone body, holding the base of his staff above Rhaz's head. A feeble "m.. monster..." Was all he could choke out" "A monster kills without reason, my foolish man. I kill to prove a point, though you will be dead regardless. I suppose to you, it is all the same."

For the second time today, Pliish found himself unwillingly close to danger. As if by instinct, he tried to run towards Rhaz, to do something, anything to stop the stranger. Too late, Rhaz's fate was sealed as the dark mage brought his staff's barb down...only for it to be repelled in the selfsame manner the elder's fist had been. "As I suspected..." he said, "the Gift runs strong in your blood." Naarey, her hands held up, met Pliish's gaze before looking to the ground. "I just...copied what he did..."

Putting away his staff, the mage strode towards Pliish, his eyes trained on Naarey. "'Just copying' one of my skill is no mean feat, girl. To think, an instinctual caster of White Magick, this far from the core. And kin to one with an affinity for The Black..." His expression flowed from interest to concern as he mused. "But...by your ages, surely one of the academies would have noticed you. Your ambient aether sings such a sweet melody. No matter. Girl-child!" The mage said, "This morning I spared your brother from the depredations of a voidsent fiend. You repay my kindness by denying me my will. From each of you, I shall exact a price equal to what was lost, as is the law. From this moment forward, your lives are mine." Though his words were cruel, his tone and expression remained neutral. "Of you, I shall craft mighty instruments through which the Gift flows..."

Pliish and Naarey both understood perhaps one fourth of what the Au Ra had said, but what they understood was enough to cause alarm. "Ser, you are strong, that's clear. But you can't come and demand such things and expect us to just go along with you!" A tense moment, the barely-standing teenager staring down the ice-blooded adult. After a moment, the stranger sighed, and said, "Very well. Let us observe some of whatever it is you people call customs before I have what is mine. Your name, I already know." he carelessly gestured to Pliish. "I shall offer knowledge of my name for that of your sister." " I'm Naarey, of the M tribe." His sister tried her best to sound like her brother, even if her tail was shaking with fear. "Understood, young Naarey. I have many names, many titles, but you and yours may call me," with entirely too much histrionic vigor, the Au Ra swept his wide hat off his head, and gave a flourishing bow,

"Yandeiros T'anna, High Voidmage of the Empire of Mhach."

And so it was that the Voidmage of a time forgotten came to meet the heritors of a legacy lost.

[buckets-and-trees]

💜- top 3 favorite lines

💻- three works of yours that are must reads

⭐️- how do you get your inspiration?

ask game list

THANK YOU FOR THE ASKS, EM! I may or may not have gotten carried away with the answers...

💜- top 3 favorite lines: THIS WAS HARD AND EASY. Sometimes I'll know if a particular

“In future you kneel for only me, no one else.” from Consort Namor x Reader, smut, post Wakanda Forever ....this line iykyk AND I KNEW WHAT I WAS DOING WHEN I WROTE THAT

“Maybe I was tired of better. Maybe I decided I wanted easy. Besides, some of this is so much better.” from The Ashes In My Wake dark!Daredevil x Reader, non-con smut

“You can’t stop me from getting what I want, and this world has already taken so much from you, so why not get something you want?” from hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have dark!Wanda, Bucky x Reader, non-con/dub-con smut

....and sometimes I don't write smut, but honestly I guess I mostly always write plot with smut or smut adjacent

OH WELL

💻- three works of yours that are must reads

Witchview [1.3k] Reader insert (witch!reader), Steve stays in the present after Endgame, post-WandaVision, smut, magic, manipulation, dark-ish This I had the concept just spring up and fall out of my head REALLY quickly, and it was so fun to explore. It was for a 1300-word challenge, so wrestling down the word count while trying to maintain all the plot I needed to get across was difficult but satisfying. Aaaaand I may or may not be actively working on fleshing it out into an entire saga with the before and after.

Fire Burning from a Cedar Tree [3.4k] Reader insert, king!Steve, Royal AU, smut, fluff Writing this one was very immersive for me as I tried to convey a very particular narrative that I wanted to convey specific emotional moments with. And it was another one that moved along very quickly once I'd conceived the idea.

The Brooklyn Boys [12-part drabble/one-shot series] Reader insert, Steve, Bucky, fluff You know when Infinity War came out and then those of us who were in the fandom at that time had to wait A WHOLE YEAR to find out WHAT IN THE FREAKING HELL WAS GOING TO HAPPEN but now no one ever has to fully suffer that ever again? This series was kind of like that. It was the first stuff I wrote and posted to create this blog and start being part of fandom again, and I knew exactly what was going to happen in all 12 parts, and there's a Particular Plot Point reveal that once it happened, the comments I got were OMG I WASN'T EXPECTING THAT BUT OF COURSE. But now that it's all published, there's no real avoiding it without sacrificing the practice of properly tagging everything appropriately (which I wholeheartedly support).

⭐️- how do you get your inspiration?

Songs, prompt lists, challenges, watching or reading something that spawns me to start playing around with an idea for something else... I have a very analytical mind but with lots of creative energy, so almost anything can inspire me. It's definitely more to do with whether or not I have the mental capacity to dedicate to creative projects or not. My undergrad was English with emphasis in Creative Writing (my uni you had to pick Creative Writing, Non-Fiction, or Poetry for a focus) and once I was done with my last year in particular, I'd had to put so much concentration into writing projects that I was done for like eight months, just needed a rest. A year later I moved from a part-time job into a full time position that also necessitated a move to a new town, so between trying to learn a new job, I was also trying to build a new life, get settled into a new apartment, and by the time I started having free mental energy again, it was around the time I also needed to start considering a graduate degree, so that then took up ALL my extra time for two years, and I had reading/writing burnout again after that.

My early fandom days I did a lot of missing scenes/alternate scenes/background characters/rare pairings stuff, "what if" fics, sequel fics, and in HP dove heavy into Marauder Era stuff. Now it's pretty driven in there being so much open to play with in the MCU fandom from the gamut of "missing scenes"/moments between films to fix it to fill the time between now and the next film to just pure AU exploration because I'm enthralled by some of the characters that it's just... idk. Some writers will probably always be more popular and gain followings more easily than me because they can hone in and do one things (whether it's a character or a genre or a fandom) really well and maybe by not splitting their focus so much can tame the muse a little more easily to be able to write more consistently for their readers...

But I adore exploring so many different ideas, and for me the ebb and flow of different muses and plot bunnies I think helps me to stay motivated long term, because some thought while I'm driving or in the grocery store or folding laundry will pull me back to the writing in general, and I'm less likely to get stuck trying to figure out one thing.

[joytraveler]

81: Run The Gauntlet

This is the first, and possibly only, first-person shooter on the whole console! It's nothing like any FPS Bea has played, though. The playing field is limited to what you can see through a cutout, like the gobos used to depict "binocular view" in a movie. You also shoot arrows and axes rather than bullets, and the enemies are fantasy monsters, but the play field seems to be a futuristic city!

"GO!! GO WE HAVE TO RUN, LETS GO! WHY DO YOU WASTE MY TIME WITH MENUS?! Wait what do I name my character.."

aroseahorseboy: there's ten characters... HONEYBUNCH HNV: Ten playable characters?? aroseahorseboy: ten blank spaces HNV: I admit they're not very well fleshed out, no

"Done. Nope, sorry, aro gets this one!” Entered! "I'm going to look at this warehouse for supplies.. Does this town look familiar to you guys? I mean, totally different game obviously, but.. Maybe rubble just tends to look similar"

Syrupentine: The last ruined city we saw didn't have any monsters though... DueyDecimal: Maybe the monsters all got turned into save points! TaichouSenseiKun: I Have No Mouth And I Must Save

It's very strange to play an FPS that uses NES-quality graphics! You can't quite tell what the monsters are until they get close to you, so it's almost like Dragon Warrior or other RPGs of the day, you fight in very close quarters.

"I can't really see what i'm fighting until its right there and that makes this SO SCARY!!"

TaichouSenseiKun: What if they threw a Doom and Bea came DueyDecimal: An FPS that Bea actually likes?? What kind of miracle is this? aroseahorseboy: okay i thought that was going to be a bear but it is indeed a mean gingerbread man LESSON LEARNED Glockroach: Bea youre beating the hell out of that heavily pixelated gingerbread man

"I was hungry.. Oh I got one of its candy claw hands? Can I equi- ohhh yeah I can!"

john_brown: this actually is a little bit like gauntlet except there's no "elf needs food badly" aroseahorseboy: "elf serves food poorly"

When Bea finally reaches the boss of the maze, once again, it's very difficult to see what it is from a distance. When Bea gets close, though, she gets a very detailed look at a moist, gooey eye glaring right back at her from the TV! Bea sputters out profanities and tries to flee but can't get it out of her field of "vision!"

"HELP ME AAAAA I CANT DO ANYTHING OHGODHELP" She tries attacking it, to no avail.

john_brown: oh cool does this have motion controls? HNV: ...It's been a long time since anyone said that. john_brown: it's watching bea herself-- when she goes left, it looks left Baconnaise: Maybe it wants a staring contest. or a contact lens Maybe it must be fed aroseahorseboy: O!!! bea bea bea listen lean to the left while you play THEN SHOOT FROM THE RIGHT

"Why does this thing keep messing with me?? It makes games, it does.. whatever this is here, it emotionally devastates people, it slices, it dices, it die-ses!"

Syrupentine: Thinks it's so great, where the hell is the game where it tells you the sports scores and lottery numbers from the future

Aro's suggestion actually works: since the boss aims at the person playing the game, rather than the player character, it starts to miss her as soon as she leans over, out of view of her webcam.

"If I don't look at it, it can't see me! I'll have to fight it in the mirror.. wait, Aro's thing is better, let’s keep doing that!"

"This is really cool but I hope the next one doesn't stare quite so deeply into the pits of my soul.."

john_brown: can someone explain what's happening in this series or should I just watch the other videos? they're like four hours each...

"Well I know a lot of you know each other already. John, we'd been trying to get you here for a while, but I do these live and then just post em, maybe I should chop them up more. There's a lot going on in this game but we're pretty sure we're trying to solve a mystery!"

Syrupentine: Would it be okay with you if I made some "best of" videos, Bea? HNV: John: Bea's been playing this crazy plug and play game system with supposedly 167 games on it, and there's a bunch of weird recurring themes DueyDecimal: My favorite is the family with the funny names! They keep appearing and the mom and son are like the mascots for the whole series, I think

"There's a family and- yeah. And the mom is the one we know the best, and she seems AWESOME and let us unlock this in-game software that lets you actually make stuff! It's like Mario Maker, sort of, but you can do multiple genres and also, I keep thinking about her like she's a real person, is that weird? Well, welcome to the Bea Show!"

Klickitat_Street: And then there's the zombies. And tapeworms. And Planet of Pisces, and tons of weird games made by actual children... john_brown: is this all for real? aroseahorseboy: either that or bea is a fucking brilliant performance artist DueyDecimal: Also this totally weird imported game system has all these advanced features! It has gyro controls, analog stick, QR support, and Bea keeps finding new ones!

"Both things can be true. I think they're trying to tie together the console's history in some way, Redhead might even be one of the devs"

aroseahorseboy: yeah the games are like the story of the console itself or at least that's our best guess

[theinstagrahame]

Concerned Third Party

Sometimes in indie RPG design, I think one gets eyes bigger than their stomachs. I had a lot of ideas for this one at the outset, but I did kinda lose my drive for it.

Concerned Third Party was an attempt to capture the things that made the show Person of Interest fun, and Charge felt like a good system for it, because it took a lot of the ideas from Forged in the Dark, but made them even lighter-weight.

The basic format is: One player plays the John Reese character, an Operative. Highly trained, flexible, good at several physical feats, but no slouch with mental work.

Another player controls the Finch stand-in: exceptionally smart, extremely good at providing intel.

Then I have an optional GM character who plays the Algorithm. The Machine in the series, which creates a case for the other two players to work together to solve.

Pulling a little from Brindlewood Bay and similar mystery games where the group comes up with the ending during play, each Case focused on a person who might be a Victim or a Perpetrator of a violent crime. It's up to the players to figure out which and stop it.

I also grabbed some elements of Belonging Outside Belonging games to create forces that could work against the players. Criminal elements, government agencies, citizen uprisings, and chaotic true believers (like Root). As these groups had plans foiled, they earned tokens they could spend to complicate further situations with the players.

Around the time I was working on it, I also listened to the incredible @partyofonepod episode featuring Jeeyon Shim's The Snow Queen. This gave me an idea for a Faction Turn game using a similar engine, which players could use to flesh out combat between the larger forces at work. It seemed like a neat expansion concept, but I haven't put anything on paper beyond this paragraph for it.

I still think the core idea is sound, and perhaps I'll make this more than an Ashcan someday. I was pulling it together for another Game Jam, and I wanted to get it off my plate so I could start on other projects.

A few things kinda killed the momentum on it, aside from the background radiation of late-capitalist chaos.

Too many ideas piling up that I was equally excited about

My partner and I were watching Person of Interest when I started, but moved on to other shows

A conversation with another game designer that left me questioning some of the underlying morality of the concept

(With the benefit of several months of therapy, there may also be a touch of undiagnosed ADHD in all of these as well)

I nearly gave up on it entirely--a thing I do a lot--because it wasn't quite the standard I wanted it to be. Another conversation with a different game designer talked me into the Ashcan idea. One of the reasons I love Itch.io is how comfortable the Community seems to be with half-finished ideas and experiments, with iterative design and improvements. So, Concerned Third Party is currently a minimum-playable game.

(Maybe one day I'll do a little retrospective on the first couple of games I designed. I'm proud that I made 'em, but they didn't really have legs).

[dykeminecraft]

long fucker below

Static's thoughts on Specific Food/Items/Creatures

(Bear in mind that this is from the perspective of someone who has the ability to just bite into shit wholesale. With most of these, if it's a mob drop, they're talking about the item. If it's a mob, they're talking about biting the Physical Creature) -Rotten flesh: "I mean. It's rotten flesh. It is flesh, and it is edible, but it's not the best. Flesh from husks isn't too bad, it's just really dry. Drowned have vile flesh though. It's soggy and salty and gross. Normal zombies...somewhere in the middle. Probably the closest to actual dried meat re: texture, but tastewise it could be better. Viable food though." -Spider Eyes: "They're worse than rotten flesh. Since they're poisonous. Taste-wise...I mean, taste-wise, they're not horrible, just kinda bland. But they're poisonous. I'd eat em in an emergency, but I'd eat rotten flesh first." -Cows: "They're. They're cows. Take a bit of raw beef and eat it, and then eat a bunch more of it, and that's about what it's like. Messy, though. To be honest, unless it's a chicken, eating anything whole is messy. Chickens aren't as messy. Cows are horrifically messy, though." -Sheep: "If they're not sheared, it's like eating a bloody blanket. If they are sheared...again, it's literally just mutton. With some extra bits, yes, but...it's still pretty simple!" -Pigs: "It's Pork. Not as messy as cows or sheep, but still messy. They are arguably the easiest of the four-leggeds to bite through, though." -Chickens: "Definitely the easiest animal to eat, particularly because they also die pretty quick. I don't have to use my hands, one bite is generally enough. The feathers kinda suck, though." -Skeletons? "I mean, I can break their bones and get at the marrow, but to be honest it's not really worth it for me. If someone came up to me and asked 'hey, I have some open bones, you want some marrow?' I wouldn't refuse, but it's more work than it's worth to do it myself."

-Creepers: "I can eat creepers. Strictly speaking. Trying to actually do it without them blowing up in my face is hard, though. And gunpowder...well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

-Spiders: "Believe me when I say that biting into a spider wholesale raw is worse than biting into a zombie. Because they have exoskeletons, everything inside is wet and goopy and sometimes barely contained and it's gross. Zombies? They have bones, their bodies are actually structured in a way that isn't Juice World. I've eaten spiders before and it was only when I was very desperate and very hungry. Cave spiders are even worse because they're poisonous. Big spiders aren't poisonous on their own, 's just their eyes."

-Zombies: "It's...it's basically just biting a person, but the person is undead. Unpleasant taste, even more unpleasant smell most of the time unless it's a husk. They don't bleed a whole lot. They're kinda dry. The one upside to them compared to players is that zombies are stupid, so it's easy to just rip out whatever's keeping them up and then they're down. Oh, and the morality bit."

-Hoglins: "Ok. Take a pig. Make it extremely tough. Like, 'I left my steak in a very hot, very dry furnace for a day' tough. Let the meat sit on netherrack far from lava for a while, maybe a couple months. Don't cook it, let the nether heat do its thing. Now eat it. That's what hoglin is like. Also good fucking luck killing them without a sword, their outer hide is like hardened leather. I can bite through it, but they need to be stunned or else I'll get thrown off."

-Piglins: "Kinda a mix between hoglins and people, honestly. They're pretty tough, but they're humanoid, so they lack a bit of the Oomph that hoglins have."

-Zombified Piglins: "Ew. Gross. Nasty. They're hot from the nether and they taste like rotten pork. Absolutely one of the worst things to eat, down there with spiders."

-Striders: "They're Too Fuckin Hot. Even when they're cold. Biting into one feels like drinking a lava bucket. It's not even worth it, they taste like rocks."

-Silverfish: "It's a bit like spiders, just less juice."

-Endermites: "My mouthparts are specifically adapted for ender-beings. Because I crawled out of the Void. Anyways. Endermites just feel normal to eat. They're not especially tasty, and I don't like the fact that they're bugs, but they feel normal enough. Still don't eat em often, though."

-Endermen: "As far as natural instinct goes, Endermen are probably the most natural thing for me to go after. Pearls, specifically. They have a good mouthfeel, and they're pitifully easy to incapacitate if you have foot-long razor sharp knives coming out of your mouth. I avoid eating them, though. Get a bit weird when I do."

-Ghasts: "I've tried. Doesn't work. It's because their core is so far in, you'd have to be lucky to get at it. Seriously, have you ever touched a ghast? They don't feel like much unless you're touching the center."

-Vexes: "They give me indigestion."

Items:

-Mushrooms (any): "I mean. They're mushrooms, right? They...they just taste like mushrooms! Warped 'shrooms taste a bit funky, sort of like an enderman but fermented, and crimson 'shrooms are just spicy!"

-String: "Noooooo, any fiber like that I can't eat. You try eating string."

-Gunpowder: "If you want me to die and leave behind a significant crater, sure."

-Slime: "Slime is...slime, it's a slime ball, it's sticky and tastes vaguely like swampwater."

-Redstone: "I mean...as far as things I've put in my mouth? Not the worst. Far from the best, but not the worst. Did turn me funny colors for a bit though."

-Netherwart: "Netherwart...hm. It...just drink an awkward potion, to be honest. The weird taste that isn't water is netherwart"

-Blaze Powder: "Blaze powder is just painful."

-Heart of the Sea: "I've eaten one or two. They sort of just taste like fish, though."

-Nether Stars: "I can eat nether stars, yeah. It's just that they give me a migraine and also the last time I ate one I blew a hole through bedrock, which isn't something I'm keen on repeating."

[zodiacs-web]

Hi! I request a Buddha x reader with kids story 😊

Story Time

𖥔 Buddha x Gn!Reader

𖥔 Synopsis: Buddha reads reader a story

𖥔 What's in the web: nothing too serious

𖥔 A/n: The story The Wolf and The Crane is apparently Aesop's fables, I think, if not correct me. Note I randomly chose this story out of many.

Sitting next to the demi-god, you were feeling a bit bored. It's been a long time since you've hung out with him, with you now realizing why you left. He just sat there eating his candies and minding his own business.

An idea sprouted in your head as you mindlessly stared at the abyss called the sky. Turning your attention to the man, you lightly tapped his arm, getting his attention in a split-second. He turned towards you and hummed.

"I've been feeling a bit bored and I was wondering if you have any stores to tell." You started. "Any will do."

"Even if they're not true?" he asked.

You nodded as he grinned in response. Surprisingly, he thought of one quickly, adjusting himself so you can lay against him.

"Once, there lived a greedy and cunning wolf in a den forest. One day, while he was having his dinner, a bone got stuck into his throat. He tried hard to take it out, but couldn't succeed in his effort.

The wolf began whining with pain. The pain was unbearable. The wolf got worried and began thinking, 'The pain will subside in due course. But, what will happen if the bone doesn't come out. I won't be able to eat anything. I will starve to death.'

The wolf began thinking of some possible remedy to overcome the problem.

Suddenly he recalled that there was a crane who lived on the banks of a nearby lake. He immediately went to the crane and said, 'My friend, I've a bone stuck deep into my throat. If you could please pull it out of my throat with your long beak, I shall pay you suitably for your help and remain ever-grateful to you.'

The crane saw his pitiable condition and agreed to help him. He put his long beak, and in the process, half of his neck also, deep into the throat of the wolf and pulled the bone out. The wolf was very happy to have the bone pulled out of his throat.

'Now pay me my fees, please,' The crane requested.

'What fees?', said the wolf. 'You put your head into my mouth and I let it out safely. That's enough of my kindness. Now get lost, otherwise, I'll kill you and eat your flesh.'"

"What a story," you mumbled. "shame the crane got tricked."

"Yeah, poor animal. Do you think he'd accept beans?" Buddha joked.

A chuckle left your lips as you playfully slapped his shoulder.

"Like a bird would take such a thing." You stated.

"Who knows? Maybe Odin's crows will take em'." He pondered.

"You wanna go ask em'?"

"Let's go!"

[goodbysunball]

She'll be right back

Hardly new, but four releases from 2021 well-suited for the cooler seasons - including the best record I've heard this year. This is what you want; go get 'em.

Cerebral Rot, Excretion of Mortality (20 Buck Spin)

Hard to out-camp death metal obsessed with trying to come up with the grossest bodily failures and decomposition, but I'll happily put up with song titles like "Retching Innards" when the riffs are this fuckin' good. Besides, we've all been there. My innards, retching. Excretion of Mortality pretty much picks up where Odious Descent Into Decay left off, except the band is a full-on force now. The opening title track is a textbook lesson on grimy death metal, suffocatingly dense, full of bone-crushing riffs and winding radioactive solos, finding fresh rot in each new movement. That same ridiculous formula is sharpened and reused to stunning effect again and again over the album's first six tracks; I'd call "Bowels of Decrepitude" out for it's particularly bruising attack and that sick bass solo part (there's another one on "Drowned in Malodor"), but ya can't go wrong with any of 'em. My only qualm with the record is that it maybe should've ended after six songs, and not with the 11-minute closer "Crowning the Disgustulent (Breed of Repugnance)," which just feels like an exhausting, self-referencing recap after the rest of the record. Six outta seven is a ridiculous batting average, and I'll take too much of a good thing even if I have to whine about it. Not sure that going Cro-Magnon in these times is the answer but it sure as hell is a fun distraction. Good times for death metal in the States: new records from Mortiferum and Apparition out now or soon.

N0V3L, NON-FICTION (Flemish Eye)

I gotta admit that I felt a little bit burned by Crack Cloud's last album, what with its tendency toward these corny ornate Arcade Fire-esque gestures (still, "Tunnel Vision" though), so I was a little hesitant to check out the debut from sister band N0V3L, L33T-speak band name and all. Happy to report that NON-FICTION is much more successful than PAIN OLYMPICS while treading the same grounds. Lyrically N0V3L touches on the opioid epidemic ("Pushers") and the diet activism fads spawned in every corner of social media in the past year ("Interest Free," "Status") while continuing to rail against our corporate overlords (the seemingly neverending "Falling In Line," long enough to bluntly drive the point home) and modern politics ("En Masse"). The band strips the definition of "post-punk" down to its core across the record, guitars and synth reduced to window dressing for the amazing rhythm section, vocals speak-sung in a low register and only given any urgency in spare doses. "Stranger," with its horn section, sounds like prime A Minute to Pray-era Flesh Eaters, and the frantic drumming on "Pushers" drives the bleak lyrics "We're all junkies just weeks from a habit" into your skull. For all the nearly danceable and dark successes across most of NON-FICTION, it's the instrumental outro of "Status" leading into mild closer "Notice of Foreclosure" that stands as my favorite part of the record. The repeated guitar line and the mumbled, defeated vocal delivery on "Notice of Foreclosure" serve as a final sigh of a people reluctantly accepting that there is nowhere else to go. So by all means, dance to the likes of "Group Disease" while you can, because the end of this record is a real bummer. Ignore this band's inexcusable choice of a name, because NON-FICTION is the real deal, a mirror held up to show all the imperfections. While they can offer only to name the problems while standing in solidarity, it feels important and it feels like enough most days.

Nusidm, Hatred of Pain (self-released)

Record of the fuckin' year right here. Not sure what planet Glen Schenau is on but more artists could take a cue from Hatred of Pain's reckless, insular experimentation. Glen's solo output thus far has been singular, to say the least, and his first LP pushes him much further out to sea. Opener "I Took Off Your Ring" is an endurance test, Schenau throwing backward carnival organ and ear-piercing flute into the mix at points where the listener might have settled in. "The mix," by the way, is this amazing black metal guitar tremolo picking, sans effects, and plodding, woozy drumming with Glen's clenched jaw intonations serving as the vocals for it all. Nothing really approaches the extremes of "I Took Off Your Ring" in length or sonics on the album again, but that same aggressively insular approach continues. "Lit a Little Fire" is a highlight, Glen sounding like he's in a submarine that's slowly going under but holding onto hope that "she'll be right back," enunciating the latter as fast as he can while his head's above water. The most aggressive track, "Frowntown," has the most animated vocals that almost refer back to his earlier solo work, barking "This is a venue I was banned from!" over a gnarled bed of descending guitar and rolling drums. It's not all sandpaper and scrap metal on Hatred of Pain, though: "Vapid" rides a jazzy bassline for its duration, "A Thankless Crime" is a hard-plucked acoustic loner, and "Hammer Smashed Phone" (yes) with its muffled robotic vocals and piercing melodica sounds like a warped collaboration with the Native Cats. The record reaches its logical conclusion on "So Dark," a deep and moving trip that turns black metal inside out, with lyrics that are basically the title and Glen crooning "I'm not blam-ing YOU-OOH" from the bottom of the well. When this record first arrived, it came with a handwritten note from Glen explaining how he thought maybe the record was a little too personal but he made the choice to put it all out there, basically blowing up his life to make something from all of the pieces in some sort of cleansing act, and that framing makes a lot of sense. I think it's a brilliant piece of work, bleak and sharp and funny and desperate in equal measure, and the physical package reflects the care and probable over-analysis of the whole project. I haven't heard anything this inwardly focused and completely unaware of musical and societal norms since Courtesy and Good Will Toward Men. Amazing stuff. If you trust me, trust Hatred of Pain more.

V/A, and felt like... (Knekelhuis)

The compilation album, at its core, seems designed for diminishing returns in most cases, but recent offerings by labels like Kashual Plastik seem hellbent on changing that narrative. The recent and felt like... compilation by Dutch label Knekelhuis is another excellent addition to newfound compilation success stories, steeped in fragile new age experiments that sound like sunlight filtering into a damp house. Of the artists on and felt like..., only Gothenburg's Treasury of Puppies were familiar to me, and that lack of familiarity probably only aids my enjoyment of the record. Ike Zwanikken's "Bianca," which provides the title of the record, is this lush, patient bed of electronics for Brooklyn Mellar's voice, reminding me of Martina Lussi's Diffusion Is a Force in execution. All of the tracks seem to meditate on one motif, be it the ambience of Avsluta's "Mono No Aware" or the warped, lonely "E.T." by Michel Banabila, gossamer threads captured and repurposed. The whole record is uniform in its approach and delivery, even when dipping a toe into rap on the closing track (which is maybe my favorite track). It's an arresting whole; breathe or move too much and it will disappear.

[yourmidnightlover]

ssa hotchner: chapter 1 - the blazer

TW: harrassment, talk about a case

WC : 5,920 

series masterlist

-----------------------------------

"aaron! hey," you answered the phone after hitting enter on the final file you had to upload to the computer.

"y/n! how are you?" your brother questioned kindly.

"um, i've been better," you started, trying to figure out how to tell him the bad news.

"what happened?" aaron asked as he finished filling out the final file he had before noon. "is it about that promotion?" he rolled his eyes, recalling the events of last time you were up for a promotion.

"yea... it is," you sorrowfully revealed. "i uh... i didn't get it. again," you sighed out as you closed your laptop and put it in your bag. "can you... what are you doing for lunch?"

"well the team and i were gonna go out to a local thai place right around the corner from the bau, you could join if you'd like," he replied, wanting to be there for his sister any chance he could. "you know how much they love you."

"i just don't really think my mood is relative to that of a person who's going out with a crowd of people, y'know?" you placed the device in your bag and closed it, pulling it over your shoulder after grabbing your keys from the bag. "besides, i haven't met all of your team yet. dr. reid wasn't there the last time i saw you at my birthday because he was visiting his mother, remember?" you brought up, hoping he wouldn't feel too bad for you.

"y/n, just come to lunch with us. the last case went well, and everyone's pretty excited about that. maybe that'll help put you in a better mood?" aaron suggested as he gathered his things to go out for lunch. "and reid will actually be there this time so you'll be able to meet him," arron smiled at the thought of you meeting the young genius.

"are you sure? i really don't want to impose on your post-case celebrations, aaron," you rebutted as you walked out of the doors of the office you've been working at for nearly 8 years.

"i'm positive. everyone would love to see you again," emily walked into the office, noticing the smile he was wearing that he only has when he's talking to you.

"is that y/n?" emily questioned with a bright smile as hotch nodded. "tell her i said hi! and that i really miss her! oh wait are you talking her into coming to lunch with us?" her eyes widened at the possibility of seeing you again.

"yea, i'm trying to get her to realize that she won't be imposing on us if she comes," the dark haired man sighed.

"here, give me the phone. you know she can't resist my charm," emily teased, you laughed from hearing the remark over the phone as hotch handed it to her. "y/n hotchner. you are going to go to lunch with us whether you like it or not," emily demanded with a smirk.

"oh, yes. there's that charm i know and love, em," you giggled as you put your keys in the ignition, realization setting in that you should probably just go to lunch with them since you have no other plans and are already in your car. "fine. i'll go. should i meet you there or at the office?"

"just meet us there. we're like five minutes away and with morgan's driving it'll be cut in half," emily scolded.

"okay. i'm on my way now. should be maybe 10 minutes," you announced. "i'll see you guys there," you said before hanging up the phone and beginning to drive.

you had been working at a law firm near the bau for nearly 8 years. in fact, next week would make it officially 8 years. the office was run by a few men, under the US district attorney, who you've come to find out are misogynistic pricks who don't like putting women in positions of authority.

you got hired on about 5 months out of law school, columbia law school to be exact. you have an associates in business and a masters criminology, law, psychology. your original dream was to work at the bau with your big brother, clearly, but those dreams changed since you graduated from columbia.

you pulled into the parking lot of 'thailand eatery,' a bau team favorite, and noticed aaron's car parked in the far corner. you smiled to yourself as you found a spot beside him and got out to make your way inside.

"hi, i'm here with aaron hotchner for lunch," you sweetly announced to the hostess before she nodded.

"right this way, ma'am," you followed her to the table full of fbi agents, noticing their laughter that erupted for some unknown reason.

one seat was open next to aaron and emily. you placed your blazer on your seat and a hand on both of their shoulders to announce your arrival. they looked at you in surprise before realizing who you were, big smiles crossing their faces.

"y/n!" arron excitedly announced before standing to give you a nice bear hug. "it's so good to see you," he whispered in your ear kindly.

"i know. it's been a while since we've been able to do this," you grinned widely as you wrapped your arms around his torso.

"okay, okay..." emily interrupted. "this is sweet and all, but i haven't been able to see you since your birthday last year," she announced before you traded your brother's arms for hers.

"it's good to see you, em" you laughed as she squeezed you tightly.

"where the hell have you been! i've missed you," she pouted as you both unwrapped your arms from each other.

"y'know, working for the usual pricks i do... and that's pretty much it," you shrugged as you made your way around the table to hug penelope.

"what have they been doing to you this time, my little sugar plum?" penelope asked sweetly as you gave her another hug.

"the usual, pen. just the usual," you sighed into her ear as you began to hug derek. "but let's not get into that know, yea? i heard you guys had a successful case the other day! that's exciting!" you announced as derek wrapped his arms around you, picking you up and swinging you around a bit.

if you're honest, derek is like a second big brother to you. he was there for you when your brother got stabbed in his own home and was in a coma. he comforted you in your home when you were sobbing on the floor because it wasn't safe for you to visit your own flesh and blood.

"hell yea it was," derek smiled into your ear before placing you down and giving you a chaste peck on the cheek. "but if i need to kick some ass at that work place of yours i won't even hesitate," he whispered into your ear as he rose from your cheek.

"now, now, derek," you tapped his chest playfully. "i don't need you kicking my bosses down like you would a door, as exhilarating as that sounds," you chuckled aimlessly.

"bella, care to indulge me in what they're doing at that office of yours?" rossi said as you made your way to hug him.

"it's not that big of a deal, dave. i'm sure i'm just overreacting again," you sighed as you released him from his hug.

"not a big deal?" aaron butted in. "y/n, you deserved that promotion and they looked you over, yet again," he sassed. "i don't think that's overreacting," he rolled his eyes.

"i know i deserved it, but..." you sighed, weighing all the possibilities. "actually there's no buts. i've worked there for 8 years and have gotten two promotions. i guess i'm just really disappointed," you reasoned, trying not to start crying from the anger bubbling up inside of you.

"two promotions in eight years?" rossi questioned, noticing the annoyed look on your face at the thought. "do those assclowns not realize what an amazing worker you are?" david asked in disbelief.

"i don't know... i guess?" you questioned. "i just don't want to think about that right now," you said as you hugged jj in return.

"are you kidding? we've been to a few of your cases," the blond added. "you're amazing, y/n." jj complimented. "rossi's right. they must be absolutely blind if they don't see what a great worker you are."

"thank you, jayge," you smiled at her before realizing there was one more person at the table.

you'd seen him in pictures, and had heard enough about him to remember a few key points. he's a genius with three phd's, three ba's, he has a thing with germs, he's a bit awkward, and absolutely handsome. the pictures you've seen didn't do him justice.

"i'm assuming you're the famous dr. spencer reid?" you asked, not bothering to reach for a hug or handshake.

"i uhm, yes i am. dr. sp-spencer reid. or you can call me spen-spencer," he cleared his throught. "or reid, or basically whatever you'd uh- whatever you'd prefer," he stuttered out, sitting awkwardly in his chair and barely maintaining eye contact.

"how about we just go with spencer?" you asked as you made your way to your seat beside your brother. "my name's-"

"y/n hotchner, yes," he smiled at you as your brother pushed your chair in for you, you muttering a small 'thank you' in return. "i've uhm... i've heard a lot about you," he stammered.

"oh dear, let me go ahead and apologize in that case," you joked, eliciting laughter from your friends at the table.

"actually, there's uhm - there's no need to apologize. everything i heard was," he sniffled, "really good. it was all good," his lips formed into a line as he nodded at his own words.

"well then i guess i have to mention how great everyone's made you out to be. i mean, a three phds and three ba's at only, what? 34? that's beyond incredible, spencer," you complimented the gorgeous man sitting beside your brother.

"oh uhm, th-thank you, y/n," he blushed. cute.

"it's no problem at all. i mean it's not everyday that you meet a genius that's as young and handsome as you are," you laughed, taking a sip of the water that your brother had ordered for you before you arrived, not even realizing the compliment you had payed to his looks. shit. now you realized. you cleared your thought before acting like you didn't even say anything.

"oh! uhm, th-thank you, again. you're uhm - you're very - you too. not that you're handsome, but that you're very..." he trailed off, biting his lower lip to refrain from humiliating himself even more.

"well then, pretty boy, you sure do have a way with words," morgan teased, eliciting a jab in the stomach from penelope.

"derek morgan, if you do not shut up," penelope scowled.

meanwhile, you turned your head to notice your brother staring oddly at 'pretty boy' who was looking sheepishly at you. you nudged your brother's arm playfully, capturing his attention.

"stare any harder at him and he might explode, aaron," you whispered in his ear, being sure not to look at spencer.

"maybe that needs to happen with the way he's looking at you, y/n," he rebutted.

it's true. if anyone else had been looking at you that way, arron probably would've mentioned that he's in the fbi and that he has more than two guns to scare them away. since it was spencer, everything was different.

"shush, it's just a little crush. what's the worst that could happen?" you rolled your eyes at his protectiveness. "he'll be over it by the end of lunch," you announced, not noticing the way aaron rolled his eyes at your assumption.

aaron had seen spencer around girls enough to know that when he got flustered around them it usually meant something more than just a little crush in spencer's mind. that also means that arron knows that spencer would never try to do anything with you because you're his sister.

"fine," he relished, not wanting to bother with the genius's sure infatuation with you when this is the first time he's gotten to see his own sister in a while. "so you wanted to talk to me about something?" he changed the subject.

"right," you twiddled with your thumbs and looked down into your lap. "ikindaputinmytwoweeksnoticeatthefirmoceifoundoutaboutthepromotion," you rambled out, casually taking a sip of your drink as if you didn't just say you quit your job of 8 years.

"you did what?" he asked in confusion, not understanding what you said.

"i put in my two weeks notice once i found out about the promotion," you slowed down so he could understand, his eyes going wide upon the understanding.

"that's... what you wanted to do, right?" he questioned, not wanting to give you the wrong reaction.

"yea, i think so," you started. "i was just so tired of getting looked over just because of my gender, y'know? i've had to prove myself in everything i've ever done. i think i've more than proved myself at the firm," you announced, still trying to find your own confidence.

:you have, y/n. you've more than proved yourself to be an amazing lawyer," he agreed. "sometimes i'm convinced you might work harder than we do," he scoffed.

"there's no way, a," you laughed at the ridiculous statement. "i've just put my all into the firm. all my time, attention, and hard work has gone into that place. the reason that place is where it is right now is because of me," you pouted.

"i remember. i brought the whole team to the case that put the firm on the map. even reid was there," he stated.

"spencer was at that case?" you asked, not remembering him saying hi afterwords.

"yea, he was. he just got pulled away because of troubles with his mom," you 'ohh'ed at the revelation. "but that case was the hardest one i've ever seen a lawyer handle, y/n."

"thank you," you smiled at the compliment.

"no, i mean it," he relished. "i don't even think i would've won that case. that's what brought everyone to the firm. it was a high profile case, one that the bau was on. of course there was going to be a big turnout. you handled the press, and the pressure amazingly."

it was a case the bau had worked on for nearly a week and a half, and they needed you to further convince the jury that who they caught was the right unsub because of the amount of circumstantial evidence. you were able to get the unsub flustered, and admit to his own crime on the stand with the press in the room.

it was possibly the best case you'd ever gotten because the amount of publicity you'd gotten. but with publicity there came quite a few complications that you hadn't told anyone about.

"that's just the big brother in you talking," you giggled, trying to brush the compliment off naturally.

"whatever you say, y/n. whatever you say," he brought his drink up to his mouth to take a sip.

"so, how was the last case you were on?" you asked, quite intrigued by all the cases he would tell you when he had the chance.

"well, how about we start from the beginning since you like hearing about them so much?" he asked with a grin, you nodded eagerly.

"so it started with the unsub taking abducting his victims..."

throughout the case, you found yourself starting to profiling the suspects yourself, something your brother noticed too. i mean, how could you not do that? you had a degree in psychology and criminology so it made since that profiling them would be natural for you.

everyone at the table interrupted at their parts in the story. when david and jj went to the m.e., when aaron, emily, and derek went to the crime scene, spencer and the geo profile. you were fascinated by their work and everything they were able to do.

when you were younger and your brother had first started at the bau, he really enjoyed calling you to tell you about them. he loved your reactions and how enthusiastic you would become when he was talking. that's really when you first started dreaming about being in the bau, with aaron.

"ugh, y'know i used to dream of going on cases with you guys," you admitted after they finished wrapping up the case in words, taking a sip of your drink to wash your food down.

"really?" spencer asked, not stammering while talking to you for the first time all afternoon.

"yea. aaron would always tell me about the cases when you got back, and i could practically just imagine myself working them with him and you guys," you relished, a smile on your face as you recalled the memories of your younger self.

"i think you'd do excellent on the team," spencer suggested. "it's clear that you already work well with everyone, plus you're more than qualified to work with us, other than the fact that you'd need to go through the fbi training."

"actually i've already been through it," you nonchalantly admitted with a shrug.

"you have?" he questioned as his eyebrows raised in shock. "why haven't you decided to work at the fbi then?" you shrugged at his question.

"i guess i just thought i wouldn't fit in enough?" you said, clearly realizing the contradiction to your earlier statement about imagining yourself on the team. "besides, i got a job at the firm as soon as i got out of the academy, so it all worked out fine."

"actually, reid, that's a good idea," aaron said as he turned his attention to you. "would you be interested in working at the bau with us?" he asked with a small grin, the thought of working with his sister already bringing a smile to his face.

"wh-don't-wouldn't you have to ask your boss about that? that's a big change, adding a new member to a team. you guys already work so well together..." you trailed off, trying to come up with an excuse.

"strauss?" derek asked in feigned disbelief. "she loves you, kid. which is kind of odd since it seems as though she doesn't like hotch as much," derek chuckled.

"oh my god! imagine it, y/n!" penny yelled in excitement. "you could see us everyday, and you wouldn't have to deal with those buttmunches you work for!" she announced.

"used to work for, two weeks from now," you laughed. "and it sounds amazing, but aaron already works there. i'm sure that's enough hotchner's for you guys," you shrugged with a smile.

"that's nonsense!" emily disagreed. "two of my favorite people working with me?! an absolute dream, i tell you," she grinned.

"i guess if you talk to erin about it and she's alright with it..." you trailed off with a huff. "how could i say no?" you smiled.

"oh my gosh this is so exciting!" penny announced, jumping up and rushing arounf the table to hug you. "i'm so ready to work with you!"

"let's not get too beyond ourselves, pen," you giggled. "she hasn't approved my addition yet."

"come on, she's gonna approve it, y/n," dave commented.

"whatever you guys say," you laughed.

you all finished eating, and received the check for lunch of which david insisted on paying. you went up to him afterwards and insisted on paying your part of the bill, but he said it was 'his treat for this wondrous occasion.'

you reluctantly made your way back to your office, the lingering stares from your bosses not going unnoticed. you couldn't wait for those two weeks to be over and for you to be able to leave that hell hole behind, whether you got the job at the bau or not.

you sat down in your chair and reached for your blazer only to realize you must've left it back at the restaurant. great. there goes that 50 bucks.

"hey, sweetcheeks," ron, one of your bosses, commented upon his entrance to your office.

"how many times do i have to tell you not to call me that?" you rolled your eyes, finishing up on the transcript you would need for the case you had tomorrow.

"oh, come on. you know you love it," he said, walking further into your office and sitting on the corner of your desk, ignoring the two chairs that remained across from you. you closed your computer and looked into his eyes, shooting daggers at him with your own.

"what do you want?" you spat at him, wanting to get him out of your hair as soon as possible.

"well, you won't be an employee in two weeks," he announced as if you hadn't already known.

"i'm well aware," you sassed back, trying not to slap him across the face at the fact that he was no longer looking at your eyes, rather further south from them. you snapped your fingers to bring his attention back to your face. "what. do. you. want?"

"well, honey pie, i was just wanting to take you out. y'know, after you're done here," he bit his lip, trying to be seductive but massively failing.

the terrible thing about this fool is, he doesn't know what the word 'no' means. he's always made passes at you, and commented on your appearance. it, of course, made you uncomfortable, but you couldn't really do anything about it. the hopes of getting a promotion was greater than your uncomfortability.

"i've seen the way you look at me, it's no secret," he said, getting off your desk and walking closer to you.

"you mean it's no secret that i find you absolutely repulsive?" you snapped. "shocker," you widened your eyes to feign surprise with your remark.

"are you serious?" he said, his 'seductive' smile now turning into a frown.

"are you serious?" you asked in disgust.

you placed your laptop in your bag, taking your keys out of the bag in the process and beginning to walk out of your office to avoid the man standing there. he grabbed your arm, forcing you to face him.

"don't walk away from me," he gritted, his face red with anger. his grip on your arm tightened, surely leaving a bruise in its wake.

"then don't fucking touch me," you said, attempting to yank your arm away from him, only failing to do so. "let go," you demanded.

"sorry, sweetcheeks, i didn't get that," he smirked. that fucker smirked at your struggle.

knock. knock. knock.

you turned to see whoever was at your door. it was none other than dr. spencer reid. holding your blazer in his hand. you furrowed your brows in confusion before ron decided to drop your arm.

"what the hell is going on?" spencer asked, his eyes not leaving ron's defensive stature as he placed the jacket on one of the chairs by your desk.

"nothing, right doll?" ron looked at you, a disgusting grin on his face.

"yea, right," you rolled your eyes.

spencer's eyes trailed back to you and your arm ron was once holding, right where the red mark is. you swore that if looks could kill, ron would've died the second spencer knocked on your door.

"then what's that on her arm?" he questioned, moving closer to you and pushing you behind him defensively. "you hurt her," he accused. you stepped to his side, noting the way he tried to take charge for you.

"spencer," you placed a hand on his arm, forgetting his thing about germs for a second in attempt to calm him down. "i can handle this," he turned to face you. "i've dealt with this asshole for nearly 8 years, isn't that right, ron?" you questioned with a sneaky grin.

"who the hell is this guy, sweetcheeks?" he questioned as if you had an obligation to tell him who he was.

"you don't get to know that. and you don't get to call me that, either," you reminded him, having to bite your lip to try not to explode on the guy.

"are you fucking this guy?" he accused you. you pushed spencer out of the way, and squinted your eyes at him in disbelief.

"you're seriously asking me that?" you asked. "if i was, it's still none of your fucking business, asshole!" you said getting closer to his face in order to make a point.

slap!

the asshole slapped you.

spencer quickly grabbed you and moved you out of the way before pushing the guy into the wall, knocking your fake plant over as well as a few books on the shelf on the wall. ron's face was smashed into the wall, one of his arms twisted behind his back as both were in spencer's grasp.

"don't you dare touch her. ever again," he demanded, twisting his arm even further, ron squirming to get out of his grip. "did you hear me?"

your hand cupped the side of your face, the sting from ron's wedding band hurting more than you would've thought.

"ahh! yes! yes, i heard you!" he squealed.  

"good. now you can apologize to her like a gentleman," he ordered, pushing his arm further up into his back to elicit another groan from the man, you had a hard time keeping a straight face from the scene in front of you.

"shit! ouch! okay! i'm sorry! i'm sorry!" he apologized in a high pitched tone, still trying to get out of spencer's grasp.

"good job," he released him from his grip, a sigh coming from ron at the freedom his arm received. "now go before i change my mind and cuff you right here," he ordered.

"cuff me?" he asked in disbelief. spencer pulled his fbi badge out, flashing it in ron's face, noticing the way his eyebrows shot up. "oh shit."

you moved your hand away from your face, looking at your hand and noticing the patch of blood that remained there. you wiped your cheek, trying to stop the blood flow.

"what did i just say?" spencer asked. "leave. now."

"right," ron said, walking back over towards the door, whispering to you on the way out. "don't bother coming to work tomorrow. or ever again."

"oh that'll be no problem, boss," you scoffed as he made his way out of the door, leaving you and spencer alone in your office.

"i'm uh, sorry about your plant," he pointed at the fake succulent that lay on the floor.

"it was fake anyway," you shrugged as you kneeled down to pick it up as spencer began picking the books up. "thank you, by the way," you smiled at the man.

"it's nothing, really," it was his turn to shrug. "hotch wouldn't have let me on the next case if i didn't intervene in whatever was going on."

oh. so that's why he helped you. of course it was. you were his superior's little sister, nothing else.

"so, what brings you here?" you asked as he offered you his hand to help you stand up, you gladly took it and rose to your feet. "oh sorry, you have a germ... my bad" you grimaced at the thought of making him uncomfortable.

"oh, don't worry about it. and i was actually here to bring you your blazer," he said, retrieving the jacket from the chair and giving it back to you. "i uhm, you forgot it at the restaurant."

"right, i noticed that once i got here. thank you," you thanked him, placing the jacket over your arm and picking up your bag. "you've already saved me twice today and we've only just met," you laughed.

"it seems that way," he smiled, walking with you out of the office. he gently grabbed your shoulder and turned you to face him once you were outside. "your face is bleeding, y/n."

"oh," you reached your hand up to notice the way the blood was still lightly flowing. "oops," you laughed.

"you should clean it up, you don't need to get that infected," he suggested, his hand tracing the outskirts of ron's handprint on your face.

"thanks for the recommendation, doc," you laughed. "i think i have some stuff back at my place that i could use."

"i'm so sorry that happened," he frowned slightly, his hand dropping to his side.

"ehh," you shrugged. "i'm sure you've seen worse. besides, i can handle myself," you said as he began walking with you in the direction of your car.

"let me see your arm?" he asked softly.

you brought it up closer to his eyesight. he gently grasped your arm, nothing like the way he had done to ron earlier in your office. his touch left goosebumps on your skin, the soft way his fingers traced your arm.

"it's already bruising, so i think it's only a subcutaneous bruise, luckily," he diagnosed.

"i'll bet you could pass as a medical doctor if you tried," you noted, nudging his arm gently with yours.

"many people make that mistake already! it's a frequent misconception by a lot of people i meet," he smiled.

"if i hadn't already known what kind of doctor you were, i'm sure i might've fallen into that misconception," you added with a grin as you approached your car. "so, this is me," you smiled and nodded at the tall man.

"oh! right! uhm..." he trailed off. "it was nice to meet you, y/n," he smiled kindly.

his smile's nice. warm. very home-like.

"it was nice to meet you too," you smiled. "thank you, again. for saving me back there."

"of course. anytime. i'm just glad i got there before anything got too bad..." he furrowed his brows at the not so distant memory.

"yea, you and me both, handsome," you joked, noticing the way his cheeks blushed at the compliment. "so where are you parked? the least i could do is give you a ride to your car," you suggested.

"oh, i was actually on my way to the metro. driving isn't really my thing..." he grimaced.

"then how about i drive you home?" you asked, wanting to figure out how to thank the perfect man that stood before you.

"i-i don't want you to be going out of your way..." he shook his head.

"look, spencer, i won't force you to do anything, but i want to do this," you placed a hand on his forearm. "at least as a thank you."

"um..." he looked at his watch, noticing the time. "okay, i guess that'd be nice. besides, i've missed the last ride to where i need to go," he shrugged with a small grin.

"great! just tell me where to, doc," you said as you both got into your car.

"capital plaza apartments," he announced with a grin.

"sounds great," you said as you turned the key in the ignition, backing out of your parking spot and starting the way towards his apartment. "so, you've worked at the bau for 12 years? right?"

"yea. i started when i was 22," he announced.

"right, i remember aaron telling me how you were the youngest member of the team when you got there," you encouraged him to continue.

"right again. they actually had to make an exception to let me into the field," he laughed softly. "they had to waiver basically every physical exam on account of my mental capabilities."

"i mean, whatever works. it's so intriguing that at such a young age you know so much, and your knowledge is only expanding," you shook your head in disbelief.

"well you've accomplished quite a lot and you're only 30. working at a firm for 8 years and being as successful as you are is remarkable," he remarked.

"thank you, spencer," you looked over at the man and smiled before stopping at the red light.

"do you have any tissues?" he asked, you furrowed your brows in question. "your cheek is still bleeding," he informed you.

"oh! there right there in the glovebox," you pointed across his lap as he grabbed the tissue from the compartment and reached across the console himself.

you leaned in across the console yourself, trying to make it easier for him to wipe it off. he cautiously used it to dab the little blood remaining on your cheek off, his hand lingering for a while.

you looked up to meet his eyes, the red from the stoplight illuminating his facial structure in a way that was otherworldly. you were entranced by each others' gaze, not even noticing the light turned green until the car behind you honked their horn, alerting you to step on the gas.

"oh! sorry," you apologized, biting the inside of your lip as you continued to drive him back to his apartment.

"don't be," he swallowed the lump in his throat.

sooner than later, you pulled into his apartment complex to drop him off.

"thank you so much, again, spencer," you placed a hand on his upper arm to emphasize your thanks.

"you don't need to thank me, y/n. i was happy to help," he placed one of his much larger hands on top of yours, squeezing it gently before he made his way out of your car. "goodbye."

"goodbye, spencer," you returned as you watched him walk up to his apartment building, practically gawking at the man that saved you.

you drove back to your house quickly, entering the code for the gate. you noticed yet another piece of paper taped to the front of the gate. you ripped it off the metal, and placed it inside your bag.

upon entering you placed your bag on the hook that remained on your wall after retrieving the sheet of paper from it. you kicked your shoes off beside the door neatly, walking into your kitchen to pour yourself a small glass of wine before tending to your wound.

you walked into your bathroom and gazed at the handprint on your face, noticing the small gash that remained on your cheekbone. after washing your face, you used an antibiotic on the cut, placing a small bandage overtop.

walking into your bedroom, you admired the view from the large window as you changed into your pajamas. you were too tired to eat anything, but you knew you needed to get something into your system.

you walked back into your kitchen and found a granola bar you could eat quickly. you grabbed the sheet of paper and walked back into your living room as you continued to eat.

underneath your sofas, there are storage bins that you keep extra things inside. what also happens to be inside of that bin is a small, old shoebox. inside of that shoebox you placed the note, along with all the others you've received, not bothering to read it this time.

you made your way back into the bathroom, brushed your teeth, and returned to your bedroom.

it was a long day, very eventful. you could only hope the letters would stop if you got the job at the bau. but for now... sleep.