#my man’s just put a whole bunch of small stories into one big story

[wetnoodle]

I’ve started reading the Witcher books. Is this basically just a collection of one shots

[mysteryshoptls]

SSR Kalim Al-Asim - Platinum Jacket Vignette

"Happy 100th Anniversary"

­­­­[Land of Dawning – National Museum of Art]

Kalim: Woah! I've seen this artist's work before. I think we have a bunch of their stuff on the walls back home.

Kalim: So, the Land of Dawning's National Museum of Art's gottem on display too, huh. Hehe, that's pretty neat!

Vil: Oh, this… I think this is a painting of the moment when the beloved princess and the impoverished, yet kindhearted young man were set to be married.

Kalim: Yeah, that's right! The guy on the left is the sultan, and…

Kalim: Just so the princess could marry who she wanted, he went and changed the law for her.

Vil: Oh, hello, Kalim. I wasn't expecting you to know the particular details of the tale.

Kalim: The attendants back home would read me books with their stories. I really like the ones that have happy endings!

Kalim: Oh yeah, and did you know? The sultan here loved to collect miniature models.

Kalim: In his room, he had carriages large enough even a kid could ride in it, and statues of horses with wings…

Kalim: He even had a model of the royal palace! Apparently he'd always be playing with it.

Vil: Mhmm. Quite the childish hobby for a country's ruler to have.

Kalim: Oh, is playing with models childish? I'm always playing with mine whenever I go back home.

Kalim: Once, I mentioned to my dad I was curious what our home looked like from above, y'see.

Kalim: So then, he went and made a miniature model of our whole estate and a special room to put it in.

Vil: He made something like that just because you asked one thing… I suppose I shouldn't expect anything less from the Asim family.

Vil: But if it had its own room… How big was this model, anyway?

Kalim: Uhhh… I think at first, it was about the size of a magic carpet.

Kalim: Back then, it was just the estate buildings, but before I knew it, the land had been tacked on as well.

Kalim: And every time we added to the house, the model got an addition too, so it just got bigger and bigger.

Kalim: Whenever we'd buy new furniture, the stuff in my room, or my siblings' rooms would move around and change, too…

Kalim: There was always some kind of change whenever I looked into it. Sometimes I really couldn't tell what changed, though. Ahahah!

Vil: Even your furniture is a part of the model? Well, isn't that ridiculously elaborate…

Kalim: Yeah! That model is super awesome! The small clocks and furniture actually function, and…

Kalim: The roof and the walls of the model are made of the same stuff as our actual home, so it looks just like it.

Kalim: Water'll actually come out of the marble fountains, and even the trees and lawn are apparently made of real moss.

Kalim: Anyway, since it's a perfect replica of my real home, it really lets me feel like I'm a giant!

Kalim: Oh yeah. And on the ceiling of the room with the model, there are monitors and sprinklers…

Kalim: So night can turn into day, or it can rain or whatever.

Kalim: If the switch next to the model is pressed while in nighttime mode, the whole model lights up and it's so pretty!

Kalim: Also, we'd get miniature elephants and camels on parade…

Vil: Enough already! You've already convinced me just how special your personal miniature model is!

­­­­[Land of Dawning – National Museum of Art]

Vil: This is a painting of the Lord of the Underworld and his men.

Vil: From what I hear, the Lord of the Underworld's subordinates had the power to change their form and voice at well, and even could take on the appearance of children.

Kalim: Woah～ They must've been amazing. Oh, that reminds me, I once turned myself into an adult, y'know.

Vil: You turned yourself into an adult…? Do you mean you disguised yourself as one?

Kalim: Yeah! When I was little, my family and I went to go see a play and there was this one scene where a ruler dressed up like one of his servants.

Kalim: I wanted to try the dame thing, so that night after the play, I put my plan into action.

Kalim: Like, if I were to wear the household attendant's clothes and wear shoes with bigger soles, I'd look just like an adult, right?

Kalim: And then I even put on a huge hat and covered my face with sunglasses, too.

Vil: You really seem proud of yourself… And you're saying no one realized it was you?

Kalim: YEAH, IT WAS A PERFECT DISGUISE!

Kalim: They didn't even call my name, just said stuff like, "Perhaps it is time for bed, my young, esteemed colleague?"

Vil: They absolutely knew. No one in their right mind would tell their colleague to go rest in the middle of their duties.

Kalim: Eh? …YOU'RE SO RIGHT!! You're amazing, Vil. I never even realized before you said that just now.

Kalim: But then, how did they even figure out it was me?

Vil: I wouldn't call what you did a disguise or anything. All you did was wear your attendants' clothing.

Vil: Your behavior and speech were the same as usual, weren't they? Then there was nothing disguised. It was no different than you changing between your school or dorm uniforms.

Kalim: So if they figured it out 'cause of my behavior…? So then, I shouldn't've talked like I normally do, right?

Vil: Yes. Think back to the mannerisms of the attendants in your estate and how they treat you.

Kalim: Their mannerisms… Hmm…

Kalim: Oh, I think I got it! So I should've tried to speak more polite-like!

Vil: I wasn't really talking about something as minor as that, but… Well, I suppose that's a step in the right direction.

Vil: If you are going to disguise yourself as another person, you cannot just mimic them. You must completely change your mannerisms, speech, everything.

Kalim: I got it. Thanks for the advice!

Kalim: I know what I have to fix now, so… I gotta try again as soon as I can!

Vil: You're going to try again…? Here? And who exactly are you planning to disguise yourself as?

Kalim: Obviously, one of my family's attendants! This time for sure, it'll be the best disguise ever!

Vil: I think dressing up as an Asim family attendant would just be too conspicuous… But I do look forward to seeing how you pull it off.

­­­­[Land of Dawning – National Museum of Art]

Kalim: Woah! Look, Vil! There's a painting of a tea party.

Vil: According to legend, this tea party was ridiculously strange…

Kalim: It's super cool, don'tcha think! This is one of my favorite displays.

Kalim: It had teapots whistling along to songs, and plates that could be eaten after being doused in tea…

Kalim: On top of that, there was a cake that would fly up into fireworks as soon as its candles were lit!

Kalim: And their large table was just completely covered in all those tableware and foodstuffs! Awesome, right!?

Vil: …You look at that tea party and genuinely think it 'awesome'? It looks as though we have completely different tastes.

Kalim: Oh, you don't think so, Vil?

Vil: Mhm. That's because I like enjoying a quiet teatime.

Kalim: They say that the girl in the tale didn't even have time to drink her tea, so it sounded pretty fun to me.

Kalim: If I ever get to attend a tea party that's this chaotic, I'd totally be down!

Kalim: Ooh, or, should I throw a tea party myself? We can act out this specific scene.

Kalim: I bet it'd be fun to sing along with my dormmates as the teapots jammed.

Kalim: Oh yeah! Don'tcha think everyone'll be surprised if the teapots also danced and leaped around with the rest of us?

Vil: Yes, I'm sure they would be.

Kalim: Yeah, I can't just try to imitate the legends. It should be an even grander extravaganza!

Kalim: I'll have to prep a lot of edible plates… And a buncha different teas they can use to dip the dishes in…

Kalim: What's left… Oh right, the cake!

Kalim: I should make it a much larger cake than what the girl in the tale got.

Kalim: That way there'd be even bigger fireworks, and it'll get everyone real excited!

Vil: I can absolutely picture your dormmates running around so loudly.

Kalim: Right!? After that… Hmmm. Vil, you got any good ideas?

Vil: You shouldn't ask me, but instead ask your dormmates for their opinion.

Kalim: Yeah! Of course, I'll definitely check with them.

Kalim: But, I want to invite you too, Vil. So tell me, what kind of party do you want it to be?

Vil: [sighs] …I just told you. I would rather enjoy a quiet teatime.

Vil: Thank you for the invite, but I'll have to decline. Bye, now.

Kalim: Okay…  Then you definitely gotta come to the next party I throw!

Kalim: All right, which painting should I check out next? Ooh! Is that…?

Kalim: Yeah, just as I thought! It's artwork that shows the young man marching in a parade on an elephant's back!

Kalim: There were 75 golden camels, 53 peacocks, and a bunch of other animals and dancers following him...

Kalim: Looks like he was trying to entertain the whole country on the way to visit the princess.

Kalim: He went through all that effort just to make everyone happy… There's no doubt about it.

Kalim: This guy is definitely an awesomely good guy. I'm a real good judge of character, after all!

Requested by @starshiningsirius.

[lizforever]

˚⊱ TWST REACTION ⊰˚

theme: some characters reaction to you picking up a large plate of food because i'm bored... and i need ideas too. may be ooc because i'm still in book three and i'm still learning about the characters. i'll probably delete this lmao

notes: i wanted to try to write a little today, but i'm not an expert, so... and remember: my request are open!

characters: riddle, cater, ace, malleus & vil.

˚⊱ RIDDLE ROSEHEARTS ⊰˚

you were in an unbirthday party scenario. riddle was talking to some members and watching everyone carefully to make sure everyone was following the rules.

it was literally when he took his eye off you that you started picking up a plate and putting a bunch of food on it. certainly the people around them noticed and started whispering, and cater started recording. ace started laughing and encouraged you to put more, while deuce and trey looked at you crookedly.

riddle finally noticed and, he frowned he approached you and poked your shoulder, making you turn to him. he cleared his throat.

— i came to warn you, prefect, that there are other people to eat besides you. but, of course, if you want to take that amount, you're allowed, just remember to eat it all. people who throw away leftover food are despicable.

you ended up feeling bad.

˚⊱ CATER DIAMOND ⊰˚

ah, the school cafeteria. the dream of a student who, after hours of classes, only thinks about taking a large portion of lunch and eating it all in one mouthful.

... you shouldn't take this so seriously, okay?

cater was taking a photo of his lunch to post on social media, when you pass by his side. when he looks at you, he drops his gaze to the plate in your hands, which makes him startle.

wow. he can't believe.

when you get distracted, he takes out his cell phone and tries to take a hidden photo of your plate in order to post on stories. turns out, he forgot to have the flash on, so you certainly noticed, but he hid his cell phone and pretended nothing happened.

˚⊱ ACE TRAPOLLA ⊰˚

again, it was an unbirthday party.

ace was putting out his food, when he suddenly turned around and looked at your big plate of food. his eyes widened and he almost dropped the plate he was holding. but then a smile appeared on his lips and he began to laugh, attracting your attention.

— are ya afraid of starving, prefect?

ace asked, mocking you. you roll your eyes and, before leaving, you look at his plate.

... he took more food than you.

and if you complain, he will throw it on your face.

˚⊱ MALLEUS DRACONIA ⊰˚

malleus wanted to have a small banquet with the members of diasomnia, and called you too because you're his only friend.

while he was talking to some guests, he ended up catching an eye on you, and decided to come closer to greet you.

however, as he approaches, he looks at his plate and immediately stops walking.

he looked at you again.

— ... enjoy your meal, child of the man.

even though he seemed like he didn't like you taking so much food, he actually found the whole situation... interesting.

get ready for the next banquets he makes, because he will give you very large portions...

... not that you might not like it.

˚⊱ VIL SCHOENHEIT ⊰˚

today was the day that crowley gave you the most tasks. by night, you were completely exhausted and very hungry. so, in the cafeteria at dinner time (which, in fact, was the day you could make your own dinner), you unconsciously started to fill your plate, putting a lot of rice, pasta, meat and a piece of tomato to balance it out. vil was picking up his plate when he turned around and was startled. he looked at you with a judgmental look and opened his mouth to speak.

— this is unacceptable, totally unacceptable. are you a pig or what? gross.

he never let you talk to epel again.

[kabuki-draws]

I watched Ridley Scott's NAPOLEON yesterday and it was a complete Waterloo.

Yes, I am a big history nerd with a giant heart for movie adaptation of historical topics. But when I watched NAPOLEON I sat there... and tried not to laugh. It was not only so historical inaccurate, that I wanted to cry, at the same time it was filled with cringe dialogues, red flags and terrible color grading. This whole movie made me so sad yet so angry, that I HAVE to write this review:

(Disclaimer: This review is based on my own opinion. If you enjoyed the movie, it's completely fine. Btw. in that case or if you agree with me, feel free to tell me your opinion. I would love to know!)

First of all: Don't get me wrong, the medium film has its own rules and you can't put as much historical accuracy into a big scale movie as you would into a documentary - sometimes the story needs to be altered to be a good movie. And that is fine. Even if Gladiator is a complete fictional story set in the Roman Empire, I can still enjoy this movie for what it is: A good-written story with great characters, a beautiful score and iconic scenes. With Kingdom of Heaven it's kind of the same - and while the movie cut was very inconsistent, I still kind of liked it. But then the Directors Cut made it a a masterpiece for me.

Funny enough, both of these movies are made by the same person: Ridley Scott. So naturally I thought: Well, Napoleon won't be a historical accurate film, but I surely will enjoy it anyways. Well, ...no. It is not only historical incorrect, it's also a bad movie overall.

To start it short: NAPOLEON clearly lost itself in all the various topics it wanted to tell within a runtime of two and a half hours. It made the whole storytelling very weird and inconsistent, causing the problem, that the audience even loses itself in the questions of when and where. Where is that scene located? When did that happen? And then comes the question: Why is this even happening?

Ridley Scott wants to depict Napoleon as a lover, a military genius, a big political figure, a revolutionary and more. But in the end he tells all of this in the most shallow way possible, which waters down Napoleons personality traits and achievements to a series of small scenes. You never get a glimpse of the "true" Napoleon, who was described as a highly intelligent and charismatic man. In fact, you never really feel ANYTHING about him except that he was a cringe red flag in front of his wife. He just stands there, stares and has very limited dialogue scenes to get a picture of that man. What are his overall motivations? Only Josephine? If so, why is this motivation only vaguely explored?

The whole love story between him and Josephine feels so unnatural and got to the brink of being disgusting. This is particularly sad because I deeply respect Vanessa Kirby and Joaquin Phoenix, they're both stunning actors. I don't know if they just couldn't fit the role or if it was rather a problem of the script (the last one is my guess). Yet whenever I saw Josephine and Napoleon on screen, I felt like acted very stiff and forced. Napoleon seemed more obsessed with her than actual love and that can be a character trait, but there wasn't a chance to explore that deeper. Before the movie entered the cinema, the lovestory between these two was marketed as intense, obsessive, deeper than you could imagine. What the audience got was a few scenes without real conversation, much staring and a bunch of cringeworthy s-scenes. And seriously, these "sexy" scene were the worst. I was so disgusted by them because they were SO DAMN WEIRD. There are no scenes that undermine ANY deep love between Josephine and Napoleon. It felt therefore so off, when they still longed for each other after their divorce.

And let's not start to ramble about the fact that they depicted Josephine ONLY in a somehow sexual way. Yeah, there is that scene where she says to Napoleon, that he is nothing without her. BUT SHOW, DON´T TELL! You never see her doing something instead of sitting there, talking with others or when the plot needs her to have sexy time with someone (not only Napoleon). As a woman myself this makes me so freaking furious, you have no idea. I don't need a marvel-coded super-strong woman with unlimited talents - I just need a female character that is written GOOD and plausible! Make me CARE for her plot and for the plot of Napoleon! Both of them don't even feel like normal human beings because they're like blank pieces of paper with their names written on it!

And don´t make me start to talk about the historical inaccuracies. At first I didn't want to draw that card. Actually, I don't need a historical movie to present 100% facts. If the movie is still enjoyable, it's okey. But even if many people say that the war scenes were awesome, I can only partly agree. Yeah, we have that cool ice-lake Austerlitz battle, but it took me a couple of minutes and a better look on the uniforms to know that Napoleon is now at war with Austria! You get nearly ZERO context to Napoleons battles. Yeah, nice, the scenes look cool - but there is nothing more to it? Is that all you need to show for the audience to care? For me at least, I just didn't care at all and I was very happy when I got out of the cinema. Overall this movie is full of messy non-sense choices that don't contribute to the story. Many moments just confused me and it left me with the question why Scott couldn't simply hire some historians to put together a consistent story. Everyone who read about Napoleons life knows that there are so much cinema worthy moments in his career that would've been so much better than what we now got.

I could ramble about that movie for hours if I´m honest, but I hope this little TED talk was enough to make my statement clear.

In the end, it just makes me sad. I wanted to like this movie, I wanted it to be good. For months I hyped myself up to this, read books about Napoleon, watched the trailer all over and over and talked with friends about how great this movie will be. Now I am just disappointed and frustrated. Oppenheimer was such a great biopic of a historical person that became a great success at the box office - even without great battle scenes. I hoped that Napoleon would push a cinema revolution, that shows people want big scaled films about historical personalities and history topics. But now I just want to forget this Napoleon movie to be honest.

[delicate-luv]

Two Become One ~ Chapter One

Summary: Eddie Munson, The lead singer and guitarist of Corroded Coffin, stumbles into you in an unpleasant circumstance. After you discover some hidden secrets about one another, an unexpected factor will come into your relationship. You will have to learn to love in a short period of time.

CW: Minors DNI, 18+, smut, p in v, alcohol, death, fights with boyfriends, drunken flirting, smoking, minimal/no use of y/n, i think that’s it?

Masterlist

Big thank you to my friend, V, for helping me out!

———————————————————————

You and your best friend, Scarlett needed a night out. You needed a break from the whole world after you and your longtime boyfriend, Ezra, had gotten into a huge argument a couple of days ago. You hadn't spoken to him since. And on top of that, you were mourning the loss of your father who passed away only a few weeks ago. Your night off from your hair dresser job was well deserved.

You put your hair in a high ponytail, and put on a white slip dress with red ribbon detailing.

You weren't at all a fan of metal music by any means. In fact, you hadn't listened to it a day in your life. You knew a white stain dress wasn't particularly in dress code for a metal concert, but you wanted to feel good about yourself for once and dress up. You and Scarlett only went because you wanted a night out and saw a poster for a band called 'Corroded Coffin' that would be playing at the local bar.

Halfway through the concert, Scarlett left with a random hookup. You stayed behind and watched the show. A bunch of metal heads were moshing in the small bar area. Apparently this 'Corroded Coffin' was the hot new band.

You decided to listen to the music from all the way in the back, not wanting to get involved in the mosh pit and the crowd. You honestly debated on just walking home at one point. However, the lead guitarist caught your eye. Seeing him play the guitar and sing really made you flush. Is this awakening something in you? You had always had a thing for the good boys. And the man who was right infront of you, currently perfectly a cover of 'Sex' by 'Motley Crue' was certainly not a good boy. You watched the way his hair looked as he head banged and moved his hands up and down his guitar, and it was like he was moving in slow motion.

After the show, you stood outside the bar waiting for a cab when all of a sudden a familiar person turned the corner. He had a cigarette in his mouth. He smelled strongly of smoke and cheap cologne. Nothing like what Ezra smelt like. But it was new, it was refreshing, and most importantly, it was hot. You stood next to him for a few moments, not knowing if you should say anything.

"You want a smoke?" He asked, his hand reached out with a cigarette.

"Sure." You didn't know why you agreed. You had never even smoked before. "Thanks."

He lit it for you and you deeply inhaled the smoke. Holding back a cough, you couldn't help but think of how furious Ezra would be with you right now. That image in your mind made you smile. You did it out of spite.

"You're the lead guitarist right?"

"Yeah."

There was an awkward moment of silence.

"Were you lost? The beauty pageant is that way." He joked, but when he saw you didn't laugh back, he gave an awful attempt to blow it off. He leaned up against the brick wall. "You don't look like you listen to metal. You are dressed way too pretty."

"You're right. I don't. I came with my friend Scarlett and then she left and-"

He interrupted. "I don't care."

You rolled your eyes in disgust.

"To clarify, its not that I don't care, I just don't want to hear your life story."

Wow. He was a real asshole. That definitely clarified everything.

"Anyways...your band is really good."

"Thanks."

"What's your name?"

"Eddie."

He was very short with you.

"So your band, who are they?"

"Wow, so many questions, sweetheart. Gareth is the drummer. Jeff, who's my bassist. And there is Vince, the backup guitarist."

You nodded. "Sounds like you've got yourself a good thing going here."

"Yes, we do."

You watched as he blew out cigarette smoke. You had always hated smoking, thought anyone who did it was disgusting. And there you were, smoking with a member of a metal band, in a dark alley. You looked down and put the cigarette out, realizing it had a phone number on it. You decided to slip it into your purse-you might need it later.

It was obvious you two had almost nothing in common. The conversation was about to come to a close. But you couldn't have that happen. A part of you needed to have him in your presence for a moment longer. You blurted out. "My dad died."

"Damn." It was obvious he didn't know how to react.

"I only came for a good time tonight."

"I'll show you a good time." He adjusted his stance. "You wanna get drinks? After we finish a set, we get free drinks at the bar." He looked up off the ground and looked into your sparkling eyes.

"I shouldn't. I have a boyfriend."

"Whatever, pretty girl." He stood up straight and headed back inside.

In a moment of impulse, you caught up with him just as he was about to head inside. "Wait, one drink wouldn't hurt."

You were right, one drink didn't hurt. Except for the fact that you had three.

"You're drunk, sweetheart." He ushered a glass of water to your lips, in an attempt to get you to sober up.

"I know, and it feels great!" You stumbled around the bar. "I hate Ezra!" You screamed out.

Eddie wasn't originally drunk, but his band started to play beer pong. The bartender had already cut you off, so you were content with just watching. No surprises, Eddie was really good. In no time he was about just as drunk as you were.

"Whooo!" He stood on the bar table, cheering.

"We're all drunk! I love life!" Jeff stumbled around.

Eddie jumped off the table and walked right up to you.

"What's your game, pretty girl?"

"My game? I wanna take you home." You shouted over the loud music in a drunk haze.

He leaned towards you and gave you a long kiss. "Let's make that happen then."

You lived with Scarlett and knowing her, she would already have a hook up there. So you decided to go with Eddie to his place. Eddie had his van there, but god knows how drunk he was. There was no way he could drive. He ended up calling a cab to take you to his home. You arrived to a trailer park and when the clock had just hit 2:37 a.m.

"This is my home. Home, sweet, home." He sarcastically said as he opened the door. He was stumbling around, trying to find the light switch. When he found it, you both squinted until your eyes adjusted to the light. "You know, y-you look alot better in the dark."

"You're still an asshole when you're drunk." You laughed slightly offended, neither of you would remember this in the morning.

"Are you ready for an after party, princess?" He took your hand as you both stumbled into his bedroom.

“Mhm.” You mumbled as he slithered his hands around your waist. His lips sloppily clashed into yours. As you kept kissing him, you felt something harden in his pants against your thigh.

Your lips still on his, he crashed onto the bed. You sighed as his hand made its way up your dress, his fingers dancing against the edge of your lace panties. You both needed each other. Badly. Eddie’s breathing began to pick up as he slid the soaked panties down. He threw them onto the floor next to the bed. He pulled away for a moment to unbuckle his belt, his black jeans falling to the ground. He kicked them off and placed them beside him.

You laid on your back, Eddie placing one hand underneath you. You pulled down his boxers to reveal his hard, leaking dick.

“Fuck, Eddie.” You whined as he slowly glided into you.

“Mmm.” He moaned, beginning to pick up his pace. “You have such a pretty pussy, princess.”

He threw his head back as you let out a louder moan, gripping a fistful of sheets. His free hand then made its way to your clit, beginning to play with it. His movements quickly became sloppy, so he must be close.

“I’m on the pill, don’t worry.” You managed to mumble out, trying to focus on getting close yourself.

“Holy fuck-” he groaned under his breath as you felt him coming undone inside of you.

[survivalist-anon]

Log 10: Pizza and the Balance of life

It had been a few good minutes since the whole ordeal. It's calm now, silent even.

Me and Fjord were just sitting in the kitchen, he was watching me intensively. Probably wondering if I was ok. He was left behind by Sten and Toke so that he could continue his duty.

I wonder if he felt that he had failed on the first day.

"Lass, i-", I gently put my hand on his arm resting on the table.

"shhh...no it's ok.", I let out a releaved sign. "So....are you hungry?", he lifted his head. "I have a few frozen foods for a quick meal. The meat is going to take a long while to defrost anyway....so you want pizza?".

I swear he was more animal than man. Anticipating the menu for the evening.

"Yes. I want some....what is it?", first chickens and now pizza. This must have been an age of discovery for him.

"It's a flat bread with tomato sauce and cheese, you can put a bunch of toppings on it, you can't go wrong with it.", I get up to see if we had any boxes. Considering his size, I was going to have to make more than one. "I have cheese, a meat lovers, and pineapple and ham...and if you're not too impressed about the cheese one, I have some canned fish and some olives if you want those instead". I take out the cheese and meat lover's box.

He sat there gleefully, "Yes."

"yes to both?", I ask.

"Yes.", he responded, still unspecifying.

He was definitely hungry. "I'll get the canned stuff then, if you want to, you can relax a little and take the armor off. It must be exhausting wearing it all day".

"Oh that would be appreciated lass, but would it be ok with you if I could...well, let's just say I don't think you'd be wanting to smell several months worth of blood, filth and sweat under this suit.", he gave an embarrassed smile.

"Oh! Ok then, hold on let me see if I have some towels for you.", I place the pizzas to defrost a little. I head to an extra storage space near the hall and find one large towel. "Hmm, hope this one is big enough...", I grab another one in case if he needed another. I head to the shower to see if there was enough soap.

Turns out, the shower was smaller than he was. "ah oh. Fjord, ugh, the shower is a bit small....it's an old shower too...", I shout to him.

I can see him peaking over the doorway, ".....oh.... wouldn't happen to have a lake or a pond nearby? That's what me and the others have been doin this whole time.".

I turn around and double check if he really was too big. Yep. "ok...ugh....I don't want you to take a cold hose shower outside. I mean, it would kind of suck.".

He thought about it for a little, "hmmm actually I don't think I would mind it at all, is it radioactive water?".

Well that's something I wasn't expecting to hear, "ah...no...it's well water. It's relatively clean? It's just cold and smells like leaves."

"Ah than perfect!", he contently answered.

"One second, let me find a bucket for you to collect the water and a bar of soap too.", I grab a fresh bar of soap for him and head off to the lower garage.

One of the best factors of my cabin was it was a little bigger than a normal log cabin. It's a two story house with a ground level living space and a basement level floor with a 'boat garage' of sorts. Grandpa's first wife was the daughter of an accomplished architect, so the cabin is more than a comfortable size for me.

The garage for some reason was bigger than the second floor, going down there to find a bucket, sparked an idea. "Fjord! The outdoor spigot is near the garage! You can take a bath down here!".

He went out to the deck and headed to a semi-hidden garage down the hillside. He gently knocked on the garage door for me to open it. As the the door opened, I was brooming the dusty floor. The boat in question is long gone, leaving a space for anyone to use. I moved some boxes to other side of the garage so nothing gets wet, placed an old mat for him to stand on. I felt bad having to hash out old things for him to use, at least this is giving me a good reason to get some extra supplies tomorrow.

"Ok, I know it's a little last second, but I was able to make space for you near the door so you can clean yourself up. I'll get the hose an-", as I turned around, he had taken off the metal parts of his armor.

The rest was a rubber-like wet suit and his whole, muscular body.

"It's fine, lass. This more than I can do with.", he was ready to zip the back down.

This whole time I thought the armor was contributing to his mass, I was wrong. The armor was essentially a carapace.

"oh m-*ahem* well, one second I'll turn the spigot on.", I awkwardly pass by him. Oh no the smell came back....this time....it was driving insane.

Fjord could tell something was going on, "Lass are you ok?". It was a bit pointless to hide it if these guys had their senses are notched up to 11 than I am just going to pretend I don't know what he's talking about.

"Oh yes I'm fine.", my face felt hot, I must have been blushing, "oh here's some soap and I'll call you when the food is ready.", I quickly trot to the spigot, "ready!?".

"Ready lass!", he shouted from the garage. The hose goes off and who's knows what was going on by that point.

I head up back to the kitchen near the deck. "Oooooooooh my god. I need help.", I prepared the pizzas to heat up, it should take a few minutes.

A few minutes pass and get everything ready. I brought out bier too in case if wanted a can of two.

"well, I'll go see if he's done.", I was just then I could hear that the water shut off, he must have found the spigot. "Fjord! Dinners ready!", I head towards to the stairs leading to the garage, "Fjord?", I knock softly. "Hey big guy, pizzas are ready."

I didn't hear him answer or anything. It was then I noticed the floor as a little wet, he must have gotten back into the house?

"Lass! Do remember where I put those ol' clothes?", he called from what sounded like the bathroom.

I opened the garage, the water shut off and saw that he wasn't there. Closing the garage, I head up stairs. "I think you left them in the living roo-", the second I set both feet on the hardwood floor, bumped into his wet, hairy chest.

"oh wh-", I was looking up towards his face. Either he was clueless or he knew actually what he was doing.

"Oh hello, sorry about that.", you couldn't make this stuff up, he was innocently apologizing for this situation.

"ugh..ugh", he was firm, his musk now had added lavender into the mix, his body hair was practically the same color as the now partly wet mane on his head and was stuck and underlining every curvature of his muscles.

"Ugh...", I tried to concentrate back to my previous train of thought. "...Ah the clothes! Yes the clothes, your clothes *cough* let's go find them!". Wow I sucked at hiding it.

He knew it too.

"Hehe, ok lass, lead the way.", he followed behind with heavy footsteps.

I quickly sped walked to the living room, the bag was laying on the couch. "Ugh Fjord just um, stand there please.", I was embarrassed by the crack in my voice. I shuffle through the bag and find clothes from several decades ago. However, I was lucky enough to find a pair of large boxers and an old triple large shirt. "Here put these on.", hopefully they fit.

As I pass the clothes to him, I could see even my largest towel was struggling to cover everything. It looked like a short skirt had ripped up his thigh.

"ah thanks lass.", he left to another corner to put the clothes on.

All I could do is cup my hands to face, hiding my embarrassment. "Oh.....", I set the clothes out to breath after what likely was decades in storage. They had a musty smell, sort of a mixture of mothballs and old detergent. From what I can see, most of the clothes look like they were either old blue collar work clothes for construction or mining, business formal and a set of under clothes to last a week or so before having to throw them in the wash.

Fjord comes from the corner, "let's eat than?", he was watched me unfold probably the most aesthetically interesting piece here is a leather aviator jacket with a wool collar. "Hm, not bad....".

As I put it down, I was surprised to see that the clothes actually fitted him rather well. "Oh good, I was worried if they were too tight.", if it were for his extra fuzz, he would have been indistinguishable from a normal over muscular guy. "Ugh yes, let's go I bet you're hungry."

"always am in a way, lass.", I almost lost it at his wink.

After enjoying our pizza and random items dinner. We get back to conversation and I decided to lay a few ground rules.

"ok, hopefully, Sten and Toke will come back within the week, so in the meantime. We need to be low profile. No threatening to kill people, just relax and play it safe, and stick close to me ok?", these rules were mostly for him to behave himself when he was in public.

"alright, no threats, not lollygagging....stay close.", he took a bite out of what I could assume was a sandwich made of a meat lover's pizza and canned sardines. With a bit of a mouthful, "so. Who else is on dat little list the chaplain gave you?".

Taking the paper out of my pocket, "well, Mr and Mrs Bellcaller, my boss James and nurse Amila are on this list. However, I have no idea what are the other names though.", I put the paper down and search up one of the names, "Holten Wade".

As for Fjord, he opens one of the biers and chugs the whole in just a few gulps. I'm not certain why but I was impressed about that.

"Hmm, oh, interesting.", I could see he does live within the area, he own an auto shop near Mr. And Mrs Bellcaller's corner store. The other names were "Francis Pubert Mary" and "Vincent Arnold", none of these names were searchable as businesses, in social media or anything. "Hmm... hopefully these two aren't dead.

Cracking another can, Fjord chugs the whole again.

"ugh, that's quite a bit of alcohol there.", I wasn't sure how he would react with two cans of fruit rattler bier.

He licks his lips, "actually, this is nothing it's closer to water than a drink. I'm use to more heavy stuff. Mjord, and occasionally a cocktail of Rotgut and something else. It's a shame me and the others haven't found a plant equal to some of the plants back home to even make Mjord. It's tasty though.".

"Mjord? Sounds pretty good.", the drink sounded oddly similar sounded to mead, I was wondering if it was close to it.

"oh you wouldn't be able to enjoying lass, it's toxic to mortals, the fumes themselves would do you in. Fermented grain, roots and plants of Fenris are one of the most potent things any Astartes can have. It's the best and finest drink."

A toxic concoction of fermented 'grain, roots and plants', unbelievable. "Ugh....is ...there are reason why you guys drink, from what I understand, is closer to a liquid chemical?".

He finished off the last of the pizza, "well ye see lass, we have an implanted organ that helps us Astartes process poisons and other nasty things. However, it gave one unfortunate side effect. Permanent Sobriety."

Considering the harsh realites of his world, sobriety is closer to punishment one can ask for. "Oh...hmm I can see why that could be a problem.", it wasn't but for anyone living a hard life, i can understand why someone would employ the vices of alcohol.

"so, the great ancestors on Fenris had created a miracle ale, to provide a solution to everyone's problems.", he gave just gave this half lidded look, I can tell he was being humorous about it.

The more he talked about his world, the more the dark implications started to buzz around my mind. "....life must be terribly difficult for you guys.". I felt genuine pity for him and pretty anyone who had to live in such a world where you need to drink toxic chemicals to stay drunk.

His grin shrunk a bit, "well...it's not all that bad lass, I have plenty of battle brothers to share victories with, a chance to make the emperor's dreams of helping humanity a reality and so much more. In fact, probably one day if any of the Astartes comeback, I bet this planet will put on the top priority list for protection....at least I think there's such a thing....".

There are benefits to being as lost as me when hearing all of this....for starters, Fjord probably is thinking more expensively about his life in perspective to mine, I have bills, a family that misses me a lot right now and what little hope I have in having anything better than what I currently have to aspire to.

"....sounds nice to have a... government....that is willing to preserve something....my work literally consistents of convincing lobbyists to not remove our funding every few months so poachers and game hunters don't slaughter our wildlife to oblivion.", I was being rather whiney about this but it's something for him to chew on.

He looks at me with a confused glance, "what? Really? What's makes the wildlife here that unimportant?".

"...it's more for everyone's sake really.... everything is interconnected in this complex, beautiful web of life, death, existence...and whole slew of things. For instance, do you want to know what makes a keystone species important?", casually as one would ask.

"hmm...ok...what is a keystone species?", he asks as one should do.

"well....", I get a notepad and pen from one of the drawers, "there is the circle of life, we have not a caste system but a natural chain of predation, that is naturally designed to continue life.", I draw a wolf, then a deer, rabbit and a fox underneath, underneath those animals I draw their preferred 'prey' so to speak. "You see, like a keystone, that holds everything together from falling apart, it is an essential part of the ecosystem. If all the wolves go extinct, then the deer over populate, then get sick, die and could spread disease. But much like removing the wolves, if you remove the deer, than the wolves....will after prey they shouldn't go to.", I than draw a sheep, "this.... represents human intervention...."

Fjord's at this point more impressed at the drawing rather then the explanation, "....is that a cloud with a face?".

"it's a sheep, anyway, the sheep represents the farm, wolf eats the sheep, the farmer gets mad, assumes wolves are evil for ruining their farm...they tell others...then others spread their ignorance and...well...it can lead to destruction...then everyone who doesn't like this fight and called "tree huggers" because idiot from the medieval ages and whatever~.", I was so tired at this point I may as well lost my point.

He looked at the notepad, "....hmmm. You have a strange...yet.... commendable job.", he glanced at the wolf doodle I made, "...hmm.".

I huff a little from the existential dread I've just imposed on myself. Here's me worrying about wolves, then there Fjord....who probably relates more to a war veteran.

"I'm sorry for boring you.", I play around with an empty can.

"No no. You are not boring me....not at all.", he than just crosses his arms, lays on the table to look below my eye level.

A smile inches a little from, "ready for bed? We have a bunch to do tomorrow."

He straightens up, stretches his arms up. "Oh yes. I say a goodnight's sleep is needed.".

After putting everything in the kitchen away, prepping for tomorrow morning. I find a place for him to sleep for the night. I look into grandpa's room and well, oddly enough his bed is smaller then the couch. "Hmm...where would you like to sleep?", I ask him.

Fjord looks around the room full of old belongings from Grandpa, "hmmm....the bed is a wee bit small."

"well, my bed is the same size actually. The coach is the closest thing to a bigger bed then both. I don't want you sleeping on the floor either.", I look up and he's just towering over me in the doorway.

"hmm....I guess I will be taking the couch.", he decides.

After I move the clothes off to the table, we both prepare for the night.

"Goodnight Fjord, sleep well."

"Goodnight lass.".

Lights out until tomorrow.

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

I had to wait until Lorey went to sleep. After all, when has an angel of the emperor needed sleep? I head out and see the moon out, still puzzled how I even got here to begin with.

It was like a feverish nightmare, only to be interrupted by peace.....I was not sure if I disliked it.

The fists at the fort looked a lot healthier than their brothers back home.

The chaplain was nothing but a caged dog, bored with treats, wanting to let that instinct to kill out. To be let loose into battle.

Yet....my brothers and I have been enjoying this wild place. Big enough for all of us. Wild, free ...sure it's a wee bit warmer than we like ....but this planet has polar caps....I'm sure we will find something close....

What if we can not go back?...... would it really be such a problem?.....from what I see....chaos hasn't even tainted this world. It is a paradise world....but it's untainted....and the lass .....

Well....she's most definitely starting to rub off on me....I wonder if ....she feels the same.

End of log 10

@kit-williams @barn-anon @egrets-not-regrets

[singlecrow]

Yuletide this year! Firstly this:

In the Consul's Court of Archon's Glory // Applicant No. #001 (on the instigation of the Temple of the White Rat) (5971 words) by raven Fandom: The Saint of Steel - T. Kingfisher Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Zale (The Saint of Steel), Bishop Beartongue (The Saint of Steel), Galen (The Saint of Steel), Wren (The Saint of Steel) Additional Tags: Slice of Life, the Temple of the White Rat, no spoilers for Paladin's Faith, Yuletide Treat

Administrative public law concerns the proper relations between government and governed; or, to put it another way, Zale and Bishop Beartongue have had it with this shit.

This is a treat for @naomitess, and I’m pretty sure a bunch of people guessed it was me just from the summary. Anyway it was a delight to do! and an interesting process in its way. I loved the idea of Bishop Beartongue inventing judicial review but it struck me right away that it couldn’t be American judicial review. It’s not fancy, like American judicial review is - none of this testing of lower court holdings and whatnot in high-profile whatevers. What she’s invented is ordinary administrative judicial review: the idea that any action taken by a public authority must be rational, legal and procedurally correct. Which is, I think, an interesting thought in the context of the White Rat. Because, you know, large-scale generation-defining constitutional law is fine. (It’s ok i guess. fine.) But my training and everyone’s training is one-man-and-a-dog JRs. I had probably done hundreds of them before I did the big stuff you’ve heard of. So none of this means that Bishop Beartongue and Zale can’t topple the Archon, it’s only that if they do, it begins with one person, some phallic mishaps and a horrendous stone gargoyle, and a whole bunch of other apparently inconsequential things. So that was great fun, and it turns out Beartongue is still my favourite. I wish someone would write me 50k of her just doing her thing.

The other story is my assigned story and the one that got wildly out of hand. It’s for a piece at McSweeney’s called We Are a Picturesque Small Town And We Refuse to Be The Setting For Your Romantic Comedy. That piece is delightful and hilarious! It’s 500w! And somehow I ended up writing a 9000-word romantic comedy that's essentially original f/f SF. If you like my pro work you will probably like it. At least I hope you do, I enjoyed writing it very much.

spirit falling (a ship's proper motion) (8723 words) by raven Fandom: We Are A Picturesque Small Town And We Refuse To Be The Setting For Your RomCom - Rachel McKenny Characters: Original Characters, Medical Practitioner (Picturesque Small Town), Chet Anderson (Picturesque Small Town) Additional Tags: Romance, Alien Cultural Differences, Telepathy, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Alternate Universe - Space, Romantic Comedy

While the aliens are on board, there will be no romance on the good ship Spirit Falling.

None.

Zero.

(Everything is fine.)

[charleecat-bat]

"So, what's the scariest thing that's ever happened to you? What happened?"

Tiberius' Story- Summer Camp Sighting

Okay. I haven’t really spoken about this to anyone but, what’s a better time to finally get it off my chest better than now, right? 

I just hope no one gives me shit for this story. I’m not trying to fake nothin' for attention or exaggerate and all that bullshit. This happened. 

I was around like... 9? 10 years old? I wasn’t TOO young, but not a tween yet, pre-pubescent. Anyway. My parents had decided to sign me up for Summer Camp. I wasn’t sure if I was gonna be into the whole thing, but my gramps had signed my dad up as a kid, and while he hated it at first, he wound up loving it and going back to it for years. So I guess my old man hoped the same would happen for me. 

If only it turned out that way...

I’m embarrassed to say, but… I wasn’t as popular as I wished I was as a kid. I was picked on a lot for a lot of bullshit reasons. Especially to do with stuff I couldn’t help, like my fur colour or how small I was. I hated it. I was a huge target for a lot of the big kids. And for those asking ‘What about the counsellors?’ Well, you know those typical teenager-20-year-old counsellors in horror movies? That were less focused on the kids and more on smoking, drinking and putting their tongues down each other's throats? Yeah, those were the type of counsellors I had, and the few decent ones- well, just didn’t really do much to help me. 

What made it worse was that despite this, I was so desperate to seem cool to most of the kids. I did a lot of shit that wound up just making me look stupid or getting me hurt. Kids can be fucking cruel.

Anyway, not important.

It was evening time and just about everyone was sat around a giant bonfire, just doing their own thing. Honestly, due to how most of the counsellors were focused on themselves, I'm shocked that I don’t remember a lot of the kids sneaking off. Maybe they did. Wouldn't surprise me. I don’t remember quite what happened at this point, but a bunch of the little shit ‘cool kids’ that I wanted to be friends with so had just finished doing another hazing ritual to me. I even don’t remember what it was, but I do know it was embarrassing and upsetting enough to make me come up with some excuse to leave.

(imagine illustrated by @btm-txt)

I remember announcing that I was gonna ditch this place and go into the woods alone, and as a plus for me at the time, a lot of the kids thought that was ballsy since it was getting dark and not really recommended for any of us to be out there after dark. Didn't stop me, though, and probably didn't stop other kids doing it either. I didn’t care, though. I just wanted to go somewhere to cry alone without being picked on anymore. As pathetic as it sounds, this wasn’t the first time I came to the woods to cry. In fact, I was caught doing it once, but that just made me go deeper into the woods to avoid getting seen by the other kids. 

I was trying really hard to like it there, but I didn’t. I hated it. I hated it SO much. I wanted to go home so bad. So, out of my embarrassment and homesickness, I just started to bawl my eyes out.  I must’ve sat there crying for a good 10 minutes maybe, until a sound made me go quiet.

SNAP

The break of a stick.

I immediately sat there in dead silence as I quietly began looking around. Now, my first thought would’ve been it was more kids that found me, but you know as much as I do, kids aren’t that sneaky. You’d be hearing giggling and a lot of movement. Hell, a lot of kids I knew at that camp would’ve just barged through to laugh at me, not hide from me. And if it were a counsellor, they’d immediately be approaching me, not hiding either. So… the idea that someone was trying to sneak up on me was already really fucking creepy. 

I didn’t see anything for a bit, no matter where i looked there was just nothing around me except more woods.

Until I turned my head towards another crack of a branch. This time it was closer and louder. I quickly turned, and I saw this... figure. This tall, lingering figure; just standing between the trees in the darkness. it was hunched over, and its arms were long and dangly. It just… wasn’t normal. The one thing I could see clearly were its eyes. At least I think they were. These small white glowing orbs just staring at me. 

(Illustrated by @btm-txt)

You know those times when you’re so scared you just can’t move? That’s what happened. I wanted to scream, I wanted to run but I just couldn’t. I was frozen I just stared at…whatever this fucking thing was. 

I don’t know how long i was locked in a staring match with the thing for. But eventually, it just vanished from my sight. I don’t know where the hell it went, but as soon as it left. I booked it. 

I just ran in a random direction into the woods, which looking back now, was a dumbass move; I dunno why I didn’t go back to the camp, but I guess I just wasn’t thinking. I was just a scared kid who wanted to get away from whatever I saw. After running out of breath and hiding under a fallen tree, I just curled up, trying to catch my breath and calm down. That wasn’t easy, considering I was JUST crying, holding my breath in fear and THEN ran for it. So I may as well have sounded like an asthmatic. Eventually, my breathing calmed down, but I just stayed in that spot. I was too scared to move as you could expect. The woods were eerily quiet except for a few of the typical noises but that didn’t make me feel better. The coldness began to get to me, too, so now I was shaking both out of fear and the cold. 

(Illustrated by @starlitskvader)

“Tiberius?”. I heard someone call my name, I looked up and around but still didn’t see anyone. “Tiberius? Where are you?”. I heard it again; this time the voice was clearer… it was my dad's. My dad’s voice. I had no idea how it was possible but my kid brain didn’t care. I was happy, and I crawled out of my hiding place immediately. I started calling out for him. “Dad?! Dad?! Where are you?” “Come here, Tiberius. I can’t find you”, the voice spoke out again in a weirdly calm tone. If I wasn’t in such a stressful situation, I maybe would’ve picked up on the strange way my dad was talking, but like I said, I didn’t care at the time. I was just relieved that my dad was here and thinking I was gonna finally get out of there and go home. I started going through the woods, following the voice that sounded like my dad but my excitement started slowing down and it started to hit me. The more closer I got to the voice, the more I realised it sounded... off. The strange calmness was still not a warning sign for me, but what was is that the voice just sounded so… shaky? Fake? It sounded like my dad but something about it just didn’t FEEL like it was from him. More like someone trying to do an impression of him, but how was that possible? He was back on the island, ages away from here. No one here would possibly know what he sounded like except for maybe one or two counsellors but that was way too much of a longshot. Why would some counsellor be doing an impression anyway, it made no sense...

I soon stopped when I saw a figure again, the dark outline approached slowly and as it got closer it started to look like my dad. I smiled but… something felt wrong, really wrong. Something in my gut was screaming at me that I needed to run, but I didn’t know why. It was my dad; it had to be, I thought. The figure of my dad stopped, I could see some of the details, the salmon pink fur, the long curled spines, even the clothes, the hiking boots, and all the gear he wears on him. It had to be him, It was uncanny!

But something still felt wrong... “Hello, son. Come here, let's go home”, it stretched it's arms out. My smile vanished… now that I was right there, I really picked up how weird his voice was… something was really wrong with it. ‘Till this day i still can’t pick up on how it was exactly. You just kinda had to be there to know. You could just tell it wasn’t right, and listening to it made you feel like something was crawling up your spine. I didn’t move. “Tiberius? What’s wrong?” it spoke, taking a step forward. I started to notice this-this thing. Its arms were way too long for the body, and 'my dad's hair was starting to move, almost like tentacles or some shit... I couldn't understand what I was seeing.

(Illustrated by @starlitskvader) Stupidly, I spoke up out of nervousness. “W-...who are you?”. “It’s me, son. Come here, give me a hug”. The long arms stretched out even further and closer to me and the figure took a few steps forward, coming completely out of the darkness of the trees showing its face… it was not my father. That face. I don’t know if I could begin to describe it. The smile was huge and unnatural, going all the way to the cheeks, full of uneven teeth that made me think of a fucked-up shark. Rows upon rows of these janked up teeth. The eyes were open wider than I thought possible, the pupils tiny and barely visible. Staring into my fucking soul. And to this day the gaze of this thing, pretending to be my father, has haunted me.

“Come here, son. Come to me”, it spoke as it started approaching me. The voice fell apart and sounded more unnatural. It started moving with a strange twitch and making these strange sounds. After being frozen in utter fear this entire time, my legs finally moved, and I booked it. Just running back as fast as my little legs could take me. The entire time, I could hear a slurry of noises. The best I can describe them was like a bunch of demonic feral sounds, along with fast, savage movement coming after me from behind. I knew it was chasing me; whatever this thing was, it wanted me. I had no idea what it wanted to do with me, but I knew it’d probably result in me being fucking dead. 

I only looked behind me once… and the image of this thing, still trying to appear like my father, running around like a fucking animal. Running on all four of its distorted limbs and it's fucked up face looking up at me. It was at this point I started screaming my lungs out in terror; I didn’t even care if I was crying anymore. That was the least of my worries.

When I finally got out of the woods, I scrambled my way to whatever was closest, which was the stairs to a cabin, I think. I don’t remember how many people approached me at first, but i remember hearing a lot of voices, and eventually, a bunch of counsellors came running over, trying to calm me down. I was screaming, crying and thrashing around for ages. Not even the little shit kids were laughing; everyone was wondering what the fuck was wrong with me.  It took me ages to finally calm down enough, but even then, I just couldn’t explain. I tried to, but it came out as nonsense. I was a scared kid who saw something that was worse than any horror movie I’d heard of at the time. 

Eventually, the adults kinda gave up on trying to get an explanation from me after they kept asking me to ‘stop lying’ or to ‘make some sense’, but I wasn’t. They just assumed I'd get over it after that night or so and I'd be fine.

I was the furthest from it. That night I didn’t get a wink of sleep. I laid awake, shaking and hiding underneath the covers. I don’t remember speaking much, if at all, after that. I just shut down. I didn't do any of the activities. I barely ate. I was practically a shell of a person. I didn’t know how to process what the fuck I just saw.

(Illustrated by @btm-txt) After a few days. Yes. I know. DAYS. My family was finally called, and the counsellors told me my dad was coming to get me ASAP. I couldn’t even be happy about it. I think at that point they just made sure to have a counsellor with me at all times. Dunno what for exactly, since I wasn’t really doing anything and it's not like them being around made any difference to begin with. I guess I just made them super fucking worried.  When my dad got here, with my mom and grandpa, they all rushed towards me. My dad quickly hugged me and picked me up, but I don’t even remember reacting much other than curling up a little into him. Meanwhile, my mom and grandpa went from fussing over me to yelling at the counsellors at the blink of an eye. They were furious. I don't remember what went on with that conversation but I could only imagine what went on.

(illustrated by @btm-txt)

I didn’t hear much else about what they talked about, as my dad just put me in the car with my things already packed. He sat in the back with me on the drive home, just holding me as I laid my head against him. When we got home. My family, mostly my grandpa, wound up suing that summer camp over what happened to me and not helping me much at all during the whole time and not even seeing me go into the woods at all. The camp wound up being charged with gross negligence and closed down not long after. I don’t even think I said anything on the drive home or when I got home. I don’t remember when I started talking again, but I didn’t talk about this that’s for sure. It was hard though, I had nightmares and apparently night terrors for weeks, I’d apparently wake up screaming and when my parents would come to comfort me, I’d fall back asleep and not remember the next morning.  Speaking of no memory, I actually didn’t remember this for a long time. I guess I tried so hard to forget most of this nightmare that I eventually did. Well, most of it. I still remembered two things. One. I always unconsciously remembered something bad happening to me in the woods, so it made me permanently uncomfortable with the idea of going into any woods, forests or any of that shit. To the point I was even terrified of letting my daughter go camping with my dad. I couldn’t even give an explanation as to why I just said I didn’t like it but I didn't stop them. I just made it painfully I didn't like it. I'm not surprised if my Dad was a little disappointed at how much I grew to hate the forest. I know he loves the outdoors and camping, and I knew he was really sad he couldn't share that with me I could see it with my daughter too, how she'd beg me to take her camping to let her try it and I just refused At least they had each other. I always felt bad that I was so against any sort of activity to do with the woods without even having a proper reason for them…until now at least. They never held it against me though, and I'm grateful for that.

And two, even after all of that… I had never forgotten that face. I think after a few years, I thought it was some messed up dream, but it’s imprinted itself into my brain. That horrible fucking face. 

Now that this is fresh in my memory, I actually decided to look up stuff on the area of that camp and that forest… and it turns out. Some weird shit has happened in those woods at night. A lot of people have had stories Stemming from being stalked by an unseen pursuer, being chased by a weird animal, or even like me, having some… thing… look like someone they know approach them and talk to them. After doing more research, a few people think that it’s not a paranormal occurrence or some weird spirit or demon doing this. Instead, these people believe it’s a shapeshifting creature; it goes by many names, but it all means the same. It takes the form of animals and people in order to lure people toward it so it can kill and eat them and or then take their place as their doppelganger.

I don’t believe that entirely, but… I know for sure now that something definitely happened to me in those woods. It wasn’t just a nightmare or a fucked up scenario I imagined. It was real. I honestly don’t know what scenario is worse, if it actually was a dangerous person after me that went way too far, if it was something paranormal or… if there really was a creature in there. Something dangerous. Sometimes, I wonder if… despite all of these years, it’s still there. In the woods. Waiting to lure another person… Not like I’m ever gonna find out for myself, though. I am never EVER going back there. Never. 

If you read this far. Thank you and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

[the-type-a]

Words can not describe how much I love this blog! I have a few headcanons if you’d like to possibly expand on them?

Courtney and Duncan got back together a few months after All Stars, as she and Duncan’s mom were still in contact while he was in jail

Went to college together and while they both knew they would be married, they didn’t actually tie the knot until Courtney’s career took off

So, they lived in a two bedroom apartment right above Duncan’s tattoo parlor

Courtney wakes up early, Duncan forces her to cuddle and go back to sleep by refusing to move his arm off her

Courtneys parents HATE Duncan with a burning passion and that doesn’t change much over time, not even when they have kids

Courtney forces Duncan to listen to Taylor Swift literally every time they’re in the car

Going off that, Duncan proposed to Courtney at a Taylor concert. Courtney had just been accepted into a law firm, so this was a celebratory vacation with the KB5 + Gwen, Heather, and Alejandro

The wedding was actually really small and lowkey

Gwen, Cate (Courtney’s younger sister), and Bridgette were all brides maids while Heather was the maid of honor

Geoff was Duncan’s best man, and DJ, Alejandro, and one of Duncan’s brothers (I have no idea who tho lol) were all groomsmen

Duncans parents were there and for once Duncan and his dad didn’t argue. Courtney’s parents was a much different and sadder story though

Brittany was the flower raccoon, as kids weren’t allowed at the wedding. Courtney even put her in a tiny white dress

Speaking of which, Brittany is still very much alive and loves to ‘mother’ all of the Duncney children (mostly snuggling up to them when they were babies to keep them warm)

Thats all for now, but I have PLENTY more lol. Anyway, hope you enjoy :)

Aw, thank you!

Here are my little add ons:

I 100% agree with Duncney getting back together after all stars. Though it would be years later— the two need to mature quite a lot before coming back. I’ve always imagined it about five years later.

Courtney for sure stayed on track for college after the show ended. Duncan took courses in prison to stay ahead of the game. Plus it gives him a thumbs up on good behavior and reinforcement— making it easier to serve less time than expected.

Courtney’s parents will never see eye to eye with her choice of partner, but it doesn’t stop her from seeing Duncan. Maybe back when they were on the show their approval influenced her more, but never now. Unfortunately, yeah— they don’t give up that cold shoulder even when their grandchildren are in the picture.

At first it seemed like Courtney was forcing Duncan to listen to a bunch of her favorite artists, but over time he secretly liked it. He loves to hear her sing her heart out no matter what artist it is. He’ll even turn the volume down slightly to hear Courtney more clearly.

I feel like Duncan would propose in a very private manner. I just don’t see Duncney doing the whole concert, restaurant, stadium, video, etc proposals lmao It would be something extremely intimate for the two of them— and lowkey? Would probably stem from a joke about marriage but then Duncan would deadass look at Courtney and be like, “You want to get married though?”

Duncney would probably have both a big and small wedding ngl. They both have huge families that would take up the majority of the guest list before friends are even mentioned. But I do think they’d sneak away beforehand and do a small little courthouse ceremony with the KB5 + Gwen, Heather, and Alejandro.

Brittany is so protective of the Duncney children. Whenever they start walking she follows them and will pull them by there pants or whatever to stop them from bumping into a wall or corner. She’s their very own guard-dog— but ofc in raccoon form.

These HCs were so cute! I’m glad there’s so many of us still keeping the ship alive! 💜

[kenjiyabuki]

DMD FTR: finale thoughts

i forgot to put this out because i've been in the process of being an employed adult human person these days, unfortunately (no one who saw my previous DMD FTR posts is surprised that i was unemployed). now i wont even get to have my weekly crisply shot and edited hang outs w Gen 3 besties while this new job is sucking my soul... but this was a pleasant finale to this sweet and chill and incredibly unsurprising show!

here's the thing: i dont even know who Domundi is trying to fool w this double win stuff cause they did literally announce the new gen would be acting in TWO (2) new series during their 2023 Line Up event???????

so the double win wasn't a surprise AT ALL but it's okay, it didnt really diminish my enjoyment out of the show at all. i wanted both couples to have series anyway!

as i've said in my first post about this show, it has been very obvious that this shows' intention isn't to be a competition, it's more of a new gen "inauguration". they could've just put the boys through bunch of workshops and let them choose partners off camera too but they chose to put money and time in to make it a whole show, so people could witness their journey and premature fan clubs would form and develop. i think its fun and clever marketing but did it work???

well, the boys def have more fans now BUT on the same day this episode was premiering, some ZNN fans were crying about their faves (who just had a movie come out, also filming a show rn AND scheduled to film another one after) being slighted by the company and they didn't need to "add more". like i said, i don't really follow Domundi closely, if the fans are right about artist management i might not know... but their Gen 2 was extremely successful after all and people are BEGGING for more series, so it's not a bad move for a company to want to grow. i wish fans would be more mature and learn more the industry the person they "stan" works in! why would a growing company would just make shows w 2 actors over and over man, cmon 😭

okay now that i got that out of me, back to the finale. some notes about the general:

the group performance of the theme song was a bit cringe to me bc i just hate that kind of music. but everyone's ending fairies were really cuteeeee so i forgive them

real winners of the episode is the background dancers because they literally did all the performances and acted too, very well!!

Domundi members and variety of industry people in the audience was sweet to see and added valuable comments/advice for the boys. i was especially happy to see Jimmy and Tommy, whom i ADORE!!!!

i was laughing at that LOUD ASS clapping and hollering track they kept playing to add some more noise to the audience's. like i know why they did it but how much that big sound didn't match w that small crowd just tickled me..

well, yeah, i cant get into idol-ing stuff personally so i was kind of bored during the solo performances. i dont really have comments that hasn't already been said by the judges. i thought all the boys did what they were supposed to do and showcased their talents, EXCEPT Latte........ my dude, what happened? i think he could've lip sync to the song, which IS a skill (Rupaul's Drag Race battles and just drag performances in general as evidence...) that would add a lot to his performance.

Firstone leaving the competition w Best Friendship & Best Performance Awards in his pocket and two guys wanting to be his partner. What a little star... Deserved and love his cocky attitude.

about couple jukebox musicals:

in my last episode commentary, i joked about Mandee getting inspired from my ideas but then they actually kinda happened lol🧐🧐🧐🧐 ThomasKong's performance was a coming of age, young love story while KengNamping's story was more complex romance w an angsty core, almost exactly like i wished for.

all in all, KengNamping's performance grabbed my attention the most. mostly because their acting & chemistry seemed improved to me (that kiss fake out at the end, what the hell??? you guys couldn't hold an eye contact couple eps ago...) AND their storyline just ATEEEE. i dont know who came up w the forbidden romance between kinda out of touch but well meaning rich boy & his "i suffer through love quietly" village boy bodyguard, w humour sprinkled in, but they need to get their ass eaten regularly...

ThomasKong don't even need to try that hard, they are just natural born charmers!!!! i liked their friends to lovers, nerdy guy cant believe popular one' love bc he doesnt see his value storyline (Thomas could've busted out One Direction's "What Makes You Beautiful"). With the romantic prom climax, it reminded me of American high school movies and fit their vibes perfectly. i wish it was more humorous, because i think comedy is one of their strong suits. like how did it ended up that shy kings KengNamping got more laughs than ThomasKong, the goofballs themselves??? whoever is writing their series, please take notes, now that i know you are reading these...

after the glorious double win and the cute four-way hug, Aof said that two shows would be announced this year which clearly meant that most we are getting this year are pilot trailers. which is fine. not easy to be patient but i get that they are a smaller company w lots on their plates already. i hope they will use that time to work and work and work on the shows!!!!

i honestly want Domundi to kind of change up things in their filmmaking/producing styles, maybe switch directors sometimes and try diffferent styles idk... this show and Gen 3 in general felt very refreshing and i hope they keep that vibe going! and maybe i will finally watch a Domundi show till the last episode.

P.S.: Extra clips were released this week and KengNamping's was sweet. i was kinda laughing at how much of a set up it was like, them conveniently sharing a blanket, all mic'd up, getting filmed w lights on etc. but their conversation and mood in the moment seemed sincere, which is enough. it was nice to see the context for ep 5, when they found each other at the other end of the red ribbon and said that so much happened on that bridge. what a perfect circle moment, from comforting each other about not winning a challenge to winning the show!

[moles-and-freckles]

Marco Bodt's Past and Family Headcanons!

Hi guys, my first post, just my headcanons for my boy's past and family! Maybe a WIP, trust me it is long (2k plus words) but I think I got the gist of it. Some small details, I decided that all their names start with a M but they have very dumb silly nicknames just like my family does. I come from like a very big family of 7 so I put my own personal experiences and quirks here. I tried to give them all their own unique personalities especially his parents to explain how he is the way he is. And I kinda fell in love with them, they are just so wholesome! I used a lot of Pinterest fanarts and headcannons for reference I will credit them when I have the time!

Parents & Background

I'd like to imagine Jinae was a warm place snuggled up in the southern countryside very far off from camp, taking days to visit. wheat, hay, and fields everywhere that Marco and his siblings often got lost in. Life there was pretty simple and everybody was tight-knit country folk who worked on the big farms the lords owned. There was not that much to do there, just as plain as the plains that surrounded them. 

Hid parents met on the farm they worked and lived at ever since they were young, she was the one to mostly make the move, and ever since then, they had been in love despite their off personalities. Everybody was shocked that the shy meek loner got the giddy talkative gf haha. 

His father, Manuel, works in the fields. The well-off landowners he has worked for ever since he was a young lad were generous enough to let him and his family settle on a small meager humble patch on the outskirts of their big farmland, and he gets most of the leftover wheat with permission to build and support his wife with their little run of the mill bakery which was their abode.

Manuel is like an old workhorse, tired and stern,  with rough scarred hands, but gets the job done. Marco definitely has his chubby long face and eyes but Manuel has this more tired-lidded look to it.  He was born with a delicate condition that affected his work and health a lot but he also was still diligent when it came to providing for his family even when it cost him at times. 

He's a gentle thoughtful stern man who is quiet and only speaks a few yet wise words, but that never stopped him from being a bad father, he was rather sweet and mellow, and he was always good at reading people and his children and wife’s needs. Probably that guy who always says “yes honey” to his always-correct wife. 

Now we go onto Miriam. Marco got her freckles and his red nose from her definitely thank her for that! She’s extraverted and Giddy, but She has a kind gentle mellow soul who you definitely at first glance would say is a mother. She liked to fill her kids' stories up with dreams, fairy tales, and lullabies and fill up their bellies with delicious food. Shes the main manager of their whole bakery along with a housewife, but things had been hectic given the family's size so she thought the kids were thought to help as well.

So in the end, I'd like to think Marco got his dreaminess and positiveness from his extroverted mother. while he has his father's thoughtful, observant, and understanding nature and why he cares a lot about duty! Combine both and you get this sunshine right here!

Siblings 

Marco grew up the oldest of 6 kids, 3 daughters and 3 sons.  It was a rowdy bunch and sometimes times were rough due to the money, but he loved it there and his big family, he’d often tell the stories to Erna, and it always made 

 I don't know who started the headcanon I've been seeing since 2013 that Marco is a big brother, but its absolute canon now to me it makes perfect sense given his personality, always being the giver rather than the receiver…

The Twins, Matteo “Teo” and Mattea “Tea (pronounced Te-yah)”  would be born, when Marco was about 4. 

Teo is a cheeky little bastard, blunt with his words, and often got into trouble with others and older folks which Marco often had to be in his side to restrain or put him in his place. Marco kinda sees Matteo in Jean a lot,  Snarky and smug but honest and loyal deep down. Probably why he was adamant about being on good terms with Jean even if the boy seemed like a jerk to Marco at first.  

While Tea is the opposite of Teo, she’s more like her father, tired and gentle, she’s very well-read, preppy for a country bumpkin,  and observant but she prefers to keep her mouth shut, but when she doesn’t, it's always something wise or snarky. She would rather die than admit she is as full of herself as Teo haha.  She had to keep up with the likes of Matteo ever since she was born so she’s mostly done with everybody’s bs. 

The twins' dynamic sorta reminds him of Jean and Erna’s a lot due to them always bickering and bantering wittily,  so it brings  a chuckle out of him sometimes, they were like their family to him when his were so far away from home

Micaela “Mica” and Monica “Nica”, aren't twins but they are close to age enough to be mistaken and they are all kind of called that in their family. 

Mica is a tomboy and has a thirst for fun and adventure, she's very carefree friendly, and ditzy, unlike Matteo who's sly and snarky. She butts heads with Tea a lot for being an improper lady.  The closest to her the most is her little sister Nica and Marco, they're one of the few people who can keep up with her hype.   She’s very dreamy and curious and loves to play with others and Marco. Normally the rest would type her off as that weird hyperactive kid. 

On the other hand, I'd imagine Nica would be a shy meek yet equally dreamy girl. She always looked up to her elder siblings, especially Marco, they both loved to play and imagine, and he was the one she wanted to do with the most. She's a bit mellow and very quiet and tired due to not being born with the best genes like Marco did, barely even saying a few words across a day. So, Marco was very protective of her growing up. 

He was like that to all of his sisters. Braiding their hair, making sure they were safe. He was taught to respect wamen from the very get-go from his mother and he was a big mama’s boy so it was second nature to him to be a gentleman. 

Lastly,  Manuel, or “Manny” is the baby of the family,  who is named after their father. He and Marco have a 12-13 year age gap, Marco enlisted a few months after he was born, so they didnt spend that much time together, something Marco regrets. Manny doesn't remember a lot about Marco other than the stories his mother gave, and the short visits he had on holidays. 

But Marco seemed otherwise, cherishing every detail of him. A core memory for the two brothers, Marco and Teo is when they were begging that their mother's baby would be a boy when they huddled around her belly because it was unfair for another girl in the girl’s team, they didnt want to be outnumbered haha and they coincidentally got their gift lol. 

Manny is studious just like Marco albeit a bit more timid than his older bubbly brother. It brings an ache yet fondness to Miriam’s heart how similar he is to her first boy,  it was like a little gift fate gave her to him to soothe her heart when he went away for camp…then forever.   

After that, He never had that many father figures to look for in life. Marco went to the military right after he was out of his mom’s stomach. Then His father died from a broken heart after what happened to Marco when he was just aged 5,  and his older brother Matt was just too immature for that role so he had a lot of unanswered questions in his life and was the source of his problems and insecurities. 

Childhood

Marco was born just a year after their marriage. Miriam loved children but due to his troubled birth she decided to focus more on Marco for the years to come and that explains the age gap compared to the rest of his siblings. Matteo and Mattea are born 4  years later while the rest of the Bott siblings' ages are 1-2 years apart away from each other at most. 

He was born rather sickly like his father, he had a frailer body than most, and fevers often caught him as a a baby. So he knew from the very get-go what it felt like to be weak. Due to that,  he was babied a lot by Miriam he turned into a chubby kid from her smothering.  

His mother tried to protect him from anything bad in the world after that. His sheltered-ness was always a reason for him to prove himself in front of everybody and be of help instead of being a burden. Always trying to do chores like milking the goats and cows, cleaning, and helping raise his siblings!

 He was the first born so he knew he had a lot of responsibilities on his shoulders to keep up with that he often felt like caught up to him. Even if his parents were not that strict and loved him unconditionally,  He always felt that pressure to be that golden child to pay back. He often tried to help his father with farmwork but that was rare given Miriam’s pestering, so most of the time he’d help his mom keep his wild siblings in check and lead them. 

So to summarize, Marco always had experience being the family therapist and peacemaker, being a big brother and the eldest son made him want to put others' needs before his and his and take his responsibilities seriously. And sometimes he shoulders too much that it costs him…

His social standing as a child was he was shyer and meek than he was in his trainee years but he loves  people, to spend time, help, and listen to them like his mom did, he was just really awkward due to not being treated the best by the other kids and teenager stuff  

He had trouble making friends his age, he was too much of a goody-two-shoes haha he would definitely be that kid to snitch on other kids' secret cursing clubs. And, he didnt have a single friend his age outside of his family up until his trainee years.

His health issues prevented him from playing with other children outside their family. Plus, They often picked on him for his pudgy weight and silly imagination and dreams, and that kinda of stuck with him a lot and was the source of his many insecurities under his dimpled smile.  

But He was a sweet boy so the grandma and other moms loved him for being the boy next door who always helped. Their Bakery was small and the only one in their town, so Marco knew almost everybody there.   

I kinda wanted to have a cute reason as to why he wanted to be a MP… 

As a child he was always interested in stories and playing as a dutiful knight protecting the king or some princess, he loved to play those stories with his siblings especially. And that made him set his sights on wanting to join the MP’s to serve the true king instead of make-believe.  

Even if it wasn't specific, he always wanted To dedicate himself to a bigger purpose. To be responsible,  maintain peace and order, all that jazz. He knew he wasn't that special or outstanding in life on his own, but if he could serve someone or be some helpful cog in the machine, make someone happy like he does with his family - that was enough.

Authors Note, I decided he had a pretty normal childhood because the whole abusive family with dead people then someone turns out to be perfectly fine is done to oblivion even if it is inspiring, and I’ve seen this done so many times with people’s headcanons for Marco. I don't want to traumatize him…yet.  I like the idea of Marco being a preety normal boy,  and most of his isues like his naivety and sometimes insecurity still stem from him being sheltered and bullied as a weird naive kid. 

Marco’s Enlistment

His dreams would always stay even when he was reaching to be a young man.  He felt there was honor in making bread and feeding people by making them happy. But he felt like he was made for more than that and to do great things for the world.  

The fall of Wall Maria hit hard on everybody, nobody was doing well and drought hit badly in the following 2 years crops from overfarming for the refugee’s rations. The Bodt’s had to keep selling most of their livestock, some of the chickens to make eggs, some cows and goats they had to make milk, and their old horse. To make things worse, Manuel got sick often due to overworking making Marco to be the one to plow the fields at most times but even his weak body wasn't enough. 

The Bodt’s could barely feed their already big family after that and they had to go to desperate measures so Marco thought of something. As soon as the year’s training batch was over and there was an opening, he went to enlist secretly. Everybody was doing it and most of the boys who messed with him went there as well to make a name for themselves. 

He felt lonely and selfish for the decision but If it meant having one less mouth to feed for his loved ones it was worth it. Plus, he wanted to make the dreams he had since he was a child a reality. 

His mother was disappointed in him for his decision a week before he would go, and she pestered him a lot for it, and begged him to stay. Most of his family and siblings didnt want him to go as well. Nobody said it especially, his family His parents and siblings but they all thought he was naive at best, and most of the ther townfolk given that he was weakling making a fool of himself and he would quit months later. 

His mother was usually optimistic and believed in him, but given the diire situation they were in, she felt out of hope and just wanted to let whats left of her family to stick by. Even if they were poor, things could only work would get through together she thought. 

And he was still her little boy all this time, she was protective that he wouldnt come back the same and be hurt in such a big cruel  world compared to their warm little town. 

But Marco with a heavy heart, disobeyed her for the first time in his life. He promised to visit and write to the family as much as possible. The next few days were somber and Miriam couldnt help but stop crying silently, the siblings were less chatty and rowdy, they tried to keep things normal without addressing the elephant in the room but Marco tried to comfort them. 

The day then, He said his farewell to his father, and all his siblings huddled up near him as he was about to go out.  Just before he would go out of their fence, his mother told him something, “Not everybody will want what you give to this world like we do,  my sun…When you find someone who loves you as much as we do, keep them and don’t let go” She reminded him, not wanting him to be alone. Marco smiled and hugged her tight, getting teary-eyed but promising he would and he’d come back safe…

[chaoticrobotics]

will security alert ever come back? I just found it and i love the story. i hope it comes back :(

I didn't want to say anything because I really don't want people pressuring me (don't worry about your ask being seen as pressure, you are one of the nicer people to ask when it's coming back unlike a lot of people on tiktok), but I was going to TRY and just get through it and finish the damn story.

Unfortunately, right now I have no way to draw digitally. I am having a new tablet being shipped so whenever that gets here I will have to get used to it before getting into anything big.

So that being said... There is a very SMALL possibility that I am going to continue Security Alert. I am definitely abandoning all the other small comics I was doing, and honestly I wish I had done that sooner and maybe I would have finished Security Alert in the first place, but I didn't so I just severely burnt myself out and needed to just stop for a while on the comic.

So again. There are no definite promises that it is coming back. But I do want to finish the story. You might be able to tell though that I am not all that excited to do so in my tone.

Personally, I really do want to finish the story, because it is fun to think about the story itself, but thinking about actually sitting down and drawing the story, for a lot of people who weren't even appreciating the work I put into the story and just wanted the next part (again, not you specifically, but a lot of other people on other sites) just makes me feel sick and hateful to the comic and the game/media in general.

Literally the DLC came out and barely revived any of my love I used to have for this whole thing. The only thing it did do was reinforce my love for the Mini Music Men lol (I do wish we saw DJ Music Man in the DLC, that would have been cool).

So yeah. I am going to TRY and get through the story. The style is definitely going to be different and I might do smaller parts as well, but it's going to still be a while until I am going to do so since, like I said, I physically can't draw digitally right now. I also want to try and actually get a bunch of pages done before releasing new content so that I am not feeling as pressured to actually rush myself.

I was going to try and do all of this without saying anything to just surprise people while also not disappoint people if I never actually go through with continuing, but enough people have been following me and asking recently (most likely because of the DLC) that I am just gonna say this.

So if you came here for content, just be patient I guess. I do have the whole story planned out since before I stopped making content, and I am not changing anything because of the DLC, so some things aren't going to line up with the DLC, but I honestly don't care anymore and just want to get this story done so I can get this weight off my shoulders whenever I think about this comic.

Thanks for reading this far if you did. I'll do my best to get the comic up and running again, but again, like I said multiple times, don't get your hopes up too high. It will be a bit until I can get going again, and this time I am going to take my sweet ass time with this comic so I don't end up absolutely hating this comics and franchise by the end of it. Hang in there and hopefully I can finish this. I am one person doing this for free, so let's all hope I keep my motivation this time and actually get to the end of this story (pretty sure at this point in the story we are like 1/3 or half-way done, so if I can go with my original place then there should be quite a bit more content for me to make).

[themculibrary]

Christmas Proposals Masterlist

A Lifetime Of Christmases (ao3) - Coffee_and_notebooks steve/tony G, 1k

Summary: One of the things that made Christmas so special for them was the traditions they had, what they could look forward to every year.

They had both always been those people that were absolutely obsessed with Christmas, getting excited well before Halloween and Thanksgiving, and getting excited all over again after the two occasions were over.

Or: Three Traditions Steve and Tony already had at Christmas and the One New Tradition they make.

All I Ever Wanted For You (ao3) - plumeria47 steve/bucky G, 833

Summary: They’d agreed that this year, their first Christmas together since 1944, they would each buy three things they’d wished they could have given the other one back when they were too dirt poor – or in the middle of a war. To discourage outrageous purchases, a dollar amount had been squabbled over and eventually agreed upon.

But someone broke the rules.

(AKA: An unapologetically fluffy Christmas ficlet.)

A Very Merry Christmas (ao3) - bluejaythebeautiful steve/bucky T, 557

Summary: Steve did that really annoying thing where he put a bunch of smaller boxes into one really big box. Bucky's fed up with him.

Christmas Sweaters (ao3) - tinytonysnark steve/tony T, 1k

Summary: That little velvet box has been burning a hole in Steve's pocket for weeks now

Five Golden Rings (ao3) - ripavengers steve/tony N/R, 1k

Summary: The five rings of life help make a relationship last, for Steve and Tony anyway.

I Never Knew The Meaning of Christmas (ao3) - JehBeeEh steve/tony G, 5k

Summary: A look at Steve and Tony's first Christmas together.

I remember (ao3) - dizzyingly_dreamy steve/bucky M, 5k

Summary: He hated snow. He couldn't remember why, but he knew that there was a deep, very stubborn hatred of snow. It seemed to run in his DNA, and no matter what angle he took, he hated snow even more than before.

For the moment, as he glared up at the sky, thick, cotton flakes drifted down towards the ground, lazily, twinkling softly in the lamplight. They were difficult to see without any light, but he could still see them, feel them in his hair, making his head feel heavy and insulated. It was strange, and he didn't know if he liked the feeling it or didn't. It looked light out, but that was only because the world was shrouded with thick, impenetrable clouds. There was no true darkness when the clouds were shielding them from it.

(or, Bucky manages to crawl his way back into a life he likes, and brightens up someone else's just in time for Christmas.)

Memories that last forever (ao3) - ArabellaAM steve/tony G, 2k

Summary: Tony sighed, turning around all the way and asking with a tired, raspy voice, “Why am I hugging a pillow on Christmas Eve, Rogers?”

Or, Steve can't sleep and Tony asks him to tell him a story about his mom.

Mistletoe (ao3) - CaptainJimothyCarter peggy/steve G, 3k

Summary: Steve cannot lie to save his life, especially to his girlfriend whose whole career is built on the ability to lie. His mother's yearly Christmas dinner will be a bit different this year and not just because Chester Phillips is officially his stepfather.

Quite the One-Eighty (ao3) - betheflame steve/tony, bucky/natasha G, 2k

Summary: Steve has a bad day, Tony is a nervous wreck, Nat is intent on making popcorn garland, and it all works out in the end.

rare and sweet as cherry wine (ao3) - arttemis peggy/steve T, 1k

Summary: He reaches into his blazer pocket and pulls out a small black box. “I’m gonna propose.”

“You cannot propose,” Bucky says.

-

Steve is in love and has bad timing.

Saved My Heart For You (ao3) - pensversusswords steve/tony T, 8k

Summary: Tony had been trying to propose for months, but it turned out that post-battle on Christmas Eve was the best time to pop the question.

The Best Day of the Year (ao3) - orphan_account pepper/tony G, 2k

Summary: Tony finally mans up and proposes to Pepper on Christmas Eve.

the promise to be near (ao3) - orphan_account peggy/steve G, 1k

Summary: The very prospect of having a future to plan, wide open and thrillingly interminable, was still enough to overwhelm Steve on the best of days.

Unwrapped (ao3) - nightwalker steve/tony E, 4k

Summary: Tony and Steve each have a surprise for the other. Turns out they were thinking along similar lines.

What Tony Got For Christmas (ao3) - TheRedGlass steve/tony T, 1k

Summary: In which Steve is a little shit and Tony gets the best Christmas surprise.

[brick-a-doodle-do]

It's been forever since I've been on tumblr so have an ask for the ask game thing, 1, 2, 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 10, 121, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50

-Small brain anon

sb. you've struck again. just for you, since i haven't seen you in a while, i will answer all of them. except for the ones i have asked: 2, 3, 8, 12, 15, 18, 19, 22, 23, 27, 33, 39, 44, 45, and 50!

answers under cut,,,

1 : if you have a lighter, what color is it?

i have one, but i don't really use it. also i have no clue where it is. it's blue tho!

4 : how often are you on tumblr?

oh god. i have a horrible addiction to like constantly checking it, which i am not proud of and it's really annoying. but i'm not on tumblr for longer than 5-ish minutes before i decide to close the tab. but that cancels out when i open the tab again a few minutes later. trying to fix it. but i am pretty much always on tumblr and check it at the most every 5-6 hours :/

5 : are you only doing this because you're bored?

mmhh when i rbed it, yes, but now i want to do something with my fingers and this is a good fix :D

6 : what blogs do you mostly interact with?

depends on what "interact with" actually means but in terms of actually interacting with blogs that also interact with me, (moots, essentially), it's really only becky and squishy on a day-to-day basis. sometimes 3d and sloth pop up tho. i interact, (in terms of liking, rb-ing, etc.), with a whole bunch of ppl tho ,,,,

7 : can you swim?

yes!

9 : which do you prefer, cotton candy or funnel cake?

if i've had funnel cake, i don't remember it. so cotton candy. but honestly funnel cakes look way better ,,,

10 : have you ever used a fork as a bookmark?

no i have not! i'd easily consider it though ,,

11 : bass or drums?

god both are so awesome. but i'd say bass. BUT my exception for that is mark boardman that man makes their songs so fkn amazing have you HEARD the drums in golden hour or oyygc? LIKE MCXMCMXN his drums with wil's voice is just so lovely.

13 : can we be friends?

yes!

14 : do you admire the clouds and the color of the sky?

all the time. being in a car is so lovely because MMMM SKYYY !!!

16 : a netflix series that's your favorite?

the haunting of hill house/bly manor and midnight club are all beautiful shows and i fkn love them ,,, i also love orange is the new black even tho it isn't a netflix original ,,

17 : an earliest obsession you can remember?

g/t. it's a basic answer but looking back on my life, all the way from when 4-year-old me asked my dad what he would do if i shrunk, to writing a story about a giant when i was in 3rd grade to whatever the hell my fanfiction writing has turned into which started in 2018—it's a BIG part of me and has been for a while

20 : have you listened to the crane wives?

UGHMGDS,VXMCM qasdvkmdscMDFFSDVCX I LOVE THE CRANE WIVES. I AM CONSIDERING ASKING TO GO TO ONE OF THEIR SHOWS CAUSE IT'LL BE IN PHILLY !!!!! I LOVE THEM SMM

21 : your first celebrity crush?

aiden gallagher . don't ask. and it only worsened with tua. but i am out of that phase now ^_^

24 : what have you learned about yourself?

that i'm more like my mother than i ever thought i'd be eueue (in a /neutral way cause she's a great mom i just find myself doing the habits of hers that i never liked)

25 : can you tie a cherry stem with your tongue?

ah, no. i've tried once and gave up ,, i hope to eventually be able to do it tho !!

26 : do you believe in aliens?

in a way, yes, because there is a lot in the universe and i refuse to believe there isn't some type of life out there, but it's my same response with ghosts: i want to believe

28 : an unusual song that's your favorite?

LOTS. to narrow down on one, any of my favorite broadway songs. in any scenario i would never put it on a playlist but i fucking love broadway sm it itches something in my brain. probably something from heathers cause that's such a dark humor-ed thing,,,,

also a tv show called earth isn't my favorite but it's really sweet idek why i enjoy it sm <3

29 : the last thing you ate?

candy cigarettes !! the chalky ones

30 : do you have a favorite time to write?

mainly at night, from the hours of 12-1 when i really want to sleep but there's a scene in my head that won't leave >:)

31 : have you gotten bitten by a dog?

of course,, but nothing dangerous just when they accidentally bite while playing

32 : do you write better with a pen or pencil?

my handwriting is better with a pencil but it's easier to write with a pen imo

34 : when you hear "peace" what do you think of?

mmhghh satisfaction on everyone's person.

35 : a school subject you're good with?

honestly i'm pretty good at math. i'm not the best and it gets overwhelming but it always does ,,,,

36 : how many alarms do you have set?

one, (for 9:40 am), and i don't follow it. i mean not usually. i'll either wake up before it, sleep through it, or wake up to it and then fall back asleep eueu

37 : do you shop at thrift stores?

when my mom takes me to one, yeah !

38 : what's the meaning behind your url?

mm i have good stuff for this. my name is brick, of course, and then in the show derry girls one of the characters is constantly saying 'fuck-a-doodle-do' for a few episodes and then i decided to combine the two. it has NOTHING to do with cock-a-doodle-do, chickens do not deserve my respect.

40 : who's your favorite character to write?

i feel like tommy is my go-to, and yeah the narrator for him is fun asf but i like writing techno. he's fun. i like him a lot more than i did before which i'm really happy about because i found his character very intimidating to write :D

41 : you gotta have a favorite beatles song, what is it?

this may change, but it's twist and shout. it reminds me of my dad :D

42 : earphones or a speaker?

earphones for the quiet me-time, and speaker for the times when i'm feeling extroverted or when i'm in the car w my mom :)

43 : what do you remember from your childhood?

this is such a vague question. i uHNMM remember lots of stuff, but mostly my annual trips to disney world with my family !!

46 : a christmas song you secretly like?

there is no secret here, but i LOVE ¿dónde está santa clause? it's mildly racist but i love the ending sm 😭

47 : book stores or record stores?

book stores !

48 : how weird were these questions

i found them pretty neutral eueueu and fvcnhcjfdbbcx ahhhh finally i am at the end !!!!!

49 : what scents do you like?

gasoline and chemical-induced markers...i'm not ashamed to admit that. they're so bad for you but they SMELL SO GOOD why ??????? also i love pinapple scented stuff :D

50 : are there 20 new aus i have to catch up on?

ah, YES. yes there are. they should all be on my masterpost! but that's just the names of them, altho i'm sure if you searched on my page you could find them easily ,,,

,,, ah. well. i'd say thank you for the ask....but am i really thankful? /j of course i am. hope you are having a good day and are doing good ! <3<3

[fuckingarataswespeak]

Ok so it's 1am and I'm genuinely crying a little bit.

I just spent the last 10-ish ours crocheting my dog a jumper. I just picked up crocheting the other day and I've never made a garment before, and between that and the pattern I used being a really weird shape and my dog being an in-between size I knew whatever I did, it wouldnt be great.

Here's the thing about my dog: he LOVES being clothed. Like it brings him so much joy. He's had bandanas in the past and he gets genuinely depressed when we take them off ( if you hold it out he'll lay his head down in them in the hope you'll put them back on) and a couple of puffy jackets that are only for wearing outdoors cause they aren't comfortable but he will beg you to leave them on.

Despite our dogs fashionista nature, he never had something he could just wear around the house, so I figured I would practice making him something so I could build him a wardrobe.

So knowing that this would not be amazing, I set off to make him something regardless. Yes, I spent the last 10-ish hours nonstop crocheting aside from snack breaks.

Lads, it's not amazing.

Nevertheless, I wake my dog at half past midnight to try it on. I have to hold his limp body up as he, as one who finds themself being a small dog might usually be, was asleep at this hour. He didn't not want to be woken up, but the second it clicked in his head what I was doing, he did a total 180 and eagerly helped me slip his paws through the jumper.

It was so bad, the arm holes were too low down, making it bunch up around his neck, it's way too short to cover him , and far too loose around the base of his ribs.

I wasnt very discouraged at this, but I was tired after pushing myself so hard and it would have been nice for it to have worked out perfectly first try.

All bad feelings are fucking BLASTED away when I see his response. He has a completely unexpressive face, he is stuck in a permanent :| but my god the WIGGLES. The man is wiggling so hard I fear he will take off into the sky and hit the MOON. He is shaking his tale with his whole heart and soul, to the point he is practical convulsing with happiness, and his eyes have this ... Glint to them. This little dog has not been so happy in a long time and he runs between me and my mom to show off his totally awful, ugly jumper.

I can't help but crying a little because it's been a long time since anyone has reacted like this so something I made fore them. There's no doubt that the reaction is just to make me feel placated, to reassure me it's not a big deal that I have to make something because I can't afford to buy anything. No fear that he's comparing it to other jumpers and wishing I could have made him something better.

He just has pure love for it, he has no reason to lie to me.

I'm not sure why I went on such a long rant, there's not really a moral to this story, or anything special or mind blowing. I just wanted to share how much I love my dog, and how honestly expressing your joy can make other people feel.

Have a blurry photo of Rusty looking so proud in my jumper that gives him camel toe

[everydaydg]

42. METEOS (DS)

This game rules!

Meteos is one of the most unique puzzle games ive ever played

On the surface it just looks like another version of panel de pon

but then you realize that you cannot move blocks horizontally. only vertically.

And thats when the fun starts

Meteos is a vertical block puzzle game where you send thrash to other planets.

The main idea is to create lines of 3 blocks of the same color so they can shoot to the skies like rockets and act as thrash for your oponents.

The gameplay is frantic and fun! It forces you to look at EVERYTHING on screen as to send more thrash to the oponent or to counter attacks from other players.

Countering is the best part of this game.

Attacks are represented as grey blocks that come from the top of the screen. All those blocks are counted as one big mass while they are in grey... soooo if you send a few rockets to elevate said mass, you can get rid of it immediatelly!

Its easier said than done as it requires propper planning and speed. you cant send every attack you have at hand because then you wont have anything to counter others and when you do recieve an attack you need to think fast in general or the big mass of blocks will turn back into regular colored blocks. which are harder to deal with.

Its extremely satisfying sending back a whole screen of things and seeing your oponents lose a stock.

While it might be a bit much to get used to at once, it becomes some of the most fun you can have with a DS puzzle game and (in my opinion) it even replaces the actual puzzle league game on the DS.

So! The game is pretty darn good on a gameplay front, what about the presentation?

Man they put alot of efford in and it shows.

The game has a pretty small story that ties together everything, that being that a bunch of planets are in war with planet meteo, they create a space ship called the Metamo Arc to finally put an end to the fight and defeat the evil planet.

Its simple but it does the job! The most important part about that is that its a conflict between alot of planets.

Alot of planets. Alot of playable planets.

Okay so they made 32 FUCKING PLANETS FOR THIS GAME. THEY HAD TO DESIGN 32 DIFFERENT PLANETS

WITH DIFFERENT RENDERS/PIECE OF ART TO REPRESENT THE SURFACE OF EVERY SINGULAR ONE AND THAT IS SO FUCKING COOL TO ME.

Every planet has a unique design with a unique species and a unique description and its all presented in such a cool way!!

You can tell they had some fun with this!

Hell! Selecting planets even has strategy! Every singular one has a different drop rate for certain blocks! some planets get more block types than others!

So you have this fun puzzle game with a wonderful presentation and a great soundtrack (forgot to bring up the soundtrack but its good) and you have one of the best puzzles games out there!

Even if it does have a high entry bar due to it being alot of things to learn at once.

Its a joy of a puzzle game, a must try for any DS owner.

and for anyone that just wants to replace planet puzzle league- thats another topic entirely but god damm I hate that game

10/10