#next time i'll use a bigger section

[viperbunnies]

They've been turned into marketable keychains...

Some extra photos utc ig

Before and after being baked (Sketch was the original size)

How do people take pictures of traditional art bruh

[ywpd-translations]

Ride 818: The red bean!!

Pag 1

2: …. they're coming

3: They swallowed Midosuji

4: and tore that Huge-cchbori off

5: Hakone Academy!! Is getting super close!!

Pag 2

1: With his blood redder than anyone's

Pag 3

1: with a heart bigger than anyone's, he runs the fastest and flashily!!

Pag 4

1: 1700m left until the finish line!!

They passed the 2km point!!

They're entering Beppu City!!

2: Everyone in the chasing group swallowed Kyoto Fushimi and they're now chasing Sohoku's Naruko who's running alone!!

3: The distance is shortening so fast!!

It's 100m.... 50m!!

Pag 5

1: It's only a matter of time!! They're gonna catch Sohoku!!

Pag 6

1: Sohoku's Naruko

Going ahead alone was just a brave move...!! Even though I was surprised when you jumped ahead at 5km left...!!

2: Alright, a quiz for you, Yuuto

Huh

Again? Even though I just pointed it out earlier

3: In how many meters do I plan on catching him!?

4: Ugh!! Isn't that just up to you to decide!?

Pag 7

1: It's 300m!!

Pag 8

3: Hakone Academy is accelerating again!!

They're gonna catch Sohoku!!

4: So this time you give the answer so quickly!!

Pag 9

2: I caught you!!

Don't push yourself, I'll make it easy for you!!

3: 1500m left until the finish line!!

Pag 10

1: Sohokuu!!

Do your best, red guy!!

They'll catch him soon...

Pedal..!!

3: Oi oi, just when I thought Kyofushi's wave had calmed down

4: Next is Hakogaku!?

5: Seriously?

6: What is this... I really am popular!!

7: They're getting closer... they really came so far

8: I've pedaled hard to get here, so my legs are becoming numb

You think....

Pag 11

4: you can catch me for sure!! Hakogaku-san!!

You basically caught me already!!

Pag 12

1: Me!!

4: Naruko's

5: aura has changed!!

Pag 13

1: Bikes have to fight against opponents, terrain, and one more thing – the wind!!

2: To fight the wind, you can't just use your strength

3: It's also important to minimize as much as possible the total area of your body that defies the wind!!

4: You think you got me, Hakogaku-san!?

Move up on the saddle as much as possible

5: Bend your elbows and grasp the handles at the top

6: Lower your body until your legs hit your chest

7: Lower your head and only look forward!!

Pag 14

1: And then, fold your body!!

2: Naruko... Naruko, who is already supposed to be small got even smaller!?

3: The careless moment you thought you got me was fatal

Pag 15

3: Look at this Naruko's killer technique!!

Pag 16

1: The compact transform Naruko Origami!!

Pag 17

1: He'a accelerating!?

2: We were alread about to catch him, and in that situation....

He's small but... he's fast!!

3: Jou-san!!

4: This highway is the national route 10, and it goes from north to south

5: and right here it's

6: a headwind from the south!!

In a headwind section....

Pag 18

1: the smaller the section, the fastest you are!!

2: We're being left behind!!

Don't tell me he even took into account this wind!?

3: Haven't you heard? If you don't know, I'll tell you, Four-eyes-Jou....

4: The speedman of Naniwa...

Pag 19

1: is a friend of the wind!!

3: Amazing! Sohoku is slowly leaving them behind again!

What's with that form!! He's small!! He's so small!!

Amazing!

He's small and flashy!!

Pag 20

1: Jou-san, the plan of catching him in 300m is over!!

2: I know!!

My calculations went awry!!

3: You're amazing, Naruko...

4: Last year, you

5: you lost to Hakone Academy because of the difference in your reach

And no matter how hard you try, there are difference that can't be changed

6: It must have been so frustrating

7: Naruko, this year you're on that same first stage

Pag 21

1: but this time, with that small body, you outwit Hakone Academy!!

Pag 22

1: That's Naruko Shoukichi!!

So he kept this special killer technique until now!!

2: Naruko use the fact that he's a “bean”....!!

3: Amazing

4: 1000m left!!

5: Keep going like this, Naruko!!

6: Until the finish line!!

Pag 23

2: I can hear the cheers from the other side's of the park's trees!!

Yeah!!

Naruko-saaaan!!

Narukoooo!!

3: Go, go Naruko!! Keep going like this...!!

That small style is so cool!!

4: Just now Naruko is running on the other side of that goal gate!!

Pag 24

1: The other side of the goal gate!!

3: The park separated the harbor with the gate from the national highway

You have to pass the position of the goal gate and then turn around

4: This year's Inter high's first day's finish line, once they pass the 1km mark it's a technical section

Pag 25

1: The race turns around twice, turns around by 180° and then turns towards the finish line!!

Pag 26

2: Cornering skills, speed, and technique

3: Intuition for the race

Physical

4: And luck!!

Pag 27

1: The one who is superior in all of this will win!!

[wingedjellyfishflight]

Team Building

TW: Kidnapping

"Remember, bag on, hands zipped and go. Zero hesitation. If we take a split second too long, he'll get away."

"Affirmative."

"Shhh... he's coming."

The men grab you, neutralizing you before you can even get a glimpse of who they are. Your kicks hit well, but there are too many of them. They toss you into something soft, putting more on top of you before wheeling you away. A laundry bin full of sheets you realize. You'd seen it next to the Captain's door you were told to report to today.

The next thing you know, you're dumped into a trunk, sheets, and all. The trunk slams shut, taking the little light you could see through the fabric bag with it. You hear the vehicle start up and music blast at a ridiculously high level. Working your wrists, you fight to break loose for a few moments before realizing that is a dead end, recognizing the feel of the cuffs as the ones you have used on much bigger and stronger men. You shift to removing your hood. If you can see around you, maybe you can find a weakness. You have the hood about half off when the vehicle comes to a stop and turns off. Freezing, you hope they don't open the trunk and see you trying to escape. Your luck holds, and you hear multiple pairs of footsteps walking away, laughing and joking.

Hood sliding off, you check around you, rolling over to see the back of the seats as well. Luck is with you, and you see there is a small access hatch through the back seat. You turn slightly and kick it hard several times before it breaks loose. You shove your feet through and use your legs to pull you through in small sections. You duck down, listening hard for voices, and hear several to the left of the car. Sliding slowly to the right, you position yourself carefully. You pull the handle on the door, barely unlatching it and take several deep breaths. Shoving it open, you break into a dead sprint, running for the nearby treeline. Voices sound off almost immediately behind you, sounding surprised and confused.

You reach the trees, hearing footsteps gaining on you quickly. You don't chance a look back, worried about tripping over a root. Your feet are nimble, and you manage to stay ahead, blood pounding in your ears and lungs gasping for every bit of oxygen they can get.

Your downfall quite literally is a stream. Your foot slips, rolling the ankle as you go to jump, falling short of the other side in pain. A man grabs you from behind, picking you up far more gently than you would have expected. You fight to break free, but he angles you out, so you can't kick him easily. In frustration, you turn your head and bite his face. He drops you in shock, and you land in the rocks alongside the stream. You sit up, trying to get your feet under you and ignoring the gash on your face.

When you look up, you see you're surrounded by men. You start laughing in frustration and embarrassment when you see their uniforms and patches. They all look on nervously. One steps forward, a mohawk on his head.

"We're so sorry! We thought you were-"

"Captain Price? That is who I was supposed to be meeting."

"Yeah, sorry, doll. That must have been terrifying. Let us untie you, and we will get you back to the medics."

"No need. I'm a medic. Your medic, in fact." You feel your hands freed and pull them forward, inspecting the wounds there. "Did you grab my bag when you dumped me in the laundry?" At their headshake, you curse quietly. You turn toward the man that you bit. "Sorry, mate. Normally, I reserve my biting for people I know well." You wink as you try to stand up, the rolled ankle trying to buckle.

Ghost, you recognize him by his mask, chuckles. "Well, I hope I don't get to know you too well then. Gonna have a scar for sure." He winks at you, blood slowly staining his uniform, dripping down from the balaclava he is wearing.

You take a step gingerly and force your ankle to work, but the men notice all the same. "Here, I'll carry ye back, Stoater. Least I can dae for ye. I'm Soap, by the by. Ghost is behind ye, Gaz is there and over yonder, the pasty one is Roach." Each man waves shyly as they are named, and you nod back. Soap scoops you up and begins the trek back out of the forest. You wrap your arms around his neck to keep from getting jostled too much.

"So, who do I owe for repairs on the car? 'Fraid I may have done a bit of damage to it, gettin' out." You're a bit sheepish about the whole thing now that your adrenaline isn't pumping.

"Nothing and no one. It's a junker. We expected the Captain to do much the same, honestly. Just didn't expect our hostage not to recognize us and take off into the woods." Gaz sounds almost annoyed, but you think it is with them and not you.

Roach pipes up, "You're fast. Never seen anyone outrun Ghost."

"I was catching up. Though it woulda been a lot longer if you hadn't fallen."

"Spent more time in the woods than in school as a kid, so doin' a runner through the forest comes natural. If it had been open field, you would have caught me before I got another hundred feet." You fall into a comfortable silence the rest of the way, though you think it is likely less comfortable for them as they contemplate what comes next.

Reaching the car, Soap sets you down on the trunk instead of in it this time. You see an old truck parked nearby, otherwise the lot is empty. Ghost walks over to the truck and drags out a large first aid kit from behind the seat. He sets it next to you, giving you free range over it. You grab his arm and tug him between your legs, locking them around his waist.

"I have heard your reputation for fighting off medics, Ghost. I'll have none of that. Mask off or at least out of the way." You dig out some supplies as he grumbles and pulls the mask up to reveal a perfect set of teeth marks in his cheek. You wince and set to work, carefully cleaning and bandaging it. "You will need antibiotics. I've got a dirty mouth, after all." You wink at him as you press a plaster over it gently, letting him go.

Ghost takes a long moment to move away, watching you closely as he tugs down his mask. Your attention has already shifted to your own wounds, and you slide off the trunk onto your good leg. You hop your way to the front of the car and use the mirror to inspect the damage to your face. The cut is across the cheekbone on the same side as Ghost's bite wound.

"Yer twins, aye?" Soap jokes as he looks between you and Ghost. Your twin rolls his eyes as you laugh and nod in agreement. Soap gestures for you to get in once you are done, moving to the driver seat. Ghost lopes to his truck while the other two pile in the back seat.

"Nobody rides with Ghost?" You ask, curious if he is possessive of his vehicle.

"Nae, he drives like a weapon. Not worth the risk to life and limb." The chuckles from the backseat clue you in that this is a long-standing argument.

Back at base, the men walk you to Captain Price's office. He is pacing the room when you enter, supported by Soap. The others hover near the door, and you salute the Captain. "Medic reporting for assignment, sir." His eyes widen as he looks you over, then narrow on his men.

"What the fuck happened to her?" You feel Soap open his mouth, but before he can say a word, you chime in.

"Team building exercise, sir." You look him in the eyes with an almost bored expression. He hides his shock well at the boldfaced lie.

"Bullshit. None of these fucks got hurt."

"I tripped over my own feet," you chuckle. "But me n Ghost are twins, see?" You jab your thumb back at him, forgetting that his mask hides the bandage, but the bloodstain is evident. The Captain does not seem mollified by any of this, but he drops the issue.

"Yes, well. Sit, and we will go over your responsibilities here for the team, which do not include lying for them." You sit, and he promptly shoos them out. "So, they kidnapped you and dunked you in a stream to build comraderie. Do you want a transfer off the team?" He is short and to the point.

"No. I'm perfectly fine working with them." He nods and moves on to welcoming you on board.

"We're glad to have you, then."

When you walk out, braced on Captain Price's arm, Ghost is there waiting. He waves the Captain off, taking your weight easily. "To the med bay, Luv. We need to get you mobile."

Captain Price watches the two of you leave with a smirk, team building indeed.

[saiintvalentiine]

i dont know if you do genderswaps but would you consider writing kenwatfies yuri version.. naybe the girls have a sleepover?

i want you to know i got SO into writing this, this was the first request i worked on and finished..... i have like a whole vision of the whole sleep over but for now, here's a drabble ! they are. all hybrids in this. even tho that wasnt part of the request. sorry abt that nonnie.

Word count: 806

Wifies parts Wato’s hair down the center, the strands long and thin and flowy. Her hair is the easiest to work with out of the three of them, so she sets to brushing and detangling each section quickly.

“—and they were so bad at it, you have no idea,” Wato is ranting, voice arching higher and higher. “They were coming up with solutions that were so stupid it was almost impressive.”

“Mm, I believe it,” Ken says, carefully dragging dark pink polish across Wato’s nails.

“I don't think I've ever seen Zam and Wemmbu act smart together,” Wifies adds.

“They were breaking shit I could not possibly fathom why they'd break!”

Ken snorts, saying, “I've got competition for number one escape room breaker.”

“It's not the same though,” Wifies butts in, starting to braid one side of Wato’s hair around her flickering green ears. “You know the rules, you know how a room works, and from there you break it. I'm not even sure they know how to read.”

“They don't!”

Wato jerks her head to the side and Wifies tutts at her, pausing to press a hand to her jaw and face her forward again.

“Don't move.”

“Sorry.”

Wato sounds like she's frowning, and Wifies can't help but press a kiss to the top of her head. She stains the spot with a bit of her dark lipstick.

“Shit.”

Ken pops up to look as Wifies tries to wipe the stain off.

“That's so cute,” she says. Her hair is frizzier than normal, which Wifies notes for later. “Wato, you have a Wifies kiss mark on your head now.”

“Bitches love me,” Wato says. Wifies gives her hair a hard tug. “Ow. Sorry. It's cute.”

“I'll wipe it off later with a makeup wipe,” Wifies says and returns to braiding.

“I thought that lipstick was supposed to be kiss proof,” Wato says. Ken fans at her nails.

“I thought so too, but I guess that was bullshit. It feels really nice on the lips though, really velvety.”

Ken pops up again, swooping forward and widening her eyes. She's wearing a bit of white eyeliner on her inner lash line to make them look even bigger, the scoundrel. Wato yelps, tail flailing and smacking Wifies's thigh.

“Let me try,” she says in her sweetest voice, tail curling behind her.

“I'm never gonna finish at this rate,” Wifies complains, but kisses Ken anyway, ignoring the way her own tail wags pleasantly. Ken comes away smug and smudged. “Get away you tomcat.”

“Your knee is on my thigh!” Wato yells.

Ken's lucky Wato's nails are wet and she can't grapple Ken to the ground. Ken sits back down on the floor with a darkened grin and starts to brush top coat onto Wato's nails. Wifies, thankfully, finishes the first braid with a snap of a scrunchie and gets to the next one.

“So, is it velvety?” Wato asks.

“It is, actually,” Ken caps the top coat and fans at Wato’s hands. “I wasn't really asking because I cared to feel it, but I'm impressed.”

“It's a good brand, but it's not kiss proof. I'll need to put setting powder on it or something.”

“Or just use an actual kiss proof one.”

“Well I already bought this one,” Wifies tugs Wato's hair again, softer this time.

“Why am I getting attacked here!”

“You did call us bitches,” Ken says as she stands up and stores the polish bottles away. Her legs are red and warm, irritated from sitting on the carpet for so long in her shorts. “I like being a bitch, but you know Wifies is sensitive to that kind of thing.”

“I'm not sensitive!”

Wifies finishes the second braid and stands up too. Her knees hurt, even though her sweatpants give her pretty good padding. Wato bounces up to her full height, turning around and awkwardly pressing her palms to Wifies's face. She's lucky Wifies has her hair tied up, or else it'd get onto her nails and ruin them regardless of how careful she's being.

“I'm sorry for calling you one of my bitches,” Wato says, laughter dancing in her eyes. “Will you forgive me?”

“No,” Wifies kisses her. “Now go dry in some corner while I do Ken's hair.”

Wato pouts, mouth now stained dark as well.

“Wifies,” she whines.

“At least doing your hair is easy,” Wifies sighs, kissing the corner of Wato's mouth again before slipping from her grasp and turning to Ken. “You, on the other hand. . .”

Ken grins. Her hair is frizzy and cut into a dozen layers, snipped by arrows and burnt by lava and caught in trap doors. Ken is fundamentally uncareful, and her hair pays the price.

Wifies has her work cut out for her. But for the sake of a good date night, she'll do it gladly.

[ealvara7]

Here is my Beetlejuice Collection! 🪲 ✨️

I apologize for taking so long on this post! What was originally supposed to be a small musical collection has now expanded to include the cartoon and movies! Because of this, I had to condense the amount of items shared in this post, so not all of them will be shown here-

I'll leave links to previous posts related to the collection under the "read-more"! I feel like they do a much better job of detailing some of those items, anyway-

I will also add a few details to any of the items I have not made a post for prior! I will section them out as different parts!

Thanks for reading! ✨

-

Playbills -

Here are the links to previous posts where I talk about my Playbills!

So… I got some Beetlejuice Playbills! 🪲

I Saw Beetlejuice the Musical on Tour!!! 🪲 ✨️

Update on my Playbill Collection! ✨

I originally planned to keep all my Playbills in this folder, but after the collection got bigger, I decided to move them to a Playbill binder instead!

Signed Prints -

Here are the links to previous posts where I talk about my signed prints!

I got my first two signed prints!!! 🪲

I got my livestream print!!! 🪲 ✨

-

This is my ita wallet! If you're interested in any of the charms, I recommend looking at this post!

Not shown in this post is the entire Beetlejuice and Lydia mystery lanyard set, created by Keyboredom! I will leave a link to one of their posts right here!

Also not shown are my Beetlejuice high top sneakers from Walmart! I... actually have two pairs- Not mine, but here's a pic a I took of one pair in the store-

-

This is my DVD collection! I've already shared my cartoon set, but I wanted to show it next to the original movie! I bought a Blu-ray so I can go back and watch it for reference-

In terms of movie-related items - I have several, mostly related to the sequel-

I have two Beetlejuice Build-a-Bears (which I got back in April) and three Beetlejuice Squishmallows, but only one of each are shown here-

I also got the sandworm bucket! Two of them, in fact! ✨️

They came with a Ghost House cup and poster in a merch set I got from when I went to see the sequel! (My mom gave me her sandworm bucket cause she wasn't a fan of it- 😭)

Another last minute addition - I got the Handbook for the Recently Deceased popcorn bucket from AMC! This was from my second time watching the sequel-

-

I got some Handbook for the Recently Deceased candles from the Goose Creek x Beetlejuice collection! This is what the candle looks like-

Thanks to @kokehitsugi for letting me know about these! I'm a huge candle lover, and I've been wanting to get something Beetlejuice-related for a while now! I probably would've gotten the Maitland House and Here Lies Betelguese from the line as well... but they were sold out once I checked the site. That being said, I love this candle! It has this nice, cologne-like scent and it is strong for my tiny room- 😭

Also last minute - I got some items from the Nyx and Lush Beetlejuice Collection! I don't use makeup or bath products all that much... but I have a couple things that I do like to use for myself every now and then!

-

This is my haul from the musical! ✨

I got a hoodie and a logo tee (once again, two of each), three beetle pins, three Lydia pins, a physical copy of the Beetlejuice Musical album, and two show art magnets! I also got four pride beetle pins online! One of each pin has been attached to the ita wallet!

Unfortunately, they did not have the sandworm plush when I went to see the musical... twice, but I did get a different one to add to the collection!

Here's a bonus item - I've got two Lydia Necklaces from Scenery! They're a shop that upcycles theatre pieces to create beautiful accessories!

According to their site, the Lydia Necklaces contain a piece of the purple and black swirled show curtain from the DC run of Beetlejuice the Musical! I've got #11 - a predominantly black curtain piece, and #13 - a predominantly purple curtain piece.

-

Here are my crochet dolls!

The sitting Beetlejuice, Melody, and Bettyjuice dolls were created by StitchyWitchCrafts! Melody is a 4 inch doll (which is the artist's average doll size), while Beetlejuice and Bettyjuice are 6 inch dolls! I feel like they did a nice job of capturing the general look of each character! I particularly love how they added some moss and dirt to Beetlejuice!

The Toonjuice doll was created by TheGrumpyGranny! I'm really fascinated by the way they created the hair! It has this really nice pattern to it! I also love the expression they gave him! I feel like it really suits him!

And of course... this is my plush! ✨

This plush was created by AppleDew (who is also on Tumblr!).

For a while, I had been searching for a plush maker who could bring my design to life. The artist that I've been fond of has been on hiatus for some time, so I needed to find an alternative. Lo and behold, AppleDew comes to my view and I was completely enamored by their work!

Their immense care and attention to detail is something that I can't thank them enough for... The design, their choice of fabric colors, and the overall structure of the plush is so shockingly accurate to my references that I'm still in complete awe that I have this gem. I highly recommend their work, and I definitely would like to commission them again in the future!

-

I never planned to amass a collection this big, but when the sequel came by, there was just so many things I wanted... I'm so grateful that I got a chance to gather all these, because are the things that make me happy. These items represent a collective of moments I'll never forget-

[thecircularsystem]

So, I was recently part of a server run by a system as an experiment. A month of chatting with people, but we couldn't mention our origins, and at the end, we had to guess others origins.

Let's talk about it.

[Note: I am just going to be talking about the server, the survey, and a few thoughts about origins here. This is largely fluff and disappointment and bitching about the flaws I saw in the server. I'll be making a proper post about origins later that's not as connected to this.]

So, firstly, I used an alt account in order to participate in the server. My regular discord ID has my system name in it, and I didn't want to make things too easy. I popped in and talked, and I tried my absolute best to make it so obvious that I had a CDD, while also trying to make it obvious that I wasn't just a CDD system. I knew it would be next to impossible for people to guess my origins, so I was just there to have fun.

I knew immediately that I would dislike the server. For one thing, I already didn't really like the server runner -- sorry, if you're reading this, but genuinely, my system has an aversion to you. Not sure why -- don't fully remember -- but it's there and it made me wary. But, bigger than that, I figured out quickly just how poorly planned the server was. It got BIG, fast, and moderators were chosen seemingly at random. I remember a user was picked because the group names were based around food, and their username matched the food their group represented. That... is a very bad way to pick mods. Then there was the 2 minute speaking timer, which had to be circumvented with threads, and the realization that there was a thirteen year old in the server after I had brought up NSFW content... I do not join servers with younger people anymore and genuinely thought the server was 18+.

It was just... very disorganized. So, strike one.

Regardless, it was fairly easy to guess what people's origins were (not accurately, but I'll get into that at the end/in another post) at the most basic level, and who they were, as evidently, nobody else tried to hide their blogs or identities as hard as I did. I shared servers with around half of the participants already, and others were... fairly easy to guess from their syscourse presence. I think the highlight of the experiment was someone from the server contacting me (Circ) and talking about the experiment with me, not knowing initially who I was in the server. Genuine hilarity there.

But, of course, we were there to try to guess people's origins, so I was trying to find out what I could about those in my group. 7 participants in the group (myself included), and... Well, strike two.

Genuinely, this was the stupidest premise for a server in the world. In my opinion, at least. The thing is, all of these guesses have to be based entirely on stereotyping -- the language the system uses, the way they speak, the concerns they have about the community. A system who uses the term "headmates," is concerned about fakeclaiming more than symptoms of plurality, and focuses more on the plural aspect of systemhood than anything else is likely not experiencing a CDD.

Which, in this set-up, means you're endogenic. And that's a problem. But we'll get to that in the next section. First, I just want to mention that I consider this a strike against the premise of the server because so much was banned from being mentioned. It wasn't... formally said to be censored, but even amongst my friends outside of the server, I saw them say numerous times, "It's so easy to guess who X is because it's obvious they have a CDD!" And genuinely, that indicates nothing about a person's origins, spoken as a true CDD mixed-origin system. It's the Fenmere Clause, right? There's always an exception. So to see this sort of culture on never mentioning your disorder, never mentioning trauma, never mentioning your experiences in the system community while being asked to share them... Eventually, I just started censoring myself entirely in the server, cutting out chunks of writing with little brackets saying [Origin Information] or something similar.

If the point is to be able to guess origins, I need to be able to share more than just the stereotyping that people rely on. It needs to be a fair chance.

Then the end came, and... for fucks sakes, that's what sparked this entire post. I had planned to wirte up a post, of course, but lord.

At the end, we had to guess how likely it was that someone "had a CDD, was endogenic, or was a created system." Funny enough, my origins (mixed-origin, fully traumagenic CDD system with multiple created parts AND a dreamway part) weren't listed, not fully. Traumagenic wasn't even an option for those who don't have CDDs.

Now, look, I am a CDD system. I consider that to be my "main" origin. But to only count "CDD, created, or endogenic," you discount one of my parts entirely, one who is one of the most helpful parts. The survey also didn't ask if people had created parts, but if they were a created system, which... I'm not. So that furthermore discounts two of my parts who are created -- and still equally traumagenic.

Furthermore, when asked for clarification, the moderator had... this to say.

For CDD, you either have one or don't (or at the very least it's more cleanly binary than origin), so I asked for the positive For origin, people "testing for purity" for lack of better wording coming to mind usually care about any percentage of endogenesis. And while CDD does not necessarily mean traumagenic, traumagenic is very nearly a subset of CDD

To translate, as that left such a sour taste in my mouth I thought I threw up a little, what this meant was, "Some of the users are anti-endos, and so if you have one endogenic part, most of those users will assume you're entirely endogenic."

...

So, rather than the point of the server being, "Can you guess someones origin?" it became "Can you guess someones origin if I painstakingly make a survey that caters to anti-endo beliefs and erases the origins of members of the server?"

Wonderful. Strike three.

Genuinely, I'm not sure what possessed the server owner to phrase the questions this way. Catering to the anti-endos wasn't the point of the server, and it erases the members origins. There should have been a way to identify what, exactly, you felt each member IDENTIFIED as. If an anti-endo does not believe in endogenic plurality (which, yes, many members of the server did not), then at the very least, they can say that a user identifies as endogenic, or mixed origin, or spiritual, stressgenic, adaptive, quoigenic, OR ANY of the THOUSANDS of origin options out there.

I would've done a multiple choice list of, "Here's what members of your group identify as, based on their intake survey; can you assign each of these labels to individuals in your group?" What was the purpose of an intake survey at all if you ignore the origins to cater to the anti-endos?

I'm not going to lie, I was incredibly frustrated, more than a little mad, and just...

Disappointed. Which, I figured I would be going in.

The thing is, origins aren't guessable in this manner. Nobody in that server could have looked at me and gone, "Ah! Yes, it is clear that this individual is a mixed-origin CDD system who identifies with CDD as an origin while having created traumagenic parts and a dreamway part." DREAMWAY IS A LABEL WE FUCKING MADE UP!!!! It would be impossible to guess unless they heard about me personally.

And that's the reason this type of experiment is bullshit. Sure, you can... hazard a guess if someone has a CDD or is endogenic or is mixed-origin or any of the above. But... You can't know. You can't get it perfectly accurate. Sure, based on vibes you can guess, and maybe you can even guess accurately for the most part.

BUT EVERY SYSTEM IS DIFFERENT AND UNIQUE ANYWAYS. So why does it matter?

It doesn't.

But the system community doesn't seem ready to accept that yet.

All in all, I'm incredibly disappointed in the server and how it went. I enjoyed the conversations we had there, and I enjoyed the company. I'm still enjoying talking there!! Now that origins are revealed, I want to talk about how my mixed-origin parts impact my CDD parts, and how they are CDD parts at the same time. I want to discuss it!!!

I would even hazard to say I made some new friends, and likely a few enemies (someone from my group, not knowing who I was, was even liking posts that were actively libel against me from harassers I have. How fun!)

But the experiment portion of it was an entire, complete disaster. And I think... genuinely, most people expected it to be.

Sigh.

[allthingsfangirl101]

Never Alone – Timothy McGee

The past couple of weeks have gone by in a blur. It started with a rough case where the team needed to blow off steam. Things shifted after I woke up naked in McGee's bed. It remained tense when I snuck out of McGee's apartment before he woke up. I ended up calling out sick a few days later. The plot twist occurred in an OBGYN's office.

I spent the next couple of days trying to make all these decisions at once. My decisions narrowed down to one big one; do I tell McGee?

Obviously, I should tell him. It's his baby. But telling him may cause friction between him and me. Not to mention how Gibbs and Tony will react to this. Tony will have a field day. Gibbs, however, is a different story.

I subconsciously placed my hands on my stomach as I listened to Gibbs explain the threat. There are rumors someone put a bomb on one of the Navy ships in port. If they set it off, they'll kill hundreds of innocent people and risk causing a chain reaction. It would be catastrophic.

"Any chance this is a bogus tip meant to distract us from the actual target?" DiNozzo asked.

"There is a chance," Gibbs nodded, "but we're not gonna risk it."

"Boss, that's a lot of ships to check," McGee brought up. I couldn't look at him so I busied myself with the case file. We haven't talked since that night. We both walked into work after that weekend and acted like nothing happened. Now, knowing what I knew, looking at him made my stomach flip.

"We could narrow it down," I said, still not looking up.

"How?" Gibbs asked.

"The most damage would come from blowing up the North side of the pier," I started to vocally figure out. "Obviously one of the bigger ships. Plus, if any of the ships are carrying precious cargo or a secret shipment, they'd be of interest. Any ship with anything valuable, other than people, should be the first we check."

"Y/L/N," he started.

"I'll come up with a narrowed-down list of possible targets focused on the cargo," I finished for him.

"McGee."

"I'll help Y/L/N," McGee stuttered.

"No," Gibbs said. "You will focus on anyone who may want to target one of these ships. DiNozzo, alert the pier."

As we dug into the ships, I could feel McGee continually glancing at me. I did my best to ignore him.

"I got it!" I jumped up. "There is a section of four boats. One of them is loaded with ship parts, another was empty, and the third one had uniforms and random things for bases. The last had ammunition."

"Ammunition?" DiNozzo asked. "What kind?"

"Every kind the Navy uses," I clarified.

"Oh," DiNozzo mumbled.

"Grab your gear."

We headed to the ship that had all the ammunition. We split up and started checking the ship. McGee and I ended up going together. The entire time we searched the ship, there was a piece of me yelling at myself to finally tell him the truth.

"Tim," I shakily started. "There's something. . ."

"Everyone, off the ship. Now!" Gibbs yelled at us through our earwigs.

McGee and I instantly turned on our heels and started running. We had just gotten off the ship when something exploded, knocking us off our feet.

"Y/L/N?" I heard from someone next to me. Soon, I felt arms gently help me up. "Y/N, talk to me. Are you okay?"

"I'm. . . I think so," I said, my head still pounding.

"I'm going to go check on Gibbs and Tony," McGee said. "You okay to stay here?"

My heart jumped into my throat and I felt like I could barely breathe. The baby. . .

"Y/N, did you hear me?" McGee tried again. I jumped when he gently cupped my cheek in his hand.

"Yeah," I stuttered. "I'm fine. Go."

I ran my fingers through my hair, my mind only focused on the baby. I had a little hope when I saw Ducky and Palmer getting out of their van.

"Ducky!" I gasped. I ran over and grabbed his hand.

"What's wrong, my dear?" He asked. "Are you hurt? Do you need. . ."

"I'm pregnant," I cut him off.

"Oh," he said softly. "My dear. . ."

"I need to know if. . . If the explosion made me. . ." My voice broke as I finally got out, "I need to know, Ducky."

"Okay," he soothed as he caught a tear that was streaming down my face. "Mr. Palmer, take Agent Y/L/N to the nearest hospital."

"Is she. . ."

"Just go," Ducky cut him off.

"Okay," Jimmy stuttered. "Come with me, Agent Y/L/N."

McGee watched as Jimmy escorted Y/N to his car. The others jogged over and instantly asked Ducky what was going on.

"Where are they going?" DiNozzo asked.

"Mr. Palmer is taking Agent Y/L/N to the hospital."

"Wait, what?" McGee asked quickly. "Why is she going to the hospital?"

"It's nothing," Ducky said gently. "I just wanted her to get a couple of tests done. She will be fine."

DiNozzo and Gibbs relaxed and went back to attending to the scene. McGee, however, was focused on the mystery of why Ducky sent Y/N to the hospital.

"What tests?"

Ducky studied McGee, realizing that the two agents had gotten closer than any of them were aware of. He only had to think about it for a moment before deciding to tell him.

"Y/N is going to the hospital," he started, "because she is worried that the explosion may have caused her to lose her baby."

"Her. . . Y/N's pregnant?"

McGee's head was swarming. Could she be pregnant with his baby?

"Ducky," he slowly tried to start. He wasn't sure what he was going to say. His thoughts wouldn't unscramble.

"Timothy," Ducky said gently. "Go to her."

* * * * *

I leaned back against the pillow and closed my eyes. Relief filled my whole body as I rested my hands gently over my stomach. It didn't last long. I jumped when the door was swung open.

"Tim," I stuttered.

"Is it true?" He demanded.

"Is what. . ."

"Are you pregnant?" He cut me off.

My breathing quickened and my heart started pounding against my chest.

"Yes," I whispered.

"And it's mine?"

"Yes."

"What the hell, Y/N?!" He snapped. "How could you not tell me you're pregnant with my baby?!"

"Tim, I only found out last week," I tried to explain. I swung my feet over the side of the bed, my heart skipping a beat when he jumped. "It was a lot to find out and it's not something that's an easy conversation. What? I was supposed to tell you when we were on the stakeout last week? I had no idea what you would say or how you would respond."

"I had a right to know."

"I know and I'm sorry. For the record, I was about to tell you that we needed to have a serious conversation, but the bomb went off." I paused before saying, "But now you know."

"I do," he said, finally calming down.

"So? What do you. . . Do you want to be. . . I want to keep the baby," I finally got out.

Tim walked over, stood between my legs, and gently grabbed my hands. He looked at my hands before looking up at me.

"I think you should," he whispered.

"Do you want me to?" I asked, my voice barely audible. I held my breath as he leaned in and delicately pressed his lips to mine. When he broke the kiss, he leaned down and kissed my stomach.

As he looked back up at me, tears formed in my eyes. Overcome with emotions, I grabbed his face and brought his lips back to mine. I felt him smile as our lips started moving in sync. He wrapped his arms around my waist and brought me closer. He broke the kiss, both of us breathing heavily.

"You should get some rest," McGee whispered. "What did your doctor say? Is your. . . Is our baby okay?"

"Yeah," I smiled. "I have a small concussion, but the baby is perfectly fine. She told me that our baby is about a month and a half old."

"Make sense," McGee shrugged. "We had our night six weeks ago."

I smiled at the blush that formed on his face. "We should probably talk about things," I said slowly.

"I think I can sum it up in three words," he said cheekily.

"Oh, really?" I teased. "Only three?"

The look on his face changed, making my heart jump into my throat. He took a step closer and lowered his voice.

"I love you."

I felt like the oxygen was sucked out of the room but not in a bad way. I studied his eyes, slowly taking in those three words. In some situations, they were light and fun. But in other situations, those three words were incredibly heavy.

"You do?" I asked, my voice barely audible.

"I do," he said as he slowly reached up and moved some hair out of my face.

"I love you too, Tim."

When those words left my mouth, McGee instantly closed to gap between us and pressed his lips to mine. I didn't bother to stop the small tear that escaped and slid down my cheek. McGee broke the kiss when my tear got to his hand that was still on my face.

"I hope those are happy tears," he whispered.

"They are," I giggled. I didn't mean for my smile to drop but it did.

"What's wrong?"

"You should get checked out too," I said. He opened his mouth to object but I interrupted him. "Please, Tim."

"I'm fine," he said too calmly.

"But you were closer to the ship when the bomb exploded than I was," I said quickly.

"Y/N, I'm fine. I promise," he tried to soothe me again.

He laughed when I looked him over. Instead of saying anything, McGee helped me lay back down. He laid down next to me and wrapped his arms around me.

We stayed like that and enjoyed the silence but something was bugging me. There was still a lot we needed to talk about.

"What are we going to say to Gibbs and the team?" I whispered as he held me close to his chest.

"The truth," he shrugged. "We had one drunken night. You got pregnant. And now we're going to start a family."

"So much for rule number 12," I sighed. Tim just laughed as he tightened his arms around me. "He can't fire us for breaking one of his weird Gibbs's Rules, right?"

"Right," Tim chuckled.

"He could fire me for being pregnant though," I said slowly.

"Gibbs would never fire you because you got pregnant," he said instantly. "He might be a little more worried about you when we're in the field, but he's not going to fire you."

"Maybe he should," I mumbled under my breath.

"Wait, what?" Tim asked as he sat up, bringing me with him. "Y/N. . ."

"I just mean," I stuttered, "maybe it's best if Gibbs does fire me. It would be safer for the baby. We get shot at for a living, Tim. I can't put our baby in danger every day."

"Wait, Y/N. Stop for a minute," he tried to soothe. "Just breathe and let's talk about this."

"Talk about what?" I asked, my anxiety building. "How every time I do my job, it's going to be like I'm pointing a gun at our unborn child? What kind of mother puts her baby in front of a bad guy with a gun?! Not to mention the fact that with me in the field, you're going to be distracted, and what if that gets you shot?! What am I going to do if I get you killed?! I can't raise a baby on my own, Tim."

"Y/N, breathe," he said as gently grabbed my arms. "Look at me. Yes, I would worry about you when we go out in the field. I worried about you before you got pregnant. I'll always worry about you, Y/N. Now I'll always worry about our child. That's my job."

"Something tells me you're going to be crazily protective of both of us," I chuckled as Tim pulled me back into his chest and tightened his arms around me.

"You bet I will," he laughed. "I don't know how Gibbs and the team will react to us, but to be honest, I don't care. I care about you and our baby."

"Our baby and I care about you," I whispered as my eyes started to close. Before I fell asleep, I heard him whisper one more promise.

"You are not going to raise our baby alone. I promise, Y/N. From now on, you are never alone."

Part 2

[mariacallous]

Making a recent dinner, my wife Elisabeth put together Sohla El-Waylly's “hot and tingly” smashed cucumber salad, a wisp of a recipe that combines favorite ingredients like cukes, chili crisp, salt, sugar, and rice vinegar, along with something less commonly used in our household, MSG. Tucking in, it wasn't a surprise that the salad was good, but the monosodium glutamate gave it an extra savory deliciousness that made me wonder if Elisabeth intentionally set the salad bowl out of my reach.

In my decades living in North America and Europe, MSG was an unfortunately infrequently used ingredient, yet here it was making our tongues happy. Being drawn to it now was inspired by a trend I picked up on while reading some of the best new and recent cookbooks.

Easiest to pick out is the just-released Salt Sugar MSG, by Calvin Eng and Phoebe Melnick, that's a Cantonese-American extravaganza of deliciousness. Tu David Phu and Soleil Ho made regular use of MSG in 2024's The Memory of Taste, and Meathead Goldwyn makes a plea for its use with a special section way up on page five of his brand-new cookbook, The Meathead Method.

Plugging MSG into Eat Your Books, a subscription service that allows you to search recipes from within your own cookbook collection, I could see that among my cookbooks, El-Waylly makes great use of it in her 2023 James Beard Award book, Start Here. Helen Graves has a recipe for an MSG martini in her BBQ Days, BBQ Nights, along with a warning that—I'll paraphrase—you'll likely get hammered if you have more than one of them.

If I searched Eat Your Books for MSG but took out the results from these books, the list dried up to almost nothing. That's a shame considering what great work the ingredient does in the kitchen. El-Waylly uses it in that cucumber salad, a cauliflower and coconut soup, and a cool pistachio ranch fun dip made fun because she loves ranch. Meathead likes it on chicken, mac and cheese, and meat in general. Tu David Fu uses it with stir-fried clams, sticky rice dumplings, and tomato-braised salmon belly. Calvin Eng uses it on just about everything.

"I keep salt, sugar, MSG on my counter all the time," says Eng who's such a fan that he has a little MSG heart tattoo on the back of his left arm.

A self-professed "lover and user of MSG on a massive scale," he still has aha moments with it that help him appreciate its power. His favorite example is Cantonese chicken broth with scallions, garlic, ginger, and Shaoxing wine, finished with salt and MSG. Once for a private dinner, he featured a head-to-head tasting of the broth with salt next to broth with salt and MSG and was deeply impressed at the difference.

"It adds so much umami," he says, referring to the savory "fifth taste" that accompanies salt, sweet, sour, and bitter. "It adds a layer. It makes you want more." Indeed, I tried little head-to-heads with mugs of my own broth and enjoyed getting a hang of its effects and how to use it. Salt adds depth, but salt and MSG can make broth bigger, deeper, rounder, and more delicious.

Seasoning with MSG takes practice. Eng mentions that he didn't fully understand it until he worked in restaurant kitchens, but offers a simple suggestion on how to get used to using it.

"Have it on your counter next to your salt," he counsels. “Use both, but use less salt than you normally would, and taste as you go.”

More Than This

MSG is derived from glutamic acid (one of the amino acids) and is naturally occurring in delicious, umami-packed foods like anchovies, parmesan, tomatoes, and kelp.

When I asked chef turned food scientist, author, and fermentation expert David Zilber about how MSG makes things so delicious, he responded with his own question: "Shall I put this in Cheeto terms for you?"

My response was an emphatic yes.

"Glutamate is one of the most abundant amino acids in the living world. When you take it out of its natural context and add it to other foods in large quantities, it gets you to eat more," he explains. "They are like the signals in nature that the human body looks for when searching for the most digestible and nutritious foods. It hacks ancient and primal physiology to make bland foods more palatable and moreish."

Perhaps this makes my whole ritual of keeping a damp cloth next to my snack-touching hand on my annual (?) Cheeto binge make more sense.

Cravings are certainly affected by what we do and don’t like, Zilber explains, "but at the chemical level, smell and taste are the most ‘hands in the dirt’ senses our body has."

Courtesy of Clarkson Potter/Crown Publishing

For as helpful as it is for making food better, the ingredient has had a tough go of it in North America. MSG "is derived from glutamic acid, one of the 22 amino acids," says my 2007 copy of The Food Lover's Companion, which calls the ingredient a popular flavor enhancer in Japan and China.

It also says "some people have reactions to MSG that caused them to suffer from a variety of maladies, including dizziness, headache, flushing, and burning sensations," information that is, like my copy, dated. This stems from a 1968 letter from Robert Ho Man Kwok printed in the New England Journal of Medicine, citing symptoms like dizziness, headache, and nausea that were dubbed “Chinese restaurant syndrome” and prompted many Chinatown restaurants around the world to hang glowing neon “NO MSG” signs on their front windows.

Problematically, it appears that either Kwok's story was more anecdotal than science-based or an orthopedic surgeon named Howard Steel penned the letter as part of a $10 bet with a colleague to see if he could get it published in a prestigious medical journal. Regardless, the Journal never made enough of an effort to correct things as they spiraled into a problem and a faux syndrome was born. (More on this in act one of this April 2025 episode of This American Life.)

Stuff like this makes for yarns that would be a lot more enjoyable if they didn't trail a 50-year xenophobic stink in their wake, and the "MSG is bad for you" stereotype persists. Too much of it can be harmful to you if you're ingesting ridiculous quantities. As El-Waylly writes, “If you have 1/2 cup of it on an empty stomach without food, you might feel ill, as you would from eating 1/2 cup of salt.” The dose makes the poison.

Eng's solution for promoting MSG, and one he encourages other chefs and food professionals to mimic, is right there on the cover of his book: Talk about it. Normalize it. Try it out.

Personally, I grabbed the aforementioned books and started cooking from them. Along with the hot and tingly cuke salad, El-Wally's dill pickle cucumber salad with pickle brine, onions, and toasted coriander seeds is another great place to start, and something that nearly set off a dinnertime squabble over who got the last bowl at a Ray-family meal. I tried Eng's popcorn recipe, which also features a dusting of toasted Szechuan peppercorns, fried garlic, MSG, and melted butter. I riffed on his sour cream and green onion dip, making mine with caramelized onions, then showering it with chives from my garden, quick-pickled onions, black pepper, and crumbled store-bought fried onions.

Not long afterward, I made a rather exquisite bagel with butter, cream cheese, smoked salmon, shallot, scallion, salt, pepper, and MSG. It's hard for something with ingredients this fantastic not to be delicious, but I started thinking that the MSG turned them all into the best versions of themselves.

There's a ways to go before MSG is anywhere near as mainstream as salt, but until then, I invite you to join me on the Normalization Team and, like Eng suggests, keep a container of it on the counter, right next to the salt.

[stay-dazed]

stray kids as dads 2

notes: female reader, married. all the children are the same age as the last post, these are just extra scenarios :) i'm sorry if any seem rushed.

chan: you’re so thankful that chan has the week off. not only do you get to spend quality time with your loving husband, but you also get to focus on specific things around the house that you just couldn’t before with most of your attention on taime. today chan’s picking him up from school which gives you the chance to clean under the kitchen sink for the first time in a little while.

and that’s how you find out that you’re completely out of mopping solution, which is what you were planning on doing next. well.. you could just hop in your car and head to the supermarket a couple blocks down to get what you need… or you could just call chan who’s already out and ask him to pick it up.

“hey baby, what’s up?” chan hasn’t changed his nickname for you since you both started dating 10 years ago now. He almost sounds exactly the same.

“hi mama!!” a little voice calls in the background.

a smile spreads across your face. “hi boys! oh i miss both my boys so much!”

chan chuckles and asks,” is that why you called? you miss us too much?”

you respond,” well yes but actually no. we're out of mopping solution and i wanted to mop today. could you pick some up on your way back, please?”

“of course baby!” chan answers happily,” we love going on side quests for our girl, don’t we taime?”

you hear taime excitedly agree from the backseat where he sits strapped in his carseat, and your heart grows just a little bit bigger. you stay on the phone to listen to your boys talk excitedly about the errand they’re running together.

"hey baby, do you want some i-c-e c-r-e-a-m? i'll get some and we can have it later tonigh- huh? it's nothing son, just grown up things."

minho: minho is the most reliable and responsible man you’ve ever known. and your errand run will only keep you out of the house for about an hour at most. how bad can they be?

that’s what you said to yourself, until you got back home that is.

various toys strewn about on the floor, which isn’t uncommon, but added to that mess is a bunch of little white feathers coming from a pillow that’s popped open, having stood no chance against the pillow fight of the century. you meant to toss that old pillow out but apparently forgot to do so.

your attention is pulled away from the scene of the crime by a soft meow coming from doongie. he has a little decorative hair tie wrapped around his tail, and of course a tiny pink kiss mark on his forehead. you wonder if it’s too late to just slowly walk back out the door…

two pairs of twinkling eyes stare back at you from the couch, caught red-handed. you’ve always adored how jimin had her appa’s eyes. “looks like you two had fun while i was gone..”

“mommy!!” jimin says while running to you, pink paint still fresh on her fingertips.

you scoop her up in your arms, careful to not get any of the paint on yourself. “hi baby,” you say to her while wiping some crumbs from her last snack off of her face. minho continues watching you, a little hair tie slowly slipping out of his hair.

“i didn’t expect you to be back so soon,” he says,” um… i’ll clean this up.”

“i know you will,” you say and walk over to kiss his cheek. “thank you for watching her, honey. you’re a very good daddy.”

"i don't even know what happened. everything was just a blur of pink."

changbin: changbin is a strong man by every definition of the word, but when it comes to nari he’s an absolute pushover. that’s how the three of you ended up here, in a humble little pet store in town.

you stroll through a few aisles lined with tanks that house little critters, like hamsters and chinchillas. you and changbin follow nari's lead, occasionally remarking to each other about how cute the animals are.

but once you come across the reptile section, changbin is notably less happy. poor thing. you don’t mind reptiles yourself, but changbin is more wary of them. as well as insects, bats, amphibians, fish, some species of bird, and basically anything that isn’t fluffy.

“daddy look!” nari exclaims when she comes across the last case on this aisle, “lookit this one!” her hands are pressed to the glass, her eyes filled with excitement.

hesitantly, changbin makes his way over to her and kneels down to her height. “what is it, honey?”

a leopard gecko is what it is. a young one judging by the size of it. it’s a cute little thing, napping on a rock in its enclosure. and changbin is looking at it like he’s staring death itself in the face. “that’s.. that's very nice, sweetheart.”

“can we get it, daddy?” nari looks up at him with those sparkling eyes.

uh oh.

changbin can’t look away from her puppy eyes and within seconds, he caves. with a sigh he says,” alright..” he looks at you, a defeated man.

you smile at him before adding,” remember baby, he's not a toy. we all need to do our part in taking special care of him so that he's happy and healthy.” nari nods excitedly.

so here you are, heading to the front of the shop to find an employee for help. you glance at changbin and note his distraught face. fighting back a smile you say,” well, at least you’re not allergic to geckos.

"y/n i don't think you understand, this is scarier than anything i've ever experienced in my life. even auditioning for jyp."

hyunjin: art has been a part of hyunjin’s life for years now. it adds meaning and emotion and thought. he’s tried various forms of media but found a safe place in painting. ocean landscapes, flowers, and you are his favorite things to paint, along with his new favorite: his dear joon.

you approach the art room with a glass of plum juice and a small plate of rice snacks in hand, something to give hyunjin a bit of energy while he works. you step into the room just as he’s adding a bit of color to a simple sketch of joon, regularly glancing over at her as she sleeps soundly in her cot that he put in the room with him for the time being.

“how’s it going darling?” you ask while placing the glass and plate on the desk next to him. you lean in to look closer at his work over his shoulder. of course it looks amazing. you wouldn’t expect anything less. the picture he captured is perfect, the lines soft and round, just as she is.

he sniffs and brushes some hair out of his face with the back of his hand. there’s specks of paint on his cheek and the tip of his nose. “it’s going well. she has such beautiful features, i feel compelled to paint her again and again.”

“mmm…” you hum in agreement and place a kiss on his cheek.

hyunjin basks in the warmth of your affection. he turns to you, his lips arched gently upward and his eyes adoring. you share his smile, your body leaning down in order to place another kiss to his lips.

a loud cry fills the air.

you and hyunjin pause and look at each other for a moment, then giggle together. hyunjin gets up from his desk and picks joon up out of her cot, holding her safely in his arms where he sways her gently in hopes to soothe her.

you walk over and reach to put the pacifier back in her mouth, calming her cries rather quickly. “i fear she’s going to be just as dramatic as you are, darling.”

"and? you say that like it's a bad thing."

jisung: jisung got a lot of well-deserved sleep on the first couple days of his week-long vacation, leaving him open to tons of fun today with his favorite little boy.

to start off the day, junseo has a yummy breakfast of juice, yogurt, and fruit slices while you and jisung settle on having the rest of last night’s leftovers. junseo’s face has a few lines of yogurt on it and his hands are sticky from the fruit. this is what happens when you let him feed himself as he insisted.

jisung looks at his boy and stifle's a laugh. “honey, look at him,” he says, his cheeks puffy with food,” isn’t he so cute?”

you giggle and reach over with your napkin to wipe junseo off as thoroughly as you can before he wiggles out of your grip. “adorable,” you agree.

junseo looks back and forth between the two of you and flashes a big smile, chewed up bits of fruit stuck between the gaps of his little baby teeth. normally you find chewed food disgusting (jisung makes sure to remind you of that fact often), but it’s just too cute when your baby boy does it, in all his glee.

jisung laughs out loud this time, and reaches over to gently pinch junseo’s chubby little cheek that closely resembles his own.

"the gene runs strong in the family. yes i am very proud of it, thank you for noticing."

felix: felix absolutely loves to swim, and he wanted more than anything to have theo love it just as much. but unfortunately, due to his smaller size, theo can’t swim yet. so he has an iffy feeling about the water. and as any good father would, felix tries his best to help him.

he fastens some floaties snugly to theo’s arms, trying to uplift him with encouraging words. “you got this, teddy bear." you reach over to rub a bit more sun screen on theo’s button nose.

“you won’t let me go, right daddy?” he looks up at felix with wide eyes.

“i won’t let go teddy, i promise.”

once theo is all prepped, felix begins to step into the plastic kiddie pool with theo sat securely on his hip. he enters slowly, the water coming up gradually to reach theo's tummy. the little guy keeps a strong grip around his daddy's neck, watching the water intensely.

“you’re okay baby, you’re doing such a great job,” you say from the pool ladder, smiling in excitement and pride.

theo looks at you nervously, then back at his daddy. felix smiles at him,” how’re you doing, son? do you like the feeling of the water? it’s nice when it’s hot out, right?”

with his free arm, felix scoops a bit of water into his cupped hand and lets it carefully drip down his son’s head and back. theo blinks quickly, adjusting to the odd feeling. that’s when you get an idea.

suddenly water is splashed in their direction, soaking felix’s back and successfully avoiding theo completely. felix turns to look at you, while theo looks up at him. you try but fail to hold back a growing smile. there's a moment of silence and stillness before theo smacks his hand into the water so that it sprays, getting felix in the face this time.

the backyard fills with laughter.

"well, at least he's not afraid of touching the water anymore."

seungmin: you leave the room of the party just a couple hours into it, feeling too drowsy to keep up the energy. the sound of belle singing and crayons on paper fade into the background as you reach the bedroom and find comfort in the bed’s soft blankets. seungmin doesn't mind that you sneak off to take naps when you need them. after all, you deserve it after the care you put into the home while he's at work.

so you expect to have a quick power nap on your own before joining your husband and daughter again. you slip under the comforter of your bed, feeling your body relax, your muscles slowly un-tensing. and just as you’re about to drift off, you feel the bed dip slightly. you open your eyes and blink the bleariness away.

“hi mama,” chin-sun whispers. she crawls under the comforter with you and cuddles against your side. sometimes you forget that she knows how to climb onto the ottoman and therefore onto the bed.

“hi baby,” you mumble, holding her close. hopefully she'll just end up napping with you.

the two of you lay together in silence for a couple minutes, and luckily chin-sun doesn't get rowdy. in fact her breathing starts to even out. little princess must’ve been running low on energy too. you once again feel yourself start to drift off.

then the bed dips once again, this time behind you.

you don’t even open your eyes this time. you lay still, feeling the comforter adjust and a pair of strong arms wrap around you warmly, securely. seungmin’s familiar scent is so comforting, his rhythmic breathing relaxing.

you crack your eyes open momentarily to see that the arm seungmin has wrapped around you reaches chin-sun. he rubs circles on her back with his thumb, slowing down gradually as he begins dozing off himself. his nose tickles slightly as it presses into your hair. finally, with your little family snuggled together, you fall asleep.

"sleep well, my precious girls.."

jeongin: jeongin has always been the type to do what he calls “shopping therapy”. a new necklace or pair of shoes, a small lego set to put together, or even just a basket-full of his favorite snacks. and once haneul came along, he had an even better excuse to get all these fun things.

of course he doesn’t overspend, he is a responsible father after all. but not everything he gets is necessary perse. like the stuffed fox taking your son’s place in his stroller and the bright butterfly painted on jeongin’s face. the sight catches you off guard. you walk up to them, having been separated in the mall for only 20 minutes.

haneul is obviously following in his papa’s footsteps in becoming the biggest stuffie collector you’ve ever seen. you don’t even think this one will fit on his little bed with all the others. and the face painting.. you can't tell if this is random or completely expected of jeongin.

“wow,” you say once you reach them,” looks like you two have been having fun."

haneul bounces in excitement, making it difficult for jeongin to keep a grip on his tiny hand. “papa! ‘im papa!” he’s points at the fox stuffie, looking between it and you.

“ohhh,” you nod in understanding,” did papa get that for you? that’s so nice hannie. and look at you, walking next to papa like a big boy!”

jeongin smiles. “we stopped by a toy store on our way back, and well, i couldn’t not get the fox for him.”

“and the butterfly?” “they were having free face painting today.” “ah.”

"so what if it was mainly children getting face paintings? having fun is not a crime, y/n."

[berrystarred]

Megatronus X Orion Pax

Part 1

Finally finished editing this! I mentioned this earlier when I posted my Megatronus piece. It's separated into sections so I'll post it that way.

This is a pre-war fic about Megatron and Optimus meeting when they were younger before the war. This takes place in me and my friends personal continuity so if anything is wrong continuity wise, that's why.

Hope you enjoy :)

Orion was sitting at the transport stop next to another Cybertronian. He watched the cars go by and waited for pickup.

The mech next to him casually pulled out a box of Cygarettes and placed one between his teeth before giving it a soft shake in Orion’s direction. It took him a second to realize they were being offered.

"O-oh, no thank you," He looked away quickly. The other bot only shrugged, tucked the box away and resumed his intense watch over the street.

Orion felt a little uncomfortable around the mech. He was large, at least larger than Orion. He was a steely silver; unpainted raw metal. His printing and build made him seem intimidating and his altmode was clearly something dangerous as well.

Orion uncrossed and recrossed his legs, nonchalantly shifting himself away from the bigger bot.

The mech clearly didn't notice, because he continued absently scanning the view.

"Why are you headed to Kaon? You're from here, right? Iacon?"

Orion jumped when the mech started speaking, surprised to realize he was the only one he could be asking.

"Oh, um… heh- yeah, I'm from here," His brow dropped when he heard the bot laugh a little, clearly satisfied at his correct guess, "And I'm going to Kaon for recreational reasons."

The bot laughed again, "Come on now, what's the real reason? It's research isn't it?"

Pax's face flushed at the accurate assumption.

"Well- I don't-” He gave up, “Ugh- fine, you got me… Why are you going to Kaon?" He asked cautiously; he knew he would be somewhat safe due to the council’s control there, but Kaon was well known for being riddled just below the surface with crime.

"I'm going home. I was on a small trip to Iacon. Kaon is where I live and where I work," He said it with a pride that was shadowed with disdain. He hated living in Kaon, clearly, but he found satisfaction in making the young data clerk uncomfortable.

"Hm, interesting. What do you do for a living?" Pax asked, expecting something uninteresting like a construction worker or a scavenger.

"I'm a gladiator, I used to be a miner." He brushed at the barely visible yellow paint on his helm. That explained the raw look.

Orion was feeling tense now, an Iaconian data clerk seated next to a bot whose job was to kill for entertainment.

The mech looked at him, making eye contact for the first time since they had started talking. The large silver mech was nearly silhouetted against the stormy sky behind him with only his red optics to illuminate his face and contrasted against the background.

"Hey, I have a match tomorrow. If you're still around how about you see for yourself? Could be something to research."

Pax was unsure if this was flirting, a trap, or a genuine suggestion; either way, he simply nodded, "Hm, Yeah- m-maybe." He hoped that his face wasn't still glowing, but from the look on the gladiator’s face, and the heat on his own, he was certain it was.

"Good. My name’s Megatronus by the way, Megatron in the arena."

"P-pax, Orion Pax." He stuttered out, not sure if he should even be telling the stranger that.

The transport arrived and Megatronus made his way to the sector for bots of his class, "See you then, Pax." With a short wave, he was gone.

"Yeah, see you then..." Orion waved slightly before he boarded the front block of the transport and continued his ride thinking about the gladiator.

Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3! :)

[ultimateempath]

Welcome Home Theory

ALRIGHT SO. I've had a thought about what's going on in the world of Welcome home for a while, and this newest update gave me a little more to work with so I'll finally be sharing my thoughts.

I personally believe that Home itself is not evil, but that it is being used as a vessel by the unknown entity that affected the puppets and caused whatever incident that got the show shut down.

As we've seen, there's a massive swirling pit beneath Home that appeared to be getting bigger. I think what happened is that the Playfellow Workshop made the terrible mistake, intentional or not, of building the set for Welcome Home right on top of some kind of paranormal hotspot, triggering that pit to begin forming and Home to be taken over by the entity released from it.

Wally, as the one living within Home and right on top of the pit, was the first be affected and 'wake up' as it were. He was the first to become sentient, the first to realize the truth of their existence...and he is/was the worst equipped to handle it. He was supposed to be the child stand-in, the one learning lessons from the others. Now he's stuck as the one trying to "help" them, trying to reach out, to bring their show back, to fix it. I don't know if he's intentionally coming off as malicious about it though, for now it's unclear if he's genuinely trying to help or if the entity is controlling his actions in some way.

Eddie and Frank appear to be the next two to 'wake up'. We don't know what exactly happened with Frank yet, but it's clear from him switching from 'Mr. Dear' to a hushed 'Eddie' in the homewarming video that he became sentient as well and is aware of the need to stay in-character. As for Eddie, we saw it happen with our own eyes. He finally gets to relax for the first time, perhaps seen as 'breaking character', and immediately experiences some kind of dissociation and hellish realization complete with Home ominously staring into him.

Eddie is strangely not present in the new content on the main 'innocent' website. While he simply may have been busy during these particular escapades, it's also possible he was removed from the main cast for some unknown reason. My guess is that it would be due to either something with his and Franks relationship, or possibly because Eddie and/or Frank ended up breaking character too much, likely out of concern for one another, and Playfellow and/or the entity responded by getting rid of Eddie. Wether his puppet was sent elsewhere or he was straight up murdered is another unknown, if he was in fact removed like we think.

The rest of the puppets don't appear to be sentient yet at this point in the story, but that will most definitely change as time goes on. I believe the change from cartoon hands to puppet hands may be a clue as well since Wally and Eddie are currently the only ones we've seen with puppet hands and Eddie's changed during his hellish epiphany. So if we see the animated povs of other characters, it's a good idea to keep a look out for that switch to puppet hands.

My final note: the new website can't stay uncorrupted for long, I'm certain we'll hear from Wally and/or the others again at some point.

Thats all for now, just wanted to share my thoughts on what might be going on. Sorry if I'm late to this particular line of thought.

Edit:fixed a typo and tweaked my phrasing in one section.

[cupkatwarrior9]

Kat! Look at my creation! I made this for my bio class when I was a freshman.

(I'm giving you the version without the text because it's a little hard to read. So, instead, I'll put the text down here so it's easily readable.)

During the mating period, males battle to get mating rights for the female. After a male has claimed his win against the other males, he then has to woo the females.

Females are green in color since they reside in deeper waters in seaweed patches. Males are blue in color since they reside in more open  waters.

Females raise their young for two years. (The young are not allowed in the water until age one.)

Females often raise their young alone; however, on rare occasions, the males will stay to help raise the young.

They spend most of their lives in the water. (They can breathe through the air on land, or pull oxygen from the water.)

They usually only come to the surface every six years to mate and raise the young, a process that takes almost three years. Then, there is a three-year wait before the next mating period.

Females lay eggs three to five weeks after mating. Sometimes, females will lay their clutch over that two-week period instead of all at once. (This usually happens in first-time mothers.) A typical clutch has anywhere from two to eight eggs.

Eggs take six months to hatch. Babies are defenseless as their horns are merely just small nubs on their heads, and they don't get their venom until a year of age.

The eggs are sandy beige in color and have blue and green spots.

Females make nests for the young on beaches. The nest is made by digging a hole in the sand; then, the female will find materials to fill the hole for cushioning and warmth. Materials will consist of feathers from the mother (sometimes the males will contribute by offering some feathers for the nest), twigs and branches, seaweed, sea sponge, algae, any plant life found on land, and sometimes even trash. Yeah, trash! You dirty filthy fucker who didn't clean up after yourself! Are you proud of yourself!? Now that this magnificent creature is building its nest out of your trash!

Wings allow them to glide and fly a few feet off the ground for short distances. However, the wings are mainly used to propel them through the water.

Scorpion-like tail for protection. Just like with the horns, a potent venom will be immediately injected if you are hit by the tail's stinger. The tail is also covered in tiny hairs acting as scent glands. These tiny hairs also help to feel vibrations in the water.

Their fur is hydroponic to keep water out and keep them warm.

Ears have a protective film that prevents water from getting in and damaging them. This makes them good for picking up vibrations in the water and hearing potential threats on land.

Horns for protection. If hit by the horns, a potent venom will be injected into you immediately.

Can see in the dark and even in murky waters.

Third eyelid for protection in the water. (It also helps to see better underwater.)

Razor-sharp beak for hunting and protection.

Has small sharp teeth inside their beaks.

Carnivorous. They eat fish, crabs, octopus, and basically anything that moves.

Females are bigger than males.

Webbed paws to help them glide through the water.

Razor-sharp claws for hunting and protection.

(I alternated between blue and green colored text because I didn't think the bullet points were enough to separate each section.)

Neat-!

What are they called?

What kind of predators do they have?

Are they mammalian? Kinda like a platypus (mammal that lays eggs)?

Do they have solid or hollow bones? Given that they live underwater for the most part, I'd guess solid. However, their bone structure probably isn't too dense if they're able to glide and even fly for short distances. After some brief google research, I have discovered that most diving birds do not have hollow/pneumatized bones, or have significantly less. My thought is they have more solid bones than not?

What are the effects of the venom? Does it paralyze/incapacitate, or does it kill?

Why do they lay eggs on land? Is it safer to raise them there? Why aren't the young allowed into the water for a whole year?

Is their skin colored as well, or is it just the fur and feathers?

What type of climate do they live in? Tropic? Temperate? I can see it's not cold/arctic at least lol-

Why do the females live so much deeper than the males?

Anyway, sorry if that's uh- a lot- ^^"'

(Also, I greatly appreciate the color alternation, thank you x.x)

[next]

[katkalis-the-horror-fanartist]

Is there anything exclusive for the steam version of tnmn?

Some games have platform specific content so I was wondering if the steam version was just a more available option or not (feel free to ignore this if you want. Ik I should just look it up… but in case you needed an excuse to talk about something added in an update or whatever…)

Honestly I've debated asking for some tnmn asks now that the steam ver. brought us back together and revived my interest in it! So I'll tell you only what I have noticed. Anything else you can try to look up!

I've noticed:

-spotting differences is a bit easier. I swear like, especially in nightmare mode, little differences such as the swirls in Drugia's head hands, seem to be no longer a thing that can change?

-i also could just be unlucky and getting a lot of obvious differences in normal mode.

-comparing the documents to the officla info is SO much easier because you can hold the neighbor's papers right beside their official entry in the building's document folder. Their ID number is also 3 digits shorter and I do believe text and images are a tiny bit bigger?

-you are required to complete the checklist to proceed. It also grades you on how correctly you check the boxes. I myself am not really a huge fan of this part. Then once you complete it, THEN you're able to allow or deny the resident entry. Denying them can lead to them potentially going missing, denying a doppel has a chance to trigger the redhanded events, and I do think declining doppels in general instead of calling the DDD on them negatively impacts your score if you care about it. Also once you complete the checklist and activate the door controls, you cant turn back. You're locked in on making a choice.

-you dont have to dial the DDD manually. You just press the button!

-documents handed to you now have an extra security measure: a stamp of approval.

-all doppels in the modes that arent nightmare mode can now be caught redhanded. Some people couldn't be caught redhanded before.

-ive seen new dialogue I've never seen before, ex. Robertsky covered in blood insisting its peach juice and that he loves peaches. Also doppels no longer say FUCK! As its instead censored. Not a fan of this either. It's much funnier being able to read their curses directly.

-nightmares threaten to rip your eyes out if you ask them about their ID. They basically say your eyes are bad. They also in other interrogation dialogues talk about how they knew humans were stupid and how you'll regret declining them entry. A few of em threaten to find you and make you pay.

-you click the neighbor directly to ask questions. They can now leave their hats at home and you're able to confirm by calling the other resident if they're there.

-you can play the Unlikely card game whenever you want after you play it once in campaign mode

-theres a new custom mode where you can design custom neighbors, put them in apartment rooms, and play with them.

-theres a tutorial now when you start the game for the first time

-you get a newspaper at the start of every day. It will tell you who is missing if you cause them to go missing, it shows Keppler's face, and there are various articles of lesser importance you can read. Usually silly stuff.

-if that clown mask guy gives you the paper about the clown during a campaign day, you are guaranteed to play it before the next day. Losing doesn't ruin your entire campaign though. You just continue on like normal.

-in nightmare mode, this lady wearing a mask will hand you a paper about that one muzzled ghost lady and how you cant let her approach the window. If you see her coming up, you need to be quick and press the emergency button before she stops at the window.

-new doppels that are just oh so silly

-a wanted posters section! You have chances to encounter special doppels in campaign mode and when you do, you unlock their wanted poster. Fun to try and run into them all!

-denying every neighbor somehow still grants you a diploma of success.

-you get a diploma for both completing the tutorial and getting perfect on campaign mode. Or again, for denying everyone for whatever reason. But that's not fun. Also these papers you can get put your steam name in there and you can save them as pngs on your desktop! I love that part! (If you're offline itll say "could not get steam username) and that's pretty funny too.

-the conspirator ending is different. You arent in a body bag surrounded by afton and DDD employees. You simply get a paper saying afton is re-instated and they assume you made a mistake and didnt do it on purpose. (I was disappointed in this, yet someone mentioned that after that, it feels like the DDD are watching you and that's kinda cool. And scary.)

-you can type numbers in instead of use the phone if you enable it in settings but idk if that's a new thing or not.

-henry is shown as missing at the end of the conspirator ending, evident on papers in the background.

-i saw new dialogue with bloody Francis where instead of saying its "scarlet milk", he instead says something along the lines of: "dont worry, it's not yours. Consider yourself lucky." BUT idk if that's new or not. I still think it's cool enough to mention here though!

I'm sure I missed at least a few things but talking about these was definitely fun! Hope this helps you decide whether or not you want it. Its defintely cheap. I personally love having the custom mode there for whenever and I love the new doppels and dialogues. Apparently at some point Nacho may add "challenge rooms" involving nightmare characters and I'm excited for that too!

[saiintvalentiine]

the tip of my tongue is sweet (whenever I say your name)

Summary: They've been planning a sleepover date for a while, and Wifies isn't going to let a little crisis of self ruin that. She's going to make it work!

or: kenwatfies yuri that got out of hand

Notes: crossposting from ao3. a continuation of this request from december. lets not talk abt the tonal whiplash between this and three dog night. i was in a romantic mood. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. title from Girl's Talk by Chuu and Yves. divider

Word count: 3,612

Wifies parts Wato’s hair down the center, the strands long and thin and flowy. Her hair is the easiest to work with out of the three of them, so she sets to brushing and detangling each section quickly.

“—and they were so bad at it, you have no idea,” Wato is ranting, voice arching higher and higher. “They were coming up with solutions that were so stupid it was almost impressive.”

“Mm, I believe it,” Ken says, carefully dragging dark pink polish across Wato’s nails.

“I don't think I've ever seen Zam and Wemmbu act smart together,” Wifies adds.

“They were breaking shit I could not possibly fathom why they'd break!”

Ken snorts, saying, “I've got competition for number one escape room breaker.”

“It's not the same though,” Wifies butts in, starting to braid one side of Wato’s hair around her flickering green ears. “You know the rules, you know how a room works, and from there you break it. I'm not even sure they know how to read.”

“They don't!”

Wato jerks her head to the side and Wifies tuts at her, pausing to press a hand to her jaw and face her forward again.

“Don't move.”

“Sorry.”

Wato sounds like she's frowning, and Wifies can't help but press a kiss to the top of her head. She stains the spot with a bit of her dark lipstick.

“Shit.”

Ken pops up to look as Wifies tries to wipe the stain off.

“That's so cute,” she says. Her hair is frizzier than normal, which Wifies notes for later. “Wato, you have a Wifies kiss mark on your head now.”

“Bitches love me,” Wato says. Wifies gives her hair a hard tug. “Ow. Sorry. It's cute.”

“I'll wipe it off later with a makeup wipe,” Wifies says and returns to braiding.

“I thought that lipstick was supposed to be kiss proof,” Wato says. Ken fans at her nails.

“I thought so too, but I guess that was bullshit. It feels really nice on the lips though, really velvety.”

Ken pops up again, swooping forward and widening her eyes. She's wearing a bit of white eyeliner on her inner lash line to make them look even bigger, the scoundrel. Wato yelps, tail flailing and smacking Wifies's thigh.

“Let me try,” she says in her sweetest voice, tail curling behind her.

“I'm never gonna finish at this rate,” Wifies complains, but kisses Ken anyway, ignoring the way her own tail wags pleasantly. Ken comes away smug and smudged. “Get away you tomcat.”

“Your knee is on my thigh!” Wato yells.

Ken's lucky Wato's nails are wet and she can't grapple Ken to the ground. Ken sits back down on the floor with a darkened grin and starts to brush top coat onto Wato's nails. Wifies, thankfully, finishes the first braid with a snap of a scrunchie and gets to the next one.

“So, is it velvety?” Wato asks.

“It is, actually,” Ken caps the top coat and fans at Wato’s hands. “I wasn't really asking because I cared to feel it, but I'm impressed.”

“It's a good brand, but it's not kiss proof. I'll need to put setting powder on it or something.”

“Or just use an actual kiss proof one.”

“Well I already bought this one,” Wifies tugs Wato's hair again, softer this time.

“Why am I getting attacked here!”

“You did call us bitches,” Ken says as she stands up and stores the polish bottles away. Her legs are red and warm, irritated from sitting on the carpet for so long in her shorts. “I like being a bitch, but you know Wifies is sensitive to that kind of thing.”

“I'm not sensitive!”

Wifies finishes the second braid and stands up too. Her knees hurt, even though her sweatpants give her pretty good padding. Wato bounces up to her full height, turning around and awkwardly pressing her palms to Wifies's face. She's lucky Wifies has her hair tied up, or else it'd get onto her nails and ruin them regardless of how careful she's being.

“I'm sorry for calling you one of my bitches,” Wato says, laughter dancing in her eyes. “Will you forgive me?”

“No,” Wifies kisses her. “Now go dry in some corner while I do Ken's hair.”

Wato pouts, mouth now stained dark as well.

“Wifies,” she whines.

“At least doing your hair is easy,” Wifies sighs, kissing the corner of Wato's mouth again before slipping from her grasp and turning to Ken. “You, on the other hand. . .”

Ken grins. Her hair is frizzy and cut into a dozen layers, snipped by arrows and burnt by lava and caught in trap doors. Ken is fundamentally uncareful, and her hair pays the price.

Wifies has her work cut out for her. But for the sake of a good date night, she'll do it gladly.

“Sit on the end of the bed,” Wifies says. “I'm not getting back on my knees.”

Ken wiggles her eyebrows at Wifies, and Wifies rolls her eyes, grabbing a hair brush and brandishing it threateningly.

“Sit on the end of the bed.”

“Yes ma'am!”

Ken bounds over to the bed, neat sheets suffering under he scrambling as she sits on the end, back facing out. Wifies's room isn't the best place for a sleepover, mostly bare and boring, but they had already planned to come here for the night and Wifies just. . . forgot to get any new furniture. She doesn't have a vanity or anywhere comfortable to sit in her room, and the single mirror in the whole house is secluded to the bathroom. She hasn’t been in the right mind lately, but she’s determined to make their night a good one regardless.

“I’m gonna make some coffee,” Wato says, nudging Wifies's chin until they're looking at each other. “Want anything?”

“No, I'm good.”

Wato kisses her nose, their tails bumping together for a moment.

“How about you Ken?”

“Oh, coffee sounds good right now.”

Wato wanders over and kisses Ken too. Wifies pops into the bathroom, digging around her drawers until she finds an anti-frizz oil that should work with Ken's hair. When she returns to the bedroom, Wato is gone and Ken is scrolling on her phone, still obediently sitting on the end of the bed. Wifies swaps the hair brush for a comb and a fistfull of scrunchies, all of which she drops next to Ken on the bed.

“Your hair is a mess,” Wifies says curtly, digging her fingers under Ken's hair and into her scalp. Ken leans forward and purrs at the sensation, tail curling loosely with Wifies's leg. “You haven't been taking care of it have you?”

Wifies parts Ken's hair into three sections, making sure to dig her nails in around her flickering orange-green ears as she goes. Ken purrs and purrs, and Wifies snorts. Taking the oil, Wifies pumps a bit into her hand and passes the bottle to Ken.

“Hold this please.”

“Mm, yeah.”

She starts on one side, going from tip to root to try and tame the mess on Ken's head. It’s familiar work. Wifies likes doing both Ken and Wato’s hair as often as they’ll let her, and even when she’s frustrated at Ken’s carelessness, she’s never too annoyed to take care of her.

“I've been busy,” Ken says, tossing her phone to the middle of the bed and nestling the bottle into the nook of her crossed legs. “I've been trying to coordinate a whole slew of escape room videos at once because Seawatt and Sven are going on vacation soon. Not together mind you!”

Done with the first section, Wifies sticks her cupped hand over Ken's shoulder, saying, “Add oil.”

“They’re just randomly leaving at the same time,” Ken continues as she pumps oil into Wifies's hand. “And I want them to run these rooms! So I've been building and testing and tweaking, and then on top of that chasing after them like a headless chicken.”

“Are you guys talking about Ken's disaster project?” Wato asks as she comes through the door, two steaming mugs in hand. 

“Mhm.”

Wifies holds her hand out again, and again Ken pumps oil into it. The final section is the easiest, since the end is in sight. Wato sits across from Ken and hands her a mug.

“Can I drink?” Ken asks.

Wifies drags a hand from the front of her hairline back until her head is tilted all the way back and they're eye to eye.

“Yes.”

Wifies kisses her forehead, a new lipstick mark for Ken's collection, and then lets her go. There's no point in washing the oil on her hands since she's going to comb and braid Ken's hair anyway, so she waits for Ken to drink from her mug until she's satisfied. Wifies idly touches the varying tips of Ken's hair.

“What should I do with you, hm?” Wifies murmurs. “It's not gonna braid well, but that's best for sleep.”

“Braid it anyway,” Wato insists. “She's gonna sleep in it and make it messy no matter what you do, horrible sleeper that she is.”

“I'm not,” Ken whines.

“I think you kicked me in the hip last night.”

“I did not!”

Wifies parts Ken's hair into two and combs through one half slowly. She got most of the knots out while oiling it, but it doesn't hurt to make sure. Ken and Wato keep bickering, and Wifies falls into the flow of braiding all over again. The choppiness of some of Ken's hair means some parts of the braid are saggier than others, but the first braid finishes up well enough, and Wifies snaps a scrunchie around the end of it.

“Your hair's getting long,” Wifies murmurs as she moves on to the next braid. “You thinking of cutting it again?”

“Nope. You and Wato both have long hair and I wanna try it out.”

“Aww, you wanna look like us? How cute,” Wato puts her mug on the floor and crawls over to kiss Ken. “The cat wants to be a big dog now.”

“Shut up,” Ken says, cupping Wato's cheek.

“Don't move your head,” Wifies scolds. “You two are my worst clients.”

“Sorry,” Ken says, not sounding sorry at all.

Wifies shakes her head, claw clip slipping down a bit. A white strand settles over her forehead, and she blows at it uselessly.

“Here,” Wato shuffles around Ken and stumbles off the bed, getting behind Wifies. “I'll fix it, hold on.”

Wato unpins the clip and combs Wifies hair back with her fingers, hands gentle and palms warm. Wifies pauses her braiding to close her eyes and bask in the sensation. This is why she always insists on doing their hair. If it feels even a fraction as good for them as it does for her, she's happy to do it. She knows that really, she's just touch starved. Even with two girlfriends, soft touch still sends her spiraling, so unused to it and so unexpecting of it.

Wato closes the clip on the neat twist of hair she's collected, pressing a lingering kiss to the base of Wifies's neck.

“Where did you get this shirt?” Wato asks, mouth still pressed to Wifies's skin and arms coming around to hold her middle. “It looks new.”

“It is,” Wifies takes a deep breath and continues braiding. Ken loves to tease her about her reactions, but Wato is always easier about it, always trying to lull Wifies into it. “I had some extra fabric from a project so I sewed this up.”

It's short sleeved and low necked and a bit cropped, a stark contrast to her usual covered up outfits. Wato's pinky brushes against the sliver of skin between the bottom of the shirt and the top of her sweatpants. Wifies shivers and tries to not tense up. Wato doesn't move, just adjusts her chin so it's hooked over Wifies's shoulder.

“It came out nice!” Ken chimes in, trying to drink more of her coffee without moving her head.

“Thanks. I'll make you guys some next time.”

There's a selfish reason for doing their hair, too, and it's that as long as Wifies has something to focus on, she doesn't think about the spider webbing of scars on her arms that she can now see. As soon as she's snapped that final scrunchie though, they reveal themselves to her, exposed and paler than the moon.

“Let me wash all this oil off of my hands,” she mutters, slipping out of Wato's hold. “And then I'll fix my hair up.”

“Alright,” Wato says. “We'll be waiting.”

She's got oil up the wrists and down her forearms somehow, and she's very grateful for the short sleeves now. Even if she has to brush her finger across each puckered line and silvery divot, at least she's not going to have to wash it out of her favorite sweater.

“Wifies!” Ken sticks her head through the bathroom doorway as Wifies is wiping her hands dry. “What color do you wanna do your nails?”

“Maybe a nice brown,” she muses, eyeing her nails critically. “Something warm.”

Ken takes her hands and turns them side to side, eyes darting around, planning.

“How about something elegant?” Ken suggests. “A nice cream base and a brown french tip.”

“That would be very elegant.”

“You have elegant hands.”

Wifies wouldn’t really call her hands elegant. Her fingers are long but they’re a bit crooked, and her palm is rough and rife with welts from constant sword fighting. But Ken brings one of Wifies’s hands up, and without thinking Wifies cups her face and rubs her thumb across the apple of her cheek. Ken purrs, satisfied with her work.

“It’ll be pretty,” Ken insists, turning to kiss Wifies’s palm. “You’ll like it.”

“I always like what you do to me,” Wifies says, squeezing Ken’s face. Ken yelps and sputters, wriggling out of Wifies’s loose grip. “Now come here, let me wipe all that lipstick off of you.”

She finds some makeup wipes in her cabinet and gently wipes at Ken’s forehead and mouth. Ken is surprisingly obedient the whole time, even letting Wifies put some plain chapstick on her lips.

“You need to drink more water,” Wifies murmurs, resisting the urge to kiss Ken’s nose. No use in smearing more lipstick on her.

“Can I take your makeup off?” Ken asks, batting her eyelashes coyly.

“No.”

Ken pouts.

“Please?”

“Nope.”

“You can’t sleep with your makeup on!”

“I’m not gonna sleep, Ken, don’t be dumb.”

“Yes you are.”

“No I’m not.”

“What are you two arguing about?” Wato asks from the bedroom.

“Wifies says she's not sleeping!”

Ken drags Wifies out by the wrist. Wato's holding a different mug than the ones from before as she eyes Wifies critically. She sighs, shoulders dropping at whatever she finds.

“She won't,” Wato confirms.

“Don't side with her!”

Wifies still has the makeup wipe in hand, so she waves Wato over and awkwardly wipes away the lipstick from her face. Wato even ducks her head so Wifies can clean up the mark on her hair.

“I'm not siding with her, it's just a fact. Look at how tense she still is.”

Ken hisses something like don't say that!, and Wifies deflates. She thought she was doing a good job of being normal.

“Sorry sweetheart,” Wato says, handing over the mug and taking the makeup wipe from her hand. “You're really no good at hiding it. I made you chamomile though.”

Wifies takes the mug and breathes in the scent of chamomile tea and honey.

“There's nothing for it,” she says. “I don't even know why I tried hiding it. Sorry.”

Ken and Wato glance at each other, and Wifies ignores them for a moment to enjoy her tea. It's simple and delicious and it settles her as it goes down.

“Were you distracting me so Wato could make me tea?” Wifies asks. “Is that why you were behaving so well in the bathroom?”

“Yes,” Ken says shamelessly, tail flicking. “But I'm still doing your nails how we agreed. That wasn't a distraction.”

“Of course. Let me do my hair first.”

“Noooo, Wato, do her hair.”

“Duh. Obviously.”

“It's thick,” Wifies warns. “Plus I can do it blind and fast. It won't take long.”

“It's not about taking long.”

Wifies knows she's outnumbered, so she just sighs and nods. Ken and Wato cheer, herding her back onto the floor where she sits down with her tea held in both hands. The nail polish bin is dragged over for Ken to dig through, and Wato finds the hair brush.

“I'll be nice,” Wato says, settling behind Wifies and unclipping her hair.

“I know you will.”

Wato runs her fingers through the dense, black and white mess of Wifies's hair. Wifies can't control the way her tail wags, thumping dully on the carpet. Ken picks out her colors and Wifies holds a hand out.

Like this, being doted on from either end, Wifies feels a little bad. She knew they were coming over, and she knew she was feeling upset. She was trying to salvage the night but they noticed anyway.

“Hey.”

Wifies blinks. Ken is right in her face, taking her mug and putting it onto the floor. Wato is silent behind her, warm and still gently carding through her hair.

“What are you thinking about?” Ken asks.

“I didn’t want to worry you guys, and I did anyway.”

“Don’t think like that,” Ken scolds. “You don’t make us worry. Caring means we’re gonna worry regardless.”

“I know,” Wifies tries to smile. “I just forget sometimes. Sorry.”

Ken crawls into Wifies’s lap and sits down. Wifies wraps her arms around her, and Ken pushes her back into Wato’s chest. For a second she feels cornered, heart slowing on instinct, but Wato digs her thumbs into the base of her skull and Wifies remembers that she’s between two people who love her, as unbelievable as that sometimes is.

“What’s on your mind?” Ken asks again, staring Wifies down. “I was hoping all the distractions would help you loosen up, but nothing is working. What is it?”

Wifies struggles with her words, picking at the waistband of Ken’s shorts. It's not that she doesn't know, more that she's not sure if there's a good way of saying it.

“I don't feel like. . . myself,” she finally gets out. “I don't know why. Just that I'm not myself.”

A network of scars, a borrowed face, a hundred small things finally breaking through her defenses.

“Last week, Parrot asked me if I remembered the— this video, I don't really know because it never came out, but this video we made, and I lied through my teeth that I did, and I don't know—” she closes her eyes. “—when will this end? When will I be complete?”

Wato's hands travel beneath her jaw, pulling until Wifies opens her eyes to look up at her. Green to violet, like a thousand times before, but it always takes her breath away. Wato wears all her gentility in her eyes, all of her adoration and affection like honey from a hive, and Wifies feels her own eyes water, and she hates it, hates to cry in the face of Wato's care.

“You're you all the time,” Wato says simply. “You're always a hundred percent you. Even those gaps in your memory are you.”

“I know, I'm sorry.”

“Stop apologizing,” Ken says. Wato loosens her hold and nudges Wifies so that she's looking at Ken now. “You're allowed to feel whatever you want. We just want you to share it with us.”

Wifies nestles closer to Wato’s steady warmth.

“Can you,” she blinks away the sting in her eyes. “Can you take my makeup off?”

“Of course, obviously,” Ken says.

She kisses Wifies's forehead, then pauses and kisses her on the lips before rolling off her lap and scampering to the bathroom.

“It's gonna be a good night Wifies,” Wato says, nuzzling between her ears. “Let us make it a good night.”

“Okay,” Wifies says weakly. “I wanted to make it a good night too.”

“I know you did, sweetheart. You tried hard. And it’s still a good night. You didn’t ruin it.”

Wifies sniffles. She feels shallow, driven to tears by the same problem she faces every day without respite. She wants to be more used to it, but it’s no use; if she’s going to have every emotion coddled like this, she’ll never get used to any of it.

“C’mon,” Ken sits back down on Wifies’s lap with a pack of makeup wipes in hand. “Close your eyes.”

Wifies does as she’s told. Ken begins to wipe off the layers of makeup Wifies has on, Wato’s hands never far behind. And here, between them both, the final protective layer that Wifies dressed herself up in is peeled away, and she shudders at the feeling of being laid bare, of having nothing.

“There we go,” Ken says. “There’s my Wifies, all cleaned up and relaxed.”

She doesn't have nothing.

She has Wato, reliable and gentle and stuck to her back. She has Ken, thoughtful and determined and sat in her lap. And between them, even if she doesn't feel like herself, she can find herself being the person that they love anyway.

“It's still a good night,” Wifies says.

“It's always a good night when it's us,” Ken says.

“Nothing better,” Wato still has her nose pressed into Wifies's hair. Her breathing feels good, rhythmic, real. “Can I do your hair?”

“Yeah. Anything you want.”

It's still a good night. And Wifies is loved even if she isn't sure what Wifies means right now.

[serenityfails]

i finish da game

spoilers of course. also really long and rambly.

i finished the game a couple nights ago. i processed it for a little bit, then replayed the last couple hours to change ONE dialogue option to see if it played out different (it did not change anything but it did change how i felt about it, a little)

i think the strongest adjective i can find for the game is UNEVEN. the game is bad. the game is also good. it took ten years to make, and it was rushed.

a good point: the game is BEAUTIFUL. they put more pussy in these environments than can be imagined. every level has its own little WOW LOOK AT HOW PRETTY THIS IS section where you can take a dramatic screencap of your beautiful hero, cape blowing in the wind, and i did that, every time, of course i did. i actually feel like origins doesn't get enough credit for being pretty-- it's, yeah, pretty dingy and chunky potato, but it's got a lot of good looking settings too. but this one is like. immaculate. the textures and the lighting and everything are really, really well done. it might be TOO perfect, because the ~artstation concept artist~ of it all can maybe get a little much, but what the fuck ever, who cares. is it not enough to see a fantasy moon, huge?

another good point: there were some occasional minor bugs, and i understand other people ran into some bigger ones, but for me, it was the smoothest play experience i have ever had with a bioware game. i hit NOTHING that impeded my play experience outside one at the start that reset my CC options, and one minor visual glitch. every one of the other games i've had game breaking shit happen. whatever they did to get this one running, they did a great job.

a third good point: the combat is fun as hell. i always play on easy to start with but easy is like.... way too easy. i will go up a level or two next time i play. but even though it was on way too easy mode i was still really enjoying the pace and action of combat. it was fun! the gameplay is fun. yay for a game that is fun to play.

a fourth good point: i love rook! my plucky little hero! i think it's really hard to make a busted rook, they CC is really good (a couple things warrant a tweak, but it's so much better than the prev games CCs it's not even funny) and i love their stupid little personality. i picked briony corrigan's voice and the accent they gave the brit VAs... is so charming and good to me. i feel a lot more attached to rook than i did to hawke. i know this will not be true of many people. i do wonder how pre-determined their personality is, because it seems hard to deviate from "plucky young hero" in general, so i'll have to reserve that opinion for after i've played through it another time or two.

okay, some bad stuff.

the loss of the people who have left the studio, both before this game and during it, of their own will and against it-- it's plainly obvious, to me. the voice direction isn't what it used to be. the tone isn't what it used to be. the writing isn't what it used to be. the art isn't what it used to be. there are good and bad aspects to this. the game is more polished than any of the games before it. it's also as unfinished as DA2 was, just in different ways.

i feel like i'm not making any clear points here! time to consider some specifics.

the relationships (and romances) feel very shallow. i've been complaining about the game being too Nice. often, everyone does talk more like an HR seminar than people. there are some rare moments where humanity shines through, and that's not to say i didn't really like a lot of the characters and some specific really good moments, but overall i don't feel the weight of the revelations the characters are receiving, and i don't feel the characters have the same depth as the companions in previous games.

the final act of the game tweaked my opinion on that a little bit, but not entirely. the last act having such potentially disastrous losses does make it feel like they wrote everything preceding to be super nice and fluffy so you would feel the emotional weight of those losses when they happen. i don't think they succeeded in that, though. it just leaves the characters feeling incomplete. (i maxxed my factions and did everyone's loyalty missions, so i only lost Harding.) after that, i felt like this is a backstory for these characters rather than a final act. (specifically taash. taash feels VERY teenage. and since they lost their mom and then their girlfriend the last convo I had with them was just like "everyone i love dies" OKAY GOOD I GAVE THE TEAM TEEN UNRESOLVED TRAUMA)

the lead up to romancing davrin i was like okay this is dorky but it's got some juice... take me to juice town. and then there was this.... utterly lifeless love confession scene hours after rook and davrin had done one quick peck and some real "witch in the alps finding a lost cat" level toothless fluff. there was a tea party. all it needed was hair-braiding.

and then we had a "what if you die :(" talk that was very.... light and pleasant. and then davrin mentioned that talk later as if it was a fight. did we fight??? i thought we were just talking about being in love with each other like coworkers discussing what to bring to a potluck but okay i guess that was a fight. it got a little better from there-- i got a couple scenes that made it feel a little more natural and genuine-- but overall i was underwhelmed. i will have to replay and check out some of the romances i missed out on to see if they have any more meat on the bones. like i can boil the bones i got and make a juicy broth out of them, no doubt, but i was hoping for a bouquet garni at least.

(i'm the guy who found positive things to say about mass effect andromeda, mind. i thought vetra's romance kicked ass. i'm particular but ultimately not that hard to please!!!)

i think in general... i wanted a little more from davrin regarding willingness to die, because It Is My Duty As A Warden. this dovetails into my major compliment for the game: the Act One finale kicked insane levels of ass. I think that was the most fun the game got for me. everyone felt involved, the cinematics were great, i was feeling the scale of the fight and the emotional impact on the world. and davrin and lucanis burying their beef because they're both putting their asses out there, and the connection to the grey wardens and the act of slaying an archdemon.... it was all sick as fuck!!!

and then it kind of felt like.... especially romancing davrin, it didn't feel like it was addressing the hard question there of his inevitable gory death. we were too busy saying "i like-like you, let's raise our adopted son" and standing three feet apart.

(also for the record: he didn't have a gory death in my game. maybe more of that comes up if he does, i haven't watched the alt version.)

i am rambling so much. CONCLUSION: thin writing. some of it is very lovely, and some of it is very first draft. i can only imagine that a lot of single player game writing had to happen in not a lot of time given that the game got repurposed from the version that was live service online game bullshit and then after that bioware laid half the staff off.

i hated the varric-narration framing. aping the DA2 thing doesn't make sense. Varric isn't telling the story here: Varric is haunting the narrative, not crafting it. and the art is a severe downgrade imo. i saw some people like it-- and for me, it's not that it's Bad Art, it's that they're trying to reproduce nick thornborrow's iconic art and missing the mark by a mile. and also, as marie already said but it's so true, spoiling all the narrative suspense by putting a giant glowing pin in it every five fucking minutes.

it's actually completely appropriate that varric's presence in the game is this shallow because it's literally solas puppeting his corpse around as a shiny distraction for you, the player, and for his own gain MUCH LIKE BIOWARE AS A COMPANY HAS BEEN DOING HEYOOOOOOOOOOOOO

i said when mary kirby was laid off that i hope they WOULD kill varric off, so they can't keep doing that. and i got my wish!

my feelings on that: once again mixed. i got spoiled for that early on in my game by some jackass on twitter, which i was genuinely mad about. but then of course it became insanely obvious after i knew, a real snape kills dumbledore situation. i was getting increasingly mad about it as the game went on because i didn't know the specifics and was trying to puzzle them out and it wasn't making ANY sense. then of course i got the reveal in the game, and it made.... more sense than i expected it to, which made me less mad about it. (having it literally be a blood magic mindbending thing handwaved most of my questions. what it didn't explain is WHY DIDN'T MORE OF VARRIC'S FRIENDS SHOW UP AND ASK WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED. why didn't we hear ANYTHING from anyone who loved varric. he has too many people in his life to go completely unmourned by any of them!!!!!!!!!! (and of course they can't really do this, because they clean-slated the worldstate and all the schrodinger's characters can't appear without spoiling the illusion. i can only imagine this was also a choice built from constraints and not by choice, but it sucks.)

i am complaining so much and i could probably complain for another year. but in the end, i had fun playing it, and i hurt my own feelings. and it is simply not dragon age unless i hurt my own feelings. so it's got that going for it.

this post is way too fucking long and i'm going to spare you guys and write a different post about solavellan when i'm done. fuck. fuck!!

[valiantstarlights]

[Loving You is Cherry Pie] Chapter 3

Read on AO3 / Chapter 1 / Chapter 2

Featuring doting father Alpha!Hob (43) and his son, recently presented Omega!Dream (20).

By happy coincidence, this chapter fills the prompts 'Call in the night' and 'College' for @mr-sadman's Sandmanniversary2024 Day 2. 😊 Thanks to @seiya-starsniper for helping me with one of the sections! 🥰

CWs: Off-screen violence. 👀

--

SAN

"...'llo?"

"Good evening, Corinthian."

"Whuh-- (crash) Shit-- (a dull, heavy sounding thud) Fuck! (pained wheeze, rustling fabric, scrambling) Hello? Dream?"

"...I'm here. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm-- (pained hiss) I'm good. I just, you know. Fell."

"I heard. Has the fall exacerbated your injuries?"

"...Uh, what?"

"Exacer-- Has the fall made your injuries worse?"

"Oh. Uh... (rustling fabric) No? I don't think so?"

"That's good."

"..."

"..."

"...Are you calling to check up on me? 'Cause I'm fine. That bitch didn't beat me up as badly as I beat her."

"I apologize."

"What for? If anyone should be apologizing, it's her. Are you alright?"

"...Yes. Thank you for lending me your jumper. I'll give it back to you after I have it washed and scent-cleaned."

"No. Keep it."

"Corinthian--"

"I'm serious. I have more, and black looks better on you than it does on me anyway."

"..."

"(sigh) It doesn't... It doesn't have to mean anything. But if it keeps you warm and my scent protects you from--"

"(sharp inhale) You...?"

"...Yeah. But if you're worried I'll tell anyone, I won't. Trust me."

"..."

"Look, I... (deep breath followed by a long, drawn out sigh) My omega parent. He also..."

"...Oh. Is he..?"

"No."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It wasn't your fault. (sigh) I promise, I don't have any hidden agendas or whatever about you keeping my sweater. Jumper? And anyway, I already know you don't like me--"

"I did not say that. It's just, that night, I wasn't... I was having a very stressful evening."

"Yeah, no kidding."

"So today... Thank you. For doing what you did."

"Of course. It was the proper thing to do."

"..."

"(stifled yawn) Oh, sorry."

"No. I have taken too much of your time that you could've otherwise spent sleeping. Good night, Corinthian."

"Yeah, alright. And you're sure you're okay? Aside from..."

"Yes."

"Well, alright then. G'night, Dream."

--

RG

Good morning, baby! I hope you slept well. (brightly smiling emoji)  Eleanor and I went jogging awhile ago. We're early enough to watch the sunrise for a bit, and now we're dining at this restaurant owned by a nice old lady who used to be a weightlifter in her youth! I think that even at 70, she has bigger muscles than I do. Here's my order: one chicken burger with a side of sweet potato fries, and a watermelon smoothie. (RG sent a photo.) [Image description: A delicious-looking chicken burger piled high with romaine lettuce is on a porcelain plate beside a generous serving of sweet potato fries. The watermelon smoothie is three-quarters full, and while it has a drinking straw leaning against one side of the glass cup, there is a hint of light pink lipstick on the rim of the cup. Across the table, Eleanor's pale, delicate hands are seen holding a knife and fork over her own food, which is some type of steak salad.] I think you would love the food here. Shall we go together next time?

(✔ Seen)

--

SAN

I'm serious about the sweater. Keep it. And if you need someone to talk to, just call. No strings whatsoever. 

Noted. Thank you.

--

The Raven Tricycle

Matthew Youngman Luce, is Dream wearing an alpha's jumper? My beta nose can't smell anything rn except food, grass, and other students panicking about being late for class. Oh hey that rhymed! (smiling emoji with shades)

Lucienne Oldman He is. Can't place whose scent it is, though. Any ideas, Jessamy?

Jessamy Middleman Later.

Matthew Youngman Okay he's gone now. (Matthew sent a GIF.) [Image description: A posh blonde woman in a white sundress is slowly sipping her tea with obvious enjoyment. The text below reads, "Spill the tea, sis."]

Lucienne Oldman Why are you still typing? Just tell us out loud.

Jessamy Middleman Matty is 100% gonna yell. I'm typing so he can just yell in all caps in the chat.

Matthew Youngman (roll eyes emoji) OW You didn't have to hit me.

Lucienne Oldman You were bouncing your leg. I got annoyed. Just wait patiently for Jessamy to finish typing.

Matthew Youngman (roll eyes emoji)

Jessamy Middleman Okay. So before I say anything, I want you both to know that I learned about all of this from other people. Not Dream. Dream didn't tell me ANYTHING.

Lucienne Oldman Go on.

Matthew Youngman (Matthew sent a GIF.) [Image description: A cartoon hamster wearing a chef's uniform is chopping some chives. The words, 'CHOP CHOP' are flashing on the bottom area of the GIF.]

Jessamy Middleman Yesterday afternoon, Hippolyta Trevor (omega, Interior or Fashion Design major, not sure which) confronted Dream about him """stealing""" her boyfriend.

Matthew Youngman Nah. No way.

Jessamy Middleman That's what the quotation marks are for, Matty.

Lucienne Oldman Who's her boyfriend?

Jessamy Middleman Hector Hall. Alpha. Architecture major. Good-looking guy, but definitely not Dream's type.

Matthew Youngman And you know his type? OW STOP HITTING ME

Jessamy Middleman Anyway. So apparently, Hippolyta threw an entire bucket of very cold and very disgusting sewer water at Dream, threw the bucket AT him, pushed him so hard he fell on the floor on his ass, and then she starts to yell at him for being an S word.

Matthew Youngman THE FUCK??

Lucienne Oldman Christ.

Matthew Youngman CRAZY PSYCHO BITCH Also S word??? 

Lucienne Oldman Slut, Matthew.

Matthew Youngman I knew that.

Lucienne Oldman Are there videos of this?

Jessamy Middleman No. Not that part, anyway. The videos taken by the witnesses only caught the later parts.

Lucienne Oldman And then? Did Dream fight back?

Jessamy Middleman Not physically? He apparently just said something.

Matthew Youngman Something???

Jessamy Middleman The person I heard it from was more focused on Hippolyta going batshit crazy to hear what Dream said.

Lucienne Oldman But they said Dream said something to Hippolyta. Definitely?

Jessamy Middleman Yeah.

Matthew Youngman And then? What did she say? In reply to Dream? Oh my god you're typing so muchhh (one crying emoji followed by three tea emojis)

Jessamy Middleman Just more accusations of Dream being, and I quote, "a slut who would spread his legs for anybody." And then Dream said something like, "You would know." Which, while being a sick burn, also made Hippolyta scream at him some more then tackle him to the ground.

Matthew Youngman TEAM DREAM TEAM DREAM ALSO DESTRUCTION 100 FOR HIPPOCRATES HIPPOLYTA*

Lucienne Oldman There's more. You're still typing. Good gods.

Jessamy Middleman But just as she was about to beat Dream up MMA style, Corinthian (yes, that one) comes out of nowhere, bodily lifts Hippolyta from Dream and throws her against the nearest wall, takes his jumper off and tells Dream to put it on, and then he starts to beat HER up.

Lucienne Oldman SHUT THE FUCK UP MATTHEW

Jessamy Middleman I TOLD YOU HE WOULD YELL

Matthew Youngman SORRY

Lucienne Oldman And then?

Jessamy Middleman Dream managed to leave unnoticed in the chaos, Hippolyta is currently recovering in the omegan wing of the infirmary but won't get punished AT ALL, and Corinthian is suspended for a month.

Matthew Youngman (five exclamation point and question mark emojis)

Lucienne Oldman But that's ridiculous. He was only defending Dream against Hippolyta.

Jessamy Middleman Yeah, I don't think administration knows that. The most circulated videos only caught Corinthian beating Hippolyta up, while there is absolutely zero videos circulating right now that caught Hippolyta attacking Dream.

Lucienne Oldman Seriously?

Jessamy Middleman Yeah. And anyway, to administration, it's still an alpha male beating up an omega female. It doesn't look good.

Lucienne Oldman Without any context, Corinthian WOULD be seen as the bad guy. Never mind that he was only acting in defense of Dream. Christ. What a mess.

Matthew Youngman So now Dream is...what, wearing Corinthian's jumper to show everyone that he and Corinthian are together, actually, and that Corinthian was just defending his omega boyfriend from getting beaten up by another omega?

Lucienne Oldman They're not together, Matthew.

Matthew Youngman Yeah, but...If you don't know either of them, you'd think that, right? If you saw Dream wearing Corinthian's jumper?

Jessamy Middleman Right.

Matthew Youngman What can I say? I'm a genius. (smiling emoji with shades)

Jessamy Middleman Do I tell this to Mr. G? I feel like I should, but...

Lucienne Oldman Jessamy, you know he would descend upon the university like an angel of the apocalypse and ruin Hippolyta's life for what she did. Possibly even Hector's as well.

Matthew Youngman She deserves it though. But wait, what about the Hector guy?

Lucienne Oldman What about him?

Matthew Youngman Where was he when all this happened?

Jessamy Middleman Fuck if I know. But he IS one of the alphas leaving courting gifts for Dream at our dorm. That's why I recognized his name when it was mentioned, and how I know what he looks like.

Matthew Youngman FUCKING PLOT TWIST

Lucienne Oldman And you're sure nothing happened between him and Dream?

Jessamy Middleman 100%. Dream isn't pregnant with Hector's kid or whatever it is you're thinking. What? Don't look at me like that. Do you really think that if I find out that someone forced Dream into something he didn't want to do, that I wouldn't inform Mr. G. immediately, beat the person up while waiting for him to arrive, and then gleefully watch as he unalives them with his bare hands?

Matthew Youngman ...You scare me sometimes, sis.

Jessamy Middleman Good.

Matthew Youngman (Matthew sent a GIF.) [Image description: A cartoon raven is hiding inside a Halloween pumpkin. It is very cautiously peeking one eye out through one of the pumpkin's 'eyes.']

Lucienne Oldman I think you should talk to Dream first, Jess. Find out what really happened, and then decide whether or not Hippolyta Trevor deserves to meet her end in the form of Mr. Gadling.

Jessamy Middleman Okay. Hold on.

Lucienne Oldman I didn't say you have to do it right now. 

Matthew Youngman Shhh

--

Jessamy

"(whispering) Yes?"

"...Why are you whispering?"

"(whispering) I'm in class right now."

"What class? You're free until 2:30."

"(whispering) Sitting in. What is it?"

"...Never mind. Let's talk later."

--

The Raven Tricycle

Jessamy Middleman He's sitting in on some class.

Matthew Youngman Why are we still talking over chat? My thumbs are taaairdddeiueioueio

Jessamy Middleman Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were the one typing a whole bunch. (roll eyes emoji)

Lucienne Oldman Maybe he's sitting in on Corinthian's classes and taking notes for him as thanks?

Jessamy Middleman Probably.

Lucienne Oldman Stop biting your nails.

Jessamy Middleman Sorry. I'm just. I don't know what to do, Luce. I feel like I should tell Mr. G what's going on, but I KNOW Dream wouldn't want me to.

Matthew Youngman Then don't? Butt out and quit being a busybody? FUCKING OW STOP IT (three ambulance emojis, followed by three police emojis)

Lucienne Oldman Alright, children, that's enough. Jessamy, stop punching Matthew. Matthew, stop antagonizing Jessamy.

Matthew Youngman SHE STARTED IT

Jessamy Middleman I am NOT a busybody!

Lucienne Oldman (sighing emoji) Stop fighting for a second and let me type.

Matthew Youngman (Matthew sent a GIF.) [Image description: A teenage girl wearing a muddy shirt and denim overalls is sticking her tongue out mockingly and making faces.]

Jessamy Middleman (middle finger emoji)

Lucienne Oldman As much as it pains me to admit it, Matthew is PARTIALLY right. Out of the three of us, you know Dream the best. And if you think that he wouldn't want you to go behind his back and tell his dad about what happened, then you shouldn't. THAT BEING SAID, if this escalates, like say Hippolyta gets better and decides to attack Dream again, then with or without Dream's consent, you HAVE to tell Mr. Gadling. Stop biting your nails, Jessamy. Seriously what is it? What are you not telling us?

Matthew Youngman Is this about Corinthian? Because like, the guy did rescue Dream from getting beaten into a pulp. AND he lent him his jumper after Hippolyta threw nasty ass water at him.

Jessamy Middleman Just really worried, I guess.

Matthew Youngman sus

Jessamy Middleman Fuck off.

Lucienne Oldman Let's just continue this later. You and Matthew have a class in five minutes.

Matthew Youngman I'm vamoosing Bye old people

Jessamy Middleman Kk Have a good time at the library! (cheerful hug emoji)

--

SAN

"Hey."

"Yes?"

"Are you the one who sent me handwritten class notes?"

"Perhaps."

"You didn't have to."

"I wanted to. As thanks."

"...Oh. Uh...thank you. That's really... Thank you."

"Of course."

"I mean...wow. (paper rustling) These are really detailed."

"Were you expecting anything less?"

"Honestly? I wasn't expecting anything at all. (paper rustling) Your handwriting is fucking gorgeous."

"..."

"Oh. Uh. Sorry. I didn't-- That doesn't-- I wasn't flirting. I was just--"

"It's fine. Thank you. For the compliment."

"Yeah. Of course."

"..."

"...So uh. Thanks. For the notes."

"Yes. You're welcome."

"I'm gonna hang up now."

"Goodbye, Corinthian."

"Bye. (muffled) 'Fucking gorgeous?'  What the hell is wrong with me? Stupid, stupid, stup--(the line abruptly cuts off)"

"...(hangs up)"

--

Dream

Hey, baby. I know you're busy being the most brilliant student your university has ever seen, but if you could just text your lonely Papa how you are right now, you would make me the happiest man in the world. Hey, Bean. Aunt Jo here. Confiscated Hob's phone for a sec because he's being incredibly needy and pathetic. You're okay though, right? Aside from the seenzone you subjected him to earlier this morning?

I'm fine. Must've snoozed while replying. Is he drunk?

As an animal that rhymes with drunk. I can't remember which one that is right now. But I'm not drunk! I'm tipsy. That's a very important distinction.

Take care going home.

Will do, Beanie. Love you! Hob is fighting me right now, claiming that he loves you more, but gzlutqkharsgz Don't listen to your Aunt Jo, baby. I love you the most. Not more, but most. More than anything or anyone.

I'm calling Mervyn.

--

Mervyn

Got your dad and aunt safely home, kid. (Mervyn sent a photo.)  [Image description: Jo and Hob, both dressed in business wear, are lying on long, comfortable-looking couches parallel to each other. They have hand towels over their eyes. Their footwear have been removed and are placed on the floor next to their feet. On the coffee table between the two couches is a plastic pitcher full of water, two plastic cups, and two white pills. There is an empty bucket on the floor near Jo's head.]

Thank you, Mervyn. Say hello to your family for me.

Yep. (Mervyn sent a video.) [Video description: Mervyn's voice from behind the camera is immediately heard. He says, "Dream says hi." The man being filmed is an older Chilean gentleman who smiles brightly at the mention of Dream's name. He says nothing and just waves at the camera. In his arms is a sleeping corgi.] After I stopped recording, he asked how you are and when you'll visit. I think he's itching to cook up a feast. For my sake please say you'll go.

I'll go.

(Mervyn sent a video.)  [Video description: Mervyn's husband, now sitting in bed to his left, is excitedly flipping through a thick notebook filled with handwritten recipes. He has a bunch of bookmarks on one hand, and he is marking pages as he goes.] Bring food containers if you know what's good for you.

Dare I ask how many?

At least 50.

...Will do. Good night to you three.

Good night, kid. (Mervyn sent a photo.) [Image description: The corgi is now sleeping on its back in the space between Mervyn and his husband's legs. The bedside lamp on the left side is still on, implying that Mervyn's husband is still looking at recipes.]

--

RG

Good morning, baby. Sorry about yesterday. Jo and I did a cheese and wine tasting, and...well. But I meant what I said. I do love you the most, and it would make me very happy to get updates from you. How you are, what you're eating, what you're learning in class, what's going on in your friend group's DND campaign...anything, really. Only when you're not too busy, though! I just miss you a lot these days, and it would mean the world to me to hear from you more often.

(You sent a photo.) [Image description: A beautiful pink-hued sunrise in the background looks striking against the greys of university buildings in the middle ground. The foreground is a bit chaotic, however, with Jessamy and Matthew having photobombed the shot. Jessamy is making a silly face and holding up a peace sign, while Matthew is a blur in mid-air, caught in the middle of a jump kick. Lucienne is at the very edge of the photo with a cup of coffee in her hands, looking very done with the younger two's antics.] It's a beautiful day.

Still not as beautiful as you, baby. But thank you for the update. Love you.

(black heart emoji)