#not to be a bitch but i suspect some of you may not be entirely honest here

[utilitycaster]

Wizard Breakdown Tracker: Echoes of the Solstice

You know it, you love it, it may return on an as-needed basis for Campaign 3 now that Allura has entered the narrative and we know the fate of Caleb, but no promises: it's the Wizard Breakdown Tracker! As a reminder, I now include PCs because I make the rules; wizard NPCs are included on the very scientific basis of "do I have something I think is kind of funny or meaningful to say" so as always, if I left someone off, it was on purpose specifically to annoy you.

Astrid Becke: well her boss is missing, Caleb has expressed concerns in private to Beau about all of the Assembly, apparently the king is bedridden and has been for some time, and I suspect news of unsealed things being unsealed gets to her quickly; even if she isn't aware of the events in Blumenthal yet, she's about to be. Also, it's the apogee solstice. 8/10; ever the opportunist, it is a good time for her to try to become head of the Assembly, but also shit's gone real sideways.

Eadwulf Grieve: lost his title of hottest mage (men's division) to one Fjord Stone during the last Nicodranas County Fair and has been sulking ever since but more importantly the temple of the Raven Queen is doing Not Great Bob as of like an hour ago so a rare Eadwulf stress moment. 7/10.

Planerider Ryn: just lost her arm...but is unaware of it, so that's probably helping. technically cannot be calculated because she is a rock but spiritually like an 8/10 and that's only because she is remarkably unflappable; she just witnessed the Malleus Key and that should drive anyone up to a 10.

Allura Vysoren: has absolutely sensed a disturbance in the force weave and I'm sure Kima's feeling some bad vibes from Bahamut right now, but rather like Ryn she actually has some degree of sangfroid, a concept unheard of in the entire continent of Wildemount. 6/10.

Yussa Errenis: have you ever dealt with like, an ER Nurse, and unless something is actually exploding or someone is actually bleeding out they're like "yeah it be like that sometimes"? After you've been sucked into the Cognouza Hivemind while trying to do your silly little arcane investigations nothing short of the Calamity will ruffle you. He's an elf; he knows this solstice is wonky but also he knows this is Someone Else's Problem. Also Jester's left him alone for a whole 24 hours? Incredible. 2/10 and that's really just because he's still a little cranky about the disappearance of his blast scepter. As always: never change, king.

Prism Grimpoppy: by my calculations she's discovering that she's actually fucking incredible in combat right now. 0/10, she's doing GREAT.

Pumat Sol and sure, fuck it, Oremid Hass: I suspect the Zadash Wizard Contingent is dealing with some wild unsealed shit from the time of the Julous Dominion and they can't get in touch with anyone in the capital, but it's probably manageable. 4/10. On edge but not too bad.

Ludinus Da'leth: oh did your little plan to unleash the god-eater go a touch sideways? were you unprepared for the possibility of fucking all of magic? did you think it was going to be easy? did level 9 "Fuck Up Airship" and level 8 "Shield Against Werewolf" fail to save your bitch ass? As we've seen, he'll scramble and recover, unfortunately, but it's a well-deserved 9/10 right now. I love to see a plan fall apart.

Trent Ikithon: OH this motherfucker has LOST IT in prison. Like...he was able to put together a pretty elaborate situation, to be clear, but also he's gone bugfuck nuts and does not really improve. I think he's already broken down from the start having clearly been planning this exact scenario from the moment of his imprisonment honestly given that he appears to be going off of the frissons he picked up from Caleb and Essek shortly before he was captured, but regardless: he definitely ends it at a 10/10. Stuck in an egg for eternity, if he's even still a separate entity from Omentis. A well-deserved fate if ever there was one. Get fucked lol.

Veth Brenatto: hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha 10/10 you know she watched Luc leap through the teleportation circle as it closed and has been shrieking loud enough to be heard at the Chateau.

Luc Brenatto: the arrogance and naivete of youth insulate him initially, but Aggy's demise probably spikes it to a solid 6 minimum and it's definitely 9 during the battle. It goes back down pretty quickly though; see Caleb's entry.

Caleb Widogast: he keeps it together pretty well, honestly! Still I have to imagine he's kind of at a 7 or so this entire time with occasional spikes to 9 (NEIN) throughout, and I wouldn't fault him for finishing up the Blumenthal Brunch and then quietly locking himself in a soundproof tower room to scream, cry, and throw up for a while. Indeed, I would encourage it; Caleb should go have a good cry and hug a magic cat for a couple hours until he feels better, and then come back down to find that everyone except the clerics but DEFINITELY including Luc has implemented Spontaneous Apogee Solstice Oktoberfest to celebrate the demise of Trent, the engagement of Fjord and Jester, and the general experience of being alive, and is varying degrees of extremely wasted. This will of course bring him back up to like 7 as he realizes he has to return a hungover teenager to Veth and then goes down to a 4 or so when he realizes the clerics can fix that and Veth will probably be so glad that Luc is alive she'll ignore the rest of it.

Essek Thelyss: Our international drow of mystery looms large in the narrative, but does not make an appearance, which makes this premise extremely funny. I assume he's feeling kind of rough given that the Dynasty wizards are well-attuned to leylines and I would imagine he picks up that Sending isn't working and was broadly aware Caleb was going into danger, so he's certainly stressed, but Trent doesn't actually seem to know Where in Exandria is Essek Thelyss and is merely threatening blackmail. Honestly while we're at it, we don't know where Essek is because I wouldn't put it past Mr. Geometer Owner to have been at a solstice nexus and to have possibly experienced his own Solstice Shunting. In fact I assume Essek is blissfully unaware of these specific goings on re: Trent and is just experiencing The Anxiety for all of the previous reasons. (1d6+3)/10.

Known Gem Wizard Hotsauce Lutefisk: Hmmm. Things becoming unsealed, you say? The uninvited guest list (The Real Gelidon, Isharnai) for The TusktoothStone-Lavorre wedding may have gained an extra entry.

[moodywyrm]

so reader's one of ellie friends right, and basically all ellie friends are known for the 'bad reputation'. but then?? abby has a massive crush on her? and abbys is a dork, someone who follow the rules and a real good girl. when they're already in a relationship, jerry hears about reader 'reputation' and gets a bit concerned?

one day, abby wakes up to some harsh cold symptoms and jerry insists shd must rest so she goes back to bed and sends reader a message and warnjng she wont show up because shes sick :(. jerry promises to come the earliest he can from work, so she won't be alone (he knows she's stubborn he knows she won't just stay in bed).

as soon reader sees abbys messages she immediately drops everything and FLIES to her gf' room, and stays to take care of abby.

imagine reader reaching her place with meds and all her favorite snacks, sweets, movies and all

actually 🧶 anon's ask inspired this? I'm so sorry this was such a tought dayand hope everything gets better :( wishing all the best ;;

also sorry if it's messy I typed so fast 😅

- 🌬

ohhhh hell yeah. alternate version of the basketball/college abby universe. I imagine that, even though Ellie n her friends have a kinda weird reputation, ur all pretty much just huge dorks n relatively good kids? like Dina is an academic Star and the sweetest ever, Jesse is super kind to everyone, huge big brother vibes, Ellie may be the schools suspected dealer (she is) but she's also just a massive dork, academic star, just doesn't really like talking to people? like she comes off as mean but she's actually just kinda reserved? and then u! ur very much black cat, kinda quiet kinda mean, also doesn't really like people, is very smart, has been friends with Ellie since like childhood. ur adoptive dad is friends (enemies?) with Joel (surprise ur adoptive dad/father figure/adult who took on a parental role in ur life is Bill n Frank but them from the tv show bc kings <3), so u n Ellie practically grew up together.

u get a bad reputation for being a bitch (imagine Kat from 10 Things I Hate About You but ur not mean to people who don't deserve it), and Jerry (who has close ties to the faculty) has heard from other professors about you. They all say the same thing: academically promising, if challenging to work with, especially in group settings. and he's ,,,, concerned ,,, to say the least, when Abby tells him that You are her gf and he's like OK! (on the outside) but on the inside he's like shit, I really don't want her to get hurt or anything. but, like u said, it only clicked that the student he'd heard so much about (reputation and all) was you After u n abby started dating, so that time when he didn't know, he was like 'she seems really sweet!' every time Abby mentioned u.

but then. abby gets sick. she texts u saying that she can't study with u bc she's got a cold and ur like??? fuck studying??? ur already on ur way to her place, knowing she's at her dad's, with two full bags of medicine, treats, and remedies from ur childhood like sprite, ginger ale, chamomile, vaporu, anything. and u show up at her door like Open Up Honey. and, on the outside, she's like u didn't have to come, I don't wanna get u sick :( but on the inside she's all warm and fuzzy bc ur taking care of her!! u!! who took so long to warm up to her in the first place and is now her sweet lil gf who never wants to leave her side!! and ur like yeah yeah whatever let me in but on the inside ur freaking out bc abby is ur baby n she's sick which means she's uncomfortable and u don't want her to be uncomfortable :(

so u spend the entire time taking care of her, cooking her soup From Scratch, making her rest on the couch n keeping her refreshed. ur sitting on the couch with her head on ur lap, rubbing lil circles onto her shoulder when Jerry comes home. abby, who was fast asleep, pops up so fucking fast she gets dizzy when the door opens and Jerry calls her name. ur steadying her when he comes into the living room and is like. oh. hi! u must be the girlfriend! and ur like hi yes nice to me you! and abby is still there all discombobulated like hi dad. ouch.

and the second she winces both u n jerry are like lunging forward to take care of her. u two proceed to help her upstairs to her room, getting her more soup n liquids n keeping her comfortable, and Jerry gets to see all the work you've already done to take care of her, and how ur taking care of her now even though he's there. he leaves you two in her room, abby about two second from passing out on ur lap and u reading to her. he walks back out to the living room and is like. 'huh. maybe everyone was just exaggerating.' but in reality he's like tearing up and getting emotional bc his baby girl, his lil Abigail, found someone who takes care of her and clearly loves her more than anything and that makes him so sappy bc he loves his daughter!!

n thank u honeybee, today is getting slowly better, I might have a lil cry n then get to work but who knows </3 this is also such a cute universe I really like it <3 wonderful developments in the college abby multiverse

[autumn-trekking]

Romulan Wedding Traditions: a headcanon ramble

I’m back again with a half baked Romulan take. I think they’re weddings probably still has some similarities to the Koon-ut-kal-if-fee. Except instead of duking it out on the hot sands of a dessert planet with the champion picked by your fiancé, it’s a little more complicated.

First off Romulus is described to be “a lush, humid world abundant with vegetation and large bodies of water”

So I’m thinking swamps and jungles (a Romulan on a fan boat makes my brain go brrrrrrr), where it’s easy to hide and challenging to hunt.

So on your wedding day no matter what your fiancé will present you with a challenge and that challenge is to hunt someone that they’ve picked but you don’t know who, and you bring them back to the specifications of your fiancé. So if they want them alive, you might just tie them up, but if they want them dead you might have to bring back their head or something. A real challenge is when they say dead or alive.

And then the trick of it is that the person they choose is someone you could really want dead, but you know your fiancé wants alive, like for example the fiancé’s ex. Do you show your fiancé how brutal you are by bringing back the head of the one who may have stood in your way, or do you hog tie the son of a bitch and pout about it? Either way it sets the tone for the marriage.

Also it’s not really guaranteed that you’d bring them back alive if asked, because traditionally you are meant to kill the one your fiancée picks, but more modern sentiments have made way for change.

So if your fiancé sends you after her father and asks that he not die, you only really have to bring him back. If you’re polite, you’ll say that he slipped and drowned and you weren’t able to revive him and everyone will look the other way at the strangulation marks on his neck. Or if you really are cruel you will bring him back and shoot him dead in front of your fiancé. And either way you are getting married.

The only way to get out of a marriage is to not bring back the one the fiancé picked. So let’s say you have the entire 25 hour cycle of the day to get this person. You could decide just to camp out, or miss your shot and if you can avoid finding the person and comeback empty handed then no marriage.

Or on the fiancé’s end they could request someone too hard to get/someone that doesn’t exist. I like to think it used to be in fashion to request someone who was dead. Until some dude who was really in love with his fiancé decided to say fuck it and broke in the family crypt and carefully exhumed and carried his fiancé great grandmother to the ceremony. Everyone’s horrified and a little grossed out (because the ggma had been dead long enough for decomposition to start), but the fiancé is laughing so hard.

Because she actually did want her great grandmother there, they were very close. She didn’t want to marry this guy cause she just didn’t want to get married yet, she was nervous. But here’s this guy who is lovingly cradling her ggma in his arms. He literally brought the only person who would’ve soothed her into this. And she gladly married him, and they immediately bring the ggma back, and then the trend falls out of fashion cause ew wtf.

It’s also a big deal to be the one the fiancé picks. I would call it an honor but you could possibly die so. It’s considered a big social faux pas to refuse to be the one hunted out right but there are ways to get out of it if you feel like you might die. Some people take on an extra stint of military service (not that it’s voluntary, but maybe they’ll be taking on a tour they could’ve sat out of idk), some others claim they are trying for a child (this is really popular among single women who are suspected to be a lover to the one who hunts, real tongue and cheek shit), but sometimes the only thing that will work is to change your name.

The way picking works is you have to present the persons name. Because there is so much secrecy in Romulan culture, names are really tricky, so maybe the name given is just your common name and you decide to be a stickler and insist on the full four names in order for you to be the hunted. Or maybe you go to your family and ask to change your name there as to throw off the picker.

But it is a little awkward if the picker is your brother and you know he wants you dead so that when your father dies he will be head of the house instead of you, the oldest. And you know his fiancé would kill you even if your brother said they didn’t have to, because the fiancé is the youngest in their family and they have twelve siblings to get through before it’s their turn. So helping their fiancé become head of their family is just a smart move. Lucky for you your dad saw this years ago and already changed your family name, but waited until your brother already picked your full old name so now he has to pick someone else. He’ll pick the father out of spite, but the fiancé won’t kill him. After all, your dad used to be his commanding officer, it wouldn’t feel right.

It’s the hunted’s duty to make the hunt difficult, even if they know they’ll live at the end of it. So they’ll set traps and sneak around. I like to think that Romulan’s have houses similar to Klingons, and those houses have their own variations on the traditional ceremony. So maybe the hunted must hide in a particular place based on their house tradition, or they must throw the hunter off with a certain system.

I can imagine a house who often picks children to be hunted, that way it doubles as a test for the child’s skills. So maybe the fiancé very sweetly gives her little sister a present and asks her to be the hunted. And this 13 year old kid is absolutely STOKED to give her brother in law hell. So not only does she hide, but she starts counter hunting him. And he DIDN’T PLAN FOR THAT. So right when he’s looking at the barrel of a Romulan cross bow, beaten and bloodied by a kid who still sleeps with a night light, he’s fully accepted he’ll be the first in history to be killed and brought back. She looks at him and says something like “When you marry my sister…may I live in your house? I…don’t want to be without her.” And he says yes without hesitation because his fiancé already asked if it was okay, and he’s grown up knowing the little sister too and knows that it’s not the best for her at home (without much detail, Romulan secrets you know), and this kid just drops the crossbow and starts crying because she was really worried she was gonna lose her sister! And so he lightly bounds her hands, they make it back to the ceremony. Folks are congratulating her for giving him hell but snickering at the number this tween did to that guys face! All in all it works out, they are married and the sister moves in with them, and when it’s her turn to marry she kindly asks her niece…who has been trained from birth to return the favor.

Overall I feel that Romulans are just so complex and secretive, that a freaky (affectionate) marriage challenge feels right up their alley. They aren’t governed by logic, but by secrecy and deadly hide and seek feels right.

[everythingimagines]

The untouchable girl // Eddie Munson

Summary: Could Dustin possibly help Eddie with his hopeless crush?

Pairing: Eddie Munson x female reader

Warnings: swearing?

A/N: back again obsessed over Eddie Munson, disclaimer I'm still not a native English speaker so please be nice about my grammar. I also hate to re-read what I wrote so if something is not understandable sorry.

Y/N Y/L/N wasn't an ordinary student at Hawkins High. She in fact created one of the biggest dramas the school has ever seen while being the daughter of the principal.

In her freshman year, Y/N became a cheerleader and seemed to have a perfect life. She was beautiful, smart, popular and of course like almost every cheerleader she had a basketball player boyfriend.

Her makeup and outfit were always perfect and the way she walked in the halls, it was like a breath of fresh air. Until that one day at the end of May.

After the Hawkins Tigers had another massive win in the season of course they went to celebrate. Y/N had to miss out on the party, her mother insisted that she had to be home for a big family dinner because of some relatives she didn't even remember. She had been taught to be a good girl and had no intention to go against her mother for a stupid party. Maybe she should have.

The next day in school was a living hell, everyone was talking about how her boyfriend fucked her best friend at the party and even though they both tried to deny it to her, the hickies on their necks weren't lying. What happened next was something that shook the entire school. Y/N slapped both of them and tried to rip out Tiffany's hair. She got suspended, kicked out of the cheerleader team and we don't even want to get started on how mad her mother was.

And that was when Y/N decided that she didn't want to be the picture-perfect golden kid anymore. Her grades did not drop, but her style changed completely. Not just in clothing and makeup. She was still kind (mostly), but cared less about people's opinions and wasn't scared to stand up for herself or someone she loved.

That's how she somehow became friends with the Hellfire Club. Some dumbass basketball players were bothering Mike Wheeler and Dustin Henderson after school, all Y/N knew was that they were freshmen and complete nerds. Which is not a good combo.

"Look man why can't you just leave us alone, we literally did nothing to you." - begged Dustin.

"Yeah, Chris, why can't you just leave them alone?" - joined in Y/N.

"Oh look, who it is. The one and only Y/N Y/L/N, cheerleader to a little noisy bitch." - laughed Chris until Y/N went and punched him right in the face. But more importantly right in front of Eddie Munson.

"Woah, Woah, Woah what is going on here Henderson?"

"Chris was bullying us and Y/N hit him."

"Y/N? The principal's daughter saved your asses?"

"Is that so unbelievable Munson?" - Y/N joined their conversation.

"You standing up against another basketball dickhead? No, but judging by your shoes your high heels weren't made for fighting."

"Well, you shouldn't judge a girl by her shoes, Munson. But from as much as I know about you, you probably don't have much experience with any girl." Y/N walked past him, shoulders touching.

As Y/N was rolling her eyes, Eddie felt himself falling for her. He had a crush on her since the first time he saw her but this new Y/N is even better.

"Dude, you have a weird look on your face."

"Shut up, Henderson."

Eddie in fact did not had much sleep that night. He was way too focused on how could he ask Y/N out when ever since Andrew broke her heart no one could ever get close to her. Anyone who asked her out had been brutally rejected. Eddie did not wanted to go through that so he created his "evil plan". From what she did, Eddie suspected that maybe she has some sympathy towards Henderson and Wheeler which is good because he's friends with them. The plan was easy, Henderson somehow needs to befriend her, and then maybe if Dustin talks enough on his behalf Y/N would slowly start to like him and will say yes if he asks her out. After all, she has to have a heart somewhere under that wall she created.

"Eddie, with all respect you have no chance with her and this plan will never work."

"Henderson, with zero respect, I don't give a shit please just try it."

"Alright, I will because we're friends but don't have high hopes."

At lunch break after a lot of teasing from Eddie, Dustin approached Y/N.

"Heeey, Y/N!"

"Hi, um..."

"Oh right, my name is Dustin Henderson. You can call me Dustin. I-I didn't have the chance to thank you for saving us from Chris."

"It's honestly nothing that you need to thank for Dustin. I don't like seniors bugging freshmen it's pretty annoying and unfair."

"Yes, but still, you were the only one who stopped."

"People can be cruel when it's not their problem. Do you want to sit down?" Y/N was alone at her table at the moment, her best friend Jessica was absent for the day. After a quick glance at Eddie - who looked pretty nervous - Dustin sat down to eat with her.

"Sooo Dustin... Why exactly did Munson send you here?" - asked Y/N while casually looking down at her food while Dustin choked on his own.

"Wha-what are you talking about?"

"Oh please, when I was 6 I was at the beach with my older sister and her friends, that was the first time we were alone without parents and she immediately made me ask a boy out for her. Cut the bullshit Dustin, I like you don't make me mad."

"Agh Y/N, he's gonna kill me, I promise I told him it was bullshit and it won't work. He has a crush on you but he has no idea how to ask you out because he's afraid that you will reject him."

"Ohohoho so the big Eddie Munson is afraid of me rejecting him?"

"Yes, absolutely."

"Well, this should be fun" - chuckled Y/N as she stood up and started walking towards the Hellfire Club's table while Dustin was muttering 'shit, shit, shit" in the background.

"Munson can we talk in private?" - Eddie was shocked to say at least when Y/N popped that question.

"You know I really don't appreciate you sending that child to make me soft so maybe I'll date you" - Eddie acted dumb for some time but had to give in.

"Okay, I'll admit it wasn't my brightest idea but I was up all night thinking about how I could get close to you without you pushing me away."

"You did what? Eddie Munson the guy who gives the least fuck about anything in the world was up all night thinking how could he ask me out?"

"Well, get ready Y/L/N because I'm about to spill a lot of my secrets. Do you remember when you said I have no experience with girls? You were right, but do you want to know the reason why? The reason is that I had feelings for you since the first time you walked into this goddamn school, I kinda wished that you will be close to me somehow even though I knew that I couldn't have you. You had to go and date that dickhead because that's what cheerleaders do, date basketball players. It was breaking my heart when he cheated on you, I wanted to make him regret what he did to you but we haven't even spoken a word Y/N. I thought that it will go away, it's just a stupid crush but it's been three fucking years and you just became more and more wonderful. I try to act like a tough guy but on the inside, I'm really not. After all this shit I just spit out I'm really embarrassed so please either tell me how I can win you over or reject me nicely so I can try to move on with my life."

It was probably the first time Y/N was speechless ever since the cheating scandal, it was also the first time when her heart fluttered again with love for a boy. Not trusting herself with words this time, Y/N decided to embrace Eddie in a massive hug. He needed a few seconds until he realized what was going on but then hugged her back just as strongly. After a while, Eddie felt a drop of tear on his neck coming from Y/N.

"Hey, are you alright?" - he asked softly.

"Please don't give up on me." - Y/N answered still sniffling into his neck.

"I would never princess."

That was the start of the beautiful relationship between Y/N Y/L/N and Eddie Munson. From that day, Eddie picked Y/N up every single morning, brought her flowers every Monday (from God knows where), and did everything in his powers to win her over even if we were talking about bringing her chocolate when she was on her period or just simply being her island when everything went wrong. Eventually, with her help, he finally graduated in 1986 and left the good old Hawkins behind to start their new life. Let's just say, Eddie did not regret waiting three whole years to be with her. The sight of her cooking breakfast in his Hellfire Club shirt while their daughter sat on her waist made every single moment worth it.

[callsign-bunnie]

Hi! May I have something in the yellow area with Ghost and Soap? Like Ghost is the slasher (Jason type of killer) and Soap is the victim trying to survive?

This is for Horror Night! I love final girl stuff so much! I've got this final girl esque idea for Aledaria, but it's in ABO. I've not had much of an excuse to use it

--

Soap had had a bad feeling about this particular school trip. His best friend, Rodolfo, had gotten sick, though he suspected that had something to do with his boyfriend finally getting back from a trip (gross) so he'd had to go alone.

He didn't like many of the the other students, which was fine, though there was only 12 of them. He'd not managed to find a particular niche at his college, yet, but he'd only been going for a few months.

It was to see this weird historical thing in the woods. Maybe that was what unnerved him. Who the fuck planned a class trip out in the middle of the woods?? Granted, they were all adults, but still! It was fucking weird.

Soap rolled his eyes, hearing a shrill voice, Mary, he assumed, tell her boyfriend to knock it off. Mary did not like either him or Rodolfo. She was... a bitch. Rodolfo was a really smart student and so she felt threatened in the classes they had together.

Soap was the best friend, so naturally, she didn't like him either. He hoped she'd trip and hit her head on a rock or something- no that was cruel.

They all approached the old house. It was a cabin, sort of. His teacher was a fucking weirdo. Creepy as hell. He was fascinated by that stuff. "Take it in, kids." They were all adults, they didn't need to be called kids. Soap was 19.

There was a general silence and Soap got the feeling no one else quite got it, either. "It's a house, Mr Scott!" Soap snorted as he heard Jason, Mary's aforementioned boyfriend, call. He hated him too, but he could be funny.

"It's not just a house. This is where the Riley family murder took place! On Christmas Eve, too. The oldest Son, only 14, slaughtered them all."

Soap cringed. It felt... weird. Bad. He didn't like going through some random kid's dirty laundry like that. Even if he had killed his family.

Mr Scott led them in and Soap stayed near the back, unsure if he wanted to go in. He considered refusing and just staying outside. He'd brought a pack of cigarettes. Maybe he could smoke and not have to listen to his professor talk about some kid's crimes.

No, Rodolfo had asked him to tell him everything. So, he went in, rolling his eyes as he heard his professor already listing off frankly too much detail. "Simon Riley. He was known for being psychotic. No friends at school and his father regularly beat him."

Jesus fucking christ, man, no need to air him out like that.

"After the murders, he disappeared. He's presumed dead, but... no one knows. He'd be about 21 years old."

Soap frowned, a little unnerved by that. "Wait, wait, you mean to tell me, that no one knows where this dude is and we're all... standing in his house??"

"Sounds like Mactavish is scared." Someone, he recognized them as Erik, one of Jason's friends, laughed.

Soap snorted. "Uh, yeah. He murdered his entire family and then fucked off 14 years old! I'm not entirely sure I want to fucking find out what he can do, now!"

No one laughed, that time, and Soap turned to Mr Scott, who looked irritated. "He's likely dead, Mactavish. There's nothing to worry about."

Soap snorted but went back to listening. He did get kind of curious and looked around. Mr Scott wasn't saying anything important so he tuned him out, looking at the pictures on the wall. He wondered why they left it so perfectly in tact.

"Don't touch anything! But feel free to explore!"

Yeah, whatever. Soap went right outside. He was not going to stick inside and wait to find random couples in closets "exploring". If he wanted to do that, he would have stayed behind and hung out with Rudy and his boyfriend, Alejandro.

God, they were ridiculous. Both were clingy as hell and borderline gross with how affectionate they were. Soap got out a cigarette, lighting it, and rolling his eyes when he saw Mary and Jason trying to sneak off to the woods.

Gross. They were all adults, couldn't they wait until they got back home?

Whatever. He leaned back against the house and shook his head. He thought back to Simon Riley. He'd read about him before the trip. Had to.

It'd been pretty gruesome, apparently. A few cops had puked when they saw it. Soap had been more interested in the actual kid, though. He'd apparently had a lot of problems that had gone under the radar.

Potential schizophrenia. Sexual and physical abuse by his father, Frank Riley. Not to mention being a social outcast. The poor kid... he'd felt sympathy for him. He was clearly going through a lot, and he'd just snapped.

He shook his head. Whatever. Regardless of whatever shit background he had, he was still a murderer, and he didn't like being in his house. What if he came back?

Soap noticed movement in the distance and frowned a little. Weird. He straightened, realizing it had been in the same direction Mary and Jason had gone. Gross! Couldn't they have gone out a little farther?

Soap rolled his eyes and turned away. Then he heard a bloodcurdling piercing scream come from the direction. He whipped towards it, immediately, seeing Mary run out from the woods.

Soap's stomach dropped. Not from her running. But because she was covered in blood and a knife was sticking out of her head. She paused once she got to the clearing the house was sitting in, meeting Soap's eyes in horror. Several other students had came out and she let out another blood curdling scream before collapsing, assumedly dead.

Several students screamed and a few went to run off the porch but Soap threw his arm out and stopped them. "Don't! You fucking morons!"

Mr Scott shoved his way out through the door and his eyes widened when he saw Mary's body on the ground. "Alright, alright! Stay calm!"

"Stay fucking calm?!" Erik yelled, immediately getting in Mr Scott's face. "My best friend's girlfriend is laying at the end of the fucking woods with a knife out of her fucking skull and you want us to stay the fuck calm?!"

"Yes!" Mr Scott glared at him. "I'm going to call the police-"

"It's a fucking dead zone! You told us before we got on the fucking bus that we'd just have to talk to each other to entertain ourselves." Another student, Kate, spoke up. She was one of the ones Soap had stopped from running.

"Miss Thomas, the language is not necessary." Mr Scott clearly was trying to defuse the situation.

"What about Jason?" Soap spoke up, cringing when everyone turned to stare at him. "She went out there with him. He could be dead or need medical help."

"You're right, Mactavish. Someone should go and check." Mr Scott nodded. All students looked at him and he swallowed. "That someone should be me. Mactavish, you come with me. Just in case someone needs to run back for help and since you saw what direction they went."

Soap made an indignant noise. "You're fucking kidding."

"No, and watch you language. Come on. Everyone else, just... stay in the house. Stay together."

Soap rolled his eyes but followed Mr Scott off the porch. He knew Mr Scott would just leave him as bait, but Soap planned to beat the shit out of him, first, if he tried it.

Soap led the way. Mary had left a blood trail, so they followed it, coming up on a large blood pool on the ground, coating some leaves. Soap frowned when he saw blood drip into it, looking up.

There was Jason's body. Or some horrific form of it. He'd been cut down the middle of his abdomen and strung up by the flaps on what looked like fish hooks and wire. His intestines hung out, dripping blood down into the puddle of it and his jeans were still down around his knees.

Soap hunched over, throwing up immediately. Closing his eyes put the image right back in his head, so he puked over and over. He wiped his mouth when he was finally done, avoiding looking up. He looked around and noticed Mr Scott was done.

Fucking bastard. Soap cursed and looked around. Should he go back?? Was it even safe to go back?

Soap decided to try. Better than staying and meeting whatever psychopath had done that.

The name Simon Riley tugged at the back of his mind, shaking his head. He'd known this was a horrible idea. Motherfucker was still alive and they'd went to his house.

Soap followed the trail of blood back, before realizing it was much thicker than he remembered. Anxiety pierced his heart as he started to guess what could have made it thicker.

Sure enough, the trail led to Mr Scott. Soap covered his mouth with his fist, gagging again. Fuck, he was going to puke, again.

Mr Scott had been impaled by a stick or something, his back arched backwards. However, the worst part was his head, which was twisted around to face Soap. Soap was behind him.

Soap looked away, immediately, unable to handle that view. He tensed, feeling something cold and metallic touch his neck. Someone pressed against his back and Soap's heart raced with fear. He closed his eyes, trying to appear calm, though.

"Simon?" He asked, carefully.

No response. The person at his back was large. He could feel it. Soap took deep breaths and, carefully, slowly, turned around. The person jerked but didn't stop him.

Soap looked up, met with a blood stained skull mask and piercing blue eyes. They didn't look murderous. They didn't look cold. They looked... curious.

"Simon, right?" He asked again.

There was no response at first, but then the man shook his head. "Not anymore. Ghost."

Soap frowned. "Oh... Okay." Not, anymore. So he was, once. "I'm... I'm Johnny." He was going to die, anyway. Might as well give him his real name.

"Johnny." Ghost stared down at him. Then, a peculiar thing happened. His eyes softened and they seemed to scan over Soap's face.

Soap seized the opportunity, hoping maybe he could empathize with him. Maybe he could convince Ghost to spare his life. "I'm sorry... We shouldn't have came to your house. He shouldn't have spoken about you, like that."

"Shouldn't have." Ghost agreed, looking angry. Soap tensed, immediately when the knife pressed against his back, instead, and he squeezed his eyes shut.

Soap decided to keep going. "I read about what happened... what you were going through... I'm sorry that no one listened to you... You tried so hard to get it to stop and no one listened and I'm sorry..."

There was silence and Soap let out a shuddering breath. "Please don't kill me like you killed Jason and Mr Scott... You can kill me just... please don't fuck up my body..."

The knife pressed firmer to his spine and he felt like he couldn't breathe. Oh god, this was it. He was going to die...

Tears welled up in his eyes and he opened them again. Now the eyes were hard. They were cold. But... a gloved hand reached up and wiped the tears away.

Soap frowned, surprised. He looked up at Ghost again. His eyes were unchanged. He closed his eyes again and took a deep breath in.

He waited to feel the knife sink into his back. But instead, a sharp impact hit his skull and it all went black.

-

Soap awoke to night time. He was on his back and there was something hard under him. He groaned and held his head, wincing. Fuck.

He was soaked in something. He opened his eyes and touched where the majority of the pain was, looking at his fingers when he was done and seeing blood on them. Then something dripped on his face.

He focused on what was beyond his fingers and met horrified eyes above him. Erik's head was staring directly down at him, his body hanging slightly above it.

Soap jerked up, immediately. He looked around and covered his mouth, bile rising again. He wasn't even sure he had anything to puke up, but fuck was his body going to try.

He was surrounded by gore. He was right outside the house, having been laying on the stairs, and he was surrounded by bodies, all in horrific positions.

Soap couldn't help it and hunched, puking. He saw his body in the process, realizing he was soaked in blood. He realized one of the bodies was still moving, when he was done and looked over at it.

He saw a dark figure stop them and lift their head, slitting their throat. Then the figure stood and turned to Soap.

Soap recognized the eyes and mask immediately. He turned and ran, not even thinking about it. However, Ghost was much faster. He caught Soap right at the end of the clearing, tackling him.

Soap struggled, getting on his back and shoving at Ghost. He hit him as hard as he could but Ghost was firm, barely flinching.

"Stop!" Ghost snarled, after a bit, and Soap went still, immediately.

Ghost's eyes looked pleased. He got up and grabbed Soap under his arms, dragging him to the house again. Soap kicked, this time and tried to jerk away from him, managing for a brief moment.

Ghost grabbed his throat and lifted him up so they were face to face. Soap shook with fear and stared into his eyes, hyperventilating. Ghost stared back before letting him go and then picking him up, throwing him over his shoulder.

Soap was not a small man. He was short, but he worked out regularly and from the few times he'd flopped on Rodolfo, who immediately yelled at him that he was too heavy to be fucking doing that shit, he knew he was fairly heavy.

So, the fact Ghost tossed him over his shoulder like he was nothing but a sack of flour was... an unnerving display of strength.

However, Soap did have a lot of survival instinct so he kept kicking and screaming, beating at his back. He was taken into the house, which was luckily free of blood. Soap continued to struggle, almost managing to fall off a few times, but Ghost held him firm.

Ghost dropped him on a bed. "Behave!"

Soap stopped and looked up at him, his breath heaving. He didn't move, though, staring at Ghost.

Ghost seemed pleased with the obedience. He hunched over Soap a little and then he was reaching up, pulling off his mask. Soap's eyes widened a little.

He was met with a young looking face. Definitely 21 years old. Save for some scarring around his mouth, he was... fairly attractive, actually, with blonde hair, a little messy likely due to the mask. Soap flinched back, unsure why he was doing this.

Ghost seemed to be scanning his reaction, waiting.

"Why??" Soap finally got out. "Why am I alive??"

Ghost shrugged, still staring at him.

Soap didn't like that response. He looked around for a way out, but Ghost snapped his fingers to get his attention. He crouched down in front of Soap. "You sympathized with me."

Soap frowned. "I did before! You killed my classmates!"

"You said they should have listened to me and that you were sorry."

"You ARE A MURDERER!" Soap reiterated, not wanting to have this weird ass conversation.

"You're pretty." Ghost smiled, clearly amused.

Soap turned dark red. He wasn't expecting that. "I- what?"

"For a boy, that is. You're one of the prettier boys I've seen."

Soap looked away, immediately, hating how flattered that made him. "Thank you." He mumbled, anyway, to appease Ghost.

Ghost continued to watch him.

Soap considered and tried a different tactic. He straightened up and looked at Ghost. "Why'd you throw me on your bed?"

Ghost seemed to freeze. "It's not my bed."

"Okay. Your parents bed then. Why did you throw me on it? Is it because I'm pretty?" Soap gave him a half smile, leaning back a little. "Is that why you let me live?"

Ghost didn't respond, just kind of staring at him. Soap wondered if Ghost had had any real human contact in the past 7 years.

Was Soap about to fuck a serial killer to say his own life? Yeah, apparently. Soap leaned forward again and touched Ghost's face. "I think you're pretty, too."

Ghost tensed and his eyes followed Soap's hand. Soap trailed his fingers down Ghost's face, down to his neck, before jumping as his wrist was harshly grabbed.

"What are you doing?" Ghost narrowed his eyes at him.

Soap shrugged. "You threw me on your bed and called me pretty. I'm just doing what you want." He pulled his hand back from Ghost and then gently grabbed the shoulders of his shirt, leaning forward to kiss him.

Ghost didn't kiss back. He didn't move. Soap kissed to his jaw. He felt Ghost slowly start to relax, his eyes closing.

Soap pulled away after a bit, planning to undress. But, his head snapped back at yet another impact.

-

Soap cringed when he woke up, bright hospital lights in his face. His head was seriously throbbing.

"Soap! You're awake! Finally!" Rodolfo, his best friend, popped in his face. "I was so worried... The police said they found you in the woods, at the Riley Family House, surrounded by dead bodies..."

Soap frowned, confused. "Where am I?"

"The hospital." A new voice, which he recognized as Alejandro, Rodolfo's boyfriend. "Sorry, Rudy wanted me here."

"I don't care, man. Was... another man rescued with me?" Soap frowned, remembering Ghost. He had been... trying to kiss him and then... what?? Had Ghost just knocked him out??

"No, it was just you. But... Soap, don't... don't freak out. But, they found a carving on your side." Rodolfo cringed.

Soap suddenly became aware of a stinging pain on his side. He immediately lifted his shirt, only seeing bandaging. "What was it??" He asked Rodolfo.

"It just said Ghost, apparently." Rodolfo frowned. "Weird, right? They think it was Simon Riley."

Soap frowned and laid back in the bed. Ghost had... marked him? "I... weird..." He lied, since he knew it was Simon Riley. "I'm sorry, can you.. can you come back later? My head is killing me."

"We'll leave you be," Alejandro said before Rodolfo could protest and dragged his boyfriend out, closing the door behind him.

Soap groaned and held his head, deeply confused. Not only had Ghost spared him but he'd... carved his name into Soap's side. He knew he'd be freaked out, later, but his head hurt too bad for him to even think.

Soap looked to the side, frowning when his eyes fell on a note. Wrapped around it was black ribbon and a skull wax stamp was on it. He carefully pulled the note apart and his blood ran cold at the words.

I'll be back for you. You're mine. -Ghost.

[abarbaricyalp]

Fill for the @samsseptember prompt Figaro! // Rated G // CW: Grief, depression (wow I did two sad fills)

Magnifico

Sam wasn't sure if the term caterwauling had any relation to cats themselves, but he was beginning to suspect it did. For the third time that morning, he got out of bed and went to the window, wrenched it open, and stared at the stray cat outside. It literally stopped its mournful cry as soon as Sam was back in its sights. It was a sad looking little thing. Dirty enough to look grey and brown instead of black and white. It had a little scar over its nose and a snip on its ear.

"You need to be quiet," Sam said. "Aren't you worried about attracting dogs to you?"

It had not been a good morning. Or night. Or week. Or really most of the days beyond that. The last thing Sam needed was to listen to a cat howl outside his window all damn morning.

"Quiet," he repeated. "Go back to sleep."

The stray had appeared about a week ago. It didn't have any collar and its little nose scar was more red back then. Healed fast, Sam noted the next time he'd seen it. He was pretty certain it had come from one of the other apartment complexes around. He knew there were always people gushing or bitching about the local strays in the neighborhood page. This cat was young enough that Sam figured it was booted out of a stray colony for being a boy. Did cats do that kind of thing? Or maybe it just wanted to sow wild oats or something. Well, not that either. The ticked ear meant it was fixed.

Sam pulled his window down again and turned to face plant on the foot of his bed. He did not get the chance. The cat let out another long mewl and Sam may have let out a cry of his own.

"Samuel Thomas, don't you feed that stray," his mama's voice echoed in his head as he stomped into the kitchen and pulled out too many slices of deli ham from the package. "It won't never leave, if you do that," she finished as he came back into his bedroom.

Well, his mama was the best of women and people, but she was hypocrite here because Sam had seen her feeding all the neighborhood strays on more than one occasion.

He ripped the ham into pieces that would probably be too big for the semi-kitten and then threw them out the window. The cat clearly didn't have Sam's concerns about the size of the ham. It scarfed down the food without chewing.

"Good, now be quiet," Sam said again. But before he could close the window, the kitten had jumped up onto the window sill. It pushed its head against Sam's hand for a second and then jumped down into his bedroom and carried on through the house.

Sam stared after it. "Um, excuse me," he called after it. "You don't live here."

This did not faze the cat. It poked its head into each doorway and genuinely seemed to be examining the rooms or closets. It was comfortable walking through the hallway and into the bright, sunlit living room, where it jumped up into the couch, turned in a circle, and then laid down.

Sam followed after it, feeling a little dumbfounded. "That's not your spot. Come on, let's go." He crossed to the door and opened it, then gestured outside. "Back to where you belong."

The cat looked at him and then the door, then let out one of those long plaintive cries again until Sam finally shut the door. A creature that small should not have that much air in it.

"Okay, listen. You're not staying here," he said. "But I'm exhausted and my chest hurts and I don't want to fight you right now. So if I go back to sleep, will you not destroy my apartment?"

The cat blinked at him and then started making biscuits on his cushion. Sam sighed. He didn't have anything to give a cat. He hadn't had a pet since Sarah begged their parents for hamsters when she was fourteen. Those had been enough of a spectacle, much less an entire feral cat.

He opted for some canned tuna in a Tupperware lid and some water in the bowl of it. He had to Google what an acceptable cat litter substitute was. The last thing he needed was for this cat to spray his entire house right before he was planning on packing up and moving out of DC and away from all the memories it brought with it. Evidently, there were plenty of foods that could be used, but Sam had half a bag of potting soil and that was probably better than filling a shoe box with rice.

"This is yours," he told the cat. "Don't scratch anything."

It took until he was laying in his dark bedroom again--curtains drawn back over the windows--for it to occur to him that he was giving the cat instructions like it could understand him. He'd fully lost it. This must just be a wild dream, concocted from the sound of the cat outside and a late night binge through the neighborhood app and its drama.

None of which stopped him from falling right back asleep anyway. Right back into the same nightmares and tossing and turning that left him so damn exhausted all of the time. It was funny, the trajectory of his sleep patterns. As a teenager, he could sleep through hurricanes, his mama said. And then in the military, he’d become accustomed to jumping at the slightest sound. And now he was stuck in some perpetual torture chamber of the middle. Awaking at every creak in his old house on the good days and sleeping so hard he fell right into the waiting arms of nightmares on the bad ones. He was exhausted all of the time. And when he woke and had to deal with the walking nightmares, rest never managed to find him then either.

DC had been his idea. This house had been Riley’s. And now, again, Sam found himself in a relentless middle. Stuck in a house that was haunted by a man who had only been in it for the tour and stuck in a city where none of his dreams were accessible anymore. The only reason he’d said DC was because they were supposed to be growing the Falcon program. Lobbying for a bigger team, better tech. Training with other branches. Making a name for themselves. Together. And now the program was dead and Riley was…

Sam was so damn tired.

Hours, or maybe minutes, later, Sam woke up, choking on a cry. And the weight on his chest. His hands fell from their wild grab towards nothing at all and settled on the furball using his chest as a bed.

“You had the whole couch,” he said. The cat did not care that his voice was watery. It didn’t even look up at him. “And you chose the two feet of space I’m taking up?”

The cat’s purr just got deeper, burrowing down to Sam’s bones. He wasn’t as tense as he normally was after a nightmare. He couldn’t be with this thing vibrating it all away. Idly, he stroked his fingers over the cat’s fur until it tucked its head under his hand and he stilled again.

“You’re gonna stay, aren’t you?” he asked with a sigh. The cat purred. “Yeah, you’re gonna stay. I’m gonna keep you.” It would require more googling. And he should probably actually walk into a store to get supplies, rather than wait for it to ship to him. God, that was going to suck. It’d involve a shower and clean clothes and digging his keys out from wherever they’d been last time he’d thrown them across the room because the house key was supposed to be Riley’s. He’d have to plaster on a smile and make small talk. Small talk was like salt in the open wound of grief, he’d found.

Still, the cat needed litter and food. Canned tuna wasn’t good for anyone long term.

“You need a name too,” he told the cat. “I’m gonna bother you for a second,” he added and then picked up the kitten and looked under its tail. “I assume you’re a boy. I’m not really a cat guy, I dunno. Maybe you’re just weirdly fuzzy. But probably not.”

The cat mewled and chirped until Sam set him down on his chest again. Then he went right back to purring away, though now he was looking up at Sam as well.

“What about the cat from Aristocats?” Sam suggested. “Ah, nah. I don’t remember his name. What about Max? Oreo? Is that too on the nose? Sir Crumpet Von Fox Huntington III. Fox? It’s kind of funny when animals have other animal names. Would be an ode to the fact I haven’t done anything except switch out X-Files DVDs all week.”

The cat crept up Sam’s chest and he worried he was about to be attacked in the face. But he just settled down against Sam’s throat and started up his purr motor again.

“Okay,” Sam conceded. The kitten’s weight turned his own voice into a rumbling purr. “We’ll figure out a name a little later. Maybe something from a song. Marvin? Bowie? Freddie? Franklin?”

The cat licked the underside of Sam’s jaw and it was both extremely unpleasant in texture and delightful in sentiment. “You can’t eat me yet,” Sam said warningly. “Give a guy a few days to make a good impression. Let me clean first, y’know. Treat you to some fancy food.”

The cat purred his agreement and Sam smiled for the first time in days.

[bloodiedlamb]

📂 . 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗲𝘅𝗶𝗹𝗲

⸺˚⁎⁺˳・ jason fucking carver picked the wrong girl to go after in his search for chrissy’s killer, and eddie’s done running.

⌗ PAIRING . eddie munson x fem ! reader.

⌗ WORD COUNT . 0.9k

⌗ WARNINGS . reader gets attacked, getting threatened/attacked with a knife, lots of violence, jason’s fucking insane in this, non-sexual choking, physical fighting, lots of blood, near death experiences all around the board, slight st4 vol 1 spoilers. some topics may be triggering, read at your own risk.

⌗ NOTES . this was originally posted on my old account @/saintlessmunson.

your back was to the door when he entered the trailer, hell, you were so far into your own world that you didn’t even notice him come in.

he stood there for a moment, the door not fully closed behind him as he watched you flit around the kitchen, humming to the beat of a metallica song he didn’t recognize.

eddie had been on the run for three days, and the news had just confirmed him as the prime suspect in chrissy cunningham’s death. but, since you had been there, you knew the truth of what had happened. your boyfriend of nearly two years told you that since nobody else knew you were there, that you were safe from facing any jail time and wanted you to stay as far away from him as possible.

but you, of course, knew that he was holed up at reefer rick’s house. and you also knew that he was coming to see you tonight, in the middle of the night, because he needed to make sure that you were okay.

the boy in the living room felt a new kind of rage flood his veins. how the fuck could the freak get to have this beautiful little creature to call his when his girlfriend was dead. murdered. by that son of a bitch’s hand.

you couldn’t even scream by the time you felt him grab you, a hand over your mouth and another around your throat. the abundant amount of old spice cologne let you know exactly who your attacker was.

jason fucking carver.

you writhed and thrashed in his arms, to no avail, because he slammed your head against the fridge, sending your vision miles away from you.

the room spun, and your ears rang something terrible but you still tried to escape his grasp.

“if i can’t have my girl,” jason mutters like a man gone mad, “then neither can he.”

it’s only then that you see the glimmer of his pocket knife. your heart races, only furthering the dizziness in your skull.

eddie knew something was wrong when he saw that the door wasn’t closed. he noticed an unfamiliar car parked a few lots down on the street, empty but with the engine still running. and he knew that there was no reason to leave a car running unless you were planning to get out fast.

he threw reefer rick’s pontiac into park and flew from the driver’s seat, bursting into the door faster than he’s ever moved before in his life. and he was just in time to see carver trailing his knife up your shirt and around your throat.

“glad you finally decided to join us,” he hums emotionlessly. “i really didn’t want you to miss this.”

“let her go, she’s got nothing to do with this,” eddie tries to reason, his heart clenching when he sees the blood trailing from your hairline and the tears flowing down your cheeks.

“she’s got everything to do with this, freak!” jason bellows as he grips you tighter, nearly cutting your airway off completely as you scratch at his wrist. “you took my fucking girl so i’m gonna take yours.”

at the first dribble of blood that comes with the pressure from jason’s knife, eddie’s like a shark that senses chum in the water.

all he sees is red, and all he feels is the fire that burns in him. his entire life, all he’s ever done is run away from the fight. but not this time, this time he runs into the fight.

he trucks jason at a million miles an hour, effectively disarming him and tossing you out of harms way all in one go. next thing he knows there’s blood, lots and lots of blood and it’s everywhere. it’s on the walls and it’s on his mainly white t-shirt and it’s on the floors and it’s on his hands and he can’t even see the color of his skin anymore but he can’t fucking stop. he can’t stop until he’s dead because if he doesn’t, if he runs away yet again, he’s gonna lose you for good. and he can’t lose another fucking thing that he loves.

you’re curled into yourself in the corner, holding your head from the pain of the initial slam against the metal fridge. you won’t look at eddie, or jason, and it’s not because you don’t want to see it, it’s because you don’t want to have to acknowledge the fact that if eddie had been five minutes later, you’d be the one bleeding to death.

to both of your surprise, eddie stops before jason takes his last breath, spitting next to his head as he pushes himself up from the floor. “come after me all you want, but you stay the fuck away from my girl, you ignorant piece of shit. you understand me? or next time i will fucking kill you.”

jason can only look at eddie through bloody lenses before groaning out a gargled, “yeah.”

then he’s over at you, pausing before his hands reach you as he notices the sticky red liquid that dries on his skin. he grabs the nearest cloth, which happens to be your table cloth, and scrubs as much of it off as he can. his arms surround you like the wings of an angel and you sob into his chest. “you came.”

“i’m done running,” he mutters into your hair, holding you tightly. “i’m so sorry, this is all my fault.”

“no,” you whimper, “this is vecna. all of this is vecna.”

“i should’ve never let you stay out here on your own, god, how was i that stupid?” and it’s then that you realize you two are stuck, together, and that hawkins can never be home again.

🗃 file box . ✉️ mailbox .

© saintsinnereject, 2022.

[lake-archive]

A Rather Sweet Time

AO3 Link - A Shared Love Between Our Posse (Masterlist) - CATZ Discography

Fandom: Hypnosis Mic

Characters: Ramuda Amemura , The Executioner (OC)

Synposis: Ramuda has to hurry to The Executioner to discuss an ‘urgent mission’. Yet this urgent mission is far from anything he expects it to be…

Words: 1,812

Important! While the story could be understood in a vacuum if you wish for further context, I would recommend reading at least this chapter of this fic.

Ramuda may as well be called ‘The Errand Boy’ of Chuohku. Always having to be the one to do their dirty work or being tasked to do it. He was just following one order after the order and some just pushed him around, shoving him to do one thing after the other. “Why not? He’s government property, isn’t he?” He often heard one of the women laugh, making him bite his lip whenever hearing it. At least from some of those officers higher up the food chain. And if he refused? Well, it’s not that he cared. He just didn’t want to deal with something which was just a nuisance. So keep up a sweet smile and the higher pitched voice. Be a sweet guy so they will not suspect a thing. Just take it as it is, maybe charm them. Then be on your way and spit on the ground out of their sight. They didn’t need to know. Eh, not like they cared anyway. All he is to them is just ‘property’, something they could use as they wished. And he soon won’t be the only one… No, he already wasn’t… Ugh, just the thought made his skin crawl. These bitches… Lead by one of the big bitches… 

That is how it normally is.The norm, shouldn’t it just be that way? Well… If it was that way things would be way easier. But of course no, not really. There had to be exceptions, some confusing ones even. Very confusing ones. 

Said exception was someone who was known as ‘The Executioner’. Ah yes, The Executioner or how he preferred calling her Exy–Chan. Honestly, he just didn’t want to use that mouthful every single time he mentioned her. It rolled off the tongue better so he decided to use it. And she was very odd. If he didn’t know any better she just didn’t fit in. No, really, her behavior was so weird. For one she was one of the few members who never used her real name but the title she had been given. Even her co–workers referred to her by the title and she didn’t dare use her actual name. Not just that but her face was just completely hidden outside of one eye. Other than that he didn’t really know what she looked like, barely anyone did. Of course the Prime Bitches had a pretty good idea who she was probably. But they were not going to tell anyone, not even him. And why would they even bother?

Then again, why did she keep her identity such a big secret? That was already strange enough. Yeah, she was weird. Very weird. But as if that had not been enough, there was one other weird thing about her. And it was related to him of all things… 

A few moments ago Ramuda had been called to Exy’s office. Apparently it was about discussing a mission given to her by her overseer or something… He really didn’t want to go but he had no choice. Otherwise someone might be on his case. So he went there, begrudgingly, but the greeting he would get the moment he had entered would catch him somewhat off guard. One he was just not used to, at all. 

He had slammed the door open, a bright smile on his face. “Hello~! I’m here~!” He would announce himself in this irritating, high pitch and that wide, awfully cheerful smile. And yet, it had not fazed the woman who had been sitting at her desk, looking through some files. He could not see her face clearly yet she seemed to be… Not too bothered yet at the same time… Actually… He couldn’t tell. The entire time she may as well be making grimaces and he couldn’t tell, at all. 

“There you finally are Ramuda. Sit down.” Yet she had not been gesturing towards the chair, no. Instead she was pointing at the couch with the small table, much to his confusion. 

And he sure made it known. “Hm? Why there?”

“Do you drink coffee perhaps?” She didn’t even answer his question! This woman is a pain in the ass in her own right sometimes! 

But he did not show it, not much at least. “Yeah! With lots of sugar! Why?”

“Lots of sugar… I should still have sugar cubes…” Exy mumbled, rather talking to herself than to Ramuda. Yet sounding as monotone as she always did. Though she soon turned back to him, nodding. “Alright. Please wait a moment then.”

And she left… Well, or rather occupied herself in the back of the office. Apparently she kept some things there. From what he saw it was some powder made from coffee beans in a bottle and some water to boil. And right there was… Wait, did she seriously just pull milk from the outside!? It was currently pretty cold but she… Did she seriously use the outdoors as a fridge!? Talk about weird habits… But he dared to not comment on it. 

Instead he was just watching her in silence before she walked over with a cup of coffee and a small  package of sugar cubes, placing it down right in front of him. “Here. Help yourself with the amount.” 

He only looked up and down, between her and the coffee… Did she seriously… Yeah, she did. But he pretended to shrug it off quickly, then laughing for a moment. “Yeesh~ You’re an Onee–San who loves to keep herself veery busy~” Though he noticed her body stiffen for a short moment after that comment, making him observe her curiously. Huh? Wait… “Did I say something wrong?”

“Ah– N… No just… Please, refrain from using Onee–San…” She sighed. 

“That’s all? You sure?” Seemed like a way for her to escape. But he was not going to argue further than that.

“Yeah… You can call me by… The nickname you gave me.”

“If you say so~” Add that to the pile of odd behaviors… This was only increasing by the second. What could he expect from her at this point? Ramuda was not too sure himself.

Though he saw her leaving for the back a few more times, one to get her own coffee it seemed, filled with milk, while the other… From one moment to the next she slammed a box down, making him drop the sugar cube in between two of his fingers. Luckily the hand had been above the coffee so it dropped right inside it, no need to worry about making the table dirty it seemed. 

“Alright, first mission!” He suddenly heard her say, in a rather commanding tone as she lifted her head up to face him… Or ‘face’ rather. Regardless, she was staring directly at him, own gaze narrowed for a second. “Someone thought it was a good idea to give me this box filled with all sorts of sweet tasting pastries! I’m afraid that mother would freak out if I brought them home but they’re way too much for me to eat.” 

Ramuda was only facing Exy by now, a little confused by this… More than ever actually. “Uhm… What are you heading—”

“You like sweets, right!?” She asked, sounding more… Desperate? That was a first. 

“Yeah, a lot.” He told her, trying to keep calm in this situation. 

“Then please… Before anything… Help me get rid of them.” She suddenly bowed her head down, her messy hair getting even more in the way of her face and he could not see it, at all. “And if there are leftovers… Take them home with you. I don’t mind. Just please… I’ll even brew another cup of coffee if I must. It’s the only thing I can do anyway… Just please…”

“Uhm… Exy–Chan… Was that the ‘urgent mission’ your supervisor gave you?” He asked carefully. If it was then—

“I’m sorry to have lied to you like that…” She didn’t even deny it! In fact, her head dropped even further down! Talk about a moment of desperation! “Y… You can take everything as an apology… Not like I could eat much of it anyway… Given that—” 

This situation was bizarre. Very. She’s soo weird! Very, very weird! In many ways than one! But… He couldn’t say that he hated it. In fact, it left him to laugh for a moment, having to cover his mouth and try to not fall over. She looked so pathetic right now! And over what? Just wanting to eat sweets? That woman… “You know, you could’ve just asked me to come here then! Yeesh, Exy–Chan is making things even more complicated than they have to be!”

He saw her lifting her head up, her hair in her face looking really more of a mess than before. “Compli… Cated? But… Well… I just…” Oh boy, now she was trying to explain herself, wasn’t she? “I couldn’t think of anyone else and… Well, besides you. So I had to get you there. I just wasn’t sure if you were busy so I had to make it sound urgent and—”

“Sooo you abused your powers, is that it~?” He asked, his hands removing themselves from his mouth as he grinned rather cheekily. “Naughty of you Exy–Chan~”

“Ah! It’s not like that! I just… Look, I’m sorry if you had something to attend to. I won’t pull that again… I promise.”

“Good! Because you could’ve just asked me directly y’know~” He responded, making her look at him… He couldn’t say how yet she seemed to be caught off guard, judging from her tone.

“Directly? But—”

“Listen, I’m not going to turn an invitation down. Besides, this could count as a date, couldn’t it?”

“A… Date?”

“Mhm! A date! And I’m never turning down an invitation to a date!”

“Well… It’s… Not exactly a—”

“Haha, details~! But I’m really not going to turn down an invitation like this. So so, what’s in there? Let me see!”

Exy looked at him for a moment longer… Before suddenly sighing, her body seemed to relax more, grip loosening on the box filled with said pastries. “You’re a weird one Ramuda.”

He couldn’t help it. For some reason he was grinning like a massive idiot right now. There was just something here… Something which made it hard to resist for him to not grin. “Right back at you~”

“Me!? Weird!? What’s that—”

“Don’t worry about it! Now show it already or the coffee is getting cold!”

“R… Right…” He swore he heard a chuckle at the end of that.

Anyways… Yeah, Exy was very weird. But honestly… With her around things were at least a little better. Not much but he didn’t hate their time together. He never did and he certainly never will.

Even now his time with them was a blast, even if things have changed ever since.

[essayofthoughts]

Relevant to our convo: wedding HCs for the AUs? Do any AUs result in the Perc'ahlia elopement and/or wedding changes? Elope earlier or later, or actually spill the secret deliberately, or Sylas not crashing Dalen's Closet, etc.?

I haven't decided for all of the AUs yet! And some are.... complicated in various ways and by various things. I'm going to be ignoring the ones which are entire new universes or significantly altered timelines and instead stick to the ones which maintain some semblance of the canon timeline and tell you what changes in the Perc'ahlia's for each.

Ghost Cass - So. We all remember when and how Perc'ahlia got together, right? Namely, after slaying Vorugal. And, as we recall, they put off fighting Vorugal for a day because Percy had very recently died. He was still recovering from resurrection.

So uh. In this AU, Cass flatly refuses to let Percy go fight Vorugal and he isn't there after that fight. Percy and Vex don't even get together til the year break. I'm not sure when they get married - I don't think they elope over the year break in this AU, and I'm inclined to say they get married after Vecna. As I've still not decided every detail of the end of the final arc of this, I have no idea if Sylas makes it to Dalen's Closet or not.

Soulmate AU - So. In Soulmate AU, for various reasons, Percy and Vex get together shortly before the Briarwood Arc really kick off and then break up at the end of the Briarwood Arc for Reasons (No, I Will Not Explain; sufficeth to say, there is Angst and Irony in play).

They nonetheless get back together after Vorugal. Given that they'd broken up earlier and actually cleared the air, there is no year break break up in this AU and I'm inclined to say they don't elope? They've rushed things before, they're more willing to take their time.

Evilest AU - So uh. I'm not entirely set on how things go in this AU yet, but the leading idea currently is that they get together on their first trip to Marquet. Given events after the Briarwood Arc in this AU, they may not? Break up during the year off? But they also just as easily might, but for different reasons than I posit in my Year Break Break-Up Fic. I suspect they do still elope in this AU, however, though it still isn't fully determined.

Happier Evilest - They actually get together and start figuring things out way earlier in this AU which ... in this specific circumstance makes me inclined to say that they do elope or come very close to it in this AU?

Sylas Briarwood Gets To Live Bitches - This probably treads the closest to canon... though I don't know that they break up the same way/for the same reasons as I posit in the Year Break Break-Up Fic. I think they realise just how Briarwoods-y they can be and take a break from each other just to be sure, and I think, having confronted it, they pace themselves a bit more and possibly discuss with others (Vax for Vex, I'm inclined to say Keyleth for Percy?) their worries about the similarities. So if they do get married over the year break, I don't think they elope. And of course, in this AU, the Briarwoods are working to be better people, so no Sylas crashing any fancy re-wedding at Dalen's Closet!

Fem!Percy AU - So. Due to various things they have a really really solid friendship as a basis for their relationship here? It's not just trust it's that Vex made an active effort to reach out and make Persy feel welcome from relatively early on, and to comfort her with regards to what she saw as lingering anxieties from trauma (she was correct; Vex is very perceptive). Consequently, when they get together they've got an awful lot of trust in each other and an extremely good understanding of each other; I don't think they'd break-up over the year break. I do think that they'd get married, but it wouldn't be an elopement: I think they'd inform and invite the others.

Masc!Vex AU - Hey. Hey @blorbologist. You remember that delicious piece of angst you wrote me for my birthday? Well-versed in wishing? I am almost inclined to say that happens in this AU, though I'm not certain. It's just that Percy has a lot of baggage to unpack about certain things and while he gets with Vex on the same timeline as canon in this AU, I think Vex is perceptive enough to register his hesitancy and personal issues regarding other things and so their break up may last uh. Longer? I don't want it to; that feels very angsty and kind of unfair in this AU, so I'd like them to get back together before the decades long pause of your lovely fic, but what exactly causes-

Oh no. Oh Blorb, you give me the best ideas. *runs away cackling*

Wolf Siblings AU - So on the one hand: Percy knows he's into Vex and is in a much better place mentally and emotionally! Plus, I don't particularly want to play out like. The Vecna arc or even necessarily the whole of the Conclave Arc for this AU? I may do things like the Tomb but with a different plot? Undecided. No Glintshore because Ripley gets ripped apart by the wolf siblings. But anyway, so in this AU, Percy is being wingmanned by Vesper and is generally doing better so on the one hand some things go more smoothly!

On the other hand, having his siblings involved and invested in his romance stalls him a lot, so it ends up being on about the same timeline. There is no elopement: Percy's siblings are both nosy and all have had five years of being extremely nosy in his life - if anything, they figure out Percy and Vex are planning to get married before the two even manage to propose to each other.

Of course, given I don't intend to do the Vecna Arc in this AU, no Dalen's closet crashing for Sylas. If Percy and Vex do elope, Vesper is dragging them back to Whitestone for a formal wedding as soon as she finds where the hell they've gone.

Tiefling!Percy AU - So. Percy has some issues with the fact he's a tiefling? And one thing I have actually written ahead is him and Vex having a conversation about the possibility of children and Percy specifically asking that they wait because... well. He's a tiefling and he's not sure how he feels about that basically ever. And. Given he's a tiefling, that means good odds that their children will be tieflings - and the last thing he wants to do is have those same conflicted feelings about his own children, or for them to feel unloved.

So I think because of that they might well impulse-propose to each other, but I think they wouldn't elope. Percy's wedding to Vex ends up being the first time Whitestone's citizens get to see him fully decked out in all the shiny horn rings and such that Vox Machina give him.

Sylas may still crash Dalen's Closet, though, and now I'm wondering what impact Percy's tiefling spells might have on that.

Elaina Lives AU - You know what? Good damn question. I actually have no idea? This story is told primarily from Elaina's POV with a possible dip into Vax's - no Vex or Percy planned thus far. I genuinely have no idea.

Canon Vampercy AU - Likewise genuinely no idea. I've only got a couple of scenes down for this AU and it's more vibes than anything. I don't even know if this would end up as more than a oneshot.

Werewolf’s Soulmate AU Continuation - Reasonable odds they try to elope in this AU - however how secret that remains... I don't know. Thanks to @rightpastnowhere I had the idea that they would at some point each get half-bracelet tattoos, each getting one half that matches to the other, so it shows as a full bracelet between them? I'm wondering if, as soulmates, this ends up part of their marriage ceremony, in which case everyone finds out pretty quickly. That said, I may do it as just... something they get at some other point as a mark of their commitment to each other so - yet to be determined!

Daemon AU - I have not plotted this one far enough ahead to be sure yet. That said, you asking this has given me the delightful image of Vex's magpie daemon shattering into Dust over the ocean at Dalen's Closet so uh.

Enjoy that!

PercyRipley Soulmate AU - Percy has so many fucking hangups in this AU. After all, if even his soulmate would reject him, what kind of a person does that make him? (An infinitely better person, obviously, Ripley is the worst.)

Anyway, I think Percy's issues may fuel a year break break-up in this AU, though I'm not 100% sure on that yet. That said, seeing how much it hurts Vex would absolutely buck Percy up and they could well elope after that. I'm not certain though: I've only really got an outline down for this so far.

Syldor Isn’t A Dick AU - Vex has so many fewer issues in this AU. On the one hand this means she's in a much better place! On the other hand it means it takes her and Percy a bit longer to get together, I feel? An awful lot of Percy's actions in canon that seed their love for each other are things that remind Vex of her worth, both as an individual and to him specifically, and in this AU she doesn't need that so much? So they get together much more based on personal connection and shared interests.

That said, I think that means 1. They're less likely to break up during the year break and 2. There's good odds she and Percy elope almost as soon as possible in the year break and then end up spilling the beans to just about everyone in their thrilled-ness about it and end up getting married again during the break.

Sylas may still crash some other event at Dalen's Closet a year on though.

[aita-blorbos]

AITA for ruining the remainder of a dying woman's life?

To be entirely honest... I do believe that I am "the ass hole" here. This is more of a confession or act of catharsis on my part. I just think... it needs to be said, somewhere.

So I (137, male, vampire; legally 42, male, human.) am — or rather, was — married to a woman of particularly high status (48, female, human). While I don't wish to be excessively rude to someone who I have already wronged, I feel it necessary to mention that this ex-wife, whose name I shall abbreviate as "B", is not very intelligent. To put it lightly.

This is relevant because I was never actually "in love" with her. I have never been "in love" in my entire lifetime. I specifically picked her out as a target, because I have wanted for a very very long time the kind of social status that she possesses. You see, she has a rare medical condition, barely detectable unless you really know what you're looking for — since she will likely die from this condition soon and I expect that it will make the news, I will avoid hinting at the specifics, but essentially, my unique position as a vampire and low ranking witch allowed me to detect this condition.

The thing is, the condition is treatable. I suppose a Good Samaritan may have approached her and informed her, and given her a pitiable few decades more to live. But instead, I saw an opportunity— I knew that she would die from this condition, natural causes so to speak, in just a decade or so from when I met her— and with as unpleasant a personality as she had, combined with her severe lack of wit, I was easily able to convince her that I, a "humble policeman," was deeply in love with her and wished to marry her. We were wed within a few months, and she was entirely fooled by my honestly low-effort ruse. This was all about eight years ago-- I was around 130, and she had just turned 40 (I proposed to her on her birthday).

...The past eight years have been hell. For both of us, I presume.

As I mentioned, she is not intelligent in the least, and her personality is absolutely vile. I had thought it would not be a problem for me, since it is only a decade that I would have to bear with it, and I am quite busy anyway as the head of a criminal organization (it's complicated). She, of course, doesn't know about this, or even that I'm not human. I have had to make severe compromises to placate her, since after a few months of marriage she picked up on the fact that I do not like her very much, and started accusing me of cheating on her, even going so far as to follow me when I leave in the middle of the night (to attend to my criminal duties). It got to the point where I had to appoint a temporary new head for my organization, and "step down" so to speak, lest she uncover the location and secrets I am keeping there.

...I described some of the things she's said and asked of me, one time, to a trusted colleague of mine. They were deeply offended and told me to divorce or kill her immediately, though I suspect they may have meant it hyperbolically (I cannot be certain, as I have a bit of a reputation for killing people, and they are aware of this). They said that "B" sounded "like a bitch" and "sexually coercive". I do not feel that it would be appropriate to go into detail here, but I will say that some of these experiences were indeed deeply uncomfortable.

However, whether she is coercive or not, it was my own choice to placate her where I could. Moreover, this feels really insignificant in the grand scheme of things, considering that I have been planning to take advantage of her premature death to inherit her title from the very start. All in all, I feel that I have suffered justly for my time with her, but it is true that I have ruined her chances of finding real love in the year or so that she has left. Though I am doubtful that anyone would have been able to put up with her revolting personality in this past decade, had I not duped her.

But, as the conscious instigator of this relationship, I do feel that I should perhaps hold the burden of responsibility for both of our suffering. I do not think I would make this choice a second time.

TLDR; am I in the wrong for preying on and pretending to love a dying woman who would not likely have found love even if I had left her be? Especially considering that this choice resulted in a horrendous relationship that neither of us left for almost the rest of her remaining lifespan. I'm pretty sure that if I had done nothing she still would have died resentful and alone, but at least neither of us would have experienced this.

[rocky-the-rockstar]

1. 3. 5. 8. 11. 17. 19. 20. 21. 23. Gingerstorm NOW

JESUS SO MANY THANK YOU :0

1. What memory would he rather just forget

I can't tell you that because it hasn't happened yet :)

3. Fatal flaw and is he aware of it

Feels some emotions so intensely that they become irrational, and others almost not at all. For example he has a hard time feeling and expressing empathy and remorse for strangers or acquaintances and by extension has trouble forming close bonds (his whole life not just during the apocalypse). But he experiences anger, jealousy, and pride to such an extent that they cloud his judgement. He also by default is so self loathing and insecure that any sense of pride ego or accomplishment is addicting. This can cause him to pretend to be overly confident to a point where he comes off as a dick or just full on put himself in danger by being overly cocky for the sake of adrenaline.

He's????? Somewhat aware of this. I believe denial may be the word 💀

5. How far is he willing to go to get what he wants

Mehhhhhhhhhh this could potentially be spoilery?!?!????? And it really depends on the specific situation. He has low empathy and a wacked up sense of morals but he's generally a good person. Things like theft and lying to strangers are on the table no question even before the apocalypse but it would take soooo much to get him to do anything drastic. However its easy to get under his skin and manipulate him due to how intensely he feels negative emotions and praise, and its probably easy to break down and brainwash him *cough cough* but you didn't hear that from me :3

8. Would he ostensibly be able to get away with murder

I really don't think so 😭 first of all I'm not convinced he COULD kill a person, but like if he WERE to kill some non-infected person?? You know how Raskolnikov would get so anxious when he heard discussion of the murder that he got physically ill and would pass out?? And would get so scared of being caught that he would just impulsively confess?? Yeah. That's this bitch. Painfully obvious, which is extra funny cuz he isn't even a bad liar by any means, he's just dumb and guilty. Bonus points tho if no one suspects him despite it all for some reason, just because I think that's hilarious.

11. Weapon of choice, has he actually used it

His taser is his favorite but it's not all that effective against zombies, it's mostly for non fatal defense against other survivors or animals, so he doesn't use it all that much. His other two weapons are a crossbow and a crowbar, he uses both a lot obviously.

17. What's the worst thing he's been put through story wise

You silly goose that would be spoilers

19. How does he act when enraged

Ok well Gingerstorm is Anger Issues Central for starters. He's very quick to anger and an explosive type, throws and hits things, yells a lot. If really angry he'd probably just go outside and smash things till he feels better. Afterwards he's very "lmao ok so anyways-" He would never ever physically take his anger out on Greenstripe or the cats, Greenstripe would have to do something that crossed a huge line to Gingerstorm personally in order for him to hit him and even then I don't think he could. However there have been times where he slipped up and yelled at him, which he immediately apologizes profusely for, but even that is a rare occasion. While he's not good at controlling his anger in general, he's pretty good at not taking it out on those he loves.

20. Does he have a tendency to get jealous and if so how does it manifest

UH YEAH. How it manifests depends on the type of jealousy. When it comes to something like thinking someone he's close with likes someone else better than him, he's irrationally easy to set off. Like the slightest shift in vibe has him rethinking his entire worth to that person. This he feels the most intensely but tends to bottle up and and just kinda self loath in silence. He may get more clingy and affectionate or completely shut himself out for the sake of "not bothering" the other person since they "don't want him", it's kinda a 50/50 shot as to which he'll do. Either way he's just being dumb and it doesn't take much at all to reassure him, a little bit of affection and a few kind words and he's like "oh lol I was just being dramatic, anyways"

Now jealousy as in like "this person has something that I want" he doesn't usually care that much, like he's jealous but not enough to do anything about it.

If he's jealous of a specific person because like? He sees them as the embodiment of what he wishes he was, or he feels like they're replacing him (wether this be in a relationship or just like "hey that's MY thing you're stealing my vibe") he'll hate their guts. Probably irrationally, but he'll be the most petty mf.

21. Does he have any illnesses or disorders and how does he handle them (TW for mental illness talk and brief mention of suicide)

Chronic joint pain 😔 it's manageable most days but there's days where he can barely do anything. He pushes himself to the limits all the time but there are days where he may need help walking, and he feels stupid for so and apologizes a lot to whoever is helping him (literally who would it be other than Greenstripe 😭) he also denies to rest a lot but Greenstripe would probably force him once he starts going "ow ow fuck ow" every five seconds.

Mental - bro for sure ADHD, aspd, depression, anxiety, suicide ideation, symptoms of psychosis, and dissociation/derealization issues. He may also have bpd but there's no psychiatrists in the apocalypse who knows [shrug] just know he displays most of the symptoms. A lot of it is caused or amplified by the apocalypse, but he wasn't exactly ok beforehand either

He has a generally "fuck it we ball" mindset about most of it and will even deny that he's not ok. Again, it's the apocalypse???? Yeah he's gonna be kinda fucked up???? He finds it manageable, but when things DO get really bad they may result in some weak half hearted attempt to take himself out but he feels too much guilt towards the idea of leaving his friend and cats behind in a literal apocalypse to commit to it. He just lets himself get busted up a bit and then goes home like nothing happened.

All that being said he's much easier to keep happy and healthy than he is to actually spiral since he finds a lot of joy in the simplest pleasures, he just has this underlying "dawg I hate myself and am scared all the time" mentality that came free with the zombies. He's also a clown around so that I can avoid reality kinda guy

23. What emotion is the hardest for him to process. How about express

Process - grief, sadness, loneliness, helplessness, pain in general

Express - sadness, helplessness, frustration, love (in a coherent way, he's very affectionate and babbles "I love you"s a lot but is a mess if he tries to put it in words beyond that), overall VERY bad at putting his emotions into words and intentionally acts like a loud fool to avoid them

[another-corpo-rat]

My head is full of thoughts about Victoria's actual storyline ima plan out, i need to get them out so im making that everyone elses problem will i ever write it? prob not. i have commitment issues when it comes to long term projects so the rambling and occasional drabble with have to do

if you care to read this: hi, ty for even a passing interest in my bitch barbie - im rambling about her hand in Yoriunbo's death in a story that very heavily diverts from canon below the cut because i have the habit of starting at the end

kinda have two ideas for it: the first, is that Victoria's influence is indirect - she isn't the one that takes his life: Evelyn Parker is.

With Victoria's goading trailing through her thoughts maybe - but Victoria can't prove or take credit for that no matter how smug she is at the timing. But what she does know and what both women will keep quiet due to the means of mutual destruction, is that it was a chip of her making that blacked out any means of communication; Trauma Team or anyone who could help isn't alerted. Couldn't be - Smasher could be standing right outside the door, and Yoriunbo wouldn't have been able to so much as call for him (Smasher was, in fact, outside the door and merely gave Evelyn a knowing look and a passing 'you done?' that she answers with a nod and the flippant request to 'give him some time' a casual enough conversation, one that wouldn't draw suspicion that Smasher himself may have been involved should his recordings of the night be accessed)

Yoriunbo is found a mere hour or two after Evelyn leaves his suite, dead in the bath - very much in the style of The Death of Marat. Evelyn is suspected but she can't be found: the joys of conspiring with a skilled netrunner, it's as if she vanished into thin air (like those who've acted against Arasaka in the past, Evelyn is perhaps vibing with a certain Nomad clan, waiting for the dust to settle before moving on entirely)

and really, Arasaka can't afford to allow that story to go public: their CEO killed by a joytoy mere months after the previous died in suspect conditions. There's further mess and chaos within the corporation until Hanako manages to wrangle the factions together in something of resembling peace, and if the heiress seems to be quietly raging then no one knows why besides the pretense of grief.

the second idea - less thought out but entirely self-indulgent Victoria is the one holding the knife when Yoriunbo dies, but its not by her own strength that she slides it between his ribs. She's shaking, both from exhaustion and the wonder of 'can i really do this?' there's a whole lotta consequences that'll come from her killing him, but she can't exactly just let him live now either, can she? not after learning what he intended, how he wanted to crumble the tower she thrives on to ruin - and she has the proof, the witnesses, the recordings. she has Michiko's word that she'll be protected from those consequences, but the word of an Arasaka is a rotted thing, even if promised so sweetly

she's shaking and that makes her hands unsteady, even if her grip would be white-knuckled with how tightly she's holding the hilt. Smasher's hands wrap around hers, his chest pressing into her back as he guides the point of the blade into Yoriunbo's heart. and if the scene were caught in a frame, it might even be poetic: Yoriunbo, dying with something of a smile as he looks up not a portrait of his father, but the brother who took his own life before him - the same brother who created Smasher looking down from his gilded frame to witness that monstrous creation being the hand that spills his family's blood while curled protectively around a woman they'd deign insignificant

Victoria is frozen as she looks down at the body, realising that an Arasaka is as mortal as the rest of them. There's a more active coup in this event; less of a need to hide their involvement. And still, Hanako is fuming that her request that Yoriunbo be spared is ignored. Because she made the mistake of requesting it of Victoria, not ordering it of Smasher - and Michiko, ever the black sheep of their family, keeps her word and enforces that Hanako do the same

[drwormdcg]

Thinking about the Infamous Mono-Color Format

They dropped this on us today and is getting a rather harsh welcome.

this is not a new banlist, it is an alternate format and that's why we shouldn't feel intimidated by it. Having a critical mass of decks balanced out of the format is completely fine because it means unusual suspects will get a try.

And most important of all:

GOOD BYE FOREVER YOU STANKY BITCH AND MARBLE

Not only that, we also get rid of the very cringey Xros Heart deck that became stupidly oppressive on BT11 after a huge banlist hit... SOMEHOW

BWGX will have to now decide between playing Greymon X Antibody or Yuuya to protect it's stack making it extremely less strong too.

We will mourn the lost of some (based) decks though:

Jesmon

Mastemon (my beloved)

Imperialdramon

Examon

Sakuyamon

4GD

etc (I literally cant think of any others lol)

The specific banlist directly hits MelgaX, Grandis and MinervaLoop

Which is FUN.

This is a hit to the core aspects that make the strategies themselves annoying, It is most likely we wont see any of this decks now that they are escentially losing their wincon. But I like to imagine, a MelgaX deck that actually plays like MelgaX intends you to play, a big fucking blocker that controls the board. Or a Grandis that actually cares about combat instead of beating you in turn 3. Minerva losing the rusher completely is sad, when you take in count the other two decks only got a limit. Because having 1 lv5 rusher in the deck that uses the lv5 as a toolbox would have been very fun, but I am biased.

as well as generic good tools like Chaos degrade and DeathX which is an indirect hit to dead animals.

DeathX makes sense because it is a generic tool for black and purple decks that forces the entire format to be wrap around it... in advanced, here it just means black and purple have an upper hand, which they very much need lmao. The lack of a DeathX means that two of the decks I can see shredding in this format will have no checks, Bloomlord and Ulforce.

But Chaos Degrade is a weird choice, the decks that can utilize it the most have an inherent cap by the mono color format, decks that could use it will have to jump hurdles to do so, and then we have to ask, what are we checking with this? Alphamon and WargreyX? (okay those decks are scary) But for your consideration, we have already have a Chaos degrade replacement for monocolor. If you have any idea of the purpose behind this one just tell me.

-That only leave us with theory crafting-

Sadly Bandai dropped this one on us after the Ulticup slots have been purchased for most people, so lots of people were kind of trapped into it, and god forbid TCG players are forced to build a different deck.

I am really seeing Bloomlord-Hydra and Ulforce as a force to be reckon, specially after Mulligan has been confirmed, Thankfully Gallantmon is also there to keep Bloomlord in check, but without Zwart Defeat and a very hindered BWGX, tamer span is very strong, who will check ulforce? Darknigthmon? hell Merva and Bagraa army seem playable in this landscape even, I cannot think of any competent Yellow deck though, maybe there's a build for Ophanimon loop, but do you really wanna play a deck which relies on [on deletion] when the best deck can just bounce you back into your deck?.

This is my first post, I may have gone tooooo grazy, but I just wanted a place to ramble about my thoughts on this cardgame unfiltered. I hope is a nice read, I am not a great writer in the first place.

[oakantony]

why didn't it work for you?

cracks knuckles. (this post contains spoilers)

my biggest issue is with characterization: they really got spider-man entirely wrong.

the movie presents a literal trolley problem--either uncle ben/captain morales/aunt may/gwen staci dies, or else the multiverse explodes and kills thousands.

the thing that makes spider-man spider-man is that he looks at the trolley problem and goes, "i'm going to fucking stop that trolley before it kills anyone on the tracks--or die trying." that is it, period. that's how he operates. he's good in a very simplistic, self-destructive, and often unsuccessful way. because the thing with the trolley problem is that you CAN'T stop it and someone WILL die. but fuck if spidey is not gonna try. HE ALWAYS TRIES.

this movie proposes that not only is there one spider-man who isn't this way--a spider-man who thinks "well, sacrificing one life is okay if it means many people will be safe"--but that there are hundreds. THOUSANDS. of spider-mans who think this way.

this is SO at odds with his characterization in the first movie, in all the other spider-man franchises, that i legitimately sat with my jaw agape in the theater when miguel explained the situation at the 3/4 mark.

it doesn't make sense. like i said, maybe one. maybe two. hell, maybe, in a world of infinite universes, there are a few hundred spider-mans who think, "sacrificing one person is cool."

not this many. absolutely not.

it's not surprising that hobie was my favorite character in the movie. i went into this expecting to hate him (based on the spoilers i'd encountered online, i really thought i'd roll my eyes at his "stick it tha MAN" schtick and his sorta "love triangle" situation). but no, i loved him. and why? because he was the only fucking spider-man in the movie who ACTED LIKE SPIDER-MAN.

okay, and some of the other complaints i have:

the pacing was actually kind of poor.

i get why we started with spider-gwen--but jumping from her to miles was the first of many "jarring" beats in the plot. we spent so much time on some things and not enough on others--

the chase/swinging around town/look at him goooo sequences were too many. and they were too long. we had...what, four? five? six??? I think we had six chase sequences in this movie.

but for peter b parker--we get a literal ten second reintroduction to his character ("haha look at me in a bathrobe with a BABY, aren't I a GOOFY GUY with ZERO DEPTH because we don't have time for that this movie?!?"). insert marge grumbling noise

and, yeah, it's only half a movie. the other half comes out next year. i really dislike that, generally, and i don't think it works here. the movie just...ENDED. it was so unfinished, lol.

peter b parker is another complaint. he gets his own section right here.

they went to great lengths in the first movie to demonstrate that he was--maybe IS--the most powerful spider-man to exist, despite his depression, his not-traditional-spidey physique. he's still incredibly capable and great at his job.

this movie dumbed him down to a single, lazy trope. this is definitely partially a pacing issue, as mentioned above, but i also think it's a characterization issue--they couldn't make him more capable, because if they did that, there'd be NO excuse for why he was following miguel. a smart, capable, well-characterized peter b parker never would have been in that position.

also, they mention he's miles' mentor three times, but he doesn't actually do any mentoring in the film. at least not successfully. (again, i suspect this is because they had to sandbag his character to make the miguel plot make any sense.)

okay, let's talk about what i did like, for a sec, just so everyone knows i'm not a hater-ass bitch.

obviously it is the most visually stunning movie i've watched in YEARS. absolutely blown away by the art.

miles morales is an angel. well-written, well-established, and i love his lanky growin' boy design. ANGEL

spot is an amazing antagonist. wow

i DID enjoy seeing all the different iterations of spider-man, though i do think it got boiled down to a punchline rather than a fulfilling experience... (ahem, this is supposed to be things i enjoyed......AHEM)

spider-gwen is a trans icon and we stan

okay that's all. thank u for asking ily. bye!

[demetriandelibinaryboyfriends]

More angsty S1 YasMoon because they're so!!! THEY'RE SO!!! They're so important to me, you don't understand. I've made them both such rich inner worlds that only exist in my mind but by GOD if I'm not Unwell about the complex, nuanced, and BRUTALLY flawed versions of them that live in my head rent-free ;_____;

Like I am gripped by how many things it re-contextualizes if Yas and Moon were hooking up in Season 1. Like that's why Moon so doggedly remained Yasmine's faithful, right-hand Evil Bitch, despite being a very good-natured person normally. That's why these girls were almost grinding in that one concert video Sam showed Amanda. And that's why their beach party confrontation had enough tension to fill an olympic-sized swimming pool. It was a damn breakup akajndslfkjl

Anyways, I'm hoping I can write some full-length one-shots that delve into this more, but I'm just imagining that during S1 and before, Moon was just...an absolutely hopeless pining mess. Like she did everything for Yasmine and went along with whatever she said in hopes that Yas would eventually love her the same...or at least love her openly. She knew Yas could be sweet and giving in private, but she wanted more than anything to be shown off and flaunted like something to be proud of (part of why she eventually ditched Yas for Hawk! Although he went way too far in the other direction to the point of like. Treating her more like a coolness prize than a person ^^;). Yasmine only ever treated her softly and gently when no one else was looking, and it killed Moon. She hated always feeling like a side piece and an afterthought, and still only ever getting dismissively called "a friend." Or sometimes just a lackey, even if Yasmine wouldn't say it directly. I think finally standing up to Yasmine was just as much about wanting better for herself as well as all the people Yasmine bullied.

Like the way she seems guilty about cutting Sam off and horrified to see Kyler mocking her in front of the entire cafeteria implies she's not really comfortable with all the awful stuff Yas does. And like sure, she could stick with Yasmine out of platonic loyalty or to have a popularity safety net, BUT. Being a Yasmine simp would explain just how much she's willing to tolerate before she kicks Yas to the curb XD And hey, she's canonically got a thing for mean, aggressive people, does she not???

Anyways tl;dr poor Season 1 Moon </3 Girl was in love with Yasmine and I WILL die on that hill. Would explain why she was super high and out of it for a lot of S1, too. Girl was coping (er...not healthily) with her gf a) not admitting she was her gf and b) not cherishing her like she secretly wanted </3 Yasmine fr pushes her lesbianism so far down it may as well collide with the earth's core at this point.

In my heart she accepts it and owns it at some point in the distant future, bless iashluybkh

Big, big fan of that locket on the bottom right, btw. Headcanon Yas gifted it to Moon during S1, but was like "if you ever wear this, you CANNOT tell people I gave it to you lest they think we're... g a y" ;______; Like that's not even the first conclusion people would probably come to anyways, but poor Yas is so paranoid about people suspecting she isn't straight that she feels like she has to shut down anything that could possibly point to that D: Also dying on my hill that she has a more difficult relationship with her parents than she lets on and they're either subtly or openly homophobic, which is why she represses her sexuality so adamantly

As always, pic credits available upon request!

[electricbluebutterflies]

"you scared me yesterday, y'know? i thought you had hypothermia or something...i've never seen you like that."

First time writing Joel/Tess... I have known weaknesses, I like the amount of unexplained backstory, I'm gonna have a good time here. PG-ish and also on ao3.

There are days when Tess suspects she’s more of a masochist than she’ll ever feel like trying to fix.

Days like this one, mid-winter in Boston, she’s at least lived places where it snows her entire life and she can handle it and the correct survival mech is to stay indoors as much as possible, ideally under a blanket pile with another body next to hers as much as possible, but that’s her. This is the kind of circumstantial improvisation that she understands and plans around and was good at long before the world took a certain detour. This is apparently not something her partner understands so well.

Partner. Is that a word she gets to use yet, four years in? Does the shared apartment justify any kind of claim? Does her surprisingly existent patience, perhaps the only positive personality trait she’s developed in the past eight years, let her explain how she’s lost her thirties to what she already suspects will never be more than an unrequited crush with benefits?

It doesn’t matter right now. There’s a questionably conscious man on her couch who has some explaining to do. They can deal with the technicalities later, maybe.

The current situation itself is as much of a routine as they have, even if the previous night’s events are less so. They are domestic but not domesticated, separate sleeping arrangements more common than the shared warmth she wants more and more, they feel like ships passing in the night sometimes, they feel like-

Fuck it, her patience isn’t infinite and she’s worried.

“Hey. You in there?” Hands putting moderate pressure on his shoulders, be calm be calm, they can fight later. She glanced out the window on her way into the main room and it looks like just enough snow out there for smart people to stay inside, and-

Joel wakes up with a low growl, the familiar noises of someone who is not by nature a morning person, so far normal enough. “Hello to you too.”

Awake, talking, making eye contact, and as per usual no visible idea how much stress he adds to her life. Tess feels something annoyingly close to relief, and she’s half tempted to take a kiss but they don’t do that like this and-

“That’s where you’re gonna start?”

She knows she’s too loud too early, too much of a bitch and not enough context, passive-aggressive martyr complex, why is she like this, why is she-

“I’m missing something.”

Fucking idiot thinks that as long as he doesn’t come home with an open wound she’ll be calm, huh? She’s learning to pick her battles, fine, but she is still human and worse she has trust issues and an emotional attachment and fuck her and-

“You scared me yesterday,” she says, be calm be calm do not say anything she can’t take back. “I thought you had hypothermia or something… I’ve never seen you like that.”

Not that she’d acted accordingly, she’d point out if she weren’t still trying to push her worry back in its box. Not that she’d done anything other than make sure there were adequate blankets. He’d been late, and late without visible damage gets her a different kind of worried, and-

“I’m fine.”

Means something different when a man says those words, Tess thinks, realizing she’s not going to get anywhere. Something real, almost. Like end of conversation, yeah, but also-

“We’re not getting out of the building today,” she shrugs, deciding that a change of subject might be safest right now. “Hazard pay ain’t worth it.”

“What kind of not worth it?”

“Foot of snow and not stopping kind of not worth it.” Their dynamic is still evolving, may never stop evolving, but at least she knows her power. If she says something, she will be heard. Better than she’s had before. Better than-

“Yeah. Not worth it.”

If she were a different kind of woman, a little better at the romantic side than she’s ever been, she’d take a kiss or something and try to escalate. But she is the person she is, and sleeping alone was bad enough, and she settles for slipping her body under the blanket pile on the couch and making space for herself. Much better, she thinks, much more-

“You don’t get to worry me like that,” she says, not the first time and definitely not the last. “I’d sleep better without you, but…”

“Anyone ever tell you how cute you are like this?”

Not a word anyone’s ever used for her in her goddamn life, she’s tempted to point out, but they’re not normally sweet like this so she lets it go with a roll of her eyes. “You’re lucky I put up with you.”

There’s no point in a conversation, not like this, not stuck in a cold apartment with nothing better to do. Nothing to plan, none of the routines that haven’t quite set, nothing that seems like a life yet, not-

Tess shifts her position for a little more body-warmth, and even now she knows she can’t stay mad for too long. She’ll put up with too much as long as the worst she gets is some communication fail. The worry will be worth it… right?