#signs point to no and he's still like no you don't get it they are my friends :) so they are each other's friends :)

[rebelfell]

He would absolutely lose his mind…

18+, MDNI for a li’l filth at the end

“Shit, that one’s good…so is that one…oh, holy fuck…”

You giggled softly at Eddie, teeth pinching the end of the straw stuck in the milkshake you were sipping in the passenger seat of his van as you leaned back against the door to watch him.

His own sat abandoned in the cup holder, condensation beading on the outside of a cup from a fast food chain neither of you had heard of. He sat way forward in his seat, hunched over your phone as he poured through the photos you’d taken of him sitting on, in his words—

“The most metal fucking thing I’ve ever seen in my whole life.”

You had happened upon the chair and the thrift shop it resided in purely by happenstance. It was supposed to be just a quick stop for gas and to stretch your legs on your trip back to Hawkins.

But then you saw the sign for the consignment store at the other end of the strip mall. And just as you turned to ask Eddie if he felt like checking it out, you found he was already headed for it.

The place wasn’t anything special, the only thing they had worth any note was…The Chair.

It was tucked way in a far corner, likely so as not to scare away potential customers. You couldn’t imagine anyone in this tiny and random town having the kind of reaction to it Eddie was.

You found him staring at it raptly. Practically in a trance, his jaw just about skimming the linoleum. And you knew it had to be serious when he turned to you with a bashful smile and sheepishly asked if you would take his picture.

Taking his picture quickly turned into art directing him—taking what felt like a thousand photos, quietly coaching him to change his pose or turn more towards the light; crouching down to get as many angles as you could without drawing the attention of the lone employee at the front.

And for once in his life, Eddie actually sat still?

He let you snap away to your heart's content, not protesting in the slightest or pulling any silly faces or jumping up as soon as you hit the shutter so he came out as just a blurry blob.

It was like Christmas.

But as the perfect fading golden light dissipated and you remembered you wouldn’t get back to Hawkins until at least midnight as it was…you regretfully called for an end to the shoot.

And then had to tempt him with the promise of milkshakes and fries, figuring (correctly) that you might have to throw him over your shoulder and carry him out yourself otherwise.

“Can’t believe I wore my Garfield shirt today of all days,” he muttered, still scrolling trying to see if there was a picture showing the least of the cartoon cat splayed across his chest.

“Shoulda just taken it off,” you told him with a teasing smile. “That would have been hot.”

Eddie rolled his eyes at that, but you were still rewarded with a smattering of pink that colored the tops of his cheeks. The blood pulsing beneath his skin now making it warm to the touch as you leaned across the gap between the seats and your lips brushed against it in a kiss.

“This would make a really sick album cover,” he said, diverting your attention back to the photos.

“Oh, by far, the sickest,” you nodded. Only, like, 30% mocking him at this point.

He ginned and reached out a hand to pinch at your belly and make you squeal with laughter. He then nodded at the rear of the van that was filled to the brim with the reason for this impromptu trip—a metric fuck-ton of recording equipment he’d bought on the cheap from a studio that had declared bankruptcy and gone out of business.

"Guess we don't exactly have room to haul it anyhow," he sighed.

“I don’t think anyone is shelling out $1200 dollars for it anytime soon.” You told him with a scrunch of your nose and a smile. “I bet it’s still here after you record a demo and get all famous. And then you'll be up to your ears in skull thrones.”

Eddie smirks, nodding along and matching your playful smile as he finally hands back your phone so you can get back to your journey.

And you knew he was still thinking about it hours later, when you two finally got back to his trailer in the dead of night. The second he was able, he’d hauled you onto his lap, all needy for your soft warmth to surround him even after being together all day long.

He bounced you eagerly on his lap, and you watched the wheels turning in his head, just like you had from the moment he sat himself on the recliner instead of the couch.

“You’re thinking about your throne, aren’t you?” you cooed, all breathy in his ear. “Wish you were fucking me on a pile of skulls?”

“Ye-yeah,” he grits out, only getting more lost in his own head imagining it. "Yeah, I fuckin' do,"

He can almost feel the intricate carvings on the seat of the chair imprinting on his ass. And, god you’d look so fucking hot gripping those horns coming out of the skull at the top, holding on for dear life as you rode him into oblivion.

“Fuckfuckfuckfuck—”

The visual and your encouragement has him finishing embarrassingly fast, whimpering and moaning into your neck through the whole thing. His spend dribbles out of you, trickling down to collect in a pool on the cushion beneath him.

And suddenly you’re a little glad you couldn’t bring the chair home, because those vertebrae would be a pain and a half to keep clean.

[ladykailitha]

Sweet Home Indiana Part 3

Shit! I can't believe I forgot to post this this morning! I don't know where my head was, honestly.

I'm reaching a point where I'm running out of plot so I don't think this story is going to be longer than 10 chapters max. A lot of the second half of the movie takes place over months as the main character gets ready to marry the rich bachelor, only for her to find out that her husband signed the divorce papers and she forgot ON HER WEDDING DAY (as in she was informed on her wedding day that she forgot). Which really won't work for this story.

So yeah, I suspect to be finished with this story sooner rather than later.

Eddie does have to do a lot of grovelling but he unfortunately gets worse before he gets better. He's really REALLY dumb in this, okay?

TAG LIST IS CLOSED FOR THIS STORY

Part 1 Part 2

****

Eddie watched Steve walk away and he gently put the brownie back into the box.

Fuck.

His stomach churned as he swallowed down the bite in his mouth. He had forgotten so much about the man he once swore to love until the end of his days. But he remembered that look of absolute betrayal before the mask dropped.

So Eddie did what he was good at when times got tough, he ran. He was supposed to have been trying to convince Steve to come with him, but he had fucked it up so badly there was no coming back from that.

The worst part is that there had been a few times in the last decade where Eddie could have healed what was between them, that he could have reached out and gotten back in touch. But Eddie had ran each time.

He wouldn’t say each time ended in a rushed marriage, but two of them definitely did.

Eddie would think about reaching out only to hear about how well Steve was doing from Dustin or Max and how happy he was and Eddie would run out a marry the first guy who would fuck him.

The other times he would think about contacting Steve and some small trouble (or not so small in the case of his band breaking up) would crop up and he be scrambling to keep his head above water.

Steve was thriving here in Hawkins and wasn’t that just a kick to the head. He had a little bakery that was doing well, Robin was here, and if all the times the kids called Eddie were any indication, Steve was still on speaking terms with all of them.

He needed a fucking drink. He didn’t care that it was only a little after noon, he needed to turn off his brain. He turned on his heel and stormed out of the bakery.

“I thought I recognized the van,” a warm voice said. “Were you gonna tell me you were in town?”

Eddie looked around before he spotted his Uncle Wayne, leaning up against the side of the building.

“Wayne!” he cried and threw his arms around his neck.

Wayne hugged him back. “It’s good to see you kid.”

“Of course I was going to tell you I was in town,” Eddie scoffed. “I was just trying to take care of something first.”

Wayne looked behind him at the bakery and raised an eyebrow. “You coming back to make an honest man out him or are you setting to break his heart?”

“Why are you on his side?” Eddie whined. “Yes, I said some pretty stupid shit, but he wasn’t blameless in all the fuckery that went down.”

Wayne’s expression softened. “I know.” He put his arm around Eddie’s shoulders. “Come on, I’ll buy you lunch and we can talk about why you’re in town.”

“Mmk,” Eddie said weakly, letting Wayne lead him down the street to the nearby diner.

****

Steve was hyperventilating. He couldn’t do this. He wasn’t strong enough. Eddie Munson was the biggest asshole in the world and he still looked like sex on legs.

That funny little lopping walk he did when he wanted to move fast but didn’t want to run.

The long hair in waves around his face. His lean body stuffed into the tightest pair of jeans Steve had ever seen and he used to wear tight jeans for fuck’s sake. The god damn eyeliner on his big doe eyes.

And peaking out of the leather jacket were even more tattoos. Which it made sense considering he was some hot shot tattoo artist up in Seattle. But still! It wasn’t fair that the man who broke his heart wasn’t fat and balding at thirty. Nooooo...he had to come back to blue his balls as well as break his heart.

“Do I need to break his balls?” Robin asked coming back from the freezer. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared. Not at Steve specifically, but glared at the situation in general.

Steve gave a kind of hiccuping laugh and his lungs filled with the air he desperately needed.

“No,” he said with a broken smile. “I handled it. I’m just going to send it to Hal to make sure he’s not trying to take me to the cleaners or some other bullshit.”

Robin nodded. Hal Peterson was their business attorney, but he’d know enough to make sure Steve wasn’t being shafted by the whole ordeal.

“So what’s got you around the twist?” she asked.

“He looks hotter now than he did before he left,” Steve whined. “He’s supposed to balding and fat and falling apart at the seams. But no...he’s leaner, still with those long ridiculous curls, and better put together than I was.” He waved a hand at himself. His hair was greasy from standing around a hot oven, his hands and apron were covered in flour, he had frosting on his nose.

Robin came over and gave him a hug. He wrapped his arms around her and he let out a little sob.

“I’m sorry, Steve,” she murmured. “Are you going to be okay?”

He let out a shuddering sigh. “Probably not until he blows out of town again.”

Robin kissed the top of his head. “Let’s go out to the Hideout tonight. The shop will be fine. We handled today, we can handle tomorrow, too.”

Steve let out a shuddering sigh and nodded into her stomach.

“Good,” she stepped back and cupped his cheeks. “I know this sucks but you are the strongest, most capable person I’ve ever met. A weaker man would crumble under all this, but that person is not you. You understand me?”

He let out another shuddering sigh. “Thanks, Robs. I needed that.”

“I know you did, dingus,” she said fondly. “So lets knock today out of the ballpark, yeah?”

“Yeah!”

****

“I was hoping,” Eddie was telling Wayne, “that I could roll into town, get him to sign the divorce papers, and spend the rest of the week with you. But no, he’s being a stubborn ass.”

Wayne snorted. “You always did aim too high.”

“I thought he’d want to be rid of me,” Eddie huffed. “I’ve done nothing but run around all over this god forsaken country just to put some distance between me and him. I’ve hurt him in every possible way. I thought he was just wanting closure you know, calling me into town like he did.”

Wayne furrowed his brow. “He called you into to town?”

Eddie nodded and placed his chin on his hands on the table. “I was a bit of an ass about it because I didn’t explain things to Chrissy, but yeah. He told me that if I wanted to divorce him so bad, I’d have to come back to Hawkins and do the job proper.”

The waitress came set Wayne’s food down and Eddie sat up so she could do the same for him.

Wayne waited until she was gone before he turned back to Eddie. “When you told me you were marrying Chrissy, I was more than a little surprised.”

Eddie rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms. “I know. I have my reasons, I just can’t tell you yet. But I promise it’s for a good reason.”

“He’s done really well for himself here,” Wayne said softly.

“And I haven’t?” Eddie spat out a tad too bitterly.

Wayne scowled. “Did I say you hadn’t, boy?” he snapped.

Eddie’s head reared back from the shock of his normally mild mannered uncle to snap at him. He shook his head, his lip beginning to quiver.

“I’m on your side,” Wayne said, to Eddie’s scoff. “I know I keep hyping up Steve, but I remember what you two were like when things were good, son. You were incandescent. But I look at you now and that sparkle has gone. I want to be happy for you, but first you’ve got to show me that you’re happy for yourself.”

“You don’t think I’m happy?” Eddie asked in confusion. “I have my own tattoo shop, I’m going to marry a great girl, and I’m still friends with most of the members of my band. What’s not to be happy about?”

Wayne shrugged. “You tell me.”

Eddie frowned. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, old man.”

Wayne dug his thumbs into his belt and licked his top lip nice and slow. Eddie ignored him and just stabbed at his food.

“Kiddo,” Wayne said, shaking his head, “you’re still in love with that boy even with these ten years gone.” His chin jutted up to point to Eddie’s food.

Eddie froze with his fork half way to his mouth and then looked down at his plate. It took him a full minute to realize what Wayne was talking about.

“Oh.”

He had ordered the breakfast platter. It had hash browns, scrambled eggs, ham, bacon, and sausage with a side of chocolate chip pancakes. But Eddie didn’t like hash browns or sausage. He would give them to Steve who did.

He thought about the little box that was sat next to him on the bench and the brownie Steve had concocted for him so long ago.

Eddie swallowed thickly, his stomach turning sour as he stared at the hash browns and sausage he was never going to eat.

“Eat up,” Wayne said with a soft smile. “You don’t want it to go to waste.” He scooped up the hash browns and put them on his plate and then stabbed both sausage.

He dipped the first sausage into his over easy eggs, ignoring Eddie’s turmoil. At least for the moment.

Eddie brought the fork all the way to his mouth and chewed, not really tasting it.

He ate through most of the food that way, until it came to the pancakes. He moaned happily.

“Seattle just doesn’t make pancakes the way Benny does,” he said softly.

Wayne’s smile was no less tender this time, but infinitely more fond. “You could always come back to Hawkins. You can set up a tattoo shop anywhere, so why not here?”

Eddie shook his head. “I wouldn’t do that to Steve. Divorce his ass and then move back into town with Chrissy in tow, shoving it in his face that I moved on.”

“I can see that,” Wayne murmured. “I just miss my boy is all and would love to see you more often than I get.”

Eddie took his hand and gave it a squeeze. “I know you do. And I would like you to meet Chrissy before the wedding.”

“I’d like that too.”

****

Tag List: CLOSED

1- @mira-jadeamethyst @rozzieroos @itsall-taken @redfreckledwolf @emly03

2- @spectrum-spectre @estrellami-1 @zerokrox-blog @gregre369 ​@a-little-unsteddie

3- @chaosgremlinmunson @messrs-weasley @chaoticlovingdreamer @maya-custodios-dionach @danili666

4- @goodolefashionedloverboi @val-from-lawrence @i-must-potato @carlyv @wonderland-girl143-blog

5- @justforthedead89 @vecnuthy @irregular-child @bookbinderbitch @bookworm0690

6- @anne-bennett-cosplayer @yikes-a-bee @awkwardgravity1 @littlewildflowerkitten @genderless-spoon

7- @cinnamon-mushroomabomination @dragonmama76 @scheodingers-muppet @ellietheasexylibrarian @thedragonsaunt

8- @useless-nb-bisexual @disrespectedgoatman @counting-dollars-counting-stars @tinyplanet95 @blackpanzy

9- @amazing-spiderkeys @oldpinghai @raisedbylibrarians @kultiras @swimmingbirdrunningrock

10- @steddie-as-they-go @captain--low @micheledawn1975 @thespaceantwhowrites @mac-attack19

[sharkfinn]

Okay, the entire ask that I just made got erased because my connection sucked. So I'm not even gonna try and repeat everything I just said and get straight to the point. What was Splinter to the turtles before he died? Did Draxum keep him prisoner down there, or did he willingly stay and sort of co-parent the turtles for the first few years of their lives?

Because from what I've deduced, he never tried escaping with Raph, Donnie, Leo, and Mikey. It was the Rat King that ended up taking them and destroying Draxum's lab.

I know we haven't seen any sign of Splints in Spot's flashbacks besides this brutal one, but I still think it's a possibility.

Draxum could have freed him, though. He could have gone back to his Lou Jitsu days, and THEN the Rat King would have killed him and brought him to the undercity. But I just feel like that would have been a tad unnecessary because what would he be trying to prove with that?

I always read that scene like Yoshi had been fending off the Rat King but failed doing so. But now it's possible that he was just trying to protect his sons. Cue me crying in a corner :'(

And now I realize just how terrifying that is because THE LOU JITSU couldn't defeat the Rat King. Like, are you joking???

I also thought that Draxum could have been using Yoshi's DNA to control Spot's mutation before he had to start using those water chambers. I still don't know why Spot's body is so unstable. Either the Rat King did something, or Spot was like that since he was a baby.

Master Splinter thanks you for your assistance.

[adxele]

STOP IT WITH YOUR NICKNAME WILL YOU?

cw: f!reader, fluff, unedited, really short.

a/n: i'm still on hiatus, just found this oneshot in my notes and decided to post it :) my writing style sucks ik🤞🏻

"why do you keep calling me that?"

"what do you mean?"

"y/n, this is not funny.."

10 minutes ago (isagi counted), you and yoichi just returned back from your old best friend's place and were about to order take out. however, you were in a good mood to tease him a bit. he looks cute when he's angry.

"i don't get it, what's wrong?"

"you know what exactly is wrong!"

you shrug, typing on your phone, "don't know what's your problem, bro,"

when isagi whipped his head to you so fast like a speed of light, you could almost hear a crack in his neck.

"see!"

"what??"

"ugh come on! stop calling me bro for once!"

you gave up on this little game and let out a laugh, while clutching your stomach. it's so hilarious to see how he's offended by the mere nickname.

you chuckled, wiping the small tear from your eye, "why though?? it's not weird!"

"it is weird!" he made cross sign with his arms, "we're not blood-related at all! we're not siblings! you know that freaking well right?!"

this is more funny that you expected it to be.

"of course we are not! but-"

"but what if i called you 'sis' ?! huh?! what would you do?! would you like that?!" he interrupted, holding your cheeks firmly with both of his hands.

you looked away to process his words. at some point, he is right. "well, no—"

"exactly! so you better stop with your 'bro' stuff. got it?"

"yes sir,"

he nodded, smile slowly forming on his face, "good."

As the evening shadows cast their ethereal glow across the cityscape, you and Isagi, huddled together on the couch, both of your attention drawn to the tantalizing aromas emanating from a nearby takeout menu.

While your taste buds danced with anticipation, your innocent slip of a word sent a shockwave through Isagi's heart. Again. "Let's order some sushi bro," you teasingly chirped.

Isagi's countenance darkened as the dreaded moniker 'bro' fell from your lips.

"Y/N. How many times do I have to tell you that-"

[old-schoolgenz]

So, been thinking about Mystreet again. And I always assumed in the early days that everything that happened in MCD would eventually happen in Mystreet as well. That didn't end up happening but just... bare with me for a sec.

Imagine for a second, what finding Lilith would be like in Mystreet. I think about that so, so often. And how SO much could have been talked about had it happened along with cannon events.

Aaron, who had been driving for hours after coming back from somewhere, a concert, or something equally modern and kinda boring. Aphmau half falling asleep in the passenger seat, starting and stopping songs that she'd sing under her breath. And Laurance dead asleep in the back, laying on his back without a seat belt, lightly snoring.

Then. Aphmau looks up, nearly screams because at that moment Aaron had glanced away from the road to ask her something.

"CAR!"

Aaron pounds the fucking break like it owes him money and Laurance is thrown into the back of their chairs like a ragdoll, and he yelps from the backseat as Aphmau tries not to fly through the windshield by gripping the console. Aaron's arm in front of her like it would do anything instead of break at her weight hitting it at the speed they were going (because Aaron has a lead foot and speeds like he's going through a mid-life crisis.)

And there's this flipped car in front of them, right in the middle of the road and A and A just look at each other like "Well what do we do?" And Laurance has been half- knocked out from the speed his face met the back of the drivers seat and he's groaning from the back in pain.

So they get out, minus Laur, and do the classic, look around to see wtf happened here. And there's broken glass and oil everywhere but the car is cold and had been there seemingly awhile.

And then they hear crying, coming from the ditch just below them, and Aphmau's the first one down it because of course she would be. And Aaron hears her gasp but he doesn't want to face-plant because the ditch is soaked and the ground keeps moving beneath him.

And he gets there and Aph is holding a fucking baby, like it just appeared out of thin air. And she's trying to calm it down while looking just as flabbergasted as he does. And his brain doesn't want to work because truly, what the actual fuck?

He looks around and there's a carseat that had been upside-down, but there's still no sign of the adults that actually crashed the damn thing and all that's in his head is "They wouldn't leave a baby right?" while thinking about his parents and doubling back like "Well they might." All the while there's little golden salamanders everywhere, and they're just as distracting as the crying.

So he wraps the little one in his red jacket and A and A climb back up the side of the ditch and Laurance is crouched down by the driver's window looking like he is about to hurl. And they meet eyes and Aaron winces because it's the look of someone who just saw a mangled corpse.

You get it right? Like the "dragons found a baby and tried to capture a cow to feed it" is just WEIRD, and only fits within the weird lore of MCD. If you wanna do it in Mystreet it has to become way fucking darker, they'd have to call 911 and watch as corpses get dragged out of the car and follow them to the hospital.

And then the baby would have to get a checkup, and that trio is just there. At the hospital, and shit sucks because that's way more traumatic then just "finding a baby." It's "I found a gruesome accident and a baby that just lost it's parents." Furthermore. Aaron and Aphmau would be, at this point. Just freinds if we're following the MCD route. And they would struggle heavily with the whole orphanage/foster care system because they're unmarried and unrelated to the baby.

I don't know, I just kinda wish I could've seen that. So much character development, so much angst. I might write it properly some day just to get it out of my thought rotation.

[clonemando]

If you're still accepting clone pairings, I'd love to see some Cody/Fox

I love this pairing so much. Since my Air conditioner isn't working and I'm melting in 99°F weather at the moment have some sweaty lads.

Fox was sprawled over their couch in only the boxers Cody had bought him as a gag gift that were gold and said property of the 212th on the ass. He grumbled from where his face was buried in a pillow and waved his hand at Cody, a sign it was his turn to have the fan pointed at him.

"When are they gonna fix the temp unit?" He asked lifting his face to look at Cody who was trying to retain some dignity in case someone entered their apartment. That meant he was wearing boxers and a tank top. His own boxers were white with little red foxes repeated all over them.

"Later tonight. You'll survive a few more hours." He said trying to seem unaffected as he looked over reports on his datapad but sweat was beading on his forehead.

Fox finally dragged himself up with a displeased groan. "I'm going to go drown myself in the tub. Rather that then become a dried husk on the couch." He complained and Cody rolled his eyes.

"Don't forget to wipe down after. Your hair sticks to the glass and I'm tired of having to clean up just because you won't get a trim." He said though he secretly liked how long Fox had been letting it grow.

"Then you can go in our room and pick all your nasty socks out from under our bed. They smell and I'm tired of crawling under there to find them." Fox grumbled back and just stripped out of the boxers right then and there tossing them at Cody's face.

"Do the rest of the laundry while you're at it too." He called over his shoulder as Cody yelped and balled up the garments ready to throw them back before he thought better of it.

"Kriff that. I'm joining you. Then we can do laundry together." He counted and dropped the datapad to hurry after his boyfriend.

The cool water was almost as nice as the view.

[mintaikcorpse]

Moments I Think Blitzø Realized His Feelings for Stolas, Part 2

Continuation of this post, and GOD DAMNIT I RAN OUT OF SPACE AGAIN. Whatever

The Harvest Moon Festival (S1, ep2)

Harvest Moon Festival has one of my favorite "I don't like him" moments, mostly because if how embarrassed Blitzø looks and M&M's faces. Lmao, they both know

This is Blitzø's reaction when Striker brings up how he tricked Stolas to get the book. Initially, Blitzø looks surprised, but then acts nonchalant when explaining what it is, just saying the short awnser is "yes."

Then the second image is where things get fun

Blitzø immediately backtracks, blushing and stuttering and explaining how they're not a couple, despite no one saying they were. He looks nervous and embarrassed and hid hands are up so he can explain himself despite, again, nothing to explain, because no one here said that they were a couple! Shows that the thought if them being a couple was on his mind though.

In the second image, he glances away, which is something people do when they're nervous or when they're lying. I'm going with nervous here, but you could also read it as him lying to himself when he says that there's nothing between them. Same thing with the third image, but he looks more nervous and like he's lost in his head, trying to calm down an imaginary scenario that he made up.

Fourth image is one of my favorites. He's hunched over with the hand over his face and blushing again, still looking really nervous, eyes still glancing sway from Striker. His hands are in a fist, which is another thing people do when they're nervous. He's doing a lot of arm movements as well, which is another sign that he's nervous, but also struggling to get his point across, which digs him deeper into the hole of "people are now going to assume there is something between them."

In these 2 photos, Blitzø is glancing away in the first one, hand rubbing neck/shoulder while still slightly hunched over, and still doing arm movements. You can still see a slight blush, and Blitzø has his focus back on Striker now, subconsciously going back to face him to not make it seem like he lost focus or to make him think they actually are a thing. He has an akward and nervous smile as well.

This image, he finally clears his head and clears his throat, realizing that his rambling is UNESECARY and not working. Also, in When I See Him Tonight (is that the sing name?), Blitzø says the quote, "So complicated, I hate that it's complicated, why do I always end uo in situations that are complicated? Here I go again, getting in my head, so I'll focus on the sexy stuff instead." He straight up admits that he focuses on sex to avoid emotions, so he probably focuses on other things to avoid his emotions too. Right now, he's just ignoring his emotions until later.

Than the iconic, "It's a transactional fucking, you see," still using his hands to make a point, showing that he's still nervous/embarrassed. But he's a lot more relaxed now, feeling like he made his point cleat when no, he just made everyone around him confused and think that there's something between them even more.

I'll make part 3 tomorrow, I'm tired.

[danieyells]

How Much Is An SSR Worth?

Summary: Ren gets Taiga's help. SFW.

----

The Sinostra students looked up at the approaching stranger. Their looks were clearly unfriendly, untrustworthy, and some of them even reached in their blazers as if for weapons(were they allowed to walk around campus armed!?) Ren froze and grit his teeth, looking at the little group of gangsters and at the blood red mop of hair of their leader who didn't even turn around to acknowledge him. He was starting to regret thinking this could work--there was no way this was worth it.

Before he could start to back away, the Captain of the Sinsotra house tipped his head further back, directing a pair of bright yellow eyes at him from where they'd been staring emptily into the ceiling. Ren froze. The slow blink he received reminded him of a cat video he'd seen online, albeit significantly less cute and even less likely to be a sign of affection.

". . .who're you?"

Ren briefly felt like he'd been transported into a mafia movie. It was the gravel in his voice, or maybe the cold look in his eyes.

He floundered for a bit, trying to come up with a way to bring up why he came over that didn't sound ludicrous to a normie. Just looking at this guy, he wouldn't know a thing about what he was talking about or needed--but he knew he might be his only hope right now. Maybe Taiga caught on to that hopelessness, or maybe he was amused by the fumbling, because his dull expression became a curious and interested one.

"Oh. Ain't you one of Harry's kids?" Harry? Did Haru know this guy!? Somehow that made it worse. Taiga spun around in his seat to look at Ren properly, his excited expression showing off his shark-like teeth. Those might be cool, if not for that he followed this question up with, "you here to bring me my lunch?"

"Your lunch?"

"Yeah. One of my guys promised me he'd get me something to eat." Taiga gave a sideways nod to the Sinostra students who were sitting with him. "And Harry's place is full of all that fresh meat, ain't it? You ain't here to deliver anything for me?"

"Fresh--" He wanted to eat the anomalies? Was anybody in this place normal? "N-no, I'm not here to bring you anything!"

"Oh." Taiga deflated and pouted. "So, who the fuck are you then? You got a debt to pay? Lulu doesn't like me doing business outside the casino without him around, but I can still handle that."

This was definitely starting to feel like Ren was in over his head.

"I just. I heard some things."

"Oooh." Taiga, once again, thinks he's got it and smiles. "You need a loan? You want some illicit goods? You want somebody to turn up in Tokyo Bay?"

"What!? No!! Are you seriously saying all that shit in broad daylight!?"

"Maybe I'm not serious about it at all!" Taiga laughed, seeming amused by Ren's increasing discomfort.

"I don't need things from Sinostra! I heard some things about you! I need something from you!"

Taiga was quiet for a moment, head tilted and eyes wide like he wasn't expecting personal business. Then he pouted again, looking off to the side. "Is Lulu trying to. . .nah, he wouldn't do that. Not without tellin' me. . .selling someone's organs would be a lot more lucrative than whoring me out anyway." He muttered to himself for a moment, while Ren fished his phone out of his pocket and thrust it towards him.

He immediately jumped back as the Sinostra students drew weapons to point at him. Taiga held up a hand to stop them from gunning someone down in the cafeteria and stared dully into the screen.

". . .the fuck is this?"

"I don't have a lot of resources and I don't have a lot of time--and I heard your luck is incredible, and I just need you to press this button here."

Ren pointed at a confirmation button on the screen, careful not to tap it. Taiga stared at it as if it weren't two sentences worth of text and it was taking a long time to read.

He reached forward and tapped the screen, then snatched Ren's wrist when he tried to pull away and protest being taken out of it. A few colorful characters appeared from behind the darkened screen of the confirmation popup. The link advertising rates immediately caught Taiga's eye, and he tapped at the screen, scrolling through the numbers with increasing interest.

The rates for the most artful of characters were insanely low, and a quick tap of the gems in the top of the screen said they cost a pretty penny. He idly committed the prices and numbers to memory(where they were lost as soon as he moved away from the screen) to calculate the value of.

"What're you doing!? I just--you just have to do the pull! You don't need to look at anything else!"

"This is gambling!" Taiga said cheerfully. "Some real shit odds at that! What, you're going for that one? It looks kinda like you, kid!"

He pointed at a character near the top of the rate screen. "No, I pulled that one already, somehow. . .it's the topmost one I'm after. Everybody says it's completely overpowered and all of the new meta's based on this unit, not to mention the art--"

Taiga nodded along, the gacha having had drawn some of his interest as a gambler. Way less fun than a game with anything of interest on the line, but it still seemed interesting. Not the characters or units or anything of that sort, but the act of pulling for things of value. . .he supposed it was named after gachapon machines. But the virtual nature of it meant less limited potential. . .so the artificial scarcity was formed by limited time features like this.

Quite the business tactic. Romeo might like it.

"So you just need me to press this button here, yeah?" Taiga navigated back to the gacha as though he'd been playing the game since release. He was almost invested now. "And you want me to get you this thing or whatever."

"Yes!! If you can!!" Taiga sneered and popped open the confirmation menu.

"Kid, I don't lose bets--"

Once again guns were pointed at Ren as he grabbed Taiga's finger before he could do the pull. Not appreciating the contact, Taiga smacked his hand away, and he winced at the feeling of his rings colliding with his palm.

"You--" he swallowed, trying to ignore the threats. The look on Taiga's face almost made him want to call it quits again. This was already way more effort than it was worth. . .to a normal person, anyway, but this pull could be the true beginning or the end of his playing this game. "You need to hold down on the screen, after you press the button. It doesn't seem like it does anything, but I swear I've gotten better pulls that way--"

"I don't need your superstitions, brat."

With that, Taiga tapped the button without even looking at the screen, glaring uncomfortably into Ren's face. At first, he was frozen, before the audio cue prompted him to spin the phone screen to face himself. "Wait, you did a single pull!? You were supposed to do a ten, the rate is higher that way!"

"Don't need it."

"But if I don't get it that's a waste of my--!!!"

Ren's jaw dropped as the screen flashed a multitude of colors. The gacha music faded out, and a new track began to play, a popular voice actress' recorded line playing accompanying the subtitled dialogue being spelt out across the screen. His eyes went wide as the SSR's unique animation played, and he watched on as his desperately desired pull came through on a single, effortless shot from a stranger.

"Holy shit you got it." Taiga grinned, looking over Ren's shoulder at the new unit, completely unaware of what it meant. At most, the art was kind of nice. Ren looked like he was holding in tears--or maybe a scream. "You actually. . .in a single pull!?"

"Gyahahaha! Told you I don't lose, kid!" He threw an overly friendly arm around Ren's shoulders. Ren looked at Taiga like he was a hero. Of course he did, until Taiga said, "hey. . .you ever heard the expression 'there's no such thing as a free lunch?'"

For a moment, Ren remembered all of the things Taiga mentioned before. Debts. Deaths. Illicit substances. His face fell, and Taiga gave him a squeeze and a friendly shake and a smile that was more sinister than sincere. For a moment, Ren wondered if he'd gotten himself into something he couldn't get out of. Did this single gacha pull just pull him into a life of crime? Was he about to be some sort of drug runner for the local organized crime house? Did he need to kill somebody? Could he kill somebody?

". . .What do I owe you?" It was just a gacha pull! Why did he go to the guys who look like the mob for a gacha pull!? What a stupid idea, just because he overheard that the captain of Sinostra had some unbelievable luck. The triumphant music playing from his phone and the animated character on the screen offered him no comfort and Taiga bore his sharp teeth in a grin.

"I'm glad you asked! Lulu throws a little bitchfit whenever I do somebody a favor without a price, even if it's a personal favor and not a Sinostra one." He leaned his cheek against Ren, tapping painted nails against his chest. "And I'd guess you'd ordinarily need to do a lot more than just one pull to get what you wanted, yeah? Maybe ten, maybe even a hundred?"

Ren nodded stiffly. The rates for this game were abysmal. But it was addictive.

"So the value. . .it's way more than just one, isn't it." He couldn't remember the numbers he'd seen earlier exactly, but he could do some calculations in his head. If he bothered to. But he knew enough people with gambling addictions to know how Ren's mind worked. This service was nigh invaluable to him. "And I saved you money. That's practically worth interest."

"W-wait a second!" Ren pulled away--or, perhaps Taiga let Ren pull away. "This didn't cost you anything but a few seconds, maybe a couple minutes! The gems you spent on the pull, they weren't even 1,000 yen in total! I could pay you that out of pocket and--"

"Y'know what? You're right. It didn't cost me a thing, what'm I even saying!" He laughed and smiled in a friendly way. Ren didn't trust the sudden change in attitude in the slightest. He'd let his guard down. But it couldn't stay down. "Hell, it was even kinda fun. All the flashy lights and pretty sounds--and you got your little drawing out of it, right? Not to mention, you're one of Harry's kids, aren't'cha!"

"Eugh. I am not his. . . ." Ren stopped himself, then grit his teeth. This could save him. Haru could be of use for once. "Y-yeah, I uh. . .he's a great. . .father. . .? Anyway, if you had fun and I got what I wanted, then we're even, right?"

"Sure, sure!" Taiga clapped Ren on the shoulder. "Hey, you got more of those things you want? It was pretty fun, I wouldn't mind helping you out again if you ever want more!"

This appealed too heavily to Ren's sensitivities for him to stay on guard like he wanted. ". . .really? If you don't get results, I'm not asking you again."

"Yeah, really! I'm waiting on my lunch anyway, what else've you got?"

". . .and I don't have to pay?"

"Nah, no cash. No crazy favors. Don't even worry about it."

That specific wording should have tipped him off that he wasn't entirely off scott free, but the idea of more free SSRs in his account catalogue enticed him too much. Taiga looked at his phone screen and tapped through to the gacha again.

". . .well. . .the unit gets stronger if you manage to pull it a second time--or, up to five times. So we could try pulling for it again. And there's another unit I wanted to get--oh, and in a different game--"

Taiga went along with Ren's increasing excitement, tapping away at the screen. Ten-pulls glimmered with high rarity units and supports even as games were switched. A few times Ren even asked Taiga to perform actions in the game for him, cheering quietly when he got him through difficult story missions that had been keeping him stuck in place for weeks.

All the while, Taiga insisted there was no charge.

But he didn't say anything about no debt.

And he may have said that Ren didn't have to pay, but that didn't mean he wouldn't extract value from him in other ways. In a few weeks Ren would be staring into the pen for some anomalous animal, wondering how he would get it all the way to Sinsotra without arousing suspicion, and trying not to think of the way he saw Taiga eat raw meat and bone that day, complaining to the student who'd brought it for him that it wasn't fresh enough but it'd do.

He refused to blame himself for all of this though. It's not his fault the guy with improbable luck was a mafia boss. It's not his fault the mafia boss was an underhanded carnivore. And it sure as hell wasn't his fault he was assigned to the house full of animals!

And it wasn't his fault that the gacha rates were so low he went this route either. It's capitalism's fault! It's the fault of companies preying on gambling addictions! He's not to blame for this! He refused to be!

[alatismeni-theitsa]

There are many things I will never forgive Rick Riordan for but the number 1 (one) thing I will always hold against him is how he treated WWII in the entire series.

To quote the PJO wiki, "[...] World War II, in the books, is described to be a huge fight between the children of Zeus and Poseidon on one side and the children of Hades on the other.

The events of World War II resulted in the pact of the Big Three, because their children were affecting the course of history too much. It was decided more demigod children would be dangerous for the mortal world."

Just. What the fuck. There are so many things that are wrong with this.

There is nothing that he can do to excuse or salvage this. He could rewrite the whole series, I don't give a fuck. This should not have happened in the first place.

I don't care if he wrote the first book in 2005, he was and still is a grown ass man with a high education from what I've read, he has no excuse. WWII has affected millions across the globe with the descendants of all too many families even having to deal with the generational trauma that came from that time period alone AND dealing with heavy deniers of the many atrocities and war crimes that were committed whilst their grandparents and great-grandparents are having hallucinations of all of their traumatic experiences (can you tell i'm speaking from experience?).

Ironically he holds (Ancient) Greece on such a high pedestal, calling it the birthplace of Western Civilisation (it isn't), and yet you can tell he obviously knows very little about the damn country whose culture he's been appropreating for almost two decades now. Making Hades the father of 3 (three) terrible war criminals in the war that, you know, Greece had been and still is greatly affected by to this day. Which is, you know, his fucking home. That he and all the other characters supposedly care about oh so much (I have so many bottled-up negative emotions about these books and absolutely no safe space to let them out, theitsa, you have no idea).

You may think I'm overreacting or taking this too seriously but I honestly couldn't care less. This is not a topic you can just joke about or treat light-heartedly. Yes, it was mentioned as an atrocity in the books, but it was still mainly treated as just "Hehe silly fight between gods! Secret History ooo!~".

Simply saying that WWII was bad is not enough, Rick, it's actually the bare minimum. You need to show it at the very least some respect by not undermining its consequences to simply "This is why we don't have kids anymore!". But you're obviously not ready to hear that yet. It still baffles me that his fans are just now discovering he is not the saint they thought he was. "How could he be a zionist ??" they all ask in unison, meanwhile the signs were all there since 2005 (at the very least).

Anyway, you don't have to answer this ask if you don't feel like it, I understand it can possibly be overwhelming. You're the first person I've seen that's actually not afraid to point out Rick's bullshit despite initially liking his books, and also the fact that you are a Greek educating people on actual Greek culture, so I felt safe sharing my thoughts with you. Thank you for your time! Καλές γιορτές! 💕

You're overreacting, especially when it comes to the World Wars! In ww2 1 in 10 Greeks died in the famine, and almost everyone I know had someone in their family executed or tortured by the Germans/Bulgarians/Italians triple occupation (not to mention getting hurt or killed in battle). These situations traumatized generations of Greeks, but Rick had the immense privilege of not considering this while writing! He treated the wars like they were play-dough for his little cutsy lore, he made our arch-enemies the children of our gods, and he can go to hell for this.

I am here for all the righteous Greek αλάτι, so if you have more thoughts, bring it on!

[secretdonderwolk]

would do anything to experience what it's like in max's mind for like five min. like intellectually i know he must have experienced doubt, indecision, anxiety before etc but on the other hand has he really lol??? or rather does he consciously experience it? like what's it like day to day in that noggin of his.

king of black and white thinking. funniest thing to me when you can see an error happening for a split seconds when something doesn't fit his reality and then him shrugging his shoulders like, well, i guess that means that it's not real.

[itwoodbeprefect]

flashbacks to dialogue that happened less than a minute ago are annoying and a little insulting for obvious reasons, unless it's in bad buddy episode 5 [2/4] and pat is having entirely serious sepia toned flashbacks to fifty seconds ago while almost shoving a set of drumsticks he hasn't even paid for yet up his nose. then it's brilliant and world changing

[winepresswrath]

bold of them to write like three separate episodes in which Louis and Lestat either don't fuck for decades or face serious obstacles to fucking. and then specify that Armand and Louis will fuck less. girl.

[dazais-guardian-angel]

delighted that i'm so much more fond of chuuya at this point than i was just a couple years ago. it took the stormbringer play, the cannibalism play, and the fifteen manga (still haven't gotten to those two novels in their entirety, I Will Soon I Promise), it took 6ish+ years, but i can confidently say I Get It Now. Now i just need asagiri to break him (affectionate) in the manga and actually give him a character arc already <333

[g0nta-g0kuhara]

holy shit finally someone else who doesnt want a dr4!!/pos

i always feel like people totally miss the point of v3 when they say that. not to say its not fair to want the series to continue bc you love and enjoy it n want more or whatnot, but narratively... god it kinda just destroys everything v3 worked up to.

tho i guess you could make a counterargument that continuing the series invalidates v3 gang's suffering and makes all their effort nothing and despair etc etc but i think its a perfect conclusion even with how open-ended it is!

also i love your analysis, it wrapped up everything i was thinking so concisely!!

It was so weird, I half-joked about wanting a DR4 all throughout playing v3 because I was having so much fun and didn't want it to end (plus being around for theorizing and initial hype mustve been Amazing for long-time fans). But straight up halfway through That Part of trial 6, I think when Shuichi was fighting against Kiibo as the audience's surrogate who didn't want v3 to end, it clicked in my mind that I didn't want another game. V3 was perfect enough ESPECIALLY with how they set up this ending

I love how open ended V3's ending is, and I'd be very happy to not ever get another dr game. I 100% agree that another game would cheapen one of the strongest parts of V3's ending

[spaceoutdreamer]

MY COWORKER ON MY ASS BECAUSE I DIDN'T UNDERSTAND GAY PRIDE MEANT WE HAD TO WALK IN A 30°C WEATHER IN A BIG CROWD, IT'S CALLED GAY PRIDE NOT GAY WALK 10 FUCKING KILOMETERS

[blujayonthewing]

my grandma, hugging me at our wedding rehearsal: I’m so happy you two are finally doing as God has commanded

me, has been Living In Sin for nearly a decade: ...... okay