#that wasn't even that long ago it was only like 5... years... ok some of us have been here for too long

[judebelle]

been thinking ab joao and reader hooking up behind his teammates backs'... like they've been "involved" for a while but sometimes the tension is too much and they have to sneak away iykwim ;)

sneaky - j.f. x reader

a/n : omfg anon ur gonna be the death of meeeeeee!! also i made this kinda long since i havent posted in a while, oops..

pairing : joao felix x fem!reader

word count : 2.3k

summary : joao and u prefer to keep your love life private, secret even, but the the flirty looks and knowing smirks from across the room are becoming unbearable.

cw : smut obv, lil bit of alejandro x reader, sneaky joao and reader, unprotected sex (wrap it b4 u tap it ppl), make outs, cursing, me not bothering to accent his name lol sorry

---

you were starting to regret going out to dinner with your friend alejandro and his teammates.

the only reason why being that one of his teammates had become more.

hooking up with joao felix on the down low has been fun, you won't lie. and while you enjoy sneaky quickies and flirty messages, there were times where you wish you could just tear off his clothes and fuck that smug smile right off his face.

you were currently sitting in a restaurant, a private room and table was booked for alejandro, his barcelona teammates, and their plus ones. you and alejandro had become inseparable ever since you met in spain a few years ago, and you had grown increasingly close to his teammates.

very close to a certain mr felix.

the first time you met joao, it wasn't anything magical, you just thought he was fit. alejandro had introduced you to him when he came on loan to barca recently, and you just couldn't get him out of your head.

it seems that the feelings were mutual, as that very same night he followed you on instagram. you, of course, played it cool and took your time following him back (you waited like 10 seconds).

from there, you two messaged often, especially after the team would hang out.

joaofelix79 : u got home safe?

ynsusername : ofc i did

ynsusername : alejandro wouldn't let anything happen to me

joaofelix79 : that's good.

you two started messaging more, sometimes even calling each other late in the night. you couldn't explain why, maybe he was just fun to talk to.

you would complain to him about work, and he would complain about a mistake he made in training.

eventually, you two started hanging out alone.

not anything crazy, of course.

joaofelix79 : hey

joaofelix79 : js noticed im about to drive by ur place

joaofelix79 : wanna get some ice cream? my treat

how could you refuse that?

it wasn't all that shocking to you when a surprise ice cream date turned out into a steamy make out session on a bench in a park in the middle of the night.

"we should stop, someone might see us.." you murmured against the portuguese boy's lips, you yourself making no effort to.

"ok, if that's what you want." he pulled away from you, his fluffy hair disheveled thanks to you.

"5 more minutes" you placed your lips on his again, feeling him smile against them.

from there, weekly hangouts became almost nightly. he would pick you up in his car, and you would drive anywhere. you just needed an excuse to make out. you even put your number in his phone.

eventually, joao grew tired of the make outs that led to nothing, and you did too.

12:03 am - joao : wyd

12:03 am - you : was ab to put some instant noodles in the microwave lol

12:04 am - joao : dont bother

12:04 am - joao : come eat at my place

12:05 am - joao : i ordered uber eats

of course, you went, and you two ate the chinese takeout he bought. you two sat and laughed together at his attempt at using chopsticks.

and then you found yourself perched on his kitchen counter, him in between your legs while he rammed into you mercilessly. you left red marks across his back and biceps.

"my god, you feel amazing, querida." joao's words were muffled as his head was nuzzled into your neck, his lips caressing your hot skin with every word he spoke.

"i'm so fucking close, joao.." you whined and whispered curses while your hands found themselves travelling from his arms to his hair, tugging on the soft brown locks.

"let go, y/n, i'm close too!" he removed his flushed face from your neck and connected your lips together again, breathing heavily into your mouth.

you came undone with a sharp whine, arching into him. his thrusts became sloppy as he let out a long groan against your lips, releasing into the condom.

that was the first time you two had fucked, and it definitely would not be the last.

his house was usually where you two would hook up because it was so big, and you didn't have to worry about anything when you were there.

you two fucked anywhere - on the bed, in the shower, on the couch, even in the laundry room.

you found that it didn't really matter where you were. if either of you were craving the other, it happened right then and there. it was fun. it kept you on your toes, kept things fresh and fun.

but it became a curse when you two were at a team dinner.

---

"si, i told him he could go fuck off if that was what he wanted. that guy needs to learn some manners, for fucks sake!"

the table erupted in laughs as pedro went on about some story that you weren't really paying attention to to be honest. you were sat right beside your good friend, alejandro, who was very intrigued in pedro's story and hadn't spoken to you more than twice this evening.

across from you was joao. he was wearing a black dress shirt that hugged his biceps perfectly along with black dress pants. of course, to make your life more difficult, the top two shirt buttons weren't done up.

one more open button and everyone would've seen the hickey you gave him the other-

"isn't that right, y/n?"

alejandro was speaking to you, and you were too busy staring at joao's biceps to hear him.

"hmm? sorry?"

"i said, it was you who i walked in on dancing silently in the darkness darkness of your room, right?" alejandro smirked at the sight of your cheeks going red, this memory being nothing short of embarrassing to you.

"yup, that- uh- that was me..!" you looked down in humiliation as the table giggled at alejandro's unexpected story about you. he loved embarrassing you, it was his thing. he found it fun because he thought of you like a little sister.

you looked up to see joao, laughing along with everyone else at the table, finding amusement in your misery. you shot him a playful glare.

"i'm only teasing, mi corazón." alejandro chuckled before ruffling your hair. "ale!" you whined, fixing your hair. his friends teased you. they all thought of you as their little sister, especially you being one of the younger ones.

the men continued on with their conversations as you continued looking at joao from your end of the table, only this time, he was looking at you too.

he was taking a slow sip of his water, eyeing you down.

joao wasn't the only one dressed all sexy tonight. you wore a short black satin strapless dress that hugged your figure perfectly. you thought of joao when you picked it out, you thought of him while putting it on, and you thought of him taking it off.

it seems that joao had the same thought. the way he looked at you from under his lashes gave you the impression that your outfit choice was a smart one.

you sent him a quick wink.

he smirked and dropped his eyes to your cleavage, widening them.

you rolled yours before continuing to eat your steak.

---

you couldn't take it anymore.

something the way he laughed with everyone at the table, his hair flowing when he turned his head. he had on a gold rolex and a gold chain, both glistening under the lighting over the table.

it was the way he carried himself with such confidence. he knew he was hot, and he knew you knew it too. that confidence definitely carried over into bed.

finally, you got up from the table, excusing yourself to "make a call".

shooting joao a quick look, he took the hint. his eyes followed you, watching you exit the restaurant and head towards the parking lot. after an agonizing 30 seconds or so, joao told everyone he forgot something in his car, and made a beeline to where he saw you last.

he saw you standing outside his car, waiting for him. he made his way towards you.

"so, who did you have to call?" he teased, his eyes waiting for your reaction. you scoffed and rolled your eyes, "very funny.".

you wrapped your arms around his neck, bringing him closer to you as you leaned against his car. he smiled down at you before looking over your figure.

"nice dress.."

"just take it off."

---

you two had squeezed into the back of his car, leaving nothing but surrounding street lights as your light source. you straddled his waist, rocking your hips while you smashed your lips against his. you two were breathing heavily, occasionally breaking the kiss to huff and puff before going back at it again.

joao's arms were wrapped tightly around your waist, his right hand occasionally sliding down to cup and smack your ass. his actions made you yelp into the kiss. your arms were everywhere. cupping his face, on his shoulders, in his hair, on his chest, on his abs.

it was like you two hadn't seen each other in years. like you were drowning and the only way to breathe was.. this.

your smooth rocking of the hips created a hard bulge in joao's pants which felt great on your throbbing clit. he groaned into the kiss, breaking it for you to breathe and to leave kisses down your neck.

"so, fucking, horny" he broke each word with a kiss. you moaned above him. "you can't even last one dinner party without my hands all over you?" you wanted him to shut up, so you grabbed his face in your hand and smashed your lips against his.

you started unbuttoning his shirt, but your hands were too shaky to do it quickly. "take this off, god damnit!" you groaned as he laughed and began unbuttoning it himself. you hiked your dress up and helped him with the last few buttons.

you moved his shirt partially off him, leaving it on his arms since you couldn't be bothered. you leaned down to kiss his chest while looking up at him. he was smiling down at you, hands rested behind his head.

he brought you back up to pull the top of your dress down just enough so that your tits would pop out. when they did, he licked his lips. now it was his turn to lean down and suck on them, making you tilt your head back and pant.

"joao, we dont have time for this-"

"shhh, patience princesa. don't worry." he went back to sucking.

"they're going to realize we're gone- joao!"

he couldn't bring himself to leave your tits alone, but when he did, you quickly reached down and undid his belt , not even bothering to pull it off.

"estás mesmo excitado, não é?" (you're really excited, aren't you?)

you nodded and bit your lip.

he unzipped his pants and pulled his hard cock out of his boxers. you raised yourself up on your knees and hovered over his dick. he held it up with one hand, the other resting on your hip.

"are you ready for me?" he teased.

"enough questions." you cut his teasing short as you took his cock in your hands yourself and sunk down on him.

joao hissed at the unexpected pleasure. he looked up at you, gasping for air above him before tucking a strand of hair behind your ear.

"move for me, bebé."

you did as you were told, lifting your hips up until just the tip of him was left in you, before sinking back down on him, agonizingly slow.

he shuddered at the feeling.

you picked up the pace, causing the car to rock. your tits bounced in his face, causing him to twitch inside you.

"fuck, y/n, you're amazing-" you laugh breathlessly above him, your hands resting on his shoulders for stability while his gripped your hips tightly.

after some time, your thighs were burning, and you were getting tired. joao picked this up, taking control. his grip on your hips was put to some use as he moved your hips up and down for you. he lifted and dropped you so easily and made you move so much faster. you felt the air leave your lungs and arched your back to stick your tits in his face.

he grinned as he thrusted his hips up, meeting you in the middle. he tilted your body back, and started to hit the spot inside you that made you see white.

your pants and gasps turned into moans and whines as you felt the bundle of heat in your core.

"joao, i'm close" you warned, your nails digging into his shoudlers.

"i'm right there with you, baby, oh," he groaned and grunted as he watched him drill into you faster and faster. "meu deus, foda-se!" (my god, fuck!) he hissed with gritted teeth as he felt you clench around him.

his pace was too much for you to hold back. you let go with a gasp and moan, your hand slamming and sliding down the steamy car window, leaving a print.

joao was, indeed, right there with you. he pulled your body off of him and set you down on his thighs hastily before stroking his red, throbbing cock, cumming all over your stomach with a string of grunts and pants.

you both sat there in the hot and dark car in disbelief, covered in sweat and panting, after having the most mind blowing sex you've ever had. you leaned your forehead against his and smiled. he chuckled before teasing you once more.

"let's go. we don't want to miss dessert, do we?"

[ellabsweet]

FAVORITE WORKS!

[ just a lil compilation constantly updated of my favorite works by writers on here to give them a little love and help my own navigation in no particular order whatsoever ok? ok i love these ]

(.1) 𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐇𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐓𝐀𝐋 by @cherriesxinthespring

pairing: abby anderson x reader

summary: the alcohol just wasn't enough to numb out your nervous feeling of starting your residency at seattle grace hospital. but a new, blonde, muscular distraction approached you at the bar, turning out to not only be the greatest fuck of your life... but something else.

(.2) 𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐄 by @s-4pphics

pairing: ellie williams x reader

summary: they dont have a summary but ellie is your sister’s best friend and you’re in love with her and it’s beautiful and you will cry both out of your eyes and puss-

(.3) 𝐒𝐔𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 by @totheblood

pairing: ellie williams x reader

summary: you've never been on a date, hell, you've never even kissed anyone. ellie decides to be a good best friend and teach you how! wow.. so kind of her..

(.4) 𝐈 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐇𝐄𝐑 by @hazelnutsforellie

pairing: ellie williams x reader

summary: you and ellie are best friends, first year college roommates that never separated. when a friend asks for your help in making her ex jealous, you succeed... and seem to smash not one, but two hearts with one singular kiss.

(.5) 𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐒 by @cinnnamongrl

pairing: ellie williams x reader

summary: ellie williams has never been the 'sorority type'. but when she meets you, she realises maybe spending college as a part of eta alpha rho isn't so bad.

(.6) 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐌𝐄 𝐈𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐋𝐎𝐒�� by @cowgirlcherrie

pairing: ellie williams x reader

summary: california; while known for its heat, legal marijuana, and hardcore skate culture, is the center of all disasters, especially for a local town skater who falls in love with her ex’s sweetheart roommate. the two teaming up to keep the past in the past and let the skater get the girl of her dreams.

(.7) 𝐖𝐄 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐒 by @spaceshipellie

pairing: ellie williams x reader

summary: modern au, ellie and reader are in their mid twenties. ellie and reader have been friends for years. their friendship has always been a little bit flirty but nothing has ever happened between them, not like that. well, not yet anyway…

(.8) 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐕𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐍 by @hope-drunk

pairing: abby anderson x reader

summary: a year ago, abby left you suddenly after a month long love affair. now she's back to convince you she's changed.

(.9) 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆’𝐒 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐓𝐎 𝐌𝐄 by @spaceshipellie

pairing: ellie williams x reader

summary: in the midst of the apocalypse, you and ellie find each other after you’ve both lost everything. what started out as a mere safety in numbers pairing, turns into something imperishable. however, after some time you get separated, leaving you both to believe the other is dead. four years later you find a commune in wyoming.

(.10) 𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐑𝐄 by @abbysvictim

pairing: abby anderson x reader

summary: you decide to travel back to your hometown to rekindle an old relationship and meet a mysterious stranger on your journey.

(.11) 𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 𝐌𝐄 by @elliessknife

pairing: ellabs x reader

summary: where abby is reader’s ex and ellie tries to get with her

(.12) 𝐍𝐎𝐁𝐎𝐃𝐘 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐘𝐎𝐔 by @elliesbelle

pairing: ellie williams x reader

summary: you’re in your junior year of college and at a party, you run into the girl who broke your heart: ellie williams. despite the time it took to reset your life, will you risk a broken heart again for her?

(.13) 𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐃 by @solaceocean

pairing: ellabs x reader

summary: ellie was just some random girl that walked into your work. you didn’t expect to be in a two month long relationship with her even when she hasn’t met your five year old son or didn’t even know you had a kid.

(.14) 𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐑 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐀𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 by @elliespeach

pairing: ellie williams x reader

summary: ellie owns her own vinyl store and the day you wander in changes both of your lives forever. she quickly becomes infatuated with you, desperate for your love that she believes is meant to be. when things in your life begin to spiral, ellie is there to catch you, but you'd never suspect she was the reason you fell in the first place.

(.15) 𝐂𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐇 𝐂𝐔𝐋𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 by @phantombriide

pairing: ellie williams x reader

summary: after a messy and brutal breakup with your long term girlfriend, ellie williams, you were quickly chased off of the internet and away from your life as a social media influencer. with your friends and the majority of your fan base wanting nothing to do with you, your attempt to put yourself back out there seems more difficult than you originally expected, especially with the continuing backlash and an unknown person who is determined to make your life hell.

(.16) 𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐍𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑 by @seattlesellie

pairing: ellie williams x reader

summary: it’s ellie’s birthday, and you have three gifts for her. a moonflower bouquet, the latest savage starlight, and a pin from joel. maybe, you even have a fourth one.

(.17) 𝐎𝐁𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐄 by @bxtchycaprisun

pairing: abby anderson x reader

summary: you’re a new medic in the WLF base. you’re young, hardworking, and the thing that abby anderson hated the most, stubborn.

(.18) 𝐘𝐄𝐒 𝐌𝐒.𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍 by @abbysvictim

pairing: abby anderson x reader

summary: you’re failing, and you’re fucked if you’re failing so you enlist the help of your favorite teacher to raise those grades — and your heart rate.

[pomeloandtv]

She took off her sunglasses and thought.

It was nice to be able to think again. For a change.

How on earth could she ever have believed it was not something that he had planned?

Everything else had been his idea, his project, his execution, why had she believed this wasn't?

Well, for a while thinking had been harder, it was easy to believe anything in that state, but even so …

But that had only been a year. She'd still been smart for a long time before that.

It had started five years ago.

Maybe it had started earlier?

But her memory of it started five years ago.

A growing pain over six months

First unease, something wrong

"Hi Julia!"

Growing to an inner, unexpressed cringe, that's not me

"Happy birthday Julia"

Then wanting to snap at people whenever it happened

"Julia, can you …."

Thinking "That's not my name!" but biting her tongue every single time.

Having to introduce herself had been the worst

"Hi, I'm … Julia" [ugh]

Taking 5 minutes to fill out a form when meeting a surgeon for a consultation. Not wanting to write anything down, but knowing there was nothing else to write down

FIRST NAME: …

But who am I then? If that is not me, who is me?

And then one morning after about six months she had woken up and her name, her real name, her true name was bright and golden in her mind. Everything was so obvious.

And a middle name too? She had a middle name on her birth certificate, but it had never been part of her identity. She could go years without thinking about it.

But now she absolutely had a middle name

Elation. Her name revealed to her.

It was beautiful.

And it was her.

But, she didn't tell anyone. She suffered for another three months.

She engaged in occasional unknown petty acts of rebellion.

Going to the coffee shop when she knew no one was there, making her order, giving her name, "Coffee for …", walking out with her trophy, sometimes her name hidden, pointing towards her, sometimes pointing to the world, depending on how brave she felt.

Baristas with bad writing were her favourite. No need to hide the name.

One morning, she snapped in front of her husband

"Julia, we'll start the …"

"NO!"

He said nothing, waiting

Oh my God, was she really about to tell someone?

"What's wrong"

All the words came out at once

"Thatsnotmyname ImeanIknowitismyname butIhateit Idontwantit itsnotmyrealname pleasedontcallmethat Icanttakeitanymore itisjusttoomuch everyonecallsmethatanditismakingmeinsane ItriedbutIcantlivelikethisanymore"

"Ok, I'll call you anything you want"

Oh God, here it came, she paused too long

"Is there another name you'd prefer?"

"My name is Sweetie, with an i and an e at the end"

And the weight was lifted, and she was now Sweetie to him, and a few weeks later she even told him her middle name.

And he had loved her new name, and delighted in using it

And things at home had been wonderful

But it was still only him who knew

The world did not and she hated the world for it and she was at least a little bit sad in it all the time

And he told her she would have to tell people her true name.

And she had.

And though some people accepted it, a lot of people had hated it.

She understood that it was … a non-standard name, one which carried societal meaning. But that was society's fault, not hers.

One of her friends refused. They weren't friends anymore.

Others were slow to adapt, but they did.

Her parents were a bigger problem. She wasn't prepared to cut them off over this, yet, but she did reduce contact.

Eventually they came around.

They still didn't understand.

But they understood enough to know that it wasn't important whether or not they understood.

On her birthday they baked her a cake with her name in icing.

Her middle name wasn't included.

But that was OK.

She reserved its use for more formal settings. Like work. Friends and family could just call her Sweetie.

But her husband knew how much she loved the middle name too and would call her that and she loved hearing it from him.

"Sweetie Muffins" he would say to her in the morning, when he felt her stirring, and she would sigh happilly.

Sometimes just "Muffins" to be cute.

Things got better.

She looked at some pictures on her phone.

Here was dinner and champagne to celebrate her new legally-changed name.

Pictures of each of the days her driver's license or credit cards arrived.

Sweetie Muffins Baudin

Middle name included, her old middle name never having been.

She was finally herself, Sweetie to her friends, Sweetie Muffins to the wider more formal world.

Occassionally she met resistance to her name from strangers, but that was their problem. Not hers.

Then other big changes came

It got harder to think or to focus.

But she knew that was because of him.

And she knew he wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't what she really wanted.

She never remembered a hypnosis session, but over the years it had become clear to her that he brought her under nearly every day.

And then she had to leave her job.

Which was good. She used to love her job long ago but now she hated it.

But she hadn't told her job she wanted to leave, her job had told her she had to leave.

She kind of remembered the conversation in her boss's office.

She had been confused. She was always confused. But OK.

It was nice like this.

Everyone was so nice to her.

People smiled at her more, or told her not to worry, or that it was going to be OK.

People did things for her.

She could just be nice to people and no one expected anything of her.

Then her boobs got bigger, again

She remembered the pain and the recovery but not much about the decision.

Her husband had took her to a doctor where she had smiled and pretended to understand, but focusing on long sentences was hard

How had he done that to her? So delicious.

And the doctor had smiled at her and she had smiled back. And said "yes", or "I need to think about that" but not much else.

Later, (how much time had passed?) she was in surgery.

And then pain and weight for a while and then bigger boobs.

She liked them a lot.

Everybody else seemed to.

Some of her friends would squeeze them for luck, and she would giggle, and her friends would pat her head.

And there were other changes.

Like her first boob job, he'd already made changes to her face, before, when thinking was easy.

But now he made more.

She looked at some old pictures.

She had always thought of herself as beautiful before, before she met him even.

But now ….

And then one day her husband had told her she would be getting a tattoo on her ass.

He'd picked her other tattoos of course, just as he had when she had been smarter.

She had tried to think of something to say in reply. She pursed her lips.

"What will this tattoo be of Daddy?"

"Your name"

"My name?"

"Sweetie Muffins"

"I love my name!"

He had laughed warmly. "It's a great name"

"I really love my name!"

"Well, if you ever forget it, and its possible with that silly head of yours, you can just look at your ass to remember it"

"Ok?" she had smiled back, replaying what he had said. He had said a lot. A knot appearing on her forehead. "Oh! I get it!"

She had her intelligence back now

Four months ago he'd stopped performing whatever conditioning he had been doing that made it hard to focus.

She'd been back to herself for a few weeks now, adjusting.

She said she'd like to be turned back, made stupid again, he had promised he would.

But for now, he wanted to see the light of understanding in her eyes.

"And there is a different pleasure you will get in comprehending. So we can have fun with that too"

Later; "maybe I'll just make you dumb for other people", he had mused

"If you want, but it was nice to be dumb for you too"

She came inside from the patio and looked at herself in the mirror.

So gorgeous

He had told her yesterday he'd be pumping her lips back up.

"Back up", she had asked? "They were bigger?"

"They were a lot bigger last year, they've come down since. Look at your old Instagram pics"

Those were big

Seeing made her remember

They had been huge in her field of vision.

Her lips were still big, well beyond her natural size, still visible in her field of vision.

But not like those old ones.

"I'm remembering something, uh, did I have trouble talking or something? I seem to remember … a feeling … it was difficult …"

"We had a bit of botox placed behind the middle of your top lip. It made it harder for you to form the shapes needed to pronounce certain sounds. You were adorable"

"I remember, … uh, can we do it again? I mean, I'd like to experience it now"

He had winked.

"Will you do that again, I mean, if you make me stupid again will you make changes to me I don't understand?"

"That's a guarantee. I'll make some temporary changes that go away like those lips. But I'll make permanent changes too like your tits"

"uhhhh, yes please, whatever you want"

She took off her dress and looked at her ass in the mirror. At her tattoo.

She got a second hand-held mirror so she could see what other people saw. Without mirror writing.

Sweetie Muffins

It was her name.

Nothing felt more real to her than that.

She was Sweetie Muffins

Funny how a middle name had never mattered before. Now it was just one grade below being the second part of a double-barralled first name.

She had always been Sweetie Muffins, even when she had been Julia Falkner, or Julia Grace Falkner according to her birth cert.

She would always be Sweetie Muffins.

She didn't want to be anything else.

She loved the tattoo.

It was cute and sweet. Like her.

Visible in a bikini, or in the gym changing room.

He had installed a small gym at home, but she wasn't allowed use it.

She had asked why, now that her smarts were back, it had occurred to her that it was weird that she went to the gym.

"I like that you have to work out around people in your sports bra and booty shorts"

"Besides, you need things to do all day, and going to the gym can be one of them"

That was true. She'd been getting bored as her intelligence came back. What had she done all day before with no work to go to?

Clothes shopping certainly. She hadn't asked him about it yet, but she hadn't found any of her old clothes.

Everything she had now was more colourful, attention-attracting.

And the only more-plainly-coloured items were all tighter, shorter, lower-cut.

She'd taken to wearing these items - like the black cocktail dress she'd just taken off - just to not feel like an explosion in a paint factory

She looked from the dress on the floor back to her tattoo

Sweetie Muffins, the tattoo said to her

"That's you", it said to her

"That's me", she said to herself

"I'm Sweetie Muffins"

The name was intrinsic to her

Everyone should know who I am.

All this was true for her

All this would always be true for her

Even now having learned the truth.

She had never seen herself under before.

But he had shown her a video of the first hypnosis session where he had began the work of changing her name.

Making her feel disgust at Julia

Implanting her need for Sweetie Muffins.

And she knew it never would have taken, her mind would have rejected it, had she not wanted it

She was Sweetie Baudin

Sweetie Muffins Baudin for more formal occasions.

[pianostarinwonderland]

maybe skully isnt dead 🤯 [half copium half srs]

listen. ik ive been on copium for a while. ik we all are, ive seen twitter, tumblr, and everyone’s tags on my posts when they reblog

BUT PLS HEAR ME OUT. IM SO SERIOUS RN WHEN I SAY: if u wanna be technical about it, if u wanna stretch it out somehow, you can argue that the game never outright states that skully is dead, only that the skully we met was from hundreds of years ago.

“but mamsir pianostarinwonderland, how in the fuck can that be???? we HEARD that invisible kiss” LET ME COOKKKKKK 🔥🔥🔥 I SWEAR EVERYONE, I AM COOKING U JUST HAVE TO HEAR ME OUUUUUUUUUUUUUT— knocked out

Ok serious time, let me mansplain to you all the possibility of Skully being alive

Establishing first of all, Twst has kept Skully's nature vague

Simply put: we don't know if Skully is human. In his live 2D, Skully's ears are completely covered. Even in his illustration, we can barely see his ears. It's an interesting design choice. However, in his chibi (which wasn't revealed until Episode 5), we can see his ears aren't shaped like a fae, but are round like that of a human.

However, it's pretty hard to think he's human either, when we consider his "moshi, ne moshi" greeting in Episode 1 and its connection to the supernatural. Voiced, to be noted. Exactly what kind of creature he could be is currently unknown, but because this part was voiced, it's something we need to pay attention to at the very least.

In regards to his mortality, the only clue we're really given is Skully himself saying that he may never meet us except through Halloween, which implies a lifespan similar to a human or something similar. But Skully doesn't know how far into the future that the cast is from. Heck, does he even know of his nature?

Now, addressing that invisible kiss...

I feel like this is the main thing that told all of us that Skully is long gone. Heck, if you catch me in my right mind, I might just tell you that yeah, that should be enough proof that Skully is dead! Little signs from the dead such can manifest in similar ways to what Jamil and Leona sensed: hearing a kiss and feeling a kiss on your hand.

(unfortunately i'm not in my right mind so you're getting my dumb reasons why i'm arguing for otherwise)

However, if Skully is gone, I find it interesting that this is the way they decide to show it. We already know from the very first Halloween event that ghosts can manifest all year round in Night Raven College due to the high concentration of magical power in the area. Outside of that, they cannot be seen. If they really wanted to confirm with the audience that Skully is a ghost, they could have had him appear as such at the end, when they all returned to Night Raven College.

But they chose a scenario where people can draw a lot of conclusions from it: Is their senses getting fucked over as they wake up? Are they still reeling from the magic of the book? (though rationally, we know that Leona is not one to be easily stunned, so the first question is at the very least easy to dismiss)

I've also seen some people theorize that he's using invisibility magic during the invisible kiss scene. And well, while I find that funny, it makes me wonder if he could be some other kind of spirit that's not dead. Like an undead of some sort, which the residents of Halloween Town are. Heck, Azul's card line about Skully talks about how he seems to fit right at home with the Halloween Town residents. Again, we don't know Skully's true nature, but the possibility of him being a species that can turn invisible is interesting.

Moving on, we have what Dire Crowley stated about Skully

At the end of the event, Crowley tells us that he found Skully’s portrait while rummaging through the storage and shows it to us and the 11 boys who went inside the book

What he tells us is that Skully J. Graves is a NRC graduate from hundreds of years ago, before Crowley was Headmage. Note that he only was appointed for the position 100 years ago; the Skully we met is at least from around 200 years ago. During his NRC years, Skully got to share Halloween to NRC. It was a hit, and when he graduated, he spread Halloween all over the world in his travels.

I'd like to take a little detour first to discuss something that's been weighing on my mind: Some people have thought that Crowley is lying to us when he speaks about Skully and his achievements, but... I don't see why he would lie. For one, there is a decent chance that Crowley might not have gotten to see Skully. Even if he did, it's even more unsure if he was involved in Skully's affairs.

However, there's one main reason why I do think that Skully got to live a fulfilling life instead of facing an overblot that killed him or some other tragedy. I'd like to dedicate a longer post to this matter, but to make it concise, I think through Skully, Twst is starting to establish something new regarding their history. I think that historical teachings, folktales and stories, and rumors that are well-known tend to be lies or twisted truths. Whereas those that are obscure and not known are actually what occurred. Skully is called the King of Halloween who's done so much to spread the holiday to the world, yet not even NRC students, who should be the first to know considering that Skully is an alumna, know of him. Although there may be other reasons why that's the case, I like to think that at the very least, Skully's obscurity indicates that he did live the life he wanted and succeeded in working for a future that generations after him can enjoy.

Anyway, that actually isn't the main point of this section of the post, but I kind of want to air that out first. The main point is that Crowley only really said that Skully is a former NRC student from hundreds of years ago who traveled around the world to spread Halloween. But he never told us where he was buried or whether he saw his ghost roaming NRC. He never said anything about Skully being dead.

He probably said the hundreds of years ago bit, carrying the assumption that of course, Skully may have passed away. But we have to remember that we have long-living species in Twisted Wonderland. Fae that were students 200 years ago are very likely to be alive now. Crowley himself is a long-living creature, having been Headmage for 100 years. I think with that in mind, it's important for him to emphasize that Skully's gone if he really is. But he never mentioned it. Therefore, there is a good chance that Skully might just be somewhere else. That or Crowley just doesn't give a fuck where his alumni go, and I might be thinking too deeply about the absence of certain words. Honestly, that's a pretty good chance too.

Lastly, we have the scene where Jack Skellington gets shot down but survives it

Here's where it gets a bit more into speculation, but you're going to have to hear me out.

In the movie, Jack Skellington gets shot down by the military for impersonating Santa Claus. When the Halloween Townspeople watched it, they all despaired, and the mayor started declaring to all that Jack has been blown to smithereens and proclaimed him dead.

But that's not what happened: we find Jack landing on an angel's statue, alive and definitely not blown to smithereens.

And considering that Skully is still very much twisted from Jack Skellington... do you think the writers are pulling a similar move? Making us think that he's dead, just as the townspeople thought he was dead, only for us to learn eventually that he's alive.

This of course depends on what happens eventually in the sequel. From the way things are proceeding, what happened in the Lost in the Book with TNBC is events prior to the movie, and we could very well have the sequel be set during the movie events. (If you ask me, I kind of doubt that actually. I feel like Skellington got inspired by Skully's love for Halloween, enough to stay true to his identity as the Pumpkin King, which would mean the movie wouldn't happen the way we know it. So if anything, I feel like TNBC 2 would focus less on the actual movie and more on the side games where Oogie takes over Halloween Town and even kidnaps Santa and other people, but I admit, that's a stretch, especially considering that we will get Santa giving Halloween Town a taste of Christmas)

Of course, this post is really just to let some of my copium out. Rn, it's still safe to assume that yea, Skully's dead. And though I am coping hard for Skully to be alive, with the way Twst treats the dead, it's not exactly a bad thing. Ghosts continue to stay in NRC like they're living people. They honor the dead, and let the dead live among them. And even if he is in the afterlife and not stuck in the mortal plane, I have faith that Skully did live a fulfilling life that may have been forgotten but clearly changed the world. :'D

[ask-trashhunter]

Ok folks!!! OOC post!! I have 16 Trash Hunter designs now, which means I should be able to run a bracket tournament that lines up pretty neatly! :D

First though I wanna introduce you to all the designs I've done so far!!

All of these have a unique name for voting purposes, but don't worry about remembering them all I'll show pictures of them every time!

Human Hunter 1

Starting off simple, this is Human Hunter 1! The OG, the classic, my pfp! Honestly I kinda rushed this design bc I made this blog on a whim, so I had to make the design super quick! I spent like a little over an hour on this, and I had only really spent 15 extra minutes beforehand thinking about their design, so that's around 1 and a half hour total...... Idk how long I spent on the others. Anyway, basically their top half is pretty human looking, EVERYTHING about them is as green as I managed to get it (green is Their Color to me) and then their bottom half is basically meant to just be a trashy sludge that sort of melts and merges with their landfill. It's hard to tell where the landfill starts and where Trash Hunter ends. Oh yeah- and I have like 3 drawings of them in this style, their skin tone varies a LOT between each drawing lol. um. you haven't seen. the third one btw haha. it's totally not of me and trash hunter holding hands why would you even say that

Human Hunter 2

Alright, this is my second "human" Trash Hunter design. I wasn't quite happy with my first one, so I wanted to change it to something more like this. However!! I never actually got to finish my design until I watched something that changed the way I thought forever. I finished this drawing just this monday actually, because I'd forgotten I had no finished drawing of Human Hunter 2. I want you to remember that giant grapply arm they have and those spider legs. Also, you'll notice there's a line next to them, and it says "Cop" under. That's how tall Copper would be (per my headcanons) next to the various Trash Hunter designs. They really vary in size. For reference, I headcanon Copper as 152 cm, or 5 feet. I'll add a size chart in at the end- they won't be 100% accurate to the pictures but it'll be in the same area at least.

Trashbag Hunter

Ok this. This is where my life changed. I watched the hodgepodge audio new year's patreon video and got friggen mentioned. Hi Raddagher if you're seeing this I'm still not normal about Trash Hunter. I started feeling a bit insecure about my designs like I'd been boring about them so I was trying to redeem myself. When I started imagining Trash Hunter as a fucking trash bag with grillspyd- er- collapsible grilling skewer thingies- for legs. And holy FUCK I could not get the image out of my head it's hillarious and adorable. Relisten to the episode and imagine Trash Hunter like this TRUST ME /nf

Either way, this is where I started to expand my horizons. The trash bag and the grillspyd are sort of reocurring atp. Also this was my Discord pfp for a while, now I've changed it. Might change it back eventually honestly? I don't do that. I don't repeat profile pictures ever. Ok I might have done that at some point. But for now my pfp stays the same. This is my PFP over on bluesky though!

Anyway this is the cutest shit I've ever imagined- the drawings that follow are mostly random doodles I've made at D&D or during class. BUT FIRST!!!

Pony Hunter

Ok so I play ponytown. I played a bit ages ago and then I almost forgot it existed, then my friendo kept showing off what they were doing on there and I'd seen a few vids on it recently and long story short I've made 16.5 new ponies on there and most of them are Hodgepodge Audio themed. Ponytown Pony Hunter doesn't usually wear that turtle but in this screenshot they do. The drawn version shows a bit more how I actually view them though. Oh and that IS a croissant behind their ear, thanks for asking!! (I've been waiting to say that for months, I'm overjoyed now)

Their tail is a compact mirror btw! And that tarp they have in game, those are actually wings, teehee! Oh and I forgot to say why they have croissants behind their ears- basically I was looking at the horns and realized one set of horns was kinda curvy in a croissant-y way. So I was like eh, heck it. Croissants.

Seagle Hunter

This is where the chaos started. I was at DND, and we were on a quest to help a god. We met a seagull who was definitely not a fucking seagull. I ended up getting downed and when we were like what, 5 hp away from killing whatever creature was wrecking our shit, our 2 remaining teammates fucking left us. My character Thomoras only survived because one of our teammates asked the seagull to intervene, and the seagull fucking killed the creature. Thank you, seagull. I called you Karl but I never got your real name. I'm sure you wouldn't have answered if I asked. Anyway!! All that talk about seagulls that session got me thinking "Seagull. Trash Hunter. Trash Hunter seagull." this is an accurate depiction of how I think Always. So yeah I drew them as a seagle (<- that's how I prefer writing seagull) and I was like hell yes let's draw them as more silly things because I focus better when I draw!

So I started asking people for ideas.

Goblet Hunter

And this is officially were I lost it I think. I mean, I learned to disregard canon with this. I have a few different Little Guys as I call them, and they're definitely not canon at all, BUT THEY'RE SO CUUUUTE HELLO!!! 😭😭 I asked my DND buddy to give me a random item and so I drewed this bc they said goblet....... I fucking love these so much honestly

Soup Hunter

I love soup. What more is there to say? They call me the soup enjoyer. I switch in whenever we're about to have soup. I soup my faves. I spam the soup emoji (🥣) when I get too excited for words. It had to be done! It just had to! If you want you can imagine the soup is garbage soup. Or you know those witch potions a lot of people made as a child? Using acorns and grass and flowers and whatever you could find? Could be that too. Or maybe it's brogle soup becos it's my fave and they are my fave :)

Perfectly Generic Object Hunter / PGO Hunter

It had to come eventually. The Homestuck reference. My friend said for me to make them cube and I was like "I heard Homestuck, yes? Homestuck it is."

So yeha they're a green cube now :3

Egg Hunter

They're an egg now. They're just a huge fucking egg and they roll around. They just roll around.

I'm not allowed to add more images hold your horses for the reblog, I'll get image IDs done before I post this though so next reblog should be up in not all that long

[crispy-kiss]

EVE OF DESTINY: KÖZI & HARUHIKO ASH - Special project talk for Co Chamber Psycho!

I've been terribly bored lately, so I thought it would be fun to translate one of the interviews from közi's old fc ^_^ Special thanks to @/cherdememoire and @/futaritaboo on twitter for helping me with this 3 page long conversation between these two. I apologize in advance for any mistakes I may have committed while translating it.

Thank you for waiting! We have covered most of the people involved with Közi’s solo, but have you noticed that there are still some areas that have not been covered yet? This time, we finally entered that uncharted territory! You may think you know Eve of Destiny, but surprisingly, you don't! We are pleased to have Haruhiko Ash (hereafter referred to as "H"), the solitary vocalist of the mysterious unit E.O.D., who mainly works overseas, will be appearing this time, this is the first interview in the magazine of Darkness! I thought that if I asked him for an interview, I would be sunk in Tokyo Bay. I was hesitant to do so, but I acted like it wasn't a big deal and asked him to do it - he said OK. Maybe he is more friendly than I thought? What is he really like? Enjoy!

◆ It’s kind of embarrassing to talk formally. Let’s order beer first! ◆

K: Well then, shall we make a toast first?

H: Good job.

K: Thank you for your hard work.

H: “Happy new year” was it?

K:  That’s not it. On New Year’s Holiday, we went to Tsukishima to eat Monjayaki together, right?

H: Ah! That was it.

K: With today’s rough feeling, I'm thinking of talking about unknown things about E.O.D and how I met Haruhiko-san, so please take a look...

H: Is it okay to do it randomly? 

K:  It’s completely fine.

H: By the way, have you been listening to music recently?

K: I might not have been listening to it much.

H: Kaela Kimura (singer) is good.

K: Huh?! Kaela Kimura? Haruhiko-san?! Seriously?!

H: I like aiko (singer) too though.

K: aiko? Haruhiko-san?! Really?! (Laughs)

H: Seriously. But I've only heard of Kaela Kimura in the last few years. Kimura Kaela’s CD is the only one I bought to listen to recently.

K: (Surprised) Did you buy some recently released albums?

H: The first limited edition comes with a DVD. You'd better buy it too.

K: (Laughs) That kind of talk... Is it okay in terms of image?

H: Image? I don't care about that (Laughs).

◆ In the first place, when did you two meet? ◆

H: How many years ago was it? I don't know, but I think you were still a teenager when we first met.

K: That’s right. I was 18 or 19 years old

H: It had been only around one year since you had came to Tokyo, right?

K: That’s about it. It was before I started Malice Mizer.

H: We didn't meet through music activities or anything like that, you simply applied for something like "looking for people who want to play baseball," right?

K: I joined the baseball team called "Takadanobabas" due to various circumstances.. Of course, I knew about "Haruhiko Ash” from "ZOLGE." At the time, I had a very scary image of Haruhiko-san.

H: You used to come to pick me up at home when you played baseball.

K: I did.

H: For some reason, he parked his car in front of my house the night before, slept in it, and waited for me.

K: It was in the neighborhood of <NOA> in Baba, right? (laughs)

H: I was wondering "Why did he park his car in front of my house the night before?" I asked him "What are you doing?" and he replied "I'm picking you up tomorrow." Like, Wow!

K: At that time, Being standby to pick-up since the day before was a trend wasn’t it?

H: Yes, it was. I couldn't get up even if they told me to pick them up at 5:00 a.m.

K: But that baseball team took it very seriously. Like morning practice for club activities.

H: That was abnormal. Even though it was a weekday, practice was from 6 a.m. I thought it was healthy because I was playing baseball, but it was very unhealthy. Most people had been coming from the night before without sleeping.

K: Haruhiko-san is a baseball kid, isn’t he?

H: Well, yeah. I was from Little League.

K: I've been using hard balls since I was little. I was in the elementary and middle school baseball club, but my position was pliers. Haruhiko-san , for example, is a vigorous baseball boy. “Takadanobabas" were playing a lot of games, right?.

H: I was in the Shinjuku Ward league. Wasn't it rather strong? You were a pretty nice player too, right?

K: I was okay.

H: I get the impression that you were hitting it somehow.

K: At that time, I also went to the bathing center. Have you ever been there with me?

H: Well, I don't remember. Don't you go there these days?

K: I go there occasionally. It occurred to me, there are times when I feel like going to the bathing center.

H: Let's go together sometime. Oh, come to think of it, is my glove at yours?

K: Oh! That strange glove is Haruhiko-san’s!

H: I knew it was at your place after all.

◆About E.O.D◆

K: E.O.D didn’t make any moves last year. Haruhiko-san went overseas a lot except for E.O.D.

H: I went to Saipan with a gravure idol.

K: It's a mystery, right, Haruhiko-san’s work. Isn't that off-the-record?

H: That's fine, nothing special. Gravure idols usually write things like "For some reason, Haruhiko Ash is on the beach in Saipan~!"  on their blogs.

K: You’ve been caught (Laughs) I wonder if there are pictures of you on the beach uploaded all over the Internet without your knowledge. A picture of a very carefree smiling face.

H: …

K: E.O.D hasn't performed since the fall of last year.

H: It’s been that long already? It was around Halloween.

K: It was, right.

H: Was Australia the last time?

K: That’s right. If I don't tell you why Haruhiko-san and I decided to work together in the first place, I don't think you will understand much about it.

H: I remember. When I was at a club event in Osaka, you suddenly came to see me. I don't remember who you were with.

K: With KAI of Art Marju.

H: Oh yes, I remember now. I hadn't seen you in a few years.

K: It had been quite a while since we last met.

H: If I may explain to the readers of the newsletter, Eve Of Destiny is the name I used when I was active overseas, and it can be a band, solo, unit, or whatever. I once participated in an exaggerated 4-disc compilation of gothic history called "Black Bible" released in the U.S., which led to various offers from overseas. At that time, I had an offer from a German festival called "Wave Gothic," and I was thinking that I could participate in Wave Gothic, too, and Közi just happened to show up.

K: The timing was good.

H: We only talked about it at that point, but I called Közi because I had received several invitations from abroad in addition to Wave Gothic. I said something like, "If you are willing, I will accept an offer from abroad."

K: I remember that phone call well.

H: Wave Gothic in Germany is a big event that everyone who loves Gothic in Europe knows about. When I first appeared, I performed at the main stage alongside people like The Sex Gang Children and SIOUXSIE SIOUX.

K: I saw that on BURST.  I thought, "Oh! Haruhiko-san is awesome!"

H: However, just because you've been on the main stage once, it doesn't necessarily mean you'll be the main stage again this time... I told you that I was going to go over there with that intention, but it turned out to be the main stage, didn't it?

K: That is right. I was told that you would accept the offer from such a huge festival if I wanted to do it, so I said, "I want to do it!" I've never had a chance to perform abroad before.

H: Well, I had always loved Közi, and as one of my juniors, I had always thought of him as important. I have always wanted to work with such kid, as I do with other kids, if I had the chance to do something with them. It just so happens that the timing was exquisite, and this is what happened.

K: It was fate (laughs) Just four months after that phone call, I was already heading to the Philippines...

H: The Philippines was the first Gothic event in Asia and Oceania. It was like a warm-up to perform in Germany, right? From your point of view.

K: Well, the Philippines was like a quick rehearsal. But my world debut was in the Philippines, after all.

H: You keep getting offers from the Philippines after that, but you keep turning them down.

K: Even Haruhiko-san said, "Well, I'll never come again"! You were so angry (Laughs).

H: Do you think the Filipino fans will see this newsletter translated?

K: No, there is no possibility of that. (*LOL...sure, Közi)

H: I have to explain this so that there will be no misunderstanding, but on the first day in the Philippines, the organizers went overboard and brought in smoke, strobes, and other equipment that they had never used before, and the power supply went down due to lack of power. Still I was like “It’s okay, don’t worry” but you were angry.

K: Because we were interrupted and stayed for about 10 minutes in the dark! We were sitting on the floor with the audience (Laughs).

H: The second day was a mess too. The second day was a different place, but there was a lot going on again. By the second song, this guy's (Közi) identity was about to be destroyed.

K: It can't be helped, right? because it's Asia.

H: Whaaat? Are you talking about an unequal society?

K: Wasn't your mic in your chest? I put it in the mic support. (*I think because of the lights going off, they couldn't see their mics properly. so ash put his mic on his chest, probably, and then kozi's was on the pedestal). The Haruhiko I know has always been such a intense person. But at that time, I think that the ups and downs of the day before and the day after had built up, and that's why it turned out like that. I was like, "The hotel shower has no hot water!" or something (Laughs).

H: The only room that didn't had hot water was yours. But it's a five-star hotel, isn't it?

K: yeah, my room was the only one that didn't had hot water. Moreover, I was also the only one who didn't have any toppings in my morning sandwich (Laughs).

H: There was ham and cheese and all kinds of toppings on it, and you chose this one yourself...

K: There were no toppings! Only butter! (Laughs).

H: It was a 5-star hotel, I saw a polyethylene bucket in the hallway and wondered what it was, but they said it was a leak. Filipinos laugh out loud a lot. When I left Japan, I joked that I would be called “Mr. President” when I went to the Philippines, but I was actually called “Shiyaccho-san!" (*I think here he was playing with the way people pronounce Ash, since president in japanese is "shachō.")

K: You suddenly called me “Mr. President," Haruhiko-sa.

H: That's because it's a a very welcoming term in the Philippines!

K: Haruhiko didn't leave the hotel at all, but I did explore. I was surrounded by kids because "japanese people with tattoos'' seemed to be quite rare.

(*Here Közi was probably telling Haruhiko that he wasn’t gonna be called honorifics since he didn’t leave his hotel room, but he thought about it so much that he ended up accidentally using the honorific with Közi).

H: You went there. Do you remember? On the way home, you bought me a lot of sweets, beer and snacks. He delivered it all to my room and said, "Take these Haruhiko-san." It was a huge amount of food, so I asked him "How much was it? I'll pay you." and he said "Nah, it's fine." When I said, "No, I'll pay for it,'' he replied, "It's okay, really. Budweiser costs about 20 yen here. It costed about 300 yen in total.'' (laughs) and I thought, "Really!?''

K: You can spend a lot in the Philippines, the prices are so low.

H: It's amazing. But, remember? There was a Starbucks near the venue on the second day, right?

K: There was, indeed.

H: So, I asked the staff to get me a Starbucks coffee. I was told that the price of a Starbucks coffee was about the same as two weeks' salary of the people there.

K: Starbucks was the only place where the price was the same as in Japan.

H: I heard that only tourists go there. Also, it seems like one E.O.D T-shirt cost as much as an annual income for the people over there.

K: Sigh~ It's unequal society, after all.

◆ E.O.D, theft victim!? ◆

H: How was Germany after the Philippines? Didn't we go on a mission?

K: The Sex Gang Children and SOFT CELL were performing the day before. It was like a dream coming true to me to stand on the same stage as the artists who influenced me in the past. The festival itself was huge and I had a lot of fun looking around. I wanted to take a picture with Wayne Hussey (the vocalist of THE MISSION U.K.) at that concert, but I didn't said anything because I thought Haruhiko would get mad at me if I did that (Laughs).

H: Oh, that's right (laughing).

K: And speaking of Germany, the food at the club where I was often taken care of during the gigs in Berlin was delicious!

H: They assume that since we're Japanese, we naturally like rice, so rice was served every time. I was sick of it, but you seem to like it.

K: Oh no, it was delicious!

H: There was butter rice with some kind of stew on it.

K: It was made by a punk girl with a mohawk who looked like machamacha (a japanese comedian), "This girl can cook!?" I thought, "How can someone like this cook?!'' But I guess appearances can be deceiving (Laughs).

H: But it was rice every time...

K:Also, there were bears all over the Berlin, right? Not live bears, though.

H: An object. Isn't it a symbol character? By the way, which place is the best place you've been to so far?

K: Well, I hardly did anything touristy in any of the countries I visited. So, I wished I had visited more in Bern, Switzerland, or Stockholm. The town itself is austere and a World Heritage site. I was also impressed when I saw Cologne Cathedral from the train window during the train ride.

H: You slept most of the time when we were on the move.

K: I was awake.

H: No, i'm always surprised at how much you sleep. Aren't you sleeping more than you do in Tokyo? You are either sleeping or eating sweets.

K: I guess my body clock go haywire when I go abroad.

H: I'm pretty much looking at the city on the move.

K: When I glance at him, Haruhiko-san is usually asleep (Laughs).

H: I ain't sleeping.

K: (Laughs) Ah, right. When my passport was stolen in France....

H: Well, it was actually mine being stolen.

K: Along with mine.

H: To elaborate, the venue for the Paris concert was Pigalle, a downtown area with a slightly seedy atmosphere, like Kabukicho in Tokyo. A few years ago, it was such an unsafe place that Japanese tourist guides would say, "stay away from Pigalle.'' It's located at the foot of the Sacré-Coeur Basilica, but behind it there seem to be a row of brothels. So, the organizers were considerate and arranged for a hotel near the venue. Anyway, the welcoming atmosphere around the venue was amazing, there were a lot of people and policemen were standing around. It wasn't a bad hotel by any means, but the organizers took care of us and gave us a room on the first floor because we had a lot of equipment and other luggage. Probably the biggest consideration was that my room was very nice, facing the courtyard. After the show, there was a launch party in the staff room, we were served champagne and other drinks, so we ended the show in a really good mood. When I returned to my room, the window was open for some reason. Then, the passports and money that I had put away were all stolen. The money and passports were for both Közi and me. The reason for this is that Közi is a kid that easily loses important stuff, so I always had to carry Közi's passport and valuables with me. It would be dangerous to let this guy have it.

K: Yes, it's dangerous (Laughs) The money was also stolen.

H: I don't usually hold the money. The staff usually manages all the payroll. And yet, for some reason, I was the one holding it all together at the time. All of that was taken away. And of course I went to the police.

K: We went there. It was tough to stay until morning.

H: And it happened to fall on Easter. Over there, embassies are closed on Easter. But we had a live show scheduled for the next day in the Netherlands, so I was wondering what should I do. Anyway, I ran to the police and they said something like, "There's no way someone like that is coming out." At any rate, I was told not to leave France until Easter was over and the embassy returned to normal operations. But the Netherlands were also a very important gig and we couldn't cancel this one. So what should we do? Fortunately, the EU is now integrated, so inspections are not as strict as they used to be when traveling over land.

K: In that case, we had no choice but to enter the country illegally.

H: But as for the Japanese embassy, they told me that they couldn't be held responsible for anything that might happen to us if we moved from one country to another without a passport. We were planning to travel by train from France to Belgium and then to the Netherlands, but I heard that sometimes they come to check your passport when you cross the border, and sometimes they don't. And of course, if an official comes and finds that you don't have your passport, you are sure to be in trouble, the same happens if you are leaving the country illegally. But in the end, we decided to force our way to the Netherlands, thinking that the chances of that happening were low.

K: Once on the train, a station staff member came over, didn't he? What did you do then?

H: You were sleeping, right?

K: No, no, I was awake!

H: My fluent English got us through it, didn't it? You were fine sleeping with your puffy nose, but I was sitting next to you as we headed to the Netherlands, with my nerves constantly tingling.

K: I didn't had a puffy nose!

H: (laughs) Well, luckily, we arrived safely in the Netherlands and the concert went off without a hitch. So, since it was the last day of the European tour at that time, the staff said, "I am going to return from the Netherlands to Japan as scheduled." Well, They got tickets and probably have plans after that, so I can't help it. We...

K: We couldn't go home.

H: We don't have a passport, and our air ticket was stolen along with it. As for the money, I have a paycheck from Netherlands, and an American Express card, so we managed to get by. We decided to return to Paris anyway.

K: Thinking about it now, it was only because my passport was stolen there that I was able to make precious memories of Paris.

H: You may sound all innocent like that, but if I didn't have a family in Paris, we would have been in trouble.

K: You're right, it was all thanks to Haruhiko's personal connections. You used to live in Paris, right? I was so surprised. On the train back to Paris, Haruhiko suddenly called an acquaintance.

H: It was Carol. Carol is Stiv Bator's wife, who was the vocalist for Dead Boys. A long time ago, I stayed in their house for quite some time. So of course, I told Carol that I was performing in Paris, she came to visit me in the dressing room and said "I hope you're doing well,'' then we parted ways, but I didn't expected that we would meet again two days later.

K: We met again very soon, didn't we?

H: Carol welcomed us and let we stay until our passports were reissued, so you felt completely at ease and were very happy to go sightseeing in Paris.

K: Every day Carol's mom invited friends and held a party at her house. And since we didn't speak the same language, we played a drawing game and it was quite fun.

H: what kind of game?

K: It's a game where one person folds a long piece of paper, this person draws a picture on the first fold, the second person continues the drawing on the next fold, and so on, until finally, when the paper is unfolded, it looks like a strange picture.

H: That was it? Well, it's in the 1st arrondissement, so to speak, and its bourgeois. It is located in the heart of Paris, just a 10-minute walk to Notre Dame. Her father is a celebrity, Carol herself is a former model, and her husband is Stiv Bators of THE LORDS OF NEW CHURCH (ex Dead Boys). The Dead Boys are a legendary band known as America's Sex Pistols, and Stiv has always been a mentor to me. Unfortunately, he passed away in an accident, but Stiv loved Haruhiko Ash and Michael Monroe, so Stiv's family has been very kind to me, giving me his belongings and other things after his death. There's a history of them letting me stay there for way longer before.

K: Even I was indebted to him, I'm grateful for all the help.

H: No no, since the Haruhiko Ash that Stiv liked also liked Ash’s friend, Közi, you were also part of the Stiv Bators family.

K: Seriously. I was treated very well. But I thought Haruhiko-san seems to know more about the city than I do in Tokyo, he was walking around without checking any guidebooks.

H: Paris is small. Probably about the size of Setagaya Ward.

K: You can just walk around, right? Thinking about it now, I was surprised to see police officers in Paris wearing roller skates. Like Hikaru Genji (Hikaru Genji were a boy band that performed on roller skates). They were moving around the cobblestone streets on roller skates.

H: My passport, which is issued to me as a good and honest taxpayer, was issued without any problems, but Közi's passport wasn't smoothly issued. I had to go back and forth with the Japanese Embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

K: Why?

H: I don't know!

K: Maybe it was my face? Or the japanese sociability? (*in the sense that it is difficult to talk with more formal people).

H: When I finally got my passport reissued, the quickest ticket to return home was via Italy. I was tired...

K: But my days in Paris were fun! I did have some regrets though, like when I went to the Catacomb and it was closed, or when I went to Notre Dame and the gargoyles were under construction and I didn't get to see them properly. Carol's family also gave me some pocket money.

H: Even though I'm telling them I'm an adult now, they I'll always think of me as a kid.

◆ E.O.D Traveling Overseas ◆

H: Basically, Eve of Destiny has a single manager who handles everything from ticket arrangements, accommodation arrangements, live show bookings, negotiations, etc. She even follow us overseas. But even though she's a girl, Közi gives her great challenges, saying things like "Pick up the guitar" and "Your feet stink" and suddenly, in a small European town where there's not even a convenience store, “You, go buy me some socks."

K: I didn't treat her like that! I didn't even tell her to go buy it! (panicking) Haruhiko-san, you're dramatizing it too much!

H: (laughs) She does everything for us, so I go abroad as if I were just moving around the country, but for some reason, there was one time when we had to go to Poland alone.

K: It was quite difficult, wasn't it? I didn't even know how to buy a ticket, and I was called to a separate room at customs.

H: About that, well, the problem was that our passports were being reissued.

K: Was that so!?

H: The point is that our passports are issued by the Japanese embassy in France despite our Japanese nationality. It's usually issued by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, right? So the track record of once stolen is clear. In other words, the person with our passports is either us or someone with stolen property, so they are people to watch out for. There's the possibility that we are the ones who stole it. That's why we were called into separate rooms to confirm this.

K: That's right.

H: No, that's not what I meant. What I wanted to say is that when our manager isn't around, you're 100% dependent on me.

K: I totally rely on Haruhiko-san

H: What do you think of that?

K: It's a problem (laughs).

H: If you're in an English-speaking country, it's fine. But if you are in a non-English speaking area and not in a big city, you won't even see English signs. There's only information in the local language. For example, a place usually referred to as “Vienna (ウィーン)” in Japan is sometimes called “Vienna (ヴィエナ),” isn't it? In the same way, the name of a city you heard in Japan may be completely different from the actual name. I can read in English, but I can't understand it at all if it's in the local language of the non-English speaking countries. That's exactly what happened in the Netherlands. I didn't even had a guidebook.

K: I sometimes bring a guidebook with me.

H: There's no point in bringing anything if it's already in your suitcase. You've never brought a guidebook with you that was actually useful, right?

K: I was like "Where did I put it!?" (laughs)

H: Anyway, since we're going abroad together, I'd like to help you absorb more knowledge in order to broaden your horizons, but you're sleeping. All, all the time!

K: That's not true! But someday I would like to say, "I'll go buy you a ticket." In the meantime, I studied by taking a look at NHK's German language courses. I just want to be able to speak it! I'm not trying hard, though!

H: Make an effort.

K: Having been abroad so many times, where would you prefer to live?

H: I guess Paris after all. My passport was stolen there, though. It's the place I've stayed the longest outside of Tokyo.

K: And the food was delicious too.

H: You're all about food memories, aren't you? Talking about food, remember when we played a show in Sweden and the organizers had a huge catering service backstage for us? We were in Scandinavia, so all the seafood was fresh, but it was in colors and shapes we had never seen before, so it was uncomfortable that neither of us touch it at all.

K: Yeah, that's right.

H: The organizers were worried, saying "Is there something you guys don't like?"

K: We only ate things we were familiar with, like ham and bread.

H: When they asked, "What would you like to have for dinner? I would say “pizza” or “hamburger." Also, the salmon I had at the restaurant I went to the day before the gig in Stockholm was amazing.

K: Norwegian salmon. It was really tasty.

H: Ah, I don't remember where it happened, but there was the time you got really pissed off when we were rehearsing and they were letting the audience in.

K: Ah~! Open rehearsal (Laughs) For some reason, the word “angel (天使)” was written in kanji on the wall of the venue, but the character for “messenger (使)” in the word "angel" had a “dot (点)” on it by mistake.

H: Where was it?

K: I can't remember at all. I wonder why.

H: we've gone too far and it's a mess now. (*In the sense that it is difficult to remember details after going to so many places in a short period) Because I go to about a dozen places every year.

K: Also, Slovakia left a deep impression on me. I couldn't even read the letters in any of the cafes I went to. When I went to a sandwich shop, I couldn't read what kind of sandwich it was, so I guessed it would probably have something meaty on it, bought it, and when I tried it, it was actually sweet. Everyone in town was looking at me. Perhaps Asians themselves are rare there.

H: Bratislava, Slovakia. But it's the capital, in case you're wondering. The place we stayed was a bit far from the center of the city, so there were no oriental people at all. That's why our looks (including our faces and outfits) were so rare. We got a lot of looks.

K: Wasn't there a girl who worked really hard for you?

H: I can't remember. (Laughs) But, you know, we only moved between the airport, the hotel, and the concert venue. I didn't even take my time to look through the city. That's why you were so excited about the souvenir shop at the airport.

K: You too, Haruhiko-san! But really, the most relaxing place to shop is the souvenir shop at the airport. Whenever I invite him to go out with me, he always says "Nah, it's too much trouble" and never goes out!

H: The time before the flight was the only time I had to shop, right?

K: (Laughs) Before I tried performing abroad, I thought that Japanese people like us wouldn't get much of a reaction when we performed, but we got a great response, and I was like, "Whaaat? Hey, this is pretty good, isn't it?"

H: Overseas, the way people relate to music is overwhelmingly different from Japan. This could never be possible in Japan, but I mean, there's no concept of "graduation'' over there. Japanese people can be into punk, visual, gothic, etc, but they're not afraid of changing their whole lifestyle when they get a job or get married, for example. They're settling down. As if that meant growing up.But overseas, people who like Gothic still love Gothic even when they're in their 40s, 50s, and 60s, old men regularly participate in events. I don't mean to speak for the live music club system in Japan, but overseas live houses and clubs are places where you have to be an adult to enter, not a place for teenagers to play. In other words, it's a culture where adults enjoy live music. But in Japan, going to concerts is something kids do, and live music venues are like playgrounds for teenagers. If you want to continue to exist in the Japanese music scene, but you let a year go by without doing anything, the fans who have been following you up to that point might have grown up and “graduated” from the scene. But about overseas fans, for example, last year E.O.D. didn't perform at all, and even if it has been a few years since we went over there, people who were happy to see us before will come back and say "Oh, E.O.D. is playing again after a long time!" So once you have established a track record, you can crush it as many times as you like. That is not the case in Japan. If you blank out, you're screwed.

K: That may be so.

H: So, you don't have to go all the way overseas to do live performances, you know? Just make the music available.

K: Eh!?

H: It's a pain in the ass (Laughs).

K: There it is! Haruhiko-san (Laughs) It's such a pain in the ass for you, isn't?

H: That said, I will definitely work harder than you once we get there.

K: Is that so? Haruhiko-san, there are a lot of songs where you don't even have the lyrics properly written.

H: Even if I sing in Japanese, no one will understand. Why don't just sing according to your mood that day?

K: Well, that is typical of Haruhiko-san.

◆ What will happen to E.O.D in the future? ◆

H: If Közi says he wants to do a gig in Paris next month or in Germany in X month, we have the soil to do it right away.

K: Let's do it!

H: If you feel like it.

K: I'm in the mood, totally!

H: If you're so sure, why don't you go to Berlin or somewhere else for the first time this year? I'm ready to go, yes!

K: That's right. I also want to go to America. I want to work with Razed In Black!

H: I'm not sure if this is a good thing to say, but Japanese culture overseas is currently being dominated by anime and games, as well as J-POP and J-ROCK. There are a lot of Japanese subculture conventions being held, mainly in Europe, and we keep getting offers from those places asking, "Will you come? Will you do a live show?'' However, from the beginning, the significance of playing live overseas was to  establish a track record of performing on the same field and in the same stance as bands from other countries. But when people who like Japanese subculture invite us to events, their attitude is, "We want you to come because you're a Japanese band.'' It's great to see the Japanese boom picking up, but for us it's been a bit of a disaster. Thanks to this trend, there's an aspect of being drawn away from the stage agents that we should be aiming for, only because we are a Japanese band. That's very frustrating. This is because Japanese otakus overseas who support Japanese subculture only listen to Japanese bands, I mean, if you ask them if they listen to Bauhaus, they don't! They're kind of maniacs who only listen to bands if they are Japanese. That would be the same as only being active in Japan. If you're going to go overseas, I don't think it's worth it unless you find a way to break into the overseas music scene. No matter how many gigs you do overseas, if it's only in the context of anime, games, and J-ROCK, I don't think it can be said to have been successful overseas.

K: They are people who are fine with anything if it's Japanese culture, right? There's many different ways to view it, but it may be difficult to say whether or not we are competing in the true sense of the word.

H: However, what cannot be ignored is the fact that the capacity of events where these Japanese otaku gather is growing tremendously.

K: Indeed. In a way, I think it's great because it means that something Japanese has permeated the world that much.

H: Even so, I don't want to change our stance of aiming for people who love The Sisters of Mercy to listen to Eve of Destiny and see our live shows.

K: I share that stance, and I understand that Haruhiko-san is very particular about that.

H: So that's the stance you're taking this year?

K: Yes. Let's go for it! Let's play!

H: Germany and... around Vienna?

K: That's right.

H: Let's move on to that. Whatever, when did you become such a phony showman?

K: (Laughs) Phony showman!?

H: Doesn't you look even more suspicious? That face.

K: Eeeh~

[jalactic]

ok so moonfish is like one of my favorite bnha characters and I'm genuinely so surprised someone else has brainrot for him. can u tell me some thought you have on him...... like what do you think hes like?

I've always had a theory that his quirk makes him only capable of eating humans. that he's been starved so much and for so long that he's gone insane over flesh and hunger. that fits really well with the themes of shiggys squad. what do you think is the reason for his insanity snd cannibalism?

HELLO HELLO i've been crazy busy, but every so often i open tumblr and stare gleefully at this ask. and now i can finally answer it!

From what I remember of MHA canon, Moonfish had made a pretty big name for himself in the villain world up to and beyond his first imprisonment. We can assume he possesses some degree of survival skill/intellectual capability, to the point where he's become so serious of a threat that death row is warranted. Even during Moonfish's intro at the training camp raid Bakugo and Todoroki comment on his use of terrain and how "he's clearly been in a lot of battles".

An aside: Ultra Archive initially rates Moonfish's intelligence as a 3/5 while Ultra Analysis later gives him a 1/5 :((( they revoked his braincells...

He probably CAN eat other things aside from people; they had to keep him alive in Tartarus for a while, and feeding the guy on death row Human Meat wouldn't be very ethical (not that the heroes have outstanding moral judgement anyway). From what we've seen of his body he looks to be in decent shape so they're not starving him either.

It's true that most of the LoV have quirks that influence their personalities/behavior (ex: Toga, Twice, possibly Muscular to an extent?), so Moonfish is likely in a similar situation. I'm not going to speculate on the details of his mental illness--my interpretation of him is largely based on my own experiences. Maybe the hunger is episodic, or maybe it wasn't as bad a few years ago or when he was younger and is now just spiraling. Maybe it's a stress-eating kind of thing. I think he never had access to the necessary resources/professional help/therapy/idk to help him navigate his quirk, and now it's "too late" and he's "beyond saving".

I suppose he's so loyal to the LoV simply because they respect him, more or less, as a person and a teammate. He's fixated with "doing his job" because that job lets him belong somewhere.

This is definitely outside the scope of BNHA main series but I like thinking about a little future for him, where he sort of drops off the radar and goes somewhere quiet and just, learns to live with himself.

I have loads more headcanons; if you're curious, just ask! Thank you for giving me an opportunity to wax poetic about my guy lol

[o-hora-o]

i just remembered that ae became really morally gray; they supported experiments on children to some extent with cocolia's orphanage and lieserl didn't hesitate to drug cecilia, tesla brainwashed a student too ? like they drug people now it's hilarious to me- lieserl not caring about 90% of people around her despite everything is not so far-stretched (i really think it's just tesla and welt, with the addition of coralie and joey in the circle) i wonder if ae was already so morally grau when emma was still around or if it's a consequence of her loss

Omg, another great topic, thank you!!! <3

In the beginning of hi3, they are presented as a villain organization. However, you're right, that is not far from the truth.  

Lieserl drugging Cecilia scene lives rent free in my brain. She was so unbothered as if drugging people actually is her side hobby. Apparently, her another hobby is to tell people about their loss- she told Himeko about her father's death and then just stood there and watched while Himeko cried on the floor in front of her as in “sorrows sorrows prayers”. Or when she told Mei about Kiana’s condition and that she would not last long as in “it is what it is”. 

And yes, she and Tesla have brainwashed, threatened and manipulated people. I especially love this part: 

And let’s not forget that they saw K423 as a threat and wanted to...get rid of her? 

Not to mention the Project Signa aftermath...well, it's not 100% their decision but this was the price they were ready to pay:

As for Emma... in the vn she didn't want them to ever be a part of some conflicts so probably they really did went nuts after her death and took a different approach.

Or

55's aftermath really did destroy Emma to the point where she went "ok, look, meine lieben, we have Edison's money for now but the day will come when we're no longer rich, so, what do you think about... free child labour and experiments on them?"

And Cocolia...truly is an interesting case. Remember how in the Eye of the Deep arc they had to vote whether or not they lose the Gem and let Cocolia die or split forces? And then Ein voted for plan 1 with no hesitation? :D

And, ironically, she was the one who had to go and meet Cocolia because between Ein and Tesla - Ein most likely wouldn't punch Cocolia in the face during their negotiation even if she wanted to. Instead of being punched in the face by Ein, Cocolia's fate was to go to a prison and be completely forgotten by the writers ever since.

Anyway, we're all aware of how much Ein despises and hates Cocolia (that's almost the only emotion she failed to hide) and we all know why. The clones.

This clones story is also known as the "one of the biggest plot holes writers can't fix". So if you never played APHO then that 5 years time skip in the main story literally feels like:

How, when, where- these are all the questions that go hand in hand with the clone story. And it starts with Cocolia.

She was in prison ever since the Eye of the Deep arc, theoretically. Did she create Joey all those years ago and kept him hidden? And then he somehow escaped? Or was he hanging out in the orphanage? And if she did, how? Just how she managed to create Welt's clone. And not one, not two but more than three clones. When. Because let's suppose you need the core to make his clone. The core was with Joachim then it was in the Sea of Quanta and then Cocolia got to prison. In this case, you don't need the core.

Alright, but you certainly need his DNA, right? In this case, AE has some secret Welt Joyce DNA bank. Maybe them trying to locate his soul in the core wasn't enough and they were very much inspired by Otto's clones. But. How they got his DNA then? Dig up his grave? When I said that they went nuts after Emma's death I didn't mean THIS nuts.

Their level of being nuts ends where Ein and Joachim started to share the hobby of killing Welt's clones with their own hands, thanks to Cocolia. And then they met Joffrey-

[ghostgirlvii-art]

Coffee shop

Mathis (OC) x Fem!Reader Words: 902 Rating: Everyone

Ok it's been a hot minute since I wrote some x Reader stuff! By this I mean almost like... 5+years? Anyway, I'm about to dip back into it because of my boy, Mathis. I want to write reader fic with him (and not only female, but also male or gender neutral) and so here have one. I'm a little rusty so I didn't push too much. It was an idea given by @cloudofbutterflies92 ❤️

Supporting your local stores is always nice and the first option he grew up with. Even though it wasn't from his hometown but just the town near his base. Another thing about local small businesses, they rarely have a big rotation in their employees. Anyone who worked there would stay for as long as possible. Either new job opportunity or retirement. It’s easy to notice when someone is new. 

Mathis entered the cafe at his usual hour. A few customers who were also regular waved at him. He walked up to the counter expecting to see the usual barista, but indeed he was surprised to see a face he hadn’t seen before. He leaned on the counter, waiting for you to turn around from restocking on the shelves. “Hey, new around here?” He smiled. 

“First day, yes.” You replied offering the same smile. “What can I get you?”

He straightened his back, still looking rather relaxed. “My usual; a coffee with sugar to go.”

“Sure!” You went to prepare his order. Mathis found it amusing how you were more professional than he was used to with the previous barista. The way you moved around, preparing and grabbing everything, definitely looked like someone who was trying her best to not fuck up on the first day. 

“So, what’s your name?” 

“Y/N.” You replied with half looking at him, half making sure the coffee wasn’t about to overflow the cup. 

“Just moved in town or I simply never saw you before?” 

“Move a month ago. I needed time to get my bearings.” You handed him his coffee. Only now did you take a better look at him with his brown eyes and darker brown hair. It looked like he had a small beard that was slowly growing after shaving a few days ago. It took you a second to realize that he was about to leave, without paying! “Hey! You didn’t pay!”

“Put it on my tab. Captain Vermeulen!” He waved exiting the café. You raised an eyebrow taken aback. You never really had anyone have a tab before. But when you asked your boss about it, he said that it was fine and to note it down. At the end of the month, he will get his payment for sure.

****

This was your first encounter with Mathis. It took you only three weeks to understand his routine. It was to the point that he would walk in and his coffee was ready. Not even a single word was exchanged some days. Then one day he stopped coming. You kept his order warm almost all day, but Mathis didn’t show. You worried for a moment, till you remember that he was a soldier. Well in the big lines. Between his rank and him straight up saying he was working in the army you figured that much. He never opened up more about what exactly his work was. After a week of nothing seeing him, you guessed that he had probably been deployed or sent on mission.

It was late in the afternoon, almost near the end of your shift, when the door opened with the now background noise bell. You finished cleaning the table, your eyes lifted to see a very familiar man walking in. Mathis looked like he woke up ten minutes ago. Tiredness was lingering on his features. He ran his hand on his face to wash it off with a small groan. His eyes opened back, seeing you for the first time. He can’t help but have a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. 

“You were gone long enough.” You teased him.

“Business trip.” Mathis shrugged off. 

“Do those ‘trips’ last as long as this one normally?”

“Sometimes they are longer. Much longer.” He cleared his throat. His expression clearly showed that there was something more he wanted to talk about. He wasn’t sure how to bring it up. He raised his hand which was holding a small bag. “I got some pastry from the bakery next door. Want to share one with me and coffee?”

You raised an eyebrow slightly surprised, but agreed. Your shift was over and to be honest with yourself you did miss him. It would be nice to catch up again. Mathis grabbed a seat to a table next to the window as you came back with two cups. He gestured at you to choose from the pastry he bought before he dug for one himself. The two of you chatted about everything and nothing. Mostly you doing the talking as he kept his stories more vague and private. You did notice his eyes never left you. You swore you could have talked about the weather or any boring subject and he would still look at you with these eyes. He was so captivated by you. You decided to tempt something.

“So, captain.” You used his rank with a teasing tone. “Have you missed me?”

This took him out of whatever trance he was in. Mathis cleared his throat… and there was a taint of blush on his cheeks? He rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah. I did think about you here and there, if I have to be honest.”

“You did?”

“Hard to get such a pretty woman out of my mind.” He smirked. 

Oh. Now it was your turn to feel your cheeks heat up. “Well I miss you too.”

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

WIBTA for insisting my husband's online friend sign some sort of lease or contract for moving into our house?

So my husband has a friend from a MMO that he met like 5 years ago. This guy moved across the country to get away from his toxic family and live with his partner there. This partner left him earlier this summer, shouldering him with the full financial responsibility for the apartment they used to share, which he could not afford alone. When he heard about this, my husband offered to help, because the friend doesn't have any closer connections and really doesn't want to return to his toxic family, if they'd even have him back. A couple years ago my husband and I bought a house, and it has a guest bedroom, and my husband offered it to him without asking me first. "If you can't find somewhere affordable in time let me know." He did tell me almost immediately afterwards, though. It's his nature to offer help when he has the means to do so, whether it's a friend or a stranger in the Walmart parking lot who needs their engine jumpstarted. I love that about him, but I feel like it's gone a bit far this time.

I've only spoken to this guy myself a couple times when I still played this MMO. We don't know what he looks like, and my husband only just recently learned his real name (he never felt the need to ask before.) But my husband trusts him, and I want to trust my husband. I still have my reservations, though, because I don't know him, and also because after years of living in crappy apartments and with crappy roommates, I highly valued finally having our own private home, where we can be as indiscreet as we like, stay up as late as we want on our days off, and have a place for our friends to crash for the couple nights a year when we can actually get together and get real drunk. But despite all this, I told my husband ok, as long as it's only temporary, and only if he doesn't find any other option before he has to vacate his current apartment. Because I didn't want to be the reason that someone my husband considers a friend to be homeless, or back with an abusive family. There is a verbal agreement/understanding that the friend needs to find a job here ASAP, start paying rent once he has a paycheck, and be looking for a place of his own while he's here.

Well, his friend wasn't able to find anything else, and my husband has already bought a plane ticket for him, and one box of his things has already arrived at our house in advance of his arrival, so it's too late to rescind the offer. I spoke to my mom and mother-in-law about it and they are EXTREMELY skeptical, being older people and all and not really understanding the idea of internet friendships. But after talking to them, I'm more anxious about this than I initially realized. Moms and I floated the idea of drafting some kind of contract or rent agreement or something, so that we have some sort of recourse if this person isn't trustworthy or things go pear shaped. But my husband insisted it isn't necessary to go that far, that this will definitely be a short term thing, but in this economy I really doubt that.

I know now I should've pressed the issue earlier. If I pushed against it hard enough I think my husband would have dropped it. But I also genuinely don't want to be the reason this guy's homeless. It's entirely possible he's a perfectly trustworthy guy and is as nice in person has he has been online. I thought a written agreement would be a fitting compromise since it's definitely too late to pull back without being the asshole for sure, but I want some measure of protection. I'd do some legal research first to make sure it's done correctly. But WIBTA if I insisted on that? what would tumblr do?

What are these acronyms?

[kanmom51]

JK on Bruontheradio - coming soon

*Disclaimer: This post came out way longer than I initially intended it to be, and is a little bit of a brain fart. You have been warned, lol.

Josh “Bru” Brubaker

Love how even with this we have Jimin reference.

JK just cannot help himself.

He did tell us "the love of my life".

And what about the first thing that JK shows us is this:

Bad lighting he probably didn't really count on, but yes, his hand tattoos.

And I know there will be those that will say: "he's showing us ARMY", but I say it's a double for him, cause man ain't stupid, he knows fans will go crazy he's showing ARMY, and at the same time I believe he's showing the JM tattoo as well. You know, the JM that did the exact same kind of clip before him. The JM that spent 5 days WITH HIM in NY (and CT). The JM that is his "love of my life". That JM.

Same JM that @andy-wm wrote a beautiful post about just a few hours ago:

Ok, so I guess I'm going to talk about this here, even though I will probably repeat it many times to come.

Seven for JK is about love not fucking.

There. I said it.

And why do I bring this up here?

Because of the hand he so graciously showed us.

Because of JK's JM tattoo.

Because of said tattoo's placement.

Ring finger. For all to see.

How long have we known the J over the M stood for JM?

Us Jikookers?

I'd say since forever.

It's the rest of the fandom that kept trying to find excuses why it wasn't. Why it stood for everything under the sun other than the obvious. The one person that JK puts above others. The one person JK has been showing for years now that is special to him, in a way that is way beyond even the best of friendships. When you tattoo someone's name on you that is a statement. You are literally branding yourself with their name till the day you die (yes you can erase tattoos, but when you are having a tattoo done that is not what you are thinking of, in that moment in time you are painting your skin for life).

And JK did that. One sided.

He also made sure to let us know that the theories running around for years about what that J meant (you know, the army and J means all the members bullshit) were crap. Yes, he didn't tell us out loud that the J placed over the M stood for JM, but he didn't deny it either. He omitted that. Which is understandable given they are still a closeted couple and we all know that admitting to that, would be admitting to their queerness. As much as JK wants out of the closet, as much as he wants to scream blue murder that JM is his and his alone, he won't do it as long as JM isn't ready. And saying the JM is Jimin out loud, that would be outing not only himself but also the love of his life, when said love of his life is not ready for that yet. So he said the J stands for Jungkook and moved on at the speed of lightening. Without addressing the huge ass elephant in that room - why place it over the M knowing EXACTLY what it looked like? (we know the answer to that, but omitting is the name of the game - said that already).

So yeah, JK tattooed JM on his hand. For all of us to see. And he keeps touching it up. Darkening it. At times specifically those two letters.

I actually had a post in draft that is kind of redundant now, about how I noticed his JM at the airport leaving for the States.

That pinky ring, that actually isn't a pinky ring cause it's JM's ring, which he didn't wear when JM was there in NY with him, but had it back on travelling to London, JM gone back to SK, looks kinda too small even for his pinky, lol.

Now to Seven.

Like I said, JK sees Seven as a love song.

Yes, he sang the explicit version, but that's not what HE feels the song is about. And he's said it multiple times too.

This is what JK thinks about Seven:

and from the MV making:

and:

and from Stationhead radio 20th July appearance:

I think JK is being very clear here. Pity people aren't listening to him. This, for him, is a love song.

Yes, he knows it's very sexual, but it's about being with the person you love more than anything else and wanting to make that person happy. And him saying "the love of my life" that might have been on purpose (wouldn't put it past him) or even as a slip of the tongue, but it cements how he feels about the song, that might not have been written by him, but he most definitley feels an emotional connection with. I'd say kind of like Euphoria or Only then.

And now back to the hand and to JM and their place in JK's promotions for this song.

Not coincidently, JM is laced through every single part of the promotions for this song.

He's in the photo shoot concept.

He's in the MV (yes, what can you do, they had to go with a gf and hetero love story in the MV cause JK's first solo worldwide cannot be a queer love affair MV, that's just the way the cookie crumbles... not New jeans cookie - yuck - just writing that makes me feel ewe...).

He's in the choreography

There are more similarities than those I pointed out in that post. And again, it's not about JK stealing JM's moves from SMF pt. 2 (which we know the man LUVED). It's about JM inspiring him. And believe you me, that JM knew every single step of the way. The song, the MV and the choreo.

It's in the styling (not only the photo shoot).

And JM is just there, with JK all the time, on his hand, just out there for everyone to look and see.

For those saying the J is covered, nope, it ain't. The ring band is see through, cause that's just a thing JK does.

This finger pointing, not intentional in my opinion, just a little coincidence (JK holding the mic, as he does in the GMA performance as well, but in the Explicit performance with no mic in hand he covers his face just like the backup dancers do), and yet, a lovely one at that.

This is the way JK wanted it to be. Since way back in 2019 when he added that J over the M. For everyone to see all of the time!

So, where was I?

To sum this absolutely probably unnecessary post.

JK loves JM.

JK had JM tattooed on his hand.

JK chose Seven because he liked the song (and it's really a good one) and he also connected with it on an emotional level.

JK sees the song as a love song, expressing him wanting and needing to be with the person he loves, the love of his life, constantly, and showing said person how much he loves him and wanting to make them happy.

Yes, there is an explicit version to the song, yay, they replaced "loving" with "fucking". JK sings it, finds it amusing to say the word out loud, but when asked about it, it's the clean version, the love song version that he is connected to.

JK wanted to show us, in the ways that he, as a closeted queer man can, loves JM, is inspired by JM, and that JM is a part of who he is, as a man, as an artist.

Those two may not have come up with the "you are me I am you", but they most certainly took ownership of it. And JK, he's out there showing us just how true it is.

I think maybe it's about time that army:

a. Go read the lyrics to the song and understand that even the explicit version is talking about being with one person, the one you want to make feel good 7 days a week, and not about fucking someone else every day of the week. It's called reading comprehension, I think they need a lesson in that.

b. For once, even just once, listen to what JK is saying, what he's been saying ever since he started the promotion for this song.

This army was listening:

Well, at least to some of what JK has been saying.

I am guessing she's not a Jikooker, lol.

c. This one is for JKKs and PJMs. Try, for just one second, to put your feelings about the way JM's solo debut was treated BY THE COMPANY, and see with untainted glasses just how much this man loves JM. You know how much he promoted him personally and without the company's approval. He adores him, admires him, I'm willing to go so far as to worships him. JM is his catalyst. JM is the love of his life. JK would NEVER do something to disrespect or hurt JM. JK is trying to show us just how much JM is a part of who he, JK, is. He's trying to show us how much he is inspired by JM. How much he loves him. All this anger you are holding towards JK you need to let it go. JK as an artist is not the company as a promoter, they are not one and the same. On the way, I also recommend reading @beautifulpersonpeach's post:

Maybe, just maybe it will give you a little more insight or at the very least food for thought.

Ok, I think that's the end of this one. I kind of think I was all over the place here, and not so sure I got the message through, but it is what it is. Brain farts are not always pretty...

[dee-de-winter]

20 questions for writers

i wasn't tagged, but saw this going around and figured it's my turn to tag @sephirthoughts in a tag thing ehehehehehhehe

since i have two accounts i post on, i'll include them both because i love them both dearly. de_Winter is my one piece only account and BettyBoom is for all the other brief obsessions i have once in a while

1) how many works do you have on ao3?

atm i've got 94 visible (and 3 hidden) fics on de_Winter, and there are 21 visible (and 16 hidden) on BettyBoom

2) what's your total ao3 word count?

apparently ao3 stats show word count for all fics, including hidden ones so on de_Winter it's 680,986 and BettyBoom is at 231,559 (which tbf is pretty low considering how long i've been at this, but i guess that comes with regular removing of my fics and never writing anything but oneshots lmao)

3) what are your top five fics by kudos?

i have to admit i've never checked this and i'm surprised by the results on the OP account hahaha for de_Winter: 1. Home (Strawhats gen) 2. Catching feathers (MarAce) 3. Fire and flames (MarAce) 4. red velvet (MarAce) 5. Of ink and feathers (MarAce) for BettyBoom: 1. Bucky Barnes, PI (Stucky, MCU) 2. pocket full of sunshine (Buddie, 9-1-1) 3. over the edge (and into the unknown) (Buddie, 9-1-1) 4. Don't hold it against me (Stucky, MCU) 5. heaven won't wait (so we'll make our own) (Buddie, 9-1-1)

4) what fandoms do you write for?

primarily it's One Piece, but i do have some captain america, black sails, assassin's creed II, stranger things, overwatch and 9-1-1 wips rolling around the drive right now

5) do you respond to comments? why or why not?

i absolutely reply to every comment! commenting is difficult for many readers especially when you're not used to it or you don't know the writer so i always want to thank everyone for the effort and make sure they know i appreciate that they took their time to comment even if it wasn't easy <3

6) what's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

it's honestly a tie between the marineford aftermath fic and the death row fic, from the posted ones (the viking funeral might enter this statistic one day this year lmao)

7) what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

probably the rest of them, i generally gravitate towards happy endings even if my definition of happy (conflict is resolved, everyone is ok and well) doesn't often match the definition many others have for what counts as a happy ending (exclusively fluff)

8) do you get hate on fics?

i haven't gotten outright hate directly on the fics in years, but i do often get snarky remarks about some choices in characterization i've been making for years (which just confirms the choice to me)

9) do you write smut?

very much so, it's very fun and i'm good at it these days

10) do you write crossovers?

no, i'm not a fan

11) have you ever had a fic stolen?

yup, i think some might still be on wattpad that i haven't posted because the search is so shit, i couldn't find them. the person who let me know they came across them was on anon and never provided the links

12) have you ever had a fic translated?

yup, tho if it happened in recent years i don't know of it because no one asked for permission in a while

13) have you ever cowritten a fic before?

i have!! aerle and i had a little bb collab many years ago and it was incredible fun. other than that i also cowrote with turtlefriedrice also many years ago haha

14) what's your all time favorite ship?

it has to be MarcoAce cause i've been writing them for like 12 years and i always gravitate towards them even when i have periods of writing other ships

15) what's the wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

it's honestly hard to say because i just write what i feel like writing at a given time, until i feel like it regardless if it's finished by the end of it or not, and i'll go back to something years later and finish it because i felt like it so with me there's really no saying. i want to finish all my wips, but there's usually no saying when the right time for it will be

16) what are your writing strengths?

all of it. i'm not saying that cause i think i'm perfect or the best, it's just that i am currently really comfortable with where my skill is and i love how far i've gotten with both my english and my writing skills in the years since i started so everything is a strength to me

17) what are your writing weaknesses?

i don't have any because i'm in my loving myself era, unless we count the adhd and difficulty motivating myself to write more often than not

18) thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

so far i've never written full on dialogue in a different language, but i do often add words in other languages when needed because multilingual characters are hot

19) first fandom you wrote for?

one piece hahaha it was around May 2013, after i read what i could of zosan on ff.net after my first dip into fandom (yup i was in my early 20s when i first found out about fandoms) and i decided i should try writing. my first fic is no longer posted, but i will always love it dearly because from the very start i was looking at writing fics as a challenge so i wrote a 3 part/3 pov fic for zosan with a side of ace as an outside perspective and it turned out hilarious so i might just bring it back

20) favourite fic you've ever written?

i love almost all my works equally and my favorite changes with almost every fic i write, but my marace renaissance venice au that has been worked on since 2015 and has had 2 iterations so far has got to be special because you can tell it's based on something very dear to me (art history, but particularly renaissance art which is what my masters was focused on) and it reads like a love letter to art and everything i've learned about it through my life

also giving a tag to @wordsdrippinginink @lunarshores @itsthefandommash because they've committed tag crimes against me in the past

[omegasomeone]

Magical Wilted

Part 1: Calipto - Eucalyptus

Chapter 5: Sunshine (previous - first)

I knocked on Jay’s door, for her to instantly open it and give me such a powerful tackle-hug that, as I fell to the ground, I wondered how the building hadn't yet collapsed. I landed on the arm that monster’s smoke clung to earlier, so when I tried to stand back up, I wasn't able to contain a pained grunt. “hey, are you ok?” Jay asked me, “here, let me help you up. sorry, I got too excited! how have we managed not to see eachother in a week?”

She welcomed me inside before heading into the living room, and I removed my jacket (if you could still call it that, it had been patched up so many times over the years that it looked more like one of Dr Frankenstein’s most strange creations) as I entered, then hung it up on the coat rack. The flat was a two-bedroom one with a large living room, that she used to share with a roommate until he moved to his partner's place; for some reason, he still paid his share of the rent, which was how she was still able to afford living there.

Jay came back from the living room holding two controllers, an official one an a beat-down third party one. she asked me: “hey, so the other good controller is out of juice, so these are the only ones. do you wanna wait a bit for it to charge, or do you- Wait, your arm!”

She took my hand then brought me to the bathroom, where she grabbed an antiseptic spray and bandages. I had a few shallow cuts and some bruises, a far cry from what I should have after what had happened less than half an hour ago. as she started bandaging me, she mumbled: “You got into a fight again, didn't you? I know you're strong, but that doesn't mean you have to be a hero! If you see something happening, please, just call the cops! These are not injuries from a fist fight. Fists don't cut. you could’ve got killed, you know. I just... don't want to lose you.”

As she finished the bandage, I mustered the courage to respond: “Heh. you should’ve seen the other guy.” In turn, she hugged me, and whispered: “You really messed ‘em up, eh? come on, we still have to see how many hits you can land before losing all your lives to me. Oh and eat spaghetti too, I guess.”

Jay’s life had been.. eventful to say the least. She had been hopping from place to place all of her life because of her parent’s job, who raised her alone. As such, she couldn’t really make friends with people; even after she got a phone (not long after us meeting each other and not long before moving again), she very rarely had enough time to actually connect with people. Still, we managed to stay in contact for a few years (mostly through online games) before her parent disappeared and she was taken in by her aunt. From that point on, we didn’t interact a single time, as she didn’t -likely couldn’t- answer my calls. This was until two years ago, when she called me using a stranger’s phone, to ask me if I still lived in Lillac, and if it was OK for her to crash by my place. Apparently, she had run away from her aunt’s house, but she refused to give me any more details. Whatever had happened back there, she wasn’t ready to talk about it. She got a job, a room at a shared flat, and applied for the same major as me, at the same college, in hopes we would get classes together. We did, but only in our first year.

I admired her for her ability to stay (mostly) optimistic in every situation, but to be completely honest, she somewhat worried me. I knew a lot was weighing on her, but she refused to go see someone, and I was scared that the day she faced the issue too many, she would be unable to ask for help. I felt like So I did my best to make her feel supported. In a way, we were kinda completing each other: one to heal the other physically, the other to support the first one emotionally.

We ate, then spent some (a lot of) time playing video games. First, she absolutely steamrolled me in fighting games, then we decided to play co-op and party games. We both burst out laughing when she got hit by five consecutive items in Giulia Racing and went from first place down to second-to-last in a matter of seconds, and before we noticed it, I had missed the last bus back home.

We decided that I’d stay there to sleep, since I had everything I’d need in class the next day in my bag already. I’d borrow her bed, while she would sleep on the couch. Her room was tidy yet messy: clothes were neatly folded in a pile on the floor, the desk was filled with various baubles, figurines and other pretty pebbles, all sorted by colour; that, combined with the posters filling up the walls, gave this room an extremely cozy feel. We wished each other good night, then I lied down in bed. Slowly but surely, tired from the time and the events of the day and lulled by the memories of the last few hours with Jay, I drifted off to sleep…

[sybaritick]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Spread the self-love

pleaaaaaaase

ok i took SO long to answer this but thank you!! <3 i will absolutely rec some fics... man my five favorite EVER? i'll have to think. let's do a lil countdown 5 to 1.

5. hiding a dagger in a smile

amechu (!!!), 1.6k, M, power dynamics/age gap/literally just international relations

yes a deep cut. a fucking hetalia fic, in 2022?? but i do sorta love how this one came out. it is, to me, a love letter to the first fandom i was ever part of and the first fandom i wrote fic for, a decade later.

Yao knew Alfred was a little tipsy from how easily he had said it. Hiding a dagger in a smile. He pondered whether it was an idiom Al had learned from a language book or if he had read it in the Thirty-Six Stratagems some fifty years ago, waiting for Henry Kissinger and Zhou Enlai outside a meeting room.

4. oh, rotten little thing

bloodweave, 1.9k, M, vampirism/power dynamics/corruption

i think this is my fave of the bloodweave fics i've done just because it gets to the crux of what i find interesting about their dynamic

Some part of Gale was always aware that the magical trinkets he fed to the the Netherese orb buried his chest were only a temporary appeasement. He's always spaced out the feedings as long as he could bear, praying that he wasn't making it stronger-- though of course, over time, it was inevitable that he was. It would only grow hungrier as it consumed each little taste of the Weave. Some part of Gale knows what it pulls him to consume instead. He just doesn't want to accept it.

3. Criteria

tavtash, 3.3k, E, torture/competence kink

for some reason i really like how this came out. hits a really nice flavor of nasty

There was a moment of pause at the clink of metal against metal, where she considered failure, that she had misjudged the puzzle— until the key slid fully into the lock, and she turned it until it gave a soft, lubricated click. Enver smiled, and his tongue flicked out to briefly tease his lower lip in an expression so visibly satisfied that Faline might have rolled her eyes if she were not equally desirous and simply better at containing herself. "Does it still surprise you?" she asked. "I never tire of it." A lie. But if he did, she would find another game which he had not yet tired of.

2. that urge often miscalled free will

galetash, 4.3k, E, noncon/body horror/drugging/mind control

i love this one ive said it before but it's true. combination of too many of my favorite things

Once a tenday he’s inspected and modified in a way he fears and appreciates in equal measure. It’s always the same engineer with the same broad frame: dark-eyed and unnerving, with a mop of unruly black hair. The man has a particular liking for him, Gale knows, and an ambition so sharp it impresses even him, Gale Dekarios, Gale of Waterdeep, teenage prodigy who had been granted the time to finish his degree on the homeworld solely out of respect for what they knew he would become. What’s Gortash, to rival that? Not Waterdhavian, not a pilot, not a nobleman. A mechanic he’d estimate is only a couple years younger than him, but more talented than any other he'd had, and more dangerous besides. Threatening, always, that if Gale wants to stay at the top of his game he'd give and give and give these pieces of himself over to the machine until hardly any of his body belongs to him at all. It’s your mind that is you, Enver always insists. The rest is only a tool and an interface.

1. Tephra Year

galetash, 25.9k, E, power dynamics/corruption/yes feedism too i confess

i'm sorry i know i need to fucking finish this (i'm working on it i promise) BUT i do love it. my favorite project for sure. all my favorite topics :3c

Karlach did not need to know the full extent of what Gale had written to Gortash: only that his expertise in magic might well be valuable enough to trade for the replacement of her engine. A wizard's hubris was useful, sometimes. One had to know their own talents to make the best use of them.

[potatowithahat]

Part two: A doctors Notepad

A sdv Harvey fic

Part one here

Summer 1, year one

       Well springs gone, which means most of the allergy complaints are fizzling out. I haven't seen The Farmer since the flower dance though. I'm not sure what's going on. Did I do something to make them not like me? I don't know. I'm too anxious to ask her. The Farmer is the first real friend other than Shane or Elliot I've had since moving here, and even then there really only drinking buddies. I think I'll wait for them to come to me.

                                             -Harvey, the doctor

Summer 3, year one

       Last night there was an awful crashing noise from up by Robin's. Maru was telling me all about it when the farmer came in with a coffee for me. I think this is the first time they've come to see me since the flower dance.  I was honestly ecstatic. But Maru and the Farmer both got really quiet and just looked at each other for a second. Then Maru shouted ‘I'm a lesbian!’ And they both burst out laughing. I still don't get the joke. Either way my prospects in this town are dwindling by the day.

       I suppose you and me have a long year ahead journal. Speaking of which I think I finally named you!!!!!! Ok, ok, hear me out…. Joseph List-er. Get it! Cause you're a Journal,  so I can list everything that happens to me. Its stupid anyway. Why am I still writing like I'm talking to you? This is too odd.

                                              -Harvey, the doctor

Summer 5, year one

Linus came in around two am last night with the farmer in his arms. I nearly fainted when I saw the injuries. I haven't seen cuts like that since I med school. I'm a medical professional though,  so I got her to the beds in the back and cleaned her up. In the end they needed twenty-three stitches on their legs and four in their head. It was awful. They finally woke up around three am, thank Yoba. As soon as they was up I was checking their vitals and pupils for dilation. I asked them for their name and they just asked me what I was doing. When I tried to explain I needed to check for a concussion and amnesia they looked me dead in my eyes and said: I heard a joke about amnesia once, but I forgot how it goes.

      It wasn't even a good joke, but I was practically beside myself laughing. I don't…. Yoba this is bad. They definitely think I'm crazy after that, I must have looked insane laughing so much. I fixed myself soon enough but I still… I don't know. I gave them the whole speech on keeping safe and wound care and she was on her way home before dawn. That was maybe twenty minutes ago,  so that's all you're getting for today. I need a nap.

                                          -Harvey, the fool 

Summer 10, year one

       Sorry about the slow entries last week. Jas and Vincent caught the flu and Shane has been practically shadowing me making sure they get better. It's the longest I've seen him sober in months. Regardless, I need to get better at updating this little guy.

       Anyway, the farmer came in in a panic today asking me ‘what the hell a luau is’. Apparently she's never been to one and got a letter from Luis explaining how the governor was coming into town for it. I laughed and explained the silly tradition. It's not like the governor's visit actually matters, he always comes back. After she was calmed down she asked what she should bring. I shrugged and told her I always bring beans because there a good source of protein. Half a cup of beans can provide about seven grams of protein,  which is the same as an ounce of meat.

      Sorry, I'm rambling again. Regardless, the Farmer left midway through my beans speech saying she had the perfect idea. It was quite odd. I guess I'll have to see what they bring to the event.

                                    Harvey, the doctor 

Summer 11, year one

       The luau was a huge success this year! The Farmer brought some hot peppers, and though it was a little too spicy for my tastes it was still delicious. The Farmer came and ate by me too. It.. was quite the evening. I was exhausted by the end though. My social battery certainly isn't what it used to be. I should really start going out more. Perhaps I should bring that up in my next session.

       Either way it's quite late now. I should probably get to bed… but… something about the Farmer bugged me today. They were so lively,  but everything someone else would talk to them they'd seem to dampen a bit. Like someone covered the sun in their eyes with a cloth. It.. it was a bit odd. I considered asking them, but I couldn't quite find a way to ask ‘Where does the light in your eyes go when you talk to…

       Oh… OH.. oh Yoba. I'm a fool. I.. oh dear

                                          -Harvey

Thank you so much for reading!!!

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Any way I hope you enjoyed!!!

[tori-the-writer]

Chapter 1

Down the pipeline

I squint my eyes, the blinding sun somehow made its way through the layers of branches and leaves. Made all the brighter through my glasses.

“AH-CHOO!!!”

“Goodness Joy, allergies definitely hit you hard this year.” I can't help but feel sympathy for my best friend.

“Oh it's not that bad Hailey, remember spring a few years ago?” Joy reminds me, while she puts up her long brown hair into a braid.

“Yeah… not much can top that.” I remember that time well.

It was so bad that she always had a full tissue box in her backpack at school, and by the end of the day she would be low, if not out of tissues entirely.

“Anyway back on topic, are you sure your dad found a whole ass building in your woods?” She put us back on the thing we were talking about.

“Yeah, he said it was old and rickety, and by all means we can look at it and just be careful.” I told her what Dad told me.

It's a little weird that an old building is in the middle of the woods, my woods, behind my house. This land has been in my family since my great Grandfather… great great Grandfather… the Grandpa who moonshined during the depression.

If this was here, why didn't we know?

So that's why we're here, walking a dirt road made by countless truck outings to cut wood. The trees on both sides of us give us a nice cool path through the sweltering summer sun.

It takes a few more minutes to see a pretty little clearing with soft grass, a creek and a small drop off to the west.

The only thing that looks out of place, is an old yellowing wooden building, with a..?

“Is that Bendy?” I point to the top room.

Why would there be that old cartoon character plastered on this building?

“Yeah..? Why is he up there?” Joy asked too.

My eyes fall onto the door. Something feels weird about it.

“Is it weird that it feels like it's, I don't know… calling me.” Joy asked me with a concerned look on her face.

And to be completely honest,

“I feel it too.” I nod looking at the yellow door.

If anything, it feels kinda like we're 5 years old and you're not supposed to touch the full cookie jar on the counter.

Like there would be consequences to grabbing a cookie.

But Dad said it was ok to look inside, Mom had no problems and Joy’s Dad said why not.

So why does it feel like that?

“Do you still want to go in?” I ask.

Joy nod's, “We walked all this way, it would be kinda a waste to not look inside.”

And so we walked over and onto the porch, and I stepped in something wet.

I look down and see a black puddle. So I squat down to see it.

“Don't touch it.” Joy whispers. She has always had good instincts, instincts that saved my butt countless times.

So I get up and we open the door.

And see a hallway with that black stuff covering the floor and half way up the walls.

“Well, it looks like we won't be able to avoid it.” I shrug.

“Ok… but at least watch your step.” Joy asked as she pointed at a hole in the floor.

We went around said hole, and (because Joy said to) avoided the puddles.

The entire place is old paper (parchment?) yellow, and the black stuff… is it ink?

What else could it be, it can't be tar (it moves fluidly.)

Some places are blocked off by crates and the black liquid making water (ink?) curtains.

“Yeah… Joy, I think this is ink.” I tell her as I rub my blackened fingers together. Honestly getting some of the stuff on us wasn't a matter of if, it was a matter of when.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

I look in front of myself and see a sign that goes through a list of places, one of them is called ‘the Ink Machine’.

“Pretty sure.” I point at the sign.

“Hm…” she too, read the sign. “So… what's a Ink Machine?”

“A machine that makes Ink, I can assume.” I told her. “but… why would they have something like that in here?”

So we follow the signs, the halls look even more decrepit then the room we were just in. The farther we go the more the wood is cracked and ink is flowing more easily.

We turned the corner and there's a big metal pipe with a ‘watch your step’ sign on it.

Useful.

Joy steps over it, while I have to put a bit more jump into it. (Dumb genetics, only making me 4 foot, 11 inches. The pipe goes up to my knees.)

There's wood boards and scraps littering the black stained floor. We turn another corner and see a big room.

We walk inside.

In the middle of the room there's a big unfamiliar machine that is dripping ink. (Ok so that's the Ink Machine). It's hanging over a pond of the black liquid that is just under the platform we're standing on.

There's something about it that just piques my curiosity.

Wait…

Something in the ink is moving. Fast.

It stopped just before it hit the platform.

And something tall, really tall, bursted out. With it a moving shadow flooding the room.

He's(?) tall and lanky and looks malnourished, OH and has a Bendy like head.

Is he really tall, or is it because of my crappy height perception?

“Eek.” Joy squeaked as her face became pale. “RUN!!!”

She grabbed my arm and pulled, making me follow her.

We start running back down the hallway.

“Aaa-oof!!!” Joy tripped over the pipe on the floor.

“SREEEEEEEECCCHHHH!!!” is the noise coming from the other room, And quickly coming closer.

I look around.

“Weapon Weapon Weapon Weapon Weapon.” I really need something, anythin-

…

That'll work.

He's coming.

I grab a wooden board and swing with all my strength. And hit him right up the side of his head, where the other side of his head hit the wall.

Joy got up and we continued running.

We see the exit.

Crack.

The hole.

We forgot about the hole.

And we fall.

I grab onto Joy’s back.

“TellmyfamilyIlovethem!”

Joy pov

A painful noise filled the room.

I scrambled off of Hailey.

She isn't moving.

I prop her against the wall, looking for anything.

“Hailey, wake up. Please, you need to wake up. I'm worried.” I beg. “Hailey…”

“HELP!!! PLEASE SHE NEEDS HELP!!! HHHEEELLLPPP!!!!” I yelled out, praying someone could save us, save Hailey. “HHHEEELLLPPP!!!”

“Hello?! Miss? I'm coming to help, please hang on!” I hear a man’s voice from deeper into the studio.

Sounds of things being shoved and broken fill the halls and then some footsteps come closer and closer, until I see a… black, white and yellow older man that gives off Tired Dad/Tired Grandpa energy.

His face filled with hope… and then dread.

He walks up to Hailey and feels her pulse… and shakes his head.

“Sorry miss… but it's too late for her.” he told me as he stepped back.

A moment later the weird ink gets closer to Hailey, covering and consuming her until all that was left was her little red backpack.

What… what just happened…

“My name is Henry.” the older man introduced himself. “And your friend just died in the worst place possible.