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sunderwight · 2 months

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Modern AU where Shen Yuan accidentally sugar-daddies everyone.

So for the purposes of this, Shen Yuan's family is basically $10 Bananas levels of cluelessly rich. Shen Yuan has almost never had to look at the prices of anything he wants. He and his siblings all get an allowance from the family's main account, which increases when they reach adulthood, and in the interest of fairness his parents made it all the same size. So Shen Yuan gets the same amount of money for his daily living expenses as his older brothers with their penthouse apartments and vacation homes and private jets, at least from the family account (since he doesn't work, he doesn't actually make as much as them in total because they earn more on top of their allowances).

And the thing is, Shen Yuan genuinely just lives a lot more humbly. He likes people but what would he do with a vacation house? Anything really nice would probably require him to fly to get out there, and he gets sick as hell on planes. Living in the central city is also not great for him, because the air pollution is so bad. Having a whole house to himself would also be ridiculous. So he has a reasonable apartment, in a reasonable area, and he splurges every so often on purchases that make him happy and take-out food that he likes, and of course he pays a cleaning service to come in twice a week. Most people assume he's comfortably middle class and has some tech job he does from home, but he's been getting a lot more than he's been spending in his monthly allowances for years now, and the figures are big.

Enter into this environment author Airplane and his trash novels. Novels, multiple, because in this AU there's no PIDW, and instead after some alternate PIDW prototype got popular in the harem genre, Airplane decided to churn out a series of copy-paste shorter stories rather than recycling the same subplots in one massively long epic.

Shen Yuan of course discovers Airplane's writing and becomes as obsessed with it as ever, except this time he notices that if there are delays between new stories, they seem to clear up faster whenever he throws some cash at the problem. And also that the drops in Airplane's writing quality coincide with times when Shen Yuan was having health issues and not keeping up with his VIP purchases. So, he works out that Airplane's probably doing the writing for the money, and that when Peerless Cucumber isn't paying the most for it, Airplane starts listening to the other buffoons in the comment section more to try and entice them to pay his bills instead.

Peerless Cucumber leaves a comment on one of Airplane's latest stories that kicks off the two of them actually chatting, and Shen Yuan eventually gets to the point of offering to fund all Airplane's writing, in exchange for Airplane not doing his crap sellout stuff to appeal to other readers anymore. Airplane thinks he's joking or maybe mocking him. Shen Yuan asks how much it would cost. Airplane fires off a ridiculous number. Shen Yuan doesn't even blink and wires him the first payment. Then he gets annoyed because Airplane leaves him on read for a while, but that's because Airplane is staring at his account balance in shock.

Of course, it's Airplane who starts referring to Peerless Cucumber as his sugar daddy. Shen Yuan is just like "based on your sex scenes I don't think anyone would pay you for that" and Airplane's all "but you WOULD pay for my sex scenes ^_~" and Shen Yuan's like "technically I am actually paying you not to write that shit" and so on. Usual banter. The quality of Airplane's writing improves dramatically, a lot of his readership drops off but he does get new readers and gradually builds up an even bigger fanbase than before, and so on, it all goes pretty well. He eventually writes a few things that take off to the point of getting physical publications and international translations. Technically Airplane no longer needs Shen Yuan to pay all of his bills by that point but he's not going to tell Shen Yuan that! The contract's still good as long as he keeps writing!

Then one of Airplane's online acquaintances runs into some financial trouble and asks for help.

Liu Mingyan used to beta read for Airplane back when he wrote fanfiction (she was like thirteen, Airplane was unaware because internet and hey free beta), and it seems her family has hit a rough patch. She wants tips on how to go pro, but Airplane explains that it was extremely difficult and he mostly lucked out by finding a single wealthy backer. Mingyan wonders if the same guy would be interested in her writing, Airplane sadly thinks not because Mingyan exclusively writes kinky danmei erotica and Peerless Cucumber seems pretty firmly in the closet still and also generally prefers plotty and world-building heavy stuff.

But like, Airplane has definitely gotten a vibe off of Cucumber-bro, and Mingyan's gorgeous older brother does video streams of himself doing cool martial arts and swordsmanship stuff. So he asks her permission and when she gives it, he recommends Liu Qingge's videos to Shen Yuan, being sure to mention that the guy in question can't really afford to keep up with his hobbies and oh what a shame it would be if he had to stop making art like that.

Haha, Airplane, you're not subtle.

Even so, Shen Yuan watches the videos and immediately agrees that Liu Qingge is beauty in motion, and that it would be criminal to deprive the world of more videos of his sword. Swordsmanship! That is the, the art of, martial arts! Definitely. He clicks the donate button, reasoning out that he'll just send a donation about the size of his usual monthly payments to Airplane and call it his good deed for the day.

Liu Qingge is very confused by this new follower from nowhere who suddenly dumped a little over a month's rent into his account. One thing leads to another, with Mingyan and Airplane conspiring to try and get Shen Yuan as a permanent patron, and then Liu Qingge being let in on it. Except that Airplane keeps referring to Shen Yuan as his sugar daddy, and well... it's not like Liu Qingge doesn't ever get 'those' kinds of comments on his videos. At first he's embarrassed, then offended, then mortified that his own younger sister is apparently setting him up to make premium private videos for what he assumes is some old pervert who is going to want him to do untoward things.

However, their options are pretty bleak at the moment, and Liu Qingge worries that if he doesn't do this then Mingyan might. She even mentions something to the effect of having planned to offer herself, and only didn't because she wasn't this "sugar daddy" guy's type!

Teeth clenched, Liu Qingge asks Airplane stiltedly for advice on how to... appeal, to this wealthy benefactor.

In the end though it's not nearly as bad as Liu Qingge feared. He winds up doing more videos in costumes and cosplay, which ought to have been an untenable expense, but Peerless Cucumber always ends up covering the cost of whatever he invests in plus extra. Sometimes he sends Liu Qingge stuff with a request to wear it, but so far it's just been like, badass warrior-themed or historical costumes. Nothing overtly pervy. He does some LARPing, he makes enough to start doing horseback archery again, convinces some of his good-looking peers from various clubs to spar with him, and ultimately the most risque videos he ends up doing are the ones where he demonstrates how to put on certain kinds of gear. He still locks those ones behind paid subscribers only, mostly because he feels like he's doing something illicit now, even if he used to show more skin on his older videos any time he took his shirt off.

Peerless Cucumber doesn't leave creepy comments, either. In fact he seems genuinely nice and supportive, it's hard not to like him, and so even once his situation levels out Liu Qingge decides there's not really much need to stop making videos for him. (He maybe even gets a little giddy thrill over... well, sometimes he finds it all a bit... just when he thinks about Peerless Cucumber watching him demonstrate his physical prowess and finding that alone worth... ANYWAY--)

So that goes on for a while, before Yue Qi enters the scene.

Yue Qi is the childhood friend of one of Shen Yuan's older brothers (Shen bros!) and Shen Jiu owes him a big favor for something that he won't talk about. At least he won't talk to Shen Yuan about it. But Yue Qi is also not the type to ask for help, and Shen Jiu is very bad at offering it, so when Shen Jiu gets word that Yue Qi is having some difficulties making ends meet, he tells Shen Yuan to act as the middle man. Go offer Qi-ge money, he knows you're nice he'll just accept it, and then Shen Jiu will pay the actual bill.

Well it turns out that Yue Qi doesn't just accept it, of course he sees right through it, and gently but firmly tells Shen Yuan that he's not interested in burdening Shen Jiu further than he already has. Etc, etc, stoic stiff upper lips and no proper communication all around. Shen Yuan panics because it's not working and he's also genuinely worried about Yue Qi by now, so he tries to figure out how to make it compelling and basically blurts that, well, see, the thing is that sometimes he pays men to entertain him. You know. To like. Do things, for him. So. He could also pay Yue Qi? To do something for him?

Yue Qi gets the wrong idea entirely, and at first is like, oh, no, A'Yuan, you shouldn't be paying people for that! These things should just happen organically! But Shen Yuan is very adamant that he believes in compensating people for what they do for him, it's not like he can't afford to, and it gets awkward but Yue Qi is like well he does have health problems. It's perhaps difficult for him to meet people. So then he starts worrying about Shen Yuan and all these strange men he's apparently paying for "entertainment". Does his brother know about this?

No of course Shen Jiu doesn't know! He'd hate it, and Shen Yuan doesn't want to hear about how he's doing everything wrong with his life again!

Then Shen Yuan mentions that his prior house cleaning service up and quit on him (they didn't), and if Yue Qi would like to earn fair compensation he could just come over sometimes to help instead, and Shen Yuan would pay him just to tidy up and hang out for a few hours! Which Yue Qi thinks is a fantastic idea, actually, even if Shen Yuan is only doing this because of his brother, this will give Yue Qi a chance to keep an eye on him and his so-called entertainers. Even if he sort of... ends up also being one?

Shen Yuan keeps everything above board, though his apartment always seems perfectly clean and he overpays way too much (Shen Jiu is still footing this bill after all), and Yue Qi starts to think maybe he actually is being paid for intimacy. Of a sort that they're maybe still working up to? Shen Yuan usually has a very thin face after all. He's kind of got two minds about this prospect. On the one hand, he's got his situationship with Shen Jiu, so dating his brother would be absurd. But on the other hand, it's not actually dating, and he does like Shen Yuan, and maybe if they can be good company for each other then Yue Qi won't feel so depressed and Shen Yuan won't need to hire strange men so often.

Meanwhile it's come to Shen Yuan's attention, perhaps through an offhand comment he read online somewhere, that people who are struggling financially often also struggle to "treat themselves". Because even when they have enough money to be comfortable there's often the looming specter of deprivation, and etc, so he figures he should start buying some of his dependents more treats and things. Since they might not buy them for themselves? And also he's enjoying doing this but shhh no he isn't, it's a huge hassle, he's only doing it out of basic moral decency, etc.

So like, Airplane starts getting little things that he'd put on some public wish lists, clearly sent by Peerless Cucumber. And he tells Mingyan to make a list for Liu Qingge too, and sure enough, Liu Qingge (bewildered, slightly flustered) tries to figure out what he's supposed to do with an album from a band he likes and some high-end leather polish. Ultimately settles on playing the music and wearing his nicest leather in his next video. Yue Qi starts arriving at Shen Yuan's place to be plied with his favorite coffees and to have scented candles awkwardly foisted onto him (Shen Yuan does not know what Yue Qi likes in gifts) (he buys these presents himself they're not out of Shen Jiu's pocket).

So finally Shen Yuan's parents start to notice that he's been spending a lot more than usual, and start to worry that he's either been taken in by a scam artist or is secretly dating a gold digger or has developed a drug addiction or something. But asking things directly like normal people is basically illegal in the Shen family, so they decide to hire a private investigator.

Enter Luo Binghe, a young man of humble background who is struggling to make ends meet after the untimely death of his adoptive mother, and is using his P.I. job and his online cooking videos to help pay his way through school (scholarship student). Usually his cases are more like, cyberstalking someone to find out if they're cheating on their spouse, or helping someone planning a lawsuit accumulate evidence on their corrupt employer, or other things like that. When he gets the Shen Yuan case, the idea that the Shen family's son is paying for "company" is well within his list of probable answers.

Though this one is a little... peculiar?

Mostly because Binghe can't find evidence of Shen Yuan actually getting what he would, presumably, be paying for. At first Luo Binghe just goes through the online paper trails, using the info that the Shen parents give him to figure out that Shen Yuan is paying Airplane and Swordmaster Liu (*cough*) what seem to be exorbitant prices just for trashy fiction and cosplay videos. He assumes this is a cover, that someone's actually delivering drugs or going over for "private meetings" or at least actually sending dirty videos as well, but even when he pays for Liu Qingge's VIP access it's just tutorials and such. Neither of these guys are even on any of the sites that are more lenient towards hosting explicit content. Luo Binghe's aware that kinks aren't always obviously sexual, but people don't usually pay through the nose for the kind of content they can easily find for free all over the place, either.

He digs a little more but keeps coming up empty on evidence to clarify which of the many vices the Shen family's son is actually indulging in. Which is a problem because that's the information they're paying him to find out. Plus his curiosity kind of piques as he reads Shen Yuan's seemingly quite invested comments on Airplane's writing and Liu Qingge's videos, looking to see if there's any kind of clandestine code or pattern. But near as he can tell, whatever else Shen Yuan might be getting out of these arrangements, he does genuinely like the stories and videos too? Well. Sometimes. Sometimes he's actually scathingly vitriolic towards Airplane's writing.

Luo Binghe decides that surveilling Shen Yuan himself is probably the way to go. That gets more complicated in court cases, but since the Shen parents just wants to know what's going on and aren't planning on prosecuting their son for anything, it doesn't matter as much if Luo Binghe gets information in sneaky or underhanded ways.

So, Binghe uses the account he created to access Liu Qingge's videos to chat with Shen Yuan a few times, and then recommends his own cooking channel. Shen Yuan doesn't seem too interested in cooking, so Luo Binghe makes sure to include a video that has an image of himself in his recommendation, and then films a few new videos of himself cooking with his shirtsleeves rolled up to three quarters and a few more buttons than usual unbuttoned, adopting a more flirty persona than he typically does for his shows. He takes his cues from some of Liu Qingge's more popular videos for how to be enticing bait.

It takes a few videos, but eventually Shen Yuan comments. Luo Binghe latches onto the chance to start talking to him, playing up a persona of a vulnerable young man with little means who is trying hard to make it through school, etc, and sure enough Shen Yuan seems interested. Well, most predatory people like vulnerable targets, don't they?

However... Shen Yuan just sends him a chunk of money.

Luo Binghe is confused.

Isn't he supposed to ask for something or create some kind of expectation of repayment first? But, maybe this is his approach to handling new targets. Maybe he's just trying to lull Binghe into a false sense of complacency, before he starts indicating what he wants from all of this. Luo Binghe makes sure to move the money Shen Yuan sends him into a separate account, so that if the Shen parents get angry about it then he can return it as a gesture of good faith.

But Shen Yuan just keeps sending supportive comments and donations. Eventually he leaves a comment that alludes to how badly he'd like to taste Binghe's cooking, and Binghe is like finally, but when he implies that they could perhaps meet in person and Luo Binghe could thank him for his support by making him something, Shen Yuan backs off.

Things eventually progress to the point where Luo Binghe, who is a totally normal person treating this like a totally normal job still thank you very much, is basically camping out in the bushes in front of Shen Yuan's apartment building. At some point he conscripts the aid of his weird cousin (finding his birth family was how he got into this business initially), and then almost immediately regrets it because Shen Yuan helps get Zhuzhi Lang a job doing landscaping for his building.

Why would he want Zhuzhi Lang close but not Binghe? Binghe is much handsomer! He'd make an excellent target for seduction! >:(

Anyway eventually Yue Qi catches Luo Binghe lurking around like a creeper and is like, finally, I have caught one of these suspicious men, whilst Binghe is like oh so he does have a lover, well this guy sucks and is clearly not good enough for him, and they both try and chase one another off and Shen Yuan comes home to a heated passive-aggressive-politeness war being waged in front of his apartment. Eventually he realizes the misunderstanding and calls everyone together (zoom conference? in-person meet-up?) to clarify that he is not paying any of them for "special favors", that was just Airplane being deranged about his sense of humor, and then he has no idea what to do when the prevailing response seems to be disappointment.

#svsss #scum villain's self saving system #shen yuan #bingqiu #cumplane #liushen #do shen yuan and yue qingyuan have a ship name?#idk #scum villain #shen yuan: fandom bicycle #lbh eventually comes clean about being hired by sy's parents #sy doesn't blame him he just sighs about his unhinged family

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incoherent-orca · 10 months

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In ASL and SSL, this is the gesture for "Inshallah," which means means "God willing"; it's used to express hope that a specific future event will come to pass.

🇵🇸 Things you can do below 🇵🇸

🍉 SHARE posts from Palestinians, especially journalists on the ground (copy link on IG works just as well as sharing?). They're literally dying for that footage 🙃 let's make sure it counts

🍉 DONATE an E-sim @connectinghumanity_ on IG

🍉 DONATE to @CareForGaza (Twitter; donation links should be on their profile too). A lot of donation drives are just... making a grab at clout but this one is legit; a number of Gazans confirm that the food/produce is getting to them. The organizer seems to be Palestinian and living there as well

🍉 BOYCOTT brands listed by @bdsnationalcommittee on IG

Official boycott targets: AXA, Puma, Carrefour, Siemens, Ahava, HP, Sodastream, any products from Israel

Organic boycott targets: Domino's, McDonald's, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Wix

🍉 PRESSURE your governments & officials to call for a ceasefire and #InvokeGenocideConvention at the ICJ (rootsaction.org)

🍉 PROTEST. If there are mobilizations in your area, show up to be part of the count. No heroics—do what you feel safe doing and listen to the organizers.

it was also important to me to include an Al-Qassam fighter in this, because they're often scapegoated by Western media, and also by well-meaning allies who say "but civilians are not Hamas"; there's this attempt to separate militant resistance from the process of liberation as a whole

Yeah, most civilians are not Hamas, but they don't denounce them either. Palestinians call them freedom fighters, protectors.

because the resistance is not a bunch of evil, violent outliers; they are as much victims of the occupation as the women, children, and non-combatants are. Most if not all of them were born under the occupation; a good percentage of them are also orphans.

I will never condemn boys who live along the coast but have never seen the sea.

And end to the violence can't mean a return to business as usual, where the occupation and apartheid continue and Palestinians are still getting displaced on their own land. it will still take decades to rebuild homes. priceless historical and cultural items & structures have been callously destroyed and can never be recovered. nearly all the children in gaza have been made disabled and traumatized and murdered—what kind of future will they inherit?

israel must be abolished. They, the US, Canada, and the EU, must pay

Inshallah, we will not stop at a ceasefire

Inshallah, we will see complete liberation for Palestine

#Palestine #from the river to the sea palestine will be free #free palestine #my art #artists for palestine #the bracelet on the toddler is also a reference to Plestia's cousin making them bracelets with their names #so their family could easily be identified if any of them ever died

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alfheimr · 1 year

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the L in law stands for LOVED...its his birthday:)

#one piece #trafalgar law #i. i admit i dont know how to tag his family given his parents dont have names #trafalgar lami #donquixote rosinante #bepo #shachi #penguin #heart pirates #does anyone else get embarrassed tagging a bunch of characters at once. well anyway #the first one is pulled from my personal childhood experiences exploring tidepools in the pnw. theyre cold!!!!!!!

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cas-backwards-tie · 1 year

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Chapter One: Hesitations Downfallen

Thomas Hewitt x Reader

The Family Name

Summary: Stuck in traffic in an overheated car with your fellow camp counselors, you're left with a decision that could buy you more time to chill before the kids arrive at camp, or that'll lead to a major scolding from the Head Counselor.

Words: 2.6k

Warnings: Cursing, Impulsive Behavior, Peer Pressure, Racism (if you squint), Assault,

A/N: This is something that's... so random for me, personally, to write. I think it's because I'd been following the beta'ing of TCM game and then watching as it released. So we can thank Delirious for this! Considering this is also out of my usual element, I think it'd be fun to experiment with and write something a little more gruesome, unruly, and dark.

It felt like it went on forever, the endless highway turning into road as you lean your head against the window. “I don’t know why they chose to go this way when there’s a fucking downed bridge! If they just followed the map they’d see it’s much quicker if we hopped off and got back on at the Two-Ninety Junction.”

Eyes shifting to the two yellow buses leading your caravan down to Pedernales State Park, you let your attention flicker back out your window onto the grassy plains that seem to stretch on into the distance. Trees sporadically line the walls of fence that edge the highway, roofs of houses now having lessened in number now that you've passed Austin. The plush green and cream-colored grass swaying in the wind is relaxing juxtaposed to the stagnant piled-up highway that’s been directly in front of the car for the past forty minutes.

“Guess someone didn’t read the papers this morning-“ Connie says, “or they were just too lazy to reroute the trip.” The comment elicits a laugh from the group of friends and colleagues you’d been pushed to travel with. As one of the returning counselors this summer at Camp Cherry Springs, there’d been an initiative to get to know the new recruits that had the pleasure of joining you and the more experienced counselors— Connie, Sonny, Leland, Julie, and Ana—in the cars while the ones who’d taken the short straws wound up joining the kids on the buses for the three-hour drive.

With a jerky stop-and-go, cars begin moving ever so slowly. "There's an opening, Lee!" Julie exclaims with a little bounce in her seat as she points out a dodgy game of cutting people off to get to the nearest exit on the highway. Sonny groans in his seat, sitting back against the sticky warm fabric of the car. He fans himself with one hand as you've all been trapped in the car without air conditioning for the past twenty minutes. The engine had started to compensate when it'd begun to overheat.

"Let's just get on with it! If we can get off, find a bathroom, and maybe get something to drink before getting back on the road and still beating them to camp, then I'm in," Sonny concedes. Ana looks between you and Sonny in the backseat, questioning whether she should encourage Julie and Leland's impulsive behavior or stay with the caravan, as directed by the Head Counselor: AKA the Boss.

"Mm, if Sonny's in then I gotta say go for it! What about you?" Ana turns her attention to you for a moment before eyeing Connie in the back. "Connie?"

"Hit the pedal, Lee!" Connie encourages. With the exit just feet away, Leland turns on his turn signal, giving scarce warning before turning the wheel and cutting across three lanes of traffic to get off the highway. The line at the light is still fairly long, but not nearly as horrifying as the seemingly neverending stall of traffic on the highway. Soon enough the street light turns green and you're able to cut a right turn and head down Julie's supposed shortcut.

With a fifteen-minute ride down a local highway, you wind up eventually taking a left, and then a right, and now the town's shops and homes start to turn into barns and acres of farmland. You don't mind, however, the cows, horses, and occasional sheep are a nice welcome compared to the previous mechanic purgatory everyone seemed to be suffering in considering the air-conditioning had stalled. Now, however, the air is back on, though it's not needed. The sun has passed its peak, windows are down, and cool air is freely flowing through the windows of the car, creating a vacuum of pleasant and exhilarating wind.

The thump of the bass of the music playing on the classic hits channel is something you could easily find yourself bopping to, glad your friends had taken that chance. Hand out the window, you watch as it dances in the wind, making shapes with your fingers and letting the wind drift around it. Sipping on the slushie you got back at the Quik-Trip you'd stopped at a few miles back, you let yourself hum in delight at the cool sugary sweet taste. Ana passes over the corn chips and you pop a few into your mouth, crunching away, a blissful contrast of sweet and salty coating your tongue.

No longer antsy and intent on getting to camp as quickly as humanly possible, you can easily see on the clock that you're well ahead of schedule. Once again you've found yourself admiring the scenery, farmland occasionally now interspersed with factories and a ghost town or two. While not uncommon in this area, you find it intriguing to imagine what the towns must've once been like. Surely, someone at some point built the place and was intent to live there. So what was their story? Distracted and lost in thought, you hardly tune in when Sonny speaks up. It's only when Leland repeats what the former must've said that you realize it's more pertinent than you'd thought.

"Bathroom? Good luck finding one out here, bud!" Leland laughs, shaking his head. "Just go in the cup and chuck it out the window."

"I've... actually gotta go too," you speak up hesitantly. Leland's current attitude toward Sonny isn't the nicest, and while you know that Sonny's the odd one out, you can't help but feel compassion for him. The man releases a quiet groan, fingers tapping against the side of the driver's door as he thinks.

"Well, if you see anywhere we can actually stop, then say somethin'!"

Though you'd needed to pee about ten minutes ago, the urge increases, and you all are running out of stops. "Good Barbecue Ahead!" Ana reads a sign as you pass it on a side road. Though some of the places you've been passing have become more sparse and give an eerie sense of de trop. "Maybe they'll have a bathroom there?" She proposes.

"Good idea," Connie compliments, hands resting on the back of your guys' seat. "Plus we could grab another couple snacks if need be."

Focused on the bouncing of your leg, you try to keep calm. You hadn't thought things through before getting a big slushie at the convenience station back there. Luckily, your friends had your back.

As trees pass and the grassy plains start to look a little more habitable, more wildlife emerging, you know you're getting close. "There it is! Pull over, Leland," Julie commands. Knowing Leland, he'd joke, drive past, and then turn around only to go in. Or make Sonny just go in the cup if you hadn't needed to go. A cruel joke, boys being boys, they'd argue.

As the car comes to a stop, Leland decides he'll top off the gas. Sonny races for the bathroom. Ana debates staying in the car while Connie decides to see what barbecue they have. Of course, you follow after Sonny.

Quick Soda. The name of the service station. Underneath the red Coca-Cola-resembling sign lies another one in darker red reading: We Slaughter BARBECUE. The presentation is nice. Pushing the slated swing doors open, you see a bar to your right while a counter lies on your left. Connie inspects whatever's inside the counter's display case, while Ana seemingly decided to join and look at the little gift shop trinkets. "Can I help you?" A sweet and drawn-out voice causes your attention to drift over to the far right where an older lady stands behind a cashier's stand. You hadn't noticed it at first.

"Oh! Hello- Hi- Yes. Do... you guys have a bathroom by chance, Miss?" You ask. While she'd caught you off-guard, you still want to be polite. Even if the need to pee is becoming increasingly more urgent.

"Same as I told that boy. It's 'round back. Got signs on 'em. One for the men, one for the women... 's open." With an unaffected face, she seems ready to end the conversation before sticking her hand out a little for your attention just as you'd turned. "Tell yer frien' to slow down, why don'tcha?" She chuckles.

"Will do, Ma'am. Thank you," you retort, offering a playful smile and nod before heading back outside and around the back.

While the front may have been trim and proper, the further back you go, the less unruly the grass gets. The outhouse looks fine enough, even if it's a little shabby. Luckily, it's only this once. Well... until you get to camp. But it isn't anything unfazing. Country life is different, after all! There's a long white fence out back behind everything, some boards broken, though overall a nice picture of the country as farmland spans on for miles behind it. A few trees scatter the edge of the property, some wildflowers poking out of bushes and the tall grass.

In the outhouse, it doesn't take long for you to... take care of business. Fortunately, there was toilet paper, even if it was one-ply and not the best, you made do. After all, you're sure the shopkeepers are doing what they can and so far their business strikes you as impressive for what you'd seen of the town so far on the way here. That being, there wasn't much of one, really. Though people out here are probably used to a longer commute, you figure. Upon exiting the outhouse you hear a whimpering that catches your attention, worry emerging.

Interest piqued, you walk over to the source of the noises coming from a spot directly behind the wooden building by the fence. After a moment of pulling the tall grass back, you find your lips parting as a silent cry lingers in your throat.

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Like an angel surrounded by white and pink, the color of all things lovely, there's an innate femininity in the way she holds herself. Perhaps it was the jewelry adorning her earlobes, neck, and fingers, or the way her face was painted that day... yet ultimately it was a sight to behold there in the flesh. A swish of her long locks over her shoulders to gracefully tumble down her back, her eyes set upon him.

Lips parting in surprise and shock at the unexpected sight, astonishment is the only word that comes to mind. It's the one that made her hesitate momentarily as she took in his soft-looking curly locks and the intense set of eyes drawing her to the giant before her.

Only a matter of a yard and a half stood between them, yet it didn't take long for reality to set back in. With determined, purposeful long strides, he attempts to close the distance before she even thinks to run. The woman whips her head back toward whatever she'd been looking at before meeting his eye once more.

Putting her hands up in a silent command, she makes a pushing movement twice, a telltale sign for him to 'stop' or 'wait'. He knows that much. Repeating her earlier movement of gauging something in the grass beside her, beautiful light eyes find dark ones again. The man hadn't slowed down from her perception, yet he'd been taken aback for a split-second, causing him to second-guess his familial orders. Finger raised to her lips, she commands him again. It flicks downward till she's pointing at the shielded spot. Whatever lie in the grass, it's not visible to him from the few feet still lingering between them. Her vision shifts again, yet once they meet his, it's over.

Another surprise, a fortuitous omen, perhaps, if one believed in such things. An unforeseen exchange, something he never would have predicted upon waking this morning; a smile graces her lips. Teeth peek out from behind her rosy lips as her hands curl up in front of her, beckoning him over with a tacit motion. Upon first glance, he could admit to himself that his reaction was not one he anticipated, personally. Though the signs and motions elicit a curiosity that one cannot deny has its clutch on humanity. Especially those that are sheltered from much of life's offerings. It doesn't even feel like a decision; at least, not a conscious one, at that. Thomas slows his pace down to a quiet, normal approach. While the woman may not know that her implicit request was unnecessary, being there no current reason to speak, he follows suit, nonetheless.

"Look!" She quietly calls, voice traveling the short distance between them now as he bends her knees slightly, vision returning to that patch of grass once more. "Look."

While it may annoy him to no end that whatever it is certainly has more intrigue than him, the excitement that fills him in anticipation is exhilarating. There's a fear too, no doubt, a worry that she will make a break and run for it once he finally gets close enough. However, the kind regard has left him feeling a multitude of emotions he can't begin to comprehend, nor analyze at this moment in time.

As the giant of a man slowly gets within reaching distance, she points out the object of her focus in hopes of sharing a fond memory with someone. None of her friends had come in search of her, and while the saying of 'stranger danger' is by no means simply a children's tale, she's found there tend to be many more friends than foes in the world. "Look at how cute," she whispers, the smile never leaving her lips as she shifts her vision between the giant and the sight. Within the tall green grass sat behind the rest stop's main building there the woman had heard a quiet 'chittering' upon exiting the outhouse. Being one of a curious nature, she found that in a divet where the grass has clearly been passed over many times, there was an open bundle of kindling, soft fur, twigs, and grass all twined together. That, though, had not been the cause of her smile. Inside, a nest of baby bunnies were wiggling and squirming about as a way of seeking each other and their warmth out.

Hands on her knees, the woman finally looks back at him, this time with a concerned look in her eyes. "Do you think their mom abandoned them?" Thomas' eyes finally detach from the adorable sight before them. He wants to tell her that 'No. It's unlikely,' yet he can't bring himself to. She shakes her head, a smile reappearing on her face once more as her attention returns to the sight before them. "What am I saying? Of course not. She's probably out getting food for them or something. They're fine." Watching the woman straighten her posture, he does the same, however, he still overwhelms her stature by easily over a foot and a half if not more.

A little daunted by his stature, she continues to smile through the uncomfortability of being so close to a stranger, a man, at that. "Right?" She asks, attempting to break the silence between them as he still hasn't said anything. He hadn't even commented on how cute the baby bunnies were! Their fluffy little bodies and tiny ears still pressed to the napes of their necks, eyes not yet opened. Watching him slowly nod his head, eyes having never left hers once they'd both come to a stand, she's finally relieved that she's not talking to a wall. Just as she searches his eyes and goes to say goodbye, he quickly brings his intertwined hands down upon her head. There's a feeling of falling, and then... blackness.

~~~~~~~~

forever taglist: @ohdamnadam , @safarigirlsp , @jynzandtonic , @moonlightsolo

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clover-mouse · 1 year

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drew up a pretty quick design for a harengon swarmkeeper ranger/rogue for a oneshot i'm playing this weekend ♡ their name is fennel and they go by fenn (they think it sounds much cooler)

#art #ID in alt text #furry #d&d #d&d art #harengon #perhaps i'll dig up the old umbel family art i did a while ago to post here. i think you all would like it #this lil dude's whole family is named after parsley family plants #actually maybe i should even.. redraw them.. i like them a lot

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spearxwind · 3 months

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did you guys know theres an actual fish called a 'seamoth' and its literally the coolest thing ever like this thing is a Focking Creature

HELLO?? HIS SNOOT. HIS TAIL. THE WINGS. THE SCIENTIFIC NAME IS PEGASUS VOLITANS

im literally so obsessed they are so cute THEYRE SO CUTE ARE YOU SEEING THIS?? ARE YOU LOOKING?? AUGH

AND THEYRE SO !!!! SMALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAA!!!

#PLEASE LOOK I AM OBSESSED PLEASEEEEEE #thunderclap #feesh #ocean #PLEASE IVE HAD A TAB OPEN ON THESE FELLAS FOR WEEKS I NEED TO SHARE THEY ARE SO CUTE #THEIR FAMILY NAME IS PEGASIDAE BECAUSE THEY HAVE WINGS #AND THEY ARE CALLED SEAMOTHS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!#best of

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inkskinned · 1 year

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no, actually, where is the whimsy?

my ex had a best friend named larry who asked me once: what do you think comes after irony?

we were at the bar where larry worked. it was a quiet night, and he'd hopped over to sit with us on the patron side. i swirled the lemon around my limoncello martini.

earnest positivity, i said, while my ex said, art self-destructs.

i stared at my ex. he stared at me.

his argument was the cinemasins argument: look how bad media is becoming! look at the loopholes and the dumb shit!

it was roughly 2011. galaxy print was still in. at the time, i had a favorite shirt that was a wolf howling at the moon. it got ripped in half in the wash and i honestly still mourn it. i dressed like effie stonem, because everyone did. and irony was the name of the thing. men liked MLP "ironically." the internet liked the kind of crass, "anti-mainstream" vibes of things like fuck romance, touch my butt and buy me pizza. we put cats in sunglasses everywhere, which was because we only liked things in irony.

and media had the same vibe in it: anti-hero white men would be "hard to love" and then storm off the scene. nobody was just earnestly trying to save the world: they were jaded, angry, unoriginal. mad you even asked them to try to help.

my ex ends up not being wrong. cinemasins becomes super popular. a lot of people start viewing media with this lens that is the cruelest, most jaded depiction. it's wrong for your character to have unexplained powers, even if the entire movie is about how strange it is she has unexplained powers - that is still considered a "loophole." characters make thoughtless, panicked choices? loophole. characters are actually kind people, despite hardship? loophole. features a woman doing literally anything without assistance? loophole. movies become hyper-aware of scrutiny, and now irony rules the media.

which means you go to a movie, and the character has to turn to the screen and say "beats me!!" or one of the side characters has to have some kind of quip like "are you seriously telling me that you think this is normal?" because nothing can happen in earnest. like a sitcom laugh track, we now anticipate the fourth-wall break: the moment that the media acknowledges it is telling a story. the media has to apologize for itself, or else someone like my ex rolls their eyes.

but here's the thing: i wasn't wrong either.

the difference might be that i am (and always have been) so soft-hearted that any crack in the light of this world will spear me into the ground. and i was the poet in the relationship. (he thought that was the same thing as being naïve and stupid). i was making things daily. i knew how all of us artists are driven by some strange desire to evolve. he notably liked to critique art, not to create it.

so yes, i've made things that are bitter and angry and even ironic. i've made long, sharp poems with all capital letters, and i've made poems about how the silence stretches out like a song. someone wrote once that we will spend our whole lives just circling the place we grew up. i think it's more that we spend our whole lives trying to remake a home. i think it's that as we age, it becomes less exciting to build the castle on the beach - we become aware of erosion, of windforce. we realize what we really want is to come home to our dog, castle or not.

and while art in the foreground is mired in white male violence and irony, and aggression, and not taking anything seriously - i don't think that's true of all art. i think more and more artists are leaning in to the things we love. the world has changed so much. they have taken so many things from us. the only thing we have left is love. at the bottom of the moving box - all we get is the faint sense that we have to appreciate what little we've got. i can't enjoy this stuff ironically anymore: what room do i have for irony? if it makes me happy, that is an amazing thing. there are so few happy places left for me. i want to be happy because of how leaves shiver beside each other like nestling birds. i want to be happy because of the color pink, and how magenta doesn't exist. i have spent so much of this life suffering, i have earned my right to a gentle ending. if nothing matters, i get to assign meaning to the nothing. i get to create meaning. i am an artist first and foremost, which means creation is my thing.

where is the whimsy? wherever i fucking put it. because if this is my last fucking chance to do any good in this world - i want to do it earnestly. i want to write things that make you happy. that make people feel heard and seen. what comes after irony has to be positivity.

it was close to my 21st birthday. in 7 years, i would end up writing a book about this relationship, which is hopefully coming out somewhere around May 2024. i come back to this bar scene in my memories a lot. i keep thinking of how pale my ex was. the look that crossed his face. how i looked back at him. how for a moment, both of us couldn't recognize the other person. like the gulf between us was a suddenly wide and cavernous thing. like we were alien to each other. he never took my opinion seriously, and he always seemed surprised whenever his manic-pixie-dream-girl ever broke free of the plot. like in the whole time we were together, i wasn't human enough.

this knowledge: where he said nothing comes after, my only instinct was what comes after is love.

#spilled ink #writeblr #this is a real story lol #looking back i liked larry as a person SO much more than my ex hollyyyyy shitttt #compulsory heterosexuality will do you DIRTY #edit to correct effies name my apologies to effie and effies family

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