#their captain glows in neon colors

[druidonity2]

Combining "What if Anduin embraced shadow and Shadowreaper became canon in WoW" and "What if Anduin ran away to become a pirate under the name Jerek".

[cgunderwearstories]

The Underwear Volleyball Game

It was a blistering summer afternoon, the kind of day where the sun feels like it's throwing a tantrum, making everything and everyone melt. The local adult volleyball team, "Spiked Punch," had gathered for their weekly game at the park. The sand was so hot it felt like walking on a griddle, and everyone was already sweating through their clothes before the warm-up was even finished.

"Guys," Greg, the team captain, panted as he wiped the sweat off his forehead, "I don’t know about you, but I’m cooking alive here. What do you say we make this a little more…comfortable?"

The team looked at each other, eyebrows raised.

"I’m game," said Tony, who was known for his impulsive decisions. "But let’s keep it PG. How about… underwear only?"

A few chuckles rippled through the group, but as they all stood there, feeling the sun beat down on them, the idea started to sound better and better.

"Alright, let's do it," said Mitch, always the first to jump on board with any wild idea. "It’s not like we haven’t seen each other in worse."

Soon, a chorus of agreement followed, and the players began stripping down, leaving only their underwear.

Team "Boxer Brigade," as they now called themselves, consisted of:

Greg, the team captain, who sported a pair of red boxers with little white skulls on them. A tough guy on the court, but apparently a fan of quirky designs.

Tony, always the life of the party, had on bright yellow boxers with smiley faces all over them. They practically glowed in the sunlight, much like his personality.

Mitch, the wildcard, was wearing boxers with little superheroes on them. Every time he jumped, Spider-Man, Batman, and the Hulk seemed to battle it out in mid-air.

Dave, the quiet one of the group, was full of surprises. His boxers were a deep purple with neon green dinosaurs stomping across them. No one saw that coming.

Sam, the prankster, had on boxers covered in cartoon pizza slices, complete with gooey cheese and pepperoni. It wasn’t clear if he loved pizza that much, or just wanted to mess with everyone’s concentration.

Oliver, the team’s tallest player, sported boxers with little surfing penguins riding waves. The contrast of his tall, lanky frame with the tiny penguins was enough to make everyone giggle.

On the other side of the net was Team Tighties, who had an altogether different look:

Ryan, the co-captain, was rocking classic white tighty whities. But not just any tighty whities—his had the words “Captain Underpants” embroidered on the waistband. It was a power move, really.

Mark, the team's gym buff, was in Jockey white bikini briefs, which left very little to the imagination. He flexed unnecessarily often, making sure everyone knew exactly how much time he spent at the gym.

Jake, the strategist, had on what could only be described as “vintage” tighty whities. They were a bit faded, with a slightly stretched-out waistband. He claimed they were his lucky pair from college.

Brad, the jokester, wore white briefs with little hearts on them. "They’re from Valentine’s Day," he explained, but no one asked.

Steve, the guy who always seemed to have everything in order, wore white cotton panties with the days of the week on the back. Today was “Sunday” written in glittery black cursive.

Frank, the quiet but intense player, had on tighty whities with a single, tiny, embroidered teddy bear on the left side. No one dared to ask about the teddy bear.

As they got into position, the spectators gathered around couldn’t help but laugh, but the teams were undeterred.

Despite their new attire, the game began with a fierce serve from Ryan. The ball was flying back and forth across the net, and the sight of grown men diving in colorful boxers and tighty whities was a spectacle to behold. Every time Mitch jumped, his superheros battled it out in epic slow-motion. Oliver’s penguins seemed to surf along with him as he went for spikes. And Ryan’s tighty whities, emblazoned with “Captain Underpants,” gave him an almost heroic flair, or so he liked to think.

The sun was blazing down on the park, and the game had reached a whole new level of intensity. The teams, Boxer Brigade and Team Tighties, were locked in an epic battle, both on the court and—unbeknownst to one side—off of it.

What no one knew was that Tony, the mischievous trickster of the Boxer Brigade, had secretly brought along a volleyball with a strange, mystical marking on it. Tony had picked it up from an old, dusty shop he’d stumbled upon while on vacation in the middle of nowhere. The shopkeeper had warned him that the ball was "enchanted" and would “stir the passions of any who played with it.” Tony, never one to pass up on a good prank, figured that could only mean fun for the game. He didn’t believe in magic, but he did believe in chaos, and that was just as good.

As the match went on, the ball—glowing faintly in the scorching sunlight—moved between the teams with increasing speed and intensity. The heat, exhaustion, and the competitive spirit were all getting to Team Tighties. But something else was starting to take hold too: the curse.

It began subtly. Ryan, the co-captain of Team Tighties, missed a serve by just a hair. Mark, the gym buff, rolled his eyes and muttered something about how he could’ve done it better. Ryan shot him a glare, his tighty whities (emblazoned with “Captain Underpants”) seeming to tighten as his temper flared.

"You think you could do better?" Ryan snapped, his face flushing red as the heat, and something more sinister, started to boil over.

"Maybe if you spent more time practicing and less time strutting around in those kiddie undies, you wouldn’t miss!" Mark shot back, flexing his biceps for emphasis.

The rest of Team Tighties watched in stunned silence as their two most level-headed players began to bicker. But soon, the curse’s influence spread like wildfire.

Jake, the strategist with the slightly faded tighty-whities, stepped in to try and cool things down, but Brad, always the jokester, saw an opportunity. With a quick motion, Brad yanked on Jake’s waistband, giving him a classic wedgie that sent Jake stumbling forward.

"Hey, what the hell, man?!" Jake yelled, his hands clawing at his back to free his underwear from the deep wedgie. But before he could retaliate, Steve, ever the organized one, piped up with a sarcastic comment about how Jake probably had his lucky vintage undies on the wrong day of the week.

That was it. The curse had fully taken hold.

Chaos erupted on the court. Ryan and Mark, who had once been the pillars of the team, were now locked in a ridiculous fight, each one trying to pants the other. Mark’s grip was strong from his hours at the gym, and he managed to yank Ryan’s underpants down to his ankles. But before Ryan could respond, Mark found his own waistband in Ryan’s grasp, and in a swift motion, Mark’s bikini briefs were down around his knees.

Brad, meanwhile, had moved on from wedgies to full-on tearing. He grabbed the waistband of Steve’s "Sunday" panties and, with a mighty pull, ripped it clean in half. Steve, horrified at the destruction of his perfectly planned outfit, lunged at Brad and managed to get his hands on Brad’s heart-patterned briefs. A rip echoed across the court as Brad’s underwear met the same fate.

Jake, who had finally freed himself from his wedgie, saw Frank standing calmly on the side, seemingly unaffected. Frank, with his tiny embroidered teddy bear on his tighty whities, had always been the quiet one, the calm one. But the curse didn’t care. Jake rushed at Frank, ready to take him down in the same ridiculous manner that was sweeping across the team.

Frank, caught off guard, tried to dodge, but Jake was quick. He grabbed Frank’s waistband and gave it a solid yank. Frank’s tighty whities stretched, but instead of tearing, they snapped back with a resounding thwack that sent Frank stumbling forward. Jake wasn’t done. Fueled by the curse, he reached out and delivered a wedgie so fierce that Frank let out a yelp of surprise.

The scene on the court was one of absolute chaos. The once-proud Team Tighties was now a mess of torn underwear, bruised egos, and sand-covered bodies. The Boxer Brigade, standing on the other side of the net, watched with a mix of horror and amusement. They hadn’t expected the curse to take things this far.

“Uh… should we stop this?” Greg asked, glancing at Tony, who was still holding the cursed volleyball, now glowing slightly in his hands.

“I didn’t think it would actually work,” Tony admitted, looking genuinely concerned for the first time.

“Well, do something!” Mitch yelled, dodging a rogue piece of torn tighty whities that flew across the net.

Tony, unsure of what to do, quickly muttered, “Uh, I reverse the curse! Take it back! Whatever!” and threw the ball to the ground. The glowing ceased immediately.

As if a switch had been flipped, the members of Team Tighties suddenly stopped in their tracks, blinking as if waking from a dream. They looked around at the destruction—torn underwear hanging off in tatters, sand stuck to sweaty, naked bodies, and a few still mid-wedgie.

Ryan was the first to speak. “What the hell just happened?”

“I… I don’t know,” Mark said, looking down at his ruined tighty whities and then at the remains of Ryan’s. “But I’m pretty sure we just ripped each other’s underwear to shreds.”

There was a moment of silence as the reality of the situation set in. Then, as if on cue, everyone burst into laughter. The sight of each other, standing there in what little was left of their underwear, was too ridiculous to take seriously.

“Nice moves there, ‘Captain Underpants,’” Mark said, slapping Ryan on the back, causing him to stumble forward, tripping over his shredded tighty whities.

“Yeah, well, I don’t think your gym buddies would’ve fared any better,” Ryan shot back, laughing so hard he had to wipe tears from his eyes.

The rest of the team was in similar states of disarray, apologizing between fits of laughter. Steve, holding the remains of his Sunday briefs, shook his head with a grin. “Guess I’m gonna need a new pair for next week.”

Tony, still holding the now-normal volleyball, sheepishly approached the group. “Uh, guys? About that… I might have brought a cursed volleyball. Sorry about that.”

The looks he got were a mix of disbelief and amusement.

“Tony, you’re an idiot,” Jake said, still trying to pull the last of the sand out of his tattered briefs.

“Yeah, but we’re idiots too, for going along with it,” Brad added, giving Tony a playful shove.

In the end, the game was forgotten in favor of recovering their dignity—or what was left of it. They all promised to meet up again next week, but with one condition: normal volleyballs, normal clothes, and definitely no curses.

[mewsingsbynataliek]

NSR Halloween DLC ideas, just in time for Spooky Night!

The soundtrack for the Halloween DLC would feature instruments associated with the holiday being incorporated into the songs, such as pipe organ and theremin.

The Bosses

DJ Subatomic Supernova

DJSS is a scarecrow, wearing a straw hat, flannel shirt, and denim overalls (cut-off, of course!).

For the battlefield, the background of the Planetarium is a deep orange. The planets he uses to attack are replaced with pumpkins, and the asteroids are replaced by a swarm of crows.

Sayu

Sayu is a cute ghost girl. (I felt it would be fitting since she’s a floaty character.) She's slightly translucent and sports a ghostly wisp-like tail rather than her regular mermaid tail. Her colour palette features off-whites and faded pastels, making her look more etherial.

Sayu wears a tattered white Victorian/Lolita-style dress, lacy cuffs around her wrists and a little bow on her head.

For Phase 2, her dress becomes poofier and more elaborate as small ribbons resembling tentacles appear around her waist. Her trident is completely white.

Phase 3 has her go full-on ghost bride. Her dress has a huge multi-tiered skirt, her hair is adorned with a long veil, and her tentacle ribbons have grown to full length. Her deep-sea mode has her face turn glowing green with solid black eyes, making her resemble a spookfish, while her “tentacles” feature flickering lights similar to a bioluminescent jellyfish.

Her final form is basically your stereotypical bedsheet ghost shape with her legs sticking out the bottom.

Sayu’s team are dressed in dark wizard-like robes, and each of them are wearing masks like the ones worn by Lock, Shock, and Barrel from The Nightmare Before Christmas. 

For the battlefield, the “landscape” is dotted with jack-o-lanterns, tombstones, and dead trees. The background is changed to a seafoam green color, with wispy little ghosts flying about.

Yinu and Mother 

Yinu is dressed as a cute little witch. Her hair is in pigtails similar to her Christmas skin, and her witch hat is adorned with fall leaves and little jack-o-lanterns.

Mother, meanwhile, is a spooky Halloween tree with spiders. Her dress is a dark wood colour with translucent, ragged-edged sleeves, and she wears a thorny hairband and spiderweb earrings.

The ends of her “hair” have been dyed the same colour as her dress, and she wears both black lipstick and black nail polish.

When she grows bigger, her branches begin to sprout large thorns, which end up making her cage form look more like a spiderweb. (There are even little fake spiders sitting on top of it!)

For the battlefield, the stage is decorated to evoke a bountiful harvest, with pumpkins, hay bales, bundles of wheat, stalks of corn, apple trees, cornucopias, and garlands of leaves.

Both the gate and the giant piano hammers are adorned with thorny branches and autumn leaves.

1010 

1010 are pirate ghosts. (As a fun gag, Blue could wear two eyepatches instead of his sunglasses!)

Meanwhile, Neon J is their ghostly captain, complete with a captain’s hat, a sword at his belt, a fake parrot on his shoulder, and – once again – a fake beard attached to his screen head.

For the battlefield, the flying limousine is decked out to look like a pirate ship, with a mast, a crow’s nest, and a tattered sail.

(I felt 1010 as pirates would be fitting since they're a navy-themed boyband and Neon J was a captain in the navy.)

Eve 

Eve is dressed as Medusa.

Her dark green dress has a scaly pattern, and she accessories with a lot of gold, including spiralling gold sandals and a golden diadem crown.

Her hair has been dyed, shaped, and styled to look like several little writhing serpents.

Her backpiece is composed of even more snakes in gold and teal which wrap around her upper torso and spread out behind her like a peacock’s tail.

Eve’s pupils even become snake-like starting at Phase 2!

For the battlefield, Eve’s gallery has been transformed into an Ancient Greek temple, but with a postmodern/vapourwave twist. Stylized Greco-Roman columns with snakes wrapped around them line the walls, and an ancient looking gold chandelier hangs from the ceiling. The left side would be eggplant purple while the right side would be cerulean blue.

If the player gets hit by the eye lasers from Eve’s giant statue, they’ll actually turn to stone and be frozen in place for a short time.

For Phase 2, on Mayday’s side, the snakes wrapped around the columns have grown larger and are now looming over Mayday, their faces twisted into angry snarls (representing Eve’s derisiveness and hostility towards May).

Meanwhile, Zuke’s side features floating fragments of ruined columns (representing how lost and incomplete Eve felt after Zuke left her). 

Phase 3 is where it really starts to get trippy. Both rooms feature ruined columns and floating shards, along with giant brightly colored snakes slithering all over the background.

The shards in Zuke’s side reflect images of faces screaming in anguish, while the shards on Mayday’s side have limbs protruding from them- one shard has three legs protruding from them in reference to a trinacia. (Look up what a trinacia is to understand the reference!)

Tatiana

Tatiana is a vampire.

She wears black and red robes with bat wing-edged sleeves and a wide collar. Her earrings are coffin shaped, and she has small, pointed fangs that can be seen when she opens her mouth.

At the beginning of her battle, she starts throwing flaming bats.

For the battlefield, Tatiana's office/battle arena is made to feel like a vampire’s castle tower.

The whole room is lit with a deep red glow, and the tall windows that feature the NSR murals are topped with pointed arches, giving them a Gothic look.

You can even see some glass bottles filled with (ahem) red liquid on Tatiana’s desk.

Meanwhile, the Goolings' stage outside is decorated with jack-o-lanterns and hanging skeletons.

DK West

DK West is dressed as Frankenstein FrankenWest!

His look consists of neck bolts, stitch markings, and a dark ragged recolour of his original outfit.

His bull shadow puppet has matching neck bolts, which even emit shadowy electricity when it appears during the battle.

Bunk Bed Junction

Mayday

Mayday is dressed as an imp, wearing a bright red dress with black sleeves and waistcoat, black wings, red horns, and a red tail.

Her guitar is deep purple and splattered with glowing orange paint. It emits a wolf howl when she powers it up for the Showstopper.

Zuke 

Zuke is a werewolf. Ragged clothes with fake fur poking out, extra fur attached to his forearms (don’t ask how got it on there), pointed ears, a bushy tail, pointed fangs, his nose has been painted. Pretty simple.

His drumsticks are splattered with glowing green paint and tipped with tiny light-up pumpkins.

The Other NPCs

Ellie has little bat wings attached to her back and wears a springy bat antenna headband.

And last but not least, 

Kliff . . . is just wearing a pair of Groucho Marx glasses. Yup. That's it.

Let me know what you all think. I’d love to hear some feedback. Thanks for reading! Happy Halloween!

[jellisdraws]

WIP Whenever

It’s been a while since I posted anything from my Cyberfantasy WIP so…

The helm was a vision straight out of the last century of star cruisers , retrofitted into something more functionally modern. It's dated darksteel panels were accented with rust red ironwood, and a full suite of leather chairs and stations sat vacant on either side of the conically shaped room. In the middle of the room where an old timey captain's chair may have sat, a 12 foot tall, 8 foot wide inky black egg shaped pod was welded into the floor, it's sleek sides seamed with glowing strings of runes. Past the navigation egg, the circular front viewport glowed with the purple hue of the light spilling from the Gate, the traffic ahead of them mere dots of black with their own aetheric glow of main thrusters, slowly idling their way forward, waiting their turn to warp. Wires and cables humming with magic running out of the base of the pod disappeared under the floor panelling - Was that… mahogany? - and reappeared where they linked into the various navigation and control stations across the bridge. Advancements in cognition-enhancing alchemy, magics, and technology like Jack’s own implanted cyberbrain now allowed the entire suite of operating systems for a starship like this one to be controlled by one person- a fact not lost on the starlining corporations.

Now that Automaton Intelligences were calling for equal treatment as kith, and even the corporate funded governments were having to give way in order to appease their constituents both organic and manufactured, it was far cheaper to just maintain the fewest employees possible and focus on guild busting tactics. Paying for stimulants, overtime and legal payouts when things went wrong was far cheaper than paying a living wage and hiring Shipboard AI to supplement helmsmen. The pilots guild was more or less a full fledged insurrection anymore, hijacking, blockading and destroying Corpo ships across the Unified Systems. They supposedly maintained sleeper representatives across the various starliner companies, those willing to quietly recruit new guild members or crash starships into trade hubs in firey protest. Split between the Corpos bearing down on them and the Guild’s aggressive recruiting tactics, every pilot and helmsman Jack had ever met had been either stupefyingly boring or batshit insane. She hoped this one counted among the former.

(Rest under the cut)

A voice floated out of the Comm rune on the egg, “Hey, just a heads up we’re about T minus 16 minutes to warp. Not to put too much pressure on you, but non essential systems will be going down as we warp, standard procedure, and they wont be back on till we’re headed into final approach.”

“Right.” Jack said, edging around the pod, trying to get a view of the person inside

“It's weird you know, I don't remember logging a request.”

Jack froze, waiting for alarms, waiting for the doors behind her to open, but the voice continued, “ Sometimes I forget about the small stuff though, or maybe it's an old one- glad they're finally sending someone to deal with stuff like this,” The voice was dreamy- like their attention was largely elsewhere- which Jack supposed it was; flying large scale starships was consuming work.

She finally scooted in front of the navigation egg, peering through the layers and layers of projected information and glowing sensor displays on the glass of the viewing window into the beautiful reflective eyes of a mermaid. She smiled dreamily at Jack as she floated gracefully in the suspending fluid of the egg. She was around 4 feet tall, with a slender feminine torso covered in opalescent white scales that shifted into a curling, ridged neon yellow seahorse tail. Her pale green curls were trapped beneath a pair of headphones she had pulled around her neck- the cord of which disappeared into the top of the egg. Her eyes were the color and quality of mercury, sitting prettily in a heart shaped face. She had a prominent tattoo of an incredibly buff orcish man in a navy cap and not much else along her sternum. Down the sides of her neck and collar Jack could see her gills filtering. Jack had to remind herself to look the woman in her eyes.

“Hi there,” Jack said.

“Yeah, hi,” returned the dreamy voice through the pod, though Jack couldn't see the Mermaids lips move, “Feel free to do what you need to do, We got about- oh… just under 14 minutes now.”

“Right. I don't suppose we could speed that up?” Jack asked

“Speed it up how?”

“Most ships have thrusters I believe, they are used to provide thrust. I would like there to be more thrust.”

“Oh.”

Jack unfolded the titanium blade from her hand and pressed the tip into the glass of the navigation egg with what she hoped was a menacing click, her black eyes meeting the Mermaids mercury ones, “Im hijacking the ship.”

“Oh, Okay.”

“‘Okay?’ What the fuck do you mean, ‘Okay’?”

“I was acquiescing.” the mermaid said.

“I just told you I was stealing the ship. Why would you acquiesce to that? Who says acquiesce anymore?”

“I dunno. Protocol I think.”

“Protocol says to agree to hijacking?”

“Yeah.”

“I need to be through the Hyperlane gate as fast as you can get us there…?”

“Madolyn.”said Madolyn the mermaid.

“Madolyn, hi. My name is-”

An explosion rocked the cabin as the doors in the rear blew open with a wild squeal and cracking of metal and ceramic, with a shower of blue and purple arcane sparks. The Corprobots began to force their way through the exploded doors, kicking and twisting burning out of their way.

“JACK GATHOWAY YOU HAVE BEEN FOUND NON COMPLIANT.” came a loud tinny voice followed by a short burst of gunfire.

Jack yelped and ducked behind the egg as bullets ricocheted around the cabin, struggling to flatten herself against the convex surface.

“Now please Madolyn!” She yelled

“Just feel free to call me Maddie!” she said cheerfully, righting herself in the tank and pulling her headphones back up around her ears. She began to wave her hands fluidly though the fluid, and the ship responded instantly. Jack felt herself pressed firmly into the smooth hard surface of the egg as gravity shifted in response to the acceleration. An echoing crash and the sounds of cursing revealed a corprobot had fallen off of it's feet and tangled the legs of the others.

Jack looked frantically in front of her, the aetheric glow of the gate was huge and all encompassing, trying to stay stuck behind the egg as Maddie swung the starliner in and out of traffic, avoiding the ships trundling there as she continued to accelerate towards the gate.

“Stay where you are!” came a corprobot voice, and then more gunfire, Jack hissed as a ricochet skimmed past her forearm, slicing the skin like a red hot razor. The bots were spreading out, making the precarious cover she had found increasingly tenuous. Between the shouting and gunfire she could hear Maddie cheerfully speaking to someone,

“Thats right Raxxus Control we have been spacejacked, and the culprits are accelerating us directly into the Gate!” A pause, “Nope, it does not seem like re-establishing control of the vessel will be possible.” She gave Jack a thumbs up, and Jack returned the gesture with a weak smile.

A Metallic hand grabbed Jack by the ankle and ripped her out of her hiding spot and she yelled, swinging and kicking, slamming her knife repeatedly into the torso of the corprobot holding her, the aetherium infused titanium sinking into the thick ceramic armor over and over until the bot fell in a shower of purple sparks. More gunfire from the bots- TING! A bullet lodged itself in her metal leg, she almost could have laughed until another one took her in the shoulder and she spun over the controls landing with a bone rattling THUNK on the other side of the defunct console. Maddie was still speaking,

“That's right, we are a passenger vessel, so firing on us is out of the question unfortunately. Eject them? I don't have the authority to do that sir, Im so sorry. Listen we’re about to hit the Gate, it's been lovely to talk to you- what was that? Collision?”

Jack’s eyes widened as she turned to look out the front viewport to see the prow of Starsailer emerge from the gate, followed by its masts and sails, a huge galleon from the ancient days of spacefaring, it's Draconic figurehead looking as surprised to see the Starliner as they were to see it. Maddie hewed the ship hard to port, but it was too late. Jack felt it shudder beneath her before the impact came and she was thrown across the room. She slammed hard into the ceiling, navigation egg, floor, egg again. As the starliner bounced off of the hapless Starsailer’s shields and directly into Raxxus Station itself, metal and glass and ceramic buckled as the momentum of the ship ground it further and further into the Gates’s superstructure. Jack felt the shuddering reverberations of arcane explosions before she saw them, massive roiling purple flames being ejected out of the gate with increasing intensity as the starliner crashed into it before the momentum of the spinning structure caught them and flipped the disintegrating ship entirely and the purple aetheric glow overtook all.

[chyirly]

The Market Within Universes Pt.1

The Market was a place in between universes where turtles, and others, of all kind were able to interact. It was a place of wonder, of the unknown, of change.

That was easily seen as Mikey walked through The Market, buildings of all sizes looming over him as their occupants searched around for anything of interest.

The streets were filled to the brim with a flood of people looking around and mingling with each other. They were crowded together, some even on the shoulders of their much taller brothers and counterparts as they tried to head toward the next thing that caught their eyes.

Mikey could see a few versions of him and his brothers, others from Dimension 12, but none were his actual brothers. They were most likely waiting for him at the opening to their world.

After a bit of struggle, Mikey finally reached the entrance of a dark alleyway. He released a sigh.

As he continued onwards, humming to himself, a faint glow at the end of the alley caught his attention. Beckoning him to find out what lay past the darkness.

In front of Mikey was a small building, the neon sign on top reading ‘Mystic Haves’. Spilling from its windows and onto the grass and gravel road was an orange light. Mikey walked closer.

From the window, he could see an assortment of items, pottery, weapons, and tech. Each with a colorful shine coating them like a second skin.

He was unable to see a single living soul within the shop.

Further back he could see a desk, the source of the strange, orange, glow that had initially brought him here.

Entering the shop, despite its comfy design, felt claustrophobic at best. All available space was covered in items, some were put in display cases and hung on the wall and ceiling, the dolls looked as if their eyes were following his every move.

The turtle in front of him, although Mikey knew that they were a Michelangelo as well, looked like no other turtle he had seen before. With chin-length curly black hair pulled into a half-up ponytail, the rest framing his face. He wore a mute orange cloak held together at the chest by a gray clasp with a combined M and H engraved on it. The only thing visible from beneath the cloak was his arms, wrapped in black bandages, except for the tips of his fingers, revealing only faint cracks. One rested on his cheek. His skin was a dark green sprinkled with orange spots on his face that emitted a faint glow.

The other's eyes glowed orange, hypnotizing Mikey the longer he stared. Promising anything he wanted as long as he asked. Starting into the deepest part of his soul, as if it knew him better than he knew himself.

This would be the first meeting between Dimension 18 and the rest of the Market. But Mikey would be unaware till he once again caught up to his brothers, clutching a comic book titled, ‘Jupiter Jim And His Adventure Between Universes Alongside Captain Ryan’.

----------

So... new AU anyone? As you can probably tell this post takes place in The Market, whichis located between universes, where those that come can sell and buy items from other universes.

Universes can be described as the different ‘series’ that have come from the franchise, mirage, 87, 03, 07, 12, 14, 18, and others. In these universes are worlds, different versions based on its main universe, which are basically AU’s.

So if any creator wants to insert their own AU’s into The Market, there won't be a problem because literally any character they add will be considered from their own AU. So maybe expect some crossovers.

I might post this on AO3 as well, as a full text, no images, but considering that I chose this half comic half short story format for a reason, that probably won't happen. Future posts however will most likely be a full comic, because why not.

The two characters are both Mikey from Universes 12 and 18, which I might go into more detail on their worlds as I flush out what I have.

The design aren't finalized yet, so expect things to change in the next post.

I probably will continue to work on this along with another idea of mine, although there probably won’t be much content as I do stand-alone fanwork.

In other news, I will soon be posting an idea I have, in text format, for the DC universe, although I probably won't get too into the fanbase for a while.

[superjumpintomyheart]

Pearlie and Rina go on a boat trip on the S.S.Pearl., you know, the one she got when she was 6

okay we know inklings and octolings cant like live underwater but they can still touch it right so like,,, can they go swimming for fun or not? i just want to write abt pearlina with fun summer clothes doing fun summer things

~

"So, you just have an identical copy of the Manta Maria that your dad gave you when you were six years old?"

Pearl shrugged as she threw on a white sundress over her bikini, "Yeah? I remember the party we had on it afterward was hella fresh, I've done like a billion parties on this thing since then."

Marina was not exactly expecting this to be what Pearl meant when she said they should go boating, but as she thought about it a bit more while getting ready for their trip, it made sense. She wore a teal bikini top and a pair of distressed denim shorts over her bikini bottoms, hopefully their time outside would help even out her somewhat awkward tan line she had developed from wearing her signature crop top.

"We've lived together for how long now and I never knew this?" She laughed, packing up the rest of her things into a tote bag she slung over her shoulder. Pearl was nearly ready as well, applying a layer of sunscreen to her entire body.

"There just hasn't been any time to use it! The S.S.Pearl is a special occasion boat and we've been putting on concerts like every other weekend, Rina."

When the pair finished getting ready and arrived at the dock, Pearl's private captain, an older inkling man, greeted her with a bow, "Welcome Pearl, Marina. Pleasure to have you both on board today, as your captain I will ensure the course of your trip is smooth sailing."

Pearl gave a fake salute to him, laughing it off and patting him on the arm instead, "Thanks, Cap. It's just us two so you can loosen up a bit too, have some fun!"

Marina smiled at the inkling, he seemed like the type of person who loved what he did, being on the water was probably as much fun for him as it was for Pearl to perform. She followed her girlfriend onto the main deck where there were various spots to relax and hang out, outdoor couches and chairs around coffee tables, a canopied seating area with a flatscreen tv, and of course a killer DJ booth with a lit up dance floor in front of it. It certainly was different than the Manta Maria in how it was decorated, but the layout was still the same as the boat that many cephalings played turf war on.

"Wow Pearlie, this is really incredible," the octoling sighed as she took in her surroundings.

"Oh you ain't even seen nothing yet, there's still the bedrooms inside, the sauna, the battle station," she rambled on about the features of her ship, but Marina had to interrupt.

"Wait- what's the battle station?"

A mischievous grin dawned on Pearl's face, the kind of expression she wore only when she had some kind of devious plan, "Wanna find out?"

With a bit of hesitation, Marina agreed and let herself be lead to the lower deck which was strangely dark. She felt like she was going to trip and fall as Pearl guided her through the hallway, but she had to trust her girlfriend. After a moment, they stopped along the wall in a different room, at least Marina thought it was a different room, she couldn't really tell in the lighting.

"Are you ready for this?" the inkling asked as she squeezed their hands together.

The taller girl nodded and squeezed her hand back, "I guess so?"

"Good." Then with the flip of a switch, the large room lit up in purple blacklight, revealing a small turf war course with two spawn areas on opposite sides that glowed fluorescent neon colors. Fake plants and obstacles were lit up with unnatural colors, yet enough darkness was left in the room to make it difficult to see quite where you would be stepping. Along the wall the light switch had been on, a line of weapons in every class and type stood waiting to be picked for battle.

"You have... a whole glow in the dark turf war stage on your boat?!" Marina asked, her jaw practically on the floor from how amazed she was at the engineering of such a place. She looked over at her girlfriend with a huge smile, and she received one in return.

"Sure do, now..." Pearl stepped off to the side to grab a pair of splat dualies, twirling one of the guns in her hand. "Wanna ink some turf?"

Marina excitedly ran down the line of weapons, finding her favorite splatbrella and testing its shielding capabilities before laughing, "It's on."

[thingsmysplattershotjrtoldme]

The girls have naaaames!

first up is Rouge Detampes, named after the red orange pumpkin!. She may appear stuck up but she's a real sweetie. She's got a massive protective streak in her, hence her usually playing chargers or pulling out a brush to help a Splatling teammate in need. She works at the Shoal part time and loves helping out newbies get a good read on their weapons

Natural ink color - Red Orange

Eye color- Orange with a ring of cyan around her pupil

Age - 26

Next is Hamachi, a rather self assured octo. She's deadly with her Tetras and she knows it. She's well sought out as a duelie player for multiple pro teams, but she prefers to go solo or just mess around in a team with her friends. She'll squid party at the drop of a hat during turf but she will absolutely push her own teammates off the map if they try it in ranked. She, Brass and Danii are sisters, Hamachi being the middle child.

Natural ink color - Neon Yellow (it also glows in blacklight as well as the dark)

Eye color - a yellow ring surrounding a deep turquoise iris

Age - 22

Next is Brass, eldest of the sisters. She's hard headed and impulsive, and has a bit of an arrogant streak, but it's not unwarranted considering her skill in battle. She's the captain of her team and will remind her subordinates of it in any way possible. Despite her preference of military garb, she has such an attitude against anyone higher on the food chain than her that she is unfit for military duties. She's made friends with many important people and will call in favors if anyone messes with her friends or especially her family

Natural ink color - Brassy yellow

Eye color - Gold with a ring of royal blue around the iris

Age - 29

Next is the youngest sister, Danii. She is self absorbed and constantly getting into trouble, often needing her sisters to bail her out. She mains Clash just to be annoying. She claims she's an amazing player, but in reality she is often carried by her team. She's a flirt of the highest degree, and will flirt with literally anything sentient. She has been banned from Grizzco as a result. She is a rascal in every sense of the word, the quintessential stereotypical bard at heart.

Natural ink color - Sunshine yellow

Eye color - mottled cyan and gold

Age - 19

Special thanks to @stuff-from-the-void-matron with name help!

[factorydefaultlu]

my one piece oc? omg if you insist... His name is Zinon, he's an ex-ex-marine and an ex-pirate (he was a marine, left because he hated how strict they were, ran away to be a pirate, then rejoined when he got a marine boyfriend). He was a pirate captain, but his whole crew mopped the floor with him and used him as a scapegoat because he's emotionally weak He's a devil fruit user, Iro-gao no mi (colorful face fruit), and it's a neon element fruit. His skin is neon and lights up when he feels different emotions (and glows brighter with emotional intensity), as well as his his blood being a gas (because neon is a gas :3) Zinon's been kickin' it with internalized homophobia until he met Koby, and they quickly got close, Zinon was like "oh shit! Boys ARE cute..", and then him and Koby started dating after they... :3

I LOVE HIM

That's a cool fucking devil fruit power holy shit

[drawnecromancy]

Find the word!

Tagged by : @isabellebissonrouthier

Tagging : Anyone who wants to do this may consider themselves tagged.

Words I was given : Plump, Freckle, Blue, Gaze, Star

Words I'm giving you : Wine, Orange, Gust, Coast, Sphere

.

Just like last time, I'll be looking through every one of my WIPs and will write after each extract where it came from.

What i didn't find : Plump, Freckle, Gaze (...weirdly enough. i thought i had this one.)

Unroll to see what i DID find !

Blue - I seem to use that word regularly so. Several Extracts be upon Ye.

Instantly, she forgot about the fox and its creepy appearance, put down her net and raised her arms towards the floating, glowing jellyfish figure. The moment she brushed her hands on one of the tendrils, they started wrapping around her arms. Thessalyn’s eyes started glowing the same white-blue color the thing did, and as it filled her vision, it was like she would never be alone again.

– Thessalyn

Suddenly, Puppy got up, out of Myth-Anar’s reach, as a door opened. He hadn’t looked around too much – doing that while laying down could be annoying – but he forced himself to look to his right, where Puppy had gone. There was his savior : a changeling of deep blue skin and lilac eyes, checking to see if he was all right.

– Myth-Anar and Svetlana

The group stopped their pink van in front of a run-down building that looked pretty much like a huge block of cement from the road. But from the parking lot, you could see broken down neon lights, announcing “Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza” in huge, previously cheery letters. However, both F’s had now fallen down in front of the building, and with the blue paint coating the inside of the windows, the place just looked sad.

– Ghost Hunting at Freddy's

Star

But for now, the ripples of the sea, both natural ones and those caused by the other boats taking the same route, were mesmerizing for Medrel. Even at night, the sea reflected the thousands of discrete lights coming from the stars, and the comforting glow of the moons. If they hadn’t been warned by the captain about falling off the boat, they’d have attempted to dip their hand in the water, just to see how it felt. Surely it would be at least as cold as the midnight air.

– Graveyard of Dreams

[xasha777]

In the neon glow of Neo-Atlantis, where the sea reclaimed the old world and technology fused with the deep, one figure was both enigma and legend: Captain Azure Synthwave, known simply as "The Siren" to those who rode the tide of the new age.

Her hair, a cascade of the purest cerulean, was said to be woven from the very fibers of the sea itself, shimmering with the depth of the ocean. Her eyes, hidden behind circular, rose-tinted lenses, were rumored to see not just colors, but the very essence of electricity that coursed through the world's new veins. The Siren never removed her glasses, for it was whispered that to look into her eyes was to peer into the abyss, to see the past and the future entwined in a dance of waves and light.

The bubbles that floated lazily around her were not mere soap and air but nano-encapsulated memories – moments captured in time, each a story, a secret, or a silent melody waiting to burst forth with the touch of her cybernetic glove.

Clad in leather the color of coral reefs, The Siren commanded her vessel, The Nautiluxe, a marvel of bio-engineering and steampunk aesthetics. The gears and gauges that adorned her outfit were not for show; each served a purpose, from regulating her body's adaptation to the depths, to interfacing with her ship's AI, affectionately known as "Bubbles".

Her mission was as mysterious as her persona. Some said she was a treasure hunter, scouring the drowned cities for lost artifacts of the before-time. Others believed she was a guardian of the deep, protecting the secrets of the ocean from those who would exploit them. There were even whispers that she was searching for a way to reverse the tide, to restore the world to its former glory.

But for now, The Siren sailed the boundless seas, her figure a silhouette against the backdrop of bioluminescent waves, her journey an endless quest through the heart of a world reborn beneath the waves. Her tale was one of adventure, of magic hidden in science, and of a melody that could summon the very soul of the sea.

[fluffydisneyprincess]

Called Out

I shifted my foot so my boot wasn't digging into the seal and looked out across the city. The view from up here was incredible even if that's not the reason we were here. Home wasn't so... technological. Comparing it to the view before me now, it almost felt like it was lacking color. Gods there were so many colors. So many bright lights. My back itched with the desire to let my wings free and soar over that man made multicolored mess.

We were on a mission, or that's what I was told anyway. Captain sat across from me with his head tilted back toward the clear glass wall. I tried to argue that glass was not the best material for surveillance but he didn't seem bothered. If anything he seemed relaxed, basking in the neon glow of the city lights.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say this mission was an excuse for you to get me alone, Captain." I flashed the tiniest bit of sharp teeth with my grin. He tipped his head up and grinned at me in amusement. You're just now catching on? I didn't know what to say to that, and decided not to say anything.

"And what if I said it was?"

"I'd call you on your bluff," I replied easily, mirroring his smile.

Without missing a beat he knelt forward on one knee so that our faces were only inches apart. His crystal blue eyes were level with mine. When he spoke I could feel his breath, cool and teasing as he was, splash across my face. "And what if I wasn't bluffing?"

Suddenly I was relieved my other appendage was sealed away. A flush running to my ears was significantly less embarrassing than the way my tail had a tendency to wrap itself around my wrist. Still, the slight flush in my cheeks was enough. His gaze briefly dropped to my lips, and I felt the physical pull of temptation to close the small distance between us.

Demons don't fight temptation, Aunt Ley had said once, they give into it. When something tempts you you're really going to have to fight it to not give in.

And oh I was fighting. I dug my nails into my palm trying to resist. Or at least not to move. If he did closed it for me I knew I would be done for.

He leaned back to his sitting position, grinning a victor's smirk at me. He had basically called my bluff. The same bluff I had made with every wink and flirt. He chuckled, looking away from me.

"I knew it was all a bluff."

"What makes you say that?" I demanded, irritated despite the fact that I had gotten caught in my own lie.

"Really?" His gaze swung back to me, one brow raised. I crossed my arms, waiting for his answer. "You never let anyone near you, and you're always so careful to keep yourself covered. Not marks of someone who would confidently take anyone to bed."

I sat back and looked away from him toward the city lights. He had completely misunderstood my actions as shyness, and I wasn't about to argue that when the truth was 'avoiding arrest'. What I absolutely hated in that moment, with his smug little grin... was that he was still right.

[bonesofapoet]

( please note some links will take you to my main blog )

* characters with an asterisk are now platonic only

ARCANE

Silco

prologue -a taste of mercy

DC

Arthur Curry

melted stars, melted sea

Donna Troy

sunlight

morning sun, burning waffles

headcanon: a snowy afternoon

to bloom through a blade

Dick Grayson

car crash hearts

with fear, i fall

headcanon: going to a haunted house

watchers in the night

portraits for lovers

Jason Todd

lightning fields

now cracks a noble heart

headcanon: watching it snow

we are unsung hymns

a shelter made of mercy

i didn’t know the world could be so warm

they say fear is for the weak

sky full of song

headcanon: going to a haunted house

atlas bewitched in a diner

trials of the gods

headcanon: jason is scared of loving you, but cant stay away

run away from the sun

fall

John Constantine

death wrapped in velvet

the muse of venus

Roy Harper

my dear, how sweet we could be

DEADLY CLASS

Billy Bennett

constellation dreams

Lex Miller

midnight reality

anthology pt I

anthology pt II

a rose colored curse

we walk in beauty

i can see fire in your eyes

Marcus Lopez Arguello

neon anchors

merciful souls

starlight sins

inscendence

from dusk ‘til dawn

Saya Kuroki

shallow glory

CALL OF DUTY

Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley

heart under the gun

ares crowned by persephone

CASTLEVANIA

Alucard ( Adrian Tepes )

revival of a soul

haunted

touched by fire

CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA

Nicholas Scratch

hush

sweet cravings

DRAGON AGE

Cullen Rutherford

the night that keeps our secrets

Fenris

the honeyed kiss of betrayal

Lucanis Dellamorte

tongue-tied

Sebastian Vael

our graveyard of dreams

The Iron Bull

our names are carved in steel

GENERAL

headcanon: vigilante/hero x you

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON

Aemond Targaryen

through the thorns

the shadow’s crown

even dragons must yield

MARVEL

Bucky Barnes

letters from poseidon

we’re nothing but a falling star

skin & bones

Frank Castle

soft and wild

abandoned valor

once upon an ugly sweater

ache

Hobie Brown

headcanon: going to a show with hobie

Loki

the oracle at the end of the world

Matt Murdock

aphrodite’s kiss

blood of the holy

lucifer in the arms of persephone

Peter Parker (TASM)

a duet, honey sweet

muse of the heart

Quentin Beck

careful, i bite pt I

careful, i bite pt II

Sam Wilson

stars in high tide

Shang-Chi

steady heart

Sylvie Lushton

tired eyes and gentle hands

* Yelena Belova

the glow of a valley

amaranthine

ghosts

PRODIGAL SON

Malcolm Bright

we move lightly

fragments

crimson darling

STAR WARS

Captain Rex

dewdrops

Din Djarin

a legion on crimson wings: pt  I  II  III  IV  V  VI

violent delights

the golden rays of night

wicked, wicked dreams

Obi-Wan Kenobi

fallen kingdoms and starlight hearts

STRANGER THINGS

Billy Hargrove

head full of noise

Eddie Munson

sunset leather + rooftop smiles

headcanon: going to a metal show with eddie

monster hunting would suck without you

too young to fall in love

inferno

golden crowns and whispering roses

april

TEEN WOLF

Peter Hale

on the breath of a hurricane

THE DREAMER TRILOGY

Declan Lynch / Jordan

veiled in vintage thorns

THE OLD GUARD

Booker ( Sebastian le Livre )

funeral for a ghost

THE ORIGINALS

Kol Mikaelson

watch me crack and shatter

THE 100

Roan

sunrise over the devil’s revenge

[sw124]

FNAF/SB: JitterBug AU

Safari!

“Okay, the meeting of the Cozy Club is now in session!”

Gregory clapped as banged a toy hammer on the table, careful as not to disturb the lunch she prepared for the both of them. A plate of what she called ‘eggs in a basket’ which was a ham and cheese sandwich, the top of it covered with a melting cheese, little dip was made in the center for an egg yolk and then baked inside her little toaster oven till everything was cooked. Served with some orange and mint tea. Gregory helped make it, he was really enjoying the time he was spending with Clover. All the recipes she made were easy for him to do at home with Vanessa, who also was enjoying the benefits of this friendship.

“First order of business is reading the minutes of last weeks meeting, Gregory if you would.” Clover nodded to him.

Gregory reached into his bag and pulled out a notebook, decorated with stickers he collected from the Pizza-Plex. An some homemade ones done by Sun and Moon for the heck of it, flipping through a few pages before doing to the page he wanted.

“Minutes of the last meeting, we had went back to Pirates Cove and continued hunt for the pirates in there an we had planned go back but, as you know Pirates Cove has been officially closed off for repairs until further notice. So the good ship S.S Shamrock will have to stay docked until further notice captain.”

Clover sighed. “Then our bounty is free to sail the seas…for now, on another note is the raceway any closer to finishing their repairs?”

“Last I was told they are nearly finished, a few go-carts need driving assistants before everything is up and running and Roxy’s go-cart is just about finished with its own repairs. So in due time we can start racing with her again.” Gregory turned another page, a blank one before taking out a pen.

“Alright, on to the next matter of activities for tonight. First off…what in blue blazes do we do?” Groaned Clover.

Gregory gave a sympathetic sigh back, sketching out little doodles of whatever came to his mind at the time. He was currently sketching the picture of a lion and then a little Fazcam….slowly he started remembering last night, he and Vanessa had sat down and watched a documentary on the animals of the Nile river. He looked at his doodle of the lion, the Fazcamera and the words of the narrator echoing in the back of his head. A broad smile appeared on his face as he turned to Clover, an with a little jump blurted…

“Clover, lets go on a safari!”

———————————————

[Safari POV]

Gregory adjusted the sling of his bag so it was behind him, he pointed the camera up at Clover who was looking through her binoculars for any dangers ahead.

“Ok, cameras rolling; when your ready!” Said Gregory zooming in on Clover a bit, giggling she turned around, straightened her hat before clearing her throat so to speak.

“Good afternoon, I am Professor Clover and my dear friend and colleague Doctor Gregory.” Clover nodded to Gregory whom waved a hand in front of the camera.

“Come with us as we explore the vast untamed lands of Pizzplexia, a wild landscape home to five of the most rarest sights in all the world! Come with us as we explore the beauty of nature and the fascinating habits of the creatures that call this mysterious world home.”

Once she was done Gregory handed the camera over to her, they walked a short distance until they entered a large expansive cave. Lines of florescent glowing rocks and veins of bioluminescent moss decorated the mirror onyx walls, Clover didn’t waist a single second getting all of it in. As they walked Gregory continued to narrate.

“Here is the lovely Neon Caves, named for its glowing mineral rocks and moss that emit bright colors closely resembling neon lights; giving this cave its name. Besides its beautiful interior it is home to a very unique creature known as the ‘Star-faced Fazbear’ a large docile creature that roams the cave systems. It houses itself in a well lit cave where it sleeps, the Star-faced Fazbear has also been documented to crush blue rocks and applies it to its face as a intimidation tactic to scare off intruders that come to its home.”

Gregory continued narrating as they walked, but halted…seeing light coming from a cave. Quickly the two ducked down and shuffled towards the light….inside was the creature in question. Its nightly claws dipping into a mixture of crushed blue rock and water, delicately painting a star on its amber brown fur.

——————————————

[Freddy POV]

Why did Parts and Service always mess up his paint?! It was staring to get really annoying now, but regardless he had to touch up where the smudges where. Thank goodness for those makeup lessons, he’d have to thank Roxy again for that. Just a few touch up’s here and there and-

….Was it just his imagination or was he being watched?

For a moment he thought it was Moon again, given his habit of crawling around in the vents…but that didn’t feel right. Knowing the lunar animatronic, he’d probably be over in lost an found looking for treasures to add to his collection. He had just set his brush down…when he saw them, Gregory an Clover crouched low with what looked like an old broken Fazcam pointed at him. Clover giggling up a storm apparently as Gregory was talking…

“What on earth…” Freddy was about to turn to confront them but thought better of it.

Instead he’d play it sneaky and see what the two of them were up to, so when the two were distracted he snuck out of his green room and peeked around the corner. Listening in on what the two little ones were talking about.

“Doctor Gregory, your quite knowledgeable on this particular creature. Can you tell the audience the temperament of the ‘Star-faced Fazbear’ is like?”

“Of course Professor Clover, the ‘Star-faced Fazbear’ is a docile creature. Very gentle when it comes to other living creatures but can become aggressive if it sense immediate danger. Even more so if you come near its cubs, its not a very territorial animal but it will not hesitate to protect its home if need be!”

Freddy was more confused then before, what on earth where they- OH! Oh now he got it! The kids were pretending to make a nature documentary! He had to think for a moment but he got it, now he was suppressing a chuckle. This was so cute, almost as cute as watching them pretend to play pirates in Pirates Cove!

Oh it was hard to stay quiet especially when they noticed his absence, he waited a bit; the two of them passing by before sneaking behind them. When they got at least ten paces away he cupped his hands around his mouth…and let out a playful-

“ROAR!!!”

Yes, Freddy called out ‘roar’ instead of actual one. This made the two kids jump and turn, giving a squeal of mock fear the two bolted down the hall. Freddy gave chase for a moment before letting them run off into the Pizza-Plex, oh this was going to be a fun night.

He was already making the calls to the others, they had to get in on this!

————————————-

[Safari POV]

“That was close!” Clover laughed.

“Yeah, it almost got us!” Gregory panted a bit but was also laughing, they had ran quite a distance.

Leaving the Neon Caves for the expansive Black-water Canyon, so named for the black soil that rested at the bottom of the winding waterway; hence the name. The canyon walls were high like skyscrapers but smooth like polished stone, carefully the two brave explorers pressed on. Now they were in the Black-water Canyon they began searching for its local resident.

“Professor Clover, what creature do we expect to find here?” Asked Gregory.

“Oh dear Doctor, this canyon is home to one of the most beautiful creatures around. The legendary ‘Gold-eyed wolf’! The ‘Golden-eyed wolf’ is said to have the most softest, most luscious fur around. A highly coveted treasure, its name derives from its stunning golden eyes that are not just beautiful but are extremely powerful. Able to see not just long distance but has the power to even see through solid objects, truly a remarkable creature!”

As the two explores continued to narrate they came across the very animal, accept it wasn’t alone..another rare animal was with it.

Clover gasped and ducked down behind a rock. “Doctor hurry, get the camera!”

Gregory fumbled a bit before getting out the camera and filmed, there was the wolf…but beside them a beautiful white and pink bird with uniquely colored legs.

“What a sight, the Gold-eyed wolf communing with the stunning Rainbow heron! These two are often seen walking together, at times the heron will preen the wolf’s fur hence why it stays in such a flawless state. In return the wolf provides not only protection to the heron but companionship and grooming.”

Clover continued to narrate the sight before them, the heron’s beautiful wings gently brushing along the wolf’s cold grey fur, utterly magnificent

——————————————

[Chica & Roxy POV]

Oh geez, it was just like Freddy said. The two of them were pretending to be explores filming a nature documentary…an they were the animals in question. Though Roxy did feel her ego grow a bit, being called one of the most beautiful and having the best looking hair, no question there. Chica felt a bit bashful being called stunning, what was so funny to them is the kids thought they were being quiet but Roxy could hear everything and was relaying what she was hearing right to Chica.

She almost lost it a few times, especially when Clover mentioned grooming. An just when she was starting to play with Roxy’s hair of all times! Even Roxy was having a hard time holding it together, this was to freaking adorable!

Okay, they had to chase them off before they became giggling messes. Roxy motioned to Chica, who nodded back. They mouthed out a little countdown starting from ten, working their way back down to zero.

Before turning to face the two kids spying on them.

“Bwak!” Chica called out, waving her arms as she charged forward.

“Awoooo!” Yelled Roxy, following after Chica.

An just like that the two explores ran out of the Raceway, leaving both Chica and Roxy alone to finally roll on the floor and possibly die from the utter hilarity of the situation. Though Roxy was able to pull it together long enough….to call up Monty.

——————————————

[Safari POV]

“Again we got too close, my goodness these creatures are territorial!” Panted Clover, also trying to control her giggle fit.

“P-Professor you have to be careful when dealing with wild creatures! If your not they’ll eat you!” Laughed Gregory, the two had caught their breaths when they found themselves deep in the heart of a fog ridden swamp.

“Oh! Doctor Gregory, we’ve seemed to have found ourselves in the ‘Tri-color swamp’ home of the fierce ‘Rock’n Gator’….” Whispered Clover, stifling a giggle.

“I’ve heard of this particular creature, its said to be the strongest and fiercest of all the creatures in this land! It has never been filmed ever…but thats gonna change!” Gregory held up the camera and began panning the whole swamp.

“Best be very careful though Doctor, the Rock’n Gator is not the only creature that roams this swamp, its also the hunting ground for the Lunar and Solar tarantula!”

Gregory paused and looked at her. “You’re kidding right? There’s no way tarantulas would cross into a Gators territory….would they?”

“Oooh indeed they do.” Said Clover as they proceeded to wade through the multicolored moss.

She continued. “The Lunar tarantula is known to take things and the Solar tarantula tends to hover and keep watch for lost creatures to attach to…not sure why it does that. Though its said the two share the same cave and the Lunar tarantula tends to hoard random objects and teeth…lots of teeth.”

Gregory gulped hearing that, he was aware of the strange practices of the Solar tarantula but the Lunar one scared him deeply. Both continued wading through the moss…unaware of the danger following not just below the surface of the water but above them and all around.

————————————-

[Monty/Freddy/Sun&Moon POV]

This was it, everyone had gathered in one spot to surprise the two little ones. They hardly ever come out to do these sort of things but tonight was just..one of those nights. Everyone was coming together just to surprise Clover and Gregory, Monty was hiding in one of the ball pits watching them while Sun and Moon hung from their harnesses on the ceiling.

It always amazed them how vast a child’s imagination went, the whole time listening to them go into such depths describing things that didn’t really exist but yet did in their own world. Monty was just captivated by the creativity of these two, pretending the balls in the ball pits were moss, the neon lights in Rockstar Row as glowing rocks. The asphalt on Roxy Raceway as a river with black soil and then some.

If only he had their eyes, what would their little made up world look like? Monty often wondered this from time to time, right now though he was just a little busy sneaking up on the two kids. He almost blew his cover though….Clover had slipped and fell down trying to get out of the ball pit, but there was Gregory to her rescue helping her up and dusting her off.

Instantly Gregory pretended she broke her foot and had to carry her on his back, Clover played along without question. Her holding the camera and paper towel binoculars…oh he so hoped someone was ‘really’ filming this. He got out of one ball pit and entered another, moving around till he was somewhere in front. The two of them stopping to survey the area, Monty took this time to see if everyone was in place.

Freddy waved from his hiding place, Sun and Moon were perched just above the two…and here he was ready to strike.

The Rock’n Gator pounced!

“RAWR! WHOSE IN MY SWAMP?!”

Monty leapt up from the pit, effectively surprising the two. The two screamed a bit but started laughing, Monty gave Gregory time to put Clover down before trying to chase them. Of course he only took like five steps before stopping and letting the chaos twins above have their fun.

Sun and Moon dropped down, Sun managed to catch her in a tight embrace while Moon came in for the ‘kill’ so to speak, which was just him tickling any place he could reach.

“EEEE! HAHAH G-GREGORY HELP! HAHAAH!” Clover laughed as Moon continued to tickle her.

“Hang on professor!” Gregory doubled back…

But he only got two steps in before being hoisted into the air by a pair of massive paws, he turned to find Freddy with a big grin on his face.

“Not so fast there! The Star-Faced Bear has a bone to pick with you ‘doctor’ Gregory!”

Gregory squealed as Freddy pulled him in for a hug, not just that but he managed to get his muzzle right into Gregory’s neck and blew a huge raspberry into it. Making him break into a hysterical laughter. Both explorers were caught an being ‘attacked’ by the vicious creatures they were sent otu to film!

——————————————-

[One Hour later in the Superstar Theater]

“They asleep?” Asked Monty.

After a long night everyone decided to chill out with a movie, well not everyone. Chica and Roxy were busy doing their hair over at the salon thus leaving the rest of the group to do what they wanted, which just accumulated into watching a nature documentary…inspired by the game the kids were playing earlier.

Speaking of said kids, Gregory was curled up on Freddy’s lap. Having drifted off to sleep during the middle of the movie. Clover was nestled between her brothers, her head resetting on her knee’s.

“Looks like it, better get them off to bed then..it is pretty late.” Said Freddy, very gently lifting Gregory into the crook of his arm.

“Agreed, I think we all should call it a night.” Said Moon.

Sun gingerly lifted the youngest attendant into his arms, rubbing her back to help keep her asleep. He didn’t want her roaming around and sneaking into anyones bed tonight, she had a habit of doing that…he didn’t know why she just did. He tried making sure she’d sleep in her own room…Moon made that hard at times since he’d let her sneak into ‘his’ hammock. But to his credit if it meant getting his sister to sleep they’d he’d let her.

“Yeah, I’m tired..night everybody.” Yawned Monty.

“Night Monty, see you in the morning.” Whispered Freddy.

Single file the group exited the theater, Moon stayed behind to turn everything off. Thankfully there wasn’t anything to clean up, all he needed to do was turn off the movie and lights. He’d go check on Roxy and Chica to see what kind of hairstyles they picked…and see if they had any wigs with them. He wanted in on their little night of primping and pampering too. He watched Freddy take Gregory back to his green room and tuck him into the spare bed he had for such occasions. It was so cute watching the singer give his little cub a kiss good night.

Speaking of which there was a routine he and Sun needed to do, Moon went straight to Clovers little room and found Sun tucking her into bed. He came over and knelt beside him…Sun leaned over first and gave a gentle bump to her forehead, Moon mirrored the action.

It was their version of a kiss goodnight.

A goodnight to the little professor, the little doctor sleeping in the cave of the Star-Faced Fazbear and to all of the creatures in the vast jungle.

It was a successful safari…definitely a success.

End.

[The title of the AU was a collaboration between me and @rainy-nomad please check out their work. Ok I know your wondering why I posted another one, honestly I kinda felt my last story involving the Glamrocks and Clover was a little lacking. So I took a step back and started thinking…then I watched some Youtube videos and got inspired to do this, who doesn’t love watching kids play pretend, you can just imagine what goes on in their heads, that and I wanted to just have an excuse to do another story with Gregory and Clover having fun!]

[sleepyowlwrites]

find the word tag CCCXXIII

why. did I have a cup of oolong tea just because the pot was made? now I am more awake instead of my natural sleepy and I'll have to take a thing. at least my back seems to have calmed down a bit. it did a couple of spasmy things earlier that were not fun for me, but I should be okay since I still have another day off. @diphthongsfordays @josephinegerardywriter

ignore (dirt in the doing)

"Are you just another Jet, now? You go around picking fights because you’re mad at the world?”

Wait, hang on. What? That’s not- Jet doesn’t pick fights because he’s mad at something else. If he throws a punch at someone it’s because he wants to throw a punch at that person. Even in a random fight. He chooses his opponent, and then they’re his enemy. He’ll take them down. His anger at the world is another thing entirely.

Neon text seems to flash across his brain spelling “hypocrite!” but he chooses to ignore it.

wheel (micro story written by my friends and me)

Long ago in a space village there was a purple monkey. The monkey's name was Frederic Zebo II. He was the captain of the starship Zagoth. But his ship had no steering wheel. I can't describe what happened next. Just kidding, the ship crashed and everyone in it had a great bounce. They crawled out of the ship and saw a rubber duck army sergeant. This sergeant was the greatest duck in the force and an expert marksman. But the duck had lost his arms/wings in battle and was confined to a wheelchair. I wish social workers took care of him from henceforth on, but the government budget was slashed and he lived in solitude. The End.

straight (the sleepy stash, 2022)

I like people that are unburied, because I can talk in regular tones and get straight to the point: hi, nice to meet you, don’t mind me founding your family. But the buried ones are not to be neglected, and I can love them as much as they let me and when they poke their heads above the soil I’ll smile bright as the sun.

And for things that are not people, I don’t mind either way, unless someone is shoveling back the dirt that I just took out and it’s a struggle to reach the treasure I’m seeking for not because it’s very hidden, but because someone is working against me.

But! Not all things should be unburied, and some of them are not meant to be mine. And that’s alright.

shout nah I don't like my options and I'm not opening something else

brave no no I don't like these either why is nobody brave

cover (the wushanju diaries - I love this found family so much)

The first week into his stay at Wushanju, Pangzi gifts him a journal.

“Xiaoge and I picked it out together,” Pangzi says proudly, holding it out toward Liu Sang with a grin. “He said the color suits you.”

Liu Sang takes the journal, inspecting the sage-dyed leather of the cover and the yellowed pages. They’re lined on one side and blank on the other. “He said that?”

“Don’t sound so skeptical. Xiaoge can talk when he wants to. I said we should get you a welcome home present, and then Xiaoge looked at me and I said, ‘yes, of course, I meant what I said, it’s a welcome home present because this was always your home and you just didn’t know it yet,’ and Xiaoge went and found this by himself. I wanted to get you the blue one, since it looked bright and happy, but Xiaoge said, ‘green for Liu Sang,’ and who am I to deny Xiaoge’s excellent judgment! So you better like it.”

glow (the sleepy stash, 2022)

do you only glow when I cover you up because you've kept it a secret for me? can't be. I know you glow when I'm not looking. but I like it. I like to be just one reason. I want you to glow for anything you feel. and if you feel me-

thank you.

sympathy (soaked-through, see-through, 2021)

Quench the rabid questions burning brands into my skin And write the dissatisfaction on my gravestone for my next of kin If it rains any harder I'll think the sky is full of sympathy The clouds won't part tonight, so again, the moon won't speak to me I'll dance while you can't see me and I'll roam the gloam forever Curse this miserable weather

cook(strawberry & sugar, 2021)

Taehyun has a backpack that is so full it looks like it might just sink him down into the floor by wearing it. Beomgyu instantly offers him a glass of lemonade and Yeonjun refrains from scolding him because he remembers heavy backpacks.

Beomgyu talks a lot as a rule but after meeting Taehyun, Yeonjun thinks that he just never shuts up. even on the days when Beomgyu doesn’t work, he comes around, and now he brings Taehyun with him.

“Soobin, you should hire Taehyun. he’s good with numbers and he doesn’t give people free food. also he can cook.” Beomgyu is so serious that he isn’t even shouting.

smirk, smart, smell, smoke. BONUS: sincere, sour. @vellichor-virgo @druidx @nikkywrites @penspiration-writing @souliloquyyy @aalinaaaaaa @writingbyricochet @oh-no-another-idea OR ANYBODY

[spoondrifts]

I just came up with something fucking hilarious please keep reading

what if the magnus institute had spirit week???

a single week where the dress code doesn't apply (as if it applies to the archival staff anyway) to everyone in the institute. a single week of absolute chaos.

(idk if england even has spirit week but we have it here in america so)

the first day of spirit week is pajama day. Jon comes in with just an old band t shirt because he really hates spirit week and will only slightly participate to keep Tim from harassing him all day. Tim is wearing a full panda onesie. Daisy and Basira have matching slippers. Melanie has a bunch of ghost hunt uk merch on. Martin has normal pajamas. no one expects Elias to participate but then their boss waltzes into work wearing a onesie covered in eyes and slippers with little ships on them, and Tim is affronted.

"Tim," Jon says tiredly, "please don't turn this into a competition."

Tim is, in fact, turning it into a competition.

the next day is 80s fashion, which means Tim comes in wearing ray bans and a fanny pack and a jean jacket and is confident he's won this round, when Elias comes in wearing shit like this:

and Tim almost loses it. almost.

everyone else realizes it's funnier to watch the ensuing drama than actually try to dress up for spirit week themselves. Jon, relieved that the pressure is off of him, returns to his sweater vests.

wednesday's theme is colorful. Tim wears a shirt covered in rainbows, some weird baggy pants that are a painful neon green and printed with vibrant palm trees, rainbow socks, and white shoes that he splatters with violent pink and yellow paint. he's sitting at his desk, smug as hell, and everyone is actually doubting Elias' ability to match Tim, until Martin runs into the archives and says, shaken, "Elias is here."

Tim's jaw falls open.

Elias' hair is dyed bright blue. scattered on every patch of visible skin are painted green eyes. his suit is so pink it hurts to look at. his tie is covered in purple and orange stripes that clash horrifically. his dark blue pants are absolutely covered in glow-in-the-dark spiral patterns. his shoes glow and pulse with rainbow lights as he walks. and to top everything off, he has a full-body rainbow cape draped over his shoulders.

the archival staff can only gawk in faint terror.

"Good morning," Elias says, then turns and walks into his office.

oh boy. ohoh. Tim cannot let this injustice stand. he will reign triumphant and Elias will fall into ruin, crushed beneath Tim's raw fashion sense. it's a flawless goal. Jon quietly dumps thirty sugar packets into his tea.

for thursday, the theme is twins, which requires a partner.

"No," Jon, Basira, Martin, and Daisy say at the same time.

"Fuck yeah," Melanie says.

Tim doesn't think Elias even has anyone to match with, but he's still not taking any chances. he and Melanie end up wearing clout glasses, fluffy pink boas, and matching What the Ghost merchandise.

"Who's Elias matching with?" Tim asks at work on thursday.

Jon looks pained. "You'll see."

Elias struts into work hanging off of Peter Lukas' arm, and they are identical. they're both in full sea captain gear, with matching hats and badges and even shoe brand. they both have wedding rings on their hands. somehow, against literally everything, Elias had gotten Peter to shave his beard and style his hair to perfectly match Elias'. Tim wants to scream.

"This is my husband," Elias says, not a flicker of emotion on his face. "Peter, won't you say hi?"

Peter looks uncomfortable and miserable and Tim feels a sharp stab of satisfaction. then, apparently having served his purpose of antagonizing Tim, Peter hastily says goodbye and vanishes into thin air.

Tim is. very VERY close to giving up.

but it's friday and he has one last chance. friday is meme day.

"Elias doesn't even know what memes are," Tim stresses, a manic note in his voice, as Martin absently nods along. "He's an old man! He's got no clue!"

Martin politely does not bring up the fact that Jon looks older than Elias and still knows what a meme is.

friday goes like this

Tim, on a skateboard, rolling around the institute: I don't know what the fuck just happened, but I don't really care, I'mma get the fuck up outta here, fuck this shit I'm out

Tim: wait what the fuck

Elias, a piece of paper with the words 'barbecue sauce' on it taped to his chest, smug: so I'm standing there, barbecue sauce on my titties

Tim: WHAT THE FUCK

Daisy, lifting Jon above her head effortlessly: thiS BITCH EMPTY-

Jon, screaming: I did not consent to the yeet

Melanie, filming: this is going on the official institute website

(anyway. elias used his beholding powers to know exactly how to piss tim off every single day. the eye revokes his avatarship for several weeks after this debacle and the institute no longer has a spirit week)

[13uswntimagines]

Pranksters of the Bunch (Harry Potter AU)

Y/n is just starting to get comfortable with her new friends, when she learns about their more... playful side. We learn about more relationships and see hints of our endgame. We also get a glimpse of some other players that make up the rest of our version of Hogwarts. @literaryhedgehog

Pt. 1

“For next class, homework is to practice your transfiguration. Anyone who can get their matchstick into a needle is exempt from writing their essay. You are dismissed,” Professor McGonagall said, tapping her wand on the blackboard so the notes from the day’s lesson disappeared. As the other students began filing out of the room you picked up your bag and dropped your notes into it, careful to set your “quill” gently so the bic ballpoint pen you taped to it wouldn’t fall off.

“If you epoximose it, you won’t have to worry about it falling off” Lindsey said with an eye roll, slinging her bag over her shoulder. Some of your habits were a bit… odd. Like your preference for a pen that you didn’t have to dip in ink. 

“I’m sorry, if I what?” you asked. “That sounds like a sneeze.” 

“It’s a spell that’ll glue it so you don’t need to use spell-o-tape,” Kelley said, appearing on your other side as Professor McGonagall left the room.  

“I can teach you, if you like. It’s super simple, even a first year could do it,” Emily offered, ignoring Lindsey’s sideways glare. 

“Then why don’t they teach it to us as first years?” You said, slamming your chair under the desk. Not that you disliked any of your classes, but the curriculum seemed to leave out a lot of useful information. 

“Because they’re afraid that it’ll just help students do better pranks,” Lindsey huffed, crossing her arms. If anyone was going to teach you things, it should be her. 

“No they’re not,” Ashlyn said, rolling her eyes. “They teach tricky techniques that are applicable to multiple spells. It’s like quidditch drills.” 

“Cause it’s so much less challenging than fighting a boggart, or accioing anything. If you mess it up, then you could glue your fingers together,” Emily snorted, shaking her head. She was just lucky that Madam Pomfrey liked her enough to not rat her out to Professor Slughorn (not that he’d actually do anything) or Professor Longbottom. 

“Or accidentally drop a banner on the Huffelpuffs?” Ashlyn said with a raised eyebrow. Emily and Kelley seemed to shrink just a bit under her gaze. 

“That was you?” You asked, eyes wide. That banner had almost knocked Cheney off her broom and Amy was pissed. Rumor had it that the Slytherin captain had taken care of the incident because it was someone in her house that did it, but no one knew for sure (at least you thought no one knew). 

“You can’t prove anything,” Emily grumbled. 

“It was them,” Lindsey nodded, smirking at you. “and Arod made sure they not only apologized, but that they actually meant it. Kelley only got away unscathed because she hid in Gryffindor tower,”  

Those two always got themselves in over their heads and something always went wrong. You could only wonder what the Slytherin chaser did to them. Amy was terrifying when she wanted to be especially when you messed with her girlfriend. 

“Of course I meant it, the banner wasn’t supposed to fall,” Emily grumbled. “The charm was supposed to last the whole game. Anyway, she made me practice the sticking charm and its reverse a hundred times so it wouldn’t happen again. Not that it matters next year when I’m actually on the team. It’s stupid that they still don’t want second years to play beater.”

“At least this time there won’t be any accidents,” Ashlyn said, smirking as she settled into a chair previously vacated by some of your second year peers. Which was when you realized it was kind of odd that she was here. Wasn’t she a third year student?

“What do you mean?” You asked, your head tilting to the side like a puppy. 

“Wait THIS time?” Lindsey, asked, looking between the three girls settling down at the desks like it wasn’t the end of the day’s classes. “Don’t tell me you’re planning another prank right now?”

“Of course not!” Kelley said, looking aghast. 

“You haven’t left the room yet,” Emily said, adopting a similarly innocent, wide eyed expression. 

“They’re going to be dumbasses and probably get detention for a month aren’t they?” You asked, looking at Lindsey for help. Though you had know been hanging out with them for the past few weeks, they were still her friends after all. 

“Oh. I don’t want detention though,” Ashlyn said flipping through a spellbook absentmindedly. “And it will be rather hard to prove we have anything to do with an event which might or might not happen in the next few days.”

“Just a word of advice, though. If you’re going to take a shower today, do it in the next two hours and don’t take one tomorrow morning,” Emily said finally, eyes softening just a little at your too nervous expression. 

“You don’t think they’re going to test your wands to see if it was you?” Lindsey asked skeptically. 

“Priori incantatem only goes so far, especially if I tutor Y/n on how to glue her pens together,” Emily rolled her eyes, and shrugged. She would argue she was just being a good friend after all. 

“With the kind of prep work we’ve done, they’d have to go back, oh, at least three days before they saw any hint that we’ve done a spell related to the event, which again, might or might not start in,” Kelley checked her watch, the face of which glowed a soft yellow, “two hours and five minutes, give or take 20 seconds.”

You wondered if she came from a muggle family too, but you had been too afraid to ask. You had never met a wizard or witch that preferred wristwatches to pocket watches before. 

“In that case, we’ll head back to the Gryffindor dorms,” Lindsey said, hastily sweeping her transfiguration notes into the mouth of her bag. “See you at dinner Kelley, Ashlyn.”

“Want to meet in the library to learn the sticking charm Y/n?” Emily asked. Lindsey stopped in the doorway, waiting for you. “Like I said, I practiced the charm literally a hundred times, so I’m really good at it now!”

“Um, I think I’m just going to focus on turning my matchstick into a needle tonight, but maybe some other time?” You mumbled, glancing up at Lindsey. (Were you imagining the slight uptick of her lips?) 

“Okay,  See you then!” And with that Emily turned back to her compatriots, who all put their heads together and started talking in hushed voices, over a sheet of paper which looked eerily similar to a playbook. 

“What do you think they’re planning?” you whispered to Lindsey as the two of you raced towards the stone staircases up to the Gryffindor tower. There was this one staircase that was the fastest way up when it was connected to the right floor, but it only stayed there for a few minutes every half hour. If you missed the window to catch it there would be two extra flights to climb. 

“You really don’t want to know. Something always goes wrong when they make plans anyway. It’s why they always get caught,” Lindsey said back equally as quiet, shaking her head. She would skin them alive if you got caught in the crossfire. You were on her off limits list (you always had been) and they had always promised to respect that. 

*****

The two of you just made it to the beginning of dinner, after taking turns in the dorm’s bathroom to shower and dry your hair (at least until it wasn’t noticeably dripping). You didn’t know when your next opportunity to take a shower unscathed would be, and you were happy you had made it within Kelley’s two hour window. 

However, despite your expectations of screams, or the sound of frogs appearing from the drains, it was a quiet night. As was the morning afterwards. It wasn’t until lunch the next day, that you learned what the prank had been. Exactly as the clock struck noon, all around the great hall people started laughing as the hair of ¾ the school population turned bright colors. 

Professor McGonagall frowned at her bright purple hair in the reflection of her teapot. Alex threw a roll at Kelley (with neon yellow hair) who was pointing and laughing at her forest green hair. Tobin and Lauren had fallen off the bench laughing over at the hufflepuff table, pointing towards their respective girlfriends matching pink hair at the ravenclaw and Slytherin tables (Tobin’s hair didn’t seem to have changed color, though Lauren’s was a pale aquamarine sort of blue).

 At the Slytherin table Michelle was admiring her jet black hair, though with a wave of her wand it seemed to be speckled with glimmering white and red stars, then she turned to resume her conversation with Joy and some of the other seventh years, who you noticed didn’t seem to have colorful hair. 

Looking around the hall, you noticed that a lot of the older students seemed to be lacking the colorful hair sprouted by most of the student body. A few Ravenclaw sixth years had only looked up briefly from studying their notes to see what the commotion was about, before returning to “The Official N.E.W.T.S. Study Guide- test prep for the procrastinator”. Hope, Brandi, Mia, Briana, Christie, Tiffany, Lorrie, Carla. You looked at the sixth and seventh years you knew from watching quidditch games. Regardless of house, almost none of them appeared to be affected by the prank.. 

“You could have told me, you know?” Alex glared, throwing another roll at her cackling girlfriend. 

“But what fun would that be?” Kelley snorted, dodging the roll and quickly snatching up the basket to remove any further ammunition out of Alex’s reach. 

“Ashlyn told Ali and Emily told Kristie!” Alex whined, her nose scrunching up just the way Kelley always loved. Alex’s angry face was too cute for her to be like or off limits. 

“I value my life too much to mess with her hair care routine,” Ashlyn said, lifting her hands in surrender at Kelley’s death stare. Ali was on her off limits list after all, and that was a line she wasn’t willing to cross. 

“And you’ll notice all three of us were also affected by this terrible prank some stranger pulled!” Kelley said, unable to keep a straight face to match her seemingly offended tone. 

“Though I think I might use my free period after lunch to practice some quidditch drills,” Ashlyn said, twirling a strand of her bright maroon hair around a finger. “I have a feeling that the color will fade after I dump the icy cooler water over my head.” 

“Need someone to send some quaffles your way?” Lindsey asked around a large bite of turkey. She was always down to practice, especially if it meant avoiding the food fight that seemed to be brewing at their table. 

“Wait, ice water?” You asked Kelley as Ashlyn and Lindsey began discussing practice plans. Kelley jumped on the opportunity to escape Alex’s ire. 

“Oh yeah, we- um, whoever pulled this terrible prank- tied the spell to the hot water pipes. It should be safe to take a hot shower by tonight, but basically anyone who used hot water last night or this morning was affected. Cold water removes it though, which is why we quidditch players will discover the counter first, as we are known for taking ice baths after practice.”

“So I have to freeze my ass off to fix this shit!!” Alex screeched, plucking at the strands of green hair falling into her eyes. 

“Come on,” Lindsey said, grabbing your arm and pulling you towards where Brandi was sitting at the front of the Gryffindor table. “Let’s go get the locker room key from Brandi so we can go practice before potions.” 

“Yeah, let’s do that” You mumbled, eyes widening at how Alex was now towering over Kelley. You didn’t know the beater could shrink so far into her chair. 

Brandi, it turned out, was talking with professor McGonagall about the house cup this year. Though no longer head of Gryffindor house, McGonagall was still invested in the team’s progress. 

“Oh, speak of the boggart, here are our two latest recruits,” Brandi said, gesturing at you and Lindsey as you walked toward her. “Professor, Lindsey is our newest chaser and Y/n is one of the best first time seekers Mia has ever seen.”

“Speaking of which,” Lindsey said jumping in, “We were hoping to practice some drills after lunch. Could we borrow the locker room keys?”

You stood just behind her, still a little intimidated by both women. 

“It is good to see some responsibility coming from some of our second year Gryffindors,” Professor McGonagall said, smiling at you- when you peeked out from behind the taller chaser- and Lindsey in turn.  “I do think some of your classmates, and perhaps even some of our third year students could learn a thing or two from you.”

You weren’t sure how to respond, so you smiled meekly and quickly made your way out of the great hall with Lindsey and the acquired keys. “What do you think she meant by that? Do you think she knows who did it?”

“Oh absolutely,” Lindsey said, shaking her head. “It doesn’t take a Seer to predict that they’re going to have detention tomorrow night. Now come on, I want to try that new feint you read about.”