#PRETTY SURE this is a warlock design anyway

[withacapitalp]

How to Rehabilitate a Jock Pt 16

Part One Part Fifteen Link to Ao3. Part 17

So late but I needed to post this as soon as I was happy with it haha! Thank you to @stevethehairington for betaing and @thefreakandthehair for listening to my endless rambles

Step Sixteen: Fix What You Brea

Decorating a christmas tree was an interesting experience. 

It wasn’t like Eddie had never seen a tree before, it just wasn’t something he had ever personally done. Before living with Wayne, his parents had never stayed in one place long enough to have a tree, and after he moved in with Wayne, they both agreed that the money would be better spent on having a present for Eddie instead of a tree to just stare at. Eddie had always thought it would be kind of stupid anyway. What was the point? 

But decorating Steve’s tree was actually pretty enjoyable. 

Sure, Frank and Jeff were fighting over eating the popcorn string instead of hanging it up, and yeah, Jonathan kept making little side comments to Nancy about it that were almost a shade too sarcastic for comfort, but the air was filled with laughter, and Steve was directing him on where to put the important ornaments, so it wasn’t all bad. 

“What about this one?” Eddie asked, holding up a delicate glass design. It was shaped like a pair of ballet slippers, hanging on a pink ribbon that gleamed in the lights on the tree. 

This was the best part in Eddie’s opinion. Every single one of the ‘special’ ornaments had some story attached. A family anecdote or a tradition long held. Steve wasn’t on Eddie’s level of storytelling, but there was something incredibly cozy about holding out an ornament and listening to Steve tell the tale as they hung it up together. 

“That ones my mom’s,” Steve said, his voice inordinately warm as he took the ornament and leaned into Eddie’s space to place it on the right side of the tree almost all the way at the top. “She was a ballet dancer back in the day. The ribbon is from her first set of pointe shoes.”

“That’s cool,” Eddie said, looking closer. Sure enough the satin was too thick to be a traditional ribbon, and there were rips in it that had been sewn back together with pale pink thread. 

“Yeah. You have to replace pointe shoes every twenty hours of dancing or so, but my mom’s family never had much money, so she used hers until they were too broken to dance,” Steve explained, tracing his index finger down the side of the ribbon, his eyes far away somewhere Eddie couldn’t quite reach. 

Huh. 

It was strange to think of anyone in Steve’s family as anything but rich. The Harringtons were well known snobs, and although Eddie didn’t personally know Steve’s mom, he had definitely heard about her. Head of the PTA, head of the ladies auxiliary, head of the church prayer group. She was a socialite through and through. 

Initially Eddie had heard the word ‘ballet’ and imagined an uptight little prima in a sterile looking studio with starched white tutus and perfect form. Steve’s story had shifted that, and now Eddie’s mind was conjuring up images of a tiny girl practicing and practicing her steps with shoes that were tearing at the seams. A small child trying and trying to be as good as everyone else when the tools she was working with were nowhere near what everyone else got to have. 

The same way Eddie himself had practiced on his first guitar before he had started dealing and was able to afford his Warlock. 

“Why’d she stop dancing?” Eddie asked softly, suddenly desperate to know the answer. He needed to make the two images connect, needed to find the through line that could turn a poor kid who just wanted to dance into a formidable small town queen. 

“She married my dad,” Steve replied, giving the exact answer Eddie hadn’t wanted to hear. “They moved here, had my brother, and Mom didn’t need to work anymore. The back room used to be her studio, but my parents decided to make it a second office for my dad.”

Eddie bit his tongue, looking at the tree but avoiding the shimmering ballet slippers sitting on the branch above his head. 

Steve’s mom had been like him, then she married a rich guy, and gave up all the things that mattered for money. She had been just like him, once upon a time. 

Would that happen to Eddie? 

Was he turning into someone different now because of his crush on Steve? 

It wasn’t a completely lunatic idea. He was here decorating a tree, which is something he normally saw as completely arbitrary and useless. He was letting a jock into hellfire, and not just any jock but the King. 

Would being near Steve chip away at all of Eddie’s long held beliefs? Would he move backwards and backwards because of this idiotic infatuation, until his guitar was just an ornament on a tree? 

“Eddie?”

And then with just one look, Steve erased the entire idea. One flash of those big brown eyes and that little side quirk of his head, and Eddie is a goner. There was no way Steve would ever turn his partner into some cookie cutter perfect picket fence person, no planet on Earth where Steve wouldn’t love someone enough to love their weird bits too. This was Steve. 

And besides, it wasn’t even like Eddie was the kind of person that had a shot with Steve in the first place. For a lot of reasons. 

“Sorry, got lost in thought, Sweetheart,” Eddie said, crooking his mouth into a half smile and ignoring the panging ache of guilt crushing his chest. Steve’s shoulders relaxed and he leaned closer, letting his arm rest against Eddie’s. 

“Well, don’t go somewhere I can’t follow,” He murmured, the smell of his cologne and the feeling of his body sending Eddie into a tailspin. 

Just like before when their hands were joined and Steve’s warm breath was blowing across his frozen fingers, Eddie’s mind stuttered to a halt. The endless loops and running thoughts were stuck in place, held motionless by the enigma that was Steve Harrington. It was overwhelming, too much and not enough all at the same time, and Eddie needed to get away from it before he did something he couldn’t take back. 

“C’mon, we’ve still got work to do, lazy bones!” Eddie chirped, slipping away from Steve and practically jumping over to the box of carefully packaged decorations. He was so focused on escaping, that he wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings until it was a moment too late. 

At the same time Eddie picked up the next ornament, Jeff and Frank’s battle over the popcorn string reached its apex. Jeff let go of his side of the string, and Frank flew backwards. He barreled into Jonathan, who crashed into Nancy, who stumbled and bumped into Eddie just enough to make him lose his grip. 

The air was filled with the terribly delicate sound of breaking porcelain, and everything seemed to freeze in place. All six of them stared at the ground, where a tiny angel rested in three pieces where it had once been whole. 

“Shit, I’m sorry-”

“We were just fucking around, but we shouldn’t have-”

“Steve, I’m so-”

Floods of apologies from the rest, but Eddie stayed silent. He was watching Steve like a hawk as he slowly bent down on one knee and began to collect the pieces of the broken ornament. 

Steve hadn’t said a word yet, but he was still saying plenty. His shoulders were almost at his ears, and his fingers were shaking as they tried to grab onto the porcelain remains. His expression was neutral, but his eyes were starting to take on an honestly terrifying shine, and his blinking was getting more and more rapid by the second. 

Eddie should have left it alone, should have given Steve space to collect himself, but he had never been good at leaving things be. So, knowing it was the wrong thing to do, Eddie knelt down by Steve and reached out to put a hand on Steve’s shoulder. 

“Sweetheart?” 

“It’s fine,” Steve instantly replied, a completely hollow smile materializing on his face as he continued to blink far too much. He leaned away from Eddie’s touch, a tiny jerky movement that put a twenty pound weight on Eddie’s chest. Steve scrambled upwards, cradling the broken ornament close to his heart as he continued to fake a smile. “It was an accident, Babydoll. No worries.”  

It was an accident, but that didn’t make it ‘fine’. Steve was obviously so far from fine, and even that little silly name wasn’t enough to assure Eddie of the lie. It actually made it worse, like Steve was trying to appease him, to make Eddie let it go, when he really didn’t think he should. 

“I’m gonna go see if we have superglue. It doesn’t look too bad,” Steve said to the entire group, still faking it. Unlike Eddie though, the rest were buying it, tension leaking out of them with relieved smiles and quiet sighs. “You guys finish up though, people will be here any minute.” 

And then he was gone, ducking into the kitchen and disappearing from view, leaving Eddie unmoored and unsure of where to go. Every fiber in his being wanted to chase after Steve, catch him alone and hope that he wouldn’t keep trying to hide, but he was stuck in place. Steve had leaned away, escaped as soon as he could, that had to be a sign that he didn’t want Eddie near him. 

Wasn’t it? 

“Nice job, butterfingers,” Frank joked, gently jabbing an elbow into Eddie’s ribs in an effort to lighten up the air around him. 

Eddie threw him a distracted smile, still staring at the doorway Steve had disappeared through and trying to ignore the part of him that was desparate to follow. 

“I’m gonna go check on him,” Nancy murmured to Jonathan, nearly inaudible over the sound of Jeff and Frank looking for a broom to get any remaining slivers of porcelain on the ground. Jonathan nodded with a quiet hum, kissing Nancy on the cheek before letting her go without even a word. 

Because it was oh so natural for an ex-girlfriend to leave her current boyfriend in the dust to go check on her ex-boyfriend. 

Eddie watched her perfect little curls bounce in their perfect little ringlets as she practically skipped out after Steve. Now Nancy was going to go in there and comfort Steve, act all sweet and soft and drag Steve into thinking that she cared when she was the one that had cheated. Hell, maybe they would even kiss, and she would have her hooks in Steve again. 

Why wasn’t Jonathan upset about this?!

… Why was Eddie so upset about this?

Eddie let his eyes slip shut, his breath escaping in one huge gust as he finally began to wilt. It wasn’t really any of his business. He and Steve were friends. That was all. If Steve wanted to kiss Nancy, then he would kiss her, and that wasn’t Eddie’s choice. All Eddie had was a fanciful crush, a ridiculous dream, a hope for something that he should never have let himself hope for. 

But still. 

“I’m gonna find a bathroom,” Eddie muttered to no one, slipping out of the room and carefully creeping down the hallway towards the kitchen. 

He could hear the indistinguishable sound of voices coming from the room ahead, the open door tempting him closer and closer for a taste of what Steve and Nancy were discussing. 

Was Eddie really doing this? 

Yes. Yes he was. 

Resolved, Eddie leaned against the hidden side of the doorway, letting his head hit the wall as he shut his eyes and focused on eavesdropping. 

“-really don’t want to talk about it, Nancy,” Steve said, sounding utterly exhausted as cupboards opened and slammed shut. 

“Okay,” Nancy relented, clearly not happy to let the subject go, “let’s talk about the other thing?”

Other thing?

“Other thing?” Steve asked. Eddie bit back a snicker, his heart fluttering at the way Steve had mirrored him without even knowing it. 

“You invited Eddie?”

The humor instantly fled, rushing out of the hallway along with all of the oxygen, leaving Eddie dizzy and struggling to breathe. His indulgent smile soured into a scowl, and his hands curled into tight fists. 

It was the tone. That tone that Eddie had heard his whole life. The condescending, lower-than-me, dirt on the shoes of society tone. It was the kind of thing that girls like Nancy could use because they lived in perfect two story houses on cul-de-sacs, and Eddie was trailer trash from the bad side of town. 

Well fuck her. Fuck Nancy Wheeler and her stupid perfect life, and fuck her for hating him just for existing. Eddie could hate her right back. He had hating the conventional down to a science, an art form almost. He was brilliant at striking first, and he had half a mind to walk in there and tear her down a few notches, just for the fun of it.  

“What is your problem with him?” 

Eddie stopped in his tracks, blinking his eyes open and staring in shock at the wall in front of him, watching Steve’s shadow turn to face Nancy’s. 

“I don’t have a problem,” Nancy scoffed. 

“Obviously you do, Nance,” Steve shot back, crossing his arms  “Eddie’s a good guy. They’re my friends.” 

A good guy. 

It wasn’t exactly a glowing recommendation or anything, but the words and the protectiveness in Steve’s voice was doing terrible wonderful things to Eddie’s stomach. His fingers were still burning from being held by Steve before, and now his brain was on fire too, caught in the blaze that was Steve damn Harrington. 

“I… I just think he might be trouble,” Nancy admitted softly, quickly continuing when she heard Steve’s inhale of interjecting, “and not in the way you’re thinking! I promise.”

A long silence, one that gave Eddie too much time to think, one that left too much room for endless questions with zero answers. 

What kind of trouble did Nancy think Eddie was dragging Steve into? What would Eddie do that she was so scared of? Did she really care that much about Steve’s reputation? Steve didn’t even care about it anymore! 

Was she scared for her brother? Why was all of this so damn cryptic?

“In what way?” Steve finally asked, and Eddie leaned in, needing the answer.

“Just-” Nancy cut herself off with a frustrated little sound, and her shadow eclipsed Steve as she stood on her tiptoes to put her arms around his shoulders. 

“If you ever need to talk. About anything. Me and Jonathan are here. We would never judge you for anything. You know that right?” 

Eddie barely heard it, the words muffled between the two bodies, but he heard Steve’s soft chuckle, and saw the way his shadow arms wrapped around Nancy.

Even just an image of them on the wall looked so… right. 

It made a small part of Eddie die inside. 

He closed his eyes once, hating the burn that was already there waiting. He shouldn’t have come over and listened. He shouldn’t have done any of this. But as Eddie took a step back to walk to the living room with his tail tucked between his legs, Nancy spoke again. 

“And you need to tell them about El before she gets here.”

El?

Who was El? 

“Shit, you’re right,” Steve sighed, pulling away from Nancy, “I totally forgot.”

“Do you remember the story?”

“Nancy I’m the one that came up with it,” Steve said, annoyance tinging his voice, “I remember the story.”

Story? 

Eddie was definitely eavesdropping about something bigger than relationship woes now, and the mystery of it all dug right into his soft spot, pulling him away from his aching heart and tugging him forward with a desperate need to know more. 

This was the thing that Wayne always tried to warn him about. Eddie’s need to know everything was always getting him in trouble, and he had heard plenty of times about what curiosity did to cats. 

That was all true… but the thing that Wayne always seemed to forget was that satisfaction brought that cat back. 

“It’s important that we get this right, Steve. You know what-”

But whatever Steve knew, Eddie didn’t seem destined to hear it. As he leaned closer, intent on catching every word, he overbalanced, tripping over his own feet and slamming his entire body against the other side of the doorway, coming into full view of both of them. Steve and Nancy both jolted, pulling away from each other and staring at Eddie with slack jaws and wide eyes. 

Fuck. 

“This is what I get for never tying my shoes,” Eddie joked awkwardly, trying to be casual as he straightened up and let out the world’s worst fake laugh. His brain was racing, running as fast as it could to come up with any rational reason for him being there besides eavesdropping. 

“Are you okay?” Steve asked, his brow furrowing. He didn’t even seem to catch what was going on, but Nancy was practically glaring, her lips pursed in quiet fury. 

“I’m fine, Sweetheart,” Eddie reassured him, ignoring Nancy’s look in favor of focusing all of his attention on Steve. If he played it right, then Nancy calling him out would just look like she was against him, which Steve had already tried to stop. 

He wasn’t being manipulative. This was just strategy, the same kind of strategic thinking that any dungeon master worth their salt would employ. It was improv, a game, an act. Nothing bad. Nothing wrong. 

So why was guilt creeping cold fingers down Eddie’s spine? 

“What do you want?” Nancy asked, clearly trying to go for nonchalant but coming off completely cold with her crossed arms and flat inflection. It wasn’t working in her favor if Steve’s quick sharp look was anything to go by, and Eddie did his best not to preen under Steve’s protection. 

“Drinks? The boys were wondering if you had anything stronger than eggnog,” Eddie wondered, coming up with his excuse on the fly. It would work. Frank was never one to turn down a stiff drink, especially if it came loaded with whatever ridiculously expensive alcohol the Harringtons were keeping stashed away here. 

Nancy tossed her hair over his shoulder, raising a single brow as her expression stayed firmly unimpressed. It made Eddie want to squirm in place, but he held firm, meeting her head on. 

“You know there’s gonna be kids at this party, right?” Nancy said, her voice a little less frosty, but a hell of a lot more condescending. “And the chief of police.”

Eddie bristled, opening his mouth to tell her exactly where Hopper could stick it, but Steve intervened before he could. 

“There’s nothing wrong with having a little,” Steve offered in a mediating tone, already moving towards one of the high cabinets and starting to open it. “But just one before they get here. Last thing I need is the brats trying to convince me they’re old enough for whiskey.” 

“Jack and Coke? Or are you spoiling me with the good stuff?” Eddie asked, possibly laying it on an inch too thick, but unable to help it when Steve was giving him that fondly annoyed side eye. 

“We do not drink the good stuff as a mixed beverage,” Steve lectured, grabbing a fat bottle from behind a box on the shelf and bringing it down, “but I think breaking out the crown wouldn’t be amiss.”

“A crown for a king!” Eddie crowed, taking the bottle of Crown Royal from Steve and wiggling his eyebrows. Steve huffed out a soft laugh, shaking his head at Eddie’s antics and turning towards the fridge. 

“Here, Nance,” Steve said absentmindedly, holding out a bottle of coke for her, “take that inside and you guys can make your own before everyone else gets here. I’ll be in once I find the glue.” 

“Why don’t I help you?” Eddie blurted out, his mouth moving before his mind even caught up with what he was saying. 

“Oh, sure,” Steve agreed, still distracted as he began to root around in cupboards. 

“You’ll be needing this,” Eddie said sweetly, offering up the bottle to Nancy as she walked past him. 

Nancy’s eyes narrowed impossibly further, and she let out a short sigh, taking the bottle of alcohol with a vicious little swipe and striding out of the room. Eddie watched her go, barely resisting the urge to stick his tongue out at her retreating form. 

He had won. That was what mattered. 

Did Eddie even know what he had won? No, but he still felt like he did. 

Once it was just the two of them, Eddie’s hackles began to slowly lower. There was no need to be on guard when it was just him and Steve. He idly twirled around the kitchen table, leaning against the counter on the other side of the kitchen and looking around the room with distracted curiosity. He had been in the kitchen before, but never really cared enough to explore the details. 

Now every fridge magnet was a new discovery, and the way that the spices were lined up on the rack was information that seemed important. But the most interesting thing in the kitchen was the angel on the counter right by Eddie’s fingers. 

It was a pretty thing, delicate, but somehow still beautiful, even in parts. The sculpted wings were curled around the figure of a little boy, kneeling with his hands cupped over a star. At the bottom of the ornament was the name ‘Jaime’ in ornate script. 

Jaime. 

“Who’s Jaime?” Eddie wondered aloud. He had mostly been talking to himself, but his words caused Steve to stop short, flying around from the drawer he had been searching through and whirl around to face Eddie.

“Where did you…” Steve trailed off, noticing the angel. He wilted like a dying flower, biting at the inside of his cheek as he turned his back to Eddie, returning to the drawer of odds and ends. 

“Jaime’s my brother,” Steve said shortly. 

Eddie’s shoulders were starting to tighten, but he pushed through the feeling. It wasn’t a rejection, or an outright refusal to speak. Steve was just being cagey, secretive the way he sometimes was. 

Eddie could crack that. 

“Ah, yes, the elusive mystery brother,” He joked, putting on a fake accent and bopping over to Steve’s side, bumping against him in an effort to get Steve smiling again. “Will the elder Harrington sibling be making an appearance at tonight’s festivities?” 

Maybe if he was, Eddie would get some answers. Reasons for the panic attack at the Hideout, or some details on the mysterious ‘El’. The possibility of unraveling another part of Steve was enticing, coaxing Eddie further down the rabbit hole. 

“Um…”

Just like that the curiosity was gone. Instantly killed by the way Steve’s adams apple was starting to bob, and the sharp shaking inhale that went along with it. Eddie’s heart fell to his feet, and his fingers felt cold for the first time since Steve had touched him. 

“I was just kidding around. You don’t have to-” Eddie began.

“It’s okay,” Steve interrupted, still worrying his lip as his eyes darted around the room, looking everywhere but at Eddie. He was gearing up, trying to find what he wanted to say or maybe trying to force it out. Either way, Eddie was going to be frozen in place until Steve was ready to speak. 

“Jaime um… Jaime died,” Steve finally managed, the word practically shooting out of his mouth the second he was done choking on it. 

It was like being dunked in a freezing cold shower and tossed out in the snow. Not only had Eddie forced Steve into talking about his dead brother, he had broken the ornament obviously meant to commemorate him. 

If he had a gun, he would be pushing it up against his temple. Nope. Even that wouldn’t be enough. 

“Fuck,” Eddie hissed out, wishing he could just shut his damn mouth for once, but he was too keyed up to stay quiet. The apology was worthless, but it was already spilling out of his mouth, vomiting itself up, “Steve, I-”

“Really, it’s fine,” Steve insisted, busying himself with looking for the glue. “How could you know? Besides, he died before I was born, so…”

“So?” Eddie prompted, not really sure where Steve was going with that. 

Steve said ‘so’ like that meant it didn’t matter, but from just one glance Eddie knew how much this did. Steve, who was one of the most open people Eddie knew, was hunched over, practically trying to disappear from Eddie’s gaze, hiding away whatever emotions were trying to push themselves up to the surface, demanding to be felt. 

“So- I don’t know,” Steve said, cutting himself off with a sigh. He held up the tiny bottle of superglue, walking over to the other side of the counter, his back to Eddie again. “But it’s my mom’s favorite ornament, and she would get really upset if she came home and it was broken,”

Steve gave a tiny laugh that wasn’t really a laugh, the tip of his finger running over the edge of the wing like it had run over the satin of the ballet slipper ribbon. 

“Not that I even know when she’s coming home again,” He whispered, the bitterness in the words so heavy that it was sitting on Eddie’s tongue. 

It was just wrong. Eddie had never heard Steve sound so beaten down, even in the parking lot the other night. This was somehow worse than just watching Steve shake through an unseen panic that he couldn’t control. 

But, unlike that night, Eddie could do something about this. So, rather than satisfy his own curiosity, Eddie put his needs to the side. 

“Can I?” Eddie asked, holding out his hand for the glue and the angel. “I work on miniatures all the time. I’m super steady.” 

Steve looked down at the hand outstretched toward him, then up at Eddie. A long slow look that went deep in Eddie, making him want to squirm with how far it was going. 

Then, finally, Steve relented. He handed over the pieces and hopped up onto the counter, watching Eddie like a hawk. 

Eddie immediately went to work, bending his head close to the angel and narrowing his eyes as he carefully glued first the broken wing on, and then the small corner of the name plaque. He held both in a firm but soft grip, balancing the ornament effortlessly between his hands as he waited for the glue to bond the pieces back together. And, as he did all of that, he worked up the courage to say what he was thinking. 

“You know it’s okay, right?” Eddie whispered, unable to make his voice any louder. 

“What is?” Steve whispered back, just as quiet. 

“If you aren’t okay,” Eddie replied, braving a quick glance up at Steve’s face. 

It was the wrong thing to do. The blank look of utter shock on Steve’s face was painful, hurting Eddie inside in a place he didn’t even know existed. 

All at once Eddie was sure that he was the first person to ever tell Steve such a thing, and that was just… too much. It was too much pressure, too much potential to fuck it up and hurt Steve even more, too much of a chance that Eddie would say the wrong thing. 

But it was also too much to not be sure Steve knew that it was the absolute truth. 

“You’re allowed to not be okay,” Eddie said, gently placing the repaired angel in Steve’s palm. 

Taglist: @paopaupaus @zerokrox-blog @surferboyzaza @whatever-is-a-good-name@minjintea @addelyin @5ammi90 @hagbaby420 @shinekocreator @bornonthesavage @starxlark @electrick-marionnett @resident-gay-bitch @ash-a-confused-enby @classicdinosaurdeathpose @valon-whomsttf @rotten-lil-goblin @thereindeerlady @love-ya-kash @kerlypride @sparkle-fiend @thefreakandthehair @flowercrowngods @milf-harrington @sadcanadianwinter @gothbat99 @hotcocoaharrington @henderdads @lightwoodbanethings @colorful565 @h0n3y-dw @craterbbox @sourw0lfs @lesliiieeeee @bidisastersworld @tinynebula @ravnlinn @bonescaro @mexmatch @cottagecoredreams @joruni @hellykelly @maegan1116 @farewell-wanderlvst @desertfern @due-to-the-fact-that-im-a-slut @anythingforourmoonyedits @eerielake @fandemonium-takes-its-toll @sidekick-hero

#Steve joins hellfire au #Steve harrington #Eddie munson #steddie #steddie au #steddie ficlet #st #stranger things #stranger things 2 #stranger things au #post stancy breakup #post s2 #Steve and eddie #st au #stranger things 2 au #steve harrington #Writing(with a capital W) #Nancy wheeler #Jonathan Byers #jancy #Jeff stranger things #freak stranger things #Steve has ptsd #tw: suicide mention

[sylenth-l]

Hi! Hello. I just have to say that your art is some of the most unearthly beautiful art I have ever seen. Absolutely gorgeous. I LOVE your Felwinter so much,, he is Everything to me and I'm pretty sure your art of him was the reason I've been thinking about him nonstop for like, over a month now. He has taken up permanent residence in my brain with Cayde and Shiro, which is, quite frankly, a dangerous combination (BLESS YOU FOR YOUR ART OF THEM TOO THWY ARE SO BEAUTIFUL. IM SO GLAD THAT THERE IS BEAUTIFUL SHIRO ART OUT IN THE WORLD). He is simply unfathomably beautiful. And the black leather pants are sinful 🫣

I love seeing every appearance of him, and your Felwinter and baby bird Osiris are also just so delightful — the stories, emotions, and words unspoken between them that you convey are just.... Wonderful, so wonderful. So much to see on the surface, and yet even more to infer when you dig just a little deeper. They glow with inner light, and I'm not just talking about that amazing effect you create with the inks .... I'm obsessed with that, btw. Someday I will master that too. Maybe not today but oh, I'm going to master it so hard.

Anyway!! I just wanted to say that I love your art so much, thank you for kindly showing it to us all, and I hope you have a good day!!! ❤️

Aah, OMG thank you so much for so many nice words!!!

The black leather pants were certainly the best design decision I took about Felwinter it seems aksdjhfkjsd. Drawing leather is still not easy for me, but he makes it WAY more enjoyable, really wanna render more of it 👀

And oh, I have SO MANY feelings and thoughts about these Warlocks... I'm super happy and grateful for all the support, you have no idea!

(also I got your message back when I was lying super sick and miserable, couldn't answer it right away, but it INSTANTLY made me feel better, I swear 💙 Now I'm almost well and ready to get back to my bullshit ✨ So yeah, thank you again!!!)

#ask

[ab121500]

Obsessed with this stupid idea i had with the durge

Some spoilers?, but just in case. Don't click more lol, i guess spoilers for act 1 and 2 of a good guy durge play through with mentions of what actually happened to them.

Okay, so, I love the idea that a good Durge, one that doesn't want to kill, has never wanted to kill. Problem was; the urge was simply too strong. They didn't have a say, so they gave in.

Gortash knows this, hes the Durge's (at minimum) friend. He understands that the Durge hates the urge, and he starts working trying to find a way to help his friend. (We know gortash is actually fuckin smart since he made the brain reader thing in moonrise and designed the steelwatch so its not that crazy of an idea that he'd try and find a way to help his friend)

Cue Orin doing the whole backstab thing and Gortash is 2 things. 1. Fucking pissed because that was HIS friend. He liked them! Sure they were blood thirsty but they were a helluva lot better than Orin. And 2. He hopes that because of the damage Durge sustains (see the one lady in moonrise who tells durge about how she literally had to stitch them back together) Orin some how fucked something up and freed them from the urge. After all, the chosen of Bhaal not being blood thirsty would look pretty damn ridiculous.

Cut to waking up on the beach, the urge is not gone but for the first time in their life (even though they don't know it) the urge is subdued. The tadpole fucks everything up, changing Wyll from a badass warlock to a much weaker one, and i think before Gale gets the worm hes a hella powerful wizard (kind of has to be? Mediocre isnt going to impress the literal goddess of magic) but when you help him from the rune hes incredibly weak. ANYWAY this helps the idea that the tadpole fucks with urge too. So while the newly awaken Durge is scared of the urge, its so much better than before and much easier to push back.

Cue act 3, meeting gortash and he's not surprised (but sad) that the durge doesn't remember him. Oh well. At least his friends happy.

I like to think the durge and gortash have a talk right before gortash gets his ass kicked by the party and Gortash asks if the urge is gone and they finally remember something and tell him that "yeah, its better at least. Thanks for trying to help." Bcause damnit friendships that don't get a resolution deeply upset me.

Anyway my ramble over, idk if this even made sense.

#bg3 durge #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 dark urge #dark urge #bg3 dark urge #bg3 gortash #lord gortash #baldur's gate spoilers #baldur's gate 3 durge

[singswan-springswan]

SW werewolf AU

yep, welcome back to another hyper fixated rambling! this one is heavy on found family though so it might be a bit more bearable.

Okay I've decided to center the concept on Ghost crew and slap it in the modern world just for funsies, since that means I can restructure the politics and whatever.

First off, I've decided that the jedi are all werewolves (or cats maybe? Ahsoka gives me cat vibes but she hardcore needs to be part of the pack so ig that can be left up to debate). They live human lives but have their own culture and events and get-togethers or hunts and such when they get home ofc. very strong bonds between pack members. Instead of calling themselves "werewolves" (despite that being the most colloquial and widely accepted term) some of them like to say they are "wolf bloods" because I guess that sounds more sophisticated. Almost all packs originate from the largest one in Coruscant (not a planet, just a region or somn), which has lots of intricate dynamics since also the alpha beta omega hierarchy is a thing. the way I want it to happen though is that their designation in the pack doesn't mean rank; it translates more directly to what role they play. I know that's not how actual wolf packs hash it out but think of it this way: omegas are sent out to do the nitty gritty field work, like buying groceries. Betas are responsible for caring for the overall health of the pack, and will use those groceries to make dinner for everyone. Alphas delegate everything, so they gave the omegas the shopping list and also the credit card and made sure everyone made it home from school and work on time to eat. Pack members are typically acquired through birth, though on the occasion they absorb an outsider who might have been changed with a bite.

Since Anakin and Co. would be kinda side characters in this au (but also because he's my bestie and I had to indulge him), he and Padme are like. soulmates. you know the ones. from wattpad. it only makes sense. when she found out about Anakin being a wolf blood that was a Whole Thing but she was eventually adopted by the pack and she agreed to be bitten so now the little puppies (Luke and Leia) are running around causing chaos with their abnormal and powerful supernatural abilities.

I want to say all the supernatural stuff kinda floats around the world while most humans are totally blind to it. Like Ventress has to be a vampire or a banshee or something, Sheev is an annoying breed of warlock, and Zeb needs to be a Creature not sure what kind.

anyway Kanan wanders away from the Coruscant pack because he's having a midlife crisis and wants to find himself. Depa and Mace kind of just snort and wave him off. It's pretty standard practice for young alphas to do stuff like that. Most end up rejoining the pack, but some do start their own in a different territory. Kanan finds his way to Lothal where he buys a cute lil house with his so much money (Mace is screaming Rich and taught his grandson how to invest like a champ yessir). He starts tending the local bar and decides to integrate with the nice townspeople just for a fun lil side quest.

Enter Hera, stage left. She's the captain of the local police precinct and has been operating out of Lothal for a few years now. She transferred from the Ryloth sector. Her dad is the chief of stations there. Actually, Hera and Kanan met once when she was still a detective. He thinks it's a great coincidence that their paths converge again, though her tough, stubborn attitude towards him is cold and professional (it's mostly because she remembers how crazy and fun he was and she doesn't want to be distracted from work). They dance around each other, as they do. Kanan is in love before he fully realizes. Something, something, he knows she's human, knows he can't start a pack with her, facetimes Anakin to rant about it, gets laughed at, Padme eventually bombs the call and tells him to go for it bc after all look how she and Anakin turned out (something crashes in the background. There is yelling. Obi-wan chases a Leia who is laughing maniacally while Luke complains about not being able to focus on his homework). Along the way they mention the increase in hunter activity in the Lothal area, so be careful bout that. Kanan has a hard time figuring out whether Hera knows about the supernatural side of things (she doesn't), but if she does he's starting to suspect she'd side with the infamous mandalorian hunters. She told him a story bout monsters and needing to protect the town and stuff. He's not sure how to convince her that not all non-humans are off the rails bat-kriff insane when he JUST got off the phone with the Disaster Lineage Family as they were in the process of burning their house down (you'd think werewolves would be more careful about playing with fire). He decides to go it safe for now. He'll tell her when he's ready (lol loser). 

In the meantime, Zeb and Kanan meet. Zeb runs into him like at the grocery store and they kinda just glare at each other across the fruit aisle. Zeb sniffs obnoxiously a few times "what are ye?" He grumbles. Kanan is momentarily confused. He holds up a banana. "A smoothie guy?" Zeb's eyes narrow. "Ya smell like wet dog from here." (It's raining outside) Kanan gasps, offended. He sniffs his shirt, and all he gets is old spice deodorant (the one he knows hera likes). "I do not!"

Something, something, Zeb eventually places him as a wolf blood (he uses the preferred term, which gets him back on Kanan's good side). Zeb also reveals that he's… whatever he is, some kind of bestial not werewolf thing that can also shapeshift into a human for disguise. Maybe a yeti? a werebear? 👀 Weeeeeee! Anyway Zeb's a social worker at the group home where Ezra's staying atm.

"I've got this kid." He explains to Kanan. "Maybe you can check him out for me."

"What the—I'm not a babysitter."

"Just tell me if he's like you! It's not that hard, kriff. He's got no pack. That's important for you lot, isn't it?"

Kanan agrees to test Ezra somehow. Picks him up from school on Zeb's orders, takes him to get burgers at the local diner like classic spodermun energy, figures out that there's a wolf stalking Ezra (grand inquisitor) and they've had a few run-ins for the past few months. Like Ezra would never out and out say any of that but Kanan's smarter than he looks give him some credit. Also there are shifty red eyes in the flower bed across the street (Kanan's getting really protective now). In classic creepy creep fashion, they get into a car wreck on the way back through the woods. Something, something, Kanan's tires got slashed, the car tips, Kanan's hauling Ezra out by the time he wakes up, then like, runs off into the dark to chase what he's pretty sure is that prick stalker wolf because he's new to dad-ing and didn't think to not leave his kid alone. Grand inquisitor (he should really get an actual name. Maybe we can call him GI? GI Hoe?) Circles back to ezra and attacks him (poor guy) and bites him before Ezra konks out again. He wakes up in the morning like back at the house and everything is totally normal (Kanan really finessed his way out of that) Zeb is making waffles downstairs and school is in half an hour. He'd ask to skip but he feels great. Actually, there's no sign of any injuries (wolf bloods do heal fast ya know), as if the whole thing was one big dream. Except for the fact that he's having a mild sensory overload. Sight, sound, smell are all suddenly maxed out. You know.

Kanan actually brought Ezra back after the whole thing with GI Hoe in the woods (Kanan beat him up and got in the car and kept driving) then immediately dumped his car in the shop. So Zeb knows, but neither of them are totally sure that Ezra is a puppy yet so they decided to just keep a close eye on him until they know. Meanwhile Ezra's having a very weird day at school. He's not sure he can rant to any of his friends about what he's definitely sure happened last night because he has no evidence and anyway they've all got better things to focus on. Jai and Zare are stressing about midterms coming up, and Sabine keeps griping about an impromptu family reunion that's brought a bunch of really scary (in Ezra's opinion) relatives into town who have a mildly freakish obsession with hunting. Ezra's seen her basement. It's a kriffing armory down there.

Anyway classic Ezra trying to juggle all these crazy changes happening to him in the cliche textbook way except he doesn’t have a best friend guy in the chair sidekick to google obscure mythical articles about werewolves for him so he’s doing everything by himself (may or may not be skipping a few classes). Eventually Ezra runs into Kanan again. Probably because he shifted during a moonspell and ran around crazy and Kanan had to snatch him before Hera could shoot the kid. Kanan’s still got no idea how to parent so instead of calmly explaining stuff he just yells at ezra and tells him to be more careful. It doesn’t occur to Kanan that Ezra wasn’t born into a pack and has absolutely no kriffing idea what’s going on. Poor baby. Ezra figures out about Kanan “You’re a werewolf!” *cue more offended gasping* “where did you learn that slur?” “Oh my gOD you literally have fangs!” "what makes you think I'm not a vampire?" "Uh, you're not grossly pale?" "Not all vampires can be pale." "You also wear jeans" "kriff, that's true"

At first Ezra blames Kanan for all the crap he's now subjected to. He's scared and unsure and alone and looking for something to take it out on, and Kanan is convenient because he's just kinda there. But he gets defensive when Ezra confronts him "what do you mean my fault? Ain't got nothing to do with your problems, the kriff?" Ezra's shaking with all the rage trapped in his tiny body with his hands clenched into fists "yes it is! You're the one who bit me!" And Kanan's just dumbfounded and incredulous like first of all excuse you no I did not I was raised better than that holy kark. All pups are taught at a young age that it's very bad manners to Bite someone on a whim. And Kanan may be selfish but he'd never just dump the transformation on a kid with no warning. So then they're just both staring at each other like wait so then who bit Ezra and even GI Hoe denies it when they catch him and beat him up for answers like yeah he's bitten Ezra before but it wasn't The Bite so Kanan realizes that Ezra must have been born a wolf blood and the sudden appearance of a pack near his previously unoccupied home territory plus also him reaching the age where his powers start to get stronger must have triggered an awakening in his body or something. He would have manifested his wolf blood abilities much younger if his parents hadn't died and if he'd been incorporated into a large pack (he would have been so cute as a baby wolf but alas). 

On the one hand, it's reassuring to Ezra knowing there are other wolf bloods out there, but Kanan also was not looking for a pseudo son on his quest for self-discovery so he's being annoying and generally unhelpful about it. Of course, that attitude changes when GI Hoe starts to make his intentions known. He's already got a pack, which reflects the more traditional structure that we're familiar with reading about: very hierarchical, very antagonistic, glowing red eyes, often attacks humans or livestock for funsies. Tensions between inquisitors are high as always so they're constantly looking for new recruits (they kill each other all the time). He keeps trying to adopt Ezra for his ranks, sensing that Ezra could be a powerful asset. when Kanan discovers this, he goes full dad mode and claims Ezra as part of his fam. This leads to lots of confrontations with inquisitors and ultimately ends in the death of GI Hoe. Subsequently the pack is scattered and leaves Lothal territory. Auntie Soka visited from Coruscant to help with that part a bit because she wanted a vacation from spying on Sheev for Padme. She brings her mate Rex (not sure if to make him and the boys another kind of shapeshifter like dragons or just have them be Normal Guys) so they all have fun family bonding.

Kanan tells Ahsoka about how he's in love with Hera and what should he do about it and she is unimpressed with his drama "just bite her. I don't see what the problem is" he is aghast. He would never force something like that on Hera! Plus he's been dancing around the topic with her for a while and he's pretty sure she would hate him if she found out he was a wolf blood—doubly so if he made her into one against her will. Not that he's even told her they exist. As far as Hera's concerned, the mythical world is not reality. Ahsoka is still unimpressed.

Oh by the way Sabine's family are all hunters. Like wolf blood/vampire/faerie/dragon/troll/whatever else hunters which only makes sense if you think about it because they're mandalorians aka the mortal enemies of the jedi (all of whom are some kind of non-human in this AU). Sabine at her age has already learned all the skills and weapons she will need to kill Stuff, and has herself already made a few excellent plaques to adorn her room (after Ezra realizes he's a wolf blood, he starts to hate hanging out at her house. It lowkey gives him panic attacks, now that he knows what kind of wolf heads she's got mounted over her desk). She obviously doesn't talk about the mythical stuff with people outside her family, at least in specific detail. She only ever rants about their group "hunts" but never mentions what they're hunting in exact names. Boy would it be traumatic for her to realize her best friend is one of the beasts she's been trained to kill since she was small. Maximum angst if she shoots him once or twice in his wolf form and continually tracks him (lol poor guy) to the point that she considers him her trophy kill and is determined to get That One if it's the last thing she does. This makes Ezra very sad boi hours. He loves his friend but obviously he doesn't wanna die. One time Sabine almost got him (oh no!) Then Kanan stepped in at the last second and almost killed her before Ezra stopped him and yeah it's just all around a lot of violence weeeee. Hera really can't keep up with all these animal attack reports. 

When Sabine finds out she is furious and horrified and feels very betrayed and has lots of strong feelings but can't actually bring herself to kill Ezra after all because she loves her friend too and like so does her family he's over for dinner all the time and lowkey they were considering adopting him. What wins her over in the end is that he carries himself like a sad puppy all over the place which is both adorable and depressing. Her dad was also there when she found out so he gets her to keep quiet about it and not tell the rest of the Wrens yet because he knows it'd be signing poor Ezra's death sentence and he can't bear to think about that (Sabine's dad was always loyal to the family and supportive of their hunting but Ezra is Ezra and literally one of the fundamental laws of the universe is protect the baby). Eventually Sabine manages to turn her family because she's cool like that and convinces them to hunt only problematic creatures instead (cough cough palpacreep).

Somehow Maul exists. Another warlock maybe? I dunno he's annoying.

Kallus can just be human. He's probably a lieutenant who works for Hera. They're bros. They have coffee together. He doesn't get paid enough to deal with their shenanigans.

Things that need to happen in this AU:

Hera hits wolf Kanan with her car while on patrol. Horrified by having rammed an animal at country road speed, she springs into action, stuffing this larger than abnormally large wolf into her back seat and flicking the lights and siren on. When she gets to the animal hospital, the vet is out. It’s just Intern Ezra locking up the building. Hera is frantic. Thank goodness Ezra is still here! She needs his help! Ezra’s always willing to help an animal in distress, but when he sees it’s Kanan, he almost considers breaking his code. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” He deadpans. Kanan glares. Hera doesn’t understand what’s going on, and Ezra needs to keep face so he reluctantly helps her cart the wolf inside, where he takes some X-rays and does some busy-body nonsense in the back. He returns to an anxious Hera in the waiting room, who has pledged to pay any bill or charge in full. “Good news! It’s not as bad as it looks.” (Kanan has broken his leg in three places and cracked two ribs but Hera doesn’t need to know that) She is relieved and vows to return as soon as she can. Ezra goes and whacks Kanan upside the head. “You can change back now. She’s gone.” He throws an arm over his eyes and wheezes. “That kriffing hurt.” The next day, when Kanan sees Hera for some reason he’s wearing the usual leg brace under his sweatpants to hide that but something, something, his shirt rides up and she sees the bruising all down his side and her brain short circuits “How did that happen?” it takes all of Kanan’s willpower not to say “hit by a car”

Ahsoka eats a man

Luke and Leia make the national news

Palpatine gets impeached and also imprisoned in a fish bowl where he is forced to live out the rest of his miserable days stripped of magic

When Kanan begrudgingly agrees to teach Ezra the basics of wolf stuff they go out in the woods together and practice shifting. Hera sees them once and is delighted to find the wolf she ran down doing well “Hello again! Aww, your son is so cute!” (Ezra is thrilled to be called cute by nice police lady Hera)

The first time Hera brings Kanan home Chopper her cat goes apespit hissing and yowling and absolutely wrecking the furniture to get away. When it becomes apparent that Kanan is to be invited back multiple times, Chopper begins the series of attempted murders. Hera can’t puzzle out why her cat is more hostile than usual meanwhile Kanan is sweating buckets because every time he leaves his scent in Hera’s house it makes Chopper lose another brain cell

Zeb is mistaken for Bigfoot by some late-night hiker

Okadiah has just always known about Kanan and everyone. He just sits there chilling like he’s not really anything Special he’s a normal human but he knows and just sits there with popcorn and ice tea watching all this drama unfold

#star wars au #star wars family #star wars rebels #ghost crew #kanan jarrus #hera syndulla #kanera #kanan x hera #ezra bridger #sabine wren #garazeb orrelios #anakin skywalker #padme amidala #ahsoka tano #captain rex #jedi #jedi au #werewolf #werewolf au #star wars shenanigans

[wandaxpietro]

How different would Pietro/Quicksilver and Wanda/Scarlet Witch be if they were like... born into a different sex(????) (Wait let me properly explain-)

Alright, since there are multiple universes or 'multiverse', there's definitely a universe where Pietro-was-born-a-girl and Wanda-was-born-a-boy.

So how different would Male!Scarlet Witch and Fem!Quicksilver be from their universe counterparts? What names do they go by? Would they still go by "Scarlet Witch" and "Quicksilver"? What physical and personality traits do/don't have in common with their main counterparts? What would be their dynamic or their relationship be like? What would be their view(s) on the world or everyone around them? etc etc

This is such a long-ass question/s and i'm sorry cuz I know this is gonna be a pain answering (if this'll ever get answered at all) but i wanna see if anyone else thought of this cuz this has been on m mind for weEKS- and btw! I am so sorry if this ask sounds "anti-trans" or "pro-cis" (eughh) this is not my intention, I genuinely just wanted to share this idea and wanted to see how other ppl take their views on the maximoffs

ok so first of all there's actually a canon universe where they're genderswapped (and magneto is also genderswapped) but i forgot which universe that is lmfao. i quite like its quicksilver design -- as in, it's pretty much unchanged, she's just a woman but she still has short hair and the same uniform style etc -- but i'm not too fond of its scarlet warlock (< i'm pretty sure that's what he's called? which is also a stupid name lol) design. it keeps wanda's long hair & general costume, from what i remember, but it adds a beard and chest hair and he's also super bulky (also from what i remember) which doesn't seem very fitting to me.

second of all, i've actually been thinking about this recently, too (for fic related reasons), but only about fem!pietro lmfao!

so, let's get my thoughts:

one thing i have a problem with with genderbends is names, actually, so it's funny you'd ask. there's no fun in me to "switch" the names around to similar sounding names of the opposite gender, it's weird to me, i just want the character name to stay intact, you know? i can deal with it sometimes, but that's only rarely. which is why i don't think about genderbends as much as perhaps i'd usually do, and if the name works as a genderbend still, then i just keep it. for my hypothetical fem!pietro exploration i honestly would just keep pietro. why does she have a boy name? who knows. who cares. lol. if you'd ~really~ want to change their names, the first ones that would come to my mind are petra and walter but i don't like those. not for them. i just don't! (though petra is better i guess. walter is pretty bad. sorry to anyone named walter i'm sure it fits you it just does not fit wanda).

as for code names, i think quicksilver works. i don't think she'd go by anything else, it's pretty unisex. scarlet witch obviously isn't unisex, but depending on how swag male wanda is he'd maybe go by it anyway. as i've mentioned the scarlet warlock is pretty bad -- warlock is not the female version of witch in any way lol -- and i also feel a lot of wanda's character depth would disappear without the added layer of sexism with the term "witch", but i guess that's just the way it would be with male wanda. the scarlet wizard is alright, i suppose. it's not the same thing, but again, there's not really any male term that captures what "witch" specifically means, and wizard is also unisex, so.

as far as personality goes, i think i'd keep as much as possible from the 616 versions. fem!pietro can still be impatient and grumpy and suspicious and love so much she breaks herself apart on it. male wanda can still be deeply good and compassionate, place so much importance on family, can still have a short fuse and fall into self-doubt easily, idk. some of the protector dynamic with pietro would get lost, i think -- while she would probably still view herself as her softer (< her opinion) brother's protector, she'd probably be less confident (not that 616 pietro is very ~confident~, but he doesn't shy away from confrontation, is what i mean) with taking up space after growing up as a woman, but probably not by a lot. other people would probably take her less seriously as her brother's protector though, probably; and i think wanda also wouldn't view her as such, even when he obviously would still treasure her a lot. their dynamic specifically would stay largely the same, i think. super close and super explosive, too, at times, but they know each other best. i don't see how their sex would change much about that, except that their experiences growing up would obviously be a little different like this. but -- despite what many marvel writers seem to think -- nothing about wanda and pietro's dynamic has anything to do with sexism (though pietro's need to protect wanda is probably something of a "i'm a man"; i still can't imagine fem!pietro would feel less strongly about this, especially her brother in this case is a bit different than that typical "man" picture), so that wouldn't really change.

as for their views of the world and the people around them; i think pietro would be more suspicious than he is in 616 (for obvious reasons), while also perhaps being less paranoid about wanda (not because pietro looks down on wanda for being a woman, but because a lot of the world does, and that would fall away in this case), but only slightly. i don't think wanda would change much in this regard. i suppose he'd be less suspicious, but they'd both still experience racism and bigotry growing up in europe, so i don't see that changing much. wanda still loves the world and its people with all his heart but can't be around them too much (introvert) while pietro also loves the world and its people but she's more grumpy about it. because she also hates them all (extrovert) lmfao.

last but not least! appearances. in my ideal world, fem!pietro is virtually unchanged. she has short hair (better for running), she is lanky, she has runner's legs, she has sharp features. male wanda is more difficult for me to imagine. long hair, probably, but i wouldn't mind short hair. a similar style of costume. no beard!!!! my god. he'd probably wax or something so no chest hair, either, idk. he probably paints his nails. he's very very pretty. beautiful man. not exactly tall but also not exactly short. either skinny (not a physical fighter) or chubby (not a physical fighter) or something of the like, but definitely not muscular. but he's obviously trained in hand-to-hand combat like 616 wanda, obviously. etc. also male wanda would be a very gentle dom to fem!pietro's brat i know it in my heart. she still feels like she has the world on her shoulders so it's nice to be able to lie back, etc. anyway i think that's all my thoughts for now lol

#answered #scarletsilver #maxicest

[artisticbunny]

o.O look I know it’s only been like a week but I’m like, deeply infatuated with a whole new concept that has nothing to do with anything I had previously indulged in. It has nothing to do with fnaf, or utdr, or anime, or even any of my favorite book series

(BUT A COMPLETELY ORIGINAL CONCEPT BY YOU BUN THIS IS CRAZY LIKE HOW WELL OILED IS YOUR BRAIN? WHAT AM I MISSING?)

And today— I come bearing questions for the creator of this ‘new concept’— a true genius from none other than the nefarious hellsite;

Tumblr.

Yep. That’s right. And now, I ask this:

(Hey Bun, don’t mind me I’m just roleplaying myself in your inbox over a silly question. I just wrote an opinionated report for my ELA teacher, so maybe I’m not out of writer mode lol. Anyways, can we know more about Brook? Like y’know, ‘Brook Child’. If that’s treading too close to spoiler territory, then alternatively, can we know about Sam the wizard? He was mentioned earlier and I like wizards and warlocks because magic is such a popular concept based off of something which nobody really knows. Plus it’s something I’m sure everyone ever has fantasized about, even if many believe it doesn’t exist… not nerd ver: magic is cool can we hear about Sam?)

:3 Yep. That’s it. Hope this wasn’t too long or crazy lol. I really do enjoy the course of this and how it’s going. Sounds really cool. Also, I LOVE the artwork that goes along with it. (Plus I saw your Cryptid design and it IS quite friend shaped if I do say so myself lol) You draw very nicely, I like that it’s awesome.

HHHHHH GRABS YOU AND STARTS SHAKING YOU AROUND YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THAT MEANS TO ME AAAAA

PLEASE ALL THESE COMPLIMENTS ARE GONNA GO TO MY HEAD (///////) IVE BEEN READING YOUR TAGS IN THE REBLOGS TOO DONT THINK I HAVENT!!!! YOU GOT ME SMILING LIKE AN IDIOT!!!!

And so,,, Ask and ye shall receive my beloved moot!!!

Brook’s backstory is one that is completely lost to her. Her “mother” never really told her much other than “I found you and took you in, so now you owe me.” At the moment I don’t really think it’s important to the story, and I don’t think it will ever come up so I’ll spill the tea for you ;3

Brook actually was born into a very loving family. She had parents who adored her and each other, and they lived in a fairly peaceful town. This… didn’t really last. Brook’s family went out one day, planning to go a few towns over to see relatives, and instead of settling down for the night, decided to travel through till the morning. Under the shade of night, they were jumped by bandits. During the scuffle, their horse got spooked, and whisked away the cart, with Brook still inside. The horse ran off-trail into the woods, the cart catching on fallen trees and rocks. The horse’s restraints attaching it to the cart were damaged so much by all the debris that when the cart got caught in the bank of a rocky stream, the horse broke free, and the cart remained. Brook’s “Mother” found her and took her in with the thought that she could help with chores when she was older.

Brook stayed 16 long years with her “Mother” (making her ~17 now), and got the idea to escape about a year and a half prior to the events of the story :)

Under her “mother”’s “care”, it wasn’t uncommon for Brook to have food taken away from her if she acted up or made mistakes, it also wasn’t uncommon for her to be locked in the basement with only thin slits of windows to let in light. The basement is also where she slept, not having a room of her own.

Because of these conditions, she is pretty sickly. She is VERY thin and malnourished, and is also pretty short as a result (she’s almost EXACTLY 5 feet tall, maybe a little shorter if you flatten her hair). Her hair is matted and tangled, and her clothes are old, thin, and covered in various stains and grime. She has lots of scars all over her body but by far the most noticeable is the one straight down over half of her face.

She has anxiety and is baby and I love her :)

She’s tired, and needs a break, but she’s not really gonna get one for a while, sorry hon!

Now, you get Sam too because he is VERY cool and silly and I love him.

Sam is a half elf!!! Idk that I mentioned this before!!! He’s kinda just a silly goofy dude who gets stage fright unless it’s his silly werewolf boyfriend. They LOVE each other your honor!!!

Unfortunately god gives his hardest tests to his silliest clowns.

Yeah he goes through the wringer throughout the story. I can’t say much of that because yay plotpoint!!! But yeah djxndhdh

So basically Sam was born in a nice town, pretty average sized, with parents that wanted the best for him. When they saw that he had innate magical abilities (ie: a higher magic storage ability and they saw him just messing around with it and having fun as a kid), they thought that setting him up for apprenticeships would set him up for a good life. What they DIDNT consider is that Sam didn’t really want that. Yeah, when he first started he thought magic was REALLY cool!!! And fun!!! But… all the studying and reading and practicing form and BLAH BLAH BLAH- it made it almost unbearable. Honestly now that I’m thinking about it I probably infused some of my adhd into him without realizing- whoops! Sitting for hours and hours on end just studying instead of actually doing the cool stuff? No thanks that sounds like actual torture! Lol

But yeah, he would end up going through like 5 apprenticeships before he and Joe end up running off into the woods together to find Joe’s tether or some other alternative that hasn’t been discovered yet. They spent a while just kinda camping in the woods with not really much luck before Brook comes along. They’ve been out on their own for about 3 or 4 years at that point, but they haven’t really been counting.

Sorry Sam probably isn’t as interesting as the others, not too bad of a tragic backstory competitively lol. Gotta have SOME less messed up characters! Trust me tho, he gets some good character time in the story I promise!

Here’s what he looks like:

He has a lot of scruff lol, and I love that for him <3

#i might try to update these refs again sometime soon #I’ve gotten better with anatomy and with putting together outfits I think #i wanna try again specifically with Sam because I feel like it could be a lot better #long post #bun did a draw #bun rambles #whispering willow book #Brook whispering willow #Sam whispering willow

[naughtygirl286]

So yes we finally went to see Guardians of the galaxy Vol.3 and yes there was some collectable goodies for this one too which you can of course see here.

Now as for the movie itself I though it was amazing! it was a great way to cap off this series and an excellent send off to these characters and for one they will be missed. but I'm sure they will appear again in future MCU movies but of course just not as the Guardians of the Galaxy of course and at the very end it says Star-Lord will return. So we will see him again as for the other I'm not sure but we'll have to wait and see

but anyway yes the movie was excellent The acting, the visuals, the action and the emotion was all amazing, I would say I loved pretty much everything minute of it.

The story is basically this Knowhere is attacked by Adam Warlock who was sent by none other then the High Evolutionary Who wants Rocket Raccoon. The Guardians fight him him but Rocket is seriously injured and the Guardians of the Galaxy set off on a daring mission across the cosmos in order to save Rocket and confront the High Evolutionary over his nefarious plans and learn the secret ties between him and the creation of Rocket Raccoon.

like I said the movie is excellent and I would say partly do to the writing and directing it was funny when it needed to be dramatic and serious when it needed to be and emotionally charged when it needed to be.

I was happy to finally see Adam Warlock on the big screen but I didn't think he got as much screen time as I thought he would have and I thought. The person playing him Will Poulter I thought he did a great job, I have always seen the character as kind of serious but this version is a bit more comedic in a way I felt and I think he kind of balances that so I thought he did a great job also I thought the introduction of the High Evolutionary as the movies villain was good as well and I thought Chukwudi Iwuji who plays the character did a great job as well and I am enjoying them bringing some of these huge "cosmic" characters like Ego the Living Planet, Kang the Conqueror,Eternity,The Celestial to name a few. but everyone who reprised their roles did and excellent job.

The movie is funny when it needs to be there is quite a few jokes and gags and you have to laugh at the bickering between Drax and Mantis that is hilarious all on its own and of Nebula gets pulled into it at times too which makes it even more funny

The action and stunt work is awesome too watching this is just pure fun and the visuals are I thought were a bit mind blowing the movie is truly a visual spectacle you have to probably see it just for that All the production design is amazing I'm also happy that they finally got to wear their comic book uniforms in this one too but yeah all the creatures and aliens are imaginative and all the visuals involving Rocket/Groot and any other character was perfect, I feel the work they did on Rocket was turly amazing to the point where he looked, acted and felt like a real live creature that was onset with everyone else

The music for this was perfect too each song just fit were it should and work perfectly in the frame of the movie and yes this was a very emotional ride of a movie especially concerning Rocket and his backstory truth be told I did tear up through all that, it was very very sad at points so I couldn't help it

but yeah like I said the movie is amazingly excellent it was a great way to cap off this series and an excellent send off to these characters so if you love the other stuff they were in and enjoyed these characters I would highly recommend going to see this last chapter.

also yes there is some credit scenes there is one mid and one end for this

#Guardians of the Galaxy #Guardians of the Galaxy3 #Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 #Guardians of the Galaxy 3 #Guardians of the Galaxy mcu #NaughtyGirl286 #ShannonJ286 #marvels Guardians of the Galaxy #marvel #marvel studios #disney #Guardians of the Galaxy marvel #mcu #marvel mcu #Marvel Studios' Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 #Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 #phase five #mcu movies

[kinkymagnus]

Magnus actually digs how tall Alec is. Magnus himself isn't short, but Alec with his 6ft3 is just hrgnnnn.

So sometimes, instead of just summoning something off a high shelf, he calls his boyfriend to get it down for him. In fact, he might magic one or two shelfs a little higher, just for the excuse the see his love stretching for it.

It probably shouldn't be hot that he has to get on his tiptoes to kiss Alec, but it is.

oh for sure. for fucking sure. magnus is like. not a short or small man but god does he love that alec's a little taller than him.

alec knows what magnus is up to but it's not like he minds. he can deal with having to get up to get random shit off shelves that magnus definitely conjured up there bc he gets to tease him back by like. "oh, here, let me get that." [one hand on the counter on one side, the other reaching up and around him to get it so that he's pressed really close to magnus's back]

anyway yes i just think magnus being very into the size/height difference. it's especially not something he's particularly used to--he's certainly been with partners that are stronger than him (warlocks only have normal human strength, even if magnus is pretty muscular, while a lot of other downworlders are more durable/supernaturally strong) but alec is one of the few who's actually physically taller/just as muscular. and like. something about having to lean up to kiss him is just... nice. and also a little bit of a huge turn on.

(also will never shut up about like. alec is taller than him, strong and a trained warrior, etc., and like. obviously it's not that magnus couldn't hold his own in a fight against him if that were to happen--duh--but like. letting himself be overpowered, and then like. you know. being overpowered, being helpless, but in a way that is specifically designed to make you feel good, in a way that makes him feel not just safe/protected but you know, good, is just... yes.)

#this is. actually one of the guilty pleasure things is any sort of dragon/half dragon sort of au for alec where like. he is/can be #Considerably Bigger. #so like. magnus literally not a small man getting to feel a little small #bc his McHuge Dragon Boyfriend (or werewolf boyfriend or monster boyfriend or whatever) towers over him in this form #and hes like [extremely wet] ohhhhh

[inkdemonapologist]

Hi Shazz! I’m a huge fan of your work, and had a couple questions. :) First, How did you come up with your designs for the studio bois? And Second, I’m curious what your ideas of the what class the boys would be if they were in Dungeons And Dragons. Peace and love to ya!

Since this specifies the boys, I do want to clarify that for the Cthulhu boys designs, I only designed Sammy – the others were designed by the friends who play them! (Joey is Boo’s design, Jack is Mochi’s design, and Henry is Maf’s design). And I feel like those four also develop a lot just based on like, bouncing off of each others’ styles when we draw each others’ characters. For my own interpretations of the human BatIM characters a lot of it was just……. listening to audiologs a whole bunch, and taking the few scraps of description we have into account, and trying to make a visual that looked the way that the character felt to me, with a dash of fandom inspiration since I’d absorbed a lot of other takes before designing my own. You can kinda tell I was going with my gut a lot on the designs since they aren’t as diverse as they could be; admittedly I really didn’t expect to still be drawing BENDY AND THE INK MACHINE fanart 2 years later!! I’m still proud of them, though, and put a lot of thought into how they should feel – I wanted to capture that “devilish” look Buddy describes for Norman; I wanted Sammy to be pointy, angry, stressed to the breaking point, and attractive in a weird way; I wanted to make Susie someone who looked almost like a cartoon IRL, like she should’ve been perfect, etc etc etc.

Anyway, D&D ASSIGNMENTS,

I feel very confident that Joey’s a bard, with speaking (maybe also dancing) as his perform skill. A lot of illusion and general ability to charm his way into and out of things but he’s great to have on your side.

Sammy could go in 200 different directions based on which part of him you emphasis, but I’m gonna say barbarian whose passion and job happens to be music for his pre-ink self (he is NOT a bard), and a few levels of either cleric or warlock for his post-ink self. It’s a tough call – Warlock has good “bound to an unknowable entity” vibes and is a simpler spellcasting class with a limited number of spells, which is good for Sammy, but clerics are the ones who have to beseech their deity for an hour every day to get spells at all, and historically stress devotion more heavily than warlock does. Ultimately I might go with Warlock just I don’t think Sammy would play a support role well, and that Sammy having a high CHA seems more likely than Sammy having a high WIS – like yeah, his perception check should be good, but his will save can’t be that high.

My instinct for Henry is some kinda Fighter – maybe Champion archetype? No matter what you throw at him Henry is going to SURVIVE it, unlike Sammy’s frenzied rage which is focused way more on violence than not dying. There are probably more interesting choices if you wanna play with Henry’s visions or give him gold-ink powers (Monk would be cool if you flavoured all the ki stuff as ink- or soul-related powers, and then monk’s theoretical ability to just survive without armour or anything and immunity to disease, poison, falling, and such allows Henry to make it when he really shouldn’t be able to), but if you wanna keep him in Just A Guy territory, I’d go fighter.

Jack is also a bard he just uses music as his perform skill. Alternately, make Jack a high-CHA rogue if you wanna make sticky fingers jokes about him stealing that valve; I think a charming attention-grabbing fellow who’s not bothered to hide out in the sewers when he needs a little less attention on him would suit the life of a rogue pretty well.

[squints at this party] I’m…. pretty sure this is a party of criminals.

#i know you have questions you always do

[takato1993]

I watched a bunch of spooky movies this month. i watched most of them on Tubi for free I have been meaning to watch some movies on there but I just never got around to it until this month partly because I did not know it had such a good selection of movies which do ...

seem to rotate out after a set amount of time so some of the movies I am reviewing will be gone today and some might be there permanently of gone in a month or two so catch them quick if anything I watched is on your to watch list. ( 5?10 is average and thats ok)

Phantasm- 7/10

a classic with really good theme music and practical special effects. about a boy who discovers some dark and creepy things going on in the graveyard.

Tubi only had Phantasm I and III so I only watched the first one I think Phantasm II was the one I was curious about in the first place.

Jason X- 6/10

one of 2 movies in the Friday the 13th that were not aired in the marathon I saw on tv last year ( still don't know why they skipped VII but thats the only one left to watch now)

I enjoyed this movie it was fun but flawed I don't have much to say but I think the hate for it is a bit silly

Creepshow 2- 8/10

I think this movie hasn't aged the best but the middle segment " The Raft" is just a compelling and horrifying as I remembered and I highly recommend it.

Remember to always make sure someone knows where you are when you go to an isolated location is just good advice, tho cellphones sort of mitigate this problem- if you have a signal a charged battery

Subspecies I, II, and III- 7/10, 7/10, 5/10

honestly this was one of the best vampire movie series I have seen

this movie is about three college students that go to Transylvania to study the local legends.

this movie is very ambitious with very good practical effects, on set castles and ruins, and to my delight Ray Harryhausen inspired stop motion animation.

and I promise the antagonists constantly blood stained dripping lips will go from a little silly to creepy as the movies go one

theres a spinoff and a 4th movie I didnt watch them. I might later on.

C.H.U.D- 4/10

I Liked the creature designs well enough but this movie was painfully boring and If it was trying to have a message about polution and treating homeless people better i don't think it did that well either

tempted to watch the sequel even tho its supposed to be worse

Warlock I, II, and III- 8/10, 6/10, 4/10

another horror series with beautiful practical special effects this time we have time travel, witchcraft, and the antichrist

the same actor plays the Warlock/antichrist each movie even tho its a different character each time

a delightfully evil character just so over the top with it

avoid the second movie if animal death scenes bother you a lot, theres only one but hoo boy it's a lot.

this series does sadly get worse each movie but I genuinely enjoyed the first 2

Re-animator, Bride of Re-animator- 8/10, 7/10

A movie about a man who is very arrogant and adamant about being able to bring people back to life but they turn into violent mindless monsters every time.

and also a man that should know better and should have kicked him out of his house immediately but instead follows him pretty blindly

Herbert West is both the antagonist and a villain protagonist and I think it is hilarious that he tries to solve every problem by bringing the dead back to life (usually the problem is that he tried to bring the dead back to life)

a better antagonist does arise as well and they are delightfully messed up

contains one very disturbing and prolonged animal death scene

there is also a cute little monster made from a hand and some eyeballs int the second movie. it should be like the series mascot or something but alas it gets squished.

haven't watched Beyond Re-animator yet but I am curious about that one scene

Basket case- 5/10

I actually learned about this movie from Who's Line is it Anyway which is a pretty weird place to learn about such a graphic horror movie from

Casper- 7/10

not all movies I watched were horror or thriller movies

rewatching this I am surprised that it seems to have been completely forgotten.

it was fun, the effects were good, the set was a beautiful spooky mansion with vaguely gothic architechture how is this not a beloved mainstream Halloween classic

Witchouse- 5/10

Tubi's autoplay feature selected this one

a spooky witch themed horror movie with a lot of dead teenagers . its just okay

Nightbreed- 8/10

Rawhead Rex- 5/10

The Pit- 5/10

Black sheep- 5/10

Witches in Stiches- 8/10

Frankenhooker- 6/10

a modern comedic take on Frankenstein

my only question about this movie is why this man who is clearly devoted enough to his thicc dead girlfriend to spend all his time figuring out how to bring her back to life with stolen body parts decides to bring her back super skinny.

a coward that makes Herbert West look heroic by comparison uggh

had a cute little brain monster with an eyeball it lives in an aquarium

May- 6/10

another modern take on Frankenstein in a way, this time the focus is on May a socially awkward woman who gets pushed past the breaking point over and over

this movie also contains an animal death scene, and frankly it was unnecessary for the plot

Bad Taste - No rating

before Lord of the Rings Peter Jackson directed some very weird lower Budget movies

for the second time watching one I can't genuinely recommend it to people ( the first time was Meet the Feebles)

I am not going to criticize this one as much as i could because it was very independently made on a very low budget

Parents- 6/10

Repo! the Genetic Opera- 7/10

Castle Freak- 6/10

The Church- 7/10

Feast- 6/10

Deathgasm- 6/10

Tucker and Dale vs Evil- 7/10

The Stuff- 6/10

Tourist trap- 6/10

The Lair of the White Worm- 7/10

vampires, snake gods, the lambton worm this is a solid fantasy horror movie.

its also vaguely a comedy and I do not usually detect that in most British movies and I probably should not have in this one

there a weird scene where the villainess tells a series of bad and obvious lies and the burns her favorite board game " Snakes and ladders" to convince the protagonist she is telling the truth

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2010) - 8/10

this ones about a dysfunctional family that move into a spooky old mansion that has a bunch of little monsters living under it deep under its buried and hidden basement that the family opens back up of course.

this is a remake by Guillermo Del Toro I have not seen the original and I know most people prefer the original but I don't think this is by any means a bad movie.

the father can be insufferably mean spirited at times. but hey step mothers get a rare kind representative.

The Babysitter- 9/10

this one is about a boy who discovers his beloved babysitter is doing human sacrifice and stealing his blood for a dark ritual

i watched this one on netflix with friends

its every bit as funny and clever that i hoped for and more

The Babysitter: Killer Queen- 6/10

Deadly Blessing- 4/10

the 4th worst twist killer reveal in a horror movie I have seen, at least there were hints.

Howling 3- 3/10

this movie convinced me that The Howling series really is bad tho i still like The Howling 2

oddly almost heartwarming

Its like the writers couldn't decided between weather this was a werewolf movie with Australian folklore tacked on ( kind respectfully tho I think), or a werewolf/ political drama, or werewolves in the movie industry/hollywood

whoever made the baby marsupial werewolf puppet really wanted it to get the most loving and lingering shots in this movie and it shows

Suspiria (1977) 7/10

the Monster Project- 4/10

Frightmare- 4/10

#halloween #horror movies #thriller movies #this list was too long I did better than I thought I would for movies this month #but I'm tired and would rather spend my time watching one or2 more to end the season than typing anymore

[xiazats-mind]

Rating the 2023 Scream Fortress cosmetics cause why not

Previous rating

The scale

0 Absolute Garbage      5 Average     10 Must Have

Jumping Jester

...eh. I wish I had more to say than 'eh' but I don't hate it and I don't like it

4/10

Last Laugh

I'm not sure if its just because I like jester characters in media or what, but this mask appeals to me. I...I like this.

7.75/10

Shortness Of Breath

A cool name, a helmeted style, and a generally nice looking cosmetic.

7.75/10

Warlock's Warcloak

A spooky cape for soldier, I can see this working well with the right outfit.

5/10

Dead Heat

To me, this is a cooler version of the PY-40 Incinibot head morph (which I already think is neat, 7/10)

8/10

Fiercesome Fluorescence

This is a factually better version of sniper's Glow From Below, a hat I have and have been meaning to giftapult it with it renamed "Giftapult This". At this point I might not even do it due to the history I have with it, and don't want it going to a bot. Anyways, this is decent head morph/hat

7.5/10

Splitting Headache

An animated saw splitting pyro's head in two; In my personal opinion the weakest of pyro's new hats

3.5/10

Blastphomet

Yet again the bonus cosmetics are some of the best in the crate; I love the wordplay and the fact that the left eye is closed to be inline with demo's missing eye.

8.25/10

Mad Lad

Another Mad Max-esque outfit; Again, haven't watched Mad Max, so I'm indifferent to this.

5/10

Stunt Suit

The three styles make this very versatile, which normally I praise, but this doesn't appeal to me

4/10

Thunder Dome

This is a worse version of this year's Blast Bowl, a cosmetic that I actually liked. It even has a version that makes it look like a sticky jumper grenade, like the Blast Bowl.

5/10

Bare Bear Bones

Ugh, I don't like this one. It just feels...kinda lazy? Not trying to diss the creator, they likely worked hard on this. I will say having the paints be a claw mark elevates this hat

Yeah, paint definitely required for this one.

Unpainted 3/10 Painted 4.75/10

Make Ogre

Yeah, heavy's cosmetics kinda suck this time around. Though I do appreciate the wordplay

4/10

Constructor's Cover

*struggles to find anything to say but eh*

4/10

Dell Dynamic

A neat little superhero hat for engi, would even pair well with the above cosmetic (probably 'cause they're in the same set)

6/10

Main Cast

Love the title, but that's it. Alternate styles remove the blood and/or foot cast if you want that

4/10

Medical Mummy

No. I hate the style with the band-aids (shown above). Its just so redundant and not in a amusing way. The other style removes it. I don't like this.

3/10

Power Spike

Now THIS is a cool piece of headgear; The team colored glowing hair and eyes is just *chef's kiss*. It also comes in a non-glowy version if that's your jam.

9/10

Carry-Van

Lots of word play in this particular crate, I like it. Anyways, this one's not bad. The scribbley drawings really gives this cardboard car some personality and the more I look, the more it grows on me.

7.5/10

Sharpshooter Shroud

...It's a solid five

5/10

Sightseer

This on the other hand, is a nice hat. The grizzled wizard looks speaks to me. The no beard style also gives it a little versatility

8.5/10

Classic Criminal

It alright. It has styles that removes the hat and both the hat and balaclava for some sweet, sweet versatility.

5/10

Concealed Convict

Again, its alright. I think my issue with this is the suit colors are too dull and washed out compared to spy's other suits. It comes with a non striped pants version if you desire.

4.75

Six-Eyed Specs

This is a pretty neat hat, I think what sells it for me is the ridges on the top of the head, its adds a bit of needed detail.

7/10

Spyder

This is a bit of a wacky piece that kinda like, a of course its a bonus cosmetic. *sigh*

7.5/10

Clown's Cover-Up

This is the 'has a different design for each class' multi class item that I typically like. Honestly, I can't look at this without thinking of the Payday heisters. Not saying that's a bad thing, mind you.

5.5/10

Demonic Dome

*sigh* Ehh

3.75/10

Ludicrously Lunatic Lunon Fedora

I imagine this thing would get very hot after awhile. Other than that, I don't have much to say about this crummy thing.

3.75/10

Mean Captain

This is the worst hat in the crate. Its just a hat with horns and a skull. There's nothing interesting here, no quirks that would make me want this. I'm sorry to the creator, but this feels really lazy.

2/10

#tf2 #team fortress 2 #tf2 cosmetics rating #a thought(tm) from xiazat's mind

[the-firebird69]

That was me at the tail end of it with Blockbuster but I didn't get my name in there and thought it was in Pressed anyways but we have a lot of stuff that we're happy about. This is about five big ones he's going to be a major hit with the guys to several of his inventions that are coming out and are going to be used today three of them are in heavy highway construction two of them have been used in building construction and it really helps set him apart and shows who he is and what he does it's a new type of piff that he designed well at work at Bechtel it's a new type of bridging a existing column system for Bridges and roads it's a new way of approaching a bridge footing there's a new system he developed for moving soil that's already been seen it's a big pump where there's really massive ones now and it's a new way of floating boats up that have been sunken cuz if you want things to make us please and he has done it but we are involved and we're working on it and they're going ahead and it's like a lot of stuff and we're part of all of it he says it's true it's just think about flying around saying Mickey mouse is really and nobody's doing it we're moving beer companies down here and a few large pizza places and it's about damn time I've been so inexpensive we want to see who's resisting it and the warlocks are out of jobs and they're out of money and it's in the package stores today I'm pretty much all of them. You still getting kind of beat up a little so we'll be brief there's a couple other things he's in tune to what we're doing and he's helping a lot. And he comes and tries gets tired and trying to get tired so I'm going to try and help him sleep and get energy but that's going to be easier with more money it seems to be coming unless it's forced by everybody and we get that so we're going to try and do that and it's a happy assignment and our people are suffering too and products are going out and the going out to other areas any help come up with the way to do that and everybody should know it this part of his work and Thor and Freya and Hera they did a bunch of it and we know how it is and what it is and other stuff too but just a major point. I understand he knows it's easier the way that he did it it's going along now we have a huge number of people wondering what we're talking about it's about making stuff and the equipment and it's about products that were made and just tell the massive storage two different things the massive storage is left in place and it's being distributed to you people along the perimeter today the second third is coming out along with bja and it doesn't want to is threatening that was threatened back. One final note it seems to be sleeping okay and it's not really so we're going to get to work on it but we're happier is that things are changing I'm pretty sure they'll change here and he hasn't seen it yet but we are happy about it

Duke Nukem Blockbuster

Im back I have several things that I'm happy about.

Is my husband is Right correctly it is putting down when I want it's coming out exactly as I say that's one thing but really we're going to have a decent day these people throwing you into the bus and harm you screwing around with you all day and running around I'm going to get needles but everybody and it's because of what's going on in the news which is making me happier it's finally happening it is a two real big things and one more I'm happy with my husband because his shirt and certainly is showing his style and his colors now yesterday I had a blowout but it's a manipulation by cadre and the sharks were seen again and I'm happy to see them and he's going to start growing with this other stuff but I'm really happy what's going on and I'm going to have another Ascension party in a week or so and he's telling people on purpose because it's a huge deal and Jupiter is ascending like the movie Jupiter is going around in a huge solar event is happening and it's coming up very quick he says in 3 days or so and people will see this celestial event and we reminded it will turn on tons of stuff like you said one of them is my Ascension and they showed in the movie and the saying it's drops of Jupiter I guess like teardrops maybe and that's what they say and it's going to be a huge event and and Star wars is beginning slowly and Queen amidala is going to be famous shortly and she will lay off the chancellor who is Tommy f

Hera

Yes

Zues

Yes the same something to say that I'm just saying it and it's me mostly it's true it was all me

Hera

Heheha

Olympus good we have a couple here back those things happening that we like and we're going to mention a couple

We have a lot of trouble here with these slow people and they're leaving a lot of them are leaving today evacuating right now the percentage population is about 7% in Florida it's going to drop to about 3% today and these dumb higher ups are going to sit here instead of leading their people they're going to be led by their people. Another occurrence that's going to be pleasant they're pulling out the troublemakers and they're doing it over the next few days they have warrants on them and they're very angry about what they're doing and it's starting to see most of the information people handed them was true and it's making them very very ornery with these idiots it's going on shortly on the services around here are not good for us I'm just slow if if not at all and him getting stuff is impossible and sees imbeciles because they're threatening him to try and survive and it doesn't work and then you continuously it says that a****** is out back there with the stupid gate and his stupid second apartment which isn't even his right now so we're getting on it and we can get people going and Max says he's getting going on at 2:00 he does see it he saw it earlier and pissed off but they're getting mad and really mad and you're going to put that bike shop in and our people say there are probably about 500,000 people that already saw the results and they're reporting into their people now and he requested that they do so because he can't do anything about it and people are not watching each other they're busy with these idiots so they're moving it out and then they noticing something will be on their own if we're not doing stuff and they're thankful for our son because he said you got to wall off this place and you got to build it like a brick s*** house and it's for civilians but it's going to be a war zone and they're laughing a little bit but really it's going to be hell and it's going to work but people have to be working at it but we're happy that it's working but it's still war and he's in the nitty gritty of it right now and these people are not helping by being an anchor around his neck and change they're just horrible horrible people with regards to what they're doing they suck at it but we are happy about a few other things he's losing the little weight because he thought it was getting too fat and he was he's trying not to scratch himself it's not working too much but he's keeping track of it and he's trying to eat right and it's doing it and he went and got supplies and he had a hard time but he did it anyways and these two people are giving them a lot of trouble and we're going to have to break them but he's doing the job and we're happy about it.

My son is pretty wise these people these Mohawk are huge hassle and he says he's still buried by them and we agree that he's in trouble and we need to help and we're going to help now there are other things that we're excited about but they haven't reached our people yet either so I'm moving out and we're going to make it work but the programs are just starting a lot of them are mentioned well please though that he is seeing a lot of stuff through most certainly the project Jupiter and Jupiter ascending is going to begin shortly and while Jupiter is around the other side you try and go up there and use it as an excuse to try and see it's an awful group of people

[keylimester]

Character Guide-

Avian: my first dnd character! he has wings of a cardinal bird because of that bird’s personal significance to me.

Axel: my character in a story i write for my friends. (they all have their own characters) yes hes a cat boy. sometimes hes not. its confusing.

Elise: from the same universe! she has spider eyes and short blond hair (unless its an au)

Edwin: i did not choose the furry life, my friends chose it for me. but i like my funky moose guy. yes hes green. its cause of the weed.

Limester: it’s how i tag art of me! or i guess my artist persona? drawing him in a cartoonish way got me back into art and he does represent how i feel like i look. just a silly fellow.

Javel: the second character in a story i write for my friends (i write this one with my boyfriend). he’s an elf with green hair and an upbeat personality.

Angelo: i sometimes draw him and Javel together because it’s my boyfriend’s character in this story. he has purple hair.

Isaac: another character made by a friend in this story! he has grey hair and red glasses, also funky shirts.

Chester: also another character made by a friend in this story. he has wings but i try to avoid drawing them cause im lazy.

Tic-Tac: a robot character for a story my dnd group is making. hes like your stereotypical adhd hacker character and an adrenaline junky. goes by the alias SL1M3 online.

Ethan: Tic-Tac’s roommate! works as a bodyguard and bounty hunter and is WAY COOLER. tends to wear a teal beanie and orange and black jacket. goes by the alias Ace.

Nox: also part of a story with my dnd group. lives in a fantasy-apocalypse world and pretty much plays by bloodborne rules. gas mask.

Synth: technically just my minecraft skin. tv head because i thought it was cute. he lives in a pc because i built one. which took forever.

Keith: a chemist and astronaut! has mid length green hair (i like green.) and wears nicer suits and turtlenecks.

Anthony: yet another friend universe character. hes canonically getting some monster dick. while being a dick.

Ambro: my monster hunter character! hes got red hair and a beard. hes a hammer main, i refuse to learn any other weapon.

Josh: more. friend. universe. characters. hes seen The Horrors. hes got a dead mom. hes bisexual. tends to wear a hat, sunglasses, and has a neck tattoo.

Carneus: culty bastard. i made him to fuck a friend’s oc. we do what we gotta do brothers. he has an eyepatch and a stick up his ass thats it.

Zelos: one of my bg3 characters! lolth-sworn drow sorcerer who looks fancy but acts like a little freakazoid.

Para: another one of my bg3 characters, a half elf druid that’s design is parrot inspired.

Garfield: im 90% sure bg3 is lame atp but i haven’t been able to play actual dnd in forever so shhh. anyways hes a tiefling warlock.

Jameson: a very old character of mine that’s changed a lot with me. he has a spider motif with his eyes.

I’ll add too this as I go and of course there are some characters that I didn’t put since I’ll probably only draw them once for a friend!

most of what I draw is inspired by my writing, it’s more of a secondary hobby to that. but i want to track my progress and have a place to put this stuff.

[quirkle2]

warlock Leggy warlock Leggy warlock Le

#qkdraws #first thing's first. idk anything about warlocks #PRETTY SURE this is a warlock design anyway #might be a witch. wizard. sorcerer. whatever the fuck that is #let's just say he's a warlock and call it a day #linked universe #lu #lu fanart #suncaster locke #warlock legend #witch legend #lu legend #legend #anyway some event prompts got me Thinking and now i can't stop Thinking #i don't hate this design but i feel like it could be better...but also i'm afraid of making it too busy by adding anything else #if y'all noticed that i put the medallions in the same spot as my last Legend design. No You Didn't #also i'm. too tired to tell if his belt even makes sense with the way it's looped around like that #p sure it doesn't but. that's life i guess #legend w glasses legend w glasses legend w gl #mmmm there's so many things about warlock Legend. so many little concepts that please me #i made a page of doodles abt his items for this design w lil notes n everything but. it's too wordy for tumblr i just know it #i will say that his staff's crystal mainly outputs forcefields. kinda like the cane of byrna but. cooler #mmmm i am Tired can u tell #i spent too much time on this #y'all are dealin with a boring b&w sketch instead of color <33 because i'm <333 not strong enough <333 for that <3333 again <3333 #also that lil thing on his belt is a moon pearl. yeah i. don't think it looks like a moon pearl either

[gooses-trenchcoat]

so i've read a lot of fanfiction bc frankly i don't do much with my time

i decided i should impart my knowledge aka share some of my top fics

today: malec. not the ship that got me into fanfics, but the one that kept me there (is that weird to say? i've read a lot of malec fics. i've gone through like a good 1000 pages of search results at this point.)

keep reading for the recs :)

so anyways here's the list

1. a cold night for good deeds, by theprophetlemonade. this one is definitely my all-time favourite fic, hands down. settle in for 500k words of neonoir superhero slowburn, i promise it's worth it. such a good story (like legitimately well written), it's exciting, it's intriguing, and all round a good read. i just started my fourth(?) reread. i cannot praise this fic enough.

rating: explicit, graphic depictions of violence.

my top tags: love square, identity crisis, moral ambiguity

2. Families of Choice, by MonPetitTresor. another one of my all-time favourites, this time featuring fluffy family time. canon divergent pre-canon, loosely based on shameless (as the tags informed me, i myself have not watched it), and featuring two characters from another show (the magicians? i think) as warlocks, who you will instantly fall in love with. the main draw of this one: a very awesome, super cool, totally thoughtful and accurate, queerplatonic relationship- arguably it takes more precedence than the actually shippy ship.

rating: explicit, creator chose not to use archive warnings.

my top tags: family feels, platonic cuddling, not every touch is sex!

3. the A Fine Institution series, by clottedcreamfudge. read the whole series, it is absolutely amazing. clottedcreamfudge is one of my favourite authors, the series also features a full compliment of podfics and a clean edition of the series. the basic premise sounds incredibly odd, but honestly it’s so good: the institute is sentient, and she likes alec. alec is like a son to her. and she is fed up with him and magnus not getting together, so she takes matters into her own... hands? metaphorically speaking. 

rating: varies story to story, everything from gen to explicit (available entirely gen), no archive warnings apply.

my top tags: sleep deprivation, accidental baby acquisition, happy ending

4. The Lonely Hearts Hotline, by Fatale (femme). this is a funny one. in short, alec is a phone sex operator to afford living with his unpaid law internship (boo, capitalism). someone, *wink wink nudge nudge*, calls the phone line and just wants to talk about music. bonding ensues.

rating: explicit, no archive warnings apply.

my top tags: this fic only has two additional tags, and they are as follows- “phone sex, some other stuff”

5. Universally Acknowledged, by astudyinfic. a pride and prejudice fusion. (i have not read pride and prejudice). it’s historical-y, it has several balls, and almost nothing goes horribly terribly wrong. i’m pretty sure nothing on here will have an unhappy ending, so fear not. i am weak of spirit and dislike even bittersweet endings (not a fan of la la land, for comparison).

rating: explicit, no archive warnings apply (i swear i have ones that aren’t explicit somewhere).

my top tags: most of the women are awful, which i feel terrible about, internalised homophobia, supportive siblings

6. Names, by Oumy. in this fun twist on regular soulmates AUs, everyone has three soulmate names on their wrist- friendship, love, and an enemy. alec only has one. go figure. also he’s about to become emperor, which sounds like the perfect time to meet his one name. it’s pretty sweet, and has a good plot, and i’ve read it at least a couple of times. and it has assassins, and politics, if that’s your thing.

rating: teen (finally got one), no archive warnings apply.

my top tags: enemies to friends to lovers, political intrigue, assassins

7. Flawed Design, by GoldenDaydreams. another soulmates fic, this time with extra soulmarks for notable events. it begins with adorable baby alec, and stays that great. soulmate words, misunderstandings, and general saltiness abound. there is also a shorter companion fic focusing on heline in the same series, which can be read after or alongside (or before but possibly with some spoilers).

rating: mature, graphic depictions of violence.

my top tags: enemies to allies to lovers, sibling boding, pillow & blanket forts

8. One step ahead, by apathyinreverie. a different first meeting, almost pre-canon, changes a surprising number of things. in all honesty i haven’t read this one in a while, but i know it’s good (i download Really Good fics and it’s in my downloads so). from what i remember, it’s a nice, catch-all fix-it of show canon.

rating: teen, no archive warnings apply.

my top tags: fix-it, developing relationship; it’s in the collection “fics so good i want to throw my chair out the window”

9. and finally, Sixteenth Sunset, by Miss_Shiva_Adler + nhixxie. a short(er, still 29k) one to finish this post (there will probably be more, because there are several almost-entirely-smut fics i didn’t feel like fit in here). it’s astronauts and relationship development and mutual pining and cuteness. throw in some tasteful flashbacks and space things, and bam. sixteenth sunset.

rating: teen, creator chose not to use archive warnings.

my top tags: gays... IN SPACE, how do you cuddle in microgravity you ask? this fic has all the answers, NASA knows they’re pining

as i said just there i’ll probably do more posts like this but a) they’re long and hyper-specific and probably won’t interest most people (hence the keep reading button), and b) it took forever to curate this and i need to stop and go to sleep now but i’m still going to stay up reading a cold night for good deeds because it’s that good and you should all read it it is Good Literature (and i’m and english nerd).

#long post #fanfiction #fanfics #fanfic #fics #fic rec #fic reccomendations #fanfic rec #fanfic reccomendation #malec #shadowhunters #a cold night for good deeds #families of choice #a fine institution #the lonely hearts hotline #universally acknowledged #names #flawed design #one step ahead #sixteenth sunset #goose reccomends fanfic

[misterewrites]

Cheers from Newton Haven ( Mirror’s Edge)

Hey everyone E here with a surprising amount original works. haha so you can blame my good friend @hains-mae for this because she enabled me. So long story short I love writing. I love creating ideas, story plots, characters all that jazz. Often there's a lot of leftovers that i put away in word document just so I have stuff to work with or ideas i can use later. Most of the time I might write something just to get it out of my system but it usually just ends up gathering dust in my computer.

I've been getting more into modern urban fantasy stories and watching the unsleeping city which is a modern dnd show (highly recommend it. first season's free on youtube over at the dimension 20 channel) and naturally I wanted to write some so here we go.

I don't know how often I'll be writing this because this accidentally became my side project whenever I need a break from the underground but who knows might turn into another big layered project.

so basic summary is there are a group of friends, associates, reluctant allies, organizations and frenemies who work together to keep the peace of the supernatural world in check and to ensure it remains secret to everyone else while living their lives as best as they can. Today's chapter includes Finnrick Drift a private investigator wizard and his best friend Casey Remington, cleric of the hearth

that's it for me. have a great week! stay safe, take care of each other. wear your mask, wash your hands, get the vaccine if you can and I'll see you soon!

and if you wanna an easier place to read and leave me some good old comments or reviews you find the chapter right here https://archiveofourown.org/works/30599756/chapters/75486005

Not gonna lie i promised I’d try to promote myself more and it’s weird. it feels so weird. haha 

It was a busy Friday afternoon in Midtown. People in designer named suits and dresses bustled across the sidewalks in all directions, too caught up in last minute phone calls or sudden late night work orders to notice anything else. The buildings that scraped the bottom of the sky were clean with a fresh coat of paint and maintenance, a testimony to the wealth and power that was found here.

So naturally Casey felt as out of place as fish out of water in his purple baseball jersey and black shorts just standing outside some fancy restaurants doors with his friend.

“Finny” Casey started awkwardly, his sea green eyes darting back and forth awkwardly “Any reason we’re out here being creepy? I got a Neighborhood Watch meeting at like 6.”

Finnrick or Finny as Casey referred to him, was no better dress than he was for the environment. A long black trench coat that was more stitching than fabric, a matching frayed faded fedora sitting comfortably on his head. He wore a nice collared dark red shirt tucked in a black vest but even that felt cheap and tacky compared to the thousands of dollars worth of clothing that passed them on the street every second. At least his black dress pants were dark enough to hide the patch up jobs and naturally the only kept squeaky clean were his loafers.

Finnrick sucked on the thin white stick for a moment before speaking up “I’m debating if it’s worth the trouble. I didn’t realize you had a meeting tonight.”

“Well we always meet up on the fifth. You know talking about treaties, clean up jobs, if any undead hordes have been spotted. My birthday cake.”

“Ah shit” Finnrick rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, his dark brown eyes apologetic “It’s your birthday? Did you want to go? I think I can handle it alone.”

Casey lifted the hat off Finnrick’s head and playfully ruffled his already messy black hair “You getting old Finny. My birthday is the tenth.”

Finnrick waved off his assault “I’m six months younger than you.”

“But” Casey gestured to the smattering of sliver streaks in Finn’s hair “You look older.”

“At least I don’t look like I’m 15. Dude you need a haircut. Everyone here thinks you’re a hippie.”

“A good looking hippie.” Casey gave a dramatic shake, his wavy dark brown hair flowing in the breeze.

The pair burst out laughing, doubling over trying to catch their breath as the business suits eyed them distastefully.

“Alright, let’s get this over with.” Finnrick made his way over, smiles and charm as they approached the doorman.

“Your cigarette sir.” The doorman spoke dully.

Finnrick pulled out the now finished lollipop “Don’t smoke but done anyway.”

The doorman gestured to the nearby trashcan but Finnrick opt to tuck it away in coat pocket. Disgusted but professional, the doorman gave strained smile as he allowed them entry into the building.

Casey nudged Finnrick curiously “Wizards? Warlocks? God not druids.”

“Probably. This is guy doesn’t have an ounce of magic in him but I wouldn’t doubt he’s got some casters on the payroll. Try not to leave anything behind.”

“I’m a freaking walking carpet here!”

“That” Finnrick grinned playfully “Is why you need haircut.”

Casey gave a fake snarl “Shut up and call the elevator.”

Finnrick whistled, amused by the near silence of the opening doors “Such fance. Barely a sound.”

“So what’s the plan?”

Finnrick scratched the little bush of hair he had on his chin thoughtfully “Ask some questions. Probably get no answers. Be threatened more than likely.

Casey cracked the tension in his neck “Think it’s gonna get ugly?”

“Depends on how many witnesses.”

The two made their way to the seventh floor, the elevator smoothly slowing to a stop before the doors opened with a ding. Two burly men in suits were waiting, flanked on either side as they gestured to an empty restaurant dining room.

“The boss will like to speak to you.”

Finnrick and Casey shared a look.

“Sure!” Finnrick beamed cheerfully, patting both the brutes arms as he passed “I was hoping to talk to him anyway.”

The men growled in annoyance but did nothing as Casey and Finnrick made their way to the center talk, unsurprised to find two glasses of wine waiting for them.

“After you” Finnrick joked, pulling out Casey’s chair for him.

Casey gave a mocking smile “Such a gentleman.”

“Only one I bet” Finnrick whispered before taking his seat.

Casey could hear the low hissing of whatever spells were on their chairs being dispelled.

Yep there was going to be trouble.

Casey eyed the room carefully in search for options: The room itself was pretty dark, dark reddish walls with dim lights to set the mood. Most of the tables had been left alone for whatever event this room was scheduled for later with the chairs stacked in the corner. A few feet to their left was the bar, unmanned but well stocked and a window to the outside nearby.

“Well, well, well!” A voice called out from some shadowy part of the room “Who do I have the pleasure of meeting this fine Friday afternoon?”

Finnrick rose to his feet, politely motioning to himself and Casey “My name is Fredrick and this is my friend Charles.”

The man’s hazel eyes shone with suspicion “No last names?”

“Of course” Finnrick grin “But there’s no need for friends, right? We are friends Robert?”

Robert paused, a barely contained rage shimmering just under the surface. His slicked back graying hair and tailored perfect dark blue suit were signs of a precise, irrational control. This was a man that was never told what to do and considered himself above everyone and anyone.

“Of course.” He answered a moment too late. He was not happy. “Of course. What are polite manners among friends?”

“Thanks Bobby!” Finnrick gave a friendly wink before retaking his seat.

Robert fumed but followed Finnrick’s example as a trio of secret service wannabes took their spots across the room: Inhumanly beautiful men with dark suits and shades. Something was off about them but Casey couldn’t put his finger on it.

“What do I owe the pleasure Freddy?” Robert sneered, hoping to see how Finnrick a taste of his own medicine.

“Well Bobby.” Finnrick went on, purposely ignoring the older man’s jab “As you know you have been stealing countless money from your employees.”

Robert chuckled darkly “I am afraid wherever you have been getting this claim is very misinformed. I am a simple, honest businessman.”

Finnrick nodded in agreement “Of course. Of course. That’s how you can say that with a straight face. Honest businessman of mundane practices.”

Casey felt his hair on his arm stand on end as the atmosphere in the room tensed. The brutes growled unhappily, the trio of bodyguards shifted uneasily and Robert’s eyes shone with understanding.

“I see.” He spoke simply “You’re from the other side.”

“Naturally.” Finnrick confirmed “No need to peer around the bush, is there?”

“No need at all. It is refreshing for such transparency. You don’t get that often in the world of business.”

“I doubt you give much either Mister Walker.”

“Enough games. What are you doing here? Some kind of union rep for magical freaks? Blackmailing me?”

Finnrick sat up with pride “Private investigator. Building a case against you actually.”

Robert carefully studied both men before him, trying to piece together their plan, their angle.

“Either.” He spoke after a few moments “You have all you need or more than likely you have nothing and you are simply here to smoke me out, hoping I will give you something to use against me.”

Casey felt Finnrick’s hand move underneath the table and a rush of chilly air brushed his leg.

Casey gave a quick nod to let Finn know he understood.

Finnrick cleared his throat “You’re aware of the works of Tolkien Mister Walker?”

Robert was caught off guard “What?”

“Elves.” Finnrick answered with a calming voice “Elves are the most famous of his characters that aren’t humans of course but there’s more: Elves, dwarves...”

“Hob…” Robert began but Finnrick cut him off.

“That’s a legal matter but yes. Wonderfully fantastic creatures.”

Robert narrowed his eyes “And?”

Finnrick leaned in close, smile mocking and cold “I hate when people take advantage of them.”

Robert was a cold, calculating heartless man who was used to being the smartest one in the room. The one who rigged the playing field in his favor, held every ace in his hand and led his prey exactly where he wanted them to be. He played with people before he destroyed their hope. He was the apex predator in the world of business.

It was satisfying to see that swagger and pride drain out of his face.

The businessman went for the button hidden underneath his side of the table, no doubt the switch to trigger the holding spells on Casey and Finnrick’s chairs. Of course Finnrick had dispelled them first chance he got and since the only other caster in the room was Casey, no one else noticed.

Robert’s face was the second most beautiful thing Casey had ever seen (first being Jaime but there was no need to tell her that). The panic, the fear, the utter confusion. Just poetic justice at its finest.

Finnrick shot to his feet with a surprising speed given his unremarkable build. He muttered the words of power, a magical incantation as his hand made the proper gestures to complete the spell.

The shades squad went for their weapons but Finnrick had gotten the drop on all of them. He pulled his hand back, a burning flame sitting peacefully in his palm. He pitched the flame forward, lobbing directly at the closet goon. The inhumanly beautiful man rose his arms to defend himself in time. The flame, mostly pressurized air, splashed over him harmlessly as the force of the attack shoved him back into the wall.

Casey followed Finn’s example. He stood as well (not as quick as his friend), a soft gentle light glowing from his hands. He glanced at the two remaining shades and aimed directly for them. A bolt of pure light burst forth from his palms. One goon got a chest full of holy energy and skidded backwards but the other was ready. He leapt to the side and narrowly avoided the attack as he slid out of sight.

The brutes charged towards the pair, murder in their eyes. Finnrick barely spared them a look as he snapped his finger. The two flames sigils he had imprinted om them when he grabbed their arms ignited, twin fires eating at their sleeves and sending them into a panic.

“What’s the plan?” Casey shouted, sending more holy bolts towards the shades.

“Up and over the counter.” Finnrick answered, tossing another fireball.

Casey quickly made his way closer, prepping to leap over the bar when Finnrick crashed into him, a strange whistling sound piercing his ears one moment then silent the next.

“Over buddy over!” Finnrick repeated, grabbing Casey by the collar and heaving him ontop of the counter. Casey flailed for a moment before glancing backwards. Finnrick was right behind him, hand outstretched as a blue translucent field of protective magic hung before the two while the shades opened fire with crossbows, the jet black bolts barely visible in the dimness of the room. They bounced harmlessly off the barrier but Casey could see the cracks starting to form.

Casey hopped over the bar gracelessly, struggling for a moment before clearing the jump. Finnrick tucked himself backwards, allowing himself to roll over the counter top and land on the other side with a thud.

“Remember when elves were honorable?” Casey huffed, quickly scanning the various bottles.

Finnrick scoffed “They were never honorable. They just acted better than everyone.”

“Remember when we were kids?”

“Vaguely. Pass the absinthe. I want to really make this hurt.”

“Blue bottle? These are all in German and Russian.”

“Green liquid. Come on Case I taught you better.”

“Right. I miss when the cartoons used to tell us the mafia was honorable.”

“Criminals these days.” Finnrick shook his head disappointingly “Just don’t make them like they used to. It’s all corporate shit.”

Casey began picking other bottles at random, wrapping them tightly with the tape he brought “It’s disillusioning I tell you. How right is he?”

Finnrick smashed a pane of glass. He took the jagged edge and slowly inched it over the counter, catching sight of the trio of shades for a moment before a crossbow bolt shattered the glass.

He flexed his hand, trying to relax his muscles. They were elves alright. They might be dressed in suits and ears hidden by some sort of glamour illusion magic but old habits died hard. Elves habits never died given their long lives. The trio had fallen into a close knit triangle formation: one fires, one reloads with the last taking aim.

“He had this whole operation locked tight. No one was talking. Either bribed them or made an example of them. Broken bones or horns. I had enough evidence to implicate him but bringing him to trial in the mundy court was going to be pointless.”

Casey moved the bottles back and forth to ensure they wouldn’t come loose midair “So what are we doing here?”

“Given his limited knowledge and the numerous magical violations I counted in this building alone, I figured he’s not registered with the Council.”

Casey’s eyes lit up in understanding “Gotcha. How long we got?”

Finnrick shook his hand back and forth “I’d say 10 minutes knowing the Council. Magic in an unregistered area requires a subtler approach for them. “

Casey snorted “Fake beards and stilts for the gnomes you mean? Robert will be gone by then.”

Finnrick’s face scrunched in concentration “He’s still here. Cowering under the table. He’s not used to dangerous wizards up in his face. Let’s scare him put huh?”

Casey spared his friend a glance “Big shot?”

Finnrick nodded in agreement “Aim high Case.”

And with a synchronicity only achieved through years of friendship, the two stood up at once. Casey threw the makeshift bomb high into the air as Finnrick formed the magical shield once more. Arrow after arrow bounced harmlessly off its surface as the bottles sailed through the air. Finnrick focused directly in the center of the payload. The shield dropped but the elves had broken formation and were all reloading at once. Finnrick pinched his thumb and finger together, murmuring under his breath. A small spark of flame fluttered wildly on his finger. He flicked it as quickly as he could towards the bottles. The spark spun and twisted as it floated towards the payload. The spark expanded, growing in size, and intensity, rapidly without warning. The air warmed as the spark exploded, smashing the bottles and engulfing the alcohol within. Flaming liquid, glass and hot air shot out in every direction. The elves were blasted off their feet and crashed against the far wall with sickening series of crunches. The floor above now had a massive hole in it and the brutes sprawled across the floor. Robert himself was thrown onto the ground, ash and soot covering his face as he struggled to breath.

He tried to call for someone but his ears were ringing and everyone was down for the count. He tried to search for the trouble makers but the smoke that filled the room was too thick.

The elevator dinged open once more and three pale suits came scuttling out. They clung to the walls on all fours, unnatural and repulsive. Their blood red eyes shone in the dimly light room, their fangs barred and ready for blood.

“Vampires!” Casey rubbed his eyes tiredly “This fucker has vampires. Loose by the way.”

“Right?” Finnrick shook his head “There are just so many regulations being violated right now.”

The vampires did not care. They dropped to the floor, gliding effortlessly midst the smoke and flame.

Casey took a step closer to the encroaching undead. He outstretched one hand towards them while the other clasped his necklace tightly. The vampires tilted their head quizzically at the symbol that adored the chain: It was a house of all things, a simple shape of rectangles and triangles no different than what a child would draw.

The vampires chuckled, their eyes bright with hunger.

Of course in their bloodlust they had forgotten something important: It was not the symbol but the faith behind it that was their bane.

Casey held the symbol as high as he could. The vampire shrunk away from him as his eyes blazed with holy energy, the symbol of home glowing with a harsh light. The vampires barred their fangs as a symphony of noises overwhelmed their senses: the soft hum of an air conditioner, footsteps thundering about, the chill of winter, the heat of summer, the overlapping sounds of cars and buses as the roar of crowds boomed in their ears. The city, the hearth of so many people, filled this room for a moment.

The vampires drew back, white smoking curling off their charring flaky skins. They ducked back into the elevator, hiding in whatever corner they could manage until the doors shut with a satisfying ding.

“Come on” Finnrick gestured to the window “I don’t want to be written up for unauthorized magic in an unregistered area.”

Casey and Finnrick scampered to the window. Casey’s face turned a sickly green when he realized how high up they were.

“Ugh I don’t feel good.” his stomach churned queasily.

Finnrick broke the window with his elbow, the fresh smoggy air of the city bringing some color back into Casey’s cheeks “I know buddy but it’s only eight floors up.”

“I hate you so much right now.”

“Okay cool jump now!”

Robert regained enough sense to see the troublemakers leap out the window without hesitation. He struggled to his feet when flickers of something began to form. Before he knew what was going on, the previously empty room was now filled with various creatures: Elves, dwarves, a gnome on silts had appeared out of thin air. They weren’t dress in any ancient medieval garb but rather dark blue jackets, jeans and combat boots with the initials M.R.R.D stitched on their clothing. They were no different than any one on the street aside their more unique physical features.

“M.R.R.D!” the gnome cried out, brandishing a strange clockwork pistol “Everyone freeze! We sensed a magical disturbance and a violation of the Arcane Veil!”

Robert rose to his full height “I am Robert Walker and I…”

The gnome opened fire and Robert could feel exhaustion overtake him. Sleepiness began to ebb at his resolve and before he could mutter another word, he closed his eyes. A dreamless sleep until he woke up in a council prison cell a few hours later.

-----

Casey didn’t scream as he fell through the air. He was too busy trying to keep his lunch in his stomach.

Finnrick waited a moment to make sure everything was in place and with a wave of his hand, the two began to fall much slower. They landed on their feet as if they had taken a step off the sidewalk instead of several stories up.

Casey began hyperventilating, trying his best to get his stomach settled. Finnrick began fanning his face when a man walked up to him.

Casey and Finnrick said nothing, waiting for the Arcana Veil to fill in any blanks they were missing. They could’ve told this man anything but they found from experience that it was just easier to roll with whatever the magical blanket that separated the mundane world from the magical decided.

The man peered at them, his gaze unsure and confused.

“Hey, you guys okay?” he asked helpfully.

Casey and Finnrick remained silent.

His eyes glazed over for a moment, a strange shimmering sheen within his pupils telling the duo that the veil was in effect.

“You guys are oddly dressed for window washers.” the man chuckled.

Finnrick glanced back to find a ghostly image of an electrically operated scaffold behind them, water buckets and squeegees included.

They shared a look.

“Would you believe it’s national window washer day?” Casey filled in.

Finnrick added “Yeah, they let us wear whatever want today. It’s only one day out of the year anyway and most of the time we work by ourselves so no harm done.”

the man nodded like that was the most reasonable thing he had ever heard “Right sorry. I’ll just be on my way.”

Finnick and Casey ducked out of the alleyway behind him, heads low and nonchalant as the human M.R.R.D members began to shut down the restaurant from the outside.

“Well that sucked.”

“Just a little. Here let’s go some dinner on me.”

“Damn straight on you Finny. Brutes, elves, vampires?”

“Oh my.”

“Now I’m ordering extra bread for that.”

#Original Work #original story #my work #Mirrors edge story