#naaaah im sure it's fine

[self-portraiture]

also my perler bead post is Monday's thing I was made of. I'm not made of anything today, honestly not sure I exist. I think I'm the insides of an extremely thin hollow shell constructed around nothing, not even air. one day, when I press on something too hard, or go swimming, or jump, and the shell cracks, air will rush inside and the vacuum that is me will spill out. there will be no more nothing left inside the shell and I'll cease to exist in my nothingness. I won't be anymore.

#naaaah im sure it's fine #poetry #poetry maybe? #poetry almost? #prose #prose for sure at least #journaling #free form #ok if yesterday was perler beads (hollow pieces of plastic) #and today is nothing #i think maybe im sensing a recurring theme this week #maybe fragility undertones #hmmm #something to think about #stream of consciousness #creative writing

[cheesecakeelevator]

Fem! Reader has terrible fashion so Ramuda forces her to go shopping with him and guilt trips her into paying for everything

Hi anon i absolutely loved writing ur request!! hope u enjoy 500 words (or so) of this (its midnight) !

I was really nervous for my first date with my bf Ramuda… Hes a fashion designer and im really scared he wont like my outfit!!

I picked it out myself so im not so sure .. i really hope he likes it

I head to the cafe we decided to meet up to and see Ramuda coming in to sit down next to me. Waving at him, he seems to not notice me so i yell his name “Ramuda ~”

“Oh dear god … Hiiii y/n!! WHAT the hell r u wearing ..”

I look up and down and back to him. Is my fashion sense really that bad?

“oh Ramuda.. i was so scared u were going to dislike my outfit, i was right. What can i do to fix it”

“omg girlie this failure is UNFIXABLE.. ahem anyway we should go shopping together” he starts violently winking to which i was confused

“alrighty! lead the way babe!”

Ramuda grabs my hand and walks in front of me not sparing a single look behind. Which made sense my outfit was pretty horrible

Ramuda and i were inside a store

“What do u think about this one? I think youd look splendid! It really matches ur hair color” he says all excited

“Nothing here looks as good as ur fashion line honey!”

“Yeah i know but thats expensive and i am on a tight budget today! Ysee bein a producer of a brand is tough!”

ramuda continues as he ventures through the store

“Oh my god y/n!! youre going to love this one! It really shows off ur characteristics!”

Ramuda points at a plaid skirt that looks straight out of a goth girl tik tok

My eyes begin to sparkle

“AHhh ramuda! you truly ARE an amazing stylist!!”

“Damn right i am!! Yaya lets go pay now”

I see ramuda running to the cashier. Im happy hes so excited i was nervous this date would go wrong!

“Okie dokie heres the clothes and heres a kiss on the cheek MWUAH oh deer goodness gracious look at my i have no money on me..”

he makes 🥺 eyes

“Y/n chan … plz tell me u have money with u right?”

i look at the pile of clothes and this was NOT only my outfit

“Ramuda did u buy more clothes for yourself..”

“Nothing much! just a few pieces here and there doooont even mind it really no biggie” he twists his hair with his fingers

naaaah im not dealing with this guy rn

“Hun, weve talked about this i cant keep paying for ur everything”

“But.. babe… you promised youd always take care of lil good ol ramuda”

i cant say no to his ass

“fine fine” i look at the cashier “credit card plz”

we leave the shop with three shopping bags in our hands and all happily !

at the end ramuda kisses me on the cheek

he may have scammed the crap outa me but at least he has pink hair!

#hypmic #hypnosis microphone #ramuda anemura #ramuda anemura x reader #fanfic #hypmic fanfic #dear lord have mercy #im literally so sleep deprived i was watching minecraft mf story mode while writing this

[container-of-apple-juice]

Decided to post chapter 2 separately because I’m proud I finished something for once lmao

Part one here —>

Sasuke pulled his phone out once again to call (now both of them) a Lyft, but Naruto stopped him by lightly swatting at his arm with both of his hands.

“Naaaah Sasuke, lets walk! It’s not too far.”

“It’s fifteen minutes. And for some reason you don’t have a jacket.”

[[MORE]]

Sasuke kept his phone in his hand, but he paused his thumb over the screen. It was after midnight. He was looking skeptically at the drunken boy beside him when Sasuke’s mind flashed back to the challenge they had both accepted earlier.

He decided that he wasn’t too eager to get home to his bed where he would be forced to confront...whatever emotional ramifications that whole situation would definitely cause him.

“M’not even cold.” Naruto supplied casually, throwing his arms back behind his head with a grin.

Sasuke thought he could hear his heart in his ears again, but sighed in resignation and started walking forward, leaving Naruto staring dumbly after him.

“Fine, let’s go then.”

Naruto caught up easily and they walked in companionable silence for the first few minutes, enjoying the way the alcohol made the night sky swirl pleasantly above them. It was surprisingly clear.

The moon was nearly full, or maybe it was just waning, but it’s glow provided a dim white lighting that paired well with the warm buzz of the occasional street lamp.

Naruto particularly enjoyed how the differing hues colored the dark hair of his walking companion, and the way the shadows contrasted on Sasuke’s notably paler skin.

But he realized suddenly that he’d been openly staring at Sasuke in the near darkness and tried to discreetly turn his head away in fear of being caught.

He wasn���t sure what made him want to walk home, but something was bothering him.

“I can’t believe you almost turned down a dare, Teme.” His voice was sudden in their silence, but the softly teasing tone as he bumped their shoulders together felt natural to Sasuke even while it caused them both to stumble a bit as they walked.

“Idiot, I wasn’t the only one they dragged into that dare. I wasn’t about to accept something that made you-“ uncomfortable? Disgusted? Question my feelings for you- no-

He snapped his mouth shut and felt his lips tug downward at the corners slightly. He opted to leave the thought unfinished as they rounded a street corner, finally turning onto the street that led to their neighborhood.

Shit. Shit shit. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but he thought for sure Naruto would just let the situation slide by, at least during their walk home.

Naruto snorted.

“And you call me an idiot,”

Sasuke glared at him reflexively, but it was admittedly softened by the variety of booze currently in his system, leaving him with more of a pout than anything. The expression on the Uchiha’s flushed face had Naruto’s grin widening even further as he finished his thought.

“You know I’d do anything for you.”

Sasuke was about to reply when Naruto suddenly jumped up onto the long, narrow edge of the cement planter they were walking alongside.

“You’re drunk. Get down.” Sasuke continued walking as he spoke, his words lacking conviction. There was no stopping Naruto from doing whatever reckless thing he wanted to do in the moment.

“Alright, let’s do it.”

Sasuke closed his eyes as Naruto’s words from earlier rang in his ears once again.

“Yeah, right. Unlike some people, I don’t back down from a challenge.”

“Nobody challenged you to make a stupid decision on our walk home.” And as if to punctuate his words, Sasuke turned his head just in time to see Naruto slip a bit on the edge of the concrete before steadying himself and holding still for a moment to ensure his stability.

The blonde boy gave him an overly confident double-thumbs-up before starting to walk forward, only to immediately slip once again from atop the slippery, raised concrete.

Sasuke instinctively reached out to catch Naruto by the arm before the idiot could fall back entirely into some stranger’s yard; the only problem with that being the poignant lack of coordination both of them were currently inflicted with.

The shocked gasp pulled from Naruto’s lips was the first and only thing Sasuke managed to register before the reckless boy’s body collided with his own, landing roughly on top of Sasuke as his back met the pavement, effectively knocking the wind out of them both. It was a graceless crash; a rough slide of fabric and skin against damp grass and gravel in the near pitch blackness.

“This-“ Sasuke managed to get out, both of them catching their breath, “-is why I call you an idiot. Just by the way.”

Naruto winced as he leaned up on one elbow from his fallen position over the Uchiha, opening his mouth to defend himself before snapping his jaw shut as realization struck him about just how close they’re current positions left them.

Sasuke watched with rapt attention as Naruto’s words left him suddenly- head pounding from both the collision with the pavement and the alcohol that still coursed through him. Naruto didn’t stop his eyes from falling heavy-lidded to Sasuke’s lips, causing the boy beneath him to lick them instinctively. Naruto licked his own in response.

Sasuke swallowed thickly, mind racing.

“We need to get home.” He spoke softly, shocked at the gentleness in his own voice. The crisp stillness of the night air and their close proximity made the moment feel incredibly fragile and Sasuke couldn’t stand it. But he made no move to push Naruto off of him just yet.

The deepening blush on Naruto’s face had nothing to do with the alcohol.

“Shit, sorry, you’re right-” He moved to stand up but Sasuke groaned loudly as Naruto’s knee pushed down on him painfully hard. “-fffuck, ah, Sas, I’m so so sorry-“

Sasuke slapped his hand over Naruto’s mouth, raising his other arm to bury his eyes in the crook of his elbow. He let out a slow sigh.

They lay quietly on the sidewalk for a moment before Naruto gently removed Sasuke’s hand from his mouth.

“...are you okay?” He spoke much more softly this time, truly concerned and clearly feeling guilty.

Sasuke moved his arm a fraction away from his eyes to glare up at the boy still on top of him in the damp grass.

The light from a single streetlight several feet away was enough to cast a faint, warm glow along the right side of Naruto’s face as the boy looked with worry down at his friend.

Sasuke thought the soft orange hue suited him nicely as it caught on his cheek bone and wrapped along his jaw, casting shadows alongside the three pale scars across his cheek, accentuating them drastically.

Sasuke was tired and his body hurt and he was starting to think that maybe he was sobering up, but evidently not enough to stop his hand from reaching toward the warm, glowing face just a few inches above his own.

He traced his thumb across the symmetrical lines that marked Naruto’s cheeks for as long as he could remember, noting the warmth beneath his touch and feeling mesmerized by it.

Sasuke swore Naruto was holding his breath as the Uchiha raised his other hand to mirror the first on Naruto’s other strikingly warm cheek.

“...I’m okay.”

He felt Naruto leaning down just as Sasuke decided to pull him in.

His lips still shocked Sasuke with their soft warmth, despite having tasted them less than an hour ago.

Naruto let the breath he was holding out through his nose as their lips moved in time with one another slowly and deliberately, vulnerable in the open night air amongst the shadows and colliding hues.

Sasuke was just sliding his hands back into Naruto’s hair when the sharp clang of a metal fence startled him enough to break their trance.

Both boys turned their heads abruptly, faces burning in embarrassment over having been caught red handed, but Sasuke immediately felt his shoulders relax back into the grass when all that met his gaze was an orange cat sat beside a fence one yard down from where they lay on the sidewalk.

Their bodies were halfway in the walkway and halfway in the grass that lined the pavement on the side of the road. Anyone walking down the street would have stumbled across the two of them.

“We should get home.” Sasuke spoke without turning his gaze from the cat, despite seeing Naruto turn his head back down towards him.

There was a prolonged beat of silence between them as Sasuke continued to watch the cat stroll languidly across the street.

Without a word in reply, Naruto got to his feet (being extra careful where he placed his knees) and offered a hand to Sasuke.

Sasuke regarded him briefly before accepting the warm offering and allowing himself to be pulled back up to his feet. He hissed through his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut as his head pounded angrily in response to the shift. He cursed himself and immediately tried to quell his physical responses to the pain.

Naruto looked at him apologetically as Sasuke rubbed the back of his head, carrying most of his weight on his left leg, although Naruto didn’t think anyone but himself would’ve noticed the slight change in posture. Sasuke opened his eyes only to see Naruto grinning at him in a way that made him instantly wary.

“What are you doing?”

“Lemme carry you.”

“Tch. Don’t be dense, you’re too drunk to even properly carry yourself.”

Naruto ignored him and turned around, kneeling down in front of Sasuke and holding his arms out in the offering of a piggy back ride. Sasuke dragged him back up by his collar and started walking forward without releasing his grip.

“Wha-Oi! Oi-Oi-Oi- Sasuke!” Sasuke snorted satisfactorily as Naruto floundered at his side. The boy could definitely break out of Sasuke’s grip if he really wanted to, but instead he snaked both arms around Sasuke’s waist from his position behind the slightly taller man, startling the Uchiha into releasing his grip on Naruto’s shirt.

“Naru-oh fuck, Naruto!”

Naruto cackled triumphantly as he lifted Sasuke by the waist and brought him up to his chest in a bridal-style carry.

“I swear on everything you love, put me down right-the-fuck now, Naruto-“ But instead of listening to the seething boy in his arms, Naruto simply gave his most wicked grin and took off in a sprint in the direction of their apartment. He hadn’t even let Sasuke finish the threat.

Sasuke gripped Naruto’s shirt like a vice in response, more than sure that they would both eat shit before they made it home. Again.

But Naruto’s hands seemed firm and steady where they held him close to his chest. Fuck, Naruto was lucky he was still a little drunk. He would absolutely still kick his ass for this later, though.

The thought of his sweet revenge kept Sasuke sane as the wild boy kept on trudging toward their shared appartment with seemingly wreckless abandon.

Sasuke Uchiha does not get carried.

But when Naruto set him down at their front door less than a couple minutes later he found himself speechless, even though he wasn’t the one currently out of breath.

The blonde boy was panting harshly at his side but he rested his hands on his hips triumphantly, standing tall. Sasuke rolled his eyes and pulled his keys out of his pocket, turning to unlock the door as he spoke.

“I’ll go ahead and add the fact that we’re both still alive right now to your list of drunken achievements.” The door swung open and Sasuke heard Naruto shut it behind them only seconds later.

“I’m going to bed.” Sasuke said once he’d somehow successfully taken his shoes and jacket off.

“Wait- Sasuke.” Naruto’s tone sounded incredibly too sober and intense for Sasuke’s comfort but he paused in his tracks and glanced back at Naruto nonetheless.

“What is it?” He was rightfully proud that he was able to control the tremor threatening to bleed into his voice.

“What happened earlier, between us..”

“You mean when our so-called friends forced us into a physically vulnerable moment while drunk off our asses? Or when you fell like a novice and made us both eat shit in the middle of our neighborhood?”

“The, uh...the physical vulnerability.”

Sasuke glanced down, he couldn’t help but think that that response could apply to either moment.

He remembered how good Naruto’s weight had felt fully pressed on top of him on the sidewalk, despite the pain of the fall. And how close they’d been- how it had felt to finally, properly kiss Naruto instead of the agonizing, shadow of a kiss they had felt during that damn Pocky Challenge-

“What about it.” It wasn’t so much of a question as it was a challenge- a challenge for Naruto to just come out and say it.

Say what Sasuke was dreading- to confront the tension that had started between them the moment they began living in the same room together in their freshman year- and the unrelenting, confusing and mesmerizing bond they’d felt even before that, before either one of them could remember. That strange tension between the two of them that felt both comfortable and terrifyingly electric, like the smallest breeze could send it all crashing down around them, all the while knowing that they could remold the broken pieces into something even more beautiful-

“Well, I mean, about the challenge- we really didn’t-“ Naruto swallowed, stepping closer to Sasuke “-we didn’t really finish it did we? I mean, the way they showed us...”

Naruto didn’t stop approaching him until Sasuke felt his back hit the wall of the hallway leading to both of their bedrooms. He hadn’t even realized he was backing up until that moment and he decided that he was never drinking again if it made his reflexes this bad.

“I just wanna-“

“Naruto...”

He felt an all-too-familiar and impossibly warm grip on his hips, the warmth on either side of him lowering his defenses despite his ingrained apprehension. He found his space was crowded with a mix of their energy, like a palpable buzz between them as Sasuke closed his eyes.

“The way they finished it...”

Sasuke felt Naruto’s breath against his own lips and parted them ever so slightly in response.

Sasuke’s mind raced as their mouths collided for the third time that night. The rhythm this time around came to them as naturally as the changing of the tide, ebbing and flowing to accommodate their occasional gasps for air.

The fingers on either side of him tightened as a tentative, exploring brush of tongue eased his mouth open.

Naruto tasted like tequila and warmth and, though he’d never admit it, everything Sasuke had imagined countless times before.

“Naruto-“

Sasuke broke their kiss as the name escaped his lips, leaning his head back against the wall, suddenly overwhelmed and apprehensive.

“S’uke..”

Sasuke shuddered involuntarily beneath the breath of the blonde in front of him and felt himself swallow thickly. He dared to raise his gaze, eyebrows drawn closely together as he took in the flushed, tan cheeks before him. Naruto’s own gaze was hooded and dark in the dimly lit hallway of their apartment and Sasuke braced himself with a harsh grasp on each of Naruto’s exposed biceps.

“You’re..you’re drunk. We should go to bed.”

“Come to mine?”

Sasuke closed his eyes once again, his mouth suddenly going dry. It was a bad idea. It was a terrible idea. Why was he so tempted? Why couldn’t he even begin to form a refusal on his lips? Dammit.

“You’ll regret it in the morning.” He spoke, impossibly soft, which he instantly regretted, cheeks flaring up despite his frustration because Naruto was laughing at him-

“Teme, this isn’t anything new. Don’t you see it?” His eyes sparkled, shockingly clear as they searched Sasuke’s.

And he was right. Sasuke knew he was right, but it still felt like a punch to the gut to hear Naruto admit it so openly. After all the years of agonizing over his own feelings, Sasuke had truly begun to think it was hopeless.

Sasuke snapped his mouth shut, not realizing he’d let it fall open until just then. He glared daggers at the boy still only inches away from him, Naruto hadn’t even removed his hands.

“Idiot. And you waited for our stupid friends to dare us?”

“Oi, you’re one to ta-“

Sasuke dragged Naruto back toward him by the collar before he could finish, once again crushing their lips together in a way that he was sure would never get old. They both smiled into the kiss, any reservations having flown rapidly out the window at this point.

A light scraping of teeth against Naruto’s bottom lip earned Sasuke an instantly addicting groan and warm fingers digging deeper into his hips.

“You mentioned something about going to your bedroom?” Sasuke spoke quietly into the space between their barely parted mouths.

“Oh, hell yeah.” Naruto spun on his heel and began dragging Sasuke down the hallway.

Sasuke rolled his eyes as he was once again being dragged around by Naruto, but he didn’t even try to fight the smile quickly taking over his face.

#oop #naruto #naruto uzumaki #sasuke uchiha #sns #sasunaru #narusasu #mine

[thenamesseven]

Left and right!! WOah! Yes it's a great song and I'm sure you are a great rapper!! *Talented gurl* My day is going fine. Today was the end of a youth leader program I've been attending from a month and they announced top performers. I heard my name but there are like 4 more people of same name😂so I'm waiting for them to announce again! And my hands are so cold right now, sign of winter!I'm gonna do some drawing for my November journal but don't have any idea! Did u write anything today? Candy

Ah naaaah I'm not that talented! The ones in charge of the vocals @ain4i @key201303 are way more talented than me! 😂 But oh man that's so good! I hope it's you the one who they were talking about! 😊

My hands are reaaally cold too, that's why I tend to wear gloves on winter, like the ones that doesn't cover your fingers? I love those 😂 Ooooh you draw? That's awesome! I don't know how to dras, Im the worst xD

Nope! But today I'm posting my Halloween Seventeen story, the second part of a vampire au and Im so excited ^^

[ngame989]

“Brew” - TGG SVTFOE Fanfic Collection Ch. 6

Writing: @ngame989​

Art: @toxicpsychox​

Editing: @toxicpsychox​, @seddm​, an IRL friend

Alternate fic links - FFnet, AO3

Summary: After close to a year on Earthni, Tom's been dragged back into the princely life, and it's a lot less exciting than he'd expected. With Star and Marco away on urgent business, can Janna help him turn a boring errand into a fun adventure?

Comic Page

Masterpost

This one’s a nice change of pace from the last two chapters, I think. TGG’s still a Starco-focused work, expect these to be the exception not the norm, but I think it’s important to strike a balance. See below for the text, hope you enjoy!

“No results.” Huh? Three eyes narrowed at the screen in frustration. Maybe a different search term? “No results.” Alright Tom, no big deal, man. Maybe you just spelled something wrong. Annnnnd… there. “No results.” How could there be nothing?

Tom leaned back in the chair and sighed, exercising restraint over the little anger demons inside him as he’d trained himself to do. In the past he’d needed a physical bunny to pet if he wanted even a hope of keeping his cool, but at this point suppressing the urge was such reflex that most would think he just had a regular Mewman quick temper and nothing more in all but the most extreme of conditions, but he was getting pretty close to that point now. Grandpa Relicor’s study had everything, or so he thought, but this was the first time he could ever remember being here where it come up short. He’d checked every shelf, everything he could think in the computer, had even fireblasted a few of the shelves just to see if there were any hidden switches or anything. Even Relicor had been at a loss and had been screeching in distress on the floor for long enough that Tom’s brain had graciously tuned it out. What could be so important about this book his mom needed? He hadn’t even had time to change his casual graphic tee from a cartoon he liked, simply tossing his maroon jacket over it before heading out at his mother’s behest. He wasn’t one to say no to her, but it had been hours since he’d shown up here and he was no closer to figuring this out than he had been this morning.

Suddenly his phone buzzed, displaying the familiar beaming face of his ex-girlfriend close up to the camera. A toothy grin erupted as he picked it up, holding the phone up for a video feed. “Heya, Starship.”

“Hey, Tom!” Star beamed into the camera. “How’s it hanging? Long time no see. So,” she rambled out in one breath, “I may have a teensie weensie wittle problem.” She backed up to reveal her hair in complete disarray, sans horns, and black marks all over her light blue dress. Before Tom could even ask the question, her other hand held up charred fragments of her headband. “Someone still hasn’t learned how to use an Earth oven properly!” she forced out through gritted teeth.

“Look, gurl, I said I was like, so sorry! All the Cloud Kingdom kitchens are powered by glitter and horn blasts, like that’s just how ovens are supposed to be, that is all I am saying here,” Ponyhead’s indignant voice chimed in from behind, punctuated by a snort.

“Anyway, we just finished putting out the fires and I need a new headband and their website says they’re almost out of stock and I’ve wanted to show Marco around the Underworld for a while and- wait, is that screeching in the background? Where are you?”

Tom shuffled away from the elder demon still writhing on the floor and cleared his throat. “Just in Grandpa’s study trying to find something for my mom, she really wants it today. I don’t know if I can go- but I can still send the carriage for you guys, if you want.”

“Do you need help with that?” Marco inquired as he peeked his head into the frame, casually wrapping an arm around Star.

“Naaaah, no big deal,” Tom shrugged. “You two should go, though! I can just fly over whenever I finish this.”

Star and Marco looked at each other hesitantly. “Alright,” she said. “Carriage to our house in maybe five minutes?” A fire alarm went off behind her followed by a scream from Ponyhead and an even girlier one from Marco. “Maybe ten,” Star sighed, burying her face in her free hand.

“You got it,” Tom chuckled.

“OK, bye!” Star said with relief before hanging up. He rolled his shoulders from inside his jacket and ran his hands through his hair before stepping into the main foyer, taking advantage of the space to summon the carriage and its horses, the incantations coming effortlessly to him. Demons had been fortunate enough to retain their powers on Earthni, but the location underground and the relative lack of portaling methods available left them even more isolated than previously. While most of the other kingdoms had dissolved or integrated into a loose coalition of government covering all of the Echo Creek area, the Underworld had been content to stay completely under the banner of Lord and Lady Lucitor, and Tom found himself pitching in more and more in his role as Prince. In truth, he would have appreciated the company his friends were offering, but he knew how much it had meant to Star to be able to give this life up, and he didn’t want to drag her - either of them, really, considering Marco had earned an official title on Mewni himself - back into the boring thick of regal errands. Was Prince Thomas Draconius Lucitor really going to let some stuffy old book collection get the best of him? Hah, as if.

With a flick of his wrist, the half-demon shuttled the carriage to the surface in a pillar of flame, barely looking and instead pulling out his new phone. He was still getting the hang of the new and improved Reflectacorp’s Earth tech integration, but he’d at least learned how to open yesterday’s text conversation thread from its new message notification.

Janna: anti-gravity potion attempt 4 failed. affected bottle glass itself and launched into sky. note to self: work under roof. star and marco’s suggestions didnt work either. not all bad though, it went towards cloud kingdom lol

Tom: careful, don’t hit pony’s ego and make it fly even higher ·;) btw pony + starco are going shopping in underworld soon. im stuck working for mom though.

Janna: stores r lame. even in underworld. and srsly dude u gotta stop using starfans dumb name for them. otoh it bugs them so actually nvm go 4 it

Tom: it was mine first >·:( it saves letters when they’re together!

Janna: which is always

Tom: exactly. speaking of which, they’re here ttyl

Star stepped out of the carriage in a nice white polka dotted green dress, quickly followed by Marco, the pair’s fingers remaining intertwined until they gave him a hello hug, and Tom honestly wasn’t sure they’d stopped holding hands even then. Ponyhead burst out a moment later with her phone floating in front of her pointed at herself, and she was in the middle of a monologue to no one in particular.

“-so yeah anyway as you all can see we have now arrived in the Underwoooorld. So yeah this is, like, basically the best place on all of Earthni to go shopping as I’ll be showing you today. Oh yeah, I guess some demon boys live here too. Oh my goodness, say hello you guuuys,” she rolled her eyes as she butted in between Star and Tom, side-eyeing him for a split second before grinning back into the camera. After all this time Pony still hadn’t dropped the passive aggression over his and Star’s messy history; Tom had to admit it was a bit understandable, but did she really have to keep it up in such an annoying way? He rolled his eyes - it was Ponyhead he was thinking about here. “OK, the Ponyhead Experience will be taking a short break. Tune back in soon! Love y’all, buhbye!” She snapped the phone shut and caught it with her tongue. “Ugh, why do all of my vlogs with you dorks get like ten times as many viewers? Tom, you were in the shot for like three seconds and do you know what happened? 2000 more people tuned in! What the heck! It’s like, just because I have one less horn and one less eye I’m not exciting to you? But I can’t stay mad at my adooooring fans.”

“Must be the Lucitor charm.” He flashed a toothy smile and a pair of finger guns at her, accidentally flinging his phone across the room in the process. “Totally planned,” he blurted out with a much less authentic grin. Marco chuckled and picked it up, handing it back and patting him mock-sympathetically on the shoulder while holding back a smirk.

Star giggled but tapped her foot impatiently, looking around the room nervously. “OK, great catching up, but on the way here I checked the website and the headband shop is almost out of stock! We have to go, now! Let’s move it, people! Tom, can we borrow the carriage for the day?”

He shrugged nonchalantly. “Fine by me.”

“Thankyouthankyouthankyou, you’re the best!”

“You sure you don’t need anything?” Marco inquired again.

“You heard the girl, Marco, my audience wants to see us get our shop on!”

Tom blew a raspberry, pushing them towards the carriage. “Relax, it’s nothing. I’m practically done already! Tooootally almost done!”

Marco finally relented, nodding his assent. Star was bouncing up and down so much that she looked ready to launch around the room. He giggled as she wrapped both her arms around his middle and kissed his cheek before hauling him the rest of the way into the carriage. “C’mon boo, mama needs a new pair of horns. Plus we can get whatever you need, too! I saw a few things in the catalog that would look preeeetty good on you,” she sing-songed, walking two fingers up his chest to boop his nose after they plopped down onto the seat together. Ponyhead mimed vomiting at Tom, who silently laughed in response; they were so engrossed with each other that Tom was fairly certain they wouldn’t have noticed even if he’d shouted his laughter, though. He blankly stared at the spot the carriage had been for a few seconds after it exited in a blaze.

“Pretty gross, right?” Tom started and launched a fireball in the direction of the voice, hovering away from the intruder. A split second after, his vision caught up with his instincts and saw Janna in her usual green shirt and beanie and yellow skirt, sans jacket, nonchalantly sidestep the flame. “You do the same thing every time, you really need to work on that,” she chided with her arms crossed and a devious smirk on her face.

He rubbed his temple and gestured at her in sullen disbelief. “How did you-”

“Roof of the carriage.”

“Huh.” An eyebrow up in surprise, studying her expression. “You never usually, you know, answer that.”

She shrugged, kicking a boot into the hard stone floor. “Whatever, guess I’m just bored. Besides, half the reason I do that is to get a rise out of Marco,” she slyly snickered, and Tom couldn’t help but join in. “Alright, demon boy, what adventure are we going on today?”

Tom crossed his arms apprehensively. “Just trying to find a book for my mom, not really much of an adventure.”

“Like I said, dude, I’m bored and shopping is dumb. I don’t mind hanging out here for a study session or whatever, your family’s got great taste in decor.” She picked a skull off the ground and tossed it back and forth between her hands. He grinned back at her, grateful for the company. “So what kind of creepy curses are in this book?”

The pair started walking back into the study as their conversation continued. “Don’t think there are any. It’s called ‘Historia Homewnum’, according to my mom, so it’s probably a history book but that’s all I know.”

“Darn. Demon history’s bound to be pretty cool, though.”

“You’d be surprised how little actually happens down here, it’s just a lot of maintenance. Last month the most important thing I did was a ribbon-cutting ceremony at a new boba cornshake shop, it’s really caught on here since the Cleaving. But man is it good! Marco was right, the little pearls are just so tasty, I like the creamed corn version best.”

“What is it with you and corn, seriously...” Janna shuddered.

“Don’t knock it ‘till you try it.” He knew he’d gotten distracted thinking about the delicious creamy beverage, but that didn’t seem like an adequate reason to look so horrified, especially coming from Janna. Not able to figure out any other reason she might be disgusted by his comments, he got his thoughts back on track. “Really don’t know why she wants this thing so much. Anyway, I already checked the entire study for it, and the search archives don’t have anything either. Oh well, what can you do, might as well just give up and-”

“Found something,” Janna piped up, somehow already in the computer chair with her feet on the desk.

“Really? How?” he asked incredulously, throwing his hands in the air for emphasis.

“OK, I didn’t actually find the book, but maybe we should check this place out.” He leaned into the screen to see a Mewgle search for ‘how to find weird book in underworld’ on the screen.

“I already tried that, Janna!”

“Yeah, but your antivirus was blocking this link to some place called the ‘Librarinth’.”

Tom slammed his palm into his forehead. “Of course, the Librarinth! How could I not think to look there, that’s where all the oldest books are. Why was it getting blocked?”

She clicked on the link and both recoiled at the sight: an abhorrent patterned background with almost unreadable randomly colored text and low quality cartoon images scattered all around the page. “Yeah, it’s awful,” she said in response to his obvious horror. “Seriously, whoever must made this website must be, like, a thousand years old.”

“Probably , yeah, but why does that have anything to do with-” His eyes widened in realization as he clapped his hands together in contemplation. “Right, humans and their lifespans. Go on.”

“Look.”

She scrolled past the despondent, blurry faces of demons of all shapes and sizes in the staff section until she arrived at the catalog, folding her arms triumphantly. Tom excitedly butted in, typing into the search box and being greeted with a loading wheel. “Uh, Janna? It’s not working.”

“Pfft, yeah, I might actually be dead by the time the search finishes. But that doesn’t matter because they have our book. It’s the header image for the whole catalog.” He squinted and brought his face closer to the monitor, and to his surprise the title was clear as day on the cover of the book, although all the other information was too difficult to make out. “Alright, let’s go. Main page says the Librarinth is on Floor 216.”

With a snap of his fingers, the demon elevator was summoned into a bookshelf much as it had been the day they had dealt with the Blood Moon. Relicor’s shrieking, which had slowed to a whimper since they’d left, resumed in full; fortunately they began descending, which quickly put them out of earshot. Tom awkwardly stretched his arms, unsure what exactly to say. She was his friend, yes, but he was never the best at small talk, and Janna being Janna didn’t make that any easier. After long, messy years of broken hearts and misguided feelings, he finally felt comfortable forging friendships, but even though they got along quite well there was something about Janna that made that vibe a lot less effortless than with Marco or even Star. Thoughts of his other friends reminded him of something. “Uh, by the way… how did you even know about the carriage earlier?”

“A girl’s gotta keep some secrets.”

“Pony was posting about it every 15 seconds,” he guessed, calling Janna’s bluff.

“Touché. Every 10, though,” she coolly responded. “Ha, now she’s just flipping out because Star and Marco have way more likes than her selfies.”

“Figured you’d have him bugged or something,” Tom chuckled as he scooted over to get a look at Janna’s screen, and sure enough there was a picture collage of Star sitting in Marco’s lap with tens of thousands of likes and comments already. They were laughing their butts off at themselves in a mirror in front of them with novelty sunglasses, fake mustaches, goofy props, and even a few absurd full-body costumes; Ponyhead joined the fun for a few but just as often butt in trying to take over the mirror by herself.

“Ew, no, I disabled it all months ago. Boyfriend Tom was already too cutesy for me, and you two just had a little flirty fling. Do you think I’d really want to see or hear whatever Star and Marco have going on? They’re, like, deeply in love, or whatever, and it’s gotten even worse in the last few weeks.”

He murmured in tacit agreement. Now that he thought about it, they had seemed even more affectionate than usual, but he wasn’t too keen on uncovering why that might be. The ding of the elevator saved him from any further speculation, and he and Janna stepped out of the elevator into the lobby, which was empty with cobwebs coating most of the weathered stone walls. Janna looked at him with a quizzical expression. “Anyway, so the Librarinth is basically a combination of a library and a labyrinth-”

“Right, I got that,” she curtly retorted.

“The legends say that some ancient librarian demons wanted to challenge any who sought knowledge, so they hid all the books in a giant maze that only the worthy could navigate. But everyone who made it still decided to organize it thoroughly for some reason, and you still had to check out the books and bring them back and all that.”

She ran a finger over the dust on the front counter, and the surface of the desk sizzled in response, causing her to pull her hand back before poking the bubbles that formed with a curious smile. “So why is it completely empty?”

Tom rubbed the back of his neck. “Weeeeeeell, after a few people went missing or insane, everyone realized it really wasn’t a great way to, you know, run a library. Grandpa actually started collecting books to try and get them away from this place. No one really knows what goes on in there, but as far as I know it’s still maintained even though no one uses it. The kingdom stopped staffing the lobby but they could never just shut it down because anyone who tried, well-”

“Went missing or insane. Sounds cool, I’m in.”

“You sure?”

“Dude, you brought me to a wicked hell maze filled with psychotic demon nerds. Maybe there’ll be bottomless pits or a wicked dungeon boss. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re flirting with me, Mr. Lucitor,” she purred, running a finger up his chest and flicking his nose.

“Haha, very funny. And it’s Prince Lucitor,” he sarcastically chided, poking her arm in response before crossing the room with her following, but he couldn’t help but hide that he was flustered. Seeing Star and Marco’s relationship in the past year had reinforced his already-firm convictions about romance: he wanted someone with whom he could be life partners in all ways, not just handholding and rooftop picnics. Otherwise, what would be the point? He’d made that mistake enough times, and even just a light jab at the notion of him casually flirting struck made him feel self-conscious about that past. Finally his reflection was halted when he found what he sought: a large wrought iron door furnished with ornate demonic symbols and various carvings of mythological creatures dwarfed them both. With a soft, steady flame for light, he brought his hand up and ran it over the rusty engravings. He jumped back with a gasp as the fire spread into the lines of the door, lighting up the patterns on it and causing it to creak as it slowly opened.

“Nice,” Janna muttered in awe before strolling inside, with Tom hesitantly following. She was the most eager of their little group to dive headfirst into the unknown, even more than Star most of the time, but he trusted her gut.

They started walking down the long, cramped hallways, hearing only the sound of their own footsteps on the cold floor. Janna peeked her head into a small doorway that appeared to their left, earning herself an explosive blast to the face and getting knocked onto her butt. Tom slammed the door shut and leaned in to read an inscription next to it. “Incinerator for any books too damaged or damaging for further use. Probably not the right place.”

Janna huffed, brushing herself off and finding scraps of paper among the char. “I can see that. Seriously, what kind of labyrinth labels its doors?”

“Maybe one run by book nerds,” Tom offered, gripping her hand to help her up.

“So it’s just as bad at being a labyrinth as it is a library. Neat. Great adventure.”

Tom pressed on, keeping his focus ahead of them. “Hey, I’m just here to help my mom. You’re the one that said you were fine with anything.”

“Fine, fine. Just saying, I could be working on my potions or something.” She pulled a glass bottle full of purple liquid from her skirt pocket and casually tossed it at a wall. Janna snickered at Tom’s yelp when it shattered, but found herself joining him in backing away when a chunk of stone quickly deteriorated and slammed into the ground at incredible speed. She went over and carefully kicked a pebble, finding it impossible to even budge. “See, this was just a stupid pro-gravity potion. Worthless.”

He leaned against the stable wall opposite the hole, sighing. “I’m sure there has to be something interesting here. What if we, I dunno, make it a competition or something?” His frustration with both the situation and Janna were there, yes, but he still wanted to try and get something fun out of the day.

“Go on,” Janna said, eyes flickering up from the bottle that she was tossing between her hands nonchalantly.

OK, maybe he should have thought further ahead. His arms flailed as he scrambled to come up with an idea. “OK, so, uh, whoever finds the weirdest thing in this place in the next hour wins. Just call them out if you think you found something. Or whoever finds the book, whichever comes first, yeah. Mom still needs it.”

“Momma’s boy. I respect that. You’re on, Tom.” Janna cocked an eyebrow, staring at him for a second before pushing off the wall into a sprint, opening the first door she could find. “Empty. Another empty. Three empties, dammit.”

Tom used his flight to travel more smoothly from door to door on his side of the corridor, but still found himself losing ground as he took the time to read the sign posted by each threshold. The ‘Demonic Studies’ room had a very ornately ghoulish aesthetic, with macabre skeletal models throughout. Definitely something to show Janna on the way out just for the aesthetic, and it’d have been weird for most humans, but it wasn’t any more abnormal than what the two of them were used to as a daily routine. Another room for astronomy had an exquisite planetarium dome, but it turned out to be rather useless as the Underworld did not, in fact, contain any stars since it was underground. There was, however, a plentiful selection of guides to stalactites stocked on the shelves. The next four whole sections were devoted to anger management self-help books, which only made him waste precious seconds cringing at old memories.

His pace picked up as he kept going from door to door finding nothing but normal library fare, although he had to admit it was certainly well-maintained. On any other day he might actually enjoy some of the things here, but today he was on a mission to get out of here so they could actually have fun elsewhere.

‘Bookworms’... now that had potential. What sorts of hybrid creatures could lurk behind the inches of wood? “I think I might have found something!” he shouted, throwing open the door only to receive a harsh shushing. Within were only elderly demons in cozy sweaters reading by candlelight, all now glaring at him with an intensity that reminded him of his mom’s own rare reprimands. “Never mind,” he loud-whispered back out into the hall as he gently closed the door and found Janna in a nearby corridor. “Ugh, why is there nothing interesting here?” Sparks trailed behind him from his mounting anger as he paced.

“Tell me about it, even ‘Wormbooks’ was just a bunch of regular novels, somehow,” she sighed. “I was hoping for a big long chain of open books slithering around on the ground, now there’s a party.” She slumped down against the wall next to the streak of flame he’d left on the ground, idly stamping it out with her boot until Tom sat down beside her.

“Wouldn’t a wormbook be the opposite? A big fat worm in the shape of a book?”

“Nah, it’d totally be a book made of a bunch of little flatworms all working together, duh. Still pretty lame.”

OK, now he knew something was up with her. “Janna, is- is something wrong?”

Her body slouched further down until she was almost horizontal on the cold floor, staring ahead of her like a zombie. “Being weird has just felt so pointless lately. Everything’s weird now, all the time! I’m wasting all my time trying to brew potions when there’s a shop that sells them on every corner. I got so bored that I even passed that same dumb test Marco did and now I’m done with high school, like, for real this time.”

“Hey, don’t be so hard on yourself, that’s pretty impressive.”

“It’s easy if you know who to blackmail.” Tom blinked a few times, not sure why he’d expected anything different. “Everyone else is moving on with their lives, but I’m still feeding the same old possums and picking up the same old tennis balls. The whole point of my routine is that it’s different, it’s me, it’s my Jannanigans or whatever Star calls it, but it’s just not the same. I’m still into all that stuff, and Earthni’s actually really cool, but… ugh.” With that, her head fully sunk to the ground.

Tom brought his palms together over her head, opening and shutting his hands while wiggling his fingers around. “It’s a wormbook,” he said hesitantly, not really sure what he was doing. It was silly amusement, but perhaps that was just what she needed right now. Janna frowned and rolled her eyes, so he snapped at her arm with his hand puppet wormbook a few times.

“Alright, I get it,” she barked out, but her sullen demeanor slowly cracked under the onslaught of frivolity as she sat back up with an unusually ponderous look at him.

“Remember that time you took me bootsledding?” She nodded. “You told me that I needed to find a life outside of Star, and- and it was really great advice. Didn’t mean I still couldn’t like spending time with Star or anything, heck, I still do! But I just needed to get out of that rut of depending on it. Maybe you just need to do that, too. If doing your weirdness by yourself is normal, then adding something normal might be kinda weird.”

“That’s it.” Janna leapt to her feet, looking very suddenly invigorated. “That’s it!”

“Well, uh, glad you liked it. It was nothing, really, just trying to be a good pal-”

“Yeah, yeah, that too,” she waved dismissively, and he couldn’t help but feel a bit scorned. “If weird is normal then normal is weird. We were looking for the craziest things we could find here, but everything that should have been weird was normal, so we should be looking for the most painfully boring room here!” All three of Tom’s eyes blinked a few times as her words sunk in. Could it be…? “Tom, over here!” He hustled over to a particularly plain wooden door. Janna pointed at the plaque on the wall, which was far more faded than the others had been. “Look. ‘Government Records’.”

A burst of energy coursed through Tom’s blood, sparking life in him once more, and he could see the same reflected in Janna’s determined brown eyes. “And the book Mom wanted has something to do with history. Maybe it’s political history! Janna, you might be a genius!”

“Pfft, ‘might’. Now we just gotta…” She grabbed his arm, aiming it at the door, and he looked at her incredulously. “C’mon, dude, who knows what’s behind there. We’re gonna bust in with a demon blast, duh. Pew-pew!”

He rolled his eyes, but the corner of his lip turning up in a begrudging smile gave away his agreement. The pair aimed at the door and blew it off its hinges before charging in through the smoke.

“I see you two have finally solved the grand riddle of the Librarinth!” A deep, booming voice greeted them from the smoke. “Janna Ordonia, Thomas Lucitor, you certainly took your time. I expected you to book it here much more quickly. No matter, for this room shall be your tome!”

“How do you know my-” Janna stammered.

“Uh, don’t you mean tomb-” Tom started at the same time before realizing the wordplay and groaning in misery. Wait a second… Epic threats, an obvious personality quirk…

“Dungeon boss!” the teens cheered together, glancing back and forth between each other and the remainder of the room in front of them obscured by shadow.

“It is I, the bookkeeper of this place. I guard the most sacred treasure of all… knowledge!” Paper rustled loudly, echoed throughout the cavernous space, far taller and wider than Tom had noticed when they first entered with a massive array of bookshelves many times taller than him in a single row near the back wall. The ground beneath them began to shake and Tom tossed a puff of light in front of him, exposing the wide chasm that had just opened up in the ground, swallowing all the shelving in the room. Neither were prepared for the sight that greeted them: a coiled mass unfurled from the abyss and slithering with purpose along the ground, finally raising itself up to stand at fifteen feet tall, swaying back and forth with enough force to create an artificial wind within the space. A closer look showed that the body was made of some peculiar segments of… books, of all shapes and sizes. The volume at the top of the chain was much larger and far more ornately embossed than the others, and on the blood red surface of the cover Tom could make out a set of eyes. As the picture became more and more clear, he could finally see what they were up against. Now THIS is a bookworm.

“Aren’t libraries supposed to be, like, public and free?” Janna blithely inquired.

“You are correct, child, but perhaps try reporting that to your friend there! The Lucitor family is the sworn enemy of this great Librarinth! That fiend Relicor pilfered our collection for his own use for millennia, and the rest tried to shut this place down for good. But worst of all, in the most egregious display of contempt I have witnessed since the dawn of writing itself… Prince Lucitor and his ilk have amassed twenty-six dollars in unpaid fees!”

The tension in the room nearly evaporated in a heartbeat as Tom and Janna paused momentarily before bursting out into raucous laughter.

“Seriously, dude? I could just, like, repay it.” He fumbled in his pockets for his wallet for a moment before being interrupted once more.

“Do not condescend to me, children! It is far too late to make up for these sins with mere currency. Revenge is my fee most overdue, now prepare to meet… Overdoom! I shall harness the power of the written word to spell your demise!”

Books were hurled from the depths of the crevice en masse. Tom stepped in front of Janna to blast them away, but they had taken on a life of their own and homed in on him, covers flapping in the air like wings. Behind Tom, Janna snatched one out of the air to thwart a flank attack. She grabbed his left arm and pointed it up, tapping his elbow frantically. He spared a glance and saw the paper tornado coalescing, and understood her intention. Demon flames surged out of both hands with Janna calling the shots for the left side and Tom focusing on his right. They used the opportunity to back up to a wall, letting them cover every attack vector but creating a stalemate they were sure to lose in time as the seemingly endless offense droned on. Overdoom for the time being simply floated out of the abyss, glaring harshly at them as more and more papers kept emerging.

“Wait, Tom, look…” Still using his hand, she pointed to a shelf that had fallen at an odd angle and hadn’t collapsed into the abyss. There was a large, torn-up poster on which he could barely make out the word “Historia”.

“That might be it,” he breathed out, starting to feel the burn from minutes of nonstop vigilant defensive demon blasts. Oddly, none of the books in that corner were joining the assault. Almost as if...

“It’s making them magical in the chasm.” Tom’s heart leapt up in his chest at the revelation, hope and adrenaline mixing in his veins to keep him fully alert. But charging in was a suicide mission and they clearly couldn’t win on raw firepower.

“Have you had enough? Are you children yet ready to come scrawling on your hands and knees to a-tome for the sins of your forefathers?” the imposing figure growled, bristling impatiently.

“Did it seriously just use the tome pun again?” Janna griped, running her hands past her eyes and down her cheeks in disgust. “For a word nerd, that’s just awful.”

“Yeah…” Tom absent-mindedly responded. He knew she was right, though. Book, tome, scrawl… even if the creature’s summoning powers were off the charts, and it wielded them with calculated ease, its cocky wordplay taunts left something to be desired. It struck him then: what if they’d been approaching this all wrong? If the battle couldn’t be won by blows, then they had to find another option, and Tom was ready to put his plan into action.

He quickly shook off Janna’s rather tight grip on his arm and stepped forward, mustering up a confident expression masking any fears he still had left. “Nice try, Overdoom. Your words aren’t scaring us. Learn to read the room!”

Its “body” immediately began wiggling violently in the air as it crawled a bit forward towards them. Tom paid careful attention to its back end, which had climbed a few feet out of the ground in the move. “How dare you! Petulant brats!” Literary fire and brimstone rained down upon them with more fury than ever, and the two backed up into a corner which was the best they could do in a room largely devoid of any cover.

“What the hell-” Janna whispered through gritted teeth. Tom wriggled his tail out and waved it in front of Janna’s face momentarily. “Now is not the time to-” She was cut off when a barrage of index cards launched at them with enough force to somehow chip the stone behind them on impact. Tom forcefully nodded his head towards the worm’s tail, waggling his own once again. Her eyes lit up much like his had and she nodded in understanding.

“Come on, is that the best you got? I’ve heard them all before, at least give us something novel!”

Janna stood beside him, and her grimace even managed to spook Tom a bit. “I’d alphabet you couldn’t do better even if you tried!” Not what he would’ve gone with, but hey, if it helped tick Overdoom off then who was he to say no?

“You can talk up a storm all you want, but no matter what volume of air you blow, all I feel is a not-so-rough draft!”

“ENOUGH!” Overdoom’s tail launched out of the chasm faster than either could follow, crossing the room in a heartbeat. Tom shoved Janna out of the way before it wrapped itself around him, dragging him much more slowly towards the abyss. His jacket and jeans mercifully protected the paper edges pressing into him, but it was still a painfully tight squeeze that left him gasping for air. His arms were uselessly pinned inside the embrace as he was dragged headfirst, but their hypothesis had been proven correct as all the books around them had dropped to the ground lifeless.

“Tom!” Janna called out. He strained his head to see she’d removed her beanie and had something purple in her hand that she lobbed at that moment. Through the haze of pain he recognized it as another of her potions. The arc was due to miss until he summoned his energy reserves and redirected it with a weak burst of flame from his boot. Though the glass was durable enough to not melt or shatter, the demonic heat changed the potion into a bubbling olive green milliseconds before it contacted a random segment of the behemoth they were fighting. All at once, its hold on Tom and the rest of its body went limp as it began floating lazily into the air before bouncing off the ceiling a few times like a balloon. Janna ran over and helped Tom up as Overdoom screamed inarticulately from many feet above. They traversed the chaotic mess towards the pile they’d spotted previous. After some digging around, he found ‘Historia Homewnum’ miraculously unscathed and protected by a large, sturdy slab of mahogany that had fallen flat on top of it. “I got it!”

“Cool, potion is wearing off. We need to go.” Janna calmly stated. Twin jets of fire erupted from his feet as he swiftly passed the book to Janna and scooped her up in his arms, carrying them across the room towards the door. After setting Janna down, he hesitated for a moment as she stood in the doorway.

“Do you think I should still pay the late fee? I feel kinda bad and-”

“TODAY MAY HAVE BEEN YOUR VICTORY, BUT TOME-ORROW WILL-”

Tom sighed in resignation with a very unimpressed expression. “OK, yeah, never mind.” And with a quick slam of the door, they were both out scot-free. They didn’t stop running until they arrived back at the elevator. Once inside, they slumped down onto the ground as they began the journey back up to the main surface of the Underworld.

“Woo!” Tom was caught off guard by Janna expressing visible joy, and it was immediately infectious. “Now that’s an adventure. Of course, demon fire is what makes the potions work. Makes a lot more sense. Stupid ink smudge, I burned all those lemons for nothing.” He belly laughed, falling over to the floor and clutching his gut as Janna kicked him in the arm.

“Sorry, sorry, couldn’t help it.”

Her foot backed off after one last good hit. “So now you just have to give that book to your mom?”

“Yeah, should only take a minute. Want to come with?”

“Dude, she’s half a story tall and cries lava. I’d be honored. Oh crud, Pony’s current stream title is ‘WHY Y’ALL CARE MORE ABOUT EARTH TURD AND B-FLY THAN ME?!?!’” Janna showed him the notification on her phone. “That can’t be good.”

Tom pulled out his phone and called to see what was up. Pony picked up after only one ring and didn’t even bother with a greeting as she screamed so loudly that he lost hearing for a moment in his right ear. Her voice carried through the elevator car even without being put on speakerphone. “Yo Tom, why do all my Pony Pals just want to watch those two idiots kiss and cuddle? What is up with that? I even gave my fanbase a stupid nickname, they eat that stuff up, so why won’t they looooove meeeeee?” Business as usual with Pony, it seemed. “An-y-way, this whole shopping spree was amaaaazing, I am all kinds of extra fabulous now. B-Fly and Earth Turd took over the stream cuz the viewers, like, wanted a Q&A sesh but I’m only giving them twenty minutes! Hmph!”

“Might as well just make a whole show about them,” Janna chimed in, rolling her eyes a few times for good measure.

“Wait, demon boy, is Janna there? What the heck have you two been getting up to? Don’t tell me you too are getting your freak on too, I could not handle that T.M.I.-”

Yeah, there was nothing more to gain from that conversation. Tom flipped his compact shut, disconnecting the call. Wait, ‘too’? Did she mean- he shuddered involuntarily. You know what, nope, just not going to think about that one.

“So glad I turned off the cameras,” Janna mumbled, curling up into a ball on the floor, clearly not wanting to touch that whole situation either.

He opted to make contact with the other group via Marco instead - why he hadn’t just done that in the first place, he’d never know - and sent a quick text. “Marco wants to get dinner at the Waterfolk Kingdom in, like, an hour and a half. Apparently Star found some earrings she wanted at the last minute, and Pony got arrested for shoplifting three seconds after I hung up.”

Janna cackled in response. “Let’s just meet them there. My jacket got ripped to shreds by the possums last week, might as well get a new one while I’m down here. Been thinking about changing it up. I kinda like that style.” She lifted up his arm and poked at a button on the sleeve of his own.

“Uh, yeah, sure, I can show you where I got it.” He stumbled over his words, still caught off guard by this new normal-person-Janna. The elevator dinged and the teens began their trek through the Lucitor castle in search of the queen. “So, the Librarinth... we’re definitely going back there at some point, right?”

“Totally, bet’s still not over. We should do this more often, you’re not so bad a friend.”

“You too, and yeah, we should.” Looking back on the day, it had honestly been one some of the most fun he’d had in a while, despite almost dying at least once. Tom still wasn’t sure what to make of this friendship brewing between them, but if it meant more days like this to look forward to? Maybe he could get used to that.

#jantom #starco #svtfoe #star vs the forces of evil #tgg svtfoe #fanfic

[dmpinapl]

Final Session Chat Log

(These are the chat logs between and my good friend OJ while I played my last session with my D&D group. It was wild...)

I have to dnd in 5 minutes im going to message you updates the entire time to keep me sane

i look forward to your updates

update, we found 50 ft. tall doors made of magic metal failed to get through found stairs instead

Did u knock?

shit no

but they're doors to the evil fire giant base so maybe knocking is bad idea

Well maybe they're polite Even evil people open doors if u knock

that's true but we've already been climbing stairs for 30 minutes in game we found a goat guarding a pile of gold and treasure

Is the goat ok?

it has red wings oh shit there's 2 oh shit they're chimeras

:O Don't kill, befriend

ill try

Good

it has goat head, lion head, and dragon head dwarf is gonna try to tame it

That is the standard chimera look I'm p sure Good pet

killed one, tamed the other one "tamed" means tied it up in chains after grappling it for 5 minutes

Twas it NAMED tho?

yes Tribeast Dwarf is VERY creative

Aw that's not fun

agreed I offered Terthreesa i was rejected

Shoulda named it like Tribert

rejected again oof and now we're dragging it along with the chain

D:< no fun

I got mad loot

What chu get

obsideon dagger, 6 gems, music box, and gold helmet with gems inlaid very valuable, will sell for much money

Cool more funds to fuel eggs chaos (Note: I’m Eggs)

tru We made it to the top. 

Of the stairs?

Ye

I gave dwarf the box

(Note: Recently collected a possessed box that has a chance to swap souls with you when you open it)

Did he open 👀

he opened it 0,0 his soul swapped no one knows 0,0 i ran 100 ft. away when he picked it up hiding atm

Haaaaa Let me know how that goes

I told them that box can swap souls, and to ask anyone who opens it questions only they would know the answer to fake dwarf failed question, they are now all suspicious

We found Yakfolk half Yak people they cool nevermind they have halfling slaves...

Eat the yaks

erm

BBQ

ummm naaaah Wizard is controlling fake dwarf with a spell, making him open box until we get the soul swapping roll but he swapped inventory with chimera so he got all chained up and chimera is attacking us now

ꉂ(ˊᗜˋ*) haha wonderful

bow and arrow man that Eggs hates, shot the chimera dead >:(

What a bitch

Wizard tried to throw box off a cliff when we got dwarf back im trying to catch it wizard blasted box with fireball, it's charred but fine ARCHER GUY BANISHED WIZARD

WHAT HOW?

HE HAS SPECIAL BANISHING ARROW WIZARD IS GONE FOR AT LEAST 1 TURN HOLY SHIT WHY

D:

I mean Eggs is happy cause he wants the box but I and everyone else are like wtf? Archer Man? Why?

Well at least eggs is happy

tru Got box back Wizard is back asked Archer Man wtf Archer Man and Wizard are arguing in and out of character at the same time xD

What fun

Okay, dwarf asked for the box so I gave it to him because he can kill me very easily so Eggs fears him He glued the box shut with magic indestructible glue and threw it off the cliff

Understandable

the yakfolk are beating their slaves we are intervening

Good

I blighted and burned a yakfolk he hella dead he killed a halfling tho tried rolling medicine got a 1 ...

.......you cooked him I predicted BBQ

you did it but i blighted him first so he's already like, rotting

Ya still cooked him Its me oj psychic detective

I never should've doubted you

Ya u should really listen to me

Oh there are like 8 more of them coming from across the bridge wizard is gonna blast the bridge

Yaks?

ye I destroyed bridge wizard cast a spell that made almost all the yakfolk sick

What typa sick?

damage sick also im in a bloodrage now i wanna stab (Note: Eggs has a cursed dagger that causes him to enter a bloodrage when he takes damage)

Who ya gonna stab

yakfolk

Not Archer Man?

not close enough

Dang

agreed rockman slammed me to death now i must make death saves might die but i got a good stab in

You stabbed a.....rockman?

i stabbed a yakman, then the rockman came behind and slammed it’s always rocks

You got stoned to death

again

Like the witch u are

dwarf friend picked up my body he's so nice still dying but safe now

Good small friend

i have been revived I turned into a trex so i can fuck shit up nevermind we won

hey uh oh Eggs was fighting in the big final battle king is there with me as i shoot magic at the giants then then... i took damage and my magic dagger took over and now i have to stab the king

and i failed twice lucky but then ... i knocked him unconcious and stabbed him half his health is gone ... im gonna kill the fucking king ... :D

O dang eggs is gonna win

what can i say i wanna stab

U sure do

Congrats We beat the big bad evil guy

:0 wow so convenient

Eggs had his dagger taken away but that’s fair to be honest

Probably best for the world if he doesn't have it

 And for the past few sessions I have been made to roll a lot of constitution saving throws, so I asked why Apparently I caught a plague I was gonna be patient 0 p much

O wow How?

Yeah Um

Was it all the weird shit u do

No actually Um

Go on....

Remember that weird door I went into? With the blood writing shack?

Mhmm

Apparently That was another universe

..... well then

Where everyone died to the Plague So

So does eggs still have the plague?

Yes Presumably I will be the cause of so much death

Is he gonna ruin the world even tho the campaign is done?? How suiting

Guess so! : D All’s well that ends well for eggs

Is it tho He's gonna die of the plague

Yes I’m sure I’ll be fine Just a little plague Never hurt no one

That's sad you'd think eggs would get killed by one of the other numerous dumb things you do but no just a disease

No I’ll probably get killed by a rock monster before I succumb to the plague

Squished whilst a spider

Yes

[punkscowardschampions]

Meena & Indie

Meena: Hi Inds, you still at the pub right now? Indie: yeah y?? Meena: Just didn't want to catch you alone Meena: Got the call from your Dad Meena: he's in jail again Meena: found him with a lot on him, so Indie: k ty for hittin me up Indie: shame he didnt drop off to me afore the feds caught up but hey Meena: Of course, he wanted me to say he's sorry and he wants to make it right Meena: and if he goes back inside, will you visit him but you don't have to think about that right now, or do that, if you don't want, I'm just saying exactly what he said Meena: and I'm not gutted that he hadn't, like Indie: naaaah he feelin sorry for himself only Indie: you told his ex missus on this? Meena: I'm not going to disagree with you, this isn't any of ours first rodeo is it Meena: Not yet, I'm thinking when Tom gets Home, I'll go 'round and do it in person Meena: she left before I did but I can't rug the kids back up and take them with so Meena: could you find him actually, I best do that sooner rather than later the way this town talks Indie: i got you, hold up i 👀 him Indie: its the day for luck innit so Meena: Thanks, darling Meena: Are you alright? Indie: i finished his drink for him so he bout to bounce 👌✌ Indie: me? all good auntie Meena: I bet I'm Lily's biggest fan now Meena: If anyone was sober enough to be giving lifts she could stay a while longer but that's not happening Meena: the kids want to Star Wars marathon but if that ain't tempting her, we got snacks on the way back Meena: Okay sweetheart Meena: He's talking a big game about how it's different this time but regardless, we'll be fine, yeah? Indie: you shoulda let her stay w me its chill trust Indie: yeah u kno Indie: we got ours we livin Meena: That's alright, party here, I can assure you 😂 Meena: Exactly Meena: If you need anything, any time, you know where we are Indie: 😂😂😂😂 Indie: lily knows where i is when she wanna party real Meena: Of course Indie: you all good yeah? Indie: whole fam Meena: All good Meena: Usual mad house but what's new? Meena: How's the flat shaping up? Indie: its bare hectic & looking so 🔥🔥🔥 Indie: [Sends pics she has on her phone cos she proud] Meena: It looks lovely! Indie: innit tell lily to stop playin & hit me up for that sleepover soon as Meena: I will do Meena: as long as you promise to come 'round for dinner one night soon Meena: it's been too long! Indie: stop trying to hide greens in it & im down Meena: 😂 Alright Meena: It's been known you can twist my arm for the odd takeaway Indie: 😂😂😂😂✌✌ Meena: Well, I'll let you get back to it Meena: Sure it's got even madder since I left Meena: Enjoy my lovely Indie: u kno Indie: but the best madness Indie: catch you soon for real Indie: 💖💖💖💖 Meena: Lots of love 💛

[sendmenot]

9/25/18 Butterflies and Farewells

Hey there, devil. Yes, you! That’s my pet name for you (and I also call you lolo but hey, who cares).  

It’s already 1:20am, and I just really need to release these thoughts I have inside. Just got home around 12:30am. I’ve had the loveliest night in months, truth be told.

It started earlier when I was playing league. Paul (you) suddenly messaged me whilst I’ve just started playing a normal game with a friend (lil’ bro K). 

“ how far are u from makati? “, your message read. 

“ let’s go out tonight! cmon cmon “

I got really excited when you asked me out. After the game ended, I showered as fast as I could and put on cute clothes and make-up. I was late, but hey, it’s deffo not my fault! You asked me out so suddenly!!! My heart wasn’t ready...

I first saw your back. You were wearing a gray shirt with black tones. You were fiddling your phone. I tapped your arm and announced my arrival. You smiled; Gods, it was such a beautiful smile. I love the way your eyes sparkled as you smiled. We were awkward for a bit; we haven’t seen each other for months (although we have been talking a lot for the past 6 months)! After a few moments of awkwardness, you told me that our grab driver has arrived. We looked for it, but we were too stupid to see it right before our eyes, hahaha~

Inside the car, we were just making small talk. I made sure not to sit too close to you. We aren’t even touching! You showed me your waifus and your beloved love live game. You suck at playing on pro mode!!!! :P

At long last, we’ve finally arrived at our destination. It was already around 9 pm. We ordered food and drinks. You told me that they serve local beer there and that you really wanted to try them. It was a tad bit too sweet for your tastes though. More conversations followed as we munched on our chips and chicken nuggets.

I told you that I’ve had the weirdest dreams for the past few weeks. (A.K.A. the preggo dreams). You called me a slut!!!! But I laughed it off, knowing that you were just kidding. As it turns out, you’ve been having nightmares of your own. You’ve dreamt of your ex gf doing something really bad, and you were trying to get her to stop doing that thing. There was another dude, and she’d rather listen to that dude AND flirt right there on your face, instead of believing you. You were pissed- hell, you LOOKED pissed. Kinda scary, truth be told. I wanted to hug you right then there but opted not to. It might not be welcomed yet..

I just let you rant about it- the way you wanted to get back with her, but couldn’t. There’s always doubt at the back of your mind. I played that role again, and I guess that’s just how it is with us. I know I’ve had my share of rants to you as well, and you never complained. I just extended the courtesy back to you; there’s nothing I can do about it at this point.

You took out your phone and told me to log on my okc account. I noticed that you weren’t even hiding your phone when you were putting in the code. (Yeah, I notice the little things) You told me to match with some guys and that you’ll chat them up. We’ve had fun looking at weird profiles, pointing out our observations.

Out of the blue, you suddenly asked me if I’m going home soon to Japan. 

“Yeah, but not so soon though”, I replied.

“But we’ll keep in touch, right? Let’s keep in touch!”, you said.

“Of course! Knowing you- there’s probably an ulterior motive behind that, yes? You wanted a dakimakura?”, I asked.

“No, not that.”

“I thought you wanted that? You told me so before.”

“That was before. I want figurines.”

Suddenly, you told me that you were leaving Manila soon. You were going back to your hometown, Iloilo. Tomorrow (later), to be precise. 

I suddenly felt really sad. There’s this crushing feeling and I feel so suffocated. It’s as if I have forgotten how to breathe. I can’t sleep right now since I’m still thinking about this lovely night we’ve had. I can’t handle how miserable I feel. 

Anyhoo, you told me the reason why you hated our school. Guess all schools are actually rotten to the core. You told me how school wasted your potential, and that you wished you could have gotten an apprenticeship instead (since your father already asked). You told me how you hated the fact that your father has a lot of connections, which is the precise reason why you avoided your previous school/ course. Gods, we laughed and ranted our hearts out tonight! I totally had a lot of fun! I just wish that it was the same for you.

A few drinks later and my bladder can’t take it anymore. I asked you to accompany me to the rest room (we were both new to the place, haha). God, you were so adamant not to! 

“God, do that to your okc boys.”

I saw you smoking outside, upon returning from the restroom and decided to just join you. I’d rather spend my time standing beside you than sitting by myself alone. You asked if I had a curfew and I shook my head. You asked for my address so you can walk me to my house. 

“It’s fine. Let’s just go back where we met tonight. I can walk home.”

“No! What kind of man do you think I am? I might be an asshole, but I’m a gentleman with etiquette. Speaking of which, will you offer me coffee?”

“NO.”

“Don’t you have etiquette? I was hoping to get atleast a glass of water..”

“Nawp, go home already!”

I noticed a cool place while we were in the car. It had a  humongous display of dino skeleton! I pointed it out to you and you said:

“Yeah, next time I come back..”

We got out of the car and started walking towards my house. There was a car passing by, but it won’t hit me by no means. You jokingly said:

“See! If I weren’t here to escort you home, you’d probably get hit by that car!”

“That car won’t hit me at all! And I’m not that drunk; I can walk home.”

“Naaaah, I’ll walk with you.”

We walked a looooooong way from the lrt station. Welp, I love walking home. Especially if I get to walk by your side...

You were panting by the time we were on our street! It was funny ‘cause you kept complaining. I think it’s cute though...

Soon enough, you were in the car, on your way home. We bid our goodbyes. I waited on our street until I can’t see that car anymore. It dawned upon me right then- the sadness I was trying to hide tonight when you told me that you were going home. We won’t play league together anymore; you’re gonna try your best to act like a responsible adult.

At home, I saw a message on my discord. It was from you.

“ you home yet? “

I thanked you for the lovely evening. 

“you're welcome! praise me more!!! im home n btw”

“ That was fast @@ You're the greatest human being to ever grace the planet~ “ 

“ man... make it a little more believable at the least “

“Alriiiggght”

“try again~ go!!”

“ You're an asshole but at the same time a gentleman “

“ see was that so hard!? work on the delivery though “

“ Which is highly contradictory “

“ no its not. u suck “

“ U suck too “

I remember consulting runes about a month ago. It said that my future decisions will rely on someone else leaving. Someone close to me. I thought that was my friends- Maj and Nikki were sent home as well. I don’t get to see them a lot anymore. Sleepovers were over. Their absence hit me as well, but it did not prepare me for what I’d feel when you said that you were leaving... 

Guess it’s time for me to grow up as well. No more hiding behind the safety of my room. I just wish I hugged you before you left... 

I realized it last night, you know? My feelings for you. Told myself not to fall since I’m still trying to heal myself from the scars of the past- I knew you were on the same boat. That didn’t help though. I still fell for you, stupid cocky human. 

Come back soon, alright? I’d love to hear your stories again. 

Love, Amoeba

P.S. You took me by surprise when you asked me to go out with you.

 “Let’s date! I won’t cheat on you.”

Tongue-tied, I just laughed it off. I didn’t know what to say. You looked serious but I didn’t know if you were just kidding or not. Ask me again when we’re both ready, okay?

#journal #journal entry #feelings #things i wanted to say