#okay I had a lot of fun writing this one

[victorluvsalice]

Valicer OT3 Week, Day Three: Childhood Friends

Day Three of @ot3-week's OT3 Week, and we're up to a cute prompt -- "Childhood friends!" So naturally I couldn't resist writing the trio hanging out together as kids. :) This is supposed to be a Victorian!AU, though I suspect it might feel a little bit more modern than that...the important thing is, there's a grand old party happening in the halls of Christchurch at Oxford, and Smiler and Alice have already found each other and decided to sequester themselves away from all these boring adults in their own private table fort. But tummies have started growling, and so Smiler is venturing out to get snacks...

--

“I’m gonna get more snacks!”

“All right – make sure to grab some of Mama’s Welsh rarebit!” Alice said, arranging the cards into neat piles. “Then when you come back we can start building our castle.”

“Definitely,” Smiler said, shooting her a grin. They grabbed the edge of the tablecloth and lifted it – then, seeing no adults had eyes on them, scrambled out from under the banquet table that they and Alice had claimed as their personal hidey-hole. And I thought this party was going to be boring, they thought, scurrying toward the table where the Welsh rarebit sat, along with a few other cheese-based dishes the various attendees were nibbling on. Adults never want to have any fun when they get together – it’s just talk talk talk about boring stuff. Especially Father, going on about “social compliance” and all that...it’s a good thing that Alice is here! I can’t wait to hear another story about Wonderland – it sounds amazing! And I bet that, without the adults interrupting us, we can build a castle using all of the –

“Now, I don’t want you embarrassing me at this party, Victor, do you understand?”

Smiler stopped, turning toward the entrance. Standing there, having their coats taken by the coat-taking-man, was a hunched-over skinny man with a large mustache, leaning on a cane; a very plump woman in the fanciest dress Smiler had ever seen, fanning herself like it was the middle of summer; and a little boy, about Smiler’s age, wearing a suit with shorts and staring at his feet while the woman – presumably his mother – went on and on about how the Liddells were Very Important People and how they had to make a Good First Impression and how Victor was to Stay Quiet and Look Respectable, like the boys in magazines. The boy – Victor – was nodding along to his mother’s litany, trying to stand up straight and do as asked, but the look on his face...

“Now, Marmaduke, I understand that you’re a little – confused, at this age. But the simple fact of the matter is that you can’t just decide that you’re not a boy. It’s simply not done. Where would society be if people just started declaring themselves not one thing or the other? You have to learn how to be socially compliant. True happiness comes from obeying your elders – and you want to be happy, don’t you?”

Smiler frowned as the woman turned away from Victor, leaving him to tug at his tie as she swanned off to chat about boring things with the other adults. It seemed like, with a mother like that, Victor was about to have about as bad a time at this party as they’d feared they would have. And that was a really bad time indeed.

Well, good thing I’m here, then, Smiler thought to themselves, then marched up to Victor, putting on their best smile and sticking out their hand. “Hullo! I’m Smiler!”

Victor nearly started right out of his skin – maybe they should have been a little bit quieter. He stared at them a moment, glancing from their face to their hand and back, then hesitantly took it. “Uh – I’m – I’m – V-Victor,” he stammered, clearly out of his depth. Maybe people didn’t talk to him much? That would be sad if so. “Your name is – Smiler?”

“Well, it’s what I call myself,” Smiler told him, pumping his arm. “My real name’s awful. But Victor’s a nice name! Do you want to play with us?”

“Us?” Victor repeated, blinking.

“Me and Alice!” Smiler pointed at their table, where Alice was peeping out, clearly wondering why snacks were taking so long. They waved to her and pointed to Victor – she glanced over, then nodded and waved back. “She’s really nice, and she tells great stories,” Smiler informed Victor, grinning. “And she’s got cards – we’re gonna try and build a castle! Do you like castles?”

“Uh – yes?” Victor said, as if he wasn’t sure of his own opinions. “I’ve n-never made a card one b-before, though.” He dropped his gaze, playing with his tie again. “I’m k-kind of clumsy.”

“That’s all right – we can show you how to do it!” Smiler promised, taking his hand so he didn’t accidentally strangle himself. “Come on – we’ll get snacks, then we can go and play!”

“I – um...” Victor’s gaze went to his mother, chatting with some other adult Smiler didn’t know and didn’t care about. “I dunno...”

“Aw, come on,” Smiler wheedled, tugging his arm. “It’ll be fun! Don’t you wanna have fun? Be happy? Like, real happy, not grown-up happy?”

“Happy...” Victor looked at his mother a moment more, then over at Alice, patiently waiting for them to decide what they were doing. Then his mouth formed a determined line, and he nodded at Smiler. “Yes. Let’s go make castles.”

Smiler beamed. One happiness problem – solved! Take that, Father. “Great! But, first, we gotta get some of that rarebit – and I think there’s some cake too...”

#ot3week #valicer #prompt #fanfic #victorian AU #kidfic #victor van dort #alice liddell #smiler alton #okay I had a lot of fun writing this one #the trio as kids are so cute :) #though again I actually wrote this from Victor's POV to start #with him wondering why he was even at this party #and then getting startled by Smiler when they kind of just appeared beside him #but that ended up not working the way I wanted it to #and I didn't like that (since Victor didn't know any better) I had to refer to Smiler by the wrong pronouns #so I swapped to little Smiler on a rewrite and suddenly everything clicked :) #part of me thinks this could be the opening to a Valicer take on the 'Somebody I Used To Know' idea #where Victor got yanked into the events of AMA #would encourage me to finish up those posts I have on Smiler's Otherland already! #oh and Smiler and Alice hanging out under one of the tables is inspired by something I used to do as a kid #my parents sold books at bookshows and I'd amuse myself with books and such under one of the selling tables #felt like something Alice and Smiler might do! #queued

[aqueousammonia-art]

i don't have much to say because school but I am really enjoying watching trigun (98 anime)

originally I was going to cut off my adventures at episode 13 (which I found out was just a rehash of previous adventures + some new scenes) and pick up the other half during my June holidays

*then I found out the 'next day' that netflix was pulling the show in about 9 days from this post.(hhh)

*that was in march

so I'm trying to slowly finish the show now and draw out all my thoughts at the end instead of splitting my review into two like I intended (which was stupid now that I think about it.)

legato's interesting to me - I don't eat sweet stuff often but I would be down with this guy

he'd recommend the meanest cakes. he'd know the wackiest spots for heavenly delicacies.

for anyone who's read this far, take this legato doodle with you as thanks ♡⁠˖⁠꒰⁠ᵕ⁠༚⁠ᵕ⁠⑅⁠꒱

I'll be back with my thoughts when I finish the 98 anime!

#custardcookiedough #trigun #tbh ive had to redo the tags 2 times now and i just can't rn #legato bluesummers #i was watching episode 17 late at night yesterday #this post would probably be a lot different if i had took a break there #at least im finally #FINALLY #seeing wolfwood again in ep18 #oh yeah also legato is fun to draw yeah i don't feel like writing tags again #its funny because i sorta feel weird for tagging trigun every time i do one of these update blogs #then i just post it anyway cause im only on here for like 10 minutes a week or two #okay enough rambling in the tags

[sugarsnappeases]

thank you for the tag @fxreflyes this is so cute, except the format is trying to hinder my propensity to ramble, so i’ve rectified this in the tags lmao

i’m over 5'5 / i wear glasses or contacts / i have blonde hair / i often wear sweatshirts / i prefer loose clothing over tight clothes / i have one or two piercings / i have at least one tattoo / i have blue eyes / i have dyed or highlighted my hair / i have or have had braces / i have freckles / i paint my nails / i typically wear makeup / i don’t often smile / resting bitch face / i play sports / i play an instrument / i know more than one language / i can cook or bake / i like writing / i like to read / i can multitask / i’ve never dated anyone / i have a best friend i’ve known for over five years / i am an only child

no pressure tags for @static-radio-ao3 @inevitablestars @itsjaywalkers @carniferous @orbitfalls @transsexualpriest @futurequibblerjournalist <333

#i'm like 5'7 i think. fun fact i used to wear glasses when i was like 11 bc all my friends were getting glasses and i wanted some too so i #lied to my optician. lol good times. don't actually need glasses tho soooo. #this is me coming out as a natural blonde guys….. like my hair hasn’t been blonde in a good year or so and it hasn’t been my natural blonde #in like three/four years but still in my heart of hearts i identify as a blonde. like i get confused when people don't count me as one #i have my ears and nose pierced and i would love a tattoo but unfortunately i have both a fear of needles and commitment issues so. #not sure if that’ll ever happen… would be very hot and sexy tho. also i'm one of those freaks with green eyes lol it's appaza quite rare #my hair is currently like dark dark brown… have been getting the itch to dye it again tho like a kinda reddish colour idk yet we’ll see #i had braces for AAGES. i have freckles in the summer and i paint my nails whenever i remember to. rn they’re a very chipped lilac colour #i think i have a resting bitch face but i can never tell tbf like it might be more of a resting 'dead to the world' face lmao #okay technically i don’t play an instrument anymore! but in the past i’ve dabbled with the cello the oboe and the xylophone. singing too #spanish and italian baybee although ig if this means like fluently then that’s not me but this is literally my degree it’s my whole brand #yes i like to read but also the only things ive read in like the last few months have been either books in spanish/italian for my degree #literary criticism for said span/ital books and… fanfic. so. also i like writing but it's my worst enemy rn the thoughts aren't working :( #i have many best friends that i’ve known for years!!!! in fact i've known some of my friends for like my entire life it's very cute #okay sorry for rambling i can never help myself and i also literally could go on icl like there was Some restraint applied here #kara lore #bc there's quite a lot of it in this one lol #tag games

[six-white-venus]

One of your poems has to be carved on the moon. Which do you choose?

something about my father, maybe. i would give him this world and the stars and the night sky. i would carve his name with nothing but my blunt nails on the surface of the moon just to make him feel seen. would it ever be enough? would my bloody fingernails and sweat-stained t-shirt bring him any semblance of comfort and erase the nightmares of his past? i will never know. but till that, i will reach out to the moon; to hold her in my palms, to scratch his name on her skin, to crush her under my hold and make him a ring out of something celestial.

did you know that when we look at the stars in the night sky, we are, in a way, looking at the past? what we see today is an object whose emitted light started its journey millions of years back and from trillions of kilometres away and reaching our eyes now. the thought of something ancient, something ethereal reaching out to bestow the light it will never get to see light up the sky of a person they will never meet is so achingly human, don't you think?

i would kneel on the moon and on it carve the words i wrote, ones that i think they seem to be telling us every day.

"i love you, i love you. can you hear me?"

(stay. do not let me glow in vain. i will light up your sky. i always do)

#thanks for the ask! i had a lot of fun with this one #i can't believe you made me choose smh. user frillyheathen from my poems do you not see i cannot hold a single train of thought #or settle on a single theme #still. thank you so much for the ask! #i actually sat and did some astronomy and physics research for this. and used none of it #okay i used some of it but that's a direct quote from my physics textbook #i'll stop talking now lmao hope this wasn't terrible #my writing #prose poetry #words #love #writeblr #prose #stars #moon #hope #ask game

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

y'all i may or may not have hyperfocused for like twelve (12) hours today and come out of it with 5,627 words, on this, the first of nano

#text #personal #writing #nano #nanowrimo #nano2023 #wf #sweats 🫣🫣 #okay i had my phone off for that long but i DID take a little break in there around. 3PM. to eat lunch. #and then i took ANOTHER from 6-8 for dinner and walkies and stuff #so it wasnt 12 hours of TOTALLY unbroken hyperfocus but the systems maintenance was at a minimum lmao #and my phone was off the whole time so it felt focused #anyway the first card was rocky but the second one was a lot of fun!!! #i think thats par for my course lol

[gayghostrights]

day four: tea as a love language

day three of @jonmartinweek

Summary: Jon and Martin take care of each other.

you can read it here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/54949168

#Ok technically this is just all the classic rolled into one #but i had fun #Also #I could write a three hour lecture on Martin's caretaking and the way other characters sometimes dismiss it as overly optimistic or avoidan #which okay yeah it sort of is but also Martins Care is so important!!!!! (and don't even get me started on his mum rejecting his care) #so i wrote a fic where Jon not only accepts and reciprocates his care but also he actively seeks it out and draws attention to it. #these tags make this fic seem deeper than it really is but its not reflective of how much I actually love martins careataking. #anyway thats a lot of tags and this is 20 minutes late but that's fine here it is #jonmartin #jonmartin fanfic #jonmartin fanfiction #jonmartin week #jonmartinweek 2024 #jonmartin week 2024 #jmart #teaholding #written by me

[lohstandfound]

hmm.... Jake's labels for this exhibition being filled with codes and references only the rest would understand in hopes that's they were drawn to the museum

Jake labels being a perfect mixture of informative and poetic, passionate and practical. They're emotional (Brooke cries the first time reading them. Jake spent countless hours perfecting them because they had to be right, they had to be perfect. He couldn't let his friends down)

#lohst.txt #bmc #be more chill #jake dillinger #deities au #okay maybe one more because ass tonight was on communication in museum #And we discussed museum labels #I love writing museum labels #They're so difficult but challenging and fun #I like them #I had to write one last year #And my classes last year or a lot of emphasis on being creative and poetic #So I almost wrote my material culture study as a poem

[whydoiexist1406]

Summary: Jeremy has a little "problem", which causes him to hide out in the school bathroom. Since masturbation is strictly forbidden, the Squip helps him out with it.

Warnings: slight coercion, mild praise and even milder degradation kink, slight humiliation, edging, crying? Tearing up? Something like that. The Squip being The Squip basically lmao.

Jeremy was completely screwed.

He was absolutely mortified, in fact, at the situation he found himself in. He's never been more embarrassed in his life.

He was hiding away in a school bathroom stall, knees brought up to his chest with a painful erection tenting his jeans, all because Christine had done something as simple as smile at him and touch his arm during play rehearsal. For less than five seconds. What was wrong with him?

The Squip materialized in front of him, pixels appearing in thin air and building him up like a Lego set before the man stood tall before him, looking down on him with disdain, and Jeremy already knew what was coming. So, he met it head on.

"Look, I know you said no-"

The Squip cut him off coolly, easily.

"Absolutely not, Jeremy. No exceptions." Voice firm and leaving no room for argument.

As the Squip crossed his arms over his chest, towering over him, Jeremy buried his face into his knees, a frustrated groan ripping out of him.

"What am I supposed to do?" Voice a bit muffled by the denim, "Wait it out? That could take hours!"

Jeremy slowly lifted his head at the sound of the Squip humming thoughtfully. He had one hand resting on his chin in thought, eyes squinted, before he suddenly snapped his fingers and smirked down at Jeremy, seemingly getting an idea.

"Remove your pants."

Jeremy, so caught off guard he inhaled sharply, starting coughing almost violently as saliva tried to enter his airway. He covered his mouth, trying to catch his breath again with spasming, weak drawings of air.

Jeremy's chest now a little sore, he glanced back up at the Squip, who raised an unimpressed eyebrow at him. He looked impatient. And completely serious. Shit.

With a nervous sigh Jeremy reached down, popping his button and unzipping his fly before shimmying his jeans down his legs. He swallowed, trying to assuage the growing dryness, and looked back at the Squip for what to do next.

"Good." A faint tingle went down Jeremy's spine, "Now, remove your underwear."

He was worried that's where this was going. He grew apprehensive, hands faintly shaking when he grabbed a hold of his waistband, and he stopped, finding his voice.

"Are- are you sure? I mean, didn't you say I wasn't allowed to-" the sound of a sharp 'tsk' had him closing his mouth.

"Jeremy, I assure you this is not going to end in masturbation. Not technically, at least. Now, underwear off." Jeremy nodded, but his hands nearly quaked now.

He pushed his underwear down to join his pants, revealing his flushed dick, so hard it was almost painful. He'd always been grateful that he was an average size, he definitely didn't need to add that to his long enough list of insecurities.

He kept his gaze down at himself, a strange kind of fear filling him at the idea of seeing the Squips reaction. To him. His body. He realized it didn't make sense, why should he care about the opinion of a computer program? But the idea of seeing anything negative on that faintly glowing face filled him with dread.

A hand, outlined in blue light and leaving a cold tingling on his skin, was suddenly under his chin, tilting up his head and forcing him to look the Squip in the eye.

A powerful relief flowed through him at the sight of his expression, which was no different than usual. Condescending and stern, but his eyes..they were pretty normally, but now, the way they softened down at him, the colors seemed to shine like two large blue stars, their powerful gravity drawing him in and locking him into orbit.

Jeremy almost missed it when the Squip started talking again, too fixated on the strange way his eyes seemed to shift and swirl like nebulae.

"Jeremy, have you ever wondered how it is that you can feel it when I touch you?" His voice was uncharacteristically gentle, but the quiet rumble it produced was nowhere near unpleasant.

"Y..yes, I have." The hand on his chin migrated up to touch his cheek, raising goosebumps along his skin wherever it touched.

"It's simple, think of it in the same terms of a placebo. Your brain can't differentiate between what is and isn't really there when you believe it hard enough, when your eyes tell another story." Jeremy felt like he was floating, it was a similar feeling to all those times Michael had convinced him to smoke with him and he hit enough to get high. The sound of the Squips voice, the sight of his enchanting eyes, the electric hand at his cheek, all lulling him into a trance.

That was, until the Squip trailed a finger with his other hand up the vein on the underside of his cock, and Jeremy jolted at the sensation. The suddenness caused him to clamp his teeth down, right onto his tongue, so hard the taste of iron filled his mouth and stinging pain blossomed through the muscle.

At Jeremy's hiss of pain the Squip removed both hands from him, and he wasn't sure if he was grateful or disappointed for it. The Squip looked at him, expression briefly disappointed before shifting to one of amusement.

"Hmm, I didn't account for you being so sensitive, my apologies, Jeremy." That cruel bastard. He knew exactly what he was doing, didn't he? Jeremy shifted where he sat, and as much as he didn't want to admit it, even a simple, brief touch like that was enough to reignite his ever growing need. He released a shaky breath, hands clenching into fists as his sides.

"Yeah, it's whatever.." he mumbled, a shiny bead of precum growing at his tip and slowly trailing down the side of his shaft. He watched as it made it's way down, attention only pulled away when the Squip kneeled down in front of him, eyes devious and sending a chill down his spine. In fear, anticipation or both, Jeremy wasn't sure.

Jeremy couldn't help but tense when the Squip brought a hand forward, intently watching it grow closer, which stopped less than an inch away from his weeping cock. He slowly released a puff of air, forcing himself to relax at least a little. He froze right back up as soon as the hand moved towards him again, barely a centimeter of distance, before he was speaking in a rush.

"W-wait! Is this okay? I mean, a good idea?" He internally cringed at each stutter or stammer, recalling the Squips previous words regarding it, sweat beginning to collect at his hairline.

"Jeremy.." the Squip began, drawing out his name in a dark, borderline seductive tone, "didn't you yourself say it would take too long to wait?"

"Well, yeah.." he resisted the urge to fidget, to wring his hands together and twiddle his thumbs in order to give himself something else to focus on. Something else other than the hand so close to his dick and the unwanted but still ever present arousal itching along under his skin like thousands of insect legs.

The Squips lip curled into a smile, but the undercurrent of sadistic pleasure stopped it from looking any version of kind.

"Then..do I have your consent to continue?" He tilted his head in a way that was distinctly mocking, and it shouldn't have made his stomach constrict and cock twitch.

He couldn't bring himself to speak, fearing his voice would fail and reveal just how nervous and horny he was, although the Squip was in his head so he probably already knew. Jeremy wanted to preserve his dignity anyway, however. At least, the dignity he perceived himself to have, so he simply nodded.

A full body shudder ran through Jeremy once the Squips larger hand finally wrapped around him, grip firm. He quickly brought a hand up, pressing the back of it against his mouth to stifle the choked whine that tried to escape, pressing his eyes closed so firmly a kaleidescope of color bursted from out behind his eyelids.

A thumb circling around his head, as if collecting the precum that was drooling from his tip and trying to spread it around to make the non-existent friction smoother, had his hips bucking up without his permission, desperate for more.

The feeling of the Squips hand was unlike anything he'd ever felt, the sensation otherworldly and inorganic, outclassing his own by miles and potentially any other humans on the planet. Not that he would know, of course.

"Fuck.." he moaned out, the sound closer to a sob, from behind his hand when the Squip gave him a single slow stroke from base to tip, not nearly fast enough to get him close to his orgasm, keeping him desperate and on edge. He opened his eyes, peeling his gaze away from the Squips hand where it was wrapped around him and glancing at his face, and the borderline evil glint in the A.I's eyes simultaneously made his heart drop and a jolt of electricity run down his back.

He knew what that looks meant. The Squip was waiting for something, and whatever that something was, he was going to have to work for it. Because nothing could ever be easy for him, could it?

The Squip must've realized Jeremy caught on based on the way his smile subtly widened in response, and if it weren't for the way his breaths gasped out of him and sweat was trailing down his brow and he felt like he was going to explode from the way even the still hand around him felt he would've given him a piece of his mind. But, because of all of that, instead he simply moaned, weak and soft, and tried to thrust up into the hand around him.

Except the hand followed his movements, getting him absolutely nowhere.

He pressed his hands to his eyes, struggling to try and even his breathing, to calm down enough to be able to speak again, but it was difficult when all he could think about was how the tingling, almost electric feeling from the Squips hand felt better than anything he might experience ever again.

With a slow, shaky deep breath, his let his hands drop and tried to force his voice steady.

"What..why did you stop?" And promptly failed at that, because he sounded just as unstable as he felt.

"Well, Jeremy," he started, sounding completely unbothered by the situation, cool as a cucumber, "if you must know, although I suppose it's only fair, if I were a girl, say Brooke, right now, how do you think it would look for you to ejaculate almost immediately?"

Jeremy blinked, foggy brain taking it's time in processing the Squips words, but eventually the rusty cogs began turning enough for it to make sense.

"So, you're torturing me so I don't cum fast?" Jeremy asked, voice as deadpan as he could possibly manage to make it under such... circumstances.

"Essentially, yes. I'm trying to increase your stamina. You're welcome." He grinned at Jeremy, eyes glinting even in the absence of direct light, reminding Jeremy of some kind of super villain. Although, he might be a bit biased in that idea considering where he was right now.

"Is this seriously the best time for tha- ah!" The Squips hand viced down on him, borderline painful but thoroughly pleasurable, the sensation travelling through every muscle fiber in his body and forcing an embarrassing yelp from him.

"Now now, Jeremy, is that any way to talk to me? After all I've done for you? Am doing, right now?" It was barely even framed as a question, they both knew the answer. Especially if Jeremy wanted to cum any time soon. He softly shook his head, the shame beginning to prickle in his peripheral doing nothing to kill the fire of need in his stomach.

The Squip relaxed his hand, lessening the pressure, and rewarded Jeremy with another languid stroke, pulling another spurt of precum from him. He grit his teeth, trying to control the noises trying to claw their way up his throat, but he was fighting a losing battle.

Only, the Squip didn't stop at just once like last time, he continued moving his hand, slowly and smoothly, up and down, and he couldn't find it in himself to be embarrassed at the whine, almost sounding pained, that left him. It felt too good, brain shutting down against his will and turning to mush.

His vision was going fuzzy, eyes stinging. Was that normal?

It was when the Squip increased the pace ever so slightly and he couldn't control the way he almost spasmed in response that Jeremy realized tears were collecting at his waterline, and that was definitely something he could bring himself to be embarrassed about, whether he wanted to be or not. Maybe the Squip was right, once again. This would be even more mortifying than it already is if this were a girl.

"W-wait, please, stop.." he needed a second to pull himself together, and mercifully the Squip complied, pulling his hand away and giving Jeremy room to breathe. He sniffled, which didn't make him feel any less pathetic, and wiped at his eyes with both hands, once again trying to look at anywhere but the Squips face as he did so.

A few seconds later, after taking some deep breaths, he glanced up at the Squip, who looked completely neutral, face stoic and strangely devoid of emotion, before nodding to give him the go-ahead. He curled around his cock much more gently this time, but it didn't stop him from reacting just as much, drawing in a sharp breath against the strike of lightning hot pleasure.

The Squip increased the pace again, giving him less time adjust, but thankfully this time he didn't almost start crying like some tween seeing her crush with another girl. Yet, anyways. After all the teasing and false starts his orgasm built quickly, after only moment of being touched, causing him to squirm and writhe in his seat, once again bringing up a hand to bite on his fist and muffle the desperate moans he was producing. He was getting so close.

He was right there on the edge, so close, so beautifully close, and it felt so good, until-.

The Squip pulled away just at the last second, and it solidified this as the worst day of his life, a sound of frustration that sounded somewhat like a cat being strangled leaving him in response before he could stamp it down. He had been right there, and with surgical precision the demon attached to his brain snatched it away. He had the urge to cry again, but he pushed it back as fiercely as possible.

"What the hell, man?!" He blurted out, so unbelievably turned on it was definitely painful now. He was so desperate he'd be willing to do anything, so desperate he felt he might die. And the Squip sat there, on one knee, looking at him as if this were a normal day, like he were bored. It only made things hurt worse, made him want it more.

The Squips mouth twitched into a small smirk, but it was nowhere near the perfect picture of Satan from earlier, with his large grins and flaring eyes nowhere to be seen now. It was slightly unsettling.

"What's the magic word, Jeremy?"

His mouth opened, hanging wide in shock and disbelief. No way was he being serious. But, Jeremy had enough experience with the A.I to know he was always serious. Unfortunately.

Apparently Jeremy was taking too long to answer because the Squip reached forward, using a single finger to press down on the leaking slit at his tip. A shiver ran through his body at the touch, almost choking, suffocating, on the intensity of his want. His need.

"Uh, uhm.." he hesitated, though.

"Jeremy, spit it out." And the inpatient, irritated edge to the Squips voice had him speaking without thinking, without needing to think, only feeling the need to be good enough to get back the gentle tone and soft gaze from the beginning of this whole ordeal.

"Please.." he spoke uncertainty at first, but once he got it out it was like a dam had burst, "please let me cum, I need it so bad it hurts, please, please-" his pleas broke off into a full fledged sob of relief when the hand returned, which turned into a loud cry of pleasure when the pace set was fast, almost brutal.

It only took a few pumps until he was cumming so hard he saw stars, black dots dancing across his vision, muscles seizing up and mouth hanging open in a silent scream, and for a second there he thought he might pass out from the sheer power of his orgasm, rolling through him in waves like a tsunami.

When he started to come down his breath stuttered out of him in short, shallow puffs, body trembling and mind completely blissed out. He felt better than he had in years. Maybe the Squip wasn't that bad. Speaking of, he looked up to find him now standing again, looking much too smug and pleased with himself. Though, looking down at himself and the absolute mess he'd made, he could, infuriatingly, understand why.

Jeremy cleared this throat, awkwardly grabbing a wad of toilet paper to clean himself up with, praying no one heard him when he came. He was a bit loud.

After he was done wiping himself off he pulled his underwear and jeans back up and, as he pulled up his zipper, casted the Squip a glance.

"S-so, was it good?" He smiled, trying to come off as joking and not let his anxiety bleed through. The Squip scoffed, rolling his eyes in response.

"No, Jeremy. In fact, it was almost as terrible as it possibly could have been." Jeremy tried not to let the hurt show on his face, though he perked up at what the A.I said next.

"We'll just have to add it to the list of many features that need upgrading. Now, get going, you're over thirty minutes late to class." And with that the Squip dematerialized, dismantling pixel by pixel and vanishing into thin air without another word.

With a soft exclamation of 'oh shit!' Jeremy hurried out of the bathroom, sprinting his way to class on wobbly, jelly-like legs, trying not to look forward to the next time too much and desperately trying not to faceplant on the way there.

#Jeremy x the squip #Jeremy x squip #jeresquip #squipjere #squipemy #i had quite a lot of fun writing this one lmao #it's absolutely terrible quality wise but that's a-okay

[syncrovoid-presents]

I will continue being gone for a few days, sadly my original al plan of releasing the newest chapter of The Consequence Of Imagination's Fear has also been delayed. My apologies

Can't go into detail because its hush hush not-legally-mentionable stuff but today is my fifth 12 hour no-break work day. I'm also packing to move too in a fortnight (which is a Big Yahoo!! Yippee!! I'll finally have access to a kitchen!! And no more mold others keep growing!!! So exciting!!!)

#syncrovoid.txt #delete later #OKAY SO! this makes it sound like i have a super important job but really we are understaffed and ive barely worked there a year now #graduated college a few years early 'cause i finished high school early (kinda? it's complicated) #now i am in a position where i am in the role of a whole Quality Assurance team (testing and write ups) #a Task Manager/Planner #Software Developer and maybe engineer? not sure the differences. lots of planning and programming and debugging ect ect #plus managing the coworker that messed up and doing his stuff because it just isnt good enough. which i WILL put in my end day notes #our team is like 4 people lol. we severely need more because rhe art department has like 10 people?? #crunch time is.. so rough.. #its weirdddddd thinking about this job since its like i did a speedrun into a high expectations job BUT in my defense i was hired before #i graduated. and like SURE my graduating class had literally 3 people so like there was a 86%-ish drop out rate?? #did a four year course in 2 BY ACCIDENT!! i picked it on a whim. but haha i was picked to give advice and a breakdown on the course so it #could be reworked into a 3 year course (with teachers that dont tell you to learn everything yourself) so that was neat #im rambling again but i have silly little guy privileges and a whole lot of thoughts haha #anywho i am SO hyped to move!! I'll finally get away from the creepy guy upstairs (i could rant for days about him but he is 0/10 the worst) #it will be so cool having access to a kitchen!! and literally anything more than 1 singular room #(it isnt as bad as it sounds i just have a weird life. many strange happenings and phenomenons) #<- fun fact about me! because why not? no one knows where i came from and i dont 100% know if my birthday is my birthday #i just kinda. exist. @:P #i mean technically i was found somewhere and donated to some folks (they called some different people and whoever got there first got me) #but still i think it is very silly! i have no ties to a past not my lived one! i exist as a singularity! #anywho dont think about it too hard like i guess technically ive been orphaned like twice but shhhhhhhh #wow. i am so sleep deprived. i am so so sorry to anyone who may read this #i promise im normal #@:|

[jareicanon]

okay here’s the real monster story (i spent 6 hours on this)

#rizamuse #lmk #lmk au #lmk mei #lmk fandom #lmk fanfic #lmk mk #lmk fanfiction #the harbinger and the soldier #foreverchaosau #god works fast but i work faster #climax piece i guess?? #i’m sort of working backwards #so i’ll get to the slow corruption of mk later #okay but the one i posted before was a lot harder to write #idk storytelling is complex when you gotta make it sound mysterious you know? #anyway #i had a lot of fun with this #this au has me in a chokehold #for the record i’m in deep

[twistedappletree]

Ajdhajjsjabdjabsajbd

#nah I’m actually not even okay this fic is getting so serious #I don’t usually write angst but like #there’s so much to explore with it honestly #and I’m writing a scene where jin Ling basically talks to Sihua like he’s talking to his dad and it’s jUST #b r e a k i n g me a bit lmaoo JUST A BIT #just a goddamn huge ass heart shattering bit akdjakjdakjd #ooooof this is gonna be really different from what I usually write y’all BUT #I’m excited I’m having a TON of fun fleshing this all out #it’s a lot more mature for sure #except for the parts with Jingyi bc he’s still a fucking gremlin even as a sect leader LOL #tho he does lovingly tear down Jin Ling’s ego in one of the scenes and it’s pretty lit ngl #even JL appreciates it 💀 #apple babble 🍎 #fic musings #sorry but I’m having SO MANY THOUGHTS just had to scream into the void a little #also meant suihua I’m not going all the way back to correct it LMAO

[chryzure]

whew, people get heated over their fav booktok book.

#memorie.txt #once you’ve read more you’re more willing to admit that you love a kinda poorly written book #by god i love jackaby. the writing style is a solid 3/5 and the plot stuff is cheesy as hell. #you get a better frame of reference for ‘this book requires an award’ style of good #and a ‘god this is so my dumb little niche that scratches all those weird little itches nobody else has’ style of good #one of my fav series is the ghost and the goth!! is it good?? i don’t know if i’d go that far!! #is it fun and does it make me think of trysi / chryzure stuff??? yes :) #i’m beginning to wonder abt ppl rabid abt their fav books. anyway this one person was losing their shit over ppl liking apollo #and aurora and i’m an aurora shooter but i digress #they were foaming at the mouth and im like Well. its a little not that serious . #he is letters on a page. and also mostly irrelevant to the story as a whole so im kinda confused as to why ppl feel so strongly abt him #it’s funny because most of my complaints stem from an outside pov #where i critique the worldbuilding / plot work / character writing and its inconsistencies #whereas ppl assume im encouraging villainy irl. it is quite seriously more that the villainy is unmotivated #or otherwise poorly done. i love to hate a good villain if the proper legwork is put into it #because i like observing how others work their craft!!! #but my irritation with stephanie is that she doesn’t work her craft well. it’s shoddy craftsmanship full of retcons or #convenience required for plot that otherwise hold no reasoning in the story #and i can admit that i find the series unsatisfying because it’s marketed as a romance (the romance had little chemistry that could be #understood by anyone that’s not straight. straight romances are always laziest because it’s the ‘norm’ so that equates to chem) #and also it was marketed as having plot when rlly the ‘plot’ was trying to put these characters in weird chemistry-less situations together #so yeah i’ll complain abt the villains being jealous shallow archetypes when it could’ve had depth. #i’ll complain abt a lot. but in the end it’s a silly basic ya romance series that isn’t anything unique #most unique stories will not be found on booktok. i’m sorry #i can show you the beautiful world of horror novels though! #or weird lil 80s fantasy novels that are actually quite long that my dad likes showing me #truly no romance novel will be better than the darkangel trilogy though.. that is what stephanie wanted to write. #but that’s lightning in a bottle ithink. #okay anyway. good night. i worked a long day and i have appts in the morning

[theinternetisfulloftrash]

Dylan O'Brien as Colin in 'Not Okay' for @dobshands birthday! <3

art by theinternetisfulloftrash

#dylan o'brien #dylan o'brien fanart #not okay #not okay movie #not okay fanart #much love cutieeee #enjoy the colin of it all #I had a lot of fun with this one #and making that little background #colin #trashy art #blond dylan #sorry it's a day late babeeeeee #should have been writing #WHOOOOOPS #;)

[skitskatdacat63]

Love to go back to my desk once I've woken up and see whatever weird thing I was working on at like 5 am. This one I think is genuinely interesting but also would look so deranged to anyone else 😭 I was writing a color coded guide to how I group drivers in my head with examples with different grids(i.e. how the demographics change) and now I want to write one for all of the 2000-now grids. Completely normal behavior what are you talking about

#let me know if anyone wants to see it :D i like to do these little projects for myself bcs its fun to be meticulous #but as i said i do think its really interesting what the demographic of the grid is #(how i group them is basically about debut year which comes with certain impressions on my part) #but i say it looks deranged bcs one time i showed my dad my f1 guide book #(i have a notebook where i wrote down guides of all the grids like with teams/drivers/team changes/etc) #(and also write down all of the race wknd results from this season) #and hes like '...oooookayyyyyyy 😶' #ITS FUN FOR ME OKAY #im just fond of 'record keeping' ig and i really think the older grids are interesting #id love to do the 90s but the further back you go the more confusing it gets tbh #like only a handful of drivers ik from then and also more drivers #i actually have written grid guides twice....sry its rly fun actually 😭 #but bcs i switched notebooks and i wanted to make a better one #but it was so interesting bcs i made the first one when i was getting into f1 and then the 2nd one was like after i had watched older races #so the first time i only knew a couple drivers but then 2nd time i recognized practically every name #lmao this started bcs i had to write a 2023 guide to myself so i could memorize all the teams and drivers #and i remember really not knowing like any of them but now i think i could do back until 2018 from memory #before that gets a bit hsrd just because there's a lot of drivers that just come and go super quickly and leave not much impression imo #okay anyways now i must embark on my deranged organizational adventure #catie.rambling.txt

[elegyofthemoon]

Spell your URL!

Spell out your URL using song titles that can describe your muse/OC, then tag as many people as there are letters in your URL!

OO thanks so much @cove-holdens !! This seemed like fun so I'll try ; v ; it's probably going to be pretty length though (> _ >) so i'll just put it under a read more

BUT want to tag beforehand idk enough people with ocs i think so i just toss it to @fayesdiary, @narzissenkreuz-ordo, @lemonbronze, @garlandgerard (i THINK you have some ocs sorry if i am misremembering), and whoever else I follow that has ocs :D let me get to know them!! (also of course no obligation <3)

I'm too fixated on my OC Octavia so here we go lmao

E - "Escapism" from Steven Universe: "I guess I have to face/ That in this awful place/ I shouldn't show a trace of doubt/ But pulled against the grain/ I feel a little pain/ That I would rather do without"

L - "Letter" from the Fragile Dreams OST

E - "Extraordinary" by Clean Bandit: "Am I the only one who sees what you've become?/ Will you drift away?/ We're running out of time, two wrongs can make it right/ Could I make you stay?/ People making choices, they can't fake/ Sacrifice it all and maybe say"

G - "Get Your Wish" by Porter Robinson: "Don't say you lose just yet/ Get up and move ahead/ And not only for yourself/ 'Cause that's your role/ The work that stirred your soul/ You can make for someone else"

Y - "Youth" by Daughter: "We are the reckless, we are the wild youth/ Chasing visions of our futures/ One day, we'll reveal the truth/ That one will die before he gets there/ And if you're still bleeding, you're the lucky ones/ 'Cause most of our feelings, they are dead and they are gone/ We're setting fire to our insides for fun"

O - "Octave of the Maushiro" by Chewie Melodies

F - "Future Friends" by Tilian: "Slow down/Give me a reason not to slow down/ I can feel the bottom and it's cold now/ I'm on the outside looking in/ So I'm calling on my future friends"

T - "The Hymn" by FLOYA: "I hope you understand that I cannot stay/ Don't expect you to feel the same/ There's a dream that I have to chase/ I'm feeling alive in the unknown/ Dancing to the hymn of the wind/ And though you and I are on our own/ I know you're close whenever I feel alone"

H - "here and now" by Tony22: "Here and now i'll find my hope/Yesterday is far gone and tomorrow never comes/Here and now's where I belong/So tired of using the present moment as my stepping stone"

E - "Eternal Sunshine" by Jhene Aiko: "Is it strange for me to say that if I were to die today/There's not a thing that I would change, I've lived well/ Maybe I have made mistakes and been through my fair share of pain/ But all in all, it's been okay, I've lived well"

M - "Miss You" by trentemøller

O - "Old Weapon Testing Ground" from HSR OST

O - "OUTRO" by LUCY

N - "North" from the Ender Lilies OST

#this was fun because i had to go search around a bit #askdfjahl i have an octavia playlist but theres only three songs on there 2/3 of them were listed #the instrumental songs are ones that ive mostly written to for octavia myeheh #or it just gives off certain vibes for them #speaking of octavia #i had a call today with my friend and i accidentally rambled (i was off in my own world tbh LMAO) #about transduction arc and i was like AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH #but talking about it? it made me a little more motivated to write it #but HH WHEN? #ngl if i just dip out in june just to go insane in writing ✌🏼hbd to me ig lmao #but 'future friends' the more i think about it the more it reads a lot like transduction arc!octavia lmao #dont ask about the arcs im just rambling to myself LMAO #girls on a mission to destroy herself and shes only being stopped by the friends she kinda blindsided #oh god now that im slowly finishing this... #its mostly instrumentals LKAJSDAHF #okay only SOME of this ive written to #but theres certain vibes to them that give off octavia vibes #which is weird bc a lot of it feels like they contrast one another #like outro for example feels like the happy tranquil ending for them (fitting outro) #miss you feels like when they're lost in themself. which fits the vibe for octave #asdlfkadsjhaflk #tag games #again no obligation #also im sleep deprived idc if im posting about octavia here hi LMAO #and im about to do another one bc im just digging lmao #but anyways ~ #to tag later #bc i want to put this on the other blog for octavia #and then dissect it out further lmao #for octavia

[victorluvsalice]

AU Thursday: Valicer In The Dark -- Accused

Time for more Valicer In The Dark, with my current favorite of the snippets I have written so far. :D This entry takes place a little while after "Discoveries" -- after getting a gondola to Brightstone and the Everglot Manor, the trio and Emily invaded the Barkis/Everglot wedding reception, causing chaos and causing the guests to scatter. Barkis himself fled into the streets with Victoria, but Victor, Alice, and Smiler were able to get her away from him (with Victor encouraging her to run for help, which she did), and Emily ended up possessing Barkis to stop him trying to kill Victor. Which led to her finding a couple of electroplasm bombs on his person, tossing one to Alice ("in case you need it to solve your problem"), and using the other to blow both herself and Barkis up. Of course, the local Bluecoat squad (run by Sargent Tannen) showed up only AFTER this had all happened...and while the trio were doing their best to explain the whole mess, one of Tannen's men just made a very unfortunately discovery on Barkis's corpse...

---

“Ah – Sargent Tannen?”

Everyone turned toward the Bluecoat – Alice was reasonably certain he was named Thomas – examining Barkis’s fried corpse. “We – we have a bit of a problem,” Thomas continued, holding up a partially-melted mask.

A partially-melted bronze mask.

Alice’s jaw damn near hit the cobbles. “What – how – he – he couldn’t have been,” she said, shaking her head against the damning evidence before her. “Not a chance!”

“To be fair, all of them are completely anonymous,” Smiler pointed out, looking as stunned as she felt. Beside them, Victor gaped, equally as shocked by the implications. “And it would explain why he had electroplasm bombs on him.”

“I refuse to believe it!” Alice insisted. “That asshole, a Spirit Warden? It boggles the bloody mind!”

“Purrhaps, but no one said you had to be good to be a Warden,” Cheshire told her, though even his smile looked a little fainter in the light of this news.

“And Bumby’s convinced everyone that he’s the heart and soul of charity,” the Queen of Hearts reminded her, rolling her eyes. “Why should this Barkis be any different? He fooled at least one woman to her death, after all.”

Tannen stared at the mask for a very long moment. Then a cold smile spread over his face. “Well well well,” he said, turning back to the three. “Seems like your little story just doesn’t hold up.”

“What? Sir, with all due respect, nothing about our story changes just because he happened to be a Spirit Warden,” Smiler said, putting on an increasingly-nervous smile of their own.

“Really? You want me to believe a Spirit Warden got killed by a ghost? One that you lot claim he himself murdered?” Tannen tched a few times. “I don’t think that’s very likely, do you?”

“Well, no, but it can’t be impossible,” Smiler argued. “There’s all sorts of scary spirits out there.”

“And these folks are the best of the best when it comes to dealing with them.” Tannen paced back and forth in front of them, hands held behind his back. “No, I think I know exactly what happened. I think this little slip of a dogsbody girl, the one who everyone knows ain’t right in the head, the one that poor Dr. Bumby took in out of the goodness of his heart, found herself an Advocate willing to listen and talked ‘em around into helping her kidnap the son of one of the richest families in the city to see what they could get for a ransom, striking the day before his wedding to make sure he would be missed. And when his family didn’t pay up, and his bride just married someone else...” He went over and nudged Barkis’s corpse with his toe. “Well. Somebody got a little mad and murdered that new husband in a fit of rage.”

“What?!” Alice stepped forward, balling her fists. The other Bluecoats immediately closed in tighter around them, raising their batons. “That – that isn’t what happened and you know it!”

“You – cannot possibly – have you met any other Advocates?” Smiler demanded, waving a hand in the air. “We believe in happiness! How am I going to foster that by kidnapping someone?!”

“Wouldn’t it make you happy to get a nice fat payday?” Tannen chuckled. “I don’t blame you for trying, mind. Just a shame that the fellow you ended up offin’ was a Spirit Warden. If you’re lucky, you might just end up with life down in Ironhook. If not...” His grin got wider and meaner. “They always need new souls to power the Hulls they got makin’ the hunter boats.” He casually flicked his hand. “Boys, if you could cuff Miss Liddell and–”

“No!”

Victor stepped forward, eyes narrowed in righteous fury. “You’ve got this completely wrong!” he continued, hands held tight at his sides. Around him, the Bluecoats glanced at each other, wondering if they dared do anything to someone known to be rich. “I was taken away into the ghost field while practicing my vows after the rehearsal by a ghost who thought I’d agreed to marry her! Alice and Smiler were the closest people around when I finally found my way back into the real world, and they helped me! Took me somewhere warm and made sure I got a good meal in me! And they didn’t hesitate an instant to come with me and Emily when we learned that Victoria’s husband was likely the man who’d murdered her! They were just trying to make sure that – that b-bastard down there didn’t kill anyone else! I don’t care if he was a – a Spirit Warden! That doesn’t automatically mean he was a good person!” He pointed a finger at Tannen’s chest. “And it doesn’t mean you can j-just make up a story to throw two undeserving people in jail!”

Tannen looked at the finger, then back up at Victor. He chewed his lip, then leaned in conspiratorially. “Well – I may be willing to admit I’ve made a mistake,” he said softly, holding out a hand. “You know. If you can back that story up.”

Victor sighed heavily, then plunged a hand into his pocket. “Yes, of course, I – I...”

He paused. He felt around for a moment. Then the anger drained from his face as a briefly-forgotten fact suddenly came back to him. “Oh...I – I don’t have my wallet,” he breathed, glancing back at Smiler and Alice.

Tannen raised an eyebrow. “No? Nothing? Huh.” He smirked and stepped back, raising his voice again. “Oh dear me – it looks like Master Van Dort was in on this ‘kidnapping,’ lads! Conspiracy to defraud his own loving parents! We’re gonna have to haul him in too!”

Alice’s head snapped left and right as the Bluecoats began to move in, unhooking manacles from their belts with a fiendish glee. Fuck – and there’s no point in telling this lot about Bumby, they’ll never believe me...or even if they do, they’ll never do anything about it. It’s just so much easier to take the lot of us to jail for a murder we didn’t commit, and – and Victor’s parents will almost certainly bail him out, and Smiler’s fellow Advocates rescue them from the cells, but me – I’m going straight back to Rutledge, and since I’m old enough this time they’re just going to Hollow me out and that’ll be the end of me and Bumby will continue ruining all those children’s lives forever –

“Unless you stop waiting for help and get moving!” Cheshire said, appearing by her side with claws outstretched and tail lashing the air.

“A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step!” Caterpillar added, flitting about her head. “Or, perhaps in this case, a single stab.”

“That idiot Carpenter had the right of it before – are you a pawn, or a Queen?” the Queen of Hearts snarled, tentacles slithering like snakes through the cobbles around her. “Do something, or we are all lost! OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!”

A furious heat surged through Alice’s veins, almost akin to the spray of a Ragebox or the explosion of Hysteria. “You miserable, self-important, misbegotten toadies!” she yelled, tearing her knife from her apron strings. “I’ll show you I’m not to be trifled with!”

The Bluecoat behind her snorted and raised his baton – Alice spun on the spot and jabbed her blade between his ribs, causing him to stumble back screaming. Alice tore the Vorpal Blade from his flesh and whipped around, parrying the next blow from his companion before kicking him in the knee. A third came in, truncheon swinging – Alice ducked under it and stabbed him in the groin, getting a pained sympathetic hiss from all the menfolk (and one nonbinary person with the right equipment) in the area. The fourth, Thomas, straight-up dove for her like she was a runaway dog – she flung herself out of the way, and he cracked his chin on the cobbles. The fifth attempted to pull his gun, but he hadn’t even gotten it halfway up when her knife went through his wrist, making him shriek and drop it. Alice kicked it away, then – spotting a shadow coming up on her fast – whirled again and put the Blade straight through eye of the unlucky sixth member of Tannen’s squad. He roared in agony and fell to his knees, scrabbling at the weapon – Alice did him the favor of pulling it out, then looked up. Tannen, Victor, and Smiler all stood there, eyes wide and mouths agape, as if they could see her at her Wonderland best. Which was admittedly quite gratifying, but... “Run?” she suggested to her new friends.

Fortunately, that was all it took for Victor and Smiler to get moving, darting down a side alley. Alice was straight on their heels, managing to weave around Tannen as he broke from his trance to try and grab her. “Get up! Get up!” she heard him scream at his injured squad as they booked it. “They’re getting away!”

“Damn straight we are – that was brilliant!” Smiler added, shooting Alice an impressed grin as she caught up. “I didn’t know you could do that!”

“To be fair, I didn’t either!” Alice replied, unable to help a laugh of mingled shock and relief. “Not outside my head, at any rate!”

“Best time to learn!” Victor called from his position at the head of the pack. He skidded to a brief stop as they reached the mouth of the alley, then hooked a left. “Come on, this way!”

“Right behind you!” Smiler said, swinging left after him.

“And they are right behind you, so keep a move on!” Rabbit warned Alice, darting past her as the sound of booted footsteps started closing in on her.

“Wasn’t planning on stopping!” Alice shouted back, skidding left as she left the alley. She booked it down the street (this one full of shops and restaurants) after Victor and Smiler, past some startled ladies out for their evening constitutional. “Ugh, if only I could pull off that damn butterfly dodge here...”

“You may want to try anyway – incoming!” Hatter yelled, leaping past her.

Alice immediately looked behind her – just in time to see Thomas, now bleeding from the chin and with a look that could melt iron – lunging for her, arms spread wide to envelop her in the world’s worst embrace. She let out a rather undignified shriek and whipped sideways in an attempt to escape –

Only to find a fancy carriage pulling up beside her like a rolling roadblock. Without even thinking, she jumped like she might in Wonderland, hoping somehow to get enough height to clear it – her foot hit something hard – the door handle? The little window sill? – and she leapt again –

And found herself indeed atop the carriage, swaying but upright. Thomas gaped up at her, as did the startled carriage driver – Alice couldn’t blame them, as she was pretty shocked herself. “How in the Emperor’s name–”

“Running now, questioning later!” Rabbit cried, leaping off the other side of the carriage and sprinting toward Victor and Smiler, who’d apparently had the same thought she’d had about crossing the street to get away from their pursuers and a bit more luck in doing so. “Come on, come on!”

“Right!” Alice hastily clambered off the carriage, ignoring the baffled shouts of those within, and ran to meet Victor and Smiler as they doubled back toward her “No, no, it’s okay, I’m fine!” she assured them, waving a hand. “Keep moving!”

“How did you do that?” Victor demanded, slowing deliberately as he and Smiler turned back around so she could keep up. “I swear, when I turned around and saw you jumping like that, it looked for a moment like you’d learned how to levitate!”

“Sheer luck, I think – and an active imagination,” Alice added, glancing down and seeing blue overtaking the black in her skirt. Not the best time, brain, but if you keep it to that, I’ll allow it. “We can figure out how I learned to fly when we’re free of this lot!”

“Keep going!” Tannen’s voice roared behind them, reminding them of the danger. “Thomas, you idiot, Donovan’s already gone on ahead! How have you not gotten a hand on them yet?!”

“Not my fault, sir!” Thomas replied furiously. “That bitch has the devil’s footsteps!”

“And doesn’t she count herself lucky to have them,” Alice muttered as they pounded on, down another alley beside some sort of jewelry store. “Desperation breeds all sorts of talents, I suppose...”

“That I can believe – I’m really good at climbing things thanks to having to escape bullies in Nightmarket when I was small,” Victor admitted, pushing his hair back from his face. “Still, that was incredible.”

“Yeah, you’ll have to teach us how to do it!” Smiler said, shooting her a smile.

“I don’t know if it can be taught,” Alice said, swiping a hand across her eyes to knock the sweat out of them. “It really was just luck. I doubt I’ll be able to do it again.”

“Well, hey, if you do pull it off again, let us know and we’ll – whoa!”

A Bluecoat with a bleeding wrist – almost certainly the “Donovan” Tannen had just mentioned – burst out of a side door in the jewelry store, slamming into Smiler and knocking them into the nearby wall. “Got you now!” he declared, digging his fingers into Smiler’s collar despite his injury. “Like to see you smile your way out of this one!”

“Leave them alone!” Victor yelled, grabbing the offending arm and trying to drag it off. Alice yanked her knife out again, ready to assist as violently as the situation called for.

“No, no, it’s fine, you two – I know just how to deal with people like him,” Smiler assured them, waving a hand as the other one disappeared into their pocket. “They just need a little more joy in their lives!”

“Oh yeah?” Donovan snarled, jerking his arm to free it from Victor’s grip. “And you’re the one to give it to me?”

Smiler grinned and winked. “Well – I am a bit of an alchemist.”

And with that, they yanked their out their fist and jabbed Donovan in the neck with what Alice recognized as a Joy Serum syringe. Donovan yelped and stumbled back, clawing the emptied needle out of his neck. “There we go – have fun!” Smiler said with a cheery wave, before gently giving Victor a shove. “I always keep a spare on me, just in case – he won’t be a problem now, but how about we keep moving anyway?”

“Sure...that’s, uh, safe?” Victor asked as Donovan wobbled in place, a rather dazed-looking smile starting to spread across his face as he giggled vaguely.

“Oh perfectly, he’ll be fine! You know, so long as someone sees to the blood loss from that wrist,” Smiler qualified with a quick look back at the puddle spreading across the cobbles.

“I don’t particularly care if anyone ever tends to that or not,” Alice admitted, pushing them both along. “Rabbit’s going to have our heads if we don’t keep on, so...”

“Right, right...” Victor took point again – not that he had much choice, given he had the longest legs of the three of them – and paused briefly at the junction ahead. “Okay, so...I think the Sanctorium is that way, so...the other direction should be Shimmer Canal. . .right, come on, this way – NOT THIS WAY, NOT THIS WAY!!”

Victor did an about-face out of the alley he’d chosen so fast, Alice was half-certain he’d just flipped around without actually going through any of the intervening bits. He shoved Alice and Smiler backward, down a gap between two stores, eyes wide with sudden horror. “What? What is it?” Alice demanded, trying to peer around him to see what had frightened him so.

“Ambush?” Smiler asked, doing the same.

“No, no,” Victor squeaked, rapidly shaking his head. “It’s–”

“Really, Master Van Dort?”

The trio all froze, then skittered deeper into their hiding spot, Victor holding himself protectively in front of them. “‘Not this way’ shouted at the top of your lungs?” Tannen’s voice continued, as his booted footsteps drew closer and closer to the junction. “That is the most amateur bit of work I’ve seen since I started on the force!”

A moment later, Tannen himself emerged into the T, accompanied by Thomas (apparently the only Bluecoat of his squad still both able and willing to walk). “These rich snobs don’t know the first thing about properly escaping pursuit,” Tannen groused, getting a nod from Thomas. “No, it’s all just throwing money at the problem – which, don’t get me wrong, I’m quite happy with, but still. Like that sort of thing would fool anyone.” He turned down the alley Victor had originally picked, not even bothering to turn his head, Thomas right behind. “I’ve got you now, you little–”

“ARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHH!”

The most spectacular electroplasmic display Alice had ever seen erupted out of the alley – glowing, sparking goop splattering across the walls and cobbles while great arcs of current shot through the air, making her hair stand on end. A horrible gray something that Alice thought might have once been a woman streaked forward after it, seizing Tannen in its grip before he could even have a chance to scream. It howled with the mad rage that only a feral specter could properly express and raked ghostly claws across his chest – claws that still, somehow, managed to cut, tearing deep gouges into his flesh that crackled as they burned with a distressing pale light. Thomas shrieked and tore back the way they had come – Good thinking, Alice decided, and grabbed Victor and Smiler by the hand and towed them away down the gap, leaving the screams of the feasting specter and the deeply unlucky Tannen behind.

They ran for a little bit in silence, across a couple more toff-filled streets, concerned only with putting as much distance between themselves and the specter as possible. Finally, though, they paused in yet another alley behind a dress shop, Alice releasing her compatriots’ hands so she could press hers to her breast. “...well,” she said as she caught her breath. “That was – horrifying.”

“Yup,” Smiler said simply, taking off their cap and running their fingers through their hair.

“I know,” Victor agreed, wiping off his face. “Oh, that...that is going to...haunt my nightmares...”

“Mine too...but...how did you know she was there?” Alice asked, turning to him as she leaned against the wall. “Ghosts like that usually don’t make themselves known until they pounce on their prey.”

“I – I ju-just saw her,” Victor stammered, waving a hand around. “The m-moment I stepped into the alley. I could s-see her plain as day, and I could f-f-feel how powerful she was. I – I just count myself lucky she didn’t see us.”

“Me too,” Smiler said, shaking themselves like a dog spraying water. They shot Victor a grateful smile. “You probably just saved our lives there.”

“I c-couldn’t just let you walk into that! Even if I’m not...I’m not...I...what’s happened to me?!” Victor demanded of the world generally, flailing his arms. “How could I see her before – she’s a ghost! You don’t see ghosts! Not unless they let you! I’d never seen a ghost at all before until Emily came along! And now they’re just – everywhere?”

“Everywhere?” Alice repeated, abruptly keenly aware of just how haunted the city was supposed to be even with the help of the Spirit Wardens (and if they let people like Barkis into their little club, suddenly she understood why).

“Yes! I – that street we just ran across – there’s three ghosts on it!” Victor declared, pointing behind them. “N-not dangerous ones, not like her, but – I saw them, going t-through the motions of their lives! And I don’t know why!”

“You did just spend about an entire day in the ghost field,” Smiler pointed out, expression thoughtful. “Maybe you’ve developed a sort of – ‘ghost mind’ as a result? An extra sensitivity to the supernatural?”

“Seems logical to me,” Alice nodded.

Victor stared at them a moment. “So I’m – I’m just stuck seeing ghosts now?”

“Maybe? I mean, we’d have to keep an eye on you for the next few days, see if the effect wanes any,” Smiler said, smiling brightly now that the immediate danger was over and the fun of scientific exploration was before them. “Oh, and see if you can consistently tell the difference between echoes, specters, horrors, reconciled...”

“Easy there, Advocate,” Alice said, pulling on Smiler’s sleeve gently as Victor began tugging anxiously on this tie. “Let’s get out of Brightstone first – then we can start worrying about Victor possibly being a little bit ghosty.”

#valicer in the dark au #fanfic #valicer #victor van dort #alice liddell #smiler alton #yeah okay this snippet does feel like basically half an actual story chapter #or maybe an actual story chapter #but I really like it #I had a lot of fun writing Alice taking on the six Bluecoats #and then the chase sequence #I feel like I did a good job with this one :D #and for those of you with a keen eye #you may notice that this whole sequence is about the trio demonstrating the special abilities they have on their playbooks #complete with in-universe 'callouts' of a sort #they may not be official scoundrels yet buuut #they have definitely got the skills for it! #queued