#stumps for black crappie

[bubbabooo]

ao3 recs

i’m back 😋

decided to make another ao3 recs list hehe, these are always my fav to make

i’ve also decided to completely revamp the way i do my recs lists. before the descriptions were too vague and lazy. now i’ll be giving my own description along with what i thought of the fic. looking back on my old recs lists i cannot believe they got as many notes as they did when they were so crappy LOL

also i don’t know if you can tell but i’m trying to make my lists prettier ☺️☺️ (hence the header image and the pink dividers :p)

side note, there’s and alarming amount of atsumu fics in here?? i didn’t even realize that i’ve been reading purely atsumu content?

Forget-Me-Not by ChaoticSins

Atsumu x reader, friends to lovers 💗💗. this one has me in a chokehold. so you and atsumu are childhood friends and you’ve been in love with atsumu practically your whole life. you end up leaving for college but then when you finish it you need to get an apartment. atsumu offers to be your roommate (see where i’m going here?). this whole story had me squealing and kicking my legs. i really don’t want to spoil it but i will give you one of my favorite quotes in this book: “But…don’t ya fuckin’ dare think yer 5 years of waitin’ around for her is anywhere near the 11 years I spent lovin’ her,” :) ongoing

msby black jackals online! by mooshys

Black jackals x reader, mostly platonic but one of the guys will be endgame ;). this one is by the same author as shiratorizawa antics! i adore that story and they both share many of the same elements. if you liked that one you’ll definitely like this one. here, you are the teams social media manager. you go through many heartwarming (and hilarious) things with the team. this story is definitely a nice fluffy getaway from the majority of fics i read haha. it was so fun to read and i loved it. completed

Better Days Ahead by morningsideup

Kuroo x reader, demon kuroo x reader, magic/modern au. do i really have to say more?? this fic…! so you are just the run of the mill museum worker (btw your co worker is tsukki), living a boring ol mundane life. until you find the demon prince kuroo who accidentally traveled to your universe and is now unfortunately stuck due to you destroying the item that brought him here. now, you are stuck with this spoiled demon prince and are forced to help him search for the missing shards of his gem that brought him here so he can travel back home. cmon, tell me that doesn’t immediately want to make you dive into this fic. the tension between reader and kuroo drives me insane. and you’ll come to know that tsukishima can be a little shit. 10/10 so far, ongoing

They were roommates by atsukashii

Iwaizumi x reader, roommates au<333, friends to lovers. you are in need of a roommate. you see an ad for a girl named tooru oikawa looking for a roommate. you jump at the chance and are looking forward to moving in. you think everything’s perfect until you get to your new home and see that tooru isn’t a girl, and that he has a very friend who also happens to be your roommate. oikawa won’t be difficult to live with, but iwaizumi? and his hotness? def gonna be a problem. this is the perfect quick read. it’s so good for when you’re in a reading stump and need a pick me up. iwaizumi makes you feel all mushy inside🥴. and the ending has to be one of the most satisfying fic endings i’ve read recently. completed

Set the Bar High by BeansNCornbread

Atsumu x reader, enemies to lovers, complicated. you work at a bar. you’re a college student and this is the perfect gig for you. however, miya atsumu never fails to make your life more difficult. he shamelessly flirts with you while he’s with other girls, and never leaves you alone. maybe you’d consider indulging him if he didn’t break your little sisters heart all those years ago. cannot explain how much i love this fic so far. the way atsumu desperately tries to get your attention while you keep brushing him off. and the tension. the fucking sexual tension between reader and atsumu. it has me bitting my nails. i binged this in an entire day. i love atsumus cocky ass and his fucking pining is so obvious but our oblivious readers ass doesn’t even realize it. craving the next chapter. ongoing

call me home by laurelandharper

Ushijima x reader, faking dating troupe<33. You are a famous ex child star and current professional model. you and professional volleyball player ushijima wakatoshi are paired up together for an ad campaign. to overcome unavoidable rumors, the two of you decide to fake date until things calm down. nothing can go wrong right? hehe. i love ushijima. i just love this man. everytime i read a fic with this man i’m blushing. what i really liked about this fic is was how short it was (occasionally i enjoy a nice quick read) and i liked the build up of reader and ushijimas relationship. it felt very real for me. sometimes when i’m reading the fake dating troupe i feel like the authors sometimes force the relationship. i didn’t feel that at all while reading this fic. ushijima is such a sweetheart and gentlemen here. love this fic please read it <3 completed

Challenge Accepted by Cutesight

Akaashi x reader, sort of enemies to lovers? There’s a challenge going around. Get the attention and “break” the handsome setter of Fukurodani. No one has completed this, no one’s even gotten close. However, when curious little y/n decides to partake in the challenge, she gives akaashi a run for his money. This fic is a guilty pleasure. It was a nice break from the other complicated fics i’m reading. It’s a very easy read and i love it for that. Honestly, a couple times throughout this story akaashi was getting on my last nerve. like just be with reader?? but overall it’s such a fun read. one of the best ways i can describe this story is idiots in love. oh and konoha is a little interesting in this fic too ;) completed

I Hope It Hurts by demxnscous

Atsumu x reader, enemies to lovers. you are the manager for Inarizaki. you and atsumu have never gotten along. the setter has always been a pain and you thought maybe things could improve over time. they didn’t. but now you’re being forced to tutor him, will things get better? this fic is hardcore enemies. atsumu and reader hate each other. this story is still in its early stages, so we’ve only seen a little build up with reader and atsumu. but i love the hatred between them. it’s so raw. it’s not the bullshit enemies to lovers where they kinda don’t like each other. they strongly dislike if not hate each other. i cannot wait to see this story blossom and progress. ongoing

Red Thread by deltachye

Ushijima x reader, soulmate au. in a world where you are bound to someone for life, all you want is to be with your soulmate. however, after finding him, and living with him, what do you do when he loves volleyball more than he’ll ever love you? i’ve said this before, but i tend to stray away from soulmate aus. this one is one of the few exceptions. honestly as much as i adore ushijima, he could be severely annoying throughout this story (which was intentional). this story does have some scenes which may be triggering for some which the author includes in her tags, so check it out and don’t read this one if you’re uncomfortable with those topics. overall, this story is a good example of how good a soulmate au can be without forcing it too much. completed

#atsumu x reader #kuroo x reader #atsumu miya x reader #kuroo testsuro x reader #msby x reader #iwaizumi hajime x reader #iwaizumi x reader #akaashi x reader #akaashi keiji x reader #haikyuu fic #haikyuu x you #haikyuu x reader #ao3 #ao3 recs #fanfic #hq fanfic #hq #haikyuu!!

[clarktooncrossing]

Giraffe's Eye View: Christmas Specials Special (2023) | Christmas with the Kranks

Chestnuts are roasting on an open fire. Jack Frost is nipping at your nose. Mom and dad can hardly wait for school to start again. All the dogs in the neighborhood somehow learned to bark Jingle Bells in sync. Yet retail workers are still more annoyed with Mariah Carey. Snow is getting shoveled, tossed, and formed into sentient beings leading parades without permits. It makes for an excellent distraction as the Krampus abducts children for bad behavior. Fruitcake is exchanged only to find its permanent home in the garbage. Terrorists have hijacked the Holiday office party right before your boss can give you a Jelly of the Month Club membership as your bonus. And of course, the Turducken has returned to wreak its fiery vengeance upon an unsuspecting world! If all this doesn’t put you in the Christmas spirit, perhaps these following Holiday specials will!

Greetings people of today and robots of tomorrow! It is I, Santa Clark, your geeky giraffe friend with a deep love of Christmas! My obsession for the yuletide is rivaled only by Maleficent’s hatred for it, which is saying a lot considering she once teamed up with Mad Madam Mim to kidnap the literal Spirit of Christmas. Yes, that really happened. I know this due to my annual pilgrimage to the Island of Misfit Specials, home to obscure or nerdy festive media ranging from movies, TV episodes, and comics. It’s no easy journey. Constantly I find myself confronted by sinister snowmen, genocidal gingerbread men, and worst of all, crappy commercials. Getting stabbed in the foot by a candy-cane wielding cookie is one thing, but I swear I’ve seen that ad for Wilbur’s White Elephant Gift Emporium more times than I’ve seen Miracle on 34th Street! Sometimes at night I catch myself reciting that jingle. Wilbur’s White Elephant Gift Emporium: Where Christmas meets Convenience! Huh, maybe Maleficent had a point.

Nah, my deep-rooted appreciation for this time of year can weather even the most moronic marketing! It helps that most of the merry media I’ve seen have put me in the perfect Holiday mood! Examples include the time a Ninja Turtle found himself trapped in a truck full of stollen toys, a drunk department store Santa stumbling onto a wish-granting magic bag, Big Bird nearly becoming a popsicle, Gwenpool waking up in a world where Galactus took the place of jolly ol’ Saint Nicholas, a terrifying tree stump trying to slaughter some saps over a stupid ship war, and the year when Death gave the Little Match Girl the greatest gift of all. Needless to say, I thought I had seen it all. That is, until I took my friends on a trip to the Island, tasking them to find me new, strange, seasonal specials to review! Some of them were fair, finding me festive favorites as comforting as coco in front of the fireplace. Others were fiendish, wanting to feed off my misery like Gremlins after midnight. Regardless of how naughty or nice my companions were, I’ve compiled all of their suggestions into a makeshift advent calendar! So stay tuned everyday until Christmas to see how badly my buddies can shred what little sanity I have left.

On the ninth day of Christmas, my buddies gave to me...

Molly may have been malicious when she suggested Barbie Nutcracker. Claire was cruel when she picked a Care Bears special. Yet neither of them ever sent me crappy Christmas content via the mail. Nah, Alec (@burningthrucelluloid) had them covered. When I was leaving to visit my friend Jart at Disney World last year, the masked maniac was nice enough to send me a box full of goodies. It included a Black Panther t-shirt, a copy of Terry Practhett’s The Colour of Magic to read on the plane, and Christmas with the Kranks on DVD. Based on a book by crime novelist John Grisham and directed by legendary filmmaker Chris Columbus, this feature film is infamously known as one of the worst Holiday movies of all time. The crazed cinephile went out of his way to find it at his local pawn shop after I had jokingly remarked how nobody offered me anything challenging to review. He even scribbled “U WERE WARNED!” on the disc in Sharpie. Et tu, Alec?

Well joke’s on you, sucker! Before this my plan was to continue the anime theme with Tokyo Godfathers, the original picture my pal had picked. Him sending me this was clearly his way of saying he had changed his mind. Let it not be said that Santa Clark isn’t one to acquiesce to one’s demands. He is a generously devious soul after all. Message received, Alec. I hope you’re happy.

You’d make for better company than Luthor (Tim Allen) and Nora (Jamie Lee Curtis) Krank. The film focuses on this miserable married couple coping with their daughter not being home for the Holidays. Tis’ the season for empty nest syndrome! Luthor, especially exhausted by the hustle and bustle every December brings, calculates they could save over $6,000 by simply skipping it. Much as I love the merry month, I get why it can be tiresome for others. Listening to the same songs on the radio at nausea, combating the crowds at OK Mart only to be told that one thing you were looking for was sold out weeks ago, getting the stink eye from that suspicious mall Santa, having to write numerous reviews to appease your amigos, you’re lucky you don’t drop dead by Boxing Day. It’s why I don’t hold any malice against Luthor when he proposes to his wife they go away on a cruise instead. Really, that sounds like fun. What confuses me is him printing out a letter explaining to his peers what he’s planning to do. Dude, who cares that you’re saying goodbye to the Holidays?

Everybody, apparently. From here on out the entire town harasses this hapless duo over their newly appointed Scrooge status. Companions, coworkers, carolers, random children, Boy Scouts, a pervy priest, the students of Canterlot High, two turtle doves, and worst of all, Dan Akroyd! Dude flings himself at Nora’s car for the sake of a plastic snowman. My guy, you weren’t this obsessed back in Ghostbusters, cool it! She’s not a free-roaming vapor! You are making Michael Meyers look relaxed! Matters are made no better by Luthor acting like a massive douchebag. He gets grumpy over the slightest things, angrily argues with everyone he encounters, denies donations to charities, freezes the sidewalk so others fall over, constantly steps on some stupid cat’s tail, puts his wife through undue stress, it’s hard to believe this guy was once Santa Claus! Although I could see him intentionally pushing Kris Kringle off the roof. Even the Grinch would tell this guy to tone it back a bit. He’s an unlikable hero in a sea full of psychos! The Kranks have disturbed the Christmas cult. Only when they consume the sacred eggnog will the masses be appeased!

All of this comes to a head the morning of Christmas Eve when their daughter (Julie Gonzalo) declares she’s coming home that night with her new fiance. Brilliant move kid, wasting your time and parents’ money by flying down to Peru only to immediately return home. Now you’ve put your loving mother and laudable father through more unnecessary turmoil all because you wanted honeyed ham. Sucks for you, Nora couldn’t get one last minute so she had to settle for smoked trout. Remember folks, that is why you keep a spare can of Who Hash on standby! Meanwhile Luthor’s disastrous attempts at decorating result in him nearly getting arrested or dying. Oh no, and to such a nice person! Jeez, even Karma hates the Kranks. Is it too late to tell your daughter you converted to Judaism? Just when all hope seems lost, Danny Boy detects their desperation and rallies the rest of the community to their cause. They’re more than happy to do so after weeks of relentlessly browbeating the non-believers into conforming, just like Jesus intended! Mr. Krank’s so moved by this act of kindness he gladly gives away his cruise tickets to an elderly couple coping with cancer. An elderly couple whose patriarch has been nothing but snide to Luthor every chance he got. So much so they didn’t even bother attending the party despite literally living across the street. Wow, what a shallow sentiment! Don’t go thinking Luthor did this to be a bigger person either, he only did this after his wife dogged him out for being selfish. Right, how dare he try to take you on a luxury cruise in the Bahamas! Selfish bastard! Nora, do us all a favor and get off your high horse. This movie’s morals are so messed up.

So why can’t I say I hate this?

Yeah, I legit had a fun time watching it. Confounding, innit? My only guess why is because of the A-Tier actors giving their all regardless of the material given. That alone is what elevates the movie from tinsel trash to ‘so bad it’s good’. Still, if you’re looking for something whimsical to watch this winter starring the Tool Man, stick to The Santa Clause. Or if you’re still looking for something fresh, try Satoshi Kon’s Tokyo Godfathers. Don’t act surprised Alec, I was still gonna talk about it regardless. Just remember this next time you decide to send me garbage! In the meantime, here’s hoping this picture is more pleasant than what I just watched.

Our pleasant picture begins with three homeless bums finding a baby abandoned in the trash. Fa la la la la la la la la! Like I said earlier, this time of year ain’t so merry and bright for everybody. For some it’s a bitter reminder of all the days and dreams gone by, complimented cruelly by the cold. Promises have been broken, relationships were sunk, and no gift Santa brings can cure the heartache. Certainly that’s the case for our three unlikely heroes. The appropriately named Gin (Jon Avner) is a drunken deadbeat dad who never went home after accumulating too much gambling debt. How could a loser like him ever face his daughter again? Runaway teenager Miyuki (Victoria Grace) is also avoiding her family, having stabbed her police officer dad under the assumption he gave away her cat. Cat people, am I right? Joining them is trans woman Hana (Shakina Nayfack), desperate for a family like either of them had. For the record, everybody refers to Hana as a him, but for the sake of being polite I’m going to use they / them pronouns.

They're overjoyed to find the crying child, proclaiming it's their miracle sent by God. In that spirit Hana names the baby Kiyoko, a reference to the Japanese translation of “Silent Night”. Fun fact, when I was born my own mother sang that song to lull me to sleep, so I approve of the name! Such enthusiasm is understandably not shared by Hana’s companions. Together all three Wise Hobos venture forth to find the kid’s real mother, dealing with their own drama along with the Yakuza, a Spanish speaking assassin, a bar full of helpful angels, alley cats, runaway ambulances, weeping red devils, and some brat throwing cards at monsters at a winter carnival. Eh, I’m sure that last one’s not important.

Unlike that woman jumping off a bridge! Yo Clarence, where were you on that one? How do you expect to earn your wings with this lackluster performance? Joseph’s gonna be pissed. Luckily our leads arrive just in time to stop the suicide attempt, discovering the potential jumper is Sachicko (Larissa Gallagher), who they assume to be Kiyoko’s birth mom. Their trek through Tokyo revealed how Sachicko had a hard life already, making up one half of an abusive relationship and losing her house to a fire. And here Luthor Krank was complaining about putting up a plastic snowman. Obviously this woman is a wounded soul in need of sympathy and compassion. A baby, not so much. You’d have to be downright dumb to hand an innocent infant over to someone ready to end it all five seconds ago! Especially when she’s not the real mother. Turns out Sachicko kidnapped Kiyoko after suffering a miscarriage. O, holy crap! Congratulations Alec, you found something that makes DC Holiday Nightmares look cheery. I came here to have fun, spam it! Now I’m watching Gin, Hana, and Miyuki trying to talk this lady down before she jumps off a building with the baby in tow! In the end our trio triumphs and are rewarded by the the child's actual parents to become her godfathers.

In spite of my snark, this movie is magnificent. Ultimately it’s a bittersweet ballad about the hardships that plague all people. Some crumble under the pressure, destroying their lives even if unintentionally. Others rise to the occasion, making the most out of the horrible hand life dealt them. Be them richer or poorer, cynic or optimist, Ellingboe or Krum, we are all united in the daily struggle to just make sense of the world. Let Christmas stand testament to our better angels winning out. Furthermore, let Tokyo Godfathers be an example of what Satoshi can do. If his other work can so effortlessly pull off humor, heartbreak, and amazingly expressive animation like this one, I clearly need to seek out more! No doubt the masked maniac will be waiting to recommend more in the future. Until then, time to lower our standards. So decrees Mrs. Hopewell!

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#clarktooncrossing #Christmas Specials Special #Giraffe's Eye View #Geeky Giraffe #Christmas #Christmas specials #Christmas 2023 #Christmas with the Kranks #Tim Allen #Jamie Lee Curtis #dan akroyd #chris columbus #honey ham #plastic snowman #Tokyo Godfathers #Volts48 #burninthrucelluloid #anime #anime review #movie review

[captainclark]

Mastering the Art of Crappie Fishing When it comes to angling pursuits, few experiences can rival the thrill of crappie fishing. These highly sought-after freshwater fish have captivated anglers around the world with their elusive nature and delectable taste. As an experienced crappie fishing guide, Captain Clark has spent countless hours honing his skills on the water and is eager to share his insights to help fellow enthusiasts optimize their crappie fishing adventures. Understanding the CrappieBefore delving into the techniques and strategies, it is vital to understand the crappie species. Crappies, both black and white, are prolific inhabitants of freshwater bodies across North America. These fish are known for their distinctive body shape, with a deep, laterally compressed body and a large mouth. Crappies are opportunistic feeders, primarily targeting smaller fish, insects, and crustaceans. Seasonal Patterns and HabitatOne of the critical aspects of successful crappie fishing is recognizing their seasonal behavior and preferred habitats. During the spring spawning season, crappies move into shallow waters, typically in coves, bays, and tributaries near submerged structures such as fallen trees, stumps, or vegetation. They prefer water temperatures ranging from 55°F to 65°F (12°C to 18°C) for optimal spawning conditions.In the summer months, crappies tend to seek deeper water, usually around underwater structures like submerged brush piles, bridge pillars, or drop-offs. They are more active during low-light conditions, such as early morning or late evening, making those times particularly productive. As the temperature begins to drop in the fall, crappies return to the shallows to feed aggressively in preparation for winter. They are often found near cover, such as weed beds or fallen timber, where they can ambush prey. Tackle and Techniques Captain Clark's expertise lies not only in finding crappies but also in helping anglers choose the right tackle and employing effective techniques. Here are some key recommendations: Rods and Reels: A light or ultralight spinning rod in the 6 to 7-foot range, paired with a small spinning reel, is ideal for crappie fishing. The sensitive tip will help detect subtle bites, and the light gear allows for precise casts. Line Selection: Opt for a light monofilament or fluorocarbon line in the 4 to 8-pound test range. These lines offer good visibility and sensitivity, facilitating better control and bite detection.Jigging: Jigging is a popular technique for crappie fishing. Captain Clark recommends using 1/32 to 1/8-ounce jigs in various colors, depending on water clarity and light conditions. Experimenting with different jig sizes, colors, and action styles is key to finding the right combination that entices the crappies. Live Bait: Crappies are also receptive to live bait, particularly minnows and small worms. Rigging a live minnow under a slip bobber or using a jighead with a live worm can be highly effective.Vertical Fishing: When targeting crappies in deeper waters, vertical fishing using a jig or minnow is often productive. Slowly dropping the bait vertically and maintaining a consistent depth will increase your chances of enticing a strike. Patience and Persistence. Crappie fishing is not always about immediate success but rather a test of patience and persistence. Captain Clark emphasizes the importance of adapting to changing conditions and being willing to try different techniques. Crappies can be finicky at times, so being observant and adjusting your approach accordingly is crucial. Conservation and Responsible Fishing. Captain Clark

[whatsdafacts]

Fishing | Giant Bass Found in the Muddy rill | Lake fork guy

#Fishing | Giant Bass Found in the Muddy #fishing #fishing freaks #fish catching #bass fishing #fishing videos #how to fish a jig #bass fishing tips #bass fishing challenge #bass fishing videos #fishing tips #vlog #lfg #lake fork #creek fishing #giant bass #bed fishing for bass #walmart fishing challenge #stumps for black crappie #crappie fishing #fishing tournament

[lostcybertronian]

Taking Care of a Killer

Michael Myers x GN!Reader (platonic)

I’m hopping on this bandwagon, apparently.

Trigger warnings for blood

---

You wake to eyes. Scrambling into a sitting position, cold sweat runs down your back as you scramble to turn on your lamp and illuminate your tiny apartment bedroom. 

    There’s nothing; the overwhelming feeling of being watched remains. You cast quick glances around the room, not entirely examining the shadows festering in dark corners of the room in your exhaustion and hurry to get back to a slumber you’d achieved only an hour prior. 

    The blood all over your windowsill, however, does not fail to catch your eye; several bloody handprints smear the wood, and as you shove back the covers and get out of bed to investigate, you notice heavy splotches of blood decorating the carpet, leading away from the window, past you.

    The closet door creaks.

    Your heart pounds and every hair on the back of your neck stands on end as you slowly turn.

    Standing behind you is a brick wall of a man, his head tilted slightly downward to regard you through the empty, black eyeholes of his dingy, half-melted mask. 

    Michael Myers. The Shape of Haddonfield. You give a soft squeak at this realization, and instinctively step back, pressing against the ice-cold glass of the window. 

    Meanwhile, this man-- this monster, this pure evil thing you recall hearing at the hospital the few times you weren’t out in the ambulance with your crew-- continues to stand perfectly still and watch you. His hands remain at his sides, empty of any knife or improvised weapon. His breathing is loud inside his mask and seems to devour the silence building between you and him. The air stinks of charred flesh and death.

“Are you going to kill me?” You manage to stammer out, after a few long minutes of waiting and staring.  

Michael tilts his head. Says nothing. He’s different now. Taller. Broader. Then again, it has been forty years since you last saw him. Fifty-some years since you were kids. 

He hadn’t talked much then, either.

    “What do you want, Michael?” You demand, anger rising suddenly to replace the fear. Was he going to kill you, or was this some sort of twisted joke?

    One of Michael’s hands snaps out. You yelp and squeeze your eyes shut, certain that his fingers are about to wrap tight around your throat, choking any air out of your lungs. Maybe he’ll bash your head against the window until your skull caves; he’d done that with at least one of the victims you’d seen that night. 

    You keep your eyes closed. Wait. One breath, two. You’re still breathing. Your heart is still pumping. Another breath. Another. You open your eyes.

    Michael’s hand is inches from your face. It smells; reeks, actually. And several of his fingers are missing, the stumps hidden by some hastily wrapped rags, now almost black with dried viscera. It’s now you notice the soft dripping of blood hitting your cheap laminate floor.

    You reach to touch his hand. He snatches it away. “You’re hurt,” you say, and are rewarded with a slow nod. 

    Now you understand, and you’re also remembering five-year-old Michael, blood dribbling from the scrapes in his knees and elbows, sitting expressionless as you, twelve at the time, plastered bandaids over the cuts and wiped away the blood.

    “Okay,” you say. You nod. You steel yourself. You look up, right at those blank eyeholes. “Go to the bathroom,” you tell him. “I need to get my first aid kit.”

    You brush past him before he can do anything. But when you look back, he’s following you. 

    He follows you to the kitchen,. He watches as you take a shot of whiskey. Then another. He watches as you retrieve your first aid kit from under the sink. He follows you to the bathroom.

    “Sit,” you say, and after a long pause where he continues to stare, he does, sitting on the edge of your crappy bathtub. Even sitting, he still manages to be as tall as you are standing. You try not to let this bother you.

    “I need-” you stop, clearing your throat and hoping these next words won’t be your last- “I need you to unzip your jumpsuit.”

    It’s riddled with bullet holes, torn in places, covered in dirt and blood. You don’t think about how much of it might not be his. 

    He tilts his head, but doesn’t immediately lunge up to crush your skull in his massive hands. So far, so good. 

    But he doesn’t seem to understand. “It’s so I can see what I’m working with.” 

    A pause. Michael unzips his jumpsuit, stripping off the sleeves and allowing the ruined fabric to pool around his waist. The mask stays where it is.

    You swear. How is he still walking? His chest-- muscular, smeared with ash where it isn’t pale from so many years of wearing whatever it is asylum inmates wear-- is a mess. Burns mar his shoulders and the left side of his chest, making his skin appear inflamed and shiny. Blood crusts the several dark, puckered holes dotting his torso. Bruises and more blood mottle everything else; his arms, his neck, his stomach. 

    One hand covering your mouth, you take this in. “This isn’t scraped knees and bruised elbows, Michael. What the hell happened?”

    He stares at you. He breathes. Blood soaks through the makeshift bandage on his hand and plops softly to the bathroom floor. 

    You have him get in the shower first. Mostly to get all that dirt and blood and ash off, partially to delay having to touch him. He stands mutely under the cold spray, still wearing his mask, boots, and the bottom half of his jumpsuit. This does not bother him. 

    It bothers him when you get a washcloth and try to scrub the rest of him clean. He watches you, that odd mask turning to track your every movement. But he doesn’t interfere when you reach up to brush the cloth over his injuries. 

    After that he sits once more on the edge of your bathtub, sitting upright an attentive, like there’s no way he isn’t in excruciating pain. There’s water all over the floor. He’s soaked through. But he is, for the most part, clean.

    Without the blood and the ash, he still looks pretty horrible. But you’re determined, now. You get to work, treating him like he was just another patient. You wrap the burns. You disinfect the lacerations you find on his wrists and stitch up the one on his back. You dig the bullets out with a pair of tweezers, plunking them into the sink. You disinfect those too, dousing a washcloth with hydrogen peroxide and warning him that it will sting. 

    And all the while, you talk to him. He sits motionless, still as a statue, while you talk and talk and talk, telling him what happened after he was locked away. Telling him about your years as a paramedic. You tell him this even though your hands— now covered in his blood and who knows what else— quiver and tears prick at your eyes. Even though sitting not a foot away from you is the deadliest serial killer in Haddonfield history.

    Even though sitting not a foot away from you is the little boy you used to babysit when you both were so, so much younger.

    You’re finishing up bandaging his hand when you see him reach for his mask.

You freeze, certain that you’ve outlived your usefulness now that he isn’t at risk for bleeding out. That he’s rewarding you with a quick glimpse of his face before your subsequent death. You suck in a quick breath and feel your muscles tense. You prepare yourself to run. To fight. 

But he only removes the mask and holds it in a white-knuckled grip, staring you down with his one good eye, which is a vivid, frigid blue. A nasty cut oozes a slow stream of blood down the right side of his face, and, like his chest, a good portion of his scalp is coated in blistering burns.

You sigh, and dare to reach out to touch his uninjured cheek, running your fingers over the pale stubble and scars. He must be exhausted, because he lets you. “Oh, Michael. What happened to you?”

    Of course you receive no answer. You get to work, spending another hour cleaning his face, stitching the cut, bandaging his burns. 

    By the time you’re done, it’s well past six in the morning. Your alarm goes off as you’re cleaning up and putting away your supplies, the tinny chimes of your phone startling you both; Michael immediately rises, grabs it, and crushes it in one hand.

    “Thanks,” you mumble as he lets the pieces drop. His mask has returned to his rightful place, and so all you see when you look up are those empty, black eyeholes.

    “Wait!” You blurt out as he shoves past you, presumably to leave, maybe to get a knife from your kitchen. You’re too tired to tell at this point, or care. “Aren’t you tired?”

    He twists to look at you in silence.

    “You can sleep here if you want,” you offer, gesturing in the general direction of your bedroom. “I have to leave to go to work, so you’ll be by yourself. I have a feeling you probably prefer that. I won’t tell anyone you’re here.” You add hurriedly. 

 What are you doing? He's leaving. Your apartment is about to be killer-free. And now he’s staring at you again, his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides. But fuck, all you can see in this towering hulk of a man is little Mikey Myers, all knobby, scraped knees and no tears in his eyes.

You even go so far as to offer your hand, just like you used to. And to your surprise-- and fear, your spine-chilling, mind-numbing fear-- he shuffles forward and takes it, calloused fingers curling maybe a little too tightly around your own. 

But you don’t think about how he could crush your hand with no effort at all. You don’t think about how he could easily pull you to his chest and snap your neck or strangle you. You take a deep breath and lead him to your bedroom.

You leave him there-- there’s still blood all over the window, you’ll get to that later-- so you can get changed. His gaze bores into your back as you enter the bathroom. 

But when you come out, he’s not standing in the doorway any longer; he’s in your bed, lying flat on his back on top of the disheveled covers, his arms at his sides, the eyeholes of his mask staring straight at the ceiling.

    And he’s definitely asleep; you can hear him snoring. You suppress some feeling you can’t describe and close the door as you leave.

#michael myers x reader #michael myers #old man myers #halloween (2018) #lostandwandering #my writing #lost writing tag #hurt/comfort #horror #angst #tw blood

[seasonsofeverlark]

Single but Peared

Author: @hutchhitched​

Prompt: Katniss and Peeta are roommates and are both single for the first time on Valentine’s Day. Will they finally admit their feelings for each other? [submitted by @booksandchocolatesmears​]

Rating: T

Author’s Note: Happy Valentine’s Day, lovelies! I hope you have a wonderful day no matter your relationship status. Lots of love. _____________

It’s gloomy and icky and the least favorite part of the year for Katniss Everdeen, although she’s trying very hard to pretend she’s not pissed off at the world. Sitting at the kitchen table and staring out the sliding glass doors as she sips her hot chocolate, she wonders how it is she’s gotten here—figuratively speaking, of course.

There’s nothing particularly wrong with her life, just the normal crappy things everyone goes through at some point. Losing her father at an early age sucked, and the ensuing poverty after his death wasn’t fun. Otherwise, though, she has a good life now that she’s an adult. A good job, a few really close friends, and a roommate who mostly gives her space, except in the morning when all she really wants is to be alone. He also eats pears, which is…gross. She shudders just thinking about the mealy, tasteless fruit he seems to think is amazing.

She can hear him stumping down the hall, his uneven gait grating on her nerves, which she’ll readily admit is shitty of her. Peeta can’t help the fact that he’s got a cast or that he’s been driving her nuts with his thump, thump, thumping around their apartment for the past few weeks. Well, he could help it—if he hadn’t gone on that disastrous ski weekend with his “definitely an ex now” girlfriend. Trying to teach that idiot how to strap long sticks onto her feet and glide down a mountain resulted in him wrapped around a tree and his ex making out with a ski instructor while Peeta was in the emergency room. He should have taken Katniss, his long-suffering, very nice, wouldn’t make out with a stranger roommate. Live and learn.

“Morning,” Peeta mumbles as he enters the kitchen and heads directly to the cupboard where he keeps an impressive, if somewhat ostentatious, tea collection. She prefers the sweetness of cocoa, but he drinks tea non-stop throughout the day. As he waits for the water to heat and the tea to steep, he washes a pear and peels it with a paring knife.

“Morning,” she grumbles, irrationally irritated by his adorable bedhead and rumpled cream-colored Henley over red and black plaid, flannel sleep pants and bare feet. How he hasn’t lost a toe or two in the dead of winter, she’s not sure, but the floors are cold in their place. Put on some damn socks.

“Looks like it snowed last night,” he remarks in that growly morning voice of his she finds endearing.

“Yeah. A few inches.”

“Hope that doesn’t ruin your Valentine’s Day plans.”

His words are a dagger to her heart, but she only has herself to blame. It’s not his fault she hasn’t bothered to tell him that she’s single again. Just because she doesn’t want to talk about her failed relationship doesn’t mean she’s lying to him exactly. Except she has been. Every single time he’s asked about Darius, she’s made up some excuse about why he hasn’t been around lately. Honestly, she’s not even sure why she’s doing it. Maybe something about wanting to save face around him. He’s always got someone on his arm, and she struggles to find anyone who’ll put up with her surly nature for more than a few dates. Darius held on for three months before letting her know she wasn’t to his liking anymore.

“No. It won’t ruin my plans.”

Apparently unaware of her reticence to chat, Peeta plops down across from her and asks, “So, what are you doing tonight? Dinner? Movie? Something a little more romantic and thoughtful? I bet he brings you chocolate covered strawberries and roses. Nothing wrong with the cliché, but I know you hate the predictable.”

“Tonight won’t be predictable.”

“And how do you know that?” he asks, his eyes kind as an amused smile tugs up the corners of his pretty pink mouth.

Sighing heavily, Katniss looks over his shoulder so she won’t have to see the compassion in his eyes. “We broke up. Single again.”

“Oh… Oh, Katniss. I’m—I’m so sorry.”

“Shut up, and eat your pears,” she snaps, fuming in humiliation. She doesn’t want his pity.

The room stays silent except for the crunching of pears between his perfectly straight white teeth. Neither of them budge, both sitting at the table and not speaking for several long minutes until she finally gives in and glances at him. When she does, she finds him looking at her, but his expression isn’t what she expects. Instead of any sort of sympathy, he’s studying her, his eyes running over her face and up and down her torso. It’s a little bit like she’s a bug under a microscope.

Hunching her shoulders, she glares at him. “What?”

“Nothing,” he laughs. “Absolutely nothing. Just… Katniss, would you be my Valentine today? I’m not very good at being single, and we’re kind of here together anyway. Want to have a snowball fight and then make soup together and watch bad rom-coms and cuddle on the couch? Because… Well, I don’t know if you know this or not, but I’ve had a crush on you for like…I don’t know…for forever.”

The needle scratch in her head almost hurts. Completely thrown for a loop, she’s reeling as she gapes at him. Still smiling but with a flush covering his entire face and neck, Peeta waits patiently for her to process what he’s just said. The only movement he makes is to lift his mug of tea to his lips and take a drink. When he swallows, his Adam’s apple bobs, and she fights a sudden, unexpected flash of lust. Peeta Mellark is a very handsome man.

“Are you— Are you serious?”

Nodding, he shrugs. “Does that freak you out? Because that’s not what I meant to do. I’m just terrible at this kind of thing. Admitting my feelings. Trying not to smother women with my affection. I’ve been crushing on you since long before we moved in together, but I didn’t think you were interested. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything, but…you know, Valentine’s Day. We’re both single for the first time since we’ve been living together. You seem like you could use a pick-me-up. I’m an idiot who doesn’t know how to keep his mouth shut.”

“Seems like the perfect combination?”

“Well, yeah,” he says bashfully as he ducks his head.

“So, what you’re saying is that you’d like to ‘pear’ up?” she asks as her lips twitch in amusement.

Eyes twinkling, he responds, “You’ve got it down to the ‘tea.’”

Warmth spreads in her chest as she looks at him, and his mouth slides into a genuine smile that makes her heart flutter. Maybe this is the stupidest thing in the world—agreeing to date a roommate she hasn’t even realized is an option until just now—but she doesn’t much care. It’s gloomy and gross and Valentine’s Day. What is there to lose?

Raising her hot chocolate to her lips, she nods. Suddenly, being single doesn’t seem so bad anymore.

#everlark #everlark fanfiction #winter #winter 2022 #valentine's day #hutchhitched #submission #prompt

[olivetreehugger]

SnK Scouts/Veterans as Health Care Workers

Note: features Eren, Mikasa, Armin, Jean, Connie, Sasha, Levi, Erwin and Hange. A part two to my “SnK Warriors as HCWs” post found here. warning: mentions of blood, trauma, gore (it’s healthcare). Also, I know Hange is nb, I headcanon them as female, so I will be using she/her pronouns. 

Eren: this boy is definitely too involved in everything and has too many people depending on him at once to not be a nurse. The kid barely passed the NCLEX but that didn’t stop him from applying to every trauma center within a 25 mile radius of him. He got hired as a night shift trauma ICU nurse  and he frequently picks up shifts in the ER. He wears the cheapest scrubs he can find, often stained with ink in the pockets area. He isn’t a shitty nurse per se but there are tasks that still need to be done at the end of his shift and he gives a crappy report that’s missing too many details. Nurses hate picking up his patients, it’s always a mess. His charting is really spotty and he gets called into the manager’s office all the time to fix it. 

Still, he tries really hard to improve his time management and skills. He wants to be like his friends Mikasa and Reiner, who are the best nurses he knows. He wants to be involved in the traumatic cases and emergencies because he wants to learn as much as he possibly can. He’s really good at wound care, for some reason (hint hint). He’s kinda cocky sometimes too, which can be troublesome when Dr. Galliard is working. People know to steer clear of those two when they’re both  in the ER. Also, Eren always has a black cloud around him; whenever he works it’s gonna be a hella busy day in the hospital. Lots of emergency surgeries, intubations, codes and deaths. He’ll always jump in to help you if your patient is crashing, though, no matter how busy he is. 

Mikasa: she’s a prodigy. She was a straight ‘A’ student in nursing school, got a perfect 75 on the NCLEX and was immediately hired to the trauma ICU after doing a short internship there. She worked night shift for a year but her sleep schedule was so so fucked she started having night terrors, so she switched to day shift. Eren still calls her a traitor for it :/. She keeps trying to get him to switch over but he just hisses at her and threatens to chug a case of Monster energy drinks. She hasn’t given upon him yet, though.

This girl’s work ethic is beyond measure. She comes in exactly at 6:30 am, looks up her patients, takes report, gives a great update to the doctors when they round, and provides impeccable care to her patients. She knows exactly which treatments the doctors will order before they even speak. She’s incredible at inserting IVs--everyone in the hospital knows Mikasa Ackerman can put an 18g in a 90  yr old lady’s arm AND get blood return (just trust me, it’s flipping impossible). She has great skill when it comes to emergency situations and is a big believer in team work. If she notices your patient’s crashing and you don’t know what to do, she’ll calmly coach you and save your patient, too. All before lunch time. 

It doesn’t take Mikasa long to be promoted to charge nurse. When she’s in charge all the reports, paperwork and audits are completed before shift change. She divides the patient assignments really well and is very fair to the new grads. All around she’s an incredible nurse and leader on her unit, but don’t be fooled. If it’s been a rough day, Mikasa will get in her car and sob so loud her throat goes raw. A lot of people depend on her and working in a trauma ICU is really, really demanding. A lot of patients are demanding, rude and busy. She has a lot of trouble with stress management and is thinking of cutting her hours down so she can catch a break. Someone please hug her <3

Armin: for some reason my brain is just SCREAMING respiratory therapist. Like, I imagine this beautiful blond boy in gray scrubs (the color for RT’s in my hospital) going around helping intubate patients, giving nebulizer treatments and doing blood gases. I can just see him huffing and puffing when the attending doctor is overzealous about weaning vent support. -“Why are we changing the patient to pressure support? do you see how tachypneic he is on volume control?”

-“are you gonna put in the order? if not, your patient’s gonna be on PRVC all day, I’m not changing it without an order”

-“Doc, the patient looks like crap and their blood gas looks like death...oh, you still wanna extubate? ok, well I’m gonna leave the ventilator in here just in case. better yet, let me call a pastor in here, too.”

This kid is sassy af and he knows it. He’s smart af too, knows everything there is to know about the lungs and respiratory care. Knows every ventilator mode better than most doctors. Will certainly tell a resident off for ordering the wrong type of inhaler for a patient. He’s so damn intelligent that he even made the ice queen Annie melt like a popsicle. 

 He has no chill when it comes to his patients and even less chill (like -4078875874670) when a doctor gets in his way. For this reason, Armin has recently been toying with the idea of going to PA school so he can have a little more autonomy. He works al over the hospital, usually frequenting the trauma, CV, and medical ICU. The nurses there love him. 

Jean: Jeannie boy. Baby. Sweetie. He’s also a nurse. He is strictly dayshift and trauma. When he first started, he thought he’d do a year in the ICU and then go to CRNA school. He didn’t want to be around sickly patients with hopes and dreams and fears--it was too icky for him. But, over time, he learned that he LOVED trauma. Jean loves the controlled chaos that comes with the ugly, bloody messes that roll in through the ICU’s doors. He always gears up for trauma season (summer time) by bringing Dunkin Donuts iced coffee for everyone on the unit (day and night shift because he’s a supportive king). He gets really good at dealing with arrogant trauma residents and ortho docs who think they’re hot shit. When Jean sees a resident yelling at a nurse, he jumps in and threatens to have their license revoked. He will dig under their skin and page them incessantly throughout the day, too, just to get back at them. Jean is not a fan of lateral violence in the workplace, no sir. 

He always, always makes sure every room is stocked and new bags are hanging for the next shift. He has a thing where if things aren’t properly organized on the unit his brain just spazzes. He’s on the unit council and education committee because he also loves to teach the new grads. He also doubles as charge nurse, when management can’t be there (there can be one or more charge nurses amongst the staff, they usually work different days, though) He and Mikasa work so well together, teaming up to get tasks done, coding patients, running them down to get scanned, etc. People joke they’re the mom and dad of the unit. It makes them both blush <3 (Eren doesn’t like it, lol)

Jean loves to see patients healing from horrendous injuries, he’s constantly cracking jokes with the awake patients to try to make them feel better, and he’s really good at calming anxious family members down. Our boy just makes such good connections with people. He’s the guy you call when your confused patient is one second away from ripping his breathing tube out. He can convince the most restless, agitated patient to chill out. He’s got the voice for it. Also people love his mullet. It looks great. 

Connie: I really didn’t know at first but I feel like Connie would make a great physical therapist. He’s got great energy, he’s funny and I could see him dancing to Earth, Wind & Fire in front of his patients to hype them up for therapy. He’d be very sweet with them 

Sasha: I’m sick and tired of the food jokes, quite honestly. She’s more than that. In my mind, she’s an occupational therapist, helping disabled patients learn to feed, dress and clean themselves again. She works directly with Connie as they round on all their patients in the hospital, they make a great team!  She’s extremely patient and would make a very good nurse, but is unsure of where life is taking her. That is until she meets Niccolo the dietician in the cafeteria, and she falls hard. He encourages her to follow her heart and she does!  

Levi: Hm. This one stumped me. Levi is a bit...cold. It’s not like he has incredible social skills. He’s meticulous and focused and kinda mean? He reminds me of an anesthesiologist, tbh. Like he’ll sedate the shit outta you for surgery, makes sure you don’t die on the table, and then drops you off to the unit as fast as he can. He never takes off his mask while in the hospital and he scrubs maybe four times before surgery. He is very good at medication calculations and knows everything about nerve blocks, intubation, pain medication and sedation. He can look at a person and just KNOW what kind of sedative to give and how much. Your blood pressure will never bottom out while he’s there, he’ll warn the surgeon and immediately get that norepinephrine started.

 If Zeke is the one operating, Levi is on his ass to finish up the surgery ASAP and to not linger, because Zeke takes his time and ignores the tele monitor alarming in the background. After surgery, this 5′2 demon will scream at the 6′ resident about the importance of blood pressure management and sedation in neurosurgical patients. Levi plays no games and he also just really hates Zeke lol

He seems like a jerk but genuinely cares about getting his peeps through surgery. His favorite surgeon to work with is Hange Zoe, because she’s brilliant and fast, but also cognizant of her patient’s hemodynamics. Levi likes taking trauma cases as long as it’s with her. When he drops a patient off to the trauma ICU or goes there to intubate, he makes sure Jean or Mikasa are there because he knows everything is gonna go smoothly. He trusts them a lot. He likes Armin, too and even let him intubate a few times. On his breaks, he’s drinking tea and reading a Williams & Sonoma catalog or scrolling through cleaning Tik Tok lol.

Erwin: This man. This beautiful and hunky beefcake. Omg. I HC him as someone who went to nursing school, became a charge nurse on the trauma unit back in the early 2000′s and fell in love with it. Erwin would eventually fall in love with leadership and educating, too. He went back to school and earned his Doctorate of Nursing Practice (a practice doctorate). He managed the trauma unit for ten years before his brilliant leadership skills and wicked smart brain got him elected as the Director of Trauma Surgery recently. He is the first person with a nursing degree and DNP to ever accomplish this, so it’s very controversial. A lot of toxic doctors threaten to leave the hospital for this (because they’re assholes), but Erwin threatens to fire them in response and it usually shuts them up. 

He often holds lectures in the hospital auditorium. With a mind and voice like his, people are so drawn in by him. He advocates for nursing staff, for reimbursement when continuing their education, better staffing, parking, etc. He makes nice with doctors and gets them to sign petitions for the nurses to get these things. He’s a bit manipulative He’s also a fantastic manager and director, he’s really good at negotiating things. The nurses and residents all love him because he rounds on every ICU frequently, brings food, and asks them how he can help. He can be a bit daunting because of his height and deep voice but once he starts talking to you, you just get sucked in. All around an absolute king. 

Hange: This character reminds me of a trauma surgeon and intensivist (ICU doctor) we have, Dr. Omi. A great surgeon, really really smart, but takes absolutely NO bullshit. She will yell at you if you freeze during intubating. She wants you to recite every step before you take it, otherwise she’ll take the tube from you and do it herself. In surgery, she’s the same way. She wants you to learn, but by her standards. If she asks a question, you better know the answer or fess up right away, she doesn’t like the “uhms” of uncertainty as you try to search for a shitty response. Either you know it or you don’t. And if you don’t, she’ll teach you. Yeah she can be rough around the edges, but she’s got a big heart. She loves her trauma team. She buys them breakfast and gives them funny personalized gifts. One time, she bought an apply tree for Mikasa and brought it to her car at the end of a shift. Mikasa forgot to plant it and it died in her backseat. Hange will sometimes ask, “Mikasa, how’s your apple tree growing?” and Mikasa will lie through her teeth. “It’s growing!” Fess up, Mikasa. Those google search apple trees are starting to look familiar.

All around Hange loves to work and teach. She is a wonderful trauma surgeon and has saved tons of lives.  

#snk headcanons #attack on titan #eren jaeger #mikasa ackerman #armin arlert #jean kirstein #connie springer #sasha braus #levi ackerman #erwin smith #hange zoe #lama writes

[supersilversleuth]

I Know You Won’t Believe Me (But Sometimes I wish You Would) by SuperSilverSpy

Fandoms: DCU, DCU (Comics), Batman - All Media Types  

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Category: Gen

Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Roman Sionis, Hurt Dick Grayson, Dick Grayson-centric, Dick Grayson Needs a Hug, Dick Grayson Whump, Whump, Whumptober 2021, Angst, Dick Grayson DID NOT fake his Death, I know I’m not really touching on it in this fic, but it’s important I say that, Post-Spyral, Miscommunication, Betrayal, I mean, Perceived Betrayal, SuperSilverSpy, SilverGrayson, SilverWhump, Protective Dick Grayson, injuries

Summary:

“Wha—Where am I? What do you want?” He asked, pretending to be groggy from waking up.

“Well, Officer Grayson, you are the Red Hood’s dirty pig informant, so I’m betting there’s a lot I can get out of you.”

Dick resisted the urge to laugh, or explain himself. There wasn’t much to explain anyway, not without revealing secrets that he would rather die protecting. Instead, he forced his expression into something more like shock, and resignation, deciding to play this role to the end. He could feel the instincts of manipulation and deception settling back over him like a very familiar blanket. Playing spy for a while had given him the opportunity to hone those skills. If there was any beneficial thing that could be taken away from that whole experience, it was what good he could now do with the abilities he’d enhanced during that time.

OR Dick is forced to pretend to betray Jason in order to protect the Red Hood’s identity

No. 5 - I’VE GOT RED IN MY LEDGER betrayal | misunderstanding | broken nose

Part 5 of 2021 Most Whumperful Time of the Year - Dick Grayson-centric

Language: English Words: 3,462 Chapters: 1/1 

Dick was tracking down a lead in the northern part of Blüdhaven, snooping around in various warehouses. It was the part of Blüdhaven that was closest to Gotham, so really Dick should’ve known better than to think his day would be uneventful.

 As it was, he was surprised by the sight of the Red Hood tying up the exact criminals Dick was looking for.

 Jason had tensed, glancing up, hand going for his gun—when Dick pushed the creaky warehouse door open to take a peek inside—and then, when Jason realized who it was, the hand went away from the gun, and the eyes away from Dick, but the tension remained. Jason continued about, tying the criminals up, studiously ignoring Dick’s presence as he did so.

 “Hood—” Dick started.

 “I’m just finishing up, Officer ,” he said mockingly, “They’re all yours when I’m done.”

 “I—They’re Black Mask’s people, do you have any intel about what they’re doing in my city?” “Not much,” replied Jason, tone clipped. “You?” “I have a little, maybe we could arrange a time to go over it? This case is clearly turning out to be a problem for both of us—”

 “Nope, that’s not how it works,” Jason cut him off, “You haven’t been forgiven for your last f*** up yet. Maybe we can trade information later, if I ever decide to trust you again.” Dick winced, stepping back. “Well, I’ll be out of your hair then, Hood. I’ll have some people come this way to put these criminals back where they belong.” “Where they belong is a big, ugly a** community grave,” Dick heard Jason mutter behind him just as he walked out the door.

-- A few days after the Hood incident, Dick was heading home after a long day of writing reports and studying casefiles. Being a detective was certainly not all excitement 24/7. Most of the time he was sitting around, wishing for more time in the field.

That particular day, he was distracted, thinking about a very complicated case that had been stumping him for longer than he’d like. He should’ve known better than to take that route home, though it probably wouldn’t have mattered—whoever wanted him was professional enough to have all the streets around the precinct covered.

 Ah, chloroform, he didn’t miss it. It’d been a while since he’d last had it pressed against his face. He supposed he was due for a run in with the stuff. The chloroform appeared at the same time as the wrenching of his arms behind his back, and the restraining of his legs. Dick tried not to fight  too  hard, he was still Detective Grayson, a civilian by vigilante standards, afterall. He had to keep up appearances. For that reason, he also pretended to fall unconscious long before he actually did. He’d built up an immunity to the drug of course, but that could only work with him as Nightwing.

 When Dick woke up, he found himself face to face with Black Mask. The man sat behind a desk, with Dick, sitting, bound to a chair in front of him. With a start, Dick realized that Roman must’ve been watching him while he was unconscious. Dick suppressed a shudder. 

 “Wha—Where am I? What do you want?” He asked, pretending to be groggy from waking up.

 “Well, Officer Grayson, you are the Red Hood’s dirty pig informant, so I’m betting there’s a lot I can get out of you.”

Dick resisted the urge to laugh, or explain himself. There wasn’t much to explain anyway, not without revealing secrets that he would rather die protecting. Instead, he forced his expression into something more like shock, and resignation, deciding to play this role to the end. He could feel the instincts of manipulation and deception settling back over him like a very familiar blanket. Playing spy for a while had given him the opportunity to hone those skills. If there was any beneficial thing that could be taken away from that whole experience, it was what good he could now do with the abilities he’d enhanced during that time.

 “I don’t know who the f*** that is,” Dick said, thinking about the actions of several of his coworkers for reference on how to act like a dirty cop.

 “Don’t lie to me,” snarled Roman. “My people know you spoke with him at the last operation of mine that he busted.”

 Ah, so that’s how he knew. One of the thugs must not have been fully unconscious during Dick’s conversation with Jason the other day.

 “Look man, I’m just his source guy sometimes, and he doesn’t even like me very much lately. So I don’t know what to tell you. Just let me go, and we can call it a day.” Dick made himself fidget, as if he was nervous about the threatening crime boss sitting across from him.

 “So what? You don’t have anything for me? Maybe I should just torture you until you die, how about that?”

 “N—No,” Dick made himself stutter, “I—I can still help you...for a price.”

 “Even now, you argue for your checkbook,” Roman chuckled, “The world goes ‘round, and dirty cops never change.”

 “What can I say,” Dick smirked, “The Hood didn’t pay me enough. I’m sure  you’ll be different…”

 Roman smiled at him, a dangerous smile that said he couldn’t wait to use him up and leave his body in a ditch.

 Dick smiled back.

--

Jason got an alert that the alarms at one of his safehouses had been tripped. It wasn’t one of his favorite safehouses or anything—in fact, it was due for a restock, but he knew it would be better to check it out as soon as he could anyway.

 He swung through the air, making his way through Crime Alley to where he knew the safehouse to be. Any intruders in his territory would be dealt with, crappy safehouse or not. 

 He found that much of his security system had been quietly disabled…except for a single, simple sensor. Whoever did this wanted him to come here.

 The door to his safehouse was ajar, and Jason carefully pushed it open, peering through the crack.

 His lights were on, and there were the sounds of ransacking and breaking glass.

 Jason grabbed the guns from his hips, and slammed open the door.

 There stood Dick, out of uniform, surrounded by several of Black Mask‘s people. 

 Jason snarled at the sight, thoughts of the man’s betrayal swirling through his mind. 

 Dick’s eyes widened, shooting a pleading look at him as if trying to convey something. Jason ignored it in his anger.

 “Let’s go! He’s here!” yelled Dick.

 “Traitor.” He growled darkly.

 Something flickered in the traitor’s expression, before smoothing out as if it had never been there.

 Jason didn’t think. He just lifted his guns, and fired.

 Unfortunately, they were rubber bullets, and he’s pretty sure he only managed to clip the lying b****** in the leg.

 He did manage to take down at least three of the others before the rest escaped quickly through the window.

--

“So, I guess Hoodie really isn’t on your side after all,” said Roman, pacing.

“I—I don’t understand what happened,” Dick sputtered, feigning fear, “I disabled all of his security, he wasn’t supposed to show.”

 “That’s because I had one of my people purposely sabotage you. I needed to make sure you weren’t still on his side. This,” he said, putting his hand on Dick’s leg where the bullet hit him, “is the proof I was looking for.” He pressed down, Dick gasped as if in pain. It really didn’t feel nice.

 “W—What?” He said in indignation, “Of course I’m on your side, that guy hates me.”

 “So I’m told.” Roman said, uncaring. He dug his fingers in.

 “Stop!” Dick strained against the ropes binding his hands behind the chair.

 The man let up, briefly, “You got the package I sent you to get?” 

 He was referring to the fake intel Dick had promised was stashed in Hood’s safehouse, intel that he had planted while no one was looking. The moment Roman plugged that thing in, Oracle would have complete access to all of the crime boss’s servers. “Yes, of course! Don’t forget to plug it into a high powered computer, I’m sure it’ll require a lot of decryption…”

 Roman waved his hand, “Yeah, yeah, whatever, my people have it covered.”

 “I’d like my payment now,” Dick said, glaring at him.

 The man grinned malevolently, “You’ll get your payment, when I let you go and the Hood goes after you. The people he captured have  quite  the story to tell.” 

 Dick slid a look of fear onto his face.

--

Jason didn't even give him the chance to explain.

Not that Dick was surprised about this, of course, but that doesn't mean it didn't hurt.

Roman had released him onto Gotham's streets, and sent several of his people to tail him.  Dick of course, was not supposed to know about that particular detail, but it's not like the low-level thugs had any actual expertise when it came to anything, least of all properly tailing a person.

Ah, so this was one more test, to confirm that he was truly against the Hood, before Roman dared plug in the USB. So it was best that Jason's first reaction upon seeing him was to lash out anyway, and Dick didn't even get a moment to get a word in before Hood was slamming him into the ground.

Well, it seemed these days the only reliable fact was that his family no longer trusted him. It was a good thing he needed Jason to beat him up for the operation, then. Internally, Dick sighed, he wished it didn't have to be like this. He hated lying, detested spying, but he'd learned long ago that sometimes there's no time for debate, and often the situation called for the best solution, not necessarily a good one.

Jason always acted on his emotions, it was something about him that never changed. It was reliable qualities like that, that Dick had been trained to notice, to exploit when needed. Dick did what he had to do, Jason did what he wanted to do. Many times, Dick had had to shoulder the burden of doing what was needed, even if it hurt those around him. He would gladly carry these responsibilities for the rest of his life, if only his siblings didn't have to, if only his family  lived.

And so, Officer Grayson fought with the Red Hood in a back alleyway as the man spewed curses about him and how he couldn't trust someone who'd betray him just to meet their own ends and not even think to tell him about the undercover op—

Dick, of course, was still being watched. So he fought like a random inexperienced police officer, not like Nightwing, professional vigilante. 

Jason didn't seem to notice. 

"Is this the new you then? Huh? You stab us in the back at every chance you get, all for a supposed “mission”? Is this Dick the spy then? Is that who you are now?"

Dick dodged a fist, got kicked in the knee.  It’s probably just the pit rage,  he reminded himself,  another thing I can count on.

"You know, I didn't think you of all people would pull something like this the first time, I don't know why I didn't see it with this one, you'd think I'd have learned my lesson by now."

Jason punched him in the stomach, causing him to sink further to the ground.

"I don't even know if I'd grieve again, if I found out you were dead. How would I know it wasn't just another lie that you failed to mention to me?"

Dick was just glad his tails were too far away to hear what Jason was saying.

"Do you have any idea what Black Mask is capable of? Have you  forgotten  who the f*** he  is  ? You can't just go undercover to work with him against  me, without telling me!"

His little brother sounded so upset, Dick only wished he had time to explain.

"Whatever happened to communication? Is that a foreign concept to you  spies? And here I thought we were actually family."

Jason headbutted him right in the face, breaking what Dick was pretty sure was his nose. He could feel the sticky warmth of blood on his face, flowing over his lips, past his chin to drip to the ground. Dick's vision blurred, and he collapsed to the ground, curling in on himself, he had to play it up, afterall. Even though the wounds inflicted were mostly just surface ones. They had an audience, and Dick could not fail to perform.

Above him, Jason scoffed, as if he could see through Dick's pretending. Still though, DIck could see his hands shaking, could see as the pent up energy within his little brother's body drained, tension leaving his shoulders. In a moment, Jason was gone, and Dick closed his eyes, giving into the exhaustion of having had to pretend to be someone he wasn't under very stressful circumstances for the past few days. It was alright, nothing...Dick...couldn't handle...

--

Jason felt drained. He hadn't felt that angry since well...the last time Goldie had pulled something like this.

The feeling of Dick’s face against his fist was quite familiar by this point. Each time he’d done it blurred together, echoing in his mind as green tinted his vision.

Jason made it back to one of his safehouses, somehow. He wasn’t sure when he got there, or how, but when he finally came back to himself, it was to the sight of a familiar kitchenette.

He felt too restless to sleep, but too exhausted to do anything productive at the same time. He didn’t trust himself to go out as Red Hood. In this state, he was a danger to anyone around him.

Jason’s mind raced, even as his body collapsed on the couch. He turned the tv on, letting himself get lost in some random sitcom.

He needed to calm down, probably do something like think things through. Though Jason knew that he was most likely going to just go about his day tomorrow, as if today hadn’t happened.

Always running away, still that same self-preserving street kid who only knew how to survive. Well, it’d worked for him so far, minus the dying part of course.

Hours later, technically into the next morning, Jason’s comm beeped. What could Barbie possibly want at this time of morning? Not even villains were awake at 6:00am, usually this hour was sacred.

“Hood?”

Well, apparently not anymore.

Sighing, Jason brought his finger to his ear, “Yeah? How’d you know I was awake?”

“Unimportant,” she said, all business, “I need you to check on Nightwing for me.”

Jason’s mind blanked, and then he scoffed, “You kidding me?” His voice was shaky. “What the f*** did he do this time?”

Oracle had no time for overly dramatic interbat-relations.

“A few hours ago, Black Mask’s servers went online, Dick’s code caught my attention. I was able to get every little bit of data ever entered into one of Mask’s computers. It was more than we’ve been able to get from him in years. Dick’s work really was genius. I tried to get in contact with him, but his trackers aren’t working, his phone’s out of the picture, and I can’t find him on any camera. I’m worried he went undercover without a backup plan for when Mask figured it out.”

Jason attempted unsuccessfully to tamp down his feelings of guilt and concern.

“Alright O, I’m on it.” He croaked, already heading out the door.

Adrenaline flowed through his veins, spurring him on. 

His earlier hate had fled, leaving behind nothing but cold determination. He was angry at his brother, sure, but he didn’t want the guy to  die… right?

And if what Oracle said was true, then it just might have been worth it for Dick to do what he did, just maybe.

Jason headed to where he’d last seen Dick. 

He found him about a block away from where they’d fought, being tortured in a rundown warehouse.

If it weren’t for the screams, Jason probably would have passed it and not even known.

Black Mask stood over Dick, who was bound to a table. Goldie was missing his shirt, and his torso was littered with burns and bruises. His feet were bare too, Roman was in the process of whipping them.

For the second time in twenty four hours, Jason felt the anger rise and the pit take over. 

The emotion was stronger this time, more powerful, Jason thought distantly. 

There were about thirty thugs surrounding Roman, guarding the man’s sadistic torture session.

Jason drew his guns, and tried not to think about the last time he’d used them to pistol whip Dickie across the face.

The first five thugs went down quickly, the next ten following right behind them. Jason reloaded. Some part of his subconscious aimed for kneecaps and non-lethal areas. The pit aimed for whatever was convenient. Nevertheless, if Jason had been paying attention, he’d have noticed that not one of his bullets missed a target.

By the time he’d made his way through all thirty of them, he had two loaded guns left, though they weren’t the same ones he’d started out with.

Roman had fled sometime during the action, like the coward he was. Jason was halfway out the door to find him when he heard a sound from behind him.

It was Dick.

Jason startled, hurrying towards his brother's side. The anger once again drained from his body.

Dick’s eyes were hazy and unfocused, they looked at him without seeing. But as Jason neared, something foreign came into them: fear.

Jason dropped his guns on the floor, trying not to think about how he’d never seen Dick look at him like that.

He bent to untie his brother from the table, and Dick flinched away from him, unintelligible noises stumbling out of his throat.

“Shh, Dickie, it’s alright.” Jason said frantically, “I’m gonna get you out of here, okay?”

He finished removing the last of the restraints just as Dick passed out from what was likely incredible pain.

--

Jason efficiently cleaned and bandaged his brother’s wounds, feeling numb. Dick’s body was covered in scars, the recent--but not too recent ones were what caught his attention. Jason didn’t want to think about when Dick must’ve gotten them.

Instead, Jason thought about something that had been bothering him before, little details here and there that he had missed. Namely: Dick hadn't been wearing his Nightwing suit during all of their interactions in the past few days. In fact, he'd been dressed quite like a detective.

 It dawned on Jason in a moment, and he felt horrified. Dick had been a detective that day in the warehouse with Black Mask's people. Back when this all started. 

 Jason's mind was racing when Dick groaned, eyes cracking open, "Wha—Jay?"

 "Yeah, it's me Dickie. I'm here."

 "What—What happened?"

 Jason sighed, "What do you remember?"

 Dick's brows furrowed in thought, "I...I had to go undercover..."

 "Why didn't you tell me?" Jason asked.

 Recognition flashed in his brother's eyes, He seemed to be getting his energy back.

 "There was no time, Roman kidnapped me, I had to play along."

 "But—there had to have been some time you could have explained the situation to me…"

 "Would you believe me if I had?" Dick's gaze was piercing.

 “I—yeah, okay, that’s fair.” Jason paused, “Were you going to tell me that you went undercover to save my a**? Or were you just going to keep letting me hate you?”

 Dick was silent.

 Jason continued, “I mean, sure. Maybe I wouldn’t have believed you. But maybe I would have. You weren’t even going to give me the choice.” Something occurred to him then. “We didn’t give you the chance to explain about Spyral…was that situation similar to this?” 

 Dick sighed, “I’m not up for having this conversation right now. Maybe later, after I wake up.”

 He burrowed further into the couch, closing his eyes.

 “One more thing,” Jason said, unwilling to let it end just like that. “Those scars…”

 Dick’s smile was bitter and darkly amused, “You didn’t think playing spy was all fun and games, did you? Everyone was out to get me. See here?” Dick half-heartedly lifted up his arm, “A cannibal took a chunk out of it. Congratulations, you’re the first to notice.”

 “I’m sorry,” Jason murmured to him, long after he’d fallen asleep. 

 The two words were long overdue.

#Whumptober2021 #no.5 #i've got red in my ledger #betrayal #misunderstanding #broken nose #Batman - All Media Types #DCU #fic #Implied/Referenced Torture #Scars #Dick Grayson #Jason Todd #Dick Grayson-centric #Hurt Dick Grayson #Dick Grayson Whump #Whump #SuperSilverSleuth #SilverGrayson #SilverWhump

[petri808]

Hauntober prompt Cryptid

Nalu Requested by @gerrimime not gonna lie I was stumped for a hot second on this prompt lol. Here we go!

What was that?! Lucy awakens to a very loud thud coming from the back area of her house. She looks at the clock and notices its 3am. What could it be? A crappy burglar? She turns on lights inside her house, grabs a baseball bat, then goes to her back door, cautiously peeking out. “If someone’s out there, I have a weapon!”

No human responds, but there is a sound, like the kind a dog owner hears scraping against a hardwood floor. Maybe it was an animal?! But to make such a loud thud it had to be big. Lucy sticks her head out further and looks down the length of the porch. Oh, crap! It was a huge wolf! Why the hell is there a wolf on her porch?! Where would it have even come from since the forest was several miles away?!

The creature lets out a pitiful sounding whine and Lucy realizes there was a trail of blood leading from the wolf, down her porch, and into the backyard. It was injured, and based on the amount of blood, badly wounded. The thud must have come from it collapsing onto the wooden floor. She keeps the bat raised just in case, and cautiously moves closer to it. “D-Don’t hurt me wolf, I don’t mean any harm, just need to see the wound.”

It’s eyes track Lucy’s every step, but does nothing to stop her from getting closer. Once she’s within two feet of the animal, she scans its body looking for the source of the blood. The light colored fur made it a little easier to find the large wound on its side. “Oh, that’s really bad!” Now what to do?! She didn’t want it to die, but it’s too early to call a wildlife rescue. “Um, hold on,” she talks as of it could understand her. “I-I can try and stop the bleeding if you’ll let me.”

‘Of course, it’s not gonna answer,’ she chides herself, but it also seemed to understand she wasn’t trying to hurt it. So, Lucy rushes into her house and grabs rags, peroxide, black tea bags, and an ace bandage wrap, along with an old blanket. Then sets to work.

“It’s gonna hurt wolf, but I’m trying to help so you better not attack me.”

As gently as she possibly can, Lucy uses the wrags and peroxide to clean off the area. It’s thick fur was definitely a problem in getting to the wound, but she worked around it. As she does her thing, the wolf continued to growl as if in pain, yet never lashed out. So far, so good. She rips the strings off the tea bags and sticks them along the 6 inch wound, then applied pressure for several minutes allowing the tannins in the tea to do their thing. That made the wolf flinch. “Sorry, sorry!” Lucy cringes. She could only imaging how much it hurt.

The wound was strangely clean as if made by a large knife, maybe a machete or something along those lines. “I hope you didn’t get this cause you were attacking someone.” She looks at the wolf. “You don’t seem like an animal that would attack a human,” Lucy assumed based off its current behavior, but maybe that was only because it was too injured to do so.

After several minutes and a tea bag change, the blood was starting to coagulate. So, she leaves them stuck to the skin and uses the ace bandage to wrap around its body and hold them in place. That took some effort of maneuvering without reopening the wounds or causing additional pain.

“Done!” Lucy exhaled, then covers the wolf with the blanket. “If you’re still here in the morning I’ll call wildlife rescue, but this is all I can do for you tonight.” The wolf lays its head back down with a small huff and closes its eyes. Well, there’s her answer.

Her good deed complete, Lucy grabs the rubbish and extra tools, then cleans herself up and heads to bed. Such a crazy night, she couldn’t wait to tell her boyfriend about her bravery! Natsu was sure to find it amusing! ‘I should have taken a picture...’

A few hours later, Lucy’s alarm wakes her up. Thank goodness she didn’t work until a later shift because she might need to take an extra nap today. She goes outside to see if the wolf was still there even though part of her assumed the wolf animal would leave as soon as it could. Lucy steps out onto the back porch.

“Eh?! Natsu?!”

But instead of a wolf, she finds her naked boyfriend asleep under the blanket!

“What in the world is going on?!”

He looks up with dazed and sleep deprived eyes, while managing a pained smile. “Um. Surprise? I’m a werewolf.”

#hauntober #nalu #prompt cryptid #natsu dragneel #lucy heartfilia #nalu fan fic #nalu fanfiction #fairy tail

[regulusfate]

stage texting is banned

( textfic excerpt )

“You think they’d be more subtle.” Dorcas muttered behind the rim of her glass, chair legs half rocking back into the shadow of their small corner within the pub.

Marlene snorted, absently fiddling with the bracelet hanging from Dorcas’ wrist, the soft tint of amber glinting under the lamplight.

“They called themselves the Marauders,” A smirk tangled in the streaks of blonde that softened the hard edges of her face, “if that doesn’t tell you something ..”

Dorcas let the chair fall with an exhale of air, fresh within the thick bitterness scented to every crack in the walls, and grimaced at the ashtray left on the table. A constant presence, smoke adrift to the arches of wood lining the ceiling, slipping between the open windows and into the falling September night. David, Lawrence, echos balanced like the stumps held between their cheeks, soft embers left to fall, to soak within the grass, ‘they’ll be the last things to kill me.’ It had clung to their jackets, their skin, till only their hair remained some wisp of lavender shampoo under the steeples of the setting sun.

And winter had crawled through the cherry tree’s until it reached their blackened lungs. Almost ironic in the stone cold moonlight.

“Tell us what?”

Like a broken spell, and something was broken; magic dipping to their fingertips, thawed and split. A chair dragged back in a steady handed shriek – tailed off in to the wind, fire, fire, scream fire – lost in the sea of noise split between the thickening crowds around the bar and the tables edging towards the small stage.

“And breathe, lowlife, beneath the masses.”

An exhale, the rough edge of Potter’s voice clinging with the clammy print left upon the empty glass, but he wasn’t wrong. God knows he wasn’t wrong.

“Dorcas?”

Marlene, eyes narrowed to some spot of freckles upon her cheek, and Lily’s hand reaching for her wrist.

“I’m here.”

“Right.”

“How are the boys doing?”

Lily breaks in, between Marlene’s tight-lipped stare and the pale blue of her eyes hardened into some scrap of restraint, her fingers withdrew from the beads dangling against the table. Dorcas missed the warmth, each place grazed by the light of her fingertips left a mark like a new freckle, arisen from the gaze of the sun.

A momentary buzz.

“Crap.” A grin, and Lily rolled her eyes half filled with exasperation as they wandered overhead to the jumble of figures caught under the spotlight.

They seemed awkward, and yet oddly smooth, and Dorcas could never understand how they managed it. To look both so distinctly out of place, and yet sharply fitting. But then, she would rather see guitars between their fingers than wands and dirt pushed beneath the daises.

After a moment Marlene sighed, and her shoulders relaxed.

“They’re a crappy sort of good,”

As if that made any sense.

“So, good, you just don’t want to admit it.” Lily grinned.

“Their music is surprisingly adequate. They just need more –“

“Alcohol.” Dorcas nodded, stretching her arms to feel the pop of the bone.

“Well ,” Lily murmured, “it is good for nerves.”

“They aren’t nervous – they shouldn’t be bloody nervous.”

Dorcas bit the inside of her mouth, watching the scowl shift from Marlene’s eyes to her cheeks as she leaned back to find their forms in the warm glow of the lights. Potter and Black, they hadn’t been nervous, not since ( shattered bones upon the floor, mud against their freezing breaths ) but then, hadn’t they always hidden behind the arrogance?

A lifetime's span between one persona and the next.

“Oh – I see ,” Lily laughed and it was nice to hear, something like cloudy lemonade under the aftermath of a storm, delightfully fresh. “McGonagall is here.”

Marlene choked and leaned forwards, craning round to follow her line of sight, and falling back with a colourful swear word on her tongue. Their knees bumped beneath the table.

“Of course she’d be here to see them.”

Dorcas’s lips twitched, the urge to make some passing comment, to tease the pink glow from her cheeks with a well placed echo ‘jealous?’, but swallowed the temptation in a pointless gulp of air, as a single drop slid down the glass to her lips. Well and truly empty.

Marlene had a point, and sometimes under the sleepless nights they would wonder. What made four boys so special? Was it that they were boys, or because they found some trace of happiness in everything? Even Lily couldn’t manage that, not after everything.

It was almost funny to be jealous after five years.

Funny.

And left to wonder who would mourn them, their lives, their accomplishments, when their families were dead.

“The Marauders and their adequate music.”

“You know you love it, Mars,” Lily grinned within the embers of her hair. “Besides, Sirius needs his moral support against his many hoards of fans.”

“He left those back at Hogwarts.”

Marlene snorted, their knees knocking below the table once more, stilling, and the drifting warmth moved between their skin.

“Is that what he’s been telling you?”

“I resent that you assume I believed him.”

Dorcas almost laughed, their friend's indignation palpable as her body swayed gently in time to the slowing chords, melancholy dripping from the soft pink of Lupin's lips. The last of the strawberries plucked from the bushes, a tender kiss to his mouth.

But it had been sung a thousand times over, losing colour from fresh to a damp sinking maroon, as a strawberry would close to rotting, hanging by tendrils from a delicate branch. Their music wasn’t as important as their company, not for Dorcas, bumping past chairs lurched into her side from careless strangers. Music was less of a distraction.

#basically they are watching the marauders #on stage texting each other #not being very subtle about it #marauders era au #they survived the war #there was no prophecy #harry potter fandom #hp fanfiction #dorcas meadowes #marlene mckinnon #lily evans fanfiction

[ultraheydudemestuff]

Paint Creek Lake Wildlife Area

9945 Winegar Rd.

Greenfield, OH 45123

Paint Creek Lake Wildlife Area is located in southwest Ohio, at the south edge of Greenfield on the Paint Creek fork and the southeast edge of Centerfield on the Rattlesnake fork of Paint Creek Lake. State Routes 138 and 753 bisect the Rattlesnake fork approximately 15 miles east of Hillsboro. The area may be reached by turning north off U.S. 50 onto State Route 753 or onto Rapid Forge Road in Ross County. The 5,090-acre wildlife area lies at the upper end of Paint Creek Lake, a flood control reservoir operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In summer, the reservoir is normally 1,170 acres with 25 miles of shoreline. During periods of heavy rainfall, the reservoir covers portions of the wildlife area that are normally dry. Paint Creek State Park, 5,934 acres, lies south of the wildlife area on both sides of the reservoir. Meadow and grain crops make up about one-third of the wildlife area. The remainder of the wildlife area is about equally divided in woodland and reverting fields of shrubs, small trees, grasses, and forbs.

Paint Creek Reservoir was constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for flood control and recreation. It was completed in 1974. Of the 9,179 acres licensed to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, 5,090 acres are managed by the Division of Wildlife for public hunting and fishing. The remainder of the area is managed by the Division of Parks and Recreation. State parks have special hunting and trapping regulations. Wildlife area habitat management work has included development of crop rotations and field sizes to provide food and cover for upland wildlife. Wildlife habitat has been enhanced by planting trees and shrubs to establish field dividers, improving existing fencerows through selective cutting, and protecting and improving woodlands.

Bobwhite quail, ring-necked pheasant, cottontail rabbit, white-tailed deer, fox and gray squirrels, and groundhogs are the major game species. Common furbearers are raccoon, opossum, muskrat, mink, weasel, skunk, red fox, and gray fox. Waterfowl are most common during migration and good numbers of wood duck’s nest and rear their broods on this area each spring and summer. A variety of songbirds can be found on the area. Largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass, white and black crappies, bluegills, catfish, sunfish, suckers, and carp are found in the lake. The fishery has developed from the resident fish population in the main streams. Saugeye were stocked in 1982.

Paint Creek is popular for hunting rabbits and squirrels, both of which are found throughout the area. Squirrel hunting is best for gray squirrels in the larger stands of mature woodland and for fox squirrels in the smaller woodlots, along the streams, and in woody fencerows. Rabbits and groundhogs can be found throughout the area. Waterfowl hunting is available on the reservoir and the streams coming into the reservoir. Deer hunting is good throughout the area. Trapping is most productive around pond areas and along the streams running into the reservoir. Crappies and bluegills are taken around brush and in tops of fallen trees throughout the lake. Largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass are taken along the shoreline, around stumps, logs, and large limestone rocks. Catfish, sunfish, and carp are taken throughout the lake. Several low-level rock dams were constructed below the dam and all species are taken in this tailwater fishery.

Several parking areas are distributed throughout the wildlife area. Two canoe launching areas are available along Rattlesnake Creek. Two boat ramps with sanitary facilities, picnic facilities, and drinking water are located on the lake. A camping area is located off Taylor Road on the east side of the lake. A pioneer farm is located on the west side of the lake. An overlook, a playground, and picnic and fishing areas are located below and around the dam area, managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

[loulougoingsolo]

Spot the big bird

I woke up this morning around 6 a.m. to the sound of a pheasant rooster screaming toot-toot under my window. After that, there was wing flapping, as the bird hopped to another spot. He kept making noise all morning, making it impossible for me to sleep. I don’t normally wake up at 6 a.m. on a Saturday, so the rest of my day has been more or less foggy. But I think I get 50 points for spotting a big bird, right?

In this week’s vlog, Rhett and Link go biking by the L.A. river. I know we are currently mostly making jokes about Rhett’s hair going wild, but can I just say that Link looks a bit like an older lady who has just removed the curlers from their hair after the night and forgot to do the final swoop through the curls, in the beginning of the video? (I admit I occasionally have that hair-do, too, even without the curlers. But I feel I had to mention his hair.)

I’m a simple girl living in the country side, and for me, the idea of a river turned into a concrete ditch is a bit odd - even though I know my brother living in a more urban environment, often goes biking by a similar “constructed” river. Not knowing anything about the L.A., I went on to google the bicycle route the guys are taking in this video, and was glad to find out it has its own Wiki page, in case you’re interested!

It seems there is a bit of a power play going on between the guys, as the drive to the start of their path. Rhett is driving this time, but Link is more familiar with the biking route, so who is in charge? I don’t quite know how a bike trip could be turned into a commune living arrangement type of a situation, or how a commune could suddenly turn into a sex cult, but evidently, whoever tells the others they can only have sex with the one in charge, but not with each other, is the leader. So...how does this apply to biking? Also which is it, if there is always a leader? And how the heck did we get to sex cults this early in the video?

I just love how self-concious Rhett is feeling about wearing the bicycle helmet. And, he actually asked for Link’s opinion about which helmet he should wear. I think it’s very adorable, really, and I just love how Link always finds new, innovative ways to compliment Rhett’s mane. This is the first time I’ve heard the word asinine, but Link says it in the most loving way possible, and to be quite honest, he isn’t wrong. But thankfully, Rhett fixes his lopsided hair, and everything works out just fine.

I have to say, bicycle helmets make me feel very self-concious, too. I actually have a helmet that is almost identical to the one Link has - solid black and practical. Why do we need to feel stupid when wearing something that can literally save our lives? (But since helmets do look kinda stupid, at least solid black goes with everything.) And here’s a Grandson of Anarchy, Rhett McLaughlin, for y’all to enjoy, in his full glory:

We have more lakes than rivers around where I live, and most bicycle routes here are basically dirt roads surrounded by rural landscape, but I think I prefer it that way. The scenery around the L.A. river is too open, too loud and way too constructed for my liking, but there is something very grandiose about the river. Rhett also looks pretty grandiose next to Link. I should be used to their size difference by now, but Link looks so tiny, again. He’s small enough to fit in Rhett’s pocket.

I wasn’t getting at all bored by watching the guys on their bikes, but I admit, the idea of a scavenger hunt is pretty appealing, even if the guys probably won’t find people with old money in the river. But there might have been someone rich there, since who in their right mind throws away a fairly functional looking stroller? Don’t they cost a fortune?

I don’t think the river cleaning crew was joking about finding dead bodies in the river. I know in the nearest bigger city in my area, which has a rapid with dams running across the centre, they empty the river of all water every now and then (usually in the spring), and bodies have been found more than once. (Which reminds me, one time I was on a bicycle ride with my mom, and we took a short cut through the woods, and found a dead goat there. It was horrible. It smelled so bad. There were flies everywhere. And now I’ve given everyone reading this nightmares. Sorry.)

I just realized that the L.A. river was probably where they filmed that one chase scene in Terminator 2. Am I right? I knew those concrete slopes looked somehow familiar. No wonder I had an unpleasant feeling about that river. I saw T2 way too young - they should never have allowed me into the theater at the age of 12. But never mind about that.

There is a lot of junk in that river, and it does make me kinda mad, too, just like Rhett. I once found a whole VCR  in the place I like to go pick mushrooms, so a VHS tape in a river isn’t surprising. One thing good about the digital age is that there aren’t quite that many old VHS or mix tapes lying around. The mix tape of 2020 is a Spotify playlist, I guess.

Since I clearly have nothing better to do, I ended up doing an internet search on different cross symbols, to find the one carved in the tree stump Rhett and Link find. It appears to be a cross potent. No idea why one would be in L.A. river, unless it’s just a very complicated way to make the tree stump rot quicker.

I think my new favourite thing is seeing Link just give up and start laughing, after trying to get Rhett talk about littering without threatening to kill someone. I think it’s only fair to talk trash about people who throw their trash in nature, and a message coming from an angry biker is probably a good idea. But I just love hearing Link snort and giggle.

After the rat chase vlog, and today’s episode, I think there soon is enough material for a full Rhett and Link horror movie. I would love to hear what the people, who asked if everything was okay with the guys, were thinking. One day, the title of these vlogs is going to be “The One Where They Get Arrested”.

I’m not a qualified gif maker, so I can’t capture all the pelvic thrusts of this vlog in their full glory. As enjoyable as it was to see the guys do their solo acts, some things just are more fun when done together. My only excuse for the edit below is that if they have the audacity to film something like this without even moving the camera between takes, they are asking to be edited together. It took me less than 5 minutes to do the edit, which, yes, is pretty crappy, but I just couldn’t miss the opportunity, when it was served to me on a silver platter.

#rhett and link vlog #rhett and link #vlog 1 #the one where the boys go biking #so much litter #l.a. river #so many pelvic thrusts #also #i tried to keep score about everything they found in the river #but i failed #and they didn't really spot a proper big bird

[lovemesomesurveys]

Are you still in quarantine/under stay at home order? (if you're taking this during Covid-19, that is) The state isn’t, but I am. 

Has stuff been opening back up where you are? Yeah. Although, now dining in isn’t an option again in my area. 

What have you missed most that you haven't been able to do due to Covid-19? I didn’t do much even before all this, but I did like going grocery shopping with my mom and going to the movies, which we did quite often. And now with it being summer I’m really sad I can’t go to the beach. Beach days were the only thing I liked about summer. I could still go shopping with my mom and go to the beach, but I just don’t feel safe or comfortable going out in public and being around people right now when the number of cases are still so high and continue to rise. It makes me extremely anxious and scared. It doesn’t help that my state is a hotspot.

What state do you live in?  California.

Do you personally know anyone who has had Covid-19? Yes. She actually ended up recovering from that, testing negative later on, but she died recently from complications caused by it. She was on dialysis and after she got sick, even though she got better, it affected her kidneys and she had to stop dialysis. Once that happens, it’s not long after that you pass away. She was my grandma’s best friend, thus a very close family friend. :( She was the sweetest, caring, kindhearted person. 

Have you had it? (or think you might have?) No, not so far. Although, whenever I feel crappy or cough for any reason my mind automatically goes there. It’s not unusual for me not to feel well and have days where I’m feeling extra crappy, but nowadays I have to play the game: is it my normally crappiness or something else? :/ I also have dry mouth and my throat tends to get dry in the summer anyway and ugh again it’s something normal for me but I have to wonder about that, too.

Do you know anyone who is a healthcare worker? No. Well, apart from my doctors obviously.

Have you still been working these past few months or not? I don’t have a job. I wasn’t working prior to this either.

If you weren't working, are you still in school? No, thankfully. I graduated UC 5 years ago, so I’ve been done way before this started. What is/was your major in college?  I majored in psych.

Or if you're not in college yet, what do you want to study?

If your school closed due to Covid-19, do you miss it?

What are you most excited about when life goes (somewhat) back to normal? It’s hard for me to even see that point right now. I know people think I sound like a Negative Nancy, but I think I’m just being real. It’s goings to be a long time before we get to a point where we don’t have to have this virus looming over our heads everyday. It’s been kicking our ass. It’s never going to go away, it will likely be like the flu in that we have a covid season, but I pray we get to the point where we can get under control and managed. A point where there’s a vaccine and effective medication. But like I said, that’s going to take time. Masks may be the new way of life for many of us.

Did Covid-19 impact any major plans you had for this spring/summer?  No beach trips or birthday vacay. :( That’s not important, I know, but I am still sad about it.

Do you collect anything? Key chains and giraffe stuffed animals and knicknacks.

What's the name of your favorite restaurant? (chain or local) Wingstop. 

What is your favorite thing to order when you eat there? I get takeout, but anyway I love their boneless garlic parm and lemon pepper wings with their ranch. 

Have you still been able to get food from there during Covid-19? Yes. I always got takeout anyway, so that hasn’t been any different for me.

Are you planning on eating there anytime soon when they reopen? I’ll say it a 3rd time haha I just get it to go and eat at home.

Have you discovered any good new music during quarantine?  Yeah, but not because I’m in quarantine. That implies I’ve done so because I’ve been home and had more time to do so or only did so because I didn’t have anything to do. I’ve spent most of my time at home the past few years, not just this year.

What's a new song you've been loving lately? (not necessarily newly released, just something you've recently discovered) Lately I’ve been getting new music from TikToks. A couple recent ones are Dream Girl by Ir Sais and Summer Days by Martin Garrix ft. Macklemore and Patrick Stump.

Have you been able to keep in touch with friends during this time? I don’t have any friends, so that hasn’t been an issue. 

What is your favorite Starbucks drink? White chocolate mocha, caramel macchiato, and their fall and winter seasonal drinks. 

Do you prefer Starbucks or a local coffee shop? Just give me coffeeee.

What was your favorite TV show when you were a kid? do you still ever watch it? I had a lot of favorites. Some I still watch like Boy Meets World, Full House, Family Matters, Disney Channel shows like That’s So Raven, Lizzie McGuire, The Proud Family, Hannah Montana, etc (thanks to Disney+) and old Nick shows like Rugrats, Doug, and Hey Arnold. I recently found out Hulu has Step by Step, so I’ll be watching that again at some point.

Have you been watching a lot of movies during quarantine? >> No more than I would be usually, since my daily life didn’t change as dramatically as most people’s did. But yeah. <<< Yeah, I’ve gotten into a few new shows and binge watched a few old ones during this time, but again I wouldn’t contribute that to quarantine cause I would have been home majority of the time still anyway.

What is your favorite Disney movie? Alice in Wonderland, Winnie the Pooh, and Toy Story are among the top

Do you have Disney plus? Yep. That’s how I watch those old Disney shows I mentioned before.

Are you a fan of Hamilton? I’ve never seen it.

Are you planning to watch Hamilton on Disney plus? I have thought about checking it out, so we’ll see.

Have you seen Hamilton live? (Broadway or elsewhere) Like I said, I’ve never seen it.

What is your favorite musical? Sweeney Todd.

Have you watched any musicals online recently? No. Or ever.

What was the last live performance you went to before quarantine? I saw Phantom of the Opera 3 years ago.

What was the best concert you've ever been to? All the concerts I went to were awesome. Man, it’s been over 10 years now since my last concert I really miss ‘em.

Do you volunteer anywhere? No. I’ve volunteered at a few places in the past, though.

What is your favorite movie on Netflix? >> ??? There are... so many movies on Netflix. <<<

Did you relocate due to Covid-19? No.

What is one positive thing about the past few months for you? Uhhh.

Do you prefer streaming music or buying it? I stream it.

Do you use Spotify? Yep.

What was the last book you read? I recently started The Girl and the Deadly End by AJ Rivers. It’s the final book in a 7 book series. 

Have you been baking during quarantine? Nope.

What is your favorite thing to bake? It’s been a few years since I’ve done any baking. I used to love it during the holidays.

Do you enjoy doing crafts? I think they can be fun, but they’re not something I do very often at all. I lack the artistic ability, creativity, inspiration, motivation, and energy. 

Have you ever done crafts for money? No. 

Do you shop on Etsy? Yes. I love Etsy.

Have you ever sold anything on Etsy? Nope.

What song are you listening to right now?  I’m not listening to music, I’m listening to an ASMR video.

What genre of music is your favorite? I like a variety of music.

Can you speak any foreign languages? Not fluently, but I know some Spanish.

What is/was your favorite class in school? I always enjoyed English and then later on in college I enjoyed most of my psych classes as well. 

Who was your favorite teacher most recently? I’ve been done with school for 5 years now.

What is the lock screen and home screen on your phone? The lock screen is a photo of the ocean with a Bible verse on it and my home screen is a rose gold background.

Do you play Animal Crossing? Yeppp. 

Do you have any pets? What kind? What is/are your pet(s) name(s)? I have a 3 year old German Shepherd/Lab mix named Princess Leia. <3

what is a song lyric you love? >> Right, I’m definitely not going to think of that off the top of my head right now. <<< Haha, right. Not to mention, I have a ton of favorite lyrics.

Have you done anything recently to support Black Lives Matter? I’ve signed petitions.

Are there any songs you feel transport you to a world that doesn't exist? Jason Mraz songs were kinda like that. Haha. It seemed like he lived in some whimsical fantasyland.

What songs do that for you? “but my breath fogged up glass, and so I drew a new face and I laughed” lol okay Jason Mraz. Haha that’s the only thing coming to mind right now. It’s almost 7AM okay I can’t think.

What is your favorite ethnicity/cuisine of food? Italian.

What are some popular things that you don't like/aren't interested in? Hmm. What’s even popular right now? I’m out of the loop.

When was the last time you got a haircut? Back in February.

What was the last movie (or musical) you watched? Ferris Bueller’s Day Off the other day.

What was the last movie you saw in the theatre? The Invisible Man.

How soon are you planning on going back to work? (If you've been off) I don’t have a job, remember?

What is an item you own that means a lot to you? I’ll always cherish my giraffe stuffed animals and knickknacks.

Do you have a favorite t-shirt? All of my graphic tees.

What other proshot musicals would you love to see streaming online? You sure love musicals. I like a few musicals, sure, but I’m not super into them like you seem to be. There aren’t any right now that I want to see that I can think of. Well, apart from maybe checking out Hamilton. What is something you're looking forward to? Summer being over.

How do you plan on celebrating Covid-19 being over, whenever that is? >> The problem with this idea is that... it’s not that simple? From what I understand, it’s not like one day we’re all gonna say “that’s it! we’ve officially eradicated this virus from the earth and we will never have to worry about it again!” I’m guessing it’s going to be a slow process of reopening with a lot of false starts and rollbacks (as new waves crest and protective measures have to be re-implemented). Even that first day that I go out to a restaurant is probably going to feel really weird and even a little “wrong”. I’m not sure how much celebrating is really going to be happening. <<< All of this. Like I said earlier, it’s not ever going completely go away or be over. We’ll hopefully get it under control at some point and find an effective vaccine and medications and not have the fear of it constantly looming over us, but we got a long way to go.  And when that does happen, I’ll still be cautious. It’s sure going to feel weird when I do feel comfortable to go out again, though. It felt so weird just going outside for a bit recently one night cause it was the first time I had been out of the house at all since my doctor appointment back in May. That was really weird and scary for me. Prior to that I hadn’t gone anywhere since early March. Sooo yeah. I clearly won’t be rushing out anywhere anytime soon.

#personal #text #survey #surveys

[mitterstorm]

Dance For Me

Chapter 1

“Finally we are here today to seek and to receive comfort. We would be less than honest if we said that our hearts have not ached over this situation. We are not too proud to acknowledge-

You couldn’t take it anymore, just by standing here listening to that preach addressed his departure. Your knees feel weak and your eyes burn, but you refuse to make a scene, taking deep breaths while clenching your fists is helping you calm down.

Still, it’s not enough.

You want to scream again just as you did when you saw his body limp against yours, scratch your arms in attempts of making the pain and hurt go away. To drift your mind from these ugly feelings.

A sick way of coping indeed, teensy bit of self-harm ain't going to kill you. It helps you somehow, preventing yourself from breaking even further in a public place like the cemetery.

Finally, you regain control of yourself and shift back to the preacher. Unfortunately, he concluded, now you have to prepare for the worse.  

Henry, who is your most precious friend, is dead. His body was being carried away in the concealment of a coffin; he said his last farewell to you early in the morning when you ate breakfast with him, offering your company so he wouldn't feel alone, regain some strength by appreciation itself.

Something was up that morning; the old fart was more talkative than usual and flashed a smile here and there. You are at fault for not noticing from the start. You should have been more perceptive and observant; you are keen on people after all, especially when he gave you that look as if he was parting ways with you. He didn’t fight death, accepted it as embracing a hug from an old friend. That thought alone fills your head with doubt.

Was he even happy when he left?

 Did he feel satisfied with the life he lived?

 Were you enough?

 Fuck, you never would've imagined his passing will affect you this much.

<<You old geezer, why were you so kind to me? Why did we let ourselves get attached?>>

The time is near, you will eventually have to confront him with all of these people staring at you, but you need to be strong for sake. You are what’s left of his loved ones. Linda died long ago. They never had a chance to procreate and bring a new life, Joey went mad or something along those lines.

Just like the rest of the crew, and he didn’t make any friends while he was on service for the military. If he did, they were dead. He didn’t like to talk about it.

<<I tried to make you happy, make you feel at ease as you did for me>>

Yet he kept secrets from you, of course, you respected his wishes and didn’t pry any further.

However, it stung.

<<Now it’s not time to reminisce, there’s nothing to reminisce for me at the moment>>

They called your name to the front; you ran out of time. It’s your turn. Is your first time burying someone, yes, you have assisted other burials besides this one, but now you are who’s lost a loved one. Those past times were favors people close to you had asked a long time ago; they said it felt nice to have somebody there when someone else is missing in their lives. In other words, you were there as comfort. A shoulder they could use to cry and lean on.

Hesitant, you take away from the burier’s grasp his shovel and with a gulp. You start shoveling some dirt into the hole were Henry’s coffin lies.

<<Shit, I can’t stop trembling! Come on, stop being a pussy and get over with this!>>

Despite that, your body wouldn’t obey, it made you look clumsy. No matter how much you lied to yourself.

You are scared.

After burying Henry, your vision goes black.

Waking up tomorrow morning at home without a clue of how you got there made your mind fuzzy.

How fun.

You try to get up, but end up failing.

“Fuuuuuck! Why do I feel like absolute shit! Everything hurts!” These feel just like a hangover. Why does it feel like one? Did you go to a bar once Henry’s funeral ended? How much did you drink?

“Enough to blackout it appears,” You say under your breath. Of course, your dumb ass would go to a bar and get drunk to cope with the pain! An upcoming headache awaits you for being arbitrary, instead of showing apprehension towards the situation and mourn, as you should, your voice of reason zonked out. “I reek of booze. Agh, it stinks”.

No more addressing what happened yesterday; feeling like trash isn't doing you any good. Henry would have called you out on your bullshit.

"Stop whining like a whore and man up, chum! I'll buy you a drink. Later we can relax and cut you some slack, nothing a magsman like myself can't do".

“Ok boomer,” You said in a humdrum tone, at least it made you laugh internally. “lo and behold, this will be a shitty morning-err afternoon, it’s 1 PM, I thought it was too early to be awake”.

That means it’s time for brunch.

Must compel your stomach desires, eat a lot little of food. Therefore, you'll have to leave the bed, go downstairs where the kitchen is; you force yourself out of the comfiness that are your covers. So you walk out of the room barefoot towards the kitchen. You open the fridge faking interest with whatever is inside and close it, then repeat, only that this time you pay a little more of attention.

You grab the water pitcher and pour some in a glass, then look for oatmeal and toss three spoonfuls of it at the water, after that you chuck a spoonful of sugar and mix it. A simple drink full of roughage. It’ll suffice for now.

*Clink clink*

Metal hitting porcelain serves you as a white noise to rearrange your thoughts. Yesterday was hectic and had your mind high wire, you were thinking about the old man; how long have you two been friends? Five or six years more or less, you met each other by autumn at a hospital. On that occasion, you were merely an intern in the middle of their practice and had to change sheets, deliver meals, give them their meds and reassure they took them at the time the doctors had said. Like a nurse or carer (the difference it’s you possess more knowledge than one and can prescribe medication, it was also part of your duty as a trainee assisting the doctors with whatever you could). That’s how both of you came face to face with.

Mr. Stein was sick and injured. He needed to tend some wounds since they required special treatment. Battle scars, you didn’t know at the time, however, as days passed, you became close to him, he told you how he got them; the biggest can be found on his back.  

Unfortunately, a sharp pain arose, preventing you from wandering further in the past. You had forgotten about your headache, which it’s more noticeable now, you are sure there aren’t any pills left.

“I ain’t leaving being this crappy, besides I don’t feel like moving right now…” Your eyelids are heavy and keeping them open, it’s such a pain, so you shut ‘em in hopes of relaxing for a little bit. Leaning your back on the kitchen island while drinking your beverage, its coldness helping you somehow with the throb.

Once again, your mind wanders.

Thanks to it, you know where to find some ibuprofen.

“Are these the ones?” You asked while holding a box for him to see, squinting Henry finally recognized the packet.

“What’s it called again?” He questioned, rubbing his head to ease the ache a bit. His voice raspy because of a dry throat. His normal soft tone replaced by a croaky. He’s clearly suffering.  

“Ibuprofen.” You read aloud as you’ve been asked and turn back to look at him.

“Yup, that’s the one, lass. I know I’ve bothered you enough, but could you serve me a glass of water?”

“You old coot, not a bother at all. I’ll be back with your water in a jiffy”.

The pills are somewhere inside Henry’s studio. You can do that, going upstairs isn’t as demanding as buying them, cuz leaving home means changing clothes that look presentable and aren’t dirty. Henceforth, you don’t feel in the mood for seeing the outside.

“I should stop thinking of how lazy I am and look for those meds…” Talking to yourself it’s quite common, so you ain’t no stranger to these situations.

Therefore, you took a break from your bullshit and went upstairs where Henry Stein used to draw; he passed most of his time in there, secluded from the outside world, before military service, he worked at an animation studio owned by the man he once considered his best friend, Joey Drew was his name if your memory doesn’t fail you.

Your friend called him a bastard, never explained why only responded by saying: “He lost his mind.”

Nevertheless, Henry kept drawing cartoons, and sometimes, he would let you watch him sketch and answered your questions. He carried on with his old comics he left unfinished long ago. The same he had drawn back thirty years ago. The main characters are three little fellas: Bendy, Alice Angel, and Boris. Henry said they animated their adventures and later on, added side characters. The Butcher Gang, if you recall, also consists of a trio: Charley, Barley, and Edgar.

When Henry started storytelling, you felt like a kid back again, he could’ve marked your childhood just as the rest of animators who made those toons while you were a child. Oh, how you treasured these memories, you’ll never forget the time you spent together.

Evoking past times has helped to soothe your headache an itty-bitty, yet you still need to find the ibuprofen.

“Where could it be…” You asked to no one, hoping the walls may respond, even though it’ll never happen.

Seeking everywhere you soon turned the room upside down, papers on the floor resembling a carpet, art supplies rolling across the table (pencils, colors, pens, paintbrushes, blending stumps, etc.) and some books based on anatomy and animation were disorganized on their bookshelves. It all ended after you opened a drawer (this one didn’t need your touch, it was already a disorder) and found what you were looking for, and because of your rashness, more papers fell on the floor.

“Damn, what a mess…” You muttered under your breath a little irritated with yourself for being so careless while searching. You collected the papers and put them in order back again one by one, because of it you grew curious and read some of them, a letter grabbed your attention.

It was one of those fancy letters with a seal and all (what does it say? Seems of importance).

You don’t consider yourself nosy, just interested in its contents.

<<From Joey Drew? Huh, looks like your old buddy send you his salutations after all this time>>

Oh, you had no idea.

Henry knew about the letter, he already read it and did as they told him. The old studio where they used to make dreams come true transformed into a living hell.

‘DEAR HENRY

IT SEEMS LIKE A LIFETIME AGO SINCE WE WORKED ON CARTOONS TOGETHER.

30 YEARS REALLY SLIPS AWAY, DOESN’T IT?

IF YOU ARE BACK IN TOWN, COME VISIT THE OLD WORKSHOP.

THERE’S SOMETHING I NEED TO SHOW YOU.

YOUR BEST PAL, JOEY DREW’.

You finished reading the letter.

*Snrk*

Well shit.

Did you just read a confession or a love letter? Why not both? You don’t know why, but it feels like one.

“Okay, let’s stop right there. I can’t make jokes on circumstances as these ones”.

What could be so urgent for Joey to write a letter after thirty years of silence?

Should you investigate?

<<The letter could’ve been sent years ago! Henry surely read it; otherwise, it wouldn’t be inside a drawer of his studio, though there’s a possibility he didn’t, I doubt it. He must have seen his friend has written message>>

Okay, sure. Let’s suppose he didn’t pay any mind to the damn thing, you can pretend, now the real issue it’s the location. Joey Drew Studios must be closed (or broken down into pieces, you didn’t know if they decided to demolish the whole building).

“Wake up ___! Face reality, you shouldn’t be fantasizing, this ain’t some silly story with you as a heroine…instead of wasting my time, I shall swallow that damn pill and take some zzz’s”.

You left Henry’s solace and went to bed once again after you swallowed the pill with some water. A dreamless sleep greeted you.

  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bendy’s POV

“ん乇'丂 ムの刀乇”.

Even though he should be celebrating, the Inkarnate can’t seem to find any joy in his being, no emotion tried to overtake him. Why? He doesn’t feel anything. True, he may not possess all the emotions a human has, but anger, joy, sadness, and hysteria weren’t unbeknownst him. There’s no satisfaction nor sorrow towards his creator’s death, not even an ounce of regret. Ok no, he won’t sense any guilt for what happened to Henry, he deserved to die just as much as Joey, but he was grasping straws in here!

How’s it possible to not perceive the slightest of emotion within himself?

The Ink Demon was turning apathetic in regards to the subject; he didn’t have an answer as to why. One thing he’s sure of, his world turned dull no longer exciting as he thought.

It was as if the little dancing demon had opened his eyes for the first time, after all those years blinded by the dripping ink, before that, he only saw what his mind showed him. He finally realized how monochromatic his world truly is.

All is black and white for the demon’s eyes.

A wave of indifference invades his mind and his mind is fuzzy, he dissolves into his inky form and rests.

However, not for much.

“-aHahaHAhahaHahaHAhaha!”

Alice.

That bitch.

He despises her nearly as much as those liars, yet the little devil darling couldn’t give a damn about her right now. Let her laugh all she wants as the malady she’s. The Angel probably got the word, celebrating, unlike him.

Immersing himself even more inside the ink, he found…peace. He can work with that, serenity aids his jumbled thoughts; darkness envelopes him and swallows his body whole.

<<In the end…I feel empty. Is this how revenge it’s supposed to be like?>>

He can’t respond to that, how could he? He doesn’t even know what’s life supposed to feel like.

<<Their imagination cursed us all with life, they couldn’t take responsibility for their actions and show us how to drive through it>>

Back when he was the small little imp everybody loved, there were all kind of colors, unlike now. The studio felt warm in contrast to all the ink that surrounds it now.

The remains of those old days lurk inside the deep abyss as ink creatures, husks who replaced the humans that worked here.

Thinking about it got him tired, Bendy finds himself drifting from consciousness, he’s falling asleep.

“Was it worth it?”

<<Again that cunt>> Despite his thoughts, the Inkarnate didn’t feel irascible towards the narcissist woman. Actually, there isn’t much for him to perceive.

She’s not in here, she wouldn’t dare to step a foot on his domain. The wench had the nerve of placing her cutouts and posters; he destroyed a few just as she did the same. She is communicating with him using a damaged poster with her face.

“I know you can hear me, demon, don’t fake pretend.”

“Wんﾘ りの ﾘのひ ᄃﾑ尺乇?” He hopes to scare her, even though he knows it won’t work while using his beast form for some reason his speech turns nightmarish. Yet he doesn’t wield it often because of how difficult is controlling his instincts. Thoughts become more primal, talking it’s hard after a few hours transformed in it gets tiring, and he can’t measure his own force. He favors his inky form best: practical and gets the job done.

“I don’t”. So she’s just shitting with him, insufferable.

“Then why ask?”

“Spirit of inquiry. Your relationship intrigues me, up there in Heaven, we get curious as to why you didn’t kill him yourself. And don’t even try to justify your actions. You had many opportunities. The little errand boy nearly ends up killing you, he tried the same with me”.

After listening to what the Angel had to said, his permanent smile turned slowly into a frown. It’s never a good thing when the Lord ain’t wearing one.

“…”

“Well?”

The fallen angel is laughing at him.

“Not even you know the reason behind your acts of mercy!” He remains silent, it’s not like she’s wrong, the little devil does not why he was so resilient with Henry.

After that fiasco, she left him be.

Thanks to Alice’s short visit, Bendy finds questioning why she dropped by. They hate one another, true. She has eyes here and there, but it’s to keep him in line, so he won’t cross an inky limb on her domain. Unlike the female cartoon, he does not have any cutouts, posters, plushies, or ink servants near her place. He wants nothing to do with her. That’s why he finds it so unusual, it’s not like her.

Unless…

She fancies something he has.

<<If that bitch knows what’s good for her, she won’t be picking her nose in my business>>

Later he’ll do his rounds throughout the studio, maybe, the imp will find what she’s searching before she does, whatever it may be, he won’t let her have it.

He’ll make sure of it.

Who knows what her deranged mind has planned; he’s tired of the gruesome scenery this place is in, corpses all around, clones of his ol’ friend bring back unsavory images from the past. Oh, Lawrence, he’s a madman, made satanic circles as a way of showing his devotion towards the black devil. Thanks to Sammy, he has eyes in nearly the entire place.

Yes, he’s aware the musician it’s alive, but Sammy Lawrence continues being of use for him.

<<I’ll take care of him when I wake up…>>

He’s exhausted. However, he stays on his beast form sunken in ink.

The demon’s slumber it’s a peaceful one…

.

   .

   .

   .

   .

   Until you enter his kingdom.

 An animalistic rumble shakes the tinted walls.

 He’s coming for you.

  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Three days.

You paced on the issue for three days, until you finally had an answer.

“I’m gonna pay a visit to your ol’ pal, maybe he’s still alive…or not…” You lowered your voice in the last part; Henry called Joey a bastard and accused him of being mentally unstable, you trust his word, but what if…what if he changed? There’s a possibility he redeemed himself and went through a rehabilitation process to help him with his instability.

<<I need to look for the address and from there I’ll see what can be done>>

You googled ‘Joey Drew Studios’ on your phone and within seconds Google Maps showed up, you were going to click at it, but then something catches your eye.

An article and it’s quite old.

‘Joey Drew Studios, also known as the workshop. Is an American corporation and an animation studio of the Bendy franchise, established in 1929.

Founded by Joey Drew and Henry Stein in an unknown full date other than the year of 1929, Joey Drew Studios is located at Broadway, Brooklyn, New York City, New York.

In 1946, Joey Drew Studios was under investigation after reports of hazardous work environments, missing employees, harassment, and excessive back pay, as well the company's danger of being bankrupt, all of which are a result of Joey's mismanagement of the studio. Anonymous employees threatened to make labor unions over the poor conditions, which included unpermitted buildings, hazardous electrical wiring, and a plumbing system prone to bursting. In addition, there were excessive work hours, most of which were unpaid and several animators were unable to see their families in weeks, after being threatened with disciplinary action and termination if they were unable to finish animations on tight schedules.

There were reports of barricaded offices, employees locked up in work spaces, and complaints of crazy malfunctioning machinery. Despite the evidence against the company, Joey Drew remained firm that the studio has done nothing wrong, calling the accusations "preposterous" and "ridiculous", dismissing them as either complaint from menial employees, or feeble attempts by competing studios to discredit Joey.

On August 16, 1959, the law firm known as Snooks, Spitner and Snooks sued Joey Drew, having heard the rumors of Joey's mismanaging of his own workers. 12 days later, the studio was closed down in accordance to legal regulation 11 U.S Code § 1125 (which forbids the misrepresentation of legally established companies) as evident by the bankruptcy report found in Joey's apartment, as well as health and safety concerns directly by the mention of a health and safety board meeting schedule found in the appointment lobby.’

Oof.

<<That’s a lot to take in>>

Why the fuck would Henry’s friend would want to meet at that nightmare show? Has he learned nothing after all this years? And not only that, the sucker it´s/was an abusive prick with his employees!

<<Man, you weren’t joking>>

You fear a screw lose isn’t Joey’s only problem.

<<He sounds like an asshole, I don’t want to put up with his shit...I’ve got enough dealing with people like him on a daily basis. Sure, not everyone it’s an ass and there’s some decent/kind people out there, but handling jerks as the likes of him tires me out>>

Sometimes you aren’t the most patient person, it all depends. But this whole ordeal it’s too much for you.

<<The studio is in the big city, New York it’s fucking expensive. I don’t have the money for travelling that far, I’ll have to bid on my savings and package supplies for the journey>>

Crap. Three days and you didn’t think all of this through! How can you be so stupid?!

Now this looks like one of those impulsive decisions you take for being careless and inattentive.

<<How could Henry put up with me when not even I can stand myself?!>>

You need an adult, that’s what you ought to have beside you.

Your life is such a mess sometimes…

“Before spending money on my idiocy I should read more and prepare myself.” You mutter angrily to yourself.

That’s exactly what you did the next two days, finally you are ready for departing.

You grab your backpack and the car’s keys. “Cellphone in the front pocket, all that’s left is open the door, lock it and call Abby, easy.”

During those two days you made a few calls and went up for gas, it was going to be a long trip from Miami to New York. Sure, it ain’t that extensive, but you’ll be driving by yourself for approximately 20 hours. A place to stay, money, gasoline and food are big girl’s problems. Not counting the money you’ll spend on a cheap motel to rest your head.

“That or make a few stops on gas stations…maybe sleeping in the car won’t be that bad…” The good thing is you have options; you aren’t tied solely to one alternative.  

<<Abby won’t charge me for doing me this favor, another plus>>

She’ll guard the house in your absence and will call if any emergency transpires.

Now, you are free to go.

<<I hope I made a good decision doing this>>

The first 8 hours were a torment, bored and your ass felt numb of sitting for that long, the last time you remained that still was in high school, since you made your schedule. Your feet hurt just as your arms did. You made a stop for eating and going to the bathroom, after that another 8 hours.

Overall, the journey was relaxing, while driving you admired the views offered to you, savoring each sight. It helped you keeping away some melancholy.

You miss Henry, no matter how much you tried to distract yourself with this excursion of yours, the emptiness stays in the back of your mind.

Your wounds are still fresh, you haven’t mourned properly, because you don’t want to. That’s why you are doing this, to keep yourself busy so you won’t think about it. You need it, you ain’t prepared for it yet.

Soon you’ll be.

After a short nap (before that you made many stops, ‘cuz you’re a whining bitch who ain’t strong enough to control her fucking bladder), you started driving again. You have three or four hours left on the road.

Time to listen some music, you activate Bluetooth and connect your phone to the car’s stereo, finally you found a song of your liking in Spotify and play it. You spent the rest of the trip singing along; sometimes you’ll speed up a little bit on the spur of the moment.

Soon you got to your destination, didn’t waste time changing clothes, you collapsed on the bed in the motel and slept for an hour. After that, you washed yourself and got ready for visiting Joey Drew.

“Here goes nothing…”

You regret already coming here, silly you just ruined a change of clothes! Why is there so much ink? You’ll never get out the ink of your shoes, fuck! You have been here for less than ten minutes and all went to shit for you! It doesn’t help this place keeps giving you the heebies-jeebies! Every time you take a step on the creaky wooden floor it feels as if someone is following you, like a slithering sound. The ink splashes keep creeping you out, if it wasn’t black you would think it’s blood, Jesus Christ.

<<Thank God, the lights still work; it would make this place spookier if they didn’t>>

As you venture further deeper into the studio, a beast rumbles, shaking everything around you, more ink drops fall.

At that moment…

…you knew you fucked up.

So you hide.

Your mind provides you one last thought before going high drive

‘WHY ARE YOU RUNNING?! WHY ARE YOU RUNNING?!’

<<FUUU-

#Bendy and the Ink Machine #fanfic #bendy #boris the wolf #alice angel #bendyxreader #sammy lawrence #henry stein #reader #Dance For Me Fanfic #bendy fanfic #BATIM fanfic #batim fanfic

[whatsdafacts]

Fishing | Giant Bass Found in the Muddy rill | Lake fork guy

#fishing #bass fishing with frogs #lake fork #walmart fishing challenge #stumps for black crappie #Fishing | Giant Bass Found in the Muddy #bass fishing videos #how to fish a jig #giant bass #fishing freaks #lfg #crappie fishing #fish catching #vlog #lake fork guy #bass fishing in ponds

[just-a-dumb-gay]

2x07 thoughts! Oh geez!

• Okay i missed a little of the start, got it open just as the twins meet up with Hope and disturbs her moment with prism landon

• I love my comedy queen

- Josie! Be nice!

- Ah the awkward tension. Wonderful.

- Okay so Hope didn't rest her head on Lizzie's shoulder on purpose.

• ...are you kidding me... THAT'S THEIR INTERPRETATION OF A SPHINX?! Not impressed!

- Night and day. Duh. Either im smarter than i thought or they have a sphinx that isnt very good at riddles.

• HOPE HAS A FATHER FIGURE! Nobody can replase Klaus! But he tries!

• Oh god. Josie is responsible for Landons duplicate...

• Well that looks like a friendly trident youve got there Clarke/Vardemus

• Hope dont fall for him. Obviously duplicate Landon. Hope, Ily, but dont go be a dumbass!

• SimuLandon is a dork

• Man. Duuuh. Come on, GIVE US A HARD RIDDLE

- And the sphinx is a cocky ass

• GAHH NEEDLES NOPE!!!!

- SimuLandon calling out real Landon 😆

• Josie needs Penelope there to keep her sane. DamMIT I HAVE TO WRITE SOMETHING POSIE WITH JOSIE AND ALL THIS DARK MAGIC!

- THAT SPELL SOUNDS FAMILIAR!!! ESPECIALLY THE FIRST SECTION!

- Shit Josie with black eyes should not be that hot

- also, WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!

• Hope needs a hug! Like a really big hug! I WANT TO HUG HER!

• Finally a hard riddle. Yep thats got me stumped. And i feel very stupid for not getting it.

• Clarke. Bugger the fuck off!

• Oh jesus those shackles are back

- Heyo shitface

- DON'T HURT MY BABY!!

- HOPE YOU AMAZING BADASS!!!!!!

- oh come on now your just pulling shit straight from horror movies!

- HOPE YOU LITTLE GENIUS!!!

• HOPE DON'T FUCKING JUMP!!

- OMG OW NO!!!!

- SOMEONE HELP HER!!!!!!

- Landon, never thought that I'd be happy to see you

- Guessing thats SimuLandon?

- YUP!

- Hope doing magic is hot. Wow.

• TWIN SCENE!!!

• HOSIE!!!!!

- okay. Guess which dumbass is turning this Hosie scene into a whole other one shot!

- "I miss you" GAHHHHHHHHH

- HAND HOLDING!!! HELL YESS!!!!

- "I want you to stay." IM JUST STUCK IN SCREAM MODE!!

- HUUUUUUUUG!!!!!!

- TWINS + HOPE AND ICE CREAM!!!!

- OKAY IM TURNING THIS SCENE INTO 2 ONE SHOTS! ONE PURELY HOSIE, AND ONE WITH TEINS + HOPE!

• So Ric is back as headmaster now?

• OH COME ON! THAT RIDDLE IS SO EASY!! I SHOULD'VE GOT THAT!!

- Welp theres a riddle that's gonna have me thinking for a while.

-----

Overall, crappy episode imo. But. That Hosie scene and then Lizzie popping in? Well I now have 2 new writing ideas so that's awesome!

And also a Posie idea so like. Actually 3 writing ideas!

#legacies #hope mikaleson #lizzie saltzman #josie saltzman #landond kirby #alaric saltzman