#Subway Rats AU

[blaiddraws]

the rest of my aggie doodles!

1 - worm

2 - fulcrum au ingo makes canon into look downright friendly and approachable 😔

3 - quick little borrower ingo from @evtraininguniversity 's au!

#pokemon #submas #submas au #ghost worm au #fulcrum au #subway rats au #submas aggie #submas borrowers au #i think? #ehh whatever #ingo #ghost worm ingo #zekingo

[cardinal-crossing]

Here we go, another picture I drew over. This time with some AUs I haven't drawn yet, Worm! Ingo by @blaiddraws, Inky also belongs to them. Dragon! Ingo by @drag0n0fbutt3r Agee by @raisans-art Mouse! Emmet by @evtraininguniversity Selkie Emmet Au by @acatpiestuff Misfits Au by @hehe-hoho-ohno And finally, the It Takes Two Au, by me! Also, the dog's name is Chloe, and she was a wonderful model for the photo.

Anyway, I had a lot of fun drawing, and an extra/sequel is under the cut!

Also, side note, if I'm getting annoying, please let me know; I love these aus, and I love to draw them, but I tend to feel like I draw them too much or am starting to annoy people. If I am I deeply apologize

#submas #submas au #cardinals art #ghost worm au #placeholder au #submas dragon au #chimera emmet au #tw body horror #for the chimera #subway rats au #submas borrowers au #misfits #it takes two twins #tw slight injury

[raisans-art]

Aggie drawings :3

Revolutionary Girl Elesa drawings, Agee, @evtraininguniversity ‘s Borrower Ingo interacting with Agee, Borrower Emmet on the quest to find his brother, Elesa missing her funny lil mouse guys, @thatdragonzeek ‘s eeveelution submas babies, and a bit of silly ponies :3

Enjoy

#submas #submas au #ingo #subway boss ingo #emmet #subway boss emmet #elesa #gym leader elesa #revolutionary girl Elesa au #chimera emmet au #subway rats au #tw body horror #for the chimera

[squashfolded]

Widdle guye!!! @evtraininguniversity

#pokemon #caterpillar #art #mouse #rat #submas borrowers au #subway rats au #borrowers

[egginfroggin]

Mousey boys for @evtraininguniversity's Subway Rats AU! They are very small!

(Ears are extra big, apparently, because... I don't know why, actually, maybe I was channeling my inner Dumbo, or something)

(I like the Flop of floppy things like ears)

Thank you very much for letting me draw your little guys, Ev!

Everyone else, go take a gander at Ev's stuff! She has a lot of really good AUs, and I think this one is especially cute!

Have a good day, everyone! <3

(Program: Krita; time taken: about 1 hour, 40 minutes)

#subway rats au #subway boss ingo #subway boss emmet #submas #eggin creatin' #go look at them go look at ev's smol bois they are so cute #don't ask me why the beetle is normal #I'm breaking reality by making emmet's ears so big the beetle just slipped in through the cracks I guess #pokemon #pokemon fanart #creatin' for others

[critterbitter]

Nimbasa trio, gremlin edition.

They’re theater kids, your honor. They’re brewing crimes as we speak.

BONUS CRACK DOODLE THAT I EXORCISED DIRECTLY FROM MY BRAIN:

Some patrat children and a pachirisu child!

(Check here for my submas stuff!)

#You heard of twin dragons au and all that but behold— everybody’s now a rodent. #rodent au #literal subway rat and electric squirrel time #((THIS IS A JOKE AU. I WILL NEVER CONTINUE IT. FEEL FREE TO SANDBOX IT.)) #art #pokemon #sketchbook #submas #myart #fanart #pokemon ingo #subway boss ingo #elesa #ingo #emmet #blitzle #tynamo #pachirisu #patrat #pokemon emmet #subway boss emmet #nimbasa trio #gym leader elesa

[kelpiemomma]

Been rolling the symbiote au around in my head and considering a timeline where Emmet either isn't knocked unconscious, or he is temporarily but wakes up relatively quickly. Everyone still knows him as Ingo and he goes along with it (but they take note on the days he smiles more than he frowns)

Akari still is using an unconscious/comatose Dawn as a host, rather uncomfortably. She's trying hard to keep a low profile and therefore eats a TON so she doesn't get hangry and start biting off people's heads. Ingo and Emmet are acting as wardens but also trying to figure out where the hell the other symbiote is (they know the signs, after all). It's the stupidest game of cat & mouse.

Ingo and Emmet do eventually lose the trail because they get into an accident in front of Akari, one bad enough that Ingo needs to reveal himself in order to heal Emmet. They both try to reassure Akari that she's fine, that she's safe, that they wouldn't hurt her... They think she takes the news awfully well, for a human, and are relieved that she seemed to get over her (presumed) terror really quick!

Meanwhile Akari is having a crisis and deciding the best thing to do is stop eating so much and spend more time outside of Jubilife Village and away from Kamado so she doesn't lose her temper and snap at him (or snap his head off with her teeth).

#Pokemon legends Arceus #PLA #Akari #Ingo #subway boss emmet #Symbiote au #Considering the idea that pesselle inadvertently rats Akari out bc Ingo asks how she's doing #And pesselle says she's fine except for a couple things and lists off some things symbiotes are known for #And huh. Akari sure has been busy lately... Ingo & Emmet haven't seen her for a minute... #And the signs of another symbiote dropped off after she saw Them... #Huh.

[crushedsweets]

AU where everyone lives in NYC and live in the same building or works together or SOMETHING🙏😭

Nima and Kate just move in and Toby and Nat live next door💗

Jeff is a subway rat

This is how I feel when I think of the uni au. Just put them all in the same dorm floor. Or student housing. My gawwwddd…. Ben and Jeff dorm mates and it’s the fucking nastiest dirtiest room ever

#asks

[thetomorrowshow]

scars

empires superpowers au masterlist (not up to date)

i have no clue where this idea came from but here *hands you a tattooed jimmy*

this takes place about 8 months after then end of ‘poisoned rats’.

cw: past abuse, mentions of needles, scars

~

“Look at that one,” Jimmy points at the screen; Scott pauses in his scrolling. “It’s a poppy. You love poppies.”

“. . . I do,” Scott says, glancing at Jimmy quickly before resuming the scroll.

“That one’s a flag, but it could be a pride flag. That’s why I saved it. The birds are a bit cheesy, but I thought I’d include them anyway.”

Scott doesn’t say anything, just keeps scrolling through the document. He knew Jimmy had been researching something, but . . . he hadn’t been expecting this.

Before him, on Jimmy’s laptop, is a three-page document that is a collage of tattoos.

Some are better than others—there’s a celtic knot that looks pretty bad, and Jimmy’s right about the birds being cheesy, but the poppy is understated and delicate, and a cute cartoon cat makes him smile.

That’s all well and good, but the problem is: Scott has no clue why Jimmy is showing him tattoos.

Jimmy points at a bundle of stars, saying something about how it reminded him of Scott, then at a feather, then a ladder, which he explains could be combined with the stars. He quickly passes over an abstract canary, hands twitching and tripping over his words, to point out an intricate subway car, then a tiny soccer ball.

Scott interrupts right as Jimmy starts to explain an iceberg tattoo.

“Jimmy, I—this is great, but I don’t think I understand. Are you wanting me to get a tattoo?”

Jimmy blinks, laughs nervously. “I—Scott, these are—these are cover-ups. For scars.”

Oh.

Suddenly, there’s a lump in Scott’s throat.

“I—a tattoo is a big decision,” Scott manages to say around the lump, his eyes catching on a long scar down Jimmy’s left bicep. “It’s something you can’t change. Are you sure?”

Jimmy levels an exasperated look at him. “For one thing, I’m an adult. I know it’s a big decision, you don’t have to remind me. And I promise I’ve thought about this. I shouldn’t have to tell you that I have.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry,” Scott starts to amend, but Jimmy forges on.

“It’s my body,” he says. “It’s mine, and I can have the freedom to do what I want with it, because I’m an adult and it belongs to me. And when you—when you asked if I was sure, it felt like you were treating me like a kid, or like I don’t own my body. And it felt bad.”

Shame curls in his stomach. Jimmy’s right, he shouldn’t have responded like that. It’s perfectly normal for people to get tattoos, and for their partners to support them in it. “I’m sorry,” he apologizes again. “I didn’t think before speaking. I said something my parents would’ve said, and I should have considered what you just told me.”

Jimmy smiles, leans his head against Scott’s shoulder. “It’s fine. I was showing you because I wanted your opinion, and it’s all right if you don’t like the idea of a tattoo. But I would’ve liked for you to say that outright if that’s true, instead of telling me things I already knew.”

“No, I think it’s a great idea,” Scott hurries to amend. He pauses, taking a moment to get his thoughts in order. They’re working on having more open conversations, so that they don’t have repeat events of Scott’s Nightmare Situation of Last Month, as they’ve dubbed it. “I think a lot of tattoos are good,” he says eventually, “but some suck. So I’m happy you’re asking my opinion, because I don’t know if I’d be able to look my boyfriend in the eyes if he got a skull surrounded in roses on his bicep.”

That gets a laugh out of Jimmy. “Don’t think yours is the only opinion I’m getting,” he teases. “I know better than to trust a man who dyed his hair red all through college.”

“It looked good!”

They look at tattoos for a little while, Scott immediately vetoing the trio of birds and a guitar. Together, they separate the pages into ‘no’ ‘maybe’ and ‘yes’ images, dragging the little Darth Vader holding a lightsaber (a scar being the lightsaber) into ‘maybe’ and the celtic knot into ‘no’ and so on, until about half of the tattoos have been sorted.

And if they get distracted halfway through and end up making out right there on the couch? Well, they can always finish it later.

-

Three weeks later, Jimmy exits the tattoo parlor with the long, thin scar on his left bicep covered by a poppy, red and irritated from the procedure. Scott had been with him the whole time, holding his hand. They’d had to call for a break halfway through, but it had overall gone very well, and Jimmy had gotten into the passenger seat with a huge grin on his face.

“I thought I would be scared of the needle, but it wasn’t even that bad!” Jimmy says excitedly, twisting his arm around to check out the plastic-wrapped tattoo. “Did you hear when she said I was really good at staying still, especially for my first time? I’m going to get a good grade in tattoos, which is both normal to want and possible to achieve.”

Scott laughs out loud at the meme reference, resolving not to think about why it is that Jimmy’s so good at not moving while needles are stuck into him.

“Do you like it?” Scott asks instead, adjusting the rearview mirror before shifting the car into gear.

Jimmy doesn’t answer for a long moment. When Scott glances over at him, he’s let his arm fall, staring straight ahead, chewing thoughtfully on his lip.

“Yeah,” he decides eventually. “I really do. Now when I look at it in the mirror, I can be reminded of you instead of them. And . . . I can make choices with my body. That feels really good.”

“I can imagine.”

Jimmy twists his arm around again, peering at what little of the tattoo can be seen through the plastic. “I like it,” he says, quieter. “Do you like it?”

“It was my top choice, Jimmy,” Scott reminds him. “And it looks cute on you. Much better than that fish would.”

Jimmy snorts. “You know what, since it was Lizzie’s idea, I’ll tell her I’ll only get it if she gets it too.”

“Please—if you get fish, get a different one,” begs Scott. “It was huge, it had that horrible ‘gone fishing’ sign—get something cute, not something that screams fifty-year-old midlife crisis.”

That gets a laugh out of his boyfriend, and a little tension that had been in Scott’s body since before the appointment finally dissipates, allowing his shoulders to ease and his fingers to loosen their grip on the wheel.

“I’ve been watching videos on word cover-ups, so I think I might get one of those,” Jimmy says when they’re almost home. “I’m . . . I think it would help, even though I can still trace the letters. But I’d like to try scar treatment first, so I don’t think I’m gonna get another tattoo any time soon.”

“And here I was thinking my boyfriend was about to get all inked up and awesome,” Scott teases.

“And something for words would have to be really big, and there’s not much I want that’s good for that,” Jimmy continues. He glances at Scott quickly, then turns his gaze out the window. “That’s life, I guess.”

Scott thinks that’s the end of the conversation. He’s happy leaving it there, with vague plans and ideas in mind to experiment with.

But later that evening, at home, as Jimmy washes dishes and Scott dries them, Jimmy blurts out, “Would I be wrong for wanting a canary tattoo?”

Scott pauses. “Um. No?”

Jimmy sighs. “See, it’s the only one that I think I would want that’s big enough and colorful enough to cover any words. But I don’t know that I could be okay with having it cover up one of those words, because of . . . connotations. But also. . . .” he sighs again, sets down his dishcloth.

“Scott, being the Canary was the only freedom I had, as awful as it was,” Jimmy explains, and it’s a credit to how far he’s come that Jimmy’s voice doesn’t even shake. “I didn’t love it, but I could go outside. I could literally fly. And I looked pretty cool, honestly. So if I got another tattoo, I think it would be a canary, but . . . I’m afraid that’ll cause more harm than good, with my mental health and all.”

“I . . . don’t know,” Scott says honestly, sliding a plate into place in the cupboard. “I’m not in your head. And it’s not my body. But you don’t have to decide today. You don’t have to decide any time soon. You can talk about it with other people, and with Nora. And we can start looking into scar treatment, if you think you’re ready for that.”

Jimmy picks up the cloth again, runs it under the water. “I don’t know,” he says eventually, voice unreadable. His face has set back into that guarded look, the one that Scott is now so familiar with. “Maybe.”

Whatever Jimmy’s unspoken other concerns are (and Scott knows that they exist, he can tell in the tenseness of his stance), Jimmy abandons that topic of conversation. He doesn’t bring up tattoos again for weeks.

But every so often, Scott catches him admiring the poppy, and he can’t help but feel a bubble of happiness.

Jimmy finally has a good reason to look in a mirror.

#empires smp #empires smp fanfic #flower husbands #jimmy solidarity #scott smajor #021324 #yep you guessed it! im still away #if im back i'll announce it/delete these tags etc #knowing my life schedule and all that i think i'll finally feel up to coming back soon-ish #but like. as of writing these tags it is december of 22 #so take everything i say with a grain of salt #how do we feel about tattooed jimmy? #i legitimately have no idea where this came from. just all of the sudden i was researching cover-ups #and here we are #i found such pretty canary tattoos #and i think it's accurate of jimmy to be conflicted about a tattoo of a canary #bc again: canary meant freedom for him limited as it was #and that was a big part of his life that he kind of wants to commemorate #it changed everything some good some bad. jimmy's going through a part of his healing where he kind of wishes it was still happening #just bc like. a. it was easier to understand and b. now that it's this far away he feels sometimes like he's faking #like it wasn't that bad. and he wants to know that it was bad. he's trying to heal but doesnt want to let go of the hurt #bc if he covers up all the scars or they all heal then where's the proof that he went through anything at all? #somebody tell me to stop projecting #lmk what you think! #love you guys

[ratwithhands]

I'm curious. I've seen your art and something that's come to my mind is what actually got you attached with the Subway brothers. Your narrative on their different AU forms is so unique which is what brought me to that question

Alright, rat history time.

So basically back in 2021-2022, I was working on an old OC storyline (about 3 years old by then) and I was in grade 9 so I was like “A new Pokémon game? Pfft, like I care” and just didn’t watch any of the stuff related to PLA when it dropped. I still got recommended Twitter posts about it on Instagram and I ended up seeing this one.

I tried looking up Ingo cause I was like "oh, funky design, looks like a captain or something" but I didn't end up finding anything so I didn't press further. Anyways in March break of 2022, I got bored and decided to put some game streams on in the background while I drew. I saw Alpharad's PLA video and decided to watch it for a bit when I saw Ingo.

I was like "Hey you're the guy from Twitter!" and since I knew his name now, I looked him up and found his Bulbapedia article. I found him much more interesting than the rest of the PLA cast since he had history outside PLA, and I ended up reading up whatever I could find on him. I also by extension discovered Emmet this way, which only served to suck me deeper down the rabbit hole. By the end of March break I had a fan OC and 2 AUs made with more on the way, as well as a YouTube recommended page with nothing but theory videos on Ingo and decade old Submas content.

Around May I decided to decommission my OC storyline for personal reasons, and by this point Submas was starting to occupy more of my creative work anyways. Since I didn't have my storyline to put my energy into, I started funnelling literally any story ideas into Submas. This led to nonstop content for a shockingly long time, and ofc I'm still coming up with stuff now.

Long story short, I got attached to them by accident! It was a "right place, right time" sort of thing since they came in as I was starting to get sluggish with my original content and I ended up being more interested in writing for them.

As for narratives, I am effectively playing dolls with these guys. Usually the kind of stuff that I write for them is meant for OCs, but I dumped the 60+ person cast so I put that energy into them instead.

Most AUs will either have a core theme, an out of pocket idea, or both to make things interesting. Usually I just come up with a dumbass idea like "what if we brought ReBURST back for a rerun" or "what if Emmet signed a contract with an eldritch space spider" or "what if Submas could see into the future" and stuff like that, then it picks up themes as I keep writing. For some silly examples:

Burst is based on Pokémon ReBURST and the idea of human-Pokémon fusion, but there's focus on skill, how characters misperceive it, and resentment as a result. There's also a spotlight on inferiority complexes, bottled up guilt, and blind confidence depending on which main character you look at

Journal is about a diary that helps Ingo to regain his memories, and it focuses on remembrance and regret as a result of him reading it. Spotlight on lacking awareness vs hyper awareness and the monotony of living as people around you leave

Oracle is exactly what it sounds like, with the twins being able to see into the future. It focuses on cooperation and the importance of working together, but also learning how to work alone. The spotlight's on jealousy and gratitude for this one, though the latter greatly outweighs the former in this case

I also just have AUs I made to try deranged shit for funsies, like Sapioflora, Cybernetic/Z-Λ, Team Supernova, and Idol. Those are mostly for exploring goofy ideas that may or may not go anywhere.

Right anyways basically I just saw Submas after watching PLA gameplay and found the twins more interesting to write about than the project I'd exhausted by then. The narratives are like that because the AU ideas I make are actually OC concepts that I modify to fit Pokémon specifically for these two or ideas about the two that I'd like to explore. Hope that answers the question ^^*

#submas #submas au #au #ingo #subway master ingo #ingo pokemon #nobori #emmet #subway master emmet #emmet pokemon #kudari #Fun fact: my old AUs were actually focused on Ingo if you could believe it #I know that must sound impossible because of how much I write on Emmet but it's true #Also‚ even though I never released it for the public fully‚ Stelleret is an AU that fits in the example list. It's about monsters‚ #deals with eldritch beings‚ but it focuses on appearances‚ love‚ self worth‚ and self sacrifice. It's also like 1/3 shitposts by volume #Now that I think about it I have a lot of unreleased content #It's probably going to stay that way #WAIT I JUST REALIZED I NEVER RELEASED BATTLE ADDICT #uhhhhh what if I did a doodle dump 😳👉👈 I unfortunately only have pictures of Emmet with the strait jacket #It also has. 3 variants. But they get the happy ending in one of them I promise!! #I think it's funny how basically the only AUs where I have Ingo and Emmet in an ideal relationship is the one where they can see the future #and the one where they are diagnosed with Hyper-Competitive Combat Mania as unfit for battle due to the damage they cause #“We get along because we rely on each other” vs “We help each other improve to destroy the opponent on every level” #Anyways hope this answered your question ^^ if not sorry for the ramble 👁👁💦

[yellowocaballero]

Jake Stays Up Past His Bedtime, Meets His Contemporaries, and Wants a Dog So Fucking Bad

There was a stray dog in the all-night diner.

Jake had been in the bathroom during its dynamic entry, gone unnoticed except for the loud clangs and yells from the kitchen and weirdly wet mystery noises. Diners at three am could be surprisingly noisy places, especially in the City, so Jake hadn’t registered anything until he walked into the dining area in the secluded back of the diner to see an unamused Gena standing in the doorway and a ratty, slobbering dog crouched underneath a table.

“Just what I need,” Gena condemned. “More pests.”

So the 1970s saw a huge explosion in the popularity of horror movies, especially slashers and sci-fi horror. They were big swerves from 1960s B-movie and Atomic Age/Cold War sci-fi horror, and for probably the first time horror hit huge commercial success. Although the slasher/sci-fi horror movie genres would really take off in the 1980s, they were pretty damn popular in the 1970s among the 13-18yo teen boy demographic.

As it always does, Marvel sought to capitalize on this, and it quickly churned out a small batch of spooky sci-fi horror anti-heroes who were sooo cool, man. Over the top cool. Stupid cool. It was all very Hammer Horror - werewolves, demons, vampires, oh my. Yes, this includes Mobius. Now you know why Mobius exists. It also includes Moon Knight, who first appeared in Werewolf By Night as a werewolf hunter decked in silver - the werewolf component of this Hammer Horror lineup.

Yes. The superheroes in this cheap line up of overly cool and hip anti-heroes for teenage boys were all incredibly lame. I've been meaning to do a story with all of them for ages lol. Finally found a good excuse. Here it is.

That's some history for you. This is the second installment in my half-joke teen/mid alter Jake AU. Yes, only Jake is 15. Marc's life is awful. First part linked here. Very short 7k story under the cut. Hopefully it fucking works on dark mode...?!

There was a stray dog in the all-night diner.

Jake had been in the bathroom during its dynamic entry, gone unnoticed except for the loud clangs and yells from the kitchen and weirdly wet mystery noises. Diners at three am could be surprisingly noisy places, especially in the City, so Jake hadn’t registered anything until he walked into the dining area in the secluded back of the diner to see an unamused Gena standing in the doorway and a ratty, slobbering dog crouched underneath a table.

“Just what I need,” Gena condemned. “More pests.”

Jake craned his neck to peer over her head before realizing that the waitress was pretty short and he could see cleanly over the top of her headscarf. If he looked around the dining area he could see the usual suspects - cracked vinyl booths, faded sports team pennants tacked to the wall, a clock perpetually broken, that one creepy dude always conked out in the corner with an empty pot of coffee in front of him. And the dog. “Whoah. I ain’t never seen a dog like that.”

“New York City breeds them different,” Gena said grimly. Jake nodded, equally solemn. “I’ll call animal control. We don’t need fleas in the gyros.”

The dog did look like the dog equivalent of a New York subway rat. Its coat was dark and bushy, the tight curls smeared by mud and grime. Its proportions were spindly like a jackal’s or African wild dog’s (Jake had watched a documentary), but it was thick and muscular like the pittiest pit bull to ever pit bull. It looked like it bullied other pit bulls for their lunch money. It looked like it went on bodybuilding forums, for pit bulls. It was pretty ginormous too - easily the size of a Great Dane, maybe bigger.

It was the coolest dog Jake had ever seen. He needed to be friends with it. A dog like that upped the coolness factor of his human friends by ten.

“That dog is badass,” Jake announced. “Don’t call animal control, Ms. Gena. I’m gonna talk to ‘im.”

Gena whirled on him, cell already in her hand. “You will not. Look at it, it’s obviously rabid. You stay away from that dog.”

“He’s just scared!” The dog bared its teeth, growling like a revving chainsaw. “He just needs a kindred spirit. I can totally -”

“Nope. No way.” Gena lightly put her hand on the small of his back, pushing him away from the back dining area into the front.  “You sit down, I’ll bring you a fresh plate.”

“What about my Switch -”

“I’ll get it for you later. Come on, honey, let’s sit down.”

Jake sat down, somewhat mulishly. He always caved when Gena got all nice like that. It was mostly because she wasn’t nice to anybody else like that, so he had to respect the effort. And if you didn’t respect the effort then she busted out her unimpressed voice, which was how Jake discovered he was physically capable of feeling shame. 

Gena was most of the reason why Jake felt good about coming here without Marc or Steven or Layla, even at three in the morning. The others were always nagging Jake about fronting in a public ‘controlled environment’. If there was some sort of Mid parenting manual then Layla definitely read it. Working up to ‘hanging out with Layla in the house for more than an hour at a time in a non-emergency situation’ had taken months. They had picked the diner as Jake’s Outside Place, and Layla had come and sat with him a few times until he felt confident enough to do it on his own.

Nowadays Jake even told Marc and Steven to scram, ‘cause the diner was his place. It had Gena. She always sat Jake in the emptiest part of the diner, and she always had a question about his Animal Crossing island or Minecraft base. She was nice. She could also be super mean. And if you fucked around in her diner you always found out. She was gonna scare off that stray dog by her unimpressed voice alone.

Jake felt his dog friend dreams shatter like porcelain on cement. Gena would get super mad at him if he went back in there. She’d be even madder if he got himself mauled by the coolest dog ever. The dog was cool and Jake was immortal, so he wouldn’t mind a little mauling, but he just knew it would get Gina and her diner in trouble. Steven was always preaching about being considerate, so maybe this counted. Ugh. Jake hoped Steven never found out about this. He’d get so insufferable. His idea of a pet was a goldfish, what the fuck did he know.

Snarling sounds echoed from the back room. There were only three other patrons in the front - one drunk guy in his thirties with bright blonde hair and two very old men - and neither of them seemed concerned, so at least they wouldn’t have to worry about panicky civilians with no appreciation for dope animals. 

A howl broke through the diner, cracking the air. Somebody from the kitchen cursed loudly and passionately. Jake could hear the faint strains of Gena’s voice through the back rooms, arguing passionately with animal control. He caught some vague sounds of ‘of course it’s a dog -’ before a howl split the air again. The drunk guy looked around, checking if he should give a shit about this or not. Jake poked at his Wordle game. The drunk guy went back to his chili and the infinite ruminations of his drunk-ass soul.

Just a little too late, Jake realized that they were missing a civilian. 

Gena had totally ditched the creepy guy in the corner! The man was a regular! He and Jake always took up Most Secluded Spots #1 and #2. Unlike Jake, all he did was drink coffee and mooch off Gena’s space. She always ignored him, and sometimes yelled at him to get out of there. Jake had never heard him say a word. He wore a sick-ass trench coat and sunglasses everywhere too, like he was Neo or something. New York City sure had the subway rats of people sometimes. He could get mauled if he wanted, Jake didn’t care. 

But it might get Gena in trouble. Totally unacceptable.

She’d thank him in the long run. Jake bolted up from his seat, casually speed walking to the locked doors. The drunk guy squinted at him before shrugging and returning to his drink. Jake dug in his pocket for his lockpicks (Frenchie taught a lot of very useful life skills) and opened the door in seconds, cracking it open just enough so he could stick his head inside.

The dog was looking even unhappier. Jake noticed for the first time that patches of fur were singed off, and one of its ears was nicked. It was holding one of its legs strangely, and Jake wondered if the dog had gotten into a fight before fleeing and taking shelter in the diner.

That was worrying. Jake would really hate to meet whatever won against that thing in a fight. Maybe a human was bullying it? Jake would kill them. Nothing he hated more than animal abusers. Even that Harrow jerk had helped Jake out by murdering Marc and Steven so they could spring him from that stupid sarcophagus. And he had tried to cause the apocalypse.

The dog’s teeth were bared, slobber dripping from canines as long as Jake’s hand. Its eyes rolled to the back of its head, showing almost only red-streaked white, and its body was vibrating like a chainsaw. It could have been on the cover of a heavy metal album. So cool.

Less cool. The Neo Wannabe was, somehow, still asleep in his corner booth. Jake had no idea how that was even possible. Between the howling, growling, and Jake’s earnest overtures for friendship, something had to rouse him. Man slept like the dead. 

Nothing to do. Jake carefully slipped inside the room, keeping his eyes on the dog. Its ears were perked, and it carefully tracked Jake’s movements as he slid the door shut behind him with an almost inaudible click. 

“You don’t know we’re friends yet,” Jake whispered, “but we’re totally friends.” The dog was unimpressed, and Jake turned his attention to the zombie dude in the corner. “Hermano! Wake up! Rabid dog on the loose!”

The man did not move. The dog wriggled out from underneath the table - perhaps anxious for friendship, perhaps anxious to spread rabies. 

“Hermano!” Jake hissed. “Come on!” No response. What was he expecting from the dude who slept through that howling. He gave up on the stage whispers, settling instead for gesturing furiously at the door. “Dude, will you get out of here -”

The dog prowled forward, chest heaving with shuddering gasps. Jake froze, watching it limp forwards. Injured back leg. It was walking directly towards him. 

“Uh,” Jake said. 

“Don’t move,” the sleeping man in the corner said. 

Jake turned around, stepping closer to the sleeping man. “What was that -”

A snarl echoed in Jake’s ears, and the dog pounced. It leapt straight for Jake - or maybe to Jake’s left, at the slowly swinging doors. 

It never made it. Jake barely had a second to register the movement. Something metal flashed through the air, slicing through the apex of the dog’s jump and sending it tumbling towards the ground. It skidded across the floor, hitting the leg of a table and yelping, and Jake saw that the metal projectile had been a small sword. It was buried in the dog’s side, sliding slowly out of the wound as the dog wriggled and whined. 

The man walked forward towards Jake, a katana withdrawn from who the fuck knows where in one hand and his dumb jacket slung over the other. Jake hadn’t even seen him stand up, much less throw the sword.

“I said not to move.”

“Looks like you didn’t need the rescue,” Jake said blankly. The man tilted his chin in serene acceptance of the fact that he was, actually, a complete badass. “What are you, some mall ninja?”

“I vanquish prowlers of the night,” the man intoned. He looked towards the whining dog, adjusting his grip on the katana. It wasn’t sick. Katanas were for weebs. Jake was not a weeb. Liking Sailor Moon didn’t make you a weeb. “Such as that animal.”

“You hunt animals?” Jake asked, outraged. “Like that Kraven the Hunter asshole on TV?”

The man might have blinked. It was hard to tell behind the sunglasses. “I hunt monsters.”

“Monster? That’s a dog. You totally stabbed that poor dog. He wasn’t doing anything to you!”

“It was about to maul you,” the man said, tone finally bent in incredulity. “I was doing my job.”

“What’s that job, killing dogs!”

“Monster -”

The doors slammed open, and Jake jumped as the man blinked. Gena stormed inside, absolutely unsurprised to see either of them, and stopped short only at the very stabbed dog bleeding sluggishly on her tile floor. She surveyed the scene in grim appraisal, leaving Jake to anxiously fix his hat. 

“I was tryin’a rescue him,” Jake piped up. “You totally locked him in with the dog, Ms. Gina!”

“Guess I did, didn’t I.” Gena didn’t seem very bothered by this. Jake didn’t know why he was more worried about the reputation of her establishment than she was. She seemed more focused on the man instead, who was beginning to look uncomfortable. “And why didn’t you do anything ten minutes ago?”

“I was monitoring the situation,” the man said blandly. Gena looked like she wanted to kill him a little bit. More than customer levels, less than supply truck driver levels. Woman had enemies. “It is best practice to avoid aggravating them as much as possible.”

Gena crossed her arms, ‘impressed’ levels plummeting like a rocket on its way home. “So you figured you would just chill out.”

“I was avoiding aggravating it.” The man turned an eye on Jake. His expression and tone of voice didn’t change, but he seemed faintly disapproving. “You did not. You could have died.”

“It’s a dog,” Jake said, baffled and feeling a little condescended to. “Total beast mode dog but I think I can outrun a dog.” Never mind the Green Beret stuff. He was embarrassed to mention that most of the time. And Gena would really think he was lying. Oh, and never mind the fist of justice stuff too. 

“Is it not a dog?” Gena asked, equally baffled and slightly reproachful. “If you brought more of your crazy shit into my diner, Blade -”

“I had nothing to do with this.”

“Really? This isn’t a vampire dog?”

“You know those don’t exist.”

“I knew the vampire mafia didn’t exist until you told me that you needed to sleep on my couch for a week.”

“Can I hold your sword?” Jake asked hopefully. Katanas were totally cringe, but…katana.

“No.” Blade turned back to Gena, completely oblivious to how close to death he tread. “Do you have any silver on you? A blessed blade isn’t going to keep it down for long.”

Jake pointed at the much longer Western sword strapped across his back. How did the guy even sit. “Can I hold that -”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“It’s a blessed blade.”

“Are you some kind of Catholic or something?” Jake asked. “I don’t fuck with Catholics. Like, no offense.”

“Considering how you stole all of Nanny’s silver necklaces, I do not own any silver.” Gena shot a glance at the twitching dog on the floor. Sure enough, it was stirring. The sword - sorry, ‘blessed blade’ - was lying on the ground next to it in a small puddle of thick black ichor. Jake wondered if he could snatch it in the confusion. “It did survive you waving around one of your little swords. Maybe it is an evil dog. So can you make yourself useful for once and -”

“The dog’s evil?” Jake asked, crushed. “Ms. Gena, dogs can’t be evil. There’s no such thing as a bad dog, just a bad owner. Are you really gonna let your friend kill an innocent animal?”

“Not my friend,” Gena said. “I barely know him.” Jake stared at her blankly, and she sighed. “Blade’s a paranoid freak who only spends time in establishments where he knows the proprietor won’t sell out his location to the ‘vampire mafia’ or whatever.” The air quotes were palpable. “I still don’t think the vampire mafia’s real so I let him crash here when he’s recovering from his long path of justice or whatever.” Jake’s blank stare did not abate. “He’s my half-brother.”

Blade shifted uncomfortably. “You should not spread that around. I can’t afford for the Society to know my weak points.”

“Oh, I’m the weak link here?”

“An animal society?” Zoological Association of America, perhaps?  “What kind of messed up life are you living, hermano?”

“I’m a vampire hunter,” Blade stressed. “I cleanse the world of the night stalkers.”

“It’s still not a real job.”

“Why?” Jake asked, baffled. 

“Daddy issues,” Gena said. 

“Fuck you,” Blade said. 

A growl split the increasingly inane conversation, and Jake turned to see the dog stumbling to its feet. Its wound was half-closed, seeping blood, but as the dog growled and hissed the wound continued to seal itself shut. Blade drew up his sword, tightening his grip on the hilt, and he glanced backwards at the alert Gena and vaguely worried Jake. 

“I will take care of this,” he intoned. “You two get out of here.”

“You mean kill it?” Jake asked, voice accidentally pitching higher. “You can’t kill it! You can’t kill animals, that’s a rule.”

“Seeing as it is trying to kill us, I’ll rule it self defense,” Blade said dryly. He stepped in front of them, watching the dog stumble to its feet and snarl at them. “I recognize that look in its eyes. It won’t stop until we’re all dead.”

But Jake could only shake his head, strangely crushed, and Gena gently pulled both of them back towards the double doors.  “It’s not the dog’s fault it’s violent,” Jake said weakly. “Somebody else probably made it that way, you know…?”

Gena’s expression softened, and she reached up to squeeze Jake’s shoulder. He tried not to lean into the gesture. “I know, honey. It’s not fair. We’re going to do everything we can for the dog, alright? I won’t let Blade kill it.”

“I can’t.” Blade moved around the slowly rousing dog, silent footsteps brushing the tile. “With no silver I can’t kill it. We have to lock it back inside and evacuate the establishment.”

Gena cursed under her breath, squeezing Jake’s shoulder again before lightly pushing him back behind Blade. “Glad I got that Inexplicable Acts of God insurance now. Blade, you have to help me get Jake out.”

“Little busy,” Blade gritted out. The dog was fully upright now, eyes fixed back on Blade. It was panting even heavier, and Jake watched in fascination as the wound on its stomach completely finished sealing - leaving no memory of the mark but a patch of shaved skin. “Your friend’s a grown man, he can take care of himself.  I am more concerned about the darkness of -”

The dog sprinted forward, dodging Blade and making straight for the doors. Blade had clearly been expecting another aerial pounce, and he had to shift his balance and wrap another hand around the hilt, moving to stab it. His hesitation cost him - the dog dodged the strike and moved past him, jumping straight for Jake and Gena.

Jake wasn’t as fast as Blade, but he didn’t hesitate. He grabbed Gena and threw them both out of the way, taking the fall on the hard tile as the doors burst open. Blade cursed loudly, immediately running after it.

Thanks for checking up on them, Blade. They were doing fine, thank you so much. Jake let go of Gena, rolling his impacted shoulder with a slight grunt. Gena scrambled outwards, reaching out a hand and helping pull Jake to his feet. 

“That was not the first time you’d done that,” Gena said. Jake grunted, massaging his shoulder. Tingly. “Why didn’t you mention you were ripped?”

“It never came up?” Jake liked bulky clothing with a lot of layers. It was cozy. “Only assholes brag about that kind of stuff. Guys who carry katanas, you know. Cringelords.”

“I thought all you did was play video games,” Gena said frankly. God, he wished. Beating up on guys was fun and all, but beating up guys virtually was funner. You could stop for snack breaks. Or you could just put on Animal Crossing if you felt like it. “You’re okay too?” 

Jake nodded fastidiously, pointing at the doors. “Just fine, ma’am. Should I go help out Blade? He looks like he might need it.”

“He’ll be fine,” Gina said blithely. She eyed the double doors speculatively, already digging in her pocket for the key again. "We better stay away from all that nonsense and stay in here. I don’t want to walk into the middle of an exorcism or something.”

Jake couldn’t help but falter. “Uh, Ms. Gena. I don’t talk about this much with you, ‘cause it’s never that important or anything, but I could…you know, take care of that dog for you. Quick and easy too. If you let me, I can just -”

“No. There’s no need for that.” Gena’s expression was set firm and immovable, but Jake opened his mouth to protest anyway. “No. I’m certain you could help if necessary, Jake. But that’s what people like my shitty half-brother are here for. It was his choice to swear on the tomb of his vampire dad or whatever to protect people, so let him do his job.”

“But it’s my job too,” Jake said weakly.

But Gena just shook her head. “Whatever that job was, Jake, it’s messed you up enough for a lifetime. I won’t let it happen here too. Not in my diner.” She grabbed his hand, and Jake was shocked enough that he let her. “Now come on, I’m getting you out of here.”

Jake, of course, could get himself out of there just fine. But Gena didn’t seem to care about that.

He had suspected for a while that Gena knew something was off about him. She never said as much and he never made it obvious, and it continued to be something they both politely didn’t talk about. But Gena always treated him like the person he truly was instead of the person he appeared to be, and that was reason enough to think she was great.

A familiar sound burst from the main room. A soft thump, as if something heavy had landed on a down comforter, followed by a harsh roar. No explosion, but something had definitely just been set on fire. 

Gena pulled him towards the exit, bursting out of the doors in hot pursuit of an exit out of the building. She stopped short, eyes widening, and it took Jake a second to register what had stopped her. 

There was a line of fire in front of the two main doors out of the diner. Just fire. Hanging out. The fire floated a few inches off the ground, blazing away merrily and perfectly controlled, but Jake could feel their oppressive heat from several yards away. The fire didn’t even seem to be scorching anything. 

Magic. Had to be. Jake tore his eyes away from the fire, scanning the emptied main room and searching for the magician dog. He found the dog easily enough - it was cornered against the far wall, howling in rage but unable to move either direction without leaving a clean opening for Blade. Blade couldn’t kill it, and the dog was clearly about to take its chances soon. Or it would, if it wasn’t for the man standing next to Blade.

It was the drunk man. Apparently not that drunk. He was dressed in some cool all-leather getup, with a black jacket flap zipped up against his chest and actual leather pants. There was a chain looped around his waist and fire crawling up his arms, reaching all the way towards his head. Tongues of flame licked at the man’s jaw, creeping around his eyes before receding. 

It was unbelievably cool. But it was too cool. Like, try-hard cool. Just like Blade. A guy cool enough to pull off a leather jacket didn’t need a leather jacket to be cool. All of that leather had to be compensating for something. Real cool was effortless and casual. Like Layla and Gena. Frenchie was pretty cool too, but he worked too hard to be cool to actually be cool. Frenchie wore leather, but it was only ever sick-ass bomber jackets and leather boots. It was tasteful. This was not tasteful.

“Excuse me!” Gena yelled, startling both uncool guys. “Why is the exit blocked off in an emergency!”

“So our furry friend here doesn’t get away and resume his reign of terror across Harlem,” the blonde guy said. He gave the dog a mean smile, teeth bone white and shining. “I’m sorry about that, I didn’t know there were still people in here. We’ll be out of your hair in a second.”

At least Blade looked vaguely unhappy. “Drop the fire, Johnny. If you’re going to kill it I want them both out of here.”

“Kill it?” Johnny asked, as if Blade had accused him of something distasteful instead of just murdering perfectly nice dogs. “I wouldn’t kill him! I told you, I’m dragging him to Hell. We’ll be out once he settles down. Think of it like Doggie Day Care.”

“Hard pass.”

Gena leaned in close to Jake, letting go of his hand. “See? It’s all fine. Mr. Zippo over here’s just sending the dog to Hell. That’s all.”

“That is not where I heard dogs go when they die,” Jake said dubiously.

“It’s where they go when they disrupt my business, that’s for fucking certain.”

The dog howled again, and for the first time Jake registered that something about the howl wasn’t quite natural. It rang like an unearthly bell, as if the sound was echoing someplace far away. If you really stopped and listened for that strange sound then you could hear something beautiful. Jake wondered if the leather jacket squad could hear it. 

Or maybe it was only Jake, finding the beauty in the deadly. He wondered if the leather jacket squad could find that too. Somehow he knew that they couldn’t. A sense in the back of Jake’s head - a sense probably born from Khonshu - told Jake that the men had a significantly lower body count than he did. And that was why Jake didn’t wear a leather jacket.

 Johnny (dumber name than Blade: discuss?) turned back to the probably-not-a-dog, flashing his bone white teeth in what could only charitably be called a smile. “Look at what Mephistophiles dragged in. Are you ready to come quietly this time?”

The dog snarled, hackles raised and neck arched in challenge. Jake wondered what kind of person had beef with a dog. Depends on the dog, maybe. 

“I knew where your nose was leading you. I just got there first.” The man reached for his belt, grabbing one end of the chain wrapped around his hips and pulling it out. The chain snapped out, flying into the air and reaching far beyond its ordinary length. “Beats me why you’ve chased the moon’s trail into an all-night diner, but I guess werewolves just follow their noses.”

Under his breath, so quietly Jake almost missed it, Blade muttered, “The monologuing…”

The dog howled - the dog that might not actually be a dog - but the man just wrapped his chains around his wrist.

“Jack, you owe me dinner after this.”

The chain snapped into the air, a snake leaping for the kill. The air cracked as the chain lashed out, striking the wolf and eliciting a howl of pain.

Jake didn’t even register it. The noise and sight skipped straight past his brain and into his brainstem. It would have been fine if he had been remotely cognizant of it. But Jake felt a lot of things he didn’t quite understand, and he did a lot of things first and only understood why he did them later. 

This wasn’t so mysterious. Like a hand jolting away from a hot stove, Jake squeezed his eyes shut and clapped his hands over his ears. The snap hit his ears again, and he pressed harder. 

Something roared - like the dog, but not. Something far bigger and far more dangerous. Something toppled over and something else crashed, and waves of heat washed over Jake. Something tugged at his arms, trying to pull him away, but Jake shook them off.

Somebody grunted in pain - a highly familiar sound - as another crash rattled the diner. The werewolf howled in pain too, sending a spike of pain shooting through Jake’s own skull, and a second afterwards Blade cursed as something else went flying.

“Jake! Jake, come on, move!”

Jake opened his eyes. 

The first thing he saw was Gena, looking a little frantic and a lot like she wished she could chuck Jake like a football behind the counter. The second thing he saw was Johnny punching a giant werewolf. The third thing he saw was the giant werewolf. 

It was hard at work trying to maul Johnny, but Jake could still see it clearly. It was four times taller than the dog and standing on its hind legs - somehow turned bipedal and vicious. Its body was almost human-like, save for its strange knees and arching ankles, and its torso was nothing but bulging muscle and coarse fur. It had a purely wolf’s head, eyes crazed and wild, and when it reared back its ears brushed Gena’s hanging lamp fixtures. Tables and chairs were overturned across the diner, napkin holders and plates smashed on the ground, and Blade was picking himself up from the ruins of a shattered table. 

Johnny’s arms were practically in the werewolf’s mouth. Two thin human arms were the only things propping the gaping maw open, the teeth scraping against leather, and the werewolf didn’t seem to notice the hellfire scraping his nose. Blinded by rage. 

Rage. Was it rage?

“Gena, move -”

“Not without Jake!”

“What’s wrong with him!”

“Something, fuck if I know - just help!”

The werewolf reared back and swiped at Johnny, who caught the motion with another chain and pulled. The werewolf roared again, pulling hard at the chain and yanking Johnny off his feet. Johnny yelped, chain flying out of his hands, and it lashed backwards through a light fixture, shattering the bulb with a thick crash.

“This is wrecking the place,” Gena said miserably. “Shit.”

That snapped Jake out of it. The world came rushing back in, returning sensation to his fingers and toes, and Jake slowly shook himself. 

The werewolf was only attacking Johnny. Jake saw that it had batted Blade away, but it was trying to maul Johnny. Its eyes were rolling in his head, slobbering and growling. Johnny’s head was slowly catching fire, a worrying development that he didn’t seem to care about, and he groaned with effort as he fended off the wolf’s attempts to snap him in half. 

The wolf hadn’t even looked at Gena. But it was ruining her diner anyway. Wasn’t that the way of it. 

Jake realized, with a strange combination of wonder and slight embarrassment, that there were no bad animals. Just bad owners. 

“Everything’s fine, Ms. Gena,” Jake said, lightly shaking her off. “It’s just trying to help.”

This didn’t reassure Gena much. “Help who?”

Jake ignored her. He looked to his right, squinting at one of the intact booths. He pressed his lips shut and thought loudly: Khonshu, how do I make it stop? 

Khonshu reclined in the booth, sipping black coffee from a pure white mug. A logo on the mug read ‘MOONLIGHT ALL NITE DINER’. I had no hand in this one. You reached for my magic directly. You’ll have to cease the power yourself. He took a sip of the coffee, careful not to stain his all white suit. Somehow. We ought to fetch Marc. 

Marc would make this so much worse. 

True. What are you going to do? 

Jake didn’t have to think about it. 

He reached into the pool of Khonshu’s magic - obvious now that he knew it was there, so bright and hot it was a miracle he hadn’t noticed before now - and exhaled slowly. The magic had been boiling hot and heavy, and as Jake took a few more deep breaths he felt the choppy seas abate into subtle calm. He looked at Gena, wearing her worry like an iron shield, standing in the middle of danger just to be sure that he got to safety, and the seas turned peaceful and placid. 

The werewolf reared back - cognizant, now, that Johnny wasn’t trying to hurt anybody. The chains drooped and fell from its bulging arm, cut and rubbed raw by the metal. Its heaving chest calmed with Jake’s own deep breaths, and Johnny quickly scrambled upwards. 

“Leave him alone,” Jake said sharply. “He’s not hurting you.”

“Not hurting me?” Johnny cried. “He was going straight for the skull!”

“He’s not doing it anymore,” Jake said condescendingly. He gently shook Gena off again, walking forward and picking through the battleground of upturned chairs and split tables. “He felt cornered. He was just trying to get out. Then we started attacking him and he freaked. He only tried to hurt you ‘cause he was scared.”

“Uh huh,” Blade said. 

“It’s true.” Jake stopped in front of the werewolf. It had subsided completely, jaw hanging and spit rolling from its teeth. It fell down on all fours, crouched like a weird monkey wolf. Man, werewolves were super weird looking. “You alright?”

The werewolf snarled at him. Alright, Jake would be rude too. He normally was.

Jake bent down in front of it. It put him below the werewolf’s line of sight - the thing was giant - but maybe that made it feel better. “Thanks for helping. You did a really good job. And you were super cool. Do you have any idea how big your teeth are? They’re huge, man!” The werewolf growled. But, like, in a friendly way. “You got all super cool like that to help me out. But I know you don’t really like being this way. Everything’s all good now. You can relax. You’re safe.”

The werewolf howled. It was a new sound - different from its angry and scared howls. There was something mournful about it, as if it was calling for something far away. Jake wondered if it felt the moon, and if the moon always reminded it of that loneliness. What memory did the moon spark? Why did the moon always bring loneliness?

Was it the werewolf’s feelings? Or was it the feeling of that person inside the werewolf - the person who always turned into a monster alone, and who was left shivering in an all-night diner in Harlem surrounded by enemies and strangers?

“It’s a new moon,” Jake whispered, and - if only for the werewolf - he made it so. “It’s a new moon, and you’re safe at home…”

The werewolf subsided slowly - crumpling into itself from the monster into the dog, and reaching back outwards again to take the form of a man. Jake watched in fascination as a human slowly emerged from the monster - as the light changed, as the sun changed position, and the monster showed its other face as the man. 

The world didn’t stop turning, and the sun didn’t stop shining on somebody else’s patch of Earth. The human would show his monstrous face again, and there would be nothing he could do about it. No matter how much he hated it. Somebody put that monster inside of him, and the monster demanded to exist - for its pain to be heard, for its pain to be inflicted upon another. 

The man stirred, groaning with a werewolf’s bassy growl before it subsided into a regular human moan. He cracked his eyes open, and Jake would recognize that look anywhere. 

“I’ll get you some Advil.”

***

The sun rose over Harlem. 

Werewolf Dude - whose name was Jack Russel, hilariously - watched it with an exhausted fascination as he gulped his coffee. Jake had the sense that watching the sunrise after a full moon was a novel sight. Gena looked as if the entire situation was a novel sight, but she made them food anyway.

They squeezed into a booth, two pots of coffee standing sentinel over plates of cold pie and hastily assembled burgers. Jack’s plate was just a heaping of raw meat, which smelled weird but offered tantalizing possibilities. Jake tried to sneak a strand before Gena slapped his hand away. 

Johnny Blaze was telling some highly dramatized story to Blade, who was both pretending he didn’t care and correcting every second sentence. Jake got the sense that Johnny was the type of person to speak entirely in flowery metaphor and Blade was the overly literal type. They were friends, although Jake didn’t know how. Johnny and Jack Russel were also friends, equally mysteriously. For a guy who talked a lot about how he was a lone rider of the night, he sure had a lot of friends. Guess that was what happened when you took enough road trips. 

“You’re a bit of a legend, man,” Blade told Jack. He had surrendered his leather coat with easy grace, complimenting the scavenged pair of jeans Gena found in the chef’s locker. They smelled like mystery meat, but so did Jack. “So is the Man-Thing -”

“Real? No comment.” Jack stuffed another handful of meat in his mouth, eyes fixed on the window. “Johnny, that was the shittiest capture job I’ve ever seen.”

“Do you rate your captures?” Johnny asked, scandalized. 

“Wouldn’t the worst ones be the guys you ate?” Blade asked, always focused on the important questions.

Jack tilted his head in a concession of the point. “Worst that didn’t involve kebab. Why didn’t you even go full flame out? I hate fire.”

“I did,” Johnny said, “it just pissed you off more. And I don’t like walking into diners with a flaming skull, thanks -”

Blade sipped his coffee pointedly. “Vanity’s a sin, you know.”

Jake ignored them. He had finally rescued his Switch from quarantine, and he was happily settled with Animal Crossing and pecan pie. He liked watching the sunrise in Animal Crossing too. Watching the world slowly wake up and start another peaceful day was nice. You should take peace where you got it. 

The people around him seemed to agree. They could shrug off a rampaging werewolf attack as another day with Jack, and easily invite him to the table in the diner they ruined. Gena on the phone with the insurance people. Judging from the various and assorted noises, she was yelling at them.

“Hey. Uh…what’re you playing?”

Jake grunted, caught in the epic highs and lows of early morning fishing. “Animal Crossing.”

“That’s cool. Is it…like…a horse simulator?” Jack grimaced, fully aware how completely uncool he was being. Way cooler as a dog. Jake didn’t play favorites, but he totally played favorites. “Sorry. I still don’t know what’s up with those things. Last I checked people went on walks for entertainment.”

“Okay, Boomer,” Jake said, without looking up from his console.

“...right. Listen, uh…I don’t really remember what happened, but Johnny filled me in.” Jack eyed Jake carefully, soft brown eyes glinting yellow. “What did you do back there?”

“Dunno what you’re talking about,” Jake said blithely.

“Johnny said that you calmed me down.” Jack glanced around before leaning in, folding his arms on the table. “He also said that I freaked out when you freaked out.”

“Sounds like everyone was freaking out.” Jake jammed the buttons, successfully landing a…sea bass. Damn. “I was just mindin’ my own business.”

“But you did something,” Jack insisted. “There’s something about you. You smell different. Like light and ozone. Who are you?”

“Somebody who doesn’t need an interrogation.” Gena materialized at Jake’s elbow, making Jack jump a foot in the air. “Leave him be. He’s had a long day.”

“Uh, Gena?” Johnny looked at Gena, then at Jake, then back at Gena. “Is your friend…” He made a little jabbing motion at his temple, somewhat abashed. “You know?”

“I don’t know,” Gena said pointedly, “are you an emissary from hell with a flaming skull for a head?” Blade snickered. “Don’t you fucking start with me, Eric.” Jack snickered at Blade. Blade flipped Gena off. “He’s a paying customer and never causes me any trouble. Unlike you three. He can be off if he wants, he ain’t hurting anyone.”

 Everybody looked away and mumbled vague assurances that they totally loved people who were off, nothing wrong with a good off, my cousin’s off, etc. Jake watched in satisfaction as ‘pulled some Sailor Moon bullshit in a Harlem diner’ was filed under the ‘off’ category, which was now untouchable. Smooth moves, Gena. 

“Your diner gets some real weirdos, Ms. Gena,” Jake said wisely.

“This is nothing,” Gena said, pained. “Daredevil landed in my dumpster last week.”

“Whoah, no shit!”

“Yup. Hit him with a broom ‘til he left. I don’t need men loitering in my dumpsters.”

“It’s, like, unhygienic.” Jake wondered if this was a statistically improbable number of weirdos, or a normal number of weirdos if you live in NYC. “Did you let him clean up at least?”

Gena abruptly looked a little shifty. “DD and I have an understanding.” Jake now somehow had the sense that the concentration of weirdos in this diner was not entirely random. “If you see any more weirdos walk in here, Jake, tell ‘em that I charge ten percent more if they’re seen.”

“Is this why Crawly keeps calling you a business partner?” Jake asked skeptically. Gena adopted a very innocent face, which did not suit her. “ ‘Cause you said not to let Crawly in either.”

“That is just because he’s nasty. Come on, Jake, I called your sister-in-law. She’s waiting for you outside.”

“I knew you two were friends,” Jake hissed. “I knew it.”

“All women know each other,” Gena said, straight faced. She looked back over the table. “You three are cleaning up my damn diner. Only time I’ve seen the place this bad was when Jessica Jones watched the Giants lose the play-offs. All of you up, up, up.”

Jake slid out first, leaving the other men to follow grumbling after him. “Who’s Jessica Jones?”

“The worst decision I ever made,” Gena said darkly. 

“Wow. Bad breakup.”

“Let’s get going.”

Layla was waiting for him outside. She looked mostly asleep, but also slightly wigged. Jake silently passed her a giant cardboard cup of coffee, which she began chugging without a second thought. The neon signs in the shops across the street were lighting piece-meal, lending Layla’s frizzy hair a glow that slowly grew until it framed a halo around her face. 

Layla finally surfaced for air, gasping. “Have you been here all night? I freaked out when I woke up and saw that you weren’t home!”

“Sorry,” Jake said, somewhat abashed. “We had a situation.”

“A werewolf situation?” Layla asked flatly. She glanced at Gena, who only looked exhausted. “A werewolf situation for real? In real life?”

“Shit’s weird in New York,” Gena said, pained.

Layla sighed, holding out an arm, and Jake embraced her. She squeezed him tightly before separating and squeezing his hand. Carefully, she said, “Apparently some arsonist biker took care of it. Before it…calmed down. On its own.”

“I didn’t do a thing,” Jake said happily. 

And Layla couldn’t help but smile too. “Not a thing?”

“C’mon, man,” Jake said, “I leave the demon hunting to the experts. Did you know there are demon hunting experts?”

“It’s good to remember my life could be worse.”

It could be worse. Way worse. Jake was pretty happy to be himself sometimes. 

He could probably have been a demon hunter if he wanted. Maybe Marc did some light demon hunting here and there. But Jake liked being Jake better - Jake, who could calm down a monster, and who didn’t have to hurt it. 

Gena flipped the sign from OPEN to CLOSED, shutting the all-night diner for repairs, and Jake happily retold the entire sordid story to Layla as they disappeared into the rising horizon. 

#my writing #i wanna tag for our guest stars but that's a bit of a spoiler #jake lockley #moon knight #mk #moon knight fanfic #when i reblog this I will

[cardinal-crossing]

Not to hog your requests again, but if you have the time for it, I think it would be really cute if you drew Borrower Ingo and Emmet doing some fun activity! Have a safe flight, Cardinal!

Here you go! I gave them their favorite foods! Thank you for asking and you are not hogging my inbox, I love getting requests!

#cardinals art #submas #submas au #subway boss ingo #subway boss emmet #subway rats AU #submas borrower au #cardinals inbox

[raisans-art]

Small compilation of doodles from the Aggie yesterday =w=

Obligatory Agee, small doodle of @ingo-ingoing-ingone ‘s old Blinding Radience au that I scrounged up and love now, @evtraininguniversity ‘s Borrowers au, and some things for one of my aus that I haven’t posted yet, Veernumbra au.

Enjoy!

#submas #submas au #ingo #emmet #subway boss ingo #subway boss emmet #chimera emmet au #blinding radiance au #subway rats au #veernumbra au #submas Veernumbra au #go to Veernumbra au if you wanna just look at other aus that I’ve made with my silly little personal species concept #tw body horror #for the chimera #AND that silly little guy over there from veer :3

[trash-sidhe]

... so I made a TMNT fangen/au inspired by Lego monkie kid

To put it simply (because I haven't worked out the details yet)

The 4 celestial monkeys worked together to make the perfect successors but something went wrong during the spell and the successors got sent to the mortal realm into bodies of turtles and the monkeys fell into the body of a rat mutating the 5 of them with divine energy

And then the rat monkey amalgam (later to be known simply as splinter) has to work together to not only find the turtles (thankfully they ended up in the same city just in a bunch of different places)(Donnie was in the zoo!) But figure out what to do with this unfortunate situation

I haven't colored the separate monkey desgins yet but I do have pallets picked out already

The celestial monkeys (and splinter by extension) are all genderless and GNC also just very gender

The turtles have hair because yes and their masks tie it up when they wear it up which is what they usually do

Instead of being half human half turtle mutants they're half celestial monkey half turtle mutants so they fluffy and got tails except for raph who just has ARMZ

Also their weapons are different because if Mikey has a staff then Donnie can't have one and their regular weapons are japanese and this au is more Chinese influenced

Eventually they make a fairly nice base from an abandoned subway station connected to the sewers to raise their little turtle monkeys

#tmnt #teenage monkey ninja turtles #tmnt au #tmnt fangen #teenage mutant ninja turtles #teenage mutant ninja turtles au #teenage mutant ninja turtles fangen #lego monkie kid au #lego monkie kid #lmk #lmk au #fanart #fangen #au

[muffindaddystyles]

Y/N seems to cling to Harry and he almost gets rid of her until they encounter her shitty ex.

AU: Demonrry x human!yn, PART 1

Harry thought once he’ll step out of the tube station he’ll get rid of this human right away. Exactly, how her kinds crinkles the subway wrapper and dump it in the nearest bin.

Unfortunately, he ended up carrying and lugging her drunk self on his back to Walmart. Grumbling to her how sickening her perfume smells like, the demons or angles he usually befriends and beds perhaps has an entirely different scent than the one he got swaddled in with from her proximity.

“Stay back while I pay.” He muttered trying to put her down. His eyes almost changes into different dark hues out of annoyance when she retorts, “Lemme pay. You’re literally my guardian angel!” She exclaimed with big doe glazed eyes that of galaxy doughnuts and Harry rolled his eyes knowing she’s plain dumb to think of him as an Angel.

“You owe me a whole ass meal, you little rat. Not just a plain water bottle.” He scowls when Y/N giggles mimicking his accent for the thousandth time shrugging her shoulders in a gesture of “whatever”.

His swanky limbs too huge to fit on a bench as they sat outside while Y/N chugged down water thirstily.

His instincts glitching to take a glance her way, merely to insult her humanly behaviours or to poke fun how she should drink as much as she can handle instead he just cranked his neck to stare at the murky sky and regretted how it’s high time to do his job.

He tunes back to his surrounding. He shots up on his feet upon realising Y/N’s not sitting with him anymore and for a second he takes a deep breather of peace finally, swiping the tips of his boots at the back of his pants and rolls his lips to blow a whistle from weird song of 80’s though his feet scratches to a halt when he hears a teensy tired scream of protest.

His brain remembers it too particularly for unfortunate reasons and his body reacts on his own, “Little Rat, shit–“ What was her name again you fool? He tries to click onto his consciousness. His super senses fucking zeroing to grab onto her name, “Oi you annoying human.” He calls her out and gets an immediate response in a panicked rush.

What Harry sees when he steps into the dark alley’s Y/N being pinned against a grubby wall by a man who’s 2x bigger than her and that just boils– literally simmers Harry’s blood in his veins.

His dark aura that was about to grim the whole street to shadows stammers when Y/N sniffs defeatedly, calling out harry, “Angel…” Harry’s fingers cramps in his fist as he tries to controls his biokinesis powers but it all goes futile when the guy waves Harry off.

“Mate she’s my girlfriend. We’re just havin’ a talk.” What a dumb fucking whore. Harry seethes, his lips crippling into a vicious smile from thinking the things he’s about to do with this dog-shit head.

He snaps his fingers and the guy watches in horror as his hands moves away from Y/N’s shoulders itself. Y/N giggles at that and Harry roars out, “Not right now little rat!” That shushes her, as she put a finger upon her tightly clipped lips.

“Come to me.” He grumbles a demand at her while her shitty ex-boyfriend shouts profanities at Harry to put him down, Harry cranks his neck to see when she doesn’t moves a inch and raises his brow at her as she stood there with her arms folded in mulish.

He speaks this time in a gentler more convincing tone, a tone that comes off as surprise to him too, “What’s yer name little human?” He asks and Y/N speaks already moving closer to him, “Y/N.” She meek in shyness and her cheeks glistens from the heat raising from her toes up her ears.

“Y/N.. alright, yes, come and stand behind me.” His bleak whisper carrying too much warmth than needed as he flattens his palm to gesture her feared sled to himself and the next thing that he does is makes Y/N curl into his back.

He mimics the wave of the guys hand in a taunt and stops his heart for a moment that makes him wake up with a jolt, screaming and wailing for his life, blood running down his nose, his throat drying with clogs and clogs of dirt and Harry’s so delved into anger and hunger for revenge he doesn’t seem to notice the black feathers of his wings popping out and tickling Y/N’s forehead.

His eyes whirl-pooling with charcoal black and if any human in his sane condition would see Harry at the moment would die from a heart stroke.

“Please forgive me, please!!” Y/N’s ex cries and Harry just snickers turning his back to him, the moment he does so, the guy falls into the dumpster with a groaning thump.

“Fuck.” Harry’s shoulders slumps when Y/N passes out on him stretching all the way to his chest due to their height differences.

#harry styles fanfics #harry styles smut #harry styles fanfiction #demon harry fanfictions #harry angst #demonrry #demon harry x human y:n #demon h #harry styles #harry styles blurb #harry smut #dom harry

[critterbitter]

What do you know- I'm trying out the askbox *eyes*

anyway I just wanted to say that high-key I think I'd follow any content you make at this point bc your art brings me so much joy. That doesn't tend to happen super often since i am,,,, very much so a hyperfixation-focused person HAHA

regardless I'm not exactly quiet about it but I adore your art and I look forward to each new time you post :D

I WISH i had the capability of pumping out art like you do bc man while I love to draw and have so many ideas all the time picking up the pencil is Hard Dude.

Also! In a recent post you mentioned the whole Twin Dragons AU and HC that people love to have- I'd be super curious as to your opinion on it!

-( ╹▽╹ )

I SEE YOUR TAGS AND IM.

I’ll have to slow down at some point on that Submas Grind, but the hyperfixation throes are REAL. Thank you for inhabiting the tunnels with me! People that tag and cheer artists on are the real mvps of the art economy.

As for twin dragon aus!

I’ve always seen Emmet as more zekrom esque, and Ingo more reshiram esque. Is it cause the typing matches their starters? Maybe, hehe.

Ultimately though, the guys are too multifaceted for me to easily split them into truth and ideals.

I also see the legendaries as Eldritch Abominations Beyond Understanding, so having the dragons in my iteration become the twins would, uh, have consequences. The funny goofy story would dip into horror territory instead. (Reshiram demands only truths, and anything not Absolute will burn. And zekrom’s ideals are beyond human understanding, and trying to understand the mad tangle of thunder would drive somebody insane.)

(I’m a huge tma fan. Can you see it? Man.)

((Also N’s a scary mofo for summoning reshiram. I’m digging directly into the whole “twin heroes have a civil war and it destroyed unova” backstory that pokemon set up, and the more I think about it the stronger my dread mounts at the idea of Zekrom OR Reshiram casually flying overhead.

But this is also just how I see the legendaries of the pokemon world! Lugia sinks islands. Groudon covers towns. Arceus loves the mortal world, and mourns because its immortality only brings grief. Giritina hates, because it’s the ghostly remains of every one of Arceus’s mistakes given drive, banished into the distortion realm. Normal stuff!)

You sly dog, you got me monologing! But here’s the tldr: Not sure i’ll ever make my own serious Dragon AU that follows my internal world building for pokemon. I’m too attached to my favorite trope: “the smallest people can still initiate the biggest of changes”, and I’m too attached to my other favorite trope: “legendaries are actually gods and you Should Be Frightened.”

So that’s why, in this essay, if the trio gets turned into pokemon, I’d make them route 1 run of the mill rats. Because rats can do whatever they want.

(Plus, patrats and pachirisu aren’t banned from the subway battles last I checked.)

If i had to make a goofy crack dragon au though, I think this would be the result:

The whole story would just be the trio and historians trying to figure out what the hell the twins got turned into, and concerns of other people becoming pokemon as well. So far, people are convinced they’re a paradox version of an archen. (I mean…)

(Alternate take of THAT, where elesa gets turned into a victini.)

#long rambling talk under cut! #click at your own peril #ask #mailbox #i have feelings for forces of nature that shape the pokemon workd #benevolent gods. apathetic gods. malicious gods…. mMMz #pokemon #guess this counts as submas! #submas #nimbasa trio #my two hot takes on the twin dragons au #critterbitter #critterbitter screams into the void #myart