#that secondary still bugs me a little bit... but it's better this way than as they are now (guardian)

[get-rammed]

Can I get an info dump about Rodney?

I know he's a bastard as well as a bit of a soft boy with a praise kink, which really intrigues me.

I will always take opportunities to spew about my silly bug boy. This is Rodney Osmund

He's a character of mine.

This is his true form, and secondary form. The humanoid one above is his tertiary form, and what I usually draw him in.

He's had many names and many lives in his history. Within the universe I've made, he's a Fiend and can die and be reborn any time Trevor dies. Trevor being one of his 3 siblings. Veronica and Caroline being the other two.

He was once a Warlord by the name of Bog Belly. A scourge upon man and Demon (Demons being an alien race by the name of Tymos who eventually just adopted the name Demons as a secondary and or primary name)

Bog Belly slaughtered thousands simply because he was born angry over and over again, and wanted to have everyone under his heels. No truama there. No reasons. Just a dick because that's his true nature. Though he was kind to his cult members, and his breeding stock.

But roughly 200 years ago, his sister Veronica defeated him in battle. Ending his reign of terror. Veronica heads a group called the Hunters. They were formed specifically to track and kill Bog Belly. After that goal was completed, they more or less ended Warlords being a problem, and now are a government body.

Veronica is the bad twin between herself and Caroline. So she saw zero issue with parading around a defeated Bog Belly. Forcing him to be an act of sorts for a few years before making him work with Colton (Trevor) to improve his morality.

When James (Trevor) picks a fight with his sister and gets all of them killed, they're reborn into their new and current lives.

Every one of Rodney's parents have always been cruel and mean to him. Forcing his nature to always be mean spirited. Except things were different this time.

Rodney's mom was endlessly patient with him, and always showed him true compassion and love. No matter what he did. Rodney is her baby boy, and he's an absolute mama's boy.

Being there for him as he spiraled into drug problems, and there when he cleaned up. He loves his mother. The first person he's ever truly loved.

So when he regained his memories and his full personality, he was far more docile than he had ever been. Not to say he's not still a bastard. He would absolutely kill you with zero hesitation and not even flinch as you cry for help.

But he's definitely trying to feel more empathy and understand what it's like to be normal. But it's a struggle for him. But he is trying.

This man needs. A lot of therapy lmao.

- He hates going to Hunter bases because he's been assaulted a number of times in a multitude of ways.

Rodney leveled a Hunter base in Ohio because of this. He's banned from the state of Ohio. Veronica covered this situation up as she understands why he did it.

She doesn't know he's still assaulted at some bases :( and he won't tell her because he doesn't believe anything will be done about it.

- Rodney can open his pupils to freeze in terror whoever looks at them, in place

- Rodney had front horns like his sister Caroline, but Trevor snapped them off in a fit of well deserved rage.

- Rodney overall is a dick (but he's trying to get better), and uses sex, various drugs, and alcohol to try and survive instead of getting therapy.

- He is taught about in schools as a part of history. People recognize him sometimes and point and talk about him. He's used to it and generally just ignores it.

- Even though he's trying to get better. If given the chance to get his power back. He would. With no hesitation.

- Rodney uses humor and acts like a dipstick so people don't expect too much from him. It upsets him a little hit to be labeled as a man whore who has no real thoughts besides memes, but he also knows it's better than the alteratives.

- Fiends have incredibly low fertility rates, but Rodney has eggs. He has roughly 100 kids, but he acknowledges none of them. "You're my son? And? I ain't got shit for you besides some protips. Get away from me or I will kill you."

- Rodney's spit is dual functional. It is both the most caustic venom known to man or Demon kind. But it also a heavy aphrodisiac. It completely depends on his mood. So it's a risk if you kiss him lmao

- He has a motorcycle and often will still ride it around

You can read more about him, his siblings, and the universe overall here. Just as a warning though. It's long lmao

#I love him so much 😭 #Rodney #Feral Fiends #FF Rodney #My art #Sfw #the ram replies #text ramplies #anon #Long post

[13eyond13]

Hey! What do you think about Berserk’s secondary characters? Such as Judeau, Luca, or Skull Night? Who’s your most and least favorite?

Ooh, thanks for asking! THOUGHTS ABOUT THE MORE MINOR BERSERK CHARACTERS:

BAND OF THE FALCON/HAWK: So the members that made the biggest impression on me aside from Guts/Casca/Griffith, in order of how much I liked them, were:

1. JUDEAU: he was probably my next most favourite member of the Band. I thought he was pretty kind and emotionally intelligent - I liked his loyal/thoughtful/peaceful mediator vibe, and I always wanted to hear what he had to say about everybody else. I'm still not ok about what happens to him in the end, it was one of the most emotionally upsetting parts of The Eclipse to me for sure...

2. RICKERT: He started standing out to me way more post-Eclipse as a character when he starts having to make more decisions on his own. I love the ways he's dealing with his grief and I was very proud of him whenever he stood up to Griffith, hahaha. I'm really interested in seeing what part he's going to play in the finale of the story, too...

3. PIPPIN: the only scene I can really remember about Pippin now is when he literally picks up Guts and drags him down to force him to hang out with everybody else, which was great. Hahaha I liked him, but I don't remember a whole lot else about him other than that? I think that he was pretty quiet most of the time.

4. CORKUS: He's probably the one you're kinda supposed to not like as much as the others in the group, as he's pretty abrasive at times. He added some spice to things for sure, and I could see why he might feel negatively about Guts, and some of the stuff he says made for interesting contrasts to the positivity/comradery going on otherwise. I didn't feel a ton of love for him at any point, but also I don't think he deserved what he ended up getting in the end either, of course...

BLACK SWORDSMAN PARTY:

1. PUCK: I'm attached to him quite a bit simply because of how much he was with us in the beginning / during the parts where Guts was wandering around all surly and angry and alone. I think he sort of gets reduced to only comic relief a bit much in the later parts of the story, but he definitely kept me going through some of the darker and more nihilistic parts with his cuteness and kindness and the way he always pointed out the stuff that was at times bugging or concerning me about Guts, hahah. Also, I love whatever weird thing he has going on with the Behelit, hahaha. It's like his little pet... feeding it cheese...

2. SCHIERKE: OK so I was kind of like OHHHNOOO at first about the kid characters permanently joining Guts traveling party, because I didn't really want the story to start attempting to pander to kids a bunch when it's so clearly adult in subject matter and themes and tone much of the time. But Schierke definitely grew on me more over time, especially in the scenes where she's interacting with Guts alone - I think her witch powers are pretty impressive, her quiet/nervous personality is usually cute, and her crush on Guts is endearing as well, haha - the way she's self-aware that it's because "he's an adult who paid attention to me, and I liked it" reminds me of the kind of things I would've been saying at that age myself. I was always trying to be serious and sensible and cautious and adult all the time as a kid about such stuff, too...

3. FARNESE: She had some of the most dramatic and interesting character development of any of the characters in the entire series, I would say. Thinking about who she was when we first met her versus who she ends up becoming later on is pretty impressive. I especially like how hard she works at humbling herself, learning new things and opening herself up to new people and new ways of thinking and being, even though she also feels completely useless and incompetent at it much of the time.

4. SERPICO: I feel almost like I'd have to reread the story to really get a handle on this character better, because he often slipped into the background for me? I think his fights with Guts were pretty interesting, but otherwise he just didn't really resonate that strongly with me or stand out to me that much, and I never felt that attached to him at any point tbh

5. IVALERA: sassy and cute, but I don't have that much else to say about her

6. ISIDRO: My least favourite of the bunch, because he often actively irritates me whenever he's on the page, and the comic relief he's supposed to provide never really hits the mark for me. I feel like he just throws off the tone of the story a lot with all the loudmouthed insecure spunkiness, like he's out of place and was meant to exist in a Shonen series like Naruto or something else instead, haha. IDK... maybe I'd warm up to him more and see why he's necessary to include more upon a second read...

OTHER NOTABLES: 1. SKULL KNIGHT: I love him a lot, haha. He's got such an oddly chill and polite vibe for what a dramatic and scary-looking presence he has. He definitely can feel very plot-devicey as a character at times, but it doesn't mean I'm not always glad to see him whenever he shows up, and I think his personal history with the Berserker Armour is pretty interesting as well

2. NOSFERATU ZODD: I like him quite a bit too... definitely the most chill of the monsters to me, haha. Chill is almost always a plus to me, especially when the character is otherwise a bit larger than life

3. LUCA: I liked her! One of the more palatable characters in that arc. Was glad she was watching out for Casca like she was...

4. CHARLOTTE: I worry about her, but I feel for her too! The fanart she kept making of Griffith made me lol tbh.. I hope nothing too bad happens to her now that she's actually hitched to him...

#berserk #berserk spoilers #ask #anon #p

[shoppncarticles]

The Deino Family

Finally reaching Gen 5’s pseudo-legendary gives us the Dragon/Dark type Deino, a little baby dinosaur with an excess amount of fuzzy hair that covers its eyes in a suitably moody fashion. Fittingly, Deino is said to reside in dark, dingy caves, and thus lacks real need to see clearly from its eyes, if it’s got any whatsoever. Apparently they lack a good method of interacting with the world in general, since the ‘dex mentions Deino’s primary method of sensing things is to bite and tackle whatever it comes across, even eating smaller objects before it knows what they are.

I like the black-and-blue color scheme quite a bit too. I wonder if it’s possible that’s some kind of layered joke based around how bruised Deino gets from bumping into stuff so often.

Zweilous evolves from Deino, resulting not only in the little dino maturing a little bit but also growing a second head! Apparently naturally bad-tempered thanks to their Dark typing, both Zweilous heads are unable to get along and constantly fight over food and control over the body. Apparently one head can even get malnourished and weakened if the other swallows most of the food. You’d think they’d share the same stomach.

The family ends with Hydriegon, who’s probably got just as many critics as it does fans. It’s a big, destructive, monstrous hydra dragon, which is bound attract some fans on concept alone, but it does also drop Deino and Zweilous’s shaggy-haired eye-covering charm for a weird, flowery mane. Personally, that detail doesn’t bug me a ton, but it should’ve at least been kept on its smaller heads.

What I’m more personally stuck up on with Hydriegon though is that its body has taken on a much more humanoid shape, with the extra heads clearly been placed on its body as if they were arms, rather than, y’know, secondary heads. In one way, it’s kind of charming and gives Hydreigon the appearance of having two sockpuppets on its hands at all times. However, Hydreigon is supposed to be a brutal, crazed beast of a dragon, so it doesn’t really fit. In my opinion, Hydreigon’s secondary heads should’ve remained similar to Zweilous’s, and branched from the same spot as its central head, more or less. It would make Hydreigon appear armless, which I think works much better for a hydra anyways. The spiky mane its got could work then for resemble a crown, signifying it as the main one in control and ruling the body.

I’ve got no complaints about Hydreigon’s weird, flimsy set of six wings though. They certainly don’t look like they could keep Hydreigon airborne but its just weird enough for me to accept without question. Certainly makes it feel more unnatural and monstrous.

In terms of its ‘dex entries, there isn’t an explanation on how Zweilous becomes Hydreigon, whether the brains of both heads fuse, or if one overpowers the other, or if both are intruded upon by a new third head like I imagined. What is stated however is that the lesser heads are not entirely brainless, only consuming and joining in on the main head’s attacks out of instinct. Weird, and does unfortunately lower them to being as functional as socky puppets more than anything else.

Apparently at one point in development, Hydreigon was envisioned as a dragon-tank hybrid. The only remnant of this are the two sets of rigged scales on Hydreigon’s belly, being an in-joke on the tank treads it would’ve once had. I can’t exactly picture how a dragon tank would work, especially as a more organic design, so I can’t blame them for scrapping it. There’s also the potential accidental commentary of making the pseudo-legendary of the first American region a brutal, single-minded destructive military tank beast, but like the one Rufflet dex entry I doubt it was ever really considered. Hell, it never crossed my mind until writing this paragraph.

Score: 4/5

Regardless, I think this family’s pretty alright. Hydreigon’s got a few missed opportunities but is still a cool evil hydra at the end of the day.

[Gen 5 Archive]

#pokemon #pokemon review #deino #zweilous #hydreigon

[bornbreathless]

@developedniche​

Headcanon prompts, under the cut for length

  ❤️ RED HEART - their love language(s)?

Char is very big on physical affection and acts of service. She has a hard time verbally expressing her feelings; she’ll try, but it isn’t something that comes naturally to her. Instead she becomes very tactile and will want to take care of you. Let her hold your hand or wash your hair or cuddle on the sofa or or or. She has a lot of love to give and not a lot of experience showing it.

🎵 MUSIC NOTE - what is their playlist like? their favourite artists? do you associate a particular song with them?

This woman’s playlist is...eclectic. It might surprise people who only know her a little to find out that she has a lot of pop on there, a lot of techno, metal, drum and base. Anything with a strong, driving rhythm, the more bass the better. She wants to be able to feel her music. A selection:

A.erosmith - Walk This Way T.wisted S.ister - We’re Not Gonna Take It M.CR - Planetary (GO!) A.BBA - Honey, Honey B.asshunter - Now You’re Gone

She doesn’t really care about particular artists, she just wants to be able to dance around and feel the bass in her chest. Take her to a club or a rave and she’s in her element.

🎁 PRESENT - what types of presents would they be most happy to receive? are they good at gift giving?

Char doesn’t really want gifts. Don’t get me wrong, she’ll be grateful for them and more than content to be a little spoiled, but she’d rather you give her a cool rock you found than some random expensive jewellery. It’s more important to her that you thought about her, she doesn’t care what a gift might be. On the flipside, this means that she tries hard to get good gifts for people. Things that they actually like or want or need, things that are meaningful. Even if the meaning is only that she knows you like butterflies, so she gets you things with butterflies on them.

😭 CRYING - what makes them cry? do they cry easily?

HA! Good one.

Char doesn’t cry often at all, and even if she does she won’t do it in front of people. If you’re someone who has ever been allowed to see her cry? She loves you. Char hates showing any kind of vulnerability and would rather keep all of that sadness bottled up until she can deal with it on her own than lower any of her walls. It means that she’s great at compartmentalising.

The only things that can generally make her cry and not have a choice in the matter are intense fear or rage. It’s very rarely sadness.

🕷️ SPIDER - what is their biggest fear? do they have any irrational / mundane fears?

For what are probably fairly obvious reasons, Char has an intense fear of being buried alive, or otherwise trapped with no avenue of escape. She can’t suffocate. Can’t drown. Can’t starve to death. Wouldn’t even be able to cause her own death if she had the means to do so. Being put into that situation would be a sentence of unending torture as she slowly withers away, fully aware of it the whole time. A secondary and less worrying fear is the thought of waking up in the middle of her own autopsy, but you know what? That’s still a step up from being stuck in her own grave for the foreseeable future, so if it was a choice between the two...

Aside from those, not really? Bugs don’t freak her out, she likes heights, she likes the ocean, the dark doesn’t hold anything she can’t handle, and it would feel a bit hypocritical to be afraid of ghosts. There’s nothing coming immediately to mind as something that actively scares her.

🥞 PANCAKE - what is their comfort breakfast?

Scrambled eggs absolutely heaped with hot sauce. She’s easily pleased and a terrible cook, it’s just about the only thing she can make for herself when she’s feeling shitty.

#developedniche #((so many things!)) #in loving memory | HEADCANON

[finitumgame]

Take control of one of 8 Preset Characters as you navigate the cities on Marth (and possibly beyond).

Finitum is an interactive visual novel that combines elements of text-heavy interactive fiction, comics, and sprites set in a scifi-fantasy world.

[ More About the Game ]

* Character appearance & names may change in the coming weeks. The images and text below will be changed accordingly as the character designs are finalized fully. *

" If they have the credits, you’ll do the job, huh? Fair enough. I may not have the credits, but something tells me you’ll still want in on this. If it sweetens the deal, you can take whatever you want from any Omega warehouse or building we hit. "

Born and raised in Marth's capital, Rune has nearly perfected a number of skills that range from pickpocketing to ventriloquism... Some are more useful than others.

Primary Skills: Close Combat, Stealth, Persuasion

Secondary Skills: Hand-to-Hand Combat, Disguise, Acrobatics

[ Character Sheet ]

" I had assumed ‘petty' was a descriptor for the sort of things you were caught selling to a fence in Carina, not a descriptor of your personality. Still, you would be of help if you’re willing. It isn’t like you have anything better to do, right? “

Eli may not remember the majority of his life’s events, but muscle memory and a few flickers of the past are enough to keep him on his feet. With a flare for dramatics, he'll be sure to keep the rest of the team on their toes as well - A fact some might not be all that pleased with.

Primary Skills: Pick-pocketing, Persuasion, Slight of Hand

" The fact I’ve heard of your family would normally be a point of praise, but...well, no. It’s still very impressive. Horrifying, yes, but also impressive. The Outlands provide no shortage of things you can use your ...talents...on, but how would you like to set fire to something bigger and shiner for once? "

No one knows explosives like Bug. Be that for good or ill.

Their family isn’t blood-related, for the most part, but there isn’t a more tight-knit group in The Outlands and it’s always good to have backup.

Primary Skills: Bomb making, Sewing

" It seems The Outlands are the best place to find skills such as yours. I don’t know what’s so appealing about miles of salt and sand, but if you’d like to take a break and see the magnetic concrete and clogged gutters of Pleiade City, then perhaps you’d consider my offer. "

Vi may have served in a Corp Militia in his past. Maybe not. However they came by their skills, there is no one better to turn to if you need something destroyed in a more....subtle way...that doesn’t lead back to you.

Primary Skills: Sabotage, Subterfuge

" Okay, so first of all, that video of you with the ‘zombie' androids? Horrifying. I loved it. Second, how would you like to utilize some similar things against a certain Corp that has plenty of spare cybernetic body parts lying about... ”

Magic may run rampant alongside technology, but it gets a little weird when the two cross paths. Fusing the two in balance is not the most common, or easiest, thing to accomplice, but Pandora has it down to an art.

Primary Skills: Magitech

" Listen, just because I found you doesn’t mean they will. I’m way better at this stuff than they are. How would you like a chance to do them some serious damage? Sure, it won’t make up for all the years of shit, but it might help a little. "

Hiding in Pleiade’s Undercity, Ion has been doing her best to stay under the radar. It’s a little difficult when you have a habit of frying technology of every sort when you get angry, though. Especially when you have a bit of a temper.

Primary Skills: Telekinetic Technomancy (uncontrolled), Diplomacy

Secondary Skills: Weapons Knowledge, Cybernetics Knowledge, First Aid

[ Character Sheet ]

" You’ve been making quite a lot of noise since you got out of that Celestia facility. Aren’t you concerned Omega is going to find you sooner rather than later? I’ve an excellent way to help you stay one step ahead...and I could use your help. You know better than anyone what they’re up to. "

Primary Skills: Sharpshooter, Glitch 'Ghost'

" I know you’d rather stay tucked away in that little bunker of yours, but somehow I doubt steel and concrete will keep Omega out if they find your location. I’ve got a much better idea - one that’ll help you stay one step ahead of them and help you tell everyone exactly what happened in that Celestia facility. "

Primary Skills: Hand-to-Hand Combat, Nova 'Ghost'

While they come from the same clone primary source, Morrow and Marrow don’t have a great deal in common. True, they look disturbingly alike, but when it comes to their personalities...the two have little common ground.

#tag: The Presets #Preset Intro

[twdeadfanfic]

Vows Pt.4

Daryl Dixon x Reader

Series Summary:

The last battle with Negan doesn’t go as it should, with Negan coming on top, and so reader, Daryl’s girlfriend, offers herself as a wife to Negan if he doesn’t kill Daryl or anyone else. Negan accepts, he won’t kill anyone but will take reader as a wife, and he’ll take Daryl and some of the others to the Sanctuary as prisoners, promising not to hurt anyone if reader is one of his wives and the communities work for him.

This has both flashbacks to reader and Daryl’s story since meeting to now, and the present with reader living at the Sanctuary as a wife, trying to keep Daryl and their people safe, and she and the other wives dealing with Negan, plotting… (This is not a Negan x reader fic!)

This chapter has Negan in it but also a bit flashback to when Daryl and reader met.

The next day was strange, to be there in a room at the Sanctuary, but you had to remind yourself that it could be worse. All you did was stay in the room with the other women, getting to know them more, sharing stories about your life, reminding you of your first days back at the quarry, when you met new people, so long ago. It still felt surreal, to be in a luxurious room, with food, books, magazines, booze, even DVDs, and in the apocalypse.

Yes, you knew it could be worse…you could be in a cell, like Daryl and the others, you could be starved and tortured as people had been at the Sanctuary…but yet, you hated that feeling of being trapped, and the feeling of dread only got worse when late that day, the door of the room opened and Negan walked in, already with that shit-eating grin

“Hi, ladies.”

“Hi, Negan,” the others greeted, but the words didn’t make it past your lips.

He walked around the room, sometimes approaching any of the wives, who’d smile mechanically at him, and he kissed Abby when he walked past her but didn’t stop, instead going to the sofa where Amber was drinking, silent tears falling down her cheeks.

Negan shook his head, letting out a sigh, and he sat down next to her. “Amber, darling,” he placed his hand on her cheek and made her look at him. “We talked about it, I don’t want you here if you’re going to be sad. As you all know, nobody is here against their will.” Negan glanced at you at that before looking at Amber again and you tried not to scoff. “So, if you want to stop being married to me and go back to whatever work you had to earn points for your parents, you know you can.”

“No, Negan, I want to be here, I love you,” Amber said, sounding like a robot that had rehearsed it. You wondered if Negan would expect you to say those words too, but you were sure you’re insides would burn if you ever said that.

“Good...then maybe you should stop being drunk and crying all the time, right, sweetheart?” Negan let go of Amber’s face when she nodded. “I’d tell you to come to the bedroom, have some fun, see if you feel better…but I had other plans.” Negan got up from the sofa. “Y/N, bedroom.”

You blinked, taken aback. You hadn’t thought that Negan would call for you, you had been with him last night. “Me?”

“Is there any other Y/N?” Negan gave you that shit-eating grin that you wanted to kick. “Yes, you, come on.”

“I haven’t even put on lotion today, I don’t smell like cake,” your mouth said before your brain could stop it, but Negan’s grin went to bigger, and so did the mischief in his eyes.

“Don’t worry, darling, I have some in my bedroom, I’ll lather you with it myself, get you smelling all nice for me, my little dessert,” he taunted you with that damn grin, and you bit your tongue. “Come on.”

Negan began walking to his bedroom and you looked at the other women. “Didn’t he have a wife for each day of the week?” You whispered and Tanya snorted.

“It doesn’t work like that.”

“Y/N!” Came Negan’s voice from the corridor, and so you took a deep breath, swallowed hard, and followed him.

*

You were sat down on the bed, tugging at the sheet to wrap it around you, looking everywhere but at Negan. “Can I leave?”

“No,” Negan answered and you frowned, you had expected him to say yes, maybe send someone else. You looked at him and he was smiling as if he were again trying to annoy you.

You rolled your eyes. “What do you want me to do, then?”

“Talk.” Negan grinned and if he was trying to annoy you he was succeeding.

“Seriously? You want to talk to me?” You said, but then, you had always thought that Negan loved to hear himself speak, so maybe it wasn’t that strange, but probably he’d better talk to any of the other wives that were better at pretending to listen.

“Yes, doll, I feel like I should be honest with you,” Negan began, reaching to place a hand on your thigh, under the sheet, and once again you had to fight the instinct of slapping it. “I wouldn’t have killed Daryl, you know, if you hadn’t married me.”

“Yeah, sure.” You scoffed.

“I wouldn’t…Rick? Sure, I would have killed him there, in front of all of you, right that moment, I can’t let go of what he did, people need an example,” Negan kept going. “Dwight…I’d have killed that fucking rat too.”

You were about to say that you didn’t give a shit about what happened to Dwight and that he was not part of the deal, but Negan kept speaking.

“Eugine…I don’t know…” Negan hummed. “He crossed me, I want to kill him, but that awesome brain of his, I want to use it. I want to take his brain out of his head and put it in someone else’s.”

“Don’t we all,” you muttered, and Negan chuckled.

“You’re fun, Y/N…could be fun, if you weren’t so focused on hating me,” he said and you scoffed.

“Yes, because you gave me no reasons.”

Negan just chuckled again and he stretched on the bed. “I just think, if you weren’t so focused on hating me? You could see how life here is not bad at all.”

You decided not to comment on that. “So, you’d have killed Rick, Dwight, and Eugine, but nobody else,” you said, instead. “You’d have let Daryl live.”

Negan hummed and nodded. “I’d have brought him here to his cell, start right where we left it, let him see what happens when you ran away from me and go against me, so…yeah, I guess he’d have eventually died.” He shrugged and you scoffed.

“Jeez, great, that’s so much better than having killed him right there.” At least you hoped that you were keeping Daryl safe dealing with all this Negan bullshit.

“I like you, Y/N,” Negan said, throwing you off. “You get annoyed easily and when you’re annoyed you’re funny and cute.” Well…funny and cute was not what you went for when you were annoyed, but you didn’t care what Negan thought, it wasn’t like you could show him how you were when you were annoyed. “So…don’t try to find out what happens to someone when they try to run from me and go against me. It’d be a pity.”

“I wasn’t planning on,” you scoffed. “Being this charming, small wonder that you need to blackmail women so they marry you.” If Negan wanted to see you annoyed, he was going to get it.

“Oh, wow, doll.”  Negan gave you that dangerous smile. “Someone has ever told you that you’re pretty charming yourself?” You just shrugged. “Look at you…you kept doggy Daryl on his toes, uh? Yeah, you wore the pants, don’t you, doll? Fuck him in the ass too?”

“If that’s what you wanted from me, you could have just say it,” you said, shrugging, trying not to let Negan get to you, and he chuckled.

“So tell me doll…doggy Daryl and you, was it love at first sight, uh?” Negan smiled, it was obvious that he was enjoying bugging you, you didn’t want to talk about Daryl. “Let me guess…he was fucking prince charming coming to the rescue and you fell right into his arms while your panties dropped to the ground.”

You really didn’t want to talk about Daryl, but you couldn’t help your snort, as you remembered…

“You crazy bitch!”

“Yeah…yeah, he was fucking prince charming when we met,” you said. “The first time I saw him, he called me a crazy bitch and almost run me over with his bike, how could my panties not drop at that.”

Then…

You were running at fast as you could, panting, but those monsters were everywhere. A couple of days ago, someone in your town had started to show those symptoms that the TV was talking about, and now, it seemed as if the whole town had turned into monsters.

You didn’t know what to do, monsters all around, when you heard what you thought was the engine of a bike. The road that crossed your town was a secondary one, barely anyone used it anymore, yet a bike seemed to be approaching.

You didn’t know what else to do, and so you ran towards the noise. It was indeed a man on a bike, who had turned out to be Daryl, but you didn’t care who he was, he was a human, someone alive, and you all but jumped in front of the bike so he wouldn’t just keep riding.

Daryl slammed the breaks in time to not run you over, turning the bike, which skidded across the pavement and ended up falling to the ground, and you stared at it in horror. Great, maybe you had killed the only alive person around.

Daryl was okay, though, and he recovered quick.“What the fuck!” He yelled as he kicked the bike off him and got up, lifting the bike again and glaring at you. “What the hell are you doin’, you crazy bitch?! Want to get killed and make me kill myself in the process?!”

“Please, help me, please,” you had been too scared to react to his words. “Please, please, they’re everywhere.”

A few walkers were already making their way to the road, attracted to the sound. Daryl grabbed a crossbow that was attached to the bike and began shooting at them, putting them down without a word to you, and then he went to retrieve his arrows while you stood there, unsure of what to do. There was a bigger group coming and you gasped at it. Daryl noticed too, making his way back to the bike, swinging his leg over it, and you wondered if he’d ride away and leave you there, what would you do.

“Come on, ain’t got all day!” he yelled at you and you nodded, rushing to get on the bike too.

No sooner had you wrapped your arms around him, tight, Daryl was already speeding up. He rode fast, faster than you had ever driven on a car, and it was a bit scary, you hadn’t been used to bikes back then, even if now it felt almost like second nature. You held to him even tighter and even buried your face on the back of that stranger to not see everything flying around you. Daryl had tensed, though you had barely noticed, busy as you were wondering if you were going to fell off the bike and die, but you hadn’t, and Daryl had kept riding for a long while, stopping only when you seemed to be in the middle of nowhere.

He shook you off him and got up from the bike, looking at you, and so you got up too, feeling very awkward now. “Thank you,” you said when Daryl still just looked at you in silence. “You saved my life.”

“Yeah, and you almost killed me,” Daryl said harshly, lifting the side of his shirt slightly to inspect his skin, and you felt guilty when you noticed some bruises and rashes. “Crazy bitch…” he muttered.

“I’m sorry, really, I am,” you apologized. “But those monsters were everywhere and I heard your bike, I was afraid you wouldn’t’ see me and wouldn’t stop…” Or maybe that he wouldn’t stop even if he saw you. “I thought that the monsters would tear me into pieces, the whole town is infected.”

“Mine too,” Daryl murmured and you guessed maybe that’s why he was on his own too.

“My…my family and friends…they…I saw some and they had become those things…and others were getting eaten…” You had been in shock and then you had been running for your life, you had barely had time to process all that, and now it all hit you so hard that breathing got hard. “Oh god…they’re…they’re dead…they’re dead.”

You shook as tears filled your eyes and you gasped for breath, falling onto the ground as your legs stopped supporting you, and you buried your face into your hands. When you looked up, Daryl was just standing there in front of you, silent and awkward, chewing on his thumbnail. You remembered that he had called you crazy bitch. You guessed that he still thought you were that. But he was alive while everyone else seemed to be dead, and that was a plus.

“Are you…are you going to one of those refugee and military camps that they talked about on the radio?” You asked, trying to stop crying, and Daryl shook his head. “Where’re you going then?” Maybe he had just been riding away from walkers with no destination, he’d said that his town was all infected too.

“I’m gonna find my brother.”

“Oh…okay.” You guessed that it made sense, but it sounded a bit crazy and impossible, with everything that was going on.

You didn’t know what to do yourself…you guessed you should try to go to one of those camps. You weren’t near any, though, and if everything was infested with monsters, you weren’t sure you could reach the place without being devoured, but you guessed that you couldn’t do anything but try. You got up and looked around in despair, wondering where you were, where to go, and how.

“What you gonna do?” Daryl asked harshly while you kept looking around, and you let out a hopeless sigh.

“Go to one of those camps…can you tell me where are we?” If he had a map to point it to you, it’d be so great.

“Alone?” Daryl asked and you shrugged and nodded, he could see that you were by yourself. “You got no weapons.” You shrugged again. You didn’t and you didn’t know how to use them anyway…and by the way, who was this guy who wielded a crossbow and killed monsters as if it were nothing.

“You..uh…just…get on the bike again, if you wanna,” Daryl muttered, barely audible, getting onto the bike and turning it on.

“Really?”You blinked at him.

“Yeah, I ain’t got all day, come on.”

You took a look at Daryl…he looked rough and harsh, you felt like he was trouble, he looked a bit dangerous too, in a way...he was big and strong, a bit intimidating if he might want to hurt you, but it hadn’t seemed like so, for now at least. And he was alive, such a basic thing, but now it seemed to mean everything for you. Before, you wouldn’t have gotten alone into a car with a stranger like him, but now…now you felt as if you didn’t want to be one meter away from that crossbow-wielding, rough-looking, harsh-spoken, alive stranger.

“Okay.” You nodded. “Okay, thank you.”

Daryl didn’t say anything else, just nodded courtly and awkwardly, you got situated behind him, feeling shy about holding to him now that you were not in panic.

“Where’s your brother?” You felt like this looking for his brother thing was a bit reckless and dangerous, wherever his brother was, probably it was all infected too, maybe he was dead…but sure you weren’t going to say that to Daryl and be left on your own. He was alive, while everyone else around you seemed to be dead, so right now, being with someone alive seemed to be the best thing you could get.

“He, uh…was sent to the county jail, was uh…arrested a couple of days ago …guess they never made it to the prison,” Daryl explained as the bike kicked into motion, and you held tightly to him. “But he can’t be far.”

Well…that really hadn’t sounded promising at all, and you wondered why exactly had his brother been sent to jail, but you hadn’t had much choice other than going with Daryl. Little did you know then the great decision you had made.

Now…

“He called you a bitch and almost run you over with his bike, and you got all wet? Who would have thought you were into that, darling,” Negan said and you rolled your eyes.

“In all fairness, I jumped in front of his bike.” You shrugged. “I don’t want to talk about Daryl.”

“No?” Negan smirked and you shook your head.

“Two nights with me and you already want to forget him…” Negan chuckled and you did your best not to roll your eyes. “Okay, whatever you wish, darling…then come here and put that sweet tongue to a better use.”

Abby had told you that this would feel like routine at some point, but you didn’t know when, and you couldn’t wait for it to feel like that, or in any way that it wasn’t how you felt then.

*

You had been at the Sanctuary for almost two weeks, and you had been called by Negan to sleep with him and listen to his bullshit more than a few times, but it still didn’t feel like routine and you were starting to think that it’d never do and Abby had just said that to make you feel better.

The one wife for each day of the week thing had been, indeed, bullshit. Negan would call for any of you no matter the day, though he didn’t usually had the same one in a row more than a couple of times, and most times he wasn’t content with having just one of you.

During those days, you had seen the other wives talk shit about Negan and laugh at him while you all were alone, and then, when he was there, they’d turn into the sweetest things, they’d talk to him, laugh at his jokes, boost his ego, flirt with him, anything…

You didn’t know how they did it, but it kept Negan in a good mood, and that was a good thing, an important thing, you knew it, even if you weren’t able to do that. Also, when they did their best to get Negan happy, sometimes they’d ask for things and he’d comply, whether it were stuff for them, like a book or something like that, or even stuff for the people that they had outside, a little bit more of food one day or a medical checkout without expending extra credits.

You knew you could take advantage of that too, if not for you, for your people, try to get something more for them out of this situation…but still, you couldn’t get yourself to do it. Whenever Negan called for you, you’d be annoyed and disgusted, and you didn’t bother hiding it much.

You were now watching how Noemi, sat down next to Negan in one of the sofas, was listening with rapture, or at least pretending to, to whatever Negan was telling her about his day. She laughed whenever he did one of those stupid crude jokes, throwing compliments here and there, stroking Negan’s arm or face as if he deserved the tenderness, leaned into his touches…you were honestly impressed, you still felt like punching Negan whenever he touched you. Soon, Negan was getting up, holding Noemi’s hand and taking her with him to the bedroom.

“You could do that too, you know? He’d be nicer with you and get you things.” Lila told you, and Abby too had already told you how your life would be easier and you could get more out of this if you played nice, but you hadn’t been able to get yourself to do it, so you just shrugged.

“You never told me why are you here, who are you protecting?” You asked instead.

“Nobody..well, myself.” Lila shrugged. “I have asthma, it can get pretty bad, I think I’d have suffocated by now if Negan didn’t find me my medication.”

“And in exchange, you only have to sleep with him, how nice of him.” You scoffed but Lila just shrugged.

“It’s better than suffocate.”

You rolled your eyes but didn’t say anything, instead, you poured yourself a glass of wine and busied yourself with one of the magazines that you had there. If you were trapped there, at least you planned on emptying all Negan expensive wine…petty, stupid revenge, but there wasn’t much that you could do.

Later, Noemi came back, and she made her way to Amber, who was on another sofa, drinking. “Sweetheart, Negan wants you to go now,” Noemi told her softly and Amber nodded but didn’t move. Noemi took the glass from her hand, leaving it on the table, and then tugged her up onto her feet. “Come on, go, and don’t cry again this time, okay?” Amber nodded in silence again, and made her way to Negan’s bedroom.

“He’s going to kick her out of here if she doesn’t get herself together,” Noemi said, flopping down on the sofa and taking Amber’s discarded glass of booze.

“Yeah, well, he killed his boyfriend, he should understand her crying when he makes her have sex with him,” you scoffed but Noemi just shrugged.

“He wouldn’t.”

“Yeah, no shit…”

*

So...yeah, that’s how reader and Daryl met, feral full of anger season 1 Daryl. This flashback will continue on the next chapter with their journey to find Merle.

If you enjoyed this, comments and reblogs are always more than welcome, thanks.

Also, as always, excuse my English, it’s not my first language.

IF YOUR TAG IS IN BOLD IT’S BECAUSE I CAN’T MAKE IT WORK (AS YOU KNOW i’M MAKING A NEW TAGLIST)

New taglist for Daryl, if you want to be (un)tagged please let me know.

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[pokemoncreepypasta]

HM Slave

[STORY SOURCE]

The Generation I games. Definitely not perfect games by any means, but they were fun to play.

It's a shame my old cartridge’s battery has been long since dead. Makes sense, it was a hand-me-down from an older sibling of mine. Between both of our times playing it, it was bound to die sometime.

I was feeling nostalgic and wanted to play it again after so many years...

The trouble was, I had no intention of learning how to replace the battery, or buying a new cartridge. None of that appealed to me.

So, I just took it upon myself to play it without saving. Any time I wanted to stop, I’d just plug it into my charger, and leave it be.

Everything about this run was just for nostalgia. It was nothing personal to me, so I didn't name Red after myself or something.

I wanted to play through this game without getting attached to anything.

The best way to go through without caring? A starter-only run. I chose Charmander, since it was the cover ‘mon, and also my favorite of the three. Not necessarily because it would make the game easier in the long run.

Of course, there’s no way I’d be able to get through with just Charmander.

My plan was to catch a Pokémon specifically to use as an HM slave, so my Charizard wouldn’t be clogged up by useless moves in the long run.

And what better HM slave than the one who can learn them all, right?

In Generation I, you can’t delete moves in any way, so an HM slave was absolutely necessary.

Not like I hated Mew or anything... I just never performed the Mew glitch as a kid and thought that this would be a fun opportunity to try it.

The darned thing did everything within its power to not get caught, blowing through every single one of my PokéBalls that I’d prepared to catch it with. Hey, it wasn’t like I was going to need them later, so I didn’t complain.

I decided to nickname the little thing. I’d heard the term “HM mule” thrown around in place of HM slave, so I thought it would be funny.

Of course, picking the Fire type had its rocky start, with its disadvantage against the first two gym leaders.

I managed to scrape by with scummy tactics, though.

I’d switched to my Abra that I’d caught to perform the Mew glitch, and let Misty knock it out.

After that, I switched to Mewl for the free turn, and then healed my Charmeleon. Then, after Mewl fainted, I got a free switch into Charmeleon.

When the battle was over, I could proudly claim the Cascade Badge.

This was Mewl’s secondary purpose, to be switch fodder for me to heal my starter.

Things were going fine until Mewl learned Cut.

The first instance where Mewl’s “skills” would come into play.

This was a game where you couldn’t use HMs from the overworld, so I went to the menu to manually select it.

“MEWL ignored orders...”

Now, imagine my surprise when my slave wouldn’t listen to orders. I tried a few more times, with the same result.

I attempted to rationalize it, picking my brain for a reason. I assumed that you could not use HM moves while a Pokémon was fainted, but something about that didn’t seem right.

I healed at the Pokémon Center to be safe though.

That seemed to work, so I assumed that I was right and continued to Surge.

Nothing really unusual happened during the fight, but Mewl was knocked out again for a free heal.

On my way out, I had to cut down the tree blocking Surge’s gym again. I was worried for a moment that I had gotten myself stuck, but Mewl cut it down just fine.

I figured the game would let me use HM moves if I would be trapped otherwise.

I went back to the center to heal up my starter, and my stubborn little mule.

(And Abra too, I guess.)

I caught and released a few throwaway Pokémon to obtain Flash, which I immediately taught to Mewl.

I made my way to Rock Tunnel.

”MEWL won’t obey!”

I was frustratingly met with this. It was fully healed, I couldn't understand why it was disobeying. I wondered if it was some sort of consequence from having an illegitimate Mew...

I kept trying and trying, but no matter what, it wouldn’t light the cave.

I was sure this little bugger didn’t want to wander around in the dark just as much as me, so I really couldn’t figure out what was wrong.

I tried checking its summary, to which its blank, neutral expression had changed to something more... defiant?

I didn't know what kind of sick joke Morimoto was pulling on me by programming Mew to be this way, but I wasn’t having any of it.

It dawned on me that Abra could also learn Flash, so I just let Mewl be prissy and lit up the cave with Abra.

I somewhat regretted my choice to teach Mewl Flash. If I had known it was going to act like this, I would have just taught it Fly instead…

I decided to go ahead and skip getting Fly, since Charizard couldn't learn it anyway.

Thankfully, I made it out of Rock Tunnel just fine.

Charizard made Erika’s gym a total joke, so I didn’t even need Mewl as fodder for this fight.

The whole game was going fine so far up to Fuchsia City, and I had completely forgotten about Mewl’s disobedience by now.

I had obtained its final two moves, so I booted the HMs up and slapped them onto it.

Of course, to use Surf and progress, I had to face off against Koga.

Things were going well up until Charizard couldn’t deal with Koga’s last Pokémon.

I sent in Mewl to heal my Charizard.

”Enemy WEEZING used SLUDGE!”

“MEWL ENDURED the hit!”

Strangely, when Weezing attacked Mewl, it didn’t get knocked out in one hit like it was meant to. Instead, it stayed in the field.

While I wanted to question it at the time, I just used a Hyper Potion on my Charizard to get it back to full.

”Enemy WEEZING used SMOG!” 

“MEWL ENDURED the hit!”

 Sure enough, I wasn’t dreaming. Mewl was somehow surviving all of Koga’s attacks. Normally that would be pretty cool, except for the fact that Mewl was level 7 and therefore effectively worthless in this fight.

I had to wait for it to faint to switch to Charizard, but Mewl kept surviving every hit that was thrown at it.

”Enemy WEEZING used TOXIC!”

“MEWL”s hurt by poison!”

“MEWL fainted!”

Thankfully, it eventually became poisoned and went down, so I could send in Charizard to finish the job.

I made quick work of Koga and his Weezing after that and made my way out of the Gym.

But weirdly, as I was leaving, I couldn’t help but notice the screen flashing as if a Pokémon in my party was still poisoned.

I checked my party again to see what was up.

It seemed like Mew had a custom sprite for being knocked out that I never noticed before. I didn't even know if that was a thing.

But it was definitely knocked out, for sure, so I brushed it off as some sort of bug.

I figured if anything would fix the poison glitch, it’d be healing at the Pokémon Center.

”If you drive your POKéMON too hard, they’ll dislike you.”  

”Please take better care of your POKéMON.” 

 I was confused at this text. Was this dialogue hidden for players like me who let their Pokémon faint over and over? Whatever it is, I have never seen it before.

”We hope to see you again!” 

The nurse went back to her chipper disposition afterwards though, so I figured I should just be on my merry way as well.

I checked up on Mewl to see how it was doing now.

It seemed like the nurse just haphazardly patched it up. Mewl’s expression still looked tense, but I hoped that didn’t mean it wouldn’t use its new HM moves.

I made a quick note to take down Giovanni at Silph Co. and Sabrina. My Charizard was actually getting a bit over-leveled, so I swept through without needing to use Mewl to heal during battles at all.

I decided that on my way to Blaine, I would fall back on my training a bit.

I back-tracked over to Fuchsia City since it was faster than going all the way back to Pallet Town.

I made my way down by the Fuchsia coast and hoped quietly that Mewl would let me Surf to Cinnabar.

Thankfully it seemed like the 1’4 cat was perfectly fine with me riding on its back, with no defiance at all. I felt confident, like I was finally getting enough gym badges to make it obey.

I'd even gotten it to listen when I needed it to use Strength in the Seafoam Islands. Things were really looking up.

I’d finally hit land and was ready to storm the Cinnabar Mansion and claim Blaine’s badge.

I was feeling pretty confident with my Charizard’s HP and level that I wanted to take on the Gym without healing at the Pokémon Center.

I had plenty of Potions and Revives in case of emergency, anyway.

All of the quiz questions were normal, except... This bizarre one. 

“You treat all your POKéMON fairly?”

Though it had been several years since I played this game, something felt off about it, like it wasn’t supposed to be there.

I half-heartedly answered yes, despite knowing it was untrue. My logic was, at the very least, that even though I as a player didn’t care about these Pokémon, maybe Red did.

”Sorry! Bad call!”

The buzzer went off and I was harassed by a trainer. I was appalled... Was the game really criticizing me as a player?

Had I hit some sort of secret flag after making Mewl faint so much? I couldn't understand what was happening.

I didn’t give myself much time to think about it though, so I healed up my Charizard with some Potions and took on Blaine.

Charizard had fainted again, so I left it up to Mewl.

I healed up my Charizard and expected Mewl to hang on like before, but it just went down with no resistance.

With my seventh gym badge in hand, I was pretty happy with my run so far. A couple more hours in and I’d be done, I thought.

I was ready to Surf north towards Pallet Town and claim my eighth and final badge.

“MEWL ignored orders!”

But I received a friendly reminder.

I had forgotten that Mewl didn’t like using HMs without being healed. I really didn’t feel like taking it to the Pokémon Center though, so I just carelessly threw a Revive at it.

Hoping that the Revive would be good enough to satisfy it and let me ride on it again, I mashed through text a few times to see if I could brute-force it to listen.

”MEWL won’t obey!”

”MEWL turned away!”

It kept bombarding me with the same defiant messages over and over, until...

“MEWL hates you.”

I was caught off-guard. This text didn’t have the same energy as the others, lacking an exclamation point. It sounded like flat, cold, genuine hatred.

I pressed A again, and attempted to order another Surf. Not necessarily because I wanted it to Surf now, but more out of a morbid fascination with such intense text.

“MEWL used instead, FLASH!”

Suddenly, like in a battle, the screen lit up totally white.

I was booted out of the party screen afterwards, and immediately noticed a distinct lack of an items menu. Had Mewl taken it from me?

Closing out of the menu, I spoke to the Pokémon now standing next to me, knowing exactly who it was supposed to be.

”Mew!”

Mew’s cry played. I already knew it.

“MEWL hacked away with CUT!”

I flinched, horrified at the thought of Mewl directly attacking my trainer.

”HM01 was destroyed!”

But then I realized, it wasn't that...

”HM03 was destroyed!” 

 Instead, Mewl had stolen my items...

”HM04 was destroyed!” 

 … And was proceeding to destroy each of my HMs, one by one.

”HM05 was destroyed!” 

 After destroying HM05, Mewl’s sprite disappeared; presumably back into its PokéBall.

I was exasperated, but quick on my wits.

I still had Fuchsia City's Pokémon Center as my last saved location, meaning I could use Abra to Teleport back to the mainland.

I was smug, thinking I'd found a loophole around Mewl's attempts to sabotage me.

”ABRA used TELEPORT!”

“ABRA ran away!”

I panicked, to say the least. I frantically scrolled around my party page. How could Abra have disappeared like that? I wasn't going to accept Mewl being my only ride back to Pallet, it was impossible.

I desperately went to the PC inside the Pokémon Center, in some vain hope that maybe Abra had just been sent there somehow.

”MEWL used STRENGTH.”

“The PC was destroyed!”

I couldn't believe it.

Mewl had gone full rogue.

I suddenly had to come to grips with the horrifying realization...

I was trapped in Cinnabar with no way off.

I went through what I can only describe as the five stages of grief.

Stage 1 - Denial

I scoured the internet for any other Pokémon in Cinnabar Mansion that I could use to escape the island.

I quickly remembered that Mewl had already destroyed my HMs and stolen my items, and realized I couldn’t catch anything.

But I did have one more plan.

If I could knock out Charizard and Mewl, I could be sent back to Fuchsia. It would take a bit of work for Charizard to eventually faint, but I was prepared to try anything.

”CHARIZARD ran away!”

But I couldn’t be prepared for my Charizard running away.

I was so shocked that I didn’t even want to send in Mewl, I just said no and fled the battle.

I fell into absolute despair. Mewl had not only ruined my chance of getting off the island, but now, even if I did, what would I do without the only Pokémon I’d been raising?

Stage 2 - Anger

I’d never thought malicious thoughts about this Mew before, just casual indifference and sometimes mild frustration. But I can’t say that I didn’t want some payback towards this Mew for wasting several perfectly good hours of my life.

I sadistically thought about how I would make it faint, and then how I would torture it over, and over, making it repeatedly faint until maybe it would measure up to Charizard’s strength.

“MEWL ENDURED the hit!” 

I couldn't stop myself from shouting "NO."

Despite Mewl’s apparent injuries, it hung on with one HP.

Again, and again, no matter what I did. No matter what Pokémon I faced.

It seemed like nothing could poison it, burn it, kill it.

Then, it dawned on me…

Maybe this was what Mewl wanted all along?

Stage 3 - Bargaining

Mewl’s stubbornness and special ability that made it unable to faint...

It took Mewl a long time to faint its first real opponent, due to its low level, but in the end, it grew.

I checked Mewl’s summary for some sort of sign, anything at all, that this was what I was supposed to be doing. It stared at me with its vacant, unreadable expression...

Perhaps it was shocked I had battled with it? Whatever the case, it wasn’t staring at me with hostility anymore...

So it was silently agreed between us, then. Mewl and I, we did our first ever grinding session.

It took a few hours, but Mewl’s level was growing steadily. Things seemed to be going well, until...

We ran into our first wild Ditto.

I thought it was strange, having not found a Ditto for all this time I'd spent in Cinnabar Mansion, but I didn’t see any trouble with fighting it, so I just let the battle progress.

Stage 4 - Depression

The Ditto transformed into Mewl, who appeared to have a sad expression on its face.

I quickly pulled out of the battle screen and into my party to see if something had changed with Mewl.

I checked to see Mewl, who had that same sad expression as the Ditto. Its status had changed from "OK" to a worrying "...".

I knew something was wrong, so I fled from that battle and every battle afterwards.

Though I had avoided it before on hopes of somehow escaping to Fuchsia City, I gave it all up to heal Mewl, who had risked life and limb to impress me.

After it was healed, I checked its summary again.

Though it had fully healed, it still had that depressed look in its eyes. I couldn’t understand want it wanted. I didn’t know what it needed.

But I realized that it was getting pretty late, and I wanted to get to sleep soon. I would have to leave the game on, and leave Mewl behind.

That was when it hit me.

Could it be possible that Mewl knew I hadn’t saved? Did Mewl somehow understand that no matter if I saved or didn’t save, it would disappear when I turned the game off?

I hadn’t really thought about it until now, but Mewl was more special than any other Pokémon I’d ever played with.

And if I turned the game off, it would disappear forever.

I didn’t know how to feel about that.

I went out of the Pokémon Center to reflect about this with Mewl.

I still wanted to finish the adventure with it, if it would let me.

Stage 5 - Acceptance

“MEWL doesn’t want to go.”

That was okay, I thought.

I realized that even if I went with Mewl to the Pokémon League, and won, then the game would return to the title screen and not save my progress.

Maybe Mewl understood that, too.

So then we were at an impasse, together on Cinnabar Island.

I didn’t know what to do. Even if this Mew was special, even if I genuinely believed it was real, I couldn’t just keep my GameBoy on forever. What would anyone else think?

I decided that for the first time in this entire run, I wanted to save my game. I didn't want to turn it off just yet, but at least save, as some sort of precautionary measure.

I hoped, that in the event the GameBoy turned off for whatever reason, a miracle would occur.

”Would you like to SAVE your MEW?”

It seemed that the game knew exactly what my heart wanted, and I selected yes.

Then, all of a sudden, my game turned off. Not due to low battery or anything, but it just turned off.

I panicked for a moment, and quickly switched the game back on.

It was gone. The save file was gone.

Or, rather, it was never there to begin with.

#Pokemon Creepypasta #Pokepasta #Mew #HM Slave

[agent-bumblebee]

With 2021 ending, here are a ton of movies that I forgot to review cuz I am lazy and busy:

Free Guy:

Genuinely surprised, this movie was just a butt load of fun, the acting was good, it had a simple and easy to understand story, and overall was just a really fun movie.

Granted there were some jokes that don’t land, but overall still find it fun.

7.5/10

Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings:

This movie got me hyped, mainly because of how different it was going to be, and lets just say it didn’t disappoint.

Let’s start with the obvious one, the action is very nice, truly a nice change of pace from your typical MCU action.

They really went for a more Jackie Chan/ Bruce Lee kind of action, which I did appreciate.

But aside from the action, the characters were well developed and interesting, especially the main villain, this movie has a killer soundtrack, and overall was really good and fun.

Definitely one of the more better MCU solo films out there since Guardians Of The Galaxy.

9/10

Venom: Let There Be Carnage:

Now, when I first saw Venom like 3 years ago, I thought it was alright, it had it’s ups and it’s downs, but still thought it was alright.

As for it’s sequel…. Let’s just say that my thoughts on the first Venom didn’t change.

Again, this films had it’s ups and it’s downs.

First, it did improve everything about the first film, though in a much lesser sense, like some of the character interactions (mostly with Eddie Brock and Venom) were somewhat better than before (even if I thought it was also good in the first movie), and I like Woody Harrelson’s role as Cletus Cassidy A.K.A. Carnage, plus some of the action was nice, and pretty wild (such as the final battle) and that’s it.

But there were some issues, like Carnage’s origin was a bit weird, and just felt strange, some of the dialogue was also a bit weird, like some of the jokes, and also there were some moments were the acting were kinda cringe, but that’s pretty much it.

Overall, it was alright, not bad, but not good either.

5/10

The Matrix Resurrections:

Now before I had to watch the movie, I had to watch the OG trilogy, since while I do know about The Matrix, I don’t know that much about it’s lore, and some of the characters (well not the main ones, just some of the secondary ones).

And when I finally watched it, well much like what I thought with Venom 2, I thought it was alright.

Again not bad, but not good either.

First of all, it was nice to see a ton of comebacks and references to the OG trilogy, even if there were some changes, both Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss nailed it as both Neo and Trinity, I thought some of the changes I thought was interesting, and speaking of comebacks, it was nice to see a bunch of old characters return (like Niobe, The Merovingian, and Sati from Revolutions).

But that doesn’t come with a ton of issues:

For instance, the new Morpheus and Agent Smith are again a really good concept, but it felt unnecessary, and they could have just swapped them out, like maybe create a bunch of new characters, like what you did with characters like The Analyst, or Bugs.

Like I understand why they want to do it, but it felt so unnecessary.

And while the callbacks and references are appreciated, it does come at a cost when your bringing back a franchise that hasn’t been alive since 2003.

Much like what Space Jam 2 did, the references just felt forced and they pretty much tell that “Hey remember when this or this or this happened”

Like yea it was nice to see clips from the previous films, but you at least gotta keep it authentic with it.

Also the ending just felt incomplete, like I wasn’t satisfied, I was just left with a sense of: “oh… ok then.”

While yes it was pretty sweet that Neo and Trinity reunited, but it felt just weird and a little bit rushed, it could have been better and more emotional in my opinion.

Overall, the movie itself was just alright, and it honestly could have been worse.

5/10

Spider-Man: No Way Home (SPOILERS):

And to cap off the year, I got to watch No Way Home, and let’s just say, it was everything I ever wanted.

Obviously if you haven’t seen it yet, it will have a ton, and I mean A TON of spoilers, so I urge you to see it if you haven’t.

But for those who have…. Let’s keep on going.

First and foremost, I love the throwbacks and references from the previous Spider-Man movies, which while what I did say for both Space Jam 2 and Matrix Resurrections (earlier) would have been contradicting, here it felt authentic and doesn’t disrupt the flow of the whole story.

It doesn’t just constantly remind you that “Hey remember when this happened?” But instead it felt like it was apart of the movie, and just doesn’t feel out of place.

The villains were probably handled well as well, each of them had pretty good reasons, and were not just there to be either overshadowed or to have a minimal amount of screen time, instead their presence felt perfectly balanced and not too distracting.

And speaking of which, I guess it’s to talk about the biggest part of the whole movie……

Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man’s appearance.

Which had me shrieking like a little girl, and had me clapping, as well as everyone in the theater.

And man, was it nice to see them again, they were all great, and seeing all three of the Spider-people come together in one movie.

But besides all that, there is one thing I do wanna talk about with this movie, and that is how the entire movie felt like a huge rollercoaster to me.

The movie felt like it was stabbing me through the heart, it had a ton of emotion and heart in it.

Like we see some really emotional scenes, such as the death of Aunt May, when I saw that, I was just trying not to cry because, man it felt like I was speared in the heart.

On top of that there is this really inspirational and somewhat emotional scene, of both Tobey Magyars and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man, talking to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man about how it sucks to lose someone you love.

And the ending…. MY GOD THE ENDING WAS SOOOOO PAINFUL THAT MY HEART FELT LIKE IT WAS JUST SHATTERED INTO PIECES.

I’d never thought I would get that much emotional in a Spider-Man movie since TASM 2.

Overall this movie was amazing, and made my heart shatter to a million broken pieces.

9.5/10

And with that, those are my reviews of the movies that I had watched this year.

And let’s just say, it was a fun ride.

Getting to see some good movies was fun, but there were some that were ok, or not that good.

It was a busy year, and I hope 2022 has some pretty good movies to.

Happy New Year!

#movie review #free guy #shang chi #marvel #the matrix #the matrix resurrections #venom let there be carnage #venom 2 #sony marvel #mcu #spider man no way home #spider man #mcu spiderman

[wisteria-lodge]

a lion bird

Hi! I’m a lion primary with a bird model, and if you’re interested I’d really love some help figuring out my secondary. I’m also an INFJ (curious to see if the lion primary/badger secondary pattern actually holds!)

oh you like patterns do you? Pretty birdy, that.

 It’s bugging me a bit that I can’t get a good intuitive sense of what fits right.

There’s that Lion primary.

I’m not sure if I’m a planned or improvisational secondary, since I’m not great when something doesn’t go as expected.

That is the definition of ‘planned,’ yes. 

But for a lot of things I’m very “get to intermediary step of a goal and then figure it out”. 

Sounds out like you plan the first half, see how that goes. And then plan the second half. Yes? 

The toolset I’d use is very situational, but if I’m stuck on a problem, I keep trying different things until something works. If I’m doing something new, I like to watch examples or see other people do it first and then take it and keep trying until I figure out how to do it for myself. 

This is all super, super Bird secondary language.

Ive often been the person to go to if there’s something that needs doing that no one wants to do and I’m usually a hard worker, but I don’t think I’m methodical enough to be a badger. I tend to bounce around the more interesting or easier bits of a problem first and then come back to the rest of it. 

Bird secondaries can kind of be madmen. It’s the Bird models who tend to be a little more down-to-earth. I’m really feeling Bird secondary for you here. 

I value integrity and hate cheating on something, especially in an academic setting, but shortcuts that are still ethical are great as long as they’re still effective. I’m definitely a fan of “work smarter not harder”. 

Bird. 

I like learning interesting or useful things, but I don’t think I’m consistent enough  to be a bird secondary. 

Consistency is more a Badger thing, honestly.

I do a lot more picking up the useful bits that I need as I go than using usefulness as an excuse to learn. And if I’m interested in something, I don’t need use as an excuse to learn or do it. 

I don’t think I could come up with a better description of a bird secondary. 

I can also be pretty blunt, especially around people I’m comfortable with or close to, and I’m a bad liar. I’ve been told by my friends I’m someone they go to for a truly honest opinion. If I’m not watching myself, I think this can sometimes come across as mean, so I try to phrase things in a more positive way, or just say the more positive or good things that I’m seeing, but it’s still honest, just saying what’s better to be said or heard in the situation. 

This is general enough to apply to any of the secondaries. I’m not hearing “I hate lying” or “people can think I’m mean, so long as they also think I’m honest,” which would be more Lion-y ways of getting that point across. 

One of the harder questions for me to answer on the quiz is the one about behaving differently in different groups. It doesn’t feel like I’m consciously pulling on another face, but yeah I act differently in different situations because that’s kind of how life works? But it feels more like turning different faces of an object toward the light, they’re all still solidly me. 

Everybody changes to fit into different social situations (Lion secondaries just don’t like it very much.) The question is, how do you parse that behavior? A Badger is going to think of terms of “reading the room,” a Snake is going to think of having a lot of “faces,” and a Bird… I think Bird secondaries are more about social roles. These are the rules, this is how I am expected to act in this situation, these are the parts of me that are most appropriate in this setting. It is still situational, it does require that you are familiar with the setting, otherwise your code-switching isn’t going to work that well. 

Anyway, I know this is a long ramble so I’ll stop now. Thanks for “sorting” through it, if you’ll forgive the pun!

#sortinghatchats #bird secondary #sort me #wisteria sorts #bird secondary testimony #submission

[welllpthisishappening]

21 for the kiss prompts. because I am me LOL

Alright, so, full disclosure, this is not CS fic. I was going to write CS fic for this. i was! I had this vaguely angsty Emma gets hurt and Killian loses his mind thing happening, but then—I didn’t write that. Instead, here’s Will Scarlet gets hurt and Belle French loses her mind and it’s hockey. It’s 2,000 words! I don’t know how that happened. Anyway, the prompt here was “bloody kiss” and I love Will Scarlet with the force of a thousand suns. If you guys want to send more kiss prompts, I’m still waiting for people to respond to my emails.

“You’re mad.”

“Your powers of deduction are truly unparalleled. What gave me away, exactly?”

Will bit his lower lip. Let his teeth dig down until he tasted blood and, well—more blood, he supposed. Six stitches later, though, and there wasn’t much blood left on his face, just a pair of narrow eyes doing their best to glare a hole through his cranium and he didn’t think that was entirely possible. 

Biology had never been his strong suit, really. Unless you counted hauling off and punching some rat-faced bastard on the Caps who couldn’t keep his goddamn mouth shut about a possible offsides that had maybe happened two periods before and they’d been winning and it was fine. Totally fine. This was his job. Punching and bruising up assholes. Just a little bit, to remind them who they were playing and what was on the line and—

It was entirely possible Belle’s eyes were not entirely human. 

His face flushed. Heat raced through either one of his cheeks, threatening what he could only assume was the structural integrity of his own eyes because Will couldn’t remember when he’d decided to widen them, exactly. Just that they were starting to dry out a little bit and Ariel was going to kill him. 

She’d made that very clear post-game. 

There might be a two-person line to wreak havoc, now. 

“You get this little pinch between your eyebrows,” Will said, leaning forward until the top of his head nearly hit the bottom of her chin, “makes it easy to tell.”

Belle huffed. Crossed her arms. Nearly punched him in the face, which would have been something close to the peak of irony at this point, and then maybe Ariel wouldn’t threaten to kill him again. No, that was wishful thinking. 

It’d be a miracle if they were allowed uptown later. Ariel had probably sent out an APB, or whatever the culinary equivalent of that was. No admittance until the blood had dried off his forehead and he laid prostrate at her feet, begging forgiveness for the error of his ways. 

Like hell, he would.

This was his job. He was the—

Fuck, maybe he was a goon. He hadn’t scored in a while. Not even a secondary assist, or anything. Skating at the edge of the blue line on a fledgling power play did not an All-Star make, and, well, now that he thought about it, maybe Will had started jawing first. There were mumbled insults, at least. 

From him, specifically. More than once, actually. 

“I don’t think you’re supposed to be back here, y’know.”

The pinch got—

Pinchier. Deeper. Like a tiny, little crevice between what Will was starting to realize were meticulously cared-for eyebrows and maybe he should get a CT scan or an MRI or something because it had taken him this long to notice she was also wearing his jersey. Too-long sleeves grazed the slight bend of her knuckles, looking as if she was actively stopping herself from fisting her hands at her side and that thought wasn’t supposed to make him smile. 

Still. 

Will’s lips tugged up. His eyes thinned. Nose crinkled ever so slightly. Something that had been growing increasingly familiar in the last few months of the season jumped between his ribs, like little flutters of wholly imaginary wings, and she kept wearing his jersey. Kept coming to games, and that was good because they’d gotten past the labels and expectations, all of which were sky-high on the NHL’s most romance-prone hockey team. 

God, maybe he wasn’t just a goon. Maybe he was a complete and total asshole. 

“This is Cap’s fault,” Will announced, and he’d been ready for the pinch. He was less prepared for those eyebrows he was starting to become a tad obsessed with to soar up Belle’s forehead, past the swoop of bangs that regularly messed with his cognizant reasoning. 

She scoffed. “Are you fucking with me?”

“No, but maybe when we get back to—”

“I will kick you in the shins, Scarlet, I swear to every God you can think of.”

He tried not to deflate. Really, he did. But his name seemed to crack out of her, punching the bridge of his nose like Belle had actually pulled her right arm back and her scoff was more like an exhale that time. That had never happened. 

Even before. Before the labels and the attempts at setting up Killian and watching that entire season and how often he stared longing at Emma, before Regina and Locksley continued to be parents extraordinaire and the jealousy started to eat away at him. Slowly, but surely and he never talked about that, but he figured she knew because Belle knew everything and—

“Bet you twenty bucks you could name more gods than I could.”

Another sigh. A tilt of her head. It made her bangs shift. He wasn’t sure what was happening in his chest. Expanding and contracting, a painful rhythm that hurt way more than the stitches or the shitty metaphors and he was glad she’d snuck into the locker room. Will didn’t want her anywhere else. 

Naming conventions, aside. 

“I’m sorry—” “—I love you.”

He almost fell over. Impressive, since Will was still sitting down and his feet didn’t entirely reach the floor from that position. His jaw dropped. He hated that. Partially because it hurt and mostly because he should have been way cooler, wanted to be way cooler, but there were dots of red on his girlfriend’s cheeks and teeth digging into her lower lip, now, and he resolutely ignored the ache in his calves when he slid back to his feet. 

Curling an arm around her waist, he didn’t think much about the precise way he yanked her. Forward. Directly into his chest and that didn’t leave much room to bend his knees, but Will was less concerned with specifics and the staging of this than actually getting to the good part. 

The kissing part. 

Plus, Belle pushed up on her toes. So, that helped. 

He groaned. Loudly, like embarrassingly loud. As soon as her head tilted and he could get his mouth on hers and they were all hands and lips and whatever she was doing with her tongue, tracing the lip he’d been so intent on biting through just a few moments before. Bending his knees did give Will some more leverage. To pull her even closer, moving his arm and ignoring her soft protests. 

Most of them died when he managed to get a hand under her left thigh. 

She groaned. Something to be said about symmetry, Will assumed. Although he also didn’t really...care. About the saying, mostly. Not when he was melting and falling, dropping into the deep end of a pool that was a shock to his system and the best thing that had ever happened to him and she was the best thing that had ever happened to him. Bar none. 

Especially when she did that tongue thing. 

Closing his eyes, he knew he had to tilt his head. Had to breathe and stay conscious and he didn’t want to think about the medical requirements of a professional hockey player at a time like that, but he knew consistent awareness of his surroundings was probably fairly important and the roar of triumph blaring through his brain made that a little difficult. Breathing would have to be enough for now. 

“I can’t—” Belle’s shoulders heaved. Fingers dragged across the back of Will’s neck and he had to admit he was fairly impressed with her balance. Her right foot wasn’t on the ground. “Shit, I—” He pulled her lip between his teeth, tried to memorize the next hitch of her breath and he was about five-point two-three seconds away from losing his mind. Rocking his hips up was a very bad idea. He did it anyway. “Babe, I can’t think when you do that.”

Everything was spinning. He was spinning. No, that wasn’t true. He wasn’t spinning. He was standing and touching and there was barely any color left in Belle’s eyes. 

Pride prickled at the back of Will’s brain. Until pain joined the fray, making a glorious and unwelcome return at the precise moment he realized there was moisture on his cheek again. Warm and red and Ariel was going to kill him. 

“Cap and Emma were making out in the hallway,” Will explained, “pre-game. Nothing they don’t normally do, and I don’t even think they knew I was there.”

“Is any of this supposed to make me feel better?”

He nodded. “I love you, too. Like it’s ridiculous how in love with you I am.”

Silence. As much as there could be in a locker room, at least. Water fell from shower heads a few hundred feet away, the low murmur of questions and Lucas-approved answers, squeaking sneakers and clacking heels, and the familiar sound of wheels rolling across linoleum as the equipment hampers moved down the hall. 

Will took a deep breath. 

Slowly, through his nose. Keeping the nerves off his face was harder than he expected, and even more ridiculous than whatever he’d just proclaimed because Belle had proclaimed first and it was entirely possible they were both colossal idiots. That put them on even ground, though. 

He appreciated that. 

“Why were you mad, ma moitié?”

There was the pinch, again. “Why do you think?” Will shook his head, brushing hair away from her eyes and he knew he didn’t imagine that sigh, either. Softer. More content. All that previous even ground. “Because I—” Belle started, and the color hadn’t left her face yet. “I know you think you’ve got to be this guy. Out there defending, not just the goal but the people and that’s...I’m super into that.”

“But?”

“But it makes me so nervous, I could spit.’

Will genuinely had no idea what noise he made. It might not have been human, really. Tearing out of his throat, his eyes bugged and he bent over without really meaning to, forehead finding Belle’s shoulder like that was the only reasonable landing place. He was still bleeding. Or bleeding again, whatever. 

“Say that again,” he mumbled. Into her jersey. His jersey. Whatever, part two. 

“Spit,” she repeated, making sure to enunciate every letter, “because I know you can hold your own in a fight, and that’s how you think you make a difference on this team, but—”

“It is that’s why.”

“Was my shin-kicking threat not threatening?”

He kissed exactly where his lips were. “Not really, no.”

“‘Cuz I’ll totally do it, I swear. To all those gods and goddesses and then they’ll descend from on high and tell you that they also think you’re an idiot who should know that letting some rat on the ice get under your skin is exactly what they’re trying to do. Plus, it’s way better when you check them, y’know?”

Lifting his head didn’t hurt. Made him a little nervous, anxiety churning his gut and this was not the way Will thought this would happen. Maybe he could get Belle to kick Killian too. For the making out. And the unspoken frustration. He was definitely an idiot. “Is it just?”

“Don’t make me say it.”

“Don’t have to. You’re very easy to read.”

Belle lifted her eyebrows. More. “That so?’

“You think it’s super attractive when I check another dude.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Didn’t have to. Also, I love you.”

“You mentioned that before, yeah.”

“And I am sorry for freaking you out.” Sigh number three wasn’t quite as resigned as the others, but it still left guilt rising in the back of Will’s throat and every single inch of him froze. As soon as Belle leaned around him, grabbed a far-too-large handful of gauze and started wiping blood off his cheek. “That’s way too much, babe.”

“Ariel can deal.”

“Ya gonna kick her too?”

“I’ll consider it,” Belle mumbled, back on both feet again. For, like, two seconds. Before she pushed back up on her toes, kissed the corner of Will's mouth, and added, “Don’t do that to me again, ok?”

“Aye, aye, Cap.”

He had much better reflexes than her. Pulling her back to his side before either one of her shoes could land a blow was easy and bordering almost close to joyful and that was a strange thing for him to be, but it was also easy and somehow even more simple and Ariel let them into the restaurant that night. They stayed for all of fifteen minutes. 

And Will told Belle he loved her once every five minutes on the cab ride back to his apartment. 

He timed it, and everything. Just to make sure the color stayed in her cheeks.

#kiss prompts #blue line one shots #WILL AND BELLE SUPREMACY #this was becuase the rangers won last night and i was feeling hockey-prone #so it's really the rangers fault #optomisticgirl #laura rambles

[punksarahreese]

I haven't had another episode, except last night was touch and go + Mr Crockett

Episode | Crockett Marcel

Excerpt from a psych!AU I’ll never write; Crockett is an inpatient in the psych ward and he has therapy with his favourite Psychiatrist

Prompt: “I haven’t had another episode, except last night was touch and go.”

Word count: 1797

CW: Psych ward, talks of depressive episodes, brief mention of dermatillomania, schizoaffective disorder, child death

***

“Mr. Marcel?” the voice at his door made Crockett groan, recognizing the voice as the nurse who always disturbed him at ridiculous hours. He wanted to have a talk with whoever decided pill time would be at six in the morning, how was he supposed to “heal” if they never let him get any sleep?

“Maggie, can’t you let me sleep for another hour,” he rolled over and sighed when she shook her head. Medication and vitals were a morning routine, every day before the sun even thought about rising completely. Routine was good, they told him, a routine would help with figuring out what was reality and what was his mind playing tricks. He didn’t think so, nothing would stop the fact that he saw his daughter clear as day despite the 5th anniversary of her death steadily approaching.

“Up and at ‘em, mister,” the nurse mused as she marched over with his tray and the cart carrying the monitors. He obliged because he had no choice but to do so, even though he hated the way the pills made him feel. Antipsychotics were something Crockett hated, ever since his diagnosis back when he was just twenty-one. They made him feel incorrect, as if he was floating through life with blinders on. He knew they were supposed to help, to show him what was really there, but he couldn’t help but think it made him more miserable.

“You have one-on-one therapy today,” she reminded him as she watched Crockett take his pills and then checked under his tongue to ensure he wasn’t hiding them. He had tried that a couple times and sometimes it worked on the younger nurses, but not Maggie. She knew all, especially these kinds of tricks, and Crockett wasn’t about to risk mandatory IV medications for another month just for one day without the drugs.

“Oh lovely,” he muttered, “Not that Charles guy again, right? He’s insufferable.”

Maggie laughed, “Oh please, Daniel is just fine.”

“Insufferable,” he restated with an eye-roll, still complying when she held out the pulse oximeter to clip it to his fingertip. Maggie just hummed, watching the machine for a moment before speaking.

“I’ll pretend you didn’t say that. If it makes it any better, though, you’ll be seeing Doctor Reese today.”

That brought a smile to his face, though it was one that never quite reached his eyes. Maggie wasn’t sure if she had ever seen a genuine smile from Crockett, certainly not since Harper’s death and the worsening of his illness. Still, if one thing made his days more bearable it was sessions with Doctor Reese, who Crockett had started to consider more of a friend than a physician by that point.

“Our Sarah,” he hummed as she took the device off his hand, “She’s lovely.”

“She is,” the nurse agreed, “Now go get ready for the day, Crockett. You’ll be expected in the dining hall by 7:00 and I certainly won't have you slumming around in your pyjamas all day; you know the drill.”

***

By noon, Crockett was ready to go back to bed. Breakfast had been as dull as always, with his friend Ava in solitary for the next two days he didn’t have many people to speak to. Well, Natalie liked to talk to him but, if he was being honest, she could be a little much. She was just excited, Maggie insisted, but she tried to get Crockett to talk about his hallucinations far too often for him to be comfortable.

Jimmy sat with him that day, though. He didn’t talk much, or ever really, but he was decent company. They played cards together sometimes and always partnered for the team-building exercises in group therapy. Crockett didn’t press for verbal communication and Jimmy never judged him for his episodes; it was a friendship built on silent respect and they were both pleased with that arrangement. Still, Crockett often preferred to be alone, and that day was no different, so he retreated to his bedroom the second they allowed him to.

When nurse April arrived at his door with her tablet in hand, Crockett had been staring blankly at the TV. It wasn’t on, never was, but he watched it as if the most riveting program was playing. He wasn’t focusing on a delusion, though, and he promised April that when she asked if he was okay. The meds got rid of most of his visual symptoms, though the auditory ones were still a frequent occurrence with or without the drugs. He just liked to look at the TV, letting his mind wander to a time where he could actually enjoy television. It had been about five years by then, the last movie he remembered watching being the Princess and the Frog. Harper had loved that movie and talked excitedly of visiting New Orleans to see where her papa and Princess Tiana were both from. She never got there, unfortunately; the cancer taking her before her dad had the time to buy plane tickets.

“Come now, Crockett. Sarah is waiting in the conference room for you.”

He let the nurse lead him down the hall, silent because his head was still miles away. He was alert and lucid, that wasn’t the problem. Today it wasn’t delusions that plagued Crockett, instead it was the memories that had started to hurt him the most. Sarah would ask about that, especially once she saw the semi-lunar marks along the inside of his wrists, turning to scratches that curled up towards his biceps. Maggie hadn’t seen them because of his long sleeve shirt that morning but Sarah would check, she always did. It’s not as though Crockett did it on purpose, but when he couldn’t sleep at night and his skin was crawling all he could do was dig his nails in and pray for it to stop. The bugs weren’t there, Sarah always said they weren’t real, but his skin felt wrong and nothing would stop it. He had to scratch, he would tell her; it was the only way to make it stop.

“Crockett,” she greeted him cheerfully the second he stepped into the room, “Have a seat.”

“Hello, Sarah,” he replied as kindly as he could, though he was a bit distracted. His mood had been pretty low all morning, which was probably evident in his posture and demeanour.

“How have you been doing?

Crockett just shrugged, occupying himself with studying Sarah’s name badge. She had gotten a new one, the piece of plastic now boasting “psychiatry fellow”. She had been his secondary therapist since she was just in her second year of residency, so it was nice to see her climbing the ranks. It was well deserved, of course; Sarah had been the one constant in his most recent stay that kept Crockett relatively sane.

“Crockett?”

“Fine, I guess,” he muttered, “I haven’t had another episode… except last night was touch and go.”

“How so?” She was always so patient, not pushing too much, but she did need answers. If he was still having episodes on his antipsychotics, they may need to adjust the dosage again. He hoped she wouldn’t, though, because he hated the constant brain fog that came along with high dosing.

“A low, again.” he was fidgeting with his sleeve, not able to make eye contact at that point. His depression was a topic he never liked to discuss, since it was an aspect of his disorder he hadn’t been aware of until after Harper. Before it was just schizophrenia, a diagnosis that came about after a paranoia episode landed him in handcuffs in the security office at his university. However, when he hit a major low after Harper’s leukaemia was found, his primary psychiatrist noted that his diagnosis may be more than they expected. Schizoaffective disorder with the depression variant, he was told, and that was probably a factor in why he didn’t respond to the medications in the beginning.

“I see,” Sarah typed something onto his chart before looking up at him with gentle eyes, “Do you want to share how you felt?”

“I miss her,” he admitted softly, “It’s hard.”

“I know, I’m genuinely sorry, Crockett. Harper must have been so loved, I’m sure she misses you.”

“The meds…” Crockett huffed, “I can’t see her anymore.”

“Crockett, she’s not there,” Sarah’s words were gentle but still firm, as if he needed a reminder that his only daughter was dead before she even got to live a proper life. That reality was something that never left his mind, a nagging feeling that haunted him every single day. Meds or not, it was hard, but without seeing Harper daily, Crockett began to feel like he would forget her.

“Sarah, I need to see her.”

“I can’t do that, you know how unsafe it can be to take you off such a high dosage. I know you are upset but we can talk through this, okay?”

“No!” he was getting frustrated, even though he hated to yell at Sarah. She didn’t understand how important this was. He didn’t care if she was dead and she claimed the delusions weren’t real, he just wanted his daughter back. Even if it wasn’t the proper reality, maybe Crockett didn’t want to live in one without Harper. He told Sarah that much, upset that she would claim that she isn’t there anymore. She is always there; sitting on his bed and playing with her stuffed bunny, singing songs from those Disney shows she adored so much. Crockett saw her, held her close when the bad feelings returned and he felt like he was drowning. His baby would never leave him, she couldn't; Harper was all he had left.

“Hey,” Sarah spoke quickly when she recognized his agitation, “I’m sorry. Tell Harper I didn’t mean any harm, next time she’s around, okay? Can we start over, please?”

He frowned, knowing what she was doing, but nodded all the same. He didn’t want to fight with Sarah, she was one of the only staff members around here that he properly trusted. She didn’t want to upset him and she didn’t want to take his daughter away, it was just hard to recognize that sometimes. She wanted to help, to understand his mind, and maybe it was time for Crockett to let someone in again. It had been far too long.

“Start from the beginning,” she prompted as he slowly relaxed again, “How long ago did this low start?”

#q #I wrote this in record time after having a whole mental break down today <3 #can you tell I’m not okay #goodbye friends i am gone #crockett marcel #harper marcel #sarah reese #maggie lockwood #april sexton #asks #anon #userglow #fractured reality #psych!au #my aus #cj add this to your fic masterpost

[udunie]

(anon submission)

hmm more weird omega au brainstorming semi-based off your any-hole-goes Hale breeding program fic =D This got, uh, a little extreme?

At fourteen, omegas graduate from regular school and go to special omega universities where they pick an omegan specialty to study, generally completing their studies by eighteen, when they are then presented to society at a structured graduation/debutante auction

‘Pick’ might be a strong word to use - most omegas don’t pick their area of study, their family alphas do

Stiles’ mom was an endangered species / wildlife advocate and professional, working with reserves and zoos all over the world to help with rehabilitation and re-population efforts. After she died, Stiles’ dad decided that he was going to dedicate their omega son (in this au, you can tell immediately if a baby is alpha/beta/omega) to her work when the time came

Stiles is on board with this idea - he remembers lots of happy times with his mom and some cute baby animal that needed constant watch and regular bottle feedings (Stiles’ mom would tell him it was good practice for when he was older and had his own babies), so when he’s enrolled in a distant omega university that trains omegas for vet, farm, wildlife, zoo, or other animal-centered work, he’s ready. Stiles’ dad selects animal wifery, platinum tier, with a focus on endangered species

Stiles is not ready

Platinum-tier endangered animal wifery is an unusual branch in that it’s a breeding program that utilizes *all* an omega’s resources

Over the next four years, Stiles

1) has his urethra and bladder opening stretched to the highest legal diameter with a permanent hollow sound (really a circle of very thin, rigid ribs with a thin layer of silicon between them so it was as soft as possible while still holding his urethra open) installed that locks into place via a bulbed head just inside his bladder that is equipped with monitoring equipment on one end and a slightly flared opening with two hinged pieces that fold down and around his cockhead, clicking together just under it, and held together with two piercings that screw in to the sound walls but do not go through. A silicon insert hangs on a fine chain from the piercings and can be used to seal the sound opening shut. There are lots of species of snakes, amphibians, fish, and even some aquatic bugs that reproduce in dark, warm, acidic enclosed spaces - spaces that in nature are easily and frequently destroyed by human interference or storms. An omega’s bladder is quite safe, and the monitoring equipment ensures safe and healthy egg development

(Stiles’ final project in this 'class’ was helping facilitate the mating of an extremely rare tropical snake pair - both snakes were first coaxed into Stiles’ bladder, where they copulated and the female snake lived until she laid her eggs. Stiles had to be on a special diet for the duration of the project, as well as strapped to a special bench that held his torso, hips, and legs utterly still with his cock lined up at the ideal angle and his sound opening fitted to the snakes’ enclosure, all of which ensured that he did not hurt or upset either snake in any way. The sound opened up under water in the enclosure, so while Stiles’ bladder didn’t get over-full at any point it also never emptied. The snakes spent a lot of time going in and out of him before mating)

2) has his primary womb rated to exotics - extra large. This took all four years invested in stretching his vaginal canal and uterus without doing improper damage to the supporting muscles, stretching his abdomen, widening his pelvic bone and opening, and several surgeries to remove ribs that would constrict larger babies and reinforce his spine to carry the weight. The hormone treatment that convinced his body this was how it was meant to be shaped came with the added bonus of increasing his sensitivity and pleasure receptors by a lot

(His final project and the reason he was rated to extra large over the more standard large was he successfully carried a pygmy rhino calf to term - an eighteen month pregnancy - despite the fact that it grew slightly larger than it was meant to. Stiles came eighteen times during labor thanks to the hormone treatment, and it was that extra relaxation and lubrication that stopped him from needed a c-section)

3) has his secondary womb rated to exotics - canine and feline. This needs the least work, though he’s given treatment to increase his slick production and strengthen his knot-locking muscles so he can hold the knot of any smaller or distracted studs. For feline breedings, he wears a sheath that protects his ass from their spines. The program also develops eight teats down his front, though when he carries an extra-large pregnancy the bottom four leak constantly due to the pressure

(Stiles interns with a local tiger conservatory during his studies, and whenever possible carries litters for them - apparently not all omegas are able to, making him very valuable to the university and earning him a very good grade at all levels)

4) Warning: super fucked up ahead – has surgery to separate his esophagus and trachea into two separate tubes, stretch his esophagus, install a feeding small tube, and split his tongue - this is actually an elective program that the university gets approval from Stiles’ dad for early on when they realized Stiles was suited to it, and is the only currently known way for a species of extremely rare salamanders to reproduce in captivity. The female salamander lives in Stiles’ throat, head and mating organs (slightly below their head, interestingly) in his mouth. Once a month, the male salamander squeezes into Stiles’ mouth as well, and in the space between the two halves of Stiles’ tongue, breeds its partner. The female salamander cannot lay her eggs without help - Stiles has to swallow until they have all been worked down and into his stomach, where the eggs stay until they hatch and the baby salamanders crawl out of his body via his intestines and ass (one of the reasons his secondary womb is not significantly altered).

Stiles earns his degree with flying colours, and at his graduation/debutante auction his dad decides to enter him under a temporary ownership clause - it’s less money, but this way he can continue to auction Stiles off to whomever needs his omega skills the most rather that him serving a single program. Later he decides to just auction Stiles’ parts - so long as the pregnancies are not competing, difference conservation efforts can use Stiles as he becomes available

His mother would be so proud of all the species Stiles is helping save

*******

Udunie: 

Holy shit nonnie, I love your brain?????????????

I love everything about this, but also, may I suggest (cause while I love the salamander idea, it feels a bit awkward to me):

Ppl don’t actually ‘need’ to have a stomach, meaning that you can be ‘fed’ by enemas, your intestines do the most work in absorbing nutrients anyway. So. What if his stomach was completely removed and instead he was given a third womb??? (lets say, the university’s medical department is able to use cells from an omega to create a womb that wouldn’t be rejected by his body?) his esophagus is still separated. Or even better (for my personal tastes) he has a nasal tube inserted that goes right to his lungs, so he can breath even when his esophagus is clogged. Anyway, he gets his third womb where his stomach is, gets his esophagus stretched as much as they can, and it’s used to breed smaller species (as in, smaller at birth, but maybe at the same time, species with large litter numbers???)

Fun fact I just googled! Arctic foxes have the largest mammal litters with a size ranging from 5 to 25 pups!!! They are pretty small when they are born, small enough that Stiles can just retch them up when they are ready to be born :D

#prompt box #thanks for this nonnie #you are the best #submission

[askkrenko]

Krenko’s Guide to Pokemon: Venonat Line

Venomoth’s one of those pokemon I sometimes forget exists. This isn’t to say I don’t like it, just that even back in Red and Blue there was 151 and that’s a lot to remember. Now there’s like a thousand if you count all the Megas and Regional Variants, so some of them just mentally slip away. DESIGN: 

Venonat is a cute little ball of fluff with huge eyes and just enough features to read as some sort of bug thing. Now, granted, it’s more Mite than Gnat, but the fact remains that you can tell it’s a small bug. I have no issues with Venonat’s design. Venomoth’s design gets through the idea of a fantastic moth, with a weirdly-shaped head and a deep, toxic-purple color.  I can’t say it’s a striking design, but I also can’t complain about it. It reads uniquely and it gets the job done.

Now, you’ll hear a lot of people saying that Venonat was supposed to evolve into Butterfree and Venomoth was supposed to come from Metapod and show you visual cues that seem to support this theory... But let me tell you- this theory is wrong. We know from the internal index and beta versions of the games that Caterpie, Metapod, and Butterfree were created in unison.  And Venonat was created as a stand-alone long before, possibly before it was even decided that Pokemon would evolve. (The first Pokemon designed WITH its Evolutions were Trifox, Vulpix, and Ninetails as well as Pikachu, Raichu, and Gorochu. A lot of 3-stage evolutions were cut down to two.) Really, it just comes down to a lot of the initial designs in gen 1 being samey in some ways because they’re working off very small sprites. EVOLUTIONS: Venonat to Venomoth is a two-stage evolution unchanged since the earliest days of Pokemon. It evolves at level 31 to its final form, a bit late compared to other two-stage pokemon, but not unreasonably or painfully so. TYPING:  No matter how well I know it, I will never get over the fact that Venomoth, like Beedrill, can’t fly. It doesn’t even have levitate. Frosmoth, too.  Frankly, it bugs me how many Pokemon in the game are clearly depicted as flying or levitating but don’t have that feature. Anyway, Bug Poison’s fine on the defense. It has more resistances than weaknesses, and double resisting FIghting and Grass gives Venomoth the occassional free switch-in.  STAB-wise, the Grass redundancy is pretty bad when so much resists Poison anyway, so Venomoth gets STAB against Dark, Grass, Psychic, and Fairy, but is double-resisted by Poison, Ghost, and Steel. Interestingly, it’s not weak to Poison, Ghost, or Steel, so it’s not like the pokemon that wall it are its big threats, which is nice.  STATS:  At 450 total, Venomoth falls a bit south of average, mostly on the defensive side. Fortunately, its best stats are Speed and Special, both at 90, which are above average. Not ‘good,’ mind, but ‘above average.’  Venomoth is still regularly outclassed in stats. ABILITIES: This is where Venomoth shines, but first I need to give a special shout-out to the little guy, Venonat.

Obviously you won’t be playing many tournaments where it’s to your advantage to use the little guy, but there are leagues for babies and unevolved pokemon and such, and Venonat’s Compound Eyes, which grant +30% accuracy, is a real boon on a Pokemon that can learn Sleep Powder. Sadly, Venomoth can’t get this ability. Fortunately... Venomoth’s options are all good. Shield Dust prevents additional effects from attacks, such as Fake Out’s Flinch and any chances to Burn or Freeze on attacks. It’s a useful ability, and immunity to Flinching is great, but it’s more for tankier pokemon that can survive the hit and are worried about the secondary effects. Wonder Skin drops the accuracy of all Status moves used on Venomoth to 50%.  Now, this doesn’t stop things with no accuracy check like Follow Me, but it gives a 50% chance to dodge Taunt, Spore, Glare, Thunder Wave, etc.  It’s not full immunity, sure, but any miss from an ability is a wasted turn on the opponent’s part, and that can seriously alter the tide of battle. Venomoth’s other ability option is Tinted Lens. Tinted Lens is simple: You do not resist Venomoth’s attacks. Resisted attacks do normal damage, doubly-resisted attacks still do half damage. This means that despite Bug and Poison’s coverage being meh at best, Venomoth doesn’t actually need to learn a variety of attacks to threaten foes. Note that this doesn’t stop immunities, so Venomoth still can’t poison Steel types.  

Overall, Tinted Lens is probably the best of the three, and it’s what makes Venomoth work as an attacker, but there’s plenty of argument to be made for Wonder Skin. Shield Dust is a fine ability, but Venomoth’s better off with the others. MOVES:  Quiver Dance. With its best stats being Special Attack and Speed, the reason to run Venomoth is Quiver Dance. Once you get one off, it’s an actual competitive Pokemon, and if you can jump in front of a Grass or Fighting attack, or just in front of a tank, you can start setting up.  With Tinted Lens, Venomoth only needs one attack- Bug Buzz.  Sludge Bomb is also good, but it’s just not giving the sort of coverage you want, so it’s entirely skippable.  Without Tinted Lens, you’re going to want Sludge Bomb and/or Psychic as well, because way too many things resist bug attacks. 

After that you’ve got a few options. Sleep Powder’s great on a fast pokemon and can give you time to set up with Quiver Dance or just neutralize something that you can’t just Bug Buzz away.  Substitute is a good way to stay alive and test the waters.  Breeding enables Baton Pass, and being able to Baton Pass a Quiver Dance or two can make an incredible sweeper.  And then there’s Roost, Toxic, Toxic Spikes, and various other utility moves.  My suggestion for a Venomoth would be Quiver Dance, Bug Buzz, Sleep Powder, and Baton Pass. Use Sleep Powder and Quiver Dance, Bug Buzz away what you can, and if they throw out something 4x resistant to Bug or that otherwise won’t go down fast enough, Baton Pass into something that can handle it.

OVERALL:  Despite its low base stats, great abilities and great moves keep Venomoth competitive.  This is what I like to see in weaker pokemon- particularly strong abilities that make up for their stats if you build around them. And it’s not even the Hidden ability. Venomoth’s still inherently forgettable, though. Well, they can’t all be winners.

#Krenko's Pokemon Guide #Venonat #Venomoth

[shadowofthelamp]

Year in Review: Writing

So, I can’t do the ‘year in review’ for art because... yeah, I didn’t really draw that much this year. So I decided to trawl through my writing tag for one favorite piece per month, and a pulled few paragraphs from each! Basically everything here is Zim except for the one tendershipping week thing, lmao, oops.

Some months had slim pickings but I still do like every one of these and it was a nice reflection.

January: Arrival

Her skin was tinted a sickly green, more like decomposing flesh than irken or human. Dib swallowed, but her breathing seemed to be even when he placed a hand to her kind of chubby chest, so that was probably just how their skin colors mixed, right? Besides, the lighting in the lab was always weird. Her mouth was gummy with no teeth yet, but her vocal cords were functioning perfectly. He was going to need hearing aids by his twenties, between her and Zim.

She had four fingers and three toes, which he kind of expected, as well as a nose but no ears. That made sense, if she had antennae, but it was still strange to run his fingers along the sides of her head and just feel smooth skin.

Her eyes… they were Zim’s through and through, deep ruby with the color filling the sclera. Did irkens even have sclera if they only had one color? Under the lab’s lights and mixed with the way everything on her slightly shimmered from the sticky goo she'd been coated in, she was like a section of space stolen into the little room and it took his breath away. The water blurring his vision didn’t help as he wiped it away with his sleeve, shifting her to one arm. She was so small...

__________

February: WLOD Dib meets Twix, alt version

It’s fascinating, to see what could have gone right. The 1001 here had gangly, underdeveloped limbs, and wispy hair that never quite got clean from the showers. This version wasn’t fat or anything, but definitely had more meat on its bones.

He examined the goggles- peering through them, they altered its vision because they made the lab beyond the ‘glass’ blurry. Curious, very curious. He was about to pop the lens out when it began to stir, tugging at the metal restraints with a clatter.

_________

March: Zibvoid

He talked to himself.

He talked to himself.

He talked to Zim, who hadn’t said a word since he’d died, but maybe he was just giving him the silent treatment.

Round and round, the generator buzzed like a bee and a hospital and a bug zapper that would draw in prey like flies to a web, except he was the spider now and the Zims were the moths.

Dib. Dib Dib Dib Dib Zim Dibdibdibdibzimdibdibzimdib. The names popped off his tongue as he rolled them both in his mouth, over and over until they didn’t seem like names at all anymore.

__________

April: Sturdy Branches (I know the date’s different on ao3 but it was first posted April)

Her dad is either singing or talking to himself as he vacuumed inside the house with a sway in his hips. At least you’re pretty sure it’s her dad? You haven’t seen a picture of him or anything, but he’s about the same age as your dad, so he’s too old to be a brother and too young to be a grandpa, and she hasn’t mentioned any uncles. A babysitter, maybe, but that doesn’t really make sense since Tulip isn’t home yet- ah!

She’s talking to someone as she turns the corner, bouncing her backpack. It’s lilac and circular, as well as covered in buttons. The Ranger helmet is in her backpack or still in her locker, but either way, she’s not wearing it anymore. She’s got the boots on, though. You adjust the binoculars a bit, but you aren’t good enough at lip-reading yet to tell what she’s saying. Whatever it is, it’s making the girl she’s talking to laugh. Maybe she’ll tell you tomorrow in class or at lunch if you pull her to sit at your table again. She has more friends at the middle table, but they don’t like sitting next to you after the beetle incident, and she doesn’t seem to mind. She always has a big smile when you start talking, and she’d say something if she didn’t like you, right? Pretty much everybody else does.

_________

May: Do Something For You (TD spoilers!)

Dib had never really thought ahead to having a family, but she was pretty much everything she’d want in one. She was an assistant and a partner, she was invested in the paranormal, she hated Zim- but on the other hand, she didn’t want him hurt? She seemed weirdly invested in making sure he didn’t get caught, actually. Eh, she’d hit him pretty hard, so it wasn’t like she was opposed to him getting his rightful dues for being an evil space monster.

It was relatively simple- she was just worried if he died then her timeline would be destabilized, which was a decent enough concern. Zim had to be important to his life for years to come, in one way or another. But whatever they were dealing with in the future, it had to be better with Zim out of the way earlier, right?

__________

June: Unnamed capture au drabble

“Why do you even give me these stupid scripts if you don’t like me doing them?” Dib folded his arms, kneading the ball in his palm. “Just get a robot or something.” He snorted. “I mean, it’d probably break, like half the stuff you touch.”

Zim’s hands curled into fists. “Take that back, you- you- worm!”

Dib quirked an eyebrow. “What, touched a nerve? When I was a kid, half the stuff you made broke, it’s just a fact. You only conquered Earth because this place is a trash heap and your garbage is slightly better than ours.” Over a year in Zim’s presence without too many galling injuries and a lifetime of not being able to keep his mouth shut made him bold. “Honestly, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re probably broken yoursel-” He was cut off with a Pak leg aimed directly at his throat, prodding in just deep enough to draw a drop of blood down the alien metal.

Zim’s eyes were narrowed, but something was watering on the edges, and Dib swallowed, adam’s apple bobbing just below the leg’s tip.

“Zim. Is. Not. Broken.”

___________

July: Laughter

Ryou couldn't stand the lights on one minute and then hated having them off the next. The shadows bled from the way the light reflected off the couch, how it seemed to devour the wall behind it, and he swore he could still hear the voice in his mind. (Was that himself? Had he started thinking of himself as a separate voice? It had been ages since he'd really been alone, even though anyone outside him would have wondered about the boy who talked to his reflection like it was an old friend.)

He wished he could talk to Ryou. Ryou who had seemed so pliable as a child but had proved entertaining, a match for the fire, (heh, fire, even though it wasn't that funny, in fact, it wasn't funny at all, but what did he have but jokes? it wasn't like he could cry anymore) who carved out rules for use of the body with gritted teeth and tugged at the rope of the Ring so hard it had chafed his neck. He'd respected him. From a soft child, he'd hardened and grown firm, grown powerful, grown to be worthy. What were the odds fate had given him a chance at the same time someone had handed a young Yugi the box with the Puzzle? A roll of the dice. (The Gods having a last laugh, perhaps..)

Ryou dug his nails into the wood of the desk so hard that it made crescents, tiny moons in the umber that dug splinters into his pale fingers. The little model of the Thief King sat, as he always did, half-hidden on his shelf behind the pieces of Zorc. He'd never bothered to glue the monster back together but felt oddly reluctant to just incinerate the figures and be done with them. Both of them. Either of them. Maybe he just didn't want to pretend it had never happened. (Maybe he was worried he'd forget, thoughts and memories swept away by the sands of time, trickling down the hourglass, minute by minute, day by day, as he aged the way the Spirit had never been allowed to.)

___________

August: New Mission

It had been a month.

Nebula Twix had survived. She’d had to be popped into the healing pod when she had an allergic reaction to the oatmeal Dib had tried to feed her when it had inflamed her spooch, and Gir had tried to eat her head the one second Zim’s back had been turned, and she made goo from both ends a lot, but otherwise, she was perfectly fine!

And with that, Zim had come to a crossroads. It seemed that he was, indeed, in this for the long heel. (He was pretty sure that was the phrase. Humans liked large feet and large boots, so it made sense.) He could either continue to keep her a secret, or he could pass on his success to the Tallests.

Creating slaves out of the species marked for invasion was pretty common- something like 85% of invaders did it. But creating hybrids? That number was much lower. (Besides, they were usually disposed of as soon as the invasion was complete.) And irkens having those hybrids from their own bodies, and not just mixing them out of genetic slurry and quickly aging them up in time-fields? Almost completely unheard of. Zim was the pioneer in that area.

Also, having smeets from one’s body may have been a tad illegal, considering how hard it had been to find good information and judging from the fact that all irkens found to do it were brought in for experimentation. But no matter! Zim was nothing if not very, very good at things few other irkens dared to do, ready to drive the Empire forward by any means possible. They would have to appreciate that!

__________

September: Twix finds out she’s pregnant

Secondary life-form detected, the chamber chimed.

“Oh, gross, I’ve got a tapeworm? Well, flush it out.” Twix rolled her eyes, going back to the computer.

Lifeform has elements of Pak user.

Her finger froze on the ‘b’ key. “It… what? Analyze species origin.”

The chamber hummed around Twix as sweat dripped down the skin of her neck. There was a tiny 'ding!’ like a kitchen timer.

Lifeform is too underdeveloped to make more than approximations, but is roughly 25% irken and 75% Dominant Earth Species.

Her scream rattled the walls.

__________

October: Best-Laid Plans

“Of course, Number One.” Two turned his head slightly, and Dib jolted- he hadn’t directly commanded him to do that. “Your plan is perfect.” He blinked slowly- much slower than most Zims. Most Zims were utterly manic, back and forth and back and forth, loud and brutal and dangerous, but Two- Two had always worshiped him. Maybe even more than the rest. It had been nice, to be admired so heavily. Two had adored the personal attention when he was turned into an errand boy.

Dib might miss him.

He shook that thought out of his head, gripping both sides of Two’s face with his index finger and thumb, nails (not claws, they weren’t claws) digging into the cheeks.

“You belong to me.” Two didn’t respond, and Dib dug in a little further.  Irken skin was thicker than a human’s, with a single drop of pink blood oozing over Dib’s fingernail and leaving a barely-perceptible damp trail. “Respond. Who do you belong to?”

“I belong to you, Number One.”

___________

November: Desperation (warning if you click through for impalement)

Dib’s lips were on Zim’s before he even knew what he was doing. “You’re not dying on me, you little bastard,” he hissed, fumbling to hold up the body as Zim nearly coughed blood directly into Dib’s mouth. It was salty and sweet all in one, but Dib couldn’t linger on the taste. Zim’s fingers grasped at his shirt, and Dib took that as a sign that it was working, pressing their lips together hard enough to bruise the capillaries.  

There was a click. Dib breathed in blood and out carbon dioxide, sputtering and swallowing it down so Zim wouldn’t die like this-

Something red-hot and metallic climbed over his arm before digging into his spine, and he realized that the body had gone entirely limp before there was electricity and then there was nothing.

____________

December: Freak

Twix grit her teeth. “How am I supposed to trust you if you’ll just- just do that?”

“How am I supposed to drop my whole social life because you can’t help being the weirdest person in school?” Tulip shot back. “I do care about you, but it’s so, so hard sometimes, because you just don’t know how to act, and sometimes I’m sick of waiting for you to play catchup just because your parents are the town freaks!” She slapped her hands over her mouth and took a step back.

Twix’s eye twitched under her goggles. “At least they’re freaks that love me. I’ll see you tomorrow, third period.”

“Twix-”

“I said,” Twix said through gritted teeth, “I’ll see you tomorrow. Get out before I reactivate the security.”

Tulip got out, and Twix buried her face in a couch pillow and screamed.

#shadow says stuff

[game-boy-pocket]

I just finished Banjo Kazooie: Jiggies of Time - a full length mod by Mark Kurko

I don’t normally do reviews because I find it hard to be objective... and this will be no different, so just think of this as me gushing. I’ll go ahead and put the long winded bit under a read more. But the short version is, fans of Banjo Kazooie and Ocarina of Time should play this FOR SURE. Banjo Kazooie fans may actually still love this if they’re not fans of Zelda ( but Zelda knowledge helps sometimes ). Zelda fans may not fare so well if they don’t love the Banjo Kazooie gameplay  ( perhaps they should try the first game as a test if they haven’t played it?  *nudge nudge* )  

I’ve been aware of this project for some time but didn’t really know too much about it. There were a lot of Banjo Kazooie hacks that were just smaller projects that take less than an hour to finish. I was suprised to learn just a few days ago that this project was completed, and was a full length game with the same number of worlds and collectibles as the original Banjo Kazooie. Even better, it ran on a real Nintendo 64! I played mine on the real deal and it ran near perfectly ( there were minor frame dips and a few graphical bugs but nothing too distracting or too frequent )

I’m assuming you already know how Banjo Kazooie plays if you’re reading this, but just in case, Banjo plays a lot like Mario.  You run around in little sandbox areas collecting things, the main collectible being golden jigsaw puzzle pieces called Jiggies, you find these out in the open, by solving puzzles, or by helping NPCs, the secondary collectible being golden music notes, both are needed to progress.  Each level also has five different colored critters called Jinjos that award you with a Jiggy when you find them. Each level has two empty honey comb pieces, collecting six adds another unit of health to your life meter. There are also silver skull shaped tokens used to transform your character into another form in certain levels, and finally, other miscellaneous collectibles to restore health, abilies, and lives.  Pretty basic stuff, you should be familiar if you’ve played any of the Sandbox Mario games, though in Banjo, you unlock your abilities as you progress. 

As I said before the game has 10 worlds. You start in Kokiri forest just like Ocarina of Time. You learn your basic moves in the Lost Woods, though I question the practicality of that, I actually did a full two worlds without my three basic attacks.  I got... lost... I just assumed I was going to learn the attacks elsewhere.  Kokiri forest is actually the first world, with Lost Woods serving as a sort of “Spiral Mountain” area.  Brentilda makes a return here offering three tips about the game each time you encounter her, as well as refilling your health. She appears in every world. Once you get some notes, you can leave to Hyrule Field.

Hyrule Field is the “Gruntilda’s Lair” ( Your Hub world for the uninitiated ) portion of the game, Everything is where you expect it to be, but it’s all sealed off. Instead you need to look for new areas containing jigsaw puzzles to open the locked areas. You will eventually learn a trick to simulate the Sun song as well, but it can only be done here. There’s 10 Jiggies to collect in Hyrule, 7 of which are contained within Lon Lon Ranch, I won’t spoil anything but Lon Lon Ranch has changed pretty drastically. The remaining 3 Jiggies are a bit more elaborately hidden. I’ll get back to those.  When you’re here, Gruntilda will banter with you, just like the original Banjo Kazooie, but sometimes, other characters will talk instead, and there is some genuinely hilarious exchanges between characters here.

Castle Town is the second world, and this is where you get the idea that “oh this isn’t just Banjo in Ocarina of time” because you start to uncover a lot of areas that were not in the original game. It only makes sense that a character with completely different skills can reach places Link never could.  Mumbo Jumbo returns in this world, all of his transformations are the same as the original game, but they’ve been reskinned to fit a Zelda theme... well... mostly.  

Once you wrap up in there, you head to Kakariko village, the third world. And it’s pretty standard. You actually learn the final move in this world. This game utilizes all of the original game’s moves except for the wading boots... they were kind of lame anyway I suppose.  This is also where you start to notice that this game is absolutely loaded to the gills with easter eggs. game cases and consoles are littered everywhere, Nintendo characters playing games are hidden away ( except for one ), and you may also notice some Golden eye characters spying on you ( they actually creep me out when I first catch a glimpse of them. They look ghoulish to me... ) 

Explore Kakariko enough and you should find the way to open Death Mountain, which is the fourth world.  Now this part of the game drove me slightly crazy. Death mountain has lava. Lava is an instant death for Banjo. When you die, you lose all of the notes you collected, and all of your Jinjos too if you haven’t got them all yet.  Here’s the thing, it’s another world where you have to turn into a small creature to get some of the notes, but before you do, you have to open the path for the creature as Banjo. And you have a LOT of ground to cover ( it includes Dodongo’s Cavern, the  mountain trail, Goron City, and a few extra areas not in Ocarina of Time ), so it’s almost like you have to do everything in this level twice... I died several times, at one point all I needed was five more notes, I was about to blow a gasket. After you finish up there, it’s time to head to Zora’s Domain. The world actually starts at Zora’s River, I enjoyed the world a lot but it was also pretty taxing. It demands a LOT of resources I had previously been taking for granted. Namely the eggs you shoot.  I was expecting Jabu Jabu to be replaced with Clanker the whale from the original Banjo Kazooie, but no, it’s just Jabu Jabu.. which is probably fine, this is Hyrule after all.  Jabu Jabu is not actually a dungeon though, which is a little disappointing, but there is some very interesting stuff in there... and this is where I start having a little bit of an issue with the easter eggs, subtlty goes out the window here and we actually start leaving the Zelda theme behind for two pretty big areas in this world.  It doesn’t bother me too much but I really wish this sort of thing was kept for secret levels instead of the main game... there’s a lot of tough platforming around Jabu Jabu’s area.

By now you should have stumbled across the means of opening the way to the Forest Temple. And this is one of the coolest parts of the game but also one of the most long winded and complicated parts.  The game expects you to go back to the old days of taking notes on paper.  You explore the temple looking for letters of the Hylian Alphabet and their English equivalent, you’re expected to to write these down as a chart and then use them to decipher some messages written in Hylian Text through out the temple... the thing is, a lot of the things the text asked me to do, I figured out on my own. There are also paintings on the wall meant to give clues, but I got mixed messages from one of these paintings that was meant to be used in tandem with the hylian writing. So I was trying the wrong thing over and over...  But I will say this level is truly the most jam packed with Zelda easter eggs and It’s hard not to spoil any of it, because I lost my mind at some of it...

At this point I should throw in that this game doesn’t have any new enemies or bosses. Most of the enemies are reskinned to be Zelda themed. It’s pretty effective in selling the illusion... except in the case where it’s not.

Next destination is Lake Hylia. I’ve got to stop to talk about the music real quick because Lake Hylia has my favorite track in the game.  This game has an amazing soundtrack.  It’s mostly Zelda songs remixed in a way that makes it sound like a song you would expect to hear in Banjo Kazooie ( and some hints of Banjo Kazooie/Tooie tunes get mixed in as a medley as well ), very bouncy and fun.  Not all of it is Ocarina of Time music. Lake Hylia actually uses an upbeat version of the Twilight Princess lake hylia theme.   In any case, this level sees you explore the lake, the fishing hole, the water temple, and a new series of floating islands above the lake.  As far as the Water Temple goes, it’s not too bad.

Next is the Gerudo Valley area, which includes the valley, the gerudo fortress, and the desert temple. Disappointingly, you cannot explore the insides of the gerudo fortress.  You can enter them, but you just exit out a different door in the fortress, like some kind of warp maze.  This area was also a real drain on my gold feather and blue egg resources, I almost had to leave to stock up on gold feathers, but I was sly and found a work around my problem and was able to progress. It was probably the least impressive area in the game if I’m being honest... also, Brentilda says that the hylian letters I wrote down were going to be useful here, but I couldn’t find anywhere  in the dungeon that had Hylian letters... hmm.

With this, you head to the final world.  The means which you use to enter this world are very cool. I won’t spoil it but it should be obvious to anyone who’s played already, assuming they haven’t completely forgotten one of the most important locations in the original Ocarina of Time...  Now, the world itself?  It’s cool thematically, but the usage of another small creature transformation really drags the world down.  Not to mention another easter egg really kills the mood of this final world, but it’s easily forgiven.

The final world is also what houses the entrance to the final battle.  But this game actually requires you to get ALL the Jiggies save for three in order to enter the final battle, so if you missed any jiggies at all during the normal levels, time to turn back and get them... unless you’re only short three, and wouldn’t you know it, there are three “secret levels” in this game with extra hidden Jiggies.

So, you would have no doubt seen this by now if you were playing the game but in Castle Town, there’s a museum you can reach by transforming into a small creature and crawling through the keyhole, and this museum houses clues to the location of these secret levels, as well as the secret jiggies within those levels. They’re pretty well hidden.  The clues get revealed more and more as you collect notes. First, just a general description of the area, then a more exact description of the area, but written in hylian, then a photograph of the area you need to inspect to find the entrance, and lastly, a picture of the hidden jiggy in the secret level ( though if you wait this long, the nature of the secret level will be spoiled, and these levels are BIG easter eggs. ), so maybe don’t wait too long to find them.

The final Battle with Gruntilda is the same as it was in the original Banjo Kazooie, but the arena is just slightly altered to make it a little more difficult, but not unfairly so.  Not much more to say beyond that.  The game has a pretty cool credits sequence and ending that Zelda fans are sure to appreciate.

I do kind of wish there was a Quiz show like the original Banjo Kazooie, I was expecting to get my Zelda knowledge tested, but no such luck.

Playing this game was such a blast and it made me feel like I was experiencing Banjo Kazooie and Ocarina of Time for the first time again at the same time, which is a very strange but welcome feeling. I never would have expected these two games fused into one to work so well, but it really is remarkable how well it works, and it tickles my nerd fanboy bone for Zelda in many ways, as well as Banjo, Rareware and Nintendo in general too.  I can’t recommend it enough for fans of both games...  I can only recommend this to non Banjo Zelda fans if they’re willing to play the original Banjo first to see if they like it.  But non Zelda fans of Banjo, I think you’ll just enjoy having a new Banjo Kazooie Adventure to tackle, though the lack of Zelda knowledge might make the road a little bumpy in a few areas.

I love these games to death but i’ve replayed them so much that they don’t entertain as much as they used to. This was a great way to freshen up the experience for both. I’m dying to play more like this. There’s a very interesting “Link in Mario 64″ mod i’m keeping my eye on. But that may take a lot of time, as it’s only released the first demo... for now... I actually kinda want to replay the original BK and OOT agian. Heh.  

#banjo kazooie #nintendo #the legend of zelda #ocarina of time #Banjo Kazooie the Jiggies of Time #N64 #review

[nomolosk]

Snapshots (AU Yeah August 2020)

read on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25655623/chapters/62283055

Day 10- Reverse Crush

Mayura jumped and flipped over rooftops which were entirely unfamiliar. Not for the first time, she wished she could borrow Chat Noir’s endlessly telescoping baton. She had a suspicion that Paris was now one enormous University campus, with all the buildings morphed into classrooms, cafeterias, dormitories, and parking garages. There would also be maintenance buildings and administrative offices, and the police force had probably simply morphed into campus security. The point was, she wondered how different it would look from above. 

She could still see the Eiffel Tower in the distance, so at least one famous landmark was still present- after all, everyone currently thought they were either going to school in Paris, or working for a university in Paris, and no doubt that idea needed reinforcing the longer this went on. She wasn’t sure how long Universal could keep up a single alternate reality. Did it depend on her stamina, like it had with Animan? Or did it depend on how well people accepted the new reality? Surely there would be a few each time for whom the shift was too stark, too different from their normal life. Perhaps if enough people began to question it, it would shatter again.

Or perhaps it simply depended on when Universal herself got bored. She’d shifted between several different universes by now, and hadn’t seemed to spend much time with any of them. Perhaps they were not so compelling once she made it reality. Mayura frankly found it all annoying. Hawkmoth didn’t usually create akumas with powers to affect reality itself, and now that she was experiencing it first hand, she was beginning to have doubts about using the Wish, even if it would save Emilie.

But currently she was trying to keep herself oriented, while also visible enough to draw out the heroes. She would obviously need to find her way back to the administrative office where she currently worked after the battle.

----

Adrien Agreste beamed at the pretty design student who had actually succeeded in sending Lila off without a scene for once.

“What’s your name?” he asked earnestly. She blinked in surprise. 

“Uh, M-Marinette,” she stuttered slightly. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

He grabbed her hand and kissed it, watching her flush adorably. 

“Thank you,” he continued. “It’s nice to know the name of the woman I’m going to marry.”

She laughed and he caught the nervous note to it. “Well, thank you for the compliment, but it’s really not that big of a deal. I knew someone like her back in college and lycee, so I’ve got some experience in dealing with it.”

Adrien’s interest was genuinely piqued. “Oh yeah? I actually had to go to school with Lila, and that was an experience I really wish had ended with graduation. Not only do I still have to model with her sometimes, now she’s followed me to University.”

“That sucks,” Marinette said. Then her face flamed again. “I’m so sorry, by the way! You must get girls doing this all the time, and I didn’t- I mean, I kind of implied that you and I are together, but it was just to get her to back off, you know? I didn’t- I don’t want to force you into a relationship,” she finished with a soft, sweet smile. “You should be able to make your own choices.”

Adrien could have sworn his heart literally melted at that moment. Somewhere in the recesses of his mind, there was a little voice reminding him of the existence of Ladybug, but she’d suddenly become a lot less important to his personal happiness. She was a great partner, but… well, perhaps that was all she’d ever be. And he was… okay with that. More than okay! After all, without the guilt of harboring feelings for his unattainable partner, he could pursue sweet, feisty, wonderful Marinette instead.

“About that… actually, would you mind having lunch with me? I’d really like to get to know you better,” he said, trying for a balance between his usual Chat Noir flair and his model reserve. When he saw her hesitate, he quickly added, “Anyone who can handle Lila like that would be a great friend to have!”

----

Marinette hesitated. She didn’t really know why, but as hot as this boy was, he was still freakin’ Adrien Agreste! She couldn’t go around dating the son of the Dean, not when she was a design student herself! Besides, she couldn’t get that kiss between her future self and future Chat Noir out of her mind. It had been so simple, so loving… so full of trust and tenderness, even for as quick as it had been. And she wanted that. Something had changed, and she could admit that to herself now- perhaps for the first time.

It had been so long since Chat Blanc… perhaps the danger was over, the peculiar circumstances that had allowed or caused that future no longer existed, surely. She could finally stop fighting herself and allow herself to fall for her partner. Right?

“Um, well, I guess,” she finally said. “Sure! That’d be nice.”

She saw the look of adoration on Adrien’s face and convinced herself that he was a model and used to looking adoringly at women. He probably didn’t mean anything by it, like that over the top exclamation about marrying her a few moments ago. He couldn’t really mean it, they hardly knew each other! And besides, it was probably just an exaggerated way of showing his appreciation.

----

Adrien could have danced on air. “Great! So, how about that new place that just opened up-”

The akuma alert suddenly went off on both their phones and his heart sank like a stone. Here he was, finally getting somewhere with the girl of his dreams, and stupid Hawkmoth had to interfere.

He cursed, already scanning the area for the best route to a place where he could transform. “I’m really sorry, Marinette. I… have to go.”

“Oh, that’s fine!” she reassured him, “I, um, I get really nervous during these things, so… I’m just gonna go this way. See you!”

She was already hurrying off, and Adrien was halfway to his own exit before he remembered that, like an idiot, he forgot to get her phone number. Well, at least now he knew her name.

----

Marinette checked the LadyBlog on her way to a place where she could transform. Alya had posted a video someone had taken of Mayura jumping from rooftop to rooftop, with the disclaimer that no one had yet seen an akuma, but the presence of the villainess could indicate that there was one out there somewhere, or would be soon.

“Alright Tikki,” Marinette said, stopping in a secluded area of campus and opening her purse. “Any more hints as to what’s going on? First you were sure something was up last night, and now Mayura is hopping around rooftops all by herself. Any ideas?”

Lately, Marinette had taken to consulting with Tikki before transforming, unless the akuma in question seemed really straightforward. Ever since she and Chat had cleared the threshold of maturity needed to use their powers more than once a battle, the akumas had gotten more devious and harder to beat.

“I’m beginning to get an inkling, Marinette,” Tikki said encouragingly. “You know how I’m the kwami of creation?”

Marinette nodded.

“Well, there’s something in the air that reminds me of what creation feels like.”

“Something in the air? Like, the physical air, or are you using a metaphor for the feel of a place, like a vibe?”

“I don’t know what a vibe is-”

“It’s like a feeling you get sometimes, from people or places. You have an instinct about them, and it can be either bad or good. I remember feeling really good about Alya when I first met her- she gave off good vibes. And we’ve been best friends ever since! Does that makes sense?”

“Yes it does! Thank you, Marinette! And yes, a ‘vibe’ is exactly what I’m talking about. Although,” Tikki paused, putting a nub up to her chin, “I supposed it could also be in the physical air. Creation can leave things behind, you know. And if this is coming from an akuma, it might well be connected to the physical air.”

“That would be a new direction for Hawkmoth,” Marinette mused. “His akumas have been getting a lot harder to beat lately, but the only time I can remember him going so subtle was with Sabrina that one time, and then the time he was Scarlet Moth and had that whole secondary attack planned that took us by surprise.”

Tikki shrugged. “Well, this definitely feels like creation magic to me, Marinette. You should be careful! And try to make sure you don’t forget anything important. You know akumas can affect memories sometimes.”

Marinette sighed at that rather useless bit of advice. How she was supposed to guard against forgetting things when they were dealing with an akuma that shared Tikki’s power and could possibly affect memory? 

“Alright, Tikki. I’ll try to be careful and not forget anything, and I’ll make sure to warn Chat as well. Are you ready to transform?”

“Go for it!”

Marinette spoke the words, and shortly thereafter Ladybug was swinging away over the familiar rooftops of the great University of Paris.

----

Chat Noir was annoyed. He’d rushed away from Marinette for no reason apparently- there was no sign of an akuma anywhere, and while Mayura had triggered the alert, she was nowhere to be found either. He moved swiftly and quietly, trying not to draw attention to himself, but he couldn’t find her. A few minutes after he decided it had been nothing more than a feint or a distraction, Ladybug showed up, swinging up to his current rooftop.

“H-hey Chat,” she said, her tone oddly breathless. She started to walk over to his vantage point and tripped over thin air, recovering quickly, but still blushing in embarrassment. A few years ago this greeting would have had Chat over the moon with the possibility she was finally falling for him, but now…

“You okay there, Bug?” he asked. “Getting enough sleep? I know you said your schedule was pretty packed this semester.”

Ladybug smiled widely. “Sure! I’m slapping- sleeping! Fine. Just fine.”

Chat raised both eyebrows, but looked back out at the campus. Then he noticed it- it was slow, but inexorable.

“Ladybug,” he breathed. “Look!”

Ladybug joined him at the edge of the roof and together they watched as a circle of change spread slowly across the campus, leaving other buildings and streets in it’s wake.

“Chat, take us up,” Ladybug said, and this time there was nothing in her tone but command. 

Without hesitation, Chat grabbed her around the waist and extended his baton with them at the top until they were in danger of being hit by low flying aircraft. They watched as the change engulfed the city and… there was something familiar about it.

“This has happened before, hasn’t it?” Ladybug murmured.

“I think so,” Chat said.

Ladybug let out a shaky breath. “Do you remember it?”

“No,” Chat admitted. “But I think… I think I’ve noticed it before. And then forgot.”

“Me, too. Tikki says she can feel something like the power of Creation in the air,” Ladybug said. Her arm around his shoulder tightened, as she got her yo-yo out again. She opened it to map-mode and Chat could see the spreading change on it as well, the magic of their miraculous somehow picking up that of another. She quickly tapped a few commands, and the screen zoomed out until there was a flashing dot in what could be the center of the circle. “That’s where it started,” Ladybug said. 

“I don’t think we can get there before we forget again,” Chat said, feeling hollow.

“Maybe,” Ladybug replied, and he took heart at the strength of her voice. “But I’ve got the location saved in the yo-yo now, so even if we forget what we’re doing right now, we’ll have a clue. I frankly doubt the akuma will stick around to be found like that, but it will at least give us a starting point, right?”

“Right.” 

The circle of change had reached where they would be if they were still on the roofs now, and Chat braced himself for… something. Ladybug tensed, too. When nothing happened for a few seconds, he started to relax… only to feel the change wash over him a breath later.

@auyeahaugust

#mlauyeahaugust #auyeah2020 #miraculous ladybug fanfiction #reverse crush