you should? let ulysses bite you. like as a treat. a little nibble. they are partial to the meat of ur palm.

" you were taking quite a while to arrive to our rendezvous point. " she says, and on her way towards the kitchen unlatches her utility belt. when she drops it on the island, the THUNK it makes is reminiscent to a bag of bricks, and she makes quick work of scouring the cabinets for a glass. the lull of silence is filled with the hiss of running water and clinking ice she gets from the fridge and afterwards, she joins reg back in the living space.

with one hand, she hands him the glass. with the other, she sets a thumb drive on the arm of his chair.

" unlike you, i was fortunate enough not to run into any setbacks, " noah doesn't make any moves to sit, " -are you injured at all? "

"shame. i would've made a lovely lawn ornament."

she removes her helmet, with some hesitation—and with a little more hesitation than she, regulus does the same; pulls his mask free and pushes his hair back with a hand. he is slumped in an overstuffed chair by the window, feeling equal parts pained and foolish for having bungled what should have been a straightforward mission. he didn't expect ivy to interfere.

"... how did your part go? i assume you succeeded, since you came to find me." there's a 'thank you' hiding somewhere behind his teeth, waiting for him to set it free.

the nature of platonic intimacy with ulysses in a snapshot/drabble

only one of you is facing the fire-warmth crackling intermittently in the center of camp and it is ul, bent over a crude wooden shape that they clumsily whittle away at with a thumb-length blade. you yourself are facing away, black-scaled tail flopped over your lap as you run a damp cloth over the grime that has accumulated over your days of travel in lieu of a bath ( the temperatures are below freezing and ulysses states they'd rather die than subject their extremities to such cruelty ). algae and muck, from wading through gaseous swamps as well as caked dust, from your underground adventure in the dank crypt. there are moments where you have to manhandled the appendage into stillness when ulysses unconsciously gives a frustrated flick of their tail but otherwise it is peaceful, meticulous work.

ulysses stares at the lumpy wooden cylinder in their hand with a single-minded determination you've only seen on them when you're facing a particularly troublesome foe, and the night passes under a sky of stars and with the repetitive scrape of wood.

but then ul makes a noise of discomfort and you stop your ministrations, worried you may have scrubbed to roughly, when you see spittle of red staining their otherwise spotless blade, thumb and forefinger rubbing together hurriedly to soothe the neat slice splitting their finger.

" did you nick yourself? "

" . . . a bit. "

" here, let me see. "

small mercies, noah thinks, when he ropes a hand around her wrist and their surroundings FLICKER and shift. her gaze lingers on the newly-revealed skyline when the magic settles, but when she turns to look at regulus again- there is a beat of hesitation as she reaches- and unlatches the helmet that obscures her visage and voice. there is a frown nigh-permanently etched on her features.

" if i carried anything more cumbersome than a handgun, i might not have gotten to you in time, " she's half-joking at least, and doesn't even want to ENTERTAIN the thought of having to lumber around something that exceeds the length of her forearm. a weed-trimmer he says. she refrains from scoffing aloud, " i'll get you some water, " she sets her helmet on the floor, next to regulus' leg, " so stay put. "

"i don't think so." though he won't underestimate ivy's abilities and knows better than to think he'll have gotten away entirely unscathed. "i think i can still teleport us out—" he offers a hand, and meets nightingale's masked face with concealed eyes, "unless you're carrying a weed-trimmer somewhere in your utilities, and would like to take a crack at it."

the green approaches—and there's a magic vibrating in his fingertips, something like alarm; he decides that her plan sounds good enough to him, and he takes her quickly by the wrist—

—they vanish together in a plume of black mist, and reappear in what looks like a penthouse apartment, overlooking a sprawling cityscape.

daily affirmations

i am disgusting

i am vile

i am the origin of my own downfall

the rot in my throat is cool

i am off putting and upsetting to be around

listen, i was thinking about how ulysses is primarily a stomach-sleeper and this would translate into them laying draped overtop their partner with their chin resting on their chest. would ur muse survive this, or would they simply suffocate

slaps down an inbox call. i'll send you 1-2 things. we ball

baldur's gate 3 starters (part 1)

part 1 / ? .

❝ a less trusting person might think this all sounds very suspicious. ❞ ❝ you say all the right words, but i’m not sure you mean the right things. ❞ ❝ i know somewhere quiet. somewhere intimate. somewhere we can…indulge in each other. ❞ ❝ eugh, don’t be nice to me. it makes me want to be nice back. ❞ ❝ we needn’t be enemies. there’s plenty of those to go around already. ❞ ❝ there’s a steeliness to you, an unwavering tenacity in the face of, to be frank, quite dire odds. ❞ ❝ even the waves of fate can break upon the shores of will. ❞ ❝ i appreciate anyone that opens a conversation with threats of bodily harm. ❞ ❝ oh, you know me - ever the optimist. i’m trying to focus on the positives. ❞ ❝ i’m not easily impressed by people, but you’re stronger than i gave you credit for. ❞ ❝ there’s an air about you. something alien. ❞ ❝ loosen the grip on your pride for one blasted moment, won’t you? ❞ ❝ it’s been a long time since someone stuck their neck out for me like that. ❞ ❝ there’s something odd about this village. people skulk around like they’ve something to hide. ❞ ❝ you know, if you want to spend time with me, you only have to say so. ❞ ❝ i want to know what the world sees when it looks at me. what you see. ❞ ❝ what’s better than a devil you don’t know? a devil you do. ❞ ❝ you must know that you’re…that you’re very special to me. ❞ ❝ the gods are nothing if not vindictive in their vengeance. ❞ ❝ stay with me a while, will you? day will come all too soon. ❞ ❝ here’s my little treat with their cheeks all flushed. ❞ ❝ i am terrified. i will not claim otherwise. ❞ ❝ my apologies. i’m not quite myself yet. i had the strangest dream last night. ❞ ❝ we didn’t die today. tomorrow, perhaps. but not today. ❞ ❝ leader’s need to make tough decisions. we do what we must. ❞ ❝ i think that unknowable powers come with unknowable consequences. ❞ ❝ i’ve had a lifetime’s fill of watching little men puff themselves up with grand titles. ❞ ❝ in these times, all we can trust are the blades in our hands. ❞ ❝ it’s not easy to turn away from one you once loved. ❞ ❝ much has been promised to you, hasn’t it? but what has been taken from you? ❞ ❝ damn it all. i can do nothing right - not a damn thing. ❞ ❝ every instinct i have tells me that nothing’s changed. that i’m still just a means to an end. ❞ ❝ do not speak of a story you only know the half of. ❞ ❝ i dreamt every night that you’d come back to me. that somehow it was all a nightmare dawn would undo. ❞ ❝ when the time comes to strike, you must take it. for there may be only one chance. ❞ ❝ your eyes. there is pain, endless and deep. but also devotion - blazing like the sun. ❞ ❝ you’re adorable even when you’re teasing me. ❞ ❝ i don’t need your help, and i don’t need your pity. ❞ ❝ i’m more than what i was. and i’m not afraid of anything any more. ❞ ❝ i said exactly what i meant: i love you. you should never, never doubt that. ❞ ❝ this is all like some sort of terrible dream. but it’s real, isn’t it? ❞ ❝ there is no redemption. can’t you see? it is too late. ❞ ❝ i don’t know that it was brave. i just know that it was right. ❞ ❝ you took those bastards down like it was nothing. it…was amazing. ❞ ❝ they underestimated me. so they paid the price. ❞ ❝ we fight, we die, and we just hope that when our time comes, there is someone else to take our place. ❞ ❝ unfortunately for me, you’re my friend. rescuing you from mortal peril is my right. ❞ ❝ what did you think i was going to say? 'oh, come here, i'll kiss you better'? ❞ ❝ flowers are so overrated. they're bright, gaudy, and almost never make good poisons. ❞ ❝ i’ve been lied to, my whole life. and i was gullible enough to just believe it. ❞ ❝ you know, i never pictured myself as a hero. never thought i'd be the one they toast for saving so many lives. and now that i'm here…i hate it. ❞ ❝ you know, i feel a connection between us. like we're two souls walking the same path. ❞ ❝ the forgiving sort, are you? you should be careful. plenty would take advantage of that. ❞

❝ it’s as if god made you just to ruin me. ❞ ❝ perish the thought. every word i said was nothing less than true. ❞ ❝ you have a manner of irresistible desperation about you. i like it. ❞ ❝ i got my eye on you. you got the look of a troublemaker. ❞ ❝ i’m starting to think you’re my guardian angel. ❞ ❝ it seems you know me better than i know myself. ❞ ❝ you…you have no idea what you’ve done. ❞ ❝ they say madness and genius are separated by but a hair’s breadth. perhaps the same is true of madness and stupidity. ❞ ❝ oh, it’s you. don’t you get tired of telling people how to live their lives? ❞ ❝ good morning! thank you for not killing me the other night. ❞ ❝ when the time comes to strike, you must take it. for there may be only one chance. ❞ ❝ it is good to savour the moment of victory - but pace bg3 syourself. our fight is just beginning. ❞ ❝ i was too hasty to judge you. i thought you were witless, gutless, unimpressivably bland… ❞ ❝ yours is the first happy face i’ve seen in a good while. ❞ ❝ when hope has been whittled down to the very marrow of despair – that’s when you’ll come knocking on my door. ❞ ❝ thank you, my friend. maybe we’ll meet again, in another life. ❞ ❝ you’ll regret sticking your nose in my business. ❞

" there's plenty i don't want to hear. " mark scoffs, and lets his shoes finally touch the gritty roof.

it was your dad, mark. it'll be okay, mark. we'll be stronger for this, mark.

he walks over to matt with a faux casualness in his gait, and sits down beside him with a 'hmph.' if he swings his legs a little over the several story drop, that's no one's business but his own.

" lucky for you, i'll hear it whether i want to or not, " he tilts his head towards him, " benefits of super hearing- OR WHATEVER. so you should probably spit it out before the awkward silence consumes us both. "

@bledf1rst asked : ❛ you look like you've got something to say. ❜ /CHUCKS mark at u [ ... ]

he scoffs quietly, a noise that's directed at himself more so than mark. "i have plenty i want to say, but it's the same bullshit i feed everyone else." i couldn't tell you, or i was going to tell you. you see, i couldn't tell you yet. i didn't tell you and that was for your own good. the lie depends on the day and he doesn't care to lie to the kid anymore than he already has. his cowl hangs rather miserably between both hands as he swings his legs over the ledge of a rooftop. "i figured you wouldn't want to hear it."

" that and more. "

there's the rumble of shifting debris, and in her periphery she can see the encroaching GREEN as it searchingly combs over the concrete. her voice has dropped to more obliging drawl, rich with he crackle of STATIC proffered by her mask when she lowers him against the most stable-looking wall and falls into a crouch.

" did she tag you with anything before i got here? " noah asks, " retreat and RECOUP might be our best option, at this rate. "

how he adores his absurd little family—between the bickering and the disappearing acts it almost feels like the one he left back home in england. he's not even sure most of them would try to save his life, if given the chance.

just like mother!

noah pulls him away from the wreckage and to someplace comparatively safer, but though he's almost tempted to express his thanks, he suppresses it with a contemplative hum. "do you think she would? if i asked politely?"

slaps down an inbox call. i'll send you 1-2 things. we ball

@redheadarcher liked

" i was looking forward to getting a slow weekend, " tim LIES, something ambiguously tone-deaf in the way he uses his voice. he hauls himself to his full height after being crouched like a gargoyle on the building's edge for the worse half of an hour, crosses his arms, and fakes a stance of nonchalance.

" are we skipping the pleasantries or are you actually going to introduce yourself? "

closed starter, NO LONGER ACCEPTING

       — With only the dead for company.

indie Ni.co di Angelo from PJO and subsequent works | Private | Selective promo credit : wistcrias || Non-RP blogs - do not reblog

kratos calling mimir brother makes my heart all ooey gooey

shhhh.. . .. im reading spawn. . . .

@stcrforged liked

the hearth crackles with heat, suffused red-orange ashes landing in the snow and leaving blackened pits that are the size of a pin. it's dark, and he has already dragged a fallen log towards the campfire to lay mimir's head atop, short-hilted knife enclosed in his grasp as he guts the game for their evening. it's only a rabbit, but for some reason or another- the animals have been scarce in their woods. as of now, kratos has departed from home to seek out the source and TEAR IT UP FROM IT'S ROOTS.

" . . . do believe it is a someone behind this? "

closed starter, STILL ACCEPTING

i am what i do in the dark now. i bleed only for myself.