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goayda · 7 months

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Stranger Things Have Happened

(* Reposting the whole thing in a new post because I don't know how to order this any other way)

(* Set at some point after the bar conversation in episode 2x07, you know the one, everything after that scene doesn't exist in this verse)

So what if... what if Stede and Izzy have sex after Ed left because, well, Stede is free to be with other people, right? And there is some fondness now there, equally mixed with some fun bickering and teasing, and they really understand each other and the heartbreak that comes with loving Edwar Teach. And you add a lot of rum and some lingering touches and well, things happen, right?

And when Stede wakes up the next morning with a bit of a hungover and sees a naked Izzy sleeping next to him, he feels so happy and he can't stop staring at Izzy and how relaxed he looks in the morning light, but then... then he starts overthinking it, of course. What if he was too fast again? What if he is TooMuch and Izzy finds it annoying? What if it was supposed to be just a one time thing? He doesn't want it to be just that, but he doesn't want to make it weird!

So when Izzy wakes up, Stede tries to play it 'cool', aiming for nonchalant and totally missing, looking more like 'totally indifferent'. And Izzy, who has been getting better at the whole 'feelings and stuff' thing, but has still a lot to learn, well, he tries to go on with his life and goes back to work because it was a good fuck and that was all, wasn't it? What else was he expecting, really? It is not as if Stede was going to start holding his hand or anything, not that Izzy wanted that anyway, because that ridiculous softness is not for pirates like himself... right?

So things get weird, of course. And the crew notices because they are not blind. Stede keeps trying to play it cool and avoids touching Izzy at all costs even though he really wants to and Izzy tries to avoid Stede claiming to be 'just busy' and having work to do 'somewhere else', but it is painful for both of them.

And surprisingly, it's Izzy the one who eventually tries to talk about that night with Stede, trying to tell him that it meant something to him, but he doesn't really know what words to use or how to explain 'feelings' and it really frustrates him. And Stede sees Izzy's frown and annoyed look and thinks that Izzy regrets that night and then doubles down on the casually indifferent pose. Which convinces Izzy that, no, Stede is not interested at all in him. Obviously.

And while this painful mess of a conversation is happening, the whole crew has managed to shamelessly gather around to listen to it and they are witnessing that trainwreck of a conversation looking like the people in that scene from the IT Crowd:

The crew is watching these two idiots having two completely different conversations at the same time without even noticing and when Izzy finally walks away defeated and Stede goes back to his cabin, his fake smile crumbling, they decide to have an emergency meeting.

They agree they can't let this keep going on, because it could turn into a right mess and well, yes, also because they care about their two idiots, so they decide Somebody has to talk to them and they obviously agree that Somebody has to be Lucius.

And Lucius sighs dramatically because why him? But deep down he knows he is the best for the job and also, Pete is looking at him encouragingly so how could he refuse?

So he graciously agrees and first he goes to talk to Stede. Making him admit his real feelings for Izzy takes Lucius five minutes, but the Captain spends half an hour praising Izzy's traits and dramatically refusing to believe that the First Mate could return his feelings.

He does believe Lucius eventually and oh, he can't stop smiling then.

When Lucius goes to talk to Izzy, though, Stede decides to devise a fuckery to make Izzy admit his real feelings for him, like in the romance books he knows. It sounds great in his head and surely Lucius would agree with him, but the young man seems to be busy so Stede goes to convince one of his friends from the Republic to help him with the plan.

Meanwhile, Lucius tries to explain things to Izzy, but it doesn't go great. The man only grunts and glares and Lucius isn't even sure he is listening to a word he says so he eventually decides to leave and try some other time.

He doesn't have the chance to because the next day, Stede pulls the fuckery right the moment they set foot on port: a masked man shoots him on the chest and while he 'bleeds out' on the ground he calls for Izzy.

Stede is hoping for a dramatic love declaration (and surely some tears and then a passionate kiss), but Izzy just looks... terrified and heartbroken and he is speechless... right until he notices the fake blood and realizes it's all a trick.

Then Stede gets a punch on the face and Izzy walks back to the ship in silence. And the crew doesn't bother him on his way there and sure as hell no one mentions the tears Izzy is trying to hold back.

Certainly Stede hasn't seen them because he is hunched over, trying to stop the nosebleed and wondering why his plan hasn't been a success.

Also the masked man AKA Sneaky Dave, Stede's friend, got a shot on the shoulder for all his troubles, but it could have been worse if Black Pete's aim had been any better

And once again Lucius is tasked with talking to Stede (and ugh, helping him with the nosebleed, because it's not stopping yet) so he can understand what went wrong (everything) and why it wasn't a great idea (not even a so-so one).

The punch might have helped making a point because it doesn't take long for Stede to look crestfallen and slightly embarrased.

And yes, Stede does understand now that Izzy might not be the type to appreciate the romantic scenery as much as he does and that maybe faking a deadly wound had been a bit too much, but he still thinks that using the word 'traumatic' is going too far, no matter what Lucius says.

Stede is devastated because he has messed things up again, even when he had tried so hard to do it right this time, but Lucius insists it's not too late and encourages him (more like pleads) to be honest with Izzy.

"Just TALK to him," Lucius says. "That idiot loves you."

Meanwhile, Jim, Fang and Frenchie are hanging out on the deck with Izzy, trying to show their support, but it has been ages and Izzy just keeps staring at the sea from the railing without saying a word. Frenchie and Fang are worried that Izzy might be planning on jumping overboard. Jim just thinks it's a nice and quiet sunset.

Eventually Stede goes to talk to Izzy and as the crew starts walking away to give them some privacy (they are going to stay not far away, eavesdropping, obviously), Jim simply whispers to Izzy "Just talk to him, that idiot loves you."

And since there is not really much to lose (he doesn't fear his new Captain would take his other leg or even a toe because of his insubordination) and he is not a coward (not anymore), Izzy takes a deep breath and looks at Stede and waits.

And Stede can't hide his nerves and he blushes and falters, but he manages to tell Izzy that he certainly doesn't regret the night they spent together, that he does cherish the memories of that moment and that he would very much like to make more *coughs* memories together... if Izzy wanted to. If Izzy wanted him.

And Izzy simply stares at Stede's stupidly handsome face and kind eyes and there is a 'Fuck off' ready on the tip of his tongue, but he just shakily says "Yes" and he means so many things he doesn't know how to say, but Stede smiles brightly and seems to understand (some of) them.

Stede looks at Izzy's shy smile and he thinks it's breathtaking and beautiful and so sweet and when he takes a step and curls his hand around Izzy's neck to kiss him, he doesn't hesitate.

For a moment the memory of another kiss under the moonlight threatens to cloud Stede's happiness, but then Izzy kisses him back and he realizes this is a different kiss, a different feeling, a different Stede even, and he sighs softly into the kiss and lets himself be happy.

They kiss softly and lazily against the railing for a long time and when they finally decide to retire to the captain's cabin, Stede holds Izzy's hand as they walk there side by side.

#ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd season 2 spoilers #our flag means death s2 spoilers #izzy hands #stede bonnet #stizzy #gentlehands #fanfic #now all tidied up and in order #I even might finally get myself to make some fanart for this #ofmd fic

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alexanderlightweight · 1 year

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In honor of my finished uni work (woohoo!), if i have not missed wednesday prompts, can I request Alec studying something for his own interest? Maybe in the deruned verse where he has realised he has choices about his life now?

oh goodness!! congratulations! that is incredible I wish you good luck and fortune for whatever is next! and you were about in the middle of prompts sent in so you were perfectly fine! I hope you enjoy this!

Alec tries to rest, like Magnus wants him to. Like Alec wants to want to.

It’s easier now, connected and tied to Magnus and with Magnus’ runes on him, but it’s not enough. Alec has this itch under his skin and while he’s still adjusting, he can’t over exert himself so he wallows and he hates it.

He’s never rested so much in his life and while Magnus offered to take time off, Magnus has taken off enough time for Alec. So he smiles — it’s easier now and mostly real — and assures him he’ll be fine. Magnus can leave while Alec’s awake — Alec knows Magnus has been trying to only leave while Alec’s asleep — and Alec will occupy himself.

It does not go as well as he first hoped.

So he tries things. Lots of things.

The worst thing he tries is cooking, remembering the stew he and Izzy made for their mother except, it tastes awful. Like ash in his mouth as memories overwhelm him and he dumps the pot and leaves the food to Magnus’ magic.

He tries books and he loves them. Books are something Alec has always treasured and enjoyed and he’s always longed for more time to read them, to explore the world through written pages.

It’s not enough now.

Oh it’s nice enough to read with Magnus, but not when he’s alone. Alec will get lost in the words, forget to turn the pages and get stuck back there, in the haze of pain and the feeling of being adrift.

Before Magnus bound them together.

He discovers the roof by accident. A magical mishap of a garden and Alec breathes in deeply of the rich, fresh air and the crisp scent of mint in the breeze.

He finds himself still there, hours later with a book from Magnus’ library, identifying the various plants and their different needs and how to care for them.

He slips back downstairs before Magnus is home. Alec knows Magnus has wards on every room of the house, on Alec even. Magnus knows Alec went to the roof and stayed there for hours but his face is soft and he doesn’t ask, waiting for Alec to open up.

Magnus doesn’t push, even when Alec stays silent about his new hobby for days.

The silence stays until Magnus enters the rooftop one night, when he’s supposed to be gone, arguing in another language on his phone and magic sparking from his skin. He spots Alec immediately and his golden eyes get huge before he says something sharp and upset into the phone.

He’s angry now where he was just in a hurry before, but Alec knows he’s not angry with him.

“Darling,” Magnus says and he lifts his hands a little helplessly, like he thinks Alec won’t always want Magnus’ touch on him.

Like Alec hasn’t craved it since they met, before this whole mess happened and this became the new normal.

“I’m so sorry, Alexander. I forgot to check if you were still here.”

“It’s okay.” Alec says, because it is and he smiles, completely real this time. “Was it important?”

Magnus huffs and rolls his eyes, “important for someone but not an emergency and not important enough to interrupt you here. Not until you’re ready at least.”

“I think I’m ready.” Alec admits and he gets up from where he’s kneeling, just in his boxers and his shirt in the thick moss where he’s gently moving some wintermint into a pot. “I mean, I’d like it if you’re the only one who just comes in when I’m here.” And Alec can’t help his blush or the way he motions to himself.

It’s not the state of undress, though by Magnus’ darkening eyes that is part of it for him, but it’s the vulnerability. Magnus has offered to help him find weapons that aren’t strictly adamas, but Alec isn’t ready for that.

Not yet anyways.

He can’t handle touching a blade and knowing it won’t light up. He’s not unarmed though, not in the rest of the loft. Magnus keeps a series of rattan staffs on hand for Alec and Alec doesn’t bring them to the garden. There’s something sacred and safe about the small place and he’d like to keep it that way.

“Come see?” Alec says, a little shyly because this is new. Helping something grow instead of killing. And Alec doesn’t mind the killing, slaughtering demons is fun in its own way but this is soothing and safe, like how Magnus was hoping Alec would heal. Like Alec has never let himself heal.

“Always, let us look this instance.” Magnus agrees, eyes crinkling with his smile and Alec wants to kiss him, just a press of lips together but he also doesn’t think he’s ready yet for what that would unlock.

“Don’t you need something for your client?”

“You mean that thoughtless, demanding, inconsiderate imbecile who caused me to break one of my most precious promises to give you space and respect your sanctuary.”

“You never promised me anything like that, Magnus.” Alec protests, because, “I never asked you to. I would never want you to.”

“I promised myself, darling. That I would let you have time, all the time you need, however much you wanted even if it spanned decades. Your trust has been betrayed enough for a thousand lifetimes, Alexander.”

Alec hides his head in Magnus’ neck, so that the tears will disappear into the fabric and strong arms curl around him. Magnus’ muscles are heavy and strong and promising Alec to hold him together. To keep him standing so he won’t drown and he wraps his own arms around Magnus in return. And then, because he’s still new at this, he turns just a little and presses a kiss to Magnus’ jaw.

Magnus freezes, arms tightening to near pain and Alec sighs in contentment because Magnus is holding him and Magnus is safe and then he forces himself to let go and Magnus, very slowly, lets go of him as well. He looks as upset about it as Alec does so Alec reaches out, his fingers aching for Magnus’ own and Magnus’ is so pleasantly surprised by it. Alec can see it on the face and he can’t wait until the day Magnus is pleased, but not surprised by the intimacy Alec will learn to offer.

“I really like your garden. The plants here are incredible and they thrive with your magic.” Alec shrugs, “I know they’re fine on their own but it’s nice, sometimes. To help things grow, to see new life and be here, in the light of your magic and the things you create.”

“Your garden, lovely.” Magnus says and he reaches out to cup Alec’s jaw. “Anything you need Alexander, anything you want.”

“Our garden?” Alec asks, because it doesn’t sound right, the garden belonging just to him when it thrives because of Magnus and was built by him.

“Ours then.”

Magnus looks pleased, something darker in his eyes and Alec’s heartbeat triples in delight. He loves when Magnus gets like that. Covetous, possessive, demanding of Alec’s attention and time and Alec wishes he always let this side of himself show.

Alec adores every bit of Magnus with everything that he is and it has nothing to do with the tie between them. Alec never once wanted to worship Raziel the way he wants to worship Magnus, but Alec’s been thrown away before and while he knows Magnus won’t do that — that Magnus made it so Magnus couldn’t, just for Alec — it's still a lingering fear.

Soon it will fade, like a shadow into the growing night but Alec finds that he likes this, a slower pace. After all, what else has he to do, but learn to love Magnus and learn to love himself, the way he knows Magnus already does.

#magnus bane #alec lightwood #shadowhunters #shadowhunters au #deruned alec au #writing wednesday #writing wednesdays #lumine writes #malec #immortal husbands #my fanfics #my ficlets #my fics

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avastyetwats · 7 months

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Hi there! New dual roleplay blog for Izzy Hands and Stede Bonnet, here! Got my rules and verses page up and I'm eager to get started! I don't have a promo made just yet (graphic making is not my forte), but I'll get something going eventually, but I'm just excited to be here. I've been writing for 10+ years, but have taken a break now and then due to real life so though my activity might be a little sporadic I'm dying to get back into writing. I'm new to the OFMD RPC so please bare with me. This show, and these characters, mean so much to me. I have seen every episode so I'm up for discussing/plotting beyond the season 2 finale. I hope to be able to write and plot with fellow OFMD muns/characters and in other fandoms as well. Activity will be a little sporadic due to real life, still, but I'm dying to get to writing again. Especially these two characters that mean the world to me.

#ofmd rp #our flag means death rp #stede bonnet rp #izzy hands rp #pirate rp #resting at the inn (ooc)

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dragonmuse · 2 years

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@internerdionality replied: I would love to see a crossover-y Christmas Carol kinda story with this Lucius, where he gets to see what his life could have been. Would he think the other Lucii were chumps, or start to realize what he’s missing?

I was immediately visited by the vision of a ring of chairs in a basement ala AA with various versions of Lucius sitting around drinking shitty coffee. This barely a thing, just made me giggle. So behold my ridiculous little shadowplay.

Mainverse Lucius leads the meetings (he's the most fleshed out, visibly has more dimension and shadow etc) calls things to order. Most of them are dressed in a fairly similar way, but the further they sit from Mainverse, the more the subtle differences add up, terminating in May Be Bad who sits directly opposite him in a truly outstandingly expensive gray suit with a deep purple vest and crisp white shirt. The person closest to him is Wake Myself in the Shadows and he is constantly trying to scoot slightly further away from him and closer to Bottle of Red, who just watches them both warily.

Mainverse: Okay, so we have a lot of new faces since our last meeting...like a lot a lot. Like a troubling amount, but whatever. We'll just go along do intros again and the basic survey so we can break into small group discussion.

They all say their 'verse names pretty quickly.

Mainverse: Great. Ok. So married to Pete?

Most of the hands go up, the ones that don't tend be further from Mainverse and he makes a few notes.

Mainverse: Sucks to be you assholes. Ok, married, but not to Pete?

Most remaining hands go up.

Mainverse: Keep 'em up if it's Izzy....okay cool. No one's gone totally rogue yet, love that for us. Additional love interests...that's a question now? We're adding shit? Fuck, fine. Who's got...Faith? Really?

One hand. Everyone takes a second to appreciate I Know a Place, who is noticeably older and clearly very relaxed.

Mainverse: Okay then, I have so many questions to ask you. Actually, the whole Faith lives group, let's have a group sesh before the dreamstate dissolves, please and thank you. Let's see...oooh Eddy? Really?

Take a Stand: She's pretty great.

Mainverse: Sure to poke with a stick.

You're Awful: A pointy one.

Mainverse: Right okay....

How 'bout Another: She is my metamour, I'm into it.

You're Awful: She's mine and I want to murder her.

Mainverse: Annnd let's make another adjustment to the seating chart, you two should not be next to each other. Let's see....fuck. No. No fucking way. Please tell me which one of you assholes did this so I can kick your fucking teeth in.

Bottle of Red *still inching away*: I don't even know what you're talking about and I could take an educated guess.

Mainverse: Which one of you fucking clones is in a relationship with CHARLIE?

Wake Myself in the Shadows: HEY! It's age adjusted and I didn't meet him until he was in his twenties.

*general grossed out noises, You're Awful throws an empty coffee cup at him*

I May Be Bad: Don't be shy. Charlie is delicious and you all are very much missing out. Morals are such an annoyance.

Bottle of Red: Can I switch seats? With literally anyone?

You're Awful: We could just throw him out.

I May Be Bad: *draws out dagger and starts cleaning nails with it* Darling, I'd love to see you try.

In silent agreement, everyone scoots their chairs away and Bottle of Red even lets Wake Myself get a little closer.

Mainverse: Okay, forget small groups. Now I think we all need to know what your deal is in particular.

Just Like a One Winged: He doesn't have an Izzy, right? Or a Phil?

Feels Just Like I'm Falling: Pete.

I May Be Bad: I'm married to Izzy, thanks very much.

Bottle of Red: Is that just what no Pete looks like cause uh...

Just Like a One Winged and Somewhere Only We know: Fuck no.

I May Be Bad: I really don't see what you're all so upset about. I just live like all the rest of you wish you could. I don't worry about what other people think of me.

Mainverse: Uh, a little worry would be good, Mr. Pointy Things. Okay, let's run down where this went horribly awry. You're not age shifted. ...oh. You met Izzy when you were 19?!

I May be Bad: I met Jim first. They met Izzy and Eddy at 19 too. Why? Didn't you all?

Mainverse: No, babe, no we did not. Jim first is a new one.

I May be Bad: *clearly agitated* are you fucking serious? You all...you really just paired up with Pete of all fuckers and Izzy and that's it? No Jim? No business?

Somewhere Only: I mean, no clear attachment to sharp implements either.

I May Be Bad: This is so fucked up.

Mainverse: Really really really think that's you and not us. Holy shit. Do we have a dis-invite option? This vibe is rancid.

I May Be Bad: You think I want to be here? You can miss me with this shit.

Wake Me in the Shadows: Listen, I think we're all a little heated.

You're Awful: No shit.

Things only get more heated. Much arguing ensues, no one breaks into small groups before the dream dissolves and luckily no on remember anything in the morning.

#I'm not even tagging this fever dream moment

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bxnnxrxd · 2 years

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Mun and Rules Post!

Hello, my name is Castor and I am transmasc/enby. My pronouns are he/they.

I had a very elaborate fancy blog which you can still access but I run things mostly from mobile now, which is why I felt the need to write this updated information.

This is a semi-selective, independent Doctor Robert Bruce Banner/Hulk blog. I have multiple verses and timelines, some based off MCU, some based off Earth 616, and alternate Earths from the Marvel comics. Also, I have a lot of AUs, and am always open for more. This is the oldest Bruce Banner RP blog on tumblr, that is still consistent.

Mun has over 25 years of RP experience. Mun is neurodivergent. Basic rules apply as does any blog. No god modding, etc. I do not own any rights to these characters and have no connection to Marvel personally.

I hate that I have to add this, but as stated I am neurodivergent. Due to a recent incident of someone on tumblr, I’m adding this to my information. I never bug anyone for threads, I hate when it’s done to me. But I like to say hi and check in on people. Now, if I say anything or do anything that might have offended you, rather than blocking me outright I’d appreciate you being an adult and telling me the issue. If you just block, I’ll never know what exactly happened that maybe I can take into advisement for future behavior and conversations. Recently, I’ve become more afraid to talk to muns, afraid my divergence is bothering people, afraid I’m a terrible person. I went down a bad spiral because of what happened. So please be mindful I am neurodivergent. Let me know if I’m annoying or coming off a certain way, and maybe I can fix it. ^^

This blog will contain many NSFW prompts. I do not put anything under read more. I try to tag nsfw if I remember. There will be no trigger warnings. This blog will contain things like self harm, alcoholism, severe depression, and suicide. As far as smut I will not write any that is not of age. Bruce is pansexual and demisexual.

Shipping: I like to ship chemistry but everyone has their favorites. Mine are in no particular order: Tony Stark/Bruce Banner. James Bucky Barnes/Bruce Banner. Howard Stark/Bruce Banner. Steve Rogers/Bruce Banner. Thor/Bruce Banner. Doctor Strange/Bruce Banner. Emil Blonsky/Bruce Banner. Loki/Bruce Banner. Yondu/Bruce. Betty Ross and Caiera should be a given. These are just off the top of my head, as I welcome Chemistry ships. I will not ship Bruce/Natasha. In my opinion it wasn’t believable and was Joss Whedon’s fan fiction come to life. My Bruce blames Nat for Ragnarok, and he knows she’s been a liar and a manipulative person since day one. You throw your Nat at me in a sexual way, you will be blocked.

I also welcome non ships, like platonic friendships, and even children, adopted children, family although it depends on who.

I do like writing open starters, I’m always reblogging memes, and feel free to attack both my inbox with messages and maybe a few words to just RP and plot. If you end up reblogging a starter and I miss it feel free to let me know! And with that, flood my inbox with goodies!

I also have a Phil Coulson blog @iwatchedyouwhileyouslept , and I have an Israel “Izzy” Hands blog from Our Flag Means Death @izzyeffinhands as well as my new blog, which is a multi-muse blog for Black Sails @fornassau .

*NEW* @talostheuntamed for Talos from Marvel.

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grapecaseschoices · 2 years

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Hey :) what OC are you working on right now? What inspired them?

Oh, hello! This was so nice to see in my inbox. Hope you're doing well! :-D

What aren't I working on? Let's do something old and something new, because my brain is actually active of late.

1- Something Old

Kendis: I'm currently working on them re: a multiverse storyline that's been recurring in the RP I have her in, and there's a current event up.

What Inspired Kendis?: I honestly don't remember what inspires half my characters 1234ew. I DO recall, wanting - as most desires usually strike me - to make a sibling for my friend's character, Ben. And I definitely wanted that teenaged energy (og Kendis - as Kendis, and not my first incarnation of Ben's baby sister - was 18). A lot of what influenced Kendis was wanting to catch that 'drunk girl you meet in the bathroom and becomes your strongest advocate' energy.

I like to sometimes dip into canons I know, so I'd say some of Cordelia Chase influenced Kendis (in the blunt aspect, in the seemingly shallow/egotistical, in the 'wtf is the supernatural ... well, fuck I guess I'm going to help you fight after all, ugh', in the being a lot smarter than you might think, in the unexpected vulnerability), especially Cordelia vis a vis Buffy in Buffy's vulnerable moments (never over Cordy, for all that wish-verse existed, being the one continously to have Buffy's back when shit was rotten).

Buffy herself is a factor, especially for Kendis as I play them now. And Caroline Forbes. (All these white women qwerwawq lmao) But Cordy was the OG.

2 - Something New (RP Style)

Ori Zhou: I mostly finished his app. But I haven't played him yet. I've dipped him a little bit into the RP canon, woven his past life and abilities into the plot I am working on for Kendis, but I haven't written him written him yet. But he counts, because I'm going to send his app soon ... and because I love him so much already.

What Inspired Ori?: So many things. This is easier because I started his app like two weeks ago. So, okay. OG Autumn Grove had a group of teens to mid-twenties called GAS (Gender Agnostic Sisterhood) and AG 2.0 doesn't have many YouthsTM, so I was like OG GAS characters have either grown or moved away, but I miss them. So, let me try my hand at another youth (because I TOTALLY need more characters that I don't play because Kendis has been loud and obnoxious lately).

My friends wanted someone with a magical girl past life. And I really wanted to create a storyteller sort (think Henry from OUAT, think Scheherazade), so I'm going to work on smashing that. I'm really proud of his powers tho. I'm also trying to challenge myself to play a himbo. I haven't before, so in his current life, my baby is a himbo with self-worth issues. A lot of his vibes is inspired by the quote 'how am i going to be an optimist about this' and the song '100 Bad Days' by AJR. So many little things went into this beeb, but Ima stop here. His pb/fc is Chella Man because Chella is deathly too cute (and I need more trans mascs in my roster. Like wtf Nat. MOAR!!!!)

3 - Something New (IF Style)

Isidor "Izzy" Sero: I can't say I'm working on Iz so much rotating him (and my other Wayfarer MC) in my head like a pig on a spit and very, very occasionally poking him with a stick. Izzy is present in the background in my mind but he's not active. Still, he's here because my Wayfarer MCs, like my Speaker and Bloomic OCs, are OCs that I definitely want to do more with and be current on but I don't have that strong a spark on yet. So I work on them passively.

What Inspired Isidor?: MOSTLY my desire for a Sero kid but also him coming out to be the 'opposite of Peitho' (my other Wayfarer MC). Basically, sometimes when I play an IF and I have a vague desire for another MC, a concept will solidify from the Choices Not Chosen. And that is how Izzy came about. A lot of 'what if I had chosen this instead' created more of a tortoise than a hare type of character. He's very slow going to start, but when he starts he goes. I also like to play gender roles with certain IFs -- particularly with fantasy/supernatural sorts. So, though he's very strength based, he's - as mentioned - not the first to jump into the fray with fits flying. Though he may seem the quiet, "stoic" sort, when he does speak he's spoken directly to -- yet he is also highly fucking sentimental. And though that governs so much of his credo, bein a Sero kid he apprecites adaptiblity and resourcefulness. (Actually that's one of the things I like about Wayfarer, so much of the in game lore and character backgrounds help inspire and shape your OCs as you go along. So, where I'd be a little more set with an OC in another IF, here there's a lot more wiggle room).

Thank you for the ask @worldstogetlostin! Sorry for the tl;dr but you've given me stuff to ponder :-D

#grapecase answers #worldstogetlostin #meet my ocs #oc: ori zhou #oc: isidor sero #oc: kendis crawford louel #wayfarer mc #i should finish ori's app #and contemplate izzy's navel now #i have the want qwsdeew lmao

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our-flag-means-death-ao3feed · 11 months

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AU of the AU: just like a one-winged dove

by Vera (Vera_DragonMuse)

This is the one where Izzy gets ticked off enough to leave Eddy. He starts a new life all on his own. (Requested by: beatle411)

Words: 13199, Chapters: 5/5, Language: English

Series: Part 35 of Leda House and the Kraken 'Verse

Fandoms: Our Flag Means Death (TV)

Rating: Mature

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Relationships: Israel Hands/Lucius Spriggs

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting

source https://archiveofourown.org/works/48050602

#Our flag means death #ofmd #https://archiveofourown.org/works/48050602

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fortitudina · 1 year

Text

BASIC INFORMATION

FULL NAME: Isabelle Sophia Lightwood NICKNAME: Iz, Izzy, Belle, AGE: 21 BIRTH DATE: May 15th GENDER: Female SPECIES: Nephilim ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: Biromantic SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Bisexual RELIGION: Catholic SPOKEN LANGUAGE: English & Spanish CURRENT LIVING CONDITIONS: A lavish home OCCUPATION: Shadowhunter, Weapons Master, Forensic Pathologist

RELATIONSHIPS

PARENTS: • Maryse Lightwood ( mother ) • Robert Lightwood ( father ) SIBLINGS: • Alec Lightwood ( older brother ) • Jace Herondale ( adopted Brother ) • Maxwell Lightwood ( little Brother ) SIGNIFICANT OTHER: • Verse Dependent CHILDREN: • Verse Dependent FRIENDS: • Clary Fray ( parabatai ) • Magnus Bane • Tessa Gray • Emma Carstairs • Julian Blackthorn • Jem Carstairs • Lydia Branwell • Raphael Santiago • Luke Garroway • Meliorn OTHER CONNECTIONS: • The Seelies

PHYSICAL TRAITS

EYE COLOUR: Brown HAIR COLOUR: Brunette HEIGHT: 5’5” BODY BUILD: Slender / Mesomorph TATTOOS + PIERCINGS: Runes across her body NOTABLE PHYSICAL TRAITS: Her runes will change in colour when she needs to blend in with the humans around her and will glow when she uses them

POWERS & ABILITIES

POWERS: • Runic Magic • Nephilim Physiology • The Sight ABILITIES: • Skilled in hand-to-hand combat & swordsmanship • Use of Heavenly Weaponry • Whipmaster • Best Forensic Pathologist WEAKNESSES: • Yin Fen • Vampire Venom • Her Family

PHOBIAS & DISORDERS

PHOBIAS: Relapsing MENTAL DISORDERS: - WHEN WAS THIS DIAGNOSED?: -

PERSONALITY

PERSONALITY TYPE: ENFP-A ( Assertive Campaigner ) MORAL ALIGNMENT: Neutral Good INTELLIGENCE: High Intelligence LIKES: • Food • Dancing • Sex • Fashion DISLIKES: • Assholes • Paperwork • Meetings DISPOSITION: Confident in herself and her abilities, Isabelle holds a fiery temper and acts nonchalant and haughty but truthfully, hides behind a distrustful and fragile heart. She is cautious when it comes to love ~ a result of her mother always telling her never to trust men because they will always hurt her but, when she does love, she loves fiercely. EXTRAS: Isabelle often wears clothing that compliments her looks and her figure and is rarely seen wearing anything but high heels on her feet. She is also never seen without her snake whip bangle or her ruby tracking charm.

BIOGRAPHY:

Isabelle Sophia Lightwood is the middle child and only daughter of Robert and Maryse Lightwood. Sometimes it's never fun surrounded by brothers; Alec the grump, Max the tiny terror and their adopted brother, Jace. She was raised, alongside Alec and Jace in the New York Institute, training her entire life to become a Shadowhunter. Despite it always being the three of them as a team, when her brothers became Parabatai, Izzy was more than happy for them.

Clary coming along certainly shook things up a bit, but Isabelle, unlike her brother, was not keen on the girl joining them and despite having runes on her body, she did not believe her to be a true Shadowhunter; even hoping that the Silent Brothers' would not need to be called as Clary would not recover. Ultimately, she did recover and Isabelle was tasked with lending her some of her wardrobe whilst also telling her a bit more about Jace.

Over time, Isabelle became greater friends with Clary and the pair helped one another with missions and personal things ~ quickly becoming good friends. She dealt with her own fair share of trials and tests; some that left scars that she would have to live with but, she was first and foremost a fighter; never one to give up.

#* ISABELLE { BIOGRAPHY }#LONG POST TW

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vocesincaput · 6 months

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🎲 (my jim, your izzy - i have no hesitations XD)

kiss roulette

inspired by the infamous "i want the k" meme by deactivated tumblr user tastcful. send 🎲 to generate a kiss! potential suggestive/nsf.w themes may appear. 12. A kiss along the collar bone

When he had first boarded the Revenge and met them, Izzy would have never imagined this would be how the two of them would end up. They had hated him, he was sure of it. The whole crew had. They had had every right to. Even Izzy could admit he had been an asshole.

But here they still were....

Tangled up in the small bed together. The rising sun slowly beginning to beam in through the open window. Blanket barely covering them, having been almost completely kicked off during the night due to the overwhelming heat.

Izzy's chest was rising and falling slowly as he lay looking up at the ceiling. Contemplating how they had gotten to that point. A half sleepy, half contented smile upon his lips as he turned his head and looked at a sleeping Jim beside him. The corners of his lips twitched up a little further as he looked at them, hand reaching up to brush ever so lightly against their cheek. Surprising himself with the gentle touch.

He couldn't get over how they looked in their sleep. It made something swell within Izzy's chest that he tried to force down but it refused. There had always been something about Jim that he hadn't been able to put his finger on. That feeling had developed into something Izzy hadn't wanted to admit to, couldn't admit to. Not with all the things he had been going through.

But now... now, after they had found each other.... things were different...

Memories of the previous night came floating back to Izzy and his smile grew even more. He then surprised himself again as he shifted onto his side carefully and leant in to kiss Jim's jaw. Slowly shifting his lips to below their ear, their neck until they began to shift over the others collarbone. Hand finding its way to the others hip as he continued. Moustache brushing against their skin with each slow and languid kiss.

Things had definitely changed.

#ic #muse: izzy hands #verse: izzy hands : new life #pyratezlife #pyratezlife: izzy hands #pyratezlife (jim)#non rp blogs do not interact #non rp blogs dni #non rp blogs will be blocked #//no icons for this because of his specific look at this time #//but youve seen the images so you know lol #//also.... this was longer than I thought it would be #//i just started writing and... yeah lol

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somebodytoolove · 3 years

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mutuals as queen lyrics/songs?

YES I AM SO EXCITED 🥺 thank you so much for sending this!! 🥰

ahh their lyrics are actual poetry, just utter perfection 😙 so i had a lot of fun matching these with everyone. 💗🥺

@ecle-c-tic rach— soul brothers

when you’re under pressure, feeling under pressure, he won’t let you down. / he's my best friend he's my champion, and he will rock you rock you rock you 'cause he's the saviour of the universe. he can make you keep yourself alive. he can love. he's my soul brother. *replace he with she 🥺

@mistiermistshazierdays phoebe— she makes me (stormtroopers in stilettos)

who knows where my dreams will end, i’ll follow as they grow. but the world will know how long i’ll take, and if i’m very slow she makes me so... she is my love.

@trinikins— white queen (as it began)

my lady soon will stir this way in sorrow known. the white queen walks and the night grows pale, stars of lovingness in her hair.

@speciallyred anna— march of the black queen

a voice from behind me reminds me, spread out your wings, you are an angel. remember to deliver with the speed of light a little bit of love and joy. everything you do bears a will and a why and a wherefore.

@freddie-moments kathrin— now i’m here

a baby i was when you took my hand, the light of the night burned bright. the people all stared didn’t understand, but you knew my name on sight. / don’t i love you so. yes, you made me live again.

@is-this-a-queen-of-magic julia— seaside rendezvous

let my imagination (run away) with you gladly, a brand new angle highly commendable. / underneath the moonlight together, we’ll sail across the sea reminiscing every night.

@whitequeen-ofwillowgreen J— teo torriatte (let us cling together)

it’s just as though i hold the flower that touches you, a new life grows, the blossom knows. there’s no one else could warm my heart as much as you... be not gone. / let our candles always burn.

@mazzell-ro ro— millionaire waltz

bring out the charge of the love brigade, there is spring in the air once again. drink to the sound of the song parade, there is music and love everywhere. give a little love to me, take a little love from me. i want to share it with you.

@heyjonesey ella— lily of the valley

neptune of the seas, an answer for me please. the lily of the valley doesn’t know. i lie in wait with open eyes, i carry on through stormy skies. / is there time enough for peace?

@aprilaady dor— brighton rock

oh lady moon, shine down a little people magic if you will. / we must ever be together, nothing can my love erase. oh no i’m comprised, i must apologize if my lady should discover how i spent my holidays.

@killerqueenoftheclouds austen— tenement funster

oh give me a good guitar and you can say that my hair’s a disgrace. or just find me an open car, i’ll make the speed of life outta this place. / i like the good things in life.

@hazypoppy pati— modern times rock n’ roll

get you high heeled guitar boots and some groovy clothes, a ring through your nose. / stars in your eyes and ants in your pants, think you should go far. everybody in this bum sucking world gonna know just who you are. look out.

@some-major-ishues izzy— i want to break free

i’ve fallen in love for the first time and this time i know it’s for real. / oh how i want to be free baby, oh how i want to break free.

@drivenbybri sofie— dreamer’s ball

take me to the dreamers ball. i’ll be right on time and i’ll dress so fine. take me, take me, promise not to wake me til it’s morning, it’s all been true. / you make my life worthwhile with the slightest smile.

@musiccat1971 meg— don’t stop me now

tonight, i’m gonna have myself a real good time. i feel alive. and the world, i’ll turn it inside out. i’m floating around in ecstasy so don’t stop me now. / i don’t wanna stop at all.

@eusuntgroot hj— killer queen

caviar and cigarettes, well versed in etiquette, extraordanarily nice. she’s a killer queen. gunpowder, gelatine, dynamite with a laser beam. guaranteed to blow your mind, anytime.

#mutuals as #queen #i put a lot of thought into this i’m sorry it took me forever 🥺

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ducktracy · 3 years

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184. the woods are full of cuckoos (1937)

release date: december 4th, 1937

series: merrie melodies

director: frank tashlin

starring: mel blanc (owlcott, walter finchell, milton squirrel, wendell howl, fox, raven mcquandry), tedd pierce (ben birdie, tizzie fish, andy bovine), sara berner (polly gillette, canary livingstone)

this cartoon gets the honorable award of possibly being the most dated warner bros. shorts in its vast repertoire of cartoons. not to worry! this will be a fun cartoon to unpack—i love delving into the shorts that involve extensive research. learning something new is something that‘s very rewarding to me, and i hope it is to you, too!

a giant ode to the short lived radio program community sing (lasting from 1936-1937), the short chronicles a woodland radio show hosted by a variety of caricatured animals putting on various acts.

iris in to the ringing of a bell. a pudgy, bespectacled owl rings it as he stands illuminated by the moonlight, preaching to all of the woodland critters, ready to start the show. he introduces himself as “owlcott”, a take on commentator alexander woollcott. he “blandly announces” (his words, not mine) the introduction of the master of ceremonies, ben birdie--a bird caricature of radio personality ben bernie, “the old maestro”.

birdie’s caricature is not new to audience’s eyes. the caricature, along with a handful of others, is reused from friz freleng’s the coocoo nut grove from 1936, a short that is very similar in vein to this one. tedd pierce provides birdie’s suave, velvety vocals as he introduces the program, only to be interrupted by the nasally cries of mel blanc. out pops walter finchell, a caricature of bernie’s faux-enemy walter winchell, both of whom carrying a notorious (and fake) feud in the radio-verse. it was common for winchell to interrupt the smooth-talking bernie, either throwing pranks or remarks his way, to which bernie dismissed every time. indeed, a signature tashlin upshot angle reveals finchell dropping an egg on top of birdie, who blocks it nonchalantly with a handy umbrella.

art loomer’s backgrounds for the cartoon are absolutely gorgeous. they’re vibrant in color, very lush and painterly, but remain playful and sophisticated at the same time. they certainly serve as a highlight to the short. and, as always, carl stalling’s scores are a blast to hear--his sardonic, wah-wah rendition of “cause my baby says it’s so” is a jolly juxtaposition to the prior score of “love is on the air tonight”, the latter being the song’s cartoon debut. it would be reused in cartoons such as the daffy doc, whereas “cause my baby says its so” was heard previously in rover’s rival.

birdie introduces a clever squirrel caricature of milton berle, whose routine gets interrupted by a little parrot named polly. polly is a take on eileen barton’s character, little jolly gillette, who was portrayed as the daughter of the show’s sponsor. polly and milton go through their act together, polly bluntly (yet innocently) announcing “my daddy says ya gotta let me sing ‘cause he’s a sponsor!” you can listen to real recordings of their banter here!

volney white’s animation of milton and polly is lively and jovial, constantly moving. milton energetically introduces us to our next star, pointing in the wrong direction and fixing it last second as he gestures towards a bird caricature of country singer wendell hall.

even if viewers don’t recognize the bird’s counterpart, they will most certainly recognize his voice--mel uses his foghorn leghorn voice for wendell “howl”. of course, foghorn wouldn’t debut for another 9 years, but that’s another story. the animation of the raucous bird is fun to watch as he extends his neck and wraps it around in coils around the microphone stand. random? yes, but fun nevertheless.

perhaps even more commendable is the staggering crowd shot that succeeds wendell’s scenes. the crowd is mirrored horizontally, but that doesn’t lessen the blow from how claustrophobic it is. wendell asks the audience to get out their songbooks and turn to page “22... no, page 44. uh, no, uh, page 28. uh, 42, uh, 36, uh, 45...”

wendell is transformed from an entertainer to an auctioneer, spitting out numbers at rapid pace as his crowd frantically tears through their songbooks. finally, he concedes. “oh, never mind. we won’t use the books.” off screen, the crowd roars in unison: “OH YES WE WILL!” with that, wendell is generously showered with a barrage of books, buried in the pile of rejected papers. the timing of the scene is comedically sharp and energetic, one of the more entertaining acts of the cartoon.

now, for the real song number, lead by goat and bear caricatures of billy jones and ernie hare (would a rabbit caricature be too on the nose?) respectively, animated by volney white. they march out onto the stage--er, tree trunk--and open the curtains to reveal a sing-along to the eponymous song. thus, the camera pans into the lyrics as everybody bursts into the all-too-earworm-causing song number.

as the crowd, ben birdie and walter finchell all lend their voices to the song, a fox caricature of fred allen sings “swanee river”, clashing with the unity of everybody else. in a nod to friz freleng’s toy town hall where the same routine was executed, a little bunny excitedly coos “ohhhh, mr. allen! you’re singing the wrong sooooong!” the fox bursts into everybody’s favorite Mel Blanc Yell as he repeats a frequent ‘30s catchphrase: “WHY DON’T SOMEBODY TELL ME THESE THINGS!?”

featured in the song is a seemingly interminable cast of celebrity caricatures, all introduced as the camera pans across the screen, each lending their voice to part of the song. some puns require more effort than others (dick powell as “dick fowl” rolls off the tongue better than al jolson as “al goatson”). caricatures include:

eddie cantor as eddie gander, sophie tucker as sophie turkey, w.c. fields as w.c. fieldmouse, dick powell as dick fowl, fats waller as fats swallow, deanna durbin as deanna terrapin, irvin s. cobb as irvin s. frog, fred macmurray as fred mcfurry, bing crosby as bing crowsby, al jolson as al goatson, ruby keeler as ruby squealer, lanny ross as lanny hoss, grace moore as grace moose, and finally lily pons as lily swans.

speaking of grace and lily, they’re both highlighted as they fight to out-perform each other, seeing who can sing the highest note. tashlin pulls of a rather intriguing camera move: as the pan settles on the two of them, the background changes. it’s a subtle maneuver, but smart thinking nonetheless--especially since the camera extends into a vertical pan. as both women fight to sing the highest note, their necks extend, both of them scaling high into the night sky, harmonizing on one final shrill note. they both crumple back into the stands, exhausted by their efforts. some fun exaggerated animation for sure--one wonders how much further this would have been pushed had this been tashlin’s second stint at WB rather than his first. his speed often rivaled, if not out-performed, tex avery’s.

birdie and finchell have a brief interstitial together before making way for a raven caricature of haven macquarrie (raven mcquandry). his sequence is almost jarringly short, but full of fun drawings and poses--the pose of him standing curtly with his arms crossed is awfully reminiscent of izzy ellis’ work under tashlin and later bob clampett in the mid ‘40s. mcquandry asks “do YOU wanna be an actor?”, parotting the name of his real life counterpart’s show so do you want to be an actor? the audience shouts “NO!” in unison, causing mcquandry to do a take and shrug dubiously. though the scene is only a few short seconds, the animation brings forth some much needed vitality.

next is a penguin caricature of joe penner, singing a hilariously out-of-tune rendition of “my green fedora”. the animation is reused from the cartoon of the same name (notice how he doesn’t have penguin feet!), which was also used in toy town hall. not a complaint, but more an observation--this is by far the most humorous performance of the song yet, sung by blanc rather than tommy bond.

another fun scene with some vivacious animation is a sequence featuring a mule caricature of martha raye (dubbed moutha bray), singing a cover of “how could you?”, which has been featured as an underscore in cartoons such as porky’s badtime story and its later remake, tick tock tuckered. raye’s large mouth served as prime material for caricatures, as we see here. the animation is snappy, fun, and vivid--she finishes her song by “swallowing” the camera, an old trick that beckons memories of the harman and ising cartoons of animation past.

an interesting trend in the ‘30s WB cartoons is the trend of playing with the iris, whether it was the closing iris out or an iris in between transitions. tex avery would consistently play with the final iris out on his cartoons, whereas directors such as friz freleng and bob clampett would use one as a transition between scenes. here, tashlin uses the “swallow the camera” technique as a segue for an iris in, tedd pierce’s falsetto squeaking “hello folksies!” as we’re introduced to a fish caricature of tizzie lish, a character played by bill comstock on al pearce and his gang.

though tizzie has long faded into obscurity (as has the entire community sing radio show), it’s still quite easy to appreciate pierce’s vocals and mannerisms as he portrays the character. it’s always a joy to hear him doing voices for cartoons--he’s never been my favorite writer on the crew, but he was an excellent talent as a voice actor. his squeaky deliveries, matter of fact deliveries “mix them up... are you mixing? my friends say i’m a good mixer. are you? or aren’t you?” as tizzie haphazardly dumps food items and their respective utensils into a bowl and prepares the meal are nothing short of hilarious. the timing is very well executed and can be appreciated regardless of background knowledge.

after humming a pitchy rendition of “the lady in red” while waiting for her concoction to bake in the waffle iron, tizzie removes the homemade waffle and discards it, instructing the audience “now take the ‘wiffle’ out and eat the iron. you must have iron in your system. or should you?” thus concludes tizzie’s act, certainly heightened in hilarity by pierce’s vocals and timing.

for the final act, ben birdie introduces a possum caricature of louella parsons, the host of the radio program hollywood hotel, which served as a way to advertise upcoming movies by featuring guest stars enacting some of the scenes. here, we have caricatures of jack benny (as jack bunny, the first of his many reoccurrences), mary livingstone (canary livingstone), and andy devine (andy bovine).

tedd pierce voices andy bovine, whose voice burlusqued not only in this cartoon, but to a greater extent in friz freleng’s my little buckeroo not even a year later. devine, a western star, was notorious for his scratchy, shrill voice which was rife for comedic opportunity. indeed, this scene here with pierce’s vocals is nothing short of hilarious:

the trio chronicle the prodigal’s return, in which bunny and canary coo over their baby son. out of the bassinet pops incongruously large bovine, who shrieks “HOWDY MAAAA! HI PAAAA!”, the sheer volume of his voice enough to blow both of his parents away and out of the scene. and, with that, the scene ends, red curtains colorized from porky’s romance marking the sequence’s end. short, sweet, to the point, and hilarious.

ending right where the cartoon began, the owl caricature of alexander woollcott bids us farewell, the iris closing in on the bell he rings as he exclaims that all is well.

like so many other cartoons i’ve reviewed, this is one that i slowly warmed up to upon rewatching it and typing out the review for myself. i didn’t entirely dislike the cartoon upon my first watch, but it’s undeniably dated and deserves its title as possibly the most dated cartoon. without further research, some of the jokes and caricatures (if not all of them) are difficult to appreciate. the animation has bursts of energy throughout the short, the highlights being the scenes featuring raven mcquarry and moutha bray, but otherwise remains relatively simple and conservative. tashlin does incorporate a few intriguing camera angles throughout the cartoon, but many other entries of his are far more cinematic.

however, despite all of that, this cartoon is not without its bonuses: art loomer’s backgrounds are stunningly gorgeous and rich, and as someone who loves the lush, painterly backgrounds of the 1930s, this is heaven to me. and, as i mentioned previously, tedd pierce’s scenes are great--the tizzie fish and andy bovine sequences are undeniable comedic highlights.

so, if you’re willing to dedicate time to put in the research for this cartoon, you’ll find it’s quite fascinating! i’m certain this was a much bigger gut-buster in 1937 than it is in 2020, but even then, this is a good cartoon for people such as myself who love to learn more information and seek out facts. as a result, i’d recommend it to people who fall into that category. if you’re just someone who wants a good laugh and a leisurely watch, there are more interesting cartoons that lie ahead. you won’t miss much by skipping it.

with that said, here’s the link!

#lt #the woods are full of cuckoos #looney tunes #tashlin #reviews #long post

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comicgeekscomicgeek · 3 years

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Their Hero Academia - Chapter 83: Of Sound and Wings

Continuing my nextgen MHA fic!

Earlier chapters can be found here

To say Toshi was worried was an understatement. While no one had said anything bad would happen if they lost the relay, that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to give it his all. Which meant he had to make sure he wasn’t going to let anyone else down either. And he was more than certain that, however the relay worked out, Aizawa and Uncle Kacchan would be using whatever he saw to help format their lessons going forward. Their teacher would just use any failings to push them all the harder.

He couldn’t allow his differences with Tatsuma to be the reason they failed. While there hadn’t been any more violence or any scuffles between the U.A. and Shiketsu students (Not even from Katsumi, which seemed to be a minor miracle in and of itself), there was still a strained feeling when some members of the two groups interacted. And Tatsuma had made a point of avoiding him.

He needed to be able to clear the air with the Shiketsu girl. Even if there was still bad blood afterwards, he needed to apologize and he needed to make sure that they’d be able to work together. Plenty of Heroes didn’t get along off the field but could put their differences aside enough to fight alongside each other. He would have liked to at least get to that point.

They had a few minutes before they had to start getting ready, so he sought her out, finding her standing alone. The other Shiketsu students looked to have already peeled off to find their respective U.A. partners.

“Ah, hey, Tatsuma,” he began. “Do you have a minute to talk?”

Tatsuma didn’t budge an inch. When she spoke she didn’t even turn around. “Later than I expected this to happen. The instructors have forced your hand.”

Toshi frowned and swallowed nervously. “You’re right,” he said. “I have been putting this off.” Not very heroic of him, really. “And the timing makes it look even less great than it already is.”

Best to just get it out there.

“I owe you an apology.”

She turned to look at him now. With her arms crossed and her stoic stance, it made her already tall figure even more imposing.

“For what?” The question is not one of confusion or lack of knowledge, but rather did he understand what he should be sorry about.

Toshi was of average height for his age, with maybe a few more inches to go, but the way Tatsuma simply towered over most people did nothing to ease the situation. “I was pretty insensitive when we talked near the beginning of the camp,” he began. “And didn’t do a good job of listening to what you were actually saying. It’s been pointed out that I don’t always see the privileged position my family gives me and I trivialized something very important to you.”

He looked up. “And for that, I’m sorry.”

Tatsuma listened, looking at him carefully before speaking. “Well I can’t find a realistic problem with your apology. So..thank you.” Her eyes narrowed a bit. “I’d argue it’s something many Heroes should see as important, but now is a pointless time to argue it.”

Toshi nodded. It was about as good a reaction as he could have hoped for. Tatsuma didn’t seem like the type to lash out violently, the way Katsumi might (Though in truth, Katsumi was always more bark than bite), but he’d been deeply afraid of making things worse. He was a Class Representative. He was supposed to be a leader, someone others looked to and who helped make things right, not someone who caused trouble with other schools.

“You’re not wrong,” he agreed. “I’ve grown up around enough Heroes, not just my family…” He winced slightly. A reminder of all that probably wasn’t the best choice of words. “But a lot of them question if they’re not good enough, if they’re not doing enough. And their failures stay with them too.”

Dad didn’t talk about it much. He wanted to keep a smiling face, especially for this family. But as Toshi had gotten older, he’d been more willing to talk about the lives he couldn’t save, the times he was too slow or too late. He’d wanted to impress upon Toshi that being a Hero could bring great joy, but that it would weigh you down too.

“I don’t know why the press or the public treated your mother differently. But she didn’t deserve that.”

For a time, he had had her attention. Maybe he’d gotten this right. Tatsuma was also a Class Rep. and as such she represented her school. As much as she may have wanted to show up UA, she had to know holding grudges like that weren’t good for anybody. And it was true that in the past, the rankings had led to a lot of damaging and toxic behavior. You just had to look at Izzy’s grandfather for that. But things were different now, right? But when he mentioned her mother, he suddenly felt the situation change, the hairs on the back of his next standing up.

Human life had started long after the dinosaurs had died out, despite what a lot of science fiction would have people believe. But if a man had been threatened by a t-rex, he was certain it would felt like what he was feeling now.

Toshi would later swear that he saw Tatsuma’s eyes go red. “Because of the damn rankings!” Smoke started to unfurl from her nostrils. “She fell from the all-mighty Top Ten! The heroes of all heroes! You think anyone says anything if someone drops a rank in the 20’s or 30’s? No, no one cares about their efforts. But if someone can’t cut being in the Top Ten-!” Her skin looked like a very thin layer of scales was forming.

“That's all my mother ever heard! ‘You couldn’t cut it.’ ‘Leave it to the men!’ ‘You weren’t meant to be among the elite!” All because of how the rankings portray what Heroes are supposed to be!”

She was now towering over Toshi now. “I won’t dismiss what your father has done for this country, or any of the others in the Ten, but if you can’t see how it has also harmed those who have done nothing but sacrificed-!” Her hands clenched. She was very, VERY close, then snarled and turned away.

“Seung’s worked too hard to keep her emotions in control. I can’t disgrace that effort.” Tatsuma let out a breath, a steaming hot one. “You’ll never get it. You’re too ingrained. I should probably just accept that.” She was quiet for a moment, before finally speaking up again. “What else did you want?”

To his credit, Toshi had managed to stand his ground during Tatsuma’s tirade, only taking a slight step backwards once. As it was, he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. “I’m sorry,” he began. “This is important to you, I can tell. And I’m sorry for the pain it’s caused you and your mom. What happened to her wasn’t right and wasn’t fair.”

He straightened up a little. Maybe this was too much meddling. But wasn’t meddling the job of a Hero? Tatsuma had so much anger in her, it was going to consume if she didn’t find a way to break it.

“And maybe I am too close to see some things. But I’m also close enough to a lot of things to see some of the details. When your mother started dropping in rankings, it was a different time. The world was still hurting from the loss of All Might and wanted its Heroes to be more perfect than they were, than they could actually be. I don’t know, can’t know, if that was the cause, but I’d be surprised if that didn’t have something to do with it. And none of that would make it right or fair if it did.

“But while I can’t quote you chapter and verse like Shota could, I can tell you that plenty of people have risen and fallen out of the Top Ten in the last decade or more, and only the trashiest and least reputable ‘news’ sources and commentators are bad mouthing them. Creati dropped down to Number Eleven a while back. And you know what she did? She congratulated Rodeo, who jumped up to Seven and knocked her ranking down.”

He frowned. “What happened to Ryukyu wasn’t right. I agree with you on that. And you’ve every right to be angry about it. But I don’t think it’s like that anymore.”

He shook his head. Maybe there was still something he was missing. But he had to try and bridge that gap. “But maybe you’re right. Maybe this is something we can’t agree on. But can we work together?”

She looked back at him. “If Ground Zero and Deku could learn to work together, it would be embarrassing and shameful if we couldn’t.” There is the vaguest hint of a smile. Maybe he’d said some of the right things. At least, he hadn’t made it any worse.

Toshi gave her a small smile of his own. “Oh, the stories I could tell you about that…”

***

The Rookies’ relay course was set up in the woodlands around their compound, virtually invisible from the treetops, but complicated once you got to it. There were bridges and swings, with complex structures built into the trees. The tree line itself was thick with trees and other vegetation, making it difficult to see where any attack might be coming from. Fortunately, their path was pretty straightforward.

“You got Tomodachi okay?” Inuzaki asked. He was ahead of Shota, in dog form, pausing every so often to sniff the air.

“Good enough,” Shota told him. The “civilian” they were rescuing was a training dummy, like the kind they used at U.A. It was about the size of an adult man and loaded with sensors that would tally up injuries and damage. They had immediately decided that he’d needed a name. Shota had him over his shoulders in a fireman’s carry. He didn’t need his arms free to use his Quirk, after all.

“He’s pretty heavy though!” Shota said. “Maybe he should run the course too!” He was in good shape—you couldn’t be in the Hero course and not be—but he wasn’t anywhere near as fit as Toshi, Kirishima-Bakugo, or Shoji. Even Inuzaki was in better shape than him when he was in human form. Still, his joke did get a laugh out of Inuzaki, so it was worth it.

Dad always said you had to take care of your body as much as your Quirk. Maybe he needed to start working out more. Toshi was always working out. But he got up so early to do it!

“Smell anything?” Shota asked.

Inuzaki stopped and shook his head. “Maybe. Lots of smells. I can smell people. Mostly the Rookies. They’ve been through here a lot. Might be trying to make it confusing.”

“Let me try,” Shota said. He took in a breath then started to unleash one of his sonar-screams, but stopped when Inuzaki started whining.

He cut the scream immediately. “What, what is it?” Shota asked.

Inuzaki winced. “Your scream hurt my ears,” he said, quietly. “It was like a knife through my skull!”

Crap! His Quirk and Inuzaki’s weren’t compatible? How were they going to do this? He had to scream to use his Quirk! When they got attacked, he’d have to use it! But if it hurt his friend, then what could he do? Maybe it was only certain frequencies?

“That’s only when you’re a dog, right?” Shota asked. “Change back for a second. I’ll get a quick look and then we can keep going.”

“Okay,” Inuzaki agreed. He stopped though, his back leg scratching at his ear. “Hang on, gotta scratch first.”

“Oh! How cute!”

The girlish voice seemed to come from nowhere. It could only be Ojiro! But where was she?!

Inuzaki sniffed. “Ah ha! Got you!” He jumped up and seemed to collide with something in mid-air. Ojiro reappeared as they hit the ground.

“Oh, dang it!” Ojiro cried out. She tried to get up, but Inuzaki’s weight was keeping her down. “I got distracted!

“Hold her still!” Shota said. They’d been given ‘capture cuffs’ so that they could harmlessly take their classmates out of the fight, though there was a good chance they’d have to do at least a little damage. He had some in his pocket, but he also had the dummy! Crap! What were they going to… Inuzaki changed back to his human form in a puff of smoke. He had capture cuffs too! Right. Why was he worried?

Ojiro was quick though, using that moment of transition to act. She brought her legs up, flipping Inuzaki over her, then sprang up to her feet. “So close!” she said. “But not quick enough!” Meanwhile, Inuzaki changed back to dog form in midair, landing easily. He and Ojiro circled each other warily.

Before he could help, the ground started shaking. Shota swallowed hard. He remembered now, one of Class 1-B had a vibration-based Quirk, didn’t she? Mio Yamaguchi, a dark haired girl.

The vibrations picked up intensely, knocking Shota off his feet. He hit the ground, twisting to minimize the damage to Tomodachi, but he knew he took at least a small hit. “Sorry, sorry, sorry,” Shota told the dummy. Carefully getting back to his feet, he looked around for any sign of Yamaguchi or anyone else. Behind him, he could hear the sounds of Ojiro and Inuzaki fighting.

He wanted to help. He really did. But if there was more trouble coming, somebody had to watch.

Doing the right thing sucked sometimes. But he had to trust that Inuzaki was going to be able to handle it. “Better hold your ears, Tomodachi,” he told the dummy. “It might get loud!” If he kept his powers really focused, hopefully he’d wouldn’t hurt Inuzaki either.

There. Yamaguchi stepped into view, looking beyond Shota. “Can’t you catch one dog, Ojiro?” she asked, sounding annoyed.

From behind him, Ojiro called out. “It’s really hard! He’s really fast!”

Yamaguchi rolled her eyes. “Okay, let me just take care of the kid and I’ll help.” She brought up both of her hands, unleashing vibrational waves that seemed to blur the air in front of her.

Dang it! Just because he was short and a few months younger, it didn’t mean he was a baby! Why did everybody treat him like he was a little kid!

“YOU’RE NOT GONNA STOP ME!” he shouted, clenching his fists. He unleashed his Quirk, turning a shout into a broad sonic wave. His wave met Yamaguchi’s vibrational blast in mid-air, where there was a small explosion of air as the two different waves hit each other, before his own caused hers to dispense. Somewhere behind him, he heard Inuzaki yelp. He just prayed his new friend could hold on.

“What?” Yamaguchi said. “How’d you do that?”

Shota grinned. “I canceled out your vibrations with my own!” Maybe not as good as Uncle Shota’s Erasure, but his sonic vibrations could stop hers well enough.

Again and again, Yamaguchi threw her vibrational blasts at him, but Shota kept canceling them out. Her vibrations were at least as strong as his sonics. Keepings up that kind of pace, matching vibration with vibration, was making his skull rattle. Even without the blasts hitting him, he could practically feel the vibrations in his bones. Even though he wasn’t used to fighting someone with powers even a little bit like his own, he was holding his ground, but if he didn’t do something, he was sure to lose!

“Okay, that’s it…” Yamaguchi said. A look of annoyance crossed her face. “Guess it’s time to bring down the house!” Her eyes narrowed and she brought both hands together and pointed them down, ready to unleash another vibrational blast. The air was practically humming as she charged up her power. He had to do something… now!

Shota took in another breath and screamed, hitting the ground under Yamaguchi with a carefully modulated sonic pulse. While he mostly used his Quirk for purely destructive sonic screams, he could do so much more than that depending on the frequencies he hit. Everything from sonar to force fields to all kinds of other effects. In this case, he could hyper-agitate molecules causing…

An explosion! It wasn’t a big one, but the ground underneath Yamaguchi exploded, knocking her off her feet and several feet back. As she landed, Shota rushed over, unclipping one of the capture cuffs from his belt. Yamaguchi was still trying to get her bearings when he slapped one end on her wrist and then the other.

“All right!” he cheered. “Got you!”

Yamaguchi just stared at him, then rolled her eyes. “Monoma’s never going to let me hear the end of this.”

Shota wondered why Monoma would give her a hard time. She tried her best!

“Oh, dang it! This is so unfair! How you can you be this cute and this tough?! IF YOU WERE CLOSER, I’D GIVE YOU SUCH A SMACK!”

Shota’s attention was instantly drawn to where Inuzaki had managed to corner Ojiro. She’d climbed up into a tree, and Inuzaki was back in dog form, circling the bottom of it.

Inuzaki transformed back to his human shape. “Can you get her down? I’m not so good with climbing.”

Shota nodded. “Let me try this one…” He let lose another scream, shifting the pitch a bit. This time, when his sonic attack hit the tree, it began to shake and vibrate violently, but it didn’t explode.

“Nnnnnnnoooo fffffaaaaiiiirrrrr,” Ojiro wailed. She was struggling to hang on and ultimately lost the fight. She fell, landing flat on the ground. “Ouch…” She held her up arms. “Just cuff me already.”

***

They’d probably gone another two kilometers, easy. Shota wasn’t really good with eyeballing distances. Every now and then, they’d trade off, with Inuzaki resuming his human form so he could carry Tomodachi and so Shota could scan the area with sonar. But the forest was so thick with trees and everything else, it was hard to see anything that way. Buildings were a lot easier.

“How much further?” he asked. He was pretty sure they’d been told how far they had to travel for the hand-off, but he may not have been paying the best attention.

“About another couple kilometers,” Inuzaki said. “I think. Everything looks bigger from down here.”

Not too much farther then. But there were definitely more of his classmates or schoolmates out there, waiting for them. Unless they were really dogpiling the other teams, there had to be at least one, maybe two more coming after them. Even Shota could do that kind of math.

“Do you smell anything?” Shota asked. It hadn’t worked so well last time, not with all the other smells in the forest, but maybe they’d get lucky.

Inuzaki made a weird face, one which looked even stranger on a dog. “I smell something,” he said. “Like ink, maybe?”

“Oh!” Shota said. He knew who that was! “Fukidashi!”

“The cartoon girl?” Inuzaki asked. He sounded a little annoyed, which was surprising, given how well he got on with everyone. “I tried talking to her a few times, but every time I did, she just kept going on about how cute I was. Just like the invisible girl. It got old really fast.”

Shota frowned, looking around. Where could she be? His eyes fell on a strange looking patch of ground. “Do you see that?” he asked, pointing.

“Is that patch of ground a different color?” Inuzaki asked, curiously.

Shota bent down and grabbed a stick from the ground. Getting back up with Tomodachi on his shoulders was tricky, but he managed it. He gave the stick a toss towards the patch of ground.

The stick hit something, making a small thunk sound. Instantly, Anime Fukidashi sprang from the patch on the ground, partially covered in leaves and dirt. “Aw,” Fukidashi said as she landed. “How did you know?!”

“The ground was a different color,” Inuzaki said. He bent down low, ready to pounce.

“Dammit!” Fukidashi yelled. Her head somehow got larger as she yelled, becoming larger than the rest of her body. “Betrayed by the drawing on the animation cell!”

Inuzaki looked over at Shota. “Is she all right?” he asked. Shota just shrugged. Even he and Toshi had no real idea how her Quirk worked or how it affected her.

Before any of them could act, suddenly, something snaked around Tomodachi, yanking him off Shota’s shoulders! There was Kaminari, coming out of the bushes behind Fukidashi, her Cords wrapped around the dummy and dragging it towards her. He could even see a few sparks dancing across her Cords and areas of the dummy lighting up as it registered damage.

“Nice job being the distraction, Fukidashi,” Kaminari said. Her expression turned slightly apologetic. “Sorry Shinso, but you’re not winning this one.”

He couldn’t get in a good sonic blast with her holding Tomodachi like that. He was in the way and she could still shock him either way. “Aw, c’mon, Kaminari,” he said sadly. “We gotta win this one! Everybody’s counting on us! I don’t want to disappoint everybody! I just… I just gotta…”

Her face fell as he talked. There. There was his moment. “Aaaaah!” Shota let out a shout, a regular one, and charged, tackling Kaminari about the middle and knocking her to the ground. He hated tricking her like that, but if everybody was going treat him like a little kid, then maybe he should take advantage of that. He landed on top of her, with his head on her… He jerked his head up quickly!

Kaminari’s Cords reflexively reeled in when he tackled her, but as she soon as she was able, her Cords poked into his back and unleashed a jolt of electricity. It wasn’t a strong shock, just enough to make him release his grip, but it still hurt. Shota let out a cry of pain and let go, as Kaminari shoved him off her. As he hit the ground, he could see Fukidashi trying to hit Inuzaki with a comically oversized hammer.

“Dang it!” Fukidashi yelled when her latest hammer strike failed to hit Inuzaki. “Why won’t the music change? Isn’t he a comedy character?!”

Kaminari, meanwhile, was back on her feet, heading for Tomodachi again. She was too close! If he missed with a sonic blast, he’d hit the dummy. But he’d been working hard on his Quirk all through the camp. And Bioshock helped him figure out some other pitches he could use. If he could go high, Bioshock had said, he could go low.

Infrasound.

He opened his mouth and pitched his sonic power low, buffeting Kaminari with waves of low-frequency sound. She stopped in her tracks, suddenly clutching her stomach. She wobbled on her feet, before falling to her knees, throwing up. Shota was already on his feet, running past her. “Sorry!” he called out. “It won’t last long, I promise! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!”

As quick as he could, he hoisted Tomodachi over his shoulders again.

Inuzaki had Fukidashi cornered now, growling. She let the hammer fall from her hands and it vanished as soon as it let her fingers. “Sure, now the dramatic music plays.”

Inzuki reared up and hit Fukidashi hard with both front paws, knocking her to the ground. She hit her head on the ground and laid there, stunned, with little cartoon birds floating around her head.

Shota definitely didn’t understand how her Quirk worked.

“C’mon,” he said, moving as fast as he could. “They won’t be down for long!”

He and Inuzaki ran. Soon enough, he could see Kocho and Shida waiting up ahead, standing next to a small sign that clearly marked the second leg of the relay.

They’d done it!

***

Shinso and Inuzaki had definitely looked worse for wear by the time they’d arrived and handed off the training dummy (Which they’d named, for some reason.) to Koharu and Shida. The two had spun a tale of being ambushed twice, but had managed to successfully fight their way through. It gave her a good idea of what to expect. There would probably be at least four attackers then, though there might be more. She’d done the math. There weren’t quite enough students for a totally even split.

At least for now, Shida was carrying the dummy. With her spider-legs carrying her in a way that reminded Koharu a lot of how Shoji traveled with his own Quirk, she was able to hold the dummy in her arms and remain mobile. Koharu herself was flapping her wings, floating just a bit above ground level. That way, if they needed to engage, she wouldn’t waste any time on a takeoff. The forest canopy, for now, meant moments to fly really high were going to be few and far between, but there was enough space between the trees that someone could still fly under it.

And flying above the canopy had been strictly prohibited. Even if it wasn’t against the rules, there were several other students with flight Quirks and it was likely at least one of them would be playing the Villain for their leg of the relay. And she’d be leaving Shida behind if she did that, which seemed like it would defeat the purpose of the exercise.

None of which did anything to quell her body’s primary panic at the spider-like aspects of the Shiketsu girl. Given there were spiders that ate moths, it was a natural reaction for animal-type Quirks like theirs. She was getting better at it than when the camp had started, though. It helped that the other girl was incredibly nice (and, she admitted with a blush, rather cute), but her instinctive reaction was still just below the surface.

On the plus side, the two of them were going to be incredibly hard to sneak up on. Between Shida’s multiple-eyes and her own antenna, they had a range of extra-sensory perception.

“See anything?” Koharu asked quietly. Her antennae weren’t giving her any good information, unless you counted knowing where several squirrels and more than a few birds were.

“Not yet.” Shida said. If she’d noticed that Koharu tended to keep her distance from her, she didn’t let on but she seemed happy enough to be working with her. Her six eyes glanced about in multiple directions. “I doubt that will be the case much longer.” It didn’t help that she wasn’t sure where exactly to look. Knowing who the “Villains” were would have helped, but Heroes seldom had a heads-up.

“Me neither,” she replied. But Shida was right. Sooner than later was to be expected.

It didn’t take long for that sooner to become now. There was a great cracking sound and one of the trees fell, blocking the way forward for a moment. Someone strong then, or maybe Kaniyashiki from 1-B with her scissor Quirk? But even then, between her ability to fly and Shida’s legs, it would only slow them down for a minute. So what was their enemy’s plan?

A sound like jet engines told her what it was: a distraction!

Faster than a bullet, one of the Iida twins--Sora, she realized--blasted through the air right towards them. She was fast enough that Koharu couldn’t react in time to stop her, only to get out of the way. Iida stuck an arm out as she flew past, grabbing the arm of the dummy Shida was carrying as she tried to rocket away.

Like Koharu, Shida hadn’t seen Sora coming. She’d told Koharu before they’d set out that, while spiders had six eyes, their sense of sight actually wasn’t all that strong. She could see more than most people, but only by volume, not by magnification. There was no way either of them should have been able to see her coming in time. But somehow, Akira’s second-from-the back left spider-leg to shot out in a reflexive strike.

It was a solid strike, enough to send the Iida girl flying off course, slamming head first into a tree trunk. She still had the dummy though, which made things complicated. Already, she was scrambling back to her feet, although quite unsteadily. Koharu spat a blob of String Shot at her, pinning her to the tree with a mass of sticky strands stronger than steel.

“How did you do that?” Koharu asked, unable to keep the amazement out of her voice.

Shida bowed her head slightly and smiled. “My leg hairs. They’re very sensitive to vibrations. It’s a bit of an instinctive reaction to danger like that.”

“This is excellent tensile strength,” Iida said, as she struggled to break free. She sounded impressed. Koharu could hear the other girl’s Jetpack engines firing, but for the moment, her String Shot held. “I would love an opportunity to examine this at a later date! The uses are practically unlimited!”

“Sister!” a voice called out. It had to be Tensei Iida. “As much as I am in agreement with you, now is hardly the time for scientific curiosity!”

“It is always the time for curiosity, little brother!”

“I have asked you to stop calling me that!”

“Maybe you two could have this discussion another time?” Another voice asked. It was Shoji. He sounded very, very tired. Koharu didn’t blame him. The Iidas were very nice, but they could also be exhausting.

Shoji dropped down from between two trees, using his extra arms like spider-legs, free-falling the last few feet to land with a slight thud. Tensei Iida, meanwhile, dropped down with a series of shot Jetpack bursts to slow his fall. Both of them were between Koharu and Shida and the dummy.

She shot Shida a quick glance. “How long can you hold your breath?” she whispered. Iida and Shoji were playing defense for the moment, watching them.

“That’s a complicated answer with my mixed body. But I can “hold it” long enough. What are you planning?” Koharu remembered, vaguely, that spiders didn’t breathe in the same way as some animals, but she didn’t know how that applied to the spider-girl.

“I can drop a sleeping powder from my wing scales,” Koharu said quickly and quietly. Shoji was eying them warily, all six of his arms up in a fighting stance, while Tensei Iida attempted to free his sister and the dummy without success. “If I can cover a wide enough area, I can knock them out. Iida’s crazy fast and Shoji’s crazy strong. Probably the best chance we’ve got.”

“Hmm, I could use my legs to lift my body above the powder. Plus I should be able to use my leg hairs to feel the vibrations of where they might move even if I can’t see them,” Shida suggested.

Koharu nodded. These were all Hero students with months of training that she simply didn’t have. And many of them had even more than that, coming from Hero families. Neither side here had a full understanding of what the other could do, so evening out to neutral was the closest they had to an advantage. “Let’s do it.”

She flapped hard, gaining height and propelling herself forward towards the boys, already releasing her Sleep Powder from her wings. Down below, Tensei Iida looked up and let out a cry of alarm, while Shoji moved towards Shida, his top pair of extra arms stretching out to grab at her.

Shida saw Shoji heading for her, scanning above herself with her uppermost eyes. Staying on the ground was a bad idea as she had no idea how strong Shoji really was. She bent her legs, took a moment to look Shoji in the eyes, and gave the six-armed boy a wink that Koharu would have called flirtatious, before her legs suddenly unbent and sent her flying up into the air. Shooting well up past the smaller trees, Shida extended several of her legs to pierce and grab onto the nearest larger specimen. Others of her legs lashed out at Shoji.

Shoji dodged out of the way of the initial strike, pushing himself to the side with his lower set of arms. “Good reflexes,” he said, his voice smooth, like silk. He craned his neck to follow Shida, top arms extending out at her, but his maximum extension wasn’t enough to get him close.

Meanwhile, having recovered from his initial shock, Tensei Iida was rocketing into the air. He was a major threat, though without the armor and support equipment Koharu had seen him use during the final exam, possibly slightly less of one. And she had the advantage in maneuverability.

She flapped hard as she flew, releasing her Sleep Powder from her wings until the air was filled with the orange powder. Iida got the worst of it, flying directly into the cloud of it. He coughed and sputtered and was out almost immediately. Which meant that his Jetpack cut out and he started falling like a stone. Koharu cursed and went into into a dive, catching him in midair by grabbing his wrists. She let loose a cry of pain as her jerked to a stop. It felt like her arms were being torn from their sockets!

“Dammit,” she hissed. Iida was heavy, muscular and compact. She could just about manage to carry her own bodyweight when flying, but he was definitely heavier than she was. She dropped down low and released him, letting him hit the ground. He’d gotten more than enough powder that he didn’t wake up.

Shoji, meanwhile, was still standing. She’d had to stop spreading her powder to keep Tensei from dropping and he hadn’t gotten nearly as big a dose. His arms lashed out again, grabbing her wrists!

It had been a gamble that she’d be able to drop Shoji, especially as big as he was and as little powder as she’d been able to release. She was glad Shida had her back. As soon as she’d seen Koharu drop down to save Iida, the spider-girl had already been making her way down the tree when Shoji extended his arms to grab Koharu.

She watched as Shida did her best to land from an angle that she hoped was in Shoji’s blind spot. Her legs made surprisingly little noise when they were in motion, and she sped toward the big, six-armed boy. When close enough she extended her two front legs and brought them in a scything motion toward the back of Shoji’s knees.

Shoji was a big guy, which made him a pretty big target. The blow from Shida knocked him down, bringing him to his knees and making him release Koharu. Looking over his shoulder, he tried to swat at Shida with his Extendo-Arms, but the move was awkward and uncoordinated. Koharu used the moment to escape, taking to the air again. She swung out with her legs, striking Shoji upside the head. The blow wasn’t enough to put him down, but it did spin his head around. He looked back and forth rapidly, now caught between her and Shida.

Shida dodged Shoji’s clumsy blows easily, her eyes and leg hairs giving her incredibly reaction time to his attack. She used her four back legs as a brace as she used them to hold herself in an almost standing position. She launched her remaining arms at Shoji, each attempting to strike at the arm joints of his extended arms.

When it came to extra-appendages, Shoji was definitely unarmed by comparison to Shida. Even as he’d been able to turn to face her, her spider-legs struck home, nailing him in each of his Extendo-Arms. The silver-haired boy let out a cry of pain as his arms retracted, snapping back with a strange, stretching sound that was more than a little nauseating.

He’d done a remarkable job of staying upright, but between the pain from Shida’s attack, the blow to the head, and the whiff of sleep powder he’d gotten earlier finally making its way through his system, Shoji went down, slowly sliding to his knees and then to the ground.

They’d done it! Three hero students, and they’d managed to beat all of them! She’d even managed to take out two! Of course, Shida was also a Hero student, so that evened the playing field a little, but still!

“Let’s get the dummy,” Koharu said. It should still be where they left it, next to Sora Iida. She quickly glanced in that direction. The other girl was asleep. She must have gotten enough Sleep Powder too. Koharu stopped, her antennae moving rapidly. There was something stirring up a lot of air.

Anything Shida might have said was cut off as something swooped down and slammed into her. Rough, clawed feet grabbed her shoulders and she felt herself being carried into the air. It had to be Hizashi Koumori, the bat-like member of Class 1-B.

“Sorry, Kocho,” he said. “Totally most heinous to do the sneak attack, I know, but we gotta win this one!”

Just before Koumori had grabbed her, Koharu had seen Shida briefly give herself a smile of triumph. That had abruptly ended when Koumori struck. Koharu could see Shida move on instinct to try and help, but she stopped, as though remembering what Koharu had told her. They needed to get the dummy. Shida cursed quietly before heading over to Sora to grab it. With any luck she’d be able to secure it and get back quick enough to help.

But Koharu couldn’t count on that. She needed to do whatever she could to try and free herself.

It was the element of surprise that had let Koumori grab her. He was bigger and stronger than her, to be sure, but all he had was his feet around her shoulders. Her wings were still free. And he wasn’t rocket-powered like the Iidas. He was as dependent on muscle power and flapping for flight as she was, which meant his flight was a lot easier to disrupt. She flared her own wings out, spreading them wide. It attacked like an immediate drag chute, jerking Koumori back.

“Whoa!” he cried out. Reflexively, he released his grip on her as he sailed back. That was all she needed. For just a moment Koharu let gravity grab hold, then flapped her own wings, diving back toward the ground.

Just as suddenly, however, she was hit by what felt like a solid wall of force that set her bones rattling and seemed to echo through her skull. Flailing, she started falling again. It was hard to think clearly, everything was spinning…

Clawed feet grabbed her again, this time grabbing her legs. “Sorry about the sonar, dudette,” Koumori said. He did sound genuinely apologetic. She knew he was pretty mellow guy most of the time, though how mellow tended to change with how awake he was. “I’ll have you down in a second.”

No! She had to prove herself! She couldn’t lose now! “No,” she said, “I’m sorry… for this!” With his grip on her legs, she flapped her wings just once, giving herself just enough ot a push to swing upward, slamming both of her fists into his snout! Koumori let out a cry of pain and released her again. This time, she flapped and kept herself into the air, but hit him with a blast of String-Shot, pinning his arms--and more importantly, his wings--to his sides. A pang of regret shot through her as he dropped like a stone. Koumori was even bigger and heavier then Iida. There was no way she could keep him from falling…

Koumori, at least, was awake. He twisted in the air, trying to break free from her String-Shot, but hit the ground hard, letting out a soft moan, his eyes fluttering. That looked like it had hurt. Maybe she’d make it up to him back at U.A. with a fruit smoothie from her stash of exotic fruits.

Koharu landed next to him, bending down to make sure he was okay. Kuomori was still breathing and it didn’t look like he had any major injuries. Didn’t look like that had felt good, but it looked like he’d be fine.

It wasn’t the first time she’d had to hurt someone. She’d sparred with friends and fought in the Sports Festival and trained against others here at the camp.

It didn’t mean it felt good. Maybe Park had been onto something about children fighting like this…

Shida skittered to a stop next to her, the dummy safely in her hands. “That was amazing, Koharu! I came as quickly as I could, but it turns out you didn’t need it.” Skida smiled, but frowned slightly; she must have noticed the disturbed look on Koharu’s face. She frowned, all her eyes narrowing in concern. “Are you okay?” She didn’t specify if what troubled her was physical or mental, but there was something in her voice that suggested this wasn’t the first time she’d seen someone react like this.

Koharu shook her head. She had plenty of options that didn’t involve hurting people when it came to takedowns. Maybe she could learn to focus on that. But she’d have to fight anyway if she followed her dream and became a Hero. But what did that mean for now?

Maybe those were questions for another day.

“Just thinking about something your friend said,” she told Shida. “But c’mon. We can talk about that later. Let’s get this thing to the next marker.”

These were definitely questions that needed answers. But for now, she’d faced one of the first major challenges of her Hero training and she’d come out on top.

For now, that was good enough.

#my hero academia #their hero academia #fan fiction #fan fic #shota shinso #koharu kocho #toshi midoriya #my writing

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xxisxxisxxis · 4 years

Text

Gateway Drug | Part Thirty-Four

Table of Content or Part Thirty-Three

Word Count: 4.4k

Warning(s): Explicit language, Mentions of drug abuse, Explicit sexual situations

A/N: To the anon that asked about the pictures before chapters, I gave it a shot. Let me know what you guys think. Cintia Dicker is who I've always imagined as Viv (only difference is Viv has green eyes and Cintia has blue). Have a good night guys!!

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"...We're about to go on in a couple minutes, we're already late." Duff tells me, frustrated, after explaining everything he, Izzy, Axl, Slash, and Steven have endured ever since they left L.A. to embark on their first little tour as a band, along the west coast.

The first stop was his home town, and everything from losing equipment, losing their only form of transportation, hitch hiking in suffocating heat, spending all the money shared between them for a ride, and anything else that could go wrong, happened all under 24 hours.

After getting the full run down on what all had happened once they got back home, I decided the devil works hard, but Guns N' Roses work harder.

"Well, I wish I could have gone but I'm trying to get Nikki to acknowledge Vince before they start touring." I tell him, scrubbing at a soapy dish, the kitchen phone caught between my ear and my shoulder.

"Still?"

"He offered Vince blow the other day, after Vince just got out of jail, and is supposed to be sober. It wasn't blow. It was smack." I explain.

"Oh my God, that's fucked." Duff tells me.

"Him and Tommy thought it was the funniest thing ever so I replaced all their blow with unscented baby powder and flushed the real thing." I explain and he laughs. "They've been wondering why their blow is 'broken'."

"Now, is that what Jesus would do?" He asks jokingly.

"God gave me the idea. I did it. I am a good and faithful servant." I state and he laughs again.

"Oh, I gotta go, Viv." He tells me.

"Alright, good luck." I say, hearing Steven say "Hey, Viv!"

"Steven says 'hey'." Duff lets me know and I smile to myself.

"Tell him I said, 'hey'."

"I will. I'll talk to you again whenever I can." He assures me. "Love you."

"Love you, too."

"Bye."

"Bye-bye."

We both hang up and I rinse the dish I've been working on and place it in the dish wrack.

Glancing at the clock to see it's 8:00pm, Nikki should be back from the studio soon.

I finish up on the dishes and go take a shower since I've been stress cleaning and sweating a little.

By the time I get out and get lounging clothes on, Nikki and Tommy are in the kitchen talking, and go silent when I come in

"Hey, babe." Nikki tells me innocently, he and Tommy exchanging mischevious looks.

"What?" I ask them, glancing between the two of them.

"So...I was thinking..." Nikki starts. "...You know how you told me not to buy the vette last year, right? Because it only had two seats and we might have kids down the line and it's not really a family car."

"Yeah." I reply, narrowing my eyes at him.

"Well, because I'm a responsible husband and a happy wife equals a happy life, I made an investment." He tells me and I cross my arms.

"What kind of investment, Mr. Sixx?" I roll my jaw.

"Well..." Nikki trails off, and I'm darting for the front door before he or Tommy can grab me.

I swing the front door open to see a brand new jeep in the driveway.

"Nikki Sixx!" I spin around and he and Tommy wince a little. "You bought a car?! Another one?!"

"The vette's are the town cars, baby, the jeep is for more practical use."

"Like the motorcycle in our garage is for 'nights out with the guys'?"

"Exactly!" Tommy pipes in.

In a matter of seconds, I'm chasing Nikki back into the house.

"I'm going to kill you!" I threaten him.

"Tommy, grab her!" Nikki laughs out, which only makes me even more upset that my frustration is amusing to him.

Tommy misses me buy a few seconds before I'm jumping over the couch and tackling Nikki, straddling him and pinning him by his forearms.

"We don't have the money for a new car, Nikki!" I tell him, seriously.

"The album releases in two weeks, Viv. We've got more money than you think." He chuckles, assuring me, and I let out a breath as his eyes drift over my body, raising a brow at our position. "But I can pretend we're dirt broke if you promise to keep man handling me."

"Do I need to get you guys the video camera and leave you to it?" Tommy reminds us he's still here.

"Yeah, it's about time to add Volume Three to the collection, anyway." Nikki states, the corner of his mouth pulling up in his signature smirk.

Before your imagination runs wild, none of our sex tapes are still in existence. When Tommy and Vince's got out, I knew damn well I wasn't about to be best known for a sex tape(s)...

So they were all run over in the driveway and lit on fire.

"Speaking of the release," Nikki starts, nudging at me. "Our anniversary's the next week, but what're you wanting to do for a anniversary present—"

"—Your anniversary present is in the garage. And the driveway. And require insurance. And gas. And maintenance." I correct him and he rolls his eyes.

"I meant your present." He tells me. "What do think you might want?"

"I don't know." I shrug, then I remember what day our anniversary falls on, and slowly look at Nikki, my lips pulling into a smug smile.

I'm still not sorry for what I asked for, for our anniversary. But you know what? Hungover, slightly doped up from the night before, and exhausted, my trooper of a husband got himself together long enough to endure his own personal hell.

Nikki glares at me from behind his sunglasses as the preacher leads us into prayer and I nudge him with my elbow a little so he'll at least bow his head and pretend to care.

"Father in Heaven we pray, forgive us of our sins, Lord. God, we ask that you bless this message and prepare the hearts of those that need to hear it. I pray that you continue to watch over us, keep your hand upon us, and help us to be better. In Jesus' name I pray, amen."

"Amen." We all say, and Nikki scoffs out a mocking little snicker, making me elbow him and he raises his brows.

His smug look immediately falls.

I can't see his eyes but I know he's saying, "elbow me again and see what happens."

"If you turn in your Bibles to the book of Hosea, chapter three, verse one..." Brother Harting starts, and I take pick my jacket up from my lap to get my Bible from underneath it.

I flip to Hosea 3:1, and read along in my mind as he reads aloud:

"Then the Lord said unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine." He says, before looking up from the book. "To put it simply, for those of you not quite sure what that means, God is telling Hosea to marry a prostitute. The children of Israel at this time were beginning to stray from God and worship other gods and idols. They were not faithful to God. Like Gomer, Hosea's wife. I'm sure when he married her, he hoped she would stop selling herself and giving herself to other people." He explains. "Isn't it strange that so many of us assume marriage, or a child, will keep their significant other from giving parts of themselves to other people and other things when they were selling themselves to someone or something long before you even came along?" He chuckles out and I rub my lips together, a chord being struck within me. "God told Hosea to marry Gomer, and he did. But she didn't stay faithful. In fact, Hosea had to repeatedly go find her with other men and bring her back home. Now, God didn't tell Hosea to marry a woman that seemed like she could not, for the life of her, stay committed in the right path, to hurt him. God wanted to demonstrate how Israel was repeatedly unfaithful towards him. How we are all unfaithful to him at times, even when we don't realize it. Some of us even worship idols, and don't realize it. Obsession over money. Obsession over lust. Obsession over alcohol. If you are a workaholic..." He names a few examples.

"Cute, can we go now?" Nikki's grumbling under his breath to me and I don't even look at him, lacing my fingers through his, hoping to keep him quite like giving a baby a pacifier.

"I'm not saying wanting money, or having a drink with your dinner, or enjoying your work or really enjoying sex, is idolatry. It is when those things become addictive habits that consume your thoughts constantly, so much so, that you wake up one day and realize you haven't even acknowledged God in weeks. Some of us, months. For others, it's years. And when I say 'acknowledge God' I don't mean a little 'thank God' when something goes your way. I mean, getting in that comfortable space we all have when we can humbly approach God with all of our worries, concerns, hopes, dreams, and tell him about everything going on in our lives. When we take the time to talk to him like we would a friend. God wants to hear everything from us, whether it's something good that's happened, or something we need him to heal within us or help us with something we are struggling to do. He is never too busy." He smiles. "Hosea constantly chased and went after Gomer because he loved her. He made vows to God to marry her and he grew to love her. God loved the children of Israel, and he loves us. He used Hosea as a demonstration of how he always pursues and goes after his church when each of us stray, and let me tell you something, ladies and gentlemen, when Gomer got herself into a mess for the last time, she was about to be sold, like cattle. And Hosea went looking for her thinking she was up to her typical no good. But he came up on the auction she was being sold at. Keep in mind this woman had put him through years of hurt, and pain. He was exhausted, he was angry, he was broken...but he saw his wife about to be sold to men who would most definitely put her through hell, and Hosea suddenly couldn't see his wife's wrong doings. He just saw the woman he loved, the mother of his children, scared and in trouble. And he threw his hand up, and placed a bid for thirty pieces of silver on this woman. Six months worth of wages on a woman that seemed to do everything in her power to not be faithful to him."

"I think fucking not." Nikki doesn't even try to be quiet, causing a few people in front of us to quickly glance back at us.

I elbow him, harder this time, and he's grabbing at my wrist, harshly, pulling me to my feet.

Anger and frustration goes through me when he leads me through the double doors of the very small lobby.

"You're being a jackass." I hiss out the second he's pushed me into the ladies' room that consists of one toilet and a small sink.

"You're being a brat. You should be happy I even came to this bullshit." He snaps.

"One time isn't gonna kill you, Nikki. I'm surprised you're actually able to walk into a church and not burst into flames."

"Okay, fuck you!" He raises his voice and my hand is popping him in the chest before I can stop myself, "Shh!" flying past my lips.

His teeth grind together, and my thighs tense.

His hand is grabbing a fist full of my red locks, yanking my head back as he looks me in the eyes.

It's a slap in the face to him, but I can't help but let out a mocking chuckle, smiling up at him.

I completely disregard the fact we're in church, and my hands slide under his shirt, feeling his warm skin, my nails scratching down his sides.

He's letting go of my hair, reaching between us, and unbuckling his belt and tugging it out of his belt loops.

I squeeze my thighs together as anticipation starts building within my core, creating a slip between my thighs.

He's grabbing my arm and spinning me around to face the wall, shoving me forward.

My hands brace on the chipped, faint yellow paint, and he's yanking my hips back and spreading my legs while yanking my dress up and my panties down to rest around my ankles.

He gives me a moment of mercy, his hand reaching around to rub my clit while his leather restrained prick grinds against my ass, causing me to let out a quiet moan to avoid being heard.

Just as I start moving with his fingers, he pulls away.

"Bad girls don't get rewarded." He tells me smartly in my ear before I'm feeling heat radiate through my body after the sharp sting of leather hits my skin.

I take in a breath, arching my back, biting back another moan.

By the time he's finished with lick number ten, my ass is bright red and aching, and there's a mess of wetness rolling down my legs and dripping on the floor.

I hear his belt hit the floor and he unties the laces of his pants, causing me to hum with excitement as he reaches for my hair again and turns me around to pull me to my knees.

I lick my lips as my mouth begins to water at the sight of engorged veins, aching for release as he strokes himself a couple of times, his precum beading out of his tip.

I open my mouth and stick my tongue out eagerly, looking up at him with begging, green eyes, wanting to taste him.

He looks down at me with a little grin, like he's proud he's been able to screw the submission into his innocent little "my body's a temple" Saint Vivian and corrupt her in every way that she would allow.

He gives me what I want, swiping the tip of himself across my tongue. I don't think he's expected me to wrap my tongue and lips around him just yet because when I do, he's gripping onto the side of the sink with white knuckles.

I hungrily swallow down the liquid leaking from him, thriving under his praise as he says:

"God, you're so fuckin' hot."

I press teasing kisses to his tip, down the underside of his shaft, and his balls, and he damn near collapses when I run my tongue over them before tracing my tongue back up him and taking him in my mouth.

He grabs at my hair, creating a punishing pace that's got tears running from the corners of my eyes with each thrust that has him brushing against the back of my throat.

When he finally lets me catch my breath, a line of my spit holds from my lips to his cock, so I catch it with my fingers and use it to keep jerking him off.

My pussy is beginning to throb, needing something, anything to relieve the pressure.

The fingers of my free hand fall to my clit, but it isn't quite enough.

I believe I take "bitch in heat" to a whole other level when I pull my dress up and strategically arch my back and rest my legs on either side of Nikki's right foot.

He looks at me, a little confused before I spread my thighs a little more, causing my clit to rest against the curve of Nikki's boot where his ankle meets his leg.

My eyes roll back as I begin to move back and forth, slowly against him, while still keeping my hand moving up and down on his dick.

I don't open my eyes until I feel him lift the toe of his shoe a little bit, angling the part I'm straddling to rest against my soaked sex perfectly.

My eyes stare up at him, the nails of my free hand bite into the back of his lower thigh as I use him for leverage while beginning to move feverishly against him.

He takes over on himself, allowing me to hold onto his leg with both hands as he watches me like I'm the most beautiful woman he has ever seen.

Tears stream down my face as my orgasm builds, the only thing able to come out of my mouth is "Oh, fuck" and "Nikki" in the form of breathy whimpers.

When I come, my eyes screw shut, my body shutters and I completely soak Nikki's boot.

"Face, mouth, or tits?" Nikki asks me in regards to where I want his cum.

I swallow every last drop.

After making sure my crucifix wasn't crooked, my floral Sunday dress and matching heels were perfectly put back on and my hair looked like it had never been touched, Nikki and I pretended we hadn't had a little anniversary gathering in the bathroom and returned to service in time to hear that last tid bit.

In which Nikki was pissed about having to sit through, but I suppose he did anyway without any more complaints because he knew it was important to me.

"Hosea bought his wife back, like Christ bought all of us with his bloodshed on the cross. That being said, let's throw out the idea that God only chases after perfect Christians and everyone else is no good and going to hell anyway so it's the perfect Christians' job to tell everyone else they're going to burn forever." Harting states as Nikki and I slip back inside, and I scoff, thinking of my mother. "We are all sinners, people. I've known Christians that condemn just about everyone and then go home and do the equivelant of what they were condemning others for. You can't tell homosexuals they are going to hell and there is no hope for them, and then go out and have sex outside of marriage. Or say tattoos are a show of paganism and a sin and then go home and call up your friends to gossip about other people. You don't get to decide what is and isn't a sin to better suit your lifestyle. And just because someone isn't like you or doesn't think like you, does not mean they are any less worthy of God's love and a lot of Christians need to be careful who they damn to hell because God doesn't think like human's do. Our bodies, our flesh, and our mind's are imperfect and I'm affraid many of these holier-than-thou types are going to be shocked when they end up in a place they don't want to be when they die because they spent too much time alive being too hateful and worried about how other people are living, they never looked at themselves and worked on their own relationship with God and their salvation before minding other people's. Any born again Christian who truly has God in their hearts should never, ever, feel comfortable telling someone else they are going to hell. We can disagree with someone's choices and decisions or relationships and friendships or addictions and habits or view points and opinions, and love them. And respect them. And be kind to them. And treat them like human beings and if you're worried for someone's soul, pray for them as much as you want. We are here to love and uplift others. That is the way we as Christians are meant to be because that is the way God is with us. We do things all the time he doesn't like. But he loves us enough to continously chase after us and bring us back to him, and never give up on us. And that love is open to anyone willing to accept it."

He closes out his sermon and we sing one last hymn before closing out in prayer, and head back to the car.

"Well?" I ask him and he takes his sunglasses off and rubs his eyes.

"I don't know what was more adorable: seeing you all enthused over someone that doesn't exist, or seeing you have my dick in your throat during church." He pipes, laughing. "Oh, that would be cool game to play. I could be the Pervy Priest and you could be the Naughty Nun." He suggest, his hand squeezing at my thigh in a tickling motion and I squeal, fighting to get him to stop tickling me and he finally stops."It was a good message, though. He had a very nice way of saying, 'just mind your own fucking business, cunt face'."

"Shh, Nikki!" I cringe at him saying 'cunt' in the parkinglot of a church.

"Oh, sorry, didn't mean to swear in the Lord's driveway." He sarcastically apologizes and I shake my head a little and crank the car.

Later that night, Nikki heads to Robbin's place to score some smack and blow from his dealer, before we go out to dinner, and I'm stopping by to see Duff and the guys at their rehearsal.

The clicks of my heels sound against the bare concrete where stained up carpet as been ripped up.

I see two masses of teased, blonde hair in the corner by a drum kit, a fluff ball of black, curly hair laying in the floor wear sunglasses, and teased red hair.

"Duff." Izzy states, and I turn to see him on a holed up couch in the corner, cigarette hanging from his lips.

"Izzy." I acknowledge him.

"Viv." He replies in the same tone, not bothering to look up from his guitar.

"Yeah?" Duff asks, glancing over at him to see me. "Hey!" He immediately stops what he's doing to come over, the other three boys looking up at me as well. "What're you doing here?" He asks, hugging me, and I look up at him after seeing Steven coming over here.

"Nikki and I were about to go out for our anniversary and I decided to come by since I haven't talked to you in a couple weeks. But, um, I know you've been busy I just thought I would stop by." I explain, smiling when Steven's energetic vibe spills over to me when he squeezes me to him.

"Well, we were just taking a break if you wanna hangout for a little bit." Duff offers.

I glance at Axl over Duff's shoulder, seeing he's irritated, and I let out a breath.

My relationship with Axl was about how my relationship with Vince was.

We loved to hate each other.

But not because Axl was a pig like Vince was. But because he and I were the same exact person.

I don't know if it was the overzealous religious up bringing forced upon us, or our struggles with similar mental disorders, but we both had the same nearly uncontrollable temper.

We got along most of the time, our issue, though, was that we saw things differently, and would get into heated arguments.

The longer the band stayed together, the worse Axl got.

It became more and more about him, and not so much the band.

When Steven was fired for getting too deep into heroin (as if he was the only one in the band with addiction issues) Axl had the honor Robbin, Vince, and Doc, all had been given: my fist to his face.

He was trying his hardest not to punch me back as I yelled:

"I'm not in your fucking band, I'm not on your fucking payroll, so I have no problem telling you, you're a fucking piece of shit and you need a hell of a lot more help than what you're getting right now! You're acting like a trigger happy crazy person, you have got your band members paranoid about who's gonna go next and for the love of God, Axl, of all the ways you could have handled the man that has saved your wife's life not once, but twice, you fire him for doing something you idiots were glorifying three years ago?! Get your shit together, Rose, because you're getting fucking messy!"

I had quoted him, from when he said, "get your shit together, Sixx, because you're getting fucking messy" after Duff and I had nearly been caught by Nikki.

The entire time they were on tour with us, Axl was paranoid Nikki would find out Duff and I were friendly with each other, kick Guns off the tour, and blacklist them through the label...

He got even more uptight when Steven and Slash accidentally gave me weed brownies a few days into the tour, and I was stoned out of my mind for six hours straight, and Steven, Slash, Duff, and were chasing me around and trying to make sure I didn't make it obvious to anyone on Mötley's team or Nikki, Tommy, Vince and Mick, that the supporting band got Nikki's stone cold sober wife high as a kite. Izzy just found it amusing.

One thing about Axl, though. He taught Tansy how to stick up for herself, which gave her the courage to publicly out her abusers in her agency and industry. I guess that's why I didn't kill him despite the many times I heavily considered it.

"I would hang around, but, I've really gotta get going." I tell Duff. "But I'll call you tomorrow or Tuesday and we can figure out when a good time to hangout before I go to Japan, alright?"

"Okay." He nods.

"Okay, I gotta go, Steven." I squeeze him equally as tight as he is me, ruffling his hair a little.

"Boo! Buzzkill." He protests my leaving and I roll my eyes as he steps back to his drums.

"I'll talk to you later." I tell Duff, standing on my tip toes to kiss his cheek innocently.

"Yeah. Have fun tonight." He tells me. "And happy anniversary."

"Thank you, sweetie." I say as I wipe my lipstick from his cheek. "Love you, be good." I tell them before turning to go.

"Love you." Steven and Duff say back.

"Viv." Izzy tells me as I head for the door, as his way of saying 'bye'.

"Izzy." I reply, before stepping out.

#nikki sixx #vince neil #tommy lee #mötley crüe #the dirt #the dirt movie #gateway drug

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