Some Sad Kinda Fucked Ifrit Thoughts Because I Woke Up And They Came

No because imagine Mountain either leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed… sleeves rolled

*deep breath* OR

Mountain leaning against the doorframe but his arms are above his head, him holding onto the frame making his muscles visibly show… he knows what effect it has on everyone so he tightens and relaxes his muscles just to see them get all flustered

*Im struggling over here*

Light a Candle or Curse the Darkness

Part One

In the end, what would be your choice? The summer tour of 2005 does not go as planned.

Warnings: This is not Porn. It is probably not Crack. Hell, it is not even close to an over-the-counter, off brand Ibuprofen. And it ain’t all sunshine and kittens. Oh, yeah, language.

Disclaimer: This is so far out in the AU field that you can’t see it with a telescope. I have never met any member of Duran Duran and I don’t speak English. Well, that would be English English. So, if it seems a little Americanized that is why.

~~*~~

June 21st.

A Day that will never be forgotten.

In less than twenty-four hours life on Earth, as it was known, forever was changed. They had come, without warning, from the far reaches of space. I know, it sounds like a cheesy opening line from a bad Sci-Fi novel or something from Star Trek or one of those movies that the kids had liked to watch. Oh, how I wish it had been a Star Trek episode. Or even one of those Hollywood movies where the hero always saves the day before the total annihilation of the planet. Maybe then Captain Kirk and his merry band could have saved the day. Hell, I would have even settled for Will Smith. But, tragically, no one came to our rescue. The sheer power and technology of these creatures ended whatever defensive measures the nations might have used before there was even a chance. In an instant, every single major city in the world was wiped from the map. Rome. New York. Los Angles. Paris. Moscow. Washington. Beijing. Tokyo. London. All of them. There were no negotiations, no chance of surrender. Millions of souls gone in seconds.

Sometimes I think they were the lucky ones.

Don’t get me wrong, it took several weeks for them to completely dominate the planet, and there was a resistance movement. But in the end, nothing that was done to repel the invaders worked.

June 21st.

The day I and, others ceased to be. Ceased to be individuals. Ceased to be free. That day was the day that whoever had survived their initial attack would forever be known by only a barcode and a number. Me? My number was 7609. Ironic, is it not?

You want to run but there’s no space at all… La la la late bar…

Not some of the most brilliant of our lyrics but still…

Ah, my mind wanders. If I am going to tell this tale, then let me attempt to start somewhere near the beginning…

~~**~~

The first day of summer was spent like so many others, touring. You see, we were in a band, musicians, and we were on a crazy schedule of two months on and two months off. This just happened to be our time on the road and for once we were all traveling together. Everyone’s families and significant others had returned several days before to wherever it was, they had called home, and the feeling of nostalgia had hit us hard. And hard hit was we: someone had the brilliant idea of traveling to the next city, like in the old days, by bus. A tour bus, for God’s sake. A damn tour bus. I don’t know if I should feel thankful about that or not. If we had traveled by airplane, as was the norm, we…I…would most likely not be here now.

Maybe if we had been in an airplane when they had come, we would have escaped the Hell that was to follow. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. That is all there seems to be now days. That, and ‘what if’?

I don’t even really remember where we were when it happened. I think Andy had called it, ‘Somewhere in the Middle of Bloody Fuckin’ Nowhere.’ Andy. He always had a mouth on him. I can’t even begin to remember how many times when we were younger that mouth of his almost got us into trouble or almost cost us a gig. Right now, I would give anything to hear one of the many flamboyant curses that had always seemed to slip so effortlessly from between his lips.

Almost everyone had been sleeping when the bus suddenly stopped. I am pretty sure that several people hit the floor at the sudden stop. Bumps and bruises all around. Later we had learned that they had used what was basically a short-termed EMP pulse in the opening salvo of the attack. Not too terribly high tech for them, but still effective.

I won’t bore you with the details that followed. Won’t bore you with how we saw to any injuries we might have had after we picked ourselves up from the floor of that damned bus. I won’t tell you of the confusion that was present on so many of the faces of the other stranded travelers. I won’t tell you how we decided to leave the interstate. The details of how we wandered the countryside with some of the others from the road, lost, looking for help, are not so important now. I will not tell of how we wandered for a few days before being picked up by them. Okay, so we got lost. We were a pop group not a bunch of bloody Boy Scouts.

Why do you ask that I bore you with such details? Time. Plain and simple, time. I seem to have run out of it; something is happening. They have been moving troops and equipment off the planet; all the while, methodically clearing the barracks, block by block. Guess whose is next.

There are other things that need to be told in this telling.

Jesus.

Where do I start?

I would tell you their name if I could spell it, hell, I can’t even pronounce it. Even after all this time.

Like a nightmare come true, they came from the sky. Imagine our surprise. No one thought to run, so dumbstruck we were. There really was nowhere to run to. We stood there with our mouths open, as we caught the first sight of proof that we were not alone in the universe.

Mountain and Swiss have a sweet moment

Cw: very brief mention of yelling, Mountain feels a little unsure at first but he's very brave

Mountain's nose scrunches when he looks outside to see a light snow falling. He wraps his blanket around his shoulders while holding his bunny and reindeer. He's glad his heads not hurting yet but he's sure it'll come if the snow gets worse.

He'd heard Rain yelling earlier so he knew Dew would be with him and he certainly didn't want to disturb them if Rain was having a hard time.

He wonders if anyone is free, if they'd be willing to make time for him. He remembers his meetings with Omega and shakes his head, remembering he's allowed to ask for help and that he isn't a burden for needing it. He takes a few calming breaths like he was taught and heads for the door to find someone.

The hall is quiet and he assumes most everyone is off doing chores or maybe even napping but there is usually someone available. When he's halfway down the stairs he hears the tv and smiles to himself, squeezing his stuffies closer as he carefully makes it the rest of the way down.

He can smell a fire going and all he wants to do is curl up with someone and quietly watch the snow out of the big window in the den.

Mountain peeks around the corner and sees Swiss sprawled across the couch watching a movie. He's by himself and mountain almost convinces himself to walk away because he doesn't want to be a bother. But he once again reminds himself that everyone has told him he's never a bother, they are always more than happy to spend time with him.

He tiptoes into the den and climbs up onto the couch but Swiss’ feet. The multi ghoul smiles and moves to sit up, making room for the little ghoul.

“Hey conejito! What are you up to? Doing ok?”

He nods, situating his stuffies beside him. “Yeah…j’us kinda…can I sit with you for a bit?”

Swiss offers a gentle smile. “Of course you can.”

Mountain snuggles a bit closer as Swiss drapes the blanket across his little legs to keep him nice and warm. He adjusts it so that mountain's stuffies are under it but able to see out too.

“Comfy?”

Mountain smiles wide and nods.

“Do you want to watch anything in particular?”

“No. Just kinda wanted to not be all by myself…”

Swiss nods and wraps an arm around mountain's shoulders while he flips through the channels to find something more interesting for the little ghoul. He settles on the nature channel and Mountain leans his head against his shoulder, finally fully relaxing.

They sit in comfortable silence for a long while until Mountain's tummy grumbles.

Swiss laughs and takes his hand. “Let's go find some lunch. What sounds good?”

He thinks for a moment. “Veggie soup!”

“With the star pasta?”

“Yeah!” He pushes a chair up to the stove and climbs up so he can watch Swiss make it.

“Maybe some hot chocolate after? Nothing better than soup and cocoa on a snowy day.

Mountain's eyes light up and he nods, excited about the idea of Swiss' hot chocolate, he always makes the best.

Swiss let's gin help stir the soup, making sure he's careful to not accidentally burn himself. The little ghoul is all smiles once it's done and he's sat at the table waiting for it to cool down. Swiss starts on the hot chocolate so it's cool by the time mountain is done eating.

Swiss sits beside him when he's done with the hot chocolate, smiling as mountain chats about whatever pops into his head.

“I'm really proud of you, you know?”

Mountain peeks up at him. “How come?”

“For seeking out someone instead of just staying alone in your room.”

“Well…I thought about it…but then I remembered that you all always tell me I can come be with you anytime. So I did that.”

“And I'm so glad you did! Now I have a buddy to share hot chocolate with!” He bumps their arms together and smiles.

Mountain giggles and continues eating his soup until his belly is full.

“Can we have the hot chocolate now?”

Swiss grabs the mugs and adds extra whipped cream on top of Mountain's drink. The little ghoul squeals with delight and takes a sip, the cream sticking to the tip of his nose.

Swiss laughs and copies him and they both laugh about how silly they must look.

“Want to finish it up on the couch while we watch a movie?”

“What if I spill it?”

“I'll help you hold onto it.” Swiss promises with his pinkie extended.

Mountain smiles and nods, running off into the den with Swiss right behind him. They pick a movie and cuddle back up on the couch with mountain's stuffies. Swiss makes sure to get them all tucked in and comfy as the movie starts.

They talk about the movie as it plays and mountain takes little sips of his drink occasionally…until eventually he stops and when Swiss peeks down at him, he's sound asleep against his chest.

The multi ghoul smiles and kisses the top of his head and turns his attention back to the movie as Mountain naps peacefully against him.

YouTube

66th GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony

About the Recording Academy / GRAMMYs: Recording Academy is the world's leading society of musical professionals and is dedicated to celebra

Grammy Awards are approaching fast, so here's a kind reminder that metal & rock awards will be, as usual, handed out during the Premiere Ceremony, not the main event. You can watch it on YouTube linked above or live.grammy.com. YouTube should show you the starting time based on your timezone, if you open the vid in the app.

Before the show, the Grammy's website will also have a multicam stream of the red carpet arrivals, so you can keep an eye out on our favourite Swede, in case he attends.

He literally said it out loud.

There will be no more elections in the US going forward if Trump wins. It will be a Christian theocracy. Y'all really think you can organize anything to the left of Mussolini under a Trump Presidency? Get the fuck out of here.

I don't fucking care if Kamala Harris is imperfect, at least we don't risk literally losing democracy.

Mushy May Day 15

Painting on each other

Pairing; Dewdrop/Aeon

Notes; Welcome to the halfway point! Aeon uses they/them pronouns. thanks as always to @forlorn-crows for the prompts list!

Aeon was always mesmerized by all the ghoul’s tattoos. From Rain’s tiny one’s to Dew’s extravagant pieces, they decided early on into their earth life that they needed to join the club. The nights they were wrapped around someone else’s limbs, they’d trace and map out the ink lines that ran down their partner’s arms and body, committing them to memory.

Their problem, as they’ve confided to Dewdrop on multiple occasions, was how they wanted their tattoos. Any meaning behind them was easy, it was the placement. Looks. They didn’t want to travel so far out of the abbey to a tattoo parlor just to regret the placement. So when Dew found an ad for them, he hatched an idea.

“Star?” Dew knocked on the door, hands behind his back. When he got a murmur of confirmation, he stepped into the room and met the eyes of a very sleepy ghoul, still waking up.

“What time is it?” Aeon slurred and squinted up at Dew.

“It is…” Dew peeked over at the clock and smiled, “it is one in the afternoon.”

Aeon sat up in bed with a disgruntled groan, stretching out their arms. They murmured a quiet curse at the time and stared him down.

“Did I miss something?” They ran their eyes down his figure and pouted, pointing towards him. “What are you hiding?”

“A gift.” He strutted over with a playful sway in his hips until he was standing right beside them. “For you.”

Their pout grew suspicious and tilted their head. “Why’d you do that?”

He shrugged with an easy smile. “Thought you’d like it. Could be a bonding thing for us.”

“Is it a sex thing?” They questioned.

He laughed and shook his head, bending down just slightly in the process. “No, bug, it’s not a sex thing. Here.”

He pulled his arms out from behind him and with a healthy pause in between, Aeon’s eyes lit up and they gasped dramatically, no longer sleepy. They made grabby hands for the product and Dew could never deny the quint anything.

“Holy shit!” They held the pack of tattoo markers with a grip that could rival Aether’s, turning the package around to further inspect. “These are awesome!”

“You know about them?” Dewdrop couldn’t stop smiling.

“Well, no,” Aeon faltered just slightly but began ripping into the cardboard with the same enthusiasm as before, “but I do now!”

Dew sat down right next to them and continued to watch as they kicked their blankets away to set their prize down. Once the pack was fully dumped out, they grabbed the black marker and paused.

“What’s up, buggy?” Dew tilted his head as they worried their lip between the teeth. Their gaze flickered between the marker, Dew’s arms, and Dew’s eyes. He could already see the question.

“Can I try them on your arm?” They asked, eyes wide.

Dew’s smile grew wider and he grabbed a marker of his own. “Only if I can draw on your leg.”

“Deal.” Aeon uncapped the marker and took Dew’s arm into their hands, a plan already brewed and steeped. Dew used his free hand and pushed their shorts out of his way as he began the same process.

They both left the room an hour later covered in half hearted doodles and ideas. Aeon showed Dewdrop a tentative sketch of what they wanted and with careful consideration and drawing, the two found a perfect spot for it. Dew was covered in swirls of black and blue, a rogue bat or rabbit or any other animal scattered across his skin. Aside from the, what Aeon called "the perfect tattoo," they were covered in geometric shapes, things that Dewdrop has been experimenting with in terms of design.

Seeing the smile on the young quint’s face as they examined the ink with Swiss, who awed and oo'ed at their markings, he knew they’d be doing this again soon.

Rain leading the Ministry in AquaSize and finding out some of the ghouls can't swim. I'm looking at you Phantom.

Can you hear me now?