#back into the abyss. and working on the one comic

[grapeenthusiast]

told you guys i was COOKING !!!!!! anyways . my version of agent :3 reference sheet edition !! if yuo like dont forget to like and subscibe

[fluffs-n-stuffs]

"It certainly wouldn't be right to have this kind man's efforts go uncompensated, now would it, Jumpluff?" "Pluff-pluff!"

these troublemakers The dynamic Suicune-chasing duo returns in the next Destiny Bond update - currently in progress! 🎆✨

–> Check out the latest part here 🔷 –> New to the series? Follow from the start! 💜

[sleepinglionhearts]

Love your art (always)!!! Do you have a backstory/bio for the dark haired anemo catalyst user in your new post? They look so cute/cool! :00

Hello, anon! Thank u for asking!

I think I've posted briefly before about Jun here, but it was part of an ask game and I didn't give his entire backstory (or what I've come up with, anyway, ehe)

He is Jun Ogura, from Inazuma, and has been living in Liyue for quite some time as of late. He is strange man, of a friendly enough attitude, but a cold and ruthless nature.

Was at one point a relatively sweet young man and oldest son in a merchant family. He gained his vision when trying to save the person he loved most from falling to the abyss, but he did not know how to use it and so failed to recover them. He has a grudge against the archons over this and is out for revenge... and the desperate want to become powerful enough to find and rescue his darling.

His despair and pain over his own failure to save them and his desire for vengeance seem to have afflicted him with some sort of immortality - he himself does not know if this is a blessing or a curse: he now has plenty of time to become strong, hunt down and challenge the archons but he is also very certain that as the years have passed, so too has the lover he was so determined to find and rescue.

(Not that he would know it, but that very same love he is missing so much is afflicted with their own curse and mysteriously long life - but that's @reddish-yellowish 's tale to tell as that is HER oc ehehe.)

Kinda got kicked out of Inazuma for some (he'll call it petty) disagreements (read: murder attempts) with the archon there, but this will only be important much later.

He speaks politely, quietly and with a low voice, and just LOVES to talk during combat. A cruel catalyst user who carries a few knives on his person and prefers to get close to his opponent and chat while he cuts them up. Has a tendency to suddenly become aggressive but back off if bored or his attention is caught by something, but is by no means lazy or foolish enough to lose track of his opponent. Good in one on one fights but starts to lose advantage in big groups.

A wanderer who has decided to stay in Liyue for some time and has recently become intrigued by the strange Traveler and their mysterious little floating companion. Makes them both very uncomfortable. Also makes that odd redheaded fatui boy who calls himself a harbinger uncomfortable, and finds it vastly amusing. Will later decide to accompany the Traveler to Inazuma because he has decided he likes them and they make for good fun and less boredom, but also to stir up some trouble because that's just what he likes to do :)

Oh, don't worry, spending time around the Traveler will be good for him. He'll start to change for the better. Become a little more domesticated.

It's not the most detailed or nice backstory, but it's what I've got for him right now. ♡

[wroteclassicaly]

18+

A/N: Small piece of filth, hope you enjoy ❤️

“Driving me crazy. Don’t know why you do that.” Another bit of babbling you-speak, poured out in waves, interwoven through your whines and moans, Steve notes. Or rather, tries to, given the predicament of being on his back as you use him to your satisfaction.

You’d stared him down like he was prey for the last several months, always shaking your head, clicking your pen until it broke. Then there were the signs that made Steve realize, with a lopsided smirk (that only made it worse), that you weren’t in fact mad at him, not in a serious way anyways. Your hitch in breath every inch closer that he came to you, the way you melted into him if he just brushed by you, or how your legs would tighten, feet would bounce, to the way that you’d chew on your fingertip when he was bent over putting stock out and he knew exactly what you were looking at. When he talked about dates or flirted with girls that came in, you’d roll your eyes and be obnoxious in the background to sabotage unknowingly, but he found it endearing. And when he bought himself his new diamond chain to go with his mustard colored shirt for the fancy dinner in Indianapolis the older kids had all gone to, your public exasperation is partially what led to the moment.

It wasn’t until the following Monday that it exploded in full. Steve was at work on your shift, you were dealing with a sore wrist after his ensemble at Saturday’s excursion. And the stupid bastard had the nerve to wear that blinged out piece of jewelry beneath his button up, all black polo. You slammed a stack of video tapes down and had blew out a rough breath, working your way around the counter to ask Steve ‘what the fuck his problem was?’ And in truth, he’d worn the chain again just to gauge your reaction, before making his move. Sure, you’d been close friends all up in emotional arms for years, but the sexual tension was more alive than ever and could no longer be ignored.

With one hand on his waist, the other propped on the counter, he grinned lazily at you, fresh highlights looking perfect with his grown out tresses under the cheap lighting, jeans tight on his toned legs and perfect ass.

“Oh my god, Steve! You’re just… You’re —“

“I’m what?” He’d said, folding his arms to accentuate his biceps.

Your jaw had dropped rather comically and Steve is pretty sure you whimpered in defeat. You were caught.

“You know what you are, shithead. And I can’t take this shit anymore, it’s too much!” You’d gotten closer, talking with your hands. How Steve loves your hands. And you gave pause, brows pinched. “Wait, is that new cologne?”

Steve had pulled his shirt out to bare thicker chest hair, shrugging. “No, same ol’ stuff.”

“Can you stop, please?” You had sounded completely out of it, your pupils blown, leaving your beautiful eye color a thin ring, nearly transparent to the aroused abyss he’d created.

“Tell me what I’m doing, honey. Can’t stop if I don’t know…” Steve reached out with a finger, his confidence having greatly improved the last year within your friendship, and he traced down your cheek.

“Oh, shit.” Was all you could come up with.

With his thumb pressing at the corner of your mouth, massive hand cradling your jaw, he’d unraveled the knot with, “It’s okay if you say you want me, baby. Because I want you, too.”

~*~

Your hand looks small in comparison to his large girth, shining with what you’d slicked him up in, your babbling from before, slowly fading. His mossy orbs have shattered, their shards prickling you in an electrical stimulation, on you everywhere. His massive hands pinch your plush waist, every tendon visible on his jugular, his throat contracting around a harsh swallow as your fist around his base meets your body - seating him fully inside you. It hurts so bad that you welcome him to see the tears, see the glistening mess of your cunt spread open around his cock, cream bubbling in his base and smeared across his happy trail. You’ve never felt this before, this power, this safety, this want, this love.

Steve tosses his head back as your hips give an experimental rise and fall, sweat soaked backs of your knees feeling the pressure. He’s inside of you so deeply that you can barely move, his length dragging, pushing against every inch of your walls. You’re overcome in the moment and grab his big paws, curling his thick digits around your breasts and holding them together as you begin to roll your hips, never taking your eyes off him. He let out a moan that vibrates through you, his bed beginning to squeak beneath your rocking. His neck is visible again at this, scars beneath the chain, sweat glittering around and beneath the links, every freckle, every mole there, making him Steve.

Your movements have briefly slowed and he realizes, eyes open as you’re staring with this smirk. He gives your nipples a flick and releases, linking hands, to bring yours to his and kiss each knuckle he can get his mouth on. That’s when he’s flipping you with ease, knees sliding underneath your thighs, hands pinning yours to the bed as his nose finds your lashes, mouth planting his words across your lips; cinnamon breath spray, coffee, and cigarettes ghosting with each hot breath, “Don’t get too cocky, honey.”

On the break away, his chain sways forward, links getting caught on your lips. You take the jewelry into your mouth, sucking on the taste of the material, Steve’s chest tufts drag along your breasts as he fucks you on him with an ease so slow, that you can’t find cohesive speech for the rest of the night.

// Eat me paragraph //

[astrophileous]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE I need anything fluffy (and I mean the most stomach churning, toe curling, quiet screaming fluff please 🥴🩷) for professor!spencer because I am actually frothing at the mouth DO YOU FEEL ME🗣️‼️ (mwah ily kith kith)

I might have written two blurbs for this request and I might have driven myself crazy trying to determine which one I should post so here's to wishing I didn't make the wrong choice 🤞 this one is special for you avis I hope you enjoy it MWAH 💖

Warning(s): gn!reader, I imagine reader being in grad school but you can imagine reader in college as well--that just means there's gonna be an age gap in there, if professor-student romantic dynamics isn't your thing you shouldn't be reading this, profanities(?), established relationship

This blurb was written as a part of the "Zara's Birthday Bash and Road to 1K" celebration.

Zara's Birthday Bash and Road to 1K Masterlist / Criminal Minds Masterlist

Have a good day, my love.

You grinned giddily at the text message popping up on the screen of your phone. Without wasting another second, your thumbs moved swiftly over the keypad as you typed in a response.

You too, honey. See you tonight at dinner <3

"What are you so smiley about?"

You quickly shoved your phone into the pocket of your pants before looking up towards the owner of the voice. Gladys stood to your left with a quizzical tilt to her eyebrows. Her eyes assessed you from head to toe before they landed back on your face.

"I'm not smiley. Who's smiley?"

"You are." Her eyes squinted. "Something smells fishy."

"You should check your bag. Maybe you accidentally threw your cat's wet food in there again."

"That was one time!"

Gladys scampered after you as you made your way into the lecture hall. Akbar was sitting on the third row when you walked in, immediately scooting over to make room for both Gladys and you to slip into your respective seats.

"Hey, did you guys hear?" Akbar asked as soon as you and Gladys plopped down next to him.

"Hear what?" Gladys asked.

"Apparently, some people are saying that Professor Chuckie is hitched."

Gladys' eyes grew comically wide. "He's what?"

Your brain was working in overdrive, trying to decipher whom exactly Akbar had meant by Professor Chuckie. Between him and Gladys, the two of them had a tendency of coming up with dozens of ridiculous code names for every single person they ever encountered in life, to the point where you were constantly struggling to keep up with them all.

"Who's Professor Chuckie again?" you eventually asked.

"Chuckie? From Rugrats?" Gladys hinted.

Your frown deepened. "Who?"

"Oh my God, (Y/N)." Akbar sighed. "You know the man. Fluffy curly hair like Chuckie from Rugrats."

After swimming in a pool of confusion for the next few minutes, Gladys eventually took pity on you and blurted out, "It's Professor Reid, (Y/N). Professor Spencer Reid from Criminology department?"

Your stomach dropped to the floor.

How did they—

"A buddy of mine was at the criminology lab today and told me that everyone was talking about it," Akbar explained. "The Spencer Reid is married. It's a huge news."

"Damn right, it is." Gladys scoffed. "Why are all the fine men in my life already taken? I hate it here."

Akbar rolled his eyes. "Right. As if you ever had a chance with him anyway."

As your two friends proceeded to bicker with one another, you felt yourself sinking deeper into a temporal abyss as your brain tried to process what Akbar had just said.

Spencer Reid is married.

Everyone was talking about it.

A lump formed at the base of your throat as you faced Akbar again, "Hey, how did they—how did your friend find out that Professor Reid was married?"

"He showed up to work with a ring this morning."

Your heart was racing inside your chest. "That's it? Not a very conclusive evidence, isn't it? Maybe the man just likes his jewelry."

"Nah, I'd bet my money that he's hitched," Akbar said. "My buddy told me one of the students tried to ask him about it and he just kinda smiled and nodded. Never really answered the question, though."

"That does sound kinda sus," Gladys opined. "Makes me wonder what kind of person managed to bag a specimen like that."

You hummed distractedly in reply, too busy mulling over everything to actively participate in the conversation your friends were having. Your professor strode into the hall barely five minutes later, and before long, the class officially began, forcing you to shake off any irrelevant thoughts about Professor Chuckie and his ring from the deepest corners of your mind.

Today was the day every group in class had to present their last progress report before finals rolled around. As soon as the fifth group finished their presentation, you walked to the front of the class with Akbar and Gladys following closely behind.

Akbar stepped towards the desk, trying to connect his PC with the class projector. He fumbled with the cable for a few minutes before he sheepishly glanced at you and Gladys. "I don't think it's gonna work. Either of you brought a laptop today?"

"I brought mine," you announced. "Wait here."

You ran back towards your table to grab your laptop before connecting the device to the projector. As soon as the desktop of your laptop appeared on the big screen, the entire lecture hall suddenly erupted in a round of synchronized gasps.

Gladys was staring at you, a clear sign of shock on her countenance. "(Y/N)?"

"Dude," Akbar muttered breathlessly. "What the hell?"

You swept your gaze repeatedly between the two of them and the rest of the class, confusion dawning inch by inch with every second that ticked by. "What? What's going on?"

Akbar nudged your shoulder, gesturing you to look behind towards where the projected screen of your laptop was being shown to everyone in the room. Your mouth instantly ran dry when you realized what had the whole lecture hall so stunned for the past few minutes.

It was a picture—the one you had set up last week as the wallpaper of your PC desktop but somehow had managed to completely forget about—of you and Spencer lounging on the living room couch of your shared apartment, holding up your hands to show off the identical bands encircling your ring fingers. Spencer was smiling big towards the camera with a protective arm wrapped around your shoulders while you peeked behind his neck with a portion of your face concealed behind his untamed curls.

It was a sweet photo to commemorate the most important day of both of your lives, taken merely hours after you exchanged vows at the city hall and entrusted each of your own hearts towards the other person to keep, nurture, and love.

And now, that same photo was up on the wall of Room 2404 as an impromptu spectacle for your entire Data Analytics class to see.

From behind the desk, Professor Clegg cleared his throat. "So, (Y/N). You and Dr. Reid, huh?" He peered at you from behind his glasses, not the slightest hint of a smile on his lips, but a brightly twinkling mirth in his eyes. "I guess congratulations are in order."

You exhaled a tired breath and replied, "Thank you, Professor."

Once your presentation was over, you retired back to your seat and discreetly typed in a message as another group came forward to present their work. You threw your phone into your bag after hitting send, trying to ignore the whispered demands of your two friends as they badgered you for answers.

Across the campus, Spencer's phone dinged with an incoming text.

He pulled out the device promptly, failing to contain his smile as he read the message you had just delivered to him.

Thanks a lot for the heads up 👎 Looks like there's no need for me to keep my own ring hidden in the wallet anymore >:(

[that-foul-legacy-lover]

Ok bestie ik you literally just posted the request for asks like 30sec ago but im here

So yk the Fontaine archive quest. How about that combined with sagau. Specifically the scene w the whale where FL and Neuvillette fight the whale and then FL like faints and falls back into the portal.

but what if creator reader has been like surreptitiously watching the proceedings to make sure everything goes as planned and intervenes when foul legacy falls back into the portal. They do it sneakily so no one sees them and looks after FL and nurses him back to health.

Meanwhile FL/Chile are like ahhhhhhh why is the creator healing me??????

Idk I think it would be both funny and fluffy

ohhh you're right. you're so right, this would be so wonderful

you've taken a more subtle approach to watching this world than you thought you would've, preferring to simply observe from the background rather than make yourself the center of attention- it's not worth having people hound you all day, every day. honestly, it's rather easy to disguise yourself, just having to wear a facial mask as you traverse the streets of Fontaine, and as long as you're quiet you can watch any play or performance you desire. but despite your no-interfering policy, your heart squeezes painfully when you see Foul Legacy's exhausted state, gasping as he falls back through the tear in reality. without a second thought you twitch your fingers, pulling both you and Legacy away from the Opera Epiclese, away from Fontaine, to somewhere safe and warm and filled with waving grass and flowers

the Abyssal monster whines faintly, his armor cracked and smoldering, and you hastily set to work healing and wiping away the starry blood. Legacy stirs, crystalline eye cracking open before widening almost comically at the sight of you tending to his wounds, letting out a strangled trill of embarrassment. he almost melts when you gently shush him, tending carefully to his wounds and helping him sit up with delicate hands. Legacy stares at you in awe, practically falling into your arms when you offer him a hug, purring and chirping and nuzzling against you, the Creator, the one true god. Fontaine be damned- he's right where he belongs, at your side; and by the way you happily pet his hair, you seem to think the same

[eepyuii]

frostbite — pt. 14

pairing ; childe x gender neutral!reader

content ; childhood friends to “rivals” to lovers, slowburn

cw ; mentions of scars (edit: im a fucking idiot i forgot they talk abt scars at the start of the chapter) and like… brief dottore mention, so u know it’s icky. also u guys will be mad at me.

notes ; AHHH!!!!! I LIVE!!!!! oh gosh so many hectic life events lately….. i hadnt been able to get my hands on this dang chapter for so long

anyhow, i was planning to publish this one early like a day or two ago with a reference to an arlecchino voiceline that was THEN a leak and not out yet, so i’m glad i waited and developed this one just a little more LOL

also good luck with everyone’s arle pulls!!! (better luck than mine i hope ;w;) just like childe and the reader at some point, WANTERS WILL BE HAVERS ‼️

previous | next | masterlist

“agh— be more gentle!”

“i’ll be more gentle if you stop flinching away. you’re a war machine who can turn into an abyssal beast, withstand how draining it is to use it, hold your ground against a champion duelist but you can’t handle a little cotton ball soaked in alcohol?”

“well there’s no adrenaline anymore to remedy this sting, now, is there?”

it’s almost comically reminiscent of your meeting with childe back in zapolyarny palace, where he got himself hurt just to come tell you that he was to leave for liyue— feels like it was ages ago. childe leans against the elegant marble counter of your hotel room’s bathroom, pile of bloodied cottons and tissues piling by his hands, while you clean the fresh wounds he’s just acquired from clorinde.

from how much he flinches and hisses, the wounds almost seem grave… but they’re no more than a few scratches, slashes and bruises. after his witty remark, you can only attribute his absurd resilience during battle to the mentioned adrenaline— otherwise he wouldn’t have gotten nearly as far as he has with those reactions of his.

“so did you get what you wanted from that spar? how was it in comparison to your other tries?”

childe pauses thoughtfully and proceeds to pout.

“…i think she was still holding back. i need another spar.”

“gh-! are you kidding?! childe tartaglia ajax, i am not letting you resplit the forehead i just fixed up anytime soon.”

he sighs melancholy like a grounded child, but nods in agreement anyhow. childe’s eyes remain downward, he mindlessly fiddles with the hem of your shirt as he awaits patiently for you to finish tending to his wounds. once you finish, you scan him up and down to certify that you’ve taken care of everything, until your gaze is caught by his scars.

his war medals.

he’s got an insurmountable amount of them scattered all over his body and not one is like the other— some are large lashes most likely caused by weapons like axes or claymores; some are finer lines caused by swords or daggers; a few of them even look like different types of burns, likely the work of varied elemental catalysts; and some look like small stars or circles, probably the result of arrows or the tips of polearms.

the inches of his skin that his scars don’t cover are littered with the tiniest specs of freckles… ones you’ve barely had the privilege to see over the years as a result of living in eternally cold lands. it’s only been since you’ve both been to warmer regions like liyue, inazuma and now fontaine that you’ve began to notice them.

and you’ve found that the intricate, graceful tapestry that childe’s scars and freckles weave is… gorgeous.

it’s so uniquely mesmerizing that you nearly struggle to find a worthy comparison within words or the world around you. the closest one would be to a starry sky— you imagine that his freckles become the stars that remain stationary and furthest away in the night sky, small and bountiful, while his scars are the shooting stars that flash by in a vivid explosion of light.

it’s beautiful. he’s beautiful.

you’ve realized that you’re less afraid to admit this to yourself now. perhaps spending so much constant time with childe after such a while of misencounters and diverging schedules, has made you become more comfortable around him— to the point where you barely minded him childishly playing with the hem of your shirt. it feels fine, domestic even… almost in the same way that a coup—

“hey, why’re you staring so hard? am i not gonna make it, doc?”

you flinch as you’re snapped away from your train of thought, taking in how childe’s eyes flicker worriedly over your face. unfortunately, your mind isn’t freed from the grasp of your thoughts of… admiration and your gaze quickly flies over his scars once again. the delicacy of the moment, unexpectedly, fuels you with enough confidence to raise forward a hand that lightly grazes a particularly eye-catching gash on childe’s neck— the stretched healed skin ever so slightly bumping against your digits.

“nothing… j’st looking at your scars.” you answer absentmindedly.

beneath your hand, you feel his adam’s apple raise in a hearty gulp. next, childe inhales deeply and exhales a shuddered breath, as if an attempt to ground himself.

“what about ‘em?” he whispers expectantly.

“i like them.”

it’s as if you’ve gotten the liquid courage of a drink while being entirely sober, you’re surprised that you’ve done so much as let yourself say that out loud. though perhaps… that bewilderment might just be your downfall— within the thought, you notice just how close you and childe stand before each other. he leans against the bathroom counter in only the deep red undershirt of his uniform, eyes laser-guided onto your every move while you’re only a hair’s length away from him. his absurd height doesn’t help the moment either, as he’s forced to hunch over and his figure arches forward into you— it’s suffocating.

you can’t allow yourself to crumble and panic right now, it would absolutely destroy you for the rest of your life, so you opt to breathe deeply. childe watches intently as you do and returns it with his own deep sigh, one that you feel hit your face warmly the moment it leaves his lips and so it further capitalizes on just how obscenely close the two of you are— to the point where you breathe each other’s air.

childe’s piercing azure eyes move from matching your own to slightly further down on your face…

to your lips.

“yeah?” he mumbles in the most delicate tone possible, it’s not like you’re too far to hear anyway.

it’s an inexplicable magnetic pull that brings you the smidgenmost closer to him, it has to be so. it must be that same pull that brings you to look at his mouth— plump and pink, likely still store from the split at the corner of his bottom lip. and there’s no other possibility other than that damned magnet as to why your hands slide up to wrap around his neck, childe’s shyly snaking around your waist in response.

you don’t feel like you’re in a bathroom in a hotel room in fontaine anymore, you don’t feel like the seconds pass anymore. it’s a pocket between space and time that has enveloped the two of you, away from everything else.

and there’s nothing in this world left to do other than to lean just a breath closer to each other… just a little more and—

knock knock knock knock!

you flinch away faster than lightning, heart thudding ironically like thunder. childe also seems to have been entirely spooked by the knocks on the bedroom door and he pretends to bring his hand up to scratch something on his face, but you know very well he means to hide his glaringly flushed face— you know that because you do the very same, only you briskly step away to open the door instead.

outside the room, two fontainian officers greet you, though they seemingly go wide eyed for just a brief second as if you’re not who they expect to answer.

“forgive me, friend, this is… mr. tartaglia’s room, is it not?” one inquires.

you frown in suspicion, and you plan to not directly confirm the question as to pry exactly what business two policemen would have with childe. unfortunately, the devil decides to announce it himself by coming up behind you, arms crossed defensively.

“and what might be the problem, officer?” childe asks pointedly.

both officers simultaneously eye the two of you, the blushing idiots opening the door together, and proceed to share a knowing look. the first officer sighs while the second clears his throat awkwardly.

“we apologize for… intruding so abruptly but— mr. tartaglia, you are currently being suspected of being the culprit behind the serial disappearances of young women case. for the time being, you are under arrest and must face trial at the opera epiclese to make your case.”

…what.

“what?”

coincidentally, both you and childe exclaim at the same time— though, childe’s tone is rather condescendingly skeptical while yours is laced with pure, unadulterated shock.

the harbinger scoffs. “well, i can very confidently tell you right now that i didn’t do it.”

yeah, great way to clear any and all suspicion, man.

frustratedly pinching the bridge of your nose in an attempt to help you process the last five seconds, you sigh.

“i-i think what he means to say, officer, is that it’s not plausible for him to even be a suspect in this case. i mean— if i remember correctly, doesn’t that case extend for over twenty years? we’ve only been in fontaine for a few weeks! you can check our travel tickets, they’re dated. plus, we haven’t done anything even remotely disruptive while we’ve been here, both of us have multiple reliable alibi’s regarding our whereabouts over the past few days, and—“

the officer puts up a dismissive hand, effectively interrupting you. “please, leave this for the iudex to hear.”

a metallic jingling catches your attention and you see that the second policeman wordlessly produces handcuffs from his tool belt, the panic bubbles in your throat even further. childe’s shoulders visibly tense and it’s clear that he’s intent on fighting back— with once again lighting fast reflexes, you put a hand on his shoulder and throw him a warning look as a means to discreetly impede him. childe sighs frustratedly but ceases anyhow, allowing himself to be guided out of the room. out of pure illogical desperation, you chase after.

“don’t say anything hostile or stupid until we find you a lawyer! i promise you i’ll be right behind!” you call out as the three are at the other end of the hallway and catch a final look from childe, the emotion behind it is indescribable.

your chest feels overwhelmingly tight.

—

who knew such a resplendent room could be so suffocating.

it feels as though you’ve been waiting for an eternity and the intended comfort of the opera eplicese’s waiting room only serves to unnerve you more. the most important person in your life has just been abruptly accused of being a serial kidnapper and you’re supposed to indulge in sickeningly sweet pastries and tasteless tea? it’s almost derogatory.

your leg has become sore from how much it bounces restlessly, your nail plates scratchy from how much you fidget with them, all the paper napkins on the table sloppily folded into failed paper stars. none of it helps.

you can’t even decide what to worry about, all of it swirls and spirals in your head like a rumbling tornado. is he okay? are the officers treating him well? who will defend him? will he go to prison? for how long? when in the tsaritsa’s name will arlecchino retur—

the door slams open and you jump, partially with the abruptness of it and out of sheer panic to get some news on the situation. your heart starts palpitating again and it takes everything within your willpower to seem more put together in front of the knave.

“s-so?” you ask with an uncontrollable shake in voice.

“it’s invariable, childe must face trial and defend himself. we can only count on the factuality that he is innocent and the oratrice will say accordingly.”

you sigh, at least… whatever in the archons’ name constitutes that machine is infallible.

“the trial starts in five minutes.” arlecchino adds curtly.

you nod and allow yourself to take a deep, grounding breathe before standing up to leave the waiting room. as your hand reaches out to the doorknob, there is a firm grip on your shoulder. you turn ever so slightly to find a pointy-nailed, stark black hand holding you back— another moment to analyze the hand reveals to you that… that’s her skin. black.

a chill runs down your spine.

“allow me, for a moment, to ask a selfish question in exchange for a selfish answer, sargeant.” she stands, voice dark and menacing. “as an asset of the doctor’s… do you share his ideals?”

the question takes you off-guard but it also… doesn’t. you’re not an idiot— you’ve heard of dottore’s letters to the house of the hearth suggesting the, err.. ‘rejects’ be sent to his custody so he can further his experiments. you remember how utterly appalled you were when you first came across the information. if the knave truly cares about the children in her orphanage, it’s no wonder how tightly she grips your shoulder, sharp nails just a breath away from breaking skin.

and so she asks you selfishly, a question not of loyalty but of morality.

dottore’s face flashes before your eyes and your hand subconsciously tightens into a fist, expression hardening.

“if his life were in my hands, i’d crush it in a heartbeat.” you whisper bitterly.

the grip releases you and it’s as if air is easier to breathe after that. arlecchino wordlessly steps ahead to open the door for you and gestures for you to leave first, expression neutral as if nothing had happened.

the courtroom looks like no courtroom at all, rather you feel as though you’re about to watch an opera in a grand theater— the rumors about fontaine seem to be true after all. in the rows of cushy seats, people whisper and gossip endlessly until you find yourself a seat and the booming sound of a gavel being struck echoes through the court, all sound ceases.

“court is now in session for the case of serial disappearances of young women, today we will hear both the prosecution and defense’s arguments regarding mr. tartaglia of the fatui’s alleged involvement.”

a baritone voice echoes through the silent courtroom, the direction it rings out from reveals a white-haired man in proper blue robes, sitting in a balcony that floats above the courtroom’s stage. you recognize him as the iudex, the chief justice, monsieur neuvillette. his tone is elegant and intellectual, with complete considerate professionalism—- its cadence almost reminds you of zhongli in a sense. but that’s not all that reminds you of zhongli… you can’t quite put your finger on it though.

what follows is merely formal introductions from the prosecution and the defense and you take the opportunity to become distracted and ponder over just how catastrophic your morning had turned out. it all happened so quickly too— one second you were… ah… canoodling with childe and the next he was being escorted out the room by law enforcement. had you been cursed by the gods? would they be so cruel as to make every peaceful moment in your life just merely bedding for the next major inconvenience? would they be so frustratingly taunting as to let you get that close to the one you have feelings for only to rip you two away from each other right afterwards?

“it would appear i must repeat my question, mr. tartaglia.” neuvillette says firmly, catch your attention and breaking you from your daze.

“do you accept the charge that you are the true culprit behind the serial disappearances case?”

“to be perfectly honest, i don’t understand your country’s complicated court systems, or the reason why i’m being charged with something i’ve never even heard of.” the harbinger answers bluntly.

“however, i did hear that people who have been charged can choose to participate in a duel to clear their name— is that right? in that case, as long as i accept the charge, i can have an all out fight with that champion duelist clorinde, right?”

…

how can the supposed love of your life be this stupid?

“when i privately sparred with her last time, she was obviously holding back… real disappointing.”

“hey, don’t you understand? you’re currently the prime suspect for a major case! this isn’t the place for you to be looking for fights.” a female voice calls out from the balcony directly above where you seat— while you can’t see who it is, you can only assume from the bossiness of her tone that it’s lady furina herself, the hydro archon.

“oh? sounds like the hydro archon wants to lecture me on the ways of the opera house…” childe taunts. “then why don’t you duel me too? i’m the kind of students that learns best in the heat of battle.”

you’ll kill him, oh you’ll kill this idiot one day… does he want to rot in prison for the rest of his days? this time you truly cannot hold yourself back from subconsciously standing up in panic, limbs urging to get up there and try to amend the situation yourself by arguing like a normal, sane person— but the judging stares of the other spectators hinder you glued to your seat out of sheer embarrassment.

“alas, it would appear that communication with the defendant is going poorly, and we have made very little progress.” neuvillette intervenes. “in that case, let me explain everything from the very beginning again. the goal of this trial is to determine the culprit behind the serial disappearances case—“

“that case had nothing to do with him! you’ve got the wrong man!”

huh? …who said that? did that not come out of your own mouth? seems like something you’d blur out… instead it comes from a flamboyantly dressed blonde woman who bursts into the courtroom at that very second. to you, she nearly seemed angelic in the moment.

“miss navia, this is the second time you’ve interrupted the court proceedings. i only tolerated your behavior last time because you were able to provide the court with a key eyewitness. but that was exception rather than standard court protocol— i can very well charge you with contempt of court for your interjections.”

“oh please, did you ever think i had any respect for this place’s pointless theatrics?” navia scoffs.

“we can put aside that discussion for now, i’m not here to argue with you. i’m here to charge the true culprit behind the serial disappearances case. and if my charges prove true, the tartaglia here will be proven innocent by default, correct?”

neuvillette proceeds to dismiss childe from the stand to make way for navia and allows him to seat in the audience and you feel like you should owe this lady your life. childe’s eyes scan through the seats and when he spots you, he visibly lights up and beelines to the seat next to yours.

“challenging the hydro archon? really?” you whisper playfully.

childe contains himself not to laugh loudly. “can’t say it wasn’t worth the shot.”

it’s as if a wordless conversation settles between the two of you, silent glances and deep sighs that express the mutual hopefulness for a good outcome of this trial. after a solid few seconds of staring at each other like fools, childe’s gaze drops down, you follow it to see his gloved palm sat in the armrest between the two of you— it faces outward in an invitation. your hand joins his without thought and the second your skin registers the warmth that radiates from his hold, it’s like an electric shock runs through your veins. one so buzzing that makes you two simultaneously face away from each other to hide your burning cheeks.

you’d like to pretend that you’re paying attention to the trial, but the ever so gentle squeezes childe hand gives yours periodically seem to take up all of your focus and cause it to short circuit. suddenly, there’s another burst of the courtroom’s doors and there stand the traveler and paimon, because of course they’re somehow also involved in this.

“naviaaa, we’re back!” paimon calls out.

“as expected of my partner! i just knew you’d come back in the nick of time!”

“just how often do you intend to flout the rules of this court…” neuvillette mutters disappointedly.

the traveler’s appearance contributes new evidence towards navia’s favor, who expertly disperses all of the oppositions statements. the culprit is revealed to be a man by the name of vacher, who was intent on bringing back his dear vigneire to the point where he began dissolving innocent young women with primordial seawater. as overtly ridiculous as fontaine’s spectacle culture seemed to be, you couldn’t say that watching this trial play out wasn’t extremely entertaining.

but speaking of innocent…

“at this point, the verdict of this trial is clear. with mr. marcel’s conviction, the charges against mr. tartaglia no longer hold any basis.”

you giddily look over at childe, who seems as aloof as someone who didn’t worry for a second. your fingertips tingle with excitement and you can feel the stress evaporate off your shoulders in real time. neuvillette summarizes the entire case once more and submits the verdict to the oratrice— the machine hums loudly and flashes a blinding blue, producing an envelope finally confirming his guilty status. much to unspoken disappointment, childe lets go of your hand to stand with his chest proudly puffed up.

“well now, hasn’t this been the most delicious piece of drama? the villain has been caught, justice has been served, pas wrongs have been righted and it’s a bit ol happy ending… since it’s been such a great show, i’ll just let the false accusations against me slide. either way, i’ve still got some business to attend to, so if you’ll excuse me—“

the harbinger looks back to offer you his hand once more and you happily take it before childe begins to lead you two out of the room. unfortunately, the guards at the doors of the courtroom remain unmoving as they block the doors and you frown in confusion.

“please wait just one moment, mr. tartaglia.” says the iudex.

“oh, what now? none of this has anything to do with me.” childe groans.

“according to court protocol, since this trial was initiated due to a charge against you, a verdict must also be made regarding the initial charge before the trial can conclude.”

you sigh out of selfish frustration, but opt to respect the proceedings anyhow— it’s not like the verdict will change now. childe, on the other hand, voices his annoyance like a petulant kid.

“please respect the laws of fontaine. this has always been the rule.”

“it’s fine, we’ll just have to wait here a few little seconds more.” you whisper to childe coaxingly.

he sighs. “alright alright, but this has been a lot of hassle. all i need is to stand over there, right? let’s just get this over with…”

“through evidence presented in the public trial that was just held, it has been established that mr. tartaglia has no direct connection to the serial disappearances case. the guilty party has been established and thus, it is logical to suppose mr. tartaglia is innocent of the charges.”

the machine whirrs once more, stirring some curiosity within you as to what exactly makes it tick or give accurate verdicts at all. as the envelope reaches the chief justice’s hands, he seems to stutter for a moment as he reads it. neuvillette’s ever so stoic face falls slightly into a vexed frown and he hums in confusion.

“according to the judgment of the oratrice mechanique d’analyse cardinale, mr. tartaglia is— guilty.”

taglist ; @kentply @osaemu @rain-and-a-nice-nap @koichirana

[ilikereadingthisiswhatilike]

Batman Comic Characters

A list of Batman Comic Characters x reader stories. None of these works are mine.

Batfamily (No Smut)

Have You Ever Cared? @gobydana Summary: Reader is killed and nobody really does much. So when she is resurrected she stays off the grid and leads a simple life until the batfam finds he and confront her where she reveals how hurt she is. Warnings: Angst, Mention of Death, Neglect Special Tags: Bat!sis

Stone Skipping @fandom-writer642 Summary: The Batfamily has always been so crazy that no one notices the silent sister. How many times can she bounce back before sinking? Warnings: Angst, Mention of Death, Neglect Special Tags: Bat!sis

My God I’m so Lonely @ravcns Summary: Reader who feels as if they don’t fit in with the rest of the family due to not being a crime fighter. Warnings: Angst, Mention of Death, Neglect Special Tags: Bat!sis, Multichapter

Bruce Wayne (Smut)

Echo in the Void @straywords Summary: Bruce’s obsession with the Joker pulls him into the abyss till it swallows him whole. Warnings: Rape, Obsessive Behavior, Prostration Special Tags:

Jason Todd (No Smut)

Little Omega @toastedkiwi Summary: There’s yet another kid that Bruce Wayne has taken in and Jason finds a scared little omega. Warnings: None Special Tags: Bat!sis, Omegaverse, Fluff

Jason Todd/Dick Grayson (No Smut)

Re-connection Session @weebsinstash Summary: You never should have let Damian sleep in your lap, especially after rejecting Dick and Jason's request for attention. Now you have their jealousy to resolve. Warnings: Kidnaping, Stockholm Syndrome Special Tags: Bat!sis, Omegaverse

[theriu]

By a stroke of unexpected blessing, I acquired an actual in-store copy of LoZ: Tears of the Kingdom! Behold!

And the natural first thing to do was inform my niece and nephew who are also avidly awaiting it. This was quickly followed by impromptu arrangements for a Cool Aunt Sleepover including said niece and nephew and also another niece and nephew. We took turns playing through the intro and exploring the first map and completely lost track of time! And now, slightly out of context potential spoilers under the cut as I recount our reactions and my favorite moments of the night:

[Link crawling on the ceiling like a lizard while Older Nephew searches for Clues] Zelda: Oh! Link, the master sword is glowing! [Link back on the ground, but tbf she totally could have noticed the sword glowing while he was crawling on the ceiling]

“[Older Nephew], can you PLEASE keep moving?” “I need to click Zelda a fifth time to make sure we got all the dialogue!”

Awwwwww ZELDA IS A LIL HISTORY NERD BLESS HER HEART

“Those rocks are definitely patterned like breakable rocks. I bet we can come back later and break them.” “Yeah they are you’re probably right.” (We were not right.)

Older Nephew: “Just what is Ganon smoking for there to be so much? He must have horrible lung problems.”

Me, totally nervous about upcoming creepy scene: “[Younger Nephew] you’re gonna need to leave pretty soon, this next scene is probably gonna be SUPER CREEPY” (It was indeed creepy but nowhere NEAR as creepy as I expected from the trailers, altho I did close my eyes for the one head-turning part, dont judge me)

Older Nephew: “Yeah, dead Ganon. Ganon without water. Dehydrated Ganon.”

“SO THAT’S HOW THEY RESET HIS STATS”

[Everyone to Younger Nephew] “You can come back in now!”

“Where did his shirt go?” “Magic” “Why are his PANTS gone?” “No idea”

[After finding pants] “Did we miss his shirt?!” [The quest for a shirt continues]

“The portal is down there—“ “I KNOW I’m EXPLORING”

Link really just walked up to a giant drop into open air without his parasail and went “Time to yeet,” no answers given and no questions asked. Classic.

“Giant lilypads!”

“I found a STICK!”

“NEW MUSHROOMS!!!”

[Everyone while Older Niece was breaking pots] “Destroy ancient relics! Demolish personal property for cash! Commit vandalism!”

Older Niece decides her talents are better served livetexting our progress on Discord.

Younger Niece is delighted that the new fuzzy race have big wing-shaped ears like her original character and is now calling Rauru her grandfather.

“I bet you can ride the emus!” (You can’t and I’m still mad about it)

[While I am searching a tree for eggs] Older Nephew: “Are there any eggs? Do we get to consume a bird’s children-to-be?”

Younger Nephew ends turn early because he hasn’t learned how to hit yet and there is an enemy robot RIGHT OVER THERE. Understandable, really.

Older Nephew slides down to explore dangerous ledge hovering over the abyss. Younger Nephew, repeatedly: “This is dumb.” Me: “Yeah, it is.” Older Nephew: [finds a hidden chest] Me: “Never mind!”

Older Nephew has dubbed first hand power Magic Superglue. I don’t remember what it’s actually called, so apparantly it stuck (ha!)

“THE KOROKS ARE BACK!” [cheering]

The children cheering me on as I fuse six giant blocks into SUPER BRIDGE

Accidentally glueing comically small-by-comparison crate to the very corner of Super Bridge

Younger Niece gets jumpscared by an emu BOLTING out of the trees RIGHT AT THE SCREEN. Gameplay paused while room recovers from laughing fits.

“We can FUSE STUFF INTO NEW WEAPONS?!! This is the BEST THING EVER!!!” [Older Nephew and Younger Niece conduct rigorous experiments resulting in some actually cool weapons, a stambulb arrow, and an apple stick.]

REVENGE OF YOUNGER NEPHEW: Comes out of shrine and destroys a robot in two hits with Boulder Sword.

[After 2 1/2 hours] “WE FOUND HIS SHIRT!!!” [cheering]

“You hit the fans to make them work!” [Older Nephew forgets to unequip ax and obliterates half the raft]

Utterly delighted over discovering the glow seed arrow trick myself while ineffectively trying to kill a robot.

Younger Niece: “How come you always find the eggs?” Me: I’m just that good. It’s because I own birds.”

[Group hilarity] “MINE CART SHIELD!”

[Group insanity] “MINE CART HAMMER!!!!”

And that’s when I looked at the clock and realized it was 1:30 in the morning, so we wrapped up and went to bed. AND A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL!

[syre-stane16]

DOES THE PYRO VISON HOLDERES DESERVE THEIR ELEMENT?

PYRO

Ye, so Pyro is associated with war in Genshin. Why? Wecause war ravages the land and it kills everything its touches. A heavily destructive force, the element is also related with bad temperaments and rage.

Pyro's positive qualities is its warmth, light and energy.

It can be used to represent love, courage, strength and passion perhaps even ambition.

Now, I am bad at explaining the way I feel a character would represent the love aspect. But basically big positive feelings towards a select few or the entire world. You get me?

Let's begin.

AMBER

Amber is a warm and friendly character but so is most of the cast, so I won't call it out unless a character's warmth is significant enough to do so.

She's energetic, passionate and courageous.

KLEE

BOMB

Also, she a very energetic and passionate child. Klee is also considered the strongest of the knights of Favonius. Also the destruction aspect.

LIGHT

WARM,FUZZY SWEETHEART.

Guys she would love so hard oh my gods. Family, friends, random strangers. It's hard not to adore her and she just loves. I feel so upset about characters that love, like why do we deserve you. Why do we deserve your love. We are horrible, HORRIBLE people.

DILUC

His vision burned out after Crepus died. To compensate for this, Diluc used his father's delusion whilst he hunted down the Fatui. That man went on a rampage and he was exiled from Snezhnaya. So.. rage and destruction.

There's also the case that he lashed out at Kaeya and attacked his brother when he told Diluc about his connections to the Abyss Order allowing Kaeya to gain his vision.

Diluc's vision was rekindled of course, but it was interesting that his passion died the night his father did. The man still holds his dedication to justice.

Power.

Courage.

Also, he and Kaeya have a fire/ice kinda deal going on. I think Diluc and Kaeya deserve to get more story quests, like there is so much more we need to know about those two.

I can't really tell anywhere from the game, the comic or anything about what his relationship with Kaeya used to be, and how badly it broke. I feel that they both want to rekindle their relationship but aren't sure if the other wants to.

Even then, I feel like Diluc also falls int the love aspect. He got banned from a REGION because of what he did after they took his father away from him. His relationship with Kaeya is messy but you KNOW that man has a LOT of feelings.

And that may just be why I think he works with the love factor. His actions gives us an idea of how large and heavy his emotions are , you guys get me, right?

XIANGLING

Let's be honest, her dedication to the art of cooking already explains it. Also she's a chef.

XINYAN

Passionate of course, she's really friendly as well and she has a fiery personality.

Courage in a way. Imagine going onto a stage time and tome again and despite your audience constantly throwing tomatoes at you, you keep coming back to perform what you love.

HU TAO

Energetic.

She also has an interesting relationship with death. She believes that death is a natural part of life and feels that trying to prolong it is meaningless. Hu Tao embraces death.

Also she's a funeral parlour director. Cremation.

I adore how she's associated with butterflies, a symbol of death and change.

YANFEI

You would expect someone who works with law to be a hydro user wouldn't you.

Oh well, Yanfei is very passionate about the law. Like damg.

Also. Fun-fact: She finds Fontaine 's laws too difficult. Which is understandable.

THOMA

I'm not a ThomaTo shipper, but he definitely loves the Kamisato siblings. They are like a family to him and he is extremely loyal to them.

Thoma is a very friendly character and hardworking. He's also protective of the Kamisato siblings. idk guys, he's just one of those characters that you just know loves with all their heart.

YOIMIYA

FIREWORKS

passionate about fire works

friendly

DEHYA

She's from the desert.

She's strong.

Destruction.

Courage.

Her vision came to her at a low point making it a light at the end of her tunnel .

LYNEY

He is passionate about magic. He's the extrovert of the hearth siblings. He shares an element with Arlecchino, which may hint to them having a closer bond.

Light.

Courage.

The terms 'smoke and mirrors' is used when referring to a magician's tricks.

I'm gonna say a case can be made with love, for his siblings, 'Father' and for the magician that trained him and Lynnette. This boy rarely leaves his sister's side for long periods of time. Also he loves the traveller I don't make the rules you gays can't change my mind.

MOVING ON

CHEVREUSE

Passion

GUN

Courage

GAMING

His name is FIRE. He's passionate about his art. He's friendly. REALLY friendly and courage works too. His animations are LIT.

What more do you want?

CONCLUSION

Passion seems to be the most common trait amongst these fiery little guys.

Cryo next and I promise you I will gush about Kaeya and his beautiful face .

Bye!

Edi: i forgot Yoimiya.

[distort-opia]

I keep going back to Bruce's mindset in Joker War, and especially what he took away from it, because... it's fascinating how impersonal and yet helplessly personal he is, regarding Joker.

It's obvious to me Tynion has worked with Snyder, especially on works involving Batman & Joker, because Bruce barely sees Joker as a human being. It starts with the way Bruce talks about Joker when fighting the fake Designer:

-- Batman (2016) #93

Bruce equates Joker to the abyss. In a move that surprises no one, he asserts once again that others don't understand Joker-- he isn't a common serial killer, he isn't insane, he's something else.

The theme continues as the plot progresses:

-- Batman (2016) #95

I don't really like that Tynion used a flashback to Bruce and Joker's first interaction in The Man Who Laughs to establish that Joker was this incomprehensible force of evil, even then. It's an inaccurate reading of the comic, and it oversimplifies Joker. There's a lot to be said about how this approach to Joker as less of a person and just a cardboard cut-out of Pure Evil is boring, one-dimensional and has unfortunately infected a lot of people working with the character over at DC, but alas-- not trying to go into the Doylist side of things in this post.

However, the flashback mentioned is meant to tie in to Bruce's hallucination of Alfred later on, the one that gives him the strength and motivation to keep fighting:

-- Batman (2016) #98

Alfred is a figment of Bruce's mind, hence... it's Bruce who puts Joker and death on the same level. Joker is a kind of inevitable force of destruction, something he can't hate. You cannot hate a hurricane, you cannot hate an earthquake. You cannot hate death or an abyss that consumes, because that's simply its nature. What it does.

...And yet. Despite how seemingly impersonal his way of seeing Joker is, there's still a part of Bruce trying to understand, trying to make sense of Joker. There's a little story in Detective Comics detailing Bruce's thoughts during Joker War, in which we see Bruce pondering the following:

-- Detective Comics (2016) #1027 -- The Gift

"Is that the lesson?" It's reminiscent of the questions Bruce addressed Joker through the listening device planted on the corpse in Batman (2016) #93: "Why attack me like this? What are you trying to prove?".

But it's more than an inner conflict. After the conclusion of Joker War, after Bruce walks away (while knowing Joker had the tools to disarm the bomb and would not die), Bruce tells Selina his true thoughts. God bless her heart for pushing his emotionally constipated ass:

-- Batman (2016) #101

Bruce thought of everything Joker did in terms of a lesson. He's thought of Joker's actions as that for a long time now, and there's a painful paradox to it; the points Joker makes about Batman always hurt Gotham and the people around Bruce, but part of him still listens. Part of him still tries to make sense of what Joker is saying and learn. And at the end of the day, even after all the death and destruction Gotham went through as a price... he thought that Joker was right.

He even proceeds to put those lessons into practice. He moves to a townhouse in Gotham, he tries to be closer to the city and belong to it, not be apart from it. Start over, change. And yet, in his new base of operations, we get this:

-- Batman (2016) #106

Out of everything in the original Cave, all the trophies and the reminders, Bruce brought the Joker card with him. There's no other personal element in there, nothing else meant to be decorative or more than just practical. Nothing else but the card on the floor. It's especially interesting when you take into account that Fear State, the major arc that follows Joker War and Ghostmaker's introduction, is about all the ways in which a traumatic past defines or breaks people.

And yet Bruce carries this piece of the past with him. It'll never cease to fascinate me, how much Bruce intellectualizes and dehumanizes Joker, so he can avoid his personhood and the true parameters of their relationship... all while asserting to himself and to others how he's the only one Joker sees as alive in a cold dead world, how he's the only one who matters to Joker. How he's the only one who understands how Joker works, how he's the only one who can stop him.

(Don't even get me started on Miracle Molly being Joker-coded, or Khoa as a psychopathic individual on the side of good Bruce forgives murder for, because hoo boy. Actually I might make a separate post about Fear State, and then another about Ghostmaker... goddammit, brain.)

[progenycursed]

Heya, love your comic! I had a question though, does your PK realise that the impure vessels were fully sentient or does he think they just weren't fully hollow but also not completely alive, for the lack of a better word? I might be wrong, but from what we've seen of him so far it feels like he wouldn't be the type to kill children if he knew they were full on children and not just undead things with a defect?

(Sorry if it came off as rude or anything, I pulled an all nighter so my wording skills died in the ditch, I ADORE your comic though! Can't wait to see more of it 👀 it's so fun)

YES! A chance to lore dump! And proof that I’ve been characterizing decently!

In this AU, I don't image him standing at the top of the abyss, judging every vessel that makes it up with a toss or a take. I’m of the mind that the climb Ghost does in the game is them getting their memories back, so many of them are blurring together and/or symbolic. It wasn’t actually raining dead siblings all the time.

I just have the Pale King waiting for ANY vessel to make it up. The abyss is harsh. I tried to show it in one of Hollow's flashbacks as well as the vessel bios, that many/most of the vessels don't even make it out of the egg. Those that do, have to deal with void pools trying to kill them and even their fallen siblings attacking them. When he isn’t at the top, waiting and compelling them to climb, most of the vessels never bother trying the perilous and pointless climb. They are just trying to survive. So very, very few of them ever make it up to him. When they do, he would just take who shows up.

He granted the ability of higher thought for all within his domain. And with his power of soul and his heightened senses, he can sense all life, movement, and sense any mind. Even fragmented ones or wild animals. So he can sense the smallest forms of life and the most primitive of minds.

With the vessels, he never sensed any of that from any of them. Not even traces or fragmets. Every single one of his senses are telling him the vessels are nothing more than walking corpses. But even corpses have essence. They don't even have that, the traces that it was once alive. The void is his opposite. It is death and darkness. His senses, all non-void beings senses, are not designed to comprehend it. Even though the vessels have minds, no one but other void beings can sense it.

Any time a vessel went wrong, he would rationalize they went rouge for any number of reasons. None of them being that they had a mind. At least not in a way he could feel confident in saying they had one. I’m not sure if I’m showing it well in the comic, but he has his doubts about the vessels being pure. Which is why he made the tests we see in chapter 3. Testing for curiosity, pateience, and pain. Why we see a guest appearance from the White Lady in chapter 5. But he has no solid proof to back up the one instinct he’s desperately trying to push down for this plan to work. Take a guess which instinct it is >:D

So yes! You are correct. By the time the hollow knight plan was started, the Pale King would never throw a living being into the abyss. In fact, he tries his damdest to ensure no one ends up there even by accident. He views the citizen of Hallownest as his children. And while a lot of the community has it where the White Lady is the caring parent and the Pale King is the uncaring/distant one, I view it more the other way around. But that’s a block of text for a different post.

He wasn’t always a good god-king. Especially in the early cycles. Where his complete lack of understanding of mortals lead to many a miserable life and early deaths. He got much better over the cycles when brave mortals were finally willing to tell the all powerful higher being he was wrong about something. He wants them to tell him, he wants to understand them, so he never gets mad when they do, but most are to scared to because he’s a god-king. So he tries to have a least one person around him who is willing to tell him he’s doing something wrong. Earning them the title of the King’s Keepers.

Even now he’s still not the best in many ways. The nuances of mortal social structure are strange and nonsensical to him. Why does it matter what color you wear to an anniversary party? So he can’t always tell what is ‘normal’ for mortals, and what is actual exploitation of others. Everyone within range is given a mind. What specious of bug they are has no effect on intelligence, and if he heard that argument he’d shut that shit down in a second. But he would have to know about it first. A dedicated enough upper class individual could easily stop those voices from ever getting to him. So there are still problems in Hallownest, but only because he doesn’t know about them.

TLDR

He can sense the mind and life force of everything. And has never sensed any mind or signs of life from any vessel, even when they went rouge. He hasn’t always been a good ruler, even now his ruling style has flaws, but he tries to keep his people happy. He would never throw a living being into the abyss, or subject anyone with a mind to containing an angry god for eternity.

And its great to hear people are enjoying my little AU. I also fear I am coming across rude with these replies. I’m always grateful and happy beyond words to get positive feedback, but I have no idea how to respond to it. Because a thank never feels good enough. But I mean it when I say, thank you!

[ruru0803]

Unknown Territory: Five x Fem Reader

Chapter 2- we only see each other at weddings and funerals part 3

Five is aged up here.

I moved some moments from the other episode to here because it was already pretty long. Also I'm adding a scene from the second comic into this chapter.

Anyway...

Characters talking...

Five Hargreeves

You

Allison Hargreeves

Klaus Hargreeves

Diego Hargreeves

Vanya Hargreeves

Ben Hargreeves

Pogo

Grace

Luther Hargreeves

Comic Hazel - C.H.

Hazel

Cha Cha

Comic Cha Cha - C.C.

Everyone else is in white.

"Five what do you think?"

A younger you smiles at the boy holding up a flower crown you had made from the few remaining plants in the world.

"It's nice. Brings out your eyes."

You frown at him as you watch him put one of your dresses you found on Delores.

"You're not even looking..."

Five turns towards you looking at your flower crown before returning his attention back to what he was doing.

"It's nice. Brings out your eyes."

You shake your head with a smile on your face, rolling your eyes at his statement.

"What am I going to do with you?"

Five shrugs as you walk and sit next to him, placing the crown on his head. He side eyes you and you give a smile in return.

You two sit in silence for a moment, you study his face as he starts to fix your Delores' dress. You move a strand of hair from in front of his eyes, your hand lingers and Five lets your hand rest near his ear for a moment before removing it.

"Tell me a story, Five."

Five's brows scrunch together.

"About?"

"Anything."

You lay down on the ground placing your head into your hands, giving him your full attention.

"Once upon a time there lived a mermaid princess."

You glare at him, raising your hand to stop him from continuing.

"Stop. That's not what I meant."

"Then what do you want."

You roll your eyes at him in frustration, he glares at you in return. You might be able to peel in his mind when he has his guard down but he sure as hell couldn't read yours.

"Tell me something about you."

"Like what?"

"Anything!!"

You open your arms in a big gesture which causes Five to roll his eyes.

"Fine. About a few years ago when I turned 13..."

-

"Nietzsche once said, Man is as a rope stretched between the animal and the superhuman."

Our dad had us lined up against the wall, something he would do everyday always reading us a page from his book. Well he would tell us to wait under the stairs but Number 1 and 2 deemed it fair for everyone to start at the wall.

"A rope over the abyss. It is a dangerous crossing, a dangerous looking back, a dangerous trembling and halting."

He would always have Number 7 with him watching us. Something twisted he did to remind her that she was nothing like us. She would stand at his side as he wrote down information in his book about us as if we were his test subjects than his children.

That day was like any other, Number 7 blew her whistle and we all raced up the stairs.

"As much as you must strive for individual greatness, and strive you must, for it won't come to you of its own accord..."

Number 1 and 2 fought for first place like they always did, usually I would stay behind and chat with my brothers Number 4 and 6 but I had been working on my jumps and wanted to prove that I had gotten better.

"That there is no individual stronger than the collective."

I jumped in front of them instantly gaining the lead much to the annoyance of 1 and 2. I didn't care how upset they were I wanted to prove I was better. I don't know why, maybe it was the fact that our father put us in competition every day.

"That's not fair, Five's cheating!"

"He adapted."

It was nice to finally get some words of accomplishment from him even if it wasn't directly said to me. I won that day, though not all of my siblings were happy for me.

"The ties that bind you together make you stronger than you are alone."

That was the day I also got my tattoo. My siblings and I were nervous about it.

"They will make you impervious to the pain and hardship the world will thrust upon you."

It was a painful process though none of us wanted to show it. Number 2 basically pushed our Mom away to prove to Dad that he could handle it. Number 3 cried after, our brother Number 4 tried to comfort her.

What about Number 7? Well she drew hers on.

"And believe me when I tell you, life will be hard. It will be painful."

-

"Give me your best impression of your father."

You laugh as Five uses one hand to make a circle around his eye, he sends you a playful smile before making the most over the top frown on his face. He clears his throat before speaking the most proper accent.

"You might be born with powers but there's a difference between special and extraordinary. And you are neither."

"That accent."

Five eyes you mischievously before lying down next to you.

"It's obnoxious, I know."

You send him a sympathetic smile as he looks at the darkening sky.

"Did he really say that to you?"

He shrugs with a blank face trying to hide any emotion from seeping through.

"Number 7 had it worse than any of us. He made her a special example because she was the only one without powers. She had to hear that statement everyday. And from the looks of it things didn't get better according to her book."

You thought Five's impression was funny, the words though not so much. And by the look in his eyes you could see that in some capacity he might have actually believed those words his father told them.

You turn your body in the direction of Five before placing your hand on his cheek and turning his face towards you.

"I think you're extraordinary, Five Hargreeves."

Five looks into your eyes, looking for any signs of deceit but he couldn't find any. He smiles at you before grabbing your hand that was laid on his cheek..

⌛⌛⌛⌛ Violence in 321⌛⌛⌛⌛

Back at Griddy's,

Five knocks on the glass gaining the attention of the one of the Temps, he teleports as their finger pushes down on the trigger causing them to shoot at the glass. Five watches from the shadows and breaks a mop that sat beside him before teleporting next to the agent at the door and stabbing them in the side.

Five teleports behind another agent; who was distracted by the death of his coworker, Five uses his tie to choke the man to death. Another agent tries to sneak up on him only to get stabbed with a pencil in the dick, Five throws a plate at another agent with enough force that makes him crash into a wall before turning his attention back to the one in front of him and using the same pencil to stab the agent in the eye.

Five watches as two other agents turn towards him with their guns raised. He teleports out of the way causing the two to shoot each other to death.

Five looks down at the bloody and bruised bodies around him with a sadistic smile on his face, his uniform drenched in their blood, he walks up to the agent he choked out and grabs his tie, tying it around his neck. He turned his head to where he heard breathing and slowly walked up to the now maskless agent before snapping his neck.

He felt proud, like he somehow gave you a little bit of justice, He knew he couldn't save you; he didn't have a way back to the commission office but at least he felt like he could do this for you.

Five lets out a breathe before walking up to the counter and using a knife to cut into his skin not noticing cars pulling up in the parking lot behind him. He pulls out the tracker before walking outside and tosses it into the sewer.

Agents come out of their cars and surround him again.

Five sighs before taking his tie from around his neck and tying it around his wounded arm.

"Give me a fucking break."

One of the agents walks forward while the rest backup, taking cover behind their cars.

"It isn't standard protocol of the Temps Aeternalis to make such a spectacle."

Five crosses his arms, a dark glare making its way on his face.

"All of your corpses scattered in the store and around the parking lot isn't going to be 'discrete'.

The agent removes his mask.

"We don't want any trouble, Number 5. We just want you to come back and finish the job."

"That's unfortunate, because I am no longer in the practice of doing anything anyone wants me to do."

Five turns to walk away but the agent points his gun into the back of Five's head.

"Most unfortunate. Because my supervisors see you as a valuable asset to the commission."

The agent's hand shakes a little at the thought of taking the life of the person who they were explicitly told not to kill under in circumstances but if he wouldn't come willingly...

"An expensive acquisition, and a prize worth hunting until it has been captured..."

The agent lets out a breath before straightening their poster.

"Or killed."

"Well aren't you a bunch of tigers..."

The agent looks at him, confused.

"So hungry, so poised... All sharp teeth and swagger."

Five studies his surroundings as he speaks to the agent.

"A tiger shows a hundred stripes, but I know it has more than that. A tiger hides them. Do you know where it keeps them?"

"No-"

"Here's a hint."

Five teleports onto his shoulders and sticks his thumbs into his eyes, so deep that his blood comes out.

"Forget about the mission, Kill him!!"

Another agent yells out causing the others to shoot at the direction of the two men however Five already teleported by then causing them to shoot at the cars instead making them catch fire.

Five grabs a gun from the one of the car trunks as the cars start to blow up one by one killing the agents beside them.

"Get to cover!!"

Five's blood covered finger pushes down on the trigger, shooting some of the agents that tried to run.

He continues to teleport around gaining more agents attention and laughing as they keep blowing up more and more cars, killing their own members.

"Fast. Too Fast."

Five lands on the ground with the gun in his hand, burning bodies and cars surrounded the outside of Griddy's.

"I am in the jungle and I am too fast for you."

Five watches as one of the agents tries to crawl away.

"You have teeth and stripes and things that tear."

Five reloads the gun.

"But I am much too fast. You want my flesh, but you don't know where the jungle is...only I know where the jungle is...only I know."

Five shoots the agent in the head.

"I am a gazelle. I will always be faster than you."

Five lets out a satisfied laugh but that soon stops at the sound of static.

"W-we need them now...T-target confirmed in this area..."

Five teleports to where the voice was coming from.

"P-please send help..."

Five shoots the guy dead and let's out a sigh before static fills his ears again.

"Mission control dispatching Hazel and ChaCha..."

Five's eyes widened in fear.

"God dammit.."

💼💼💼💼💼💼💼💼💼💼💼💼💼💼

"Handler, Handler!!"

The Handler looked up from her desk in the direction of the panicked Agent that walked into the room.

"Unless this is about the two traitors, I don't want to hear it."

"It is ma'am. Five was last located at Griddy's, a call came in confirming the location before the line went dead. But it seems Five has somehow taken his tracking device out."

The Handler squeezes her fist tightly at the agent's words.

"Yes, Yes. I am aware. Any Idea where he is now?"

The agent shakes their head with a slight frown on their face.

"No Ma'am. Nothing recent."

"So he's missing..."

The agent nods.

"Yes Ma'am."

"And the other one?"

The agent looks down at the clipboard in their hands.

"Looks like she's in a different timeline. I've already made preparations to send agents after her."

"I've already sent the Hazels and ChaChas on this mission."

The agent's face paled at her words. The Hazels and ChaChas were good at their jobs, great even but three of the four were sick. They'd do anything to complete a mission. Anything.

"B-But I thought you wanted them back alive..."

The Handler stands up looking the agent dead in the eye.

"I told them to beat Five up a little if they have to but I need him alive. Do what they will with the other one."

The agent lets out a little gulp and nods nervously before leaving the room.

🫧🫧🫧🫧🫧🫧🫧🫧🫧🫧🫧🫧🫧🫧

You ducked into a theater with your hands covering your ears as the sounds of gunfire sounded in the air.

As soon as you left the commission building, you used the suitcase to bring you to the past. You remembered Five mentioning the day the apocalypse happened from some newspaper he found. You weren't there when it happened since you were dealing with your own issues under water but you took his word for it.

Not even an hour into leaving the commission office, did you encounter the sound of maniacal laughter. Hazel and ChaCha.

Luckily from the quick glance you got of them before ducking behind a seat, it seemed like it was only two of them which relieved you a little bit until you realized you had the blood thirsty ones on your trail.

"Y/N come out, come out, wherever you are."

"Fuck me...."

You whispered to yourself as you looked over the seats to see how far they were. Their pink and blue masks seemed like they were mocking you as they got closer and closer to your area.

"How'd they even..."

Duck back down and looked at your arm.

"Shit..."

The gun shots stopped for a second and you looked up to see what they were doing. The two men in masks were looking down at the tracking device in Chacha's hand before looking in the direction of where you hid. You quickly ducked back down, since the other people that were around started shooting in your direction. Catching the attention of Hazel and ChaCha.

You couldn't see them but in that moment you felt extreme terror. How were you going to get out of this?

You closed your eyes trying to think of a way to get yourself out of this situation.

You could use your siren voice but there was no way of knowing if they were wearing headphones under those masks.

Not to mention there was already so much going on in that moment. Bullets rain in the air, trying to hit whatever they could make contact with while a blinding white light burned your eyes as you tried to take a look at the commotion that was also happening behind you.

You pulled out a pocket knife that Johnny had slipped into your pocket. You winced as you cut deep into your arm before sticking your fingers in to pull out the tracker that was in there.

"Fuck!"

You didn't have too much time to worry about your wound because a voice started to yell above the commotion. You turned in the direction of the entrance to find a guy dressed in a red and white shirt, dark jeans and a green vest hopping over the stairs case. His hair was messy and he had dark makeup around his eyes, he looked about your age well... younger.

You started to panic as the agents turned their guns towards him. You rushed over; suitcase in hand, without even thinking and pulled the guy down and covered him with your arms as the guns fired off again.

You looked at the dude and checked for any injuries before looking over the seats again after finding none. Your eyes widened as you found the familiar face of a twenty year old Five hopping on the back of one of the agents and moving his gun to where he ended up shooting his own partners that were close by.

You're blinded again as the guy beside you, hands start to glow a similar shade of blue to Five's. Then you realize who this could be, a small smile makes its way on your face. One of Five's brothers that he'd always talk about. You were finally able to meet one though you wished it was under better circumstances.

He stands up and spreads his hands, the next thing you know all the agents are being thrown around or killed. You looked at him in amazement, this could only be Klaus. Five told you about his siblings powers but to actually see it in action.

"Wow. You're amazing."

The guy you assumed was Klaus smiled at your reaction and gave you a bashful look.

"Thank you. It was nothing."

Unknowingly to you, his ghost brother beside him let out a sigh as he continues to tear the other agents apart.

"Really Klaus?"

Your attention is pulled again ChaCha walks in, This was the female ChaCha, unlike her counterpart who was now making eye contact with her, she didn't have her mask.

She looks taken back at the sight of the other two before recognition filled her eyes.

"She's here?"

ChaCha nods at her.

"She is."

Five takes cover in the seats closest to watching as his brother uses his powers to conjure the other. His attention quickly shifts to you and his eyes filled with happiness and relief.

He teleports behind you and you jump as he places his hands on your shoulders taking your attention away from the brother in front of you.

Your eyes start to water as you face him, he sends you a small grin before pulling you into a hug. For you it might have only been two or three days but Five had eight long days without you. Tears fill his eyes at the warmth of your body against his, yours had already started to fall as you pulled him against you tighter. If it was one thing you two could admit, it's that being without the other was like hell.

You breathe in his scent before pulling back and placing your hands on his cheeks. You watch as his grin turns into a wide smile, one that showed off his dimples, tears of relief falling down his face. You pull his face closer to yours before giving him a lot of kisses around his face getting a genuine laugh from him. After you finish, he places his forehead against yours.

"I missed you."

He looks deep into your eyes.

"So m-much."

You pull him into another hug which causes him to whimper.

"But you can't stay here."

You pull your head back to look at him with questioning eyes.

"I need you to go back a few days.''

"Back?"

Five nods.

"I need you to find me and tell me it's Vanya."

Your eyes squint in confusion not processing what he meant.

"Do you understand?"

You shake your head.

"I just found you."

Five messes with the suitcase before handing it to you.

"I need you to understand."

You shake your head, not wanting to say goodbye.

"Please..."

You looked into his eyes and knew he wasn't going to change his mind on this one. You nodded with a sad look in your eye.

"Don't look at me like that."

Five frowns as he rubs your cheek with his thumb.

"You'll find me again."

You take a deep breath before giving him a nod of assurance.

"I won't let you down."

"I know you won't."

⌛🎻⌛🎻⌛🎻⌛🎻⌛🎻⌛🎻⌛🎻

Vanya walks down the hall to her apartment with a look of disgust on her face. The meeting she went to was distrubing to say the least. She had gone to the theatre where the person on the phone said he would be and discovered an orchestra there though the atmosphere didn't feel right. It felt more like a cult and at the head of it was the conductor.

He had forced her to play a song to show off her skill before telling her of a piece he wrote. He called it, 'The Apocalypse Suite.'

Vanya thought it was a waste of time and turned to leave with him taunting her as she did. It all felt like some type of sick joke.

Vanya took a breath to calm her nerves before unlocking her door and stepping inside. She jumped in fright when the lamp on the other side of the room lit up to reveal Five sitting on the couch, one leg crossed over the other.

"Jesus!"

"You should really have locks on your windows."

Vanya looked at him confused as she placed her keys down and turned to lock the door.

"I live on the second floor."

He gave her the most blank stare.

"Rapists can climb."

There was a beat of silence.

"You are so weird."

Five studies her as she sits on the couch. Vanya nervously rubs her hands against her pants before giving him a concerned look.

"Is that blood?"

Five slightly glances at his collar and soothes himself by rubbing his fingers together.

"It's nothing."

Vanya looks at him like she doesn't buy it but there was no use trying to get any answers from him, she learnt that from her father.

"Why are you here?"

Five pauses a moment to think about what he wanted to say.

"I've decided you're the only one I can trust."

"Why me?"

"Because you're ordinary."

Five watches as a crestfallen look befalls her face. He backtracks after he realizes that was the wrong thing to say.

"Because you'll listen."

Vanya gets up and goes into the bathroom to get things to help heal his self inflicted wound. She winces as he reveals it before cleaning it.

Five talks to her about the future, he eyes glaze over as he remembers the wreckage he found, the flames that surrounded the city, the lifeless bodies. Everything a thirteen year old boy shouldn't have witnessed.

As Five opens up to her about what he saw and how he felt, Vanya begins to look at him sceptically.

Next⌛🫧

[wenwenbittercake]

Chapter 5: Apologies Unheard

(Thank you for reading my fanfic. Here to remind you all again that this fanfic’s story line is not made by me. I just insert Y/N into the Riddler 2022 comic. I really recommend you read the comic beforehand. With that said, I hope you enjoy~

TW: Kidnapping, Drugging, Swearing)

   How did this happen to me?

    Around 12am, you roll around the bed, eyes wide open in thoughts. Why was he ignoring me? Did I upset him by what I said before? No, I didn’t say anything out of the line though. Oh no, what If I was a bother to him. You sit up on the bed. Your eye shift to your phone. I should try giving him a text.

Y/N: Hey I know it’s been a while but how are you doing? I’m sorry if I bothered you last time. I didn’t mean to; I was just worried about you. If you really want to do this, then I won’t force you out of it. Just be careful what you are dealing with.

Wait no, that’s still too long.

You: Hey I know it’s been a while but how are you doing? I’m sorry if I bothered you last time. I didn’t mean to; I was just worried about you./

No, still too much

You: Hey I know it’s been a while but how are you doing?

Hmmmm, we can work with that.

You send the message and lay back down on the bed. Eyes on the ceiling fan as your mind falls back into the abyss of thoughts. You don’t understand why you start to like Edward. No, it’s more like a curiosity than ‘like’ really. To be honest, he scares you sometime. You can feel something seriously wrong with him, something unexplainable. Like he’s hidden in plain sight but when you spot him, your heart jumps out of the rib cage in shock. But you suppress it down to be closer to him for one reason.

He looks so familiar. Like a lost memory that you can’t put your hand around. A missing piece to your puzzling mind.

  You were always a people pleaser. You weren’t like this all the time. Maybe your parents’ divorce has to do something with it. Ever since you moved downtown, you start being a people pleaser. ‘Hey Y/N can you go fill my water bottle?’ ‘Hey Y/N can you grab my books from my lockers?’ ‘Grab me a coffee while you’re at it, the usual.’ You hate it. Not the constant demands but the way you put up a kid’s TV host smile and reply, “Sure.” It’s almost a habit, saying ‘no’ even feels odd on your tongue.

“You should stop doing that.”

“Huh?” You turn to the voice beside you.

You are at the lobby of KMTJ. Waiting for the rain to calm down since you forgot to bring your umbrella, when a guy in his 20s pops up out of nowhere beside you. You were surprised by how you do not notice his presence until you heard his voice.

“Um Excuse me?”

“You should stop doing that. You say yes to everything.” He spoke softly as if he was speaking under his breath. How did you noticed?

“Oh really? I didn’t even notice that.” I said with a nervous smile.

“See you’re doing that again,”

That caught her a bit off guard.

“A what?”

“That smile. It’s fake.”

Part of you felt offended that a random stranger would call you out like that. Who does he think he is. But you…

“Oh, um sorry.”

“You can say I’m being a dick right now.”

“Wait no, you’re not-“

“No, it’s fine, you said yes, your whole life. Putting others before yourself. You’ll end up forgetting about yourself. Scream if you want to scream. Shout if you have to shout. Don’t hold back because if you hold back for long, you wouldn’t be able to make a sound in the future.”

Your eyes widen. The sound of rain drops fills the silence. The man looks down to the wet ground or the raining scenery but never turning to look at you. But you. Your eyes never left his. His words ring in your head.

‘Shout if you want to shout.’

You part your lips and-

“Ahhaa” You scream but it comes out as a pathetic squeal. The man turns his head to look at you in a flabbergasted expression.

 You quickly clap your palms over your mouth.

 You look up at him with wide eyes. And-

“Hahahehahah-“The man laugh hysterically at you. He covers face with his face and laughs. One of his hands holds his stomach to control himself.

“Stopp, you said I should scream. I still want to try- you know what forget it.” You turn to the left with a redden face before you feel a large hand holding your wrist. You turn around in surprise.

“I-I’m sorry but that was great. You did great.” He said with a smile on his face. His cheeks red from laughing so hard earlier. He looks so……...warm.

“I um don’t know why I told you that, I just don’t want to see you being stepped on by other people. The quote I just said is um from Rene. You should listen to his podcast. He give-“ He looks to the floor nervously. He rubs the back of his neck to calm his nerves.

“What’s your name?” You mutter softly, your eye never leaving his green eyes, but the boy’s gaze leaves the marble floor beneath him. His eyes drift to meet hers.

“Edward Nashton. You?”

“I’m Y/N L/N.”

．<{=．．．．．<{=．．．．．<{=．．．．．<{=．．．．

“Ting” Y/N didn’t even realize she had fallen asleep before she was woken up by the sound of her phone. She rolls to her side to check her phone and-

Eddie: Can we meet up? Right now?

Huh? That’s odd. Did something happen to him. Y/N start to worry.

You: Hey did something happened?

She quickly sat up on her bed, putting on her light gray jacket.

Eddie: It’s really important, I fucked up. I know it’s all of a sudden, but I need to meet you.

He didn’t even need to say it twice. She already got her shoes on with her phone in her hand.

You: Ok ok where? I’m coming.

Eddie: Can you meet me at the opposite at Shoreline loft? My apartment is there.

You: Okay just give me a few minutes, I will be there.

Y/N only realizes how off the situation is until she reaches the street. Her head is too wrapped up with worrying over Edward that she forgot to worry for herself. She looks around the neighborhood and realized how fucked up the place is. Shoreline loft is literally beside Iceberg Lounge. Why would Edward live in a place like this. She obviously looks so out of place, wearing her pjs and a jacket, walking down East End. What is she trying to get herself into?

You: Hey Edward, I’m near Iceberg lounge, where is your building?

Shortly after she texted that. She felt a tap on her shoulder. She jolted and almost screamed before meeting those familiar green eyes.

“Shit god, sorry Edward, you scared me.”

“Sorry I- come, I really need to talk to you.” Edward face look like he had seen a ghost, or he turned into a ghost because of how pale he looks. His eyes widen as if he had seen a dead body (Ironically)

 Edward leads her up to a flight of dark green stairs. She follows close by him, taking note of how dingy the place is. With graffiti on the stairs and the wall beside them. This place is a mess. When we got to his front door. He struggles hard with opening the lock due to how hard his hands were trembling. Y/N started to worry about what he had really got himself into.

“Here, let me help.” She gently takes the key from his hand and opens the red door with ease. He mutters a quick thanks before entering the apartment.

 After she closed the door behind her, she turned to face the apartment and realized how unkept it is. Not as in ‘messy-unkempt’ but doesn’t look like a home. The walls were yellow and beige with mold spots. Cold air surrounds the atmosphere with a slight mold and chemical smell to it. That’s when she realizes how dangerous her situation is. Even if she knew Edward, she’s not close enough with him to be at his apartment in ungodly hours. Furthermore, she was so in rush she didn’t even think of telling anyone that she was going to Edward’s house. No one knows she’s here. No one will know if he were to do anything to her.

“E-Edward? What is that you want to tell me?” She mutters trying to not sound nervous even though her trembling lips.

Edward grabs a glass of water and takes a huge gulp. He leans against the sink and lets out deep sigh before turning his head slightly to Y/N. “Can I get you a drink?”

“Um sure.” She except even though in her mind she wants to scream no and run out of the apartment.

Edward grabs a juice bottle from his fridge and starts to prepare a drink for her. He looks like he’s in a rush as his movements are quick and rapid.

“Um you can go take a seat on the-um.” He stops and thinks for a bit. He peers at his apartment with his hands on his hip.

His eyebrows raises a bit as if he had an idea. He walks into the other room. Y/N follows behind. He grabs a green chair at the corner of the room and places it in the middle of the room.

“There, have a seat.” With that he went back to the kitchen.

She did ask he ask her to. She waits there patiently. Her eyes wander over the piles and piles of ledgers stacked up over one another. There’s so many files and books that it spills out of shelves and piles up on the floor. The most concerning things in the room are cages. Rat cages, many of them. Y/N skin crawls at the sight of it even if there isn’t a single mouse in it.

“Here.” Edward hands her a glass of red liquid. She gulps at the sight of it. Something feels odd.

“It’s um cranberry.” He replies swiftly as if he realizes her suspicions.

“Oh okay.” She sips the juice not wanting to be rude.

“So, about what you want to say to me.”

“Oh, yea um, I-I saw a man die today.” Edward said as he sits on the rolling stool across her.

“What?” Y/N jaw drops.

“Yea, fuck.. I… Mr. Stone he-he’s in it too. He killed Mr. Joon too.”

“Wait wait slow down. Why would he do that?”

“He’s working For Falcone. He believes Mr. Joon was cutting money from him. Which is not true, and I think I may have caused his death.”

“Wait how?”

“I..I was the accountant that pointed out the dirty money. Which cause Mr. Stone to look through it and…” Edward’s voice quite down at the end of the sentence which Y/N could probably guess what happened.

He drops his head, with his face covering his palm and groans in frustration. Shortly follows by Edward’s quiet sobs. Y/N’s heart aches at the sight of Edward being in despair. She places her half empty cup on his work desk and directs her attention back to him. She places her hand softly over his back and caresses his back. He looks up to her with his tear soak cheeks. Without an ounce of disgust, Y/n wipes his tears off his cheeks with her thumb and caresses his face tenderly. She looks at him in such forgiving eyes. Something he doesn’t deserve.

“I’m sorry.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

Suddenly, Y/N got a sudden hit of daze. Her surroundings start to fade out. Her body and eye lids gradually start to grow heavy. Her body falls limp out of the chair on to the floor. Before she could make the impact, Edward swiftly got out of his rolling stool and caught Y/N in his arms on the floor.

“I’m sorry, I just had to I’m sorry.” He apologizes sound more like cries for forgiveness. He wraps his arms around her tightly, pulling her limp body close to him.

“I just had to.” He murmurs mostly to himself then to her as the last thing she felt was Edward’s hands holding her.

．<{=．．．．．<{=．．．．．<{=．．．．．<{=．．．．

Warmth. That’s what she remembered. Fire dances across her eyes. The sound of cries and scream echoes through the dark empty house. However, an award hand pats her back.

It feels warm.

Nice

And safe.

She leans into the touch, leaning her head against his small shoulders. Her eyes never leaves the fire dancing in the fireplace of her old house.

“What’s your name?” Her small voice came out.

“Edward. You?”

Edward

．<{=．．．．．<{=．．．．．<{=．．．．．<{=．．．．

Fuck Fuck fuck. What the fuck Edward? You got one thing good in your life and what have you done?

Edward contemplated what he had done while sitting beside Y/N on the bed in a fetal position. He chews on his nails anxiously as he waits all night for her to wake up. Did I give her too much. No, If I’m correct, she should be waking up soon. God is she dead? Edward often checks on her pulse or her breath when he has that thought. He places her ear on her chest slightly, to hear her heartbeat, it reassures him that she’s here, she safe, and she’s with him.

    He reasons with himself that what he did was right. In fact, he believes he should have done this sooner. The city is corrupted as hell. Isn’t really a place for an angel like her to dwell in. That’s why he needs to keep his angel safe. He hit the realization of how messed up the city is after what went down last night. The thought of losing you in such a manner haunts him. He loves you too much. Too much for him to bear. Too much for his own good. He needs to keep an eye on you. He has too.

 Edward finally snaps out of his abyss of thoughts when he felt the shift of the bed sheets. He turns to see Y/N slowly waking up from her forceful slumber. He didn’t speak a word, just watching her mundane action of waking up intrigues him. How he gets the chance to take a peek in her most vulnerable moment.  

 “Wh-where am i?” She mumbles, struggling to lift her eye lids as the effect of the drugs still hadn’t subside yet. He crawls closer to her from the foot of the bed. His face inches away from her, inspecting any sign of discomfort or nausea from the drugs he gave her.  

“Hey hey it’s alright, you’re safe. You’re with me. It’s alright.” He softly coos at her while running his finger through her soft hair then resting his large palms over her cheek. He rubs his thumb over the apple of her cheeks to comfort her.

“Edward?” Y/N tries to get a grip of her reality, but her brain is too scrambled up to take note of her surrounding or how dire the situation is.

“Yea, it’s me Ed. I’m so sorry Y/N. I’m sure the medication will fade away after a while but for now bear with me angel.” He mutters softly as he lays his head on her chest to hear her heartbeat.

His hand travels to her waist. Holding her tight against him as if she could dissipate in any second. His hard breaths gradually start to calm down by the sound of Y/N’s heartbeat. He closes his eyes as he takes in the little peace he has in his hand.

“You’re safe. You are safe now.” He murmurs against her skin. It sounds more like a force comfort as Y/N even in her delirious mind, she feels furthest thing for feeling safe.

(Ok well thank you for reading and yes, Edward’s apartment layout is confusing as shit. Like look man got a kitchen first thing you enter in the house. Here is the layout of his apartment and trust me, I made this out after watching the scene in Batman where Batman raids the Riddler’s apartment/ hide out. So, it’s source material accurate. Or maybe I’m not sure because I only see glimpses of his apartment, so I don’t think I am 100% correct but hey A for effort, right? Thank you for the supports and enjoying my art. There will be more chapters coming up soon so stay tuned. Other than that, thank you and I hope you enjoyed.)

Chapter 6: Salvatore

[sapphanimates]

2023 Art Summary

I originally created my blog back in April, but I've decided to jump on the trend and share a compilation of some of my favorite works.

JANUARY

My first attempt at a digital painting style, featuring a character I don't believe I've introduced here before. A reimagining of the Tails Doll, with a Phantom Ruby twist: The Phantom Amalgamation (or Maggie, as my friends call them), made for Project Alacrity. I'll have to get around to redrawing them so they can have a proper introduction.

FEBUARY

Fanart for YouTube creator, Miharu the Fox. Whilst watching one of her streams, I asked what I should draw, with her co-host Marc suggesting that I should "Draw Spyro glitching into the abyss." Seeing that they were playing Spyro Enter the Dragonfly, it seemed only fitting. So I drew him shaking on top of a trapped baby dragon in ice.

MARCH

An attempt at a papercraft style using a tutorial by YouTube user, CariadsCoffee. The character pictured is Squirrelflight (or rather, Squirrelstar) from Warrior Cats, using my own design. Learning this method of drawing is what eventually led to me adopting the lineless style I use in many of my posts.

APRIL

Parody designs of Silver and Blaze, aptly dubbed Pothead and Lighter. They originate from a Sonic 06 parody comic for 4/20 that was written by my friend, @alzikeiswrong , and was illustrated in TuxPaint by me. Whether or not I decide to actually finish and post it is a mystery.

MAY

A post made as a gut reaction to discovering the amount of articulated parts the Jakks Pacific Tails Nine figure had. 70 points of articulation is ridiculous, but man is the figure amazing. I just wish he was to scale with the normal Tails figure.

JUNE

My second attempt at a digital painting, this time featuring Blaze the Cat. Manipulating the flames and how they interacted with Blaze and the background, was a fun challenge, as well as figuring out the textures and posing.

JULY

This is the point when I discovered my lineless style. Specifically the one I use when drawing my fursona, Sapph. Her design has developed a lot over the years, from being a Minecraft X Warrior Cats crossover OC, to slowly rounding out and becoming less Minecraft, gaining new design details in the process, to where she is now.

AUGUST

A drawing of multiple AU designs of Tails for Project Alacrity, socializing at some sort of get together. This was mainly a test to practice how to frame a drawing with multiple characters in it, as well as giving them each something to do. To show the differences between these various different versions of the same core character through their designs and how they interact with one another.

SEPTEMBER

One of the ask answers for my MommyClan cat's ask blog, @stepcousinclawspeaks . Stepcousinclaw was originally created for the fanclan in August, but this panel was one of my favorites. It shows his chaotic and often arsonistic side really well. I'll return to the blog soon for a big story update. Stay tuned!

OCTOBER

October brought with it the Sonic OC Showdown 2, which I had miraculously managed to get my Trace the Tasmanian to participate in. She passed the first round by a close call, but lost by a wide margin in the following. It was a good fight, with a good string of propaganda art coming from me and some of my supporters as a part of the campaign. Thank you all for supporting me while I was a part of it.

NOVEMBER

Whilst exploring through old files, I came across a template I saved. I used it to share the designs I made for various Warriors characters, some who I already had made designs for, and others I had to make up on the spot. One of my favorites was Spottedleaf. The balance of colors and details seem just right to me, as well as being a vast improvement from the color inaccurate one I had made as a ten year old.

DECEMBER

December's was fun. I haven't ever really had a "set style." Every time I try to revisit one specific design I always make something a bit off. Same can be said for this sketch style. I loved doing it. It felt the most accurate to how my art on paper feels as I draw it. Rough around the edges, but lifelike. Sadly I've had a hard time returning to it after dumping out all my thoughts around the 06 AU onto my screen. I've been working on it. There's more to see in the coming year, so I hope you'll stick with me to see how I can grow as a young artist!

Template is by @zontarzon !

[bahamutgames]

GCPL Game Jam 2024

Hello! Recently the county I live in held an event where you could go and play some games made by local people for the county's game jam they held! I had no idea this was happening until just a few days before, so sadly I didn't enter the jam, but I did get to go to the event and play the games!

I had a great time, the whole Free Comic Book Day event was neat, I got cards from a lot of local artists, saw some cool cosplays, got to play some jam games, met some cool indie devs, and even got a free Monster High comic. Neat.

Anyway, I figure it would be a shame and also just downright rude to not talk about what I got to play during the event! So I figured, hey, let's just make little post solely devoted to it :)

Before we begin, here's the link to the jam page (x) so you can see all the submissions. The theme was "Tales from the Abyss" so a lot of them are horror themed!

Abyssal Assault - by Link362

This one is a pretty basic top down shooter. But for some reason I can't stop thinking about how good it felt. You'll play it yourself and see how simple it is, but for some reason the mouse control for aiming just feels particularly good to me. I think there's a lot of potential in this game for some serious improvement if they add more enemy types and upgrades. I can see sniping enemies with arrows from across the screen being SO satisfying and using the deadzones as cover from enemy fire could be really cool and make for some unique mechanics in a VS-like. If they care to iterate on the game, of course lol

Abyssal Eats - by Poyomain

DUDE this game absolutely rules actually! I had a very difficult time with it during the event and couldn't beat it at all. But after coming back to it today to make this post I seriously LOVE the concept. All the mechanics and stuff really came together and I genuinely love this game!

This is a neat game where you use cards to cook recipes for monsters, it's a little difficult to understand because there's no tutorial, but I really think this game has TONS of potential to be fleshed out into a full project! It's also one of the nicest presentations from this jam, having cute custom graphics and even an original song made just for it! This one is super neat!

Bell-Punk - by Ingward

One of my personal favorites from the jam! When I came up to play it, the person who made it told me they were waiting for me to come over cause they wanted someone who knew what they were doing to try the game... Do I really just give off the gamer aura? Terrifying thought.

Regardless, this is a top down twin stick shooter where you use a harpoon gun to beat up sharks, grab a pearl, then slowly bring it back to your ship. It's nothing super fleshed out, but it's a REALLY good concept in my opinion, and I think deep sea stuff is SUCH a good concept for a shooter / horror / abyss theme that really doesn't get used enough. Just this base with some upgrades, level and enemy variety, other objectives, ect ect would be KILLER! But the creator told me some of their plans for the concept going forward, and I'm not sure if I'm allowed to talk about them, but they sound REALLY cool, so I'll absolutely be keeping up with this one!

Dante's Diner - by cjoyner150

So, I absolutely SUCKED at this game. Couldn't do it during the event and can't do it now. But I still wanted to give it a shoutout cause it's such a good use of the theme. Basically the abyss is the diner you work in and demons will come in, and sit at the table, and you just have to cook for them. Easy peasy. The creators told me the tables were based on the circles of hell, and if that's what they're going for that's GENIUS. I could seriously see a ton of potential in the concept especially if, say, different types of customers sat at different tables, reflecting their sin. Also, this cooking dinerdash game has enemies. Neat! They should put combat into it to

Dimension - by cbianca168

Simple, but OH so addicting. I could NOT stop playing this one. I gave it so many tries at the actual event, but had to give up. However, once I got home and could play it with a controller, it was a lot easier. This is a simple game where you have to pick up orbs while dodging scrap and not get knocked into a black hole. But it's got a nice presentation with its visuals and particularly its music. The creator told me their siblings made the song, and it actually changes to match how far you are into the level! Which is VERY neat! Think you can beat my score?

Hansel And Gretel's Summoning - by kingofthedregs

Another simple one with a really good presentation. This is a cute game where you have to quickly search for candy in a room, and hide whenever a witch comes by. It's easy when you get the hang of it but it was a good challenge when I started. I really like the original artwork in this one and I actually think there's a lot of potential too! I didn't realize the set up for a big plot that appears at the end, so I'd love to see more of what the creator has in store here!

Melt - by p3arldiv3r

So by the time I'm writing this I still haven't gotten an ending in this (sorry to everyone who made visual novels READING IS HARD FOR ME) but I wanted to give a shout out to this one in particular. The creator told me they made all this stuff brand new and original for the game jam. Including the writing, the character designs, and the art. Which is CRAZY! I've only participated in one jam and a lot of the art in that game was pretty small so I feel like doing all the art and writing in such a short time is very impressive. If stuff about angels sounds interesting, maybe check it out, the creator said it's roughly the size of a chunk of a novel, and with multiple endings is a pretty loaded jam game!

Pirate Tales: Lighting The Abyss - by ChokladGames

Another one I couldn't beat, but still wanted to give a shoutout to. This is another impressively large game considering it was made for a game jam. You control a pirate ship, and have to search a large ocean to find clues on where towers are to shoot them down and get rid of the evil fog over the ocean. It's a little lengthy of a game that you have to beat in one sitting, but the concept is very cool and over all I think it's an impressive project! I was also particularly impressed with the use of actual wind physics, where sailing in the direction of the wind makes you go faster! Neat!

Sticky's Dream Job - by MeganG

A shoot 'em up!! You already know I love those! And it's a vampire survivor like, which is cool! I really enjoy this game, since this genre is a personal favorite, and I think this one in specific is very cute with its scribbly aesthetic and being on paper. But it's also a very impressive jam game overall, having multiple classes (they all share the same weapons, but still) with different music tracks for each, lots of upgrades, and actual achievements which is NUTS to me. There's also some cool weapons I feel like I hadn't seen before like a radius shield and giant weapons you lob in an arc similar to Castlevania. I believe this one won the jam over all if I remember correctly, and it certainly earned it, neat game! I got to year 79 and became so powerful I couldn't die. Typical day for a game dev am I right fellas?

Under the Sea - by htesdev

A neat little side scrolling platformer! The whole point of this one is to complete the obstacle course as quickly as possible! You collect coins to increase your speed, and collect gems for checkpoints. It's simple but I think it's a great premise for a side scroller to take place underwater! Especially since water levels are pretty notorious lol. I think this could be expanded and they could really expand on the idea of the level getting harder to see the deeper you get. Anyway, I only got to 67 seconds (66 appears to be the best time) so try and see if you can get that quick!!

VOID - by FoxTrot

Another cool top down shooter! This one is admittedly a lot more polished, having a lot of mechanics such as dashing and shielding. But coolest of all is that you unlock a new spell every floor and can spend coins to swap out your abilities to a load out you enjoy! I keep saying this but this is super impressive for a jam game in my opinion! I think this game can be expanded even more into something really cool! I just like being able to change my abilities on the fly lol

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And that's just a bit of what I played at the event! There's even more games in the jam I didn't get to check out or that weren't showcased there! And there were TONS of horror games, so if you're interested in some bite sized indie horror, you should check out what else is available!

Everyone who participated in this jam is SUPER talented and if you're interested in ANYTHING that was shared here, I encourage you to go give it a look! I love seeing things made locally where I'm from so it was really exciting to see some Georgia game devs at work :)

If anyone from the Free Comic Book Day event stumbles upon this post, reach out! I'd love to talk more with other Georgia gamers!