#;; event: scarlet mansion

[timedusts]

☾ Artificer (Rain World) moodboard ☽

day 7 of event prompts by @gluttonykinedits: a character that reminds you of the sin of wrath or a green character.

okay so her kids get killed by some members of a species called the scavengers so she swears revenge on all scavengers and blows them up with explosives and there are these things called karma gates where you can't pass through the game if your karma isn't high enough but hers is permanently stuck at 0 so she drags the dead bodies of scavengers through the gates to pass she's epic and is also the only slugcat referred to as female by the devs (although in a noncanon joke game) so yay violent women go play rain world ok bye

[cursedmystic]

scweam

[lassieposting]

Been thinkin about Astarion + vampire biology so have some headcanons and the bits of game lore they're based on

Dialogue establishes that Cazador has been successfully passing himself off as a regular noble for centuries, and Astarion confirms that while he's considered a bit reclusive, he does mingle with the upper class of Baldur's Gate and has a property specifically for hosting fancy events.

Vampires are camouflage predators, whose primary hunting strategy is to blend in with their prey until the perfect time to strike. Their ecological niche is not a particularly safe or stable one - they live hidden in plain sight, usually in sizeable cities, for easy access to prey, but they know that if they are discovered they will be rooted out and killed or driven away. They are rarely able to get away with attacking in public, where city guards might rush to the aid of a screaming victim - they have to isolate their target before killing it. The ability to blend in, to be overlooked by their target, until it is too late is essential.

Cazador is, as far as we know, the only true vampire in Baldur's Gate

This is because true vampires are aggressively territorial. Like most apex predators, they eat a lot, and need substantial territories to support them - even moreso if they have a partner or spawns. Ascendant!Astarion would need to hold onto the entire city, as Cazador did, to be able to feed himself and Tav without raising suspicion.

True vampires are relatively rare, but there are more of them than there are cities, so it's not uncommon for one to set up in an occupied city and try to oust the sitting resident. The challenger usually believes himself to be as strong or stronger than the current tenant: these territorial disputes usually end in at least one death, so they're not to be entered into lightly.

Astarion is very obviously a vampire: his fangs are visible, as are his bite scars; he's so pale multiple people comment on it; his eyes are red, etc.

Astarion is not a healthy vampire.

This is a man who has been kept on the knife's edge of starvation and tortured regularly for 200 years, and to another vampire, that would be clear from the state of him: Astarion is a camouflage predator who is so malnourished he is no longer able to blend in.

Tav will get an up-close look at his transformation over the course of the game and during the years afterwards: the more healthy and well-fed Astarion becomes, as his body catches up on its immense energy deficit and begins to recover, the better he will be able to mimic a living elf. His skin will be able to bleed, or blush, or bruise, none of which he's capable of while actively starving. Hia fangs will retract until he needs them, not invisible but less obvious - having them out all the time is a response to severe deprivation; he's so hungry his body can't risk losing prey to the split second it takes Cazador to snatch a rat back, so he's permanently in bite mode, hyperaware, ready to strike. Some body functions will come online that he didn't even know he had, the ones that are supposed to help him blend in - his eyes will start producing pigment to look darker, less scarlet and more burgundy, to be more easily mistaken for brown; his lungs will make him breathe automatically even though he doesn't need it, he'll start being able to eat normal food without getting sick again, though he still won't get any nourishment from it; he'll heal faster. He'll even be able to get drunk, though he'll burn through it very quickly. As it stands, all those extra systems have been shut down by his starving body - they're useful, but nonessential, and he needs every single bit of energy funnelled into just keeping him alive and functional.

There is probably an intentional bit of psychological warfare against the spawns on Cazador's part here - him starving them strips them of their natural defences, and every time he makes them leave the mansion to hunt, they have to do so knowing that they're poorly hidden and vulnerable. But it's established that true vampires treating their spawn poorly or outright abusing them is A Thing, so it's not the only reason - he sees them as property rather than people, he keeps them weak so they won't plot against him, he's acting out his own trauma from Vellioth on them, he just wants to - but it does feed into it.

Astarion can, at one point, identify old blood as belonging to the player character. He also gets excited at another point if an enemy character runs away, stating, "Now it's a hunt."

He says that "even stale, [he'd] recognise that bouquet anywhere." This confirms a few things for us:

He has a vastly superior sense of smell capable of identifying individuals by scent and - since he can tell who the blood belongs to even after some time has passed - following scent trails.

This confirms that although city-dwelling vampires may primarily hunt via luring a victim to a secondary location before killing it, they still have the "stalk down and chase" predator instinct. Since Astarion can't lure wildlife anywhere, this is almost certainly how he's been hunting to supplement his diet when he's not using the player as his personal caprisun.

The fact that he can scent out prey before killing it means he has this ability all the time - he can smell blood while it's still safely inside the owner's body.

So scent is probably relevant to how vampires process the world. The more time each companion spends with him, the more he gets used to their scent, starts associating it more with safety and camaraderie than with a potential meal, and so he becomes more relaxed around them. As he learns to link the player's scent with love and comfort and trust, the more likely he is to retreat to their tent over his own when he's injured or afraid or having a trauma moment. When he's fond of someone, something of theirs will go conveniently missing - he's moving their scent into his little safe space, it's comforting for him. He can tell when his lover is hurt or aroused or frightened - though not which of the three applies - from a distance, because his sense of smell can pick up the spike of adrenaline rushing into their bloodstream.

But that also means that he can never feel like he's got any distance from Cazador while he's living in the mansion - even if the man isn't in the same room, the entire place reeks of him, and it makes Astarion feel like Cazador is breathing down his neck all the same. Ascendant Astarion would have a really, really hard time sticking it out in that mansion with stale Eau de Cazador all over the place. It means that he's put instantly on edge by the faint scent of one of his siblings as he walks through the lower city - when seven vicious, territorial apex predators are confined to a single small dormitory, several hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, fights are going to be nasty and frequent, and although Cazador wouldn't allow them to kill each other, considering how many of his siblings refer to him as weak or a runt, Astarion probably didn't win them very often. So. Having a highkey advanced sense of smell is a mixed bag.

[englishotomegames]

Aksys Games has announced they will be releasing Mistonia no Kibou and Utakata no Uchronia in English for the Nintendo Switch in 2025! 7’scarlet will be ported to the Nintendo Switch as well.

Mistonia no Kibou

"A tale filled with love and fixation, woven together by those who carry the blood of the fairies. The story takes place in Grand Alvion, a kingdom thriving under the rule of the fairy queen, in an era where light and shadow coexist. On the outskirts of the capital city stands a noble residence belonging to a prestigious family, where a newly-hired maid is about to set foot onto the property: our heroine, Applause. Having lost everything eight years prior, she swore to take revenge on those responsible. Under a false identity, she begins her search for the truth as she works at the mansion belonging to a potential target for her vengeance. What secrets will she unearth upon her chance encounters with the distinguished noblemen who protect the kingdom? What path will she choose? And so begins the revenge tragedy of a girl bound by a hapless fate."

Utakata no Uchronia

"Welcome to the renowned and prosperous utopia, the flying city of Itehari. Our protagonist is Hinagiku, a noble lady from a distinguished family who longs for the world beyond the floating city. One day, Hinagiku, having just turned 18 years old, encounters an amnesiac man named Yashiro. Their fortuitous meeting becomes the catalyst that drags her into a series of events involving the secrets and various truths hidden beneath the surface of this beautiful utopia."

[blackleatherjacketz]

Frostbite

Loki x Female Reader

Summary: Set before the events of Thor (2011). You’ve been having sex dreams about your friend Loki for weeks now. After your betrothal to another man, he gets jealous and lets you know he’s been having them, too.

Warnings: 18+ Only! Explicit Smut, Mature Content, Mutual Pining, Friends to Lovers, Sex Dreams, Sleep Walking, Dubious Consent, Confessions of Love/Lust, Asgard, Enchantment?, Kissing, Face-Grabbing, Groping, Possessive Loki, Jealousy, Loki Using His Frost Giant Powers To Go Down On You, Cunnilingus, Vaginal Sex, Multiple Orgasms, Rough Sex, Bonus points if you catch my Hamilton reference.

Word Count: 2.5k+

Thank you to @mrsbuckybarnes1917 for brainstorming this with me!

Read more Loki!

The crickets are well into their nocturnal symphony as the flames from the worn down torches illuminate the great hall. Their warm, amber glow radiates into the apertures and hallways that branch off from the main path, highlighting them just enough to guide your way. You can’t recall exactly what had awakened you from your slumber, or when you had left your chambers in the royal palace, but your feet somehow seem to know exactly where they’re taking you.

Just as one accepts an amount of false realities in their dreams, you can’t help but accept this blissfully hazy version of your friend graciously greeting you in his personal quarters. You’ve dreamt of him like this before; his face always a little blurry and the details a little bit fuzzy, but a few things about him remain the same. His scent as he draws you near, the flavor of his kiss and the way he cries out your name always seem to stick with you, haunting you well into your waking hours. These dreams have increased in frequency as time went on, eventually making it harder for you to look your beloved friend in the eye. You had almost resorted to ignoring him completely during your everyday life, anxiously awaiting your time together once you resigned again to the mansions of rest.

You can smell him again here and now as you walk in the twilight of consciousness, that deep crisp scent flooding your senses as his face slowly comes into focus, the sharp angles of his features more beautiful than ever in the wavering light of the torches.

Wait a minute, that’s never happened before.

“You’re really here.” His voice is clear and undistorted, yet softer than the one he puts on for Thor and Odin. This gentle timbre must be reserved only for you.

“Wait a minute, this isn’t…” You blink a few dozen times to try and focus your vision, squinting as you look around his bedroom to make sure that you are where you think you are. You can clearly see the ornate details carved into the furniture at your side, noting that none of the designs are shifting or blurring together like they often did in your slumber. “This isn’t a dream?”

“Not this time, I’m afraid.” He shakes his head blithely, a satisfied grin curling his lips upward as he approaches you.

“This time?” You ask, wondering how he could possibly know about the fantasies that kept you coated in a film of sweat beneath your covers at night. Has he been watching you? Reading your mind when you weren’t paying attention? Or is he merely toying with you like a cat would a mouse before biting into its neck?

“I’ve been having them, too, you know,” he starts, the deep collar of his nightshirt revealing a peek at his chest as he gets closer to you. “The dreams we dare not speak of.”

He knows. Your heart drops into the bitter acid of your stomach, tightening your insides as he stares at you expectantly. But wait a minute, did he just say…?

“I thought it was nothing more than a mere coincidence until you started to avoid me.” He touches a strand of hair that cascades down your shoulder, contrasting against the sheer material of your night dress that barely covers your naked form. “Until I noticed your cheeks flush scarlet at my gaze.”

You watch his eyes darken as they take you in, forcing those dreamlike feelings of longing to rush to the surface once more. That all too familiar moisture begins to pool between your thighs, triggered by the mere warmth of his touch as he slowly breathes in your scent.

“I don’t,” you try to protest, cheeks blushing again despite yourself as you try to find the right words, any words in fact, to defend your reaction. “I didn’t…”

“I wanted to see if it was more than just some misconstrued fantasy of mine,” he ignores your mindless bumbling, snaking his fingers through your locks up to the base of your neck. “And after tonight’s announcement, I knew I had to find out for myself.”

It’s all starting to make sense now, the sudden betrothal Odin had announced at dinner tonight had caught you both off guard, forcing you to glance up at each other in a shared, silent panic that you didn’t quite understand until now. You knew that this day was coming eventually, but you didn’t think it would be this soon; that a complete stranger would show up and derail your hidden feelings for your best friend whom you were secretly dreaming about for months now.

“I didn’t have any control over that,” you admit.

“I know that!” He spits, grabbing onto your face. His thumb and forefinger press your lips into a pucker as he all but picks you up and backs you up against the wall. A jealous shade of green flashes wildly in his eyes, nearly drowning out the icy blue in them entirely. “It’s maddening to think that he gets to taste you every night! Like he even knows how to please you, how to make you moan his name in every pitch on the scale after all that we’ve done together!”

All that you’ve done together? Your chest heaves as that twinge of jealousy turns to a dangerous hue of anger as he bares his teeth at you. “Loki, those were just dreams.”

“Were they?” His voice cracks for a split second as his lashes flutter against your cheek, his stifled breath hot on your lips as he holds you in place.

With your heart beating wildly against your rib cage, you recall the deeply manipulative nature of his powers, wondering just how coincidental these shared dreams actually were. Had he enchanted you into falling for him night after night, or were your romantic feelings there for him all along? As impossible as it is to say which came first, what you can tell Is how strong your feelings are for him right now, and what you can do about them in this moment.

You decide to close the gap between you by pressing your lips against his, feeling him willingly lean into your embrace as he loosens his grip on your face. All those dreams from all those nights have finally led up to this, his hands finally venturing down your shaking frame, surveying every curve of your body as he presses his against it. His fingers grasp at the linens of your dress, hurriedly pulling them up above your thighs as his tongue parts your hungry lips in order to taste in earnest what he’s been dreaming of for so long.

Without breaking the kiss he lifts you up, hoisting your hips onto his as he squeezes the muscles in your thighs to bring you even closer. He stumbles backwards with your legs wrapped around his waist, his hands feeling their way up your backside as he fumbles against chairs and tables, desperately squeezing onto your cheeks. An ancient vase topples over in his attempt to guide both of you onto his bed, shattering into hundreds of pieces before he tosses you onto his bed with a force you hadn’t seen him use before.

“I’ve been waiting for this,” he says under his shortened breath, lifting up your skirts to needily massage your inner thighs. “For so long.”

“So have I.” The sight of him above you like this is absolutely unreal, the gravity of it not quite sinking into your brain as his fingers graze deftly over your needy center. In your dreams, this part always seemed to merge together with your inevitable climax, his groans mixing with yours in a cluster of images and sensations, the details never quite being laid out before you… until now.

A single strand of hair falls in front of his eyes as his fingers pass over the length of your swollen heat, taking their time to spread your lips apart as your hips instinctively roll toward him. He grins at your eagerness, dipping his head down just enough to blow his ice cold breath over your sex. It freezes your nerve endings in a prickly, tingling sensation you didn’t think possible, shocking you to your core. It forces your body to shiver, contracting your muscles in rapid succession as you hear him laugh mirthfully before dropping his head down even lower to lick a strip up your now frozen cunt.

“Loki!” You breathe out, limbs already shaking from his little parlor trick as the chill runs up your spine, hardening your nipples even more. Your teeth begin to chatter as he spreads your legs further apart, his saliva now warming your icy organ as every hair on your body stands on end.

“You look even more beautiful like this than in my dreams,” he huffs, his mouth finally melting the liquid barrier of your opening as he slides two fingers inside. His tongue dances over your bud as he pushes his digits in, working together in tandem to stimulate that internal organ as sparks of pleasure shoot up into your core.

“Oh gods,” you mumble, the shivering in your limbs finally calming down enough for you to reach down and stroke his hair as he enthusiastically thaws you out.

Those internal sparks come faster each time, speeding up as your convulsions from the ice die down, the two opposing forces balancing each other out as every sensitive nerve he touches inside you comes alive. You let your eyes fall shut as he bites down on your clit, adding yet another sensation to your nervous system as a needy whimper escapes your lips. He sucks your bud into his mouth, greedily tugging on it as he nibbles just hard enough to turn those sparks into flames. His ministrations send them blazing their way up through you as they light a path through your muscles into every layer of your skin, igniting them into the very tips of your fingernails and strands of your hair.

You cry out his name as your pleasure finally combusts, exploding into a giant firework of ecstasy as your body shivers and shakes despite the freezing cold that was there only moments ago. Your internal warmth vibrates within you as you instinctively clench down, pulling his fingers in even deeper as he relentlessly dines on your melting flesh, hungry eyes glancing up at you periodically as your bones rattle in delight.

Wow, you should have sleep walked into his bedroom a lot earlier.

“That never happened in the dream,” you jest, still shaking as your bliss gradually fizzles out.

“No,” he smirks, finally coming up for air with a sinister gaze. “Let’s make reality better than our dreams.”

He slithers up your body, his mouth leaving a messy trail of your juices on the fabric of your dress while what little remains glistens on his nose and chin. His hands peel your sleeves off your shoulders, exposing your breasts just before taking one of your nipples into his mouth. He groans into it as your hands travel down his neck and back, massaging the muscles along his spine beneath his shirt as he tastes your skin. The twinge of his teeth on your nipples send your body into overdrive as your moans occur more often, growing in volume.

“You’re making so much noise and I’m not even inside you yet,” he chides, kissing his way up your chest and neck as your moans reverberate in your throat. He pecks at your chin and jawline as your body relaxes from the brief lack of stimuli, your hands smoothing their way up into his hairline as he finally kisses your lips. He tastes even better than before, his frosty tongue mixing with the tang of your arousal as he rhythmically thrusts his clothed erection between your legs, all but soaking through his night clothes.

“Wouldn’t want to wake Odin, now would we?” He chuckles haughtily into your kiss for a moment, his lips pulling into a mischievous grin as he slowly leans back from your embrace.

Your body yearns for him already, addicted to his touch as that short amount of time devoid of contact seems to last too long already. You watch him push his pants down past his hips, freeing himself from the only barrier left between you as your hands reach out, grazing up his biceps and over his shoulders as he crawls back on top of you.

“Only I get to ruin you like this,” he whispers, his voice dropping an octave as he grabs hold of himself, gliding the tip of his cock over your well spent cunt. “Not him, not anyone.”

You nod as he blinds you with pleasure, passing over your bud a few more times before pushing all the way in, filling you up without mercy. His girth stretches you out, his length hitting your cervix with each needy thrust up into you as he gives himself over to you again and again. His breath hitches as his mouth catches yours, his moans turning into whiny whimpers, nearly losing himself before sliding his arms beneath your thighs to push them up toward your chest.

“I want you to think of me every time he touches you.” His hips snap against your thighs, hitting that bundle of nerves at a delicious new angle as they promise another orgasm to rival the last. You want to wrap your thighs around his waist, to pull him in as close as possible in order to share the impending euphoria just as you had your dreams. But he continues to hold your legs in position up by your shoulders, straining your muscles as he keeps rocking into you. It triggers your body to convulse again as it nears the brink, the rhythm of his thrusts a little more desperate each time. “I want you to promise that you’ll always be mine.”

His efforts flip a switch inside you didn’t even know was there, encompassing you in a delightful ethereal glow that makes you feel as if you’re floating, levitating through all nine realms at once. It’s beyond exhilarating, washing away any other thought from your head besides him pumping mindlessly inside you. Nothing else seems to matter now; not Asgard, not Odin, not your betrothal… all that matters is Loki. All that matters is this.

Your skin tingles as he slides into your cunt at a much more frantic rate now, sweat dripping down his chest as his eyes roll back into his head, a sudden deep shade of blue flushing over his skin. A breathy growl rattles in his chest as he sheaths himself inside you faster, further, deeper before he comes undone and that blue tinge fades just as quickly as it had appeared.

“Promise me!” He collapses on top of you as he finishes spilling himself inside your walls, his chin tucked snugly into the base of your neck as he finally releases his grip on your thighs.

“I promise.” You kiss into his forehead, hearing him pant his way down to a regular rate. You can feel his heart beating against your own now, a detail your dreams never seemed to give you as his breath chills the skin behind your ear as he remains inside you. “I promise I’m yours.”

“Good,” he whispers softly, lazily tracing the outline of your face. “I’ll be sure to visit you in your dreams even after you get married.”

[tomas-smoked-sasuage]

MK1 Kast reaction to AOU! Scarlet Witch! Reader (Earthrealm Addition)

*I don't want any controversies, I'm a sucker for Wanda, FYI, you're Johnny's assistant*

Warning??: Down Grading, Johnny wanting you in his movie, Geras being threatened, me doing side events with this one, Liu Kang Double cheeked up on a Thursday afternoon

Requests are available

LIU KANG

He already knew...

I mean what, you were in the last timeline, but neutral? You had your reasons for being evil (or so you would say), but also good

Much of speaking, you won't necessarily die or be erased from history, because without chaos, there would be no balance in the universe

So he has options to either Shinjuku mind erase your ass and restart or seal, cause yea...

He finds your power intriguing the more you learn and develop, there even somethings he didn't see you do previous timeline

You also almost killed a few of his students "accidentally" per say

He also finds out you have relatives that are Edenian ancestors of the magic, even if you come on top, you have much to learn

He prevented you from interfering with Johnny's fighting against the Lin Kuei brothers when they arrived at his mansion

He also noticed you cast an illusion when you were about to leave after Johnny fought the brothers, to not be involved in what was happening

RAIDEN

He's surprised you even had powers, let alone be born with them

He likes the combination of his lighting with your magic, impressed that you can mimic lighting, he will also feel a little intimidated about it

He totally kicks your ass in combat, hand to hand precise

He will lecture about using combat more than your powers, but is impressed about your abilities

He annoys the living the fuck out of you with his humbleness

He finds it amazing that you are able to hold more than you once did

He still wants to know if you're able to do more with your magic than what he's read in books about ancient magic in Edenian

He worries of your mental state with your abilities the more you learn about them, but he finds you interesting that you are abnormal

He's surprised that you can tolerate Johnny, hearing about his previous assistants, you are the only one who can tolerate the egotistic (but generous) man-child

KUNG LAO

Cocky son of a bitch...

He'll work too hard to try and impress his abilities to you and brag that you can't prevent them

Overall, he does like the sight of your abilities glowing and swirling in your hands

He finds them ticklish when it holds when they calmly wrap around him

He's literally the type of guy to ask you to "do it again!" just to make him feel like he's flying

You somehow managed to block his blade hat, but nearly got your head split into two

He's wondering about your limits and wanting to try and overdo them, in other words he wants to cheat

The more your power grows the less he understands

KENSHI TAKAHASHI

He and Sento can sense you, just like you can sense them.

He was curious if you could hear Sento without any contact with the blade. Both him and you were surprised that your ancestors knew each other

You both help each other with telekinesis and mind reading

Johnny and Kung Lao call you two the "Perfect Duo"

Johnny tries setting y'all up, but you declined due to "not seeing it" (neither can Kenshi)

It weirds out Takeda that there was someone else quite similar to Kenshi

Takeda also comments that she's out of his league...

They will literally talk shit telepathically, especially about Johnny. I headcanon the way they do it is like in Young Justice, especially when they argue. The entire squad just looks at y'all as you two throw your arms and yelling at each other in y'all minds like y'all crazy...✋🏾😭

JOHNNY CAGE

Brother is STUNNED

How dare you keep this secret from your boss, he's livid AND dramatic...

Even those Liu Kang prevented you from interfering, you didn't really listen to him. You knew Johnny for six years and was close with him

Helping him push Bi-Han with your magic was always entertaining for him during the fight

You did kinda slapped him for trying to use you for his movie as you said you didn't want to and your power was too unpredictable anday cause harm

He enjoyed watching you beating the shit and levitating Shang Tsung and slamming him on the ground

He does notice your magic gets darker the more you use it, he also noticed you get headaches and hear voices from it

He was losing his fucking mind when Shang Tsung kidnapped you after he set out poisonous gas in his gruesome basement of Tarkat clones, man was ranting and worrying about you to Liu Kang who kept telling him to calm down

He remembers your ex, Kira, (Yes, the Kira from the previous games), that she got out of prison for trying to kill you, or more like someone let her out and she joined the Red Dragon group

He's extremely worried about you all the time, like that's you bad bitch, you're bestie✨💅🏾

Y'all are literally the Mean Girls, along with Kenshi

✨BONUS ✨

GERAS

He's more cautious about your abilities than Liu Kang, even though Liu Kang is aware, Geras is more strict about it

He knows the extent of your abilities and various triggers that can happen. Throughout the times in other timelines, he always see you are going from good to evil.

There's even one timeline where he sees you erasing all the realms due to sadness of someone you love during a realm battle of all realms

He remembers you were Shinnok's spawn in a previous timeline, but it glad you were down a different path, still causes of what you might do

He will eventually see you as a threat if your power corrupts you, knowing he can't erase you due to chaos and order balance, he deems of sealing you, which Johnny was mainly against

He knows you don't intentionally mean harm, but does trust your mind set

Geras is a bonus since he's not intentionally an Earthrealmer, this list is mainly for those who are born in Earthrealm, for example since Liu Kang is a God and Keeper of Time, he still was and is an Earthrealmer

I was gonna add Thunder God Raiden, but if I'm in the mood or someone requests the MK11 version, I will do it

I will make an Outworlder one but I won't add the villains, they'll have their separate section

Again! Requests are open!

[the-deltahub-official]

THE DELTAHUB - 5TH ANNIVERSARY PROMO

WELCOME BACK!

5 YEARS IT'S BEEN

WHAT A WONDERFUL TIME...

BUT, THERE'S STILL, MUCH, MUCH MORE TO BE DONE.

❖ Join the Oldest Deltarune Discord! (We’ve been around since Day 3 of the Game’s existence!)

❖ OCs and Non-Deltarune Characters are allowed!

❖ Explore the Dark World’s ever-expanding Castle Town, the Light World’s Hometown, and strange places beyond both.

❖ Confront THE ROARING KNIGHT, SHADE INC., THE CORRUPTION, and even THE ANGEL, as you pursue answers in an on-going and community driven story where YOUR influence can change the narrative!

❖ All new Original Dark Worlds! A Haunted Mansion, A Shady Company, A Fiery Bar, and more!

❖ Custom Slice of Life Events, thought of and selected by YOU!

❖ Get punched by a Flexing Dice block

❖ An average sized community always looking for more people to share with!

❖ Make Music? Art? Got theories about Undertale and Deltarune you wanna discuss? We got the chats just for you!

❖ Don’t RP? That’s perfectly okay! We have plenty of other things for you to do!

❖ CHAOS AND [SPECIL DEALS] ALL AROUND FOR YOU!

JOIN US NOW @ discord.gg/deltahub

We'd like to bring a huge thanks to the collaborative efforts of the Deltahub Discord for bringing this collab image to life. Here are the usernames of those who worked on, or offered their character to be shown in the image! Kris, Susie, Ralsei, Frisk belong to Deltahub (drawn by dra-ghost)

Cavalin & Deo drawn by @dra-ghost

Russel by @pipisofficial / @ghosts-of-the-underground

Legion & Doctor Catalyst belong to @offbeatcat (Drawn by Prime)

Winter By @peonysburrow

C.U.R.I.E & Gammamon by @mavs-corner / @rxdiated (Belongs to Pokemon Uranium & Digimon: Ghost Games)

Ezra, Dan, and Sidra by @primearts1983

Starvil, Ladelina, and Toma by @lilydragonhart

Sunny, TR3V0R, and Khione by @queerrayne

Dunamis by Marsim (Drawn by Prime)

Laseri & Thorny Ruler by @Laseridreamer on twitter

Joey by @zavemann

Scara by @artsy-savvy

Jibanyan played by @sabersstuff (Drawn by Pipisofficial)

Dyl by @the-scarlet-traveler

Trou by @strutinman

Jakora & Quaxly by CK/Coolkid (Don't have social media)

AGAIN, FEEL FREE TO JOIN US NOW @ discord.gg/deltahub

[sillybucket]

“The stars shine for you” { Stolas x g/n reader }

Yep , decided to make another little x reader fic with Stolas , cause I just really want him to be happy after all he’s been through ;_; ❣️

As always , I apologize for possible ooc moments , and if someone already wrote about something similar know it’s not my intention to copy anyone !

🍃 Warnings 🍃 : none , this is just pure fluff featuring Stolas and the reader celebrating an anniversary by going to see a special event 🌠

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“Oh darling , I’m so glad you made it !”

(Y/n) smiled as Stolas pulled them in a loving embrace , and they let out a gentle chuckle …

He surely seemed excited that day , probably because it was their four months anniversary of being in a relationship : the Prince always remembered those times with an almost scary accuracy , and he also made sure to organize something special each time those occasions arrived .

(Y/n) couldn’t help but feel curious about what he had planned this time while walking inside their partner’s mansion … 

“Of course , I’d never miss such an important event ! 

So , what would you like us to do my love ?”

, they asked , following Stolas to the living room .

“Well you see , a very rare event will occur in the human world today : a comet that only appears every ten years will be visible from the Earth’s sky , and since I found a secluded spot where no humans would be able to bother us I thought it would be nice to watch it together …”

He interrupted his enthusiastic explanation to look back at (y/n) .

“Oh - but if by chance you’d prefer to do something else that is completely fine ! 

I would never want to pressure you into doing anything that you don’t like , so please don’t worry about being truthful with me : as long as I’m with you I’m the happiest demon in Hell , so …”

(Y/n) held his hand in theirs , looking up into his scarlet eyes .

“That sounds amazing , Stolas , I’d love to watch the comet with you .

I can’t believe you planned something so special just for me … you’re a sweetheart .”

The Prince’s concerned expression turned into a bright smile , and he leaned down to give his partner a kiss on the forehead .

“You deserve nothing but wonderful things (y/n) … this is truly the least I could do for the one demon that brought light into my once empty life .”

He looked at them tenderly , before opening a portal in front of the two of them . 

“Well then , shall we get going ? I believe we have around three minutes before it begins .”

(Y/n) nodded in response , and they both walked through the portal while still holding hands .

When they walked out they found themselves into a beautiful valley , the night sky above it crystal clear thanks to the absence of any sort of artificial lights .

The two sat next to each other , silently waiting until … 

“Woah … !”

(Y/n)’s eyes widened as the comet finally made its appearance , shining among the stars in all of its glory …

Time seemed to freeze , stuck into that magical , beautiful moment that no one else in Hell was even aware of .

Stolas gazed at them with a loving expression , placing his hand on their shoulder and holding them close to him .

“Happy anniversary , my starlight .”

, he quietly whispered .

(Y/n) looked back at the Prince , a warm happiness filling their heart as they leaned forward to leave a gentle kiss on his lips .

“Thank you Stolas …”

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Thank you so much for reading this little story until the end ! :D

Feel free to leave some feedback if you want :) ❤️

[gritsandbrits]

Since gatsby is in the public domain and halloween is right around the corner i have a proposition

Picture this: a supernatural mystery that takes place about a hundred years after the events of the book. Gatsby's mansion has been converted into a boarding house. A writer moves in with the intent to make a book about the history of the mansion.

Very soon, the guests start noticing a green light out in the distance, noises that sounds like the agonized moans of a dying man. The biggest incident is when the pool turns scarlet & sticky.

It turns out the place is being haunted by Gatsby's ghost who STILL cannot move on from daisy. And before anyone asks, the writer is NOT related to Daisy or the other book characters.

So, to prevent the hotel from more haunting, the writer makes a deal with gatsby to uncover the mystery behind his murder. Together they uncover a secondary mystery involving the present.

We also find out what became of the book characters, and future books follows the writer and gatsby solving other mysteries involving the public domain.

[minuil]

It's currently, 6:08 but i finished this piece of art

After the events of touhou 6, two girls appeared in Gensokyo and they had a house close to The Scarlet Devil Mansion, so they decided to visit the two of them :]

[soulstagger]

Annalisa.

Like Eloisa Annalisa of the standard verse, she was a huntress for the church who would come across a vampire that would turn her after killing her teacher.

Where in reality Eloisa would continue with the church for a bit, hunting her sire before ultimately being exiled.

There she would, with her own concoction spend several hundred years as a long life half-vampire, trying to fight her vampirism before finally given into it while finishing off the one who sired her and becoming truly free.

From there she runs an agency to look into strange disappearances, a private investigator, a facility that doubles as a front for either hunting down bad paranormal things, or helping good ones. Like others who were turned, or entities just trying to survive.

Where it differs is that it would be Remilia Scarlet (written by Lara back in the day), would be the one that turned her. Having ambushed her and her teacher after several hunts. Eloisa would track her down, almost killing the vampire.

But her own unique blood fire technique that gave her the upper hand, would ultimately lead her to overusing it. Falling to her knees before striking Remilia through the heart. Here Remilia would turn Eloisa leaving her to become the monster she wished to kill.

In the end however, Eloisa would resist. Tracking her down one last time, hoping to kill her before a comatose state would overtake her. As warned by Remilia, the refusal to drink won't lead to death. It'll lead to a comatose trapped dormant forever state.

Eloisa would fail, her body would go cold. And she would sleep, not realizing that the vampire didn't leave her there to die. Instead she would be collected at a later date, and brought as a trophy to be stored away in the depths of the mansion. A dressed up doll essentially, laying in the basement for centuries.

Until one overly helpful boy woke her up.

Having been awoken, Eloisa. Now calling herself just Annalisa, came to realize what had occurred. A full vampire now, her life lost to time, she set a challenge to Remilia, abiding by the laws of this new land.

She would ruin her.

Thus Moonlight Mishaps, an event in the community in which, with the power of illusion and the moon's light. Cast a reflection upon the land, making people's perceptions of herself and Remilia swap. Effectively stealing her position and subjecting the vampire to lowly abusive treatment.

It didn't last long, several powers conspired against her, and Remilia's own tenacity and fate manipulation brought them to clash one last time. Annalisa losing in the end, cast out. The stolen moonlight and powers faded, leaving a beat up Annalisa to drag herself out of the rubble.

From there her fate was left unknown.

[cursedmystic]

Elrick: "That bastard won't be easy to get rid of, or to stop. You'll be needing my old weapon to actually make him stop. You can use my camera, but that menace needs stopping. If you can find the Armory, you should find my old weapon."

--thescarletmansion

The whispers that are ghostly nonsense to many of the others are as loud as if Elrick was at his side and speaking to him. In the past, it would have bothered him -- now, he's quietly thankful of his skills here.

"I see. I mislike resorting to violence, but if that's what it comes down to, we'll have to see what happens."

He rubs at the back of his neck with a sigh before turning to relay the message to the others.

[terraxtant]

FREYA SIEGER; THE SCARLET WITCH CHARACTER FORM

OVERVIEW 

FULL NAME: Freya Sieger  CURRENT ALIAS: The Scarlet Witch  NICKNAMES: Frey, The Witch, Lil/Little Witch ADDITIONAL ALIASES: Freya Eckhart (birth name), The Great Witch 

BIRTHDAY: Nov 14, 2003  GENDER: Cis-Female  SEXUALITY: Probably Demi-sexual, hasn’t really put thought into it PRONOUNS:  She/Her

CITIZENSHIP: Genoshan (former), American (former), Canadian (current)  SPECIES: Homo Superior (Mutant), Inhomo Supremis (Witch) AFFILIATION: Magneto (former), The X-Men BASE OF OPERATIONS: Prometheus Hall (former), X-Mansion (former), Leopold Estate (Current)

APPEARANCE & PHYSICALITY

ETHNICITY: Jewish-German, Turkish

ACCENT: Having lived amongst Americans for over a decade, she speaks mainly in an Inland North American accent now, however her original German accent still bleeds through occasionally. She also sometimes says Canadianisms like “Eh,” “Sowree,” and “Aboot”, which started as making fun of Luthor Leopold, and accidentally became part of her lexicon. 

DOMINANT HAND: Ambidextrous 

HAIR: Caramel-brown, though she does both dye it and alter it to other colours, at full use of her Chaos magic, her hair becomes a bright reddish-pink, the same colour as her magic.  

EYES: Gray (glow reddish-pink when using her powers)

BODY: She’s small and compact, and it definitely doesn’t bother her at all. She just barely reaches 5’2/ 157cm, and it haunts her. She’s tried building muscles, but it just does not work. At best she can be called athletic from all the superhero training, but she is not physically all that powerful, it’s just endurance training at this point. Without her powers, she could definitely be bested in hand-to-hand combat by a regular human. 

UNUSUAL FEATURES: Her eyes glow when using her powers, but that’s it. 

STYLE: Casual and simple, she has a preference for clean cuts and comfort, she's not all too bothered about brand names or adhering to a specific style. As long as she feels good, looks good, she’s good. She does, however, have a penchant for heels, largely due to her height and wanting to appear taller and more intimidating. 

FACECLAIM: Bahar Şahin

PERSONALITY 

Freya is fairly introverted, preferring to be on her own or in the company of a very select group of people. She also does not bother pretending to be polite, and will leave or more likely move you out of her space when she does not want to interact. She tends to be rather sarcastic and somewhat cynical, not a huge believer in Professor X's “good is in everyone” approach, not unlike either of her fathers. She doesn't really believe people should be controlled or any of that world domination crap either, mostly she just can't be bothered with that. Ruling seems like a huge pain in the ass, instead, just everyone be polite and live your own lives, like does it really matter if your neighbour is blue and has a husband and a wife? How is that your problem? 

Despite having had her earlier memories locked away, and a whole host of traumatic events, Freya’s personality has largely remained the same through her life, only maturing the unruly bits with age, but her beliefs have certainly remained the same. The only real difference between childhood, pre-memory lock Freya and the current one is the loss of her spoiled daddy’s girl traits. She’s still got a bit of that, but the spoiled part has basically vanished, since the person who indulged her every whim is no longer around to do that. 

She is incredibly stubborn, and because of her powers, can occasionally display quite the god complex, however, those she loves and values, she holds above herself, not just their lives, but their opinions too, which is best seen in her relationship with Luthor Leopold, who is effectively her foster father, and will stop rewriting the world or the room when he tells her to. She is a deeply loyal and loving person, she doesn’t love a lot, but the few she does, she’s willing to do anything for. There are no moral lines she is unwilling to cross for those she loves. The world doesn't mean anything to her if her loved ones aren't in it.

POWERS & ABILITIES 

Freya's most potent and notable ability is REALITY WARPING, her power is virtually limitless, bound only by her own imagination, and enables her to defy any and all laws of nature, and bend them entirely to her will. The exact range of her warping is unknown, she has been able to rewrite the entire world, which leaves open the probability of her being able to affect the greater universe. Unlike other reality warpers, Freya's wishes become reality itself, with only unique beings able to recall the world that existed beforehand. If she wishes for all flowers to be purple, all flowers in the world will become purple, and almost no one will notice the change. Her powers even extend to actually creating matter itself, an ability unseen in other Reality Warpers who essentially rearrange atoms already in existence, though like her, can defy the laws of physics. 

Her Reality Warping abilities work in conjunction with both her mutation and her affinity for magic, in particular CHAOS MAGIC, which she alone has been able to use with no harm to herself, making her one of the most powerful beings in existence. Of note, while she can use spells to further her warping, she is also capable of rewriting the world simply with her thoughts. As her primary power, it is unclear how many of her additional abilities she was born with, and which manifested as a result of something she wanted. A flaw of her power is that while she cannot be manipulated by a reality conjured by someone else, Freya can be confounded by naturally existing alternate realities, which she can view and visit freely with her power, and alterations that she herself has done or undone. The overlapping memories and visions can overwhelm her and thus cause her to lose control over the current reality. Her emotional state also heavily affects her powers, which can act both as a boost and a boone. Theoretically, at complete control of herself and her powers, Freya could completely rewrite reality as she sees fit, with no being in existence able to notice the change. 

Likely a mix of her mutation and magic, offensively, Freya tends to use ENERGY MANIPULATION, manifesting as red-pink forms of energy in whatever shape she needs; she can manipulate this energy freely as a projectile, lasso, a blast, etc. She has also displayed the following; Astral Projection, Clairvoyance, Duplication, Energy Transference, Flight, Force Field Generation, Gravity Manipulation, Illusion Conjuring, Invisibility, Location Tracking, Magical Awareness, Mechanical Manipulation, Elemental Manipulation, Necromancy, Power Manipulation, Power Bestowal, Power Absorption, Power Amplification, Power Negation, Telekinesis, Telepathy, Teleportation, Remote Teleportation, Portal Creation, Time Manipulation, Transmutation, and Witch Sight. There is no limitation to how many powers she can use at once, and can combine them as she requires. As stated before, it's likely that a majority of these abilities are not natural, and a result of her Reality Warping and Chaos Magic simply responding to what she was attempting to accomplish.

Aside from her powers, Freya is a polyglot, and can speak numerous languages, though, as per a number of her abilities, some of them she learned to speak because of her powers. That aside, she is fluent in German, French, Turkish, and English, having been taught by her parents, and in the years since has picked up Italian, Japanese, Arabic, and more.

She's also been trained in various forms of combat, but is not particularly skilled in it, and relies on her powers. She's similar when it comes to magic, she's learned plenty of spells, but relies on her existing powers and just augments them with magical energy as opposed to traditional spell-casting.

RELATIONSHIPS

FAMILY

Magnus Eckhart (biological father)

Meryem Eckhart née Kaya (mother)

Mikail Eckhart (elder brother)

Luthor Leopold (foster/adoptive father)

Damian Mirza (adoptive elder brother)

Lara Leopold (adoptive younger sister)

Valerie Essex (paternal half-sister)

Freya’s relationship with her biological family is somewhat complicated, mostly by the fact that she does not remember them. Before her memories were locked away, Freya loved her family very much, particularly her elder brother, and she was very close to her father, very much a “Daddy's Girl”, however, she couldn't understand her father's behaviour towards her brother and as she started getting older, she would place herself between them and try to keep her brother safe and happy, and slowly pulled away from their father. Magnus's murder of Mikail was the final straw for Freya, and she sought to utterly destroy him, resulting in the events of M-Day. Her prior memories of her mother are more fuzzy, she could recall feeling warmth and love, but not her face. Even Freya doesn't know what happened to their mother. 

Since the reversal of M-Day, she considers the Wolverines her family, Luthor appearing to her on Mount Darque Hold being her earliest memory before Professor X's mental walls started collapsing, she also has a habit of referring to him as “Professor Dad”. Since the rescue of Lara, she considers her, her younger sister and is very protective of her. She is somewhat hostile towards Damian, since he tried to kill Luthor and all, but sees him as a wayward, moron brother. They text a lot. 

As Polaris and the Scarlet Witch, Freya has crossed paths with her half-sister before, but neither were aware of their biological connection at the time.

FRIENDSHIPS 

Freya isn't all that close with those outside of her family, she is closed off and can seem to be a bit mean, but overall, she is polite enough with everyone at the Mansion, she does not permit external threats towards anyone at X-Mansion, though the main reason for that is that they matter to Professor Dad, thus they naturally matter to her to. Having said that, she does have actual friends amongst them and spends the most time with them at the Manors outside of her family, and will entrust one of them with looking after Lara in case she and Luthor are not around. 

Alex Mastronardi 

Lowkey bitchy besties, they judgemental as hell together. 

Rosaria Huntington 

Francesca Moreno 

Not a fan. Freya just does not understand her as a person at all, nor Alex’s choice of dating her after Rose? Like, Alex, buddy, you good? You having a breakdown? The fuck is this? And she's somehow become even more annoying since she and Alex got together, Freya genuinely has to dedicate a constant amount of energy to making sure she doesn't accidentally wipe Francesca out of existence due to the latter's incessant need to be an absolute nuisance. When it comes down to it though, as another X-Man (technically), Freya will protect her from external threats. Which Francesca needs to understand means that she protects you from the US government Francesca, not the Freya!

ROMANCE

Freya hasn't had too much interest in romance in her life, she's not been single the whole time, but she's never been in a serious relationship, well, she didn't consider them serious, her exes may have. She's only ever previously gone for someone she already knew and felt certain wouldn't hurt her, whether emotionally or physically, so basically others at X-Mansion and the Leopold Estate. None lasted longer than a few months, since she's difficult to get close to and will obstruct your efforts to do so.  

Jason Lowell-Richards 

Lowkey they're just funny as a couple, she starts off hating him cause he's a) an American, strike one, and b) ex-US Army, which is worse. She finds him incredibly annoying, and threatens him nearly daily. However, she does very quickly fall into a sort of situationship vibe with him, not so much the flirting stuff (which he definitely does), but while he's technically not hers, she gets real pissy and territorial if someone shows interest in him. Absolutely denies any and all feelings of jealousy, but that ken is hers. 

While not all that nice to him, at all, he does manage to upgrade himself from nuisance to “friend” in her books fairly quickly, not long after he and his sister arrived at the Leopold Estate, Freya had a little “loss of control” episode, and usually she manages to anchor herself to reality by focusing on Luthor, but in this instance the alternate reality primarily confusing her was in which he proposed killing her, so she couldn’t trust which Luthor was hers. Jason offered himself as a focus point, since he wasn’t present in the other realities, and she was able to regain control again.

HISTORY

Freya was born in the fairly new mutant-only nation of Genosha to the President, Magnus Eckhart, and his then wife Meryem Eckhart, she was their second child, but first mutant one. Freya has been capable of using her abilities since birth, levitating herself and teleporting toys to her, it’s also possible she could use her powers from the womb, since a protective shield once stopped a bullet from hitting her non-mutant mother while pregnant with her, but it’s also possible the bullet was stopped due to a knee-jerk reaction by her father. As a powerful mutant, she was very doted upon by her father, and was being raised as a golden child, but had to watch her non-mutant elder brother be at best disregarded, and at worst, abused. Despite how their father treated him, Freya loved her brother dearly, and always placed herself between him and their father, and slowly pulled away from him due to the unfair treatment of her brother.

When Freya was 11, and Mikail 20, he convinced her to use her powers to turn him into a mutant as well, as a birthday present, however, Freya was too young and quickly lost control, the atomic structure of the citizens and the Island itself starting to fluctuate. While trying to stop it, Magneto accidentally killed Mikail, which sent Freya into a rage and triggered what later became known as M-DAY. Sobbing over her brother’s corpse, Freya whispered “no more mutants”, which subsequently erased nearly all mutants from reality, either by depowering them or removing their existence. A handful of “Omega-Level” mutants retained both their powers and memories of the previous reality, including Professor X and the Wolverine, as well as Freya herself and her father, while the nation of Genosha was turned into a floating fortress named Mount Darque Hold, the former populace turned into Sentinel-like mindless creatures which surrounded the fortress and protected Freya and her imprisoned father.

The massive world rewrite used a mix of both her mutant reality warping and was her first use of Chaos Magic, which caught the attention of the Lords of Chaos and Order of the Witch, neither were successful in penetrating the defences she set around Mount Darque Hold. A number of the Lords in Chaos were depowered by Freya, seemingly permanently, and even now cannot use any form of magic. 

While the magic users failed to enter the stronghold, the Wolverine and Professor X were successful in making it past the guards and eventually to Magneto and Freya, though a month had already passed since Freya changed the world. Luthor promised that if she changed the world back, she could leave with him, and wouldn’t ever have to see Magneto again, and if she focused with Professor X’s help, she might be able to undo her brother’s death too. She believed in him and did as asked, but she was unable to completely reverse everything, a large percentage of the Genoshan population was now deceased, and the Island itself collapsed and sank into the sea. She did actually manage to save her brother, but it was unclear in the moment and she thought she failed. In the aftermath, Professor X sealed all her memories, planning to slowly unseal them over time as her control over her powers increased, and she was taken to X-Mansion with them, and her surname changed. The Fall of Genosha remains debated to this day, while Magneto attributes it to an attack by humans.

Since waking up in X-Mansion, Freya’s only prior memory was being somewhere dark and alone, and feeling terrified until Luthor appeared, halo light included, this being her sole existing memory led to her being rather attached to Luthor initially until she slowly acclimated to life at the school, though he still remains her favourite. She doesn’t call him dad, but did begin referring to him as “Professor Dad”, and that’s just stuck now. Freya is aware that her memories were locked up by Professor X because she lost control before, which she did not appreciate, but trusts Luthor, so didn’t fight him over it, but this is partly why she didn’t follow Professor X around like some other students (*cough* Rose and Alex *cough*), however, she did grow to like him over time though. 

During the Invasion, Freya was initially with Lara, and made her evacuate to the jet first, afterwards using her powers to evacuate as many people as possible, during which she witnessed the Professor’s death and wiped out a massive portion of the army before manually flying the jet, which was damaged by their weapons, across the northern border. Since the shock of the Professor's death, Freya's powers have been unstable, and the mental walls he had built shaking and crumbling, causing her to confuse alternate realities and her own past memories. She's tried rebuilding the walls herself, but since she built them, it's easier for her confounded self to remove them.

TRIVIA

Loves cats, her entire youtube history is just cat videos 

Massive fan of Villainess web novels and webtoons

Not a fan of social media, doesn’t understand it really, but did make a locked instagram profile and a whatsapp group chat for the Wolvie Fam after Lara joined the Mansion 

People tend to assume that she's also Wolverine's biological daughter, and they do have similar eyes, and no one thought to explain it to Lara for quite some time, so she was really confused by the whole Magento thing

Freya has an inexplicable hatred of America, both before and after her memories were locked away. During the X-Mansion days, she kept hurting all the Americans’ feelings by constantly calling it a bad country, at best, and it was really hard to get her to soften up or just keep her opinion to herself. Magnus could clarify that she actually got that from her mom, but he's off supervillaining or whatever and not in her life.

[touhoulostword-journal]

Allow Me | Artist: risui

Story 1 Hong Meiling works for Remilia Scarlet at the Scarlet Devil Mansion. While she's technically in charge of watching the front gates, she spends most of her time drifting in and out of sleep―something Sakuya often scolds her for.

Story 2 Sakuya Izayoi works for Remilia Scarlet at the Scarlet Devil Mansion. She's the head maid, and is recognized by all as being highly dependable. However, with her tendency to scold and lecture those around her, she is also somewhat feared.

Story 3 The Maids' Chocolate Hell Those who are content with the present have no need for desire. There are, of course, some things that can only be obtained through desire, aspiration, and endeavor. "Dreaming too big will bring about misfortune." Those are the foolish words of someone who's given up on their dreams or someone who simply never dared to chase them. Don't let doubt get the better of you. All the answers can be found within.

Story 4 First, you need to listen to your heart. Then, strive to turn its whispers into reality. Think about what you want to do, who you want to be, and let those thoughts drive you forward and guide you to the finish line. Those thoughts are the most important thing. The more refined and clearer they are, the wider and easier to navigate your path will be. Remain strong, and don't give up before you've reached your destination.

Story 5 Colleagues. Friends. Equals. With the blood-red moon at her back, Meiling laughs as she swiftly saves Sakuya from danger. This is an image that sprung forth from Meiling's heart―one of who she wants to be. Having seen these events play out in her dream, she's now tasked with refining this image and making it a reality. However, with Meiling treading the border between the dream world and this one, it won't be long until Sakuya's scorn rains down upon her and wipes that smirk off her face.

[himejoshikomaeda]

i'm kind of curious what you like about lostword. never really tried it myself n all.

— io

1. really easy to get your favorite characters

2. really easy to make your favorite characters viable no matter who they are

3. game isn’t very hard — no artificial difficulty spikes that force you to spend money to max out a unit or whatever. on that note, leveling up and upgrading units doesn’t take much time at all, allowing you to use lots of your favorite touhou characters if you’d like to.

4. the only characters that would probably require real money to aid in acquiring are the game’s made-up alternate universe versions of characters that i can’t imagine anyone giving a shit about. (sorry guys i’m never going to want to spend money so i can have.. sci fi space warrior sanae)

5. no temptation to buy anything in the store because the prices are all absurdly high. i will literally never be tempted to spend 80 dollars on a microtransaction. i consider this point to be a positive, because what is being sold is completely unnecessary.

6. game is written by perverts.

7. protagonist is a girl. this can’t be changed.

8. the main story is FANTASTIC. it’s really really really cool. finishing chapter 3 is what made me gush last night. the hifuu story is really cute too.

9. this might be something not everyone cares about, but the characters are very touchy-feely with each other, and with the protagonist. it’s very nice. i like when characters are handsy. skinship is compelling to me

10. writers aren’t pussies about yuri (important)

11. there is never not an event story going on (they rerun old events in between new ones), so if grinding event points is fun for you (it’s fun for me), that’s always an option no matter what.

12. great autobattle features. lots of customization for autobattles and auto-rematches for grinding materials.

13. despite what i just said, grinding is honestly optional. you don’t need to grind for levels, because levels come easily, and you don’t need to grind for materials after a while, because they give you so many.

14. story card (equippable items basically) art is cute. where would we be without modelo patchouli and her fat thighs?

15. despite having the usual scarlet devil mansion bias, a LOT of more obscure characters get a lot of spotlight, especially in event stories. one i remember enjoying a lot starred seija, sagume, and.. shizuha aki.. as the main characters (along with the protagonist of course). there are lots of cases like that.

16. characters all feel like they love you without it feeling at all like a harem game. sorry if this is cringe but don’t fucking lie and say you don’t want to be loved by the cast of touhou.

17. less of a point for me because i’ve been playing it since launch, but my girlfriend got into it recently and they have been ABSURDLY generous with her as a new player.

there are obviously criticisms to be had with the game (it’s a mobile game, it’s not perfect or anything by any stretch of the imagination), but you asked me what i liked about it. i’ve had a lot of fun with it in my time playing it, and my girlfriend is, like, obsessed with it, just getting into it.

[infinitehyperfixations]

Europe's Most Wanted Thief

Part 2 of Ribbons and Steel

Ribbons and Steal: Part 1, Part 2

Summary: Piotr faces the aftermath of his first interaction with Maya Durand and learns more about Europe's most wanted thief.

Story Tags: Slow Burn, enemies to lovers

Warnings: Language (mostly Wade)

Word Count: 4.6k

POV: Piotr

Note: Sorry that I haven't updated in a long time! 2023 was not a good year for me but I'm hoping that this year is better!

Comments and Reblogs are love!

Piotr prided himself on his ability to keep a level head in the most aggravating circumstances. He thought it was one of his best qualities. Everyone could rely on him to stay calm in the worst situations. He believed that there has to be at least one person that keeps their composure and Piotr was always more than happy to fill that role.

However, someone else would have to take his place as the “calmest person in the room” while Piotr dealt with his current predicament.

Piotr seethed as he glared at the opened skylight that Maya Durand had escaped through in the museum’s banquet hall. The thief had left the perfectly in tack window ajar as if to mock him on his failure. His outraged thoughts drowned out the police sirens and shouting reporters beyond the entrance doors. He could barely hear NTW’s frantic muttering as she tried to release him from the chain-like prison Maya Durand trapped him in. Only a couple of minutes had passed since her escape and the burning anger inside Piotr worsened with every passing second.

“Piotr!” NTW yelled in his face to pull him out of his furious haze. “I have been calling your name for the last minute!”

NTW nodded, deciphering Piotr’s muffled words as an apology while she tried to pull the cloth off his mouth.

“Anyway,” NTW huffed as she yanked on the tight fabric on his arm, “I was trying to tell you that the Professor is fine. He is currently trying to distract the press outside with Mr. Levine.”

Piotr only grumbled at the thought of the press finding out what happened with Maya Durand. It was inevitable that the X-Men, X-Force, and Wade would learn of the events that transpired but Piotr wanted to talk to them first before they saw it on the news. Piotr was nearly drowning in dread at the thought of Wade finding out before he returned to the mansion. The X-Men would forget about his fight with Maya Durand eventually, but Wade?

Piotr would never live this down.

NTW continued to tug on every strand of fabric with no avail. Piotr was grateful that she tried but even he could barely move in the cloth’s steel-like grip.

“Jesus Christ this shit is way too strong for me to take off,” NTW wheezed, rubbing her reddened fingers. “I think we’re going to need Logan’s claws to get you out of this.”

Before Piotr could think of an alternative plan, the fabric tangled around his body loosened fast enough for him to lose his balance. Piotr’s surprised yelp warned NTW to jump out of the way before he fell flat on his face with a loud bang.

While laying face down on the cold floor, Piotr reflected on the past few months - peaceful and uneventful months that now seemed like a distant memory - and wished he hadn’t taken them for granted. Staring at the scarlet silk that had bound him to the floor moments before did not help to extinguish his anger whatsoever. It only fueled his desire to catch Maya Durand and wipe that devious smirk off her face. He could already tell that the next few months would be the most infuriating of his life, but there was simply no way around it. One way or another, he was going to be the one to put that snarky thief in chains.

When Piotr did not immediately stand up, NTW cautiously stepped closer to him.

“You okay, Piotr?”

“I’m fine,” Piotr muttered, his voice muffled by the cold marble floor.

“You don’t sound like it.”

“I promise I am perfectly fine.”

NTW watched as Piotr stood up, letting the rest of the red fabric fall off of him. Every single piece pooled around his feet except for the one small piece that landed on his shoe - the one that Maya Durand wrapped around his head to keep his mouth shut. The image of Durand’s stupid smirk plagued his thoughts as he snatched up the cloth. With a sneer on his lips, Piotr shoved the material in his pocket for Hank to analyze in his lab. With any luck Hank might be able to figure out why Durand’s fabric was strong enough to hold him down.

Before Piotr could make his way to the museum’s entrance, James Levine threw the doors open to escape the hoards of reporters, flashing cameras, and shouts from police officers that tried to keep the rowdy crowd at bay. The Professor, who looked just as exhausted from dealing with the police and journalists as Levine, closely followed him.

"I see that you were released from Maya Durand's trap," James Levine said when he ran up to Piotr and NTW. "I was afraid that I was going to have to tell Miss Ba to get her briefcase."

Piotr and Ellie looked at Levine inquisitively and then at each other.

"Briefcase?"

"Yes, my toolkit, Mr. Rasputin," Miss Ba's cold voice came from behind him.

Piotr flinched at the sound of her voice before he quickly turned around to meet the assistant's harsh gaze. He wondered if she had the power to teleport because he had no idea how she managed to sneak behind him. Her face seemed to be permanently fixed to an unimpressed frown that wouldn't allow the mere emergence of a smile.

When Piotr finally broke the uncomfortable eye contact with Levine’s assistant, he noticed a large black briefcase she was holding at her side. His discarded suit jacket was draped over her arm, large enough to engulf her small frame.

“As Mr. Levine’s assistant, I must be prepared to protect him and his assets under any circumstances,” Miss Ba explained as she reached in her pocket to grab her ringing phone. Her frown deepened as she glanced at the screen. “That includes a visit from Europe’s most wanted thief…and a call from his relative whose diamond was just stolen.”

Miss Ba excused herself before answering the phone call. She kept the phone almost a foot away from her ear, the woman’s enraged screams audible even as the assistant moved to the opposite side of the room. If she was affected by the woman’s degrading shouts, she did not show it, her face as impassive as ever.

Levine sighed as he watched Miss Ba step aside. “I knew my aunt was going to be in hysterics when she found out about the diamond, but I thought I would have at least an hour to prepare.”

NTW looked up at a banner that advertised the Devil’s Treasure exhibit. “Your aunt owns the diamond?”

“Yes, I convinced her to lend it to the museum.” Levine ran a hand through his dark hair as he glanced from Miss Ba to the open skylight and the crumpled pile of red fabric in the middle of the floor. “I told her that the Devil’s Treasure would be safe and that no one - not even Maya Durand - would dare to attempt to steal it with an X-Man present.”

Levine glanced at Piotr hesitantly before clearing his throat.

“I guess I was wrong.”

Piotr clenched his hands as he took in a deep breath. Levine’s words only made his mood worse. He was an X-Man, he should have been able to stop a thief that controls fabric. He allowed himself to underestimate his opponent, a mistake he wouldn’t be repeating when it came to Maya Durand.

“Who is Maya Durand? How do you know her?” The Professor asked, turning his wheelchair to face Levine.

Levine barked out a laugh, but his amusement quickly faded as he looked between the others’ puzzled faces.

“You’re kidding right? Maya Durand? Europe’s most wanted thief? The woman that has become every billionaire and politician’s waking nightmare? You’ve never heard of her?”

Levine’s astonished look grew when the three mutants shook their heads. He pinched the bridge of his nose, muttering something under his breath that Piotr couldn’t make out.

“Of course they never heard of Maya Durand,” Miss Ba chided, somehow appearing next to Piotr without him noticing her. She narrowed her eyes at the X-Man as she handed her phone to Levine. “If they did, they might have actually prevented her from stealing the Devil’s Treasure.”

“Nyza,” Levine warned before extending his arm out apologetically. “Please forgive Miss Ba, she can be very…blunt at times.”

“No offense taken,” NTW said, giving Nyza a harsh glare.

Nyza Ba rolled her eyes before she moved closer to Piotr, holding out the jacket on her arm with an irritated look (which seemed to be her default facial expression).

“You may want to put this on,” Nyza suggested, gesturing to his shirt with a nod of her head.

Piotr nearly popped a blood vessel when he looked down at the state of his dress shirt. The seams were ripped open, the fabric was littered with tears of various sizes, and he was missing several buttons. It was a miracle that his shirt was still on his body. Even with his jacket, he would look like he had jumped through a paper shredder.

Just like his dignity, his clothes also fell victim to Maya Durand.

Once Piotr took his jacket, Nyza made her way to a nearby table, brushing aside the remnants of the ruined plates and champagne glasses to set her briefcase in its center . The latches of the briefcase clicked as the assistant opened it.

Piotr gawked at the sight of the neatly organized contents inside of the briefcase. There was a small collection of large, razor sharp knives, two pairs of hedge clippers, and various firearms with extra ammo clips next to them. Piotr realized that this must be the toolkit that Levine spoke of earlier. He grimaced at the thought of them using the knives and hedge clippers to cut him out of the trap.

“What’s that?” NTW asked, pointing at a gun with a small compartment filled with some sort of clear fluid underneath its barrel.

“A mini flamethrower,” Nyza said nonchalantly. “My sources say that Maya Durand has an intense fear of fire.”

Levine’s eyebrows knitted together as he sneered, “I told you to get rid of that.”

To Piotr’s surprise, Nyza’s face paled at the sight of Levine’s hardened gaze and her eyes grew wider as he towered over her small form.

“I’m sorry, sir,” Nyza mumbled, reaching inside the briefcase to disassemble the weapon. She carefully disconnected the gun’s fluid compartment and tucked away the parts inside the briefcase.

Once she was done, Levine pulled out a tablet from the bottom of the briefcase. While he turned it on, Nyza closed the briefcase and moved to stand behind her boss, her normal judgemental look quickly sliding back over her features.

“I have Nyza keep a tablet with all of the information we have on Maya Durand. She has become quite a problem in Europe.”

Piotr reminded himself of the briefing the Professor gave on James Levine and his company on the way to the gala. While the company did produce machinery for medicine and entertainment, Drake Industries was primarily a tech company that specialized in security and weapons. It would not surprise him if the company had extensive records of criminals across the world.

“I wanted to ensure that local authorities knew whom they were dealing with if she showed up,” Levine explained, turning the tablet toward the mutants.

Piotr peered down at the tablet, which was currently displaying a mugshot of Durand. Much to Piotr’s displeasure, her signature smirk was firmly in place as she stared defiantly into the camera. The Professor gave Piotr a stern look as he tried to hide his frown at the sight of the prideful and mischievous glint in her eyes.

As he looked away from the infuriating picture, Piotr’s gaze fell on Levine’s face. There was a ghost of a smile on his face as his finger ran over Durand’s cheek. What unsettled Piotr even more was the way he was looking at her as if she was his next meal. His eyes wandered over her features with a possessive desire and longing that made Piotr’s stomach churn.

Weird.

“You may have this if you wish to pursue her,” Levine said, dropping the strange demeanor as he handed the tablet to the Professor.

“Don’t worry,” NTW asserted, nudging Piotr with her elbow. “We’ll make sure she’s put behind bars.”

Nyza scoffed at NTW’s promise and quickly silenced herself after receiving a harsh glance from her boss. Before NTW could make a scathing retort, Levine interjected to ease the tension in the air.

“It worries me that she has made an appearance in the states,” Levine stressed. “It may mean that she’s bored and wants to cause trouble here. If that’s the case, she is likely to make another appearance soon.”

Piotr nodded sharply. He was going to make Maya Durand regret crashing the gala. He would be the reason her obnoxious grin fell as he put her behind bars.

“Then she will have to face me the next time she shows her face.”

“And we will get that diamond back,” NTW promised.

“I appreciate your enthusiasm, but the Devil’s Treasure is long gone,” Levine chuckled lightly. “By now Maya Durand will have given it to the person who hired her for the job.”

The sound of Levine’s ringing phone took away his attention. Groaning, he pulled the device from his pocket and looked at the three mutants apologetically.

“I’m afraid I will have to deal with my aunt now. Nyza has made arrangements for your car to pick you up discreetly behind the museum so you can avoid the press. I wish you the best of luck catching Miss Durand.”

Before turning to take the call, Levine nodded to each of the mutants, his gaze lingering on Piotr for a fraction longer than the others before he strode off, his aunt’s screeching following him as he headed for the museum door. Piotr tried to ignore the unsettled feeling in the pit of his stomach, but something was…off about Levine. If stories from the other X-Men were anything to go by, people like Levine almost always had an ulterior motive when they involved themselves in the mutant world. And besides his involvement with mutants, it was odd that Levine didn’t seem upset about losing the multi-million dollar diamond to Durand. Piotr would have to keep his guard up.

“God, I am so glad that I’m not him right now,” NTW muttered as she and Piotr watched the door swing shut behind Levine. With a significantly colder nod to the group, Nyza Ba quickly followed her boss out of the museum, briefcase in hand as the door swung shut for the second time, leaving them alone in the event hall.

“You will wish you were when we see Wade back at mansion,” Piotr grumbled.

The Professor rolled his eyes, although the slight quirk of his lips hinted at his amusement at NTW’s pallid expression. While they followed the Professor to the museum’s rear exit, Piotr started to mentally prepare himself for the harassment he was going to receive from the X-Men and, much to his displeasure, from Wade. He knew NTW could withstand some playful jabs from the X-Men but he was certain he was going to have to take the brunt of Wade’s teasing so she wouldn’t send him through a wall.

For the sake of his sanity, Piotr hoped he was wrong.

-----

The car ride back to the X-Mansion was deathly silent. Piotr and Ellie turned off their phones to have a little bit of peace before they returned. Both of them refused to look through the tablet’s information on Maya Durand so they wouldn’t have to think about what had happened. The incident was surely on every single news channel by now. Even though Piotr did not have any social media profiles, he knew he couldn’t hide from the flood of tweets and memes of the ordeal with his students and Wade around. Frankly, he wouldn’t be surprised if he had at least a hundred memes and videos about his fight with Maya Durand from Wade waiting behind his phone’s black screen.

When they finally arrived at the mansion, the X-Men were waiting for them in the foyer. Their quiet muttering came to a sudden halt as they stepped through the door. Most of them glanced between the members of the haggard group hesitantly, clearly not wanting to provoke any lingering emotions from the gala. Logan, on the other hand, stood front and center with an amused grin plastered on his face. The X-Man seemed as if he was anticipating some form of entertainment. He did not have to say anything because Piotr knew exactly why Logan was giving him that look.

Piotr closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose as he released a deep sigh. “Where is he?”

The rapid footsteps from the hallway at the top of the staircase behind the X-Men gave him his answer. Wade bounded to the top of the staircase, waving his phone in the air with a wide smile on his face. Piotr’s frown deepened when Wade took notice of his ruined dress shirt.

“Damn, she really did fuck up your over glorified hall monitor ass, huh?” Wade chortled, sliding down the arm of the staircase with Nathan marching down the steps to follow him. “I cannot believe you got your ass handed to you by a person who controls fabric.”

“Shut up, dickhead,” NTW snapped while her hand formed into fists.

Wade simply ignored her and continued on with his jests. “Just be thankful that you don’t have Twitter because they are having a field day with this selfie of you and Maya-”

“Selfie?” Piotr interjected as his rage from the fight suddenly came back to him. “Show me.”

The sight of the selfie that Maya had taken of them when he was stuck in her trap made his blood boil. The Devil’s Treasure rested casually in her free hand, which was propped carelessly on his shoulder. Her glimmering eyes, perfect teeth, and victorious smile that shined brighter against her red lipstick only made his mood worse. Of course she looked gorgeous while Piotr was tied up with a tattered shirt.

Piotr clenched his fists tightly, “She is going down.”

Before Wade could say anything else, Nathan snatched his phone from him, sending him a harsh glare. He didn’t budge at Wade’s demands to release his phone. Piotr was reminded vividly of a parent taking a toy away from a misbehaving toddler as a punishment.

“You have been talking about this for hours,” Nathan seethed, putting Wade’s phone in his pocket. “I’m tired of hearing about it and I’m sure the Big Guy here is too. Besides, I bet she would kick your ass too.”

“You are no fun,” huffed Wade. “She would never beat me! I would just slice her little ribbons in half!”

“I wouldn’t underrate Miss Durand’s powers, Wade,” The Professor chastised, holding up the tablet that Levine had given him. “According to this, she’s a professional.”

Professor X motioned for all of them to follow him to the large council room that they used for meetings and debriefings. In the center of the room was a grand round table with enough seats to sit the X-Men and X-Force. The massive TVs on each wall of the room displayed different news stations that were all discussing the same thing: Maya Durand. Titles slowly crawled across the bottoms of the screens. Piotr read Breaking News: Maya Durand Strikes in the U.S., Maya Durand Steals The Devil’s Treasure, and X-Man Fails to Stop Mutant Thief before forcefully pulling his gaze away from the screens.

The Professor slid the tablet to the center of the table as everyone took their seats. The device’s screen flickered for a moment before it projected a hologram of Maya Durand’s file for all of them to view. Her mugshot was at the very top of the file. Her perfect smile taunted Piotr as if she was telling him to catch her if he can.

Her basic information was in print below her photo, which Piotr stubbornly ignored as he focused on the text. He felt as if her picture was watching him amusingly as he read what little information the file had. Her exact age was unknown (it said she was in her early to mid twenties), no known family, no known aliases or allies, or anything about her life before she became a thief.

The details that her file did have were of the crimes she had committed, her services that she offered to the highest bidder, and information on her mutant powers.

“This has absolutely nothing on her,” NTW grumbled as she scanned the file.

Scott let out a low whistle as he read aloud her criminal charges, “She’s wanted by Interpol for multiple counts of burglary, assault, theft, espionage, grand theft…everything, and a whole lot more.”

“Who cares about a couple boring charges?” Wade threw his hands in the air as he glared at Scott like he had grievously insulted him. “Homicide and manslaughter are way cooler and you know it!”

Piotr quickly read through her charges to fact check Wade…and he was right. She had not killed anyone, at least not in any incident listed on the file. Piotr wasn't sure if this information made him feel better or worse about the thief. He decided to chalk up this oddity to Durand being too proud to get her hands dirty and label her as the absolute worst person he had ever met.

“That is little extreme… I have fought people that want to kill all mutants,” Piotr reminded himself. “Maya may not be worst person but she is very high on list.”

Scanning through the rest of her file, Piotr came across a section that listed her skillset. Piotr rolled his eyes at the Master Thief at the top of the list. He wondered if Maya had gotten her hands on the file and put that in there to inflate her ego. Her file also stated that she was a chameleon - a master at hiding in plain sight. The way that the file described her abilities made Piotr wonder if she was almost as good as Mystique. On top of that, the file claimed she was a master escape artist as well. He read the brief description of the few times she was sent to prison and her increasingly elaborate escapes. It seemed that no prison could hold her - at least for long.

“Piotr, I think I know why Maya’s fabric was strong enough to hold you down,” NTW said, pointing at the section on her file that listed her mutant abilities.

Mutant Powers:

Fabric Manipulation

Fabric Creation

Material Identification and Application

“Material Application?” Piotr read allowed with a perplexed tone.

“I’ve heard about this ability!” Hank divulged with an intrigued look. “Some mutants have the ability to copy elements of certain materials to another object without changing it physically. A copy and paste power to put it simply.”

Piotr reached inside his pocket for the cloth he had taken from the museum and placed it on the table. He peered down at the fabric inquisitively, running his fingers over the soft silk before handing it to the scientist.

“She was able to make her fabric as strong as metal with this ability?” Piotr questioned, almost impressed by her ability.

Hank examined the material in his hands before pulling at it to test its strength and elasticity. The fabric stretched easily, not showing any visible signs of stress. It didn’t even tear when Hank ran his sharp claws against it.

“Yes, I suspect that her fabric may be as strong as steel,” Hank hypothesized, keeping his eyes on the fabric, “but I will be able to tell you more tomorrow once I’ve taken a closer look.”

The Professor glanced down at his watch, realizing how late at night it was before backing away from the table. With a wave of his hands all of the TVs in the room turned off as he made his way to the door.

“Maya Durand may not look like a big threat now, but I fear this is only the beginning. Judging by her reputation, her jobs may put people in danger,” Professor X cautioned, his face drawn as he looked at the mutants still gathered around the table.

The Professor met Piotr’s gaze levelly for a few moments for a few moments before addressing the group at large.

“Piotr, I’m trusting you to be the one to stop her.”

Before anyone could object, Professor X held up his hand to keep everyone silent. Piotr caught Logan rolling his eyes with an unimpressed grin on his face. He vaguely heard Logan muttering about how this was going to go for Piotr and judging by his tone, the clawed man was betting against him.

“You can count on me,” Piotr nodded before stealing a glance at Maya’s mugshot. The Professor was giving him a chance to deal with the thief himself like he had trusted him to handle Wade, and Piotr could not let him down. “What happened tonight will not happen again.”

“Good,” The Professor let out a satisfied hum before turning to the door. “We’ve all had a long night so I suggest that you all turn in for a well earned rest.”

Piotr and NTW remained in the room while the rest of X-Men, Nathan, and Wade followed the Professor. Wade opened his mouth, no doubt to make an obnoxious quip, but Nathan roughly grabbed him by the ear before he could form a single word. Wade released a flood of insults at Nathan as he pulled him out of the room.

Once Wade’s screeching voice was far enough away, Piotr released a deep sigh as he rested his hands on the table. NTW slumped in her seat as she glared at Maya Durand’s mugshot.

“She’s not even here but it feels like she’s mocking us.”

“We will get her,” Piotr reassured her. “I have plan.”

NTW peered at him questionably, “And what is your plan exactly?”

“We wait until she strikes again,” Piotr decided. “She is practically ghost. No use finding her until she is hired for next job.”

NTW’s puzzled look grew, “So what do we do in the meantime? Twiddle our thumbs and hope she makes an appearance soon?”

Piotr shook his head as he pulled the device closer to him from the center of the table. He felt as if Maya Durand was standing in front of him with her mugshot only inches away from his face. No matter how hard he tried he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. Her alluring mischievous eyes were like an addictive toxin that fueled his need to put her behind bars.

“While we wait, we learn as much as we can,” Piotr asserts, narrowing his eyes at Maya’s picture. “We will not underestimate her again.”

“Not the best plan, but it's the only one we’ve got,” NTW said listlessly, before sliding out of her chair. With a yawn on her lips, she made her way to the exit to go to bed.

Piotr chuckled at her blunt (yet true) assessment as he settled into his chair. He had a long night ahead of him, but he could not think of any other options that would end in anything besides frustration and embarrassment. Besides, his experience had taught him that good things always come to those who wait.

And he would wait for a century if it meant he would be the one that put Maya Durand behind bars.

-----

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