#(I cannot separate them they are a package deal to me)

[stormy-blossom]

Not PLA centered but I have some of them on here so- Happy 2nd anniversary to one of my favorite games Pokémon Legends Arceus! So many of the characters in that game quickly became favorites (Especially Volo-)

[cheolattes]

I don't know what happened but it's like all of a sudden I have a thing for jjk men....

[lizdive]

I was thinking of older sister violet_evergarden!reader who is also a stoneheart x aventurine. I'd like to see how they interact since canonically, violet sees herself as nothing more than a weapon and will do whatever she has to do, to protect the person she cares for. Aka aventurine. I can also sorta see her either being an emanator of preservation or one the stronger stonehearts.

Hi anon :3 !! I love aventurine with my whole heart he’s just so squishy 😞 i had to go to the violet evergarden wiki for this one bcs i’ve never watched the anime so i’m sorry if stuff isn’t accurate this was kinda of difficult for me,, tysm for requesting <3 if you’re unsatisfied just tell me and i’ll redo it!!

notes 𐙚 fem! reader — "you" + "she/her" used to refer to the reader ,, reader as an older sibling ,, reader is based off of violet evergarden from violet evergarden anime ,, reader is an emanator of preservation but it isn’t mentioned much ,, reader is a stoneheart ,, aventurine is referred to as both "kakavasha" and "aventurine" ,, corundum’s are a type of gemstone that is ranked 9 on the toughness scale ,, of course you can change this to the stone of your desire !! this isn’t proofread ignore typos,,

"The hammer of preservation will fall on all beings, regardless of life or death, regardless of race, regardless of ideology, to uphold the basic rights we inherently posses."

The Rising Stars, the Stonehearts, the Gambler and the Soldier Maiden — all nicknames for two siblings who have seen it all. A handsome aventurine and a beautiful corundum. One blessed by HER, and another blessed by THEM.

To be an Emanator is to be seen as a piece of an Aeon — their will so strong that their abilities have been gifted to them by the Aeon. To be an Emanator in the IPC is to be seen as an asset that cannot be lost. And to be an Emanator of Preservation is to be seen as the biggest tool.

With THEIR blessing you have overcome all that life has thrown at you just for the sake of keeping your beloved brother save from harm. From the moment he was brought into this sad world, you have fought to protect him and your younger sister.

Only one of the two made it out alive.

Many people would call you a murderer, and while they technically aren’t wrong, they fail to see why you do it. Or perhaps they do not care. You killed and therefore you should be sent to your own death.

You remember the day when you and your brother were taken by the IPC. A woman clad in luxury, a smirk on her face, and her tone breathy and warm. "As a servant you should not resist your master." she had said, but you did not pay attention for her.

KAKAVASHA did most of the speaking for you. He was free to go — he had no blood on his hands. You were the one to be sent to the gallows. But you couldn’t and wouldn’t. Death was not an option. It never was and never would be until KAKAVASHA lets out his final breath from old age.

You didn’t see what was wrong — you never did. Yes, you killed the man and many more, but it was self defense. KAKAVASHA and you had always lived in a world where it was kill or be killed. Remorse was foreign to you.

And then came the offer. Join the IPC. Join the corporation that was the reason your kind fell and vanished off the map. Become the same as them. You could not care less. Should your brother join, you will, as well. And he did.

By the end of the day you both were clad in luxuries the same as her.

⭑ Missions were always a package deal. Where AVENTURINE goes, Corundum always follows. Where Corundum goes, AVENTURINE is most likely following. There is no separating the two.

⭑ AVENTURINE is very patient with his big sister. He knows that unlike him, she is not able to properly express what she feels. He’ll try to help explain why people feel the things they feel — he’s good at putting up a mask of emotions and to do so he needed to understand them first so he’s good at explaining.

⭑ If you have prosthetic limbs like Violet does and have room for drawings and doodles, AVENTURINE will definitely doodle on your arms during free time. Even if you hide them with your sleeves, it’s a nice pass-time activity. Nobody says anything about it because 1: he is a stoneheart and 2: you’re a stoneheart.

⭑ Will try to get you to be less hyper-independent. Ask him for help, it’s okay. He’ll even try to make you a bit reliant on him. He’s not a little kid anymore, he can definitely help you take out those guys. He’s good with a gun and it’ll finish the mission quicker, just let him do some fighting too,,

⭑ I feel like there could be some heavy angst potential here, especially with the entire aventurine boss fight. You’re so determined to protect him, and you aren’t against killing people to do so. He knows this, and so he tries his damn hardest to hide his plan from you but he’s your little brother your little KAKAVASHA so you know him. You’re not the best at emotions but you know he’s lying and hiding something.

⭑ He accepts death and welcomes it with open arms but he also doesn’t want to leave his big sister alone. His big sister, who has done everything and more to protect him. She had killed, she has been wounded, she has put up with his shenanigans, and she has done the impossible. He feels like he’s just throwing that all away,,,

⭑ You are lost without him when he 'dies'. He is your purpose in life. Helping the Astral Express fight against Sunday? Screw them! You need to find your little brother, there is no way he is dead. You pray to Mother Gaiathra, to Qlipoth, to any Aeon that will hear your prayers, that he is alive.

⭑ And when you find him alive and well in the real world, alone in his room in the reverie hotel, you feel like a dam inside you has bursted. You don’t cry, but you’re close to doing so and AVENTURINE doesn’t know whether to encourage you to let out your emotions and calm your through them or reassure you that he is alright and there is no need to cry.

⭑ On a lighter note: AVENTURINE doesn’t mind if you communicate with him via letters instead of messages when you’re on your own solo missions! He’ll get you the nicest envelopes and stamps to put on them. Maybe even some stickers! He loves when you use the silly ones. If you tell him it helps you understand emotions better, he’ll encourage you to write letters more and for other people. If you use an old typewriter, he’ll get you the nicest one on the market!

⭑ It said in the wiki that Violet feels guilt for killing the people she has killed, so if you also feel that, AVENTURINE will be by your side to reassure you that it’s okay. That it wasn’t your fault and it was needed for survival. He might use the "you were just trying to protect me" card to make you feel better since he knows he’s your weakness.

⭑ Sadly, to make a pledge to never kill anyone again like Violet did would be pretty much impossible. In the eyes of the IPC, violet evergarden! reader will always be a weapon, so it’ll kinda be forced upon her.

⭑ AVENTURINE loves the anxious expressions of the people he’s gambling with as his big sister stands behind him, intimidating the patrons of the casino. It also reassures him because if anyone tries to get violent he knows his big sis will be there to protect him so he can be as reckless and as infuriating as he wants.

⭑ Overall AVENTURINE would be a very good younger brother to a violet evergarden! reader because he fulfills her wish to protect and she fulfills his want to be cherished.

[barbwritesstuff]

*Gasps in shock* Barb you telling me you wrote massive lore for your werewolves and then deleted it? Why?! I would have loved to read it! I need more different lore for werewolves out there in the world.

😅

It's not new lore. I just talked about stuff that was already explicit in the text of Blood Moon.

(It's not really in Thicker Than because the vampires don't know as much about werewolves as they think they know).

Specifically:

Werewolves have a telepathic connection with each other that they cannot turn off.

It is a distance based thing, so they need to be physically within a few miles of each other to be able to hear it.

Also on this same telepathic frequency (but without the distance debuff) is the moon.

The moon is a fucking nightmare. It's constantly telling the werewolves that they need to attack and kill everything and everyone around them. The world's most murderous tinnitus. It gets louder the more light is bouncing off the moon towards Earth.

Werewolves actively talk to each other telepathically (howling) to counteract and distract each other from the moon.

If a werewolf spends a lot of time alone, they will hear the moon more. They can't help it. It will happen. The moon's song will also become more beautiful to them. This is called 'getting closer to the moon'. It's like turning up the murder song's volume... and the kicker is, once that volume dial goes up, it can't go back down again.

Moon madness is when a werewolf can no longer separate themselves from the moon's warsong. The volume is just too loud. They're lost to the moon, a slave to the moon's warsong.

When a werewolf is moon mad they will kill if they're not killed. It's a very ugly way for a werewolf to die.

And time away from other werewolves makes it come all the quicker.

So, if a werewolf were to leave the pack for several months to go to university, they very well may be shortening their life by years because they'll become closer to the moon in that time.

As a result of this, werewolves can be VERY reliant on each other, which can result in them behaving very insular and cultish. Eg, the small town that doesn't like outsiders very much.

In summary: Werewolves are a package deal. Werewolves without a pack won't live more than a couple of years at most... unless something weird and witchy is going on.

[willow-schmillow]

The Is and Isn'ts of Fusion

(copied from my reddit post x3)

Hiya. I'm someone undergoing fusion-focused therapy to treat DID. Every day I open this app to some new and fascinating misconception about fusion, so I wanted to clear things up.

Please note that I am not a student of psychology or mental health practitioner. The advice I share comes from my personal experience of fusion, as well as my therapist's - who has multiple clients with DID - understanding of fusion-centered therapy. I have also done talk therapy, parts work, cognitive processing therapy (a modified form of CBT to treat PTSD), and DBT.

Fusion isn't...

- **A convenient way to get rid of alters.** I can speak for myself, and other fusions within the system have said the same, that we carry on our personhoods and identities and memories, and even relationships within the system. I was V and M, and now I'm both of them.

- **A loss.** As said above, my personhoods carried over when the parts of me that make up me fused. If anything, I view it as a gain - Ariadne has everything V and M had, plus a bit more because I am a calmer, more controlled, and more mentally equipped person.

- **The death of an alter.** In a literal sense, alters cannot die. And, also, as said above, my personhoods carried over.

- **The end of the involved alters' relationships.** This isn't a problem for us with other people, because we operate as a package deal in our relationships with others. But also, within the system, some of our insys relationships carry over. Gabriel was Monika's best friend, and he's still mine. Some of our insys relationships are different, too (Fray and Cal are no longer romantically involved,) but like all changes we can adapt to it.

- **Purposely killing an alter.** Shut up.

- **The same thing as integration.** Integration is any type of processing and work that results in the system "running better" - smoother communication, greater continuity of memory or experience, more willingness to work together, and fusion are all some examples of integration.

- **The only choice to get better.** Some people with DID find that functional multiplicity suits their recovery goals more.

Fusion is

- **Healthy.** I'm happier fused than I was apart, for sure, even though it was a difficult adjustment at first. I've had to overcome knowing a fuller picture of my childhood. It's difficult, but I know this is what I want and I'm doing better.

- **Stable.** Lots of fearmongering happens in DID spaces, with the idea that once you fully fuse you're prone to splitting apart again. While that is possible, fusion does not happen without *significant* healing and trauma processing. By virtue of being able to fuse, work has been done. New, healthier coping skills have been learned.

- **A fluid experience.** Within our own system, we experience fusion in different ways. Fray is one alter who holds many experiences. I'm Ariadne, but Monika and Val are still two distinct parts within me. There's absolute continuity of experience, consciousness, and emotion, so I don't consider us separate the same way our alters are. But, I'm one and two at the same time.

- **Achievable.** With sufficient trauma-processing, many people are capable of fusing.

- **The right choice for some people.** Functional multiplicity works for many. I'm not devastated by the thought of remaining multiple for the rest of my life, but I'd also like to work towards fusion because I know that's what would make me happiest.

[singlesomethinginstyle]

It is festive season in South Asia, and women are some of the most overworked among all social groups.

Suddenly, it is not just you, your partner/parents/siblings anymore - it is the entire extended clan, khandaan, their nosy relatives even with several degrees of separation.

The bulk of festive burden falls on women. From the cooking, an extensive menu that comprises unhealthy food which will not be fully consumed because everyone is diabetic or dieting, and the heartbroken woman has to finish what she painstakingly prepared or watch it go to the trash, to endless decor needs, shopping and gifting the extended family (a fine art which, god forbid you gift one relative something and another differently, tempers erupt) not to mention your own professional deadlines because your boss wants everything early so he can justify the 3-4-5 fay holidays.

Then comes the dieting because you KNOW you will be judged for your appearance, the clothing choices, the exhaustion of dealing with nasty relatives and the politics.

And if you're queer, in the closet or struggling or even simply wanting to be single or avoid marriage, suddenly your life is everyone's business, and this endless social nightmare, the bullying and the ostracism is the opposite of divine, it is debasing. God forbid if you are part of an inter-caste or inter-faith coupling, the negativity is worse.

Here are a few tips on how you can take care of yourself during this season.

You've gotta put yourself first. You cannot fight multiple battles on multiple fronts if you cannot take care of yourself first. FEED YOURSELF FIRST.

Look in the mirror ' and tell yourself - this festive season I am celebrating ME - I will feed myself first. You cannot fight big battles on an empty tank.

1. Food: eat before everyone else - get in the kitchen, make yourself something healthy in half an hour, cut a salad, a bunch of fruits and eat first. Cut up a few veggies at night, put it in a tiffin box and leave it in the fridge. When everyone is snoozing, have that. They will balance out all the junk that will go into your stomach. Don't start any ridiculous fast that will drain you. Get a doctor's note if you are being pressured and say - sorry maa ji. Health reasons I have to be careful.

2. Get a pre-festival health checkup. Go to the doctor and get your stats checked. Some labs offer full-body general health checkups at discounted rates. Grab a package and finish it. When you know where you are struggling, yiu can avoid making it worse.

3. Protect your money. Festive seasons have a pile of insidious stupid expenses that pile up and guess who pays ? The woman, the wife, the daughter in law. Do you think your Husband or inlaws will shell money out for that cute decor and diya set? No way. If you hold them accountable, they will probably give some money for all the gifts relatives give. Remove your credit cards and debit cards from online shopping sites. Pretend something is wrong with your card and it got blocked. Make your husband or In-laws pay instead.

So get realistic, set up a budget and empty your bank account into an FD. Congratulations, you only have a SMALL amount of money left for decorations - use that to get inventive and clever. Pull out old newspapers, and get into wealth-from-waste mode.

If you are even smarter, you will quietly set up an alternative savings account WITHOUT a debit card or credit card and squirrel away your Dussehra - Diwali bonus into it. If your husband asks, "Sorry yar, iss bar company mein bonus nahi de rahe hain, kaafi projects mein behind hue and they arent doing that well"

If you are still living with your parents make it a point to save every money gift you get. Take the cash, hide it safely and don't touch it. First opportunity - put it in the bank account (your own, not a shared one)

4. Secure your Jewelry. A pot of desi women are given gold and precipus jewelry during their marriage but this is often sneakily taken away by your mother in law in order to "safeguard it". It is usually in the bank or a locker you do not have access to.

So, this festive season, go FULL on TRADITIONAL. Wear that old saree, and ask mom in law for your jewelry because your extended family etc are mentioning seeing those pieces from your wedding, because they got sentimental. And then sneakily after the festivities, hide them in your own little locker (which you bought beforehand) and quietly head to the bank, and deposit it in a safe deposit box in YOUR name.

Remember, GOLD is one of the most secure available financial assets for a desi woman. But the gold you have is often controlled by your in-laws once you marry over. So make sure you take iy back bit by bit. And when they ask - make excuses like - the clasp is broken, need repairs, mom wants to upgrade it a little etc. And never give it back to your inlaws. Your gold is YOUR legal property. It should not go to your inlaws.

5. Mentally prepare for tough conversations.

Festive seasons are hard on women and they socially slaughter your dignity. Prepare snarky, sarcastic answers or don't hesitate to shut down what comes your way. But since many of you are raised to be docile, remember to anticipate all the tough topics someone will raise to criticize you, think of their personaliry and prepare some snarky answers beforehand. If a relative is asking abiut your marriage, ask them when their son is going to move out or if they're still a financial burden. Ask if their husbands have stopped ogling the maid. Don't be scared of going offensive. These guys are not your friends and won't hesitate to pull you down.

6. Prepare Me time. Make a set of activities, like groceries etc, that that can leave you alone and give you breathing space from the khandaan. Take longer to shop alone and take a break in the neighbourhood park. Use this time to meditate, check in with yourself and your goals and give youraelf a spiritual pat kn the back.

7. Prep an easy menu and donate the remaining. Plan a food menu that is not extensive. Order delicacies if possible, instead of Doing it Yourself. There is no BEST BAHU and BEST WIFE contest to win. Get the load of cooking off your back. If there is food leftover, call an orphanage and send it to them. Do not eat excessively out of guilt. Donate it to those who need it. When the burden of cooking is reduced the guilt of forced eating goes doen and you won't be putting junk in your body.

Remember - you are your own best friend. Festivals will take a lot out of you. They will cause families to get into unnecessary pissing contests and you have to bear the laborous brunt. So safeguard your time and energy.

[poughkeepsies]

We as a society have failed by not giving the dinner scene with Taylor the acknowledgment it deserves in the buddie moments hall of fame and I will now explain why. With 9-1-1, the golden rule is always to view the episodes' themes through the lens of the episode titles - almost every scene, call, and interaction can be traced to some interpretation of the episode title. With 511, it's clear that as the A plot of the episode, Eddie is the outsider looking in and this is also shown in the latter half of the dinner scene with him telling Buck to move on (now that I think about it, they're both outsiders in that scene. Eddie is alienating himself from the 118. Buck is being alienated from Eddie.) But in the first half of the dinner scene, with Taylor, Buck, Eddie, and Christopher around the table, Eddie is clearly not the outsider, Taylor is. What's more, being the outsider is her only role in that scene.

Food has always been a primary love language in 9-1-1, and, this scene being the first time we see Eddie cook a meal, it's clear that the choice to have Buck and Christopher eating it is just another way to highlight the family dynamics that exist between them, a family that is separate from the found family of the 118. Including Taylor in the scene could have been a way to symbolize her integration into the most intimate parts of Buck's life - Buck, Eddie, and Christopher are a package deal and Taylor being a part of that dynamic would narratively show her as on the same level as them (something to point out here - if this was any other show/ship, some would read this the other way around. Taylor is his girlfriend so it would be more significant to Eddie and Christopher's place in Buck's life to show them on the same level as Taylor. But this is 9-1-1 - the scene takes place in Eddie's house and leaves no room for doubt that Taylor is the one being allowed access.) But instead, the deliberate narrative choice was made to make Buck be the one to exclude her from the symbolism of the food. He tells her to eat before coming, presumably as a favor to her so she wouldn't go hungry, and because of this she's left awkwardly swirling her fork on her plate while everyone else digs in.

Which brings me to the main point of why I made this post and the most important most insane most brain-rotting part of this scene: Buck himself didn't eat before coming. He fully expected Eddie's food to taste like garbage and he still went in there and filled up his plate to the brim. He probably heard Eddie's excitement about finally learning how to cook and making an edible meal and steeled himself to shove every last spoonful down his gullet no matter the cost because Eddie wanted to make a meal for him. Because, and I cannot stress this enough, it's not about the food. It's about the act of making the food, making all that effort so your loved ones will eat well. It's about receiving the food and showing your appreciation for the labor of love that went into it. It's about taking care of someone and being taken care of, both of which require a vulnerability that hides nothing. And when that time came, Eddie sat there with a satisfied smile watching his boys eat and tease him, and Buck and Christopher were giddy with their enjoyment of the food and the chance to tease Eddie together. And Taylor sat there awkwardly making dessert jokes.

(the most important thing about the above post is that I came up with none of it and it all came from the beautiful brain of @colonoscopys, who peer-pressured me into making this post instead of her via my innate and all-encompassing desire to give her everything she wants)

[howdoesagrapewrites]

𝙏𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙮𝙘𝙡𝙚

Cw: fluff, poly!fem!reader x Pavitr Prabhakar x Gayatri Singh

Part two: Y/N and Gayatri meet Gwen, Miles and Hobie

>You were Gayatri's best friend

>Have you ever seen those two girls who cannot be separated for the life of them? The ones that do every school project together? The ones that feed each other at lunch while giggling? The ones that are always wearing matching bff necklaces or rings? Ok, those best friends

>And everyone knew you and Gayatri were a package deal, if she made a new friend, they were your friend too, if you made one, it was hers too, if someone gave the other weird vibes, then you would minimize contact with them

>You were attached at the hip since middle school

>You remember the first time you decided to put makeup on, you took your mom's makeup kit and Gayatri used all the knowledge she gathered from 2010's youTube makeup tutorials to apply it on you, you did the same. It looked patchy, you didn't powder, and used awful toned shades, but it was enough for you and for her (every photo belonging to that time period has been purposefully destroyed)

>Your friendship with Gayatri always seemed perfectly normal to you, it was all just girls being girls, admiring her for afar, loving her (platonically!!!111!!!11!!!!) more than anything you've ever known, feeling at home when she hugged you and you could smell her hair, thinking no one else in this world could understand you like she does, getting mad when boys flirted with her (they're not good enough for your friend!!!)

>just girls being girls

>"I'm glad you didn't go out with Akshay, he looks nice, but I heard he's a flirt" Gayatri stated while putting on mascara in the school bathroom, you mindlessly fixed your hair

>There had been a handful of boys who would leave notes in your lockers, or timidly offer to walk one of you home, but most often than not, they were met with rejection, from picky excuses, to the classic "my dad won't let me date"

>It happened a couple times, but the boyfriends wouldn't last more than a week before you simply decided there was no spark, and ran to each other's house to gossip about it

>"I'm giving up on boys, none of them understand me, or treat me that good, they're so weird" Gayatri complained and paused to bring another spoonful of kulfi to her mouth "You make me feel better than any boy anyway, maybe you're my prince charming" she laughed angelically, bright eyes and her lips glossed over with some lipstick and some remains of the frozen treat you were sharing. That happened some time ago, and even though she laughed, she didn't accept anyone else after that, but she was just joking, right?

>You were sure there wasn't a force in the universe that could separate you from your best friend, even her family loved you as one of their own, there was nothing to be done

>Until you locked eyes with a guy that bumped into you in the hallways

>You stared at him and heard him mutter an apology, but you were too busy scanning all his features to register what was happening

>The mystery boy was a transfer student that started going to your class

>His name was Pavitr, and you would sometimes speak to him, he lived closer to you than Gayatri did, so after you got to her house in the walk after school, there was a solid 10 minutes you had alone with Pavitr

>He was so energetic and joyful, you didn't want to admit you liked him, but there was only so much hotness in you cheeks one could attribute to the spring sun in Mumbattan

>Gayatri was friends with him too, he was just as happy go-lucky as he was with you, you liked that he didn't make neither of you feel excluded from conversations or inside jokes, would he be the same way if you two ever got to date?

>The fantasy of dating Pavitr felt weird, incomplete, you couldn't leave your bestie behind like that! Yes, friends get in relationships, but you weren't just friends, you were best friends forever, super extra duper close friends, soulmate friends!

>But your fantasies came crushing down when she told you "Pavitr's so cute, you know? He's so different from the others, I think I like him, like, like-like him"

>Pavitr Prabhakar was off limits now, you shouldn't even look at him now

>You wouldn't throw the most important friendship you've ever had out of the window for a boy, even if that boy was pretty, the prettiest, and he was kind, and funny, and outgoing, and could light up the whole city with a smile

>sucks to be you, I guess

>a few weeks after that, they started dating, and you wanted to be happy for them, you wanted to be SO BADLY HAPPY, but you felt abandoned, jealous, and so sad

>You had to admit an ugly feeling always boiled in your stomach when Gayatri went on a date, or someone was clearly head over heels for her, but that was because they weren't good enough

>But Pavitr was good enough, he was the best guy, the only man you'd ever trust to date your friend, but the feeling remained

>a little less angry and more sad, but still remained

>They were still close to you, invited you to all their dates, that they would call group hangouts, but you could tell were dates

>At first it was fun, but you always lowered your gaze or pretend to do something else when they hugged, or kissed

>After every kiss, they would both exchange a look with you, but then look away and say something to break the ice, by their eyes, you could tell they were ashamed or saddened, maybe they didn't want to leave you behind and pitied you

>So you stopped going out with them when it clearly was a date, only showing up if there was more people, or if you saw them individually

>"wanna go to the movies w us tomorrow? :)" -Gayatri

>"too busy:/ got homework to catch up on" -you

>"dw luv, I can go your to place and help you w it" -Gayatri

>"ur a bad influence, I'll get distracted" -you

>"true" -Gayatri

>No, you didn't have homework, but seeing your crush and you best friend being cheesy was not the weekend plan you were looking forward to

>When you walked next to Pav, you were stiff and quiet instead of your normal self, he was your friend, but it felt so bad when you could hear your heart beating faster for a boy who was taken, taken by your favorite person in the world

>"I hope Gayatri got better from her allergies, I haven't seen her since last week" Pav said, hoping to break the ice

>"Didn't you go to the movies on Saturday?" You questioned

>"Oh, you couldn't go, it's not the same if it's not the three of us" he answered like it was the most natural thing in the world

>Was really your third wheeling so great to them that they cancelled a date because you weren't there?

>You thought about that for weeks, and wondered how many times it happened since you started to avoid them

>Today Gayatri behaved weird, no one else noticed, but you knew her like the back of your hand,

>She told you she needed you to go to her house after school, it was important

>You didn't push the subject, since she clearly wanted to discuss it in privacy

>A million possibilities ran through you head as you walked to her house, you were scared

>When you came into her room, Pavitr was there, why didn't she tell you? You thought it was a rude thing to do, but she was clearly in distress so you tried to not be so quick to judge

> You sat next to her on the bed, and saw how both of them interchanged nervous looks, Gayatri started speaking, not as nervous as her boyfriend, but still

>"I- I got something to tell you, well, I have a- Pavitr has a crush on you"

>"...What?!" You looked so offended right now, A crush? On you? On someone else? When he was dating the prettiest most amazing girl in the world?! If you were dating Gayatri you would never, ever-

>"It's okay! It's not like that, I like you too!" Her voice interrumpted your mental rambling. Ok, this got way more confusing "I knew I loved you, but I didn't want to ruin our friendship, and when I started liking Pavitr I thought it was over, that we'd go back to being friends, but it felt awkward when you weren't around, and it felt like cheating when we spent time alone"

> Pavitr started "Gayatri is really so amazing, and I love her so much, but I love you so much too, and I thought it wasn't right to her, so I wanted to break up, but she had the same issue. I guess the thing we want to say is, would you give us a chance?" He flashed that charming smile to you, and paired with Gayatri's love-filled gaze, you almost melted

>Of course you liked her, you were so oblivious, that explains literally everything you have ever questioned about your dynamic with her, but maybe you were scared too

>"I'd love to" you shyly responded and held their hands

>Maybe not all relationships have just two wheels, maybe tricycles are thrice as fun

[vrisrezis]

Geto x reader angst I’m really not alright (also some gojo x reader too)

based off of Taylor swift right where you left me

Not proof read forgive me for any mistakes I’m too tired to read it myself I made this rlly late

Friends break up, friends get married.

Strangers get born, strangers get buried.

Suguru Getou was now a traitor. Words you never thought you’d ever hear, come from your friends mouth. Gojo wouldn’t even look at you, and honestly it’s the first time you’ve seen him upset at all. You two weren’t the closest, but you were still friends. You were dating his best friend after all, being friends was a must. Suguru and Gojo were a package deal, after all. So to hear of their sudden falling out, you felt sad for the both of them.

In the moment, you felt the need to console him. You didn’t consider your feelings at all. The two were inseparable, the best of friends. You know the two separating is hard for gojo. As he describes his confrontation with suguru, how he just couldn’t kill him, so you hugged and comforted him. Knowing his best friend had betrayed him, you knew he was broken. He felt deep regret for not being there for you in that moment, so he’d pay you back for it in the future by totally spoiling you with his love and care.

Little did you know, that moment of consolation, would be the start of something special between the both of you. It would lead to the start of something entirely new. A new chapter in your lives. It would take many years for either of you to be ready for your newfound relationship, but it would eventually come with getous absence. Time would go on as it would, you’d marry gojo. You’d even have a child.

However, the affections you held for your first love, suguru getou, will always remain. You are reminded of that on December 24th.

Once again, you felt the need to console your current love for being the one to bite the bullet and end suguru’s life himself. After all these years, after all the maturing and aging, you two still cared deeply for that man. But a part of you is just happy it’s over. Even though it hurts, even though it’s unfair, maybe you can both move on. Maybe you can finally be at peace. Even though you never got to say goodbye, this is okay. That’s what you tell yourself. You tell yourself satoru has it worse than you anyway, because he had to be the one to kill him. He was the one that had to find out about his betrayal, about the innocent lives he murdered, he was the one to confront him, lose him, and feel that failure and loss. He’s the one that feels he cannot be vulnerable, because it caused his best friends insanity.

Trends change, rumors fly through new sky

But I’m right where you left me.

But no matter how much changes in this life, he is always on your mind. One way or another, you will never be able to truly move on. Satoru knows that, deep down. He doesn’t say anything about it, cause he doesn’t blame you and he knows you don’t want to acknowledge it. For as much as suguru has done, you loved him for the kind soul he was. You fell in love with the old suguru, and satoru can’t blame you. In a way, he had fallen in love with suguru too.

Neither of you could bring it in you to leave the place he left you both stranded in. In that school that the both of you now teach in.

You’re both reminded of your loss now and again. Getou left satoru behind, and you were left to pick up the pieces. To make him whole again. Getou left you behind too, without a trace. Without even a proper goodbye. You tell yourself, that’s okay. It’s fine. Because he got to say goodbye to satoru. That’s all that matters. He died in peace, he’s gone now. That’s all.

Matches burn after the other

Pages turn and stick to eachother

Wages earned and lesson learned

But I’m right where you left me

“Life goes on.” you tell yourself.

But deep down, you wait for his return. A sign, anything. You miss him, so much. And you, after all these years, still refuse to acknowledge it. So many different times you’ve listened to satoru pour his heart out, and yet you never let out yours. Satoru doesn’t know how to get you to open up about it, because it’s like you want to pretend he didn’t just leave you behind without a word. The betrayal weights so heavy on you, that you refuse it’s existence.

Deep down there’s so much you never told satoru. Your trust had completely left after suguru betrayed you, the man you loved.

Help, I’m still at the restaurant

Still sitting in the corner I haunt

Cross legged in the dim light

They say “what a sad sight”

You often visit the places suguru used to take you. The memories are fond, but the feelings bring you immeasurable grief and dread.

Satoru starts to recognize the places. Suguru used to ask Satoru where to take you out for your first date, your second, third, and so on. Satoru knows that you miss him.

You refuse to talk about it. And satoru can’t help but watch you longingly stare at sugurus favorite ice cream shop you two used to frequent in highschool.

I swear you could hear a hair pin drop

Right when I felt the moment stop

You never told satoru but, suguru did visit you. In fear for his safety, you were silent about it. Because you loved him, even if you felt stupid for doing so, it was undeniable. Despite everything your brain told you, you kept any contact you had with him a complete secret from even satoru. It’s not like you and him did anything too special.

But the first time you saw him again, the silence between you both was deafening. Time felt like it completely stopped, seeing him for the first time, upon learning of everything he had done.

He was the one to break the silence. And confess to the murder of an entire village, including his parents.

Glass shattered on the white cloth

Everybody moved on

You said nothing. You were silent. Getou understands why. He didn’t exactly come here for forgiveness, rather a final goodbye to the person he loved. He doesn’t blame you exactly if you no longer love him.

“I love you.” he says.

You don’t say it back.

That’s the last time you see him.

And that’s when you both had to move on, and start your new lives, without eachother.

I stayed there

Dust collected on my pinned up hair

They expected me to find somewhere

Some perspective, but I sat and stared

After that meeting, you didn’t move for awhile. You didn’t cry, or scream, or anything. You were silent and still.

In fact, you stayed like that for a couple days, losing sleep, losing your appetite too. But satoru was there, he always was, you’ve realized. Unlike suguru, satoru is always there for you.

And yet you refuse to acknowledge getou. You don’t talk about him. You’d rather forget he ever existed. Maybe your life would be better that way.

Right where you left me

You left me, oh, you left me no

You don’t utter a word to satoru.

You bitterly wonder to yourself why he had to leave you, why he had to kill all those people, even his words, his explanation to you, made no sense. This was not the suguru you knew. The suguru you knew wanted to help people, protect them, and saw them as that. People. Not some fucking animals. Some monkeys.

Being in love with a man like that is a cruel joke.

You left me no choice but to stay here forever

You left me, you left me no, oh, you left me no

You left me no choice but to stay here forever

You had tried to keep it all in, and you certainly have. And you would, for many years.

However, despite you bottling everything up, your pain shows in other ways. Such as simply staring off into space, not uttering a word. Recalling your last meeting with suguru, recalling everything you felt in that moment.

Your face doesn’t give anything away, but your clothing suddenly becoming baggier, the circles under your eyes, certainly does.

Satoru can’t get you to snap out of these states, but you are somewhat in reality when he forces you to eat.

You never want to talk about it.

Did you ever hear about the girl who got frozen?

Time went on for everybody else, she won’t know it

You refuse to be stuck in time and think about him any longer.

As much as you hate the idea of suguru having so much power over your life, he ruined it.

You just want to be happy again. You want to be happily in love without remembering of him, without feeling guilt, you want to be as hopelessly in love with satoru as he is with you, you want to be truly happy with him without the both of you thinking about how getou has effected you both.

You push your feelings for suguru further away. But it only makes you worse.

She’s still 23 inside her fantasy

How it was supposed to be

But for as much as you try to push it away, your mind goes back to highschool.

You think about all the memories you had, the time he asked you out, your first date, even the time you two hung out outside of school as friends for the first time. The first time he hugged you, held your hand, kissed you.

There’s no point dwelling on the past.

And yet, you still keep coming back to it.

Did you hear about the girl that lives in delusion?

Break ups happen everyday, you don’t have to lose it

You wonder if you’re crazy, dramatic even, for still missing him. Maybe you’ve gone mad. You feel more miserable than ever. You’ve tried so hard to make a new life for yourself. With satoru, with your newfound child. And you are, you’re happy. But that sadness lingers, it’s always there. He’s always there.

It’s like you stopped trusting people entirely, like you’ve lost your mind completely. Maybe that’s because of suguru.

You feel wrong for not being able to tell satoru everything. About seeing suguru, about lying to him and telling him suguru never said a word to you after leaving.

It’s so hard to let people in.

She’s still 23 inside her fantasy

And you’re sitting in front of me

But suguru was just so easy to let in.

You always had trust issues. But with him, it felt right to trust him, to love him. Unapologetically, wholeheartedly.

You barred your entire soul to this man, he broke down your walls without much effort at all. Something nobody had ever done.

His sweet smile, his adorable laugh, his eyes that pulled you right in. He was home.

At the restaurant, when I was still the one you want

Cross legged in the dim light, everything was just right

For the time you had with suguru was good. This ice cream shop was a place you two went to often. Sat and ate at the table, you’d quietly eat and listen to him talk about anything. Pretend to be mad at him when he lightly teased you for getting such a basic flavor.

Moments like these were special, because it gave you the sense of normalcy you lacked.

You know it was special to him too.

These memories of him used to make you smile. You can’t help but wonder what changed?

I could feel the mascara run

You told me that you met someone

Glass shattered on the white cloth

Everybody moved on

You two happened to meet, one more time, per his request.

“To catch up” as he worded it. You stupidly said yes, because you missed him. You wondered if he missed you too. It was weirdly casual, and maybe back then you would’ve been mad at him for the audacity of him to act like nothing happened, but you loved him too much to care.

It was only then did you realize how much he had changed these last couple years. He had children. He was a father. He had a life. And you were still caught up on him. You missed him, so much. Did he even miss you at all? He did leave you after all. If he really loved you, he would’ve stayed.

You kept things civil with him. Pushing down everything you ever felt. It was what you excelled at. You weren’t as silent with him this time, which made him a bit more pleased that he could have a conversation with you. A part of him couldn’t stay away from you, despite how things ended and despite how he promised himself he wouldn’t be weak and see you again.

In his mind, you had moved on. You had a child, you were dating satoru, fucking satoru gojo. The rage he felt, he pushed down. Only for you. Only so you didn’t have to watch him seething with jealousy. Only so you didn’t have to love him even less.

You both have new lives now. That was something you both accepted that day.

Help, I’m still at the restaurant

Still sitting in a corner I haunt

Cross legged in the dim light

They say “what a sad sight”

“Hey..” satoru says softly, finally grabbing your attention.

You look away from the ice cream shop, but gojo just smiles sadly at you.

You let out a sigh, you’re a terrible partner. “I’m sorry..” you say, “this is supposed to be our date.”

“It’s okay.” Satoru says, uncharacteristically soft with you, “I get it, yknow? We’ll take it slow, okay?”

You nod slowly, “okay.” you say, and it’s nothing more than that. Cause he knows you don’t want to talk to him about it. You never do. And he respects that. He understands.

I stayed there

Dust collected on my pinned up hair

You continue to stare, pulled back into your trance for a moment, before you eventually try to continue your date with satoru. You’re distracted throughout the date, and he knows it.

But it’s okay, he understands. Everyone is dealing with losing getou differently, even now.

He allows your silence and he allows you to think about whatever it is. Because this doesn’t happen too often, because he loves you. Because you were always there for him when he cried in your chest about suguru. Because he knows that it’ll be okay. You’ll be okay. You just need some time.

I’m sure that you got a wife out there

Kids and Christmas, but I’m unaware

Cause I’m right where

If he has kids, does he have a husband too? A wife? Wasn’t that what you were supposed to be? Supposed to have? Wasn’t that not meant for you?

He has moved on from you so quickly. You still mourn him. Is this really what you’ve become?

I cause no harm, mind my business

If our love died young, I can’t bear witness

And it’s been so long

But if you ever think you’ve got it wrong

In the end, for as much as you try to deny it. Suguru has your heart. You will always be there for him. Even if he leaves you, even if he moves on like you never mattered, even if he kills all the people in the world, even if you’ve found somebody new. Even when you both live separate lives and even when you both have children of your own. Even when he’s gone and out of this world for good.

And even when he comes back, seals away your husband, and haunts you once more.

You love him endlessly.

I’m right where you left me

You left me no, oh, you left me no

You left me no choice but to stay here forever

Even when you’re the one that has to kill him this time around, finish him off, even if it’s not really him. You do it, because there’s no way you let satoru do it again. Because for as much as you love suguru, you love satoru too.

And then, it’s over.

He’s on his dying breath, but you see him. The real him. He speaks. You can’t help but notice he’s beautiful even when he’s dying.

For the first time ever, since he left, the realization sets in. He will die, for real this time. He will leave your life, once and for all.

“Stay..?” he says, no other words needed to be spoken. Cause he already knew everything you ever thought or felt. Because he always does so effortlessly. He sees right through every wall you’ve ever built. Something your husbands six eyes simply cannot do.

And you see him for who he is, in turn. You see how sorry he is, not sorry for what he did, but that he hurt you, that he left you. He’s sorry he couldn’t be good for you.

You left me

You left me no, oh, you left me no

You left me no choice but to stay here forever

You’ve pushed away every feeling you’ve ever had for suguru for so long.

It’s the first time you allow yourself to truly cry over him.

“I’d stay with you forever, suguru.” you admit, the tears finally leave your eyes, it feels good to finally let it all go. But it’s bittersweet. Because in the end only suguru can get you to truly be vulnerable. Because even after everything he’s done. He has your love. He has your trust. You give into him wholly, and unapologetically.

You have come to the understanding that you will miss suguru deeply, but you will finally be able to move on. You’ll live your life with satoru, with your daughter kido. You’ll be happy, you won’t feel guilt, you won’t be constantly reminded of your loss. You’ll even learn to open up to satoru finally, after all these years. Things will be okay.

But for now, you’re with suguru. Even if he will leave you, again. You’ll always be there for him, no matter how many times he leaves you in the dust.

[honeybeezgobzzzzz]

𓅨 An Innocent Apple

An Innocent Apple: The dark version of ‘An Offered Apple’.  

Warnings: Clueless, Oblivious & Innocent!Reader, Dark!Morpheus, Nudity, Peril, Morpheus Purposefully Puts Reader in Dangerous Situations, Manipulation, Mind Fuckery, Blood, Terrified Reader. 

To Note: DARK!Morpheus/Dream x Librarian!FemaleReader.

Word Count: ~12.4k

An Offered Apple | Masterlist | An Accepted Apple

You had been a mortal who had argued with Death over your end of life. But unlike the billions of others before you, you hadn’t wanted Death to take you simply because you refused to leave your beloved library and books. So Death made a deal with you, and packaged you and your immortal life, up, and sent you to her brother. Surely you would be endlessly satisfied with the great library of The Dreaming and its constantly expanding shelves. But in the end, whether or not you were satisfied with your new life didn’t matter, because Lord Dream, the Lord, and King of your new home, had become quite infatuated with you the moment he laid eyes on you. Of course, you didn’t know that, you were actually quite oblivious to his lurking shadows… but that meant he could spin you up in his web until you could only turn to him. 

You were currently tabbing through several books Lucienne needed shelving, looking at the spines and separating them by the first letter of the last names. Lucienne was incredibly strict about shelving the books in their proper spots, but that was one of your strong suits as you thrived with strict library order. This grand library was paradise for you. Picking up the stack of last names that started with R, you ventured into the aisles and started tucking the books away in their respective places. Two went near each other, but you had to have the library twist and bend to get to the other end of the R section. You were returning to the stacks of organized stories when Lucienne came rushing into the little office area. 

“Lucienne?” You queried, frowning at the look of stress on her face. She came to a stop in front of your sorted stacks and let out a deep sigh. 

“Lord Morpheus has asked me to look into a complication regarding the Ocean of Dreams but he is also in the middle of scouring certain books of dreams…” She stated tersely. “I am sure he has forgotten that I cannot do two things at once and since you are not equipped to deal with the waters of dreams, you shall have to deliver the books he needs yourself.” Lucienne wanted you to deliver some books to the King? Surely you weren’t ready for the prestige of that measure…

“Ah, Lucienne, I don’t think I’m qualified to do so…” You meekly responded, eyeing the exit of the library. “I mean, I don’t even know him. Surely you’d rather have someone who is familiar with the king and who he trusts deliver his research materials?” Lucienne gave you a short look before grabbing a piece of parchment and scribbling on it. Then she handed it to you. 

“Lord Morpheus has ensured that I am much too busy to deliver the books myself and you are the only one who can replace me.” She stated firmly, clearly not mad at you… but entirely short with Lord Dream. “You will be fine, Y/N, you only need to pull the books and deliver them, and then ask if he requires any more books.” You nod in understanding but are still confused that you, a lowly and very much new, librarian, would be trusted with this task. That wasn’t to say you weren’t good at being a librarian… you were actually a damn good one!… But things had been run a certain way in The Dreaming for eons, had they not? Lucienne striding off to do whatever Lord Morpheus had asked of her, left you with little choice. 

You looked down at the written list, Lucienne’s handwriting was very easy to read and looking closely at the titles, you quickly figured out where the books you needed were. So diving into the aisles, you went down the list of titles, one by one, picking the books out and tucking them underneath your arm. Once you had five books in your arms, you set out for the throne room. As you walked, you couldn’t help but gawk at the palace you spent so much time in, yet had never actually explored. It was resplendent, like nothing you had ever seen before. You didn’t quite understand how the halls and rooms stayed so bright during the night when the only lighting-like fixtures were glowing orbs set in light fixtures. Did Lord Dream actively control them throughout the day and night? Or were they made to be on a timed schedule? It hurt your brain to think hard about it so you shook your head and paid attention to where you were going. 

Walking down a hall, you were taken by a long line of stained glass windows that seemed to shift between different scenes. It was a living wall of glass. You really needed to get out of the library more often because there was so much you didn’t know about the palace and the realm. Who knew what you were missing? Readjusting the books in your grasp, you looked forwards at the end of the hall and saw Mervyn tinkering with one of the orbs in a sconce. You walked over to him. 

“Hello Mr. Mervyn,” You softly greeted the pumpkin-headed janitor. He turned in place, his usually grumpy-looking face carved on his pumpkin features. Mervyn grunted at me. 

“Ya know I told ya to call me, Merv… right? I ain’t nobility and ‘m pretty sure that you’re in a higher position than me.” Mervyn grumbled, swinging the wrench in his hand around. You didn’t understand his words, surely Mervyn was higher in the palace hierarchy given his seniority and long-term residence… but you weren’t going to argue with him. You looked at the broken-apart sconce. 

“What are you fixing?” You asked, your head tilting to the side in curiosity. “I can’t seem to wrap my head around how those lights work.” Mervyn looked up at the deconstructed sconce. 

“The piece of it that controls the illumination fell out of sync with the master orb,” Mervyn grunted, gesturing to a more mechanical-looking part of the sconce. He then waved the wrench in a circle. “All of the lights in the main halls are controlled by a master orb that is set up to be in time with the natural light of The Dreaming. I’m sure you’ve seen the ones in the library change?” You nod, slowly getting a better understanding. 

“Yes, but they have a switch, Lucienne showed me on my first day.” You pointed out. Mervyn’s pumpkin head bobbed. 

“The lights in the library are manually controlled by the switch since it’s always changing, and depending on the section yer in, will brighten or dim. You and Lucienne are the only ones in there daily and the whole place don’t need to be lit up all the time.” You blinked and furrowed your eyebrows. 

“That’s surprisingly efficient and energy conscious.” You murmured. “Oh, pardon me, I didn’t mean to distract you from your job, Mr. Mervyn.” You then say. You heft up the books you held. “I need to deliver these to Lord Dream. Have a good day!” As you walked off, Mervyn called after you. 

“It’s Merv!” You giggled to yourself as you continued on your way. Marching the rest of the way to the throne room, you paused for a moment at the grand archway, before steeling yourself and moving forwards. The throne room was intimidatingly large with cathedral ceilings that shimmered and changed periodically. As you walked along, you couldn’t help the wonder that bloomed on your face and sparkled in your eyes. The library was extraordinary but the throne room was bewitching and bewitched you were. At least you were until little clicks on the smooth marble floor drew your attention. You looked down and saw Lord Dream’s raven, Matthew. 

“Hello, you must be the Matthew I’ve heard all about.” You said cheerfully, looking down into black eyes with a warm smile. 

“And you must be Y/N!” The raven replied with a flutter of his wings. “I’ve heard all about you, what brings you by?” You held up the books in your arms. 

“Book delivery, Lucienne was supposed to do it but another task concerning the Ocean of Dreams came up and she was unable.” You spoke with a small shrug. “Granted I have no idea what I am doing… I’m just a librarian. Surely Lucienne would be better equipped at attending to Lord Dream’s needs, I’m a nobody to him.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” Matthew returned, cocking his head to the side. “… he’s kind of obsessed with you…” You didn’t quite catch what Matthew said. 

“Pardon?” Matthew scrambled in place to correct himself. 

“Morpheus has been wanting to meet you!” He stated loudly. “You know, since you’ve never officially met… doesn’t want to seem like a bad lord and all…” Your face scrunched and you shook your head. 

“Of course, he isn’t, he’s busy is he not?” You said, patting the books in hand. “It was lovely meeting you, Matthew, but I better deliver these books to Lord Dream and get out of his way.” It was then that you felt intense eyesight on you, and raising your own, you were met with the silver blue eyes of Lord Dream himself, stars sparkled in the depths of his irises. You felt a shiver of unease run down your spine, but that was a silly feeling. There was absolutely nothing for you to fear from Lord Dream. He, after all, was responsible for your new life and home. So you plastered a smile on your face and marched yourself up to him… well perhaps not marched, but you made your way to him with conviction. “Apologies, Lord Dream, but Lucienne was unable to make the delivery herself due to a sudden situation so she sent me instead.”

“There is no need to apologize, Y/N,” Morpheus spoke to you, his eyes finally taking in your entire being in the light, in front of him. He had only ever seen your ethereal being from the shadows, he had caught lingering glimpses and lurking views, but never when you were gazing at him with your striking eyes. Immortality suited you, it suited you well. “I’m afraid that a complication within the Dreaming waters requires immediate assessment and I have forced Lucienne’s hand. I am at fault.”

“No, you’re not!” You blurted out before you even thought about it, his eyebrow rose and he smile. Then you realized what you did and flushed, clutching the books closer to your body in embarrassment. “I— I mean to say, Lord Dream, you are surely busy and certain things take precedence, do they not? If I can be of help to you then I will gladly bring you books. It’s my job as a librarian, well, your librarian, Lord Dream. It’s the least I can do after everything you’ve done for me.”

“I hardly believe opening my library to you is deserving of your loyalty, Y/N.” Morpheus teased you gently, enjoying the way you flushed and glowed beneath his gaze. You looked heavenly. Morpheus rose from his seat on the stairs to his throne and slowly descended them, his eyes never leaving yours. Your breath hitched in your throat at realizing just how beautiful Dream of the Endless was. When Morpheus came to a gentle stop in front of you, he stared down into your eyes like he was trying to stare into your soul. “I am very appreciative that you took the time to bring me these books, Y/N, thank you.” 

As you offered the stack of five leather-bound books to him, he retained his gaze in yours as his fingers ever so gently brushed against yours in Morpheus’s retrieval of the books. His touch was warm against your fingers, comforting, very human-like. You let him take the books from your hands. 

“I do not know what I would do without my librarians,” Morpheus added, his gaze now lingering on you far longer than socially necessary or acceptable… but you were clueless and clearly more worried about committing a faux pas in front of your king. A smirk flashed across Morpheus’s face when your eyes dropped to the marble floor. 

“Do you need anything else, Lord Dream?” Your angelic voice softly asked, your eyes now drifting to the inner lining of the long coat he wore to stare at the stars glimmering and glowing within the soft material.

“I should like for my librarian to address me by my name,” At Morpheus's soft call which you almost felt against your hair, you lifted your eyes to his in question. He was looming over you, but not threatening, no, his star-blue eyes stared down into yours with gentle insistence. But you couldn’t possibly be so informal with a king. 

“But Lord Dream, I am—“ He lifted a finger and pressed it against your lips while shushing your protests. 

“I should like you to address me by my name,” He repeated, a little more forceful this time, but still just as gentle and soft. You nodded at him obediently. 

“Okay, Lord— Morpheus,” You answered, entirely missing the brief shudder that went through the Endless in question. His name on your lips was ecstasy. “I’ll try, but I can’t promise that I’ll get it right away. I— you are my boss and you deserve all the respect in the realm. I also don’t think Lucienne would approve…” Morpheus’s lips twitched in mirth. 

“You fear Lucienne?” You scowled at him as he tenderly shifted his finger along your cheek to tuck a section of your hair that had fallen from its updo, behind your ear.

“I know how she is when she’s not happy,” You replied, your nose scrunching in distastes. “She puts all of the strict librarians I knew to shame!” Morpheus chuckled at your facial expression. 

“Yes, I do believe she does, and for your earlier question, no, I require nothing further from you, Y/N,” Morpheus told you, wishing that he could take you right there and now, and show you all the love and devotion that had been festering beneath his skin since you had arrived in his realm doe-eyed and lost. But he didn’t want you to spook, so he was going to carefully cultivate his relationship with you until all you could rely on, was him. You would come to him, rather than him go to you. Morpheus was willing to be as patient as he needed to make sure that you ended as his. 

Matthew was in a pickle. He liked you, really liked you actually. You were incredibly nice, extremely helpful, and knowledgeable when navigating the library, and your conversations about the Waking World always put a fire underneath Matthew’s wings. You were someone he could relate to… which is why he was in a pickle in the first place. Morpheus wanted him to learn everything there was to know about you, specifically, your likes, dislikes, and favorites. Spying on you on the orders of his master seemed entirely wrong… but Matthew knew that to go against Morpheus would lead him to dire consequences. Surely the Dream Lord’s obsession with you meant that he would never intentionally cause you bodily harm, but Matthew was unsure of what Morpheus’s long-term plans for you were. 

Letting out a sigh, Matthew swooped into the library and went in search of you. Either you were shelving books, cataloging new ones, or reading, all places were centered around the heart of the library. You were bent over one of the library tables, pen in hand while scribbling furiously on a piece of parchment. Matthew coasted over to the table and landed, hopping several times so he was closer to you. 

“Hi Y/N!” Matthew chirped happily, looking at you with kind black eyes you would expect no deception from. The raven was already feeling bad and he hadn’t even asked you anything yet! Morpheus, ever-present in the back of his mind, gave Matthew a mental push, reminding the raven of his purpose of being there. 

“Hello Matthew,” You greeted with a wide smile, your eyes not matching your exuberant smile. “How have you been?” Matthew cocked his head from side to side. 

“You look like you haven’t gotten a wink of sleep in the last week, Y/N!” Matthew exclaimed as he felt a ripple of displeasure from Morpheus. You better have a good reason for why you were in this state or Morpheus was not going to be happy. You let out a tired chuckle. 

“We got in a batch of books by an author I’ve been following for years…” You explained. “I’ve been spending all of my off time reading.” Extreme disapproval rushed through Matthew so fast that the raven’s feathers ruffled and he hopped several paces.

“Y/N! Just because you’re immortal now doesn’t mean you can skip out on sleeping!” Matthew scolded you. You stuck your tongue out at the bird. 

“You’re not my dad, Matthew,” You returned in a teasing quip, your tired eyes crinkling at the corners. “I’m not apologizing, I’ve been waiting months for those books. Now I’m just catching up on work, still gotta catalog and shelve the other books.” 

“Would it be too much to ask you to take a break with me, even if it is just for five or ten minutes?” Matthew broached, hoping that he could at least feel better about badgering you to get answers for Morpheus, by getting you to take a break. “Do it for this old man?”

You snorted at him, but set down the pen in your hand and eyed the pleading raven. 

“You’re not old, Matthew, but I will humor you.” You told the raven, much to his relief. Matthew hopped closer to you. 

“Great! So, I was wondering, since you are the only one here in The Dreaming that really understands what our old world was like… do you want to talk? Because we both no one around here knows what a Twinkie is or has ever tried a hot dog…” You snorted loudly, your face screwing up in disgust. 

“Twinkies are gross Matthew. They are oil-soaked sponges that are like 100% sugar!” Matthew let out a small cackle.

“And hot dogs!?” You shrugged in indifferences. 

“They're good when they’re good, but bad when they’re bad.” You made another face. “Trust me, the school lunch hot dogs I had were terrible. I take it you like hot dogs?”

“Do I like hot dogs? Fuck yes, I like hot dogs, no, I love hot dogs!” Matthew jabbered away. Matthew. He hopped to attention at Morpheus’s sharp call. Right, he was supposed to be asking you about what you liked, not blabbering about hot dogs. “So I don’t want to talk your ear off about hot dogs, what are your favorites? Because with the way you love books, I highly doubt that you eat.” 

“I do too eat, Matthew,” You stated, rolling your eyes and propping your chin up on the table. “Like my favorite drink right now is this tea blend my neighbor introduced me to. It’s made from tea leaves found here in The Dreaming and tastes like nothing I’ve had before… and there’s this little bakery in the main square that has the best pastries.” You sighed at the thought of the cinnamon rolls at the bakery. “The problem is that I usually end up working when my favorite pastry is ready and miss out, my neighbor occasionally grabs some for me but I always feel bad for making them go out of their way.”

“Oh really? What is it? Is it a Danish or a croissant?” Matthew questioned, fully at attention now. You shook your head as you flushed lightly. 

“No, it’s their cinnamon rolls,” You sighed again, mouth nearly watering at the thought of them. “Best damn rolls I’ve ever tasted…” You hoped you hadn't started drooling right there. 

“Okay, so you're gonna probably start drooling by the look on your face so let’s talk about something else. You got a favorite flower? My daughter was obsessed with sunflowers when she was little.” Matthew said, his head moving to the side. “She convinced her mom and me to paint her room this bright yellow, even gave us the puppy dog eyes about getting a sunflower bedspread.” You giggled at Matthew’s words. 

“My favorite is probably daisies and coneflowers, but I love all of them,” You told him. “They’re so special and when you receive them as a gift, they always manage to brighten up a space.” The conversation continued, you and Matthew exchanging your likes and dislikes, with you doing a lot of talking because Matthew was a bird that never shut up and asked a hundred questions. It was nice to talk to him about your old world. 

It was weeks later since the talk you had with Matthew. You had nearly forgotten it had ever happened you were so busy between reading your favorite books and performing your duties as a librarian. At the moment you were doing some light reading since you had nothing to do and Lucienne had disappeared nearly an hour ago. You think she had been muttering something about an auxiliary library on the other side of the palace… but didn’t know what that meant. The only library in the palace was this one, was it not? Either way, Lucienne had disappeared and you had no idea where she was at this point, leaving you to man the library by yourself until she got back. You had no idea when that would be. You were in the middle of a passage when you heard Lord Morpheus’s voice breaking the silence of the library. 

“Lucienne?” You perked up at his voice and lifted your eyes from the book as the Endless himself appeared. His eyes met yours and you gracefully rose from your spot at the table. 

“My lord,” You greeted softly. “I’m afraid Lucienne left to attend to an urgent matter and I am unsure of when she will return, is there anything I can help you with?” Everything had gone exactly as Morpheus had wanted, Lucienne was out on his behest which left you all alone to man the library. It meant that he could time alone with you, precious little you that seemed to be oblivious to him. That didn’t matter to Morpheus, he loved that you were so absorbed in your books, oblivious to any and all approaches save for his. It was how he wanted it. 

“I was hoping to ascertain Lucienne’s help in researching the past incidents of vortexes, but if she is not here…” Morpheus started. “I do not wish to interrupt your reading, I know how much you love it.”

You were immediately waving him off with a small smile.

“Nonsense, my lord, I am a librarian and couldn’t call myself one if I was unable to assist you in your research needs. While I am no Lucienne, I do think I can provide you with some assistance.” You responded brightly, your eyes sparkling with eagerness. Morpheus all but ate up your enthusiasm to help. 

“I would be much appreciative if you would, Y/N,” Morpheus smoothly said, his head tilting to the side. “I believe the books should be under the V section, but I do not believe that are by the same cataloging system as the regular books.” You blinked and tilted your head to the side, your eyes going fuzzy for a moment… then your smile was back. 

“Found them, follow me!” You stated before diving into the nearest aisle. Morpheus quickly moved to follow, his eyes watching as you moved through the aisles of his library as if you had been doing so just as long as Lucienne had. You weaved in and out of the aisles, your head swiveling as your eyes tracked the gold-inscribed labels on the dark shelves. “Vortex… vortex… vortex..” You found the shelf and reached for the wooden rolling ladder. The shelf that held the books was higher than either of you could reach. “Here we are!” You looked back at Morpheus. “All the books the library has are on this shelf, are you looking for any in particular?” 

“Volumes three, seven, and eight,” Morpheus told you, his eyes watching every minuscule moment you made as you climbed up the steep ladder and reached for the tomes in question. You pulled eight first, since it was nearest to you, and then seven. The tomes were considerably heavy so you twisted on the ladder and offered them to Morpheus, who was watching you like a hawk. Morpheus took the tomes and you turned back, reaching for the last one, Volume One. Just as you were stretching to tug the old book from its place, the entire library seemed to tremble and shake, the bookshelf included. You let out a gasp as your balance was thrown off, or more specifically, backward. The tome in your hand fell to the floor as you tumbled backward with a startled yelp. You could have sworn your new life flashed before your eyes as you fell through the air, but rather than landing hard on the marble floor and having the air knocked out of you, your body landed in a pair of arms. 

“Sweet Jesus,” You grunted out, clutching Morpheus’s jacket. “What the hell was that?” You then aired out, looking at Morpheus who gazed at you with intense concern. 

“A problem I am currently looking into,” Morpheus murmured, his arms tightening around your body as the rumbling in the palace slowly faded. You nodded in understanding before looking down at your fingers digging into his jacket. 

“Oh, my apologies, I didn’t realize…” You trailed off as you retracted your nails from him. Then you recognized that you were still very much in his arms. “Oh dear me, I am so sorry Lord Morpheus. I didn’t mean to fall on you I just—“ 

“I was hardly going to let you fall from the ladder, Y/N,” Morpheus responded, cutting off your rambled apologies. Of course, your falling from the ladder wasn’t your fault, it wasn’t like you were controlling the jarring earthquake— Morpheus was. You had just looked far too irresistible not to hold you for however long you would let him, and what better way than to have you fall into his arms? He was going to prove to you that he was your savior, that he was your only savior. 

You had decided to take a walk through the palace gardens before heading home for the day. All day you had seen flower blossoms lazily swirl through the air and you had been dying to see the gardens in which they had come from. So there you were, walking a winding path through meticulously cared-for gardens and marveling at the incredible plants that bloomed with diversity and life. You couldn’t help but stop and lean down to smell some of the fragrant flowers. Was everything in The Dreaming perfect? Most likely… You continued on your way until you passed beneath an archway of clematis. You stopped short. 

In front of you was an explosion of daisies of all types, colors, and varieties. It took your breath away and stood there for a good minute or two, gawking at the flora splendor that was a paradise of your favorite plants. You didn’t know where to look, the bed of spiraling daisies arranged in a rainbow, or the koi pond dotted with heartier bushes that framed the crystal water, or the tall lupin that had been added on one of the beds to give a little variation… It was all so much. You took to following the little cobbled path that wound around this section of the garden in an S curve. 

As you walked, a soft breeze fluttered through the garden, carrying more of those blossom leaves from the cherry blossom garden you knew was on the east side of the palace. A section of your hair was blown into your face and reaching up, you pushed it back behind your ear while looking at the fading sun in the distance. This would make a lovely spot to sit and watch the sunset. You went in search of a bench, finding one not that far from the path in the form of a swinging bench underneath a canopy of wisteria and ivy. Taking a seat on the bench, you slipped your shoes off and brushed your feet over the soft grass with a smile on your lips. This felt so nice, sitting there in the garden while watching the sunset. Then you heard quiet footfalls on the cobble path and turning your head, you saw Morpheus striding your way with his hands behind his back.

“I thought I might find you out here,” He spoke while stepping his way over to you. “You seem to be partial to sunsets.” You smiled and nodded. 

“Love them,” You said in agreement before brushing your hand over the nearby daisies. “But I love daisies more and this garden is an absolute treasure.” As you spoke, you had no idea how much you were stoking Morpheus’s desire for you, nor were you even aware that this entire garden existed solely for you. Your reaction to his gift for you was everything and more to Morpheus and he knew that he was getting closer and closer to spinning you closer and closer to his arms. Once there he would make sure you never left. 

“I’m glad you enjoy the gardens, Mervyn takes great pride in tending to them,” Morpheus responded to you with a slight bow of his chin. Then he glanced at the space next to you and gestured to it with his hand. “May I?” Your eyes sparkled in return. 

“It is your bench, sir,” You teased him, your voice light and refreshing. Morpheus lapped at the bright and effervescent emotions you were giving off like a thirst-starved man. 

“And yet I believe you are the one that it currently cradles, Y/N,” Morpheus replied, his eyes glowing a light silver in happiness. “But if you are feeling so clement.” He took a seat next to you, sitting just close enough that your legs brushed. The bench had been designed as a lovers' bench and offered very little room between two persons sitting side by side. You hardly noticed, or at the very least, didn’t seem bothered by the contact. “May I ask you a question?” Your sun-kissed face turned his way. 

“Of course,” You replied softly. Morpheus’s head tilted to the side in genuine curiosity. 

“Does your job as a librarian ever get monotonous? You are always shelving books, shifting them around, and retrieving and returning them. Do you ever tire of such activities?” That was understanding assessment and questions. You did repeat the same activities day in and day out, to those outside your field it probably did seem monotonous.

“Perhaps it might seem like that,” You said, leaning your head to the side to look at Morpheus with that gentle smile he loved so much. Another breeze blew through the garden, ruffling your hair. “But at the same time, I get to read books whose pages have yet to be turned, whose spines have yet to be broken in, I get to read words that have not graced eyes before mine… there is nothing like it. It’s— very special, something only I get to experience.”

Morpheus, rather than responding, reached up with his hand and brushed his fingers through your hair. You looked up at his fingers to see him pulling one of the delicate cherry blossoms that had been flying around all day, from your hair. Your hand went up, brushing against his as you searched for more blossoms. 

“Do I have any more? This breeze, while feeling wonderful, has been blowing the blossoms around so much I half thought I’d be covered in them by the time I headed home.” You tutted in fake irritation. Clearly, you loved watching the little petals blowing around, he had seen you smiling fondly out the windows plenty of times when he was been watching you. 

“No,” Morpheus affirmed, reluctantly withdrawing his hand from your hair. “I believe it was just this one.” While you went on to talk about recent events, Morpheus weaved the delicate cherry blossom between his fingers, jealous that it had remained in your hair far longer than his fingers. 

You had a late night at the library, catching up on a large number of books that needed to be shelved. It was probably around eleven, maybe even twelve. The moon overhead gave just enough light for you to comfortably walk home. Not that The Dreaming was a dark place to tread through at night. The village had plentiful softly glowing lanterns that illuminated the streets well enough so you weren’t tripping over your feet walking home. Your cottage was on the outskirts of the village, where there was less lighting and more alleys and bends to obscure light, but you had never felt uncomfortable walking home… until tonight. For some reason, you couldn’t help but feel like you were being followed. 

It was absurd. None of the residents in The Dreaming had ever threatened you or even posed a threat, even the Nightmares you had come across were fairly nice. Granted you hadn’t met all of them… but it was silly to be nervous walking home this night. Yet your fight-or-flight instinct was telling you to run. No, not run, it was telling you to bolt to your cottage and lock yourself in it for safety. You felt like you were being hunted. 

Clutching your little messenger bag closer to your side, you picked up your pace, walking fast and eager to get home to put all these silly feelings to rest. Turning down the road that led to the far side of the village where your cottage was, you glanced at the soft street lights… were they getting dimmer? You looked behind you. One of them went black, then the next, and the next, one after another, like a swath of darkness creeping up to you from behind. Your heart jumped in your throat and you could have sworn you saw something move in the looming shadows. Then there was a glimmer of eyes bearing at you from the dark depths. You let out a squeak of fear and bolted forwards, nearly tripping over your own feet in your haste. Something gave chase behind you. 

You knew this part of the village well, but it seemed that wherever you went, darkness followed and it became harder and harder to see. Ducking down alleyways and small slips between buildings, you tried to lose whatever was chasing you, but every time you emerged onto a new street, it was there haunting you from behind with a menacing aura that made your entire body go cold. You were panting out, breathing heavily in your efforts to outrun whatever was currently chasing you. If you could only manage to make a few more blocks of cottages you would be home. Swerving around a corner, you collided with a stack of crates and went tumbling to the ground, your knees and palms taking the brunt of your weight when you landed on the cold stones underfoot. 

You bit down on your lip when your felt your knees and palms open up, dirt and rock digging into your flesh as you started to bleed. The crimson liquid was left behind on the cobbles as you hauled yourself back to your feet. From behind you came a menacing snarl and glittering red eyes glowing from the depths of a cloud of darkness. Clutching your stinging hands to your chest, you lurched back into a run, fleeing from your menacing follower. You turned the corner of the shoemaker, dashing around the corner quick as a sparrow and diving to the left into a slip alley that ran adjacent to the road that your cottage was one. A sense of hopelessness started to seep into your veins when you heard the sounds of claws scraping stones shortly behind you. In your panic, you blindly charged out of the slip alley into a slightly brighter street and all but ran straight into what felt like a solid wall. Had it gotten in front of you!? You jerked backward sharply with a high-pitched scream, your arms flailing in front of you in a pitiful attempt to ward off whatever attack was going to be thrown your way. 

None came. Instead, arms were ceasing your panicked, flailing limbs, trapping them against a body as someone steadied you on your feet. As you heaved for air, your wild eyes connected with midnight blue ones that were tinged with silver. 

“Y/N?” Morpheus spoke, and you flinched and twisted sharply around to look behind you. 

“Something was—“ You cut yourself off, no longer seeing your stalker. In fact, all of the lights were back to normal, illuminating the road nicely and brightly. It was as if you had imagined the entire thing. Morpheus’s arms tightened around you and his hand reached up to turn your chin so you had to look at him once more. 

“Y/N what’s wrong, I could feel your distress.” You blinked at him, working on getting your breathing back under control. 

“I could have— I could have sworn something was following me.” You softly panted out, still trembling from the high of adrenaline. “And the lights, the lights went out and it was dark and I couldn’t see and I—“ Your palm flared in sharp pain from where it was pressed against his chest. You drew it back to look at your torn-up palm with a wince. You had deep gouges in your flesh from where rock and dirt had roughly dug into your skin, your knees weren’t feeling any better… Morpheus dropped your chin and took your wrist in hand, turning your shaking hand in place before releasing your body and doing the same with your other hand. 

“You’ve injured yourself?” He questioned, his blue eyes tinting with silver as he held your hand's palm up beneath the lights of the street. 

“I— I tripped, my knees and my palms took most of my weight.” You stammered out, glancing over your shoulder once more. “But I swear, something was following me!” Morpheus gently stroked your wrist with his thumb, sending soothing emotions into your body until you were less of a rattled state. 

“Never fear, Y/N, I will not let anything happen to you while you are in my presence,” Morpheus promised you faithfully. “If you would let me, I should like to walk you home and attend to your wounds.” You looked down at your oozing wounds and bit your lip from the lingering pain, you were lost in thought once more. “Y/N?” You jerked slightly, your head swiveling around as if you expected something to jump out at you. Then you realized that Morpheus had simply called your name. Looking back up at him, you nodded silently. 

“I— yes, thank you.” Morpheus maintained a grip on your elbow as he gently led you the rest of the way to your cottage. Unlocking it, you welcomed him inside as you pulled off your cloak and removed your messenger bag. 

“It seems that you took quite a tumble,” Morpheus commented as you lifted the skirt of your dress to reveal your torn-up knees. You hadn’t realized just how bad your landing was in that alley until this moment. Before you could start thinking of how to go about cleaning your wounds, Morpheus was picking you up and setting you on your kitchen counter. You only had moments to gawk before he had your right hand in his and was ever so gently brushing his fingers over your wounds. Your fingers twitched as silver light glowed from his touch, and then you gaped as your skin magically wove itself back together. Once healed, you twisted and rotated your hand against his touch, amazed at how easily he had healed your injury. 

“How did you do that?” You asked as Morpheus did the same with your other hand, using the same gentle touch and care as before. 

“It is one of my many abilities within my realm, Y/N,” Morpheus softly replied, looking into your eyes as you watched in amazement as your other hand was completely healed as well. You seemed absolutely taken with the menial ability to heal your wounds as if they had never happened. It was far too easy to please you, but that only made Morpheus’s desire that much more obtainable. Your eyes eventually lifted to his. 

“Can you do my knees as well, Morpheus?” Just hearing you call out his name was enough for Morpheus to be willing to do anything you wished, he would create an entire realm for you if you so asked. You had so much power over him and yet, you were ever so oblivious to his desires and intentions. Morpheus’s lips twitched into a smile. 

“I would never leave my favorite librarian in such a state,” He spoke to you as he sunk on one knee and brushed your skirt upwards to reveal your blood and dirt-ridden knee. You reached down and gathered your skirt, pulling it further up your legs so it wasn’t in his way. Morpheus’s fingers caressed your knee, brushing away the blood, dirt, and rock particles that had lodged in your flesh with a silver touch, leaving behind unblemished skin. You moaned in relief as the sting disappeared from your body. Morpheus let his touch linger on your skin as the last bit of your flesh meshed together to become whole again. Leaning back on your perch, you heaved out a sigh of relief. 

“I could kiss you for that,” You murmured, your eyes closed at the relief of sharp pain. “It feels so much better.” Morpheus rose to his feet with a teasing smirk on his lips. 

“An action such as that I would welcome, Y/N,” You smiled and rolled your eyes, thinking, of course, that he was only teasing you back. He was not. Morpheus took your healed hand in his one more and brushed his fingers over your palm, little sparks of electricity bursting from his touch. “Should you find yourself walking home alone at such as hour, please call upon me for I shall gladly walk you home to ease your fears.” You nodded with a thankful smile. 

You were wandering through the market, buying fresh food in anticipation of Matthew’s birthday. You being you, had learned what Matthew loved and decided to make him dinner and dessert for his birthday, his favorite foods of course. Morpheus was enjoying watching you flitter around the market, so absorbed in your task. You looked so happy and carefree, entirely in your element so to speak. You got along with the residents of The Dreaming ever so well. You really were the perfect one for him. Morpheus had been trailing behind you by several paces when you had caught sight of the berry stall. Your eyes had lit up like the sun and you had nearly tripped over yourself, clumsy you, as usual, to get to the stall to buy several cases of blackberries for Matthew. Morpheus chose this moment to make his presence known. 

“It seems to you have discovered Matthew’s secret love affair,” You didn’t jump in place like you had other times, you were becoming more and more accustomed to him, and turned in place to beam up at Morpheus. 

“Oh, hello Morpheus! Yes, since it’s Matthew’s birthday I thought I’d make him his grandmother's blackberry tart… granted I have no idea how to make a tart and haven’t really baked before, but it’s his birthday so I thought I would try.” Morpheus bowed his head to the side with a smile. 

“I am sure he will greatly appreciate the sentiment, regardless of how it turns out, Y/N,” Morpheus told you, loving the way your smile brightened. You looked down at your basket full of produce and patted it. 

“Well, I am done shopping so that means it is time to try my hand at baking.” You stated, moving in the direction of the road that led to your cottage. Morpheus fell into step beside you. He walked you the rest of the way to your home and as you set your basket down on the kitchen counter, a thought popped into your head. Morpheus had been more than generous to walk you home, so why not give him a little treat? The apples you had bought looked incredibly delicious and surely he would enjoy the fruits of his peoples' labor. So you plucked one from the basket and turned to him. “Before you head off, take this,” You said offering the apple. 

Morpheus has to use all of his control to stop his eyes from blazing nuclear mercury at the innocently offered apple. Happiness burst within his chest at your proposition. This was exactly what he wanted from you, innocent you, and here you were, offering it yourself! Morpheus took the apple from you with reverence and splendor. There was no way you could reject his advances now that you had been the one to propose. 

“Make you sure take care of yourself, I know you’re working hard these days,” You told him in concern, oblivious to the noxious churning of obsessive desire and want that burned within Morpheus. “I don’t want to see anything happen to you.” 

“You have my word, Y/N,” Morpheus told you, holding your apple close to his heart. You were that much closer to him now, your proposal opened so many doors to him, and Morpheus planned on stepping through each one. 

You were sitting in the gardens again, enjoying the last bits of the fading flowers and trying your best not to shiver in place. The weather in The Dreaming had slowly turned seasonal, a fact that you loved, but you had entirely forgotten that when it got cold, you needed your cloak to stay warm. Out of all days you had decided to enjoy the gardens, it was when it was a blustery cold day and your coat was hanging neatly on the door hook at home. So you were basically freezing yourself to an ice cube while trying to enjoy the last bits of the garden you loved so much. At least the leaves turning a myriad of colors was beautiful to look at and reminded you of The Waking World. You shivered in place once more, feeling your teeth rattle. 

“You should have dressed warmer, λατρεία μου, you are trembling.” Morpheus’s voice came from your right and soon enough the man was walking up to you, his long coat flapping in the wind. 

“I didn’t plan on watching the sunset today so I didn’t bring my cloak,” You weakly protested. “And it’s not like I leave the library much, I didn’t see the need.” Morpheus raised an eyebrow at you momentarily before taking a seat next to you. 

“Then perhaps should keep one in the library?” He offered. “You surely spend more time there than in your cottage.” You gave him a half-hearted scowl before shivering again. Morpheus eyed your trembling body, entirely pleased with how cold you were. Another strong gust of wind blew through the garden and you hunched over. 

“Come closer, Y/N, surely you do not need to needlessly shiver and shake in the gales of The Dreaming,” Morpheus spoke up quietly, his voice thick with persuasion and hope as he opened his jacket. You eyed the space next to him and with zero hesitation, scooted over to huddle into his side. He couldn’t help the triumphant smile that spread across his lips as you pressed your body into his side. Morpheus draped the side of his coat around your shoulder so you were covered. Surely he could have taken his coat off and given it to you, it would have been more than enough to keep you warm… but why do that when he could have you pressed against him as you currently were, eagerly seeking out the heat he provided you?

It was late at night, close to the time when you would pack up and head home, but you had a few things that you wished to finish before doing so. So you were bent over a book, pen in hand, scribbling notes down for Lucienne. The tea you had been sipping was long since cold and forgotten next to you and the lights in the library had faded to a low dim. You were halfway through scribbling a note on a passage you had just read when a wall of tiredness hit you like nothing before. You tried to blink rapidly through the overwhelming urge to close your eyes, but you ultimately failed. With your eyelids fluttering close, your head dropped to your arms on the table and you fell asleep. 

From the shadows of the library, Morpheus watched as you, his beloved betrothed, fell fast asleep from where you had been sitting for hours on end. It was clear that, while you were a hard worker and dedicated to your job as a library, you worked a touch too much and needed to properly rest. Clearly, you were unable to regulate your own sleeping schedule, so Morpheus had decided to do it for you. You might not be able to fully take care of yourself… but as your betrothed, it was Morpheus’s job to see to your well-being. So walking over to where you slept peacefully, Morpheus ever so gently gathered your body in his arms and lifted you from your seat. You didn’t wake from the movement, you were trapped within the deep sleep Morpheus had coaxed you into, lost in a world of comforting dreams. With you tucked away in his arms, Morpheus carried you out of the library and to the nice little study, he had had the palace create just for you. He placed you on the couch that sat in front of the crackling fireplace and covered your body with a blanket. You snuggled yourself into the couch, burrowing beneath the blanket before sighing out and falling into a much deeper sleep. 

Pleased that you were fast asleep in a restful slumber within his palace, Morpheus took his seat and settled in, entirely content to watch you sleep. He spent the entire night sitting there, just watching you sleep peacefully, in his palace, where you belonged. The hours ticked by and Morpheus enjoyed watching the dreams that your mind pulled you through, one he found most amusing was that you had dreamed up a library. Did you not already spend enough time in the palace's library? You truly did love books. Morpheus was going to make sure that you loved him more. 

Your lovely idea to collect ice roses from Fiddler’s Green was a nice thought, you wanted to do something nice for those in the palace and the ice roses only bloomed in winter… but at twilight. Hence why you had said it was a nice thought. It wasn’t so nice when you were tromping through half a foot of snow at twilight, freezing your ass off, and wearing clothing not suitable to protect you from the cold that was rapidly setting in. 

“Better find those roses, Lucienne is going to scold me when she finds out that I came out here by myself, at twilight.” The more you thought about it, the more you realized that Lucienne and Morpheus would be angry. Surely if you collected plenty of ice roses and got back home unharmed, they wouldn’t kick up a fuss… right? Besides, this was Fiddler’s Green, there wasn’t anything dangerous here. Right?

You decided to put that thought in the back of your mind as you pushed forward against the snow. Climbing up a small hill, you let out a sigh of relief at the sight of glittering crystal-like roses. This was it. Hefting the basket you had brought with you against your side, you hurried down the hiss towards the roses and withdrew the clippers you had borrowed from your neighbor. You carefully picked your way to a section of the ice roses and knelt in the snow, ignoring the wet cold that soaked into your jeans. You started clipping ice roses and gently placing them in your basket, which came prepared with a damp towel to extend their life. 

Humming underneath your breath, you clipped flower after flower, counting to two dozen before you were satisfied with your clippings. Sitting back on your haunches, you took a few moments to appreciate the beauty of the field of ice roses, before ultimately being chased off by the cold. You clutched your cloak further around your shoulders and got to your feet. With the basket of flowers perched on your hips, you began following your footsteps back toward the village. As you walked, you noticed that it only seemed to get colder and colder, and your breath was combing out in white puffs. You were shivering now and your fingers, which you had covered with some gloves also borrowed from your neighbor, started to go numb. 

“Why did I think this was a good idea?” You moaned under your breath, heading into a section of the forest you had all too cheerfully walked through only hours earlier. Coming upon a downed log that you had stepped over previously, you carefully stepped over it once more, balancing the basket on it as you did so so you didn’t drop any flowers from your basket. You continued on your way, looking forwards at your old footprints, and mindlessly followed them through the rapidly darkening forest. Little clumps of snow had started to fall from the sky and the last thing you needed was to get turned around in the dark and have your foot tracks disappear. At least that’s what you were doing until you spotted a second and third set of footprints, and those footprints weren’t human. You stopped in place and squinted at the animal prints in the snow. It only took you a second or two to realize that they looked an awful lot like that of a dog, or worse… a— Your thoughts were cut off by a howl breaking through the quiet winter night. The basket dropped from your hand and you felt your heart stop in your chest. “Wolf…”

You couldn’t scramble fast enough. Surging forwards, your feet slipped in the snow slightly as you hurled yourself into an awkward, snow-bogged run while your heart tried to beat its way out of your chest. You weren’t paying attention to where you were running, you just had one thought on your mind and that was to flee. In your frightened panic, you lost sight of your old footprints and just randomly charged your way through the darkened forest. You bat away branches and sticks that dug into your skin and tore at your cloak and then were almost strangled when a particularly large branch caught the fluttering fabric of your cloak and refused to let go. You fought against the branch, trying to get your cloak from its clutches when the howls grew closer. 

“F this,” You breathed out, your hand diving your the string of the cloak at your throat. You quickly unraveled the knot and left your cloak behind as you pushed forwards, now colder than ever. Awkwardly running through the snow, dodging more branches, you failed to consider that there might be roots you needed to hop over and proceeded to spectacularly trip on one, sending you flying forwards. You face-planted into the snow and felt frigid snow soak into your clothes. Grunting, you struggled to get to your feet, ending up on your knees first, before using a nearby tree to get yourself to a standing position. You felt soaked and were quickly losing the feeling in your hands and feet. Taking a risky glance behind you, you caught sight of several wolves slinking through the trees behind you. That was more than enough motivation to get your half-numb body moving again. 

It was hard to keep moving, you were feeling drowsy now and your limbs, your numb limbs were struggling to obey your mental commands. You were less running and more lurching. Stumbling, you nearly face-planted a second time slipping on some ice. Your arms cartwheeled and you flailed, your hand smashing against rough bark as you grappled your way to stay on your feet. You could faintly see red staining your hands, but they were so far gone that you couldn’t feel the wounds opening up from your clawed grasp on the bark. At this point you felt like slumping against the tree, closing your eyes, and surrendering to the beckoning abyss of sleep. But yet another terrifying howl pierced the frosted night sky and you remember that you were running for a reason. You staggered forwards once more, too cold to even cry tears of fear at this point. 

Breathing out strained pants, you slipped and slid your way down a nearby bank and clutched your arms to your ice-soaked sweater. You were lost. Clearly. Lost and had a pack of Dream Wolves chasing you for some god-known reason. Which nightmare had decided to tease and taunt you this time? You didn’t have the energy to care. You took one more glance over your shoulder and once again saw wolves moving behind you, they were getting close, so close, and you didn’t have the energy to go any faster. Just as you turned back around, you crashed right into something hard and started falling backward, your numb limbs giving out. 

For a few seconds you thought that perhaps one of the wolves had circled to head you off, but as you shivered and chattered, you realized that your body was now being supported by another. Whoever now held you felt like a furnace, but you were too far gone to move to claw yourself closer. You simply lay limp, struggling to keep your eyes open while you rasped for breath. Eyes fluttered up at softly glowing ones, your blue lips attempted to speak, but all you could get out was a rasping whimper. Morpheus’s face, gentle and soothing to your frayed mind, started fading in and out as he gathered you in his arms. You tried to speak his name, but couldn’t even do that. Soon your eyes grew too heavy to keep open, and you let them stay shut, the cold finally trapping you in its frosty embrace. 

Coming back to consciousness, your mind was slow to register your surroundings. It was still struggling to come back from the depths of hypothermia. Or at least that is what your subconscious knew, you were confused and in pain. You didn’t know where you were, you were having a really hard time opening your eyes, and the blood within your veins felt as it if were on fire. You would have been writhing in place, squirming around to get away from the fiery pain that bit at the corners of your body viciously, if you weren’t trapped against a hot body wrapped around yours. Arms were wrapped around your back, cradling your head against a naked chest. Your own would have been doing the same if they weren’t twitching and shaking with violent jerks against a smooth back. You wanted to claw at your skin because it felt like acid was being dripped onto it. Your entire body writhed as another wave of intense burning charred your nerves. You choked on a whimper. 

“Shh,” The gentle shush caressed your ear as a face nuzzled the crown of your hair. “Forgive me, my beloved, I know it hurts but you need to be warmed up. Your body is much too cold.” You recognized that voice, it was a man’s, but from where? Another acid-filled pain burned through your body, this time eating away at your right thigh. You cried out and sank your left hand into his back with a soft sob. You were hushed more, fingers gently stroking your hair as arms refused to let you writhe and jerk around as you so desperately wanted. In your squirms, you could feel just how much of your skin was pressed against another. You had to be naked, you were naked, for you could feel that life-saving heat of another pressing into your frozen body. Your legs were intertwined with one another, your torso pressed tightly against a strong chest, and your arms draped around sculpted shoulders. Yes, you had not one scrap of clothing on, but you felt so awfully cold that you didn’t even care that you were wrapped up naked in someone else’s arms.

Struggling to open your eyes, you sluggishly managed to crack them open as your head lolled back slightly. Pale skin graced your vision, skin that was pale as the moon itself. Who had skin this alabaster white? Morpheus. The hand in your hair slipped down until hot fingers were gently caressing your face, you leaned your head back further to see Morpheus’s eyes gazing down into yours. You harshly bit down on another whimper of pain as your eyes watered with tears. Your cold lips struggled to form words. 

“…w-wolves…” You rasped out, your teeth chattering. “Roses, w-wanted to b-bring…” Morpheus brushed his thumb over your trembling lips and tightened his hold on your shaking body. 

“You are safe now,” Morpheus whispered at you, his fingers tilting your chin backward and his face leaning down to press close to yours. You were cocooned in an envelope of heat and yet your shivers and trembles were relentless. A few tears broke free of your lashes and ran blazing trails down your cold cheek. Morpheus wiped them away. “Do not fraught yourself, Y/N, everything will be well now. I promise.” You grimaced and bit down on your lip hard enough to draw blood as another acidic burn ripped at your muscles. Back arching, you went taught in his arms and stifled more whimpers. Morpheus was prepared for your continued wracks of pain, holding you ever so tightly and keeping your naked body pressed against his, no matter how much you tried to squirm. He was going to breathe life back into your frozen body with his touch, but first, he had to make sure your mind was cleared of fear and pain. 

Morpheus held your chin so your pained eyes gazed into his and let his magic flow, wrapping around you, winding its way into your mind and memories. Your eyes glowed silver as Morpheus tugged and pulled at your mind and thoughts until he was satisfied that you would no longer have anything to fear. You went rigid in his arms as his magic slowly slipped from you, then your eyelids fluttered shut once more and you went limp. Morpheus cradled you closer, nuzzling his face into your hair with an appeased hum. You were finally his.

You woke up with the echoes of a headache and felt a touch on the cold side. Opening your eyes, you stared at your silken bedsheets and tried to recall the last memory you had before going to bed. You couldn’t. Rolling onto your back, you stared at the ribbons of fabric that were draped across the top of your four-poster bed and hugged your bedsheets closer to your naked body. Naked? Looking down, you stared in puzzlement at yourself. You didn’t sleep naked, never had, so why were you naked now? That thought lingered in your mind as two women fluttered into the room and busied themselves. One drew back the draped from the line of windows at the opposite end of your bed and the other dove into a dresser. Neither of the two seemed to realize you were awake until the one that was tying back the drapes, turned around. 

“Oh! My lady, you are awake?” She twittered. The name Emeline repeated in your head, that was her name. “After Lord Morpheus brought you back early this morning we expected you to spend the day sleeping in recovery.” Recovery? From what? Your apparent confusion must have been clear on your face because the woman’s eyebrows drew together. “You… do remember what happened, do you not?” 

“Er, not exactly?” You spoke out hesitantly, looking around. Everything seemed familiar. You knew it was yours, this room was yours, the handmaidens were yours, even the bed… but at the same time, it was also foreign and new. “I— I am afraid I’m a little confused and think I might have forgotten. How did I get here?” 

“Lord Morpheus brought you back after you failed to return from Fiddler’s Green.” The other handmaiden, you think her name is Megara, a Grecian woman who had lived for thousands of years, said. More confusion filled you, what were you doing in Fiddler’s Green?

“You went to pick ice roses,” Emeline piped up, gesturing to a vase on a table in front of the large windows. The roses were beautiful, the petals almost crystal clear as they glimmered beneath the morning sun. 

You did remember going to pick ice roses, but it got foggy after that. 

“I think— I think I got lost?” You echoed in further confusion. “I’m… not really sure what happened, I remember picking them and it being cold, but I don’t remember coming back.” Emeline bobbed her head, her ebony curls bouncing as she did so. 

“That’s because you were out cold, my lady, passed out from hypothermia… if the king hadn’t gone out to fetch you, I don’t know what would have happened to you!” So that’s why you were so cold, in your attempt to get those pretty flowers, you had gotten hypothermia and passed out. How silly of you. 

“Well that was entirely silly of me,” You softly chuckled, still very much confused but understanding how you had gotten so cold. Faint memories of your body feeling like acid as your muscles warmed back up flickered through your mind. Then the infinitely warm embrace of Morpheus wrapped around you, your limbs entangled with him as he held you while you cried from the pain. Your head started hurting and reaching up, you pressed your hand to your temple with a wince. 

“Oh to have a betrothed as dedicated to me as Lord Morpheus is to you,” Megara sighed. “His devotion and love is eternal.” You blinked in even more confusion, you and Morpheus were betrothed? You didn’t remember him asking you to marry him, you didn’t even remember dating him. But for some reason, you didn’t remember a lot of things. Looking down at your left hand, you saw a ring on your ring finger. It was a silver band in the shape of a vine wrapping around your finger. There was a medium-sized stone mounted in the middle, sparkling with the color of a galaxy, and little white gemstones were intermittently throughout the ring band itself. It even had little silver daisies carved into it. Clearly, Morpheus knew you quite well and had meticulously thought of every little detail. You might not remember much about your intimate relationship with him, but it was clear that he loved you very much. 

“Would you like to get dressed, my lady?” Emeline asked. “Surely your body could do with some movement.” You agreed, the movement would surely warm you up further and your joints felt in need of exercise. The pair helped to dress your still slightly shivering body and made sure to have you don a thick robe to keep you plenty warm. You didn’t know quite what to do, so you took to wandering around the palace, trying to jog your spotty memory. Surely you could remember something about dating Morpheus. One didn’t just get engaged to an Endless on a whim and Morpheus certainly didn’t do anything without direct thought and reason. You were wandering the palace, looking at the stained glass and statues when you absentmindedly walked into the throne room. 

“Y/N?” You blinked at the call of your name and dropped your eyes from the swirling glass overhead to see Lucienne staring at you in concern. 

“Oh, hello Lucienne,” You greeted with a small smile, you wrapped your robe further around your body. Lucienne eyed you up and down, concern clear on her face. 

“Are you feeling well?” She prompted, shrewdly looking at you as if checking you for further injury. 

“I feel fine,” You happily told her. “Well I still feel a little cold, but Emeline and Megara said that I had hypothermia so that’s kind of expected.” Lucienne still looked irked, for some reason, and it seemed that she was working to hold her tongue. 

In fact, she was. Lucienne wasn’t oblivious, not like you, and she knew full well how obsessed Morpheus was with you. Obsessed enough to play tricks on your mind, stalk you from the shadows, and cause bodily harm it seemed, and yet, you were still oblivious little you, happily smiling away in blissful ignorance. At the very least Lucienne could take comfort in knowing that Morpheus would never allow further harm to come to you now that you were officially his. She wondered what you would think if you ever learned the truth behind your recent mishaps… but knowing Morpheus best, Lucienne knew that you would never find out the truth. The only comfort Lucienne could take was that Morpheus was so devoted to you that he would rather die than see anything happen to you, so you would be well taken care of, even if that meant you were trapped in a gilded prison…. and had no idea that it was a prison in the first place. 

“I see,” Lucienne commented quietly, working to hide the sadness she felt deep within her heart. Any further words she wished to speak quickly died on her tongue when Morpheus himself came striding over. 

“Y/N,” Morpheus spoke, his eyes soaking in the sight of you all wrapped up in the clothes specially made for you, and your little hands clutching the hand-stitched robe you wore around your shoulders. The ring on your hand glimmered from the lights in the room. “Should you be up, my dream?” Your nose wrinkled at him in response and you let out a small huff. 

“I wasn’t going to stay in bed all day, Morpheus,” You told him, your lip curling in a pout in a way he found most adorable. “Besides, I need to get my body moving to warm up. The best way to do that is to move, walking around isn’t that hard and won’t do me any harm.” Morpheus’s eyebrow rose as he looked at you up and down. His eyes shifted momentarily to Lucienne was watching you carefully, her eyes met his, and a silent message passed between Morpheus and her. It was a clear dismissal. Lucienne cleared her throat and spoke up once more. 

“I believe I have work to do in the library, my lady, I will see you later,” At the mention of the library, you perked up once more. Lucienne’s eyes narrowed at yours. “And I should not expect to see you there until you are fully recovered.” You drooped and pouted further at Lucienne’s words, but didn’t argue back. Satisfied that you were going to listen, Lucienne bid her final goodbye, giving Morpheus one last look. Morpheus stared down at you with adoration as you looked at Lucienne’s receding in confusion. 

“Is it just me, or was Lucienne acting strange?” You asked, looking back up at Morpheus. He couldn’t help but find your confused face adorable and reached a hand up to brush his fingers over your hair. 

“I am sure Lucienne is just concerned for your condition, my love,” He told you gently, allowing his fingers to linger on your face and skin. “How do you feel? In the early hours after finding you, when I was warming you up, you were in great pain.” You remember your skin feeling like acid, and trying to writhe in his arms as he held you against him. Your eyes dropped to the marble floor as you struggled to remember more. 

“I feel good, maybe a little cold… but fine otherwise,” You told him, lifting your eyes once more to peer into his starlit eyes. “My memory is very spotty and I can’t recall everything though.” Your words pleased Morpheus, everything was going as it should. Morpheus cupped your cheek and bent his head down, pressing his forehead against yours. 

“Memory or not, I am elated to know that you are well once more,” Morpheus whispered, his nose brushing yours. You smiled at him and giggled. 

“I’m not going to be taken down just because I got cold, Morpheus,” You told him in between giggles. “That would just be absurd.” Morpheus raised an eyebrow at you. 

“Of course not, my future queen is much too stubborn to succumb to hypothermia.” Morpheus drew out, maneuvering your head back more so his lips brushed against yours. They were much too irresistible when this close and he couldn’t help but steal a kiss from your lips as you giggled. His lips pressed against yours, careful to hold just how much he wanted you, back. Morpheus could feel the heat that blossomed beneath the skin of your face and chuckled against your lips. Your innocence was truly endearing. 

“Don’t laugh at me,” You whispered against his lips, trying to sound mad at him, but entirely failing to do so. 

“Apologies, my love,” Morpheus apologized, pulling back to look you in the eyes. “Please forgive me, I couldn’t help it, you are just far too irresistibly adorable.” The heat beneath your skin burned hotter and you hit him in the chest with your fist. 

“Morpheus!” 

“I’m sorry, my love, I’m sorry, I can’t help it.” He told you, hugging your body, your only huffed at him and wrapped your arms around his torso to rest your head against his chest. Yes, your memory was spotty, but Morpheus was devoted to you, so did you really need to remember what you had forgotten?

Date Published: X

Last Edit: X

An Offered Apple | Masterlist | An Accepted Apple

[spaceratprodigy]

For the ship asks: 3 and 36, your choice!

@kyberinfinitygems — [ OTP Prompts ]

More Cybill/Iris for the soul! >:]

@grimreapersbutt answered these with me 🖤✨ thank u again bestie mwah

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3. Are they into PDA? Who initiates most?

At first it's Iris! She is a very physical person, very lovey and very expressive about it. By the time they have their first kiss and it hits very hard that they are in love with each other, once she can have him it's all over. That man is going to be spoiled rotten with her love every chance she gets.

Cybill matches her energy very well, he is just as mushy gushy as she is, but it takes him a while to realize he's allowed to be that way.

From being in his vault, he has some preconceptions of what is socially acceptable, and being with Iris pulls him out of that. He becomes just as expressive as she is and much less worried about what other people think.

I cannot stress enough that once they are together, the jaws of life cannot pry them apart. Literally a package deal, do not separate. They may or may not become a bit shameless over just how affectionate they're willing to be anywhere and everywhere. Hoo boy. But they very much enjoy so much soft intimacy as well. Catch them standing around holding hands, being all close, Cybill resting his head on Iris's shoulder, whispering sweet nothings to each other, finding so so much comfort in each other.

Being together genuinely helps both of them so much. Obvs there is so much to get into there regarding their stories before they meet and once their paths becomes one. But plenty of friends have read what we have of their PDF so far and can attest to just how deeply their love for each other runs and the lengths they are always willing to go to to take care of each other.

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36. Who is more protective?

That's the million dollar question isn't it? They are both really fucking protective of each other, not to mention how protective they are of June and Henry.

Realistically, Iris is the stronger one of the two of them and is more capable of doing the defending. But, to revisit what was mentioned above, Cybill's time in the vault has left him with a certain mindset regarding traditional gender roles within a marriage. He'll feel like it's his job to be The Man Of The House, and is likely to throw himself into danger to protect his family.

As protective as he is, it still doesn't change the fact that my sweet baby boy isn't the strongest lad and is a popsicle stick of a man ✌️😔 and, such is often the way, he needs Iris to help protect him. Which she does, and always will. She loves him, she would do anything to keep him safe. If he gets hurt, she will always be there to take care of him, patch him up, kiss him better.

That isn't to say he should ever be underestimated. In both of their cases, they can be pushed hard enough to the point you'll find out just how fucking vicious they can be. Yes, for each other, absolutely. If their sweetie is in immediate danger, there will be no hesitation to keep them safe at whatever the cost. But when it comes to the babies, if June and Henry are threatened in any way, you aren't living to see the light of day. Would you rather be torn apart by the lifetime's worth of pent up blind rage mama bear or her feral little rat husband who will probably tear you to shreds with his bare teeth and eat you 🔍🤨 either way, they're probably going to have both Overreacted™️ and walk away drenched in blood.

[thatmooncake]

This ask is a free infodump prompt! Saw your tags on that one post and while approaching people also makes me feel like I'm a shaking wet Chihuahua, I love people being enthusiastic! So this is for anything you feel like talking about - favorite AU? Ideas you couldn't share before? Thoughts on the canon DCA? Pick something, anything! I got a lil chair and I'm patiently waiting <3

Hmmm, well I’ve kept you waiting long enough (sorry about that), so today I’ll ramble about one of my favourite things about the DCA - their relationship, and more specifically, how they “share” with each other and how that works out for them!

I’m a sucker for any AU that explores the way Sun and Moon interact with each other, whether they’re in one body or not, whether they communicate directly or indirectly. And I’ve always been interested in exploring how long each of them has “out” at a given time, and how that affects them both.

Like, Sun is (in theory) supposed to be out at ALL TIMES in the daycare. ALL TIMES. No Moon, only Sun. The staff even put (flimsy) measures in place so that Moon would NEVER take over in that space. But from what we can tell, Sun and Moon were built to be a package deal, and with that taken into consideration, it’s very unlikely that this doesn’t put some amount of stress on Sun’s system at the best of times, what with him having NO time at all to go dormant outside of the night patrols. Even if he does have a little time to go dormant, he’s already seemingly under so much stress from the fear of what happens when Moon takes over that the forced transformations cannot be doing him any good at all.

Meanwhile, when he is actually active, Moon has some “freedoms” that Sun doesn’t seem to have. He can roam around the pizzaplex, for example. We never see Sun leave the daycare. From what we can tell in the game, only Moon can roam the pizzaplex because the daycare attendant only roams free when the lights go out at the end of every hour. Whether this has always been the case or whether it’s a new measure put in place by Freddy’s to replace some of the night staff with Moon is anyone’s guess really. But this freedom doesn’t really mean much in the grand scheme of things when it’s basically just been put in place so that Moon can be a puppet for the Afton virus. And throughout all of the social hours when he would have once been interacting with kids, Moon is now inactive. He’s only there to roam and get people to do the big sleepy. He’s lacking socialisation like CRAZY.

Between Sun being basically forced to be active throughout ALL of the hours when the lights are forcibly kept on, and Moon lacking ANY positive social interactions, this is really sad, because we see the other animatronics at least still able to roam the plex when it’s active and have “down time” in their rooms (not that this seems to work out so well for Monty to be fair), but all Sun gets is the ugliest mess of a space in the world to retreat to and all Moon knows how to do anymore is punish people who he thinks ought to be sleeping. So even beyond the virus there are just layers and layers of anxiety Sun has lived with for who knows how long, and there is so much bad socialisation that Moon must be so used to by now that he basically has no identity outside of correcting what he sees as problems (aka putting people to sleep), because the on/off cycle that Freddy’s has put in place for them won’t allow them to do anything else. It’s crazy!

Then in addition to these we get so many amazing fanon takes on how they both feel about this - is it something they actively put thought into? If they communicate with each other in any way, does knowing what the other one deals with stress them out even more as two halves of a whole? Whether they’re together or separate, do they ever wish they had what the other one had, or does knowing what the other one deals with make them feel grateful that they ended up how they did? Do they work together to combat the issues they’re now facing, or is a constant battle going on inside of them? So many interesting things to think about when it comes to these guys!

[onepiece-polls]

One Piece Shipping War - Round 1 Side B

ThatchIzou edit was made by @cloneraid

Propaganda under the cut.

Propaganda for Thatch x Izou:

I still need to make a Thatch outfit to match your Izou :P (be glad I forgot before Comic Con) (Mod: yes, this is very much meant towards me. Other than this, no propaganda was submitted)

Propaganda for Shachi x Penguin:

They may be underrated characters with very little screen time, but you can see that they clearly are affectionate with each other (ex: hugging in the manga) and also speaking at the same time, sharing thoughts, and beyond that, they grew up together. They've clearly known each other for a long time and typically work together very well. They are a package deal, you cannot separate them <3

Two idiots with one braincell/ two bros sitting on each other laps because they're gay / it's not gay if it's the homie

Law officiated their marriage fr

They're overcompensating for how gay they are for each other and everyone can tell

(Headcanons included) Everyone who likes a cute younger brother aura X a serious Tsundere older brother aura would love this ship! Shachi and Penguin know each other before they even met Law. I think their parents are on good term since they went to the beach together. I like to think that they knew each other since birth. They are both very close, and inseparable since forever. And it would be cute to think that the both of them only has each other. A cute and shy Penguin being best friend with a fun and exciting Shachi (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠)♡ They both survived the tsunami together. And since Penguin was the oldest one. He would feel like he had the responsibility to protect Shachi. Big brother aura Penguin! He loves Shachi so much that he would do anything to protect him… They are very close for a long time because they knew each other's blood type and Shachi invited Penguin to stay at his uncle's house. ✨But of course, the uncle and aunt were abusive. Since Penguin thought that he had to protect Shachi at all cost. Penguin would always be the one to receive most of the physical abuse. Shachi would be a crybaby and cry everytime he sees Penguin in pain. But Penguin would always say that he was okay. (skipping to growing up) there's also that time where a bomb exploded. Instead of worrying about themselves, they cared about the other person more ✨I think it was Penguin would called out for Shachi?Then, there was the fighting scene on swallow island where ShachiPen fought the enemy together. I like to imagine the both of them already liking each other since their younger age. Especially Shachi. Shachi who had been protected during his childhood by Penguin decided to become stronger for him. Because of INK, my favorite artist, that drew a lot of ShachiPen, I have their version of ShachiPen stuck in my head. And it also became my headcanon. Shachi became a lot stronger than Penguin and it is now his turn to protect him. Hehehe. After Savaody I like to imagine that something bad happened to one of them. Then they finally confessed their love. ♡(ŐωŐ人)

[thelasttaleofthepari]

Aikatsu Stars is cool but I have the hubris of a god and I think I can do better so I decided to rewrite everything about it lmao (this is for you @arabella-pink)

Season 1

Main characters are Yume, Koharu, Rola, Mahiru, Ako, and Haruka Ruka (I can’t help it her wide eyes and cute character design has captured me) 

Pre-Season 1 Yume is someone who had a decent amount of fame as a child star and lost it (idk how I came up with all this a week ago and forgot) and now is doing everything she can to regain popularity again 

Yume and Koharu are still childhood friends they are a package deal and you cannot and will not separate them

Four Star Academy is a highly prestigious idol academy that’s super duper competitive- especially considering that you have to be the best of the best to be in S4 

Speaking of S4, in Season 1, S4 only consists of Yozora, Tsubasa, and Yuzu 

Before the school year in Season 1 started, Hime completely disappeared from the spotlight due to the pressure she has felt as the top idol (she’s the most favorited out of S4, every brand she promotes sells out in seconds, she is bigger than life itself, think of her as the Taylor Swift (popularity wise) of Aikatsu) 

Yozora, Tsubasa, and Yuzu are the only ones who know where she is, but refuse to disclose, to the point that Moroboshi almost disbands S4 because of it 

We find out where Hime is like,,, end of S1- beginning of S2 (Hime plays a bigger role in S2) 

Erasing the whole dress-make system that Aikatsu had because I am sick of idol designers I want regular designers back please

For a while, Yume had left her old star life before seeing S4 performs (and being hit with the classic Aikatsu moment™ where she realizes that this is what she wants)

The only problem is… Yume’s not very talented in the idol field… she struggles with dancing and singing and practically has two left feet

So imagine everyone’s surprise (including Yume) when she absolutely kills her debut performance (this is where the magic rainbow power comes in) 

The rainbow power is one of Aikatsu Stars’ biggest mysteries because??? What are you??? Where did you come from?? WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS AND WHY DO YOU TARGET RANDOM IDOLS??

In the rewrite, the rainbow power is something that is a “gift” from the Aikatsu System (which idk I might make another post about with my ideas) in which it amplifies abilities of idols: gives them the most beautiful voices and powerful auras to the point it overrides any other auras nearby; however, it does have its cons: it causes the idol to lose their voice (like in canon), become more fragile, and forget their memories the more they use the power

Anyways, Yume’s feeling great and then the partner performance thing comes and she’s paired with Rola and does absolutely horrendous

Even then, her confidence is still high because she proclaims Rola as her rival (who agrees but doesn’t really take it seriously) 

Oh, I forgot to mention, Rola and Mahiru are prodigies from really rich families (*gasp* nepotism…) and have been child stars- they’re also rivals who are constantly at each other’s throats 

Rola doesn’t really think Yume’s a threat so most of the time she’s quite dismissive of Yume, but Mahiru respects Yume a lot after her debut performance 

Mahiru and Rola had planned to be in Flower Song Class together (and whoever won the selection would win their “little” rivalry) but Mahiru switches classes after seeing Yume’s performance (who has made it very clear that she’s going to go to Flower Song Class) 

Also Flower Song Class has a reputation of pushing out the biggest top idols of their age (ex. Hotaru Yukino, Hime) and is a highly competitive class 

Anyways, Yume and Rola make it to Flower Song (Yume’s power activates again), Mahiru and Koharu are in Moon Beauty, Ako is in Bird Theater, and Haruka Ruka is in Wind Dance 

Rola and Mahiru have a big fight about how Mahiru is a coward and is backing out of their rivalry, blah blah blah some sapphic fighting idk guys they just have a big fight 

Also Ako and Haruka Ruka are friends as well 

Ako became an idol similar to canon,, she liked a member of M4 and wanted to get close to him (except its Kanata she likes and not Subaru because I like Kanata more) 

She basically calculates and plans to trick him into liking her lmao (except it turns out Kanata knew the whole time and liked her for her true self) 

Guys I swear I’ll come up with more stuff for Ako and Haruka Ruka I WILL I PROMISE IT'S BEEN A BUSY WEEK

I may pull a Bandai and abandon M4 because I do not know how they could impact the plot they’re just,,, standing there and looking pretty (I only have stupid headcanons)

Back to Yume, she finds out more about her power somehow and instead of trying to get rid of it,,, she uses it more to her advantage 

Girl is DEAD set on being famous- she finds out a way to use the power frequently, which sets her at the top of her class and actually makes her popular with the general public (she probably got an album out i dunno) 

She’s been warned by Moroboshi, who has seen how this power has hurt his own sister. But won’t stop, she can’t stop, because she’s climbing up and up. She’s made a name for herself, she’s made new friends… and she’s losing them even quicker than she made them 

She can’t remember much about herself anymore: what songs she hums when she can’t sleep, the food her mother used to make for her when she was upset, the games that Koharu and Yume used to play when they were little. But it’s fine, it's perfectly fine because Yume is famous now. She has everything she wants. 

Yume’s been thriving in Four Star’s competitive environment. Koharu, on the other hand… hasn’t been doing the best. Koharu has always been more of a designer than an idol, and she’s always behind everyone else. She doesn’t have many friends outside of Yume, and even Yume has been too busy to hang out with Koharu. The pressure and stress is too much, and she decides to leave Four Star Academy to be better. (*Episode 30 flashbacks*) Yume comes back to their dorm with all of Koharu’s things gone, and only some candy and a note left for Yume. It’s only then that Yume realizes all that she’s lost, that in the search for fame, she’s lost who she was, her friends, her family, everything, just to get her name to the top. 

Yume struggles a lot with fame, where she barely gets an ounce of privacy, and the pressure is crumbling her (along with the guilt that this isn’t her, it’s the magic power). She’s been used by many people, who use her name to be more famous, and then immediately leave her. 

Yume realizes why Hime left. Hime had a midas touch, everything she would touch would turn gold. However, what good is a midas touch if all you wanted was to wear silver jewelry? And Yume thinks of how lucky Hime is, to have taken her dignity and left the idol world. 

A big part of Yume’s arc is how she isn’t idol-worthy. She doesn’t really have the star quality in her. Everyone around her is naturally talented and good at everything and Yume… isn’t. Everyone is sort of the chosen one… except Yume. Yume is a person who knows she isn’t special, but makes herself special. There will always be queens and princesses, but what about the girls without magic in their blood? They have to hold their heads high, as if they are the ones who are adorned with crowns (that’s a Six of Crows reference I love Six of Crows) 

I also had an idea where Yume actually stole the magic power from someone but I also have NO idea how she would do that… guys this is still a work in progress and I’m sorry its so messy its so late and I didn’t get much sleep 

Additional ideas I had that I didn’t know where to put

Koharu is basically a personification of Yume’s childhood and everything that makes Yume… well Yume, so her disappearing is just symbolism for how Yume has lost herself and her childhood 

Mahiru and Rola are gay and they like each other in the rewrite because I think their dynamic is cool (they’re also lacy by Olivia Rodrigo coded you guys should listen) 

FSA still puts an emphasis on individuality so students are encouraged to customize their uniforms as well as their school coords (so their Star Coords all have different silhouettes)

Hime is sort of someone who “haunts” the narrative in Season 1 

Ako gets her own brand (that isn’t FuwaFuwa Dream nor Shiny Smile but a secret third thing (I don’t know yet))

Haruka Ruka may have a Pop Brand with a decora concept called “DECO●LOUR MY WORLD” but I don’t know yet 

Koharu is also a cute type idol 

Anyways the Season 2 post (if I ever make one we’ll see) will have Hime getting an SPR and Yume NOT getting an SPR but she gets Koharu back so I think that’s a fair trade

Also some songs for the rewrite would be The Lucky One (Taylor’s Version) by Taylor Swift, making the bed by Olivia Rodrigo, You’re On Your Own Kid by Taylor Swift, and Castle’s Crumbling (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault) by Taylor Swift

[shytastemakerthing]

Hello! Please forgive me.

If you are still doing matchups, is it alright if I get a romantic Fnaf Security Breach and Poppy Playtime (with Smiling Critters) one? I understand if this is closed and you may ignore this message if so.

My pronouns are she/her, I'm an introvert and if you consider astrology, I am an Aquarius Sun, Cancer Moon and Leo Rising. I am straight and prefer guys but if that doesn't count than you can ignore. I don't really like revealing much about myself so you can say that I'm shy and mysterious. My hobbies include dancing (especially ballet and sometimes kpop). My talent is fitting into kids clothes because of slender my body is. My expression tends to look very distant and sad. I cannot emphasize enough how much I want to look like a Ball Jointed Doll, so I try to get as many sweet lolita dresses as possible. I love tea and coffee, I also like wearing (and buying) anything pink. I don't like heavy or gourmet meals (or food in general). If I were to be an animatronic, I'd be a cat.

If this wasn't enough information, please let me know 😭

Hello! Don't worry, everything is open right now so you are just fine! Thank you so much for your request and I hope you enjoy your match-ups! Now, I haven't done FNAF or Poppy's playtime before so I hope this is good! I rather enjoy both games!

Tw: None

I match you with.........

Sundrop/Moondrop

For starters, they're a package deal. While they are two separate AI sharing the same body, both of them still love you. It's a handful at times, but they certainly ensure that you are well taken care of

Before they became the daycare and Naptime attendants, they were working in the theater, this would mean that that they have access to all sorts of outfits, there is sure to be one in there to your liking!

The fact that you are capable of fitting into child sized clothing is rather astonishing to both of them. Sun will certainly have to keep the kids from pulling out any of their spare clothing to see if you could fit into it after that little bit of information came to light

Both of them have expressed their concerns when it came to your usual expression. While they both know that humans have certain resting expressions, and that it may not be what they are actually feeling, just seeing that your relaxing expression makes you look so sad is a little concerning to them. It takes some getting used to

Moon has asked to dance with you on more than one occasion. Sun gets to see you a lot longer, as he is out more often, and he gets to dance with you and the kids. When they're napping, he wants his turn

He also loves your shy demeanor. Has he poked at you about it? Yes. Will he stop? Well, that depends

Sun finds it adorable, so when he gets those rare moments that you're more out of your shell, he cherishes each and every millisecond of it

They both have access to the internet, they both know of your love for lolita dresses and anything pink.... yes, they have managed to get you things. When asked, they won't answer

Well, you get some cute new outfits for it

Now, I think Moon wouldn't exactly like the coffee drinking. Too much caffeine, it keeps you awake when you should be asleep, so he will try to limit your intake

But both seem rather chill about the tea.... Moon has slipped you a sleepytime tea more than once if he saw you tired but still deciding to work.... don't test just how far he will go

Overall, they both just want the very best for you. Not to mention, they absolutely love how you just treat them like anyone else, like they're actually people. A lot of the time, they are overlooked, either for being animatronic, or because they weren't part of the main cast. SO, every moment they get to share with you, is a moment that they will cherish forever.

I match you with...........

DogDay

This will be set pre- hour of joy!

He absolutely loves watching you dance, no matter the style, that music it is, he just loves being able to watch you

Yes, that is his tail wagging

He is a little too big to try and dance with you, poor boy is worried to accidentally hurt you

But perhaps you would let him carry you and he can dance with you in his arms?

He would rather like that

One thing that gets him scratching his head is just how you are able to fit into child sized clothing. He has seen how small some of those can be and the fact you can fit into them? He still wonders how you do it

He loves seeing you dressed up all cute in your lolita dresses and pink outfits. He may not have a way to get you more, but he certainly wished that he did

Maybe he can ask Crafty if she has any ideas if they could make you something somehow? There is bound to be some fabric around here somewhere

He is not someone to try and force you out of your shy shell, he loves you just the way that you are and if you are having any difficulties, he will certainly be there as fast as he can to be able to help you out

At the end of a long day, Dogday wants nothing more than to be able to relax with you. One thing he certainly loves is being able to rest his head in your lap. You could be sipping on your tea and the both of you would be going over everything that happened that day

Overall, Dogday is a caring and loyal partner. He would ensure that you have everything it is that you need, never does he fail to compliment you, especially the dresses you chose for the day, he loves them all. You just make them even more beautiful. Everyday, he is thankful for the chance that he got to meet you, and he loves just how much you have changed his life

Thank you so much for your request!!!

[atamascolily]

@aerialsquid asked for my thoughts on Ling Ya's survival in Thunderbolt Fantasy S4, so let's go!

tl;dr: Lang Wu Yao and Ling Ya are a package deal, I'd be very surprised if Ling Ya was on the chopping block for good.

From their first cameo at the end of The Sword of Life and Death, Lang and Ling Ya have always been together. Even before Ling Ya was Ling Ya (at least in his current form), he was an important component of Lang's life. Lang taking up his mother's pipa marks the start of his journey in Bewitching Melody of the West, and the movie ends with Ling Ya revealing himself coupled with Lang's own self-acceptance and actualization. There has never been a time when the two were separated, and I can't imagine it would start now; Lang losing Ling Ya would mean the loss of his self (and that was evident even before 4x01 confirmed that Ling Ya is the manifestation of Lang's demonic powers). Even without taking the complex nature of their relationship into account, what's a bard without his lute?

Interestingly, while a pipa was present in the original "T.M. Revolution" puppet that eventually became Lang, Ling Ya came much later, when The Sword of Life and Death was in development. I think Urobuchi recognized from the beginning that Lang was fundamentally incomplete without someone like Ling Ya to balance him, and he was right on so many levels.

Ling Ya is Lang Wu Yao's daemon (pun intended)--a fundamental part of himself that takes on separate form. To put it in Jungian terms, Ling Ya is Lang's animus, who embodies everything that Lang is not and yet belongs to him--is him on every level that matters. This is why Ling Ya always knows what Lang is thinking, why he gives voice to what Lang cannot or will not say--not to mention all the Freudian slips! The animus is the source of creativity, of passion...the fullest expression of Lang's spirit through his music, which is something that they make together.

Outside of fiction, most people do not have their animus as a separate entity, but even in-universe, Lang is exceptional in many ways. Ling Ya's existence is perfectly understandable given the nature of Lang's powers and heritage--but I think it's also because of the horrific abuses he suffered at his mother's hands.

Bewitching Melody of the West is absolutely heartbreaking because it's very clear Lang is projecting all of his doubts about his mother--all the criticisms of her, all the truths he knows deep down in his soul are correct--into Ling Ya, so he can block them out and ignore it. Or to put it a slightly different way, he's disassociating in response to trauma.

Or to quote that scene directly:

Voice: Come on, I know you hear me. Làng Wū Yáo: Be quiet. I don't hear anything. Voice: You sure seem to be answering me, if that's the case. Làng Wū Yáo: There's no one here but Mother and I. If anyone else was around, they'd have to be some kind of demon. (my emphasis) Voice: Even a demon would be worried if they saw what she was doing to you, kid. Làng Wū Yáo: Mother said the demons lurk within our hearts… so your voice doesn't belong to anyone!

Mother said the demons lurk within our hearts. Post-S3, this is a chilling admission that Lang's mother truly loved Azibelpher, and she blames herself for being deceived by him. Love is a weakness, love is a weapon, and she is determined to ensure that Lang won't suffer the way she did, even if it means damaging him in the process. But it's also a huge hint about what Ling Ya truly is... he is the demon that lurks inside Lang's heart and always has been. The call was coming from inside the house the whole time!!!

For Socrates, a daemon was a little voice within that whispered to him of the truth. For Lang, his daemon takes the shape of a wisecracking uncle, the humorous and caring father figure he has never known and desperately craves. (In Jungian psychology, the animus/a usually manifests as the opposite gender of the personality in question but in my interpretation the gendered aspect is far less relevant.) Lang's early life is so thoroughly dominated by his mother, it's not surprising to me that he creates a male figure to counter her voice. Ling Ya is the "small still voice" that always gives excellent advice, and most of the problems in Lang's life come directly from ignoring him.

As of 4x02, Lang has fallen into Azibelpher's trap and overbalanced, transforming into a demon as the previously repressed side of his heritage awakens. I can see why people are worried that something might happen to Ling Ya, and the danger is real. Nevertheless, for all his reputation for painful twists, Urobuchi's character deaths aren't solely for shock value--they always serve a narrative purpose. Which begs the question, what exactly would be gained by Ling Ya's death, beyond merely hurting the audience (and Lang)?

And while there's no question that the story could go there, and there are themes that could be explored from this, the other question is: Is that what Thunderbolt Fantasy is really about? And unless I've very much misjudged this show, I think it isn't.

TBF might have its tragic elements, but the story is not, ultimately, a tragedy. Having Lang go berserk because Ling Ya sacrificed himself might be dramatic... but if Ling Ya is truly a part of Lang, then I can't imagine him staying down for long. If Ling Ya is gone, Lang will find a way to bring him back...because that's who Lang is and always has been, and thus far his arc has always involved him becoming more conscious and open about their relationship, rather than less.

I think Lang's arc going forward will culminate with him accepting and balancing his dual nature, and finding his true purpose in life, with a corresponding transformation both Ling Ya and himself. However, I don't think this will necessarily require Ling Ya to disappear entirely, because for better or worse, Lang is most truly himself when the two are together--they are two halves of a whole. And while it's possible Ling Ya might be absorbed into Lang and the two become one person in the end, the end result would be so different from the character(s) we've known up to this point that I'm not sure I would recognize him anymore.

Could it happen, though? Absolutely. But I'll be very surprised if it does--not in the "who could have seen this coming?" way, but in the "wow, I really did not expect them to go there" way, because it runs so drastically counter to everything Lang has been thus far. Maybe I'm wrong about everything and Urobuchi will permanently break up the band.... but if so, I'll believe it when I see it.