#** no he didn't do it. he actually tried to stop the killer but failed and was fatally wounded. luckily nothing a hard restart of a system

[kahvilahuhut]

Hello please tell me all about your androids/android worldbuilding <3 - @void-botanist

JDJDJDJDJDJ my favorite topic

ok so first things first you should know a few things about the union's robot laws: 1. the ai can't be "sentient" (as in, work like a mind of a person) 2. robots cannot look too much like living creatures 3. most of then require an owner (a person or a company)

now based on that: most of the robots & androids are created to do jobs that are either too dangerous or too hard. There are also robots that are like bartenders or chefs or secretaries etc., but they're more rare and are more popular in either rich spaces or spaces that refuse to pay their workers the minimum wage & instead just by a robot </3

There are also androids more suitable for "free time", like a buddy you can talk to in a cafe or a...thing for some adult time (tm).

Another field with large amount of robots or androids is the defense force, especially the groups that have something to do with the borders or with non-union planets (e.g. Dana's special squad, Five & Two). These are stronger and have better processors and are able to have conversations, but they still only either do their own job they were programmed to do, or they take orders.

Funny thing, most of the Planet Alone-time robot industries are from Mars. We'll see more about that in Cynosure.

NOW! Now that I've talked about what it's like int the most parts of the planet alone world, let's talk about Nathan & Victor.

The whole thing starts with Orion, Nathan's "dad". He's a famous politician, respected by many etc etc. and killed for something political he had almost nothing to do with. Anyway. He and his wife had a problem: they both can't have biological children, and no adoption center would give them a child bc of their busy af jobs. Orion isn't doing well bc lf that :(

Orion's friend, Matthew, is a magnificent AI programmer and had opened his robotics company a few years ago. Orion knows that he had been working on an AI that'd work just like a human mind AND a line of human-like androids, until the law mentioned at the beginning of this answer came. He didn't scrap the work though, and Orion knows that. Orion tells his situation to Matthew and begs him to finish what he started, and promises to keep it secret from everyone*, even from his future "child". Matthew agrees.

Now this AI then, clearly works just like a human mind. No additional widgets etc. The only noticiable thing is that this android doesn't have any kinds of bodily fluids. Orion explained that to his "son" as a "u were sick as a child so u r a bit Different(tm)" thing. Nathan, of course, believed everything.

They had a really amazing father-son relationship since the beginning, Orion was a perfect father. Matthew became a little bit jealous and decided to create a son for himself. An updated model, with more realistic features (like previously mentioned fluids) and more handsome. That's how we got Victor. And unlike Orion, Matthes tomd him the truth as soon as Vic actually started to understand what's going on. That gave him a god complex and a large ego but that's a thing for another day.

Now, you may wonder, how is Nathan aware of who he is now? Orion told him in the end. The poor guy did what a teen can easily do at his age - get a crush. And that obviously means a serious talk. Let's say it didn't go well and Nate ended up saying some awful things and storming out of the house, and sitting all alone with his thoughts by a river for a few hours. Once he calmed down he went back and. well. let's say he doesn't remember what actually happened**, but the first thing he remembers afterwards is sobbing in a corner bc someone killed his dad. He's not doing fine no matter what he says.

Still, because of the laws, he keeps (or well, has to keep) acting like a human and doing his own thing. Victor does too, but he's a millionaire bc he inherited his father's company.

[aingeal98]

More Jason and Cass thoughts (sorry but also not sorry) but if I was magically given full control over DC and could write what I'd want obviously I'd make Cass Batman but I've been thinking of what sort of reaction and role Jason would have in response. I think I'd write his version of "Congrats on the new job!" as a test, involving the Joker and civilians and gangs and Red Hood and a ton of explosives. Bruce failed me, and now he's given up. You're his successor, let's see how you handle this dilemma that freaked him out so badly he threw a batarang into my throat rather than let me avenge my own death in front of him.

So obviously Cass will overcome the traps and the puzzles. That's the fun part to show how competent both of them are and sprinkle in little character moments as we go. But then we reach the emotional crux of the matter, probably laid out as some sort of saw trap because it's Jason. Here I am, a victim of murder. You say nobody dies tonight but I did, and I want the man who did it dead. Not only did Batman fail to avenge me but he failed to stop the Joker from going on to create even more victims. What right do you have to stop me from getting justice for myself? What right does this man have to life after what he's taken from me and from countless others? I'm not trying to kill a random stranger, I'm specifically demanding justice for my own death that I never got while I was gone.

There are two ways this could go. The straightforward route if I knew my time on this run was limited would probably be a pyrrhic victory like the ones Cass's og series was so fond of. Just like Bruce in utrh, she acts on instinct and saves the Joker (and Jason this time) . A win technically, but she fails the test. Jason is once again vindicated but with nothing to show for it. The story ends with Cass sending the Joker back to jail and going back to the batcave, where the old Robin costume looms judgementally, highlighting her failure. It would be the most fitting end given their character molds, all tragedy and conviction and unstoppable force meets immovable object etc.

However... I think the option I prefer would be a little different. Cass levelling with Jason, a killer talking to a murder victim. She has no right to stop Jason from getting justice, she has no love for the Joker but she knows any death she allows to happen like this would devastate her, just like that death row inmate long ago she tried to break out but ended up letting go once the family of the victim talked to her and demanded justice. I think... In this specific situation, she'd just be honest. Morally she has no right sure. Personally she just really really doesn't want anyone to die. Give her one chance, please. Let her try it her way. Not demanding, not lecturing or insisting, just... Please. Don't do this. Let me try another way.

And then what? Jason asks.

In the end a deal is struck. Cass will take the Joker and lock him up, ensuring he never harms anyone again while also trying to rehabilitate him. But the second she fails and he gets free, Jason kills him and she won't stand in his way. It's the kind of deal that leaves both of them mildly disgusted and dissatisfied with themselves, neither of them naturally creatures of compromise when it comes to this specific topic. But Cass is willing to do anything to avoid death and Jason did not expect the new Bat to be so... Flexible? Kind of? Of course maybe she won't actually hold up her end of the deal and when the Joker gets loose she'll try and stop Jason from killing him and he'll get his miserable vindication, but right now this is something strange and new and he's mildly confused and curious about where it will go. He doesn't believe in her ability to contain the Joker forever but he's willing to let her try because her reaction to that future failure interests him. She's given him a sword of damocles to hang above her head and he didn't ask for it or expect it. It's the type of power he never thought the Bat would just... Hand to him.

The conflict ends with neither of them fully winning or losing. They both don't really know what to feel about this.

The thing is, the second Cass let's Jason kill the Joker she's hanging up the mantle. She's staking the Bat on this, because it's always go big or go home with her when it comes to saving others, even someone like the Joker. In this magical universe where I have unlimited power, Cass would lock the Joker in a secret bunker and have Leslie Thompkins talk to him daily, mostly because I think her pacifism speeches and debates in the comics would make a fun contrast to the Joker's evil sadism. (But what about his rights? Doesn't he deserve a trial and to be held in a regular prison? I'm going to be honest I think Cass would be very comfortable bending the rules on this specific situation. Morally questionable but I'd have fun with it. She's going to let Leslie treat Joker like her personal pet project to save his soul because yes she wants him to change but also she's got a city to save every night so go crazy Leslie, have fun.)

And the Batman series would continue with Cass as the lead, new challenges and new antagonists and every twenty issues or so for the first hundred we'll cut back to the Joker briefly if his chats with Leslie can help highlight some thematic element of the current arc. But bit by bit he'd slowly fade away onto oblivion, maybe getting referenced every hundred issues or so until eventually no one remembers or cares about him because there's so much else going on. Meanwhile Jason's got a good thing going as Red Hood, primarily based in Park Row and a tentative ally on the occasion when their vigilante work aligns. Unlike Joker he's a much more frequent character in the comics, and after say 10 years (this is my magical fantasy universe Cass's batman run is going to last for a very long time alright) when people think of DC characters they think of Red Hood long before they think of the Joker.

Is any of this realistic? Right now of course not. It's why I'd go with the pyrrhic victory if I actually got the chance, because it would be the best way to tell the story in the larger context of the Bat narrative. But it's my fantasy DC editor and writer daydream and I'm going to dream big. They're never going to be normal happy siblings, their personal demons will never fully let them be free and the looming possibility of losing everything they currently have narrative wise if Bruce comes back as Batman will always be there. But it's maybe the closest to peace they'll ever get. Unsatisfying and tame compromise that probably violates several laws and ethical codes but whatever. Cass has never read the Geneva convention and Jason's not going to shed tears over the Joker. Let him die relevancy wise if not physically.

[nonbinary-bitch]

You know, there is something I can't stop thinking about.

Why is (as far as I can tell, correct me if I'm wrong) Joker the only person that tried to do something about the abuse at Hullabaloo?

I'm not saying that what he did was right but still.

Mike knew about the abuse but didn't do anything, hell, he denied Hullabaloo being a bad place because he wasn't the one abused even tho others were. Sure, he helped Murro escape but damn dude you have problems.

Margaretha was a victim of abuse, sure, but she never went to cops or anything? Or asked Joker to do it for her. Don't get me wrong, she was scared and I get it, but you have to try to do something.

Murro ran away and never tried to contact someone to tell them what was going on, which fits his whole thing of "wanting to be the knight but not really doing anything".

Violetta didn't even realise she was being abused (from what I can tell) so I don't know what I can even say here.

And then you have Joker who was the only one to try end this shit. He didn't do that at first but he was still helping the best he can (even if only Marg, which, what the fuck dude) with the abuse, and then, when it became too much I guess, he tried to act, failed and got his ass beat, and went on a killing spree.

In a fuck up way, he was the only one to try to end the abuse at the Hullabaloo.

And end the lives of people that probably didn't have anything to do with it which is really fucked up don't do it kids.

Edit: I'm gonna be honest, at the time of writing this I was thinking way to simple about the whole thing which I shouldn't have done. Some of my opinions changed a bit (you guys have some good takes on the whole thing, ngl) but I actually have even more questions now.

Like: how did the illusion of "a perfect family" didn't start breaking the moment Murro ask for help in escaping? Did others knew about all the bullshit Bernard did to Murro? Why didn't they try breaking the illusion before Joker went crazy-killer-mode (assuming they knew at the time)? I have so many questions man.

[l0sercat]

Hello hi! Thanks again for doing my request and thanks for clearing a lot of things up for me! I actually feel a lot less nervous now so thank you!

Speaking of requests i was wondering if you could do a request for some killers(literally anyone- yes i do have favorites but i like them all), more specifically the really tall killers, with a survivor and/or s/o (hell it can even just be platonic friendship!) that takes a look at tall people and just sees them as a "threat" so to "assert dominance" they just start climbing the killer(s).

Nothing can stop them once they've got their eye on a climbing target and i mean nothing. I like to imagine that once they reach the "top" of the killer they just decided to perch on the killers shoulder.

Tbh this could be either platonic or romantic i just like the idea of climbing the really tall killers for fun and riding on their shoulders. As you can probably tell i like to climb tall people. Im not short, most of my friends are just taller than me so i just start climbing them sometimes.

Hopefully this isn't confusing or already done and i really like your writing/formatting, it's really pleasing to read. Thank you again! Have a good day!

Omg ty for the compliment! I'm so glad you like my format. I actually was a bit insecure about it lol.

Killers react to survivor climbing them

Michael Myers

He felt something on him so he slowly moved his head down an saw you on his leg

He stared at you with a hard gaze

You slowly climb up his tall frame and he grabbed the back of your clothing and tried to pry you off

But you clung onto him with an liton grip

He pulled harder and you came off with a grumpy look in your face

He tilted his head and you spring yourself back onto him and rested on his shoulders

He processed what happened and continues to not care unless you disturb what he does

Pyramid head

He sensed your presence and saw you stalk towards him

He made a grunting sound when you wrapped around his leg

He froze and planted his knife into the ground and watched your movements

When you got to his shoulders and landed on them and held onto hi helmet he relaxed a little

He was confused but continued on with his duties

But when it came time to punish the damned he picked you up by the scruff and set you down somewhere safe so you wouldn't get hurt

Oni

He felt his leg get heavier and he sighed

You pulled this bullshit before but failed because he flung you by accident

He shook his head at your stupidity

He let you but he didn't know why you would do such a thing

When you got into his shoulders and cheered he gave a little grin

He would let this pass for now

He walked around his house and outside for a while before he made you get off

[nethhiri]

Marooned: Chapter 46

Kid x FemReader x Killer

Warnings: 1% plot, aphrodisiac use, no holes barred, group sex/orgy, lite kink (bit of shibari, bit of breeding, degradation, praise, domination), sex workers

I'm pretty proud that I could write this much smut; sorry it took so long!

Doing Business

Kid was getting impatient. A minute ago he had half a dozen women fawning over him and now he had just one. Don't get him wrong, she was super hot. But why did the rest all run off to Y/N? It seemed the rest of the crew was dealing with the same problem, though none of them seemed to mind. One pretty lady in their lap at a time was enough to keep them occupied. If he was gonna pay good money, he wanted the full experience. He was soon distracted by barely contained tits in his face as the woman hand-fed him. Kid had told the madame that he wanted to be treated like the Pirate King, after all, he would be in due time. 

You were ushered into one of the back rooms by what felt like hundreds of hands and excited giggles. The woman you knew as Jade held your hands in hers seated across from each other on luxurious stools. She kissed both of your cheeks and had tear streaks down her own even though she was clearly happy. You were honestly surprised at yourself for remembering her name. Your paths crossed very briefly when you had attacked the ship her and some other women were being held captive on. There wasn't supposed to be any 'merchandise' on the ship, but they had failed to offload the cargo when they didn't get a fair offer from the skin trader. The only one that was inadvertently hurt was Jade. Her hip had been crushed by falling debris and you had to carry her off the ship. You had done your best to set it but there wasn't much you could do for her. At the next safe island, you had made sure they had a place to stay for a few nights and helped them as much as you could before setting off. 

"I knew you weren't gone! They kept saying you were dead but I didn't believe it for a second." Jade gestured at the rest of the girls who were knelt down or standing near you. "These are some of the other women you've set free, either the same night as me or from different places. They all seem to find me somehow." 

"I was gone for some time, just stranded on an island. The pirates I came here with rescued me." You left out the bit where you tried to kill each other. "I don't understand. Why are you all still doing... this? I thought you would all return home or find work that you actually enjoy." 

Jade laughed. "Yeah we get that a lot. It's different. We work for ourselves now. Some of us did this sort of thing before we were captured and some of us were taken so young we don't have any other marketable skills." Jade paused. "We can choose our own clients and we can turn anyone we want down. And what's not to like, especially when clients look like your pals out there. We're completely free to make our own decisions. Thanks to you."

"Any decent person would do the same thing. There's a lack of decent people in the world is all." 

"So if you're with them," she gestured in your crewmate's direction, "have you stopped the whole Sea Snake thing?"

"Course not." Seeing these women made you more resolute in your personal mission. 

Jade smiled. "Good." 

A thought occurred to you. You could help Jade more than you had those some odd years ago now that you had a Devil Fruit. "Hey. I have some new abilities. Would you like it if I fixed your hip? Correctly this time."

She happily accepted and made a few more requests on behalf of her girls when you explained your power. When you were done, Jade no longer limped, and her and her girls were free of the slave marks that marred their skin. You had also noticed that a few of the girls had matching tattoos.

"What with the snake tattoos?"

"Oh! You didn't make the connection?" According to Jade, they were in honor of you, just as the club itself was, hence the name and the entrance decor.

It was a bit embarrassing. You didn't feel like you were special enough to be praised in this manner. You did what was right.

Jade stretched her newly healed leg and walked around on it. "This is incredible. I haven't walked without pain in so long." You winced knowing that it was your fault. She must have noticed. "Please don't feel bad. A little wince is better than being traded like meat." A smug grin crept across Jade's face. "I haven't been able to be on top in ages." She turned to you. "Say, which one of your comrades wouldn't mind giving this hip a test drive?" 

"Probably any of them, but if you want to be on top, probably the masked blonde one or the gray-blue-haired one. Sorry, I forgot you knew their names, Killer or Heat."

She nodded. "Girls, treat Y/N to some relaxation." She pointed to a few other girls. "You come with me. You've kept our guests waiting long enough." 

You were whisked away yet again to another chamber, this time with a bath. The girls stripped you down and languidly lathered you up, taking their time, not allowing you to lift a finger. All you had to do was lay back and relax. Their touch was gentle, every now and then their fingers grazed are sensitive areas seemingly by accident, but it was all part of the experience. They put you in a silk robe and led you into a chamber with a large bed. The light was low, lit only by hundreds of candles. The scent was foreign to you, yet very pleasant. You already felt relaxed from the warm bath. Next, each girl was stationed at a different part of you, rubbing massage oil into your skin with skilled hands. An interesting shot was offered to you in a small glass, a special tincture to help you relax. You let your head fall back as they worked every muscle with increasing pressure. There was even someone at your head massaging your scalp. You felt someone put something soft over your closed eyes. What they neglected to let you in on was that this was the aphrodisiac room, where everything was carefully crafted to heighten and entice your senses, the candles, the massage oil, the food, even the material of the sheets. You hadn't begun to feel the effects yet, currently feeling like you were melting into the bed itself. 

Elsewhere, Wire was allowing himself to give up control, being patient as his body was contorted and bound by silk rope. Every knot made his dick twitch. The girls were more than happy to stroke him or give him a kitten lick as a tease. When they were satisfied that he was begging hard enough, they would allow him a release. However, currently, they were keen on touching each other in front of him, not allowing him any touch or taste. Blood rushed to his cock, making it stand at full attention. It was harder than he knew for the girls to resist touching such an impressive member. His usual self would want them in his position, he would want them to beg. He rarely allowed himself the opportunity to play the other role. Any movement of his hips or flex of his muscles made the ropes dig harder into his skin. 

"His cock is so desperate for us. Look at it weeping." One of the girls blew air across it, making Wire shiver. "You want us to touch it so badly don't you. What kind of pathetic man would grovel to two whores?" 

He clenched his teeth to stifle a whine. Wire's cock ached from the absence of touch. He watched as the girls took turns tasting each other, cumin on each others' tongues. One of the girls took her own slick and wiped it down his shaft in one stroke. He let the groan out this time. More pre-cum leaked from him. He was in a kneeling position on the bed with his thighs spread apart. Another of the girls backed her cunt up to him without touching him. He could feel the warmth though, and he hissed as the ropes dug into him again, instinctively trying to rut against her. The other girl dove her fingers into her partner, demonstrating her wetness by eliciting squelches from her pussy. She removed her fingers and held her open so Wire could get a good look at the glistening pink walls. 

"Please. Touch me. Use me to get off." Wire gave in. "I-I want to be..."

"What do you want?"

"I want to be your sex toy." 

It would have been embarrassing how quickly he came when he was finally sheathed within one of them, but he didn't care because it felt so good and because he was hard again soon after. 

In the next room, Heat was sticky. One after the other, girls took turns riding his face. Heat loved eating pussy, so it was no wonder what he wanted to do with his time. his face was coated in the various combined juices of his partners. He licked his lips and groaned. The sweet, metallic taste of pussy clung to his tongue. He had cum a few times without his cock even being touched, gooey white stripes were scattered on his belly. Using it as a lubricant, one of the girls ground her center against his abdomen. Another was riding his thigh. Heat was a giver. He got off on getting other people off. He loved watching the pleasure take over another's features while they used him. He loved feeling the wetness against his skin or his tongue.

Usually, he enjoyed being degraded. Today, however, he was being praised, and by the Madame herself, who had joined in late. He was being such a good boy for them, letting them use him however they pleased. They praised his tongue for how perfectly it lapped up their juices. They praised his lips and how they expertly worked their clits. His thighs were so muscular and fit to be ridden. His hands were rough and wonderfully calloused in a way that felt exquisite against their skin, brushing against their nipples and squeezing their breasts. They saved his cock for last, the Madame stood on the balls of her feet, guiding herself up and down his shaft, while another girl stifled his moans with her cunt. They rode him like a tandem bike until he couldn't last any longer. 

Killer was enjoying himself down the hall. He had wanted to try this with you and Kid sometime, but hadn't gotten around to it, though he was pretty sure you would both be into it. He was balls deep in one of the girls, while the other was balls deep in him, with a strap-on of course. He could have cum several times by now, though he stopped himself from getting too close.  He had the first girl's knees next to her ears, bending her in half. She hadn't stopped wailing since he started. These kinds of days were a dream, the ones where the girls thought they should be the ones paying for a service for how good they were getting fucked.  

Killer's hips stuttered as he got close again. The feeling of getting fucked himself was almost too much. He was feeling pleasure from both sides as the girl behind him, rammed into his sweet spot. He had to stop. He didn't want to finish yet. Killer was used to being the giver, today, he wanted to be selfish. He wanted to be the one cumming over and over again. He let go of his self-control, pumping straight through his orgasm, allowing himself to cum. He let out a guttural moan as he was fucked from behind until he saw stars, spilling his seed until it leaked from around where his cock was buried.

They allowed him no rest as he was pushed onto his back. The girl with the strap puled out during the rearrangement, and slowly pushed the silicone cock back into Killer, causing another small spurt of cum to leak from his tip. Her hand smeared it down his cock as she started pumping it back to life. He wanted to cum over and over again and that's exactly what he was going to get.

Kid, ever the problem child, grew more and more frustrated. He had several girls to accompany him, at the moment two were taking turns sucking his cock. It had been half-hard the entire time. He hadn't even drank that much, so what gives? He demanded more girls, with little improvement. He was being pampered with any number of techniques. Some nipple play here, some asshole teasing there, and still his cock refused to stand tall. It wasn't the girls. They were all quite stunning, each in her own unique way. He knew why it was like this, and couldn't admit it to himself. 

Only when he let his eyes close, and pretend that it was you who was touching him, did his erection grow. He had to pretend it was your tight cunt wrapped around his cock when one of the girls was riding him. He had to pretend it was you who was stroking him or touching him. He had to pretend it was you when he fucked them. And he had to pretend it was you to cum. But it wasn't satisfying. He had to have the real thing. 

Kid begrudgingly got up. He tugged his pants on but left everything else on the floor. He walked in the direction that your collar alerted him to, pausing briefly to listen in to the other rooms. Everyone else could enjoy themselves freely. Why couldn't he? It wasn't fair. This was something completely new to him. Never had he been like this. He nearly bowled over the Madame, who had slipped into the hallway. 

"Something wrong? Were my girls not satisfactory?"

"Nah. They were fine."

She studied his face. "But they weren't what you wanted, or rather, who you wanted, were they?" She had seen it enough times to know.

Kid frowned. 

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Kid frowned even more.

"Have you told her how you feel?"

"And say what?!" This was so stupid. Talking about this in a whorehouse with the head whore. "That I haven't been able to get her dumb face out of my head since I first saw her? That she's so fucking annoying she makes my stomach hurt? That she makes me insane when she does stupid shit that might kill her? Those aren't feelings!" Kid released a breath. It felt good to say something out loud. He hoped no one had heard it though.

"You're right. Those aren't feelings." She held up one finger. "It's one feeling."

"That's not-! I don't-!" Kid stepped past her. "Where's Y/N?" Kid turned and growled. "UNRELATED!" 

"Very end of the hallway." The Madame smiled a knowing smile. How lucky you were to have someone so passionate. She walked to the back room, where the girls hung out or recovered and freshened up. She walked through to another back room filled with tools and props. Someone had left out the ingredients for their infamous Snake Venom shot, a powerful aphrodisiac, except there was a lot less of the active ingredient left in the bottle than there should have been. Whoever mixed it must have not been paying attention and doubled the amount. It was perfectly safe to ingest, but it was no wonder you hadn't come out of the back room yet. It was going to take a while for the effects to wear off. 

Kid huffed and stomped down the hallway, stopping at the end. He pressed his ear against the door. There was a lot of whimpering and whining behind it, maybe even... crying? It was enough for Kid to step in. Whatever scene lay in front of him, he could never have conjured in his head. You were lying across dark sheets with a silk robe falling off your body, which was bare underneath. He could see that your skin was coated in sweat and your entire body was trembling. There was a blindfold over your eyes and the girls surrounding you were teasing you with feathers or ice cubes against your sensitive skin. There were soft, loose restraints holding your wrists and ankles to keep you from flailing too much. Your thighs rubbed against each other as much as the restraints allowed and your back arched off the bed with frustration. The girls didn't give into your pleads to be touched, hence the tear streaked cheeks that Kid could see from the doorway.

"Please. I want- I want-"

"What is it?" One of the girls giggled.

"G-gimme my boys." You panted. "They'll h-help m-me."

"What a coincidence. One of your boys just walked in."

Kid felt himself be pushed towards you, the door slamming behind him. He was pushed until his knees touched the edge of the bed, amber eyes devouring your erotic form. A girl took his hand and spread it on your thigh. The rough skin of his palm elicited a moan that went straight to his groin. A moan like that just from one small touch? His eyes drifted to the sheets below you and how soaked they were. What was going on with you that you had clearly been cumming for a while and still acted as if you hadn't been touched at all?

You couldn't see anything but there was a faint smell of weld smoke and oil. "Kid?" Judging from the feel of his hand, it was definitely Kid. He had the roughest palm since he only had the one to work with. You heard the jingle and felt the tug of your collar. "Kid!" Your wrists were held back from trying to grab him. "Oh fuck please, Kid. Please." You couldn't articulate anything past that. In the time that you had been in this room, something happened to you. The part of your brain that controlled lust was uninhibited, running rampant. The thing about sex with strangers is that it didn't matter how they perceived you because you would never see them again. When you were with one of your crewmates, part of you was preoccupied with keeping up your prideful, tough girl front. But now, you couldn't give any less of a shit how Kid saw you. You felt like you would combust if you didn't cum soon. Whatever they had given you made it impossible to be satisfied. Even when they made you cum over and over again without ever touching any of your erogenous zones, it wasn't enough. You needed to get fucked and you needed it now. 

A chuckle rumbled in his throat. You were so cute begging without any pride holding you back. It was raw lust controlling you. "Don't ya worry, doll. Yer captain will take care of ya." 

You whined at his promising words, toes curling in anticipation. A breath was shakily sucked through your teeth as you felt his hand slide up your thigh to the silk tie that was still around your middle and untie it. His hand was splayed over your stomach and dragged up to your throat, pausing to squeeze before continuing to cup your cheek. You turned your head, chasing his thumb with your mouth. He let you suck on his thumb before switching it with his index and middle fingers. You swiped your tongue against them and your cheeks were hollow as you sucked your saliva off them. Kid pressed them further past your lips until you gagged. 

Kid took your saliva and used it to pump himself, not that he really needed to since he had been rock hard the second he stepped in the room. He got on top of you and seemed to change his mind about what he was going to do, turning around so that his cock loomed over your face. He positioned it against your lips and you opened wide. Kid's girth was hard to take. He moved slowly at first so you could get used to the feeling, at the same time bending down to lick a stripe down your cunt, tasting all the times you'd cum without him. There was a vibration around his cock as you moaned.

You didn't even care that Kid tasted like another woman's pussy, or that he was fucking your face, one of your least favorite things to do, especially with him because his cock was suffocatingly big. All you cared about was getting to your climax. More tears fell from your eyes and saliva leaked from the corners of your mouth as Kid moved faster. You were hardly aware of yourself gagging on him because a few strokes of his tongue were sending you to the moon. You felt the brush of teeth against your clit and that was your undoing. His cock muffled your cry of release. The restraints tugged against your skin as your body attempted to contort. Your muscles were beginning to get sore with the amount of times they had clenched during your orgasms. Without warning, salty, thick cum poured down your throat.

"Oh fuck!" Kid came much faster than he thought. He got off on how only a few of his touches turned you into a writhing mess. He took his cock from your mouth and watched you cough, choking on his seed. "What's wrong, doll? Couldn't take it?" He turned around to wipe the cum from the edges of your mouth and stuff those fingers back between your lips so you could clean them off.

"Need more." Your back arched off the bed again. You hadn't stopped moving, trying to gain more friction between your legs. "Captain, fuck my pussy please," you begged. "Touch me."

Kid was definitely going to ask for a to go sample of whatever they gave you. He trailed his fingers from your mouth to the apex of your slit, where he rubbed in slow, lazy circles. He could already feel you trembling against his touch. "What if I want yer ass?"

You shivered and groaned. "Take whatever you want. Just m-make me cum some more." It was confusing to want to stop cumming because it was beginning to exhaust you, yet still crave the release. You couldn't see because of the blindfold, but you could tell Kid was grinning by the inflection of his voice.

The girls who were in the room had mostly dissipated, though a few were still left in case anyone needed anything, or wanted them to jump back in. Kid asked one of them for lube. He spread a decent amount on his fingers.

You could hear some adjusting of position and feel the weight shift on the bed. There was a wet squelch of lube being squirted from the bottle. Then a cool sensation of the liquid touching your asshole. You bit your lip as Kid slipped his index finger in easily. He pushed in and out a few times before adding his middle finger. With that came a mild burning with the stretch. The third finger was when you started to squirm. It danced the line between pleasure and pain. There was another cold sensation as Kid pressed his metal thumb to your bud. A low vibration was added with the fourth finger to ease the painful stretch. 

By this time, Kid was fully hard again. He removed his hand from your ass and transferred the lubricant to his cock, adding more as well. He admired the small gape before pushing his cock in. Even with four fingers, there was still some stretching to be done. 

The feeling of being entered made your pussy clench around nothing. You were full and yet empty at the same time. You felt Kid release the restraints on your ankles and you greedily wrapped your legs around him, pushing against his ass to make him move.

He grabbed your hips and pulled you against his own until he bottomed out. Fuck, he loved seeing your hole stuffed, and he loved being stuffed in it. He loved seeing how open and pink and wet your greedy pussy was, just begging for another cock. For now, his finger would have to do. 

You groaned when you felt him press his metal finger against your entrance. He couldn't go past the joint for safety reasons, but the cold sensation and something to grip against was good enough. He moved his finger and his hips at the same time, building that release yet again in the pit of your belly. You were getting closer with every movement, even if it wasn't a full thrust. Kid removed his finger and focused on pounding into you, sensing that you want more. 

"F-fuck. K-keep go-nghhh." You threw your head back and came hard on his cock. 

Kid couldn't resist letting himself cum again. Your ass was so tight around him, and like a vice when you came. The way you were slowly coming undone turned him on. You didn't want to stop and neither did he until you were fucked silly and stupid. Even now, right after you had cum, you were already grinding on his softening cock, still in your ass. 

"Girlie, stop squirmin' or I'm gonna get Wire to tie ya up."

"Oh fuck yes. Please."

Kid was very much used to you resisting everything he said and was taken aback.

"Tell him to gimme that monster cock, too."  

Kid untied the rest of your restraints and flipped you over his lap, giving your ass a hard spank. "Mine ain't good enough?" 

Thoughts were difficult to form when every word and every touch went straight to the nerves connected to your cunt. "I n-need more."  

Kid spread your cheeks to watch his cum leak from your stretched hole. "Little slut wants all her holes filled." Kid saw your pussy clench. 

You nodded. Getting fucked by all of them at once would fix you, probably. 

Kid beckoned one of the girls to fetch Wire and another to get rope. He would get the others when the time came, but he figured Wire might have some fun with you first. The tall man walked through the door a few minutes later, looking bewildered, glancing between you and Kid. Then a dark grin appeared on his face. There was noticeable rope burn in symmetric lines across his body that Kid didn't comment on. 

"Look what we have here." He liked what he saw. You looked like a bitch in heat, melted across Kid's lap and literally begging to get fucked. 

"She won't keep her ass still." He nodded to the various ropes that were piled on the bed. "Ya know I'm not patient enough for that shit." 

Wire was all too eager to grab you from Kid's lap and throw you on the bed, facedown. He had wanted to bind and gag you since you came on board, mostly for practical reasons. He grabbed both of your hands and placed them behind your back, starting from there, he tied your forearms together horizontally. He wanted to create a harness around you so they could manhandle you however they liked by grabbing it. 

You felt your arms become more and more immobilized as Wire tied you up. The large man had his knee on your back, firmly keeping you in place. The pressure pressed your pelvis into the sheets and if you wiggled your hips you could achieve som friction. You moaned as Wire pressed you down harder. Wire slapped your ass, making you stop. When the sting wore off, you couldn't help but do it again, earning another smack. The cycle repeated enough that by the time Wire had finished, your ass was full of bright red handprints. 

Wire flipped you over again so you were face up. "You're being a brat." 

Still blindfolded, you could tell where Wire was based on the way the bed shifted. You stretched your foot out to find Wire's cock, rubbing the underside with the sole of your foot, lightly pressing it to his abdomen. "Give it to me," you whined. You pulled your ankles up to the back of your thighs and let your knees fall open. 

"Needy little brat. You're dripping for me. Tell me how badly you want it." Wire loomed over you, bringing his fingers to your entrance, touching you so lightly you wouldn't be able to feel it normally.

"Wire, please. I h-have to have it. I h-have to c-cum on it." Your hips bucked against his fingertips.

"Will you be a good fuck toy and take everything I give you?"

You nodded vigorously. "I'll do whatever you w-want." 

"Don't cum until I say you can. Understand?" 

You nodded again, legs shaking with need as he pressed his fingers into you. He worked you open to make sure you could handle him. You didn't know if you could actually keep yourself from finishing in this state, so you hoped he would go easy on you. He withdrew his fingers, satisfied. The continuous orgasms helped you stay wet and ready. Wire pressed the tip of his cock into you. You held your breath, trying not to cum just from that. He couldn't sheath his entire cock into you due to its length, but you took more of him than he thought you could. 

Kid stroked himself at a lazy pace watching the scene before him. He twitched seeing your cunt at its limit and he swore he could see a slight bulge in your stomach whenever Wire went all the way in. Your increasingly needy voice brought his erection back to life in no time at all. 

"Fuck. You're gripping me so tight. Don't you dare cum yet." He felt your walls twitch around him. 

The threats coming from Wire were only making it harder for you to contain your orgasm. You could feel your thighs shaking, trying to hold it off. "I'm c-can't hold it." Wire fucked into you at a fast pace, bumping into your cervix with every thrust. 

"You can. Your slutty pussy is just being greedy." He could tell you really were on the edge with how sloppy his thrusts sounded when his hips slammed into yours. He could barely pull out you were clenched so hard around him. 

"P-please." You were gritting your teeth and tears fell from behind the fabric covering your eyes trying to hold out. 

"Take all my cum first and then you can."

There were no more words coming out so you nodded. All your thinking power went to your focus on not finishing. It was like he was dangling you over the edge but not letting you go over. 

"Fuck!" Wire released his cum inside, more spurting out with every stroke, much of it spilling out around his shaft as it disappeared in your hole. 

When you felt the twitch of his cock and the sticky sensation on your thighs, you finally let go. Screaming as your walls tried to milk more cum out of Wire. Without a second to spare, Wire lifted your torso from the bed so you were in a sitting position and you felt his hot, sticky member on your cheek. 

"Clean it off."

You were still blindfolded, and you couldn't use your hands, so you used your mouth to feel what you were doing. You licked all the juices from him until it was only you saliva coating it. And even there, you didn't stop. Finding the tip, you sucked on it, getting the last salty drops from his slit, and taking as much of him as you could in your mouth to make him hard again. You felt his hand in your hair. 

"Good girl. Keep doing that." Wire pressed your face into him until you were gagging. He grabbed you by the ropes and laid you down before getting on top of you again, this time his legs were on either side of your chest.

You could feel his heavy member sitting between your breasts. His hands were big enough to take one breast in each, which was saying something since your chest wasn't small. The tip of his cock pressed against your lips and you opened your mouth letting him in. You heard him spit and felt him squish your tits around his shaft. He was big enough that he could tittyfuck you and you could suck him off at the same time. 

This was the scene that Heat walked into. He was told he was needed here, but it looked like you had been well taken care of. Kid held a finger up to his lips, indicating to Heat not to reveal himself. He walked around to get a better view. Your knees were pressed together, though the mess on your thighs and how wet the sheets were betrayed the amount of times you or someone else had cum. 

"Clean my cum out of her." Wire didn't have to say it twice. 

You assumed it was Kid who parted your legs. You quivered at the feeling of hot breath against your thighs and then against your exposed pussy. Your mouth was too stuffed to say anything. All you could do was moan as lips moved against your overstimulated clit, then licked down your center. A tongue slowly lapped at your folds, teasing your entrance as it got closer. This didn't feel like Kid. This felt like someone making out with your pussy, not bullying it. So it could either be Heat or Killer, though you hadn't heard anyone come in. The tongue moved in and out of you, dipping deep to reach all of Wire's mess. The next pass of the tongue lingered on your clit, where lips stayed to suck at it. Wire's weight prevented your back from coming off the bed, though your hips could still move to grind. 

You felt one hand come off your breast before you felt a slap across the face. 

"Don't pay attention to him. Suck my cock."

You moved your head as much as you could to please Wire. You flicked your tongue along the edge of his glans, swirled it around the tip, pressed it into his slit. 

You felt another slap on the opposite side. 

"Too slow." 

It hurt, yet you wanted more of it. And you again, were so close to another release, clit aching in someone's mouth. You tried to go faster and couldn't do much more than you were already doing. You felt both of Wire's hands leave your breasts and his weight shift. Then suddenly his hands were gripping your hair, tilting your head up slightly. 

"If you can't listen to instruction, I'm gonna teach you how." Wire used his grip as leverage and pulled you along his shaft while he fucked your throat. 

The juxtaposition of the rough treatment on one end and gentle on the other was confusing to your horny brain. It hurt your throat when Wire forced his way deeper, and you tried your best not to gag. You very much enjoyed the way he was roughly tugging your hair though and it made you groan around his shaft. It was hard to breathe with Wire's cock taking up all the space in your throat. Black tugged at the edges of your vision as you teetered on the edge of both passing out and climaxing. With a gasp, you could breathe again and you felt warm spurts hit your face and chest. The rush of oxygen sent fire through your lungs and pushed you over the edge. Your thighs squeezed around the source of pleasure between your legs, which must have been Heat, judging by the hair texture. Killer's was softer. You shrieked with the intensity of the orgasm, irritating your now sore throat.

Wire grabbed Heat from between your thighs by his hair and shoved him into your chest. "Clean that up too, dog."

You felt Heat lick and suck at different parts of your chest, lingering around your nipples to play with them a little. He moved up to your neck, burying his face in its crook to bite, earning a whine from you. 

Wire's eyes narrowed. "Heat, are you fucking around or are you doing as I told you?" 

A whimper came from Heat above you and he went back to licking up the dots of cum on your face. 

"Heat," you whined. "Kiss me." Your legs wrapped around him, pinning him place. "Fuck me." 

"You want to get fucked by this mongrel?" You were startled by how close Wire was to your ear. "Fine. You want to be fucked by an animal then you can get fucked like one." Wire shoved Heat off you and flipped you on your stomach, pulling your ass up in the air. 

You felt Heat behind you. Your cunt was slick enough he slid right in, causing you both to moan. Heat grabbed your arms and used them like a handle to pull you backwards onto him. His ground his cock up into you, reaching for the spot he knew would make you cum. 

Wire's voice was in your ear again. "Tell him what you want."

"P-please make me cum, H-Heat."

"No, tell him what you really want." Wire prompted. "You're a bitch in heat aren't you? Tell me you want to get bred." 

"I-" It was hard to think of anything when Heat was purposefully trying to make you cum quickly. 

"Tell him or I'll make him stop." 

"B-breed me, Heat. Fuck!" Saying it out loud made your cunt clench. "Fucking breed me!"

Kid had walked back in with Killer at the right time because hearing that tear from your lips made them both hard.

It was too much. Heat finally got you to your climax without a moment to spare. Those words had an instant effect of him. You were faintly aware of his dick twitching inside you as you pressed your face int the sheets and cried out. You couldn't even hold yourself up anymore, sinking down with your legs splayed as soon as Heat pulled out. There was a hand on your back.

"Look at you, breadcrumb. I guess you're more of a glazed donut now. You did so well taking everyone." Killer cooed, leaning down to be closer to you. "Do you think you could go one more round? For me?"

You nodded. The effects of the shot were wearing off and exhaustion was setting in. 

"That's our girl." He kissed the top of your head and pulled you to sit upright, holding on so you didn't fall over. He admired how pink and puffy your pussy was after hours of orgasms. It was still so wet and glistening, partially with your own fluids and partially Heat's cum. 

You felt the weight shift on the mattress again, in front of you and behind you. You were pulled into a lap, an erection rubbing your lower stomach. Then you were lifted and placed on it, as hips thrusting into you slowly, before you were settled into a lap. You had to lean forward and rest against him. You leaned up slightly to kiss his neck, but were met with helmet after a few seconds kissing upward. You made a noise of disappointment. 

Kid's voice came from behind you. "Sorry, doll. There's company." 

You felt him kiss up your back and bite the back of your neck, sending a shiver up your spine. Killer's hand grabbed your asscheeks and spread them apart, using them to stroke himself a few times before stopping to steady you. Again, you felt the cool sensation of lube being applied to your asshole. You expected one of them to lay back, but they both stayed on their knees, sandwiching you between them. You bit down on Killer's shoulder and groaned as Kid pushed his way into you with his dick. Killer held your hips and helped you ride both of them at once. You were doubled over, leaned against Killer's shoulder and drooling on it in a matter of minutes. You were so weak and so close to climaxing again. 

"Y-you both f-feel so g-good. So b-big." 

"That's it, bunny. Cum for us."

"Let it out."

You clenched around both of them, moaning wantonly with your orgasm, feeling your slick coat Killer and run down your thighs. Panting, you fell backward onto Kid's shoulder. He trailed a metal finger up your center and made a weak spark against your nipple, making you gasp. He caught it with his own mouth, placed over yours. He wanted to taste the sweet noises coming from your mouth. Your tongues mingled and his grunts were exchanged for your moans. With kiss-swollen lips, you pulled away.

"Killer, p-please. I want t-to kiss you." 

He made a noise. 

You don't know when she got here, but you heard Jade's voice, "Girls, l-leave us." 

Why did it sound like...? 

Suddenly, you could see. Wire grabbed the blindfold from you and tied it around Jade's eyes instead. Jade who was in very much the same position as you, though with Heat and Wire. "O-oh." You supposed you didn't hear her over yourself even though they were right next to you. Your eyes were glued to where Wire's dick was fully buried in her ass. Impressive. 

"Do you like watching, too?" Killer teased. "She liked watching you so much she had to come try it." 

You looked back at him to see that he had removed his helmet, and promptly attacked his lips with your own. Slowly, you felt your arms becoming more free. Killer's hands had left your hips to untie you. When you were freed, you stretched your arms, leaning back again and lacing them around Kid's thick neck. The change in angle had Killer hard-pressed against your clit from the inside. Kid pushed his mouth against yours again, panting. With your own noises stifled by him, you could hear Jade's pleasure tumbling from her lips. Her noises went straight to your pussy. The urge struck to break from Kid and pull Jade to your mouth instead. She tasted sweet, and even sweeter were the high-pitched cries coming from her mouth.

"C-cumming," she wailed and leaned on Heat, twitching. 

"Oh fuck. I'm- g-onna..." Your eyes squeezed shut as you felt your walls flutter around Killer and your ass clench around Kid. Your cry almost sounded pained. You were starting to cramp and your throat was sore from all the panting, screaming, and Wire. You were aching and you wanted to be done, but your body was still ready for another.

Killer could tell you were about used up. "It's ok. You're doing great." He held you against his chest with a hand on your back.

"O-one more." You panted. "Gotta c-cum one more t-time." You pushed yourself up. "L-let me do it."

"Are ya sure, bunny? Ya look fucked out." 

As an answer, you moved yourself up and down, grinding your hips against both of them. They let you do the work, but they helped support you, Killer with his hands on your hips, and Kid with his hands slightly higher. If this wasn't an orgy in a brothel with other people present, it might have been romantic. You swapped between kissing Killer and Kid. Your eyes were half-lidded, and you were basically on autopilot with a singular goal in mind. 

"K-Kid can you do t-that thing?"

He had no idea what you were referring to and you didn't appear to be in a state where you could coherently answer. So he guessed. In the background, it sounded like the others were wrapping up too.

As you rode them, Kid pressed his metal finger against your clit, vibrating the metal. A stream of curses left your mouth as you approached your orgasm. You felt the molten hot core within your belly burn brighter with every drag of their cocks inside you. "W-want you t-to c-um first." Your legs were starting to feel like jelly. "Wan to f-f-feel it." Kid pressed his finger more firmly to your core and laughed darkly, making your legs shake. He had no intentions of finishing first. Killer pushed you onto his cock and thrusted into your sweet spot, having you burying your face into his chest to moan. Kid pulled you back so Killer could see your face. There was the slightest, tinging spark, like what Kid had done to your nipple earlier, causing the little bundle of nerves to be set off. You were pressed into Kid's chest with your back arching, eyes rolled back, mouth open without noise coming out because you couldn't release your breath. You heard a moan from Killer as your cunt milked him dry, seed spilling from between your thighs. A flood of warmth spread over your body as endorphins rushed through your blood. Kid's dick was buried in your ass and the way you tightened around him made it hard to move.

Kid made a few more pumps into your ass before falling over the edge himself, muttering into your ear, almost a whisper, "Ah fuck! I love ya." 

Next

Tag list: @bbnbhm @nocturnalrorobin

[djarinova]

eren jaeger x f! reader

words - 1k

Marks on Eren's back catch the attention of Jean and Connie (and also the rest of the guys at the gym)

content - 18+, descriptions of sex, back scratches, reader is called hot and is referred to as a girl

thanks to @jeanboyjean for encouraging me to write this! :)

"Fuck, Eren, what happened to you?" Connie laughs, elbowing Jean to get his attention, their eyes widening as they look at the dark headed man in front of them. 

Eren paid them no mind, listening vaguely to their laughter while he focused on getting his gym shirt out of his bag, swapping it with the t-shirt he'd already taken off. 

"Seriously Eren, what the hell is up with your back?" Asked Jean. "You must have had one hell of a night last night for your back to end up like that…"

That caught Eren's attention. He swivelled around, arms already half inside his gym shirt, ready to ask Jean what the hell he meant by that, when it dawned on him. 

You'd been at his place last night, you'd decided to crash there after the movie the two of you had seen at the cinema, since it had ended pretty late. It had taken all but 10 minutes before Eren had you underneath him, your legs were wrapped tightly around his waist as he drilled into your tight cunt. He had been wanting you all day, he'd been thinking about how badly he needed to feel you clenching around his cock. And you were never one to disappoint him. 

It must have been right before Eren was about to cum that your hands had found their way to his back. Your whines had increased, your voice barely able to say a single word, and he had known you were close, the same as him. But he must have been too worked up to notice your nails digging into his flesh. Too overwhelmed by the pulsing of your pussy to realise you were dragging your nails down his back. 

But he realised now. The laughter from the guys was more than enough to make him understand what you'd done to him. 

"Oh my god Eren, your girl must have some killer nails to leave marks like that!" Connie exclaimed. 

"There's no way y/n did that, you guys do realise that would have to mean this idiot was actually good in bed?" Jean teased.

Connie let out a roaring laugh at this, and as Eren looked around he realised that all the guys were agreeing. Marco stood to his left with a wide grin on his face. Armin was on his right, a blush covered his cheeks but the corners of his lips were curled upwards. And Reiner and Bertolt were both staring at Eren wide eyed, although the latter was at least showing some semblance of embarrassment about the whole thing.

"Oh fuck off, Jean-boy. You could be twice as good looking as you are now and still not get a girl as hot as mine." Eren retorted. He pulled his gym shirt over his head and shot Jean a glare. 

"Pft, yeah right." Jean rolled his eyes. "My game is way better than yours, besides, did you even know how to kiss before y/n?" 

Eren's eyes narrowed, he took a step towards Jean, and Armin attempted to grab his arm, but the dark haired boy shook him off. 

"As if you're any better Jean, didn't you think cum was stored in boobs until like… last year?" Marco said, laughing. 

Jean's face flooded with heat, the blush covering his cheeks completely. The gym changing room erupted with noise, all the guys laughing over each other as Jean tried—and failed—to defend himself. Connie snorted, barely able to contain himself, as he sank to his knees after a failed attempt to grab onto Armin for balance. Even Reiner and Bertolt were unable to contain themselves, both of them clutching their chests as they laughed. Marco seemed more than happy with himself, thrilled to take any opportunity to tease Jean, and to stop the obvious argument that was bound to happen if he let Jean continue to poke fun at Eren.

The events of the changing room were long forgotten by the time the group met up again that evening at the bar—at least they were for Eren. It was the usual Friday night drinks outing, everyone was there. Mikasa and Sasha even managed to save a table big enough for the whole group to sit at. 

You found yourself squished between Eren and Marco, you were semi checked out of the conversation, focused on what you were going to order next, when the sound of your name pulled you back in.

“Hm?” You asked, looking around at the boys in front of you. 

You felt Eren tense ever so slightly, his hand coming to rest on your thigh, sending shivers down your spine.

“I asked if you wanted to show us your claws. We all saw your handiwork on Eren’s back at the gym this morning...” Connie’s voice was a little too loud, likely due to the last round of shots Reiner had bought, and it had gathered the attention of the whole group—even a couple people from the table next to you had turned their heads your way.

“What are you—ohh…” You felt your face grow hot, you turned to Eren and saw that he had a shit eating grin on his face, so you knew he wouldn't be any help.

“C’mon kitty, we know those claws have gotta be lethal, let us take a look.” Jean grinned.

You rolled your eyes, “I think maybe you should focus more on your sex life than mine, Jean, that red head at the bar has been staring at you since we arrived and you haven’t even noticed yet…” 

Jean’s head whipped around, and you let out a laugh.

“That's my girl.” Eren said. He then angled his head down and spoke quietly for only you to hear, “you should definitely take some photos of what you did to me when we go home tonight, angel. And then after we’ve fucked maybe you could take another photo, so I can see just how good I made you feel…”

You let out a shaky breath, and nodded your head.

[henrioo]

°•*⁀➷ SMAU: EUSTASS KID

꒰ SYNOPSIS ꒱ : Having social medias while dating Eustass Kid can be chaotic, but you wouldn't change that for nothing.

꒰ WARNINGS ꒱ : Male reader! Homo/gay relationship! Mlm! Law and Kid having some serious discussions (not that serious but mostly aggressive) a lot of curse, some slurs (fag), virgin shamming (kid doesn't like virgins), a lot of dirty jokes and some nsfw insinuations

꒰ NOTES ꒱ : This SMAU was actually in progress some time ago, but I never finished, so I decide to finish now to post while I finish the others stories because they are most hard to finish. Again, women = block, I am not discussing this anymore so be careful :3 and for the masc people welcome I have a lot of things planned for us hehehe

ThepunkOwner posted

liked by DeathEMO, ThepunkOwner and 332,546

ThepunkOwner how would ever say that Eustass Kid can be this soft?

view all 689 comments

TheREDpunk no one because I would kill them

╰ Pastakiller yeah you aren't that badass saying that in a photo you look like a child petting a cat

╰ TheREDpunk fuck you

ThepunkOwner posted

liked by hotheat, MONKEY, pasta killer and 465,789

ThepunkOwner the disadvantages of dating a band leader is this asshole getting back home at 3am and still sleeping

view all 1092 comments

Hotheat bruh the show didn't end that late

╰ ThepunkOwner then where fucking my boyfriend was???

╰ HighTensionWire ask Killer???

╰ Pastakiller don't put me in that shit, he wasn't at with me

╰ ThepunkOwner can you guys just tell me where he was before I get single again?????

╰ TheREDpunk I WAS SLEEPING IN THE PARK BECAUSE I WAS TO DRUNK TO GET BACK HOME BECAUSE YOU ALWAYS MAKE ME SLEEP IN THE COUCH WHEN I WAS DRUNK, THAT'S ENOUGH FOR YOU??? CAN YOU JUST BACK TO BED NOW???

╰ ThepunkOwner I'm fucking killing you when you stop sleeping but yeah I gonna get back to bed

TheREDpunk posted

liked by HawHaw, ThepunkOwner and 890,667

TheREDpunk I'm fucking getting single after that

View all 2098 comments

Pastakiller nha you not, you are single for like years before (y/n), no one can hold you stupid ass

╰ TheREDpunk EXCUSE ME??? A LOT OF GIRLS WAS INTERESTED IN ME WHEN I WAS SINGLE OKAY????

╰ DeathEMO and what? You are gay, don't make any difference if girls like you, you don't like girls

╰ TheREDpunk WTF CALL YOU HERE???

╰ DeathEMO cry about it fucking fag

╰ TheREDpunk WTF YOU CALLING FAG??? YOU DON'T LIKE GIRLS EITHER

╰ ThepunkOwner how a ice cream cone start this???

Pastakiller posted

liked by MONKEY, Hotheat, TheREDpunk and 21.079

Pastakiller these two drunk asses are crying in my coach because they love each other so much?

view all 1567 comments

Hotheat they stole my bunny

MONKEY Gizao is funny, he asks me to be the priest to their marriage, I accept

╰ DeathEMO first you cannot be a priest, second he probably gonna regret that and is gonna even invite you to his marriage

╰ MONKEY oh :(

Pastakiller posted

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liked by MONKEY, hotheat, theREDpunk and 31.897

Pastakiller while we have Kid showing the snow dick he tried to do, we have (y/n) trying to make some animal with the snow and failing again for the sixth time

ThepunkOwner I'm gonna be successful, I know

╰ Pastakiller no you not, just give up

TheREDpunk you guys can't deny that was looking like a small dick

╰ Pastakiller yes we can

╰ Hotheat yup, definitely not a dick

╰ HighTensionWire that wasn't even a good try

╰ TheREDpunk I hate all of you

DeathEMO actually looks like a small dick... Your small dick

╰ TheREDpunk I'm fucking killing you

ThepunkOwner posted

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ThepunkOwner looks at my poor baby... He tried so hard in his exam that his sleep from exhaustion...

DeathEMO yep... Definitely because of trying hard on his exam... Obviously not because you two were in a part until 5am... Obviously not

Rorozo bruh Eustass drink his ass off

ThepunkOwner can you two stop difaming my man??

╰ DeathEMO no

╰ Rorozo no

ThepunkOwner you guys are not invited to the wedding

TheREDpunk posted

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TheREDpunk Try to find another punk guy that would take his boyfriend to Disney because he wants to take photos with the princess and fail miserably

DeathEMO punks don't do that because they have dignity

╰ TheREDpunk well I cannot have dignity but at least I have a boyfriend you fucking virgin ass

╰ MONKEY oooooooh he got you traffy heheheh

pastakiller you taked photos with Mickey ears wtf you trying to hide?

╰ TheREDpunk stfu

ThepunkOwner don't worry bae, you still can be my scary punk even if you almost cry taking a photo with Mulan

╰ TheREDpunk SHE BADASS OKAY???? SHE LITERALLY WON A WAR WTF YOU ARE SAYING???? HAVE YOU WON A WAR? NO? THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT

ThepunkOwner posted

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ThepunkOwner He didn't want to ride in the ponies with me :(( but at least I won a kiss

TheREDpunk the only one I want to ride is you baby 😈😈

╰ pastakiller Jesus nobody needed to read that

╰ DeathEMO bottom Eustass kid confirmed??? Ooooh I'm sending this in the college group chat

╰ HawHaw he always looked like a power bottom tbh

╰ DinoDrake yeah I don't think nobody is actually surprised...

╰ TheREDpunk WTF YOU GUYS ARE SAYING??? WHAT'S THE PROBLEM I WANT TO RIDE MY BOYFRIEND HUH??? YOU GUYS ARE JEALOUS??? YOU FUCKIN VIRGINS

╰ DeathEMO stfu and go choke with your boyfriend dick

╰ TheREDpunk YES I WILL AND HIS DICK IS DEFINITELY BIGGER THAN YOURS

╰ ThepunkOwner I just posted a cute photo of how this ended in a fight about my dick?

MONKEY is it true that your dick is bigger than Torao? Can I see it?

╰ ThepunkOwner NO

╰ TheREDpunk NO

TheREDpunk posted

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TheREDpunk Happy birthday to us baby, another year having your beautiful ass on my side

ThepunkOwner sometimes I think I'm only my ass to you, and he is not that big

╰ TheREDpunk he definitely is, but dw prince, you can be the most ugly man in the world and I still gonna love you

╰ ThepunkOwner oh... Who would think that Eustass Kid could be romantic... I love you too babe

╰ TheREDpunk is better you do, because I'm never letting you go, you can be sure that you gonna be only mine even after death

╰ ThepunkOwner cute <3

╰ TheREDpunk only for you <3

[eldritch-nightmare]

celebrating the holidays.

a/n: hi here's my short replacement for the eyeless jack fic. that one is still gonna get posted!! just may take a while bc it's getting longer than i intended it to be lol. anyways i tried to keep the holiday relatively vague but since i personally celebrate christmas, i may slip up a bit. couldn't decide who to write for so i just spun a wheel six times and went with the ones selected.

includes: the bloody painter, nurse ann, jane the killer (arkensaw), eyeless jack, kate the chaser, and homicidal liu.

warnings: not proofread, very brief mention of helen's childhood, literally just fluff, also inconsistent length but that's to be expected atp, reader consumes meat in jack's section so sorry if u don't, nsfw elements in jack's part my hand slipped guys, blood, lotta kissing.

THE BLOODY PAINTER

He never cared much for the holidays, even when he was a child. Honestly, it was the one time of year that he dreaded the most.

He's an artist, so you know what that means. Every year, without fail, he would always get some art-related gifts. Not that he was complaining about that or anything, it was really, and still is, the only thing he had much interest in.

He just... found it to be draining. Apparently, at least according to his parents, he was supposed to find the holidays to be a fun, exciting time of year. And he was supposed to be oh so thankful for getting yet another sketchbook or paints from his relatives or whatever.

That was just too much work, honestly. So he grew to dread the holidays, even long after he became the killer he is today.

He's... not quite sure how he feels about the wrapped gift you're holding out in front of him. A part of him wants to reject it, and he almost does, but the barely contained excitement in your expression made him hesitate.

Your excitement only seemed to grow when he took the wrapped gift from you. While he didn't necessarily want or need a gift, he couldn't help but indulge you, especially since you seemed genuinely excited over whatever gift you had gotten him.

Honestly, he wasn't sure what he was expecting when he unwrapped the gift. Something art-related, no doubt. And it was art-related, just not in the way he was expecting.

It was something similar to a scrapbook, but it was really... neat. And more so a collection of art rather than an actual scrapbook. The thing that caught his attention the most was that it was just any old collection of art.

It was his art. You... you took or had his art professionally photographed and you put it in this book. It wasn't every single piece of art he's ever made, but it included a lot from different points of his life. It even included pieces from before he had met you.

He does not cry, no. But you do catch the tiniest smile forming as he flipped through the pages. It's... the nicest gift he's ever gotten before.

Helen's not sure how he'll repay you for getting something like this, so for now you'll just have to accept the tighter-than-usual hug and soft kiss.

NURSE ANN

Ann isn't too sure if she's ever celebrated any holidays before. She has no memories of her life before her... death? Is she dead? Well, she certainly doesn't feel alive.

She's rather indifferent towards the holidays, and honestly she probably won't even realize it's that time of year unless you or someone else point it out to her.

If you want to celebrate with her then she certainly won't stop you, just don't expect her to be the life of the party or anything like that.

You will have to guide her through how to celebrate because she simply will not know. But once she gets a hang of how things work it'll be something she retains for the future.

Ann stares blankly at the... tastefully atrocious sweater you were sporting. There were so many colors and the design clashed in a borderline unbearable way but you somehow made it look good.

Her gaze then drops down to the matching sweater you were holding out for her, an expectant look in your gaze. She thinks she understands, though she still glances up at you in confusion.

You explain that while it's not necessary to do in order to celebrate the holidays, you thought it would be fun to wear matching outfits with her. It's something couples do sometimes, apparently.

After your quick explanation, she silently takes the sweater from your hands and puts it on over what she was already wearing.

It certainly looks odd on her, no doubt, but the fabric is actually pretty soft, and the bright smile that lights up on your face makes it hard for her to care about whether or not the sweater looks good on her.

JANE THE KILLER

Jane hasn't celebrated the holidays since all the shit that's happened to her. She's been so focused on hunting Jeff down that it never even crosses her mind. Hell, she hasn't even celebrated her own birthday in years.

But then you come along and you insist on doing something for the holidays. Not because you necessarily enjoyed the holidays, but mostly because you just wanted her to take a break for once.

It'll take a lot of convincing. You'll have to get her to promise you months in advance, if we're being honest.

And if she didn't have such a soft spot for you, she probably wouldn't even humor the idea you had to celebrate. But alas, she loves you, and she finds it hard to say no to you more than she would like to admit.

She huffs in mild annoyance, sticking close to you as you guide her down the streets. She wouldn't normally be in such a crowded place but everyone was so caught up in their own plans for the holidays that no one spared her a single glance.

You wanted to go ice skating. It's not typically a traditional way to celebrate the holidays, at least not for her, but it seemed as if it would be fun. And it would give her an excuse to be close to you, so.

When you guys finally reach the ice skating rink, you're bouncing in excitement and eagerly pulling Jane along to go and put some blades on. She lets you, because your hand is oh so warm in hers and the way the lights shine in your eyes makes her feel... peaceful.

Now, there's no denying that she has never gone ice skating before. Hell, she's never been roller skating. So the moment you two were out on the ice, she was clinging to you to keep herself from falling.

It was embarrassing, and she almost wanted to storm off out of frustration but you never laughed at her. You would help her catch her balance whenever she slipped. You only laughed when you slipped.

You were even fine with sticking to one side of the rink, always keeping Jane behind you whenever another person would skate too close.

And when the two of you decided you had enough, she couldn't help but pull you close right as you go to step out of the rink, planting a deep kiss on your lips and leaving you dazed as she goes to take her blades off.

EYELESS JACK

Similarly to Ann, Jack can't remember if he's ever celebrated the holidays before. However, unlike Ann, he does have a vague idea on how people celebrate the holidays. He's not isolated like her.

He's definitely indifferent towards the holidays. He doesn't care much for them, but he's probably willing to celebrate if you really want him to.

Gift giving is not his specialty, dear lord. You will have to sit him down and tell him bluntly what you want so he can find some odd most certainly illegal way of obtaining it.

Jack is, however, an amazing cook and there is nothing that could change my mind on this, so he will definitely be willing to help you make any holiday meal you may want to try out.

Jack is silent as he watches you cook some meat for the meal the two of you had been spending the past few hours or so making. You had family coming over, and you needed dinner to be done before they arrived, so you had enlisted the help of your demonic, cannibalistic boyfriend.

His nose scrunched up in slight disgust at both the sight and smell of the cooking meat, and he grumbled silently under his breath about what a waste it was to cook it.

His mild disgust only seemed to grow more evident when you cut a piece of the meat off and pop it in your mouth to taste test it. He just couldn't understand how you could eat such a thing. Then again, he can't really judge considering he only consumes raw meat. Typically coming from a human.

You hum in delight at the taste, and perhaps it's an instinctual thing humans do, or maybe it's something else, but you cut off another piece and hold it out for him to eat. He just stares, and it takes a moment for you to realize what you had done, letting out a small, embarrassed laugh.

Before you could eat the piece of meat yourself, he was grabbing your wrist and bringing it back to his mouth, eating the cooked meat and biting your finger in the process. You hissed at the feeling of his sharp teeth pricking your skin, but you don't pull your hand away from him.

The meat was disgusting, no offense. You're an amazing cook so it isn't your fault, he just literally cannot consume cooked meat (or really anything that isn't raw/human) and he's going to feel absolutely awful tomorrow but that's for future Jack to worry about.

Present Jack thinks he deserves a reward for putting up with both the smell and taste of cooked meat, and he licks at your bleeding finger like your blood is the best thing he's ever tasted. To him, it was. It certainly helped to erase the taste of cooked meat.

Once he was satisfied, he was pulling you closer to him and kissing you deeply. He bit at your bottom lip until it was bleeding as well, and he couldn't help but groan as your blood invaded his mouth once more, relishing in both the taste and the little gasp that came from you.

He wanted more. Needed, if we're being honest. He found himself craving for you as his hands fell to the hem of your sweatpants, gently tugging at them. A clear sign of his intentions.

You grabbed his wrists before he could continue, breaking the kiss off and smiling slightly when he chased after you. The two of you were breathing heavily, the air in the kitchen feeling a lot thicker now.

Later, you promised. You still had a meal to finish cooking, and your family would be coming by in just a few hours. You sealed the promise with a quick, chaste kiss before taking the meat off the stove and setting it aside to focus on the next part of the meal.

And he helped you. He was patient, and he knew you could keep your promise.

KATE THE CHASER

Considering her sensitivity to light, it's not exactly easy for her to celebrate the holidays since bright lights seem to be a staple in them.

She's not really much of a holiday person anyway, so it's not something that bums her out.

She's probably the only one on this list that's least likely to indulge in celebrating, and will more than likely turn you down if you bring up the offer.

But she does feel a certain fondness in her heart when she sees you getting excited over something in relation to the holidays. While she doesn't enjoy that time of year, she's glad that you do.

Kate keeps her eyes covered as you carefully guide her through the forest. You had a surprise for her, apparently. Something to celebrate the holidays without actually celebrating.

She wasn't immediately thrilled, but you had promised that there would be absolutely no bright lights involved and that she didn't even have to consider it something for the holidays. That was enough to make her willing to indulge you just this once.

Even with her eyes closed, she could practically feel the excitement radiating off of you as you brought her closer to wherever it was you wanted to take her.

You told her to open her eyes shortly after, and she found the two of you standing in front of one of the many abandoned cabins within the forest. She didn't even hesitate to enter the cabin when you motioned for her to. Kate trusted you.

The sight she saw when she stepped inside was... it was breathtaking, honestly.

The walls and the ceiling were covered in glow-in-the-dark snowflakes and stars, illuminating the cabin in a faint green hue. It wasn't a grand gesture or anything of the sort. It was... it was nice.

The glow of the stars and snowflakes was bright enough to illuminate the cabin but dull and dark enough that she didn't have to shy away from it.

That wasn't the only thing you had planned either. She's not sure how much time and effort you put into doing all of this, but you had set up a little space in the cabin. There was even a small projector set up, as well as some food that you knew she enjoyed.

It's definitely the most romantic thing she's ever experienced. And if this is how you want to celebrate the holidays with her, then she definitely won't mind doing this sort of thing again next year.

HOMICIDAL LIU

Similarly to Jane, Liu hasn't really celebrated the holidays since everything that happened. He knows when that time of year comes around, and it makes him feel nostalgic, but he always found it hard to celebrate alone.

He's the one on this list who'll be most excited to celebrate the holidays with you if you ask him to.

It doesn't matter what you wanna do. If you wanna decorate your home, if you wanna give gifts, if you wanna make a meal, if you wanna just stay in and watch some movies and order takeout then he's down.

Sully doesn't care for the holidays and he finds the whole time of year to be annoying, to be honest, so you'll only be celebrating with Liu.

And you decided that you wanted to decorate your home a bit for the holidays. It was a simple way to celebrate the holidays, and you didn't even have to leave your home to get any decorations since you had some stuffed away in a box in your closet.

When you had told Liu that that was your plan, he was eager to join you. It's been so long since he's been able to do anything for the holidays, and he was just... really excited to finally have someone to spend them with.

You made sure to put on some music to play in the background while the two of you got to decorating, and you'd tell him where to put certain things if he didn't know what to do with them.

You two chat with each other as well during all this, sharing random memories and stories from your childhoods. Some were happy, some were sad. Sometimes, Liu would trail off mid-story and you'd have to change the subject to something lighter.

At some point, when a particularly romantic song played, you set down the decoration you were holding and pulled Liu away from the one he was setting out so you could take a break and dance with him.

It got the brightest smile out of him. The brightest one you've ever seen.

The bitter sadness and nostalgia that comes with the holidays lingered. It would always linger, honestly, but it was easier to deal with when he's with you.

And he was excited to make new memories with you. Ones that'll make him smile when the holidays roll around again.

[cryptozoolliegy]

Spring Heeled Jack - Chapter One

Hi so I wrote all of this this morning and my brain is rotten. I may rewrite this later but I REALLY need to get this out so erm

:3

“You understand that if you try to reveal what happened in this room prior to purchases, there will be consequences, yes?”

“Right. Secrets. I understand.”

4 heard the voices again and the shame returned. He felt so useless now. He needed to hold himself together if he wanted to be useful ever again, though, and that was all he could focus on for the moment. He kept his eyes trained on the blindfold and tried to stop his thoughts. He couldn’t break down. Not here. Not now.

The door opened.

“This is subject 04. He’s been training for 8 years,” Dr Woods began. “He’s carried out over 50 assassinations. He fails very rarely- this year had the rate of least failure, actually. Just once. He's-”

“Why is he blindfolded?”

“It's a safety precaution.”

“...Oh.”

4 tried not to squirm in his seat as Dr Woods came closer.

“Ever heard of Spring-Heeled Jack?”

“... The one from victorian England, or the-”

“The serial killer. The active one.”

“Of course I have.”

“Right. Well… that’s just for your consideration.”

“...”

“I understand you’re looking at multiple options?”

“...Uh, yeah. Yes. I’m… looking at a few.”

“And they’re all on genuine contracts, hm?”

“...”

“This guy isn’t.” Dr Woods clapped 4 on the shoulder. “He’ll be completely loyal. He does have a bit of a… list. Of commands. Needs. That sort of thing. But you won’t need to discover that, we have it written down and we’ll give it to you if you decide to get him.”

“Wait, I’m sorry, I think there’s been a bit of a-”

“Problem?”

There was silence. 4 pressed his lips into a line. No talking. No objection. He wasn’t scared, he wasn’t in pain, and therefore he had no reason to speak or react or

“No, no problem. Just a slight misunderstanding, I think.” Unfamiliar footsteps. “Anything else I should know… sir?”

“I think something you should know up front is that he can talk to rats. He actually has one. Emotional support. I’d strongly recommend you take it, actually, that thing’s stopped him from doing a lot.”

“Ah.”

“And-”

“Hey, can I talk to him alone for a sec?”

“Excuse me?”

“I’d like to speak to him.”

“Well, for security reasons, that will be impossible. Sorry. I could remove the blindfold if you really wanted to inspect him further.”

“I would appreciate that, actually.”

Fwish

4 allowed himself one flinch against the light that suddenly streamed into his eyes. Dr Woods stood to his side, and the one who might be the next handler stood directly in front of him. He had curly blond hair and purple eyes, wearing a black jumpsuit with a teal jacket, and he just… stared at 4. 4 didn’t let his gaze linger on him. He settled his eyes firmly into the nonexistent distance, dug his fingers deeper into his palms. He missed the old strategy that the Doctor used, where he didn't have to know what happened or focus or sit here all day. This was boring. It… sucked.

“Can you talk?” The stranger asked.

“Yes, sir.” 4 swallowed. “I can.”

“He doesn't usually,” Dr Woods added. “There's no reason.”

“Oh… okay. Uh…. How about we talk about this outside?”

“Of course.”

Dr Woods left the room. The stranger lingered for a moment, staring, before he left too.

The door closed. 4 breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed, just slightly. Stupid. He shouldn’t have been feeling like this.

He wished Ripley were here. He leaned back in the chair.

Doctor Woods and the stranger didn’t come back.

4 didn’t know how long it was until he finally felt something. A needle was in his neck. It was sudden, and without warning, and he was out very, very fast.

Oh shit. Oh n

-

“Email our network account if you have questions,” Doctor Woods told Peter as he handed him the keys.

“Of course. Right.” Peter tried not to let the strangeness he was feeling be obvious. “I’ll keep that in mind.” He had no intention to follow through, or maybe he did? This was all so weird, what was happening, oh god this was horrible fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck

“Good luck.”

Peter stood alone next to the truck.

He glanced at the metal crate tied down to the truck bed. He was stuck with this now.

…Fuck, Mark would be so mad.

Taglist:

@jumpywhumpywriter @silly-scroimblo-whump @littlebookworm69

:)

[ask-sibverse]

You Think Swad Would Ever Hurt Swan Bar Enough To Realize He Failed The One Thing He Always Wanted To Do For Him And Reader Breaks The Mask Fully?

YOU. YOU GET IT

It was just another fight. Right? Dream finds you both and tries to grab you again, you fight back while someone tries to pull together a portal and you flee to safety.

Right?

You were a bit annoyed that nothing changed at all after that confrontation in that cafe. But you supposed you were probably expecting too much out of him.

Dream was focused mostly on Nightmare (again) which meant you were on defense and portal creation.

It happened in an instant, too fast for you or Nightmare to react. His defense slipped for a brief moment. Enough for Dream's blade to jab into the ribs. A gasp, a yelp, Nightmare collapsed like a cut marionette.

Dream was fast, but you were faster. You flared your magic harder, forcing the portal and scooping Nightmare into your arms and dashing through into Sciencetale.

It was achingly slow, waiting while Sci fought to save. The blade thankfully didn't properly stab Nightmare's apple SOUL, but still, direct contact with such concentrated positivity was harsh on him. He'd started dusting before Sci was able to use the concentrated negativity he'd managed to keep on hand for emergencies to stabilize him slightly.

He wasn't dying anymore, but he was comatose for now while his body tried to heal. Sci was working on him around the clock, thankfully with assistance.

But he needed materials... He needed more negativity, and to do that you needed to collect the emotional energy. To do that you needed to store it. And unfortunately, the device you'd found to store it thus far was only made in a specific, positive AU.

So you took assistance. Axe and Dust. Killer was still too unstable without Nightmare's assistance. He'd gone stage three and had to be locked up until he calmed down or Nightmare woke up, whatever came first. Still, the three of you should be able to handle yourselves if Dream showed up.

Which he did. All three of you had weapons or blasters pointed at him in an instant, but he didn't seem to care.

Dream looked... Broken. A mess. His feathers were a dull disaster and he seemed dimmer than usual.

"My brother isn't with you."

"No shit. You stabbed him in the SOUL," Dust growled.

He flinched. "How... How is he? He's not dead, I would feel it."

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Dust shot back, magic bristling.

You held up a hand to stop him from pushing further. "He's comatose. We don't know when or if he'll wake up, only hope it happens if he recovers enough. At least he's no longer dusting."

His shoulders sagged. "Can... Can I see him?"

"No," you and Dust said at once. You shot him a warning look. "First off, he's in a negative AU, which you can't enter. And I'm not moving him. But your positivity is what did this to him. Do you really think it's even safe to be around him right now? What if you actually kill him?"

He looked absolutely heartbroken at that

You pinched the bridge of your nose, questioning some of your life choices. "Look. When he wakes up, I'll let him chose if he wants to see you or not. But its his choice, not yours."

His aura brightened so much you thought you went blind for a moment.

Hopefully you wouldn't regret this.

[starstruckpurpledragon]

S1 Flash AU where Barry doesn't reset time and Cisco manages - barely - to escape Eowells before getting murdered. Because his breach powers activate due to his 'holy shit my favorite boss is about to murder me' panic and he falls through the floor (gravity yeeting him out of danger fast enough only because Eobard was not expecting it and thus failed to react, left standing there holding his vibrating hand out and looking ridiculous)

And his powers dump him halfway across the city. Cisco didn't go to Caitlin because last he knew she's in the middle of Jitters. Not Barry since Cisco had no idea where he was and also his powers were seeking 'safety' which was not where Barry was at with the whole city-destroying-storm problem going.

He lands in front of the one person he knows, without a doubt, will not turn him over to Harrison Wells even if he won't actually do anything to help Cisco otherwise. Hartley Rathaway, who did at least attempt to help find Ronnie even if it was also a ploy to escape.

From Hartley's PoV this shiny portal appears, dumps a Cisco Ramon at his feet, and blinks immediately out of existence, leaving Cisco passed out on the floor.

Hartley - When I was hoping to have hot guys fall at my feet, I did not mean Cisco Ramon.

Cisco - *too unconscious to realize Hartley called him hot*

When Cisco wakes up, it takes him a bit to realize that he's relatively safe and he winds up spilling the whole 'Harrison Wells is a time traveler called Eobard Thawne and he tried to fucking murder me' thing with Hartley. Because Hartley's letting Cisco ramble in hopes of getting an explanation for the whole appearing from nowhere to fall at his feet thing. Which he isn't really getting, but at least Cisco doesn't pass out again when Hartley suggests that maybe Cisco is also a meta.

Cisco - What are we gonna do about Evil Wells???

Hartley - What we?

The city is not destroyed by the tsunami - the Flash was able to counter that - but the storm still damages a significant portion of the city. The Flash is missing, Joe is in the hospital, Mark Mardon died in his own storm as some kind of ironic retribution by nature, and Cisco can't get ahold of Caitlin (she's fine). Hartley manages to get in touch with Jerry, but learns his dad's dead and his mom actually wants to know he's alright.

With the city in a disarray and the Flash not showing up, it does wind up being Cisco and Hartley - and other metas crawling out of the woodwork - who start saving lives from damaged buildings.

Suddenly the Flash isn't the only 'good meta' media darling. And even some of the more criminal types are getting lauded as heroes. It's great PR for metas and it makes Cisco that Team Flash isn't doing enough to actually help they're fellow metas. They've been so busy trying to stop bad guys that they're not actually helping their community.

Of course, how does he tell that to Barry when someone they all trusted (except Joe) has turned out to be Barry's mom's killer? Barry's gonna be focused on that, understandably. If they can find Barry.

And, of course, Cisco refuses to believe that Barry might be dead. (and he's right, but Barry's got other problems at the moment and, unfortunately, it might take a while before everyone finally finds out he's okay)

[atomicinsantiy]

LGBTQ HEADCANONS AND LORE FOR THE URBANSPOOK BANDITS

The killer

Gender: Transmasc

Sexuality: Bisexual

Lore: He was originally born in Russia, his birth name is secretive. He didn't stay long as 1 year after his birth his mother was arrested and was charged with death by lethal injection, he also chooses to keep the reason for her punishment a secret. And from a very young age he was put into an orphanage, along with his older sisters and brother, the brother taking his own life shortly after their mother's death. However, he was adopted very soon by an American family, and raised in another country. His adoptive family wasn't abusive, the only abuse they had was with his father who was every alcoholic ever. Once he turned 12, he met the Painter, they got along well and they were like partners in crime, this was also around the time he became Trans. Once the end of their High school approached, Killer was already a mess, not only did he have to deal with a drunken and abusive father but now a mother who doesn't support him, school was stressful too. Killer, who was hoped up on drugs and many failed assignments, then got the amazing idea to kill his parents, fake his own suicide, get out of town, escape the pressures of life, and be free to do whatever the hell he wants! And, for some reason, Painter actually helped him, probably because they were going through the same problems he was, and they pulled off their first of many killings. And for good measure, they blew up the house, part of the 'fake your death' part of his plan. And they drove away into the sunset and had sex.

The painter

Gender: Any pronouns

Sexuality: Pansexual

Lore: Painter, like Killer, had a shitty family. Except it wasn't abusive, we'll technically it was, but not in the way you think. Like all Asian parents, Painter's hated it when they failed and would constantly torture them even when they got a 99% on a test! However, his miserable life changed when he met Killer, he was honestly stunning, even if he fell in love with him as a girl at first, his long black curls and deep brown eyes, he was just as hand so as ever as boy, Killer was also his only friend that actually felt like a friend rather then an acquaintance, so he would never leave his side. Once high school nearer it's end, Painter had alright grades, not to bad, but not enough for his parents, they started to lock his entire bedroom shut, got ride of his electronic's, and tried to stop him and Killer from seeing each other seeing him as a distraction for his studies, little did they know his real cause was him sleeping through class because of the amounts of torture he's out through each day. When he heard Killer was gonna kill his parents, he immediately joined in, not just because they loved him, but because he was his only friend who actually cared, the one he felt safe and comfortable around, and the person who couldn't leave him for shit. Once they did their deed, Killer even offered to killer his parents, but Painter refused, sure they were horrible but they don't deserve death, in his opinion of course. And on the way out, he confesses his love for Killer, and after they have hot angry sex

[riverdale-retread]

Riverdale s7 e1

There is a lot of commentary about whether the show is bad or good, and among those who hold that it's bad, a debate about whether said badness is intentional (It's camp! It's satire! It's  commentary on culture and/or our times!) or brought about from a lack of talent or planning by the producers, writers and/or actors.

What I say is this - I love the care with which Riverdale is made.  Starting with the S7 opening sequence!!

Archie’s painted hot rod is shown, then as the song plays Archie spins into view, his face framed in a little circle. He's doing something with his eyebrows. His smile is just a little off. Not a LOT off. Just off.  Immediately after that we see him press a kiss to Mary Andrews' cheek. We know it's all wrong because Mary Andrews is wary of the violence of this son that she regrets mothering and can't wait to get rid of.  They are not this affectionate.

Next up is Betty Cooper, short hair in the cutest ringlets, smiling sweetly, looking wholesome.  Betty Cooper found the pressure to be sweetly wholesome unbearably suffocating all six seasons of this show.  Immediately after her is Veronica with the most spectacular bangs,  looking pretty and hard and insincere.  These are things that Veronica hates to be thought of as.  

Then comes Cheryl, severely annoyed to be there, giving an evil eyed false smile.  Assuming arguendo that this is Jughead as world-maker as well as narrator, the fact that Cheryl gets to have a do-over of her intro in the montage, a doubling-up if you will, is noteworthy.  Everyone else gets the one shot in the juke box, but Cheryl gets a twofer, wearing the Lolita-Grundy sunglasses and pouting over the door of a great looking convertible. Kevin, looking gormless is up next and it makes me feel worried. Toni Topaz is looking ultra heterosexual with her long ponytail up-do. She winks at the  audience.  This is not edgy Serpent Queen Toni at all. But she and Veronica both look spectacular with bangs.  Tabitha in white cats’ eye glasses and white gloves, blows a kiss to the audience, looking sheltered and innocent when we all know she's a weirdo and not above cosplaying a truck stop hooker to catch a killer.  

The only person who looks like "himself" is Jughead, who comes last.  Worried, frantic, concerned and unhappy - basically, fail-adult Jughead without Tabitha.  Poor Jughead.

The year, he says, is 1955 and apparently people didn't mind when couples executed complicated dances involving swirling skirts inside a diner where people are trying to eat.  Jughead is narrating as he clatters away on a huge typewriter at the Diner.  Apparently the patrons don't mind that either. Does he keep it there?  Did he commandeer the one in the office?? Does he haul it around??

As Jughead narrates, speculating about where he is - Not sure if he's in the past or the past of an alternate universe -  he speaks faster and more frantically, sounding more and more like Bunker Jughead of Rivervale.  He tries to sound unhappy about living in a railcar with Hot Dog (". . . which actually tracks" sighhhh) but we all know he's relieved he's not homeless and couch surfing. Having a dog and a residence of his own is more stability than he's had since graduating high school and before Jabitha began cohabitation.

They're all juniors in high school again!  Betty and Kevin holding hands down the hallway, Betty in excellent patterned pants with eyes only for Kevin who won't look at her.  Jughead looks at the two of them with an expression of suppressing in indigestion burp but neither notice him.  Jughead is worried for Betty, all the time, nonstop, in every universe.  Plus Bughead were the horniest little fuckers in any high school on American television ever, and so the fact of Betty dating a gay man worries Jughead.  He doesn’t want to have sex with her anymore, yet Jughead wants Betty to have good things.  And Jughead has never liked Kevin much, but he’s worried for Kevin too. Betty wasn’t and isn’t a girl who takes not getting her way with grace.

Cheryl still has a twin brother, but she is completely not at all in love with this one.  The face she makes is not of a girl dominating the halls of her high school with her soulmate.  Jughead feels very similar about this iteration of a Boy Blossom, noting first and foremost that this kiddo is Cheryl’s twin, then second that he is not Jason, before introducing us to his actual name: Julian.

Julian like the possessed doll, the chimera twin that got eaten by Cheryl in the womb, etc, that Julian. Who actually knew this Julian name, other than Toni?  

Jughead’s thoughts turn directly from Cheryl to Not-Jason to Reggie then on to Archie.  This is the first of several pings back to earlier seasons, which I am sure I’m not going to be able to catch in a perfect way.  But!  Reggie and Jason were constantly in each other’s company in Jughead’s hallucinatory reminiscences of Jason during S1, even though Reggie barely ever mentioned Jason, and Cheryl has never been shown actually discussing Jason with either Reggie 1.0 or 2.0.

The key thing that Jughead notices about Archie is his body, in the same way the key thing he notices about Julian is that he is not Jason.  Archie being wholesome enough to kiss his mom on the cheek goodbye every morning being into body building in 1955 is very progressive (and gay) of him, isn’t it?  That sort of muscular build was still sort of a niche thing, I thought.

Jughead has been frowning at all these people for quite a while, long enough to confirm that they have no recollection of their S6 selves.  He hasn’t seen Tabitha, who he helpfully explains is chronokinetic and the town’s literal guardian angel AND his girlfriend.

Just in time, Pop Tate announces that the bus from Mississippi has arrived.  Tabitha, looking very sad, is accompanied by Toni, equally sad, and a third person, who I assumed was Chuck even though the actor has changed because that wouldn’t be Munroe.  Sadness from having to witness an act of racial injustice and hatred makes people move in slow motion into the Diner.

Jughead watches Tabitha slowly walk past him before he calls her name.  The way he says “Tabitha” is so cautious, because she might reject any conversation with the guy wearing a bulky sweater with the S stamped on it AND a felt crown making very loud tappity tap noises at her grandfather’s diner, and hopeful, because maybe they’re friends, and maybe hearing Jughead will make this Tabitha remember season 6.  The guarded, questioning response he gets from her makes Jughead change tack fast, to discuss the Emmett Till hearing verdict as something he heard “on the radio.”   When Jughead says the verdict made him “sick to my stomach” Tabitha frowns slightly, wary of where he might go with this, perhaps.   Tabitha saying that she and her friends are trying to figure out what they should do next, Jughead isn’t even breathing.  He’s watching her so hard, so hopeful that Tabitha will give him some hint that she knows this is the wrong universe, and so worried she might not.

When she asks him to confirm that his name is Jughead in a way that indicates they aren’t even friends in this universe, Jughead is so hurt that his drops out of his careful, speak-in-full-sentences 1950s speech, and stutters.  His eyes get much, much sadder, right before he says it’s overwhelming and heartbreaking.  He looks like he might cry.   Poor Jughead.  

The cruelty of his fate is astounding.  He was a kid who was left behind and rejected by his mother, let to live homeless by his father, rejected by Fred Andrews, routinely forgotten by his girlfriend during what he thought of as their shared childhood memories, and now, the singularly stable adult friendship and relationship of his life is like it never existed.  Jughead Jones is someone who hasn’t ever been without a girlfriend, it seems since starting one with Betty Cooper, but now when he needs a relationship the most, Tabitha literally doesn’t know him.

Simply because Tabitha Tate doesn’t know him, Jughead hates everything about the 1950s. (Whoever said the 1950s was the greatest decade should have their head examined, he deadpans.)

Archie is trying to skip out of the house when Mary calls to him.  Archie grimaces so hard at his mother’s summons that I can see it through the back of his head.  This did give me a small twinge of hope that maybe he does remember S1-6, and that Archie is putting on this wholesome teenager act, same as Jughead, until he can figure out what’s going on.  He puts on an evidently false face of doe-eyed innocence when he gets it together to go talk to his mother. He’s literally never made that face before in the past six years.

Mary Andrews is very upset about the photos of James Dean’s car accident in the papers, so she confiscates the keys to Archie’s “hotrod” with “fire painted on its sides.” Archie tries to talk his way out of this but fails.  He longingly looks at his “barely above a jalopy” vehicle before turning to face the reality of having to take a very old looking bicycle to school.

Archie has never been this cute to me. His little face!   Then he’s peddling uphill, getting honked at, and so mad .  Just, adorable.  I wanna give him a cookie.   He gets to school just in time.

Meanwhile, Betty in her very excellent 1950s pants is sitting with Toni in the Blue and Gold room.  Her sweater says Betty on it in a curly font.  With her short blonde curls framing her sweet face Betty looks picture perfect. She and Toni both have such enormous eyes that I keep getting distracted from the serious topic they are discussing - how to get past the school censors to properly cover the Emmett Till travesty.  When Betty says she will throw her weight behind getting the story told, Toni smiles at her in a small cheek scrunching way that she’s never done before.  She looks amazing, by the way - the bangs, the big hoop earrings, the scarf /headband thing in her hair, the Southside Serpent Jeans jacket.

Cut to a class where a 1950s tv announcer voice is explaining what a mill is (a souped up hot rod or jalopy) in a film the class are watching  when the principal (Warden Norton repurposed as Principal Featherhead!) bursts in to make an announcement.  Archie is wearing an R sweater, with Jughead in the S sweater seated nearby.

What do these mean??

Veronica make an iconic entrance, complete with heralding blues horns.  Yellow heels, yellow belt, black dress with white polka dots, black purse,  sunglasses, big black sunhat trimmed with the same fabric as her dress, and red lips.  Lace gloves with little black polka dots.

OMG SHE LOOKS SO HOT.

I want this whole thing.  I make a vow to only wear yellow heels with black dresses.

Archie, getting his first look, drops his pencil.  (Kevin, right behind him, has no reaction whatsoever.)  Jughead, Tabitha-less, looks constipated as he notes:  “Damn.”

Girl, that’s what I said!

With everyone else in some sort of sweater or jacket, buttoned up to the neck, Veronica’s plunging neckline and sleeveless dress makes her look practically naked.   She’s a Hollywood scion - Hermione and Hiram have “Amercia’s number one rated television program,” and of course they’re going to call it, Oh Mija!

I LOVED this in-joke, because it functions as a tribute to Hiram.  Mija was the word he said the most, after, maybe, Archie.

For some reason, this whole situation - Veronica’s appearance, introduction, presence and existence- piss Cheryl off entirely.  She is huffing, rolling her eyes, and generally extremely antsy.

Seated right behind her, Archie is just in heaven. Veronica is being very alternative-universe here: her self introduction is very pompous.  Real Veronica Lodge actually hates pomposity.  Her vocabulary is still very Jughead-huge though (“opportune” and “raven haired.”)  Veronica says that she’s trying a method acting type of thing (de rigueur for the age perhaps - another thing she might actually say) of experiencing small town life so she can better portray the “innocent ingenue” in the upcoming production of “Our Town.”

Longtime viewers are meant to know that she is lying about staying with an aunt-and-uncle, mostly because these people have never been introduced in the past six seasons.  As far as we’ve ever been told about Hiram in the competing lores of his life, he doesn’t have siblings. We have almost no lore about Hermione, other than FP hit on her almost once in high school and she had the affair with Fred Andrews as an adult.

Both Cheryl and Betty do not like that Veronica called them “small town lifers” basically.   Archie is entirely entranced with her, laughing at every little joke that Veronica makes, and even Cheryl pointedly turning in her seat to glare at him can’t make his besotted grin falter even a little bit.  

Veronica purrs and preens when she calls herself “the scion of Tinseltown royalty.”  I’m surprised she doesn’t roll her Rs.  When she winsomely says Thank You, Archie, whose face has been lit up like a christmas tree this whole time, bursts into solitary applause.   Cheryl is still very mad, but Archie gets rewarded with an extremely sexy wink by Veronica for being such an immediate fan.  

Is that a blush I see on Archie’s face?

I love this Archie. He’s so cute.

The table that Veronica chooses to try to join is Cheryl, Betty,  Kevin, Julian and Archie.  This is a weird fricking cluster of people.  Cheryl and Betty? And what the heck would Kevin and Julian have in common?   When Veronica asks to sit, Cheryl wants to say no but she is betrayed by both of the other redheads, who clear the space immediately.  Veronica comes to perch gracefully between the two redhead boys.  

Veronica says she caught all their names in the class they were just in.  Of course, Betty having BETTY embroidered into her sweater probably helps with that too.   Remembering that the R wearing Archie is Archie might be more of a feat.   Veronica shows that she took Cheryl’s eye rolls to heart by pointedly asking Cheryl what her name was.  Cheryl is extremely displeased, yet again.   This seems to know exactly what just happened between Veronica and Cheryl- he is trying very hard not to laugh too much.

Cheryl tries to explain that that they’d been discussing James Dean’s death, very self-importantly adding that she is president of his fanclub, when she gets undermined by Julian, who interrupts with a very weak joke about the Oh Mija! show being “high-larious,” to Veronica.   He says that the Blossoms “tune in every week” which must be a lie, because Cheryl’s whole face sours.  Betty and Kevin seem like they’re on the same wavelength.  They project the same calm, almost bovine energy when they ask Veronica where she lived in LA (BelAir) and if she knew James Dean.

Cheryl sharply tells Kevin off for being “so provincial,” then goes off to sideways disparage Veronica by implying that she wasn’t important enough to be a friend of James Dean, a person who was friends with Elizabethe Taylor.   Turns out Veronica Lodge was ‘friendly’ with Jimmy, “friendly” enough to go skinny dipping together at the Chateau Marmaduke (standing in for Chateau Marmont).  

This makes Archie choke.  Literally.  He focuses on “skinny dipping” -Veronica! Naked! She does Naked things! - while Betty and Kevin (Bevin? Ketty??) are entranced about being that friendly with James Dean.  Julian is more in Archie’s camp - he wants to know if Veronica has done the naked thing once or more than once.  I so appreciate the asshole energy that Julian projects nonstop.  He reminds me a lot of Bret Weston Wallis that way. You know on sight that he’s a dickhead, which is 180 degrees different from the angelic way that Jughead used to hallucinate Jason.

When Cheryl plays with her hair to sarcastically ask if Veronica will claim that she had dated Jimmy Dean, Veronica says no, but then drops a bombshell.  James Dean “played both sides of the net.”  In case the small town rubes don’t get her meaning, Veronica clarifies that this means both girls and boys.  Kevin has a milder version of Archie’s choking reaction from seconds before at this thought.  He’s smiling, and Betty is frowning.  Oh?  Oh???

When Kevin wants Veronica to name what James Dean was, Archie interrupts. This made me wonder if there  was a 1950s term for bisexual, that everyone would’ve known, that you can say on a CW show in 2023?    I guess not because Kevin never gets to finish his question.

Archie has a confused reaction, which fits canon so far and why Jarchie hasn’t happened yet even though it should.  He finds the concept of regular guys who are almost cowboys (all American? Is that what he means to say?) being anything other than 100% proof heterosexual incomprehensible.  Cheryl reacts with homophobic anger - it’s besmirchment, it’s foul, to say Jimmy Dean was not straight.   When Veronica calls her provincial, Cheryl slut shames her.  Nobody cares that Cheryl has flounced off, so now Kevin wants to know about Sal Mineo.

Kevin is definitely not straight in this universe.  Veronica knows it, apparently immediately. Poor Betty.

In science class later that day we see ETHEL is Jughead’s lab desk partner. Jughead is miserable to be back in high school.  He has an Asian American science teacher, who wears nerdy round glasses and has a bit of a lisp.  The teacher says Bailey Comet is due to arrive in two years.   He sounds vaguely Singporean, his teacher.  

Cut to Cheryl screaming GUYS as she floats in the air, trying to ice the comet.

Cut to the end of school, where Archie winsomely offers Veronica an escort home.  He has no ride, however, and Veronica isn’t the type of girl to walk. (She also just can’t, not in those high heels.)  Julian has offered Veronica a ride, ditching his sister wholesale.  JASON WOULD NEVER. Archie and Cheryl can’t bear to look at each other in the face of this rejection they’ve suffered.

In the waning light, Betty and Veronica are trying to talk to two old white men.  Dupont from Stonewall is here in Riverdale now as Werther a ‘child psychiatrist’ who fully backs Warden, I mean Principal, Featherhead that the Emmett Till murder and trial are not suitable subject matter for the school paper.

Toni tries to advocate for publication by saying that people need to know what happened “so that it doesn’t happen again.”  That is so adorable and incorrect.  Knowing something terrible happened again does not in any way ensure that it doesn’t keep happening.  I think the better way to think about it is, We owe it to the wronged to mark their stories.  Featherhead shoots her down by saying that “these sorts of things don’t happen in Riverdale.”  He also says a wrong thing - that “change doesn’t happen overnight.” Actually all change happens overnight.  That’s where there’s always a backlash to any progress, because those who can’t keep up want to turn it back. A lot of the time, they succeed.  In any case, Featherstone patronizes Toni by telling her take satisfaction in how ‘well written’ in article is.

Later, at family dinner in which Polly and Charles don’t exist, Betty tries to push her parents into reading Toni’s article on the air at their nightly broadcast on RIVW.  15 minutes is what they get, of which Toni’s article would take a whole minute.   Hal’s 50s persona is very hilarious.  He looks extremely shifty and chipunky, reminding me quite a lot of Peter Pettigrew of all things.  Alice has absolutely killer eyebrows, sharp enough to slice your face open.   They both repeat Featherstone’s line about the article being ‘well written’ but have no intention of rocking the boat.   Betty is angry but she is overruled by the power of the Blossom money and her parents not wanting to upset their only sponsor.

1950s Archie is still the cutest.  He is working his car, underneath it, as he breathlessly narrates his ove for Veronica Lodge.  He actually says SHAZAM!  persuasively.  Hit with a thunderbolt indeed.  He’s so 1950s in fact that the things he says and the way he says them feel suspicious too perfect. “How’s a guy like me gonna get anywhere with a girl like Veronica Lodge” and so  forth.  Jughead is perched like a depressed crow in his S sweater that seems to get darker and darker as the day goes on, looking off to the side and not listening to this earnest puppy love talk.

Jughead’s narration takes over. He is just so anxious.  He’s talking so fast, thinking about Bailey’s Comet, trying to harness that to get back to the future. “But I needed [ pause ] help.”  He sounds increasingly like the wigged out Bunker Jug of Rivervale.  Archie asks for his dad’s hammer, which sets off Jughead’s memory - that Archie buried the hammer in the time capsule.

The capsule they buried in the year 2020 when they graduated from high school, not to be confused with the year 2020 when they were 6 years after graduating from high school, might still be in existence in 1955 even though they were sent ‘back’ to this time from the first but not the second 2020.

Jughead seems to think this is a logical leap and I am very tickled. I kind of find it annoying (sorry, anti-intellectualism incoming, mea culpa in advance) when time travel stories get too precious about theoretical physics, so this made me very pleased with the wild swings they take in narrative on Riverdale.

So! Jughead asks for a shovel to Archie, who gives him an odd look. Is it because Archie thinks “Can I borrow a shovel?” is a really weird response to “Have you seen my dad’s hammer?” or is it because Archie knows something?

Later that night, Jughead is digging something out of the ground again. Grave robbery is one of his leitmotifs, I suppose?   He hits something hard, and guess what! It’s the time capsule.  Jughead is out of breath as he says “Thank God” but he seems just as frantic and scared as before.  And dun dun!! Someone is watching him do all this from the shadows!  The hairline looks vaguely like Tabitha.

Veronica is going to school the next day, wearing  more modest neckline and weather appropriate warm clothes.   Archie has somehow gotten his car out of the garage, so now he’s able to offer her a ride home. She’s very pleased, but Jughead walks right in between the two of them, carrying the time capsule ice box. Summarily, he insists that the two of them come meet him in the music room. Veronica has no idea who he is.

In the music room, they’re all holding their 2020 self’s contribution to the time capsule.  Toni has never seen the Pretty Poisons jacket.  Veronica thinks the Pop’s menu is an only passable prop.  Betty finds the headlines to be “like Dr. Seuss” meaning amusing gibberish, perhaps?   And Kevin keeps asking unanswerable questions - he wants to know what the “inch” is in Hedwig and the Angry Inch.  Archie wants to know when Jughead buried Fred’s hammer in a cooler.

Jughead tackles that one first, saying “YOU did.”  Archie genuinely looks like he has no idea what Jughead’ is talking about, but I’ve sussed it out now - 1950s Archie’s response to confusion is to smile about it. So he smiles.  Jughead can see that his attempt to “shake something loose” in his friends’ minds isn’t working, so in his frustration, his presentation starts to get very garbled.  He tells them they buried all these things 67 years ago IN THE FUTURE which, given the tenses, doesn’t even amount to English.   He says they need to get back to ‘our present, our future’ before full on stuttering.  Betty is concerned, Cheryl is annoyed, Toni and Kevin look embarrassed for Jughead, Archie is smiling because he’s confused.  Veronica, however, is very entertained.  

Archie wants to know what Jughead buried.  Jughead knows it was his “yarn beanie” but then says it wasn’t in the time capsule.  For some reason, this takes the fun out of this exercise for Archie, the fact that Jughead didn’t include an item of his own in the ‘cooler.’

Veronica says she’ll play along, and asks if she or Elizabeth Taylor is more famous in the future.  Cheryl, not to be outdone, cuts in with a request to give a bird’s eye view of the future.  Jughead has not thought this far in advance, so his answer is (adorably) piss poor.  he just throw things out - smartphones,  text messages, spotify, the internet - in THAT order which is the most confusing thing of all time.  Betty tries to help him out since he’s getting frantic during this speech that makes no sense to her - she asks Jughead to describe everyone’s Season 6 selves.

Jughead’s summaries are as follows:  Archie was in the army, fought in a war. Betty was in FBI hunting serial killers.  The way Betty practically salivates at the word serial killer, which doesn’t exist as a word yet, is VERY interesting.  Veronica owns a casino, and before that a speakeasy.  Toni bought the speakeasy, turned it into a biker bar.  Both Veronica and Toni are charmed by this story.  

Jughead positively chokes when he tries to summarize Kevin’s life.  He can tell, by this time, that this is going very sideways, which won’t be helped by how out of sorts Kevin’s life became by the end of Season 6.  Kevin is summarized as directing some musicals, after which he joined an organ harvesting cult.  Not wrong, but not very fulsome.  Cheryl, Jughead says, was possessed by an ancestor and became a witch.  She is not a happy customer, at all.

Archie says a fascinating thing- that he wouldn’t want to go back to the future because “we” sound miserable. Well, given that he was just told he joined the army and went to war, this is true for him, but not all the futures are miserable.

Veronica wants to know how the whole ‘going back to the future’ thing will happen, to which Jughead’s entire presentation falls completely apart. When he says that one of the ways might be a comet, Toni (who has tried very hard to be polite so far) gives a What the fuck look to Betty, who answers it with a Oh he’s just like this smile.   Jughead is fully in frantic world-maintainer Bunker Jughead mode now, and starts shouting about having Archie and Betty make out on Archie’s bed and then “BLOW  UP A BOMB UNDERNEATH THEM.”

This is so funny. I love with Jughead gets all Bunker-Jug, with the shouting and the extreme hand gestures. Is he perhaps channeling Hiram??

Everyone thinks this is very funny, but Archie has had enough.  Archie tries to make Jughead ‘take five’ which puts Jughead fully into feral motormouth mode to ask “YOU’RENOTGONNABEATMEUPAREYOUCUZYOU’REREALLYVIOLENTINTHEFUTURE”

The whole sentence is spit out as one long word.

When the two of them are alone in the gym, Archie lets it rip.  “People are going to think you belong in the looney bin with the other nutjobs!” and “It’s hard enough without your crazy stories” etc.  Jughead is coming down from his frantic mania so being called a ‘nut job’ is not helping.  His eyes actually start to glisten with tears.  “You think I’m crazy?” he asks, in a more normal, much sadder cadence.   Jughead is so upset, and so lonely, and so despairing.

This is a big change from his mid teens, when he took on being not understood, being isolated, unique and alone, as a badge of honor.  This Jughead understands the horror of being trapped in a solitary reality.  He can’t even stand to look at Archie, because that would mean confronting how trapped and alone he actually is in this universe.  Archie tries to be kind, telling him to keep using his ‘overactive’ imagination by channeling that energy into creating fiction.  When Jughead gives up altogether, and agrees, Archie actually skips a couple steps (something he’s never done in any of the other universes) before leaving Jughead standing in the gym.

At the very red, very depressing Blossom mansion, Penelope, who has the most fascinating hairdo (it’s both ornate and simple, hideous and perfectly coiffed) while dressed like the nightmare camp version of the English queen wants to know why  her twins look so sullen.  The way the Blossom twins of this universe bicker seems much more realistic, and, accordingly, much more dull.   I think this is post facto validation for the way the Cheryl-Jason relationship is in the S1-6 canon. It’s so much more interesting than this mundanity between Julian and Cheryl.

Penelope delivers movie magazines to Cheryl, and on the cover is someone not Veronica Lodge being cast in Our Town!

Meanwhile, Veronica is on a date with Archie at Pop’s!  She loves the food. All her attempts to make lighthearted conversation with Archie fail.  He has no idea who Gloria Swanson is.  This literally breaks Veronica’s spirit.   So she changes her line of questioning - “Tell me everything there is to know about Archie Andrews.”

His life is so boring.  “Work on my car. I like sports. I come here to pops. And i hangout at sweet water river.  mostly to fish.”

Then Archie reveals that Fred didn’t make it back from the Korean War, making him one of the 33,000 American servicemen who died.  Thank you Fred Andrews for your service, I guess? I’m slightly peeved that they didn’t make up a different war like they did for Archie to go fight in during the 2020 that lasted for seven years, but then they used the real Emmett Till story so they might as well use the Korean War, I suppose.  Archie is very used to people being upset about having asked, as well as not knowing what to say, so he is very smooth in the way he assures Veronica that “It’s OK” when she tries to apologize for prying.   In this universe, Mary Andrews works part time at the dress shop (no lawyering for her, alas).   I’m shocked she doesn’t work at Pop’s.  Though I guess maybe this economy is better.

Archie has never had a serious girlfriend by his Junior year of HS, about which Veronica is shocked.  Two days after meeting Veronica and in the course of their first real date, Archie more or less says that he wants to be Veronica’s boyfriend. He looks so starry eyed at her, that Veronica is extremely charmed. (So am I.)

But Veronica can’t be let to have nice things, so in comes Cheryl, shouting “J’accuse!”  Cheryl hates Veronica SO MUCH.  Just the ad hominem insults - “lying liar of a spoiled brat” and “banished by your parents!”  - and she insists on shouting the fact that Veronica employed a bit of puffery when she was introducing herself to the class.  

At the Pembroke, Veronica is weeping while consoled by Archie.  Archie tries to say nobody takes Cheryl seriously  Veronica fesses up that she was in fact banished, and she was a problem for her parents.   Veronica says she was ignored and sidelined since the Lodges started Oh Mija!  This is fascinating actually because Veronica’s persistent problem during her high school years was that both her parents were completely obsessed with her- and when she acquired a hitherto unknown older sibling halfway through her years in high school, Hermosa exhibited the same Lodge trait - obsession with Veronica, wanting to love her, wanting and willing to shoot at people on her behalf, and hating her just the little bit.  Now, in this universe, she’s an inconvenient burden neither parents cares much about - which indicates that Veronica was so the object of her parents’ focus because the two of them didn’t have sufficient creative outlets.  “The show is their real baby, not me.”    

This happened in a slower way during S5-6.  When Hiram finally, FINALLY killed off Riverdale and began his SoDale giant real estate project, he stopped being as invested in Veronica per se.  And when Hermione found the semi-acting gig of being a “Real Housewife,” she disappeared entirely out of Veronica’s life.

It turns out Veronica’s deep dark secret, the thing that got her banished to Riverdale by her parents, was that she was in fact tangentially involved in James Dean’s death.  She was one of several good time girls who formed a sort of racing fandom for Dean, and were going to meet him to cheer him on during a race.  

After consoling Veronica, Archie gets home late, to be immediately yelled at by Mary.  Mary is traumatized by the loss of Fred Andrews - which she honestly wasn’t very much in S4-6. Maybe this is why, if he does remember, Archie prefers to stay in this universe.    He has a mom who cares deeply that his father died.  Mother and son bond over their shared loss.  The compromise is that Archie is allowed to drive as long as his car goes very, very slow.  I will also note that his question about how he took HIS car out in a drive is a very unteenager thing to say.  So the question remains - what does Archie know or sense about this alternate universe?

In a fit of masochism, Veronica watches her parents’ show.  The kid cast to play the Mija is Tillie Temple (aka Shirley Temple, perhaps??).  Veronica hates Tilie.  Of course, right now is when Hermione calls.   Turns out someone is keeping a strict eye on the guests that Veronica has over at the apartment.  Veronica wants to go home for Thanksgiving, but Hermione doesn’t say she can come.  She has Orson Welles visiting.  Veronica is so lonely.   This is also new for Veronica - Maternal rejection has never been her problem.  That was usually reserved for Jughead, Cheryl and to a lesser extent, Betty and Archie.

Betty reads the Emmett Till newsletter which show the pictures of what Till went through.  It radicalizes Betty  into wanting to publish the article Toni wrote.  But Toni wants to read a poem out during the morning announcements. There’s an echo of the larger theme in S1 through 6 here.  In previous seasons, Cheryl took it upon herself to make up for her ancestor’s sins. In this one, Toni wants Cheryl to make it up to - who? Toni? the world? - someone for her parents’ cowardice in not wanting to cover the Till murder.   Toni is planning an ambush.

Tabitha immediately approaches Jughead She asks for help.  NAACP is taking Emmett Till’s mother on tour, so Tabitha is going with them.  What Tabitha needs someone to help her ‘stay on top of’ school while she is on this tour.  It’s really not clear to me what that will be, but Jughead - though he is crushed that this Tabitha doesn’t even seem to know him at all - agrees immediately.  His eyes get all sad again, as he looks with wistful tenderness at this person who is exactly like his girlfriend but isn’t, at all.   He smiles and says “Awesome!” which he corrects to “Swell.”

Meanwhile Toni ambushes Cheryl in the bathroom with Betty.  Cheryl doesn’t mind letting Toni borrow her platform, but points out that Featherhead has pulled the plug before.  For what, I wonder? When??  She’s otherwise very easily persuaded.

Tabitha has fainted, Featherhead is tending to her, Miss Bell is off, and so now, Toni can take over the morning announcement!

As Toni was reading the Langston Hughes poem I realized with the Rs and Ss stand for on those sweaters. R is for Riverdale.  A bunch of other students have Rs emblazoned on their sweaters and sweatshirts.  So the S must be for Southside.  Jughead wears a Southside High sweater all the time to attend Riverdale High, and they just let him!

So anyway Toni exhorts everyone to ‘talk to each other’ about it, and this is the third weird lie propagated in American society.  The emphasis on dialogue as somehow a catalyst for systemic change, which it is not

The four girls get a telling off from Featherhead, who tries to call them liars -but Tabitha has an answer for that (she felt sick! but felt better!) and insubordinate - but Cheryl has an answer for that (there has not been a rule that poetry can’t be read during the morning announcement or that they have to pass censorship).  

In the classroom later, the teacher does open up the discussion to the topic, but see, this is the problem.  It puts the burden on the three people of color - Tabitha, Toni, and the unnamed guy I have assumed is Chuck Clayton- to explain reality to everyone else, who can be passive recipients of information and responsible only for articulating their emotional responses.

Later that school day, Veronica is offered a ride by both Julian and Archie, and rejects them both in favor of walking home!

Late at night, Jughead is freaking out by himself in the diner, no typewriter.  He is cracking up.  Maybe seasons 1-6 were the dream and he finally woke up!!  

Tabitha slides into the booth and Glory Hallelujah it’s HIS Tabitha!  “The Tabitha who remembers and loves you.”  He reaches out to grasp her with both hands.  He’s so happy to see her, he says, covering his eyes with one hand, trying not to burst into tears.  Tabitha says that the comet hit because Cheryl failed, so they had their extinction level event  after all.  This isn’t the Sweet Hereafter.  She instead used her life force to send everyone back to 1955 to try to change the future.  She has to be ALONE to untangle all the messed up timelines.  “You have to make a go of it here in the 50s.”

So she parked Jughead here in 1955 to be safe, but because he kept remembering the actual reality (and could drive himself insane or further corrupt the safe timeline) she had to come back to make him forget, so that he can “live in the present, in the moment.”   Oh, but Tabitha.  Jughead was already so bad at that!  And now that’s his part of the mission? To hold it together without her while she fixes the universe?

Jabitha may be the MOST EPIC relationship in scale which doesn’t quite make up for the tiny amount of screen time we’re likely to get if Tabitha has decided that she has to solve this universe sized problem ALONE.  Jughead was willing to die a LOT.  Tabitha went through every single scenario where Jughead died to see how to make that not happen.  And now, Jughead is going to endure having the happiest time of his life wiped from memory - the time when he was a stable adult, who knew who he was in the world, when he was in a relationship and family unit of people who accepted him and supported him, when he had a real home - because Tabitha says it’s “for the best.”  He decides to trust her with erasing the thing that any of us hold the dearest - his memories that constitute his sense of self.   And can we talk about Tabitha’s self sacrifice?  She’s going to do this very difficult work of setting the UNIVERSE RIGHT while voluntarily, entirely, completely forgotten (by her own hand!) by her significant other who adores her,  all her friends in the community she chose to become independent from her parents, all alone.  

Holy shit.

Jughead’s sprint home after their kiss, which rightly seems to freeze time to be everlasting before Tabitha steps away, is so desperate and frantic.  Jughead who was terrified of being forgotten is beginning to forget the most important person in his adult life. All he has are the words “bend. toward. justice.” and the sense that something terrible has just happened to him, without the ability to remember what it is.   This isn’t the Sweet Hereafter.  This has to be hell.

I am LOVING this.  It’s so BIG.  I wish they could SHOW it though.  But I think eventually, because the universe does in fact bend towards justice, someone will write me the fanfic that will have me lain flat on the floor from devastation.  Because omg the Jabitha relationship has SCOPE.

And the final kicker-  Jughead doesn’t recognize his stupid hat.  Ha!

P.S.  The title reference, “Don’t Worry Darling”  if it’s to that movie that came out this year, in 2023, then it’s very twisty and fun.  Because that movie is about a man manipulating a woman’s mind for his own aggrandizement, and this episode is the mirror of that - a woman manipulating a man’s mind, with his explicit agreement, to save the universe.

[my-gf-is-kazuichi-soda]

The selfship that almost was: my ridiculous experience with Trigger Happy Havoc.

Spoilers for Danganronpa Trigger Happy Havoc, and the bottom part of this post (starting where you see Kaito's picture) has spoilers for DR V3!

You can absolutely laugh at me for this post. Shit gets wild.

I played THH I think 2-3 years ago? It's almost a year since I played SDR2 and I played DR V3 this year.

Some time before my little sister asked me to play THH (and to let her watch me play to see my reactions), I had already spoiled myself to Chihiro's death. I didn't know her killer, but the video I saw (it was so long ago I really dont remember which video this was) mainly talked about her gender in the game. Somehow I ended up picking up the detail that Mondo trained with her, but not that he was the one that killed her?

Anyway, so going into the game I knew I would like Chihiro but tried not to get attached because I also knew she would die, so I tried to see other characters I could like. If I had been less self-conscious (keep in mind my little sister was watching me play), I would have spent more free times with Hifumi. I tried to pick a more "normal" character, or at least more normal to admit to liking?, and apparently I don't know what normal means because I thought this was Toko.

Toko was mean, but I chalked it up to her being terrified of the situation and everything happening to them. How was she supposed to trust anyone in a "killing game"?! Of course she freaks out! Of course she hides in her room! Of course she has trust issues! Okay but none of this excused how mean she was, but maybe that was her defense for being scared? I could also relate to her not exactly being warm to the other girls in the game, and I admit my first impression of Aoi was petty and negative and I didn't trust her (sorry Aoi, this was unwarranted and stupidly biased in hindsight. I didn't like her because I had this impression about her being a "mean popular girl" -because she showed off her boobs I guess???- and the rest of the game threw me off so much I didn't really stop and rethink this assumption. That was a fail on my part. Thankfully I learned not to make the mistake with Akane). It's also funny that I thought Aoi was "too girly," considering that she's one of the only canon Danganronpa girls to wear something that isn't a skirt/dress, and she was in sort of a relationship with Sakura. First impressions aren't everything, as I would realize later come to realize with Toko.

I felt so bad for Toko, and I was annoyed at the time that we were playing Makoto because I wanted to play a girl character who was nicer to her, who was lesbians with her (yes, I had a crush on Toko. HAD. You can probably guess what made that crush dissipate.) I had this idea about writing a fanfic where my s/i would try to protect her "like she's my little sister," except obviously this was a lie because she didn't want to scare her away by admitting to a crush. In hindsight, this fanfic idea would have been hilarious. Assuming I actually could win Toko's affections, I planned on being a bit annoying and clingy (simping) but doing everything to prove I was keeping her safe, she would have been pushing me as far away as possible to avoid me becoming Genocide Jack's next victim, insulting me to get me to leave while I weigh every insult against the consequence of losing the only character I made a big connection with. Also, I know I would never be able to handle a tsundere insulting me the way Toko would, but I was considering working around that by having my character be desperate to latch onto somebody to be safer during the game, though I would still try to take on the role of protecting Toko. Is it wrong that it makes me laugh to imagine writing this and then having Genocide Jack kill me? XD

I had so much trouble picking out items I thought Toko and Chihiro (the two characters I spent free times with) would like, and my sister would get impatient with me if I reset to try to pick a better item to try to activate a cutscene. I only got three cutscenes with Toko, and none with Chihiro. It was pretty frustrating when I wasn't getting anywhere. I think I talked to Yasuhiro a bit too, because my sister asked me why I was spending so much time with Toko and I didn't want her to catch onto my crush (lol).

I figured Toko probably had a secret, but my idea of it was very simple. She was showing such a tsun side, and her backstories revealed how lonely and heartbroken she was, I figured that her secret was probably something sweet and cute to show her dere side. Since she struggled to be nice to people from her trust issues, maybe she was volunteering at an animal shelter, and had a pet she was very close to waiting for her at home. We'd get to see a picture or something. Her in a shelter uniform with the dog or kitty she was fond of. Something sweet like that. That was the image in my head.

And then Chapter 2 hit me like a ton of bricks.

Chihiro's death didn't shock me, though I was surprised it showed up so early. Oh well, at least I still had Toko to spend free times with! I should probably pick another character because again, my sister would get impatient if I just spent all my free times with one character (to be fair, my sister was like 14 at the time and we had limited times to play this game, I can understand.)

It's funny, this chapter had Byakuya acting even more obnoxious, and also introduced him being Toko's crush, so I was like "ah, my rival is a total jackass." Also, he seemed hella gay and not interested at all in Toko, so I wasn't too worried. When he told Makoto not to enter a room in the library and Makoto's just like "okay! :D" I had two thoughts: "Wow, Makoto is a dumbass" (this would become a running gag with me and my sister saying this), and "Byakuya is probably the murderer. Even if it's not this case, probably another one." And when Byakuya became more obnoxious in the trial, I was like "Oh, revealing you as the murderer and seeing your execution is going to be SO satisfying. >:D"

And then... he was one of the survivors!!!

FREAKING.

Don't get me wrong! I laugh about it now. I'm laughing right now. Well played, Danganronpa. This game trolled me so much. I don't even hate Byakuya anymore, well I kinda do, but he's the character that's fun to hate. I don't seriously hate him anymore. I laugh about how ridiculously mad I got about this. Feelings about feelings are funny like that.

Speaking of which, I was even less prepared for the Toko twist because-

WHAT THE HELLL?!!!

Poorly written multiple personality disorder, AND she was a murderer, but she wasn't even the murderer for THIS case?!! I guess I can't say the game was predictable or boring, but what the hell was this?!

Also, the scissors thing and that tongue...you cant. You cant. You cant say she's straight and obsessed with men and then give her all this lesbian symbolism, game. What are you doing? From this point on, Danganronpa was confused. Or maybe I was confused, I don't know. I was so very confused. I was still attracted to her, maybe more attracted to Jack now, but what the hell was this?!?! All the directions they could have taken her character and THIS is what they chose to do with her???!!

I like to joke now: Chapter 2 is actually the first double murder in the game. They killed Chihiro in the living sense, and they totally murdered Toko's character in the writing sense, in a way that I almost wish they had really killed her off instead. That would have been kinder to her than...this...

And I thought her big secret she was a volunteer at a damn animal shelter. Help me. 😭

It really did frustrate me, because even though she was very cruel I could relate to how cold and distant she was to everybody when she was scared, her trust issues, her clearly wanting someone to protect her and care about her but also being too terrified to trust someone enough to give them the chance to do that. I think you can see where I attached to Kazuichi for...the same exact reason, damn.

But honestly, Genocide Jack wasn't even the worst part of her writing from this point (shocking, right??!!)

No, the worst part of it was that the rest of the game, Toko would only appear every once in a while to simp over Byakuya. Literally nothing else (as far as I remember). And then she would disappear and in her place would be Jack.

Which, ngl, Jack was sexy and hilarious. I know I got like, one free time event with her. But still, she wasn't Toko! :(

It frustrated me to see this character get turned into an ableist joke. Any idea of a subversion, that maybe they were telling the player that they could consider Toko's perspective, that she had a sweeter side behind her scared, bitter self, that maybe the loser girl shouldn't be rejected by everyone... NAH! She's actually mentally ill and a freak! Let's just make fun of her mental illness and separate from liking her as much as possible! That's what it felt like playing the game after this, at least when I think about Toko.

My real favorite in this game, among the survivors, was Yasuhiro. I was convinced he would be the last victim, and I was so happy he wasn't. Bless him.

I was happy to finish THH, I needed closure for the story even though it was frustrating to see characters I started to like dying almost immeadiately and having barely anybody I cared about still around. "So in the end" (to quote Sakura) I had mixed feelings about Toko, Byakuya, and Aoi being survivors (in hindsight I was judgemental and wrong about Aoi and my feelings toward her have become more positive since then!), but I was glad to see Makoto, Kyoko, and Yasuhiro as survivors. My sister wanted me to play SDR2, and I told her I needed some time to pass before I decided to take on this game. Before I agreed to it, she had to reassure me that it was so much better than THH.

I was so worried about Kazuichi going the same route as Toko, but I took a chance at trusting her, and throughout the game she constantly showed how helpful she was and how kind she wanted to be. It wasn't as much development as I would have wanted, but it was better than what happened with Toko. There was no character assassination like Toko.

I find it so funny that I fell for the "simp" characters, and for these two games it was before I found out they were the simp characters. For Toko, it was because she was "the weird girl." For Kazuichi, it started off being because of her appearance, and continued as we learned that she was smart (a mechanic!) and helpful (she gave a thumbs up!). Yes, that is actually what made me first fall for her. You can laugh. As soon as she gave a thumbs up I knew I could trust her. Yes, I am aware that that reason is absolutely bonkers, I dont care. I'm so happy I was right this time.

^^^Look at this kind, helpful soul! I love you!!!

^^Check out the family resemblance. This is her cousin, my cousin-in-law Kaito. Kazuichi and Kaito being cousins is my headcanon. I headcanon Kaito as the older cousin, even though that probably makes no sense timeline wise. Heck, none of DR V3 makes sense timeline wise, so I do whatever!

Also, the pattern continues, as I admit I have a crush on Tenko as well. It's not as big as my crush on Kazuichi, it sort of comes and goes for the time being, and if I ever selfship with her I want to get a better sense of her character before I write her into the relationship (I'd like her to be with me and Kaz, also I'm not sure if Chihiro being part of the ship is still in my canon or not), but I wanted to mention it at some point and it's relevant to this post. Tenko had great potential, and she got some development she deserved, though the death she absolutely did not.

I guess the moral of this story is that you can trust again. Sometimes that trust will be broken, but sometimes it will help you find love. You have to take that chance.

All the places I could have learned this moral and it was the Danganronpa series. Wild.

[wickedfangharpg]

This was my first time drawing fire all the way back in 2022; I actually haven't had reason to draw fire again since XD I'm pretty sure I could do a lot better now though!

[Story below, TLDR here] Soren and Quillan started their journey back to town, setting up camp (and a massive fire) when it got dark. They talk while watching the fire, Quillan isn't afraid of Soren anymore, and it's safe to say that they're officially friends now.

[Story] Now that the bodies had been disposed of, Soren would need to head back to town to turn in the heads for a bounty, and Quillan would go back home. However, both places were a ways off from where they'd gone, so they wouldn't make the ride before nightfall.

Since coming upon Soren and her wagon of victims, Quillan had assumed that she'd kill him if he tried to run away or anything; however even after the mess had been taken care of, she was still kind to him and didn't even discreetly try to threaten him. He had imagined he'd have to flee an attempt at his life by now, since he wasn't useful anymore. Perhaps it was only because she had an 'alibi' of killing for a bounty, but it did seem to him like she was being genuine. He knew it wasn't a good idea to trust an actual murderer, but it's not like he hasn't killed anyone himself; although not nearly as brutally, and for completely different reasons. Probably. He still didn't know why she'd killed them if she hadn't known they were wanted to begin with.

As the sun approached the horizon, they would find a large clearing to camp out in for the night. Soren noted the bloodstains within the wagon and quite joyfully concluded it should be disposed of too. Although the wagon looked like it was on the verge of falling apart as it is, Quillan was sure Soren just wanted an excuse to use her axe again.

The wagon made for a good-sized bonfire, which was easy to keep under control thanks to the rain earlier. The two ended up making small talk while they tended the flames, and once it was dark enough that Quillan could safely remove his cloak, he would lay it on the ground to sit on so they wouldn't have to sit in the wet grass.

It was while they sat together when Quillan finally asked Soren why she'd killed those people. She frowned and stared at the fire silently for a moment before she would simply state that they were doing a lot of harm, and she ensured that they were stopped. Quillan was certain there was more to it than just that, considering the state of the bodies, but he wouldn't pry. At this point it was clear to him her victims more than likely deserved what they got; and judging from her reaction to the question, it was likely a touchy subject for her.

Soren would then ask Quillan why he'd helped her if he assumed her to be some kind of psycho killer or something. Quillan hesitated, but admitted his assumption that she would kill him too if he didn't do as she asked.

Overcome with amused guilt, Soren failed to refrain from laughing as she hid her face and gave him the gentlest pat on the shoulder. Quickly assuring him she had no intentions of harming him, before apologizing all over the place for frightening him and making him feel like he had to stay and help her with her gruesome task.

Quillan said it was fine, jokingly stating that he was just glad his curiosity hadn't lead him straight into danger for once.

The conversation moved to the horses as the two watched their sleepy steeds dozing off nearby. Soren introduced her horse Victorious Rhythm, whom she'd affectionately nicknamed Tori for short, since 'Victor' sounded much too human. She did admit he had belonged to one of her victims, so she had only known this stallion a short time; though he's evidently been very well behaved, nothing seemed to really faze him so far.

Quillan went on to explain that his horse Gilded Delight was nearly the opposite; although well trained, she was highly sensitive, to the point where she can and will warn him even when the weather was about to suddenly change; whether he wants her to or not. It's a little annoying that she reacts to everything, but she isn't one to misbehave much or spook too easily, so it's not a huge hinderance.

There wouldn't be any more awkward silences between the pair, simply enjoying each other's company and talking about whatever while they kept the fire under control. Once it had died down on its own, they would settle down to sleep for the remainder of the night.

[time-to-write-and-suffer]

B3 was so badly planned out and written, when i think of b1 i think of the patrols the introductions and obviously Murphy, b2 being the apartment nd the drive to the carnaval and b3... ? I just think of the poorly written nd quite disrespectful plot of 'human trafficking but make it nice xxxx'. Mishka could have easily made it more respectful by actually writing it properly and not making it seem aesthetic. The whole book was messy and why was the blood drive basically the biggest issue in the book? The detective could easily avoid it, allowing for more space nd focus on the 'Bad guy'. It just felt very rushed. Do you think that the plot should have been altered so it makes more sense and make it more memorable or just scrapped altogether?

Coupling this with a similar ask:

Not to bring back twc3 but like I'm pissed that people are like "Well Book 1 had a dark topic too!" Like yes it did but we actually spend most of the time investigating and it was treated as serious situation you weren't out there having dates and shit while in book 3 up to 40 people got kidnapped and MC had like a few scenes were they were actually concerned for the victims and then we went back to having dates, flirting with you LI and getting drunk...It also seems that the public wasn't aware that people (They just thought it was the kid) were going missing?? And we didn't do anything solve the kidnappings? We just went to a party and that's it. How are people not seeing the difference??.

The thing that people don't get about the human trafficking vs kidnapping thing is that the detective, and by extension we, the player, are allowed to linger in the trauma of the detective getting kidnapped, and we also see the effect the murders have on the town and the people in Wayhaven. The PC is visibly traumatized by it, the town is terrified, and book 2 opens with a nightmare about what happened in book 1. Because yes, it is a traumatic event, and it was allowed to have the weight such an event would have in someoen's life.

Book 3 offers no such weight to the human trafficking subplot. It tries, but it fails in that it 1) centers the detective's feelings of guilt instead of the terror of what's happening and how it's affecting the VERY SMALL, INSULAR TOWN 2) said guilt doesn't translate because we're never allowed to actually see the effect the kidnappings are having on the actual people of Wayhaven. The guilt is always self-inflicted in a really boring, "heroic" way where the detective blames themself but nobody else does, beause we're never given any reason to believe the detective could've stopped anything cuz it's all off-screen. In book 1, the guilt feels earned, because people are dying on the detective's watch, while they're in charge of finding the killer, and we see the consequences of them failing (grieving parents, scared locals etc). Here, it's like "Oh ok ... I guess 40 people got got and this is my fault somehow? And nobody else is reacting at all or trying to do anything? How is this just on me at this point? I'm not in charge of the whole town of Wayhaven."

We're aware of things being bad on principle, but we're never actually shown it. Once the cutesy RO scenes and the blood drive nonsense comes back, it's all mostly forgotten.

If M!shka tries to make the detective seem traumatized from the events of book 3 in book 4, I will laugh, because it would be a huge copout. As previously stated, the most of the emotional impact on the detective from the human trafficking subplot comes at the expense of an unnamed NPC who they never interact with again, and this "emotional impact" is mainly used to get the PC and their RO into the shower together for some cheap Angst. Murphy felt like he had a tangible effect on the detective as a character, regardless of their RO's reaction. There was a perfect opportunity to have Addie be the main driving force behind the detective's actions, but she's completely forgotten and instead replaced by a different, unnamed victim that never gets another mention.

Which brings me to how I'd fix this, because I don't think it's unfixable: Sin attempts to kidnap Addie but fails for one reason or another. Have the detective meet Addie and her parents. Maybe have the parents ask the Agency to protect Addie, and she's put under UB and the detective's personal protection. The parents force the detective to promise to keep her safe. Have Addie form a personal connection to the detective, whatever it may be. Give the victims a face. It's a little kid, for god's sake! The easiest thing to sympathize with and adopt, you had it in your hands and you wasted it.

Anyway, then, let the parents get kidnapped in order to pull Addie and the detective closer to the main event. Maybe even have Sin attempt to kidnap Addie again, but settling for her parents when UB and the detective interfere, so you can have that interaction of Sin being remoreseful and the detective trying to understand his actions. Then, dealing with Addie's fear and how the detective handles a scared, sad child would be perfect character development, and that's before you include the squee-worthy pseudo-parental RO interactions that people love. And finally, Addie gets kidnapped, and that's what kicks off the climax. Throughout this, you can also remind the player that the detective gave her parents a promise to protect her, and that's what haunts them and makes them feel personally responsible when they fail.

This way, the "main" plot is a quiet story about protecting a kid, with plenty of setup for interactions with the ROs (and a good reason for the detective to move into the warehouse, as a bonus), while it's also explicitly connected to the larger plot affecting the town, and you're given a much more tangible, personal reason to want to stop these kidnappings aside from "kidnapping bad," because you don't want more miserable, traumatized Addies in Wayhaven, and your detective made an actual promise to keep her safe and presumably wants to keep said promise.

It's all right there. That's what's so frustrating about book 3. We could've had it aaaaa-aaall.