#And the Stars Keeping Their Secrets

[aheckinmess]

Songbird [Tokoyami] (Fluff)

(One-shot 13/? in a collection of My Hero Academia one-shots posted regularly on Saturdays - and sometimes Sundays.)

Read on AO3.

Tags: Tokoyami x OC, Fumikage Tokoyami, Dark Shadow, Original Female Character(s), Ichijiku Aoki, Tokoyami Fumikage-centric, Tokoyami Needs a Hug, Tokoyami is a Cutie, Dark Shadow is the Best Wingman, Cute Dark Shadow, OC Likes to Sing, Tokoyami Likes Apples, So She Sings, And He Invites Her to the Apple Orchard, I Dunno, I Think It's Adorable, Includes Walks On the Beach, And the Stars Keeping Their Secrets, Songbird

Word Count: 792 Words

Summary: When Tokoyami overhears Ichijiku singing to the stars, he decides to take a chance asking her a serious question.

Ichijiku (Tigress)

The full moon stretches toward the sky as my friends laugh with each other on the beachfront. I grin at their joy and continue my stroll by the ocean waves as sand squishes between my toes.

Stars wink down at me as I attempt to pick out their stories, sifting through the twinkling lights with keen eyes until they paint a picture of star-crossed lovers and tyrannical kings. My feet wander of their own accord and I shove my hands in my pockets as the autumn wind raises goosebumps on my skin. Soon, winter will dance across our toes with snowflakes and I’ll go from a stroll on the beach to a pair of ice skates on a frozen pond. 

A smile tickles my lips as anticipation for snow and Christmas floods me down to the tips of my toes. Christmas makes me think of snow makes me think of falling flakes makes me think of a song from my favorite Disney movie.

I pause in my journey and look around to make sure I’m alone. I sit in the sand and when the coast seems clear my eyes close as sweet notes serenade the seagulls and sea life.

“Silent as the snowflake in the night,

holy is the spirit of this night.

All the world is calm and peaceful,

all the world is bright and joyful…” 

I hum the rest as I rest my chin on my knees and watch the shimmering bioluminescence of fascinating creatures at sea splash into the ocean, wave after wave. Lapping water harmonizes with the refrain as the song ends and I’m left with the soothing background noise of nature.

Daydreams of my feathered classmate dancing with me in moonlight skirts my mind until his voice caresses my ear, no longer a fantasy. 

“You sound like a songbird.” His deep voice whispers.

I gasp and jolt to my feet, eyes snapping open as a blush paints my cheeks. 

“T-Tokoyami! H-Hi! Sorry. Hi. I didn’t hear you.” I sputter, before his comment registers and my cheeks turn a shade darker. “Oh, um, thank you? It scares me to sing in front of strangers.” 

“My apologies, Songbird,” He grins and gives a bow of his head as Dark Shadow squawks and swoops over to nuzzle me. “Your sweet singing helped me soothe Dark Shadow.”

“Oh! That’s right,” I stroke the foggy mass of Dark Shadow’s face. “You get rowdy at night, don’t you, my cloudy companion?”

A sad chirp whistles past Dark Shadow’s nostrils but he tips his head into my palm. I rub my thumb over the cool, momentarily tangible clouds of his cheek.

“You…” Tokoyami begins, but when I meet his eyes he looks away and shuffles the sand with his feet. A moment passes before he looks back up at me. “Would you like to go to the apple orchard with me this weekend?”

I stop petting Dark Shadow as it’s my turn to stare at my feet.

“Y-Yeah. I would like that.” I answer before I can chicken out. Maybe I should clarify what he means by that. What if he just wants to go because we’re friends? “Are we going as friends?” 

“If you’d like,” Tokoyami’s feathers bristle against his head for a moment. He takes a shaky step toward me. “However, I was hoping you’d go with me as my date?” 

“Really?” My head whips up, eyes bright with enthusiasm. I swallow and play with my hair to calm down and not look so desperate. “I mean, I’d like that. I was hoping that’s what you meant.” 

Awkward silence simmers between us until Dark Shadow drapes around us, pulling me into a solid, warm chest. I look up and Tokoyami nuzzles his cheek against mine.

“Will you sing for us again?” He asks.

“Of course.”

After a few refrains of my favorite lullabies, I yawn and rest my head against his chest. But my eyes fly open when he sweeps me into his arms. 

“Ah!” My arms squeeze his neck as I regain my bearings. “What are you doing?”

“Carrying you back to your house, if you’ll allow me.” He coos.

“I don’t mind, but I know I’m heavy. Are you sure?” I barely breathe, as if any exhale of oxygen will crush him beneath me.

“I’m sure.”

He sets me down when we reach the door, for which I’m grateful. If Naomi caught me walking in at this hour, she’d ground me for life.

“Thank you for this evening.” I whisper, head whipping around every few moments as I listen for my live-in nanny. “I hope you’ll join me again sometime?”

“I’d be delighted.” He nods.

And the stars giggle above as I stand on my tip-toes and kiss his cheek.

[fellthemarvelous]

My favorite things that Obi-Wan and Ezra have in common:

Hondo's "best friend"

Maul's obsession

Unique bond with animals

Fond of a Mandalorian named Sa_ine.

Spending ten years in exile before someone comes for them.

Fondness for Ahsoka Tano and Captain Rex

[lucabyte]

"So what's the weirdest possible first (second) impression Loop could make on the party in postcanon?" "Yeah, that, probably."

+ Bonus

theyre just standing there in direct party order while this happens. normal tuesday.

[tawnysoup]

Transitional phase

[bluerosefox]

I've been seeing a few DPxDC Dad!Damian ideas so I'd like to toss my idea into the void of the internet.

Damian is on a lead about a glowing green puppy, that can apparently change size and go through walls, and finally manages to track it down before even his father hears about it. The puppy seemed to be stealing random things too.

He was fully ready to use all the tricks in the book to get the puppy to trust him... and after a few days/weeks he manages to gain its trust.

He just wasn't expecting the puppy to drag him to abandoned warehouse and drop him in front of a few kids that were hiding out in it.

"Oh! Cujo you finally brought your new person over!" says the only red-haired one in the group, and she was holding a baby, as two almost identical toddlers ran over to the excited pupper that began to run around them.

[mari-lair]

in the au, does the siffrin dialog where he forgets what he’s saying happen every loop? Like in the letter about running away. And as the party progresses through the loops, does the party notices the aura of weirdness about siffrin? Like why does the king call out specifically to them every time. What is siffrin supposed to remember?

The dialogue where Sif forgets what he was talking about happens every loop. His attitude changes depending on what question is asked or what tone is used (the party likes to change things up, they don't 'remember their lines word by word' like siffrin was obcessed with) but whenever they probe him to talk about something that will lead to his run away, he always forgets what he was saying. Always.

Odile is the most interested in his 'weird memory loss'

The king's "do you remember?" dialogue and his clear focus on Sif is THE THING that spirals into the party eventually learning about the forgotten land and wishcraft.

...but it takes entering ACT 3 for any relevant King dialogue to be available, and it is still a slow process cause Mirabelle is the NO.1 KING HATER and all the party hate him too, so they don't even let the king speak in most loops just see him go "NO TALKING LET'S FIGHT! I'LL GIVE YOU A REAL REASON TO CRY" or "STOP BOTHERING SIFFRIN!" and the fight start.

They never have a Sif moment of [You can understand the King's feelings more than you would have wanted] Even when they learn about his forgotten home and feel some sympathy, it isn't enough, till the very end the party don't vibe with the king at all, less and less each loop even.

[13ag21k]

Ah yes the good old "I can't remove my boyfriend's mask" trope.

[gummi-ships]

Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance - Traverse Town

[copalcetic]

I think sometimes people forget just how old Alexsandr Kallus is.

Star Wars Rebels: The Visual Guide, which came out during season one, refers to him as “late 30s.” Season one of Rebels is set 5 BBY; if Kallus is 36-39 then, that puts his birthdate at 41-44 BBY, and makes him about a decade older than Kanan.

The Republic fell in 19 BBY. Kallus would have been 22-25 years old. The Clone Wars started in 22 BBY. Kallus would have been 19-23 years old. Academy service starts at age 16. Unless Kallus was a very late bloomer, it is extremely likely his recruitment and training happened not under the Empire but under the Republic.

I know Wookieepedia says “Kallus attended the Royal Imperial Academy on Coruscant, the main campus of the new regime's military training program,” but its source for that is the comic “Kallus’s Hunt,” and I have the comic right here and it never says that. Kallus talks a lot in the comic about what it means to serve the Empire and Imperial justice, but when he’s discussing his backstory with Jovan, it’s “We arrived on Coruscant and graduated from the main academy at the same time.” 

Not “the Royal Imperial Academy”; “the main academy.” We know from the High Republic books that there has been an academy on Coruscant since at least the High Republic era. There is no particular reason to believe from this comic that the academy was under Imperial control at the time Kallus attended it, and in fact his backstory with Jovan (they were friends at the academy, then had a philosophical difference later in life about what it meant to serve the Empire) makes a lot more sense if the “serving the Empire” part comes after their time at the academy together.

The other time Kallus references his academy days is in “Through Imperial Eyes,” when he asks Yularen if he remembers him “from the academy,” and Yularen says “Of course… I keep tabs on all my star pupils.” Again: “the academy.” Not “the Imperial Academy.” And we know from Clone Wars that Yularen’s career starts as a Republic Navy officer; why assume he was teaching Kallus under the Empire? Given how busy Yularen was in the early days of the Empire, it makes a lot more sense if his time teaching at the academy predates the Clone Wars. You know: back when Kallus was the right age to be at the academy.

Tl;dr: like Yularen and Tarkin, Kallus is probably a former Republic officer who stayed to become an Imperial officer after the change of regime. His intensely pro-Imperial feelings in early Rebels don't come from being indoctrinated from childhood; they come from having served under both the Republic and the Empire and concluding (or convincing himself) that the Empire is better. And I find that much more interesting as character backstory.

[notdysfunk]

Well, if you're open to more questions let's get some basic ones out of the way! What happened to Moon's wings (I'm guessing fire) and how does Y/N know Sun and Moon in this story (neighbors, co-workers, roommates 👀)?

Mweeehehehe, I fear I cannot answer that first question without spoiling some stuff 👀 Maybe get back to me on that later (distant, evil giggle) As for Y/N and Sun/Moons relationship, they are roommates!

(picture just for a random visual hehe) They crash at Y/Ns place out of nowhere, and eventually grow closer as time goes on. Becoming friends, and even going as far as the prune each other's wings hehe. Y/N is compelled to help Moon with his wings as much as they can, and help Sun/Moon get their own place.... or maybe they don't mind them staying!

[magnoliasandbeardedtooth]

thinking about the relationship between sif and the universe, and related theories / headcanons aka I listened to a song and I need to get these feefees out of me

this is a lot of prelude for something that can be shown with just the video clip, but I want to include all the strings that make up this knot

Its not explicitly stated, but I believe it's pretty clear that whenever sif repeats something three times while hoping for something (sharpening the keyknife, carving in general, praying to the change god statue in dormont), he is performing wish craft.

however, he doesnt repeat anything three times when getting the keyknife. he doesnt even need to pray to get it at all, the change god just gives it to him. they say themselves that they dont care for rituals. they never even take credit for the stat buff, they only take credit for the keyknife

when sif changes how they pray at the change god statue, their method more strongly resembles the ritual to make a wish at the favor tree (picking the one you like best), and as a result the buff gets better. it is the wish craft ritual that is the important part of the prayer to that statue, not the change god

one thing that IS explicitly stated is just how powerful wish craft is for those who know the rituals, and how dangerous it is in the wrong hands. between the disappearance of colors (Im pretty sure that was the result of a wish, I may be misremembering), the disappearance of the country, and the king being nearly successful in freezing all of vaugarde in time, it only takes one wish to take out massive chunks of the world at a time

we know that wish craft is very entwined in the culture of the country (the story written about in the journal is told as a cautionary fairy tale, the rituals themselves are so deeply ingrained in sif that the wish to forget the country did not restrict his memory of the rituals, and he can perform wish craft without even being fully aware he is doing it)

it seems reasonable to me that the reason for the country's disappearance was to hide the existence of wish craft and the rituals to access that power from the rest of the world. considering sif didnt even remember his culture AND had good intentions, and still nearly ended the world, seems like that concern is pretty well founded. however, thats not the important theory Im making this post about

the country has knowledge of wish craft in conjunction with worship of the universe. "the universe leads, we can only follow," "the universe willed it," seems pretty safe to say that sif's Universe is the "entity" that is granting wishes

the way wishes are described, they dont seem like something the universe grants based on who worships it. as long as you know the ritual, you get the wish. everyone is part of the universe, after all, worshiper or not

Admittedly, its a bit of a stretch to say that the universe as a collective force has any sense of empathy for human struggles. but using the change god as an example, as spiteful as they are to sif, and unsympathetic to anything other than a human's role in the concept of change, they still show a great deal of care and favor to mira, someone who loves them. it is possible for a deity to care for those that care about it

sif, despite no longer having access to his culture or why he cares about the universe, still loves the universe, very very deeply, just as much as mira loves change. the change god says that sif's deity will never answer him, but I dont think thats the case

and this is the important headcanon that I am making this post for

sif is performing the rituals, so he gets the wishes, simple as. but I feel strongly that his wishes getting granted in very small but noticeable ways, despite not knowing how or why hes doing it, is the presence of his universe helping him, caring for him, even when he doesnt remember it

the strongest evidence for this, and the basis for this whole thing, is exactly how euphrasie breaks down in act 5

at first I only really noticed when she laughs, it reminded me very much of how the change god, a being who uses sprites of other characters and has done a whole possession, laughed during their encounter. they and euphrasie are the only two that use anything other than "ha," and right after this laugh is when her breakdown pauses and she says the lines

"... Soon you'll be able to go back to your normal lives. Away from battle and strife. Finally, you'll all be able to go home!!!"

which, knowing the end of the game is coming, is incredibly relevant. very deliberate

before this pause, her breakdown seems pretty chaotic. the characters and the player are just coming out of one harrowing experience, and are clearly headed for another. the cohesiveness of this glitchy breakdown amongst a mess of the rest of the world doing the same isnt really high up on the list of priorities. none of the characters notice anything beyond the fact that reality is breaking, not even sif. it just sounds like scary nonsense.

but with the context of euphrasie being possessed to talk to sif, every single one of her lines makes perfect sense

(footage from Zhain Gaming on yt)

the universe is there its talking directly to him, it was there the whole time

the Universe loves Sif so much

[ssstarlighttt]

“toxic yuri,” i say before dropping the microphone and running off stage

[bumblingbabooshka]

People usually put T'Pring as a science officer in a Starfleet AU but the all-win strategy she employed in Amok Time is amazing, praised as 'flawlessly logical', and she thought up most of it on the fly - that screams tactical to me. She's not a fighter though, so Stonn usually accompanies her. Stonn is there as the only redshirt who never gets killed [bc he listens to T'Pring more than he listens to his commander, gets in trouble bc of it.] [Patreon | Commissions]

[rui-drawsbox]

𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘒𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘈𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘪 𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦!

🌸 Timelapse ✨

[graysonhawthorneswife]

Reading it isn’t enough, I need to physically merge the book with my body.

[yidou]

the secret in the coffin