#How to break black magic symptoms

[milliesfishes]

౨ৎ꣑ৎcoryo while you're on your period౨ৎ꣑ৎ fem reader x coriolanus snow

Rolling onto your side, you pulled the blankets over yourself, hoping the new position would ease the aching in your back. When it did nothing, you whimpered, turning to muffle the sound into your pillow. It was an impossible pain like a weight in your body setting up shop and easing in and out, making you think it was gone and then coming back full force.

Earlier today, the red spots in your underwear had alerted you mercifully that you weren't pregnant, but the relief came with a barrage of symptoms you could hardly do anything to waive. They tortured you, punished you for not having something you didn't want right now. Worst of all, Coriolanus wasn't home, and you yearned for his big warm hands to break the shell of pain in your body.

Sometimes if you had your period in the morning before he left, he would call in so he could stay home with you, his worries about your hurting more important than any paperwork he could be doing. But today you'd gotten it in the middle of the day. Honestly, he probably would have wanted you to call him, and then he could have come straight home. But you didn't want to disturb him at the job he'd worked so hard to get. He didn't need to come home for his wife just because she was having monthly troubles.

You heard the door open, presuming it was the maid, and turning onto your back, wincing at the way your back reacted. But instead of the black and white uniform, you saw a crisp red suit, and further up, the worried eyes of your husband. He was home earlier than usual.

"Sweetheart?" He swiftly sat down at your side, hand going to your side. "What's wrong? Are you feeling well?"

Shifting onto your side to face him, you murmured, "My period."

Instantly, his face softened. "Oh, darling." Coriolanus smoothed his hand over your back and you whimpered, closing your eyes. "How bad does it hurt?"

"Really bad," you managed as another bout of pain began to flood you. It sharpened and cut at your back like a brutally edged knife. Squeezing your eyes shut, you took in a deep breath, reaching out to grab his wrist. He let you squeeze it until it passed, and your body untensed.

"Did you take anything for it?" he murmured, hands already getting to work on rubbing your back, pulling your shirt up so he could feel your skin.

"No." You let him roll you gently onto your belly, kissing the crown of your head while he smoothed your back.

"I'll call up for something." His voice was soothing, and you rested your head on your arms, trying to relax. "Maybe some tea too? The pink kind you like?"

"Uh huh," you mumbled, breathing in and out. Coriolanus' fingers worked their magic, and you felt some of the pain ease off.

"There we go," he breathed, settling one hand on your back. "A little better?"

"Keep doing that," you said, lifting your head. He smiled, tucking your hair behind your ear and kissing your cheek.

"Okay." He kept his hand where it was as he rang for tea and medicine. When you whimpered as a new bout of pain crept into your lower back, Coriolanus crawled into bed with you, wrapping his arms around your waist and holding you close, still in his suit pants and white shirt. He'd undone a few buttons, and you reached your hand up, touching his collarbone and tracing it.

"It hurts," you mumbled, and he nodded, kissing the top of your head.

"I know, sweetheart," he whispered, rubbing your back. "I wish I could take it away.”

As much as he hated that you were in pain, you knew there was a modicum of relief with every monthly you endured. Pregnancy was expected in his position of course, but what had happened to his mother was something he’d carried in his heart since it happened. It was part of the reason he was so doting when this time of the month came around. The prospect of babies made him think of life and death, and so he clung to you extra tight.

“Do you need anything else?” he murmured, smoothing your hair as the tea arrived, two white pills on the tray. “Something more to eat?”

“This is good,” you mumbled, reaching for the bowl of fruit that had been brought up to take with the pills. Coriolanus kept his hand at your midsection, alternating between your back lower tummy. He was attentive as you ate and swallowed the medicine, waiting until you finished your tea to help you lie down again.

He covered the side of your head with one palm, nose in your hair. You settled into him and he waited patiently as you got comfortable. Hand rubbing his chest, you murmured, “You came home so early.”

“I was alerted that you weren’t feeling well,” Coriolanus muttered, still working his fingers over your back. “I wish you would have called me.”

“I felt bad,” you said softly, and he kissed your hair.

“I don’t want you to be alone when you’re hurting,” he said softly. “Oh, sweetheart…”

“Mm,” you hummed as another bout of pain washed over you, fingers clenching his shirt.

Coriolanus caressed your lower back, palm flat under your shirt. He caressed you gently where you were hurting, kissing your head. “Shh, it’s almost over. Almost over.” You held to him until it passed.

That was the majority of the afternoon- you clenching in pain and him soothing you through it. Never once did he indicate he was tired of it, and never once did he leave you. When he finally did get up, it was to run a bath for you, which you insisted he stay with you in. It was cozy being nestled in the water like that, surrounded by warmth on all sides.

He had you clean and cozy atop fresh, cool sheets in no time, swaddled in a cozy pair of pajamas and propped up with your back against his chest while he fed you bites of dinner. Your heating pad was draped over your midsection, and the pain of your back was taken care of by the warmth of his bare chest.

Afterward, he laid with you atop his chest, the faintest hint of a smile on his face as you played with his hair, tousled back into curls by the water. The pain was dulled by the latest batch of medicine, and you could feel yourself getting sleepier.

"Coryo?" you mumbled, shifting atop him.

He moved a stray hair from your forehead. "Mhm?"

"Are you gonna be gone in the morning?"

He shook his head, nosing against the part in your hair. "My schedule's already cleared for tomorrow."

"Mm." You snuggled into his chest, no longer hesitant to get comfortable. If he was staying, he was going to be your pillow all night.

Another kiss was pressed to your forehead. "Go to sleep, darling. We'll get you all better."

Safe in his arms, you finally felt like you were.

[sserpente]

A/N: I’ve been meaning to write this for so long. If you’re in the mood for some angst, you’re in the right place!

Words: 1743 Warnings: angst, poisoning

You didn’t know what hurt more. Was it the fact that the man—god—you had fallen for was on the brink of death, taking his last breaths? Or was it the very circumstance that no one but you cared?

Tony Stark had been very clear about it. He tolerated Loki only per Thor’s humble request. The God of Thunder himself was less than pleased that the Trickster was to serve his sentence on Earth of all places. It was Odin’s magic that restricted him, keeping him from causing even more mayhem after the chaos he unleashed in New York City.

They were even less delighted about him joining their self-proclaimed superhero group on missions even though Thor himself claimed that Loki’s wit and skills could prove useful.

You had nothing to say in the matter of course. If anything, you were declared crazy because you had expressed your affinity for the God of Mischief and that included Loki himself.

You couldn’t help it. The way he smirked, the way he talked, the way he sat in the corner buried in a book—one of the very few instances you ever saw him relaxed, not to mention the occurrence with the cat… oh, the cat. A stray—black and white, young, purring and dancing around Loki’s feet, desperate for his attention. And when he’d bent down to pet it and even conjured some food for it, it was the last piece of evidence you had needed to conclude that this man was not evil. Misguided, betrayed, hurt? Yes, all of those things and more. But not evil.

It was the latter. The very circumstance that no one but you cared hurt more.

Thor had left for Asgard already, seeking the advice of their healers. It was ridiculous, truly. In a life-threatening emergency like this, how could his banishment still hold any weight? He needed help.

Your enemy had been thorough, researching each and everyone’s greatest weakness. And Loki’s had proved the most fatal. Whatever the extra-terrestrial had coated their weapon in before it fired its arrow at the God of Mischief, it prevented him from healing, had him break out in a sweat and slowly lose a battle against the poison now spreading in his body.

“Loki? Can you hear me? Please stay with me. You got to stay awake, alright?” He was on the sofa, with his head placed in your lap. You stroked his forehead in an attempt to soothe him. Blue eyes found yours and you were unsure whether he wanted to tell you to stay with him or let him die in peace. You’d been singing to him too. Trying to keep him in the present, in the now.

By the time Thor finally burst back into the room, Loki’s breathing had become dangerously shallow.

“Did you tell them about the symptoms? What did they say? What’s wrong with him? How are we gonna heal him?” The questions gushed out of you like a waterfall before he’d even set his hammer down.

Thor, however, grew silent for a moment. “There… Loki was poisoned. The rat knew what he was doing. The arrow was likely infused with blood from a Memphis of Muspelheim mixed with a deadly dose of mistletoe essence.”

You put one and one together immediately. “So… you’re saying this poison was specifically made to kill a Frost Giant?”

Thor looked down. “Yes.”

“Well, did you bring the antidote then?”

“There… there is no antidote. Not on Asgard. And I fear… there is no time to search the realms. The Jötuns have spent millennia destroying every last drop of this poison. There is hardly any antidote left.”

Your heart sank. No… no! You were not going to let Loki die!

“There has to be a way. Somewhere we can…” Your lips parted. “There is somebody. Someone who has everything. You mentioned him before, you said you brought the Aether to him!”

“The Collector?”

“He has it. He must have it.”

“What, and you think he will give it to you without anything in return?” Tony said.

“I didn’t say that. I’m sure we can offer him something in return to make it worth his while.” You turned back to Thor. “Heimdall can take us there. Please, Thor. This might be our only chance.”

Perhaps you should have been surprised that the God of Thunder relented. There was no doubt he too wanted his brother to survive. The entire time you’d been preparing to leave, Thor was brooding and lost in thought. He wasn’t one for big words—but he cared and for the moment, that was good enough for you.

The Collector’s place was dimly lit, eerily quiet and… it smelled awful. You took a deep breath regardless and gave a nod to Thor to venture forth.

“An Asgardian. And… a human?” The Collector tilted his head when you stepped into view. “What an… honour. What brings you to my humble domain?”

“We need your help. We’re looking for something rare. Thor’s brother Loki is Jötun and he’s been shot with an arrow drenched in a rare poison.”

“Hmm… yes, I’m familiar.”

“There is no antidote. If… if anyone has any left, it must be you.”

“So it must be… I do indeed have this antidote you speak of.” Your face lit up but judging by the Collector’s body language—a smug and repulsive expression, truly—he was not going to give it up easily.

“Surely, your Asgardian friend has told you of how the Jötuns have ensured every last drop of this poison gets destroyed. There was a need for an antidote no longer. The bottle that I have in my collection is… an antique, almost.”

“Fine,” you spat. “What do you want in return?”

“You see… I’ve never had a human in my collection.”

Your eyes widened, lips parting to respond.

“No!” Thor roared.

“Then I am afraid we have reached a dead end.”

“She’s not an object to be collected, she’s a person!”

“Thor!” Gnashing your teeth, you turned to him and took a deep breath. “It’s fine. Just take the antidote to Loki, alright?”

“No. There has to be another way.”

“Take the damn antidote to him, Thor!”

“I cannot let you do this.”

“You can and you will. He’s your brother, Thor! And I’m…” I’m in love with him. Heavens, was that stupid? Loki didn’t even know. It was absurd, wasn’t it? To sacrifice your own life in this way to see the God of Mischief live another day?

Yes. It was. But it… it felt like the right thing to do. Loki deserved another shot. A chance to redeem himself, to show the world that he was more than he let on. And a chance to have the damn world apologise to him, too.

“Tell him… tell him to live his best life, okay? Tell him… tell him not to be too harsh on himself. To… to love himself.”

“To love himself?” Thor frowned.

“Shut up and listen. Loki hates himself, don’t you see that? He hates what he is, he hates what he’s become. He hates himself. And you all played a part in that.”

“Why would you do this… for him?”

Your lips parted. “Tell him… tell him I fell for him.” There. You’d said it. But it didn’t matter anymore whether he’d reject you, right? You’d be here, wherever here was and Loki would be back on Earth, recovering. You’d never have to face his reaction after your confession and yet, he could live with the knowledge that he was not, in fact, so terrible, that no one could love him beyond a family bond like the one he shared with Thor.

“I… fine. I will. Mark my words, I will come back for you,” he added quietly.

You nodded. Was there hope? Possibly. Possibly not. But you did not doubt for a second that your sacrifice was worth it.

You didn’t know how many days had gone by since Thor’s departure. One? Three? Ten? There was no sunlight in this place, no clocks. One of the Collector’s lackeys made sure to feed you regularly at least, other than that… you were on your own, caged in a pretty glass box until he figured out what to do with you. Unless of course… he was just going to keep you on display like this like the maniac he was.

If you didn’t know better, you would have asked him for a book. Surely he had some in his collection. It was boredom and solitude that would drive you mad sooner or later, that much you were sure of.

Every sound nearby became more interesting than the next. The cracking of the metal tiles, the flapping of wings of the caged bird opposite your own stupid box, the ruffling of clothing whenever you moved… a massive explosion forcing everything in its vicinity several feet into the air. Wait, what?

Your eyes widened and you stood. Were you under attack? Oh heavens, no, you didn’t want to be killed inside of a glass box! Would there be another explosion? What if the cage broke and you bled to death because of the shards piercing your body?

Chaos erupted, yet the Collector was nowhere to be seen. A scream escaped your lips when with a start, a figure appeared right before your cage, remnants of green shimmering light enveloping them whole. It took you a moment to realise that it was Loki.

“My… that is quite the predicament you have landed yourself in, pet.”

“I… w-what? Loki… you’re alive, you’re fine. What are you doing here?” Unable to process what was happening, you inched back when the God of Mischief broke the lock and opened the cage for you to climb out. Electricity rippled through you when he took your hand in his.

“Rescuing you, of course.” His sly smirk had you gasping for air as you leaned against him. Your knees and legs hurt from having to sit for so long.

“Thor told me what you did.”

“Did he also tell you…”

Loki nodded. Without another word, he leaned forward and stole a chaste kiss, leaving you breathless and wanting more.

“Come. The others are waiting on the ship. And then, my dear, I shall show you the proper Asgardian way of courting a woman.”

You smiled, relief flooding your entire body as he picked you up and carried you home.

[ironstrange1991]

Need

Pairing: Doctor!Strange, Defender!Strange, Supreme!Strange x Fem!Reader

Synopsis: After the reader breaks one of the Sanctum relics, she starts to feel a little strange and it is up to the Stephens to deal with the situation in the best way possible.

Word Count: 7k

Warnings: Polyamorous relationship dinamics. SMUT: Sex pollen, oral sex with male receiving, masturbation with male receiving, umprotected p in v sex, creampie, cum eating, slight spanking, slight degradation kink, there is probably more stuff that I am not remembering.

A/N: It took me almost a month to write this fic and I know many of you are anxious to finally read it, so I hope you like it and have a good reading.

You weren't feeling well. Your body was aching, but it wasn't a normal kind of pain, it was something very specific. At first you didn't pay attention to the sensations when they started, you ignored them as much as you could because you were worried and embarrassed about having broken one of the Sanctum's relics and you had no idea how to tell Stephen because you were tired of hearing phrases like: Don't touch things you don't know what they are; Don't mess with the relics; Stay away from magical artifacts.

You always did like you were told, but sometimes you needed to clean one shelf or another, you couldn't stand to see the dust gathering and Stephen never remembered to clean them and Defender never had time when you asked him to, so sometimes, against their advice, you did a good job cleaning everything.

It was exactly what you had done that morning. Since you were off work and the three Stephens were busy doing god knows what and you'd be spending the day alone, you decided to be productive and clean up the parts of the Sanctum that were always overlooked in routine cleaning.

Everything was going perfectly fine until you bumped into one of the many vases on the pedestals in the Window of the Worlds Room and it smashed to the floor. Inside the vase there was only earth. Or you thought it was earth, although you could have sworn you smelled a strange smell coming from it. It was a black and thin substance that, when it fell to the ground, raised a cloud of dust, soiling your clothes.

"What the fuck, Y/n" You screamed to yourself bringing your hand to your mouth completely paralyzed. It took a few minutes for you to calm down and clean up everything. As you put the pieces of the vase in a box and tried to pick up that disgusting dust from the floor to dump it in a plastic bag you were pretty sure you inhaled a lot of the substance, but you tried your best not to think about what that meant, although a thought insistent in the back of your head made you scared to death that the thing was actually the ashes of some important master who had died centuries ago and was now stuck to your hands and clothes.

But there were more important things to think about. For example, how were you going to tell Stephen that? He would be so mad at you.

Finally, you hid the box and plastic bag with all the earth you could pick up from the floor and put it on a shelf at the back of the library. You continued cleaning and tried to calm your anxiety by telling yourself that the best thing to do was to tell Defender what happened and ask him to fix the relic before Stephen noticed. You just knew he wasn't going to get mad at you and he would do his best to help you hide it from the other Stephens.

You were finishing your cleaning when you noticed the first symptoms. You felt a little dizzy and thought that was why you hadn't eaten anything in the morning, but then you started to feel hot. Very hot. Which wasn't normal since you were in the middle of autumn.

The other symptoms took longer to appear and it took you a while to notice that something was really wrong.

You noticed that you were thinking about Stephen a lot, which to a certain extent was normal, you thought about your Stephens all the time, however you were thinking about specific parts of their bodies and very specific things they did to you in bed and it was leaving you in an almost unbearable state of arousal.

By mid-day it was clear that those sensations were not normal, mainly because you tried to solve the problem yourself with one of your vibrators and you didn't get any results, in fact the situation seemed to get worse.

You were horny, sweating and aching for Stephen to the point where it became a real pain right between your legs. You couldn't think straight, but you knew it must have something to do with the substance you inhaled and seeing that your symptoms seemed to get stronger by the minute, you overcame your fear and shame and called the first Stephen in your cellphone speed dial.

The phone rang a few times until finally you heard the familiar baritone voice. The sound somehow made the ache between your legs increase.

"Stephen… can you come home, please?"

You didn't pay attention to how your voice sounded, but his response sounded worried. "Y/n? What happened?"

You inhaled and exhaled through your mouth "I'm not feeling well. Stephen, please... can you come home?"

"Honey, tell me what happened." Supreme insisted on an answer.

"Please Stephen, Hurry up!"

...

Stephen and Defender were talking to Wong in his office when Stephen's phone rang. He looked on the screen and seeing that it was Supreme he just declined the call. Whatever it was, it could wait.

A few seconds later Defender's cell phone rang and he excused himself to Wong and left the room to answer it. He came back quickly seeming worried.

"Something happened to Y/n. We need to go home."

Wong didn't ask any questions, he just waved towards the door "Well, go ahead then. Let me know if you need anything."

Stephen walked out of Wong's office with Defender on his heels.

"What exactly did she say?" He asked putting his sling ring on his finger.

"Supreme said she called him begging him to come home. Said she's not feeling well."

Stephen opened a portal to the Sanctum's living room and the two walked through it, finding the room empty.

"And why did she call him?" Stephen didn’t even try to hide his annoyance.

"This is no time to be jealous, Doctor." Defender answered while they went up the stairs and crossed the corridor quickly finding the door to the master bedroom, Stephen's room, open.

When they got there, they found Y/n sitting on Supreme's lap, both arms thrown around his shoulders, face hidden in the crook of his neck. He was stroking her hair, whispering in her ear.

"What happened?" Stephen asked, quickly noticing that her skin was red and glowing, her clothes was wet with sweat.

Hearing his voice, she got up and ran to him, her arms wrapping around his neck, her lips colliding against his. Stephen kissed her quickly, but brought his hand to her forehead.

"Christ, she is burning!" He said casting a worried look at Defender.

Defender touched her arm and as if she had only noticed his presence at that moment, she let go of Stephen and threw herself into his arms.

"I'm sorry, baby. It was my fault."

Defender shushed her "What happened, baby?"

"I was cleaning the house and... it was an accident, I didn't want to break anything, you know I'm always careful with your things..."

Defender shushed her and faced Stephen worriedly. "We should take her to the hospital."

Stephen nodded "Sweetheart, whatever you broke, we'll fix it later. Now, tell me what you're feeling."

She faced him shyly taking Defender's hand and lowering it until it reached between her legs "I’m feeling weird here."

The two Stephens glared at each other and Supreme chuckled nervously. "Did you notice the smell on her clothes?"

Defender buried his face in the crook of her neck and inhaled deeply. She moaned softly and shamelessly rubbed herself in Defender's hand. "Baby, please. Make the ache go away."

Stephen sighed heavily "What exactly did you break, sweetheart?"

"A vase. It was on one of the pedestals in the Window of the Worlds room."

Stephen shook his head "If it's what I think it is, it could take hours for her to get better and the symptoms are only going to get worse unless we..." He didn't finish what he was saying, instead he glanced at Y/ n moaning and grinding herself in Defender’s hand like a cat in heat.

"Baby...please." She whined.

Defender shushed her and placed a kiss on her forehead. "It's okay, baby. We'll make the ache go away."

Supreme stood up "I'm going to lock the Sanctum. Hope you guys saved your energy today.

...

You were burning. Inside out. But unlike any other known fever you didn't feel cold, you were literally melting in beaks of sweat.

Stephen insisted on putting you under the shower to remove any trace of the magical substance that was stuck to your skin and although the water was cold, you were still burning.

He insisted on soaping you up like he was bathing a child and the whole time he kept his face straight and didn't say a word. That, along with all the weird sensations in your body, brought tears to your eyes.

"I'm sorry, Stephen." You apologized for the thousandth time, your voice trembling. "Please, don't be mad at me."

He sighed heavily helping you rinse the soap off your body and smiled reassuringly "I'm not mad at you. I'm just worried. I don't know how long this is going to last."

You whimpered hearing those words. You just wanted it to stop. "Don't you have any spells you can use?"

He shook his head "Not that I know of, at least." He turned off the shower and wrapped you in a towel "Come on, let me take you to bed, I'll take care of you."

Supreme and Defender were in the room sitting in the two armchairs next to the fireplace, but the fire had been put out.

Stephen touched your forehead "The temperature dropped a little with the cold water" He said sitting you on the bed and going to the wardrobe to get a change of clothes for you.

"I don't feel any better. It's too hot." You complained looking at the silk pajamas he chose for you to wear. "I don't want to get dressed, Stephen. I just said it's too hot."

He sighed rolling his lips "Okay, Sweetheart, as you wish." He placed the change of clothes on top of the bedside table looking unsure of his next actions, so you let go of the towel letting it fall down your naked body. "I need you."

He gave Supreme and Defender a quick look as if he was expecting some kind of approval and you spread your legs so he could fit between them.

Stephen touched your face and allowed himself a smirk "I never thought I would have to make love to you under these circumstances, love. This is for you to learn to listen to me and not mess with the Sanctum relics."

You pouted "But you want to make love to me, don't you?"

He took off the shirt he was wearing and you were eager to touch his defined chest. You scratched at his skin, your hand going down to the waistband of his pants. You helped him to undress. He was hard already and you couldn't help but devour him with your eyes.

Stephen grabbed your chin making you look into his eyes. "I always want to make love to you, sweetheart. Always. But something tells me that’s not what you need today."

You grabbed his cock and started to pump him and Stephen let out a little groan watching you spit in your hand and stroke him nice and hard to get him ready for you. He gently pulled your hand away and took over giving his cock a couple of jerks.

“You need to be fucked and that’s precisely what I’m going to do to you now.” He finally entered you drawing a loud moan from your lips. The feeling inside you seemed to intensify for a moment, but when he started to move you felt relief, it was like you could finally breathe after being submerged for so long.

"Oh Stephen..."

Stephen groaned, his face in the crook of your neck, your legs entwined behind his back. He wasn't being gentle and you didn't want him to be. He was right, this definitely wasn't about making love at all, you were filled with the most basic, primal desire to be dominated by a man and be used without mercy.

Stephen leaned on one of the canopy columns of the bed and considerably increased the strength of his thrusts.

"Yes, right there, Stephen."

He grabbed your chin making you look at him "Does it feel better now?" He asked, his breathing coming in between gasps.

You just nodded.

"I know. My cock is making you feel a lot better, isn't it, sweetheart?"

 You nodded vehemently and clung to his neck, searching for his lips as if you needed them to breathe.

"I need you to come, Stephen. Inside me. It will help, I know it will help. Please."

Stephen groaned loud "Need my cum inside you, uh? That will make the pain go away?"

"Yes, yes, it will. Please, Stephen, cum for me, cum inside me, give it all to me."

Stephen buried his face in your neck getting carried away by the moment and let out a loud moan right by your ear and his thrusts stopped completely and you felt his cum spurting inside of you, thick, warm and so much of it. You moaned feeling a different kind of climax. You didn't come, but it was like your body was reveling in the sensation of having his cum inside you. Like the body of a person who has spent days in the desert and can finally feel the water running down their throat.

Stephen kissed you gently and pulled out. "How does it feel now? Better?" He asked, checking on you. He was panting.

You felt slightly better, but the fire still burned between your legs. Somehow you knew it was far from over.

You bit your inner lip and shook your head.

"It may take some time to actually get better, but we're here, we'll take care of you."

You wrapped your arms around him pulling him back on top of you "I need more, Steph, please..."

He chuckled. "I need a few minutes to get ready for you again, sweetheart." He responded placing a peck on your lips and then addressed Supreme. "She needs more. You take over now?"

Supreme got up with an ironic smile on his lips "Tired already, Doctor?"

Stephen pressed his tongue against the inside of his cheek, but he didn't respond, wisely deciding that this wasn't the time to argue.

When Supreme approached you stopping beside the bed there was a smirk on his lips and his eyes showed that he was holding back his laughter.

"It's not funny, Stephen." You said slightly offended.

"I know, I know this is a terrible situation, honey, but I can't help it." He said giggling and pulling you to his lips. You slapped his shoulder, but kissed him anyway. You reached for his belts, but he snapped his fingers impatiently and quickly got rid of his robes. You pulled him on top of you, letting his body weight make his cock rub against your clit. It felt good, very good.

You moaned pornographically loudly.

"Of all the relics, you had to bump into that vase." He said nibbling your bottom lip and teasing you.

"Stephen, please..."

"I know, I know." He patted your hip "Turn around. Get on your hands and knees for me."

You complied, but he tsked "Turn full length on the bed. Let's give the other Stephens a better view of our actions."

You did as you were told and pulled a pillow up to your head, hugging it tight and lifting your ass as high as possible. Supreme rubbed the tip of his cock on your slit, using Stephen's cum as lube. He put two fingers inside you fingering you and gave his cock a couple of jerks and finally, finally, entered you with a hard thrust.

He stopped with his dick buried inside you enjoying the feeling "Fuck, honey, you feel so good, so impossibly warm..."

"Stephen, please move." You begged and moaned loudly when he did as you asked. He rested both hands on your waist pulling you against his thrusts at an incredibly fast pace.

"Oh my god yes, yes Stephen, just like that, fuck me just like that.”

He slapped your ass cheek hard, much harder than you were used to, making you yelp. "Yeah, just like that? Who could tell a magical relic could turn my girl into such a needy little whore, uh?"

You whimpered softly feeling the mixture of pleasure and relief flood your body, Stephen's teasing having an effect on you. "Y-Yes, Stephen"

He slapped you again and kept his pace incredibly rough "Such a needy little thing desperate to be fucked. Aren't you ashamed?"

You shook your head no "It feels good, Steph... when you fuck me like this. So good."

Stephen groaned obscenely loud, his fingers carving the flesh of your hips, his heavy balls slamming against your clit as he fucked your pussy with such hunger.

"I know, honey. It feels good for me too. Your pussy is so warm and so delicious... wanna cum inside and fill you with my seed. Will it help calm the ache?"

"Y-yes, it will, please give it to me, Stephen."

You bit the pillow suppressing your desperate moans that were quickly escalating to screams.

"Oh, I will, but I want to enjoy this warm little pussy a bit more. It feels so good."

He brought one of his hands to your hair, gripping it tightly and pulling, using it as a rein to pull you against his thrusts. It felt so good, so right to give yourself to him like that, for a minute all that existed was the two of you and the sounds of the sex you were having, loud and wet.

"F-Feels so good, Stephen, cock's fucking me so good. It's so big."

He slapped your ass ever harder this time, the sharp pain somehow adding to your pleasure. "Cock feels good inside your pussy, uh honey? You know what, I think you made it on purpose, wanted to know how it would feel to be this horny for my cock."

"N-No, I didn't. But it feels good when you're fucking me." You moaned loudly and bit the pillow feeling your whole body tingling with a strange sensation, it was almost as if you could feel your orgasm approaching, but at the same time it was different, too strange, and too strong and it all felt too much. "Please, Stephen cum, it feels too much, I need you to cum."

Stephen groaned "Beg for it, just one more time."

"P-Please Steph, I need your cum, please cum inside me, please."

And so he did. Stephen's thrusts came to a halt, he moaned so loud and you felt his cum spurting inside you. It felt good and you felt relieved. Your legs gave out and you fell face down on the mattress. Stephen supported his body weight on his arms and kissed your cheek.

"Good girl. Tell me, does it feel any better now, or do you need more?

You were panting, your heart was pounding in your ears, yet you know you were far from sated. "N-Need more."

You were scared by the intensity of it. The relief you felt when he was fucking you, or pushing his cum inside you, gave way to the already known need, a desire for sex that seemed inhuman.

"I know, honey. We'll give you more."

...

Defender was extremely hard. His cock was throbbing desperately asking for Y/n, and it couldn't be any different. Even though he was used to sharing her in bed with the other Stephens, watching them fuck her was still one of the most arousing things he'd ever done in his life. Over time he stopped questioning whether that was right or wrong and just enjoyed the moment.

He couldn't believe such a silly accident could have led to that, and the problem wasn’t that she would have to have sex for the rest of the day and they would have to provide that for her, that was a privilege. The thing that was bothering Stephen was that she was, to a certain extent, suffering, and he wanted to alleviate that, he wanted to make the ache go away.

He went to her, eager to play his part, but first, he conjured a glass of water and made her drink it. He took the hair tie that held his hair and tied hers in a ponytail.

"It'll help with the heat." He said caressing her face. "I wish there was more I could do, baby."

She threw herself into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck "I'm sorry..."

"Shh, its okay, we are not mad at you, none of us are mad at you. It was an accident, accidents happen."

Y/n sought his lips desperately and he kissed her. Her hands were eager to free him from his robes.

Stephen let her undress him. He kicked off his boots and got rid of his pants and boxers and sat on the bed, leaning against the headboard.

She grabbed his cock and spat on it and swallowed it whole with such a hunger that Stephen gasped. She started bobbing her head along his length and Stephen grabbed her ponytail and let himself indulge in the feeling of her mouth sucking his cock for a minute, but as soon as he realized how that wasn't going to help her situation at all, he gently grabbed her chin and pulled her off his cock.

"Baby, you shouldn't make me cum in your mouth, it would be a waste. You need it inside, remember?"

She nodded with a sweet pout "But it feels good when I such your cock, baby."

Defender almost melted at those words. God, she was so lovely and he was so in love with her that sometimes it felt like his chest was going to explode. So much love that he never dreamed of being able to feel before he met her.

He pulled her to his lips and she moved to straddle him. "I know it'll be even better if you ride me, baby. What do you think, uh? Would you like to use me to make yourself cum?"

She nodded and he guided his cock to her entrance and she lowered her body letting him stretch her inch by inch.

"Oh, baby it feels so good." She moaned resting both hands on his shoulders.

Stephen let out a soft groan "Yeah? Use me then, baby. Fuck me any way you want. I'm yours."

She moaned loudly and began to ride him at first slowly and then increased the pace, fucking him fast and hard, riding him with such desperation. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him for a passionate kiss, eliciting a hum from him and Stephen closed his eyes forgetting for a moment why they were making love like that in the middle of the day. He just concentrated on the wonderful feeling of having her tight and warm pussy around his cock, squeezing him incredibly tight.

Y/n let herself be carried away by the moment, her forehead pressed against his, her lips stealing passionate kisses from his lips. It felt so good, definitely too good.

Stephen held her waist to make her stop for a second. "Slow down, baby. Don't make me cum yet, I want to last for you."

She nodded, but her hips kept moving albeit slowly. "It feels good. Your cock is making me feel so good, Stephen."

"Your pussy feels amazing too, baby. I never get tired of making love to you, you know that?" He cupped her face and kissed her ardently and in one swift movement he placed her under him and entered inside her again, thrusting slowly but putting intensity into the movements, going deep enough to reach that special part of her that always made her moan louder. . And as soon as he found it, she whimpered.

"Y-yes, baby, right there."

She locked her legs behind his back and dug her nails into his skin.

"Gonna cum for me, uh?" He teased.

Y/n nodded. "Yes, yes, baby, I'm so close. Wanna cum, Steph, please."

Stephen leaned on the headboard to increase the intensity of the thrusts and put his other hand between them, he started rubbing her clit in circles and instantly he felt her pussy fluttering around his cock. She closed her eyes and her whole body started to shake.

"That's it baby, don't hold back, cum for me."

She moaned outrageously loud and grabbed a handful of his hair pulling him to her lips. Stephen kissed her passionately and kept thrusting, prolonging her climax and feeling his balls tightening.

"Fuck baby, wanna cum in you. Can I cum, love? Tell me I can cum."

She smiled sweetly. "Y-yes...cum baby...inside." Her voice sounded shaky and so sweet. Stephen buried his face in her neck and gave a couple of intense thrusts before coming to a complete stop, emptying himself into her.

Stephen knew it didn't matter how many times he had come inside her, every time was special and it always made him feel like the happiest man in the world.

...

You opened your eyes feeling your body tired, but you were far from sated. Although the strange feeling and heat had subsided considerably, the arousal you felt was far from being considered normal. Your body was trembling under Stephen, you were feeling weird in your stomach and your walls were clenching around his cock as evidence of how much you still wanted him.

Stephen's heavy breathing in your ear didn't do much to help your situation as you loved the sounds they made when they finished on you.

You stroked his hair gently kissing the top of his head.

 "How are you feeling right now?" He asked in your ear and kissed your lips gently.

"Better, but I still want you." You replied feeling your cheeks getting hot, but deciding to get over your shyness. There was no room for that when you were with your men. "Actually, I think I need my three Stephens now." You confessed.

He smirked cupping your cheek and kissing your lips again. "Yeah? I'm sure the others are eager to join us."

He pulled out and you stretched out on the bed. You were feeling a little sore between your legs, but you didn't pay much attention to that.

He conjured a cloth to clean you up. "We made a mess on you, baby." He admitted making you chuckle.

"I like it."

You waited patiently while he cleaned you up carefully, being extra affectionate. When he was finally satisfied with his work, he got rid of the dirty cloth and kissed you. Your fingers tangled in his hair and he let out a soft moan. So soft and so sweet.

"I want your mouth now, baby, if that's okay." He asked nibbling on your bottom lip.

You nodded, but gently pushed him away so you could sit down. You hooked your finger, inviting the other Stephens to join in too.

"There's room for more Stephens in this bed." You teased.

Stephen, who had put his boxers back on, walked promptly to you, his cock visibly hard beneath the white fabric. There was a smirk on his lips as he sat down on the mattress beside you and stroked your cheek, the tension from before long gone.

"You have no idea what it's like for me to see them fuck you, sweetheart." He confessed taking your hand and leading it to his cock. "You look so good while being fucked, taking them so well. You make me so proud."

"Hm, I love being fucked by all my Stephens. I feel like the luckiest woman in the world." You responded grabbing his cock through the fabric, moving to sit on his lap and pulling him to your lips. He wrapped his arms around you and thrusted his tongue into your mouth, dominating yours in a big, wet, jealous kiss. It was you who broke the kiss first, running your lips down his neck, biting and sucking the skin while grinding yourself back and forth in his shaft.

He groaned and patted your ass and suggested "Get on all fours and stick that luscious ass out for me so you can suck Defender while I fuck you from behind. What do you think, Sweetheart?"

You nodded, smiling slyly, but cast a questioning look at Supreme who was still sitting, smoking a cigarette and watching you intently.

He smirked "I'll join you soon, honey. Now, do as he says, make me proud."

You nodded at him dismounting from Stephen's lap and positioned yourself on all fours making sure to stick your ass as high as possible while wrapping your arms around Defender's thighs and grabbing his cock. You gave him a teasing look before popping it into your mouth eliciting a loud moan from his lips. He threw his head back indulging in the pleasure of it.

"Fuck baby. Oh yes...she really knows how to suck dick." He praised and Stephen chuckled proudly.

"I know, she is amazing." Stephen answered slapping your ass. "Isn't that right, sweetheart? Show him you're the best."

You let out a muffled moan when Stephen thrust two fingers into your pussy and started to fuck you with them. You felt him nudging your entrance with the tip of his cock and you wiggled your ass teasingly as he gripped your waist tight and entered you with a single thrust. You would have screamed if your mouth wasn't stuffed with Defender's cock.

Stephen kept the pace fast and strong and Defender grabbed your hair that was starting to come loose from the hair tie and wrapped it around his hand, but he didn't push. "That's right, baby, feels so good. Flick that wonderful tongue on the head. Yes, just like that. Such a good girl, such a good baby sucking my cock so good."

You groaned loudly, loving hearing Defender loosing up like that. Usually, he was always very modest in dirty talk, which only made the moment even more exciting.

Stephen slapped your ass again, harder this time, and pulled his cock out of you, teasing. "Such a dirty little girl taking my cock so well, uh? And sucking Defender's dick too. You drive me crazy, you know that? Make me wanna fucking ruin you."

You took Defender's cock out of your mouth to respond to his taunts. "Ruin me, Steph. Fuck me til I can't walk. I'm still so horny."

"Yeah? I guarantee you learned a lesson today, didn't you?"

You pumped Defender’s cock hard and replied "You guys aren't mad at me?"

 "How could I be mad at you if your disobedience resulted in the three of us fucking you like that?" Stephen replied entering you all at once and starting to pound into you, the sound of flesh against flesh and your breaths and moans was all you could hear.

Defender pulled you to his lips, fucking your mouth with his tongue as you let out a moan on his lips.

"He's right, baby. You need to be more careful, but none of us are mad at you. How could we…"

He directed you back to his cock and you spat at it and shoved it in your mouth going all the way down this time, feeling the tip hitting against the back of your throat.

He groaned loudly. "...when you suck cock like that? Fuck, baby. You’re gonna make me cum."

You just hummed in response.

"Is that what you want? Want my cum in your mouth?"

You hummed positively making Stephen groan in response. "Such a dirty little thing. She needs cum in all her holes today, isn't that right, sweetheart?"

"Uh hum" You hummed while Stephen fucked your pussy in such violent pace. You put your all into your work, swallowing Defender's cock and then taking it out of your mouth and flicking your tongue at the head and sucking hard and then running your tongue down the length of it just to swallow it again and repeating the process until he moaned loudly and grabbed a handful of your hair and spurted ropes of his warm cum into your mouth.

"Oh fuck..." He let out something between a groan and a chuckle. "Take it, baby. Swallow it all."

You were aware that this was definitely not Defender's usual behavior, he was usually much softer than that and much less talkative, but you couldn't deny how much that side of him appealed to you.

His moans were like music to your ears. "That's it baby... so fucking good. Oh... love you so much."

You took his cock out of your mouth and made sure you opened it for him to see his cum inside and only then did you do as you were told, swallowing everything and sticking your tongue out for him to see.

“So fucking dirty.” He groaned pulling you to his lips.

"I love you too" You moaned in his lips as Stephen's thrusts became more erratic and you could feel him pulsing inside you.

He let out a loud groan. "Fuck sweetheart, pussy feels too good, gonna cum, tell me you want my cum too, tell me how much you need it."

You moaned feeling that you were close too. Your body responding to his thrusts, the coil threatening to snap each time he hit your sweet spot. "Fuck yes, Steph. N-need your cum, give it to me."

He grabbed your hair and pulled it pulling you against his chest as he fucked you mercilessly.

"Body is desperate for more cum, uh? You're leaking and you still need more?" He teased whispering in your ear.

"Y-Yes. Need more."

"Yeah? You're a greedy little whore, aren't you? One Stephen isn't enough, it takes three to fill that pussy with cum and make the ache go away?"

"Uh hum" You hummed feeling that you were very close to your second orgasm. "Stephen... wanna cum."

Stephen bit your earlobe and lowered one of his hands to the middle of your legs and began to rub your clit in circles. You let out a loud moan. "Oh yes, Steph, make me cum."

He hummed in your ear making sure to rub his goatee in your skin, making it prickle. "Then say it: I'm a greedy little whore who needs three Stephens to satisfy me."

You whimpered repeating the words the way he wanted and once he was done with his teasing he started to pound into you even harder and that added to the stimulation of his long fingers on your clit was enough to make you come, but this time it was bigger, more intense and you felt warm liquid running down your legs. Stephen groaned loudly and started to spurt his cum inside you. He didn't stop thrusting until he was fully finished, pushing his cum inside you with each thrust.

"F-Fuck yes. Oh my god, sweetheart... the things you do to me..."

You felt your legs shaking and Stephen pulled out and you sat up in bed. Your entire body was shaking with the intensity of your orgasm.

"Fuck sweetheart, you squirted all over the bed, made a mess." He stated, but there was a certain pride in his eyes, the corners of his mouth curled up in a smirk. "Was it that good?"

You nodded letting yourself be pulled into Supreme's lap who had returned to bed. You were so lost in your pleasure that you didn't even notice Defender pulling away, he was sitting in the armchair by the fireplace now, dressed in sweatpants, his hair pulled back in a messy bun. He smiled proudly at you, deciding to just enjoy the show as now he was satisfied.

"First time wetting the bed like that, honey? You're going to have to do it again for me now." Supreme teased but you knew he was serious, you could see in the way his irises darkened that he was jealous.

"I... don't know how I did it." You replied feeling your face getting hot. "I never..."

"He knows, sweetheart." Stephen chuckled "I'm sure it will happen again sometime. Now, give me a kiss." He cupped your chin and kissed you and then got up and walked gloriously naked to the bathroom.

Supreme held your chin between his thumb and index finger making you look at him. "How you're feeling now? Pussy still feeling weird?"

You stroked his hair, tucking a few white strands behind his ear and trying to understand how you felt. The desperation and the heat had passed, your body was tired and sore, but you still felt the desire for sex and you knew that wasn't normal, because you had already come twice, the second one being the most intense orgasm you've ever experienced.

"I'm feeling better, but I still need you." You replied cupping his face.

He smirked "That pollen really turned you into an insatiable little thing, didn't it?"

You nodded feeling your cheeks getting hot and buried your face in the crook of his neck. "I didn't do it on purpose. I didn't even know what was in that vase."

He stroked your back, his trembling fingertips brushing lightly across your skin. "I know, I was just teasing you, honey. We know you don't need pollen to be horny."

He took your hand and led it down to his cock. He was so hard for you.

You wrapped your fingers around his cock and turned your head to capture his lips in a hungry kiss. Your lips moved in sync as your tongues fought for dominance, neither of you willing to give in, but when you tightened your hand around his cock and began to pump him at a fast, precise pace he relinquished control moaning loudly and you took the opportunity to win him over by sucking his tongue with a victorious hum.

It was you who moved to position him inside you. You were leaking, Stephen's cum running down your thighs mixed with your own fluids, but neither you nor Supreme cared about the mess at that point. All that mattered was the desire you both felt and as you sank into his cock he moaned loudly cupping your face and making you look into his eyes.

"I love you, Y/n. I love the life we ​​share." He whispered as a secret in your ear.

You grinned as you move up and down fucking him slowly but oh so good. "I love you too, Stephen. I love all my Stephens."

He smirked grabbing your waist and taking control back to himself, moving you on his cock at the pace he wanted, always fast, hard, rough even. The squelching sound of his cock fucking your pussy was so arousing, you were so wet, the sensation was different and so amazing and it wasn't just you who noticed that, because Supreme groaned completely lost in his pleasure and confessed. "Fuck, honey, pussy feels so nice wet like that. Cum is the best lube in the world."

You let out a small giggle letting yourself be manhandled by him and feeling like the coil in the pit of your stomach was about to snap again. He felt it too because your walls fluttered around his cock and he groaned loudly, both of his hands grabbing your ass cheeks and moving you up and down.

"Are you going to come for me now? One orgasm for each Stephen?" He teased and you just nodded, your arms wrapped around his neck to keep your balance as you rocked on his cock.

"Do it, honey. Do it now. I can't hold back any longer. Gonna cum too."

You forced yourself down rubbing your clit on his pelvic bone and let yourself be dominated by the wave of pleasure that washed over you.

Stephen came soon after, pushing ropes and ropes of cum inside you.

You two ended up panting, devouring each other's mouths and moaning.

After five loads of cum inside, you felt the fire and need for sex die down leaving you in a state of exhaustion you couldn't remember ever feeling before. Your body slumped over Stephen and your eyes closed almost immediately and you felt him holding you tighter, but everything around you was an incomprehensible blur.

...

Stephen returned to the bedroom after taking a shower and putting on a pair of pants. He had also prepared the bathtub with warm water and Y/n favorite bath salts, imagining that she would need them to relax after their activities.

"If you guys are done, I prepared a bath for her." Stephen said and Supreme nodded.

"Hear that, honey? A hot bath will help you feel better."

She just hummed and mumbled some incomprehensible words.

Defender got up and walked over to them. "I take care of her." He said taking Y/n from Supreme's lap and taking her to the bathroom.

Supreme quickly cleaned himself up and used magic to dress back in his robes and boots. "I'll take care of the mess Doctor, maybe we'd better take a look at that relic before Wong finds out she broke it."

Stephen nodded. "You're right. Did she say where she put it?"

"At the library. In a box."

Supreme used magic to dry the mattress she had soaked so beautifully and part of him was still fighting the jealousy that scene caused in him. He put clean sheets on the bed and finished organizing everything before leaving. After an afternoon like that, he was begging for a hot shower and some sleep.

Defender knew Y/n was exhausted, so he bathed her quickly and sat her up in bed and helped her get dressed in the silk pajamas Stephen had left on the bedside table. He used magic to dry her hair and helped her under the sheets.

"Is cold." She complained now that she was totally free from the influence of the pollen.

"Do you want a blanket, or do you want me to light the fireplace?"

But she didn't answer, falling asleep almost immediately.

He covered her with a blanket and placed a kiss on her forehead. "Love you baby." He whispered and left the room.

...

Stephen shouldn't have been surprised to find Wong in the library. It was the most common thing in the world, but due to all the events he couldn't help but curse internally.

"How is y/n feeling?" The Sorcerer Supreme asked walking down the hall carrying a box with pieces of what was once a relic.

"She is better now." That's all Stephen said.

Wong smiled to himself. "I will take this to Kamar Taj to repair the relic and its contents."

Stephen nodded. "That's precisely what I came to do now."

Wong seemed to think for a moment before speaking. "You know, there's an herbal infusion that can be brewed to ease the... symptoms, but it looks like the three of you managed to solve the problem quite well."

Stephen was blushing like a teenager. "Yes. Thank you, Wong."

Wong nodded opening a portal back to Kamar Taj. “Keep her away from my relics, Strange.” He demanded.

Stephen sighed watching the portal closing and shook his head still trying to believe in everything that had happened. The things Y/n did to Stephen, to all the Stephens... Yet he wouldn’t change a thing.

Reblog please! Leave a comment if you liked it. Interact! I will love to read all of your comments and opinions. It inspires me to keep writing!

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[rel124c41]

WALT DISNEY WORMDOG I. jade leech/oc

please contact your local doctor if you are experiencing the following symptoms: prophetic dreams, the feeling that someone is calling from across the water and from across the wave, midnight visitors, scars from sand, new friendships, black blood coming out your ears but NOT your nose, inhuman strength, canine teeth on your throat, & the philosophy that we should move on from our past and never let it hold us back from the possibilities of tomorrow.

a/n: a midnight conversation after jamil’s overblot

tags: blood and injury, oc is from the x reader called ‘the look on your face’, & established relationship

word count: 1996

“Hot, hot, hot, hot.”

“So you’ve griped.”

“Hot, hot, hot, hot.”

“Really, I would have never imagined.”

Panting like a mutt, molten lava on his draped tongue, the Ramshackle Prefect turns around to the vice-housewarden who has been following him like a duckling. He tries to mold his expression into something serious, something vexed. It is like trying to push melting ice-cream back into a sphere.

So, features wilting right back into that heat-stricken expression, the Ramshackle Prefect marches right back on to his destination. If Octavinelle’s vice wants to play his part as a mosquito in this Sahara-esque dorm, let Jade have his fun. There is something Marion needs to do.

For the first time in three days, his hand finally breaks contact with his sword’s handle.

White calluses on his tan hand are as prominent as fresh tattoo ink. The indents and intricate carvings have meshed themselves into his hand. You could mistake them for his palm’s natural creases if not for the single column of sigils upon feather-patterned horse-hoof pommel hilt. Damascus steel meets cobblestone.

Marion’s knees? They punch the cobblestone ground with an angry passion. Collapsing, he grips the edge of Scarabia’s pure gold fountain and ducks his head underwater.

An amused smile appears on Jade’s face. How truly unusual. Closing the distance, the eel-mer decides to take his own little respite too. After a battle and party, one should make time to unwind. Sitting on the edge of gold, Jade stretches out his legs and leans his head back to observe Marion’s nape. “You know, if you were so dehydrated, I’m certain Kalim could have assuaged your plight by making you a personal rain-cloud.”

It takes a while until Marion resurfaces. When he does, rivulets of water jump in shooting-star-leaps over the tips of his ebony hair. He runs a hand through the wet mop. It is considerably less hair than he had when entering Scarabia four days ago; before winter break, his hair was shoulder length and now it is chin length.

Through the stubborn strands that curtain his face, Marion groans , “This place is even hotter than Savanaclaw. Ugh, how is that even possible?”

“Did you not hear my suggestion?”

“Hmm?” Marion has taken to dipping his battered hands into the crystal clear water. The water’s weightlessness feels heavenly,

“I said, why not ask for the help of Kalim’s Unique Magic or perhaps a dip in the oasis?”

It is a relatively easy question to answer, but Marion reflects on the situation. How he had waited until he was sure Grim was dead to the world, stomach full of sleep-inducing food, and double-checked Ace and Deuce’s rooms. Stood outside Scarabia’s vice’s bedroom, trying to listen through the door’s cracks if Jamil’s measured breaths were from real sleep or a facade. Then, a lighthouse yellow eye bloomed in the comfortable dark Marion had been stalking in and Marion allowed him to follow.

The only reason he is able to relax now is because Jade said: (“I slipped something in the tea.”

“You did?” Marion asks, pulling back from the guest room Deuce is slumbering in. “What was it?”

“A heavy sedative. Something from the fungi kingdom that I doubt even Jamil could recognize the taste of. Come, let’s go.”) And that had assured him everyone would be comatose in a deep dream. So, after ignoring it for so long, Marion is able to treat his consistent, four day long heatstroke.

As to the response to Jade’s inquiry, it is: “Didn’t like the idea of taking my eyes off them.”

It had been Grim that texted Ace and Deuce for a rescue; Marion had been opposed firmly. Just as he had been opposed to the help of Azul Ashengrotto and his two, taller shadows.

“Hm,” Jade responds softly. He turns his burning gaze off to the side, towards the nebulous ebon that coats and suctions onto the exterior of Scarabian architecture. “Could’ve asked for my help.”

“Could’ve but didn’t,” Marion agrees as he rises to his feet. Completely ignorant that Jade is vexed.

He has still not taken off his steel-toed boots since this morning and it is now approaching midnight. Physicality rules heavily over sentimentality. An overblot for breakfast and lunch with a party for dinner and dessert. What a painfully busy day.

“Should’ve.” It seems Jade has gotten his fill of appreciating the building designs. Gold and olive-brown try to make an imposing dissect at green eyes but it falls short. It is really hard to ever look at the Ramshackle Prefect with any animosity.

Sand-dollar hued laces are pulled apart as Marion balances his foot on the fountain’s edge. He wiggles his foot out his boot and unfurls his white sock.

“Are you upset or suggesting something for the future? I think the only other hot dorm might be Ignihyde, but it's temperamentally hot and I manage fine there.” It is almost amusing to Jade how sincere that question is – almost. Jade watches as Marion hooks his other foot on the fountain’s edge, undoing the laces. He is just about to answer when Marion gets his left boot off. His white sock is soaked red.

“Huh, odd.”

Jade quirks an eyebrow at Marion’s monotone exclamation – if you could even call it an exclamation. Like two people waiting for the circus’s curtain to rise, they watch in tandem as the sanguinary-dyed sock is removed. Blood sticks to Marion’s thumbs, pulling it off. The sight causes both Marion’s and Jade’s eyes to pulse with interest.

“You know, I concur. Odd.”

“I didn’t even feel anything.”

“I would say that’s incomprehensible, but with your dance battle with Jamil and then the literal one with Ace and Deuce … I have no reason but to believe you.”

“Wonder if it happened because of the stone pillar.”

“Who knows. Wiggle it,” Jade instructs with barely contained, dangerous intrigue.

Marion tries to, but it is fruitless. His big toe is bent to the side with all the harsh angles of a broken stick. The best image to compare it to is the end of a hockey staff, one ridge turn away from being straight. In the red, you can see a tiny, snowy mountain cap of white which is the bone peeking out. The rest of his toes move just fine though.

“No use,” Marion declares, staring at his open fracture. By now, the blood that has not been absorbed into the sock starts to make dimes of red on gold.

With a pat to the fountain, Jade wordlessly instructs Marion to sit. A breath later, he hovers over the protruding wound with his magic pen, getting to work on a healing spell. As violet shimmers and skin rearranges itself, they go quiet with different ordeals on their mind.

It is just odd, the rawest definition of the word, that Jamil’s Unique Magic had not robbed Marion of his sword. Jamil had certainly tried as Marion remembers: “Why don’t you two stay here at Scarabia for winter vacation? Prefect, let me handle your sword; you can relax here.”

Under the hypnotist’s spell, Snake Whisper, he had followed each instruction down to the tiny word of relaxation, but his grip had never faltered from his sword.

I’m not immune to magic or overblots, Ramshackle Prefect thinks as he watches his big toe reverse and mend, but I didn’t once release my sword. If anything, he and his claymore glued themselves together after Jamil’s words for three whole days. Acting completely in reverse of what the magic-laced instruction was.

He treads his right leg back and forth in the fountain’s water, contemplative. It is in the past though, so perhaps it is fine to let it go. He sends a pensive look over his shoulder to his claymore, laying by the fountain, and decides it does not matter anymore. It will never phase him again unless the future calls for it to.

“You run so much hotter than everyone else,” Jade says as he places a hand over Marion’s neck. He knows there are no scent glands in humans but he still possessively lets his own scent diffuse into brown skin. Infects the pore with the sweat of himself, infects the already infected bloodstream.

“Mmmh, you remember when I head-butted Jamil twice during the fight?”

“I recall.”

“I did it because I was so dizzy from the heat. Needed to restart my vision and mind. The first was a test; the second one was intentional.”

“You have such a crude and amusing way of doing things.”

“Thank you. Not sure how you can stand this heat though. I think I’m melting,” Marion whines, leaning into Jade’s embrace.

“Being cold-blooded comes with a particular adaptability.

“How’s the Coral Sea?

“Rather cold and desolate.”

“That sounds great,” Marion moans, enthralled with the idea of pitch black, chilly landscape. “Take me there?”

“One day.”

The conversation lulls and Marion dips his now fixed foot into the fountain. His muscular arms hold the edge of the fountain behind him; the scars on his left arm made from Leona’s Unique Magic stretch with his deep breath. Scars travel down that arm like kintsugi pottery, lightning cracks of sand-hued wounds on a dark canvas.

It is a while of just basking in company before Jade breaks it.

“Why did you not let me or Floyd fight?”

Marion’s eyebrows raise curiously. “During the overblot, you remember, when you kicked both me and Floyd fifty feet away from the fight?” The smile on Jade’s face is predatory and wide, gleaming with all his acute enamels. Ah, that’s vexed!

“Hm, I just felt like I had it in the bag, was too in the moment to need help.”

“Yet you allowed Kalim to assist you,” Jade leans forward, showing more of his teeth.

Is it so bad that he wants to be the only one of the Ramshackle’s arsenal? The first character … the main of the player … selected in the game as Idia would say, right?

Rolling his options on his tongue like a piece of gum, Marion looks up at the squirting arches of the fountain. Water leaps in this beautiful, jetting motion. Everything about this place is a little hypnotic.

“You really want to know?” Jade’s expression gives away the answer clear as day.

Leaning close, he whispers, “you smell the best when you’re fighting for your life. Would’ve distracted me.”

Jade’s heart gives a dangerous lunge in his chest, overjoyed. Smiling, he glides his hand up until he is pinching the chin of the Ramshackle Prefect, puppeting him so his spine has to hunch yet his neck has to tilt up. Such a malleable clay structure for Jade to mold; something he will dip his fingers into only to discover there are blades hidden in the clay like razors in Halloween candy. What a treat, caramel and blood. Waiting to taste just about anything, Jade leans amorous … but —

Marion pulls back. “Nice try,” he congratulates, smiling at the frown on the vice-housewarden’s face.

“Don’t humans kiss at least after a life threatening situation? Even when wired on adrenaline earlier, you stubbornly refused.”

“Not this human. C’mon. I’m cooled down; let’s raid the kitchen.”

There is much more to discuss about Jamil’s overblot; about what is going to happen in the future; about them and their relationship. It is best to be done with petite interludes made by chowing down on some good food.

Ah, he supposes the taste of stolen food might be as appetizing as metaphorical caramel and blood. Marion always knows how to get his attention — the pinnacle distraction for the eel-mer has always been cooking. So, Jade puts his hand in the outstretched, scarred one.

“I’ll try later.”

“I know,” Marion says. He presses a kiss to the wrist of Jade’s hand that was just holding his magic pen and reversing his wound. “Let’s go steal some shit.”

[omegaremix]

Finds For 2016.

Diet Cig “Scene Sick”

Tame Impala “New Person Same Old Mistakes”

Cold Cave ft. Black Rain & Genesis P. Orridge “Comprehension”

Computer Magic “Be Fair”

George Clanton “Notice Me”

Prurient “Dragonflies To Sew You Up”

Tropic Of Cancer “Stay Safe”

Mssingno Scope

Blanck Mass “Atrophies”

Holydrug Couple, The “Follow Your Way”

Russell Haswell “Spring Break Extended“

In Aeternam Vale “Dust Under Brightness”

Sophie Product

Consumer Electronics Dollhouse Songs

Blanck Mass “Dead Format”

Hibou “Above Us”

UXO self-titled

Follakzoid “Directo Al Sol

Moon Duo “Free Action”

Tearist Living: 2009-Present

Deerhunter “Ad Astra”

Beliefs “1992”

Ducktails “Don’t Wanna Let You Know”

Tame Impala “Nangs”

Candy Snatchers, The “If You Can’t Have Fun, You Ain’t Fun” (live)

Shana Falana “There’s A Way”

DOM “Burning Bridges”

Girlpool “Before The World Was Big”

Holydrug Couple, The “Paisley”

Ash Koosha “Harbour”

Dystopian Future Movies “Paint It Red”

Angry Angles “Things Are Moving (All The Time)”

Polysick “Smudge Hawaii”

Kleenex “Nice”

18+ Fore

Innsyter “Cut Eleven”

Airliner “Her Crutch”

Clams Casino “Drawn” (Crim3s RMX)

Com Truise “Silicon Tare”

Crim3s “Stay Ugly”

Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers “Born To Love”

Imaginary Pants Kites At Night

Ana Lola Roman “Klutch” (Com Truise RMX)

Costavision Lo-Fi Exotica

Coachwhips “UFO, Please Take Her Home”

Rubs, The “Runaway”

Airliner “Left Orange”

Sheer Mag “Fan The Flames”

JK Flesh Rise Above

Gigi Masin“Tears Of A Clown”

Reatards, The “You Ain’t Fun No Mo’”

Hussy, The “You Know”

Home “Resonance”

TR/ST “This Ready Flesh”

Pastel Ghost “Clouds”

LNDN DRGS “Dope Sick”

Ata Kak Obaa Sima

Hailu Mergia & The Walias “Yemiasleks Fikir”

Christoph De Babalon “Surreal Mirrors”

Gigi Masin “Fata Morgana"

John Carpenter Lost Themes Remixed

Veldt, The “Sanctified”

Zola Jesus “Collapse”

Merzbow & Keiji Haino & Balazs Pandi “How Differ The Instructions Of The Left From The Instructions On The Right”

Cults “Oh My God”

Vektroid “Neo Cali”

FOE “Genie In A Coke Can” (Alec Empire RMX)

Peaches “How You Like My Cut?” (Ziur RMX)

Tex Taiwan “Algorhythm Vision”

Jagwar Ma “Uncertainty” (Mssingno RMX)

Odesza “It’s Only” RMXs

Honeyblood “Sea Hearts”

Connie Laverne “Can’t Live Without You”

Kedr Livanskiy January Sun

Body-San “Shining The Money Ball”

C.V. Jorgensen “Ghetto Svend”

9th Wonder & Buckshot ft. Talib Kweli “Hold It Down”

Uniform “Symptom Of The Universe”

Czarface ft. Vinnie Paz & Cappadonna “Shoguns”

D.I.T.C. “Rock Shyt”

Lizzy Mercier Descloux “Fire”, “Wawa”

David “Baby” Cortez “Happy Organ”

Low Red Center s/t

Alan Turing “God Save The King / Baa Baa Black Sheep / In The Mood”

Dolly Parton “Jolene” (33 RPM)

Tobacco “Gods In Heat”

Pere Ubu “Blow Daddy-O”

La Coka Nostra “Waging War”

Elusive Textures

Technicolor Skull “Technicolor Skull”

Hanin Elias ft. Electrosexual “Hold Me”

IKO 93 “Drag” / “Mutt”

Innsyter Poison Life

Bloom Offering “Bite Their Tongues”

Jlin “Downtown”

Sandro Brugnolini & Stefano Torossi “Effetto Notte”

Comet Gain “(All The) Avenue Girls”

Nick Klein “Anxiety Plae”

Le Matos “Eyes Throat Genitals”

Bill Loose “Slight Misgivings”

L-Fudge Chronic Irresponsibility

Author & Punisher “Lust For Scales”

Sun Ra “The Cosmic Explorer”

Liquids Hot Liqs

Ice Cream Love, Ice Cream

Khost “Deathset” (Godflesh RMX)

Ramleh “Airborne Babel”

L-Fudge ft. DJ Spinna, Shabaam Shadeeq & Talib Kweli “What If?”

Caroline K “Tracking With Close-Ups”

Rosa Yemen “Herpes Simplex”

Jonas Reinhardt “Androma”

Sunrise Ltd. “Our Love Will Grow”

Tearist “Headless”

Red Fetish “Spanish Meths”

Hot Chocolate “Could Have Been Born In The Ghetto”

Vibrators, The “Disco In Moscow”

York Factory Complaint Lost In The Spectacle

Nick Klein I’d Rather Sit Alone

[sidgeno-ficrecs]

this delicate place by @ljummen

sidgeno (2019, explicit, 32.8k) **content notes: mental illness, anxiety attacks, depression, trauma and its aftermath

“Are you?” Taylor asks unexpectedly. “Am I what?” Looking up from the stove, Sid finds her watching him with an odd look on her face. “Happy.” It should be an easy question to answer. Sid has escaped back to Canada after a career ending injury. It doesn’t dawn on him exactly how much early retirement has affected him, until Taylor introduces him to a YouTube channel where a firefighter talks about his own struggles with his mental health.

Hey Geno,

I just watched this video and realized that I’ve had several panic attacks over the course of a few months. I had one a few hours ago. I haven’t experienced anything traumatic, but anxiety (I assume, based on your description in this video) has been sneaking up on me. A week ago, I bought two plants, like you suggested in another video. Today’s panic attack was triggered by me noticing that they were dead (the plants, I mean).

I feel stupid for reacting to something so trivial. I haven’t watched that many of your videos, but from what I understood, you actually experienced something bad. So why am I broken for no reason?

this is a hard time of year.

it's dark, it's cold (if you're in the northern hemisphere), and for me at least, it always seems like the post-holiday winter stretch is when bad things happen. it's easy to get lost in your own head and spend hours dwelling on what's gone wrong, or what might go wrong, and get stuck in a negative feedback loop that can be so, so hard to break out of.

i've mentioned before that i don't love fics that diagnose sid (or geno, but it's usually sid) with certain neurodivergencies because in my experience it leads to people talking about him like he actually has x or y and it makes me uncomfortable, but i re-read this fic last night because i've been feeling down recently and i think it deserves a moment in the spotlight.

this story is a very raw, honest look at what it can be like to deal with depression and anxiety, from the perspective of someone who never has before and doesn't know what's going on and needs an extra push to see what's happening and get help.

depression is a lonely, isolating experience, and that's part of what makes it so dangerous. it's so easy to not notice that you're withdrawing and losing yourself until it's almost too much to climb out of, and on top of all that you've lost all motivation to take steps to get better. it's a vicious, evil little trick the brain can play on you, and @ljummen walks us through sidney's experience with it with care, honesty, and compassion.

this fic made me feel seen. it can be hard to read—sid has panic attacks and we as readers experience them right along with him, along with the other symptoms of depression—but if you're in a space where reading about it won't make you feel worse or trigger anything, i really recommend it. we see sid struggle, we see him be in denial of what he's dealing with—what does he have to be depressed over, after all? what trauma does he have to deal with?—and, crucially, we see him turn a corner and start to get better.

i think that's the magic of this story. sid manages to step outside of the black pit he's stuck in long enough to take steps to get help, and he meets someone who knows him and understands what he's going through, and they fall in love despite the obstacles in their way. it's a story about someone whose life isn't going the way they thought it would, but who manages to see that's not necessarily the end of the world, and for me at least reading this story gave me comfort and hope.

yes, it can be dark at times. life can be hard, so hard that it seems easier to just go back to bed and try and wait it out. but you also might meet someone who sees you, and knows you, and is there for you, and who you can see and know and support in return. there's light out there, if you can peek outside the curtain to look for it.

i hope you're all taking care of yourselves. be gentle with your own mind if you've been having a difficult time. reach out to the people who love you—they want to be there for you, even if you're hearing that little voice that says you're just a burden.

and if you're up to it, read this story, which will hopefully provide you a little comfort and escape and hope, like it does for me when i'm having bad days.

read it here on ao3!

and don't forget to leave a comment!

[shinxeysartgallery]

The Murder Drones brain worms got me in a chokehold rn

Anyway, I got thinking about the Solver again. Ever since Episode 2, it's been established that the Solver is capable of creating flesh out of seemingly nothing. And we also know since Episode 1 that Disassembly Drones (as well as Workers with the Solver) can regenerate any wounds inflicted on them as long as there's sufficient material for it to use.

The latter seems to imply that it's still abiding by the Laws of the Conservation of Matter - matter cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed. Makes sense; it took the materials in the area and transformed them into new body parts to repair damage. Nothing was created or destroyed in that regard. But then what about the flesh?

Episode 7 gave some interesting implications regarding that. We got to see a flashback where the Disassembly Drones were deployed to hunt down and devour humanity, even getting a little scene of V ripping off and swallowing some poor sap's arm and N drinking the blood out of some dude's neck. But here's the thing about that: those two particular humans that were explicitly shown being eaten obviously weren't the only ones that were killed and eaten by them. Much like with all living things, there's only so much room for food inside the body, which also applies to the Drones. Since they're robots, they obviously can't digest it or go shit it out later when they get full like a human or animal can, so where did all the blood and flesh they ate go?

In Episode 2, we see J's core teleport away in a black hole after N stabs it several times with his tail. We've also seen other instances of the Solver being able to teleport or open black holes/wormholes. We also know that all Disassembly Drones have a core like that inside of their bodies. Both Episode 2 and Episode 7 confirmed that the cores can act independently from its host body and still possess Solver abilities. So my theory is that their cores were teleporting the flesh and blood somewhere as it entered the Drones' bodies. Where exactly? It's hard to say, but likely to wherever the source of the Solver is. No, not Cyn, but whatever it was that originally possessed her. She was Patient Zero, but the Solver clearly existed before she woke up in the dumpster. Whatever its source is, that's likely where everything went. If it's still abiding by that scientific law mentioned before, then it explains how it's seemingly able to create it out of nothing - it's not; it's basically moving it from one place to another through use of wormhole magic when its powers are invoked. This also explains how the Disassembly Drones were able to consume what seemed to be an infinite amount of humans without them ever getting full.

(We know its very existence and its other behaviors still break several scientific laws, so this might be a moot point, but it's still interesting to think about!)

It also gives some more interesting implications to Cyn's comment about being hungry before jumping into the giant flesh pit to the center of the planet. Maybe the stuff was being teleported directly to the entity's stomach? And if that's the case, then that's maybe why the portals it makes are so fleshy? It's basically ripping a hole into the entity's stomach that's already full of flesh and blood from its previous kills.

Also as a side note, Episode 1 established that Disassembly Drones require them to drink oil every so often to keep from overheating - a symptom that also exists in Worker Drones with the Solver. We saw in Episode 4 that when Uzi used her Solver powers too much, she began to overheat and go a bit crazy until she was able to consume some oil. What if the Solver entity itself has something similar going on? We don't know what it's doing behind the scenes, after all. What if it's like those Drones, where it needs to consume blood and flesh to keep up its energy, much like how they need oil? If that's the case, Cyn's remark likely implies that it's used up a shit-ton of energy on something, which does not bode well for the future of Copper-9 or its inhabitants... (Or any other planets/exo-planets in that universe, for that matter.)

I'm probably over-analyzing stuff again, but still think it's interesting. lmao

[acewitch-writes]

My last snippet stirred up some interest, so here's another piece of that same story! This snippet is the prologue. Once I have more written, I intend to post it to AO3.

...

“Are you sure you want to go in there alone?”

“He won't talk if anyone comes with me,” Remus responds, ducking away from his father's smothering hands clamped to his shoulders. “I'll be fine. Just trust me.”

Lyall sends an uneasy glance to his wife, Hope, and she nods. “Let him go, Ly. The boy couldn't hurt him even if he wanted to.”

Lyall hesitates a moment longer, chewing on his lip, before exhaling in defeat and standing back. “Alright. Alright. Just… just make sure Protego is enabled. Full coverage, nothing less. Stay back at least two feet from the bars. And shout if something goes wrong. Understood?”

“Yes, dad,” Remus mumbles.

“We'll be right here on the other side of the door.”

“I know.”

“Be careful.”

There's no need, Remus isn't in any real danger here, but he nods anyway. “Of course, dad. Always.”

The Sentinel at the door, clad in the trademarked black robes fitted with leather braces, winding belts, armored chestplate, and sturdy knee-length boots, waves his wand when Remus steps forward, unlatching the magical locks. The door creaks open on metal hinges.

Remus walks inside, trying to keep his head inclined in a show of bravery. But when it clanks shut behind him, he can't help jumping slightly. 

A voice chuckles from the shadows. “You're like a cat.”

In spite of everything, Remus feels his heart perk up. “Symptom of a bubble-wrapped childhood,” he responds to the shadows, eyes scanning the room before him. There is a metal holding cell taking up just over half of the room, bars humming softly with anti-magic enchantments. Huddled on the floor in the corner of the cell, Remus finally spots him.

Sirius. He's dressed in traditional black wizard's robes that must have belonged to his father because they appear to be a size too large. His long black hair is loose and disheveled, dull strands framing his tired, beautiful face. He regards Remus with wary silver eyes from his seat on the stone floors.

“They let you come in alone?”

“Not without a massive fight,” Remus admits. “My dad didn't want to let me.”

“I'm sure he didn't.”

“He thinks you're too dangerous.” Remus says this with a hint of accusation.

“Maybe I am,” Sirius says flatly. He looks down at his hands, secured tightly with silver manacles. “How long has it been?”

“Three months.”

Sirius nods distantly.  “My parents?”

Remus frowns. “Already sent away for reconditioning.”

Sirius’ expression darkens. “Regulus?”

Remus’ heart suddenly starts racing. “Him, too,” he lies. “They'll be assigned jobs soon.”

“Jobs,” Sirius scoffs without emotion. “Call it what it is, Remus. Your mum can't hear you on this side of the door.”

“It's better than death,” Remus points out.

“No, it's not. I'd rather be dead than sent to one of those horrible labor camps,” Sirius snaps. “And if you had any magic of your own, you'd agree.”

“You know that I agree,” Remus retorts. “But you went rogue. I don't know if I can get you out of this.”

Sirius pulls himself to his feet and limps over to the cell door. “Then break me out.”

“I can't.”

“All I need is a Spellcom,” Sirius insists, leaning against the bars imploringly. “Give me yours and tell them I nicked it.”

Remus takes a step back. “Sirius, I really can't.”

“Yes, you can. Just give me the damn Spellcom.”

“You murdered 12 people,” Remus bursts out, unable to contain it any longer. “Their families are outside right now calling for your head! One of the victims was a ten year old girl, Sirius. She was at the zoo with her granny, and now they're both dead because of you!”

Sirius’ expression turns to stone, hands slowly lowering from the bars. “That wasn't my fault,” he mutters coldly. “Dragons are meant to be dangerous and wild and free, not locked up in an enclosure to be gawked at by crowds of muggles. Their own disrespect for the beasts is what got them killed.”

“You let them out! As far as the law is concerned, their blood is on your hands.”

Sirius laughs with harsh contempt. “Godric, listen to you. Always the coward. I knew you were too soft to do what needed to be done.” He returns to his shadowy corner and eases himself back to the floor with a grimace. “Just go. You're worthless to me here.”

This stings. Remus swallows it back, resolve crumbling. “I wanted to help,” he whispers. “I thought we were going to do this together.”

“You would have just held me back,” Sirius says heartlessly. “You're too weak and spoiled. You wouldn't know courage if it slapped you across the face.”

“That's why you left me in the dark?” Remus guesses, heart splintering. “You didn't think I could handle it?”

“If you could, you'd hand over your Spellcom right now,” Sirius responds challengingly. He holds Remus’ gaze for a long moment, waiting, before snorting derisively. “See? You'll watch them ship me away before you ever grow some semblance of a fucking spine.”

Remus feels helpless. He wants to do it. He wants to reach into his pocket to hand over his Spellcom like Sirius is demanding. But there are so many Sentinels outside, he would never make it. And when he finds out that Regulus didn't survive, he'll get himself killed before ever letting them bring him back here alive.

Sirius is a ticking bomb, prepared to blow himself to bits if it means he'll at least get to die as a free man. Remus can't let it happen. He can't live in a world that doesn't include Sirius. Why couldn't Sirius have realized that before he did this stupid thing without him? 

Remus can't think of any other way out of this now. Sirius dug his grave too deep this time. Even with all the power and influence of the Lupin family at their disposal, they can't make this stain vanish. 

There's no other solution. Remus can't let Sirius live out the rest of his days in a labor camp, and he can't let him get himself killed in a violent escape attempt. Which leaves him with only one option.

Remus turns to leave without another word. He knocks on the door, and the Sentinel posted outside opens it at once. As he steps through the threshold, Sirius jeers one final insult at his retreating back. “Pathetic.”

The door slams shut. Remus feels the word curling around his chest, settling there along with all the vitriol and contempt with which it was uttered. Searing him from the inside.

“Are you okay?” his father frets straight away, eyes darting all over his son's body for any sign of damage.

Remus waves him away and lifts his head to face his mother with grave determination. “I would like to have Sirius Black reconditioned into my own personal Sentinel.”

[seducemefanficsandheadcanons]

The wheel dictates Aron must suffer an asthma attack! 👻

This ask was so interesting to write because Aron doesn't have asthma, but I found a way to make it work! I hope you like it!

Cross posted on AO3 and Wattpad

Deep breath (Sam x Aron)

Aron loved her job.

Growing up, she always knew she wanted to go into the medical field. She’d struggled with her health and chronic pain for as long as she could remember, and many of her family members did as well. She watched her own father battle cancer for years, a battle he lost. When he passed away, she knew she wanted to do something to make a difference in the medical field.

However, she never thought she’d be capable of medical school, since she barely was able to make it through high school. So that was a dream she gave up on pretty early on in her teen years.

However, when she turned eighteen and learned about magic from her late grandfather, he offered to find her a job at a hospital in the demon districts. Aron wasn’t sure how the legal aspect of it worked, but after about four years of training there, she had a medical degree. Finally she was a doctor, working with demons and humans alike, while also improving her magic skills.

Unfortunately, not long after she was finally officially able to call herself a doctor, her own health took a turn for the worst. Her seizures became a daily occurrence, her paralysis episodes becoming more intense, and the pain was unbearable. So, she had to quit the job she loved so much.

Then, after receiving a proper diagnosis of chiari malformation and then the surgery to treat it, she was finally able to go back to work. Her boyfriend Sam- who happened to be an incubus, had stood by her side every step of the way as she returned to work. 

The first few months were incredibly difficult, but no one could deny her increased mood as time went on.

That all being said, her complicated history made it even harder for her to take breaks when she needed it. It had been about a year since she returned to her job, so she had gotten used to the long hours. Human illness wasn’t contagious to demons, so she continued working when catching sickness she could work through, and asked other doctors to cover human patients until she was better.

She made extra sure to take precautions around sick demons, not only for her own sake, but also for the sake of the incubi. She didn’t want to get sick from demon illness, and she sure as hell didn’t want to get the others sick as well.

But that didn’t make her immune. Even the most effective ways of preventing herself from catching something didn’t stop her from coming down with something. 

Over the last three years, a new illness began spreading around the districts. It was believed to be brought over between planes, but no one could pinpoint the exact cause yet. It caused symptoms that heavily resembled a human illness known as asthma, a chronic lung condition that causes inflammation in the airways.

This new condition wasn’t exactly like asthma. It only lasted anywhere from a few weeks to a year, instead of being lifelong. It also caused fevers, not high enough to cause a problem but high enough to cause discomfort.

Aron and her colleagues had been looking for better treatments for a while to lessen the symptoms, and had begun prescribing steroid inhalers to the humans who contracted the condition. Unfortunately, the demon's immune systems were killing any possible effect the medication may have, so they were stuck on how to treat them.

Aron was currently drawing blood from a young witch patient. Her recently dyed hair- dark brown with baby blue streaks- was in a claw clip. She had on simple black pants and a blue t-shirt underneath her white coat, a name tag hanging around her neck.

The room felt extra cold, but she could feel herself beginning to sweat a little bit underneath the layers of clothing. She tried to brush it off as her own issues with temperature regulation. She smiled at the patient and gave her instructions to check out at the front desk before stepping out.

She walked through the hallway, planning to do some paperwork until the next case, when she started to feel a heaviness in her chest. She cleared her throat, feeling her breathing become a bit labored.

As she kept walking, it was quickly becoming harder to breathe. It felt like she was under water, gasping for air as she began coughing violently. She desperately tried to fight for air, the strain of her coughing sending waves of pain through her head and neck. 

Tears began streaming down Arons face as her lungs burned from lack of oxygen. She leaned against the wall, her throat feeling like she’d swallowed sandpaper. Her head felt like it was going to explode.

“Doctor Anderson?” she heard a voice call; it sounded like her coworker but she couldn’t make out the sound over the volume of her coughing and the ringing in her ears. “Aron? Aron!”

She heard the sound of a door opening, and some commotion before feeling something being placed against her mouth. An inhaler.

“Deep breath, take a deep breath,” she heard them say.

Aron parted her lips and took the inhaler in her mouth, inhaling the medication, then repeating. After twice, they pulled it away, placing a hand on Arons shoulder. “You okay?”

Her coughing calmed down, an ache still in her chest. She opened her eyes and looked at her coworker and friend, who had short blonde hair and big, silver eyes. “I’m…I’m okay…”

Aron was instructed to go home after an evaluation which revealed she’d contracted the illness. She argued otherwise, but was left with no choice. They sent her home with an inhaler and some pills.

She had a tight frown on her face as she stepped inside of the mansion. 

“Doofus? What are you doing home so early?” Sam asked her as he started to walk over.

Aron put her hands up and stepped back. “Don’t come near me, I’m contagious.”

He huffed and crossed his arms. “Human sickness can’t hurt me, remember?”

“‘S not human sickness,” she countered. “It’s fucking demon asthma.”

“Oh,” he said, the attitude leaving his tone. “Shit. What can we do?”

She held up the inhaler and pills wordlessly, not speaking.

Sam sighed and stepped closer, making her frown at him and step back. He gave her a pointed look. “I can handle some asthma, doofus. What, are you going to just stay away from me until you’re better?”

“That’s literally the only thing I can do to keep you and the others from being sick,” she said, beginning to walk up the stairs. "I hate my fucking job," she added in a grumble.

"No you don't," he sighed. “You can’t just stay locked in our room. I’m gonna need to get in there eventually.”

She paused and leaned against the wall, being hit with another coughing fit. She held the railing of the stairs as she tried to keep herself upright. Immediately, Sam was beside her, stopping her from falling and gently rubbing her back. “Sheesh. You’re gonna cough up a lung.”

“So will you if you don’t get away,” she told him as her coughing finally stopped. She didn't truly want him gone, but feeling sick made her grouchy.

“Whatever. Come on, let’s get you to bed,” he said, carefully picking her up and taking her to their room.

[itsukismoon]

Main Story - Chapter 4 (Summary)

For previous chapters, please refer to here and here

Heads up: very long summary. 憧蝶 Is the name of the organisation Nanashi, Testament, Mirror and the Dark Night Duo are a part of. I’m unsure of how to translate the name so I’ll just call them “Butterfly”.

Est reveals that 150 years ago, separated cases w the same symptoms as the ones from black fairies’ miasma already appeared. finding the records of this was extremely hard for two reasons: 1) either medical limitation (medicine at the time still didnt know what was going on) 2) someone is currently trying to hide the information. hes pretty sure theres some kind of connection. but anyway, knowing this can be a huge help to Kaiai, who will go back w Sion to Sorciana (capital of the Country of Magic, the setting of ch.2 and HQ of Magia Seminar Guild) to look further into the matter. now its Gui’s turn to speak, and he drops a few bombs:

If they want to know more about the key, they need to go to the mechanics’ guild (Niji no kanata) and look for Oswald, a grandmeister whos a leading figure in mechanical engineering. in the now out-of-print record book by him, the encyclopaedia of inventions and dreams, there is a secret box (secret boxes open only if certain instructions are followed, kind of like in da vinci’s code). in particular, said secret box presents the same motifs and decorations as Emma’s key, and apparently it was made for Eden, Emma’s father. the box’s whereabouts are unclear, but they still should go find Oswald and ask.

In order to go there, the mechanical city of Woodman, the shortest route is to take the moon road to Dilettant, gastronomy’s country. so that’ll be their next destination! Emma’s worried that the butterfly will act and break some havoc, but Camus walks in and tells her not to worry, Bloody lady will take it upon itself to keep in control the situation so that they cant do anything without being noticed. Mam’s pride has been hurt after the incident, so she has already sent multiple spies all across the world. they will get revenge on the Butterfly. Camus also reminds Emma about her purification powers, and that she should definitely check that out. Crow chimes in adding that if they get to Oswald and find out more about eden, Emma will find out more about herself and her origins! and when that happens they will definitely be there for her, since shes their nakama :)

The gang arrives in Dilettant, and Rouge starts fawning over the mouth-watering smells and sounds of wine glasses being clinked, but before he can run off the others stop him: they’re not here to have fun, they have to be careful about the butterfly! Itsuki apologises, saying that the next moon road to Woodman will take some more time to appear, so in the meantime they’re stuck here. Noah scolds rouge for his usual careless behaviour, and Gran approaches Rouge asking something but seeming very indecisive about it, like he doesn't want to ask it in front of the others. Victor arrives, happy to have found a nice brand of liquor. apparently, while everyone at Bloody lady is busy dealing w the aftermath of the incident, he joined tsukiwatari to look for some ingredients. he says that his job is to keep the bar lively and provide for a resting place when things are rough. he also notices that everyone has a weary face, and asks if they're going to spend the entire week being miserable. they should enjoy their time here, after all, tsukiwatari is the guild of exploration, they should be having fun in new places.

He explains that Dilettant used to be the country of manors (荘園) with an extremely elitist society and poor culture. the feudal lords who owned the land had all the power, and if you were not one of them, your life was basically terrible. social status used to be everything, but then Oscar, the duke of Dilettant and self-proclaimed “genius of the tongue”, came and changed the way of life of the entire country, whose economy is now based on food and good cuisine. he has an extremely refined sense of taste and chose only the finest of flavours while promoting all talented chefs regardless of their social status. Emma remembers hearing of him from Lannes, who had to spend three entire days analysing all of his guild’s (Gastronomy) reports. apparently Oscar eats 20 meals a day lol. Itsuki explains that the prestigious guild reviews local specialties, has a magazine with all kinds of recipes, and the guild home is a restaurant, Ballroom, whose reservations run out for months at a time. although tsukiwatari would like to eat there, they’ll have to settle for something else.

All around them are shops self promoting themselves as Oscars favourites, etc. all of a sudden, said Oscar walks out of a restaurant, people gathering all around and the owner following in tow. Oscar walks to the restaurant banner saying that the food has been “approved by Oscar himself”, and he tears it down, adding “what a foolish thing”. as this happens, tsukiwatari can clearly see that he has a black fairy with him, although he doesn't seem to be losing his control. Emma calls Navi to ask if he has any idea of whats going on, but he's just as clueless as them. in the meantime Oscar leaves, so they chase after him in the back alleys of the town, but instead they find some monster/black fairy familiars. after defeating them, Gran asks Rouge if he knows something

Rouge:” what?? why would i know something??”

Gran:” ah… i see…. yeah, that makes sense…”

Anyway, since they have lost sight of Oscar, they decide to go to the guild hq to see if they can talk things out. they meet Walter, who notices Emma’s guildkeeper pin and asks if shes here on federation business. he's a bit scary, so the interaction goes like this:

Emma: "u-uhm-" Crow: "cmon don't be scared" rouge: "ahah, get in the right spirit! those arms and neck etc... so broad" Noah: "..." Itsuki: "don't be afraid. if its broadness, Gran wont lose either" Gran: "oi💢"

They tell him they want to meet w Oscar, but Walter is crystal clear: the duke is not meeting anyone as hes busy preparing for the week’s big event; and he walks off. the gang hears a pair of familiar voices: Joe and Ace are working as trainees at the guild to become chefs because apparently they just got fired from the Butterfly AND they know nothing about Oscar’s black fairy. Emma asks them what their goal is, trying to destroy people’s dreams.

“its for the greater evil! the greater evil is just greater evil!!! right Ace?

“yeah!!! nothing more nothing less!” (they're just stupid)

They ask more questions to them but they just don't know shit. Noah says they're about as useless as Rouge. someone from the Gastronomy guild steps in, asking them to go wash the dishes instead of wasting their time around… it’s Cuit! he introduces himself to the group, telling them he couldn't help but overhear those two talking about evil, black fairies and Oscar’s name being mentioned.

In the meantime, at the Butterfly’s hq, Mirror asks if they’ve made today’s move yet. Testament denies, saying that they overdid it last time, so now the federation is keeping a close eye on them. furthermore, Bloody lady has apparently found the hq? they predicted this, but its still quite a bother: its best to lay low for a while. in the meantime, Nanashi should infiltrate somewhere… he complains about being alone, since Testament fired the Dark Night duo. doesn't Mirror want to help wink wink? “no, I'm a bystander.”

Back to the guild, Cuit apologises to the others for Walter: he’s very quiet and due to his appearance he can come off as a bit scary; in truth, Cuit describes him as a gentle bear in the forest (+side note for those who do not know it: he's a poison expert! thats his job at the guild since, according to Cuit, the more poisonous the ingredient the tastier it is). while the entire place is in chaos due to the upcoming big event, a crying woman is yelling at Kuchen, Cuit’s older brother. she and Kuchen had a date yesterday, but he didn't go, and she asks him whether his job or her are more important.

K:”shut uppp. and don't come to my workplace, its annoying” + “don't say such embarrassing things. its obvious that my job is more important”

After the woman runs away in tears, Riche, Kuchen and Cuit’s younger brother and Gastronomy’s sommelier, comes into the picture, lightly scolding him. Kuchen defends himself, it’s not his fault that she’s taking it so seriously: he was just playing around with her. Cuit adds that sometimes the other person will take things more seriously, so he has to think about these things.

before Kuchen can say anything else, he notices the group and asks about them. they all move to a more secluded space where they introduce each other (Emma holds her hand out to Riche in greeting but he hides behind Cuit, they don't say it here but Riche has a fear of women or smth lol; then Kuchen teases Emma saying shes easy to read, and its obvious shes angry at him for making the girl cry early; they don't start on the right foot). they tell the trio about black fairies, and the fact that Oscar is currently being possessed. according to Riche this adds up onto his recent behaviour: he's been distancing himself from everyone more than usual, he's been visiting restaurants alone, places he had previously rated as bad, etc. the problem is that Oscar is the pillar of gastronomy in the country, and with this upcoming event of the week, the “Grand Ball”, the fact that Oscar is like this while also being the one in charge for all the chefs and dishes in charge is a HUGE problem. the event will be a national banquet where many foreign royals and nobles will attend: if it doesn't go well, it’ll be over for the entire country. but here comes the dilemma the group cant wrap their head around: black fairies make people aggressive and go out if control; why is it that Oscar looks so calm? the only way to find out is to meet him.

In the mean time, in a small alleyway, a chef is yelling and complaining that he didn't get chosen for the Grand Ball banquet. this is so unfair blah blah blah. all of a sudden, though, Oscar approaches him…

Walter is updated of the situation, but he refuses to force a meeting between the group and Oscar unless actual chaos happens. Oscar’s daily work is still fundamentally important, and mustn't be impeded in any way. the only way to actually get them to meet him is by proposing a food that he has never eaten before… Crow remembers an ancient recipe of a banished dish they found during an expedition, the Dark Pot. according to Cuit, its a legend among chefs worldwide, and it was banned because of its extremely strong flavour. Walter is certain Oscar has never eaten the dish before, since he’s never had to poison taste it; if they manage to make it, he will surely come. however, since the main chef and menu for the Grand Ball haven't been chosen yet, the group will have to handle this themselves, as even Cuit is working to get Oscar’s approval. the Dark Night duo overhears the convo, and they challenge the group to become the world’s best chefs. moving on, with Lannes’ help Emma manages to get a copy of the translated recipe, which leaves everyone confused:

ingredients: slim pig belly, floppy onions, blissful cabbage, smiling potatoes, snow grass (”sukisusuki kusa” lol), magma cacao pulp, mad grapes (according to Cuit they can all be purchased in Dilettant)

some of the steps include: sprinkle salt following your heart, stir the ingredients while shouting the food spell “◯◉◇☆x~!”, simmer it as hot as your first love.

the recipe doesn't make sense. they decide to rely on crow’s good luck to make a decent dish.

snow grass: ill be very brief because these chapters are mostly humour based. Emma, Noah, Itsuki, Crow and Walter go to a forest to get the grass; there’s plenty of poisonous plants which is why Walter is tagging along. the Dark Night duo is also following the group and they eat poisonous plants bc they see Walter doing it thus getting food poisoning. they get to where the grass is, and the taller they get it the better. the duo jumps ahead, but they get trapped by the grass who traps enemies in self-defence. Itsuki follows suit, but when extracting the grass, the plant lets out a soul-wrenching scream, while also working an aphrodisiac on Itsuki, making him fall in love. Crow jumps in to the rescue and everything goes well. heres a few things we find out during this ch: Itsuki loves cooking but he’s terrible at it (which is why he’s giving it his all to make this dish), Noah used to live in a forest with other kids but said forest doesn't exist anymore, Walter comes from a family of poison specialists, and he holds Oscar in an extremely high regard.

magma cocoa powder: now its only Emma and Kuchen, and he takes her to a shop that sells the cocoa they need, which is apparently extremely spicy. Emma politely thanks him, but he tells her to stop being so formal and to drop the “-san” honorific. as he laughs at her stiffness, and a crowd of girls go crazy from afar because omg THE Kuchen just laughed!!!! and who is that his new gf???? they banter for a bit until Emma changes the topic, asking him if he’s ready for the Grand Ball. Kuchen replies saying that he’ll just do it the same as always: if he’s the one making the chocolate then obviously it will be the best. then Emma says “you have so much confidence. you truly are a genius chocolatier, aren't you?” to which Kuchen doesn't reply, a troubled expression on his face. as they walk, Emma spots a shop with a poster saying their chocolate was even approved by Kuchen, who stops dead in his tracks and asks Emma to buy him some. she does, but apparently the chocolate is low-quality. he tears the poster down and starts fighting with the owner, who apparently knows him. Kuchen accuses him of copying the recipe of the chocolatier who used to work for the shop, the one he had actually praised, and of mass-producing the chocolate to save money. they get into a bitter fight, and the owner yells at Kuchen that an arrogant person like him will be shunned immediately the moment he loses Oscar’s backing. they walk off, and kuchen explains that things like these happen quite often; but in any case, he has no intention of leaving the guild: if there’s anywhere he can create the best chocolate in the world, that’s next to Oscar. Emma says that she understands, and that his passion for chocolate is shining through, which leaves Kuchen shocked (they usually take him for a fool). they go back to the guild, where Victor is fighting w Riche to make him try a spritz (Riche is a full believer of pure wine only despite liking the spritz). Emma approaches Cuit, complimenting him for his hard work and adding that she should truly be more like him. Cuit says “yeah thats right… if it wasn't for hard work I probably… (implying he’s no one without hard work → talentless), leaving Emma like ???????

mud grapes: Riche, Victor and Emma this time! they visit the most famous vineyard in the outskirts of the city, and they easily get the grapes as the vineyard gifts them for the special occasion, although usually mud grapes cannot be grown artificially. Emma mentions that she thanks both Kuchen and Riche-san, and Riche stops dead in his tracks. DID SHE JUST CALL KUCHEN WITHOUT A HONORIFIC?? ARE THEY ALREADY THIS CLOSE??? WHAT HAPPENED DURING THAT OUTING!!! IS SHE TRYING TO DISTRACT HIS BROTHERS!!! etc. Emma is trying to defend herself but Riche is literally standing meters away bc of his (hasnt been explained yet) problem with women, whatever that is (Emma believes he just hates her, but Victor understands right away).

(im not putting many pics in these summaries but i just want you guys to understand)

He gets closer while still hiding behind Victor. he admits she’s different from all the other women that get close to his brothers, and they kinda make peace? but Emma feels a weird sensation, the same one she felt when she saw Oscar from afar, and shivers. Navi appears from the key, scaring Riche shitless, telling her she’s almost got the right answer! this time its just familiars though! a fight ensues, and once its over, due to the presence of the familiars, Emma knows that a black fairy is nearby, although shes unsure as to who might be behind this all.

In the meantime, in the city, Gran is alone with Rouge. the latter playfully asks him whats going on: everyone’s busy gathering the ingredients but he's inviting him out to hang out. Gran tells him that he's grateful for his presence, and that despite acting sleazy, he's always very helpful, especially when the others get a bit chaotic. however, he's been doubting him ever since the incident at Bloody lady. when Itsuki and Noah were abducted, the kidnapper dropped a handkerchief: its the one Gran gave Rouge on the very first day they met. furthermore, he guided them around the casino, gave them information on the secret gathering, and he was able to precede the DN duo. Gran asks if he’s a tsukiwatari nakama, if he's truly family?

Emma and Gran meet up at the guild. Noah didn't really care about the cooking part so he went somewhere. as for Rouge… Gran says he went for a drink somewhere. Victor is also somewhere in the city. this means that Itsuki and Crow are the only two ones cooking (aka… its BAD). when they walk in the kitchen, Gran nearly collapses to the floor, attacked by a black miasma coming from Itsuki’s plate. he begs Emma to try the food (its actually black materia), and Emma is like “THIS IS EDIBLE????”; she wants to try regardless, since Itsuki’s eyes are shining like two stars. Gran tells her to wait, he needs to fetch stomach medicine first- and Crow just tells Itsuki that theres no way Emma can eat that unless he wants to actually kill her… Itsuki apologises, he got too ahead of himself :( the black fairies appear and start making fun of him (”this… this has the smell of death”, “humans eat such trash??? their foolishness knows no bounds…”). The rest of the preparations are a bit of a mess, with Crow cutting the vegetables in fist-sized portions, the unclear instructions on seasoning, etc. As the dish is slow cooking, Emma meets Riche outside the kitchen, and together they overhear Kuchen and Cuit talking from another kitchen. Cuit, despite being terribly busy with managing guests and staff, has decided to change his menu, in order to better suit Kuchen’s perfect dessert. Riche accuses Emma of peeping, but Kuchen overhears their banter and invites them in, where he has Emma try the desert he’ll serve at the grand ball: a multilayered chocolate cake. Emma finds it perfect, commenting that this is why Kuchen is so confident… this remark leaves Cuit feeling insecure, so he excuses himself with a lie and leaves.

Emma returns to the dark pot kitchen, and we are told the DN duo’s past (directly narrated by them despite no one asking lol). They lived in a nameless country, in a nameless city, with no parents nor house, a place rampant with diseases and crime. Their dream was to become the world’s no.1 heroes of justice. They would stand up to adults bullying children, getting beaten up in their stead. One day, they fell into a trap made by the bad guys, were confronted by the police and had to run away from the city. Then, they arrived to a certain country, where they started working as servants to a certain noble, an evil man who stole money from the people. They tried finding evidence of his crimes to get him prosecuted, but failed and were accused instead. This process of being kicked out and being accused repeated itself a few times, until they decided to become bounty hunters to make ends meet. On their first job, they got saved by Nanashi who, upon hearing of their past, told them that since they had always lost to “evil” then they just had to become even more “evil” to win. To conquer evil with evil (ikemen villains im looking at you). And thats how they started working with the Butterfly. Unfortunately, they were fired from there too, and after Oscar approached them in Dilettant, they have decided to prove their worth through cooking. Crow says that Joe (pink haired brother, the oldest one) is making a terrible face, and that dreams are supposed to be more fun to talk about. Ace disagrees, some happy people with sparkling dreams like them and no hardships could never understand. The duo goes back to taking care of their pot.

In the meantime, Victor and Noah are talking together as they stroll through town. Noah thinks the others act a bit too friendly, and he points out how weird Primus club is for having members that don't trust each other like Camus and Ymir. Victor says that although his guild is made up of selfish people with different agendas and personalities, the casino is an irreplaceable home to all of them. As they talk, they spot Oscar with no black fairy, and they chase after him. Scene cuts to Nanashi who has successfully infiltrated somewhere, he talks to himself until he goes “damn… I'm already at the talking to myself stage? I might be missing Joe and Ace more than i thought… hey, black fairy, you’re the only one I can count on here; there’s someone that’ll be perfect for you…”.

The dark pot has been completed! Emma goes into the courtyard to report to Cuit, and finds him sitting on a bench. He apologises for not being of much help, and when asked about how his menu is proceeding, he answers that it’s still a bit… blurry. Emma notices a mug with snow grass soup in it. Cuit asks if she wants to try it, and when she does she’s overjoyed! Then, they proceed to have a cute little interaction where he asks her to drop the honourifics, while he switches from “Emma-san” to “Emma-chan”! Feeling a bit less shy, she asks him if he’s worried about anything, adding that as a guildkeeper she can help him with anything at all! Cuit laughs and inches closer, he’s so happy: first she compliments his cooking with sparkling eyes, now she’s lending an ear to him… he explains that his Grand Ball full course meal included Riche’s wines and Kuchen’s chocolate; however, he knows that Oscar won’t choose him for the event, so he’s just holding back his brothers. On the other hand, Kuchen managed to create the perfect dish effortlessly, so he can’t help but compare himself to his brother. Emma tells him that the only thing she can say is that the soup he made was so delicious, she smiled. that’s why—

Victor: “WE HAVE A PROBLEM!”.

Victor and Noah come rushing in the garden and they start telling how they chased Oscar into a suspicious building where he was having a suspicious meeting with about 10 suspicious looking chefs, where he told them that the Ball is approaching soon so failure will not be an option as his black fairy hovered behind him. Emma and Cuit suspect he’s planning to make the black fairy go wild at the Grand Ball. Riche approaches them, but he seems unresponsive. A black fairy appears at his side, together with Nanashi, who declares not to know anything about Oscar’s situation (is he telling the truth though?); Crow and the others went to patrol the streets, so now they have to handle Riche by themselves. Riche pours wine into a glass, then smashes it on the ground once he’s gulped it all down. Kuchen arrives at the scene, and Riche starts with a monologue on how he will never forgive his brothers! They are just TOO WONDERFUL! Kuchen has received a gift from God, Which is why he’s the best chocolatier around; the women he dates are unworthy, and he should just cut them all off!!!!!! And why is Cuit so insecure when his cooking is one of the best around!!!!!!!!! When he was a kid he was a troublemaker who got into fights a lot, but he always made sure to come back home in time because he wanted to eat Cuit’s meals!!!!!!!! He will never forgive him for underestimating his own cooking. Kuchen understands, then asks Cuit if he’s been looking at the face of the person who eats his food lately. Emma joins in, but before much can be said, Riche continues: HOW DARES OSCAR LEAVE HIS BROTHERS OUT THE GRAND BALL!!!!!! HE CANT FORGIVE HIM! HE’LL DESTROY EVERYTHING!!!!!!

Fight ensues, the black fairy is purified and sucked into the key, and riche collapses to the ground. Nanashi says “purification complete, met my quota, time to leave!”. Then he swears he doesn't know anything about Oscar’s black fairy: things have been tough on them lately. Noah:”So cant u just stay still??” Nanashi:”Nope! I wanted to see Emma-chan! ;P”. Dark night duo walk into the scene by chance, where they see Nanashi. The latter comments how they have given up so easily on their dream to become the most evil duo in the world; but whatever, he didn’t really mind their stupid positivism (Joe and Ace are left “!!!!”). Then he leaves.

Riche awakens some time later in one of the castle bedrooms (IDK if i said this before but the guild’s hq is called castle Edouard) after getting patched up by Walter, who pats him on the head and looks at Kuchen before stepping to the side. This prompts the eldest to speak up, apologising to Riche and promising he’ll try not to worry him too much in the future. Cuit also promises to believe in himself more, and that he’ll definitely have Oscar approve of his cooking for the Ball (cue Walter patting his head lol; every time he does it everyone always gets embarrassed and blushes. He approached Kuchen like 👁️👁️ and Kuchen goes “N-no…im fine….”). Crow, Gran and Itsuki come into the room, and they start discussing what just happened. Regardless of whether it’s the Butterfly’s work or not, they have to stop the duke before things turn violent. However, Cuit asks for 2 days of time: if there’s truly something wrong with Oscar, Cuit and his brothers want to ascertain it w their own hands.

Flashback: Cuit loses a competition because a rival chef mixed something into his dishes. Oscar steps in, saying that he ate Cuit’s dish, and that man added 25.8 grams of Bougetto (?) liquor in the sauce. The other chef defends himself: even if this is Oscar we’re talking about, he can’t treat him however he wants, he’s the chef of the yadda yadda family and blah blah blah. Oscar has no ears for someone tarnishing gourmet food. “Cuit, let’s go”. That Noble family is actually really close with the royal family, And they don’t let anyone get in their way, so Oscar’s position could be in trouble; but he doesn’t care, as he will not allow food to be degraded. He adds that if something were to happen to him, then Cuit and the others will have to take up his role.

If the black fairy is distorting Oscar’s belief, then it is up to them to do something about it; this is their gourmet pride (chapter title drop oooh). Walter will keep an eye on Oscar and let them know if he does anything suspicious, whereas Emma promises to step in in case things go south: as a guildkeeper, she wont let meisters get hurt!

Three days later, they finally get to meet Oscar to have him try the dark pot; he gives them some kind of backhanded compliments which make the group feel like he’s indirectly yelling/mad at them. However, before trying their dish, they request him to try Cuit/Riche/Kuchen’s meal first. I will not be translating the entirety of the meal the they give Oscar however: Cuit proposes a dish made with foreign vegetables, and Oscar is not happy with this decision; Cuit points out that these vegetables are not inferior in quality despite being cheaper, but they give a more homely feeling, something that is kind of important to Oscar if you read his past story. He then goes on to explain how they tried incorporating the guests’ countries of origin in the menu for the grand ball. This is a great responsibility, because it means that all dishes must be equally good, or the guests from a certain country will be displeased; it’s why Cuit wants to be the one to handle the menu: the skill of a chef is seen in these situations. After the meal, it appears that Oscar is extremely pleased. But.

“I will not let you serve this at the Grand Ball”.

Everyone’s appalled, so they just hit him with their suspicions. Oscar’s black fairy, Feld, appears. And he seems to be, extremely angry, to the point where Oscar is struggling to stand up. He directly addresses him by name, telling him to calm down (meaning he’s by now acquainted with the fairy). Navi comes out of the key, and he points out how Feld is different from all other black fairies they have met until now: instead of being violently out of control, he feels a bit weak. They explain to Oscar what the situation is and what black fairies are. Feld appeared in front of Oscar one day, and “stirred” his emotions, which he accepted as a good thing, as he, too, is driven by anger just like Feld. This basically means that the fairy has been trying to go out of control, but Oscar has been resisting through sheer willpower alone, although his body suffers from it. Emma gets ready to purify him, but Oscar refuses to let go of this anger now. Emma, ask him what in the world is he so angry about? He mysteriously tells her that if she wants to understand she has to follow him.

Fast forward a bit, Emma is accompanying Oscar to a party held at an aristocratic mansion. she doesn’t really know what’s happening plus she’s worried about messing up w her manners in such a lavish place. Oscar says:” don’t worry about the nobles, just think of them as potatoes” (lol) “but Oscar that’s disrespectful!” “Yeah, poor potatoes, sorry for comparing you to these people..” (LOLL). During the meal all the aristocrats are chatting among themselves and Oscar looks angrier and angrier although Emma doesn’t really understand why. Then, an aristocrat approaches Oscar and they start talking: the latter asks about how his chef (someone who Oscar noticed as being quite talented) was doing, and the noble replied saying that he was replaced with a chef from another noble family of chefs who are famous for producing top-quality cooks. The aristocrat keeps talking, looking down on “untalented nobodies” and whatnot. When dinner is over, Emma confesses she kind of understands him now: what most of those people enjoyed was not the good food but the title and brand that came with the chefs. Oscar goes on to say how these people eat food that is made with high-quality ingredients and praise it because of the quality of the ingredients themselves; as he says this a dark aura surrounds him. This is the disease that is currently rampant in the country: chefs’ competitiveness should be encouraged, but the people evaluating them are rotten to the core. As a result, unknown but skilled chefs are being deprived of opportunities to grow. He is enraged at the current state of the country, which is why the guild is having the Grand Ball. He simply tells her to look forward to it.

The day comes and Emma is allowed to sit next to Oscar in case the black fairy goes crazy. The dishes are brought in and everyone is enjoying the taste of them without knowing the names of the chefs and where the ingredients come from; therefore Oscar is forcing them to “enjoy the food” rather than the titles that come with it.

At the end of the night he presents the 10 chefs who prepared the entire menu to the invitees: the Dilettant aristocrats recognised them as being the unknown chefs they fired from their kitchens in favour of celebrity chefs; Oscar exposes their hypocrisy in front of the foreign guests, making them appear as fools. On the other hand, foreign guests are delighted at the idea of hiring these unknown but extremely skilled chefs. Later, Oscar finally confronts the Dilettant aristocrats, outing his ire and disgust. The aristocrats fall silent and when they leave, they are embarrassed and with red faces. Oscar delightfully laughs like a child at them. Him and Emma chitchat about everything that went on and the way Oscar had to train the chefs by making them do the dishes 300 times. As they talk, they are approached by an extremely well-dressed man and his attendant: it’s Dilettant’s king, who thanks Oscar for hitting at those nobles’ reputation in public. The country can now finally start working to meet the standards of its reputation as a country of food lovers.

Later on Emma purifies Oscar of the black fairy who now regains some kind of consciousness and he starts speaking (after he sends Evan flying with a punch). The person he used to protect once upon a time was a man who was accused of a crime he didn’t commit and who died in despair. Navi ask him what the hell he is since he wasn’t inside the key nor he was losing control. Mateo and Rive (?) come from the key, and mentioned their own experiences: they were overwhelmed by negative emotions and it is impossible for the host to maintain a sense of self. Feld doesn’t remember anything at all. However, he has a vague memory of a huge tree, which is the one Emma saw during the “purification incident” back with Bloody Lady (CH2 PT18). This seems to resonate with all black fairies present. 

Emma reports the information to Crow, and they surmise that the tree might be the place where black fairies originate from. They also suppose that Eden, Emma’s father, might be there.

The next day it is officially a week since the group has arrived in the city and tomorrow they will have to leave to the next country. Before that, they are having Oscar to try the dark pots: Itsuki and Crow’s being red, whereas joe and ace’s being black. All of a sudden Rouge has also come back from whatever he was doing in the city, leaving a very perplexed Gran, and an angry Victor and Noah. Oscar tries both but the first is terrible, and the second just tastes weird (is this goldilocks?); Crow defends himself by asking if this is not the taste of rare and ancient cuisine. But no later than he speaks, Cuit walks in with a third pot, containing a golden coloured soup. Obviously it’s amazing. The DN duo says that technically the others’ rating was “terrible”, whereas theirs is “weird”, meaning they technically won the challenge. Regardless, they don’t feel as happy as they thought they would, because, as Emma points out, this is not their real dream (she says that despite them being villains, she really liked the look in their eyes). Oscar admits approaching them not for their cooking skills but for their anger. They realise that what the others are saying is right and that they are destined to fight evil with evil. Before leaving Joe turns to Emma and tells her that although he was flattered at her “love confession” (which never happened), he cannot accept her feelings yet (Emma:”i somehow got dumped!!!”).

(Some sort of flashback i think?) Rouge tells Gran how kind Emma is to everyone, even someone like him. The fact that the others consider him as family makes him a bit uncomfortable and he thinks he doesn’t really deserve it, especially since he doesn’t believe in the “ fundamentals” (?) of people. However, Gran points out, he still mindful of them which is why he doesn’t say anything about it. Rouge cannot bring himself to tell those kids that there is a traitor among us (amogus…).

The DN duo is leaving; Emma tries to inform them of something but Joe is like “no I’m sorry I can’t be with you even if you try to stop me we cannot be together. I have something to do. Blah blah blah”. The truth was that actually Cuit had invited all of them to the guild’s top famous restaurant. There, he manages to guess what everyone wants to eat specifically without them saying anything at all. Everyone pretty much starts eating like animals since Cuit’s food is so good. Even Victor, who normally speaks in a very polite and kind of effeminate way goes “BRO WHAT THE HELL THIS IS SO FUC- i mean! How delicious^^!”. Kuchen brings in some chocolates he made with the super spicy magma cacao, telling Emma that the smile on her face when eating these chocolates is the cutest and most honest until now. Oscar walks in, apologising for not being able to show his gratitude better. He notices Kuchen’s chocolates and tells him to use no additives next time, just make it 100% spicy (kuchen:”YOU’LL DIE LIKE THAT??” But of course he accepts the challenge from Oscar). Oscar then turns to Cuit, informing him that the course menu he proposed the other day is to be served to the next trilateral talks under direct request of his majesty. Oscar and Walter pretty much run away after this because after the Grand Ball happened the avalanche of work that was put off is now cascading on top of them like crazy. Cuit feels sorry that they can’t help him in any way and he wishes that they had a guild keeper, hinting at Emma. He lets her know that since Oscar went through the trouble of coming all the way here to bid farwell to them, he must’ve surely taken a liking to her.

The time to go to Woodland has come, and the moonroad has appeared without delay. Victor is to return to Grayland, and Rouge appears to be leaving as well (“the winds are calling for me! Being a wandering poet is toughhh-“ Noah:”then just fly to the ends of the world.”). He says he’s joking, there’s something he actually needs to look into, though he promises he’ll come rushing to help them when they’re in a pinch. We find out through the conversation that he has with Victor after the others leave that Rouge is actually going to Record as he has business with the federation. While the others are walking and talking to each other on the moon road, Navi appears from the key and informs Emma that the black fairy they captured in record, the one that had been asleep all along, has just woken up. Emma is engulfed by a white light and the black fairy tells her that he has awakened due to her powers of purification growing stronger. Then he disappears and when Emma returns to normal, nobody but Navi can see her. The scene cut to Testament commenting how the Awakening has started.

[aisling-the-vengeful]

I’m on my break at work so I’m gonna write some things down about Aisling, more specifically. Her childbirth of bloodstone and moonstone and and Bular Concepcion. Since I’m doing a sort of recall and recon of some of Aisling canon stuff with gummar.

Gunmar and Aisling now, for the time being have three children. Bular being the youngest and moonstone and bloodstone being oldest (Boudicca I am still pending on what to do with her since I feel I neglected this oc a lot. So she is for now. On hiatus)

But the idea is moonstone and bloodstone births were…accidents really. Or at least, not what they expected pretty early on.

Gunmar and Aisling planned to wait due to Aisling trauma with Orlagk when it comes to births and such. So. When she fell pregnant in the womb by Gunmar with the twins. It came to a suprised for the both and an adjustment. For gunmar, fatherhood was different compared to anything else he had faced and such. It was different from relationships between kings to generals to soldiers. This was more than that. It…in a way, in his core. Scared him.

And Aisling was pretty nervous. Even going signs of troll symptoms of stress when it comes to the pregnancy. But the two made due, and come to relax and be more stress free with the pregnancy.with some lingering anxiety the birth was hard for Aisling. But when the two parents saw the twins bloodstone and moonstone. They saw how the differences between them. One big, chunky, and clearly grown naturally. Black as her parents stone and hissy. (This is before bloodstone transition to genders)

While the other, a pure white mare troll. She was not like her twin, fragile, almost like a human, or a speckle of snowflake landing on a leaf. Her eyes pink and red. Albinoism. She was tiny. And the parents treasure them. Gunmar come to feel the call of all troll father instinct flood in him like magic in his veins.

So, when after some centuries, they finally decide on a second. But they decide to go entangle stone instead. Taking their chips of stone together and put them together, and watch as the stone turn into an egg with the life inside. Which would become bular. The little whelp, a runt, similar to moonstone, bursting early and already causing trouble.

[sincerelystesichorus]

astarion, anne carson, & autobiography of red - small character study blurb

In which I've written 40k words of Astarion character analysis fanfiction and I'm definitely still normal.

Astarion used to be blue, but ever since that night two centuries ago, he was reborn red. And he had spent at least the past century thinking that red was irreplaceable. It was – red, it was in his blood and the little blood Cazador would let him wring from rats, corroded and stained. His very life force. He was Cazador’s, his spawn, his jewel, his ruby. There was no cure for red. Not until you became the successful means to an end. He had been sure of it. Being red wasn’t good. It made everyone who wasn’t red, and that felt like most everyone, stare at you like you put off a certain aura… like they knew you were a monster that could only act off of instinct and emotion. And it was so frustrating, because parts of Astarion were blue still, knew what was better, but they were nothing in comparison to the suffocation of red. The emotions, and especially anger, fear, came on so strong. It was hard not to act on them, to test out what the boundaries of pure action were. Astarion knew the color and impulse all too well.

I expand way more on the idea of people as colors within my writing than Autobiography of Red does, where Geryon is the only one who is red. This further pushes Geryon's feelings of being separated from humanity in his narrative, but there's a lot of inherent evil and fucked up things within Faerun so I felt expanding on colors and specifically shades/hues was a better way to communicate this for Astarion.

Geryon's red is tied very instinctually to emotion though, and so representing red as a chaotic force of emotion in my fic didn't feel like too far a step. I took a lot of inspiration from Magic: the Gathering's color pie lol. While you never get an exact description of what's wrong with Geryon, you get a lot of the symptoms, reminiscent of some sort of innate childhood mental illness, on top of the obvious trauma present in his story.

Back to Astarion, though. I've just never not been able to code him with CPTSD, I think that's obvious, but I also know that poor bastard has a personality disorder skffkjdf. The game always hammers in he has no sense of self outside of his looks, which he can't even be sure of because he can't see himself. Astarion has to work his confidence and self-image off of memories of his body and face from two centuries ago, and from his master's word. Cazador has assigned him to this seduction role (or, I feel its at least implied that Astarion was ultimately forced into it because he was seen as the Szarr runt, he was pretty and easy to push around, and I'm also pretty sure Petras has a line about getting to eat dogs now and then?) and Astarion fulfills it because it's all he can do. All he feels good for. His actions aren't his own for two hundred years, and in a morbid way of coping with constant sexual trauma, he functions off of "Well, at least I'm pretty," but even that assumption comes from Cazador's rule.

Astarion had decided he was mostly pure red, splashes of black and blue coming in, bright and visible. The remnants of his past and an even deeper level of Cazador’s corruption, bruising his psyche.

Carson is again sparing with other color imagery as to fully emphasize Geryon feeling like this big red monster, but I love this little excerpt on fearful anger.

Black/shadow is already a strong force and theme within the game so it was easy to work with, acknowledging it as a sort of staining evil. Astrion has his later lines about how he never stopped viewing himself as Cazador's slave, and I think showing that corruption is obviously important. He's hurt but can still heal (as opposed to an ascended Astarion... who I have little if any hope for sdfkjdskf).

Cazador had spent the last two centuries branding it into his skin and mind, breaking his psyche to the point Astarion was worried there’d always be little cracks that remained. That he’d always be Cazador’s wilted poppy, ashamed and folding in on himself, his neck miserably drooped aside for the taking. 

Cazador is Astarion's Herakles, and I think that metaphor works even better considering that whole little side lore with Vellioth in the ruins. Herakles kills Geryon because he must, Geryon is a way for Herakles to ultimately reach a life free of consequence, but it's not like Herakles is innately malicious in the act. He is hardened after already facing so many labors and the trauma that was forced on him by Hera that induced his journey in the first place.

Cazador wants power, some part of him is probably truly convinced he's easier on his spawn than Vellioth was to him (a lot of insults to Astarion are about his feelings and "whining", Cazador feels vindicated in his trauma and is far gone), and sacrificing Astarion is simply a part of that journey. There is no world where their destinies do not intertwine. Geryon will always be pierced by Herakles, and Astarion wouldn't be the Astarion we know without being pierced by Cazador (and without his ultimate decision to finally separate himself from him, or to become him.) Astarion, understandably, will never not feel some sort of shame or agony over this moment, from natural emotions and I'm sure years of Cazador victim-blaming him. He consented to Cazador's help that night after all, didn't he? (And we simply won't acknowledge the coercion.)

Astarion’s attempts to prolong the inevitable were shattered by thick layers of stone suddenly slamming in front of his face, muffling sound and casting him into a void. He could hardly hear Cazador’s foul laugh as he departed. Astarion waited all night for Cazador to return. And then all of the next day, and the next one after that. Days became weeks. Weeks became months. Astarion started to agree that dying would have been easier. More peaceful. He had pondered hundreds of ways to attempt to kill himself while stuck in this abyss, the voices that had started developing only giving further inspiration, but it was impossible. He was sure.  All he could do was wait. Beat and claw at the stone around him. Curse. Repeat. Sometimes he'd wonder. If he'd ever get out of here. If Cazador would remember after forgetting. If this would be his forever. The voices began to recite to him again. Just how long eternity can be.

I think this is the greatest and most obvious similarity between these two, within Carson's retelling. Geryon feels somehow trapped and doomed by the narrative from his early childhood, and receives some blunt confirmation of it when he faces early sexual abuse. This affects his entire life, his early relationships. Geryon can't be older than ten in this excerpt, but knows the pain of isolation because of his trauma and for feeling different.

Astarion was plucked up by Cazador right out of law school. While for us it's not all that young, for elves he was fiercely immature, basically just starting to come into himself at his first big-boy job. Astarion was likely raised with a lot of privilege that also made him a bit more naive, his book smarts not meeting street smarts, which has him meet his end. In his undeath, that basically flips, Astarion plays his manipulation games and indulges in petty crime and seduction, unable to dedicate himself to studies. He reads and he's witty, but can you imagine the Astarion we know as a judge? It's giving Divorce Court. It's giving Judge Judy. (Honestly maybe that's what got him whacked in the first place.)

Astarion is already constrained to what Cazador lets him be as a slave. He's less than a person, and his own body is one of his greatest trauma sources.

All of this, to be punished so supremely when making an act of slight self-preservation. Astarion wanting to maintain some of his principles and let someone go. It becomes his greatest regret, his worst and most defining punishment. It's how Cazador breaks him.

I restructure some of the circumstances within my fic, as to better tie in the main romance, but it still functions as a punished act of self-preservation for Astarion. I'm also sure most people are familiar with the pain that solitary confinement can bring, but if not, it's genuinely inhumane and dehumanizing. Lack of stimulation is extremely damaging to the psyche, I wrote in Astarion breaking into psychotic episodes while enclosed, but even in game, he speaks about going catatonic. I'm sure minorly from exhaustion after fighting, but also from the isolation. His mind likely just drifted and dissociated beyond belief, and I can't imagine it. This is my favorite piece of Astarion's story we are given, it really is just so pivotal and heartbreaking, to be punished for having freewill in the most objectifying circumstances.

In summary to Astarion Ancunin I just sorta feel like this I guess...

ddfsdfdk but yeah just emo about my poor boy feeling so weird and disconnected yet so drowned in his own emotions you know...

[my homage to autobiography of red, fic series page, my ao3 page]

[theproperweirdo]

Ramblings and analysis [part 1]

Scarlet | The Arcane Shadow

My long time favourite character in AFK Arena since I started playing has been Scarlet ❤️ her backstory is killer and I feel like her design is detailed and enhances her personality even more using these details you really have to look into

To start, her past! Please skip the next two paragraphs if you know her story 👍

Scarlet’s mother (who I’ll call Ms. Laurence for convenience) raised her from a baby to around what I assume was preteen age. Their family carries a maternal “curse” of psychological torment and dark energy. Scarlet’s grandma had previously killed herself during an opera performance, after being driven insane by the voices she heard. Ms. Laurence wanted Scarlet to overcome this curse, and have her become a respectable woman like her own mom. Scarlet? Not so much. And although she loved her very much, Ms. Laurence didn’t get to see Scarlet’s future. She spiralled into insanity as well, and was taken to a mental institution.

Scarlet was taken to the Violet Orphanage afterwards, which could have a very long post on its own. 💀💀 While there, she tried and failed multiple times to escape. She felt like something was off about the strange people and weird tests they did. After having enough of her midnight missions, they started to amp up the tests in intensity and aggression, in either magical or physical ways. During one of these tests she passes out, and in the haze of her consciousness, she receives the last wishes from the spirit of her mother, before coming too. Once she’s awake, she makes her last attempt to escape— by burning the entire orphanage to the ground.

Her past is tragic. She’s stuck with a curse that’s taken both her mom and grandma, then used as a lab rat til she has a mental break. But there’s so much more to analyze! (Wowwww)

Her family’s curse is one described as one of “madness,” that blurs reality and fantasy. In a setting like this, it seems to be some kind of arcane affliction passed from mother to daughter.

However, there’s the obvious subliminal implication of her curse— that it’s a genetic mental illness. Although disorders are not often hereditary, they’re still most commonly seen in an individual when a direct family member has the same one. For Scarlet and her family, this sounds like a long line of women who have schizophrenia. Hearing voices like auditory hallucinations, erratic behaviour, and having extreme delusions, are the most prominent and aggressive symptoms. Scarlet’s grandma took her life after losing the ability to differentiate between real and imaginary. Scarlets mother became overwhelmed by her delusions. Before burning down the orphanage, Scarlet herself begins to hear voices and monsters. Now on her own, she doesn’t want to become what her mother and grandmother did.

She also possibly fights her own hallucinations better because she had to reassure her mother when she was young. She probably never met her grandma though.

As a violent and dangerous curse, it’s effective and seems to stem from some older power. But I think this reflection of mental illness in women is powerful and incredibly well written for a character in a mobile gacha RPG game.

Okay, that’s on her story! Now for an artist’s eye on her design… let’s move top to bottom.

Scarlet’s hair is visually more black with streaks of red highlights. But we know from the description of her mother, along with her 4koma-style comic, that she had a full head of red hair.

The red itself is said to be a sign of the curse in her story. Seeing that the black has come and overtaken it in her recent years, I think it’s meant to represent her own hold on her sanity. Scarlet’s mother still has (I assume) all her hair red when she’s taken away. The black in her hair might be her own control on the chaos magic, and how she’s managed to harness it.

Or, the black came through as an awakening of sorts. It comes in the climax of her grand escape, when she seemingly inherits the destructive power of the curse. If her mother didn’t manage to fully grasp any control over her own magic, maybe she never had the same moment of magic-puberty as scarlet. So maybe this magic changes her both mentally and physically, leaving a few remnants of the red, because even though she’s improving, the curse will never stop its assault on her. Either way, it’s a physical tell of how her magic has changed her.

Her clothes seem to be a personal choice for herself. At six years old, Scarlet rejected any kind of fancy teachings or proper dresses. She was likely just a young girl who had her own preferences and didn’t like the suffocating atmosphere of noble life. But her mother’s most sincere wish for her was to see her grow into a distinguished and elegant lady like her grandmother.

I imagine she had a lot of time to think and reflect on her memories in the Violet Orphanage. Her mother loved her genuinely and dearly, and they were separated in the end because of their shared curse. I imagine she would remember the one thing her mom wanted to see most in her. The dress and corset were probably picked out herself because she wants to fulfill the one thing her mom wanted. :( even though she hates dressing up, she wants to make her mom proud in this way. The makeup and heels are probably for the same reason.

Her armour and signature item are both made of this gold coloured metal, but her shoulder guards got some red by the edges.

The one other character with the same kind of armour is Morrow, the only other in game person who was a victim as the Violet Orphanage (aside from Isabella and Silvina).

They were kept there in different periods of time, but it’s obviously not a coincidence that they’re the only ones who share this design motif.

These are the Signature Item descriptions for both Morrow and Scarlet ⬇️⬇️

Both for controlling dark magic! However, the origin of Scarlet’s item says that it was formed during her destruction of the Violet Orphanage. Also the gold armour is on Morrow’s arms and not his book. Scarlet is the same, she’s got it on her shoulder guard, but not the stabilizer. My theory is that it’s either 1. A material they used in the orphanage to conduct experiments on the kids using dark magic, and they both now use to to chanel their own magic and cast spells. 2. It’s a normal kind of metal, but the red shading comes from use of dark magic. That would explain why both of their armour has it.

Either way, it’s a very cool detail! :) other things I’ve noticed are:

Her attacks have the possibility of hitting allied heros. I interpret it as her magic still being unstable and hard to control. She’s got her sanity and magic under control, but not completely.

There’s no clear distinction between “dark magic” and “hypogean magic” so it’s possible she controls some variation of void realm arcanum, or a hypogean cursed her bloodline and she now channels its energy instead of suffering from it.

She looks considerably older than Isabella. Makes sense considering the timeline, but makes me a lil sad.

Anyways, that’s the end of this long ass post. Hopefully more to come in the future (if I remember)

Til next time 🫣🫣

[ghostcrows]

That being said I do wanna talk about something here because I feel like people here might get it more than other places

I'm really sort of grappling with I guess actually accepting that I heavily exhibit BPD symptoms and have for years, like to the point that regardless of my feelings toward that diagnosis and who gives it out and their reasons for it - and despite my reservations toward any type of official diagnosis -AND despite feeling like I prematurely diagnosed myself as a teen and then avoiding the label altogether - I just want to treat the symptoms so that things can get better.

It's very isolating. I feel things incredibly intensely. It doesn't just go away it rattles my whole body physically for days or weeks. When I get attached to people it becomes unbearable for me and eventually, almost inevitably, for that person too

I struggle with what I think must be splitting, where...I think it's not quite as black and white as splitting is presented as where I absolutely hate someone or I absolutely love someone, but it's very close. Usually it's this conflicting mess of both at the same time, this very ugly place where resentment (founded or unfounded) meets complete idolization. It's not a position anybody deserves to be put in and I try to keep it to myself but, it's hard to hide intense feelings. People can usually tell when you're acting moody and weird even if you think you've got a good handle on it. And its incredibly overwhelming

And of course I've got abandonment issues lol...kind of the root of the whole thing right...and of course it becomes self fulfilling prophecy you know how that is...very annoying. Very unfair

And...I can be meaner than I like to think I'm capable of...it's usually a subtle thing but that's probably honestly worse. It's the kind of mean where I can even convince myself I'm not really being mean..but I am. Like. I'm certainly not being nice...and it comes from honestly usually just not knowing how to communicate that I'm in some weird fucking mood. When you tell people you're in a mood a lot of the time they're like oh whats up what's wrong and sometimes yeah you can talk about it to feel better but sometimes there's just nothing. You're just in some damn ass mood. It has not much to do with anything. And when you're in those moods it's hard to be around people and not be irritable and nasty. But it's also hard to be alone with it. And if you isolate you start to feel like a monster who needs to be locked up so that you don't hurt anybody. It's difficult to constantly be in some weird headspace that alienates you from other people.

And im impulsive in like...not quite as extreme ways as severe BPD but I have been there before where I was doing some of those things. It's more things like sending people 20000 texts a second or just like Reacting without stepping away and then having things immediately escalate. Getting to where I'm angry enough that I break things and i hurt myself. Not being able to sit with an unpleasant feeling. Not being able to handle criticism or rejection well

All of that to say... that it is a struggle and it's something I'm looking for good resources on. I'm trying out some self help DBT workbooks to see if that does anything for me. I don't know if I want to try CBT again I don't know how much it helped before but I know most therapists do CBT now ... I keep hearing about EMDR as some magical fuckin miracle treatment but I still barely know what it is. I'm not currently interested in being on medications but I'm not 100 percent against it either. Im at a crossroads with the very idea of therapy where I do think I need it but I also don't know how much it can realistically do for me or if I can find somethijg or someone that works for me. And also I can't afford it rn lol.

So um, if you struggle with this sort of stuff too just like feel free to DM me because I'd really like to talk about it with people who get it. And if you have anything that has helped you with these types of symptoms please feel free to share it. I will look into it

[theblackcubeofdarkness]

-ASF Notice-

[Situation Update]

The unknown pathogen spreading through Earthbread's south west coast has been active for the last couple days and we regret to inform you it has not improved. Several ASF sites have gone dark and the infection seems to be expanding. The following research notes have been made.

For context the infection collectively designated as ASF Recorded Phenomenon (or ARP) 492A. The infection can be spread via many vectors one being 492A-β hereby dubbed Eyes. They appear through rips in reality and are described as looking like a animated white eye symbol. If damages enough the rip will shrink and the eye will dissipate. More eyes are likely to appear in places with already existing Eyes. Looking directly at the Eyes increase the likelihood of a living thing losing focus and becoming distracted seemingly getting lost in thought which some have described as sort of like brain frog. This state can be broken rather easily by the subject being distracted by something such as a nudge or a moving object.

However the longer a subject is in this state while looking at an Eye the more entranced they will be. If the subjects state does not change for 10 seconds they will become infected. Please note that this is not spread merely on sight and simply looking at an Eye will not infect you with the viewer have to be in the induced distracted state in order to be infected making those who are impulsive, mentally ill, lose thought often, or weak minded to be more susceptible to infection. Music has been shown to help break a person out of the trance like state depending on how much the volume changes throughout the song.

While some infected subjects immediately show symptoms it appears to have an incubation period of an currently unknown amount of time. Symptoms include:

- Slight drowsiness.

- A growing desire to experience dreams.

- Variating levels of anxiety when not asleep.

- Parts of the body being covered in small patches of an unknown substance that seems to visibly glitch.

- A sudden philosophical interest in dreams.

- An inability to experience nightmares.

- Perceptual and auditory hallucinations usually of laughter, voices, or momentary glimpses of 492A-α.

Please note that while the listed symptoms have been recorded they are not always present along with the possibility of more symptoms of which are unconfirmed.

After the incubation period has ended the subject will enter a state of REM sleep regardless of status before (It should be noted that coffee and other stimulant's seem to extend the incubation period and if used immediately upon collapse can temporarily cure it with varying degrees of success). In this state patches of an unknown black substance (The same of which that was mentioned in the above symptoms) will begin to grow on the subject with eyes appearing at varying distances from each other on said black substance (While they share the visual description of Beta instances their range of influence and effect are greatly diminished). After this the subject has become what has been designated a 492A-γ instance. 492A-γ instances can be harmed if hit in a non corrupted spot but the wound will quickly heal presumably by 492A-α. 492A will use the subjects physical properties such as wings, organs that produce magic, claws, and other biological features to its advantage creating specific mutations with the appropriate features. Some have reported while in close proximity Gamma instances hearing incoherent whispering and clicking sounds. Currently no cure has been found.

Research is in its infancy and updates will be shared upon discovery and compilation.

If you have any questions please inquire them to the @asf-official-helpline. Operators are standing by.

[hardcore-direwolf]

🐈‍⬛BLACK CAT🐈‍⬛: A DC's T.T. (2003) & Y.J. (2010) X-Over Imagine

⊶☽⊷❍⊶☾⊷❍⊶☽⊷❍⊶☾⊷❍⊶☽⊷❍⊶☾⊷❍⊶☽⊷❍⊶☾⊷❍⊶☽⊷❍⊶☾⊷❍⊶☽⊷❍⊶☾⊷

PLOT: The Team finds out the biggest fears and most shocking truths ever kept from the Black Cat by accidentally reading her secret diary about how she feels about herself. This bad little kitty got some lucky charms and some diamond claws to sharpen out once she comes back from her mission in Tokyo, Japan. How will they react to her changes? Will they uncover her lies about her past? Can they win back her trust?

⊶☽⊷❍⊶☾⊷❍⊶☽⊷❍⊶☾⊷❍⊶☽⊷❍⊶☾⊷❍⊶☽⊷❍⊶☾⊷❍⊶☽⊷❍⊶☾⊷❍⊶☽⊷❍⊶☾⊷

MAIN CHARACTERS: Felicia Drusher | Evelina "Eva" Gwendolyn Nelson, Freddie Dinardo | Richard "Dickie" John Grayson, Kaldur'ahm | Jackson "Jack" David Hyde, Wallace "Wally" Rudolph West, Kon-El | Conner "Con" Jonathan Kent, M'gann M'orzz | Megan "Meg" Marie Morse, Xena | Ophelia "Helia" Shauni Trevor, and Artemis "Artie" Lian Crock.

Mentioned Characters: Phoebe Starr | Zatanna "Zee" Zorina Zatara, Raquel "Rocky" Sandra Ervin, Matthew "Matt" Noah Jordan, Lorenzo "Enzo" Kevin Carter, Cyberion Technis | Victor "Vic" Anthony Stone, Craig Wyld | Garfield "Gar" Mark Logan, Abigail Constantine | Rachel "Raven" Angela Roth, and Koriand'r | Korra "Kory" Scarlette Anderson.

⊶☽⊷❍⊶☾⊷❍⊶☽⊷❍⊶☾⊷❍⊶☽⊷❍⊶☾⊷❍⊶☽⊷❍⊶☾⊷❍⊶☽⊷❍⊶☾⊷❍⊶☽⊷❍⊶☾⊷

Catgirl was sitting in front of her godfather Batman and spoke to him in sign language. He was listening to her explanation of why she won't talk about her grandmother's powers, the Lucky Girl was half alien and was a magic user. The Dark Knight held his hand up, which made the young girl stop immediately and nodded with an understanding look.

Batman knew her mother and father so well. His friends were loyal and nice to him that they let him hold their daughter, who's sitting on a chair in front of him at a conference room. The billionaire playboy was the first person who saw the symptoms and kept a sharp eye on his godchild, because Catgirl was staying silent about her pain.

"Eva, it's not good for you to hide your powers away and contain them against your will. That inhibitor collar has to come off your neck or they'll be no missions for you anymore, you're hurting yourself and not trusting what you can do. They saw how you can use magic, but this is what made you special and unique like your mother. Let me see your left arm," the Lucky Girl was hesitant and complies, rolling her long sleeve to reveal that the transformation has begun due to negative feelings and emotions. "I do truly appreciate your decisions of getting therapy from Dinah, yet you're still hiding yourself from the Team and not letting them have their pain back Eva. Your mother and her family was excellent help to you...just trust me on this and stop doubting yourself. Your insecurities will haunt you for the rest of your life if you don't tell the Team why you haven't been doing missions with them since wearing the Mask of Destiny and Helmet of Fate...please for the sake of your loved ones. We'll always love you for how caring, kind, loyal, and supportive you've been with all of us...including me."

Catgirl hugs him after pulling her sleeve down and covering the proof. Batman pats her back as she begins silently crying and sobbing. The Dark Knight let her break down into tears and hide her face from the view of Justice League members, who were part of the meeting about the Lucky Girl.

Once the meeting was over, Batman held her hand in his and ruffles her hair. Catgirl smiles sadly up at her godfather and nods. He lets her go back to Mount Justice and hears her designation number being called out.

"Bruce, I know you're worried about her like I am, that's why she got us and the rest." The Dark Knight sighs and hugs his best friend Astro Woman. "We gotta hope for the best and pray nothing bad happens over in the mountain, especially when Wally tends to surprise her the most."

Catgirl walks through the Boom Tube with her bag on her back and tired eyes. Her platinum white wig was miraculously stuck in a high ponytail and her matte black lipstick wasn't stained around her soft lips. The Team heard their teammate walking and saw the Lucky Girl still exhausted from last mission, which almost cost her life.

"Hey Cat, how's your meeting at the Hall of Justice?" Catgirl grumbled softly underneath her breath and tiredly plops onto Wonder Girl, who caught the Lucky Girl on time.

"You want me to carry you to your room Kitty?" The Lucky Girl nodded quietly and clung onto the female demigod's front.

Wonder Girl carries her back into her bedroom and gently set the younger girl onto her bed. Catgirl hums in appreciation and purrs softly as the Amazon warrior pets her head, coaxing her to fall asleep hard. As soon as Wonder Girl heard soft snores and deep breathing from the Lucky Girl, she smiles and puts a blanket over the young girl.

The female demigod carefully left the room and closed the door. Wonder Girl heads back to the lounge, raising an eyebrow at her boyfriend Aqualad and shaking her head no with a deep frown. The Atlantean soldier understood that look and knew it meant there's something wrong with their youngest member.

Ever since the Team was formed...Catgirl was the first heroine to be part of it, she lived in the mountain and was always doing her work at her bedroom due to personal spacing. The Lucky Girl got used to the Boy of Steel and would be his support system whenever he's having problems with Superman, which shocked the Justice League cause the young mute girl rarely let people rather than them and Red Arrow be close to her. The rest of the original members in the Team will treat her like a baby and always adore Catgirl for being independent.

For example...the Team came back wounded and hurt, she sprung from her chair in front of the Super Computer and took them to med bay. Wonder Girl managed to heal herself and helped the Lucky Girl with treating their comrades, though an appreciative comment from the Boy Wonder threw Catgirl's brain off so quick that she went redder than a strawberry. The three teenage girls never stopped pinching her rosy cheeks since that incident, what got the Lucky Girl on her feet and running away into her hiding places from the trio will be the words "DRESS-UP", and all four boys will chuckle from how the mute girl showed fear for the first time.

"Is Cat okay?" Superboy asked the female demigod, worrying about the mute girl who became a baby sister to him.

"The League took her to an important conference meeting this morning, based on her reaction...they wore her out." Robin answered for the Boy of Steel.

"Roy did claim to me that Cat's been keeping a secret from us, he thinks she's the mole...but seriously? If she was the traitor, how come she'll always return back in the mountain stressed out and exhausted? That's the most dumbest thing I'd ever heard," the Amazon warrior explained to them.

"Unless...we could...you know," the teenage speedster suggested, earning raised eyebrows and confused looks until they realize what Kid Flash was trying to suggest.

"Baywatch, Cat will never forgive us if we do that. That's her private diary, it has her personal life in it." Artemis told him, smacking him upside his head.

"First off...Ow! Secondly, don't act like you wanna know what she writes in it." Robin nodded in agreement and the rest was hesitant, but they finally agreed to their plan. "Now who's getting it and the key?"

The Team said "NOT IT" at different times, Robin groans in defeat s the rest gave him pointed looks and the Boy Wonder does the deed. He slowly hacks into the room and slides the door open, seeing the Lucky Girl curled up asleep in a tiny ball. Robin smiles and quietly awes at his crush's cuteness.

'Alright Robin, it's just a book. My crush's book of secrets, it can't be that bad.' The Boy Wonder thought as he sneakily took her book case with the key and leaves the dark bedroom without being noticed. 'Cat must be dead asleep from that meeting with our mentors, poor little kitten must be tired from all those mission reports as well to stack that much stress on her body.'

Robin silently closes the door and resets the password to her grandma's name. Kid Flash immediately takes his best friend to the living room and they high-five with proud grins on their faces. The Team sat down on their chosen spots as Miss Martian takes the book and opens the case with the key.

"This is so wrong in so many levels guys," the female archer said while seeing the front cover has a picture of her with the Team on it. "She got us on the front and the back...let's hurry and agree not to do this anymore."

The female Martian takes the personal book out from the case and sets the diamond box down. Catgirl's private diary was themed with black words, gray covers, white paper, and silver lining. Miss Martian gulps nervously and passes the book to Wonder Girl, who gave her best friend a wide-eyed look of disbelief.

"M'gann," the female demigod said with an offended look. "How could you? I'm not dying in the hands of a twelve year old girl...here Rob, you read it."

The Boy Wonder pouts at Wonder Girl and opens the book. Robin begins reading it out loud to his comrades, blushing when he finds out Catgirl got a crush on him and saw many insecure thoughts she has about herself. Red Arrow was wrong about the Lucky Girl, but they were beginning to feel concern on the mute girl's issues and problems.

"Ever since the League found out what was happening to me within the Helmet of Fate, I've been contacting my grandfather Kent through Nabu with my grandma's help and assistance with the Mask of Destiny. All the stress, fear, and pain was causing negative reactions to my powers and humanity. My father fixed one of those problems...that golden collar on my neck, it was containing my alien side from losing control and it sorta helped me. After twelve years of it on my neck, it's not working and was making it worse. The Team are starting to see signs of it, I've lost my appetite with food last week, I couldn't get sleep since a few months ago, and becoming much sensitive with my emotions on a daily basis that Batman forced me into therapy sessions with Black Canary. I'm afraid of the rejection and betrayal the people I cared the most think of me. There's five stages of it, I went through four of them, the fifth one will be most painful one cause this will damage me inside out and turn me into a monstrous freak. I got many anxiety attacks and went into panic mode during the meeting. I'm not relieved from it, not because my grandmother injected me with my painkillers and antidepressants...I had almost hurt the League. I know they're scared of me...who won't? After all, I'm nothing but a burden and a monster. Nobody can change that, not even the Team...I should probably run away and never return to Earth after tomorrow night when everyone's asleep. They won't be hurt anymore...especially when I'm gone far away from my grandmother's home planet." Robin read, closing it and putting it inside the black box.

The Boy Wonder locked the box shut and hung the key back onto its hook behind the case. Robin got up from his spot and walks to his crush's room. The Team watches their youngest male teammate slowly opens the door and sees that Catgirl was still resting.

Kid Flash ushers Robin out of the room and freezes when the Lucky Girl moves in her sleep. The rest drags the two boys out from her room before letting Superboy close the door shut and hearing it lock itself automatically. The Team frowns sadly as they stared at Catgirl's bedroom door and felt guilty for how they assumed that she's the mole.

The next day inside the mountain, Catgirl wakes up and does her daily routine before taking her prescribed medication. The Lucky Girl rolls up her long sleeves and gasps silently when she sees it got worse than ever from the nightmarish thoughts echoing her head. The mute girl takes a deep breath and hides the proof from view.

"Kitty, are you up yet?" Wonder Girl asked the Lucky Girl.

The young child quickly grabs her baggy jacket and a pair of black sweatpants to conceal how her casual clothes she loves wearing the most have vanished. Catgirl puts on her wig and applied her makeup before putting on her shades. The Lucky Girl heads out of her room with her bag strapped on her back with her diary case hidden inside it and walks to the kitchen for some fruit.

Once she found a green apple, the Black Cat vigilante took a bite from it and passes her teammates with a greeting wave. Catgirl pets Wolf and rubs Sphere gently with a softened look while going outside to the beach. The Lucky Girl begins absorbing some solar energy and feeling it generate some pure cosmic mana for her to devour by consuming the life-force phoenix within her inner self.

Inside the mountain, Robin begun hacking into the cameras and managed to get full access to the beach's ones. The Team watched Catgirl meditate by herself on a large rock and levitating, which made them shocked cause they thought it was all something she wrote behind their backs. The Lucky Girl used her mana to grab a bottle of nectar and drank the liquid, humming in content while she takes pure magic energy from the Sun and use the life-force from the Moon to try fixing her issues.

"Everything in that book was true, she does have powers." Kid Flash said.

The seven heroes noticed something glowing from her left side, the Team gasps in disbelied when Catgirl rolls up her long sleeves to reveal that her right arm was scarred and her left arm was encased with some kind of cosmic ice mana. They continued seeing the Lucky Girl getting distressed and on high alert. The mute girl begun taking deep breaths and slowly tries to calm down.

"That was her secret," their leader told them after understanding why she wore long sleeves and anything baggy.

"Recognize: Catgirl; B-0-0."

The Team froze to hear their beloved comrade's designation number called out by the Super Computer and knew she's behind them now. Wonder Girl slowly turns and sees Catgirl, who was looking scared and was actually frightened. The rest followed and knew by her scared expression that the Lucky Girl was caught red-handed.

"Cat, it's not what it looks like. We're worried about you," the Lucky Girl immediately flinches when Superboy takes a step forward and tries not to lose her composure.

"What was that on your arm?" Catgirl shook her head no while backing away and panting with a horrified look on her face.

"We're not gonna hurt you Kitty, we wanna help you get through this...just trust us okay?" Wonder Girl told her, following the mute girl and walking closer to the young child's personal space.

'Get away Opal, stay away from me.' Catgirl thought while shaking like crazy and trying not to lose control of her powers. 'Stay away from me, stay away from me, stay away from me...'

The Team could see that Catgirl was sweating from the fear and discomfort while she cuffs her hands together to keep her powers in check. The Lucky Girl's inner self was trying their best with her host and attempting to comfort the mute girl from the tension. As soon as Wonder Girl got closer, their six comrades grew concerned and wait for the next move.

"I said...STAY...AWAY...FROM ME!!!" An energy wave of mana was shot through her hands and hit Wonder Girl hard along with their loved ones, who groaned in pain from the magic blast.

'I hurt them,' the Lucky Girl thought with fear and guilt. 'I really am a monster...'

Robin watches Catgirl rushes into the Boom Tube through blurry eyes, hearing her call number and passing out with his six best friends. The Lucky Girl made it to her stop at the nearest subway station and luckily got herself a ticket. She sat down on the bench and wait for her subway train to come.

"Excuse me miss," the Lucky Girl turned to see some little kids and gave them a wave. "Do you got some food and water for us?"

Catgirl nodded, she begun taking out some sandwiches and bottles of water from her duffle bag. The kids thanked the mute girl and hugged her, which she responded with a pat on their backs and ruffling the hair on their heads. The Lucky Girl got her violin and thought about something to do for the children.

The selectively mute girl put her duffle bag to the side with a protective mana shield around it and stood on the bench. Catgirl thought about the hard times and good memories she have with the Team. The Lucky Girl takes a deep breath and begins playing her song.

Once the song ended, the people surrounding her applauded for her performance and put some money into her backpack. Catgirl bows for the crowd and hands some candy to the children, who cheered for her generous gifts to them. The Lucky Girl put her violin back in its case and heard her train number.

'Great, Raven and the rest are going after me too.' Catgirl thought as she heard her crow cawing ring tone for Raven, hanging up and setting her phone on silent mode.

Meanwhile near New York City, the Team couldn't find their Black Cat and won't give up searching for the mute girl. Catgirl's icy aura left some trails that leads to her and the seven sidekicks followed them to reach the fixed subway station underground at Manhattan. The Lucky Girl must've gotten down there for a train ticket and go somewhere else.

Around Broadway, Catgirl stepped onto her destination and gave a sincere smile to the people who helped her with her things. The Lucky Girl walked upstairs and saw the lights in amazement. The mute girl was relieved that her clothes she wore was back in her bag, but her gym clothes was affected by the transformation and was worrying her a lot.

The transformation was almost done, Catgirl got until midnight and the pain will fade from her body by replacing it with euphoria. Her inner alien side was keeping her stable from the toxicity of every environment and person she walks into by accident. The Lucky Girl tightens her cloak and vanishes into the shadows of night.

"Cat? Cat, where are you? Please come back home, we miss you." The Lucky Girl froze to hear the worry and saw the concerns of the Team's faces.

Catgirl gulps while looking at the mirror, seeing that it was getting darker and the metamorphosis was getting close to completion. She checks her watch and went scared...it was around eleven fifty-five at night, which meant her travel through New York City and its famous place must've been lasting longer than a hour. Catgirl kept her breaths silent and her heart couldn't stop beating like crazy.

The Lucky Girl suddenly shivers from the cold air and tries not to sneeze, which will trigger Superboy into finding her first. She held back the noise while sneaking away and going between a billboard. Catgirl sighs in relief until she lets out a sneeze, which sounds soft and cute like a kitten.

The Cadmus clone heard Catgirl's adorable sneeze, freezing and snapping his head at the billlboard. His six teammates followed his glance to the billboard where they were having a music award show and realized that she was in Broadway. Catgirl begun panicking with distress while her ice mana went into waves of energy and kept glowing bright like the stars in the sky.

"Kitty, please...for everyone's sake, just show yourself and we'll take you home...safe and sound." Catgirl scoffed from Wonder Girl's words in response, she sees a clear opening and takes a deep breath. "Cat...I don't wanna chase you all through morning, it's Saturday now and all I wanna do now...is sleep."

Catgirl's black pupils turned into slits and she let her transformation consume her completely after hearing her watch beep, signaling that it has struck midnight. The Lucky Girl starts flying in the air and the Team begun chasing her. Catgirl dodged the signs and construct some cold mana to block her loved ones from grabbing her.

The mute girl found herself flying to Central Park and hiding inside one of the cherry blossom trees, shifting into a white cat with blue eyes and black collar that has a silver bell on it. The Team reached there, they didn't see her use her witch arts to turn into a cat and climb up the blooming tree. Robin and Artemis saw ice footprints of a cat leading up to the tree they saw in front of them.

"Cat, please come down." Robin said, desperately begging for his crush to come down the tree.

"No! Go away!" Catgirl replied, refusing to come down and face her fifteen loved ones. "Y'all went through my book and spied on me to see my secret! I just wanna be left alone...like I'm always been."

The Boy Wonder begun climbing up the tree, seeing Catgirl as a domestic white feline heal herself with her mana to close the scars and burns away. Robin sees the burns on the cloak and knew they accidentally hurt her during their chase, which led to her using her magic for a portal as a transportation route to Central Park. Not only that, Catgirl took off the cloak and left it behind after it made her feel uncomfortable.

He kept his eyes alert while she shifts out of that form and reveals something...beautiful. The Lucky Girl was looking extraordinary within her final alien form and was trying not to have another anxiety attack. Catgirl felt a familiar presence close to her space, which meant her crush and destined mate have found her.

The younger vigilante slowly turns and grew scared to see Robin staring at her form. She saw his hand reaching out for her and flinches out of fear. The Boy Wonder shushes her soft whimpers as he pulls her in a hug and she breaks down into tears.

"Shhh, it's okay Cat, we're not hurt, you're not alone." Robin said, comforting the Lucky Girl as she hiccups and sobs in his chest. "We're sorry for what we've done...please, just come home with us."

Catgirl closes her eyes and lets the Boy Wonder carry her out of the cherry blossom tree. The rest of the Team freezes to see the Lucky Girl went through her final transformation and became her true form. Robin cradles her close while she cries softly in his chest and clung onto him tight.

Catgirl slowly relaxes and turns to face the Team with her head down. When she raises her head up, Miss Martian was shocked to see an Anodite for the very first time and realized that bedtime stories about that alien species from her uncle were true...the Lucky Girl was one of them. The female Martian walks over to the shy girl and hugs her tight, causing Catgirl to freeze with shock and accidentally release a wave of mana from her body that made the rest of the Team relaxed.

'Oh you poor little thing,' the female Martian said to Catgirl in a telepathic link while holding Catgirl.

'Why M'gann,' the Lucky Girl whined while blushing and hugging her back. 'Conner, help me...she won't let me go now.'

Superboy joins the hug with the rest of their friends, Catgirl pouts at the alien couple in betrayal for their friendly affections on her and how it spread towards them. The Lucky Girl's inner felt the trust and safety within all fifteen sidekicks, leading for the shy girl to close her eyes in content. As soon as the Team pulled away, Catgirl opens her eyes and felt somebody holding her hand in theirs.

Robin squeezes it in reassurance before kissing her forehead and she squeaks, flustering madly while the rest smiles at the two vigilantes. Catgirl crosses her arms and grew a bit confident. The Boy Wonder sees the mischievous smile written on her lips and was suddenly floating around her cyan mana hair, staring at his crush in amazement for pulling that trick while their loved ones watched the two from above.

"You're beautiful Cat, I wish I could've help you with your pain." Robin told her softly while she hugs him and hums with a bright grin on his face.

"You and the Team did that, I can actually sense the genuine worry and concern y'all have for me. I finally realized that I wasn't alone anymore, I have all of you...especially you pretty bird." Catgirl replied before kissing him passionately and smiling when Robin kisses her back.

The two pulled away as the Lucky Girl helped them both safely on lower ground and smiled at each other, chuckling at the romantic scenario with amusement. Robin was about to kiss her again when Kid Flash cheekily takes Catgirl and zooms away from his best friend. The Boy Wonder gawks at the speedster in shock as he storms after him and tries to grab his Black Cat back.

"Did you get your picture now Artie?" Artemis nodded with a victorious smirk and sends it to Roy with the money signs on it.

"Told that jerk Robin will be her first kiss, he lost big time." Her four comrades chuckled before heading into the Bio-Ship with their female archer.

Robin came back with Catgirl over his shoulder and back in her human form at last, setting her down by his side. Kid Flash sped up and went in the ship next. The two vigilantes smile before stepping into there and holding hands together...as a young couple.

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WARNING: FLUFF, ANGST, MUSH, HURT, COMFORT.

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