#I KEEP SPELLING GRIM WRONG

[whitherwanderer]

"...do you mind?"

I really wanted an AU where Sif is an absolutely useless new-spawn vampire, so @shroudandsands obliged me by making Dug into an old chruch grim that she frequently bites (not like he can turn anyway). They sorta became side characters in a monster of the week show where monsterkind is sloooowly disappearing. He even drafted a whole ass episode off the cuff.

Tbh it'd be a fun episode meant to make you think It starts with them noticing a Grim without a graveyard, there's a bit of pity from a knowledgeable character Then rumors of a vampire, they start investigating Everywhere they go the Grimm keeps showing up, though, just in background scenes Different character takes this as an Omen instead and fears mass death is coming to the town if they don't handle this vampire Eventually sif gets found feeding off a guy she's got pinned (presumably found after running into her all episode in other circumstances) and they try to confront her while she Badly Explains Die monster ensues, insert Action Sequence, then the dog trods into frame completely ruining the tension- or jumps in the way, either or Insert big explainer, lesson about not jumping to conclusions, lore abound Episode cuts at the realization that they robbed the main characters and booked it

Anyway they're beloved by the fanbase and they show up to lightly antagonize the main cast every so often with petty crime. 🐺🧛‍♀️

Closeup for eyes.

[rosesareredrosa]

So Obvious

Theo Nott x fem reader

Summary:: Where Theo thinks he made it so obvious that he has feelings for her but y/n saw his actions as being "friends"

Authors note: I don't how I feel about this now I kinda want to have a fluffy ending ~part 2 ~

Word count: 1090

Theodore Nott had always prided himself on his ability to maintain a composed exterior. As a Slytherin, it was a skill that came in handy more often than not. However, when it came to Y/N who had unknowingly captured his heart, Theodore found himself struggling to keep his emotions in check.

Y/N was everything Theodore admired. She had a way of making everyone around her feel at ease, including him,. Theodore had tried to express his feelings in his own subtle way, but no matter what he did, it seemed Y/N remained blissfully unaware.

He offered to study with her, saved her a seat in the library, and even shared his favorite books with her. He hoped that these gestures would convey his feelings, but Y/N treated him as just another friend. It was maddening.

One evening, after yet another fruitless study session, Theodore found himself pacing in the Slytherin common room. Blaise Draco , Mattheo , Pansy , and Lorenzo were lounging around, observing his restless behavior.

"What's got you all worked up, Theo?" Blaise asked, lounging on the emerald-green sofa, his eyes following Theodore's agitated pacing.

Theodore stopped and ran a hand through his dark hair, frustration evident on his face. "It's Y/N," he muttered. "I don't understand why she can't see how I feel."

Pansy, perched on the armrest of a nearby chair, rolled her eyes. "Maybe because you're not as obvious as you think. Have you tried, I don't know, telling her?"

Theodore glared at her. "I’ve done everything but spell it out for her."

Draco smirked, leaning back in his armchair. "Maybe you need to be a bit more direct. Girls appreciate honesty."

Mattheo nodded in agreement. "Yeah, just tell her. What's the worst that could happen?"

He had made up his mind. This evening, he would confront Y/N, lay his feelings bare, and finally break through the fog of his own confusion. It was a cool night, and the library was quiet, a perfect setting for what was about to transpire. Theodore found her sitting by a window, lost in a book, her head bowed in concentration.

Taking a deep breath, Theodore approached her with a sense of grim determination. “Y/N,” he said, his voice tinged with frustration.

Y/N looked up, her eyes bright with curiosity. “Theo? What’s wrong?”

He tried to steady himself, but the frustration bubbled to the surface. “What’s wrong? That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to figure out.” His tone was sharper than he intended, but the emotional weight behind his words was undeniable.

Y/N’s brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

Theodore’s patience snapped. “I’ve been making it so obvious, Y/N! I’ve been trying to show you how I feel in every way I know how. I spend time with you, I help you with your studies, I’ve been nothing but kind. And yet, you still treat me like I’m just another friend. What am I supposed to do?”

Y/N’s eyes widened in surprise and hurt. “Theo, I—”

“No, let me finish,” Theodore interrupted, his anger mixed with desperation. “I’ve tried everything to get you to see it. Every time I’m near you, every gesture I make, it’s all been for you. I’ve made it painfully clear that I care, that I’m interested. But it’s like you’re blind to it. Why is that?”

Y/N stood up, her face pale, and a mixture of confusion and hurt in her eyes. “I didn’t realize,” she said softly, her voice trembling. “I thought you were just being friendly. I didn’t think—”

Theodore’s anger flared up again. “That’s the problem! I didn’t want to be just ‘friendly’ anymore. I wanted you to see that I’m in love with you, that I’m not just some guy who helps with homework. I’m trying to tell you, and yet you’ve been so wrapped up in your own world that you didn’t notice.”

Y/N’s eyes glistened with unshed tears, her expression a mixture of regret and hurt. “Theo, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to ignore your feelings. I truly didn’t realize. I thought you were just—”

“No, don’t apologize now,” Theodore cut her off, his voice a mix of frustration and heartbreak. “I’ve been a fool for letting it go on this long. I’ve been a fool for thinking that you might see how I feel without me having to shout it from the rooftops. And now, I’m just… I’m tired of waiting for something that might never come.”

The silence between them was heavy, charged with unspoken emotions. Y/N took a hesitant step towards Theodore, her own emotions raw. “Theo, please… I didn’t mean to hurt you. I really didn’t. I just… I was so focused on my own stuff that I missed what was right in front of me.”

Theodore’s face softened slightly, but the pain was still evident. “I’m not sure what to do now. I’ve laid it all out for you. I just wanted you to know that I’ve been trying so hard, and it’s been tearing me apart that you didn’t see it.”

Y/N reached out, touching his arm gently. “I’m sorry, Theo. I should have seen it. I do care about you, more than I realized. I just… I need time to process this.”

Theodore’s gaze softened, a mix of frustration and longing in his eyes. “I just wanted you to know how I felt, even if it meant being angry. I can’t keep pretending that it doesn’t matter.”

Y/N nodded, her voice trembling. “I understand. And I appreciate you telling me. I need to think about what this means for us.”

With that, Y/N stepped back, leaving Theodore standing there, his heart aching with the weight of his confession. As she walked away, Theodore felt a strange mix of relief and despair. At least he had been honest, even if it came with a cost. And as he watched her disappear into the distance, he couldn’t help but wonder if this was the end of one chapter or the beginning of something new.

The days that followed were a blur of mixed emotions. Theodore’s friends could see the change in him, but none dared to comment, respecting his silence. It was clear that the confrontation had shifted something significant in both of them. And as he navigated his way through the aftermath, Theodore couldn’t help but hope that, in time, things might settle into a new understanding, even if it meant facing more pain before finding clarity.

[zevrra]

never forget—

synopsis: where sebastian is actually worried about MC and regrets casting crucio on them caaaause that moment in the game was not enough for me pfft!

tags: 18(+), lil angst, mostly fluff, sebastian(18) x reader, i didn’t know how to end this oops, one-shot, 2k words.

“Crucio!”

The pain that followed that one little word was excruciating.

Yet the spell casted upon you was of your own doing. You, Ominis, and Sebastian had become good friends since your first day at Hogwarts. Always together, always the 3 of you somehow in trouble. Well, mostly you and Sebastian. Somehow Ominis always managed to get out of the trouble the two of you dragged him into. You were Slytherin after all, it was most likely in your blood.

When you first met Sebastian, he had such an eager to learn that his demeanor was contagious. So much so you couldn’t help but also want to gain more knowledge with him over the years. It was all thanks to Ominis from keeping you two from ending up expelled. Your savior in a sense. But ever since the three of you had become good friends, Sebastian never let up about Salazar Slytherin. He was set on finding his Scriptorium, begging Ominis for so long to show him the way. Seeing as he believed finding it would help cure his sister’s, Anne, curse.

When Ominis had finally given into you both and led the way, the three of you worked wonderfully together. Traversing dark and wary caves. Fending off giant spiders, solving puzzles all that good stuff. Until finally you reach a room with a single note, bones buried in dirt, no way out, the word CRUCIO etched into the stone before your feet, and what looked to be a screaming apparition burned onto a mirror.

You sadly read the note aloud for all to hear. Detailing a grim last few words from Ominis’s aunt. Who unfortunately had gone looking for the Scriptorium, alone, and met an untimely fate. You reach out to gently touch Ominis’s shoulder and he stills beneath your touch.

“I’m so sorry about your aunt, Omni.” You mourn. He nods in acceptance. Nothing they did now could’ve changed what had happened to his aunt. He would at least find some peace in knowing what happened to her.

Sebastian is at your side then. Concerned look on his own freckled face. “Ominis…I know it’s hard. But the letter details using Crucio. You’re the best suited for this—“

“No! I won’t do it. To use Crucio you have to mean it. I will not cast that spell ever again…especially on you two.” Ominis steps away from your reach. Closing off from the activity entirely. You didn’t blame him.

You turn to face Sebastian then who looks..almost disappointed with Ominis's rejection. He gestures for you to follow him closer to the wailing mirror. Hauntingly beautiful, even in its twisted state.

“Well, two options. You cast Crucio on me, or I…cast it on you. It’s the only way we’re getting out of here. We can’t die here and now because of—of morals.” Sebastian whispers to you. The thought of dying in that suffocating tomb alone makes your skin crawl.

Ominis had always been vocal about how horrible any of the killing curses were, especially this spell. Seeing as he was forced to cast it when he was younger. The nightmares still haunt the blonde from what you could tell. His sleepless nights. The flinch at loud noises. It was obvious, whatever you decided, that this would forever weigh heavy on your soul. Yet the spell…could come in handy when facing Ranrok. He was your enemy after all.

You hoped it would never come down to using it though.

“Fine. Teach me the spell but you…you cast it on me. I won’t hurt you Seb.” You mumble. And at first, he’s hesitant. His wand slightly swayed before he reluctantly nods. His hands slightly shake as he teaches you the wave of the wand. He had never performed the dark arts before and this could go very wrong or just really wrong. Either way was going to hurt. But you trusted him.

That’s how you ended up in the here and now. Agonizing pain ripped through your flesh like lightning. Flames behind your eyeballs that force them to shut tight. Hoping to ease the pain away. Your teeth gnash against your lip to hold back screams of pain. It does nothing. Dark magic moves under your skin like writhing red and green tentacles. You gasp between almost suffocating screams.

Breathe in, scream, breathe out.

Your back is against the stone, arched, burning hot. Even as Ominis, or maybe it was Sebastian’s, or both of their hands are grabbing at your arms. Cool fingers press into your hot flesh as the boy’s try to lift you from the floor.

They try to comfort you during one of the worst moments of your life. It doesn’t help. They both fumble as they move you into the room that opened up behind the wailing mirror. The pain is nauseating. Every fumble, correction, and movement makes your stomach churn. Threatening to spill out your lunch. Your consciousness is slowly fading at this point. Stars blinking behind your eyelids as you grasp for whatever you can to stay awake.

Through the pulsing pain in your head and ears, you barely hear the two boys arguing. More or less Ominis yelling about how he was right. How this was a stupid idea as he struggles to help carry you. Ominis can’t see where he steps yet he’s trying so hard to save you now.

“You—you’re both idiots!” Ominis snarls. Struggling with words through his rage and panic. “How could you do something like this!”

“I understand, Ominis! Just—just, Merlin, help me! Help me get to the infirmary!” Sebastian spits back as they continue to fumble around, looking for an exit.

The last thing you hear is Sebastian calling for desperate help before the pain becomes too much and finally takes you under. Passing out from the curse spell later than you would’ve liked.

When concussions come back to you, it’s almost unbearable. Your eyes flutter open but fall closed once again. Maybe you could just stay like that for forever. Lying on a cloud, nice and warm, with your eyes closed. Eh, sounds a little too much like death for your liking.

Thankfully, your second attempt at waking up is far more fruitful. Candlelight flickers rapidly at the edge of your feet as your eyes slowly come into focus. You make out the white sheets laying across your body. Feel the firm mattress against your back. Connecting the dots, slowly but surely, that you were in the infirmary.

Your head moves slightly to continue looking around. Hoping a nurse was close by so you could ask for some water or medicine or anything to make the dull ache in your body stop. Instead your eyes find Sebastian.

His unruly brown hair is somehow even messier than usual. He slumps against the side of your bed and from what you can tell, he might be asleep. Seeing as it was sometime during the night. If you had to guess he probably snuck into the infirmary to be at your side.

Suddenly memories of what happened in the Scriptorium come back to you. Sending a harsh chill down your entire body. The cast of Crucio echoes in the back of your mind. You’ll never forget the feeling. Or the look on Seb’s face as he waved the spell and casted it upon you.

‘Crucio can only be cast if you mean it.’ You remember Ominis’s haunting words. Sebastian must’ve meant it. But you try your best to not blame him. He was just trying to get you all out of that stone grave.

“Seb…” You try to speak. Your throat burns as you attempt to rouse the sleeping man at your side. Voice hoarse, borderline gone, from what you can only assume is from the screaming you barely remember doing. “Sebastian.” You barely manage his full name.

His body shifts at the sound of his name but he doesn’t rise. So you make your way to sit up. Although the moment you prepare to sit up, weight shifting ever so slightly, Sebastian shoots up instantly. His pretty green eyes meet your gaze in a wild look. As if he can’t believe you’re awake. Dried drool sticks to the edge of his lips. You can’t help but laugh. Or what you assume is a laugh. To Seb it probably sounds like you’re coughing.

“I—we—are you okay?” Seb stumbles over his words. Knowing Sebastian, he most likely had something planned to say the moment you woke up. Yet now he was almost speechless. For the first time ever.

“I’m o-okay just…w-water.” You manage to mumble. Now he’s quick to react. A glass of water is held out with lightning speed to you and you take it graciously.

After a moment of what felt like an eternity of being parched, you chug the water given to you, before you hand the glass off and sit fully upright. Your fingers lay in your lap, picking at the cotton of the blanket.

Silence falling between the two of you was so uncommon. It almost felt worse than writhing in pain. Not really but the wall built up was hard to ignore. You needed that wall to come down.

“How long was I asleep?” You ask softly. Breaking the silence as your throat is finally feeling better after some water.

“Three days,” Sebastian replies. He doesn’t look at you. You don’t blame him, not really. The guilt must weigh heavy on his shoulders.

Three days. The fact that it had been days since you had passed out in the scriptorium made your gut twist. You can’t even imagine what rumors must have spread among the school. Or the amount of questions the headmaster will be asking you. Oh you were definitely in for some trouble.

“I’m so sorry.”

Apologies were not something Sebastian was known for. The fact that he was apologizing at all was almost shocking. You didn’t have to guess that he didn’t really mean it when he casted Crucio. It was all just a matter of choices, for you all to survive.

“It’s okay,” Your voice is soft as you speak. “I don’t want you to blame yourself. I agreed to it Sebastian,” You remind him. It only makes Seb angrier with himself.

“Of course I blame myself! I could’ve killed you!” Sebastian says in a strained voice. He wants to scream and yell. He wants you to scream and yell at him. For letting him do something so stupid. For not listening to Ominis in the first place. For being too eager.

“It was a matter of life or death Seb you know that—“ You began to say but he cuts you off as he quickly stands from his chair.

“But what if there was another way!? What if I didn’t have to…didn’t want to—I could’ve changed something!” He angrily hisses as he turns his head away from you.

Silences befalls between the two of you again. Stretched longer than previously as you can’t think of something to say. He had three days to beat himself up for dragging all three of you to that scriptorium. You couldn’t imagine how many scenarios he himself had imagined over and over again while in your slumber.

“What if I had lost you?”

The soft words are barely loud enough to hear. Just a whisper under his breath you almost can’t manage to make out. But you do. The somber confession comes at you like a heavy rainstorm. Unexpected, welcoming, lovely, and a little noisy from his previous minor outburst. Building from a small drop to a straight downpour and you’re caught in the middle of it with no umbrella.

Even in the candlelight you see the tips of ears, beat red as he refuses to look at you. Shoulders tense as he tries to will himself to calm down. It was late, you weren’t supposed to be awake, and he wasn’t supposed to be there. It was not the time for this conversation.

Yet it makes you smile anyway. Butterflies jump around under your skin, in your heart, stomach following suit in doing somersaults. You reach with a gentle hand and grab hold of his shirt sleeve, giving it a tug. For a moment he stands completely still. Debating whether or not it was the right moment to hash all of this out. It wasn’t. Yet a second tug on his sleeve has him turning to finally look at you.

This time when you meet his green eyes, his wild look is gone. He looks at you like you’re the cure to whatever alignment he’s currently experiencing. It’s a saddened, sleepless, relieved look. Feeling every emotion he’s ever felt in his life all in the span of a few short seconds.

You smile fondly at Sebastian, praying he could see it in the soft light of the infirmary. “But you didn’t,” You remind him. Almost gesturing to you, him, and your surroundings. “I’m still here, Seb.”

Sebastian simply nods. Not having the courage to speak for it may bring him to tears. Now that would truly be the end of the world if that happened.

You reach for his hand. Reassuring and gentle as your fingers intertwine with his. He’s stiff as a board at your touch. He has always yearned for it but never had the faith to act upon his feelings.

“Plus, it’ll take more than that to get rid of me.” You say hoping to ease the young man’s feelings. At least for tonight.

A squeeze to your hand is the only response you receive as he returns to his seat. He rests your connected hands on the bed before his head follows suit. Instead of returning to the side of your bed he makes himself comfy on your thigh. You smile at the puzzling picture before you.

The great Sebastian Sallow, a man who rarely asks for any help, unless it involves trekking in some dark cave somewhere, was vulnerably sprawled out on top of you.

You stifle a giggle, fearing if he heard you laugh he would assume the worst and pull away. Instead your free hand pushes through his hair. Pushing away dark curly hair from his freckled face.

“You should return to the dorms before the nurse finds you.” You hum as your eyes scan his own closed eyes. Gazing at the lengths of his eyelashes. Every freckle you could see, thinking how fun it could be to count them one day.

“‘Ts fine,” Sebastian shrugs it off. You hear the softness of his breathing, slowly becoming shallow as he falls asleep. Fast asleep in your thigh with his hand tightly wound to yours. You wish you could have a painting done of this moment. Hoping by every ounce of magic in your veins that you never forget this feeling or the sight. And by Merlin does the sight make your heart ache and pound in equal parts.

You just hoped to never go through something like this ever again. Hopefully Sebastian would see how powerful and dangerous the dark arts could be and look for another solution to healing Anne’s curse. Maybe the ancient magic you wield could help next time instead of turning to the unforgiving curses.

[cheapshrimpysheep]

Meanwhile with Malleus

SUMMARY: You spent a lot of time with Malleus while the others fought ghosts. What could have happened in all that time? You needed to sleep before the party. And maybe he taught you how to play the organ.

CHARACTERS: Malleus Draconia x Reader 🐉🦐

TAGS: Fluff, GN Reader, Cuddles, Flirting, Kissing

WARNING: Spoilers from Twisted Halloween: Spectral Soiree

WORD COUNT: 2.830 words

COMMENTS: The truth is that I started writing this a few weeks (maybe months) ago and it has been on hold for a long time. As this event returned to the Eng Server I decided to finish it and post it in October.

I hope you enjoy 💚

After all that Halloween week, the Magicam Monsters and that parade, you were dead tired. You just wanted to rest after all that. But someone knocks on the door of Ramshackle Dorm.

“Tsunotarou?!” You didn't know whether to show that you were happy to see him or to ask if anything was wrong.

“Child of Man,” Malleus speaks with a smile “I'm here to invite you and the rest of the Ramshackle Dorm residents to an Halloween party at the Spectral Realm.”

You don't seem as happy about the idea as he thought you would be. And you were confused too. “A Halloween party? At the... what's the Spectral Realm?”

He briefly tells you about the ghosts and the party he plans to throw with the other NRC students at the Spectral Realm.

“I don't know if I can handle another party, Tsunotarou.” you say sadly “I'm really so tired.”

“Yeah...” Grim says “I mean, even if there's a feast, I still need to rest to have the energy to eat more.”

“Besides.” you look at the clock “Halloween is almost over.”

“Oh, don't worry about that little detail.” Malleus smiles and snaps his fingers. You stop listening to the clock ticking and when you look at the clock again it's eleven fifty-nine.

“Can you stop time?” you say almost in a whisper.

“You should know by now that I am capable of doing many things.” he smirk “But this spell is only affecting the Sage's Island. And about your tiredness, I'll let everyone else sleep until the party preparations are done, I can arrange a quiet place for you to rest in the Spectral Realm if you like.”

“We already sleep with ghosts so it shouldn't make much difference, right (Y/N)?” Grim says.

You sigh and end up accepting it. Malleus smile gladly and then looks at your tired posture.

“If you are also very tired from walking all day, I don't mind helping you.”

“Would you carry me in your arms?” you ask partly jokingly, partly hoping he would say yes.

He laughs, loving your boldness. “Are you sure you want to make such request?”

“Is that a no?”

“No, it is not a No. Fu fu. Honestly answering your question, yes, I would carry you if you needed. And yes, I would carry you to the Spectral Realm.” he smiles amusedly at you.

“Oh come on, just jump to his arms already or something!” Grim complains. “And do everyone a favour and get that room.”

You blush, Malleus laughs. “In fact, we should go. I don't want to keep Lilia waiting any longer. May I?” He asks you.

You nod and he picks you up, bridal style. One hand behind your knees and the other on your back. As easily as if you weighed nothing. Inevitably, you need to support yourself by putting your arms around his neck and your faces get very close. He’s smiling and his eyes looking at you affectionately.

“OI!” Grim complains again “My paws are hurting too. I also want to be carried.”

Malleus laughs again. “That can be arranged.” He turns his back to Grim and wraps his draconic tail around the little beast's waist. “MRAH!” And picks his up. “You are able to come by yourselves, correct?” he asks the three ghosts who have been watching in secret from you.

When you arrive at the Mirror chamber, Lilia was there waiting for you all. He just didn't expect Malleus to bring Grim with his tail and you in his arms. First Lilia worries.

“Oh! Did something happened? Did (Y/N) get hurt on your way here?”

You get even more embarrassed. Mainly because you knew that Malleus would tell Lilia the truth.

“Fu fu fu. Don't fret, Lilia.” Malleus smiles, like he's glad Lilia saw the two of you like this. “Child of Man is just really tired of walking all day and asked me if I could carry them.”

Lilia looks at you and gives you his sly smile. “Oh, truly? Fu fu fu. How daring for a human.”

“Can we go to that ghost world already?!” you hear Grim's voice complaining. “This is not that comfortable you know.” Malleus flicks his tail to the side, revealing to Lilia a Grim caught in a black dragon's tail. And Lilia starts to laugh heartily, almost bringing tears to his eyes.

Malleus only put you back on the ground when you arrived at the Sparkling Chamber. You took a moment to admire the place. But it didn't take long for you and Grim to start yawning.

“Ah, yes. I promised you that I would find you a place to rest.” Malleus remembers.

“Indeed, (Y/N) must rest.” Lilia says “I sure know how harmful lack of sleep can be to a human. If I'm not mistaken, I think there are some rooms beyond this Chamber that you can use.”

Malleus would go with you to find a room while Lilia started getting the chamber ready for the party.

You found a good one, but it had no furniture or what little it had was broken. You comment on trying to find another one, but Malleus says that won't be necessary. With a snap of his fingers the room is cleaned and the furniture repaired.

In one corner of the small room was an antique carved pine single bed. The sheets were white and the cover a pale purple. Similar to Malleus' own bed in Diasomnia. Grim jumped to the foot of the bed and was asleep in seconds. You, on the other hand, look a little unease.

“I can change your clothes to pajamas with magic if it makes you more comfortable.” Malleus suggests.

You say that would help a lot, so he gestures and your Halloween costume changes to pale green pajamas. It was comfortable, like the bed you sit on. But even so, there was still something that didn't leave you completely at ease.

“I know I sleep in a dorm with ghosts now.” You explain. “But I only sleep well today because I've gotten used to them and the dorm has had some improvements. But I almost couldn't sleep the first few nights. I don't know if I'll be able to fall asleep here.”

“I see. Would you feel more rested if I stayed by your side until you fell asleep?” He was smiling, like he was sure you were going to say no.

When you say yes, he is taken aback for a moment. His bright green eyes looking at you wide open in astonishment. But then he remembered who he was talking to and laughed with the greatest of joys. He smiled warmly at you. “You know, I believe some children want company to fall asleep so that person can protect them from me. This is... an interesting... no, delightful turn of events. I dare say”

You open the sheets and lie down. After placing them on top of you and settling down on the bed, Malleus sits down beside you. He could use magic to put you to sleep, but he didn't want to. He wanted to see if you genuinely felt comfortable around him to the point where you could fall asleep.

“Briar Valley has many lullabies.” He tells you, with the softest of voices. “Sleep and dreams are deeply embedded in our culture. Would you like me to sing you one of our lullabies? Allowed me to guess, your answer is yes.”

“You can't make a proposal like that and expect me to say no.” You say with a soft smile and already with your eyes closed.

Malleus chuckles and happily fulfills your request. He sings to you in a sweet tone, that becomes even more affectionate when he looks at your sleepy smile.

When he finishes, you are already fast asleep. He is smiling looking at you and take one of his hands to your head. But stop before touching you, hesitating. As if he's afraid that the moment he touches you, you'll startle awake. But even so, he took the risk.

He puts his hand on your head, stroking your hair. And you don't wake up. Actually, your smile comes back slightly. He is so happy about it. And he decides to risk it just one more time.

He leans over you and kisses your forehead. And you were still sleeping. “Dream of me. As I dream of you.”

He stayed with you for a while longer. Before he finally left to assist with the party preparations, he did two things. First, he cast another spell so that outside noises wouldn't disturb your sleep. And second, he put a paper on your bedside table in case you wake up earlier than necessary. It said that since you had no way of knowing if you slept too much or too little, because time was still, you didn't have to worry that he would wake you up when the time came.

And that is what happened. You feel a kiss on your cheek and a familiar voice in a sweet tone saying your name. You open your eyes to find Malleus's bright green ones looking at you, over a sweet smile.

“We hear that the other students have already woken up and are on their way here.” Malleus explains, sitting on your bed watching you stretch. “So we figured you should have gotten enough rest too. Did you sleep well?”

“I did. Thank you so much.” you sit on the bed.

“For asking?” He seems confused that you would thank him so much for something so trivial.

“No. For what you've done. For fixing the room, giving me a comfortable bed and mostly staying with me until I fall asleep. I probably wouldn't have been able to sleep here without you.” You hear snoring at the foot of your bed, behind Malleus who was facing you. “Unlike Grim.”

Malleus seems very happy about what you said. And there was something he really wanted to ask you. “Do you happen to remember what you dreamed? People dream every night, but sometimes they forget about them and that's why they think they didn't dream that night.”

A dream? You think. And yes, you remember! But you say it was a silly dream. When the truth is, you're slightly embarrassed.

“I've heard that the silly dreams can be the most meaningful.” Malleus says. “I would love to hear about yours. But if it's something you don't want to tell me, I understand. Dreams can be extremely personal.”

You think about it. It was no dream that I couldn't tell anyone. It was even...cute. So you decide to tell him.

You remember you were in a forest, for some reason. You lived there? You had lots of animal friends and you remember singing and dancing with them. What you were singing... you recognize... it was the lullaby Malleus sang to you. There was an owl wearing the cape of the Houseworden of Diasomnia, a rabbit in each black boot with green heels, and a squirrel with a small pillbox hat, balancing on top of the owl's head.

When you finish describing this part, both you and Malleus are laughing. “I wouldn't be surprised if I ever witness the same scenario with Silver's clothes.” Malleus comments between laughs. But you hadn't finished telling the dream yet.

As you danced with the animals, someone appeared behind you and continued singing and dancing with you, making that song a duet. When you turn around, you find Malleus.

“Did I scared you?” He asks about the Malleus in the dream. He was smiling, but you knew that wasn't his real smile. It was a smile that hid some apprehension.

“No, of course not. I was very happy to meet you there.” He looked like you had lifted a weight off his shoulders with just those words of yours. The next thing you remember is dancing with Malleus in a ballroom. and what you were wearing was constantly changing color because... Two Lilias? Were arguing about whether you should be wearing green or purple.

And with that the two of you started laughing again. Malleus said you should tell that last part to Lilia, he'll love it.

“I dreamed of flying tuna cans.” Grim said, to prove that he too was already awake. "But I couldn't catch any. It was a nightmare.”

“Fret not, Grim. There will be plenty of food for you when everyone arrives and the party begins.” Malleus assured him. “And now that you two are awake, I should change your clothes back.” He wave his hand and Grim's hat and cap come back, but this time they're green instead of purple.

He gets up from your bed and holds out his hand to you, like one of those gentleman helping you out of the carriage. You give him your hand and get out of the bed. Then he surprises you by spinning you, like the dance move.

When the spin ends your clothes have changed. But not like Grim's that stayed the same, just changing the colour. Your clothes were also green now, where once were purple, but they weren't the same as the ones the ghosts gave you. It looks like an improved version, with more details and accessories. Malleus looked at you as if admiring you and proud of his work.

“How do I look?” you ask.

“Wonderful.” He simply says with a smile, as if it were an obvious truth.

He offers you his arm for you to walk arm in arm into the Sparkling Hall. He tells you about the plans for the party as you walk down the hall and explains about the mirror ball. And when he tells you that he plans to play the organ during the party you are so excited and curious that you ask him if he could play something for you.

He smiles. “I think there will be no problem. I may even take this opportunity to practice.” He takes you to the organ and asks you to sit next to him while he plays.

It's no surprise that he plays beautifully. You look at him playing which practically hypnotizes you. Your ears appreciate music while your eyes appreciate him.

He looks at you smiling, as if he knew you were looking at him the whole time. He lets you get flattered, he loves seeing you like that, before asking you: “You can play?”

“Organ? Oh no, I don't.”

“Would you like to try? We have plenty of time until the guests arrive. I can teach you a simple melody.”

You accept his offer. He smiles happily.

“I'm glad. I'm eager to hear you play. Even if it is a basic song. However, forgive me if this is an impolite question, but would you mind sitting on my lap while I teach you? it will be easier for me to show you the keys and the correct way to move your fingers from a similar perspective as yours.”

You try to say you don't mind without showing how happy you really are. However, it's not that easy, and he laughs with delight that you not only don't mind but are happy with the suggestion.

You sit on his lap and hear a soft sound on the floor behind you. You glance back and Malleus tries to hide his draconic tail whose tip was happily wagging. You don't hide your giggle. Your back finds his chest, his hands cover yours to indicate the keys you should play and he begins to teach you a simple but beautiful song.

After a few minutes, you forget the world. It's just you, Malleus and the organ. You fail a few notes and he corrects you with a laugh. When you get it right you hear him congratulating you and saying you're doing well. And all the while you can feel the affection he has for you, the gentle way he holds your hands, the sweet way he talks to you even when you miss the notes. Until you end up reaching the end of the song.

“Wonderful.” Malleus says with a sweet and dreamy voice “That was the most beautiful play I ever heard.”

“But I failed so many notes.” You remember him, smiling.

“I'm very aware of that. But it was the first thing I heard you play. So it will always be special to me from now on.” he takes his hands out of yours and hugs you around the waist. And lay his head on your shoulder. “You will always be special to me.” he whispers in your ear, and kiss your cheek.

You hear that sound of his tail wagging happily on the ground behind you again.

If you decide to tip your head back, tell him how you feel about him and allow him to kiss your lips, you will receive the most loving kiss and he will hug you tighter.

If you would like to read more from me, you can find it in my pinned post: INDEX

[thatnonameuser]

The Red King holds a Bleeding Head

A Wonderland of Yanderes - Masterlist

Chapter 1. Heartslaybul Part 3.

Apparently, what parts of the conversation you missed before running all the way here was that you missed the first bell and were late. So after running, being dragged, all the way here, you'd gone straight to class. 

Thankfully, Ace’s collar problem wasn’t a class problem, thanks to all the classes so far being theory.

With that problem out of the way let's get back to you.

If you planned on learning today, that plan went out the window. Not only where you still repeating what Cater had said to you earlier. Being ousted for being a darling would put you in such great danger, so the fact he figured it out in the hour you spent with him this morning was very much not good.

It also got your desk hit with Professor Crewel's riding crop/wand? for not paying attention in class. Speaking of, Crewel had been the one to rat you out to Crowley so you weren't expecting him to be kind to you, but unlike the brutal berating he gave Ace for making a sarcastic quip in the middle of his lecture, he'd given you a stern look and nothing else.

You just hope that it was fluke, because you don't want to think about the idea if he's in love with you too. Wait, is it possible for a yandere to love platonically, you'll have to research that.

If you can even do that, to begin with. Because the textbooks that you received aren't the right ones. Why? Because they're missing complete pages worth of information.

How do you know?

Because you compared it to Ace's.

There was a love potion spell that would be taught the first years next semester, powerful, dangerous and it could if used correctly sever cognitive thought from the darling for a period of a day, and replace it with false love.

Your copy of the same Potionology textbook didn't have that. Or any of the other potions that could do the same thing. In magical history, the ancient tactics used by yanderes were wiped clean from your copy, when they were present in Deuce's own.

What's worse is that this was done on purpose. How do you know that? Because you pointed it out.

At the end of Potionology, you'd gone to the Professor textbook in hand in search of an explanation.

"Excuse me, Professor Crewel?"

"Pup, it is Master Crewel." You were not calling him that, "How can help you?"

"Um, something's wrong with my textbook? It's missing a lot of pages." He taken it from you and flipped through it. And then set back in your hands.

"There is nothing wrong with this pup. It has everything you need in it." He'd said if he hadn't lied clean through his teeth.

"B-but I checked with one of the other textbooks, dozens of pages on potion recipes are missing?!" You'd argued.

"Pup, you are referring to the textbooks we give the yandere students. By law, I'm required to give you this one." What?!, was what you thought in anger.

"W-What law?" You asked, you were absolutely dumbstruck at his response. You were getting really tired of being left in the dark.

"Darling students are not allowed to readily access any knowledge about what their future yanderes will use against them, regardless of purpose." That was what came out of his mouth, he hadn't seen anything wrong with it.

It wasn't just that either. The same thing happened with your Magical History book when you asked Professor Trein. And you got some more bad news.

The library, your saving grace, wasn't allowed to give you any of the books they'd given you last time. No more information that could help you. You couldn't even use the textbooks Grim would get, as they were being kept in the classrooms rather than in Ramshackle. The jury was still out on your 'The Art of Ensnaring Hearts' class about whether or not you could even attend those in the future. Was this all done to keep you from learning about what the Yanderes know, to keep you from knowing how to save yourself?

Phys Ed, was the only class you could actually do without someone putting you at a disadvantage. It may not have been your favorite class, but considering you might need to run away from a yandere in the future, you ran as fast as you could.

And now your legs hurt real bad. You weren't the most athletic person but Coach Vargas really worked you over.

Eventually, after a really rough morning, break time rolled around.

"Let's see, our next class is...."

"This so-called magic academy feels a lot like a lame, ordinary school." Ace complains. You disagree, normal schools don't usually teach students how to make love spells. You hope at least. Do non-magic schools teach similar yandere stuff? "It's not exactly what I expected, but at least this collar won't be much of a problem after all."

"You with me on that, Grim? ....Hm?" Grim's silence hadn't struck you as weird until Ace said that. Your loudmouth, tuna-loving cat monster hadn't thrown up a complaint since you left your last class.

"Grim?" You search for Grim among the legs of traveling students but you can't find him. A bad feeling sinks into your stomach. Ace and Deuce couldn't do it. They were right next to you the whole time, so what happened to him?! Did he get-

"Oh! Look out the window! i just saw a ball of fur running across the yard!" Deuce exclaims. You transition the fear of his imminent demise to anger for his abandonment of you.

"Where!?" You nearly collide with the window in your haste, as Deuce points him out down below. A small grey blur races quickly across the courtyard, "He's cutting class!" The Headmaster's going to be furious. And the LAST thing you need is being kicked out into a world where MURDER IS OK!!!

"Boy, that guy is not a fast learner." Yeah, Deuce. Clearly!! He just left you alone in a yandere school! You're definitely withholding his tuna for this.

"Not a good look to lose your only student in your first week as a prefect. Want some help catching him?"

"YES!" You yell, not caring about the future implications. Two IOU's in one day is not gonna be good for you in the future. But right now, your present is on the line! "Please just help me!"

You don't know what you looked like when you said that, but considering how the both of them blushed, you'll have to worry about that later.

Right now, you need to get Grim, preferably before he burns something down.

And so you began the chase of Grim through the courtyard. With your legs still burned from the exhaustion of Coach Vargas' training, you could barely keep up with Ace and Deuce and nearly collapsed once on the way.

But thankfully, the fear and rage from earlier turned into adrenaline that propelled you forward.

And propel you it did, into a person.

You had been a few paces behind Ace and Deuce, but you were far enough to lose sight of them as they turned a corner into the courtyard.

So you hadn't seen the person you ran into, but inertia wasn't your friend today.

You had expected to hit the floor of the courtyard, concrete or grass, whichever was softer, and braced mentally for impact. Only for an arm to swiftly wrap around your waist.

Fast, so fast that you can't even get a letter out of your mouth in sheer surprise, whoever caught you had slipped an arm round your waist, saving you from your unlucky fall.

And so the charming prince that caught you was...

Blonde, with his hair cut into a mid-length bob. Perched on his head is a brown hat sporting a pale white feather. His green eyes are like a falcon's, sharp and piercing. He smiles down upon you. Your noses are practically an inch away from touching. The way you're positioned is straight out of a romance novel, the male lead saving the clumsy MC from a nasty fall.

The embarrassment of the situation you've found yourself in doesn't escape you as you feel the blood rush to your cheeks. "I-I’m sorry!" You blurt out. Thank the seven that there aren't many people around.

" , . I'm just lucky that I caught you." He's speaking French? But how does.....y’know what, nope not touching that one.

"Yeah, thanks." He still hasn't let you out of his hold, and you'd like it for him to let you go now. "Could you, uh, let me up now."

"Bien sûr, mon cher," he says something in French that you don’t understand, but he does help you to your feet with a flourish. He even spins you for some reason.

OK. Another weird one.

You dust yourself off, "Thanks, sorry again," you say somewhat sheepishly.

The smile your savior has is seemingly unshakable, and the laugh he gives you in reply reflects that, "Non non, ce n'est pas un problème du tout, though chérie, will you not grace me with your name?" He even speaks like all the lovelorn princes in your childhood storybooks, well minus all the French.

"It's _______. Have you seen a grey cat run through here?"

"Oui, filou he went that way," Great, you prepare to turn but he stops you with a hand on your shoulder, "though it is best if you head that way if you wish to find him." He points in a direction very far from where he originally pointed.

One of your eyebrows quirk up in confusion, "How do you know that?" You ask.

"Call it a hunter's intuition. You wouldn’t want to be late for Arithmancy, ______" He says with a smile.

You thank him before running in the direction he told you, and in no time at all, you find Deuce dropping a struggling Grim into a net Ace is holding.

And so the Great Grim was captured.

"Mrrah! I've had it with these boring classes!" He squirms in the net Ace took from one of the grounds men, even with his claws he can't escape the netting.

"Grim, you'll never be a great mage if you don't attend classes!" You scold but Grim doesn't stop complaining.

"Ugh! When did you get all bossy?!" Grim continues his complaning as you cross your arms.

You ignore his pointless pouting. You got all bossy when you found out that a single screw up could either result in you getting attacked by a obsessive lover, or get thrown out of here on your rear end with no one to protect you from the aforementioned obsessive lovers.

That and he trapped you into another  IOU five minutes ago that might bite you in the ass later. You can't afford to get into any trouble. With Crowley, with the teachers, with the other dorm leaders, the other students. And Grim....is also someone you need to keep yourself sane.

"Pout about it all you want, Grim." You remove him from the net, holding him against your hip like he’s a troublesome toddler so he doesn't run away again. You turn to Ace and Deuce, and smile softly, "Thanks, you guys."

Again, that light returns in both their eyes. Ace smiles mischievously and slings his arm over the two of you in a half hug, "Glad to help clean up the mess made by the worst prefect to ever set foot on campus!"

"It wasn't that bad, Ace. Let her go! Like the last time, Deuce pulls Ace's arm off of you. The two glare at each other, as if silently fighting. Unlike Ace, Deuce tends to respect your personal space only ever doing this when Ace gets too touchy or too close. That and he always tries to defend you when Ace or anyone else teases you. Maybe it really is in your best interest to get closer to Deuce.

"Alright you two, we're gonna be late. Our next class is...." Aw man, it's Arithmancy. No wonder Grim ran off. You say such and Ace groans.

At least they can't censor this class, too. A part of you would like it if they did.

"C'mon, let's not get caught 'skipping' class."

On the way back, you wonder about the man you ran into. Now that you thought about it, he never gave you his name. And you gave him yours immediately, damn it!

Still, the likelihood that he was a yandere for you was too unrealistic. Sure, Ace and Deuce might have budding feelings for you, but the likelihood that four different people were all yandere for you was already rare, even for this world.

Besides, you've already met some people with a lot of character today. So maybe he's just a little weird.

Maybe. Hopefully.

Wait, if he didn’t know who you were.....how did he know that your next class was Arithmancy?

"Woo! Lunchtime at last!" You can't mirror the excitement Grim is feeling right now, even if this a refuge from the classroom confusion from earlier. The cafeteria's as full as ever, and you feel different from the last time you entered it.

Last time, you were surrounded by your fellow students and peers. This time, you're surrounded by the human equivalent of sheep among wolves.

You are the ideal prey of everyone in this room, and some of them might already know about that. Cater's words earlier had terrified you and rang back in your head, "Darling~" You hadn't even known him long, so how could he tell? Would everyone around you just know on sight? Maybe they discovered it before you had?

Still, you skipped breakfast for Ace's apology, so you don't really get the luxury of skipping another meal right now. Even if you don't exactly have an appetite. Despite the volume of delicious smelling food, Grim is piling on your tray, and you feel more like puking than eating.

Even so, you don't really have an appetite right now, despite all the good smelling food that Grim's raving about right now. It's fancy, and Grim doesn't even eat half of it but is piling it up all the same. Can cats even eat onions?

"Shh! Dude, inside voices! Where was this energy earlier today?" You nod in agreement with Ace. Your legs already hurt from PE, and now after chasing Grim, they practically burn.

"_____, grab me the grilled chicken! There's only one left! And an omelet, too. And that jelly-filled bread. Just fill your whole tray with 'em!" You struggle to balance the sheer amount of plates and food that Grim piles on one after the other. Seriously, how does one cat demon thing eat so much?!

"Grim, that's enough. Save some for everyone else!" You finally relent, but unfortunately, you made that decision a few seconds too late.

Your hand, already tired from Coach Vargas' class, finally yields, and you lose the grip on the tray and plates Grim's stomach piled up.

Now for the good news and bad news.

The good news is that you managed to save every plate of food Grim haphazardly stacked on your tray. A gew crumbs were lost, but otherwise, you managed to save everything. Which was great because with cheapskate Crowley's micro food budget, you were pretty strapped for cash and didn't want to waste food.

But then there's the bad news.

The bad news is in your haste to stop the mountain of plates from crashing to the ground and bringing more attention to yourself, your shoulder may have collided into the back of the student in front of you.

You were just getting into accidents today, weren’t you?

"Hey! Watch where you're goin'!" The student you were unlucky enough to bump into, and their buddy for some reason, to whirl around in anger.

"I'm so-" You start to apologize only for him to interrupt you.

"M-my carbonara!" Ah, man. Did you ruin someone's lunch? That's-,"You broke the yolk!".......what?

"Whoa, that's messed up! Pokin' the egg is the best part!" Ok, not ruining someone's lunch, he might be a bit sad, but all is o-

"You better make this right, pal!" He grabs you by your tie and you nearly fall with all the food on your tray.

"I-it's just a yolk?" Is all you can say, completely struck dumb. You already knew this world had it's priorities messed up but this had to be the dumbest argument ever made. "I didn't ruin your lunch, you were gonna poke it anyway, so I saved you a step!"

"Yeah, so get your filth hands of my henchman!" Grim backs you up. But the delinquents don't back down.

"I'm gonna need that grilled chicken of yours as compensation." Normally you probably would have let the guy take it. Let Grim learn a lesson of not carrying his own food and move on.

But this was a matter of principle, damn it!

Also you weren't completely sure if darlings were naturally meek, so backing down was not an option here.

"No." You say point blank. The delinquent stupid enough to fight in the middle of a crowded cafeteria balks like you said something incredulous, "What?!"

"You heard me. NO. Go eat your soggy yolk-y carbonara, while I go eat my grilled chicken." After all, that trouble you went to get this you were commandeering that chicken for yourself. Take that, Grim.

"Hey! That's no way to speak to an upperclassman! Catch me outside and I'll teach you some respect!" Alright, so just won't go outside for a few hours, got you there dumbass.

At this point, Deuce must have gone through the lunch line and caught sight of you. They must have heard the foregoing argument because Deuce steps in to play peacemaker, separating the delinquent from your tie and shielding you behind him. "Um, excuse me, sir, but it said int he handbook that fighting with magic was prohibited....."That's a rule?! Sick! Now you won't have to worry about tha-

"Fighting? You got it all wrong. This is just me helpin' an ignorant freshman know their place." Ok, so much for that. Two advance magic pens at hand, and you're forced to shrink behind Deuce and Grim.

"W-wait a second, I don't have any magic. That's an unfair fight." You hate how powerless you feel right now.

"Who care about that!? If I end end up killin' ya, we just gotta call one groundmen." You forgot about the whole 'murder is not bad' part of the school rules. Does that mean no one will intervene? Damn it again!

You can hear Deuce growl at their threat. Withdrawing his own pen, he shouts his signature, and by that you mean only, spell. Grim

For a student that probably knows one spell Deuce puts up a hell of a fight. You wonder where he's getting all the cauldrons from. The two 'upperclassman' must've been flunkies, because there was no way these people would be able to lose so badly and so easily to two people that barely know anything about offensive spells. Your one worry was the mountain of food you were holding would fall. That and hearing Ace grumble about not fighting. For your honour, for your praise, you'd didn't know. At this point, you're starting not to care.

Surprisingly, or not if it didn't, the battle is done and won without the hundreds of students present even hesitating in their respective conversations.

"Whoa, didn't know you had it in you...."

"Look, I'm gonna let you off the hook this time, but only 'cuz I don't want my pasta gettin' cold." Sure and it's not like you 'upperclassman' lost a cat and student who only knows how to summon a cauldron.

"Pffft! I knew you were all talk! You better hope I never see you again!" Grim taunts as if Deuce hadn't done nearly everything. You keep quiet this time, redirecting your silent fury into mocking.

"Whoa! Two upperclassmen being beaten by students who were nearly expelled in the first week. That's kinda sad." You mock as you watch two delinquents shrink back with their figurative tails between their legs, departing with their, hopefully, cold lunch.

"Thanks Deuce," You turn to him and say with a smile, and his earlier anger dissolves into a soft smile. Like you being grateful for his help and protection sucked the rage out of him. You hate that you know it wasn't as wholesome as it was on the tin.

"N-No problem," he stutters, cheeks flushing.

"Yeah, yeah enough of that." Ace grumbles, pulling Deuce away by his arm. His anger hadn't been pacified by Deuce's victory, in fact it worsened. If how deep he's frowning is any indication.

"If you guys are going to fight again, can you help me carry all this to a table?" It's been two days and their near constant warring over you is starting to become normal.

They snap out of it instantaneously, "Sure, Prefect!"

Grim had been bitter when you told him you were taking his grilled chicken as compensation for the mess he got you in. But he eventually relented to stuff his face with all the partially lukewarm food. Speaking of, the food's good if a bit cold.

Hearing Grim rave abut how good his food is makes you chuckle lightly, stroking your fingers back through Grim's fur. He purrs again, and that sense of peace from earlier return. Maybe this morning was just a fluke, and all will be well now.

Mid bite, Grim asks, " So, I saw your guys' dorm, but what are the other ones like?" A part of you wants to know but that's a question for another day. You need to get through today first, and then-

"I'm sure you're familiar with the statues of the Great Seven? Night Raven College has a dorm themed after each one." You choke mid bite on the half-chewed chicken in your mouth. Cater's voice took you by surprise, so much for a peaceful rest of the day. You weren't the only one.

"Bwah! You're that guy from this morning!"

You turn and face him as well as an unfamiliar face. Green hair, glasses and a clover stamp underneath his left eye. The last card suite you were left meet. Another card soldier, now just needed a tyrannical queen.

"You tricked us into paintin' those dumb roses."

"'Tricked' is such an ugly word. Do you think that I wanted to spend MY morning painting roses? It's dorm policy, I'm just following orders."

"And grinning like a fiend all the while..." More than that if what he last said too you was any indication.

"Now, now Deucey. Outside of the dorm, I don't care what rules you follow. Here, I'm just a friendly mentor figure." Like earlier, you feel that he isn't being genuine again. If his dorm is so full of people, why couldn't they help instead of trying to trick you into it. Still, brownie points are brownie points, and they better pay it forward when things get tough.

"Please. Do NOT call me Deucey."

The mystery man laughs, "That's how Cater shows he cares." he finally says. He gives of the air of that one dad friend that prevents the friend group from going up in flames. You feel a small pull at your heartstrings, you're starting to miss your friends back home.

"So, who are you?" You ask.

"Ah, i should introduce myself. The name's Trey. Trey Clover. I'm a junior at Heartslabyul, like Cater here." So you've finally met the three of clubs, or clovers if that's what you call it.

The ace of hearts, deuce of spades, three of clubs and four of diamonds, were ALL Heartslabyul students named after playing cards because this seems comical now. Also, how drunk were their parents to not recognise how ridiculously silly naming your kids after the numbers when their last names, sin Ace, are all card suites was.

Though considering the possibility that one half of their parents were probably being held hostage, you probably shouldn't judged their naming skills.

"And you must be _____, the new prefect from the dump of a-ah, I mean, the 'rustic' dorm." Ramshackle can't seem to stop catching strays, huh?

"Alright, Ramshackle might be a dump, but it's my dump. Can we please stop insulting where I sleep at night!" Your anger receives a few laughs in response. You hope you weren't a cute angry in their eyes. Last thing you need is them looking at you like you were an angry kitten.

Trey's laugh warms you a little, the dad friend energy feels a little safe. You don't feel the lingering worry from earlier, after all what is the likelihood more than three people are in love with you?

"I heard the whole story from Cater. Thanks for looking out for our boys yesterday." You beam, even if you were very, very inconvenienced last night and this morning, it's still nice to be praised. That is until you remember that the one doing it might find someone and spend the rest of their life making them miserable for the sake of love.

"It's no problem," You say regardless.

"I don't recall inviting you to sit with us...." You hear Ace murmur.

Cater slides in and seats himself between you and Ace, "Hey now, we're all from the same dorm, right? Let's try to get along. Here gimme your digits." He hands his phone to you, expecting you to put in your number.

Problem is, "I don't have a smartphone." and you probably wouldn't if you did. But regardless Cater looks at you as if you grew another head.

"For real?! I never thought I'd meet one of you IRL!" His eyes light up with that weird glow again, "I know a place that sells the latest models cheap. How about you and I go on a phone-shopping date?" NO. NO.

"NO!" You accidentally say out loud, way too loud and hurried to be brushed aside as you overestimating your volume. Some heads from nearby tables turn, to you and the others are silent waiting for something? But you don't know what.

You back track trying to amend what you said, " No, Crowley hasn't started giving me allowance yet, so I'm kinda broke. Maybe next time?" Please never ask me that again. Maybe you should join a club so you can say you're busy if he tries to ask you out again.

That glint in Cater's eyes darken, but it doesn't match the teasing look that he has on his face, "What is up with you, _____? You look so tense! It's okay, baby! Relax! Relaaaax!" He squeezes your shoulders in half-massage but it just makes you feel more tense.

Tret comes to your rescue, "Cater. You're freaking out the freshmen. Maybe take it down a notch?"

Cater laughs, still not backing away from how close he is to you, "Sorry! I can get a little extra sometimes. What were we talking about....The dorms, yeah? What fun to mentor new students. Go ahead, A-M-A."

Ant that what you all spent the next fifteen minutes talking about. The dorms and their super important history while completely ignoring the ramifications of that history have on at least half of the population, yourself included. You'd already read up on the seven dorms, but hearing about the crazy strictness of the Dorm Leader of Heartslabyul made you a little uneasy. But still, when you talk to the him maybe things will go well, maybe he's a sweetheart with a non-tolerance policy for the most extreme of rule breakers.

Still, there are so many different types of students with different personalities and different yandere types. You spotted a wolf beastman, two student whose style of dress reminded you vaguely of the Middle East the person you ran into earlier sitting at a table full of Pomefiore students, (you made a mental note to ask about him later) and the most powerful students on campus, of course from Diasomnia.

Cater continues his opinion piece in the unapproachability of that dorm. "The vibe they give off makes it real hard for regular schmucks like us to even approach them."

"It can't be that bad, they may look a little intimidating but otherwise they look like regular old students..." You say, sure one of them looks young enough to be your younger brother or a middle schooler and has the pointed ears of a fae, but they look so normal.

Then again, you were discussing animal-human hybrids and talking paintings earlier, and you're in a world full of yanderes, so what isn't normal and what is?

"And their Dorm Leader is that times a thousand." You crane your neck to the Diasomnia seating area and you don't see any features that would be capable of scaring off a whole school of students, they all look relatively fine.

"There's a little kid in that group!" Not so subtly, like their earlier pointing out of a rather androgenous purple-haired boy in the Pomefiore dining areas, Ace rather loudly points out the younger looking fae.

"Ah, we do get some child prodigies here. But that guy is no kid. He's a junior like us. Name's -"

"Lilia. Lilia Vanrouge."

"Ah!" You yelp rather loudly as midway through your turn back towards the table, only to be face to face with the same face you had just been looking at hanging upside down right in front of you. You nearly fell out of chair in a mix of shock and surprise.

You stammer in shock, "H-how did you-"

"H-he just teleported!" That can happen?! You really need to read more about this place.

Lilia, once standing upside down on the chandelier as if that was completely A-OK, floats down onto your table as if this was as normal as him walking over. He smirks, bending down to meet your eyes, " I understand my apparent age interests you? As this bespectacled fellow accurately noted..." His voice is completely opposite to his appearance, and he talks like a whimsical grandparent than a teenager. "Despite my fresh-faced, boyish good looks, it would be inaccurate to call me a 'child'." Yeah, seriously. Whoa.

"'Fresh-faced' he says." Trey seems to agree with your doubt on the young part.

He smiles and for some reason, you feel unbelievably uncomfortable. it's as if he read you like an open book without words being exchanged. The look in his eyes is unreadable, but it's not like the glint you'd seen in Ace, Deuce and Cater. Either way, it makes you squirm in your seat, "You need not gawk at us from afar. You may feel free to speak with us directly. We are schoolmates, are we not? All of us at Diasomnia House welcome you without reservation." Without reservation, he says and yet the two trailing after him are yet to say a word. And they're staring in silence, but it feels more like glaring. No wonder Diasomnia had the reputation it did.

"And yet, those guys over there aren't exactly rolling out the red carpet in terms of approachability..."

Lilia brushes that aside with a laugh, "Forgive me for appearing above you during your meal." I do hope we can speak again." Why does that part feel directed at you? Maybe you're being paranoid.

As Lilia and his entourage depart, Ace takes the opportunity to whisper to the table about the impossible feat of overhearing their conversation. Which you can agree with how on Earth, or in the Twisted Wonderland, did they hear you from across the room. You weren't even that loud. Ace was right, that was creepy.

"Well....Diasomnia House does have a bit of a reputation for having lots of special students." "Well, special is a word for it...." You say,

Trey explains further, "Some of them are extremely talented at magic. Their Dorm Leader, Malleus Draconia, is considered to be one of the five best mages in the world." Wow. Your decision to stay away from that Dorm was even more justified. How powerful is the top five most powerful.

"Malleus is reeeeeeal bad news. Though I suppose the same could be said of our dear Dorm Leader."

"He can't be that bad...." You whisper, spying a short, red-haired boy with grey eyes walking in this direction. Wait, wasn't that the dorm leader that.....collared...Grim...Oh no. "Hey Ace...?" You whisper.

Ace must not have heard you because he starts his own tirade. "No kidding! He collared me for eating one slice of tart! All his rule obsession is outta control!"

"My 'rule obsession' is 'outta control', is it?" Well, Ace is doomed. Maybe Ramshackle has a tent you can set up outside.

Completely oblivious to the new voice that joined the group, despite the fact everyone else here already has, Ace continues, " You bet it is. Riddle's just a petty tyrant who leans into the whole 'rules' schtick as a pretext to keep everyone under his puny thumb." You sigh, facepalming. Maybe you can get Crowley to buy a strong lock for your door.

Deuce takes one for the group and points out the obvious before Ace can unintentionally piss off the 'tyrant' behind him further. "Ace! Behind you!"

Ace, still not taking the hint, looks behind him and then appropriately freaks out. "Bwah!? Dorm Leader!" The Dorm Leader of Heartslaybul, Riddle Rosehearts (and the Red Queen in this abridged tale) crosses his arms in indignation.

This is not going to go well.

[merakiui]

ahhhhh thank you for answering my ask!!!! i have even more!!!! (this is both the anon from contractual fwb and the milking anon TT i was super tired when i sent that in lol. if you don’t have an eepy or sleepy anon feel free to dub me. also ignore the spelling mistakes my fingers are moving slower than my brain) btw this brainrot is not based on my last asks, but more on the canon of what you wrote. it’s been bouncing in my mind all day.

you thought that since azul didn’t want your relationship to be known when it was first starting that he’d not want it to be shown off either when it’s official. but you’re dead wrong! (500 mora on the fact that he just wanted to keep it on the dl so that way no one could try and break y’all’s contract up.) but no, bitch you work in the monstro lounge and you best believe that every single person who walks through those doors knows you ride his dick with how much he lets you get away with. you mess up an order? it’s met with a sigh instead of a lecture. a tables being rude to you? doenst matter how busy yall are, they’re going to someone else. you’d like to order food after last call for workers? he’ll make it himself.

ruggie’s poor ass even commented one time on how yall act like you’re married. he called you azuls work wife and all azul heard was “wife” (listen people, i don’t care what gender you are because work couple names are gender neutral. only reason you’re the so called wife in this scenario is purely because id love to call azul my husband. got it? good.) and so now azuls on this whole thing about how you’re his wife and you’re married and he refuses to respond to anything other than “my husband.” it’s a bit tiring to explain to random strangers that yes, you are too young to be married, and no, you’re not actually married to this crazy tako. but don’t worry, his silly little nicknames are still used.

you’ve practically moved into octavinel’s dormitory at this point. you sleep there nearly every night. of course you occasionally go back to ramshackle because of any slight disagreement you get into (and also ace and deuce are tired of having to babysit grim every night and that cat ain’t going near the fish dorm with a ten foot pole) which means you get woken up to a flushed azul with flowers and a roundabout half apology. you forgive him every time.

back to the marriage thing. yall really do act like you’re already married. you’ve even started helping him sort out his papers in his office instead of being in the floor. (this definitely started because you wanted more of him and he was busy so you were like fuck it i guess im in) you’re his proof reader for his contracts. he has yet to make a mistake. and if he’s in back of house you run the front, even if jade and floyd are there! he’ll never tell you this but it’s somehow a super long winded plan he created through a careful game of 5d chess to get you to own a business together that’s completely unnecessary because you would’ve said yes to co-owning a restaurant.

he’s so happy his pretty work wife wants to run the lounge with him. and it’s definitely not so he can tie you down more to him because we know he’d love you to live the sugar baby lifestyle—oh no not at all. his tells his mommy about it and she ends up requesting to meet you. he wouldn’t sent her a quick no if you didn’t put your hand on your hip and raise your eyebrow. he finds it just as sexy as you batting your pretty lashes up at him but he’ll never tell you. he has a thing for boss lady’s.

(bbg if you want more i’ll deadass ramble to you about how i think meeting his mom would go. i have sooooo many thoughts on this au it’s genuinely concerning)

AAAAA EEPY ANON!!!! You have blessed me with your brilliant thoughts once more (that milking ask was so delicious btw.... I need him clinging to me!!!!!).

Handing over that 500 mora to you because you're right LOL. Stingy tako did not want to share or publicize your relationship because he just knew in his soul that someone would try to get in the way of your contract...... he covers all of his bases in the most meticulous ways. >_< so silly...

AAAAAA THE WORK WIFE/WORK HUSBAND DYNAMIC WITH HIM!!!!! This is so true!!!!! He spoils you so much. Ruggie is very right to make that observation. <3 Azul is so lenient with you and it's so obvious he's down bad for you. Insisting on making food for you even though you were just planning to take leftovers. So quick to forgive you if you make a mistake, and Floyd whines about how Azul's not like that whenever he messes up. >:( you really are his work wife and one day hopefully his real wife and it will say so on the legal documents and you'll get his surname and and and !!!!!!

Omg Azul and his 5D chess plans........ oh, he is so over the moon when you show interest in the lounge and wanting to help out... he melts if you give him a shoulder massage while he writes up contracts. >:D can he just marry you right now already!!! OTL I love the idea of him folding whenever you do something he finds attractive. Batting your lashes, hands on your hips, every playful glance, etc etc....... somehow he ends up folding so hard for you that it gets you a trip to the Coral Sea to meet his parents, and his mother and the restaurant staff fawn over you and Azul's partnership. Such a cute couple. They adore you. Azul thinks this is the most blue he's ever looked because he's so embarrassed, yet you soak in their attention like a thirsty flower. Even more embarrassing when you're sleeping in his childhood room and you tease him for it. He is definitely fucking you in that cramped sleeping nook and you're going to fall asleep wrapped up in his tentacles, the both of you clinging to each other.

(please ramble as much as you want!!!! I love these thoughts so much,,, contractual fwb with Azul will always be one of my favorites hehe. I need to know how the meeting with his mother goes...... AAAAAAA)

[moonlightdistractions]

I recently re-read a few runedgirl fics, just aglow in nostalgia and how she can really gut a person with *feelings*. I get emotionally compromised. There's one I hadn't read before and it's the only ao3 link; a post Carry On one with an absolutely wrecked Sam sporting a wild man bun!

So here you go, some runedgirl wincest with lots of delicious wanting.

123 Alice Grim Lane - livejournal, 51,700, NC-17, canon before pilot then AU.

Sam Winchester changed his name before he got to Stanford. Samuel Wesson is a rising star at a California law firm. He and Jess have a neon blue hybrid with a bike rack on top, and a cozy red stucco house. Sam Wesson has everything he ever wanted, except for the one thing he knew he shouldn’t. Dean is still a Winchester, still a hunter, still in love with Sam and determined not to admit it. Years of avoiding each other have left Sam and Dean strangers. But when Sam’s luck changes and tragedy finds him, he turns in desperation to the older brother he walked away from years ago, hoping that the bond forged between them in childhood will prove strong enough to bring them back together.

Their Bruises on the Inside - livejournal, 21200 words, NC17, multiple pairings, outsider pov

Sam and Dean through the eyes of the people they meet while Sam is at Stanford – strangers, friends, lovers – as they make their way back to each other. Outsider pov for most of the story.

The Ties that Bind - AO3, 26842 words, that sweet spot between 15x19 and 15x20 to after the Barn Scene and beyond.

"The story of Sam and Dean Winchester doesn’t end that day in the barn. Sam keeps his promise to keep fighting, but with a Winchester twist. He uses the resources left to him by Rowena to become a powerful witch, with one goal"

City of Brotherly Love livejournal, 21400 words, NC17, de-aging spell, first time

No one is more surprised than Sam and Dean Winchester that they’ve managed to survive long enough to settle down. Sort of. Sam is maybe a little more okay with the whole aging thing than Dean, so when Sam is hit with a spell that makes him younger and younger until he’s about 20, Dean doesn’t cope well. When the same spell turns Dean into a twenty-year-old, both of them have to cope with all those forbidden feelings about each other that they never acted on at that age. If the de-aging spell is going to keep going until they don’t exist, which could happen in a matter of days, what’s stopping them from acting on those feelings now – especially when they look like that?

and the one I've reread the most:

The Year of Letting Go livejournal, 37,500 words, NC17, this one keeps building and even gives us a bit of powers!Sam

A hunt gone wrong leaves Dean Winchester barely alive, and helpless for the first time in his life. Can Dean let go of his need to be the big brother and let Sam help him heal, or will the complicated feelings both brothers have been hiding from each other pull them further apart than ever? As Dean’s deal comes due, both Sam and Dean will have to let go of their fears, or face losing each other forever.

livejournal tip: if the chapter link opens a new tab + it won't scroll, edit the url by inserting ?format=light extension after the .html - no spaces

[thedemonofcat]

After the mountain, rumors start to circulate that the bard Jaskier has joined hands with Nilfgaard.

The other wolves express their outrage at this betrayal, but Geralt insists that the rumors must be fake.

This leads to questions. 1) Why is Geralt’s faith in the bard so unshakable? 2) If Jaskier is so loyal, how come Geralt’s never introduced him?

It was an unseasonably warm winter day when Lambert shoved open the heavy wooden doors of Kaer Morhen, carrying none other than Jaskier over his shoulder.

“Put me down, you oaf!” Jaskier bellowed, flailing and swatting at Lambert as they entered the keep. Lambert, unimpressed, marched forward and unceremoniously dropped the bard onto the snow-dusted floor.

“Here’s your traitor,” Lambert announced, his voice sharp with disdain. “Found him cozying up with Nilfgaard.”

Jaskier scrambled to his feet, spinning around in a flustered mess. “How dare you bring me here like this!” he cried indignantly. “I demand to leave at once!”

The room fell silent. Rumors of Jaskier’s supposed allegiance to Nilfgaard had been swirling since the mountain, stoking anger among the witchers. Eskel frowned deeply, while Lambert glared, his hand inching toward the hilt of his sword.

“Enough,” Geralt said, his tone calm but firm. He stepped closer to Jaskier, scrutinizing the bard’s wild demeanor. “Jaskier,” he began cautiously, “whatever you’ve heard, whatever they’ve done to you—it’s over. You’re safe now.”

“Safe?” Jaskier scoffed, eyes wide with disbelief. “I don’t even know you! And stop calling me that ridiculous name. My name is Julian Alfred Pankratz, Viscount de Lettenhove.”

The room tensed further. Yennefer, standing off to the side, raised a brow. “Where did you find him?” she asked, her voice laced with suspicion.

“Caught him with a Nilfgaardian convoy,” Lambert replied, his anger barely restrained. He shot Geralt a pointed look. “I told you. Your bard’s a traitor.”

Eskel, his voice somber, added, “I’m sorry, Geralt, but we might have to deal with this more… permanently.”

“No,” Geralt said firmly, stepping between Jaskier and the others. “This isn’t like him. He’s stubborn, annoying, sure—but loyal. Something’s wrong. Why wouldn’t he remember me?”

“Maybe you never knew the *real* Jaskier,” Eskel muttered darkly. “Humans are rarely what they seem.”

Before Geralt could respond, Ciri broke through the circle of tension, moving toward Jaskier despite Lambert’s attempt to hold her back. She studied him closely. “Look at his eyes,” she said, her tone sharp.

“What about them?” Geralt asked.

“They’re not right,” Ciri said. “When he used to sing to me in Cintra, his eyes were blue. Now there’s pink in them.”

Yennefer’s gaze snapped to Jaskier. She crossed the room swiftly, grabbing his face despite his protests. “Hold still, little bird,” she ordered, her voice cold. Jaskier snarled at her—an uncharacteristic venom in his tone.

“Let me go, you witch!” he spat.

Yennefer ignored him, examining him closely before turning to Geralt. “It’s a love spell,” she announced, her voice grim. “Someone’s been tampering with his mind.”

The revelation hung heavy in the air, drawing a stunned silence from the room.

---

Hours later, Geralt sat beside Jaskier in one of Kaer Morhen’s smaller chambers. The bard was lying on the bed, his ankle bound to the frame with a silver chain—a compromise to satisfy the others, who still didn’t trust him. Slowly, Jaskier stirred, groaning softly.

“Oh, my head,” he muttered, blinking groggily. His gaze landed on Geralt, and his face crumpled with guilt. “You must think me awful,” he whispered. “I let myself be used by Nilfgaard.”

“You were under a spell, Jask,” Geralt said gently. “The fault isn’t yours—it’s theirs.”

A bitter laugh escaped Jaskier. “Theirs indeed. My parents, to be precise,” he said, his tone laced with resentment.

“Your parents?” Geralt repeated, stunned.

Jaskier nodded. “After the mountain, I was so angry with you—I wanted to disappear. I thought Lettenhove might be safe. Foolish, really. My parents were waiting with an arranged marriage for me. To a Grand Duke of Nilfgaard, no less.”

Geralt’s face darkened. “And when you refused?”

“They didn’t give me much choice,” Jaskier said bitterly. “I think it was a potion—in my tea, perhaps. One moment, I was myself; the next, I couldn’t think of anything but that Duke. Making him happy, obeying his every whim…” His voice cracked. “It was like I wasn’t even me anymore.”

Geralt clenched his fists, his anger simmering. “And when Nilfgaard realized who you were?”

“They saw an opportunity,” Jaskier said quietly. “They wanted to use me to get to you.”

For a moment, neither spoke. Then Geralt leaned forward, pressing a gentle kiss to Jaskier’s forehead. “You’re safe now,” he said softly.

Jaskier let out a shaky breath. “I hope so,” he murmured. “Because I don’t think I can survive being their pawn again.”

[nawoken]

Not so True Love kiss

5.C: I'm back... kinda :')))

I admit, I've been lazy since I just went back to my country last month and have been hanging out with my group of friends and family so I don't post anything last month.

~~~Some new Idea, a fun one cause I'm in a happy mood~~~

You've been lacking sleep for a few days. It's the exam period, and you're busy studying and helping your kind Headmage with some errand. You don't have much time.

But not for long, only one more test and you will have all the time of the world to sleep. What can go wrong, right? During the last test, the Potionology test, you have to make a potion. A simple one, it should be fine, until it's not.

You don't remember much with your sleepy brain, maybe it starts with Grim or Ace,... Deuce? You don't know. All you know is someone is screaming your name, the cold of the liquid pouring on you, and then a loud blow, everything when blank.

Ơ w Ơ ~~~

Your friend rushes to you as soon as you fall on the ground, calling your name and trying to wake you up, but you don't. Crewel tells them to calm down and make other students focus on their exams. He calls for other teachers to look after the student while he brings you to the nursing room so he can check out your condition.

Ah... so that is the problem, he has to take some time to make the antidote though.

~~~

For some reason, while Crewel is busy making you the antidote, rumor has spread in the school. That, the magicless student, our Prefect is in a coma due to the "Sleeping spell" with the cure is a "True Love" kiss. Classical.

He knew he shouldn't, but he couldn't help to try his luck. So, please wake up, will ya?

:)))

The moment he kisses you, you frown, causing his heart to miss a beat. But, then, it's nothing else, you're still asleep and he couldn't help but feel hurt and sad. It's painful, why did you give him false hope like that?

Not until you started to stir and roll to your side did he know, you're not in the effect of Sleeping Spell. That's when Crewel came back with the cure for whatever the thing you catch and see him with teary eyes, and a sorrowful face. Now, that's embarrassing.

Blah blah, you have your cure and more sleep. Crewel decides to offer you another day to do the exam and promises to confront Crowley about him doing his own job after you wake up. Told you to stay healthy and have enough sleep, plus warn you to keep your eyes on people around you while staring at that dude.

Crewel does not approve.

(Not you after waking up, blushing and avoiding his gaze. Maybe if you are brave enough, you will tell him that you've dreamed of him kissing you or something)

~~~~~~~~

5.C: Have you guys ever wondered why when the princesses are in the effect of the Sleeping Curse, they're never stirred in their sleep? Is that one of the effects of the curse???

[robin-evry]

First of all, just want to say thank you for your hard work and I love them, keep it up! (But don't overwork yourself). If possible, my request will be Luz like reader in Twisted wonderland. (There is not enough TWST x TOH content and makes me sad.) Wether, they will be using glyphs or not? Your choice! Thank in advance ^^

Sure thing, ask and you shall receive

𝐓𝐖𝐒𝐓 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐀 𝐋𝐔𝐙 𝐘𝐔𝐔 💡📃

Luz Noceda is the protagonist of The Owl House. She is an eager, teenage Afro-Latina human, who accidentally stumbles upon a portal leading to the Boiling Isles. To prove herself as a witch, Luz begins learning magic under Eda's guidance, despite not having any magical abilities of her own

Luz!yuu would fit perfectly and adapt towards twst custom, I mean it's basically their world but with magic and mythical creatures.

Originally Crowley was about to reject them from entering the school, until they showed their glyphs magic to him and he allowed them to enter the school.

The ramshackle ghost and them get along very well. They help them clean the dorm as well help them with preparations. And protect them from any danger

Thanks to the new world, Luz is able to create more spells for their glyphs as well creating new ways to use magic.

When they meet malleus instead of fear he suspects it was amazed to be met by their eyes, Luz immediately starts to ask him questions and says how cool it was to meet a fae.

Malleus asks them if they had any dragon faes in their world, Luz!yuu says no they only have witches and demons in the boiling isle. They ask him to teach them some basic magic.

I imagine after being in twst for some point of time, some magic started to transport to them because since glyphs are magic it kinda mutated Luz!yuu to be able elemental magic.

And soon Crowley gave them a magic pen for them to use, they are still considered to be very strong by the other first years.

They are also very smart and managed to create a plan in the midst of battle making them a good leader.

Completed the braincell trio, it's basically the meme "Why is it, when something happens, it is always you three" said Crowley after them blowing up the lab due to Luz!yuu wanna make a potion and get an ingredient wrong.

Luz!yuu might be viewed to be weird by some of the students like riddle, Jamil etc. but they're not just weird they're just curious and wanted to learn

They would be so eager to learn everything, history, potionolgy and etc, Mr.trein and Mr.Crewel They are by far one of the most eager to learn students as a praise towards them

Have video games and movies with their closest friends. Teach them tales about the boiling isle as well their home dimension, about eda, king, amity and their other friends.

Sees grim as king 2.0, best friend to the end. Use grim like a pokemon. "Grim I chose you"

Their first encounter with Leona, is similar towards meeting malleus, they ask a bunch of questions and Leona finds them annoying

Lilia is grateful towards them being a friend to malleus. He also enjoys their optimistic personality and their curiosity.

Parties with kalim, Jamil is working 24/7 for both them do not died. He originally didn't like them due to their reckless personality that could let them into death or kalim death.

Even tho they are very optimistic, if someone posts a threat towards their closest friends, they would protect with all their might. Have a powerful will many students say.

[mscherub]

Witchy Ways 🕸️

I took my sweet ass time with this, but I was blanking for a bit for who knows what reasons. I didn’t write like anything down for a day and then I just spewed out a whole bunch of words tonight😭, I hope it’s ok, though. Time is currently 3:09 am while posting this. I locked in ❤️

Reader is gender neutral, referred to as Prefect, Y/N, Henchhuman(by Grim), Shrimpy(by Floyd)

Warnings!:

Swearing

Uh, something catches on fire, have fun finding out <3

Half proof read, I got tired so I gave up

Word count:

3.4K

Part 1 (intro): “Alchemy Exams are…Easy?”, Part 2: “Not the Intended Outcome”, TBD

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Part 2: “Not the Intended Outcome”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Finally! Exams are officially over and you’re able to relax for the nice weekend, ok, well, not totally relax, because you actually have to clean up ramshackle a bit, a ritual you’ve adopted for this good old decrepit dorm you proudly get to call home. Just from being out and about on campus, interacting with others and doing what you usually do on a daily basis, if you didn’t cleanse yourself and the dorm regularly, the whole vibe of the place just felt…off. Sure it’s an old place and it’s bound to be somewhat creepy you literally have ghosts living with you and severely dusty, but that doesn't really account for how disgustingly easy it is to accumulate bad energy this quickly. Possibly the use of their magic in this world and being constantly surrounded by it, or Ace and Deuce dragging it in since they insist on crashing here as much as they can when given the chance.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Music plays in the background as you clean up in the main lounge, dusting off the mantel and cleaning out the fireplace, as well as any pictures that you can reach with a feather duster you found in the attic. Use, reuse, recycle, and especially for you, beggars can’t be choosers. Slowly the place was becoming tranquil again after a while of that icky feeling of stagnant energy residing within the place was disappearing along with your efforts.

You waltz on over to the bookshelf, swaying along with the music as you dust off the shelves. You pick up a stray book laying flat on one of the lower shelves for who knows how long and you blow off the dust, swatting it away as you read the title: “Basic Spells 101.” Hm. Interesting.

Grim passes by you carrying his modified cleaning equipment, maundering about how he has to even do this, and of course, the promise you made of giving him tuna after. You can’t help but roll your eyes at the sight, but you see him eyeing something particular at the large window, hobbling over the couch and readying his supplies.

“Grim! No- no, don’t touch that, hold on.” You walk over to him as you dust your hands off on your shirt, stopping him from sweeping up the “dust” along the windowsill.

“Whadya mean stop? There’s some stuff on the windowsill, I’m just tryna be useful here, henchuman. You’re lucky I’m even helping ya!” He huffs as he puts his paws on his hips and stops the broom and dustpan in their actions. “You’re my henchuman, therefore I’m the boss so I don’t even know why I’m helping ya. I try and be nice for once and then it’s considered wrong—“

“Ok, so. How do I explain this?” you sigh as you match his posture, looking over at the perfect line of black salt that you procured a batch of just recently, deciding to put it up as an extra boost to keep out unwanted energies. A barrier. It took you long enough to get the ingredients to make it from Sam’s Shop considering your monthly funds and the rarity of some items. Finding charcoal was a little difficult…and the incense, too.

“Explain what? It’s just dust for crying out loud! You like the look of it or something?” He grumbles.

“Don’t waste your time on it, I meannnnn, yea! It’s not even visible if you don’t look over the couch. Just ignore it, kay? Yea. Alright. Splendid. Just go dust the photos off up there.” You point to the paintings above the door.

Grim pauses and lowers his paws back to his side. He glances back at the window and rolls his eyes as he turns away and floats off. “I dunno why, human, but if you're so attached to it, whatever.” he mutters, a glower look overcoming his features.

Your eyes glance over the line of black salt one last time along the windowsill. Looks intact still, not disturbed in any way, so, you get back to cleaning with a small sigh of relief, shuffling into the entrance and grabbing the broom by the front door and sweeping up what you can. You form a considerable pile of random debris in front of the door, just from the entryway alone, and you sweep it all out the door. The wind picks up at just the right time and it blows away all of the mess you pushed out, carrying it away in the wind and away from your home, rustling your clothes in the process.

”So, we done yet?” Grim floats up next to you. He purses his lips and his ears flatten against his head, annoyed at the fact you guys are even still doing this.

“Hmm? Nah, not yet. I’ve got a few other things to finish up here, but you don’t need to stick around for that. Actually, go ahead and call up Ace and Deuce to see if they’re free. I’ll join you guys at Heartslabyul or wherever you end up once I’m done.” you murmur softly, gazing at the drifting clouds in the sky.

“Really?’ he exclaims, his face lighting up instantly. “Okay! So, you really mean it?” You give him a small nod in response, and he eagerly heads off to find your phone.

“Don’t break anything again!”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

With Grim gone and out of Ramshackle for a little, you have the opportunity to finally finish your cleaning regimen in your way without the judgmental stares you know he’d give you. Smoke cleansing is bad for animals, so, at least he’s ok!

Incense is burned in all the rooms you can possibly burn it in within the dorm, leftover crystals Crewel gave you, after questioning you on why you even wanted them, were hidden back in their designated corners, fully recharged from the night before thanks to the moon. Selenite above the doorways frequently passed through, black tourmaline in the corners, and obsidian and amethyst within your room for a boost of extra cleansing energy and good restful nights for both you and Grim.

The ghosts watch from afar as you go about your list of what needs to be done, they always do. Quite frankly they find what you do to be rather odd and a little cumbersome to them due to the fact the incense makes them choke up quite a bit, but with your intentions set, they’re not the bad energies you’re getting rid of, so they can stay for now.

And just like that, with a little hard work and some rigor, Ramshackle feels like home again, being physically and spiritually cleansed. You take your last few bouts around to make sure you didn’t miss anything, and as a final touch, you add your black and white candles by the door with the protective Algiz runes etched into them and—

Ringgggg.

Your ears begin to ring, that familiar and annoying sound most people experience every now and then. But you knew the implications behind it. Someone was talking about you. Who was it, and why was your name in their mouth? Not cool…

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The weekend slips away quickly like usual, and soon enough, you're back to your daily routine during the weekdays. Wake up, drag Grim out of bed, make breakfast and eat it, make sure you have any material you could need for classes, then set off on the familiar hike up to the school.

“Prefecttttttt!” Ace calls out to you with his hands cupped around his mouth. When he notices he has your attention he smirks and walks right next to you, Deuce following along beside him on the other side.

“Ok. So. That little jar thing. How’d it work.” He instantly interrogates you. It’s seven in the morning dude…

“What—“

“The jar you made for our exams, for us at least. Anyways, how the hell does it work?”

"Um...by working?" you reply, shrugging your shoulders as a nervous look spreads across your face, betraying that you knew about it, at least.

”You said it was for good luck, right? Riddle hasn’t even yelled at me once since Friday. Now that says something!” He glares at you.

Well, that’s surprising enough on its own, but you definitely didn’t expect the spell jar to work that well. It was just a little something you did to show your gratitude, and you did make six of them.

"I've also been doing better in track, Vargas isn’t at my throat too much anymore. Oh, and speaking of Housewarden Riddle, he congratulated me for my test scores." Deuce adds, further supporting their point to get the answer they want out of you.

“Spill.” Ace crosses his arms and stops walking, staring you down. You stop and you look at both him and Deuce, Grim also positioned next to them, clearly on their side of this whole situation.

“You, too?” You stop walking as well.

“Hey, I wanna know, too, henchman. Weird things have been going on for me, too. Good things, but weird things.” He sighs.

“You guys are acting like a few good things in your life are a bad occurrence.” You rebuttal back, standing your ground.

“It’s not just a few things here and there. So long as I have the bottle on me good shit happens. Have you been lying to us about being magicless, like seriously.” He huffs yet again, making unnerving eye contact with you.

“Look. let’s talk about this some other time, we have class…” you sigh, walking off ahead and back on the path.

“Great. Now you’re dodging! Way to go Prefect…” Ace picks up his pace and walks next to you.

He continues to talk, but you just drown him out for now, not having the time, or energy for that matter, to deal with him right now. But going back to the spell jars, you put some intentions into it, sure, but not that much, just enough, or so you thought. Again, you did make six in one sitting, and the materials were limited! But if the spell jars worked that well, then…

You’re pulled out of your thoughts as you enter the classroom, your body reacting and already sitting down without you even fully processing it. Murmurs and hushed whispers spike up as soon as you sit down and students awkwardly glance your way then glance away.

“Hey.”

You turn around and you look at the student who’s sitting up a row from you, lifting a brow and staring back at him. He was another first year Scarabia student, you obviously didn't know him that well to be considered friends, only having occasionally talking during group projects, but besides that, you’ve had no other reasons to interact with him.

“Huh?”

“I heard from a group of students in the hall that you made some little jar with random stuff inside and it apparently helped your friends or whatever pass the exams. That true?” He murmurs thoughtfully as he rests his chin in the palm of his hand, staring you down. What is up with people today…

You look over at Ace, Deuce, and Grim, all of them giving you a slightly guilty look as you look right back at them contemptuously, your stare conveying a message that translates to something on the lines of “Seriously?” With a small shake of the head you turn your attention back to the Scarbia student who waits with his lips pursed.

“Yea, what about it?”

“Make me one, please? The stories that have been shared around from one of your friends is all that I needed to hear to get me sold on the Idea. let’s see…was it Epel, maybe? I mean, I don’t really know, but someone said he escaped the whiplash of his housewarden. So, if it really does do whatever others are saying it does, I’d like to get one. For my own reasons.” He instantly info dumps onto you, smiling, trying to sway you into the idea.

“I…what…dude. I’m not just gonna make you one out of the blue–”

“I’ll pay you.”

The word “pay" makes you perk up. You look at the guy, “contemplating.” In all honesty, you weren’t, for something as simple as a spell jar, and especially the one you made, getting paid for it would be a good way to make money. Maybe just have the guy pay for the supplies then- damn, you’re sounding like Azul here.

“Ok. Pay for the items to make it then I’ll do it.” You reply.

“Ok, ok, I can do that!” He smiles again and leans forward. “What do you need?”

“Um, it can vary depending on what outcomes you want. And my mood.” You shrug. He looks at you confused for a second before disregarding the whole thing and nodding.

“I want a carbon copy of the ones your friends got.” he points over at them. Seriously, this conversation has gone on for far too long, when the hell did class start again.

“Ok. I’ll write it down I guess–”

Another voice pipes up from another row up, more towards the left. “Make me one, too, Prefect. I’ll pay double if need be if you make mine have stronger effects!” the other student smiles. And before you even know it, you have a mob of jovial first years crowding around and requesting you make them a little jar, all of them interested in the idea, chanting how much they’ll pay if you make theirs first. A good way to make money still? You can't even process your own thoughts.

“Dude what the fuck–”

“Ahem! Sit down. These antics are not respectable in my classroom!” Trein comes up behind the hoard, everyone quieting down and returning to their seats without further complaint. You look up at Trein from where you’re sitting and he gives you a small, disappointed sigh, for who knows what reason. Not like you asked to be swarmed here.

Class starts with the loud bang of his heavy history books on his desk and a yawn from Lucius.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Well, today was not how you were expecting things to go, that being, getting swamped by overly excited students who wanted nothing else besides that miracle item you gave to your group of friends. They had some right to be so excited about it, most of the first years who took the alchemy exam failed it, and of course, the main culprits at least, Ace and Deuce, had to be the blabber mouths and share this information to everyone in sight. You had third years even hunt you down in your PE class, saying the same thing as every other person who came up to you, adding on that they’ll pay, especially the more wealthier students. So, getting back to ramshackle in one piece, and sadly with a royally pissed off Grim, was a feat of its own.

“Prefect, the money that one guy just handed ya, should have taken it right then and there! Think of all the tuna!” Grim whines as he plops down on the couch.

“I wasn’t going to take it. I’ve had way too many requests and I'm just not interested in trying to keep track of anything right now.” You sit down next to him and rub your temples. At least Ramshackle still felt “clean.”

You thought peace finally was coming your way? Wrong! Your door is kicked in and a wild Floyd walks in with his hands shoved in his pockets, a little pep in his step and a grin so wide and sinister that when he looks your way you can’t even move.

“Shrimpy, Baby seal!” He hums happily as he makes a b-line right towards you, leaning down and practically scooping you up in a hug.

“Hey hey, Shrimpy. Me, Jade, and Azul decided to swing by! Wanted to have a chat!” He smiles.

“Hello, Prefect, Grim.” Jade enters in as well, more poised and refined in his, and also not actively trying to squeeze you to death. Then it struts Azul who looks rather restless and anxious, clearly having something to say.

Floyd sits you back down on the couch then invades your space once again, sitting next to you and putting his arm behind you.

“Nice of you guys to just barge in.” You side eye Floyd and slowly lean away from him.

Azul seats himself in a chair and crosses his legs, propping up his cane against the side of the seat and folding his hands to place them on his knees. He fixes his hat and then his eyes land on you.

“I’ve heard things.”

“You hear a lot of things, like, all the time.” The more you lean away from Floyd, the more he doubles his efforts to be an annoying piece of shit.

“That’s not the point. I believe you know what I came to discuss.” He sighs.

“Knowing you, business related, but I’m tired and don’t care to think or take a guess, so go on…” You look at him as you're almost completely slouched over to the side, Floyd humming quietly and still moving closer.

“I've heard talk of an item you made, specifically for the first years. Though, I’ve heard that you’ve been getting a fair share of offers for producing this said item for other students to use.” He shifts in his seat and sits up more, pushing his glasses up and uncrossing his legs.

“I gathered that there were only good things, saying it brought luck. I don’t quite understand how a simple jar could engender such effects.” He narrows his eyes, and, yea, you knew where this was going to go.

“I’d like to make a deal—“

“No.”

The room falls silent and Azul’s shoulders slump down, Jade smirks and continues to stand at the door ominously, and Floyd ignores what’s going on and continues to be Floyd.

“No deals. I don't think I’ll take up any offers from anyone anyways, the jars don’t really mean that much. And I don’t have time.”

“Then let me take the workload off your hands and make these jars myself! Shall I fabricate a contract for an agreement? I’ll take the recipe needed to make it, and you…I’ll consider what you can get. Do we have a deal?” A golden contract is magiced into existence with one flick of his magic pen.

You shake your head almost enthusiastically. “No.”

Azul’s eye twitches just slightly, his resolve slipping.

“Why waste such an opportunity, Prefect?”

You push yourself up off of the couch and glare at Floyd one last time.

“Excuse me for a minute…”

you excuse yourself, pushing past Jade. For fucks sake, who does Azul think he is for pulling this.

“You can’t run from your problems, Prefect.” Jade chuckles. wtf, thanks?

You walk through the entryway and into the kitchen, grabbing water. Slowly, you retrace your steps and you go back to the front door and flip your broom upside down, the handle touching the floor.

“I swear, get these fuckers- sorry, very nice gentleman, out of my house.” You huff to yourself before you head back into the lounge.

“Answer is still no.”

“I can change your mind. You see, if you’d take a look at the contract then you’d see there’s no grey areas—“

Azul’s phone buzzes in his pocket and with a swift motion he slips it out and answers the call.

“Hello? Hmmm…ok. Alright- WAIT WHAT?!” A look of horror instantly crosses over his face and the golden contract disperses into the air as he swiftly gets up. You think that’s the fastest you’ve seen him move.

“The kitchen is on fire at the lounge. I leave people to do one simple job and they fail to even perform it correctly.” Jade looks equally surprised as he follows along behind Azul, and Floyd, guys, cmon, it’s Floyd, what do you expect? shrugs and gets up calmly, looking down at you.

“Playdates over.” He pouts. “Careful, Prefect.” He winks and follows out behind him.

…

…

That…works, you suppose? That’s not what you were expecting. But…they’re gone at least. Grim slowly turns to look at you and blinks a few times before he throws his paws up and floats away without any further comment. You get up yourself and you go and light the two candles by the front door since the unwanted guests have finally left. White for purification, and black for warding.

It’s about time you invest in some good luck yourself. Maybe the equestrian club could have something for that…

And done! Thanks for reading, my lovelies, and again I’m sorry for taking forever. I just remembered I have an exam tomorrow…maybe I should make a good luck spell jar—

Also wanna add a quick thank you to @fatally-incorrect for letting me yap and also giving me ideas ❤️

Master list

Please don’t steal or copy any of my work! You may, however, reblog if you’d want to!

Pictures belong to Disney Twisted Wonderland but are edited by me :)

[utilitycaster]

Level 10!

You may or may not know the drill:

Corrections about actually wrong items or major omissions are welcome. "Um, actually"-ing because I did not list every single spell or feat available or speculate the exact same things you did is not.

Because the cast usually does a brief video shortly before the episode for level-ups now (as they did today!), rather than announcing it at the end of an episode, this includes speculation and a bit of editorializing on my thoughts for the next few levels. This isn't necessarily meant to be accurate to what the cast will do, so don't quote me on it - it's just my thoughts on what I think might make sense or will be interesting. Those thoughts may very well change significantly as the story continues.

Anyway, level 10: it's a subclass-centric level for most of the players.

Chetney: His rogue level means he's blood hunter 9, which means Grim Psychometry, the coolest ability, which grants advantage on knowledge checks surrounding tragic or dark histories, with the potential for the DM to grant visions. Looking forward: assuming Chet keeps moving forward with blood hunter, L10 is a big one for him, as his speed increases by 5 feet, he gets another blood curse, and he gains a +3 (INT modifier) to all physical saves.

Laudna: She took a level in sorcerer, so she gets another sorcery point and another spell, this time up to 4th level; I drafted this post a while back and forgot to check the spell list for sorcerer so you're invited go nuts on your spell thoughts in the notes! Looking forward: Look. I've covered my mechanical concerns about this multiclass. Personally, had I been playing a character with this build from level 3 in a party with another sorcerer, I'd have stopped at 3 sorcerer levels and leveled exclusively in warlock. However, she's now 7 levels into sorcerer and so stopping that to go warlock will probably hamstring her mechanically, especially since the 6th level Undead feature is not terribly impressive. I think one last warlock level might be good for the ASI and the known spell, since warlocks have a more interesting spell list, and it makes narrative sense at this point now that Delilah is reawakened, but then I'd probably continue to take the rest in sorcerer. I AM very interested in how Laudna will deal with Delilah since I don't see her getting another undead patron to replace her, but that's so speculative that I'll hold off until something changes.

FCG: FCG gets a new cantrip, a new 5th level spell slot, and the ability to roll for divine intervention, which promises to be a fucking trip (complimentary). Looking forward: 6th level cleric spells, which he'll get at level 11, have a lot of bangers, but I am personally most invested in FCG's Heroes' Feast.

Fearne: with a 9th level in druid she gets access to 5th level spells, and her circle spells are Mass Cure Wounds and Flame Strike, both of which are excellent. As always for druid levels, Little Mister's HP goes up by 5. Looking forward: I'm assuming Fearne's continuing with druid levels, and if so, the level 10 feature of Cauterizing Flames allows her to use the death of a creature (enemy, ally, or bystander) to create a spectral flame that can either heal or harm others who enter that space. This is amazing and I'm excited.

Imogen: At level 10, she gains another cantrip and another metamagic option. I personally think subtle spell is the best one (and given the Vanguard's tendency to collar mages they dislike, could be huge if they come into conflict), but quickened, which Laudna has, can also be clutch. Looking forward: Chain Lightning does seem like an apt spell for her to take, but personally I'd love True Seeing as more interesting and higher utility while still thematic.

Orym: At level 10, he learns two more maneuvers, and his superiority dice become d10s. There are a ton of maneuvers and I will freely admit I don't know them all, but I do like the idea of Commander's Strike (let Ashton and Chet do more damage), Distracting Strike, or Maneuvering attack. Looking forward: Level 11 grants Orym three attacks per turn, which is really the most fun fighter feature.

Ashton: Level 10 is a path feature level, and we don't know the details of their subclass, so it's up in the air! I'm excited to see what it is. Looking forward: level 11 grants relentless rage; if he drops to 0 HP while raging (for the record Ashton has only gone out 3 times; two were during the Otohan fight and one in the Ratanish fight) he can make a con save to remain conscious.

[yuri-is-online]

Another Beautiful Day (First Years x Yuu)

(gif taken from google, originally uploaded to tumblr but user apparently deleted)

You have been having strange dreams lately. Every time you go to sleep you se the same set of flashing images, a carriage ride, a crumbling castle under a ink stained sky, ending in the jaws of a monster. The pain you feel from the flames makes you wonder, on nights when you are alone in Ramshackle with Grim, if those dreams are less fiction and more of a memory.

You are not the only one who has those dreams. There's another, laying awake in his bed, hand clutched tightly over his frantically beating heart trying desperately to hold the fraying edges of his sanity together. How many times has he done this? How many times has he tried to hold onto the last fleeting traces of warmth in you with his cold, unworthy hands.

Again. He loves you, that is the one thing that refuses to change no matter how many times the world is reset. He loves you, he has no choice but to try again.

notes: they/them pronouns used for Yuu, hurt almost no comfort, borderline yandere behavior. If this made you feel something you can check out the other parts on my masterlist.

Ace

There was, perhaps still is, a pretty viral theory about Ace being a traitor involved in resetting time. While I can't ever see Ace purposefully causing Yuu's death ever, I can see him deciding that if he has to play the villain to get the outcome that he wants, well then, that's just what he's going to have to do. Ace knows how to annoy people, comes with the youngest child territory, more specifically he knows how to annoy you. He can stand having no one if it means everyone's focus is on keeping you safe, it's easier to admit that he loves you when no one's around to hear it. It occurs to you that he might, it even crosses your mind that the strange dreams your time-loop troubled subconscious is so desperate to hang onto, ones where you are with someone you love dearly, could be about him. How else would he know how to push all your buttons, why else does he always know when and where you'll be in trouble. If Ace doesn't love you, why does he know all the things you like about this world before you do? It's a painful thing to be known, even more so if the person who knows you refuses to let themselves be vulnerable with you. The more things change the more they stay the same... huh?

Deuce

Ever watched Tokyo Revenges? I know some of you have, I can see you. Anyway Deuce might not be a crybaby but he is loyal, determined, and stuck on desperately trying to save you. Well not just you, Deuce realizes that Overblot Grim spells doom for a lot more people that just those inside NRC. Sage's island might be remote, but people still live there, if the monster got out who knows what sort of damage it will do? He tries his best to be normal around you, to befriend you and protect you in just the same way he did before, but he's a much more serious and moody person than he was the first loop around. How is he supposed to explain to you he couldn't save you, that he's watched you die countless times and only had ashes to hold and cry over? Not just you either, he's seen Ace and Epel and Jack, hell even Sebek, Die over and over again because he wasn't smart enough to stop it. Ace manages to pick up on something being wrong, and Deuce being Deuce he fails to lie properly, "dragging him into his mess." But he can tell Ace doesn't mind. He takes his impending doom as a challenge, encouraging Deuce to do so as well. He's stupid, he should just give up and let someone smarter save you. But he's your stupid, kind of crybaby hero. He'll save you, just you see.

Jack

Trying to save you is as much an instinct to Jack as it is raw emotion. You are his soulmate, there is nothing casual about his investment in your relationship, nothing short of divine intervention that will keep him from trying to save you. But he will admit he feels rather unprepared for this... development. It's all well and good to say you will break reality before he lets it take you from him, but actually being strong enough to do that? Jack's a good boy, but no matter how smart he is he's a bit of a muscle head. He throws himself into problems fist first, without any back up unless someone yanks him by the scruff and forces him to look at it. Usually that's you, sometimes it's Ruggie or Leona, but in the past it was you. He knows he can't keep himself from you, even if that could make you safer. Unlike the first timeline, he makes sure to introduce himself as early as possible, makes sure to be with you for every overblot. You might find it annoying but he'll push you to train just enough so that you'll have the speed to run when the final monster comes. Maybe this time, he'll be strong enough to kill it before it catches up to you.

Epel

Sleep Kiss cannot put you to sleep forever. Yet. Yes yet, Malleus isn't the only one who thinks letting you nap forever is a good idea. Great minds think alike, and unlike Malleus's, Epel has an added bonus. He can encase you in a glass cage that is literally meant to protect you from anything that wants to hurt you. Not that you would ever expect this plan from Epel. He's cute, kind, non-threatening when you're paying attention, the most you see of his temper as the loops continue is the slightly bratty glare he focuses on pre-overblot housewardens. And the headmage, but hey any anger at him always gets a pass from him. Not that you need to worry about that, once Epel masters his spell you won't have to worry about anything. He does wonder if you'll be able to dream, the first time he cast his spell on you it was like you didn't realize anything had happened at all. Maybe he won't tell you anything, maybe he'll wake you up every once and a while to convince you that you were never asleep at all. But that's not a concern for now, all you need to do is close your eyes and sleep. Sleep and wait for your Prince to return from the war.

Sebek

Following the current timeline, events aside, Sebek is on the outside of your friend group. No one likes him, he can't sit with you. The only real reason Sebek has to pay attention to you is because Malleus does. And he has to admit he doesn't exactly hate what he sees, he just- doesn't want to give credit to a human. When time is re-set though, he goes out of his way to befriend you, convinced he needs to keep an eye on you to save his lord. After all, how could he not find it suspicious that Malleus befriends some random human from not-Twisted Wonderland and then suddenly overblots? He is ready to strike at the first sign of betrayal, but he does not find it. He finds a human, weak and flawed, but paitent and kind with him, unwilling to let him talk down to them but still willing to talk. You die, but you never stop trying. You refuse to let the flaws he picks at stop you from trying to live. You refuse, no matter how many times he yells about the amount of times he has lost his lord, lost you, to let him do all the work alone. There is beauty in your struggle, in your life. He can't betray this for his lord, even if it was the cause of his plight. It's Silver he turns to for help, begging him for guidance through tears as he desperately clings to you. He finds it of course, he never had to do any of this alone, but he should know by now that doesn't guarantee success, no matter how much he wants it to.

[the-trinket-witch]

Imagine That

(vignette for Eugenio, my Yuu for TWST. Set early in the school year. Inspired HEAVILY By Spielberg's Hook. CW for cussing I guess??)

┌───────────────────═━┈━═───────────────────┐

Everything was moving so fast. Being thrust into a whole new world like some generic isekai, to having full confirmation -and conversation- with ghosts, to learning that magic exists, and there were whole schools dedicated to its study. Eugenio didn't get much of a chance to really get their footing. Professor Trein had been a buoy in a raging sea of uncertainty; the books of Twisted Wonderland’s history at least kept them from seeming as much like an interloper than they already did. So it wasn't much of a surprise to know Grim’s and their GPA was only held up by their Alchemy and History grades. They didn't require magic, or at least had work arounds for the magicless Prefect and the greatest -but least experienced- mage to ever live. One thing that had been taught early in their newfound circumstances was that magic required imagination to be executed properly. Ace and Deuce found that hard to believe, if their stuffy yet powerful House warden was anything to go by. They could at least see why Sebek had difficulty with some of the more abstract spells being taught, and with Epel’s colorful language, when Vil wasn't around, gave him an inverse edge. But regardless, it wouldn't have mattered if Yuu could imagine this entire world in some fever dream; no magic was no magic. And Grim was Grim, all 9 stubborn kilograms of him.

It seemed even the curriculum was out to show how much the two didn't belong. Yuu was dreading what the day was going to bring; there was a heavy emphasis in the email sent to have a hearty breakfast, and lunch period was going to have a special announcement. Albert was unfortunately not of any help-he didn’t want to make assumptions on how much RSA and NRC’s curricula overlapped and give the wrong idea of what to expect. It didn’t help, either, that the rest of the 2nd years were advised to keep hush-hush about things. Yuu and Grim would get their answer the moment they, Ace and Deuce entered the cafeteria. Ghosts handed out a pamphlet as folks entered, explaining things. But before anyone could read it, a collective shock washed over the first years. The other ghostly staff were continuing on their daily serving routines: shuffling bins of food, offering out bowls and plates supposedly filled with food. It certainly smelled like NRC’s daily lunch trappings. The griddles even sizzled as if cooking meat, and steam from the trays fogged up the sneeze guards. The only problem: every tray, dish and bin was utterly empty. Devoid of any trace of what one might constitute as ‘food’.

“F’NYAH?! What’s the deal? Where’s the food?!” Grim yowled.

“Dude, how ‘bout reading the paper. I’ll, uh, grab lunch, I guess…” Yuu sighed.

The blue beast grumbled, but complied if only to not be made to carry any of the empty dishes.

First Year Students, Welcome once again to the beginnings of your magical academic career here at Night Raven College. It should already have been covered in your classes about the mechanics of magic: The magic you hold is channeled through your pen’s magestone and made manifest with a combination of spells and will. Willpower is actually one mental aspect of spellcasting. The other: Imagination. The stronger the imagination, the more effective one’s spellwork is. This exercise lasting the entirety of your lunch period will help you flex your imaginative muscles. For your lunch to appear, one must imagine -manifest in your mind- the items you can sense through the smells and sounds still provided. If by the end of this lunch period, nothing can be gleaned, unfortunately the typical lunch fee will not be refunded and no other opportunities until dinner period will be provided. Best of luck and happy imagineering~

D. Crowley, Headmaster

“You’re fuckin’ kidding,” Yuu grumbled.

All their reservations based on their academic ‘success’ thus far were suddenly filling the forefront of their mind. I guess that means we don’t eat til dinner…Ace and Deuce kept to either side of Yuu as they all sat; they too were concerned about having nothing to show for the price of their lunch. The only thing that could make such an ‘exercise’ worse was…

“HUMAN: I will be taking this spot-nowhere else is available. How fortunate for you to have a mage like me willing to sit here. Maybe some of my ambient magic will let you imagine a crumb for lunch,” Sebek bellowed.

The most Yuu offered in response was a sigh and bang-hidden roll of the eyes. Fantastic.

“‘Nowhere’ else? Y’sure it’s not cause nobody wants you to sit with them?” Ace grumbled.

“Let the weak be intimidated by my presence. It just shows my training has been paying off,” Sebek huffed. It wasn’t a rebuff, by the other fours’ account.

The scents were there, but it just wasn’t enough for Yuu to imagine themselves eating anything. Grim sat in their lap, mumbling over forking up a plate of imaginary carbonara. Every empty bite drew out a whine or grumble of the beast’s gullet. Sebek kept a revelrous reptilian eye on the pair, and a satisfied grin as he could only pantomime a forkful of something to his lips.

“What’re you all smug about?” Ace drawled.

“You three -and a half- look hungry~” Sebek smirked. “Can’t think of anything to put on your plate? Typical humans. Lacking in strength, stamina, magical prowess and even the brains to imagine simple food.”

“Least I got enough brains to think about more than licking my boss’ boots. Is that what you’re noshing on right now?” Yuu drawled. “You look like you’d eat anything if there were shoe polish on it.”

“EXCUSE ME?” Sebek roared. “How dare you insult one of Master Malleus’ knights!” But before he lashed out at the human across from him, he stopped, resuming the self-assured look he wore before. “What am I getting upset over? You’re but an annoying, magicless whelp. You have a familiar but still can’t use magic. And the headmaster made you Prefect of all things. Laughable for a cumberground dullard like you.”

“I wouldn’t give half a damn what your ‘Master’ thinks, if he’s willing to hire a cotton-headed ninny muggin like you,” Yuu spat back.

They snapped out a bandana from their pocket; if they were in for war, they wanted their bangs tied back to look the enemy in the eye.

“Oooh, tying back that coxcomb now, are we? What can you or that mangy moggy do against me? He looks like the spawn of a couple of hamsters and a bush of elderberries. Beslubbering louts, the both of you.

“Hey!” Deuce shouted. “What the Seven’s your problem?”

“Oh, so that’s it; you humans can’t do anything by yourselves, and need someone with actual magical potential to back you up?”

Yuu took Deuce by the shoulder, thrusting him down as they shot up. Grim’s ears laid flat, ready for a fight. And from the growing, rhythmic clatter of flatware, their squabble had the rest of the cafeteria rearing for one as well. Chants of ‘Zigvolt! Zigvolt!’ began to rise in pitch alongside the clattering. It only served to make the half-fae’s smugness spread further up his cheeks.

“Warthog-faced Buffoon.”

“Milksop.”

“Nerf-Herder.”

“Mollycoddle.”

“Son of a motherless goat!”

“Up your rear, Cow derriere!"

“Up your ass, Sassafras!”

Most of the chanting of Sebek’s name was quickly being drowned out by snickers and giggles. But it was Ace bursting with Yuu’s most recent volley that started getting folks rolling. Some still cheered for Sebek, but his anger was making him falter, and lose focus.

“Mewling, Flea-bitten nincompoop!”

“You’re what the French call, ‘Les Incompetents’.” Yuu only offered a wan, but calculating look. They had movie lines queued up til Sebek was red in the face.

“Idiotic…childish…tch-irredeemable horse’s ass!” Sebek spat, trying to get something out. If the Prefect wanted to swing low, then he had conceded to fighting just as dirty.

“If I'm a horse’s ass, how ‘bout a kiss? Ya goose-stepping, spearmint, sawtooth cabrón, lappin’ at your own cloaca, with a raging case of Tinkerbell Envy!”Yuu huffed out the last of their breath, having gotten out something that sounded like it had been held back since they got there.

Chants of ‘Prefect, Prefect' started to rise out of the hush blanketing the hall. Sebek gaped, the rage building even more. His fingers crackled with barely bridled electric fury.

“Psst, Yuu: what’s a cloaca?” Deuce murmured, hoping to not be heard. Grim heard, of course, but had a similar question.

“Wanna know what a cloaca is? THAT’S a cloaca: it's the hind end of a bird or reptile, that nine times outta ten spews shit! I ain't the one today, Crocodile Dun-Doofus, I'm from Oakland!”

Small arcs of electricity danced across the table, all stemming from Sebek’s grip. Yuu didn't care; they scooped up and plunked back down with Grim in their lap. They casually pantomimed lifting something off their plate, observing the non-existent food dripping in their hand. Grim in turn snatched up a spoon and shoveled up a mass of nothing and wrenched it back.

“Hey, Sebek: why don’t’cha make like a tree and get outta here?” Yuu recited, before flinging the imaginary slab of food across the table. Grim let his spoonful of ammo fly as well, but immediately gasped in surprise.

Something connected.

A spatter of mashed potatoes and slab of Salisbury steak clung to the half-fae’s face for a moment. Sebek wasn't sure why he'd flinched when they ‘tossed’ their ammo, but to have actual food slap him in the face left him stunned. His bright green eyes bored back in shock as the steak and potatoes slid down his blazer. Across the table, Yuu, Grim, Ace and Deuce were equally stunned. Glances danced back and forth between the soiled Sebek and the once-empty dinnerware.

“Wait, how did you do that?” Ace gasped.

“I…I just thought…maybe cause I got Grim here…?” Yuu murmured. Proximity, maybe? Grim’s innate magical reserves, sparked into action by Yuu’s imagination?

They continued to ponder as their and everyone else’s eyes wandered the suddenly expansive spread of food people had picked out. Pasta, steak and gravy, salads, burgers and sandwiches, and an especially colorful assortment of desserts laid before everyone. 

Grim wasted no time. He dove into the dish before him, cackling with manic victory. It became everyone’s cue to dig in before the period was up. Sebek clawed the mess off of his face before storming off. His face grew hot at the notion he -one of Draconia’s knights- had been clobbered with food and brow-beat by a ‘lowly’ human. He snatched at an apple to angrily chew on the situation. 

Yuu, at that point, was so emotionally spent that they couldn't really find themselves hungry anymore. Grim was more than happy to take their stead. They grinned a bit to feel Deuce shaking them by the shoulder in congratulations. 

“Hey, that was actually kinda cool, dude,” Spade said. “I hope he leaves ya alone after this. I wonder if any of the teachers are watching. Maybe you'll get extra credit?”

“Maaan, that’d be your luck, wouldn't it?” Ace whined. “I better not start getting teachers on my ass about you tutoring me.”

“Doubt it,” Yuu chuffed.

“Ya, they'll have ya bein’ tutored by me, y’know~” Grim snickered.

“Doubt that,” Ace grumbled. “Still, gotta hand it to ya: you pulled through. Here, congrats.”

Yuu was still coming down from their squabble, but talking with Deuce didn't let them see what Ace was offering to congratulate them. They turned back, only to get a spatter of mousse square on the nose. A few giggles, Epel offering some himself, came from the table behind Yuu. The Prefect snerked, appreciative of the ‘gesture’. It erupted into a full cackle, bringing more folks in to join. Ace howled at the sight, until he too got a gauntlet-throwing slap across the face with another flap of steak. 

Thus opened the food flood gates. 

┌───────────────────═━┈━═───────────────────┐

Up in the window sill, second and third year students clung, flew and hovered to catch a peek at the first years. A certain pair, Diasomnia’s housewarden and vice lead, spied over the proceedings with intrigue. This hadn't happened before. Not a food fight, and certainly not the exercise executed by someone without magic.

“Do be sure to talk with Sebek when he gets back. He looks like he could use a little pick-me-up,” Lilia cooed.

But Malleus wasn't paying mind to Lilia. His focus had honed in on the Prefect. They recognized the sight of them around that Ramshackle building. Even though they were able to imagine the food out of hiding, they still had that void of an aura all non-magical folk lacked. Curious little thing, he thought. He’s been avoiding the old mansion he used to haunt, with it no longer being his own to wander. At first he remembered having a sort of resentment towards the new tenants, but now that seemed so childish. One of the new tenants had just become quite interesting.

“BANGARAAAANG!” Came crowing out of the Prefect.

Both fae wheeled back to see them having climbed onto a table. Over their head, they held Grim, who chucked a hefty lob of custard out to some unlucky boy below. Their battlecry was met in kind, as was a torrential volley of food right back at the both of them. Yuu instinctively held Grim up to their chest, tucking behind him and letting him receive most of the onslaught. They couldn't help laughing even more to see Grim’s caked face despite his attempts to devour the ammo.

“Fufu, it’s been a while since I've heard that,” said Lilia. “I wonder how those boys are doing, now that I think about it…”

@ceruleancattail @squidwen @thecosmicjackalope @vaporvipermedia @writing-heiress

@oya-oya-okay @k-looking-glass-house @thehollowwriter @rainesol @cyn-write

@heartscrypt @br3adtoasty @jackiecronefield @ruggiethethuggie @hoboyherewego

@achy-boo @oreoskys @oseathepebble @oathofoaks @tunabesimpin

@hamstergal @fumikomiyasaki @valse-a-mille-temps @hallowed-delights

@kimikitti @cyanide-latte @thetwstwildcard @atwstedstory @comingyourlugubriousness

@ice-cweam-sod4 @twst-the-night-away @nammanarin @scint1llat3 @tixdixl

[ihavetoomanyocsdealwithit]

Jafar Part II

When Jade sees Yuu stumble into the lounge, he knows they should have activated the bracelet sooner. Her body struggles to stay on top the soft carpet that floats beside her, its bright little tassels shaking with exertion. Her eyes are wide, grasping at a red parrot that seems to be hacking air as well.  

He doesn’t have time to look much further into it before Scarabina students are flooding the doors, demanding Yuu’s body like an escaped criminal.  

Well, that simply won’t do, will it?  

His magic feels different in this fight though. Violent. Borderline feral. He glances at Floyd and Azul, and they seem to be doing the same. Azul is bothered by the lack of finesse he’s spells usually have, flowing wide and causing damage to the walls and furniture. Floyd however, seems to be revealing in it, but continually glances back at Yuu, a concern that isn’t normally present. 

Is that blood?  

They finish the fight quickly, a small spittle of blood on the ground from where her and the parrot are.  

“I’m ok,” she whispers, “I-I just bit the inside of cheek and that’s what it’s from. I’m ok.” 

Right.  

“As that is, allow us to have the school nurse check on you.” Jade reaches underneath her knees, easily pulling her up. “To ensure the health of our guests.” 

“We don’t have time. Something is wrong with Jamil.” That certainly catches Azul’s attention. “Maybe Kalim? Something is wrong with the entire Scarabina dorm.”  

She looks at Azul, eyes pleading the same way they had when he had lost himself into the Blot.  

“One of them is going to Overblot.”  

Jamil’s overblot is beautiful in it’s own strange way. Feral and elegant and poised and unhinged. A man of contradictions.  

But they don’t appreciate being thrown into a desert, especially as merpeople. Honestly, they are lucky that Kalim was thrown with them. Otherwise, well, they were looking into actual threats on their lives. And it’s better to keep one’s cards as close to the chest as possible, especially for that spell. It simply comes at too high a cost.  

Floyd and Jade carefully remove what sand they can, waiting underneath the tree as Kalim easily controls the rains into the portion of the dried oasis. Azul watches with quiet fascination, as he always does with such displays of power. He trusts them to keep an eye on Yuu, rubbing her temples. She was already in a... fatigued state, and the fight only seemed to make it more prevalent. Grim is blowing green fire onto her injuries, the scrapes and cuts sealing themselves cleanly, though it doesn’t seem to help the fatigue. 

It seems that Grim is also taking lessons from these so-called teachers.  

“I know,” Jade hears her mumble, “But I don’t know why. Everything feels fuzzy.” 

The parrot, who has been helping Kalim direct the clouds, finally lands back, nudging her hand and hopping to the water’s edge. Well that’s curious. 

She cocks her head, walking to the water’s edge and looking down. The charm Azul gave her shimmers in the reflections unusually though.   

“I don’t understand Iago.”  

The parrot, Iago apparently, gives an indignant squawk, glides over to Jade and starts pecking his shoe.  

“There is no need for that.” He smiles, rising from his spot. Floyd rises after him, before the bird makes the mistake of pecking his shoe as well. Something tells him that Yuu wouldn’t like it if he punted the thing for messing with his shoes.  

He looks a bit more disheveled than he would like, but overall, it is exactly what he expects. Though...something feels off when he looks a bit harder.  

Yuu notices it first, crouching down to look closer at...him and Floyd’s reflections.  

“Jade? Isn’t your gold eye on the right?”  

Floyd glances down. His reflection has it on the right. Jade’s is on the left. That-why are they switched- 

His reflection smiles, cocks it head to the side and ripples.  

He doesn’t know who is staring back at him.  

[hanafubukki]

So, here's my crackhead theory: What if Yuu has some type of hidden power sealed inside them that helps them sense when an Overblot is about to happen?

And maybe that's why they keep having dreams about the Great 7 because that hidden power they have is sort of a built-in siren warning them of an upcoming Overblot.

This is probably why Crowley doesn't want to let Yuu leave so soon. He senses that they have some kind of hidden power that hasn't been unlocked yet and needs them to stop the Overblots. Not that that makes him any less of a useless adult.

An since we're told that Yuu is good at swordfighting and playing instruments, what if the moment Yuu unlocks this hidden power, they get to infuse it into their sword or music for combat?

This probably makes no sense but I just thought to share it with you.

Hello Kataba🌺🌷🌻

Honestly, I don’t think it’s a cracked idea as you say. It seems their dreams are kind of a future warning of an OB. Kind of hinting at the dorm involved and then as the blot accumulate, giving clues to the one who will OB.

We kind of see this with Vil, when Yuu and Grim were spying on him because of said visions. They kind of figured out something was wrong. Then in book 7, they had that spell right before Malleus shows up. Something was off and they felt it.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Crowley knows or that’s why he summoned them. He did make them a prefect and labeled them as a beast tamer as well 🤔, could be why he doesn’t seem to be in a rush to send them home.

Maybe the Grim OB is his way of making the nrc boys working together to bring Prefect and Grim down? Surely, “killing” them will send the Prefect back to their world 👀 like how they got ran over by a carriage and came to twst?

I would be happy if they got to use powers and weapons. I hope they do.