#I found this exceedingly funny

[unravveling-navveroli]

Everyone enjoy this ancient relic from the @lobsterbre4d community

[cultivating-wildflowers]

my book-buying ban ends on August 1st

my library's huge book sale begins on August 1st

it's fate

[deusetco]

@eepybubble blorbo spotted on the dash - here you go

We don't need Heaven, we don't need Hell, they're toxic. We need to get away from them, just be an us. You and me, what do you say?

GOOD OMENS - 2.06 Every Day

[dickgraysonisnothereforthis]

didn’t realize this was the liberal arts, part 2

Jason decides to ask you out for coffee. turns out you’re an asshole.

Part 1 is here, rest of series is here

Back again. It’s a series, I’ve decided. This was born because I’ve already written reader as a bitch but it’s funny (see my vampire!reader series), now I want to write reader as a bitch but it’s mean. Jason’s still sad. Like I said, you’re mean.

Swearing. No use of y/n I don’t know how long this is.

————

Jason decides to scout you out. He finds nothing.

It’s extremely irritating. He would expect that there would be something, anything, to suggest that the person he sits next to in his seminar is the same one who goes out and cracks heads at night. But there’s nothing. You seem to be perfectly normal, you act in class like any other person would. Your emotions aren’t heightened, you’re never deeply angry, or deeply upset, or deeply confused. You’re not deeply anything. The most he can say is you get mildly frustrated.

Which is fair. You get frustrated when someone makes a frustrating point. He gets it.

But that’s it. You giggle quietly when someone makes a joke, you purse your lips as you consider a question, you nod when you agree with someone. Other than that, you give him nothing. It’s almost enough to make him believe he didn’t see you beating up his perp last week.

Almost. But he’ll never get the image of you scowling at him, standing over a knocked out drug dealer, out of his mind. That’s there rent free, as it were.

He studies you. Your clothes are exceedingly normal, you wear jeans and sweatshirts. Nothing noteworthy, except Jason does a double take one day because that’s definitely the sweatshirt you wore when Red Hood caught you in the act. And you’re wearing it again like it’s no big deal. At least you’ve cleaned it.

Are you a psychopath? Is this some Patrick Bateman, American Psycho shit? Maybe. It doesn’t seem like you have that many friends. Or any, really. While the other people pair off or leave class in groups, you walk out on your own. Again, fair. He’s a loner, too.

Besides, Jason doesn’t think you’re a psychopath. You weren’t coolly beating the shit out of the guy when he found you, you were furious; uncontrolled anger pushing you forward.

Heh. Been there.

Jason does a cursory search for you online, which also comes up empty. You don’t have any social media accounts, and your last name is an extremely common one that gives him no leads. He could slip into Red Hood and illegally widen his net, but that feels…invasive. The obvious place to start is to take a crack at the Gotham U servers and see if he can access your student account. That’ll get him your phone number and banking info, at the very least. But doing that to a fellow student doesn’t sit right with him. That’s not the only option; he could break into your apartment, or even snatch your phone out of your bag. He doesn’t like that, either.

Jason decides to do an experiment. He asks you out for coffee.

It’s weird. Really weird. It’d be easier if he were working undercover on a Red Hood op, then he could slip into any number of personas. But you already know him as that one dude from your lit class. And if he declares as an English major at the end of next semester, which he probably will, you might be in other classes together. He can’t slip into and out of your life on a whim, he has to do this as Jason.

That makes it a million times harder.

It is hell getting up the courage to talk to you in the first place. Maybe this should surprise him, but it doesn’t. He hasn’t talked to a normal person since before he died. Everything from that point on has been cold, cruel planning, or rebuffing the clumsy attempts of Bruce and Dick to get back in touch. The only people he talks to on the regular are the criminals he’s scaring crapless. And he sure as shit hasn’t made any friends at the university, whether that’s by his design or rough coincidence. This is his first time trying to make a friend in years.

Is that what he’s doing? Does he want to be your friend? That one confuses him. It’s the first time he’s tried to get close to anyone his age since he woke up. Definitely the first time he’s done it as Jason. Does this count as making a friend? If he’s only getting close to you because it’s easier than doing it as Red Hood?

It makes him scratch his head. That’s above his pay grade.

So, asking you out is hard. He decides to rip the bandaid off after your next class. While everyone is packing up, he clears his throat to get your attention.

You look up from your bag. When you register that it’s Jason talking to you, your eyes become guarded. It makes him lose his focus. What was that for?

“Yeah?”

“Uhh…” your gaze becomes disbelieving as he fumbles. “I’m Jason.” He winces.

“Yeah.” His face flushes. This is humiliating. Is it his imagination, or are the other students giggling at him? Is the prof looking at him in sympathy?

Oh my god. Why is this so fucking hard?

“Are you…do you want to get coffee?” He runs his hand over the back of his head. Somewhere, Dick is laughing at this, Jason’s first time asking someone on a date as a college kid.

Is he asking you on a date? His eye twitches.

You still haven’t answered, and Jason’s hoping you’ll turn him down just to put him out of his misery. He’ll leave with his tail between his legs and resigns himself to breaking into your apartment.

“Yeah, okay.”

Jason picks up his head, eyebrows shooting to his hairline. Oh. Great. Mission accomplished.

Something inside jumps at the thought of anyone wanting to spend time with him. Like a flower stretching toward the light.

He temporarily ignores it. Again, above his pay grade.

“Now?” you ask quizzically. Jason shrugs.

“Yeah, why not?” Might as well get this over with.

“Okay.” You finish packing up and follow him out of the building. When you realize he’s heading toward the student center, you frown. “There?”

“Uh, yeah.” It was the only place that had come to mind. “There’s a cafe inside.”

“Do you mind if we go somewhere off campus? This one jacks up the prices.”

Jason tries something he’s seen in movies. “It’s on me.” He gives you an awkward smile.

Your eyes narrow. After staring at him for a few seconds, you shake your head. “No thanks. I’d rather just go somewhere else, if that’s cool.”

Huh. “Yeah, sure,” he says easily, and lets you lead the way. Maybe your refusal should seem strange, but it doesn’t. He’d have done the same thing.

You’re silent as you lead him off campus and a few blocks over to a nondescript coffee shop. It’s not cute or anything, the decoration is minimal, and there are only a few people inside.

He coughs. “You come here often?” On its way out he realizes it sounds like a pickup line, but he genuinely wants to know.

Your eyes narrow at him again. “Sometimes.”

Wow. If you’re going to have a stick up your ass, why’d you agree to come with him in the first place?

Moving aside, you gesture at him to order. He gets a small black coffee with room for milk. You order the same. He finds himself wondering if that’s deliberate, or just your normal coffee order.

You both dump in milk, and Jason notices you sprinkle some cinnamon on top. This is a useless detail.

He hears you scoff. Glancing up, he sees you’ve caught him staring into your cup. He flushes, but lets a sheepish grin unfold on his face. You ignore it, turning and stalking off to a table.

What the hell is your problem? He trails after you, dropping into a seat across from yours. You set your coffee on the table and fold your arms over your chest, glaring at him.

“So, uh…” he racks his brain. “How do you like the class?”

“It’s fine.”

He waits a moment, but you don’t ask any follow up questions. “What do you think of Paradise Lost? Do you like it?”

“Oh, sure. ‘Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven,’” you recite easily.

Jason resist the urge to analyze your choice of quote. For one, it feels stupid, and for another, it’s arguably the most famous quote in the whole poem. That’ll get him nowhere.

“Yeah,” he says lamely. You raise your coffee to your lips.

Again, he waits for you to ask him a question, but you remain silent, drinking your coffee steadily. Damn. Why the hell are you so closed off? He squints at you, and you stare back openly. You’re deliberately trying to keep him in the dark. But then why did you agree to get coffee?

Faced with your hostility, he relaxes. You clearly don’t like him, so what does he have to lose?

“What do you think you’ll study?” he asks you.

You flick something off your sweatshirt. “Literature, probably,” you say off-handed.

He nods. “Me too,” he offers, but you stare at him blankly.

He chuckles. Seems like you’re an asshole, but this is actually kind of fun.

“Why’d you come to Gotham U?” he prods.

You shrug. He opens his mouth. “Really? No reas—”

“Why did you come to Gotham U?” you cut across him bitingly.

That stops him short. He can’t help it, he shrugs, knowing you won’t like it.

You roll your eyes. He stifles a grin.

“Did you grow up in Gotham?”

“Yes.” You don’t elaborate.

“Where?”

“Did you grow up in Gotham?” you parrot instead of answering.

He inclines his head at you, smiling. “Yeah.”

“Where?” Jason doesn’t answer, smiling knowingly at you. You scoff and look away.

“You got any siblings?”

You hesitate. Jason clocks it eagerly. “Yeah,” you say, a second later.

“How many?”

“You got any siblings?” you ask instead of answering.

That pulls Jason up short. He should’ve seen that one coming, probably should have avoided it by not asking you in the first place. He pauses, for much longer than you did. He half notices you catch it, but his mind is elsewhere.

Does he have any siblings? That would mean he has a father. He can’t go down that path.

He chews on his lip, absently watching you watch him. Bruce might not be his father, but Dick…he and Dick are something. Not friends, definitely not friends. Maybe brother is the best word.

“Yes,” he settles on eventually.

You raise an eyebrow, and he braces himself, but you don’t ask him how many. Instead, you look away, gulping down your coffee.

You’re obviously not going to make an effort. Jason tries again. “What do you do for fun?”

“Nothing.”

He bursts out laughing, and you look at him accusatorially. He can’t help it.

“No sports or anything like that?”

“No.”

“No martial arts?”

This gets your attention. “Maybe,” you say begrudgingly. “Why do you want to know?”

Jason leans back in his chair. “Just trying to make a friend.” He looks at you earnestly, barely hiding his glee.

“Pick someone else.”

That makes him laugh all over again. What crawled up your ass and died? By the way you’re acting, you’d think it was Jason.

His laughter seems to make you furious. “What do you do for fun, then?” you shoot across the table.

Jason smiles, laughter dying out. “Nothing,” he looks at you innocently. Actually, it’s the same shit as you.

You glare at him, lifting your coffee to your lips. Jason realizes your cup is almost empty. You’re probably trying to escape, but Jason’s having too much fun to let you get away. Besides, he’s still got some questions.

“You done? Here, let me get you a refill.” He jumps to his feet before you can stop him, all but running to the counter. Getting your coffee gives him time to think.

So martial arts, huh? That’s what he’d thought. He’s seen you move around campus, you can’t be that well trained, or you’re taking great pains to hide it. Jason’s got good eyes though, and he thinks you’re pretty unskilled. That’s enough to get the drop on most petty criminals.

He considers this as he pays for your drink. You’re not well-trained, and you don’t have any weapons or tactical gear. You’re probably not trying to break out as Gotham’s newest vigilante. It seems like this is a short-term thing, you’re on some kind of mission.

He remembers how angry you were as you beat that guy to a pulp. Some kind of revenge mission, maybe? Plenty of reasons to want revenge in Gotham.

Jason looks back to you, half expecting you to have left when his back was turned. But no, there you are, holding a five dollar bill between your fingers. He chuckles, adds milk and a splash of cinnamon to your drink before returning to the table. You wave the money in his face, and he takes it from you.

“I get to keep the change, then?”

“No.”

He smiles, fishes out his wallet and hands you a dollar. You squint at him, holding out your hand for the remaining fifty cents. “That’s my tip, because I remembered to add cinnamon to yours.” He grins wildly.

“Okay.” You rise to your feet, pulling on your jacket. “This has been great, but I’ve got shit to do.” You pick up the coffee and walk out.

“We’ll do this again?” he calls to you. You don’t even look back at him.

Jason smirks through the rest of his coffee. He didn’t learn shit about you, but damn. This ‘date’ just made his whole week.

[legally-allowed-to-slime]

been receiving asks in various degrees of seriousness (you guys are very nice) so i might as well elaborate on galaxy duo before any actual toxicity leaks in

first of all. i could care less if you love galaxy duo and think they’re fluffy and cute. there’s only so much objective interpretation you can draw from literal cubes, so at a certain point it’s just your biases forming your opinions, same way you can’t build a house with two bricks. personally, i found them interesting, my interest dipped slightly in the latter half of WL, but who knows? their dynamic could change if/when there’s a new season.

a disclaimer in advance: if it wasn’t already apparent by the asks (anyway the only people who will see this are people who were following me already but this is jic), i am a pearl main. i don’t watch scott because i don’t like the editing. therefore my takes are exceedingly biased but so is pearl, so there’s that.

let’s talk about their dynamic pre-WL. for LL, i’ll accept that they were a cute wholesome duo. i didn’t watch LL so i can’t really say anything, but from what i’ve heard they were your regular alliance. and then in DL. well. the Horrors. i’ve said a lot about DL already so we’re going to settle and say, pearl absolutely deserved to be mad at scott. abandoning her and not even considering a polycule was not very open minded of him

anyway throughout LiL and SL she’s still angry at him and wants to kill him, which again, i find fair because of the tilly death do us part sacrifice (i invite you to rethink the implications of that line paired with what he did next. essentially saying “we break up when one of us dies” and then killing yourself. ?).

and then add in the element of gem in SL. trust me she’s relevant. gem and pearl have a thing going on, scott doesn’t like it because he sees it as gem nearly leaving their alliance for his ex, but still, because gem is Gem, he holds back on giving her the jimmy/pearl/joel treatment and still tries to be nice to her.

WL begins. it’s a lot. gem doesn’t like pearl because she viewed it as a betrayal and also she finds it funny to play around with her like that. scott doesn’t like pearl. pearl doesn’t like scott.

this is where it starts to get contentious, but also a hill that i will die on: the Gs were absolutely toxic, at least for the first four episodes. i don’t really feel like pointing out all the clips of the pointed comments, the veiled insults, the DIRECT QUOTE of “we’re a family whether you like it or not”, so i’ll use two examples, one for scott, one for pearl.

pearl borderline sold her alliance out. mumbo and skizz came up to pearl, explicitly told her that they were trying to kill her allies, and she not only agreed but engaged in friendly conversation with them for the entirety of their hiding. when the rest of the Gs came back (even joel commented on how pearl was alone at the base), mumbo even helped pearl cover up.

this is not normal alliance behaviour, and definitely not normal pearl behaviour. if pearl was happy in the alliance she wouldn’t have practically invited two would-be murderers to kill her allies. neither is she unjustified with how scott and cleo dismissed her feelings from DL. look, pearl is one of the most loyal lifers, to the point she faced a messy breakup with gem. even to mumbo she was reluctant to trash talk scott or cleo, but still, she let them make the hole, because plain and simple, the alliance was toxic.

as for scott; scott was more friendly to gem than pearl. see, i told you she was relevant. this is less black-and-white than the mumbo and skizz trap, but in social terms it means a lot. it’s like your bestie siding with your ex instead of you, which if you think about it was exactly what was happening. scott spouts a lot about loyalty, but he thinks about it very plainly: loyalty is killing yourself for your ally. but in fact what he did was push the “antagoniser” narrative onto pearl and reinforce and encourage it. gem said an inch, he said a mile.

not to say gem wasn’t the one who created it in the first place, but as pearl’s ally, scott’s first reaction shouldn’t have been to side with gem (he admits to pearl that he doesn’t know what she did, but that based off gem’s reaction he just assumes that pearl did something wrong, despite KNOWING that gem has beef with pearl from SL and is thus an unreliable narrator). as pearl’s (and impulse’s, but to a lesser extent because impulse kind of deserved it for going on about the cows) ally, he shouldn’t have brought it up at the start of every session and result in pearl defending herself furiously before he dragged pearl and impulse to apologise to gem.

this is not up for debate. wl!pearl did nothing to gem, or to anyone. scott tried to convince her to apologise to gem, for nothing. again, even gem points this out to pearl, and because pearl is loyal to a fault, she says that scott’s her ally.

anyway. the Gs were toxic for at least the first four episodes, full stop.

here’s where it starts to derail slightly (for me, at least): the sacrifice. but, you know, let’s examine the circumstances a little closer. as background information, pearl was the only yellow/red whose allies didn’t try to get them a kill. like, the Gs’ approach to gaining lives is not to kill others but to spend one session doing nothing before the guy with the most lives offers to kill himself. strange. lots of issues, these two.

anyway, scott offers the sacrifice, and pearl’s initial reaction is to refuse. the alliance talks it through, and decides it would take the target off scott’s back and give pearl a life. pearl and scott have pretty similar playstyles, in that while they do engage in more rp than say, grian or jimmy, they are also, in a way, sweats. the sacrifice was discussed logically, practically, and it turned out to be a logical decision because without it pearl would’ve permadied a few sessions too early.

here’s where i was a little thrown off, by the presenting that this would be somehow cathartic (iirc, scott uses this exact word) because pearl finally gets to kill scott. it’s funny because pearl does admit while they’re going back to base that she would’ve preferred a 1v1, but i don’t think her deal was ever over that she wanted scott to die. sure, she wanted scott dead, but it was because she didn’t have agency in the dl finale. in the same way, the WL sacrifice isn’t exactly because she really wanted the life (she refused it at first), or because she wanted to kill scott so badly (she said she wanted a 1v1), but mainly because both parties recognised that it was the most sensible decision to do in the circumstances that they were in (scott was dark green, pearl needed a life). to me, it didn’t address pearl’s lack of control over the season that she won, or scott’s distrust of pearl.

but whatever. they act friendly for the rest of the season, because technically their story’s been resolved, so there’s no aggression to be acted out. nothing galaxy duo there.

the ONLY OTHER thing of note is the?? matching hoodie?? not on my bingo card at all. i’ve spoken about it in some ask before but it’s just so random to me? like it never went anywhere, and i don’t see why scott wanted to match red hoodies with her anyway. like why her, specifically? pearl hadn’t killed anyone besides martyn, and that was to avenge her allies. they never address this so i suppose this lack of logic is what spurs on the majormoon truthers; that scott loves pearl so much that he wants to match with her so they can be like a #dynamicduo or something.

uhhhhhhhh. i dunno. it’s just so random and again, because it’s never brought up besides pearl’s cursory “oh, we’re matching” (which we now know was planned because scott asked for permission when getting the skin), it doesn’t have any narrative significance to me. maybe scott explains it in his video. idk

anyway, my problem was how a duo with so much bad blood (>3 seasons), to the point that they were at each other’s throats while in the same alliance, was just kinda. rushed? look, i know the life series isn’t scripted, and the players just have to make do with whatever improv they can do, and i do think scott and pearl did the best with what they had, but personally i was hoping that they wouldn’t go the “pearl finally forgives scott! yay scott for sacrificing!” route because it’s pushed under the rug so suddenly in the hopes of achieving any sort of closure.

again, ccs are fine, i think they were great, i wasn’t a big fan of how the story was handled. that’s it

[albertasunrise]

Hope - No Hope

Masterlist

Summary: After Joel loses his wife and your best friend during childbirth. You support him as he takes on parenthood on his own at 22. But when feelings start to develop, you battle with the guilt you feel for falling for your best friend’s husband.

Relationships: Joel Miller x Reader

Warnings: Like AO3 I choose to give none. Read at own risk. 18+… this is to avoid spoilers! (I am so sorry this has taken so long. As many of you know I am expecting my first baby and the little miracle has been draining the lift out of me 😂 but I am getting over that now and so I will be updating my fics over the coming weeks 🥰 hope you enjoy!)

Series Masterlist - Part 1, Part 2

One year later...

Weekends at yours with Alec grilling had become a tradition. Noah and Sarah still adored each other and were practically joined at the hip at this point. You'd been with Alec for over a year. Moving it with each other not long after getting together Joel had been left to try and pull himself out of the dark hole your leaving him and Sarah had left him in. Yet, despite the crippling jealousy that he felt towards the other man for capturing your heart, he could not hate him. Alec was the perfect gentleman. You and he flourished together and helped Joel whenever he needed it. It was impossible to be anything but happy for you both. 

"Sarah come." Said Noah as he took her hand and helped her waddle over to his jungle gym "Play princesses." 

Joel watched with fondness as his 18th-month daughter walked with the little boy, her legs still a little wobbly but getting stronger every week. He kept an eye on them both whilst listening in to the conversation that was flowing between the adults. Tommy laughed as he told them a story about one of his friends, the older brother smiling at how enthusiastically his brother spoke about his brothers in arms. 

"How's work been for you Joel?" You asked, pulling his gaze away from the kids and towards you as you smiled sweetly at him. 

"Business is good." Joel answered with a shrug "Can't complain really." 

"How did your date with that client's daughter go?" Tommy asked as he gave his brother a wink. 

"You had a date?" You practically squeaked, looking between the two brothers with giddy excitement. 

"Was fine." Joel shrugged "She was sweet but we just didn't click." Joel shrugged, looking down at the beer in his hand in hoping that you would drop it. 

"What really happened?" You pushed and he sighed, there was no hiding anything from you. 

"She uh... Well, she freaked out when I told her I had a kid." He answered honestly "Can't blame her. I'm 22 with a toddler. Not exactly what you expect or what from a relationship in your early twenties." 

"Joel..." 

"It's fine... Honestly, what 20-something What's a kid right?" 

Your mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. Unable to find the words to say to make him feel better. He was so young and yet he seemed so set that he was to face life alone. 

"Foods up" Stated Alec as he placed the plate of burgers down beside the salad you'd placed there a few minutes ago.

"KIDS." Joel shouted, smirking when just their heads appeared in the doorway of the fort "FOOD!" he finished, outright smirking at how their eyes widened before they scrambled over to the table. 

Lunch passed with ease. Noah found it exceedingly funny how his little friend pulled her burger apart so that she could eat it all in separate pieces. Then after the dishes were cleared away and the kids were out down for a nap the four of you sat in the garden and enjoyed the piece and quiet. The conversation flowed easily and everything was relaxed. 

Until you and Alec dropped your news. 

"We're real glad that the two of you were able to make it." Alec said as he glanced at you and smiled. 

"Why's that?" Tommy asked as he eyed you and Alec. 

"Well, we got some news." 

Joel's stomach dropped. 

"Y'all getting married?" Tommy fired at them and they chuckled.

"No... Although we have been discussing it." Alec chuckled. 

"What is it then?" Tommy pushed and Joel wished his brother wouldn't. He wasn't sure he wanted to know. 

"We're gonna have a baby." You gushed and Joel swore his heart stopped altogether.

"What?" 

Your brows pulled together at his question and he internally scorned himself for his reaction. He hadn't meant to say that out loud but he couldn't believe what he was hearing. 

You were pregnant? 

"What my brother meant to say was congrats." Tommy piped up, pulling Joel back to earth with a crash. 

"Yeah... Course I did... just caught me by surprise is all." Joel stated, giving you what he hoped was a convincing smile. 

"Yeah... we uh..." Alec chuckled as you both gazed at each other a moment and grinned "We were too. Would be lying if we said we planned this." 

That didn't make Joel feel any better. 

"We have one too many bottles of wine to thank for this." You sniggered as you placed your hand on the bump that Joel had completely missed before. 

"Well, we already know you're both gonna be ace parents." Tommy said as he jumped to his feet, bending down to hug both you and Alec. 

Joel's heart was in his throat. He had worked so hard to bury his feelings for you but this news had just dredged them from the depths and shoved them in his face. He felt like he was under a spotlight as you all turned to look at him, waiting for him to speak. Sarah crying down the baby monitor couldn't have come at a better time. 

The tearful daddies had him standing from his seat quickly and muttering a few nervous sorry's before he sprinted inside to his daughter. You couldn't help but be confused by Joel's reaction to your news. You'd thought he would be happy for you. 

Meanwhile, Joel was rocking his sniffly little girl as she settled in his arms, placing soft kisses on her head of curly hair as he whispered how it was okay to her whilst swallowing back his own tears. He soothed his little girl back to sleep, laying her back down in her cot before stumbling back onto the couch behind him, falling into it and throwing his head in his hands as he allowed his tears to flow. 

Something you watched from the shadows as your heart shattered for him. You weren't sure why he was so broken but you hated seeing him hurt. Little did you know that he was mourning the fact that you were completely and utterly lost to him now. He officially had no hope of sharing his life with the woman who had pulled him from the deepest pit and brought him into the light. The woman who had taught him that life was worth living. 

That everyone has a second chance at love.

...

Tommy watched his brother from the kitchen as the man finished cleaning away the mess Sarah had left from dinner. They had left a short while after you and Alec had made your announcement, Joel remaining quiet the rest of the time they were there. He knew something was up. His brother wasn't good at hiding his true feelings, he wore them on his sleeve and he felt conflicted about his sibling's reaction to your pregnancy. Part of him felt for Joel. Knowing that for longer than his older brother had realised, he'd had feelings for you and how this bombshell must have shattered him. The other part though was angry that Joel hadn't even tried to pretend that he was happy for you. 

"Joel." He called out when his brother's cleaning got more erratic "Joel!" He said a little louder when his first call fell on deaf ears. 

"What." The older man growled, coming to a stop and gripping the edges of the counter as he stared at the bottles now soaking in the sink. 

"You could have been nicer about her news." He said plainly, pulling Joel's gaze to him. 

"What?" He asked again, but his tone changed. 

"I get that you're probably feeling a bit bummed about this but-" 

"Bummed?" Joel snarled, stopping his brother in his tracks "You think I'm feeling bummed about this?"

"You know what I mean... I get you're disappointed but you could have at least pretended to be happy for her." 

Joel said nothing. 

His chest heaved as his brother's words whirled in his brain. Bummed... he thought to himself. BUMMED?? He hadn't meant to yell that last thought at his brother. 

"I am fucking devastated." Joel choked, taking his brother by surprise "A year and a half ago... I lost my wife on what should have been the happiest day of my life." 

Tommy flinched at the mention of Joel's dead wife. 

"I drove home alone... with this tiny person beside me and I honestly thought that my life was over..." He trailed off as he scraped a shaky hand over his face "And then I walk into that very lounge and there's this ray of light shining back at me. 

"She pulled me back from the brink and despite my brain telling me it was wrong... I fell for her. But my wife had just died and I had a new baby so I pushed it away... Pushed her away..." Joel was sobbing now, his cheeks glittering with the tears that tracked down them "I pushed her away and she stumbled into the arms of another man. A man that I can't even hate because he's so fucking perfect for her!" 

"But you are-"

"I'm a fucking wreck, Tommy." Joel interrupted "I am nothing but bad for her and my feeling devastated about her happy news just proves that." 

"Joel..." Tommy trailed off, his heart aching for his older brother now. 

"I fucked up." He finished, shrugging and leaving the room. 

As the weather grew a little more changeable, dinners at your home became more scarce. Instead, you had started to have Sarah over for a few hours in the evening as Joel's hours had gotten longer. He never stuck around when collecting her though and you knew he was avoiding you. You hadn't pushed the subject of witnessing him crying. You'd barely mentioned the pregnancy around him in the short moments you did share any conversation. One month merged into two. Two into three and you felt him grow more and more distant with each one. 

You ached to talk to him though. To try and understand why your happy news had affected him the way it had. You wondered if perhaps it had brought up the hurt of losing Ali. They had broken the news to you in a similar way. Dinner at there's with you and a few other close friends, they had announced that they were expecting. Perhaps it had brought up memories and feelings he'd not dwelt on for a while. 

He never gave you a chance to find out though. You would share a few words. Mostly about what Sarah had been up to at nursery and with you before discussing what she had for dinner and any other days he may need you to have her. Your friendship had become little more than a business transaction and it was breaking your heart... And Alec could see how much it was breaking you. 

He only allowed one more month of this to continue before he finally decided that enough was enough. 

...

Joel glanced up at the door, glancing at Tommy before pushing himself to his feet and walking up to answer it. He had no clue who would be at his door at 9 in the evening but if he had hazard a guess, he wouldn't have ever thought it was Alec. 

"Hey." Alec said as he gave the man a smile "Hope I'm not interrupting." 

"Tommy and I were just watching the game." Joel replied and Alec nodded "What can I do for you?" He asked as he glanced over the man's shoulder "Everything okay?" 

"Oh yeah." Alec nodded, giving Joel's arm a friendly pat "I just thought you and I could go for a drink. Catch up... It's been a while." 

"Oh, I don't know... Sarah-" 

"Can be sat by her uncle Tommy for a few hours." Piped up his younger sibling as he walked up behind him "Go, I can handle shit here for a while." 

"You referring to it as shit doesn't give me much confidence." Joel grumbled as he grabbed his jacket and followed Alec to his car "Page me if you need me." He threw over his shoulder as he turned his head to look at his brother who was waving him off from the front door. 

"Won't need ya, brother." 

...

Alec drove to a bar not far from Joel's. It was fairly busy but not so much so that they couldn't hear each other talk. The conversation had flowed surprisingly easily at first. Something that Joel had always admired about Alec was that the man loved to talk about his kid. He sat there and gushed about how well Noah and Sarah played together. How she seemed to hang off of his every action. 

"He's constantly talking to baby." Alec chuckled "Telling her all the games he wants to play and-" 

"Her?" Joel piped up and Alec grinned and nodded "Shit... yeah I wasn't supposed to say anything." He let out an awkward chuckle as he took a sip of his beer "We're having a girl." 

"Wow, that's... That's great." Joel replied, his tone turning flat as he took a large swig of his beer in the hope that it would mask his disappointment. 

"Yeah... We're excited." 

"I bet." 

An awkward silence fell over the duo a moment before Alec spoke again. Leaning forward in his chair and forcing himself into Joel's eyeline. 

"What's going on man?" He asked and Joel was surprised at how surprisingly soft his question was.

"What do you mean?" 

"I mean that since we announced that we're having a baby you've been off." He stated plainly "I've been watching you break your friend's heart month by month as you grow more and more distant with her." 

"Alec-" Joel was stopped by a raised hand and he sighed. 

"I know our news must have dredged up some memories for you but you can't push your friends away." Alec pleaded "We're here to help you, Joel." 

"That's not... It didn't..." Joel couldn't string the words together but Alec knew what he was trying to say. 

"Well if it isn't that... the only other logical reason for your reaction is that you're..." He trailed off as he put two and two together. His eyes trailing up to Joel as the last puzzle piece falls into place. 

"You're in love with her... Aren't you?" 

Joel's eyes filled with tears as he nodded numbly. His eyes squeezed shut knocking a few of them free. Alec sat there in shock as he processed what he'd just learned. Joel's heart was in his throat as he watched the man work through everything he needed to. He had hoped that he would take this secret to his grave but in reality, he knew it had only been a matter of time before it came out. 

"Alec I'm sorry..." Joel choked, his eyes pleading with the man to believe him "I had feelings for her way before she met you but I was struggling with losing Ali and the fact I'd developed feelings for someone so soon after that I suppressed them and pushed her away and then she met you and I... Well, I was too late. You're good for her and I would never get in the way of you guys I just... I'm not good at handling this." 

This statement made Alec snort. He finally looked at Joel and the younger man readied himself for the verbal bashing he was undoubtedly about to receive. It never came. 

"I won't lie to you, man." Alec started with a sigh "This is not what I expected when I decided we needed to talk." 

Joel nodded, his eyes dropping to his beer bottle. 

"You need to buck up your ideas now though man." The man continued "She needs you... She needs Sarah. You're all she has left of Ali and she's been slowly killing herself trying to work out what she did wrong to make you so distant." 

"I didn't mean to hurt her." Joel mumbled and Alec nodded.

"I know man and I get why you've been behaving as you have. It's not gonna be easy learning the woman you love is having a baby with another man but we are your friends Joel and we can help you get through this. So let us." 

Joel nodded and gave the man a teary smile. 

They finished their beers before heading out of the bar and back to Alec's car. Joel had always admired the man's car. A black 66' Mustang that he had rebuilt with his dad as a kid. Alec had regaled the story fondly the first time Joel had set eyes on the car. 

"Wanna drive?" Alec asked as he waved the keys at Joel. 

The man's eyes widened as he nodded eagerly and Alec grinned as he tossed them to Joel as they swapped sides. To say Joel was excited did not do what he was feeling justice. He had been trying to think of a way to ask the man if he could take it for a spin since he met him, so to finally get the chance was beyond exciting. 

The straight six sitting under the bonnet roared to life and Joel and Alec both groaned before the younger man peeled out of the carpark and onto the main road. No words passed between them a while before Alec rolled his head to look at his friend, smiling at the giddy excitement plastered all over Joel. 

"I'm sorry you've been hurting man." He said simply "I want you to know that I genuinely care about you and I don't want to see you suffer." 

Joel shot him a smile, before returning his focus to the road. 

"We'll work this shit out." He finished, giving Joel's knee a friendly pat before turning his attention to the buildings that flew past his window. 

"Thank you." Joel said as he smiled over at Alec, his eyes then greeting the headlights of a truck that had just jumped a light. 

It was the last thing he said before the sound of metal being crushed rang in their ears. 

Then everything went black. 

Next

For updates follow @albertasunrise-ficsblog

[vaporwavebeach-writes]

Kinktober Day 14 (Orgasm Denial)

Jackson Rippner x Reader (NSFW)

(1,064 Words)

Summary: you refuse to give Jackson his phone call, so he refuses to let you come

Warnings/Tags: 18+, gender neutral reader, hostage situation, threats, airplane bathroom sex (woooo mile high club), little bit of hair pulling, Jackson being forceful, orgasm denial (duh)

Notes: ok, so I meant to write a fic for this movie WAAAAAAAY back in April but hey, better late than never LMAO enjoy the fic!!!

-

Never in a million years did you think you’d find yourself in a hostage situation, but here you are.

One moment, you’re sharing a drink with the charming man you met at the bar in the airport, then next thing you know, you’re forty thousand feet in the air, staring out the window, by that same charming man, keeping you trapped to your seat.

His plan to you was easy: call the hotel, and switch the room. That’s it. The way he had described it to you was exceedingly simple. He specifically told you, it’s simple. But if it was so simple, why would he threaten to kill your family? Why was he so hellbent on getting you to switch the room? Why would he shoot down your every single, rightful attempt to escape? If it was so simple, why couldn’t he do it? What was he really hiding from you?

“Jackson, this is fucking insane,” you hiss. “Sooner or later I was eventually going to have to go to the bathroom, it’s an eight hour flight for Christ sake.”

He holds up an empty water bottle. “Best I can do.”

“Oh, you think you’re funny?” You let out a soft chuckle, laced with annoyance. “You think you’re fucking funny? You’re not funny, Jackson.”

“Look, if you just made-”

“No, no, what would be funny, was if you let me piss myself, making a scene on this fucking plane, which I’m sure you wouldn’t want, right?”

Jackson sits there silently as you continue to go on your whispered tirade.

“And if I get taken away, you’ll never get that call.”

“Your family will die.”

“How bad do you want it, Jackson? Fucking try me. You want me to make that call? Then please, let me go.”

Jackson stares at you for a moment, completely dumbfounded. His icy eyes soon narrow into an amused gaze. He lets out an entertained sigh, and gets up from his seat.

You cock your head, confused. At first you think it’s some sort of trick until he motions for you to go. As you make your way down the aisle, you feel a tight grip on your wrist, holding you back.

“Don’t get cute.”

He lets you go, and you find yourself in the cramped space. After locking the door, you make the attempt to collect yourself, taking in a deep breath and exhaling a groan of pure rage. You curse yourself at the situation you found yourself in. You curse yourself for the possible danger you’ve landed your family and possibly innocent people in. You stare at yourself in the mirror, angry that you even let yourself fall for him back at the bar before all this even happened. At this point, you would like for nothing more than to punch the mirror, cracking and shattering it into shards.

Wait. The mirror?

Glancing at the soap dispenser, you frantically pump out some of the soap, forming suds on your hands. By the time you’re finished writing your message, you let out a laugh of relief. Cleaning off the evidence, satisfied with your plan to escape, the pride suddenly drops into the pits of your stomach as you find Jackson, waiting outside the door.

Before either of you can get a word out, you feel his hand covering your mouth. The back of your head hits the wall as he slams the bathroom door shut. You feel woozy, from the quick motion quickly halting to a stop. You can hardly pick up what he’s saying until you find your consciousness has faded back into place.

“If that little, by-the-book stewardess saw that, the plane would be safely landed, I wouldn’t be able to relay my command to the man outside your house, and your family will be dead.” His hand grips the sides of your cheeks, forcing your gaze to meet his. His eyes, glacial, look at you fixedly. “It would be wise of you to stop gambling with their lives.”

Due to the cramped space you two currently find yourselves in, you feel his body on top of yours, impossibly close. The room starts to grow heated. Breathing heavily, adrenaline flows through you, ready to escape by any means necessary. Without thinking, you press your lips to his.

He opens his mouth slightly, allowing you to feel one another’s tongues in your mouth. He nips at your lip as he pulls away, eliciting a soft mewl to escape your lips. You gaze into each other’s eyes, deeply, before diving back into one another.

The kisses grow more heated. You can feel him gripping at every curve and crevice of your body. Your hands make their way up to his head, fingers raking through his hair, giving it a soft tug. You note that this seems to spur him on, as he grinds himself against you. Feeling the sudden friction to your groan, you let out a hushed moan.

You soon find yourself being propped up on the sink. The sound of heavy breathing and Jackson unzipping his pants fills the cramped cubicle of a room. You can feel a growing dampness from within you sex. Arousal spikes within you, once Jackson’s throbbing cock is whipped out from his pants.

A hand drops in between your sex. You bite back a moan as Jackson gathers your pooling arousal, swiping over the spots that make you squirm. He lets out a smooth chuckle, pleased with himself. Positioning himself with your entrance, you feel his cock slide into you roughly. His other hand warps into your scalp, yanking you closer to him as he fucks into you.

His pace is slow, but exponentially rough. You can feel him splitting you open deliciously, fighting the urge to let out whimpers of pleasure escape, which would compromise both your position. It’s when he speeds up his pace, which has you getting more vocal as you beg for your release.

“Jackson, please,” you pant. Your back hits the wall with each thrust, feeling yourself come more and more undone.

“N-not until, fuck, you make, the call,” he grunts, pounding into you.

“Mmm, you know, I-I can’t do that.”

“Then I guess, you won’t be coming anytime soon,” he teases, cruelty staining his voice. He slows down his pace, significantly, forcing your approaching peak to cease. “It’s your choice, how bad do you want it?”

[naumaxia-art]

There wasn't enough Wyll x Tav art out there so I made some myself. Meet Frerin!

So funny story, when first started playing this game and saw Wyll's dramatic hero pose entrance, the first thing it made me think of that bit in LOTR two towers where Legolas surfs down a staircase, and since then I couldn't stop thinking about it. They're both exceedingly competent adventurers, who always try to do the right thing and like showing off a bit when they can, but you can still tell by watching them long enough that they're both so young (relatively speaking). Not to say Wyll is naive (although legolas definitely is a bit) but more that he puts on this 'worldly' front but is actually just as scared and confused and traumatised as anyone else. they also both have very subtle but completely fantastic senses of humour.

Unfortunately it took me wayyyy too long to realise this, and just realise how cool of a character Wyll is because I found the warlock class so difficult to play (he has like two spell slots and 8 strength ok, I was struggling) But when I started this playthrough I finallys tarted to get to grips with that and I am SO glad because he's quickly becoming my favourite character. I have so many THOUGHTS about this man and his story (Self sacrificing Paragon hero has to learn he deserves to be selfish sometimes is a favourite trope of mine) and basically I think he's about to become a party main in my other runs now.

So long story short I decided to give Wyll a dwarf bard boyfriend to be snarky with and fell in love.

Also his little spin kiss where he DROPS DOWN ONTO ONE KNEE is the most romantic thing ever, please if you haven't romance this man with a short character

LOOK AT THEM

[cloud-makers-make-pollution]

I mean I realise that I probably should’ve done an intro ages ago seeing as I’ve been active for months but hey Ho hERE WE GO

𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊

hi!

so

I’m a minor

I’m queer

I’m pro Palestinian

and if you’ve got a problem with that, with all due respect, fuck off.

I HAVE AN INSTA NOW LOOK

I aim to type in all lowercase or some weird combination of lower and upper case but I rarely use capital letters at the start of words, I don’t know why, it just seems aesthetically pleasing.

uhm

𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊

✨ interests✨

Musicals, especially Les Mis and Moulin Rouge, Hamilton and Six are awesome too

music? I suppose? it depends what’s happening with it

bothering the fuck out of my friends

being as gay as I possibly can

simping over people cause I can and cause they’re sO ATTRACTIVE LIKE WHAT WHO ALLOWED THEM TO BE LIKE THIS

les mis

enjolras, specifically.

more specifically, modern au enjoltaire fanfiction it’s beautiful and the epitome of perfection

marauders

cats. I love cats.

did I mention les mis

languages? I’m learning French and german in school, and according to my teachers I’m good at it, which I’m not so sure about, and I learn Swedish on duolingo

𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊

✨music✨

I mean my music taste moves around a lot but some of it is Madilyn Mei, EPIC the musical, musicals in general, Chappell Roan is cool, Leanna Firestone, but other than that it jumps around a bit

I do play instruments but I’m not too good at them I’ve managed to get to grade 7 on one of them and I think I died during the preparation for the exam and now I’m being slowly dragged up from hell it’s not fun

𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊

✨bOOKS✨

I love reading, and I used to read loads but something happened and I don’t read too much anymore which is quite sad but some of my favourite books/series are:

AGGGTM - Holly Jackson

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

Harry Potter - that one blonde bitch who abuses her power constantly

Powerless - Lauren Roberts

Gwen and Art are not in love - Lex Croucher

Heartstopper - Alice Oseman

The Grishaverse books - Leigh Bardugo

(Alina should’ve married Nikolai you can’t change my mind)

𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊

there more but I can’t remember, which probably isn’t great, and there were some gay books that I read for the gay but I can’t remember their titles or authors which is awesome but they were great

I mean just generally, I tend to be very opinionated and can go on about something for ages, maybe because I have a lot to say, or maybe because it takes me way too long to get to the point

If you’re a pedophile or a groomer or any of those other horrible things or discriminatory in any way whatsoever please stay away from me thank you kindly

I think that’s it I’m not sure

oh I really like making friends but I suck at doing it because according to my friend I have the “crippling inability to have a conversation” and I also have zero social skills and tend to not like people but making friends is great

most of my posts are either a lot of reblogs, having conversations with my mutuals, or les mis stuff that I thought was funny in the moment.

people who should be mentioned cause they’re great:

@noahher this is Noah Noah is great we have many conversations and he gave me a pet ferret that I have forgotten the name of I should go find that

(edit) i fOUND IT HIS NAME IS FREDDIE

@k-is-for-potassium I just met them but damn they’re awesome

@forever-bi-panic also just met but they’re so cool and really nice and goes hand in hand with @nu-get who’s also exceedingly awesome

@im-a-skeleton-in-your-closet is up here too, they’re great and they send asks that make me happy :D

@bleep-bloop-boo FELLOW MADILYN MEI ENTHUSIAST IS COMPLETELY AWESOME

@feernflower I tag them in every tag thing I get even though I’ve never interacted with them properly (I’m sorry you seem so cool) and they’re a marauders fan who posts cool stuff go look at it

@nothing-but-glitter-and-lashes HELLO this is my sister she’s great and her blog is cool (I’m in your walls)

@ladymoonstardust aux armies!!! vive les gays!!! the revolution must begin!!!!! exceedingly cool les mis person, and with whom one hath a number of enlightening conversation, more often than not to do with the wonderful beings in that one musical about the land of croissant

@sing-me-sweetly-to-my-doom 🫵🫢🫵😮🫢😮

tis my best friend irl <3

@genderfluid-goblin HELLO :D

thanks for being here!

and as always, free Palestine

<3

[pinazee]

Who ya gonna call? (The DID/trans ep)

Ill be honest i was nervous to rewatch this one but turns out it held up better than i thought. I mean, the worst of it is that the DID person is the murderer but that was such a common tv thing back then for procedurals. Every one had to have a DID ep, even though, as Psych points out, its so exceedingly rare. I get it, its a fun concept, but yeah, don’t make them the violent ones when 9 times out of 10 they’re the victims of violent crimes. I will say though, Psych made sure to include they were getting the help they needed and they really didn’t have to.

But what a cool way to show it though, having the other personalities act like ghosts. It feels very poetic. And to have one personality trans is such an interesting layer on top of it. It really can’t get more complicated than that.

This episode also tells us so much about Lassiter! Hes trying desperately to win back his not-yet-ex wife its kind of heartbreaking. We’re starting Psych right at the beginning of Lassiters downfall. He gets separated, has an “affair” with his partner who gets reassigned because ppl found out thanks to Shawn, and i believe its later implied he lost the promotion to captain because of that affair. And then Shawn comes along and he’s solving his cases. I have to wonder though, since we see in this ep how distracted he can be when he has personal issues, if Lassiter isn’t necessarily a bad detective in the beginning but just going through some shit and missing things. It kind of makes me understand why he’s so hostile to Shawn in the beginning. Not that thats any excuse. Just because you’re having a bad day doesn’t mean you get to shit on other ppl’s. And it was fun to see lassiters and Juliets miscommunication. It was nice to see them easing into their partnership, and allowing friction, particularly:

What was henry going to do if that kid just started wailing on shawn??? Honestly, probably would have tried to teach shawn how to hit back and would’ve got him pummeled.

Its kind of funny that in this ep Shawns all this guy believes in ghosts, hes crazy, when in later eps he’s so excited about aliens and bigfoot haha. I can only conclude Shawn doesn’t really believe in anything supernatural but definitely wants to. I think it would have been better if Shawn didn’t think the guy was crazy right off the bat but maybe had a stalker, or intruder. (P.s were the writers implying Shawn was right from the beginning and they were crazy, or was that just poor wording??)

Sidenote: Shawn just casually spoke german and seemingly understood her response. He probably simply knew enough to impress her, but still. He does this a few times i think in the series where he lets it slip how much he actually knows.

[hyperfixatedcatlover]

The Beauty's Rebirth - Chapter 2: Mother Agent

Hey y'all! Sorry this took so long to get out! Please cast your votes! I will write all paths but I will write them one at a time so I want to know what you all would want!

TW: Child abuse, starvation, mentions of being trafficked, MDNI

I do not support or condone such behaviors in real life, this is purely fiction.

Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2(You are here)

In modeling, there is a term models are aware of. This term is "Mother agent." The mother agent is the agency or the person that discovered you.

'It's funny,' you think to yourself on the way to your house ship - as one of, if not, the most famous models in the galaxy, having a nice apartment that can also travel the stars was exceedingly helpful - 'my mother agent is more of a mother than my actual one.'

The craft driving you home is silent on the inside, but the silence is thick. The typical post-filming headache has set in, restarting the typical routine of these gigs. You smiled, you waved as you went to the dressing room, you took the expensive dress off and put on another nice, semi-less stifling outfit, waved as you went to the car, continued to wave out the window as the car drives away until you were finally out of sight. In these moments of traveling while the pressure in your skull causes the intense desire for pure, uninterrupted quiet, your mind can't help but drift. And drift it does, into the dark recesses of your brain where the memories of your childhood are.

'Mother always hated my beauty, I wonder what she thinks of it now.' Your mother was always jealous. At just five years old, the curls in your hair and the smile that shone seemed to tell her that you were much more beautiful, something she couldn't be. Of course it had to be your fault, of course she needed to punish you for it, of course she needed to starve you when you were seven to keep your figure, of course she needed to train you in acting docile and submissive, though that may have been the malnourishment that caused you to not ever speak up. Mistakes were met with harsh punishment,

"It's for your own good, you ungrateful spawn!"

You shake the memory out of your head, instead choosing to remember the kind woman at the modeling agency, which was small and didn't have that much money who took a chance on you. Poor, starving, freezing you, who she gave a roof over your head and a job, who listened to the story of your parents selling you off to become a concubine to a man thrice your age on another planet, how they faked your death at home. The woman who taught you what you needed to know. In your reminiscence, you to see something out of the corner of your eye. You catch sight of a light blue planet with golden swirls in various parts. Gold and blue… The colors cause your brain to remember someone, someone you miss dearly. I wonder how those two are doing.

The Halovian boy who was only a year older than you, and his sister who was two years your junior, the Oak Branch of The Family. They were the only two people who ever made you happy. At one of the events you were allowed to go to at just nine years of age, you got lost and began to cry no matter how hard you tried to resist it. It was at that point when a boy of slightly shorter height than yours and his much smaller sister found you. When I looked into the young boy's eyes, I felt seen. You were friends ever since, though your meetings were few and far between from how your families kept you busy.

Mr. Wood must have given him some freedom now, I know Robin is a singer, and Sunny most likely is in charge of something back home. If I can even call such a place home.

Childhood friend musings aside, your aircraft has landed in your garage, and you step out waving Charles, your Chauffer, goodbye as you scan your fingerprint to unlock the door. As you step into the home, the mewls of your cherry pie and lemon merengue pie snacks cause you to giggle as the hop towards you like they haven't seen you in months, despite only having been gone for five hours. You pat their heads and go to the master bathroom and shower, scrubbing the makeup, hair spray, and whatever else they put on your skin and in your hair. As you exit the bathroom, now wearing a satin nightgown, you see the snacks waiting for you on the bed.

Oh those cuties, I wish I could stay with them all day.

You join them on the bed when you get a message, your mother agent.

'Hey, you have a couple days off but before you go to bed, you need to hear the options to decide what your next shoot is. I'll get your answer tomorrow so you can think about it.'

'I get to decide?'

'My assistant's system glitched out and crashed, causing three events to be scheduled at the same time. I'll handle the fallout, but you should pick what you want to do.'

'Oh, okay! What are my options?'

'First option is that you could go to a planet, called Belobog, which recently made contact with the IPC and do a shoot there to increase tourism.'

'I guess I wouldn't need heavy security as most people there won't know who I am.'

'True, but you'll still have some. The next option is a shoot on the Xianzhou Loufu. An indie designer you've modeled for in the past is launching a line of traditional hanfu-inspired nightgowns and wants you to model a few, some are a smidge risqué, however.'

'I think I've shown more skin than was you're implying, I'll be fine if I go that route, but what is the last option?'

'You don't have to go to this one, I will make sure your reputation with this brand doesn't sink.'

'What do you mean? You're freaking me out a little bit.'

'The last option is with a major brand, they have a new clothing line with vintage clothes with a modern twist. The shoot will be in Penacony.'

'Oh.'

'My thoughts exactly. I'll let you think about what you want and talk to you tomorrow. Goodnight, sleep well!'

Mother Agent has gone offline

You set the phone on the nightstand and ponder.

Do I go somewhere new and help a planet's economy? Do I go to a smaller designer and give them more reputation? Or, do I go home? Where do I go?

After some tossing and turning, you fall asleep, dreams not reaching you, just a voice telling you to fly free. When you wake up, the snacks are ready for food. As the coffee brews and the snacks munch, you pick up your phone, having made your decision.

'I want to go to…'

[kaxtwenty]

Star Wars Rebels is one of my favorite shows. I can still remember back when it was just a planned project I'd occasionally hear about either online or in a commercial on Disney XD. I found it a bit funny at the time, because I remembered wondering what they were gonna name the next show after The Clone Wars--because obviously there was gonna be a show after The Clone Wars--and lo and behold I got my answer; Star Wars Rebels (way better than Star Wars Galactic Civil War). I caught the trailers, interviews and the character profile videos online and even managed to catch the shorts during the months leading up to the premiere. Little eleven year old me was optimistic that somehow this show would help fill the Clone Wars shaped hole in my heart.

And boy did it. I remember watching the premiere sitting on the floor, loving every second of it. I especially felt connected to Ezra, who, at that point, was the Star Wars protagonist that I was the closest to in age. Next thing I knew, three and a half years had gone by and the Rebels finale ended up being one of the most emotionally distressing episodes of television that I had ever viewed. At first I didn't like the epilogue funnily enough, but soon came to realize that it was perfect.

This show means a lot to me. It was never the most popular in the fandom, honestly it felt like a good chunk of TCW fans just wish it didn't exist, still bitter about Clone War's cancellation and blaming Rebels for it. The show was chided as childish and silly (this is a Star Wars show we're talking about btw), the animation was cheaper than the later few seasons of Clone Wars, the lower rating meant that it couldn't get away with the same level of violence as Clone Wars and the only things about it that were universally praised were the elements and characters that related to Clone Wars. It felt like Rebels, like many of its own characters, just couldn't escape the shadow of The Clone Wars. But those of us who watched and kept up with it, grew to love its characters, its art, its music and its story--we knew that Rebels was special in its own way. I honestly believe now that Rebels surpasses The Clone Wars in many regards and it's been exceedingly vindicating to see Rebels increase in popularity and become well-respected by the community at large.

Rebels still one of the only pieces of media to really make me engage with fandom at a deeper level, for better or worse. I definitely wouldn't have made this tumblr account last year if it weren't for me rewatching the show with my family and getting back into the swing of things. And I probably wouldn't have found the courage to try and get into art earlier this year if it weren't for that either. So...I owe this show a lot and I got more to say but...I don't think I'll ever find the words that could properly convey what this show means to me.

Happy 10th anniversary Star Wars Rebels, I'm thankful for the decade we've had together. I wish I had more to show my appreciation, but for now I suppose this study/redraw of some concept art I did for art class will do.

Shoutouts to Rebels Recon, y'all were an indelible part of the experience that more of the newer fans need to check out.

Star Wars Rebels Appreciation Week: Day #1 - Favorite Character

Ezra Bridger

[forest-hashira]

Noble Blood - Chapter Four

hello again friends! sorry the wait between chapters was so much longer than the last two. life has been..... messy, to put it lightly. but the chapter is finished now and i'm posting it before i overthink it too much. i hope you enjoy!

fic masterlist here | read on ao3 here | wc: 2.4k | cw: gender neutral reader, gojo being a drama queen, a little bit of yaga slander (by gojo), that's pretty much it.

Not much changed after the new year’s festival. Satoru went back to his training sessions with Yaga while you and the rest of your friends attended school and filled your free time however you saw fit. 

Winter quickly turned to spring, and before you knew it, the sakura trees were in full bloom, the soft pink-white petals dancing on the breeze and covering the streets, the delicate perfume from the blossoms filling the air and making everything seem brighter.

All of those things also reminded you of the sakura tree that grew outside of Satoru’s bedroom, and it made you miss him even more than you already did. But springtime had a habit of bringing hope and with it, and you allowed yourself to imagine things would get better soon, and you would be able to spend your days with Satoru as you used to. 

It felt almost too good to be true when you stepped out of your house one morning to see Satoru and Shoko waiting for you outside.

“Thank god you’re here,” Shoko said. “He’s been driving me nuts while we were waiting. Says he has big news, or something, but that’s all I can get out of him.”

“Because we don’t have everybody here yet!” Satoru said, sticking his tongue out at Shoko before turning back to you and smiling brightly. “C’mon, we have a couple more stops to make.”

Unwilling to question how or why your friend was able to come down from the estate and spend time with all of you again, you nodded, following eagerly after him as he headed off down the road, presumably to pick up Utahime, then to see the Nanami siblings. 

“Do you have any idea what he’s on about?” Shoko asked, leaning in a bit closer to you as the two of you followed the boy. 

The only thing you could think of was that Satoru had finally decided to tell the rest of your friends that he had Kenji, regardless of what his parents wanted; he’d bonded with Kenji nearly three months before, and you were the only person outside the Gojo clan – besides Yaga – that knew Satoru had his dragon.

“None at all,” you told her, offering an apologetic smile. 

She sighed, rolled her eyes. “I bet it’s not even anything important, he’s just tired of being cooped up at home and he wants us all to pay attention to him again.”

You said nothing in response, knowing that she was going to be absolutely floored when she found out about Kenji, though stifling your laughter over her words was hard.

“Are you guys talking about me back there?” Satoru asked, glancing over his shoulder at you and grinning. “I am the most interesting person you know, after all.”

“We’re talking about how annoying you are,” Shoko said, and her words were made even funnier by her completely deadpan delivery. Satoru scowled at her, sticking his tongue out for the second time that morning, and this time Shoko returned the gesture. All you could do was laugh at them.

It wasn’t long before the three of you reached Utahime’s house, and Shoko volunteered to be the one to knock on the door; Utahime and Satoru were friends, yes, but if she only saw him and didn’t know that anyone else was with him yet, the odds that she would shut the door in his face were high.

Utahime looked past Shoko with narrowed eyes at Satoru, though her expression relaxed when she saw you standing there with him, and after a moment she stepped outside to join the rest of you.

“What’s the ‘big news’ you have?” she asked your white haired friend suspiciously. 

“I can’t tell you yet!” he declared with a grin. “We have to go get Nanamin first.” It was still exceedingly funny to you that Satoru still insisted on calling Kento by a diminutive of his last name, rather than by his first name like the rest of you did. Kento didn’t find it all that amusing, but he never complained about it, either.

And so, off the four of you went, Satoru leading the way while the rest of you followed after him. As you all filed into the bakery, you were greeted warmly by Kento’s father, Ginger perched on his shoulder for the time being.

“Hello, Nanami-san!” Satoru chirped, offering the older man a slight bow in greeting. 

“Is Kento here?” Utahime asked curiously. 

His father nodded. “Yes, I believe he’s upstairs. Kokoro is resting right now though, I’m afraid. She had a bit of a fever last night and didn’t sleep very well.”

You and Utahime frowned at that and offered your condolences, while Shoko gave a slight nod; her parents, as the healers of the settlement, always seemed to get busier when the seasons changed.

“I’ll tell him you’re here,” your friend’s father said, before turning and stepping out of the bakery and up to his home on the second floor.

As the four of you waited for him, your gaze drifted to the cookies on the display trays; now that spring was well underway, some of the seasonal flavors had come back, and you were happy to see them. There were the plain shortbread cookies, as always, but there were others now, too: petal-pink cookies cut carefully in the shapes of the flowers that flavored them filled one tray, while another tray was lined with circle-shaped cookies you knew to be flavored with the same green tea your mother drank in the mornings. You must have been staring harder than you realized, because next thing you knew, Satoru was poking your cheek to get your attention.

“Hungry?” he asked, somewhat teasingly.

You rolled your eyes at his question. “They’re pretty,” you said after a moment. “I like seeing them every year.”

Satoru said nothing, just gave a small hum in response, but he looked up at Kento’s father with a smile once the man returned to the counter, his son trailing behind him. “Nanami-san, I’d like to buy some cookies before we all head out.”

You blinked at him in surprise, not having expected him to indulge you in such a way. He requested five of the sakura cookies and five of the matcha cookies – one of each flavor for each member of your group – and after tilting his head slightly towards his shoulder, as if he were listening to something, he also asked for one regular shortbread cookie.

Once the treats were paid for and wrapped up, Satoru accepted them and led everyone back outside, insisting he had something important to tell everyone.

“I bet it’s not even actually important,” Kento grumbled, though he did easily accept his share of the cookies as they were passed to him. He took a bite out of the matcha one, chewing it carefully and swallowing it before adding, “He just wants to feel important.”

If only you knew, you thought, but you said nothing; you doubted your white haired friend would forgive you anytime soon if you stole his thunder.

The group stopped once everyone reached the large, gnarled maple tree that stood about halfway between the bakery and the schoolhouse. Without any words being exchanged, Satoru sat with his back to the trunk, the rest of you sitting in a half circle in front of him.

“Will you please drop the theatrics now and just tell us already?” Utahime asked, somehow still scowling as she chewed on her cookie. 

Letting out a sigh that was very decidedly theatric, the boy relented. “Fine, fine, I suppose I’ve kept you all in suspense long enough.” He cleared his throat, sat up a bit straighter and, with a grin, announced, “I have a dragon.”

Before anyone even had time to call his bluff, Satoru pulled the plain shortbread cookie from the paper packaging, held it up closer to his shoulder, and said, “You can come out now, Kenji.”

Kenji, who apparently had a flare for the dramatic as much as Satoru did, poked his head out of the collar of the boy’s light jacket, then made a beeline for the cookie, climbing onto Satoru’s shoulder and taking the cookie into his mouth once it was within reach. 

“You’re welcome,” your friend pointedly told his dragon, when he got no sort of thanks for the treat. Kenji made a suspiciously mocking sound in response, though he never tore his attention away from the cookie he was nibbling on.

Throughout the whole exchange, your friends stared at Satoru and Kenji, eyes wide and jaws slack, as if unable to believe what they were seeing. Knowing you had probably looked very similar when you first saw Kenji, you had to stifle a giggle.

Shoko, who was sitting closest to you, noticed your muffled laughter, and she turned towards you, still wide-eyed. “You knew?” she asked incredulously. “You knew he had his dragon and you didn’t tell us?”

“He would’ve thrown a huge fit if I told you before he did!” you defended.

“My parents wanted Kenji kept a secret at first,” Satoru added, coming to your defense as well.

“But they still knew before the rest of us did!” Utahime cut in. “How is that fair?”

You didn’t have an answer for that, so you turned to Satoru, hoping your white haired menace of a friend had an answer that would satisfy everyone.

“Because they’re Satoru’s best friend,” Shoko said, before the boy could answer for himself. It was clear in the way she emphasized “best friend” that she meant something else, and though you weren’t sure what, you found your feelings were a bit hurt by…whatever the implication was; the confusion and hurt you felt doubled as you watched Shoko, Kento, and Utahime all exchange a knowing glance. You turned to Satoru then, assuming he would be just as confused as you were, but he’d got a bit red in the face, and was very pointedly not looking at you, instead focusing on Kenji as the dragon practically mauled the cookie he’d been given.

“What’s important is that I’m telling you guys now,” Satoru insisted, still failing to meet your eyes, though his gaze did flash in your direction for a brief moment. “Besides,” he added, “he’s not even that exciting yet. All he does is steal my food and pretend he doesn’t understand what I’m saying to him during training.”

Apparently taking great offense at the snowy haired boy’s words, Kenji turned to face Satoru, making a series of displeased noises that were clearly some sort of complaint. 

“You know it’s true— ow!”

At first you were shocked as you watched Kenji bite Satoru on the hand, but you relaxed when you realized he hadn’t actually broken the skin, and you laughed at how smug the little dragon looked, clinging to your friend’s arm and holding the cookie in his mouth as Satoru attempted to shake him off in retaliation for the bite. 

“How is training going?” Shoko asked curiously, tilting her head slightly and slowly chewing a bite of her own cookie as she waited for an answer. “I’ve seen your teacher in town some, he seems prickly.”

“Yaga-sensei is sooooo boring,” Satoru sighed dramatically, apparently deciding to forgive Kenji for biting him, at least for the time being. “He makes me do the same exercises every day.”

“Do you and Kenji have those exercises learned yet?” asked Kento.

“No.”

“Then that’s why you keep having to do them.”

“But it’s so boring!”

“What’s his dragon like?” you cut in, realizing then that the one time you’d met Yaga, he had not had a dragon with him.

“You mean Panda?” Satoru asked, his brows furrowed slightly as if he were deep in thought.

“He doesn’t have a dragon?”

“Where did he even get a panda, anyways?” Utahime added, her features pinched together in confusion.

“No, he does have a dragon. The dragon’s name is Panda,” Satoru explained with a small smile on his face. “But I agree, it’s a stupid name for a dragon.”

“I’m assuming Panda is black and white?” you asked, trying to steer the conversation away from possibly dissolving into pointless bickering.

“Obviously,” Satoru replied, rolling his eyes. When he caught the way you were scowling at him, though, he straightened up a bit. “Yeah, Panda’s black and white. He does actually look a lot like a panda, it’s weird.”

“Can he fly?” This time Kento was the one to ask.

“I don’t think so? He doesn’t have any wings, at least, and I’ve never seen him fly.”

As the rest of your friends tossed questions at Satoru about his training, about Yaga, about Panda, just trying to get a feel for how much of his life had changed in the last couple of months, you were more than happy just to listen, but you looked down when you felt something on your leg.

Unnoticed by everyone else – including Satoru – Kenji had made his way across the space between where he and his rider sat, all the way over to you, who he had apparently deemed a better companion for the time being.

You watched with a smile as the dragon steadily made his way up your leg, and you offered him your hand to give him a more direct path to your shoulder. That seemed to be all the invitation he needed, and he quickly scampered up your arm, settling on your shoulder as he finished the last piece of the cookie he’d been given earlier. 

After the dragon settled down in his new spot, you made an effort to move as little as possible, not wanting to jostle or upset him at all. You still weren’t sure why Kenji had taken a liking to you specifically and nobody else – besides Satoru, of course – but you tried not to question it too much; he didn’t seem to want anything from you, nor did it seem like he wanted to cause you problems, so you were content to let him seek you out whenever he saw fit. You may not have met your own dragon yet, but having caught the attention of your friend’s solid color dragon made you feel special.

Deep down you also hoped maybe it was a sign that you would meet your own dragon soon, and that maybe you’d be lucky enough to bond with a rare, special dragon, like Kenji.

for those of you who made it this far, first of all i want to say thank you for sticking around for the chapter updates! second, i want to let everyone know i'm going to be taking a break from this fic for a bit. i'm not sure how long, so i'm not going to give a time frame, but i literally frustrated myself to tears at least half a dozen times while writing this chapter, so i need to take a step back for a bit, before i frustrate myself to the point of fully giving up on this fic. i love this au, i want to keep writing this fic, but right now i need a break. i hope you'll all still be around when i'm ready to come back to it 💜

taglist: @ghost-1-y @kentohours @whatthefucksatan @why-the-fuck-am-i-so-tired @mitsuristoleme @lu-dao-writes @peachdues @lik0 @deepestartisanhumanoidshark @here-for-the-tea-baby @staryukis @roselleviennesstuff if your url is crossed out, it's because tumblr wouldn't let me tag you. i apologize!

[noel-levine-fan]

massacre anniversary / father's day

[read more here because it's long due to the amount of images - you'll have to click on the images to view them in full due to diff aspect ratios]

ashe is the only one who cares about father's day

bonus

Notes:

thIS TOOK SO FUCKING LONGGGGG this is more low quality than most of my recent art because i had a LOT to draw and i wanted to finish it today and i knew if i did regular quality i would not have finished it. i initally thought i'd block out single colors for each character and their dialogue boxes at first but i'm not sure if i would've gotten it done today if i did + i'm tired. so a lot of the expressions/composition/etc looks really goofy

this is what the "can someone send me a screenshot of when the massacre happened i have a drawing i want to make and whether or not the massacre happened on that day will affect it" post was about. i just find it exceedingly funny that june 16th is father's day this year and also the day nicholas died. i remember having ideas for a father's day drawing a couple days ago and then looked up the date and saw it was june 16th and was like "holy shit?!?"

i have this headcanon sirius does not remember his parents very well (except for their death which he remembers vividly)

i remember seeing a post saying "rich kids when they say 'father'" and i have no idea who posted it but all i could think of was noel (this isn't a note it's just something funny and relevant)

i know ashe at least in some timelines knows nicholas is noel's father who died on this day and in those timelines he probably wouldn't ask him about father's day but this is already canon breaking since it's in june so let's say this is a timeline where ashe never found that out

[fridgemissionmaster]

Luke&MC ft.Barbatos: March Prompt/Day 10 Comet

Prompt list/available prompt requests here, making a fic everyday of march

Note: Okay, so... Luke was requested but as I was writing Barbatos accidentally got a bigger role so to like, even things out I guess, the second Barbatos prompt/day feature Luke

“I-… wow, that has got to be the largest cake I’ve ever seen.” You looked up and down the massive thing, wondering how Luke and Barbatos were planning on getting it through the door, let along all the way to the House of Lamentation. Then again there was probably nothing the mysterious butler and determined angel couldn’t do when it came to anything baking related… or would this count?

Diavolo stood beside you, oohing and awing as well. “Hehe, Beelzebub and Belphegor will certainly love this!” Barbatos gave his lord a little bow as he continued placing the last of the sprinkles.

“Hmm…” It would have been funny seeing Luke stand next to a cake at least three times his size, but the crossed arms, and sour look had you worried.

“Did something go wrong.”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. The batter tasted good, and the frosting too. The cakes aren’t dry and the decorations are great.”

“… something feels off?”

“Yeah! But what…”

“The candles? It is a birthday cake.”

“No, no. Not something like that.”

You and Barbatos found yourselves standing beside the little angel looking up to the cake just as puzzled now yourselves. Something missing, something off, what could be wrong with the cake?

“Maybe… you want it to be more unique or special because it’s a birthday cake?”

“But there’s not much we can do now without ruining it.”

Okay, so something small. “Glitter?” You looked to Barbatos, wondering if the suggestion made sense but he too looked to you confused.

“Ah!” Immediately all eyes were on Luke. “Comet Dust! That’s what it needs!”

“Comet Dust?”

“Exactly that, dust from a comet.” You were confused by the butler’s answer. Like it’s literally that?

Luke looked up to Barbatos and before he could even ask the demon answered. “It’s a hard to come by ingredient, I was going to collect some for myself soon, but we could get some today.”

“We could!?”

“Yes, but if we want to get there in time we will need to get going now.”

“Okay! Wait, Simeon should be expecting me back soon.”

“I’ll inform him of this impromptu trip.”

“Thank you Barbatos!” The demon quietly chuckled, Luke’s enthusiasm to infectious and charming.

“MC, would you come with us? I know it’s last minuet, but you haven’t had Comet Dust, right? You could try some, and you could tell us if it’s something Belphegor would like.”

“Just Belphie?”

“Well, Beelzebub would eat anything, and I already know he’ll eat Comet Dust.”

So… literal dust from a comet? You couldn’t think to long on it soon rushing out the door after Diavolo was sent back to his paperwork, the three of you racing through town then marching up a mountain side, Luke carrying a glass jar the whole way.

You were headed for the top. It was exceptionally crisp and clear, a cooling wind rushing past making any clouds that could have once been around long gone. The winding path mostly dirt with the wooden steps for particularly steep sections. Despite Barbatos being the one to suggest this location Luke was the one more so taking the lead of your little party. It wasn’t one of the taller mountains near the castle but it was one of the clearer ones with less dense forests and not as rough rocky terrain. There was nothing in the way of the view of the city, nor the sky, the darkness of the Devildom so all consuming, no matter how bright the Castle Town no light pollution could ever obscure the view.

“There! You can see the comet!” Luke was right, there indeed was that light streaking across the sky, a surprisingly exceedingly rarer sight in the Devildom. Honestly other than Luke’s excitement the main thing keeping you going and from taking a break was the curiosity at how these two were going to get the stuff in the first place.

“Luke, be careful!”

“I am!”

You and Barbatos picked up in pace trying to keep up with the kid who managed to prance on ahead seemingly effortlessly.

“You can get a better view of it here!” Luke stood atop a large boulder; gaze locked onto the sky above.

“MC, are you alright?” Barbatos’ hand rested on your back. You simply nodded as you caught your breath, hands resting on your knees. “h-how does, he have the energy?”

“MC?!” Poor Luke, you were fine. Body just wasn’t expecting a sudden race and hiking trip. The boy came racing back, almost tripping over himself on the way-

“WAH!”

“LUKE!”

The earth trembled, ground tearing apart and crumbling in on itself. Half the mountain sank while the other jetted up, spiriting Luke away!

Damn itDamnitDAMNIT!

“BARBATOS! WE HAVE TO- SOMETHING!” You clutched onto the butler’s uniform, your grip killing your hands and nails practically dug trough the fabric meeting your skin again.

“MC, we need to remain cal-”

“NO, WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING OR THE KID’S GONNA GET HURT!”

“MC, we have faced far worse situations, and you never faltered or panic, this is no-”

“THAT WAS WHEN GROWN ASS DEMON ADULTS GOT THEMSELVES IN DANGER FOR THE HUNDRETH TIME, NOT! LUKE!” AT LEAST ONE OF THOSE DEMONS WEREN’T THREATNING TO KILL THE KID THIS TIME! “BESIDES IF I’M NOT THE CALM ONE EVERYONE ELSE WILL PANIC AND LUKE IS ALL THE WAY UP THERE AND YOU’RE HERE!”

“GUYS” LUKE! You couldn’t see him! Where did he-

“LUKE!” WAITWAITWAITWAITWAITWAITWAIT

You and Barbatos raced to the edge, arms out stretched as Luke sent himself flying over the edge, jumping as far has his little legs could take him.

You only didn’t fall over from the impact with Barbatos holding you up, Luke crashing into you with such force your head rang, stars completely consumed your vision, head ringing. Legs gave out, clutching onto the kid for dear life Barbatos held the pair of you close.

…

And just as quickly as the earth began to tremble and break, it stopped. None of you let go though, hearts still racing.

Barbatos was the first when a deep rumbling began to ring out.

“T-the top of the mountain’s turning!?” Luke clung to you tighter at the sight.

“Oh.” There were… thick scaly legs and…

A turtle.

A gigantic turtle carrying the top of the mountain atop it’s shell.

All that

Was it standing up.

…

OKAY! Nothing should surprise you at this point, hell, this was once of the tamer things you had experienced here, yet still, here you were!

The creature lowered it’s head as Barbatos approached, placing a hand on it’s snout.

You heard something like that rumbling from before, but it felt more like it quietly echoed in the back of your head.

“… wanted, um.”

“Luke?”

He continued to mumble to himself before shaking his head. “I kind of know what the turtle’s saying, but I don’t know some of the words.”

“This World Turtle has been asleep for a long, long time.” Immediately your and Luke’s attention snapped to Barbatos. “They heard us talking about the comet and wanted to see. They do apologize for the commotion, they thought we were further on it’s shell and didn’t have the chance of falling off.”

Quickly Luke scurried off your lap, taking your hand, trying to pull you up. You stood, despite your legs still feeling a bit shaky. “I swear this Comet Dust better be good, I think I might have had a heart attack.”

“MC! Are you hurt!? Are you okay!?”

“I-I am!” Still shaken up you a bit more loose lipped. “As long as you are?”

“Yeah, I’m fine!” Luke gave you a confident nod, drawing out a sigh of relief from you. “And the Comet Dust is really good! I promise!”

There was that rumbling in your head again.

“Help?”

“The World Turtle has offered to help us as way of apology.”

“It has!?”

Still holding your hand Luke took you to the creature, Barbatos already climbing his way to the top of it’s snout, leaning over the edge with his hands outstretched.

Easily enough you got Luke up and once he was Barbatos pulled you up, Luke helping by pulling on your sleeve.

All three of you sat there, just waiting. Slowly it lifted it’s head, the Devildom and the mountain below shrinking and shrinking, then gone, obscured by this wet mist then

Stars. Stars and void all around.

Luke. “MC, are you okay?” Suddenly you could see Luke sitting before you, and you could feel Barbatos hand letting go of your shoulder.

“We’re in space?”

Luke hugged you. “Hey, I’m here! You’re okay.”

Yeah, maybe you were a little shaken. It all felt so… odd. Almost like being in one of those children’s star exhibits in museums, this creepy balance of realistic scenes and prop work. You swear you could see the walls the stars were being projected onto but something deep in you knew that if you reached out, you wouldn’t feel any wall, then some barrier would break, one that was never there.

“Luke, MC, may I?”

“Oh, sorry! Sorry.”

“There’s no need to be.”

“Yeah, I don’t mind.”

Stiffly you let go of poor Luke whom you were clutching. You didn’t even realize. Once he had enough space Luke passed Barbatos the jar before hugging you again. “… Thank you. It’s… so strange here.”

Luke looked to you, confused. “Space?”

“Normally,” With a pop the jar was opened. “humans would not be able to experience existence outside of a world.” The comet looked like a paper mache project, paper ribbons making up it’s tail. “The human mind will do anything to understand, even making things appear as they are not.” He swiped the jar through the paper, sparkly light beginning to fill it. “So, some things may be appearing a little odd.” With the lid back on you began to shrink away. “But you are safe.” Barbatos kneeled before you.

“Yeah, and I’m your Guardian Angel so even if you’re scared, I’ll protect you.” Hah, even if that danger was worrying about him?

Oh you were back on the mountain. Soon all three of you slid off the World Turtle, back on the ground.

There was that rumbling again. Luke began opening the jar, pouring a little into his hand. The maw of that ancient beast opened, Luke tossing some of that glowing light onto it’s tongue.

More rumbling. “No, thank you!” And then he came running back to you and Barbatos.

“What did it say?”

“It thanked us for waking it up to see the comet and for giving it a taste of Comet Dust. Oh! You still need to try some!” Luke opened the jar again as the three of you began walking away, as you turned from the corner of you eye you could see the creature returning to it’s shell, you swore there was a smile on it’s face.

“Here, hold out your hand.” It was like sand if it had the weight of dirt and the temperature of the mist from dried ice, so strange yet refreshing but not in a cool mint sort of way.

…

“Huh… kinda sour and tangy.” You walked on, confused by this flavor combo coming from something so cold, but it wasn’t bad, just not what you were expecting. “Great contrast against the sweet frosting I think. And definitely something Belphie’d like.”

“Yes!” Luke held you hand tight, almost running on ahead but catching himself. Barbatos chuckled to himself rather enjoying this odd turn of events.

[turtleboyo22]

Cyno is not known for his capacity for joy. Whether cracking jokes or saving lives, Cyno never displays even an ounce of emotion on his face. For this, the General Mahamatra commands fear and respect across all of Sumeru. After all, it's hard not to cower away from a man whose expression lends nothing of itself to anyone.

As for Cyno himself, he is not ignorant enough not to have noticed how those around him act when he's there. He's hyper aware of the effect his entrance will inevitably have on a room, tense silence sucking the air from everyone else's lungs. Though this can be useful for a great many of Cyno's duties, he can't help but feel somewhat resentful of the reputation he has cultivated.

In spite of what the majority of people may believe, though, Cyno spends most of his free time quite content, joking around and enjoying life's leisures. Still, those who witness him outside of work from a far may assume that he's as serious as ever due to his perpetually neutral expression. It is only those who truly know Cyno that understand that the man does not lack emotions, but rather he merely displays his in an abnormal way. In fact, for the people who know Cyno, his joy especially is not only obvious, but also exceedingly common.

The only problem is when Cyno's job requires him to comfort those who don't know him. His expressionless face and toneless voice aren't the most soothing, and his blunt way of speaking certainly doesn't help the issue. Even his jokes can't save him, as most people just stare at him blankly afterwards. This is also what made it so difficult when the general rescued a young girl; he had no idea how to make her feel less scared of him.

When Cyno first brought Collei back to Sumeru, the young girl couldn't help but fear him. After all, ever since she was a young child she had been surrounded by people who wanted nothing more than to harm her. She underwent experiment after excruciating experiment day after day for the first 10 years of her life, all while battling a life-long illness and finding out her parents had died. When Cyno had found her, Collei was still adjusting to the idea of people treating her with kindness. Her past combined with Cyno's stern disposition compounded into Collei being afraid of the man who was trying to save her. She thought it was silly, looking back.

Collei first saw Cyno happy a week after she was brought to Sumeru. Cyno had come to visit her and Tighnari to see how she was settling in and Collei found herself playing card games at a too small dinner table with her newfound guardians. Cyno had been telling puns throughout the evening, a past time of the man's that Collei had yet to become accustomed to, but Tighnari's defeated expression told her it was commonplace.

In any case, one joke in particular caught Collei's attention: "I don't think we should play poker today," Cyno said. "Why not, Cyno? You usually jump at the opportunity to beat me at everything," Tighnari snarked, making Collei smile. She'd adjusted to her new master's occasional sass over the past week, meaning she'd learnt there was no malice behind his words. "Well Collei has already been through so much, I wouldn't want to hurt her more."

A beat of silence.

"Do you not understand the joke? You see, poker sounds like poke her. As in I'd be poking Collei, harming her further. But also it's the game's name," Cyno explained.

Another beat.

"Cyno," Tighnari groaned, covering his frustration with a hand over his face. "I thought it was funny," Cyno said, stoney tone and twin expression both very much still intact. "It was insensitive to Collei," Tighnari argued, "you can't just say things like that."

"But why not? All three of us know that she's had to endure a lot of pain in the past. It's not a secret," Cyno argued back.

And as their bickering continued, Collei found herself smiling. She was fond of them, she realised, fond of the men who had rescued her and fond of their playful arguing. Her smile grew until a small laugh escaped her mouth, more and more following until she was giggling. She couldn't remember the last time she laughed.

Cyno and Tighnari immediately shut up, snapping round to look at Collei in shock. She'd barely spoken since she arrived at Tighnari's hut, and now she was giggling. "Told you it was funny," Cyno gloated and Collei couldn't help it. She was full on laughing now, arms wrapped around her torso as her cheeks ached with joy.

Tighnari started to chuckle a bit then, so endeared by Collei's antics. Cyno just watched the two. From afar, anyone would've thought it cold but typical of the general mahamatra. He did not smile nor did he laugh. In fact, he was so expressionless that he seemed almost detached. But Tighnari knew better, and Collei was starting to as well.

Cyno's shoulders had relaxed, Collei noted, not realising they were ever tense until they weren't anymore. As her laughter died down, she also noticed how Cyno's eyebrows were less bunched up now, highlighting the newfound pink of his cheeks and red of his ears.

"Proud of yourself?" Tighnari teased the man, but there was no bite to his words. It was clear Tighnari had noticed Cyno's sudden change in demeanor, attempting to prolong Cyno's (and Collei's) joy for as long as possible by jabbing further. The softness of Cyno's movements as his hand found its place upon Tighnari's put Collei at ease. Perhaps she could find a home here with these two afterall. After all, this was the safest she'd felt in years.