#I know roughly what happens but I haven't finished

[s7ven-art]

A CITY RAZED OH, TO BURY YOU BENEATH IT THE BEST ENDURE WITH THE DEAD, OUR TRUE BELIEVERS

[ellestinyposts]

"Is it too late now?"

Newt x Reader (TMZ)

summary - you thought it'll be the last time you ever saw Newt in the day he died on your arms, until he showed up in front of you.

no warnings !! this is pure fluff and maybe a little angst 😸

You sat on the sand, the cold air hitting your bare shoulders as you breathe in deeply at the salty air of the ocean in front of you, waves bring the water closer to your feet. It calms you.

you always love those small things. you loved the sun and the stars, amazed at how they can shine on they're own.

you watch the stars and wish that you could also be like those stars, shine on they're own. But you can't, you're different. you're the moon. The moon that shined because of the sun.

The moon that wait days and nights and hours to shine together side by side with the sun but the day never came.

you're the moon, while newt is your sun.

Newt, the boy that made your life thousand times more better with him in it.

you missed the days you and him wouldn't sleep and sneak out quietly and you went to the top floor with him holding hands. watching together how the stars shine the sky so brightly and feeling the night wind blow your hair.

There we're times in glade where Newt would always hold your hand tightly while kiss you on your forehead and lips once in a while and say how much he loves you, grinning so widely to you.

You miss him. You can't deny the fact you miss him. You miss the times you had with him in the glade.

The ocean waves getting closer to your feet and the sound of footsteps reaching closer to you.

"good morning" came from minho as he sat down next to you. you replied with a forced smile, not really feeling like you want to talk.

"hey, you sure you don't want any breakfast? i made pancakes, the same ones you used to made" asked thomas, sitting beside you too, as he looked at you with worry.

The same one i made in the glade for them and newt.

Newt.

"I'm not feeling really hungry", you weren't lying, you hardly eat anything ever since you arrived at the paradise.

Thomas came and sat next to you. "well then, water?"

he handed you a cup of warm water.

"Thanks", you said before taking a gulp.

Minho puts his arm around you, "i know this is hard for you", he started,

"it's hard for all of us, but you need to take care of yourself. you haven't eaten anything since yesterday we arrived, and you're supposed to be resting in your room" He finished, speaking to you softly.

You gave him a small nod, and stared at the cup your holding as the sand warms your feet. "How have you been sleeping lately?" Thomas asked

"I sleep well" you send him a soft smile as he returns the smile and trace smoothing circles on your back.

The three of you watch the ocean for a moment without a word, you look to the sand as you inhaled deeply. Minho's eyes fell on you, and you turned to him with a soft weak smile. "Hey,"

with a small forced chuckle from the black haired boy, he replied "Hey"

"I'm glad you're both okay" you glanced at your feet, "I don't know what i would've done if you guys couldn't make it"

they nodded, looking at you for a while before minho replied; "i didn't expect that i'll made it here too"

thomas chuckle, "everything feels like a dream"

you didn't reply anything and just watch the waves getting closer to your feet. "I'm hungry, i think i'm gonna go get something to eat, see you both later" with that, you walked off

you weren't actually hungry, you felt empty. you just needed a reason to walk away. talking to them remind you so much of Newt and what happened that night.

Newt's hands are cold. His eyes empty. He's gone. tears pouring faster, and you wipe the tears away roughly.

"You can't leave me like this. not now, not later. you promised me you'll never leave me. please, newt. please. answer me."

you sighed.

Slowly, you made your way to get food, dragging your feet behind you. You stared at your surroundings, fiddling the hem of your shirt, trying desperately to not think of Newt but failed miserably. everything feels weird without him. the feeling that something is missing.

But as you looked to your left, there he stood, your eyes widened in surprise and you shake your head.

'stop, he's not here anymore, don't imagine things and pull yourself together y/n. he's gone.' you remind your self, trying so hard to not take a double look to check, but you couldn't hold your self so you looked. this time hoping he'd be there

you saw him.

again.

then the reality comes crashing down as you looked at him.

you froze. you stared at the blonde boy.

Newt.

your eyes locked at the sight your seeing. it's really him.

"Hey what's wrong?" Minho asked looking at you concerned.

You stood there, still frozen.

"Did you change your mind? do you not want to eat pancakes?" Minho asked

You finally found your words, and say what was holding your voice stuck in your throat. "that's... newt?"

his eyes fall to the direction your looking at. it took him a second to process it was really him as you both stood frozen.

Newt. The blonde boy. The love of your life. The one that died that night, is now running fast towards the two of you. He hugged you both tightly.

Thomas stared at him with surprise from afar, dropping his glass of water and run to our direction, hugging newt tightly as the corner of his eyes start to water.

Minho and Thomas asking him many 'how' questions as he replied "I'll answer all of your bloody questions later" his british accent ringing in your ears, making you cry. Is this really newt? but how?

"Newt.." the sound of your voice made him turn to you and smiled lovingly with tears in his eyes.

"Hey gorgeous" He opened his arms to hug you, you jump into his arm immediately feeling his warmth, solid and everything, He held you tightly against his chest.

You buried your head in his neck and your tears wetting your cheeks, tears drenching his shirt. you smiled a little. for the first time your truly smiled after you lost him. you hugged him tighter, still wanting to feel the warmth of his body and his touch as you feel him pressing his lips into your forehead and the smell of his body that you missed so much is enough to make you feel like you're home.

anywhere with him is home.

"Newt.."

"I'm here"

you finally pulled away, to look at him. those dark brown pair of eyes, his caramel colored hair that turned to a vibrant shade of gold when the sun hits his hair. oh how much you missed them.

it feels so unreal seeing him right now in front of you, you don't know if it was real or not.

he smiled at you again. that smile. the one you missed so much.

you hugged him again, this time with your head on his chest, he held your head in one hand and and your back in his other, pulling you closer and putting his head on top of yours gently.

you pulled away again, running your thumbs on his cheek and lips, realizing all the black veins, black eyes and popping veins we're gone. he's back to normal.

Minho spoke up, "But how? you..you we're stabbed and you died,"

"Yeah, we see you died that night in her arms, it doesn't make any sense" Thomas added.

"To be bloody honest, i don't know how myself. but i think y/n's blood touched my wound when we fought that night and it killed the virus and i survived, then i woke up surrounded by people, cured, and they led me here." he finished, looking at them.

"who we're those people?" thomas asked

"who ever those people are, I'm happy to have you back shuck face." minho laughed.

"and i'm happy to be back" newt smiled at us all, before whispering into my ear, "we've got a lot to talk about" he grinned.

Thomas glanced at minho, signalling to him to give you both time to talk. minho nods in response. "You must be hungry newt, let's make more food for them, and give them space to talk alone" Minho whispered the last few words and left with the others leaving you and newt alone.

"We'll meet you there later!" newt called back and turned to you, grinning.

he sit down at the sand, and pat the sand next to him, signalling you to sit next to him, so you did. he looked directly to you, breaking the silence.

"i miss you"

your eyes widened at the sudden confession, your eyes start to heat up and tears start to flood your eyes making your vision blurry.

"sorry, i didn't mean to make you cry" he looks at you softly and wipes your tears gently.

"you don't know how much i miss you and how hard it was losing you" you started. "it felt so weird without you here, it's like something's missing" you gazed at your lap

"i'm sorry for that night, i should've told you and try to work it out together like you said, but it was the best way to protect you" he started

you nodded as you understand the word 'that night' referring to the night you both argued because he hide the fact he was infected and you both broke up because of it.

"that night when i finally turned to a crank, i know i shouldn't have attacked you, but something in me is screaming for your blood, and in the end i hurt you, i'm sorry love." he whispered. your surprised at the last word, he used to call you that before you both broke up.

you forced a chuckle. you definitely missed being called that. you smiled at him "i understand and yes, i forgive you newtie. i always will."

he felt his heart skipped a beat at the familiar nickname you called him

newtie.

his words stuck in his throat as he tried to get him self to continue say the things he was planning to say but he failed miserable, after a second he finally forced out the words.

"and i know we had a bloody argument and we're not together anymore but i still love you y/n. i didn't mean the words i say when i told you i don't love you anymore and i don't need you caring about me, i still love you so freaking much and i really love it when your care for me, so..."

his voice getting quieter as he looks at you nervously, trying to observe your expression as his voice stuck in his throat for the second time. he lowered his head looking down at his lap, trying to find the perfect words to tell to you

'it's now or never'

"listen, the point of what i'm trying to say is, do you think it's too late to continue what we had?" he glanced at you and made eye contact with you

you chuckled at his nervousness. "so you're trying to say that you want to get back with me and continue our relationship?"

"if you still love me, well yeah" you chuckled

"i still love you newt"

"then, it's a yes?" he tilt his head and grinned at you, happy with your answer and now hoping you would agree to his offer

"why would i refuse?" you answered.

"bloody hell, come here" he smiled, he leans up, closer to you and kiss you. you kiss him back.

he hugs your body as your arms snaked its way to his neck and your fingers run to his hair, your fingers tangled in his hair. he pulled your body more closer, colliding yours with his until it you can feel his body warmth.

you both pulled away when minho suddenly yelled "Y/N, FOOD'S READY

you turn to newt. "You ready to meet everyone else?"

he nods. "yeah, let's go"

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

you walk in together, and you see the moment everybody's faces turn into shock except for minho and thomas, who was smiling widely at you both. you guessed that both of them haven't told the other's.

gally's eyes fall to yours, as if he's asking confirmations from you. you nod at him and smiled. gall's eyes widened and start to water.

"hey?" newt gives a little wave nervously as he watched the others exchanging glances with each other, and then gally, frypan and the other's moved, leaving the table they're sitting in and charged towards newt with a hug as newt happily hugs all of them tightly and didn't let go until thomas butt's in.

"alright everyone, let's eat as much as we want as a celebration AND STOP THE HUGGING SESSION, newt haven't eaten anything at all today"

they roared with laughter and finally pulled away from the hug.

standing beside you, minho chuckled and whispered, "you're happy aren't you?"

you smiled and nodded at him. "is it that obvious?"

"yes y/n, it's so obvious" you both laughed.

suddenly you feel someone hold your hand. you turned to see newt grinning before he pulls you into a sudden deep kiss as everybody else laughed. you both pulled away after everyone yells 'do it somewhere, you love birds!!' and your ears turn into a shade of red as newt's lips turn into a wide grin

[aletheialed]

"Aww, you're too kind! Thank you, Runo!"

Happy to hear her tea receive such high praise, Iris clasps her hands together and grins. But she lets her arms fall to her sides after a moment, and then a somewhat more serious expression forms on her face. It's not grim or worried - it's more like it's just serious enough to tell that whatever she has to say is something important.

"Well... it's about Hurley." she starts - and then smiles again. She doesn't want Ryunosuke thinking that anything serious is wrong, or to worry him, after all, and it's really not something all that urgent... it's just that it's important to her. But of course, the best way to ease Ryunosuke's worries is just to get into the details without delay.

"It may sound a little strange, but... I know there's something he's keeping from me. I'm not angry or upset about it. Hurley has lots of things he doesn't talk about, and I understand that he's just trying to protect me."

It's a mature perspective from such a young girl. But deep down... she can't help but feel a little sad whenever she thinks about it. Is that selfish of her? She's not sure what exactly it is that makes her sad... perhaps because she hasn't spent too much time thinking about it, telling herself that she's being silly or unreasonable. But Iris knows that her feelings aren't unreasonable to have, and if there's anyone she can talk to about it - she knows that she can trust Runo.

"But I wanted to talk to him about it. I'm just not really sure where to start." She hums thoughtfully, before looking back at Ryunosuke again - her gaze having at some point wandered off. "Would it be okay... to ask for your advice?"

“Iris—! Hello; good morning.” Only that Ryunosuke can't help turning his attention to the nearest clock to be totally positive the hour in which he's finally descended those steps still counts as morning. (He's grateful that it does.) With him, he carries the tea tray that had been delivered a couple hours prior, empty contents proving without a need for the talented girl to ask just how much he enjoyed her latest blend. . . . Perhaps too much, though he wastes no time announcing that to avoid any doubts: “Yes, it's splendid, as always. I've yet to have any of your tea that isn't; you really have a way of spoiling me, Iris. Thank you.”

And for a fleeting moment, he's tempted to tell her she certainly doesn't need to bring him morning tea to his room on the days where he's exceptionally slower to rise than usual . . . but a selfish thread sews his mouth shut. Susato would likely have a word with him about that laziness some other day. (Ryunosuke decides he'll continue to enjoy this while it lasts.)

As he sets the tray on a clear spot of the table, Iris's words as much pique his curiosity as they mildly alarm him. Ryunosuke twists his torso to meet her wide and cheerful eyes, forcing his own brow to smooth before a concerned stitch could form. “Ah, no. No, I mean— I'm not busy.” Clearly, he almost adds. “What's on your mind?”

[vettelsvee]

GOODBYES ARE BITTERSWEET | Sebastian Vettel ✩₊˚.⋆ PART 4: FAMILIAR [PREVIOUS PART] [NEXT PART]

goodbyes are bittersweet masterlist f1 masterlist | ao3 | ask anything or let's talk!

ferrari sebastian vettel x ex gf!female reader

word count: 3811

summary: seb comes back home as a surprise only to see that hanna and a little mysterious girl receive them... instead of y/n, who was supposed to finally meet him

warnings: settled on may 2018. curse words, angst, seb and little emily meeting but they don't know who they are to each other, seb being VERY suspicious. seb pov.

taglist: [ @saltycomicsanimalssalad @hc-dutch @mycenterfold @simplyamberj @spitesfvl-blog @jaydaaasworld @lottalove4evelyn @zoeyjadetice2010 @jehun @ferralari @cosmoscoffeee @mcmuppet @myescapefromthislife @sleutherclaw @youre-on-your-ownkid ]

a/n: i haven't said anything, BUT taylor made a mashup for her surprise songs in warsaw night 2 that is an absolute spoiler of this series (if you know it TELL ME ON ANON BECAUSE I LITERALLY SCREAMED). anyways, we're back with an update FINALLY. sorry to make you wait (really, i wasn't doing mentally ok and I'm still struggling but here we are!), but in the next chapter we'll have y/n and seb finally meeting... but for the moments I'll wait to see your comments, anon messages and reactions (please please please) about everything that happens on this chapter and how suspicious seb's gonna be (hope you fangirl and like everything as much as i did writing this) + also remind you that feedback and reposts are truly appreciated. thank you for all the support you've been showing me these days, love you all <3

© VETTELSVEE (2024). please, do not steal, copy or translate my works. thanks for reading!

2018

May 3rd Heppenheim, Germany

Sebastian

The exhaustion was piling up in my body, and I knew that what I was doing was crazy. I was fully aware that facing my past with just two hours of sleep was quite risky, but I couldn't wait to see Y/N again. As soon as Hanna told me she had spoken to her and gave me the green light to visit her, I forced Britta to buy me a plane ticket to Cologne to head home as soon as I finished some Ferrari ads and all that shit I absolutely hated in Maranello. My excitement and nerves were so intense that I didn't even tell anything to my parents or Fabian, who would probably go crazy for not telling them earlier.

I let go of the suitcase reluctantly and, to my misfortune, it fell to the floor with a rather noticeable thud. I sighed and did my best to ignore it, ringing the doorbell and leaning against the wall while holding the bouquet of tulips I had bought for Y/N. I knew it was silly, but I was excited to have this small gesture as a sort of belated birthday gift for her.

"Who is it?"

I was notably surprised when, instead of my mother’s voice, a child’s one chirped the question.

"It’s Seb," I replied, trying not to make a big deal out of the situation. Maybe it was just the daughter, or even granddaughter, of one of my mother’s friends.

"I don’t know any Seb! Who is it?" she asked again, this time with a slightly annoyed tone.

"I’m Sebastian."

"Sorry, but I only know two Sebastians: one is the crab from The Little Mermaid, and the other one is the man who sometimes appears on TV at Grandma’s house."

I couldn’t help but laugh. Whoever that little girl was, she was the best thing I had come across in a long time.

"Mum also says I can’t open the door to strangers, so I can’t let you in. I’m sorry, sir."

"But my parents live here," I replied as calmly as I could. It was clear that the lack of sleep was affecting my patience.

"Are you Mr. Norbert’s secret son?!"

"Emily, let me open the door!"

The door suddenly opened, revealing a somewhat out-of-breath Hanna, as if she had come running to open it and was now trying to catch her breath. Next to her was a girl about five years old, with completely blonde and curly hair that reached roughly to her waist. The little one didn’t hesitate to smile and greet me with her right hand, and almost immediately, her eyes widened as she made eye contact with me. When I turned my gaze back to my friend I was quite surprised. Her skin, which was already pale, had turned even paler for no apparent reason. The girl, however, kept looking at me, curious and, in my perception, somewhat pleased.

Had Hanna become a mother and didn’t tell me?

Before I could react or say anything, the door slammed shut in my face, not giving me a chance to say anything. My surprise came when, a few seconds later, it opened again, revealing the same scene.

“You’re…” she started to say, hesitating. She was nervous, and her nerves only made me more anxious. “Seb… but not…”

“Is something wrong, Hanna?”

Instead of answering, she remained completely silent. I knew something was wrong as soon as she started to look at the ground instead of looking at me.

“Hanna?”

“Aunt Hanna…” the little girl, still by her side, intervened, trying to get her attention by tugging at her sweater sleeve. “The man who appears on TV with the red car is talking to you,” I widened my eyes, surprised. Did the girl know me? “Mom says that when someone talks to you, you should respond; it’s rude not to.”

“Do you know who I am?” I asked the little girl, crouching to her level.

“Of course I know you…!”

“Hey, sweetie, why don’t you go play outside for a while?” My friend intervened before the little girl could finish. “Sebastian and I need to talk about some things, okay?”

“Did mommy have a surprise for me and that’s why she brought him?” the girl asked curiously, pointing at me. “Mommy said she was going to bring me a surprise when she came back from…”

“Emily, that’s enough! Go outside and we’ll talk about mom's surprise later. We can even call her if you want, okay?”

Prater’s shout startled the girl, who simply picked up a stuffed panda from the couch and a red car that looked quite similar to the one I had in Formula 1 back in 2015. As soon as Hanna turned back to her, scolding her once more, she ran towards the yard.

I found it amusing that, when my friend turned back to me, that curly-haired blonde girl peeked around the door, trying not to let us see her, possibly feeling quite curious about what we had to discuss. 

It didn’t bother me at all, but exactly the opposite. I used to do the same when I was a child and my parents had friends coming home.

“Are you here or not, Sebastian?”

Hanna quickly brushed her hand over my face. I immediately shifted my gaze from the little girl and refocused on her. She had her arms crossed, her sweater sleeves rolled up, and her face was completely red.

I wasn’t sure if she was angry with little Emily, with me, or with the situation, though she had no reason to be. After all, I was the one who had come to my parents’ house, my home, to get ready to see Y/N. It wasn’t my problem that I had encountered Hanna and this mysterious girl here, without any prior notice. At least, I didn’t see it as such.

“I’ve been here since I arrived, Hanna. You’re the one who’s gone crazy seeing me show up,” I responded tersely.

“You could have told me that you were coming.”

“Do I need to give an exact day for when I’ll be back home? Can’t I give my parents a fucking surprise?”

“Didn’t you consider that your parents might be running errands at this time? Or that…”

I left her talking to herself because the last thing I wanted was to argue, especially over something trivial like this. Her behavior was stressing me out too much, and that was the last thing I needed, especially considering that my ex and I might run into each other at any moment.

Without saying anything else, I headed to the kitchen to find a vase for the tulips for Y/N before they wilted. While filling it with water, I noticed the little girl. She was engrossed with that red toy car, moving it back and forth while murmuring commands with what seemed to be an attempt of technical Formula 1 words. She pushed her curls out of her face and suddenly decided to include the panda bear in the game.

I stared at the girl. Her face seemed familiar… too familiar, in fact. I didn’t know exactly what it was, but I had a feeling I had seen her before in Heppenheim, though I didn’t remember seeing her as part of any family of my parents’ friends.

I tried to downplay the fleeting thought when Hanna arrived, leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed and, as I had guessed upon looking back, with a rather unfriendly expression. 

Her eyes were analyzing me, I knew it perfectly. I sighed and placed the vase on the counter, arranging the tulips as best as I could while trying to ignore her behavior.

"Are they for Y/N?" she finally asked.

"Who else would they be for?"

"She isn’t here," she said abruptly, dropping the news.

Silence fell between us once again. I raised my gaze so quickly that I almost felt a bit dizzy. All she did was look at me, unable to continue the conversation or, at least, undecided on whether to continue it or not. Finally, after a few seconds, she decided to speak again:

"I know I told you she’d be here this week, but…" she hesitated. It was the first time I had seen her like this, and she was by no means the self-assured Hanna I had known since the first day of school. “Damn it, Seb, I shouldn’t be telling you this, but…”

"Does she have a boyfriend?"

That was the first thing that came to mind, and I immediately regretted blurting it out. Hanna laughed so hard that Emily, who was now chasing a butterfly, stopped dead in her tracks to see what was happening to her supposed aunt.

Hanna approached me. She gave me a few pats on the chest and then on the head, before giving me a hug that caught me off guard.

"How naive you are, Sebastian Vettel… Do you really think Y/N would have a boyfriend? Can you picture her having one?"

"Well, it's been five years since she broke up with me. It's about time she moved on, so I find it normal."

"Have you moved on? Do you have some secret girlfriend you haven’t told us about, Mr. Privacy?"

I didn’t answer, which was enough for her to know we were in the same romantic situation.

"I've slept with a few girls all these years, but I’ve never looked for anything serious," I confessed.

"Well, I’m afraid to tell you that you’re in the same boat as Y/N then. As far as I know, she hasn’t slept with anyone, although it’s understandable, considering she has…”

And before she could say anything more, she stopped talking. Again.

If the situation between us had calmed down, it had now become tense again. It was the second time that day, at least as far as I had noticed, that Hanna Prater seemed to have let something slip. I looked at her, searching her expressions for something that would give me a hint about what she wanted to say; she simply looked away and headed to the living room, sitting on the sofa and changing the channel from some cartoon pigs to the local Heppenheim news channel.

"What does Y/N have, Hanna? Or who does she have?"

"Y/N is in London, Seb," she finally revealed with a sigh, as if it was hard for her to tell me. “I know it’s not my place to tell you this, and even less that she would like you to know, but after your breakup… she has some contacts.”

"What kind of contacts are you talking about?" I wanted to know. Had she done something I wasn’t aware of? Was she in trouble?

"To say it briefly, because the story is too long, a guy from this very famous boyband back in the day decided to come here for a while to find inspiration for new music and see what to do with his solo career," she explained. “Call it coincidence, luck or an act of God, but Niall ended up going to the bar where Y/N works and, well… the rest is history.”

I didn’t know what to say… Yes, I hoped things were going a bit better for her than when we were together, but that she had met someone as important as that guy seemed…

"The thing is, Y/N is in London right now. But she’ll be back, so don’t worry. She’s been there for several days," Hanna continued. "Niall isn’t particularly good at keeping secrets, and since he knew she was the face behind Red, he had the bright idea of mentioning it to his label who, luckily, said they’d like to meet with Y/N to offer her a contract."

"And did you know any of this before telling me to come, or…?"

I tried not to sound angry, but the truth was I was, at least a little. To be more exact, I was more than just angry… I was upset. Upset simply because Y/N, knowing I had asked if she was the face behind that viral video that was having so much success, and now considering that she had a possibly important meeting with that record label, hadn’t bothered to respond not only to my question but also to my birthday wishes.

I felt really bad because, despite being the person who probably knew y/n better than anyone else in the world, it seemed like the opposite.

"Y/N didn’t tell me anything until the day before she left," she confessed quietly. "I swear, Seb, she was so reluctant to go that I even thought she wouldn’t go and you two would finally get to talk about everything…” Once again, a pause full of uncertainty gnawed at me from within. “The only thing she said to me before going to London was that she wasn’t going to sign anything and that she was going only because she hadn’t traveled since you two were together, and she actually was doing that because she needed to disconnect and think about a few things.”

"So… did she go for nothing?"

"She doesn’t want to sign any record deal, Seb. She just wants to put her life in order and continue it as it is now. She doesn’t need anything more than what she has."

I didn’t know what to say, but I had a thousand conflicting thoughts swirling in my head right now. It struck me as very strange that my ex-girlfriend didn’t want to accept a record deal. That was everything Y/N had worked for in this life, and now, when she had the opportunity, she was turning it down…

Maybe Britta was right and the Y/N I knew was now just a mere ghost of my past, still haunting my life to torment me with the answers I never got.

"Y/N should accept it," was all I could say, impassive to what my ears had just heard. "I can’t believe she’d turn down something she’s fought for so many years…”

Suddenly, a melody from a song I didn’t recognize started playing in the room. Emily appeared with a phone in her hand and ran to give it to Hanna who, upon looking at the screen, became quite alarmed.

"Sorry, Seb, it’s important…" she said without taking her eyes off the phone. "Emily, stay here with Seb, okay? I’ll be right back…”

Hanna left faster than I would have liked, leaving me alone with the little girl, who again kept staring at me.

"You’re just like on TV..."

The little blonde girl came up to me, too close, and began examining me closely. She placed her small hands on my cheeks and moved them across my face. I was sure she was leaving little traces of dirt, but I didn’t mind when I saw she couldn’t stop smiling and laughing.

"If my mommy were here, she’d be very happy to see you," she said, sitting next to me.

"Does your mom know who I am?"

She nodded.

"Mommy watches you on TV every day," she revealed. "Well, not every day, but when you’re on granny’s TV on weekends, she spends hours and hours watching you at your work!"

"So your mom likes Formula 1, huh?"

"What’s that?" she asked innocently. However, before I could say anything, she spoke again. "Oh, I remember now! That’s what’s on TV where the cars go really fast, right? And you drive one of them, don’t you?"

I nodded slightly while laughing.

"Mommy says it’s very dangerous and sometimes she’s scared about what might happen to you. Mommy really likes you a lot, you know? Why don’t you go out with her and be my daddy?"

"Sometimes it is a bit dangerous, yes, but don’t worry: today there are many safety measures to keep us safe, and we also take a lot of care when we drive,” I said quietly, trying to sound as calm as possible and ignoring her last request. Did this girl not have a present father?

The girl frowned, not very convinced by my answer and, possibly, upset by ignoring part of what she was surely eager to know. Her eyes, a shade of blue that was neither dark nor light, looked at me with curiosity.

"Have you ever hurt yourself while driving your red car?" she asked again, interested.

"Well, um…" I hesitated for a moment on what words to choose so as not to alarm her further. "Sometimes we have small bumps, but the barriers on the track protect us when we go off."

Emily seemed more at ease with the softened version of reality, although she still looked worried and upset. I didn’t know why I was telling her all this considering she was probably no older than five and I might be scaring her.

"Hey, now tell me something about you, since I’m on holidays and I don’t want to talk about my work! What do you like to do? I don’t know anything about you yet!"

Her eyes lit up when I asked her that. My main intention was to change the subject, but something inside me was glad to see her so happy when I showed some kind of interest in her.

"I love to paint and play!" she exclaimed. "I also like going to the park with mummy, dancing and singing at her work! And I also like tales!"

"What’s your favorite tale?"

“Mommy always tells me one about a prince who is part of a blue team and takes part in an important game every year, and he always wins! And in the end, he falls in love with a very pretty waitress, and they have a little baby and take care of it together, and they’re very happy!”

I got in absolute shock at her words.

Could it...?

No, it’s impossible, there’s no way that’s some kind of version of my story with Y/N. It must be the exhaustion and all the hustle and bustle of these last few days that are starting to make my head a mess.

I didn’t know what else to say, so while I tried to sort my thoughts, we sat in silence for a while. I changed the channel from the local one to the cartoons that had been on earlier to keep Emily entertained.

The little one didn’t say anything else, but she did snuggle up to me as if she had known me for much more than less than an hour.

When some amount of time had passed, I felt slight tugs on my shirt. I hadn’t realized I had closed my eyes and had dozed off a little. Emily’s little smile brought me back to reality:

“Is something wrong, little one?” I asked, worried that something had happened to her.

“Aunt Hanna is still on the phone, and Peppa Pig is over,” she pointed to the TV with her little hand. “And you probably have to leave soon... Mrs. Heike and Mr. Norbert are coming back any moment now!”

“But this is my house. I’m not going anywhere,” I said, trying not to laugh. “Heike and Norbert are my parents. Do you remember that I told you that before?”

She nodded, relieved and partly remembering that we had talked about it earlier. From her face, I knew she was about to say something more, but I didn’t hear her when I noticed my phone vibrating in my pocket.

I tried to disconnect as much as possible when I was on “vacation,” but given that it could be an important work issue, I decided to check what the notification was about.

To my absolute surprise, it was a message from Y/N:

Hi, Seb.

I’m so sorry for not replying to you earlier. I completely forgot...

I really wanted to, but with one thing and another, it’s been impossible. Hanna has probably talked to you about it, so I won’t say much more so I don’t stress you out more than you probably already are.

I promise that the next time you come, I’ll be there, and we’ll talk about whatever you want.

I think we have quite a few things to discuss about, and I hope you’re not upset with me when that happens.

I read the message more times than I could count, not believing what my eyes were seeing. Relief mixed with confusion at the last sentence. “I think we have quite a bit to discuss, and I hope you’re not upset with me when that happens” didn’t make me think of anything good, especially coming from Y/N.

I took some time to reply, maybe hoping that Hanna, who I saw was coming back into the house, could help me. I started to worry again when I saw a forced smile on her face, as if she was trying to hide something, just as she seemed to have been doing all day.

I started to hear the door lock and then it opening. I knew perfectly by the way of walking that it was my parents, and Emily seemed to know it as well. The little one jumped off the sofa and ran towards them, which surprised me quite a bit.

I only did the same, except I stood up as calmly as I could, with a kind of fear I couldn’t explain.

“You’ve come back home!” the little girl shouted excitedly, bouncing up and down. “Mrs. Heike, Mrs. Heike! Can I ask you something now that your son, the one who drives cars and is very liked by mom, is here?”

My mother looked at the little girl, and then at me. Her face changed completely when she realized that Emily wasn’t lying and that I was, in fact, back home. I didn’t know what Hanna was like at that moment, but I would swear she was more distressed than she had been all day.

Even my father, who normally was a person who didn’t get flustered by anything, seemed quite nervous.

Emily and I, however, seemed to be the only ones who weren’t catching on and were living in our bubble of innocence.

“Does your mommy have a nickname for you, Sebastian?” the little one asked me in a low voice, calling me by my name for the first time. Then she asked me to bend down and carefully placed her hand on my ear to tell me something so that no one would hear. “My mommy says I’m the sunshine of her life, but she always says to me not to tell anyone, that she calling me that way is a secret between us. No one answers me why when I ask them, do you know why?”

[steamberrystudio]

16/11/2024

Hallo everyone!  Tumblr devlog time. It's been a while again. I keep writing up posts for tumblr and then apparently never posting them.

This is what happens when I get distracted mid-post write up. I guess? I SWEAR I posted the last one but I don't see it anywhere.  The last post I see is my Episode 1 announcement so I'm either losing my mind or I've written two (2) updates that I never posted.

Maybe both. Because hey. 

Before I jump into the update, I just want to say that I relocated my Steamberry account to Bluesky from the other place. You can find me @steamberrystudio.bsky.social

Summary Bullets:

(all the work below is in reference to Episode Two content)

Since my last update (???) I've completed nearly 8 CGs

Multiple new BGs

Finished Wil's expressions

Finished Raif, Yren, Asher and side character expressions

Finished all expressions in the common route

Started Daaz's exclusive scene expressions.

Completed the flowcharts (building and unlocking)

Art:

So I have continued to receive BGs and BG sketches, of course.

I've also completed multiple CGs for episode two. 

I'm trying to do one CG per chapter for each LI so that means I need 12 (but with some extras for Kav so actually 14 for this episode. And I have...7 done I think? (two of Kav's, which I had completed previously) plus one each for Daaz, Noel, Raif, Asher, Yren. And I've started on another of Kav's.

Some of the CGs are solo CGs but each LI will have 1 CG that includes both the LI and Wil. Those, I haven't started yet. But after I finish this last solo Kav CG, I'll start on the couples CGs.

I've also done some touching up on previous CGs - I noticed that there were some mistakes in some of the previous ones I wanted to fix like some layers being inexplicably off.

I also redrew a CG that I didn't previously like but I don't know if I like the new version any better so I may not update it. 🤣

I received new BG art of course. As usual.

And I started putting together an art book that will be available for some Patreon tiers. I may eventually make it available for purchase outside of Patreon but that definitely will not be until the game is complete because as of now, I'll have to update the art book episodically along with the game.

So yeah, lots of art stuff happening. Lots.

Other Stuff:

I have coded the flowcharts. So the process for the flowcharts is as follows:

I make a mock up in simplemind - this just gives me a rough idea of the shape and number of nodes that I'm going to need. I use this to help me figure out in advance how big the flowchart will be as well as any weird shaping issues.

I build the flowcharts in Renpy using the flowchart plug in that Feniks created for me. 

Beg Fen for help at multiple points when the connectors and nodes are not behaving (because of me, not their plugin)

Set all the unlock statements in the game so that the flowchart actually lights up properly as you play.

For Episode 2, there were just over 200 nodes. 

The flowcharts in WSC, behemoths though they may be, are still simplified compared to the actual game branching. I can't really make note of every single branch in the game. Many callbacks are quite small and if I included them all, the flowchart would be insane. It already is. LoL

I don't need it to be even worse. So you can think of it as there being 200+ *major* scene divisions and choice options...

But numerous small callbacks and branching scenarios that don't get noted on the flowchart.

Upcoming Weeks:

My goal for the upcoming week is to actually finish expressions. When that's done I'll consider the beta version of the game roughly complete since it'll have everything I consider necessary for testing.

I'm not sure I'll release it to Patrons right away but just getting expressions done is a huge milestone and I'm really looking forward to being done with that.

This chapter had a huge amount of very large group scenes that were a bit time consuming to code expressions for. 

Group scenes are always a lot of work but even more so in this game.

In GS there were a lot of group scenes but a lot of them were meetings where people weren't necessarily being hugely expressive. In WSC some of the group scenes involve very emotional conversations or very dynamic conversations that require a lot more expression changes. People are popping in and out a lot more frequently....

And there's a fairly long, intense, somewhat action-y and suspenseful SPACE SHENANIGAN that occurs in Chapter three. So the expressions through that section are quite dynamic and are shifting around a lot.

Point being, the group scenes were a pain in the butt.

This will calm down a bit over the next few chapters after Episode Two. I think.

I don't know. We'll see. 

Expressions are tedious. Ha ha.

BUT I'm nearly there with this Episode so there's that. And then I'll be able to focus entirely on testing and getting the CGs complete.

So yeah, lots of progress for Episode 2 so far.

And will hopefully see you in two weeks when I do not write up a post and immediately forget to post it. 💪

[fafefae]

holds head in hands. nobody look at me but i binged a whole ton of the episodes from the new fairly odd parents cartoon and i have thoughts and if i dont get them out of me i think i will perhaps explode. i am aware this is children's media also, but just hear me out. (i have not finished watching all the episodes. a gauge for readers to know roughly where im at, i havent met irep yet. haven't watched the finale yet either but ive heard its not the greatest.)

Cosmo and Wanda shouldn't have been Hazel's fairy godparents.

Cosmo and Wanda shouldn't have been Hazel's fairy godparents. Peri should have.

listen, its been a long LONG time since ive watched an episode of fairly odd parents (the original), but like. hear me out for a moment PLEAAASE. the whole reason Timmy Turner got Cosmo and Wanda in the original series was to help him deal with his terrible, evil, awful babysitter Vicky, who is consistently an antagonistic force in the show moreso than, but also alongside Crocker, who brought with him a whole other slew of hijinks and issues for Timmy to figure out how to get out of.

Hazel doesn't have that. Hazel doesn't have a direct antagonistic force in her life.

the closest thing she had was Dev to be her Vicky, and Dane to be her Crocker. but Dev is Hazel's on-and-off friend (mostly on), for a majority of the series. he's not an antagonistic force to Hazel the way Vicky was to Timmy. and while Dane is obsessive the way Crocker is, and is set up to be the true villain of the series (i havent seen the finale, so im sure ill be mad if this isnt actually the case), he's not actually a present force she deals with.

to make it clear: Timmy had consistently absent unloving parents, an evil irredeemable antagonist to deal with, and also dealt with an extremely obsessive antagonist on the side. that's why he needed fairy godparents. his life was miserable, so he needed fun silly times and thus, got the fun silly fairies.

and to get to my point: Hazel's parents aren't absent in her life and love her, she has no evil irredeemable antagonist to deal with, and the extremely obsessive antagonist she deals with hides in the shadows like a mastermind, so she doesn't really even know he's a bad guy to deal with until way later. so why does she have the fun silly fairies? her life isn't miserable! she's consistently shown that she's loved by her parents, and her biggest problems are... growing up, being kid who deals with school and friend drama, and missing her big brother. her life is, objectively, already silly and full of love. she doesn't need caring parent figures. she already has those!

what she needs is a brother figure to help her with missing Antony, and what she needs are life lessons in her life, not more silliness. and for all of the two minutes i've seen him on screen, Peri is exactly what she needs. he tries to be serious, he isn't silly the way his parents are silly, and this is a little stretch, but he's literally established as a brother figure to Timmy in the original series.

you know who does need caring parent figures? Dev. you know who does need silliness in his life? Dev! and that's why he clings so hard to being friends with Hazel once it happens, because she's silly and fun and he needs that. so why doesn't Dev have Cosmo and Wanda, and why doesn't Hazel have Peri???

[dododrawsstuff]

IkePri OC Melinda

Excuse the messy sketch, I'll update it if I finish (and this is also not her regular clothes, this is like a portrait painting of her, but Chev said it was okay if she was silly, that's why the peace sign and the smily expression ajdhajdj)

She was more of a meme character in my head, but she grew on me, so have Melinda (I finally gave her a name)

Taglist: @olivermorningstar (you said it was ok to tag you in OC stuff, but let me know if you don't want to be tagged anymore) and if there's anyone else that wants to be tagged in my OC stuff, let me know

More about her under the cut

Name: Melinda (nickname: Mel)

Age: 24

Birthday: 10/31

Story: She is originally from a different world, and IkePri is a game she plays. One day she just wakes up in Rhodolite’s castle. Nobody knows the cause or if she can go back to her own world. She arrives roughly the same day Emma is appointed as Belle, Mel is granted stay at the castle because of Emma. She is assigned to help around the castle, to earn her stay.

Mel’s favorite character was Calvis, she had fallen in love with him in her own world (as pathetic as she thinks it is). And as she gets to interact with the princes and Emma, she falls harder for Clavis, which is unfortunate for her, since she starts to notice some signs that Emma is on Clavis’ route.

She is torn at first, because she really loves him, but she thinks she can never make Clavis as happy as Emma can. She gives up on pursuing him, and resigns to just watch them for afar and wish for their happiness.

Personality: Melinda is a bit of a pessimist, but tries to keep a positive outlook on life. She is awkward on social situations, especially if it involves interacting with strangers, so she is sometimes considered to be rude. She really likes to laugh and tends to be more silly with people she feels comfortable around. She is very expressive once she is comfortable with someone, and uses her hands a lot while talking.

Melinda can struggle sometimes with establishing boundaries and speaking up for herself, but it's something she is working on.

Pair: Chevalier

Story with Chevalier, I guess?: After arriving in Rhodolite ****she ****tries to avoid Chevalier most of the time, being a stranger that appeared out of nowhere, she is suspicious to say the least and she doesn't want to try her luck.

But stuff keeps happening that makes them interact with each other, at first he is disinterested at best in her, but as they keep interacting, she starts to pick his interest.

I imagine one of the key interactions they have is when Chevalier calls her a simpleton and basically useless, which is true, since she most of her skills she acquired during her life were useless in that world, but she has a lot of pent up feelings, the uncertainty of going home, feeling like she doesn't fit in, and then his words spoken in a cold tone disregarding her feelings added salt to injury, and is what makes her explode despite her better judgment. She just start venting in a language he doesn't understand (in this particular scenario I imagined there are no Portuguese speaking countries in the IkePri universe, and I chose Portuguese because is the only other language I feel confident in writing).

After that, he starts to take an interest in her. He demands asks her to teach him her language, in return he teaches her about politics, manners, etc. He was able to learn and speak Portuguese in less than a month.

At one point he starts to request her to his room (kinda like in his route, where he asks Emma to tell him stories, if I'm not crazy, it's been a while since I played his route) so she can tell him stories he hadn't heard before. And from this point onwards, I really haven't thought much, but I imagined a VERY slow burn.

Some random headcanons that I didn't know where to put:

She and Chevalier sometimes talk in Portuguese whenever she misses home, or when they don't want other people to know what they're talking about (though sometimes others can tell because of her body language). They gossip a lot in Portuguese, it's mostly her, he just listens to her rambles;

Eventually she ends up revealing to him that she is from another world. But it's something he had suspicions for a long time;

Chevalier likes to hear her talk about her experiences, her childhood, her hobbies, what she used to do in her own world. And Melinda is happy he likes to listen to her, though sometimes she wonders if she’s being a bother;

They also talk about history, technology (mostly because I think it would be interesting to muse about him discovering these things)

She needs to use glasses, but her eyesight is not so bad she can't see without them, so most of the time she just doesn't wear them

I'll edit this as I develop her more ^^

[gaylordscooter]

Getting Lost in Yourself

Today’s torment was simple: escape the maze.

What Nightmare neglected to mention was that it was a mirror maze. Which was much harder than a normal one.

They weren't even sure they could trust that there was an exit in the first place.

Heck, the entrance closed behind them the second they were all shoved in.

Killer was incredibly confident that he would be able to finish the maze quickly—until they learned it was a mirror maze. He stared at his reflection, dumbfounded at the turn of events. His original plan of running around blindly until he found the exit was foiled. He knew how these things worked. Running was a surefire way to get a concussion.

Dust held his gaze nowhere in particular, seemingly unamused by the predicament as per usual.

As for Horror—

Crash.

“EY, HEY. WOAH, WATCH WHERE YOU’RE SWINGING!” Killer yelled.

He was swinging around a femur he summoned like there was no tomorrow. He grunted with effort as he slammed it into a nearby mirror. The shards of it flew everywhere, narrowly missing the openings in his skull.

Crash.

The mirrors he destroyed would quickly repair itself. Only the shrapnel littering the ground and Horror’s crazed look served as proof for his havoc.

Crash.

Killer grabbed the bone as Horror winded up for another swing. “hey. stop trying to bash your reflection’s skull. i assure you, it's just as cracked as yours. that's how reflections work.”

Horror turned his head around to glare at him. He yanked the bone out of his grasp with so much force Killer’s arm would’ve been dislocated if he held on.

“i get that you're slow and the gaping hole in your head isn't pleasant to look at but come on. haven't you noticed that bashing them isn't going to work, freakshow?” Killer barely had time to back away, crashing into Dust while he did, as Horror swung at him instead.

They both ended up on the ground with Killer on top of him. Dust roughly shoved him off to the side, causing him to roll into a nearby mirror.

Killer recuperated from the series of events, seeing his face twist in anger through his reflection, and stood. “what the hell is wrong with you?!”

“i’m not dealing with a goddamn mirror maze with you,” Horror grunted.

“oh okay then,” he threw his hands up, “just fuckin’ kill me then i guess!”

Horror decided to heed his advice, but Killer was ready this time and turned his soul blue.

Ping

He sent him forward. It took him a bit before he actually crashed into a mirror.

Killer and Dust walked forward. Killer stopped right in front of Horror, who he was still holding up by his soul.

“i don't know if you know what sarcasm is, but that wasn't actually an invitation. besides, you can't kill me if you tried.” He released his soul.

To Horror’s credit he managed to remain upright instead of collapsing. He scoffed and decided to walk off without them.

“splitting off, that's fine with me! asshole.” Killer tugged at his jacket, straightening it out, and then shoved his hands in his pockets. “c’mon, dust.” He turned to the opposite direction that Horror went, hand outstretched in front of him to avoid bumping into the wall of mirrors.

Dust followed him, glancing at the direction Horror went. He remembered what happened the last time they split up. Nightmare told them not to do that after. Regardless, he didn't voice any concerns nor show any. It wasn't his problem. He stayed behind Killer, blindly putting faith in his ability to navigate. He wasn't going to bother finding the way out himself. Even with his hood obscuring his face, he didn't want to see his reflection.

Thankfully Killer didn't waste any time. They were able to get in pretty deep quickly.

“this isn't so hard,” he snickered as his hand pressed against a mirror. He slid along it until his hand touched the air. “you just gotta lead with your hand instead of your—”

He cut himself off as he caught sight of the hallway they were heading down. Rather than the normal walls of mirrors, there were spikes protruding from all sides that were also mirrors, which required much more precise movement to get around without getting nicked.

“hm. ‘course it wasn't going to be this easy,” Killer mumbled. He summoned a bone in his hand, deciding to use Horror's method from earlier. He shot it down the hall, it didn't reach far until it crashed into one of the spikes. However the bone merely bounced off of it without any damage to the glass. He hissed through his teeth. “welp, wish me luck, dust.”

He didn't, but that was a given. 

Killer went forward blindly, trying to stay in the middle as much as possible. It felt like he was going through a tunnel full of crystals in Waterfall. Now that was a bitter thought. He remembered chasing down a Woshua and Aaron that tried escaping him. He could almost smell the dampness of the cave now.

Unfortunately he didn't have an omnipotent force controlling his every move to carefully maneuver around the crystals now.

He moved faster now with a sudden urgency falling over him.

They were getting away. The monsters were getting away, a voice said.

He bit back a scream when he stepped on a very small crystal on the ground that was right in the middle. He didn't have time for fretting over injuries. He lifted his foot off, grunting. It cut him deep enough that he could feel he was bleeding, at least it didn't puncture through his bones.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head around and readied his knife, only to see his lost self.

Sans.

He jolted back in surprise, a few more nicks and tears joining the collection on his body and clothes.

“it's me, dumbass,” he hissed. He held up the remains of his shredded hood like he was demanding a refund from Killer.

It took him a second to register the mismatched eyelights and the illusion shattered. He swore they were white a second ago.

“we're not in waterfall. there hasn't been a reset.”

Killer blinked. He put his knife away. “how did you—”

Dust pushed him forward, signifying the end of the conversation.

He sighed, going down the tunnel until they finally returned to a normal portion of the maze. This place was making him antsy. If they didn't get out of here soon he was going to start shortcutting, risks be damned.

Now that Dust’s hood was ruined, he was glaring holes into Killer’s back. Unfortunately his reflections still mocked him from his peripheral vision.

Horror wasn't doing much better than the other two. Sure, he hasn't hit a single dead end, but that only made him suspect the maze was changing as he was walking.

At least he didn't have Killer talking his head off. That guy gave him a headache.

He'd like to see him get his skull gouged open and his eye stolen; see if he jokes about his injury after. Maybe it’d make him less annoying. Maybe he'd be quieter.

This maze was driving him crazy.

He wouldn't consider himself a claustrophobic monster. Many times he fell in between his mattress and the wall and he still slept soundly—but this was different.

He was stuck here with no one but himself.

What would happen if he didn't solve the maze? Would he just be stuck here forever?

He came to a halt. He felt like he was walking in circles.

He sat down, leaning against one of the walls with his eye sockets shut. He was tired of this. He was tired of walking around aimlessly and seeing his reflection.

Him and that stupid red eye that didn't even belong to him. He was painfully aware of its presence in his socket. It sat in his socket like a cuckoo bird that intruded on another’s nest. Despite its presence, he could still feel that something was missing. His actual eye.

He opened his sockets, glaring at the red eye.

He wanted nothing more than to rip it out, but he couldn't. Every time he tried he'd just be reminded of the time everything went wrong. He’d feel the same pain too.

Dust couldn't ignore his jealousy for Killer right now. The way he was completely unfazed by looking at himself. Dust wasn't stupid. He knew why Nightmare made it a mirror maze.

It wasn't a secret that he, and Horror, hated looking at themselves. They could look at each other just fine, sure, they’ve gotten used to it.

Besides, Killer and Horror had their differences in appearance.

But Dust didn't look different from Sans. He didn't have a crater in his head or weird black tears showing that something's changed. Sure his eyelights were different, but it was only when he was using his magic to make them look that way.

Otherwise, he looked exactly the same. As if he didn't face any consequences from killing everyone in the underground at all.

At least Killer looked like he's gone through shit.

Maybe a scar on his face would make it easier to look at himself. Now that was an idea.

Killer halted suddenly, patting the wall in front of them and then the sides.

A dead end.

A perfect opportunity.

“great going, dumbass,” Dust muttered.

“hey, i don't see you being any help,” Killer retorted, turning around to face him.

“usually solving mazes is a one man’s job. i shouldn't need to help. unless, of course, you're that useless.”

Killer whipped around to face him with a snarl. “newsflash, you didn't have to follow me!”

“i did, actually. nightmare told me not to leave you alone because of your pathetic breakdown last time you were alone.”

Killer drew out his knife. There it was. “oh, so suddenly you're my babysitter?”

Dust kept his hands in his pockets and his face expressionless. “more like your nurse practitioner,” he deadpanned.

Killer scoffed. In a quick motion his knife was hovering over Dust’s neck. “if you were my doctor, i would’ve killed myself by now.”

Dust’s eyelights flicked down to the knife by his metaphorical throat and back to his face. He grabbed Killer’s wrist to angle his knife higher to point at his face. “what are you waiting for?”

It was like he dunked water on him, bringing him to his senses. Killer tried bringing his knife away but Dust stubbornly held it where it was. “what the fuck is your problem?” he asked through gritted teeth.

Dust’s response to that was to fall backwards, bringing Killer with him to the ground. As Killer landed on top of him his knife nearly cut Dust’s skull, only missing due to his struggling.

The utter look of shock and confusion on his face almost made Dust laugh, and he would've if he wasn't so focused on the task at hand. “c’mon killer,” he spat his name like it was his role, “don't get shy now.” He dragged his knife closer to his face, the tip making contact with his cheek.

“It's like carving a pumpkin.”

He could feel him tug to keep the knife from piercing through bone. It was annoying. He swore Killer would get right to slicing up his face yet here he was, disappointing him.

“you're fucking insane,” he said.

Dust smiled and narrowed his eyes, his amusement on full display. “you're one to talk.”

Killer finally managed to wrench his arm out of Dust’s grasp. He dropped the knife. At the same time, Dust’s smile fell. “c’mon, dusty,” he said, softening that grating voice as much as he could. He didn't say anything after. He most likely had no idea what to follow up with.

Dust groaned, shoving him off. He loathed whenever Killer called him a nickname, especially that one. He stayed on the ground while Killer stood up.

He stared up at the ceiling. Which was also a mirror.

A second later, Killer’s coat landed on his head. He jerked up, sitting upright. The coat fell into his lap.

“let's switch, so you can have a hood,” he said. He crossed his bare arms, Dust could see glimpses of scars that he was trying to keep out of view.

He took off his jacket and handed it to Killer, the latter quickly throwing it on, not bothering to zip it up like Dust does. He made an effort to keep his gaze off of him, knowing that underneath Dust’s usual jacket was Sans’s signature hoodie.

Despite everything, he’d still wear it even though he kept it hidden. He assumed it was because it had a hood, unlike the jacket he wore over it. It couldn't be for a sentimental reason.

Dust put his coat on, tugging the hood over his head. The fluffy fur at the edge of the hood was so obnoxiously long and thick that he could hardly see. He preferred this to his torn hood.

“we’ll need to backtrack some, hopefully we won’t run into any more dead ends,” he sighed.

Dust didn't respond, slipping back into his usual silence. Killer took that as a good thing.

A few more minutes of walking around later, they ran into Horror who was walking in their direction.

Killer gave him a glare, expecting a snide remark from him.

Instead, he wordlessly turned around with a sigh, knowing that he was definitely going in the wrong direction.

Killer trotted after him. “wait up! we might as well stick together now.”

Horror continued at the pace he was going, unresponsive.

They managed to catch up with him anyway.

Horror shot a glance at him and Dust, snorting humorlessly. “why’d you two switch clothes?”

“ey, don't get it twisted. dusty’s hood just got ripped up and he whined about it so I gave him mine.”

“you didn't have to wear his though.”

Killer shrugged, “i didn't want to get cold.”

“we don't get cold,” he muttered. “you're acting like you don't go to each other's rooms nightly.”

“oh hey look, the exit.” Killer pointed ahead.

Dust immediately shoved past him, throwing the possibility of him lying out of the window.

Fortunately, he was telling the truth and Dust didn't end up crashing into a mirror. Instead he reached the outside, in between the forest and castle. He fell forward, letting himself faceplant and embrace the grass of questionable authenticity.

Horror’s sockets widened, completely throwing the current topic at hand out the window to follow after Dust.

Killer snickered at their relief, but he couldn't deny that he felt the same. After all, he also hated looking at himself—not because he was ugly like Horror, he was the spitting image of handsome—it just wasn't a hobby of his.

But he wouldn't bitch and moan like the other two.

Still, those unexpressed feelings probably couldn't escape Nightmare.

He walked out, letting some tension dissolve from his mind and body as the dubiously genuine sunlight hit his skull.

He looked around, expecting Nightmare to show up and mock them or something as he tended to do after they finished the “activity” for the day. He caught movement near the forest only to register it as a deer. He continued looking around to no avail. Huh, maybe he wasn't going to show up.

Hang on, the only animals in the forest were his cats. He glanced back to where the deer was, only to see it gone.

And then it appeared right in front of him.

He flinched back, filled with the overwhelming feeling that something was wrong. Something was off about this deer, not just the deer there was something wrong with where they were too…

The deer stared at him, keeping one side of its head pointed at him to show off its unusual eye that he finally noticed looked exactly like Nightmare's eye.

It hurt to look at it, but he couldn't look away. He couldn't control his body at all, now that he thought about it.

Finally, it hit him. They weren't at the castle anymore, Nightmare cast them out. They've found a new home.

This was a dream. Well, it was a dream of a memory, but at this point this was all different.

The false world around him started crumbling the moment he realized.

The deer, Dust, and Horror were gone.

It was about time to wake up, he thought.

On cue, his sockets opened, but he still couldn't see on the account of it being too dark in the room. Must be the middle of the night, then.

There was something heavy on his legs. It shifted around when he moved them slightly. It reminded him of a cat, but it was much heavier. Wait a minute, “dusk?” he whispered.

He got an annoyed drone in response.

Yeah, it was him.

“i had a weird dream—”

He was cut off by Dusk shushing him.

“yeesh ok, g'night.” He adjusted his position slightly, trying not to disturb him by moving his legs. The second he closed his eye sockets again he fell right back to sleep.

He wondered what the deal was with that deer.

[kalpeavaris]

V0id Pilot

Say Hello to my Murder Drones Fancharacter. B) I recently got into the series when I saw the final episode on my Recommended Page and *finally* gave into the curiosity. And what can I saw, I watched this entire series like four times already since the end of August. The brainrot has set in. So I created a fancharacter, yippie! More about her under the cut. *eyes*

Her name is "Evie", although it's more of a cover. She does not know her "real" designated name, all she knows is that she was number 24 in the holding chambers where she was being held roughly around the same time Nori and Yeva where. She did escape before them, though she didn't escape the Solvers grip. Her exorcism wasn't finished properly, only around 48%, making her vulnerable to the solvers plans.

More or less "willingly" Evie was letting it using her as a disassembly drone, doing what she was told, before she was able to temporarily rid herself of the control and flee.

She's difficult to explain in terms of personality - Evie is still in search of who she really was before she was taken over as a host, but fears that she might find out that she never had any purpose outside of being a host. Evie actively avoids this topic and appears cold and cynic to outsiders, when instead she is deeply insecure and afraid of being taken over again (which will happen, RIP).

I had in mind to have her be one of the butlers at Tessas estate, hence the sketch of her with the common butlers appearance from the show, but in the end I might change this to a different character. Her backstory isn't entirely fleshed out, I'm still learning alot about the plot.

Regarding her design, she wears a pilots had (without the emblem), a cropped top, pants and a jacket thats too big for her and usually slides down her shoulders. The braid she has is actually more like one of the solvers "tentacles" in disguise with a USB port at the end which can be used to quickly down- or upload data/viruses. Her tail & wings are more biological like Uzis & Cyns. I haven't decided on the colors yet, but her eyes/LEDs are turquoise!

[thirsty-flygirl]

Do Better

Steve Murphy x f!Reader

About 2800 words. Not proofed or Beta-read. Good luck.

I don't know what happened here. I haven't written anything for months, this was sitting in my WIPs and I just decided to finish it.

Contrary to what this suggests, I am NOT a Steve Murphy girl. Javier Peña for life. But if Steve showed up, I probably wouldn't kick him out of bed. Not surprised, just disappointed.

OVER 18 ONLY! Warnings: oral (m and f receiving), PIV- no protection (use a condom, kids), slight degradation, Steve being a southern boy with an attitude, some language, a Reader much sexier and confident than I could ever be, my overuse of commas and italics.

“Just this once,” you panted, the pair of you stumbling through your doorway. 

“Never again,” Steve agreed, his hot breath fanning across your skin as his mouth traversed the column of your throat. You moaned in response, tilting your head so he could have better access, and let his strong hands push you back against the door until it closed. 

“Fuck, you smell good,” he muttered, letting his nose trail across your collarbone, “always smell so fuckin’ good.”

He pressed his thigh between your legs and you eagerly rolled your hips against the strong muscle, the seam of your jeans rubbing against your clit and stoking the flames of arousal in your belly. 

“I should, it’s expensive,” you moaned, dropping down over, and over, and over to feel the delicious friction against your folds.

Steve huffed out a laugh, pressing his hot mouth against the swell of your tits as his hands came up to grope you through your blouse.

“Such a fuckin’ smartass, always runnin’ your mouth,” he emphasized his words by roughly squeezing your nipples between his fingers. You cried out and rutted harder against his thigh, feeling your slick dampen your panties. Steve groaned his approval and pressed against you harder.

“That’s right, baby, rub that sweet pussy on me...get you nice and wet so I can just slide right in.”

Reached up, you grabbed a fistful of blond hair and jerked his head up, slanting your mouth over his in a bruising, sloppy kiss. He growled, urging you on, and you let your tongue tangle roughly with his for a moment before pulling back and nipping at his pouty bottom lip.

“Let me show you what else I can do with my mouth,” you purred, dropping down to your knees right there in your entryway. You made quick work of his belt, palming him through the rough denim and squeezing lightly. 

“Well, fuck, Murph,” you laughed lightly, “looks like you’re finally happy to see me for once.” 

He braced himself against the door with one hand, dropping his head to look down at you like an angel just before the fall. 

“Quit talking and just suck my dick, honey,” he rasped, reaching with his other hand to rest on the back of your head.

You grinned and pulled him from his boxers, long and thick, ruddy tip weeping. Letting your tongue dart out to swipe against the tempting swirl of precum, you moaned lowly in the back of your throat before wrapping your lips around his shaft. 

Bobbing along Steve’s length, you used one hand to stroke whatever wasn’t buried in your mouth, listening to his gasps and growls in order to guide your movements. You let your tongue laze against his frenulum, slowly running it back and forth and driving him insane.

“Not gonna last long if you keep doin’ that,” he gritted out, his fingers knotting in your hair and urging you forward. You let him guide you, hollowing out your cheeks as he pumped his cock into your hot, eager mouth, trying to take as much of him as possible on each pass.

Your own arousal roared within you, pussy fluttering at the thought of finally getting him between your legs. Your panties were completely soaked, your position at Steve’s feet with your knees tucked together making them bunch up against your clit. You writhed around, trying to find that same sweet friction that you had on his leg, but you needed more, more of the man gazing down at you, like a merciful god absolving you of all your sins.

“Look at you,” he whispered, his eyes shining appreciatively in the dim light. “Such a good girl, gettin’ down on your knees for me. Taking that cock so well…..”

His praise made you blossom, your eyes wide and acquiescent, lifting up to meet his. You whimpered around his length, moving your hand faster, bobbing enthusiastically. 

“Yeah,” he continued, nodding his head as he watched his dick disappear between your plump lips, “you like gettin’ your pretty face fucked, don’t ya?” You moaned in return, your eyelashes fluttering as his words alone made you soar.

Steve smirked crookedly down at you. “Looks like someone enjoys being on their knees for me . . . you like me using you like a whore?”

Fuck, he’d found your weakness without even trying. As assertive and confident you were in your professional life, there was something about being on your knees in front of a sexy man and letting him just control you, defile you, just absolutely fucking use you that made your cunt throb.

“Get up here, honey,” Steve ordered, pulling you up against his body, cock hard against your stomach, and taking your mouth roughly. He gripped your chin tightly as he kissed you, the sharp bite of pain making you moan wantonly.

He tore his mouth from yours, panting as he pressed his forehead against your temple. “Bedroom, now,” he demanded. You slipped past him, leading him down the short hallway and into your room. He grabbed you the moment you crossed the threshold, twirling you in his arms and walking you backward to the bed. 

“Let me see those tits,” he ordered, his deep voice hoarse with lust. You met his eyes and began unbuttoning your blouse, watching his pupils dilate as you exposed the lace of your bra. “Yeah, that’s it.” He reached out and ran his thumbs over your nipples, admiring them as they hardened under his touch. “So pretty,” he mumbled, tweaking them until they ached.

You whimpered, arching your back and  thrusting your chest further into his warm hands. “Steve, please,” you begged, letting your head loll back, “please fuck me.”

That deep, cocky chuckle rumbled through his chest as he regarded you. “Damn, honey, you do know how to make a man feel good. Let me take care of you.”

Steve slipped his hands behind your back, deftly unhooking your bra and letting it drop down to the floor, forgotten. He bent his head to lick at one perfect nipple, rolling his tongue around the bud until it tightened, then sucking it sharply into his mouth. His other hand drifted down between your thighs, rubbing unceremoniously against the thick seam of your jeans with his long fingers.

“I can feel you,” he mumbled against your breast, “soaking fuckin’ wet.”

His words thrummed through you like live wires dancing across your skin. You felt absolutely electric, overstimulated, nerve endings sizzling wherever Steve touched you. Keening, you bucked against his hand, letting a breathless whisper tumble from your lips.

“‘S’all for you, Steve, my pussy’s ready just for you.”

Your filthy words spurred him on, a low, gritty laugh escaping him as he shoved you gently back on to your bed.

“God damn, honey, keep talkin’ like that and I’ll fuckin’ blow my load all over those beautiful tits.” He crawled over you, hovering there while he slowly unfastened your jeans and slid them down your legs, leaving you nearly bare in your bra and panties. Once he had you where he wanted you, he leaned back on his heels, running a hand appreciatively down your body.

“Anyone ever tell you that you’re gorgeous?” 

You arched into his touch, his long fingers tracing over your throat, your breasts, your stomach, finally to the ache between your legs, where he dipped them under the elastic of your panties to tease at your heated folds. 

“That’s right baby, you are drenched, aren’t you?” His voice was soft, intimate, but his tone was rough with need. You couldn’t take your eyes off him, meeting his icy-blue gaze and nodding as touched you. “Yeah,” he continued, a smirk sliding across his lips, “that pussy’s all mine tonight, isn’t it? You gonna let me do whatever I want to you?”

“Yes,” you moaned, arching into his touch, urging his fingers to slip inside your soaked cunt. Steve obliged, sliding them inside you and curling them just right, hitting that sweet spot that made your pussy clench.

“God, that’s nice,” Steve murmured absently, staring down at the spot where his fingers disappeared inside you, “you got such a pretty pussy, honey. I bet it tastes sweet, too.”

He pulled his fingers out and licked them clean while you watched, his tongue dancing over the digits. You felt like you would burn up at the sight, right there in your bed, the flames of your raging fucking need for your partner to just fuck you, torching you right where you lay.

“God damn, I was right,” Steve smiled at you when your essence was cleaned from his hand. “Now I’m gonna eat that pussy while you lay there for me, okay? You gonna be my good little whore and cum on my fuckin’ tongue?”

You whined in response, writhing your hips involuntarily, seeking out the friction you needed. Steve placed a large palm against you, fingers splayed against the softness of your lower belly while his palm pressed firmly on your clit. A whine left your throat at his touch.

“Fuck me, honey,” he swore, “those pretty sounds make me want to get inside you.” Looking down at his hand, he contemplated his next move while you waited breathlessly. His eyes flicked up to yours, pupils blown out in anticipation. You let your hand drift to his lap, once again roughly massaging his dick through his jeans and feeling a victorious surge of arousal when his own groan cut through the silence, long and low and deep. 

In a flash, Steve moved away from you to stand next to the bed, tearing off his pants and boxers to reveal his cock bobbing proudly against his lower abdomen. The slick spot of precum trailing from the tip had you licking your lips hungrily; as much as you wanted him buried deep inside your pussy, you’d take him down your throat again, too.

“You’re gonna have to wait,” he warned, dropping to his knees and pulling you to the edge, “I’ve been thinking about gettin’ my mouth on this pussy for months.” 

With that, he dove in, licking a long, hot stripe from your soaking folds to your clit, then again and again, urging you toward your release. His tongue pressed just right against you, earning cries and moans that spurred him on more.

“God, you taste good,” Steve mumbled against your skin, alternating long and slow licks with quick flicks of his tongues, praise and filthy declarations falling from his lips as he worked you.

“That’s right, honey, you’re such a good girl, lettin’ me taste you like this.” He wrapped his lips around your clit for effect and sucked lightly, the sensation nearly sending your body off the bed in blinding ecstasy. “Yeah, that’s right,” he whispered against your swollen bud, “you’re gonna cum for me right? Right here in my mouth? ‘Cause I’d sure like to drink you up . . .”

He returned to sucking you, applying just the right amount of pressure to get you off, and slid three fingers into your dripping cunt.

“Fuck, Steve!” you cried, arching your back off the bed. You heard his low laugh from between your legs. 

“You’re gettin’ close, aren’t you, honey?”

“Mmmhmmm.” You were beyond words now, unable to form a coherent response at the onslaught of Steve’s mouth and fingers working you. His tongue was magical, sucking and licking you just right, as if he somehow knew exactly how to get you to shatter. You felt that sweet, electric heat start to spiral right from your pussy throughout your body, your limbs growing tense at your nearing release.

“Fuck, Steve - fuck - right there, yes,” you babbled, words tumbling from your lips as your climax roared through you. You cried out, again, over and over, relishing the feeling of your lips circling the sound of his name, and he stayed with you through it all, licking and moaning as you flooded his senses with your delicious orgasm. 

Steve pressed his face against you, lapping your cum as it trickled over his fingers. It was almost enough to make him cum, right there between your legs, his mustache and chin drenched. 

“My god,” Steve uttered once you had come down from your high, trailing his tongue lazily up your slit again to capture anything he’d missed, “you taste better than I could have imagined, honey.” He pressed a kiss against your inner thigh before rising from the floor and flopping beside you on the bed. 

“C’mere,” he pulled you over to roll on top of him, watching you with hungry eyes as you settled your still-aching core over his pulsing cock. “You’re beautiful,” he said, almost reverently, reaching up to brush a thumb over your nipple. Smiling bashfully, you rolled your hips slowly against his cock, the tip nudging your entrance on each pass. 

“I want you inside me,” you whispered down at him, smiling softly at the glazed, sexed-out look in his eyes.

“Nothin’ I want more,” he smirked, guiding you up so that he could hold himself in place, a low groan escaping him as your pussy swallowed his dick inch by inch.

“Fuck, honey.”

You began to move, slowly, your pussy clenching against him on every stroke. He felt better than you thought possible, like you were made just to take him like this. 

“Steve,” you whimpered, your pace quickening already, the sensation of him sliding over your g-spot bringing you closer and closer to your climax. 

“What do you need, baby? Tell me,” he urged his big hands resting against your hips, helping you move against him. Unable to express what you needed in words, you planted your hands against his chest and rolled your hips down roughly, taking him as deep as possible so that you could feel every delicious inch of him.

"Fuck, I'm not gonna last long," Steve breathed, hips rising to meet yours. "So pretty, so perfect," he mumbled, "wanna just fuckin' make you feel good."

"God, you are," you sighed, bending over to kiss Steve softly. He responded eagerly, his mouth slanting against yours, tongues tangling languidly. You felt that fire building throughout your body and moved faster, harder, his hands gripping the flesh of your ass to help slam you down on his cock.

You sat up straight again, your fingers traveling down to where you were joined and rubbing tight circles on your clit. Steve watched, open-mouthed, as you helped him bring you to the brink.

"Touch that pussy, honey," he ground out, his own thrusts becoming sloppy. His balls tightened and he pushed his fingers against yours, both of you sliding through your slick to stimulate your clit. "Fuck, I'm gonna come soon," he growled, "need to you tell me where, pretty girl."

Your cunt clenched around Steve, your orgasm sparking down your spine, lightning heat growing low in your belly. 

“FIll me up,” you managed to moan, bright white flashing behind your eyes as you came around his cock, hard, your release soaking the coarse blond curls beneath your pussy.

Steve groaned, his dick locked in your grip. He managed to thrust once more up into you before his own orgasm tore through him. Pressing you down against him in a bruising grip, Steve let your pussy milk his cock, jets of cum pulsing up into you.

He groaned through his release, a whine in the back of his throat sending you over the edge again. You whimpered, head thrown back, your fingers tangled with Steve’s where they clutched your hips. 

Reaching up, Steve cupped the back of your head and brought you down to him in a searing kiss, your breasts pressed against the sheen of sweat coating his chest. His tongue twisted with yours, devouring your mouth possessively. 

“You’re fuckin’ amazing, honey,” he whispered roughly, breaking the kiss you rest his forehead against yours. Gently, he rolled you over so that you were tucked under him, his cock still seated deep inside of you. He kissed you again, deeply, sweetly, his hand coming down to cup your cheek.

Despite being bone-tired, you responded eagerly, letting your own fingers twist in his hair. Your cunt clenched around his length, now hardening again. Rolling your hips experimentally, you broke away and grinned up at him.

“You wanna try again?”

Steve smirked above you, a roll of his blue eyes making you giggle. “You just don’t know when to fuckin’ stop, do you?” His forearms rested on either side of your head, his mouth hovering over yours.

“I thought you said ‘just this once,’” Steve teased, his lips brushing against yours. 

Your stomach gave an odd flip as you looked up at him, that cocky smile lighting up something warm inside you. Offering a little shrug, you responded with a smile.

“I just think you can do better.”

[kinardsevan]

im just curious, what are your thoughts about finishing your fics? i know right now it probably seems impossible as it does reading them, but just wondering. your writing is so good & i love it so much 💙 do whatever works for you, just was wondering 🫶🏻

i was actually planning to address this ❤️💙

So. Here's my current mindset:

I did start a fix-it fic last night. I have another idea swirling around in my head atm for another version of one. My brain is at this point quite literally wired to create. (Even if I'm only doing ceramics and painting this semester 😛). Those will get finished.

-Empty Bones will continue to see updates. Especially with my need to put the icky feelings somewhere. I'd be lying to you if I said I haven't considered writing another whump fic solely based off of Tommy really fucking shit up for us all last night. But that idea may live in my head (or on my hard drive for a while). I don't know how often they'll come, but they'll still come.

-the devil doesn't bargain has always had plans to get wrapped. i just need to find the time (and creative outlet) to do so. I know where it goes and how it ends, it's just getting there.

-never til now... right now I don't have an answer for that.

But I'm not stupid. I know why you're asking.

ANEURYSM FIC:

so I'm not going to lie. I haven't written much on it in weeks, solely because of the amount of work that goes into it. I know where the next scene that's been in my head for a few weeks goes, I just haven't actually gotten to putting it down. I went through a stretch in the past few weeks where I worked or was at school for 24 days straight and barely wrote during that time. As it sits at this moment, chapter six is just under 11.5k. I view it as reaching roughly 20, possibly 25.

the problem lies in the fact that the end of this story is so FUCKING happy. when I tell you I already have part of the wedding night written and all the emotion that goes into it... there's so much work and thought put into it, but right now, if I'm being honest with you... finishing aneurysm fic might not happen. this week was already gutting me before the show aired last night, and that really felt like being kicked while so many of us were already down. so to that end, I really struggle to be able to find a way to want to touch it when it really requires me to tap into a certain part of my creativity that feels really broken right now.

I know some of my friends have said that they're done, and that they're not going to finish their stories, or have even posted what they had written so far. that's fair and valid. i won't be doing that, at least not right away. i will work to finish them as long as there's an audience who wants to see them come to fruition. I really want to believe in the part of fandom that says that it's more than just when a couple is together on screen, and that there will be people who continue to write bucktommy because I truly do enjoy doing so, and I enjoy reading it. This couple brought me back to fandom and fanfiction in a big way, and right now I can at least tell you that I'm not done with it. I don't know how long it will take to roll out updates, or what happens with my relationship to the show, but I know that much.

[plottwiststudios]

Women of Xal II Kickstarter: Delayed?

Hey, have you heard of the overly ambitious visual novel titled "Women of Xal" for Steam and Itch.io? (PC/Mac/Linux) Because that plays into why we might need to shelf the series for a few years. Full breakdown under the cut. (No spoilers)

For those who have gotten the True Ending, you should be fully aware that the story is about to vastly expand outside of Xuna's castle. It's a narrative must where everything that happens, happens well outside the scope of the original game in so many ways. And let's talk about scope! Especially if you have no idea what's so staggering about the original Women of Xal visual novel:

600+ optional choices we painstakingly programmed

Branching paths that people are still asking for guides on

A dozen romance options

Poly and gay options that interact with one another

Voice acting from now VERY popular voice actors

A 15 hour story full of mystery, lore, and tense politics

110 track soundtrack

4 Endings

Animations

Thousands of art assets (Bless Cat)

Years of hard work and long nights

No AI Art

100% positive reviews as of this post

Recouped $6000+, or roughly a fraction of the cost of development. After 2+ years of being released

Note that very last bullet point. Doing things for the art and passion is amazing and all, but I can't be investing literal thousands of hours into creating a game for a subset of a subset of a subset of people. I have bigger projects I want to finally get to work on. Ones I really hoped Women of Xal I would help a bit with funding. But it's not. And because of certain facts about the game, it may never be able to do so. To no fault of any of the players.

When I made Women of Xal I, my time was more readily available and I was quite a bit younger. The cost of running a company and creating a game like WoX as the first product hadn't quite hit me. I was also silly enough to believe "if you make it, they will come" to a degree. That part makes me grin in a not fun way.

But these days I have a job that takes me away from creating, but does pay the bills and debts. Debts I don't want to get into again in order to create the sequel that will undoubtedly come with far higher costs due to the game's scope. I have a better understanding of the costs of hiring returning and appropriate talent necessary to create a game better than the last. (I don't personally believe in being satisfied with an intentional steep downgrade.)

Yes there is the Kickstarter option for Women of Xal II, but there are plenty of costs and time investment that makes it an unviable avenue to explore during this point in time. After all, who but the people who sat down and explored everything the first game had to offer would understand how we came up with a $50,000 Kickstarter price tag for a visual novel's sequel? Especially since too many will look at the first Kickstarter and believe we made the first game with only $14,000.

I have thought about giving Women of Xal I a modernized facelift with a smaller Kickstarter, complete with a ton of new features and fun ways to streamline and highlight the narration's strong points, but there's a LOT of baggage that comes with that, including not wanting to go backwards when I still want to create my "pipe dream" projects.

So I'm thinking we'll give it a bit more thought these next few days, and if we can't think of a solution that we haven't already tried, we'll officially announce the delay (and before you suggest your own ideas, know that there's a 99% chance we've already tried it).

A long, long post just to say I do sincerely apologize for having people wait longer, but I am literally still a few thousand dollars away from paying off all my debt that came from funding the first game. It's a micro-trauma I do not feel inclined to repeating again. When the franchise is in a better place, or I am emotionally/physically, I will return back to Women of Xal to finish the story. If I cannot, I will release a summary of events that transpire after the first game's true ending.

But for now, I'm going to focus on financial and emotional healing, and creating projects that I feel will be more appreciated by both myself and people who are turned off by what "Women of Xal" offers.

Thank you all for supporting our small company these past several years. <3

-John

[babiebom]

Accidental Prey(i)

A/N: New obsession coming through woo woooooooo. Hopefully I have it in me to finish this.

Tw: talks of sex, taking of virginity, no smut but does talk about sex in small details, talks of murder and cannibalism, drunk one night stand, cursing. Mentions of blood and gore, some sexism/misogynist views, pregnancy, racism, slut shaming

Pairing: Johnny Slaughter/Sawyer x OC

Genre: strangers to lovers, Stockholm Syndrome, angst, romance(?), drama

Wc: 5.2k

Masterlist next

At the feeling of something popping, Johnny already knew that he was in deep shit. The girl below him was drunker than he was by a long way. And though he also had way too much to drink he could already tell by his reaction that he was going to remember this entire situation in the morning.

It wasn't unusual for him to sleep around, it wasn't unusual for him to sleep with potential victims. But something about this girl made him feel different. Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was the way she smiled and smelled and let him bite her. He wasn't sure. He just knew something about her was off, because it damn sure cannot be him.

Looking down he stares at where their bodies meet, blood was beginning to pool under her ass and onto the sheets below them. God, he was going to have to pay for this, huh? Looking back up at her face, the tears had stopped and so had her whining, now she was just clinging onto him, her lips brushing over his arms that were caging her in. Did she even realize what was happening? Did she realize that she had let a random man she had just met take her virginity? She slurred something against his arm, her eyes unfocused. Maybe he should quit before it goes too far…

"Have you done this before?" Maybe she just hadn't slept around in a while…maybe she just hasn't done it a lot and her body wasn't used to it.

She furrowed her eyebrows before shaking her head, murmuring out an answer. Johnny blinks twice, feeling as if he was now somehow responsible for her wellbeing, as if because he is the first man to defile her he has to take care of her and that's too much for him to process. He tries to reason with himself quickly, almost gaslighting himself into believing that it doesn't count because they haven't really done anything. He hasn't moved, hasn't done anything except push inside her one time. That isn't sex at all. None of this counts.

Before he can pull himself out of her, she whines and wraps her legs around him, frowning as she slowly turns her head to try and make eye contact with him. "What're you doin?"

"Baby, I don't think this is a good idea…" Johnny was never one to put someone else's needs before his own, but this seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so. By stopping here nothing is different, she can still be considered a virgin, and he doesn't have to worry about some random chick he found in a bar.

"Why not? I thought we was makin' love?" She pouts as she slurs her words out. Locking her legs around him tighter, forcing him in deeper. It only served to make her whine out in pain and he has to focus on not being selfish and moving inside of her.

He wants to laugh at the thought of 'making love'; it isn't a thing he does. He doesn't know how to love, his family doesn't know how to properly love. This whole situation is fucked and he wants to rip her to shreds for somehow triggering a response in him that he didn't know was possible. He didn't love her, not at all, but he also didn't want to kill her. He could already see Drayton losing his shit if he ever found out about him going out and having one night stands that he doesn't bring home to eat. The old man claims to not enjoy killing but sure does get mad when loose ends are tied up.

"You sure?" He asks, grabbing her by the chin and roughly making it so that she had to look him in the eyes. She hums in response, giving him a small smile before closing her eyes. She was mumbling again, and he only could catch that she thought he was nice before she started talking about something else. He breathes in deeply before deciding that he could just finish and wait until she's asleep before leaving and never seeing her again. He hopes that she forgets anything that happened, not wanting her to remember him.

If she remembers then she might come looking for him, and if she comes looking for him then the family will know what he's done, what he's been doing. And they'll kill her, or make him kill her. He doesn't know which is worse, but he knows that he doesn't want to kill her, that he doesn't think she should die. He tries to figure out what it is about her again, coming to the conclusion that she just doesn't set off any of his killer instincts, that she doesn't set off that thing in him that needs to kill.

It's as if he's a wolf thinking he's hunting a bunny but instead what he finds is a tiny little mouse that wouldn't be fulfilling to eat. A little mouse that doesn't make the chase fun, that doesn't make him want to attack her at all. He just feels bad for her and how small and helpless she is. Killing her would be no fun, he decides quickly finishing partially inside her before pulling out, too lost in his thoughts to properly be worried. Her face is screwed up and he wonders if she finished, asking her as much.

By the look on her face he can tell that she hadn't, too wrapped up in his thoughts to even recall how having sex with her felt. So, deciding to be nice he helps her out. Touching her in that special place until her broken wails come out silently and her back arches off the cheap motel bed. He silently hopes this makes up for him being a shitty person to have your first time with. "Did that feel good?" He asks and she nods her head, a sleepy grin on her face as she stretches and begins to fall asleep.

He sighs, wiping her off with his shirt. After making sure she was lying on her side he slips out of the motel room, throwing his shirt away before getting into his truck, driving home and away from the girl before any real consequences could be had.

When Fawn woke up in a pool of dried blood she was confused, obviously. The last thing she remembered was being at a bar, tossing back a shot that the bartender had even questioned if she could handle it. Seeing where she had woken up, it was apparent that she could not. Sucking in a breath she moves her hair from in front of her face, the curly mess tangled around her fingers. For a split second she wondered if she looked as bad as she thought she did. That thought was quickly overtaken by the feeling of stabbing pain shooting up her legs and crotch. As if she had been electrocuted for moving.

She wailed out in pain, writhing on the bed, eyes squeezed shut as she tried to remember what happened to her. She didn't even realize she had left the bar. From the pain and the blood, she already had some semblance of what had occured, and though there was already regret pooling at the bottom of her belly she also felt upset that the guy didn't even stick around, he just left after…doing what he did.

Crying she waited until the pain got bearable enough that she could move. How was she going to get back home? Her car was still at the bar. Did she even have her keys? Looking around she spotted her purse sitting on a table next to the door. At least he was nice enough to leave her things.

Moving around slowly, she wondered if she would be able to get a cab or something, at least to take her back to the bar. She cringed as she looked back towards the bed, blood was everywhere and she knew that leaving it there was rude, but talking to the motel workers would probably get her in trouble. Silently she began to bundle the blanket and sheets up, hoping that the mattress below was untouched, just so the repercussions wouldn't be as bad. She cursed the man aloud for leaving her to deal with this alone.

The sun was extremely bright when Fawn finally walks out of the room, and it makes her nauseous to the point where she has to run over to the grass, ignoring the burning pain in her legs in order to throw up somewhere it doesn't need to be cleaned or seen. Turning around, she frowns at how the motel looks, dingy and dusty, people sitting around looking out of it. At least she has nothing to be embarrassed about seeing as no one cares what she's doing.

The nearest payphone was thankfully just down the street, she could see it in the distance if she squinted. The blazing Texas sun burned the skin on her shoulders, her complexion not helping her despite the common belief that it would, she still burned easily and that fact made her situation even worse. Her legs were sore, and now burned awfully from the walk taking much longer than it needed to be, and by the time she got to the payphone she was out of breath and sweaty. Fawn was beginning to regret going out.

Panting, she tries to lean against the payphone, but she only proceeds to get burned as the metal had been cooking all day. Frowning, she wonders how she's going to call anyone for help when holding onto the stupid phone for more than a second would burn her hand so badly she would have to go to the hospital. It took a minute before she decided to lift her shirt, looking around to make sure no one would see her, and use it to hold the phone. Paying the 50 cents she calls a taxi to come pick her up.

The second Fawn was in front of her own house, she felt the urge to leave again. Her parents were sure to be awake and moving around seeing as it's the middle of the day, and her little act of defiance was sure to be punished, even if she is a grown adult. She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel, thinking of a plan to minimize the damage. She was unsure of how she was going to lie to and convince her parents that she hadn't gotten up to trouble at all, and while she had no real idea of what happened she could figure out enough of everything to know that they were going to be livid. Before she could come up with anything solid, the front door opened, the screen door slamming against it from how hard the person had forced it open.

Fawn's mother is a large lady. Tall, strong, and mean faced with a head of dark curly hair. Seeing the woman storming towards you is enough for anyone, man or woman, to go running in fear at what was to come as a consequence of her anger. Terrified, Fawn scrambles out of the car, hoping that this small act of compliance would placate her mother enough that she wouldn't get into too much trouble. "Momma-"

"Where were you?"

Flinching, Fawn attempted to make herself seem smaller. She wanted to answer, but answering would only make things worse for her so she keeps her mouth shut as her mother grabs her by the arm and drags her inside. Her father sat in his recliner, staring at her with wide eyes. And though she was terrified at the thought of a punishment, she could see from how her father's shoulders drooped that they had been afraid. With guilt flooding in her stomach she allowed her mother to pull her into a hug, the large woman shuddering and gripping onto Fawn's shoulders so tight she was sure they would be bruised in the morning.

As soon as her mother let go, she turned and walked towards her father, he stood slowly as she approached. Like her mother, her father was large, muscular and mean looking, the only difference between them was the colors of their skin. If her mother terrified people, her father made them believe that what had happened in the bible surely had happened again to produce such a large man. To have such a tiny child was almost comical, it was how they named her because something like 'mouse' would get her made fun of.

Fawn could feel her lower lip tremble as she fell into her fathers arms, letting him hug her just as tight as her mother did. Being the only child of two people who were as full of worry as her parents made everything much more…scary. More final, as if every choice that you make is taking you towards an untimely demise and even a day apart is too long when you could keel over dead at any moment.

Her dad held onto her for a longer time, she could hear his soft sniffles and assumed that he was crying and was holding onto her until he had stopped. Letting him have her moment, Fawn keeps her mouth shut about how her night went, forcing herself to come up with a story just in case they pressed her on it. She hoped to God that none of this would come to bite her in the butt.

The cool metal of the exam table makes the back of her thighs numb, her decision to wear shorts proving to be the dumbest thing she has ever done…or second dumbest thing. Her mother sat in the small chair, next to the exam table, clutching her purse and bouncing her leg. Did she think something bad was going to happen? Did she think Fawn was on the brink of death? Asking would just make her irritable, she was already mad they had to come to the doctors to begin with. Her mother hated the place with a passion, but never told Fawn why, maybe she was just anxious…either way she wasn't in the mood for questions.

The symptoms she had weren't strange in any way…Fawn thought she probably just had a stomach flu or something. Constant nausea, headaches, and a stuffy nose. Her mother thought differently though, ever since the day Fawn had stayed out all night her mother acted differently. As if she were suspicious of something. Thankfully Fawn hadn't missed a period, though it was lighter than usual and only lasted a couple days. She had thought this meant she was home free, that she had gotten away with whatever she did that led up to and included her virginity being taken by a stranger. But still, her mother insisted the doctor's office was the way to go.

The man entered the room, clipboard in hand and glaring at Fawn as if she had committed the ultimate sin. Taken aback she avoided eye contact with him, instead staring down at the floor as if it were the most interesting thing in the room. Why was he so mad? "Are you sexually active?" He asks in a monotone voice.

Fawn freezes, her kicking feet now hanging in the air, still as if something was holding them in place. She shakes her head. "No." She whispers out.

He sucks in a breath, moving around the room towards his stool. "Well, we tested for illnesses, and pregnancy."

"And?" Her mother asked. 'Please be the stomach flu. It has to be the stomach flu' she prays.

"She's pregnant."

Fawn's mother almost collapses out of the small chair she was sitting on, her body sliding down it as she wails into her hands. Fawn looks up at the doctor, her eyes wide in horror and confusion. She wanted to ask how'd this happen, she was so confused. One night couldn't have done this. She felt as if she were being punished by God for acting out. She sniffles and frowns, but gets no sympathy from the man in front of her. He only looks at her as if he’s disgusted. When he speaks again, she can’t hear him, too busy trying to calm her racing mind. By the time she stops disassociating, the doctor's appointment is over and she’s in the car with her yelling mother. “-you’re never leaving the house again! How did this even happen? Did you go out purely to be a little harlot?"

"Momma I-"

The woman was seething, her lips set in a line as she focused on the road. Fawn knew her mother was waiting on her to say something, but at the same time she knew saying anything, especially excuses, would just set her off more. She couldn't help but begin to cry, her life as she knew it was over. She messed up, she knew that, but being pregnant and unmarried was punishment enough, but seeing how angry her mother looked she knew that she was going to be punished more.

Her parents were never really abusive, never whooping or beating her, sometimes they yelled but it was usually her mother and it wasn't often. Then again she never really got into trouble, and if she did it was never anything like this. Her parents raised her in a straight line, hoping that with each passing generation their family could become something important in the world. Something more than their race and appearance and it started with her grandparents. She couldn't imagine what her grandmother would think now, and she was grateful that she lived far away enough that she wouldn't hear if the gossip ever left that hospital or their home.

Fawn shrinks into herself, her cries growing louder as her mother parks the car in the driveway to the house, a sigh leaving her lips, her chest falling quickly. She didn't want to go inside and face her father, she didn't want to see his disappointed face or hear his words as he scolded her. "God damn it. Fawn Grace! What the hell did you go out and do?"

Fawn looked up at her mother with a pitiful look, her hands were balling up her skirt. "I don't remember momma! I swear! I woke up in-in a motel room-!"

"A motel room?" Fawn's mothers voice rose an octave, higher than she had ever heard it before. Her mother slammed her hands onto the steering wheel, looking down and saying something under her breath while Fawn looked at her in fear. Shaking her head the woman kept her eyes closed while she spoke before getting out of the car, not even waiting for Fawn as she started towards the front door. Following behind Fawn says a quick prayer to herself, hoping God would forgive her sins and give her a break when it comes to her father's reaction.

Slowly removing herself from the car, she drags her feet as she approaches the door, already hearing her mother venting to her father. Heart pounding she enters the home, shutting the door softly as to not really call attention to herself as her parents speak to each other. Wincing, she tries to sneak past them, wanting to flee to her room and avoid whatever punishment they were going to give her. But no, God was not being so kind today, and her mother shouted her name forcing her to stop in her steps. “Yes ma’am?”

“Don’t you dare go upstairs, get over here now!”

Frowning, she hurries over to the couch, across from her parents who were standing, angry, in the middle of the living room. Her ears rang loudly as she tried to figure out if they were going to yell or not, both of them were silent. Swallowing down vomit, she picked at the hem of her shirt, avoiding looking at her parents in fear of seeing their disappointed faces. Her mother is the one to speak first, beginning with a sigh. “Fawn…we want an explanation. Now."

"Well...I told you in the car momma. I don't remember anything. I just woke up in a motel room by myself."

"How did you get there?" Her mothers voice shakes in an emotion Fawn couldn't place.

"I don't know!" She shakes her head frantically, eyes wide, "I swear it. I was at a bar, and somehow ended up there!"

"A BAR?" Her father spoke now, well more like shouted, obviously surprised.

She scrunched her nose as her father collapsed in his lounge chair. Her mother began pacing as Fawn tried to come up with whatever words she had to say next. She couldn't recount much, and she couldn't tell if that was going to anger then less or more. "Well, okay. I went there to be a brat! I admit that! But I promise I didn't go out to sleep with anyone! I don't even remember doing that! Last thing I remember is the bartender telling me that I shouldn't have one more drink, and because I was already mad I decided to drink one more, then I woke up in a bloody motel bed with a headache and sore legs and I regretted it as soon as I woke up!"

She had never been good at keeping secrets.

Her mother was hyperventilating and her father looked as if he was on the verge of passing out. She herself was about 2 seconds away from throwing up after word vomiting and exposing everything that she had gone through and thought of. Tears flowed down her face, warming her cold skin. Nothing was said for a while, the air tense and thick. Maybe nothing else would be said. Her words had done a good job of sucking all the air out of the room, her parents were obviously unhappy, angry at her actions. She could barely remember what all was said that made her storm out and go places that she had never been before. She ruined the legacy her grandmother wanted to create in one night, she was the first unremovable stain in their family history in recent years even though they wanted things to be different. She set them back single handedly, and had the audacity to sit and cry as if she had done nothing wrong.

"Momma?"

Her mother was crying, sitting as far away from her on the couch, hands over her face and praying aloud to God as if he could change everything that happened. Her father started bargaining, his words carrying over to her ears. It was like he wanted to accept that this was their family's fate, and that there was nothing he could do.

"It's not the old times anymore, these kids sleep around all the time. They're not like us, not like the 40's where everyone valued marriage and saving oneself. She can still be something, make something of herself even if it isn't a good wife…"

Her heart clenched as she turned to stare at her mother who was now rocking back at forth, but her words weren't as nice, if her father's words could even be counted as such.

"Can't believe…the child I raised! A loose legged hussy. Father God tell me it isn't true, tell me that my baby girl didn't give herself to some…BUM. That man could only be the devil if he took advantage of my sweet girl. She can't be a slut, a common whore! Not my baby…"

She wondered when they were going to stop crying, but at the same time she wondered when she herself would stop. She knew in her mind that this was a permanent thing, even without the baby, her parents were never going to loom at her the same. And she wasn't sure if her current relationships with them would survive this bump in the road.

With red eyes and a damp face, Fawn's mother turns to stare at her not quite with a glare, but with a look that showed that she was still angry, still grieving. "You ain't leaving this house," she takes in a shuddering breath, "ever again. You are going to stay here and hope and pray that whenever we let you out for errands that some man takes pity on you and thinks you're pretty enough that he doesn't care about the fact that you already gave yourself away or the fact that you have a child, and marries you."

Sucking in a breath, Fawn nods in understanding, this punishment being the only one she's going to get wasn't so bad. "I'm sorry momma…"

Her father does nothing but slide down in his chair, hands over his face. He had given up on praying aloud, given up on trying to bargain and hoping the circumstances were different. Shaking her head her mother scoots closer and wraps her in a hug, pulling her close against her chest her sobs starting back up. Not knowing what the future will bring, Fawn hugs her back.

Pregnancy was nothing like she expected it to be, and while she was excited to not get her period for a while, the cramping and bloating and cravings were unexpected. She hadn't known anyone else who was pregnant and didn't know what to expect especially because her parents refused to speak about it. It was as if it was a later problem, and she was being punished by not being prepared for it.

Now, standing in the middle of the grocery store, Fawn rubbed her still flat stomach staring at the boxed brownies as if she could teleport them into her stomach without having to make or buy it. She had a budget, a list of things her parents sent her to buy, and now having less allowance money she didn't know if she should buy what she was craving or save the money for what she needed and wanted later on. Her parents didn't say anything about her getting a job, but she thought that maybe she should…just in case.

Brownies and ice cream, not an unusual craving, but one that was so overwhelming she throws two boxes into her cart before looking towards the pies. Thinking about a pie made only of the crust, she licks her lips and moves towards it only to be stopped by a white, pale hand, also grabbing the box she was going for. "'Scuse me," she retracts her hand quickly just as the woman does.

The woman smiles brightly, grabbing at the box again with one hand while swatting at Fawn gently. "Don't worry about it, sugar! Looks like both of us are cravin' somethin' sweet tonight!" The gap between her teeth gives her more of a youthful look, confusing Fawn as to how old the woman really was. She looked young, but calling someone sugar was something her parents would do. Maybe she was in between?

"Yeah…though I think what I have is enough. Don't want to overdo it." Fawn laughs awkwardly, not quite used to being pregnant and socializing. Though there was not conceivable difference, she still felt as if she had to behave in a certain way, she was pregnant pretending not to be pregnant in front of a stranger that probably doesn't and wouldn't care. A stranger she would most likely never see again.

"So you do! Those brownies are gonna be so delicious, I'm sure!"

Talking about the brownies made the craving swell, and the words fell out of Fawn's mouth without her thinking, the excitement of eating it taking over. "Hope so! I was plannin' on puttin' some ice cream on em' letting it cool the brownies down while the brownies melt the ice cream!" Fawn lets her accent slip a bit, the perfectly crafted non-Texas more Californian sound her parents wanted her to use. She sounded more like herself now, more countrified like the woman in front of her.

"That sounds good!"

Nodding, Fawn lets the conversation die so she can hurry and finish shopping, wanting to quickly get home before her parents get worried and ban her from even shopping, and to make and eat the brownie before the craving is too dull to satisfy. The woman doesn't let her walk away though, grabbing her by the hand and spinning her to face her again, looking down at her body.

"My! Your dress is awfully pretty, where'd you get it?"

Surprised, Fawn looks down at her own dress. It wasn't that pretty, it was more on the plain side, but maybe the woman genuinely liked it. "Made it myself…" she replied. She wanted to go on, gush about how difficult it was to make even though it's nothing special and as plain as can be, but the ice cream aisle was calling her name.

"Did you? Oh, I love to sew! I made this dress I'm wearin'. Grandpa said I looked pretty! My brothers are pretty mean, though, but I guess that's just how brothers are…"

The woman continued to speak, not letting her get a word out to excuse herself from the conversation. Talking about her brothers and some boyfriend or something and how much she missed him. The woman talked so long that Fawn now had to pee, and still she wasn't stopping.

"Sissy? Where in the hell did you-"

Fawn turns her head towards the voice, taken aback at the sight in front of her. The man is attractive, more attractive than any man she had seen anytime recently. These types of looks were rare in the middle of nowhere Texas, and while people were attractive, he was just…different. Maybe it was the way he held himself. Maybe she had finally found a guy that was her type.

The man, on the other hand, looked like he had seen a ghost. His eyes were locked onto Fawn, and she could feel her body heating up from how strongly he was staring at her. Shiftly awkwardly, she looked back towards the woman who had stopped talking, she was now smiling brightly at the man who was still frozen at the end of the aisle. "Johnny!" The woman turns towards Fawn, grasping her arm. "This is one of my brothers!"

"Yeah…I guessed so."

The man approached slowly, eyes still on Fawn, she could feel it. "Sissy, I've been waiting outside for 30 minutes. You're supposed to buy the groceries to come out. They're gonna be pissed off that we took too long." When she looked back at him he was glaring at the blonde next to her.

The way he glared made her heart drop, and she was glad that she wasn't the target of his…annoyance. Blinking, she laughed awkwardly, backing away from the two, immediately taking the chance to run off and finish her shopping. She couldn't wait another 30 minutes before finishing and peeing, so she rushes to get everything done, not forgetting the ice cream.

The second she got home, and got comfortable, her mind wandered to the strange siblings she met. They both seemed strange, in different ways but still strange. Still, she hoped to see at least the man again. Maybe he could be the man that takes pity on her, and doesn't care about the fact that she has a kid on the way.

Or maybe she's delusional, and lusting after the first man she sees.

[toast-tales]

okay. so. this might be a bit out of nowhere, but i think it's important for people to know the impact that their creations have, when they're brave enough to release them into the world.

so i discovered ITWOM roughly a week ago, and i honestly couldn't tell you precisely why, but i haven't been able to stop thinking about it. i have it pretty much permanently open on an AO3 tab, i've re-read it (+CC and the one shots) multiple times and it's never lost its luster, and i really have no idea what about it appeals to me so much, but i just wanted to let you know that it's honestly become a new hyper fixation? like, i've literally scrolled through almost all of the posts under the tag for it. your writing style, the plot, the arcs, the amazing characters and their development / relationships with each other—i love it all.

i eagerly await the return to this world, any AUs/new plots (that one snippet of danny and christopher stuck in the human world seemed so interesting), or even little head canons or details you post, because above all, i think one of the best things is that it's so clear just how much you care about this world and these characters you've created. that's an incredibly admirable and inspiring trait, and it shows in your work: which makes it that much more enjoyable to read.

tl;dr i like ur stuff a lot!! + can't wait to see what else you do ^^

Believe me when I say I nearly started crying when I read this. This is so sweet you have no idea 😭

It really means a lot to me that you like what I've made! Over the years the story has meant so much to me to write, and by this point the characters feel like real people I just catalogue the lives of, lol. For other people to find some meaning or worth in what I do as well, it's still amazing to me.

I wish I could tell you what I've got coming up, but I've honestly been pulling back a bit lately as real life has been catching up to me. Cursed Cravings is still on hiatus - not given up on! I will return to it eventually!

HOWEVER, I have an actual bazillion AU ideas, some of which I've enlisted the help of some of my close friends to write with me (looking at you, @luckyshotwrites ). While most of this writing is currently just for my own sake, or kept private, I do hope to share some of it in the future. For now, all I can do is share a collaborative drawing I did with @luckyshotwrites of a scene from one of those stories...one that I hope will be shared whenever we end up finishing it.

And, even if I'm not super active on Tumblr anymore, my ask box is always open and the ITWOM discord is still up and running. Headcanons, writing requests with my characters, questions about them or the world of ITWOM, anything - I'm more than happy to do any of that! I've expanded my worldbuilding a lot since finishing ITWOM.

And, again, THANK YOU so much for this. It really means the world to me. ❤️

(Sketch was done mostly by Lucky - she's super awesome with people and faces! She also helped with the shading, which again, she's super awesome at. I did the linework and coloring. This is Christopher, obviously, and her main character Lynette...though what's happening here, I can't quite say. Maybe one day 👀)

[upsidedownmvnson]

untitled eddie munson fix-it fic

so i started writing a long ass fix-it fic, and im kind far into it but i need some feedback before i bail out and give up on it <3 it's roughly drafted .... anywayyyyyyy also im still torn between eddie x reader OR eddie x oc

i want to finish it before vol 5 happens and im forced to face reality

thanks for your time, i really appreciate any thoughts.

When Eddie wakes up he's in a fresh new Hell.

It doesn't look like the upside down. But it's definitely not home either.

He assess himself. Every scratch is gone. He's in the same clothes, but the rips in the fabric haven't fixed themselves. Eddie wonders if he's dead. He stays laying on the damp ground, and he doesn't even know what's it's made of, sand maybe? It's dark red, and feels like nothing he's ever felt before.

Finally, he sits up. The sand is everywhere, and there are trees. Gross, decrepit, rotten trees.

Too cold to be Hell, too fucked to be Heaven.

He heard a branch crunch behind him, and immediately he's reminded of what's going on.

How did it go? Was Vecna dead? Were his friends okay? Wayne?

He's thinking a million things as he's standing up, but then another crunch sounds and his reflexes totally take over his mind. He's frozen by what steps out of the treeline.

A cheerleader.

It's Chrissy Cunningham.

He wants to call out for her, but he can tell from a hundred feet away that there's no life in her eyes.

There's...

There's nothing in her eyes at all.

Eddie gasps, the darkness of the void spaces of her eyes sending an unfamiliar feeling into Eddie's chest. His heart starts racing.

And then she's sprinting. Fully sprinting towards Eddie, and he has no choice but to turn and run. He doesn't have his spear, but he still has his shield. Eddie runs as fast as he possibly can, given the fact that he just woke up... here?

"Running away again, Eddie?" Chrissy shouts, and her voice is not her voice. It's modified, it's deeper, scarier and almost sounds like it's being run through a voice changer. Eddie knows by this point that it's not Chrissy, but just another nightmare. Another dark spell.

Eddie runs passed a mossy stone wall, and he's yanked by the arm from behind it. An awkward sound comes out of him when he's pulled, and he's ready to attack when he sees it's you.

The first missing girl, the one they never connected to the upside down.

"Oh my god," he says, understanding less and less of this place as time goes on.

He's honestly surprised he recognizes you. Your eyes are sunken, and there are deep bags under your eyes. You're so skinny, but... strong? He doesn't even want to know what you've done to survive in this place for years. Your wild hair is chopped unevenly, and you're covered head to toe in small injuries and bruises.

You've been stuck here and no one had any idea.

"Be quiet," you say, "and don't look into their eyes."

@ghosttownwherenoonegoes you specifically 😂

[luvly-writer]

“But oh..cara mía”

Ch. 7: Comfort only you bring

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Dick Grayson x Latina! Reader

Status: Ongoing

Warnings: Nightamres, trauma talk

Author’s Note: Midterms have me giving slow updates but I have not forgotten about you guys and this story. I swear it hunts me everytime i got to sleep as if telling me “you hAVE NOT FINISHED WRITING MEEEE AND YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO” like yes i want to but also academic validation yk? I do have the chapters thought out, just need to finish writing them! By the way! I am using this layout for the manor, TRULY HELPS. Enjoy!

Taglist: @lorosette @nanas-teatime @prettyacademia00 @mxtokko @sarahkaliii

Series Masterlist:

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You had left the cave in search of Dick. You had an idea of where he could be so you decided to check there first. Whenever Dick needed to clear his head when he was younger, he would constantly go to the third-floor balcony. His reason was that the peace would constantly soothe him because the guest rooms would be mostly empty by then. You get on the elevator and wait. You reflect on what happened and found it weird that Dick reacted negatively. He normally was more patient with Damian and when it came to his past, he was more composed. You were observing the toxin before the outburst and you promised to get back to it. The elevator dings and you walk out, straight to the balcony. Lo and behold, Dick Grayson was sitting on one of the chairs looking out to the garden. Dick hears your footsteps but doesn't turn around to look at you. "look who we have here..el pequeño pica flor" you softly say to him, seeing how he relaxes because of your presence.

(el pequeño pica flor means the little hummingbird)

Dick roughly chuckles, "you haven't called me that in a few years" You sit next to him and smile, "and you still haven't figured out what it means" you quip back. He tiredly laughs and responds, "yeah well every time I put it on translate and it only thing it says is pica flower and that truly doesn't help with anything" and you nod and smile. You finally ask him, "What was that all about?" and nudge him with your shoulder and Dick shudders. You turn to him and see a faraway look in his eyes. "I...I don't know". You both stay silent for a moment and you decide to speak up again, "What did you see?" You see Dick tense up and turn to look at you. You put your hand out and he holds it, slightly squeezing it. "....I saw him again...it began with a dark figure and then it became clearer. he was looking down at me, beating me up, and constantly saying how weak I was...he would say that he would come back, repeating it over and over again...' you will always find me in every dark corner of your mind' he would say and taunt me for being weak..at some point his images would mix with other things...Tarantula's assault...Joker killing Jay....almost everything came in a rush...and then Slade came back..taunting me once again but this time he would say that I was weak and everything was my fault...that I will never be able to truly protect anyone because all that I am is a failure..." he says, voice trembling. "Ay mi pica flor..." you say and pull him closer to hug him. Dick begins to tremble under your touch, crying his heart out.

You start to caress his head and murmur in his ear, "No..honey..no, it isn't true, you are not a failure Richard. You are a wonderful fighter and a great leader, you always bring more than enough to the table, so don't let these toxin-fueled visions lie to you. Remember, Slade is gone. He can't reach you, not anymore. He can't get to hurt you ever again, me or you. He will not come close to us again. Ok, Richard?" you pull his face out of your shoulder and make him look at you. The proximity makes you both look at each other tenderly, "You are a good man, a good leader, and a good fighter, Richard. None of those things were your fault. You were a child with Tarantula and she took advantage of you and Joker is the only one to blame for Jason's death, not you, not Jason, not Bruce. Only Joker." you say, making sure it gets in his head. He nods and places his head back on your shoulder as you comfort him. His cries die down after a while and he steps back. You both go back to sitting side to side.

"...thank you" he whispers hoarsely, still holding your hand and you squeeze his hand, silently telling him that it was okay. Soon after you both go back to the second floor and separate ways. That night he slept soundly yet as the week carried on, he would be found being hunted by the worst of terrors.

During the day, you would spend time researching the toxin and you could be found consoling Dick during the night. You had reported back to Bruce your analysis and he assigned you to research as much as you could cause this could possibly mean something bigger and you had to be prepared with an antidote. Even on the nights, you would be in Dick's room, you would be found on your laptop and iPad investigating. You were quite good friends with Ivy ever since she had reinvented herself and left her villainous ways behind so you decided to send a small sample to her and see if you could find out what was wrong. You would observe Dick's physical symptoms as you comforted him and write them down. A week had passed since the incident when Pamela finally sent you her analysis. A plant called nightmare realm was induced in the formula, hence causing the lasting side effect of this toxin. She had sent a package with the plant and a manual on how to manage it correctly, how to manipulate its properties to result from the toxin, and how to create a formula. She had also sent a few other plants that were needed for the formulas. That day you spent the entire time creating antidotes and sent one to Dick with Alfred. You had created quite a few in order to be prepared if the threat came.

Finally, Dick's night tremors calmed down and after a few days, the toxin was completely free from his body. You managed his vitals and he was completely healthy and ready to go back to the field. With that, things had gone back to normal. Damian, acting as your little shadow, would follow you everywhere, making sure to closely observe every time you interacted with Dick. He would note the way Dick would constantly hold his attention on you. Whether it was his pinky sometimes reaching for your hand, yet never fully touching it, just slightly caressing your hand before taking his hand off or searching for you after hours and placing a blanket on you if you had fallen asleep in the lab.

He wasn't going to lie, you both truly do fucking bicker. You jab at him, getting under his skin with a sly smirk while he glares at you and he would do the same in return. There were times when Damian would look at you both and not know if it was flirting or arguing. He had noticed that hostilities had lowered around and you would sometimes be seen actually not minding each other's company. A few weeks had passed like that, still no actual peace, but no hostility. So now Damian questioned if the two of you were okay, why didn't Dick ask you out or you him? You were aware of your feelings, why hadn't you done anything about it? Dick made his affections noticeable ('course that could be argued because Damian had been paying the uttermost attention to both of you so many things weren't actually noticeable unless you were actually observing the two of you. The two of you were good at hiding your affections). What was taking so long?

He decided to ask Barbara again. He walked up to her room and knocked on the door. "Come in" he heard her softly say. He went in and saw her laying on her bed watching a series he had no intention of knowing. "oh! hello Damian, come to ask more of Dick and yn?" she asked with a knowing look and Damian nodded, sitting at her desk chair. "Yes, how did you know?" he said and she chuckled. "You have done nothing but follow those two around and stare at them, I was wondering when you'd show up." Damian nodded, "Well then, I will continue with my question instead, why haven't they done anything about it? They show affection but hesitate to actually do something. It's exasperating," he said, making Barbara laugh and explain to him, "Damian, those two have been doing circles around the other for years now, unaware of the other's feelings. Better get comfortable cause this ain't changing any time soon. It's almost as if you are watching Bruce and Selina as well. The only difference is that Bruce and Selina are aware of each other's feelings, they just have commitment issues. Yn is aware of her feelings but unaware of Dick's. I am not sure if Dick is aware of his feelings buuuuut he is most definitely unaware of Yn's. Like I said, get used to it cause it will take a miracle to get those two to actually do something."

That day, Damian was left unsatisfied with the answer Barbara gave him. He wasn't used to waiting things out. He began a new plan. His mission was evolving. This new plan was the following: get Yn and Grayson to come to their senses.

Small Author's note: I had a plot point where the relationship between Dick, Jason, and Bruce after Joker was discussed and they had a trauma/relationship-healing moment but after evaluating the story, it wouldn't make sense so I'll leave it for a one-shot outside of the story. I wanted to write something about it but I thought that trauma bombing was going to be WAY too much, therefore, some things from the preview will be left out and written as their own story away from this one. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

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