#I need to find a ship name for them… their names aren’t super combinable

[nineratsinatrenchcoat]

Mae x Roxie art because I see the vision.

[serenawitchwriter]

BNHA fusion (minor cast/Deku)

IzuYami

Goth™

Emo™

DRAMATIC™

fluffy feathers

monologues

advanced shadow control and counting dark shadow, nine spirits that can come out of them

constantly playing with their cloak

swish swish

will cry if you’re nice to them

incredibly creative

good at drawing

fears their own power and is incredibly cautious as a result

writes poetry and short stories

a gentle soul

broods alone, looks kinda stupid

tends to get caught up in his own dramatics and forgets the world around him

gets along surprising well with the Aoyama

seems to be having fun

MomoDeku

insecure

perfect

that frustrating friend who doesn’t believe you when you say they’e perfect

literally the smartest person you’ll ever meet

like Nedzu level smarts

probably has tea with Principal Nedzu

uses big words that you have no chance of knowing

talks to themselvesX2

THE MOST ATTRACTIVE PERSON

long dark curly hair and freckles with an Elvin face

Rube Goldberg plans and strategies that run too smoothly to be real

looks yandere when they get serious or angry but isn’t one

QUEEN

so gentle most of the time

does crafts when anxious

the crafts get progressively more absurd the more anxious they are

Jirou walked in and found them working a loom. they could have just pulled tapestry out of their body fully formed but instead they made a loom and actually wove it

gives gifts and crafts to all their friends

made action figures of all their classmates

the prettiest smile

has a crush on Todoroki

KouDeku

soft

still selectively mute

still literally a disney princess, constantly surrounded by animals

animalistic. izuku’s feral energy, and kouda socializing more with animals than people adds up to a person who moves and sometimes acts like an animal.

is particularly predatory when defending loved ones, children, and animals.

doesn’t need to speak to show emotions. is incredibly expressive

still has a rock shaped head, but is covered in a soft short green fur over his entire body. people are going to compare them to the Grinch or the moss monster in Creepshow. they don’t deserve that

baby with big green eyes

cries easily

deceptively clever

strong and fast. will tackle/pounce on you like a wild animal and you don’t stand a chance

draws a lot, particularly still life’s, scenery, and animals

surprisingly easy to make angry, they have a strong moral code and will get mad if you go against it

besties with the mutant types

old soul

probably knits to wind down at the end of the day.

master of giving dirty or sarcastic looks. again they don’t have to speak to express what they’re thinking. this is particularly funny with Bakugou because they’ll give him a ‘you’re an idiot’ look and Bakugou will yell at them to say it again even though they’ve said nothing

subtly manipulative. which is impressive given their muteness

probably has a predator animal companion. i want to say a tiger or a bear. bear would fit more aesthetically.

also has a ferret companion, named Lucky. whether that name is accurate remains to be seen

ShojiDeku

tentacles

tol and stronk, boy is even more solid muscle than either are alone, could bench press a building

still wears a mask. green eyes, curly silver hair, might have freckles but the mask covers them

scarred arms

respects women

very gentle

insanely creative with their quirk. they use mainly Izuku’s tentacles and strength because their body can handle it and it’s so freaking versatile. add enhanced senses and they’re basically prepared for anything

has a crush on Tsuyu

spends most of their time alone, but in a content way.

quiet

likes to climb things, buildings, trees, walls. they like to be high up

will pat shorter friends heads, like the gentle giant they are

can absolutely still go feral but have to be pushed pretty far to get to that point

genuinely likes to study

is good at science

likes to clean and fix things

good at repairs

finds catharsis and improving situations

AoDeku

chronic pain

cloud-like yellow hair with glitter in it, they try to style it, but it actively fights them. still covered in glitter

a weird, nervous smile

long eyelashes and purple doe eyes

didn’t get the freckles but will draw them on with makeup

full of anxiety and fear

weird laugh.

genuinely doing their best

get’s frustrated with people who aren’t trying

loves bread and cheese

multilingual

a fantastic artist. likes to paint

loves fantasy as a genre

prone to having deep fantasies and daydreams

they like to imply they’re magic/ psychic/ a witch and will read your palm and predict the future fairly accurately but really they’re just good at analysis

magic becomes their hero theme

can shoot lasers from any body part, can even make laser tentacles, but the backlash is bad

hates the hospital with a passion

struggles to ask for help or talk to adults

is actually pretty quiet most of the time. genuinely shy

don’t be mean to them, it’s like hurting a baby dear

has a tired cynical side but they don’t like that side of themselves

has a quiet sort of wisdom that goes far in helping their friends

HagaDeku

mischievous

cheeky

invisible

invisible tentacles, also imagine getting his by someone with super strength when you can’t see them.  flout with invisibility is also a scary combination

really positive

wears way too many accessories

talks a lot

bubbly

scary when they go silent, the type to spy and eavesdrop

will also just disappear sometimes. sometimes they’re just recharging after being too social, sometimes they are fighting villains

recovery girls nightmare. can you imagine performing surgery on someone you can’t see. if they just lose consciousness somewhere they’ll be hard to find

loves pop music

an all might stan

ships their friends

gets bored easily, will go and find trouble if it gets too bad

follows other chaotic people around, including the teachers. 

is considered really creepy, has definitely been called a stalker in the past

a master of psychological warfare

likes sweets

plays dnd and collects dice

(masterlist)

[canyouhearthelight]

The Miys, Ch. 141

Last week I posted a day early because vacation was doing vacation things to my sense of time.... This week I forgot to queue the chapter up because Monday was a work holiday, so I forgot today was Tuesday. *insert facepalm here please*

Thanks on this one go largely to @baelpenrose who rightfully pointed out that one part made very little sense to him and therefore was unlikely to make sense to a reader.  The clarification smoothed things out quite a bit, I think.  Just in case, whoever spots the area I’m talking about gets a cookie as soon as travel restrictions lift.

As always, thanks go also to @the-raven-fae, @charlylimph-blog, and @anotherusrname for completing the corners of my support system. And, a super-duper extra-special to @drinksteawithcake! I don’t know if I am allowed to tell everyone why, but you know why you get the extra-special, and I hope you are having fun!

BWAAAAAHP!   BWAAAAAHP!

“Uhhh?” I squinted in complaint as flailing arms clambered over me. One pair snagged me around my waist to drag me from bed before depositing me shakily on my feet. “What are you - ?”

BWAAAAAHP!  BWAAAAAHP!

Any trace of sleep was shoved out of my system, replaced by sizzling alertness when I realized I was hearing ship-wide alarms.  Shoving myself into the first clothing I grabbed, not even bothering with shoes, I was hot on Conor and Maverick’s heels as we raced out of our quarters and into the corridor. We paused only long enough for both men to kiss me and for “I love yous” to be exchanged before they turned and headed toward the areas indicated on their datascreens, while I hauled ass toward the Archives, ducking and twisting to avoid anyone in my path.

“Forty minutes,” Tyche told me crisply as I basically fell through the door, panting. “The Ark could be invaded and the battle over by the time you make it.”

“I ran….huff….the whole….ugh….way….” I managed to gasp out.  Part of me felt like puking, but I was pretty sure the muscles in my abdomen were too busy to figure out the logistics.

Clicking her tongue, she pulled me up from the floor. “Alistair, make a note to suggest to Xio that Sophia’s quarters be relocated once we have a better idea of when we are dropping into real space.”

I nodded numbly. “And probably… amp up… sensors… give… earlier… warning.”

“Nice outfit, by the way,” she laughed quietly as we finally reached the shelter point within the Archives.

Glancing down, I had to suppress a sigh. The first thing I grabbed to dress myself had apparently been a pair of Conor’s boxer shorts and a very filthy t-shirt that I assumed belonged to Maverick, since Conor’s was usually under coveralls. “At least you can’t say I took my time getting dressed.”

Her shaking head was greeted by faces in various states of wakefulness - this had been a drill, and woke nearly the entire Ark during their sleep interval on Delta shift.  But we weren’t out of the woods, yet: the drill didn’t end until all of Xiomara and Evan’s scenarios played out, including the mock combat and various tests of concealment for the other shelters.  As such, Tyche stood guard over the choke-point into this section, while Alistair had stayed behind at the entrance.

Early on, when the drills started, there had been fifty-fifty odds that the mock-invaders would make it this far, but over the past few weeks, that had narrowed to maybe twenty-percent.  It was still too high a chance in my judgement, and Xiomara clearly agreed as she stepped up training schedules and randomized the timing of the drills. 

Taking a swig of water from a stash of bottles, I queued up my datapad and stood next to Tyche, watching the ‘casualties’ from a point where no one could see over my shoulder to avoid panic, which I would have done in a real situation. “They didn’t find mess hall seven this time,” I murmured.

She glanced at my screen. “Acoustics are still too damned high. She must not be simulating for that this go around.”

One of the decoy locations lit up. “Looks like this time it’s heavy on thermal.” The location in question had been equipped with a cooking surface, triggered to activate when the klaxons that had woken me up went off.  Which Xiomara knew, but did not tell the ‘pirates’ for authenticity.

“How did they get past the combatants this time?” She asked, both curious and slightly worried.

Rolling back the sensor data, I watched it carefully. “Looks like these got in during the initial breaches, multiple points. But the line has held since, that’s good.”

Doing another check toward Alistair’s direction, she didn’t seem to see anything concerning. “How many?”

“Four,” I confirmed.  “Sam’s thermal camouflage is working beautifully, though.”  I couldn’t help but grin, and Tyche snorted at the same time. ‘Thermal camouflage’ was a bit of overkill as a name, but it was working well in every round. Potential access points were equipped with fast-acting environmental simulators - originally designed for temporary habitats on inhospitable moons - modified to release atmosphere like a Terran equatorial rainforest within one minute in an enclosed space.  It was a much more simple and elegant solution than any others we had found for giving combatants defending the Ark an advantage - instead of trying to create technology to make them look colder, make the entire area match human heat signatures.  Boom, instantly blinded enemies.

A tense half-hour later, the ‘all clear’ sounded, queueing grumbling from those who had dozed back off as everyone stood to make their ways back to their quarters. I waited with Alistair and Tyche for everyone else to be accounted for on the way out, and the three of us headed back toward our quarters together.  Alistair peeled off first, living closest to the Archives, and no sooner had my sister and I reached my door than the page sounded for the post-drill meeting.  She waved me off as she answered on her databand, and I did the same as I pushed into my quarters and flopped on the couch. “Councillor Sophia Reid, present, audio only,” I answered. “And no jokes, Pranav… I look like I smell awful.”

“Alistair Worthington, present, audio and video. I can confirm that she does, and she does.”

Laughter filled the comms and the rest of the group leaders and Councillors joined the debrief.  Finally, everyone was present and Xiomara called the meeting to order.  First, the leaders of each shelter reported in, as those usually went the fastest. There were a couple malfunctions in the deployment of the shielding to disguise the entrances and hide heat and electrical signatures, but nothing Huynh’s team couldn’t fix.  Tyche and Alistair made the recommendations around earlier detection and the need to move those sheltering in the  Archives closer as we approached time to drop out of relativistic space. 

Once that was out of the way, it was on to the combat and invasion teams. Overall consensus was that Sam’s trick with the portable environments was a rousing success and would be installed at each point determined to be most likely as a breach, with trigger conditions to be determined later. “I hate to say it,” Michael sighed, “but we also need Charly’s team to crank up the scovilles on the arrows and grenades.” His team had played the ‘invaders’ this go around, equipped with sensors and readouts to simulate the effect our defenses would have on the various species who most commonly were found on pirate vessels.  Evan had worked intensely with Pranav and Derek to ensure that the strategies provided by the readouts were modelled after similar strategies based on which ever species each team member was assigned, to ensure we weren’t accidentally drilling against human tactics.

Michael hated it, but he was strict about his team complying nonetheless.

“Seriously?” I squawked, and I wasn’t the only one. “One of those things accidentally went off in my quarters…. Can confirm, they’re pretty potent.”

“They dissipated too fast against my team, and also the contact element left a lot to be desired. Charly, you may want to consider adding a sticking element.”

“Duly noted,” she chimed in with a yawn, her normal pep doused by being woken up and then the drop in adrenaline post-combat.

“What about the sonic weapons?” Xiomara asked, moving the meeting along.

“Still less effective than Nixe is on her own,” a familiar voice I couldn’t put a name to responded with a sheepish tone.  “How hard would it be to train more people to shatter glass with their voice?”

“Incredibly,” Grey stressed. “It takes a very unique combination of training and the right vocal chords.”

“Then we may need to work on adding a projection component.  The sonic devices can match the pitch, but not the actual tone and direction. They’re very effective given time and especially contact, but we need something more immediately disabling.”

Xiomara groaned. “Are we back to Mariah Carey on this one?” Objections exploded until she muted the comms. “It’s that or opera.” Votes started scrolling up the screen, and I could see Xio nod. “Opera it is.  Let’s find a suitable piece and try using more analogue-style speakers.”

“I still say that death metal would work better,” Arthur suggested as soon as the comms were back on.

“Annnnd we already tested it, I will remind you. The volume works, but the pitches aren’t high enough to hit a broad enough population of species sensitive to sound.” After that nearly-obligatory objection, the meeting continued going through reports from each combat team until finally Xiomara announced the end results. “I have to admit, this was one of our best drills yet. Ten percent casualties of the combatants defending the breaches, only two percent among non-combatants, and the invaders were only able to traverse three decks before they were subdued.” She let the cheers go for a couple seconds before getting everyone’s attention again. “Yes, great job on the improvements, but let me remind everyone - those numbers still leave us below threshold for a healthy genetic population. Engineering teams, make the necessary adjustments with whatever resources are necessary. Shelters Three and Seven, you will start training for armed and unarmed combat with Shelter Fourteen and Combat Team Two daily.  Sophia, your team will coordinate schedules. Any questions?”

There were no arguments, not even a groan or mutter as the meeting was dismissed. Before I could even add the new task to my agenda the next day, I received the notification that Alistair had beaten me to the punch.

Glancing at the time, I wanted to hit something.  I had to be back up and at work in four hours, and the realization weighed me down with exhaustion.  The guys had come in and gone to bed while I was in the debrief, and I could already hear synchronized snoring coming from the bedroom.  Rather than risk waking them with my now-frozen feet, I pulled the quilt off the back of my couch and rolled myself into it.  Only minutes later, a heavy weight oozed across my hip and started purring furiously.

“Yeah, buddy. I agree. We need a nap.”

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[stitch1830]

CHARACTER DESCRIPTION: KANTO

So this is a character description for the character Kanto that @precious-metal-girl and I created for AUs where he is in a loving and committed relationship with Toph Beifong. Part of this is to help me keep track of all of his features and personality traits, and if others are looking to write about Kanto but aren't sure about how to describe him, feel free to pick and choose characteristics that meet your AU needs! This will (hopefully) be a living document where characteristics are added and changed over time. If you are curious about our AUs or want to know about a particular trait/personality, feel free to ask us questions!

......

Born: ~88/89 AG (summer)

Residence: Republic City

Hair Color: Black

Eye Color: Green

Element: Earthbending/Metalbending

Occupation: Deputy for the Republic City Police Department, Metalbender Division

Nicknames: Hotshot, Dep (short for Deputy), Slick, Botany Boy, Pretty Boy, Metalbrain, Metalhead, Rockhead, K, My Rock

Relationship: Toph Beifong

Background:

Kanto grew up near one of the Fire Nation colonies close to what is Republic City today (part of the reason why his name has FN influence). His father took many different jobs and tried to avoid fighting in the war as long as possible so he could stay with his family, while his mother was a seamstress for the town. Often, he would help his mother sew clothes, and because of that he was pretty crafty and good with his hands. He lost his parents at age 7; old enough to remember them and his childhood, but all the memories are pretty blurry.

What he does remember is that his family was pretty poor, but they always had something to laugh about.

He loved learning new skills with his dad, and had his mom read the same two books they had every single night. And one thing he always remembers is eating together as a family.

His parents died either in an accident for rebelling against a FN rule (maybe the FN wanted to take Kanto away for being an earthbender), or from protecting Kanto in general.

Kanto was always pretty feisty as a boy, pushing people’s buttons and egging people on. It only got worse when his parents died because he pushed buttons out of anger now.

He also had a lot of friends, but after, he didn’t talk to anyone for a while because he ran away. Most of his fighting skills were learned while on the run, he never got any formal training until he went to the metalbending academy (maybe 17 or 18? Toph managed a different part of the academy so she didn’t know him. That or he went to a different academy branch entirely).

One thing he remembers is that he was happiest with his family, so he cherishes the idea of a happy family unit, and he constantly searched for something that made him feel close to that happiness.

Personality:

The first impression people get of Kanto is that he is a no-good, arrogant, bad boy. He acts as if he’s the coolest person in town and always has something sassy to say in response. More than half of the words that come out of Kanto’s mouth are flirtatious and sarcastic, a combination that initially drives Toph Beifong crazy.

But in reality, Kanto is an extremely loyal man who’s rather selfless, putting himself in harm’s way so no one else has to. His initial personality is a front to protect himself so that he doesn’t befriend anyone too much, because he knows what it’s like to love people and lose them. He hated how he felt when he was orphaned and never wanted to feel that way again.

When his facade finally cracks with Toph and she sees the real him, he’s actually… a dork.

He’s got a very goofy personality, he gets excited about little things, and his passions do not necessarily align with his looks and his first impression. When he loves people, he does so with his full heart, but again, he’s hesitant to do so with many… His family are essentially the only ones that see him this way.

Looks:

Kanto is most certainly a hunk. He’s got a similar skin complexion to Toph, thick and wavy (borderline curly) black hair (Toph loves playing with it), broad chest and shoulders (a fit and toned body overall), a mischievous, slightly crooked grin (left corner turns up higher than the right) that makes all the women of RC swoon, a crooked nose from being punched in the face one too many times, and classic earthbender green eyes. He’s also pretty tall, that’s where Lin gets her height from, well over a head taller than Toph And despite being an earthbender, his hands and fingers are actually rather long and nimble. Some popular fanart interpretations of Kanto can be found here and here and here and here and here.

Interests:

Kanto likes flowers, he often brings new ones home (especially when he’s with Toph) so he can teach her about its qualities and so they have a nice and natural floral scent in their home. He’s obsessed with pro bending like Toph, and often will attend matches with her. Astronomy and biology are also interests of his. Toph and Kanto also have a cool rock collection, both are trying to best each other to find the coolest one. Kanto reads science fiction novels to Toph in their downtime and he’ll play the guitar or pipa.

Fears:

Kanto is afraid of bugs, he doesn’t care for large fires that can get out of control, and big animals make him nervous at first contact. When Lin’s in the picture, he freaks out when there are too many sharp corners in one place. He’s always afraid she’s gonna fall and hit her head. Kanto also doesn’t like those rip tides or currents in oceans/large bodies of water.

Some of his deeper level fears include losing his family. He cannot stand the idea of losing Lin or Toph, especially if the reason they are missing or gone is because of him. He’s lost his family before, and he’ll be damned if he loses them again.

Flaws:

A lot of his flaws stem from his stubbornness and confidence. He’s arrogant, overconfident, prideful, and impatient. He knows he’s good at his job and he’s not afraid to talk about his skills and talents, and unless he’s working specifically with Toph, he assumes he’s the best for the job.

He’s flirty, sarcastic, reckless, and a bit of a slob (just his home, he keeps a clean appearance). Kanto’s constantly ragging on coworkers, has comments for days, and it’s rare for him to speak in a serious tone while on the job. Just doesn’t happen.

He’s protective, reckless, a troublemaker, skeptical, and vengeful. When he actually finds love and has a family, he is extremely protective, to the point where if criminals threaten his family, he’s not afraid to take the law into his own hands to eradicate the problem. One of these would be his fatal flaw, maybe vengeful? His vengeful tendency could be from a need to retaliate to protect his family from a threat, and that ultimately may take him down.

His flaws mainly seem to come from his overconfident front that he gives to the world. He doesn’t let too many in, or, he lets people in, but they don’t see the real him. Kanto doesn’t trust people right away, but it’s easy to get along with everyone if you just have this confident and charismatic face on. But his ‘face’ seeped into his actual personality, so there are times when he shouldn’t blurt out the first stupid comment in his head, but he does.

Gaang First Impressions:

Aang: He’s always extremely happy and excited to meet new partners, so he was thrilled to meet Kanto. They definitely don’t see eye-to-eye on a lot of things, but Aang is great at being friends with everyone despite the differences, so there’s no animosity.

Katara: She’s skeptical at first, because Kanto acts like a douche and has a bad boy persona. Katara just doesn’t want to see Toph get hurt, so she interrogates the man a bit (a lot), but even though the things he says concern her, he’s a gentleman to Toph, very attentive to her needs. So, maybe he’s not so bad… Later on, she knows the bad boy look was all a facade and that Kanto is a sweetheart, and she grows to really like Kanto.

Zuko: He gives Kanto a very cold shoulder at first. He’s very protective of Toph because he thinks of her as a little sister. So, he crosses his arms, glares a bit, and Kanto glares back because that’s what he does at first. But then, they start going on double dates, and Zuko and Kanto turn out to have a lot more in common than they realize. They’re buddies now!

Sokka: Sokka’s attitude really depends on ship preference with him, but in most HC’s, he’s Toph’s best friend, so he would also be distant with Kanto. He wouldn’t like how cocky he is, or that he’s super tall and talented at many things… he’s not a fan. However, Toph is always super happy around Kanto, he makes her laugh, and no one is allowed to insult Toph without an ass whooping from both Kanto and Toph, so, he warms up to the guy. He’s been seen buying Kanto a beer after a long day of work as a truce, and he often goes to Kanto if he needs police paper signed and expedited (Kanto does the same with Sokka, it evens out).

Suki: Suki is pretty chill about it all. She’s pretty perceptive about personalities and whatnot, and she can detect a bit of a bad boy mask. So, she treats the introduction casually and is super cordial with Kanto. They never become best friends or anything, but she was one of his first “allies” in the Gaang, and for that he is forever grateful.

Other Facts:

His mannerisms are that he walks with a slow swagger. Often the slowest of the group, he takes his time whenever he walks places. But don’t let that fool you—he can sprint really fast. He leans back in almost all of his chairs, sometimes he leans too far back. Kanto was a notorious manspreader when he would sit down, but since being with Toph, she put a stop to that instantly. When he’s restless, he bounces his leg a lot, and usually only stops if Toph reminds him (usually a hand to his leg to calm him down). Kanto also runs his hand through his hair a ton to either push it off his face, or just on instinct. He fidgets with his hands, too, Toph does as well. Usually, the two will hold hands or play with each other’s fingers to ‘remedy’ their nervous tick. In extremely stressful situations (like an AU where Lin is kidnapped), Kanto usually throws up and doesn’t sleep at all.

Kanto’s voice is a mix of a rural and city accent, once Republic City becomes prominent. He uses slang in his speech often and mainly uses city words (he picked up a lot of city lingo when interacting with criminals and undercover work back in the day). There are a few words and phrases from his childhood that he uses that scream ‘rural kid’ and that is mainly when the distinction in his accent and speech is picked up. His voice is smooth and deep when he casually talks. When he yells, it becomes a bit gravelly and husky sounding. Oddly enough, when he whispers, the same thing happens.

Kanto smells like the earth or something with a forestry scent (cedar comes to mind). He wears cologne, and the scents he usually goes for are ones that smell like earth, wood, or resin. Kanto likes wearing cologne, but he can’t put too much on, otherwise it bothers Toph’s nose, and he typically checks to see which ones Toph likes, and he’ll purchase that cologne again because he knows she likes the smell. He naturally smells a bit like metal and dirt and a bit of smoke (he was a casual smoker before he had Lin). All these scents are not prominent, but by the end of the day, these are the scents that can usually be detected.

Some of his pet peeves include fake apologies, when people kick or shake the chair he is sitting in, any slightly insulting remark toward Toph, close talkers, people that interrupt frequently, and those that correct his grammar.

Kanto canonically only has one daughter, Lin. In this AU, he’s a loving and committed father who emphasizes putting his family first and protecting them. He doted and hovered over Toph while she was pregnant, cried tears of joy when Lin was born, and is very attentive and caring toward Lin. He’s the one that soothes her when she cries out at night, he’ll get up in the morning with her so Toph can sleep in, and when he comes home from work, he smothers her in kisses and gives her raspberries on the belly (affectionate). Even as a baby, Lin was a Daddy’s girl and Kanto spoiled her as much as possible.

In the relatively canon compliant AU, Kanto dies when Lin is about 6 months old. He left for work, had a run-in with a bloodbender (or an accident on the job), and never returned home. On the day of his death, Kanto planned on proposing to Toph, but never got the chance.

Lin knew about her father growing up, but he wasn’t talked about often because it is a touchy subject for Toph (and for most that knew him well). On her 13th birthday, Lin receives the engagement ring on a necklace, along with a handwritten letter from Kanto.

There are many AUs and headcanons related to where he lives, but those are very fluid and change all the time!

[nari-nim]

my good girl (m)

Treasure Jihoon x Y/N

Long distance can be hard, but you’re both trying out ways to stay connected. And when Jihoon’s ordering you through the screen, you’d better listen. Or not, but be ready for the consequences.

warnings: video sex, lingerie kink, orgasm control, mutual masturbation, dirty talking, slight degradation and mentions of sexting

request: smut prompt #8 with jihoon

author’s note: prompt 8 is “Be a good girl and touch yourself for me” for context. anyways, I’ve been super busy lately but I wanted to write for y’all :) This was supposed to be a timestamp but it kinda became longer than that...

10:49pm

You felt goosebumps rise along your arms as your eyes flickered towards the green light from the laptop camera before focusing back on Jihoon’s sultry gaze. Through the screen, you watched as he sat into his desk chair, the creaking amplified through your headphones.

“Move your arms, angel,” Jihoon purred.

You slowly complied, revealing your form fitted in the lingerie Jihoon had picked out and shipped to you. It clung to your frame and accentuated your curves, the satin and lace combination leaving little room for imagination. Jihoon’s hooded eyes were practically fucking you through the screen, eyes intensely drawing you in.

You had to admit. This new format made you feel like you were on display, like a work of art for private viewing. And from the way Jihoon was palming himself, you knew he liked the view. 

Empowered, you rubbed your thighs together, shifting your leg to trail up to your thighs, showing off his purchase. Slowly, you leaned back, spreading your legs to reveal your excitement. From your little corner screen, even you could see the growing dark spot on the thin fabric now pressing into your folds.

You slightly smiled as Jihoon sucked in his breath, an airy chuckle escaping his lips at your initiative.

You pressed your palms against your stomach and slid up, feeling the lace tickle your skin, as you traced the similar path Jihoon’s hands usually takes, until your were cupping your breasts through the thin fabric. You briefly closed your eyes, imagining that he was there with you, his larger hands pressing warm trails up against your skin to find your most sensitive spots of the night.

You sighed, thinking about how good it would feel for those said hands roughly grab you as he railed you, grunting your name against your neck.

“Y/n.” Jihoon’s low drawl pulled you back to reality. “Be a good girl and touch yourself for me.”

You gasped a little, looking back at him. Jihoon’s hand was under his sweats, rubbing at his cock. Oh, what you would give to be on your knees in front of him doing that.

Your fantasy would come true soon enough. He’ll be back tomorrow. But you’re getting impatient.

At that thought, you followed his instructions, propping yourself against the pillows, moving your legs apart even wider for the camera to see. You started rubbing gently circles against your clothed core, eyes focused on the languid motions Jihoon used to pleasure himself in front of you.

“Taste yourself for me,” Jihoon directed. You nodded, lips parting as you slid your fingers under the lingerie and slowly spread your arousal around and to your clit. You brought the excess to your mouth, making a show of lapping against your fingers before sucking against them. You kept your fingers there, hallowing your cheeks.

Jihoon groaned, pulling his dick out and stroking it at a faster pace. Jihoon pulled off his shirt, his toned chest reflecting the warm lighting emitted from his desk lamp. His abs seemed even more defined in this lighting. He knew what effect his actions has had on you. And it was working.

Your mouth watered as you took in how incredibly attractive he is. You pulled your hand out of your mouth to return the favor, pulling your tits out from the lingerie, letting the elastic push your chest out more, making your erect nipples even more prominent.

“Come on, show me how much you miss me,” Jihoon said. “Weren’t you just telling me how much you wanted me to come home and fuck you silly?”

You groaned at the truth of his words, blushing at the reminder of what you sexted earlier. 

You watched with bated breath as he rubbed his thumb against his tip, just the way he taught you how he liked. You mewled, moving the fabric aside so he can see all of you, any ounce of shyness now replaced by lust. Deciding you needed more, you leaned forward to take off the panties, pushing your boobs at the camera before sitting back again.

Jihoon smirked, licking his lips. You smiled with faux innocence back. 

“That’s right, angel,” Jihoon said, now pumping his cock. “I want to watch how you want me to touch you.”

You felt the same, eyes hungrily taking in Jihoon’s actions. You pressed your fingers hard against your clit, and set a steady pace, your legs twitching slightly from the immediate pleasure. You could tell Jihoon was loved watching the way your fingers were rubbing desperately into your glistening core from the he gritted his teeth as his eyes moved up and down to take you all in before resting at your pussy. Jihoon’s self ministrations were now matching the speed of your rubbing. His free hand gripped at the armrest, muscles flexed. 

“Such a needy little thing, aren’t you?” Jihoon cooed. “You look like such a slut right now.”

You moaned at his words, quickening your pace, feeling your lower abdomens start to tighten up. You reach up to pinch at your nipples, moaning. You felt your muscles start to tighten up, the pressure between your legs deliciously mounting.

“No, y/n.” Jihoon ordered, his tone authoritative. “Not until I say so.”

“Jihoon,” you moaned, slightly out of habit. Mostly, out of want. It took every once of self control to slow your fingers.

He liked that.

“Louder, baby.”

“Jihoon, PLEASE,” you cried. You knew he loved nothing more than to watch you beg, the desperation on your face turning him on more than anything, but you needed to climax. You’ve spent too long touching yourself from the videos he sent late at night, so now that he was there, the neediness was uncontrollable. 

“I know for a fact that you can be a hell of a lot louder than that.” His tone remained cocky, but his voice was straining. You debated for a second, fingers already picking up the pace you left off.

Fuck it. You were miles apart. 

You reached down with your other hand and slid your fingers into you, feeling your walls accept the introduction.

“Y/n,” Jihoon warned.

You would deal with the consequences later. 

You ignored him, body contorting in pleasure as your fingers found your exact pleasure spots. This time, the sensitivity had you reeling. You pressed harder than ever against yourself, your fingers now flying against your pulsating core. The pressure in your stomach hitting a breaking point, releasing a wave of endorphins through your system. You screamed, back arching, toes curling, as you felt your cum seep out through your fingers, dripping onto the bedsheets. All for Jihoon to watch.

As you slowly panted, coming down from your high, you face flushed at the realization of what you just did. You hesitantly rightened yourself, and looked at the screen, into Jihoon’s dark expression. The silence was tense and palpable. You couldn’t tell if he finished or not. His stern expression was intimidating, his arms clasped together.

He shook his head at you in disappointment, causing you to lower your head a bit in shame. “I thought you were going to be my good girl.”

You opened your mouth to answer, but nothing came out.

“You’re not going to be able to walk for a fucking week after tomorrow.”

With that, he ended the call.

Fuck.

[thesaltyoceanwaves]

Adrien’s Room and Memorabilia: A Sequel Post

Well, I hinted at a similar arc for Adrien in this post, so let’s brainstorm.

CW: mentions of harassment

The major difference between Adrien and Marinette in this instance is that Mari’s room is about her working through her social anxieties and developing meaningful relationships. Adrien’s focus is on his lonely nature, as well as discovering and cultivating hobbies that he really enjoys, and aren’t just forced upon him by his father.

His room starts off with very few photos of his loved ones, namely his parents, Chloe and Felix. These photos are professional in nature, clean, crisp and very much lacking in color. Even Chloe and Felix are behaving for the sake of the photos. Notably, their photos show them when they are much younger, to indicate that Adrien hasn’t spent time with them lately.

There’s a large emphasis placed on the amount of stuff that Adrien has in his room. The video games, the TV, the climbing wall, etc. Everything is completely clean and dust free, because he spends a lot of time in his room, but he doesn’t have anything he’s particularly drawn toward, so whenever he’s done with something, he puts it away and grabs something else. His room is also likely clean due to his strict father demanding he keep up appearances.

The only exception to this are video games, but they are very specific ones: simulators. Particularly, ones that focus on dating and romance. Life simulators, farming simulators, RPGs that offer a romance subplot, etc. Even if the sim only offers the option to make friends, Adrien is fine with that. Stuff like Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons (the ones made by Marvelous), The Sims, Undertale and so forth are right up his valley. And again, lots of dating sims.

Following his mother’s “passing,” and at the start of the show, Adrien keeps a corner of his room dedicated to her. As more time goes by and Adrien gets closer to his new friends, this will shrink down to a photo of the two of them, and most of her memorabilia will be stored away. This will show that he’s open to the possibility of his father dating someone else, as was shown in “Felix”. 

He will often turn to photos of his mother when he wants deeper, more worrying thoughts that he wants to voice and get off his chest, or if he needs advice about something and he doesn’t know who to turn to. S1 would focus more on friendship advice, because in this version, he would need to put in more time and care to make friends (Nino and him would still stay buds, Mari is still crushing on him but is hesitant to approach, and Alya is kind but cautious, with the rest of the class being wary because of his friendship with Chloe). Later on, he’s more likely to ask about plot-relevant stuff, his feelings for Ladybug and Kagami (and romance in general), his growing resentment towards his father, his meet-ups with his friends, and his discomfort with Chloe and Lila’s touchiness. Coupled with Felix’s harassment in “Felix,” this causes Adrien to realize his boundaries are being violated, and to also wonder if he has adopted similar behaviors. He goes to speak with either Sabine, Tomoe or Nino’s mom about the matter (maybe all three to get a variety of perspectives), and then with Ladybug. I would set this conversation sometime after “Frozer,” with him mentioning how he acted there, and apologizing for leaving her in the middle of battle (if the episode isn’t rewritten to include that there).

Overtime, he would start to depend less on talking to Emilie’s photo, and instead talk to whoever he asked for advice. Instead, he would talk to her prior to a larger battle or facing a bigger threat and had something he wanted to get off his chest.  

At the beginning of their superhero career, Adrien is into collecting Ladybug merch - he’s likely to even have one of those “Do it for her” boards set up. He has some Chat Noir stuff as well, but it’s not as prominent. When other heroes arrive on the scene, he’ll have stuff of them too. He would even go so far as to recreate the heroes in his games (mostly in what Sims knock-off this universe would have), and roleplay scenarios with Ladybug. He doesn’t fully get rid of his merch over time, but he does likely downsize as he spends more time getting to know Ladybug and the team.

There’s also the obligatory Ladrien scene that I hinted at in Marinette’s post. To recap, Chat Noir, during an emotional moment with Marinette, mentions that he has Ladybug memorabilia in his room, and that he ought to downsize. Sometime later, Ladybug comes to check up on Adrien for plot-related reasons, and discovers that he “too” collects Ladybug merch. Adrien is notably embarrassed by this, but Ladybug replies by saying that she’s a fan of his as well. This will allow two sides of the ship to feel closer to each other and open up about certain things.

Similar to Marinette, Adrien will start picking up little things as mementos from previous episodes to decorate his room with (a class photo from “Reflekta,” a copy of the movie from “Horrificator,” his autographed Jagged Stone CD from “Guitar Villain,” etc).  I also imagine him holding onto clothing items such as Nino’s hat or Kagami’s jacket, that get left behind after hanging out. Over time, he is eventually gifted a mannequin to display these items.

I remember seeing a post that called into question whether Adrien’s activities were something he genuinely enjoyed or if they were just foisted upon him by his father. I like the idea of a laid out arc that explores what Adrien might like to do in the future, by having him go through various hobbies (sort of like Daphne in “Be Cool, Scooby Doo”). 

One hobby I’d give him from the start is tricking. (For those not familiar, tricking combines moves from martial arts and gymnastics, usually flips and kicks, and can be used to create super cool combos, yes I am biased about this). We often see him showing off stunts in battle and would fit Chat’s tendencies to be flashy. I could also see this becoming a hobby he shares with Nino and Kagami later on, maybe with the three of them sneaking out to meet other trickers at gatherings.

(For those who need visual reference.)

However, I also want to give Adrien a more traditionally feminine hobby. There’s a couple of ideas I had for this, including, again ones that he cycles through as he explores himself a bit more. After meeting Luka and noticing that he paints his nails, Adrien might tiptoe in nail art. I could also see Adrien getting really into writing romance, starting off as a fanfic writer and eventually writing his own novel or comic. Alternatively, he becomes a poet. Maybe he spends an episode learning to sew with Marinette so he can make his own cosplays. Or he starts a cottagecore aesthetic blog, and additionally starts taking care of some plants to give his room some needed greenery.

I think for the sake of irony, it would be interesting to see Adrien eventually take up baking as a hobby. I know there’s a couple of AUs involving this concept already (I forget who it was, though I’m tempted to say @lenoreofraven​ ​ but correct me if I’m wrong), but I like this idea because it would give him something extra he and Marinette could bond over in the future, especially since he doesn’t want to do modelling long-term. It would also give him a good excuse to visit the Dupain-Cheng bakery, and grow closer to Sabine and Tom. Perhaps they take him up as an apprentice, or give him a delivery boy job alongside Luka (giving that relationship a chance to grow as well, as well as a Delivery Boy shenanigans episode).

When he’s either in between hobbies, in a tumultuous state, or growing distant from his father, his room will appear far messier. In the latter case, it may be an attempt to rebel against Gabriel, saying “it’s my room, I can do what I want!” If he’s not comfortable immediately speaking out against his father, he may rebel in more passive aggressive ways. I could also see him roleplaying scenarios in which he tells his father off or planning escape routes for hero patrol or tricking gatherings. I think he would also have padded mats stored somewhere in he case he can’t leave, and wants to practice, or have his own tricking gathering in the house.

As he collects more mementos, they start filling up the empty spaces in his room, so when his father prevents him from leaving the house, he doesn’t feel as lonely. He starts finding ways where, from the comfort of his room, he can hang out with friends (like in “Anansi” where he uses the facecam to see what everyone is up to). More friendly, casual photos give the room some life. These mementos may also cause him to start downsizing on the Ladybug and Friends merch.

He will only attempt to remove them altogether if his identity is revealed to Marinette, and she doesn’t seem to process it well (at least at first). Anything pertaining to her, as Ladybug or Marinette, he may attempt to remove, until he realizes just how present she is in his life. He would then consult his mother’s photo about what to do. 

And similarly to Marinette at the end, when they start dating, he would start to incorporate couple’s photos. I think both of them would have those photo booth strips, but I could also see Adrien commissioning posters of his OTP, LadyNoir, and bringing back some of his merch (in a teasing, well-meaning way). 

[dmsden]

Monster of the Month - the Githyanki

Hullo, Gentle Readers. This month’s Monster of the Month is one coming to you out of the depths of the Astral Plane. Everybody’s favorite astral pirates, the Githyanki, are here to say hi. As always, big thank you to my buddy Scott Fabianek for the art.

The Githyanki made their debut in the 1st edition Fiend Folio, and they weren’t shy about it. They took over the cover, swinging their silver swords around, and generally let everyone know that they were here to stay. Since then, they’ve gone from absolute villains to occasional anti-heroes, even being a playable race in 5E, thanks to Volo’s Guide to Monsters.

The core defining element of Githyanki history is their enslavement under mind flayer rule. They were likely similar to humans before this, but centuries of domination and experimentation are, ironically, likely what led to their psionic abilities. Led by a freedom fighter named Gith, this race rose up and slaughtered the mind flayers, and, to this day, they will hunt and kill mind flayers wherever they find them. There was a division in the race’s philosophies that led to the race dividing into the Githyanki and the Githzerai, and the Githyanki became, by far, the more warlike of the two.

Our baseline githyanki in 5e is the CR3 Githyanki Warrior. They are fairly straightforward melee combatants right up until the moment that you consider their psionic abilities. It’s not hard to imagine them casting nondetection every eight hours to make themselves impossible to scry or cast any other divinations spells on. This is likely something of a reflex, done before sleep, when getting up, and then halfway through the day. Likely, this evolved when they were fighting and hiding from the illithid. This will make it difficult for an adventuring party to know that they’re being stalked by githyanki raiders.

They’re lawful evil, so, even though they are pirates, they likely use certain formations and actions, aiding one another when necessary or possible. In a ship to ship battle, one can imagine Githyanki empowered by their psionic Jump leaping the gap from one ship to another. They can also misty step multiple times, which makes them a frighteningly mobile fighting group. The fact that they speak a pretty unique language means that orders could be barked out. A party thinking they have things well in hand could suddenly find the Githyanki they were fighting teleporting to gank their healers or mages in a unified attack.

I think the best use for these guys is in a party’s relatively early days. Githyanki sometimes spend time on the Material Plane for a variety of reasons. They may be striking to get supplies, tracking an illithid’s pet intellect devourer, or something similar. While it’s true that one reason they might be on the material plane is to guard a creche of young, letting them age off of the Astral Plane, I don’t necessarily recommend this as a reason to put them in conflict with a party of adventurers. If you do, the logical end-result is that the party will end up in an argument as to what to do with the now orphaned githyanki children.

The upgrade (and it’s a big one) is the CR8 Githyanki Knight. They have all the toys the Warrior does (although their attacks are, of course, more powerful), and they have several extras. They have plane shift and telekinesis each once per day. Plane shift is perfect for an extreme retreat or to try and take a dangerous opponent out of a fight (although that makes quite a headache for the DM, and the player isn’t likely to appreciate it). Telekinesis would be useful for throwing an opponent off of a ship, for pulling a target to them that they want closer in the fight, making the party’s melee-based rogue or ranger unhappy, etc.

The other two big upgrades a Githyanki Knight likely brings to the table are where things get really fun. The Knight’s Silver Sword is a magical +3 weapon in their hands that gives them a devastating attack to channel their psychic abilities into damage. In addition, these guys can be super scary to characters who are using the astral projection spell. If that silver sword crits, it’s an automatic kill on the player who gets hit.

The other element of a Githyanki Knight is that they’re likely to be partnered with a Young Red Dragon to ride. Even if these dragons aren’t yet legendary, they’re all kinds of awful for a party. The combination of a single githyanki knight and a young red dragon are a deadly encounter for a group of 5 10th level characters, and a hard one for 5 11th levels. Make it two of each, and they would be a hard challenge for 5 17th level characters...just about the time the party gets regular access to Astral Projection.

If you have access to Volo’s Guide to Monsters, there are more flavors of Githyanki for you to spice up your encounters. And you could even develop more if you wanted a Githyanki-based campaign. Maybe Vlaakith, the immortal lich queen who rules the githyanki, is having her warriors attack the material plane with greater and greater frequency. The campaign could concentrate on why this is, and it could constitute a mind flayer/githyanki war. Lower levels might involve Tiamat-worshipping kobolds stealing supplies (since there’s some kind of alliance between Tiamat and Vlaakith that allows the githyanki knights to ride red dragons.) As things progress, there could be various mind flayer related creatures like intellect devourers and umber hulks, perhaps neogi slavers who provide the mind flayers with their needed sustenance. Of course mind flayers themselves, githyanki, and red dragons. Githzerai allies might eventually step in, willing to aid against the mind flayers AND their ancestral kin. The campaign might ultimately confront Vlaakith, attempting to throw down the ruler of githyanki kind. That would be epic.

I hope this article made you think about including some githyanki oriented plot in your campaign. Next month, we’ll be looking at one of my favorite creepy Underdark critters - the Hook Horror. Until then, may all your 20s be natural.

[dontasktheradiodemon]

Bathrobes & Surnames

Telly @usedhearts asks Alastor his last name because he wants to get him a fancy monogrammed bathrobe. Yes, it's just as fluffy as it sounds. (Both the bathrobe and the thread.)

Sir Pentious

Telly sat on the floor of his bedroom, going over blueprints and various plans when a thought occurred to him.

"Alastor? Could you come here a moment?" He called.

Alastor

And he appeared in a poof of red sparkles! "You called?" He has his coat off and his sleeves rolled up, he was doing some Work.

Sir Pentious

Oh! Red sparkles, that was new. Telly smiled.

"Yes, I was curious, what's your last name?"

Alastor

"Oh?" He sat beside Telly, leaned against him, and draped an arm around him. "Why do you want to know?" He fluttered his eyelashes innocently. "Do you want to have it?" The man still misses half the sexual double entendres that fly by him but now he's throwing around euphemisms for marriage, what a mess.

Sir Pentious

Oh! What a question! Telly sputtered for a moment, his hood half flaring. He looked away and then back at Alastor, and then away again.

"No, I-- I wanted to get you a bathrobe with your initials monogrammed in it! I mean, I wouldn't-- It's not outside the realm-- I--" This poor man, watch him sputter.

Alastor

*It's not outside the realm*? His heart did an acrobatic routine that would put any circus to shame. All the same, he quickly said, "It's a joke! I'm joking, don't panic!" Which was the line he'd had prepared in case Telly (almost inevitably) reacted negatively.

But... "A bathrobe? Really?" Well there's a bonus set of warm fuzzies right there.

Sir Pentious

That calmed him, and his hood flattened back down. He leaned in to nip at Alastor's cheek-- naughty deer, don't panic him like that! He let out a huff and glowered a bit.

"Yes, a bathrobe! I have one but I haven't been using it recently because, well..." He just stared at Alastor. Him, he was the reason.

"But I thought you'd like one, too. It would be much warmer after getting out of the bath."

Alastor

"Oh!" A *bathrobe.* It was such a simple thing—but a simple, caring, loving thing. "Well, I... is there enough room for four letters? My call sign is KTRD."

Sir Pentious

"Yes, there should be, it would go on the right breast pocket." He smiled, nice and wide, his tongue flicking. "I'll send some Eggs with the order later."

Alastor

"They'll be *matching* robes, right?" Which wasn't a romantic fantasy Alastor realized he had until suddenly the possibility was dangling right in front of him.

Sir Pentious

Telly blinked. "Of course? Why would I get you a robe that _didn't_ match the one I have? Or. Well, the embroidery will be a different color-- I was going to have yours be red, whereas mine is gold. Unless....did you want it to be gold like mine?"

Alastor

"I don't know, I thought you might get a red robe. But—yes, let's go with gold! I wear enough red, let's shake things up a little! And it would pop more, wouldn't it?!"

Sir Pentious

He laughed. "I think red pops against black too, but certainly, we can have it be gold." He flicked his tongue and leaned over to kiss his cheek. Telly wrote the order out on a scrap of paper and called some Egg Bois in to hand it to.

"There, shouldn't take them more than a few hours to get."

Alastor

Hey there number whoever, don't mind the fact that the Radio Demon is sitting on the floor with your boss, arm around him and grinning like a loon.

He waited until the Egg was gone to smooch Telly's cheek. "Aren't you thoughtful. I don't remember the last time I had a bathrobe!"

Sir Pentious

He beamed at the compliment. Yes, he WAS thoughtful! Thank you for noticing.

"Yes, well, I thought you could use one! A nice change of pace from toweling off and getting right into clothes. Cozy, too."

Alastor

"I'm sure it will be!" He pecked Telly's cheek. "I should get back to work before I get too comfortable lazing about in here."

Sir Pentious

"Yes, best to do that before I commandeer you for kissing." He smirked, giving him one more before letting him go.

Alastor

He stood dramatically, played a drumroll for himself, and announced, "Witness the magic trick of the century: the disappearing man! Watch very carefully! Now you see me, now you—" Poof. He's gone.

Sir Pentious

Telly chuckled and then went back to going over his blueprints. Oh that was a neat one....

A few hours passed and the Egg Bois arrived, box in hand. And inside that box, a robe! Telly purred as he felt it-- yes, it was perfect-- and then shut the box.

"Oh, Alassssstor!" He called again.

Alastor

This time, he melted up out of the shadows behind Telly, sliding his arms around him and leaning on his back. "*Saaay the wooord and I'll run in right away, all I need is yooou to saaay the wooord~*"

Sir Pentious

Telly purred, leaning back against him. He turned his head to be able to kiss his cheek, and then held up the box for him.

"Ta-da~" He cooed.

Alastor

"Oh!" He reached over Telly's shoulders to tug the robe out of the box. Oh, it was fluffy! "Give me just one moment!" This was probably as eager as Telly had ever seen Alastor to strip down to underwear; and once he did, he pulled the robe on securely.

Sir Pentious

Telly watched with a smile, and once the robe was on, 'stood' and slid his hands over Alastor's shoulders, feeling it.

"Mm, how handsome! You look positively comfy." He laughed and leaned in to kiss him.

Alastor

"It's like being wrapped in a cloud!" He glanced down at the black fluff and amended himself, "A storm cloud. But an incredibly cozy one!" Kiss! "I'm afraid you're going to have a hard time getting me out of this thing."

Sir Pentious

"Yes, that is how it feels, isn't it? Oh! Hold on." Telly slithered off to the bathroom, returning a moment later in his own robe. They certainly did match, both in black fluffy robes. The embroidery on Telly's said 'S. P.' He slithered back over and held out his arms.

"There! Now we match!"

Alastor

Until Alastor saw the S. P. he didn't even realize he's barely even glanced at the embroidery on his own. He looked down. There it was—KTRD, upside-down in gold. His smile widened. "We certainly do."

Sir Pentious

Telly purred loudly, wrapping his arms around Alastor. "I like this, I like us matching, it's very nice."

Alastor

"So do I!" He slid his arms back around Telly. "Someday, mark my words, you and I are going to be that couple that takes every opportunity to go out in matching outfits. Costume parties, fancy galas, Sunday brunch, you name it! And everyone's going to detest us!"

Sir Pentious

"Let them! Let them detest us, as we strut and slither in our matching outfits, the best among them!" He hissed a laugh and kissed him, just a peck.

"We'll take over all of Hell in matching outfits if we so please!"

Alastor

Kiss! "And they're just going to have to deal with the fact that we're the most powerful *and* most fashionable sinners in history."

Sir Pentious

"That's right! We have more sssstyle than the entire rest of Hell combined!" He threw his head back and cackled, that typical Sir Pentious cackle.

Alastor

It was a good thing he was already holding onto Telly, or else he might be swooning. That laugh does things to him.

Sir Pentious

Telly purred as he finished his cackle, leaning down to kiss Alastor's neck. "I'm so excited-- the airship is ready to be moved, and almost ready to launch, the Super Eggs are keeping the regular ones in line, we have enough funds and materials that I've started plans for a fleet...."

He took a deep breath and squeezed Alastor. "Things are looking up."

Alastor

"I spent all afternoon making sure the organ pipes are ready to move! You know, making sure any that got damage or came loose during the initial crash are secure enough we can relocate the ship." LOOK AT HIM, he's so proud of himself. "I don't know enough to fix them yet, but... look at us, we really are making progress, aren't we?"

Sir Pentious

"WE ARE! WE CERTAINLY ARE! AND SOON, MY AIRSHIP WILL ONCE MORE BE FLYING ABOVE PENTAGRAM CITY! AND ALL WILL QUAKE IN FEAR!" There's another cackle, give him a second, he's having a gleefully evil moment.

Alastor

"I'll bet none of them expected to see you in the air again so soon! Considering your airship went down during the extermination, they might think you're gone completely! Won't they be *horrified* to find out how wrong they are!"

Sir Pentious

"YES! THEY WILL BE UTTERLY TERRIFIED TO SEE ME, SOARING ABOVE THEM!! RECLAIMING TERRITORY!! WITH NEW WEAPONS GALORE AND BLARING ORGAN MUSIC!!"

Alastor

"And I can't *wait* to have a bird's eye view of the carnage! I hope you plan to let me fire one or two of the weapons!" A wink, "I think I inspired half of them."

Sir Pentious

Telly slid his hands down Alastor's arms, to take and hold Alastor's hands. He pressed kisses to the back of each of them and grinned, a very, very evil grin.

"BUT OF COURSE! YOU'LL HAVE TO MAN THE GUNS WHILST I SCORE OUR VICTORY!"

Alastor

His entire face lit up. "By myself?! Such trust! Why, it will be an honor!"

Sir Pentious

"OF COURSE! ONLY THE BEST JOB FOR MY PARTNER-IN-CRIME!" And another cackle.

Alastor

Alastor beamed. “Just play something I can sing along to!” And without waiting for Telly to stop cackling, Alastor wrapped a hand behind his head and pulled him down into a kiss.

Sir Pentious

Telly's hood flared a moment at the sudden kiss-- but then flattened as he returned it, his own hand tangling into Alastor's hair. He purred deep in his chest, holding him close.

Alastor

He pressed into Telly, letting the purr vibrate his chest. Like the rumbling engine of an airship.

Sir Pentious

Telly kept the kiss going for a good while, before he pulled back, his tongue flicking over Alastor's lips. "I love you," He said softly, fingers stroking through his hair.

Alastor

“I’d do anything for you,” Alastor whispered, words half-static, mixed with some sweet song. He nuzzled into Telly’s shoulder and his soft bathrobe—right, for a moment he’d almost forgotten the bathrobes completely.

“You asked me about my last name. And I didn’t tell you.”

Sir Pentious

"Hm?" Telly had been so caught up in the moment they were having, he'd completely forgotten that part. "Oh, yes, I did, didn't I?" He chuckled a bit as he held Alastor close.

"You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to..."

Alastor

“You should at least know why.” He lifted his head from Telly’s shoulder. “I know you weren’t close to your family but—I was. And I miss them. And if any of them are down here... well, they’ve never thought I was worth inviting to the family reunion, apparently.” He huffed. “I doubt they don’t know who I am, how many Alastors with an O do you think were working in Louisiana radio in the twenties?”

Sir Pentious

"Oh." Telly nodded. "Yes, I see. You want some way for them to let you know they recognize you? And if they knew your last name, then that would make it clear."

Alastor

“More or less. At a bare minimum, anyone who knows my name is somebody who knew who I was in life—and my goodness, you wouldn’t believe how rare it is to even get that much, considering how well-known I used to be! It’s like everyone’s memories of ol’ Al broadcasting out of New Orleans were completely replaced by the Radio Demon.” He sighed.

“So, if anyone approaches me and says they know me, or says I’m some distant relative... proving they know my name is a bare minimum password. If they don’t even know that much, they really don’t know a damn thing about me.”

Sir Pentious

Telly's hand stroked over Alastor's hair, giving little scratches at the base of his antlers and ears.

"That makes sense. I'm sorry that none of them have found you-- or that they didn't want to." He hugged him closer, his tail curling around Alastor's ankle.

Alastor

Alastor’s smile thinned a little. “Yes, well—who wants to be stuck with the Radio Demon for a cousin? But if they ever *did*, keeping my name a secret would make it just a little bit easier to tell the real deal from the con artists.” He leaned his head on Telly’s shoulder. “... So I’m trusting you not to tell anyone it’s Mignon.”

Sir Pentious

There was a jolt that ran through his heart when Alastor spoke-- and then immdiately his arms tightened around him, nearly crushing him to his chest.

"I won't. Just as I trust you not to tell anyone that my name is Pentell. Though, that's rather more common knowledge." He chuckled softly. After a few moments, Telly blinked, and then his brow furrowed. He pulled back, holding Alastor's shoulders to stare him down.

"You're initial are A. M." He said it like an accusation.

Alastor

Alastor tightened his embrace just as much. Telly understood what the confession was worth to him. “I wouldn’t tell a soul.”

He answered the accusation with a beaming smile. “*I know!* Isn’t that *great?* And I’ve just had to keep that to myself for decades! You’re one of about three people who gets to appreciate it!”

Sir Pentious

Telly snickered, shaking his head. "I can't believe you've kept that under your hat all this time! The Radio Demon's intials are A. M.!!"

His laughter got louder, shoulders shaking as a hand covered his mouth, his other gripping Alastor's shoulder to keep himself standing.

Alastor

“It’s been *killing me!*” He trembled with suppressed laughter, holding onto Telly to keep him upright. “You want to talk about eternal torment, forget the fire and brimstone—my initials are the perfect pun and I can’t tell anybody!”

Sir Pentious

"You have the strength of will of Titans, Alastor, to endure such a torment!" Telly cackled, and finally failed on the whole 'holding himself up' thing. He flopped onto the floor, wheezing with laughter.

Alastor

Still holding onto Telly, Alastor went down with him, landing heavily with a snake half-sprawled over him. “It’s true! Neither Sisyphus nor Tantalus endured worse a torture than I!”

Sir Pentious

Telly continued to laugh, wheezing for breath until it finally eased, and he settled. He took a few deep breaths, wiping at his eyes (on his face).

"Oh, Alastor, you're stunning." He kisses his cheek.

Alastor

“Aren’t I just? I must be the paragon of fashion, with my fluffy robe and my t-shirt.” He kissed Telly back. “So are you.”

Sir Pentious

Telly preened a bit, flicking his tongue at Alastor. "I _do_ look handsome in this fluffy robe, don't I? Very dapper, if I do say so myself." Another chuckle.

Alastor

“Incredibly dapper! It’s the gold embroidery that brings it all together.” He laughed. “... Thank you. I really do appreciate it.”

Sir Pentious

"It does, doesn't it?" Telly grinned, and pecked Alastor on the lips. "You're welcome, my hart. It's my pleasure."

Alastor

*My hart,* that was never going to get old. “I should probably go wash up.” As reluctant as he was to leave. “And then I can wear this thing properly!”

Sir Pentious

"Yes, of course! Then we can have tea and coffee and act like two proper gentlemen." He snickered, flicking his tongue at Alastor. "See you soon, then, darling."

Alastor

A peck. "See you soon." And off he went to the bathroom, with his fancy new monogrammed bathrobe he could wear after his bath. Sometimes it's the little things that'll make your day.

[gospelofme]

Super Nova

Chapter 4: The Temple of Eedit

Devaron was a jungle planet like Yavin IV. Unlike Yavin IV though, it had small mountains and valleys. It’s climate tended to fall on the tropical side, which meant humidity. Humidity could make things difficult, but not impossible. The temple was located near the town of Tikaroo, deep within the jungles. In its prime, there was a road leading through the jungle and right up to the front door of the temple. However, years of war had seen to the destruction of the road, as well as to the temple itself. She wasn’t even sure if the town was still there, the people may have moved on when the temple was destroyed. Once they cleared the upper atmosphere and got closer to the surface, however, the outline of the small town began to appear. There was only one problem. There was no clearing large enough to land except a couple miles away from the town. They’d have to land there and walk to the temple. There was no sign of the temple from the sky, but that didn’t worry Sayr. She figured the ruins had been largely swallowed by the jungle.

Varex set The Grand Orbiter down in the larger clearing, which apparently was still under construction. A couple big cranes were parked along the edge of the jungle, probably used for clearing the large vines that the planet was known for. Humidity washed over them as soon as the door to the ship opened and the crew stepped foot on the surface. There were the typical jungle sounds, birds and bugs, which was a pleasant sign. The planet’s animals had nearly been hunted to extinction in the Empire days. Signs of life returning to the jungle was a healthy indicator.

“Well, lets get moving!” Varex announced like a sports coach spurring his team, leading the way down the trail that lead to Tikaroo. Within no time the crew was hot and sweaty, but there was something about that that made Sayr come alive. Hard work always made a reward worthwhile. She walked with a purpose along the pathway, ignoring the tickle of sweat rolling down her back.

About thirty minutes later the Meson Martinet landed in the same clearing, the crew of Sidon Ithano walking out to survey the area. Quiggold, the first mate, scowled at The Grand Orbiter.

“Kriff, why is that thing here?” He muttered, knowing who the ship belonged to just as well as the other members. Varex had become somewhat of a rival to the crew of the Crimson Corsair. Sometimes he beat them to the prize, other times they got there first. More than once the Zabrak captain had made life difficult for the Crimson Corsair.

“As long as he doesn’t mess with our objective, we’ll be fine. He isn’t that much of a threat.” Reveth noted, fanning herself with a her hand. “Ugh, it’s hot here today.” She added. Their Captain joined them shortly and the ship was secured. After a moment Quiggold sighed, it was time to walk the mile or so into town. His short legs would make this walk seem much longer, the peg leg wouldn’t help much either, but at least they weren’t trudging through sand this time. Like Varex’s crew, they were all sweating in no time, Quiggold wondering how their Captain wasn’t overheating in his mask and outfit.

The crew trudged into town desperately searching for a vendor that sold water, each having consumed a good portion of their canteen on the walk. They stopped at a stall and waited while their canteens were filled when Squeaky nudged Reveth and nodded over at something, she looked then nudged Quiggold’s shoulder.

“I know why Nova never returned your messages.” She said lowly, nodding to vender a few stalls over. Quiggold looked over to where the Twi’lek had indicated and cursed under his breath. Sure enough, Sayriel Nova stood outside a stall selling machetes to cut through the dense jungle. She looked bored and thankfully wasn’t looking in his direction. A short time later Varex emerged from the stall with a new machete in hand. Quiggold scowled at the dumb smile the Zabrak gave his Force-wielding companion as he brandished the bladed weapon. Nova looked at Varex with a unimpressed stare.

“Great, looks like Varex did something smart first off for a change. I have a feeling we’re not the only ones our employer hired.” Quiggold noted, sharing a look with their masked Captain. He too had noticed Nova. Ithano gave an unconcerned shrug and moved on to another stall.

“I don’t get it, what’s the big deal?” Their newest member, a former clone medic named Kix, questioned. Quiggold filled him in as they quickly left the vicinity to avoid being spotted by the rival crew.

“Sayriel Nova would’ve been ideal to help find the items our benefactor wants. She has ways to find them. Plus she has some inside information on where they can be found. Turns out Varex got to her first.” The first mate said, the former clone looking back at Nova.

“Don’t look over there!” Quiggold tugged the man around, the former clone nearly running into a support post for the stall they had stopped at.

“She looks normal enough to me.” Kix shrugged, Quiggold snorting in response.

“She’s a Jedi. She can sense them.” He said quietly, jumping a bit as Reveth spoke up,

“You’d better hope she doesn’t hear you call her that. She may skewer you.” The Twi’lek smirked, looking at Kix she added, “Sayr prefers the term “force user” instead of Jedi since she doesn’t identify with only the light side.” Kix tried to look unconcerned. The very word “Jedi” made him nervous. Memories of the past seemed to trickle in unexpectedly and he wasn’t sure if he could handle a vengeful Force User should she discover his past affiliation. Captain Ithano and his crew soon departed the town, Quiggold not spotting Nova or Varex again as they did so. That could mean one of two things. Either they had just been making a pit stop here and were headed back to their ship. Or they were headed to the temple already. Quiggold hoped it was the former.

The temple wasn’t too far from town, and there were some remnants of the road that had once blazed a trail through the jungle. This made it fairly easy to find, except it didn’t solve their problems with how to get into what was left. The temple had been bombed years ago, blocking the main entrance completely. Plus the jungle had settled itself comfortably over most of the structure.

“Well this will be an issue” Krev said, a very sweaty Darr agreeing with a low grumble.

“Aren’t you glad I tagged along then.” Sayriel said, putting her hands on her hips, equally sweaty.

“Do your thing then.” Krev replied, the Chiss gesturing to the boulders that were once large doors.

“Pfft, I don’t have to move those things. From my studies as a young child-“

“You studied?” Avi interrupted. Sayr shushed him.

“Yes, sometimes. Anyways, this temple had an escape route out the back.” Sayriel continued, leading them around the ruins. The temple sat on a hotspot in the Force, Sayr being able to feel it much stronger here than in the town. Perhaps this place would be good to practice mediating, obviously not right now though.

Once they reached the back, they noted it looked a lot like the front in terms of damage with the exception of one thing, a small opening in the rocks. Climbing over some large chunks of temple, the crew got closer to the opening.

“Looks like it’s too small for you Darr, you can sit this one out buddy.” Sayr mentioned, the Wookiee replied with a nod. Sayriel eased herself into the crevice, followed by Krev and Varex. Avi decided to wait back with Darr and keep an eye out for any unwelcome visitors. Sayriel was fine with that, the less noise inside the temple the better. They didn’t need any cave-ins. The temple was dark with the exception of little rays of light filtering down from openings up top. Once her eyes adjusted, she started forward. She’d have to use the Force to feel for a holocron, as it was unlikely that they’d just stumble upon one. So far she didn’t pick up much of anything outside of the plants and animals in the space around them. She got a sense of urgency as well, but that was probably Varex wanting to hurry up and find out if this place was worth it.

Their footsteps echoed off the rocks and there was a dripping sound somewhere nearby. The longer Sayriel stayed there, the more she felt around her. Feelings of joy, calm, peace, terror, anger, death. They were amplified due to the nexus in the Force that this place was built on. She kept her thoughts to herself, the others were oblivious to the feelings anyways. There was an area up ahead that looked to be lighter than the rest, Sayriel climbing up around some large rocks to the opening higher up. She peered over the edge of a squared off piece of the temple ceiling and saw a little courtyard down below. Granted it hadn’t always been a courtyard, but the opening the in ruins above them combined with rain and sun had caused plants to grow inside, giving it a garden feel. There was something different about this place for sure. It would be a good area to search.

Quiggold emerged from the jungle, followed by Captain Ithano, Reveth, Squeaky, and Kix. There was no sign of Varex, his crew, or Nova. Perhaps they weren’t coming here, Quiggold allowed himself to think hopefully. The entrance to the temple was in shambles, bombed by the Empire long ago. The parts that were still structure-like had vines clinging to it. The building itself was unstable. Finding a way in may not be as impossible as it looked. Quiggold asked Kix for the mini exploration droid from the backpack he carried, Kix handing him a small round droid and a holopuck. A button was pressed and the droid woke up, humming lighting in Quiggold’s palm. He handed it back to Kix, who then tossed it high into the air. The droid was a prototype from a friend of Reveth’s on Tatooine. It was like a seeker droid but smaller and more compact. So far it was useful. The droid flew up over the ruins and scanned the area for a suitable entrance, the image projected by the holopuck. After a couple of moments it spotted one, a decent sized opening in the rubble. It was too dark inside the opening to make out anything, but it was worth a check. Quiggold moved the droid back to the group, storing it and the holopuck back in Kix’s backpack. Quiggold wasn’t sure if he had the ability to climb up onto the boulders, some of the handholds and footholds looked too tall. He took his prayer beads out of a pocket and rubbed them while thinking. Perhaps it was best for him to stay down here and keep an eye out for that Zabrak Varex and his men. But he didn’t want to come all this way and not search the temple, which itself was pretty impressive even in ruins. Squeaky volunteered to keep a lookout, Quiggold reluctantly stating that he’d stay with him. Captain Ithano patted his first mate’s shoulder as he walked passed him silently and began to climb, following by Reveth and Kix.

“Seriously, do you think I can drink this?” Varex asked Sayr who was perched on a boulder on the edge of the impromptu courtyard.

“I don’t know! Usually flowing water is okay, but I’m not an expert in that field. Just drink the water in your canteen.” Sayriel shot back in an irritated tone. Varex slumped his shoulders and did as she suggested.

“I think he was hoping this temple water would give him Force powers.” Krev teased.

“Yeah that’s not how that works.” Sayriel replied, Varex giving both of them a rude hand gesture. Sayriel smirked and poked around the space with the Force. If she were a holocron, where would she be? Here maybe? Somewhere else perhaps? She closed her eyes and tried to focus on the little nooks and crannies in rubble around them. She felt something other than a holocron though, some guests approaching.

“Found something?” Varex asked, noticing a change in her body language.

“Just some unwanted company.” Sayr replied. She quickly jumped off her boulder and ducked into the shadows just as a little scanner droid moved to hover over the opening above them. The other two copied her. She didn’t think the scanner could pick them up, the light quality was too low here, but it was better to be safe than sorry. After a moment the droid flew off and Sayriel could feel a few entities move closer. Clever, they’re going to try to climb the outside, she thought to herself. It was a worthy idea, but maybe not the best one. Rocks on the outside of the temple might give way and send them tumbling to the ground. That’d be a pity. Sayr noted inwardly, a sarcastic tone to her thoughts.

Reveth, Kix, and Ithano finally made it to the edge of the opening in the rock. The chasm looked dark inside, it was difficult to see if there was a bottom. Kix took the scanner droid out of his pack and dropped it in after activating it. Using the holopuck, the image projected from it looked promising.

“Well, there is a floor and a second opening inside the space.”

Sayriel could hear a man’s voice speaking, presumably to others, above them. She peeked around the edge of her boulder and watched as the droid started to scan 360°, ducking back just before the scan reached her. Varex and Krev hid next to her. The droid was called back up to the mouth of the hole in the ceiling.

Reveth secured a rope to one of the large rocks, giving it a few tugs to make sure it was steady. Once satisfied, she took the rope and lowered herself inside the cave. Once her feet hit the rock floor, she called up to the other two to come down. Once all three were inside the courtyard area, they took a moment to look around.

“Perhaps we should climb up there and see where that goes.” Reveth suggested, looking toward the area where Varex and his crew had entered the cavern.

“Yeah there’s nothing over there.” Varex announced his presence casually. Reveth, Kix, And Ithano quickly turned with weapons drawn to see Krev, Varex and Sayriel standing behind them.

Tag List

@jgvfhl @leias-left-hair-bun @baby-queen-zen @halzore @escapedthesarlacc

[lunapaper]

Album Review: 'Screen Violence' - CHVRCHES

I’ve said it a lot over the years, but it bears repeating: I thought Love is Dead was awful. Most people did, in fact.

Working with super-producer Greg Kurstin, CHVRCHES’ 2018 album saw them go from sinister wordplay and cinematic soundscapes to repetitive hooks, vague platitudes and bland, Imagine Dragons-style EDM pop.

Needless to say, it didn’t go down well. In their attempt to appeal to mainstream audiences and Spotify algorithms, the Scottish trio had managed to disappoint critics and alienate longtime fans. Accusations of ‘selling out’ get thrown around all too often, but it really did feel like a betrayal of sorts.

And it only got worse from there, with the band collaborating with pop’s Kiss of Death, Marshmello, on the tepid ‘Here With Me’ (a decision they later came to regret).

Lauren Mayberry didn’t take kindly to the criticism, even accusing Stereogum’s Chris DeVille of supposedly using the record as a ‘symbol or scapegoat for something.’ What the frontwoman had a problem with is not entirely clear, though she seemed to chalk it up to politics, writing in a series of now-deleted tweets:

‘You can write a crappy album review and feel smart and what do I give a shit. But don’t minimise the ‘resistance’ as a comical joke/a stupid thing that you think is funny or smart because you are privileged enough to not actually have to think about it in real terms. It actually matters to people who live outside of you moment/life/world view, so shame on you. Maybe I live in my ‘inter personal comfort zone’ but at least I give a fucking shit. What can you say in exchange?’

DeVille’s take was, in my opinion, quite fair, even if he does admit that Love is Dead is ‘not a faceplant, but it’s definitely a stumble.’

Mayberry’s knee-jerk reaction, unfortunately, left a bitter taste in my mouth, impacting my already low opinion of Love is Dead. As I’ve also stated time and time again: What’s the point of responding to a negative review without looking petty as fuck? If you don’t want your art judge by the masses, then being an artist is probably not for you.

It’s also pretty rich of the band to try and make excuses for why everyone hated Love is Dead. No one made you produce a generic pop album. No one made you write and record a ‘tacky pop song’ with Marshmello. How could you not know that he’s a sleazy EDM bro, the rest of us did! Don’t take your shitty creative decisions out on everyone else – that's on you.

So, have CHVRCHES been able to rectify the damage on Album No.4? For the most part, yes.

Keeping production duties in-house this time around, Screen Violence combines the dystopian feel of their 2013 debut with the sleek gloss of later releases.

Written and produced through screens between LA and Glasgow in the early stages of the pandemic, the record explores the horrors that play out on screens via social media and how they translate into real-world feelings of fear, isolation and hopelessness.

On the ‘depressing but hopeful’ Asking for a Friend,’ Mayberry admits ‘'Cause I sunk some ships with selfish lips/And it all came back to me/I was terrified//I never told them why,’ riddled with self-loathing and regret. On ‘He Said She Said,’ she reckons with industry sexism and social contradictions, the track recalling the heady euphoria of the trio’s earlier singles.

‘Killing your idols is a chore/And it's such a fucking bore/'Cause I don't need them anymore,’ she asserts on the glistening ‘Good Girls,’ obliterating the pedestal that some male artists sit upon. Insecurity, however, gets the better of her on ‘Final Girl,’ wondering if she should just ‘quit, maybe go get married’ before she becomes yet another victim of the Hollywood machine.

Repetition is also employed a hell of a lot better than it was on Love is Dead. When Mayberry tells you she feels like she’s losing her mind on ‘He Said She Said, it’s like she’s in the grips of madness while trapped in a cybernetic void. Fear grips her by the throat on standout track ‘Violent Delights’ as she begs ‘I don't want to see it’ over and over again.

Screen Violence also lives up to its name music-wise, proving a lot darker and more foreboding than 2015’s Every Open Eye and even The Bones of What You Believe.

There’s jangling indie rock on ‘Violent Delights’ that give the track a foggy sense of nostalgia. On the menacing ‘Final Girl,’ they drive Mayberry’s sense of panic as she stares back in disbelief at a flickering screen, while the thumping New Wave angst of ‘Lullabies’ sees her vocals soar. Final track, ‘Better If You Don’t’ is almost straight-up grunge, evoking the feel of a rainy Glasgow morning.

And apparently ‘Nightmares’ was ‘too metal for German radio,’ suitably chilling as Mayberry asks: ‘What is it like to be the apple of your own eye?’ It could almost be mistaken for a Poppy track. Darkest, though, is ‘How Not to Drown’ with The Cure’s Robert Smith, their dissonant tones rising from the murky deep like a haunting spectre.

Screen Violence doesn't reinvent CHVRCHES, but it does help to reinvigorate them, even if the record feels a little samey at times. Some mediocre lyrics also manage to slip through the cracks, yet Mayberry’s commentary is overall cutting, brutal and sometimes tragic.

From trying to seem perfect on Love is Dead to realising things aren’t so fucking perfect after all, the trio discover that there’s ‘freedom in failure.’ Though they might never reach the dizzying heights of The Bones of What You Believe or even Every Open Eye again, CHVRCHES have found a groove that works for now just as the world finds itself in the grips of an ongoing nightmare.

Hopefully they’ll be able to sustain this momentum in the long run...

- Bianca B.

[some-cookie-crumbz]

Not for the ship but for the hilarious scenario: Mina takes Todorki out for ballroom dancing lessons. Todoroki is really good as it turns out, and Mina comments “Todoroki you’re on fire”, to which she means that he accidentally activated his left side

This idea was absolutely adorable and I honestly could’t resist!!! I took a few liberties regarding the circumstances for the class but I hope you still enjoy this!

As far as Todoroki Shoto was concerned, he was only there out of necessity. 

Part of being a Pro Hero was the occasional glitzy, black tie events that involved the paparazzi, ridiculously exotic dishes and - worst of all - dancing. Shoto didn’t necessarily hate dancing. Fuyumi had taken some dance classes when they were younger and he’d enjoyed the few moments of reprieve where he was allowed to watch her work through complicated steps. It was something be found admirable, but not exactly something he’d want to participate in himself. When the cultural festival rolled around, he’d been more than content with his position on the effects team as opposed to the dance team. That wasn’t to say he thought that dancing was pointless or anything of the sort. He had watched how hard the dance team had worked in their rehearsals and knew how taxing the craft could be. He had the utmost respect for people that enjoyed doing dance as either a hobby or a profession. It just wasn’t something he was particularly interested in learning for himself.

But then his father insisted he look into taking some classes for the sake of appearances.

Fuyumi had been quick to suggest a dance studio he could take the classes at. The only stipulation had been that he would need to find a partner of his own. When he had thought about it, asking one of his classmates made the most sense. They’d be about his age, his height, and could probably benefit from the classes as well.

And once he determined that, figuring out who to ask became a rather simple task.

“Huh, not nearly as ritzy as I thought this place would be,” Ashido commented as they approached the dance studio. Her arms were folded behind her back as she took a step closer to the door, tilting her head this way and that to get a better look at it. Ashido, as the cultural festival revealed, was the best dancer among them. It only made sense that she’d make for a good partner in a class like this. “Since your family is rolling in the big bucks, I figured it’d be one of those hoity-toity kind of places. Like, the kind where they’d yell about ‘the culture’ of dance if you missed a step.”

He shrugged. “A friend of my older sister teaches the class we’re here for,” he said before moving past her to open the door. He held it so Ashido could slip in first before following her.

The young woman at the front desk perked up and smiled brightly at them. “Hello there! How can I help you kids?”

“We’re here for the ballroom class led by Hitsugaya-San,” he said.

She blinked and tilted her head. “Ah, excellent! What are your names?” she hummed, grabbing a clipboard from the small wall behind her. After verifying they were on the roster, she pushed up from her seat. “I’ll lead you up. You’re going to be on the second floor, in studio room C. I believe Hitsugaya-San’s already in there doing warm-ups with the other early arrivals.”

As they followed her up, Ashido leaned over to Todoroki. “Hey, Todoroki-Kun, this instructor isn’t gonna be, like, super strict, is she?” she asked quietly, seeming a bit uneasy. That seemed rather out of character for her.

“I’m not sure,”

“But you said she’s a friend of your sister!”

He blinked slowly and stared at her. “Yes, she is,”

“So you’ve met her, right?”

“Once or twice. Again, she is my sister’s friend; not mine,” he said patiently. He tilted his head at how Ashido ran a hand through her pale pink curls and groaned quietly. “If you’re worried, you shouldn’t be. This is a beginner’s class. I doubt it will be too difficult. Besides, you’re a talented dancer.”

“I’m good when I’m doing my own thing!” she lamented, peeking at him.

Their guide stopped in front of a door. “Here you are, you two. Have fun!” she said before scampering off.

Shoto, however, turned his attention back to his classmate and frowned. “I don’t understand why you’re so worried. You have a great sense of rhythm, excellent timing, you choreographed the entire cultural festival routine… Why would a dance class be so intimidating? Because it’s a more classical style of dance?”

“I just told you… I do better when I can just do what feels right, you know? I’m terrible at following directions! I hate being restricted in how I can handle something!” she confessed, fidgeting her fingers.

“But you aren't,” he said, tilting his head slightly. Sometimes he didn’t really understand his classmates but this seemed like a strange one. “We’ve been in countless situations where your ability to take charge and know when to stand down have proven helpful. Not only to you, but to our class as a whole. It’s not that you can’t follow directions, it’s just that you know when you should and shouldn’t. I think that’s an admirable skill to have.”

The other stared at him for a moment before she let out a small chuckle and shook her head. “Geez, do you really have to be the package deal, Todoroki? Handsome and encouraging is such a lethal combination,” she said.

He wanted to argue with her that he wasn’t really all that attractive, but she opened the door and headed inside, grabbing his wrist and dragging him along with her. When they entered, a woman about Fuyumi’s age with maroon hair and bright purple bangs glanced over at them. She smiled as she walked over. “Ah, hello again, Shoto-Kun. I take it this is one of your school friends?” she asked, settling one hand on her hip.

“Hello, Hitsugaya-San,” he answered with a small nod. He then indicated the horned girl beside him with one hand. “This is Ashido Mina.”

“Um, hi. Thanks for letting us join your class, Hitsugaya-Sensei,” Ashido said with a nervous waggle of her fingers.

The other laughed at that. “Oh, goodness, hun! Don’t call me Sensei! That sounds way too stuffy!” She flicked the end of her ponytail over her shoulder casually as she spoke. “You guys can just call me Akiko-San, okay? I’m not gonna sweat about formalities like my mom and the other instructors do. Besides, you two know Fuyumi, so I can let it slide. For now, just line up along the mirror and do some stretches. Let me know if you need help figuring out how to stretch, but I think you know what to do.”

“Thank you,” Shoto said as they headed to join the others. After a few minutes of warm-ups and a few more students showing up, Akiko finally called them all together to get started. Another instructor had come in to join her, the pair of them giving the beginners a rundown of the basic steps they’d need to know for that lesson.

As they took the floor together, adapting to the steps they were shown, it became clear that Ashido was a natural at it. Shoto was grateful as she kept up with him, their steps perfectly timed and in sync. The longer they worked through their movements, though, the more she relaxed and started to have fun. Akiko took the time to even praise them for how they were doing when they broke away to do a small habit of ad-libbing in their motions, Mina taking the lead.

“You two are catching on quick! Might need to bump the pair of you up to the intermediate class!” Akiko giggled, clapping her hands as they pulled off a quick side step leading to Shoto dipping her.

Shoto had to be honest with himself; he enjoyed this one-on-one session with Ashido. He’d always known her from their class work, sure, but she was much more a member of Bakugo’s begrudging circle of friends while Shoto himself tended to spend his free time with Midoriya, Uraraka, Iida and Yaoyorozu. From the few interactions they had, he knew she clearly cared about the people around them and wanted to be a Pro Hero from a place of passion. He found that admirable. Outside of the cultural festival, however, he hadn’t really taken the time to get to know her better. And, to put it bluntly, he realized that she was just fun to be around. Her energy was just one of enjoying whatever she was doing and it was infectious, leaving him to have a blast himself.

It was nice and reminded him of a time long ago when he was always as carefree as he was dancing at that moment with Ashido leading him along the floor.

Mina herself giggled and Shoto felt a small smile turn up on his own lips. “Your feet are on fire, Todoroki!” she said.

“Thank you, Ashido. Your own movements are rather incredible as well,” he said, pivoting his body to allow them both to stand upright again.

She opened her mouth to say something else but gasped. “T-Todoroki! You’re really on fire!”

He blinked before glancing at his shoulder in surprise, a small flame blazing up and starting to make quick work of his shirt. “Shoto-Kun! Put it out!” Akiko yelped, scrambling back to flail a clipboard she’d had for checking who was in attendance at a nearby smoke detector.

He covered his other hand in a thick veil of ice and clapped it down on his shoulder a few times, dozing the flames before the smoke alarms could go off. His shirt, however, was now missing the entire sleeve. “Ah… Sorry, Akiko-San,” he muttered quietly.

She let out a small sigh and shook her head at him. “I swear, you teens these days are something else. Let me see if we have a spare shirt you can change into real fast, okay?” she chided lightly before turning to speak to the other instructor. Presumably about finding a replacement shirt for him.

He glanced over to see Ashido covering her mouth with one hand while the other wrapped around her middle, muffled giggles and snorts escaping her. “You give the phrase ‘burning down the dance floor’ a whole new meaning, Todoroki!” she laughed, throwing her head back to release a few louder peals of laughter.

And Shoto chuckled himself. If this was what having friends was like, he was glad his walls had dropped.

[peterstanslizzie]

Reacting To: The Hollow (Season 2 Episode 3)

Episode Title: The Return

Spoiler Warning: Kindly proceed if you’ve already seen the episode or aren’t bothered about spoilers.

1. Adam and Kai aka Kaidam exit the portal but didn’t make a soft landing. It appears they have returned to the main game setting of ‘The Hollow’, but most likely on another level with different rules. Adam tries calling for the Weird Guy, otherwise known as Weirdy but he still is a no-show.

2. They head inside a castle (not Colrath, the dragon’s castle from last season) to try to find Mira. I wonder if they’ve tried contacting her on her cell phone? Hey, it’s worth a shot? The castle is pitch dark inside but lucky for them, Kai can use his fire powers to light the place up. However, there are a couple of distractions that are in their way; Creepy-crawly ones. Eww...

3. As they’re trying to navigate themselves through the castle, we spot an elf or gnome spying on them. And it’s really agile and keeps swooping over and around them. The elf, who appears to be a she, attacks Adam and Kai with her large fish hook (?) because she thinks that they’re invading her castle home. 

4. She swings her knife-hook thingy at Kai and it leaves a small wound on Kai’s finger. It’s actually bleeding a little; Oh my poor baby! So, bleeding is possible in this game...well, if this is all still a game that is. Kai freaks out and randomly faints into Adam’s arms. How cute! But how dramatic lol. Nonetheless, I stan how much of a disaster gay he is. 

5. We find out that she needs to fill her cap with blood in order to survive despite not being able to tolerate the sight of blood. Kai hesitates at first but Adam reminds him that if they are still playing the game, they need to cooperate with her. 

6. As a return, the gnome gives the boys a riddle to help them find Mira, before suddenly disappearing. The riddle goes like this, “To find others of your kind, you must leave this world behind. Here’s a clue if you wish, look for water without fish.” At times like this, they really need Mira to help them decipher that riddle quickly. 

7. Kai theorizes that the “water without fish” is referring to a puddle and he begins jumping into various puddles in the castle, much to Adam’s dismay. Why are there random puddles all over? I haven’t a clue. Here is when we get some tea about Reeve; Apparently, Adam and Mira couldn’t get along with him and he decided to quit the team. Yea, but why couldn’t they get along with him? From my deduction, Reeve seems like the kind of person who has a short temper and likes to march to the beat of his own drum. 

8. Kai spots a wishing well, which most probably is the solution to the riddle. And it actually is! They descend down the well but they are caught off-guard by a stream of rapid water at the bottom, which washes them out of a waterfall. They survive but are totally exhausted.

9. They wash ashore and are then dragged and taken by a group of parrot-people I’m assuming. Adam and Kai wake up and are startled by what they’re seeing. These cockatoo/parrot people are able to communicate with them but it’s very....parrot-like I guess. Meaning, they speak in very broken sentences and like to repeat themselves. 

10. The leader of the group mentions about Cherufe, the leader of their island and how they wanted to sacrifice them to him so that he doesn’t destroy the island. Luckily for them, they are not the ones being sacrificed but the leader mentions about another one of their kind who is about to be sacrificed instead. And that person is Mira probably?

11. They think that Mira is the person under that mask. I don’t think it is; That’s too straightforward. It has to be Reeve or Vanessa or something. Let’s see if I’m right. 

12. All of a sudden, a nearby volcano starts erupting and the parrot-people start chanting for Cherufe’s name, signalling that he is on his way. Adam jumps onto the platform to rescue the masked person and it turns out to be Skeet! Okay, so I was wrong. But if Skeet’s there, where’s Mira? Didn’t she trail behind him last episode. 

13. Adam tries to get him out of there but the parrot-people stop him because they don’t want to make Cherufe angry. Speaking of Cherufe, it makes a grand entrance by emerging out of the volcano after a spout of lava was released. Everybody is freaking out.

14. Adam again tries to free Skeet from his restraints but the knots are tied really tight. Kai distracts Cherufe with his flamethrower but it’s not having much of an effect. After putting a little more vigor into it, Adam manages to set Skeet loose and the three of them start running away from the monster. 

15. Skeet tries to use his super-speed to quickly run away but he forgets that they’re on an island. Fortunately, Kai manages to spot a boat and they are able to escape from Cherufe’s wrath. 

16. It also helps a lot when the monster is a volcano monster that turns into stone once it comes into contact with seawater. 

17. As Skeet is telling Adam and Kai about how he ended up in such a predicament, his recollection is pretty much aligned to what Adam, Kai and Mira had went through. He says he got split up from Reeve and Vanessa. Also, Skeet is aware about Reeve being Adam and Mira’s former teammate. 

18. As day turns into night, they are still stuck on the boat, paddling to who knows where. Skeet tells them he just wants the game to be over so that he can go home but Adam is adamant (lol that rhymes) that they find Mira first. 

19. It’s great that Skeet reminds all of us the rules of ‘The Hollow’, that is if one team player dies, it’s game over for the rest. This means that Mira, Reeve and Vanessa are all still alive. 

20. The scene cuts to...OMG finally we see Mira and she’s running from something or someone firing green lasers at her. Where could she be? Will she bump into Reeve or Vanessa or maybe other players of The Hollow? (like the ones we’ve seen in the trailer). 

21. Yay! More backstory! Mira and Skeet knew each other since preschool and based on his body language and expression, it seems to me that Skeet has a crush on her. Cute! I would ship these two hard but I need to see how Skeet would interact with Mira first.

22. Adam notices that something is pulling the boat fast and he tries to paddle the boat in the opposite direction but the force is too strong. Since Skeet has super speed, I think he could pull a Dash Parr from the Incredibles and use his legs as propellers for the boat. Let’s see if he does that. 

23. Kai, with his super intelligence figures out that the boat is being pulled in by a cluster of nuclear plants that have cooling pumps that suck in massive amounts of water. All of Adam’s efforts aren’t really working and they need to think of something fast or they’ll be toast. C’mon Skeet, use your powers!

24. Suddenly, a spacecraft/hovercraft flies over them and begins firing red lasers at the nuclear power site, where there appears to be ANOTHER TEAM! And the ship seems to be targeting this other team. Their powers are as follow: One guys is able to teleport, the other guy is able to shoot lightning bolts and the girl has Black Canary’s power of sonic screams. And with their combined effort, they are able to overwhelm the ship at first but it suddenly comes back and shoots another round of lasers and hits the girl and she disintegrates into digital dust! OMG Did she just die?

25. Adam, Kai and Skeet witness the entire thing and they also catch glimpse of Weirdy casually walking towards the other team. They try to get his attention but they’re too far away.

26. Weirdy inform the remaining two members of the team that it’s game over for them and they also end up pixelating (Is that a real word?). I wonder where they went or if they’ve woken up from the game? I hope that they’re not gone GONE. Weirdy then disappears soon after. So, is he supposed to be one of the bad guys of this show or what? It’s hard to tell. 

27. Adam, Kai and Skeet manage to get themselves off the boat before getting sliced into pieces by the pumps. Adam spots a satchel that was left by one of the guys who disintegrated and he goes through its contents. He finds a map but it’s not the same one from before. It first shows the three regions Adam and Kai have been in: the castle, the volcano island and the nuclear power plant. But within a split second, the maps starts closing in and the locations start disappearing. It could be that the map is resetting itself once another team takes its possession. 

28. I can’t tell if either all the locations have been erased or only the nuclear power plants is the only remaining location on the map. Skeet tells them about an idea he has on how to escape the game, which is to lose the game on purpose. I understand his plan but I don’t think they should risk themselves like that. 

29. The flying spacecraft returns and begins firing at them. Skeet attempts to test out his idea but Adam saves him in the nick of time. Adam is such an amazing hero. He be saving everybody, even those who weren’t on his side. The three of them hide behind a corner as the ship lands and a bunch of soldiers emerge out of it. I’m getting such Star Wars vibes here. 

30. Skeet still believes that losing the game will work and calls for the soldiers to come to him. This obviously annoys Adam to no end and they start running away. They reach a dead end and as the soldiers are about to corner them, Mira calls for their attention from inside one of the nearby buildings.

31. The episode ends on a cliffhanger where the soldiers start firing at them. They’re obviously gonna make it alive. Duh! Stay tuned for my reaction to episode 4, which will be out very soon.

[theflannelwizard]

Bobert and/or Tobias Wilson headcanons, please?

bobert first!

gender- i see bobert as a boy :)

sexuality- i haven’t given a ton of thought to this one honestly! i like the thought of bobert being gay but i also don’t really ship him with anyone (yet) so idk!

OTP- i don’t have one, but if anyone has any good bobert ships, send them my way! i’m open to anything!

BroTP- juke!!! he’s super close with teri, too, but juke is his closest friend. they have the sort of brotherly bond that bobert often can’t find due to his overly literal nature. juke and bobert have such a tight bond that they don’t even have to talk half the time. just being close to each other is enough. but when they do talk, they understand each other’s senses of humour in ways that no one else does. their inside jokes are bizarre, personal, and hilarious to only them.

NoTP- bobert had better not end up with someone who takes advantage of him (cough cough gumball) or someone who sees him as just a robot. even if his feelings aren’t always his first priority, he does have them, and his partner would have to take the time to learn how to read and understand him.

A fun dynamic they would have- bobert also hangs out with sussie sometimes, because he doesn’t mind how different she is. to him, she’s no weirder than gumball or masami, because he sees the world through his own lens. sussie and bobert don’t need to have a deep or intense bond, they just bounce sussies complete lack of logic off boberts complete dependence on it and something interesting always happens. they also honestly like each other, and neither judges the other.

Any other fun headcanons or things i wanted to elaborate on- i like to think that bobert and juke are both autistic. i know that headcanoning a robot as autistic is kinda :/ but i’m autistic myself and i see myself in both of them! they understand each other on a deeper level since they kinda get how each other’s brains work, and knowing they have each other makes both of them more confident. bobert also has very rigid ideas of what makes someone his friend, and he sometimes has trouble adjusting to the idea that relationships can change with time. if gumball was his friend yesterday, why is he acting in unfriendly ways today? if masami wasn’t his friend yesterday, why is she asking him for a pencil? isn’t sharing only between friends? as he grows up he gains a more complex understanding of how friendships and relationships work, and is less and less confused by the world around him.

now for tobias!

gender- trans boy!!

sexuality- tobias is gay but deeply closeted and his ladies’ man personality is a front so nobody figures him out. why do you think all girls are interchangeable to him? it’s the combination of being not attracted to them and being raised by harold “misogyny” wilson

OTP- .......ocho........ i’ve seen content for this and it’s honestly adorable. i could also see him with leslie? for someone who’s so obviously gay, leslie doesn’t seem to get shipped around much. actually, yknow what? ot3. tobias acts like he thinks he’s hot shit for having Two Boyfriends, but he’s actually a dumb soft mess for both of them and can’t believe how lucky he is. ocho is super protective of his boyfriends, and leslie sets them up with coordinated halloween costumes, cute cupcakes on their birthdays, and tickets to fashion shows and musicals. tobias loves that he and leslie are the jock/cheerleader trope, and he tries to show off to leslie as much as he can. he also plays video games with ocho all the time once darwin stops hanging out with him. sometimes ocho will help tobias prank his dad, but it usually gets out of control pretty quickly when that happens. ocho was tobias’ first kiss, and leslie knew about it right away. he pretended to pout for a while, like “ooOhh, i see how it is, you two got to kiss but there’s no love for poor little leslie,” and even though both of them saw right through it, tobias and ocho showered him with affection the next time they were together outside of school. all three of them are super supportive of each other! ocho comes to games and watches tobias play and leslie cheer/play in the band, tobias and ocho come to leslie’s recitals, leslie cheers on ocho and tobias when they enter video game competitions, etc. i’m actually really invested in this now and i might have to draw these three.....

BroTP- honestly, this isn’t an orthodox answer, but his mom. i love that tobias is so close with his mother, and i imagine that when he’s in high school, jackie and harold get a divorce. tobias is right there with his mom, and rachel offers as much support as she can from college. with harold gone, the wilson family is a little tight for money but way happier. tobias stays close to his mom through his entire life, and she always makes an effort to be there for him. she canonically offered to buy him makeup, and i bet he takes her up on that offer once he’s more self confident. leslie and tobias’ mom have equal influence in how tobias styles his makeup when he does wear it, and jackie even helped him pick out his name when he came out as trans. she’s an absolute icon of a mother and tobias knows he can always count on her :)

NoTP- tobias and penny. he was kind of a gross creep to her, and she wasn’t interested, so i don’t think anything good could come of a relationship between those two. it also doesn’t help that i see tobias as gay

A fun dynamic they would have- tobias and rachel!!! rachel makes it pretty clear that she thinks she’s too cool for her little brother, but what’s their relationship like when she isn’t in public with a reputation to uphold? is she secretly a fun and caring big sister who just knows clare wouldn’t approve? is she really a bully to tobias? she respects his name and pronouns, but does she make fun of him for other things? is she outwardly mean to him but secretly treasures him? there are so many ways this relationship could go!

Any other fun headcanons or things i wanted to elaborate on- once harold is out of the picture, tobias starts drinking his respect women juice. he learns, with help from his mom and sister, that women deserve to be treated well and it doesn’t make him look cool to be a jerk. he also figures out that a lot of what he was expressing was internalized self hatred because he wants so badly to “pass” as a boy, and once he’s more at peace with himself he cleans up his act and actually becomes friends with some of the girls he used to hit on. masami is best friends with leslie, so she naturally got to know tobias a little better once they got together, and eventually tobias and the majority of the cheerleaders were either friends or casually on good terms.

[crystalninjaphoenix]

MerMay Day Ten Beach Day

The boardwalk was wildly busy that morning. Tourists were bustling about, ooing and awing at the open ocean and the boats lined up along the docks. They’d take pictures of themselves standing in front of the stores, buying souvenirs and eating treats. The locals in their boats were well-used to this, and went about their business.

Nobody noticed two heads poke out of the water at the end of the pier.

“They’re not looking this way,” Chase said. He grinned. “C’mon.” He ducked back under the water, swimming closer.

“Chase! Hey!” Jackie hurried to catch up. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“Of course!” Chase nodded enthusiastically. “The only ones who’d be looking directly down at the water are kids, and the adults aren’t gonna believe them.”

Jackie didn’t quite look convinced. “What if they think we’re big fish? What if my dorsal sticks out of the water? I’d freak them out, wouldn’t I? They’d think there was a shark, and who knows what they’d do when they’re scared?”

“Just stay down a bit, it’ll be fine,” Chase said reassuringly. They’d arrived at the end of the pier, and he was now circling around one of the dock’s supports. “I’ve been people-watching for a while, it’s not too hard to avoid them.” He smiled. “C’mon. You wanted to do something fun. This is what you get for letting me choose.”

Jackie sighed. He peeked out of the water, eyes scanning the boardwalk. “What’re they doing?”

Chase poked his head out as well. “I think some of them are on vacation.”

“Vacation?”

“Yeah, they take a break from work and go see places they’ve never seen before, to do new things. Some of these guys must live further inland, so they’re coming to see the ocean.”

“Ohhhh.” Jackie nodded. That he could understand. “So we just watch them?”

“And listen.” Chase watched the tourists stroll across the dock. “I like to guess what they’re talking about, where they’re from, what they do…” He dropped a bit lower in the water. “That’s not...creepy, is it?”

“I don’t think so. I mean, what else are you gonna do, watch the fish instead? At least you can understand these guys.” Jackie backed up a bit, looking at the pier. “Besides, some of these guys are doing that anyway.” He pointed out groups of people sitting on benches, clearly watching the other passerbys.

Chase looked a little reassured for that, regaining his enthusiasm. “Alright, if they’re doing it.” He bolted, swimming along the bottom of the pier. “Oh! You can see their shadows under here!” 

Jackie laughed, easily catching up. It was nice to see Chase so happy, even if he didn’t quite understand why.

The day passed. The two merms darted about the water, hiding in the shadows under the dock. Chase would tell Jackie the names of the human stuff he seemed curious about, and they’d make up stories about the humans passing on the boardwalk. Occasionally one would toss bits of food in the water, trying to attract fish, and once they’d lost interest, the two merms would snatch it up, (though Chase always said it tasted better dry.)

But still, Jackie wasn’t the type of person to stay idle for very long. He grew restless, and started playing a game with himself. Hover on the surface of the water just behind a human who was looking away, and then duck back down just in time to dodge their gaze. Over time, he got more bold, sneaking up closer to the docks, splashing about to draw their attention just before vanishing underwater. 

Chase noticed this when Jackie decided to pull himself halfway out of the water, practically half-climbing up one of the dock’s support pillars. “Jackie!” he hissed, poking his head out of the water. “What’re you doing?”

“Dude, they’re totally oblivious,” Jackie chuckled.

“I mean, yeah, but they have cameras!” Chase said.

“They have what?”

“They’re these little devices that can take a photo—which is, like, a drawing that’s super real and captures all the details.” Chase glanced up onto the boardwalk. “They’re getting smaller, I think they started to combine them with cell phones so now everyone has one.”

“Combine them with what?” Jackie shook his head. “Look, I’m being careful.”

“Are you?” Chase asked. His eyes darted about. “Because I don’t think you—” He turned around. And immediately froze. “...fuck.”

Jackie looked behind him as well. There was a boat drifting in the water, a name written on its side in human lettering. And peering over the side of the white boat was a human, who was very clearly staring at them and gaping.

“Abandon ship!” Chase gasped, ducking under the water.

“What?” Jackie looked down at him, then up at the human, then started to follow Chase.

The human shook their head. “Wait!”

Like an idiot, Jackie paused. He looked back up at the human.

“I-I’m sorry, I just—oh my god, i-is this some publicity stunt?” The human laughed. “Like, are you going to be putting on a show later? Or…?”

The words were confusing Jackie, and he froze as he tried to process them. He knew a few human languages, but there were a few weird words in those questions, and he couldn’t quite grasp their meaning. But he understood that the human wasn’t being hostile. They seemed more confused than anything. Curious, and perhaps being a bit too bold, Jackie swam closer to the side of the boat.

“Oh my god…” The human gasped. They leaned back, running a hand through their curly blonde hair. “No way. No fucking way. You...you’re really a…? Oh my god.”

Jackie felt a tugging on his tail. He looked down to see Chase trying—and failing—to pull him underwater. He flicked his tail, easily shaking him off. And then he reached down and pulled Chase to the surface by his arm. Chase yelped. “Chase, c’mon, don’t be a guppy.”

“Shut up, I’m the one that introduced you to that phrase,” Chase muttered. He tried to dive back under, but Jackie pulled him back up. “What are you doing?! Seriously! We need to get out of here before he tells someone!”

“I think if they—I mean, if he was gonna do that, he’d be doing that already.” Jackie looked back up at the human. “He’s just kinda staring at us.”

“He’s in shock, let it kick in. Then he’ll start screaming.”

“You don’t know that! She didn’t start screaming, did she?”

Chase stopped trying to go back under. He glared at Jackie wordlessly.

“...sorry, low blow, I know,” Jackie admitted. “But my point stands. They don’t all freak out. Why are you so worried? You speak human.”

“I’m out of practice,” Chase muttered.

“Hey, um…” The human cleared his throat. “This is...kind of a lot to take in, I won’t lie. And I, uh, can’t understand your weird fish language.” He laughed nervously. “Can...you understand me?”

Jackie nodded. Chase shook his head.

“...both of those answer my question. Anyway, hi, I’m Ollie. I, uh…” The human—Ollie—looked behind him, grabbing something. “I was supposed to meet my...my friend, um, Isabelle, here...but…she cancelled on me just now. But I got her this.” He held up a small plastic bowl full of some kind of food, a plastic spoon shoved in it as well. “I don’t like vanilla, so I was just gonna throw it away, but do you guys want it or something?”

Chase’s eyes widened. “Nevermind, we are staying.”

Jackie laughed. “Sucker for food, huh?”

“Bro, take it. Try it. You’ll understand.”

Jackie shrugged, and reached up out of the water. Ollie leaned forward awkwardly, and passed him the plastic bowl. Jackie looked it over, holding it in both hands as he treaded water. He pulled the spoon out, and looked at Chase, who made a scooping motion. Catching on, Jackie scooped up some of the food with the spoon, taking a bite. His eyes lit up. “Oh my gods…”

“I know, right?” Chase grinned. “It’s called ice cream, it’s literally the best thing in the world. One of the things these guys do right is the food.”

“You guys like it?” Ollie asked. Jackie and Chase nodded in unison, and he, strangely enough, relaxed. “Alright then. You guys can chill here, I won’t bother you.” He backed away from the edge of the boat, sitting down.

Jackie and Chase, meanwhile, swam back underneath the pier, taking turns finishing the ice cream. Once they were done, Jackie swam back over to the boat and tossed the bowl and spoon back onto the deck. He heard a noise of surprise from Ollie, who looked back over the edge of the boat in confusion. Jackie laughed, backing away. Ollie shook his head, smiling, and returned to his seat.

“Still so eager to leave, Chase?” Jackie asked.

Chase considered this, though not for very long. “Nah. He’s cool.” He glared at Jackie again. “No more trying to get spotted, though.”

“Aw, alright.”

They hung around the boardwalk until the afternoon, and went home smiling and laughing. Somehow, they didn’t think anyone would be finding out about them today.

[kendrixtermina]

Further reactions to "The book of lost tales":

I appreciate that Idril canonically wears armor and does swordfighting.

I feel like I can actually imagine adult!Idril much better now like in armor and with open hair, distraught but ready to fight while babby Earendil does not yet realize the danger...

My first thought is that Earendil was probably cute in that baby chainmail. My second thought is OUCH, Idril and Tuor always made sure their growing baby had fitting chainmail cause they felt the apocalypse might get them at any moment. Imagine that, imagine them having the baby armor fitted every year or so :(

Its fun how much of the basic structure already exists but most of what you'd consider the main characters doesn't exist or is scattered across various minor roles The only Prince anywhere in sight is Turgon - Except for Team Doriath, theyre all accounted for. I suppose Maeglin is kinda there in name only with vaguely the same role & motivation, but looks personality and background all did a 180 since. Luthien is still pretty much "princesd classic" at this point, not quite the fearless go-getter from the final version - markedly this version tells Beren that she doesnt want to wander in the wilderness with him whereas the final one says she doesnt care and its Beren still wants to get the shiny so as not to ask this of her and also for his honor.

I mean in the finished version Id consider the 3rd and 4th gen royals to be the main characters (well, alobgside Team Doriath and the varioud human heroes) and theyre hardly here. Imagine the silm with no Finrod!

Feanor had no affiliation with the royal family whatsoever, and is also generally less super. He's just the guy who won the jewelsmithing competition, not the inventor of the whole discipline. Still seems to have been envisionad as a respected member of the community who gets called to the palace for crisis meetings and is listened to when he stsrts giving speeches. From the first he already has the backstory of going off the deep end (or at least growing disillusioned with Valinor) after a family member is killed by Melkor and theyre still the first to die, but its just some other rando unrelated to the royals

The situation regarding the humans is different - instead of Melkor leaking their existence, its Manwe who explains that the other continents were supposed to be for them eventually. So Feanor goes off on a tirade about weak puny mortals comes off as a more of a jerk unlike in the final version where Melkor barely knew about the humans and described them to the Noldor as a threat. On the other hand in this one, also very much unlike in the finished product, Melkor dupes even Manwe into being unfair to the elves as a whole. In this the final version is a definite improvement, both Feanor and the Valar come off as a lot more sympathetic and though still deceived he's partially right in some things at least, so you have more of a genuine tragedy rather than a simple feud

There is something to the idea of Commoner!Feanor tho. I guess some of this survived in his nomadic explorer lifestyle and how both his wife and mother (who arent mentioned here) eventually were the ones to get that background of being not especially pretty ladies who are not from the nobility but got renown, respect and acclaim for their unique talent and contribution to society, with each having invented things and Nerdanel also being renowed for her wisdom. Hes sort of an odysseus-like Figure in that sense. I suppose later developements necesitated that Maedhros & co. have an army not just a band of thieves, which means they needed to be nobles/lords. That said this being a society where artisans are very respected and half the lords have scholarly/artistic pursuits going, the gap was probably not as big to begin with as it might have been in say, medieval England. Esoecially since Nerdanel's father had been given special honor by one of the local deities and that the social order might have been a very recent thing in Miriel's time. One might speculate that the first generation of Lords started out as warriors during the great journey, or perhaps just Finwe's friend group.

Also found that bit intetesting where the Valar have to deal with the remaining political tensions and effects of Melkor's lies on the remaining population in Valinor... - i guess with the change of framing device it was less likely for news of something like this to reach Beleriand. That, or the existence of Finarfin and his repentance made this go smoother this over in later cannon

Turgon's go-down-with-the-ship moment reaaly got to me. Im half tempted to write a fic where his wife, siblings and dad glomp him on arrival in Mandos. I dont care that none of them exists yet in this continuity i want Turgon to get hugs

I love all the additional Detail that got compressed out in the shift from fairytale-ish to pseudohistoric style especially all the various Valinor magic insofofar as it is compatible with the final version - particularly love the idea of the connection between the lamps and the trees that is now integrated into my headcanon forever

Its actually explained what the doors of night are

If I had not already read unfinished tales or volumes X to XII where this is also apparent, this is where I would say: Ah so the Valar were supposed to be flawed characters. Manwe has an actual arc; by the time he sends Gandalf he finally "got" it. I think in the published silm the little arcs of Ulmo and Manwe are mostly just lost in compression/ less apparent when only some of the relevant scenes got in but not all

It occurred to me way too late that the "BG" chars are the most consistent because theyre at the start and most stories are written from beginning to end. Finwe doesnt get a dedicated paragraph of explicit description until HoME X but my takeaway was that he's described pretty much like I always imagined him anyways/ same vibe I always got from him... charismatic, thoughtful, enthusiastic, sanguine temperament, brave in a pinch but at times lets his judgement be clouded by personal sentiment (though that last bit is more apparent/salient as a character flaw once he became the father of a certain Problem Child) ...i guess this would be a result of jrrt having had a consistent idea of him in his head for a long time.

This means Finwe's still alive at the time of the exodus which is just fun to see/interesting to know... Interestingly he sort of gets what later would be Finarfin's part of ineffectually telling everxone to please chill and think it over first while Feanor simply shouts louder (which is consistent with his actions before the sword incident in later canon where he initially spoke out against the suspiciozs regarding the Valar) - but its not exactly the same, he's more active than Finarfin later in that when "chillax" availed nothing he said that then at least they should talk with the other Kings and Manwe to leave with their blessing and get help leaving (This seems like it would have been the clusterfuck preventing million dollar suggestion in the universe where Feanor is related to him and values him) but when even that falls on death ears he decides that he "would not be parted from his people" and went to run the preparations. I find it interesting that the motivation is sentiment/attachment (even phrased as "he would not be parted from [his people]" same words/ expression as is later used for the formenos situation), not explicitly obligation as it later is for Fingolfin (who had promised to follow Feanor and didnt want to leave his subjects at the mercy of Feanor's recklessness )

Speaking of problem children. It seems the sons of Feanor were the Kaworu Nagisa of the Silmarillion in that originally all they do is show up at some point and kill Dior as an episodic villain-of-the-week. And then, it seems their role got bigger in each continuity/rewrite... probably has something to do with the Silmarils ending up in the title later making it in the sense their story that ends and begins with them. They have zero characterization beyond "fierce and wild" at this point, though in what teetsy bits there is we already have the idea that Maedhros is the leader and Curufin is the smart one/shemer/sweet-talker, though not the bit where Maedhros (or Maglor, or anyone really) is "the nice one". Which I guess explains why "Maglor" sounds like such a stereotypical villain name.

"The Ruin of Doriath" was purportedly the patchworkiest bit of the finished product, but I never noticed and it actually left quite an impression of me upon first reading, the visual of Melian sitting there with Thingol's corpse in her arms contemplating everything thinking back to how they met... she had the knowledge to warn him not to doom himself but couldnt get him to understand it because he doesnt see the world as she does.... After reading this though I wish there was a 'dynamic' rendition that combined all the best bits like, youd have to adapt it to the later canon's rendition of the dwarves, have Nargothrond exist etc. But i mean that just makes Finrod another dead/doomed relative of Thingol's whom bling cannot truly replace, like Luthien and Turin. In the Silmarillion you could easily read it as just an "honoured guest treatment" but here and in unfinished tales I get the impression that Thingol actually did see Turin as a son.

Already you see the idea of trying to make the stories all interconnected but there is less than there will be (the human heroes aren't related yet and there is basically no Nargothrond, which is later a common thread for many of the stories - a prototype shows up in the 'Tale of Turambar' tho complete with half baked prototypes of Orodreth and Finduillas

O boi im not even through yet

[solastia]

Author Interview : underthejoon

((If anyone wants to make a cool banner for this, please do. I suck at them))

Today is the debut of a new project. Whether it sticks around for long depends on you guys, but for now the plan is to interview one author a month. Creators are often underappreciated on here (or anywhere, for that matter), so this is me doing my part to connect our readers and writers in a meaningful way. Our first interview is with @underthejoon​, someone whose work I myself have enjoyed for many years now. If you enjoyed this interview, please be sure to send in authors you’d like me to talk to for future editions, as well as any specific questions you’d like answered (except for questions about updating, that will get you a ban). 

Where can your work be found?

I’m kind of a mess and so while I attempt to cross post, I’m not always great at it. All of my work can be found on my tumblr masterlist but some of my things are on Wattpad and AO3. I’m also underthejoon on both of those platforms.

Links to where readers can donate:

I made a ko-fi account ages ago that I never shared with the public because I’ve always felt guilty. Which is silly, idk why I do. But there it is!

Main bias (and why if you’d like) 

So!! I have always been a Namjoon bias. From the very first time I saw them/the very first song I heard I was like yes, you. You are the one, I’m a goner!! He’s so wonderful and unique. He’s very mindful and creative and such a beacon of light to me. Plus, he’s very open with his humanity, if that makes sense? Like he is open about his therapy, his feelings about his perceived shortcomings, his excitement about finding place and things and works of art that inspire him. ALSO THOUGH, in the last year or so I’ve also become a Hoseok bias. He is just so dedicated and loving. He’s insanely talented and vastly underrated, in my opinion. And through all the back breaking work, he is kind through and through. He’s seriously just so warm and makes me really happy.

Hogwarts House : 

Okay, the very first time I ever took it I was a slytherin. A few years later, I took it again and got hufflepuff. I like to think I’m a combination of the two but can see myself as more of a puff. 

Describe yourself in five words:

Creative, Extroverted, Empathetic, Intuitive, Inquisitive 

Current favorite BTS songs: 

SO MANY, but I’ll pick 7 for 7 members. Some of these are old as hell but still currently my favorite lol. Love Maze, Love is Not Over, Outro: Her, Dimple, Tomorrow, Like, 2!3!

What was the defining moment when you decided, “Yes! I am going to write the thing!”? 

For like fanfic in general? I feel like I had been reading a lot of it after “discovering” k-pop and then after a few months I was just like fuck it, I’m doing it!! I was always super into writing poetry and never thought I would be any good at anything like this but it sounded fun so here we are now. 

What do you most enjoy about writing BTS fanfiction specifically? 

I think it’s the community of writers. When I started my blog, I met a lot of really amazing supportive writers that I’ve managed to stay friends with and I think that makes a really big difference when you have people that can relate to you and what you’re doing.

Any tropes or au’s that you want to explore later? 

I would really like to try writing some sort of supernatural creature fics. I’ve had this werewolf love triangle universe planned out forever that I would like to eventually write. Maybe like a workplace romance? 

Which of your fics would you suggest for new readers? 

For a completed series i’d say Piece by Piece. My WIP series, Love is Not Over is another one. For a one-shot I’d say, For You. Maybe the sweetness/make it right drabbles too. 

Which of your fics is your favorite? 

Piece by Piece, no doubt. I really feel proud of it and I have a hard time admitting I like anything I write. 

What other fandoms do you wish you had the time to write for? 

I used to write for EXO, Got7 and sometimes Monsta X and I miss it sometimes but also, I feel pretty contented in just writing for BTS. There’s a lot of inspiration there and I always felt I was being pulled in too many directions by my readers when I wrote for multiple fandoms.

What are your writing goals for the upcoming year? 

I’d like to finish three series I have planned, get caught up on my collab fics and at least finish an outline for my original fiction piece I’ve been putting off!

Which writers do you read religiously? 

There’s so many amazing writers on tumblr and I try as hard as I can to keep up with my mutuals when they put stuff out but sometimes it’s hard! I’m gonna be really brief because otherwise my list could go on and on. Okay, first and foremost, Shanna (@kpopfanfictrash) - she’s my best friend and a fabulous, wonderful writer. I would just like to give her a special shout out because not only does she entertain me for hours with her writing, she is very supportive of mine. Other authors I adore as humans and content creators and keep up with most regularly are @floralseokjin and @lamourche !

What is the weirdest thing you’ve had to google in the name of writing?

LOL. Hmm… I’m really boring and feel like I don’t really google that much when writing except maybe like different sex positions when i need a visual or synonyms to certain words. I’ve found some good porn though? Because visuals do help me.

Reader/OC fics within this fandom are often still looked down on and we all have to work hard to make them good enough for readers to look past their reputation. How do you combat the cringe? 

TBH, I don’t think that responsibility lies on us as writers. If people don’t like certain types of writing, that’s on them and they can avoid it. Reader insert/oc fics are just as valid a genre as any. I’ve read some of the most beautiful, creative stories on this platform, some of which could be published if names were changed/reader was switched to a named OC. There’s something out there for everyone and it’s all subjective. While I might find certain things super cringey, others love it. To each their own as long as they aren’t shoving it in the faces of the people they’re writing about or being disrespectful, you know?

What is your personal guilty (or not-so-guilty) pleasure trope? 

MUTUAL PINING/FRIENDS TO LOVERS. I feel like it’s so basic but I fucking love that trope and I think so many people do it so beautifully it is my absolute favorite. 

What is something that you see often in other fanfics that drives you insane? 

I think the only thing that really bothers me is when people romanticize abuse or other toxic/triggering topics. 

Are any of the boys or ships more difficult for you to write than others? 

I think I have the hardest time writing for Jimin and Taehyung but only because I feel I am the most similar to them and for whatever reason that deters me from writing about them often.

We all think we are the most hilarious person there is (even if we won’t admit it), so what is one line or scenario of yours that you like to go back to and giggle over? 

Okay this was actually really difficult for me because I don’t write like any humor and don’t think I’m good at LOL. I think my only attempt at humorous writing was The New Guy in which the reader is high off her ass lying on the front lawn and thinking the world is ending then accusing Namjoon of being the Grim Reaper when he comes looking for her.

ONLY IF YOU WANT TO - A scenario as long or short as you want. Maybe 250 words or less. Godzilla is attacking the city and BTS is your rescue crew. How screwed are you? 

“D-danger, you say?” Seokjin stutters.

“G-giant lizard monster headed this way?” Hoseok chokes. 

The pair exchange glances then turn their focus towards you. Seokjin jerks his head towards the door and you nod in return. 

“I hear what you’re saying, gentlemen,” Hoseok says as he stands on shaky legs. He grabs your hand as if to instruct you to do the same. 

“And as much as we would LOVE to help you…” His grip is tighter now and you know what comes next. 

Before he can finish, Seokjin shoots up from his chair and makes a mad dash towards the door. “Now, now, run, holy shit, NOW!”

Hoseok joins his friend in his haste to evacuate, dragging your nearly petrified form behind him. “No way in hell are we getting anywhere near that thing!”

Seokjin and Hoseok babble horrified nonsense between them but you can’t really decipher much of it. Your heart is pounding in your ears as you replay the name “Godzilla” in your brain.

They wanted you to rescue the city? What were they thinking?

When you reach Seokjin’s car, you have a brief moment of clarity. There are lives at stake, after all. How can you really just abandon the city when it needs a hero?

“What about everybody else?” you ask, voice small and fearful.

“Everybody else?” Seokjin huffs, putting the car in gear. He hardly gives your question a thought before he peels out of the parking lot. “Jungkook can handle everybody else. I raised him on my back, you know? It’s the least he can do!”