#I’m so glad I finally have someone outside of my discord server to talk to about this show

[xionandpluto14]

Thank you for this lovely addition

Sack of potatoes Vanitas canon

[via: @lordmushroomkat]

I’ve been looking for proof that Vani weighs absolutely nothing and I finally got it

[word-ghost]

so a while back I wrote a depressing lil prologue about my farmer, Peach. Now, thanks to all the awesome people at the grapefruit sky server on discord, I have a depressing lil prologue for Harvey too 😌

late spring, year negative five

Harvey slumped forward over the planner on his desk. The next seven days stared back at him, empty other than their number in the upper right corner. The month was near the end of its climb. Soon it would tumble into the next, and it would be a year since Harvey had left his life behind.

He straightened to match the wooden back of his chair, pushing away from the desk and glancing at the drawer to the bottom right. He reached down to pull it open. The drawer shuddered on its wooden slide, the left edge scraping against its ill-fitting frame. It was still there.

When Harvey first arrived to assume the life of his aged predecessor, Pierre had gifted him a bottle of scotch to celebrate their going into business together. What he’d meant was that Harvey would be writing a rent check in Pierre’s name every month for— forever. Harvey weighed the word against his experiences over the past months.

One of his more regular patients despised him. He was lucky if half of the rest showed up on time for their appointments; if they bothered to come at all. A quarter of those who kept their appointments didn’t take him seriously.

Harvey’s hand dipped into the drawer and carefully lifted the amber-filled glass. He didn’t know much about whisky, but after a brief examination of the label, he knew this bottle was nothing special. He removed the stopper and sniffed it like he might a wine cork. A smoky-sweet scent followed the sharp sting of alcohol. Harvey checked that the closest coffee cup on the desk was empty before he poured himself what he thought to be the standard amount.

Harvey was thankful no one was around to see him flinch at the taste. His college friends had always teased him, the one who brought his own bottle of wine to parties rather than go for the keg or the cooler of punch. They had fallen out of touch after he moved, but it was his failure as much as theirs.

With the smooth burn of courage still sliding down his throat he picked up the phone. He dialed the first number to come to mind. He waited for five rings before he heard his friend’s voice, and then it was only a recorded name.

“‘Benny Lawrence’ is not available. At the tone, please record your message—”

Harvey used a finger to depress the switch, and when he lifted it the dial tone blared in his ear once again. He dialed, wedging the phone to his ear with his shoulder. He swallowed another mouthful before the third ring.

“I can’t believe I’m talking to you right now. How the hell have you been, man?” Dan’s voice was a near shout over a backdrop of car horns and fragmented voices.

“When was the last time we talked?” Harvey chuckled, mild excitement beginning to bubble over.

“Damn, I don’t know. About a year?”

“Ah. Things aren’t much different than then. But I’m not complaining.” He wasn’t sure why he’d added the last bit. Maybe even now the things he liked about Pelican Town still outweighed the things he didn’t. As if seeking confirmation, he asked, “How about you? Still enjoying city life?”

“I have more time to enjoy it these days.”

“What do you mean?”

“Better gig, better hours. I’m in pediatrics now at— oh, damn. Harv, I gotta run if I’m gonna catch my train. Talk soon, okay?”

“Oh— yeah. Soon.” Harvey tried not to sound disappointed. The momentary joy he felt hearing his friend’s voice drained away. He hung up the phone and downed his drink, its burn suffusing in his chest as he poured another.

He picked up the handset once again, fingers putting in the numbers without asking permission. On the second ring, he thought better of his actions. But before Harvey could hang up, she answered.

Hearing her voice after all these months was like rediscovering a song to which he’d forgotten the words. Whatever version of it he’d stored away in his memory paled in comparison.

“Hello?” She repeated.

“H- hi, Violet.” Harvey swallowed. “It’s— it’s been a while.”

“Harvey?” She gasped. “Why are you calling me?

“We haven’t talked since—” he faltered; the absurdity of what he was doing finally struck him. “I guess I just wanted to see how you’re doing—”

“I’m—” she started, but a voice interrupted; muffled, but familiar.

“Who is it, Vi?”

A hand shuffled over the microphone, not entirely cutting out their conversation on the other end. Harvey closed his eyes, making out some words over his pulse pounding in his ears.

“What does he want?”

“I don’t know—”

“Hang up.”

“He sounds—” There was more shuffling, and the voices were stifled.

“Harvey?” Violet said a moment later.

“I’m still here,” he said, though he wasn’t sure why.

“Is— is everything alright?”

“You’re still seeing John?”

“Yes.” She paused. He could practically hear her prickle over the wire from some hundred miles away. “We— we got married.”

“Congratulations,” Harvey said after a moment of shock, unable to control the bitter edge to his voice. He leaned his elbows on the desk and scraped his free hand through his hair.

“I thought you would have heard by now.”

“How could I have? I was— I’ve been—”

“I know.” Her honeyed voice dripped with guilt. “I’m— I didn’t want you to find out like this.”

“From you?” The whisky's warmth set his latent anger ablaze. He hadn’t meant to raise his voice. “That’s what you meant, isn’t it?”

“Don’t call here again.”

With a quiet click, the line went dead. The phone’s bell let out a fearful chirp as Harvey slammed the handset on its cradle. He gripped a handful of his hair, a knot forming in his throat. It shouldn’t have come as such a shock. But his head pounded and his stomach churned.

There was no reason Violet ever should have set her amber eyes on Harvey. He didn’t have the best grades, and he was never the most attractive person in the room. But she’d approached him at a college party, tapped her plastic cup of wine to his, and introduced herself.

From that moment their lives began to slowly merge. Her friends liked him well enough, and his buddies loved her. Their life goals were aligned. Their families got along— every splintered side of them. The years wore on, and the only problem in their relationship was him. Harvey’s eighty-hour workweeks wore him ragged. The patients he couldn’t help weighed on his conscience. And the stress of trying to achieve the dreams they had for their future caught up with him and broke him down.

Harvey couldn’t complete his internship, and Violet couldn’t accept it. Even after he sought help, and worked to improve his mental state, she wouldn’t understand why his plans had to change. Harvey believed they loved each other enough to survive anything. Violet believed she deserved to be a surgeon’s wife. Now she had everything she wanted, and she hadn’t needed him to get it.

Harvey’s thoughts swirled and clouded into a murky mess. He didn’t hear footsteps in the waiting room or the swish of the swinging door in the hall outside his office. He didn’t know anyone was there until—

“Dr. Palmer?”

Harvey whirled around. Maru stood in the doorway, eyes wide.

“Get out.” He glared at her through the tears in his eyes. His own tone gave him pause and he softened. “I’m sorry, but— please. Go.” He turned away from Maru, who hovered in the doorway, indecisive.

“What’s the matter, Harvey?” There was a softness in her voice he hadn’t heard before. Of course, he’d kept her at the same distance as anyone else.

“Please.” He leaned his elbows on his desk. His chest tightened around the breath in his lungs. “I can’t— I can’t be like this.”

What must he look like to her? No one in this town needed another reason to think him inadequate. Incapable. A small, choked sob escaped his throat and he hid his face in his hands, catching his tears before they could fall. His glasses clattered to the desk.

A gentle hand touched his shoulder, lingering there until his breaths came at a more even pace. Then, it moved to put the lid back on the bottle, and the bottle back in the drawer. It retrieved his glasses, wiped them clean, and placed them in his hands. Harvey swallowed the bitter remnants of his pride, put on his glasses, and thanked her.

“Are you okay?” Maru said, emanating patience he didn’t deserve after snapping at her.

“She— after everything.” More tears fell with the bitter laugh that left him. “Six years.”

A few versions of the story had already circled the rumor mill since he’d been around. Harvey was glad someone would finally hear his side of it. It all spilled out, and Maru listened. For a moment he felt a sliver of the warmth he had missed since he moved to the valley. The warmth he felt hearing his friend’s voice over the phone, and, as much as he hated to admit it, Violet’s too.

[hauntedbythefanficsofmypast]

When you need a Superfriend

By Nach0Ava

On Archive of Our Own

Tumblr user: @nach0ava

So I have not really watched Supergirl however when I read the first chapter I had to share this with you all! This is the first chapter by Nach0Ava. (Second chapter is on its way as well!) Marinette gets sent away by her parents to America! Please go read Nach0Ava's story!

Summary:

When Tom and Sabine believe Lila's lies, they send Marinette off to live with an old family friend in National City. When living with a government agent and a physiologist, how long is it until she gets figured out?

Chapter 1:

“I don’t understand! Why are you sending me away?”

Marinette looked up at her parents in disbelief. They had just told her that she was going to be sent to live with a family friend. In America! Sure, she could speak fairly good English, but it still didn’t make sense!

“Your recent behaviour has led us to think that the change could be good for you. Kelly and her girlfriend Alex are lovely people, and they might be better equipped to deal with you than we are.”

As her mother spoke, Marinette felt a bitterness rise in her. Of course. Lila. She had made good on her threat, managing to turn even her parents against her. Claiming that she was involved in a gang, she had an older boyfriend, she did drugs, the list went on. And when Tom and Sabine had caught Marinette out past curfew one too many times, they took it as the truth. She couldn’t tell them that she was Ladybug, so all she had was half-hearted excuses. Still, she needed a way to stay in Paris, as she couldn’t be Ladybug somewhere else, and if there was no Ladybug, there was no-one to catch the akuma, and no-one to cast the cure, never mind all her guardian duties…

She was getting off track. She had a goal and she needed to accomplish it. Just like taking down an akuma. Except she couldn’t hit this problem really hard for it to go away.

“Is there any way I could stay in Paris? I’ll switch schools, I’ll go live with grandpa Roland, I’ll do anything!”

Tom and Sabine exchanged a look. They didn’t want to believe it, but they had to make sure.

“Honey, calm down, aren’t you worried about an akuma?”

Marinette started pacing as she rambled, mostly to herself.

“Right, I’ll get upset, then you guys will get mad at me, and then one or both of you will be akumatised and then I’ll have that whole mess to deal with.”

Tom reached out a hand to her shoulder to stop her pacing.

“You aren’t worried about you getting akumatised?”

Marinette shook her head.

“No no, I’ll be fine.”

A slight push from her bag and the looks from her parents made her backtrack.

“I mean, I’m really good at calming down before they get to me, I mean, it’s worked so far right?”

She let out a nervous chuckle while her parents stared at her.

“Marinette… Are you working with Hawkmoth?”

Marinette looked for the start of a smile from her mum, the laughter in her dad’s eyes, anything to say they were joking. When the just kept staring she burst into laughter.

“Haha, you guys… You guys really thought… Haha, that’s hilarious!”

Her parents failed to see the humour and gave her thatlook.

“Remember all those times I’ve been attacked? Reflekta, Horificator, pretty much any akuma that clones or traps people I’ve gotten tangled up in.”

Not technically a lie, she never said she got hitspecifically, but she definitely got attacked.

“Well, maybe you should get out of Paris anyway. It’s clearly not safe here, and maybe it’s best for you to leave. You’ll like it in National City, they even have their own superheros!”

Great. A reminder of what I have to give up because of Lila. She was about to keep protesting, but she felt three quick pushed on her side by Tikki. We need to talk.Her argument died on her tongue and she sighed.

“When am I meant to leave?”

Her parents exchanged relived looks.

“The plane is booked for next Friday. That gives you about a week to pack up. We could mail over a box with all of your sewing things once you get settled, if Kelly and Alex are ok with it of course.”

Marinette fought the eyebrow that was threating to raise. A week? I was hoping for some more time to test and train a new guardian, and a new holder for Tikki. It would be a rush, and there weren’t many people she trusted anymore. Still, there was work to be done, so she had to get started.

“I guess I’ll go start packing then. Can I be un-grounded so I can spend my final week saying goodbye and sorting things out?”

Her parents nodded, glad she was taking this so well.

“Of course honey, just not tonight ok? It’s getting rather late.”

Marinette nodded and ran up to her room, shutting the trapdoor quickly. She went up onto her bed and starting crying into her pillow, feeling the weight of all the kwami comforting her. Eventually she rolled on to her back, drying her tears.

“I’m sorry Tikki, you said you wanted to talk?”

She looked at her expectantly. Marinette already knew what Tikki wanted. She needed to find a new wielder and Guardian, and she shouldn’t have been putting it off, but sometimes it felt good to cry. Tikki came to settle on her lap and patted her leg comfortingly.

“Marinette I know what you’re thinking, and you don’t have to give up being Ladybug or being Guardian. So you better stop that train of thought right now missy.”

Marinette sat up, blinking. How could she… Oh.

“I’m an idiot.”

Tikki giggled while she flew up and booped her nose, while Kaalki sniffed from the corner.

“I can’t believe you forgot about me Guardian. You’ve given me out before!”

Marinette giggled at the kwami’s haughty attitude.

“Sorry Kaalki, I got a bit too emotional to think clearly.”

Kaalki just grabbed a sugar cube with a huff and flew off. Marinette climbed off her bed and grabbed her bright pink suitcase.

“So who wants to help me pack?”

~~<3~~

Chloe, Kagami, Luka and Marinette were all sitting at a table at a café during their lunch break. Luka had graduated already, so he was usually free to hang out. Chloe had come up to Marinette not too long after Lila’s takeover with an apology. Marinette had been wary at first, but Chloe was actually really nice when she wasn’t putting up an act. She had soon proven herself and had been given another chance at being a hero, under the new name Honeybee. Kagami had approached her after Adrien had asked for advice on the Lila situation. She had hated his passive approach, and when she had tried to talk to him about it, he just refused her help, ignoring the fact that he had asked for her help. Kagami had come to offer her help, and they become friends soon after. She had re-claimed the dragon, under the new name Tempête. Luka had heard Lila’s heart song and immediately knew that was someone that he didn’t want to hang around. He had tried warning Juleka and the rest of Kitty Section, but Lila had told them that having an older singer wasn’t a good look. He had been kicked out, and Marinette had been there to comfort him with pastries and musicals. After she had introduced everyone to each other, they had become a tightly knit group. So, as one could imagine, they weren’t taking this well.

“They gave you a week? That’s ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!”

Kagami made a noise of displeasure as well.

“Sending you to America seems a bit extreme, what reason did they give again?”

Marinette scoffed.

“My ‘recent behaviour’ or something like that. Also known as, Lila. Oh, that’s not even the best part.”

Marinette gave out a dry chuckle and everyone looked on in interest.

“Apparently, I’m working with Hawkmoth.”

Luka plucked a string on his guitar, sending out a loud note. Chloe just stared in disbelief, and Kagami made for her foil.

“I’m going to run them through with my sword.”

Kagami gripped it tightly, ready to get up and make good on her threat, but Marinette grabbed it from her, unbothered by the fencer’s unimpressed glare.

“No-one is stabbing anyone. I don’t really have a choice, so I just have to suck it up and deal with it. Besides, it could be good to get away from Lila.”

Chloe was the first to get up to give her a hug, followed by Luka, and then by Kagami, who Marinette wasn’t completely sure that she wasn’t just trying to get her sword back.

“It’ll be ok guys, we can still video chat through Skype or something. I won’t be able to text, because I’ll be on an American phone plan, but we can figure something out!”

Chloe pulled away and took out her phone, tapping away immediately.

“I’m going to get you an amazing phone plan, with unlimited overseas. Same for the rest of you. That way, we can all talk and not worry about the fact that there’ll be an ocean dividing us.”

Marinette slowly took the phone and added it to her slowly growing pile, pointedly ignoring the glare Chloe shot her.

“I’m sure there are other, free, ways to contact each other. I think there’s an online service, what’s the name in English? Chaos or something like that?”

Luka strummed at his guitar in thought before pulling up an app on his phone.

“Is this the one you were thinking of?”

He had opened Discord, in dark mode of course, and had his profile open.

“Yeah, that’s the one! We can talk on there, and it has the bonus of being accessible from computers! So, no reason to go overboard, ok Chloe?”

Chloe humped and opened up the app store, downloading Discord. Kagami noticed what she was doing and mirrored her. They all took a few minutes to make accounts and become friends, before Luka, the one with the most experience, had set up a server for them all. Quickly choosing nicknames, Marinette pocketed her phone with a grin.

“Now that that’s done, anyone want to come help me pick some things to take?”

~~<3~~

It felt like the week passed quickly, lessons passing by in a blur. She didn’t pay much attention, just enough to keep Mrs Bustier satisfied. She didn’t bother alerting anyone in the class (outside of Chloe) that she was leaving, ignoring their taunts and insults. Chloe and Kagami had been big helps in learning how to ignore them, so now they rolled off her like water on a duck. She made sure not to bring anything valuable, most of her stuff was in a suitcase anyway. On her final day, she only had her schoolbooks, the school assigned tablet, and three neatly wrapped gifts. As she was packing up to go meet her friends for a final goodbye, she was stopped by Alya.

“I need you to make a dress for the upcoming school dance.”

Marinette briefly noted that this was a demand, rather than a request, but she just started her usual commission speech with a sigh.

“Depending on the materials used and the time it takes to make, the dress could cost anywhere from €300 to €500. There will also be shipping costs, plus the fact I’m not taking commissions right now, so it will probably be a few weeks before I might be able to get started on it.”

Alya was staring at Marinette like she had grown another head.

“€300, what are you talking about? I’m not paying youfor a dress, and you make mine every year, so what’s the problem? I can’t wait a few weeks, the dance is next weekend!”

Marinette sighed and pushed past the taller girl.

“The problem is that I don’t have time, materials are expensive, and I made you those dresses when we were friends. But we’re not now. So, leave me alone. Goodbye Alya.”

She walked out to meet her friends, leaving Alya behind, too stunned to talk. When she snapped out of it, she grumbled to herself.

“She’ll see reason on Monday. She has no right to refuse after all she’s done to Lila! Maybe if she makes Lila’s dress too, she’ll forgive her! Lila’s nice like that, Marinette will come around after making up for everything she’s done!”

Alya walked away, satisfied, planning her new dress in her mind.

Marinette ran up to her friends, engulfing them in hugs. They all hugged right back, sad to see her go. Marinette suddenly pulled away from the hug, and grabbed three parcels out of her bag. She handed them all out, urging them to open them. Luka opened his first, finding a beanie that perfectly matched his hair, with a teal snake pattern around the rim. Chloe went next, her patience not holding any longer. She got a headband with tiny bees embroidered all along it. Kagami received a red handkerchief, with an elemental dragon on one side, and a storm cloud on the other, a lightning strike going all the way across. They all started to thank her at once, with Marinette just blushing sheepishly.

“I just took note of all your favourite heroes, and added them to a design. It’s not that big of a deal.”

They all hugged again, before the clock chimed behind them, making Marinette jump.

“I have to go! I’ll send you all a message when I land, but you better not stay up for it if it’s late here!”

A chorus of “No promises!” filled her ears as she ran home, taking in the sights one more time. She burst into the bakery to find her mum still working the counter, and her dad busy baking. Not thinking much of it, she went up to her room to grab her belongings. After some quick cuddles from the kwami, she had everything she needed. Most flew into the suitcase, comfy in the hidden area Marinette had made, lined with a soft faux fur. Only Tikki and Kaalki flew into her jacket, ready to transform if need be. They had assured her they wouldn’t show up on the x-ray, so she was fine with having them in there. As she lifted her suitcase and went downstairs, her strength from being Ladybug shining through, she was surprised to see her parents still busy at work.

“Maman, Papa, I thought we were going to the airport now?”

Her parent’s exchanged looks before Tom stopped his baking and walked over.

“Honey, we can’t afford to come with you, we need to keep the bakery open. There’s an Uber outside for you, but you’ll have to go on your own. I’m sorry.”

He pulled her into a hug, one she half-heartedly returned. She walked over to hug her mum as well, and went outside with her suitcase.

This was it.

She was really being sent away.

All because of some dumb liar.

With a comforting press coming from inside her jacket, she got in the Uber, prepared to start her new life.

[goldmanguyperson]

I knew about plurality before discovery, but I think that if i hadn’t gotten to talk to other plural folks, i never would’ve figured out this was an experience i was having. And in general I tend not to notice my emotions and experiences until my focus on them is somehow emphasized by an outside influence.

I was very unsure at first after having how plurality can feel explained to me. I knew something was up with a theriotype of mine but i didn’t know if it was plurality or just something weird and temporary. then like late at night i had a “bolt of lightning” experience that showed me that The Eagle definitely existed. that might sound weird and hasty, but in the past my “bolt of lightning” experiences have been true to who i am, and I think I just need to trust it when my brain does that. It made me very emotional, and one of those emotions was happy! In the past I have definitely felt like I really needed someone else in my head, because I often felt like i needed help but didn’t have anyone that could help me, whether for my own anxiety reasons or for more material reasons. I was glad to finally have someone who not only could help me, but was happy to.

My experience with the plural community as a whole after really delving into it has been a real mixed bag. I hate how many people would tell me i must be “faking” or that i’m confused about myself. I know who we are, I’ve had lots of time to think about it and i already have a therapist to talk to, thank you very much. I’m a trans man so i’m used to being called confused but i really fucking wish that we could have a place where we don’t all run the risk of being accused of that. It makes me sometimes wish i never found out my own plurality, but I don’t think that would’ve been good for me either. In many ways this is part of how all communities are, but with plurality being so deeply intertwined with trauma for so many, this community tends to get way worse way quicker than many others.

but ive also met so many lovely, helpful, and relatable people. I found a plural discord server that has been really enlightening and fun. I’m glad i have my headmates. I’m glad that there can be a place for us where we can speak freely and not have to worry about being seen as weird or worse, dangerous. I’m glad we’re here.

#Twenty

[pt: #twenty]

Did you know about Plurality before discovering your own? What was it like when you found out? Was it a moment of feeling seen or understood? Did you accept being plural or did you struggle to accept it?

[dramarising-replacement]

Hey, anon here from /post/649483502519271424/

I wasn’t expecting my confession to go up so soon but I’m glad it did because the feedback so far has been so supportive. Thank you. 🥺💝 I had expected to be completely chided for dropping the ball like I did so everyone’s kindness has been refreshing and relieving. I’m submitting again because I wanted to say thank you and respond to the comments I’ve gotten so far: > Talk to staff about this I fear that may not do any good. As confirmed in the comments, the flightrising staff doesn’t tend to accommodate for situations such as these and I would love to know why not. They can obviously track stolen items/dragons from bought/hacked/stolen accounts, but they seemingly don’t want to bother helping people out with matters like mine and they should. I can’t figure out why they wouldn’t.

> I would try making things public That would most likely get me iced, as it would bring unnecessary harassment to the user in question, which is against the rules. (For some reason, FR is more worried about that than actual theft. Why? Who knows. Personally, I think there should’ve been a system designed for this very thing before the game even went live back in 2013 and them letting it go for this long without one is pretty inexcusable.) > Talk to somebody who knows them, maybe? Considered it but we don’t have any friends in common, (plus it could lead to the same outcome as above.) They seemingly quit the mutual server we were in, as well, as their last posts from there were from January and show their actual discord name, instead of FR name, which is required for that server. > Yikes, that’s a super shitty situation OP, hope you can get them back eventually Thank you. I hope so too. 💝 > Hey, so: if you disappeared for months you straight up forfeited your shit, and if it’s happened before they’re probably done dealing with you. You messed up. You ditched someone you had an agreement with more than once. I’m willing to bet, having witnessed this exact kind of conversation, that this person has bad anxiety and was given advice by their friends to just stop talking to you and to either exalt or keep your pair. Seriously, everyone in any fr chat I’ve been in (a third of the flights and FC, including Ice Chat itself) would give that exact same advice. It’s on you. It sucks you lost your project pair, but messaging them isn’t likely to help because they probably are just as stressed as you about it. There is also another possibility: they don’t remember who you are because they accidentally deleted your initial messages. Ah now this was more of what I was expecting. Firstly, when I said we’ve disappeared on each other before, I meant it was something we mutually did to each other due to outside circumstances, never malice. This is why I never was cross with them about it and why I’m left puzzled if it’s the reason they’re cross with me now. I don’t see why I’m being held accountable for something they have done to me personally and have never held against them.

Secondly, while I did drop the conversation and take full responsibility for that, the agreement was that they were supposed to breed the dragons indefinitely until they produced the project child, then both it and the parents were supposed to be sent back to me. They were allowed to exalt/keep/sell any and all rejects as payment. They bred them once since we last communicated and haven’t since so the agreement’s been broken on their end for a while now. Perhaps I should’ve kept a better eye on them, but I tend to trust others to not to need supervision.

Thirdly: Even if it is the lack of communication on my end, I can’t see why this whole thing can’t be fixed with an apology, a heart-to-heart and/or some compensation. They could demand all my gems and treasure and I’d happily pay it as I feel it is owed. If it’s a matter of not remembering, then why not just say so and return the dragons or ask for evidence of the agreement? Them having anxiety isn’t much of an excuse as I have anxiety as well and that’s been going off like mad since I noticed what had happened, three weeks ago. 🙃 Finally: we legit give this advice to everyone stop leaving your dragons with people for months at a time they take up space in people’s lair and it really isn’t cool

I take it by “we” you mean the people who frequent this blog. Regardless, this is pretty callous advice; encouraging thievery over what could be an outside problem or circumstance. People forget, people suffer loses, people die; it’s pretty cold to think they just stiffed you personally and use that as justification to steal what’s theirs. The advice should be “message them, air your grievances, see if they’re willing to listen and/or negotiate compensation, do so, then part ways.”

I understand it can be difficult dealing with people, but in my opinion: open communication is the key to healthy relationships and if the person doesn’t return the kindness, that’s never on you, for at least you tried.

That said, I want to give you all a big THANK YOU for your feedback and sympathy. It’s really warmed my heart and made me feel better about this whole thing. Thanks for being here for me and others like me. 💝💝💝

[bnhaikyuuwritings]

I tried something new and a little out of my comfort zone! I’m on a MHA X Readers Discord and participated in a server wide prompt with wonderful writers like @liliesoftherain !!! It’s not my best piece, and I’ll probably further change it down the road!

This is an Aizawa x Reader Soumate AU where they share pain. Warnings: descriptions of pain!

Enjoy!

——

"We should probably get up." You said quietly. Aizawa gave you no response as he furrowed into the blankets.

Your hand slowly ran through his hair. He must've enjoyed the methodical detangling, because he seemed to relax further into your side. You found yourself dozing off again mere minutes later, draw in by the lure of sleep.

When the alarm went off, it was so loud. As if it was right next to your ear rather than across the room. You tried to sit up, but his arms stayed firm around your waist.

"Sho, let's get going." You mumbled, trying to wiggle from his grasp.

Silence.

"I don't have to go in until eleven, I can make you breakfast and coffee to go." You said softly, leaning to place a kiss on his forehead. His response was almost immediate as he let you. You chuckled softly to yourself, sitting up and placing your feet softly on the ground. It was cold.

When you finally stood, you made your way to the bedroom door. Halfway through, you started to yawn, stretching backwards and stumbling slightly.

"Fuck!"

You were now completely awake, thanks to the pain of stubbing your toe which shot up your leg. You hopped one foot as tears sprung to your eyes.

"Watch where you're going." A grumble came from behind you. Shouta's languid body was emerging from the covers. You smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry, Sho."

When your soulmate bond emerged, it was the second year of high school. You were at the mall with your mother. You had collapsed, screaming as a fiery pain ripped through your abdomen. You mother nearly had a conniption when she had taken you to the ER only for them to say it was 'only her soulmate, ma'am.' You had learned he had gotten stabbed while working as a sidekick for a hero during that time. You had gotten feint scarring from it, just like the time you had split you head open on the sink. There was a feint scar barely visible on his hairline.

"This is the first time we've had breakfast together in a while, hasn't it?" You asked, setting the two plates of eggs and toast down on the table. He entered the room in complete hero gear, a stack of graded tests under his arm. He looked tired, but he had definitely been in worse states before.

"This smells good." He said, sitting down in the chair across from you. You watched with a smile as he leaned close to the meal subconsciously. His eyes were hooded as the steam from the eggs wafted to his face.

"Here's the coffee." You said with a smile, setting it carefully front of you. He murmured a 'thank you' as he began to eat.

The two of you relished in each other's company for a moment. You stifled a yawn between bites, and he broke the silence.

"I'll be home late today. I'm behind on paperwork and need to stay a little bit longer than normal. You shrugged.

“I’ll stay a little later too then. Then we can have dinner together. “

He smirked softly, nodding as he ate. He took a drink of his coffee, and you flinched as your tongue burned. You scoffed.

“Why do you drink it when it’s still so hot?!” You exclaimed with a laugh. He just laughed, gathering his things as he got ready to leave. You cleaned his plate off for him.

“I love you, Sho!” You called as he headed out the door. He waved.

“I know.”

——

You arrived to the office, coffee in hand. Your supervisor immediately greeted you with a smile.

"I have two possible commissions in line for you. I was emailed this morning. Before you start on anything else, could you check on those and give them a reply?"

It started right then. Though strain on the body was a different type of pain, it was pain nonetheless. You could usually tell when Aizawa was fighting, or putting himself through a form of exercise.

You furrowed your brows. Why was he fighting? He's at school. He didn't say anything about sparring with the students today.

"Can you do that for me, (Y/n)?"

You turned to your supervisor and smiled.

"Ah, sorry, of course I can." You said happily. She smiled.

"I appreciate that, it helps me out a lot." She said, and you headed to your desk.

The persistent feeling that he was fighting didn't leave. And it only seemed to go on. After about ten minutes of the continuous strain, you were beginning to get worried.

Shouldn't he be done, if it's only a sparring match? Surely a student couldn't match with him for this long....

You pulled out your phone, dialing Hizashi's number. Worry was getting to you.

"Well look who it is! What can I do for ya, listener?!" He exclaimed. You chuckled at his enthusiasm, always expecting it from him.

Before you could speak, your elbow alit with a searing pain. It happened suddenly, causing you to audibly react. Your desk mates raised their brows at you as you phone clattered on the desk.

The pain radiated from your elbow, and started creeping upwards. Your hand clenched into a fist as you struggled to stay quiet. Despite the pain, you were worried. You arm was hanging limp to your side now. Your elbow was unusable. This meant Aizawa was going through the same. Something was happening. Something bad.

You grappled for your phone.

"H-Hizashi." You murmured weakly. "Is everything alright? Is Shouta alright?"

"What do you mean, doll? He's alright. I talked to him this morning! I should be asking you if you're okay."

He seemed confused, and you were vaguely aware of your desk mates attempts to comfort you. One placed a hand on your shoulder as another called for your supervisor.

"He's in pain. I can feel it. Hizashi it hurts." You pressed.

There was a moment of silence.

"I'll go check. Would that be okay." He said seriously.

Suddenly, your legs gave out as a piercing pain ripped through your skull. You screamed, truly starting to cry. Not only for your pain, but Shouta's. Someone was causing him this pain.

The pain was indescribable. You've gotten a concussion from a car accident before. That was nothing compared to this. It was as if you were being slammed into a wall.

"Someone call an ambulance!" You supervisor called. She hovered nervously over you.

"Can you breathe? You need to tell me what's going on!" She said anxiously. You couldn't focus, not as you felt the tendons in your arms alight. You screeched, attempting to stand as someone held you back.

"If you're hurt miss, you need to stay sitting."

At this point, you were delirious, struggling to stand. Your fight or flight was activated when there was nothing you needed to run from.

Finally, you passed out as the paramedics arrived, the last thing you remember was the pressure in your head becoming too hard to handle.

——

Hizashi met you at the gates of UA as the sun began to set. You has spent nearly seven hours in the hospital, four of those hours unconscious.

The golden hue would've been beautiful, hadn't it been for circumstances. Hizashi greeted you with a nimble hug. He noticed the slight bruising around your eyes, and how dark purple shades were ebbing from under the collar of your shirt. He noticed how red your eyes were, and how hoarse your voice was.

"How's he doing?" You asked softly. He held his arm out, and you linked yours in it so he could lead the way.

"This is the worst shape I've seen him in. I'm thankful we have one of the best healers in the country at this school." Was all he said.

The halls of the school were empty, and it was harrowing to walk through them.

"He'll probably stay here overnight. That's what Recovery Girl wants."

You managed a dry laugh.

"That's definitely what Sho doesn't want." You said with a chuckle. Finally, the walk ended in front of a door with the nurse's plaque glued to it. You gulped.

"Will he be alright?" You asked wistfully. "He-he was in so much pain. I've never felt anything like it."

Hizashi just sighed.

"He fractured his skull, tore and broke nearly everything in one arm. The tendons of his elbow on the other arm were almost completely disintegrated. There may be permanent nerve damage."

He looked to you with a somber smile.

"But he's alive, and that's what matters."

You nodded, and he motioned to the door.

"I've been in there enough today. I'm just outside if you need me."

He walked down the hall a little ways, leaving you to stand in front of the door alone. You opened it quietly.

Aizawa was sitting up. That would've been the first good sign he he not had his entire face wrapped in bandages, and both arms in casts.

"Why hello there dearie!"

A small woman approached you with a cheery smile.

"You must be the little soulmate. Come, come, sit down. You've been through a lot today as well."

She ushered you into the seat next to Shouta's bed.

"I'll go get you some tea, my dear. I'll be right back."

When the door snapped close, there was a suffering silence.

"You look like shit." Was all you managed to say to him. You cursed your voice for cracking. He had warned you about this. He was a hero. He would get hurt.

"It's alright. It's okay to cry." He said softly. That triggered the water works. You wished you could hold him, or grab his hand, but it was impossible. You resorted to placing your face in your palms and breaking down.

"Sho, I could feel it. I could feel it all. You were in so much pain. And it just kept getting worse. I thought, I thought I was going to feel it." You sobbed.

'It' hung like an omen. It was unspoken, but he knew what you were referring to.

He sighed.

"I'm sorry you have to deal with this." He said quietly. You frowned, reaching a hand to gently cup his cheek.

"You're a hero. It's your job. We've talked about this. What matters right now is that you're alive. I'm alright. Those kids are alright." You said. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired. But, I'm glad you're okay." He said softly. His face was wrapped in bandages, but you knew he was okay.

You leaned over, placed a kiss on his bandaged cheek, he was okay. He would be okay.

[lottsoluv]

I used to be a mod on Dangan-Happy

This is going to be a very long post because there’s so much that happened, and I felt the need to expose the truths hidden behind the positivity everyone loves so much. Everything seems so fine and dandy on the surface, so consider this a callout post. Thank you to my friends that helped me create this.

For context:  I was Mod Chiaki, Mod Rantaro, and Mod Shuichi after a friend of mine left the blog. I would always sign my posts with emojis.

I was in a discord server made by the creators of Dangan-Happy before the blog was created. Both creators run another danganronpa blog focused on writing imagines, and I joined their server because I loved their writing and was interested in making new friends, and that I did.

When Dangan-Happy was created back in July and a link was posted in the discord server for mod applications, I applied for Chiaki immediately. I enjoyed her a lot as a character, and I knew I’d be good at emulating how she spoke through writing, and I got to make people happy while doing so. Though, before this, I had never been apart of a blog like this, I just had this blog, one that I’ve muddled in since 2013, so it was a brand new experience for me. 

I was accepted and after a couple of other people who were accepted as mods started joining the monomonomayhem discord server, the two admins created a separate section in the discord server for the mods of Dangan-Happy to communicate, away from the eyes of the fans of their original imagines blog. Everything started out fine, seeing as we barely had any asks coming in, as expected, and I became good friends with a couple of the mods that joined us. 

Around the middle of August was when things started going down hill. I became really good friends with our first Mod Izuru, Beep, and we were discussing our grievances we had with the blog, which wasn’t much honestly, such as how mod applications worked or how some of the asks were behind or just how we didn’t think some of the mods wrote their characters well, and it was all in moderation, we were just having a chat between friends, it was nothing serious and only stayed between us. None of the other mods really had any idea what was going on either, we were all just thrown to the wind.

Then, the two admins came up with a rule that no one was allowed to post asks unless either of them specified that they were ready to be sent, which became sort of a problem, seeing as they weren’t always online. Beep and I were usually the ones, at least in the beginning stages of this blog, who tried our hardest to make sure the asks got done and got posted, outside of the two admins. It felt sort of like a punch to the face, to be quite honest, but there was no animosity held toward the two admins. We still tried our hardest to help out, but the list of mods was growing and our list of asks were growing as well, we became buried underneath the voices of the newer, inexperienced mods.

Beep was a sort of hard person to get along with, and as our list of mods on Dangan-Happy grew, they had a harder time getting along with people or trusting people, so they created a group chat to talk and hang out with the people from the server that they trusted, and this eventually grew into a server, one that was not created by either of us but created by Dangan-Happy’s Mod Akane. Collectively, we agreed that the server that was created was a sort of “safe-haven” for Beep, so we only added people to the server that they trusted. We started a “rebellion” of sorts, because what we wanted was change in the way the blog was run, though we never actually did anything, it was more of a mindset. We never had any hatred toward the admins or any of the other mods.

About a week or two passed and one of the admins, Mod Kaz, updated all the mods on their current irl situation. Beep and I then told Mod Kaz that if they needed any sort of help with the blog, they should ask for it, and that the older mods that have been on the blog longer should be allowed to help more with it, and he agreed, making a new role in our discord server titled “Mid Mod,” who’s individual roles were broke up into specifics, such as “tag checking,” “grammar checking,” “overall checking,” etc. All was fine and going well, and I’ll restate, Beep and I held 0 hatred or animosity for Mod Kaz, we were only concerned for his well-being and the well-being of the blog.

Then, on September 9th, the old Mod Byakuya/Ibuki/Nagito left the blog. That being said, it was well known that Beep was an “unwilling Nagito kinnie,” and they would say all the time that they regretted not taking Nagito when they had the chance. They even covered for Mod Nagito a couple times beforehand. They were working on a Nagito mod application, when a new person joined the server, the new Mod Nagito. This alerted many of us in our little “rebellion” server. At that moment, Beep, the old Mod Miu, Mod Akane, one of the other mods, and I were in a voice chat in that server. We were just hanging out, not really doing anything in particular, when we were just all caught off guard. It hadn’t been even an hour when the mod applications were opened for a new mod Nagito. 

This topic was a hot debate between the admins and the handful of us. We were told the mod applications were “first come, first serve,” which is still just preposterous in my opinion, and that it didn’t matter how well someone was at writing a character. If they submitted the application first, then they were that mod, and no amount of refutation could convince them otherwise. This angered Beep because they were working so hard on the application, and none of it mattered. There is no anger or hatred toward the new Mod Nagito, I personally think they’re pretty good at writing Nagito and I’m glad they were chosen, but the system that the admins had set up showed its true colors. It didn’t care about quality, only quantity and efficiency. 

Beep’s anger was understood by me and the others in the voice chat with them, but that empathy did not carry over to the other mods and admins in the discord server, who decided to start their own group chat discussing whether or not to ask Beep (and I, for some reason) to leave the blog. The reason I, and the others in the voice chat, know about this conversation is because they added Mod Akane to the said group chat. Mod Akane, who was the one who created the “rebellion” server we were voice chatting in. 

At this point, we five: Beep, the old Mod Miu, Mod Akane, one of the other mods, and I, had all agreed that there were systemic flaws in the blog we were apart of, and were all relatively upset with the recent events. It was rage-inducing, watching people we worked with talking about how “mean” our friend was, even though they’ve previously stated publicly in the server and apologized for any sort of misunderstandings. I even re-read all the screenshots that were sent to us by Mod Akane before writing this (October 17th,) and it got me really angry again. During this, I talked privately with Mod Kaz about Beep’s behavior, trying my hardest to smooth things over, and again, I never once came to hate him, even after all this.

Then, finally, Beep left the blog, extremely angry after reading the group chat messages relayed by Mod Akane. Even after all of these events had transpired, the rest of us still wanted to work on the blog because we enjoyed roleplaying as these characters and enjoyed giving people advice and making them happy. Sometimes, working with some of the mods was trying, but that’s just how it is when you have such a large group of people working together. Not everyone is going to get along, some people aren’t going to like some of the others, and it’s not something people can just force. The best thing to do in a scenario such as this, at least this is what I did, is to lay low and just do your job, which I did indeed enjoy doing, despite what some of the other mods might have thought.

In fact, that’s what all 4 four of us agreed to do, just lay low and do our jobs as advice-giving roleplayers. Mod Akane was given an important role in the server, where she would stay on all of our butts about getting our asks done in a timely manner. And, that’s all fine and dandy, but she explicitly stated that she wanted to watch the blog crash and burn (along with the rest of us) after the events that transpired the day before. None of us, aside from Beep, had any sort of actual hatred toward the admins and mods themselves, only what everything was becoming.

We were all fine with this arrangement for the most part. We even, all five of us, created a separate blog, where we could roleplay as characters that we wanted to, and it was quite fun. We were all planning on leaving Dangan-Happy after it got up and running, but it never quite took off. We were all busy with our lives, and subsequently, toward the beginning of this month, October, Mod Akane had a falling out with our friend group. We both made separate servers and invited who we wanted and that should’ve been that, fair enough right?

The very next day, Mod Kaz direct messaged me and told me I was kicked from the blog. The reasoning given was that he didn’t want to work with people that hated him. To quote him: “I'm sorry to say this Tea. I had a great time working with you but due to some unforeseen circumstances and some review of your behavior I must ask you to leave the blog. I'm not going to keep fighting to run a positivity blog with someone that holds so much contempt for me. Leave the blog, I'm not going to argue or budge on this.”

In response, I told him fine. I’ve literally never held any contempt for this man, but he really deeply thinks that I’ve hated him this entire time, no matter how much we bonded over similar interests. That’s the part that bothered me at first, being kicked off a blog I loved writing for over someone thinking I hated them. Then, the bit about “review of your behavior” caught my eye. I told him I had barely said a word in the server purposefully so that I don’t hurt other people with my perceived “negativity.”

Then, I realized the problem might actually lie with the “unforeseen circumstances” portion of their message. A day earlier, there was a falling out between Mod Akane and the rest of my friends. I connected the dots, Mod Akane must’ve told Mod Kaz about everything that happened, about my friends and I getting upset over things happening surrounding the blog. It just makes no sense otherwise. I personally believed I wasn’t a problem at all concerning the blog. I tried my hardest to get my asks done on time and in character. I was good at what I did, and I loved doing what I did. And, I was outcasted, thrown out for seemingly no valid reason.

I’m not asking you to harass people, I’m just trying to explain my side in a way that these mods will see and understand. I’m just angry and confused, and I want a real, genuine answer, because I never hated Mod Kaz ever up until this bullshit. Sure, I was upset at the way things were run, I was upset with some decisions that were made, but I never hated him. And, if Mod Akane told him otherwise, I have the screenshots to prove she did the exact same as me.

This post is far from perfect, I apologize. My friends and I are just very upset and hurt. We put so much time and effort into a blog we cared for, and it turns out it’s all bullshit behind the scenes. A fake environment ruled by a toxic positivity, if you have different opinions in the way things are run, you just get removed. It’s fucked.

[smolbeandrabbles]

Jay Arr - John Daggett x Reader (The Dark Knight Rises)

GIF CREDIT: X (okay the original source doesn’t exist.)

@happyskywhale​ @wltz-bby​

A kinda crossover between TDKR and Birds of Prey.

Author’s Note: Ages and ages and ages ago @mandy23b​ reblogged the above gif set, and I said it’d inspired a part 4 of my ‘If I Didn’t Know Better’ series. And then... never gave you all a part 4. Mostly because in the end I didn’t think the mood of the GIF matched the mood of my series.  I was further inspired to write ‘Dress’ but, again, it wasn’t appropriate. Then I was clearing out an old discord server and found an old chat in which a scenario was written about discovering Daggett’s middle name. I took that, and have thus adapted it into the below.

THEN I watched Bird of Prey and BAM-! this hit. And its 50/50 movie/badass soundtrack BUT, this was born, and I got to use that gif, finally! 😁 Enjoy, my darlings 💙😘💜

Disclaimer: TDKR nothing to do with me / gifs & lyrics and the usual not mine.

Premise: Finding out his middle name seems like an easy enough task. You should know better.

Words: 3285

Warnings: swearing / sexual connotations

_____ Girl, girl, girl can't you see What you do to me, tonight Boy, boy, boy, if you're mean I will start a fight tonight You and I could try to stop Oh boy till you drop If we get together now We'll burn this place down Boy, boy boy, want a fight? Come and stay with me the night Girl, girl, girl, are you sure (Uh huh!) I ain't here to fight, alright? You and me, can't you see We're playing with fire Tell me now do you feel this burning desire? Don't stop, make it rock It's taking us higher Could it be just a dream? Are you running away? If we get together now We'll burn this place down

---   

It’d started innocent enough. Not that John ever made anything innocent.

John R Daggett? What does the R stand for? What’s your middle name-!?

Now you had him pinned beneath you, straddling him on his desk, wearing his tie, breathing hard and fast with his passport in your hands. Victorious of course - he wasn’t about to get up from the way you had him trapped, though he was straining. If Daggett thought that the growl in his voice was about to make you weak, he had another thing coming.

***

You waltzed into his office with a bunch of mail; “All of this came for you again - I really wish you would stop having your mail sent to my house, it’s quite annoying... why do you do it!?” “It’s a good address.” Neither of you were going for a customary greeting this morning. He wasn’t even about to rebuke you with a sarcastic ‘hello’. You scoffed “Wait, what? Don’t tell me you’re trying to give the illusion that you have a place in a fancy location? What can be fancier than this house?!” “One of the most sought-after locations in Gotham City, my dear.” “Rather than what...?” You looked around “One of the most sought-after houses in Gotham? Was this not enough for you-!?” He smiled, but didn’t look up from his work; “What industry am I in, pray tell?” “Property.” You sighed, folding your arms. Well, 90% of the time, but you were sure he didn’t want you to get technical with everything else Daggett Enterprises did. John clicked his tongue, “Precisely.” “So you want people to think you own the building?” “The illusion always helps.” You shook your head, looking back to the mail, your apartment was nice sure - but it wasn’t this place. Who cares how people would view the fanciness of the location? But, presentation and perception always was everything to Daggett. “I know you too well J. R. Daggett... Hey, what does the R even stand for?! I’ve never seen that before...” That was true. You’d seen J. Daggett a bunch of times (sometimes with his last name spelled wrong) but never the R. It had occurred to you that he may not even have a middle name but apparently he did. “Ahhh...” He leant back in his chair, staring at you, “I could tell you that, but then I’d have to kill you.” “Mmm... I’m sure I have ways of making you talk...” Daggett’s smirk was delightful. “As am I, but not about that.” You gave a shrug as if you would drop the subject, which of course you would not be doing, and dropped the mail off on his desk. He thanked you with a blown kiss, to which you let him know he’d have to do better - Daggett reached for your hand instead, but you allowed his fingers to slip from yours as you crossed the room. “John, I’m working!” Even though your voice was teasing, and you knew he’d continue to watch you. True, you worked for him; as something akin to a bodyguard, you supposed. Not in the same capacity that Philip was - you were trusted with the bigger more covert operations, rather than what’d you’d call ‘lacky work’, if John asked you to drive him anywhere he knew he’d get slapped – but if he needed someone on the other side of Gotham City taken care of discreetly, he’d send you. You also liked doing some of his business work for him on occasion, running contracts around town and picking things up – usually proof reading for him and triple checking everything sent over by his accountants. Oh, you trusted them, but if anything was out of place you’d rather catch it and send it back for them to correct, rather than have Daggett yell about it when he found it himself. You bent over to slip out of your heels, and heard his groan from behind you, smirking to yourself: “You really are so predictable, darling.” You supposed you looked even better today, in your short suit. “I don’t really care…” Was his breathed response, as you stood and turned back to him again. “If you want it, you gotta come get it.” “Were I not incapacitated with mail…” He nodded to the pile you’d left and you laughed, “Uh huh. I see.” You weren’t sure it was a relationship – you weren’t exactly calling yourself his girlfriend. You refused to entertain the implication that he was paying you (and well!) for your services, and that this was just one of those. Surely not; neither of you were seeing anyone else. It was comfortable – and you cared about him at least. You weren’t sure it was love yet, but you weren’t ruling it out either. You were happy to see that there was in fact a contract for you to proof read and you hadn’t come all the way out here for nothing – delivering his mail certainly didn’t help. “You hear they’re all still looking for the Bertinelli diamond?” “You interested?” If he was going to ask you to try and find it, you’d rather John just say it. You flipped through the contract to find the corresponding number and went to open his filing cabinet to find your redlined copy: hopefully it’d all line up. “It’s interesting.” “So you don’t want it?” “Everyone that does winds up dead, so no.” “Good.” “Your conversation is lacking today.” “Just sounds like hard work I don’t need to involve myself in, to me.” Plus you didn’t want to end up dead. You slid the contract out and then paused, before you closed the draw: didn’t he keep his passport in here? For business trips and such? You opted to keep him talking, sliding the top draw open as silently as possible “Who’s the interested party?” “Roman Sionis.” “Roman? That sounds messy… not something I’d want to be involved in…” You searched through the files carefully, AHA!, as you pulled it out. “Yeah, I’d ag- WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?” “If you won’t tell me,” You waved his passport around, “I’ll just find out myself.” That got him out of his seat, “Put. That. Back.” “If you want it…” You smirked again, repeating yourself, “Come get it.” You probably didn’t expect John to be as quick off the mark as he was, and you were glad of being out of your heels (not that you weren’t fast in them), as you had to skid around the table and run around the outside of his office, taking a breather at his desk – clutching the little booklet for dear life. What was it he didn’t want you to know? It couldn’t have been that bad! Daggett, however, not blessed with young legs and the ability to apply the brakes quickly, slammed hard into the coffee table. “Ow-!” He turned back to you, not letting the pain show on his face, and you backed up a few paces, “Y/N. Get back here.” You looked cautiously around the room – where best to move… John was already unimpressed, a look of thunder on his face, he began stalking towards you – you inched around his desk to avoid him, though couldn’t help smiling – teasing Daggett was just plain fun. “I see that you’re not incapacitated with your mail now-!” “Shut up, and give it back.” “No.” “Y/N!” “All you have to do is let me see it!” Your face softened a little, “I won’t tell a soul! I won’t even laugh.” “No!” “Oh, come on…” “There’s no way on Earth I am letting YOU see it.” “Well… I’ll have to see it eventually.” Daggett almost stifled another laugh, “How do you know?” You shrugged, “If I have to book travel.” “You don’t think there’s a reason you don’t do that already.” You paused, and then conceded – good point, not one you’d thought of. He ran at you again, this time catching your wrist and forcing you to turn back. It was the wrong wrist and you held the passport away. “Please…!” If he wasn’t going to play, maybe he’d respond well to begging? He held his other hand out, teeth gritted, “I won’t ask again.” You looked hard from his face to his fingers – curling themselves tightly around your arm. Daggett promptly let go; but you realised that he had you pinned back against his desk. “Then don’t.” Without his hands on you, you could pull him to you by his tie, one harsh breath stealing kiss later and you had the situation flipped, and Daggett pinned to his own desk, “Just let me read it, John, quick and painless.” “Bullshit. I can’t have you knowing that.” Then he raised his hand, “Besides-!” Somehow he’d used your own kiss against you and swiped it back. “You’re kidding!? How’d you-!?” “I like watching you. I picked up a few things.” “Oh? You like watching me?” You pushed him further against his desk, tie still tangled in your fingers. You pulled the knot so it loosened, pushing your body purposefully up against his and rolling your hips. His moan might have been quiet but it was still audible, “I can give you a good angle to do that from.” “You’re not getting it back.” Although his voice was husky, and as you kissed him this time you made sure to nip his bottom lip. “I wouldn’t be so sure. Don’t make me fight you for it.” This time Daggett grabbed your hands, growling, “Remember who you belong to.” You narrowed your eyes, “Careful, John. I’m your employee, but you don’t own me. Not even like this.” You pulled your hands back from him and he conceded to your warning with an apologetic look. Satisfied, you stepped forward again and kissed him, one hand travelling over his chest to loop around his neck, and the other reaching backwards to try to reclaim the small booklet. Daggett was having none of it, still able to keep it out of your reach. You pulled back, huffing, and as you were never one to give up, decided to play dirty. Play him at his own game – it was time John Daggett got a taste of his own medicine (and you got to find out that middle name!). You withdrew the hand you were currently reaching with, instead focusing on his suit and he made little to no protest at you undoing his belt buckle; lips still on his. All whilst making sure he was still forced up against his desk. As your hands moved to his zipper you ground your hips teasingly back into his, to which you received a stifled moan for your effort, inviting him to undo your own. John didn’t need asking twice, hands on your waist line as he shimmied your shorts from your hips grabbing handfuls of your ass. That was predictable, and more than likely that passport would be soon forgotten. You had no trouble pushing Daggett to lie back on his desk, already looking a little dazed and elated about the idea of this happening in his office.  Why had this never happened in his office? Maybe because he was usually the one taking the lead and you’d have to think about someone walking in any minute. With you on top of him you hardly cared. Let them walk in, let them see what I can do to him… You straddled him, undoing the buttons of your waistcoat and shirt you let those and your jacket fall to the floor, Daggett groaned again as he stared at you. You were in nice translucent lace today – you’d bet he’d like that. You kissed him again, teasing him as you slid your pants off and pulled his boxers down. You didn’t need to bother taking his shirt and jacket off, but you wanted that tie. You took John’s hands in yours and rested them on your waist, with a small wink. “Don’t lose track of your passport now…” He glared at you but as he opened his mouth to snap back all he could do was moan loudly, head tipped back as you lined yourself up and lowered onto him. You chuckled, placing your hands over his on your hips – his grip was so tight, which was fine, you always liked him getting rough with you. “You okay?” “Mhm.” His little smirk was back, “Damn, you always look good on top of me.” “Well, I’m staying here. Winner gets your passport.” “You can pry that from my-” John groaned again, eyes squeezed shut as you moved, just once, but harsh and enough. “Careful, babe, I’m in control now.” *** You straightened up after your last kiss, both panting heavily, triumphant. You fanned yourself with his passport, and half expected for Daggett to grab it back. It surprised you that he didn’t, so you tilted your head – maybe he was waiting for you to let your guard down. You had been playful in getting it back from him, but he didn’t put up even too much of a fight then, far more absorbed in your sex. Daggett put his hands up, admitting defeat; “Yeah okay. Fair and square.”  You couldn’t help but smile, leaning forward to kiss him again, this time John’s hands followed you, keeping hold of his tie around your neck. Guess that made you doubly triumphant. You weren’t sure what you were expecting to see when you opened it to the photo page and your eyebrow raised, causing him to place one hand over his face. “Roland?! Okay I get it.” “EXACTLY!” His voice was pained. And you vowed silently to never mention it again, at least until you felt like annoying or embarrassing him. But then only in your private moments together. This was an award – not many knew about this; you weren’t about to spill that kind of secret when you’d worked so hard for it. You smiled, grazing your lips to his, “Don’t worry, you’ll always be just John to me.” Snapping his passport shut you set it to one side on his desk; case closed. Once you’d caught your breath back, you slipped from the desk and to the floor, unpinning him from under you. It took him another minute to sit up properly, and pull his pants back on – watching you collect your own from the floor. You weren’t shy about putting on as much of a show redressing, although John grabbed your hips and turned you back towards him before you’d pulled on your shorts, placing his hands on your waist deliberately so buttoning your shirt and waistcoat back would be difficult. “What?” He surveyed your body for a moment, “Nothing.” “Then you’re not getting any of my work done by staring, are you?” Although you allowed him to catch your lips in a short kiss. “Maybe I don’t want to… You can do that whenever, right?” His hands ran back to your ass, pulling you closer. “If you want to pay me overtime?” You grinned drawing him to your lips once more, “Now may I get dressed?” “Can I have my tie back?” He unfurled it from around your neck. “Oh. I suppose.” You slipped from his arms as he took it back, and then stepped out of his reach as you pulled your shorts on, neatening your hair you crossed the room to the contract you’d left on the table, the real reason you were supposed to be here. John was more than just a little pouty as you turned back to him, but you couldn’t help but smirk a little – he wanted you to entertain him; you weren’t about to. “Don’t you have mail to open?” He huffed, rolling his eyes and finally standing, sifting through the mail for what was most important – but he didn’t sit back at his desk for a little while, wandering around the room. You would have asked, only that was exactly what John wanted. You knew this man better than he thought you did; but that was because you did your job properly – you needed to know him inside out. Because hell, if sometimes you didn’t need to protect him from his own big mouth. The ego on this man… You’d just about finished the contract when John cleared his throat, now back at his desk, there was a briefcase sitting upon it. He tapped it nonchalantly: “Speaking of Roman Sionis...” You raised your eyebrow, closing the contract you walked back to his desk, slipping back into your heels. “Sign.” “It’s clear?” “Mhm. You can read it. But it’s good to go.” John nodded, before looking pointedly from you to the case. You sighed, “You want me to go to Roman’s club?” “Yes. Do the deal, come straight back - what do I pay you for?” You weren’t sure if that was a trick question; “... ME?” If you were getting technical you were contracted for security; everything else was kind of secondary. “Do you want me to mention this damn diamond?” Was that his real reason for sending you? “What’s wrong with that?” He blinked against your question, “No, I was being serious!” You looked down at your clothing, you’d certainly need to neaten yourself up. Roman’s scathing comments were one thing, but he was capable of much worse for far less. “Think I might need my tie pin for professionalism.” On days where you opted to wear a tie, you liked to hold it in place with a tie pin John had gifted you; Daggett Enterprises engraved in cursive across the gold plate; your initials on the inside. “More like the hidden blade.” Okay, so maybe you’d modified it into a weapon yourself – but it was easy to conceal and no one would suspect such a little thing to be so lethal. It at least made you feel safe at some of his dodgier business dealings. “Well I don’t think he’s gonna let me take my gun in!” You scoffed, folding your arms. “You won’t need them, I promise. What would I do without you?” He stood holding the case out to you, you were tentative, but realised you’d have no choice, and took it from him delicately. Daggett placed his fingers under your chin and coaxed you to his lips once more. “Okay. Good… Can I stay to watch Dinah sing?” He smiled and gave you a nod, “You may.” “Thank you.” You tipped your head, half curious and half worried: “What if I don’t come back?!” “All the paperwork and everything is in there. You’ll be fine.” “I don’t trust him. I don’t like you working with him.” And you were serious. The sooner these two finished business with each other wouldn’t be soon enough for your liking. Even if you did get to see her sing every time you frequented the club. That was very nearly worth it. But it was hard to focus on her sometimes when you had to worry about him… “Y/N. Just. Do what I tell you. Go.” John was clearly exasperated, just wanting you to go deliver the case, no questions asked. He should have known better. You narrowed your eyes at him and read it all over his face: Ah! Shit, that was a bad choice of words! You held the case behind you, stepping up to him, eyes searching Daggett’s your voice was still calm as you breathed your threat sweetly: “You better be ready to be tied up by your own tie when I get back. Sir.”

Daggett swallowed hard as you stepped back again and turned, waving once but offering no more as you left his office. Oh, he’d done it now…

---

Thank you for reading! 😁

[straight-into-the-animus]

(One of) Many Meetings (Modern!Arno x Reader)

This was the brainchild of people on the AC Discord Server, I’m just the humble messenger. I hope you enjoy this little fic of Arno Dorian meeting Reader’s parents!

Content: Fluff, blink and you’ll miss it mentions of nsfw behavior, parents show up, reader is gender neutral, around High School era

The problem with Arno was that there were, well, rather few problems with him. And you loved that about him, but it somehow infuriated you as well. The biggest problem wasn’t that he got along with your friends wonderfully, better than you could’ve anticipated, or that he liked to surprise you with gifts at irregular intervals (“Arno, the balloons-!” “Merde, they’re flying away!”) Oh no, the worst part of it all were your parents; they loved him.

It started the first night, as you two had been going out for a few weeks at that point and wanted to see if it was strong enough to handle A Meeting of Parents.

“I promise it won’t be so bad.” You had reassured him earlier that day, lounging half on top of him in a library armchair. “We’ll stay for maybe ten minutes, go out right afterwards, I promise.”

“I don’t doubt you, mon amour. I only hope I can keep my hands off of you for that long.” He grinned, head dipping down to kiss your neck.

“They’re my parents, you brute. You better behave yourself.” You quietly, breathlessly laughed, sharing a grin with him.

“Never.”

The doorbell rang a few minutes ahead of schedule and you all but lept out of your seat, planning to get there first to open it and gesturing for your parents to sit down. Of course, nothing was ever that simple, and you were quickly beaten to the door by your triumphant mother, who opened it expectantly.

“You must be Arno.”

The Frenchman was actually well put together, in well fit jeans that hugged him with a white button up shirt, sleeves loosely rolled up to the elbow. It wasn’t fair how effortlessly put together he was, but c’est la vie, you sighed silently, that was your boyfriend. He met your gaze for a second over your mother’s shoulder and shot you a quick wink before turning to her with a charming grin.

“And you must be Mademoiselle (Y/L/N). A pleasure.”

The phrase earned some light laughter from your mother. She let him in, and you both subtly bee-lined for each other as his arm easily wrapped around your- your shoulder. Not low on your waist like it usually was, possessive and endearing all at once.

“Well come in, come in then! You’ll have to meet my husband before you both leave, he’s been looking forward to this.”

“Just as much as I have been, I’m sure.” He readily replied, winking in your direction, and you rolled your eyes when your mother wasn’t looking.

“Would you like some cheese to go with your ham, Monsieur Dorian?” You whispered in his ear, having to stifle the shiver and small yelp that coursed through your body as his hand lightly scratched the back of your neck.

“Maybe later. We’ll see if the mood is right.” He responded in the same volume before you were both off to say hello to your father. You originally only planned for it to take around five minutes; it ended up taking ten.

And then Arno was supposed to bring you home around 10:30. He brought you home at 10:15.

-------

You later learned there was a reason he wanted to be home so early when one day you were running a little bit later than normal from some traffic problems. Your parents knew, had even texted you when they got word, and you had let them know in return that everything was fine. Or, it would be if the driver’s seat would stop vibrating from one very bouncy, nervous man in the seat.

“What-”

“They said to have you home by nine, and it’s now quarter after that time, they’re going to hate me.”

“And they know the circumstances, Arno. Really, we’re all fine. My parents are not going to hate you.” You slowly explained, as if you were calming a skittish horse. You even felt like you were petting one as you reached out and ran your fingers through his hair gently. “I don’t think that’s, like, even possible for anyone in this world.” You felt a grin start to spread on your face as a well-needed thought started to take over in your mind. “How about we find a way to pass the time if the traffic isn’t moving?”

“There aren’t many out of state license plates. Not many games to play with those.”

“Wha-” You sat back in your seat, staring at him with complete puzzlement. “Who are you and what have you done with my boyfriend?”

It was his turn to give you a confused look this time before the cars ahead of you started to move. “Ah, finally.”

It was all you could do to sit back and just shake your head as the car raced through the street.

-------

He started showing up a lot more, your parents even taking the liberty of inviting him over at times.

Dinner? Sure thing.

Was there a game on that night? Bring an appetite and there was likely a jersey somewhere to spare for him.

Arno even started to bring his own food at that point, and you sat back and watched it happen. What was wrong was that none of it made any sense, not really. At school, outside of your parents, he was as you knew him; Arno Dorian, French ‘debonair’ and extraordinary lovebird, always ready to tease and rile you up and love you the way you knew you wanted and needed, just as much as he was ready to keep you close and centered. 

But around your parents, he was “Oh yes, I did hear about the stocks” and “Mrs. Johnson’s class is doing wonderfully, but it’s slow-paced”, and it was starting to get on your nerves, which Arno didn’t pick up on in the slightest. It came to a head when you came home from a day out with friends, finding the most unexpected audience in your home.

“(Y/N)!” Your mother called out in the kitchen, and you shrugged off your coat as you made your way over there. “How was it?”

“Wasn’t too bad, you should’ve seen what- What the hell.” You stopped in the entryway to the kitchen, taking in the sight of your mother and Arno, taking tea near the counter like it was a Sunday afternoon in some Jane Austen novel. “Arno? What are you doing here?”

“I was invited over.” He smiled brightly, eager to answer even though there was the faintest undercurrent of something else under it. “I had finished my work for the day, so…”

“We were just discussing-”

“Can we talk alone? Thanks, sorry, love you.” You smiled sweetly to your mother as you cut him off and took Arno by the elbow, leading him away into the main hallway, albeit gently. He was still carrying the teacup and you both floundered with it for a moment before he set it precariously on the stairs.

“I’m sorry, I-”

“I don’t have a problem with you being nice to my parents, it’s- I’m glad that they like you, really! But tea? In my kitchen? With my mom? I’m not even here!”

“(Y/M/N) was just being nice-”

“(Y/M/N)?” You blinked. “You’re on first name terms now?”

“No, I- (Y/N), please. Just…” He sighed and you could see him mentally piecing himself together. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think this would upset you as much as it did. It was just… They were very welcoming. And I wanted to show how much I appreciated that, show them I was serious. You mean so much to me, mon coeur, truly.” His hand went to hold yours, eyes searching yours. “I wanted to show I could be a good man for them. And… I must have gotten a bit carried away in everything.”

You couldn’t help but feel the smallest bit of your anger melting away, staring into his brown eyes. He was contrite and sincere, you could tell. And you knew that he really did just want to be liked. “You don’t need to go to all these lengths. They’re my parents, sure, but... that hardly matters in the long run. Yes, I want them to like you, but... Ultimately, if they don’t? That’s their fault. Not yours. They’re missing out on someone awesome. Don’t try and be something you’re not because you think it’ll make me or them happy. Okay?” You smiled slightly and he returned it, soft and genuine.

“I will try my best. I love you, (Y/N).”

“And I love you, Arno.” You leaned forward and kissed him, meeting his soft lips in what you thought would be a chaste manner as you were slowly becoming accustomed to, but before you pulled away there were the slightest bit of teeth on your lower lip as he nipped. His smile grew into a grin as you looked at him in surprise, treasuring your slight gasp.

“Now… How about I finish my tea and we head out on a proper date before your mother’s chili comes out of the pot?” Arno grabbed his tea from its position on the stairs and left you with a wink, as you just stared at his retreating backside.

Yeah, he was infuriating. But c’est la vie, he was yours. And you wouldn’t have him any other way.

-------

I hope you enjoy! If you do I have a Masterpost here and more ideas for writings and prompts here, so feel free to request!  If you’d like to support me, I have a ko-fi here! Safety and peace!

[balizardsnakething]

TW DRAMA AND ME ACTING ON MY EMOTIONS CAUSE OF THIS POST 

Granted I did post this after sending her an apology and I’m glad I now have official confirmation that she has seen said apology. The very fact that I have sent an apology means that I had got over the situation and just didn’t care about it anymore. I also tagged @toomanyfamdom because we thought it was ✨funny✨ and have gotten over the situation (unlike some). 

It should also be noted that I haven’t had any contact with Maddy since everything that happened and at least had the decency to send an apology and move on. Also, for the record, I had nothing to do with that list of toxicity. That list was put together and shown to me by my friends. I then continued to FORWARD THE SAME MESSAGE to Maddy because I disagreed with the list. 

Let’s see, shall we? Up first on the list of hell that I had nothing to do with (and disagree with) there is... “inconsiderate of time zones and peoples family life.” This eventually turned out to be accurate, not just for me but for many others. Madison would organise events like DnD games at UNGODLY hours in the morning (because she is in American time zones) and when us British people were unable to turn up she would kick them from the game and then proceed to shame their character for an hour. Granted her uncle did pass (im very sorry for your loss), but that had nothing to do with anything. Many of us (including myself) helped Maddy and were there for her, and I have plenty of messages to prove it. 

ANOTHER thing to do with time is when I was added to one of the greatest Instagram group chats in the world! However, my sleep was abruptly ruined when Maddy group-called the chat at 4am because she wanted to play Minecraft with a friend. Please direct call next time... thanks. 

Whilst on the subject of time family life, one of the most memorable things this girl did was shame me and attack me on one of the discord servers we were both on. What made this even worse was that I had an audition for a London West End theatre school which had the power to change my LIFE. And Maddy knew this and also knew that it was worrying me and that I was extremely stressed about it. You may say ‘oh, it's just a coincidence’. If you believe that please explain why said post tagged everyone and was posted 5 mins before my audition. Maddy knew this would stress me out, I spoke about the audition and my ability to read into things many times before and she knew this would get to me! A lot of the things Maddy did were petty shit, but then again, that’s who she is. 

Next up is... “shows blatant favouritism.” Well, it’s no surprise Maddy has so many friends! But which ones does she actually care about? My friends and I witness this first hand on many occasions, one of which being another DnD game where she was the dungeon master. Maddy made the turn order by (and I quote’, “the order is in who I love the most.” This caused some of us to feel a little uncomfortable, but we continued until Maddy put each character on a path to different destinations and explained which each path was. By the time it got to me, my dyspraxia/dyslexia couldn't hold the information, and I asked Maddy to explain them all again. Maddy agreed and but then ended with, “You just used up you go, Charley.” I was so confused! Apparently, explanations waste a turn??? But this was fine by me until Maddy explained the destinations to another player, but this time, she let them choose where they wanted to go instead of keeping them on the bench, awaiting their turn. Maddy would also allow people to have longer goes/round claiming that there was more to their story. My turn would be around 2mins where someone else would be 5. Again, petty shit which still happens to make people upset. 

Note: It was not just me who felt this way! Many others slid into my dms because they felt upset with how Maddy treated others but not themselves. 

Up next is, “making your best friend feel like shit for making a joke”. Another reminder, this list wasn’t written by me, it was written by my friend who was watching from the outside. And this is very true. I would often make jokes with people about Donald Trump and America because their laws and president (not anymore) were stupid. This always seemed to annoy Maddy and hurt her feelings. I would often make a throwaway comment but end up feeling bad about it because Maddy would leave the call. I always felt like I was walking on thin ice with her because if I said something even remotely controversial, she would not speak to me and leave the call. This really hurt me because I cared about my friends a heck of a lot and never wanted to ruin any relationships with them. I would send countless messages to Maddy, apologising and crying to her, telling her not to be mad at me. THAT 👏🏻 IS 👏🏻 A 👏🏻 TOXIC 👏🏻 RELATIONSHIP 👏🏻 One joke shouldn’t be the be-all and end-all of a friendship,, but that is what It always felt like! Also, Maddy never specified it was a trigger until recently, and even after she did say it was a trigger, I held back so she could feel comfortable. 

The final thing is: “made you feel bad for your emotions.” Madison needs to learn that EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT and that people deal with things in different ways. Not everyone is smart, sensitive or skinny like she is. Whenever anyone hurt my friends, I would lash out and act upon my emotions because I didn’t know what else to do. This is something Maddy heavily criticised me for and something that eventually resulted in me listening to high-frequency sounds so I could get rid of my emotions and feel numb. My logic was that I didn’t want to hurt anyone ever again by jumping the gun and acting upon emotion. But thanks to others, I was pulled out of that loop, and I’ve learnt to use logic and reason as well as emotion. 

As for “breaking my heart”. Yes. Our friendship ending did hurt me, a lot. Just like everything with you, it is very one-sided. I was reaching out, listening and trying to help Maddy repair relationships with people whom she’d hurt. We both said equally bad things which made the ‘relationship’ toxic, and I would just like to point out that the name, ‘evil Maddy’ is cringe and I’m ashamed I was ever friends with you considering you used that in a callout post. /hj

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

Sarcasm aside, ima be real here because I am not afraid to tell my side of the story. So, @ thenameisnoone / Maddy. Here is a long-ass response to the post you made about me. xx

Look, I’m not going to call you out or use Politics_notmything to cancel you because I’m not like that. I’m an actual good person who really tried with Maddy and dis my best to change myself to make her feel comfortable. I left a group chat with all my friends for a week and blamed it on ‘family issues’ because I didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable. I made an entire Birthday PowerPoint for her, which included some of my best and favourite bootlegs. I made a genuine effort, but Maddy didn't really do anything else but tell me to “calm down” or “not throw everything away and give in to anger or despair and calm down until you can think rationally and make a logical decision”. 

And I’m glad I actually saw this because this is a classic Maddy move. She argues with people, builds up a situation then removes/blocks them, so they cant see everything she’s saying about them (i have proof of this from a server im in.) It has happened before, and she manipulated people into believing her side of the story. 

“I am allowed to block people who lie to me about serious topics even though they have trust issues which makes them unable, to tell the truth, if it hurts them. I am allowed to talk to people who blow up on me before hearing my side of things where they would have realised what they thought is wrong even though I dont get back to people until 3am and decide to leave them on delivered/read for days at a time when I am happily talking in other servers. I am allowed to block people who accuse me of shit-talking them with my friends who I introduced them to (and I never do that) when I have only defended them and said friends genuinely were being nice to them even if they have proof. I am allowed to block people. Period.” - Maddy 

And I’m not saying Maddy isn't allowed to block people. It’s a free world. Im just defending myself :) 

Granted, Maddy did defend me and say that this situation shouldn’t change anyone opinions on me, and I can say the same. Just because I had a terrible experience with Maddy, doesn’t mean she is a bad person and I encourage anyone online who loves women’s’ history and WATT to befriend her. 

But being honest, she did also call me a bitch on a Tumblr callout post, so I had to come and write this all down for safekeeping and reblogging purposes. Im not a bitch, and that is why I’m not using my following to cancel her. But anyway,  we both had some shit experiences with each other so you can read this and make up your own mind even though I did back her up with the previous call-out post, sent her my support, apologised and didn’t block her when she was at a bad time in her life or when she needed help. If anyone has a problem with me posting this, please contact me via DM. 

Sorry, not sorry ‘bout what I said. I’m just tired of your petty shit.

[lilstrawbxrry]

2019: final messages [PART 2]

Part 1 --> [HERE]

ll Part two of my New Year messages! This is a combination of people who reblogged the one thing after I published my original post, as well as some other random people I want to give love to. u w u

@fatechosen

You’re one of the new friends I made this year and I am so glad I did! At first I was a little bit hesitant to interact with you because I had seen you write with someone I’ve had bad experiences with, but I’m really glad I chose to reach to you after all!! I really enjoy all of our OOC talks on Discord and I’m sorry I haven’t really come to chat as much as of late. > <

Your blog has changed quite a bit compared to when we’ve first started interacting, but remember that writing should be fun for you, as well as for your partners. Writing as the muses you connect with the most is important, even if those might not be the most popular muses. I’m looking forward to getting into more otome games in the future so I can interact with more of your babies. <33

@diverse-hearts

Mira!! You’re probably one of my oldest friends here on Tumblr and even though we don’t talk as much as we did in the past, I’m still extremely grateful to have you as a friend and a RP partner. You have a BUNCH of muses and even though I only interact with a select few, I’ve been enjoying those interactions a lot. 

My personal favorite has to be the friendship we have going on between Ashley and Sharon. They’re different in so many ways, but they make for such a fun combination!  

I love it when you spam my inbox and honestly I would send in more asks as well but I know you already have a lot of asks and drafts as is and I feel bad for adding to that workload, lol. Nonetheless, I hope we can continue to interact frequently in 2020. u w u

@gameboyheroes

Congratulations, you’ve kept up with me for yet another year, haha! I’m glad we’ve managed to stay friends for such a long time and I am sorry we don’t talk as much as we used to. Unfortunately the MM verse died down a lot and I’ve mostly been focusing on Diabolik Lovers as of late. However, that doesn’t mean I’ve lost interest in interacting! I still love MM a lot and would like to have more interactions within that verse. 

I know you went through a lot mentally this year and I hope that things will be better for you in 2020. If you ever need someone to talk to, just know that I’m here! <3

@mckeitbeautiful

Time after time you keep on impressing me with just how much effort you put into your blog ー from the carefully decorated icons, to the multiple promos and starter calls to get interactions going and your vast amount of muses across several fandoms.

I really should come and poke at you more on Discord too. I’m sorry for being such a shy bean at times. > < I know your MM muses haven’t been the most active, but I hope I can interact with them more in the future, as well as with your recently added Kanato because I’m totally into DL at the moment! (Quite obviously)

Our timezones don’t always match very well, but if you see me online on Discord, you’re always free to come and talk to me! Whether it’s for plotting or just a casual chat!

@complures-aspiceres

You recently made your return to Tumblr and I was honestly really happy to see you back! While your two MM muses may not be on the very top of your priority list, you’re always free to come and bother me when they’re being active! I love the twins to bits and I’m always up for interacting with them! <3

I also hope we can talk OOC more in 2020 because I enjoy getting to know my RP partners outside of IC interactions as well. I know you don’t use Discord, but my IMs are always open! Don’t be shy!

@sadistic-sakamaki

Your Ayato is so spot on, Rejet should hire you to write his character’s routes from now on. Also huge props to you for sticking to the fandom for so long since you’ve had your blog for so long!? I was shocked when I saw the number!

Seeing you interact with some of the Yui roleplayers on the dash also turned me into a huge AyaYui shipper, to the point where even my muses ships the two of them together in my classmates verse, haha.

We’ve only talked OOC a few times in the DL Discord server, but you’re such a sweetie. I hope we can become even better friends in the coming years. ^^

@detrimentalbloodsucker

Even though we haven’t really talked OOC very much just yet, I want to thank you for sending in asks every once in a while! You seem like a really nice person and I can’t wait to talk/interact more with you in the future! ^^ 

If you want to turn any of the answered asks into a thread, never hesitate to hit me up and I’d be more than happy to!

[ariadnelives]

Chapter 26 -- The Assault

[Missed earlier chapters? Go catch up here! Otherwise, welcome back! Oh, and make sure to join our discord server! Chapter can also be found @ ao3”]

Later that day, several dozen heavily-loaded shuttles fell into orbit over Phobos. Ariadne was upset that they didn’t take more time to plan before moving on Dr. Simon himself, but as Spacebreather pointed out, they didn’t have time to stall. If they waited more than a few hours, the cult would have a chance to move him.

Most of Ariadne’s ground forces disembarked about half a kilometer from the facility’s entrance. Several dozen spacesuit-clad armed acolytes were standing outside exactly one of the caves, so the crew figured that was likely to be the door the Zealot was behind.

“Bring the noise, querida,” Ariadne said into her comm and the last remaining ship immediately did several flips in midair and fired off several plasma bolts that, despite the ship’s advanced targeting system, somehow managed to not hit any hostiles. After a beat, she scoffed, “Showoff.”

“You love it,” Spacebreather’s voice returned through the comm. “Get in there and knock these guys out so I can join you on the ground.”

“We’re on our way,” Ariadne chuckled.

“You got five minutes,” Pilar’s voice buzzed back, “and then I stop missing on purpose.”

“Won’t be a problem,” Ariadne replied. “Te amo, terminado.”

“Terminado,” Pilar agreed, and switched off her comm.

“Do you think the Triplets will be okay with Fastwing?” Sasha asked Sweettalk on a private channel.

“Yeah, I mean, you got their chips out, right?”

“That’s not what I mean,” Sasha replied, “I feel like we shouldn’t have brought them with us. We just got them away from these creeps.”

“They wanted to come,” Sweettalk said, “If we can get Dr. Simon in custody I’m sure they’ll want the chance to confront him, and if the shit hits the fan, they’re with the best pilot in the system--”

As if by magic, Pilar took this opportunity to do a showy corkscrew maneuver over the crowd of acolytes, narrowly avoiding several shots from their weapons, and releasing a cloud of multicolored smoke to disorient her attackers.

“--Okay, the second best pilot in the system. If we get hurt, Alicia will get them to safety.”

“Plus,” Sasha added, “I’m betting she does something cool with their hair.”

“She has a gift,” Sweettalk agreed. “Point is, we just convinced your sister it was bad to keep people grounded for their own protection, so we sorta screwed ourselves out of the right to object when the triplets want to come along.”

“Heh,” Sasha laughed. “You know, I only just now got why that’s funny.”

“What’s funny?”

“Just the idea of keeping someone ‘grounded’ in a spaceship.”

“Mm,” Sweettalk agreed, “and now that you’re not grounded anymore you’re actually, you know, on the ground.”

This went on in this fashion for a little while. The rest of the crew didn’t know how grateful they ought to be that Sasha and Sweettalk were speaking on a private channel. There are only so many jokes on the word “grounded” that two people can make before their friends and loved ones feel compelled to intervene, and there is little point in attempting to quantify exactly how far past this point Sasha and Sweettalk went as the crew took their positions and systematically knocked out each of the acolytes guarding the entrance. By the time they had finished, Sasha and Sweettalk were both breathless with laughter from their rapidfire, almost vaudevillian exchange of “grounded” puns.

“Everyone grab one,” Ariadne called out on the public comms.

“Why?” Lefthook replied, “I mean, there’s a limited amount of air in those suites, can’t we just… let the problem take care of itself?”

“We’re sending a message,” Ariadne replied. “Ghostrunner and Spacebreather killed hundreds of their acolytes in self-defense. These guys don’t pose a threat to us.”

“You know they’ll wake up eventually, right?” Lefthook responded, begrudgingly joining the others in hauling the unconscious cultists through the airlocks.

“Once they’re inside, we’ll cut their air lines,” Ariadne explained. “They’ll live as long as they don’t try to go back outside. Once we’ve got Dr. Simon back on Ship Trap with a gun to his head, we’ll contact the authorities and let them deal with these guys.”

Pilar came marching over the ledge with a very large assault rifle slung over her shoulder. “Don’t forget to take their guns, these things are choice.”

“Fair point. Take their guns, we don’t know how many others are in here anyway.”

“Girls!” Alicia called, coming around the corner with her styling kit, “I thought you might enjoy some new hairstyles! I mean, I like a nice bob as much as the next lady but--”

She was left speechless at the sight of the Triplets. They sat together, glowing a slightly artificial blue. Alicia could not tell which of them had been cybernetically augmented. All evidence of injuries had vanished. It was as though all three girls were simultaneously completely organic and completely synthetic. There was something about it that caused Alicia to want to look away on an instinctive level, but she couldn’t.

“What is this?” Alicia finally stammered out.

“Something new,” all three girls mused in a single voice.

“What did you do?” Alicia asked, starting to rush towards them but quickly recoiling, out of fear that they might be contagious, or even radioactive.

“We touched,” they responded, “and understood. This is what we were built for. Evolution. Adaptation. We were designed to grant our father immortality. Our bodies will incorporate anything that facilitates our continued existence, and adapt to survive anything that threatens it.”

“Whatever doesn’t kill you,” Alicia muttered and trailed off. “I’ll be damned…”

“We have to go into the cave with them,” The Triplets responded. “Their plan is going to fail.”

Several minutes and about fifty unconscious and several seriously wounded acolytes later, Ariadne and Spacebreather reached the door to the throne room with Sweettalk and Sasha in tow.

“Stand watch,” Ariadne directed Lefthook to lead the other other troops in the corridor. ��Non-lethal force if you can, but if someone’s going to die, don’t let it be you. That goes for all of you.”

“Yes, cap!” The girls replied, and unholstered their weapons.

A moment later, Pilar kicked down the door to the throne room. “ON THE GROUND, ASSHOLE!”

A single acolyte manned a computer terminal that seemed to have no screen and only two silver joystick-like appendages for controls.

“I SAID GET THE FUCK ON YOUR KNEES IF YOU WANT TO KEEP THEM,” Pilar bellowed.

The Acolyte fall to his knees.

“Where is Dr. Simon?” Ariadne asked calmly, “You’re gonna want to talk fast or else my associate is going to find some creative ways to make you glad those robes are already red.”

“He is here!” He whimpered. “The Zealot is all around us.”

“Babe, do I have your permission to start cutting off fingers again if he doesn’t get serious?” Pilar asked.

“I’d listen to her,” Sweettalk chimed in, “Last guy she took a finger from ended up decapitated.”

“He is all around us!” He pleaded. “Please, look!”

He gestured at an ornate golden table near the center of the room.

“Spacebreather, keep your gun trained on his head. If he tries anything funny, see if you can take it off in one shot,” Ariadne slowly started inching toward the table.

“With pleasure,” Pilar stroked the trigger of her rifle carefully.

Ariadne looked down on the table, through the inset glass to what lay within.

Lying motionless inside the table was an unmistakable face with a neatly trimmed gray beard and a straight, pointed nose.

“This is not Dr. Simon,” Ariadne replied. “This is his body. Where is Dr. Simon?”

“Back up,” Sasha asked. “Dr. Simon’s body?”

“Prescott had to tell me something to convince me it was worth it to help him,” Ariadne replied. “This body has been dead for fifteen years. Dr. Simon, on the other hand--”

“--Viable Lazarus,” Sweettalk gasped. “Lazarus, we should’ve seen it all along. They’re trying to bring him back from the dead.”

“I’m only going to ask you one more time before I let my beautiful associate indulge her itchy trigger finger,” Ariadne replied. “Where is the server containing Dr. Simon’s consciousness?”

“I already told you,” the acolyte began crying, “He is all around us.”

“Look at the walls,” Sasha marveled, “Sis, they’re--”

“Databanks,” Ariadne replied, “We’re standing inside the most massive supercomputer in the system.”

“Do we just smash them?” Pilar asked.

“If you destroy the servers, you’ll kill more than the Zealot,” the Acolyte offered, “The databanks are full of lost souls who’ve seen the light of the Red God.”

“What is he talking about?” Pilar asked.

“He’s using a few thousand human shields,” Ariadne was disgusted. “All those people who took a Suffering Test for this wackjob were signing up to be brainwashed. He hollows out their head and fills it with their programming, and their consciousness ends up imprisoned here. If we unplug the whole system, there’ll be no way to restore the people he’s got under his little spell.”

“You, crybaby,” Pilar jabbed the Acolyte with her rifle, “dial this jerk up, how do you talk to him?”

“If he wishes to send messages, he can, but in order to speak directly with him… without ViLaz as a relay, we have to enter the system ourselves to gain an audience with him. There’s a psionic interface--”

“--And how do you go about deleting individual files from this system?”

“I don’t see a screen or a keyboard or else I might be able to hack in.”

“No synthetic computer can interface with His prison,” the Acolyte whimpered, “Only a human brain has the processing power necessary to access the system.”

Ariadne chuckled. “I’d almost admire it if it wasn’t so evil. He’s actually built a computer I can’t hack.”

“So, how do we get in?” Pilar asked.

“Stands to reason that each drive in these databanks contains one consciousness,” Ariadne said, “So, if I can access the system, I should be able to identify the drive with administrator permissions, then all we’ve got to do is yank that one out, take it home, and format it.”

“Patch in, like, connect your brain to this thing?” Spacebreather asked incredulously.

“Have you ever seen a computer more powerful than my brain?” Ariadne asked.

“Yeah, babe, this one,” Pilar snapped gesturing at the entire room made of computer that they were standing in, “it’s absolutely out of the--”

Ariadne very pointedly said nothing at her, which managed to stop Pilar cold.

“There’s no keeping you from doing this, is there?” Pilar sighed.

“I’ll be safe,” Ariadne promised. “In and out.”

“You’d better,” Pilar warned. “If you die, I’m coming after you.”

Ariadne smirked. “You’d better not.”

Ariadne planted a kiss on Pilar’s lips and then got immediately to work.

[svarmodiig]

       SVARMODIIG’S 200 FOLLOWERS CELEBRATION.

Logging onto Inigo this morning, I had mostly planned to celebrate his birthday. What I didn’t expect to see was that, on this already special day, he had hit 200 followers. I’ve roleplayed Inigo for around 5 years now, and though I’ve reset his blog countless times, I never hit a milestone as grand as this before. I wanted to say thank you to everyone who came for Inigo and has stayed for my writing, for the countless headcanons and love I have poured into him, and despite my sporadic activity, continue to support not only me but Inigo, too.

Obviously I need to celebrate this, but what could I offer you all that I haven’t already? This blog is full of writing, and you all write your own characters so beautifully, I couldn’t offer a drabble, not for 200 followers. My art has hit a serious wall and it would be unfair to promise a drawing that may never be completed (ask Savvy her birthday was nearly a month ago and I still haven’t presented a final piece) so then I thought about what makes this blog special. And that’s all of you.

I couldn’t be here if it wasn’t for all of you! I’d just be some madman yelling about Inigo while no one else cared ― writing with all of you has helped me learn new things about Inigo (and my own writing) and the inquiries and discussions about his character has helped him to grow. I wouldn’t have been able to develop him so well on my own.

So rather than celebrating myself, I want to celebrate you. I know that this is going to look like a biased post and I truly hate the concept of mains. Naturally, everyone is going to appreciate their friends first and foremost and want to support them by hyping them up, but we’re all real people on here, and the last thing I want to make myself out to be is exclusive. If it were possible, I’d love to be able to befriend ALL of you, and of course if you consider that within those 200 followers are archived blogs and several blogs from the same people, this looks a little less special. But even then, there’s at least a hundred of you out there, supporting me and that means there are so many of you supporting me. 

So before I start ranting about the friends I have made on this blog, even if I don’t name you specifically, even if we haven’t interacted, I truly value your support and want to thank you for being here with me. I hope one day we can speak ― I know I’ve tried to make my blog look fancy but it’s to cover up my insecurities and shyness so if you can see past that, please reach out! I don’t bite, I promise. I’ll be just as scared as you.

TO MY CLOSE FRIENDS...

I dedicate this section to those of you whom I speak to nearly everyday, even outside of RP antics. A special shoutout to Orange @fatestouched​ who isn’t active anymore but you know how special you are to me already and how much I adore your Owain.

Lauren. @exaltblooded​ / @insignc​ / @brigidbcrn​

We’re coming up to 2 years of friendship in the coming months and that’s honestly so wild to me. You were one of the first friends I made at Uni and I’m so glad we kept in touch outside of gaming society. I’m thankful that you dared to ask if any of us roleplayed on that fateful day. Not only have we grown closer because of that, but your introduction into the FERPC has truly changed the dashboard for me ― not only because of all the crack you begin with Savvy ― but because of the new people I’ve met because of you, which has in turn meant I met new people through them and found myself a little community on the dashboard. Orange and I always kept our little verse to ourselves, but with you we’ve been able to expand it all, and there’s no other Lucina I would ask to join our little family. Thank you for all the memories and rp antics we’ve shared together.

Savvy. @ofconvocation​ / @ofnifl​ / @ofgaspard​ 

I normally like to put names in alphabetical order, but here I have an actual plan. Through Lauren I met you, and through you I met the others below. So before even beginning I have that to thank you for. Savvy ― we speak literally every day, you’ve been there for me through so much and I couldn’t be more grateful. At least once a week you get a little rant from me about how much I love you, but this time it’s public, and that means others will be able to see just how amazing you are (and they’re definitely going to agree with me!) The effort you put into each and every one of your blogs is inspiring, there’s so much love poured into them all and it really shows with their beautiful themes, their icons that more than leave an impression, and most importantly the writing. I think we can all agree you are incredibly talented as a writer and it’s thoroughly enjoyable to write with you when you aren’t starting crack on dash with Lauren. You’re easily one of my biggest supporters and it’s so very rare that I find myself doubting myself with you ready to launch yourself at me if I dare to think I’m anything less than amazing ― I just hope you know I am always ready to return the favour and truly admire you. Thank you for not only the memories but all the beautiful art you’ve gifted to me (and I promise Aurora will be finished by the end of the year.)

Momgan. @askrisms​ / @faerghusiisms​

I don’t care if your name isn’t actually Momgan you will always be just that to me. A lot of our conversations revolve around how amazing I think you are ― and that will never change. All the love and effort you put into Chateau will never be forgotten, and even though it didn’t end in the best light, you never gave up on it. All of your ideas are wonderful, and it’s an honour that I get to write some of my favourite ships with you ― heck, you’re the first person I’ve ever shipped an OC of mine with, because I know I can trust her in your hands and you will show her the same love you show your own muses. I absolutely adore your writing and I could easily read an entire book you wrote if I were able to. I hope that you and I can be friends for a long time, and we can write with one another often. You’re someone I genuinely look up to and I hold nothing but admiration for you. You will always be my Mom.

Ches. @unquiixotic​

I want to start off by saying that while we may not have spoken huge amounts, I absolutely adore you Ches. If you were to ask Savvy or Lauren how much we hype you up, I don’t think between even the three of us we could explain to you just how much admiration there is for you. As a person you are wonderful, always so kind and supportive and a genuine delight to converse with ― and I hope that over time we’ll be able to speak a lot more! I remember from Chateau your struggle to find a muse to write among the many you have, and I honestly at the time wondered how it was possible that you could write so many muses. I understand now that you harbour so much love, and that is put into your many beloved characters. All of them are equally loved, equally developed, and none written worse than the others. With Felix and Sylvain, I believe it will be our first time writing with one another outside of Chateau and I am genuinely excited to see more of your writing style, how you format your posts to convey your characterisations.

To those whom I wish I spoke to more often.

Shine. @beautiilance / @panic--ploy

Confession Time: I honestly was terrified of you for such a long time. Lauren and Savvy hyped you up for a LONG time before we actually got to talk and because of that you were already embedded in my mind as someone who was so cool that I was intimidated to speak to you. I know now you’re a big sinful softy and I had nothing to worry about ― bar your sin ― and I’m glad that we are friends. I’ve been trying to get Lauren and Savvy to add you to servers for a while so that we might get to speak and I’m glad it’s through Three Houses we got that chance to talk, since a new game provides a lot to talk about with all the new content. Like it or not, your Ingrid is attached to my Sylvain (as well as Ches and Mom’s Felix and Dimitri) so you’re stuck with me and we’re going to speak more! I hope in the future we can write with one another more and create some truly special memories.

Boo. @ofhoshido / @fxrmer / @nowithedragon / @misssummoningelizabeth

As one of Savvy’s real life friends, you hold a lot of respect in my heart for dealing with her antics ― I kid of course, that respect is for being there for her. She spoke of you often to me and I’m genuinely glad we got to meet and talk with one another. You’re a lot of fun to talk to and even though I’m shy and afraid to strike up conversations I do genuinely enjoy speaking with you. I hope that we can write more with one another in the future!

Pandora. @shamir-nevrand / (for the life of me I can’t find your other blog I’m sorry!)

We really really really haven’t spoken all that much but I know that Savvy and Lauren absolutely adore you and have sung your praises to the heavens above and it has me really hoping to one day speak to you for when I can stop being such a cuck and not be afraid to strike up a conversation!

...from Tumblr.

to clarify quickly, the three above are all people I’m in servers with on Discord whereas those below I am not and know only really on Tumblr but still want to talk to more!

Jessica. @i-nsubordination / @nonpareiltactician / @f-ortuity

Jessica ― I hope you already know how much I adore you. Naeva is so very special to Inigo and that puts you close to my heart. Their bond is so wonderful to explore, it’s something I’ve always wanted and you make those dreams a reality and I cannot thank you enough for that. When first I returned after my little hiatus you were so enthusiastic about my return and that has stayed with me, and every so often I’ll remember it and smile to myself that someone remembered me and was so happy for my return ― and I never said it but I truly hoped that you would still be here. There are so many things I can say about you ― the way you developed Naeva is genuinely admirable and it’s so lovely to see how much love you poured into her. She feels like a real character and is one I won’t ever forget, even when I’m off thinking about Inigo’s family away from Tumblr Naeva always comes to mind. She’s an unforgettable part of his life now and that means we are bound together. The way you write too is incredible and every post is crafted in such a way that I could read more even when I finish. It’s an honour that I get to write with you and you inspire me to be better. Part of what makes her so special is you, the person behind the screen. You’re genuinely so lovely and supportive and that makes your blog more appealing. I’ve always enjoyed speaking to you and can only hope in the future we get to talk more!

Volty. @i--gnis / @d--evotio

Volty I hope you know how much I adore your Robin ― I wasn’t sure if I’d ever get to use my main verse tag with a Robin, there are so many out there that terrify me and I still remember admiring you from afar. Now, I’ll happily slap that tag onto any post with you involved. I know I vanished so the old thread didn’t get to continue but I would be more than happy to dig it up from beneath the dust piled upon this blog just to see how your Robin gets to father Inigo in his youth. That thread alone so genuinely excites me and I absolutely want to do so much more with you to explore their dynamics. I can’t put into the words the admiration I hold for you and Robin and truly wish we can speak more one day. As for Validar? Bad man, evil keep him away from Inigo he’ll CRY.

Faty. @convxction / @sentofight

FATY I HAVE SOMETHING TO TELL YOU! Lauren is your biggest hypeman. For a LONG time she hyped you and your Chrom up to me ― and I had honestly been admiring you from afar for so long before then. You seem like a really genuinely nice person and I want to try and interact with you more to be able to hype you up as well! Importantly, since Lauren considers your Chrom her main and Lucina is part of my main verse, that pulls you in, so like it or not you’re coming down with us into Awakening development hell.

Carol. @heroismdreams

I know we’ve spoken a little before but I’m putting my foot down and saying it’s not enough. I absolutely adore your Cynthia and all the love you’ve poured into her. Her portrayal is wonderfully accurate and I can read all of your posts in her voice. The development you’ve gifted her is an absolute blessing and I really want to see more interactions between her and Inigo!

To those I admire from afar.

Rey. @reycursed

Aegis. @poregida / @azelfire

Pigeon. @valflame / @cicholic

@exalted--zealotry

To each and every one of you, I want to say that I adore each and every one of you. I think your blogs are so hecking amazing and you all seem like such nice people and whenever I see you on dash I’m waving a little banner of support in your name. ― Aegis, I want to apologise for going inactive and our thread dropping with Inigo and Laurent but know that I’ll be bothering you again soon. ― and to the grandfather-in-law from hell I want to highlight how much fun it has been interacting with you in small doses on dash and to say thank you for the fun.

And to those untagged.

I’ve been away from this blog for so long that I know many of those I called friends are no longer here ― and in the same vein those I admired are long gone. Whatsmore, life has been hectic, well and truly hectic and I can only remember so much from my past times on here. There are so many of you that I would love to personally message but this post took 2 hours alone to throw together because I’m so slow and I do want to celebrate Inigo’s birthday.

[universal-kitty]

.: Drama Involving AJ :.

   Stylized ‘til I die, I guess. Anyways.

   This is talking about phasefuck/huckerbee/teafrogs/whatever their URL is this week. AJ/Lee. The compilation of what’s happened involving them.

   So... Starting at the beginning.

   D was the reason I got into Borderlands. I watched her play TFTBL and gush about Rhys and get more involved and understand the ship she had! Also got my first crush on Zer0, but... Y’know.

   So I did some art, started plotting ideas for who’d eventually be Gremlin- aka Rena Marlow, my SI for BLands- and that led...to us meeting AJ. They wanted me or D to join their server. D preferred because of her self-ship with Rhys, but I could join, too. D was nervous about new, strange people and I wanted to learn more about Borderlands and try new things, so... I hopped in, D stayed behind.

   The time with them was pretty fun! Ended up making some friends, plotted fun ideas for AJ’s idea of the time, Borderlands Infinite. A continuation of Tales as AJ saw it. The server was made PRIMARILY for this endeavor and everyone in it was allowed an OC or self-insert to be paired with whoever they wanted to be with....long as they were open, that is. AJ had HJack, and everyone else... Well, most of the spares had been paired off by the time I joined.

   Rhys was potentially still open, cause someone AJ had previously been talking with...either wasn’t responding, or had dropped out entirely. I forget by this point. Zer0 wasn’t an option and I didn’t know much of the others, so.... I accepted Gremlin to be paired with Rhys.

   Thus the origins of my verse with Rhys. (As well as the OT3 with him and Vaughn... They started here.)

   Tension was pretty high in the group and- though I didn’t acknowledge it at the time- it was primarily from AJ. Nobody else could like Handsome Jack “too much”... You could be playful about him, a little joke-flirty...but if you were suspected to like HJack, then you were “stealing” him from them. Because of this- while the group was friendly enough- it was hard to get into the “share faves” vibe that a lot of us seemed to have; gushing about a character that wasn’t your own just......felt weird.

   Not sure if anyone else noticed, but that was my experience.

   Anyways, I helped AJ with their story a lot due to being online a ton, with no work to do. We talked on the daily about what Rena could do, what Helios was like, how the story would go... The long-term slowburn we were putting Rena and Rhys through. I praised their art and ideas, they cheered for Rena/Rhys. It was pretty mutually supportive....

   ...Until AJ kicked fits. I was always online, so what about everyone else?? When I wasn’t online- sometimes if I was- I’d get put on a pedestal for helping out while others said nothing. (Essentially saying something like “Aki helps out all the time, but nobody else does” or, the popular one, “maybe I should just delete this since nobody cares.” I don’t have screenshots of this for reasons that’ll be explained in a moment.)

   We typically talked them out of these, but eventually... It did happen. AJ messaged me that the old group had been deleted and there was now a new group of only the ACTIVE people. This left me and a few others, thought some other people would eventually cycle in. (One of which still being someone I look up to even today!! Even if we don’t talk much, lol.)

   I got more creative freedom during this time, since other people “lost out” in their spots and... Somehow, this led to me taking on Nisha, too. I paired her with my OCs, Pyrotech and Meowzer. (Ex-Creepypasta OCs revamped for BLands. Is this my origins for my Nisha ship? Kinda!!!)

   But by this point... I had grown to *really* like HJack. I’d made a slip before (more on that later), but learned his character very well and even played him for roleplays AJ and I were doing. AJ played themself and Rhys; I controlled Jack and Rena. All that research led to feelings....and ones I knew AJ wouldn’t approve of. So I did two things, right off the bat: kept my head down and immediately worked on justifying why I liked him. See, it’s because...it’s not the “canon” Handsome Jack!! The one I ship with has golden clasps! So they’re not the same!! And uhhhh....more bad things happened to him? He dresses more lavishly...?

   I kept trying to come up with ways AJ might approve of my AU Jack without invoking their wrath. Not that...it would end up doing much, in the long run.

   I invited one of my friends to join during this. One who also liked HJack...and proved my worries right. (Checked my Discord; I still have some of the messages!!! Whoop, here we go...)

   Don’t have screencaps of the drama that proceeded to unfold- especially due to AJ blocking me on Discord and so losing all of our conversation- but.... That’s just how THAT is, I guess.

   They did get super cold after and I had to explain things to my friend, while also assuring AJ that I would handle things and it’d be alright. It was an uncomfortable hiccup, but one that went by easily enough...

   Though as I said, it was a significant event to show me how careful I needed to be when it came to HJack and AJ.

   Also during this time... Another friend I’ll just refer to as P. We’d also been roleplaying in this time and having a blast. Absolute joy and- we don’t talk much anymore- but I do still consider them a dear friend. I played as CEO Rhys for them and they were Handsome Jack for me; we played our characters (my SI, their OC) and just... Had so much fun with it all.

   So then... Amidst all the fun, it eventually happened.

   What I described in this callout post.

   AJ and I...we ended up dating at some point. I thought they were cool, we got along well, talked a LOT and all this... So I didn’t see a problem with it. Why not? I’ll get to have an awesome artist S/O with their cool ship and all their ideas... We’re gonna be unstoppable!

   ...But I also had abandonment issues. Too many times did I pour my all into someone, only to be left empty. I’ve always been the most supportive person in a room, trying to uplift EVERYONE to feel good! Cause yeah, everyone deserves that! AJ knew this. We’d talked about our issues and vented.....

   And they still did that.    They left my server as I slept. Blocked me on Discord, though I didn’t notice it at first.

   ...It was the one day I checked Tumblr first. They left their blog for a new one. Okay!! I’ll follow them on there, then! I did, and checked Discord. That was in the vent channel, and this was sent to me by a mutual friend.

   So that’s how I woke up that day. Suddenly alone and single. And very, very depressed. I would end up posting these as my friends had to help me down:

“ ……now I wish I would’ve gotten lost after all or kept sleeping ….nothing is work being awake right now”

“ I just don’t want to exist I hate myself all over again I can’t get past that”

“ AJ just…..dropped me. Just like that. I didn’t know and tried to follow her new blog….. Either they just soft-blocked me or outright blocked me

“I feel so fuckin’ horrible”

   At the time, I was horribly depressed due to outside causes. I was suicidal at the time and getting into some light, risky behavior in hopes it could be a factor in the end of my life. (I would walk around at night, hoping that the growing heat would either cause heat exhaustion or someone would attack me. Abduct me. Whatever meant that I would be gone and in pain.)

   I later learned that this is actually learned behavior; my dad would react in extremist ways to things (something broke? “I want to kill myself.”) and so I probably learned it from him. This has actually made managing my suicidal thoughts easier, but at the time, I did not know this and put me more at risk.

   Though this then kept continuing.... Because of course these things do.

   It starts all over with me trying to move on. Someone was advertising their self-ship server, I wanted to try again and make friends... So I gave it a shot and joined!

   ....AJ was in there.

   I quickly left as soon as I had entered, telling the owner I couldn’t stay due to troubles with someone else in there. They were understanding and, thankfully, that was that.

   ...But it STILL wasn’t. These are older messages, so I can’t get them together as much as I’d like to (in one screenshot, is what I’m saying) so I’ll also quote these, but if anyone needs screenshot proof, I can get that on request.

   Anyways, our mutual friend (I’ll nickname her MF for “mutual friend” lol) later piped up with this:

05/19/2018 “So, aj invited me to a group chat and I'm a pushover who hasn't been able to cut them off yet so I said yes and boi I'm big uncomfortable now Like I thought I could maybe juggle being friends with both aj and Rachel even after what aj did but I was wrong.

“But idk what do now. I don't know what to say to them because I don't want to just drop them without saying anything. No doubt that'll get them talking about me behind my back”

.:.

“I might try that. I might mute the server so that I don't have to deal with that because i can't stay in it but I don't want to start shit by leaving I mean they are acting like Rachel is in the wrong”

.:.

“That they "stole their f/o" and that they are going to take the dragon idea that Rachel had for blands and "make it better" out of spite And I'm not happy”

.:.

“Well I just typed up a long message and while I'm glad I'll finally cut out a toxic person I'm also super nervous

“I sent it and left the server

“Wow okay all I got was a "Bye then" I sent a long ass message. Explaining my side and why. Hoping they'd understand and they just said bye then??????”

   As you can see.... Everyone who’d been in that server (me, P, and MF) were on-edge about the “talking behind our back” issue that MF confirmed above. I figured it would happen, but it did...and that was a league all it’s own. (Especially when the callout post went around, and it got confirmed AGAIN that slander in my name was still going around.)

   But one more thing happened that triggered this onslaught... Remember my RP w/ P? Well, this happened.... [TW for daddy kink mention? Calling themself Daddy?? That thing.]

   Link to Ask.

   Was never reblogged. Sent to me by a friend. To my knowledge, nobody spread this around AT ALL. But this was brought up in the same vent/time period as the above conversation.....

MF: Aj said that Rachel stole hj from them.

Me: Me, apparently. It's somewhere between that post and the ask (I think?) P sent me..... Which I loved and was hella surprised over, but. Oh boy.

Fren (aka owner of Karma): My god wtf can she like calm tf down

MF: They actually were mad that people were reblogging a post of yours, probably the kitten thing, that was about hj because it's "gross"

Fren: geeze Aj grow up

Me: ??????? Nobody reblogged it, tho

MF: Hmmmmm they vagued about someone shipping with him, someone they had blocked, that liked the daddy kink and stuff

   I mean. I get it’s a gross thing for people, but.... HJack has also called himself “daddy/papa” on more than one occasion. It’s up for debate if he does it because he is Literal Dad or because he’s that nasty, but... Considering everything else he does, the latter seems the most obvious. That’s just how he is.

   Anyways. The point being that we had each other mutually blocked by this point. I had people either block me, soft-block me, OR just outright unfollow + soft-block me because they were more trusting of AJ than of me. So to hear that they somehow knew P was sending me that ask...... Either someone TOLD them or they were stalking my blog to see what I was doing while they were gone.

   Either way, not great. (What was pretty funny is I later made a joke about “stealing the rights to Handsome Jack from 2k so nobody else can do anything with him” and that “I’m a wanted man”... That’s nice.)

   And so... We get to more recently.

   Last I personally heard, I had to do some personal checking that led up to this... Saw leeships in self insert tag. New self-ship blog, so I blocked, as well as checking their blocked main to make sure everything lined up....and was greeted with this.

   They’ve since changed their URL- again- but the fact they’re STILL being petty towards D is just....something else.

   Speaking of, I’m not actually...sure where that started. There was a whole conversation we had over how AJ treated D out of sight of others (they talked over IMs, I guess because we were budding friends at the time, and what else do I do but hype up all my friends?) There was a lot of attention-seeking behavior from AJ (showing their art and then getting mad when D or Fren tried to compliment them for “lying” about the compliment...?), but far as I knew/remember, there wasn’t any bigger issue.

   ...After we broke up, however, an issue began as D and I became better friends. Friends stick with friends, D knew AJ, so when the blocking-bug was going around, D blocked them, too.

   Which eventually snowballed into the bullshit you can still see today. With AJ trying to claim that D is the one dealing out harassment when- at worst- maybe D did talk too much and AJ didn’t deal with it in a healthy way. (Because that is an issue I’ve heard of; except AJ freaked out over it, instead of talking it out like a healthy adult and figuring out how they could balance out the conversation. Seriously. I’ve had this talk with D. We don’t dominate our conversations at all; nobody over the other. If there ever was a problem, then literally just saying “Hey, I don’t feel heard/listened to when I talk about my ship” was all AJ ever needed to say, but....... Y’KNOW.)

   I’m not D, so I can’t say the full scenario of that, but this is the best way I can show there was a middle ground AJ could’ve used to work things out, but they didn’t.

   Oh, and just so I’m not saying things if you haven’t already seen this... Here’s a screenshot someone (for privacy’s sake) got of AJ trying to pin the blame on D for being the “real harasser” in their BYF:

   We all just wanted to get over this. However, D and I especially don’t want to get involved with or be AROUND AJ/Lee in any way. So we keep an eye on what they do so we can feel safe. We DON’T want to forgive AJ/Lee (for obvious reasons), so we keep blocking their accounts and/or make sure they’re still on our blocklist.

   I know I’ve resorted to putting their URLs on BLACKLIST to make sure I don’t see them at ALL because of how much stress they put me under just seeing them around.

   What the hell do THEY have to be stressed about? Dealing with people they hurt for BEING hurt and not wanting them around us anymore?? Fuck....

.:.

    Anyways. I guess that about concludes all I wanted to write about. Friendly reminder that their old callout post is here and while I doubt a new one will crop up any time soon (as I sure don’t want to write one that’ll get around, after the last time I had a friend try to help me do a callout post on someone like this), you can at least look up that one more time after reading this.

   So...... That’s the end. Thanks for reading this and I’m sorry if anything was upsetting.

   ...If you want, you can come to the ask box and ask for a gif of your F/O? Or a cute puppy or kitten? Maybe I can find some nice fanart for you as comfort...? IDK, options.

[reallydumbdannyphantomfics]

(This was supposed to be posted yesterday, but writing it took longer than I expected, so. uh. Here it is now. Enjoy.)

It was a dark night in the ghost zone when Dots ( @d-o-t-s ) arrived at the Denny’s. The Diddles Piddles lights flickered overhead, and the Danno window curtains were blowing softly from a breeze coming through a slight opening in the window. As Dots entered the restaurant, @quishaphantom , who was sitting in the corner, let out a soft “Ding,” thus alerting the specter sitting at the counter.

“Detective, you’re here!” greeted Tali ( @dannyphandump ), getting up from her chair.

Dots removed her deerskin hat and approached her. “What seems to be the problem?”

Tali wrung her hands together. “Well…” She looked aside as she searched for words before finally meeting Dots’ gaze and continuing, “You remember when the Reality Gauntlet was stolen, right?”

Dots nodded, then frowned. “It wasn’t stolen again, was it?”

“Oh, no! The gauntlet itself is fine, but…One of its gems is gone.”

Dots raised her eyebrows. “Just one gem?”

Tali nodded. She floated toward the basement and motioned for Dots to follow, which she did.

"I was just checking up on the Denny's as usual," Tali explained, "when--hold on, watch the memes." Dead memes filled the basement of the Denny's, and the two ghosts had to step around them ("Damn, Dots, back at it again with the detecting!" said one meme) before they continued their way through the tunnel. "Sorry about that," said Tali and continued, "As I was saying, I was checking on the Denny's when I realized that it's been a while since I checked up on the gauntlet. So I went to the vault, and it was there as usual...but the Gem of Fantasy was missing!"

They stopped their path when they reached the vault. Dots, who was quiet for the trip, finally spoke. "Who would steal one gem and leave the gauntlet?"

"I don't know," replied Tali, meeting her eyes. "That's why I asked for your help."

She opened the vault, and they walked in. In the center sat the Reality Gauntlet on its pillar, gleaming in the light. Just as Tali said, the blue circular gem was missing.

Dots approached the gauntlet and inspected it with her hands clasped behind her back. "Did you speak with the security team?" she asked Tali, not taking her eyes off the glove.

"They didn't come to work today," Tali responded. "It's the Dannyversary, as you know, which is a Phandom holiday. No ghost is obliged to work on this day."

"Not even the head of security?" Dots questioned. Something at the bottom of the gauntlet caught her attention, and she narrowed her eyes.

There was a period of silence from Tali before she admitted, "Vic isn't answering my calls. Last I spoke to her, she said she was busy running the Baby Squad server."

Dots picked up the Reality Gauntlet. Underneath it lay what appeared to be an index card with a symbol α on it.

Behind her, Tali widened her eyes and came closer. "I didn't notice that there," she breathed. She turned her head to face Dots and asked, "Is that an A?"

Dots didn't say anything. She picked up the card with one hand and placed back the Reality Gauntlet with the other. As she moved away from the pillar, something on the floor caught her eyes. She bent down and picked it up. It was a feather.

Dots pulled out a ziploc bag from her coat, placed both the card and the feather inside it, and pocketed it again...for evidence.

She stood up and turned to face Tali. "We're gonna have to question around some ghosts," she told her. "You said you haven't been in contact with Vic, right? That sounds suspicious if you ask me."

"But don't you run the Baby server with her?" Tali pointed out. "Wouldn't you know whether she was lying or not?"

Dots looked away and rubbed her neck. "I've been a bit too busy lately to look at the server," she explained. "You know, I had...stuff."

"You mean like...the oatmeal thing?"

"...Stuff," said Dots with a shrug, refusing to look at Tali. "Anyway, we should question Vic. She ought to know something."

And so they went.

. . .

"Well, this is a surprising visit," said Vic ( @babypop-phantom ), leaning back against her couch and looking at Dots and Tali. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Dots and Tali were currently seated across from her in the living room. The two shared a look before Dots faced her and asked, "Are you aware that one of the Reality Gauntlet's gems is stolen?"

Vic stiffened slightly. "Really? I guess I failed my job at security, then."

Dots leaned forward and narrowed her eyes at her. She could tell that Vic was trying to mask her nervousness. She narrowed her eyes further. "What were you doing at that time?"

Vic gasped and placed a hand over her chest, looking at Dots with exaggerated shock. "You don't think I did it, do you?"

"It's a possibility," answered Dots, leaning back. "You did steal the gauntlet before, after all."

"Uh, no I didn't," Vic refuted. "Vorus did."

"Vic. You are Vorus."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm definitely not Vorus."

Dots resisted the urge to roll her eyes and instead crossed her arms. "Well, then, do you know where Vorus is?"

Vic's gaze wandered away, and she slowly shook her head. "Dunno. I haven't talked to them much since the reveal." Her fingers tapped against her thigh. She looked at Dots again and added, "Anyway, why are you inspecting this? I thought you quit being a detective after the Lexxpocalypse ended."

"Actually, I hired her," Tali spoke up. She glanced at Dots. "I would have hired one of the newer detectives like Laz or Duncte, but Dots has more experience."

Dots smiled. "I'm sure Laz and Duncte would have been helpful in solving your problem, but I'm glad you called for me. Afterlife without solving mysteries is quite dull."

Vic's gaze darted between Dots and Tali. "So, any more questions for me to answer?"

Dots and Tali met each other's eyes. Then Dots looked back at Vic and said, "No. Thank you, Vic. That's all."

In a few seconds, Dots and Tali had left Vic's house and were floating outside in the Ghost Zone. "So?" asked Tali. "Did Vic do it?"

Dots was resting her chin against a knuckle in a gesture of thought. "It's still too soon to tell," she answered. "You'll have to ask around the Baby Squad while I go talk to Vorus. I know their aura; I can track them down pretty easily."

"Woah, hold on," said Tali, holding up her hands. "What do you mean I'll ask the Babies?"

"It can't be me, can it? I'm the one who knows where Vorus is," pointed out Dots.

"Well, yeah, but..." Tali pointed at herself and said, "Mom, remember?"

Dots blanked out for a second before she was hit by realization and smacked her forehead. "Right. Adult. Of course." As Tali watched, she pulled out a paper from her coat and scribbled something onto it then gave it to Tali. Tali held up the paper and read it.

"1 day free admission to enter the Phandom Baby Squad discord server." She raised an eyebrow at Dots. "Uh, what's this?"

"An allowance slip for an adult to join the server temporarily," Dots answered. "Mods are allowed to give it to someone in extreme emergencies. I did once, to Lexx."

Tali looked at the paper again, eyes wide. "You mean I can see what's inside the Baby server?"

"Only to help in the investigation," Dots reminded. "Remember, you have to ask around about Vic, and note any weird behaviors from any of the members."

"Right. Vic. Suspicions. Got it." It didn't seem like Tali was that attentive. She was grinning at the paper. Dots simply rolled her eyes.

"Well, I'll be off to find Vorus," she informed Tali before flying away to where her ghost sense will guide her to Vorus.

. . .

She found Vorus sitting on a cliffside at an especially cursed part of the Ghost Zone.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Detective Dots," Vorus greeted in a sing-song voice as Dots landed behind them. They turned around to face her with a toothy grin, their hands in the pockets of their green hoodie. Ever since their reveal as Vic's clone, they have shed away their Lexx disguise in favor of a...uh, greener version of Vic.

"It is," Dots confirmed. She stepped closer to Vorus. "I have some questions to ask you."

"Being a detective again, Detective? Ah, but I thought you quit."

"I did, at first," she admitted. "But you can never truly be rid of your obsession."

"'Can never truly be rid of your obsession'," Vorus repeated and clicked their tongue. "Is part of that supposed to be aimed at me?"

Smart as always, Vorus was. She straightened herself and spoke to them. "Your obsession is to cause chaos. I wouldn't be surprised if you had a chaotic plot in progress right this moment."

"I'm offended that you would have such little trust in me," Vorus replied. "Believe me, it is with full honesty I can tell you that I haven't done anything chaotic since the Lexxpocalypse ended."

Dots was...suspicious. She squinted at Vorus. "Nothing at all?"

Vorus held up both hands. "Hey, no fingers crossed."

Silence permeated the two of them, broken only by the very faint screams of the cursed ghosts residing in these parts. Dots fidgeted and crossed her arms. "If you turn out to be lying, I will find out," she warned with a frown on her face.

Vorus grinned. "I'm sure you will."

. . .

Dots wandered aimlessly through the Ghost Zone. Where was she supposed to be going to again? Oh, right. She agreed to meet Tali in front of that new place...what was it called? The 'Eat n Yeet'?

Her mind was busy turning her meeting with Vorus over in her head. It didn't seem like Vorus was lying, but with them, you can never tell. She was so distracted by her thoughts that she bumped into someone in front of them.

"Oh, sorry," she apologized and stepped back. She looked up and was surprised to find Bug ( @reallydumbdannyphantomaus ).

"It's fine," Bug waved it off. They looked away and chewed their lip.

"...You okay?" Dots asked. She could practically feel the anxiety coming off Bug.

Bug turned around in their spot, looking around everywhere for...something. "Uh huh," they said absentmindedly. "Just keeping an eye out for other me."

"Other you?"

Bug finally met Dots' eyes, and they were bloodshot. "Other me," they repeated. "They said they would reveal their identity today. So far, no one has heard from them."

"Other...you mean reallydumbdannyphantomfics?"

"Them!" Bug confirmed. "The other me. The imposter. The thing God fears."

Dots looked at Bug with concern. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Sure. As okay it is to feel when there's a person stalking you and pretending to be an 'alpha' version of you."

"Hey, I know how you feel," Dots said and patted their shoulder reassuringly. "I had a lot of imposters too during the Lexxpocalllll....." She trailed off suddenly and gasped.

"Lexxpocalllll?" Bug asked.

Suddenly, Dots grabbed them by their robe and pulled them close. "Alpha Bug," she whispered.

"Hey, do not call them by that name," Bug warned and pointed an angry finger at her.

"No, you don't get it," Dots pressed on. "Alpha Bug. α."

"...Yyyeahhhh, I'm pretty sure there's context behind that, but I don't know it," Bug said and pulled Dots' fingers off them.

"Other you is the one who stole the Gem of Fantasy," Dots explained with a grin, vibrating with excitement.

"Wait--they what?"

Dots stopped vibrating and looked away. "But...I don't know who Other Bug is."

"Sorry, but what was that about them stealing a reality gem?"

Dots ignored their question. They started continuing on their way to the Eat n Yeet. "How will I find out who Other Bug is? They don't leave many clues..."

She was snapped out of her thoughts by Bug's hand on her shoulder. "Hey, I couldn't help but overhear you saying your thoughts out loud. Need I remind you that they said they'd reveal their ID today?"

Dots brightened considerably. "Of course! Then the mystery will be solved! When will they reveal themself?"

Bug was silent. Dots deflated. "Right, you don't know." She was quiet for a moment before adding, "We should go meet up with Tali. And then...we'll wait, I guess."

"You don't mind if I come with you?"

Dots shrugged. "I don't see why not."

And they went.

They found Tali hovering outside the appointed meeting place, looking distracted. She was staring off into space when Dots came up to her and waved a hand in front of her face. "Uhh, hello? Ghost Zone to Tali?" Dots called.

Tali still didn't look at her. "Man," she whispered. "I knew the Baby Squad was wild, but...man."

"Welp, I am officially terrified of Phandom minors," Bug said from behind Dots.

Tali shook her head and broke herself out of her trance. She looked at Dots, more attentive this time. "Right. The mission. Uh, I asked around about Vic, and..."

"Forget about it," Dots interrupted. "We know who did it."

Tali seemed surprised. "You do?"

Dots shared a look with Bug. "Well...kind of. We know what they call themself, but not who they really are."

Tali furrowed her brows. "I don't think I understand."

Dots turned back to Tali. She opened her mouth to explain, but her eye caught something on Tali's shoulder and she paused. "What is that?" she asked, pointing at the gray object.

"Huh? Oh." Tali picked the feather off her shirt. "I think this is from one of the pets at the Baby server. A grey parrot! Did you know it can say hewwo?"

Dots ignored her and snatched the feather from her hand. She hastily pulled out the ziploc bag from her pocket and held it up for comparison. There was no doubt about it; both feathers were from the same bird.

Dots stared at Tali. "Who owned the bird?" she demanded.

. . .

A hooded figure sat in the otherwise empty Denny's. They softly scratched an African grey parrot's head, who chirped happily at their touch. The bird's sounds echoed through the restaurant.

Quisha, still in the corner, said, “Ding” as the door was opened. A gap of light from outside fell upon the figure and their familiar. Three ghosts' shadows interrupted it.

"The Denny's is closed right now," Tali's voice spoke.

Though the figure's back was turned to them, they smiled. "I know."

"Then you must know that we know what you did." It was Dots' voice this time. "...and who you are."

"*Whom," the figure corrected.

"Literally nobody cares," Dots gritted out.

Next to her, Bug stepped forward. "It's you, isn't it?" they said. "You're reallydumbdannyphantomfics."

The figure was quiet for a moment. Then they chuckled. That chuckle soon turned into a laugh, and they stopped preening their bird to turn around in place and face the three ghosts at the entrance. Slowly, they pulled off their hood to reveal none other than @voidetrap .

"Surpriiise!" Void cheered and did jazz hands.

“I knew it!” Bug exclaimed and punched the air. “The first one to write a Butch Hartman/Butch Hartman fanfic. Why didn’t I see it sooner?”

“Ah, yes, the Elmer’s Glue fic,” Void sighed. “My greatest achievement.”

“Greater than, oh, say, stealing a reality gem?” Dots accused.

Void grinned at Dots. “So, you figured that out, too?”

She frowned at them. “That gem belongs to the Denny’s. Where is it?”

Still smiling, Void put her hand in her pocket and pulled out a shiny round sapphire--the Gem of Fantasy. “Right here.”

Dots didn’t give them time to react. Immediately, she launched herself at Void and knocked them off their chair, pinning them to the ground.

“Give it.”

Void’s smile vanished. They pointed the gem in their hand at something to their side and exclaimed, “Get her, Donnie!”

“Donnie? Who’s--”

Dots was interrupted by a squawk from next to them. She turned her head and saw Void’s parrot grow in size until it was double, triple...twenty times its original size. It looked down at her.

“...Oh. So that’s Donnie.”

The bird screeched and lunged at Dots, beak wide. Dots screamed and flew out of the way. Void, now free, pushed themself to the air and zoomed away, intending to escape out the back.

Three Bugs appeared in front of them, blocking the way. “Who’s the alpha now?” taunted one of the Bugs.

“I am,” Void said with a cheery smile. They pointed the gem at one of the fidget spinner seats, and it detached from its stand and flew at Bugs. The original Bug cursed and fled from its path, but their two clones were demolished.

“Death by fidget spinners...a poetic end,” gasped out one of the clones before they dissolved away.

Void was so distracted by their feeling of accomplishment that they didn’t notice Tali behind them. Suddenly, she tackled them to the floor. The gem in their hand fell, and it bounced to the floor and rolled away.

Void snapped their eyes to the gem, then to Tali. They twisted in place and bit Tali’s arm.

“Ow! What the heck!” She let go of her hold, and Void scrambled toward the fallen gem. But before she could grab it, it was snatched by someone else. Void looked up and was greeted by the remaining Bug’s face.

“You’re wrong,” Bug said. “I’m the alpha.”

They pointed the gem at Donnie, and the parrot returned to its original shape and quit chasing Dots. Dots stopped and leaned against a table, panting heavily. “You have,” she gasped, “one...energetic...bird.”

“I know,” Void replied.

Dots and Tali went to stand by Bug. They looked down at Void, who was still on the floor.

“It’s over,” Bug said. “We got the gem back, and we know who you are.”

“**Whom--”

“Nobody cares,” said Bug, Tali, Dots, and in the corner, Quisha, all in unison.

Void chuckled and pulled themself up on their feet. They faced the three victors and held their hands forward. “So? Are you gonna arrest me now?”

“Don’t be silly,” Tali told them. “You know the Phandom is mostly an anarchy.”

Void shrugged and let their arms fall to their sides.

“I still don’t get it, though” Dots spoke up. “Why did you steal the gem? And how did you do it?”

Void’s face seemed to sober. “I wanted my blog to stand out,” they admitted. “Without it, reallydumbdannyphantomfics would have been just another parody blog in the--concerningly--sea of imposter blogs in the Phandom. But if the posts I made started coming true...well. It would be interesting, wouldn’t it?” Void smiled and added, “As for how I did it...it wasn’t me.”

Dots did a double-take at that last statement. “What--it wasn’t--then we didn’t solve the case?”

“You did, technically, since I’m the one who requested it to be stolen,” Void explained. “As for the one who actually did it, well...” They turned to face Tali and asked, “When was the last time you checked on the Reality Gauntlet before all this?”

Tali blinked in surprise at the sudden question aimed at her. “Uh. I don’t know. Usually, Vic does that. Why do you ask?”

Void couldn’t resist the tug on their lips. “When Vorus stole the Reality Gauntlet, they gave me one of its gems before returning it.”

Silence.

Dots and Bug slowly turned their heads to look at Tali.

“The Gem of Fantasy,” Dots began, “has been missing since the Lexxpocalypse. And you only just noticed that. Today.”

Tali only shook her head slowly and said, “I am going to have a serious talk with Vic.”

Void suddenly bent over with laughter. “Oh, man!” They wiped a tear from their eye. “You guys should totally see the look on your faces. To think it’s taken you this long to even figure out it was missing...oh, man!”

Tali seethed. “Well, the case is over now, isn’t it? We found the gem, we got it back.”

“I guess it is over,” agreed Dots. “I’ll be going back to my lair, then, if nothing else is needed.”

“Bye, Dots,” Void managed to say after their laughter died down. As she went to the exit, they called after her, “Enjoy your oatmeal!”

“Screw you!” Dots called back cheerily with a wave.

Bug handed Tali the reality gem. “You should, uh, probably put this in the vault.”

“Yeah,” Tali agreed. “And up the security. Maybe adding more dead memes to scare off intruders can be useful...” She went to the basement, stopping only to point at Quisha and say, “Dude, go home. The place is closed.”

“Ding,” Quisha said sadly and left the Denny’s.

Once Tali entered the basement, that left Bug and Void alone in the restaurant.

“So,” Bug said.

“So,” Void repeated.

“...You’re other me, huh.”

Void nodded. “That I am.”

There was an awkward silence for a moment. Void swung their arms around.

Finally, Bug broke the silence by saying, “So, now that I know your identity, does that mean you’ll stop calling yourself Alpha Bug?”

Void inhaled through their teeth and shrugged. “I don’t know...I mean, does revealing my identity really make me less of the alpha...?”

The look Bug sent them made them laugh again. “I’m kidding!” Void said. “Of course I’ll stop. You can just call me Void from now on.”

“Good,” Bug said, and Void laughed again.

After a moment, Void glanced around. Aside from Donnie, nobody else had entered the room yet. Void’s lips curled into a grin, and they leaned in to Bug. “Hey, wanna know something?” They lowered their voice to a whisper and said, “I lied.”

Bug blinked. “What?”

They chuckled. “I don’t need the Gem of Fantasy. I don’t need any reality gem, actually. Sure, it made things easier, but my powers existed before Vorus gave it to me.”

Bug was stunned. They opened their mouth to say something but found nothing to say. Void smiled at them before passing by to pick up their pet.

“I’m sorry, what?” Bug finally managed to say, turning to look at Void.

Void was preening Donnie again. “Easy,” they said. “When I made reallydumbdannyphantomfics, I noticed something that I had never noticed in Swampus, or in any other sideblog I made.” They tore their eyes away from the bird to meet Bug’s eyes. “It had a lot of power. When I’m reallydumbdannyphantomfics, I can do anything.” 

For a while, the two stayed there, neither saying a thing. Suddenly, Void waved and floated toward the exit of the Denny’s. “Anyway, bye!”

Speechless, all Bug could do was wave back.

From the corner of their eyes, Tali reentered the room, back from the basement. “Oof, sorry that took so long. The gem is back in the vault, hopefully for good this time.” She looked at Bug. “Uh, you okay?”

“Uh huh. Sure. Fine.” They still had their hand raised in a wave.

“...” Tali casually wrapped an arm around Bug and said, “You know, we should do something to celebrate. I mean, we cracked a case--sorta--and now you know who your imposter is. I say we celebrate with a glass of salt soda.”

“Sure. Yeah. No problem.”

Tali looked at Bug in surprise. She vibrated. “Seriously? No one has ever agreed to try out salt soda willingly! Hold on, I’ll go grab us a bottle!”

She let go of Bug and dashed to the kitchen. Bug blinked and finally snapped out of their trance. “Wait--did I just agree to try your stupid drink?” They turned toward the kitchen and called out, “No, stop, I take it back--!”

[mdelpin]

Natsu Smiles - Chapter 2

Gratsu Bingo 2019 Prompt: Glass(es) AO3 | FF.Net | Tumblr: Ch1

Chapter 2

Gray slammed the door behind him, throwing his gear on the floor and pacing across the room.

Lyon opened the door more carefully and put his gear down. “Dude, chill. There was nothing you could have done,” he ran his fingers through his hair in a nervous gesture. “You heard the Coach, Bix is gonna be fine. Besides, you don’t even know if it’s true, doing something would only have put you at risk.”

Gray turned towards his roommate, glaring at him in a way that made Lyon take a step back and raise his hands up in a placating gesture. “For fuck’s sake, I’m just trying to help here.”

“You don’t get it.”

“You’re right, I don’t, so explain it to me.”

“That could have been me.”

Ever since school had started, Gray hadn’t really had a lot of time to make any friends. There was weight training in the morning, courses during the day, and team practice at night, followed by hours of homework. His teammates were pretty much his entire social life outside of talking to Natsu on Discord a couple of times a week.

There were four other freshmen on the hockey team: Lyon, Hibiki, Loke, and Bickslow, and they all got along reasonably well. They ate their meals together, and if they had any free time, they usually spent it playing online games while chatting on their Discord server.

“You wouldn’t have done something that stupid, “ Lyon protested, still trying to calm his friend down.

“Don’t you get it? Neither did Bix, Invel was just being an asshole cause Bix didn’t stop that goal in the second period.”

Lyon seemed to think that over as Gray continued, “Bix has a scholarship too, he can’t afford this shit.”

“I still don’t understand why you’re reacting this way,” Lyon’s brows were furrowed as he tried to follow what Gray was getting at.

“Just forget about it,” Gray threw himself on his bed covering his face with his hand. He felt like shit, and he was worried. They had taken Bickslow away in an ambulance, and despite their coach’s assurances, in his heart, Gray knew this wasn’t over.

No, it was just getting started.

He heard a beeping noise coming from his desk and got up to check it out. He had the beginnings of a smile as he saw it was a call from Natsu, although it quickly turned into a frown when he saw there were notifications for 5 missed calls.

He plopped on his chair and answered, happy to hear from his boyfriend right when he was so upset and needed to talk to someone who would understand. He knew Lyon was trying his best, but he saw the world differently.

Natsu’s face came into focus, and Gray studied it for a moment. It looked like something was bothering him, his expression fragile, like a sheet of glass that could shatter at any moment. But Gray’s face must have shown something of what he was feeling because in the blink of an eye Natsu’s face molded into a smile, making Gray wonder if what he’d seen had been nothing more than a trick of the light.

Natsu’s smile was dimmer than what Gray was used to, but for once, he decided not to question it as Natsu immediately began asking him what was wrong.

“Am I glad to see you!” Gray sighed dramatically, “You have no idea the day I’ve had.”

“Are you okay?” Natsu leaned forward in his chair, “You look really upset.”

“Today was our first game, and it didn’t go so well,” Gray began to explain, “We lost 3-2.”

“That sucks, but it’s not like you to be that upset about a loss. Did you make a mistake or something?”

Gray snorted, “My freshman ass never even made it onto the ice, we might have won if I had.”

Natsu rolled his eyes, “Nice to see your confidence hasn’t suffered.”

“Anyway, the coach was pissed, and he made us run drills for an hour after the game,” Gray started to tense up again, “We were all in the locker room when all of a sudden this junior accused my friend Bix of checking him out when he was changing, and when Bix denied it all hell broke loose. They took Bix off to the hospital in an ambulance.”

“Oh, crap,” Natsu commiserated, peering closer “Are you okay?”

“No, I’m not. I didn’t do anything, Natsu. I just stood there frozen,” Gray slammed his fist on his desk making Natsu jump, ” I should have said something at least, but when I saw the way some of the guys reacted I just panicked.”

“Is he gay?”

“I have no idea, but that’s not the point.”

“I know,” Natsu closed his eyes briefly, opening them a few minutes later to stare at Gray intently, “I take it they don’t know you’re gay?”

“Only Lyon knows, I haven’t told anyone else. They do know I have someone back home, “Gray hurried to add, not wanting Natsu to think that he had denied him or something.

Natsu blushed slightly, “You didn’t have to tell them anything, I would have understood.”

“Yeah, I did,” Gray said with determination, “You’re important to me, and I don’t want anything to come in the way of our relationship.”

“Were you worried about your scholarship? Is that why you didn’t say anything?”

“I don’t know, I just saw the way the guys were reacting to Bix when they just thought he might be gay and it brought back a bunch of memories.”

“I don’t get it, Babe, it wasn’t exactly a secret at school, no one ever messed with you,” Natsu puzzled.

“That wasn’t the first school I went to, I came in as a transfer student sophomore year,” Gray reminded him, “Plus we were openly in a relationship for the last two years, so no one felt threatened.”

“You were a year ahead of me, I guess I assumed you’d always been there.”

“I don’t like to remember it,” Gray sighed, “Something like that happened to me, except I was doing what they said. I was fourteen, I didn’t think he’d notice. They made my life a living hell after that until I transferred out.”

“And now you feel bad cause you didn’t stand up for your friend?”

“Yeah, I should have done something, but now I’m also worried because I can’t afford to lose my scholarship.”

“I don’t get it. Why would you lose it?”

“Because people like that don’t ever let up. They tease, and they taunt and pretend it’s all in good fun while they tear you apart in front of everyone, until you finally snap and fight back. If I got kicked off the team, I’d lose my scholarship.”

“If you feel that badly, why don’t you just go to the hospital and check on your friend? If he is gay, he might appreciate having a friend who understands what he’s going through, and if you guys have other supportive friends, maybe you can band together. People don’t have to be gay to be a friend, there are plenty of allies out there. At least that’s what Lucy tells me.”

Gray thought it odd for Natsu to say that, but he wasn’t thinking about his boyfriend at the moment, only his earlier words.

“I’m sorry, Gray,” Gray’s thoughts were interrupted by Lyon, “I’m sorry I didn’t get what this could mean for Bix. Natsu’s right, and you can count on me to side with you guys.”

Natsu smiled at Lyon, who waved at him, a little embarrassed to admit he’d been listening in on their conversation.

“It’s fine,” Gray shrugged it off.

“No, I shouldn’t have just looked at it from my perspective, I’ll go to the hospital with you if you want. It’s still early.”

“Yeah, okay,” he replied, “Just give me a few minutes.”

Lyon took the hint and told him he’d wait outside.

“Thank you for listening,” Gray placed his hand on his screen, something he no longer minded and smiled when Natsu did the same.

“No problem, I know you do better when you have a plan of action,” Natsu smiled, and even though this one rang a bit truer, it was still a far cry from his usual smile.

“Did you want to talk to me about something?” Gray asked, “I saw there were a bunch of missed calls.”

“Nah, it’s not important, I just wanted to see you,” Natsu looked down at something on his desk, “You should go to the hospital while the buses are still running.”

“God, what did I ever do to deserve you?” Gray wondered, wishing he could hug him. “I love you so much, I’ll call you when I get back, okay?”

Natsu nodded, “I love you too. Good luck!”

They said their goodbyes and hung up, but Gray couldn’t help but feel like he’d missed something important. He went outside to meet Lyon, and they headed out to the bus stop.

O-o

Lyon and Gray approached the information desk, and after being told what room Bickslow was in, they barged in. It’s what they were used to, and they never considered acting any differently.

Which is why they walked in on Bickslow kissing a man with very long green hair, which was tied back in a low ponytail.

“Sorry!” Lyon spluttered before looking away uncomfortably.

“If you’re here to start something I’ll have you know I’m an A-rated Fencer,” the green-haired man threatened as he turned to look at them. He glared, his arm reaching for something to his side, his expression switching to surprise when he came up empty.

Bickslow started to laugh, although it seemed to pain him to do so, “Seriously Freed, that wouldn’t intimidate a schoolgirl. No one knows what the hell fencing ratings mean. Relax, these guys are my buddies.”

Bickslow’s expression remained outwardly friendly, but his eyes watched them warily, especially as they got closer to Freed.

Gray immediately recognized the look, he was sure he’d worn it many times himself. It screamed you can fuck with me all you want, but if you try to hurt him, you will discover what real pain is.

“Hey, man, how bad is it?” Gray greeted, not sure what to make of Bickslow’s welcome.

“I’ll live, I just wish I’d gotten that asshole harder,” Bickslow cracked his knuckles earning him a disapproving stare from his boyfriend.

“Oh right, this is my boyfriend Freed Justine, he goes to MU too.”

Freed gave them a shy wave.

“These are my teammates Gray Fullbuster and Lyon Vastia, they’re two of the guys I’ve been telling you about.”

“Hey,” Gray smiled at Freed as he shook his hand, “I wish I could say Bix had told us about you, but he’s a jerk.”

Freed gave him a tentative smile, still not sure what to make of him given the night’s events.

Lyon waved and managed a “Nice to meet you” from the corner where he was trying to collect himself from his earlier embarrassment.

“For God’s sake Lyon, it was just a kiss,” Gray remarked, “Stop acting like you walked in on your parents fucking. What are you gonna do when Natsu comes to visit? We kiss a lot. Like, I can’t keep my hands off him,” Gray teased his roommate, enjoying riling him up.

“Fuck you, Gray.”

Gray laughed, ruffling Lyon’s hair good-naturedly.

“Him?” Bickslow raised an eyebrow, a playful smile on his lips.

Gray nodded, getting his phone out and looking for a picture of him and Natsu. Finding one he liked, he handed his phone over to Bix.

“I’m sorry, Bix, I should have done something,” Gray hung his head in shame, “Especially when I know exactly how you feel.”

“Nah, man, it’s cool. I get it,” Bickslow shrugged it off, “You didn’t have to come down here and confess your sins. Although your boy is quite cute,” he said, showing the picture to Freed who nodded in agreement. “Been together long?”

“A little over two years, he’s got a year of high school left, we’re hoping he can come here next year.”

Bickslow handed Gray his phone back and looked over at Lyon. “So Gray is fine with this, how about you?”

“I’m on your side, man. Just tell me what you need.”

Bickslow smiled widely, “Thanks, guys. I feel a little better, knowing I won’t have to deal with this alone.”

“What happened anyway? I know you weren’t doing what he said,” Gray asked curiously.

“Invel saw us at the mall last weekend, I should have known he was up to something when he didn’t say anything right away. Homophobic dick.”

“We’ve got your back, Bix. From now on, he’ll have to deal with the three of us,” Lyon assured him, “Loke and Hibiki are cool too, I bet they’ll be on your side.”

“Maybe,” Bickslow agreed, but he didn’t look convinced, and Gray understood just how he felt. Once the whole gay thing came out, it could be difficult to tell who your real friends were and who just didn’t want to appear homophobic.

All three of their phones went off, and they looked down to read a text from their coach, calling a mandatory meeting for the whole team the following morning to discuss what had happened. He sounded pissed.

Bix groaned, “I won’t be able to make it, they’re not letting me out until sometime tomorrow afternoon.”

“You might want to text him, he sounds like he’s on a rampage,” Gray suggested, “We’ll let you know what happens.”

They said their goodbyes, and as they opened the door, Bickslow called out, “Hey Gray, thanks for trusting me. I won’t tell anyone.”

Gray nodded and waved, walking out with Lyon and catching the last bus back to campus. Now that he felt a little better, he started to think about Natsu, wondering what it was he’d wanted to talk to him about.

He tried calling him from the bus, but the call went straight to voice mail. He left a message and hung up. He had a nagging feeling that he should have pushed harder earlier.

When they got back to his room he checked Natsu’s Discord status, and as it showed him online he tried video calling him but once again received no answer, so he figured Natsu must have fallen asleep and forgotten to log out.

He got a PM from Bickslow asking if he and Natsu would like to go on a double date with him and Freed sometime since Freed had a car. Gray told him he'd have to ask Natsu when he talked to him, but he was excited about the possibility of being able to see his boyfriend soon. He thought it might be just what they both needed.

Unsure of what else he could do, he decided to check if Natsu had published anything new. And that’s when he saw it. Some jerk had left a comment as a guest reviewer, not insulting the story but Natsu himself. It was full of malice, calling him all sorts of nasty slurs for pairing the characters in his stories and telling him he should do everyone a favor and go kill himself.

He looked through Natsu’s other stories and saw that the same Guest had left variations of the same message on all of them. He quickly realized that must have been why Natsu was calling him.

Gray was consumed with rage, but he didn’t know what to do with it besides lash out at the person, and although he was tempted, he couldn’t be sure the person would ever read it. All it would accomplish would be to upset Natsu further.

Damn it! He really should have pushed harder, instead of letting Natsu take care of him. Gray did the only thing he could that he knew would reach Natsu this night. He read all of Natsu’s stories he’d missed and made sure to leave long gushing comments to every single one, trying to fight the hatred with his love.