#I'll probably redo it if I ever get around to it

[jamiefmiller]

Forgot that I drew this mockup of a Duke Nukem body pillow forever ago

[radishaur]

༄ kind words ༄

Warnings: mentions of unwelcome advances in Law's part Genre: fluff Characters: Luffy, Zoro, & Law Summary: How they realize they have feelings for you (words of affirmation edition) Author's Note: It's finally here! These keep getting longer and longer as I get more familiar with each character and the dynamic, especially Law's, but I don't think that's too much of an issue. I also kind of hate Luffy's but couldn't keep redoing it, so maybe I'll edit it later. Happy reading as I begin working on the next part!

masterlist

Luffy is great at giving compliments because he just says whatever he's thinking.

He gets complimented a lot as well. He's always running around and saving people, intentionally or not, so he's probably heard his fair share of compliments. I think hearing a compliment that's more deep and genuine, that comes from someone who knows him deeply, would be more meaningful than anything and would make him recognize his feelings.

~

Not every day on the Sunny was a fun adventure.

Setting out to sail across the whole world and strive for their individual goals there was bound to be hardship. Sometimes it came in the form of grueling battles with their latest enemy. Other times it was internal conflicts or disputes, simple disagreements or heated arguments.

This time, it was grief.

After so many months traveling together, the crew had learned how to tell when one of them was upset about something and needed space. Today, it had been Nami. For the past few days, her mood had been off. She'd been more quick to anger and had spent more time than was strictly necessary tending to her orange trees. Then today, she'd been even worse, snapping at Sanji's normal overbearing lovey behavior and brooding to herself under the shade of her grove.

It didn't take him long to realize what was bothering her.

Nami only ever got like this when she was thinking about Bellemere, which meant today must be the anniversary of when everything happened. The crew had spent most of the day giving her her space, allowing her to process what she was very clearly feeling. After a while, he took it upon himself to cheer her up. He made silly faces and played some of her favorite games on the deck, goading her into joining them by making bets he knew he would lose. He'd even secretly asked Sanji to incorporate oranges into their dinner. By the end of the night, Nami was laughing and she seemed a lot lighter, like whatever was weighing her down had lessened some.

Now, it was late at night, and the only sounds that could be heard on the Sunny were the lapping of waves against the ship and the snores of his crew as they slept. All except for him.

Sleep was avoiding him, so he decided that he would be much better off just joining whoever was on watch and maybe having some fun. He made his way up to the crow's nest and was happy to find you sitting on the bench, looking out across the sea.

"Oh, hi Luffy," you said, your voice quiet.

"Hi!" he said, sitting excitedly next to you on the bench as you looked out across the sea once more. "I couldn't sleep so I decided to come out and have some fun!"

You smiled, always amused by his antics.

"Well, unfortunately, there's no fun here. I'm on watch, remember?"

He pouted, knowing you were right but still disappointed anyways. You laughed at him as he whined and complained, but he didn't actually intend on distracting you, so after a while, he quieted down and let you focus.

"I hope Nami is feeling better," you said, resting your head on the arm you propped up on the window. You were frowning slightly, your eyes unfocused as your worry made itself visible on your face.

"She'll be ok, she's Nami! She's strong," he replied, no doubt in his mind that tomorrow she would be the same old Nami she had always been. "She might be sad now, but it's not forever. She has us to help her."

You hummed in agreement, a small smile on your face. He smiled himself, happy to see you smiling instead of with a frown on your face. He felt so lucky to have found a group who cared so deeply about each other.

"All that stuff you did today. It was to cheer her up, wasn't it."

You said it like a statement more than a question and he found himself smiling at how observant you were. "You figured it out. You're so smart!"

You laughed at him once again, his own laughter joining you as you said, "Of course I did. I know you wouldn't have made those bets under normal circumstances."

They had been stupidly dumb bets that left no chance for him to win and he found himself giggling as he remembered how Nami had perked up upon hearing him agree to them. He loved his crew more than anything, so what was a few beri down the drain? Your laughter subsided as you got lost in thought once more. You seemed like you were debating saying something and when you seemed to have made up your mind, he found himself sitting up straighter as you turned to look at him.

"You're a lot smarter than people give you credit for," you said, a small smile on your face and a playful admiration in your eyes.

He's not quite sure what to say to that. He's always been called stupid and to everyone's credit, he is. He doesn't think very often, preferring to act on instinct and figure out the rest of the plan later. He's been known to not read the room, to zone out during important world lessons, and to shout out the first thing that comes to mind. He doesn't think anyone has ever called him smart and for the first time in maybe his whole life, he's speechless.

"I guess that's probably not what you were expecting me to say, huh?" you teased, a light smile making its way onto your face.

He collects himself and asks, slightly incredulously, the question that's first in his mind. "Why do you think that?"

"Well, you just told me you did all that stuff to cheer Nami up, right? Someone stupid wouldn't be able to put together why she was upset and what would make her feel better. You pay attention when it counts and you're a lot more emotionally intelligent than people realize," you explain, relaxing slightly as you look out at the ocean once more. "Today it was Nami, but I've watched you help lots of people like that. Vivi, Robin, Sanji, even me. Maybe you don't say it out loud, but you pick up on people's emotions and what they need the most in that moment."

He listens as you talk and slowly realizes that you're right. He's always had a way of reading people and knowing what they really want or need, but he's never really connected it to intelligence. He always thought it was just his own special kind of stupid.

"I guess that makes me a genius!" he exclaimed, laughing heartily as your eyes widened in shock before laughing along with him.

"Maybe you are stupid after all," you say, but there's no malice in the words as you keep laughing at him.

Finally, your watch shift is over and the sun peeks up over the horizon. He'd stayed with you the entire time, just talking and goofing around until he realized how much time had passed and how tired he was. His dreams that night are filled with you and when he wakes up, your words are still floating around in his mind. Knowing that you think he's smart makes him feel funny and he thinks that maybe he should finally turn his ability to recognize people's feelings inward.

Zoro doesn't throw out compliments or encouragement left and right, he only says something if he really means it.

I think he's received his fair share of compliments, although I doubt he puts much stock in them unless they come from someone he respects. If he doesn't think there's any stock in the compliment, or on that same token an insult, why bother giving it attention? For this reason, I think getting a compliment or reassurance from you would rattle him a little and cause him to have an aha moment.

~

The town that the Sunny docked in isn't too interesting to Zoro, aside from the bar he's nestled into for the past few hours. He has a few empty glasses in front of him and he's almost done with his current one when he sees the door open.

He's not surprised when he sees multiple of the crew walk in, quickly noticing him in the corner and making their way to him. You're among them, talking to Robin about something that elicits a small laugh out of her. Begrudgingly, he scoots over and makes room for everyone in his booth as they smoosh in.

"I knew we'd find you here!" you say, the last to slide in so you're right across from him. "Already deep into your drinks, as expected."

"Shut it, woman," he grumbles, his brows furrowing as he finishes his drink and sets the cup down on the table. You laugh, looking at Robin as Usopp reluctantly hands Nami some beri. He feels his eye twitch in irritation as he notices the exchange. "Are you betting on me?"

Usopp gulps at the glare he sends his way and Nami simply smiles, dollar signs practically lighting up in her eyes as she answers, "Yep! I bet that you were already 3 drinks deep and I was right."

"We've barely even arrived! I thought-" Usopp protests, attempting to explain himself.

"You both are insufferable!"

His exclamation elicits another laugh out of you as Robin simply lifts a hand to her mouth to hide the amusement that is no doubt there. He wants to be annoyed, and he is, but he's been traveling with the lot of you for long enough that he can't really be upset, at least that genuinely. He simply huffs, waving down a server to ask for another glass.

The rest leap over each other to order their own drinks, some alcoholic, some not, and fall into easy chatter with each other. Periodically, he catches your eyes and you send him a smile, but he doesn't insert himself in the conversations, much preferring to listen. Eventually, Nami gets tired of just sitting in the bar and decides to go shopping. Usopp and Robin decide to accompany her, but you decide to stay behind. You wave, watching them go as he takes his previous spot in the booth back.

"Not in the shopping mood?" he asks, glancing at you out of the corner of his eye.

"No, I'd much rather stay here with my favorite swordsman," you tease. He bristles, knowing that you're just poking him for fun, but he can't stop himself from blushing, taking a long sip from his glass to hide the blush he can feel on his cheeks.

"You're worse than that damn cook," he mumbles, his glass now sufficiently empty.

You laugh at that.

"Now that's just a lie."

He can't deny that, the corner of his lips twisting up into a smile. He's spent enough time traveling with you to know that you don't act like that with everyone, just him. The notion that you reserve this behavior for just him is both agitating and yet satisfying. He feels something possessive lick at his heart but ignores it, waving at the server for yet another drink.

He asks you about what you've been up to on the island since they docked and you happily tell him all about it. It hasn't been long so you don't have much to say and it isn't long before the two of you fall into a comfortable silence. After a while, you finally talk again and it's not what he's expecting.

"I know you'll become the greatest swordsman, Zoro."

He sputters, the sip he was taking spilling all over himself as he coughs, trying to catch his breath. He can feel his ears heating up with embarrassment and sputters, "Where the hell did that come from?"

When you look at him, your face is set in firm determination, but your eyes are soft, filled with a fondness he wishes you would direct at him more often.

"Those pirates we fought yesterday," you explain.

He thinks for a moment before he's reminded of what you're referring to. On their way to this island, they had run into a rival ship following the same course. While they hadn't intended to battle them, the ship fired at them as soon as they were in range, so they had no other choice. He remembers the fight being fairly easy, each member of the crew handling their fair share of pirates.

He also remembers one of their crew having some rather nasty words to say to him.

"You're delusional if you think you can become the greatest swordsman," he had spat, struggling to breathe. "You'll see it eventually. Even if you won this battle, you'll never achieve your dream."

He hadn't paid much attention to the words. He was confident in his own abilities and his opponent had been defeated easily, so there wasn't any point in taking his words to heart. He hadn't thought anyone was close enough to hear it and he certainly hadn't brought it up, quickly forgetting about it.

He smirked then, letting the full force of his pride show in the grin as he said, "That loser wouldn't know what it takes to be the greatest swordsman even if it smacked him in the face."

"That doesn't make any sense," you say, your face wrinkling as you giggle at his statement.

He takes another sip as your laughter dies out.

"I'm not worried about what a crap swordsman has to say about me and my dream," he says, his voice a lot more serious now as he thinks about the promise he made all those years ago. "I will become the world's greatest swordsman or die trying."

"You'll do it. I know you will."

You don't say anything after that, seemingly having said everything you intended to, but your words linger with him. The thought that you had heard the man's words and felt it was important enough to dispute them made his heart feel weird. He had never doubted himself, even when he maybe should have. He'd always been sure that his will, determination, and hard work would take him to exactly where he was supposed to be. Still, hearing your words of encouragement, hearing your genuine belief in his ability, it affected him in a way he wasn't expecting.

"You will too," he says, his voice barely above a murmur.

A few seconds go by where you don't say anything and he wonders if you'd even heard him, but one glance at you tells him that you had. You're not looking at him, your eyes averted as if you're embarrassed and your lips are curved into a small, satisfied smile. The sight makes his heart stop and he almost goes to clutch his chest before the feeling quickly passes.

Before the moment can linger, you're shooting back into conversation with him. Despite his best efforts to pay attention, he finds that his attention is drawn back again and again to your words. He knows that the crew believes in his dreams just as much as he believes in theirs. It's part of why he's so willing to protect their dreams just as fiercely as his own, but for some reason knowing that you believe in him so much really sticks with him.

He thinks about it for the rest of the day as well as late into the night when they're all back on the Sunny and setting off for the next island. He doesn't like being distracted, so he mulls over why your compliment holds so much weight for him. He values your opinion, but you're also not a swordsman, so theoretically there shouldn't be that much weight to your words. When he finally realizes, it feels like everything clicks into place and so many things start to make sense.

He acts like nothing has changed, wanting time to sit with the feelings before he decides what to do about them, but he finds it hard now that he understands the full weight of his regard for you.

Law rarely ever gives out compliments, rather preferring to show how he feels with his actions.

I think he receives a few compliments here and there, but he's built an intimidating presence and image, so I think they're far and few between. However, I think if you took him off guard with a meaningful compliment, especially if its one that he hasn't heard before, it would make him start to think about his feelings towards you.

~

"Captain, we have a problem."

Law sighs, all of the worst-case scenarios running through his mind as he turns to face Sachi. They're docked at a port town so that they can restock the Polar Tang, preparing for another few weeks underwater. It's familiar and something that the crew should be familiar with by this point. They have a routine, a schedule that rarely changes, that details who goes with who to go get what. In theory, it should go perfectly smoothly.

It never does.

"What is it, Sachi?" he asks, his grip on Kikoku tightening slightly as Sachi walks up to him with the list of crewmates and jobs in hand.

"Well, you said that nobody is allowed to go alone into town right? For safety?" he asks, only resuming once Law has hummed in agreement. "Right, well uh, unfortunately, Penguin is sick today which means his partner doesn't have anyone to go with, which wouldn't be an issue since usually we have at least one group of three but, well, they're also sick so-"

Law grumbles under his breath about getting to the damn point, grabbing the sheet from Sachi's hands to just look at the issue himself. Sachi gulps, sensing his irritation, and nervously rubs the back of his neck. The problem becomes clear very easily. His beloved crew had partied a little too hard the last few nights and now two of them were sick, leaving no group of three to split up and someone unaccompanied. He looks for Penguin's name to see who's alone and feels his heart flutter slightly when he sees your name scrawled out next to it.

"Our only two options are to either make one group get two things, which would set us back at least an hour, or...," Sachi says, trailing off slightly. The unspoken second option is clear. Law always spend their restock days on the ship. The higher his bounty gets, the higher the chance that he gets recognized, so he always finds it easier and safer for him to stay behind.

"I'll go," he relents, watching as the tension in Sachi's shoulders dissipates.

"Great. Thanks, Captain!"

Sachi disappears before he can change his mind. He sighs, looking around the collection of his crew until he finally finds you in the mix. He makes his way over, watching as you converse with Bepo, catching the very end of your sentence.

"-seems like I'll be alone today. Sachi said he would look into it, but everyone already has their pairs so I don't know who could take his place."

"That would be me," he answers, watching as both Bepo and you finally notice his approach.

"Oh! Uh, are you sure? Don't you usually spend the day on the Tang doing research?" you ask.

He ignores your improper name for the Polar Tang as he explains the situation to you. You nod, smiling as you say, "I see. Well, I'm glad to have your company then, Captain!"

He's taken aback by your words but decides to just move forward instead of dwelling on them, so he turns around and shouts, "Let's go."

"Shouldn't you probably change?"

He stops, looking down at his attire as you add, "As much as it suits you, it doesn't really hide the fact that you're a pirate, let alone our Captain."

He can't really argue with that. The Heart Pirates logo is front and center on his shirt and Kikaku is certainly not doing him any favors either. He tells you to wait and then quickly shambles himself into his room to change. He has to dig really deep in his closet before he finds a shirt that doesn't have his symbol front and center, but once he does he leaves Kikaku leaning against his wall and shambles back up to you.

By the time he's changed and came back, most of his crew is gone. You're quicker to notice him this time as a result and the two of you finally head into town.

"What are we in charge of?" he asks, stuffing his hands into his pockets now that they're not holding his sword.

"We're in charge of the medicinal herbs, Captain," you answer.

"Just Law is fine," he says, his hand fidgeting slightly as he adds, "No use in me changing if you're just going to use my title."

He sees you smile softly out of the corner of his eyes. "Right. Law it is, then."

His ears burn slightly as you say his name so effortlessly, but he brushes it off quickly and continues into town. It's not hard to find the store you're looking for and he lets you take the lead as you begin listing off the various herbs you need. It's not long before the two of you are walking through town once more, heading towards the submarine.

"Oh, look! That art is gorgeous."

He stops walking as he turns to look at what you're pointing at. There's a small stall in the marketplace's square that's selling paintings of all different sizes and mediums. He sees your eyes light up as you look at them and isn't surprised when you say, "Wait here, I'm going to go buy one."

He huffs, leaning against the wall of a nearby building where he can see the stall. He'd like to pretend that today had purely been an inconvenience, but he can't find it in himself to be that upset. While it was inconvenient that he wasn't able to spend the time studying the most recent medical book he had been interested in, the day had been pleasant. You'd made pleasant conversation with him while walking in town and your bright demeanor always seems to calm him down.

He looks back over to the stall, curious about what painting had caught your eyes, but feels his heart jolt when he doesn't see any sign of you. He stands up to his full height, hoping to catch any glimpse of you, but he still doesn't see anything. He curses to himself for letting his guard down and allowing you to somehow slip away and starts searching for you with his observation haki.

He picks up your signature in an alleyway and feels his gut churning. Not wanting to draw attention to himself by using his devil fruit powers, he quickly makes his way to where you are. As he gets closer, he hears you pleading with someone.

"Look, I'm really not interested and I have someone waiting for me, so-"

"Surely I can show you a better time than them, hm?"

He doesn't recognize the second voice but he doesn't need to to know what's going on. He feels anger burn in him as he finally turns a corner and sees a guy caging your body against the wall with both of his arms.

"I already told you, I'm not looking for that. Please let me go," you say, your hands clutching the bag of herbs you'd bought earlier as well as what looks to be whatever painting you had bought at the stall. He also sees the man take a step closer and open his mouth to talk, so he takes the opportunity to interrupt.

"You heard them," he says, his voice like venom as he enunciates, "Let them go."

The man looks at him, sizing him up as he takes a step back and lets his arms drop. "What are you, a good samaritan? Buzz off," he scoffs, turning his head back to you, clearly intending to ignore him.

He doesn't know what comes over him as he finds himself stepping closer and punching the man square on the side of his face. The man, clearly caught off guard, stumbles slightly. He doesn't give him any time to recover as he steps forward, putting himself in between you and the man whose face was now swelling up.

"What the hell?" he shouts, cradling his face as he finally catches his balance.

He can see the punch coming but knows that you're standing right behind him, so he only shifts slightly so that the punch only hits him in the shoulder. A moment afterward, it dawns on him that he can just get rid of the man, so he does.

"You're lucky I don't have my sword, or you'd be getting much worse than this," he seethes, holding his hand out as he says his classic phrase and sends the man shambling into the ocean. In his place, a mossy stone drops to the ground, echoing in the now almost empty alleyway.

When he turns around, you're staring at him speechless. He frowns slightly as he gives you a once over, checking for any visible signs of harm.

"I'm ok," you finally say, your voice shaky before you cough slightly and repeat, voice calm, "I'm ok. Just unnerved."

He doesn't take his chances and calls another room, switching you both closer to the Polar Tang. His guilt at letting you out of his sight and allowing this guy to drag you off eats at him as the two of you approach the ship. Once inside, he shambles the two of you to his examination room, pointing to the table and saying, "Sit. I want to check for injuries with the proper equipment."

You don't fight him as you make your way towards the table. You're still holding the bag and the painting until he gently takes them from you, placing them next to you on the table.

"I'm really ok La- I mean Captain," you begin, correcting yourself back to his title now that it's just the two of you.

He finds himself missing his name from you but keeps the comment to himself. He's supposed to be checking you for injuries. He's supposed to be assessing your well-being, which is only in question because of his own negligence. He frowns to himself and continues to check you for injuries without answering.

You let him, still assuring him that you're fine, that he only grabbed your arm for a moment at the stall, but he doesn't stop until he's sure that there's nothing wrong.

He sighs, finally stepping back from the table. His guilt still eats at him regardless as he goes over everything he did wrong. "I'm sorry, I should have been watching more carefully. No, I should have just come with you."

You simply smile at him in response and say, "It's my fault. I was the one who stepped away."

He doesn't have anything to say to that. He knows it's true, you did step away despite it being an explicit rule not to, but he can't deny his part in it as well. He curls his fists as the silence continues.

"Why didn't you dodge his punch?" you ask, your voice quiet.

He's surprised by the question, but also by how quickly his cheeks warm up at his answer. He looks off to the side, hiding behind his hat as he says, "You were right behind me. If I moved, he would have just punched you."

You have the audacity to laugh, loud and full as if he had just told you the funniest joke you'd ever heard and he can't help but scowl.

"You know," you start, laughter still floating in your voice, "For someone with such a cold exterior, you sure are kind."

The compliment catches him off guard. His face whips towards you as his eyes open in shock, the faint blush now burning bright red across his whole face. He meets your eyes and he doesn't see any hint of a joke.

He's heard himself called a lot of things. Scary, cold, bitter, even downright malicious, but never kind. It sends shivers up his spine as the word settles somewhere under his skin. You think he's kind. Kind.

"You're my subordinate. I'm not being kind, I'm just doing my job as your Captain," he corrects, not wanting you to misunderstand his intentions.

Your laugh this time is softer, more full of fondness, but it rustles him all the same. "You really are kind though," you insist. He's not ready for you to continue, barely able to handle the few words you've said, but that's never stopped you before. "I think you care a lot more than you want us to think. You wouldn't worry so much otherwise. Besides, you're always going out of your way to protect us. I think that makes you kind."

He doesn't know what to say, so he tries to navigate back into familiar territory. He takes a deep breath and calms his nerves, grabbing the bag of medical herbs from your side and turning around to begin putting them away. "Well, since I've checked and you don't have any injuries, there's no reason for you to stay."

He hears you shuffling around as he begins unpacking the herbs from the bag and chances a glance over at you one more time. He regrets it immediately.

You're looking at him like you can see right through him. You have your painting tucked under your arm as you look over your shoulder at him in the doorway and you're still smiling at him as if he didn't just ignore your comment and dismiss you rather rudely. It makes his heart ache, wanting to prove you right. To prove that he is kind, that he's worthy of your opinion of him, that he's worthy of your praise.

"Thank you, Captain. I enjoyed your company today."

With that, you disappear down the hallway, presumably back to your shared room to hang up your new picture. He stares at the spot you left long after you've gone, your words echoing in his mind. They rattle around in his heart until they finally settle, leaving a warm comfort he didn't know he craved.

You think he's kind.

That thought plagues his mind for the rest of the day. His guilt is completely forgotten, his mind too consumed by your compliment to make any room for it. He finds himself unable to even focus on reading the medical book that night that he missed out on reading earlier. Your words and the simple fact that you truly believed them chip away at his resolve until he finally has to come to terms with why it affects him so much. He mumbles your name, his hand clutching his heart as it beats, solidifying what he'd been ignoring for a long, long time now.

ღ radishaur — i do not own any of these characters. do not plagiarize. please enjoy and remember to be respectful! 

[vixendoesstuff]

God, it's been a while since I've done digital art. If only I have a tablet, I might have an easier time drawing there instead of a tiny phone, but no use crying over spilt milk. Here's the reference sheet for Techno Branch!

Man do I love a quality drop.

I don't know how to make my drawings aesthetically pleasing like I've seen other artist do, so this is all you get lol. But anyway here's the boi!! (Ignore my handwriting, it's usually better than it is here, I just have difficty writing on a phone).

I was actually gonna make his Grey version and True Colours version, but I was an idiot and hadn't copied his lineart before I combined it with the colours. So, I might have to redo his entire lineart from scratch. Art is so fun :)

More info below the cut!

So Branch here is more dull and glow less brightly (or not at all) compared to his brethren. Probably a side effect of going Grey for so long. I doubt the Techno Trolls of today would know how to help him fully because, while they probably have a better way of helping traumatized Trolls than the Pop Trolls, they wouldn't exactly know how to bring Branch's True Colours back, as he doesn't know Techno culture and they don't know him well, and that grey Techno Trolls were a rarity in it of itself.

Back when he was Grey, at some point in time the heart on his chest was split in two due to relentless trauma. Ater regaining his True Colours did it combine again, but after being Grey for so long I doubt it'll ever be truly whole again (trauma, amirite?).

Combined with that he probably doesn't like looking at his arm lights, as it reminds him that he's different than the rest of the Pop Trolls, adding more hurt to his already painful life (yikes). So he covers it with arm warmers, and by the time he regained his happiness it became a habit to wear them.

I like to think that Branch likes being on the ground more than swimming, so he's constantly walking and climbing around. Hence, the crease marks on his fins. 'Cause I like to think that Techno Trolls are not built for long periods of standing up straight. And Branch has done the exact opposite of that. Building a bunker by himself is hard, imaging doing that with a pair of swimming flippers. My feet would cry in pain lol.

Anyway, that's all I have for now, if you have questions feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer. With this out of the way, I can finally finish up my notes on what happens in World Tour. Hope you don't mind long paragraphs 'cause WHOO BOY lol.

[blood-grove]

odd adjustments

here -> part 2

adoptive!soap and ghost + adopted!reader

× pairing: soapghost

× summary: the now retired couple decides that there house is feeling a bit empty besides there two cats and german shepard.

× tws: medication, mentions of ptsd, angst, minor injuries, (idk what the adoption process is like so were just jumping into it) <- more relevant for the second part but still here for a tw :3

It was raining outside again,

You were busy packing up your clothes though along with Miss Sullivan who was just redoing your messy folding which you appreciated she was rambling on about some old story about her own kids all grown up and gone.

"This is a very big move for you y'know hun?"

"Yeah- I um know."

"There a very lovely couple y'know—"

"I know! I-" You paused shifting a bit as you sorted threw your sketchbooks.

"I know Miss Sullivan."

She sighed as she smiled her eyes crinkling as she turned to you.

"This is going to be a great home for you..There good people! I saw how you got along with them so well"

"Mhm-"

"Oh dear I just- I'm just so happy for you.." She sniffled as she tugged you into a crushing hug which you just mumbled your thanks.

You felt nauseous as you zipped up your bag but mentally decided throwing up in your future forever caretakers home would make it ever so harder to try and act like a normal kid around them.

Which you were also failing at.

But they didn't look normal either, Not in a offensive way at all.

They were a strange couple very warm and welcoming though when they met you the shorter one his name was John? You think he was really trying his hardest not to overstep and you liked that compared to other people who had very much been too much for you.

The other guy? Simon, You couldn't help but think the man looked intimidating but cool the both of you didn't talk much when they were letting each of them have one and one time with you but when you did talk it was nice it was clear he was more of a listener than a talker.

The both of them were nice, You found out they were ex-military but not much else it was briefly brought up and they moved onto the pets they had at home two cats one named Old man the other Gunpowder which you thought was a choice.

They also had a dog named Riley you forgot the breed she was but it was clear Simon seemed excited? nervous? You couldn't really read the man well at all not to say he was emotionless but he was just very hard to understand.

Your getting lost in your own thoughts again, You sighed as you pulled along your suitcase the wheel squeaking as you pulled it along you've had it for so long your surprised it hasn't fallen off.

Shifting uncomfortably you walked towards the main entrance Miss Sullivan walking beside you you were so zoned out you didn't even notice. When you made it to the lobby it was just Simon in the waiting room you which you were confused but they were adults and both probably had jobs you figured well paying ones you guessed from how quick the interview between them and Miss Sullivan went she clearly thought these men where the best option for you.

He noticed you both as he got up slipping his phone back into his pocket, He always seemed to wear a black face mask you guessed he had some kind of condition maybe a germaphobe? Would be weird to get a kid if that's the case maybe its not servere.

"Ohh I'm going miss you honey—" Before you could even slip away she was already pulling you into her infamous bear hugs nearly crushing the air out of you as she placed a kiss on your forehead thankfully not leaving a bright red kiss mark there.

"I-I'll miss you too Miss Sullivan-" You quietly gasped as she finally stopped hugging you and you took that que as to go over to Simon before she pulled you into another one.

"You have a a umbrella?"

You shook your head as you shifted you weren't technically lying the raggedy old one that you kept purely for memory now probably would fall apart if you tried to open it.

He hummed as he just pulled out a small fitting umbrella from his pocket handing it over as he sad something to Miss Sullivan you were paying attention as you figure out how to open the umbrella before Simon started walking back picking up with uncanny ease.

"You ready?"

"Mhm."

The ride to your new house was quiet Simon wasn't talkative along asking if you were alright and shortly explaining why John wasn't here something about getting your room ready and making a special lunch which you thought was a bit much but who were you to say no to free food?.

a/n; this will just have two parts :3

[heli-writes]

Seven summers, part 6.

Pairing: Draco Malfoy x female!reader

Summary: Every summer, Draco and y/n meet. First, by pure coincidence, then intentionally. Unbeknown to Draco, y/n's a muggle who has no clue he's a wizard. With the rise of the dark lord, how long can this go well?

Disclaimers: Make-out session, allusion to sex, no full-on smut (they're still minors, y'all!)

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

Series Masterlist

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sixth summer, July.

The weather in England has been cold and rainy lately. It doesn't seem to be July at all. Y/n longs for those warm, long summer nights outside in her parents' garden, playing cards and drinking bubbly lemonade. Instead, she's clinging to her umbrella and making herself as small as possible so that she doesn't give the wind too much space to attack her with its whipping water. She's waiting for Draco near the entrance of Diagon Alley. She watched several wizards enter and leave the place, but no Draco so far. Y/n wonders if he will actually show up. They've been exchanging letters via owl, as usual. At the beginning of the school year, Draco's letters have been arriving quite frequently but there were less and less letters the last few months. Y/n knows there's been some arguments with his rival Harry and a new teacher. Draco was appointed a certain position in a Club or something. He didn't really tell her what's it about but ever since he's been more reserved than before.

Y/n waits for almost an hour before she gives up. She walks through the pouring rain back to the bus stop. She stops by a Costa and treats herself to a hot cup of tea on the go in an attempt to warm herself up. On the bus, she plugs in her headphones and stares out of the window. She tries really hard not to cry and hopes that none of the other passengers notice th water dwelling in her eyes. When she gets off the bus, her head's pounding from the oppressing of tears. Y/n walks straight home and up to her room, without taking off her jacket and boots. She can hear her mother complaining about the water on the floor, but she doesn't care. She's just dropped onto her bed when she hears the soft clank of Draco's owl on her window. Y/n gets up and sniffs. This guy has some nerve, she tells herself as she walks up to the window. She takes the letter from the owl and throws some dried meat in its direction, a habit she picked up a while ago. She leans back on a chair and reads.

Dear y/n,

I won't be able to make it today. I'm really sorry but there have been some issues in my family recently and my mother needs my support. I hope the whole situation dissolves itself soon.

I'll send you a letter when it's possible to meet again. I hope you can understand.

Draco.

Y/n folds up the letter and puts it in a box beneath her bed where she keeps all of Draco's letters. She writes a quick response and hands it to the owl who is patiently waiting outside. She watches the owl fly away. I must've just missed his message, y/n thinks. Yet still she can't shake the feeling that something is off.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Draco lets y/n wait for two weeks. Y/n got antsy with every passing day without hearing from him. Eventually, he sends her a letter and proposes a meeting in Windsor Great Park for a stroll and coffee. Y/n is nervous all morning and has to redo her makeup twice after ruining her eyeliner. Again, y/n is the first to arrive. She walks up and down the entrance of the Savill Garden.

"Hey", she suddenly hears behind her. Draco is standing right next to her with a loopy grin on his face. It doesn't reach his eyes, y/n thinks. She smiles at him nonetheless and opens her arms to hug him. Almost hesitantly, Draco hugs her back. It's a bit awkward. "Do you want to go inside?", y/n says and points to the garden. Draco nods. They take the tourist route but there aren't many other people around. It's probably because of the grey clouds that hang low above their heads. They walk along the path between rows of bushes and other plants.

Draco doesn't make an attempt to start a conversation, so y/n does. "So, how's your family? Everything alright? Your letter sounded quite serious.", y/n asks him. Draco shrugs and doesn't answer immediately. "I guess, we're alright. Things haven't been resolved but it will be ok.", he tells her. Y/n nods reassuringly but she feels that Draco does not really believe that last part. "If you don't mind me asking... what happened?", she asks carefully. Draco kicks a stone out of his way. "My dad has been involved in some stuff. He's temporarily contained.", he tells her. Y/n stares at him with big eyes. "Like jail?", she blurts. Draco gives her an angry look. "Yes. My mother did not take it too well.", he replies. "Oh.", is all that y/n manages to say. They walk in silence for a moment. "What about you? How do you take it?", she asks him. Draco shrugs again and does his best to look somewhere far ahead. "Draco...", y/n mumbles and touches his arm. "I'm fine.", he says harshly, "My mother needs all the support she can get. I can't be weak in a situation like this". Y/n steps a bit closer to him and rests her cheek on his arm while taking his hand. "It's not a weakness to feel bad about a situation like that. It only shows how much you care about your parents.", she tells him. Almost instantly, she can feel Draco's shoulders slump down. He turns to her and finally pulls her close. He hides his face in her hair. "I must do everything I can to clear my family's name. One way or another.", he points out. Y/n thinks about this for a moment. "It's not your responsibility. Support your family as much as you can, but don't let the weight of it pull you down.", she replies. Draco shakes his head. "You don't understand... my mother...", he starts. "...is an adult. We're only sixteen, Draco. There's only so much we can do. Somethings we must let the adults handle.", she points out. Draco shakes his head again. "No, my mother can't handle this. I'm the one who has to fix things. I've been chosen.", he tells her. Y/n frowns. "Chosen? By whom? For what?", she asks him. Draco lets go of her. "It doesn't matter. The point is I'm going to handle this. Don't worry.", he says coldly. Draco walks a bit ahead and y/n stares after him. She's got a really bad feeling about this but it's clear that Draco isn't ready to talk about this.

She jogs after him. "Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. We haven't seen each other since Christmas and I really am happy we're spending time together today.", she announces and gives him a bright smile. She holds out her hand to Draco and looks at him expectantly. Draco sighs and then takes her hand. They continue their stroll and y/n tries to distract Draco with silly stories about school and her friends. She updates him on Olivia's situationship and manages to pry some stories about Blaze and quidditch out of Draco. The atmosphere loosens up a bit and soon she finds Draco genuinely smiling again. They wander deeper into the garden and don't notice how the clouds above them get darker and darker. They're laughing about one of y/n's stories when the first drop landed on y/n's cheek. Draco wipes it away carefully. They look up and notice how armageddon is right above them. Within seconds, it's pouring. Draco pulls her close and uses his wand as an umbrella. However, the wind whips raindrops onto their sides. They rush along the path, deeper into the rows of trees ahead of them. They're almost soaked when they finally find shelter in a stone pavilion.

Y/n is shivering but glad there are still some parts of her that are dry. Draco sits down next to her and puts an arm around her. Y/n nuzzles closer into his side. Draco leans his head against hers. They don't speak and when y/n finally looks up, she immediately meets Draco's gaze. He must've been staring at her for a while now. Immediately, he leans close and they meet in a kiss. For a moment, everything outside the pavilion seems to stop existing. Y/n kisses him back feverishly and grabs his collar. Draco's hand is tangled in her hair and his other hand wanders down her side. Y/n presses her upper body closer to his and Draco pulls her onto his lap. They kiss until they can't breathe anymore. Y/n leans her forehead against his as both of them catch their breath. There are no sounds besides the pouring rain outside.

"Draco?", y/n breathes. "Hm?", he mumbles in response. Y/n's heart leaps in her chest. It takes all her courage to say: "I think I love you". Draco leans back and looks at her with surprise in his eyes. Clearly, he didn't expect a confession of love. Immediately, y/n feels embarrassed. She wishes she could take the words back. "Y-you don't have to say it back. I just thought...", she rumbles but doesn't get to finish her sentence. Draco puts his hand onto the back of her head and pulls her lips against his again. He gives her a deep, longing kiss which leaves y/n breathless once again. When he lets go of her, he looks at her longingly and strokes over her cheek. Then he presses a kiss on top of her head and pulls her into a hug. Y/n feels warm and fuzzy inside and she almost forgets that Draco did not return the confession.

They stay in the pavilion until the heavy rain fades into a soft summer drizzle. Only then, they start wandering back to the entrance of the garden. They part ways rather quickly since the rain started again after some point. However, y/n proposes that he should come visit her soon. Her parents will be visiting her grandparents all the way up in Keswick and will be gone for a couple of days. They put y/n under house arrest for the time being (considering what happened last year), but allowed to have a friend over. They probably thought about Olivia but when y/n asked her, Olivia immediately declined saying that y/n simply must invite Draco. Draco is a bit hesitant to accept the invitation and says that he will have to see how things at home. They both decide to write soon.

On her way back to the train station, y/n has mixed feelings. On one hand she's over the moon about meeting Draco finally again, on the other hand, she's also worried about him. Having a father in jail is already troubling but it sounded as if Draco was ready to do anything to fix that. She wonders if that included more than giving a testimony in front of a court. One way or another, he said. She hopes Draco is smart enough to not do anything stupid, or illegal.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sixth summer, a few weeks later.

Anxious. That's how y/n feels as she waits for Draco at King's Cross. Y/n and Draco have been writing back and forth for the last couple of weeks. Draco's been really quiet about his father's situation and y/n didn't push too much. However, whenever y/n brought up Draco coming over, he kept saying it probably wouldn't be possible and that too many things were going on. Which clearly indicates that things haven't been resolved. Surprisingly, Draco sent her a letter a few days ago saying that meeting her would be possible after all. Apparently, his mother and his aunt visit a family friend, giving him a chance to slip away. When y/n got Draco's letter saying that he would be visiting after all, she immediately called Olivia who immediately rushed over. Giggling, they wrote lists and prepared the house for what y/n's parents assumed was a sleepover. It also leads to her parents being quite relaxed about leaving y/n alone for a few days.

Right now, y/n is waiting for Draco to arrive at King's Cross. Obviously, Draco does not take a muggle train. He arrives via floo powder somewhere close but they agreed to meet at the station from where y/n would take him home. Y/n nervously scans the crowd in front of her. Suddenly, she feels a tap on her shoulder. "Hey, there pretty girl.", she hears Draco say behind her. When she twirls around, he is mere inches from her face. "Draco!", she laughs and throws her arms around him. Draco almost drops his bag while trying to keep his balance. Y/n quickly retreats. "Sorry!", she says. Draco puts down his bag. "That's alright.", he tells her and pulls her close by her arms. He hugs her close and hides his face in her hair. Y/n's heart skips a beat. When he lets go of her, he looks over his shoulder nervously. Distractedly, he says: "So, uh... is your house close by?". Y/n tries to see what's behind him or what he's looking for but when he turns back to her, she gives him a bright smile. "We'll have to take the bus.", she tells him and takes his hand. Draco sighs behind her. "You don't happen to have a fireplace, do you?", he mumbles. Y/n laughs. "No, sorry! We have central heating.", she says as she pulls him along with him.

While Draco feels visibly nervous in the station, he relaxes once y/n and him have entered the bus. When y/n asks him why, he tells her that there are probably no wizards here who could see them. Y/n nods understandingly. It's a short walk from the bus station to y/n's house. Her house is one of these terraced houses with white, wooden windows and a small front garden. It's nothing special really but her parents had to save up for it for quite some time and they're really proud to call themselves 'homeowners'. Y/n thinks it's a bit ridiculous but then again she's never bought a house and doesn't even know how much it would cost. Y/n pulls out her keys and opens the door.

She holds the door for Draco. "Ladies first. You can put your shoes over there.", she tells him as she quickly pushes him inside. Ever since they made a turn into y/n's street, she's been the one looking over her shoulder. Can't have the neighbours see her sneaking a boy in. She's pretty sure that the nosy old lady from across the street would just love to tell her parents all about that. Y/n quickly closes the door behind her and pulls off her jacket. Draco is standing in the hallway looking around and feeling a bit out of place. Y/n points past him. "Go on, straight through that door. There's the kitchen", she tells him. They enter the kitchen together and y/n quickly puts the kettle on. "C'mon.", she tells him and leads him to the room to the right. It's the living room which has a small conservatory attached to it. It's her mother's favorite room since it's always bright and open. In the middle, there's a large couch with pillows and blankets. On the left is the telly and a coffee table. "It's cozy", Draco notes as y/n leads him to the coach. "Sit down. I'll make the tea.", she tells him as she rushes off back to the kitchen.

She prepares a tray with tea, mugs and some biscuits. When she enters the living room again, Draco still sits in the same position as she left him. I guess he feels a bit awkward, she concludes. After she pours him a cup of tea, she asks him: "So, what do you think? Is this how you imagined muggles to live like?". Draco laughs and rubs his head in embarrassment. "Actually, I'm not sure what I expected. But it's really nice. I like this room.", he says and points to the conservatory. Y/n pulls one of her legs under the other and takes her tea cup. "Hm, you really had no image in your head how I live like?", she asks. Draco shakes his head. "How do you imagine I live like then?", he replies. Y/n thinks about that for a moment. "I guess I imagine a big house, maybe a villa. An old one, maybe Victorian? I imagine a big staircase right when you enter. Old, but classic and high-quality furniture.", she explains. Draco looks at her surprised. "That's actually not that far off.", he tells her. "I can't imagine your room though. I feel like I can imagine your dorm room better than your room at home.", she says. Draco takes a sip from his tea. "Do you want me to describe it?", he asks her. Y/n nods excitedly. He crooks his head. "Let's see. My room is upstairs, in the East Wing. It has a window facing the East as well so that I can see the sunrise every morning. My walls are painted in a greyish-blue. My furniture is black. When you enter the room, you're standing in front of my bed. Opposite the bed is the window and in front of it is my desk. To the left of the desk, is my wardrobe which is always messy and to the right are some shelves with books.", he describes. Y/n tries to imagine the room. In her head, the room is kind of empty besides the furniture Draco described. "Is there anything else in the room?", she asks. Draco names some quidditch equipment and some other tokens that y/n has trouble imagining. Draco tried to explain quidditch to her one time but y/n fails to truly understand the game. Probably, because she's never seen a person riding a broom.

"Would you like to see my room?", y/n proposes and Draco nods. They walk back to the hallway and up the stairs that are on the left. "My room is all the way up, beneath the roof.", she tells him as they climb up the stairs. Y/n's room is the only room on the last floor. When she opens the room, there's her bed to the left and behind the door is her closet. Right in front of the door are three windows. In front of the middle one, is her desk. On the left is a little reading niche and on the right is a dressing table and a cupboard. A chain of lights is strung from one side of the room towards another. Y/n makes some space for Draco to enter. He looks around the room in silence. "So, what do you think?", she asks. "It suits you. I don't know how I'd imagine your room but this fits you perfectly.", he tells her. Y/n giggles and drops onto her bed. "You think so?", she says. Draco nods and turns around in her room before joining her on the bed. Y/n thinks the sight of him in her room is a bit strange. Like he doesn't quite fit into it. He's dressed in black (like always) and her room is dominated by beige and pastel tones. "Yeah, it's bright and warm. And girly. And cozy.", he replies. Y/n snuggles up to him. "You like it?", she asks him. Draco pulls her closer to him. "Yes. Actually, I like your whole house. Everything is very home-ly.", he murmurs and kisses the top of her head. He pulls her back and they fall on top of the comforter of y/n's bed. Draco turns to his side, pulling her closer to him. Y/n takes in his scent and puts her head on his chest, just beneath his head. Draco's hand finds its way into y/n's hair and he scratches the skin of her skull a bit. Y/n feels how the three magical words lay heavy on her tongue again, begging her to speak them out loud once more. She swallows them down quickly, however. She doesn't want to make a fool out of herself once again.

They lay there for a while and y/n is not sure whether or not she may have dozed off a bit. The room's colour faded to grey indicating that the sun was about to go down. Draco stretches next to her and sits up. "Are you hungry?", y/n asks him. Draco shrugs but y/n knows him well enough that that means yes. They end up ordering pizza and watching y/n's favourite movie. Setting up the telly, Draco is fascinated by the technology and asks a bunch of questions about how it works without magic which y/n definitely can't answer. She lets Draco choose a movie afterwards and they spend the evening rotting on the couch. Eventually, the titles roll and y/n sits up stretching. She peeks over to Draco whose eyes are closed. Did he really fall asleep?, she thinks and pokes his cheek. He wrinkles his nose and opens an eye. "Sleepy? Wanna settle for the night?", y/n asks and Draco yawns and nods. They get up and climb up the stairs to y/n's room. After brushing their teeth, they climb into y/n's bed and Draco pulls her close. Y/n leans her head against his and lets her hand rest on his chest. Draco gently strokes over her back and places soft kisses on her forehead, her cheeks and her nose. Y/n crooks her head and meets him in a soft kiss. It's slow and sweet. Draco puts his hand into her hair and pulls her face closer to him, deepening the kiss. Y/n's heart starts beating faster. They kiss like this for a bit until Draco rolls her over so that y/n lays flat on her back. Draco hovers over her while continuing to kiss her. Y/n puts her hands behind his neck and one of Draco's hands runs up and down her sides. Y/n feels goosebumps forming all over her body. Draco's hand finds the hem of her shirt. His fingers dip under it, softly circling the skin of her hip. He leans his head back for a moment. "Is this okay with you?", he asks. Y/n nods breathlessly, not trusting her voice to say yes. She's expected it to happen tonight. Hell, she kinda hoped it would. Draco pushes his hand under her shirt exploring the warm, naked skin underneath it. Y/n lets her hands run down his back and pulls his shirt up a bit. Draco sits up for a moment and pulls it over his head. Y/n stares up at him in awe. He looks even more pale than usual with the moonlight hitting his skin the way it does at this moment. She sits up a bit and runs her hand down his chest. Draco gently pulls on the neckline of her shirt, silently asking for permission to take it off as well. Y/n swallows. She's nervous. "We don't-", Draco starts but y/n cuts him off by pulling her shirt off as well. Draco doesn't say or do anything for a few seconds. Then he slowly traces a line from her shoulder over her collarbone down to her chest. He leans forward again, kissing her deeply while finally cupping her chest with his hand. Y/n lets herself fall back on the pillow.

She won't worry about anything tonight. Not about her parents or Draco's parents. About whether or not a wizard and a muggle can be together. By the time Draco's hands wander down to her pants, she has forgotten about most of it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tag list: @gypsylilim @caffeine-addict-slug @huiiline @rclector @am0iur @nofacenonamelikekira @0iheartu @jahaina @eringaitskill @jae-is-confused @stormy-stardust @a-beaverhausen @niyahzda1 @idkwatodoanymore @cumuluscranium @moongirl27 @smilefortae @idkimjusthereman @ethyxia @nana-jaeminie @thatswhatmakesmefree-blog

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[katthyacinth]

Lured In By Her Song

Vox is Starting to fall for the mysterious newly dead popstar reader👀

Everyone in hell adored you which was the only reason Velvet agreed to a non-soul contract, she knew she had to get you on the Vees team you were too much of a prize. She was right of course.

All the numbers off the charts views and likes and shares, sales of anything Velvet put you in sold out, and when you went on Voxs show for an interview, ratings skyrocketed. Everyone wanted the gossip about your ex-spouse who you supposedly killed and Velvet was ecstatic with the profits.

So were you. Ever since you were in the vees protection you heard virtually nothing from said ex-spouse. You eventually stopped looking around corners and slept peacefully at night. As peacefully as you could in hell. Vox had been right too having a phone in your hands, having social media brought a sort of familiar comfort. He was happy you were using it too.

Of course, all phones have GPS you knew that. What you didn't know is that the tech overlord was specifically spying on you and had modified the phone he gave you. Totally for business reasons and totally not because he was nosy and wanted to see what such a pretty little thing like you was getting up to on a regular basis.

Maybe this is what Velvet was talking about he thought. He found out she had decided to officially call your fans "sailors" since sailors get lured by a sirens song. Clever, and as the days went by he found out, true. Something enticed him with you. He wanted to know your secrets. Once again only for blackmailing purposes totally not because he was genuinely interested. You were too kind to be in hell probably second only to Princess Charlie herself. However, he knew what you did. And you had refused to sign a soul contract, you were peculiar indeed.

You awaken one particularly early hellish morning to a buzz on your phone

-Ms. You have a new scheduled shoot time on Voxs floor for the music video in 2 hours. Ok ty, I'll head over now then- -The car will be waiting for you miss

It was your new assistant the vees had hired for you, she was quite nice, although her message did make you wonder. You thought they had gotten all the shoots they needed for this week but maybe they forgot something. You shrug and head downstairs to find your driver, also courtesy of the Vees.

Meanwhile, Vox waited in the studio, he hadn't gotten much time to talk to you since you arrived, and as mentioned earlier he was intrigued. The only things he knew about you were from social media and from the interview he did when you first signed. He figured he could sit in on the shoot to make sure everything was done right and watch you all at the same time. His thoughts come to a halt when the clicking of your shoes enters the room followed by your voice. "Good morning Kitty, good morning Nex, thank you, Gigi." Vox for a moment thought he was alive because there was no way in hell (quite literally) that you were being polite to all the assistants.

You finally catch a glimpse of Vox sitting next to the camera crew on set, catching you off guard. Doesn't this man have an empire to run? He surely has better things to do than be here.

"Uh good morning Vox, sir?" you say trying to hide your confusion.

"So glad you're on time, yes some of our less-than-capable demons didn't get the shot Velv and I quite wanted last week. Don't worry we took care of them but unfortunately, that means we must reshoot it but you're more than happy to do that right?" his signature fake PR voice oozed.

You hesitantly nod. "It's not a problem at all that's what I'm here for" You give a half smile, it was way too early for this.

"That's what I like to hear, ok everyone places were redoing shots 22-30" He enthusiastically yells out, as he then places a hand on your back and leads you to the set. Being this close to him for a split second made you realize how tall he was now. You basically were trapped against him. In the brief moment before he let go pushing you in front of the lights, you could feel that he faintly buzzed as well, a warm hum was always coursing through his body that you could feel from his hand that was placed on your back

You didn't have any more time to contemplate it however as you snapped out of your thoughts.

Three, Two, One, Action!

And boy when that camera turned on. Shit you could dance, Vox thought. Calling off his morning meeting was totally worth it now as he sat watching the two hour shoot.

"Cut! That's A Wrap, For Real This Time!" Some demon behind the camera shouts.

Vox walks up to you as an assistant hands you a drink, you're still huffing and puffing from the toll dancing took on your body. "Ah sir, is there anything else you need?" you ask him still wondering why he was here in the first place.

"Just Vox is fine doll, and you have done well for the day, we don't want to overwork our little trophy star. However, with the vague terms and circumstances of your contract, I would like to have a meeting with you, for business matters." It's that heavy sweetly fake tone again.

You hesitate but then speak "Of course I understand sir"

"Vox" he corrects you then continues. "Good I'll have my assistant set a time and have them message you." He smirks and then bids his farewell zapping through the filming equipment to who knows where.

Your mind wanders to the strange circumstances of the day as your driver takes you back to your apartment. Why was Vox himself there? You were under Velvets contract why does he want a meeting? and why did you feel a strange sense of comfort when he had touched you?...

Pt 4 Pt 6

[fireroll]

remember that crack (treat seriously) au i made. here's Basil. I'm very slowly getting the hang of colouring DSFJKSDF

ALSO he just turned 16 here! he's a couple months older than Aubrey, Kel, and Sunny sooo

btw in case you didn't see my post yesterday here's a brief summary of this au under cut ^^ (also i'll probably redo these doodles [refs?] a bunch of times)

it's based off that one pic with like a person going "THE REASON I FELT SO OUT OF PLACE IN MY FRIEND GROUP IS BECAUSE THEY WERE ALL IN A POLYAMOROUS RELATIONSHIP AND I DIDN"T KNOW" (it goes something like that 😭😭😭)

So basically one day around 3 years after Mari's death, Sunny gets forcefully busted out of his house. Literally. Kel breaks into his room through his window (he's standing on Aubrey, who's standing on Basil) and they drag him outside

He's like super confused, very much disorientated ("what????"), but hey. he had a great time so can't really complain.

Like...3 days later (adjustment period) the others sit him down and goes "Ok. haha. so..the Truth is out. it's been out for like, a little more than a year."

Sunny (repressed memories :c) is like "what Truth????"

Basil: ...the stairs?? Mari?? ring any bells?

trauma breaks out then gets resolved yada yada.

Sunny feels like he's missing something. Actually, he's felt like he has been missing something ever since he got out of his house. He assumed it's just cause he hasn't been here for like 3 years. Then he assumed it was because he didn't remember the Truth. Then...he can deny is no longer. He is Missing Something and he didn't like it.

Then he found out Basil, Kel and Aubrey were dating. like. wow.

(the whole thing has just been such a norm for the other 3 that they just totally forgot Sunny didn't know. it's not like they were purposefully leaving him out or something, it's just that...they forgor 💀)

Sunny: ok ok. cool cool, congrats. :)

(he's totally not jealous because he has Several Crushes™)

Eventual Solar System.

[ceilidho]

Do you have any advice or tips for writing dialogue? It's what I struggle most with 😩😩😩

haha I wish I did 😩 honestly this one sucks the most for me because I truly feel like I don't understand how people talk, or like, I'm really only beginning to get it. I remember spending most of my teenage years (I started writing fanfiction around age 13 or so) really not understanding how people talk to each other and being supremely confused about it.

Once again, the biggest help you're ever going to get is just watching a lot and reading a lot and paying attention to how people talk. I mentioned this in my other writing advice ask, so I'll just reiterate below and add some other observations I have on how people speak:

If you're writing fanfiction, watch or read the source material as much as possible, until you can almost hear the way the character sounds in your head. Take time to understand things like their accent and how they speak (do they talk a lot or very little? do they use slang or enunciate everything? do they speak quickly or slowly?). Here, you just want to concentrate on the cadence of their speech / their speech patterns. If they speak plainly or use lots of proverbs or turns of phrases, that sort of thing. If you have that down, you've honestly done half the work. Even I often reread my work and go "fuck, all of these people SOUND the same even though they're saying different things".

A super important point I should make before anything else is that dialogue is intrinsic to character. If you have a taciturn, sullen, aloof character, they probably won't be a very emotional or heartfelt interlocutor. The things (the content of their dialogue) they'll want to speak about will also reflect this - they might complain more often, might not offer praise as readily. They won't ask for help or share vulnerable parts of them.

A more positive character will be the exact opposite of that. They might be more eager to offer advice or praise. They might feel nervous or uncomfortable about confrontation or calling someone out if they're doing something the character doesn't like.

Essentially, when you're not sure what a character would say, think about:

Who is this person? What are their core attributes?

What is their end goal from this conversation? (or, if it's just chatter / conversation for conversation's sake, what kinds of topics might they be interested in?)

If there is a goal, how would this particular character achieve it (or would they be unsuccessful if they're too timid or mean about it)? Would they be blunt, circumlocutory, deliberately confusing, manipulative - would they get frustrated with themselves because even the character isn't able to say the thing they want to say?

Another thing you have to understand about the way people speak, even if this is VASTLY frustrating when writing because it takes you longer to get to the point, is that people rarely just outright say what they want. Sooommeeee people do, but even in your personal life you'll know those kinds of people to be blunt, straight forward, etc. Most people aren't like that. If you need to take the extra chapter or couple paragraphs to wrangle the truth out of someone, that's pretty natural.

I try to avoid clichés or anything corny in my dialogue unless it makes sense for that character (for instance, Price might be more likely to use like generic white guy colloquialisms like "you're barking up the wrong tree" or "let's rock and roll" lmaoo).

Anyway, I don't have much advice for dialogue because I also struggle with it, but one thing to keep in mind is that readers are very aware of characterization, even subconsciously. Don't sacrifice good characterization even if it means you need to redo a scene or take longer to get to something.

[ohtobeleah]

I’m not prepared to see how things transpire when Fe and Rooster go back to work. Especially if Jaidyn is gonna be there.

But you're gonna have to deal with it bestie. Because it’s gonna have to happen sooner or later. And we know shits gonna blow up. As always though here’s the Terms of Endearment Masterlist.

Warnings: Mentions of domestic violence.

***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~

SunnySide daycare centre was a diamond in disguise. At first when you had been looking for a place to enrol Odette into when you realised you were going to be sticking around longer than intended it hadnt even fallen onto the short list of daycares you were reading into. It had been with Penny Benjamin's recommendation that you actually decided to go forward with the application process. A good friend of Penny’s had worked there ever since she could remember.  

“Tooster!” Dot giggled and squealed as Braldey held her up over his head, roaring like what he thought a dinosaur would sound like. Whatever sound left his ajar mouth was definitely not a dinosaur sound, but it made you laugh nevertheless. “Tooster! Dop! Dop!” Dot tried to plead with Rooster through her bout of giggles. 

“Hi Miss Y/L/N, just dropping Odette off are we?” One of the ladies at the reception desk asked as Bradley placed her down on the counter, letting her back lean against his shoulder as one of her purple backpack staples nearly cut his circulation off. 

“Yes please, and I also wanted to speak to someone about confirming the list of people permitted to drop off and pick up?” It was your first day back at work after the small Christmas and new year break you all got. The third of January saw SunnySide back up and running and in full swing again as most of its enrolled were military children. 

“Sure, not a problem at all Felix.” Bradley crooned his head your way to plant a gentle kiss against your temple, he could see the vein popping from a mile away. “Okay so i've got yourself listed as the primary caregiver and emergency contact, i've got a Jake Seresin listed too as a primary pick up and secondary emergency contact if we can't reach you and a Bradley Bradshaw was just recently added as a primary pick up and drop off and third emergency contact if yourself of Jake are not reachable.” The receptionist explained as she turned her head up from her computer screen to look at you. “Does that all sound good Fe?” 

“Yeah, all good.” You sighed out a breath of relief. “Um, I was also wondering if I could red flag someone?” Bradley knew it was hard for you to even ask, but you needed to make sure that Odette was going to be safe in the care of the child workers you trusted her to. He’d been the one to remind you that it was probably a good idea to get ahead of the game and expect Jaidyn to try something. “Dots dad has recently moved to town and I just want to make sure if he ever tries to collect her or comes to try and see her or something that someone will notify me?”

“Sure thing sugar, I just need a name and I can make sure that if that were to ever happen we’d notify you, but please remember unless someones been specifically nominated as a trusted adult, we wouldn't let just anyone claiming to be here for Dot pick her up Felix, She's safe here.” It was nice to be reassured. 

“Thankyou.” You smiled softly as you nuzzled your daughter, kissing her cheeks until she was smiling. Bradley had tried his best to do her hair this morning, you had to redo it but let him redeem his self esteem when he placed the purple bows against her pigtails. “Uh, his name is Jaidyn Dolan.” 

“Great, I'll make sure if he ever comes snooping around that you're informed immediately.” 

“Alright squirt, time to go.” Bradley roared again as he scooped Odette up, placing her down on the ground as he opened his arms wide for her to smoosh herself against him, encapsulating the almost three year old he’d give his life for. “You have a good day alright? and I want at least two new drawings, got some new picture frames to fill.” 

“You know you can't just keep using her for cheap artwork Bradshaw.” You were quick to laugh as you came to crouch beside him, Dot moving from his warm strong embrace to your loving, protective hug. “Love you Lieutenant Polkadot, see this afternoon baby.” 

“I'm gonna stockpile them so when she actually does grow up to become the next Picasso, i'll be making bank.” Rooster quipped as he stood with you, watching as one of the early childhood educators took Dot by the hand and walked her inside the daycare. “Come on Mamma, we better get to base.” 

You weren't going to lie, you were utterly terrified of what going back to work would bring. Nothing had changed really, but so much had also changed at the same time. Before the break, you and Bradley weren't exactly sure what the two of you were. Now? You’d gone ahead and made it official, Bradley Bradshaw was your boyfriend and you were his girlfriend.

God, you had a child, you were a fully grown woman and even just the idea of introducing Bradley as your boyfriend to anyone made you feel like a prepubescent adolescent. You asked if you could refer to him as your partner if anyone were to ask, Rooster said you could call him anything under the sun so long as he was yours and you were his. He didn't care that much for labels, he just wanted you and your daughter for the rest of his life. 

“If he comes near you Bradley I swear–” Holding the passenger side door of the Bronco open. 

“I can hold my own, don't you spend a second worrying about me Fe.” Penny had offered to lend you her car for a little bit while you looked on marketplace for anyone going for a good price. Jake was still waiting on his insurance claim to finish processing so he could cash in for a new Ford. You had politely accepted knowing Jake needed it more than you did. “Besides, I think the more important matter at hand here is making sure you remember to grab the keys to your new house before you leave this afternoon.” 

“True, true, still can't believe I actually got approved.”  As it turns out, one of the main reasons it had taken you so long to be approved for staff accommodation was that one of the admin workers knew of you and your beautiful daughter and wanted to find you something you could truly make a home. There was a new opening on the outskirts of the bass housing, a modest two story house with a garden and white picket fence. Three bedroom, two bathroom, two car garage. It had all the fixings and once you'd seen the letter and photos attached you couldn't contain your excitement. “I think Jakes almost a little too excited to see the back of me.” When you had told Jake that you'd been approved for your own place, he was beyond excited for you, told you that he was delighted to finally see that day, that he thought you were gonna be living rent free under his roof for eternity. 

Although he teased and pushed your buttons, never once did Jake insist eternity was a bad thing. He had sent Bradley a text soon after telling him to meet him at the hardware store that afternoon so they could split a pretty penny on a solid security system they could both remotely access. 

“He’s gonna remember just how quiet his home was before you showed up, trust me.” Bradley smirked as he started up the Bronco, strapping himself in and before he even thought about shifting into first gear–he made sure you were buckled in too. “You still wanna go look at furniture on the weekend?” 

“Absolutely, there's this lounge that is apparently stain proof at fantastic furniture I wanna have a look at.” You reached down for the catalogue you had thrown into your bag this morning, Bradley laughed when he quickly glanced over to see you had circled some items in red marker. “Wonder if I can get something that looks similar at the op shop.” 

“You dont wanna buy it new?” Bradley wasn't against second hand, he loved a good thrifted piece as much as the next guy. His favourite bomber jacket was actually found at an old overcrowded second hand store he went to once with a few buddies who were in search of some clothes of a themed Sunday Funday back in his TopGun days. But he thought if you were starting a fresh, new life, new house, new people around you who loved you for you, that you’d want some new furniture, owned just by you. No string or memories of any kind attached, owned by you and only you to create only the best of memories on and around. 

“Rooster, I don't think I’ve ever had a piece of furniture that's brand new.” You sighed. “I think the bunk bed I shared with my sisters was so old that every time something broke or snapped my brothers would just nail a piece of wood to the frame to keep it from falling apart on us in the middle of the night.” It was becoming abundantly clear that you and Bradley came from two very different backgrounds. “Roo—“ you reached over to place your hand on Roosters thigh. “My mum's bipolar, Frank? Well—he’s an alcoholic and an addict.” You explained with a solemn tone. “I did whatever I could to help raise my siblings and I wish to this day I could have done more than I did before they cut me out.” You never explained why you didn’t talk to your siblings anymore, Bradley had asked Jake one night over a few beers and the only explanation he gave was that you wanted a better life for yourself. “Everything I do, all the money I earn? Is so that Odette can have a better life, I wanna be able to give her everything because she’s a great little girl and she deserves a hell of a lot more than I’ve given her so far.” 

Rooster didn’t argue, he understood where you were coming from. Reaching up to grab the hand you’d placed on his thigh to bring it up to his lips, he pressed a gentle kiss to your palm. It made your heart do backflips the way Bradley didn't try and argue, didn't try and change your ways or your views. It made you feel loved for who you were–and there wasn't a single fibre of Bradley Bradsahw who wanted to change a single part of who you were. 

“So we make a day of it? I’ll rent a trailer and we can op shop the shit out of this house mamma.” 

***~***~***~***~***~***~

The locker room was crowded with naval aviators returning to work after having been off for the last week or so. Bob Floyd was the first one to notice the new face amongst the sea of all too familiar faces he’d grown to know over the last year or so being stationed in North Island. 

“Take a picture, it'll last longer.” Jaidyn smeared as Bob found himself staring at the man he didn't know, turning his head sharply to anywhere else in the room but the man's line of sight when he’d been sprung. “Im just fucking with you man” Jaidyn smirked as he reached out to shake Bob’s hand. “Names Jaidyn, Zeus.” 

“For the love of god Bob don't touch him, I don't know where he’s been.” Jake hissed as he stepped in between the two aviators, puffing his chest and flaring his nostrils as he clenched his jaw. 

“Jake–” Jaidyn eyed off his former best friend like he’d seen someone come back from the dead. “It's good to see you bro, how's things? How's my missus?” Jaidyn was only beginning to test the waters to see how far he could push Jake Seresin in a public forum before he snapped. The locker room had never felt so silent before with so many people in it. “Heard she's been crashing at your place ever since she took off.” 

“Judging by the swelling under your right eye I trust Bradshaw already told you to stay clear away from her and we won't have any issues.” It was a nod to the bruised knuckles Rooster was still carrying the weight of after having busted his fist against Jaidyns face. “I wanna make one thing abundantly clear though–” Jake hissed through gritted teeth as he got up in Jaidyn’s face enough to have the slightly taller, brunette man stumble back a step or two. “You fucking go anywhere near her and I find out about it ill kill you, and thats a promise.” 

“What lies had she spun to you Seresin.” Jaidyn chuckled as Jake turned on his heels, heading back in the direction of his locker after having shook his head Bob's way, gesturing for the backseater not to go near him. “ I never took you for a bitch.” 

“Yeah well, I'd rather be known as a bitch than as the guy who beats up women.” Jake didn't even have to turn around to know Jaidyn had gone the darkest shade of red known to man. “Because I never took you as the kinda guy who would do that shit for fun.” There was something Jake's fellow aviators were missing in the confrontation going down in the locker room because in all the time they'd known Jake Seresin he had never once mentioned his former best friend or the girl he saw as a sister until you showed up at his front doorstep. “You damn near killed her and you know it.” It was what Jaidyn was smearing next that had Jake seeing red, that had him racing across the locker room at full speed, pushing past everyone and anyone who got in his way, just as you and Rooster were walking in hand in hand laughing at something stupidly corning he’d said just to make you smile. 

“Yeah well, it's damn near addicting when she makes such pretty noises.” 

“YOU SON OF A BITCH!” Bradley was off in an instant, leaving you at the threshold of the locker room as he raced over to break up the conflict unfolding. “ILL FUCKING KILL YOU YOU PIECE OF SHIT!” Jake had his hands on Jaidyn in three point five seconds, shoving his chest as hard as he could before he tried to throw a punch that would have knocked the slightly taller, brunette with the wicked and maniacal laugh out cold. 

“Jake!” Rooster stepped between the two men who were about to throw punches. “He's not worth it man, it's want he wants, don't give it to him.” On the way over, Rooster had passed the Admiral making his way over, it was only a matter of time.

“What the hell is going on?” Mickey asked as you stepped into the locker room looking all kinds of meek and to blame for the events transpiring. “Who the hell's this guy?” 

“Dots father–” Is all you said and suddenly all eyes are on you. The squad who had become like a family to you all looked at you as if you were suddenly so much shorter, so much more vulnerable and so much more broken than you really were. “Jaidyn is Odette's dad, he uh, he followed me here.” 

“Fe–” Phoenix was the first person to speak as you never took your eyes off Bradley as he tried his best to deescalate the situation. Throwing himself between Jake and Jaidyn like he didn't care for his own wellbeing, just those around him. 

“I'm fine Nix, really, I’ll uh–I'll be in the hangar if anyone needs me.” You held back tears as you faked a smile so painful it damn near pulled on all the strings in Phoenix's heart. “Fanboy please don't forget that the strap on your hemet still needs to be fixed before you go up today, come see me whenever you can, the new part I ordered came in over the break.” You thought maybe throwing yourself into your work would keep you sane enough to get through at least the first day back. But when you made eye contact with Jaidyn for a brief moment, the way he smiled at you like he knew he won made you want to throw up. 

“Neither of you two know what shes really like, shes got you fucking played boys.” Jaidyn scoffed as he broke himself away from Braldey and Jake who stood side by side, the rest of the team behind them looking over their respective shoulders. “We’re engaged, she loves me and it'll only be a matter of time before she comes crawling back, begging for forgiveness after she took our daughter and ran.” In retrospect, Rooster knew he he maybe shouldn’t have said it—but his words were escaping far too quickly for him to stop himself.

“You mean the same daughter who calls me daddy now while I tuck her into bed every night?” Bradley knew what his taunt would cost him, he was prepared to cop it too. Dot had never called him dad before and he surely never expected her to. But as Jaidyn swung a powerful right hook against Roosters cheek just as Admiral Beau and Pete Mitchell were stepping into the locker room to see what all the fuss had been about, it was worth it. 

“Lieutenant Dolan, my office now!” Admiral Beau shouted as he watched Rooster go down, Jake just barely caught his head before he cracked it on the side of the bench. There were a few seconds there where Bradley Bradshaw swore he could smell colours and hear shapes but it was so worth it as the taste of iron coated his taste buds. 

“Bradshaw you alright?’ Jake asked as he watched Bradley fight off unconsciousness, he could have sworn if this had been a cartoon he’d have stars flying around his head like in that one movie Dot was scared shitless of. Who Framed Roger Rabbit. He didn’t blame the two year old though, that ending kinda fucked him up too. “Rooster? You there.” 

“Oi be careful, he can actually throw a solid punch.” Bradley chuckled, showing Jake his blooded teeth as he sat up slowly. “Admiral Beau didn't seem too happy though, which is good.” 

“All you did was by yourself a little more time Rooster, I don't think this solves anything, if i'm being perfectly honest I think this might have made things worse.” Bob interrupted as he sat down next to Rooster on the ground with the locker room medical kit, assessing the damage. “Far out I don't know how your nose isn't broken.” 

“Where Fe?” It was his first question. “She didn't see, did she?” If there was only one thing Bradley Bradshaw was worried about it wasnt if his nose was broken or if he’d actually hit his head or not. It was if you’d seen him take a hit for a lie he told just to get Jaidyn to play his own game. You hadnt, you were half way back to your hanger by the time Rooster had hit the deck and Jaidyn was being escorted to the admirals office for disciplinary action. 

“Nah, she left before you turned yourself into a human punching bag.” Fanboy was the one who gave Rooster the answer he’d been hoping for. ”But hey, why do they call him Zeus for?” 

“Stands for Zero Effort Unless Supervised.” Jake replied as he stood with a groan, letting Bob take over as nurse's aid. “Im sure you’ll find out just how he got that callsign in the first place, hes a fucking terrible wingman.” 

***~***~***~***~***~***~

“Lifestyles——of the rich and the famous—.” You muttered along to yourself as you hung halfway into the engine bay of your latest victim. An old Tomcat that the admirals had asked you to bring back from the dead as a side job amongst all the services and everyday tasks you kept ahead of to make sure the Dagger Squad were as well oiled as they could be. “They’re always complaining—always complaining.” Good Charlotte’s The Young and the Hopeless album had been blasting through your speakers for about four or five songs now—filling the silence with the early two thousands music was enough to keep your mind on the task ahead instead of wandering off somewhere else. 

“Don’t change career paths Felix, you sound like a broken record.” Jake chuckled as he stood looking up at you from the ground below. You stood atop the ladder, looking down at Jake. “Can we talk for a minute?” 

“Only if you grab me a redbull from the mini?” You replied as you started making your way down. Being careful to take one ladder step at a time. Jake did as you asked and made his way over to where your mini fridge sat, filled with copious amounts of caffeinated beverages ranging from redbulls to massive cans of Bang energy. 

“Here.” Jake handed you your beverage of choice as he stole a five hour energy, he didn't need to ask, so he didn't. “So we found out who Zeus is gonna be flying with–” Jake wasn't even trying to beat around the bush as he took the five hour energy down the hatch. You had your mechanic suit undone and tied around your waist, leaving you exposed to your black stand issue T-shirt. 

“Don't say Bradley.” You groaned as you cracked open the can. Taking a sip as Jake looked at you as if he wished he wasn't about to say Roosters name. “Jake I swear–”

“Okay so I won't tell you Jaidyn is Roosters wingman now.” 

“Oh well you just did! Didnt you?” You sighed in defeat as you made your way over to the small lounges you’d thrifted for the workshop, more often than not the Daggers would spend their lunch breaks and down time in your hanger turned workshop. “God, that's not gonna go well.” 

“You’re telling me, Roosters already got a black eye and it's only day one.” Okay, Jake really had dropped the ball on that one. He knew you were going to find out sooner or later and he thought it was best if you found out sooner, but still, the way you looked at him like he’d just punched you in the face was not a good experience. “He’s fine, Bradshaw was just taking the piss and took a fist to the jaw, he's fine Y/n, lover boys still walkin and talkin.” Jake explained as he sat across from you in one of the old rocking chairs that needed new upholstery. “Thats not what I came here to talk to you about, fuck Rooster, hes fine.” 

“Jake–” 

“We wanna put some security cameras up in your new place.” 

“You wanna do what now?” Your eyes bugged out of your head a little as you choked on the carbonation of your red bull. “I feel like that's a little bit–”

“Necessary Y/n, it's necessary because I wanna keep you safe.” You didn't reply for a moment, you just sat across from Jake smirking as you mulled over your next statement. Sinking a little lower as you placed your legs up onto the coffee table that was covered in polaroid of you and respective members of the dagger squad– all slid underneath the glass slab. 

“You’re gonna miss me, admit it.” You chuckled, biting your bottom lip because you knew even if he wasn't going to admit it that you were right. Jake Seresin had gotten used to having you living in his spare room and he was in fact going to miss the chaos you so effortlessly brought back into his life. From the way you never replaced the toilet paper roll after a roll was finished to the way you would put a movie on full ball and still manage to fall asleep half way through. 

“Fuck off Fe.” Jake scoffed as he turned his head away from your eyeline. “I just think since you’re gonna be on your own a lot more often, if you had cameras, we could check in on you without physically having to check in on you.” 

“No common areas and I wanna know where every single fucking one is.” Pointing at Jake, you agreed to the cameras, understanding that it was probably a good idea even if you just had a few around the place. “And so help me god if you so much as stick your nose into my private life with bradley il–” 

“I don't wanna know what you and Bradshaw get up to behind closed doors.” Jake shivered at the thought. “I'm still scared from the display I walked in on at the dining table.” 

“Maybe nows not such a good time to tell you we fucked on your kitchen countertop too.” 

“You’re fucking gross you know that?”

“Eat me Seresin, I'm a grown up. I can do whatever and whoever the hell I want.” The two of you just sat there for a while listening to the same Good Charlotte album you would listen to when you were getting high together at the back of the yards. Jake's mum would kill him to this day if she knew her baby boy had been exposed to such a thing. 

“I don't care how old we get, you're still gonna be a little shit of a sister.” Jake broke the silence first as he leaned across, his elbows digging into his knees. “You’re a pain in the ass, but you're my pain in the ass and this shit you've got going on with Jaidyn is all of our problem alright?” Jake frowned as he watched you shrug like you didn't think you were worth the extra effort. “I think you should tell the rest of the guys how serious things really are so they can help too.” 

“I aint required reading Hangman.” You groaned as you let your head fall back against the chair. “But if we can drop the subject for now, i'll think about it, alright?” 

“Okay.” Was all Jake said as he pressed his lips together and nodded, standing as he came over the tussle with your hair. “I'll see you at home, don't forget to pick up your keys.” 

“Rooster already reminded me, but thanks.” You watched from the couch as Jake made his way out of the hangar. “Hey Jake?” You called out after him, watching as he paused in his tracks to turn his head back to where you sat. “I don't say it enough and I really should.” You cooed. “I love you.” Jake just smiled, he knew you did and he loved you back, so much. He’d known you his entire life and he still knew there was so much more to you than everyone saw. Perhaps Bradley would be the person to get to know you just a little better than Jake thought he did. 

“I love you too.” 

***~***~***~***~***~***~

“Talk out of your ass like that again and I'll be the one who smacks you upside the head you got it Bradshaw?” You growled as Bradley made his way over to you, dragging his feet along the bitchament from a long day. The side of his face knocked up and surely bruising. “Jake told me what you said.” Bradley had been avoiding coming past the hanger all day so you couldn't castrate him for being an idiot. 

“Hangman needs to learn to keep his mouth shut.” Dropping his bag, Bradley took you into an embrace he;d been wanting to give you all day, the smell of your shampoo always brought him solace. Kissing the top of your head a few times as he kept you close against his chest. Pressing your back into the side of the Bronco you had been waiting beside. “But I know, I know, I shouldn't have said it.” 

“You can't be doing that shit, he's dangerous and I don't wanna lose you.”

“Oh trust me mamma it’ll take alot more than a single right hook to take me down.” You loved the term of endearment Rooster had chosen for you. Mamma. It made you ache for his touch. 

“Really? Cause from the eye witness account Fanboy told me about when he came to pick up his helmet, apparently you hitting the deck like a sack of shit.” You taunted Rooster as he saw Jaidyn making his way over to his own car out of the corner of his eyes. Far too close to you than he was comfortable with. 

“Love makes a man do crazy things.” Rooster was serious when he tilted your chin to look at him. Holding your chin between his thumb and index. “I love you Y/n, and you don't have to say it back, but I do love you–so much baby.” So caught up in the way Bradley was looking at you like you hung all the stars in the night sky just for him and him alone, you hadnt even noticed Jaidyn near his car, parted only one space across from Roosters Bronco. 

“I love you too.” It was one of the first times you'd ever said that with genuine intent. You told Jake you loved him, but this was a different kind of love then the one you had for Jake. Jakes was unconditional sibling love. The love you felt for Bradley bradshaw you'd never experienced before. You really did love Bradley, so much it hurt. “Now how about we go check out my new crib huh? Ten bridge street is officially all mine.” 

“Ten Bridge street huh?” Jaidyn eaves dropped as he slammed his car room after having thrown his duffel into the back seat, leaning on the side of his car with his arms crossed over his chest. 

“I'm nine Bridge street honey, looks like we’re neighbours.”

***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~**

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[catoslvt]

Ethan Landry x Reader

musical theatre lovers ofc!

you're rehersing 'Someone Gets Hurt' from Mean Girls the Musical in preparation for your schools Musical and then a time skip to a dress rehearsal.

Chad and Tara get to watch because they're working on the set or something idk..

He's not ghostface**

"No, Tara, I'm actually terrified." I tell her as I pull on my shoes, quickly doing up the laces.

"Why? You're only singing, then kissing and then singing again. It's no big deal." She states and I shake my head.

"It's more than that!" I gasp and she scoffs.

"You know I like him!" I exclaim, and she laughs, clearly not understanding why I'm so nervous.

"Then use it to your advantage, make as many mistakes as you can so you can redo it over and over." She tells me with a serious but joking tone.

"I can't do that. He'll know something is up." I argue, and she sighs and throws her arms around.

"Well, I'll be there watching, so I'll just keep shouting to retry the kiss or something. You got this, trust me, ethan is head over heels for you." Tara states.

Ethan and I stand on the stage watching Tara and Chad, who both walk to the back row of the audience and find seats before flashing us a thumbs up.

"Can you hear me?" I call being quite loud, forgetting about my microphone.

"Yep, perfect!" Tara screams.

"Do you have the backing track on your phone?" I ask ethan, and he fumbles into his trouser pocket and pulls out his phone, his hands are clearly shaking.

Good, hopefully he's as nervous as I am.

"For the kiss, don't be scared to do it over the top, Tara and Chad won't be able to see it as well as the people down the front row would." He says as he presses play on the backing track, not giving me time to register what he just said.

The first part of the song goes amazingly, I remember all the blocking, doing it the best that i can without the other people on the stage and don't ever miss timings, but it's when the kissing part nears closer that the nerves fill my body.

I now stand facing Ethan directly, but our bodies are facing the audience more than facing each other.

"It's fine for you, it's fine to flirt." I sing as I take a step closer to Ethan, his eyes not leaving mine.

"And God, you're hot. Why do you even wear a shirt?" I continue to sing as I grab his shirt and pull him closer to me.

"No, it's fine." We now both sing, his voice harmonising with mine almost perfectly.

"Damn, you're fine." He goes onto sing, one of his hands falling onto my shoulder.

"Damn, you're fine." I sing, taking another slight step closer to him as I stare up at him, were both turning pink, probably just nerves, though.

"And it's fine." We both sing, our voices really so sound nice together.

Okay this is it.

"Till someone gets -" I sing before wrapping my arms around ethans neck and pulling his face down towards mine, our lips instantly meeting in a kiss, that he deepens as he wraps his arms around my waist.

We continue this making out for another ten seconds before I pull away almost missing my next cue.

"Till someone gets hurt." I sing facing ethan.

"Till someone gets hurt." I then sing, facing the audience which only consists of Chad and Tara who are both looking equally as gobsmacked as each other, and then the music fades.

"Holy shit!" Tara screams as she stands up from her seat and makes her way down the middle aisle, giggling and clapping.

"That was so good!" Chad yells as he follows Tara, but he's not giggling or clapping. He just looks insanely proud.

"Any bad comments?" Ethan asks with a nervous laugh from beside me.

"The kiss." Chad and Tara say in usion, and I burst out laughing.

"It was too awkward! Your characters are exs, meaning they've kissed like that tons of times before." Tara tells us as she takes a seat in the front row.

"That doesn't help us make the kiss less awkward." I argue shooting her a small smile, but I try to hide it from ethan.

"Just pretend you are together in real life." Chad says, and as I look at him, I see him wink at Ethan.

"It's not that easy-" Ethan goes to argue.

"Just try it! From the line before the kiss." Tara yells, and ethan grabs his phone from the floor and plays about with the backing track until it's like thirty seconds before the kiss and we get in our places.

"Till someone gets -" I sing, and this time, Ethan pulls me in closer towards him first, his lips instantly meeting mine before I wrap my arms around his neck, one of my hands making their way to his hair, the kiss deepens and before I get carried away I pull away and sing the last two lines.

"I like Ethan starting the kiss more." Chad says, pointing at us, and Tara nods her head in agreement.

"Any homework? I've got Econ in ten minutes." Ethan says as he grabs his phone and checks the time.

"Yeah, you two need to get used to kissing each other." Tara says, trying to stop her laughs.

"Get behind the curtain and start practicing." She then adds and ethan and I both look at her in shock.

"She's not joking. Move." Chad announces, and I quickly walk off the stage, heading backstage whilst laughing.

"That was.. awkward." Ethan sighs and I nod.

"Kinda funny, though." I add and then he nods.

"We sounded really good together, though. You're such a great singer, I mean, I didn't even know you sung until we all got cast." Ethan tells me and I smile proudly.

"I told Tara I had auditioned for Regina, and she told me you were auditioning for Aaron, and I thought she was lying, I mean no offence but you're so shy, I wouldn't have thought theatre was your thing." I admit, and he laughs nervously before looking down at his phone.

"I need to go, I have Econ." Ethan reminds me, and I take a second to process what I'm about to say before I blurt it out.

"Quick kiss practice before you go?" I blurt, and ethans eyes widen slightly, but he shrugs and steps closer to me, this kiss is much shorter than the one on the stage because he needs to go, but it's still a kiss.

"See you at next rehearsal." I call as he speedwalks away.

Dress Rehersal

"Is everyone in their positions!?" Miss Higgins, my theatre teacher yells from the audience and everyone who is on the stage, including ethan, and I all shout yes.

"This will be our last rehearsal of the night, shows in one week, guys, but don't stress, you've all got this!" She continues to yell.

"Break a leg!" Tara screams from the back row, and we all have a small laugh before the song starts.

This is much better. Everyone who's on the stage remembers their blocking and the timings of their movements and its a smooth run.

"It's fine for you. It's fine to flirt." I sing as I circle around Ethan, eyeing him up and down.

"And God, you're hot!" I continue to sing as I now stop in front of him.

"Why do you even wear a shirt?" I sing as I grab at his sports Jersey.

"No, it's fine." We both go onto harmonise, our voices blending as well as my favourite smoothie.

"Damn, you're fine." Ethan sings with a smile as he cups my face with his hand.

"Damn, you're fine." I sing back, my hand reaching up and grabbing his shoulder.

"And it's fine." We both sing, closing the gap between us.

"Till someone gets -" I sing as ethan cuts me off, pressing his lips against mine as my arms wrap around his neck and both of his hands cup my face, we stay in this position, deepening the kiss until I pull away.

"Till someone gets hurt." I sing looking at Cadys actor Becky.

"Till someone gets hurt." I then belt, looking at the audience (Tara, Chad, and Miss Higgins), who are all clapping, until Chad and Tara begin pointing at where Ethan was previously standing so I turn to the side confused but that's when I see everyone who is in the background of this song holding signs.

"What?" I ask quietly because all the signs are backwards, so I can't see what they say.

"You can turn them now." Ethan says from behind me, and they all start turning the signs around.

Will

You

Be

My (Ethan)

Girlfriend? (Y/n)

I gasp as I read what the signs spell out and turn around to face Ethan, who has a bouquet of flowers in his hand and the biggest smile on his face.

"Yes!" I scream.

[not-a-big-slay]

Until it doesn't hurt

kaz brekker x fem!reader

summary:betrayal leaves some wounds behind, but even more questions when you can't figured out from whom it really came from.

warnings: violence, cursing

type: fluff

part: 12/13

previous part: part 11 masterlist

a/n: please, please, PLEASEEUHH im SO SO SORRY! it has been almost a FUCKING YEAR SINCE THE LAST CHAPTER?! HELLO?! WHO TF DO I THINK I AM? i need to keep myself in line cuz this aint normal! i have been hiatus for soo long i need to pull it together. anywayy, its finished finally. its long ahh hell and im gonna be working on another part immediately so it wont be another 50 years dw. dont mind any grammar mistakes, english is not my first language and i have written one half of this in 2023, so i really dont feel like redoing it lol. i dare you if you can recognize where exactly i picked this draft up again. anyway, pleasee enjoy!!

also, sike, its not the last part hehe, there will be part 13 AND an epilogue

taglist (hi yall :'))

@chickencouncilrep

@venomsvl

@happy-nico

@twlegit

@ravenmedows

@blathena

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She had lost again.

That would be the third time tonight. Her change was getting thin and she predicted it would take one more game before she had to go kill someone for free again. So much for making a ton of money with this job. The girl watched her opponent spoon the coins from the table with one hand, laughing: "One more game and I'll have to dig up another grave, Y/N." Others laughed, so she wasn't the only one thinking that after all. It was logical, she really had to stop playing with grown men, they wasted away their old nights playing poker at this very table and she had other, young people things to do. It would be wise to get up and leave, no one would judge her for that. They would maybe even cheer her on, finally making a rational decision, no one ever seen that before when it came to her. Yet the thought of doing so was being blocked by a high indestructable wall, one that never goes away and will only be built higher.

If she does leave, she has to go home.

Her mother is probably fast asleep already, it is possible she could go to bed unnoticed and leave early in the morning. This option she used very little as Y/N never wanted to come back there. A year ago, after her mother left her blood soak through the wooden floor, Y/N made promise into her scars that she will never lay eyes on mother again. She successed in that for a year so far, becoming a hitman that was quite infamous in town. But her fame started growing from mockery, as she was really addicted to poker.

Her eyes gazed on Tim, the cemetary worker, the buryer as she liked to call him. He was one of the granpas at this table, but one of the peaceful people in town. He never wanted her to kill, just to help him with his work, although Y/N hated it more than the murders, she didn't like the aftermath of her work. Tim, being satisfied, started organizing the coins on the table. No, she cannot go home tonight.

"So what's it gonna be, kid?" asked the other player, Miyka. Her green eyes stared on Y/N's face, her wrinkles scrunched in excitment. Oh, how she hated all of them. The girl faked thinking about it before tossing dramatically her last money onto the table. "I bet 20." It didn't sound as good when she started that low, but it was all she had left. Intstead of the usual giggle and witty lines and jokes they threw her way before following up on her bad choices, they sighed, almost in dissapointment. It frustrated her, it seemed like they cared what she does instead of what amount of money she holds. It seemed like they cared about her. A wave of fear pushed her like a tsunami at this thought. People that cared ended up hating her, hurting her.

"What!" she snapped. Miyka looked at Lios, her brother, in concern, while Tim silently reorganized his coins. She looked around the table, frown getting deeper and frustration blooming wider. What was wrong with them. "Well, Y/N" Lios began, "We are just kinda...worried about you. That's all." Miyka took the word next- her previous question has been an obvious tease, the girl was dissapointed. "You clearly have nowhere to go, so you are spending your time here which is.... we get it, but." She sighed, trying to find the right words. "It's not good." Tim helped her and smiled at Y/N as if it would calm her. It did not in fact, she felt more and more anxious about their care, anxious situations made her angry. She wondered why she didn't kill them all instead of those free targets, she would never have to pay another debt again, because there would be no poker players left to play and her addiction would dissapear. "So that's it, huh? You ain't gonna play because you are scared I could actually win?" she said in her defense. Nonsense, she knew, but her heart was sweating and she was glad it didn't blow up yet. "We just care, Y/N, that-"

"Care?! Remind me Lios of just how many people I killed for you, then talk about caring for someone's life!" she spat as she stood up. Lios was more than content to her way of paying, she had no idea why he apparently cared when he could have another enemy at his feet if he just played one more game. Miyka tried to calm her down, touching her hand softly only for Y/N to flinch, hard. Her vision began to blur, the floor shook beneath her and sweat poured on her face. It was like the room was on fire, but she was the only one feeling it. Other people at the pub, being entertainted by the game or simply just hanging ot there, looked worried, some even disturbed by her behaviour.

What was happening to her?

She leaned on the table with her palms, the wood trying to ground her as she closed her eyes to not feel theirs. Voices of the players echoed her head as sounds in a cave and they felt distant, but still could make her more nervous with their caring attitude. They soon fell in whispers, driving her insane. Then, she caught one voice that silenced all the muttering, it was clear, quiet yet she felt as if its breath was in her ear. "Why play, when you can take a life for the exact amount of money laying on this table?"

She recognized the voice, it belong to the fourth player, Haltt. His voice was known only in the game. Hearing him say a sentence was unusual and therefore very powerful. It was deep, low, hard. It had authority and respect and it didn't need to ask for it. He had everyone's attention, he controlled the room with only his silent voice.

Y/N's eyes looked into his dark ones, she had to find them in the shadows floating around him, as if he commanded to them as well. "What are you saying?" she asked carefully, not knowing why. Haltt observed the table, his salt-and-pepper- although more salt than pepper- short beard surrounding his mouth as it counted the cash, then let out a little chuckle that brought goosebumps to everyone close to him. "920 Neredi. Being a hitman, a respectful hitman, would make this amount your pocket change." He grabbed the rest of her money she threw on the table and looked over to Tim. The buryer shook his head hesitantly, knowing what Haltt wants to do, but all it took was the man's neutral gaze for Tim to fold. Y/N watched him slowly scooping the money and anger took over. She pinned his hand to the table, not looking away from his face. She could hear people drawing breaths in fear, but she was free from all the anxiety now, she was grounded by his scary presence, she liked it even.

Haltt's head slowly turned to her direction, his eyes creating a straight path to hers, his eyebrows climbing up as he said softly: " You want this?" When she didn't respond, he stood up, took her hand off of his gently, not letting go as his freed hand reached behind his back, pulling out a gun. She observed quickly, it was an older model, it was small and only one bullet fit into it- however she knew a man like Haltt would only ever need one bullet- he then rotated her hand and placed it in her palm. He released her only when she seized it. Y/N let her hand warm the handle before looking up at Haltt again. "Then go make it." he finished his statement and sat back down in the shadows. Y/N checked the inside of the gun and she confirmed her knowledge about it.

She scoffed. "One bullet" Haltt nodded as if he answered to her statement. "That's all you need, I know your skills." his glass clincked when his rings touched it, raising it to his lips. She waited until he drank the remainings of his whiskey, having the suspision he might continue. "You kill the target, you'll get double of this." Her surprise was voiced by everyone around her, gasping and unbelievably whispering. Lios looked at Haltt, telling him he cannot do this. But Haltt only looked at her. "No one here wants you to play. You made them care, something a hitman shouldn't do." She squeezed her free hand into a fist, knowing his eyes are reading her like cards on the table. He leaned in: "Take your reputation back, make them fear you instead." he said quietly and it seemed only she heard it. He retreated back into his seat, letting her simmer in his words.

She knew people stopped perceiving her as a threat, a force to be reckon with, a fearful killer, and started to look at her as a 15 year old that sometimes threw tantrums. People smiled at her, old men laughed at her when they drank beer at the bar, as if she was their granddaughter doing silly things. Once, she was feared, but now she behaved like an old woman trapped inside a teenage body with gambling addiction and alcoholism. Everyone treated her as a kid she never was, but Haltt seemed to remember who she was 6 months ago, to trust her potential, her skills she never lost, but used them to not drown in debts, not to her job. She suddenly became so connected to him, she was hypnotized. The sound of the chatty room blurred again as she explored the gray ocean behind Haltt's eyes. He let her, grinning as he watched her back straighten and her nose breathing in deeply. Then came the question:

"Who is the target?"

Halt's smile stabbed through his cheeks as he answered.

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

Inej didn't allow herself a break until she got the that exact building Y/N told her to. She was nervous to say the least. If everything goes right, Pekka Rollins will be dead. It was unbelievable to even think about. The moonlight caressed her back and the salty wind danced around her in excitment. Ketterdam is cheering for them, it will be better off without Rollins. She thought of ways how to carve his heart out, she wanted to make a heart-shaped hole, but it was too complicated making the curves, it would take too long and she didn't want him to die before she was finished. She needed something quick, but symbolic. After all, when the stadwatch will find his body, her work should be admired. Or Deln's work, she hated he will take credit for it, but it's definitely for the best.

Soon, the spider heard two sets of footsteps beneath her. She looked down carefully, confirming it's Y/N. In the dark, she couldn't much see her 'friend', but she could feel the disgust and fear Y/N had from above, suspecting he might not be an actual friend after all. Another secret of hers she wished to uncover after this is over. The way Jesper talked about this girl is riling up an interest in her. She wanted to get to know her better, her fate might not much differ from her own and she would like to hear her story, she would like to see why Kaz seemed to hate her so much. She also hoped Y/N will stay with them after this. For Jesper's sake and maybe for Nina's nerves as she looked worried about her.

As Y/N dissapeared into the alley, Inej grabbed her knife, Sankt Petyr, that she sharpened moments before. The wind picked up and she stood motionlessly at the edge of the building. She watched lightened windows in the Smeet Residence, hoping no one will think about looking outside tonight. The house reminded her of one she encountered at the southern colonies of Novyi Zem. It was in a horrible shape compared to this, but it was a haven for the citizens there, they admired it like people in Ketterdam admire The Exchange. It was luxurious given the state of the land.

Her train of thought stopped before it reached a station, because her ears picked up a subtle voice, then a laugh. The sounds got louder as they slowly approached her. Rollins must be pretty nervous of the meet-up if he talked to himself, or he was not alone. A slight panic rose in Inej's chest and she prepared to make the uninvited dissapear. If Rollins truly had some company, she would have to wait until he saw Y/N to take it out, otherwise he might see her and change his mind. If we won't do it, somebody else will brought out fire in her stomach. The girl was right, if they won't try the lovely dessert of revenge, others might eat it whole with no crumbs left. She suspected Pekka is the main character in many unfinished death threats and planned out vengeances.

The Wraith took a deep breath as her eyes closed, slowing down her rapid heartbeat filled with excitment. When she opened them, the bright windows from the residence, along with the dimmed lights on the streets aluminated two beings walking. One was definitely the leader of one of the most dangerous gangs in Ketterdam.

And so was the other one.

She silently gasped, panicking again, her heartbeat picking up. What the fuck is Kaz doing here? And why was he bent over with Rollins' hand around his neck. Even though they were right across her, Inej was oblivious to their conversation- well, monologue if she was more accurate- because she was way too busy feeling the plan fall apart. This wasn't supposed to happen, Kaz was meant to know nothing and then just cheer and celebrate once they'd be done. Why did he always took matters into his hands?.

When she came back to reality, they were almost in the alleyway. The spider quickly followed them, never taking her eyes off of Kaz's helpless form. Her hands always gently grazed any surface she incountered, her feet always landing on the tips of her toes, her moves inspiring every ballerina in Kerch, yet now her hands were sliding off roughly and she had to bent her knees to make the landing silent. Her fear of her friend manipulated her body and she almost fell over the edge when the sharp turn of the building made an appearance, luckily she awokened from the feeling and stopped herself.

She was above the meeting place now.

On her right was Y/N with the strange man. Y/N was anxiously pacing around, obviously worried as they all were, even the man next to her who stood still as a pole was taking almost unseeable shuttered breaths. When the girl faced her direction, Inej wanted to warn her of the unexpected turn of events, but she wouldn't be seen anyway. As it turned out though, she also wouldn't have the time to catch her attention in time as the target slowly showed up on her left side, Kaz still in his grasp. Up close she could see the knife he held to his neck, already cut into the flesh. The man on her right stopped breathing and tried to hide his widened eyes, Rollins smirked as he saw him, shaking his head in disbelief. But the tension really sparked up when Y/N finally saw them, her eyes instantly digging into Kaz, while his were already screaming at her. Only two words bound them all together as they appeared on every present mind.

Oh fuck.

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

Silence started perhaps being uncomfortable for Deln, yet Y/N only cared about the boy 5 meters in front of her. He wore blood, a lot of blood. His face showed bruises for every Barrel rat and every drop of blood that fell next to his feet tore a piece of her heart. But the worst thing was his expression, it was no longer hateful, nor angry. His eyes sinked into her and they washed her with almost a relief-like feeling, like he was happy to see her, or maybe upset to see her here, in a dangerous street that will be painted red by more than one person. His gaze was soft, almost pleading her to either run away or get closer to him.

He was worried.

"I told you to come alone if my memory is still serving right." Deln began the conversation, dragging both of their attention to him. He earned a chuckle from Rollins and a response as he squeezed Kaz's neck, straightening him up: "Well, I thought I might get the lovebirds back together, eh?" The knife retreated back to his pocket, revealing a red line on the boy's neck. Y/N allowed herself to let one tear roll down her cheek as an apology to him. Pekka must have kidnapped him, because there was no other explanation on why was he present. Deln was confused, he didn't know Dirtyhands as far as she knew, nor about her time with Hertzoon. "Aw, look at 'em, already pining for each other." Rollins mocked and pushed Kaz off of his hand. Y/N had a hard time keeping it together.

Deln sighed annoyingly and the hitman was glad he kept the plan on track. It was hard to admit he was actually a big help to her. "Whatever, let's talk business shall we? It's cold tonight. Don't wanna be out late." he said offered and Rollins laughed in his face again: "What, gotta read the slaves a goodnight story?" If she wasn't still in shock from Kaz, the plan would skip to the killing part very quickly. "Well, not anymore since you took 'em all away, didn't you." the slaver stated and wiped the smile off of Pekka's face quickly. Y/N had to admit he played the role she made for him perfectly and let the conversation rest in his hands, as she continued to worry silently about the bloodied boy.

The Dime Lions' leader seemed to get upset about Deln's forwardness, he probably thought he could talk his way out of it with his disturbing charm. He put his hands on his hips and shrugged. "It ain't my problem you keep 'em in a dirty warehouse. I offered them a room with a comfortable bed and good money if they were willing to smile. That ain't no crime, lad."

"I'm not interested in your architectural opinion on my slave-keeping. I am upset you stole my property." Y/N was very invested in the conversation she almost forgot her role was against Deln. Her tied hands turned him to her side by the shoulder and pierced him with her eyes. "Don't speak of them like that." she warned and he simpy scoffed her off. It wasn't much, she must admit, but it was enough to voice her stand in this matter. "HA! And what do you think you'll be after we're done here? You will be lucky if I allow you to work in my brothel." the last sentence was a warning, he could be so much cruel to her, like he was in his house. She was present finally, all worry stepped aside to make space for the anger she held and the focus she held earlier tonight sat back down on her mind.

"You won't touch her."

Ready to speak, Y/N was taken aback by his raspy voice with scary undertone. He spoke to her like that, not long ago. It was almost unreal he was defending her. As much as it brought shivers down her body, Rollins was unfazed by the threat. "You can barely stand, boy. What can you possibly do to me." he stated the obvious and continued once he looked her way again. "Besides, she really isn't worthy of your protection." He put one foot in front of the other slowly, walking over to her. She was on alert, if she had the opportunity, she wouldn't wait anymore and strangle him with her tired hands and her desire to dig his grave. He stopped few steps from her and reached into his pocket again, pulling out something else than a knife this time. "Lost this?"

A thin, almost not visible in the dark, black string was held between his fingers. The bracelet she lost. The one Kaz gave her on the last day they saw each other. She lost it in Rollins' office. Her temptation to reach for it was unseen by Y/N as her first instinct was to look at Kaz, who also drowned in the vision of the string. She broke her promise, a childish one, sure, but it destroyed her still. It always served as a reminder of her failure. How she failed to warn him and Jordie, how she wrapped his heart around her finger without knowing it and allowed Hertzoon to shatter it. The girl promised herself to not mess up this promise, at least one thing she could keep. In the end, she lost it too.

How does she deserve to live after destroying all good in her life?

"Yeah, cruel isn't she? Do you really think she cares about you, or anyone for that matter?" he talked to Kaz that was still mesmerized by the sight in Rollins' hand. Deln was silently watching the scene, the situation out of his hands now, the plan off of track. "You don't know anything about her, boy-". " You're wrong." she interrupted him. He turned to her, waiting to elaborate, the string still lifted between his fingers as if he was trying to hypnotize them. "I told him everything." Y/N continued as she silently wished with the last bit of hope he would take the bait. He didn't:

"Everything, eh?" he echoed as he turned his back on her and focused on Kaz fully. As he reached his personal space, his hand streched to him, giving him the bracelet. The boy fixated on it, swaying with the wind due to his trouble standing on the one good leg for this long. Rollins watched him closely, feeling Kaz's hand taking it almost immediately. When his coffee-like eyes reached his snake ones, Pekka uncovered Y/N's lie:

"Do you remember Ms. Hertzoon?"

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

"...You what?"

"Don't you dare be offended, you manipulated her and then left us. You're as bad as I am."

That made them punch her strongly in the stomach. Funny, Rollins wanted to watch her suffer, but was too lazy to torture her himself. They were on this for 2 hours now, or she at least thought so, she couldn't tell if the ringing was only in her ears. Rollins had her sit on a chair and then asked questions. The first were stupid and simple, almost like a small talk: Did she rob him, why is she back, when did she get back, etc. She earned 5 different punches in this round. Then the latter began. They wanted to know what happened after the con trick- as he called it- which resulted in her split lip and first blood drawn. Then another small talk, remembering all their time together and then, the truth. "Where is your mother?" it began and ended in countless of other painful things she couldn't be bothered to remember.

"How." he almost whispered, it was so dramatic that Y/N would laugh if she wasn't wheezing with every breath. "Oh, please. Like you care." she fully expected the hit for that one, though it still hurt like hell. "How!" he ordered her and watched her grow a grin with her painted-red mouth. She could still feel the little gun in her little hand, standing at the foot of her mother's bed. She watched her sleep for a moment before she truly aimed. Haltt was right, it did get back her reputation. He gave her the money and she counted every single coin to make sure it really was doubled. Fortunately, he was an honest man.

"One bullet was all it took."

To say she regretted it would be a lie, the biggest one in history maybe. She second-guessed it on her way home, sure, but she more doubted Haltt's promise than her actions. However, once she really saw her mother's chest rise and fall, nothing was easier than to pull the trigger. If she was a monster in her eyes, she would become one in her memory.

"YOU FUCKING BITCH!" was the last thing she heard from him, then her ears were filled with ringing and also pain when her nerves couldn't take it anymore. Everything went dark after a while, she was sure she couldn't breath and her eyes zipped themselves tightly, but even though she lost consciousness, she was sure she never stopped smiling while it lasted.

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

He always suspected some part of her story was left out, it would be unwise to tell him everything and she was not stupid. While Kaz did predict that something happened with the mother, he didn't expect this. He answered her eyes as they asked for connection and tried to assure them of his unchanged opinion. So what? He also done horrible things, they all have, especially Rollins. Such a hypocrite, that man. When he finished re-telling the story of Y/N's torture, he retreated from the boy's space, fortunately for him, because Kaz would have no hesitation in twisting Pekka's neck. Everything was silent for a while, the wind whispered cold around them as they all studied each other. Kaz looked at the building's roof next to them, seeing only darkness, but feeling her presence. He hoped that whatever Y/N planned to do with Inej would be useful. And what did he know, maybe this situation is going extremely well for them.

"Well, that is truly shocking, but unfortunetely, Y/N's dead mom won't solve this conflict. So let's solve it ourselves, shall we?" The slaver spoke and grabbed the girl next to him by the bicep, dragging her with him closer to Rollins. Kaz took a small, unnecessary step forward as a move to help her. Seeing Deln's hand on her made the water rise around him, he could feel her discomfort and felt it himself. They stopped and he threw the girl in front of him lightly, so she wouldn't fall, but aggressively enough, so she would sway. "Pay me for the slaves and she's yours, as promised." the boy's fist turned white at that, wishing he could hang Deln's organs at the lamppost. "Hmmm" groaned Rollins in thinking. "How much do ya want?"

"3000 kruge."

"Pardon?"

Deln rolled his eyes. "It was 100 slaves you stole from me, every slave is expensive and believe me, I'm giving you a discount right now." Rollins nodded at his explanation. At this point, Kaz thought about getting out of there. He was being ignored and would be forgotten in a while. Rollins couldn't see him, Deln could, but he doubted he would care. However, she could too, and his heart radiated an unfamiliar feeling at the thought of dissapearing without Y/N. If this situation happened with anyone else, he'd be already at the Slat, drinking shots and drowning in silence of his room. Dirtyhands planned the escape, Kaz refused to go through with it. He refused to leave her. "Alright, alright. How about this." Rollins spoke his thoughts. "I'll give you half of what they make me from now on and if you ever wander in the Sweet Shop, you won't have to pay." Deln was silent, but he was clearly concidering it.

"Huh? Sounds good?" Smiling Pekka streched out his hand and waited for a handshake. Every set of eyes watched Deln's movement, from his step closer, closer to Rollins, closer to Y/N, until he squeezed Pekka's hand, reflecting his expression. "That's a deal, then." said the robber. "Deal." said the slaver. Kaz didn't know what that meant and from the girl's face, he could tell the confusion was shared. Although, he truly realized this wasn't part of their plan after Deln quickly reached for Y/N's belt with the same hand that just closed a deal, pulling out a small gun, one that could barely fit a bullet, and aiming it at the hitman. She was frightened, taking steps back, but she didn't got very far when Deln grabbed her by the collar, holding her close to his body.

"Like mother like daughter."

He was instantly on the move, as fast as he could, trying to prevent what was about to happen. The bullet was faster though. Before hearing the gunshot, they heard Deln's scream. Y/N felt to the ground and Kaz was at her side immediately. His eyes panicking, trying to find the wound while his heart sounded the alarms and awakened fear. Not like this. He couldn't lose her like this. He soon found the gunshot and without thinking threw his hands to press it down. They never made contact with it, Rollins' knife already found its way back to his neck, pulling him away from her. "You didn't think I forgot about you, did ya?" he laughed in his ear before Kaz threw his head back, hitting him in the nose. The grip got loose and he turned around, sending his anger and frustration in his fist. Rollins tumbled and he kicked him on the ground, getting him closer to the place he belongs.

Deln moaned in pain and the boy finally saw the reason. Below his bent over form, a puddle of blood formed and in it swam his thumb, right above Sankt Petyr. The corners of his mouth lifted a bit, he couldn't remember how did he survive all this time without Inej watching over him and the crows, it made him grateful she is back for now. His eyes were set to find Y/N again, but he only saw a red trace from where she laid. She must've gotten away. Good girl.

He couldn't follow her steps, because Rollins already got up from the cobblestones, ready to strike. He breathed heavily, supporting the place Kaz kicked him in with his hand. He couldn't understand why Rollins always came back into his life. He tried to avoid him all his time in Ketterdam, yet life always brought them together. Or death, he wasn't sure, maybe they were destined to destroy each other. Pekka Rollins was like a mosquito bite: itching to be noticed and when Kaz does so, he feels a brief satisfaction before the itch comes back and is worse than before. He was also as annoying. It needed to be finished right here and tonight

The boy braced himself and waited on the mosquito's move, straightening himself. Little did he know, the shadow from above already closed in on the man. Kaz watched as she kicked his knee from the back and caught his hair, stopping him from falling fully on the ground again. Sankta Lizabeta could be soon visible above his heart, the tip waiting to be pushed in. Only then, Dirtyhands quietly sighed in relief.

"He still can't do it without ya, huh? Tell me boy, when will you start being a man and do things on your own?" Rollins mocked them as he recognized the face, which currently held the future of his heartbeat. Kaz limped slowly closer, feeling Inej's eyes on him. He lowered his head once he entered Pekka's personal space dangerously deep. "When my brother will get his revenge in hell."

As soon as the menacing words reached Rollins, his lips twitched up at the sight of Sankta Lizabeta slowly painting an imaginery outline of the man's heart, being applauded by his blood-curling scream. Inej wasn't the one for torture, but he could see the bit of joy in her eyes and the relief on her face. She deserved to be the one that would free Ketterdam from this parasite and he let her have it, already searching for the bloody trail Y/N left behind.

His eyes alerted him when they caught it and he began to follow the path, slowly, limping as Deln's whines cheered him on.

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

The stars were with her, sometimes changing their position or widening in her eyes as they waited to claim her. Salty waterdrops tapped her tired legs, reminding her of where she sat. She imagined death many times, it wasn't unusual for someone in her profession. She remembered Tim talking about the peace that comes with it, saying it is kind, so it would be easier for the soul to leave the body. For her, it was obvious. Everything would be kinder than life. However, nothing could prepare her for the last moments. Y/N realized that no matter how much you imagine it, it will always surprise you. The knowing that this is the last time she is going to exist in wasn't something her brain could comprehend. Maybe that was the mystery death held, that was the fuel for the fear in others, not understanding until it was too late.

Wind played softly with her hair while it kissed the bruises of her now untied hands, and she tried hard to feel everything at the same time. The clothes touching her skin, the numbness in her feet, her shaky breath as it entered and left her system, but mostly, she tried to memorize the pain in her stomache and the bullet inside her body. It was an intense feeling, so she wanted to feel it as much as possible, before it would fade and with it her heart.

The hitman got hit.

This is how her victims probably felt. She brought this feeling to numerous lives. Her mother felt this way too. Y/N couldn't decide if dying felt good or disgusting, but she could be certain it was lonely. Even if people surrounded her, it wouldn't be better. It was an experience for her soul, no one from the outside could empathize.

She wondered where her grave would lay as the slow footsteps got closer. Y/N heard him limp next to her and it seemed like the stars noticed him too, because they stopped moving once he sat down, as though they only wanted to be seen by her. He was visibly tired, still bleeding from his neck.

Maybe he was feeling the final presence too.

Maybe her starts would take them both.

Silence and the waves crashing made the space between them comfortable, maybe too comfortable for her liking. His breath was disrupting hers as it naturally tried to match the rhythm. The moment became so peaceful, she almost forgot about their history. It felt like nothing happened between them, they were just kids, sitting by the port, watching stars and listening to the ocean. They weren't Dirtyhands and Saskia. They weren't the Bastard of the Barell and Snowflake.

They were Y/N and Kaz. As they were always meant to be.

"Do you believe in faith?"

It felt like yesterday since he asked her that question. Every shared memory of them felt so close to her now, as if time was all messed up. Maybe death was already doing its job. Kaz was taking his time with the answer, breathing heavily, as if the air had to fill his words first before she could hear them.

"Yes...I do."

He exhaled, his low empty voice responding. Her lips lifted into a messy smile, her muscles were losing their power all over her body, but that didn't stop her from reaching into her coat and pulling out a folded, bloodied paper that her fingers swiftly grabbed from her slaver's back pocket before he could shoot her. It was almost bizzare, how a small, easily rippable piece made her revisit the demons of the past. She wondered if Deln wanted this all along. Maybe he wanted Rollins to kill her, so he could make his deal with him. Or maybe it was just faith, wanting to see how far she would go for a false sense of freedom.

"It doesn't mean anything." Y/N stated as she felt Kaz looking at the release paper. "I just needed proof that I'm not under anyone's influence anymore, but..." her eyes followed the ongoing waves. They looked like on a leash, as if someone released them, so they could explode onto the harbor's walls, only to pull them back again shortly after, reminding them they were still being controlled. It seemed torturous, humiliating. It looked like her. "...I will never be free of him."

Y/N couldn't look at the boy, even if his burning gaze could only be extinguished by an eye contact. He was right, she was a monster. She could see it now and she wouldn't hide from this fact. She would accept herself before her heart would stop singing. It was the least she could do with the very limited time, coming to terms with her own self.

The stars started moving again slowly as Kaz spoke: "He can't control you anymore..." His tone showed certainty. Inej had to claim her souvenir of revenge by now, but he still managed to squeeze out a scoff from the hitman. She couldn't believe he allowed himself to be so naïve. Rainbow won't repair the damage done by storm, same as killing Pekka Rollins won't erase his actions and the following conciquences. His influence made her do things beyond his leadership. It scarred her for life, and those scars bled onto others without the possibility to heal. She bled on him too. She killed his brother for fuck's sake.

"The things he caused precedes him." Y/N finally looked at Kaz, his eyes seemed to be glowing in her hallucinating mind. "I can't be changed." She whispered, knowing he would hear every single letter. The moon illuminated him perfectly. His features casted a soft look under its light and Y/N was glad this would be the appearence of him she would take to her grave. She was happy to become one of the stars that would continue to shine on him.

Suddenly, death seemed very pretty.

The girl saw his hand on hers before she could feel it. It was weirdly warm, even though he barely touched her. His eyes demanded her ears' attention as he spoke, slowly, so she could feel the words. "You don't need to be changed."

Her mind was confused. How could he even speak such things?

"I am a killer." she reminded him.

"Not by choice." he argued.

"I killed my own mother and enjoyed it." she was restless in making him hate her.

"Your mother's conciquences of her own actions." he dodged her attempt.

"I killed your brother." was when she knew she would win. It wasn't excusable. Nothing could possibly erase this from Kaz's mind, no apology was enough, she was certain. That was the reason she couldn't understand why Kaz's hand began to hold hers more tightly as his eyes studied the wound in her stomache, covered by her arm that desperately tried to prevent the blood from pouring out, but it became more and more hopeless. "You're dying and not doing anything about it." he aknowleged. Y/N smiled briefly, from pain and also from his slow understanding of her plan.

"I deserve it." she spoke weakly, every word felt heavy on her tongue and she was about to give in to their weight. He only observed her, as her body was slowly losing the ability to move, as her energy was being sipped by the waves below. It suddenly felt a bit scary for her, she was in the process of dying and it strangely ignited the last bit of her will to live.

Kaz did nothing, he only asked: "Why?" She looked at him, her eyes shooting fear. She guessed she would engage with every emotion before turning off. Maybe the nature granted this privilege to every person, so they would get to have the proper goodbye to their body.

"I never done anything good, I only brought pain." her lips responded, making Kaz nod slowly. Y/N gasped softly as the fear intensified. This feeling was unlike any before, like her life was slowly slipping through her body, through the wound. Her arm pressed tightly, as much as she could to slow down the inevitable, but it was too late. "Maybe it's time to change that." Kaz spoke. She wouldn't be able to change her ways if she died, the only thing she would remember about this life was how she made it difficult for everyone else.

Y/N sighed, death was almost touching her, heart was losing its music. She no longer felt the waterdrops on her legs and the stars dimmed their light. "It's too late."

The port beneath her began to sway, as if it would tip over to the ocean anytime. She gripped the concrete edge, slipping her hand from Kaz's to do so, trying to stop it from moving, only for it to sway more. She picked her eyes up at the sky, seeing only her five stars in the black treacle sky, as her body pushed closer to the waves.

Death awaited her.

Like those waves, Y/N was suddenly pulled back by someone's hands, feeling her body lift up from the port, supported in the air. Her form bounced with every other step and another warm breath kept mixing with hers. She imagined those arms were of an angel, bringing her to heaven. Or a devil, bringing her to hell. She gave into its touch nonetheless.

"I know you're not very good at keeping them, but would you promise me one last thing?" a voice asked her, a low and a tired one. One that could only belong to an angel the way it kept her dying heart beating. The girl could only hum, agreeing to the angel's request. The voice sounded serious, threatening almost, but she could hear the worry hidden behind it, as it spoke.

"Don't make me lose you."

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

Nina whined, having trouble with breathing as her hands shook from the need to be put down. She saved the Dregs numerous times from a certain death, yet Y/N exceeded her expectations. The heartender tried her very best to wake her heart up, while Jesper and Wylan panicked to pull out the bullet and seize the wound, so no more blood would be lost. What wasn't helpful, though, was Brekker, constantly yelling at them for trying harder. She understood that his anger was powered by the fear for that girl, but that didn't put out the urge to fill his face with more wounds, maybe a broken nose even.

"I swear, Nina. If she dies.." he exclaimed again, not helping the situation in any way.

"It will be on you!" Nina barked at him, frustration clearly visible not only on her tone, but her tired features. Her eyes shot to Jesper and Wylan an apologizing look as she saw their hands bloodied and faces worried. The door swinged open behind her, revealing Inej. Nina felt relief wash over her as she saw her. Kaz would maybe stop being such an asshole in her presence.

"Is she breathing?" Inej asked and immediately moved to Y/N's lying form, putting her cheek above her nose. "Barely." Wylan answered stressfully. Kaz's worry shifted to fear, Nina could sense that, even when her full focus was on the hitman's weak heart. She was barely alive, but the heartender was still surprised it could beat. She was strong and Nina hoped she would continue to fight.

Jesper gasped heavily and looked at her. "The wound's sealed!" he sounded so hopeful and it brought Nina some strenght to see him like this. She had to take quick breaths before tightening her hands in the air one more time, fastening Y/N's heartbeat. Fortunetely, it worked. "She's breathing again!" Inej said with a small smile, causing Kaz to limp closer to see for himself. His own wounds weren't yet treated, but Nina didn't even try to convince him. He had trouble looking after himself when one of them was hurt, she could imagine how much worse it was in this case, where his heartbeat's fire was on the brink of death.

She could feel the heartbeat pick up to a slow pace. It wasn't yet normal, but at least she didn't have to control it now. Nina put her hands down and fell down on an armchair beside her. Everyone in the room fell victims to exhaustion, Nina closed her eyes for a moment, just focusing on her breathing. Wylan was the first to stand up and slowly make his way out of the room with the words she'll be alright, Nina, you did a great job. Jesper followed, squeezing Nina's shoulder and nodding shortly at Kaz, before the door closed after him too.

"You either let me treat your wounds or you will go and get some sleep." she offered to the man, her eyes fixated on Y/N. She was glad he, at least, wrapped his neck in a bandage during this hard time, but he had other quite serious wounds she had to treat sooner or later. Kaz allowed himself to be predictable as he stared at the hitman and then slowly limped out of the room. Before he did though, he surprised her after all.

"Thank you."

Nina's head snapped his way and watched him leave, she didn't expect that. Inej sat next to her on the armrest, following her eyes to the laying girl. "You should rest as well, I know how tired you are." the heartender studied her features with a caring look. Her friend fought the sleep well so far, which she hated to see. "I'm not leaving you alone." the spider said with a decisive eyes connecting with hers. She knew the heartender couldn't sleep herself, as she had to look out for Y/N's heart. Nina flashed a defeated smile. She was grateful for her presence, she missed her a lot, but it would ease her mind if she went to sleep. However, knowing her stubborn mind, she scooted over to the very side, creating a tiny space for Inej to sit, which her friend accepted with a smile.

"Alright then. Tell me how you killed Rollins and DON'T spare any details."

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

[hypersomniagame]

HYPERSOMNIA JULY DEV LOG : “LIKE MOTHER LIKE SON”

Yeah baby, none of that "If you're new here" stuff anymore! This is dev log #6! If you're new here read anyways, because if you're reading this you probably know what HYPERSOMNIA is. If not though, then welcome! Let me show you what I've been working on this month!

BUT BEFORE THAT!

If you didn't know, the MOTHER DIRECT is TOMORROW! (Which is why I'm writing this on Friday instead of Saturday)

HYPERSOMNIA will be there! We released a trailer teaser that you can watch right now, and the full trailer will be a part of the direct premiering at 6PM ET!

If you are a content creator, I ask as an indie developer to please talk about the indies and don't just skip over them. I'm not asking this because I want you to talk about my game, but just please talk about the indies because they deserve your attention. Just because you're not familiar with these games doesn't mean they're not worth looking into. If theres an indie game in this direct or in general that catches your attention please talk about it, because it's incredibly valuable to people trying to find an audience.

TALK ABOUT INDIES!

Now, back to your regularly scheduled indie games:

So, what have you been up to Ferris? I'll show ya!

First off, I've been working on designing enemies for the demo! Now I've realized over the last month that I am really really weak at designing common enemies. Trying to avoid RPG tropes and weak/overused ideas and jokes is tough because it means I can't really bullshit like 50 enemies and call it a day, each enemy takes a long time and needs a strong idea, sometimes it'll take me multiple days to come up with good ideas!

I came up with these two recently, and I think they're good examples of my thought process for designing enemies.

HYPERSOMNIA's enemies revolve around a paranormal theme. It's an aspect of the first MOTHER that I missed in MOTHER 2 and 3, which inspired HYPERSOMNIA to lean into it so much.

I try to also keep some sense of comedy in my designs, HYPERSOMNIA has paranormal aspects and it has serious moments, but I try not to mix the two with common enemies because I just don't think it'd make a very interesting enemy roster. Could you imagine an EarthBound inspired game with enemies like actual demons from hell or serial killers? It's something I would've written in 7th grade, like the most basic bait-and-switch you could ever see from any media.

I also put together a flowchart while talking with my partner about enemy designs, they weren't exactly on the same page as me while thinking of ideas so I made this to illustrate my thought process for an idea.

It really helps me narrow ideas that I think would work for the game. It isn't exact, so don't look at it like some sort of design bible, but it's more a general guideline.

I also got around to spriting that cow enemy. My friend suggested the name Moo-F-O which I liked better than the names I was thinking of.

I'll probably get around to spriting that TV enemy after I finish writing.

As the next "Thing I Did This Month", you may have noticed that Katz's coat is a different color!

I made this change while redoing her sprites. I was dissatisfied with how her black coat blends into the game's brown outlines so I decided on giving her a brown coat instead. It also helps her stand out a bit against Iggy, who also has a black coat.

I've also recently been working on some concept art, I've talked before about how I don't like Ross' special attack sprite, so I've been trying to come up with a better pose

I tried hard to make that pose he has in the original work because I think it looks cool but I just found that the pose on the right was easier for me to draw.

I've also been thinking of giving Debra a new starter weapon, initially she had a pan but I figured I should find something else for her, I don't like how similar it is to Ana and Paula from MOTHER. I'm still on the fence about it, so if I don't write about her having a new weapon next month then I'm still thinking about it.

And other then that, that's all I've really done this month! It's not much but I feel its more interesting then the last few months. I've had a lot going on in my life, and early in august I'll be moving out. Hopefully I'll be able to settle quick, because for August I'll probably mostly be taking a break.

I usually do take a break after a trailer comes out, so you'll definitely hear from me next month but we'll see if I have things to talk about. Until next time! And don't forget to watch the MOTHER DIRECT, live at 6pm ET!

If this is your first log you’re reading, or even your first time seeing ANYTHING relating to HYPERSOMNIA, I got a whole bunch of links for you to check out if you wanna know more about me and my stupid little game.

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[snek-panini]

It's been a few weeks since I had new books to share, but I finally got photos taken of the newest ones so today's the day. Here, have a book:

This is Across Tides and Currents, a Good Omens siren AU by Sodium_Azide and @doorwaytoparadise (hi. I hope I tagged you right). My favorite thing about this AU is that, at its heart, it's about learning to communicate with someone who is so different from you that you can't even physically speak each other's language, and yet you've still got so much common ground that you find a way. It's way lighter and more fun than that description makes it sound, though, so go read it if that's your thing.

The cover on this is Lineco book cloth, scrapbook paper printed to look like leather, and blue foil htv. The foil was actually a nightmare to do. The first time I applied it, it wouldn't stick no matter what I did, and the bits that did stick peeled off as soon as I touched them. I had to peel them up very carefully, cut a new image, and try again. Thankfully it worked the second time but I don't know that I'll be using the foil type again unless there's no other way to get the color I want. The non-foil metallic was so much easier to work with.

More book photos under the cut!

I went with a coptic bind for this one for a few reasons. The first was that I wanted to try one on a quarto-size book to see if I could. I also wanted to try the mitered corners thing I did when I bound Strange Moons, and see if I could have the same effect on the interior. (That bit didn't work out so well; the front is fine but I mismeasured the inside and the lines didn't match up, so I trimmed some pieces of cardstock to cover that up. I really like the layered look though, so that's fine. It's quirky.) The third reason is that not long before I decided to bind this one, the authors published a new chapter after two years of no updates. That's the best possible reason to have to change plans, and the glueless bind means that if they ever do that again I can just redo the stitching to add more pages. Win-win.

Getting whimsical with title pages here. This took way longer than I thought it would, probably because I don't like graphic design and I did it in Word where I do the rest of my typesetting. Usually what I do is grab an image and put text around it or on top of it and then just play with fonts and sizes, but this time I drew the lines and then made the text follow them. This is the first time I've used the word art feature since...probably 2009? I'd forgotten how. I have no doubt there are better ways to do this but if I'd had to learn a new program at that point I'd have quit. And I do think it was worth it--it's cute and fun and looks about how I imagined it.

Couple of photos of the inside. Sorry the first one's blurry, I had someone trying to get my attention when I took these. The section break image came from rawpixel, I just made it gray instead of black so it's more subtle. The fic has very nice illustrations that I specifically got the artist's permission to print and then I failed to get any photos of them when I did my little photo shoot. They look very nice, though. I swear.

The last image is something I've started including in my latest books. I'm calling them "A Note from the Bookbinder" and it's basically just me talking about why I chose that story, the experience of reading it for the first time, stuff that's going on in the fandom, stuff about the process like the new chapter coming out as I was preparing to print. It's kind of...like marginalia? Part of fanbinding is preservation and that's linked to archival work, and something I know archivists love is marginalia and diaries. I don't like writing in my books and I've never found any fun in journaling, but sometimes that kind of context is important so I'm trying to add it. Someday, decades from now, I may not remember all the details, so I'm trying to preserve them. IDK, this got philosophical on me. Go read about mermaids now. Promise it's a good time.

[seafaring-cephalopodsss]

Pirate AU Infodump Post #1: Best 8 :P

Hey gamers! I decided that I would like to redo the infodump posts and organize the main thread a little more-- the information has changed quite a bit since the last time I talked about these guys as well :'D I'll have specific posts for world building and others just for characters!

Anyways, this post will mainly focus on the Best 8 of Splatsville! Their personalities will stay mostly close to canon tbh, I don't think I've changed them around too much--? Eh, whatever, enjoy!

Infodump under the cut :D

Here is the link to the main thread

For a bit of context, I've split the best 8 in half;

Wireglasses' Crew consists of himself, Ocho, 8-Bit, and Shady + their respective teams. Same goes with the remaining four of the best 8, consisting of Tako (Shellmet), Barreleye, Hornmet, and Mitsuami + their teams. (Except for Mitsu, I don't think she has her own team yet..? Not really sure yet)

Wire's crew:

The Wireglass Pirates!! One of the strongest pirate crews to ever patrol the seas at the time. They've created a pretty fearsome reputation for themselves, a lot of smaller sailing crews will go on routes to avoid them.

The main crew members' bounties are in the high 900k's, Wire's bounty almost reaching a 1 million cash! :D

They have no known allies, although they're sort of buddy-buddy with Barreleye's crew. They don't really attack each other while at sea but it's also really really awkward when the crews do run into each other.

Sometimes Barreleye and Wireglasses' crew will meet up and trade resources-- although most of the time they end up just hanging out and playing cards.

Uses black labels in battles which disable their opponent's weapons and can also prevent them from using their specials as well if stuck directly onto them

Black Labels are considered illegal, they're very hard to attain unless you either make your own or smuggle it from somewhere.

Wireglasses:

The Captain of the crew!

He also goes by Captain Wire

Mainly uses a cutlass and/or the splattershot pro, depending on the circumstances

He likes playing cards and staying with his crew. They play cards sometimes to pass the time. He is scary good at playing card games like Speed or Hearts.

Sometimes he gambles during stops— he’s won a few, lost a few (Sometimes he’ll cheat at the gambling table whenever he feels like it) 

He's also pretty firm in negotiating trades. He gets a little bitter whenever trades don't go his way--- just because he's firm about it doesn't mean he's good at it

Wire sometimes gets a little too serious in battles. He's ruthless towards his enemies and just overall gets overconfident during battles 

Ocho:

Master at pick-pocketing and picking locks; If you flip him upside down and shake him around a lot of spare change and random trinkets he found will come out

Sometimes whenever the crew plays cards, Ocho likes to cheat (even though he doesn't always admit it)

He's sometimes sent off to run errands for the crew if they are split up.

Second in command, sometimes helps with other stuff around the ship. EXCEPT FOR MOPPING he hates mopping the deck. He will complain the entire time/hj

Uses a set of throwing knives and/or .96 gal, depending on situation

He's a bit of a sore loser when it comes to almost everything

He likes collecting little trinkets; sometimes it's stuff from trading posts and other times it's random stuff he'll pickpocket off people.

Ocho rarely calls other captains by their proper titles. He mostly uses their names— which Barreleye doesn’t like (Ocho is mainly avoiding Barrel’s title just to annoy him)

Ocho has a boyfriend!! He is dating my friend @autoboros ‘s OC, Lock :D (hi auto!! waving at you) 

They spend time together between voyages 

Most of the time they meet up at the docks and spend some time together :3

8-Bit:

She LOVES explosives and has probably tried to make her own at some point (But got told off by Ocho and Wire)

She takes care of the canons on the ship

Uses a dynamo roller most of the time, though sometimes she'll have smaller bombs that she throws.

Like Ocho, she cheats in card games, but not as often as he does. She’ll get all offended if you accuse her of cheating.

8-Bit also sometimes makes really weird drink combinations whenever she’s bored, the rest of the crew just tries it to be polite— but it mostly turns out to be a disaster.

Due to an incident, 8 Bit is banned from the ship’s kitchen— she is no longer allowed to cook for the crew ever again (womp womp) 

8-Bit and Ocho compare bounties whenever they appear in the newspaper. She's jealous that his bounty is higher

Shady:

Sniper of the crew! 

He has an eyepatch for when he’s aiming his shots. 

Shady keeps a journal of the places they go to

He is also in charge of navigating the ship wherever they go places.

His accuracy goes head to head with Skull’s, it’s only a matter of reaction time and who fires first 

Shady likes reading the newspaper to pass the time whenever he is bored at sea. Most of the time he’ll just be sitting in the crow’s nest and reading the paper for hours at a time. His favorite columns are the sudoku puzzles. 

Shady usually stays behind to watch the ship sometimes while the crew goes to run errands. Every now and then he’ll tag along though :D  

Shady does have a smaller dagger on him just in case for close combat. Normally in battles he’s well-hidden and enemies have trouble finding him :D

Barrel's Crew:

I’m gonna be 100% honest, I still haven’t come up with a name for their crew. So far I can’t find any names that really stand out to me at the moment so I’ll have to keep thinking about it :’] 

The crew mainly uses heavier weapons compared to other pirate crews.

They’re all in all a very loud bunch, mostly Barreleye though. 

Even though they’re pirates they prefer to have fair fights— they won’t fight someone who is unarmed.

They have a lot of other allies :D Although their relationships with other crews are mostly one-sided. Neither of them get benefitted its more like people they're acquaintances with

They first got their bounties after accidentally exploding a few navy ships-- and also """"accidentally""" stealing a few of their resources.

Tako (Shellmet):

She used to be in Wire’s crew but she eventually left to join Barreleye’s crew. She also became the new captain after Barrel stepped down for a little bit. 

She left because she was against the whole black labeling thing. Wire wasn’t too happy to hear about Tako leaving the crew, he’s still bitter about it but there’s nothing he could really do to change her mind about it. 

Tako uses a cutlass and the hydra splatling, depending on the situation. 

As second in command of the crew, she makes sure the ship is in tip top shape every day. Sometimes she’ll try to help out with repairs

Tako met Barrel in a tavern where Barrel was arm-wrestling other patrons for fun. Tako arm wrestled him and won 

While she was in Wire’s crew, Tako used to whack the other crewmates with a broom whenever they annoyed her, she’ll still do it whenever the crews run into each other

Barreleye:

He carries a blaster and sometimes uses a cutlass. 

He is LOUD. Sometimes he’ll fire off the cannons just for fun and gets scolded for it by the rest of his crew.

Barreleye is friends with Gloves and was the one who convinced him to set sail in the first place! :D Although they don’t really see each other often 

Barreleye makes a lot of silly blunders that his crew usually has to drag him out of. 

His bounty was first posted after he exploded a navy ship on accident. It was a long tangle with the navy but the crew ended up being victorious from the whole ordeal. The crew had bounties after that incident as well.

Barreleye doesn’t really get along with other pirate crews— mostly Hivemind or the X-Bloods. 

Sometimes he gets a little overconfident in his own abilities, both in silly situations and serious situations

Mitsuami:

She wanted to join a sailing crew initially. Hornmet was the one who convinced her to join Barrel’s crew!

Mitsuami has her tri-stringer but no sword, in close combat situations she’ll sometimes freeze up and panic. She’s still trying to get better with those situations though!

Her accuracy can almost catch up with Shady’s. She’s only missed around 3 times but she doesn’t really like to talk about those times

Mitsuami is absolutely terrified of pirate crews with higher bounties such as Wire’s crew or the X-Bloods. She tries to avoid them whenever she can

Mitsuami sometimes cooks stuff on the ship for the crew to enjoy. She likes going to snack shops whenever the crew goes anywhere

She freaked out when she first saw her bounty listed in the newspaper but later saw it as something cool :D

Hornmet: 

Hornmet and Mitsuami have been friends for a decently long time, before both of them joined Barrel’s crew :] 

Hornmet is the shipwright of the crew! She is mostly in charge of repairing something in case it gets broken or needs fixed 

Sometimes she’ll help with the canon repairs as well 

For the most part, she uses her tri-slosher in battles 

Every now and then she’ll use throwing knives for longer range attacks. 

Hornmet loves the thrill of being a pirate, she has no interest in reading maps and stuff

Like Barrel, Hornmet sometimes gets herself in situations due to her overconfidence 

====

That's all for now! :D If I think of anything else I might put it in a separate post or something... but that's everything for now :] Thank you for reading and have a nice day/night!! I'll write some stuff up for the S4 and others next hopefully :D

[chihirolovebot]

and so it is possible to evaluate the attitude of other participants in the game of a physicist from one to ten? I'm terribly interested in the relationship of physics and maki.

i THINK i understand what this means but if ive gotten it wrong just . shoot me another message clarifying and i'll redo it . i believe ur asking me to rate how the other participants feel about physicist on a scale of 1-10 ? let's say 1 is enemies and 10 is their closest friends.

i'll start with physicist's weakest relationships and work my way up to their strongest !

shinguji — 1/10, not really any friendship built before the incident where shinguji tried to murder phys; likewise, phys always felt vaguely distrustful and creeped out by kiyo even before the incident. a very safe last place.

yonaga — 3/10, one of the only characters physicist has had a real, longstanding problem with. phys is generally pretty passive, but yonaga definitely managed to piss them off by brainwashing kiibo and trying to control the student population. i don't think yonaga had any grudge against phys personally, though.

shirogane — 4/10, phys seems very neutral and sometimes irritated by shirogane. throughout the story, shirogane is rarely seen standing up for physicist, generally quick to believe they are guilty when accused.

houshi — 5/10. i don't think physicist ever had any sort of problem with houshi, they simply didn't know him well enough before he died to really feel close to him. i think they would get on if they had more time to spend together.

yumeno — 5/10. again, physicist is mostly neutral on yumeno, but their opinions on her probably skew a bit more positively than shirogane. yumeno has definitely earned sympathy points from physicist and has moments where she tries to believe in physicist's innocence.

gokuhara — 6/10. we're starting to move onto people physicist likes now. gokuhara is ranked low because i wouldn't consider himself and physicist to have a very deep relationship beyond generally liking each other, though. their relationship was definitely tainted by chapter five, too. i think gokuhara only cared for phys as much as he did all the other students, and physicist liked him well enough and felt it hard when he died.

iruma — 6/10 physicist tends to think iruma is a little much, but they definitely appreciate her as a scientist. iruma is a coward, so she's for sure very jumpy and paranoid around phys after they kill korekiyo, but killing game circumstances nonwithstanding i think they'd be pretty good friends.

akamatsu — 6/10, akamatsu was definitely super important in physicist's early development, i think she gave physicist a lot of hope and she would be remembered a lot more fondly by physicist if she hadn't murdered amami and started the killing game.

harukawa — 6/10, an interesting relationship for sure !! they start out in a super rocky place with harukawa accusing physicist of amami's murder and being stubborn when confronted with reason, and physicist disliking her because of it. there's a lot of shaky points for them, but i think they've both grown to a place of mutual respect. they may not ever be close friends, especially in the killing game, but they've learned to appreciate the other at the very least.

momota — 6/10. a source of strength for physicist, although their philosophies dont always align. their relationship is weakened a little by momota refusing to see physicist's agency in their relationship with ouma.

toujo — 7/10. ranked a little lower for the whole uhhh toujo considering killing physicist and trying to throw them under the bus about it thing. but pre-ch2 they were very close. i think phys is the closest anyone got to seeing toujo as a person, and toujo genuinely cared for and respected phys a lot.

chabashira — 8/10. another relationship that needed a lot of time to evolve. chabashira and phys didn't really interact meaningfully until chabashira discovered them after killing kiyo and helped cover it up. since then they've grown incredibly close, something of a result of chabashira being the only one to see phys like that, and continuing to have faith in them. one of the only people to see the real phys, i think.

saihara — 8/10. these two have a more subtle relationship i guess, but still extremely close. saihara believes in phys a lot, not just because of his detective's intuition, and they mean a lot to him. both of them care for the other deeply, and beyond that, want to be cared for by the other. they each find comfort in talking about their grief and regrets, and have near-unwavering faith in the other.

amami — 8/10. only isn't a 9 because of his secrecy and the amount of stuff physicist doesn't know about him, but needless to say amami very much acted as physicist's rock in chapter one and that losing him in such a brutal way damaged them to their core. amami, in turn, adored physicist in a sorta big-brother way, felt pretty protective of them. i think it said a lot that he told them he'd come find them first after ending the killing game? he grew to feel pretty close and protective to them in the short time they had together. physicist constantly looks to his memory for advice on what to do when they're struggling.

ouma — 9/10. this bastard. he's so high up because he probably knows phys better than anyone else, and the same goes for phys knowing him. phys is closer to him than anyone in canon ever got, and although they've had a very very rocky journey they both harbour indisputable respect for the other. there's something so intimate abt their knowledge about each other, the way they know the exact things the other wants to keep hidden the most. he's ranked a point lower than a ten because of his obsessive paranoia and trust issues, and also his struggle to get over phys killing kiyo and using them in his plan to kill iruma and gokuhara.

kiibo — 10/10. u may question this ranking when thinking about the recent distance between them but i raise you . in regards to each other , everything phys and kiibo have done is a result of extenuating circumstances and not their own actions. phys only allowed iruma to be killed because they believed the world is virtual and iruma wouldn't actually be dying, and only distances him because they can't tell anyone at all about the plan to catch the mastermind. circumstances nonwithstanding, physicist and kiibo love each other. they are best friends, they trust the other wholeheartedly, always the first to jump to the other's defence. kiibo's faith in physicist is incredibly stubborn at times because he knows who they are deep down, and the same for physicist. anyway. they mean everything to me :3

[enbyleighlines]

Leigh plays Tellius prt 2

We got Soren's first crit on this map! Btw, this stupid pirate map took me THREE tries. Once I lost Mist, and twice the houses were burnt down before I could get to them. Ugh. This was the first map that gave me any trouble.

And unfortunately, it wouldn't be the last.

The prisoner's map! I decided not to do the stealth thing, and just killed everybody. I think I took a little too long, though, so I didn't get much bonus exp from this map. But it's okay, because I now have Nephenee and Kieran, two more fruits to add to my basket. And Brom, too, of course. I love him, but I'm sorry, I will probably never use him. Armored knights and I don't get along too well.

Gosh, I absolutely love the dynamic between these two characters. I 100% believe that Kieran has a crush on Oscar, and that's why he took Oscar's discharge from the military so personally. One day, Kieran will realize why Oscar's squinty-eyed face makes his heart go all pitter-patter. Until then, I will fully enjoy getting these two to A rank.

Yeeeee, Nephenee!! I have said it before, and I will say it again. I love how there is just a series of chapters in early PoR where you get to recruit a new anime waifu each map. In any other FE game, these would be Ike's love interests. But not in this game! I just love how Ike collects this group of cute girls with fun, quirk personalities, and then remains platonic friends with all of them. And of all the "recruitable waifus", Nephenee is definitely my favorite. She's just too damn adorable.

I made a terrible error on this map, and accidentally put Mia within the boss's range. Thankfully, she survived with 1 HP, and I was not forced to redo this map. Whew!

It's Port Toha time! I love that Ranulf pays such close attention to Soren. Apparently, in the Japanese version, it's implied in this scene that Ranulf knows Soren's secret, which explains why Ranulf keeps such a close eye on him. I wonder if this is Ranulf's first time meeting someone like Soren. I really wish the game had expanded on this. I bet Ranulf and Soren would have some really interesting conversations. If they ever remake these games and add support convos to RD, I hope Soren and Ranulf have a support chain.

The fucking humor in this game is so great.

I don't even know what to say about this line, but man, does it make me feel a certain sort of way. Mackoya is not the only character who expresses this sentiment, but I do believe it is the first we see it, this idea that soldiers will become weak without "a steady diet of war". It's a key aspect of Ashnard's entire philosophy. I like how this completely contradicts with what Mist says later, about "Doesn't everybody want peace?" Because no, they clearly don't. There is no use for soldiers in a world without war, after all.

Someone much smarter than me could turn this into an entire thesis paper.

I respect Zihark 100%, but man, his introduction is wild. Entirely unprompted, he's just like "how many men do you want me to murder? Give me a number and I'll start hacking!" It's a shame I never use him, because I love him as a character. I do wish we got to learn more about his past, or had his past tie into the plot.

I always snort out loud at this line, because like, what steps are you taking, Nasir? There are two defining features of dragon laguz, which are the forehead markings and the pointed ears. You have decided to conceal neither of these things. You could easily hide your ears in your hair. Your hair is long enough. And what is the point of those things around your forehead? Could you not put some dangling gem or something to cover up your forehead marking?

I will accept that most beorc probably don't know what dragon laguz look like, but still. Nasir has taken exactly 0 steps in concealing his identity.

This might be my single favorite line from Ike. Gosh, he's so funny, I love him.

And that's it for part 2! Next time, we fight some pirates!