#I’ve jumped on another of arts aus

[mysticraven20]

Based on @art-the-f-up BuzzFeed au

BuzzFeed Paranormal: Woodland Investigators.

Marinette stood in front of the old, creaky house as Adrien came beside her holding a high-tech camera and aiming it where she shone a flashlight. He turned it on her.

‘Adrien, are you ready for this? We’ve had reports of strange noises, inexplicable drafts, and even… shadows.’ She could barely hold in the smile as she spoke. Sometimes it was so hard to be serious when you were doing such a shit job.

Adrien, in his usual comical, over-serious voice, dramatically moved the camera from her to his own face. ‘Marinette, you know I was born ready. Tonight… we face the unknown.’

‘Right. Or maybe it’s just the wind.’

‘Don’t ruin the suspense! It could be anything.’ Adrien grinned. He shut off the camera and looked at her. ‘Do you ever think we could be doing more with our lives than this?’

She shrugged. Of course she did, but then she wouldn’t spend all her time with him, not that she would tell him that of course.

They entered the house, the floorboards creaking beneath them. The house was dimly lit, the only sounds were those of their footsteps and the occasional spooky creak.

Adrien turned the camera back on and turned it to his face. ‘We’ve just entered the house. The air is cold. The atmosphere? Heavy. The spirits? Unsettled.’

She snorted. ‘The only thing unsettled here is your hair from all that gel. Calm down, Agreste.’

They walked through the house, and as they headed up the stairs, a loud thud came from the ceiling above them. They froze, both of them slowly looking up at the ceiling

Playing to the camera, as he always did, Adrien gasped. “DID YOU HEAR THAT?”

she grinned, using a finger to turn the camera to her. ‘What, your heart skipping a beat? Or was that the creaky old ceiling?’

‘She mocks now… but soon, we will uncover the truth. The truth that haunts these walls,’ he whispered dramatically, pulling an unladylike snort from her.

They reached the attic door, the thumping now louder, accompanied by faint scurrying sounds. Marinette narrowed her eyes at the door.

‘This is it, Adrien. This is where the ‘ghost’ must be. You ready?’

‘As ready as I’ll ever be. If I get possessed by a ghost, just… make sure I still look good on camera.’

Marinette rolled her eyes and pushed open the attic door. Inside, she couldn’t see much but outlines of objects scattered around the attic. It was dark and cluttered. Dust floated in the air as they stepped cautiously. Suddenly, something moved in the corner.

‘SPIRIT,’ Adrien bellowed dramatically. ‘REVEAL THYSELF!’

As though answering the call. A rustling from the corner was joined by the faintest shadow stretching across the floorboards. Then the scratching started. Faster and faster, the tapping grew right until it was in front of them.

A raccoon scurried across the floor, followed by two squirrels that leap from the rafters, narrowly missing Adrien. He stumbled back, wide-eyed letting out an ear piercing scream. She couldn’t help the laughter escaping her mouth as she snorted, loud and hard.

‘Oh no! The spirits of… woodland creatures!’ she said, grasping her stomach to try and ease the pain.

“I— I can’t— Marinette! We’ve been haunted by… raccoons?!’ He had barely recovered From his scare, which only made Marinette laugh more.

Tears formed in her eyes, her thumbs pressing hard under her eyes to stop the mascara running and making her one with the raccoon. ‘The ghost of trash pandas past!’

Her laughter, unbelievably, intensified as Adrien started to laugh beside her, moving from slight chuckle to full guffaw in the matter of seconds and causing her to collapse into her knees.

‘How— how did we even get hired for this?! Who calls ghost hunters for animals?!”

Marinette took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself down. ‘I don’t know, but I think we’re going to need a different kind of expertise to deal with these “spirits.”’

The raccoons continued to scurry around as Adrien collapsed onto the floor beside her. As soon as she met his eyes she could hear his shriek play on repeat in her mind causing her to start laughing again, both unaware the camera was still rolling. She fell backwards, leaning against a dusty old trunk as they both dissolved into uncontrollable laughter.

Adrien crawled across the floor and picked up the camera, bringing Marinette’s attention to the red light still on. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, we have uncovered the truth. The noises in the night… were just raccoons trying to open a snack bar.’

‘Next time, let’s make sure our haunted houses don’t come with actual tenants in the attic.’

Adrien snorted, standing up and holding out a hand for her. ‘I’ll call the exterminator… you can call the ghostbusters just in case.’

Adrien turned off the camera just as the raccoon chased the squirrels across the attic, sending them both into a spiral of laughter again. This week they had completely failed to maintain any sort of professional composure—again.

[heyimkana]

Desiderium - Chapter 2

Series Masterlist | AO3 Link

Pairing: Yuuta Okkotsu X Female Reader X Satoru Gojo

Genre: Reincarnation AU, Marriage AU, Fluff, Smut, Slow Burn

Summary: Set in Tokyo, Japan, you and Yuuta were past lovers separated by the cruel hands of fate. That same fate brought you to him again a century later, but while you hold no memories of him or the beautiful life you had shared with him in the past, Yuuta remembers everything. He's waited forever to see you again, yearning for your love, not knowing that you already belong to someone else.

Word Count: 12K+

Content Warnings: None for this chapter.

Art drawn by @alwhmd_ on Twitter (commission)

“Hey, you’re late.”

Satoru’s rare greeting comes unexpectedly, staggering her before she can close the entrance door. 

“Oh—yeah, hi,” she replies with a smile, wondering why she sounds so strained. She lies. She knows exactly why. She was in the middle of reeling in the sweetness of the dream she had the previous night when her boyfriend’s voice broke in so suddenly into her head and disrupted the thousands of images of Yuuta she had inside, all at once. 

Dropping her keys on the counter, she makes her way further into the living room to find Satoru reclining on the couch, his feet on the table with his X-Box controller in his hands.

“How was work?” he questions, though both his heart and his mind are clearly somewhere else.

“It was…” Terrible. I couldn’t stop thinking about what nearly happened in the dream. And that makes me feel even worse because I shouldn’t have been thinking about another man at all. “Okay,” she finishes, to which he simply hums in response. “I didn’t think you’d be home this early. You said you had plans tonight.”

“Yeah, Suguru fucking canceled on me, so now I’ve got nothing to do.” He jams his thumbs repeatedly over the buttons, boredom in his face. The TV blares with the horror game he recently bought, though seeing how he’s finished an endless list of DVDs in the same genre, perhaps even the craziest jumpscare starts to feel a little dull to him.

“That’s okay, we can hang,” she offers, dragging a cushion over to her lap as she sits beside him. “Do you wanna watch a movie? It’s been a while since we—”

“Baby, I’m hungry,” he cuts her off, almost as if he didn’t realize she had words coming out of her mouth. Tossing his console to the side, he drops his head onto the pillow, looking up at her. “Did you get something for me?”

It takes her a second to answer, her heart grazed by his blatant disregard, but she’s grown accustomed to the pain. “No. Like I said, I didn’t know you’d be home. I thought about buying you something sweet, but you still have your puddings, so I didn’t—”

“Boooo,” he pouts, spoiled. “You could’ve gotten me something else.”

“I’m… You’re right, sorry.”

“It’s fine. Should we order some takeout, then?”

“Umm… What if we cook something? We can do it together. It’ll be fun.”

“What if you cook something for me?” Satoru grins. “It’ll be just as fun, I’m sure.”

“But…” She balls her fingers on the couch, forcing out a smile. “Remember how we promised to take turns? I’ll cook if you do the laundry.”

“I’ll do the laundry after you cook.”

“I already cooked for you the other day, Satoru, and you didn’t even do your chores.”

“’Cause I hate doing chores,” he whines, jutting out his lip. “You know what? Fine. I like cooking better anyway. If I make dinner tonight, will you do my laundry?” He sits up, his eyes sparkling like a child’s. He acts cute, wiggling his eyebrows as he sings, “I’ll make you whatever you want~”

She huffs out, “Fine,” only because she knows he won’t change his mind. 

“Yay, you’re the best!” Pecking her head before he jumps off the couch, Satoru makes his way to the kitchen with a hum. “So, what is it going to be, Your Grace? Classic chicken fajitas or the magnificent spaghetti aglio e olio Ala Chef Gojo?”

In a flash, a memory of the last time she spent with Yuuta—the real version of him—resurfaced. 

“There’s a new restaurant opening just a block away from here,” Yuuta said as he escorted her back to the nearest subway station after spending quite some time together in the library. They slowed down their pace the closer they got to the place, not wanting to part ways just yet. “They got amazing reviews. Do you have time to spare? I know how much you like Asian food. I thought maybe you’d like to try.”

She raised a suspicious brow. “I never told you I liked Asian food.”

If he sweated, he didn’t make it too obvious. “Everybody likes Asian food. It’s not that hard to guess.”

“Huh.” She poked her tongue against her cheek, eyeing him suspiciously just to see him fidget on his feet. “Fine. But if you can guess what I’m about to order, I’ll start filing a restraining order on you ’cause you’re definitely my stalker.”

“Okay.” He let a moment pass. “It’s not tonkatsu, is it?”

Feeling playful, she gasped, dramatic and loud, while pointing a finger at him. “Stalker!”

“A wild guess, I swear!” He raised both hands in the air, grinning.

“I think I’m gonna have to do a background check on you, Okkotsu. I don’t trust you.”

He chuckled. “I don’t think my history of being a kindergarten teacher would amuse you.”

She gasped again, repeating the exact same gesture. “Pedophile!”

He paled, noticing how a couple of adults walking before them started to turn their heads. “S-stop,” he whispered, “People are looking—”

“Police, help!”

 Yuuta leaped over to cover her mouth, begging her to stop as he broke into a cold sweat. “I’ll let you go if you promise not to shout again.” She nodded. “Y-You promise?” She gave another nod. “Okay…” Though reluctant, he decided to believe in her words, breathing out in relief when she cast him her innocent smile. “So, about the restaurant—”

“OFFICERS, OVER HERE!”

She smiles at the recollection of how he chased after her on the street, their waves of laughter echoing through the crowds like two teenagers running high on dopamine. It was fun, a rare occasion where she felt Yuuta finally let loose around her, acting much younger than his age. 

I wish I could see him now, she can’t help thinking. I want to see him laugh like that again. He’s—

“Bunny?” 

—not supposed to be in my mind. She breaks past Yuuta’s name in her thoughts, fumbling in her attempt. “Y-yeah?”

“What, something funny?” Satoru asks, raising a curious brow. “You were smiling to yourself.”

“Oh, I was just—” She clears her throat. “Never mind. Did you ask me something?”

“Yeah. What do you wanna have for dinner?”

“Oh, umm…” She turns flushed, somewhat jittery. “Something simple like… Like tonkatsu, maybe.”

“Tonkatsu?” He frowns upon her words. “I didn’t know you liked that.”

“I-it’s just something we haven’t eaten in a while.”

She doesn’t sound convincing, and she knows he senses it, too. Whatever it is running through his mind, he chooses to ignore it—or perhaps he doesn’t care. “I mean, I can make that, but… I don’t know, babe. I think we should go with spaghetti tonight,” Satoru says, retrieving a pot from the top drawer. “We’ve got all the ingredients, and it’s easier for me to make. That’s okay, right? We can order tonkatsu some other time, promise.”

She smiles, weak but hopefully not empty. “Sure.”  ***

Her dream continued last night, and it seemed to pick up not long after they departed from the kimono store. She thanked all the deities above for not letting time pass by so quickly, but the question she wanted an answer to remained untouched. She was still just as curious and just as clueless about the question Yuuta had asked her after their near-kiss situation. And there was no way she could find out now or ask about it, seeing she had no control over her lips. The dream, like always, had already written a script for her to follow, and she was just a marionette, while she—the dream version of her—was her puppeteer. 

They arrived at the theatre just a moment ago, their soles landing on the concrete ground after spending half an hour inside a carriage, stealing glances at each other. Moonlight shone above them, a comforting beauty to the graphite night, rivaled only by the tenderness of Yuuta’s smile. “Shall we?” he asked, extending his hand for her to take.

Her heart bore a weight she wished she could chase away. Nevertheless, she flashed him her best smile, accepting his offer.

Her anxiety nearly got the best of her when she was welcomed into a theatre filled with hundreds of unidentifiable faces, ones that belonged to strangers associated with luxury and aristocracy. Even when she was shrouded in the finest clothes she’d ever worn, she still felt like she didn’t belong, sticking out like a sore thumb among the crowd. 

Yuuta held her hand tighter the second he sensed her breaking into a cold sweat, smiling softly to pacify her. “You don’t have to greet anyone if you don’t want to,” he reminded her again with the kindest, understanding tone. “Try to think that it’s only the two of us here. No one else matters.”

To be the only two in the world… That would’ve been so nice, wouldn’t it?

But she knew how proud he was to have her at his side at that moment. How, had she given him the chance, Yuuta would have been so eager to introduce her to his associates and show just how lucky he was to have such a woman holding his hand. Despite how nerve-racking it sounded, it delighted her truly. 

“Let’s go meet your friends,” she said with a smile, squeezing his hand. It took her a little more effort to assure him that she’d be fine with it before he bought her words. 

Beaming with elation, he exclaimed, “They’re going to love you!”

Such a naive thought, she uttered inwardly. Unlike him, she kept her expectations low. A wise choice, it turned out, because once Yuuta presented her formally to a few men and women he considered to be his colleagues, she was met with scrutinizing eyes and words that were too honeyed to be coming from the heart. They weren’t fond of her; it was clear for her to see, but Yuuta was drowning too deeply in excitement at the thought of introducing her to everyone to decipher the fake lines within their smiles.

They bumped against a couple in particular. A man, older than him by a few years, she assumed, and a gorgeous, short-haired lady who was just about her age. The man’s look was striking enough to be remembered—a pair of sharp brown eyes, his chin held high, and a haughty grin plastered on his thin lips. He would’ve been a beautiful man if he hadn’t let his arrogance taint his face, his smirk too revolting for anyone to look past. The two of them were dressed traditionally in kimonos just like she was, but the way they carried themselves, brimming with confidence and a sense of superiority, made them seem completely different.

“Naoya-sama,” Yuuta greeted with a proper bow, although from the side, she could tell he couldn’t put his heart into it. He performed the same gesture to the lady standing behind him. “Mai-sama.”

“Oh, please. Mai is fine, Okkotsu-sama,” she crooned, folding her paper fan to give him her respect. 

“Then, please, call me by my name as well,” Yuuta says. “Perfect timing. I want you to meet someone. This lovely lady here is…” He introduced her to the couple, a pleasant look taking over his face as if looking at her for even a second washed away all the turmoil arising in his heart just a moment ago. 

“P-Pleasure to make your acquaintance,” she lowered her head to them. None of them returned the bow. 

“My, my,” Mai cooed with a ridiculing smile playing on her curvy lips. “When I heard that my sister wasn’t planning to attend the event, I was expecting it was because you weren’t going to come. But now, you’re here with this…” She let her sentence hang in the air, sizing her up. “Girl,” she finished disparagingly.  “This is quite… surprising, I must say.”

Mai might have been dressed sophisticatedly in a stunning bold red kimono, but her stare and attitude toward her were anything but. The clear contempt in her words ached her heart, but it didn’t hurt as much as the mention of another woman.

Her sister… A Zenin? She swallowed. Isn’t Zenin one of the most prestigious clans in the country? She nibbled on her lip, her fingers curling against the side of her kimono. What kind of relationship does her sister have with Yuuta for Mai to expect her to come with him? She pondered agitatedly, but among the storms in her head, the one that struck her the most was—

What do I have to offer against someone like her?

“Oh,” Mai sighed dramatically, “Nee-sama will be heartbroken when she hears about this. Should we keep this a secret, Yuuta-sama?”

“There seems to be a misunderstanding,” Yuuta corrected her, his tone remaining polite and patient. “Maki-san and I are nothing more than friends. I think I’ve made that clear before.”

Mai threw a deriding glance at the woman standing beside him before she tossed another sickening, saccharine smile at him. “My apologies, I must have forgotten.”

Hearing their conversation, her heart twisted for two reasons. 

They’re just friends, she recalled, which assured her.

But he calls her Maki-san, which meant he was close to her enough to be addressing a noblewoman by her name. 

“You heard him, Mai,” Naoya chimed in with a smirk. “He doesn’t care about her. No one does.” 

Yuuta’s jaw twitched. “That’s not what I—”

“Okkotsu,” he grinned. “I wouldn’t have guessed for a thousand years that you’d have the bravery to bring someone like her here. Does your old man know about this?” He leaned in, his lips pulled back to show a string of pointy teeth. “Should I tell him? Your father must be ecstatic to learn how his little, obedient son wastes his time with a commoner.”

It hurt. Of course, it hurt. But more than that, it caused her resentment to boil. She could take any insult her way, but if it involved him, her anger would flare within seconds. She would’ve berated Naoya for his poor manners if she owned the power, but she didn’t wish to stain Yuuta’s reputation more than she already had. There was truth in his words, and that was the one thing she couldn’t fight back.

Not knowing what else to do, she just balled her small, silk-woven pouch between her hands, forcing herself to stay mute. 

I shouldn’t have agreed to this, she thought to herself regretfully,placing her gaze on the ground. I should’ve just—

“What goes between my father and I is none of your business.” Yuuta held his head high, ice in his voice, too thick to be dismissed that it even silenced the prideful young man before him. A smile still graced his lips, but the warmth in his eyes had morphed into something dark. “And if you consider yourself a nobleman, I suggest you try and behave like one, starting with how you treat my lady.”

My lady. His words rang like carillons in her head, vibrating to her every being and setting it to flames. With her heart pounding, she sneaked a glance at him, watching how Yuuta’s cold stare remained unwavering on the young lord’s face. 

Naoya’s lips tightened as his vexation grew, but whatever it was that he saw in Yuuta’s gaze caused him to swallow back the poison he wished to spit out. Instead, Naoya dragged his eyes to an easier target—the perfect choice to push Yuuta’s buttons. 

Feeling his attention on her, she brought her gaze to the carpeted floor, tense. She expected Naoya’s spiteful words to cut through her chest, preparing herself for them, but what she received was a pair of lean fingers framing her chin, forcing her to lift her stare before she could process the situation. 

Naoya stood before her, his stare denigrating, coated with a layer of interest. “Let me see your face—”

Yuuta’s hand wound around his wrist with a grip strong enough to make his veins resurface on his knuckles, stopping the other man from laying another finger on his woman. 

Naoya flinched, his face contorting in pain. “Easy, Okko—”

“I suggest you keep your hands to yourself,” he said through clenched teeth, low and dangerous. “Naoya.”

She froze, staggered to see the always courteous Yuuta tossing away his manners to put on a brazen display of his anger. The suppressed rage in his voice was something she’d never expected to flow out of someone as sweet and merciful as him. And as she returned her gaze to his company, it appeared it struck them all just the same. 

To address the next lord of the Zenin Clan by his name was one thing, but to threaten him in front of everyone’s eyes to see… She prayed that it wouldn’t unravel their relationship into something worse than this. 

Naoya’s arrogant smile was long gone, replaced by thin lips quivering in the resentment he couldn’t unleash. He yanked his wrist free. He chose not to put up a fight, but whether he did it out of consideration of where they were or because he simply lacked bravery for it, she could not tell just yet. She wondered if Naoya felt fear from how quickly Yuuta’s personality switched whenever she was involved. She definitely did. It frightened her as much as it excited her. 

“N-Naoya-sama,” Mai shortened the distance between them, speaking quietly as she tugged on the sleeve of his kimono. “People are looking this way.”

She glanced at her surroundings to realize that her words were true. Yuuta did not care about it, not in the slightest, but Naoya did.

With a scoff, he chose to leave the scene. “I suggest you mind your fucking manners,” he snarled through gritted teeth, intentionally knocking his shoulder against him. “And it’s Zenin-sama to you, Okkotsu.” 

Yuuta remained quiet and unfazed, not giving him the satisfaction of getting any reaction out of him. Mai followed closely after her cousin’s trail, hiding the bottom half of her face behind her paper fan as she walked. As the Zenins disappeared into the crowd, she felt the tension lessen in the air.

And with it, her beloved Yuuta returned.

“Are you all right?” he quickly checked on her, his face contorted in concern as if lines of anger never flashed across them. “I’m so sorry you had to hear that. I was planning to avoid them, but—”

“Okkotsu-san.”

They froze, turning their heads around to see another man detaching himself from a group of people to pay them his greetings. He appeared to be a year younger than Yuuta was, dressed in a pure white kimono and a black haori that stood in stark contrast to the color of his eyes. His jet-black hair was untamed, pointing in every direction. His scowl appeared to be permanent on his otherwise very juvenile face, but his jade-like eyes were pretty. Fierce and piercing, but pretty.

“Oh, that’s Megumi,” Yuuta regained his affable smile within an instant. He held her hand, telling her, “He’s one of the close friends I wanted to introduce you to. Come.”

They met him halfway, her body turning rigid under his eyes. Megumi took one look at her, examining thoroughly but far from criticizing. If anything, his sharp gaze turned gentler once he captured the emotions shown on her face. “Good evening,” he said, performing a polite bow. “I believe we haven’t met. Megumi Zenin, my lady.” 

Another Zenin. Her agitation swelled. “H-hello,” she mimicked his gesture.

“It’s nice to see you again, Megumi.” Yuuta’s delight was exhibited clearly in his voice. “How long has it been?”

“Around a month or two? It’s a pleasure to see you, too, Okkotsu-san.” Megumi appeared quite stern for a man his age, but when he tossed his smile at her, small yet genuine, it lightened all the weight in her chest similarly to how Yuuta’s did. “And you, as well.”

“The pleasure is all mine, Zenin-sama,” she bowed.

“Megumi is fine. I’m not really fond of being addressed by my family name. I don’t want to put any distance between us.” 

Ah, she understood immediately. No wonder they get along.

He turned to Yuuta. “Is she…?”

The said man turned red before he gave him a little nod.

“I see,” Megumi gave her a little smile. “It’s nice to finally put a face on it.”

She blinked. “Pardon?”

“Oh, this man right here,” Megumi explained, lightly bumping his shoulder against Yuuta’s. He was dropping all formality, behaving around them the way a friend would, and with it, he put her at ease. “He hasn’t been able to stop talking about you since the first day he met you.”

Yuuta’s blush turned a shade darker. “M-Megumi—”

“He’s been talking about you so often that I’ve been contemplating chopping my ears for good, truth be told.”

“Megumiiii,” Yuuta whined despite being older, pleading for him to stop while clutching his sleeve like a child. She giggled at the sight, which caused both men to stare at her in surprise before their gazes softened in endearment. 

Yuuta, particularly, breathed out in relief, knowing she’d finally rediscovered the strength to smile again.

“Thank goodness,” he said. “I was worried you wouldn’t smile again tonight after what happened with Naoya.”

She grew embarrassed. Was my face that obvious to read? “I wasn’t going to let my mind linger on that for too long.”

“That’s right, you shouldn’t.” Yuuta took a step closer toward her, no longer remembering that he was in public with a friend to keep him company. Like always, he granted her his full attention, fixing the loose hair that fell from her bow. “I’m not sure if you know this, but… I feel truly honored tonight to have you by my side. So pay no mind to anyone else, and just focus on me. Focus on how I feel about you.”

She took a breath, urging her palpitating heart to slow down. “All right…”

“That’s nice,” Megumi muttered flatly. “But I’m still here in case you’ve forgotten.”

“S-sorry,” they both spoke in unison, breaking free from the invisible force that drew them together. “Have you met Itadori-kun and the rest? I want them to meet her, too.” Yuuta quickly added, “If she’s willing.” 

She smiled and gave him her approval.

“I have,” Megumi replied. “They’re already seated inside. The show will start in a few minutes. You can talk to them afterward.”

“You’re right. We should go to our seats. I will see you later then, Megumi.”

The young man nodded, and with a slight bow of his head, he excused himself and proceeded to the house. 

Holding onto Yuuta’s wrist, she asked, “I’d love to meet your friends, but we must return the kimono before the store is closed. Will we make it in time?”

“Oh, umm…” He sweated, scratching a finger to his cheek. “There’s… no need for us to do that.”

“What? Why?”

“Because I already bought it?” He followed his line with a nervous chuckle. At the sight of her dropping her jaw, staring at him in disbelief, he hastily diverted her attention. “Oh, did you hear that? I think the concert’s starting.”

She gripped him by the wrist, glowering at him. “We will talk about this later.” 

He gulped, “Y-yes, Ma’am.” ***

Time flowed faster in her dream than her mind could retain all the details.

The concert was as gorgeous as she thought it would be and more, magical from the very first echo of the cello string being plucked to the glorious symphony that blessed her ears till the end. She was enraptured in every second of the best hours of her life, her fingers dancing on her lap to the tempo, itching to run the same piece on her worn-out piano. 

The little gathering she had with his friends was unexpectedly pleasant, too.  There were three of them, she recalled, excluding Megumi—Yuuji Itadori, whom she’d learned in the past half an hour of knowing him, had a smile that could rival the summer sun itself; Nobara Kugisaki, a young lady who appeared to be curt and judgmental at first, only to resonate very well with her in the next minute once she learned about her encounter with Mai, all due harboring the same amount of hatred toward her; the last one was Toge Inumaki who quirked her interest due to the mischievous glint he wore in his eyes despite being very reticent about himself. She didn’t expect them to be so welcoming, knowing how all of them were sitting in different social positions than her. It was very heartwarming, to say the least, and she could understand why Yuuta was fond of them. It certainly didn’t take long for her to feel that way as well.

“Did you have fun?” Yuuta asked her with a crooked smile, amused at how she was still swaying on her feet to the beat of her own hum even when a fair amount of time had passed since they left the theater. 

“Did I have fun—Yuuta,” she sighed into the air, bliss sketched over her face. “This is the best night of my life. To hear one of my favorite Liszt’s works performed before my eyes in such a grandiose way… I wish I could rewind the time so I could see it again.”

“Which one was that again? The second song? I know the first one was from Beethoven.”

“The second one was Radetzky March by Strauss.”

“Oh, the third one, then. I saw you smiling the entire time when it was performed.”

“The third one was Serenade by Schubert—Yuuta.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “Do not tell me you fell asleep during the performance. I might have to commit a serious crime to you if that was the case.”

Yuuta laughed, and it was adorable. He was more beautiful than words could say. “I admit I was… a bit distracted throughout the show,” he bashfully smiled. “I, umm… I was worried about how your reaction would be. I kept thinking whether you’d like it or not. Whether our seats were too far from the stage or too close. Whether the setlist was to your liking—everything worried me. I know very little about classical music—I know nothing compared to you—but I wanted this to be one of the best experiences you’ve ever had. So, I kept glancing at you to make sure you were enjoying it, and then…” His heart swelled with joy and relief, all written in his eyes. “I saw you smiling.” The bow of his lips made his eyes thinning into pretty lines, beaming at her. “I’ve never seen you look so happy. And seeing you so happy made me feel happy, so I kept looking at you, and before I knew it, the concert ended,” he chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck as he grew embarrassed. “I’m such a fool, aren’t I?”

She nearly clung a hand to her chest. She had lost count of how many times she had fallen for him today. Over and over again, she asked herself, am I allowed to be this happy? To have such a wonderful man like him—a man who could have anything the world could offer—love me so ardently like this? 

“I was happy,” she whispered back, stopping in her tracks to grasp his hand in gratitude. “I am happy. This is the happiest I’ve ever been, all because of you. Thank you, Yuuta. Truly.” She locked their eyes together, hoping he’d fathom just how much tonight meant to her. “For everything.”

His gaze dropped to their joined hands, crimson bursting on his face. “I—you—you’re welcome.”

She could never get enough of him when he turned beet red over the slightest touch. At this rate, he’d die over a kiss, she giggled to herself—until the thought sank in. 

A… kiss..?

Her mind wandered back to the intimate moment they shared in the changing room, how his gaze lingered on the inviting shape of her mouth, how her own darted back and forth between his eyes and his beautiful thin lips. 

He was… about to kiss me back then, wasn’t he..?

Now that she mulled about it again, maybe she’d die over a kiss.

“So, umm—” Quickly growing hot under the collar, she diverted the topic, hoping he wouldn’t notice the oddity in her actions. “You said you didn’t know much about classical music.”

“Yes, Ma’am. I’ve never touched an instrument my whole life.” 

They carried on with their late-night stroll. She took a couple of steps ahead of him, too mortified to catch a glimpse of his face as improper thoughts continued to gyrate in her head. “That’s weird.” 

“Weird?” He raised a brow. “Why?”

“I don’t know. I just thought you’ve played some before.” Inside the books she read, they always seemed to portray children—those born out of wealth and royalty—getting musical lessons during childhood. It was the source of her envy back when she was younger, as well as one of the main reasons why she dedicated hours of her life to practicing music—to make herself equal somehow. “What do you like to do, then? When the heavens above granted the high and noble prince Yuuta Okkotsu some time to spare, what kind of wondrous things did he do?”

He scrunched his nose adorably at her choice of words. “I like to read.”

“Oh, dear, what a surprise,” she replied flatly, followed by an exaggerated roll of her eyes. “Come on now,” she bumped her shoulder playfully against him. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

He pondered for a moment, hesitation hinted in his tone. “Well, umm… I like to paint.”

“Really?” She blinked. “Why haven’t you mentioned it before? More than that, why haven’t you shown me any of your work yet?”

He tittered a little tensely, “Because I’m still learning, and I’m… not really confident with my skills.”

“There you go, acting humble again,” she pouted. “Yuuta, you’re brilliant at anything you do. I’m sure your paintings are wonderful. I would love to see them one day. What kind of art do you do?”

“I started by learning how to do realistic drawings. But now, I paint landscapes more.”

Landscapes, huh… As she marveled at the thought, her eyes naturally landed on the scenery before her. It was only then she realized that they had strayed quite a long way from Shinagawa, one of the busiest wards in Tokyo. They’d just continuously walked without knowing where their feet would take them, too engaged with each other to pay heed to their surroundings. Before she knew it, they had reached the edge of the city, their hair ruffled by the ocean breeze as they now stood with their hands on the railing. 

For a moment, she basked herself in the calmness of the seaside. It felt strange to see it so quiet, knowing how crowded it could be under the sun, particularly during the peak of summer. The percussion of waves caressed her ears like a mother’s lullaby, and if this wasn’t a dream, she could probably taste salt in the air. The velvety night sky lacked the presence of the white-gold moon, but the stars painted their reflections on the water, each fragment becoming a part of the body of brine, turning it into a blanket of diamonds. 

She suddenly felt the weight of his coat on her shoulders, something to shield her from the night breeze. She turned her head just enough to thank him for his courtesy.

“I wonder how the world looks like through your eyes,” she said, musing on just how much of this beauty he could capture with his hands, how much of its tranquility he could imitate on a blank, dull canvas. With his gentle, meticulous hands, perhaps he could even bring life into it. “Must have been beautiful. You always seem to catch even the slightest detail. Maybe it’s more because your heart is so pure that the world seems prettier in your eyes. You always look at the bright side of things, your mind trained to find beauty instead of focusing on imperfections just like everybody else. I think that’s a very wonderful trait to have.”

He blushed, “Y-you speak too highly of me.”

“Which makes me so curious.” She smacked her hand against the railing, startling him. “I want to see you draw! Can you do it now? If I give you a paper and a pencil, can you sketch something for me?”

“I… can,” he said unconvincingly, turning stiff. “B-but not when you’re with me.”

“What? Why not?”

 “Because you’ll make me nervous. I’m already nervous, even now.”

“Yuuta, please,” she chuckled. “It’s just me.”

“It’s because it’s you,” he corrected, causing her to grow mute. “It’s… because it’s you,” he repeated, much softer this time. “If there was one person I wanted to impress—one person whose opinion mattered to me, it would be you. I’ll show you my work one day, I promise, just… Just let me prepare my heart first.”

The soft glow of the lamp posts above them was enough for her eyes to witness the plum blossom petals being carried by the wind. Some of them made their way to the sea. A few stroked their cheeks before they danced away. One of the petals was caught in his hair, shell-pink in pitch-black sea. And as she looked at it, giggling internally at how very… heroine-esque he looked like this with his face gorgeously illuminated by the warm light, a flower in his hair, a pretty blush, and a hand plastered over his racing heart.

Once he calmed down, Yuuta inclined his head to the side, curious as to why she was watching him. But she was always watching him, wasn’t she? Her eyes always returned to him, even when she didn’t realize it. “Umm… Did I say something wrong?”

“No. Just being incredibly dramatic,” she said affectionately. “Thank you for thinking about me that way. Stop saying things like that, though. You’re making me feelembarrassed.”

“S-sorry,” he fidgeted.

“I’m joking. Can you bend down a little for me?”

“What? Why?”

“You have a flower in your hair, Princess,” she giggled. He’s like a scared puppy. She rose on her toes, reaching up to steal the tiny flower. He held his breath in the sudden proximity, staying as still as a statue as she brushed her hand against his strands. Yuuta watched her with his heart worn on his sleeves, a lovesick boy down to his core.

“So, you paint, and you read.” She placed the flower on his palm, curling his fingers around it. “Is there something else you do to pass the time?”

It took him a couple of seconds to reply, fascinated by how small and pretty her fingers were compared to his own. “I often find myself wondering what it would be like to have my own company,” he uttered. “All this time, I’ve only been learning how to fill my father’s shoes, how to do everything exactly in his way, down to the minor details. And it’s great even if it feels suffocating sometimes. I appreciate the lessons and the experiences he gave me, and I feel proud of myself when I can meet my parents’ expectations, but…” 

He held the plum blossom between his fingers, placing it in her hair, just behind her ear. He smiled, softer than cotton, while tucking away her loose strands. “I can’t help but feel like there’s something missing, you know? I don’t feel like I belong there, sitting in the chair my father provided to me. With me being the only heir of my family, I would have these companies under my name by the time Father is too old to manage them, but I think I’ll never be satisfied until I could something out of my own hands.”

She pulled herself away before she drowned further in his eyes. “So, uhh, why don’t you?”

He gave a mirthless laugh. “Father wouldn’t let me. He told me to be grateful and just do as I’m told. He doesn’t believe that I’m capable of making something as profitable as the ones under his belt. He said I’d be wasting my time—and his.”

“He said that?” She asked incredulously, almost cursing out loud. How can a parent have so little trust when their child is this bright and talented?! “You should just ignore him,” she muttered in suppressed vexation.

“What?”

“I don’t think you’ll waste anyone’s time, Yuu. I know how diligent you are, and although sometimes you can be a little bit of a pushover—“

“Hey.”

“—Deep down, you’re very ambitious. Once you have your eyes set on something, you won’t stop until you reach your goal. Maybe your father can’t see it, but I do. And even if your father was right, if it didn’t work out because you lacked the experience for it, why should that stop you from trying? Failure is what makes us better. We can learn from our mistakes. And you’re trying your best to make yourself happy. Your happiness is worth more than a million yen in your pocket, I always said. There’s no fault in that!”

He blinked, shocked at how worked up she was for his sake. “You’re always like this, aren’t you?” His gaze softened. “Getting angry on my behalf.”

“Because you never get angry,” she brooded. 

He simply chuckled. “Then, what would you do if you were me? Picture yourself living my life for a while. What kind of company would you build if you had my, uhh, resources?”

“Your resources. Hmm…” She couldn’t help but make fun of him a little, trapping her chin between her fingers as she pretended to think. “So, I’d have natural good looks, sad puppy eyes, and an endless amount of money, huh?” She turned him flustered. “I think I’ll just trade all my yens to gold, put them inside a safe for my future should anything go wrong, go seduce a wealthy mistress, and leech off of her so I’ll never have to work a day in my life ever again.”

He sighed, “I should’ve known not to expect a serious answer coming from you when you have that look on your face.”

She chortled, but not long after, her smile turned fainter. Her previous mischief was replaced with something profound. “A publishing company,” she said. “I would’ve built my own publishing company. It’s always been a dream of mine. But not just like any other publishers that are profit-oriented, I want to focus on the quality of the books.”

That piqued his curiosity. “What do you mean?”

She tarried for a moment. “Yuuta, do you know what my favorite book is?” It was a tricky one to answer, she knew, because every time he asked her that question, she’d always reply with, I don’t really have one. I love everything I read almost equally.

“Hmm…” He tapped his chin, musing. “Is it… The Makioka Sisters by Tanizaki-sensei?”

“Close,” she smiled. “But I’m impressed with your guess. I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned that to you.”

“You never did. I just figured that’s the one because when you showed me your copy the other day, the pages had many creases on them, which means you must be flipping through them a lot, either to re-read it or find your favorite scenes.”

She scrunched up her nose. He saw right through her. “All right, Mr. Detective. Well, that’s the second one on my list, actually. Revival is the first one.” 

Yuuta knitted his forehead. “Have you shown me that before?”

“I haven’t because it’s never been published as a book. It’s still a manuscript, handwritten by Saori-sensei herself.”

His frown only deepened. “Saori-sensei…?”

“She’s a small writer,” she explained. “She lived somewhere in Hokkaido, but she came to Tokyo to try her luck. I had the pleasure of meeting her in person a couple of years ago when she visited the library. Revival is her third piece, but just like her other two, it never made it to the public’s eyes. She had approached many publishers in the past, but with no connections and no name for herself, they turned her over without even sparing her a glance. 

“She came to my library one day, tired and frustrated, and she asked me if she could place her manuscript there on our shelf. I was confused, but I had time to spare, so I listened to her story. By the end of it, she said that the reason why she became a writer was never about money or fame. She just had stories to tell, stories that she longed to be read. She said she wanted people to feel connected to the emotions she portrayed in the book. To make someone happy with her writings. I’m not a writer myself, but I can imagine how an artist would love to have their work seen and appreciated. 

“So, I said yes. More than that, I told her that I’d love to give her book a try. And she broke down crying, crumbling to her feet. It was the first time I’d ever seen someone weep that loudly before, almost like a child. I asked her whether I said something wrong, and she shook her head, wiping her eyes dry. She told me that I was the first person to say that to her. That I was the one who ever showed any interest in her work. She had traveled far away from home with barely any money in her pocket, and she had met many different people, and yet, I was the first one to say that to her. Seeing her like that saddened me, but I didn’t shed tears for her. Not until I finished reading her manuscript. By the time I got to the end, it took all of me to stop myself from crying.

“It was the best thing I’ve ever read. The first book that spoke to me. The premise was hard to believe at first—it tells a story about a couple who were separated by death, traveling through times and spaces just to be with each other again. Maybe it’s even laughable to some, but the way she wrote it… It made me believe in it. The yearning, the struggle, the desperation of being so close to each other and yet so far… It pulled me in. I spent all night finishing it and did it again the next night, reading from the start. I sent her a letter a few days later, telling her how wonderful her writing was, and she replied with, Thank you for reading my story. This is the happiest I’ve ever been in my life. And I thought… She deserves so much more than just a letter.”

She leaned back, resting her back against the railing. “I’ve read all kinds of books in the library to pass the time, not caring about its genre or topic, or whether it’s from a well-known author or someone from the outskirts of town who just made their first novel. I read everything I could get my hands on, but the books written by small authors never failed to intrigue me the most. Sometimes, they only have a few copies, still handwrittenlike the one Saori-sensei gave me. After reading hers, I started finding more of those in the library. They had always been sitting there, but I was just like everyone else, not paying attention to them. And that’s why, even though that place is old and cramped, I love working there. 

“Some of them were lucky enough to be printed, but they’re often published independently, and because of that, they’re not heavily edited. Every author has a distinct style, but when they hand their work over to the giant publishers, they’re forced to suit the public’s taste. It’s not a bad thing, obviously, but when you’ve read someone’s original work, someone brimming with talent, you’ll see the difference. I could feel their raw emotions when I read them. I could feel their authenticity in every word they chose.”   

His understanding dawned on him. “So, you want to give these underrated authors a chance.”

“Yes. I want them to get the recognition they deserve. Most publishers would choose to translate famous works or urge well-known authors to produce new books every year, and they never really give these small writers the opportunity to compete. I know it doesn’t offer much money if you look at it from a business perspective. I know nothing about making profits from books, but I can imagine that publishing works written by popular authors would offer much more fortune than distributing works from unknown writers. I just thought… Maybe there are people out there who wish to read these beautiful stories, but they never get the chance to. I want to help those people and these authors connect.”

Silence settled between them once she ran out of words, and she grew self-conscious. “Gods, I’ve spoken too much, haven’t I?” She tossed him an awkward laugh. “Sorry. Let’s focus back on what you want to do—”

“You said it was your dream, right?”

She blinked. She didn’t expect him to listen to her rambling so intently, let alone take her word seriously. “A silly, silly dream—” 

“It’s not silly,” he affirmed it with deep sincerity. “It’s not silly at all. I think it’s wonderful that you thought about it that way. And even if it isn’t profitable, if it makes you happy, it’s fine, isn’t it? Your happiness is worth more than a million yen in your pocket, I always said,” he couldn’t help but tease her at the last part, throwing her lines back at her; mischievous imps swam in his deep blue eyes.

“Well, you can say that since you’re rich,” she playfully rolled her eyes. Yuuta was no longer poking fun at her. If anything, he turned solemn. “Yuuta?”

He tapped his fingers against the railing, his gaze stretching far away as if it longed to become one with the sea. “What if I said I’d do it for you?”

Her heart churned. “What?”

“I’ll do it for you.” He turned around to face her fully, determination in his eyes. “Give me some time to think. I’ll do what I can to make your dream come true.”

“Yuuta,” she almost laughed out of the incredulity of his words, hoping it would pass as just another jest. Yuuta remained unsmiling, and after a second, her smile dropped, too. “W-wait, Yuu, I appreciate the thought, but you couldn’t just—” 

“I want to do it.” He held her gaze firmly. “Let me do it.” 

She exhaled heavily through her nose, not knowing what to say. “What… would your father say?”

“Didn’t you say I should ignore what he told me?”

Oh, Gods. “Well, yes, but—”

“But what?” He took her hand so abruptly that it almost stole a gasp from her lips, but his touch remained gentle. “Didn’t you hear me? I want to do this. Not just for you, but for me, too. I think it’s a wonderful idea, and I’m as passionate about books as you are, you know that. And…” He stroked the ridges on her knuckles, gazing at them as if he wanted to place another sweet kiss upon her skin. “If it’s within my power to make your dream come true, then I’ll do whatever it takes to realize it.”

He was already hell-bent on it, fire in his gaze, and she felt it penetrating her soul. Her heart rate started to soar. He’s insane. He should’ve thought it through. He said he was going to do this for his sake, too, but I couldn’t help but think that… he’d do this solely for me.

And if that’s not out of love, then what is it?

She tucked her chin, watching how his fingers still lingered around her own. “If you could do it,” she said so shyly she almost felt as if she wasn’t herself. “I’ll…. I’ll give you something in return. Anything you ask me, I’ll do it. As a thank you.”

Yuuta’s eyes widened slightly, flickering with hope. “A-anything?”

The way he said it made heat rush to her face. She nodded diffidently. “Anything.” He wouldn’t ask for something… indecent, would he? He’s not that kind of man. “If it’s something I could do for—”

“Marry me.”

She choked on her breath, coughing twice before she forced her eyes to return to his face. “What?!” She squeaked.

“Marry me,” Yuuta uttered, somehow looking even more resolved on his wish than he was a moment ago. “A year. I’ll build the company within a year, and once it’s done, you have to marry me.” His gaze had never been so intense that it robbed her of her breath. Noticing her swallowing hard at his words, he returned to his fidgety self. “I-I sounded so forceful before. I’m sorry—I didn’t mean to coerce you or anything! I swear, I already decided to ask you even without you offering that to me, I just—you said I could—” He took a breath, begging himself to calm down. “All I’m saying is… If there was one thing in the world I wished of you… It’s for you to marry me.” He lowered his gaze as his face burst into flames, adding a timorous, “P-please.”

Despite how ridiculous and sudden the situation was, none of this was a laughing matter. Yuuta was sincere—as sincere as he could be—but still, never in her right mind had she ever thought a man would blurt out something as momentous as a marriage proposal in the middle of the night out of nowhere. The thought tickled her stomach. 

We were talking about business a minute ago, for God’s sake. “Yuuta,” she gave her best attempt at withholding her giggles. “We’re not even lovers yet.”

He blanched, all colors washed out at once. “We’re not?”

She nearly dropped her jaw. He thinks we are?! Since when?!

Oh, she thought, her mischievousness climbing up her throat fast. Oh, this is going to be fun. She put on a poker face, blinking her eyes cutely as she feigned surprise. “We are?”

“I mean—” He started gesticulating out of panic. “H-haven’t we done things that lovers do? Things like—like taking a late-night stroll like this, spending hours talking just the two of us? We—” He was drowning in worry and confusion with each second passing by. “We went to a concert together. We had dinner together, we…” He ran out of words, his face almost turning blue in horror. “Am I the only one who sees it this way…?”

She, the devil that she was, just continued with her torture. “Well, I do those things with my friends, too, you know.”

“Oh…” She could almost see the way his heart shattered in his eyes. “But…” He turned small. Maybe if she weren’t there, he would’ve curled up into a ball and lay down in the middle of the road until one of his butlers came to pick him up. “I already…. think of you as my lover…” 

Cute. Cute. Cute. He’s so cute. “Yuuta, you’ve never even asked me to be your lover before.” She inwardly cackled. “How would I know what you think of me if you never put it into words?”

To her surprise, his head shot back up. “Then, would you be my lover?!” He promptly asked, and only a second after that, he looked regretful, as if he was chastising himself for being so straightforward and not putting enough effort into wooing her heart first. “I love you, I—” He nearly wheezed. “I love you from the very first time I laid my eyes on you. I love you more than anything in the world, and I will love you until all my bones shatter to dust. I will sacrifice my life for you, I will—”

“I-I get it,” she cut him off quickly before he melted her face with his embarrassing words. Her plan to tease him backfires because now, her heart beat so clamorously in her ears that she could barely hear anything else. I just had my first love confession, she almost shouted in glee. And from a man more beautiful than the moon itself. Oh, Lord, thank you for all your blessings, I will never forsake You for the rest of my life.

“But I don’t know, Yuuta…” She faked a pout. This is the last time I’m teasing him, I swear. “I’m not utterly convinced yet. We’ve been friends for so long, what if it gets awkward between us once we start calling each other that way? What if we can’t do… things that lovers do?”

For a second, he was lost. Then— “We can,” Yuuta convinced her, even when his awkwardness clearly proved her point. He twined his fingers around her wrist, his hand trembling and laced with cold sweat. He was adorable. It’s funny how easily he’d held her hand romantically before when he didn’t realize it, but now, when asked to do it, he held her wrist like a mother forcing her child to return home. 

She looked at their joined hands with a flat stare. “What am I, your daughter?”

“S-sorry.” Quivers resurfaced in his fingertips as he slid his hand down to her own, hooking one finger around her pinky before he found the bravery to do more. With a smile, she helped him intertwine their fingers better, each gap filled with warmth the same way the ones in their hearts were. “You, umm…” He began anxiously. “You don’t do this with your friends, do you?”

“I do. Females often hold hands when they walk, don’t you know?”

A pout nearly manifested on his face while she tried to bite back her simper. “Then…” He wound his arms around her, pulling her into a deep embrace. As she had no choice but to plaster her head on his chest, she could hear the rapid beating of his heart. “What about this…?” he asked, his arms coiled tightly around her. She wished he had done more, suffocated her entirely, and if she died in his arms, just like this, she’d go with a satisfied smile. 

But on the outside, she said, “Maybe not. But I hug my sister this way all the time, too. It’s nothing special.”

He became more desperate on his next attempt, his fingers sneaking their way through her strands, holding her still as he planted a shy peck on the center of her forehead. She giggled, didn’t even bother to mask her childish devilry any longer. “My father does that.” He kissed her cheek next. “My mother does that.”

He gave up with a soft groan erupting out of his mouth. “I don’t know what else am I supposed to—” 

Fisting his collar in her hands, she yanked him down toward her, tiptoeing to meet him halfway. Their lips connected in a kiss, and with it, his words died before they could take form.

His eyes turned round, overflowing with surprise. She might have been planning this from the start of her little game, but Yuuta, the sweet, innocent young man that he was, remained clueless till the end. The kiss ended before his mind could comprehend the situation, his body staying rigid even after she loosened her grip from his shirt and returned the small distance between them.

She drew a breath, her blood pumping fast through her veins. 

I did it. I did it! I kissed him. Oh, Gods, I kissed him.

She wished her nervousness wouldn’t show too much, but she could hear it in her breath when she whispered,  “I don’t… do that one with anyone else.” Her hand felt heavier than a boulder when she withdrew it from his chest. “I’ve never done something like that before, actually. Only with you.”

“I…” He lagged a little, still half-paralyzed from her unexpected kiss. “I’ve never done that one either…”

It gave her a sense of triumph. We’re each other’s first, she exclaimed giddily inside. “Did you… like it?”

“I love it,” he reciprocated rapidly, his little nods shy yet eager. “It’s so much better than what I’ve imagined it would be.”

“You’ve fantasized about doing this with me?”

His brain turned to mush, melted by his shame. “M-many times, yes,” he admitted. “But never without your consent, don’t worry!”

Her refrained laughter came out as a snort. “Should we do it again, then?”

“C-can I?” 

She adored him so, so much. Every act of innocence he committed never failed to thaw her heart. “Only if you kiss me first,” she said, her smile tantalizing.

Yuuta noticeably gulped, anxious at the thought, but he wasn’t dumb enough to pass up on such an opportunity. His breathing tattered as he gathered the courage, his blush reaching the tip of his ears. He tried to lean closer, slowly, carefully, his eyes already shutting tight even when there was still quite a space between their faces. 

She almost laughed. I’m torturing him again, aren’t I? But she waited patiently, her lids closing in a piece of euphoria before he granted another with his lips. 

Their mouths caressed one another, lighter than a brush of a feather. A second passed, then two, and by then, she realized that eternity could set in between them, and it would’ve still felt too short once their kiss ended.

Yuuta pulled away, his gaze still fixated on her lips as if he was as spellbound by the kiss as much as she was. “Can I—”

“Yes.” She drew him back to her, molding their mouths together a little deeper, a little tighter, her hands finding their way to tangle around his neck. His lips tasted like a drop of nectar, and they were soft, softer than she imagined a boy’s lips would be. They were warm. Exciting. Addicting. 

He gasped against her mouth, matching her pace as best as he could. He was clumsy, his brain so occupied by the thoughts of her that he couldn’t stop these soft noises from escaping the back of his throat. She loved them. Every bit of whimper and moan he emitted, they flipped and twisted her stomach so exhilaratingly, awakening something inside her that craved to hear more of those sweet sounds. 

And yet, despite all of that, his hands still settled too stiffly on her waist, as if he was desisting himself from such pleasure. “You don’t have to be so gentle with me,” she breathed out when their mouths separated for a brief second. “I want you to kiss me the way you want to—mmph!”

Like a branch snapping under gravity’s pull, his passion took over without warning. He pulled her toward him so abruptly that she fell onto his chest, his suit slipping off her shoulders to land on the ground below. His palm, large and calloused despite how gentle he was, took prisoner of her face, angling her head to the side, holding her still, and slanting their lips better. Deeper. Harder. His other hand slithered dangerously low around her waist before it slid up her spine, crumpling the fabric of her kimono within his hold.

“W-Wait—mmph!” He was no longer listening, holding onto her tight, clutching like she was his lifeline. Butterflies came alive in her stomach when she felt his tongue stroking her own, tentatively at first to see her reaction, but once a moan escaped her, soft yet obscene to his ears, his desire possessed him once more.

Yuuta loved it when she parted her lips for him. His quiet whimpers turned into groans as he tasted her, her body pushed further against the railing and caged between his arms.

“Yuuta—” She was dying for a chance to breathe. 

He couldn’t grant it for her, not now, his lips devouring her still. “Open your mouth again,” he rasped out with haste, his voice so thick with lust that it was almost unrecognizable.

This was a different man kissing her; she loved him just the same.

Clawing against his shirt, she drowned further in this foreign, intoxicating sensation. Being with him like this felt like free-falling from the sky, so thrilling, so—

A bright light flickered toward them. They froze. 

We’re not alone.

They broke apart within a blink of an eye, barely a second before a police officer, who hopefully remained oblivious, patrolled down the road on his bicycle. She whirled around to clench her hands around the railing, pretending to gaze at the sea. Her ragged breathing would give her away instantly, and thus, she prayed for the darkness to be kind enough to act as her veil.

Yuuta, on the contrary, with his hair terribly disheveled, all due to the frantic work of her hands, was not a very good liar. His pale skin betrayed him, showing vividly how flustered he was, like a pure white canvas tainted madly by thick lines of red. The officer met his gaze as the poor boy busied himself with his hair, throwing his gaze to the ground.

“Good evening, Sir,” a male officer, possibly a few years older than Yuuta, greeted him with a polite bow, decelerating the speed of his bicycle.

Yuuta cleared his throat. “Good—” It still came out as a squeak, his voice pitchy enough that she almost flinched when she heard it. “Good evening, Officer.”

“Ma’am,” he greeted her next. “Is everything all right here?”

“Yes, Officer, umm—” She decided to think fast, clutching her hand around Yuuta’s arm. “This is my husband. We’re just taking a little stroll at the beach.”

“It’s already quite late for that, don’t you think?” He angled his head toward Yuuta. “Sir?”

It took an elbow to his side for him to reply awkwardly with, “Ah, yes! W-we’re on our way home.”

Yuuta’s words offered very little convincing, but it seemed that the way she wrapped her arms around his assured him that they were, indeed, lovers. “I see. Be careful on your way, then.”

She smiled, “Yes, Officer, thank you.”

He pedaled away, most likely too exhausted to chastise a pair of newlyweds at this hour. They both breathed in relief, their eyes finding each other once more before she broke into giggles.

“Sorry for suddenly calling you my husband,” she teased him. “Is your heart all right?”

“I almost fainted,” he confessed before he, too, found the energy to laugh at the situation. Once it passed, Yuuta stroked her hair, tucking the stray ones behind her ear. His smile left him as he gazed at her worriedly. “Are we… lovers now?”

She arched her brows, not expecting him to ask that question after what had happened between them. It must be because I’ve been teasing him so much. “If that’s what you want us to be,” she tittered.

“Do you want to?” His hand found hers again, much naturally this time, though his tone remained bashful. “To be mine?”

Do I want to be yours?

“Yes…” The rest of her answer comes out in a sleepy mumble as she returns to reality. Suddenly having Yuuta’s beautiful face replaced by the dull sight of her living room is quite perplexing that it leaves her incapable of doing anything but continue lying on the couch.

What just… happened…?

“Baby?” Satoru’s voice rings from the other side of the sofa. 

Nearly jumping out of her skin, she fixes herself on the seat. “H-hey!” Fuck. “How—how long have I been asleep?”

“Around two hours. You completely missed the movie, by the way.”

“I’m… I’m sorry.” She rubs her temple, trying not to focus on the way her face heats up quickly. “I guess I was tired.”

“I don’t think you were that tired,” he snickers, tossing her a naughty smirk. “You were making noises in your sleep. Did you dream about having sex with me?”

Her face catches fire. Just how good was that kiss for me to make noises in my sleep?! Mortified, she jumps to her feet. “I’m—I’m gonna go take a shower,” she sputters, a moment before she hares off.

“Bunny!” Satoru gasps from behind. “Don’t tell me I was right?!”

“Yes!” She exclaims before shutting the door behind her, knowing it’s easier to lie than to have him interrogate her for the truth.

Leaning her back against the door, she drowns her face in her hands. God, what is wrong with me? Why do I keep having these dreams? What do they mean—if they had any meaning at all? Why is it always him?!

Even hearing herself question such things sounds ridiculous in her head. Dreams are just dreams, they’re not real. She knows that. She’s been telling herself that, but… It’s getting harder and harder to pretend that way.

Nevertheless, this needs to stop. 

She shouldn’t let herself feel attached to them any more than she already has.

It’s a dream, I have no control over it, she thinks to herself as she returns to her feet. Staring into her reflection in the mirror, she promises that she’ll keep them separate, her reality and her dreams, the way they are meant to be.

“Yeah,” she swallows. “Yeah, I’ll do just that.”  ***

Last night, she made that promise.

Today, she betrays herself as soon as the morning sun flows past her window to bathe her skin in a golden shower, warming her bed and reminding her that—

Oh no, I have to see Yuuta today.

It’s the first time she has felt that way. Her fear of acting awkwardly in front of him over something as silly as a dream prevails over her usual excitement of meeting him, and ugh, she hates it.

As her brain is in the middle of registering that her boyfriend has woken up earlier than her for his morning run, her phone screen flashes, notifying her that a text has arrived. Her stomach churns the moment her eyes land on his name. With her heart beating faster than usual, she clicks it open, finding a wall of text written most formally with perfect punctuation and zero cases of childish emojis. 

Good morning. I hope you slept well. Sorry, I didn’t mean to bother you this early, but I want to remind you to bring an umbrella today, just in case. The weather forecast said there’s a 60% chance of rain today. I just thought you should know. 

- Yuuta Okkotsu

God, she almost laughs. Before she knows it, she’s already smiling at the thought of him again. Thank you for the gentle reminder, Secretary Okkotsu, she types her jest with her thumbs. Please remind me of my upcoming meeting at 10 a.m. I need to have a thorough discussion with a colleague of mine on how to exchange casual texts with a friend. The first step is called Dude, Why So Formal? Chill, It’s Just Me. She presses send.

Not a minute later, another text arrives.

I’m sorry, he says, followed by excessive crying emojis, but we’re still on for today’s plans, right?

Only if you behave like a normal human being, she bites back her smile.

Okay, I promise, he replies. Be safe on your way. Again, don’t forget your umbrella. 

Yes, Mom. Though she adds an eye-rolling emoji, nothing but a smile is written on her face.

Despite her expecting their chat to end there, her screen brightens with another one: See you later, Dude 😏

A chortle bursts out of her before she quickly types back, never mind, Yuu. It doesn’t suit you.

Eh? She can almost hear his tone in her ear. But I’m saying what you wanted me to say, he says, followed by a pleading face emoji.

Well, yeah, she snorts, but I can’t imagine you saying that. 

Then, what should I say, he whines, emphasized by a string of highly unnecessary crying faces.

As nonsensical and as unimportant as it is, their texting continues longer than anything they’ve exchanged before. Giggles fill the quietude of her bedroom with every chat sent and received. Yuuta, unbeknownst to him, has washed her anxiousness away—despite him beingthe one who caused it, also unknowingly. She wishes things could go on like this forever. Easy, fun, casual. And she can make it come true if she tries. She just needs to stay focused on her reality. That’s all she has to do.

Just stay focused. ***

It’s frightening how the kiss she shared with Yuuta in the dream bore more details than the one she had with Satoru. She could blame it on time—after all, Yuuta’s ’kiss’ had happened less than 24 hours ago, while her first time with Satoru had happened a little after they had started dating six years prior. Even so, she knew the truth: our minds do not remember days; we remember moments. And that’s why, even if six years passed by from now, she would still remember everything just as it was yesterday—the tension she felt in the room when Yuuta saw her walking out in the kimono he’d chosen for her, the way he introduced her to his colleagues with the brightest, proudest smile she’d ever seen worn on his face; his dream, their conversation, his confession and… His lips. How soft and warm and wonderful they were, how innocent their first kiss was, and how obscene the rest of them were. Everything became a moment beautiful enough to withstand the cruel passing of time.

Her mind drifts toward her dream again, which slowly morphs into a fantasy of her. I wonder what happened after that, she muses to herself, her eyes turning vacant as they linger on the same passage she’s been staring at for the past five minutes. 

What… happened after he took me home? Did he kiss me again? 

Did he…

Her gaze travels up, stretching past her novel to the man sitting before her. 

….spend the night..?

She gulps, trying to think past the harsh pounding of her heart. Yuuta is too immersed in the book he’s reading between his hands to notice her. It’s an unusual sight if she thinks about it, remembering how their eyes usually meet within seconds since he often glances back at her as well. She takes the chance, using this rare opportunity to marvel at him longer.

His hair is falling over his eyes. That’s… pretty.

Oh, he tucks it behind his ear. God, I love it when he does that. He did that often, too, in the dream, didn’t he? Is it one of his habits? She’s in a trance, her mind rambling on its own. I wonder what… else he does that’s similar to the version of him in my dream..? 

Her hazy gaze then drops to his lips.

Does he… kiss the same way?

Yuuta’s sapphire blue eyes suddenly flicker towards her, and she freezes, face aflame. She promptly drags her stare back to her book, flipping over a page—doing anything that keeps her busy. 

“Are you okay?” he questions, closing his book to give her undivided attention—to her horror. 

“Huh? Yeah, I’m fine,” she lies with a small laugh. It sounds so strained; she hates it. And she hates herself for the unstoppable train of thoughts that’s been passing through her mind today. “It’s, uhh, I was just wondering if we could get something to eat after this.”

“Yes, of course, I’d love to.”

“What do you want to have?”

“Anything you want,” he answers with a smile, just like always. 

“Okay.”

When silence sets in, their tension rises, and so does his curiosity. “Is… that why you were staring at me so much? Trying to figure out what I wanted to eat?”

Fuck. She casts away her gaze. “I wasn’t staring.” But she grows self-conscious under his stare, and he notices it. 

He approaches her a little differently, being gentler with her, more than he has been. “I can tell there’s something going on in your mind.” He places his book down on the table, not planning to pick it up anytime soon, telling her indirectly that he’s here for her, and her only. “I’m here if you want to talk. You can tell me anything, you know that, right?”

Not this one, no, she answers internally, but there’s a piece of her that wishes to take on his offer, the same piece that’s been dying to tell someone about this. Maybe if I’m careful about it, I can… “Have you, umm… Have you ever had a dream that felt so real that you could remember every detail even when you’re awake?”

The word yes seems to fleet across his face, though it may have been something she imagined as his lips only shape the words, “What kind of dreams? Nightmares?” 

“No, nothing scary like that, it’s…” She struggles to find the words. “I don’t know, like a weird dream where you just do something normal, but it feels so real. Like, instead of dreaming, it’s more as if you were… walking through a memory.”

His body stills, but within a blink of an eye, he returns to his usual composure. “Your memory?”

Yes, her heart answers to her own surprise. “No,” she says, echoing what her mind tells her. “Someone else’s memory. It felt like I was trapped inside a body—a body that looked just like mine. I heard myself talking about things that I wasn’t aware of, but I felt all her emotions enough to feel like it was me—a different version of me. What makes me feel weird is that the whole time it happened, I was conscious that I was inside a dream. Usually, when you’re in a dream, you can’t tell that it’s a dream because everything looks real, right? My case is the opposite. Whenever I’m in my dream, I’m aware that it’s not real. But when I wake up, I feel like… the dream isn’t just a dream. I didn’t recognize where I was most of the time, but I had some dreams where I was spending my time in the library—this library. The place I was in looked so much like this,” she gestures to her surroundings. “Even down to the little details. I want to say that maybe my mind was just projecting it, but… I don’t know, it just feels weird.”

Yuuta appears to be in deep rumination, but if anything crosses his mind, he doesn’t let it show on his face. “Were you alone in those dreams?”

“Huh?”

“Were you alone, or were you with… someone else? Someone you knew?”

She stops. Returning her eyes to him, she reads what lies between the lines of his features. He seems… hopeful, as if he was expecting, or rather, praying, for her answer to come in the shape of his name. She curls her fingers, wishing she could sound even a little convincing when she says, “There were... people, yes. But I didn’t recognize any of them. They were just… faces.” 

His eyes widen, but instead of hope, she witnesses pain. “I see…” He averts his gaze, his expression no longer readable. 

“Yuuta..?”

“Well, dreams can be strange sometimes,” he attempts to comfort her, the cheerfulness in his tone sounding a bit over the top. “I wouldn’t worry too much if I were you. I once dreamt about my cat turning into a lion and feeding me some grapes.” He forces out a chuckle. “But dreams are just dreams, right? They’re not real.”

She frowns, confused. There’s something concerningly off about him, she just can’t tell what it is. “You’ve never had that kind of dream before?”

“No,” he smiles. “I don’t think I have.”

The curve of his lips never reaches his eyes. ***

Next Chapter

[gremoria411]

How to get into Gundam

Because fuck it, I was gonna do one of these sooner or later anyway.

So you want to know what this Gundam thing’s about, maybe you like the mecha design, maybe you caught part of an episode one time and want to catch up, or maybe you saw a nice piece of Chamuro fanart and want to go to the source.

But there’s so many shows and timelines that it can be quite daunting on first look, so this guide is intended to give a rough overview.

I would however like to stress two four things beforehand however:

This guide is not intended as “The One True Way” or anything. There’s no harm it coming into it a different way, and these are only my own opinions.

There’s nothing stopping you from just watching one show and leaving it there. You don’t have to watch every single show going, even I’ve only seen most of these, not all. Gundam typically has variations on similar themes - it’s very nice watching multiple shows because they complement one another, but it’s not necessarily required.

I am very much an insider looking out here, so let me know if there’s any details I’ve missed.

I’m not gonna recommend these on a “if you like X, then watch Y basis”, mostly because I don’t personally find genre recommendations helpful, so I’d recommend picking based on promotional material (vibes, if you will).

I’ll be using this chart, supplied by the excellent@l-crimson-l, to illustrate everything.

Gundam as a whole can principally be divided into three sections: Universal Century (or UC), the Alternate Universes (AU’s) and the Build Series.

The AU’s are below the light blue line, near the bottom of the Chart, the Build Series is within the bright green line at the top-right corner of the chart and UC is the big line in the middle. We’ll talk about each of them individually.

The AU’s

The Alternate Universes were conceived as a way to get away from the continuity-heavy nature of Universal Century and provide an easy jumping-on point for new fans. The AU’s are standalone and require no prior knowledge, and are thus an excellent place to start. Honestly, I’d recommend quickly searching some promotional materials (like posters) and just going with the one you find most appealing based on that. They are (in production order):

Mobile Fighter G Gundam (1994)

New Mobile Report Gundam Wing (1995)

After War Gundam X (1996)

Turn A Gundam (1999)

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (2002)

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (2007)

Mobile Suit Gundam AGE (2011)

Gundam: Reconguista in G (2014)

Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans (2015)

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury (2022)

There’s side series and movies and other things besides, but these are the mainline shows, if you will. I have specific notes on a few of them:

Witch From Mercury - It’s of a shorter length than is usual for mainline shows, so consequently it’s a much smaller time investment than the others.

Mobile Fighter G Gundam - While undeniably rad as hell, I would recommend watching another AU first. G Gundam differs from its stablemates in a few key areas, and I find it helps to have a contrast to fully appreciate those differences.

Gundam AGE - is probably the only one I wouldn’t recommend. I didn’t like the art style and the technical explanations just got on my nerves, so I stopped watching.

Turn A and G-Reconguista are technically part of UC as well, but it’s not really crucial information so don’t feel like you have to watch UC first (I’m only including this detail for completionism).

I’ve found all the AU’s I’ve seen to be pretty good, so I’d say that which one you start with really just comes down to personal taste.

The Build Series

Is just kind of doing its own thing. The Build series is basically Buy Our Toys: the series. It’s got a far lighter tone, and I’ve had cause to compare it to pokemon prior. It’s also chock full of references and in-jokes to the other series.

Build Fighters and Build Fighters Try are the ones I’d recommend - they’ve got actual stakes and the fight scenes are really good.

Build Divers and Build Divers Re:rise I can’t recommend - I just find Build Divers aggressively boring. Build Divers Re:Rise is just okay - neither standout good or particularly bad. Its main flaw is that it’s a sequel to Build Divers.

The OVA’s are pretty much bad across the board - I’d particularly recommend avoiding Gundam Build Metaverse.

Universal Century

Universal Century is the big main timeline of Gundam, and is the timeline the original Mobile Suit Gundam from 1979 takes place in. There’s a tendency among certain fans to place UC as the one-above-all of Gundam, but I wouldn’t really go that far. It’s all pretty good, but I wouldnt really say one timeline is better than another (save personal preference, anyway).

Because UC is so big, it can be subdivided a couple times. The primary division is “Mainline” UC versus everything else. Basically there’s four-five shows in Universal Century from which everything else flows. As long as you know roughly what happens in these shows, then you can watch basically anything else in UC and have a good idea of what’s going on. These are (in order):

Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) - sometimes called Mobile Suit Gundam 0079.

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (1985)

Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (1986)

Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack (1988)

With Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn (2010) as a nominal fifth (honestly I feel like you could argue either way).

The rest of the shows are:

Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket (1989 Three-Episode OVA)

Mobile Suit Gundam F91 (1991 Movie)

Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory (1991 Thirteen-episode OVA)

Mobile Suit Victory Gundam (1993)

Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team (1999 Twelve-episode OVA)

G-Saviour (2000 Live Action Movie) - nobody ever talks about or acknowledges this one, it’s just here for completionism.

Mobile Suit Gundam MS Igloo (2004-2009 Three OVA’s with three Episodes each)

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (2015 Six-Episode OVA, adapted from the Manga of the same name)

Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt (2015 Eight-Episode Series, adapted from the Manga of the same name)

Mobile Suit Gundam: Twilight Axis (2017 episode, adapted from a light novel of the same name. Later rereleased as Gundam Twilight Axis Red Trace, with additional footage)

Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative (2018 sequel movie to Gundam Unicorn)

Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway (2021 ongoing movie series, very much adapted from the novel Hathaway’s Flash)

Most of the other series relate to events in the aforementioned “mainline” shows in some way, but a lot of the sidestories set during the One Year War require very little introduction (Thunderbolt, 0080 and 08th MS Team). Similarly, works set in “Late UC” (F91 and Victory Gundam) carry on from the other series thematically but don’t have any plot connections, so they can all be watched without any background knowledge of the rest of the Universal Century.

Compilation Movies

Just a quick note here - many of the Gundam series have compilation movies, where either a whole series or part of one are compressed down into a movie. While each movie compares differently, they usually boil down to this: Compilation Movies usually have worse pacing, but really nice animation.

One of the great things about Gundam is that different shows offer variations on themes, so seeing how different characters react to similar situations, or how different settings change their approaches can make it incredibly rewarding.

I haven’t seen enough of SD Gundam to make any sort of recommendations there, and Manga is something I might touch on another day.

EDIT: Oh hey also: You can watch a good chunk of these on YouTube, for free, officially. The Official Gundam.Info YouTube channel rotates the series shown on its channel periodically. I think it’s got F91 and SEED on there currently? But it’s had Wing, 00 and Witch From Mercury before. Also all of the Build Fighters series are there.

So yeah, that’s a thing.

[montparnasse]

average adam faulkner stanheight fan: if adam isn’t in saw xi we riot! @lionsgate @kevingruetert @jameswan #adamlives #justiceforadam #corpseinconsistencies

average john kramer fan: What people don’t realize about John, is he’s such a genius that even when he makes mistakes, he planned on making the mistakes. He is the greatest villain of all time

average jill tuck fan: Appreciation post for the Women of Saw 🩷 [the same ten photos that get posted once a week]

average lawrence gordon fan: last night i watched a 2004 tv movie about serial killers called ‘the riverman’, followed by the cheesy family rom-com ‘a castle for christmas’. today my friends and i are going to binge the entire third season of netflix’s ‘stranger things’. none of us have seen a single episode of the rest of the show and we don’t plan on it. then we might rewatch ‘another country’ together

average amanda young fan: sorry i haven’t been online in 4 weeks i’ve been too busy trying to get the new pig cosmetic in the rift [posted 7 weeks ago]

average mark hoffman fan: [underneath a gifset of costas mandylor in a republican christian propaganda ‘sci-fi’ movie] #hes so fucking hot #i would give anything to put him in a sports bra and make him do jumping jacks in front pf me i would literally do #ANYTHING #i need to make him into a marionett and fist him lol

average daniel rigg fan: Here’s a quick low effort doodle I did of Daniel! I just love him so much ❤️ [a literal masterpiece, the best art you’ve ever seen in your entire life] [3 notes]

average allison kerry fan: i am hardcore attached to ONE ship which is probably either allison/amanda or allison/lindsey and my whole blog is devoted to them. there are dozens of us DOZENS

average lynn denlon fan: okay so i know bahar is a realtor now but in her last instagram post where she’s congratulating her son on some new achievement, both the first and last words in the post have 11 letters, AND there’s an X and an I visible in the background of her post 👀?? is this a reach???

average jeff denlon fan: No seriously let me finish seriously when you compare him to the other shitty men in Saw he’s NOT that b

average david tapp fan: i’m 39k away from publishing my 40k tappsing Everybody Lives AU <3 this is going to be epic [account has been deactivated for an indeterminate amount of time]

average brit stevenson and mallick scott fan: Hey I stayed up making this instead of writing my thesis paper for grad school. Here’s a 30,000 word document about the implications of Brit’s promotion within the Marshford group and how it would lead to her eventual demise and also how she rose to the top in her group. It also delves into her relationship with Mallick, whose existence, I believe, is an obvious literary reference to an ancient Roman play read by only me and three other people currently alive. I translated relevant passages and included them in my work. I got understimulated around page 8 so I did take a break to pierce myself in the same spot that I believe Mallick would have a piercing. If you read my fics on AO3 you will already be familiar with the location.

average peter strahm fan: haha peter does CRACK cocoaine haha i think he sniffeds some drugs! why else would he be so MANIC HYPER CRAZY!!! i love my crazy JUNKIE man LOL get him some andderall STAT!! if hoffman didn’t kill him the SPEED certianly would of! LOL!

average lindsey perez fan: i love lindsey perez i’m such a big fan of the character lindsey perez

average matt gibson fan: i literally would eat garbage out of a dumpster

average ezekiel banks fan: holy shit i just finished spiral what a good movie what the hell!!! what a cool addition to the saw universe! i bet everybody else loves this as much as i do! let me take a big drink of water as i check tumblr dot com to see all the nice things people will have to say about darren lynn bousman’s Spiral

average william schenk fan: my hobbies include: being a fujoshi,

average cecelia pederson fan: [pic of cecelia yanking on the metal loop around her neck and smirking] https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vT3f5IIzt5PG-M7G9_Z-gjY4gZaiUneTdMlYrFAcdBGcJo0-N-RDQcj2JfxOaBTxKa6J_DiDQNgqVpg/pub

average logan jigsaw fan: What people don’t realize about John, is he’s such a genius that even when he makes mistakes, he planned on making the mistakes. He is the greatest villain of all time

[opalinecookie]

Intro 2.0!!

Hello creators! Just wanted to make another intro just to tell a little bit more about myself. As I’ve said, I’m Opal Ink Cookie, a multiverse guardian wishing to explore and protect the worlds of Cookie Run. (Also, I’m currently patching up a space for me and a few friends of mine, so to the creator’s eye, I look like a sketch right now!)

I am genderqueer, going by they/it, or if you’re familiar with neopronouns, Ink/Inks! Though, I can go by any pronouns. I don’t really mind!

I was created by a witch, though certain… circumstances occurred, so I’ve taken whatever wisdom I was given from them and left my AU. (My witch was actually exiled and abandoned!… I don’t know why but that’s a fact I know!) So, I don’t have a specific universe for myself.

However…

After discovering how to jump from AU to AU, I’ve found many that are incomplete or abandoned. Their world was crumbling, much like mine was when my witch… disappeared. So I’ve started protecting them, taking them in. Eventually, we’ve found a space! A space for refugees of abandoned AUs to commune and exist without the fear of crumbling. Honestly, it’s been a while since the early days! This has been going on for some times now. How? I’m not sure still. I just know that we had a collective power and we used it to create a space for ourselves!

And now, I’m making a space for this little blog! I hope this will reach creators so we can create a bigger community of AUs and creations, and that we can enjoy art and imagination together!

Also, say hi to Traveler! They’ve been busy creating this space so give ‘em some love!

[collectingsorrows444]

Hey guys! :) Just drawing more silly stuff (fan art/doodles or sketches)

*drags myself from out of my grave of schoolwork*

Operation Ichor AU! By @slumbrr-r (GO CHECK THEM OUT!! Make sure to take breaks too, Slumbrr :D )

CHARACTERS INCLUDED:

Lumine by @gyan81 (sorry lol, I’ve never drawn characters holding any guns or weapons similar to such)

Wafi and Lina by @segagrimreaper (digital and traditional versions bc I personally think the traditional one is better but I really wanted to color it digitally)

Atri and Achelois by @theinfamousmaybelle (SEND MORE OF THE CUTIES PLS)

Carne by @youlookveryinterested (I kept frustrating myself with how the butcher knife would be held and which way, so I gave up sorry if it looks a little funny😭)

Cherri by @lilatheglitchybunny (every time I try to draw her smile, I start getting Sans AU/Undertale war flashbacks. 😭)

Holmes, Toots, and Shrimpo by @genderlessjacky (I owe you a real piece of art for them, just not this one)t

Teensy by @a-peanut11 (SHES SO CUTE OMG??)

Periot by @frenchcowws (my gf :D she finally has a blog now :> encouraging her to post/do art! She’s a very good artist :D )

POV: When your traditional art is better than your digital art 😔 (or the other way around)

One of my favorite girlbosses

Yeah so, basically another summary of the two I guess? (I bet there at least a bit of mutual understanding for each other. I promise real art will be made of Holmes’s family soon.)

Kiran thinks very highly of others around her.

CAPTIONS + ADDED COMMENTARY: a fucking termite bomb (or hornets) || *a dick move and she knows it! However, she does have a pest problem. Besides, if you (usually being a customer) don’t like bugs, she’ll try to keep them out of sight.*

(Idk, don’t ask me. She said she wanted to have a bomb and came up to have termites in them?? We both thought it would be funny and fit Periot’s character well. RIP if you don’t like bugs)

Canonically, she’s supposed to have a bounty or target on her head :)

“Mama, I’m in love with a criminal—“

My stummy been hurting a bit this week so :( But I promise you I have been drawing concepts and will add more lore for both Kirans (OG and Operation Ichor!version) soon! :)

(literally keep getting sick everytime I start to get better.. JUMPING)

[bloofusqkazoo]

What is your Fosters AU comic going to be about?

OUUU. Well, I have two AU ideas. One is a fan prequel, and one is a fan sequel spinoff to the original series. I’ve decided to start with the fan spinoff ‘sequel’.

I’m actually glad you asked this question! I’ve been having so much fun with it lately, and I’ve kept it all to myself for a while now. I’m finally going to start working on it now that I feel my drawing skills have improved enough to actually work on a comic. I’ll answer your question with a few points:

It’s a fan spin-off AU.

Basically, the project I’m currently working on is a fan spinoff mini comic au that takes place years after the original series.

I don’t want to spoil too much, but Mac and Goo are now adults who work part time at Foster’s with Frankie. Mac works there while also studying at a local college— a lot of online stuff— but he doesn’t really treat it like college. He’s a really smart guy and has no issues with his studies— he lives close enough that he doesn’t need a dorm. So he passes on the whole ‘college guy experience’, so that he can be with his friends. Mac is moved out at this point, so. You know what that means. A certain two best friends are now living together again.

It also delves into who adopts Cheese and why. We also meet a few new characters like Frankie’s kid son, and his imaginary friend— who pisses Bloo off immensely lmao.

Some of the other main 3 friends are adopted, some aren’t. But they all remain close and keep in contact, especially Bloo and Eduardo. All of the main 4 are in the comic don’t worry. That’s all I’ll say on that for now.

Madame foster is still alive but is very very old and isn’t as spry and sharp as she was before. Her and Bloo sometimes have shouting matches when she doesn’t quite hear him correctly lol.

Herriman is still around, obviously.

We also have a huge redemption arc for Berry, who I love endlessly. She and Bloo meet again after years of never hearing from one another again. (Probably my most favourite part of the entire AU, lmao.)

We have a few new original characters who are villains that have huge parts to play in the comic. There is a little action and many nods to the original series in there as well.

Annnnd a whole bunch of other stuff I don’t wanna say yet lmao.

Basically every character from the original series has something they’re up to now, even if they aren’t heavily involved in the comic you’ll know where they are in life, which I decided to do because I know every character in the show has fans!

Long story short, it’s about friendship and life. Heavy on comedy and a few emotional moments. It’s fan art in story form!

There are time skips

there are 1-2 time jumps planned for the comic, since I also want to explore Mac and Bloo’s life later down the line as well and not just in Mac’s early 20’s. We also have a few romances/friendships that will eventually flow into the story and will need time to develop. Most of the story will take place without time skips though.

It’s G rated, completely sfw and no weird stuff

It’ll be for all ages and will have nothing inappropriate aside from the occasional use of mild language like ‘moron’ ‘Pissed’ Or ‘screw’ for comedic purposes. Nothing suggestive at all but a little sprinkle of romance. Despite the fact some of the human characters are now adults, I will not do anything inappropriate with them because this is my childhood show and that’s honestly not my cup of tea.

This will take a bit of time for me to create. I won’t be able to spit issues of the comic out overnight. Currently, I’m doing this on my own and I want to make sure it’s what I envision it to be. It’s special to me, and some of these ideas I’ve had since I was a kid. If anyone is interested in helping me write or illustrate future issues of the fan comic, let me know! I’m totally open to adding people to my project, though the majority of it is independent. Also, this is strictly a fan project. I will not make any money off of Craig a McCracken’s characters, nor do I want to.

Aaaaaand that’s about everything you need to know for now :) it’ll be so fun though, and I’m excited to share it with the fhfif community!

[zethsdumpster]

wrote a lil sth inspired by the beautiful and funny art that @cherry-mash did for my au!

Ichiji took another deep breath.

The cold morning breeze bit at his cheeks, despite how he hid his face against Ace’s back. The four-wheeler slowed to a stop at the entrance door of Ohara Institute of Historic Investigations, and the vehicle kept shaking with the motor’s rumble; he stayed a moment seated there, with Ace in front of him and Kotatsu on the basket behind him, until he steeled himself and let out a sigh.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to take you back home?” Asked Ace, looking at Ichiji as he got off the four-wheeler, “You know Robin would-”

“I’m sure,” it came out through gritted teeth.

Enough time had passed, he had healed, and he was well-rested; his misadventure in the forest was in the past, and he was alright — surely, the strange figure wouldn’t be anywhere near the park grounds soon. He would keep ignoring how he still had nightmares more often than not.

He continued, relaxing his jaw “I’ve been long for long enough, Miss Nico might not have a problem with me taking more time off but I can’t keep leaving my work to be done by others, and as good and willing as Deuce is to cover for me, he has his own responsibilities to deal with”

Ace observed him with a slight frown, taking everything in and seemingly looking for something; Ichiji didn’t know if Ace found it or not, but the man sighed, giving up. He clicked his tongue twice, and Kotatsu sat up on his basket on the back of the four-wheeler.

“Alright, but Kotatsu is staying with you, and call me if you need anything”

The oversized lynx jumped out of the vehicle and stood beside Ichiji, who leaned down to scratch behind one of his fluffy ears.

Part of Ichiji wanted to argue, but he was a weak man and would never deprive himself of the opportunity to keep the sweet Kotatsu by his side all day.

“I will, don’t worry”

“Alright, then,” Ace stood on the four-wheeler and dragged Ichiji close, to a brief and chaste kiss on the lips, before falling back down onto his seat “I’ll see you later then.”

Ichiji’s cheeks burned with a blush “Of course, take care”

The motor roared, Ace turned the vehicle to return to the rangers’ base “Always! I’ll come for you when your shift ends!”

Usually, Ichiji would walk back to the base or the park’s entrance, but— 

“Sure, I’ll be waiting,” he couldn’t help but smile.

He stood there until Ace disappeared in the distance, then he turned to Kotatsu.

“Well then,” he said to the lynx “let’s get to work, shall we?”

Kotatsu chirped and followed Ichiji inside.

He was warmly welcomed by everyone in the Institute, even receiving a couple of hugs — although Kotatsu received most of the hugs, on top of all the headpats and scritches — and some gifts. 

Ichiji settled into the comfortable routine of working in the archives. Overall, there wasn’t much to do at the moment; the team had handled perfectly what work he had left behind.

His phone buzzed with a message; it was the Institute’s group chat. Inuarashi was asking about the documents they had registered on Shandian murals, so, considering his free time and the fact that he was already in the archives.

Ichiji (13:30)

Where are you? I’ll take it to you.

After confirming which document the old man wanted, and after old man Inuarashi shared his location, Ichiji started to make his way out of the main building and one of the pyramids nearby. It was close enough that it would only be a 10-minute walk, plus, the path was marked clearly by the institute, the rangers and the many, many people who usually walked by.

The sun was shining high in the sky, and although Ichiji was the only person walking down that path, he wasn’t afraid; he had Kotatsu with him.

They walked together, calmly taking their time.

They were a little over halfway there when Kotatsu stopped, suddenly tense, and bristled.

Kotatsu hissed, turning around and glaring at the forest. His fur stood puffed up, and he started growling, ready to attack.

“Kotatsu?” Ichiji turned, “What’s wrong…?”

He tried to see what had Kotatsu so on edge, but there was no one behind the treeline. 

Ichiji swallowed the growing nervous lump in his throat.

“Kotatsu?” 

The sudden screech of a claxon made him jump.

Both man and lynx turned around to find a uniformed friend on a four-wheeler. They immediately relaxed.

“Thatch!” 

The older man stopped by their side.

“Kotatsu! Chiji! Fancy catching you here”

Ichiji noticed how Kotatsu turned to check the treeline before turning back “I can say the same”

Thatch pointed at the package on his vehicle´s metal basket.

“I’m taking some food to Inuarashi and the gang. Are you on your way there or back?”

Kotatsu sniffed at the package.

“I’m on my way there, Inuarashi needs some documents so-”

“Nice, want a lift?” 

Ichiji gave the three-line one last lookover before accepting the offer.

He settled behind Thatch, and Kotatsu jumped in between them, safe in Ichiji’s arms.

“Alright, is everyone settled and secured?”

Ichiji snorted at the joking tone “Yes”

“Perfect, now, before we continue our journey,” he pulled his phone out of his pocket and snapped a selfie of the three of them “Aaaaaaand sent” And, after putting his phone back in his pocket, they went on their way.

Ichiji didn’t even need to ask who he had sent that photo to, especially when Thatch's walkie-talkie cracked to life.

“Hey Thatch!” came Ace’s voice through the static “Can you bring me back my lost kitten? Over”

Ichiji’s face burned red. Thatch guffawed here.

“Thatch here, I fear someone else has already claimed this lost kitten, over”

“No way! Ignore those nerds, he’s My Kitten”

Ichiji snatched the walkie-talkie from Thatch’s hand.

“Shut up! Or I swear you’re sleeping on the couch the rest of the month, Portgaz… over” 

He ignored Thatch’s wild guffaws.

“Love you too, babe”

Ichiji sighed, trying to will his face to return to its usual colour.

“Love you too…”

[elizakai]

UH OKAY DUST X REAPER AND/OR SWAPFELL X NIGHTMARE? AHEUUEHA

omfg i love you i’m jumping at the chance to look at dust x reaper i better see some art somewhere in this fandom OUGH ok

well, dust’s died like how many times now, lets just assume they’ve ENCOUNTERED one another yeah?

⬇️⬇️⬇️

reaper feels bad for him. he isn’t even allowed to actually die, just experience death over and over, only to be thrust back into this torturous cycle.

imagine dust dying in the hall, he’s stumbling away and he just. sees the grim reaper. and he’s like oh shit. well then. *gets thrown back whenever they decide to reset*

reaper visiting a lot because, well, he’s dying a lot, he’s probably gotta. imagine a scenario where they actually get to talk. but its so so brief, dust is never dead very long, and reaper probably shouldn’t interfere otherwise…

(he’d also, be witnessing the deaths of the aus other residence, which. interesting. wonder what they have to say about things. and what reapers response may be.)

(of course this is assuming they interact after death, which i think makes sense with common depictions of the reaper at least)

dust probably chalks him up to a vision he’s having, or hallucination, when he dies, but maybe when he’s given more time, they can have broken up conversations.

like hey, mid sentence he gets thrown back into the land of the living, but HEY! next time he dies, just pick up the convo like nothing happened. “Anyways as i was sayin-“

Another thing to think about is just how SIMILAR dust is to geno. and most of us are afterdeath junkies i think💀

like, dust and geno have VERY similar motivations and go to similar lengths (think of error even)

i think of reaper could come to respect genos desires and motives, he’d feel the same towards dust. reaper always strikes me as a really lonely person, and dust is too for obvious reasons.

i’m imagining a scenario where reaper is just. real bored of just watching. so he starts like following dust around so he can see him. and dusts like ah. cool. fucking phantom ass to add to the list. i’m imagining reaper telling him like no, i’m very real dude, and dust is like haha ok, lemme touch you then

…for obvious reasons he can’t let him touch him💀💥 but that would probably make dust assume he is in fact a hallucination. but that’s ok. he’s an ODDLY nice hallucination.

maybe he even reminds him of the river person🤷🏽‍♀️

anyways, reaper just having convo, dust finding he likes it, it’s pleasant chatter to listen to, and then he’s like damn i really am sick, why am i so attached to this weird ass hallucination

(i’m just idea dumping so hard i apologize.)

reaper would find his conviction kinda cute, if not slightly frustrating. like bro, out here denying my existence, wtf💔

i wonder, if reaper can touch him when”” when he’s in the space of death, temporarily.

that would be cool :,))

if reaper doesn’t show up for a while and comes back dust just, getting happier, he’s got someone to talk to again that isn’t a dead friend or relative he’s killed multiple times.

i imagine dust has seen “death” enough times that, in life, he can “see death” (reaper)

they gain this weird little affection for eachother ok💔 a selfish part of reaper hopes dust will always get reset…so he can come talk to him

but part of him is also disgusted by the hope that he’s able to just. be laid to rest. what can be done yk?

YOU COULD MAKE THIS SO ANGSTY WHERE LIKE the anomaly suddenly

stops!

and dust is actually on his way to wherever you’d go when you die

imagine, reaper just. guiding him away to whatever afterlife or lack thereof, carrying his soul away and having to let him go. no more coming back.

cries

or yk, we can imagine a scenario where dust gets out of the loop, and they continue to see eachother and have their weird little friendship (?)

dust is like “i’ve seen death, he’s over my shoulder as i walk, whispers in my ear as i lie awake at night. death awaits my presence, and i deaths. i’ve felt the touch of death, and it was unbearably sweet , a feeling i will forever long for”

*horror from whoever he’s speaking to*

meanwhile reaper is just like, telling stupid jokes in his ear and giggling over someone’s stupid outfit, gossiping about the other gods and making dust look crazy laughing at stupid shit

i wonder if reaper could potentially see dusts phantoms, it’s a fun idea. they aren’t REALLY there, but dusts magic is kind of projecting them i imagine, and reaper has seen them when they die. i just imagine him shooing them away for dust, and he’s like naw man pay attention to me instead *slutty little strut*

you could interpret the way death even works a million different ways and have a bunch of different potential even. what if dust were to die and reaper…DOESNT guide his soul away. what if he keeps him. maybe dust wants that. they could “be together”.

maybe there’s an afterlife, and reaper is able to cross the gap. who knows. lots of potential.

they both have hoodies >:3 idc if that doesn’t mean anything

i feel like reapers dark humor would almost comfort dust lmao, it kinda lightens the load for him. reaper can assure dust that their souls are…ok. they’re at peace.

reaper is just happy to feel so validated and seen all the sudden

he can help dust understand how life really works

ironic huh. the essence of death being the thing that gives you a will to live.

just imagine in a time he’s died, reaper not being able to help himself. he just comes in for a hug. and both of them need it so badly. when dust is alive, he CANT touch him.

they both think about that hug a lot <//3

[toucandrawz]

Quick art dump! :D I haven’t posted in awhile, so I thought I’d compile what I’ve been doing for the past lil while!

The first is an invader zim OC (belonging to @tallest-marij) named Zyke! He has some interesting lore about his wings needing to be removed, so jumped on that for angst >:]

This is Dreamie! He belongs to my boyfriend @shadowlit-shows!! He just a lil’ guy and his colors are fun

This is Cain! He belongs to @cage-cat-yt. He has schizophrenia, so I drew a scene where he’s having one of his delusions!

I painter an Xbox 360 controller! I wanted to paint a ps5 Controller, but i had to order one and it took so long I painted an Xbox 360 one instead

CHESTER!! He’s my baby <333 he’s a horse OC I made for my sona Misc Tou, cause I got a Prikolai retirement/adoption AU cookin’ up there and I want them to have horses

He’s a baby Soviet heavy draft :)

This was another artfight attack on one of my online friends, @zamadrawss I drew two of their characters as Clancy and Torchie from the TØP album, Clancy!! This took me so long but I’m so proud of it ong

[randomness-is-my-order]

hey, welcome to my end-all be-all main blog!

this introduction is a long time coming and today i bit the bullet. fair warning: this is wordy as fuck.

hello to anyone who’s reading this. i’m tay/teru. i’m in my early 20s. she/they. this blog is to essentially engage in any and all media fandoms that i jump into and share my insights as well as post about my fics. i usually engage in a wide variety of fandoms, ranging from books/anime/manga/webtoons/shows/movies and even, occassionally, kpop though the latter is probably just going to be reblogs. i write metas for media i am more invested in while other source material might get a short review + shit posting.

my ao3: link

my fic aus can be found under: #rimo ideas

fic-related links/posts/updates: #rimo fics

original writing: #rimo writes

fandoms that feature prominently on the blog:

–mo dao zu shi: the novels and the cql ‘the untamed’. [i’m in my supercharged mdzs phase at the moment and this series might be a long-standing fixture on this blog].

– percy jackson and the olympians: the books and more prominently, the tv adaptation that was released in 2023. [my commentary during airtime was focused on analyses and positive feedback but my thoughts on the franchise as as whole and the author, rick riordian are much more critical, just an fyi for all the people who found my blog through those posts.]

– naruto: majorly posting of my fics and the ocassional doodle.

– comfort characters: wei wuxian, naruto uzumaki, mike wheeler, nick nelson, eugenides, william herondale, violet, momo ayase, okarun, anya, loid, and moreeeeee.

– otps: shikanaru, caitvi, wei wuxian/lan wangji, mileven, platonic madwheeler.

– how active am i on here? it is extremely erratic. i may continuously spam-post for a week or two and then go mia for months. i don’t know. irl situations dictate my presence on here entirely. alot of my posts are rambly and include ranting but i’m open to discourse most of the time. i specify when i’m not. dms are, of course, always open, but i may be a bit slow to respond [sorry!]. i don’t always respond to asks–sometimes i will dm you back if you aren’t anon if the topic is more suitable for a one-on-one chat but feel free to drop them! there will be lots of fic-related postings and i might some day end up compiling all my works into a coherent system of links but that day isn’t today.

i reblog cute art and any metas that i personally agree with. i don’t know why but i comment sparingly and once i’ve seen you enough, seen your posts enough, i’ll end up following you. despite all the time i spend here, i’m frankly still figuring out how to work this site.

i’ll discuss mature and triggering topics and will try to forewarn them but there probably won’t ever be any nsfw (graphic) content on here. i’m human so i’m learning and changing opinions on things every single day. though looking at media critically is important, i do give in to my biases and just have fun with things all the time. i take stories and characters seriously and will get heated about them at some point or another. if any of this isn’t your thing, i bid you farewell. :))

i will also bid you farewell if you are racist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic, bigoted, unnecessarily inflammatory and insulting.

anyway, let’s have fun here and engage with each other with good–or at the very least, cordial–vibes!

[ardbar]

I’ve not played poppy playtime because I don’t handle horror, particularly jump-scares, well. But, I saw some cute fan art of that dog and cat, and because I love a good purple and orange duo I decided to read some fics. Could someone tell me if there is a waterfall any of these characters fall down? Because I’ve read two fics so far and both of them involved a character falling into a river and then down a waterfall. Like I know that falling down waterfalls is kinda a trope but I’m not sure I’ve ever read a fic where someone actually fell down a waterfall.

Like granted both of these fics were like AU’s set in the smiling critters universe instead of the factory so it would at least make more sense for a body of water to be there but like falling down a waterfall is a very specific story beat to happen, and its rather strange for it to happen multiple times unless it is like a reference somehow to the game or expanded universe.

Honestly this started me on a whole another point. Why the hell is like a strong rushing river into a waterfall such a common thing in media. Like okay to be fair I’ve lived in valleys my whole life so I don’t have much experience with strong rivers and am much more use to like creeks or ponds but like how common are strong rivers? Hell how common are waterfalls? Where do all these fictional characters live where in seems like within 10 square miles there is a cliff-face that has a waterfall that will only cause superficial damage if you fall down it.

Like I don’t know how much water really softens a landing however I do know that surface tension plays a huge part in it and like none of these people are Olympic divers and these rivers can’t be that deep to properly disperse the kinetic energy. At least in one of the fics like bones were broken and required hospitalization, I swear in like most other media falling down a waterfall is the equivalent of tripping down a flight of stairs.

Edit: I don’t know why I said “the dog and cat” I am well aware of both the characters names. I’ve watched dozens of TikTok’s about them. I know the ship name. I’ve watched the game theory timeline video. Also saying I love a “orange and purple duo” makes no sense when like the only other one I can think of is shadowpeach. I got so hung up on waterfalls I for some reason started acting like an idiot.

[quotidianish]

“Where’s Winter?” he whispered, nudging Ostrich with his elbow. She sat up and looked around with blurry confusion.

  “I don’t know,” she said. “He was here a moment ago.”

Qibli twisted in a frantic circle and spotted a shadow flitting through the pear orchard. He couldn’t shout for Winter lest he alert the whole compound. Qibli groaned internally.

  “Stay here,” he whispered to Ostrich. “Stay as hidden as you can. We’ll be right back.”

She nodded, strutting back into the shadows.

  Qibli hurried after the Icewing prince and realized that he was aiming for the courtyard, separated from the orchard with a wall. It was enormous, surrounded with buildings and a partial bailey, blocking his view of the inside. The bricks were painted in a turquoise and amber mosaic of snakes and lizards chasing one another endlessly.

  Before even seeing where Winter was headed, Qibli knew all too well what he was planning to do. The courtyard was noisy with birds and other pest-like creatures, alongside the distinct growl of a dragon.

Arrrrgh, Winter, you obsessed ninny.

  He caught up as Winter was tinkering with the lock of the metal gate. It stretched up to an arch at the doorway, where the mud had begun to crumble, smelling of spoiled food, live pigs, and dates. 

“Are you serious?” he said, and Winter jumped a mile, which was almost hilarious enough to make this side excursion worthwhile.

  “Shhhhh!” Winter hissed.

“What are you thinking?” Qibli whispered.

  “I’m thinking your horrifying grandfather will make this poor dragon into tomorrow’s buffet,” Winter whispered back. “Unless I save it.”

“Right now?” Qibli asked. “In the middle of our own precarious escape?”

  “Well, I’m not planning on coming back!” Winter said, tugging on the lock again. “Hey, you’re a street thug. Can you pick this lock for me?”

  “An Outclaw is not the same thing as a criminal,” Qibli protested. “Oh, fine, move over.” He studied the lock for a moment, unsheathing his kirpan and inserting it into the mechanism, wiggling it around until he heard a click.

  “Now what?” he asked Winter as he nudged at the gate, careful not to open it too wide so the hinges wouldn’t creak. “We shove it in a bag and carry it off into the desert with us? I’m not sure if you’ve noticed this, but dragons aren’t exactly travel-sized.”

  “We’ll just let it out,” Winter said, pacing past him into the moonlit quadrangle. “It’s smart enough to fend for itself after that.”

   Qibli decided not to point out that it hadn’t been smart enough not to get caught in the first place.

  Winter crouched beside a large chain, bound against the beige dragon’s hind leg and anchored into the ground with weights. Despite having thrashed helplessly a moment ago, this time it peered curiously down at them.

  “Don’t be afraid,” Winter said softly. He looked around for the small alcohol lamp by the window they’d seen earlier, and carefully reached for its shackle. Upon bringing the flame close to the brass chains, the heat thawed through the metal like snow. They both stepped back and waited.

  Slowly, the levitation-esque creature raised its head, tearing its obsidian black eyes from the two humans and towards the night sky. A plume of smoke shot through the air as it flapped its enormous wings once, then twice, then lifting itself off the ground, sending a whirlwind of sand flying into Qibli’s face, before swiftly gliding away to freedom.

[camilaxmartin]

gonna put them emoji’s again💀😭 so it would be: 🥑🍬🌸🐝🎨🍄

I love using these TOTALLY USEFUL emoji’s so I picked em🥰

you don’t use avocado/bee/mushroom everyday? what are you even doing?🙄

BUT ANYWAY

🥑: you accidentally killed somebody, which mutual(s) do you text for help?

probably @bunnylove1 and @blookyag, idk why tho honestly, just getting the vibes they’d help somebody out with hiding the body💀 (it’s a compliment, i swear-)

🍬: post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character:

okay uhh- (don’t cancel me plz) i respect with my whole heart that alastor is asexual and (?) aromantic but i don’t get the hate people receive when shipping him with someone? as far as i know being on the spectrum means he can still date? like i know, he doesn’t show any interest in that but if its just for a silly au or for a cool drawing then what’s the fuss about? i’m not talking like about erasing that part of him because that’s a big no no for me, but like…? respecting it but still having fun with his character? i saw a great tiktok explaining my thoughts exactly so maybe i’ll link it here if i can find it (add the link here later camila:) (besides all that i project a lot of myself onto alastor (still debating if im aromantic or not) and i want to explore myself with his character (if i can even phrase it that way) so all the hate and shit really bother me, you know?)

(another thing more about whole thing not a character is that “whatever it takes” is in my top 4 songs and i don’t get the hate it gets?? i love this song?? it’s so great?? two latina (?) girls singing together?? cmon??)

🌸: do you have any pets? if you do, post some pictures of them:

i do actually! i have a dog and three rats:) (also had a rabbit but he died not so long ago and he was like my whole world so i got a tattoo to remember him, i’ll add it as well just because i can)

🐝: tag your biggest supporters and say one nice thing about them:

@kimmyisachiisaiakuma - ugh of course?? like in my head we are already besties fr fr, what can i saaaay😭 idk i love you and how supportive and just friendly you are!!:) and god of course, i love your art?? but i’ve already said it a thousand times??? so here’s one thousand first??

@bunnylove1 - just how supportive you are towards my stuff and how with exactly one request i felt like we also became besties? maybe it’s just me but yeah😭

@blookyag - liking my every post and responding to every single one of them!!! she’s a treasure, really. i’m surprised someone cares about my rambling this much💀

@informist - i’ve noticed that she’s also reacting to a lot of my stuff and she’s so quick with it like?? idk it makes my heart jump okay? i love attention from people even when it’s just my stupid rambling😭 (#iamanattentionwhore 😗😗)

@rougecreator1 - liked a lot of my posts as well, and somehow i feel like they enjoy my stuff? idk tho?😭😭 yeah just noticed interactions in my activities:)

@riveramorylunar - i feel like we were more active on each other’s accounts when i was still in my lady lesso era, but idk i really liked you then and i still love seeing your stuff pop up on my main page:)

and of course, all of my lovely anons who send me their ideas that i can’t wait to write!!:)

🎨: link your favourite piece of fanart and explain why you like it:

okay so like it changes every day?? but for now i must say this one:

click!

why? simple. a. brokerdoll b. the marvellous style? c. i want to draw like that d. just… just look at it okay? e. lesbians.

(and a special mention for THIS as well, as it’s the first time someone ever drawn my oc and besides the fact that she looks so pretty here it’s just… idk i just love it okay, she stole my heart)

🍄: share a headcanon for one of your favourite ships or pairings:

let’s start with the fact that i even have a favourite account for all the headcanons about brokerdoll which is @vypridae (adore all the hcs, really)

buut! my personal headcanon is:

• carmilla didn’t really expect to fall for velvette, i mean in my head she just saw her as so… respectless and dumb and stupid and careless and carefree and wild and free and pretty- wait

yeah, so in my head velvette was the first to initiate anything and at first carmilla was like “ha! no way, you stupid girl” but then she started to think more and more about velvette as the time went on and one day she just got along the fact that she might be attracted to the young overlord and somehow… went with it? like she didn’t make a big deal out of it… but velvette definitely did, despite the fact she was actually the first one to say or act on her attraction in any way.

(i need to write more headcanons for them, they’re literally eating up my brain)

[thatmexisaurusrex]

Hi! If you haven’t been asked yet, I’d like to hear about your Sam Wilson P|/Bucky Barnes Art Thief AU please!

wip game

Ooh, well, technically, yes, I have answered this, but you know what? I'll give one more snippet from the series because I have been telling people for like years that I'd publish this damn thing on AO3 😂 So, you're getting one more snippet from the fic. Enjoy! 🥰 :

But as Sam stepped into the narrow diner, Sam saw him.

Completely and utterly focused on some monster of a laptop in the farthest corner of the room, drinking what looked to be a milkshake.

There was something breathtaking about it. How everything in Bucky was in what he was typing with one hand, as if he could tune out the entire world.

Sam got it.

He did spend a good seven hours measuring and looking at a card.

Sam walked over to the table, feeling almost mournful that he had to break the guy’s concentration as he said, “Hey. Is this seat still open?”

Bucky jumped, stumbling and fumbling and falling to the side of the booth he was sitting at. He scrambled up and closed the laptop to be polite, trying to gain some semblance of cool probably, and Sam had to stop himself from smiling too big.

So, Sam wasn’t the only nervous person here.

That was nice to know.

“Hey. Sorry. I just – when I’m working, I really get into work, you know?” said Bucky.

“I can’t complain,” said Sam, shrugging, “I just spent my entire work day and most of my night staring at a card. I might have lost some of my sanity in the process, so I apologize if I don’t make a lot of sense. But I wanted to see you, so I hope you’re fine with me as is.”

Bucky smiled sweetly.

“I’ll take you any way I can have you,” said Bucky, the two of them just… staring at each other for a moment.

“Shit. I’m being weird,” said Sam, wiping his face, “I’m sorry. It’s been a bit of a day.”

Sam was about to take the seat across from Bucky when Bucky scooted over, patting the seat next to him, “No, over here. You look tired. Rather you fall asleep on me than fall over onto the ground or something.”

Sam decided yes please, glad to have an excuse to sit so close to the guy. And there was something electric about sitting thigh to thigh with the man, Bucky’s face so close.

“What are you drinking?” asked Sam, glancing over at the milkshake.

“I think it’s called an Appalachian Breakfast?” said Bucky, offering Sam a sip and –

“Oh wow, there’s bourbon in that,” said Sam, a little surprised.

“Yeah. You make me nervous, so I needed something for that,” said Bucky, Sam snickering, “You’re a very handsome man. And charming. And smart. It’s all very intimidating in a very hot way.”

“I’m intimidating?” asked Sam, not really believing that, “You’re the mysterious, suave graduate student who convinced me to come to a secondary location.”

“I mean you say that, but this isn’t really like me,” said Bucky, curling in on himself a bit, looking away from Sam, “I don’t talk to a lot of strangers and I rarely get along with people instantly like this.”

“You could have fooled me,” said Sam, feeling their arms close, hands closer, so close their hands could just fold into one another but neither taking the plunge yet, “I don’t really click this easily either with people. Something about being with you, though… It’s just so easy.”

“It helps that we both have a very specific set of skills that we both appreciate,” said Bucky, relaxing again, “My art history knowledge has never helped me pick anyone up before you, I can tell you that.”

“Yeah, you’re probably the first person I’ve tried to date who hasn’t looked like they were going to get a migraine as I talked their ear off about the travesty of the paint being washed and chipped off Greek statues,” said Sam, forever mad at the idea that plain white marble statues were somehow preferable to what they actually were, how the malpractices of the past impact future exploration and understanding of ancient lands.

Bucky glanced down to his laptop, then to Sam.

“Lemme show you something,” said Bucky, opening his laptop, typing in a very long password.

“You do this with all your first dates?” asked Sam, trying not to think about Bucky’s thighs and sort of failing.

“Only if I like them,” said Bucky, the fucker winking, “And only if they might know what I’m talking about when I talk about my work.”

“What, here to honeypot me? Use me for information on the exhibit since I was allowed in today?” asked Sam.

Bucky laughed.

“Oh, I’d seduce you whether or not you had any information to give. Trust me,” said Bucky, his smile teasing, “Information? A rare bonus while finding a cute guy at a random coffee stand. And it probably isn’t even pertinent to your consulting work, I just thought you might find what I’m doing cool.”

[kingfisher298]

Ok so I’ve been working on a swap AU of Forsaken (posted on AO3 titled ‘From The Jump’ by I, Emotional_Hotdog) and there were a few comments asking if I had a sketch of 07’s killer design and I am PLEASED to say that I do! I sketched it out before I wrote the fanfic and kinda wrote it cause of this redesign.

So basically I wanted a scary killer. Like one that would make you spontaneously combust when the round started and you realised. Fuck. It’s them. Most of the killer in forsaken are scary, but it wears off and then the fandom memes the fuck out of them. What I wanted to create was a killer that not only stuck fear in your hearts but also stayed scary. The above images are what I came up with. And, in my infinite wisdom, I decided to base them off the miros birds, one of the most terrifying enemies in a game I grind daily called Rainworld.

Onto Rainworld. In Survivor (the first campaign) you won’t really see miros birds at all; they’re only present in two (three if you include metropolis, which is inaccessible in survivor) regions and only spawn in specific rooms. I actually spedran the entire game by accident and ended up at Subterranean super early (it was my like my fifth region) and saw them from a distance, but only for a split second.

I ended up hearing from a friend that I shouldn’t have spedran so hard so I passaged (teleported) to an area I hadn’t explored much: the Shaded Citadel, aka where the game goes from a survival game to a horror game. I ended up blundering into Memory Crypts (a subregion) and spending the next few cycles being chased by miros birds. They’re the only creatures there, but man are they scary.

First off, before I activated the danger alert in settings, I had basically no way to know if they were coming; only by the clanking of their feet, which meant I would suddenly stop to listen, my hands shaking in fear if there was nowhere safe to hide. Sometimes, it was nothing.

But by the time you heard it, you had about seven seconds to get to safety, otherwise you’d be snapped up by the speed of light. Even getting into a pipe won’t assure your safety, as they can reach in and fish you out like it’s nothing.

Miros birds are crazy fast and come in packs. There’s an art point here that I quite liked that there’s these orange fireflies, mimicking almost the eyes of the Miros birds so that you couldn’t really tell if it was them or not by a split-second glance.

Another thing? I was playing blind. I had no idea how to escape them nor how long Memory Crypts was. The place itself was a flat expanse of land that went on seemingly forever. By the time I finally got to the end, the cycle was over and the rain (an omnipresent event at the end of each cycle that killed you instantly) was coming. It was safe to say it took me a while to get through Memory Crypts.

Honestly, I’ll never forget it though, there, in the dark, hands shaking and clutching a spear that would provide futile defence if I were to get attacked in the open by the walking scissor heads, furtively listening with all my might for the dreaded clanking of their stilts, knowing I’d have to restart all my progress if I died. Now, I can clear the entire region within a few minutes. But that only came with that first encounter, a terror inducing gander through one of the darkest areas of the game.

Back to Forsaken. I wanted to stray away from the usual ‘coolgui fuses with 07 CORRUPTING him’ bc that had been done by many more people in a myriad of ways, and while I really like some of the interpretations of the coolgui route, I wanted to make him more of a biomechanical monster while keeping in the machine/hacker aspects of his survivor counterpart. I also wanted to make the additions to him debilitating and unwieldy while also being pretty deadly to the survivors if he got lucky.

I started with the scissor head – a staple of the Miros bird – and actually went against the whole miros bird thing (they’re deaf but have great sight) by making him blind, just to make him distinct from the rest of the killer cast and to make him a little different from the actual species I was basing him on. It was also because I originally thought the Miros birds were blind, due to the way they walked, the manner implying they didn’t really care where they put their feet (stilts?) or couldn’t see where they were going. The beak is also screwed to his jaw and the visor is bolted to his skull, with the wire to hold the beak shut when not in use.

I joined the arms together to give 07 a secondary weapon (to hold the survivors in place while he like crushed their skull or smth) and went onto the legs. In game, the clanking noise was the only way you could ever tell if you were boutta be jumped so I always try to make a point on how loud it is in the fanfic. I would think there’d be some sort of spring since the wiki says that the legs ‘extend and retract.’ Personally, I couldn’t see shit while blundering through Memory Crypts, but I’ll take their word for it and also added a stopper to make sure the rod didn’t slide out or anything.

As for attacks, it’s kinda obvious what he can do. Stab with the arms, snip with the beak, step and impale survivors with the stilts, and a secret fourth attack (that I made up) being a paralyzingly attack when survivors are clipped with the beak and end up getting away.

I kinda forgot abt the coolgui while designing his attacks tbh but I would think that this form would be to expose his malice as a hacker while stripping away any of the glory it gave him by reducing him to a clanking, blinded biomechanical monster who is heard before he is seen.

07’s motive as a killer is basically the Spectre’s doing, saying that he can see his son for ten minutes with each person he kills. The whole arrangement is unfair, but 07 doesn’t really say anything since the Spectre has all the power and anything he would say would fall upon unwilling ears. He still gets soft for people who he doesn’t have to kill. And most of all, he loves Coolkid more than anyone else, willing to kill just to be with him for a few moments.

Now, there is something in Rainworld called a Miros Vulture – a Miros bird with wings, but… we’ll get to that bridge when we cross it. (Evil laughter)