#Maybe I should make a tag to add when its this version too

[catboyelimgarak]

Side-piece writing Sugar Baby Julian ( titled "Something's Has To Give"), I really like this beginning and the next part I'm dabbling in with a bunch of other WIPs. Won't be posting to AO3 anytime soon, but a few snippets on here so I can feel a sense of accomplishment

Cardassians seemed to enjoy throwing ginormous parties when they liked. Glamorous too in their high-ceiling homes on acres of land that he would not dare to calculate. There had been so many in the past month, he stopped trying after the fourth one in his first week on the planet. Even counting the doors he passed by as he tailed behind his benefactor had become a self-imposed chore.

Always the similar chandeliers, always a show of not only how many glistening, jeweled, antiques were owned, but of course what marvelous apparel the hosts wore. The ridged species were lovely in their own natural right, yet they felt the need to add on with dazzling accessories and expensive wardrobes. It became apparent to him that heavy gowns and waistcoats were in style. He’d have to ask his benefactor if that was only seasonal.

Said man was nodding his head politely to the three others at his side. Garak had spoken about his distaste in being the center of attention — to be given any of it — yet how could the older man not when he dressed so stylishly. Garak disclosed his work as a tailor, all his work done at home instead of his shop only a few blocks away. It was no shocker that he wore an undershirt, waistcoat, cravat, and trousers that perfectly accentuated his blue eyes. The latter being what would single him out in any room if not his smartly chosen outfit.

Not caring to watch the cardassian make small-talk, it was with a small jump and sharp inhale that five-clawed fingers raked down his neck.

“What a delightful creature! Who is it? What is it?”

In that very second Garak was so suddenly at the other side. He was good at being silent and quick.

“This, my dear friend, is a he-oo-man, and his name is Julian.” Garak’s smooth voice spoke.

It was funny how aliens pronounced ‘Human’ in their own ways, but Julian knew better than to laugh or let himself go un-scolded (even by himself). He didn’t care to speak up, trusting his benefactor to do that.

“Oh my,” the claws twisted so the dangerous ends weren’t on him anymore, going as far as to attempt caressing up his neck before Garak’s hand grabbed it’s wrist. The new cardassian looked up sharply, then shurgged into herself. “He’s quite handsome.”

“I know, please be careful. He-oo-mans are delicate beings, just look at his lack of ridged or scutes!” Then Julian knew whose hands were on his body. It wouldn’t be the first time Garak had been so bold in laying the leather bottoms of his fingers on Julian. It was purely for show in who was as Julian’s patron — he who was providing funds, home, meals, and companionship. In return they had agreed that careful and meaningless touches were acceptable (“I only wish to enjoy your warmth and be sure that you are in good health”).

Julian thought nothing of it since he enjoyed physical touching as long as he consented, and nothing else was being being felt besides the comfort of being cared for. He allowed the careful brush of Garak’s hardened fingers over the bottom of his neck where a sliver dark flesh laid bared. The curl over the spot like a well-meaning hold eased Julian, a promise of protection from unwanted touches: you can not touch him.

“Like the exotic pet.”

Julian knew he was frowning, bristling even, not caring to hide he sharp side-eye up at the woman; the tight squeeze from Garak’s hand confirmed he too was not taken with the words, but he was far better at hiding it and playing the social-game.

“Please, he is no pet, he is my Ka’del.”

“Where did you meet him? What are his worthy talents?”

“He’s to be a doctor! Julian was in need of assistance when I met him, and he has such promise!”

“A woman’s career though? Surely he has other talents to support than such a silly dream.”

Julian parted his lips to counter the sexist remark, only for Garak to beat him to it. “Hee-oo-man males are doctors on their planet too. All are welcomed to be anything they desire and train for. Julian is already half-way done with his training, he’s come to Cardassia to finish the last of it.”

The woman nodded and gave a small smile Julian had every reason to believe was forced. Cardassians were known xenophobes and strict in their society. “I’m sure he will make a good doctor.”

Then she and Garak shared a polite, though curt, little bow before she was off to bother some other poor person.

Realizing he had been holding his breath, Julian kept it a silent exhale under his breath. Another quick squeeze and he looked up to Garak. His patron was smiling where it didn’t touch his eyes that, for the first time since they arrived, were gentle. “Worry not, my dear.”

Yet Julian found little comfort in that.

[joocomics]

Hi!!

Lol it's totally okay!

Well, I didn't have something specific in mind but I thought about stuff like tying (like with belts or ties)

But it's totally okay if u don't write abt it its just popped up in my head last night

-✌

tags: choking (f), mentions of bondage, oral (f)

a/n: i like ties & belts, anon :3 hope you enjoy how this turned out! i def want to write a longer version of this in the future!!

“will you help me out, please?” you call out at jooyeon while standing in front of the mirror. he comes up behind you, taking the straps of the dress, that should go around your neck. “can you tie a bow?” you ask, watching him contemplating for a second while holding the long thick straps with his fingers. eventually he gets it, starting by wrapping them once around your throat like a choker. you’re not supposed to tilt your head to the side while he does this, but when he leans forward, guiding his lips to your ear you instantly reveal more of your flesh for him without even realising. “i’ve been thinking about something..” he says, pulling the straps a little bit too tight. “you have a very pretty throat, baby.” a wet kiss lands just above the black strap, while he maintains eye contact with your reflection. “are you talking about choking me?” you ask, as your lips curl up in a smile. a certain thrill of arousal makes your skin run hot when he tightens them even more. “yeah, if you’re into it,” he replies, as the pressure in his pants builds up from the sight of your glossy lips parting for air. “i can use my tie, while i fuck you from behind,” he adds, while one of his hands moves down your spine to find your ass. “i’ve been thinking about something too,” you admit just when he lets go of the straps, so he can use his hand instead. his fingers caress your delicate throat before gripping on it. “tell me about it, sweetheart.”

he realises that he’s enjoying this a lot more than he expected to, maybe it’s the possessive feeling of his hand owning your throat, playing with your breaths, that excites him so much. “you know how some people.. tie each other up with ropes or belts?“ the moment you utter those words jooyeon’s gaze darkens from lust. “damn, is this what you secretly watch, princess?” “not usually, but i’ve stumbled upon it a few times. would you try it out with me?” “baby..” he whispers, twirling you around. you can sense this conversation has a big effect on him, as he drops down to his knees, speaking in a lower voice. “are you asking me to tie this beautiful body up, and use it as i wish?” “that’s exactly what i’m asking you.”

he’s already making his way between your thighs, though. “gonna buy the prettiest chokers for my princess.. can’t wait to see you wear them while the ropes hold you spread out for me, baby.”

the toes of your right leg are placed on his shoulder, your dress - brought up to your tummy, and the last thing you hear from him is his repressed moan against your clit.

[aceofwhump]

Hey everyone!

So I've got a bunch of gifsets made for one movie saved in my drafts that I'm trying to figure out how to post so that each set has links to the other parts. The problem is I can't get the links to the posts until I've actually posted them. The drafts links are all different and won't work. I have to wait until it's posted to be able to link to it.

I could post all the sets at once and then really quickly go in to each one and edit them to include the links to each individual post as fast as I can before people can reblog them without the links. But this risks the gifsets not showing up in the tags because tumblr thinks its spam if I post too many sets too quickly. If that happens no one will see them at all.

Or

I could post them individually at my regular speed, at least an hour between each gifset, which will help them show up in the tags and be seen. Then once they've all been posted go in and add all the links. But this means I risk people reblogging them without the links to the other posts before I can add them so some people won't be able to just click the links and there's a higher risk of the unlinked versions becoming the one people reblog and not the one with links. Which I don't want to happen

What should I do here? There's like 11 gifsets too. It'll take all day to post them. Maybe even 2 days if I want to space them out. I supose I could just....not link to the others but I really want to make it easier to find the other sets for the movie. Tags are unreliable.

Anyone have suggestions? Opinions? I don't know which I want to do. What do you guys do when you want to post a series of gifsets/posts with links to the others in the series? Do you post them all at once and add links fast? Or space them out and risk them being reblogged without links? Or is there some other method I don't know about?

[beginningobserver]

Heyyo everyone. I wrote a new Rui-centered thing.

⚠SPOILERS FROM THE MOVIE AHEAD ⚠

Bonds

[AO3 version]

Summary:

Rui is invited to try Daisuke's new ramen recipe with the rest of the group.

Rui + 02 kids • Canon-compliant (KenMiya/Kenyako included) • Post-movie events.

----------------//-----------------

A few months after meeting Daisuke and the others, Rui started to visit them a little more while he waited for Ukkomon’s egg to hatch. He was patient and optimistic that everything would be fine now.

He was invited by Daisuke to eat his newest ramen-creation with the other five. But would they still want to tag along with him? Rui had no idea what true friendship was, because he believed every friend he made after meeting Ukkomon were just manipulated by the digimon like his parents had been.

It could mean that this group he just met would be his first and legitimate friends. Right?

He stood in front of the Ramen Yamatoya building, his hands shaking out of anxiety. He thought -- Should I get in? We were just strangers and I don’t come here too much to not… Bug him--

The door opened from inside and it was by V-mon.

“HEYYOO RUI!”

“A-ah… Hello.”

“Wow, you came really fast!!” the blue digimon exclaimed, and looked outside to see if anyone else was coming, “Really fast!”

“I… I was around, my workplace is in this area.”

“Oho! What do you do for life!?”

“... I work at--”

“THERE YOU ARE!!” Daisuke pooped out from the door, “HEY-WELCOME! GET IN, GET IN!!”

He was interrupted by Daisuke’s energetic voice. And dragged inside. He didn’t manage to answer V-mon’s question and at this point V-mon had lost interest in it, because he tried to answer it again and V-mon just started preparing the counter and led to the stool reserved for him.

He felt like a celebrity with that reception, and this really felt awkward -- Do friends do things like these…?

“Here’s the menu!” and V-mon handed him a card with the stuff included in Daisuke’s ‘Ramen Motomiya’ business;

“Oh, thanks…” he gently took it from V-mon’s hand.

“Hey V-mon, this isn’t needed! Everyone will come here to try out my new creation!”

“What is this new… menu item you were talking about?” Rui asked, out of curiosity.

“It’s a top secret! I’ll reveal its details once everyone is here!”

“Oh, so it’s a surprise…”

“Yup!” Daisuke smiled, “But no worries it’s not sweet! I mean, I know you’re not a fan of sweets so… I had to find the perfect balance of flavor that would make everyone satisfied.”

“Hmm…” He didn’t know what to say, it felt a little odd someone thinking of him and his preferences… But it made him relieved that Daisuke cares enough about him to pull things like these -- This is… True friendship right?

“Iori hates tomatoes,” V-mon explained, “So when Daisuke cooks stuff for everyone he has to remember to not add tomatoes on Iori’s portion.”

“I see…”

“And If someone is lactose intolerant I have to know beforehand so I can prepare a special version of the recipe! Or if they’re vegan. Or if they’re allergic to gluten. Lots of things, culinary school prepared me for this!”

“Yeah!” V-mon nodded, “And that so we cannot get into legal issues! I mean, the boss wouldn’t like to have this place closed because of a little mistake!!”

The door opened and the others came in. V-mon greeted them the same way as Daisuke did before -- Maybe it’s part of their business' greetings? -- and they all got reunited at the counter.

Hikari also came in with her backpack stuffed with something. Rui didn’t know why, it just felt a little… strange??

“So, what is the menu for today, chef?” Takeru chuckled, “You said you created something new.”

“Hehe, glad you asked” Daisuke had the sunglasses on and did the ‘anime glasses thing’ with the light reflection, “V-mon, please.”

“Alright!” and then V-mon served the bowls to the six people, “Bone appetit!” 

“It’s not ‘Bone’ !” Daisuke babbled, “Man, Takeru didn’t ya say it was something like ‘good meal’…”

“Oh, yeah” Takeru nodded, “V-mon it’s ‘ Bon’ , which means ‘good’ in French. And ‘bon appetit’ means ‘enjoy your meal’ ”

“Okay but why is Daisuke using French out of nowhere?” Patamon blinked.

“It’s good to know a bit of each language if I want to open my business in New York!” Daisuke explained, “And maybe I’m considering the idea of doing deliveries later.”

“Is it because of my suggestion?” Iori asked and then Daisuke nodded.

“With the digital gate we can go everywhere!!” V-mon added, “So! We can do something cool like this!!”

“This is just one step to be made!” Daisuke bragged, “Now, enjoy the bowl. I’ll be waiting for your feedback on my most recent creation.”

“Don’t forget to describe the flavors!” V-mon added excitedly.

“So uh, what’s different in it?” Miyako raised an eyebrow, “It doesn’t seem different from the usual bowls you served before…”

“Just… Try it first,” he pouted.

“Will you keep using the sunglasses indoors?” Tailmon seemed quite bothered by that. Even Takeru had taken his beanie off!!

“Well, I’m not a real ramen chef if I don’t have them on.”

“It’s missing the spirals, dagya!” Armadimon commented.

“... I left them at home,” Daisuke shrugged.

“YOU HAVE SUNGLASSES WITH THOSE ANIME SPIRALS!?” Everyone seemed pretty surprised by it. Except V-mon, of course.

“Yeah, and they’re mine!” V-mon replied with a grin.

“THEY BELONG TO V-MON!?”

“I don’t think that should be a surprise” Daisuke took the shades off, “Takeru does the same thing, but with hats!”

“Ah, that’s true,” Wormmon blinked.

“Takeru-san has something equal to that too,” Hawkmon replied with a nod.

“We should quit arguing and start eating!” Takeru babbled nervously when everyone glanced at him, “Or else Daisuke will be even more upset than he is right now!”

The only person not taking part in that discussion was Rui, who was just sitting in the corner and already eating his bowl. Somehow him being this quiet made them all forget he was there… But he didn’t mind it either. He’s still just a stranger, maybe Daisuke only invited him out of courtesy…?

“...”

It’s good -- Rui thought. He didn’t expect something so simple to be good. But isn’t this what Daisuke is in a nutshell? Simple-minded and a box full of surprises. Now he had to compliment that, which is the hard part. The group were already chatting and even arguing about fashion accessories… He felt it would be rude to interrupt them all.

But… This is really good.

He felt even more awkward…

“AHEM!” Daisuke managed to spot he wasn’t involved in their shenanigans, so he just called everyone’s attention to the main subject, “Now, really… Just eat it. And tell me what y’all think about it.”

The group looked at each other and then to Rui sitting there in silence eating. V-mon noticed Rui was… crying??

“Oh no-- is it too bad!?” V-mon gasped, mortified “Daisuke, you made something so horrible he’s--”

“No.”

“Huh??”

“It’s good,” he said, quite awkwardly.

“Then why are you crying??” Patamon asked.

Why am I crying…?? -- Not even he realized the reason for those tears. The group then tried their own bowls, trying to understand Rui’s reaction to the food.

“Oh! It’s tasty!” They all commented.

“See the difference?” Daisuke chuckled.

“What did you do this time??” Hikari asked, impressed by the flavor.

“It’s a secret~”

“He was bored last night and accidentally dropped the wrong seasoning to the broth and then he tried it and got… this new ‘BOOM’ okay??” V-mon explained.

“So it was an accidental discovery,” Iori mused.

“What seasoning was?” Tailmon asked the next question.

“It was…”

Seriously, why am I crying by eating something tasteful? -- Rui kept wondering why a simple ramen bowl could bring him tears. Was it the spice? Was it too spicy? Or too salty?? It didn't make any sense, because he didn’t feel it was too spicy or salty… He just sat there eating in silence and trying to get it, why was he…?!

“Oh, I know! Is it love??” Patamon asked.

“Can you put love in a bowl?” Wormmon asked, innocently.

“Well, putting it that way, yeah it had a ton of love while preparing it for my best pals so…”

“Excuse me,” Miyako stared at Daisuke, “I’m the one who got the Digimental of Love here. Better you teach me your secrets.”

“Then, better you give me your Digimental of Love because I deserve it now.”

“Not a chance!”

They all laughed.

“...”

Meanwhile Rui, oh poor Rui… He was so confused about what the heck is going on with him that he was feeling like spacing out again. He didn’t even realize he finished his bowl quite quicker than the others.

So now he was just watching the empty bowl and thinking how can he describe those feelings and flavors and -- WAIT WHY ARE THEY ALL LOOKING AT HIM NOW?!

“Wow…” Wormmon exclaimed.

“Well… It was d-delicious!” He babbled aloud. Dang it, he’s feeling like a fool…

“Hey, take it easy” Daisuke said, “So uh… How’s that?”

“... It was good.”

“And?”

“... I don’t understand why, but eating this bowl gave me joy… Something I haven’t felt for a long time ago.”

“Oh, so you liked it!?” V-mon gasped.

“V-mon, crying does not always mean sadness” Ken started explaining, “It can mean joy too. Like when Daisuke says something dumb and funny, making everyone cry out of laughter. It can also be out of relief, and so do other reasons as well.”

“... I think I was crying because…”

“... You feel happy to be here, right?” Daisuke tried to guess it.

“H-huh?”

“How’s Ukkomon’s egg going?” Miyako asked, “Did it hatch already?”

“... Not yet,” and then he showed the tiny watch-clock sized egg from his pocket. They all looked at it, “I always take him with me, just in case…”

“That’s a good signal,” Tailmon smiled, and then looked at Hikari, “You have to never lose hope, he will come back. Right, Hikari?”

“Yes, We never lost hope so that’s why we were able to meet each other.”

“... I feel safe with you guys,” Rui blushed a bit. Oh so that’s why he felt a little nervous, right?

“We can help you form connections,” Hawkmon said this time, “But sometimes you need a little push.”

“??”

“Yeah, so that’s why I got you here, dude” Daisuke chuckled, “We want to know more about you!”

“And we want you to know more about us, dagya!”

“... Oh.”

“Ah, I have something to show to everyone!” Hikari then took the stuffed backpack and opened it. Then Tailmon handed each of them a knitted scarf “I made those!!”

“That’s so cute!!” Miyako exclaimed with glee.

“Wow, it has cool details on them!!” Daisuke was in awe, “It reminds me of my Digital World’s jacket!!”

“Mine is Patamon-themed” Takeru commented, then looked at Hikari, “You made all of those, with details… All alone?”

“Oh I helped too” Tailmon started to brag, “I evolved into Angewomon and helped Hikari to knit. So they have an angel touch, haha~”

“Literally an angel touch… (dagya)” The digimon repeated together.

Rui also had one in his hands. It looked like Ukkomon, somehow. Hikari is really nice to give him something too, isn’t she? He kinda needed a little more color in his wardrobe… He had just started to wear some black-and-gray tones after the day he discovered Ukkomon had been hijacking his parents’ bodies (and possibly the rest of the people he had contact with?)… He kinda liked his usual outfit, but this was kinda giving him the will to risk changing a little.

So he put it around his neck. Somehow the colors were too bright for his dark clothes… But he was feeling happy with that humble present. He looked really funny and just felt like a tiny puppy with a new dog collar and wagging his tail happily.

The others just looked at him being more relaxed and comfortable, but Daisuke had to hold his laugh. Yeah, it was a little funny to him. And if he laughed now he could give the wrong message. But that made them all just feel the barrier between them and Rui had turned a little less thicker.

“I can’t use it right now, it will get dirty!!” Daisuke said, blushing, “B-But I will do it later!! And I won’t take it off ever again!”

“It will get stinky and we won’t let you approach us!” Patamon pouted.

“I… I will wash it though!!”

“You can’t wash it if you don’t take it off!”

“I didn’t mean literally not taking it off!!” Daisuke’s awkwardness increased. At least no one was paying attention to Rui feeling so warm and happy with those people taking him to eat ramen and giving him a gift!

More laughs.

“T-thank you…” it was interrupted by Rui simply thanking Hikari, “I… I appreciate it.”

“When Daisuke-kun said he wanted to gather everyone to try a new recipe, I decided to knit those. Now we all have matching scarves. Isn’t it fun?”

“This is the closest to having your crush give you a gift,” V-mon nodded sagely.

“HahahahaHA-- WHAT DO YA MEAN, V-MON!?” Daisuke panicked.

Daisuke-kun is acting weirdly… He probably likes her -- Rui thought. He wasn’t disappointed, but he was now frowning?

“I appreciate it as well, Hikari-chan” Ken thanked her, “Thank you.”

“Yeah, everyone here agrees, right?” Takeru smiled. Everyone agreed in a nod.

“Oh, there’s one more inside” Patamon noticed a 8th scarf in the backpack.

“This one is for Wallace,” Tailmon explained, “He’s part of our friend circle too, don’t forget it.”

“Wallace?” Ken and Rui asked.

“He’s a friend from America,” Hawkmon explained, “But uh… He tends to flirt with girls.”

“He was flirting with Miyako when we first met him,” Daisuke added with an annoyed tone.

“He what ?!” Ken gave Daisuke a legitimate ‘Kaiser-like’ look.

“I think now that you and Miyako-san are dating he would respect that” Iori tried to calm Ken down. He could present the sadistic Kaiser just by that reaction.

“Better he does,” Wormmon said, also sounding very… creepy?

Ichijouji-kun and Wormmon are scary… -- Rui gulped in silence. That murderous glare and the group trying to calm them down… Oh yeah.

“Anyway,” Daisuke slammed his hands on the other side of the counter, “Better you give me your notes. I need approval from this team here. And this includes you too, Rui.”

“... Ah, right… I think I liked it…?” 

“The flavors were well balanced,” Ken said nonchalantly, “and your presentation of it looks refined even if you’re just starting this business. And I think it would’ve been good if…”

They watched Ken just rambling about Daisuke’s ramen  like a legit restaurant reviewer and it made Rui quite impressed.

“... And serving it with a good shot of the client’s preferred drink could improve the experience.”

“Is… Is Ichijouji-kun a food critic…?”

“He tends to do those long reviews,” Tailmon shrugged, “You will get used to him.”

“Yeah, he’s a nerd” Daisuke rolled his eyes. Ken blushed out of embarrassment.

“But we love him so he’s our nerd!” Miyako added, and the blush in Ken intensified.

“Sooooo… Do y’all approve this one?”

“Yeah!/Yes!/Mhm!” They all said.

This group of people and their digimon seem so refreshing… Is this what friendship means? Is this… what having real friends means?

Rui felt his encounter with those people and digimon had helped him to start healing his heart. Somehow… He realized what Ukkomon had said back in time, on his 8th birthday.

The ‘friends’ Ukkomon couldn't bring that time… They weren’t his classmates.

It was those people. It was exactly this group of people, apparently.

He took the egg from his pocket and looked at it, with a calm and warm smile:

Thank you, Ukkomon. For leading me to them.

[accessibleaesthetics]

It's the last asker again; thanks for the quick reply! I also had trouble with short tone tags as a nonnative speaker, I agree that it's a lot better to write the tone fully. Glad that's not just me.

Sorry to bother you again, but about emojis and emoticons: if not all screen readers that exist can read emojis, I'd still end up typing their meaning afterwards just to be sure…

So then, does it really make a difference if I use emoticons with their meaning afterwards of course, rather than an emoji and its description in plain text? It seems like the simple emoticons that you talked about which some screen readers can decipher are the smiley ":)", frown ":(", wink ";)", laugh ":D", and confused "O_o" emoticons. (That's what my screen reader can read at least, on a Xiaomi device; maybe it could be useful to some!) So I'm guessing with these ones, there should be no real difference with their emoji equivalents as long as you caption them, right?

But for the less typical emoticons, do you think it sounds too messy if it reads, for example, something like "^^ [happy eyes emoticon]" as "caret, caret, happy eyes emoticon", rather than "😄 [happy eyes emoji]" as "open mouth smile, happy eyes emoji"? (That's what my phone's TalkBack outputs for this emoji.) Are the two random carets too confusing, does it make a big difference to switch to an emoji in this case? Or is it still—can't find a better word—acceptable?

I also feel like it would be weird to hear the same thing twice when my caption often differs from how the screen reader reads it; I'm not sure if there's a kind of dictionary for emojis to screen readers specifically, or if they differ for each screen reader? That way I can avoid confusing people when I caption an emoji.

Sorry for all the questions, this is all pretty new to me! Feel free to just ignore me if it's too much.

Are you kidding? I love answering these kinds of questions!

Anyway, I think screen readers tend to differ a little in how they read emojis. As for all your concerns, they're valid! I've thought about that stuff myself. But there's never going to be a one-size-fits all, unfortunately, so it's possible some people might find it weird to hear "caret, caret, happy eyes emoticon." But I have a feeling that they'd be more happy that they didn't have to sit there and wonder what ""caret, caret" meant because you bothered to add a plain text version. I think as long as you provide the plain text version, you should go with whatever is most aesthetically pleasing to you!

Also, if it helps, with the exception of certain characters, it's kind of a toss up what a screen reader will and won't read. Sometimes a screen reader just won't read a symbol at all, even if it's something as common as the caret. It all depends on which one you use, and even the context it's in sometimes. Actually, if you want to hear an only semi-related tangent, I have a whole post where I gush about some of the intricacies of how screen readers read things.

Oh, and you didn't ask about this, but make sure to avoid those fancy letters too, because even if someone's screen reader can read them, they sound kind of weird.

[stardewjournal]

In a world with monsters, witches, and wizards, where are the fantasy creatures? Add some fantasy elements to your Pelican Town.

It all started when I decided to make a fairy Emily, followed by Haley and Abigail. Instead of having a bunch of smaller mods, they are all now bundled into one experience. I’m doing this in my free time as I get ideas, so the progress is slow but feel free to follow the progress here and give suggestions at Nexus or via ask!

 Second release. Adds Sebastian, Sandy, Jas and Marnie. I also added an Alternative Texture file for the kelpie form of Sebastian.

Fairy (fae) : free-spirited and lively, fairies are known for their mysterious ways and to be in touch with nature. The two sisters came from the big city to get in touch with their origins, both with very different personalities.

Harpy : they might have a little of a bad reputation, but harpies can also be honorable guardians. Spirits of the wind and the rainbows, they are said to have a fragrant aroma.

Spider-folk : also known as jorōgumo, the stories of them killing men are greatly exaggerated. Abigail has a bad time with her fear of spiders, tho.

Alraune : they say that alraunes are born from the blood spilled at rose bushes, so maybe that’s why Leah is a vegetarian. In any case, she is in tune with the trees and the forest around her.

Kelpie : water creatures from the Celtic tales, often seen by the river. They can be elusive and rather mysterious. Still, they can be more loyal than they are willing to admit.

Naga : inhabitants of warmer climates, they have the reputation of being seductresses. Or maybe it is just a playful misunderstanding? Either way, it might be good for business.

Sheep-folk : Laid-back and welcoming, their horns start developing at a very early age but they are great for ribbons

I’m still deciding the species for the bachelors and the other villagers, suggestions are welcome! All the bachelorettes have unique wedding dresses, so the guys will have it too. Right now I’m unsure if I should have Maru to be another fantasy race or leave her as human, so ideas are definitively welcome.

Requirements:

SMAPI

Content Patcher

Content Patcher version: Place it in your Stardew Valley/mods/ folder and you are good to go

Alternate Textures Kelpie Add-On: Place it in your Stardew Valley/mods/ folder In the game, get the scissors from Robin's shop and use it on a horse to change its skin

> Download from Nexus > Download from Stardew Valley Forums

For screenshots and wip, check out my tag.

[troublcmakcrs]

{ ⊾ } —- favorite rp memory? / { ⋎ } —- favorite thing about the rp community? ( forces you to be nice because its funny ) / { ⊿ } this was talk about your favorite character but amma add spice : talk about your favorite sim character <3

wahhh, i had to leave the mysims rpc after a huge stupid drama blew it up (part of my decision to leave was due to me being busy with school anyway, plus it was just boring to continue in that fandom when half of my rp partners (2 people) suddenly blocked me) but my time in that fandom will always hold a very special place in my heart. it was the first tumblr rpc that i really got into, and it was back in the days of people actually interacting and sending out random asks and tagging their mutuals in random starters. even with only 5 people, a pet rock, and a shoelace in the fandom, the dash felt so vibrant and alive.

i had one ship that i really loved, travis & crystal, wherein i wrote crystal and my friend (at the time) joey wrote travis. they were high school sweethearts, the dumb blond jock boy & the bitchy sassy goth girl riddled with teen angst. and they were sooo cute 💕 i struggle to listen to songs about summer love without going back to them

i do wanna bring my mysims muses back someday, but i'm worried i'll never be able to recapture the magic that was The Thems, i'm sooo :(

     *     *     *

fuck you

my favorite thing about the rpc community is... honestly... just existing as a community. i love seeing everybody's writing and posts on my dash and being able to get inspired by those! while i write entirely for myself (and you should, too!) i find that my writing is better when i'm faced with other writing. there's just something about getting a really good reply from your partner, like when eli hit me with the line "an ouroboros of narcissism" or something like that, that gets me.

you know when you read something so good that your fingers get twitchy and you feel compelled to put them on the keys yourself? i live for that feeling, and it's something i don't get as easily in the fanfiction community. but in the rpc, that feedback loop is pretty much constant

     *     *     *

AGH... how could you make me pick a favorite sim?? :( all of the residents of sunset valley (not you, thornton wolff) have me in a fucking vice. (i'm jk, even thornton gets me, but goddamn he is terrible, but that's what's fun about him. pretty much every time i play with thornton, i make him the biggest bitch imaginable)

but ig... my favorite sim out of all of them is probably mortimer goth. he's definitely gotten the most playtime out of all of the sunset valley townies. i love going against established canon and making him marry the ghost, lolita goth, in his backyard instead of bella bachelor like he's ~supposed~ to or whatever. sb pointed out that that was very twilight-ish, and i'm like. fuck it, idc, maybe twilight has a point. it is kinda freaky, but i think it's cute. weird but cute. let me live, goddamn!!

a very close second is agnes crumplebottom, mortimer's aunt. without player intervention, she will pretty much always die loveless and alone, despite having the "hopeless romantic" trait, and that breaks my heart :( so i intervene as often as i can bc i can't stand to see her die lonely :((

she's a recurring character from... i believe the very first sims game, although she didn't come in until one of the expansion packs. and she made her debut as a crotchety old woman who beat happy lovers who committed pda in front of her with her purse, which ok.......... queen...

but also with sims 3 giving us the backstory that her fiance died right before their HONEYMOON and the implication that she's only bitter about happy couples bc she feels she lost her chance at love... she got me like :(((

(also i just looked it up and i was right. agnes was first introduced in the expansion pack for the sims, "hot date." mortimer has also been in all 4 sims games released so far, in the very base versions of all.)

[faintlyof]

wow, i really really hate the new post editor

when i make an image post, that bar thing that says drag you photo or url here just stay open up there after you’ve already added photos??? and i have the option to close it? so i get to manually close it every single time just so i can see how my post is going to look??

and when adding tags, you can’t just click anywhere in the tag field, you have to click the teeny tiny little plus sign? boo, major downgrade

also its HELLA ugly and clunky looking. like look at all these big dumbass grey bubbles taking up WAY too much screen real estate??? wtf

like i cant even see the post buttons with just a single not large image (its 303px tall) in it???

same tags for reference:

clean, easy to understand its not part of the post, not freaking ugly?

like yeah, the font size could be a smidge bigger, but the grey bubbles?? *barf emoji* its ugly and intrusive and i can’t even customize it to be like baby pink or something? smh

also, again, the stupid teeny tiny plus sign??? versus being able to click literally anywhere in the tag area??? i aint got time to be lining up my mouse to hit that stupidly small target every time i decide i want to add tags to a post???

like if its supposed to be more accessible on mobile...1) tapping anywhere in the tags section would be infinitely easier on mobile also i think? but maybe people were accidentally hitting the tags section like while scrolling so they made it harder to hit on purpose? but if thats the case, 2) theres a tumblr app?? i dont think the browser version needs to have all the, uhhh, “upgrades” the app should be getting? but then again, i guess the app must still be broken so instead of fixing/adjusting it to be mobile friendly they’ll juse make everything mobile friendly? and less pc friendly? like damn i would hate hate hate hate hate to be using tumblr on anything bigger than my small laptop screen.

and last also, why is the dumb new post editor only on every post type except text? not that i want it here too, but like???

OH WAIT no this is the last also!

the new editor doesn’t give the option for blockquotes? blockquotes are literally one of my favorite formatting tools (blockquote + italics, it gets me every time)

OH WAIT NO i thought of another, in the new editor, the formatting popup is no longer (roughly) centered over the mouse??? like that was so convenient??? much less distance to travel than the new one which pops up starting on the mouses’ right side??? you wanna add a link, go all the fucking way over there! D<

ugh i hate unnecessary design choices. like im sure theyre beneficial to some people and im happy for you. but this site has just gotten 15% worse for me to use and it was already a bit of a struggle. :/

[bakuliwrites]

Moonlight- Julian x Bakuli x Lucio

Rating: M (MINORS DNI)

Tags (for this excerpt): Slightly suggestive, alcohol

Pairing: Julian Devorak x Lucio Morgasson x Bakuli Björnsdottir

Summary: Julian and Bakuli join Lucio and Nadia on the palace veranda for drinks. Lucio is unsure of how to feel about the doctor's apprentice, vacillating between intrigue and jealousy.

So, I'm editing a version of End Up Here to feature my fan apprentice, Bakuli. I'm not sure that I'll ever release the full thing, but for fun, I might post some of it on Tumblr from time-to-time. So here's a bit of it from the segment Moonlight in Chapter 7. I am having fun editing this version and getting to add a lot of personalization to the role of the Apprentice.

Lucio swirls his crystal snifter, watching the earthy-colored cognac churn gently around the glass before settling as he brings it to his lips. The brandy is sweet, gliding smoothly over his tongue, warmth blooming through his chest as it travels down his throat. His keen eyes watch as Julian and Bakuli both sample the finest beverage he owns.

“Count Spada left me crates and crates of this stuff,” Lucio brags, “I only bring it out for my favorite guests.” 

Julian makes a satisfied hum as he takes his first sip. When he draws the glass away, small, glimmering beads of the mahogany liquid dot his lips. Lucio watches as Julian’s tongue softly passes over them, lapping up the lingering droplets of cognac left behind from his initial sip. As a smile brightens the doctor’s face, Lucio feels his own heart fluttering. He’s not sure if it’s all the wine he’s had (and now cognac) or something else. Either way, he can’t help the heat that creeps slowly to his cheeks. The Count takes this moment to drape his arm along the seatback, close but not too close to Julian. Bakuli sits to the doctor’s other side, pressed near, searching eyes fixated on Lucio’s form. 

“So, what’s new in the life of Julian Devorak?” Lucio begins, waggling his eyebrows at the man, “You finally get to go on all those adventures I inspired you to go on?”

Julian chuckles, “Well- yes, actually.” He looks proudly over to the Count, eyes lighting with joy, clearly itching to share his stories. Just like Montag shared his stories with him.

“Whaddya say, Miss. Bakuli?” Lucio goes on, eyes dragging over Julian’s companion, delighting in the way she blushes as his gaze sweeps to her, “Should Julesy tell us all about his adventures?”

She grins sheepishly at the Count before turning to Julian and excitedly begging him to share his tales. She calls him, “Ilya,” Lucio notes. A bit too cozy for Lucio’s liking. The ugly feeling of envy constricts his heart, until Julian starts talking again and its grip slackens so it can slither back into its cave.

“Alright, alright,” Julian acquiesces, though he doesn’t seem to need all that much encouragement. He launches into the full account of where he went after he and Montag parted. Apparently, Julian has done quite a bit of traveling around the continent, assisting in medical tents during all kinds of battles. He’s gained a great deal of experience since that fateful encounter outside Vesuvia. And has gotten into more than a bit of trouble. Pirate ships, brigands, highwaymen, bar fights, you name it. He even has some strange story about a run-in with some Crabmen on a remote island off the coast.

“Ilya, you’re just making things up now,” Bakuli exclaims with an exasperated eye roll.

“No! I swear it happened! Lucio, you said you’ve seen the Crabmen. Back me up!” Julian chortles. 

“Oh, yeah. They’re everywhere,” Lucio adds with a mischievous wink at Bakuli, who merely dissolves into giggles and returns to diligently sipping at her drink. Lucio finds he can’t settle on how he feels about her. One minute, she’s laughing at one of his jokes, the next she’s got her hand on Julian’s thigh and it’s driving Lucio nuts. Part of him wonders if he’s jealous of Bakuli, or maybe he’s jealous of Julian. Or maybe he’s jealous of both of them.

Gah! he exclaims to himself, This is too confusing.

Putting this thought aside for a moment, Lucio is delighted to hear Julian’s tales, mainly because all of them seem to have been inspired by him. Julian lists all the places he’s been, each destination somewhere Lucio had told him all about when they were alone in the medical tent together. The trajectory of Julian’s travels seems to follow the path Lucio took, back in the day, before he was Count. While most of the doctor’s travels were medical visits in nature, he still had plenty of time to do some sightseeing and get up to all sorts of nonsense.

“Glad I could inspire you to go to all those places,” Lucio praises, pouring himself another glass of cognac, “I mean, who wouldn’t be inspired?”

While he’s excited to be with his old friend again, he feels horribly on edge, antsy. His heart pounds against his ribcage, seems to vibrate the cloth of his blazer. He wonders if Julian can see it, thrumming wildly, threatening to beat straight out of him. 

Cognac, he thinks, Cognac will fix that. Loosen me up. Don’t know why I’m so nervous. No, not nervous. Counts don’t get nervous. Warriors don’t get nervous. 

Lucio listens and absorbs as much as he can. His attention span for other people talking is limited. But he picks up a few other random things; like, Julian said something about not having time to play the vielle anymore. He came to Vesuvia because he’s following the plague (a topic of discussion Lucio hopes to avoid entirely for the remainder of the night). And he and Bakuli have been together for a few months now.

Together? Like together, together? that damned, meek voice whimpers in Lucio’s head.

Just because he said, “together,” doesn’t mean we can’t all have fun together, another voice speaks confidently, Just like Noddy and I. 

As if on cue, the door to the veranda swings open and out comes Nadia and Lady Delphine. Their gowns sweep languidly behind them as they glide across the patio to join the other three. With the presence of the Countess and her companion, Julian’s storytelling becomes even more animated. He even acts out a few duels he had with some swashbuckling pirates on the high seas. 

Maybe later, we can have a duel of our own. Pick up where we left off, all those years ago, Lucio contemplates to himself, watching as Julian flits around the veranda. He’s reminded of the day Julian surprised him with his unexpected mastery of the sword. But it’s not the actual fight that sticks in Lucio’s memory. It’s the aftermath of it. Julian’s back pressed against Montag’s chest, his amber scent filling the mercenary’s nose, pleasant and calming. Julian’s narrow hip in his hand, thrusting it back, hearing the soft grunt the doctor’s attendant makes. Lucio’s gaze trails back to Bakuli, whose smile is as bright as the moon above. She looks at Julian adoringly, like Julian used to look at Lucio. The Count wonders if she’ll ever look at him like that.

What a ridiculous thought, Lucio scolds himself, turning back to his drink, Why would she? And why would I even want that? 

But his grousing doesn’t last for long. Julian has always had this special ability: to bring joy out in everyone. His charisma and charm have a way of cheering up even the grouchiest of individuals. Lucio likes to think he has that ability, too, and that’s why he’s drawn to Julian. And Julian to him. Even Nadia and Lady Delphine seem to be having a great time. The night air is filled with merriment, gentle laughter and chatter floating through the breeze, carried into the heavens like a quiet blessing. 

“Wow, you really did get up to trouble without me!” Lucio exclaims when it seems Julian’s tale is coming to a close, “Imagine what we’d have gotten into if we’d traveled together.” 

Lucio winks at Bakuli once again, who shifts shyly in her seat and snuggles close to Julian after he reclaims his spot on the sofa. Silence. For once in his life, Lucio feels like sitting and observing. He wants to drink Julian’s form in, see what he hasn’t seen for ten years. He worries, and he hates that he worries. But an overpowering need to break the uncomfortable silence wells up in him. Rarely is he lost for words. But there’s something about Julian, something about Bakuli that numbs his tongue.

If I say the wrong thing. If I make the wrong move. Just like everyone else, he’ll leave me. And then I’ll be alone. Just like always, that accursed worry whispers, Just like everyone has, all these years. And I don’t even know this Bakuli, but I know she’ll leave me, too. If I say the wrong thing. Don’t fuck this up. Just this once, don’t fuck this up.  

“Doctor Devorak,” Nadia addresses in her smooth voice, “I hear you and my husband are old friends?”

Thank the Gods, Noddy, Lucio sighs in relief, passing her a glance he hopes she interprets as grateful. She graces him with a subtle, knowing look. She seems to know something he doesn’t. See something he’s unaware of. Noddy always knows. Noddy knows better than he does. Noddy’s good at reading him. Noddy’s good at everything she does.

And I’m good at nothing, worry snivels.

Shut up. Shut up, shut up, shut up. 

Rotten carpaccio. Rotten brat. Sick with you for nine months. 

“I was, indeed, the one to hack your husband’s arm off,” he distantly hears Julian proclaim, drawing his attention back to the conversation. Lucio absentmindedly reaches for Julian’s empty cognac glass, fills it, and gestures for Bakuli to hand him hers. As their eyes meet, Lucio feels a sudden and intense wave of jealousy once again. Like he can see the life he’s wanted dancing in her eyes, the life that is supposed to be his: Julian at his side. Not hers. Like she’s mocking him with her proximity to Julian.

And then he sees something soft in her gaze. A life yet to come. One with room for all three of them. One where Bakuli and Julian can stand at Count Lucio’s side, a united triumvirate leading Vesuvia to greatness. The Count, the Doctor, and the Magician.

Maybe they’d have room for me in their life, meekness whimpers, interrupting his glorious daydream, Maybe they’d have space in their life for me.

Pathetic. As if you’re some sort of stray dog they’d bring in off the streets, he scolds himself, anger roiling in his core.

“And what about you, Miss. Bakuli?” Lucio blurts as he hands back a full glass of cognac to her, surprising even himself with the question. His tone is blunt, blunter than he meant it to be, and he can feel how piercing his own gaze is. However, Bakuli remains resolute, poised, and ready for whatever comes next.

“You’ve been awfully quiet. How do you know Jules?” Lucio questions, giving way to petty jealousy. He heard it from Julian once this night. For some reason, he feels like he needs to hear the story from her mouth, too. As if somehow, that would give him a complete understanding of their relationship. His gaze flicks to where Bakuli has her hand resting on Julian’s thigh. She smiles amiably at the Count, clearly untroubled by Lucio’s question, and seemingly the least bit intimidated.

“We met when Ilya moved to Vesuvia,” she answers diplomatically, “We were in line at a market stall.” Her wistful smile afterwards is enough to tell Lucio that their relationship is more than just a physical one. It both incenses and excites him. Lucio isn’t sure whether to be terribly hurt or curiously intrigued. Either way, he doesn’t have a chance to respond to her comment.

“I’ve heard a lot of wonderful things about you,” Bakuli goes on, turning her tenderness towards the Count, welcoming him softly into her heart. A white flag. A surrender, of sorts. A comment as if to say, I am not your enemy.

“I’m excited that I’ve gotten the opportunity to meet someone that means so much to Ilya,” she finishes, a pleasant smile that extends all the way up to her hazel eyes. Lucio doesn’t remember the last time anyone looked at him that way: with a gentle compassion that leaves no room for animosity. He can’t be upset with her, a feeling that is almost unfamiliar to him. This entire evening, Bakuli has neither insulted nor demeaned him. She’s politely listened to his stories, asked questions when she’s needed clarification, and overall been the perfect guest. Neither she nor Julian have deigned to whisper foul things behind his back. Otherwise, Lucio surely would have heard, given that they’ve been right by his side this whole evening. Just like Julian, there is no pity in Miss. Bakuli’s gaze. Only a shimmering inquisitiveness and quiet benevolence.

So, Count Lucio of Vesuvia decides that perhaps he can grow to like this magician, even if he is a bit jealous.

“Jules is also the one that gave me my name,” Lucio blurts in an attempt to dispel the odd tension. His mouth forms the words before his brain can stop him. Other people weren’t supposed to know that. That was something Lucio wanted credit for. The genius of it. Lucio meaning, “light,” and all. He’s the Light of Vesuvia, clever for coming up with that. But some piece of Lucio couldn’t help announcing this to this tiny, intimate group. Perhaps it’s Julian’s sudden reappearance in his life making him nostalgic. Or Bakuli’s silent thoughtfulness that makes him want to open up, for some gods forsaken reason.

“He is?!” Bakuli beams, eyes lighting with surprise as she perks up in her seat, “You never told me that!” 

Lucio forgets all about his worry when Julian turns a bright crimson, drawing a devilish grin from the Count.

“He sure as hell is!” Lucio teases, delighted by Bakuli’s enthusiasm and Julian’s sheepishness, “Aww, look at him blush! Still the same modest mess you’ve always been, Jules.” 

“Oh, goodness. Tell me about it! He can hardly take a compliment without turning at least twenty different shades of red,” Bakuli twitters teasingly. That’s the most she’s said all night and Lucio is ecstatic.

“Look at him, he’s blushing even more!” Lucio cackles as Julian buries his nose in his glass and pretends not to hear his companions. 

“You should see him when he gets praised for something,” Bakuli goes on, leaning ever so slightly across Julian so she can speak to Lucio more directly.

“Darling!” Julian exclaims, clearly mortified. 

“I bet he’s a disaster!” Lucio guffaws, “You should’ve seen him back in the day. Every time I’d tell him he was doing a good job with my arm, he’d start sputtering!” 

Oh, I like this magician, he realizes, listening to her laughter as he tells her about how flustered Julian used to get. He likes how sassy she is, the glint of mischief in her eyes. She seems to like him, too. Just moments ago, Lucio had been conflicted about her, unsure if he should be wary, jealous, or try to get to know Bakuli. He’s still not quite settled on how he feels about her, but their shared teasing of Julian aids in making Lucio feel less threatened. She has plenty of hysterical stories to share about the doctor (to which Julian laughs, flustered, blushing a thousand shades of red, as predicted). Lucio has plenty of his own to tell. Soon, the night is just one big contest to see who can make Julian blush the most. Lucio feels he’s won, but Bakuli certainly puts in a good effort.

[spicyveggiesub]

Revue Starlight The Movie Veggie Sub V2/WIDESCREEN

Hello! I subbed the Revue Starlight movie back in December (the one that has color coded dialogue) - this is my first post because I was too much of a coward to make an account anywhere then.

To put it simply, I was not satisfied with my original work, which had mistakes from mishearing and also just misinterpreting things. It was rushed for various reasons, and I really regret not being more patient with it. I don’t think the mistranslations impact any plot points of the movie, it’s really more in the specifics, but I misrepresented some things I consider to be important, and for that I am truly very sorry.

After not touching it for 2 months and then working on it in all of my spare time for the past month, I finally!!!! finished the revised version and a widescreen version, since I had originally done it letterboxed. I think the widescreen version is actually more readable, so that’s one more thing to bonk my past self on the head for, but the letterboxed version has its merits too. They can be found on nyaa and anidex like before, and to make sure this appears in the tag, I’ll add links in a reblog!

Now I’m going to ramble a lot about the fixes I made and translation decisions and other things under the cut... it’s going to read like half a callout for myself and half a defense, and half just fun rambling about translation (yes that’s 3 halves) so do with that what you will...!

This is going to be unnecessarily long - so long, in fact, that I am going to divide it into parts. You may be thinking "I don't wanna read all that" so a tldr for you if you are: 

1. major changes: 

revue of malice -> revue of resentment, fixed lines in futakao conversation towards the end of the revue

a line the giraffe says that is directed to the audience but I misinterpreted

Nana’s line about feeling drunk: sake -> alcohol (this was just stupid of me)

revue of souls -> revue of the soul (yes the the is ugly but necessary)

2. minor changes: really nitpicky stuff and obsessing too much over timing, typesetting

3. this took so long because I actually just fully stopped working on it for 2 months, I had like 0 time due to work and had no motivation, i overshare about the process

okay, time for the longer explanation!!! you don’t have to read this but if you want to witness someone be a little insane then have fun (also, warning for spoilers)!! we’re dropping capitalization now! i know nobody asked for this, but i have to talk a lot about this bc i haven't, really, to anyone. and i think it's kind of fun

first off i want to say... i’m not a professional translator (as of right now at least, who knows  this might change in the future, though maybe not for japanese) i’ve never taken translation courses and i’ve only taken like one creative writing course in my life. but i really enjoy linguistics and translating and am always, but especially after subbing this movie, trying to improve myself. generally my principle for translating things is that. Words are just words. personally i think that as long as something makes an equal amount of sense in the target language then all of the information in the source language should be retained as much as possible. of course, with english and japanese being so different, it’s difficult to stick to this. anyway i’m already going off topic, mainly i wanted to say my goal is always to present what MY understanding of the source is in a way that i feel is accurate to the source and would 1. convey the same meaning to an english speaker 2. read well to me as a person who can (to an extent) understand japanese. now let’s get into how i failed here.

PART 1: major changes / decisions

when the giraffe speaks to the audience, saying "it's because of all of you", i misinterpreted it as being about karehika and put "it's because of you two" even though that's not what he said.

this is the WORST mistranslation imo and i lost my shit when i realized, but at least the message isn't entirely lost because right before that he talks about how it's the stage the selfish and greedy audience longs for. i have no idea how tf i ignored that previous line and thought it was about karehika.

i decided to change the title of the futakao revue to "Revue of Resentment".

the original title, "Revue of Malice", i honestly took from the wiki without thinking too hard about the translation of the name that someone else had done, which was stupid of me. I also forgot to translate wagamama highway as selfish highway and just left it as wagamama highway in the subs, so you see. 

怨み (urami) generally means "grudge, resentment" in the same way that the more common form for urami, 恨み does, only it's a stronger, more hateful emotion, and not commonly used. it's usually used for a very deep-seated, strong grudge/resentment, or for things that are supernatural, ie. the grudge of a soul.

either way, "malice" doesn't really represent the meaning properly imo, because while resentment is about bearing ill will/bearing malice towards someone, the word by itself doesn't cover the meaning of resentment, at least to me. but i'll admit that it sounds a lot cooler, and i don't think it's too far off, so i think it's fine if people keep referring to the revue as revue of malice. if you take the midpoint between malice and resentment then that's what my understanding of 怨み is.

i also thought about changing it to revue of grudges, but to me that sort of implies actual tangible, countable grudges, which isn't necessarily wrong, but considering the kanji selection it has the vibe of the actual feeling/act of holding a grudge, which in english is only resentment. so that's what i settled on.

i probably won't change what's on the wiki until the official translation for it comes out on starira, and no matter what starira says this is my final decision for my subs. 

I changed the final lines to the final line. 

i had originally called the karehika revue "the final lines" and made karen say "i have to say them. the final lines", when there was no need to make it plural and makes less sense to make it plural, because the final line is, one final line. i can't say why this happened other than i apparently was not thinking hard enough about it until one day i was

originally what i put for A Beautiful Person, Or Perhaps It Is was "A Beautiful Person, Or Somebody Like That".

i had also taken this from the wiki and thought it was a reasonable interpretation because i didn't know the backstory of how it was genuinely supposed to be cut off at the end (A Beautiful Person, Or Perhaps It Is [A Love Song]). that was my fault for not doing enough research and not looking in the right places to find this out before finishing it, and also a lesson that sometimes trying to extrapolate things from vague grammar is not a good idea

in the scene with the vegetable giraffe, right after junna says "putting an end... to what?", maya says "greedily, ferociously, in order to continue standing on stage, we will go to the next stage."

here i originally made a dumb mistake and thought that when she said 貪欲に、獰猛に it was an extension of junna's line instead of an adverb - like what are we putting an end to (何に？) to greed (貪欲に), to brutality (獰猛に). 🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦 

this isn't a mistake but since i am explaining my choices i feel i have to mention - the なんだか強いお酒を飲んだみたい。line (Somehow it feels like... I just drank some strong alcohol.). actually i did make a mistake here and it was calling "sake" "sake" instead of just alcohol, which was really just me being careless. 

besides that, there's an issue with this line in that it lacks a subject/identifier. it could be that nana's the one feeling drunk, or that the rest of them seem drunk to her, but there's no way to eliminate a subject in english and have it make sense (Somehow, it feels like strong alcohol was just drunk. <-- ??????? what?? people don't talk like this)

the first time i even heard of this line b4 the bluray was out it appeared to me that it was about nana, and every time i went down a twitter search rabbithole while working on both the original and the revision, it appeared that jp fans took it the same way - i wanted to link this fanart i saw where futaba is drinking w/ nana and makes fun of her for it but i lost it..

i think the whole brushing hair back thing she does it seems to imply it's intended to be more about her, but really it can have a double meaning (i found one or two jp fans talking about this, that at first it seems to be about nana but could also be about the rest of them).

since it the general consensus is that it’s about nana, i stuck with "I".

i also considered removing the “just” because it’s technically not in the original line but it sounds a lot more awkward without it, and adding it doesn’t change the meaning of the line at all in context (like she’s not saying someone drank alcohol before they got on the train or something lmao so)

speaking of this scene, here is a fun jp blog post analyzing it which is pretty parseable even just w/ google translate (it’s less about the actual line, but their theory for the line is that nana was very stimulated from the fight = feels like she had a strong drink): https://note. com/suzumya/n/n7ee2160d039c

revue of resentment:

didn’t you say we were cutting ties? when futaba catches kaoruko after her truck flies off.. originally i just had “did we cut ties?” umm this was just me being dumb. anyway funny line because kaoruko was the one who said they were cutting ties in the first place and then she turns around and asks this to futaba LMAO

towards the end when futaba is saying “this time, it’s my turn to say something selfish. it’s my turn to-” and then kaoruko says “it’s my turn to make you wait”? she’s imitating futaba/predicting what she’s going to say. i.... again, was careless and did not realize this and just had “it’s time for me to wait” (you’d think it’d be easy to catch because she said “atashi” and not “uchi” but well. I was not thinking clearly..)

after she says this, she says “i know that much, okay” basically saying she knows that that has to happen/that futaba was going to say that, but this was one that i misheard and i thought she said わっかてませんや when she said わかってますんや and i put “i dunno about that” which is basically the opposite meaning.. lol

the final line of this revue, i originally had as “guess i can’t win against the selfishness of a kid”. I changed this to “i just can’t win against the selfishness of a kid”. i can see where my past self was coming from with the “guess” to represent the わ but it makes it feel too.. speculative and like she didn’t know? which isn’t really right. I just can’t better portrays the sort of helplessness of it while still being like she’s stating a known fact, i think

this is kind of just a discussion, but i’ve been thinking about how “revue of souls” isn’t entirely accurate to 魂のレヴュー because it’s, a revue of a singular soul. but “revue of soul” doesn’t feel right to me, because... i dunno there’s some sort of rule to these revue of ___ things to me where it’s like the thing has to be a noun that’s either uncountable or plural if it’s countable. to say revue of soul makes me think that it’s like . revue of who is the most soulful or revue of soul music LMFAO so... i think it’s actually just a rule for using (something) of (something), maybe. like... tree of noodles vs tree of noodle. wow every day sentences that have never been spoken before are created

i think it’s more accurate to say “the soul” in this case, actually... but i don’t like putting the in a revue title....... but i think i will change it actually. you’re watching me make this decision live as i write this blog post lmao okay so i changed it to Revue of the Soul. maybe ateam were onto something with putting the Thing first actually. (just kidding i really don’t like that anyway moving on)

other stupid things that i almost forgot to mention in this post bc i changed them so long ago, but they’re in the first version: i wrote “kuro” instead of “clau” for .. some reason, and i wrote “bakkaren” instead of “karenitwit” and i spent some time thinking about alternate ways to localize this but karenitwit ended up being the best option.

PART 2: minor changes (summary, some specific lines i thought were notable, etc)

the minor things were really more minor, enough that i can't actually list everything that i changed. some examples off the top of my head:

i misheard "jesters" as "idiots" in the distant el dorado lines that hikari recited in english. or rather, i couldn't make it out, and i did a twitter search and found jp fans saying it was idiots and went "i guess that makes sense, idiot can kinda mean the same thing as clown", but then later when i looked at the chinese subs they had put "jesters" and i felt like the biggest idiot in the world

i said "stage prop" for 舞台装置, the fake blood in the revue of annihilation, but it really shouldn't have been prop. i changed it to equipment, then waffled on it and changed it to set, then my theater kid friend who speaks jp proofread for me and told me to change it to equipment

when kaoruko tastes the fake blood, she says "it's sweet." i put "it's tasty" - i think i might have thought she said うまい not 甘い and not challenged it

at the seisho fest one of the students talked about making a new cyc (short for cyclorama but nobody calls them that apparently) and i didn't get that

thanks to my theater kid friend i realized i misrepresented the text that hikari gets from the giraffe, where i originally said “the house is already open for entry”. the original here is 小屋入りはもうはじまっています. apparently when i searched 小屋入り the first time i somehow misunderstood what i was reading and i thought it was about the audience entering the theatre, and i went with “the house is open for entry” because i thought hey, the audience section of a theater is called the house so that works out well. but it’s actually basically tech week, where “entering the hut” means to move into and start doing things in the theatre ahead of the first performance. what i ended up going with was “the dry tech is already underway”, which imo is the same amount of jargon-y ambiguity as the original and pretty much the same meaning. Thank you again to my friend

when nana talks to masai + amemiya in the bg of her career interview i misheard what they were saying LOL originally i put that amemiya wasn’t going to hand over the script but she was saying that she WOULD. this + the kaoruko line both being me mishearing something as the negative.. is funny to me.

not a mistake but a defense: in mahiru’s revue intro the first thing she says is 宣誓 which is most commonly translated as I swear/vow/oath but I wanted to stick to the olympic theme and in the olympic oath in english the word “promise” is used, so that’s why i used promise. however, in the original i translated 輝け、私 as “I will shine” but i changed it to "shine, me” because it just doesn’t fully capture the meaning the first way..,, speaking of revue intros i also fixed a small thing each in hikari’s and junna’s but its nbd i think.

when mayakuro are playing shogi at the beginning, maya’s chick gets captured by claudine and it shows that claudine still has 2 chicks on the board, and when claudine calls her weak(/basically saying she sucks at it) maya was like “your chicks look too pitiful for me to...(take them)”. i am very embarrassed to say this took me too long to understand and at first I thought it meant maya’s chick got taken by claudine and then she was saying her chick looked pitiful on claudine’s side...

AIJO KAWAN!!!!!!! again something i didn’t know mostly because i was not paying close enough attention, i only knew of this after i checked the korean subtitles. baby karen wrote her name wrong on her cubby she wrote かわん instead of かれん :’’’)))

changed “pep rally” to “kick-off party”

stuff like this. aside from that, i reworded some more awkward sounding sentences, fixed capitalization (why did i think capitalizing the beginning of every line was a good idea?) doubly made sure all information was kept in the translation, etc.

i added some more onscreen text translation and some more bg conversation lines thanks to the korean subs catching things i couldn’t, and made a few really small changes to the lyrics that i don’t think are worth listing out here

i added watashitachi wa mou butai no ue lyrics to the credits - this is my own translation and i purposefully did it without looking at the one on the wiki by lunaamatista, but they kind of ended up pretty similar, so i thought i should mention that it was not my intention to just steal/reword that translation or anything. the one on the wiki is great and you should go listen to the song and read it there and appreciate all the work luna has done!!!!!

if there are any more mistakes (which i sure hope there aren't bc i have watched this movie so many times now and cross referenced the chinese and korean subs, though the chinese one i looked at had some mistranslations as well imo) i can change them in the sub files, but i won’t be making a new release again.. if you see something you think is worded awkwardly, just know that i probably agonized over it for too long and decided i wanted to word it that way (ie., saying you who ___) also i Know i use too many em dashes and ellipses i’m sorry for that... i think they’re fun

UPDATE thank you @flibbityflob​ for telling me i messed up the very final on screen text caption because i misread 本日 as 日本 like 100 times in a row apparently . I um. reposted the torrents because it’s been less than 12 hours so. woohoo

also one last thing I guess i can call this a decision i made but mostly i think it’s fun trivia - for karen’s middle school play, i wrote her character’s name as “sara” (it is seira in romaji). the reason i did this is because i found some jp fans talking about how hikari playing “lavinia” when she was 5 and karen playing “sara” in middle school is possibly related and a reference to princess sara, though the spelling is SLIGHTLY diff (セイラ vs セーラ)

PART 3: putting the worst and most annoying last, i apologize and defend myself at the same time. disclaimer: might sound kind of negative as i complain about tiring myself out and stuff, but overall i have SO MUCH fun doing this ok i want to make that clear

first of all: i am truly very sorry. maybe to some (most) people this isn’t a big deal but. i’ve spent most of the time working on this revision miming punching myself in the face every time i read over a translation that i changed, because i remember the original and want to die. but on the other hand, i don't think what’s in the first version is really /that/ bad. i think it's decent, passable i guess, and a lot of the things i changed were minor - the most important lines like the ones in the revues are relatively untouched, bc those are the ones i had already done enough agonizing over to be satisfied with what i had (except the futakao revue). but i am still very ashamed of myself and very sorry that i couldn't do a better job the first time. 

this took me (looks at calendar) three and a half months, because first i fixed a lot of the timing issues, which was very tedious and time consuming and mind numbing. then i ran out of motivation for a month and a half bc things got very busy at work and i was in a horrible place health wise and did not have the energy to work on it. and then it was mid March and i took a few weeks to review + fix things over and over bc i only have time to work on this on the weekends and a few hours on weekdays and even then it's hard to find the time and focus to watch a 2 hour movie while agonizing about the translation and timing and make changes... 

when i published the original, i was tired of working on it and too impatient and i couldn’t imagine working on it more because i knew things were going to get busier at work for me. every time i thought about the fact that people couldn’t watch and experience The Movie Ever with better understanding, i could not STAND the thought of just letting what i had done sit there on my computer for another week (let alone a whole month) while others couldn’t watch it... so i just released it... i am sorry if this reflects poorly on my character, but it is the truth. i regret not taking like, at least a few more days to proofread more, but at the time it really felt like the only thing i could do. 

i also want to say that it was never meant to be a response to the other subs - i was (and generally still am) so distant from most of the fandom that i didn’t even know there were other people subbing the movie. of course i knew that someone somewhere would probably be doing it, but i had no clue until after I posted my own that there were discord-only showings of the other subs or anything (the only reason i am not in the discord is bc i don’t enjoy large discord servers, and i don’t have any opinion on this). i’ll admit i still haven’t looked at the other subs because i didn’t want it to impact my own interpretation as i worked on the revision.

but also... i didn’t plan to sub the movie at all, actually: this is how it happened

i watch the movie on dec 21 (i’m in est so it was dec 21)

i absolutely lose my mind

i think o___o i................. could sub this because i already translated the song lyrics........ and revue intros................ and... isn’t that like... a lot of the movie.... so.......!!!

i spend the next 7 days in a hell of my own creation (barely sleeping and barely working which i could only do bc i work remotely and it was holiday season and all of my coworkers were away but i’m a lowly student coop who doesn’t get PTO)

why did i do this? who asked me to do this? i don’t know. myself i guess.

so it was kind of an impulsive decision made in a vacuum. i don’t want to regret it, it was fun and i learned a lot, but were the mistranslations worth it? i suppose that depends on how much you care about the specifics. i think overall it’s not a big deal but, well (gestures to this whole post).

when i was working on this v2, there were a lot of moments where i thought that i really shouldn't have subbed this in the first place. unfortunately, i am kind of a person who feels compulsed to do Things when i get too excited and that’s why this happened, and there is nothing i can do except move forward, fix things, and try to improve for the next time (yes there is a next time sorry! i'll be stuck here for the forseeable future). 

all that's to say if you want to hate me for this, or instead want to hate me for this stupidly longwinded!!! post that’s totally cool. next time, i will try very hard to put out better quality the first time around, and i ask for your understanding. thank you!

[shiftylinguini]

Ooooo. Can I try a prompt 'why is it so dark?' HP. Any pairing you desire, although I'm fond of Drarry, Jeddy and Perciver. No worries if this doesn't spark anything! Take care.

HI @skeptiquex I love this, thank youuuuu! Please enjoy this short Jeddy nonsense (that I am posting right now instead of leaving it in my drafts until I decide I hate it). Xxx

General premise: Teddy is a big deal, James is a fan. Having a crush is fucking exhausting. 

::::::::::

Whys it so dark 

James hits send and lies back on his bed, cool as a cucumber. Not really, he's trying not to hyperventilate, but hopefully his carefully curated lack of punctuation will make it seem like he's channeling cucumber. 

Teddy probably won't reply. He already has 6 million comments (roughly, James isn't counting) and he only posted the photo an hour ago. It's him, smiling over his dinner, being generally hot, ruining James's life (and several other people's too, judging by the level of thirst comments he's garnering. James lied, he is counting.) 

Teddy's always been hot. Even in his awkward, gangly teenage phase, he still had it going on as far as James was concerned. Maybe it's the age gap that meant that whatever stage James was going through, Teddy was going through the accompanying cool version of it. 

It was only when he got older that's he put together that thinking Teddy was perpetually cool, and great, and amazing, and fit, and smart―was called having a fucking crush on him. 

At eighteen, that was a devastating revelation, but now at twenty one it's just…exhausting. He just can't be normal around Teddy. Teddy says, "hey we hang out a bit now you're older, we drink, add me so I can tag you in my photos!" and James says yeah sure, like a dickhead, and now he's stuck here, a week later, leaving borderline rude comments on his God brother's stupidly popular post from his stupidly popular account in front of all his thousands of cool followers. 

He shouldn't have capitalised the w. If he was going for casual and devoid of punctuation and grammar, then he should have committed. Teddy's gonna see right through him. 

James is a dickhead. He needs to learn to be normal. Teddy is his friend, or something. Crushes burn out, right? 

James sighs and puts his feet up on his coffee table. It makes a worrying creak, but doesn't break, so that's a win. He Summons his wand from the back of the sofa (oops) and some crisps from the pantry (yayy) and wiggles his toes as he flicks the telly on. 

He can be normal. He can be chill. He's not gonna obsess over this. 

"Fuck!" His phone pings and James dives on it like the proverbial Potter on a Snitch. He's not chill, he never was, it was all a lie. 

He's got a comment reply from Teddy. And a pending heart attack. He shoves a cheese and onion crisp in his mouth, so he can at least have a delicious death. 

Ha ha its squid ink, idiot, Teddy's written, along with a string of emojis: a squid, the spaghetti, an octopus for some reason, and a laugh cry. And a heart. 

James files that last one away to obsess over later. 

One of James's best, and worst, qualities (depending who you ask, and what day of the week it is) is his impulsiveness. He's neurotic, but he's also got borderline 0 impulse control, and that's kicked into full gear when he replies: so it's meant to look like concrete? 

That might be funny. Is that funny? Whatever  the pasta does look road-adjacent. James soothes himself with more crisps. 

He's just considering that he might obsess over the heart emoji now, actually (he's finished half his bag of crisps, his schedule is free) when he gets a DM. 

Have you really never had squid ink pasta before??

James is frozen, sucking cheese and onion flavour remnants of his thumb. He's stuck like this forever. 

Nope, he replies with his non-chip hand. His phone vibrates on his thigh again just as James is extracting his thumb from his mouth and his head from his arse. 

It's good!! 

Prove it, James replies before he can stop himself, and then realises its both extremely flirtatious and kind of jerky. That's apparently his thing today. Fuck. 

Come with me next time and I'll buy it for you x 

"Oh no," James mumbles. He should have left his thumb in his mouth, or possibly shoved his whole hand in there, and his phone with it. He's fucked. 

That was a flirty reply. Was it? Yes. Probably. A kiss is flirty. But Teddy is Teddy and is just being nice, most likely, and broadening his baby Godbrother's food horizons via squid juice and flour. 

James replies, I'm free Friday and you're definitely paying x , chucks his phone on the floor and goes to stand outside and take a few (several) deep breaths. 

[sukirichi]

earned it [04]

Gojo Satoru is a firm believer that if you work hard for it then you shall earn it. But on the other side, he’s not unfamiliar with his own sins. He also believes that there is punishment due for his sins as he’s earned it.

cw. DARK CONTENT, graphic violence, mentions of blood, explicit murder, sexual violence, angst, tw dubcon, mentions of mass murder, death threats, cheating, implications of suicide, typical mafia business + very unedited (please PLEASE read at your own discretion! if you do not wish to proceed to read because of the aforementioned warnings but want to know what happened anyway, please drop into my asks and i’ll retell it in a much less graphic version!)

chapter song. never forget you (zara larsson, mnek)

series masterlist

Death.

The stench of it reeked everywhere. Blood pooled at the ends of your dress, the warm liquid dripping from your fingers. You couldn’t see what was in front of you, not when your vision had been obscured black, painted red with everyone’s lifeless eyes staring back emptily at you and carrying an ominous message behind words that never had the chance to be spoken.

Satoru was gone.

You ran through flights of stairs as you bunched your dress up, dried blood present on your cheek. The gray cemented walls of this unknown building began to close down on you, suffocating you, trapping you – and then there he was. Your lover, your world, your everything – he stood on top of a pile of bodies, his face as grim as the deaths he’s caused, but that wasn’t what stood out from the scene. It was the fact you couldn’t recognize him anymore; the man before you was nothing else but the devil incarnate himself. Then, just as you ran his way, fingers outstretched to grasp at his shirt, Satoru disappeared.

He was gone.

A scream ripped out your throat as you scrambled for the sheets, pulling them up in a haste to shield yourself. The images were now gone, but that fear kept drumming into you, gloops of blood making its way through your room’s white exterior.

It’s not real, it’s not real – Satoru’s arms snaked over to your side, his eyes droopy from being woken up. You would’ve apologized, knowing he never really got proper sleep, but you were already wrapping your arms around yourself, gaze repeatedly darting back to the walls – to check for bodies, for blood, for death, for him.

“Hey,” Satoru drew you close to him until your head fell on his chest. Out of instinct, you flattened your ear above where his heartbeat rested. Thump thump – he was real, he was safe, alive – he wouldn’t do that. Satoru wasn’t that kind of person. You clung to him like a koala and mumbled incoherently at the skin of his neck, clutching his shirt so tight it wrinkled horribly. Satoru merely littered kisses all over the crown of your head to soothe you, although he was not free to this fear you felt; he was just as nervous for an unknown reason. “Angel, what’s wrong?”

“You-you were leaving—”

“Shh, angel, I’m not, I’m here,” he wrapped you closer to his body, the sheets still warm and smelling like him as if to add reassurance to his words. “You’re alright. I’m here, angel, it’s okay.”

“I was going to die,” you quivered. It had only been a fleeting moment when you saw it, but you were there too. Dressed in white, arms covered in lace and a crown adorning your head; it seemed as if you were meant to be on top of the bodies, and Satoru sat upon it like a throne. It transitioned from being the witness to being the victim in a minute and your chest squeezed so hard you choked out, “I was dying, baby.”

“You’re not going to die. No one’s going to hurt you, you understand?” Satoru cupped your cheeks to force you to look him in the eye. “I’m going to keep you safe no matter what. Not leaving your side, angel, that’s a promise.”

“Don’t you dare.”

“I would never do that,” he nodded before he raised your pinky. Satoru looped both your fingers and kissed the conjoined form, not once leaving your gaze the whole time. “I promise,” he whispered, foreheads touching and breaths mingling. Like one soul intertwined, you once mused, feeling yourself get lost in the depth of azure pools he harboured. “There’s nowhere to go without you anyway; you’re the greatest gift in my life. I’d do anything for you.”

“Don’t leave me. Please.”

“I won’t, angel. I never will.”

And you believed that. Like the fool you were, you really believed that.

The bank loomed over you, its mere presence impending and bringing about a wave of discomfort to you. Awkwardly, you stepped inside, hiding your face in your hair to conceal the nausea threatening to urge you to throw up. You couldn’t help but survey the entire area out of instant wariness, holding tighter to your phone.

Seeing as there was no line, you sat on the nearest open window. “Hi, uhm…I recently got transferred this money from…an old friend, you could say,” you informed with furrowed brows, fishing your phone out of your pocket as you logged into your account. The whole time, your hands turned sweaty and the phone nearly slipped from your grasp out of anxiety. The woman assisting you flashed you a sympathetic smile, patient and kind enough to listen to your small voice through the glass. “I lost contact with them so I can’t return it. I was wondering if maybe you could help me rewind the transaction?”

“Oh, we can definitely do that Ma’am, may I see?” Nodding, you handed her your phone. In an instant, the polite smile fell from her lips, altering into a nervous one the next. “Oh…” she blinked back at the digits, clearly overwhelmed from the amount of zeroes. Dropping her voice, she leaned closer to you, “Do you…do you know the account owner personally?”

“Yes,” you admitted, “Well, I used to.”

“And they wired you all this?”

“About two weeks ago, yeah.”

The employee sat there for a full minute, possibly contemplating how to go about this. It didn’t set well with you – that mysterious, almost suspicious smile she had – that you debated whether just asking for your phone back. “Excuse me for a moment. I think I should take this to the higher-ups,” she announced while scanning the bank with narrowed eyes, leaving before you could have a say in it.

The next minutes that passed had never felt more gruelling.

You sat there with a frantic heart, your jeans damp from the countless times you’ve wiped your hand on it. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. People came in for their own agendas, the hushed ‘inside voice’ as faint as ever, then they left. Repeat. End of conversation.

It was just another normal, boring day for everyone else – but not for you.

“Miss?” a voice pulled you away from your thoughts. A half-bald man was now standing before you, the previous employee you’d been talking to right behind him, her head ducked down. Manager, his tag read, which made sense. He gestured for you to come inside the back parts of the bank, and you gripped your purse tighter as you followed them.

The inside wasn’t that special or different from the outside. There were lesser chairs but bigger, brighter white walls. His office was located right in the middle where the female employee closed the glass doors behind you, silent and timid as she prepared you tea. Meanwhile, you sat there with your hands wrung in your lap, stomach already falling from the grim expression he wore. “About the funds, I’m afraid we can’t do anything about this transaction. While it had been transferred you, neither us nor the bank has the authorization to do anything about this. Whoever sent it to you is the only one that can either take it back or liquidize it,” he pushed his glasses back to his face, an apologetic sigh leaving his lips. “I’m afraid we can’t help you with this, Miss, we’re really sorry—”

“No!” you slammed your palms on the desk, “No, I don’t want the money, wire it back to him!”

“Miss, we already told you, it’s out of control—”

You shook your head. This wasn’t real – Satoru had to be joking! He couldn’t just give you this and disappear into thin air! In fact, you never even cared for the money; you were just hoping that maybe you’d find a way back to him if nothing but digits was the only thing left to prove he even existed. Desperation clawed its way through your throat as you fell on your knees, helpless tears streaming down your face. “Please, you have to do something, I don’t want the money, I just want him back, please! I just need to talk to him once more and he’s your client, right? Let me talk to him, I know you have contact with him, Sir, please, I’m begging you—”

“Security!” the manager hollered. The sounds of doors slamming open made you stand up straight, eyes wide at the incoming pairs of guards ready to escort you out. “It’s best you schedule a personal appointment with the account owner, Miss. We also suggest you remain on the down-low instead of causing a ruckus like this. You don’t know who’s going to be grabbing at every opportunity to take what was given to you.”

“Everything’s been taken away from me!” you argued back, walking around the desk to clasp the manager’s hand. He pulled away for a moment before you squeezed his hands, the tearing of your heart too painful to bear. You just wanted to see him. “Come on, please, I don’t care about the money, I just—”

They didn’t let you finish. Just like Satoru, just like everybody else, they discarded you to the side, treated you like you were a nobody who didn’t deserve a second chance.

“Escort her out, please.”

And just like that, your fate had been decided. No...perhaps it had been determined the moment he left, and now you walked blearily along the narrowed gaps between buildings, unable to find your way back home.

Where was home anyway? Your penthouse with Satoru? Your cramped dorm back at the university? Your empty flat that had once been a happy home with your parents before they too, left you behind with nothing but a family portrait as a memory? It was pathetic. You meant nothing. Obviously, no one valued you enough, not even Satoru who’d just given you enough to let you live comfortably for the rest of your life. But no matter how much he provided, it wasn’t what you wanted. It wouldn’t bring back the one thing you wanted most, and you fell on the rough pavement, too tired to care about the stinging of your palms.

You clutched at your heart in a debilitated attempt to soothe way your chest squeezed uncomfortably. You were literally in the middle of the nowhere, trapped between the walls that hid you in the darkness and muffled your cries.

He’d left – he really left.

He didn’t keep his promise, and your nightmare had now become reality. You had to bite down your shirt to keep the agony to yourself, nails dug so deep into your jeans it left a mark above your skin. Hours passed, maybe minutes – who knew?

The sun had gone down and the streets grew busier than before, the honking and lively bustling of the night city like background noise to you.

Your key back to the penthouse weighed heavily at your back pocket. There was still the option of just going back home, but what good would that do? Everywhere you went, you were reminded of him. There was no escaping the beautiful memories he left you with, there was no exit from his miserable dream you were forced to wake up into.

Nothing mattered anymore. You felt so lost, the motivation to find your way back depleted just like your energy. You only had your bodily instincts to thank for when your stomach grumbled, demanding to be fed and nurtured even in such a hopeless situation. It made you want to laugh – that even as your heart and soul gave up on you – your body was doing its best to keep you alive and get through the day. You heaved yourself away from the wall and wiped the dirt away from your palms, the rhythm of your feet one heavy clump next to the other.

There was a nice Chinese restaurant at the end of the street that glowed brightly, invitingly. If you could just have dinner, maybe you’d feel better.

But you never got three steps across.

A cold blade had been pressed to your neck, sinister laughter echoing from the darkness of the night. “Scream and you die, sweetheart,” a gruff voice crooned in your ear, followed by a more high-pitched, maniacal chuckles. There was two of them. Fear lit your nerves up and you scrambled to run, but this man was too strong. He didn’t even have to try too much into increasing pressure to your neck, slicing the first layers of your skin that was enough to prick both blood and tears from you. “Ah, ah, ah! Resisting won’t get you anywhere. We just want to talk, okay? No foul play needed.”

You shut your eyes in submission, too afraid to even swallow the bile rising in case the movement would push the knife further. You could only let out a weak, “What do you want from me?”

“Oh, what else?” said his accomplice, showing up in front of you with a creepy smile. He tipped his head side to the side, revealing the silver replacements of his teeth that glinted under the streetlights. “You got his hidden slush fund, didn’t you?”

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, sweetheart, you don’t need to lie, we saw you leave that bank. Plus, everyone’s been talking about it!” cheered the guy behind you, pushing you forwards with his blade finally withdrawn. You stumbled on your feet as they pointed to the nearest ATM. For a moment, you contemplated making a run for it. The ATM was only a few kilometres away from the Chinese restaurant and you could be safe if you run fast enough, but you were too obvious, the deceit written all over your face. The first guy then pressed a gun against your head, a silent reminder that you were the weaker one here. “Don’t even think about it,” he warned, “Now you’ll withdraw it little by little, okay? We just want a piece of it, a fraction of it is enough to last us a lifetime.”

Exhaling deeply, you raised your hands in surrender. “I can’t withdraw it.”

“The fuck did you say?”

“I said I can’t withdraw it! I don’t have access—”

“Bullshit, bitch, you’ve got so much of it, just give to us before we kill you,” he cocked his gun, his friend following suit and retrieving a pistol from his belt. Your lips quivered at the sight of two guns aimed at your way, but you remained firm in your spot, shaking your head at them. The man’s eyes darkened, displeased by your response. He narrowed his eyes at you before nodding to his friend.

“Fuck this man, she’s a selfish cunt. Take her phone and her belongings.”

“No, please, don’t—”

It was too late. They had pushed you on the ground, your bum throbbing from the fall. The second guy rummaged your pockets before pulling out your wallet, jaw dropping from the contents. “Fuck,” he exclaimed, flashing a Polaroid you had kept the whole time. “This you and Six Eyes?”

Your heart fell.

It was a photo of you and Satoru on your first anniversary where he’d whisked you off to a sky tower, arrogantly declaring that he’d make you experience the best date ever.

He wasn’t lying – his arrangement of fireworks and a romantic date in the sky really had been the best – and he’d snapped a picture of you then, sneakily landing a kiss on your cheek while you gasped at the display of fireworks before you.

Just seeing it felt like torture all over again, and the thief snickered at your tear stained face. “Oh, I see. You’re his whore, aren’t you? Everyone called it bullshit when word got around Six Eyes had a little angel hidden somewhere around here. I gotta say though, you are a pretty thing. Makes sense you got him pussy whipped.”

“Whoever Six eyes fucks – especially someone he liked enough to pay this much – that is fine meat, man,” the other muttered more to himself. His eyes then lit up with a thought, the smirk tugging at his lips screaming trouble. “It’d be a shame to not have a taste.”

You paled. Scrambling as much as you could with sore legs, you pushed their arms away from you. “Let go of me!” you cried out, kicking harder when they’ve discarded their guns and focused on carrying you instead. Everything muted that night except for the pounding of your heart as you struggled to get away from them, arms flailing the moment one of them yanked your shirt down to expose your bra. “Don’t fucking touch me, let go!”

It must be luck that your punch landed on his nose, a sickening crack resonating in the street. All of you remained still, with you flattening your back on the wall, arms protectively sheltering your chest and the pair staring at the other guy’s broken nose.

He winced at seeing blood on his fingers, “Oh, you’re just asking for it bitch,” he snarled, snapping his fingers to get his friend’s attention and pointing at you. “Grab her leg.”

Both of them made quick work. It all happened so fast you couldn’t tell which was who anymore. Your shirt had been ripped off; the straps of your bra tugged down to free a nipple while your arms had been knocked into the building behind you. One of them kept you immobile, their grips too strong and their bodies twice your size that you were easily overpowered. You never cried so hard in your life – not even when you realized Satoru had left – and your throat ached from how much you wept.

“Stop, no, let go of me!”

“Shut her the fuck up, bruh,” the man unzipping your jeans scowled, his fingers playing with the waistband of your underwear. You sobbed and screamed, fought hard as much as you could, but you were too weak. Too vulnerable. Too pathetic.

Maybe it was just better to let go.

Maybe it was just better to stop.

Your shoulders fell as they shimmied your jeans down your hips, each and every inch of your body no longer yours. Was this how you would die? Was this how you would finish? If so, you would’ve appreciated at least one last dinner.

You were about to close your eyes the moment you heard the sounds of a man’s belt unbuckling, too lost in your own horror that you failed to hear the screeching of tires, and neither did they. And then, like a light at the end of the tunnel, like an angel dropping from the heavens – gunshots rang through the air. Blood splattered to your cheek. Heavy bodies crunched against the ground.

He’d come back.

Except it wasn’t Satoru leaning in front of a car when you opened your eyes. The man stood a few inches shorter, blond shaggy hair falling just above his eyebrows, the ends dyed black. His body was tilted to the side, half of his weight shifted on a cane upon closer look, but you were mostly captivated in his eyes. He showed no malice intent; hell, he didn’t even spare a glance at the corpses with holes between their eyes, silently blowing the smoke away from his barrel like this was a common thing for him.

He had his eyes on you, uncaring of the fact you were half-naked before him since his attention remained on your face.

“So it’s true,” he mused, “I didn’t believe at first when they said Six Eyes really gave the notes to his girl. A commoner, no less,” he limped towards you, feline-eyes slanted to inspect you. “But nothing about you is common, is there? To get the demon to soften up…you really must be something else,” his gloved hands ran a finger down to your jaw, and you shut your eyes tight, leaning away from his touch. The man clicked his tongue at your reactions but withdrew his hand anyway, stepping a few feet away from you to give you space. “Don’t be so scared. You and I are not that different. We’re both just poor victims of facing the consequences of his actions,” he tapped his cane at your shoes, his face devoid of expression. “Stand up. You won’t get anywhere by crying. You need to learn how to fight.”

You swung the door open, ready to finally get the shoes you’ve been gushing to Naoya about for days. But you were met with nothing but a tuft of white hair, blood smattered on his cheeks, and lips crashing down onto yours. Satoru pinned you against the wall in the same manner he held you on that day he left, his kisses harsh and longing while you moaned into his mouth, legs turning into jelly.

“Angel,” he rasped into your mouth, grinding his boner to the thin material of your night gown. “I told you you’re fucking mine.”

Satoru forced his tongue past your lips and kept you close to him, his intoxicating scent tempting you to give in and enjoy it already. For a split second, you faltered, kissing him back with the love you once harboured for him, but then you blanked.

This was Satoru.

You were married to Naoya.

He’d began to leave kisses at your jawline when you pulled back, landing a sharp elbow right at his head. Satoru fell on the floor and you panted above him as you tried to make yourself decent. Fuck, that hurt like a bitch. You had to roll your shoulders back to get rid of the tension as you made the mental note to train in combat harder, pinching the bridge of your noise before you summoned the servants.

Satoru was knocked out for a solid hour. You found it funny that the infamous omnipotent Six Eyes was now sprawled all over your couch, soft snores emitting from his lips. He’d been pretty unresponsive to you so ice far, not even a budge as you iced the bruise you’d left on his face.

You sighed. His shirt was stained with blood, the pads of his knuckles matted with wounds and bruises. You couldn’t help yourself from brushing his hair away from his eyes, humming a little until his eyes cracked open. Satoru stared at the ceiling before his eyes landed on you hovering before him, your touch gentle in paradox to the heat of your gaze. “What are you doing here, Satoru?” you sighed, gesturing to the mess he had on his shirt. “Where have you been?”

“In a fight.”

“No shit,” you rolled your eyes, “You still haven’t answered my question. What are you doing here?”

“I-I don’t know. I just…I lost it for a moment and—”

“Do I want to know why?”

“It’s stupid,” he mumbled to himself and faced the couch. Even after seven years, he was still very much the petty kid at heart. You could confidently bet he was pouting right now, and you crossed your leg over the other, hiding a small smile behind your palm. “I overheard one of my men making a sleazy comment that Naoya’s wife looked like a bitch who would jump at every alpha male,” Satoru grumbled, prying for your reaction by looking across his shoulder. “I don’t know what came over me after that.”

“Did you kill them?”

“Almost,” he scrunched his nose, “Then I pictured your face. Maybe you wouldn’t want me to do that.”

“So you care about what I want now?”

Satoru shut his eyes. Of course you’d never stop bringing that up – both to your demises – since you were both a sadist who didn’t mind receiving pain every now and then. Five years of marriage with Naoya taught you to be resilient to all types of pain, the experiences and horrors you’ve lived through practically making you immune to them now. Satoru, on the other hand, didn’t seem to be on the same boat as you. He sat up, his hips flushed next to your thighs, burying his hands on his head. “Angel, about everything... are we not going to talk about what happened before?”

“Is there anything to talk about?” you deadpanned, surprising the guy who widened his eyes at you. Surely, he must be expecting a different form of hatred coming from you, but you were indifferent – numb, empty. “The past is in the past, Satoru. You know better than anyone else it’s easier to just walk away.”

“I’m really sorry.”

“For what?” you faked a smile, placing your chin on your hands while blinking up at him under innocent eyes. Naoya once told you that your attitude of being unbothered bothered a lot more people, and it was a technique you’ve loved ever since. Seeing Satoru crumble before you...nothing felt more satisfying. “For barging in here or for kissing me? Maybe both?”

“For everything,” he answered brokenly, “For all the pain I’ve put you through.”

“Do you think apologies are going to suddenly eradicate that?”

“…No.”

“Then I don’t need it,” you taunted, patting his thigh as you stood up, tying the knots of your robe safer this time. You couldn’t be bothered to wear underwear beneath them; if Satoru tried laying his hands on you again, you wouldn’t hesitate to cut his fingers off, and the plain sight of a dagger now strapped in your thigh was enough of a reminder for him. He made sure to keep his distance.

“Come with me. I’ll show you what we’ve been working on,” Satoru’s footsteps were silent as you led him past the secret doors hidden behind Naoya’s study, the room leading into an even bigger part of the house that stored most of your possessions. Satoru let out an awed gasp behind you once the lights and slight whirs of the machine buzzed through the room, chemicals bubbling from one side and little pills being packaged on the other. Your face lit up in a smile from the sheer pride of your hard work, arms extended to the side to present everything. “This is mostly where we manufacture Xenet. All of this – it’s mine. My personal little laboratory, or as Naoya calls it, my playroom,” you grinned, “I feel at peace here.”

“Making drugs?”

“Being safe,” you corrected with a roll of your eyes, “Acting like I’m normal. That gives me peace.”

Satoru was hot on your heels all the way to the main laboratory, where you’d pestered him into wearing safety gloves before entering. You donned a white coat from the blast of AC that enraged goosebumps, leading him in front of a huge clear wall that formulated Xenet’s pure creation. Stacks of purple powder lined up on layers all kept inside a cooling room, and you stepped to the side, muttering to yourself while checking today’s inventory like it was totally normal to manufacture illegal drugs inside your home.

You would’ve looked domestic if Satoru wasn’t feeling the slightest bit dizzy from the drug-coated atmosphere; one that you’d gotten resistant from.

“What brought you here?” Satoru voiced out, shaking his head to himself. He looked terribly devastated, cheeks sunken and dark circles lining his eyes. “I never thought...”

“That I’d be like you?” you finished for him. Tucking a stray strand behind your ear, you smiled at Satoru and pushed past him to list down your observations for today. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m not like Naoya; I’m not a mass murderer.”

“But you’re supporting him.”

“He keeps me safe as long as I’m useful to him,” you paused in your tracks, the spite evident in your tongue. “If you hadn’t left me, I wouldn’t have to be like this. There are thousands of people after me because you named me after that account. Other than Naoya, there’s really no other reason I’m still alive and breathing,” Satoru was speechless from your confession, which was good, since you didn’t want him chatting too much in the first place. You ignored him as you continued typing notes on your monitor, acting unaffected, but the way you punched through the keys told a different story. “This is the least I could do for him. In exchange of protection, I’ll be sharing my intelligence and give him what he wants.”

“Doesn’t it sicken you that we’re like this? That we do all this – for money, power, control – without the slightest bit of conscience?” Satoru scoffed, “You’ve been married for him a long time. I know you’re not a stranger to the fact we even enjoy this.”

You stopped your task, turning to Satoru with flared nostrils. “You know, Satoru, painting yourself as a demon to look like a victim won’t make me sympathize,” you spat out, absolutely losing it. “I don’t care what you’ve been doing before you met me. I don’t care that you killed or hurt people. I’m not the slightest bit of the angel you claim me to be because if I was as pure as that, don’t you think I would’ve stopped loving you?”

Everything crumbled to dust.

Years of convincing yourself you didn’t care anymore, years of healing yourself, years of working hard to forget him – and all crumbled to dust.

“What are you—”

“I knew!” you cut him off, “I knew everything. I’m not dumb, Satoru. No matter how much you tried to hide it back then, I saw the blood stains. I could smell the alcohol. I know drugs when I see it,” Satoru took a step back in surprise, but you kept going. Now that you’ve started it, you might as well finish it, and your eyes pricked with tears before you could stop it. “But I never cared. I was selfish – blinded by love. Back then, I told myself I didn’t care who you were because I loved you unconditionally,” You were breathing hard from finally releasing that damn fucking weight off your shoulders, your resolve breaking as you wiped your tears with the back of your hand while Satoru remained frozen. “Every night, I cried myself to sleep. I always asked myself why did it have to be you? Why did you have to be that way? Why did you have to be a monster? It broke me to no end, Satoru, but every time I tried to think of you as awful, you would hold me so close that it felt like everything was a lie,” your voice faltered, “I loved you in spite of everything you’ve done. I’m just selfish like that.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” you cried, “Many times...I turned a blind eye to it. I didn’t want to force something out of you because I knew you weren’t ready, but I was always waiting, Satoru,” gesturing to the both of you, Satoru watched your frantic movements. “Did you think I didn’t mean it when I said I would love you no matter what – no matter who you might be? I meant every word of it. You didn’t have to leave me because I would’ve still left everything behind if you asked me to go with you. I don’t care anymore, I never did. I just wanted to be with you.”

“Angel...” he trailed off, debating whether to hold you or just stay put. Satoru chose the latter and ran his hands over his hair, breathing hard as he, too, wavered. “I was scared. Each time I see your face, I-I can’t help but think about losing you. It haunts me every fucking night that what if I’m not strong enough? What if I couldn’t protect you?” his voice broke, “You were the only good thing in my life. I couldn’t handle losing you just because you got too close.”

You shoved him hard. “That’s no fucking excuse! You told me – y-you told me that I made you feel strong, that I gave you hope, that I made you feel like nothing could stand in your way – so don’t stand there and fucking tell me you were scared!”

Satoru kept taking a step back from the force of your hits, and he took them all with a brave face, but it seemed that he too had reached his limit as you leered, “Don’t be a fucking coward!”

“It’s because I loved you!” Satoru gripped your wrists and tugged you to him, effectively taking the ability to speak away from you. “My whole life, I got everything I wanted and things were easy for me! I don’t know what it’s like to lose something because I had control of everything except you! I didn’t want you stuck and burdened with my sins all for the sake of something as greed!” he bellowed, his forehead connected with yours and the warmth of his body more than welcoming. “I am a greedy man, angel, I would take everything I want with no hesitation but I couldn’t do it with you. It was easier to let you go,” he mumbled, “Than to regret making you unhappy by revealing my true self. Because the way you looked at me – you loved me so much I don’t think I’m worthy of it,” Satoru trudged closer to you, almost rubbing his skin over your soft ones just to say, “I don’t deserve you.”

You pulled away from him.

You’d tore open every chance of reconciliation. And if you were to be honest? You didn’t regret it.

“You’re right,” you snickered sarcastically, “You really don’t deserve me. Here I thought maybe Naoya would be the weaker of the two of you, but he’s more of a man than you are, Satoru. Naoya never gave an excuse for anything – it didn’t matter whether he was capable of something or not – he always tried to the best of his ability. He’s not the type to give up before he’s even tried it,” You knew you were just pushing his buttons, this was much clear from how Satoru was holding himself back, but you couldn’t stop. You were unstoppable, harsh as you challenged your once lost lover who had now wound up before you once more.

“If you truly loved me and felt you didn’t deserve me, then don’t you think you should’ve tried harder?”

You wanted him to regret it. You wanted him to feel your pain a thousand times more. You wanted him to realize what he’d done wrong. But most of all, you wanted him to try harder, to redeem himself, to be worthy of a second chance.

But just like how he’d broken your heart before, Satoru did it again.

Because even after every fucking thing, the only thing he was capable of saying was: “I’m sorry, Angel.”

You’d grown too tired of apologies. But because it was him, because you loved him, then you’d fucking hear it all over again. Just try, you wanted to beg, try for me, Satoru.

“Your plans will continue to fail, Satoru,” you agonized, “You never protected me. The moment you left, my life turned to hell and I almost died way too many times for me to count. This time is no different. We’re all just pawns in the Zen’in’s game, so if you really want both of us to live, you should do your part,” Sighing, you turned away from him, just about ready to call it a night. You were too tired. “Give back the money to Naoya, and he’ll keep me safe until the end of it all. You can just go back to where you came from.”

“Naoya won’t stand a chance against Toji. It’s not his money anyway, he should give it back to his cousin—”

“And neither is it yours!”

“Don’t be fucking stupid, you see the flaw of his plans too!” Satoru gestured to your lab, to everything that you proudly claimed an effort of your hard work. “Even if I gave back everything to Naoya, it won’t stop Toji from anything! He might not kill you anymore, but he’ll definitely kill your husband and take over the mafia, or his kid, then where will you go?”

“Follow him into death like the good wife I am.”

Satoru was stunned by the lack of hesitance in your answer. “You’re serious about this,” he echoed, blinking back to process the gravity of your devotion to your husband. “Even if Toji somehow dies, it doesn’t change the fact Naoya will still proceed with plans to manipulate Japan to his will. He’s going to drug everyone until he’s at the top of the food chain. Your husband doesn’t want to be a businessman; he wants to be a god. Plus, he doesn’t care about you, he’s only using you!”

“Like I said,” you smiled weakly,  “He keeps me safe as long as I’m useful to him. Once he gets everything he wants, it’s game over.”

“No...” Satoru gritted his teeth, “No, I won’t let it happen. You’re not going anywhere; you’re not going to die!”

“So then protect me!” you shouted at his face, “Do what it is you never got to do before and protect me! I’m disposable, don’t you see? No matter what I do, no matter where I go, no matter how loyal I am to him, I am nothing! Each step I take forwards is just a step closer to my prolonged death!” you spewed word for word with so much venom Satoru felt like he was choking, but it was nothing in comparison as you fell on the floor, weeping with your fists pressed against your eyes. “If you hadn’t left me...I wouldn’t have to live fearing for my life every second. So protect me, Satoru. If you really want me to forgive you, at least save me this once.”

“I will, angel,” he promised – and how many more promises had he made, only to break them? You couldn’t be blamed for not believing him, for finding wariness in his words, for flinching a little bit as he crouched before you, cupping your cheek the same way he did before. “I promise you that. I’m never leaving, never gonna leave your side ever again.”

“You better not,” you chuckled darkly, eventually giving in from his touch.

Yes, he’d left you...yes, he’d hurt you – but until now it felt like home, even if it also conflicted with the fact this was wrong.

“My only wish is that when I die, I want to die without hating you,” you muttered with your lips hovering his, your breaths tangling and his hands finding its way to your hair. “So don’t make me hate you anymore, Satoru. Grant me peace before I leave.”

“You’re not going to die,” he closed his eyes and took the first leap of faith by grazing his lips with yours, a faint glimmer of the sweetness he once had the pleasure of savouring with each waking moment of his life. But he was stupid back then – he’d be even more stupid to not learn his lesson this time around.

“I won’t let that happen, you understand?” Satoru breathed out, “You will be safe. You will live.”

He had said it so confidently, so surely, that for a moment, you believed it. You believed maybe you’d really win this round and come out unscathed, to live, to survive – even if the chances were slim to none to begin with. For now, you didn’t want to be a mafia leader’s wife, nor did you want to be another’s broken lover. You just wanted to be someone who didn’t want to die, to find comfort in the empty promises from the same man who kept breaking and breaking them, and maybe for now, that was enough.

Without another thought, not even the image of Naoya’s smile, you let it go.

You pulled Satoru close to you and kissed him hard and deep, swallowing his surprised moan with that exact same greediness, that desperation to live. You knew the moment Naoya came back or Toji found you, everything would be game over. So for now, this was enough.

A/N. SOOOOO? THOUGHTS? THEORIESSSSS? DO WE HAVE A TEAM NAOYA HERE OR IS IT JUST ME HAHAHAHAHA

taglist OPEN (lmk if you want to be added/removed): @sixeyesgojo @shingekiyofeels @q-the-rockaholic @whatthefuckisthatthing @rogueofbullshit @kat-su-ki @kellyyween @sebootyforlife @greysoulthings @charlie-xo @aoi-turtle @ladywaifuuwrites @savantsoulfinder @my-reality-is-in-my-head @hannya-quinn @90s-belladonna​ @tinyfrogsinmybrain @kinekyuroo​ @evesmores​ @ambiguous-something​ @lilith412426​ @kakashiharusohma @aizawap​ | bolded users cannot be tagged ://

[bakugohoex]

“when he put the what, in the where...”

pairing: katsuki bakugo x female reader

cw: swearing becuase its bakugo, kissing, implications

word count: 1300+

a/n: this was originally a headcanon with todoroki and shinso but i could only think of an idea for bakugo and the bakugo part was getting too long, if you guys want a todoroki and shinso version then just comment or send a request

summary: in which you’re in a secret relationship with bakugo until one fateful night in the dorms

↞ back to my hero academia masterlist

Your relationship with Bakugo would be classed as unconventional, you were dating, and every moment spent together was like paradise. Even with him not wanting to tell the class about your relationship he kept his promise to always make you feel needed and not ignored. To him you weren’t just some stupid extra.

You were his girlfriend which meant you were permanently his, you didn’t really care for people to know. As long as both Bakugo and you were happy you didn’t need other people’s feelings to interfere. And he just didn’t want stupid Deku to know to put it in his own words.

You had thought that when your relationships had gotten out that it would be on your terms, not at a Friday movie night after you and Bakugo had spent your afternoon making out.

“Katsu we have to go down soon, they’ll wonder where we’ve gone.” You were breathless with your exposed collar being bitten by Bakugo, his hands placed on your waist as you could feel the glands of sweat on his hands get hotter and hotter.

You didn’t mind the marks that his quirk left it was almost a hidden secret to the both of you, he murmured a small no as his lips travelled to another area that hadn’t been covered by his teeth, your hand had rested in his hair, as his hand moved further down.

He went past your shorts reaching your uncovered thighs as his quirk left more bruises and marks, a clear hand print evident on your waist and inner thigh. You loved seeing him on you and proving that he was yours and you were his.

Even with the lack of physical contact at school and in front of people, when in the comforts of each other’s rooms you were free to be together and be at peace.

You heard the ding of your phone knowing it was Mina asking where you were, “we really have to go down.”

“Whose fucking idea was it to have a movie night? I could’ve been sleeping or even better fucking you, but instead I’m spending my Friday evening with some dumb extras.” He huffed as he let go off your skin, he stood up towering on top as his legs were between your own legs.

“Those dumb extras are friends’ baby.” You encased his face in your hand caressing it as he put his face further into your palm.

“They’re still dumb extras.” He mutters standing up, he helped sorting the both of you out, as you still wore the shorts and a hoodie.

You both had been staring at the mirror in your room, as he got his phone checking to see the consistent messages of Kirishima asking where he was. You’d taken your phone going onto your camera as you wanted to saviour the moment of having alone time with Bakugo.

You took a couple mirror pictures, ones with Bakugo not paying attention before the last one had him grabbing your throat as he kissed your cheek, it was cute something that you wished you could post without anybody finding it

You both walked towards the elevator, holding hands until you both let go, acting as if you’d both met in the elevator, both thinking of excuses that were viable, Mina had asked for you to grab some food for everybody.

Following, you watched Bakugo sit on the couch next to Kirishima being his angry self as he called everybody extra’s. You saw pervy Mineta trying to look up the girls shirts before Momo kicked him in the chest and he fell to the ground being made to sit next to Denki and none of the girls.

“So, I heard our resident loud boy has a crush.” Mina says as she grabs some popcorn putting it in the microwave.

“Who? Bakugo?” You question knowing that must be who she was talking about.

She smirks leaning against the counter top, “Of course I mean Bakugo, Kirishima said he heard him talking on the phone last Saturday.”

You remembered the conversation; you had gone back home to visit your parents and Bakugo had been acting clingy without you there. He was alone without you and as much as he’d hate to admit it, you were the only good thing among the extras around him. He’d left consistent voice notes to you and when you finally called him after a long day out with your parents you spoke for nearly four hours.

“Can you two fucking hurry up?” You hear Bakugo shout as Koda puts the film on, you deciding to bring the food that Sato had made, mainly brownies and cookies as Mina bringing the popcorn.

“Yeah coming lover boy.” Mina shouts as the final bag of popcorn was done.

“What?” Everybody questions staring at Bakugo.

Izuku is the first one to speak cheerily, “does Kacchan have a girlfriend?”

Bakugo glared at the class, “I fucking don’t.”

To clear the silence, you walked with the brownies and cookies towards the group “Sato, the brownies smell amazing.” He thanks you as you go over to Bakugo.

“Move up then.” You sign as he rolls his eyes before letting you sit down; you had half your body on him but in the dark nobody could see.

You went up to his ear whispering, “Kiri heard you talking to someone, maybe you should be quieter lover boy.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t moan so loud then.” You could almost feel his smirk through the dark.

The movie being a boring one as everybody talked and ate, even Bakugo was engaging in the conversation mainly talking to Kirishima.

“It’s so cold.” Mina shivers in her seat.

“Here you can wear mine. I’m warm.” You offered as you stood up, Jiro putting the lights on for you to see where you would pass it too.

Standing up you pulled the hoodie off your body, wearing a tank top underneath, as you raised your arms up, your thighs were exposed, and your waist was visible.

No sound is heard, the shuffling and shouting of Mineta as if someone was covering him, as you finally take your head out of the hoodie, you pass it to Mina who just stares at you with the rest of the class.

“What’s up?” You asked as you noticed Mineta had been covered by Ojiro.

“Are those?” What you also hadn’t realised was the marks that Bakugo had left on your neck were visible to everybody. The question coming from Denki as you instinctively covered your neck with your hands.

“Nothing.” You whisper, “let’s watch the film.” Is all you say.

“Wait a minute.” Mina grabs Bakugo’s hands as she lifts the shirt up, you give a look as she puts his hand to the hand print on your waist. “That’s Bakugo’s hand print”.

“No shit Sherlock.” He says smirking as he sees his work, almost admiring it, oh how you wanted to rip that smirk off his face.

“Katsuki.” You shouted out.

“You should’ve kept your clothes on.” Is all he says

“Was that why I heard that weird noise coming from the couch a month ago?” Denki questions. 

“That was when I had to put my belt in your mouth.” Bakugo spoke reminiscing.

“When he put the what, in the where...” The classes eyes widen. 

“I fucking hate you.” You finally speak as you go to sit down next to him but instead he grabs your arm pushing you onto his body, his arm wrapping around your waist as he missed the contact you both had had hours ago.

“No you don’t.” He whispers kissing the top of your head.

Nobody asked questions they continued to watch the film as both you and Bakugo laid in each other’s arms he fell asleep holding you as if you were a bear, you smiled at his sleeping figure kissing his cheek as you snuggled up closer to him.

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@samusimp @alaina-rose13

[lwt28brave]

LT2 masterpost

If it was up to me, we would get an autumn or winter EP. Since it’s not up to me at all, here, enjoy this post with everything we know so far of LT2, which is to say, not much at all. Everything here is hypothetical. I’ll be updating every time I see something relevant. A little disclaimer that while this is a masterpost (kinda), it could be read as discourse (duh, it’s also a theory), AND it’s also by me, and you shouldn’t expect me to be serious at this point.

Due to me restraining myself, there’s no reference to any of the times he’s mentioned his guitar skills and him improving but I hope you know I cried every single time.

I’m also linking my old pinned here. It was written before AFHF and around the free merch thing that didn’t lead to much, but I still think I made some good points.

Possible tracks:

Copy of a Copy of a Copy

Change

Faith in the future??

369??

Possible names:

369

Faith in the future

When is the album coming out?

Your guess is as good as mine

Friday 28th of January 2022. Almost two years after Walls. It’s a Friday. It’s a 28th. What else can I say?

Here you can find @want-to-be-loved timelines for every month.

Here you can find @berlinini’s timeline of what Louis has been up to this year (2021).

The rest is under the cut. And here you can find a PDF version where Tumblr can't tell me how many pictures I can add.

2020

He said back on May 2th 2020 he wasn’t writing anything new yet.

(x)(x)(x)

Interestingly enough, he’s said many times after that that the album’s not ready cause he has no new experiences to drawn from. I won’t call him out because he does it himself.

May 4th. He liked a tweet from DMA’s Johnny Took saying they had to go write together again. Louis has been credited as an influence for them and (kind of) participated in their previous record, so I’m assuming he meant for their music and not his, but you never know.

Nothing(literally nothing??? how did we survive) until 11th of July. We all know what happened that day. We all celebrated it. Nonetheless, that’s not what I’m talking about here.

(x) So, by the beginning of July 2020 he was working on concepts and ideas for the new album. That was fifteen months ago. I know perfection takes time but…

Brief summary of important things that happened from then until the next mention of new music:

Louis left Syco!!!! 10 days later he rescheduled the tour for the first time. He followed Matt Vines on Twitter, probably so we could publicly shame him into doing something. Also, the 10thanniversary. He followed more people I wish he hadn’t.

Then more nothing until September. Not even a single tweet. The first merch drop was on the 28th of August but he just RT’ed the tweet. He first mentioned Free my Meal on the 25th of September. Then on October 1st Walls hit #1 on a lot of countries and Louis was incredibly happy and excited about it ^^

And then, that same day, October 1st, 2020, he dropped this bomb:

(x)

He also said it was too soon to be sharing new lyrics with us (x)

And, obviously, this tweet which is actually what made me start this whole post. I would hope you know mate.

(x)

He also told us he was cooking "banger after banger" and that he was incorporating more social themes into his music (x)(x) (I believe any social issue is a political issue but that’s not the point rn).

COPY OF A COPY OF A COPY?!?!

These next paragraphs are brought to you by my mind not remembering things and me not having any links. I’m assuming COACOAC came from those writing sessions that supposedly happened in October. Or in LA but I have no idea if he actually was in LA at any point other than a Daily Mail article putting him there on December which would have been too late, but I do remember that someone said he was in the studio in LA last autumn???? A rumor. Maybe. IDK. Did I mention already all of this is very hypothetical?? Well, this is it. I can’t even remember if this was October or November or what. So, take this with a grain of salt.

I’m also… taking the liberty to assume, if you must, that Copy wasn’t meant to be a Walls reject because it sounds more mature and darker and it has a vastly different tone that Walls songs. I know he’s said that song probably isn’t getting into the album, but I want to have faith (in the future) that I’m getting a studio version. (But also, Louis, if you’re reading this, first of all GET OUT OF MY BLOG second of all, please don’t ever feel pressured again to add a song to the album because we have already heard it before. It’s your art and it should always be under your own terms).

So yeah, I believe that Copy is either one of those four songs (then imagine the other three??!!) or was written around the 1st of October date.

---End of the Intermission---

Then not much important (other than sharing more about Marcus Rashford fight against food poverty and the 2nd merch drop) until he announced the livestream on the 24th of November. (x)

It wasn’t until a few days before the livestream date we even thought again about new music (jk, I know we’re always thinking about new Louis’ music). So, December 9th/10th, 2020. Nine months ago. We got our first taste of new music!

He made sure we knew Copy of a Copy of a Copy isn't a cover! (x) (x)

(x)

Ok, so that’s it for 2020. (I feel like I’m missing something from September 17th because tweet was deleted but maybe he was still talking about cucumbers. We might never know. Unless I understand how Tumblr tags work). Expected, cause Walls was released in 2020. We needed to let it sit for a while.

2021

Another Summary: Louis third tweet of the year was telling the UK government off. So was the fifth. What a good beginning. On the 26th of January, he said he prefers pancakes over waffles. I hope he meant pancakes other than his own. More importantly, he tweeted the infamous “you lot read into things too much”. Don’t get me started, Tomlinson. Don’t. Then the 31st came around and Walls was one. He tweeted this. How wise. And Project Defenceless happened!!

15th of February!! Who cares about Valentine Day when the next day we got this? ♥

(x)

(x)

So…AN EP?? AN EP?? PLEASE RELEASE AN EP.

“I’m sure I will have something out this year but unlikely that will be the album”. Unlikely but not impossible. Also. A single would be good. This is the second time he mentions releasing something in 2021 and he sounds surer about it than the first time around.

He also said that he isn’t sure we will get a studio version of Copy. And that the best bridges from Walls to LT2 are Walls, OTB, KMM and Copy. Can’t wait!

Then we jump to March 6th when he announced he was going to create his own management company. “Sometimes action is needed first to encourage the motivation and belief”. As we can tell he was already manifesting some stuff which will lead us to the numerology stuff/Tesla… kidding. Or not. We might never know.

On the 22nd of March he answered some questions:

He told us music was still his main focus ♥ mwha. (x) I included this tweet to guilt-trip him into giving us music in case he’s reading this even after I told him to leave. ILY.

(x) I’d love to get a visual EP this autumn. Just saying. It sounds like a lovely concept.

(x)

…next (I will get into it, I promise. I’m just mad).

On the 25th he left for Mexico until April 10th. You could assume it was just for the documentary where we got ten seconds of footage or admit the obvious: LT2 its a Mexican baby!!

On the 26th (so, not so far apart from that first 369) we got the first Faith in the Future mention: (x)

Back then we were innocent people who had no idea what was coming upon us. We still have no idea because what the fuck does he mean with these. Please explain. I have one braincell and I don’t use it enough for this. I’m linking some theories.

On the 30th of March he confirmed he was already working on the documentary. So AFHF was already on the works. Will it take this long for us to get the Veeps numbers? We also got this tweet: "Got a decent chorus idea down" (x).

Same person that got the “something out this year” exclusive. If you know something share with the class. Also. Is this Change? I feel like this could be Change but I also assume he wrote Change after hanging out with his friends or being in Doncaster. But who knows.

(x) And the second mention to 369.

(x) 15th of April. The second "Faith in the future".

On the 19th of April he announced that he had something BIG for us later on the year which turned out to be the Away From Home Festival ♥♥ (x) I love him so much.

Then on the 28th he announced the 369 merch drop (which it’s probably the Walls drop? Except that the TOU and KMM ones were “drop 1 and drop 2” and this was drop 369 which, again, makes no sense) but we still don’t know what 369 means.

Into May’ 21 we go.

He rescheduled tour again. And dropped another bomb (x).

He announced he has signed with BMG as an independent artist by RTing this tweet on May 10th. The article also says that he’s already working on writing and recording LT2. The timing… we don’t know. What this deal involves… we don’t know either. Bear with me here because I have a lot to say about this.

I think the deal is only a distribution one, but that BMG are interested in Louis and what he (us) could bring to the table. They were either present at the festival or watching it, but officially they had no involvement at all with it (everything is credited either to Louis own company, 78 Productions, or Charlie Lightening’s company). That’s the case for both giveaways too; the vinyl one and the tickets for the festival.

I think it would be an unbelievably bad move not to test the waters with BMG now or soon-ish. At least a single, to see how it performs. Due to the circumstances, it’s obvious there’re certain limitations on place but I want to see how they push it, whether the radio play exist this time around and if the song is playlisted and promoted and all that… I would also love to know, since it says he signed with BMG UK, but it also states it’s a global deal, how things are going to go on the US and other countries.

Yes, yes. I know those are all questions and no answers. But I know the same as you, sadly. If any of you know more than you’re letting on… again, share with the class.

Where was I? Yes, on the 25th of May Louis had a great day writing (x). Since the first time he had mentioned he was officially writing to this date there’s almost eight months. And I believe he was writing before October’ 20.

He followed Robert Harvey that day and, on the 28th of May (why is it always the 28th???) he was spotted at the studio for the first time.

June was an interesting month for the fandom ♥. Lots of LHL content which I will love and cherish for the rest of times. On June 4th, June 9th, and June 10th he was spotted at the studio, but I believe he was there more days.

(x)

This was posted on June 6th and captioned Studio. Charlie also shared it with “Mega tunes being put down, can’t wait for this @louist91 #louistomlinson #LT2” as the caption. This gives me 2019 (Elton-Joint) vibes. I like it. Feels like we’re getting closer to something.

He added the Milano date on the 9th too which I’m mentioning because I’m going alone. Anyone wanna go with me please? I’m nice and I never eat anything before a concert so you can have my food. On other news. It didn’t come home.

During July he was at the studio at least three days too. Probably more. Feels like more with all the fan pictures we got. Or was that June? Anyway, July 1st and 9th we got some videos from Robert Harvey and wearesuperhi, which is who Louis has been working with the most, that we know of. I don’t know for sure they’re from that day. And on July 5th we got an article and lots of pictures of Louis looking really good outside the studio.

On the 12th of July the first fans started getting the free, 369 bucket hat and print. We still don’t know what the purpose was other than to thanks fans. Maybe that was it. I want answers and I still think it relates to a future project (see theories above), but it could also just be a bridge with the Walls breaking.

He didn’t tweet about anything interesting for a while, mostly because he lost his phone (he either throwed it in the air or smashed it who knows). Then on the 29th of July he announced the festival!

I’m glossing over it because there’s already been a lot of talk about it (rightfully) and while it was a wonderful thing, it doesn’t have much to do with LT2.

Let’s talk Change!

On August 3rd he tweeted this about the setlist.

(x)

And this (x) on the 28th! I can’t stand him.

We didn’t get it, obviously. Because who was going to get that. But we read too much into things. Alright.

On the 16thof August Dave Gibson shared this post tagged #LT2 with the eyes emojis 👀👀👀. I believe this has to do both with Change but also with whatever else came out of that Mexico trip.

(x) Last relevant tweet related to LT2 is this one.

So, on the 30th of August we got Change and we cried, and we know that Change is going in the new album. He said it. With those exact words. He also said he was “getting a feeling for it”. This has to meant he already has a general idea of the vibe of the new album and what’s going in it!!!!!! (Right? RIGHT?).

Anyway, let’s go back a few weeks because some other things happened on August. He was at the studio a few more times. Or it was suggested that he was there. On the 17th and the 18th. (Why was it so time-pressing to be at the studio instead of rehearsing for the festival? There was no studio at all on the documentary. Which makes sense, but again, then why?).

On the day of the festival we got another mention of Faith in The Future that made me feel part of a cult ngl. The words were flashing on the screen for less than a second. Okay.

And then he tweeted those words again after watching the livestream/documentary on the 4th of September (x). This is what makes me suspect it's either the name of the album or of the single.

On the same day, we got some interesting quotes about LT2 on the documentary.

“Soon I’ll have to think about me second album, which in my head I’ll get the tour out of the way and then I’ll address that. So, I hadn’t really given it much thought, to be honest”.

“When every day is the same is hard to feel creative and it’s hard to have any kind of proper inspiration”.

“As season started to come back, I started writing again and it was great and some of these songs turned out alright”.

And I think this is it. I might be overlooking some important details but that’s what we know and what we don’t know.

So. Conclusions. That’s what you missed on Glee. I do believe the album is, if not mostly done, partially there. And yes, this post is pointless and never-ending but it’s all in here if you need to tell Louis “Hey, you said this, mate”.

[thesoulspulse]

Regarding My Good Vlad AU (Re-imagined Timeline! Part 2)

I forgot to tag the previous post as a long one but trust me, this one is going to be even longer! Especially since it has several of the best episodes in the series. I’ll be glossing over the ones I’ve already covered in the original post though for the most part.

Good Vlad: Oh my, is a version of me really responsible for all of those terrible things? He turned Daniel evil? Pitted Jasmine against her own brother and forced them to fight one another? Infected two innocent teenagers with ecto-acne just to force Daniel to cooperate and cure me? And is that...! He cloned Daniel not once, but SEVERAL TIMES?! What on earth was he thinking?! 

Good Vlad: ...At least when I awoke the Ghost King it was unintentional. I was only after his relics and if the legends so happened to be true I thought I could defeat him easily and remove him as a potential threat to Daniel.

Ok ok, jokes aside you know the drill, I’m going to drop the links down below for the original timeline I came up with and part 1 for those of you who haven’t read it! And keep in mind, none of this is set in stone and if/when I write a full fanfic for this AU I might not keep all of this as the new canon for this reality.

Good Vlad AU Timeline: https://thesoulspulse.tumblr.com/post/661878830618771456/regarding-my-good-vlad-au-alternate-timeline

Part 1: https://thesoulspulse.tumblr.com/post/667945950680104960/regarding-my-good-vlad-au-re-imagined-timeline

Now, on with the show!

Or...at least an AU of it if Vlad wasn’t a total fruitloop.

Reign Storm

Not going to go into much detail but Good Vlad only wakes up the Ghost King by accident since he wants those relics and wanted to remove Pariah as a potential threat to Danny and Amity Park. So most of it happens the same as in the canon episode only Vlad intentions are good and he’s not using Valerie as a pawn, he’s coaxing her to help Danny as an indirect ally against their ghostly enemies.

When Vlad encounters Danny, when they fight to him its more like sparring and he’s trying to teach Danny where he can improve in the process so there’s none of that mocking tone.

At the end Vlad saves Danny’s life too when the Ectoskeleton nearly drains all his energy.

The Ultimate Enemy

I’ll probably elaborate on this more in another post since I already went a bit overboard with “Shades of Gray” and “Million Dollar Ghost” but I have a few ideas of how to salvage this so we can still add Dan to the series.

So first off, in Dan’s timeline, that version of Danny still loses his friends and family in a tragic accident and goes to live with Vlad but for a while at least he stays in contact with Valerie since she’s all he has left.

I’m also going to say Mr. Lancer survives in this AU but just barely and ends up in a coma or something. I mean, the way they played off Mr. Lancer’s death as a joke was fine for the show but in a story I’d rather take it more seriously since he cared about Danny too in his own way. Why would anyone even bother making a memorial statue at all that just says “gone” unless they really wanted to spit on the poor teacher’s grave or the person in question who died wanted to be part of the joke? Just saying, I think whoever had that memorial made should have had a little more respect for the dead.

Moving on, while I still think my Good Vlad would never resort to removing Danny’s humanity unless it was a last resort, maybe he eventually gives in after a serious scare when Danny tries to commit suicide to be with his family and friends again when it becomes painfully obvious that none of them became ghosts. Vlad only agrees to removing his ‘humanity’ in order to save Danny’s life by removing his ghost half instead so he can’t use his powers to hurt himself again.

Unfortunately, upon doing so, Danny realizes Vlad lied to him and feels utterly betrayed by the one parental figure he has left in his life and lashes out, going mad with grief since he’s already emotionally and now physically unstable.

He’s also deeply disturbed and disoriented from the separation so its like having a bad withdrawal since they’re both the same person. I saw a comic in the phandom about this and wanted to borrow the idea...

So this time, when Danny’s ghost half fuses with Vlad’s, it’s actually Danny’s half that overwhelms Vlad’s despite the gap in their power level and it drives the newly formed Dan completely insane. In the chaos, the now purely human Vlad tries to save Danny’s human half that’s currently in shock from the separation but something happens and the castle explodes, presumably killing them both.

Just like in the show, since he has nothing more left to lose the newly formed Dan goes after every ghost who ever threatened him, his family, his town and makes them regret it. Even they’re shocked to see how terrifyingly powerful Dan is when he stops holding back, not to mention he’s now fused with Plasmius on top of that which ramps up his power even further. Oh but Dan doesn’t stop there, he also goes after all the HUMANS who ever bullied him and his friends, nearly killing Dash in the process...

The only reason he doesn’t is because of Valerie, she’s still someone important to him so he leaves, not wanting to lose her too. She’s obviously shaken because the Phantom she knew could be a pain in the butt, but he never attacked any humans before.

Ok moving onto the present before I get too side tracked most of this episode still unfolds the same way. Danny is crumbling under the pressure and with Vlad too busy to tutor him at the moment when he gets the C.A.T. test answer sheet, he considers cheating on the test since in his mind its the only way to get his parents and teachers to back off and stop treating him like a total idiot compared to his sister who is top in her class...

Everything up to a point stays the same up until Danny is lead to Vlad’s by the note from his sister while trapped in the future. The episode Secret Weapons will likely take place before this since I’d like to use it as the reveal to Jazz that Vlad’s also half ghost and helping her brother by training him in secret which is something that happens off screen in another random episode in the show.

Danny’s completely caught off guard to find that not only is Vlad alive...but he saved his human half too. That’s right! Danny’s human half in this alternate future survived! It took him years to recover and Vlad was left severely crippled in the explosion, but Danny gets to meet a human version of himself in the future that’s been helping Vlad support Valerie’s efforts in secret to keep Dan at bay.

Future Danny has become pretty jaded though unfortunately, blaming Vlad for the mess the future has become, and it’s actually the current Danny who ends up defending Vlad and says he was only trying to help. He can be a selfish fruitloop at times, but this is when Danny finally admits that maybe he does see Vlad as a second father figure in some ways because he’s helped him not feel so lost as the only other half-ghost in the world.

So the three of them start talking about sending Danny back to the past to prevent all this when Future Vlad starts having some sort of heart attack before he can try to separate the time medallion from Danny.

All pretenses drop and Future Danny rushes to his side, begging Vlad to leave him alone too, but he just smiles and says “Oh little badger, you have it backwards. It’s thanks to you that I didn’t end up dying alone in the first place. I knew you could never truly be my son, but that never stopped me from wishing I could become someone you could rely on just as much.” Gripping his shoulder, Vlad continues, “Everything I’ve done, I’ve done for you. Now it’s up to you to save yourself my boy since I have done all I can. And know that I, along with your parents, your sister, and your friends, will always be watching over you.”

We see Future Vlad collapse dramatically, on the verge of dying and Future Danny takes the Ghost Gauntlets off of his hands and turns to his past self with renewed determination and says while putting them on himself, “He’s right, all this time I’ve been blaming Vlad for what happened when the truth is I did this to myself. I destroyed my own future. But I’m not going to let it happen again, not to you. So make sure this never happens, no matter what.”

We cut to Danny and his future self nodding to each other before he hear the same cry of pain and then the rest of the episode plays out the same, leading to Dan’s defeat. But it leaves Danny pretty scarred from the experience despite gaining an incredible new power, so the first thing we see instead of Danny rushing off to fight some ghost after confronting his sister and thanking her for pointing him in the right direction, he tells her he needs some time to think about things on his own.

Jazz understands and gives him a hug, telling him she loves him and the episode ends at a cliffhanger when Danny calls Vlad after his sister walks away and just says somberly “Hey Vlad, do you have time to talk? There’s something I need to tell you...”

Secret Weapons

Since this takes place after “The Ultimate Enemy” Jazz is still a bit overzealous about helping her brother hunt ghosts which in a lot of ways makes Vlad look tame in comparison since he at least has the sense to not overstep his bounds so Danny can take care of things on his own.

I wasn’t sure what to do with this episode but I think I found a way around it. So just like in that episode, since Jazz found out about Vlad while sneaking a peak at Danny’s ghost files, she seems to be trying to prove how useful she can be when Danny snaps and says he doesn’t need her butting in when Vlad’s overprotective enough in his own way.

This obviously upsets her and Jazz runs away from home to go see Vlad, determined to convince her brother she’s not useless.

Back tracking a little, remember how canon Vlad steals the Fenton Ectoskeleton in “Reign Storm?” Well, my Good Vlad did too but only because it nearly killed Danny when he used it to defeat Pariah and it also severely weakened Jack before that too so Vlad only took it to fix the problems in case they ever needed to use it again. The only difference is since Skulker is Vlad’s enemy in this AU, maybe Vlad commissioned Technus to just make what he needed instead of stealing them from Fenton Works or Axion Labs.

He’s careful not to say what the items are for though and double checks for any hidden surprises Technus may have added for his own purposes if he decided to betray him. Of course, Vlad did make some changes to Jack and Maddie’s original blueprints he snuck a peak at more because he doesn’t want them hurting ghosts just to create a power source, so after fixing it so it only contains but doesn’t harm them those two think their invention is “broken” and thus abandon the project on their own.

Ok back to the present, Jazz shows up at Vlad’s doorstep in Wisconsin and things play out only slightly different since she says something more like “my brother hates me, nobody needs me, and I wanna live with you!”

Vlad of course is happy to see her but also worried because he’s sure none of that is true so he invites her inside so they can talk about it. He’s unaware of course that she knows he’s also half-ghost and wants to poke around his lab to see if she can be useful to her brother too even without powers of her own, heck she might even get the crazy idea in her head to ask how they even got their powers which...no honey, that’s a bad idea.

So they talk for a bit and Jazz, who only came there for selfish reasons ends up actually connecting with Vlad and seeing how much he genuinely cares about her, her family, and especially her younger brother. She saw a glimpse of that in “Maternal Instinct” where in this AU Vlad invited the whole family to spend time at his mountain chalet.

Eventually, Vlad convinces her to call her parents and Vlad offers to watch over Jazz for a while until she’s ready to go home, certain that Danny will come to apologize to his sister before long.

That night, Jazz sneaks into the lab and Vlad finds her there, scolding her for breaking his trust by doing so not to mention exposing herself to dangerous materials and that’s when Danny shows up through his ghost portal.

Danny doesn’t exactly help much when he tells Jazz to stop acting like an idiot and come home which was the wrong thing to say and gets in Vlad’s face about butting into his business too when he reminds Danny that Jazz came to HIM first. There’s also the fact that Jazz knows Vlad’s secret too when he never told her so in his eyes that makes them even since Danny probably told her too.

Tensions rise but then Vlad comes up with an idea after glancing at the Ectoskeleton. “Clearly you two need to ‘hash this out’ as the kids say so how about this? Jasmine, you came here to prove to Daniel that you can help him as much as his friends, correct? And Daniel, the reason you’re so frustrated is because for one thing you’d like to keep her out of harms way, and for another she’s interfering with your ability to focus on hunting ghosts isn’t that right? So why don’t you two join me out in the football field and we’ll settle this with a little sparring match. Whoever wins has to agree to the terms set by the winner moving forward. Deal?”

Danny’s skeptical at first but Jazz is pissed now and agrees, but to even the odds Vlad insists she use the skeleton for her own protection rather than just the standard anti-ghost weapons she’s been using so far without any proper training. Truthfully Vlad’s only doing this to help prove Danny right about ghost hunting being too dangerous for Jazz, but neither of them expected Jazz to actually be able to hold her own while in the suit at least for a while when she was more serious about winning.

During the fight Jazz and Danny let off some steam and some sibling rivalry ensues until Danny backs off and realizes how stupid this all is and admits something big to both of them. The truth is, he’s not just annoyed about her getting in the way of his ghost hunting, he’s scared of ghosts like Spectra or Dan coming threatening her again or worse, killing her...

Danny even says something like, “Jazz, I have powers so I can protect myself but you don’t. To be fair my friends don’t either but we’ve already been through a lot together. It’s not that I don’t think you can help, I just...I’d like things to stay how they are now because the truth is you’ve already been helping me in a huge way by keeping mom and dad in the dark about my ghost powers. And it’s not like Sam and Tucker can be with me 24/7 so that actually helps me a lot more than you think. Seriously, just knowing someone has my back at home is more than helpful enough.”

Danny even admits he appreciates Vlad’s help too on the sidelines which makes him incredibly happy. Vlad decides to take it step further though and adds, “If you’d like my dear I can provide you with a personal trainer so that if nothing else, you’ll have some basic self defense training which will not only keep you safe, but put Daniel’s mind at ease knowing you can fend for yourself while he focuses on his enemies. I’d say that’s a fair compromise in this situation. Leave the ghost fighting to your brother, and in exchange you can keep helping him in other ways when you can like gathering intelligence, distracting your parents, and in a worse case scenario I’ll teach you how to provide Daniel with first aid in the event he comes home more injured than usual.”

The three of them come to an understanding and Vlad’s happy to see the siblings getting along again, and even happier he was able to mediate between Jazz and Danny. Not only that, but Vlad now has another ally that wants to keep Danny safe as much as he does and asks her to stay in contact with him just in case and that if she ever needs help again she can always call Uncle Vlad.

Masters of All Time

In this episode, Vlad comes to Danny for help when he gets infected with ecto-acne again after an experiment with a new medicine for them both  as halfa’s goes horribly wrong and collapses. Danny’s shocked too since its the first time Vlad’s come to HIM for help so it must be serious.

The next part is just like in the canon episode except that Sam and Tucker weren’t infected too and Jazz helps provide cover for Danny after he gets attacked by his parents who think he attacked Vlad after he reverted to his human form.

Jack and Maddie of course leap into action and bring Vlad to Fenton Works, setting everything up to treat him but its no use...they don’t know what caused it to flair up again.

During this whole thing, we get a glimpse of Danny actually being really worried about Vlad and he asks if there’s anything he can do to help. And Vlad, trying not to scare his little badger too much asks if he’d be willing to look after his ghost cat Madison who Danny hasn’t even heard about up until now.

Danny agrees but when he gets to the castle, for the first time he realizes how little he knows about Vlad as a person and looks around, uncovering the same stuff Jazz did with Vlad and his parents from their college days. This gives Danny the brilliant idea to go see Clockwork to find a cure and he’s sent back in time to the day of the portal accident.

Since Vlad’s not his enemy though, Danny stops himself from instinctively stopping the accident from happening to Vlad. What he does do is lead Jack and Maddie indirectly to Vlad’s location after he passes out so they can get him to a hospital.

Danny follows them and as soon as Vlad’s alone he sees for the first time how much pain he endured compared to his accident since Vlad’s transformation to a halfa was much slower. He was relieved to see his parents still cared about him and apologized for the accident, but apart from that Vlad still had to deal with everything alone as far as his ghost powers are concerned.

While still searching for an idea of what he needed to cure Vlad, Danny ends up witnessing a particularly bad day for Vlad in the hospital and the fear in his eyes mirrors how he felt when he turned on his parents portal. He doesn’t show himself, but Danny stays by Vlad’s side and invisibly holds his hand, wondering if he could feel his presence during that whole painful episode...

Turns out Vlad could sense him and after the doctors and nurses leave, while Vlad still doesn’t understand what it means to be half-ghost or to sense them, he says to the invisible Danny, “I don’t know who you are, but thank you for staying with me. I was so afraid...and I really thought I was about to die all alone...”

Taking a chance, Danny at least talks to him invisibly and replies, “You’re not going to die. I won’t let that happen, I promise. You’re not alone Vlad. You saved me once so now it’s my turn to save you...”

Vlad drifts off to sleep before hearing the last part but Danny has a whole new appreciation for how much Vlad’s done for him both in the present and what he did in that alternate timeline to help stop his evil future self.

Clockwork eventually comes to “pick him up” so to speak in person after freezing time and Danny facepalms because he forgot the whole reason he came there was to find a cure but now he’s back to square one. Thankfully Clockwork decides to throw him a bone and hints at looking for anything odd from when he first saw the accident and that’s how Danny remembers his dad pouring diet soda into the proto-portal instead of ecto-purifier.

After Danny gets back, he gives his parents the clue and they make the cure for Vlad and give it to him while Danny holds his hand just like before. Vlad soon wakes up and sees Danny, feeling much better and mutters, “Daniel? Is that you? I had the strangest dream. I dreamt I heard your voice while I was still in the hospital...”

Smiling Danny jokes fondly, “Yeah, it sure is. Anyways, welcome back to the world of the living, fruitloop.”

In return Vlad looks over at Jack and Maddie still fiddling with the beakers and such and nods, “It’s good to be back among friends, little badger.”

Kindred Spirits

This is where things take a drastic turn since the Guys in White are more of an issue in this AU, especially the agent I mentioned that was a jerk to Jack Fenton when all those ghost hunters showed up in Amity Park. There’s another reason for this though so we’ll get to that in a bit.

I wasn’t going to use the Guys in White idea since I still think Danny’s human DNA might give away his identity but maybe that could be what moves the story forward into more serious territory.

Again, since Vlad’s not his enemy in this AU, maybe instead its the Guys in White who have been spying on Danny Phantom but they always seem to lose track of him at the strangest times...as if he simply drops off their radars since those aren’t designed to track humans.

As a result, that one agent from before is tasked with tracking down Danny Phantom’s lair earlier on and this leads to a surprise plot twist. So that agent as it turns out is actually an impostor. He joined the Guys in White to learn everything he can about ghosts to control and or destroy them. And in this case, like Freakshow, he wants Danny’s powers for his own so after a fight this agent sneaks to the area he last fought some ghosts and begins gathering ectoplasmic blood samples.

Sadly, half the time it belongs to the other ghosts Danny’s fought but eventually he hits the jackpot and finally gains a sample of Danny’s blood when he’s in ghost form. To get around the issue I was having before, I’m going to say the genetic make up of ghost blood is like the Ghost Zone, it has basic properties but is constantly shifting and mutating which makes it incredibly difficult to clone.

This agent figures if he can clone a ghost to look and act like Danny Phantom, they’ll do his bidding no questions asked. And he does implant the idea that he’s their parent though to ensure their unwavering devotion and loyalty to him, but like canon Vlad he really does only see most of them as tools. After all, he plans to take over the Guys in White and make some serious changes to the system so they’ll be able to weaponize ghosts against their enemies as well as other ghosts for the sake of all of humanity.

Eventually this GIW agent creates Danielle, discovering purely by accident she can disguise herself as a human which makes her perfect for the job he has in mind to plant her as an innocent victim of a ghost attack to lure Danny Phantom into a trap so he can capture him for further study privately from the rest of his fellow comrades.

The rest plays out mostly the same with Danielle looking for Danny Phantom but then she finds out he actually is a human since he has a family and everything. This confuses her more than anything so she tries to find out more, sneaking into his room and finding out they like a lot of the same things.

Her main goal is to still gain his trust though so beyond that Danielle’s only there to wait for the best chance to spring the trap which will reveal a new villain in the show, a corrupt GIW agent who wants to amass a private army of ghosts instead of just blindly trying to destroy ALL of them since they can still be put to good use. He’s literally like the new Vlad of the show.

While dressed in his own outfit different from the classic Guys in White, eventfully he puts his plan in motion with Danielle who shoots Danny in the back while he’s defending himself against him then gets knocked out.

When Danny passes out though, the rogue GIW agent is shocked to see him turn human which complicates things but there’s no turning back now. Still, he gets angry at Danielle and asks, “Why didn’t you tell me Danny Phantom is human too?” to which she replies meekly, “I’m sorry, I didn’t think it was that important since you’re only after Danny Phantom.”

She gets the whole, ‘we’ll talk about this later’ dirty look from him before they fly off to his secret base to confine Danny while he figures out how to proceed from here.

Skipping forward a bit, Danny wakes up trapped in this random laboratory and sees all the secret footage taken of him over the past several months replying on a computer screen but to his horror...there’s stuff about his human half too.

Then we get the reveal of our villain who smirks and reads off, “Daniel James Fenton, age 14, blood type B positive, youngest son of Jack and Maddie Fenton who own a small family business called Fenton Works that develops ghost hunting equipment. I must say that’s quite the profile you have. I wonder though how they’ll react when the find out the ghost they’ve been hunting this whole time is Danny Phantom. Well, luckily for you I have no intention of telling them, that is, as long as you cooperate.”

Inwardly of course Danny is panicking but outwardly he scoffs and retorts, “Oh yeah? Wait til the other Guys in White find out you kidnapped a civilian and cloned a ghost without their permission. Your outfit is kinda different but I’ve met enough of you guys to know how to recognize you dorks. But who exactly are you anyway? How come you know so much about me? You a crazed fan of mine or something?”

“You could say that...” the man replies, patting Danielle’s head as she steps out from behind him, “Unlike the rest of my peers I can see the value in the power ghosts like you possess and believe we can utilize that for the greater good. It’d be a waste to destroy your kind when I have a greater vision of how to use your gifts to for the betterment of mankind. You’re a ghost fighting hero after all, so surely you understand that better than anyone.”

Anyways they talk some more but Danny refuses to cooperate and says he’s not going to let him use other ghosts like puppets or canon fodder so in response the agent starts torturing him instead. But he made the mistake of doing this in front of Danielle who asks him to stop because maybe she can convince him instead, in response he says coldly, “And who told you to think? I gave you a job and it took longer than it should have because a certain someone decided to play house and pretend to be human a bit too long. But you will never be human, so don’t you dare try to talk back to me again!”

Feeling hurt and betrayed by her “father” she attacks him which catches him off guard and she helps free Danny and a fight ensues, but Danny’s still weakened from the torture and Danielle is unstable since the other clones had already dissolved after Danny beat them in a fight so Sam and Tucker end up saving the day by blasting the rogue agent back and then tying him up. I mean he’s only human and not half-ghost so what’s he gonna do about it?

Still, he knows Danny’s secret and even after they delete all the files he had on Danny from the supercomputer the agent laughs cruelly, “If you think this is over you’re sorely mistaken. I’ll be back for you and for that little brat. So enjoy your freedom while you can. Because soon enough you’re both going to be locked up forever in one of the most secure anti-ghost facilities in the country and never see your family or the light of day again!”

“We’ll see about that,” Danny replies coldly, busting some sort of device that would have protected him from being overshadowed and after a few tries Danny manages to make him to forget the events of the last couple days so that he only knows about the existence of Danny Phantom but not that he’s also Danny Fenton.

That said, this is bad news so after talking with his friends about it they agree that Vlad needs to know about this...not to mention Danielle needs a safe place to stay so- Surprise Vlad! You’re now the proud adoptive daddy of a Danny clone made by an evil double agent working for the Guys in White! Congrats!

[antihero-writings]

Before it Kills You Too (Ch2 Snippets 1, 2 & 3)

Fandom: Lore Olympus

Chapter Summary: When Hera gets into a car accident after a fight, Zeus has a moment to ruminate on their relationship. Written using the song “Wait” by Maroon 5 as a prompt.

Character Focus: Zeus

Please note!! This is the previous Ch2 snippets I posted + a new snippet (the new snippet starts with “I would venture to guess she was driving too fast.”)

I’ve been having trouble with this chapter for a very long time, so I’ve decided to post it snippet-by-snippet, because that seems like the only way I’ll successfully finish this fic. 

While this should be as close to the final version as it can be, anything in this snippet is subject to change when the full chapter comes out. (And, hey, to that end, if there’s anything you think needs to be edited here, please kindly let me know!!)

Im really excited about this snippet!! Definitely one of my favorite parts of the chapter!!

Thanks again SO much to those who support this fic and want to read more!! The fact that you want to read more really does mean the world to me!! I appreciate your kind comments so much!!

I’d really appreciate it if you could leave a comment and/or reblog!!! I’m not kidding when I say that makes my week!!

Tagging some folks who’ve shown interest!! @jayyy007 @autumnmoon21 @sunsetsofanemoia, @lynnie51 @what-the-fuckaroni @masquejj

And please do let me know if you’d like me to add you to a taglist for this fic, or message you when new snippets/the next chapter come/s out!!

Chapter 2 Snippets 1, 2 & 3:

Hera was standing in the crowded meadow, surrounded by her friends, laughing that girly little giggle full of sunshine that just about made Zeus’ heart ooze in a puddle out of his chest.

Her blue dress made her eyes look like two shimmering sapphires.

“Have I seen her in a dress that color?” Zeus inquired excitedly from behind the bushes.

“How can we know what you’ve seen?” Aidoneus muttered. “With you creeping around, you might have seen her naked for all we know.”

Zeus punched him in the arm, (lightly).

“I don’t think she’s worn a dress that color!” Posiedon bubbled.

“Thank you, Posiedon. At least someone can answer a question.”

“I think she looks like the sea on summer day.” He put his hands on his face, them sliding slowly.

Zeus eyed him. “Alright, keep it in your toga, Little Green Man.”

“Should we really be here?” Aidoneus muttered. “We weren’t invited.”

“Oh come on,” Zeus stood up, putting his hands on his hips. “Who wouldn’t want to see the King of the gods here?”

Poseidon grinned and stood up behind his brother. “No one!”

“Hestia, Demeter… assorted sane people.” Hades muttered as he stood to follow.

“If that’s sanity I’m glad I’m insane.” Zeus trilled as he strutted up to the entrance.

A cute pink nymph—(rather well endowed in the chestal region—not that he noticed!)—greeted them at the archway.

“Oh! Zeus!” She flushed and bowed. “It’s an honor. Welcome!”

“Why it’s an honor to meet you, my lady.” He kissed her hand, and she giggled. “See?” he turned to his brothers. “They’re delighted to have us.”

“I’ve got a bad feeling.” Hades muttered.

Hera was closer now; she smelled like summer, and she looked like it too. Poseidon was right about the ocean thing; she practically shimmered as she spoke with her friends.

“I’m gonna go talk to her.”

“Wait—!” Hades was soon swallowed by the crowd.

Zeus scooched behind her at lightning speed. One by one her friends began to take notice, their eyes widening.

Hera took a step back and would have tripped in surprise if he hadn’t caught her.

“Careful there, you might fall, Birthday Girl.”

“Oh, Zeus!” She looked up at him, the back of her head hitting his chest, “hi!”

That golden smile.

“I made you something!” As she spun to face him, he produced a little carving of a bird from his pocket. (And, no, he didn’t make it).

“Oh!” She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, gently taking it from him, “It’s beautiful!”

All his responsibilities and stresses melted away with the sight of that smile, and he forgot there was anyone else at the party…in the world.

(…He wished he saw that smile anymore.)

Zeus’ chair was spinning empty at his desk before his assistant could say another word—

And Olympus wept, distant peals of thunder rending the sky into pieces.

Lightning crackled and cackled through his hair, creating violet tracks through the air, as Zeus sped through the sky.

It was freezing, and people were staring, but he didn’t care.

All that mattered was getting to his wife.

“My you look stunning.” Zeus sidled up behind his wife, running his fingers gently along her arm. “Is that a new dress?”

“New as that girlfriend of yours.” Hera grunted.

His eyes widened with shock, his voice with an indignant undertone to it. “Is something wrong?”

She paused a moment. He could see words fluttering behind her lips—(like they did so often, too often)—the words Yes you did something wrong, how can you not know?

He knew she wouldn’t believe him when he said he didn’t mean to hurt her.

“You weren’t invited,” she said softly.

“Not invited? Me?” He put his hand to his chest, like the thought of him ever not being welcome to somewhere was absurd. “To what?”

“The party, you nitwit!” She whirled around, her hair nearly whipping him in the face. “You just came barging in like you owned the place!”

“Well…to be fair—”

He stopped short at the look in her eyes, like two blue-hot flames.

He knew it was taking her a great amount of effort not to slap him.

“Do you know how long I’d been preparing for that?! How long it took me to get everything just right? I told you, but you never even listened, did you? And then you just barged right in!”

“Why are you so upset? What’s so important about a party?!”

“They were my friends.” Her gaze softened, and her tone became more serious. “They were—” Until she cut herself off, and her expression hardened as she whirled around, her hair billowing behind her.

“Bunny, wait!” His tone was softer too.

He wished she’d just turn around. That he could say sorry.

Was it really so hard? He should have started there.

Had he ever apologized for that?

He was always doing that; barging in where he wasn’t welcome. The world was his, yes but…he had to concede there were some parts of it he ought not just barge in on.

When he burst into the hospital, however, they wouldn’t dare tell him he wasn’t invited, wouldn’t dare tell him he couldn’t see her.

“Where. is my. wife?” Lightning slammed into a lamppost just outside the front door, shattering its glass box, and making the light spark, the rain pounding at the window like rabid dogs.

The desk clerk looked like she was about to pee out of sheer fear.

“Sh-sh-she’s not out of surgery yet, your majesty...I understand you want to see her, but I can’t let you…until-until they’re finished.” She was practically vibrating. “I assure you the moment she gets out, we’ll notify you.”

Surgery? He wanted to demand. She’s the queen of the gods, how could she be in surgery?

Electricity sparked in his eyes, trailing throughout his hair. He could say I demand you let me see her. He could say I don’t care! She’s my wife, and I’m not waiting! She’s fine! She’s the queen—she’s my queen—she won’t be hurt from a little car accident!

But there were some places he ought not just barge in on… and the surgeons room was probably one of them.

The lightning let out a sighing crackle, before he closed his eyes, his hair falling back upon his shoulders. It was then that he noticed he was dripping wet from head to toe. He sighed himself before muttering something like a garbled “I understand, thank you.” And turning to sit in the lobby. Behind him the desk clerk’s coworker held her to keep her from fainting.

He snapped his fingers, drying off, so as not to get their nice, barf-colored carpet all wet. Once he sat down in a chair—(the cushions didn’t have any cush to them)—a kid in the chair across from him scooched away.

He could have that kid lightly charred if he wanted.

Instead he settled for a nice glare, and reached over to pick up last month’s—(or maybe it was a few months ago)—issue of  “Goddess weekly” listening to the rain die down to a drum.

The same old gossip. Usually if he picked one of these up he’d check for any news he ought to be aware of. You know, as the king. Not to mention the ladies weren’t unappealing. Now he flicked through without seeing any of it.

Speaking of ladies, there was a nymph sitting across the room from him, her skin blue, her ears down, and a cute little half smile. She surely wasn’t in here for anything serious. She kept glancing from her own magazine to him—but not in a nervous way. If he wasn’t mistaken, she wouldn’t be opposed to a session of hide-the-German-sausage.

If he wanted he could take her there in a darkened closet in the hallway. It wouldn’t take long—(if it didn’t need to…or it could take all night). That would be a nice way to relieve the stress bubbling in his body.

—Someone was laying next to him, her skin smooth, practically glowing. There was rather a lot of it exposed.

She turned over, her eyes fluttering open, a small smile creasing her features as she rolled onto his chest, tickling his chin with her fingers.

“I had a wonderful time,” she twittered, and he practically purred, staring into those big blue eyes, glittering like river stones.

He pushed her green hair behind her ear.

“Is that all? I’d like to think a night with the King of the gods would be more than merely ‘wonderful.’”

She giggled. “No no, it was much more than wonderful! It was spectacular! Mind-blowing!” She threw her arms in the air.

“That’s more like it.” He grinned—

When was that again? Two years ago, or two days ago?

It could have been either.

Had he apologized for that?

Would it have mattered if he had? Would she have forgiven him? Would he have stopped?—

Bile rose in his throat, and he dove his nose so hard into the magazine he almost smacked himself with it.

His wife was bruised and bleeding, and potentially worse in a nearby room, at the mercy of some quack holding a scalpel and a few comforting words…and here he was thinking of betraying her for the…

How many times had it been now?

He threw the magazine back on the table and sank in the chair till his head was nearly on the bottom cushion, his lip flapping his he blew out a breath, making his hair fly up a little.

The kid and his mom got called, and seemed glad of a reason to leave.

After a healthy dose of moping he pulled out his phone. After checking fatesbook and playing a few games he decided it was time to open his messages.

He didn’t want to be alone. He wanted some sensible and non-conjugal company.

He scrolled through and clicked on a name.

A number of old conversations sprinkled the page, often detailing Zeus asking about getting together and the correspondent saying they were busy.

He thought a moment about what to say—(a rare occurrence for him)—before deciding any vague requests would probably get ignored, so he simply decided the boldfaced truth:

Hera’s been in a car accident. She’s in surgery.

“WHAT?!” The word was spoken aloud—and very loudly at that.

Hades was standing in front of him. If the king being here wasn’t enough reason for weird looks, this outburst had sent more than a few eyes their way.

Zeus did a finger wave at the nymph, before he grabbed his brother’s arm, whisking him off to a less crowded hallway.

The only thing here was a vending machine, and a few overly picturesque pictures of trees.

“How did this happen?!”  Hades shout-whispered.

“I would venture to guess she was driving too fast.”

“I could have gathered that myself, thank you very much!” Hades was clearly trying not to shout. “What was she doing?! Where was she going?!”

Zeus rolled folded his arms. “Does it matter?”

“Sure it matters! Well at least it’d be good to know!”

“…I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?! What do you mean you don’t know?! She’s your wife—!”

“I said I don’t know!” he kicked the vending machine.

The air shattered and reformed itself.

Zeus sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, his voice softening. “I…I don’t know.”

Two sides of him warred. One wanted to shout at Hades. He expected him to know where she was at all times? Oh yeah, that would go over well with her. What kind of helicopter husband would he be then?

And yet, it felt wrong for him not to know. Like some sort of failure. She was his wife. Shouldn’t he? Shouldn’t he have asked? Shouldn’t he care?

Hades’ gaze softened.

“I upset her.” Zeus murmured. “We got into a fight.”

Hades leaned against the wall. He was probably resisting the urge to say he could have gathered that too.

Zeus leaned his head forward onto the glass of the vending machine, his hair falling to the side, his reflection vaguely eyeing him.

“We got into a fight and she…I hadn’t even realized she went for a drive.” He paused, observing the chocolate and chips sitting in neat rows in the machine. “Do you think she liked Twyx?”

“Huh?”

“Do you think she liked Twyx?”

Hades pondered it a moment. “Probably. She tends to like things with caramel in them.”

Zeus smiled wryly. “See? I didn’t even know that.”

“I’m sure you’ll be able to ask her all your burning questions about her favorite candy flavors very soon.”

“That’s not the point.” Zeus whispered.

Zeus was feeling a little off-kilter.

He nearly fell into a three-thousand drachma vase.

Okay, make that a lot.

The sound of heels on the staircase. The white one they’d painted for that one event…what had they been celebrating again?

His hazy gaze made her glitter even more than usual.

“Have I ever told you that you’re like the sea on a summer’s day?” Zeus’ voice came out blurry. He put his hand in his hair, trying to look sexy, you know, like the kind of guy you’d wanna forgive.

This was met by her hair slapping him in the face as she walked by him. She paused a few steps below him, turning.

“Is that alcohol I smell on your breath?”

“I may have had one—“ He hiccuped, “or five, appletinis.”

“And this is what? An intelligent conversation you’re trying to have?” She folded her arms over her chest.

“Actually,” he held up a finger. The action made him feel off-balance so he leaned against the railing, trying to land in a sexy pose. “There is something I wanted to say.”

“You’re barely coherent when you’re sober, at least spare me until then.”

He rolled his eyes—(and made himself feel even dizzier).

She turned to go back up the stairs.

“Wait!” He shouted.

She stopped, looked over her shoulder, eyes narrow as a cat’s. “What?”

“I-hic!” He covered his mouth as if embarrassed. Clearly emotion was dangerous. “I wasn’t trying to get wasted! I just-hic!-needed more than three or four to say this.”

“Oh yeah? Spit it out Grape Sorbet.” She folded her arms over her chest.

“I’m…” he held on to the railing for support. “I’m sorry.”

She raised an eyebrow. “I’m listening.”

“You…You were right.” He took a step closer.

“About what?” Her breath bated.

“I just…I didn’t want to admit it. I couldn’t…” He looked away. “I couldn’t tell you sober.”

“About what?” The words had a rough edge to them, her chest heaving with breath.

Ah. She knew. She knew what he was going to say, even before he said it.

“I…I did cheat on you.”

“Wh-What?” Her eyes tinted red…but there was so much hurt in the word.

Fear and shame rose in tandem like ocean waves, threatening to bowl him over, and he realized that the truth wasn’t going to help at all. But all he could do was let it pour out of him.

“You-hic-You asked if I was with-hic—”

“Stop.” She covered her mouth as if to keep the worst words from spilling out, tears welling in her eyes.

“But I—”

“I said stop!” Her voice rang through the room like something shattering.

Maybe something was.

Her heels against the stairs, fast and sharp, and away.

“Wait!”

Turn around please, let me apologize, let me explain, I won’t do it again.

He threw up in the vase.

“Daddy? What was that all about?” The small voice made his blood run cold. “What did you cheat at? Were you playing a game?”

Zeus turned, horrified, to see Ares, hiding behind a crack in the door.

“I shouldn’t have yelled at her.” He breathed. “It was stupid, really.”

Hades put a dollar in the vending machine and punched in a number.

“People say all kinds of things when they’re angry. Doesn’t mean you’re bad, just means you’re people. Which…” Hades looked him up and down, adding under his breath, “I wonder about sometimes.”

“...You must think I’m a terrible husband.”

Hades grabbed two chocolate bars and handed one to his brother.

“I think you need something sweet, maybe a little hydration, and some rest.”

Zeus unwrapped the bar and took a bite, not really tasting anything.

After a moment Hades sighed.

“It’s not so simple as that.” Hades said between bites, “I don’t necessarily think there’s such a thing as a ‘terrible husband’ or ‘the best husband.’ I…I don’t even think there’s such a thing as good and bad people. There’s just…people. There’s just husbands. But there are rules that come with being a person, and/or being a husband and…” he paused, trying to choose his words carefully, “you don’t always follow those rules.”

Zeus fell back against the wall, looking at the floor, denials dying in his throat.

It was raining.

No, actually it was pouring. And thundering. The lightning was like cracks in a collapsing sky, and Zeus’s gut was twisting like the snakes on the head of a gorgon.

“What? You-you think you can just undo this?!” Hera’s words were biting. “It’s done!” Her laugh was wry and sardonic, like an ache in her throat, red tainting the blue of her eyes. “You can’t just fix something like that! Once someone cheats at the game no one else just keeps playing!”

“It was a mistake! One stupid night!”

“One stupid night, huh?! Then how do you explain this?!” She held up his phone. The pictures. The…Oh Gaia.

The snakes in his gut bit down, and he bit his lip looking away. He hadn’t known she knew about that.

“You’ve got it all wrong! That was just—!”

“I thought you were different!” She bit off his excuse, the anger cracked, and the pain was bleeding through, and he wasn’t the only one making it rain: A tear fell down her face, then another, her mascara running black along her cheeks. “You made me smile, you made me laugh! You saved your brothers from your father. And I thought we could make a kingdom—a world—together!” She shook her head, grimacing, trying and failing to keep more tears from falling. “I thought we could be something!”

“We are! We have! I just made a mistake! I—!”

“No, Zeus.” There was a finality to her tone.

Tears streamed down her face now. He hated it when she cried. She didn’t do it often, and whenever she did he was ready to smite whoever hurt her but…he’d hurt her worst of all.

“I thought you were different. But you’re—“ the words were like an antique vase, riddled with cracks. “You’re just another bad guy.” She punched him in the arm, and the vase broke, the defiance into pain. She punched him in the arm…but it was weak and far too soft, and that’s how he knew she was really hurt; she could bring the sky down on him if she wanted.

She looked down at her hand, twisting her wedding ring with a finger.

“I’m staying with a friend tonight.”

Her wedding ring tinkled on the floor.

As she turned and walked away the word rang out like he was hoping his voice alone could rewrite his sins and bring her back:

“Wait!”

She didn’t stop, didn’t turn, didn’t make any indication she’d even heard him.

“Please…Please just wait.” These were soft.

He fell to his knees on the marble, scooping up her wedding ring and enclosing it in his fingers, holding it to his forehead, and trying not to bring the sky down upon himself.

He’d seen her angry. He’d seen her sad. But this? Seeing her break for him…was so much worse.

It reminded him too much of another time. Of a scar on her stomach. How she broke herself just to be his.

—(And he wondered, for a fleeting moment, if it would have been better if he had been the one to break.)—

“There you are!” Said a voice. “You can come see her now,”—a cleared throat— “your Majesty.”

*

Notes: Aright, so this chapter had a few things I was unsure about I thought I’d ask about here!

1. Does anyone have any other clever play-on-words for candy brands? I feel like Zeus would know that she likes caramel in general, so it’d make more sense if Hades said “she likes [X similar candy] so she’d probably like Twyx.” But Twyx is all my brain came up with and I don’t even know that it’s all that good XD

2. I’m aware that the gods don’t call each other “people” they call each other “beings.” However, Hades’ lines don’t have as much impact with “beings.” Did the fact that I used “people” stick out too much? Should I change it to “beings”?

3. I know Ancient Greek wedding ceremonies are different from ours, and they might not even have wedding rings. But that image was so impactful for me I decided to use it. Should I remove it? Or did you find it impactful?

Please let me know if there’s anything you felt was inaccurate to their characters!!

Thanks so much for reading!! 💕💕