#Some of the stuff that's bad for cats is bad for humans too but thankfully most people don't try to chew on mistletoe

[lunellum]

Bought some flowers today and the man at the flower stall sure gave me a weird look when I asked him to hold on while I googled if his suggestions were cat safe

So this is your irregular periodic reminder that a lot of decorative plants are not pet safe and if you have a cat that like to chew on the greenery, please be careful.

Off the top of my head (by no means an exhaustive list): Lilies, poinsettias, eucalyptus, daffodils, hyacinths, oleander

[imtrashraccoon]

(Feel like i have asked this before already.....but fuck it we ball 😎)

(This makes more sense if you watch a small clip of the nameless lolita from artiswitch by the way, because its a bit inspired by her!)

A question for UT, UF and US sans and papyri!

What is their reaction to their S/O being a lolita? More so what is their reaction to their S/O being very clear about what they like and dont like (example: "i like pink", "i dont like the sun", "i like cats", "i hate people") its also how they got confessed to, their now S/O straight up saying "i like you" to their face, monotone voice, unreadable expression.

Their voice is very monotone, and their expression is mostly unreadable. They dont like being around people, so they mostly stay by their skele S/O (or their brother if said S/O isnt around) and if they want to get away they stare blankly at them until they get the hint. They also stare just...because. you know how cats sometimes like to watch their favourite person do stuff? They do that, just follow them around and quietly watch them.

They have also once hit someone with their parasol because they were just so done with said person

Luckily it was only once (for all the skelies know)

Well, hello again Anon! (Whichever one you are as I don't have any reccuring Anons yet, that I know of. Unless you want to be the first!) I must apologize for taking a month to answer your ask, but I encountered some writer's block and couldn't seem to write anything for this.

Anyways, I can't say I've ever written about this sort of thing so you're good! I tried to find Artiswitch and I think I did. She's super cute and I can see why you like her. (I'll probably end up watching the whole series now because of how interesting it looks!)

I'm gonna answer this with my versions of the brothers, okay?

Undertale: Classic (Sans) & Vanilla (Papyrus)

Classic

He actually likes how frank you are since it leaves no question about your intentions. He has a hard time trusting people, especially humans, and to have someone so open about their likes and dislikes is refreshing. He's not nearly as open about his feelings but he admires that about you.

He's already crazy good at reading people's emotions and intentions but you are a bit trickier than most. When he first meets you, he is admittedly a little worried but warms up with time. He is quick to pick up when you're uncomfortable or want to get out of a situation, even when he barely knows you. It helps that he's got plenty of experience deciphering Frisk's blank expressions. The staring is a bit awkward though. Does he have something on his face? He soons learns that you just like to watch him but you might need to outright tell him that to reassure his worries.

When you told him that you liked him, he thought you were making some sort of joke. He's tried to make you laugh many, many times but was usually unsuccessful. This isn't really funny though? You might have to try again and be a bit firmer before he realizes that you meant it.

He was concerned when you hit someone with your parasol and moved to see if you needed back up. He wasn't about to get involved if you didn't want help, especially because monsters aren't super well liked by humans, but he's also a good guy. Thankfully, the annoying human decided to leave when they noticed him so he didn't have to do anything else. However, he now knows that there's more to you than what your quiet and well dressed appearance might suggest. He's not too sure what to think about that though.

Vanilla

He's a bit concerned about your straightforward demeanor. You're also so quiet compared to him and at first he may accidentally end up speaking over you. He really doesn't mean to though and feels bad as soon as he realizes. He's a bit slower on the uptake than his brother but that doesn't mean he's completely oblivious. He just gets hyper focused sometimes but he's pretty good at clocking if something is wrong. He may not know immediately what, but he doesn't like it when people are uncomfortable, so he tries to cheer them up if he can.

He's very smart and once he hangs around you for a little while, he starts to figure out what you're thinking without you having to say anything. He's definitely not an expert when it comes to reading human facial expressions or body language, but he learns your subtle tells much faster than you expected. He's also not as creeped out by your staring as some people might be. He understands that not everyone is as talkative as he tends to be and that's alright! He'll talk for the both of you if you want.

He didn't think you were serious at first when you said that you liked him. Of course you liked him, he's the Great Papyrus! Wait, you meant that you liked liked him... Well he certainly wasn't expecting someone as cool as you to be interested in him but he's incredibly flattered.

He was also concerned when you hit someone with your parasol, but not in the way you might expect. That's not the best weapon for defending yourself, don't you know? Still, he was concerned and checked to make sure both you and the weirdo were alright. After he realized why you resorted to hitting them, he made sure they left the area and checked on you afterwards. Your form was actually pretty good though! Maybe you'd like meeting his friend Undyne...?

Underfell: Crimson (Sans) & Scar (Papyrus)

Crimson

He appreciates how clear you are about what you like and dislike. He's not one to dance around things and hates it when others string him along. Your quiet demeanor is a bit scary but in a hot kind of way. He has a hard time figuring out what's going on in your head since you don't emote a whole lot. Still, if you do something to catch his attention, he might be interested in getting to know you better.

He's not used to hanging around someone who doesn't get upset easily so for a while he's basically walking on eggshells around you. Your quietness is rather adorable though and he quickly finds himself growing soft. His ability to figure out what you want is correct maybe sixty percent of the time since while he's not awful at reading body language, his talents mostly apply to monsters. The staring is a bit weird at first, but when he realizes that it's because you enjoy looking at him? Well, he's gonna put a bit more effort into his looks from now on...

Wait, you like him?! You're kidding, right? He's shocked to say the least. He was certainly thinking about you but he hadn't worked himself up to actually ask you out yet. You are aware that he's not exactly a gentleman right? You're pretty cute though so he's willing to see where this goes.

Unfortunately, he didn't notice you at first. You're a lot different from the people he usually hangs around with and is interested in. That is, until you absolutely beam some pathetic loser over the head with your parasol. That was unexpected and he couldn't help but chuckle a little. He was content to sit back and watch but when the loser started getting more aggressive, he decided to step in. At least he only had to give them a look before they ran off.

Scar

He can't stand nonsense so he also likes that you make your likes and dislikes very clear. He's not a very quiet person so he'll inevitably talk over you. If you're upset by this, he'll apologize and try to make an effort not to in the future. He doesn't trust very easily though so it might be a while before he feels comfortable around you.

He's also not used to hanging around people that don't flip out at the drop of a hat. He doesn't know what to do with himself? He really admires your sense of style though. He puts effort into his appearance but not nearly to the extent that you do, not that he would wear the majority of what you do as he generally prefers leather over lace. While he's not great at deciphering your expressions, he certainly tries his best and that should count for something.

Of course you like him! He's the Great and Terrible Papyrus. Everyone admires his strength and skill, so why shouldn't you? He may talk big game but he's desperately trying to hide how flustered your confession made him. You'll have to be very clear about your intentions if you actually want to date him, but when you are official, he'll treat you like an absolute queen.

He picked you out of the crowd immediately because you were dressed completely different from everyone else. He was in the middle of trying to figure out if you'd made your outfit yourself or bought it from somewhere, when you were accosted by a creepy human. If he had eyebrows, they'd have flown off his skull when you smacked them with your parasol. He didn't approach you right away but he did move closer to make sure the creep wouldn't try it again. Maybe later he'll acknowledge how impressive that attack was.

Underswap: Dell (Sans) & Saffron (Papyrus)

Dell

While he likes that you're clear with your likes and dislikes, he's a little concerned about you. Still, maybe you just need a friend? He has a lot more energy than you do so he may overwhelm you at first, but he's always considerate of your comfort. He can't really help it, especially since he thinks you're so cool.

He's great at drawing the best out of people and you're no exception. He'll figure out the best way to make you laugh and time spent with him is possibly some of the best fun you've had in ages. Sure, he thinks you're a bit strange but you're not that different from a lot of people he knows. Maybe among humans you stand out but among monsters you fit in rather well in his opinion. Your quietness and habit of staring are just endearing features in his eyes.

Why wouldn't you like him? He's the Magnificent Sans and he's friends with everyone! Well, he tries to be but not everyone can keep up with his exuberance. Still, he's very touched by your confession, even more so, when he realizes that you don't necessarily just like him as a friend.

He was on his way to compliment your sense of style when you smacked a random person with your parasol. He was concerned at first until he realized the human had been harrassing you. He stepped in to back you up and together you sent them packing. Man, he thinks you're so cool after that display! He's shocked you don't have any martial training and immediately offers to teach you what he knows in case this happens again.

Saffron

There are very few people, especially humans, that he can trust. He appreciates that you cleared up any of his doubts from the get go since not everyone is as straightforward as you. He has a bad tendency to hide his true intentions from everyone, including his brother, but he's at least aware that it makes him a hypocrite. Maybe you'll help him open up a bit more.

He's naturally observant and can usually guess what someone's thinking just by looking at them. You're harder than most but he soon adapts to your mannerisms once he gets to know you. He's good friends with Chara and your quietness is similar enough that he soon learns your subtle hints that you're uncomfortable and want to leave a situation. He is a bit unnerved by your staring though. He's very much aware that he isn't a looker and it's hard for him to believe that you just like looking at him rather than being rude.

Oh you're funny. There's no way you actually like him... You'll probably have to insist that you like him a couple times before he believes you. He has admittedly been crushing on you for a while, so once he gets over his insecurities, you'll likely have a very sweet relationship.

He'd been observing you for a while before witnessing you whack some poor fool with your parasol. He nearly had to pick up his jaw from the floor as he hadn't been expecting someone as quiet as you to be as feisty. This is definitely when he first developed a crush but it took him a while before he actually tried to act on it. You've definitely caught his interest and later on, he'll go check on you to make sure you're alright. It's definitely not just an excuse to go talk to you...

[sizebrained]

Extra: First November Morning (Morning After Halloween Party)

I apparently have a thing for morning afters... CW: Adult themes, language, suggestive desires, mentions of nudity, mouthplay/light vore, fluff, angst! *** Cob took a deep breath in and out through their nose. They kept their eyes closed. They felt warm but it seemed dark for the morning.

They felt air rushing across their face. It was followed by a humming noise that filled their body. Sam.

Cob opened their eyes. Sam's whole face was hovering just above Cob. It was no wonder it seemed dark, she was blocking out everything else with her sheer size. Even the morning sun.

Cob realized they were lying on their back on the bed. Their body was trying to get away somehow, but couldn't move. They could only sink deeper into it as Sam's large, bright green eyes drilled into them.

She looked a lot more like a cat right now than someone who had spent the night dressed as a big red dog.

Cob felt their heart racing from being the center of the huge human's attention. Sam was all Cob could see looking up from far corners of vision in both eyes. She was everywhere and so close. They could feel the mass of her hovering over them.

Cob felt even smaller than usual.

Cob was stunned by how pretty she looked even after such a terrible night. Cob wanted to look down at the rest of her but knew they'd be noticed Sam was so close.

It didn't look like Sam was wearing any clothes. Cob's breath quickened.

As they were lost in their thoughts and feeling a little trapped, a long strand of Sam's curly hair fell down and smacked them right in the face harder than they would expect.

"Oh geez I'm sorry Babe. Here..." Sam said in a soft whisper. Cob stared at her plump lips moving as the words left her mouth. They were getting lost in thoughts about Sam's mouth again.

Thankfully, Sam interrupted their train of thought by bringing her massive fingertip to Cob's face.

Her fingertip would easily cover Sam's whole face and then some. Cob's breath halted as Sam stroked Cob's cheek and then curled the finger around the strand of hair lifting it up and away.

It struck Cob that this was a very intimate way for Sam to choose to move the hair. And she was taking her time. They weren't entirely sure what was happening but they wanted it to keep going.

Sam bent her hair wrapped finger at the knuckle and tucked it behind her ear. She did it so slowly. As the hair moved, Cob could smell the fruity hair stuff she used that they loved.

"Good morning by the way babe. How'd you sleep? Uh my breath doesn't smell too bad does it?" Sam said covering her mouth with the same hand that had just moved her hair.

Cob stared at each of her fingers nearly twice the length of her whole body. She had such big hands for a human. Everything about her was so big.

They saw the light shimmer off her nails still painted bright red. The night before, Sam had asked for their help getting ready for the party. Cob was thrilled when Sam asked for help painting her nails. They were only too happy to make sure the edges and corners were perfect. Sam noticed. She had told them it was the best nail job she ever had. Cob was worried she was just saying that, but the look on her face seemed sincere. "No, no, no, it's uh fine. You're really close though..." Cob said hearing their heart pounding as the back of Sam's fingers covering her mouth were almost brushing against their chest as they lay frozen in place. "Oh sorry..." Sam's large body rustled the sheets of Ben's bed as she adjusted to push herself up and give Cob space. "No, no, no...that's uh fine too. It's...nice. You're just...uh..." Cob started but lost their train of thought as they watched Sam's bright eyes perk up and take in their small body. "I'm what?" Sam asked in an even softer whisper. If she was any closer she'd be talking right into Cob's body. There was a look in her eyes that Cob didn't understand.

It was like she was waiting for Cob to say something even though she knew what it would be. Sam was so in control but still letting Cob prod and lead. "You're so...beautiful..." Cob finally managed to get out. Sam only smiled and lowered her face down until the tip of her nose was pressed into Cob's forehead. The soft point of it didn't hurt. It reminded Cob of how much more body it was attached to and could press down on top of them. It was so delicate and deliberate of her. Cob held their breath without realizing it. They watched her lips filling their view as she spoke. "You saved me. Cob you're so...you saved me," Sam whispered. "It...was...it was...nothing...it..." Cob stuttered. "It was everything. Thank you. I don't know what would have...if you hadn't been with me," Sam said before pausing. She lifted up her nose and saw Cob take a deep breath. They were panting. Sam kept her head up just enough so that she wouldn't go cross eyed looking at them. "It was really Hazel who saw it and she just somehow told me in time so I tried to think of some way to..." Cob was talking fast trying to diminish Sam's praise.

Sam interrupted.

"Can I give you a kiss...to thank you?" Sam asked in a slow whisper. Cob thought they might still be asleep. They felt like they were going to pass out from the pressure building in their head. Their heart pounded in anticipation. Cob only nodded. Sam chuckled. "I need to hear you say it's ok Babe," Sam reiterated louder. "It's ok!" Cob blurted out before Sam could finish saying Babe. It made Sam smile. She licked her lips once to make sure they weren't dry. Then she lowered her face down and puckered her lips as she pressed them lightly into Cob's face. It got even darker for Cob as she did. They felt their face moisten from the lips that stretched above her head past her chin.

Cob didn't know what to do. They didn't know what they even could do. They stayed frozen in place as their body tensed then relaxed suddenly. It was the greatest feeling Cob had ever felt.

Cob wondered if they should kiss her back or would she even feel it. They weren't even sure what was happening as the moment continued. Then Sam's lips lifted up off their face. Before Cob could do anything else they were back kissing their chest this time. Cob made a whimper like noise. Sam lifted their face up quickly. "I didn't hurt you did I?" Sam asked worried. Cob was panting and staring up at Sam wide eyed and needy. They shook their head. "No. It...it didn't hurt it..." Cob started before Sam interrupted them again. "Good," she said simply before returning her lips to Cob's chest and torso. Cob whimpered again and tried to stay quiet but couldn't. Sam's nose brushed up against their chin. It didn't hurt but it felt like they'd brushed into a wall she was so much bigger and immoveable. Cob was confused by how delicate she could be at her size. "Sam..." Cob cried and brought her hands up holding onto both sides of the bridge of Sam's nose. Sam merely made a questioning "Mhmn?" humming sound as she kept kissing Cob relentlessly over and over. From their face back to their torso. "Don't stop..." Cob begged under the assault of the enormous girl's lips. Then suddenly it did stop and Cob looked up panting at Sam who had a devliish grin on their face. "I wasn't going to, but I was gonna ask you something..." Sam said before lowering her face again and brought her lips to the left side of Cob's head nearly pressing into it. "Do you want to be in my mouth again?" Sam asked in a knowing whisper that filled Cob's head with the sound and desire of it. "Yes..." Cob said as they turned to lay on the side of their body and look at Sam. "Then...I think you should get out of that costume first...and watch your tail," Sam instructed. Then Sam giggled while she laid the side of her face down. She licked her lips and opened her mouth wide. Sam stuck out her tongue and then rolled it upwards like she was licking the air inviting Cob in. Cob's whole body shuddered. Outside of Ben's bedroom, Hazel was still fast asleep in her own bed on the top shelf of the bookcase. It had been a long exhausting night. She was rudely awakened by the feeling of something heavy nudging her back. Hazel groaned and rolled over to face the culprit wake her from the dream she was having but couldn't quite remember. She opened her eyes to see Ben's face filling the bookcase. He was leaning in and threatening to crush her things with his big clumsy head. "Ben?! It is far too early for you to be waking me," Hazel groaned and rolled over with her back to him.

Ben's eyes scrunched up in confusion at her, his big eyebrows moving like they were animals of their own.

"It's almost 4 in the afternoon..." Ben said. "In the bloody afternoon?!" Hazel repeated surprised. She never slept this late. "Uh yeah...I was getting bored and didn't want to make too much noise. I think Sam and Cob are still sleeping," Ben explained clueless as to what had actually been going on behind his closed door.

"So you decided the best course of action would be to wake ME up?" Hazel asked as the annoyance seeped through her words. "Uh yeah..." Ben replied stopping himself before he apologized. Hazel stood up out of bed facing him. Ben's head moved back silently out of her bookshelf to give her some more space.

She raised her arms up over her head then bent down at the waist and touched her toes. Her tail stood up straight and swished back and forth a few times. After his comment last night, she wasn't about to make the mistake of doing such a movement with her rear facing him. Hazel stood back up and crossed her arms as she twisted her torso from side to side. She finished stretching and walked to the edge of the shelf taking him in. "Where on earth is your shirt...and why on earth are you...wet?" She asked confused as she looked down over his body going all the way down the floor. When she looked him up and down, Hazel sometimes felt like a mountaineer taking in the view of a spectacular climb that had taken a whole expedition to reach.

Ben just went on forever. She didn't think she would ever get used to it. Part of her didn't ever want to. "Oh! I...uh...went for a run but I didn't want to wake up Sam and Cob by changing so I just ran in this..." Ben explained. "A run," Hazel repeated.

She was surprised that he had been quiet enough to come and go without her waking. She must have been tired.

Normally she would climb onto his shoulder, but she hesitated with him being semi-nude again and covered in sweat. Hazel noticed that he seemed to be standing strangely and her eyes narrowed questioningly. "What are you doing?" Hazel asked suspiciously. "What do you mean?" Ben asked trying to be nonchalant but she knew him too well. "Are you...oh dear lord...are you flexing right now?!" Hazel asked as a smile crossed his face. "Uh no..." Ben lied and shifted in place. He had been flexing. He was trying to show off. "Ben..." Hazel started before considering her words carefully. He took a step closer to the bookshelf and held onto the top of it with one bent arm. She watched as he very obviously flexed the bicep filling one vertical length of it making the muscle swell out rounder. Despite herself, her heart skipped a beat at the size of him. She could not be this weak around him all the time. She had said too much the night before and it went to his head. "You...are incorrigible," Hazel finally said regaining her composure. "I'm...not...sick," Ben said not sure what that word meant and guessed. "That is very true," Hazel said laughing, not bothering to explain further.

Ben gave her a pouting expression. He lowered his flexed arm and offered his flat hand for her to climb onto. She did so without waiting afraid to test his sensitivies any further. She looked up at him, right at his eyes. His stupidly captivating eyes. Hazel hoped Sam's didn't have the same effect on Cob as Ben's did on her. Ben walked with his one hand in front of him with Hazel standing on the palm like it was very practiced, and it was. He went over to his door and gently lowered his head to press his ear against it. Hazel could already hear the sound of the shower running without being against the door. Ben pulled the side of his head back away from it figuring it out for himself. He turned and walked over to the kitchen counter. Hazel stayed silent thinking about Cob and Sam outright sharing a bed for the night. And possibly a shower now.

With Cob having moved in with Sam some time ago, Hazel could at least pretend their situation was similar to hers and Ben. But she worried Sam would be too much for their sibling. Hazel leapt off of Ben's hand as it lowered to the counter to land easily on the shining white expanse of it.

Ben turned his back to her and went to the fridge pulling out one of the sports nutrition drinks Hazel thought were revolting. She noticed he bent down far lower than he needed to and seemed to shake his rump from side to side in a very exaggerated way. "Ben I swear..." Hazel warned crossing her arms. "What?" Ben looked back over his shoulder at her for a second before standing up and walking over to her again. He shook then twisted the drink open and started chugging it while not breaking eye contact. He was so tall and wide that it almost didn't look right. Like he wasn't quite real and it threw Hazel off more and more. She had expected to get used to it, but she couldn't. Then he would have the gall to do something like be cute or look at her a certain way that made her weak in the knees. But this morning she was resolved. "I swear if you do not stop flexing and being bizarre and put your bloody tits away I am moving out," Hazel admonished. It made Ben cough and almost spit out his drink mid-gulp. "My tits?" Ben asked and flexed them one at a time so they would bounce rhythmically. It did not look sexy and he knew it. The look on his face wasn't helping.

He was trying to make her laugh. She knew it too. It was so good to see him coming out of his shell these past few months. She never would have imagined the boy who seemed more frightened than her when they had first met making jokes like this. She loved to see him happy. Hazel also knew that wasn't all that she loved about him. She sucked her lower lip into her mouth and ran it across her teeth to try and keep from laughing. Thankfully, Ben was interrupted when his bedroom door opened. Sam emerged with a towel wrapped around her head and she was wearing Ben's robe. She locked eyes with Hazel and closed the distance between them with a few steps. Sam's knees bent and she crouched down bringing her face level to the counter as she held onto the edge with both hands. Hazel took a step back a little flustered by the quick and deliberate movement. "Hazel. Thank you. For last night. Cob told me how you were the one who noticed what that guy was doing...was planning...and thank you. Thank you so much," Sam said very slowly. Her eyes starting to tear up as she continued. "Of course," Hazel replied trying to pinpoint the newfound feeling she felt for Sam.

There was something about seeing her go through everything that filled Hazel with the kind of empathy she used to get with her suffering patients. "I don't know how I can repay you," Sam said. "Do not be ridiculous. You saved Cob remember? You've probably saved them more than I am even aware of these past few months. I understood our agreement. We would look after one another correct?" Hazel asked looking behind Sam over at Ben. He stayed still watching the two talk but locked eyes with Hazel. It made her heart skip a beat again. She stayed staring at him for a long moment. "About that..." Sam said making Hazel look back at Sam only to find the same green eyes staring back.

Hazel thought it was wildly unfair for them to be born with those eyes. "We need to talk about a part of that agreement," Sam finished. Hazel raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "Which part exactly?" Hazel asked sharply but she could already guess. "The part where Cob and I don't...well..." Sam started before clearing her throat and standing up to her full height again. She crossed her arms too.

It wasn't that she found squatting to be uncomfortable, but wanted every advantage she could get for the argument she was expecting. She would probably look far more intimidating if she hadn't been drowning in her brother's robe.

"Cob and I...we...Well we have feelings for each other. More than friends...feelings," Sam explained. "I have suspected as much for some time," Hazel said flatly. "I promised you I wouldn't cross any lines, but I can't keep that promise anymore...I..." Sam stopped for a second looking for the words. "If you hurt them I will crawl into your bed while you are asleep with a sharp needle and..." Hazel warned before Sam interrupted before she could finish her very specifically detailed threat. "I would never!" Sam said. "In my experience THAT is something you can never promise nor should you try," Hazel growled. Sam sighed and nodded. "I would never hurt them intentionally, you should know that at least by now," Sam said not looking at Hazel anymore but staring away thinking. "I do," Hazel said then thought to herself for a moment.

The silence was heavy and thick. Ben broke it by opening the fridge for another drink. "Cob is...has been...an adult for some time. I...they...well...They should get to live and experience the same things I did. Although, I cannot say I ever experienced anything close to you..." Hazel said to Sam. But she was staring at Ben as she spoke. Ben's heart was racing as Hazel stared at him and he stared right back in silence. He took a sip of his drink and looked away. "You do not have my blessing but you at least have my consent that that part of our agreement need not apply any longer..." Hazel finally said.

Sam took a deep happy sigh and clutched her chest with one hand. "That's such relief. It would have been real awkward if it wasn't ok with you because we just fucked our brains out," Sam admitted. "You what?!" Hazel exclaimed. Ben was sputtering and coughing having actually choked on his drink over his sister's words. "You didn't have to tell her like that!" Cob exclaimed suddenly popping out from the pocket on the chest of the robe Sam was wearing.

After the two had finished and showered, Cob had been hiding and listening the whole time from the robe. Cob look flustered for a moment but then they smiled sheepishly at their sister. *** End

[howlingday]

since we're talking about a dc rwby au, i actually had an idea for jaune in gotham learning under cat woman on how to be a thief. at first it's mainly because he's desperate to help his family who're struggling to make ends meat. but after a while he really starts to enjoy the thrill of his job. right up until he manages to get himself caught up in some supervillain bullshit and now he's a known entity to both sides.

taking the name Tom Cat as his persona his main ability is his bullshit luck and improv skills, he always seems to find the perfect way to get out of a situation.

might be fun to keep rwby as superheroes also pyrrha as wonder woman, nora as hawk girl (but with a hammer), and ren as green lantern.

meanwhile jaune's neither hero nor villain. the guy just wants to make some money and dip out but finds himself fighting both sides to save the world (mainly because he keeps all his stuff there)

Hm, interesting. For now, though, let's explore the Jaune Arc as Catwoman's apprentice angle. And now, without further ado, I present unto you...

TOM CAT

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

Gotham City wasn't perfect. In fact, it was the exact opposite of perfect. One could argue it as the physical manifestation of Murphy's Law. What can go wrong out here, will go wrong out here. Even in the suburbs on the outskirts of Gotham proper. But it was still my home.

Home. It's weird calling it that. I don't even know if I'm from this world. Mom took me in after a job gone wrong, and I'm just the one stray who hasn't ran off yet. Well, me and Cleocatra, but I still have all my teeth.

But back to the important business, I'm not from Gotham. In fact, according to Mom's b- I mean, Mr. Wayne, I'm not even from Earth. Something about my "genetic makeup" is similar, but completely different from other humans.

But that doesn't change the fact that I'm my mother's son. Sure, we may not look exactly alike, but she's still my mom. She taught me everything I know. I learned how to walk, talk, know my directions, and even how to crack a ShelLock safe blindfolded!

All the important life lessons for a future up-and-coming world-class thief. Just like Mom.

"36... 24... 36..." It wasn't actually that, but I saw it on TV, and it's been stuck in my head ever since. Mom doesn't like it, but she never told me why, so I figured that if I'm going solo on a job, I might as well keep saying it. What's the worst that could happen?

CLICK!

"Don't move, Cat."

Oh, right. Remember Murphy's Law? Well, it's here, and it gets better. Jaune heard a click, and the man muttered away from him. Yup, this party was about to get bigger. But Jaune had it under control. Really.

"Can you order a pizza while you're at it?"

"Shut the hell up. Do you know who's safe that is?"

"If I guess right, what do I win?"

Ah, right. The ol' gun to his head. A classic, never out of style choice. Personally, he would have preferred a comic book, but beggars can't be choosers, right?

With a spin, the gun was knocked to the air and a fist nestled deep into the goon's gut. Flick of a wrist later, and the gun fell to the ground. A headbutt here, a backfist there, and the thug was down.

No time for witty one-liners. Cash, jewels, and whatever else was in the safe was shoveled into the bag. Even found a neat folder inside. Wasn't a comic book, but it'll do.

Hop, skip, and a jump later, and the room was free of both cat and cash. Now for the long trek home. Thankfully, it wasn't too bad a run. All he had to do was get to the train station and-

Oh no.

Either there was an eclipse was tonight, or everything was about to get so much more complicated. Jaune could've stopped and let the nice Batman go easy on him, or he could keep all of his hard-earned loot. Decisions, decisions.

Never was good at making the smart choices.

Leaping across rooftops, being chased by a legend himself is no easy task, but nothing Jaune wasn't used to. As his face met the hard ground of the rooftop, he wished he could say that.

"What are you doing out here?"

"Would you believe me if I told you I was sleepwalking?" A thumb pressed into Jaune's hand. "OW! OW! OW! OKAY, I WAS DOING A BURGLARY!"

"Who did you steal from?" Jaune felt the pressure ease up, but the thumb remained where it was.

"I dunno, some guy's place!" Jaune felt the thumb press a little. "No, really! I don't know! All I know is he had a security guard or two!" The thumb pressed more. "AGH! OKAY! IT WAS ARMANO MORETTI, OKAY?!"

The thumb was lifted off, and the legend turned Jaune to meet him face-to-face. Pointed mask and near-snarling grimace confirmed Jaune's worst fears.

"Does your mother know you're out here?"

"No, she doesn't."

Ice filled his veins as his blue eyes widened. Jaune glanced to the side and saw his mom walking up to him. He recognized her walk, too. It wasn't her usual, "teasing Mr. Wayne" walk. No, this was her "Mama Kyle" walk, as in what she did when Jaune screwed up.

"H-Hi, Mom."

"Hello, Tom." She growled. Jaune felt so small under her glare. "So this is you 'hanging out at Tony's later'?" Jaune gulped as she sighed. "What did you steal?"

ZIP!

The bag came open, and the loot started getting rummaged through. Stacks of bills. Deeds, diplomas, and permits. Pearls, emeralds, and so many golden trinkets. All swiped from one place. However, of all of the loot, only one stood out from the rest.

Without a word, Batman took the folder and opened it. Swiping and flipping through the pages, he tapped the side of his mask. He shut the folder and set it back in the pile.

"Leaving so soon?" She asked.

"You already have your hands full. And now, so do I."

And there he goes, off as silently as he arrived. Y'know, before he smashed into the pavement. Still, it was hard to believe he was letting Jaune go AND leaving the loot! What a great night!

"Tom," Jaune gulped as he heard that warning tone of her, "we have a lot to talk about."

'However do you mean, sir?'

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

"The file contained a list of assassins, Alfred. Some of whom I more than recognize."

"And I myself as well.". Alfred replied through communications. "I seem to recall a similar gathering with these exact individuals as well.".

"Falcone is hiring assassins, Alfred; assassins who are going after rival crime bosses."

"I see. And what of the other names on the list? They certainly don't appear to hold the same criminal element.".

"No, but it's still lives at stake."

The names raced through his mind like an assassin's bullet. Tomorrow night, the hubt began, and four names caught his attention the most.

Bruce Wayne

Selina Kyle

Tom Cat

Batman

[koumeowkami]

🪐 no celestial ; kanallen

— chapter six

"Kanata was a poor little angel that heaven couldn't help. He'd always been a tough one, not trusting anyone but his little brother Nayuta, the only person that ever made him feel love. Growing up by themselves, he did everything in his power to protect his sick brother, things that dirtied his holy hands. "It's for a good cause though", he thought. But it wasn't enough, and Nayuta died soon after.

Kanata's soul was completely spent. He became unable to feel love, and adding to his dirty dealings that soon were found out, he got cast out of heaven. Fallen on Earth with his wings blackened, he felt so lost and empty he thought he could've just died.

But a random encounter with a very annoying, persistent, stupid redhead human boy would've made him discover love again."

2268 words

genre: supernatural, hurt/comfort, angst

warnings: none

previous ✧ next

Weeks kept going by, as Kanata was slowly getting accustomed to the hectic life of the city. He was learning how things worked there, how humans worked. As he wasn't used to being around people to begin with, living with Suzaku and his friends had never seemed to be appealing to him: actually, it felt absolutely atrocious in the first few days. They were noisy, annoying, and the redhead's friends were constantly nagging the boy to do the dishes, clean his room and stuff like that; although he absolutely hated them for never being quiet, he had to agree his current roommate's bedroom was a literal mess, as there were clothes and records scattered everywhere and his bed was never tidied up, the redhead always in front of that glowing screen making music.

Sometimes he also joined him, creating his own pieces of art coming from his broken heart, thinking that could've helped him ease the pain, at least a little bit. He still thought he deserved to die, but that boy was preventing him to do that without even realizing it: Kanata didn't understand why he wanted to take care of him so bad, always trying to look through him with those red eyes burning with passion, with life. The angel just thought he pitied him like everyone else would and he hated it, but still... his heart was getting warmer and warmer each day, to the point it hurt, beating so loud in his chest that he could hear it in his own ears; he always had to put his hand on it to shut it up.

Thankfully, the trio wasn't always home, as they were busy with their studies and their Hip-hop career: whenever one of those days came, Kanata would just spend his time chilling on the bed, looking at the ceiling and reminiscing about good memories with Nayuta; when the thoughts would start getting grim, he'd just compose music by himself, letting himself and his unspoken words free through the notes. He never really thought about going out, almost considering that apartment like some safe haven, and they wouldn't let him go take a walk by himself anyways, since he didn't know where to go.

Until one afternoon.

Kanata really thought he needed some fresh air, being the little stray cat he was: he felt safe in there, but suffocated. Those humans probably underestimated him, who had wandered through the streets ever since he was small. He put his sneakers on and left with soft steps.

The streets weren't particularly crowded there, as it was mostly a residential area with just a few convenience stores here and there. He sighed softly, enjoying the breeze and silence under the setting sun, while sipping on a cheap drink he had bought with the pocket money the trio gave him. He had said multiple times he didn't want that, already grateful enough they gave him a roof to live under, but they were just too stubborn and handed him some anyways. Just in case.

"Ugh, these rich snots... they just keep treating me like a kid" he said to himself, while crushing the can with his hand.

He walked around for a while, until he stopped by an almost empty square, finding it the perfect place to rest before going home. He noticed a group of boys not too far from him hanging out but he didn't care about them, sitting on the opposite side and closing his eyes to enjoy the quietude.

Only for a while.

"Hey, little bastard over there! Ya hear me?"

Fucking hell. He knew something was going to go wrong. He just opened one eye, looking towards the little gang with no interest whatsoever for a mere second, then closing it again.

"What, are you deaf?! I'm talkin' to you!" Kanata felt one of the guys, probably the leader, coming towards him. He sighed, already pissed off that someone was bothering him on such a nice day. He fully turned to him, looking at him straight in the eye while still sitting: "What."

The thugs laughed upon that question, trying to intimidate him. "Don't ya know this is our place? You're not invited. Get the fuck outta here" the leader spoke again, acting all high and mighty. The way they were trying to scare him away was annoying Kanata so much. They had no idea what they were getting themselves into, but he still did his best to keep his calm and avoid sending them flying. It wasn't worth it.

"Tsk... annoyin'."

Rolling his eyes, he got up. He wasn't planning to back off, having gotten himself into these kinds of situations many times before, in Heaven. He wasn't scared of them at all, no matter how tall and big they were.

"Ya wanna get your pretty face smashed?" the leader snickers, cracking his knuckles, "You're gonna get really hurt... weakling."

That single word grinded Kanata's gears, as he remembered all the abuse, all the pain he and his brother had received during their childhood from those shitty adults who only cared about showing them who was more powerful between them. "Don't you... fuckin' call me that..." he eyed the gang with an icy cold stare, growling and slowly making a fist, ready to punch that fucker. He was trying so hard to keep his anger at bay, but he felt his sanity go away more and more. His mind told him to stop, but his heart... his heart only saw red.

"Aw, Shortie is gonna cry! So cute!" the gang said, mocking him. They got closer and closer, eventually enclosing themselves around him. This was too much. Kanata suddenly felt something rising from deep inside of him, a weird energy fueling his feelings. He was so close to snapping, when his demeanor suddenly changed.

"Y'all better not want to fuck with me."

A voice octaves lower than his usual left his mouth, his once moonlight and galaxy colored hair and eyes were completely black, and a shadow of his black wings was visible on the ground. He had no idea what was going on but he didn't stop, he couldn't resist that. The snake had spilled its venom right into his veins and it felt so damn good.

The thugs immediately backed out as their faces turned pale from the panic. They ran away, muffled curses and screaming heard in the background. By the time the sun was entirely set, Kanata was back to normal, panting hard. He wanted to make sense of what came over him, but he couldn't think at all: he was feeling exhausted and his head was spinning, his body feeling almost feverish. He fainted, falling on the ground of that now deserted square.

"Aaah, I finally got it! This limited edition record was so hard to find!!" Allen was excitedly running down the streets, over the moon after yet another too pricey purchase. He was probably being a bit too hyper about it and people were definitely side-eyeing him but he didn't care, as he hugged the vinyl close to his chest. "Anne and Hajun are getting home later today, so I'll be listening to it with Kanata... I'm so excited about it! He's gonna love it!" he said, immediately smiling at the thought. He was a tough and unfriendly guy, but Allen was so happy to see him getting more and more passionate about Hip-hop every day: he knew about the healing powers of music, and Kanata did seem more peaceful when making music, or simply listening to it. He was glad he could help that boy, even if he still didn't know what happened to him to get to that point; Allen really wanted to know, but he'd be waiting for the other to speak up. He was doing his best to turn into a reliable and trustworthy friend for him, simply showing him that he was ready to listen.

Too immersed into his own thoughts, he didn't realize he took a different route, ending up in a place so emptied of people that almost looked abandoned. He looked around for a bit, trying to recognize where he was, until he saw a familiar boy laying on the ground slightly far from him. White long locks and a snake decorated jacket. He dropped his bag.

"Kanata!!"

Panting, Allen finally reached their apartment with the boy in his arms. He had already checked if his heart was beating, but he just couldn't calm down: he wondered what happened, for how long he'd been laying there like that. He carefully placed him on the couch and took a chair to sit next to him. He couldn't leave him alone, his mind occupied by any possible bad thought about this entire situation. He touched Kanata's forehead and it was burning hot, compared to how cold his body is usually. "Does he have a fever...?" he mumbled, preparing a wet cloth to place there and then he just sat, waiting.

Anxiety was devouring him more each second that passed, until he saw the boy's body trembling. He tossed and turned, groaning in pain. Allen was getting even more worried when he noticed a weird dark glow around Kanata, who was now blabbering frantically.

"I wish... I could be as pure as you were..."

The redhead rubbed his eyes, wondering if this was real, but he was left even more confused when he came to the conclusion that it was really happening. He didn't move one inch from there, though. He wasn't afraid of him.

"Who are you, Kanata...?"

With a gasp, Kanata opened his eyes again, seemingly back to normal. He immediately sat, scanning his surroundings and finding the other boy giving him a small, reassuring smile, although at the same time he looked like he really wanted, no, needed answers. He couldn't even look at him anymore, as a part of him felt guilty for not telling him sooner. What was he even going to say, now? Suzaku was a mere human. He would've never accepted that he was a celestial creature, right? He looked at his lap in thought, still avoiding those fire colored eyes.

"I'm not gonna ask what happened" the other guy started, his voice soft, "but just know that I'm here and I'm ready to listen to you, your story... anything."

Kanata felt horrible. He really had to come clean, no matter the outcome; he knew he'd be back to being alone in the streets right after this conversation, but he thought he couldn't lie to the redhead. He'd been too good to the angel. Maybe it was for the better, he pondered: after that, he'd finally be able to die as he originally had planned. So he took a deep breath, turning to the guy, looking at him straight in the eye.

"I... I'm a fallen angel."

Black wings appeared behind him, big and majestic. Suzaku was shocked, but still stood there, not looking intimidated at all. Instead, he got closer to him, looking at him in adoration.

"You're so pretty..." the redhead whispered to him, and Kanata felt his stare falter, dropping his gaze somewhere else as he blushed. The wings disappeared. His heart was a mess, again feeling like a bomb about to explode. That guy always managed to make things more complicated, as Kanata kept feeling things in his chest that both hurt and made him feel good.

"You... you should be scared of me..." the angel said, getting up from the couch and moving away from him to try to hide himself from the other boy, "I'm not some stupid human! How can you act like this is okay?!"

He saw Suzaku looking at him with a soft gaze as he smiled, "Man, this sure is new to me" he said as he also got up and reached the angel, "But I'm not afraid of you... I know you're not evil so I don't have to worry."

"You're unbelievably foolish." Kanata replied, astounded by how stupid and accepting the other was. He knew at this point he couldn't do anything to intimidate that guy anymore, as he really had no ill intentions after all. He just audibly sighed.

"I'm fallen, ya hear me? I can fuck you up."

"I'll keep that in mind, then."

The guy let out an awkward laugh, scratching the back of his head. And then, he suddenly got serious, looking at Kanata with a worried expression.

"Um, Kanata..." he took a breath before continuing, "Back when you were dreaming, it seemed like... you were in an unimaginable amount of pain. The same pain I felt in the first song you made. I wonder if I can help you..."

"There's nothin' a human like you can fix." Kanata stopped him, not wanting to hear a single word more. He knew that warmth spreading in his chest when he was with the redhead was only temporary. That boy couldn't fix such a damaged heart.

The other muttered a "I'm sorry" before going back to his usual self. But before Suzaku was able to speak again, a black smoke with hints of orange appeared in a dark corner of the living room, floating. As the two boys turned around, a voice crept in.

"Oh boy, what kinda mess are you causin' over here?~"

Kanata's eyes widened. He knew that voice too well. That demon had been helping the twins a long time ago, he didn't really think he would get to hear nor see him ever again.

"Suiseki-san... what are you doing here?"

[cometcrumbss]

Have an au except I can't write

Okay think about it pjsekai x Infinity Train. Majority of the characters are average passengers or companions maybe except Mafuyu? Idk she COULD be the Amelia but hey, any OTHER character can be her. Also all of them follow VERY similar plotlines to season 2 cause of the whole companion stuff. And Miku is the conductor, I say no other words

Leo/Need

- Ichika and Honami can be passengers. I'm not sure about Ichika but Honami is a passenger because she was bullied a lot and didn't know how to deal with it properly. So it's basically her learning how to be brave ig (I NEED to catch up l/n lore)

- Saki and Shiho are their companions. Shiho could be a kinda human but Saki can a cute little dog (or a corgi? hehe) and Shiho is from the school cart

- Maybe some Honasaki or Ichishiho?? Ichisaki, Shihonami and Polyneed works too

-I think Saki and Shiho might go to the real world with Ichika and Honami.

More More Jump!

- Everyone is companion except Haruka.

- Haruka joined the train after ASRUN disbanded

-the rest of the idols, Minori, Airi and Shizuku, are all part of the IDOL cart. They're all humans with some animal like features (Shizuku with cat ears and tail and minori having bunny ears)

- the moment minori saw haruka, she instantly fell in love with her (like in canon) and goes this whole journey of learning everything about her and learning lessons from Haruka about Idol(ing?)

- I think they do say goodbye but idk about Minori.

Vivid Bad Squad

- An and Kohane are passengers while Akito and Toya are companions

- Vbs kinda follows the premise of season 4, except An and Kohane didn't have the same numbers on their hand.

- Akito and Toya are from the street cart. MEIKO and Len are also there. Like in Canon, they both want to surpass RAD WEEKEND except Ken is different ig?

-Akitoya has their plot where they're actually rivals as they both want to surpass alone but they realize that they work really well together and in the end, they become partners

- An and Kohane actually meet from akitoya and similarly realize that work together well too and then pull a Ryan and Min gi thing where, in the real world, they're singing partners who travel across the world!

Wonderland x Showtime

- rui and nene are passengers while emu and tsukasa are companions

- ruinene were never close and actually had a pretty broken relationship

- rui was too insecure of himself and had low self esteem while nene couldn't hold long term friendships and just pushed people away a lot (rui being a victim unfortunately) and now the train brought them together to fix it

- tsukasa and emu are from the theme park cart along with Saki. They join them to bring some positivity and the four may or may not got way to attached to one another

- the four actually do get out of the train and become a theater troupe!

-I've realized that this sounds polysho, I don't ship it personally (I see queerplatonically tho 👀) you can interpret it as that :)

Nightcord at 25:00

- all of them are passengersbut separate and only meet after the train, their companion is kaito (kanamafu) cause that's funny and rin (mizuena)

- I don't really need to explain how they got into the train but Mafuyu has been in the train longer than anybody else and also has the longest number than anybody in project sekai does

- Kanade, despite being a passenger, does everything she can to save her, and unironically, it helps her.

- Mizuena has their own plot. Their relationship is similar to Canon except that Mizuki actually told Ena everything which got her out the train but Ena was still stuck

- Mizuki still stayed, and the two had to struggle with ups and downs of their numbers the most

- thankfully, they both left the train together and altogether, kanamafu and mizuena met through nightcord, creating the music group we know today

Lmao, sorry for rambling all of this, it's just fun merging your two favorite things together, I know the show is cancelled and all but prayers for the movie or season 5 🙏

[gamerbearmira]

Au where Mirabel is able to see into the future like Bruno...but she's brutally honest.

-

Mirabel just got her gift of seeing into the future like her Tio. But unlike him, she has third eye. And unlike her Tio, all she has to do is touch and see maybe a couple weeks, months, or even years into your future.

Nothing death related though; she can't see stuff like that yet because the candle made it so she couldn't. The way her gift worked is that all she had to do was touch you and with her consent, she would see your future.

When this happens her regular eyes close, and her third eye opens. It glows a teal blue but also purple and a variety of other blue's.

She saw that Tia Pepa was going to have a baby in five years, she didn't see what he looked like though. All she saw was Pepa holding the baby and handing it to her saying "Do you want to see your primo?"

She saw that Dolores is going to marry the man of her dreams. She had a vision of herself sitting on a church pew and looking at Dolores in a wedding dress. Mira didn't see the man though; all she knew was that Dolores looked extremely happy.

She saw Isabela wearing more colorful clothing and swinging around Casita with her vines. Casita was decorated in all types of flowers that didn't look like the ones she made now. Not to mention her smiles looked genuine. Much different to the pink petite Hermana she knows now.

Mirabel made sure to let Isabela know that and maybe she should experiment were her gift more and wear more colors.

The candle also made sure she got rest. Her third eye or inner eye can only take so many visions. Like six at a time before she gets tired. Her rest required to keep the eye closed for at least six-seven hours a day.

But other than that, she saw lots of good things for the family members and the villagers. Well...mostly. She was five years old after all...no filter.

"Your fish is going to die if you don't stop over feeding it."

"You're going to get big if you don't stop eating so many arepa's."

"You're going to get divorced soon, guess you should've been a better wife"

What can you do? She's a kid.

-

Mirabel was out giving people the futures they wanted to see. Her parents were there with her. Proud smiles on their faces as they watched her work.

She reached up to hold a woman's hand and right when she held it, her third eye closed. A frown appeared on her face, and she pouted. "Aw, sorry, my eye fell asleep again"

The woman in front of her rolled her eyes. Her name was Katrina Dulce, the most hated disliked of the town. Yelling at workers for doing their jobs, entitled, disrespectful, and just outright an awful human being. You can think of her as the Karen of Encanto.

Mirabel didn't know this of course; she was only five and has never even met the lady before today. Her parents have never met her either, some rumors of course but that's about it.

They didn't really know what she looked like either, so, they didn't know of the wench standing in front of their daughter.

"oh...pity" The woman sounded sad but, in her head, she was annoyed.

'Useless little brat' she thought.

The woman was about to walk away but Mirabel stopped her.

"Wait!"

Mirabel felt bad by the woman's tone, and she decided to give her a prophecy. She forced her eye open, which did hurt, and held the woman's hand firmly.

The eye opened and for a bit and then firmly shut. Thankfully, Mirabel saw what she needed to see.

"You...you have cat and dog plates because even animals can't stand you"

"What?" Katrina was a little taken back by that, because it was true. Animals hated being around her, whenever she was around them they would hiss or bark at her.

"You're thinking about making a huge doll and calling it your boyfriend. Then you plan on marrying it because you know you'll never get married!"

"No..."

"Your lonely because everybody hates you! You won't allow yourself to cry but you still do in your sleep!"

"....." Karen- Katrina was too shocked to speak.

"Benjamin Castro will tell you that his birthday has been cancelled, but it's a lie. He's just repulsed by you, whenever you stop talking to him, he turns away and gags or heaves. He told his brother he would rather have a romantic evening with homicidal maniac...whatever that means"

"In a week you'll get ran over by a cart. The donkey will stomp all over your piggy face and it will still be better than the face you have now! And nobody will come to you to make sure you're ok INHALE because they'll quietly hope that you never show your face again!"

"INHALE Your sister isn't busy it's just that she doesn't want to talk to a chismosa like you! And she doesn't plan on telling you that your Sobrino is getting married, she will never tell you!"

"INHALE this Tuesday you'll scream at the bakers for not having your favorite Milhojas con Arequipe. But they'll apologize and bake and extra special version of it just for you and give some polvorosas. But it turns out it'll have a laxative in it and the polvorosas are old! They want you to get sick AND YOU DESERVE IT!" Mirabel glared at the woman who stood before her as she took in deep breathes.

"INHALE-" Mirabel was about to say more but Agustin quickly put his hand over her mouth. He gave Katrina a nervous smile and picked up Mira.

The people around, who knew who Katrina was, were laughing their butts off.

Mira finally knew who this woman was and decided to end her speech. She moved her hand away, "Katrina Dulce, consider your fate SEALED!"

Dolores, who was near the mountains, was laughing hard now too. She was definitely going to tell the family about this, especially Bruno. He had his fair share of dealing with that woman as well.

Julieta stood there in shock; she didn't know what to do. One on hand, she needed to teach Mirabel about TOO MUCH honesty. One the other...this was funny. Clearly, the woman was the Karen she had been hearing about.

And by her daughters' words and from observations, she did deserve what's coming to her...maybe not all of it but still. After all that Mirabel was taken back home.

Mirabel was rewarded with her favorite desert for telling off a witch. The family had a good laugh, and they were all happy knowing there was going to be more brutal roastings in the future.

And please believe everyone in Encanto was told of the roast of a lifetime...Katrina had a fun couple of weeks.

Me personally, I would not let that slide.

No but for, she wants all the smoke 😮‍💨 it’s crazy how people are trying to force a 5 year old/young child. Like actually 😵‍💫 good for her for standing up for herself though <33

[hekateinhell]

♡ + Armand/Daniel in Our House

omg I'm excited, I have so much lore for them I haven't written into the fic yet! Our House is my Armand/Daniel human AU in case none of this makes sense 🫣🫣🫣

• Who is the most affectionate?

In public, it's Armand 100%. He does not know the meaning of the term 'boundaries.' From day one he was all up in Daniel's business, the most possessive and territorial body language you've ever seen -- almost like a guard dog with its owner. Arm around his waist or clinging to the crook of his elbow. Armand's always one 'overly flirtatious look from the cute college barista aimed at Daniel' away from baring his teeth and hissing.

In private, Armand doesn't feel the need to put on such a show and his clinginess manifests more as cuddling into Daniel's side and curling into his lap at any given opportunity. He spent most of his early life in an orphanage before The Bad Stuff™️, so he's been touch starved with only a couple exceptions over the years and he's making up for the lost time.

• Who initiates the handholding?

Armand prefers to hang on directly to a limb like it's an anchor, so it's actually Daniel that will attempt to initiate the handholding not only to give himself more freedom of motion (RIP) but also to remind Armand that he's aware of his needs and he's trying (and wants) to meet them.

• Who worries more for the other?

LOL. Daniel, bless him. Being married to Armand right now is fucking stressful. 🤧

• Who is more likely to ask for help?

Neither of them, things have to get pretty bad before they get there. They're both used to being independent and having to survive shitty environments with minimal support, so it's hard to recognize when it's time for 'Hey, I need help.'

That being said, Daniel was the one to enforce the condition that Armand begin therapy if they were going to move forward as a couple and he did do AA -- so I guess Daniel. His American mentality was much more open to it as well, versus Armand's Eastern European mindset. It took Armand a minute and it was essentially a gun-to-his-head type situation; he is rather fond of Dr. Lydia now though.

• Who is the one always losing the keys?

Daniel. He has about 20 different things to worry about on any given day, and keys are just not one of them. Thankfully Armand's OCD comes into effect here and he always has a spare and a spare-spare, as well as a spare-spare-spare that he's wedged under a loose brick by the window near the fire escape.

So best case scenario if Armand's not home, Daniel will ideally scale up five flights of the fire escape, retrieve the keys, then go back down and enter through the doors like a civilized person. In reality, he totally jiggles that window open with his pocket knife like a burglar. It upsets the cats; the neighbors are used to it, happens at least once every 2-3 months.

• Who leaves little love notes for the other?

Armand.

He's old-fashioned like that and slips a Post-It into Daniel's backpack with either some obscure darkly romantic line from a poem that's mildly unsettling, or something superficially innocent like 'I think I'm ovulating today... xxx A'.

Anyone accidentally glimpsing that on Daniel's desk when it tumbles out as he's rummaging between notebooks and his laptop wouldn't be too surprised, unless they knew Daniel was married to a man and if he wasn't presently blushing red like a tomato from his face to his shirt collar.

• Who can't sleep unless the other is there?

Armand, no one's shocked. He's an incredibly deep sleeper but he has the worst time actually falling asleep if Daniel isn't home (i.e., visiting his family). He usually ends up curled underneath a blanket on the couch with the TV on in the background, more passing in and out of consciousness due to exhaustion than really sleeping, with the cats on his chest and his belly.

Daniel noticed early on during their sleepovers that Armand tends to deep sleep in the fetal position with his arms curled against his chest as if he were holding something. Naturally, Daniel sort of awkwardly/very sweetly gifted him a little stuffed animal so Armand had something to hold when he's not around -- Armand has slept with it every night since. Daniel doesn't travel alone unless it's extenuating circumstances.

• Who is more likely to propose to the other?

Technically, Armand looked that man in the eye mid-fuck in the men's room with his back pressed up against the wall, knees to his shoulders, and announced in complete and utter seriousness within an entire month of dating: 'You're going to marry me.'

To which Daniel, twenty-four years old, in a state of perpetual horniess combined with a healthy smidgen of fear, responded: 'Yeah sure, baby... fuck... You close?'

• Who introduced the other to their family first?

Armand doesn't have any living family, so Daniel.

His parents were superficially nice until it became obvious Armand was fucking their son in a decidedly homoerotic fashion. Armand tries not to let on how much it hurts because he understands the fraught relationship Daniel has with his parents, but it cuts deep because he always hoped if he was fortunate enough to fall in love again, his partner's family would become his own.

He is close to Daniel's baby sister, Caroline. She's too young for Armand to really talk to her about much, but they do text often and she always looks forward to spending a week at 'Danny and Army's' in Brooklyn when Daniel flies her up during semester break to get her out of their parent's house.

• Who is more likely to play with the other's hair?

Daniel loves getting his hands tangled up in Armand's hair, especially when he lets it let long and unruly. Daniel's a fidgety guy when he's working through something in his head (a story, a crisis, why none of the movies Armand loves ever seem to make any sense), and twirling Armand's hair and boinging his curls is a fun tactile distraction.

• Who makes sure the other has meals/stays hydrated?

They both do this. Armand tends to neglect himself when he's depressed and Daniel neglects himself when he's stressed. Armand's big thing is making sure Daniel eats 'like a person.' Daniel's big thing is making sure Armand does basic things like get out of bed, drink water, eat something, anything.

When things get bad, bad, but the show has to go on (i.e., Daniel can't quit his job and life to force-fed Armand a cracker and juice), they implement a simple 'you have to do X by 11am and text me you've completed X' system. It might not work for everyone, but it appeals to Armand's desire to please his husband and receive praise, and it's a small measure of accountability.

• Who is more likely to stand up to anyone for the other?

I think they're equally feral and protective when it comes down to it. Because he knows Armand's past, Daniel is already to go to bat at the slightest provocation.

Armand once took a bite out of a guy for calling Daniel a slur when they were out in public. Yes, Armand does have a somewhat impressive rap sheet.

• Who is the most likely to prepare a surprise for the other?

Daniel can't keep a secret to save his life. As soon as Armand even raises an eyebrow at him, he's in stitches -- no poker face, zero composure.

Armand lives to plan surprise parties and the Big Romantic Gestures that take at least a month and a $1, 000 to pull off.

• Who makes the other pinky promise not to do certain things?

Daniel, and he takes it so seriously. Armand thinks it's childishly charmingly and it gives him butterflies when Daniel crushes his much smaller pinkie against his.

• Who puts a blanket over the other when they fall asleep on the couch?

Armand -- he knows Daniel worries a lot between him and his family and all his editorial deadlines so when he passes out on the couch approximately 10 minutes after dinner, Armand carefully removes his glasses, kisses his forehead, and tucks him in with the rainbow afghan Daniel's granny knitted him decades ago and he's been lugging around ever since he left for college.

[darkness-holds-eternal-light]

So as life feels too hard to handle at the moment, I am once again back with the waist-deep Snape discourse! 😌😁

(By the way, whenever things seem so hard and you are trying to accomplish something important and you feel discouraged, I always remember that it took J.K. Rowling about 12 attempts at getting her book published and everyone rejected it until finally she found a publisher that would take her book and things went well and I'm eternally grateful for that. ❤)

So the Snape discourse is basically the situation in the fan community at the moment that got me thinking. 🤔 We don't have to go into the extremely deep, scary parts but I'd like to address some of the shit that the haters are constantly throwing at us. (I'm saying "us" as in Snape-fans, specifically the actual Snape from the books. I'm aware that I'm blocked by quite a few Snape fans here on Tumblr because of some of my opinions I suppose. Which I recently found is not necessarily a bad thing because it gives me a bit more freedom not having to avoid certain subjects in fear of bullying and stuff.)

I think it's quite wonderful to have such a complex character as our favourite because it leaves so much room for exploring and expanding. For example I had recently thought about what it would've felt like to actually be in Snape's position when he yelled the terrible "Mudblood!" thing. I'm a huge fan of acting/ trying on roles and I'm even curious how other people would experience that if they put themselves in the role! I haven't gotten further there yet but I think that the antis are throwing these hateful things at us because they believe that it would scare us to actually look at them. I'm in Slytherin for a reason, well for many reasons, but I'm interested to look at this. So thankfully this is all fiction and we can look at it from a bit of a distance and learn through imagination. I love that.

So I've been thinking, what would it be like to actually be in Hogwarts? And to actually sit in Potions Class? I've been re-reading "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" so far very attentively especially in terms of how Snape is truly written.

How would it be to sit in Potions Class and wanting Professor Snape to like me? I'm an adult now, so this is an entirely different scenario. Cue the fanfictions. ;) But as a student, obviously in my head he would like me and we'd have a great connection. But I'm somewhat willing to look into the possibilities here, akin to the book. I've met men like him in my life. What do you do if he stands in front of your desk and tells you that you're doing a miserable job and your potion is rubbish and you look silly and he threatens to give that potion to your beloved cat? Like, this is hard, I'm willing to think about this mean question that the haters are often throwing. I know I would love him no less. But my cat comes first, always. If we leave out the question of a third party, an animal or a human, if it is just him being mean at you, what do you do? I've had to solve this situation a couple of times in my life and I can't say that I have found a satisfying solution thus far. Which is part of why I can understand Lily's choice to a certain degree and I don't blame her. I assume that Snape would like me and I think that is fair but we know that that doesn't necessarily protect you from his cruelty. This is scary but maybe, with the safety of imaginary play, it would be worth playing that role for a moment to find out where we would go with this? I'm definitely curious and as extremely creative as fanfiction writers and fanart creators are, I'm sure that there can be a healing solution to this eventually. Fiction has more possibilities. 😊 I'm creative too, so maybe I'll try for myself.

Still, I like that Snape is a fictional character and we can watch him from a bit of a distance and even if we go closer, he'd obviously like us. :) And this world is entirely our own, and this place is loving. 💚 Maybe that is also the message to ourselves, that it doesn't have to be argued free from "real life's" constrictions to be true and beautiful and lovely.

[hlvrfreakyfriday]

HLVRFF: Chapter 5

It's about lunch time when the odd pair finally cross the threshold of their shared home, and Gordon's stomach is apparently very in tune with the time, as it loudly growls at Benry as soon as they pass by the kitchen. That... feels really weird. When in his own body, the feeling of hunger Benry gets every couple of months is a kind of squirmy feeling (but like, distinctly different from the happy squirmy feeling). In Gordon's human body, though, it's this... weirdly empty burning feeling, like the stomach is trying to eat itself for lack of anything else to digest.

Benry can't really say he's too wild about it.

Now, usually when it's one of the months that Benry actually needs to eat (or he just wants to eat for the hell of it), he can just grab pretty much whatever, shove it in his maw, and call it a day. Perk of the whole 'extreme omnivore' thing. But putting just any old garbage in Gordon's delicate human stomach would prrrrrrobably be a bad idea.

Aw, man, he's gotta actually THINK about what to eat. So sucks.

Benry's tempted to just grab some Froot Loops again (even if they were shitty), but he remembers Gordon once mentioning that humans have to have, like, variety in their diets to get all the vitamins and minerals and shit they need to not die or something. Uhg, why do humans gotta be so high maintenance? Benry wonders if it's just dumb luck that got them to the top of earth's food chain.

Food. Food food food food yeah okay he needs to eat right now.

"yo, gordos," Benry calls out to wherever Gordon disappeared into the house, "when's uh, when's lunch time? your stomach's bein' all weird at me and i'm pretty sure i need to put food in it."

For a moment, Benry gets no response. He's about to repeat himself when Gordon sticks his borrowed head out the guest bathroom doorway. "Sorry, what'd you say?"

And apparently he needs to repeat himself anyway. "lunch time for benry now, please?"

"Oh, yeah, sure," Gordon says, and he starts making his way to the kitchen. Benry follows after him like an expectant hungry cat. He hopes whatever Gordon fixes actually still tastes good. Kinda really fucked up that humans have to eat multiple times every day while having such shitty bad taste buds.

Once they get in the kitchen, Gordon opens up the fridge and starts throwing out suggestions for what he should fix. They all sound pretty boring, as far as Benry's concerned. Gordon eventually decides on fried ham sandwiches, which Benry gueeeeesses is okay. Gordon does fry a mean ham. That's one of the things Benry's come to appreciate about humans- that they got the idea to 'cook' stuff. Who knew that setting a chunk of dead animal cells on fire for a little bit would make it taste so fucking good? Well, humans knew, apparently. Also apparently, cooking food makes it way less dangerous for humans to eat. Something about the heat killing dangerous parasites and bacteria or whatever that could really fuck them over if ingested.

Again- HOW the shit did humans get to be the dominant species that they are today when it seems that just about every little thing can kill them perma-dead?

Benry sits at the kitchen table and watches Gordon as he fries up the deli ham for their sandwiches, the smell of cooking pork filling the room. It doesn't smell nearly as good as it normally does for Benry, but it's still pretty good. Gordon's stomach seems to agree, as it gnaws at itself again in anticipation. Benry presses a hand into his borrowed middle in an attempt to make it cut that shit out.

Thankfully, it's not much longer before Gordon's finished getting lunch ready, putting together the sandwiches and setting them on plates. After he brings the plates over to the table and sets them down, he's about to pop a sit in the chair opposite of Benry when Benry speaks up.

"yo, before you sit down, soda please? drink to go with lunch, thank you?" he asks.

"You can have lemonade," Gordon answers. "I've been trying to cut down on how much soda I drink, remember?"

"booooooooo," Benry replies, slumping in his chair. "c'mon, man, tommy drinks soda all the time and he's totally healthy and shit."

"Yeah, but I'm not Tommy. Sorry, Benry- my body, my dietary rules. Deal with it," Gordon says as he grabs the pitcher of lemonade out of the fridge.

Benry mumbles something in a mocking tone, but he doesn't think Gordon heard it. Oh well. He decides to go ahead and dig into his sandwich, in an attempt to shut up Gordon's stomach, which is growling at him again. The taste is predictably not nearly as good to Gordon's taste buds as it is to Benry's, but it's still better than the Froot Loops were, at least. As Benry eats, he casts a glance back at Gordon, who is taking longer than he probably should to get a glass of lemonade and…

Why is he staring at his hand like that?

"freeman? …you good, bro?"

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

"Sorry, Benry- my body, my dietary rules. Deal with it."

Gordon hears Benry mumble some nonsense mocking sounds in response, but chooses to ignore him as he fetches the lemonade. After grabbing the pitcher out of the fridge, he sets it on the counter and then reaches for the cabinet where he keeps the drinking glasses. It's only when Gordon's reaching up for a glass that he realizes that the glasses are higher than he can grab while stuck at Benry's shorter height, and he's about to turn to ask Benry to get a glass for him-

-when his hand wraps around a glass anyway and he pulls it out of the cabinet.

Because his borrowed arm is suddenly disproportionately longer than it has any right being.

At least, it was until Gordon brought it back down after having grabbed the glass.

Gordon stands frozen, staring at the limb, trembling slightly. He just shape-shifted. A very small amount, yes, but he still did it. Without even meaning to. It just happened. Oh god, oh fuck. It's that easy? It's that easy for that shit to just happen, without him even thinking about it? It was that easy for the fucking John Carpenter's bullshit Benry's body pulled on him last night to happen again-

"freeman? …you good, bro?" Benry asks, startling Gordon from his spiraling thoughts. His head snaps over to face Benry, and anxious green Sweet Voice escapes his mouth when he opens it to say something. They both know what it means. "…uh, guess not, then."

Gordon turns back away from Benry, setting the glass down, and then gripping the counter with both hands. He squeezes his eyes shut and tries to take in some calm, deep breaths. It's fine. IT'S FINE. You're fine, Gordon. You shape-shifted on accident, but that doesn't mean you're gonna fucking explode again. The arm went right back to normal pretty much immediately as soon as you noticed it. It's fine, you're fine.

Eventually, the anxious green floating out of Gordon's mouth with each exhale turns into a much more relaxed blue as Gordon manages to stave off that potential panic attack. He takes one more deep, calm breath, before finally pouring a glass of lemonade up for Benry, putting the pitcher back in the fridge, and heading back to the table. Benry cocks his borrowed head to the side as Gordon hands him the glass, looking like he wants to say something, but he stays silent. At least, until Gordon actually sits back down and is just about to bite into his sandwich.

"…you good now?" he asks, and to his credit, there does seem to be a little concern in his tone.

"Honestly? No, I'm not. And I probably won't be until Mr. Coolatta gets back and fixes this shit," Gordon replies bluntly, and then finally takes a bite of his lunch. Benry doesn't say anything after that, and they both eat the rest of their lunch in silence. Gordon's thankful for it, as he's suddenly really not in the mood for any of Benry's... Benrey right now.

Lunch gets finished and dishes get washed. Benry's planted himself down in front of the TV cabinet, seemingly trying to decide which game system he should hook up and play. Gordon's standing in the start of the hall, debating on whether or not he should go attempt a nap to get back the sleep he lost last night. The mental exhaustion is creeping back up on him, but he's still not entirely sure if he feels comfortable leaving Benry unsupervised yet. If all Benry's gonna do is play video games, then it's probably fine. Not like Gordon's nap is gonna be THAT long...

Just then, the home phone in the kitchen begins to ring. Gordon notes the caller ID reading 'Tommy' as he grabs the phone and answers. "Hello?"

"Hi, uh… Mr. Freeman, still?" asks Tommy.

"Yep, still me in here. Unfortunately," Gordon answers with a sigh. "What's up?"

"I just want- just wanted to check up on you! Make sure you were still doing okay," answers Tommy. "How're you feeling?"

"…Been better, honestly. But I haven't turned inside-out again, so I guess I should be thankful for that. No word from your dad, yet?"

"No, sorry, Mr. Freeman…"

There's a sudden shuffling noise on the other end of the line, and a new voice speaks up. "Are you talking to Gordon?" they ask. Gordon hears Tommy make an affirmative sound and says something about 'speaker', and the new voice speaks again, more clearly. "Hey, Gordon! Heard you had… quite a night, last night."

"Hey, Darnold. 'Quite a night' is… kind of an understatement," Gordon says.

"Yyyyeah. Hah, this is weird- hearing you sounding like Benry. Though I suppose it's even weirder on your end, huh?"

"Dude, you don't even know the HALF of it. Did you know Benry can apparently feel colours? I never had much opinion on the colour beige before but FUCK, I can't stand the texture of it! It's like fuckin' sand-paper but moist," Gordon says with a shudder.

"Ooh, yeah, that. That does sound weirder," Darnold says, kind of flatly.

"Yeah, Benry- Benry's got a lot of- of senses that we humans generally don't," Tommy adds.

"Well, anyway," Darnold beings again, "I wanted to talk to you, to tell you that I might be able to help you."

"Yeah?" Gordon says, curious.

"Yeah. I believe I could mix a potion that could reverse your body swap. It might take a little time, but I betcha I could whip it up sooner than Tommy's father will back from his... business trip."

Gordon wasn't getting his hopes up when Darnorld mentioned being able to help, and now he feels right to. While the man's 'potions' can indeed do some amazing things... said things are almost never the intended effect. Like when Darnold gave him that potion to grow back Gordon's missing hand, and he grew a fucking minigun instead.

He doesn't even wanna think what a 'body swap potion' might accidentally do, to his or Benry's body.

"Err, I really appreciate the offer, but I think I'm gonna have to pass on it," Gordon says.

"Eh, suit yourself. Just know that the offer still stands if you change your mind," Darnold replies. Gordon's glad he doesn't sound too offended by being turned down. Guy's kind of sensitive about his potions. "Well," Darnold continues, "I need to get back to what I was doing before. Talk to you later, Gordon!"

"Yeah, later," Gordon says, his farewell followed by the sound of footsteps fading and a door closing on the other end of the line.

Tommy speaks back up again. "Y'know, for what it's worth, I don't- I don't think we'll have to wait too long for my dad to get back. Maybe- maybe not even a full week."

"God I hope so," Gordon groans. A week is still pretty damn long if you ask him, but at least it's shorter than a month.

"Hey, is Benry there to talk?" Tommy asks.

"Oh, uh, yeah. I think he's just playing video games. I can leave you two to chat- I was just about to go lay down for a nap. Didn't manage to fall back asleep last night, after you left."

"Oh? Yeah, that- that makes sense. Benry doesn't really need to- to sleep much, so your brain won't be getting the- the normal sleep signals. Which probably isn't good, since- since you're used to sleeping. So you probably should go take a nap," Tommy says.

Exiting the kitchen and moving into the living room, Gordon comes up behind the couch where Benry's sat, playing something on the PS3. He taps Benry on the shoulder and says, "Hey, Tommy wants to talk to you."

Gordon barely has time to offer Benry the phone when the entity snatches it from his hand. He just makes a little tch sound at that, before walking away and heading for his bedroom, last thing he hears from the living room being Benry yelling 'TOMMYYYYYY' into the receiver.

The mental exhaustion has come back with a vengeance when he finally makes it into his bedroom. After getting Benry's boots off and grabbing a weighted blanket from the closet (hoping that the pressure might help him sleep?), Gordon flops down onto the bed. He eagerly soaks in the softness of his pillow and the weight of the blanket, both succeeding in making him feel a little more relaxed. The universe seems to take pity on him again, as he does actually manage to fall asleep after not that long. It's a nice, dreamless slumber.

At first.

The universe apparently changed its mind about the whole pity thing, deciding instead to tell Gordon to go fuck himself in the form of a brand new nightmare.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gordon opens his eyes, but he instantly regrets it, squinting at the blinding light baring down on him. He tries shield his eyes with a hand, but finds that limbs are all stuck in place. He's strapped down to some flat, cold surface, and the room is permeated by the sterile smell of disinfectant.

He's hyperventilating now. How did he get here? Where even IS here? He tries to look around to get an idea, but everything is obscured by that horrible bright light.

His panicked breaths and heart rate pick up even more when he hears something moving off to the side. Metallic clattering, followed by a voice. He can't make out a single word the voice is saying- it sounds like it's underwater or something. It's quickly joined by a couple of other voices, all equally muffled.

"Please... please..." Gordon weeps. He knows what's about to happen. How does he know that? It's happened before. Has it? Multiple times. This is new to him? They can never get enough. What??

His thoughts are immediately interrupted when a cold, sharp blade slices into him, from each end of his collar bone, and straight down the middle to his groin. He screams as the knife cuts through his flesh, so achingly slow. His weeping from earlier turns into full on sobbing as the muffled voices start to carefully peel away layers of skin, fat, and muscle, exposing his innards for all the world to see. Gloved hands plunge into his opened abdomen, and he screams again through gritted teeth. He raises his head, and sees those hands pull what looks like a cluster of writhing eels out of his abdominal cavity, inky black and dripping with deep deep sanguine blood.

"No, no, please, please," Gordon sobs out. His pleading falls of deaf ears, however, as another knife is brought in to sever the organ's connections to the rest of his body.

He wails in pain again, and he doesn't stop, they just keep going, they keep taking, why do they keep doing this, what do they even want from him-

All the previous sensations immediately vanish as a new one makes itself known.

Thin, bony digits cupping the side of his face.

~~~~~~~~~~

Gordon's eyes snap open, and he is infinitely relieved when he realizes he's not strapped to a metal table in some white room, but is laying safe in his bed. He closes his eyes back and sighs. That… was NOT one of the nightmares he usually has. What the hell even WAS that? Aside from incredibly fucked up, of course.

There's a shuffling by his bed, and Gordon opens his eyes back up, expecting to see Benry.

Instead, his eyes are met by the empty sockets of a very familiar skeleton. It tilts its head and clacks its mandible at him.

Gordon lets out a very undignified shriek.

[astaroth1357]

The MC Accidentally Kisses the Brothers

Due to incredibly popular demand (and because it’s a cute prompt).

Lucifer

It was just a childish prank, but pretty much all of Satan’s pranks were childish at their core (even the more homicidal ones).

This one wasn’t even that bad in the grand scheme of things. The angry boi was just trying to see if he could get Lucifer to fall down the stairs...

...admittedly, saying it out loud makes it sound much more cruel than intended. But this is Lucifer we’re talking about. A tumble down a flight or two wouldn’t leave him too injured… Unfortunately for Satan, he wasn’t the only one who took a tumbling.

The plan was pretty simple, put an enchantment on the stairs to the Conference Hall, lay in wait, and trigger it right as Lucifer was leaving a meeting. He’s always the last to go, so it should have been foolproof.

But the MC hung back to leave with Lucifer that day and just so happened to jump forward right as Satan was timing his step… getting themselves thrown down along with him.

Fortunately for them both, the firstborn’s reflexes were astounding. He was already holding the MC in his demon form and cushioning their fall before they could even hit the first stair. And it was quite a long way down…

By the time they hit the bottom, Lucifer had them fully wrapped up in his wings and Satan couldn’t what had happened until they unfolded… whereupon he saw the MC laying on top of Lucifer with their lips far FAR too close together for his liking…

Yeah, that backfired pretty hard and Satan was left fuming over it for days… Not that Lucifer minded in the slightest.

Mammon

Sometimes when Mammon does his photoshoots he brings the MC along as one part cheerleader, one part pit crew. It’ll be their job to hold onto his stuff, make sure he has enough to drink, and generally stand there and be impressed by his awesomeness until they leave.

Well that day things had been going well… until a particularly nosy worker started hovering around the MC too much for Mammon’s liking.

He tried to put it past him, since he had a shoot to do and all, but he snapped about halfway through when the guy kept trying to force a conversation with the very not interested MC.

Oh, he was ready to tell him off. He made the photographer stop mid-shoot just so he could march over there himself and give that asshole a piece of his mind! He was going to absolutely tear him to shreds and then-!!

Okay, that didn’t exactly happen because right as he got up to the MC, ready to start shouting, our lovable moron tripped… again…

But unlike the first time, where he more or less face-planted the floor, this time he smacked lips first into a surprised MC in front of the jerk he was trying to scare off.

… Yeah. He meant to do that.

And that’s exactly how he played it off, keeping his lips right where they were and flipping the other guy off so he’d leave them alone (which, thankfully, he did).

Totally what he intended to do and he'll swear so to this day.

Leviathan

… how in the world do you mess up the Kabedon?

Levi had seen the move done hundreds of times before in anime. It’s a very simple concept: put someone up against a wall, put one of your hands by their head, and just lean. That’s it. Not rocket science.

Levi had been mentally preparing himself for this moment for days… He may or may not have even practiced this (very simple) move in his room countless times. He genuinely thought he was ready to try it on the MC.

So, on one of those rare days he went to RAD, he gave it a shot. He waited until he and the MC were walking alone together, got them up against the wall, annnnd…

...rather than touching the wall next to them, his hand completely missed any sort of hard surface because in his panic he stopped them right next to a blind corner…

Naturally, his body fell forward some but since there wasn’t that much space between them by that point he uh… he… well he now knows their preferred Chapstick.

No matter what the MC’s reaction ultimately was, he leapt away from them like he just licked an electric fence and bolted.

His embarrassment genuinely cannot be overstated... He practically broke a window in his attempt to get the hell out of there and back to his room, where he didn’t leave for three days straight… Poor Levi...

Satan

It started out as easily one of the best days of his life. 

The MC, the exchange students, and the Royal Court had all decided to surprise him on his birthday with a Devildom-style cat cafe… Kitties were on practically every surface around him! 

Admittedly, Satan had been pretty distracted throughout most of his time there. There were just so many kitties for him to see that he sort of forgot about the MC in the process…

So in order to get his attention a little, the MC thought it would be cute to pick up one of the furry bundles and hold it in front of their face, doing that little thing where you pretended to “talk” for the cat and even waved one of its little paws at him.

They hadn’t predicted that Satan would find the display utterly, heart-meltingly adorable...

He attempted to plant a kiss on top of the furry critter’s head at the exact time that the MC brought the cat down their face entirely.

It took Satan a second or two to register that his lips were not, in fact, on a cat. And when he pulled back to see the MC’s shocked expression, the full gravity of his actions smacked him in the face like a falling log…

Cue a flustered rush to apologize while the MC hid their face back behind the confused kitty… Getting an accidental kiss in front of the prince of Hell and literal angels was pretty dang embarrassing...

At least the incident was taken in good spirits by most of the people in attendance (minus Luke, who was desperately trying to give MC his bottle of holy water like it was pepper spray by that point). 

Though after that point, Satan noticed that his “guests” kept passive-aggressively giving him cats until he was literally so buried in fluff he could barely move… probably not related, though. Probably.

Asmodeus 

It was another party night with Asmo and the MC at the Fall having a good time.

Now, Asmo was no stranger to Demonus and other assorted demonic beverages. You could say his tolerance is decent enough, but get a few too many in him and he does start to get a little off…

And a drunk Asmo is a very troublesome Asmo. 

The MC, bless their heart, was pretty much playing the sober babysitter to their demon friend when Asmo decided that he HAD to leave the club and get cupcakes right then. Being the good person they were, MC agreed to go with him, as long as he promised to stay with them and not wander off…

But they somehow managed to lose him within three blocks from the club. All they did was check their phone for directions and the guy bailed!!

Little did the MC know, while they were frantically searching for him Asmo hadn’t run away completely… He had just decided it was a great idea to play hide-and-seek at 2am and hid behind a nearby building.

It was his drunken giggling that eventually gave away his position, but he jumped out from behind the corner right as the MC was rounding it. Naturally, they both to collided. If hugging hadn’t been an instinctual action to Asmo by they point, they would have fallen down…

All they did ended up doing instead was getting caught in lip-lock due to Asmo’s sudden vice-grip.

Apparently he laughed and laughed all the way back to the House but his memory of it is pretty hazy… He’ll just have to get the MC to reenact it with him a few dozen times, that ought to jog his memory!

Beelzebub 

The MC was helping Beel out with his workout yet again and things had been going well.

Since Beel is pretty much a one-man army, his weights and routine are usually waaay too advanced for any human to be able to handle. So the MC is less his spotter and more a casual supporter/motivator than anything else.

And motivation was just what they were trying to provide with a fun little experiment of theirs… 

Ever heard of the “carrot-on-the-stick”? Well they decided to try something like that… literally. Just replace the carrot with a roast ham!

They put ham on a fishing pole, set Beel up on a treadmill, and dangled it closer or farther away based on his speed. In theory, it wasn’t the worst idea in the world... but in practice…? 

Well. Someone should have told them not to stand in front of him during this little trial...

Their motivation experiment did work for a few minutes… But soon enough Beel’s stomach got the better of his (marginal) self-control. They just weren’t expecting him to leap over the top of the treadmill...!

The smart thing to do would have been to drop the fishing pole or to just keep it still so Beel could grab the meat, but the MC reflexively drew the pole back behind them… thus putting them right in Beel’s path instead.

And that’s how they ended up caged under lord knows how many pounds of Beelzebub, thankfully kissing their lips rather than trying to chew them off…

Needless to say, Beel climbed off of them, red as a cherry, and the MC let him have that ham before the two agreed to never try this again. Whoopsie!

Belphegor 

Belphie likes sleep. 

Belphie likes cuddles. 

Belphie likes cuddling in his sleep.

Really this was bound to happen eventually…

The MC and Belphie were having a nice nap together in the attic and there wasn’t anything nefarious about it. Just two people snuggled up together in the same bed.

...snuggled up very close together in the same bed.

So close, in fact, that when the MC finally woke up and rolled over some to reposition themselves, they felt the soft lips of their companion brush up against their own.

They, of course, had the appropriate reaction of shock and embarrassment to this… but this cheeky fucker just smirked at them and let one eye slip open.

“What…? Is that it? It’ll take more than that to wake me up…”

Never mind the fact he was awake the whole time...

He really should have expected that pillow to the head, but after they struck the first blow, it was on now.

Don't worry. As it would turn out, an impromptu pillow fight also wakes him up just fine. Who'd have guessed?

[nilolol30]

Endangered: 8

_____________________

We all approched the companion seems like they are the guardian here maybe? Turns out I was wrong about the outside bit the lights were just normal lights...

"Travelers from the sewers. We haven't seen one of you in ages. Are you the ones who contacted us earlier? Zbaltazer the outsider has been experiencing you. He's meditating at the top of our village" the companion moved to the side and gestured to the bridge.

"Zbaltazer is really alive how wonderful I will say I slightly had doubts" Doc said laughing while smacking Momo's back.

"Of course he's alive now lets go we have so much to catch up on and I'm sure he will be happy to see you human" Momo began walking through the bridge as we followed.

We got to the end and there was a cryopod it was obviously old and broken thankfully no one inside but B-12 flew out to examine it.

"This machine. Human we found you in one. The scientist I assisted used one of these. He was sick. This was his last hope. He walked into the machine. But I wasn't with him he was alone. What was he doing? He uploaded himself into the computer and then everything was different but the upload, something went wrong he was stuck for hundreds of years. Until...a little cat appeared" B-22 paused and wiggled in the air.

"Wait B-12 are you saying that-" Momo couldn't finish.

"Was it? It was. Me. I was the scientist. I was human" B-12 shook their body and turned to us.

"I...I need a moment" and hid back into Strays bag.

"We should let B-12 sink this is the must be incredibly hard news" I said kneeling down and gave a gentle pat on Strays bag.

"Of course we should actually heal up first before we talk to Zbaltazer" Seamus responds we all agreed and climbed up the ladder.

Up the ladder was a few companions listening to music and doing their own activities Momo tapped the painters shoulder.

"Do you have any spare supplys me and my friends had a few awful encounters with Zurks" the companion thought for a moment and nodded.

"We do if you head straight there is a bot on a couch he can give you stuff" so that's where we went after waking the sleeping bot he told us behind the books in the broken oven was some supplies and there was.

"Look human theirs a clean towel too you can use that" Seamus threw the towel to my direction catching it I gave a thanks and started cleaning my face.

"Seamus son it's impolite to throw stuff" Doc lectured while fixing his own injurys.

"Okay Papa" Seamus rolled his eyes and began fixing himself up the unknown bot laughed and fell back asleep.

"What else have I forgotten? I must have had parents, friends. what happened to everyone?" B-12 asked themselves within the bag I felt sorry for them those were very similar thoughts I had too.

I put the towl down I didn't realize I was bleeding that much the adrenaline must have numbed the pain I definitely have a pretty big cut on my cheek who knows I'll probably get a bad ass scar.

"Human maybe you should throw your old bandage off your arm?" Momo says softly poking at it.

Right of course it's been a while since that one it's definitely healed up I untied the bandage the old bite mark was just a tiny little scar you just have to actually look to see it.

"Well unfortunately I can't reuse it but I should be fine will you guys be okay? you all got bit most" Doc chuckled.

"We should be fine we were all kicking them off pretty fast now that we're all done let's go up Zbaltazer is waiting" right hopefully he doesn't mind us taking our time.

Climbing another set of ladders we then had to climb another Stray jumped on my back to hitch a ride.

Once up there was a bit in the middle of the room connected to multiple screens B;12 finally flew out.

"What is this?"

Then suddenly the screens turned into the same blue face from Momo's computer scaring Stray.

"Hey! Don't you know not to interrupt a fellow during his transcendental meditation? Oh it's you guys Momo, Doc, Seamus and the Human I'm glad to see you all at last Doc, Momo I missed you all dearly Clementine... She's on midtown now. If you still want to see the outside, she's the one who can get you all there apparently she had some kind of plan to leave the city. Here, take this. I wrote her address on the back of this picture" Zbaltazer's hand held out a picture his hand looks like it's struggling to keep up B-12 quickly took the picture.

"To reach midtown l, climb up our little village it should be easy since coming here must have been difficult I'd wish you good luck but you don't need it but before you go may we all chat?" Doc and Momo quickly sat down in front of Zbaltazer.

"Of course old friend" Doc says they all began talking me and Seamus just sat in the background but B-12 floated to my lap I picked them up.

"I'm sorry for shutting down earlier. I'm human, you and me are probably the last in the world. Now, look what's left of Mr. So much has come back to me. How much have I forgotten? Maybe if we find Clementine we can restore my memories and get us back home at the same time" Stray meowed in response.

"Of course B-12 we'll do our best to help you" B-12 shut their eyes and hummed.

"Thank you...I...I need to recharge" after a while Doc and Momo turned to me and Seamus.

"Of course you'd remember my boy Seamus!" Doc pulled Seamus closer to everyone.

"Ah yes he has grown so much since I last saw him!" Zbaltazer laughs much to Seamus'embarrassment I laughed too but Momo pulled me closer.

"And you'd reithe human from when I contacted you!" Ah karma my old friend how's the kids?

"Of course I'd remember the human strange yet good fortune that you are still alive so much has changed for you it must have been overwhelming" Zbaltazers screen showed a sad smile.

"Yeah it was pretty scary but if the others and Stray didn't help me I'm sure I would have died" I laughed I mean it was Stray who opened the cryopod right?

"Ah yes this little outsider must be some good luck charm" Stray meowed and rubbed against Zbaltazer causing the screens to show a red heart.

"Except the time they made the bots back in the slums to drop a paint bucket" Stray growled at B-12 for snitching.

"That was you! That paint bucket hit me on the head and Kosma had to clean up all that paint!" Everyone laughed.

"All that just to steal detergent" B-12 continued.

"You stole too! You little trouble maker" I picked up Stray dangling him in the air he purred with a smug face.

"Poor Kosma" Zbaltazer laughed.

"If I'm correct this little outsider has been smashing empty pots too" Momo continued.

"Oh my Clementine would definitely not be happy about that!" Doc chuckled shaking Seamus with him.

"Seamus what happened to your hat? If I remember you always had it on" Zbaltazer asked I completely forgot Seamus lost it when we were running from the zurks.

"Stupid zurks chased us it fell off and I couldn't get it back" Seamus mumbled a little sad.

"Oh I believe on the upper level of the tree when you climb up there is a spare hat it looks just like your perhaps just a different color" Zbaltazer smiled Seamus looked a little happy now.

"Really!? Sweet!" He fist bumped the air in victory.

"Hmm before you all leave you should take the chance to recharge all that running must have been exhausting" to prove Zbaltazers point I yawed.

"Agreed especially you human I was pretty much dragging you everywhere I'm surprised I didn't hurt you" Momo patted my shoulder.

"Me too I thought I was just gonna start flying like I kite" I laughed leaning on Momo's side and closed my eyes I guess soon I might need to explain what a kite is but not right now though.

"You all can recharge up here" Zbaltazer laughed I don't know what at though.

[wingsyliveblogs]

Between king and the detention trio, everything Luz says to other people keeps coming back around to bite her when she least needs it this episode. Thankfully, she’s able to turn it around in the end with her own self-criticism being used to convince Bump to give everyone a chance at seeing if mixing magic can work, if you stick with it despite the hiccups.

1. Good point! One thing Luz definitely did struggle with in this episode was choosing her words carefully, and things she'd previously said in a moment of carelessness coming up at the worst possible moments. I got the impression that her arc this time around was more or less about being true to herself, and in this case, that came with figuring out how to communicate her thoughts clearly to others.

2. That's true... basic human decency isn't exactly a common thing around the Boiling Isles, as far as we've seen. There are exceptions, of course, since Willow and Gus definitely do try to look out for their friends and the people around them respectively, but most people just don't seem to do stuff like that.

3. Oooh, I didn't make that connection before!

I feel this also serves as a great point in favour of mixing magic. I imagine a lot of people in a track like beast-keeping could really use the ability to heal, both for themselves and for their pets. Just look at how Viney was able to heal Puddles's injury after the fight - if she couldn't do that herself, she'd have to wait until she could find someone else to do it, and in a theoretical scenario where a witch's pet was injured much more severely, the witch not being able to care for their pet properly on their own could have some serious consequences.

4. I'll admit it's sometimes a bit difficult for me to tell dog traits and cat traits apart, and so I'm not always sure which one certain characters are supposed to resemble (for example, King).

But, in this case... I have to ask. Do cats bark???

5. Hmm. That's possible! The implication that people in the Boiling Isles all speak English but don't know any other human languages does seem a bit strange, but it could very well be one of those things that we're not meant to think too hard about.

I wouldn't think that Jerbo would have to worry too much about being ostracised for having an interest in a human language, though? Seeing as there's an official club for appreciation of human-related things in the school already, it doesn't seem like something that would generally be considered weird, per se.

6. That's fair! I think misunderstandings are, by their very nature, a little bit contrived, since they generally require certain levels of miscommunication that shouldn't be that hard to avoid. In this case, though, I felt like this particular misunderstanding wasn't too bad, since it naturally arose from Luz and the troublemaker trio's expectations of others.

Luz expected to mess up and have people think poorly of her, and she definitely has experience with people not listening to her when she's tried to explain herself in the past. She's very much used to making a bad first impression on others. Meanwhile, the troublemakers expected people to look down on them, and from the way they don't listen to Luz at all once they've decided she's not to be trusted, I would guess that they've probably also had experience with people pretending to like them, only to say bad things about them behind their backs.

Plus, I'll admit that I thought it was very interesting that the misunderstanding was built on the trio overhearing something that Luz actually said almost word for word herself, rather than mishearing something or having it be, like... something Luz was saying about the potions track or something else that was taken completely out of context.

It's... kind of hard to put what I'm thinking into words, but I think misunderstandings tend to go the route of taking something a character's said previously completely out of context, like the classic one where a character hears part of what another character's saying and it sounds really bad, but then later they find out about the rest of what they said, which gives their words a completely different meaning. However, in this case, it was Luz's very own words coming back to bite her, fair and square.

While Luz clearly didn't mean what she was saying in the way the trio took it, she also didn't really seem to get them at first. She was legitimately surprised to learn that they were in the same position she was, and her line about them being able to get into so much trouble in the shortcut room gave off the impression that she thought they were just rowdy kids (or even pranksters like Eda), which would mean that she was sort of separate from them. It felt like that bit back in Episode 1, where she told the Conformatorium prisoners she wasn't a criminal, only to find out that they hadn't done anything wrong either.

She did come to understand the trio once she learned their stories, but I don't think she truly understood them at first; she was just being nice. The thing was, she failed to communicate any of that. To some extent it did feel as though she didn't really try, and maybe she didn't really think there was a point to trying. It's interesting that she never really explained herself later, either - she encouraged the trio to fight the basilisk, and later she stood up for them, but she never actually got around to telling them why she said what she said. In a sense, I suppose her actions spoke louder than her words, so it wasn't much of a problem at that point, but still!

7. That could very well be the case!

[jackalsprey]

Look, I'm bored, I have no clue how to start this last fish child thing for Emma cause I can't write fluff for the life of me, and I want to gush about Henry. So...take my headcanons for our forest King, including a whole separate section for Hiro/Henry headcanons.

TW: I am very horny, so there will be sex headcanons for these two. Triggering stuff possibly in the angsty headcanons

Cute stuff:

He's not just a plant dad. He's an animal dad. His favorites are lizards and cats. He keeps bringing strays into Tidmouth and Gordon doesn't know what to do with them all. He is a Disney princess.

This man's STRONG. It helps when he has to haul stuff around and shunt, but his favorite part of his strength? He gets to carry people in human form. Like, no joke, he can carry James (who despite all appearances, weighs like, 250 pounds in human form) without breaking a sweat. Percy gets piggyback rides all the time.

Speaking of Percy, Henry's taken something of an uncle-ish role to him. He holds Percy's wild side back, but is enough of a child at heart himself to join in the fun.

He's softspoken, but he's not afraid to jump in and defend his buddies. One time, when Gordon and Scot (aka Scotsman) were having a massive argument, he jumped in to mediate. Still, the rift between the brothers was big. (Future fic, take note.)

Angsty stuff

In my universe, he was the one to go through the Smelter's Incident, not James. He ended up in a really bad state, falling into a coma for a couple weeks. The others won't admit it, but, no one really thought he'd make it.

He's claustrophobic on a whole new level, thanks to the tunnel. Also mildly pyrophobic thanks to the point mentioned above.

After reflecting on the shit things he did, like kicking Duck out of Tidmouth, constantly striking with Gordon and James, and the like, he's developed some serious guilt issues. He's always trying to make up for what a bad person/engine he used to be, sometimes to levels where it's taken advantage of.

Speaking of taken advantage of...well, at one point, there was a request from the duke that Henry come to the mainland to work with Spencer, as they needed extra help around the grounds there. In that time, Spencer charmed the fuck out of Henry, to the point our plant king developed a massive crush. Spencer used said crush to his advantage, manipulating Henry into doing whatever he wanted him to. Thankfully, he realized what was happening and got out of there. To this day, Spencer still has a small hold on Henry. One he still exploits...(also future fic.)

Ok, away from the angst, time for cute couple headcanons! I have enough on Henry x Hiro to fill a novel so I'll just cover some of my favorites.

These two love their flora. Most of their dates are spent outside, in Henry's Forest, or elsewhere on the island. A favorite thing of Hiro's to do is let Henry fall asleep next to him, and fill his hair with surrounding flowers. When he wakes up, he always says, "How did you sleep, my Mori no Ninfu?" That is Japanese for Forest Nymph.

Hiro teaches Henry Japanese sometimes. He's not fluent yet, possibly because most of the lessons end up being..."hands-on" education... ;) But Henry's getting better and they're able to carry a small conversation entirely in Japanese. They even have nicknames for each other. Henry's is Sakura (cherry blossom) and Hiro's is Hansumu (handsome.)

They're a surprisingly musical pair. Henry is amazing at the piano, a virtuoso in Gordon's words, and Hiro's deep, beautiful voice (DAMN IT NO SIMPING FOR HIS VOICE JACKAL) is a very good singing voice. Whenever they're forced to do an indoor date, they usually find a private place with a piano.

Ok, my horniness cannot be restrained. Henry may be a soft boi most of the time, but he is a DOM in the sheets. It both scared and turned Hiro on to no end. He's surprisingly bold about it too. One night, after everyone else had gone to sleep, he convinced Hiro to fuck him. ON. SIR. TOPHAM. HATT'S. DESK. Hiro turned bright red every time he went into that office for a month.

They have a really dramatic story line tethered to my first point above, but that requires a separate post how long this is.

[ladyloveandjustice]

Spring 2021 anime overview: Quick Takes

Now for my Spring 2021 anime thoughts! I’ve decided from now on if a season’s like, 20- to-24 episodes I’m just going to wait ‘til it’s done to review it unless I feels super passionately, so though I watched To Your Eternity (it’s good!) and MHA (eh), I’ll comment on them next time. Also, for the record, I watched the first eight eps of Joran: Princess and Snow of Blood but I dropped it because it had clearly crossed the line from entertainingly dumb to boring dumb. 

I will probably give Supercub and some other stuff a shot later, this was a stacked season! May give updates on all that later, but this is what I have for now.

ODDTAXI

Quick Summary: A mild mannered middle-aged walrus taxi driver is drawn into a case involving a missing girl, yakuza, Youtube clout-chasers, manzai comedians and idols with big secrets.

It’s rare to walk away from media and be like “that is a singular experience I will definitely never see repeated again” but ODDTAXI is definitely one of those. A tense noir thriller murder mystery starring cartoon animals that spends an entire episode detailing the one (cat)man’s very fall into darkness triggered by addiction to gacha games and an online auction for a novelty eraser? Also there’s a porcupine Yakuza who speaks entirely in rap? Also there’s tons of meandering conversations about stuff like manzai comedy and the struggle to go viral on Twitter?

Admittedly, I had a hard time getting into the first episode, the dry meandering humor not being enough to hold my attention while I was sitting still, but once I watched this while I was working out at the end of the season, I found it an easy binge. A ton of characters with dark secrets or dangerous ambitions, each with their own part to play in a tableau of intersecting events- and it all actually comes together really well.(As for the female characters, it’s a pretty dude driven story, but they do get nuanced characterization and even some good heroic moments from one of them.)

 It’s a great example of a carefully planned narrative paying off, with all the twists appropriately seeded and foreshadowed to reward viewers who paid attention. Even when it ended on a perfect “OH SHIT” moment and denied me closure, I couldn’t help but respect it. If you that all sounds interesting to you, definitely check out the first couple episodes and see if you like it- you’re likely to have a memorable, satisfying experience!

Shadows House

Quick Summary: Emilyko is a ‘living doll’ who’s told she was created to act as the ‘face’ of her shadow master, Kate. The shadows and their ‘dolls’ all reside on the mansion and are required to pass a ‘debut’ to prove they’re a good pairing. If they don’t pass, they might be disposed of. And so the mystery of the Shadow mansion grows...

This slice of gothic intrigue was my favorite of the season, tied with ODDTAXI. With an interesting premise, slightly tense undertones and a strong focus on character building and relationships, it kept me hooked the whole way through. And for any squeamish fans put off by the hype about it, don’t worry, while there are some suspenseful elements, I wouldn’t qualify it as horror. I thought the relationship between Kate and Emilyko might end up being a completely sinister one, but it’s thankfully a lot more complex than that and it’s really interesting to follow how both their characters and relationship grow. The focus of the show is, unsurprisingly, on the “dolls” slowly discovering their autonomy and personhood as they struggle under the rigid system imposed on them by the mysterious elders of this weird Victorian mansion. Can they develop a more equitable relationship with their shadow “masters” (who are also shown to suffer under this system)? There’s a lot to dig into there, and the show has the characters develop through learning to understand and appreciate each other, which is pretty heartwarming. Our hero, Emilyko, is the typical plucky ball of sunshine (they even nickname her sunshine), but she’s also shown to be clever in her own off-the-wall way and she bounces off the far more subdued and cynical Kate well, not to mention the other ‘dolls’ she ends up befriending. 

What’s more, the show spends plenty of time to developing several other character pairings and combinations, and they all have their own interesting dynamic that makes you want to see more of them. Same-gender bonds are at the forefront of this show, and many of them are ripe for queer readings (I definitely appreciated the healthy helping of ladies carrying ladies), but even outside that it’s nice to see a show where a strong, complex bond between girls is at the forefront. My only real complaints about the show are the anime original ending is noticeably a bit rushed (though it’s not too bad, and leaves room for a season 2) and I wish the animation used the whole “shadow” theme more strikingly (like the opening and endings do)- instead the colors are a bit washed out which makes the shadows blend into the background sometimes. The “debut” arc also drags a bit in places, but it makes up for it by having a lot of good character integration.

I hope to check out the (full color)! manga soon and see more of this quirky, shadowy story. There’s some physical abuse depicted, sad things happening to characters and naturally the whole “oppressive familial system” thing, but otherwise not much I can think of to warn about. I give this one a big rec, especially If you’re a fan of gothic fairytales and stories of self discovery.  

Zombie Land Saga Revenge

Quickest summary: In this sequel season, everyone’s favorite zombie idol group must claw their way back into prominence after a disastrous show- the fate of the Saga prefecture LITERALLY depends on it!

This was a fun follow-up to the first season- if you liked the first zombie-girl romp, you’ll probably enjoy this one. In fact, there were a couple areas it improved on- namely, Kotaro failed, ate crow and embarrassed himself a lot more this season, which made him more likeable (as did the fact the girls gained a lot of independence from him). This season also shed more light on what the ‘goal’ of this zombie raising project is and what kind of shit Kotaro got involved with to make this happen, and it’s appropriately off-the-wall and ridiculous. We finally got some backstory for Yugiri too! I wish it had focused on more of her interiority, but she got to be a badass in it, and it was a treat to see this zombie idol show turn into a period piece for a couple episodes (also her song ruled).

 Tae also got a cute focus episode and there was a particular SMASHING performance early on! Also That revelation last season that had the potential to turn creepy hasn’t yet, and hopefully never will. The finale was heartwarming with big hints of more drama to come- I’m definitely down for more zombie hijinks!

Vivy: Flourite Eye’s Song

Quickest Summary: A songstress AI named DIVA (nicknamed Vivy) is approached by another AI named Matsumoto, who says he’s from the future and they must work together to prevent AI exterminating all of humankind 100 years from now.

This show is absolutely gorgeous visually with some really nice action scenes, but when it comes to the story my feelings basically amount to a shrug. It’s fine! I guess! Vivy starts out as an interesting layered character- and I guess still is by the end- with her stoic but stubborn determination bouncing off her fast-talking bossy partner Matsumoto well. She never listens to him, which is delightful. The way the show took place over the course of 100 years was an interesting conceit as well. However, it bought up a lot of themes and then sort of... dropped them. For instance, Vivy interprets her mission (PRIME DIRECTIVE if you will) as protecting humans at all costs, no matter how destructive said humans are or what their fate is supposed to be, and is perfectly willing to murder her fellow androids to do this, showing she inherently thinks of androids (herself and her own people!) as less worthy. Which is a little alarming! There’s a very dramatic point in the show where they bring this up as a potential conflict for her character but then it’s sort of...dropped. Pretty much.

Actually, despite the premise, the show doesn’t dip into the “AI rights” as much as you think it would with the main theme being more about Vivy’s search to find her own creativity and discover what it means to ‘pour your heart into something’. Vivy herself doesn’t actually care if she has rights or anything. Which is in some ways fine, because ‘AI as an oppressed class’ has been done to death, but IT’S ALSO KIND OF IN THE PREMISE, so that means that the show just shrugs really hard at a lot of the questions it brings up  basically just going “humans and AI should work together probably” and that’s it. There’s a lot that feels underexplored. The antagonists in the show also either have motivations that don’t really make sense or have boring hackneyed motivations. In the finale in particular, it feels like a lot of things happen “just because” and it falls a little flat.

I also have to warn that one of the arcs focus on a robot ‘pairing’ where the dude-coded robots actions toward his partner are straight up awful and rob her of her autonomy, but it’s played like a tragic love story. I suppose you could read it differently too, but it definitely made me go ‘ew’ the story seemed to want me to sympathize with this robo dude,

Overall, I wouldn’t anti-recommend this show, it’s an all right little sci-fic romp (and definitely SUPER pretty). My favorite element was definitely the episodes where Vivy develops an entirely new (an loveable) personality, because it played with the idea of of an AI getting “rebooted” really well and interplay between her two “selves” was done really well. But there are a lot of other parts of the show that just feel...a little underexplored and empty, making me have an ‘eh’ feeling on the show overall. It’s definitely an ambitious project, and while it didn’t quite stick the landing, there’s something to be said for a show that shoots for the stars and falls short over a show that just languishes in mediocrity.

Fruits Basket The Final

Quick summary: The final season of that dramatic drama about that weird family with a zodiac curse and the girl who loves them.

It’s very weird that after not cutting a lot out, they kinda sped through some material for, you know, the finale. I guess they thought they couldn’t stretch this final arc to 26 episodes? Or weren’t cleared for another double cour? However, though there were a couple places that felt awkward, despite being a bit condensed it mostly held together pretty well for a D R A M A T I C and ultimately heartwarming conclusion. I was really disappointed they kept the part where Ritsu cut their hair for the ‘happy ending’, I thought  their intro episode not showing them in men’s clothes meant the anime had decided their presentation didn’t need to be “fixed” but WELL I GUESS NOT. That was the only big upset for me though, otherwise the adaptation went about how I expected, sticking to the source material. Furuba has a lot of bumps, from weird age gap stuff to ...gender, but it also has a lot of important feels and great character arcs. It was a gateway shoujo for many and has its important place in animanga history, so I’m glad it finally got a shiny, full adaptation.

[katzkinder]

Little Boy Blue

Mahiru is tired.

Kuro can see it, in the way his folding isn’t as neat, in the way the vegetables in their dinner aren’t as uniformly chopped, in the way his head bobs during school lessons, his laughter isn’t as loud, how he doesn’t check half so well before he crosses the street and needs the ever watchful hand of Sakuya to drag him back from the curb, a shout on the subclass’s lips, scolding and fussing about the car that had just whizzed past their little group.

Mahiru is tired, but he refuses to rest.

And it’s driving Kuro mad.

It’s as Mahiru is jerked and prodded, worried and fussed over by his trio of school friends, that Kuro makes a decision.

His Eve will get some sleep, whether he wants to or not.

Thankfully for him, he knows Mahiru wants it. The frustrating part is that his stupid, incredible, wonderful human doesn’t think he’s earned it. Not yet. Not when there was still more to do.

Which meant, joy of joys… He needed some help.

Good thing he had three ready made volunteers right there with him on the curb.

Now to convince them.

***

The easiest part, by far, was getting them to go along with his plan. Slipping into Mahiru’s bag to use the cellphone Tooru had bought him (every time he thought about it, he still couldn’t believe it. His own phone, his own clothes, his own games, his own… Everything, really), he sent a single text to three different numbers.

Mahiru’s exhausted. Help me get him to chill out?

The hard part…

“Hey, Mahiru! It’s been a while since we all last had a sleepover, right?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, it has…”

“Since we’re already going to be walking you home to make sure you don’t wander out into traffic…”

“It was an accident!”

“Party at Mahiru-sama’s place~!”

“Would you stop with that stupid… Fine! But Sakkun is paying for the food!”

… Wasn’t actually that hard? But, well. Leave it to the grungy joker to just… Steamroll his way into Mahiru’s place, invited or not. And become a steamed cabbage in the process.

The power of Mahiru-sama is frightening indeed…

***

The first order of business when the five of them arrive at Mahiru’s apartment is taken care of handily by, once again, Sakuya.

“Pizza time!” he crows, tapping the order into a website Kuro only vaguely recognizes the name of. It’s not a delivery app, but the website’s own page, and while he’s busy with that, Kuro hops out of Mahiru’s bag, ready to go fetch blankets and pillows from the linen closet in order to set them all up.

Except Mahiru’s two human friends beat him to it.

All the better, he thinks, as he hops up onto the couch to watch them spread things out right in front of the TV. The living room is small, the area they’ve chosen to occupy even more so, but it’s what he would have chosen for Mahiru, too, to cram them all together, to surround his Eve with the simple pressure and warmth of his loved ones crowded close.

Not for the first time, and certainly not the last, Kuro is so… Grateful for Mahiru’s friends. Before him, and even after him, they will love Mahiru like a brother, like a family, know him in ways he can’t, the same way Gear knows him in ways Mahiru never will.

And that’s fine. To be known is to be loved, and more than anyone, Mahiru deserves it.

“Mahiru, can you help Ryuu-chan? I’m gonna go make sure Sakuya doesn’t burn your kitchen down trying to make popcorn.”

“Hey! I’ll have you know, I’m always the one who makes the popcorn when Shamrock can’t!”

“And how much of it do you burn?”

“Less than you, so nyeh.”

… Maybe he should go watch them.

“Ah, Kuro, don’t get your fur on the counter!”

“Can’t deal…”

At the least, Mahiru seems to already be feeling better. It’s like magic. The best kind Kuro has ever seen.

***

Kuro spends the night as a cat, nestled in Mahiru’s lap or lying across his back, little paws kneading his Eve’s flesh and purring up a storm, extra sweet and extra soothing, while the other three pile around them. Mahiru is… Quiet. But not a bad quiet, no. A good quiet, letting the presence of the other people in their home wash over him, their bickering and their teasing, not a host but just a friend, just another kid, a kid with greasy fingers and a half drunk bottle of cola and two boxes of extra large pepperoni pizzas with cheesy bread set out before them.

“Where the heck do you find these pizza places I’ve never heard of?” Ryuusei asks after a particularly long cheese stretch has him craning his head back and holding his arms out, making the other three laugh, “This is great.”

“Vampire SNS,” Sakuya tells him proudly, and snickers once more at the tongue click it nets him.

Much to Kuro’s surprise, after building their little nest, the green haired vampire had graciously given up his preferred spot next to Mahiru without a word, instead settling himself shoulder to shoulder with the short one, Ryuusei, while he and Koyuki had pressed themselves up against Mahiru like they were trying to merge with him. It’s a tangle of arms and legs, like cats lying one on top of the other, physical closeness that speaks volumes of the emotional one they’ve cultivated with each other, and which they were slowly, Kuro felt, trying to ease him into.

It was a strange feeling. Being included.

But it wasn’t one he hated by any means.

Ryuusei flops his head against Mahiru’s arm, cheek squishing ridiculously as he squints at the screen. “Who picked this again?”

The crunching from Mahiru’s right stops, and a bowl of half eaten popcorn, buttery and with the perfect amount of salt, is nudged his Eve’s way. Wordlessly, Mahiru grabs up a big handful of it, stuffs it in his mouth with a knowing little smile, a sort of carelessness Kuro can never seem to invoke on his own.

The shuffling of fabric, and Koyuki leans onto Mahiru’s shoulder as well, the barest hint of a pout to his voice. “Does it matter? Even bad movies are fun when we’re together.”

“You’re cheesier than this pizza,” Sakuya teases, and Mahiru grins, laughs, finally says something, the exhaustion all but gone from his voice.

“That means Koyuki definitely picked it.”

“So you’re the one responsible!” Ryuusei shouts, and Koyuki flicks popcorn at him, bounces it right off his head.

“Shut up! You can change it, y’know.”

“Well, we’re already this far in,” Mahiru muses, and Sakuya quietly plucks the floor tainted popcorn up to place on a napkin, “Might as well finish it.”

Kuro is… So glad that Mahiru has friends who can do this for him. To do the things he can’t. This sense of total normalcy, of being just another teenager… It’s not really something he can help with. Not really. He knows he’s the type to overthink, to become discouraged when his efforts don’t get immediate results.

But now Mahiru is laughing again.

It’s everything he could have asked for.

***

Hours upon hours later, the only light in the room is from the flickering TV screen, and the only sounds are the soft breaths of four teenage boys, fast asleep right there on the floor.

Kuro finally rouses himself, gets up, stretches, and carefully picks his way down Mahiru’s back. Only then does he allow himself to transform back into a human, cracking his neck, his back, and sighing heavily at the relief it grants his stiff joints.

It’s time to get to work. All that effort would be meaningless if Mahiru woke to a mess, so clean up crew Kuro shall be.

First go the soda bottles. Back into the fridge, without a label or a care for who had drunk from what, because it’s not like those four cared anyway, but Mahiru hated to waste food. Honestly, Kuro was in agreement on that much, but especially when it came to his favorites. So, twisting each cap tightly back into place, he made sure to set them up in plain sight so that they’d be finished in the morning (and if not by their owners, by him), blocking the light of the fridge with his own body and the tails of his coat so as not to disturb the quartet of friends.

Next were the pizza boxes. Each one was completely empty, but that was no surprise, given that there were two shared between the five of them. Even the little banana peppers included had been devoured. If Kuro had to guess… Mahiru. For some godforsaken reason, his Eve adored things that set his mouth on fire, and no amount of “it’s not that spicy!” would change Kuro’s opinion that Mahiru, sweet faced, stubborn, wonderful Mahiru, just wanted to see what the fires of hell tasted like.

(And maybe he was a bit of a baby when it came to peppers, but clearly that wasn’t his fault)

Onto the counters the pizza boxes went.

Next came the bowl of popcorn, filled with nothing but unpopped kernels, then the plates, then the napkins, then the painstaking process of picking up every infernal piece of popped corn that had been jokingly thrown about between friends with zero thought for who would have to clean it up all up.

Considering how many Sakuya had tossed, he had a feeling the other vampire had known Kuro would take it upon himself to tidy up their garbage, and found himself cracking an annoyed, if fond, smile.

Little brat.

Mess more or less taken care of, Kuro had one last task to complete, and fetching the fluffiest quilt he could find from the closet that hadn’t already been used to pad out the hard tile in front of their TV, he carefully, carefully, spread it out over the pile of sleeping boys. Not a one stirred, not even Mahiru.

His smile turned ever so slightly bitter.

Well, that was fine. That was good, even, because it meant that, more than he’d thought, Mahiru had needed this night, this little slice of being normal, of simplicity.

Looking at each face in turn… He thought that maybe, all of them had.

Himself included.

Tucking himself into the crook of Mahiru’s neck was easy, a warm, furry weight that had his Eve curling up even more, ever so slightly, setting off a chain reaction as each teenager also shifted, one or two murmuring in their sleep, shuffling closer to each other like small birds seeking safety and comfort during a storm.

And that was fine, too. Kuro would watch over their dreams, every one.

Sleep tight, guys. Sweet dreams...