#The Blackberry Bushes AUs

[isfjmel-phleg]

Okay. So. I was looking back at some of your Blackberry Bushes asks, and you mentioned that gender-flipping a character would be one of the worst things an adaptation could do. Which naturally made me wonder about gender-flipping your characters. So even if this is anathema, I have to ask: how would your stories be different if your mains were the opposite gender? Or if that's too much, whose story would be most different if they were the opposite gender, and whose story would be least affected?

Gender-flipping just to gender-flip or for the sake of a ship or to make some kind of Statement is what I take issue with, but going into this with an awareness of how much is going to change...that's an interesting question! Let's look at this for each of my main seven, assuming for purposes of argument that everyone else in this continuity remains the same unless stated otherwise.

Raphael (Rachel) would be in a different position as a male because of family expectations. There are two options here: either he gets sent to the naval academy with his elder brother or he stays with his mother and sisters in their father's absence as a sort of substitute "man of the family." If the first, then he is much less likely to find the door behind the blackberry bushes and make a friend on the other side, and the story is now about how a timid nervous wreck tries to survive the naval academy (which probably isn't really what he wants to do with his life). If the second, then he's still under a lot of pressure, but of a different kind. In a house full of female relatives and a dying grandfather, he would be expected to take on an almost adult protector role, which he really isn't prepared for at only fourteen. His father sends him severe, shaming letters if he doesn't magically know how to man up enough at all times, and his mother and grandmother normalize this because "fathers are hard on their sons." So basically he would be up against the more extreme turn-of-the-century concepts of masculinity, which is a great burden for someone who tends to naturally be a gentle-spirited worrywart. Thus, his secret friend on the other side of the bushes, who is accepting and encouraging and exposes him to a construct of family life without constant scolding and silencing, is going to be a welcome escape. Similar to Rachel's story, but with gender roles more at the forefront.

Riquet (Rietta), as a male heir to his father's throne, has a much more stable position with less expectation of his needing constant guidance and hand-holding as a monarch. His impending marriage is less of an issue, because his (great) aunts and uncles have fewer candidates among their children who could marry him. (Rietta is surrounded by male first and second cousins who have been suggested as possible matches for her, and yes, ew, but that was common for royalty, and I can assure you she won't end up with any of them.) However, there is much more concern for his education while living in isolation with his mother. Tietra is viewed as an inadequate guardian for a boy who needs to grow up to be Manly™. Of course, Riquet is still a boisterous little firecracker who runs wild on the castle grounds and tries to attack council members who are rude to his mother, but that's not what Normorot and the rest have in mind. Normorot tries to put his son (yes, Coleinette, who still exists in this AU, has at least one brother) in a position of closeness and trust to the young king, but Riquet isn't having that and wants his good friend Raphael the deeply unsuitable half-Coregean Dissidant instead, and conflict ensues. There's still talk of marrying off Riquet to the King of Corege's young daughter eventually, which changes when he meets Andras's daughter instead, etc. etc. It's not an excessively different set-up, but the flavor would definitely change.

Delclia (Delclis) was more easily discredited from her claim to the throne after her father's death, on the grounds that she is female and therefore potential trouble like Antavia. So she's much less of a threat to Talfrin's power than if she had been male, and she's allowed to stay nearer her mother. She and Bethira have a reasonably good, if not overly close relationship, but she and Talfrin don't connect much at all. She develops a passionate interest in botany and wants to study it at Claverworth, which admits women although they are ineligible for full degrees. Talfrin, however, wants to marry her off to the son of a friend of his, six years her junior. Delclia has no particular interest in marrying Morstyn Hollock, and Bethira really, really doesn't like this idea either. The problem disappears after Talfrin is forced to abdicate and Delclia inherits the throne, to great controversy. She has the disaster of her cousin Antavia constantly looming over her, trapping her in this role that she is unprepared for. The government doesn't take her very seriously, as both a minor and a female. Any toll this takes on her mental health is regarded as hysteria or the like. The question of a suitable marriage for her becomes Extremely Crucial. The basic plot doesn't change much, but her role in the family does.

Elystanna (Elystan) is a huge disappointment. After vehemently discrediting Delclia as heir to the throne, Talfrin expects to have a male heir of his own. But his and Bethira's only surviving child is a sickly girl. She is still expected to inherit the throne (if she makes it), but Talfrin is resentful of her for not being what he wanted. He makes an effort to raise her as he would have a son, but Bethira is able to exercise more influence in Elystanna's upbringing than she would be able to with a son. Consequently, Elystanna grows up closer to her mother than her father, whom she admires but can never quite please. Bethira is aware of how her husband treats their daughter and tries to be extra lenient with her to make up for it, which has a negative effect on Elystanna's character. She's self-centered and entitled but also deeply hurt and rejected, and if given the chance, she'll do just about anything to prove to her father that she is a worthy heir after all. Even treason. Which goes about as well as you would expect, and she gets sent to the girls' school that her mother attended, where further shenanigans ensue. Again, the plot doesn't change a lot, but a female Elystan would have a very different role in the family.

Amaro (Amarantha) is the son of Elystanna's nurse. Since Elystanna has a more stable relationship with her actual mother, she is much less insecurely attached to Edmara, who has a better (but not perfect) balance between work and life now. Amaro does have some buried resentment of Elystanna, but it's not overwhelming. He is about to attend whatever the male equivalent of Queen Edella's is, when his scholarship is revoked and he's temporarily brought to the palace while his mother figures out what to do with him. This puts him in the path of Elystanna. Their interactions are tense but don't get out of hand; Amaro is too preoccupied with the next steps in his art education. And then he and Elystanna end up in a castle with Ayra and Ateva, and he's the only boy and somehow expected to be Responsible, and...well, I think the events in general will play out very differently without the intense jealousy as a factor, which doesn't make for as interesting a story. There needs to be some other tension between Amaro and Elystanna, but I don't know what that would be.

Tametta (Tamett) is the second of five daughters of a Noriberrian family related to a Duke. She leads a completely normal, drama-free life at home with her family, because there is no reason for her to take a position as companion to the King of Lienne's third daughter. Maybe the two of them have an occasional arranged play date whenever Tametta's uncle wants to get in good with the King, but there's no full-time arrangement. Which is fantastic for Tametta, but not a particularly interesting story.

Josepha (pronounced yo-ZAY-fa - Josiah) is the last of a series of disappointments for her father. He had hoped that she would be the male heir that he needed, after two previous daughters. But being Nyella's child was in Josepha's favor, and she initially grew up as the beloved baby of the family, with her eldest sister Ayra filling the role as Heiress Presumptive. But then Mikaiah was born, at the expense of his mother's life, and he became Odren's new favorite on whom he loads all his expectations. Mikaiah is too similar to his flighty, adventurous mother to adequately be the heir his father wants, but Odren is forgiving and Mikaiah can get away with a lot even with all the pressure. (He does have a companion, but I don't know this boy's identity.) Meanwhile, responsible, dutiful Josepha is trying to get her father's attention by being everything that he wants Mikaiah to be. But she's a girl, so she's really only useful as a bargaining chip for marriage. To prepare her for this, she is sent to a girls' school in Corege and ends up rooming with Elystanna. They do not get along. Josepha's not quite as loathsome as she would have been if she had grown up as the Favored Heir, but she's got a major chip on her shoulder and more of a temper than she'll admit. Besides the change for Tamett, which completely negates that plotline, and for Amarantha, which changes motivations, I think this one is the greatest change. So much of who Josiah is is bound up in his position, which he could never have in his society if he were a girl. It changes almost everything about relationships in that entire family. Josepha would be more likely to have a bond with Ayra and Ateva, and she would still resent Mikaiah but for different reasons.

[fictionadventurer]

AU asks, for all eleven of the AUs you mentioned in your tags (including the Blackberry Bushes one because why not!), mix and match for whichever one you like: 2, 5, 9, 10, 11, 13, 17, 18, 20, 21, 24

2. Summarize this au in 5 sentences.

Psmith Star Wars AU: Mike Jackson is a cadet at an Outer Rim Imperial Academy whose dreams of flying an X-Wing for the Empire shatter when he learns of the Empire's atrocities. When his brother defects to the Rebellion, Mike and some of his fellow cadets decide to leave the Academy and join the rebel cause. The boys are nearly captured during their escape attempt, but they're saved by Mike's eccentric roommate, Psmith, who turns out to be a former Jedi youngling who's been hiding from the Empire. After they make their escape, Mike and his fellow cadets have to decide whether they can trust this sly, arrogant boy with these unnatural powers, and they need to find a way to find and help the Rebellion.

5. What is something you kept the same?

Lord Peter Wimsey Telepath AU: I've kept the setting and situations as close to the originals as possible. It's still 1930s England. Harriet's still accused of murdering her lover. Lord Peter's still an aristocrat. The only difference is that various superpowers are a known and accepted part of society, and Peter's ability to literally know Harriet's thoughts adds a whole new and more difficult dimension to the power imbalance between them.

9. Is there a scene you wish you could've included, but couldn't? Why?

Sherlock Holmes Pushing Daisies Crossover AU: I wish I could have figured out what the actual mystery was for the first snippet I wrote for this AU. Unfortunately, my mystery-writing skills don't extend that far.

10. Is there a character you wish you could've included, but couldn't? Why?

Queen's Thief AU of Psmith: It would be really fun to have Queen's Thief versions of Billy Windsor and Bat Jarvis, but I can't think of a great way to fit them into the story that I've outlined--as I've laid it out, Psmith takes Attolia's throne mostly through his cunning and convenient connections.

11. Is there any relationship that's different in this au than in the source material?

Supergirl "Kara raised by the Kents" AU: Since Kara's actually raised by the Kents in this AU, she's got a much deeper and more complicated relationship with them. Her relationship with Martha is rocky, because she sees Martha as competition for her role as Kal's primary caretaker. Taking care of Kal is the only purpose Kara has left in life, and it takes a lot for her to let other people into that relationship.

13. Write a lil snippet set in this verse.

From Powers and Prejudice:

"Lizzie, Jane's on TV!" Lydia shouted. Lizzie rushed into the living room, where her sisters were gathered around the set. Headlines blared BREAKING NEWS beneath live footage of a supervillain attack downtown. The Blur was already on the scene, speeding innocent victims away from danger. The Archer--outside of Pemberley--was even lending a hand. And among them in pink spandex was unmistakably-- "Jane?" Lizzie shouted. "What's she doing there?" Mom was so excited that sparks crackled around her hair. "She did so well the other night that I couldn't let the Blur fight this one alone. It was my duty to send Jane to help." Lizzie was horrified. That had been a skirmish, easily dealt with. This was turning into a battle. One of the criminals had some type of fire manipulation ability, and flames filled most of the screen. To see Jane among that-- "Are you nuts?" Lizzie shouted. "She could die out there!" Lydia rolled her eyes. "What are you so worried about? It's not like she can get hurt." Not externally. Jane's skin was invulnerable, and there was nothing that could overpower her strength. But her respiratory system was as delicate as anyone's, and there was a lot of smoke out there. Jane acquitted herself well, but eventually, Lizzie's fears were realized. Just as the last of the criminals was neutralized, Jane collapsed to the pavement. The Blur, in bright blue, was at her side in an instant. He checked over Jane and gathered her into his arms, a look of panic on his masked face. In less than a second, they disappeared from the scene. While her mother and sisters exclaimed over the scene--did you see the way he looked at her?--Lizzie headed toward the door. Mom asked, "Lizzie, where are you going?" "I don't know if you noticed, but your daughter is injured. I'm going to help her. "She's in the care of one of Netherfield's Defenders! She's perfectly safe." "I'll believe that when I see it." Kitty, fretful, said, "The Blur's so fast. They're miles away by now. Hidden away in his secret headquarters." Lizzie shrugged. "Then I'll find his secret headquarters." Ignoring their protests, she went out the door.

17. What important events have you 'translated' from canon to make sense into this au, if any?

Milo Murphy's Law Star Wars AU: Murphy's Law makes a lot of sense as an out-of-control connection to the Force. And I've turned Diogee into a droid (DO-G) because there don't seem to be many dogs in Star Wars.

18. Is there any theme or motif in this au that isn't in the original work?

Politically-realistic Princess Diaries 2 AU: There's a much stronger exploration of the theme of duty vs. love, because we have multiple characters who have dealt with this conflict. There's also a thread exploring religion, because Mia's priest uncle is a prominent character.

20. Share THREE headcanons! But about different characters.

American Hallmark Royal Romances:

The princess of California was a candidate for an arranged marriage with the crown prince of Maine until a Spunky Commoner came along and stole his heart. She was actually rather hurt by this, until it sparked her own romance story.

The Spunky Commoner met the crown prince of Maine while working on some artistic endeavor for his family. She was rather baffled by this whole royalty thing, until her relationship with the prince provided some cultural background.

Sam, the crown prince of Texas, is a bit ashamed of his nation and especially the over-the-top Texas-ness of his father. He's an excellent code-switcher, and has a bit of trouble straddling the cultural expectations of Texas and the outside world.

21. What makes you most excited about this fic?

Lord Peter Wimsey Star Wars AU: What's there not to get excited about? The Scarlet-Pimpernel-ness of Peter as a double agent within the Empire! The drama of Peter dealing with Force-visions of the future. Force-sensitive Dowager Duchess. Peter having Thrawn as both an art-and-culture buddy and an increasingly-suspicious-of-him nemesis. He's just such a fun character to throw into the structure of this universe.

24. Ramble about something you haven't gotten to talk about yet.

Blackberry Bushes Superhero AU: It says to ramble, so I'll ramble. First off, I feel guilty even claiming this an an AU, since this was really your idea and I just added some stuff to it. But it's such a fun concept and it comes to mind as an AU quite a bit because there are so many fun ways this story warps the typical superhero plots. The Superman character marries a former villain who has good reason to fear him and be suspicious of his fellow heroes. The former supervillain dictatorship is undergoing reform, and it's a legitimate thing, and we get to see the politics of that and see the ruler's children growing up in this system. Delclis' father used to be one of the great heroes, but his memory is tarnished because of the collateral damage his extreme powers caused, and now Declis has to deal with getting the same powers. Antavia's plotline of walking away from the throne become her walking away from her superpowers and inadvertently leading to the creation of her best friend's most dangerous nemeses. They're stories you couldn't come up with under the usual superhero tropes, but combining it with this very different type of story creates new and interesting angles that wouldn't ordinarily come to mind, and that's so fun.

[loaksky]

— 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 & 𝒊 | 𝒆. 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒎𝒔

mean neighbor!ellie x sunshine fem!reader, angst / fluff / hurt + comfort, modern!au warnings: language / 18+ content (mdni!), wc: 5k

you have a hot new neighbor…too bad she doesn’t want a thing to do with you!

tagging those who commented / liked my previous interest post!: @loversreligion , @tahni-04 , @parrotpeggy , @acnologiasgf , @maybe-cece (happy birthday gemini queen ! <3)

an — first time writing for ellie ! content warnings include oral (r!receiving), fingering (r!receiving). not my first time writing 18+ content, but my first time posting eeek. i apologize for the person ellie has turned me into lmaooo. feel free to send me more ideas, blurbs, hcs, etc.

neighbor!ellie who moves in on a hot sticky july day.

ac’s busted in the common areas, elevator hasn’t worked in weeks, and she’s moved into a unit on the fifth floor.

neighbor!ellie who’s admittedly too far gone and incredibly irritated because jesse keeps fucking around and they almost drop her flat screen on the third flight of steps.

neighbor!ellie who finally gets most of the boxes and furniture settled and doesn’t even get to collapse on the couch for .2 seconds before someone’s knocking on the door.

yanks the knob so hard, the door rattles on its hinges.

eyes narrow when she sees you, all neat, not sweaty, dressed in an outfit definitely not indicative of a night in. only makes her even more annoyed because she just wants two seconds of peace.

“yes?” her tone is sharp, gaze bored because your lips part thrice before the words are spilling out.

“i know it’s miserable out, and this building can be a piece of shit, so i made some blackberry tea!”

neighbor!ellie who gives the glass, beaded with condensation, a brief glance before crossing her arms over her chest.

“i’m allergic to blackberries,” ellie says flatly.

your round eyes widen impossibly before tucking the glass behind your back.

“oh fuck, i’m so sorry,” you babble. “i have peach! or maybe mint? i—”

“i’ll pass.”

neighbor!ellie who doesn’t beat around the bush and makes a move to close the door because she hadn’t even checked into the conversation.

“if you ever need anything, i’m right next door!” you chirp. “i’m-”

“yup, yeah, got it. good night.”

and the door is shutting in your face.

neighbor!ellie who’s trying to sleep in because she stayed up all night playing tekken 4 with jesse jolting awake when she hears three soft raps against the front door.

has an inkling of who it could be so she’s only mildly surprised when she sees you standing on the welcome mat that says ‘no weenies allowed’ because jesse thought it was the funniest thing (ellie’d been only slightly amused).

“morning,” you smile.

you have a plate covered in foil in your hands and ellie gives you a brief onceover to find that you’re dressed to the nines again (admittedly it’s just a simple sundress, but the red and white ginham cuts at the meatiest part of your thighs and she has to remind herself to keep her eyes up).

“it’s…” ellie trails off, glances at the clock on the oven to find that it’s not even 9am. “…8:52am on a saturday morning.”

“it is,” you agree, extending the plate to her. “i, uh, hope you’re not allergic to pancakes?”

“…i’m not.”

you beam.

“great!”

you’re shoving the food in her hands before she can decline and ellie finds that the ceramic is still warm.

neighbor!ellie who awkwardly holds the plate up to you as a silent thanks and shuts the door in your hopeful face.

“i gotta give it to you williams, didn’t think you’d pull within 24 hours,” jesse mutters groggily from the couch he’d helped her lug up the stairs yesterday afternoon.

“oh fuck off,” she huffs, tearing the foil from the plate to find a five-stack of fluffy pancakes with two cute little strawberry-shaped containers that has butter and syrup respectively.

“who’s it from?” jesse asks, even though he knows the answer.

“girl in 5a.”

first bite in and ellie’s eyebrows raise because wow, that’s damn good.

jesse swipes a bite despite ellie’s protests and they polish off the matching plate that she puffs a laugh at because there’s a strawberry bandit painted in the center and in shoddy lettering says, “this is a strobbery”

neighbor!ellie who surprises you by washing and returning the plate later that evening, muttering out a quick thanks before ducking back into her apartment without another word.

she leaves you blinking, staring at the space she was previously standing in a moment prior before you smile and shut the door because god ellie is so hot.

neighbor!ellie doesn’t expect it to become a routine, but more often than not, you’re knocking on her door at any given hour with snacks and she’s surprised when, a week and a half in, she’s had to do minimal grocery shopping because you’re always feeding her.

little does she know it’s because you’re looking forward to the brief moments that she’s unintentionally banging on your door to return your plates and dinnerware.

neighbor!ellie who’s a mechanic and brings your goodies to work sometimes and gets teased by the other mechanics because they think she has a girlfriend.

neighbor!ellie who after revealing she works in a garage starts opening up her front door to little reusable bags with cute notes and food puns if your schedule’s don’t line up.

neighbor!ellie whose schedule does end up frequently aligning with yours and you end up taking the same elevator down.

“morning, ellie,” you greet, smiling softly at her despite being up at the asscrack of dawn.

neighbor!ellie who yawns, takes the lunch you made for her gratefully and walks with you to the elevator.

“morning, 5a.”

neighbor!ellie who could get used to only seeing you in the fifth floor halls, however, after a few weeks, you stumble upon her in different circumstances.

you’re usually out on your balcony in the early mornings to water your plants and drink your tea or coffee, but today’s been exceptionally rough at work (you’re, surprise, a café owner) so you step out to take a deep breath late in the evening after your shift.

you definitely don’t expect to find ellie perched on a stool flicking the ash from a blunt over the railing.

“‘sup,” she hums, taking a long pull.

“hey,” you sigh.

“long day?” she humors you.

the two of you don’t really have much conversation because ellie’s always finding ways to cut interactions with you short.

and it’s not particularly because she doesn’t like you, but she’s caught the vibe you’re giving off and she doesn’t want to give you any unnecessary hope, especially after such a messy break up with the last girl.

(it’s definitely not because something about you makes her nervous).

so she doesn’t really expect you to spill, but one moment you’re debating whether or not you should divulge and the next you’re talking a mile a minute about how draining the job can be especially when employees end up being unreliable and the customers are impatient.

ellie’s gone through the entire joint and you still haven’t stopped talking and she doesn’t want to be mean, especially because you’ve been so nice to her since she’s moved in, but the high is wearing off because she’s too focused on finding an out of the one-sided conversation.

“you should come by,” you say, once you’re done babbling. “to the café, i mean. bring your friends, i’ll stay open a little later for you guys.”

that catches ellie’s attention after she’d zoned out.

“i— you don’t have to do that,” she says. “and i mean, we’re all pretty busy and—”

“no, no!” you say sweetly. “i insist! i wanna test out a few new seasonal recipes and i’d love some opinions!”

ellie’s wracking her brain, but you’re looking at her so hopefully and you look too cute with a few strands of hair falling from your updo. she really doesn’t want to give in, so she gives a lukewarm response instead.

“i’ll, uh, get back to you, i guess.”

you’re grinning.

“try to clear saturday night!” you tell her. “sometime around 9:30!”

ellie opens her mouth to give one last protest, but you’re standing from where you’d been leaning against the railing.

“it’ll be fun!” you tell her. “night, ellie!”

neighbor!ellie who really doesn’t want to go because she feels like it’ll only add fuel to the fire.

the beginning of the week rolls around and you decide that this’ll be the week you’ll finally ask ellie out.

you figure that ellie’s just really quiet, isn’t the one to really put herself out there, so you wanna take initiative.

you’re thinking of all the different recipes you could try because you really wanna wow her and her friends.

little does ellie know that you’re lowkey agonizing over saturday and it’s all you can think about: what you’ll wear, what pairings you want to present, how you’ll decorate the cafe.

meanwhile, ellie’s trying to find a way out of it and jesse’s not any help because he keeps teasing her about how she must be broken for not wanting her hot neighbor who has a glaringly obvious crush on her.

everyone on the whole floor, possibly even the whole building knows. hell, even the doorman knows (and it’s definitely not because you stop to chat with him frequently when you walk your little beagle, apple, and ellie becomes a frequent topic of conversation).

neighbor!ellie who starts avoiding you because she fears that her being receptive to your kindness is giving you the wrong idea (definitely not because you’re growing on her and you’re becoming a part of her daily routine).

neighbor!ellie who sees you twice the entire week, doesn’t answer the door when you knock, stuffs your cute little post-its about saturday somewhere in the back of her junk drawer, smokes her blunts on the roof to avoid running into on the balcony.

neighbor!ellie who spends most of her time at the garage with jesse and her coworkers in efforts to get home after you do.

you figure that maybe she is really busy and you shouldn’t have been so pushy about the tasting, but you’ve grown to really like her and you can’t give this up without officially giving it a shot.

neighbor!ellie who ducks out of her apartment when she knows you’re out on saturday and leaves her lights off, so you’ll know she isn’t home.

neighbor!ellie who spends the day with jesse and his girl and gets invited to a kickback on the otherside of town.

neighbor!ellie who’s about two joints in and a couple shots out, so she’s crossed by nine and you completely slip her mind.

you’re on the other side of town, about a block from your apartment, waiting in the cafe for ellie.

you made such a pretty spread of lavender matcha cookies and lemon muffins. used your special espresso roast to brew a delicious batch of coffee to make a few lattes.

you’d even bought flowers from next door, decorated the table and light a few candles.

it’s 9:45 and you think that she’s gonna be late, but time’s passing and the pastries are going stale, the coffee going lukewarm.

it’s 10:30 when you start losing hope.

probably 11:30 when you blow out the candles, box up the treats and throw the espresso in the cooler for some iced coffee tomorrow morning.

you should’ve seen it coming, really. she did say that her and her friends were typically busy. and she hadn’t officially confirmed it with you either so you were being rather presumptuous anyways.

you decide that maybe you’ll just drop them by her place tomorrow and ask her to lunch!

it’s about midnight when you walk up the sidewalk and see that her LEDs are on in her room. it vaguely smells like weed so you figure she’d been smoking a little.

you don’t wanna bother her so late at night so you enter your own apartment, set the box on the kitchen island before padding into your room to get ready for bed.

you should’ve seen it coming, ellie standing you up, but what you don’t see coming, or hear, for that matter, are the muffled moans through the paper thin walls.

you’d been used to hearing ellie cuss at her video games, heard her getting better at playing the guitar, bickering with jesse over who got to be who during smash bros, but this was new.

you’d never heard the voice before, pitched and whiny.

your cheeks warm because whatever ellie’s doing must be good. you can’t even find it in yourself to be relieved that ellie was interested in girls. you’d initially been scared that maybe you were reading into it all wrong.

regardless, obviously you’d read everything way way wrong because ellie’s mouth is filthy and there’s no misconstruing the fact that she’s fucking someone six ways to sunday and you can hear every gory detail.

your stomach is churning because it’s been weeks and you couldn’t even get ellie outside the fifth floor’s hallway.

it’s obvious they’re thoroughly enjoying themselves and the hurt and envy that kindles is an ugly sight to see.

you end up sleeping in the living room that night.

neighbor!ellie who chases the girl out the following morning after a nasty hangover and finally coming to terms with the fact that she’d brought someone home last night.

neighbor!ellie whose stomach drops to her ass when someone knocks on the door a few minutes later and she thinks it’s you, but it ends up being jesse.

“jesus, did 5a do that?” he asks, referring to your apartment number in regards to the fresh hickies blooming up the column of ellie’s throat.

“god no,” ellie says. “how many times do i have to tell you, that’s never happening.”

neighbor!ellie who would never tell a soul that she’d been imagining a certain someone the night prior.

neighbor!ellie who doesn’t want to think of anything more than being your neighbor because she’s locked in this lease for the next two years and she’d prefer to not shit where she sleeps.

(yeah, that’s totally it).

“dude why not? she’s obviously so down bad for you,” jesse chuckles, pushing past ellie.

she huffs a breath, defensive.

“god, i don’t know how she isn’t embarrassed, it’s fuckin’ pathetic.”

oh—

you’d heard jesse’s voice, then ellie’s, and figured you could give her the pastries you worked so hard on last night.

you’d always thought that ellie was just naturally aloof, kept to herself often, but last night was the coffin and this morning was the nail.

in the stillness of your apartment, jesse and ellie’s voice carries through the thin walls.

“i mean, you could just fuck her a couple of times, get it out of your system?”

“god, look at her, there’s not a casual bone in her body.”

“you can’t run away from her forever, yknow?”

neighbor!ellie who thinks to herself that she’ll try anyways.

neighbor!ellie who doesn’t have to try, because you become an enigma after that.

it’s the middle of the week and she hasn’t had to even try avoiding you once.

you haven’t knocked on her door since the week prior and it makes her brows furrow.

neighbor!ellie who starts feeling bad for standing you up, but feels infinitely worse when she goes to dump some of her trash and finds the carton of pastries you’d baked.

they have your café’s name emblazoned on the logo and she vaguely remembers you chattering about trying lavender in one of your recipes.

she sees the purple food coloring and her heart sinks because why are they in the trash? :(

realizes that she’s fucked up and that maybe she should just be completely transparent with you.

neighbor!ellie who hesitantly knocks on your door and waits patiently for you to answer.

hears shuffling on the other side, but you don’t open up.

neighbor!ellie who tries to convince herself that you’re just busy! work is stressful right now and you’re keeping to yourself.

but you two end up bumping into each other on the elevator (she’d been lurking), and you give her a curt greeting because you’re polite and you realize that ellie doesn’t owe you anything.

“apple’s got a haircut,” she observes, leaning down to pet the pup.

“yeah,” you hum.

“she looks cute,” ellie compliments.

“thanks.”

neighbor!ellie who’s not used to you icing her out, so she takes the leap.

“hey, i wanted to apologize…” she trails off. “about saturday. i shouldn’t have flaked.”

“s’okay,” you say simply, watching as the numbers painfully descend. “you were busy.”

a blanket of silence.

“i’m sure the pastries were great,” ellie tries again. “we could always—”

the elevator dings and the doors part.

“have a good day, ellie,” you say softly, tugging apple by the leash to leave the lift.

neighbor!ellie who swears she hears you sniffling on the other side of the wall later that night, but tries to convince herself that you’ve just got allergies.

neighbor!ellie who thinks of every excuse in the book to try and talk to you, but she ends up freezing because fuck, have you always been this pretty?

neighbor!ellie who buys a succulent and puts it on her balcony. she tries to catch you in the mornings when you’re watering your plants, but it seems like your schedules just don’t align anymore.

neighbor!ellie is frustrated as fuck because she’d been avoiding getting attached, but you don’t knock on her door to deliver snacks or talk her ear off anymore and it drives her absolutely nuts.

neighbor!ellie who gets teased infinitely more at work because her coworkers are now convinced that there’s ‘trouble in paradise’.

“jesus christ, you’re actually pathetic,” jesse rolls his eyes over breakfast one weekend.

“dude, she just…” ellie lets out a frustrated sigh. “i just—”

“you miss her,” he fills in.

ellie turns red.

“fuck you, i don’t—”

“it’s okay to admit it, yknow?” he says. “she’s a lot different from your exes. she’s genuinely sweet, in it because she really likes you.”

ellie swallows, lips pursing.

“you’re soft around her,” jesse observes. “you think that if you give in, she’s gonna uncover parts of you you don’t even let me or joel see.”

“fuck you—”

“for someone who likes bitches you—”

ellie groans.

neighbor!ellie who goes home and rolls a joint because this limbo is stressing her out.

and FINALLY! you’re watering your plants on your balcony when she slides the patio door open and slinks outside.

you don’t say anything to her, just continue watering.

she slumps in her folding lawn chair, kicking her feet up on the railing to feign nonchalance, but you haven’t blinked an eye at her and she’s annoyed.

“been doing alright?” she asks finally.

you freeze for the briefest of moments before glancing at her.

you’ve got bags under your eyes and your lips are pursed and ellie’s heart squeezes.

“yeah,” you answer simply. “fine.”

ellie hums.

“how’s work?”

“same old,” you say, turning your back to her to tend to the plants housed on the other side.

neighbor!ellie who doesn’t know what to say. who’s so used to trying to break conversation, not make them.

neighbor!ellie who fidgets because you’re making her nervous. you’re usually so sweet and smiley, but this side of you makes her gut churn.

neighbor!ellie who bites the bullet.

“i’m…i’m off on sunday…” she says, scratching the back of her neck. “if you wanted to— i dunno.”

your back straightens and she thinks you’re gonna bite, but you glance at the sidewalk below and shake your head.

“you don’t have to pretend, you know?” you say softly.

it’s like a punch in the chest and ellie’s scrambling.

“no! it’s—” she realizes she’s shouting. “it’s not like that, i—”

“i’m a big girl, ellie,” you tell her, that stupid little strawberry-shaped spray bottle squeezed tight in your hand. “if i was annoying, you could have just said that.”

and god she feels so fucking awful because this entire time, you’d just been trying to be nice to her. it was a harmless crush and—

“i don’t think you’re annoying,” she argues weakly. “can you…can you look at me, please?”

your head tilts up and ellie realizes that you’re trying to stop yourself from crying.

“god, i really am pathetic,” is your watery whisper.

ellie’s crossing the balcony, fully ready to climb over the railing onto your patio, but you’re quickly dashing away the tears and throwing the sliding door open.

“goodnight,” you tell her, and you’re sealing her out in the humid air.

neighbor!ellie who’s in knots because living next to someone she used to see everyday fucking sucks now that all the two of you are reduced to is straining extra hard to hear your shuffling from the other side of the walls.

neighbor!ellie who stands in front of your door sometimes, wanting to knock, but feeling like she doesn’t deserve closure with you because it’s all her fault.

neighbor!ellie who realizes that the very awkwardness and discomfort she was avoiding to begin with could’ve been avoidable had she just been up front with you.

you were sweet and you were understanding…mature. you would’ve probably taken better to honesty than ellie blowing you off and lowkey being an ass to you.

neighbor!ellie being scolded by jesse after a couple of days pass because he’s beating her ass at smash bros without even trying and it’s hurting his ego.

“are you seriously gonna keep moping over 5a?” he asks after the fourth round won.

“i’m not moping,” ellie grumbles.

“oh c’mon dude,” jesse moans in annoyance. “you and 5a have this dad with four kids who doesn’t want a puppy but ends up loving the shit out of the—”

“i do not love her,” ellie barks.

jesse smirks.

“that’s all you took from that, ellie, seriously?” jesse scoffs.

“i mean, it’s not like there’s much that can be done, anyways,” ellie grunts, tossing the video game controller onto the coffee table’s surface. “she fuckin’ hates me and i don’t blame her.”

“5a does not hate you,” jesse sighs. “her feelings are just hurt, but you can fix it.”

“and how’s that?” ellie crosses her arms over her chest.

“you’re a smart girl, you’ll figure it out.” jesse grabs the discarded controller from the coffee table and shoves it into ellie’s chest. “now put your all into this next round, i’m still gonna beat your ass.”

neighbor!ellie who’s never felt more nervous in her life.

who’s standing a block away from the café you own with a little gift bag and a bouquet of flowers.

neighbor!ellie who’s used to effortless relationships and casual situationships.

neighbor!ellie who’s scared shitless that she’s making the wrong decision giving in like this, but maybe jesse’s right and you’re just what she needs.

neighbor!ellie whose hands shake the entire walk up to the café.

she sees you with your back turned towards the door, probably doing closing inventory or something of the like with the way you scribble quickly against a clipboard.

you look so in your element with your apron tied tight around the narrow of your waist and perhaps now’s not the appropriate time, but your work pants look exceptionally great spread over the—

“i’m sorry, but we’re closed for the evening,” your voice sounds when ellie opens the front door and the chime tinkles against the glass.

“i’ll make it quick,” ellie says quietly, paper wrap around the flowers crinkling as she shifts on her feet.

you whirl around with wide eyes, almost dropping the clipboard when you find your neighbor standing in the middle of your café.

she looks so good in a fitted brown button up rolled to the elbow to reveal the whorls of ink decorating her forearms and skinny jeans that are way too good at highlighting the muscles of her thighs.

“ellie, what are you doing here?” you ask, tucking a loose strand of hair behind your ear.

“i was, er, in the area?”

one of your eyebrows raise.

“well, is there something i can help you with?” you ask, eyeing the flowers and the giftbag in what ellie can only read as disdain.

it’s like the day you two first met all over again but the roles are reversed. her lips gape once, twice, then three times as she tries to find the words. but ellie’s never been good at talking about how she feels, at being vulnerable.

“i have to close up,” you prod, tone tired. “and whoever you’re visiting after this is probably waiting.”

the words after are a silent insinuation.

god knows i did.

you’re turning on your heel and ellie knows she’s losing you.

“i like you.” she says suddenly.

you freeze, fist tightening mercilessly around your clipboard.

“that’s not funny,” you say stonily. “you don’t have to make an ass out of me for having feelings for you, ellie. i get it, it’s hilarious that your dorky neighbor has a crush on you, but you don’t have to drag it. i’m—”

neighbor!ellie who’s always thought that you talk a tad too much and sets the gifts on the nearest table before crossing the distance between the two of you.

she’s towering over you and you’re looking up at her with furrowed brows as she pries the clipboard from your fingers and kisses you without another word.

“wait, wait,” you whisper, pulling away from her momentarily.

her lips chase yours, one hand splaying over the small of your back as the other cradles your chin.

“i’m sorry,” she says quietly. “i didn’t—”

“i don’t understand,” you admit. “you…you and your friend were—”

ellie shakes her head vehemently.

“i was being stupid,” she says quickly. “it’s—” she sighs. “it’s a long story.”

“but the night of the tasting,” you start. “you brought someone home…i heard you.”

ellie closes her eyes in defeat, rolls her lips as she presses her forehead against yours.

“it was a mistake, you have to believe me,” she pleads softly. “i was drunk out of my mind and high as hell and—”

she stops talking when she sees the expression on your face, notices the way your fingers hover.

“you have every right not to entertain this,” ellie swallows. “and i know i’ve been awful to you, but i…i really like you 5a.”

your head tilts down and ellie’s leaning forward in an effort to keep the eye contact.

“i’m not good at stuff like this,” she confesses. “obviously.”

you breathe out an involuntary laugh.

“but you’re different, really different,” ellie says. “and you make me feel so fuckin’ weird—”

you flinch.

“a good weird!” she assuages. “it’s good. and i really wanna try things with you if you’ll let me.”

you look hesitant, but ellie’s hopeful and you’ve always been a sucker for green eyes.

18+ BONUS

neighbor!ellie really wanted to take things slow with you after officially winning you over, but she can’t really help herself.

she takes you out a week after your heart-to-heart in your café, a nice restaurant you’d chattered about during your elevator rides to the lobby, and she’d been so close to making it through dinner and keeping it appropriate, but the dessert the two of you ordered had strawberries.

needless to say, when you’d taken a bite into the candied fruit and the juice curved down your jaw and slithered between your cleavage, ellie threw a wad of bills onto the table top and dragged you out of the restaurant.

didn’t make it far, ended up at the edge of the parking lot in the back seat of her car with two of her fingers knuckles deep in your heat while she swallowed your moans whole.

neighbor!ellie who takes you to hers after you cum twice and she tastes you for the first time.

“fuck, angel,” she whispers against your clit. “pussy’s too good.”

the sight is a devastating one, your skirt bunched around your waist and your top discarded somewhere on her bedroom floor.

one of your hands bunches her sheets in your fist, the other threaded through her brown hair as she eats you out like she’s absolutely starved.

“that’s it, princess,” she eggs you on, stuffing her fingers and curling against the walls of your spongy cunt. her tongue is sloppy against your little bud and your dulcet moans are buttery soft, absolute music to her ears.

that night seems to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back because she can’t get enough of you.

especially not when you wear that red and white gingham sundress you’d worn the second time the two of you met.

neighbor!ellie who spends so much time in your apartment now, likes to especially when you’re baking because you wear that stupidly tiny dress in your stupidly tiny kitchen and it takes every ounce of self control to keep her kisses on your exposed shoulders appropriate.

you start kneading the dough and she can’t keep her hands to herself, hooking her jaw into the crook of your neck as her fingers dance under the hem of your dress and ghosts the seam of your thighs.

“y’look so pretty,” ellie hums, tongue darting to lave at the juncture of your jaw and your neck.

“wait, ah!” fingertips trace over your mound and a semi-giddy, semi-disbelieving laugh rumbles from ellie’s chest when she finds you aren’t wearing any panties.

“you’re a dirty girl, angel,” she bites, one arm securing around your waist, the other toying with the slick coating your inner thighs. “what happened to getting work done?”

all you manage is a breathy cry when ellie skips the formalities and taps your clit roughly.

“el—ellie!” you whimper, one of your flour dusted hands wrapping around her wrist as your back arches and your ass presses into her hips.

your body stutters when you feel something nestle between the pert cheeks of your ass.

you throw a surprised look over your shoulder and ellie’s already grinning lazily at you as she continues kissing all over you.

“surprise,” she whispers.

neighbor!ellie who’s so gone. who still constantly gets teased by jesse and her coworkers. who wasn’t willing to admit it at first, but wants absolutely everything to do with you.

neng © 2023

[infestedguest]

A relatively common trope of fma fanfiction is the modern Amestris au, which is basically your standard modern au for all your slice of life needs except stuff like alchemy and automail still exist, so the author doesn’t have come up with real world equivalents when that’s not really the point of their fic.

This is all fine and dandy, but one thing that’s always bugged me is that most of the time in these fics Al is just like. a normal, not disembodied, fully abled child. There are several issues with this, mainly that this alteration significantly changes the character dynamic between Ed and Al in ways the author often doesn’t account for at all.

This is also a common issue is regular modern aus, but I bring it up in the context of modern Amestris aus because an idea just occurred to me that I don’t think I’ve seen before: since alchemy still exists, why not have Al just straight up still be in the armor? Put that boy in public school and give him the strangest IEP known to man!

Touchscreens don’t recognize his leather fingers so he has a blackberry (which his hands are way too big for so it takes him twice as long to send most messages because he doesn’t like to leave in typos).

He was both pressured into joining and permanently banned from his middle school’s basketball team within the span of a week.

His condition isn’t secret or anything, it was kind of a big deal at the time and it made the news after it happened but after awhile the buzz mostly died down.

They were contacted by one of those medical mysteries documentary shows (a la extraordinary people), and Pinako told them that if they thought she would let an entire camera crew into her house they were fucking insane.

The initial publicity is the only reason the Amestrian government hasn’t kidnapped him or anything, but they do stalk him and the brothers and the Rockbells have definitely noticed.

If Izumi is Ed and Al’s legal guardian they are much more discreet about it because whenever she spots them hiding in the bushes or whatever she starts reciting castle doctrine law “to no one in particular.”

Because the modern world is a bureaucratic panopticon from hell and also CPS exists instead of just going out into the world to find the philosophers stone the Elrics just have to study real hard and try to eventually get into Alchemy MIT I guess.

Al is physically unable to use any kind of headphones because he has no ears.

He and Mei Chang are playing Minecraft right now as we speak.

[jadienjaystoriesandart]

The Funny Tall Man

Summary: Scar is just trying to take over a mushroom island, he did not agree to being a baby sitter. 

Warnings: Nothing really, this is Fluff and SFW, well unless you count Scar being an evil homewrekcer (literally, he burns homes) and Mother Spore being a mind controlling fae (who low key kidnaps people).

Notes: This is for @sporelings-au and @headless-witch  Tags: @riveraryy and @flooflepuff

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

HEP found itself working hard most days, as the Mycelium was spreading. Scar sighed rubbing his neck and popping it, his ears drooping down. He picked up another paper and read it over sipping on some tea, the rich flavor was nice. Everything was grown locally, everything in his office was grown by him. Giving the place a very lush feel.

Vines hanged down from the ceiling, the air was crisp and clean, the inside made of a hallowed tree. It was the exact opposite of the mushroom villages with air that was thick with spores. The air was near unbreathable by his people, who seemed to have a clear disdain of the Mushroom Sporelings of Mother Spore. 

While Scar himself has no true interest in the island, he had to admit that their encroach onto his territory made him act. Sure the situation had been minor. But Scar wasn’t a push over, and wasn’t going to let the, rather beautiful, Mother Spore think she could just go outside her island. 

He gave pause thinking back to the dear Mother of Sporelings. Beautiful she was, but also wicked. Her mere touch wilted all his plants, his babies, making himself prick with discomfort. Top it off in the past she’s kidnap Woodland Fae of his, and... changed them into these near mindless beings with her spores. Making his insides twist at the thought of it.

Scar wasn’t a fool, while he flirted and teased the mushroom fae, he knew not to let her near him for too long. Not to accept anything from her. Tea was nice, even if they never reached an agreement.

Mother Spore was unwilling to release and give back his people, and Scar as a result would not stop burning houses until he made his point clear. Besides, they were making the air near unbreathable in places too close to his kingdom. 

Signing the paper and putting it out in the out tray neatly the door opened. He looks up as Bdubs comes into the room. “Scar!.” he said, “The garden section is experiencing some wilting.” 

A frown, “Wilting?” Scar echoed bemused, that was rare for his plants to wilt. But as he reached out through the roots he felt the wilting in the area seemed to be spreading. A grimace on his face as he rose and left the room. Heading briskly with his cane clacking on the ground to the garden section.

The Gardens were where he grew most of the food for the main city. Tall fruit trees, small bushes of berries, and vegetables abound in the fields. A place where he was certain Mother was envious of. Perhaps he should make a basket of fresh foods... maybe he could win over the Mother’s favor yet.  Bdubs wanted this was over fast, but Mumbo, his second, wanted a little bloodshed done as possible. Mumbo in fact was the spear head of many political meet ups. Even if they bore little fruit. 

He frowned as he saw one of the blackberry bushes was indeed wilted, as was the strawberry plants, and the blueberries with them. “How in the world?” Scar looked puzzled as he touched the wilted leaves bring them back to their green glow. 

Slowly the plants did heal as his magic poured into them. But Scar noticed one area wasn’t growing at all, as he paused and moved over to the leaves.

“Shhh! He’ll hear us!” “These berries are so good!” “I told you not to touch the bush Ren!”

Pushing them back a squeal was heard as Scar jumped back from a wooden sword to his face. “What in the world!?” Scar yelped as he looked from the sword to an angry red eye glaring at him. 

This one looked familiar, as Scar wracked his brain for info, he remembered seeing this little one with Mother. He looked past the very defiant, somewhat fearful, sporeling to see others huddled together in the bushes. One with ears had a mess of blackberry juice around his lips. 

“What are you doing here?” Scar inquired as he pushed the wooden sword away easily, much to the tall sporlings annoyance. 

“none of your business!” he said in a puffed up brave voice, but Scar easily caught the waver in it. 

“We wanted to meet you!” Another said with him, the little girl with the pink dress and fairy wings said with a bright smile. 

Scar gave a look crossing his arms, “And wilting my berry bushes is how you greet yourselves?” he asked in a firm voice.

Head hung down at that, they looked guilty. “We’re sorry.” the slim child said with a small voice. “They were just so good looking, we don’t have things like this at home.” he said black eyes looking up at Scar.

The slight anger did fade at that, as Scar grimaced to himself, then sighed heavily as he rubbed his face and eyes. “Alright, come out now, so I can heal the plants, and I'll pick you some more berries... just don’t touch anything.” he said to the small kids. Watching as they all clamored out, and the tallest one eyes him with distrust herding them to the middle of the garden. 

Scar shook his head, as he got back to work, healing away the damage done. Smiling softly as he could feel the life returning to the bushes. “Woah.”  A tiny head poked over his shoulder as she stared in awe at how the bushes came back to life. “You can grow plants mister!?” she asked looking at him with wide black eyes.

A nod as Scar started to pick some berries, “Yes, one of my many talents.” he chuckled a bit. “Everything here I grew myself.”

This did get the kids to look around in awe finally taking in how tall the trees were, “We don’t have anything like this at home!” squeaked out the slime boy.

“Unless you count Mother’s tall mushrooms.” the one with horns said with a smile. 

Scar’s smile fell a bit, right, these little guys hadn’t seen anything green save for when they are near his territory. It also seemed they inherited their Mother’s powers of wilting things. 

“I see, well, this is just the section I use to grow fruits, there are place I also grow vegetables, trees for sap, and flowers.” Scar listed off.

“FLOWERS!?” the little girl in pink said in excited, “Can I see!? Please!?” she asked yanking on his tail coat. 

A bit startled by her outburst, Scar stared down at her, then to the children who also looked curious. Well, almost all of them, the one eyed child looked annoyed. “I suppose so, first off though,” he looked at each of them, “Names?”

They each listed off their names, Etho, Stress, Ren, XB, Jevin, and Impulse. 

“Well, my name is Scar... and I guess I can show you the flower gardens, But don’t pick any of them, The flowers are very delicate.” Scar’s voice was firm as they all nodded, eager giggles and jumping up and down. 

Shaking his head and holding back a smile, he had them all hold hands as he lead them along. The flower gardens weren’t that far, and he had no dout they’d be also eager to eat the berries he picked too. Though... “Does your Mother know you guys are here?” Scar asked them with a curious look back at the group.

“Uh... No...?” Ren’s ears flicked down at that. 

“We wanted to see where you go to Funny Tall Man!” Impulse said to him with wide eyes. “We... didn’t expect it to take this long though.”

Alarm bells were in Scar’s head, “When did you guys leave the Mycelium territory?” he asked.

Looking at each other confused, it was Etho who spoke up, “When the sun was rising.”

Scar paled a bit; it was nearing the afternoon now! These children had been out of their Mother’s gaze for over 6 hours! Goodness its no wonder they were hungry and looked tired. 

“Oh dear...” Scar groaned, no doubt Mother Spore was worried sick for them. Look, he might be in a war with her, but he was against using children in a war. Pitching the bridge of his nose, Scar took a breath, he’ll pen a letter to the Goat Father and Mother Spore. This was not going to look well at all, but he also didn’t want to send these kids back to walking on their own! They were lucky they ever found his area and didn’t get lose in the Wildwoods Forest!

Scar’s thoughts were broken as he heard Stress gasp, “Flowers!” she squealed rushing over, Scar quickly stopped her from grabbing on. Shaking his head firmly as she blinked and looked sad but nodded. 

Quickly though, Stress bounced back, “What are these ones called?!” she asked excitedly looking at the pretty purples and pinks.

“Orchids, they are very delicate flowers and very picky flowers too.” Scar told her, “They don’t like to grow for just anything, the conditions have to be right.” he said. Setting up a blanket on the gorund and the basket of fruits for the kids. Which they all quickly moved to sit down as Scar also got some water from the spring nearby. 

It was burning up today, no doubt they were thirsty. He took a breath to keep from fretting, these were Mother’s children, if a hair was harmed on them it’d be his neck. He was looking for a fight, not death. 

Stress ran over to another that Jevin was looking at, “Frogs!” the slime boy said picking up a white frog that squirmed in his grip.

“Yes, I have quiet a few of them.” Scar said then turned, “Ren don’t lick a frog please.” he told the wolf looking sporeling.  Ren froze with his tongue out, and carefully let go of the green frog with a pout. 

“What are these flowers called mister tall man?” Impulse asked looking at the ones in the water that were white.

“Lilies, these ones grow on pads that the frogs can use to stand on.” Scar told them, “See that stem under them, it’s goes all the way down to the bottom of the pond and is rooted into it.” he explained.

He watched as their eyes seemed to be filled with wonder, Stress rushing form the pond over to XB near a large tree, “What’s these!?” she asked pointing to the waxy leave tree with pink and white flowers.

“Magnolias,” Scar told her, “They are ever greens, meaning they don’t shed their leaves in the fall like Mape or Oak tress, but rather shed them year-round, they also come in colors of pink and white.”

XB picked up one of the dead leaves on the ground feeling it’s waxy coating with curious eyes.

Taking his hand, Stress lead Scar over to Etho and these tall yellow flowers, “What are these flowers?” she asked.

“Black Eyed Susans, and the tall ones in the back are Sunflowers.” Scar went over to a small machine near the sunflowers and held out his hand. Out came some seeds that were toasted, “Here.” he handed the two some. “Sunflower seeds are edible.”

Etho looked wary, but did take some, and after seeing Stress try some, he ate a few too. “Their salty.. but crunchy.” he said looking at the rest.

Scar nodded, “They are a good snack, but make sure you drink water as they are rather salty.” he agreed, smiling warmly at Etho. 

“Mister Tall Man?” 

Scar turned, “yes?” he inquired curiously walking over. 

He looked to see Ren pointing to some plants, “These ones don’t have flowers.”

Walking over to Ren, Scar nodded, “Sometimes they do, but not right now. These are herbs. The purple flowered ones are Lavender, the large leave ones that are bumpy is Sage, the dark green ones here is Mint.”

Stress peered at them, “Well what are they used for?” she asked watching Scar pluck off a few leaves and flowers.

“A variety of things, potions, medicine, rituals, even just to make some cooking stuff taste better, or just your house to smell better.” Scar let her smell them even if the tip wilted, “Jellie loves Lavender.”

Giggling Stress sniffed again, “It smells so nice!” she looked very happy as Scar couldn’t help but smile.

They went around looking at whatever caught the kids eyes, Lily of the Valley, Roses, Zinnias, Cosmos. The vining plants of Moon Flowers, Purple Passions, Morning Glories, along with other herbs such as Dill, Thyme, and Rosemary. 

And wrangling them back to take a break and eat something as Scar penned a letter and sent the bird on it’s way to find Mother Spore. The kids were luckily well behaved enough, if Scar had to stop Ren from pouncing on his tail and biting it. they obeyed his rules of don’t touch unless he gives permission. Jevin had fun catching frogs and other creatures, he suppose it was good he couldn’t kill the animals. 

Scar answered any questions they had about plants, within reason, mostly they asked about flowers and herbs. Perhaps it did break his heart a bit that these children had never seen green grass, blue skies, or plants this abundant. Nor could they touch them. 

It made him wonder how anyone could be happy as a Sporeling. Mumbo spoke little of it, even if he still cared for them, it was clear he had no interest in going back. Scar couldn’t say he blamed him, who would want ugly purple grass and only fungus growing around!?

He watched as the children did curl up and started to fall asleep. Etho fought it off for a long time before he cuddled with Ren resting. Scar took a breath, and petted Impulse’s hair watching the sun turn to evening time, and waiting for news from Bdubs on when Mother would come to collect her children.

He can’t say it was a bad day, Scar adores it when people are interested in in awe of his amazing terraforming skills. Even if these children had technically escaped form home and broke into his base. Shaking his head, Scar waited silently.

This was going to be a long talk with Mother Spore, but he would assure her they were fed and well taken care of. And hope she didn’t try to kill his whole garden!

Little did Scar know Mother would be quiet calm about the situation, and might even be curious about flowers herself. 

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Notes: If you guys want a oneshot of Mother Spore’s reaction and conversation with Mayor Scar then let me know. Other wise take your fluff!

Scar and Grian are both evil idiots in this one, and both had good and bad reasons for wanting this war. 

Up to Witch if it wants this to be canon. 

Anywho cute sporelings whoo! (Sorry it was a little rushed at the end it’s 10pm here XD)

[akwolfgrl]

Day 4 au/clothing swap Rouge x Sora

I heard your heart beating. You were in the darkness, too.

@oprarepairweek

Rouge was hurrying home when she spotted her, a gorgeous blonde woman with a child only a year or so older than her own Ace, with pink hair and curly eyebrows, with four babies strapped to her. Rogue should ignore her and keep walking, but something in her couldn't ignore another mother in trouble. Rouge stopped and faced the woman she bent at the waist and held out her hand.

“Come with me, my own son is between your children's ages, I have milk for the babies at home,” Ace was enjoying solid food more than milk, he would be weaned soon enough.

The woman looked at her outstretched hand for a moment before taking it. Her dress was torn and ragged. Her hair covered one blue eye, it was dirty and unkempt. She looked like a woman on the run, a look she recognized. Her son was the son of the former king of the pirates. She had moved several times just to keep him safe.

***

When Rouge walked into the small living room and kitchen, Ace toddling behind her, she noticed a delightful scent of something sweet and of fresh bread. The pink haired little girl was sitting on the floor reading a book upside down. She was flipping through the pages as if she were actually reading the words. Ace toddled over to sit next to her. He loved it when she read out loud to him, so it wasn't much of a surprise when he hit the book with his tiny hands.

“Book!” Ace demanded of the little girl.

Rouge tuned out the story the little girl started to tell Ace and watched the other three, the fourth nowhere to be found. They crawled around pretty well for what she guessed was between five and seven months old. The one with a streak of red in his blond hair seemed to be the leader as the other two with a blue streak and green streak seemed to be following him around as they explored their new evermint.

Rouge turned her attention to the women in her dress. It was too long on her but too small in other places. She was stirring something on the stove, the last child strapped to her back, his blonde hair matching the womens perfectly. All of the children had curly eyebrows.

“Good morning,” Rouge greeted the women in her kitchen and took a seat at the small table.

“Oh good morning, I hope you don't mind your neighbor dropped off some bread and I made tartine and chocolat chaud, it's not much but I did make homemade blackberry jam you had bush in your backyard full of them,”

“Your fine. My name is Rouge,” She couldn't believe they forgot to do introductions.

“Sora, then there Reiju, Ichiji, Niji, Sanji and Yonji,” Sora pointed her children out after she placed down a long piece of bread smothered in butter and dark purple jam, a bowl of rich chocolate with a large dollop of cream in front of her and another one on the other side of the table. “Reiju breakfast,”

“Yes maman,”

Rouge didn't ask whom Sora was running from as she ate her breakfast and fed Ace. She knew better than that. Asking too many questions was only going to make the women run.

<>

Sora had enjoyed her time living with Rouge. They had shared this small home for the past three and half years. It was wonderful, before she became queen in name only she had been a simple girl from a small village with dreams of opening a small inn, some place to serve harty food, a place for travelers to rest their weary heads. She made a decent living selling her many preserves. They were all recipes from her home in the north. People here in the south had never had such food and loved it. She had fallen hard and fast for the women who had saved her and her children. Together, they built a cozy and simple life together.

There was a knock on the front door, it most likely was a neighbor here to trade goat milk for their duck eggs. Mr. Martin was a sweet older gentleman who did his best to watch out for them all.

“Just a moment!” Sora called out as she took something out of the oven with her apron. After placing it on the counter, she opened the door to a very large, unfamiliar man. Did her husband finally find them? She took a step back, her eyes registering the Marine uniform. So he wasn't he for her but for Rouge.

“Is Rouge here?” He asked her, his silly dog hat did nothing to endear her to him.

“I'm afraid I don't know anyone by that name. You have the wrong house.” Sora attempted to shut the door on him only to have one large hand stop it. Sora ran for the kitchen, grabbing the cast iron she kept hung over the stove and a butcher's knife. “I suggest you leave now!”

Rouge was giving the boys a bath after they had all rolled around in the mud earlier. Rejiu was at the kitchen table reading. Sora put herself between her daughter and the strange man.

“I'm not here to hurt you,”

“I don't believe you,” Judge had made many pretty promises and broke every one of them.

“Sora, it's OK. I know this man…unfortunately,” Rouge had come out of the bathroom, her dress wet from the children's bath. “Garp, what even are you doing here!” Rouge turned to glare at the man, Sora did not put her makeshift weapons down. Rouge may trust him, but Sora wasn't too sure about this.

“I'm relocating you. To many marines have been sniffing around here lately. It's too risky for you to stay,”

“Mãe?” Ace's voice spoke from the doorframe. Five little heads looked out from behind the door, all staring at the rather large man in front of them.

Sora needed to get to the other children, but the man had already spotted them and was crouched in front of them. Niji immediately reached for his hat, not a single ounce of fear to be found. Ichiji and Yonji were the same way. They were getting better, but still, she worried about how much of the modifications had taken.

“It's okay sweetie he's an old friend of your fathers. Where are you relocating us to?”

“East blue,” Sora watched as he removed his hat. Was he going to suffocate her son? She watched as that was placed on top of him, sliding down far too big for his small head. “It's a bit big on ya, but you'll grow into it in no time,” Sora finally began to relax, releasing her grip on the heavy cast iron. The knife however she kept.

“Oo!”

“No fair!”

“I want one too!”

The boys all clamored around the man who only laughed. He ruffled the boy's hair one by one.

“Sora comes with or I shall not leave,”

“You can't just bring anyone with you Rouge that's not how that works,”

“She's my wife Grap. If not, we will leave and deal without ourselves,”

“Fine she comes with, I assume the others are her children?”

“What does it matter?” Sora asked. “Their our children from whose womb it doesn't matter,”

“I guess you got a point there! All right, you six are you ready to go on an adventure as future marines you gotta get used to the sea!”

“Have you seen the All Blue?” Sanji asked. He had been obsessed since she read him a fairytale about it.

“Not yet, but as a marine, you can go anywhere. Who knows, you might find it,”

“I don't wana, I wana cook!” Sanji scrunched up his nose and pouted.

“You can do both!”

“Well I suppose we need to start packing up,” Sora was sad to leave this village in the south blue, but it was for Ace and Rogues safety. That was what was important.

[sunnyrosewritesstuff]

Round 2, Poll 3

Poll at the bottom of the post.

The Twelve Transformations of Bilbo Baggins: (Magically Transformed Bilbo)

Well it seemed he was no longer intangible which was at least relieving in the fact that he must be alive. He didn’t look like he had any mutations as he felt the top of his head just in case. He tried to wield a power like he had the fire against the orcs, and couldn’t do that. Of course, he would get the most useless transformation when he needed magic the most. What was he going to do?

“Why are you asking me? I’ve only have as much knowledge and resources as you.”

Bilbo was proud of himself for not yelping even as he dove half a meter into the other wall staring at the hobbit across from him in mortification.

“A-Are you…?” He tried to question.

“Yes, he is you. I’m you as well.” A second voice piped up next to him.

Bilbo’s mouth dropped open as he prodded his second doppelganger despite his protests. He was solid. There were two solid other “Bilbos” in the room with him.

“Gives a whole new meaning to talking to yourself, doesn’t it?” The first copy proclaimed. “Not that you don’t have experience in that.”

Bilbo frowned. By the Valar, did he always sound like that when he was being sarcastic? No wonder people weren’t lining up for tea time with him.

“No. He has a point, that was just plain rude.” A third copy appeared.

Something dawned on him about the appearance of the copies. “My thoughts are not private anymore, are they?”

To Spoon Feed You Comfort: (Accidental Marriage AU)

It wasn’t like Bilbo hadn’t tried. It was just he hadn’t made it very far before he was subjected to the ‘glare of disappointment’. Like when he accidentally sent the pony running straight into the Brandywine River, or when he setup their bedrolls in a patch of poison oak not realizing the dwarves would have a reaction. His latest mess-up involved nearly getting the entire company eaten by trolls. He, of course, also managed to stall the trolls until Gandalf could arrive, but apparently that wasn’t a redeemable enough feat in Thorin’s eyes. Bilbo was rather convinced their was nothing he could do to get his husband to like him. It was as he was lamenting his woes to Bofur in Rivendell (about Thorin not liking him, not the married part) that he was giving a solid piece of advice.

“Of course, he doesn’t like you. He doesn’t know you. You don’t ever give him the chance. You’re skittish as a wild cat around him and then do something clumsy or stupid to set him off.”

Bilbo glared, not sure if he appreciated the comparison considering there had been a wild cat in his youth who absolutely hated Bilbo and guarded the blackberry bush with a fierce passion. Bilbo would go home with claw marks almost every day.

“All I’m saying lad, is go talk to him. Have a conversation that doesn’t end in disaster and maybe you’ll actually start to mend that gap between the two of you.”

[suguwu]

god of the hunt!knives au, gn!reader, predator/prey

minors and ageless blogs dni

you know better than to look behind you.

the forest blurs by as you dash through it, nimble-footed as you dodge around the massive oaks that soar to the sky, their canopies darkening the woods around you. you gasp in a breath, your chest tightening more, anxiety spooling around your ribs like thread.

the woods have gone quiet. you only hear the pounding of your heart as it flutters against your ribs, a hummingbird's frantic beating of wings. you duck beneath a branch but not far enough. it scores your cheek, a whip crack of pain that fades quickly.

you have no time for it; you hurtle over an old, old root system, the tangle of them gone mossy with age.

you land hard.

it knocks the breath from you, rattles up through your bones, the earth's admonishment. air rushes from you in a great, gasping breath and you cannot pull it back in. your chest aches with it.

still, you don't dare stop.

you can feel knives behind you, pacing like a wolf behind its prey. he keeps his distance, but never too far, nipping at your heels each time you slow with his massive presence, something too big to name. you hadn't known how divinity devours.

there is a maw at your heels and you can only go forward.

you dance between the saplings, breath caught in your throat. the woods are hungry around you; everywhere you look there are only trees.

your feet pound against the dirt. they ache, a bone-deep bruise. you're slowing, you know, but you cannot help it. your legs feel encased in resin, the slow drip of exhaustion trickling down them.

"please," you pant. "please."

the blackberry bush to your left blooms into being, berries pouring from it, ripened to a plumpness that's beyond anything you've ever seen.

you change directions instantly, veering towards it.

another one blooms, and then a raspberry bush, the berries little blood-red rubies, thick and juicy.

you do the only thing you can: you follow.

you choke on your next breath.

knives' presence has roared to life behind you, a freshly stoked fire. it drapes over you like the nighttime, deep and oppressive. ozone crackles in the air. it's stark on your tongue. suffocating.

then there's an arm around your waist.

you come to a halt so hard it hurts. it shakes the sense from you. when your breath returns, it only catches in your throat once more.

there's heat at your nape. you can feel the slow, steady rise of his chest against your back. his voice—full of the forest, of the hunt, of fur and fang and blood—rumbles through you.

"not this one, little brother."

[uhzuku]

— 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 ‘𝐦 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 ; 𝐤𝐞𝐢𝐬𝐮𝐤𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐣𝐢 & 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐲𝐮 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐨.

𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬 !! — stolen away from their home by invading barbarians, baji and chifuyu learn the hard way what it means to become the barbarian queen’s concubines.

𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 !! — keisuke baji/f!reader, chifuyu matsuno/f!reader.

𝐰𝐜 !! — 10.60k.

𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 !! — nsfw ; minors dni.

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 !! — historical au, kidnapping, human trafficking, concubine!baji, concubine!chifuyu, fxf, pussy eating, fingering, mxm, mxmxf, double penetration ( vaginal ), threesome, kissing, biting, claiming, jealousy.

— 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐦𝐞 !!

“I don’t get why we had to get picked for foraging duty though, why couldn’t some of the girls have gone?” 

The words, spoken loudly and without caution, come from Baji Keisuke, a twenty-three-year-old man who often found himself dragged along through life by his closest friend, Chifuyu Matsuno, which is who he was speaking to at that very moment through the leaves of a blackberry bush. Baji’s complaints are slightly distorted by the blackberries he’d been putting in his mouth in between moments of dropping handfuls in his basket, a distortion of his voice that doesn’t go unnoticed by his friend, who was gathering red berries on another bush opposite the one Baji was standing behind. 

“Because it's laundry day and I’d rather pick berries than wash shit stains out of some of the grimier warrior’s underwear,” Chifuyu retorts, peeking around the vast bushes to get a look at his friend. Baji had frozen up as soon as Chifuyu’s head had peeped around the bushes, his lips and some of his chin covered in berry juices, and Chifuyu rolls his eyes with a soft, fond smile. “Y’know, Keisuke, we’ll never get done if you keep stuffing the damn things in your mouth instead of putting them in the basket.”

“Please, there’s plenty here,” Baji mutters, placing three more berries in his mouth when he knows Chifuyu is watching just for good measure before going back to gathering them. Once his basket is half full, he props it on one hip and wanders off to gather dandelions, mushrooms, and various tree nuts, knowing that he didn’t need to take them all at once and that everything edible was useful for a village as big as theirs was getting. “When are we going back? My feet hurt,” he whines, three pecans loosely held in one hand, and Chifuyu rolls his eyes. 

“Maybe if you weren’t just standing there like some sort of valley spectre they wouldn’t,” he teases, popping a berry of his own into his mouth and relishing the burst of bitterness that quickly turned sweet when he bit down on it and it was crushed between his teeth. 

Baji groans, pulling at his hair with one hand. “I doubt a valley spectre’s feet can even hurt, Chifuyu, they’re dead — and c’mon, I'm bored! We’ve gathered plenty of food today, I want to go back to the village and take a dip in the water hole.”

“We aren't supposed to swim in it, Baji, you know that!” Chifuyu hisses, glancing around to make sure no hunters were making their way through the woods.

“It's only against the rules if you get caught,” Baji replies, shrugging. Chifuyu facepalms, completely outdone, then sighs. 

“You know what? Fine, let’s go before you eat everything we’ve found,” he teases, and Baji swings at him gently before they link arms and laugh their way through the undergrowth and back to the trail. The two men chatter back and forth as they make their way through the woods, one of them occasionally darting off to snag a mushroom or plant they know to be especially tasty, but more or less making good time back home, and Baji’s in the middle of spinning around and looking every way but where the path leads ( and subsequently finding a whole cluster of his favorite kinds of mushroom )  when his friend freezes. 

“Do you — do you smell smoke?” Chifuyu asks his companion quietly, glancing around in worry. Baji stops his lazy spinning, a small brown mushroom from the cluster he’d found in hand and ready to be placed in the basket on his hip as they keep walking, then just laughs, excited to be on the way home after a boring day looking for mushrooms, greens, and berries in the woods. 

“Smoke? C’mon, ‘Fuyu, what do you mean, smo-“ both his words and his smile die on his lips as the smell reaches his own nose and the sounds of distant screaming begins to faintly echo through the trees ahead of them. Looking up, they see multiple plumes of black smoke drifting above the trees, and their faces pale drastically as they look at each other in fear, their breathing shallow and stuttery. “Oh gods,” Baji whispers, his voice shaking, “it’s the village.” They throw their baskets to the ground, the red berries that Chifuyu had spent hours carefully gathering squashing beneath their feet and leaving garish red footprints in their wake as they race back to the place they’d always called home, desperate to get there and salvage what they could from whatever disaster had struck. Had the fire jumped over the pit in the eastern side of the village? Had someone knocked over a lamp and had the oil in it caught fire? 

They run through the forest, ignoring both the trail and the whipping of branches and leaves against their bodies as they cut through everything in a mad dash home. Thorns grab at their clothes, ripping the furs and leathers in some places, and rocks and sticks dig painfully into their bare feet. A length of briars wraps around Chifuyu’s ankle and he lets out a pained shriek as its thorns bite into his leg and it trips him, and he falls to the ground in pain. Baji, who’d kept going a ways, skids to a stop and runs back to his friend despite the screaming ahead, worrying his lip as he grabs the thorny vine and whimpering slightly as it cuts into his palms. Together they shakily rip away the briars, hurting themselves in their haste; their fingers and hands and Chifuyu’s ankle and foot were bleeding profusely from where the thorns had torn at their skin, but they forced themselves to ignore it in favor of making it home. Within seconds they’re back on their way, still ignoring everything on the forest floor, and as they break through the trees they see the cause of the commotion: at least seventy men and women on horses were racing through the village, slitting throats and grabbing who and whatever they felt like, primarily the food and supplies that they’d just traded for with another village as well as some of the women and men that were being protected by ( failing ) warriors. Their eyes wide and filled with horror, the two companions were forced to watch as more and more of their brave women and men’s throats were cut, they were run through, or they were gutted, and how the village seamstress and her daughters, all adults but still gentle handed and nowhere near wanting to join the warrior group, were snatched up and bound before being thrown into a bunch of others that were being guarded by another handful of the invading barbarians. 

Cheering, a group of three of the barbarian riders fly by on their horses chasing a sobbing woman holding her baby, a baby that Chifuyu had even helped bring into the world at the insistence of the village healer. 

“By the gods,” Baji whimpers, trembling just as hard as Chifuyu. His eyes were locked on his home and he staggers towards it before breaking into a panicked run, a blatant fear blazing in his eyes as strong as the fire that had clearly overtaken it. “My — my parents-!”

Chifuyu chases after him, taking his hand in his only to look up in terror as Baji is stopped by a massive onyx black horse with wild, reddened eyes and a frothing mouth led by its rider, a vicious-looking, bloody woman with a simple golden circlet braided into her hair. A cruel glint sparkled in her eyes, and she pointed her curved blade down at them in a silent threat. Thick red blood dripped from the tip, and the two men shook with fear as men on horses surrounded them and her face split into a cold grin. 

She rumbles down at them, “Mmmm, yes, the two of you — perfect. You both shall join me on the long journey to our homeland.”

The men around them cackle wickedly and two jump down from their horses, blood  ( which was clearly not his own ) soaking half of one’s face, grabbing them and forcing their wrists together in front of them. Two more men tightly tie thick ropes around their wrists before getting back on their horses and yanking them over to a new spot beside where the small group of invaders was guarding more people. Among them, Chifuyu saw a bound and gagged Draken, the top in his age group to join in the village’s warriors, as well as Mitsuya the seamstress’s son, who was protecting his mother and sisters as best he could while bound and gagged himself. Their eyes met and a crushing sense of familiarity was shared before they were yanked away from that group by the men holding the other ends of the ropes binding their wrists. 

For the rest of the night, they’re forced to watch as the people they’ve lived with for over twenty years are captured or slaughtered, how no matter how desperately they beg, if the men and women before them see no value in them a blade is brought down and their screams are silenced, and when it’s all over and the survivors of the massacre are being led away Baji and Chifuyu look back at the remnants of the village. They gaze despondently at the smoke billowing in the breeze and the blood that soaked the grass, and they listen. They listen to the wailing wives and mothers, to the sounds of fire still unkempt and crackling and to the sounds of bodies being dragged to be put together by the tiny handful of survivors that hadn’t been wanted by the barbaric monsters that had slain the majority of their people. They smell the blood that had just been spilt, and their noses burn as they smell the bitter smoke. They feel the grass, slick with blood, squelching beneath their bare feet and bubbling up between their toes — and then, with just a jerk of the ropes binding their wrists, their senses are encompassed by the sight of invaders all around them, by the smell of sweat and blood and iron, by the sounds of the footfalls of horses and the laughter of those that had taken them, by the feeling of their wrists being rubbed raw as they were dragged along by their captors, and they knew. 

Toman Village was done for. 

The first thing that Baji notices as they finally cross into the desert was that it was hotter than any summer that he’d ever experienced in all of his twenty-three years of life. No one from Toman Village had ever dared venture into the desert for any reason, both because of the distance and because of the heat that was rumoured to boil you from the inside out, and Baji was beginning to think that it wasn’t a rumour anymore.

Their captors stop the procession and Baji finally notices that the discomfort in his legs came from how much the sand underneath him burns his bare feet. He winces, picking up one foot to give it a moment of relief then putting it down in favor of doing the same for the other; while it brought the pain to a stop for a second or two, it still always started up again as soon as he put his foot back down. Glancing to his right, he could see that Chifuyu was having the same problem, but they were both ignored as the woman leading the group orders two smaller groups of men off. Baji watches them go, guessing that one of them were collecting water judging from the large number of goatskins they’d tight to their horses. What the other group was doing he had no idea — maybe hunting?

Someone new comes up to them, a bundle of cloth in hand, and Baji stands in front of Chifuyu almost instinctively ( even though he knows that the man could easily kill him and get to Chifuyu anyway ). “Change,” the scarred man snaps, throwing clothes and two pairs of brown sandals at them. Baji is quick to put the shoes on, urging Chifuyu to do the same, the relief they felt once escaping from the burning sand instant, but they both hesitate when they look at the clothes. The ones they’re wearing right now — thick furs and leather — are leaving them hot and uncomfortable, but to put these on they’d have to undress in front of the entire group of people that kidnapped them. Even worse, the people around them weren’t keeping their gazes subtle. Plenty were openly watching them with a lazy look in their eyes, almost as if they didn’t care; hell, maybe they didn’t. 

Chifuyu bit the bullet first, grinding his teeth as he took off his shirt and replaced it with the length of thin brown cloth that looked more like a wide scarf than a top. He tied the loose ends behind his back tightly, and they both discovered that the bottom hem stopped just beneath his pecs; Baji could tell by the way his friend shifted his hips that he was uncomfortable, but with a sigh he moved on to the pants, which sat low on his hips and clung to them but fluttered around his thighs and calves from how loose the cloth of legs of them were. Screwing up his nose in a sign of his own discomfort, Baji followed suit, and soon his own furs and leathers were in a heap on the ground next to Chifuyu’s. They looked down at them silently, wondering why it had to be Toman Village that got captured; why couldn’t it be another? Toman wasn’t even the closest village to the desert, they’d passed those, and all of the people within it had paused what they were doing just to watch the barbarians drag them off. They’d not tried to help, to fight or bargain for Tomanms freedom, they’d just watched — and then, once the village was behind them, Baji had heard it roar back to life as if nothing had happened. 

He jumps when rough hands fist in his hair, and he tries to pull away but the person holding him won’t let go. “Be still!” they snarl, and Baji freezes in response. He recognized the voice, it was the woman that had claimed some sort of possession over them, but why was she here?

Her hands continue fiddling with his hair, and after about two minutes of this something thin tightens around it and Baji realizes that it isn’t down and whipping in the breeze anymore. Instead it’s piled high on his head and tied with what feels like a length of leather. Once she lets him go he throws himself forward towards where Chifuyu was watching in worry and stands close to him, wild-eyed and nervous. She just quirks up an eyebrow at them both, something akin to amusement in her eyes, then climbs back on her horse and leaves, back to ignoring them. 

The groups that branched off returned about ten minutes later, and several fresh animal carcasses were tossed on wagons that had been tended to while they were away. Two of the men ( who Baji recognizes as the ones who had held them as ropes were tied around their wrists ) ride over and thrust a dripping goatskin in Chifuyu’s face, and upon discovering the fresh water inside it the two drink like a pair of men dying from thirst. While they do so another man brings dried strips of meat to them as well as small berries that were bitter but still stomachable, and another came with bread that was a little stale but that they were grateful for nonetheless, and they ate while they drank. 

Stomachs full and donned in their new clothes, the evening breeze feels better than ever, and the food and water pools coolly in their stomachs in a way that’s beyond refreshing and relieving. While neither of them wanted to admit that they were currently comfortable, neither could deny that they don’t feel as sick anymore, at least until they see that the rest of their former fellow villagers, several meters away from where they were being kept, aren’t receiving as nice of treatment. In fact, neither could really tell if they’d gotten to eat at all, but they knew that they weren’t given new clothes and that the only thing they’d gotten was two goatskins of water despite there being at least thirty five people there. 

Baji watches, pained, as Mitsuya urges his mother and sisters to split his small share of the water, and how when bread worse off than what they’d gotten is thrown into the sand at the feet of the other group of captives, he gives that to them too. Draken does the same with other members of the captive Toman Village, giving his share of water to the woman with the baby and splitting his bread between her and the only elder that had survived the raid. 

Night fell fully, a blanket of stars overtaking their heads. Hours later, morning followed, and the next three weeks were spent walking, stopping, and repeating what had happened the first night. The group ate the meat from the animals hunted before they went deep in the desert and drank the water gathered at the same time. Three other villagers tried to escape during this time and all were swiftly dealt with, and with a lack of food and water going his way it only took around two weeks for Draken to collapse. 

He didn’t get back up. 

Much like with the runners, they didn’t stop to pick him up, leaving his corpse behind to rot into the sand as the people of Toman Village mourned. Regardless of their captives’ feelings, the barbarians urged them all on, eager to continue the journey, and Baji and Chifuyu both looked back over their shoulders and watched the empty lump of flesh until they got so far away that it disappeared into the distance behind them. 

Afterwards, the caravan of people continues on its journey until finally stopping at some sort of market. Baji heard the barbarians muttering excitedly about ‘the Bazaar!’ and assumed that’s what it was called, then went back to worrying about the others — only he couldn’t see them. Neither of them could, and they looked around in a panic for them until finally—

“They’re there!” Chifuyu whispers to him, relieved until they realized what’s happening, and they watch in shock as one by one their fellow villagers are sold or traded to the highest bidder as if they were nothing more than livestock. A fight breaks out as Mitsuya’s sisters are bought by different people than him, the man their age desperately trying to claw, kick, bite, and punch his way to them. Their mother had died from the heat of the desert on the journey here, they only had each other left, but all of his struggles are fruitless as he’s knocked nearly unconscious and his sisters are dragged away sobbing and screaming for their older brother by the new group that they belonged to. Mitsuya’s dragged off too, bloody and beaten, and that’s when Baji and Chifuyu force themselves to look away. They can’t watch anymore, if they did they’d vomit. 

Thankfully a distraction comes their way in a mass of gold, green, and white that is thrust at them by the same man that had given them the first set of clothes, and with a resigned grumble ( and quick nudges into the shade of the overhang of a tent ) the two set about changing again, barely noticing the way others from the barbarian group that took them lead their horses to them then stop in front of them to shelter their bare bodies from eager eyes. 

Chifuyu watches as Baji takes off the sandy, dark brown clothes and pulls on the colorful, thin cloth top, tying it behind his neck like intended ( while very careful to avoid any loose hair ) with the small thin length of black cloth that was attached to it. Much like the first, it stops just below his pecs and is tight around his ribcage like the flowy pants were tight around his ankles and just above his hips. The sleeves of the top were the same, tight around the top hem and wrist but loose and flowy around the rest, and the top hem clung to his skin just below his biceps. He slips the new sandals on, and then helps Chifuyu with his own thin straps, but the two of them are lost on the loose chains and the scrap of green and white rectangular cloth, and one of the women from their group rolls her eyes and comes forward, clipping the chains around their waists and muttering, “To attach your coin purse and a small blade,” then putting the rectangular cloth up to their faces and tying it carefully around the back of their heads. she answers their confused look with a groan and just says, “To hide the faces of the chosen ones from the unworthy,” then steps back, dips her head at them in what they could swear was respect, then marches off.

Baji and Chifuyu are left to sit in the shade and watch the people who had stolen them away haggle for this and that, buying what they wanted as they pleased with the utmost respect for each vendor, and it stung. Why were they so… human here, but absolute beasts to Toman Village? 

It wasn’t fair. 

The woman that had claimed them rides forward on her own horse, grabbing the two lengths of rope that their wrists were attached to and leading them to where seven horses, all female, were bound to a wooden railing above a trough of water. She stops in front of them and nods towards the group of horses. “Pick,” she rumbles, waiting silently as they look between the horses and her in surprise. She rolls her eyes. “Pick two. To ride.”

So the horses were for them?

Baji hesitantly reaches a hand out towards a dark grey mare, her back dappled in lighter grey spots all the way down to her haunches, and he laughs in surprise when she bumps her nose up into his hand insistently after sniffing it. His eyes sparkle above his veil and Chifuyu, noticing that this wasn’t some sort of trap and that it was genuinely something nice after their past month in hell, reaches a hand towards a mare the color of buttermilk who huffs at him before gently nibbling his fingers. He grins behind his own veil  and neither man notice the woman paying for the two horses until they’re being picked up and sat on their bare backs. 

Chifuyu’s hands fist in his mare’s white mane as she begins to follow their captor’s black stallion, led by the rope around her neck. Behind him Baji lets out a cry as his own mare rushes forward to catch up, only slowing once she’s shoulder to shoulder with Chifuyu’s horse.  They walk like this for around an hour and a half, the two slowly getting used to the feeling of the horses moving beneath them and learning to lean this way and that or nudge them with their feet on the side where they wanted to turn; they were both hesitant to do it as fast and carelessly as Y/N did with her stallion, a way that spoke of experience, but even their soft little bumps were enough to make the two horses do what they willed. Neither saw, but their captor was smiling ahead of them; they’d picked two rather gentle-natured horses, perfect for a pair who clearly didn’t know what they were doing. 

Three more days and nights are spent in the bazaar, and on the fourth they set out into the desert again. 

They only travelled for three more days after this, three days that are ten times as lonely without the sounds of their former friends nearby. The ropes around their horses' necks are fixed to the saddle on their captor’s horse for the majority of their travel, but both are allowed to keep as much distance between them as they want — at least, they were at first. 

“With me,” the leader says on the final day, her voice colder than the breeze that blew as midday eased into early evening, and they hesitantly nudge their horses’ sides so they’d pick up the pace and walk with their mares’ chests even with either of their captor’s stallions’ hips. In the distance they see lights springing up in between vast tents, and they can hear excited shouting and laughter. To their left a man on a horse rides up with a herd of goats and two dogs herding them following him, and he raises a hand to wave in greeting. The female fighter that had helped them with their veils and chains breaks off from the group and rides to him, smiling brightly, and upon reaching him she leans over to kiss him, and her sentiments aren’t lost on the other riders. Those with spouses, parents, or families waiting for them break away from the group and rush to them, something that both Baji and Chifuyu thought would get them punished but just earns a chuckle from their barbaric leader, and they keep going, riding their horses through town as children run around excitedly and people ogle at them with a blatant interest in their sudden appearance. One little girl even squeals and points at Baji, clearly surprised by his hair, until her father shushes her with a soft smile. 

They eventually stop in front of a massive series of connected tents, and finally the person that stole them away dismounts and motions for them to do the same. As they get down, a rush of footsteps sounds behind them, and all three people turn just in time to see three concubines, two female and one male, rush up to her in excitement. Each donned in simple but beautiful golden jewelry, the three chatter to her wildly, welcoming her home and offering to bathe and feed her until the lone man’s eyes stopped on Baji and Chifuyu. Both newcomers had high hopes that maybe, just maybe, they’d be able to have someone understand their predicament and to be friends with, but the other concubines just looked at the two new arrivals in disgust. 

“Y/N, who are they?” one of the concubines murmurs in confusion, a woman whose coal-black eyes glittered like rare gemstones and whose skin was as dark as the night sky. She had a broad nose that went well with the rest of her features, and a large golden hoop was pierced through her left nostril; even larger golden hoops dangled prettily from her earlobes, with slightly smaller hoops pierced through her ears less than an inch higher than the first set. Her hair was short and dark in color, and it looked to have a texture that resembled clouds in the sky, something that Baji and Chifuyu found fascinating. She was beyond beautiful, more so than anyone they had seen on the long journey here, so why on earth had their captor brought them here? 

 Y/N was apparently the name of their captor, because she just chuckles and kisses the woman’s forehead affectionately. 

“Calm yourself, Afua, they’re here to join you, Amara, and Aron,” she replies gently.  Afua pouts and crosses her arms in response, stubbornly turning her head away so Y/N couldn’t kiss her again, but the other woman just chuckles and gently bumps her nose against her cheek, coaxing a half-smile onto her lips that the concubine tried desperately to fight off. “Don’t be that way, Little Blade — you know I adore you.” The nickname earns her a full smile, though it fades when she looks towards the new concubines again. 

“Y/N, you should kill them — you said you’d never need anyone but us before you left, so surely they’re witches casting spells on you!” the other woman — Amara, Baji thinks to himself — growls, her hair as red as the berries Chifuyu was so fond of back home and her eyes as blue as the sky in the middle of summer. Her skin was the color of fresh milk and freckles were splashed across her face, hands, and arms. The lone man, clearly the one named Aron, was a blond with tanned skin from the sun and eyes like sweetgrass. He was taller than the two women but shorter than the two new concubines, and he stayed silent and just glared at them in a way that made their skin crawl. They pressed their shoulders together nervously and took a step back. 

“Amara is right,” Afua complains, grabbing Y/N’s arm with both hands and confirming what Baji had been thinking, “you’ve been placed under some sort of an enchantment! you’ve been pleased with the three of us — and only the three of us — for over five years, why would your feelings suddenly change? Kill them before they rip out your soul in your sleep and gift it to their gods!” Aron scoffs and nods in agreement, and all five concubines, new and old, jumped when Y/N just started laughing. 

“Even if I had been born blind, I would still be able to see the jealousy the three of you are showing,” she grins, chuckling a little at the squawk of indignation that Amara let out behind them. She ignores it and moves on, shaking her head with a fond smile on her face as she tugs the two newcomers deeper into her tent. She stops them in front of a steaming basin of water and, after cutting the ropes from their wrists and tutting softly at the rope burns there as if she wasn’t the cause of it, nudges them towards it gently, four people emerging from someplace further into the tent who bowed their heads respectfully to Y/N when she began to speak. 

“Bathe,” she murmurs, “the servants will attend you. I believe I have three other spouses to deal with, and all of them are angry.” The last bit is something she mutters to herself, but Baji still hears it, and he begins to worry silently. He's shaken from these thoughts when gently hands pull at his clothes until they come off then push him towards the basin, Chifuyu at his side. 

“Get in quickly before the water cools, please!” one of the servants, clearly the youngest, squeaks with a smile so bright and sweet that, coupled with the fact that they haven't bathed in five weeks, they just can’t bring it upon themselves to deny her. 

The hot water is heavenly, and both Baji and Chifuyu sink into it all the way to the bottoms of their noses, soaking in the pleasant heat. More water is dunked on their heads, just a bit cooler than what they were soaking in, but still hot, and they sigh as fingers start massaging at their scalps, working out the dirt and sweat and hair grease that had built up over the five weeks the spent in the desert. Sweet-smelling oils and perfumes were poured into their hair and massaged into their skin, giving their hair and bodies the faint scent of flowers and honey that blended into their natural smell. After being persuaded into finally getting out, fluffy towels were wrapped around their bodies and their toes made little indents into the soft carpets surrounding the basin. Two of the four servants ran off and returned with new outfits, the cloth all white with gold thread seeing it together and pretty lengths of golden chains used to hold the top, as well as a new veil, up. Their hands are taken and dipped into bowls of warm milk, honey, and rose oil, and then their fingernails and toenails are painted black with the tiniest, most simple golden accents added. Gold chains are clipped carefully around their biceps and then are connected to the unattached sleeves that donned their forearms, and a single golden circlet is placed around each of their wrists and ankles before a similar one is locked around their necks.

“She will be pleased,” the eldest servant, clearly in her mid-fifties, says with a soft smile, and they bow towards them before quickly leaving. 

Wondering what on Earth they were meant to do now, they wander towards the exit only for their way to be barred by two spears wielded by men at least a foot and a half taller than them, so they back up and reenter the tents, wandering around and investigating everything — the bathroom, the room where the concubines had clearly been eating lunch, the room the other concubines had been sleeping in ( judging from the smell of perfume ). Next to a very comfy looking chair was a table made of some sort of dark wood, and on top of the table was a hefty stack of books of varying thicknesses, and beside the books was an unlit candle. Not too far away was another little table that bore several sparkling stones and a pretty teacup carved from a purple crystal, and in another corner was a table full of art supplies. Chifuyu really wanted to grab one of the books to read, but he paused when he realized that they belonged to Afua, who very obviously didn’t like them very much and who wouldn’t want him touching her things. 

It was good that they didn’t touch anything, because at that moment the three concubines re-entered the tents, followed by Y/N. They seemed to be in better moods, each holding something ( a stack of seven books was in Afua’s hands, for instance ) but Afua’s happy expression clearly darkened when she saw Chifuyu so close to her set of books. She strides forward quickly and gets close to Chifuyu, ignoring Baji’s protests. 

“If I find out that you’ve touched any of my things, I’ll gut you and feed your innards to the war dogs,” she hisses, her eyes filled with a vicious poison more potent than some tangible ones. With that, she places the new stack of books on the table and sits down in her chair hard, an air of aggression in her, then opens the book on top of the stack that she’d returned to the tents with and begins reading.  Swallowing hard, Chifuyu backs into Baji and they retreat from the beautiful ( but beyond terrifying ) woman, only to bump into one of the other concubines by mistake. 

It’s Amara, who huffs at them and storms off to the little table with the stones on it. She sits down in front of it and opens the leather pack that she’d come in with and begins to take more stones out, each as dazzling ( and some more so ) than the last. 

Aron they manage to avoid bothering in a new way, the man carrying his own bag over to the table with paint and chalk and charcoal and opening it to reveal little bottles of what looked like fresh paints. A soft smile upturns his lips, and he begins sorting everything out excitedly. 

“They’re gifts,” Baji whispers to Chifuyu, “when she leaves, she brings them back gifts.”

The realization washes over him instantly once Baji’s words register, and he understands. All of Afua’s books were gifts that Y/N had given her, all of the art supplies Aron was hoarding were presents, and every stone and crystal that Amara was holding up to the light and squealing over were as well. No wonder Afua had been so protective of her books, they were what she got for spending over a month alone, and likewise for the others. 

They’re both startled when Y/N advances on them, and they back away quickly. Baji goes so fast that he falls back on a heap of blankets and pillows, leaving Chifuyu alone above him as Y/N finally puts her hands on him. 

She presses her face into his neck and inhales deeply, grinning against his skin. “Y’smell good,” she rumbles into his neck, and he trembles as teeth drag across his neck, her incisors more the length of small fangs like his friend had scraping at sensitive spots on his skin before she pulls away with a chuckle and lets him fall backwards and down next Baji. 

“I won’t take you tonight,” she rumbles from her place standing above them simply, flashing them a simple grin. “because, by the time I do, you will beg me not to stop.” 

With that,,, she backs away from them, a heavy sway in the way she walked, and makes her way over to Afua, whose look of disdain their way immediately transforms into girlish excitement once she realizes that she’ll be the sole focus of the clan leader’s affections. The two other concubines who had been watching her interact with Baji and Chifuyu with fury burning in their eyes turn their gazes to Afua and Y/N, and while the angry look in their eyes isn’t as bright it’s still aggressive; it’s then that the two newcomers realize that even before they’d been stolen away it really was every concubine for themselves, and clearly Afua was the favorite. 

Afua quickly gets up and out of her chair then gently pushes Y/N into it, the barbarian queen allowing her body to carefully fall back onto the chair as Afua climbs up her body and straddles her, her breasts just below her chin from how close together they were. 

“So you did miss me then, Little Blade?“ she rumbles teasingly, referencing some conversation that Baji and Chifuyu weren’t a part of, and Afua just answers by needily locking their lips together and kissing Y/N deeply. One of Y/N’s hands gently grips her waist while the other comes up to cup Afua’s face as they kiss, her thumb rubbing across her cheekbone in a gentle, almost domestic caress that had the concubine sighing into her lips. Afua pulls away slowly, almost hesitant, and closes her eyes as she rests her forehead against Y/N’s. 

“Yes,” the woman in her lap breathes shakily, “I missed you.”

Months pass with them in the camp with Y/N and the concubines, and as the seven month mark passes they’re free to roam the encampment as they please. Just as the woman who had put their veils on for them said, coin purses are now always attached to the chains at their hips as well as a small knife for each of them. 

Throughout their time there they’d learned over drinks with a drunken Amara that Aron was selectively mute due to a competing clan attacking his old home  and that the reason Afua was called ‘Little Blade’ by Y/N was because the moment she’d been given the blade she had on a chain at her hips she’d drawn it against Y/N and had it pressed to the artery in her neck before any of the guards could stop her. 

Obviously the situation had been diffused, because otherwise Toman Village wouldn’t have been burnt to the ground. In the back of their minds that night both Baji and Chifuyu had wondered what the men and women that had gone out further inland to hunt for bigger, more impressive game than deer or boar thought when they came back to a village of nothing but ash and blood. Both talked about it and agreed that they must have been beyond upset; Chifuyu even wondered aloud his concerns of how Mikey and Pah must have felt when they came back and found Shinichiro, Emma, and Peh dead and Draken, Mitsuya, and Baji just… gone. 

Both hoped that they didn’t know Draken was dead too or what had happened to Mitsuya. 

Another plus side of the last seven months was that they were never forced to fuck her. She just let them… exist in her life without ever trying to corner them. She did let her touches linger at certain times, and occasionally they’d accidentally walk in on her fucking one of the original concubines in whatever room they’d gotten horny in. 

Because she isn’t fucking them, though, the other concubines make sure that they frequently take advantage of that and warm her bed every night, Afua more often than either of the others. Apparently she was dead set on remaining Y/N’s unspoken favorite, and she was succeeding. It was, in all honesty, how they’d gotten here, in fact. 

It was the middle of the night and they were both going to Y/N’s room to ask for another blanket when they’d walked past the sight of Y/N and Afua tangled together in Afua’s private room with the clan leader’s head buried between thick, dark thighs, feasting on what was normally hidden between them. Chifuyu and Baji watch in surprise as Afua grasps needily at Y/N’s shoulders, her head thrown back in ecstasy, and they’re so buried in watching them that they don’t notice that Afua’s head isn’t thrown back anymore. 

Instead her eyes, black as ink, are locked on Baji’s, and they narrow as Y/N’s grip on her thighs tightens, her face buried in the woman’s pussy and her tongue delving deeper and deeper inside. Baji’s pwn eyes widen in shock at the fact that they’ve been found out and he paws at Chifuyu to try to tell him. When Chifuyu looks up and sees Afua’s glare on him he shrinks back, still afraid of the first concubine, and she snorts. 

Suddenly her face contorts into a look of pure pleasure as she lets out a keening cry, one hand rushing up to cup her right breast and the other flying down to the back of Y/N’s head, pressing her lover’s face deeper into her soaking wet snatch. She twists one of her dark nipples between her well-manicured fingers, her hips stuttering up into Y/N’s talented mouth, and her eyes cross as an orgasm washes over her. The clan leader carefully pulls off of her sensitive, swollen cunt and crawls up her body, still not acknowledging the men watching in shock. Afua is, however, very much aware of their presence, and she tiredly puts a leg over Y/N’s middle and throws her arms around her neck as Y/N kisses her way down her own. 

Y/N’s wandering fingers find their way to her pussy again and Afua shrieks as Y/N presses them inside and curls them up into her swollen sweet spot, rolling her hips up into her hand and the two newcomer concubines completely forgotten. Continuing her movements in seconds, Y/N roughly presses her callused thumb against Afua’s swollen clit and begins rubbing hard, fast circles on and around it, enjoying the way the other woman writhed and cried. Tears had sprung up in her eyes from the pleasure and overstimulation, and as they rolled down her cheek Y/N licked them off, pulling more cries from Afua’s lips until finally the woman screamed long and louder than before and came all over her fingers. 

She fell back onto the bed after that, her ample chest heaving and fresh tears both running down her face and sparkling along her lash line. Her thighs trembled violently from the unintentional overstimulation as she felt Y/N’s hands carefully withdraw from her aching cunt ( her lover hadn’t been gentle with her ) and she mumbles out a quiet “Goodnight, Y/N, I love you,” that only the two of them could hear that earned her a gentle kiss to the back of her hand before curling up in bed to sleep. Y/N gets up and her eyes lock on the two peepers, who freeze again in fear. Now that she’d discovered them, what would she do?

“Whaddya need?” she asks lazily, surprising them, and their eyes go wide. 

“Cold,” Chifuyu answers quietly, “We — We got cold. Wanted another blanket.”

Y/N nods and leads them out of the room and over to a chest, which she opens to reveal is full of nice blankets. Still, she can’t hold herself back from teasing them even a little bit more before she sends them off back to bed. “Surely I could help you stay warm another way,” she purred playfully, bending down to grab a blanket, and behind her back they looked at each other and nodded. 

“Fine by me,” Baji says lazily, and the woman in front of them tenses. Unbeknownst to her, the two of them had come up with a plan over the last seven months: wind her up and make her wait, then fuck her until she’s so happy, sleepy, and cumdrunk that she doesn’t know that they’ve fled on horseback with food and water until they’re all the way back to the Bazaar. They’d planned for so long and cleared up any potential fuck ups that nothing could go wrong now; before the next month was over they’d be home. Hopefully Mikey, Pah, and the other survivors were still waiting for them — and maybe they’d even rescued Mitsuya and his sisters by now.

They tear their eyes from each other and discover that the whole time she’s been coolly studying them, her eyes dark and her pupils blown; an intelligence they hated to acknowledge glittered within them, and it burned them even more to realize that their village was destroyed by someone who clearly had carefully planned it out rather than by a senseless, empty-minded ambush. 

“Are you sure?” she asks finally after a lengthy silence, and it surprises them. She’d waited so long for them to come to her and ask for sex, and now that they were she was questioning it? It was almost offensive, and neither of them even liked her. 

“What, you don't want us?” Baji snaps, crossing his arms, and she shakes her head once. 

“It isn’t like that. What I want when it comes to something like this doesn’t matter. I want to know if the two of you want this,” she rumbles back, her eyes shining with some sort of knowledge that they didn’t understand. What could she possibly know about them that they didn’t?

“What do you mean?” Chifuyu asks quietly, sudden feelings of nervousness and hesitation washing over him. Something was wrong, and she knew it — but they did not. 

“I mean, are you absolutely sure this is what you want to do?” she asks softly, lifting one eyebrow in question. Both men swallow hard and nod. 

“We are,” Baji replies, feigning laziness. “We talked about it before we came to you, told one another that next time you offered yourself to us we’d go for it.”

He’s captured and held in her arms suddenly enough that he lets out a shocked cry, his eyes wide and his world spinning from how fast she’d moved. Chifuyu watches in shock from behind them, his eyes wide as Baji’s eyes roll back in pleasure from the feeling of her teeth on his neck, the cursed things digging into a sensitive spot that even he’d not found on himself on a night he’d explored his own body. She bites down hard and he lets out a whimpered cry of pleasure that sends blood racing down directly to both his and Chifuyu’s cocks. Chifuyu’s breathing begins to get heavier as he watches Baji slowly begin to roll his hips up into one of Y/N’s thighs, the hard drag clearly supplying some sort of friction to his otherwise ignored cock. 

Chifuyu lets out a squeak when one of the barbarian queen’s hands releases his friend and darts behind her own body to grab him by the hair, dragging him over and drawing small noises of appreciation from his throat at the feeling. She pulls him close and then tears her mouth from Baji’s neck so she can lock lips with Chifuyu, his moans swallowed up by her own mouth as she holds him close to her body. Baji’s still weakly thrusting against her leg, humping it like a desperate, rutting beast in heat; he’s not been able to blow off steam like this in months, so he’s beyond desperate to chase the high he so desperately craved. Chifuyu’s the same — neither had really so much as even jerked off in the past seven months, too busy planning their escape while adjusting to this strange new life amongst a vast tribe of people who’d murdered theirs and burnt their homes to the ground. 

A small shriek leaves Chifuyu’s lips as he’s lifted from the ground up into Y/N’s arms, and he whimpers as his aching cock drags up against her skin before stopping to rest against her stomach. “Come,” she murmurs, and Baji follows them both on shaky legs with one hand fisted around the calf area of Chifuyu’s black pants. 

They’re pulled into what they can only assume is Y/N’s actual bedroom, an area sealed off by partially translucent cloth that weaves in the breeze blowing in through the front entrance. A large mess of furs and cloth that could only be described as a nest is against the far wall of the tent, a mass of pillows and blankets topping it all off so it looked altogether like the most comfortable place to sleep that either of them had ever seen; in the back of Baji’s mind, he wonders why he’d not asked for even just a few more comforts like these instead of being stubborn and refusing pretty much everything she offered aside from necessities. Had they both been idiots for it?

She carries Chifuyu over to the nest-like bed before carefully plopping him down onto it, Baji following suit before both look up and watch her strip herself. She removed her shirt first, and their eyes lock on the way her breasts bounced and jiggled when freed from the constricting fabric of her armor. The movements of the fatty flesh were beyond mesmerizing, and the two almost forgot themselves in the wake of watching them do so — at least, until she removed her pants. 

She was unshaven but carefully trimmed, and silvery lines spanned her thighs in a beautiful pattern only she possessed; whether they were from growth spurts or not didn’t matter to either of them, they just wanted what she was tempting them with. 

She took her time crawling onto the bed and spreading her legs for them to reveal the slick slit between them, a lazy grin on her face as she watched their pupils grow so much they nearly encompassed their irises. One of her hands drifts down and begins drawing circles on her clit that are equally as lazy as the smile on her face, and she speaks in a slow, relaxed drawl. “Don’t be shy, pets, come on over — I can take you both,” she purrs lowly, her voice a deep rumble that made both men shiver when it reached their ears. Both? Of them? Together? At the same time?

“Yes,” she murrs gently, and they both stiffen with the realization that they’d been speaking their thoughts aloud. “Give me your cocks, pets, I can take you.”

For a moment they just stare at her, unsure. Neither of them was small in the slightest, and they knew it — would she really be okay?

Baji mentally shakes the thoughts he was sharing with Chifuyu out of his head. Y/N had kidnapped them, had killed and sold their people like livestock, and had made them her concubines against their will. Why should they feel bad for her? Why should they worry? Besides, surely she was wet enough; her pussy was practically dripping from her time with Afua, he could see it even in the dim candlelight. 

Yeah. It would be fine. 

“You heard her, ‘Fuyu,” he murmurs, beginning to undress himself all while never tearing his eyes from her — not even when he notices Chifuyu swing his head in his direction in blatant surprise. “Let’s do this together.”

He hears Chifuyu take a deep breath and start taking his own clothes off as well behind him as he slowly stalks forward, never taking his eyes move farther than her heaving chest or her soaking wet cunt even as he situates himself between her legs and moves aside slightly so Chifuyu can slot himself next to him. “How do we — how do we do this?” Chifuyu asks him quietly, and before Baji can answer that he didn’t know, Y/N replies for him. 

“Same time, side by side,” she murmurs, “Some like it one at a time to ease into it, but I’m in a bit of a rush.” Neither of them question her choice of words and instead just press closer to one another, the heads of their hardened cocks brushing against each other and stimulating them both with every move. 

Eager to keep control of the situation, Baji takes both of their cocks in one of his hands and presses their tips against her soaking wet entrance, swallowing hard at the feeling of a wet, velvety soft kiss enveloping his tip before biting down on his bottom lip hard as he presses them both inside her all at once. She growls at the feeling of her wet heat stretching to fit them both, but she doesn’t tell them to stop, so they don’t, and they both watch in avid fascination as the woman they knew to be beyond strong and powerful lets her head fall back and a pleasured moan fills the room. 

They sit there for a moment, soaking up the moment ( because they’re both more than sure this will be the only time it happens ), before Baji breaks it by pulling out and thrusting back inside quickly. It wins him a surprised cry from both Y/N and Chifuyu, sl he laughs a little and keeps going, grinning when  Chifuyu starts doing the same. Before long the three of them are a roiling mess of limbs, fluids, and cries of pleasure, the feelings overriding all of their senses. 

“F-Fuck yes, fuck me harder!” Y/N  moans, a slightly fuckdrunk half grin on her face as they messily thrust up into her messy cunt. 

“Yeah, you like it? You like it when we f-fuck your pussy?” Baji tries, and Y/N just laughs at him. It’s enough to surprise him into stilling long enough for her to use her strength to flip all three of them so she’s on top.

“You really think you’re in control?” she laughs, her eyes sparkling as she rides them both at the same time, “Nah…. Now kiss for me, lovers!” With  twin cries of pleasure falling from their mouths Baji and Chifuyu turn to each other where they’re laying against the furs and lock lips, Chifuyu’s hands coming up to fist themselves in Baji’s hair as the knot in his tummy grows more and more taut with each bounce of Y/N’s hips on top of his own, his whimpers getting swallowed up by his best friend as they grow higher and higher in pitch until finally he throws his head back and full on screams in ecstasy, what seems like endless ropes of cum shooting from his cock and filling her clenching cunt as he cums deep inside her. She lets out a pleased snarl and bites down hard on Baji’s neck, drawing blood and making his own moans twist into a high pitched wail as he bagan cumming himself, filling her up alongside a now limp, exhausted Chifuyu, and as his cock slowly begins softening inside her next to Chifuyu’s, she carefully pulls off of them both then crawls backwards down the nest bed until she stops between Baji’s legs. 

She kisses gently up his twitching, sensitive flesh. “Poor thing,” she rumbles against his thigh, “you’re completely fucked out, aren’t you? You’re my fuckdrunk little slut, aren’t you, Keisuke?” Baji keens for her in response as she follows up her words by taking his spent, oversensitive cock into her mouth and languidly beginning to suck on it, her eyes glittering with amusement as he whimpers and weakly struggles to get away from her touch. 

“N-No, too much — can’t-t, too much, can’t!” he whines, tears springing up in his eyes. Chifuyu’s already passed out next to him, quietly snoring as he struggles to escape her hot mouth. His oversensitive cock aches more and more with each gentle tug from the suction of her mouth, and he squirms and weakly pushes against her. He knew what she was doing, knew that she was doing this on purpose as some way to get back at him for trying to stay in control where he wasn’t supposed to be, but now he just wanted it to stop. He’d submit to her, he’d do anything, it was just too much!

With a loud, strangled cry he cums almost dry in her mouth, only two weak shots of cum going down her throat that make her laugh around him. He sobs at the feeling of the sudden vibrations, tears running down his cheeks as the pleasure shifts hard into pain. She pulls off of his over spent cock and climbs up his shaking body, boxing his in with her arms and leaning down so her lips brushed gently against the shell of his ear.  

“Never try to challenge me again,” she rumbles lowly, her words both just a statement as well as a threat before pulling back and gently kissing his cheek. “Now sleep — it’s been an eventful night for you.”

And for the first time in a long time, Baji couldn’t bring himself to argue, and all it took was around thirty seconds for darkness to overtake his vision with the last thing he saw being Y/N standing up beside the nest bed. 

The next morning, Baji blearily wipes away the annoying crust that had formed on the corners of his eyes overnight, lazily closing his eyes and pressing hard into Chifuyu where the other man was curled around him, greedily soaking in his warmth in the cool morning. The room still stank of the sex that they’d had the night before and he could feel the itchy discomfort that came with dried cum and spit covering his body; there was no doubt that Chifuyu would feel the same once he woke up. 

The sounds of the settlement outside reached his ears through the thick outsides of the massive tent they slept in, and with a resigned sigh he opens his eyes back up. There was no way he was getting back to sleep, and as Chifuyu whines and stirs against him he knows that he won’t be able to either. 

As Chifuyu slowly starts waking up, Baji takes the time to look around the room. There was no sign of Y/N being there anymore — no clothes, no weapons, no nothing; the only thing she’d left behind was her scent on the pillows.

After they both manage to draw themselves out of bed they share a hasty bath and get dressed quickly, both curious as to why Y/N didn’t stay with them until morning whether they wanted to admit it or not. 

They stagger into the communal area of the big tent and don’t see anyone, the one most noticeably absent being Y/N, and Chifuyu groans in annoyance. b

“I’m surprised the two of you are up so early,” a voice calls from across the room, and they both jump instinctively. Unfortunately their bodies don’t allow them to relax when they lock their eyes on Afua, who’s sitting in her chair with one of her new books while one of her personal servants stand dutifully behind her and twists and pulls her short hair into long braids that both of them were certain would pass her ass when she stood. The servants fingers are lightning quick and her eyes are solely focused on the black hair in front of herself, clearly devoted to her task — and she was very obviously used to it, considering how easily her fingers moved despite how complex the braids were to Baji and Chifuyu’s eyes. Every now and then ( though not frequently ) she’d pause to shake her hand before jumping eagerly back into her task, and Afua never looked up from her book as she did. 

Their attentions are regained when Afua begins speaking again. “You missed Y/N’s exit, just like Amara and Aron always do. They’re still asleep, but it seems almost shameful for them to be considering how well used the two of you were by Y/N last night.” Baji and Chifuyu’s faces burn in embarrassment, since they thought she was asleep, but Afua isn’t done. “If you’re going to wail like cum-thirsty whores, at least gag yourselves so I can sleep. Unlike Amara, I don’t enjoy lying awake listening to any of the other concubines getting fucked within an inch of their lives.”

The knowledge that Amara enjoyed listening to the other concubines having sex was not knowledge that either of them signed up for, but regardless of that and their shaky stammering Afua just turns to the next page in her book and ignores them. They slowly start to back away, ever wary of the two wickedly sharp knives that were sheathed on Afua’s soft looking thighs, when she lets out a soft noise that they’d never heard from her before before speaking again. “Oh, and I almost forgot �� next time, I advise you to come up with something better if you want to fool Y/N. If you’d actually tried to sneak away like she knew you were planning, the guards would have probably just killed you. The tribe doesn’t like runaways.” They stare at her in horror for a moment, silent in their surprise ( and fear, if they were both completely honest ) that Y/N knew they were planning to escape. 

Chifuyu regains his voice first, though it’s shaky when he begins speaking. “She — She knew?!” he asks, completely shocked, and Afua just rolls her eyes. 

“Of course she knew what you were up to, you fucking idiot, she’s not stupid. Just because she wasn’t handsy with you and in your space doesn’t mean that she wasn’t keeping a close eye on you.” She rolls her eyes at the very thought, then buries herself in her book again as her servant continues working on her hair, this time completely done with the conversation. Baji and Chifuyu stagger out of the room and back to their own, both of them still in complete disbelief. She’d known. All these months spent planning and conniving the perfect method of escape, wasted because she’d known. 

“We’re never getting out of here,” Baji whispers, and Chifuyu remains silent, just thinking about his friend’s words. Baji was right — it had been the better part of an entire year since they’d seen Toman Village and her survivors. Maybe it was time that they resigned themselves to their fate and just… accepted that this was their home now. 

And if they eagerly accepted the gifts Y/N brought back from them when she returned home three weeks later  with gleeful shouting at her back ( though they hid such reactions )? That was their business, and theirs alone. 

𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞, 𝐨𝐜𝐭. 𝟏𝟕 ; 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐮𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬. 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 © { 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟐 } 𝐛𝐲 𝐗𝐈𝐀𝐎𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐂. 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐲, 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞, 𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭.

[isfjmel-phleg]

Would you ever write a superhero short story?

I confess I have messaged a friend a few times with remarks to the effect of "I'm not a fic writer but what if [premise]" Maybe some day I'll get up the nerve to try it, but I don't know if I could do with my own original characters and setting--unless it were an AU for my Blackberry Bushes cast.

[toonjuiced]

caregivers jack & marguerite baker 📻🌾 [ x x x ]

note — the fanart above is from a really sweet au called washed up where ethan is rescued by the bakers instead of eveline. i’ve not read it but i adore the few art pieces i’ve seen from the author, this being one of them!!

[update after i looked more into it, the fic has jack/ethan content, so avoid if need be!]

you go berry picking with marguerite. there’s a lot of raspberry, blackberry, and strawberry bushes in the yard during the summer

afterwards, you help her bake tarts and pies. (jack’s favorite is blackberry, so that gets made a lot)

she makes a lot of stuff. some of the best is apple cobbler, beignets, & iced tea. you don’t know what makes her iced tea so good but it’s the best ever on ice during a hot day. jack makes killer gumbo

jack takes you out for rides in the four wheeler

you like to stick your hand out of the side to touch the leaves, but sometimes you end up getting pricked by a thorn

he always soothes you with a kiss to the spot before bringing you home to get bandaged up. he’ll talk the whole time and point out stuff in the fields to keep you distracted

marguerite’s the one to put the band-aid on. she teasingly scolds jack for taking you out there, which makes you laugh

sometimes you help marguerite in the greenhouse!!

she keeps a close eye on you around all the equipment but loves watching how much you enjoy playin in the dirt.

jack helps you clean up afterwards

you spend a lot of time sitting at the dining table while marguerite cooks

they live on farmland that gets rented out and used, so a lot of their produce comes from that

marguerite has a room in the basement where she stores preserves and pickled things, but it scares you because it’s the basement.

jack has a room down there that you aren’t allowed in alone when you’re regressed (he’s got a fermentation room. mostly mead and moonshine, the latter of which gets incorporated into some of marguerite’s preserves)

whenever you go through the drawing room you pet the taxidermy deer, which jack thinks is very sweet

he takes you out to the stands in the field, of course not to hunt, but to watch the deer and other animals from up high

when it’s time for bed jack will scoop you up and carry you there in an instant if you ask. marguerite insists he spoils you (and he’ll shoot right back with some comment about how she always gives you extra dessert)

you fall asleep a lot to the sound of the radio or the television in the other room. sometimes, it gets drowned out by rain on the roof, but that’s just as comforting

you get to go out on the boat! jack takes you for rides around the swamp and sometimes marguerite comes along

the three of you never go out very far. jack will stop where the water is shallow so you can wade out and catch crawfish and watch the herons

when it rains and the backyard gets all muddy, marguerite will help you get your boots on so you can go out and splash around and chase frogs

there’s always something to do in the house, even if that’s just simply running around from room to room and seeing what’s happening where

you like to play pool, even if you aren’t really sure how. the sound the pool balls make when they click together is really nice!

the recreation room is a sweet place to be because of the balconies, even if you aren’t allowed behind the bar

they’re really silly when you’re with them both in the same room. very doting and will give you lots of attention

sometimes on a really nice summer evening you’ll have a bonfire, and afterwards, you’ll come inside smelling like smoke

jack turns the gramophone on and you fall asleep on the couch underneath jack’s coat to the music and him and marguerite talking softly to each other

[rarepears]

Hobbyist gardener here! Boy oh boy veggie gardening. My time has come. In poor soil like the Burial Mounds likely are, they can grow a lot of things!! Lettuce in particular! A lot of varietals of lettuce grow well in bad soil, especially if the ground is muddy and full of clay. Beans!!! Beans are great for dry, drought ridden soil and provide excellent nutrition. Whether it's Chinese Long Beans or your classic pea plants, the Burial Mounds could grow and dry beans for both eating and selling. Not to mention they make good "rotation" crops, where they are planted in depleted soil to serve as green compost and enrich it before that field is used for more valuable crops in the following years. Since Wen Qing mentioned potatoes over radishes, I'm going to assume that the vegetables that originated in North America, South Asia, and South America have already made their way over to China. Squashes! Summer squashes with soft skins and juicy interiors and winter squashes with their starchy interiors and soft sweetness! They grow fairly quickly and their leaves can be left as green compost to slowly increase the viability of the soil. Eggplants!! A good source of fiber and are easy to grow, even for inexperienced gardeners/farmers. Also the haha funny aspect of Wei Wuxian growing the irl eggplant emoji. Mustard greens! They're common in some regional Chinese cuisines and can be pickled to last longer or sold in Yiling. Very tasty and can make some boring congee or gruel more appetizing. The seeds are also a valuable seasoning for a variety of cultures and could be sold.

My immediate reaction is: how well do these plants grow in shady areas? How would the resentful qi in the air and environment impact their growing habits? Considering how difficult it is to kill mint and bamboo plants, these plants would probably be pretty good at surviving even with all that resentful qi around. Lettuce and the other groups are far more delicate in comparison.

Oooooh imagine thorny bushes! Especially if these were thorny bushes of wild blackberry and raspberries! (Because those are such a pain in the neck to keep from spreading all over a garden...)

And Wei Wuxian and the Wen's would LOVE to have zucchini - the near infinite supply of zucchini would be a lifesaver.

[More in #surely there's some sort of plant that can be grown on the burial mound other than radishes au]

[supernovaa-remnant]

so I decided to write a """little""" snippet of my dreambur-centric university au but it ended up being 1.6k words, so it's going under the cut lol

uhh cw for panic attacks and mentioned pet death

Dream’s hand reaches blindly for his bedside table, searching through his haze of panic for his phone. His chest feels tight, and he feels like he can’t really get enough air in his lungs, and his stomach feels uneasy, and he feels vaguely like he’s going to be sick or pass out or maybe both. He feels like he’s a kid again, accidentally stumbling into a blackberry bush with the summer sun bearing witness, anxiety curling around him like the brambles of the bush, piercing and unrelenting. It’s an all too familiar feeling, and, though he knows the cause of it this time, it does nothing to alleviate it. 

He’s going back to university in a few days. And, it feels stupid to be worried about it because his first semester had, quite honestly, been amazing. There are friends he can’t wait to see and classes he’s excited to take, yet the anxiety persists all the same. Because he doesn’t want to leave. Because the thing about going to one’s hometown during a break is that it’s so easy to float in nostalgia and pretend like time is stretching infinitely and that nothing ever changed. He can fall into the same comforts he used to, and he can pretend he’s the same person he was months ago; he can pretend he’s an exception to change. 

But his childhood cat, Hope, died a year ago. And the holidays have only gotten harder the older he’s gotten. And he’s not the same kid picking blackberries with his parents in the summer. He’s outgrown his childhood home, and the ghosts haunt his every move, but he still doesn’t want to leave because he wants to pretend that nothing changed. He wants to close his eyes and open them to Hope laying on his chest and his friends waiting for him outside his house.

But Hope died a year ago. And he’s a university student and not a high schooler, but he wants to shut his eyes and pretend anyway. 

And he’s scared of going back. Because he loves his roommate, but sharing a room with another person can be so incredibly draining, and he just wants the space to exist alone. And a part of him thinks the whole “journey of self discovery” thing that’s supposed to happen at university isn’t quite worth it if it feels like his future has been torn out from under him. 

And Hope died a year ago, and the grief is hitting him in towering waves, and he really can’t deal with everything else on top of that. 

So, he’s fumbling for his phone, because even with all the dynamics amongst his childhood friends suddenly and almost abruptly shifting upon people’s departures to different universities, Bad has always helped him with his panic attacks. 

But it’s not Bad’s voice that greets him when he finally manages to call someone, and he curses himself for forgetting that Bad’s no longer the only contact saved under “B” in his phone. 

“Dream? Why the fuck are you calling me at 3 am?”

Dream doesn’t have the focus required to remind the groggy and annoyingly pretentious British voice that it’s 3 am in England, not Florida. 

“Dream?” 

The voice says again, more alert and laced with worry. 

“Sorry, I–” 

But Dream’s breath stutters, and he finds himself unable to continue his sentence, mouth filled only with the saltiness of his tears as he desperately tries to pull air into his lungs even as sobs keep interrupting his attempts. 

And, through the haze, he hears a calming sound. Slowly, oh so slowly, he finds the panic subsiding. The sound he hears isn’t counting—as he would’ve expected with Bad—but rather softly strummed notes on a guitar. 

“Sorry,” he says, ignoring how scratchy his voice is. 

“Don’t mention it,” Wilbur says, because of course Dream had to accidentally call Wilbur Soot of all people. “Why did you call me, anyway? I was under the impression that you didn’t quite like me,” Wilbur says teasingly, though a bit of genuineness shines through. 

“I don’t hate you,” Dream responds despite knowing that wasn’t what Wilbur asked at all. 

“I know,” Wilbur says, “but that doesn’t mean you like me either.” Something about his voice when he says it causes something in Dream’s chest to twist painfully, but before he has the chance to correct the Brit, Wilbur’s continuing. “Anyway, back to my question; why did you call me?” 

“I meant to call my friend Bad, but I guess I misclicked.” 

“Wait, what am I saved as in your phone? Because if my memory serves me correctly, the letters ‘B’ and ‘W’ are very far apart from each other.”

Dream mumbles a response, not really wanting Wilbur to hear the answer. Because Dream truly had meant to change the contact name after he’d actually gotten to know Wilbur a bit better, but he’d kept forgetting, and every time he did remember, he was in the middle of something else. 

“Pardon?” Wilbur asks, because of course he wouldn’t just take Dream’s muttered words as a response. 

“I have you saved as ‘British Cunt,’” Dream says louder, ignoring the way his face burns with embarrassment. 

For a moment, everything is silent. Then, Wilbur begins laughing, hearty and genuine, and something in Dream loosens. He’s not sure he’s ever heard Wilbur laugh so freely at something he said, and he finds himself with the inexplicable urge to make the other laugh again. 

“As hilarious as that is,” Wilbur says, “you wanna tell me why you were panicking?” 

Dream’s throat constricts at Wilbur’s words, the reminder of his anxiety causing it to flair up again. 

“You don’t have to tell me,” Wilbur’s quick to say upon Dream’s silence. “You can call someone else.” 

“No, it’s okay,” Dream manages to say, trying to swallow the lump in his throat. “I’m just nervous to go back to uni, I guess.” 

“Why?” There’s confusion in Wilbur’s voice when he asks, but there's a hint of curiosity, as well. 

Dream struggles to find the words. Where does he even begin? With his fear of change? With the anxiety about next semester’s courses? With the lack of a security blanket? It feels like there’s so much that he doesn’t even know how to articulate it. 

“I’m seventeen,” he settles on, whispering and choking on the words. “I’m seventeen,” he repeats, “and I graduated high school at sixteen, and I don’t think I was ready for this.” 

He hates how scared he sounds. He hates how vulnerable he’s being with Wilbur, of all people. Niki would have been a better person to have this discussion with, or even Techno. But Wilbur? Dream doesn’t know where he stands with the Brit, and he’s not sure he should be telling the other this at all. 

He hears a sharp exhale as Wilbur mutters something unintelligible. Then, Wilbur says, “maybe you weren't ready.” 

“It’s a big change,” Dream says, chuckling wetly. Change. He’d never really been good with that. 

“It is,” Wilbur agrees. “But you can’t go back. Regardless of whether or not you were ready, the change has happened, and nothing you do will make that any less true. Sure, you could drop out or take a gap year, but that won’t magically make things go back to how they were.” 

Dream makes a wounded sound, and he internally curses himself for doing such a thing when Wilbur would hear. A part of him wants to hang up. A part of him wants to hang up and cover his ears and pretend like this never happened. But, a bigger part of him, the part that admires Wilbur though he’d never admit it, is begging him to ask for advice.

“So what do I do?” He asks, voice sounding as unsure as he feels. 

“You move forward,” Wilbur responds bluntly. “But that doesn’t mean you have to be alone,” he adds more softly. “You have Techno and Niki and,” Wilbur pauses, hesitating for a moment, before continuing. “And you have me, if you want me.” 

And Dream thinks about it. He thinks about arguments and debates and biting words. He thinks about Wilbur’s pretentious attitude, and he thinks about everything about Wilbur that has gotten on his nerves during the past semester. He thinks about every conversation with subtle insults hidden under pretty words. 

And then, he thinks about everything else. He thinks about Wilbur and Niki sharing make-up tips. He thinks about Wilbur joking around with Techno and Tommy and Tubbo. He thinks about Wilbur helping Ranboo with the subjects Techno isn’t as strong in. He thinks about Wilbur feeding the local stray cats. 

He thinks about soft hands leading him out of a party and notes from a shared lecture given without ever having been asked for. He thinks about the soft strums of a guitar calming him from panic. 

“Thanks, Wil,” he says. “We should hang out more.” 

“I’m always up for hanging out with pretty boys,” Wilbur responds, grin audible in his tone. 

Dream scoffs and says, “get some sleep, idiot,” instead of responding to Wilbur’s playful flirting. 

“Yeah, you too,” Wilbur says with a yawn. “And Dream?” 

“Yeah?”

“Don’t hesitate to call if you need anything. I’ll always pick up.” 

Dream smiles. “I’ll keep that in mind. Goodnight.” 

“Goodnight. Sweet dreams.” 

“Oh my god, you’re so stupid. I’m hanging up now.” 

Wilbur’s giggles are abruptly cut off when Dream hangs up, but he can’t shake off the fond smile that has found its way to his face. And, most amazingly of all, he finds himself more excited to return to uni than dreading it. The anxiety is still there, of course, but he thinks that maybe he’ll be able to find ways to manage it, after all. 

[hp-fruit-fest]

For all the Drarry lovers...Here are all the Drarry works created for this year's Fruit Fest! Check out these yummy treats, and give them some love if you like!

ART. Fruit: Apple. Rated: E. Drapple. Digital art. NSFW art.

Draco does a photo shoot for Witch Weekly, in which he shows his appreciation for his favorite fruit.

View on AO3

FIC. Fruit: Strawberry. Rated: T. Words: 3,062. Postwar. Established relationship. Baking. Domestic fluff.

Baking is an unexpected hobby that Harry fell into a little over a year ago, nearly a decade after the war ended.

Read on AO3

ART. Fruit: Mango. Rated: T. Muggle AU. Meet cute. Fluff.

"And it might sound silly but let's go home"

View on AO3

ART. Fruit: Lemon. Rated: M. Digital art. NSFW art.

Symbolism: longevity, purification Song: "Lemon Eyes" by Meg Myers History: in ye olden fandom days, "lemon" referred to explicit erotic content.

View on AO3

ART. Fruit: Apple. Rated: G. Mpreg. Pregnant Draco. Cravings.

peace, beauty, wisdom, joy, fertility, and youthfulness OR Song: Rotten Apple by Alice In Chains OR Song: Apples by Lily Allen

View on AO3

FIC. Fruit: Blueberry. Rated: T. Words: 964. Getting together. Fluff & Humor. Vet Harry & Healer Draco.

Draco wasn’t sure if it was palpitations or a crush. Best to find out.

Read on AO3

FIC. Fruit: Blackberry. Rated: T. Words: 749. Established relationship. Werewolf Draco.

Long fingers pluck a blackberry from the bramble bush, and place it onto a pink tongue. Rolling it around his mouth, savouring the sweet-sour taste, before biting it with white, sharp teeth, and it goes pop in his mouth. 

Read on AO3

FIC. Fruit: Grape. Rated: M. WIP. Postwar. Vineyard. France.

The thick, wooden door, held together with ancient iron straps, swung open with surprisingly little noise on well-maintained hinges despite its age and size. The absolute last person Draco could have ever expected stared at him in a subdued, frozen kind of horror once it was open. “No,” Harry Potter said evenly and calmly, as if Draco had asked him if he was supposed to be alive. “How?” Draco choked on the question so it left his mouth as little more than breath. “No!” Potter shouted as his hands flailed back and forth in desperate negation before diving into the bedlam of black hair, like they sought shelter from the moment. “‘Arry?” a feminine and heavily French voice called out. “Is it ‘im?” “Yes!” the presumed dead man in question shouted too loudly, as if he could no longer control his own volume. “But no, he won’t- we couldn’t- I-” A woman maybe just a bit past her middle age came up behind him as he stammered. Draco continued to stare. He couldn’t even sneer; he was shocked to his core. His chest held onto his surprise like a barely contained explosion. Harry Potter wasn’t dead. It felt like it should change everything, yet they remained staring at each other as if nothing ever would.

Read on AO3

FIC. Fruit: Fig. Rated: T. Words: 16,873. Unspeakable Draco. Lost Souls. First Love.

Draco struggles with infertility and hopes to find the answer in a magical fig tree. His journey takes him to Aydin Turkey, where he meets another lost soul named Harry.

Read on AO3

[ask-horror-ds]

If they were all "normal" people would they be friends? Or crush on eachother? What would happen if they had the same personaliti3s just were toned down a bit?

Moon here! we actually have an AU that, as a side effect of its original intentions, explores that

It's a D&D-inspired fantasy AU, sort of a 'everyone lives and no one is evil and they all lived mostly happily ever after.' There's still some conflict here and there, of course, but overall it's a pretty fluffy AU.

The H!DS segment is a little bit of a mess and we mainly just said 'hey hey What If' and I made some heroforge things and made some shit up.

Pluto is a blackberry bush (A Dryad; and, because nymphs of greek mythology are all born female, he's a trans man) and is an agent of absolute chaos. he wanders around with his besties Slash, a dragonborn fighter with a big fucking sword, and Byte, a crossbow-wielding dwarf ranger. Because idk, why not a crossbow. Stitches (normal DS Error) is a wizard. It's hard to translate magic strings into more 'traditional' nerd fantasy magics

Delusion is also a trans dryad; but he's a tree. Specifically a black locust tree. He and Pluto (gasp!) grew up together.

Gouge is an elf; a lancer. She's sorta Delusion's body guard, not that he really need it. Still, it's good to have an extra set of eyes out while traveling.

Hunter is a satyr and he's still a lonely little shit but he loves making new friends. He's a user of nature magic; not really druidic magic, but yeah.

I can't find any more info about how they interacted, but I know they weren't nearly as hostile with each other.

Delusion is probably recovering from people worshiping him still. He's doing better, and trying to *actually* help people.

Pluto, Slash, and Byte are probably wanted for being thieves and instigators, but they're not murderers. They probably are adventurers, though; mostly taking on bounties for monster slaying and such. "Local town terrorized by basilisk saved; saviors proceed to terrorize town for a day before moving on." that sorta thing.

Gouge is probably still pretty sadistic, but it's to a more 'normal' degree. She's not torturing people. She does not enjoy torturing people. she's kind of an asshole most of the time though. she isn't fond of people. She *is* chill with Byte, Slash, and Pluto, though.

Hunter...I think he and Byte are still on bad terms, but I don't really remember. Either way I think it's much closer to how DS Error and Blue interact in canon. Wary, and Hunter wants to be friends again, but Byte is really. not feeling it. Hunter's still being overly friendly, though.

...we uh. forgot the others, i think. oops

[random-mailbox]

Master List

Fanfiction recommendation lists:

Weeks 1-52

Motorcycle Mamoru

College AU

April Fools

Photography:

Original post

@usamamoweek2023: Day 1 - Year of the Rabbit , Day 1 - Kiss Game, Week Day 2 - Royalty, Day 2 - Sword, Day 3 - Love Letters / Poetry, Day 4 - Beach, Day 4 - There was only one..., Day 5 - Free Day , Day 6 - Wings , Day 6 - Crystal, Day 7 - Midnight, Day 7 - Fireworks

Themed photos

"Flat Stanley" Lego , Fall Colours, Halloween, Mushrooms, Picking Apples, Solar Eclipse, Blackberries , Wildflowers, Rose Bushes, Frost/Snow , Tofino , SM Quickies 2024 , Cherry Blossoms

Arts and Crafts / Poetry:

Bead flowers

St Patricks Day Poem

Love Letter (Poem)

Link to my AO3 Bookmarks

Link to my GoodReads Account

Link to my Photography Instagram