#The first try isn’t technically bad but I’m not in character because it’s the first try so it sounds weird

[dynasty889]

I make thingy about Calypso cause I wanna talk about her and some of my just general thoughts about her. THIS EPIC: THE MUSICAL CALYPSO TAKE YALLS ODYSSEY AND PJO CALYPSOs SOMEWHERE ELSE (I might reference them though)

So first off, my general vibe of the character is kind of this optimistic yet isolated goddess to the point of delusion. I’m not exactly sure how to explain it, but considering her rather upbeat music I feel like that’s the vibe Jorge was going for, kind of like Circe in Puppeteer. It’s a great sound to the music but everything else tells you that the situation isn’t good (for Odysseus). In my opinion, Calypso seems to be unaware of the way she makes Odysseus feel. Now whether she’s actively ignoring it or genuinely can’t clock the situation is a whole other thing. I also definitely think she’s manipulative. Again, whether she knows she’s being manipulative or not is something else.

But something that I do find kind of interesting is her age in EPIC. In mythology, we can assume she’s at least a few centuries old (maybe even a millennia? If we go based on the fact she was around during the overthrow of the Titans but also I don’t know much time is in between that and the Odyssey so—). But in EPIC, she says she spent one, her entire life on the island and two, has been alone for 100 years. If she’s not exaggerating to get Odysseus to feel bad, then she’s pretty young in terms of deities. Only around 100 years old. It’s just a thought I had and maybe it makes sense. Hopefully.

Also, I know technically the whole “doomed to fall in love” and “imprisoned on Ogygia” comes from PJO, but that also seems to have a similar presence in EPIC. I think she did fall in love with Odysseus on her own terms rather than being doomed to, but I do think she isn’t able to leave. Maybe it’s not for some divine reason, maybe she just doesn’t know how to get off the island. Or maybe she is. But considering she’s been there her whole life and hasn’t ever bothered to just leave, I’m gonna assume there’s some divine reason she can’t leave. It’s kind of similar with Circe, whose characterization in EPIC seems to have similar elements from Circe in Madeline Miller’s novel (which seems to be indicated in a few lyrics in Done For and There Are Other Ways. Maybe even Wouldn’t You Like since Circe seems to know Hermes personally??? 👀👀)

Hmmm hmmm hmmm, I know there are other things I want to talk about. Oh yeah! I have a theory Zeus played a hand in keeping Odysseus on Ogygia with Calypso. You know, considering his attitude in God Games and some of the lyrics. Like not only does he get pissed at Athena beating him, but he also gets angry when he makes him “feel shame” (shame that he’s had Calypso trap Odysseus on Ogygia for 7 years?)

Anyway, this isn’t to say I like Calypso or am trying to defend her, but I do think she’s a very interesting character and deserves a little more analysis than “r*pist.” Why does she keep Odysseus with her? Are these actions the result of something that happened to her? etc. (these are kind of basic questions but just examples I suppose). Also I’m doing this because gigi’s animatics make me like her more than I should 😔

Also I just wanna say again Barbara Wangui is amazing.

Stream the Vengeance Saga guys

[theres-whump-in-that-nebula]

Why does “Dark Woods Circus” have to be so hard to sing

[ghostsarepeopletoo-2]

My Live DRDT episode 16 reaction

HERE WE GO CHATT

SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT

“Are we all ready to vote?” It’s so Aceover

how much you wanna bet David voted for Teruko

“Congratulations!” ITS ACEOVER 😭

“I’m proud of us-!” Can he stfu already

“What do you have to say in your defense?” Can SHE stfu already I’m sorry Hu fans but at this point she makes me want to punch the wall

“I killed her. And if you never forgive me for that, then there’s nothing I can say.” THE NICO PARALLELS?!?!! THE FOILS OF ALL TIME

“This… This all could have been prevented, couldn’t it?” YES THANK YOU EDEN

of course Eden would be the one to point that out first…

“It’s just… misfortune.” Yeah you would know a thing or two about that wouldn’t you

I actually see this line as Teruko refusing to accept either blame or the idea that she could turn out like Ace

“So we can’t possibly blame ourselves…” Hu. HU.

This time I KNOW she’s refusing to accept blame. It’s become a theme in her character, that she refuses to take criticism or herself or those she cares about. It’s a very interesting character trait and I really love her as a character but oh my GOD does she make me mad-

I guess I should specify that while it’s technically everyone’s fault that Ace committed the murder, it’s Ace’s fault most of all for making himself so unapproachable in the first place. I’m not gonna ignore that just because he’s my fav, I’m not gonna do the same thing I literally just criticized Hu for. However, it was Nico’s botched murder attempt that led to Ace finalizing his murder plan, and Hu’s blind defense of Nico didn’t help matters. Out of everyone she might be one of the people who made him want to kill the most.

“… He was happier, and he trusted people more.” “Like adding stones one a pane of glass… until eventually, the glass cracks.” Okay nvm you guys really did ruin him didn’t you

“Nico’s attempted murder isn’t a cause, it’s just a symptom…” Maybe I was wrong okay I’m sorry Hu

“Whatever. Whatever!” Uh oh

“Did you all get the Veronika virus or what?” “You all are wrong, so shut up!” I was gonna say, it’s pretty rude to talk about him like he’s not there 😭

“I didn’t want to die. That’s all.” My boy… my boy you are cooked

“Don’t think that I forgot about your secret, you damn murderer!” Man I was so sad about everything else I almost forgot about Acevi. Almost.

“It’s really funny in hindsight how you acted all betrayed when you found out Levi was a murderer, as if you were unaware that you yourself had killed someone.” I fucking hate him but fair.

I’m not gonna quote anything else David says unless it’s important because I hate him with a burning passion

“But still, I-! I don’t care what it was! I don’t care if it made me a hypocrite!” Acevi is gonna kill me dead just fyi

“I just needed a reason to stay mad at you…!” This yaoi is so doomed I’m gonna kms/j

“I can’t understand you, no matter how hard I try.”

“I need you to do a favor for me right now. It might just save your life.” Huh???? Wha??? Teruko what’re you cooking

is she gonna ask Ace to dropkick Monotv omg

“The whole reason this killing game keeps going on is because we’re all forced to follow MonoTV’s rules.” HOLY SHIT SHE IS

I wanna see a cg of Ace vs. Monotv so bad ngl

“Yeah, more murder! Wait, what??” I love this stupid cat. Rip Monotv you will be missed

“I can’t…do it.” What is wrong with him/genuine concern

“I don’t wanna die. I can’t do that-” my brother in Christ you are cooked anyway. Go out in a blaze of glory

OH MY GOD A WHOLE ENTIRE FUCKING ANIMATION!?!?!! AND HE GOT MONOTV, ITS MONOVER

I FUCKING KNEW THAT WOULDN’T WORK THERE’S NO WAY- wait did that say XF-TURE?!?!?!!

XF-TURE IS BEHIND THIS, OR AT LEAST CREATED MONOTV

Help ain’t no way Ace’s about to get cooked by a default personality 😭

“Sorry, Ace.” Help 😭

“To run this killing game until the death of every participant.” WHAT

okay lore drops this episode: XF is behind, or at the very least heavily involved in, the game. The game is designed to run until every participant is dead, implying that the mastermind wants every participant dead- possibly including themself. If that’s true it puts major points for people such as Hu, David, or maybe Whit to be the mastermind as they have been shown to have suicidal ideation. (Whit not so much but I can assume)

“I will pass the punishment for breaking the rules to the one who made that decision.” ITS TEROVER. wait but she’s the ultimate lucky so she’s probably gonna survive

imagine it becomes a running “joke” that Teruko has a near death experience in every chapter lol

ITS TEROVER- does she not gaf 😭 maybe Teruko could be up there with our suicidal peeps

she really doesn’t gaf 😭

this is so wild she doesn’t care bc she’s lucky and her life sucks and-

“I was perfectly willing to get shot.” Was???

ITS LEVIOVER NOOOOOOOO

MY POSITIVE ASPD REP 😭

ACEVI BOTH DOWN IN ONE CHAPTER WE ARE SO COOKED

“LEVI!!” Oh so you do care. Okay. Okay. A single tear rolls down my cheek

oh yeah I forgot about Charles’s whole thing. Thanks for being a good bf Whit

“His injuries are not fatal.” PRAISE THE LORD HALLELUJAH

YOU CAN’T TAKE HIM TO THE INFIRMARY YOU HAVE TO WATCH ACE GET COOKED- wait YO IS THAT A SAD WHIT SPRITE??? Isn’t that one of the harbingers of the apocalypse or smthn

Ace is gonna die not knowing if Levi survived… oghgh

Ace speeding up his own death to save Levi 😭 I’m gonna 😭

“Stop saying you can’t do it, because you can!” Maybe with the power of belief, anything is possible

Ace is gonna die and Arturo’s gonna be like “yeah Levi’s dead” like immediately

ARTURO HAVING A MOMENT THATS NOT ABOUT HIM SUCKING HELL YEAH

not Ace calling him a coward 😭 stones in glass houses looking ass

here we go boys/gn… it’s Aceover

HES COOOKED

NOT A THANATOPHOBIA THEMED EXECUTION I QUIIIIT

the last ones gonna be death by horses just watch

DID HE DIE OF FEAR???? IM KILLING MYSELF

THERES NO FUCKING WAY THAT HORSES WEREN’T EVEN MENTIONED

Teruko what’s your deal

“I’m a hypocrite” chewing on her. Grrr grrr

“I have no choice…” there is no way drdt is out here trying to give depth to the MONOKUMA equivalent, of all things. I’m out

she blames herself… honey no…

the. the ending. I’m killing myself I quit I can’t-

ace has hand trauma too??? You know what sure at this point

you don’t get any final thoughts bc I’m tired. Have a nice day

[kybelles]

so after a recent conversation with my friends we’ve come to a realization: fandom loves Slave Rights Advocate laurent trope. whether it be an arranged marriage au, a time travel au, an auguste lives au or any kind of setting where slavery is still in motion; it’s always laurent who opens damen’s eyes to the horrors of slavery and insists they can’t be with each other until slavery is abolished, that slavery is a deal breaker on whether they can be together or not. now i certainly don’t want to sound like i’m policing anybody’s creative choices but it’s become such a common trope in the fandom that it is baffling at this point because. here’s the thing. slavery isn’t one of laurent’s battles. at all.

allow me to explain further before i make people angry. it’s clear laurent is against the fundamental premise of slavery and finds it inhumane. but through the series (counting out taofc where he and damen are trying to build an empire together), he doesn’t actively fight or challenge the system or slavery. i don’t even think this is a hot take when you remember that he;

i. didn’t protect the akielon slaves in arles until damen begged him to and sold them to torveld for personal gain (which was the best course of action he could take under the circumstances but as i said, he wasn’t above using them)

ii. referred to damen as his slave constantly in both a technical and romantic sense

iii. got turned on by playing master and slave and master and pet

iv. used isander as a way to get back at damen: was fed by isander in the feast, stroked him, allowed him to kiss his feet and boots etc.

in fact here are plenty of instances where it’s clear laurent enjoyed the type of power he had over damen:

and here’s the only part where i can remember damen and laurent discussing slavery after damen’s identity is revealed and they have the possibility of a future together. as you can see, laurent’s attitude towards it is pretty neutral. he doesn’t approve, but it’s clear he’s not a passionate champion of the anti slavery movement.

let me make it clear that none of this is a criticism towards laurent. it’s important to remember that capri started as a slavekink fic (in pacat’s own words) and though it evolved, by the final draft she still kept some of those elements: like making the first night between lamen a romantic, sacred, precious thing between them; laurent telling damen he’s his slave by feeding him as a slave would, damen calling himself laurent’s slave as a sign of submission/love/romance before their first kiss, laurent saying damen is still his slave before sleeping with him… the narrative still eroticizes slavery to some extent and uses it as a vehicle of romance.

the thing is, laurent finding enjoyment in these practices is not the problem. when the fandom loves to pretend like laurent would be so disgusted by the idea of slavery (even though the text repeatedly shows he’s not) , that he; a perfect civilized blonde veretian angel would come to akielos and educate those barbarians about how horrible slavery is and damen would only open his eyes to the truth through laurent’s guidance, that’s when my issues start. because, like i said, this was never laurent’s battle and it pretty much reads like laurent is some sort of white savior, someone who comes to damen’s country to “fix” the problems of akielos without understanding their history, needs, or the region’s current state of affairs.

another very important thing to underline is that the whole slavery ordeal in the series was damen’s character arc, not laurent’s. he’s the actual slave in the scenario, and as much as laurent doesn’t like slavery, damen didn’t come to the conclusion that it was bad because of laurent’s preachings. it leaves a bad taste in the mouth that damen was the one who actually experienced slavery and faced countless humiliations in vere and yet people still insist on making laurent educate damen about why it’s wrong, even though he himself has never experienced slavery in his life. (one might argue in aus where damen was never sent to vere as a slave he wouldn’t come to the same realizations but that still doesn’t mean laurent would have a passionate agenda regarding slaves. at best i believe he would demand damen to stop sleeping with his slaves as they are monogamous.)

choosing laurent as The One who firmly stands against slavery is bad from a narrative pov too. making this specifically about laurent makes no sense because it's got nothing to do with him. it's not his country! he doesn't care about akielos the way damen does. everything about it thematically relates back to damen; who exists as a metaphor for akielos - any insult or injury done to him is an insult to akielos. he embodies it’s values and it’s people, and by becoming a slave he’s reflecting the current slave state of akielos, and through finding liberation for himself he’s also finding liberation for akielos. it’s a powerful symbolism for how akielos is changed and freed directly BECAUSE of his own personal liberation. laurent has nothing more than an intellectual interest in anti-slavery and he only ever begins to care about akielos because he cares for damen. but damen was raised with it and experienced it and cares very deeply about it. it’s his country! it's his story!

tldr; through the series, it was damen’s journey to experience what it was like to be a slave, to see the true horrors of this practice and decide he doesn’t want to rule his country that way anymore. so taking his agency and giving it laurent, someone who was neutral at best about slavery, feels incredibly insensitive and wrong.

[emelinstriker]

Red Son ♤ Parental Guidance

Reader’s pregananant but only present towards the end btw

Now, I know DBK isn't actually a bad father. Like, we've all seen at least the scenes of him breaking out of the demon webs to get to him, as well as for example him catching his son after extracting the Samadhi Fire. Or even them just being generally wholesome as a family. Thing is, specific moments we see of DBK on his own where he cares about his son are only being seen by us, the viewer. Not his son. Red Son tries to impress his father just BECAUSE he thinks he needs to gain his father's love and attention. Which he technically already has. But he wouldn't fully understand that with the few encounters we've seen between him and his father. Which is why I'll be going off on the encounters we've seen of both. I love their general dynamic so much though hnfgnhfg

So i was like, 'what if I take the common insecurity about questioning if you'll be a good parent and add doubt on a grandparent's part to it?' So now is not only Red Son questioning shit, but also his dad in a mentioned way. And I really should start working more on stories where you're not married to the chosen character yet. I can't help it though, established married couples are easier to write hnfhngfggd

Also, I'm fully aware that I could keep the pronouns gender neutral on this one as well and just say you're afab, but I personally prefer using she/her pronouns when it comes to specifically pregnancy one-shots, so I'll be sticking with that.

ⓘ Reader is FEMALE

♤ ~ Comfort ~ ♤

Red Son was actually quite confident about his capabilities in your relationship. Ever since you both agreed on having a child, and after hearing that you were finally pregnant, this man was over the moon. He was already coming up with an idea for a nursery made up out of his mechanical creations.

However, you suggested a nursery with less mechanical components and more wood, like a regular nursery. You two ended up with the compromise of a regular nursery, but with an advanced safety and security system because your husband didn't trust those pathetic mortal safety measurements. And also to ensure that the nursery wouldn't catch on fire since it's located in a castle surrounded by basically anything that can easily burn wood.

The first months of your pregnancy went by pretty smoothly, actually. Despite feeling like shit more often and your husband gaining a bit more respect for female hormones(, mainly due to you scaring him with your mood swings), Red Son was taking great care of you.

Your parents were filled with joy, but only to an extent. They were still a bit concerned about you being married to, and having a child with, the son of the Demon Bull King. That didn't hinder them from showing up at your wedding and meeting your husband's family though.

Red Son wasn't as anxious about their presence as you were, but he was still a little concerned about their safety. He really didn't like the potential outcome of your parents getting killed off in front of you during their visit. So he made sure to tell his parents beforehand not to try anything on any of the human guests. They both seemed chill about it and a bit amused.

And once the news of a potential half-demon spawn spread around the family, Princess Iron Fan was extremely happy about finally having a grandchild. The Demon Bull King however...

Well, it wasn't the idea of a grandchild that was making him show a bit of disapproval. Rather it was his son's relationship with a mortal human that was rubbing him the wrong way. Not only did it feel wrong to him that a puny human with barely any strengths would join his family tree, but you would also die so much sooner than any of the demons.

An immortal being in love with a mortal one was a recipe for a tale ending in heartbreak and despair, after all.

At least Princess Iron Fan was already immortal when he met her. You on the other hand were a simple human craving for noodles...

Actually, that's what you were craving the most in recent times due to your hormones. And so, Red Son would be seen at Pigsy's Noodles a lot more, which was surprising to MK and the gang.

They didn't question it much at first because he said that he's just bringing the order to someone close to him and didn't want to have MK deliver it. However, as he came in more and more, the others started to notice that he would always say the same thing. And it started to feel like he was getting those noodles for someone a lot more closer to him than he claimed.

So naturally, the others got curious.

MK told Monkey King about the red demon's strange behavior and the simian decided to chill with the gang for a day and see for himself. Red Son came in at roughly the same time every other day and would order online. So it wouldn't be hard to catch him picking up the order.

And as suspected, his order came in around the same time as usual. While Pigsy was preparing the demon's order, the others were thinking of who the guy was delivering all that food to. It couldn't be his parents as they had their own food in the kitchen. They probably didn't even know about the noodle shop. It was actually quite weird in general that he would specifically get noodles from Pigsy's instead of just letting one of his Bull Clones cook noodles for free. There had to be a reason.

A little over half an hour later, the bull demon arrived at the shop to pick up his wife's usual order, when he noticed another familiar face's presence sitting by the counter today.

The simian in a rather poor disguise, at least in the red demon's opinion, gave him a lazy wave at his entrance. "Sup, Bull Son." The other demon rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms, approaching the counter.

"It's Red Son, you imbecile", he retorted with a scowl.

"Yeah yeah," Monkey King started as he used the same hand to wave dismissively. "Anyway, my buddies told me you come pick up noodles a lot recently. And I'd like to ask, why don't you just cook them up yourself in your kitchen?" Now it was the simian's turn to cross his arms as he turned towards his old friend's son.

Red Son huffed as he leaned across the counter to reach his order. "My wife asked for specifically noodles from this place. She said something about the quality here being incredible compared to what my family's kitchen offers." While talking, he opened the bag to check on the order as usual before nodding in approval.

The room went quiet and Red Son, confused, looked back up at everyone's surprised expressions.

"YOU'RE MARRIED??"

The group's shocked, and some excited, yells startled the fire user so much he almost dropped the bag that held your food. Once he recovered from their outbursts, he awkwardly coughed into his fist, a faint pink tint visible on his cheeks. "Uh, yeah, obviously. Did you guys not notice the ring I wear during any of the times I came here?!" He then put the bag he was holding back onto the counter before showing them the ring around his finger.

"Yer orderin' quite a lot of noodles for her, kid", Pigsy noted with a smirk. "Heh, I get that my cookin's great, but the amount yer usually orderin' for one person is... odd."

Red Son turned to face the pig with a prideful smirk of his own. "That's because she's eating for two and craves your noodles specifically. So you better feel honored that Red Son's wife even bothers asking for your cooking."

Silence.

...

" W H A T ? ? ?"

Red Son covered his ears this time before the group could potentially damage his hearing. Mei ran up to him and pulled him into a firm hug. "Why didn't you tell us?? THAT WOULD MAKE ME LIKE A FUTURE AUNT!" She then squealed in excitement. "RED BOY IS BECOMING A RED DAD!"

"Oh great, why not scream it louder and let the entire world hear about the news", he said sarcastically, trying to get out of her hold. But apparently Mei ignored the heavy sarcasm in his voice as she let go of him before proudly putting one arm around his shoulders.

She pulled out her phone from her pockets with a bright smile, "Great idea! I'll let my people know right away!"

But before she could turn on her livestream, Monkey King grabbed her wrist, stopping her in her tracks. He shook his head with a chuckle. "I don't think Bull Son over here would be comfortable with you showing off this moment to the whole world just yet. Besides," he started before turning to the other demon with a grin, "he hasn't even told us who his lucky lover is."

Mei's mouth shaped into an 'o' before slowly turning her head to face the now ticked off 'Red Boy'. She gave him an excited look he could easily read as 'Please tell us about her'. And so, rolling his eyes, he gave in because he knew the gang would keep pestering him about it if he just left.

He gave a brief description of you, how you two met, how you fell in love, as well as how you were faring these past months.

But there was one topic he seemed to be avoiding. And Sun Wukong knew.

"Quick question," he started as he crossed his arms again, "how did your parents react to your relationship?"

Red Son froze, his eyes widening just slightly, yet it was enough for the simian to take notice of. The Monkey King sighed as he shook his head. "Not all that positive, I guess."

The bull demon suddenly felt like avoiding eye contact while putting his hands in his pockets, leaning further back into the counter. "Tch, naturally."

MK's head perked up from the table at the chosen wording. "What do you mean 'naturally'? Is it normal in the Demon Bull Family to not be supportive of another's relationship?"

"It's not that", he responded as he took out one hand from his pockets to scratch his head a bit. "As I've already told you, my wife is a human. A mortal one at that. My mother was actually fine with the relationship, including the marriage. She was also extremely happy about getting a grandchild. My father on the other hand..."

He angrily looked down before sighing to avoid having another raging outburst over a simple memory. "Let's just say I'm having a hard time convincing him that this is my life and I chose to live with my lover's consequences of mortality myself. But, he did genuinely seem happy when I told him I'll be having my own child to raise soon. I guess his own fatherly senses decided to show up for once in a long while."

Tang hummed in thought. "To be honest, I'm quite surprised myself that you found a human lover, let alone one you wish to have a child with."

Red Son raised an annoyed eyebrow at the other man sitting on a stool. "What are you getting at?"

"It's just... surprising is all. After all, DBK himself wasn't the best role model as a father. Even in a lot of the stories of the past. Not only because he's been sealed away for so long, but also because we know what he's like with you in the current days", Tang pointed out, upsetting the already semi-heated demon.

"Are you implying that I'll be a bad father? Just because of my own father's past doings and constant absence in my past?" He stood strong for the first part, his ponytail turning halfway into flames for just a second. However, his walls started to slowly crack as the rest of his words left his mouth.

"Uh... I don't think Mr. Tang meant it like that exactly", Sandy's quiet yet rough voice commented from across the room as he raised one index finger. Tang nodded swiftly as he somewhat attempted to anxiously try gain distance between him and the demon... Which was very much difficult to achieve, considering he was on a stool without wheels. And aggressively jumping away from him would be too obvious. As such, all he could do was to lean back.

"There is a chance you might end up treating your child the same way your dad treats you", Monkey King added from his own seat. "After all, the saying 'like father, like son' can happen in certain scenarios."

They all noticed Red Son's hair starting to flare up in anger again, so MK decided to speak up before things could get out of hand. "W-Well, that doesn't necessarily mean it will happen! Right?" He then turned to his mentor, who simply shrugged in return, mumbling a small 'Dunno'.

"Why you little... HE WASN'T A BAD FATHER, OKAY?! Just because you can't comprehend how my family operates does not automatically mean-" He paused as something seemed to flash within his memory. "UGH!" His fist made contact the counter. It wasn't strong enough to leave any damage, which relieved Pigsy, but it still startled everyone except for the Monkey King. "I REFUSE TO DEAL WITH YOU PEASANTS RIGHT NOW!" Suddenly, his hair turned into a rather wild flame for a few seconds. The demon in red then forcefully took the bag of noodles and stormed off in a rage, slamming the shop's doors in the process.

The gang turned to the Monkey King with mixed expressions that ranged from 'Why did you have to say it like that?' to 'Could he actually become bad to his kid?' The retired hero just held his arms up in surrender, unsure of how to react. "What? I was just being honest", he said casually.

The shop owner rolled his eyes at the monkey. "Well, the noodles for sure are cold by now. But I guess the anger this guy produces at the moment might just be enough to heat 'em right back up."

What the gang wasn't aware of however was that Red Son's walls crumbled more and more the further he got away from the noodle shop. The doubt of being good enough as a father creeping in on his conscience. The demon grunted to try ignore the painful frustration building up within his chest, using his flames to transport himself back home.

Upon arrival, he decided to consult his mother about this matter. Just to... get advice.

Luckily, Princess Iron Fan was sitting by the dining table and was reading a book, until she noticed his entry. She placed a piece of paper as a bookmark between the pages she was reading before closing the book. "You seem troubled, son."

"...I'm actually just seeking insight, mother. A bit of guidance, if you will", he responded as he took a seat at the table, placing the bag of noodles in front of the seat next to him. At least his father wasn't here right now, so he wouldn't have to fear bringing up the topic as much. The black-haired woman hummed to signal him to continue.

He awkwardly coughed into his fist once again before finally popping the question. "Do you... Do you think I'd be a bad father to my unborn child?"

And just like the gang, his mother became quiet.

"...Okay, tell me who fed you this bullshit of a mindset."

That... was not the reaction he was expecting. Let alone hearing his mother curse, which she very rarely does. His eyes were wide open as his mouth was slightly agape. His mother wasn't joking either, he could tell by the raging fire in her eyes.

He shook his head quickly, flailing his arms around a little in panic. While he was upset with a certain monkey's phrasing, he did have a point on a fundamental level. "N-No, no, mother! Heh- It was just a civil conversation with some... friends about my marriage. At one point the topic came up of, uh, if I'll become more absent and negligent in raising my child like father-"

Princess Iron Fan slammed the book she was still holding onto the dining table, startling the young demon.

"Your father may have not been actively present your whole childhood, that is true. But, that did not stop him from loving you and caring about you." She sighed, crossing her arms and closing her eyes.

"If he didn't care about you, he would've just helped extract the Samadhi Fire from you without taking you back home. He would've disposed of you to make sure you would never become such a threat ever again."

"But he didn't", Red Son added, starting to connect the dots.

"Yes," she gave her son a worried glance, "so don't ever think he doesn't  care. He cares in his own way. And about being absent... Well, what could he even do when he was sealed away by that damned monkey." Her son scratched his head in thought.

She then gave him a warm smile. "You know, on the other hand... If you do need more parenting advice for when the child has already been born, you know where to find me. Because let's face it," she let out a small laugh at certain memories, "despite caring about you, your father truly sucked at actually taking care of you."

"What do you mean-"

She cut him off, giggling. "He set the kitchen on fire while heating up milk. He also somehow managed to lose one of your used diapers. I'm not joking when I say the smell came from practically everywhere." Red Son couldn't help but hold his face in his hands in embarrassment. Yet his mouth held a smile as he tried holding back his own laughter at the amusing story.

"Haha! Anyway, you know just as well as I do not to take your father's big bad bull façade to heart. If anything, you should take this as a lesson." She trailed the outline of her book with her finger, seemingly lost in thought. "Simply appearing as a bad parent to others should not be of your concern. What matters is that you are there for your child when they need you the most, to help them grow up healthy. But It's also important to give them free range to roam and choose how they wish to spend their own time."

Princess Iron Fan clenched her fists. "Those friends you spoke to simply do not seem to understand that we're more than bull demons. We're a family. Your friends are not the ones responsible for raising your child, after all. Others may give you advice and suggestions, but the way they handle things does not necessarily mean it's the way for you to handle things."

Red Son glanced down at the book in front of his mother as he spoke. "I see..." He then slowly stood up from his seat before bowing just slightly in respect. "Thank you for your time, mother. I'm... glad to have you here to help me", he said softly, giving her an embarrassed smile. She gave an amused one in return.

He grabbed ahold of the bag once more, but was stopped before he could leave the table. "One more thing, son." He glanced over at his mother, confused. "You better heat up those noodles properly before you deliver them to your wife. I'm speaking from experience when I say you will be dealing with a different kind of demon if you serve those cold to her." She gave him a knowing wink.

Red Son grumbled a little to himself, also fully aware of what you were like when he didn't meet your craving's standards. After all, that was the side of you he was actually scared of. He picked up the bag, but then put his hands underneath it before using his abilities to heat it up slowly. The bull demon then made his way down the hall to your shared quarters with a sigh.

His mother's words echoed in his mind as his body moved on autopilot. To be honest, he was still somewhat doubting himself. But the knowledge of his own father being flawed in taking care of him, yet still helping with whatever he could was kind of inspiring. The demon was so deep in thought that he almost walked past your bedroom door. But your faint voice from the other side of the door caught his attention. Apparently you were on the phone, talking to someone.

Your husband entered the room and you looked over to him from where you lay on the bed, noticing him with your noodles in his hands. The smile you gave him made it all seem worth it. You told your mother that you would talk to her later before hanging up and putting your phone on your nightstand.

"Welcome back, honey! Took you a while to return", you greeted him as he walked over to the bed.

He sat down before pulling you a little closer so he could kiss your temple. "Sorry for keeping you waiting. I was being verbally held hostage by the people at the shop." Your husband then used the same hand that pulled you closer and placed it on your round belly. "...Do you want to eat on the bed or use the desk?"

You tapped your chin in thought, but he knew you were faking it. He already knew your answer. "Hm, the baby and I feel like staying in bed right now. But..." You put your own hand on top his, staring at him lovingly. "We also want you to stay here with us."

Red Son blushed with a little smirk before his doubts came back to haunt him once more, turning his smirk into a frown as he avoided eye contact. Of course, you took quick notice of his sudden change in behavior. "What's bothering you, honey?" He sighed, circling his thumb over your skin.

"...Do you think I would make a good enough father?"

You were dumbfounded. "What kind of question is that? Of course you would be!" Your free hand found its way to his cheek, forcing him to turn back to face you. "Listen, I wouldn't have agreed to have a child with you if you wouldn't be. I know you're gonna be incredible with the baby. So don't doubt yourself." You gave him a quick peck on the lips since he was already turned to you.

"And by the way," you started with a smile, "even if you end up struggling with taking care of the baby, I'm here with you. Taking care of a child takes team effort, be it from two parents, friends or family. It's also my child too, therefore it's part of my responsibility as well. As long as you keep trying, and want to try support the child, that automatically makes you a great dad by default."

"For what it's worth," you leaned in and kissed his cheek, "I know for a fact that you'll be an amazing dad."

Your comforting words weren't exactly surprising, but the words coming from you was what he really needed the most right now. He huffed with a smile as he gently pulled you in for a hug, making sure you weren't uncomfortable with the position. "I love you so, so much you don't even know."

Your own smile only became brighter. "I actually believe I do... 'Cause I love you just as much. But, now that this topic's over, the baby and I would like to eat-" Suddenly, you felt a slight bit of movement coming from your belly. You gasped in delight before grabbing one of your husband's hands and placing it back on top of your belly, confusing him.

"Wait, what's happening?" Red Son didn't know why you placed his hand there until he felt it. It was a tiny kick.

"I'd like to believe the baby heard your woes and is trying to tell you how awesome of a dad you are... Either that, or that it wants to beat you up until you no longer have any doubts that you can raise it well", you commented. Your husband couldn't help but let out a laugh as a few tears started to gather in his eyes from the joy and relief he felt. He gave your belly a quick kiss.

"Thanks, little flame... I promise to give parenthood my all", he said before he looked back at you, now filled with confidence.

You grinned at his sudden change in mood before leaning over to grab the bag of noodles. You took one good look inside the box before determining with a frown, "...It's cold."

"...Fucking shit, not again..."

> Link to Masterlist <

♡ Part 2

[withacapitalp]

How to Rehabilitate a Jock Part 6

Part 1 Part 5. Ao3 Link Part 7

It was already the second week of December by the time the Hellfire club finally, finally, defeated the Demon Lord Graz’zt. Normally, Eddie loved when a campaign stretched and stretched. It was a devious kind of joy to get to see his friends get stumped and backtrack and do everything they could to defeat whatever he had put in front of them. 

This time, he just wanted them to stab his stupid demon in the chest, light him on fire, and be done with it. 

A thousand times he had thought about just letting them win, and just letting them get through the end of the campaign. But his integrity as a dungeon master and a storyteller stopped him from doing it every single time. 

That, and Eddie was pretty sure they would be able to tell if he was skimping out on an ending just to get to the next campaign. Especially since they all knew why he would be so anxious to get to the next campaign. 

But, last week they had done it. Right at the last second Graz’zt had exploded in a shower of red sparks, the party had gained treasure and XP galore, and Eddie had stayed up every night this week finishing a one shot just for the occasion. 

Usually there was a rest week in between campaigns, or one of the others would rotate in as DM and Eddie would get to play for a while, but he wanted to be the one to run Steve’s first game. He didn’t trust any of the others not to sabotage, or try and kill him off early. 

Besides, he had the perfect beginner game planned. 

Well, he would have the perfect beginner game if their beginner ever decided to show up. 

“Seems like being late is a character trait,” Frank said as the rest of Hellfire sat around the table, clearly bored. Jeff was doodling in his book, and Rocky looked like he was asleep on the far side, face smushed up against the wood. School had ended almost a half hour ago, but there was still no sign of Steve. 

“This does give us time for a JRP update?” Janet suggested, sliding her chair back and walking over to the board. 

“Well, the update is…wow! Nothing has changed,” Gareth said, faking a look of utter shock before sliding back into his usual grumpy scowl, turning to Eddie, “Do you really want to wait three more months just to have to admit that I am right about him?” 

“How could anything have changed so far, Gareth?” Eddie shot back, sick and tired of his best friend’s issues. 

He held up a hand and began to count on his fingers right in front of Gareth’s face. Eddie knew that the other boy hated when he did things like that, but he also knew that he really couldn’t give a flying fuck at this point. Steve was trying, really honestly trying, and Gareth was being a jerk for literally no reason. 

“We just finished our new campaign, Steve isn’t even aware of the band yet because I’m not allowed to invite him to a show, and your third ridiculous checkpoint still has no defining parameters!” Eddie finished with a flourish. 

“Well, technically you can invite Steve to a show,” Kaiden said, grabbing everyone’s attention. He shrugged, pointing to the board, “It doesn’t say that Eddie can never invite him. It just won’t count towards the JRP until Steve goes without an invitation,” 

“Kaiden, what the hell?” Gareth said, spinning around and shooting his glare over to him instead of Eddie. 

“I don’t mind Steve, Gar.” Kaiden said with a shrug, unphased by his mood. By now they were all getting used to working around Gareth’s griping, “He’s pretty chill, he can be kinda funny, and I can’t think of anything he personally did that was that bad. Maybe he really is trying to be someone different now,”

The rest of the club didn’t speak, which Eddie decided to consider an extremely minute amount of progress. Sure, they weren’t sticking up for Steve, but they weren’t actively fighting against him anymore. 

Well, all except for one

“Traitor,” Gareth muttered under his breath. 

“Hey,” Eddie immediately snapped. Gareth could be pissy with him all he wanted, but he couldn’t go after another one of Eddie’s sheep just because he was mad. 

“I agree with Kaiden, I don’t see why Eddie would be forbidden from ever inviting Steve to a show,” Janet said, tapping her chin. 

Either she was unaware of how close the boys were to actually fighting, or she was actively ignoring it in favor of staying logical. Eddie would bet all of his money on the latter. Janet really was too smart for her own good. 

“As for setting parameters for the third point, I’m not sure how we go about that,” She continued, tapping her chalk against the board as she wracked her brain for potential ideas. 

“We don’t. We’ll know it when we see it,” Gareth stubbornly repeated, crossing his arms, “Though I doubt we will. This is just a waste of time.” 

Okay. Enough was enough. 

“What is your problem with him?!” Eddie shouted, starting the rest of the group. Rocky’s head popped off the table with a gasp, and Jeff immediately stiffened up. They were used to Eddie shouting, used to him raising his voice or getting angry, but that was all play, a show. This was actual anger, and that was scary. 

“Where did your problem with him go?” Gareth said, giving as good as he got, “You used to be the first to say that they aren’t us! They’re the enemy! He is literally the face of that enemy! What happened to the Munson Doctrine?!” 

Eddie opened his mouth to tell Gareth exactly where he could stick his Munson Doctrine, but before he could, Jeff stood up. 

His shoulders were up by his ears, and he looked completely uncomfortable, but Jeff was standing up anyway. A silent look from their bassist took the wind out of both boys’ sails, and they sat back down, tense and on edge. 

“Sorry Jeff,” Eddie sighed, pushing down any potential self hatred that wanted to rise up. The two of them knew Jeff’s story, knew why he wasn’t comfortable with angry yelling close to him, and they had done it anyway. Eddie forced himself to take a deep breath, watching as Gareth did the same. 

“Yeah, sorry,” Gareth echoed, looking genuinely remorseful. 

“This isn’t productive,” Frank pointed out, rolling his chair backwards until it collided with the chalkboard next to where Janet was standing, “I think that we should settle for a compromise.  All of the club members agree that Steve can stay. That would at least be enough to be considered a renouncement of some sort, right?,”

“That’s not the same,” Gareth protested. 

“Well, seeing as you don’t have a good argument for your checkpoint,” Frank replied, trailing off and waiting to hear if he had anything else to say. When Gareth remained grumpy and silent the rest nodded. 

“Okay so, I’ll just write our initials here, and when we decide we’re okay with Steve-”

“If” Gareth interrupted. 

“Fine. If we decide that we’re okay with Steve staying, we can cross out our names,” Janet said, miffed at being talked over, but choosing to move past it in favor of keeping the peace. 

She quickly began to jot down everyone’s initials, adding Steve’s right at the top just to keep up appearances. Eddie wasn’t exactly sure how they would explain that one, but hopefully Steve wouldn’t ask. He usually didn’t question things around the room unless they were particularly outlandish. 

“I’m fine with Steve,” Eddie said the second she wrote his initials. 

“We got that one, Eds,” Jeff replied with a good natured eye roll. Now that things were calming down again, he seemed way more relaxed. Janet clicked her tongue anyway, putting a thick white line through the E.M. she had just written. 

“I don’t mind him,” Kaiden tacked on. Janet shot him a quick nod, crossing out Kaiden’s initials, and then, surprisingly, her own.

“Janet?” Frank questioned. She shrugged, pausing for a second to ruffle his hair as she continued to write. She was the only one that didn’t see the way Frank’s face went beet red the moment she touched him. 

“He’s interesting,” She said, as if that was the only explanation she needed, “I’m a scientist. I like to experiment,” 

She finished with Gareth’s ‘G.L-W.’ turning to face the group. 

“Anyone else?” 

The rest of the club shook their heads, but Eddie couldn’t care less. He was already a third of the way there! And, there was no doubt in his mind that at least a few of them were going to be impressed with Steve’s gameplay today. 

After all Steve had been taught by the best. 

“Okay so, slightly modified parameters, but-” 

“Sorry I’m late!” Steve said as he burst into the room, cutting Janet off. 

If she was annoyed at being interrupted a second time, she didn’t let it slip. Instantly, she and Frank were back in their seats, her chalk abandoned, broken in two on the ground. The entire club did their best to look perfectly innocent, a truly terrible job that left them all seeming extremely, extremely, guilty. 

The only reason they got away with it was that Steve was way too caught up in rambling and trying to explain himself. 

“I’m so sorry, I was trying to get the kids set up in the library, because they want to come to my house after school for a sleepover. Winter break, right? But then they kept asking me question after question, and wanting to come watch me shoot hoops. They never want to watch me shoot hoops! Why now?! I swear this is what I get for letting them use my house to take pictures for the Snow Ball.” Steve groaned, getting stuck in his scarf as he tried to unwind it from around his head. 

Eddie laughed softly, getting up and coming around the table, slowly helping Steve get free of his yarn filled prison. 

“Are you going to chaperone this Sunday?” Eddie asked. Instantly his mind was filled with the image of Steve in a handsome black suit, a dark red rose sitting in his lapel and perfectly complimenting his ruby lips. 

Okay. File that under ‘Things Eddie was never allowed to think about again except when alone in his bedroom’. 

“Definitely not. I’m a babysitter, not a chaperone,” Steve said with a smirk, “I’ll let them get ready at my place and have a little after party there, and that should stop them from being arrogant whiny brats for a little while. Hope I didn’t miss anything though,” 

Just the rest of the club talking about using him as a human lab rat. 

“Nope,” Eddie lied smoothly, pulling Steve’s chair out for him and making a huge grand gesture for him to come sit. 

“Welcome to this side of the table,” Kaiden said from his seat across from Steve. Normally Gareth sat on Eddie’s right side, but since the first meeting that Steve had joined, his best friend had regulated himself to the corner as far from Eddie as he could get. 

Whatever. That was better anyway. Eddie didn’t care. 

(He cared so much more than he wanted to admit.) 

“Glad to be here?” Steve said, pulling out the folder Eddie had given him for all of his character sheets and looking around the group nervously. 

He didn’t have anything to worry about. Eddie had helped him to build a totally awesome persona. 

“It’s hell,” Frank sighed solemnly, patting Steve’s shoulder. 

“Hellfire,” Eddie corrected, the rest of the group groaning at his bad pun. He waved off their lack of appreciation for his fantastic word play, perching on his throne and raising a hand. 

“I would like to take a moment to recognize that this is a special occasion. We are here to celebrate the birth of Steve’s very first Dungeons and Dragons character,” Eddie said, pausing so the rest could react appropriately. 

Sure enough there was a round of foot stomping and table slapping. Steve startled at the noise, but quickly recovered, blushing, but still staring directly at Eddie with those big beautiful browns. 

God damn this brave, lovely, completely adorable boy. 

“May I introduce the former Prince of the realm, Level One Human Ranger Stefan of Herringtown. Stefan, Welcome to Hellfire,” Eddie said, pausing to give Steve a secretive wink and loving the way that the blush on the other boy’s cheeks traveled to his ears when he did. 

Stefan was, arguably, a pretty cool first time character. Steve lingered just on the edge of being a paladin, but he had enough chaotic energy that Ranger seemed to fit him better. He was a loyal to a fault kind of guy who had a habit for picking up strays, a smooth quick talking charm that tended to get him in and out of trouble, and a chip on his shoulder from being exiled from his kingdom. 

In short, he was Steve, but dungeons and dragonsified. Perfect for the first play through. 

With that settled, Eddie rolled his shoulders, settling himself into his dungeon master character and taking a long breath in. 

“Your party is starting off trekking across the frozen tundra,” He began, feeling the mood shift to excitement as the rest prepared themselves for his opener, “Your feet are freezing, and your fingers have gone numb, but you continue on anyway. You have heard tale of an abandoned factory at the highest point of the world- a place littered with treasures and everything a being could ever ask for. You want to see the place for yourselves, and maybe even loot some of the booty.” 

Rocky gave a vicious grin at this, chuckling softly to himself. His tiefling rogue was always looking to horde more treasure, and Rocky loved to get into character as quickly as he could. It was fun, it added something to the game. 

“You see a building and hurry closer, eager to get out of the biting frost. It is a dark unnatural place with high smoke stacks and mounds of coal sitting all around the entrance. You enter as one without thinking or stopping to check your surroundings, collapsing on the other side and panting to catch your breath. What is your first move, Goren the Great?” Eddie asked, starting on the far side of the table. 

Even if he and Gareth weren’t on the best of terms right now, Eddie still wouldn’t want to start a campaign with any other player. It just wouldn't feel right. 

“I do a perception check,” Gareth decided. Eddie nodded towards his d8, and Gareth grabbed it, throwing down a seven. 

“As a dwarf, you have spent many years hunting through mines for precious gems, so your ability to see in the dark is unparalleled. You can see strange boot shaped bags all around the room, and boxes that are wrapped with twine bows,” He said, watching as their brains began to spin with possibilities.

This was the best part. Watching his players try to figure out exactly what was going on around them was just so fun. 

“Well, I have a feeling we may have stumbled upon the right place. I can see treasure from corner to corner,” Gareth remarked, throwing his voice into a growling rumble, perfect for his hardened grizzled character. 

“I can’t see anything,” Jeff complained, getting into it. 

"That's because you are a stupid elf, and your stupid elf eyesight only works in the day,” Gareth replied, both of them holding back laughter. 

“How dare you?! You, you…tiny little man!” 

And then they were off, back and forth insults that were cheesy, yet sometimes creative. The club watched in amusement. Even Steve was snickering, and he normally tried to pretend he didn’t exist when it had anything to do with Gareth. Usually Eddie would try and focus the group back in, but he was happy to let them banter for a little while. 

This was the kind of fighting they should be doing. This was the Gareth Eddie knew, and getting to see that that guy was still somewhere in this new person was very comforting. 

“I am through with your impertinent conclusions,” Jeff huffed in mock exasperation, keeping his voice high and flighty as he did, “I am ready to take my turn, master of the game.” 

“Very well,” Eddie said, inclining his head and waiting to hear. 

“I open my bag and get out a torch, but I want to hit Goren with my bag as I do it,” Jeff said, the rest of the group immediately bursting into laughter.

“Roll 2 d8. One for hitting him, and one for how much light the torch is going to give you,” Eddie instructed, biting his lip to hide his smile. Jeff let the dice fly, getting an eight and a two respectively. 

“As you pull out your torch, you smack Goren right in the face with your bag. Goren loses one hit point,” Eddie said, making a note on his paper. 

“Ow!” 

“Oh, I am sooo sorry that was completely unintentional.” Jeff gasped sarcastically, holding a hand against his heart and raising his eyes to the sky. 

“Goren does not believe you, but he will hold his anger for later,” Eddie said, sliding in smoothly before another ‘argument’ could take place, “You light your torch, but the draft coming in through the broken windows makes the flame flicker and shrink. You can just see the edge of an image drawn on the wall,” 

“I want to examine the drawing,” Kaiden jumped in. 

“June Iper it is not your turn,” Eddie replied, referring to Kaiden by his character’s name. If they were doing things their normal way, then it would be Kaiden’s turn, but as it was, it was time for Rocky to go. 

Kaiden grumbled to himself, then sat up straight. He and Rocky made eye contact for a brief second before quickly scrambling to switch seats. 

“Now it is my turn,” Kaiden said, his head held high in victory. Eddie rolled his eyes but allowed it to slide, just happy that the two freshman boys were having a good time. He let Kaiden roll and then continued on, eager to get to the entrance of the main enemy. 

“You snatch the torch out of Boz’s hand, scampering up to the wall and holding it as high as you can, which isn’t very high at all,” Eddie pointed out. Kaiden’s character was a gnome, and Eddie never missed a chance to make a short joke at their expense, “The rest of the party can only see what looks like a chariot being dragged by cloven hoofed beasts.” 

“Wait a second,” Janet said, her face lighting up in realization. She turned to Eddie with her eyes narrowed, and he schooled himself into a completely innocent expression. 

“Yes Miss Ngyet?” He asked innocently, having a feeling she had already guessed where this one shot was going. 

“I take the torch from June so we can see better,” 

“Is there normally this much torch stealing?” Steve asked softly as Janet rolled, quirking his head to the side as he gave Eddie a raised brow. Before Eddie could respond, Frank interrupted. 

“Hey, you’re on our side now,” Frank said, nudging their arms together, “Ask us your questions,”

“Oh, sorry,” Steve apologized, turning towards Frank. 

Behind Steve’s back, Eddie gave Frank a grateful little smile. Sure, he was probably only being nice to Steve right now because Janet had said she was okay with him, but Eddie would take any kind of progress. Frank gave Eddie a short nod, and they settled back into their roles, continuing the game. 

“With Miss Ngyet’s extra height you can all see the full mosaic. Gasping in horror you finally recognize the picture you’re looking at. A man dressed in robes that are bathed in blood, a stampede of reindeer pulling his sledge. All at once the lights turn on in the factory, blinding you. There’s an ominous laughter from behind. Ho. Ho. HO.” Eddie roared. 

More light bulbs around the room as Jeff and Frank both caught on. 

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Jeff sighed, putting his face in his hands to muffle his laughter. Eddie grabbed the mini figure sitting in front of him, standing up and beginning the monologue he had practiced in front of the mirror all week. Wayne had nearly forced him to go outside to do it after the first few days of never ending repetition. 

“Your foe! A man turned God who knows the name of every child in the world, and watches endlessly. This God, who was once a benevolent overlord, loved to shower gifts upon those he deemed good, giving gentle reminders to those he saw being bad. Now he feasts upon the ‘Naughty’ alongside his favorite meal of milk and cookies,” Eddie ominously lowered his voice, coming to stand between Steve and Frank. 

Steve leaned backwards and turned his head. Frank did the same. 

“Is this what I think it is?” Steve whispered behind Eddie. 

“Yes,” Frank whispered back. 

“The demonous, the dastardly, the fat…” 

Eddie thrust the minifigure down onto the table, standing back as he hollered at the top of his lungs. 

“KRIS KRINGLE!” 

Eddie had been absolutely, completely, 100%, right. 

This was an epic one shot. 

After their initial reactions to finding out they were doing battle against Santa of all people, the rest of the club dove into the campaign with glee. Eddie had taken care to create an awesome story filled to the brim with little easter eggs, and they were eating up every bit of it. 

There were hypnotically enslaved elves, blood thirsty reindeer, exploding candy canes, even a section where the party had to sing Christmas songs to escape from a platoon of killer carolers.

Yeah he was biased, but Steve’s giggly rendition of WHAM’s new hit song was the best thing Eddie had ever heard in his life. 

Speaking of, the biggest shock of the game had to be how well Steve was doing. Eddie had honestly expected to have to subtly take it a little easy on him, but the jock was turning out to be one of the trickiest players he had ever gone up against. 

Sure, the math and the writing portion was a bit of a hiccup, but Steve’s strategic thinking was unexpectedly excellent, and he seemed to have a knack for survival. He had quickly made himself an invaluable player, and the rest had accepted him into the fold, if only for now. 

And the best part of it all was how much fun Steve was having. The smile on his face was bright, utterly joyful in a way Eddie had only seen once years ago. He had seen Steve smile plenty since then, but it was always quiet, kind of hidden away, like he was scared to show how much he was enjoying himself. 

But this was just…happy. Pure, clear, happy, with nothing standing in its way, and Eddie was drinking in the sight like a man in a desert who had found an oasis. 

After a grueling four hours, Hellfire had finally managed to kill off the final reindeer (Vixen had gone down in a blaze of glory) and release all of the elves from their mind manacles. 

There was just one foe left. 

“As the not-so-jolly man with a bag gently lays his last beast on the ground, he looks up at you all with complete rage in his eyes,” Eddie said in a hushed tone, letting things get as quiet as possible before exploding into sound.

“Naughty! You are All on my naughty list!” Eddie declared, slapping his hand on the table before standing and reaching over his binder to point, “You! And You! And You! And-” 

“Steve?”

Eddie paused mid monologue, his finger still hovering in the air directed at Janet. All of them turned around as one, facing their new intruder. 

Little Red was in the doorway, staring back at them with big eyes. A mischievous grin quickly overtook her face and she opened the door wide, crossing her arms and smugly jutting her chin out at her babysitter.

“Shooting hoops, huh?” 

“Max? Why are you here? Where are the boys?” Steve asked, quickly getting up from the table and coming to her side. The anxiety coloring his tone was unexpected, and Eddie felt himself wilt a little as all of Steve’s walls seemed to have pulled back up in a snap. 

“Down the hall. We’re fine,” Max said, quickly reassuring him and dropping her act. Steve relaxed for a second, but then stiffened once more as she peeked her head around his side. She waved, and the rest of the group waved back. 

“Shooting hoops,” She repeated, raising a brow, “You know, Steve, I’ve never played basketball, but it looks a lot more like Dungeons and Dragons than I expected it too,”

“How long have you known?” Steve sighed.

“That you were lying?” Max asked for clarification, “The whole time. You’re a bad liar, and Billy just couldn’t shut up about how you were benched from playing, and he was going to be the one leading the team now. I wasn’t expecting you to be doing this though. I thought you were meeting up with a girl.” 

“I’ll pay you real money to not tell the others,” Steve said, completely serious. 

Max tapped on her chin, a move that was so reminiscent of Janet that Eddie had to stifle a laugh. He didn’t want to call any attention to himself right now, too invested in seeing how this would all play out. 

“How much?” She asked, giving him a shrewd eye. 

“Five bucks?” Steve offered, sounding slightly desperate. 

Max hummed, making faces as she pretended to consider it. 

“Not enough,” She finally decided with a cute little shrug, sticking her head into the hallway and shouting for the boys to come. 

A stampede of footsteps and hollering began in the distance and Steve groaned, shooting Max a look of utter betrayal before turning to pout at Eddie. 

“Lord, help me,” Steve sighed. 

“Nay, I shan't. Lord Kringle has deemed you naughty, Stefan, there is no hope for you now,” Eddie replied, shaking his head. Steve did not seem at all amused by this, but the rest of the club was chuckling, exchanging wry little grins. 

“Oh, are we about to meet Harrington’s famous children?” Kaiden wondered aloud, already knowing the answer. 

“Don’t,” Steve warned with zero heat in his voice, seemingly already resigned to what was about to happen. He was rubbing at his temple, his eyes shut with a look of pure exhaustion on his face. 

Max patted him twice on the arm before coming over to look at the board, looking over Steve’s character sheets with glee. 

“Hey Little Red,” Eddie said. 

“Hi, Steve’s friend,” She replied with a smirk, “You guys are gonna have fun watching this,” 

Before anyone could ask what she meant, a veritable horde of boys burst into the room. They were once again all talking over each other, but this seemed to just be the way the boys communicated. Dustin, Lucas, and Mike all stayed crowded around Steve yelling at him, while Will began to look around. 

Max quietly whistled, jerking her head and catching Will’s attention. He obediently trotted over, and she showed him what she had found, both of them exchanging quiet whispers that even Eddie couldn't make out over the other kids shouting. 

“Why are you not in the library?” Steve griped, managing to raise his voice above theirs. 

“We finished our campaign and got bored. You’re taking forever, we’re hungry, and we want to see El,” Mike whined, crossing his arms and glaring at his babysitter. 

“What are you doing anyway?” Dustin asked, trying to look around Steve.

“Nothing,” Steve said quickly, pushing Dustin’s head back in front of him, “Get out. I’ll come get you guys in like an hour, or you can walk back to your own houses,”

“Who are they?” Lucas wondered, ignoring Steve’s minor threat. Everyone in the room already knew how hollow it was, “This is definitely not the gym,” 

Eddie was sure Steve had some sort of excuse, something he had cooked up to explain why he was here, but he was not eager to hear it. Sure, Eddie understood why Steve might have wanted to have something that was ‘just his’ (or, at least, he respected it), but the rest of the club wouldn’t. They would definitely think Steve was trying to hide the fact that he knew them, and that would reinforce everything Gareth was saying. 

No matter what, this was not going to go down well, and would probably erase any progress that had been made. 

Luckily for both of them, Will Byers decided that this was the moment to speak up. 

“Steve?” Will said, catching everyone’s attention, “Are you…playing DnD?”

Tension thick as a thousand page novel blanketed them all. Dustin gasped in an extremely melodramatic fashion, and Mike blew past Steve, storming over and slamming his hands down on the table, making all of the figures tremble. Steve seemed lost for words, turning back to give Eddie a ‘help me’ look of terror. 

So, Eddie did what he did best. 

He caused a little chaos. 

“Why yes, young small one, he is playing Dungeons and Dragons,” Eddie said with a tricky grin, loving the explosion of mayhem that came right after, 

Tag List: @paopaupaus @zerokrox-blog @surferboyzaza @whatever-is-a-good-name @minjintea @addelyin @5ammi90 @hagbaby420 @shinekocreator @bornonthesavage @starxlark @electrick-marionnett @resident-gay-bitch @ash-a-confused-enby @classicdinosaurdeathpose @valon-whomsttf @rotten-lil-goblin @thereindeerlady @love-ya-kash @kerlypride @sparkle-fiend @thefreakandthehair @flowercrowngods @milf-harrington @sadcanadianwinter @gothbat99 @hotcocoaharrington @henderdads @lightwoodbanethings @colorful565 @h0n3y-dw @craterbbox @sourw0lfs @lesliiieeeee @bidisastersworld @tinynebula @ravnlinn @bonescaro @mexmatch @cottagecoredreams @joruni @hellykelly @maegan1116 @farewell-wanderlvst @desertfern @due-to-the-fact-that-im-a-slut @anythingforourmoonyedits @eerielake @fandemonium-takes-its-toll @sidekick-hero

[justeclotilde]

Thoughts on LEGO Monkie Kid, pacing, and season 5

I’m taking this from Twitter, but basically this thread about “Say something BAD about the show Monkie Kid” came up and my biggest gripe so far has been :  The show has way too short episodes. Like, 11min30. And tries to do SO MUCH in those 11min30 that either somethings get scrapped (DBFamily but not just that) or big important elements get solved way too fast (Samadhi fire and broken scroll among other things). And it steams I think from the fact that the show went from episodic to serialised while keeping the same amount of time. 

I ramble :  I see a lot of newcomers say that they jumped s1 and 2 and really started with s3/4, and while everyone has their reasons I think that’s silly Because that format is what made me love the characters and settings in the first place. The episodes are short, so the show can only focus on a tiny thing, but sprinkled LBD being a menace throughout the season, with the spider gang being a menace. And now ? lBD is still reveared as one of the best villains, and Spidergang is still very appreciated. Same thing for DBF : Red Son was slowly developed through s1, and returned on s3 Granted he wasn’t in s2, but since he was a major part of s1, and the spider queen special, we grew to care about him and the family to an extent. Because that’s what the show is good at ! Characters interactions, character personalities, CHARACTERS !! And now, the show is going for serialised, which is great and maintains attention, but it wants to do too much with the same amount of time: - In s2 : LBD took 10 ep to build her mech. MK started slowly to grow, and his relationships were explored one ep at a time. Slowly. - In s4 : we lose SWK, MK meets Azure, we learn about Tang, Pigsy and Sandy through their ancestors, we start to question MK’s existence, Monkey MK, the scroll is a menace, Azure betrays the group, MK loses his mentor and morale, DBF is important but scrolled, the JE is defeated and BAM world explodes we have to kill God in 4 episodes now. 

Granted for the characters as well it feels rushed. We don’t have to see everything either. Of course. They have a life outside the show. And overall they did a good job in those 11 bloody minutes 30.

But

But

But.

Now that we have a bit of breathing room, maybe it’s time to have that character moment by episode we’ve been asking for instead of cramming feelings and heartfelt conversations in an episode while the world is teared apart outside. Especially since we’ve seen the characters go through hell for a whole season. MK needs to breath but he isn’t the only one. We could have an episode on Red Son and his time in the scroll, an episode on MK going monkey a whole episode, an episode on SWK and Macaque in coloc, an episode on Tang Pigsy and Sandy trying to get back to their lives since they’re the most normal of the bunch - technically (cuz apparently having episodes focused on them in s4 wasn’t enough to have conversations about it but that’s a gripe i have with the community for LATER). We could have SWK and DBF reminisce on their time together, since DBK is one of the last friend that doesn’t QUITE hate him anymore, or an episode on how Nezha starts rebuilding Heaven by himself while keeping the JE power safe, or an episode on Mei just being awesome honestly, like just Mei observing MK going insane and being the girlboss she is, especially since she went through the whole “excess power that could kill everyone you love” and is still living with that, in a way. That could answer where the Samadhi fire business went. Cuz like in real life some things are tamed but don’t disappear, she might still be struggling but has learned to live with it. And MK is going through a similar path. We could also have Red Son in this one since he’s honestly the most controlled in a way.

And through all that… discretly… the world starts to break apart again ? Tears appear and with it new monsters and ghosts of the past maybe start seeping from the Underworld ? Maybe an unmasked man tries to prevent Mk’s attemps at coming back to some normal because as long as he’s confused and scared he stays the Harbinger of Chaos ? Idk ! TL:DR A lot of critics I see sum up as « They should show this more, why did THIS disappear out of nowhere, this is wasted potential », which seeps from the show not having time to show all that happens at once. Maybe it’s time to take a breather and tackle the problems one at a time again, ep by ep, like in season 2. And then go back to « We’re all gonna die in 4 episodes » to get the panic back on track.

Anyway Please come talk to me about the show and your theories, or headcanons about what the characters are doing now that the wreck of S4 has rolled past them. I wanna talk about my babies some more...

[funhouse-mirror-barbie]

I don’t think the new HH song “Poison” is bad, but it’s really hard to not compare it to Silva Hound’s fan song, “Addict”.

I think that Blake Roman is a much more talented singer than Michael Kovach in terms of pure technical skill. That said, I think it’s much easier to teach a voice actor to sing than it is to teach a singer to voice act.

(There’s obvs exceptions to this—Alex Brightman comes to mind as he also sings in-character for both his broadway role as Beetlejuice and for HB’s Fizzarolli.)

But, for any lack of technical skill that Michael may have, he is such a FANTASTIC voice actor that you can tell it’s Angel Dust singing—it believably sounds like the same character, and that is really important. (More below)

I don’t know what it was, but Michael really put a lot of pure character into Angel Dust’s voice. There was a sort of vibrancy to to his performance that I sadly am not sure how to describe, and I don’t know if Blake will be able to replicate it.

I think something that really makes Michael stand out as a voice actor, is that he really fully embodies whatever character he’s playing. He manages to sound natural in all of his roles, nothing sounds forced or like he’s trying to just do a character voice. He’s able to become that character.

His voice is distinct enough that if you can listen closely you can tell it’s him, but he also understands how give the characters be voices their own distinct personalities.

I think a lot of actors really underestimate the work that voice actors have to put into their performances. Voice acting takes a lot of work, and it’s frustrating that a lot of people don’t seem to realize that.

For Blake’s performance, I obviously don’t know what direction he was given in the recording studio, but his singing in Poison makes it seem like they told him to just sing it like Michael sang Addict.

It makes me sad, because there’s a good chance that Blake really could have made the song, and the character of Angel Dust, his own, but I don’t think he’ll get the chance too. I really really hope I’m wrong.

I just keep remembering the first time I heard “Addict”. I know I listened to it exactly once, and it only took that one time for it to be stuck in my head all day. I just listened to Poison, and I don’t think I could hum it if I wanted to.

Again. Poison isn’t a bad song at all. It’s catchy enough, and is very well sung—Blake is undeniably a fantastic singer, and I’m not trying to put him down.

But he sounds like he’s singing for a Broadway adaption of a Angel Dust. Michael Kovach sings in a way that makes you believe he is Angel Dust.

[sunshine-and-christmas-caryls]

2024 Fivela Appreciation Week Day 3- Siblings

***Picture placement is not to scale! But I didn’t want the pictures to be too tiny so it is what it is. 🤷🏻‍♀️*** @fivelaappreciationblog

So, this is a rough break down of how I think the family (+ the Handler, for shits & giggles) would react to Fivela. Some I feel a little more confident about, but most of these are kind of guess work off the bits we get to see & what I know of the characters (I’m especially uncertain for Lila’s family, since we don’t know too much about their characters). Though, of course, it’s all still just an opinion.

Diego- I think for obvious reasons, he would be the most upset and probably for the longest period of time. I do think he would eventually come around, though. But it would likely take quite a long period of time and/ or some kind of big gesture or sacrifice before he truly, whole heartedly can forgive and forget.

Allison- From what we’ve seen of her character, I feel like Allison would be the second most judgmental of the siblings. I don’t think she would necessarily be overly mean to Five or Lila, (50/50 on that for me) but I don’t think she would really be happy for them either, at least not at first. To me, she would probably have a few snide remarks behind their backs, maybe a lecture or two to their faces, but she wouldn’t be exceptionally hateful either- just very judgy.

I also think she’d get over it once the three were able to settle things/ move on and the kids were taken care of, possibly even getting annoyed at Diego if he dragged on too long. (I definitely think she’d be more “on Diego’s side” but if his upset/ attitude went on way too long, then she’d probably tell him to get over himself too).

Ben- I don’t think either sparrow Ben nor umbrella Ben would much care, and as such would probably be pretty neutral. I think umbrella Ben would be a bit more sympathetic to both sides, but would subscribe to the philosophy of “you do you” at the end of the day. I think sparrow Ben would revel in the chaos and drama, but isn’t especially attached to either side and could sympathize with all of them if they caught him in a softer mood (probably not until after making a few jokes at their expense, though).

Luthor- He would, in my opinion, be very sympathetic to both sides. I think Luthor would be one of the happiest for Five & Lila, but also sad for Diego. He’d listen to, and see the points made by all three, and his main focus would probably just be trying his best to just keep the family together.

Klaus- I think Klaus would be mostly happy for them and fairly supportive, but he would probably have a couple comments to make, too. Nothing truly mean, but something along the lines of how he asked, “Is it Vanya? It’s usually Vanya.” in season 2 or how he said, “I don’t much like that one” about Lila in early season 3 but wasn’t really mean to her either. I think he’d be sympathetic to Diego too, and would lend him an ear when he needed.

Viktor- I think Viktor would also be one of the happiest for Five and Lila, but he doesn’t really seem to want to be around his siblings all that often, either, so I dunno how much he’d really be around to give support to them. I think he’d feel bad for Diego too, and be there if he ever reached out, but he’d rather see Five and Lila happy than all three miserably trying to stick to the status quo just because that’s what’s expected of them.

So the rest of these aren’t technically siblings, but I thought it would be fun to do the rest of the family (+ the Handler) so they’re below!

The Handler- She would absolutely hate Fivela. I think she’d see Lila as trying to steal her thunder & favorite toy, and Five as purposefully vexing her by going after her daughter. She’d make it all about her somehow, but also try to use their relationship to her advantage. (Side note, nothing’s ever explicitly stated about Five and the Handler, but she gave off majorly creepy and controlling vibes, so that’s my headcanon on how she views Five)

Reginald- I think Reginald would truly be neutral in that he would take this as further proof that he’s better than the siblings (in his eye) and as such wouldn’t be on either side of the argument. He’d probably think it was messy and that they were all dramatic, but that their feelings are what they are and “why aren’t they all more focused on more important things?”

He strikes me as someone who is kind of blind to his hypocrisy (his feelings for Abigail far outweigh any feelings of theirs and so Five and Lila falling for each other given their relation to Diego is foolish not based in romance, and Diego being upset about the situation is pointless not understandable). Mostly, he wouldn’t care except to add it to reasons why he thinks he is so much better than his children.

Abigail- I think she’d be fairly happy for them, though sympathetic to Diego’s pain as well. I think if she was near them she’d push for them all to make nice, but wouldn’t really put much effort into it unless they happened to be near by or somehow fit into her plans.

Ronnie & Anita Gill- I think they would be mildly concerned, confused & disappointed, maybe even a little judgy, but only for a short time. They’d listen to Lila, maybe talk to Five as well, and while they’d still be concerned about the situation, they’d be a little more supportive of them each day that passed, because at the end of the day they just want Lila (& her kids) to be happy.

Aunt Banu, Uncle Inny, Cousin Ronnie, & any other relatives of Lila- I think they would be judgy as hell. Constantly questioning why and nitpicking, and making comments about what she should do. They’d definitely still be there for Lila and her parents and kids, though, and would help out as needed, but they’d just be nosey and nagging at the same time.

Grace (umbrella’s mom)- I think she’d be mostly neutral, but perhaps a bit more sympathetic to Diego’s pain than the other neutral people. Happy for Five (& Lila) being happy, but she’d probably have more interactions with Diego & be his shoulder to cry on.

Pogo- Another person who is mostly neutral. I think he’d be glad to see Five happy, but would be sympathetic to Diego as well. I think he’d push for them all to get along, but in a patient kind of way.

Grace (Diego& Lila’s kid)- I think she’d be more upset at first because it’s her family and it’s a lot of change for her. I think she’d eventually realize that her mom is happier (& eventually Diego probably too) but it’d be a bit hard for her to adjust to. I think her acceptance would depend a lot on what she hears/ understands from everyone around her.

If she’s picking up on Diego being angry or if she gets the impression that her parents’ split is solely because of Five, I could see her taking longer to be okay with everything. But if Lila and Diego had been constantly fighting and Gracie was hearing that, & now they’re a little calmer with each other now that they’ve split, I could see her being much faster. Mostly, I think it depends on what she’s picking up from those around her (& if they’re in the middle of apocalypse things or not).

The twins- I think they’re young enough that it wouldn’t affect them as much. They’d be upset if they wanted one or both parents, but it’s more of a day to day type of thing rather than truly understanding what’s going on & being upset about it.

Jennifer- [So she’s not technically family, but I’m including her since she had the Durango and was in season 4.] I feel like we didn’t really get to know much about Jennifer, but from what we did get I think of her as a no-nonsense kind of person that cares, so I think she might be a little judgmental in a “That’s pretty fucked up” kind of way at first, but quickly get over it and could be more accepting/ supportive after learning more about the siblings and Five and Lila’s situation… I could also see her only thinking that way or talking to Ben about it, but outwardly being “it’s none of my business, you do you”.

Given enough time, I think everyone would eventually come around to accepting Five and Lila, but there are some who would be upset longer & some who would have more comments to make to or about them first.

[whimsical-roasting]

Jamie comforts you after a long day (pt 1)

okay so this was meant to be entirely nsfw but tumblr has a character limit (tf??)... haven't written Jamie in SO long..

if it sucks - close ur eyes?? if it's good - tell me cause i have a praise kink <3

You come home after a long day following an already long week…hell, it’s been a long fucking year, hasn’t it?

Technically, this isn’t your home cause you’re on Jamie’s boujie couch, eyes closed and head resting against the back. Gotta admit shit’s comfy. You got in with your spare key and dumped your bags and stuff by the side of the couch

You just need a moment…just one fucking minute where your body and mind aren’t moving. You don’t even know where Jamie is, but he’s definitely somewhere in the house. You tell yourself that you’ll get up and look for him, just maybe after 2 minutes

You honestly don’t need to wait long because you hear the sound of footsteps padding down the stairs. You call out a tired “Hey!” and keep your eyes closed... You don’t get a response, and honestly, for a few moments, you’re too tired to care, but just as you’re opening your eyes, Jamie’s in front of you

“Hey, love”, he murmurs with a small smile as he sits next to you, one leg under himself and body tilted to face you

His hand is stretched out to you, holding a glass: ice cold water. You get an involuntary smile, accepting the glass and instantly bringing it to your lips. That first crisp taste of liquid goodness genuinely makes you swear this shit must be medicinal.

Jamie’s index finger traces the wet stain made on your pants from the droplets of condensation that fell from the glass. He doesn’t say anything for a second, just observing your state. He’s come to know the different things you have on your plate - your work, academic shit, the schedule that never seems to be on your side, not giving you a bloody break. 

But with his training, matches, and social obligations, as well as your own workload and energy levels, there’s been little opportunity to deep dive into how you’re holding up 

“How’s stuff?” he ventures out, studying your face. Honestly, the way you inhale deeply, like your body is trying to gear up energy just to respond, makes him frown

You set the glass down on the coffee table and turn to face him. “Stress isn’t exactly what I’m feeling..” you start, trying to make sense of it yourself. Jamie’s fingers are tracing circles on the inside of your palm as he waits for you to continue

 “It’s like- like- ugh fuck me… it’s like I’m so busy and tired! Million fucking things to do and apparently I’m the only one who can do em… And god, I spend my entire time taking care of others and handling shit! I like it, and I’m good at it - don’t get me wrong, Jaim - but fucks sake.” You start ranting, heavier on the cuss words because what else is gonna convey the weight of everything?

Jamie opens his mouth to speak but closes it when you continue

“And my roommate’s a grumpy little sh- ugh, no, it’s not that bad. I mean, if you’ve dealt with Roy, then I can’t complain about em… I’m just not used to angry people all the time. It’s like fucking-” your eyes jump around the room, trying to put into words what it’s like “-eggshells! Walking on eggshells! But forget it, that’s not even a big deal… it’s just another thing,” you mumble with a huff.

Jamie doesn’t like how you’re so dismissive. He’d jump in and tell you that it does matter, and if your roommate is even an ounce like Roy, then that must feel like shit. It took Jamie a while to adjust to the way Roy’s anger was when he first joined Richmond, and that’s just the locker room. Fuck, imagine that type of energy in your living space. Jamie debated how he could beat that roommate up in a way that wouldn’t cause you problems, but his thoughts ceased fire when you admitted the final part of your frustrations

“AND, we haven’t had... Yknow…” Your initial awkwardness around the topic catches his attention, but a smirk makes its way onto his face once he realises what you’re referring to. 

“I’ve just been exhausted, and you’ve been busy…but god, I need some…some... Fuckin hell, I need sex. I miss our sex. You’re so fucking good at it too,” you grumble the last part quietly and Jamie just snickers

You glance at him, and that stupid smug smirk on his face makes you wanna kiss him stupid. Is this asshole really amused by your suffering? And why the fuck does he look so hot whilst being so??

“Babe.. just-” he debates saying ‘calm down’ but come on, even he’s not stupid enough to say that to a woman. Instead, he smiles softly and grabs your hands. Ducking his head, he kisses your knuckles, then your palm, and then your inner wrist before glancing up at you.

“You’re overworking yourself, and you know that, love,” he sighs and continues, “Just cause we both know you’re more than capable of it, dun mean it’s a good idea… maybe you’ve got too much on your plate, and the only thing you feel is exhausted.” 

“Also, babe, we’re gonna fuckin address the roommate shit, so don’t think you’re brushing that off,” he gives you a knowing look as you shrink a bit into the couch. 

Not liking the (loving) scrutiny of his eyes, you defensively push back, “So you’re just gonna ignore what I said about the sex thing?”

This causes Jamie’s eyes to light up, and that stupid smug smirk returns to his lips. “Nah, never said that. Just wanted to be a proper gentleman and address me girlfriend’s problems in order.”

You roll your eyes at him, but it’s clearly loving… when it comes to Jamie, all your looks are loving…mostly.

He grins at you, “Now, onto the real issue,” and you shoot him a deadpan, unamused look that causes him to bark out a laugh. 

“I’m joking!” he holds his hands up defensively.

He reaches over and brushes your hair behind your ear, looking you in the eyes. “You need to switch off that beautiful brain of yours. And you need somebody to take care of ya for once.” 

All you can do is blush and nod cause he makes a good point; you do need that, and more importantly, you crave it. 

(go to part 2)

[tomorrowsdrama]

I just finished Re-reading The Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir and omg it’s just amazing the second time around. Technically, this would be my first time reading it completely. The first time I read it, I got distracted at around the 90% mark and didn’t finish.

But omg I love this web novel so much. The characters are so flawed and complex and human! Trash Man aka Ning Yuxuan probably had the best character arc out of all the characters. I loved hating him in the beginning when he truly was a trash man. And then I gleefully laughed when Ji Man threw him for a loop and didn’t make life easy for him. Then I relished in his suffering as he had to grovel and work his ass off to try to win Ji Man’s heart only to fail. After that, I felt bad for him as he desperately tried to get Ji Man to open up her heart a bit. Then that turned to rooting for him to get the girl and also wanting to shake some sense into Ji Man. And finally, I swooned and awwed seeing the lengths he went to to protect Ji Man and give her a peaceful life. If you’re going to get swept up in a fight for the throne and dangerous political intrigue, Trash Man is definitely the person you want to be with!

The level of scheming and many layers of planning this man did was truly frightening albeit highly effective.

This line especially stuck out to me:

““Right now, was this considered a meeting of villains that were colluding together?”

Because viewed from a different perspective, Trash Man and Ji Man could definitely be the antagonists in another story bahahaha. I loved that Trash Man had once considered taking the throne for himself but only turned down the idea because of some weird clan rule that said his clan’s descendants could never ascend to the throne. He certainly could have usurped the throne several times easily.

And Ji Man! What a great main character. Just like Trash Man, she is frighteningly competent and not someone you want to mess with. I like that she doesn’t go after people unless they harmed her first. Oh boy does she hold a grudge and will do anything to get her revenge. What’s great about her is that she’s not omnipotent and gets into trouble/makes mistakes/misreads situations. She has a bit of an advantage since she knows some of the story’s plot and has her knowledge from modern times, but that isn’t always enough to keep her safe or out of trouble. That’s so refreshing to see in a transmigrator story!

And the side characters! I don’t know how this author did it but they got me to care about the side characters. I even teared up while reading the death scene of the second prince and his wife Pengyue. This author really has a way with words because I could totally imagine how the second prince looked and sounded as he dragged his body over to his wife’s bed, not realizing that she’s already dead. And the whole time he’s “berating” her for seemingly betraying him, he’s also making excuses for her and already talking about how she’ll have to make it to him. We didn’t get too many details about their relationship, but the author easily conveyed how much he loved Pengyue in just that one scene. I would totally read a story or watch a drama just about those two.

I was invested throughout the entire novel even though it’s super long at over 500 chapters. It’s THAT good. That’s why it pains me to think about that abomination of an adaptation. I haven’t seen it, but just by the trailers alone, I could tell it would not do the story justice. There are too many plot lines in this story that would not pass censorship. I mean, Ning Yuxuan was responsible for raising up and then dethroning three different emperors one after the other. No way would the censors have allowed that. But even if we were to put that aside, there’s just too much stuff to fit into 38 episodes.

Anyway, read it, loved it, would absolutely recommend it you’re into transmigrator stories. Now I’m off to read the bonus chapters.

[em-writes-stuff]

hidden scars

warnings: (implied) past abuse, child whumpee

characters: villain, sidekick

1020 words

a/n: this was in my drafts as needing a part two, but i probably won’t end up doing that. have it as is!

---

Sidekick falls to the ground, air pushed out of their lungs as their back hits the soft ground. Villain advances, glaring menacingly at their small frame.

Sidekick tries to sit up, trying to gain some control over their body, but the pain in their ribcage stops them. Instead, they curl in on themself, sheltering their stomach with their shins. 

Villain crouches down to face them and whispers, “I’ve got you now, Sidekick. No more running. No more hiding.” 

They hold Sidekick’s wrist gently and pull them up, trying their hardest not to aggravate any of their new wounds. 

Sidekick looks at them uncertainly, “Why are you being so…gentle?” 

Villain laughs, “I can hardly in good conscience take you to be tortured for information if you’re injured before we even arrive.” they sling an arm around Sidekick’s waist and start walking. “Besides, you’re only a child. Most of your torture will be psychological.” 

Sidekick laughs dryly, “Oh, goodie.” 

Villain smiles and picks up the pace, not failing to notice how Sidekick favors their left leg and winces when they adjust the arm holding them up. They choose to ignore it for now. 

As soon as they got to the car, Sidekick had crawled to the back seat and hadn’t moved since. Villain sat in the seat in front of them, in an attempt to gain their trust. Villain would have thought they were sleeping, but they could see Sidekick’s eyes wide open. 

“Tell me, Sidekick, why do you work for Hero? What does he do for you?” Villain asks. 

Sidekick turns to face the window. Villain thinks for a moment that Sidekick won’t tell them, but then they speak. 

“Hero… saved my life a long time ago. And I didn’t have anywhere else to go. He took me in and I owe it to him to do what he wants.” They close their eyes and lean their forehead against the cold glass. “Besides, there’s not much else I can do.” 

For the rest of the long car ride, they sit in silence. 

At Villain’s hideout, Henchman opens the car door for Villain and Sidekick, but Sidekick stays in their seat. Villain rolls their eyes and crawls back into the car. They gently touch Sidekick’s arm and they flinch back, hitting their head on the car window. They wince, but say nothing. Villain tilts their head to the side for a moment, but then they reach their arm out for Sidekick to grab. 

“We’re here.” They say simply. 

Sidekick is shown to their new room, which is more impressive than they were expecting. The ceiling was high and a light hung from it. There was a large window on the wall facing a lake. A queen sized bed was covered in blankets and pillows. 

Villain clears their throat and Sidekick quickly turns to look at them. 

“I trust you’ll be comfortable. I’ll come back with a change of clothes and some first-aid supplies in a few minutes. Is there anything else I can get you while I get those?” 

Sidekick shakes their head, blinking in confusion. 

Villain smiles gently and walks out of the room. “I’ll be right back then. I have to lock this door behind me, but that’s just since you’re technically the enemy and a prisoner.” 

Sidekick wanders around the room, checking any spots that could be used to hide things, seeing if there’s any chance the window can be opened (there isn’t), and organizing the things on the bed. The door opens and Villain walks in with an armful of clothes and a first-aid kit. 

“Here, change. Those clothes look really dirty. I’ll wash them for you.” They throw the bundle of clothes at Sidekick and turn around to let them change. 

“Why are you being so kind? Hero told me that you’re cruel.” Sidekick asks. 

Villain closes their eyes and tilts their head up. “Just because I do things that go against Hero’s moral code, doesn’t mean I’m a bad person. Hero, of all people, should know that.” 

They can hear Sidekick’s sharp breaths as they aggravate wounds and have to fight every instinct in themself to turn around and help. They know that if they’re to gain Sidekick’s trust, they have to move slowly. 

“Villain?” Sidekick asks with a small tremor in their voice. “Can I have something with long sleeves?” 

“Are you sure? It gets pretty warm here at night.” They turn and see Sidekick. There’s a pile of their clothes on the floor next to them and Villain could swear they saw scars on their arms, but they crossed their arms in front of them too quickly to be sure. 

“I’m sure.” 

Villain nods. “Ok, well, let me dress your wounds first, then I’ll find something.” “I can do it.” 

“Nonsense, I have much more experience than you do in this. Besides, you look like you’re going to pass out. Just sit down and let me.” 

Sidekick shakes their head. “I can do it.” They look down, “Please.” 

“Alright, but I’ll watch just to make sure you do it alright. Don’t want any of these getting infected.” 

They set the first-aid kit on the table and watch as Sidekick cleans their cuts. 

“You’re pretty good at that, kid. Where’d you learn?” they chuckle. “Let me guess, Hero makes you patch him up?” 

Sidekick grits their teeth, “Not quite.” They hiss as they dab some rubbing alcohol on one of the bigger cuts. Villain tilts their head and Sidekick looks up at them. “I have to dress my own wounds a lot of the time.” 

Villain nods, not quite knowing what to say. “I’ll go get you a jacket or something.”

Sidekick sighs as the door closes. They finish bandaging the last major cut and lean their head against the back of the chair. They cross their arms in front of them, trying their best to cover the majority of the scars on their arms, but failing pretty miserably. 

Villain comes back into the room and hands Sidekick a large hoodie, trying their best not to stare at the surplus of scars along their skin. 

[glade-constellation]

It might also have something to do with old Moon. Old Moon was Lunar’s first real brother, the first sibling who didn’t hit him, etc. He was with Lunar for Lunar’s whole life.

And New Moon just met Lunar. He isn’t the person who gave Lunar his first real taste of family. He isn’t the person Lunar shared a body with for months. He isn’t the person who took the time to remember exactly what level of Kingdom Hearts he was on before October. That person is dead.

And, more importantly, new Moon actively hates that person, and even exaggerates old Moon’s bad traits by going so far as to say he wouldn’t have cared about seeing Lunar die. Lunar has plenty of reason to hate new Moon.

These are all really good points. I especially like the last one, as it also rubbed me the wrong way when Moon said the old him wouldn’t have cared. Old Moon may have been a bad brother at times, but he didn’t hate his family. It’s shown many times over that he just wanted his family safe, no matter the cost. Old Moon would have been just as devastated of Lunar’s death as the New Moon would have been, had he known Lunar when it happened. He simply would have acted on that grief in a different way.

One thing I’ve learned from watching this show is that everyone is an unreliable narrator. Everyone has their own version of how the narrative goes, and they often don’t align with everyone else’s narrative. Hearing the story from word of mouth alone would never give you the full or correct story. You’re probably going to get a different story from each person, even if just slightly different.

If someone had never met Moon before his amnesia, but heard about him from Moon now, they would think he was a terrible person. We know that’s not entirely true because we’ve watched the show, we’ve seen how Moon was like, but just imagine someone’s first introduction to Old Moon being “he wouldn’t care if his brother died a horrific death by his abuser”. You would think he was a bad person, because that is a terrible thing to not care about.

If this truly is the reason why Lunar said he hates Moon, Lunar is in the same place a lot of the viewers are in right now. I recently saw a TikTok of someone complaining, saying the show was telling us stuff about the characters that was inaccurate. It’s not that these characters are trying to be inconsistent, it’s just that they all have different viewpoints as explained above.

Lunar is currently going through a lot right now. He was retraumatized, gained new traumas, died horrifically, and then learned he lost his brother during the months it took to return. It doesn’t matter Moon is still technically there, that wasn’t who Lunar met. He may not realize it, but he’s probably grieving. It’s totally valid in this situation. Sun grieved, is most likely still grieving, but we all know Sun pushes away any negative emotion he has. (I also feel Moon isn’t really allowing anyone to grieve, but that’s for later.) Lunar doesn’t. Even if he can’t currently feel or understand the emotions he’s feeling, he tends to feel his emotions wholeheartedly. That grief could definitely turn into anger at Moon for hating someone they called a brother. Especially because, as we all know, Moon hasn’t actually changed all that much. He’s definitely better in certain ways, but he’s not a complete new person. Lunar trying to grieve while being reminded of the person they’re grieving about could just make the situation worse.

The biggest thing I’m concerned of is that Lunar is going to turn all of his negative emotion on Moon. As someone who personally deals with emotional dissociation I can kind of understand why Lunar is acting the way he is. Not being able to really feel your own emotions will make you do crazy shit just to feel something. If they are able to feel that anger, even if they doesn’t realize they’re feeling it, they will latch onto it and keep doing things that make them angry just to feel something. That potentially means tensions between Lunar and Moon are about to get real bad.

Going to the comment I made earlier, I don’t feel Moon is allowing for anyone to grieve for his old self. Any time he’s brought up, Moon follows it up with a negative comment and turns the conversation. I get it. I really do. I understand why Moon is so upset in this situation. Everyone looks at you and sees something you personally hate and it just fuels the hatred. But Moon needs to step back and let the grief happen. If he starts pushing Lunar to try and see his old self as negative while Lunar is already so emotionally unstable, there will be push back. And it won’t be pretty if Lunar is still as emotionally attached to Old Moon as we think he is.

If Lunar’s comment about hating Moon is as serious as the fandom seems to think, we might have some pretty big family drama around the corner.

[emelinstriker]

Hello, it’s me I’m back I hope your doing good

(I’m sorry I’m such a menace I have brain rot)

So question 1) we know that bad masters are obviously masters who are mean or cruel to the champions/servants but what is a good master? Like other than obviously being nice and respectful to the champions like for extreme example a master who is super sweet and doting and careing to the champions but an absolute monster to anyone outside the palace, or a master who isn’t rude to the champions but is very cold and distance to them but is a peaceful ruler.

Question 2) from what I’ve read in extreme cases (I could be wrong) sometimes they’ll just kill a current master and just wait for them for the reincarnation. I think that creates a really interesting dynamic because yes you have god like beings who would do everything for you and live like a royal in a palace but at end of the day your just a mortal a piece in a much bigger entity’s game (cough cough the judge) so I wonder if you were to not play along as in try and leave the palace and just go back to your own world and live out a normal life , im guessing that would mess with things because then a new master can’t reincarnate if your still alive so 👀

1 - I mean. technically there's also more points that could deem one a "bad" Master, such as being disrespectful towards previous or future Master. This also applies to what makes a "good" Master. It's not a black and white thing with how a Master is being labeled, especially with so many characters around them interacting on a more individual level. There's currently eight champions, who all treat and see the Reader differently based on their own experience with that current life their Master leads. They tend to be the ones the Readers tends to interact with the most, so of course they have a deeper understanding of what makes each of their Masters tick and whether or not their actions and behaviors are automatically good, bad, or unaligned.

2 - If the Reader wants to live a normal, they're free to do so. It would extend the waiting time for the next Master to appear, but if their current Master is happier being in their own home rather than the palace filled with their own servants, there's nothing wrong with it. Usually the champions try make sure their Master feels comfortable around them first before nudging them in the direction of moving into the palace with them. Though, if they're more comfortable living a normal life, their servants would just make sure they're safe and have one or two watching them from practically the shadows.

Usually that task goes to Wukong and Macaque for obvious ability reasons. Be it by them just making sure their Master isn't suffering, or disguising themselves as their pets. If their Master is already aware of them having servants and doesn't mind them, or even misses them, the boys wouldn't mind officially visiting them in their home. Or even moving in with their Master. Of course, not all would officially move in due to their responsibilities within the palace, but they would at least hang around their Master's home more often.

[mdhwrites]

Why Does The Owl House Feel Like Fanfiction?

So there’s a lot that could be used for this but a lot of it can also go back and forth on simply being bad writing. To genuinely feel like fanfiction, you have to make it clear that as an original writer, you’re still leaning on the biggest joy and sin of fanfiction.

You need to show that you still don’t want to do the setup work for your story. You just want the payoffs.

That is the big strength of fanfiction after all. You don’t need to make the characters, introduce the world, etc. like that. You can just get to the juicy stuff without bogging yourself down. Even AUs often don’t have to actually make new designs or establish what a character’s personality is unless it’s directly opposing the source material because the audience will assume they’re the same otherwise. If you doubt me on that, I will start linking you all the comments I’ve gotten of people having to remind themselves that Odalia isn’t pure evil in my own fanfics.

But that also presents a danger when going to original fiction. After all, if you don’t setup the world, characters, etc. like that and just do big payoffs, they’re going to feel increasingly more shallow as they make less and less sense or don’t feel like they’re happening when they should. The seams of your writing will show if you don’t put that effort in.

A perfect example of this is one of the most celebrated things in the show: The Enemies to Lovers arc. To really highlight this, let’s break it down to what it would look like in fanfiction, what it would look like commonly in original fiction and then how TOH did it.

Fanfiction: The enemy relationship is already made. You don’t have to do that unless you’re changing a LOT. So all you need to do is the inciting incident that makes the two see each other in a new light and the romance can spark from there, possibly without even becoming friends because the writer just wants to see the two kiss and that’s fine. I’ve done plenty of Luscha stuff like this.

Original Fiction: HAHAHAHA! Oh god, fuck this trope in original fiction. It takes SO. FUCKING. LONG. I’m not even just talking about my own stuff. Catradora took THREE SEASONS for a reason. My own works took literally dozens of chapters to even get the characters on SPEAKING terms, let alone as friends and even then, needing to figure out what just friendship looked like to them.

This is because Enemies to Lovers DEMANDS a character arc on multiple sides. It’s a very big change from the introductory dynamic... But you also have to explore that first dynamic. You need to set up that they’re genuine enemies, explore it and sell it to the audience. Then you need to start whittling away at the base of the problem between the two, start showing their other sides like you would a villain redemption arc, and THEN you can start moving towards romance after they’ve stopped trying to fight each other or oppose each other, etc. like that. It cannot be understated that this trope is so powerful because it requires just a fuck ton of effort and patience on the writer’s part and while you can make cheats for it, like I did in Eyes Beneath the Water by making two people ex-friends but neither wanted the friendship to end, you cannot half ass it.

The Owl House: Amity is, at best, an enemy of Luz’s for three episodes. Teenage Abomination, Covention and TECHNICALLY Hooty’s Moving Hassle, even if her social media post feels awkward post Covention because... Why she is still antagonizing Luz? It makes Lost in Language somewhat confusing because she sounds like she was just trying to dismiss Luz. Like, she couldn’t get her quite out of her head but she was ready to leave her alone.

But also... Lost in Language is Amity’s next episode. By the end of it, they’re friends. By the end of Adventure in the Elements, they’re DEFINITELY friends. Period. And by the sixth episode Amity has a major role, fifth if you don’t include Hooty’s Moving Hassle, she’s blushing at holding Luz’s hand because that’s Understanding Willow which leads directly into Grom where she wants to ask Luz out.

That is no time, especially since Adventure in the Elements has Luz and Amity in it but it’s not really about the two of them. It’s kind of an all over the place episode frankly where Amity is in it but could have been swapped with anyone else. In fact, it would have made Luz look less awful for stealing from a friend. But they are enemies, strictly enemies, for three episodes at most. They are friends for three episodes at most and for most those, they aren’t exploring their friendship or their relationship in general. The only time Amity’s enemy phase will be referenced will be once by King and Amity doesn’t even react to it. It’s literally everyone else except Luz and Amity who are talking about as a joke.

It’s them lampshading the fact that they, you know... Didn’t actually do the trope. That they speedran Lumity because they like the Enemies to Lovers trope, wanted the payoffs of smiling, blushing Amity and the two getting together like you get with that trope but didn’t put in the work. They minimally setup up Amity before ripping her character apart so as to do what they wanted. They never explored the different phases of the two together, barely really made any sort of real dynamic between them at any point before they’re just the love interest and hero because... That’s what they were actually interested in.

And this is isn’t just with Amity. The Boiling Isles has all of its world building repeatedly kicked in the dick for the sake of whatever the writers want to do. The magic is abused and contradicted all the time because actually working with it would get in the way of what the writer wanted to do. Eda’s criminal background and Hooty’s strength would have made them not able to send King and Luz off to show a big payoff to Momma Eda. Actually having to show the Owl Family get close to each other would have taken too much effort so immediately after the body swap episode, the first time they ever even try to understand each other, they’re already now best friends and King is acting like he already views Luz as his big sister come Really Small Problems, their second major episode together.

And that is fanficky. It setup such a bare bones world and the like just so it could do what it wanted. It tore apart characters and rushed arcs even back in S1 because those elements would have gotten in the way of actually doing the tropes they wanted. They wanted to just get to the good stuff which is probably why most characters, after their trope hits their highlight, become really boring and one note. The writers don’t care anymore because they no longer have a big moment to work towards.

Why do you think so many fanfics are so short? And... That is the really painful part for someone like me. TOH truly was blessed by the shortening because while this whole blog is about how TOH fucked up in its FIRST season as far as Lumity’s base trope goes, they will still tell me to just blame the shortening. To blame Disney meddling with the show. It’s not fanficky because writers are bad or the writing is bad, it’s fanficky because of things that let you just ignore the rest.

And that makes my stomach churn and my eyes water, both as an analyst, and as a writer who keeps getting scared about new ideas because to do them right, means doing them long and I don’t know if my brain will manage to see it to the end so I can get that payoff.

But I’m not willing to just cheat like TOH did, not with my original stuff, even though TOH’s cheats also made it the most popular of Disney’s recent animated shows. Maybe that just makes me a fucking idiot then.

===============

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

[adiluv-moved]

♡ JOHN DOE + PROMPTS 13 / 22. ˚⊹꒷

﹕₊˚ʚ🌹ɞ・[word count] total ─ 1511; prompt 13 ─ 693; prompt 22 ─ 818.

﹕₊˚ʚ🍷ɞ・[warnings] yandere character [technically; no yandere behavior demonstrated], not edited/proofread.

﹕₊˚ʚ🖤ɞ・[adi moment] first part of the event! I accidentally wrote the wrong prompt while working on a request, though i decided to just do another prompt alongside it instead of letting what i’d already written go to waste! regardless, i hope that you enjoy! ꒰ ˶ˆᗜˆ˵ ꒱ 

this is a part of my 200 follower / valentine's day event! if you're interested, you can view the rules for requesting on this post!

♡ prompt 13 / rom-coms. ˚⊹꒷

╰₊˚ʚ🔪ɞ・I imagine that Doe, being as romantically obsessed as he is, loves rom-coms. Honestly, with his entire character, I doubt that anybody could ever even convince me otherwise. This isn’t something that would happen after he met you, either. From the moment Doe found out about romance and rom-coms in general, I’m sure that he would watch them religiously. I’m talking to the point where you could bring up (pretty much) any rom-com to exist - whether it be from the Valley or otherwise, and he would somehow know it and have watched it. It doesn’t matter how new or old they are, either.

╰₊˚ʚ🔪ɞ・Not to mention the fact that his obsession with the genre manages to grow even larger once Valentine’s Day gets closer. He’s practically like one of those massive Christmas fans that turn the months leading up to the holiday into a part of it. And a part of that, to him, is watching as many rom-coms he can before you pull him away from the screen. Because, yes, there have been plenty of times where you’ve gotten home at ungodly hours of the night to find his eyes practically touching the screen as he rewatches a rom-com for what seems like the 100th time. (It certainly doesn’t help that he won't turn on any lights, and you usually don’t know he’s there until you see his silhouette in front of the TV or until he jumps behind you to greet you.)

╰₊˚ʚ🔪ɞ・Regardless, he would be eternally grateful if you decided to indulge him by watching a few with him. It doesn’t matter what your opinion is about the genre itself or how many of them you’ve seen, Doe would do his best to make the experience as enjoyable as possible for the both of you. He’d probably even pull out a whole collection of them, showing them all to you and letting you choose which ones to watch. There are some that he dislikes, and will actively exclude from the watching pile because he sees them as that bad, but aside from that he’s willing to give you as much control as you want. He’d also be happy to give you some recommendations if you’re unsure what to start with, and I genuinely believe he’d put a lot of effort into finding one he thinks you’d like.

╰₊˚ʚ🔪ɞ・Although I imagine Doe being the type of person to want to go all out on the actual day, I doubt that he’d mind just staying indoors all day with you and binging rom-coms. I mean, considering the large amount of titles that he knows, it really wouldn’t be difficult to find anything to watch, either. (If anything, you two could probably pull an all-nighter watching them without even making a dent in the pile that he has to offer you.) It would probably even be a great date idea if the weather turned out to be rainy that day, since it would be rather inconvenient to try doing something super crazy and risk Doe losing his fake body. Honestly, as long as he’s spending time with you, he truly wouldn’t mind.

╰₊˚ʚ🔪ɞ・As for Doe’s personal preferences on rom-coms, I think that he would enjoy those overly-romantic ones. Yeah. I’m talking cheesy enough to give you the sudden and irresistible urge to leave the room from how overly cute they are. If you’re the type to openly react to them, I honestly feel that he would take a small amount of joy in laughing at your reactions. They’re cute! He enjoys them, even though he might not get why you’re reacting the way that you do. 

╰₊˚ʚ🔪ɞ・I also think that he’d like rom-coms that share some similarities with your relationship! (You’d be surprised at how many Uncanny Valley rom-coms mention time loops… you’re starting to think that they’re not really an uncommon occurrence.) You have no idea how happy he feels when he sees something that reminds him of the two of you. He’d love to watch those with you and reminisce on the ways that your relationship has developed, and it’s honestly a pretty cute sight. He practically has hearts in his eyes.

♡ prompt 22 / "i cooked something for you!" ˚⊹꒷

╰₊˚ʚ🔪ɞ・On the topic of Doe and Valentine’s Day (and the idea of him putting as much effort as possible), I do think that he would still try to do something incredibly special for you, regardless of what your plans are for the actual day. He’s grateful to have you around, so he needs a way to show it! And, sure, while he’s absolutely more than willing to use his powers - namely, his psychokinesis - to take you out on the best dates you’ve ever had, it’s not exactly a viable option to him if you decide to snuggle up beside him in the familiar warmth of your apartment.

╰₊˚ʚ🔪ɞ・He takes some time to try and come up with ideas, looking all around the apartment for anything that he could use to accomplish his goal. He’d even try visiting some stores in the city, trying to see if he could find any nice flowers or gifts that might make a good present. Except for the fact that he can’t. Because by the time you both realize you’d rather sit at home, it’s already gotten close enough to the holiday that most of the good gifts have already been taken, making it difficult for Doe to use his powers when he isn’t even aware of the gift options available to him. And it’s not that he doesn’t try, either. He absolutely does. But somehow, none of the people he manages to… ‘convince’ have anything of interest. The only things that he manages to acquire are a few bags of teeth, though they aren’t really something you enjoy receiving - a fact he’s learned from experience.

╰₊˚ʚ🔪ɞ・He panics the day before Valentine’s when he realizes that there’s only a few hours before you return from your shift at the gas station and he’s still empty handed. That is, until he passes by the kitchen and realizes you talking about the power of cooking within human culture. Specifically, the power of going out of your way to cook something special for a special someone. After watching the cooking channel for about an hour and sneaking off to the grocery store to get ingredients (some of which being entirely different from what the recipe asks of him), he returns home and barely has enough time to hide them. You can tell that he’s hiding something from you, though you don’t call him out - more so for his sake than yours.

╰₊˚ʚ🔪ɞ・Before I actually talk about Doe attempting to cook anything, I just wanted to say this. He has no idea how to cook. There have been times where he has nearly burnt the entire apartment complex down. He nearly put metal inside of your microwave. It’s a miracle to you that he’s even managed to survive as long as he has, though it makes sense when you consider how strange his diet was before he dated you. When he slips out of your shared room and into the kitchen, the only knowledge that he retains from the recipes is that the cake looks cute and is in the shape of a heart, and the smell of something burning is what wakes you up. That, plus the voice by your ear that proudly whispers: “I cooked something for you!”

╰₊˚ʚ🔪ɞ・The both of you practically run to the kitchen, and the differences between Doe and your expressions would almost be comical if you weren’t presented with the absolute monster of a cake sitting in front of you. There are random cooking utensils, cutlery, and ingredients spread across the kitchen, and it somewhat reminds you of some events that occurred within the time loop. The cake itself seems to be incredibly burnt, with frosting falling off of some spots as he’d frosted the… object much too early. On top of it seems to be a piped version of the both of you, yet it seems to look more like a scene in a horror movie than anything romantic, especially when it seems like the little version of you is melting into a puddle. Among the wreckage, Doe stands with a proud face, hugging you from behind and exclaiming about Valentine’s Day.

╰₊˚ʚ🔪ɞ・The entire mess takes about an hour to clean up together, and the cake is practically inedible, leaving Doe to finish as much of it as he can before he feels too sick. Doe takes a couple of photos of the partially eaten behemoth before the both of you throw it out, and he seems like he would cry when it thuds into the garbage. You decide to show Doe the proper way to bake a cake, finding the TV show that he had been watching and properly completing the recipe alongside him. You still put on the frosting too early, and it melts. The newer piped versions of you both meet a similar fate, although it still tastes relatively good. Overall… It's a good Valentine’s Day.

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