#a v wholesome and adorable au!

[twisted-wonderland-shenanigans]

Remember that funny video where the dog is staring at the cupcakes but the owner is telling them “away, away”, I imagine that being both Grim and any version of Yuu with Trey in the kitchen and Cater with recording the whole thing

Video in question.

Omg, I remember that episode of “It’s Me or the Dog!” 😂 Victoria is a dog trainer in the show, and she was helping that family stop the family dog who was obsessed with human food and training him to resist the temptation of unattended food on the counter. 🤣

Now, aside from Kaiju!Trey (as they’re not exactly in a good environment or have the same process to make certain ingredients to attempt baking), I can definitely see Monster!Trey and Deity!Trey being used to the swarm of hungry dorm members drooling at the chance to get a bite of baked deliciousness. The moment Grim and Yuu (any of them) come into the picture though, he thinks it’s quite adorable how the two are almost always there, eagerly awaiting the “Go ahead” for them to dig into the tray. 

Oh, there’s a specific pastry that Yuu really misses from home and hasn’t been able to find in Twisted Wonderland? Just describe it to him and he’ll find the closest recipe possible and make sure it tastes the same. Nothing brings about feelings of warmth and comfort than a little taste of home, right? (The first time he does this for Yuu, I can see them crying like Chihiro from Spirited Away did when she was eating the rice ball with Haku nearby ;;v;; )

Meanwhile, Cater’s having a blast recording the reactions and posting to Magicam! Yuu and Grim sitting at the counter eagerly waiting for the treats to come out, resisting the urge to swipe the closest one, then happily humming while eating? Captured on camera~! Mini!Yuu and Grim sitting side-by-side watching the goodies bake in the Monster!AU? Or a video of the tiny toddler asking, “When are the yummies going to be ready?” while staring up at big brother Trey? Both got so many likes and reblogs that it momentarily caused Magicam to crash! 😂

Or how about teen/adult!Yuu (or even mini!Yuu…I just love wholesome cuteness regardless of the AU, darnit!!!) and Grim watching the stone-brick ovens churn out treat after treat as the God of Summer whips up more dough and batter faster than the eye can blink in the Deity!AU, Cater’s always there to capture the moment. He swears it’s like watching two adorable puppies waiting impatiently for their food, while Trey enjoys having the chance to spoil someone other than the members of his pantheon with baked goods! (And of course, he and Monster!AU Trey are more notorious than canon Trey when it comes to teeth hygiene for various reason. Can’t let those chompers get worn down by too much sugar and lack of care!)

Whichever AU they’re in (well, except the Kaiju!AU like I said, since I’m not even sure how they’d go about baking even if our intrepid little human figured out how to do it), Trey is always going to be the one who can whip up anything Yuu can imagine to help them feel at home. It’s not much, but if he can somehow bring a little taste of home to a lonely human/mortal, then that’s all that really matters to him in the end.

[kyeomniscient]

seventeen ao3 fic recs pt. 2

pt. 1 (completed longer fics, >10k words)

pt. 3 (incomplete fics)

compiled a list of shorter fics for those looking for quick reads! all fics here are completed and should be under 10k words, and i'll also be updating this as i go~

written in order of descending word count

Cowabunga Baby (verkyeom, 10k, completed)

it's a super rare pairing but the fic's really good! actor!dk x lifeguard!hansol dynamics work surprisingly well, and all in all it was a warm and fluffy summer beach romance filled with lots of love and laughs hehe

This Invisible String (Tying You to Me) (seoksoo, 9k, completed)

this might just be my favourite seoksoo fic ever, especially in terms of characterisation bc prince!jisoo x baker!seokmin fits them so well :"") so soft so sweet i loved it

Green (With Leaves) (soonhoon, 9k, completed)

super cute soonhoon fic :) really love it when the mcs have interesting professions and jihoon works at a flower shop in this one! their personalities fit the soonhoon dynamic so well and it was a vv enjoyable read

Sunflower, Vol. 6 (jeongcheol, 9k, completed)

coups is the sweetest here!! and jeonghan is so oblivious it's adorable

splinters of time (wonhui, 7k, completed)

and yet again, another post-apocalyptic fic has left me in an absolute wreck... BEAUTIFUL tears incoming read at your own risk

red ripe heart (cheolsoo, 7k, completed)

svt in the test kitchen was something i never knew i needed but alas, here we are :") the banter!! the tension!! the innuendoes!! i'd kill to see this actually happen, manifesting this as a gose ep asap

liar liar pants on fire (minwon, 6k, completed)

How to Attract a Bad Boy (The Kind of Guy Who Sucks at Everything) (seoksoo, 6k, completed)

this was hilarious and also joshua is as unhinged here as he is in gose

소나기 (minwon, 6k, completed)

historical au - this reminded me of 'til kingdom come by lightningbend, loved how the class difference played into their dynamics! really cute really wholesome

rites of spring (soonwoo, 6k, completed)

super cute soonwoo high school au! it's a mix of goofiness and tenderness that is so reflective of their dynamics - geguri writes the best soonwoo fics and that is a hill i will die on

treat me well (seokgyu, 5k, completed)

all flowers in time bend towards the sun (soonwoo, 4k, completed)

sweet, brief glimpses of soonwoo moments

enigma (minwon, 4k words, completed)

written by the same author who wrote love stuck! in essence, this was a uni au written for the nerds lmao and i loved it so much... super cute and creative and what better way to ask someone out than to use matrix cryptography?? there is NONE

smoking roses (jeongcheol, 3k, completed)

how op manages to encapsulate the yearning built over 10 years of history so succinctly within 3k words i'll never know

愁 (gyuhan, 3k words, completed)

calypso writes the best gyuhan fics!! this was beautiful omf

it's a date (verhan, 2k words, completed)

super adorable aquarium meet-cute - verhan isn't a common pairing so their dynamics were v refreshing!

sisyphean (soonwoo, 1k words, completed)

super cool fic about necromancy!

[shitpostingkats]

Yu-Gi-Oh Review Roundup: Arc-V!

Favorite main character: Shay Obsidian

Raidraptors slap. Every era of this show has one archetype that makes the twelve year old inside my brain start cheering in adoration, and this time, it’s raidraptors. What can I say. I like birds.

Shay himself also does a whole lot to sell the coolness factor of his mechanical falcons. The blunt, to-the-point, selfassuredness he carries himself with is almost intimidatingly edgelord, but some great voice acting work by Matt Shipman keeps him on the humaner side of anime emos. (Also, if you didn’t know, Matt Shipman, also voice of Reki in SK8 the Infinity, and if you hadn’t made the connection between season one Shay and breakup arc era Reki, I’m sorry that is in your brain now.) 

His design is the wonderful kind of harmonizing amazingly well with his monsters without being overbearing. With all the old fighter plane influence of the raidraptors, it makes perfect sense for Shay to sport his trademark leather trenchcoat that comes complete with the asymmetrical zipper and wide collar of an aviator's jacket. I particularly love the red scarf being the unofficial uniform of the XYZ rebellion, and it going completely unremarked on in the story. It’s clever to see how it’s worked into everyone’s outfit without it being pointed out to the viewer; it’s like an easter egg hunt. On Shay, he wears it in mimicry of a silk flight scarf, another visual nod to WWII pilots. 

And in Shay’s case, it makes perfect sense he would need the outfit of a pilot, because asides from Yuya, he is the one who most routinely rides around on the backs of his monsters. I never get tired of Shay flying onto the scene on a 3,000 pound eagle shaped warmachine, completely nonchalantly. Why is he the only one taking advantage of having his monsters around outside of duels. Let everyone have terrifying monstrosities as their main form of transportation.

Favorite antagonist: Sora Perse

The candy munching warcrime gremlin of all time. While it’s a little weird that Arc-V out the gate started exploring the ramifications of being a card game child soldier, Sora’s arc as he grapples with it is the emotional core of season 1, and it genuinely gets pulled off pretty well. Also, he plays fluffals.

Fluffals is the pitch perfect archetype for Sora. I’ve said before how much I love in yugioh when the cards someone plays tells you more about their character, how I go off the wall when their archetype is a mirror of their personhood. Fluffals is also just great on its own. Perfect yugioh design. Cutesy cuddly monsters that are actually filled with KNIVES and SAWS like they are being dissected by a deranged weird little child. Then the double meaning of fluffals being innocent and adorable, but secretly hiding a darker side, just like Sora. He is constantly switching back and forth between frighteningly competent and “oh my god he’s just a kid”. 

On of my favorite moments in the show is when he and Zuzu reunite and she says farewell by doing the fusion summon salute, only for Sora to jokingly correct her posture. Their friendship is so wholesome okay. Deep down, this kid is genuinely hurt and doesn’t know how to make friends, so he’s reaching out with the only way he knows how, by taking the role of teacher but that's only a facade to get to hang out, and that line is where we first hear them acknowledge it to each other, grins on their faces, happy to still be teacher and student, but also, friends. 

This is in the same stretch of episodes as Sora casually stowing away on a helicopter by jumping fifteen feet into the air and grabbing the wheel well.

Favorite side character: Yugo

I guess they just put a special sauce in the Arc-V blue haired bois.

Why do I list Yugo as a side character? Surely, by virtue of being an au version of the main character, he should be counted with equal narrative status?

Nope! He shows up maybe a dozen times, usually randomly, to yell and crash his motorcycle into things. Then disappears again. I love him.

Yugo has, unlike the other two blue haired bois, this endearing puppy quality that makes every conversation he’s in feel playful and exuberant. And that lends itself well to the few dynamics he does find himself in, whether it’s bouncing off Yuri’s smirky villainy, or having genuinely a more emotionally intelligent discussion with Zuzu about what going on than Yuya ever manages to have with her in the whole series. And while I would have loved to get more time between him and Rin, it’s clear from just a few minutes with him how deeply he cares about her. Winning him the coveted medal of “#1 straight relationship in yugioh I would 100% believe in”. They’re just really sweet. And I would storm the Konami headquarters to get them the happy ending they deserved.

Favorite duel: Shay vs. Sora

They’re my favorites for a reason. 

Shay v. Sora is peak, not only for both characters, but the entire show. It’s certainly in my list of Top 5 Yugioh Duels Ever. Everything about this duel is pure character expression. Shay’s cold and unemotive dueling crashes right up against the peppy dueltaining that Sora has spent the past few weeks learning. At first, Sora doesn’t even seem to take the duel seriously, countering audience expectations that this duel is going to be important. Because we know at this point, that something is up with Sora. That he knows more than he is letting on and this Shay guy is someone who can seriously engage with him about the larger mystery, unlike everyone else who is still in the dark on the dimensional wars.

Then Sora’s slow burn of the facade melting away. All that theatricality can equally double as a dang good yugioh villain performance. The way the duel slides from using its standard duel cinematography to more of a Marik Ishtar unhinged closeup. There is more dramatic tension in the increasing ferocity that Sora chews on his lollipop with than a full fledged horror movie.

On Shay’s side of the duel, we get dramatic monologues of backstory, finally filling in our understanding of the larger plot, delivered by a seriously shaken refugee who is finally able to traumadump about what he and his friends had to live through. It’s chillingly intense, especially contrasted by Sora’s increasing villainous theatricality. While Sora cartwheels and flips around the crumbling city like an acrobat, Shay’s got a utilitarian body language as he dodges debris. He’s not here to put on a show. He is here to survive and get revenge.

And the conclusion. By gods. There’s something haunting about seeing Sora, who has up to this point been laughing and gloating, crack. Not at the thought of being hurt. But at the thought of losing. Of being second best. He screams as Shay walks away, no longer violent and dramatic, but just a broken kid, terrified of receiving a bad grade.

Gods. Good duel.

Favorite arc: Arc league championship

Shay v Sora may be the highlight, but it’s not the only banger duel from that arc. And there’s also a great variety of good duels. From character duels like Julia v. Zuzu, or plot important duels like Sora v Yuto, to just plain fun duels, like Gong v Grizzlepike. And once the finals get going, it’s basically a nonstop duel fest, cutting between a half dozen parties finding eachother and splitting off again, while some duel and others just try to sit down and figure out what on earth is going on. Which shouldn’t work, but it does. 

Listen, if battle city worked the first time, the second time, the third time, and the fourth time, it’ll be good the fifth time. Trust us. We did the math. Now go out and duel in [interesting environment] and wager [this tournament’s gimmick item] on duels until you have [arbitrary number]. 

And hey! The formula works once again! This isn’t sarcasm, I genuinely think this is a great way to make tournament arcs interesting. The citywide split of four biomes allows for some cool backdrops, and every duel being able to happen basically simultaneously means we can simply cut between whatever's most interesting at the moment, instead of having to see every duel start to finish. 

Also, Moonshadow gets introduced in this tournament, and he is the unsung mvp of the entire series.

Greatest strengths of the series: Polish

The Arc League Championship also stands out to me because I was startled by the quality of its episode-to-episode writing. Plot information is slowly revealed on a regular basis, instead of thirty episodes of Shenanigans that’s interrupted by a lore dump. There’s genuine mystery, and intrigue, as we try to figure out what is up with these mystery xyz summoners and Declan’s master plan. And it’s not just scenario writing that’s received a massive punch-up! Dialogue is flowing better than ever, and effects animation is legible and looks awesome, instead of hyper-compressed pixels. Heck, Yuya has a really good looking 3D model, and his eyes aren’t covered by a helmet, and his jacket realistically flutters with his movement!

This may not sound like that big a deal, but the very premise of Arc-V gives us such a clear point of comparison for “How It Started” versus “How It’s Going”. It warmed my little 5Ds adoring heart to see turbo duels back, and rendered in such believable and genuinely excellent modeling. (Though points off for making Jack’s duel runner drive sideways. You guys know it can’t do that.) Aside from a few minor nitpicks, almost everything that made previous shows awesome is lovingly given a fresh coat of paint, from summoning to landscapes. 

And the writing is also pretty good on the au versions of prior characters! I particularly love Actually Not Problematic Celebrity Jack Atlas, the fun writing challenge of taking a character whose story is so deeply rooted in his setting, then trying to figure out what he’d look like without those factors. Happily Married Crow Hogan. Rebellion Leader Alexis Rhodes. Genuinely Lost His Family And Turned Murderhobo About It Kite Tenjo. There’s something so fun about seeing the paths certain characters could have taken, if only their environments had been different. And it’s a far more challenging premise to convincingly pull off than I see it get credit for. On so many levels, yugioh shows, on a purely technical level, have just gotten better as time goes on, and I absolutely adore seeing what each new series manages to perfect.

Weakest points: Scope

Unfortunately, Arc-V just has a lot to juggle. The devotion to quartets means the math spins out of control. incredibly quickly. Four versions of the protagonist, four versions of the female lead, four story arcs in four separate worlds. A handful of cameo appearances for each dimension, but also two to three original characters as well, bloats the main cast to nearly three times that of any previous show. Four different types of playstyles to write, and for characters that use blends of all four, duels four times as complicated in a single turn. Let’s never forget that this is the era that gave us the infamous D/D/D spreadsheet.

Individual moments stand out as excellent, but there simply isn’t enough time for any of them to really shine. All of the characters I’ve stated as loving, Shay, Sora, Yugo, I love in spite of the fact that their stories never really go anywhere. Shay and Yugos’ primary motivations are to find and reunite with their bracelet girls. And they don’t. Sora? After a wonderful bleed from “no morals allowed” to “one moral allowed”, after struggling for almost a season and a half to rationalize his child soldier upbringing, the camera just stops looking at him. And that’s one of the most complete stories Arc-V manages to tell. Even Yuya, our protagonist, ends the series having not confronted anything about his father, or his blatant mental health issues, both things that he is literally introduced with being shockingly core to his character. Very few plotlines are resolved in a satisfying way, if they’re resolved at all.

In the end, I can’t help but feel that Arc-V wrote more ambitious checks than its writing budget could cash. 

Most yugioh moment:

The entire episode where they break out of prison by hosting a talent show. Specifically, the cheer in Yuya’s voice when he says “Good night, FACILITY! <3”

[olichat-reads]

Study Date

Sero Hanta x reader

Summary: Study dates with Hanta aren't just study dates.

A/n: god knows i need this as motivation. i miss going on study dates :( also ALSO study dates are SEVERELY underrated & i'm here to make a point >:v

🌟

It was the rainy season. The light patters of the rain on glass was comforting as you stared out the window, mindlessly petting Fat Gato, the sleeping chonky orange tabby snuggled up on your tummy. Your laptop left open & untouched by your folded legs.

Usually, both you & Hanta appreciated rainy days, always pleased to enjoy the coziness it brought to your shared home.

However, your boyfriend knew you'd been struggling to get some work done & as much as he'd be fine with lazying around all day with you, he knew you'd get upset & beat yourself up if you didn't make any progress on your assignments that has been slowly piling up over the weeks.

"Hey, bub?"

"Mm?" You hummed in response, eyes still glued to the window.

"Wanna go on a study date?"

Hanta never saw anyone light up so fast, as you instantly perked up, head whipping around to look at him at the suggestion.

"Really?" You asked, eyes practically sparkling. He couldn't back down & say no even if he wanted to.

"Yeah," he said easily, an adoring smile tugging at his lips as he watched you excitedly scramble to your feet, briefly apologizing to the cat that got jostled awake & rush to your shared bedroom to get dressed.

The orange ball of fur shot him an accusing look of displeasure for being the reason he now no longer had a cuddle buddy which prompted Hanta to apologize as well as he got up to pack his own laptop & notes.

You reappeared looking just as excited as you left, doning his custome cellophane hoodie- black & white with a stark bright orange on the inside of the hood & a pair of black tights with the cutest little white bow in your hair. Padding over to your boyfriend, you stopped just in front of him, bouncing on the balls of your feet slightly, holding out your arms that were absolutely drowning in the stretched oversized sleeves towards him, silently asking for him to help fold up the excess fabric. Hanta happily obligued.

You had your own hoodies, even this exact one, that fit your frame a little better with sleeves that weren't stretched out from his elbows but you liked stealing his anyways.

Especially after that one time he slipped up & apologized, having felt guilty for ruining the sleeves of a hoodie you gifted him for his birthday. He appreciated his quirk but sometimes, he couldn't help be insecure & wished his elbows were less 'freaky'.

He had never seen you looked so eerily serious as you stared him dead in the eyes with what he could only describe as the intent of murder & tell him to never talk about himself or his quirk like that ever again.

Or else.

Ever since then, whenever you wore hoodies outside, you'd steal one of his instead of wearing your own, stretched sleeves & all. Apparently adamant on proving your point. He never minded. You did look fucking adorable in his clothes after all.

"Plus, it makes me feel like yours," you've casually stated on date one time, smiling up at him with such genuine innocence & adoration that he had to take a minute to cool off before he keeled over from the way his heart squeezed so tightly in his chest from the wholesomeness.

"Got everything? Laptop, charger, wallet?"

"Yep, yep & yep."

Easily slipping your hand in his, you stepped into the elevator together. Hanta let you pull your joined hands to push the button, before letting your hands drop in between the two of you, swaying lightly while you fiddled with his rings.

"Anywhere in mind?"

"Not really," you hummed, seemingly so content to just the prospect of going on a study date that your boyfriend had to chuckle.

"Hm, you feeling like any pastries in particular? Didn't you mention craving a chocolat au lait cake or something from that one cafe a few days back?"

"Oohhh! I did! Thats the cafe with the nice window seats too, right? Yeah, lets go to that one then!" You agreed, squeezing his hand excitedly, as the elevator dinged upon your arrival.

It was still raining as you stepped into the lobby of your apartment. Thankfully, not heavily pouring, just a constant drizzle that was mild enough to walk in. Huddling close under the protection of the umbrella, you & your boyfriend stepped out & started your short journey to the cafe.

The walk was nice, the silence you shared pleasant as you two enjoyed the weather. Sero watched you reach out a hand into the rain, squealing in delight at the cold raindrops.

"Its cold," you reported, grinning up at him like a kid.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah!"

Hanta laughed under his breath at your childish joy at something as simple as rain while the two of you made your way down the block.

You were both very lucky to have found a place close enough to campus but also a walking distance away from multiple good hangout spots. You had a handful of cafes to choose from when going on study dates.

Stepping into the cozy little cafe, Hanta closed the umbrella & popped it into the holder by the door. You let out an excited little squeal when you saw your usual spot by the window was vacant as Hanta dragged you to the counter to order your drinks.

"Usual or something new?"

"How bout your usual &.." you trailed off, squinting at the seasonal menu before your eyes widened in excitement. "Orange coffee?? Okay we have to try that!! It sounds like its made for you!" You squealed, referring to your boyfriend's knack for the fruit.

Hanta has to smile at that. Of course you picked up on him favouring oranges despite him never explicitly mentioning it, only having snacked on it every now & then.

After ordering your drinks, the two of you went over to your usual spot & set up your impromptu work spaces.

"Spotify or Murder podcast?"

"Just music today~" you sang out happily, as you reached for the single earbud Hanta offered you & putting it in. Easily settling into your usual study date routine with your boyfriend.

True crime was surprisingly good for background noise. Occasionally though, the stories got a little too dark that both of you needed to stop & listen. Its funny to think back on- the times your waiter sent your orders only to have the two of you seemingly staring into space with the most intensed horrified looks on your faces.

Fucking hilarious.

Your drinks came a bit later & the two of you fell into a good rhythm with your own assignments.

Once in awhile, Hanta'd catch you pouting at your laptop screen, seemingly glaring at the material you were reading up as though it personally offended you. Nudging you gently, he'd steal your attention to ask what had you stumped, prompting you to go off about what you were studying.

"I know it increases the blood flow but what- OH," you'd cut yourself off, eyes wide as realization hit you like a snowball in the face. He hardly ever understood the tangent you went off on but was always pleased to see you reached an understanding on the point that had you stuck earlier as he watched in amusement as you furiously scribble down the explaination to your confusion, muttering that 'it makes sense now' under your breath.

The two of you ended up staying all day til dinner & by then, both you were admittedly tired but very accomplished & satisfied with the progress on your work.

Stepping out of the cafe, you leaned to rest against your tall, lanky boyfriend, cheek smushed against his arm as you looked up at him.

"Thanks, Hanta," you smiled & Sero's heart could not have felt fuller even if all you did was study. That was what he loved about you. You made a point of sharing the simple things with him. What could be passed off as mundane, you made special. Every little moment spent together you truly cherished.

God, he was so glad to have you to share his days with.

"Anytime."

🌟

A/n: i so desperately want use spanish nicknames for the reader but i'm too insecure to do it 🥺

[twinknote]

✨some of my favorite short fics for comment fest's ~flavor of the day~ (<2k word count)✨

now with plentiful nearlymellodramattic and trans representation!

wholesome faves:

superfly by Tierfal (666 words / T) (hehe) "matt, mello, and near have a nice, inexplicable-AU-ish day off." very adorable and funny peek into the triad's relationship.

fireworks somewhere far away by neallo (1,996 words / T) extremely sweet and fluffy look at fem!meronia on vacation. love confessions, girls kissing, acts of service, and more!

smutty faves:

let me work on you by avoidfilledwithcelluloid (2,016 words / E) (shh it's close enough) "[trans] light and L make a deal and light ends up losing. he's got to comply with whatever request L makes but his challenge doesn't quite end at his lap desk duties." 10/10 trans!light and dom!L representation.

date night by Mihaelgayhl (1,332 words / E) "one night a month matt demands a date night, something mello sees as a tedious chore, unless he can convince matt to forget about it." i don't care what anyone thinks, dom!mello and sub!matt will forever have a firm grip on my throat.

spell by squidish (1,421 words / E) "a lazy afternoon in july." simultaneously wildly sweet and smutty trans!near (he/him), trans!mello (she/her), and matt. this one is like top 5 all-time-faves for me.

heat of the moment by coprinus_atramentarius (1,442 words / E) "L hogs the blankets in their cold-ass hotel room, and when light complains, L drags light's hand down to the hot, hot heat between his legs" T4T LAWLIGHT!!! steamy asf and also very cute.

time and time again by anonymous (613 words / E) "near does not know why he comes back every time." v hot nearlymellodramattic smut that's also sweet and fluffy.

long distance by smallestbird (432 words / M) "mello's bored, and matt's clearly not even listening to him." shortest on the list but packs a punch! surprise nearlymellodramattic phone sex while mello's out of town for work.

[lunarsands]

ESMP Fanfic: A Garden's Path - Ch 3

Characters: Mythical Sausage, Scott Smajor, Bubbles the Dog, Sir Carlos, appearances by the rest of the cast of Empires SMP S1, featuring blaze-hybrid emperor TangoTek, and introducing: The Children of Mythland (specific characters to be tagged when they appear in each chapter)

Relationships: MythicalSausage/Scott Smajor, LDShadowlady/Smallishbeans, Shubble/Katherine Elizabeth, TangoTek & SolidarityGaming, Joey Graceffa/Xornoth

Tags: Empires SMP S1 AU, scosage, adoption, fluff, wholesome, so much wholesome fluff you would not believe, a bit of angst here and there, Sausage has a few nightmares for Plot reasons, acknowledgement of amputation (not sure how else to tag that but just in case)

WARNINGS: fantasy racism (human v elf), loss of parent (with adoption inevitably comes orphans), minor character death in a later chapter

Chapter Summary: Sausage and Scott set out to add to their family and find quite the boisterous little elven girl to take up that place. Meet the adorable, unstoppable force that is Liana of Mythland.

(Also available on Ao3!)

[ Prologue ] [ Chapter One ] [ Chapter Two ]

[A/N: This character sprung fully formed from my head like Athena from Zeus. She was the first to get an official name due to a small one-off scene that eventually led to this whole story.] [To CallMeSausage on Ao3: I see your comment on Chapter Two, and I acknowledge it. XD ]

---

Chapter Three – The First Princess

The orphanage looked somewhat similar to the one they had previously visited, if not smaller and with a yellow thatched roof. As before, Scott made introductions in Elvish, and also as before some of the children shied away from Sausage. He took it in stride, and quietly walked around looking at some drawings that had been placed on the walls, hoping to acclimate the children to his presence and show he was harmless. He could hear Scott chatting with someone young but avoided the temptation to glance over, hoping he wouldn’t interrupt a possible candidate. He heard a negative response and tried not to worry. It might be too much to hope for another scenario where a child was more curious than put off by him being a human.

Yet instead, what Sausage heard next was a somewhat brash little voice calling up at him, “I’m having a tea party but no one wants to play tea party with me! You’re not playing with anyone, so do you want to come to my tea party?”

He looked down to see an indigo-eyed girl of perhaps somewhere around six or seven years old, with long, sapphire-colored hair that looped down one side of her pinkish-hued face. She tucked the loop behind her ear as she looked back at him. Sausage smiled gently. Well, maybe this was a good sign. “Yes, I’d love to.”

“Okay.” Without a second’s hesitation she grabbed his right hand and pulled him toward a small table. There were some small chairs already occupied by a few dolls arranged around it, but after she let go of him, she started moving them to make more space. “You’re too big – they always tell the bigger kids not to sit on these chairs or else they’ll break them! So, the dollies go here. You can sit in this spot, an’ I’ll sit over there an’ pour the tea. An’ then we talk about our fav’rite things ‘cause that’s what the growed-ups always do when they come here. Oh, an’ I’m Liana. I’m six an’ a half. We’re s’posed to tell our names an’ how old we are even when we’re just playing.” She gave a big sigh. “They don’t always play tea party, either. Okay, let me get you a cup.”

As he knelt in the indicated spot, Sausage couldn’t help finding her to be quite endearing. “I can get you another guest if you’d like.”

“Okay! I can take a cup from a dollie. They don’t act’lly use them, you know.”

Sausage turned and waved to get Scott’s attention. “Scott! Come have tea with us!” The elf raised an eyebrow, intrigued by where Sausage had ended up, but smiled as he walked over. “Scott, this is our hostess, Liana. Liana, this is my husband, Scott.”

“Hi. You didn’t say your name, you know. Let me move another dollie.” The little girl briefly wrestled one of the chairs to make room for Scott.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot my manners. My name is Sausage.”

She stopped and giggled. “That’s a silly name! But I had a friend named Buttercup, which is also silly, ‘cause a whole cup of butter is a lot! But she was nice, so it wasn’t a bad name. Just kind of silly. She went home last year. Okay, tea time, everybody sit.” Liana bustled back over to her hostess spot.

Scott nudged the chair the rest of the way over so he could kneel, then he sat back. He watched her pick up a small, unglazed clay tea pot that had been roughly painted by obviously childish hands. And was obviously empty. “That’s a nice tea pot, Liana. Did you paint it yourself?”

“No, I gots it from Melne when she went home. She gots it from somebody else, an’ they gots it from somebody else. I’m gonna give it to somebody when I go home so they can play tea party, too.” She poured the pretend-tea into the equally unglazed cups. “It’s hot so be careful!” She poured her own cup then sat and leaned over to blow on the cup. “Okay, now it’s colder.”

Scott and Sausage obliged by picking up their cups and pretending to take sips. Sausage snuck an amused smile over at Scott, then said, “This is very good tea. Thank you, Liana.”

“Yup! Okay, now you tell me some of your fav’rite things, then I’ll tell you more of mine.” She took a dainty pretend-sip from her cup then looked over at them expectantly.

Sausage decided to go ahead and talk about Bubbles, while Scott mentioned magic and cut to the chase by conjuring a small snow flurry over the table. Liana said she thought it was neat, then listed off her favorite dolls from around the table, but especially her bunny plushie that had always been with her and not a hand-me-down from the older kids and that one was on her bed because bunny needed a nap today. Then she asked, “Do you gots any other kids? Sometimes the growed-ups talk about their other kids an’ aren’t act’lly sure they want more.”

“We have two boys,” Sausage replied tentatively. “They’re at home, but we asked them if they would like to have a sister and they said yes.”

“Boys, huh?” Liana looked like she was considering the matter very seriously. “Well, boys don’t always like to play tea party, but that’s okay. ‘Scuse me.” She abruptly stood up and ran over to the caretaker across the room. “Hi, can I has cookies, please? I want to serve my guests. They need cookies with their tea!”

A giggle escaped Sausage. “Oh, she is precious. She doesn’t seem bothered about my arm or the… other thing.” He briefly reached up to touch his ear. “What do you think?”

“I think we have a match” Scott said, watching Liana skip back over clutching a container. She carefully set it down, then fished out one cookie at a time to place on the plates in front of them.

“Okay, wait for me to get back, then we can eat.” She carefully put the cover back on the container then returned it to the caretaker. “I only took one each, so’s not gonna spoil their dinner!” Once she returned, she dunked her cookie into her pretend tea and started munching on it. She then giggled and leaned toward them to whisper conspiratorially, “Sometimes I play tea party so’s I can gets extra cookies.” She giggled again, pleased to have shared her secret, then sat back to finish eating.

Sausage muffled another laugh, covering it up by hastily biting into his cookie. Scott ate his with a little more grace, then said, “We would be happy to get you your own tea set – and cookies – if you’d like to come live with us.”

“Can I gets one with bunnies on it?”

“You could even get one that you can paint yourself and put anything you want on it,” Scott replied. He reckoned they could probably request a specially decorated one from the potter, though.

“Okay. Can I bring my bunny, or do I has to hands-me-down it first?” She looked a little consternated by the choice.

Sausage could see the indecision in her eyes and felt he should encourage her in some way, as the tradition seemed important to her. “You can bring everything that is yours. But we can get you some new things, if you’d like to leave anything as a gift to someone else, like this tea set.”

“I really like my bunny… But I have a dress that Silvilana said she liked. She’s smaller than me but she can wear it when she gets bigger!”

“That’s very nice of you,” Scott said. “Thank you for the tea. We need to talk with the other grown-ups but we’ll see you in a little while.”

“Okay. Thanks for coming to my tea party. You were nice guests. Time to clean up!” Liana stacked the plates and hurriedly began to bring the assortment of items to a set of wooden cubby holes along the wall. She was trying to line up the dolls on top of them – not quite tall enough to reach – when another little girl came over to her. As Scott and Sausage walked toward the caretaker, they heard her call out, “Silvilana! I might gets two daddies! One of ‘em gots a metal arm!”

Scott was now the one to suppress a laugh. “Oh, my gods. She’s perfect. She’s just like you.”

“I don’t remember if I was like that at that age.”

“No, I’m talking about now.”

Sausage gave him a look questioning that observation. Scott gave him a frank look in return. Sausage bobbed his head for a moment as if in debate, then held his hands out in a gesture admitting the elf was right.

Soon paperwork was finalized and once again the royal stamp was eyed by the caretaker. “You’re… absolutely sure about her?” they asked, attempting to be tactful. “She’s not quite, well, princess material.”

Sausage deftly snapped the stamp up into his hand then whisked it away into his pocket. “We’re not looking for a princess. We’re looking for a daughter.” He smiled pleasantly and turned to go help with Liana’s bag, with Scott not far behind.

The little girl sat in a chair near the main door, humming and swinging her feet. She hopped up as they approached. She hugged her bunny plush tightly. “Time to go home! Do we have to go far?”

“It’s a little far,” Sausage admitted. “But we’ll get there before it’s dark out.” He then gave pause and lowered himself to one knee to be closer to her level. “I just want to ask you one thing before we go. You’ve been very nice about my arm. It does come off so it can be fixed, so you’ll see me without it. Is that okay?”

She looked over at his prosthetic thoughtfully, then placed her hand on the transparent crystal in the middle of his forearm. “A dollie’s arm gots pulled off one time but gots sewed back on. I could still play with her without it.”

“I also can’t sleep with it on, so it isn’t just when it needs to be fixed.”

“Well, yeah! Metal can’t be comfy to sleep on!”

Sausage smiled broadly at her. He felt Scott’s hand on his shoulder. “You have a very good point. Are you all ready to go?” He stood up and gave Scott a weaker smile. The elf patted his shoulder in response.

“Umm…” She turned to the door, then looked back toward the playroom. “I put away all the toys like I’m s’posed to. I put all my clothes in there. I have my bunny. I think I’m okay to go now.” She hugged the doll again, then reached up for Sausage’s hand while holding the bunny close with the other. “Let’s go home, um… Sau-sage an’, um…” When she sounded out his name it was the first time she seemed uncertain.

“You can call me Papa,” he offered.

Scott moved to get the door for them. “I’m called ‘Dad’.” Remembering what she had said to the other girl, he added, “Daddy is fine, too.”

“Papa, and Daddy. Okay.” Liana nodded, then quietly walked along out to the carriage. She wasn’t as enamored with it as the boys had been, instead only keeping a tight hold on her bunny as she watched Scott climb in. He took her bag from Sausage then held out his arms to help her in when Sausage lifted her up to reach the step more easily. She sat between them and once the carriage set off, she began humming again.

Scott let a few minutes pass before striking up conversation. “Liana, can I ask what you think about princesses?” Sausage shot him a bit of a worried glance; he had thought they would bring that up closer to home.

“They live in big castles an’ have pretty dresses an’ have pet horsies. They don’t ride the horsies too much, they just sit on them an’ look pretty, an’ a prince walks the horsie around so she doesn’t have to walk after he gives her a special shoe.”

There was clearly a very specific picture book that she associated the word princess with.

“Princesses can actually do all sorts of different things, including ride a horse around,” Scott said. “The big castle part is true, though.”

“Are we going to see a big castle? An’ meet a princess? That would be neat.” Her face fell a little bit. “I don’t gots a dress pretty enough to meet a princess. Everybody looks really pretty when they gets to meet a prince or princess.”

Sausage commented with a smile, “You’ll soon get to meet two princes, and they won’t mind if you have a fancy dress or not. But we can get you one.”

She perked up. “Can it be purple? I like purple. Melne had a purple dress, not as pretty as a princess’, but it was nice.”

“It can definitely be purple,” Scott replied. “If we get back home with enough time, we might be able to find one and you could wear it when you see the princes.”

“Are they your princes?” Liana asked with all the curiosity of the world in her voice, while leaving them stunned that she managed to make such a guess. “You said you gots two boys. So, two princes!”

“Ah, ehm,” Scott stammered. “How did you get that idea?”

She pointed at Sausage. “You’re tall like a king.”

“Me?” Sausage tried to sound innocent. “But he’s taller! I didn’t know height was a requirement for kings.”

“No, it’s ‘cause you’re like this.” Liana stood up and carefully walked toward the other seats, mindful of the motion of the carriage. She squared her shoulders and then sat, poised confidently with her back straight and head held high – a complete change from her own subconscious slouch when she had been sitting between them.

“I – I am??” Sausage asked in confusion, unaware of his apparently ingrained royal posture.

“When you sat at the tea party!” she insisted. “’Cause you were being serious! You were serious about playing pretend!” A grin spread across her face.

Scot failed to not share that grin as he turned to his husband. “She has you, there. Well, Liana, you have us figured out. We’re the rulers of Mythland. We wanted to keep it a secret so no one would think we were super-special.”

Liana’s face scrunched up into an exaggerated ‘thinking mode’. “Hmm. Kings pretending to be reg’lar people but are from a land of myths…” She peered over at them. “Are you also heroes who saved the world from a BIG monster that would’ve eated everything if somebody wasn’t brave enough to stop it?”

Sausage hastily hugged Scott to cover up their mutually shocked reactions, lamenting, “Scott, we have to keep her now! She knows our secret! We have no choice but to make her a princess who will be destined to save the kingdom from an even scarier monster in the future! Thank goodness we found her in time!”

Liana giggled. “No, that’s just pretend! I can be a reg’lar princess just having tea parties! An’ maybe ride a horsie.”

~*~

When the report came from the watchtower that a carriage was approaching, Bubbles and the boys ran out toward the stable yard – with Sir Carlos flapping in their wake, admonishing them to slow down in case one of them tripped.

Due to this, they all arrived after the carriage had parked, although they witnessed Sausage lifting an elven girl who was clutching a plush bunny doll down off the carriage steps. She spotted the boys and dashed over while Sausage was busy taking her bag from Scott. “Hi! You must be the princes! I didn’t have a dress for meeting princes an’ we didn’t have time to stop an’ look for one like Daddy said ‘cause we didn’t want to be late to dinner, so I’ll get one later. I’m Liana, an’ I’m six an’ a half!”

“Hi, Liana. I’m Azahar. I turned twelve last month, but… you don’t have to keep telling everyone your age now that you have a family.”

“Oh.” She looked up at him, baffled. “That’s what I was told I was s’posed to do when I meet new people. You’re my brothers ‘cause you’re Papa and Daddy’s sons, but you’re still new to me!” She then pivoted toward Elowen. “Hi!”

Her gregariousness seemed a bit much for the other boy, who stammered, “H-Hi, Liana. I’m Elowen. It – It’s nice to meet you.”

“Yeah! And this doggy is Bubbles, right? Hi, Bubbles! And this is—” Liana paused and peered down at Sir Carlos. “Nobody told me about a pet chicken! ‘Specially a chicken with armor! Papa!” She turned her head to look for Sausage. “Are you a king who has all sorts of knights, too? ‘Cause this chicken looks like a knight!”

Sir Carlos clucked – almost sounding more like a chuckle. “Young mistress Liana, I am Sir Carlos. I am, indeed, a knight.”

The little girl spun back to face him with her eyes wide. “You’re a talking chicken?! This place is like a fairytale story! Bubbles, are you magical, too??”

Elowen tugged on Azahar’s sleeve as the older boy stood stunned by the sheer amount of vivacious energy coming off the girl. Elowen whispered, “And I thought I got excited about cool things. Wait until she hears about the dragon…”

“There’s a pet DRAGON, too?!” Liana exclaimed.

Azahar now turned an amused smile toward his parents. Sausage hefted Liana’s bag over his shoulder and strolled past the children up the steps, trying to give off a casual air. “You, Liana, seem to have exceptional hearing. The story about the dragon will have to wait – I think I can smell dinner from here! Let’s rest up from all that travel and we can all talk more inside.”

“Okay!” Liana followed at his heels. “Is there a special princess chair? I’ve seen pictures of princesses sitting on big, fancy pillows. I don’t need a fancy pillow, but sometimes I need one to reach a table.”

Azahar and Elowen remained where they stood for half a minute longer, just staring after them and listening to their new sister’s voice echo off the stone as she continued to ramble. The older boy looked at Scott as he stepped between them to put a hand behind each’s shoulder, as if to nudge them out of their flummoxed states and start walking. “How—” Azahar flicked a pointing finger between Scott and the direction of Sausage’s back. “How did you—? She’s—??”

“…Just like Papa?” Scott finished for him with a smile. “There is a lot of magic in the world, and maybe fate does happen to be one of them.”

~*~

Liana gazed around as she continued to follow Sausage toward the staircase that led to the upper floors, where he intended to quickly stash her bag and maybe see if she would part with her bunny plush so she could go to dinner unhindered. “Papa, this castle is huge! It’s gonna take weeks an’ weeks to see all of it! How come you only gots two kids? You could fit elebenty hundred in here!”

Sausage laughed. “Well, we only decided we wanted kids last year. It would take a while to find that many! And there aren’t as many bedrooms as it looks like.  We would probably run out of space after the first elebenty, er, eleven. Azahar and Elowen share a room right now, but they might decide they each want their own later.”

“Who do I have a room with?” Liana asked curiously.

“Um… your bunny! But your room is right across from the boys if you need anything, and Dad and I are right down the hall.”

“What about these rooms?” She glanced left and right at the other doors they were passing.

“Those are guest rooms! Well, a few have some junk stored in them because I, uh, collect things. But when you or the boys make some friends, they’ll be able to stay over and sleep in one of them! Okay, here we are! See, there’s their room.” Sausage pointed with his foot to the open doorway on the left before finagling with the door across from it.

Liana wandered over to glance inside; she saw the two neatly made beds with Elowen’s teddy bear on the one farthest from the door, then she spotted the books and crowns sitting on the dresser. Her eyes widened with glee, but she kept the feeling reined in to just a broad smile as she turned and walked back over to survey her room. Two new beds and other furniture had been placed in it after the existing items had been moved to accommodate Elowen’s request to share.

Liana scurried over to the second bed and climbed up to lay her bunny against the pillows. “You’re right! Bunny gets a bed, too!” She hopped back to the floor and took a serious look around. “Hmm. I need to gets books. An’… An’ a crown. ‘Cause that’s what’s in Azahar and Elowen’s room.”

Sausage kept quiet for a moment, realizing for the first time as he put her clothes away in the dresser how few possessions Liana had been able to put in her bag… or, what had actually been put in it for her. The clothing seemed threadbare and was, perhaps, reserved for sending off with a child when it could no longer be handed down to another child who wore that size. He made a mental note to send a subsidy to that particular orphanage, and have a talk with Xornoth about checking fund distributions; he then added a note for himself to do the same there in Mythland.

He turned a bright smile toward Liana. “You can put whatever you want in here! It doesn’t have to be just books! Flowers, dollies, a pretty tea pot – even other bunny plushies!” She looked distressed for a second, so he added, “Bunnies that are friends for your bunny! That way yours can have company when you’re busy doing princess things!”

She seemed to think about it, then she nodded enthusiastically and carefully enunciated, “Thank you, Papa, I would like that.”

Sausage chuckled then scooped her up with his left arm, holding her on his hip with support from his right hand. “You’re welcome! Let’s go downstairs to dinner, and we can think about getting dollies and dresses tomorrow. In fact… We’re going to be late for dinner! I just noticed Dad and the boys didn’t follow us! They might eat everything before we get there! Hold on to me!”

Liana giggled and hugged his neck as he ran out of the room and tore down the hall, laughing with her until they reached the staircase, which he navigated more carefully until he neared the bottom. He bunny-hopped down the last few steps, making Liana giggle again. As they neared the dining room, she put her nose up into the air and crinkled it. “I can smell dinner now, too! Dinnertime! Dinnertime! Dinner with my new daddies an’ brothers!”

Sausage entered the room to see heartfelt looks on the faces of Scott and the boys due to having heard Liana’s joyful declaration. They had been making changes to how the table was arranged, with Scott and Elowen seated to the left of the head of the table and an extra chair added on the right next to Azahar that put Liana between him and Sausage. An additional purple cushion had been placed on this chair. Liana uttered a big, delighted gasp when she saw it as Sausage set her down on it. She wiggled a little, then whispered, “So there was a special princess chair…”

Elowen suppressed a giggle, while Azahar smiled gently at Liana. “You said you might need a pillow to reach the table, so we found one for you. Dad said you like purple.”

“I do! Thank you!” Liana crowed. She calmed down and said matter-of-factly, “I only need it for right now, though. I’m gonna grow up to be really tall, then I can reach all the fancy tables!”

Elowen fidgeted as the kitchen staff began to set out bowls of soup and small, individual baskets of warm bread rolls. He appeared as if he wanted to say something to Liana, but he waited while she thanked each person that walked past. After the staff withdrew, he blurted, “D-Do you think you’ll be really tall because your mom or your dad were tall?”

Liana had started munching on a bread roll and calmly spoke around the bite, “I don’t know my mommy or daddy. When I gots old enough an’ asked, the growed-ups told me I was a ‘doorstep baby’, an’ all I had with me was my bunny! So, they didn’t know about them to tell me.”

Azahar, Scott, and Sausage were startled by her candor. Azahar reached over to lightly pat Liana’s arm. “You and I have something in common, then.”

Liana’s eyes widened. “You gots left with just your bunny, too? But I didn’t see one in your room!”

Azahar laughed. “No, I think it was a handspun yarn blanket, and when I outgrew it, it was used for another baby, which I didn’t mind.”

“Oh, that’s a nice hands-me-down,” Liana said, nodding sagely as she took another bite of the roll. She chewed, then announced, “This is yummy bread!” She hummed happily until she finished eating the roll, then she looked across the table. “Elowen, did you hands-me-down anything? Was that your teddy bear I saw? It could be friends with my bunny!”

Elowen smiled weakly, having been poking his spoon at the vegetables in his soup. “I didn’t have anything like that. I got my teddy bear later.”

“Oh, okay,” Liana replied, oblivious to his dulled tone. “That’s a good reason to not hands-me-down! Daddy, Papa, do you have bunnies or teddy bears from when you was kids?”

With a mischievous look – and hoping to lighten Elowen’s mood – Sausage answered, “I only have Bubbles from when I was a kid!”

Liana shook her spoon at him. “Papa, Bubbles is a real doggy! You can’t pretend a real aminal is a toy!” She took a very serious first sip of her soup, as if she was the parent scolding the child, then her eyes lit up and she looked down at the bowl in wonder. “This is really good soup!” She ate two more quick spoonfuls before coughing when she started on a third.

“Slowly, Liana,” Scott gently chided. “It will still taste good if you eat slower. And to answer your question, I had a blue fawn plushie when I was little, although it ended up with the spots turned red because my brother tried to dye it with berry juice. We were never able to wash the stain out. But it was still my favorite.”

Liana gave an angry pout. “Your brother sounds mean! What if you gots another brother or sister after you, an’ you were gonna hands-me-down it to them, but they didn’t like red, an’ it made them cry! An’… An’ if he’s your brother, that makes him my uncle!” Her face fell into a sadder pout. “I don’t want a mean uncle.”

Scott chuckled. “Don’t worry, he wasn’t trying to be mean. He just wanted to do something silly. He thought it would wash out, too.”

Liana stood up on her chair and now shook her spoon at Scott, sending a few droplets of broth flying. “But no one should mess with someone’s fav’rite toy! It’s not nice! He shoulda tried it on his own toy first, so’s he would know how it feels!”

Sausage reached over to pinch the handle of her spoon between two fingers, creating a metallic tink sound. Putting some focus on his magic frequency, he sent a brief surge of energy through his prosthetic to make the gemstone at the wrist twinkle. The shine of this light through the translucent green cover atop his forearm  distracted her from her tiny outrage and she watched with fascination, although all he did was gently lower her hand.

Meanwhile, Azahar and Elowen traded looks across the table. The latter stammered, “Y-You’re very energetic, Liana. We were really nervous about becoming princes and were, um, very polite our first days here.”

Liana blinked at him. To Sausage’s relief, she put her spoon down altogether instead of gesturing with it again, so he withdrew his hand. “But it’s just dinnertime,” she replied. “It’s not a big ball with lotsa candles an’ people dancing in a big room with fancy dresses. We’re just being us, aren’t we?”

Sausage began to laugh. “She’s right! We’re just us right now. But you still shouldn’t stand on your chair, Liana, or wave utensils around at the same time – you might fall over into your soup!”

“Oh. Yeah, you’re right – it won’t taste good if I do that,” she agreed. She sat back down on the pillow and ate her soup with perfect manners, although after a point she grabbed another roll and proceeded to gobble it down while again proclaiming how yummy it was.

~*~

After a short lantern-lit tour to try to give Liana a sense of direction if she happened to get up during the night or possibly woke up early and decided to explore on her own – which, honestly, Sausage and Scott wouldn’t put past her but did request that she not do – everyone started getting ready for bed. Sausage tucked her in and asked if she would be alright in a room by herself, and assured her it was fine if she wasn’t, and asked if she would feel better if one of her brothers stayed in the room with her until she got used to it because this place was new to her and it was fine to be nervous, and—

Liana merely hugged her bunny and said she was okay, a big girl princess wouldn’t be scared of a castle and she had bunny to share the room with her, after all, and Azahar and Elowen seemed to like having a room together, so maybe that also meant one of them was scared to be alone at night, so she would be brave so that neither of them would have to be alone, and—

Scott broke up the mutual rambling session, gently pulling Sausage away from the doorway before wishing Liana a goodnight in Elvish to try to make it sound like a finality that everyone would go to sleep now. He elbowed Sausage, who hastily repeated the phrase while still looking worried about this first night in the castle. Yet, this only caused Liana to giggle, because Scott then corrected Sausage’s accent, telling his husband he had just told Liana to ‘have a good sneeze’.

Liana loudly repeated the misspoken phrase with another giggle, drawing laughs from across the hall. Sausage uttered a good-natured grumble about still working on his accent, then wished everyone goodnight again in Common.

The little girl laid down, bunny in her arms, and gazed at the ceiling while processing some of the sounds she was noticing; she was silently glad for the lanternlight coming in from the hallway, since the door had been left open in case she did happen to call for something.

It was only a few minutes later that Azahar came in to check on her. He sat down on the other bed as she sat up to tell him, “I told Papa I was okay. You can sleep in your room.”

“I just wanted to make sure,” Azahar said warmly. “I always tried to help new kids feel welcome in the place where Elowen and I used to live. I thought I could still do the same now.”

“But Daddy an’ Papa took me home! That means I am welcome!”

“Oh, well, yes. Of course it does. But if you have anything you’re, like, worried about or scared of, I can talk with you about it. Elowen was nervous about how big the castle was when we first got here, and we wondered if there might be ghosts.”

“Castles are s’posed to be big! An’… An’ ghosts aren’t scary!” Liana insisted, although she clutched her bunny plushie tightly. “Papa would have said something if there were ghosts!”

From out in the hallway came a high-pitched “OoOoOo~” noise, then Elowen leaned his head into the room. “Maybe Papa doesn’t know there are ghosts. Maybe they only show themselves to certain people. Like little children…”

Azahar shot him a look of warning; Elowen gave a mischievous grin. Liana, meanwhile, protested, “Stop tryin’a scare me! You’re being mean brothers!”

“Shhh,” Azahar tried to quiet her, holding his hands up to calm the situation. “Let’s not worry Dad or Papa. They need to rest from traveling, too. Elowen, that wasn’t nice. We should teach her how to chase away the ghosts first.” He snuck a grin at the other boy.

Liana scowled. “I don’t believe you! There aren’t any ghosts! Kingdoms that have talking chickens an’ dragons don’t have stupid scary things like ghosts! There would be REAL monsters! Now get outta my room, I wanna go to sleep!” She glared mightily at them.

Elowen stood straight upright, incidentally hopping into the middle of the doorway. “Oh, I see – you’re scarier than ghosts would be! Oh, time to run away! I’m gonna hide under my blanket from a scary little sister!” He turned tail to run to the other room.

Azahar stared after him. “This is… not how I meant this to go…”

“Hmph!” Liana put her chin in the air. “That’s what you get for tryin’a scare me! Now go away!” She emphatically turned and pulled the blanket up over herself.

“Okay, well… Um, sorry, Liana. I really do want to help. That was just some silly fun to make your first night here less scary—”

“I don’t care! Time for sleep! Say sorry at breakfast, an’ maybe I won’t be as mad at you!”

“Heh, okay.” Azahar wished her goodnight in Elvish, then left.

Liana hugged her bunny under the covers. “Mean… There’s no ghosts. There can’t be ghosts. My new daddies are secret heroes… Ghosts don’t haunt heroes. Unless they’re good ghosts… I don’t wanna see a ghost floatin’ through the wall, but maybe they’re helpful ghosts… An’… An’ they don’t try to scare little girls who’re tryin’a be brave even though they’re in a big, giant castle for the first time, an’ just met everyone…”

She heard a brief scraping sound; she let out an involuntary whimper, clutching her bunny tighter. Something jumped onto the bed, and then a wet nose came sniffing around the edge of the blanket. There was a very soft, “Arf?” then a weight settled down beside her.

Liana put her hand out and ended up grasping a fistful of short fur. She lightened her grip, then surreptitiously began to pet the furry creature. She whispered, “It’s time for sleep, Bubbles. You can stay in my room, though. You’re a big, brave doggie. Goodnight.”

~*~

Sausage was the first awake the next morning, and he didn’t even wait for Scott to be up to help him don his prosthetic before he padded out of the room without it so he could check on Liana. Things were a little different from Azahar’s and Elowen’s first night in Mythland; they were older, for starters, and had the familiarity of each other for company. Sausage had heard some of the kerfuffle among the three children at bedtime, but it hadn’t seemed too alarming, and everyone quieted down soon after.

He glanced into the boys’ room just to see if Liana had gone to them – either from reassurance during the night, or if she had already woken up and was there to chat. Instead, he saw both boys still in bed, although they were awake. Azahar was doing some arm stretches while Elowen yawned loudly – but he used a quiet tone when he spotted Sausage and said, “Good morning, Papa.”

“Good morning,” Sausage replied, also keeping his voice down. “I’m just checking up on everything. I’ll see you at breakfast in a bit.” He gave a little wave, then crossed to the other side of the hall.

Liana was sleeping soundly, lying on her back with her bunny in range of her right hand, while her left hand rested beside a furry black and tan lump that was curled up next to her. Sausage smiled and whispered, “Good girl, Bubbles.”

The interdimensional Yorkie lifted her head and turned it to peer at him. She wagged her tail and made a silent bark. Then she jumped up, did a one-eighty turn in the air, and licked Liana’s hand. The little girl stirred, mumbling, “Bubbles… stop tryin’a eat me… You’re s’posed to eat the scary ghosts…”

“Bubbles,” Sausage called in an exaggerated whisper, “I thought we chased off the ghosts. Did you find one more and tell our new daughter about it?”

Liana abruptly sat bolt upright, causing Bubbles to jump off the bed and run past Sausage out of the room. He smiled after her, turning so that the cuff covering his stump was visible – due to his nightshirt lacking a sleeve on that side. Liana declared, “I knew there wouldn’t be any real ghosts! Azahar an’ Elowen tried to scare me, but I didn’t believe them! Bubbles was just sleepin’ here ‘cause she wanted company! I wasn’t scared!” She then blinked and stared at Sausage’s right side. “Oh. That’s not like the dollie’s arm. Her whole arm came off.”

Sausage smiled gently and cupped the end of his stump with his left hand as he entered the room. “Yeah, the dragon only ate part of it. I usually put on my metal arm when I get up in the morning, but I really wanted to make sure you slept alright last night. So, the boys tried to scare you, huh?”

Liana’s eyes went wide and, aghast, she yelled, “WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE DRAGON ATE IT?! I thought it was a pet dragon, or knight dragon, like the chicken!!”

Sausage winced at her volume. “Oh, ha, we didn’t tell you the whole story yesterday.” He sat down on the side of the bed with his left arm toward her, but she crawled over to sit on his right, so he turned, leaving them both sat on the end facing the doorway. “Dad and I, along with our friends – your new Uncle fWhip and Aunt Gem – fought an angry dragon – or, a dragon-like creature.” Sausage’s own eyes brightened with merriment as he thought of a way to embellish the story, because Liana was hanging onto his every word. “We didn’t know what it really was, but it was fierce, and it was hungry! I attacked it with my sword – whap-pow! – but it just opened its big mouth and bit down on not only my sword, but most of my arm! Dad used his magic to freeze it, then rescued me, and Auntie Gem healed me. She did a good job, but the beast had already finished its meal and we couldn’t get it back to stick it back on, so Uncle fWhip made me a new arm!”

Liana fairly vibrated from excitement. “So, you did stop a monster that would have eated everything!”

Sausage uttered a slightly nervous laugh. “Well, sort of. It seemed like it was happy to eat only my arm. But we put a stop to it, just in case.”

Liana went quiet, looking as if she was pondering a very serious matter, then said, “Papa, do you think the dragon-creature’s ghost would haunt the castle?”

“Nope! I think you already know what would happen – Bubbles would eat it!”

“That’s true,” Liana replied in an upbeat tone. She then tilted her head. “Can I see it? Y-Your arm? Um, the part the dragon didn’t eat?” She gestured to the buttoned cuff, her expression the epitome of childlike curiosity. “Oh, wait, ummm… Is it okay to ask that?”

“Sure! I don’t mind! It’s not scary, it just has a scar like my face.” Sausage began to undo the buttons on the side of the cuff.

“Did the monster scratch your face, too??”

“No, that was from an… accident. With a Blood Sheep. You don’t want to mess with the Blood Sheep. They’re powerful, like Bubbles! But as long as they have plenty of grass to graze, they won’t try to eat little girls.”

“What’s a Blood Sheep? There were sheep near where I lived, but no one ever said they were dangerous!”

“Umm… I’ll show you after breakfast!” He rolled the cuff upward and held the remainder of his arm up for Liana to examine. She noted the wide line of scar tissue on the end and began to reach to touch it, but pulled her hand back, murmuring to herself, “Nope, that might be rude, too. You gots to ask first.” She screwed up her face in thought, then pulled up the sleeves of her nightgown and – after a moment of deliberating – held her left arm up next to his stump to give herself an idea of where it might match up.

Sausage smiled, amused by her train of thought. He then caught movement by the door from the corner of his eye. Scott was there with a look of consternation, one of his braids coming loose as if he hadn’t had time to complete it, and he held the prosthetic in his hands. Sausage gave him a little nod, then raised a finger in a ‘one minute’ gesture. Scott shook his head and pointed down at the prosthetic, then off to the side, indicating that Sausage should get moving. “Well, Liana, if you have any more questions about it, I can answer them later. We should get going and have breakfast!”

Scott gestured more insistently. Sausage hopped up and hurried over to ask about the rush, but Scott immediately ushered him back to their room. “There’s a raven waiting for you. It came from the western border. You need to go over there right away.” The raven in question was sitting on the windowsill, an open scroll under one foot.

Sausage quickly pulled off his nightshirt to allow Scott to help him attach the prosthetic. “But we were going to go shopping for Liana after breakfast.” His mouth fell into a little pout.

“It’s urgent. I’ll take her and the boys out, don’t worry.” Not waiting for Sausage to move faster, Scott started dressing his husband shirt-first.

Sausage, meanwhile, gave him a sad-eyed look, his pout intensifying. He did, however, cooperate with getting dressed for travel.

Scott chuckled softly. “I know, I know. You were looking forward to it. You’ve become very fond of her rather quickly.”

“I can’t help it! She’s so charming and… and… we didn’t have a chance to stop yesterday to get her the dress she wanted…” Sausage continued to pout, then tapped the tips of his index fingers against each other while looking aside as he mumbled, “But I guess she can spend time with her new dad, too…”

“Sau-sage,” Scott said, “They think there’s a Warden loose in the caves near the town. If it weren’t for Liana, I would go, too, but I don’t want to leave her on her first day here. And it’s better if you’re the one to meet with the townsfolk, especially if you need to get Tango’s help for Warden wrangling.”

Sausage’s expression changed instantly. He rushed to get his boots on, then grabbed his customized elytra from the armor stand in the corner. He shrugged it on, then went to the window to read the scroll for himself, checking the name of the town. Then he climbed into the window. The raven croaked and flew off ahead of him to let the distressed townsfolk know their king was on his way. “I’ll find breakfast on the way. Tell the kids I love them and I’ll be back soon!”

“Good luck!” Scott called after him as Sausage launched himself out of the window frame. Scott then finished getting himself sorted for the day and went to tell the children of the change in plans. He caught up to the boys as they were heading out of their room, and asked them to wait while he checked if Liana was ready to go downstairs.

He found her fully dressed in one of the patched outfits she had brought home with her, the leggings in decent shape – but no shoes yet, since she was jumping on the second bed trying to look out the high, narrow window. Scott was about to question her but she turned and exclaimed, “I heard a loud bird! An’ I looked up an’ saw Papa flying by the window! He doesn’t have bird wings like elves!” She leapt down from the bed and ran over to Scott, demanding, “Why is he flying? How is he flying?!”

Perhaps startled by her announcement, Azahar and Elowen ran over to the doorway. Scott looked around at the three children, silently wishing Sausage had chosen a different direction to go. “I was just coming to tell all of you: Papa had a sudden, important request for help from a town, and it’s his job as king to go in person, especially because he might need some extra help.” Scott then realized what Sausage’s choice of direction meant. “It sounds like he was going to get that help, actually, because Tango the Blaze Emperor – boys, you might remember him from your gala – is a specialist at wrangling the creature that the townsfolk are having a problem with, and the best place to find him is our neighbor, the Cod Empire.”

Azahar was about to make a humorous comment about Tango being rather memorable for appearing to be on fire, but Liana cut him off. “Our neighbors are fish?! How do fish have an empire?? Don’t fish just swim around in the water all day? Isn’t a blaze like a fire? Wouldn’t that boil the water? Oh! Is he really good at cooking fish?”

Elowen giggled. Scott was once again struck by how similar Liana and Sausage were. As he stifled a laugh of his own, Azahar explained, “There are people who can breathe underwater and have the appearance of different types of sea life. The Cod Empire is ruled by Jimmy, who is a fish-like man. His sister, Lizzie, rules the Ocean Empire, and looks like a giant blue axolotl. Tango, however, is a blazeman-hybrid. He does have a kingdom of his own underground, a little far away from here, but he is good friends with Jimmy, who is teaching him about life on the surface – teaching him about people like us, who are different from what he’s used to.”

Liana seemed to be listening with fascination. “So, there’s lotsa other kingdoms besides Rivendell an’ this land of myths? But those people all sound like they’re myths!”

Scott now openly chuckled. “Our kingdom is literally named Mythland. Sir Carlos can explain the history better than I can, but it has its roots in an even older kingdom with a great – if lost – legacy. You’ll learn all about these things when we have school lessons later. We’ll figure out what type of lessons you need another day, though. After breakfast we’re going to do some shopping in town and find that dress you wanted, and you can show it to Papa when he gets home.”

Liana looked disappointed for a second as she stepped back. She glanced toward the window. Then she gave a decisive nod and ran to the dresser to take out a pair of socks. She sat down on the floor to pull them on. “Okay, Daddy. We’ll… surprise Papa by finding a really pretty one! An’… he’ll see… he’ll see that we could find one, even if not all of us was there to look at ev’rything.” She scooted over to her shoes to put them on next. Afterward, she lifted her chin proudly to show she was being a big girl and not upset that her new papa wasn’t also going with them.

Scott, of course, noticed her lip tremble. “He’ll be with us in spirit. He really wanted you to get that purple dress, and since we don’t know how long it would take to help the townsfolk, I said I would take you out to get one.” Thinking he had cottoned on to the problem, he said, “You know, this can also be a way for you to impress him by telling him about all the things you saw in town! It will be like your own adventure in your new home.”

Elowen piped up, “Y-Yeah, Liana, and we can show you some of the cool things we’ve discovered when we’ve gone out around town.” He gestured to himself and Azahar. “We can show you where the winter market was, and where the regular shops are that sell fun stuff!”

“No,” Liana said in a firm, yet calm, tone. “When Daddy an’ Papa came to my old home, they both played with me. So, they should both be there for other fun!” As if that should settle the matter, she walked past Scott and went between the boys, grabbing Azahar and Elowen by the hand. “Okay, breakfast time! You gots to eat a good breakfast before you go out!”

~*~

“Jimmy!! Tango!!” Sausage’s voice rang out over the sea-facing border of the Cod Empire as he flew over, hoping to get the attention of one of them. “I need help with a Warden problem!!”

The door of the fishing shack flew open – presumably from the force of Tango’s kick, seeing as he came out with one upraised foot leading. “Warden?? Where?! Oh, hi! Hi, neighboring Sausage-king-person.” Tango looked eager for details, but waited for Sausage to circle around to make a non-watery landing.

Jimmy wandered out of the shack a moment later, yawning and rubbing one eye. “Sausage, it’s too early for monster wrangling…”

The King of Mythland didn’t bother closing his elytra. “Not when they wander up to the surface overnight! I’ve got a small town in need, and I don’t have a lot of time today, so I thought I’d call on the expert to get it done faster. Oh, and you can help, too, Jimmy.”

The Codfather gave him a disgruntled look, while Tango straightened up proudly. “Of course! Professional wranglers here, at your service.”

“Great,” Sausage said. “Now grab some elytra and follow me! I need to get back a-sap!”

“I’ll get them!” Tango chirped. “I haven’t flown around much. Some practice will be great! fWhip even made me some fireproof ones.” He scurried back inside the shack.

Jimmy waited outside, taking note of Sausage’s clearly bright mood despite the apparent threat. “You’re in quite the hurry. What is going on that you need to rush back? Do you have something nice planned with the princes?”

“Jimmy…” Sausage clapped his left hand onto the Codfather’s shoulder and feigned a somber attitude, then overrode it with a wide grin. “Scott and I just became the proud fathers of a little girl! We brought her home last night! This is our first full day with her, and I have to go deal with some stupid Warden that couldn’t stay in the Deep Dark.” As he spoke, his fingers tightened, digging into Jimmy’s shoulder; Sausage’s grin turned into a clenched-tooth grimace of aggravation.

Jimmy endured it, then pried Sausage’s hand off. “Well, uh, congratulations, and I’m sorry you have a rogue Warden to deal with, today of all days. What’s her name? What’s she like? Hey, it’s actually kind of nice to find out ahead of time instead of a gala invite out of the blue.”

“Oh, Jimmy, she’s the sweetest little elf. Her name is Liana, she’s six and a half years old – she seems to like insisting on the ‘and a half’ part – she loves to talk and ask things and have tea parties, and I can’t wait to see her running around with Bubbles and the boys and having fun together—!!” Sausage pressed the palms of his hands against his cheeks and all but squeed with joy.

“Oh my gosh, Sausage.” Jimmy’s mouth crinkled up in amusement. “She’s got you wrapped around her finger, and it hasn’t even been a whole day! That’s so sweet, man. I’ll look forward to meeting her. Y’know, before or at her debut gala.” He grinned teasingly.

Tango returned before Sausage could comment. He handed Jimmy his elytra, then shrugged his own on. “Alright, now to take care of this little Warden issue. Lead on, Your Highness!” Tango glanced over to see Sausage still in jubilant father mode. “Uh…what’s with him?” he asked Jimmy.

“He has discovered the joy of having a daughter. Give him a second, then you can try using your Warden roar to snap him out of it.”

~*~

The shopping trip quickly became a spectacle of Liana delighting each and every shopkeeper they passed, between her customary announcement of her name – although she cut back on mentioning her age unless someone asked – and her exuberant curiosity about differences she noticed between elven and Mythlandian culture.

Scott opted for the general and practical clothing shops rather than going straight to the tailor; that would be reserved for a special trip closer to a certain date. He left Liana under the supervision of either Azahar or Elowen depending on which one he was assisting at the time – Elowen’s leggings were starting to come up short on him, and Azahar’s shirts were becoming tight across his chest and arms.

Meanwhile, Liana would babble to the shopkeeper and whichever brother was in attendance at the time of how she wanted to look at anything in purple or that had a picture of a bunny on it. Scott would then look through those offerings with her, and she tried on the ones that looked like they might fit. If anything happened to be slightly too big, like in the case of corduroy overalls with a rabbit embroidered on the front pocket, Scott bought it anyway with the idea that it could be stored for the future.

By the time they were done they had amassed six large parcels, the clothing neatly folded and secured with twine, but a bit much to carry home even when Scott tested out carrying them on a gust of cold air with magic. The final shopkeeper agreed to hold onto the lot until Scott could send someone down with a cart to pick it up.

Liana had actually gotten quiet by that point, watching as the parcels were stashed in the shop’s back room. She fidgeted for a moment, then yelled, “Thank you for watching our stuff! When I’m bigger I’ll come back for more bunny dresses! So please have some more!”

The shopkeeper chuckled on his way back to the floor. He dusted off his hands and nodded to Liana. “Sure thing, little Miss. You just let me know when you start outgrowing those, and I’ll put in a special princess order.”

“Yay! Thank you, mister clothes shop owner! DADDY!” she then yelled to Scott, “Thank you for the nice dresses!! Maybe when I outgrow them, we can send them to Silvilana an’ the others! But maybe by then Silvilana will have nice daddies, too! Or nice mommies! Or a nice daddy and mommy? I don’t know, but I hope she goes home, too! An’ the others, an’ then maybe they won’t need my clothes, but there always seemed to be new kids coming in, an’ they should have nice stuff, too—”

Scott patted her on the head. “We’ll look into it when the time comes. Right now, we have one more stop to make, then we’ll go home for lunch and see if Papa is back to eat with us.”

“Are we getting something for you an’ Papa next?” Liana asked, puzzled, as they walked out and headed down the street. “You haven’t gotten anything yet! Ev’ryone should get something, it’s only fair! You were nice an’ gots us lots!” She looked at Azahar and Elowen, expecting them to agree.

Elowen nodded. Azahar chuckled. “She’s right, Dad. You should get a tunic with a rabbit on it. A blue one.”

Scott laughed. Liana jumped forward with both feet to keep pace with his steps, proclaiming, “Or a blue fawn! Ev’ryone should get a picture of their fav’rite thing!”

“You have a point, Liana,” Scott agreed. “But as King Regnant, I have to wear what other grown-ups consider to be dignified clothes.” When she stopped jumping in order to pout up at him, he added, “Maybe I could get something like that on a night shirt.”

Her face brightened. “Yeah! Then you just put on a kingly robe over it to hide it from boring growed-ups!”

They all laughed at the idea, then Scott proceeded to make up increasingly silly scenarios where someone might find out he had pastel blue fawn pajamas. This continued as they traveled along the streets until another clothing shop came into view. The sign hanging outside depicted a formal ball gown. Liana’s eyes widened when she saw the window display. She whispered, “Dresses for meeting princesses…” She then froze on the spot, realizing that she now was that princess.

Scott went to the door and held it open to allow the children to enter first. “You could say this is something for Papa and I: to keep our promise to you.”

Liana hopped up and down, then once again grabbed her new brothers by their hands. “Look, look! Now we can see what I shoulda been wearing to meet you! Now I can fit in with princes!”

Azahar tried to say, “Liana, you were fine meeting us just as you were—” but the words got lost as she pulled them into the shop.

The shopkeeper hurried over as soon as she noticed who had entered. “Your Highness! Young princes! I see you brought a little friend! How may I help you?”

Surprisingly, Elowen was the one to answer. “We need a fancy dress for our new sister.” Scott felt a surge of pride over the younger boy speaking up, yet realized that – perhaps – it was Liana’s energy rubbing off on him that had encouraged him.

Liana hopped up and down again. “That’s me! I’m the princess! An’ I need to look like one! Daddy gots me some nice new things, but Elowen’s right! Princesses need one really fancy dress!”

The shopkeeper looked toward Scott. “How wonderful! My congratulations to you and Lord Sausage! Your family just keeps growing, doesn’t it? What are you looking for in your fancy dress?”

Together Scott and the boys all chorused, “Purple” at the same time, answering even as Liana was opening her mouth.

The little girl giggled and then smiled up at the shopkeeper. “Please, may I see your finest pretty purple dresses?”

~*~

Sausage glanced around the interior of the cave nervously, then hissed, “When I asked you guys for help, I thought Jimmy would be the bait, not me!”

The Codfather grinned from his hiding place behind the pile of rocks that was closer to the entrance than Sausage’s position. He whispered in reply, “Of course I’m not the bait. I’m a professional wrangler now. Don’t worry, Sausage! We’ll get you home to your kiddos in one piece. Relatively speaking.”

Sausage wanted to glare in Jimmy’s direction, but the clacking of Warden antennae made him return his focus to the device nestled behind his ear that connected him to the magic frequency operating his prosthetic, allowing him to control it remotely. The prosthetic was currently secured above a button that would turn on a noise machine, which was intended to lure the stray Warden toward a web of ropes set up to snare the creature. It had wandered deeper into the cave system for the moment, but that didn’t guarantee it wouldn’t wander back out again. “You know what - You know what? If my arm gets damaged, you get to explain to fWhip why!”

Tango, hidden across from Jimmy, replied in a flat tone, “Better your fake arm than your whole, real body.” He was in a strict focused mode now. The change in his demeanor started slow after they had spoken with the townsfolk, the bravest of whom took the three to the road that ran near the cave system where a farmer making an early delivery to the town had heard the frightening sounds of a Warden stomping around. The farmer fled without confirming it, but a few intrepid townspeople investigated, only to flee as soon as they heard it and the tell-tale heartbeat for themselves.

Tango’s blithe attitude toward a potential adventure disappeared completely once the three of them had scoped out the cave; they all immediately went on alert at the sound of the creature sniffing around, and the way Tango launched into an analysis of the terrain led Sausage to not even question the plan when it was first proposed.

Now he was feeling uncertain, however. Tango was correct to use Sausage’s prosthetic to activate the noise machine, avoiding any of them being too close to the Warden after it became attracted to the sound, but Sausage himself still needed to be within a specific range of his prosthetic for the signal to carry. “Tango, I think I like you better when you’re hyper and slightly weird. ‘Serious-Tango’ scares me. This had better work. I want to be able to hug my kids with both arms when I get back.”

Tango uttered a strange sort of squawk. “Shush your face! I can feel it stomping this way again! … Wait for it… Wait for it… Now!”

Sausage could see the glow of the Warden’s open chest and antennae around the corner. He gulped, then directed his prosthetic’s hand to slam down onto the button. The noise machine started up. The Warden grunted and the glow coming off it shifted directions as it lumbered toward the machine.

Sausage suppressed a squeak of relief as he ducked behind cover. He left the rest to the professionals as they sprang into action. He put his attention on the device again to remain aware of whether or not the Warden happened to smash his prosthetic or not – rather than watch it occur with his own eyes. Out of sight there, he could also keep his dramatic worries to himself, quietly whimpering and theatrically crying as he imagined a scenario of him returning home without the prosthetic because he would have had to drop it off at The Grimlands for fWhip to repair, and then Liana and Elowen might even stare at his right side and the lack of arm, and he would get ten thousand bazillion questions about their own imagined scenarios before he could explain, and surely he should make it sound more amazing than just using it to push a single button, and meanwhile Scott and Azahar would probably stand there looking amused because, well, Scott knew the situation, and Azahar would be quick to catch on although he would still be entertained by the adventurous aspect, but Sausage ­still­ wouldn’t be able to hug everyone or pick up Liana and assure her that he was alright, and that they could still have fun the rest of the day, and… [To Be Continued in Chapter Four: The Parties and The First Dreams]

[chez-cinnamon]

Hi, Chezzy! I love your AU, your artwork, comics, how you draw the Welcome Home characters, and everything. They look awesome in your style and you’re really talented and awesome! 🌟✨

I really think it’s nice and wholesome to see Fionn smile and laugh. I also think it’s adorable to see Julie and Frank exploring the woods and look amazed. 💖✨

I also wanted to show you my drawing and was wondering what you think of my version of Eddie in a harpy form. It was the inspiration from The Owl House, and it gave me an idea to draw “Harpy Eddie.” Again, I really think you’re awesome and love your art. ✨✨✨

(Feel free to draw Harpy Eddie if you want to.)

Thank you!!! I'm so glad you like it!! ;0; It's been so much fun developing this AU and the support has been v appreciative!!!

He looks cute!!! I don't take art requests I take commissions but I love his design!!

[otpcutie]

Fic stats game

I was tagged by @endlesstwanted tysm pal🧚🏻💗

Rules: Give us the links to your fics with the most hits, most kudos, most comments, most bookmarks, most words, and least words.

(One of my fics is the top in majority of these categories so some I’ve included second ones, ect :3)

Most hits: Make Me Yours (hits: 92,625) aka the first fic in my polyam Mafia AU with Steve/Bucky/Tony/Peter. It’s also my longest story so far, each chapter includes a fill for the first Bingo I ever participated in. I had so much fun exploring their different relationships and D/s dynamics.

Most kudos: This is Make Me Yours (kudos: 1,796) again, so I’ll include the runner up as well. That is Our Pretty Prize (kudos: 910), the first fic in my Boxers AU with Bucky/Tony/Peter. It was the first time I explored writing Bucky/Tony and I grew so attached I’m ngl. I adore this Peter, I think this is where my love for writing him as an angel and a schemey little shit began <3

Most comments: Make Me Yours (comments: 293). The next is my WIP Steve’s Night Off (comments: 32), where Steve—while unhappily married to Peggy—meets Bucky in a bar and… well, you’d have to find the rest out yourself >:) I’m loving this AU. I’ve managed to include so many tropes/themes that are my jam, including the main one (cheating AU) which I’ve wanted to write for ages.

Most bookmarks: Make Me Yours (bookmarks: 422) and then Smooth Like Whiskey (bookmarks: 105). This is one of my filthier Bucky/Tony fics, with an emphasis on ‘kink with feelings’ aka my fave. Bucky is Tony’s bodyguard and Daddy in it, their relationship being kept under wraps. If I remember correctly, it was my first time writing feminization kink.

Most words: Make Me Words (word count: 76k) has my longest word count. The next is Daddy’s Little Honey Bear (word count: 12k), which is also my longest fic with a Cg/l dynamic—this one being Daddy Steve/little Tony. It’s definitely one of my softest works too, it has a polyam V relationship (Steve/Tony in a QPR and their Cg/l dynamic & Steve/Bucky are married — making Steve the hinge) that is so wholesome. It was really nice writing an aroace character (Tony) too. I even drew art of little Tony to go with the fic.

Least words: I have works that are ‘0’ on AO3 (fanart without accompanying fics), so I’ll exclude those first. That makes my fic with the least words Lost In Green (words: 40), which was a Drarry Drabble/Drawble Challenge entry. I’m not sure it counts because the words are the text I included in the fanart, but it was fun trying something more angsty. Otherwise it’s Helpless (words: 50) which was another Drarry one, this time a Drarry Microfic prompt with a completely different (fluffy) vibe hehe.

Tagging: @katia-anyway @thebisexualmandalorian @buckyismybicycle @beyondtheclose @basicallyahedgehog @ladderofyears @elskanellis @stargazing-enby @andrea1717 & anyone I’ve forgotten! Please tag me in your posts if you play, I’d love to see💚

[stupid-sloot-headcanons]

Since you’re on a Jason V spree I recommend something non-yandere but very wholesome and funny! It’s a “Camp Counselor Jason” comic by junkmixart (they have a tumblr but I recommend reading the comic on webtoon - no daily limit or anything - as it’s easier to find everything in order; their instagram has some more recent additional stuff)

Basically it’s an AU where Jason never drowned at Camp Crystal Lake and as an adult he’s a counselor who loves animals and all the children adore him. Pamela is very protective of him and constantly tries to kill the other counselors. There’s also crossovers with other horror movies!

I'll add it on my list of stuff to check out! The pages I saw look cute

[rhonuscorner]

I just finished CP77 Phantom Liberty's ending and I am in severe emotional pain right now

Spoilers

So yeah.

Saying goodbye to Johnny in that AV hurt me deep in my soul. Max friendship and I knew this wasn't how he wanted to go out - I winced so hard when he said "They're gonna dismantle me" and I agonized for a few minutes on whether I should go through with it or not - but he still made peace with my choice and I just

Ugh.

I can't man.

I adore Johnny as a character and just seeing how sad and lost he looked in those last few minutes, admitting that he was scared, not because he was about to die but because he wouldn't get to see how V got to... live on I guess. I don't remember his exact words but jesus fucking christ.

I MEAN, LOOK AT HIM. LOOK AT THE EXPRESSION ON HIS FACE. It's killing me, I'm so sorry man.

I'm glad we got to have that last conversation and confirm that we were still friends until the very end and that he's made peace with it but this whole ending, man... I think it's the most depressing one out of all of them. I don't think I'd be able to do this ending without the max friendship, or any of the endings. My first ending I ever did was the Arasaka ending and I didn't pick the right choices in Chippin' In, so while I already adored Johnny, he didn't return those feelings and... well. I can't blame him for the harsh things he said in that ending but oof. That hurt too.

This ending though, it's so incredibly bittersweet, and I was a complete and utter sobbing mess through it all. There are no winners in this one... except Judy I guess.

I still have one more ending to do. I sided with Songbird but I have a save right before that. I'm gonna side with Reed this time and finish it up with the secret ending that I've yet to do - saved it for last - and then I'm gonna put this amazing game aside for a while because I need a BREAK from all the emotional gut punches it keeps throwing at me. This game has been eating my time and attention for weeks and weeks and while I loved every second of this insane rollercoaster, I'm looking forward to focusing on wholesome DCA stuff again. Finally finish up the first chapter of my AU and such and do a bunch of new art.

I haven't been this emotionally destroyed by a game since RDR2. 10/10

[starkcanvas]

So how do Mari and Sunny meet their friends in the adorable baby AU?

Haven’t quite gotten that far yet as this AU was kinda just for funsies for me because Mari and Sunny just need new parents that badly, or at least a better Paternal figure and I wanted to give into my sweet little fantasies with Klaus and Del just being wholesome with their kids 🧡💙

Hell, still trying to think of a name for this AU lmao so far, Little Stars AU is winning but I’m open to any more name suggestions. One thing to note though is that I’m officially announcing that Klaus and Del’s ship name will be “Five Stars” instead of “V-Tech” sadly ^^;

But as for the kids meeting, what I have in mind so far is that maybe Mari and Sunny don’t life in Faraway but their family visits there on occasion as it’s the closest place with a park so Klaus and Del like to take the kids out in public for them to meet kids their own age. Del especially as he doesn’t want his kids to be sheltered away like his own Father did with him.

I thought that Mari and Sunny would meet Hero and Kel when both families had gone to Gino’s for lunch and Kel being Kel, got excited at seeing another boy his age lmao the rest happens as it does in canon, they meet Aubrey by helping her find her shoe and then she introduces Basil to everyone :)

Not the final idea but that’s what I can think of at the moment lol take it with a grain of salt

[pipwife]

I'm not sure if distractions are wanted but if so any favourite Genshin Fics?

The entire knowledge I have about the game is wiki based but the fandom produces some amazing smut and dead dove fic; but also a ton of fic, so I'm always looking for recs

Also on the topic of fics yours are v good and uh I've probably started skewing your hit ratios bc I've got abunch bookmarked to reread bc I'm v much the autistic who re-reads with my favourite fics a ton

ajdnshndnsd thank you !!!! 🥺😭💕 i'm so glad you're enjoying them! :D that makes me happy to hear uwaa~

i've only read a few genshin fics so far, but i'm happy to share!! 👀 so far i've been so spoiled with how much "gross" content there's been like... thank you for my life genshin fandom LMAO its such a breath of fresh air after being in the toh fandom.... ive been living underground and i finally get to see the sun again ASDHSNFJEJFJ

most of the fics will be zhongchi i think because that's my current addiction but hopefully there'll be some you like! xD

posting fic recs under readmore because i'm shy hehe

coming in clutch - pwp, eggpreg, dragon zhongli has a Wholesome, Family-Friendly Good Time with his ol' chum tartag- i'm kidding they bone nasty while zhongli is pregnant with an egg. the title makes me choke its so funny

two star dick - childe and zhongli have broken up (tragic!) but luckily childe gets drunk and sends zhongli an Unsolicited Photograph (hilarious!) and it results in angsty pronz. i laughed a lot through this one

⭐️ get in the bunny costume, zhongli - OHOHOHO THIS FIC.... THISSS FIC, BROH...... it's pure filth, wretched filth, and i adore it. its the perfect kind of evil smut that i adore AND IT RESULTS IN EMOTIONAL CULMINATION WHERE CHILDE FACES THE CONSEQUENCES OF HIS MISDEEDS? EXCELLENT. this is the one i recommend the most tbh

in which zhongli encourages brotherly love - you can, uh, guess from the title (and my whole everything) what happens in this one AMDJSNDJSJD mind the tags but this ones a goodie if youre into that! xD

recreate the sea - young xingqiu wants to seduce mr zhongli.... he, uh. gets what he wants. and a little more too 😨🥰 (i read this one a while ago but i remember really liking it)

don't let him see - childe gets noncon'd in front of his brother. then it escalates. 👌 warning for underage, noncon, and mindbreak/drugging

frame the wallflower - longform zhongchi fic with modern au sugar daddy childe and sugar baby zhongli! it was the first fic i read after actually playing the game and has a special place in my heart. plus background kaeluc >:) and i think some bdsm stuff? it reads very much like a good romance novel which i think is why i like it so much xD

i hope you find something you like in there! :D thanks for asking hehe~

[lovespelt]

Okay picture this, Midoriya being a Yamada. Hear me out, Hizashi has a one night stand with Inko who gets pregnant, but dies in child birth. Hizashi has full custody and he's like the best damn father ever. When Midoriya (he kept the last name so that Izuku will know who his mother was) turns 4, his quirk is called Animal Siren the ability to lure animals and to get them to attack people (think of Snow White in Shrek, but as Midoriya). Aizawa becomes Papa no. 2 and Aizawa loves his stepson.

aah wait that is so cute? i love papa hizashi fics 🥺

he rly would b the most enthusiastic dad ever! i bet he would b like one of those PTA moms! like, he would b Super Involved at izuku’s elementary school 

izuku would never doubt that he is loved! bc, like, hizashi would definitely b super affectionate as a dad

also that quirk idea is so cool! kinda like koji’s (i bet they would b best buds in this au!)

i also feel like, with his quirk, izuku would b a total disney princess in this au too?

like, he would always have some sort of bird or fluffy woodland critter hanging around...it would b too cute 😢

love the erasermic aspect too!

i will always love aizawa and hizashi coparenting izuku.. izuku would love his weird chaotic dads so much 🥺 🥺 🥺 

[magicrested-a]

          ❝  Well,   𝙷𝙴𝙻𝙻   I   guess.  But   if   you   want   me   to   be   more   specific   I   need   to   sit   down  ❞   rolling   his   bottom   lip   in,   teeth   holding   onto   it   so   it   didn’t   spread   into   a   grin.  Wyatt   held   a   small   jar   in   his   hand.  His   fingers   were   tossing   it   back   and   forth,   shaking   the   contents   inside   of   it   around   like   jelly   sticking   to   the   sides,  𝚂𝚀𝚄𝙸𝚂𝙷𝙸𝙽𝙶   and   stretching   as   it   squelched   back   and   forth.

          His   hands   were   used   to   constantly   moving,   the   𝙴𝙽𝙴𝚁𝙶𝚈   running   around   him   like   the   sun.  But   he’d   been   stuck   posing   as   a   whitelighter,   forever   doomed   to   only   showing   so   many   powers.  Sure,   these   girls   were   ‘ new ’.  Maybe,   if   he   was   smart,   he   could   convince   them   that   he   (   for   some   ‘ unknown ’   reason   )    had   more   powers   ‘  than   the   average   bear ’.   But   he   wasn’t   smart,   not   when   he   was   in   an   𝙸𝙼𝙿𝙾𝚂𝚂𝙸𝙱𝙻𝙴   situation,   hiding   in   plain   sight   when   he   should’ve   ran.

          He   was   the   Twice   Blessed   Child.  Last   Halliwell   under   the   thumb   of   The   Elders.   Sure,   his   glamour   hid   himself   well   enough   from   𝚃𝙷𝙴𝙼.  But   they   wouldn’t   let   him   go  ...  especially   if   he   was   with   their   new   ‘ weapons ’.    ❝  I   got   what   you   asked   for  ❞   passing   Mel   the   jar,   he   shoved   his   hands   in   the   pockets   of   his   jacket   ❝   see,   told   you   I’m   not   squeamish. ❞

@weirdradios​   /   ANSWERED !

[ahundredtimesover]

December 2021 Reads

Rounding out 2021 with this list so here are my December reblogs of JK (and other members) fics (x f. reader/OC). Please note the angst, fluff, and smut descriptions. Much love to the authors (reblog, comment, but please be kind) for gifting us with all these wonderful stories, and to our lovely buns who helped us get through another tough year. 🐨🐹🐱🐿🐥🐻🐰 Happy New Year to everyone! 🎊

*’read for’ are guides for me!

Sleeposal + Re:posal by @joyfulhopelox (f) - boyfriend/fiance jk (read for something cute and heartwarming with whipped jk)

Blueberries by @softyoongiionly (f, s) - best friends au (read for something sweet, funny, comforting, with lovely smut and cute relationships)

Among the evergreen by @rosaetae (f) - strangers au (read for something light and fun with cute banter and festive vibe)

Miracle in Room 901 pt.1 + pt.2 by @aredheadedmess (a, f) - husband au (read for something beautifully heartbreaking and tragic but lovely written)

A Bam protected pregnancy by @blu-joons (f) - dad jk (read for something short and cute of guard dog Bam and adorable dad jk)

Howling for you by @fortunexkookie (f, s) - fantasy au, werewolf jk (read for something tense with really hot smut and soft moments)

Bike cage by @hamsterclaw (f, s) - workmates au (read for something soft, funny, and flirty, with fun and sexy characters)

Anti-romantic by @gashinabts (a, f, s) - boyfriend au (read for more horniness, hot smut, and so much love)

Gamer jaykay by @ughcore (s) - boyfriend au (read for hot smut with boyfriend jk who can’t resist you)

Suck it up! By @jungkxook (f, s) - fantasy au, vampire jk, friends au (read for something chill and lighthearted with good smut)

To know you is to love you by @jimilter (f, s) - fantasy au, fae, vampire au (read for a fun concept, banter and interesting characters and backstories, and hot smut with sexy jk and a lighthearted read)

All flowers by @holdinbacksecrets (f) - friends au (read for a soft and comforting read written so beautifully)

Euphoria by @holdinbacksecrets (a) - exes au, idol jk (read for well written emotion and imagery and yearning and longing and comfort) 

Watermelon sugar by @joonscypher (a, f) - strangers au, surfer jk (read for that cute summer romance with fun flirting and banter, and cheeky and whipped jk)

Wishing for you pt.1, pt.2 + My lucky stars by @kookiestarlight (a, f, s) - husband au (read for heart wrenching angst and painful things but a soft ending and the sweetest, most loving husband jk) 

Foundation pt.1, pt.2, pt.3 (ft. Yoongi) by @hamsterclaw (a, f, s) - workmates au, hospital au (read for cute flirting and banter, really hot smut with jk&yg, mature characters, and hints of angst and fluff that’s great all throughout)

Tyrant love by @moon-write (a, f) - popstar jk, smau (read for a beautifully written and absolutely fun, heartwarming, and heartbreaking smau with amazing characters and relationships and so much love and emotion) 

The love after by me (a, f, s) - fantasy au, werewolf jk

Warming up by @mimikookie (s) - friends au (read for something short and smutty with fun characters)

 Fake emergency by @blu-joons (f) - idol jk (read of adorable and whipped jk)

Only for love by @lysjeon (a, f) - single dad jk, smau (read for lovely OC and adorable uncle bts and fluff and softness and fun characters)

Risk it by @kookiesjoonies (a, f, s) - exes au, smau (read for raw emotions with fun and hilarious moments but with angst that hits hard)

Again by @valorkook (f) - boyfriend au (read for something sad and hopeful, a short but sweet read)

Tiger flower by @v-hope (a, f, s) - college au, boyfriend au, smau (read for lovable and entertaining characters, something so fluffy and fun and wholesome, a beautifully written world and one of my fave OC-JK couples ever)

Permission to pleasure by @bangtanbetchfics (s) - idol jk (read for tease but super hot jk and sexy sexy smut)

Other members

Permission to pleasure by @bangtanbetchfics (s) - idol au; KNJ | KSJ | MYG | JHS | PJM | KTH (read for the sexiest of smuts)

KNJ

Technology is a bummer by @joheunsaram (f) - workmates au, hospital au (read for flirty then shy NJ talking science and being all cute and sexy about it)

Love at dozen sights by @hueseok (f) - neighbors au (read for ITS Namjoon with so much cuteness and sexiness and adorable flirting)

KSJ

Embers of fire by @chateautae (a, f, s) - husband au (read for marriage on the rocks fic with sexy sj at the end when he’s being protective and caring)

   (monthly reads masterpost)      

[broadway-ghoul]

I’m home sick rn and I’ve been binge reading everything I can get my hands on. Including checking all 476 works with the Yomo Renji tag on Ao3...

Ahem

Here are all the kinda Yomo-centric ones, or atleast where he playes a kinda big part.

Popsicles  - nsfw , Yomo/Uta. Uta fucks Yomo into the mattress. First part kinda made me wanna die of second hand embarassment but the ending’s worth it. 7/10

Precious moments - fluff, Yomo and others being adorable. I’ve re-read this so many times and it’s so cute, Hinami bullies Yomo into braiding her hair. 100/10

V. - fluff/angst, five stages of Hikari’s life. Heartbreaking, but so so good. I:Brother, II:Husband, III:Daughter, IV:Son, V:Self. 100/10

Safe Heaven - Haise’s hurt and he follows his instincts. I actually quite like this one. 8/10

A penny for her thoughts - a drabble collection starring Touka. Chap 2 contains most Yomo. 10/10

Gift horses - Uta participates in valentines day, much to everyones annoyance and my amusement. 9/10

Promised land - Touka and Ayato throughout the series. Not my fave but still good. 6/10

Send to - Kaneki tries to send spicy text to Touka, he accidentally sends them to Yomo. Deadass almost had me in tears. 100/10

Hope - Yomo and Ayato have a short conversation at :re when Touka’s away. I waws hoping Ayato would figure it out, but alas. 7/10

:re - unfinnished work but the first chapter can be read as a stand-alone. Sweet and sad at the same time. also Yomo can’t read- 7/10

Tradition - Uta makes something new for Ichika every year. very wholesome. 9/10

Choosing; Being Chosen; Nothing More - Ichika being surrounded by people who love her. Yomo and Ichika and Uta chap 5. Very sweet. 9/10

A storie like this before - Stories about Hikari and Arata. I like it. 6/10

Unmasked - Uta plays therapist for Hide. Not much Yomo but still 5/10

Memento - Yomo hates hit birthday but Uta got him a gift anyway. Holy mother of god, its so bittersweet. 100/10

Vectors - Angst, canon typical content but starring Uta and Yomo, 8/10

Father figure - Arata’s alive, it’s got the grammar of a 10 yo and it’s not really good but Ii’m putting it in anyway. 2/10

Osaka - Kaneki’s blind. Hide and Yomo helps. Its sweet. 9/10

Wouldn’t be so bad - angst, Nishki loses his crap(understandably) and Yomo has to restrain him. 7/10

 Beam - Hide ft. Anteiku Bonding. Hide being the sunshine that he is. 9/10

Hold me closer - there’s only one person who gets to see Yomo greive. Yomo has a mental breakdown and Uta comforts him. 100/10

And if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take - Angst, death, Yomo/Uta, this one hurt like a mf. I think this one’s my fave. 200/10.

the truth about presents - the wrapingpaper is determined to make Yomo’s life hell. Yomo/Uta. 9/10

Take me, tease me - nsfw, Yomo/uta. Chap 1 and 3. I like chapter 1 much better than 3. chapter 1 = 10/10.

Glimmer - fluff, Yomo never grew out of his habbit of sitting in high places. 8/10

Welcome home - unfinished, but oh it’s so good. Very sad it’s discontinued. It had so much potential. Human AU! Yomo returnes to Anteiku after 10 years to make amends after he abondoned everyone and everything. 9/10.

The Raven - a poem about our favourite Raven, I know nothing about poetry but I thought it was pretty good. 7/10

The fools journey of fatherhood - discontinued but can be read as multiple short stories, Anteiku gang tries to survive taking care of Kaneki’s child, chap 4 contains the most Yomo. It’s so funny 8/10

Marble Investigator (Amon weighs more than a tree) - Both Amon and Kaneki pass out after their firsrt battle and Yomo carries them both back to Anteiku. Yomo is unbothered by Touka’s rage. 15/10 it’s so funny guys.

Scratches - Yomo fucks up but Uta’s there to take care of him, thankfully. 10/10

Acceptance - Yomo’s perspective on when Haise and the other doves visit :re. sad 9/10

Remain - Yomo fondly remenising about his and Uta’s relationship throughout the years. 8/10

Unfinished buisness - snfw ,Kaneki and Touka get cockblocked by their own child. They give the child to Yomo to babysit so they can fuck in peace. mostly Touka/kaneki smut so 5/10.

snowfall - it’s snowing in the 4th ward, Uta’s inlove with Yomo. 10/10. it was peacefull to read.

Sunshine - Itori/Uta/Yomo. It’s a very well written story, highly recomend. Itori and Uta meeting Yomo and later deciding to bring him into their relationship and how their life goes. Chap 5 can be read as a stand alone but i recomend the whole thing. 9/10

Tangled. - Yomo/Uta being cute. Uta touches Yomos eyes, with permission. 9/10

Christmas - Uta has to dress up as santa because Ichika is getting suspicious as to why uncle Yomo never gets to meet santa. Its so cute help 100/10

Enjoy!~