#accidentally tagged this as shadows for some reason
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ordinary-barbie · 3 days ago
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scary dog privileges.
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summary: Nobody's messing with you as long as Rafe Cameron is around.
pairing: rafe x sweet!pogue!reader
word count: 1.7k
tags: fem!reader, swearing, a guy acts like a creep towards reader, fingering, cunnilingus, p in v sex (protected), mutual orgasms
note: dipping my toes into obx fanfic after hyperfixating/crushing on Drew Starkey and reading a ton of Rafe stories, haha. I have not seen the show but I'm shooting my shot here anyway!
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They say that opposites attract, which couldn't be more accurate regarding your relationship with Rafe Cameron.
Rafe was the Kook king of Kildare Island, someone who oozed cockiness and arrogance. Meanwhile, you were a soft-spoken Pogue. When people spotted the two of you together, they couldn't wrap their heads around it, and frankly, neither could you. Rafe had his pick of any girl on the island - especially the Kooks - but somehow he only had eyes for you, which warmed your heart.
It all started last year, with a party at Tannyhill to celebrate your class graduating from high school. You were content to stay under your covers, binging Love Island Australia on Hulu, but your friend Olivia had begged you to come with her. Eventually, you relented, your curiosity about one of Rafe Cameron's famous parties getting the better of you.
Within five minutes, you'd ran into Rafe—literally. You'd been swaying to the music and accidentally bumped into him, spilling your drink all over his shirt. You'd been mortified, apologizing profusely and insisting on helping him clean up.
Rafe was a goner ever since.
Now it was time for another Tannyhill bash to celebrate the start of summer, and you were squarely by Rafe's side. In the year you'd been together, you'd discovered how protective your boyfriend was. He held onto you like an anchor, always having an arm wrapped around your waist or shoulders, no matter if he was talking to Topper and Kelce or kicking some rando's ass at beer pong. You appreciated it; parties often made you feel like a nervous baby deer, and it was nice to have someone to hold on to.
Unfortunately, you couldn't always be joined at the hip. "I'm gonna piss but I'll be right back, baby," Rafe promised, giving your ass a light squeeze on the way to the bathroom. As soon as your boyfriend was out of sight, your smile dropped. While you'd made an effort to get to know Rafe's friends, you were still incredibly nervous in a house full of Kooks.
To kill some time, you scrolled through Instagram, giggling at Olivia's latest story. She'd posted herself having a "friendly pizza sesh" with a guy, but you knew she'd had a huge crush on him since high school.
Suddenly, a shadow passed over you. "What's got you laughing like that, pretty girl?" You jumped, startled by the unfamiliar male voice.
A smirking guy with short, curly dark brown hair and glinting hazel eyes sauntered up to you. "Hey, I'm Aidan. I'm new in town—but maybe a cute thing like you could show me around?" he lazily drawled.
Your skin prickled with discomfort. You suddenly wanted to shrink into yourself, but you forced yourself to smile anyway. "Sorry, I'm not interested."
Aidan laughed, undeterred, and leaned into you. "Playing hard to get, huh? That's kinda hot," he whispered into your ear, making your stomach churn.
"I said no thanks," you responded, laughing nervously. You should run. You needed to get out of there. But for some reason, you found yourself rooted to the spot, trapped with Aidan and the pungent stench of his cologne.
Aidan pouted, using his arms to pin you against the wall. "C'mon babe, just give me a chance. I don't bite."
"How many times is she gonna tell you to fuck off before you get the point?" Relief flooded your chest at the sound of your boyfriend's voice.
Aidan rolled his eyes. "Why don't you fuck off, dude? We were having a moment."
Rafe glared at Aidan, his eyes blazing with rage, and grabbed the other boy by the collar of his Lacoste polo. "That's my girlfriend, you jackass. And you're gonna step the fuck away from her. Now."
You suddenly felt a zinging sensation in your core, turned on by Rafe's behavior. He was so sweet and silly and kind but could turn into a snarling dog in an instant — definitely not someone to fuck around with.
Rafe released Aidan's collar and the brunette gulped, suddenly trembling with fear.
"I - I'm sorry man. I had no idea," Aidan stammered. "I'll leave her alone."
Rafe wrapped a protective arm around your waist, scowling at Aidan. "Get the fuck out of my house."
Aidan meekly nodded, scurrying out of Tannyhill. The party filled with laughter, with people cheering Rafe on. But Rafe ignored the commotion, only focused on you.
"I'm so sorry baby. I should've been there to protect you from that—that asshat," Rafe apologetically said, tenderly stroking your cheek. You leaned into his touch, instantly comforted by the warmth radiating from his body.
"It's okay, Rafe," you assured him. "It's not like you could take me into the bathroom with you."
Rafe frowned, kissing the top of your head. "Maybe I should. Can't have these fuckin creeps tryna mess with my girl."
You laughed, shaking your head at your well-meaning boyfriend. "I adore you, but I'm not gonna stand there and watch you pee."
Rafe flashed you a lopsided grin. "Why not? We've done way worse things in there. That poor sink has seen some shit."
You playfully shoved Rafe's shoulder. "Rafe Alexander Cameron! I can't believe my knight in shining armor is so crass."
"Don't act like you don't love it, baby," he casually replied, kissing your neck. You let out a soft moan, tilting upward so Rafe could have more access.
The two of you were interrupted by the sound of Topper fake retching. "Begging y'all to please get a room," he pleaded. You couldn't help but snicker at Topper's dramatics.
Rafe lazily flipped off his friend before whisking you off to his bedroom and locking the door. "Get on the bed for me, pretty girl," Rafe said huskily, brushing his lips against your ear. Damn, that nickname sounded so much sexier from Rafe's lips than that douche from earlier. (Aaron? Andrew?)
You kicked off your sandals and laid down on top of Rafe's king-sized bed, pulling off your dress and underwear. Rafe quickly shed himself of his clothes and laid on top of you, kissing down every inch of your body.
"So I'm your knight in shining armor, huh? Well let me give my princess the treatment she deserves," Rafe drawled, relishing in the way your body reacted to his touch.
He plunged two fingers inside you, pumping them in and curling them right against your sweet spot. You gasped, loving the way he stretched you out. Rafe had been the only guy you'd ever slept with and at this point, you couldn't imagine yourself with anyone else; how could you, when you've only experienced the best?
You began to crave more than just his fingers, however. "Rafey," you whined, fully overcome with lust.
Rafe chuckled, lazily rubbing at your clit. "Use your words, princess. Tell me how to make you feel good."
You gulped, still feeling a little timid when it came to expressing your desires in the bedroom. "I need—I need your mouth, Rafey. Please."
Rafe knitted his eyebrows in mock confusion. "Where, baby? Your lips? Your cheek? Your forehead?"
"Rafe Cameron. Eat my pussy before I explode," you begged, your horniness taking over.
Rafe smirked, pulling his fingers out of you before slowly running his tongue across your folds. “Fuck, I love it when you talk dirty. Almost as much as I love this sweet little pussy. She's already so wet for me, holy shit."
You whimpered, arching your back in ecstasy as Rafe continued to pleasure you, kissing and sucking at your clit. You felt that familiar fire in your stomach, a sure sign that your climax was fast approaching.
"Oh, Rafe—'m gonna cum," you moaned, your legs shaking. Rafe sped up his movements, rubbing your clit with his thumb and index finger while pumping his tongue in and out of your hole. Eventually the dam burst and you felt your orgasm wash over you as your legs clamped down on either side of Rafe's head.
You took a minute to come down from your high, admiring the sight of your boyfriend with mussed-up hair and your glistening slick decorating his face. Even while looking totally disheveled, Rafe was a work of art.
Rafe wiped his face with the back of his hand, savoring the rest of your juices on his fingers. "Always my favorite meal baby," he purred. "But now I need to be inside you. Turn around for me, princess."
You shifted your position on the bed so you were lying on your stomach while Rafe rummaged in his bedside drawer for a condom. You heard him unwrapping the foil packet and rolling the condom on before feeling the head of Rafe's cock teasing your hole. You let out a breathy moan, loving and loathing the teasing simultaneously.
Rafe held on to your hips as he pushed into you, thrusting in and out at a steady pace. "Can't get enough of this pussy," he grunted. "So warm and tight f'me."
The din of the party going on downstairs faded away, and you could only focus on the sounds of sex occurring in the room: the duet of moans between Rafe and you, the creak of the bed, the sound of skin slapping against skin. A year ago, you couldn't imagine coming out of your shell like this. But now? Well—
"Gonna cum again, Rafey," you breathily blurted out, feeling your pussy clench down on Rafe's cock.
"Fuck yeah, princess, just come all over my cock," Rafe groaned.
Almost as if on cue, you felt your climax wash over you, and Rafe helped you ride out your orgasm before spilling his load into the condom. You had a fleeting thought about Rafe shooting his cum inside you instead, but you weren't quite ready for that yet.
You and Rafe took a minute to catch your breaths before he took off the condom and tied it up, tossing it into the wastebasket next to his bed. He rolled over on his side, enveloping you in his arms and burying his head in the crook of your neck, inhaling your scent.
"Baby, you're incredible," Rafe murmured, kissing your shoulder.
You smiled, feeling light and airy inside. "Rafe, you're incredible. Thanks for being my scary dog earlier."
"I'm sorry, 'scary dog?'" Rafe repeated with a laugh.
"Scary dog privilege. It's something I saw on TikTok," you explained. "Basically it means that if you're with an intimidating-looking person, people will leave you alone because they don't want to mess with a scary dog. And seeing you be protective like that? It was pretty hot."
Rafe fondly gazed at you, stroking your hip. "Well shit, I'll be your scary dog anytime then, baby."
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diorysuss · 2 years ago
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azure was/is a huge baby person, which is why she loves baby rufus so much
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bet-on-me-13 · 2 years ago
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Danny runs for Mayor P.2
kgned3Part 1
Some more snippets of the Gotham Mayor Danny AU!
...
Danny would absolutely try to hire some of the Rouges as his Mayoral Cabinet, I can just imagine Waylon Jones, the Killer Croc, in a Suit and Slacks sitting in a the Mayors Office while awkwardly holding his resume.
Danny: So, Mr. Jones, why do you think we should hire you? Waylon: Well sir, I have something of a reputation and I feel like I would be an amazing Bodyguard. Danny: OK, one question though. What is your opinion on Clowns? Waylon: I don’t like them. Danny: Hired!
...
Danny: Now, Mr Nygma, what do you think you would bring to my office? Edward: Well sir, I am fairly well known for my expert planning and timing skills. Also I can give you fun riddles whenever you want! Danny: Hmmm, that’s definitely a good point. One question, if needed, will you attack a clown on sight? Edward: Yes? Danny: Hired!
...
Danny: Now, I can see that you used to have a very reputable resume Mr. Dent. Harvey: Thank you sir. Danny: I can’t see any reason to refuse your application, but I do have one question. Do you like Clowns? Harvey: Uhm...yes? Danny: I am sorry dir, but I am going to have to reject your application for a job in the Mayors office. Mr Jones, please escort this man out 
...
Danny would absolutely do an amazing job in decreasing the crime rate, just by virtue of the fact that his very presence is destabilizing the Curses put on the City.
But at the same time, his policies are also very efficient, based on Gen Z Humor/Ideas
Danny: As my new Law states, every year the most rich person in the City will be forced to give up 70% of their assets to Charity. You can avoid this by donating as much as possible in the weeks leading up to the Sacrifice Day, whoever donates the most is exempt from the choosing even if they are the Richest, we will then move on to the second Richest, and so on Reporter: Sir, isn’t this just the “Winner Of Capitalisms” Prompt from Tumblr? Danny: Yes.
...
Batman: Why did you just pass a Law that states that all Vigilantes are given the right to kill? Danny: Because I accidentally hired every villain in Gotham, so now there is nobody to try and bribe me. And if nobody tries to bribe me, then nobody realizes that I will only accept bribes if the Joker is dead, like I said in my Campaign. I know that you guys have a no-kill rule, but I know at least one of you who would jump at the chance  Batman: *realizes that Dick has already killed the Joker once, Jason is actively attempting to every day, Tim is chaos incarnate and would do it to feel included, and Damian just really wants to let loose* Well played...
...
Danny: Vlad, I am serious. Leave me alone or I will put you in Soup Jail for 3 months! Vlad: FINE! I’ll just go possess another Billionaire to force them to give me their company again Batman, listening from outside the window: What the f-
...
Danny in every conversation with the Batfamily: I re-respect your decision to not tak-take a life...but I must insist you kill the Joker...for the good of the peephol-People! He is not a good inf-influence on this city and he must be des...troyed. Batman: *Wondering why he sounds like he is reading from a script* Um, I don’t think thats a good idea? Lady Gotham: *Standing behind Batman with some Cue Cards, trying to communicate with her Knights through Danny* *Thumbs Up* Danny: Also I wanted to say that you need to- oh um, ok- to get over the deaths of your parents and grieve in a healthy way instead of adopting every child you see. You are doing a great job kid, parentheses, do not read this par- Oh-Oops. Batman: Hm. I’m not even going to question that anymore.
...
Tag List:
@skulld3mort-1fan @kgne-k @deatlive @alcorbearson @we-ezer @auralykos @dakkapel @alinmenttreasure @lord-of-0blivion @countessdragon @naluforever3 @fylylowo @shadow-otaku20 @dannyphantomphan @heirxofxtime @ourrechte-blog @fantasticbluebirdfan @imnotgrimmjustagrumpyreader @mssagoberattare @elvesandlanterns @space-dreams-world @lizz-blizt @stargirl1331 @totallysmores-blog @screamingtofillthevoid @malice-of-the-sunrise @olivethetreebitch @addie-lover-of-stories @thatonegaybitch68 @asphyxia778 @top7879 @biance-hooks123 @runfromthemedic @dionysuss-big-naturals @the-legal-shipper @icepopstar5105us @
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i-live-here-in-my-house · 25 days ago
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Thinking about a world where Sega and Capcom came together and gave us what we all deserve: a Sonic X Ace Attorney crossover game. I would think it'd lean more into a visual novel style, maybe with some parts more similar to the Investigation games where you play as Sonic in kinda an isometric platforming stage? Honestly that part isn't as fully formed in my mind.
Some sort of Eggman plot ends up getting everyone accidentally sent to the world of AA while he's on the search for some kinda spirit channeling maguffin to aid him in a take-over-the‐world-plot. And of course Phoenix "luckiest unlucky man ever" Wright ends up getting himself stuck right in the middle of it all.
For the first/tutorial case I think Sonic would absolutely need to be the defendant. I would think the events of the case probably take place either the same day of or the day after the Sonic cast gets transported into the world. Something along the lines of Sonic not having an alibi because he was moving too fast for them to see him would be a perfect kinda turnabout twist to combine the logic of both series together imo.
Also throughout the whole game there would 100% be a running gag about people mistaking Phoenix and Sonic for eachother purely because of Wright's hair and Sonic's quills
Case two's defendant is a toss up between Knuckles or Tails imo, I lean more towards Knuckles being the one though for one very important reason. Tails would be perfect for the Ace Attorney 'weird girl assistant' role. Obviously Sonic would be tagging along too (because no way in hell would you not be able to have both protagonists hanging out together) but Tails would be totally down to help and Sonic, while he totally wants to help Knux, is very much in a "I could just break him out and be back before they could even notice he's gone" mood which is causing Phoenix just SO much grief.
I think this would probably break from the general mold of AA and not be a murder case and instead be a larceny case, with Knuckles being accused of the crime due to his digging skills, and the fact that tunnels were found all around the property of the stolen object. This is where we learn about this spirit channeling macguffin through either a Pearl cameo, who we learn through fluff dialogue is now an honorary member of Team Rose due to how well she gets along with them. It turns out to actually be Rouge who stole the macguffin under orders from G.U.N to keep it out of Eggman's hands meaning she doesn't sentenced for the crime since she technically didn't break any laws.
Case three's defendant would be Big the Cat because I think it'd be funny. Something along the lines of Big looking for Froggy and ending up at a totally unrelated murder scene. You play as Apollo in this case because he's my favorite boy and I think it'd be funny to watch him struggle with having to deal with Big. Just a general silly case full of wacky crossover fun before getting more seriously into the plot with the final two cases. Also the Chaotix are there because you can't have a mystery game without detective. Are the helping? Are they against you? Not really sure. But it'd be a massive missed opportunity to NOT include them.
Amy would be case four's defendant, with her piko piko hammer being found at the scene and Omega's body being found in pieces. That's right! I think it'd be interesting to have a named character be the victim of one of these cases, but obviously I'm not gonna kill anyone off. I think Omega would be the best pick though since he's a robot and it'll take time for Tails to fix him from the totally wrecked state he's in. I think it'd be fun to have Shadow as a key witness in this case, believing Amy did it. He doesn’t want to suspect she did something like this, but claims he saw her in the act of tearing Omega apart with her hammer, take the macguffin and then bolt.
It goes without saying it's obviously Eggman trying to frame Amy for this, using Metal Sonic to frame her by using his shape shifting powers from Heros to disguise himself as her, take apart Omega to retrieve the macguffin, and get it to Eggman. Leading into the final case.
The final case would be a continuation from there with out heros all joining together to try and stop Eggman from using the machine being powered by the Macguffin. Maybe something about Phoenix needing to come with because his magatama is able to counteract it...? Idk. Get that mandatory Edgeworth cameo in there with it being revealed that him and Franziska were teaming up with Team Dark the whole game to help put a stop to things (Giving us fun Phoenix + Sonic and Edgeworth + Shadow parallels). Of course the heros manage to put a stop to things and everyone goes back to their own world yadda yadda happy ending.
This came out way longer than I expected haha but I hope y'all like the concept! If I had the patience I'd totally write this as a fan fic but I know I don't so if anyone wants to take my idea and expand on it absolutely do it! Just let me know so I can read it too. :3
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acerathia · 2 months ago
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novae || Xiao
Summary:
nova: a star that ejects some of its material in the form of a cloud and becomes more luminous in the process
The souls filled with karma find relief under the touch of your skin. Yet, you've never tried to cleanse anyone, not since you've gained your freedom. Until the one you're indebted to asks you to help a certain Adeptus. And who are you to refuse?
Wordcount: 4.6k
Read on AO3
Pairing:
Xiao / Reader
Tags/CW:
reader is an adeptus, implied to be an electro user, flashbacks to the archon war, slight deception by healing xiao, slowly falling in love, giving him flowers, making him food, confessions, both love and others, indirectly though, promises to stay
Note:
I lack human contact waow,,, sorry for the repost, accidentally deleted it whoops
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Everything hurt, soreness laying a thick coat over your very being. You’re barely able to feel your fingertips, only the tingling at their base assures you of their continued existence. Tongue darting you, you lick at your chapped lips, trying to ignore the dryness in the cavity of your mouth itself. But even your tongue feels barren, your attempt futile. Your skin feels like it’s going to crack the moment you dare to move, so you lay still, wishing for a mere drop of water to fall upon you, to let you relish in its spirit of life. This feeling of helplessness makes you wish you were dead. Yes, death. Something to truly free you from your suffering. Yet, your own body shackles you in your immortality; left with no choice but to let yourself rot without any perceptible changes. The rot only you can feel, the rot only you can accept and take. A blessing turned curse. Like any old fairy tale. But you doubt that you’re going to have a happy end. Not with the ravage happening outside.
At least that’s what you think it might happen outside, stuck in the darkness, a cave with no escape. A prisoner only used for your essence only to be tossed aside once your use has expired, but never freed, never let go. Being in the palm of their hands feels like the cold ground underneath you. Unwelcoming, hard, a chill to your bones, and a constant ache.
You barely remember how much time you have spent in this prison, shadows swallowing everything you could use to discern the passing of the passages of time. You barely remember the first days of your stay; filled with fights, heat, resistance. You barely remember, but your body certainly does, clamping up at the mere roughness of someone, at every instance someone raises their voice, no matter the reason.
Suddenly, some dust flutters down, freed from the ceiling far above, only to get inhaled by your lungs. A cough wracks your body, and with every contraction it feels like a piece of you is going to splinter and break away. The tiny vibrations, once not perceptible and instantly there, are shaking you to the core. And you knew what’s going to happen shortly, what they’re going to do to you once again. With every visit you are left with more pain, with more nightmares, with less life. Yet, this is the only way for you to survive, even if involuntarily. As long as you were of use to them, they weren’t likely to get into the mood to rid themselves of you. Not that they cared about your existence beyond what you could offer them. As long as you pleased them. And never do they offer you anything in return, leaving you hollowed, cracking yet filled with vitality beyond what you desire.
The trembling grows into a rumble, the ground shaking as rock scrapes against rock. They’re here. And they’re going to give you their pain, the alienations they’re suffering from, pushing them into you to get rid of all their own suffering. And you can’t help but be curious why. What is going on outside your isolated cave for them to come back on the brink of their eternal sleep?
You turn your head slightly towards the opening of the cave, even if the spraying light might blind you, might warm you, you try to take a peek outside, as you do every single time with no avail. But this time, this time you’re facing something much brighter, a different figure towering over the entrance. His eyes are glowing a bright ember. And suddenly, a feeling of safety envelops you.
*-*
Sunshine warms your skin, flooding your sight underneath your eyelids with a bright peach orange. A groan escapes you, as you try to shut your eyes even tighter, but the effort of ridding yourself of the light is simply not worth it. So, you slowly open your eyes again, only to be greeted by the almost red leaves swaying with the breeze. Some of the leaves freed themselves, slowly traveling down towards you. And you stretch out your arm to catch one, yet, despite its close proximity, you miss your chance, and the leaf continues on its journey, only to be joined by the wind.
With a silent thud, you let your arm fall back down. With your eyelids fluttering, leaving your vision blurry and unfocused, you simply watch the intricate dance of the wind, only visible by the twirls of the leaves around it. There’s no need for you to move, no reason at all. Your motivation to go around your day to day life does not exist. Even if you have responsibilities, ones which do not matter in times of peace, reducing their importance to nothing but ashes of the past. Being made an adeptus amounts to nothing after all. And you’re not someone who desires to sniff out the affairs of others, to simply have something to do. Just doing nothing is enough for you, being free to do so is enough for you. That’s your mindset; as long as you’re free, nothing truly matters.
That’s at least what you’re trying to tell yourself. But the moment a rich voice, one all-too familiar, sounds from underneath the tree you're sitting on, you immediately jolted into an upright position, your eyes scanning the table down below. Your first thought is that you might be experiencing some kind of hallucination, but then you remember that you would have noticed any influence on your mind and body. Still, you can’t believe your eyes. It’s almost like a memory came to life. Amber eyes, a brown ponytail, and the same tea he’s always sipping on.
A chuckle. “Good morning, my dear. May I inquire why you have been neglecting your responsibilities?”
Startled, you want to immediately jump down and to make sure that everything before you is real, but you feel a weird coldness on your face and you lead your fingers to your cheeks. Wetness. One sticking to the corners of your eyes, almost dry tracks running down your skin; and your eyes flicker. Have you been crying? There’s no reason for you to cry.
You furrow your eyebrows as you scrub the remnants of whatever happened in your sleep away. Glancing back down, Rex Lapis is still there, waiting for your answer with incredible patience, one that should be unaccustomed to you, his rage and short temper something you got acquainted with the moment you first met him.
Yet, you’re thankful for his patience as you finally make your way down to him, taking a seat on the other side of the table. And then you rest your head on your palm, elbows on the table, body leaning dangerously to the side.
“Good morning, Rex Lapis. Well, I’ve gotten used to not following any responsibilities, you see, not a bit of motivation in my bones. Surely you must understand that, Sir.” Your eyes flutter and stay heavy lidded, even if your heart is beating much too loud in your head.
This is Morax, Rex Lapis. The One who Strikes Deals. And you reckon you have a certain deal with him, even if he never was one to ensure your part to be fulfilled. Now he comes to collect.
A sip of tea. A moment of silence. You peeking at him from between your eyelashes. His cup returns to the small plate with a clink similar to a bell, making you shiver.
“Well, I suppose I do. Yet, a broken contract has consequences, and you are very well aware of that, yes?”
His gaze upon you is soft, a glint akin to the warm sunshine, nothing like the blazing fire that once occupied his mind. You swallow, pulling your shoulders closer to your ears. Morax doesn’t need any answer, he simply continues.
“Then, you shall go to Wangshu Inn. Once you have arrived you will know what to do.”
Immediately, you straighten up, nodding your head, only to bow before him the moment you’re back on your feet. Your heart is still beating, yet your worries ease at his soft voice, not a hint of malice to be felt. Rather, it almost seemed like Rex Lapis is plotting something and he’s only planning to watch you from afar.
But that’s okay, as long as you don’t land in another cave, darkness swallowing you whole, or be abandoned by the one who saved you, you will gladly accept anything he asks of you, anything he obeys you to do. As long as you can stay by his side, content and accepted.
With light steps you begin to jump down the mountain, following the flow of the water towards Jueyun Karst, only to continue following a path between mountain ridges, leading you over water and towards open plains. You’re thankful for the open view, as you are able to discern Wangshu Inn in the distance, keeping your feet onto the path leading up to it.
Arriving at the small island, you take a moment to simply stare, admiring the height and the life bustling around this small place. Only after a while do you continue your travel, climbing towards the inn in a couple of small jumps.
The reception is almost equally filled with noise as the ground below, yet you fail to see the actual reason Morax has sent you to this place. But you can’t return without anything. So, you continue exploring the space, peeking into the hot kitchen, the smell of freshness mixing with spice, discovering the guest rooms, until you uncover the terrasse, one empty of the crowd down below.
There are no signs forbidding entrance, and nothing to stop you from stepping closer to the railing. The soft breeze caresses your face and you breathe out.
But before you could release any tension properly, you feel a shiver down your spine and you spin towards the source. The source of the pressure you’re all-too-well acquainted with; one of hatred and pain. Your breath catches in your lungs, phantom cracks ripping through your joints.
Only to face another, not a human but an adeptus, and something more. Teal frames his soft features, making the gold in his eye pierce through your being. You swallow. An illuminated beast stands in front of you, one taking the form of a human. And this can only make him one thing: A Yaksha.
You know him, or rather, you know of him. The last of his kind, the Conqueror of Demons, and equally haunted by them. Despite his calm appearance and the small frown on his face, he is dripping with karmic debt, and you realize why Rex Lapis has sent you to this place, to the Conqueror of Demons.
And you ought to be angry, to be scared to go through everything once again, to be hurt. Of being sapped of life and filled with evilness only to get thrown away like a puppet without strings. The bitter taste sneaks down your throat, a memory now non-existent.
“You, what do you seek in this place?” his voice brings you back to your current situation.
The words are rough, guarded, yet his voice has a soft quality, akin to silk against your skin, and you blink a couple of times, imagining him calling you by your name, in another tone. You almost forget to answer, but his sheer presence and its fluidity, easy to go as it came, reminded you once again of what you had to do.
You take a step closer, a slight bow to show your respects towards the Conqueror of Demons, and you introduce yourself, sharing your name with another with a name of the same origin. You wait, but nothing happens, he doesn’t tell you to hide away. So, you continue, straightening yourself to meet him eye to eye; only to notice the sparkle in his eyes as the soft glow of the sinking sun stows itself in them.
“I’m honored to meet you, Conqueror of Demons. Rex Lapis has sent me to this place, presumably to stay by your side for some time.”
His frown deepens at your words, and his body turns away the slightest bit, as if his senses are telling him to refuse and be done with it. But his mind seems to be aware of the person standing behind you, pushing you towards him with a plan bigger than any of you. Two adepti with a debt towards the generosity personified; yet it can never be enough to pay the price of life, of freedom.
Despite his reluctance, you begin to notice how your mere presence is alleviating his burden. That means that his senses and mind might be at odds with each other, yet his body is experiencing relief with you by his side. You don’t know how to feel about it, about manipulating his burden against him, even if unintentionally.
You don’t get enough time to properly stew with the possible consequences of your actions, but at the end of this, you had no real choice, did you? Who are you to defy orders from your savior? Using your abilities on a stranger, as renowned he might be, is something you have to take upon yourself to relieve your own debt.
A huff. “Fine, if Rex Lapis has told you to accompany me, then you shall do so, but stay out of my way,” he warns you, before disappearing with the next flow of wind.
The tips of your fingers crackle as small bits of electricity jump between them. A sigh; a stretch of fingers and joints. He might have thought this move would throw you off his tracks, yet he seems to have forgotten that despite your lacking, you still are an adeptus. So, it doesn’t take long for you to discover his prints of zapping electricity, flowing with each move, each thought. A system so similar to everyone else, yet different in the way it exists, processes, responds; one you’re bound to know like you know yourself.
With his position in mind, you begin your journey towards him, your speed not up to par to his when he’s one with the wind, yet consistent enough to catch up to him eventually. The open plains make traveling easier, too.
Easier to see, as you discover plums of darkness hovering over a certain area, only to vanish as something cuts through them. Picking up your speed, you hurry towards the battleground of the lost and the grudges. Yet, despite being there, you could not act, could not help, your body not owning any techniques to fight. All you could do is wait, wait and pick up the pain and pieces.
The shadows vanish and leave only the ickiness of being haunted by the past behind, with the bitter taste of a promise to return. You step towards the only living being in between all these nightmares from another era, shoulders slumped and breath heaving.
You want to call out to him, but it doesn’t feel right to use his name or to use his title, so you just– “It’s me…”
Licking your lips, taking a breath, waiting and waiting and waiting, but he doesn’t refuse your presence, and you step closer slowly, softly, ignoring the stickiness around you, focusing on him and his unfocused gaze upon your silhouette.
Carefully, you put your arms around him, helping him walk towards another space, free from the tarnished souls seeking to taint in return. With your support he sits under the shade of a tree, back against the trunk, heavy and uneven.
You murmur a quick apology, as you settle in front of him, almost too close, to let your fingertips come into contact with his shoulders. A breath, in sync. Buzzing, in your veins, and slowly you notice the tension release in his body as the pain leaves him. A hiss, too silent to be heard, as the karmic debt, his unending burden, and pain, seep into your bones, creaking and whistling. A familiar sensation. A sensation too familiar it seems, because your body starts doing its job, breaking everything down, crumbling it into nothing, leaving you with a phantom of an ache.
After you have taken what you could, you slump to the side, laying down onto the soft grass, and the breeze reminds you of your place, and despite the tension and the spasms filling your body, you smile.
Glancing towards the Conqueror of Demons, you notice that his body has sunk in itself, muscles finally releasing the tension of suffering. And for a moment you both stay laying like this, side by side, one digesting and ridding yourself of the pain, the other relishing in the newly acquired freedom.
Maybe this is the starting point of his trust towards you, lending him a hand when needed the most, but that doesn’t matter, as another moment has a place in your heart, in his heart, too.
Since that first fight, you have been trailing behind him, staying on the sidelines as he fights the anger and hatred left behind, waiting for the end so you can patch him up, using your own abilities to heal whatever injuries he might have sustained. All while slowly cleansing him of his karmic debt with each touch, each skin to skin, with each bit of distance closed.
Sometimes you greet him with some stuff you have collected as you wandered around. Showing him glittering shells and shiny, smooth gemstones. There is even a moment, when you have collected flowers, climbing and singing to get your hands on them, to hand a bouquet to him after his fighting and healing session is over.
“This is for you, Conqueror of Demons!” you grin as you hold them towards him, excited to see his reaction to yet another present.
And your arms slack, the flowers sink, at the sight of his frown, one you hadn’t seen since your first encounter. You press your lips together, trying to think what you had done wrong this time, opposed to every other surprise.
“It’s Xiao,” he tells you, voice soft, careful, guarded in some way, yet desperate for something, something more.
And you smile. “Yes! This is for you, Xiao!”
A slight blush spreads over his cheeks, dusting him in a lovely shade of a late afternoon sun, and the Conque– no, Xiao takes them with slow movements, tips of fingers touching and tingling, mindful of the delicateness of the flowers, aware of the too-soft connection, one with no real reason but to simply, touch.
Feeling the heat spreading over your skin, you grab a single flower, pulling your fingers away in the process. You look at the flower, a Qingxin and you slowly twirl it. Glancing back at Xiao, his own eyes are focused on the small bouquet in his hands. So, you make use of the little distraction and lean forward to tuck the flower into his hair, secured by his ears.
Of course, he has noticed you move and your eyes meet, faces close, your fingertips grazing his cheeks, and you’re grateful gravity pulls you back into a sitting position the moment you feel yourself freeze. Still, you give him a smile, even with the warmth covering your skin and his intense gaze.
The moment didn’t last long, as a cold feeling rained on your senses, alarming you of yet another gathering of negativity. And Xiao isn’t one to forgo his responsibilities for mere companionship, even if his eyes linger as he makes his way towards the next fight in this unending chain. Despite that, you promise to continue to stay behind him, to support him with steadiness.
The sun sets and rises in a continuous flow, and since that day you started trailing less and accompanying more, instead of simply seeing his back, you began to look to the side towards him. The time together has forged something special, yet, there continues to be distance between your fingertips, even as you walk side by side. Distance which feels wider than the Chasm itself, as your desire to touch him, to be close to him grows with every kind gesture Xiao shows you. But, you continue to deny your own feelings, deny whatever is sparking between you and him.
Until you’re sitting in front of a fire, making food as you wait for him to return. The adepti do not need sustenance, yet you indulge yourself with delicacies, not keen on staying without for no reason. Additionally, a little whisper has reached your ears, telling you of his favorite food, one even Xiao takes delight in, and for some reason you feel the desperate need to make Almond Tofu for him, so you do.
The recipe was provided by Verr Goldet when you subtly asked her about possible foods in your last visit. Since then you have been slowly collecting the necessary ingredients to make it happen. Though the process has been a little more difficult than you had anticipated, and above what you might expect of your own abilities, you finally drizzle some syrup over the bowl as a last touch.
The meal between your hands and only the shine of the fire, you look upon your creation with pride and excitement. And soon, Xiao comes back, taking a seat by your side without hesitation. Immediately, your body reacts, putting one hand on his shoulder, looking for injuries in his own little network of electricity, while sapping another portion of his karmic debt. Luckily, this fight has left him unscathed, so there isn’t a lot for you to do.
Giddiness overtakes you, because you pull out the prepared meal and push it towards him without any words. Without hesitation, Xiao accepts what you give him, his hand covering yours, holding the bowl between you, his gloves warm against your skin; and this is the touch you have been longing for for some time.
You watch him as he realizes what the meal entails and he looks up from the Almond Tofu towards you, eyes wide and filled with surprise and something oh-so soft. Especially with the way the flames of the fire caress his features, making his eyes revering and gentle. His jaw works, and the words escape him as he continues to simply look at you, to let his eyes linger over every feature of yours.
And you realize something. Something you have denied yourself, denied him. But before you could truly voice your heart, your soul, promising him your everything, he has the right to know the truth.
So, you make sure the meal is properly in his hands before you pull yours carefully, reluctantly out of his soft grip. You open your mouth, only to close it, words escaping, your heart heavy. There’s no foreshadowing how he might react, how badly what you have done, have been doing, could affect whatever has been budding between you.
Xiao… There’s something I need to tell you…” you start, wrangling with the right words, wanting to tell him the truth, yet not hurt him more than he has been hurt already.
He simply tilts his head, waiting for you to continue your confession, an almost hopeful glint in his eyes, the meal yet untouched.
“I– I’m sorry, but, well, you see, Rex Lapis has sent me to you, you already know, but… there’s a reason. How– uhm, how do I say it… I’ve been by your side to cleanse your karmic debt, using the powers bestowed upon me… That’s– That’s why you have been feeling at peace by my side…” Your fingers writhe on your lap, your eyes avoiding direct eye contact, barely able to even look in his direction.
And all you can hear is a thunk of ceramic against rock. And all you can feel is the empty air, cold and nothing more. He has left without a word. Without telling you what his thoughts are, what he’s feeling about what you have done.
You slump into yourself, arms wrapping against your torso as you face your own knees. He’s gone because you have hurt him. You have hurt him and you have never realized that there’s another kind of pain, one squeezing the breath out of you, making your heart ache and your eyes burn; one that can be given and received at the same time.
The moon sinks and the sun greets you, and you don’t move from your spot. There’s no place for you to go. There’s no reason for you to continue following him if Xiao doesn’t even want your presence, your company anymore, and you cannot return to Mount Aocang just like that. So, you stay and wait, stay and wait. And for the first time in your time of being free, you feel restless at the lack of connection, of actions, of companionship.
During this time of waiting, you continue to stay in the same location, never straying too far from the initial fireplace, in hopes of him coming back to… to do anything, to talk, to confront you, to get angry, anything. So, you stay and wait, stay and wait.
When the sun is at its highest, you do seek some shade underneath the next tree big enough to provide you with some relief. You close your eyes, trying to plan your time, to fill it with meaninglessness to avoid any stray thoughts from getting to you. The breeze caresses your cheeks, and you open your eyes, expectations gone and yet growing.
A presence by your side. An all-too familiar pressure, much more soft, cared for than the first time. And when you tilt your head towards the source, your eyes meet illuminated golden eyes, the sun putting a halo in them, while the remnants of the wind play with teal strands of hair.
You gasp his name, breath clogging your throat and you have to swallow a couple of times, words refusing to form coherency in your mind.
Xiao lets his eyes wander over your face once again, familiarizing himself with a sight he had missed dearly during your time apart. Then, his fingers brush over yours, but instead of that being the end of the contact, he slowly begins to interlock his with yours, watching your reaction with his heightened focus. And you let him, feeling your breath growing shorter, your neck hotter at the intensity of his gaze upon you.
He murmurs your name. “During this time apart, I realized it’s too late to sever our connection… My heart– I mean, I will protect you as you protected me, as long as you stay by my side…”
His words touch something deep in you, vibrating in your chest, rattling you awake, bursting in you and overflowing your veins with warmth and comfort. A smile sneaks onto your lips.
“I will never leave your side as long as you allow me to,” you answer him, aware that there’s much more to say, much more to confess. But you’re both aware of each other's feelings, and you will take each step hand in hand.
A small smile graces his face, making him glow despite the shadows cast upon your faces. And as if it’s the usual thing to do, Xiao sinks into you, letting his head rest on your lap as the tension flows out. Your hands subconsciously start caressing his hair and you simply enjoy his presence, giving you peace.
The sun sets with your bodies and minds close, with the promise of staying together, of holding each other’s hands, of growing this love between you with each minute, with each word, with each gesture. And you promise him once again to stay by his side, as long as he stays by yours.
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olderthannetfic · 9 months ago
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I thought it would be interesting to see if I could easily determine which ships had the most works updated in 2023.
It turned out to be fairly easy, though a little time consuming. I think these results should be reasonably accurate.
Some points to note:
I did this on my own account, and I have like 2 people muted. So I am capturing the effects of archive-locked works, but my numbers might be off by one or two works due to muting.
Works updated in 2023 is a number that constantly changes as works are deleted or updated again in 2024.
I didn't scrape the entire archive or anything like that, so it's possible I missed a ship that would bump one of these down below 100. I'd take the last few at the bottom there with a grain of salt. But I think we can be reasonably sure the top ones are accurate and that the kinds of numbers that we see at the bottom there (eighteen hundred plus works updated in 2023) are about where the cutoff will be even if we find a ship I missed.
--
As for how I did this, I went to the category tags and the rating tags, filtered for updating in 2023, then excluded ships in the sidebar till I got to 130-150 ships excluded. I also grabbed ships that are big in general from tag search, which you can use to find all relationship canonicals, ordered by frequency.
I combined those lists of ships, cleaned off the works numbers, and generated a list without duplicates. That got me three hundred and something (yes, they were mostly duplicates). I generated the relevant AO3 URLs, opened them in batches with Open Multiple URLs, and copied the works totals into a spreadsheet. Not as tidy as using a script but honestly pretty easy if you know a few spreadsheet formulas to clean up data.
The key here is that if you're only going for pretty good and not accurate beyond a shadow of a doubt, all you need to do is generate a list of likely ships, then check them.
It's possible that there's some much-updated ship that is so evenly spread across these various other tags that it just missed showing up in the sidebar. Hopefully, grabbing more than just the top 100 avoided this problem.
This method also doesn't take into account backdated works. If a whole archive was imported in 2023 but all backdated, there could be some ship that didn't have new works but where AO3 users experience in 2023 was of an influx of content.
I also did this just now, in late March/early April, so some 2023 works have inevitably been deleted or updated again. So the exact work counts don't represent the experience of using AO3 throughout 2023. A fandom active in early 2023 might not have much updating in early 2024, while a fandom active in late 2023 would. This could demote the latter a few places in the rankings since I didn't grab numbers on January 1st.
Even if a person scraped AO3 every day or was monkeying around in the databases, you also have to ask what conceptual answer you're after. Is it works a user could have read at some point during 2023, whether they were deleted by the year's end or not? Is it new-to-AO3 works or only newly-created ones, not including imported archives? Does it matter if the works are fic? If they're in English? What about accidental double-uploads or translations of a single work?
I hope this makes it clear why a definitive ranking is not actually possible.
However, despite these drawbacks, I am confident that the rankings above accurately represent the broad trends on AO3 in 2023. Just don't get too fixated on whether a ship should be at number 73 or number 74.
And, of course, I excluded these from the top 100:
Original Character(s)/Original Character(s) - 20,026
Minor or Background Relationship(s) - 16,187
No Romantic Relationship(s) - 8,052
Original Female Character(s)/Original Male Character(s) - 7,195
Original Male Character/Original Male Character - 6,283
Other Relationship Tags to Be Added - 5,618
Original Female Character(s)/Original Female Character(s) - 3,990
Original Character(s) & Original Character(s) - 3,210
Here's a spreadsheet if you want to see the actual numbers not as a shitty screencap. I left the next few below 100 for context.
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quitealotofsodapop · 2 months ago
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Diet peach soup would probably have the celestials and Marshalls get involved a lot sooner. Overpowered babies are not a good idea to leave unsupervised. As for Macaque, the lady bone demon is most likely going to just shove him onto the thrall, as his problem. Either to be raised as her soldier, or as a potential backup vessel.
Prev.
Yeeeaah the Stalwarts have to get involved sooner than later since their king is now in his terrible twos (again). They present themselves to Pigsy and Tang as village elders who want to help them in raising the boys, and introducing them to their culture. Pigsy was eh on the idea, but Tang was uber excited! Monkey demon culture lessons!
Peaches and MK honestly thought that the Stalwarts were their grandparents for a long time, especially since they didn't know Papa Tang's side of family and assumed he was a just patchy-furred monkey. XD
Nezha, checking in on Wukong: "Why do I sense two baby stone monkeys- WHAT THE SCALLOP!?"
Peaches still gets his school bestie in the form of "Nez", albeit from an earlier age. Nezha can risk a mini-god running around without a voice of reason. Moksa tags in on his younger bro's behalf + as a kindness to Guanyin, as a "cool older kid" watching out for the little monkeys. The -Zha brothers want to keep Sun Wukong's condition as much as a secret as possible from the rest of the Celestial Realm.
Erlang takes one third-eye-look at the situation and goes "Ah crap, I'm gonna have to be their mentor." Cue an Athena and Telemachus dynamic developing between Erlang and the boys once they lift the Staff. But for now, he's Babysitter Jian - the only kid Pigsy and Tang have ever seen feed, wash, and entertain the little monkeys without so much as a grumble. (Jian, shrugs: "I have little cousins.")
Even the Peach Maidens who attended the Orchard with Wukong long ago ensure that he and his little brother are well-watched - glamouring themselves as a gaggle of old ladies in their favourite park. Always ready to pinch cheeks, give fresh fruit treats, and tell the boys how big they're getting!
The Thrall is currently reforming his body after Wukong slapped him across the country for stealing the Stone Egg (aka unhatched MK) + forcing him to drink some nasty potion (Meng Po's soup), so he's not much help in raising de-aged macaques rn.
Macaque accidentally dodges LBD by being a slippery little guy! Falls and crawls through so many shadows that its hard to keep track of him from the Underworld. Lives rough on the street for some time before ending up in the hands of someone who would truly care about him.
Sandy: "Aww. You're an odd little kitten aren't ya?" De-Aged!Macaque: (*spitting and hissing at the giant with all his might, violently protecting the cat food he found. Is barely the size of a football*) Sandy, gently picks up cub: "Hey hey... I used to be an angry little guy too. I learned that when a lot of people are upset, they're really just scared about something that hard to explain." De-Aged!Macaque: (*angry grumbles as he's picked up! Presses ears against fish man's chest to drown out the sound of the city*) Sandy: "Are your ears at you, little buddy? I can see why. One, two three... six ears! Thats a lot of earmuffs." De-Aged!Macaque: (*grumbling gets quieter. Absent-mindedly sucks on his fingers.*) Sandy, conflicted: "I... I really should just bring you to a police station or something. But something tells me that you'll need someone in your corner who understands how messy life can be. If I can manage it, would you be ok staying here with me?" De-Aged!Macaque: (*uninterested squeak*) Sandy, smile forming: "I'll take that as an Okey-dokey. Now... how about a name? Your white fur is super shiny in the moonlight... how about Moon?" "Moon": (*tares up at his new guardian with big violet eyes, one is milky and possibly blind. Makes a curious chirrup at the name.*) Sandy, heart-warming smile: "I think thats a winner."
Little Moon is a curious little guy. Not only because of his ears (the fish man jokes that it's his son's axolotl-like gills), but from an early age Moon has had control over shadows.
It began as simple fascination with stage magic. Moon watched stage magicians preform their tricks of misdirection and illusion, and wanted to see if he could replicate it.
Sandy: (*makes a bunny shape in the shadow of a lamp*) Moon: (*excited cheep!*) Moon: (*manipulates shadows to make many bunnies!*) Sandy, surprised: "Oh!"
Sandy was worried that this power wasn't something that could be trained easily, and an incident where Mo disappeared into one of Moon's shadows for an afternoon (reappeared unharmed once the treat bag was shaken) prompted the fish man to try and find an outlet for his kid.
Thats how he met The Nine Tailed Vixen. The elderly huli jing was hosting a children's acting class at her theatre, and Sandy wondered if it would aid his son's creative drive. It turned out to be a blessing since the heavenly fox was quick to identify, and help Moon tame his wild magic.
(Jiuweihuli is so relieved to have her protégé safe and sound again. Sandy is a good man, and she's glad that her little shadow has found a kind papa.)
Sensing a hunch, the old fox contacted Nezha on whether there wer other de-aged little monkeys...
Peaches and Moon meet during one of the acting camps. At first they cannot believe their eyes.
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On sight they feel as though they've known the other their entire lives and beyond.
At the end of the day's acting camp, a group of old friends reunite.
Pigsy, with MK in a sling: "Sandy!?" Sandy: "Pigsy!" Peaches & Moon, running to their respective parent: "Baba!" Pigsy & Sandy, both surprised: "Baba!? You?!" "Yeah!" "Since when?" "Since I found him on the street!" "Whoa. weird."
Peaches and Moon are hard to separate after that meeting. Even if acting camp didn't turn out well for the ginger monkey (stage fright activated), they rarely go more than a week without an excited play date or visit to the theatre.
DBK's gut reaction to the young monkey demon holding his sworn brother's staff is; "Did Sun Wukong have a child- wait. What in Yama's name happened to you!?" Peaches doesn't answer the question as he nearly passes out screaming. Moon is half-way across town wondering what's scared his bestie so bad.
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brittle-doughie · 5 months ago
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Hello CCCC Anon here, 4th time i've sent this so sorry if I seem impatient. It's been a while since I've sent an ask mainly because I couldn't think of anything but here I am!
For some reason I've grown strongly close to one-sided Logical y/n and Royal icing cookie where Royal icing cookie tries to initiate a relationship and flirt with them multiple times, but logical y/n is not only too egotistical and loves themselves(side note: they still care for others to some extent), but is also just plain rude, very blunt with their hatred of Royal icing cookie, and is too focused on finding ways to get themselves and the other halves to become whole(y/n).
They can and WILL reject Royal icing cookie harshly since they know how terrible of a cookie he is cause of him being unhealthily obessed like his sister, the other halves, especially y/n's logical side know this.
Not only that; despite them claiming to be emotionless, they can emotionally lash out, mainly out of anger, resulting to them having a higher chance of inflicting violence on others, on purpose or not. Recovery from injuries inflicted by them may take a long time or not be able to recover from them at all, as Logical side y/n's nearly entire body is made up of strong metals and not sugary sweets; they will not apologize not matter how many times you try to get them to.
So please do include this at the end where instinctual side y/n holding back an angry logical side from accidentally killing off royal icing cookie who's laying on the floor and now has to deal with a severe injury inlicted on him (and somehow survived idk how but he did) by y/n's logical side, because as emotionless they claim to be, they still have flaws mixed in them and the other halves from y/n splitting into three.
So I propose one-sided logical y/n and Royal icing cookie based on these lyrics!
"I love you!
I love you not.
I love you~!
I love you not.
Should I take or should I break your heart?
Should I take or should I break your heart?"
The lyrics are short yes but better than nothing really. If you want the song then it's called "love you, love you not" by little purr man.
Anyway imma move back into the shadows til I got a new idea, Farewell!
Sincerely- CCCC Anon
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Yooo @/scarabeeart, probably should’ve asked sooner if it’s all good to tag you for Royal Icing mentions, whoops.
Unfortunately, logic simply doesn’t mix with a determined cookie that by all means wants to claim the hand of the one he adored and the answer of no only makes me ponder on his APPROACH rather than Logical’s geunine disinterest.
It would come to ahead where Logical would lash out at Royal Icing, tired of having to tell him over and over that they’ll never like him to the degree that he does for them. Instinct has to step in and calm down Logical, as Royal Icing clutched his face with the bruise of the smack.
And yet, something that his sister would do…
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He only focused on that Logical PAID ATTENTION to him, never the strike. He saw it as his efforts working and will act to double them so, maybe the next time will be the one where he finally gets their hand.
Much to Logical’s irritation, of course.
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bring-forth-his-sac · 20 days ago
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The Christmas Party - Chapter 3
Summary: Now that you have a party to plan, you decide to start with the decorations... but Negan has a more exciting idea in mind.
Word Count: 5.2k
Tags: Modern AU, Teacher AU, Swearing, Pet Names, Slow Burn, Negan being an asshole, reader being an asshole too ?
previous chapter can be found here
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After your vow to stay resolute in your (accidental) decision to help with the Christmas party, you vanished on Negan. He half-expected you to ambush him first thing the next morning but nothing came.  
In a perfect world, you would have gone home that day, realized your pettiness and followed Negan’s original advice. You would have humbled yourself and gone straight to Gregory, petitioning for this pain in the ass party to be called off.
“Carl! That funky eye of yours doesn’t mean your legs don’t work!” Negan shouts at one of the students in his afternoon class “Run for the ball, damn it! Quit standing on the sidelines!”.
The whistle around Negan’s neck swings as he struts along the side of the basketball court, muttering to himself. Despite the chill in the air, it’s sunny outside and so they’re not all stuck inside the sports hall, where Negan would’ve been trapped in the thick air of sweaty, hormonal teens. 
But that’s not the only reason he’s glad to be outside on the courts. After Negan’s plan backfired and filled you with spiteful devotion to the Christmas party, he can’t bear to be in the sports hall, knowing it’s only a matter of time before his colleagues wreck havoc on his little slice of heaven.
A polite cough behind him pulls him out of his thoughts. Negan is about to grumble to some kid to cover their mouth but when he glances behind, he sees you instead. 
“Fan- fucking -tastic,” Negan says drily “my day has just got ten times better”.
The sight of a notebook pressed against your chest makes him want to groan. Hoping for some kind of a miracle, he asks “You get the party cancelled yet?”.
You join him by the sidelines, smiling mischievously. “Nope,” you reply cheerfully “I think I’d rather torture you by making you help organize it instead”. 
Negan scoffs, looking back at the game. You take it as your que to continue. Looking down at your notebook you read the small list you’ve made of the different categories you’ll both have to tackle. 
Food. Drink. Music. Decorations.
You read your small list out loud before thinking “Is there anything else a party needs? I guess we could have some kinda entertainment, right?”.
With a long exhale, Negan rubs his forehead “You want a bunch of middle aged teachers to play party games?”. 
You shrug “Well, I don’t know how else to keep them entertained…”
“Booze. That’s all you need, not charades or pin the tail on the donkey”.
You write that down, encircling the drinks category before continuing “Well, I’m free for the rest of the day so whenever you want to—“.
“Christ, Patrick! Follow through on your shot!” Negan interrupts, yelling at another poor kid “better fix that limp wrist for your sake!”.
You blink at the… uh… advice, if you could call it that. 
Negan begins making his way down the side of the court, following the action surrounding the basketball as he shouts more words of wisdom. You watch with a mix of curiosity and disbelief, suddenly feeling more confident in your own, calmer teaching style.  
When Negan finally turns his attention back to you, he raises an eyebrow, his tone turning sarcastic again.
"Class ends in about ten minutes. How about we talk afterwards, so you're not following me around like a damn shadow?" he sighs, checking his watch.
Before you can retort your own thinly veiled insult, he’s off shouting at the kids again, this time clapping his arms to really amp them up.
You shake your head, grip tightening on your notebook as you turn on your heels to leave. Your plan was to just wait in his office but once you get to the door, your eyes are drawn to the adjacent double doors of the sports hall. 
If this is where you’ll be having the party, you may as well get a lay of the land now. 
Creeping inside the barren hall, it’s the quietest you’ve ever seen it. The large room is almost eerie without the clatter of basketballs or the sounds of kids shouting. You pause in the doorway, taking in the empty space. Soon, it’ll be filled with noise— this time, for the Christmas party you’ve roped yourself into.
Walking deeper into the room, you wonder how much convincing it’ll take to get Negan up on a ladder to hang tinsel and string lights across the high ceiling. The hall is desperate for some holiday ambience and your brain aches as you try to figure out just how much tinsel will be needed.
Thankfully, your phone buzzes with a welcome distraction. 
Carol: You want to be a good samaritan and help me bake some cookies after school? Need them for the bake sale 
You: Have my hands full planning party 
You: but I could be tempted if I get to taste test some :D
After you informed everyone that you will be planning the party (and to hold off on the barrage of questions), Carol was the only one who didn’t give you a pitiful look when you mentioned it being you and Negan organizing it.
“Negan’s… complicated,” she told you this morning. Surprisingly, that was the most polite description of him you’ve heard.
“Just keep your distance, keep your head down and do the work” Carol listed “he’ll complain a lot but he will get the job done. Eventually”.
Given how much people seem to dislike him, hearing a neutral take felt like a welcome shift.
Carol: you’re starting to sound like my students
You let out a soft laugh before quickly typing a reply, letting her know you’re not sure if you’ll be finished with Negan by then. As much as you hate to admit it, you know how easily you two can fall into a back-and-forth, letting the time slip away without even realizing it.
Carol replies with a thumbs up, and to kill some time, you check the group chat. It’s been a while since you’ve looked at the new messages.
You don’t blame yourself though, not when it’s where you got yourself into this mess. It’s like returning to the scene of a crime but this time you know better than to hurriedly send in a text.
Gregory: WHO GOT THE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS INSTALLATION VAN CLAMPED
Gregory: HOW? WHY?????
Sasha: I told you they shouldn’t park in designated spaces 
Rosita: they had their warning
Gregory: they want to school to pay the fee
Sasha: better than slashed tires
Gregory: go to principal Grime’s office , this needs to be sorted now
Rosita: I’m in the middle of teaching a class ??
Gregory: and you’re busy texting?!?!?!?
Gregory: both of you. Principal Grime’s office. NOW
A chuckle from behind makes you shiver and jerk away, hot breath fanning against the side of your neck. Negan peers over at your phone, having read the messages.
“I’d love to be a fly on the wall for that conversation” he snorts, offering you a smirk as you tuck your phone away “can’t say I blame Rosita though, Gregory’s definitely the type of asshat that let them park there”.
“Yeah and you wanted me to talk to that asshat about getting this party cancelled” you grumble, irritation creeping into your tone
“In the past, sweetness,” Negan smiles just to annoy you “now we’re a team, ain’t we?”.
“In the past?! Negan, that was yesterday!” you point out exasperatedly, wandering around the hall to burn off some of your already pent up energy.
“And yesterday is in the past”.
You shoot him a glare but all that achieves is a wider grin looking back at you. Damn him. You run a hand down your face, forcing yourself to stop— both physically and mentally.
Negan’s trying to get you to bite, to start bickering with him so you’ll lose focus on the party and storm off. You close your eyes for a moment, trying to gather yourself. Unfortunately, when you open them again he still has that cocky smile on his face that makes you want to throttle him.
“Do you have any decorations from the previous years?” Your tone is sharper than necessary but that’s what he gets when he’s being a jerk.
“Usually, they’d host this shit at a fancy little place called the Kingdom, so we don’t have much” he replies, his demeanor easing now that you haven’t taken the bait.
“Really?” you question, expecting at least a worn down Christmas tree “What about things for a nativity or Christmas carols?”.
“Yeah cause nothing screams party like having the fuckin’ nativity scene laid out in the middle of the room” Negan teases, fishing keys out of the back pocket of his sweatpants.
You scoff, rolling your eyes as you match his sarcasm with a dose of your own “Well, no, I’m not suggesting we all get drunk in front of baby Jesus”.
Negan lets out a small chuckle, but it sounds unfamiliar. This isn’t the mischievous laugh you heard when he tried to set you up, nor is it the smirk he gave you when you were badmouthing him.
No, this is something else. It’s a rare, genuine sound– a laugh that seems to catch even him off guard. And strangely enough, it’s aimed at you. You try not to linger on it, not wanting to make things awkward.
“If you wanna have a look yourself, knock yourself out” Negan strides over to the small storage room door and you follow behind as he unlocks it.
You stand there, waiting for him to open it but he doesn’t. Instead, Negan pauses for a moment, then he turns to face you with that familiar, smug grin.
“Enjoying the view?” he teases, letting the question hang in the air.
“I— ugh! Negan!” you scold, stepping forward and pushing the door open yourself. Negan doesn’t stop you, even flicking the light on as you go first. 
“Careful, sweetheart,” Negan says, grabbing one of the boxes to prop the door open. “This shit’s old... probably as old as me, so the door’s heavy and a real bastard to yank open from the inside”.
Inside, you’re met with a chaotic mess; boxes piled on top of boxes, cones and rackets scattered across the floor, and a jumble of balls stacked on a rack against the wall.
Technically, the room is large but with all the clutter, there’s barely enough space to move around. Inching your way across a small clearing, you almost wedge yourself between two tall stacks of boxes. “Any idea which ones might have the festive goods?” you ask. 
“Pretty sure it’s the two at the back,” Negan trails after you, clearly uninterested “y’can usually see a bit of tinsel shimmering through the box”.
“This is a good start… I guess,” you try to take an optimistic approach “at least there’s something here”.
You carefully navigate through the maze of clutter, sidestepping loose javelins and dodging stray tennis balls. The mess makes every step feel like a mini obstacle course.
As you finally reach the last stack, you tug the lid off the nearest box, the dust tickling your nose. Peering inside, you slowly begin to sift through its contents—a jumble of tinsel, some baubles that have no string and a few random holiday knickknacks.
Negan leans against the next stack of boxes, arms crossed, watching you with mild amusement.
“Oh wow, you’re just going straight for it, huh?” he commentates, unbothered to help “it’s like you’re on a treasure hunt… y’know if you want to find the real treasure, you’re in luck”.
You don’t bite, not believing his bullshit. Even with no response, Negan continues “I know exactly where to find the crown jewels”. He gives you a wink but you miss it, keeping your head down as you rummage.
”… hellllllloooooo?” he pokes your side.
You pull out a handful of mismatched ornaments and toss them at him. “Maybe you should stop doing nothing and actually help?” you suggest as he barely manages to catch them.
With an exaggerated sigh, Negan starts to search the second box. “I was doing something,” he protests, carelessly looking through the box “flirting, if you didn’t notice”.
“Yeah, well if that’s your idea of flirting, I pray I’m not your type” you jeer.
This time, Negan doesn’t reply. You wonder if he’s taking a page out of your book and ignoring you but then you feel his eyes land on you. 
Readying your disapproving look, you turn to meet Negan’s gaze. “What?” you ask, already annoyed by whatever shenanigan he’s about to pull. 
With the ghost of a smirk, Negan simply stares at you for a moment. He doesn’t let his eyes wander like how you expected, the action something you thought he’d do just to get a rise out of you. Wetting his lips, Negan teasingly pulls his hand out of the box, bringing with it a tattered piece of mistletoe. 
“Guess there’s only one way to find out if you’re my type” he shakes the mistletoe, accidentally making one of the plastic leaves fall off.
“Oh fuck off” you don’t stop the words coming out of your mouth, turning on your heels to leave.
Flinging the mistletoe back into the box, Negan follows. You’re half tempted to kick the box that’s keeping the door open just to lock him in, but his long strides allow him to catch up with you in no time. 
“Awh, c’mon,” he teases “are you always in ‘teacher mode’ ?”.
“Only when I’m around immature people”.
“Very funny,” Negan comments as you storm back out to the empty hall. He can tell he’s almost got you; you’re so close to walking out, yet you won’t give him the satisfaction.
Negan knows how to push people’s buttons— it's one of his favorite hobbies. He enjoys testing how much people will tolerate, seeing what it takes to crack them. For some, a single remark is enough to make them fold, while others can take a whole barrage, letting it build up bit by bit. 
The most frustrating thing about you is that you can take a lot, all while throwing your own taunts right back at him. You rub your forehead, trying to will yourself into not punching him.
“You got any classes left today?” he breaks the silence, his tone surprisingly conversational considering the amount of teasing he’s been doing. 
Every question feels like a set up for some next lewd joke or suggestion and so you simply nod your head. 
“Perfect,” he says, locking up the storage room and tossing the keys up into the air before catching them “let’s go grab some new decorations”.
You raise an eyebrow, curious, but Negan doesn’t wait around. As he strolls out of the hall, you have to quicken your pace to keep up with him.
“What do you mean?” you ask.
He glances over his shoulder, speaking to you as if you’re a three year old. “we go shop, buy new decorations, you happy, party less shit looking”.
“But don’t you have classes?” you badger him, watching as Negan makes a quick stop by his office. He drops the keys onto his desk, grabs his coat, and snatches up his car keys.
“Yeah, but Mark can cover for me,” he replies casually, clearly unfazed “it’s the bastard’s last day before his vacation, he can do some extra work”.
The last thing you expected was for Negan to suggest going on a quick trip together, especially with how little you two can tolerate each other. Negan lets out a short laugh when he sees your wary expression, clearly unconcerned. 
“He’ll figure it out,” he says nonchalantly, pulling out his phone to shoot a quick text to the other coach “it’ll be fine as long as he doesn’t give Fat Joey my class, don’t trust that fucker to teach gym”.
“Negan!” you slap his arm “Rude”.
He shrugs. 
The two of you walk out of the school and head toward the teacher’s parking lot. As you look around, a wave of hesitation hits you.
Even though you don’t have any more classes to teach today, you can’t shake the feeling that leaving early feels like you’re playing hooky.
Negan notices in an instant. With a small chuckle, he places both hands on your shoulders and gives you a gentle nudge forward.
“C’mon, Ms. Goody Two Shoes,” he teases, steering you toward his pick up truck “we won’t be gone long”.
You hesitate for a moment, still unsure. “Are you sure?” you try to look up at him as he directs you toward the passenger side “I don’t mind driving myself and meeting you there”.
“No need. I’ve got it covered,” he replies, taking his hands off you to open the door. With the automatic roll of your eyes, you get in.
The car ride to the store is a mix of awkward tension and playful banter. As Negan drives, he leans back in his seat with an easy confidence. Every now and then, he throws in a flirtatious comment but for the most part, he keeps it PG.
Surprisingly, Negan actually asked about you and why you’d move to “such a backend fuckin’ town”. You grabbed the opportunity to not argue or get flirted with and instead babbled on about why you needed a break away from your hometown (making sure to skip all the family rifts and drama). 
Pulling into the Target parking lot, the familiar smirk of the Negan you know resurfaces.
"I can always make time to give ya a real tour of the town," he says, and for a brief moment, you almost believe he's being sincere—until he adds, "With or without the extra stop at mine afterwards."
You let out an exaggerated sigh as he parks, shaking your head. "You're like a comedian that only knows one joke and no matter how many times it falls flat, you just keep saying it anyways".
Negan’s eyebrows bounce up as his truck comes to a stop, his tone dripping with cockiness “Oh it works real well, 99.9% success rate”.
“Wow, you’re just like bleach” you shoot back as you unbuckle your seatbelt.
Getting out of the truck and heading into the store, he proudly replies “All I have to say is I have been told I’m killer in the bedroom, so maybe I am like bleach”.
Shaking your head, you opt for a small basket instead of dragging around a massive cart. The last thing you need is Negan laughing as you struggle to control one of those things. 
“Do you have an off switch?” You taunt. 
Taking the basket off you, Negan’s fingers brush yours. He takes full advantage, tilting to the side so his tall frame is closer to your eye level.
Lowering his voice to what you can only assume is what he uses in the bedroom, he seductively growls “Wanna try to find it?”.
The look you give him says everything, and with a sharp ‘hmph ,’ you head toward the holiday section, letting him trail behind.
As you pass the Christmas trees, you glance at them, already knowing you’ll need to check your budget before committing to one for the party. This trip feels more like a reconnaissance mission—just picking up a few affordable things if you find them while scouting what else they have to offer.
Meanwhile, Negan simply drifts by, clearly bored now that the playful banter has faded. He’s like a kid that’s been dragged into grocery shopping with his mom—picking up random items and staring at the ceiling, hoping for some kind of entertainment. 
Negan would’ve spent his time staring at your ass but he knows better than to risk it. You’d throw a nutcracker at him if you caught him perving on you.
“ Neeeeeeegan ?” You drag out his name, watching the man completely zone out.
As much as you want to give him a piece of your mind, you can’t say you’re surprised. You both knew this was going to be a pain.
The only reason you’re party planning is out of spite, while Negan’s just here because he doesn’t want his sports hall to be trashed by either terrible decorations or the teachers on the night.  
Shaking the wreath in your hands, the bells jingle and you call out again “Negan? Hello?”.
Looking back to you, his expression softens just enough to pass as a real smile rather than a smirk. “I heard you the first time, I just like hearing you say my name,” he says, his tone playful.
You scoff, fighting the urge to smile. Unfortunately, you’re human so when a handsome man throws you a compliment, it’s impossible not to react, no matter how much of a pain in the ass he can be.
… handsome ?
You quickly shove that thought aside, irritated that your brain so easily confessed that. He is handsome, but… he’s Negan. An asshole, in other words.  
Alright, time to stop thinking about that.
“I, uh…” you swallow, trying to get your thoughts in order “The wreath! If we drape a tablecloth over the desks and put one of these in front of each, that’ll look nice, right?”
Negan gives a casual nod, eyes shifting between the wreath and the rows of holiday decorations.
“I mean, the desks are just for finger food and drinks anyways but… it’ll be festive!” you find yourself rambling, the words tumbling out before you can stop them. 
He scoffs at how you try to justify spending some money a on wreath, taking a few steps toward the sales section.
“How about…” Negan starts, picking up a small pumpkin statue priced at just a dollar, “…we buy a bunch of these and throw a Christmas hat on ‘em?”
You pause, unsure whether you should dignify that with a response.
“You want to use Halloween decorations?” you drop the wreath into the basket, rubbing a hand over your face in disbelief.
“I’m getting it” he puts the pumpkin next to your wreath.
You look down at the pumpkin and purse your lips. As if this party hasn’t been doomed from the get go, you don’t think having pumpkins there will help. You don’t have to voice your concerns, Negan can read your face. 
“Hey, I’m just offering a little direction,” he says, wandering down the aisle “someone’s gotta take charge when you’re doubting whether you should buy wreaths for a Christmas party”.
A flutter of defensiveness stirs within you, a shift in your chest that spreads like a warm yet  uncomfortable pressure.
Picking up a box of lights, you drop them in the basket “I’m not doubting, I just don’t want to buy junk that we won’t use”.
Negan stops, ignoring what you just said as he picks up some balloons. “We should get these… just gotta make sure this side is at the back” he lifts up the packet, showing you the gigantic ‘Happy 60th Birthday’ printing on the front of each balloon. 
“You’re kidding,” plucking the pack out of his hands, you put it back on the shelf “and I don’t need you to take charge of this, especially when you’re doing such a half assed job”. 
Negan scoffs “Am not”.
The more you try to ignore the building in your chest, the more it festers, growing into a quiet but insistent urge to clarify, to defend and correct the narrative.
“That’s all you do! You want to be in charge but you’re not thorough enough whenever you are” you explain as calmly as you can. 
There was a small bit of you that hoped Negan would listen to what you’re saying but he’s not interested in the feedback, waving his free hand dismissively as he walks back up the aisle.
“It’s easier when I’m in charge because I get shit done, I don’t try to reason with myself why I need to buy something– I just do it,” as if to prove the point, he puts another pumpkin into the basket.
It's like he’s not even trying to understand your point, and that’s a realization that makes your patience unravel.
The calm concern starts to fade and is replaced by a barely contained annoyance. 
“But you don’t try to make things easier for others, you literally just left Mark to deal with the rest of your classes for the day and complained at the idea of Mark letting Joey help! You’re always pushing your own agenda and railroading people into going along with it” taking a firm stance against him, you do the unthinkable. 
You reach your hand into the basket.
And remove a pumpkin.
Negan gives you a pointed look, boring into your skull and not even watching your hand place the pumpkin back on the shelf.
“Sweetheart, calm down, this isn’t a military operation,” he asserts “we’re just planning a damn party so lighten up. Get festive!”.
It’s maddening. Now you’re making a mountain out of a molehill? You should just lighten up because it’s a Christmas party and nothing more?
His dismissive tone is like a constant poke to your patience, stretching it thinner with every passing moment.  To make matters worse, Negan carries on like usual, wandering over to the next aisle.
Begrudgingly, you totter after him.
“You can’t just do that!” you snap, absentmindedly perusing the scented candles “you can’t act like this is something silly when I’m giving you valid criticism! I’m trying to put in effort here and actually make this party bearable”. 
It hits all at once, a rush of raw emotion that floods your mind and spills out before you can stop it.
Your voice shakes, not from fear, but from the overwhelming need to be heard. You don’t even have time to think, to carefully choose your words; it all comes out, unfiltered.
Every bit of irritation, confusion, and disbelief tumbling out in one breathless rant.  
“All you want to do is skip school, wander around here, flirt with me– even though I keep rejecting you! And just buy stupid shit that we don’t need for this party!” you rant, gesturing to the lonely pumpkin still in the basket.
“You have to respect other people’s time and their effort too. Not everyone wants to half-ass this! You get your own way all the time and no one will say no to you or make you do it their way. It’s Negan’s way or no way. And people are so used to letting you get away with shit again and again just because—“.
You stop yourself.
Your mouth clamps shut, stopping your cathartic rant before it can say anymore but it’s too late. Negan stands next to you, waiting.
Shit.
“… I like the cinnamon one,” you say quietly, trying to change the subject as you sniff the candles  “sometimes, I think they make the gingerbread ones too strong and the ones that are supposed to smell like vanilla never do”.
Negan doesn’t budge. A small smirk creeps up on his face. Negan already knows what you were going to say, he doesn’t need anyone to tell him.
He’s attractive, good in the sac, can charm the legs off anyone within a ten mile radius and happens to have one swoon worthy smile.
He gets away with this because he’s sexy. Nothing he can do about that, it’s natural!
“Go on,” he implores, tongue peeking out as he wets his bottom lip “say it with your chest, doll”.
You want to stay quiet. You know for the interest of everyone, you should. 
“People let you be an asshole because your wife died”.
You’ve never seen a change in someone so quick. His face darkens, veins pulsing at his temples as his jaw clenches so tight that his teeth almost grind together.
Negan’s eyes narrow into a hard, unforgiving stare. Every muscle in his body seems to coil, as if ready to snap. 
“Are you fucking shitting me?” he grunts. 
You’ve never seen him like this— not even when you’ve bickered with him. This is something different, something deeper.
His entire demeanor has shifted, like a switch was flipped, and all the previous irritation and taunting have been replaced by a quiet, seething fury that radiates from him in waves.
Your fingers curl around the candle but you barely register the sensation. Your eyes lock on him, wide and unblinking. He told you to say it, to be honest with him. 
Every muscle in your body feels frozen, as if something inside you has short-circuited. You’ve always thought you’d know what you’d do in a moment like this, whether you’d be a flight or fight type of person. But now, facing a full wave of intimidation, you realize the truth: you’re not the fight type. You’re not the flight type. 
You’re the freeze type.
It’s as if the air around you has thickened, the space between you and him narrowing to a suffocating stillness. You want to stutter out an apology but it’s all happened so suddenly that you forget how to. 
It feels like all you can do is stand there, rooted to the spot. In an instant, he snaps out of his silent rage and rushes into action. 
Without warning, Negan lets go of the shopping basket, letting it drop to the ground with a violent clatter. The sound cuts through the air like a gunshot and you jump.
His hands are still clenched into fists as he takes a step back and his eyes flash one last time at you with an unreadable mix of frustration and something deeper.  And then, he spins on his heel and storms off.
“Fuck this,” you hear muttered under his breath as he goes. 
You’re left standing there, the abruptness of it all taking the air from your lungs. Your legs take jittery steps forward before you meekly grab the basket and try to follow. 
With only a pumpkin, some lights and a wreath inside, the basket somehow pulls at your arms, as if you’re carrying a thousand things. Trying to follow, the basket swings awkwardly in your grasp, banging against your shins with each uncoordinated step.
“Negan?” You call out, your voice sounding smaller than you mean it to. Your gaze darts nervously from aisle to aisle and across the registers until you spot a tall and imposing shadow going out the main doors.
“No, no, no, no, no,” your heart thuds painfully against your chest, each beat louder than the last.
You set the basket down gently, almost afraid it might shatter if you move too quickly, before rushing out of the store. The cool air hits your skin, but it’s no relief. This can’t be happening. He can’t just leave you here. Not like this.
You move fast, almost stumbling, your eyes scanning the parking lot frantically. Cars of every make and model line the pavement, but there’s no sign of his truck.
A pang of panic rises in your throat as you take a few more steps, searching the sea of vehicles, your stomach tightening with every second that passes. His truck should be here. It should’ve been parked right where you left it.
The realization hits you like a wave. It’s not here.
A soft whine escapes your lips, barely a sound and yet it carries the weight of everything that’s suffocating you in that moment. Confusion. Anxiety. Guilt. And an overwhelming sense of abandonment. You stand frozen, the noise of the parking lot fading as the panic surges again. 
He’s gone.
-------
gif made from scenepack provided by harleys.scenes on insta <3
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rosaemoux · 14 days ago
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part two of my magic batman magical au, here's part one:
Ok so we last left off with Bruce grieving Jason Todd, swearing he'll never take in another apprentice and isolating himself from his clan, substantially weakening Gotham's defences against malicious mages while Barbara desperately tries to get a hold of the city. Dick is currently in between getting his life together in the sister city Bludhaven after helping his friends during multiple travels around the world when suddenly Haley's Circus comes into town.
That's where Tim Drake decides to do something. The only heir to a new money family, Tim's parents weren't mages, his dad had a basic understanding of time magic while his mom was relatively good with ilusory magic but they never pursuit it over the passion of their life, archeology. Tim, however, always loved magic, loved the way mages would make miracles out of the ordinary and loved the way it tested the impossible. Tim loved the Clan of The Bats. He always did, ever since he was a child and first saw the beauty of Haley's Circus, when he saw The Flying Graysons for the first time.
A Lonely Place of Dying goes about the same way, the same with Rite Of Passage, except when Bruce screamed that the water was poisonous, Jack managed to reverse time around him for a few seconds in a powerful fit of desperation to save Janet's life, not caring about actually reversing time for himself though. So, both of Tim's parents end up in coma, Tim, now accepted as Bruce's newest apprentices, moves into the manor and formally starts training.
Unfortunately, Tim doesn't have the early training of Dick, nor the raw talent of Jason, so he struggles finding an affinity. Bruce decides to send him on a three week trip to Paris to train with his old teachers, The Rahul Lama, hopefully to get a new perspective and find what he's comfortable with. He does spend two weeks trying his best but ultimately failing before he gets pulled into a full blown conspiracy.
Lady Shiva decides to train him while they're at it, and for some reason, something just clicks. Her methods and way of seeing magic just works really well with Tim. When their manhunt against Edmund Dorrance is done, Shiva finally gets a lead on something she's been searching for a while, and Tim tags along with her mission while she teaches the path of ilusory magic, of perceiving into someone's mind and changing it to your will. It just turns out that the something was actually someone...
Flash forward, we have exact the point in which the story starts, with Tim arriving into Gotham Harbor, two months late with a girl, apparently Lady Shiva's daughter who currently doesn't have a name. Bruce almost has a heart attack, both extremely relieved that Tim is safe but also it's been two months who is this-
Cassandra – as Barbara would go on to name her – was a mage prodigy, being trained since the moment she was born to be a perfect weapon by her father. She had a very good understanding of all attributes of magic, with amazing spatial awareness and downright telepathic intuitive perception, at the cost of no understanding of language. Shiva mentioned something about a League of Shadows, but Tim isn't really sure what it is exactly, just that they wanted Cass to join them, but after killing someone for the first time and accidentally stealing their soul, she started to run away from them, mostly living in the streets before a friend of Shiva's found her in Hong Kong. Her and Tim are mostly attached at the hip to each other, inseparable.
Bruce and Barbara decided it would be safer and less stressful for Cass if she lived in the Clocktower instead of having to live in the manor. Time mostly passes without many events after that, with most of their focus being to make sure Cass adjusts well to Gotham and find ways to communicate with her. That is, until Tim stalked one of Bruce's missions despite being benched and met – promptly being hit in the face by a brick – Stephanie Brown.
She was a self taught prodigy of time magic, daughter of a lesser death mage, she was hellbent on spoiling all of her father's plans. Bruce didn't really like her motivation to practice magic, and did his best to try to get her to give up.
Tim and Steph quickly became close to each other, and as weeks passed it became clear that she wasn't going to leave the streets of Gotham no matter what. Bruce was peer pressured by everyone in his life to also accept Steph as an apprentice and actually train her before she got really hurt.
And so, The House of The Bat got three new mage students from very different backgrounds. (I like to think the vibes of the story sometimes are very much like Witch's Hat Atelier) Considering that Barbara has a litteral wizard's tower, she's usually the one who's trying to make sure each one of them goes though their mage's journey safely. She's helping them get a understanding of magic and of their affinity, her classes are very challenging, but not impossible.
Tim leans into Ilusory magic – I think him and Bruce should get pretty similar magic, but while Bruce leans into deceiving, Tim likes to perceive and understand other's mind – Steph gets better and better in Time magic, and to complement the two, Cass starts to study Physical magic.
Just thinking of three mage apprentices running away from rogues, getting into trouble and taking down magical mobsters during the night and having to study grueling hours of torture with Barbara. Thinking of Dick abducting them to a impromptu practical class (Babs is going to murder him). Thinking of Bruce having to deal with three children and messing up so much.
Thinking of Stephanie's death and how hard it would affect Tim and Cass. Thinking of Tim finding a mysterious book in his birthday presents, one that's written in some parts in a cypher that uses a combination of mandarin and arabic he spends months trying to solve. It is a necromancy guide, gifted out of indulging the question of what the little bats would do with it. After all, you only need a basic ritual and a death mage with a soul under their name.
A soul for a soul, an equal exchange.
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alexawynters · 1 year ago
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Scarlet Whispers pt. 1
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Gif not mine
A/N: Title subject to change, not sure how I feel about it. This is my first published fic here so pls be gentle. Also I'm terrible at summaries.
Pairing: Wanda Maximoff x Female!Reader
Trigger warnings (let me know if I forgot to tag anything): Mentions of past child abuse, ongoing adult child abuse, stalking, horror, dubcon, kidnapping, stockholm syndrome, gaslighting, angst, smut. There will be bits of fluff tho.
Rating: M. Minors DNI
Summary: For the most part swap Vision with mutant Y/N whose powers were enhanced by the Mind stone embedded in her forehead courtesy of Hydra. Takes place post Multiverse of Madness, only instead of trying to kill America Chavez, Wanda taught the teen how to control her powers and in doing so, learned how said powers worked herself, becoming able to copy them.
With her newfound powers, Wanda searches the multiverse for her lost spouse and children. She discovers a universe where Y/N exists but she and their sons do not. This aligns with her plans, allowing her to avoid dealing with another version of herself. Using her powers, Wanda intends to make Y/N love her in an attempt to rebuild their family. Whether she does so willingly, or the Scarlet Witch makes her, both are acceptable to Wanda.
Masterlist here
Chapter One
A silent scream escapes your lips as you gasp for breath. Another nightmare. Damn, that's the third one this week, and it's only Monday. Weary, you wipe the sweat from your forehead and head to the bathroom to splash water on your face. It's finals week, and you have an exam in a few hours. A quick glance at the clock shows that it's already 3AM and you groan. Maybe you can manage to get a couple more hours of sleep before the rest of the night slips away.
Lately, for some unknown reason, your troubled mind has been subjecting you to night terrors that make you question your entire reality. These nightmares have been unusually realistic, and you frequently experience more than one per night. At times, you are haunted by so many consecutive nightmares, causing your friends to wonder if you are getting any sleep at all.
The sound of your footsteps padding across the floor is the only thing you hear as you walk from your bedroom to the adjoining bathroom to wash your face. You don't bother turning on the lights since you have a nightlight in the bathroom. You've never been a fan of the pitch black darkness in the bathroom, but the bright overhead lights give you a migraine at the best of times. As a result, your bathroom is mostly covered in shadows, usually just enough for you to do what you need to do and then go back to bed. However, tonight is different. As you accidentally glance up at your reflection, your eyes nearly pop out of your head as you see a pair of glowing red eyes staring back at you from behind, causing your heart to race.
As you spin around, you raise a fist to defend yourself against the intruder, only to realize that you are alone in your bathroom. You turn back to your mirror and find yourself alone once again. It must have been remnants of the nightmare. In a hurry, you turn on the faucet's cold water tap, run your hands under it, and splash your face. Although hesitant to fully look away from your reflection for fear of the 'intruder' returning, you still want to wipe the sweat from your clammy face.
It was just a bad dream. However realistic, it wasn’t actually real. Shaking it off, you quickly close the bathroom door and head back to bed, intent on getting as much of your remaining night’s sleep as you can before your exam tomorrow. Or rather, later today. 
A few hours later, you find yourself in your usual study spot at the university. The library is your safe haven, and it's definitely your favorite place to be. Even if you didn't have to study (which you absolutely did - you were so far behind if you had any hope of graduating with honors, you needed to spend every available moment here), you would often be found here simply reading a book. Your friends and professors are well aware of your voracious appetite for reading, so if anyone ever wonders where to find you, the answer is likely to be here.
Your first exam was in an hour, and you were cramming every last bit of knowledge you could before taking said exam. You needed the highest grade possible. Your future, your escape, depended on it. It could be argued that this desperation was why you initially didn't notice the sound of children's voices reverberating through the library. While the library was usually empty, it was not uncommon for adult students to bring their children with them to study when their own childcare plans fell through. It was inconvenient, but you tried to be considerate and simply tuning it out. Another day, another distraction, and you didn't have time for it.
Eventually, the disruptive sound became impossible to ignore, and despite your desire to not be rude, you needed to focus and get your work done. With more force than strictly necessary, you slammed your book shut, preparing to find a quieter place to study. However, just as you were about to stand up, two twin boys, around ten years old, came running down the library hall, filled with laughter and giggles, heading straight towards you. Your eyes widened as you realized they had no intention of changing their course - they were definitely going to collide with you.
Opening your arms to catch them, and hopefully prevent all of you from careening onto the ground, you found yourself asking “Hey what’s all this? Where’s your mother, you guys?”
The boys looked at you, confused. “What are you talking about, Momma?”
Your eyes turned the size of saucers. “Momma”? That was new. Someone must be playing a trick on you. How ~delightful~ you thought, annoyed. As if you weren’t already stressed out enough, someone had roped in a couple of kids to play a game of fuck around and find out. Well, whomever had put them up to this, when you found them, they were about to find out. 
The library's main door swung open, revealing the presence of an incredibly beautiful woman you estimated to be in her mid thirties, with fiery red hair and the most mesmerizing emerald eyes you had ever seen. Her appearance headed straight towards you left you speechless, immediately taking all the wind out of your sails. Oh well, you were always more bark than bite, you supposed. If you thought her looks were stunning, though, they paled in comparison to the melodic sound of her angelic voice.
“Billy, Tommy, come here boys!”
"Mommy!" the twins shouted at the same time before running into her arms. Part of you wanted to scold them for clearly breaking the library's code of conduct, but you couldn't bring yourself to do it when all three of them just looked so happy. You couldn't explain why your heart clenched at the sight of them either, but for some reason, now that the initial surprise had faded, you were soothed by their presence.
You observe their interaction, not wanting to interrupt their intimate moment. Your heart ached at how comfortable the family appeared to be with one another. Once the stunning woman appears reassured about her children’s well-being, she instructs them to go play and shooing them away before redirecting her attention towards you. You feel a pleasant tightening in your chest as her warm gaze focuses on you.
Even though the children have clearly disrupted your valuable study time, you find yourself dismissing it as if it were insignificant. "Oh, it's no problem, I understand how children can be." You don't, you have never had a sibling nor a child of your own, and you have never babysat a day in your life. 
"It's just that they missed you so much, darling," she whispered, her voice tinged with a hint of sadness.
“Huh?”
She takes a step closer, invading your personal space, and begins adjusting your shirt. One of the buttons had come undone at some point, and she seems determined to fix it. Part of you wants to point out that she, a complete stranger, should not be in your personal space, let alone touching your clothing. And what did she mean by saying that her children "missed" you? You didn't know them. You didn't even know her. Warning bells start ringing in your head, as you are pretty sure this is the plot of some horror movie. You should leave. This is not a level of crazy you can deal with right now. 
"The boys missed you, Detka. It's been a long time since you've been home, so we decided to come see you!" The woman finally finishes fixing your shirt and looks up at you. Though there is warmth in her expression, there's also a hint of madness, her once green eyes tinged with red.
“I-ah… that’s great, and all but I uhh.. I have an exam coming up, I need to get going.”
“Going?”
The warmth in the woman's voice is gone, replaced by a raspy iciness that sends a chill down your spine.
"My love, the only place you need to go is home, with us, your family."
You turn to face the woman and immediately regret it. Standing before you is no longer the woman in mom jeans and a plaid shirt. Instead, she appears to be dressed in some expensive sorceress cosplay that you estimate would cost thousands of dollars to create or purchase. When... when could she have possibly changed? Just a second ago she was dressed like a normal person, right?
Slowly, you take in the sight of her. Not only has her outfit changed, but her overall appearance as well. Her cheeks hollowed, the sockets of her eyes are sunken as if she hasn't slept in weeks, and her eyes are a glowing crimson. The same shade from your nightmares.
This isn’t real. This is another nightmare. One you need to wake up from. 
“Oh absolutely fucking not.” You whisper, as you turn and run.
Unbeknownst to you, the Scarlet Witch allows you to flee. With a flick of her wrist, she could have immobilized you, could have compelled you to accompany her, whether willingly or not, but she chooses not to. The pursuit begins, and she intends to enjoy herself. You will succumb to her, and do so quite prettily. She starts walking down the hallway after you, taking her time. After all, now that she has found you, she has all the time in the world to play with you.
Grace has never been a quality that you possess. In fact, you remember a song your mother made up when you were a child specifically to remind you just how graceless you were. Not that it helps you now, as your brain never finds the appropriate time to recall useless facts. Cursing your ineptitude, you rush out of the library as fast as your legs can carry you.
 Moments later, you’re throwing yourself into every door along the hall, however, none of them open. What is wrong with this place? Why is everything locked? You don't remember the university being so fond of locking everything, but then again, you only go to about the same four places. Variety might be the spice of life, but your stomach (anxiety) prefers a milder taste.
As you run, you hear the clicking of the woman's heels, hot on your trail. Or is she really hot on your trail? It sounds as if... you tilt your head, listening. She's walking? You think to yourself that surely you can outrun a woman walking in heels. Surely. (Your asthma would suggest otherwise). Abandoning yet another locked door, you rush further down the hallway. Maybe you don't need to outrun her or find a room to hide in; after all, barricading yourself would only delay the inevitable. Your goal is to reach civilization, to find other people. Speaking of which, where is everyone? Usually, this wing of the university is bustling with activity at this hour.
Exhausted, you pause to catch your breath, hands resting on your knees, hoping that you have managed to buy yourself some time. Unfortunately, your hopes are dashed as her low, raspy voice fills the corridors, humming what sounds like a lullaby in an unfamiliar language. The eerie sound sends chills down your spine, making it painfully clear that luck is not on your side. Where could she be? She is not next to you, nor ahead, yet her voice continues to echo, sounding almost...
Almost the same moment you realize the source of the danger, a hand reaches through the mirror from behind you and grabs your shirt with an unnatural strength. You scream loudly, hoping to alert someone in the building for help, but no one comes to your aid. "What the- LET GO OF ME!" You forcefully pull your shirt from her grip, tearing it in the process, and hastily retreat down the hallway.
To your horror, you see the woman's arm brace against the wall and begin to pull herself out through the mirror. You scramble to your feet, desperate to flee once again, with only one thought repeating in your mind: "What the fuck?!" None of this could be real.
"Y/N," a low voice said in a saccharine tone. "Where do you think you're going? Don't you know that I will always find you? I have crossed thousands of universes to find you, and now that I have you, I will never let you go." In any other context, this would probably be incredibly sweet. Currently however, it only fuels your fear, sending you into a blind panic. You have to escape whatever the hell this is.
Navigating through corridor after corridor you eventually  spot one of your classmates at the end, entering the exact exam room you needed to be in that morning. It's a desperate situation, but maybe they can buy you some time while you make your escape through a window or something. It’s not a brave thought, you’re not proud of it, but survival instincts have already kicked in. 
You quickly catch up to your classmate, despite initially being so much farther behind, managing to slide into the room just after them. The proctor promptly closes the door behind you. You're breathing heavily, and in your haste, you embarrassingly just slid into the backside of your classmate, with your shirt heavily torn. You must look ridiculous, but unsurprisingly no one questions you about it, your classmate simply looking miffed and whispering an insult as they move out of your personal space. The situation would be comical if you hadn't just been running for your life.
It’s fine. This is fine. Everything’s fine. 
Steadying your breathing, you make your way to the back of the classroom, nearest the window and stare apprehensively at the door. You’re expecting any second now for that woman to come barging in, but she doesn’t, and now here you are ready for your exam. Wow you must really be losing it. Stress induced hallucinations, that has to be it.
Although you were hesitant to simply continue with your day, the world doesn't wait for anyone. Whether you actively participated or not, your proctor would still grade your exam, which your future still depended on. You made an effort to push the hallucination from your mind and concentrate on the information you had retained for the exam, aiming to achieve the highest score possible.
Once you have completed the exam, you hand it in and cautiously enter the hallway. The grades wouldn't be posted until the end of the term, but you were confident enough in your answers to believe that you had earned at least an A. Whether it was an A+ or A- was still uncertain, but you were hoping for the former. So focused were you on your test that you had almost forgotten about the incident earlier that morning. For a moment, you wondered if you should visit the university's nurse. Although she was not an actual doctor, it was a free service, and perhaps she could recommend something. On the other hand, at worst, she would suggest getting more sleep, and at best, she would advise you to see a doctor, which you couldn't afford. Not to mention the argument your parents would start regarding the doctor’s bill (as if they were above opening your mail). Perhaps not. 
You had no more exams for the day, so it was time to go home. There were chores to do for your parents, and then you had to study for tomorrow's exam. If you were lucky, you could finish everything early and get a few extra hours of sleep, hopefully avoiding another hallucination like today. Rubbing the exhaustion from your face, you head towards the bus stop. It was early enough that the bus should arrive within the next fifteen minutes, and you would be home in about an hour. Everything was going according to plan. Tomorrow was going to be a great day, you just had a feeling.
Once on the bus, your exhaustion started to overwhelm you, your headphones doing little to drown out the ambient noise. Before long, you were fast asleep. Even if you were awake, you probably wouldn't have noticed the viridian eyes in the reflection of the bus window watching over you. Unlike before, these eyes didn't appear to be of malicious intent. If anything, they seemed to observe you with care and empathy. If the volume of your headphones spontaneously happened to outweigh that of the alarm you had set for yourself to awaken you for your stop, that was just a coincidence.
A/N 2: sorry but the writers of the M.o.M. butchered her character just to have her shoehorned into a villain role so Strange would have an adversary already established in the MCU as a powerful magic user - I'm still salty about it. However Ms. Olsen's performance was phenomenal. Anyway lmk if this is absolutely trash or if you wanna maybe read more? I have a couple of chapters pre-written but not the entire thing.
Many thanks to my editors @flowers-shouldnt-die, and Brooke for helping me through this and providing valuable feedback! Especially @flowers-shouldnt-die for her assistance with translations in helping me learn both Hungarian and Russian for this. Wouldn't have made it this far in the story without you :3
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aziraphales-library · 7 months ago
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Hello!
I cannot thank you enough for everything you do for the fandom. It’s so incredibly kind and amazing and cool of you to do this :) I know that this might be a bit specific, but I’d still like to ask if you could recommend any fics where Aziraphale has either been hurt or has gone through something traumatizing but he hasn’t told Crowley about it, because he thinks that it doesn’t matter, but eventually Crowley finds out and comforts him. (Like in not alone by Lalaland666) it would be awesome if it could also not be a AU, but it can be.
Thank you so so so so much, I hope that you have a wonderful day :D
Hi! Here are some fics in which Aziraphale is struggling, Crowley finds out why and comforts him. Mind the tags and warnings on a few of these!...
A Shadow In The Light by VinnieTheDuck (T)
While having a nice walk in Saint James Park, then having quite the homophobic encounter, Crowley says something during it that accidentally triggers Aziraphale.
let your guard down, for me by ineffableserpent (T)
Aziraphale has never fully calmed down, per say. He’d been able to reign himself in back to a state of functioning, trying to busy himself with other tasks to avoid spiraling once more. Crowley, the angel had discovered, was an immense source of comfort. … He didn’t wish for the demon to find out about his anxiety, as much as Aziraphale oh so desperately wanted to confide in him. But that would lead to Crowley becoming upset, and inevitably, upset with Heaven — considering that Upstairs has almost always been the source of the angel’s anxious responses. Aziraphale has always been able to keep a brave face — to appear as the guardian he was made to be. No matter how many nights he spent alone and gasping for air, begging for his body to cooperate, he always made it out in the end. Until tonight, that is.
Father of War by AraniWrites (T)
There were three things Crowley could depend on every day with complete certainty. One, that Aziraphale loved him utterly and completely, just as much as he loved him in turn. Two, that he could consistently count on the angel to be present within their shared flat above the old bookshop, engrossed in his books for days and weeks at a time, only broken by Crowley’s presence. Three, that they had agreed not to lie to one another again, and both had upheld their agreement faithfully. He had never had reason to doubt these three truths. That is, until today.
The Penitent Man by charliebrown1234 (M)
"I believe that very few men are capable of estimating the immense amount of torture and agony which this dreadful punishment, prolonged for years, inflicts upon the sufferers; ... I am only the more convinced that there is a depth of terrible endurance in which none but the sufferers themselves can fathom... I hold this slow and daily tampering with the mysteries of the brain to be immeasurably worse than any torture of the body; and because its ghastly signs and tokens are not so palpable to the eye and sense of touch as scars upon the flesh; because its wounds are not upon the surface, and it extorts few cries that human ears can hear; therefore the more I denounce it, as a secret punishment which slumbering humanity is not roused up to stay." - Charles Dickens on Solitary Confinement at Eastern State Penitentiary, 1842 Aziraphale and Crowley become trapped in an elevator post-Apocalypse, which brings back bad memories for Aziraphale. The resulting flashback is debilitating, and Crowley helps to walk Aziraphale through it.
useless, helpless, hopeless (safe) by Anonymous (M)
Crowley picked a bad day to drop by the shop. Gabriel had already gone, thank goodness, but the bruises on Aziraphale’s face most certainly had not, and the truth came out. Gabriel was raping Aziraphale, and there was absolutely nothing that Crowley could do about it.
What I Am by Anonymous (E)
Aziraphale knows what he is, in Heaven. He’s dirty, and tainted, and easy. He’s good for working off stress. He’s a lower angel, a demoted Cherub banished to Earth and forbidden from saying no. He’s Gabriel’s favourite, though he doesn’t understand why. He knows all too well what he is. But it doesn’t matter. Because Heaven is good, and all that they do must be good in return. No matter how much it hurts, no matter how much he hates it. Heaven cannot possibly be wrong. Right?
And the one you mentioned...
(Not) Alone by lalaland666 (T)
Aziraphale had lost track of the days quite some time ago. He’d been counting the seconds in his head, before. Heaven was always bright, always lit by perpetual sunlight, and the Room was brighter than the rest of Heaven, too, so it made it quite difficult to keep track of… of… Aziraphale had lost track of the days quite some time ago. Aziraphale is punished by being put in solitary confinement. Eventually, Crowley finds out.
- Mod D
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anonymooseforever007 · 2 years ago
Text
Shadow by the Bed
(Mainly Finn & Tommy platonically) + (Technically Finn Shelby x Unnamed Girlfriend)
Summary: It's the middle of the night after a family party and everything seems calm. Until Lizzie's woken up by a shadowy figure standing over her and Tommy's bed.....
A/N: Hi Y'all! No trigger warnings other than Finn and his Girlfriend getting drunk. Also even though this was made as a Finn x Reader fic in mind, it really is a Finn and Tommy funny fluff fic, and I actually didn't use Y/N in this one at all. I think I want to connect it to some more ideas I have for the same girlfriend in mind, hence the tag. But the prompt for this one has been on my mind for a while and it was super fun to write! Also I looked it up and it seems the first "instant portable camera" so to speak was invented in 1923 which I checked on that fact! Enjoy❤️
WC-4.2k
Main Masterlist
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It was Lizzie who woke up in the early morning to the sound of master bedroom being entered. The squeak of a doorknob broke through her previously unconscious mind, and the soft stumbling steps towards the bed woke her even further. And for a second, her sleep idled mind thought it was Tommy.....but he was ,for once, sound asleep next to her. Then she thought it could be Charlie, trying to find comfort in their bed after a nightmare. But when she looked over, her blood ran cold and she froze, seeing the tall figure standing by the side of the bed, cloaked in shadows too dark to see his face.
The intruder looked at her for a second, and tilted his head, as if he was confused to why she was there. Tommy himself still hadn't woken up which served to scare Lizzie even more since he was probably the lightest sleeper she'd ever met. Every time she went to check on baby Ruby, or when Charlie tried to sneak in because of a nightmare, Tommy would be wide awake as soon as be heard the turn of the doorknob or footsteps by the bed. So the fact her usually vigilant husband was still softly snoring while an unknown man stood over them both, only increased her growing fear of what was about to occur. But before she could open her mouth to scream or hit Tommy awake, the figure moved again. He raised his hand and waved at her, almost eagerly, like he finally recognized her as someone he liked a lot.
"Hiii Lizzzzieee!"
Finn. 
It was Finn standing beside the bed in the middle of the night waving at her. He was drunk too, very drunk in fact, but Lizzie recognized her youngest brother in law. She remembered the party the family had that night. By then end of it, the only two people remaining in the living room were Finn and his girlfriend who, sat on his lap as they eagerly talked, lost in their own little world again. Evidently, after the rest of his kin had gone away Finn decided he wanted another drink... or four. Placing her hand over her chest, she took a few breaths trying to calm her racing heart. Now it made sense why Tommy hadn't woken up. 
Thomas Shelby was a hard man to sneak up on, even in his sleep. He was a light sleeper and had been since before the war. Almost every little creak or bump in the night was enough to wake him to at least open one eye and see what was going on. It was like his mind perceived any noise as a possible threat he needed to size up.  And as he grew older it remained that way. But for some reason, Finn was the only one able to move around at night and not wake up Tommy. It didn't matter if he was trying to be quiet or accidentally knocking over the dining room chairs at three o'clock in the morning. It was like Tommy's internal danger sensor had a glitch that would skip over any ruckus made by his youngest sibling. And there was a reason for that too. It was likely caused by the years of young Finn sneaking into Tommy's bed at night. Whether it was because of the cold or nightmares or just because he wanted to, there were many nights before the war then Tommy would wake up to his youngest brother sprawled out on his chest hogging all the blankets. And even if in the beginning Tommy would wake up, it seemed he got use to it. So much to the point where his little brother's movements at night became a background noise he could recognize even in sleep. One he recognized as nonthreatening and thus not a reason to wake up. And it was a noise he could apparently remember even years later today. Hence why Tommy was currently laying on his bed eyes closed and breathing peaceful, while his youngest brother and his wife stared each other down. 
"Hiiii Lizzie....."
Finn repeated again, slurring slightly, noticing he didn't get an answer the first time and in his fogged mind figured she hadn't heard him. Lizzie ran a hand down her face once and finally composed herself again, whispering to the freckled twenty year old who grinned at her drunkenly.
"Finn? What are you doing here? Is everything alright," she questioned, hoping that nothing had happened to him or his sweet girlfriend after the family had left them. She couldn't think of any reason why he'd be here otherwise. Something must have been wrong. Tommy grumbled slightly and shifted in his sleep at her words.
"Noo.. It's all fineee," Finn replied, his words being drawn out and trialing off as he spoke. But he still hadn't told Lizzie why he was there. She'd evidently have to try a new route.
"Ok, that's nice Finn," Lizzie spoke in the same manner she did to four year old Charlie when he showed her the croaking dirt covered mystery box he was trying to take to the bathtub one day. She still wasn't sure how he'd caught so many frogs... "Why don't you tell me why you're here ok? Wouldn't you rather sleep in your bed?l
"No. I want Tommy."
"Tommy?"
"Yeahhhh, I need Tommy right now," Finn raised a hand to rub the back of his head, nodding like everything made sense. He nodded to himself again, looking down at his sleeping brother  once more. Then to Lizzie's surprise, and with much more agility than a drunken boy should have, he sat on the bed and rolled to lay right on top of his older brother. It was the sudden weight on top of him that finally woke Tommy. Even if he could ignore the noises his little brother made moving around the room, the sudden, almost crushing heaviness on his chest was enough to scare him out of his sleep.
"Fucking fuck....Fuck!"
Tommy shot up, cursing as he tried to get his bearings. Well, he tried but the heavy mass on top of him, grumbling in his ear, made it hard to move. Fortunately, before he could grab his razor cap from the side of the bed, he recognized the annoyed whine of his baby brother coming from the man whose head he was trying to shove back. It was Finn. Why the fuck was Finn on top of him?
"Finn?"
"Tommmyyyy!," the mentioned man groaned lightly as Finn shifted on top of him. Despite being the youngest, Finn had nearly a head over his brothers and wasn't quite the tiny little thing he use to be. He practically blanketed Tommy as he sprawled over the bed. "Tommy I'm gonna sleep here tonight. I want you to rub my back."
A brief glance to his left, showed Tommy his wife who was quietly laughing at his predicament. After she got over the fear of his intrusion, Lizzie found the whole situation quite entertaining. It wasn't often Tommy was caught so off guard, especially when he couldn't just threaten or fight the person off like he usually did. Polly would probably beat his ass if he shoved Finn off him and left him to his own devices while this intoxicated. It didn't happen too often, but when Finn did get as drunk as his older brothers usually did, it never ended well. Last time it ended with him climbing a tree and refusing to get down even when all his brothers demanded it. To his brothers' slight annoyance, in the end, all it had taken to get him down was his girlfriend passing by on the street, who saw him and asked if he would come down to hold her hand. Before she had even finished her request, he was out of the tree, fingers entwined with hers, grinning like an idiot even though she was softly lecturing him on the dangers of drunk climbing. But now, Finn's girl was nowhere in Tommy's, admittedly limited, sight. That still didn't stop the growing annoyance towards the brother who'd interrupted his sleep.
"Don't you have a your own bed to do that? And stop moving your fucking legs, I don't need you kicking me in the balls."  
Somewhat defeated, Tommy closed his eyes again and laid his head back against his pillow. Lizzie, still laughing silently, obviously wasn't going to help him, and truth be told Tommy was still tired enough that he didn't want to keep trying to move what wasn't moving. Finn ignored his last comment, shifting again to get more comfortable, and buried his face deeper into the blankets on top of Tommy.
"I can't go to bed. My girl's there."
"Your girlfriend's in your bed?"
"Yeah, I have a girlfriendddd and she's reallyyy pretty and I lo..loveee her and she helps me read and she had this really cute fucking freckle on her top lip that's slightly off the middle and you can only see it if..." Finn's intoxicated rambling about his favorite person could barely be heard as he described his love. Rolling his eyes beneath closed lids, Tommy wished he could free one of his hands to pinch the bridge of his nose.
"That's great Finn, she sounds great, so why don't you go to her and ask her to rub your back and play with your hair? Why don't you get in bed with her?"
It was a decent enough question too. What would compel a young drunk man to seek the company of his grumpy older brother over the girl he's so in love with? Especially if he wants affection. In fact, Tommy was rather confused why Finn came to him instead of her. He knew that when he was this young and drunk he would rather have been with Greta than Arthur any day of the week. He remembered the nights long ago when they'd both fall asleep on his small bed after a night out. She use to play with his hair and kiss his neck lightly while he drunkenly professed his love in Romani... But that was a long time ago. And judging by the way his head finally shot up in shock, and by how he attempted to...glare maybe?....At Tommy, Finn had other opinions.
"I'm a not fucking pervert," he slurred out slightly while mixing up his words and bringing up a hand to thump his brother on the head, almost as if admonishing him for suggesting such a thing. Which confused Tommy even more as it wouldn't have been the first Finn shared a bed with his girlfriend. He'd come across them curled up in Finn's room after a party on more than once occasion, so it wouldn't be a stretch for it to happen again. 
"What does that.... stop fucking hitting me... Lizzie grab his hand... Lizzie help me.... Lizzie help.... ok. What the fuck does that mean?"
Rolling his eyes (or trying to) and pulling up his head to scrutinize his brother again, Finn huffed.
"She's drunk. I'm not gonna get in bed with her if she's drunk," he explained as it was the most obvious thing ever. "She doesn't like doing it with me. So I'm not going to do it with her. It's respectful and all that shit."
"She's drunk?"
"Yeahhhh, we played a game to see who could flip a coin into a cup first and if you lost you had to drink and theeenn we both lost a lot. And she kept giggling and almost tripped on the stairs and then she was tired so she's sleeping in my bed. But I'm not gonna get in with her. Not tonight. No no no," Finn shook his head eyes closed as he recounted the end of his night with his girl. Even if he had too many drinks, he still remembered all the times she sent him to her couch for being a bit too tipsy after a night out. Sure, she'd still give him water and kiss his forehead, but she didn't want to risk getting thrown up on. Besides she had told him she didn't feel comfortable getting in bed with him when he was drunk and he figured she'd feel the same way about it if she was. 
Finn kept shaking his head to show how much he wouldn't be sleeping in his room that night, until the motion made him nauseous and he groaned burying his head back on the bed. He didn't notice Tommy's look to Lizzie, who was already grabbing her robe from the side of the bed to go check on the occupant in Finn's room. Though it was unlikely she was injured or needed help, the older pair felt it would be safer to check just in case. 
Now the only two people in the room were Tommy and Finn, the latter of whom was still sprawled out over his brother. Tommy shifted around once again, hoping that Finn would move to take the spot Lizzie left empty but to no avail. It only served to make Finn groan more as the consequences of the alcohol began to hit his his system. 
"Tommy.... rub my back... don't you love me?"
Finn had resorted to trying to guilt trip his brother now. It was something he'd done many times when he was younger. Asking for something and then questioning his siblings love if they said no. It was always done with the mischievous intentions of a sneaky child. It rarely worked on Polly, who was immune by now to the childish manipulation, but more often than not his siblings were more than willing to "prove" they loved him the most. 
Tommy let out another sigh, but this one was laced with slight amusement. Even if it was slightly annoying, there was some entertainment to seeing Finn this way. It felt nice for Tommy to be able to recognise the bit of youth still left in him. Truth be told, he didn't see it as much anymore. 
In recent years, Finn had become very different from the kid he use to be. And not in the fact that he was a bit harder like his brothers. No, Finn was undoubtedly softer than the rest of his family, something that wasn't necessarily bad. But as he'd grown, the effects of the pressure he felt from his family had become more and more obvious. Almost gone was the Finn young who use to ask lots of questions and run around, rather spending the day playing football than sit at desk. He was replaced with a quieter young man who often lacked the confidence his older brothers posed. He didn't laugh loud enough to be heard from the street like he use to, always unsure if it was the right thing to laugh at or not. He seemed to make a point at time never to be louder than his brothers. like they set all the limits for what should be done. Where his brothers gladly wielded the power their last name held, Finn didn't seem to know what to do with it. He was always somewhat tense even around his closest family and friends. Like if he fully relaxed and acted as he did when comfortable, he'd be teased or told to man up like so often before. Tommy wouldn't apologise for it, but he knew it was partially him and his brothers fault for that. The anxieties that came with what Finn thought his family would want him to say or do or enjoy often lead him stay quiet, and do nothing, rather risk the wrong thing. At it's worst, it came to a point where someone would have probably looked at him and the only words they'd have been able to use to describe him would be Shelby and Blinder. He's gotten so caught up in appeasing his family he forgot to have a life and personality outside the image he believed they wanted him to be. 
Luckily however, finding his girlfriend seemed to fix that. She was the sweet girl who had agreed to teach him how to read. One day their lesson plans switched from reading words in books to reading the word cards during a silent film. Then when she started taking him places with her friends and going to do the things they liked to do, Finn was able to get a bit of his younger self back. When he was able to find a place in life that was completely separated from the one he was strictly living, and have time to try interests he enjoyed independently, even if his brothers didn't care for them.... That's when his family noticed another, admittedly healthier, change in their youngest. He was more relaxed and comfortable making his own decisions, knowing that there was someone there for him at the end of the day, even if he'd messed up at work or the rest of his family was fighting. A little bit more social at the family gatherings again, he wasn't as annoyed by the teasing comments they'd always made, and felt a bit more confident to share his opinions, knowing he had someone who'd usually try to back him up or at least hear him out. His girlfriend had done some good in him, helping him recognise that he could still have a life outside of his family's expectations. And while it did hinder somewhat his brothers plans to toughen him up to the darker side of the business, they were glad to see Finn a happy as he was. When he was around her he reminded them of the bouncy kid he was when he still laughed loud enough to be heard down the street. And Tommy was glad for that. 
"Tommmmyy," Finn mumbled again, his eyes were closed and he was almost asleep. His words were barely audible. Tommy looked at the face of his twenty year old brother, seeing it was still so much like the one he'd had at five. Sure he'd lost the baby fat and gained a numerous amount of freckles and a few small scars, but it was still the face of the small boy who climbed in his bed because at night when Arthur's snoring sounded like a monster in his closest. It was the same face that shared a mischievous glint with Ada when he wanted to prank John. It was the same face that tears were streaming down on the day he'd left for France and the same one buried in his neck the day he'd returned. It was the face he kept seeing in nightmares for weeks after the Lee family blew up the car, imagining what would have happened if he hadn't got there in time. It was the face of Tommy's baby brother, he still didn't like to deny, even if he did it more and more often these days.
"Do you really want me to rub you back like I did when you were little?"
"Uh huhhh...." 
Finally relenting, Tommy rolled his eyes again, but this time he had a small smile on his face. Giving a somewhat dramatic sigh, the older brother was finally able to free his arms from the weight on top of him. Then, much to Finn's delight, Tommy moved his arms around to rub and scratch his brother's back. He did it the same way he'd done it all those years ago, calming movements all the way down and then rubbing a few small circles between the shoulder blades. Occasionally he'd move one hand to the base of Finn's neck and place some pressure there for a few seconds. 
Tommy's couldn't even hear Finn's mumbled thanks as the younger man had finally fallen asleep. The soft familiar snoring made it's way to Tommy's ears less than a minute after he'd finally given in, leaving him to chuckles softly under his breath. Finn always did fall asleep fast, especially when someone was rubbing his back. Tommy could have chosen to stop now, rescinding his hands and moving Finn off of him. He could have gotten up and gone to meet Lizzie in the guest room by the nursery that she was likely sleeping in now.... However he didn't. 
That night Tommy would spend another half hour rubbing his sleeping brother's back, before he fell back into his own, surprising peaceful, sleep. Finn remained sprawled over his brother, softly snoring in his ear, while Tommy's hand lay on his brother's back, softly gripping the shirt he wore. And once again the night was calm.....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Fucking hell Ada, go slower or you're gonna step on my balls"
"I am going slow, it's not my fault that John's fat ass is making the bed squeak."
"Fuck off, my ass isn't fat! Besides at least I'm not the one using his head to keep my balance."
"All of you quiet before you wake them."
Argued whispers broke though Tommy's mind a few hours later. It confused his sleep idled mind. Not the fact they were arguing, that was a regular occurrence, but just hearing the voices of Arthur, Ada, and John so early in the morning. Why was he hearing them this early?...
Or maybe it wasn't early, Tommy could feel a warmth on his back probably from the morning sun. Usually he was at breakfast before it came up. Still half asleep, he ignored their argument, not wanting to deal with whatever fight they were having now, and shifted to get more comfortable. Only to find that he couldn't move, still held down by a heavy weight. Moving agin to try and free himself he realized that not only had he turned on his stomach during the night, but the warmth on his back was from Finn, still asleep hugging onto his form. He also figured it was Finn's hand gripping his hair tightly too. The quiet ginger had a habit of doing that in his sleep to Tommy when he was younger. 
The hushed voices around the room froze, and he could feel eyes on his form. Then he felt the bed shift slightly and the soft thump of a hand hitting a chest. What the fuck was going on?
"Shit, Esme take it already."
Groaning at the bright light, Tommy opened his eyes and lifted up his head. It took a few moments for his eyes to adjust and his nose inadvertently scrunched at having to wake up. For once, Tommy was actually sleeping well and he was mildly annoyed at having been disturbed. But that annoyance turned to more confusion soon enough. 
Ada, John, and Arthur were all situated on their own spots in Tommy's bed. He could feel the back of Arthur's knees by his head to the left side of the bed and it was Arthur griping his hair, apparently for balance. Ada seemed to be next to Arthur sitting criss-cross, the extra pressure over his back indicating that she was leaning some of her weight on Finn. And John he could actually see sitting directly on the back of Tommy's knees, keeping him from rolling over again.... had Finn not still been sprawled on top of him. Looking to right he saw not just Esme, but Lizzie, Linda, Polly, Michael, AND Uncle Charlie watching them. He also noticed Finn's girlfriend over Lizzie's shoulder, wrapped tightly in a blanket, watching silently with a glass of water for her own hangover. They were all observing the scene before them with equal levels of amusement as all the Shelby siblings plied into one bed for the first time in an over a decade probably. It was that moment Tommy, still half asleep, noticed the camera in Esme's hands and realised what was about to occur. But he didn't get the chance to protest.
"Shit he's seen it, ESME GO!"
A second before Esme took the photo, Ads raised her hand and brought it down as hard as she could on Finn's back. 
Scared shitless Finn shot awake and cursed, his eyes wide open. Instinctively he began fighting off whoever was on top of him, causing Tommy to groan in pain as an elbow was driven into his back. This started a miniature wrestling match between the five of them as Finn scrambled to grab whoever hit him, Ada, John, and Arthur, fought to hold him down just because they could, and Tommy, having enough of it all, fought to get up. They were all yelling, but none of them could be understood by the rest of the family watching on. Eventually, Finn tried to shove himself up again and succeeded to do so while also knocking Ada off the bed. When she fell she grabbed John and Arthur, who ended up grabbing Finn, who grabbed Tommy and they all ended up in another pile on the floor. 
Across the room Linda and Lizzie were almost crying they were laughing so hard. Uncle Charlie was holding onto Michael's shoulder to keep himself up right as they laughed. Polly was chuckling quietly but just mostly watched the scene with a nostalgic smile on her face, remembering the times when the siblings acted like that more often. It have been a long time since then and it was nice to see them acting like they did when they were younger. Esme's smile was partially hidden as she held the camera to her eye to take another photo of the pile on the floor. Finn's girlfriend was still wrapped with a blanket around her like a hooded cloak, and she was grinning while telling Esme the best spot to take another picture. In her hand was the other photo that had just finished developing. Arthur, John, and Ada could be seen smiling happily as they piled over their two brothers, Finn's face showed pure fear as he was smacked awake, and Tommy's half asleep confusion finally processing what was in Esme's hand. It was a perfect picture showing the Shelby siblings in their natural habitat....Chaos.
From the pile on the floor, it seemed as if Finn's body finally remembered the events of last night and he heaved slightly as the nausea kicked in.
"I'm gonna be fucking sick."
His siblings scrambled to get away.
....
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maniculum · 1 year ago
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Bestiaryposting: Wutugald
Welcome to the first installment of bestiaryposting! This week, we're going to try and illustrate everyone's favorite critter, the Wutugald! If anything about that confused you, you can find an explanation at (this link here) and all the posts in this series at (this link here).
That said, I think we can cut the introduction there... this one is actually a mildly morbid note to start on, but the order is randomized and I've decided to just roll with it:
There is an animal called the Wutugald, which inhabits the tombs of the dead and feeds on their bodies. Its nature is that it is sometimes male, sometimes female, and it is therefore an unclean animal. Since its spine is rigid, all in one piece, it cannot turn round except by turning its body right around. Solinus recounts many marvellous things about the Wutugald. First, it stalks the sheepfolds of shepherds and circles their houses by night, and by listening carefully learns their speech, so that it can imitate the human voice, in order to fall on any man whom it has lured out at night. The Wutugald also [imitates] human vomit and devours the dogs it has enticed with faked sounds of retching. If dogs hunting the Wutugald accidentally touch its shadow behind, they lose their voices and cannot bark. In its search for buried bodies, the Wutugald digs up graves. This beast has a stone in its eyes, called [redacted]; anyone who keeps it under his tongue is believed to foretell the future. It is true that if the Wutugald walks three times around any animal, the animal cannot move. For this reason men declare that the Wutugald has magical properties. In a part of Ethiopia the Wutugald mates with the lion; their union produces a monster, named [redacted]. Like the Wutugald, it too produces men's voices. It never tries to change the direction of its glance but strives to see without changing it. It has no gums in its mouth. Its single, continuous tooth is closed naturally like a casket so that it is never blunted.
So, there you are. Anyone who wants to illustrate or otherwise depict the Wutugald, post what you've got under the tag #wutugald, and I'll collect them in a round-up post in a week's time. (Appropriately credited, of course.)
And a reminder: please do not try and guess the identity of the animal described. I’m sure some of you recognized it, but keep it to yourselves. That’s not the point of this exercise, and if you start putting guesses in the tags or something, you risk influencing the artists, so please don’t.
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thehypnone · 2 months ago
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OKAYYY LET'S GO /ref, time for my fantasy au ramble!!! this au is an universe of my own creation, for my own book so 'tis copyrighted, bitch /silly, and then i felt the urge to put our ghouls in there so i did and I like it eheheheheh anyways! folks that wanted to be tagged: @lopsidedghoul @justrandomghoul @delusionalbitchinthehouse @ghoulelegy
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The continent called Erlaria is divided into three parts, one of them is the Kingdom of Bellimar, inhabited by elves. The elves can be divided into 7 categories based on their magic:
Adan are fire
Naidan are water
Kellan are energy
Haidan are healers
Moran are darkness
Dewdrop Tareva, son of the king Carandael is an adan. He should be a kairan and not an adan, but he got sick when he was still developing his magic and it didn’t form properly so he’s “just” a very powerful fire elf
Zalean are materiality
Kairan, which is a power only reserved for the royal bloodline of Bellimar (the Tareva family). They have all these powers combined
The characters:
Rain Ravelan is a naidan, he’s Dew’s partner and the main general of Bellimar
Aeon Naurlar is a moran
Aether Naurlar is a haidan
Mountain Nyarin is a zalean
Swiss Aderthad is a kairan
Rain lost his parents when he was young and because his father was the previous main general he was close to the king and Dewdrop, so Carandael took Rain in after his parents died without a question. He and dew basically grew up together
All of them except for Swiss live at court under the king of Bellimar, Carandael. Dew and Rain are friends with Aeon, his half-brother Aether and Mountain who all have different jobs at and around court. They all met quite young
Swiss is from a different kingdom—Valun. Everyone outside of Valun thinks it doesn’t exist, that it was obliterated in a war between gods centuries ago. It didn’t, obviously—the queen Meira Aderthad (Swiss’ mother) hid it with powerful magic and now Valun is hidden, but doing quite well. One thing is that the time flows a little differently, there
Swiss should’t be a kairan and yet he’s more than a kairan. The elves in Valun have different powers and Swiss has all the powers from both Bellimar and Valun—something a mortal wouldn’t be able to take, only a god
It caused a lot of complications when he was young. He nearly died a couple times, his mother saved him with some crazy magic by taking some of his power and basically turning Swiss into two separate people, so then there was Swiss and Shadow
It stopped the issues for a while but didn't really fix anything, and it ended up in a big fail and Swiss basically…well, he died
He doesn’t know it for a while, but he dies, and then his mother saves him by channeling the lost power from the other part of him and then she sends them both out into the world far away from each other. If they met again and merged, a deadly amount of power would be released
Meira didn't really ever care about swiss’ wellbeing, she needed his power for her own goal: bringing back an ancient god, Keres, who...turns out to be Swiss’ father
Meira is really one of the gods, Alvah, and she and Keres had Swiss—that’s why he’s so powerful, but because he was shoved into a mortal vessel by Alvah it messed it all up
Some time into his wandering of Bellimar Swiss finds himself being taken in by a human family. He loves them and thinks he’s finally found his place, but it doesn’t end well. He accidentally blows up half the city, killing his adoptive father and around thirty more people. He gets taken into a high security magical prison—Colfort—after that, and spends over a year there. It’s secured with malachite, a stone which takes away elves’ powers, but for obvious reasons it doesn’t work the same on Swiss
Bellimar is at the verge of war and it’s certain that they would lose, so Dew (the prince) and Rain (the general) go see Swiss and offer him a deal—save Bellimar and he’ll be free
Dew is cocky, though, and accidentally triggers Swiss. There's a big boom and Dew is gone. disappeared
Swiss escapes before Rain can get him, and he, of course, assumes Dewdrop is dead. He swears to take vengeance and all that shit, goes after swiss and eventually finds him, but only because Swiss wanted to be found
Swiss easily overpowers him and tells Rain to stfu and listen to him. He says they'll take a blood oath—Swiss will save Bellimar and then give himself up for the general to kill, or do whatever he pleases with. Rain agrees, even though reluctantly, because, yeah, he wants to avenge Dew, but Dew wouldn't want his beloved kingdom to lose the war, right?
Yeah, so that happens. Swiss saves Bellimar (he meets Mountain around then), but then Rain realizes there’s nothing left in the world for him without Dew, and he actually grew to like Swiss, whether he likes it or not, so he doesn’t kill him. He even decides to go with him (and Mountain) to stop Meira from doing more fuckshit magic
Long story short, they fail
Well, first Swiss meets with Shadow and they merge back into…just Swiss
In Balkee (the capital of Valun), Meira stabs swiss with a magical blade with Keres’ blood on it in an attempt to bring him back. It doesn’t look like it worked at first, so she gets angry and shoves him into a coffin with the dagger still in him, and Rain and Mountain into a dungeon
They manage to escape soon enough and they take Swiss in the coffin with them back to Bellimar. Alvah/Meira can’t reach them there, she can’t leave the magical borders of Valun
It takes Mountain and Rain a while to figure out how to wake Swiss up, and when they finally do the world is a mess. Turns out keres did come back and has been messing the kingdom up and spreading chaos
Swiss waking up gives him even more power and he gathers an army of the dead, putting the continent into a huge ass war. Swiss takes over the court in Odrea because king Carandael is a bitch and doesn’t want to fight because he thinks his only heir is dead, so what’s the point
Some time later it turns out that Dew did not die when Swiss disappeared him, he actually ended up in Alvah/Meira’s dungeons and has been stuck there for a while, but also managed to finally escape. He finds Rain and they reunite and its sappy as fuck
So all our guys are together in Odrea now (the capital of Bellimar where the court is) preparing to face Keres
Swiss expects he will have to die because 1) he’s the only one that can face him, and 2) their power is linked, so that might be the only way
Keres is smart, though, he is the god of darkness, death and chaos after all
He uses his legions of the dead he conjured up to get rid of most of the kingdom’s armies and defenses, so that he would have a clean road to the capital where Swiss is. Keres wants to kill him, so that he doesn't have to share that power and has no competition
The war is bad. Really bad, a lot of people die. Rain nearly dies
He’s got his magic and he might just be the best swordsman in the kingdom, but he also (a little stupidly, but honorably) insists on fighting amongst his people instead of leading them to death from the sides, so…
The throne room is barricaded with Mountain’s magic
The king is dead, Dew is crying over his body
Dew, Rain, Aeon and Mountain are the only one’s left there and they have no idea what the fuck to do
Rain considers, though, and he realizes that no matter what happens, the Tareva bloodline must survive and...well, Dewdrop is the only one left
He begs Aeon and Mountain to get Dew out of there through some secret tunnels while he fights off the bastards that are about to break into the throne room. Keres wants to kill Dewdrop, too—he doesn’t want any competition and he doesn’t know that Dew isn't a kairan, that he only has one power
Dew wouldn’t agree to it in normal circumstances and he would fight not to be taken away, but he’s mad with grief over his father already, so it’s easier than it should be for Aeon and Mountain to haul him away
One thing, though...when Mountain gets away, the barricades will fall. He knows it and Rain does, too, but getting Dew out—the only remaining hope for Bellimar and the love of his life—is his priority
Aeon and Mountain get Dew away. Mountain’s power allows them to melt through the walls so the enemy wouldn’t even be able to go after them that easily, but Rain is still going to hold them back as much as he can, for as long as he can
He sits on the broken throne with his sword and simply waits. The enemy is banging on the huge doors as Mountains magic indeed does slowly melt away but then...then it gets quiet and the magic drops
Rain knows exactly what that means
Keres opens the doors and steps into the wrecked throne room, looks over the dead guards here and there and then on Rain
“Nnd who are you?” Keres asks
“Nobody important to you unfortunately”
“You’re that...that stubborn general. Are you not?”
“Probably” Rain scoffs. Keres actually admires his attitude to the certain death standing right in front of him
“I like you,” he admits, “and that’s why I’ll let you dirty your sword before I kill you”
“Sounds good to me” Rain shrugs and gets up from the throne. Keres fold his arms on his chest and moves back to lean against the wall to watch Rain slaughter his soldiers
Rain is good, even Heres is impressed
He gets bored after a while, though, and Rain is getting tired. He doesn't notice that the god has moved and joined the dead that are attacking him (they’re sloppy, it’s the number of them that gives them the advantage, btw)
Rain lifts his sword to slash through a couple of them, but it’s Keres that’s there
He grabs his sword in hand and twists Rain’s arm away before stabbing him
Rain screams out, but not in pain. He screams out in anger
It makes his magic burst and, for some reason, shocks Keres (it shocks him because it’s the pure naidan power, which means Rain is a descendant from one of the gods). Just for a split second, but it's enough for Rain to grab a dagger with his free hand and stab it into Keres’ neck
He falls, and even though rain knows he’ll come back, he’s proud of himself—he managed to slow him down
Rain pushes him off and stumbles backwards. He uses his sword like a cane to get himself back to the throne, but he can’t get himself up those couple stairs that are there. He collapses onto them and waits for death
He’s bleeding out fast, so he’s barely conscious when someone barges into the throne room where he’s the only one left (semi)alive. it’s Swiss with Aether
Swiss felt keres “dying” and Rain’s power bursting and it turns out that when Keres temporarily dies, all his living-dead soldiers fall with him, so Rain managed to put the entire battle on hold
He’s started telling Aether what he wants him to forward to Dewdrop, he’s sure he’s done, but Aether heals him at the very last minute and gets him out while the enemy is...well, dead
Only Swiss stays in the palace, waiting for Keres to wake up
He could’ve at least tried to kill Keres while he was kinda dead, but Swiss didn’t want to do it like that
He wanted a real fight and if he dies, that’s fine. He doesn’t see himself having any different purpose. He doesn’t mind
And he does get a real fight
The last time two gods fought it ended up with a whole continent splitting into a couple islands, so it’s a huge release of power
The capital gets obliterated, turned into a crater. Thousands of people that are escaping turn and gasp as it all goes up in flames
Swiss’ friends know what it means and they’re sure he didn't survive. How could he?
They cry—Mountain the hardest, hating the fact that Swiss has died without seeing his value or getting any real happiness or love in his life, and that he didn't get to say goodbye
The survivors from that destroyed part of Bellimar all get onto boats provided by Maldae (an island on the west) and they escape there
It’s weeks after the battle and Mountain simply can’t stop thinking about Swiss. He swears he can still feel his magic lingering around. He doesn't take no for an answer and ends up getting onto a pirate ship that would take him to the ruined city of Odrea
What he finds there is not what he was expecting
He was expecting...well, nothing. A hole in the ground with everything dead around it, not even any ruins of the once glorious city
Mountain finds Ddrea nearly fully rebuilt; he runs around it frantically because it reeks of Swiss’ magic and–
“Mounty?” he hears when he runs up the new palace’s stairs. He turns and crumbles to the ground, just violently sobbing right away because–
“You’re alive” and yeah. Yeah, Swiss is somehow alive
Keres is gone, Swiss is alive and he’s been fixing what got ruined
A few months later the city is ready to welcome back its people, those that do want to come back
Mountain and Swiss get married and move to Valun (that is now uncloaked) to rule there, and Rain and Dew get married and rule Bellimar
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and here's the map of erlaria for reference! and if anyone would like to read some more of it or have some questions about the lore or some ideas then feel free to storm my inbox heh
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livewireprojects · 2 months ago
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Sonadowtober 2024 Day 3
I dunno if this counts as a sfw thing due to the fact accidental pregnancy comes into play.
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Day 3 was accidents I have an oneshot I wanted to work on but it'll take a while so this is taking it's place. I almost wanted to add Commander Towers next to Venice & Silver(like he's just keeping an eye on them while the family goes to deal with Jet) but I gave up after a while, the only reason he was going to be there was because the journal that comes with physical copies of Sonic x Shadow Generation preorders admits Towers was a "happy accident" when explaining why he was even on the Ark.
For context Jet put "happy accident"/"happy accident 2" shirts on Venice & Silver because he thought it'd be funny. Sonic is embarrassed while the rest of his family is ready to strangle a certain bird because it's awkward to talk about.(Mephiles is trying to stay calm because someone needs to keep an eye on Sonic & the kids)
I never really talked about this cause it never came up but Venice & Silver were accidents, Sonic doesn't regret having them & loves his sons but they weren't planned. He ended up having them thanks to two separate incidents were Sonic went with Mephiles or tagged along with Shadow to the same Eggman base. They ended up in a room with a weird cloning machine & then once the whole thing with the machine was over with they had to escape though Shadow destroyed the machine before leaving.
Sonic kind of had a bad experience with this base as Mephiles went missing(thanks to Eggman) after they checked the base out & later learned he was expecting.(Made worse by knowing Mephiles wouldn't leave him) He only went back because he was worried about Shadow & it led to the machine not only being destroyed but having a big fight with Shadow that both regretted later. There's also the fact that after learning he's expecting Silver, Eggman captured him & Venice.
Things worked out but on top of how awkward it is to mention both his sons weren't planned Sonic has some bad memories thanks to the base this all started with. Jet doesn't know this & is about to learn the hard way not to mess with a certain family of hedgehogs.(He should be very lucky Jules didn't find out)
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Venice's shirt: Happy Accident Silver's shirt: Happy Accident 2 Jet gave them the shirts
Shadow: *Heading off to deal with Jet* I'm going to strangle that bird Sonia: *Leaving with Shadow to deal with Jet* I'll help you with that. Pretty sure Manic has a head start.(As in Manic went ahead of them to deal with Jet)
Mephiles who is comforting Sonic: I'll just stay here with Sonic
Sonic is curled up in a ball due to embarrassment & is the embarrassed mother of two very confused hoglets
Link to Sonadowtober theme list
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