#albeit only slightly heh

[naughtynoodle056]

It has been a very long while and y’all were so nice last time so I present a rare Noodle tum pic 🥺

[inahochi]

Arnold was absolutely toying with her, but the look on his face was as cool as ever. He managed to seem sincere as he asked, voice slightly husky, “Is it all right if I touch you?” It’s a little late, isn’t it?! It was like he was only asking to hear her answer. “Y-yes…” She nodded as best as she could. Arnold’s eyes narrowed in satisfaction. He opened the ring box with one hand, keeping his other hand on Rishe’s. His big hands were dexterous, and he was easily able to get the ring out one-handed. Meanwhile, Rishe was reaching her limit. What was that kiss? She had heard that kneeling and kissing the back of a woman’s hand was the marriage proposal custom among the nobility in Galkhein, but when Arnold had proposed to her, he’d only knelt and taken her hand. Maybe this was a do-over of that night. (...) While she was trembling, her lips pressed shut, Arnold gave her an exasperated look and said, “Hey, don’t hold your breath.” “I-I’m not.” That was a lie, she was holding her breath. She didn’t like keeping things from him, but the truth was too painful. “It’s just that I can’t really remember how breathing works…” “Heh.” He laughed! How dare he, after making her so flustered. This wasn’t the first time it had happened, but she didn’t have the energy to complain. Rishe flinched as the cold ring touched her finger, contrasting with the heat of her body, embarrassing her further. She wondered if Arnold remembered the temperature her hand normally was. Please don’t notice that it’s hotter than usual! Arnold slid the ring on, his touch almost reverent. It felt like it took forever, maybe because Rishe had her eyes closed, but eventually the ring settled right in the spot where Arnold had kissed her. “Pwah…” Rishe exhaled the breath she’d been holding, her eyes still closed. “Did you remember how to breathe?” “S-somehow…” “Seems you’ve forgotten how to open your eyes now,” he said, amused. That made opening her eyes even harder. Her heart rang like an alarm bell in her chest, and she had no idea what to do with her face. She hung her head to hide it instead and felt Arnold’s hands reaching out to her. “Mmh…” Rishe’s shoulders flinched when he touched her closed eyelid. His thumb brushed against her lashes, tracing the line they drew, like he was wiping away tears. Or maybe waking a small child who was deeply asleep. His finger touched her delicately, making its way to the corner of her eye. “Rishe.” Even his voice was soft and soothing, and Rishe was finally able—albeit timidly—to open her eyes. When she did, she saw Arnold looking at her bright-red face like it was something precious, his eyes narrowed in fondness. “I’m done.”  (✿)

7TH TIME LOOP (2024)

#12. the most beautiful thing・いちばん美しいもの

[sandcobangevent]

Conjecture

by @subtlehysteria and @shinymoonforest

Sitting. Thinking.

Detective Holmes scrolled through his phone while eating a bowl of cereal, comparing details on his screen to printed-out photos in front of him. Their current case had captured him and Doctor Watson as of late, the puzzling details excited Sherlock’s mind and made him slightly more fixated than normal. Not that John or Mariana minded, of course. They knew how he was with his fixations; the three had been operating together for quite some time now, having just celebrated their first podcast anniversary last October.

Which made John’s smile and bright energy, albeit a bit higher than the norm, seem all the more perfectly ordinary to Sherlock. That smile, the little stretch, and scratch at his scruff, humming a tune as he brushed his teeth… Little details were not noticed by all but taken in each and every morning by the detective, who admired these quirky traits of the doctor. His doctor.

“Goooood morning, Sherlock~!”

Watson’s cheery tune, continuing for a few moments even after his morning bathroom routine, brought a smile to Sherlock’s face.

“Good morning to you too, Watson. Feeling chipper today?”

“Indeed I am, hmhmHMhmm~! Quite a lovely day, isn’t it?”

Despite seemingly looking for something for a few moments, whatever curious thoughts John may have been having were interrupted by Archie running up to his owner, tail wagging and all. Sherlock, deducting that he had been looking for his dog, given the positive reaction and lack of follow-up, dismissed any thoughts of worry over John’s brief flash of confusion.

“Lovely indeed, Watson. Lovely and jubbly indeed.”

Or… what he assumed was confusion, anyway. Sherlock was never the best at reading emotions.

The morning went along quietly, peacefully, just the two of them (and Archie) enjoying the moment, talking briefly about the case when the detective muttered something to himself but otherwise focusing more on their respective meals. Until--

“Wh--? Sherlock?”

“Market, Watson. Now.”

The doctor seemed to perk up at Sherlock’s sudden jolt out of his chair, the choice of words… Quickly following behind, microphone in hand, he grabbed his coat and made sure Archie was alright before closing the door behind the two of them.

“Oh-! Good morning you two, how did you sleep?”

“Fine, talk later.” 

While the detective’s grin and mindset were focused on the papers he held, doing his best to rush down the stairs as his mind fired off deductions, John lingered for a few moments to answer Mariana’s greeting question.

“Ah, morning Mariana! I slept quite alright, as did Sherlock it seems with how adamant he is to-”

“WATSON!”

“BE THERE IN A MOMENT!” He sighed as she laughed at the two’s interaction, rolling his eyes a bit at the insistence (and quite frankly impatience) that he had to deal with. Then again, however, this is what he signed up for, in some sense… 

Especially now that the two were partners.

“S-Ssorry-;;”

“It’s fine, John. Go, you two have fun, yes?”

“We will, we will!”

Down the stairs went Doctor Watson, legs moving a bit swifter today due to his lack of bodily pains. What a wonderful day it was indeed, sleeping well AND not being forced to use his cane! How joyous! It brought a smile to his face, just as more of Mariana’s yelling did upon reaching the staircase’s bottom.

“Don’t forget to be back for dinner!!”

“We won’t!!”

“Took you long enough.”

“Well, you can’t just brush past someone when they're trying to talk to you, mate. I was only being polite, you know--”

“Car. Now.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll get in! Jesus, heh-!”

-

“Care to explain why we’re at the market again?”

The doctor, struggling to keep up with his detective, tried to keep his voice at a reasonable volume amongst the crowd and chatter. He was surprised Sherlock had wanted to go to the popup market at all, honestly, even if it was for a case. An odd side effect of those fixations, he assumed. “The assailants that rushed her through this very marketplace, she didn’t remember much of their appearances, yes? Rather, she remembered their clothes instead, the logo in particular. A logo that matches one of the stalls that is always in the same spot.”

“Same spot?? Mate--” John groaned, raising his speed to keep up with the current leader of their duo, who was now running. Excited, seemingly, according to past instances like this one. “Sherlock, it’s called a pop-up for a reason, it doesn’t reappear-!”

“Most don’t reappear, yes Watson, you’re correct. Certain stalls, however, tend to come back year after year holding essentials for all guests. These stalls keep their setup within a general area for easy access, such as first aid, event assistance, and-”

“Concessions-!”

And right as he finished the other’s sentence, a spark lighting up in both their eyes, there it was: one of the concessions stand, with its logo matching the client’s description and hints of a path visible behind the stall itself.

“Bingo.”

Instead of an immediate response, however, the doctor seemed… on edge. Looking around, distracted, as if looking for something in particular. Watson had been this way just about all day, looking around at different items, sweets, and the like. He had been doing so the past few days, too, so it couldn’t have just been hunger…

Was it something he wanted? Was he simply getting distracted? Did the case bore him?

Sherlock, although curious as to what it could be, put these thoughts in the back of his mind for now. He had to continue the current train of thought, lest new ideas and deductions concerning the case fall upon deaf ears.

“Watson? Were you-”

“Mmh? Oh-!! Yeah- Yeah, I saw, sorry-- Just- I just thought I.. saw something, is all.”

“You… thought you saw something?”

“Mhm- B-But -- But it’s nothing you need to worry about, I--”

“Right, something for you to explain later, should you remember. Back to the case, yes?”

The podcaster’s face, albeit scrunched up and… odd-looking (Confused? Disbelief? What was this expression…?), relaxed after a few moments of resignation and a slow, hesitant nod.

“...Yeah,” sighed Watson, forcing a small smile as the two walked into the alleyway. Smiling while letting the darkness embrace him and his partner in anticipation of the new clues to be discovered. “Yeah, alright, back to the case..”

“Excellent! Let's hop to it,’ Watson! The game is afoot!”

“Pff-- You already said that when we started it- Oii, Sherlock! Wait up!”

“I can say it again can’t I? The game is afoot! The game!! Is!! Afoot!!”

“BaahAAHAHAAhh-!! Sherloooock!”

-

It had been quite a fascinating day, truly. New clues found in the market had led the crime-solving duo to grow closer and closer to solving this case. Each step towards the solution simultaneously allowed Sherlock to make new deductions and keep him stimulated enough to still be solving the case. A rare feat, in some cases, and yet even with this exciting new information, John still seemed on edge.

Skittish, uncertain, distracted… It was almost as if he didn’t care for the case at all. Which, logically, Sherlock knew not to be true. They were both quite invested when it started, after all, it was just the past couple of days that his partner had seemed distracted. But why now…?

Perhaps he would look into things after dinner. Despite simply wanting to order food and continue work on the case remotely, John had insisted on making it home in time for Mariana’s dinner to be ready. Unfavorable at first, with how fixated the detective was on solving the case, but he couldn’t exactly deny Ms. Hudson’s food, either.

That same expression from earlier snuck its way onto the doctor’s face again, somewhat expectant of… something, and the look fading into resignation upon not finding it. The hard-to-read facial feelings were soon eased, however, by Archie happily welcoming his owner home with barks and ecstatic tail wags, followed by a hug from Mariana.

“Everything alright today?”

“Ahh, yep, just- just found some new details on those crooks that chased the client.”

“Quite peculiar details, in fact, and ones that have opened a window of different pathways that 

this case could go down. Fascinating, really, how-”

“Alllllright there, Master Detective, let’s save the details for a few seconds so I can get you and the birthday boy some food. I was able to find a recipe for the dish you showed me last week, John! I… don’t know how accurate it is, but I did my best to follow the recipe.”

…Oh. Oh God.

“Awwe, really? You shouldn’t have, Mariana, that’s so sweet..!”

Tuning out the two’s conversation temporarily, Sherlock checked his phone with an expression of concern, thoughts beginning to race once more as theory became reality.

He couldn’t believe it. He forgot. He forgot.

It was May 22nd. John’s birthday. 

And he, Sherlock Holmes - his boyfriend - had completely lost track of that fact. 

How could he have been so foolish, with the signs right in front of him? The looking for treats, expecting a surprise around the corner, not getting even so much as a greeting from his own darling first thing in the morning? No wonder John was acting so strangely, he thought Sherlock didn’t care about his birthday. Even though, especially with how particular he was about holiday planning, Sherlock did care. He cared very much in fact, more so now that he felt that he had been a bad partner by letting down Watson on this important occasion. 

What to do, what to do…

These thoughts ate at the detective throughout dinner, resulting in him being abnormally quiet. He expressed that he was thinking upon being asked, but did not specify what exactly, allowing John and Mariana to continue their conversation.

After the meal was over - one of Watson’s favorite meals, in fact - Sherlock made sure John was elsewhere in the flat before pulling Mariana to the side. From there, he explained the situation, how he had gotten so fixated on the current case that he, foolishly, had completely forgotten Watson’s birthday. How he desperately wanted to do something, anything he could to make up for this fact, but with many shops closed for the night, he wasn’t sure what to do. 

Mariana, however, did.

“John?” she called out, leaving Sherlock to pace around the dining table. “Did you want to come with me to the store real quick? I swear I put the lighter for the candles in one of the drawers, but I can’t find it anywhere-”

“Hmm? Oh- ahh, yeah! Yeah, sure, I’ll just grab my cane- Sherlock, love, did you-” “Thinking.”

“..Oh- Ahh- Alright, then, we’ll see you when we get back! Make sure Archie doesn’t try and get to the cake!”

And then, with the birthday man ushered out by a smirking Miss Hudson, Sherlock was alone. Alone and free to begin his plan to give John a proper birthday party. …Even if it was just the three of them. And Archie.

Rummaging through a box of holiday supplies mentioned mere moments ago, Sherlock began to take things out at seemingly random as his thoughts raced almost as fast as they would with the earlier case. Almost. 

What mattered was that it was enough to figure out a quick plan with the limited supplies he had to, hopefully, get everything situated by the time Mariana and John returned.

…Or “Jonk” rather, as the cake said. Miss Hudson did quite the job of making said cake, he had to admit.

…

A knock at the door.

“Sherlock? Are you ready in there?”

The sudden noise, an interruption to the detective’s thought process, caused a bit of stumbling as final adjustments were made. Was it the best Sherlock could have done? No, of course not; he’d want to plan and execute much more properly and fitting for someone as important as John Watson. Everything was measured precisely, planned, and executed without the last-minute rushing to make sure the room felt perfectly balanced.

“Yes, Miss Hudsons. Everything is… as ready as it can be.”

“Perfect! Oh- Here he comes-”

But alas, Sherlock did not have that privilege at the moment, so this would have to do. Now, what to do when the two came in… Should he hide? No, no, he wouldn’t want to scare Watson; the detective himself would hate if anyone did that to him, anyway. Perhaps simply… stand and gesture? Yes, Yes that could work…

“pFFf-- What are you covering my eyes for, Mariana?” “You’ll see, you’ll see… Sherlock, can you open the door?”A nod as he quickly shuffled to the door, even if none were around to witness it said motion. As soon as the two were safely situated, he closed and locked 221B, got into position, and…

“Surprise!...” Sherlock stood next to the couch table, spreading his arms to gesture at the decorations he had set up. 

Fairy lights with dangling balloons underneath them had been set up across one wall, their soft glow adding a welcoming feeling to the scene. Streamers of all sorts of colors hung from the light above Mr. Holmes, adding color to the ceiling. On hand-cut pieces of yellow paper were the little banners strung over a poster above the flat’s fireplace, each one having a letter written in marker that spelled out “HAPPY BIRTHDAY.” Next to the fireplace was the flat’s plant with a party hat placed on top of it, and spare paper streamers wrapped around its leaves. On the couch table itself was a nicely wrapped gift and a cake, which was complete with an additional frosting border along the edges, the word “JONK” written along the front, and the appropriate candles - the numbers 3 and 6 - lit and standing tall. While, yes, the flat didn’t have a communal lighter, Sherlock was able to use his own after he had ensured the cake was properly positioned.

John didn’t say much at first, mouth agape in shock, causing both Mariana and his dear detective to wait in anticipation for any sort of reaction. 

But then, he just… smiled.

A big, warm, sparkly-eyed smile that they all knew perfectly well meant that he was truly, truly happy. That and a small chuckle, of course, from finally processing that the cake said “JONK” instead of “JOHN.” A joke amongst his fans, in the Discord and otherwise.

“Y-You guys… Thank you, really.” The doctor stifled a tear, letting a sniffle take its place.

“Of course, John, but I can’t take all the credit here, you know.”

“You-! Sherlock, did you do all of this?” “Of course, Watson,” he started, finally letting his arms rest in their typical dinosaur-esq position. “I… admittedly, did forget about today being your birthday, dear, and I am very, very sorry about forgetting such an important event due to being so hyper-fixated on our current case. As such, I requested Miss Hudson’s assistance in removing you from the flat for a suitable amount of time to allow me to decorate.-”

Watson’s smile only grew as Holmes talked more and more, slowly getting closer with the help of his cane until he was able to pull the taller of the two into a kiss. Sherlock was a bit surprised by this motion, at first, but it certainly wasn’t unwelcome. The exchange only lasted a few moments, however, before transitioning into a simple hug. Mariana joined in, not afraid to show her smug smile from seeing the two express their rapport moments ago.

“God-- God you both are bloody wonderful…”

“Only the best for you, John…Happy birthday, by the way. I love you, and I apologize for not saying so earlier.”

“HahAah! It’s fine, dear, honestly- If there’s one thing I’ve learned from living with you, it’s that you always mean well one way or another. Oh-! And I love you too, by the way.”

“You could say that again… Now, let’s get into this cake.”

“Let’s.”

“A little party and everything,” hummed John, leaning on Sherlock a bit as the three took their spots on the couch; John sat in the center, Mariana on his left, and Sherlock on his right. Archie, despite trying to come up and sit with the trio, was encouraged to stay down lest he try and eat some of the cake.

“Of course, Watson. You deserve nothing but the best on a day like today.”

“Awee, Sherlock…”

Another kiss on the cheek from his doctor, another victory for Sherlock Holmes.

“Thank you, both of you. This is… honestly, the best birthday present I could ask for. Just… Just  a happy night with some of the people I care for the most.”

“...I’m glad you like it, John.”

As Sherlock reciprocated John’s lean with one of his own, Mariana began to sing, soon followed by the party’s decorator after he had picked up on the cue. Applause and little barks soon sounded within the jovial walls of 221B Baker Street, ones that would not be soon forgotten.

A memory cherished, untainted by the fickle conditions of the mind and its structure.

A memory of family.

[arthur-side]

"Weeping in the Embrace of a Brother"

-Ashlyn and Logan-

Ashlyn gets (indirectly)confronted by Logan, before proceeding to be hugged.

[Ao3 link]

It was one of those nights again.

It’s one of those nights when everyone still gets haunted by those events. It’s one of those nights where everyone does a sleepover—usually at Ashlyn’s house—and be safe in each other’s arms and warmth and peacefulness and so many more. It’s one of those nights why staring at abandoned buses kept inside a 13 foot wall felt so nostalgic. It’s one of those nights who suddenly feel colder without the other, darker without the other, unsafe with the other. It’s one of those nights what makes friendship feel so much more than what it is.

Yet it’s also one of those nights where Ashlyn couldn’t sleep and only seem to stare at the ceiling and ask questions to herself that no one will answer.

It was weird, really, she usually feels safer with the gang, where they would stay awake together to address someone’s issue, big or small, or when they would do midnight baking to get their mind’s off the tremendous amount of trauma they’ve experienced. She guessed that it was just an unlucky day for her.

There was that one time when she overheard Aiden talking to Taylor, “Ash always looks out for everyone but herself”, she didn’t jump in or anything, it’s just like one of those times where the gossips get stuck in her mind. She wondered if it was even considered as gossip, because amidst many of her protests, she knew they were right.

Ashlyn slowly and carefully discarded herself off the group pile and stood up. A migraine hit her, which made her let out a low groan. Either way, she headed to the kitchen, her feet aching.

She shivered over the cold darkness despite being heavily covered from neck to toe. She always liked and embraced the darkness and quiet back then, but now it unnerved her without Aiden’s endless cackles, Tyler’s never-ending arguing, Taylor and Logan’s humming, and Ben’s silent yet funny addition in keeping the kitchen alive and well. Actually-not well, there’s a high chance the kitchen blows up everytime because of them.

Gosh, her mind slips and talks more than she could ever, she didn’t even notice a strange shadow standing in the kitchen entrance while she was pulling out some water to drink.

…

Wait what-

Ashlyn yelped as she threw the water in her cup on the figure, causing it, them?

Him, to flinch.

She blinked a few times, before registering the glint on his eyes-no, glasses.

It was Logan.

“Shoot-sorry—” Ashlyn shook her head as she quickly went to grab a towel. She ignored how she heard a low giggle from him.

“Ashlyn- stars,” Logan inched further as Ashlyn looked through the drawers and cabinets, trying to make out a towel to give to him, “Sta-ha-ars.”

She paused before sheepishly looking at him. She could barely make it out, but the full moon’s glow managing to come through the kitchen casted just enough light to see Logan’s grin. A bead of sweat ran down on the side of her face.

Stars. It was a silly nickname her and Logan made as a joke a few months ago that she forgot about. It was when both of them were stargazing and Logan thought it was funny how both him and her are the really the only ones that can be commonly associated with stars. She still doesn’t get what he means then, but him not forgetting the nickname was so Logan-coded.

“...Stars.” Ashlyn echoed back, voice slightly hoarse. Her foot started jiggling. Heh, that sounds funny. Anyways—

“What are you doing here this late in the night?” Logan then asked, taking off his wet turtle neck. Ashlyn gulped as guilt flooded back to her from throwing water at him.

“Ah, just couldn’t sleep.” Ashlyn said with a casual voice, proceeding to look for a towel albeit slower now. She took out a green towel patterned with leaves and handed it to Logan, in which he accepts gratefully.

“You sure?” He pressured, taking off his glasses to wipe his face. He placed his glasses on the kitchen island and looked at her, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m-” Ashlyn let out a sharp sigh as she pressed her hands together, “Honestly not fine, happy?” she clumped her hands together.

She’s too tired to argue right now, especially with Logan, damn it. This is one of the first times she quickly gave up, which is pretty rare for her. It surprised even herself.

Logan aggressively wiped his shirt as he stuck out a tongue, making her chuckle.

“Say, why are you awake?” Ashlyn crossed her arms as she watched Logan. He hummed.

“Same thing as you, I couldn’t sleep. Maybe from chugging 3 cups of coffee a while ago or being stressed about exams.” Also a rare time, both of them laughed.

After Logan half-decently dried his shirt, he then wiped his glasses then put them on, placing the towel on the kitchen sink.

“Would you like a hug?” He then said, or suggested, or said? Is Logan offering? Eh, whatever. Ashlyn blinked.

“A…What?”

“Oh, don’t play dumb on me,” Logan’s tone then dropped dead serious, “I know you’re having a rough time and not just being sleep-deprived, stars.” He then clapped his hands, the serious tone disappearing. “But I know you aren’t one to comfortably talk about it immediately.”

“...You should cast for voice-acting.” Ashlyn half-heartedly joked. Logan just scoffed and rolled his eyes.

But…He was right. She was having a rough time right now, the voices in her head were louder together with the ringing of her ears and the sensitive hearing—She’s been getting too overstimulated these days.

Except, Ashlyn couldn’t really understand why Logan is just randomly confronting her about it at 2 in the morning, nor can she remember Logan being so suddenly good with psychology. Maybe Taylor had been teaching him that? Even so, it wouldn’t be…

You know what—

“Hug?”

She managed to sound so small while saying the word. Damn it.

Though, maybe she isn’t going to complain about it if it wasn’t with how gentle Logan embraced her.

She’s never felt so vulnerable before.

Tears formed.

And she cried.

[epithet-beloved]

hello!!! flower shop sylvie x GN mundie reader Mayhaps??? Sylvie wanting to do a nice gesture for his friends (cough Molly cough) and decides to get flowers but finds this cute flower shop worker…

(Bonus if they stop by him at the hospital and give him flowers??!!!)

YELLOW ROSES

synopsis… Sylvie pretends to know things about flowers. It goes…..well?

ft. Sylvester "Sylvie" Ashling

tags… flower shop, meet cute, fluff, first meeting, reader knows flower language

word count… 1266

a/n… this is my first time writing the goober I hope I do him justice ✧ 🦄

The first thing Sylvie wanted to do when he got out of the hospital was settle the score.  With Molly, that is.  Revenge against that museum lady would come…..later.

Molly had been quite generous with her get well soon gifts while he was recovering, so it was only natural that he do the same for her.  It had taken a while to squeeze her location out of a reluctant Giovanni, but he was glad to know that his friend was okay. 

Heh…..friend.  It was a nice sounding word.  Now all that’s left is to find out what kind of gifts friends get each other. 

Not that he didn’t know that.  Not at all!  Sylvie’s got a master’s degree, of course he would know something so simple!  He just…..needed to decide what would be appropriate.  Yeah. 

At first, he considered getting a toy, but considering Molly literally lives in a toy store, she might be sick of seeing those……so what else?  A card is a safe bet.  He could draw a little bear on there. She likes those, right?  He’s usually above such childish things like doodling, but Molly’s just a little kid, so he’s sure she’d love that kind of thing. 

Alright, he’d give her a card.  But what else?  People usually put gifts with cards…..a gift, a gift, what’s a safe gift? 

Well, lots of people gave him flowers while he was in the hospital…..having that many bouquets in vases kind of made the room stuffy, but just getting a small bundle wouldn’t hurt, right?  It seemed like the perfect gift.  Courteous, sophisticated, and mature!  Like him, a mature adult! 

So, he went out on a Tuesday afternoon (because adults go out on weekdays!) to look for something suitable.  The map online said there was a florist near here…..he knew he could have gotten delivery, but he didn’t want to seem cheap or lazy.  Friends are supposed to do thoughtful gestures for each other….right? 

The hand painted roses on the display windows let the doctor know that he was in the right place.  Red, pink, white, yellow….so many different colors.  Did they all mean the same thing? 

Well, maybe roses were too cliché.  And Doctor Sylvester Ashling was anything but predictable and corny.  As he opened the front door, the jingling of a bell snapped him out of his thoughts.  Sylvie was then forced to be very aware of the clerk standing at the desk, who offered a smile and a polite wave.  Tense, but not wanting to be rude, the boy would return the gesture.  They actually seemed kind of cute…..but he wasn’t here to socialize.  Or maybe he was just trying to avoid how awkward he got when talking to people he wanted to be friends with. 

Aside from the option of making your own, there were pre-arranged bouquets in vases with one type of flower, some with two or three as well.  Green eyes instantly glazed over the multicolored roses, flickering between labels to read the names. 

Poppies, gardenias, hydrangeas……he paused on the carnations.  They were large and ruffled, almost like they were made of paper rather than actual organic material.  Now, what color would Molly like?  Something related to bears, probably……maybe yellow?  It was like honey.  That was bear related. 

But as he reached for the yellow carnations, a polite voice nearly made him jump out of his shoes. 

“Oh, are you getting those for somebody?” 

Sylvie stared at the clerk with owlish eyes.  For goodness’ sake, he literally had a degree in talking to people, albeit in a slightly different setting.  So why was he freezing up at just a question and a pretty smile?

Eventually, the boy managed to clear his throat and force out,  “A friend of mine.”  The clerk’s apologetic smile now only made him more nervous.  Had he managed to say something wrong less than ten words in? 

“Then you might not want get those flowers.”

“Um,”  Sylvie would stutter, hating himself for his lack of confidence,  “why is that?”

“Well, in flower language, they usually mean rejection…..or disappointment.” 

“Oh, I….”  The doctor reflexively wanted to say ‘I knew that’, but he knew just as well as the clerk did that he most certainly did not.  “I see.  Do you have any recommendations?” 

The sight of the stranger perking up eased his nerves somehow, though he didn’t really understand why.  “Sure!  Do you have anything specific you’re looking for, or….?” 

“I guess, just…..yellow ones?”

Immediately, the clerk nodded with understanding.  “Oh, that’s easy!  Some yellow roses would be great!” 

This unexpected answer made Sylvie cock a brow.  “Roses?” 

“What, did you think roses were just for expressing romantic feelings?” 

The awkward pause while Sylvie looked at his feet informed the stranger that the answer was yes.  And yet they refrained from laughing, something he was thankful for. 

“Roses can actually mean a lot of things depending on their color!  The association with love most people think of is for red roses, but the yellow flowers actually mean feelings of friendship!” 

It was quite easy to see why this person worked at a florist.  They were so happy and excited to share this information to somebody completely clueless on the subject like Sylvie.  It was sweet, easy to understand, and never condescending.  For once, not knowing something didn’t make Sylvie feel like an idiot.

“I didn’t know that,”  he said strangely happily, as if expressing his lack of knowledge might make this stranger talk to him more.  “I think those are what I’ll get.  Um, thank you.” 

The look on the florist’s face made him think that even if he hadn’t thanked them or even said anything, they just would have been happy to share the knowledge of flowers with another person.  “No problem!  I’ll get you one from the back — the ones in the vases are just displays.”

The time between the clerk leaving and coming back was something long forgotten in Sylvie’s mind.  It was as if any time without them was just a waste of brain storage.  All he could recall was when he again saw their smiling face and felt their hand against his own while they handed him his change.  It left him fumbling with the bouquet and praying that they didn’t notice his pink cheeks. 

“Thanks for coming!  I left a business card with a phone number in there in case you ever need some more help with flowers.” 

Sylvie couldn’t think of any situation where he would need more help with flowers, and yet he found himself saying,  “That sounds great, thank you too!” 

He only bothered to inspect said business card when he was several blocks away from the florist, fresh bouquet in hand.  The doctor had expected it to just be a number for the shop, but imagine the shock on his face when he saw a handwritten cell number with a winky face and a daisy drawn next to it.

Was……was he being flirted with? 

Thoughts flooded the poor boy’s mind instantaneously.  Should he call and ask what this meant?  Or would calling be too clingy?  Maybe he should just text, and act all cool and coy about it.  Does this mean Giovanni can’t call him “bitchless” anymore? 

Briefly, he considered reading up on flower language to impress you the next time you talked, but that thought was quickly thrown out like a wilted rose.  Sylvie didn’t want to hear about any of that stuff from a book — he’d much rather hear it from you.

[rockinlibrarian]

Post-Umbrella Academy S4 Reaction Part Two: Still Not a Show Write-up, a Fraction of a Fanfic Instead (spoilery)

I mentioned yesterday that I'd been toying with a TUA/Legion Crossover Fic idea, and that the finale of the former (particularly as it reminds me so much of the finale of the latter) has made me determined I really should do it and definitely set it post-Season 4. It's a perfect fix-it for TUA and I can actually work in a bit more fix-it for Legion, too. Anyway, it was stewing in my head all night, and this morning I woke up with IDEAS, and I ended up sitting down and writing 1,334 words-- a whole scene, a chapter basically, but it would be a chapter in the middle, which who knows when I would get to post that as a whole on AO3, and I feel like I need to post this part RIGHT NOW, even though it is essentially the MIDDLE of the story.

The basic overarching premise is that the Hargreeves end up at Summerland, the haven for troubled mutants (Marvel-style) in Legion. Summerland is co-run by a psychologist who's made it her life's work to help mutants reach their full potential, healing the traumas of living in a world that fears them, the traumas of everything being born Weird gives them.

You can, uh, see how this place might be good for the Hargreeves, right?

You don't need to know much more about Legion for this chapter-- there's some references to characters, but primarily THIS snippet is just my two favorite Hargreeves, who also did not get ANY time together this season, having a Feelings talk (AND WHOM I MANAGED TO WRITE A TENDER SCENE FOR WITHOUT IT TURNING NON-PLATONIC, BE PROUD OF ME) (yes for the uninitiated I am a pathetic Fiktor shipper, please see FAQ post to not hate me), so here, have Feelings with me!

PORTION OF A FUTURE MULTICHAPTER LEGION/TUA CROSSOVER. The working title of the Scrivener sheet for this particular chapter is "This willl NOT be Fiktor I SWEAR," but that will not be the final title. ;)

Viktor walked down to the lake, savoring the woodsy sounds and the gentle adagio behind it, when he spotted a familiar figure sitting at the edge of the dock.

Well, relatively familiar. He wasn’t used to seeing Five sit so still.

“Hey.” He sat beside him.

Five shifted slightly, as if to make room, nodded, and said, “Hey,” back, then drifted back into his odd silence.

After a minute, Viktor cleared his throat. “Beautiful here. Ever want to try fishing?”

Five sighed. “I’ve done a lot of fishing, wasn’t exactly a party.”

“Yeah, I guess not.” Viktor sat in the awkward vibes. The vibes. Who knew silence could be so loud?

“Hey.” He paused. “Five. You okay? You’ve been really quiet lately.”

“Is there something I should be saying?”

“Normally you can’t keep your mouth shut, that’s all. But ever since we came here I think the only person I’ve seen you talk to is that Dr. Loudermilk. You’re avoiding everybody, and, granted, I think I hear Diego growling every time you come near and that would put me off, but still, are you okay?”

“Heh.” Five ran his fingers into his hair and held them there, staring into the murky water at their feet. “Guess you didn’t hear about what happened, did you.”

“Um, I guess not?”

Five sighed even more deeply, and lay back on the dock. “So, Lila and I got stuck in an endless timeline-hopping subway system for nearly seven years.”

Viktor laughed before he could stop himself.

“What?”

“Only you! Only you could answer ‘what’s been with you the past few days?’ with ‘Well it’s ACTUALLY been seven years.”

Five finally cracked a smile, albeit a sad one. “Yeah, I guess I can see how that could amuse you.”

“So how old does that make you now?”

He shrugged. “Seventy? Seventy-one? And god I feel so much older than that, Vik. I should have been annihilated in that Cleanse. I should be dead. I should have died so long ago.”

“Don’t talk like that.” He left Five to pick the conversation back up. He seemed to be composing his thoughts.

After another minute, he spoke. “I… know… what Delores was. I know it was all in my head. But she was all I had, and I needed her. I needed her there, loving me, so I loved her. Now, I find myself stranded in time again, but this time with a real human being by my side? A real… friend? I—.”

He broke off, but Viktor could fill in the rest. “Oh.”

“She belongs with Diego.” Five sat back up abruptly, voice harsh. “Not me. I don’t get to be loved. I don’t get to be happy. I am…fated to wander from universe to universe, alone. I can’t even get annihilated from existence properly!”

God. Dramatic, poetic Five. He was in rough shape. Tentatively, Viktor offered, “If it makes you feel any better, I’ve never managed to keep a single relationship for more than a month. And I lived a relatively…ordinary life. I just suck at relationships.”

Five looked up at Viktor from the corner of his eye, smiled from the corner of his mouth. “Don’t we all.”

“The only time I’ve ever felt truly loved was with Sissy.” Viktor poked him. “And somebody made me put an end to that.”

“Now, come on, we were—.”

“I know, I know, we were in the wrong time, it would have wrecked the timeline. It DID wreck the timeline. But still, I’m just saying.”

“So, what, we can start a ‘The Only Person Who Ever Loved Me was an Already Married Woman’ support group?”

“I bet they have one of those here. Along with their ‘I Have Caused Not One But Multiple Apocalypses’ group.”

Five actually laughed— short, subdued, but a laugh nonetheless. “I’ve missed you, Vik.”

“I’ve missed you, too.” Viktor squeezed his knee. “Anyway, you’re not alone, and you’re not unloved. Maybe not in a romantic way. But we do love you, and you do deserve to be happy.”

Five rolled his eyes. “I spent 45 years longing for nothing more than to get back to my family, the people I loved, and when I did, what did I get? Not again, Five, stop harshing the vibe, Five, why can’t you FIX this, Five, are you sure you’re not just batshit, Five? I love my family more than life itself, but they sure don’t love me.”

“We do—!” Viktor caught himself. Tried to see it from Five’s point of view. Realized he’d barely seemed to notice he was talking to one of his family. It felt like a revelation. Melanie would be proud. Viktor gave Five a gentle, sheepish smile. “Okay, when I said I suck at relationships, I don’t just mean romantically. I love you as a feeling, I’ll have to work on loving you as a verb.”

Five echoed Viktor’s smile. “What happened to us, me and you? When we were kids I could talk to you about anything…everything. I spent decades longing to talk to you, and then—there we were in the same timeline again and yet we’ve barely spoken in thirteen years.”

Viktor ducked his head, tutting. “Well, every time you tried to talk to me I brushed you off, and then I ran away to Nova Scotia for six years. And …you, apparently, got lost in an interdimensional subway system for seven more.”

“Intertemporal, not interdimensional. Cary—Dr. Loudermilk— and I have been trying to map out the different subsets of the multiverse and it’s a lot more comple— see, you’re laughing at me!”

“Just because I’m laughing doesn’t mean I’m not listening! I promise. I’m just laughing because…you’re so YOU. I’ve missed you, too. And I do love you. As bad as I am at it.” He bit his lip. “I’m sorry. For not being who you needed me to be. Melanie says— she says I need to work on my anger issues, that I’m too prone to vengeance. That my subconscious need for payback is too liable to slip out with my powers. Like the time I attacked Allison’s voice box for Rumoring me. Payback, you know. And I— I’ve been mad at you for leaving me for so long— so this time I ran off first. Payback.”

“Yeah, but sometimes you’re right. Like how determined you were to save Ben, bring him back, save the world.”

“Only because he saved me to save the world, first. Payback, Just more positive.”

Five gazed at him, steadily, thoughtfully. “Viktor, I’m proud of you. You’ve been making progress with this stuff all along, years before we got here. I remember wishing you had the guts to stand up for yourself just enough to claim the last doughnut.”

“Thanks. And you’ve got— you’ve got a lot of shit to work through, still, and you haven’t really had the chance to make progress. But just knowing you need to is a good start. I believe in you. And I promise, from now on, I will always listen, whatever you need to work through.”

“Thanks to you, too. I guess…I guess I feel just a smidge more hopeful now.”

“So, that girl who’s always hanging around Dr. Loudermilk….”

“Who, Kerry? They’re, like, symbiotes or something.”

“She’s technically his age, right? And that’s about the same age as you?”

“Yes?”

“And yet she also looks like she’s in her twenties. Like you.”

“Uh…huh?”

“I’ve also heard that she’s been known to leave dozens of bodies in her wake.”

“So what are you…? OH. Nah. No. Stop. She’s also off her rocker.”

“Says the man who fell in love with Lila,” he teased, gently.

“Kerry has the emotional maturity of a thirteen-year-old.”

“Says the man who lost contact with all humanity at the age of thirteen!”

“Viktor!” Five laughed. “You are not helping!”

“I am SO helping! This is the first I’ve heard you laugh in days! Or maybe years, on your end!”

Five’s laughed whined to a pause, and he dropped his head on Viktor’s shoulder. “We are so fucked up.”

“Yeah.” Viktor held him, rocking slightly. “But I don’t know, this Summerland— I think here we might actually get better.”

[conman167936]

Monster Or Miracle (Nimona/Encanto crossover)

Hey, so... when I started writing this, I was only intending to write a summary for a possible story. Like, 'wouldn't it be cool if someone wrote a story with x, y, and z.' But then, I found myself wanting to write more and more, and somehow I ended up writing a full short story by accident!

Just to be clear, this is a ONE-SHOT. I'm not planning on writing any more of this. It was just a cool idea I had and i hope you enjoy!

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

Nimona had left the Kingdom.

After all, it had become clear to her over the past few centuries that she would never be able to escape the shadow of her former best friend. Gloreth would always be the kingdom's biggest hero, and Nimona would always be the monster who went back to the shadows.

But what was in the shadows? Were there other beings out there like Nimona? Was it too much to ask for that she might have a community, even a family -

Heh, that was a laugh.

Nimona had spent months traveling all over the world, and every civilization was just like the Kingdom, albeit not all of them were as technologically advanced. They all had the same fear of the unknown. Fear of monsters. But try as she might, Nimona could not find one single other 'monster' like her. Everywhere she went only added to the feeling that she was totally and utterly alone.

And then she went to Columbia.

Most of it was normal. Commoners trying to make do under dire circumstances. Invaders and marauders hurting innocents. Nothing out of the ordinary.

But then she started to hear the rumors. Whispers about an encanto, a magical safe haven for those who have lost their way, that may or may not exist somewhere in the Columbian forest .

Despite her better instincts, Nimona wound up in the middle of the woods, far away from civilization, searching for something that probably wasn't real. Every time she wanted to give up, she felt herself being pulled, almost magnetized, in a certain direction. Eventually she discovered a cave and, with nothing to lose, went inside.

When she emerged on the other side she was greeted by a blinding sun and a majestic village. This was it. The Encanto.

Nimona calmed herself. Just because this place had magic was no reason to believe it would be different from any other civilization she had seen.

She would soon realize just how wrong she was.

As she shifted into various animals to try and get the lay of the land, the first thing she noticed was how happy everyone was. There was no oppressive regime or political discourse. Here, everything was run by a family called the Madrigals, who apparently all possessed magical abilities.

Nothing could have prepared her for the first time she saw one of the Madrigals. She was just passively watching what seemed to be a young woman playing with a little boy, not really paying attention, until a second, perfectly identical woman appeared beside them.

"Thanks for looking after him, Camilo," said the second woman.

And in the blink of an eye, the first woman disappeared and a teenage boy was standing in his place. "Just doing my job, Senora Gonzales!" he said cheerfully, then walked away.

Nimona couldn't believe her eyes.

He was a shifter! He was like her!

After shadowing him for a while, she was slightly let down upon realizing he could only shift into other people and not animals, but still! In all her travels, he was the closest thing to a kindred spirit she had ever seen.

And he wasn't the only one.

One of the Madrigals could create any type of plant life.

Another could lift buildings with her bare hands.

Another could control the freaking weather!

But what truly astonished her, more than any of the Madrigal's abilities, was how the townspeople reacted to them. The Madrigals weren't feared or shunned for being different. On the contrary, they were loved and appreciated.

It was almost too much for Nimona to take in.

Without even thinking, she shifted out of her current toucan form and reverted into her default teenager form, and her pink hair and rebellious attire immediately drew attention from the villagers. Suddenly, people were coming up to her, asking who she was and where she came from. She couldn't even begin to answer those questions, so all she could do was run away and shift into a rat the moment she was out of sight.

...

Unfortunately for her, news traveled fast in the Encanto, especially when one of the Madrigals had really good hearing, and so it wasn't long before their matriarch, Alma, was in the town square, addressing the rumors.

"It is always a happy occasion when a newcomer enters the Encanto," she said while standing at her podium. "And if this newcomer is listening now, we want them to know that they are welcome here. The Miracle doesn't let anyone who is impure of heart into the Encanto. It lets in those who are lost. Those who are in need of a second chance."

What? That made no sense at all. Nimona knew she wasn't impure of heart. She had done a lot of bad things in her time... robberies, vandalisms, beating people up... she had accepted that she was bad news, even embraced it. But now...

No, no. It couldn't be true. These people were not going to accept her with open arms. They wouldn't treat her with the same level of reverence that they treated the Madrigals with.

Fine, then. If the Encanto was a magical place without problems, she was about to become their first problem.

"RAWRR!!!"

She took on the form of a rhino and charged into the middle of the square, startling everyone.

"People of the Encanto, your time of peace is over!"

She then shifted into a bear, ostrich, alligator, and dinosaur, all while laughing maniacally, before finally settling on her human teenage form, but with added wings and a tail.

"My name is Nimona, and I'm here to cause trouble."

She stood there, with a malicious grin, waiting for a reaction. Everyone was speechless, unsure of how to approach this situation.

And then Alma slowly raised her hand and pointed at Nimona.

"You... "

Here it comes.

"...You have a gift?"

Nimona blinked, confused. "Huh?"

Alma stepped closer, a smile appearing on her face. "I didn't think it was possible for someone outside the Encanto to have a gift... you must have encountered your own miracle!"

"What? No! I..." Nimona stammered. "Were you listening to what I said?"

"I was," Alma replied. "but I doubt you're here to hurt anyone. If you were, you wouldn't have found us."

"Well, your Encanto... miracle... whatever.... must have made a mistake."

"The miracle does not make mistakes."

Alma was now very close, bearing a warm and maternal smile that Nimona never imagined would be directed at her. It made her uncomfortable.

"You don't understand!" Nimona insisted. "I'm bad! I'm a threat! I'm a..." She looked away before finishing, "...a monster."

There was a moment's pause, then Alma gently put her hand on Nimona shoulder before asking, "Would you like to dine with our family tonight?"

Nimona froze. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. What was she supposed to say?

"...Sure, I guess."

...

Nimona could barely believe what was happening.

She could accept the existence of a magic community, a family with supernatural powers, a sentient house... okay, that last one was taking a little while to get used to... but the real shock was how much everybody seemed to like her. Bruno, who apparently saw the future, told her he'd known for a while that a special newcomer would be coming to the Encanto, and he assured that her stay would be worry-free. Camilo, the shapeshifting Madrigal, was fascinated by her ability and actually seemed a little jealous that he couldn't turn into animals. Antonio, the youngest of the family, kept requesting different animals for her to shift into, and the look of joy on his face when she obliged was the most precious thing she had ever seen.

It all seemed too good to be true. There had to be some kind of catch. Eventually, they started asking her if she was looking to set up a permanent residence, and that was when she knew she had to put her foot down.

"Guys, guys... I appreciate the generosity, really, But I'm just passing through."

"Do you have somewhere else to be?" asked Julieta, who was responsible for cooking the amazing dinner.

Nimona wasn't sure how to respond. "I mean, uh..."

"There's plenty of spaces available nearby," Julieta continued. "Although, you'd probably need someone to stay with, given your age."

"Ugh, no thanks," Nimona said, casually. "I'm used to living by myself."

"Really?" Antonio asked, looking shocked. "You don't have any parents?"

"Antonio!" hissed his mother, Pepa. "Manners."

"It's fine," Nimona insisted. "I can take care of myself."

"Oh, I don't doubt that," said Augustin. "But just because you can take care of yourself doesn't mean you should have to."

At this point, Mirabel, a teen who was about Camilo's age and seemed to be the only kid in the family to not have a special ability, spoke up. "Do you think we could set up a spare room in Casita? Just until she gets settled."

Nimona shook her haid. "No thank you. You've done enough."

Felix, Pepa's husband, spoke up. "If she stays with us, people might start to think she's one of us. They might ask her to do chores."

"Chores?" asked Nimona.

"Not household chores," Alma clarified. "Just tasks around the Encanto. That's what we do. We use our gifts to help people." She smiled at Nimona. "I imagine your gift can come in handy."

"I already told you, it's not a..." Nimona could feel herself well up with emotion, and she tried to hold it in. "Look, where I come from, people don't consider what I do to be a gift, all right."

"Hey," Mirabel said, reaching across the table and putting her hand on Nimona's. "I understand. It's hard to feel like an outcast. Believe me, I know what that's like. But you're gonna be okay."

"Excuse me?" Nimona snapped, pulling her hand away. "You know what it's like? Because you're normal?" She felt a surge of anger rising up very quickly. "So you feel like an outcast because you're normal, is that it?"

"No, I-" Mirabel tried to take it back, but it was too late.

Nimona was standing up now, and she knew without having to look in the mirror that her eyes were glowing and her teeth had become sharper. "You have no idea what it means to be an outcast!" she shouted. "None of you do!"

For a moment, no one stood anything. The madrigals all stared at her in shock and... was that a touch of fear?

Had she finally done it? Had she showed them the monster she truly was?

...Had she screwed up? Had she just blown her one chance of having people who care about her because she couldn't just keep her mouth shut?

Tears started to well up inside Nimona's eyes, and then, before she knew what she was doing, everything came out.

Everything.

The fact that she was so much older than any of them could possibly imagine.

The fact that the only friend she ever had turned on her the second her parents told her what to think.

The fact that a kingdom had built an entire religion based on hating her, and her specifically.

She didn't even know how badly she had wanted to say these words, how badly she needed someone else to hear them, until it all spilled out of her mouth.

By the time she was done, her throat was dry from talking and her eyes were dry from crying. When she finally dared to look up at the Madrigals, they were all staring at her with looks of devastation. Luisa, the strong one, was crying herself. No one said a word.

And then, very slowly, Antonio got up from his chair, walked over to her, and wrapped his arms around her.

One by one, everyone stood up. Mirabel, Julieta, Camilo, Augustin, Pepa, Felix, Bruno, Luisa, Dolores, Isabela, and finally Alma, in that order.

Every. Single. One of them.

They all embraced her.

At that point, there was nothing Nimona could do but give into it. She let them all hug her individually before everyone sunk into a group hug. Still, no one spoke. No one needed to.

Nimona wasn't sure how long the embrace lasted. It could have been thirty seconds. It could have been thirty minutes.

All she knew was that it wasn't long enough.

When it finally ended, Bruno spoke first. "I'm so sorry. For everything. That's... rough."

"Yeah, you can say that again," Nimona said, trying to smile.

"Can we get you anything?" Julieta asked. "More food?"

"No, thanks..." Nimona said, shaking her head. "I don't think I can eat after that... but thanks anyway. The food..." she sniffed, wiping away a tear. "The food was good."

Julieta nodded.

"Maybe you can stay a bit longer?" Felix asked. "For a game night or something?"

"I really don't wanna intrude," Nimona said

"It's no trouble at all," Abuela said, with a sad smile.

"I know what'll make you feel better," Bruno said. "My telanovelas! I know you missed the first eight seasons but-"

"That sounds fun, but..." Nimona straightened her posture. "If you don't mind, I'm not used to... all this." She made a broad gesture to the whole family. "I think I... just need a moment alone to collect myself, if that's all right with you. I'm not gonna do anything stupid, I just... I just need some air."

"Of course," Pepa said. "Take all the time you need."

"We'll be here when you're ready," Alma said.

Nimona tried to put on a casual smile. "...Cool."

And with that, she shifted into a bird and flew out the window.

Once again, the room went silent. Each of the Madrigals slowly sat back down at the table. The meal wasn't exactly finished, but none of them really felt like eating.

No family was ever perfect, despite what Abuela tried to project for the longest time, and the Madrigals had certainly had their fair share of disagreements and quarrels in the past, but tonight they felt a sense of unity. Meeting Nimona and hearing her story had affected all of them.

They were all so used to the idea of magic being what makes you special, (they had even made Mirabel feel un-special for her lack of magic,) it had never occurred to them that someone could be looked down upon for having supernatural abilities, much less villainized for literal centuries for something that they couldn't control.

It was horrible.

And finally, after a long long silence, Julieta cleared her throat. And when she spoke, she put into words what every single person at the table was thinking.

"So... we're adopting her, right?"

[valentinehorrors]

I'm not a vessel for your good intent

(CW: Mikey POV, gore, manipulation, Casey isn't doing well)

Where there's a shadow, there's Mikey. As much as he found her annoying, he had to admit it was quite nice to always have an eye on his favorite plaything. Even while keeping up his mask around his brothers, watching Crognard the barbarian with one eye while the other observed as a certain red head talked to his pet.

"You know, you could've told me. I would've understood you two wanting to keep it secret." The girl attempted to comfort Casey, the two currently in the barn while Casey worked on the old car that had been stored there. Both he and Donnie had been working on it as of late.

Hm.

That was a familiar feeling. He did not appreciate it being aimed towards his own brother.

"If only you could kill someone who looked like Donatello to handle those pesky feelings." Annabeth oh so graciously mocked from the deepest, darkest, depths of his mind. Unfortunately, she's become much harder to tune out, Mikey attributes it to how often he uses her abilities to spy on Casey.

"Keep telling yourself that, brat."

...

It doesn't hurt to be cautious.

"Better." He would be a fool to ignore it, as much as he hates feeding her ego, these new developments are... alarming. Still, the only thing he can do now is make a note of it.

Ah, he got distracted, good thing his toy was an expert learner. He's worn the mask Mikey made for him very well on his own.

"Well, I was just, nervous I guess..." Casey accurately portrayed said nervousness, fueled by a very truthful anxiety of knowing he was being carefully watched and was already on thin ice. " You know I ain't exactly perfect... Like, I'm not like, homophobic or anything."

"Obviously." The girl added with a touch of humor, offering a comforting smile, albeit tinged with embarrassment. "Still, heh, would've been nice to know..." Her cheeks flushed with the humiliating memory of her foolish confession.

"Yeah... sorry, again. I should'a just told ya instead of, uh, running away like that." Casey hissed as he accidentally pinched his finger with some mechanical parts of the car, sliding out from underneath it to inspect the damage while also taking the opportunity to allow his spine to crack and pop as he arched his back. "I just... Freaked, I guess? All this stuff is still new to me and... I don't wanna, fuck it up with Mike, you know?"

"Yeah, I get it. Still, I'm kinda surprised that Mikey's that good at keeping a secret like that." Oh, she had no idea. Mikey knew that Casey thought the same thing during his hesitation before he replied.

"Eh, it's mainly cuz I told him to. He's... different in private, I guess."

"I'll take your word for it, I'm sure you make each other very happy." April smiled, completely unaware that Casey had been unable to look her in the eye even once before he wheeled himself back under the car.

It was a small price to pay, reveal the smallest and most harmless part of the truth to cover up for his pet's mistake. After all, it was the only thing to logically explain such a dramatic overreaction from Casey's end. Even if she slipped up and told his brothers, it was something easy to adjust his mask to. Casey may need a touch more guidance when it came to his, but nothing the two of them couldn't handle.

Speaking of Casey being able to handle something.

It had happened just the night before, their little deal, Mikey's catharsis. What an obedient pet Casey became when he knew it was needed. And cathartic indeed, Mikey reveled in being able to tear apart someone who looked so much like April. Casey picked well, if it wasn't for how she was slightly shorter, with hair a touch more curly than April's, he would've thought he was killing the real one.

And how treasured that memory was.

Casey's wide, traumatized eyes, staring at the gruesome scene as Mikey's stared back. Taking in the tears that streamed from the human's eyes, more gorgeous than any waterfall he could ever witness. What a treat it was, watching as those eyes went from pure horror to numb, the tears only stopping after the vigilante physically couldn't continue. The best part was when he never looked away. Yes, Mikey had made him watch initially, when the girl's face was still recognizable, but he'd let him go eventually. It was a delight to see Casey's gaze never leave the mutant as he tore apart his prey, flesh tearing from bone, limbs being torn off and neatly folded in ways the joints didn't allow to bend.

Mikey had kept eye contact as he worked at the head of his food, tearing off annoying scalp to slurp up the soft fleshy material behind tough skull. There was no word other than fascination to describe the dark curiosity that took over Casey's numb eyes. He was observing, much like Mikey did to him. The vigilante watched closely as Mikey bit into skull as though it was stale bread, the mutant saw Casey's eyes trace each fang as he easily got through the toughest bones in the human body.

Well that was different, and so very delicious. He almost seemed broken. Almost. He could taste it, the diminishing shreds of Casey's sanity. The light of hope and dark positivity simply turned dark. There was still much left in him to break but how far had he come. So very delicious as Casey took a handful of purplish red meat and eyed it curiously. Mikey had been deep in his feeding, and his knee-jerk reaction to his food being disturbed was to growl, a demand to give him back his prey. He wasn't expecting for Casey to the reach his hand out in offering.

It was the closest thing to truly vulnerable that Mikey allowed Casey to do. Instead of simply snatching the meat back, he had slowly crawled over, keeping eye contact with the human as his carnivore teeth got very close to Casey's hand.

Mikey allowed his pet to feed him.

Perhaps it was a bit too vulnerable, as Mikey could've sworn his own cheeks felt a tad warmer than usual. And yet, he allowed as Casey took another piece of his food, a lung this time, and once again he was fed.

He truly had no other word to describe how he had felt other than vulnerable. So very vulnerable. And yet, he allowed it to continue. Casey fed him handful after handful of human flesh, and Mikey licked his hand clean. During the process they had gotten close enough that Casey was going to need quite the cleanup afterwards, which he did. But that moment was near bliss, there was a time when he had thought it was a very bad idea to allow Casey so close when he fed, but this? He wanted it to last eternity, just Casey feeding him while he smiled down at him, a bloody mess on the human's lap. It was deeply intimate in a way Mikey didn't know he craved, satiating any desire to eat Casey right there and then.

It was bloody, it was delicious, it was euphoria.

"Hey guys!" Mikey was snapped back to the present by a certain redhead as she walked into the living room, the creaking floorboards adding to her loud entrance.

While they all greeted her, Mikey made sure to add a bit more enthusiasm to his own greeting, adding a wider smile and passing a knowing look to April that she reciprocated, now understanding that Casey is very very very taken. If only he could be more... aggressive in his assertion, however this will need to stay in his fantasies. Mikey would be a fool to not lay out another string to someone that could turn out to be very useful. Since April believes she's been allowed in to such a grand secret, she's sure to believe there's a tad more trust between the three of them.

Like the fool she is.

"You guys finish making that grocery list? Me and Casey are going to be going out soon."

"Going out?" Donnie asked much too quickly, Mikey's sure that even Annabeth cringed. Said taller turtle quickly overcorrected once April gave him a confused look, "I-I mean, yeah! Duh! Groceries! Yeah, uh." He chuckles nervously as he nearly trips over his own feet walking over to her "I could, um, come with? Like, just in case you guys might need back up or something?"

"I... don't really see why? It's just a grocery run." April shrugged as Donnie tried to come up with another excuse.

"Mikey, do me a favor." The oldest of the three, leaned over to whisper to the youngest. "Don't do that." He proceeded to gesture towards their bumbling brother as he continued to stutter his way through awkward excuses to tag along. Trying to throw out any and every excuse that's not just blatantly saying that he wants to make sure Casey and April don't grow any closer.

Oh Raph, if only you knew.

"Don't worry bro, I'm not a neeeerrrrdddd." He whispered back before gasping dramatically "Yo! Did you see that sick move?! Crognard is the best!!!!" His loud exclamation interrupted the bumbling idiocy happening behind them. As expected.

"Anyway," April the continued, "You don't have to worry Don, we're miles from any kraang anything. You can rest easy, It'll just be a quick run." She offered a small smile, a hand on Donnie's shoulder in an attempt to soothe his nerves. If only Donnie could read more into her insistence to not worry. There is no competition in his way.

Come to think of it, if those two were to get together, it could benefit his little game. Even help lay out strings for that brat.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" He obnoxiously raised and flailed his hand as he threw himself on the couch, closer to the painful exchange. "What about candy! And snacks! AND PIZZA!" Faking a sparkle of excitement in his eyes was second nature at this point, easy to manage even while using one eye to keep watch over his pet.

A delightful sight indeed, Casey was currently curled up in the barn were he and April were just talking. Mikey could only imagine the amount of thoughts that were whizzing through his mind, he knew the human was just as surprised as he was at what had occurred the night prior. He was trembling, hugging himself tightly as he carefully breathed, no doubt trying to avoid hyperventilating.

"Well, we'll have to see what they have. Not a lot of stores around the area so we'll have to take what we can get." April paused, seeing the false sparkle and chuckling warmly, "But I'll try my best." She promised with an insulting pat to his head.

He wanted to bite it off, how fucking dare she touch him.

Casey stopped trembling, seems he made peace with whatever was in his mind. Wait.

Was that...? Laughing?

Yes, there was no mistaking it, Casey was softly giggling to himself, his head in his hands.

"Okay!" Mikey beamed "I trust you! Don't let me down Apr-eroni!"

She giggled before turning to Donnie who cleared his throat. "Um, well, let's give the kitchen a once-over to see what we need. I can help." His gap-toothed smile screamed desperation.

"Hey Mike..." His attention instantly got brought back to his pet. "I know you're watching, I'm really stuck with you aren't I?" There was something so delightfully broken about his voice as he leaned back against the car. They both knew the answer to that.

Casey let his head fall back as he stared at the ceiling, hair falling out of his eyes to reveal that something dark has begun to take hold. His smile blessed with a touch of insanity as he sighed "Well shit, might as well go with the flow... I gotta be honest, up till last night, I thought maybe I had some chance of like, keeping a hold of ya or something..." He snickered to himself. "Fuckin stupid, am I right?"

Yes. Very.

"Hope ya forgive me for thinking that..." He took in a deep breath before then stretching, cracking joints once again. "I wonder... If it'd be that easy... For you to eat me, I mean..." His hand rubbed at the back of his neck, fingers lingering and trailing over the veins of his neck, his collarbone. Was he trying to tease him?

Wait, he actually might. Especially considering the dark smile still laid upon his lips. Casey was teasing Mikey about eating him.

Casey was teasing Mikey about eating him.

What an idiot.

What a moron.

What a fool.

What a fucking tease.

"Anyway, you got a mask to keep up, probably shouldn't be distracting ya too much." He laughed with a trickster's intent as he stood. "If you can still watch me from across Manhattan, I'm guessing you can still watch me while I head out with April. Hope so anyway..."

He hopes so? Oh yes, his dear and precious pup, no need to worry. There is nowhere Casey can go where Mikey won't be able to follow.

"Mikey?" Once again he was snapped back to his mask. Looks like he had acted on auto-pilot, once again sat in front of the TV. The concerned voice came from Raph. "Hey, you good? Spaced out there for a sec."

A flip of the switch, wide smiles, sparkling, innocent eyes. "Yeah! Was just thinkin! What if Crognard had to fight, like, a pizza monster! And then! They had a giant pizza party but-!"

"Nope. That's enough, I can feel my brain cells shrinking." Raph rolled his eyes, annoyance with the care for the youngest he refuses to show tinged in the way the edge of his mouth twitches, wanting to smile fondly.

He made his mask falter. Casey successfully made his mask falter. There had only been one time before when Casey tried to tease him while his mask was up. Not only had it been an unsuccessful attempt, Mikey swiftly educated Casey on why it was a very stupid thing to do. And yet, not only did he try again, he succeeded. He wasn't sure whether to remind him of his place or be impressed. Or the third option of simply enjoying how far he's pushed Casey's psyche.

Hm, perhaps all three, he'll decide later. It would be wise to focus more on his mask, just to be sure that it won't happen a second time.

True to his unsaid promise, he made sure to keep an eye on Casey at all times when the time came, both humans leaving on a journey for groceries. Casey was the one driving, focusing on the road while April gave directions to the nearest convenience store which was still quite aways from the house.

"Dramatic much?" Shut up.

Casey still hadn't looked April in the eye, hell, he barely looked at her at all. And that dark look in his eye hadn't completely left. April seemed uneasy, she could tell that something was off. Hm, he'd have to coach him better the more deteriorated his mind gets.

"So..." April carefully began, "You and Mikey..."

"Yeah."

The tension that suddenly made itself known was almost comedic. The awkward silence felt much longer than it actually was.

"Um... Are things gonna be... weird now?" April shifted anxiously in her seat, eyes roaming everywhere. It was a joy to see her so uncomfortable.

"Weird? Whattaya mean?" He casually replied, leaned back with one hand on the wheel. Casey was the picture of casual and relaxed, but one look into those eyes and she would see that something was indeed very wrong. It almost felt like Casey himself was aware of this, considering his lack of eye contact with the girl.

"Well, just, ya know. You seem, kinda off since the whole thing. I mean-"

"What do you mean? We were just talking about it in the barn, I'm just..." Believable hesitation, very good. The touch of gaslighting is appreciated, squash the doubt quickly and swiftly. "It's just new to me, and I don't wanna fuck things up with Mike. I've been with girls before, this is all new to me."

April seemed appropriately embarrassed, "W-Well, yeah, I get that. But I just don't want our friendship to be weird."

"It'll only be weird if you make it weird, which you kind of are, Red." Casey risked a look at April to prove his point. Presumably, he took after Mikey in knowing that she was going to look away in embarrassment.

"I... Sorry, sorry, no you're right, I'm the one being weird about it." She fiddled with the hem of her shirt, picking at a loose strand of fabric. Her cheeks were lightly flushed with shame, humbled, uncomfortable, and ashamed? Mikey may just forgive a punishment for Casey, witnessing this was a treat.

"It's whatever." Casey sighed, focusing on the road again. "We're almost there yeah? Let's just get what we need, head back, and nothing will be different okay?"

April nodded as she offered a small smile "Right yeah, nothing weird happened, everything is okay."

"Right." Casey nodded as well, in control of the narrative. Mikey could not accurately express how proud he was. His pup learned very well.

"I might be sick." He was in such a good mood from what he was witnessing that even a certain annoying demon couldn't phase him.

The store they had found was... Well, it was a store. The paint flaked off of the walls, what was once a strong blue was now washed out from years of neglect. The sign wasn't even readable, bird fecal matter, rain, dirt and time only allowing the '24/7' to be seen. The windows had a clear line where they had been repeatedly cleaned, the edges showed the years of scum and dirt despite the mostly clean centers.

Through said windows, a single human could be spotted inside, nearly asleep at the register. That plus the somehow still functioning neon 'open' sign, signaled that it was indeed, open.

Both teens paused before just heading in, Mikey kept his eye in Casey's shadow, traveling just beside him. Despite the exterior of the store, the inside was surprisingly neat and organized.

"Oh shit," The man at the counter startled, nodding to them as a greeting, he looked to be around his late forties. He had a decent amount of muscle on him, he'd be quite the meal.

What was interesting was how Casey looked the man up and down as he also nodded in greeting. Was he coming to the same conclusion? Of course April was none the wiser, simply looking at the list she had brought along as she searched the neat shelves. She also didn't notice as Casey slowed his step, staying up by the register.

While April wandered towards the very back of the store, Casey casually browsed near the man who didn't seem to be fully paying attention. The bags under the man's eyes communicated a clear lack of sleep, besides that, he seemed healthy. There was... Something, about how Casey kept glancing at the man. Something that stirred a familiar feeling at the core of Mikey's being.

And then Casey glanced at his own shadow.

Wait.

Was it on purpose?

From within the relatively quiet confines of the chicken coop, was where one certain mutant sat, his full attention given to his pet. As the realization washed over him, he couldn't resist the demented that snuck onto his lips. His pet had learned well after all.

"I'm surprised you aren't considering punishing him even more severely."

"And why exactly would I do that?" Mikey rolled his eyes, head falling back against the wooden wall. His one present eye briefly darting to the chickens whose home he just invaded while seeking privacy. The prey birds could sense the metaphorical fox and were currently crowded in the farthest corner from him. How comedic.

"He's using you."

"Using me is a strong phrase. He simply correctly assumed I was listening, correctly assumed I would follow him, and correctly assumed that if he pointed the gun, I would be content to pull the trigger. He learned well, why would I punish him for that?"

He shifted focus back to the topic of discussion, who was currently conversing with the cashier.

"Insubordination!" Annabeth replied with all the pearl clutching shock she could muster.

"Ooh, big word. Congratulations." Mikey replied with his own lack of emotion. "Please relocate your feelings of deciding to be an annoyance to another time, I'm sure I have some spots in my schedule for 'fuck you' days from today." He tried to shift to be at least somewhat more comfortable amidst the hay and lack of leg room.

"You know, I never liked you. But at least I respected how you conduct this game of yours."

"And I should be flattered? As though I've ever respected or cared about any of your opinions. Now shush, I can't hear what they're saying." Oh, he did not like how Casey was leaning over the counter, they were both laughing. Casey's was so obviously fake in his laughter, yet the man's was genuine.

"Yeah... My wife's a real bitch sometimes, never stops bitchin about the kids, bitchin about me, bitchin about the store. What a stupid bitch." Well, Casey knows how to pick them it seems.

Casey chuckled as he rested his chin on his own hand "Damn, that sucks. She should get off your ass for once, I ain't married but living with her," He pointed at the still clueless April, finding items at the back of the store, "annoying as hell. I getcha."

The man nodded in agreement, looking Casey up and down, "Yeah... What team you batting for?" He suddenly whispered.

Casey smiled like a cat who's caught his mouse "Yours. If you want."

This little shit. Mikey could vaguely hear the chickens panicking from their corner.

"Sounds punishment worthy to me."

"Shut it." Mikey hissed, unable to contain anger filled laughter. He was still able to stay quiet enough that he wouldn't be noticed if one of his brothers decided to come searching for him. At least Casey chose well, good muscle on his soon to be prey and not too old. He'll make a fine meal.

The man got out a piece of paper, scribbling on it before passing it to Casey, mouthing 'Call me later.' Casey quickly snatched it and straightened his back, shoving the paper into his pocket. As April made her way over, Casey quickly took a handful of candy from around the counter and threw it on.

"Want one?" He asked as he looked over at April, holding up one of the candies.

April laid out the groceries on the counter as she looked over at the candy "Hmm... Grab me some sour skittles."

Casey nodded, as he reached for aforementioned candy, he looked into his shadows. If Mikey didn't know any better, he'd say that Casey could see the mutant watching him. That dark glimmer in his eyes conveying everything they need to.

Yes, it was all on purpose.

His darling pup is bribing him with food to soothe his ire. Now how could he stay mad at that?

"Mikey! Hello?! Mikey!" Raph.

It's fine, he saw everything Casey wanted him to see. He pulled his gaze out of the shadows, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, flipping his mask back on.

He couldn't wait for him and Casey to have a talk that night.

The woods were becoming a familiar and welcome environment, something about it appealed to his predatory nature just as he thought it would initially. It was nice to see the twinkling stars, much brighter than what one could ever see in the city. The quiet was, to an extent, nice as well, only the occasional sounds of crickets, frogs, and whatever other wildlife roamed.

Within these seemingly peaceful woods, a monster and his victim met once again.

"So." Casey started speaking before Mikey had even revealed himself. "I know you're still kinda mad, had a feeling you would be. So! I thought," the human paced in a circle, any outsider would see him and think he was insane, not inaccurate but still, "what was that old saying? The best way to a guy is through his stomach or somethin like that?" Casey paused, shrugged, then continued his pacing. "Whatever it was, I know ya babe! And yeah, yeah, I know you just ate yesterday buuuuut, I had a feeling you wouldn't mind. Especially this guy, plus he's a dick, think his family'll thank us for getting rid of the guy-"

Despite his seemingly confident tone, he was still struck with sweet fear as Mikey appeared from the shadows and grabbed his wrist, pulling him close. Mikey paused, gladly drinking up the momentary fear in the human's eyes before clashing their mouths against one another, practically ripping his mask off and tossing it on the ground.

Their kiss was aggressive, far more teeth than anything else, and Mikey delighted in how Casey started trying to bite at him.

Mikey was the one to pull away first, chuckling. "You're sooner to chip any left over teeth you have than to draw blood from me, pet~"

"Aw, so I can't taste you like you can taste me?~" Casey held one of Mikey's hands, awkwardly intertwining their fingers.

"Be still my beating heart. You got me fresh food and you're indulging in my tastes? What exactly triggered such a change of heart?" Mikey asked despite knowing full well why. Planting a kiss to Casey's jaw.

Casey chuckled dryly "Well... Let's just say I... Realized some stuff."

Mikey hummed in reply as he planted kiss after kiss on Casey's jaw and neck, causing delightful shivers from the human. "Regardless..." Mikey suddenly stopped, pulling away enough to grab Casey's face by his cheeks and dragging him down, eyes glowing a bright enough blue that even Mikey could see the glow against Casey's skin, his teeth morphing to sharp fangs. "Don't forget who's the one in charge, have I not already emphasized my feelings regarding endangering my mask? Raph caught me spacing out. I'll forgive you for using my lessons against me this once. Be more thoughtful about time and a place in the future, dog~"

Casey smiled "Message received... So, want me to call the guy?" He dug through his pockets and pulled out the sliver of paper from earlier.

"Very much so. Now." Mikey commanded, earning a giggle from Casey.

His attitude hadn't changed much, but his true change hid in subtler ways. The lack of hesitation and carefulness in teasing Mikey back, the mirrored lack of stability in Casey's eyes and smile. Mikey greedily took all of it in, his beautiful broken pet.

Well, not fully broken, not yet.

[gl0omur4ai]

♥︎ || Snow Innocence : Reboot || ♡

Chapter 1 : A cat surrounded by prey

Warnings : Poor writing, Out of character characters, MENTIONS OF NEGLECT AND ABUSE, let me know if I missed any heh

Word count :

Alkni fun fact : She loves peaches heh

Pervious : Here

Next chapter : Here

Masterlist : Here

The cold, harsh streets was all the white haired child knew for the past two years. 'Oh, poor baby' is what she often heard from people passing by, although they never so much as stopped to even check if she was alive.

At only the age of five, a little girl, whom used to sparkle as bright as sun itself, sat alone in the streets, a soft scarf to keep her warm through the winters wrapped around her neck, the last thing she had to her name. Watching people pass by was all she ever did, watching as families happily enjoyed the cold winter season, something rare for her small town.

'I just.... I just wanna go home....'

The child would mutter every so often, her voice as soft as the snow that would greet her outside. Yet there was no home for her to return to.

"FLOYD???"

The sliver haired man exclaimed as he watched Floyd, much to his utter dismay, attempt to squeeze a customer. The poor unfortunate soul whom Floyd had set his eyes on quickly tried to break out upon Azul calling to the wild dude, only causing Floyd to attempt to squeeze him harder.

"Floyd, I only asked you to make sure my customers were going through on their end of the deal ! Not to..."

Azul started, yet paused as he heard a soft rustle coming from his VIP room, making the octoperson to turn around in confusion after a brief moment. There was no way someone could've snuck behind him and broke into the VIP room in such a short amount of time, and much less be stupid enough to make a sound like that if they did manage to sneak past.

The sound even caught Floyd's attention, who seemed to be interested in what caused the sound, completely forgetting about what he was just doing. "Which'a fishy broke in this time~" Floyd cooed playfully as he happily began to skip towards the VIP lounge, the customer long forgotten about in favor of something more 'fun'.

A soft yawn escaped the young girls mouth, as she snuggled in deeper into her soft white scarf, a gentle warmth she hadn't felt since the day her life fell apart filling her senses.

Warmth....

Shooting upwards, the little dusty black haired girl frantically looked around at her surroundings, not being able to comprehend how she felt warm.

Having lived on the streets for two years, she had grown used to the cold in the winters and the heat in the summers. With nothing to protect her against the elements, she was used to feeling only the extremes of weather. So, it was incredibly odd to her little mind how it suddenly felt like she was back at home.

Rubbing her little ruby red eyes, Alkni glanced around her surroundings, her mind still being slightly clouded by sleep. The room was nothing like what she was used to. Yeah, while she had been well off before the incident money wise, wherever she seemed to be right now, seemed more fancy then she could comprehend.

"A... A kid....?"

A voice broke the child out of her trance as she looked up to see two young men. Alkni flinched, assuming she was about to get in trouble for being somewhere she wasn't supposed to be.

"H-How'd you get here...?"

The sliver haired man asked, looking at her like she was a unicorn who just jumped out of a tv screen. Alkni, albeit confused, shrugged her shoulders before tensing, looking down to the ground. Every time she used to shrug her shoulders, terrible things would happen. Most of the time, she'd be slapped across the face for 'lying', and sometimes, if she was lucky, she'd be yelled at. She had long since left that life, although unwillingly, and she didn't want to go back.

"Thats quite strange.... It isn't supposed to be easy to get into this school, especially much less for a child" A second voice spoke up from behind the two others. "New fishy to play with !" One of what appeared to be two clones cheered happily as he rushed over to the child, grabbing her in his arms and squeezing her tightly.

Alkni froze as she felt the strange dude who seemed to be around the age of her brother the last time she saw him, squeeze her. When was the last time she felt such love, such warmth, from others. The last time it happened, she was left alone. Ditched on the side of the road like trash left behind for pick up day.

'L... let go of me ! I... I wanna be alone !"

The child suddenly yelled, tears brimming her soft red eyes. She didn't want to trust such warm and happy feelings again. She didn't want to be left in the dirt again. She was much happier by herself than when she was with her family. She had spent two years convincing herself of that and it wasn't going to go to waste.

"Woah ! This ricefishy is feisty !"

Floyd chuckled, making Alkni panic. Quickly pushing herself out of Floyd's grasp, she quickly turned to run towards the door, only to end up stumbling, her little legs failing her as she had been so used to sitting in one spot that her legs had grown weak.

"Here, it's okay"

Said the other clone softly, walking towards her to pick her up. Seeing someone's hand reaching out to her, she felt all the fear she had been bottling up for her entire life fill her sense. Without so much as missing a heartbeat, she lurched towards the unknown mans hand, biting it as hard as possible. She wasn't going to be hurt again. She didn't want to scolded again. She didn't want to go back.

'Fishy.... taste...?" She thought to herself, pausing mid-bite to look up at him. Her family would sometimes bring seafood home for dinner if they had made enough money that week for dinner, and would toss her some random leftovers sometimes if they were feeling charitable, and this man tasted so much like food that she couldn't help the urge but to try and nibble away at him.

Jade flinched back in shock, his usually calm demeanor faltering for a moment as he watched this random child try to eat him alive. Floyd, who found this whole situation amusing, couldn't hold back a laugh as he watched the interaction go on.

Suddenly, a pair of gentle hands lifted her small body off the floor, pulling her away from Jade. Jade quickly wiped his now slightly wet hand on his shirt, before standing next to Azul, who held the small child in his arms. "Shes so.... thin?" Azul whispered to Jade, while Floyd, who had already gotten bored of the entire situation walked off.

"Hey, how about I bring you something to eat and we can talk about how you ended up here, hm?" Azul said softly to the child, needing to know how she broke into such a palce.

A/N : Whoooieeee... First chapter doneze ! Uhm, honestly, my writing has improved A LOT since December of last year, and since my old Tumblr accounts 1 year ani was like 4 days ago, I thought I might as well rewrite this !

[ex-champion-mad-scientist]

[Another video has been posted, available to view.] [three hidden videos are also available, albeit it locked behind a passcode each.]

*She sat on the roof of the league. The building, shrouded in mystery to the rest of Therium, sat on the tallest hill in Capital. Surrounded by rangers, guarded by the strongest of mons.*

“…Ah. There they are.”

*She watched as the pair of Lin and Lilac approached the league, accompanied by a blue haired man, and a girl in green. Fennec seemed to recognize them all.*

“…Well, I hate to do this… but I’ve been left no choice.”

*The clinking of glass can be heard from her pocket as she moves over to the skylight above the champion’s room. She can spot a man in orange and blue there, the puppet of the league.*

“Feh. What a loser. “

*She waits until the group arrived in the room, signaling their defeat of the elite four.*

“It’s time.”

*The glass shatters and breaks, as Fennec falls through it. She gets splinters from the glass- but she doesn’t show any care for it.*

“ALRIGHT! I’VE HAD ENOUGH WITH THIS NON-SENS-“

*She looked at Draco, and then at the kids, before seeing the elite four coming through.*

“My, my Fennec, making a dramatic entrance just like always, are we?”

*She turned her head to the elite four. Eleyta. Menna. Fyrien. Arsene. The four who betrayed her.*

“You really are insane, aren’t you? That brilliant brain of yours gone off the edge?”

“Quiet Eleyta. She is not our focus. Lin. Lilac. You two are aware of the prepared broadcast. You are not aware there’s two versions.”

“Huh? Two versions?!”

“Yes. If you fight Fennec and win, we’ll crown one of you Champion, and broadcast a slightly edited version that makes her seem like the villain. If you lose, we’ll go with plan A.”

“What?! That’s a lose-lose either way! Fennec is our mentor!”

“Fight. Or else we call in the special rangers. Oh, and Fennec? We know you’d just let these brats win anyways. So, if you lose, we’ll actually complete the extermination programme, and I think handing you back over to Vincent is a fun idea.”

“…No… no- you can’t do this!”

“Oh, but we can. You gave us the power when you chose us as the elite four. We simply took what you gave us and used it. So, either fight to win, or we’ll use lethal force.”

“Lin! You can’t lose!”

“We have your back!”

*Lin was clearly conflicted. He couldn’t let them air his secrets, but Fennec was the only one to help them… grabbing his balls, he made his decision.*

“Fennec, I’m sorry. I can’t let them do this to us.”

*The battle was over soon after it began. Fennec had even resorted to the nightmares… Grey lied in a corner of the room, damaged.*

“Heh… you’re strong, kid. I’m proud. Maybe you can do what I never could.”

*She could feel it. Her being… it was unstable. She made a grab for a nearby vial, but-*

“Oops, sorry. You didn’t need that, did you?”

*Arsene’s foot was now where the serum was. Fennec’s eyes widened.*

“NO! NO-“

*She was cut off by Arsene being blasted by a slash of energy. She looked over to where it came from. She saw Lin with his now evolved Feralnat. He walked over, and stood in front of her.*

“LISTEN HERE! I don’t care who you are! You aren’t taking her, or Lilac, Walt, Elyx- NOONE!”

“You didn’t even notice the fact we broadcasted everything! All of Therium saw your monologues everytime we fought you!”

“WHAT?! NO! THATS IMPOSSIBLE-“

“YOU.”

*Eleyta pointed at Draco. He sat upon the champions seat.*

“YOU BETRAYED US?! HOW DARE YOU?!

”I never wanted to be champion. And all of this… everything you did, everything I let happen. It’s so wrong, and I’m tired of it.”

“I relinquish the title of champion to Lin. No matter his past. He deserves it.”

“NO!”

“And for my first act as champion…”

*Lin makes a signal with his hands, and some of Therium’s ACTUAL rangers come in.*

“I charge you four for all the hurt you’ve brought to this region!”

“Heh…heheh… Lin… you planned all this… didn’t you?…”

“Fennec-“

*The man turns his attention to Fennec, who’s currently on the floor.*

“You’ll make a great champion. You can save this region, I know it.”

“Don’t talk like that! We’re getting you to a hospital, ASAP!”

“Yeah- Fennec, You aren’t going anywheres on our watch.”

“…If I may… I have it here.”

*The Green woman, Elyx, holds out a vial.*

“The feral cure! Of course! Why didn’t we think of that sooner?”

“Here- Fennec, hold still.”

*She administers the serum to the feathered woman.*

“Ough… i feel… really… tired…”

*Fennec collapses into Elyx’s arms.*

“IS SHE DEAD?!”

“No- no. She’s just out cold. She’ll be like this until tomorrow while the feral stuff gets out of her system. I’ll keep her at my place in the meantime.”

*Elyx picks up Fennec, and balls Grey. She leaves the room.*

“Wow… that was all… so awesome! And did you see those crazy strong Pokémon She used?!”

“Yeah Lin! Congrats on winning!”

“You haven’t seen the last of us! We’ll be back!”

“Shut it, Grandma! You’re going to jail for a good while!”

“Pfft, grandma.”

“So, what do you guys wanna do now that we’re not under the threat of the league?”

“…could go for some poutine.”

“Sounds great! Let’s go!”

[Video end.]

[kinshenewa]

Moon walked to the human's room, holding a small paper flower in his hands. He made it purple, a small rose, and he was excited to give it to Cadence.

He pocketed the rose as he knocked on her door, waiting a moment. His only response was a giggle, so he opened the door slightly and peeked in. Cadence was sitting on the end of her bed, kicking her legs lightly and giggling happily.

The next thing he noticed was the large amount of purple-red marks all over her neck.

He gasped in horror, rushing forward as he exclaimed, "Cadence! What happened!?" He came to a stop in front of her, crouching between her legs as he grabbed her biceps, hands shaking with worry.

Upon closer inspection, he could see a bunch of small pink dots on her skin.

Sun did this.

"Sun came in here yesterday, told me he was bugging me because you were busy, laid on me, then asked me to be y'alls girlfriend after he said you told him not to ask," She replied with a giggle, eyes closed as she swayed.

"And then what happened?" He asked softly, right hand hovering over her neck. He didn't touch the massive amount of hickeys, however, as they were likely still sore.

"I was too nervous and asked if I could answer at a later time, and he nodded before asking if he could bite me. I said yes, and he did bite me, but he said he left more of a mark than he intended," She giggled, hands coming up to rest on her flushed cheeks, "He was very touchy. I can still feel the feeling of his fangs in my flesh."

She giggled again, "I never thought I would actually enjoy the essential premise of a vampire."

"Do you know how many times he bit you?" Moon asked softly.

She giggled, smiling as she said, "Oh, three... four times? I don't know, my head got real fuzzy after the second one..."

Moon frowned, eyes counting all the pink spots on her neck.

1, 2, 3...

...

12, 13... 14...

Sun bit her 7 times!?!

"He bit you seven times..." Moon said in surprise. He felt a surge of jealousy wash over him, frowning. HE wanted to do that!

"Oh, yeah..." She said, counting on her fingers. "Mmmmany numbers," She murmured, holding up 7 fingers. She giggled, throwing her arms around Moon's neck, nuzzling his chest as she said, "Heh, my mind is swimmingly. Fuzzy... Do you have venom like Sun?"

Moon wrapped his arms around her, rubbing her back. "Um, yes, I do. But my venom isn't nearly as potent as Sun's. Unlike Sun's venom, which energizes and excites, my venom calms and makes you sleepy," Moon said, and she hummed in response.

He slowly untangled himself from her, albeit reluctantly, as he said, "I need to go talk to my brother, ok?"

She nodded, flopping back on her bed with a giggle.

Moon got up, heading for his room. He breathed deeply as he left, clenching his fists.

Stupid Sun can't ever listen! He told him not to ask Cadence, yet what does he do? Turns around and asks her anyway! And now he marked her up!

Moon sighs, stopping at the door. He wanted to do that... Well, he can wait for his turn. He can wait for the opportunity.

He entered the room, passing through the set of doors, and he saw Sun chilling on the couch.

"You little shit!" Moon hissed, "What did you do to Cadence?!"

Sun looked up, smirking as he said, "Oh, so you saw my handy work."

"You bit her seven times!" Moon said, clenching his fists at his sides.

Sun giggled, putting a finger to his lips as he said innocently, "I may have gotten a bit carried away~!"

"A bit?" Moon said dryly.

"We both know what Eclipse would consider a bit carried away," Sun said with a shrug.

"Sun, why couldn't you have waited until AFTER mom visited? You know she can smell when we like a girl!" Moon hissed.

"They were never human! Human emotions aren't like a lot of other species," Sun defended.

"I swear, sometimes you have the thinking process of a dog," Moon sighed, rubbing his face. "Eclipse will be coming BACK with our mother. You could not have timed this any worse!" Moon snapped.

Sun's eyes widened, his rays flaring. "Oh," He said simply. He looked to the side, sucking air through his teeth as he said, "And, when is he set to come back?"

"A week!" Moon exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.

Sun nodded, smirking before saying, "Well, that may be true... But I have more kisses than you."

Moon growled, baring his teeth. "Now is not the time for one of your pea-brained challenges!" He snapped.

"Who said anything about a challenge?" Sun said innocently, smirking.

"Your face! You have a challenge for me!" Moon snapped, motioning to Sun's face.

Sun chuckled evilly, rubbing his hands together as he said, "Well, soon, let's see who can kiss Cadence the most and make her smile the biggest!"

Moon groaned, dragging his hands down his face as he said, "Sun, our mother can smell attraction. That is not going to go down."

"I'll do my best to pretend Cadence is just a friend during mother's visit if you win!" Sun chirped.

Moon's eyes snapped open, pupils narrowing to slits.

"You sneaky bastard, I'm in," Moon growled, and they shook hands firmly.

[hrodvitnon]

Just finished my retread of Abraxas and god is it still one of my favorite things ever. Also got me thinking of some headcanons for shit, as well as a few questions.

Headcanons:

-The defender titans all tend to have a growing appreciation for human music as Abdaxas introduces it to them. Ladon becomes enamored with metal, Mothra always appreciates a good classical symphony, Baragon is obsessed with bubblegum pop, Leo likes musicals Godzilla has taken a liking to blues and older outlaw country, and Rodan surprisingly enough has developed a taste for jazz. Some of the others like to tease him about it.

-Methuselah returns to Berezniki every year to pay tribute to Thor, having been friends in their youth. He leaves a stone for him to each time.

-Manda has taken to exploring areas he really shouldn’t when paling around with Baragon and Varan. Anguirus and Abraxas constantly have to come get them like annoyed parents.

-Queen MUTO eventually comes to call Scylla a friend, proving herself different that her genocidal brethren.

-The trafficking of Titan dna still continues after Jonah’s death, with the main trafficker being on Dr Oglivy Hu, who also has his sights set on building a mechanical counterpart to a certain ape Titan.

Gorosaurus: a Titan who once left his territory on Mondo Island to explore Skull Island, only to be dealt a swift beating by Kong and forced to return home. Ultimately a defender, Gorosaurus has developed a begrudging respect for the great ape, and an odd friendship with Ladon. Kind hearted, but somewhat lacking in common sense and susceptible to being distracted by food, he still nevertheless will be on the front lines of battle should any monster ever threaten earth again.

Gabara: a smaller and younger Titan, Gabara is extremely childish in a way not typical for most titans. With a cruel streak, he attempted to harass Ladon in their first encounter, only to be swiftly shown why that was a very bad idea. Ever since, he’s stuck to terrorizing smaller wildlife populations, often being forced to flee whenever he encounters Ladon again.

Titanosaurus: an old Titan who would rather just stay out of conflict all together, he nevertheless gets dragged into the greater ecosystem once again after a chance encounter with Kiryu. Somewhat of a pacifist, he’s rather reluctant to engage in fights or the like, but if push comes to shove, will respect the call of Godzilla, albeit not without constant complaining all the while.

Battra: mothra’s slightly younger twin brother, he can overall be described as “a prick”. Unlike his sister, he has been in hibernation for most of human history, principally due to him viewing humans as pests. Upon awakening in modern day, he often fights and argues with Mothra in a titanic sinking rivalry, with him viewing Godzilla as a nuisance at best. He is also extremely appalled upon meeting his extended “family”. Eventually, he acquiesces to his sisters wish of not attacking humans, but he’s still very grouchy and not super pleasing to be around. Godzilla wants to smack him back into hibernation, Mothra insists he just needs time to adjust.

As for questions, just wanted to ask about how comfortable you are with people using your Abraxas concepts in their own AU’s? I’m currently working on one and have been wanting to include the characters/events of the story in it, but due to the way the AU is it would require both some broad strokes approach’s to the story, as well as a slight redesign of the titular titan. Is that something you’re comfortable with? Just wanted to ask cause like I said, one of my favorite stories period. Hope you’re doing well and may we all praise pink goji.

Heh, I'm now picturing Monster X starting to tease Rodan with the obvious Bee Movie "ya like jazz?" but then hijacks a nearby sound system to start playing smooth jazz. Manda is definitely at the age where he gets into mischief with friends! I appreciate that Titanosaurus is a "too old for this shit" type of Titan, the sort that would get a free pass from a Gondor Calls for Aid scenario unless numbers are extremely needed; Titano deserves all the naps he can get. Good that Ladon is developing a "do not fuck with" reputation on account of nonlethal encounters, it shows that Papa Goji must be having a positive influence on him.

I'm totally okay with Abraxas concepts or characters being used in other's works! Back when I finished the fic way back when I basically announced that readers are allowed to utilize the AbraxasVerse and its ideas in their own writing. Think of it as a sandbox; everyone's welcome to make their own stories and build castles and play with the characters like action figures.

[ssmtskw]

Hello and welcome!

Replacing my pinned with a list of the stuff I've written for anyone checking my account out. Heh. Everything is sorted by fandom, and then word count! (And if there's something I should add to the tagging, please feel free to send me a message about it so I can make the edits.) Enjoy... hopefully!

RWRB

some part of me came alive - 10,979 words [college-ish AU, 5+1]

"Bye David." David's head snaps back to Alex's direction, eyebrows furrowed ever so slightly you'd think it wasn't even there. Alex, having just removed his glasses again as he yawns once more, doesn't see it. David takes a couple seconds before slightly shaking his head, like he's just imagining something and is now actively wiping the thought away. He opens the door before he responds. "Bye Alex."

(Or: The five times Alex unintentionally calls Henry by his dog’s name, and the one time he does it on purpose.)

Francesca - 10,189 words [graphic depictions and references of violence/abuse/injuries]

Once, in a much worse place before all of this; Alex had worked for someone with one side of his office overflowing with books. He'd read all sorts of things there: Anatomy, selected works in philosophy, Oliver Twist, war hero accounts, law. Anything he could get a hold of in the dark, really. Among those books were a bible. There's a passage there that stuck— something he'd only read past but had barraged into the walls of Alex's mind three years ago, Book of Jeremiah, chapter 17, verse 9: The heart is more deceitful than anything else and is desperate. Who can know it?

Love Songs in the Key of Liam - 8,152 words [Liam POV/centric, 5+1]

It's fucked. He's fucked — Liam, that is. There was no way this was going to work. Ever. What's the next worst thing to growing up closeted in a typically close-minded neighbourhood? Probably developing a crush on your best friend who lives in said neighbourhood. (Or: The five times love songs reminded Liam of his now estranged best friend, and the one time it reminded him of someone else.)

Terrible Things - 4,038 words [Hanahaki AU, hurt/no comfort]

"How long?" That, he can answer. "A year or so." He croaks out, not really wanting to strain himself any further.

water in my hands - 3,521 words [sickfic(?), has references to illness, hurt/no comfort]

It takes Alex a good amount of time to realise; sometimes love just isn't enough to keep the world going, even if he desperately wanted it to.

no question (he'll hold your heart if you let him) - 2,837 words [June POV/outsider POV, post-canon]

June doesn't think much about it at first, putting the box along the pile, but she belatedly realises what it is and gets an idea. A satisfied grin makes its way onto her lips when she finally finds it, an edition of Astrotalk that detailed star sign compatibilities. June doesn't open the magazine all the way to the Libra section, stopping short at someone else's instead. (Or: June finds a box that contained one of her teenage fixations and goes through it for old time's sake.)

Smoke Slow - 2,026 words [shotgun kissing oneshot basically]

“Hey.” Alex says, just for the sake of saying something, the silence between them wasn’t stifling but he didn’t want to risk their interaction coming to an end just because he’s not engaging enough. Henry gives him a sideways glance. “Teach me how to do that.”

“Do what?”

“That. The shotgun.” For a moment, Alex briefly considers how idiotic that probably sounded to Henry. It wasn’t a hard task to mimic, but Alex had long thrown out his composure out the fences of Pez’s house when Henry put the goddamn stick into his mouth. 

i'll be happy (just to have known you) - 1,855 words [hurt/no comfort]

Henry resigns himself to the reality that Alex—albeit distant and unattainable—still managed to break through his dismal world and grant him a light he never imagined was still possible to exist. This was enough. This was more than he'd ever expected for himself. It was the universe's way of extending an olive branch in response to the cards he'd been dealt with. He'd be stupid not to take it.

dreamy little you - 1,666 words [crack-ish AU, post-canon]

"Of course, love, but would you love yourself if you were a worm?" This visibly stumps Alex. If the way his mouth just opened for a rebuttal and coming up empty is anything to go by.

only got a hundred - currently at 4,008 words

An ongoing collection of 100-word drabbles written according to the Brownstone server's prompts.

Haikyuu

Ceilings (he thinks it's not real, it is) - 6,009 words [light angst and pining with a happy? ending]

“Yo, you sleepy?” Takahiro meant to say that no, he isn't. That Issei looks stupid with his hair messed up like that. That he should be asking Issei that, with the bags under his eyes speaking for themselves. Instead, what comes out is, “I miss you.” It would be so easy to take the opportunity now. But still, Takahiro is terrified of ruining things. Or: Takahiro has graduation blues, and Issei makes him feel better, but things don't just end there.

Bloom - 1,444 words [two-dialogue challenge oneshot, retrospective? angst/no comfort]

Matsukawa Issei is not much of a sentimental person, save for special occasions where he has no choice but to reminisce.

Cruel (what your mind can do for no reason) - 1,012 words [light angst/comfort, implications of dissociation]

Issei struggles through a bad mental health night, Takahiro breezes him through the tail end of it.

Shameless (US)

big guns out, shoot now - 3,257 words [first kiss oneshot]

It's kind of out of character for Ian, really, he's always careful about not blurting out or doing shit that tapped into his feelings on the brunette, around the very subject of his affections. Has been, in fact, for the last two years and counting. Not that it got any easier to maintain, there are always slip ups (Exhibit A: right here, right now), but that's solely his problem.

On the Off Chance - 5,780 words [soulmate AU, ongoing]

To say Ian was relieved when he hears Mickey confirm how he did not, in fact, get his soulmate mark just a couple days after coming of age would be a huge understatement. (Or: Soulmate marks only show up when the younger of the pair turns nineteen– which isn’t uncommon, to say the least.)

[aarcanechaoss]

Feral

Note: I just want to share this tidbit of chaos from a dream I had last night but I haveth been busy and forgot to post about it - just to where I remember so you can all decide what happened next - she has steel magic or something I think LOL

There was something amusing albeit a bit embarrassing about being carried into your base over the shoulder of a Captain that wasn’t yours.

(Y/N) had Yami’s shoulder digging into her stomach as she dangled down his back, her feet kicking him gently with each heavy step he too through the Golden Dawn base. The knight faintly heard some of her coworkers talk amongst themselves, some laughing, some very concerned… which was fair because she was just hanging there, hair free from its usual up-do and arms swaying with each step.

Yami grumbled something she couldn’t hear as he made a sharp turn around a corner, barely halting before Yami’s grip on her thigh tightened as he lent back and kicked open a door.

“Your feral has traumatised my feral’s.” Yami stated as he stomped into what (Y/N) can only assume is Captain Vangeance’s office… which most likely held the Elves as well… she hopes everyone is enjoying the view of her ass at least.

“Hi Captain.” She greeted, having yet to move from her limp hold on the shoulder of the Black Bull’s Captain.

“Pardon?” William questioned. “Is that Miss (L/N)?”

“Your feral-” Yami said again. “Is traumatising mine.”

“I don’t understand.” She heard Fana say quietly.

“Luck wanted a fight, I fought… it’s very simple.” She added. “Not my fault he didn’t know he could get electrocuted.”

Her voice was dampened slightly by Yami’s back, though her feet kicked up in what could have been a response of sorts.

“Put a leash on her.”

“Not my kinda thing.” She snickered and she could practically feel Yami roll his eyes.

Slap.

(Y/N) let out a squeak, her feet kicking into Yami’s stomach.

“Uh huh.” Was his only reply.

“Yami!” William sounded panicked as his chair scraped behind him. “Was that necessary?”

“Definitely not.” Patri muttered.

“Heh.” Yami laughed. “Anyway keep a tighter hold on her on her days off- she’s managed to scare Luck of all people.”

She couldn’t help the giggle that escaped her as she felt herself being pulled from Yami’s shoulder- William’s hands now holding her in place.

“That tickled.” William apologised quickly at her comment.

“I thought she was the serious one?” Vetto belly laughed, his hands slapping against his leg.

“Nah.” (Y/N) replied. “Terribly chaotic, not right in the head and just good at pretending.”

And that’s all I remember of the dream lmao

[kai-skai]

Somehow multiple people on my dash have gotten into Tamsyn Muir's The Locked Tomb, and it's been recommended to me as well. Having read the first two books, I ... can't really get into it. Here's my review (with some spoilers for those two books). (Also, this turned out more negative than I intended. Sorry about that if you like it, no offense intended, maybe just skip reading it.)

Gideon the Ninth was mostly fun. The writing is a bit too slow for me sometimes (detailed descriptions of settings/fabric/other stuff that I don't really care about), the worldbuilding a bit too vague/little, but okay. Gideon doesn't have much going on spends most of the time ambling around somewhere beside the plot being unhelpful, and since this fits her character perfectly and we get plenty of snarky commentary out of it, this is fine by me. The plot itself starts off very slowly and then kind of happens all at once at random. Maybe I've missed clues or important details - I guessed that Dulcinea was not all she seemed, but not much else. The characters' actions don't have much effect either: pretty much everything except for the final standoff would have happened more or less like it did with a completely different set of characters as well. This fits with Cytherea's powers and (apparent) agenda, so alright, but it also means that I spent a lot of the time just going "huh? well... alright, I guess this might as well happen" in slightly confused tones. The character or perhaps rather relationship development of Gideon and Harrowhark was savory and delicious, very nice, no notes (except maybe for “more of this pls”). The rest of the characters stayed somewhat flat for me (in some cases due to dying off early), with a few notable exceptions (Palamedes and Camilla, but... that's basically it). Overall I'd give it something like 3.5/5 stars, finished it fairly entertained and with both curiosity and some reservations for the next book.

Harrow seemed like a driven, systematic, and fiercely intelligent character in the first book, not to mention a necromancer with (necessarily) a good grip on the mechanics of this essential aspect of the world. I expected this to mean that the second book would have a stronger (tighter, more coherent) plot influenced heavily by the main character's actions, that it would contain more explanations of necromancy's abilities and restrictions and more analysis on what the various necromancers were doing, and that it would probably be more my usual speed in terms of how the main character thinks (albeit less funny).

Given these expectations, Harrow the Ninth was disappointing.

* Harrow's internal voice, to the extent it even existed, was bland. She seemed to sleepwalk through the first two acts completely, with no more emotional reactions than some dislike for basically anyone and anything around her and no discernible thoughts. To some extent that was to be expected given the traumatizing ending of the first book, but it just went on for waaaay too long. If she had any particular kind of feeling about her past self locking away some of her memories, if she ever sat down to think through whether to trust her past self or not, we didn't get to see it. If she ever suspected that the memory block was involved in her difficulties with her Lyctoral abilities, and perhaps even re-evaluated whether to follow her past self's wishes in light of this information (which her past self could not have had!), there was nothing of that in the book (including the later acts). I kept waiting for her to wake up, only to be frustrated chapter after chapter. This got somewhat better in/after the third act, with at least some thoroughly satisfying soupy (heh) action, but... honestly never to the extent I had hoped.

* Characters: ugh. Everybody is assholes. Mercy? Asshole. Augustine? I wasn't entirely sure about him for a second there, but yep, asshole. Gideon the First? Asshole from the start, a hot second of maaaaybe in the middle, oh and then he's dead. Ianthe? Asshole, relationship with Harrow seems to develop for a while, except then apparently she deliberately gaslights Harrow about something important (maybe! unless Gideon is wrong about Cytherea's body beneath Harrow's bed being real! which is a distinct possibility, given that Gideon only has Harrow's eyes to look through, but this is never resolved and potentially irrelevant anyway and this is immensely frustrating to me.) Harrow desperately needs a hug, but is surrounded by assholes, so that only seems even remotely possible for like five sentences spread out through the book. God actually had me rooting for him and hoping for a bit, but proves to be Actually An Asshole Too around the start of act three. Oh, and then at the end all of them turn out to be a slightly different shade of asshole than they seemed to be for most of the book. Which I genuinely cannot bring myself to care about, at all. And I actually really hate all of this, because... these are near-immortal beings who have spent ten thousand years more or less with each other, through high-stakes situations, set apart from the rest of their universe, and there are these tantalizing glimpses of genuinely complex and deep relationships and an interesting view of the world, but they fizzle out in assholery and are also mostly ruined by/at the ending. So yeah. Then there are also the dead characters, which are actually not completely dead, but most of what they do happens in that space of "this might be an elaborate false memory, although it's probably something else, but I have no way of knowing what" which puts a real damper on getting invested (at least for me, YMMV).

* Plot: in all the frustrating sleepwalking of the first two acts, Resurrection Beasts are set up as the Big Bad for later, one of them coming for God with potentially Houses-ending consequences. Then there's also a mystery threat that may or may not even be real in any meaningful way throughout the Canaan house parts. Then, the Resurrection Beast happens (and turns tail) offscreen while characters are busy doing Other Stuff (e.g. going “no u want Harrow to like you more than she does” at each other, eavesdropping on assholes), the mystery threat is explained but mostly after it's been made irrelevant by killing (and also is part of a whole other group of baddies we don't really know anything about but that are mentioned here and there throughout the book), and also Harrow - you know, the main character - spends most of the actual action sitting around watching/listening to other people doing things, and so does Gideon. The potentially House-ending consequence of God's death turns out to be no biggie because he can't die anyway, right before he's put into a completely different danger (let's call it superhell) that was kind of offhandedly introduced along the way, and then he gets away anyway. I just... look, I can't care about any of this. Nothing has been set up in such a way as to make me care. I don't care whether Mercy and Augustine are traitorous assholes in addition to regular assholes, because they're assholes either way, and because the asshole they betrayed is someone I also don't really care about. The Houses ending seems sort of vaguely bad in a "there were characters from there that seemed nice" way, but they’re offscreen and the on-screen characters don’t seem to care all that much about them, so the emotional impact is limited. The New Group of Maybe-Baddies is pretty much a complete unknown - they apparently toss around nuclear weapons and try assassinations but also a couple of non-dead characters are there now for some unexplained reason? (Which we learn in a completely random encounter that sooort of drops a clue or two about later happenings, but that stays... jarringly random.) Once again, most of this is - as far as I can tell - impossible to figure out or anticipate in advance. While I got the Ortus/Gideon switch, that wasn't much of a mystery given that we already knew Harrow had altered her memories. The River's possibilities are not really clear early enough that I could guess at what's going on with Canaan house, and they are disjointed from the main narrative (with no indication that Harrow is reliving/dreaming/thinking about any of it). Harrow's existence doesn't make much - if any - difference to the plot at any point, only Gideon’s eyes are important for Betrayal Reasons. I suppose there are some things I've learned (Gideon's parentage, a bit about Alecto's wards), but these were... not actually questions I was all that curious about, and learning it almost incidentally from assholes yelling at each other doesn't feel very satisfying. A mystery that I thought was getting solved when Abigail brought up Harrow being haunted (namely, What The Fuck Is Up With The Body Following Her) was un-solved again when the haunting turned out to be a new character. Another mystery (why God would lie about how to become a Lyctor) doesn't get solved because somehow nobody asks.

* There are some meme references sprinkled throughout the book (I caught none pizza with left beef, jail for mother, and... I think another one?), which some people like, but I mostly found them incongruous with the rest of the tone. Which makes me wonder if uncaught and slightly-incongruous references are further negatively affecting my opinion here. I was promised that the Cool S would be important somehow, but as far as I can tell it was just randomly on a piece of paper beneath a Harrow hallucination and irrelevant otherwise.

I dunno. Maybe these books are better at a second reading, when you already know what's going on and can pick up more clues? Maybe there is some actual content in Harrow's hallucinated notes that I didn't get because I didn't have enough context yet? At least it would put some of the soundbites that are just unintelligible due to missing context at the first read in, well, context. But I don’t really want to reread them.

Aaanyway. Might get curious about the other books via fanfic/fanart, but at this point I’m leaning more towards reading synopsis (synopsises? synopses?) online than towards reading the actual books. I don’t really trust that the payoff from reading the actual books would be worth the effort for me.

[dragonmasterhiccup]

“Oh wow, I feel so reassured knowing that you have my back, nothing bad is going to happen now, it’s just not possible! But yes, I’m not stupid, I know the difference between ‘if’ and ‘when’, thank you very much.” And yes, she did enjoy giving him a hard time, and it seemed that she succeeded more often than not.

She nodded, albeit a little confused; why did everything have to be so dang complicated? Why couldn’t all dragons just respond the same way? She quickly stopped thinking like that, she knew this wasn’t just a simple process, it takes time. “Okay, so like this?-“ She was cut off by Twilight coming off of the ground with her wings spread as Danny did as guided, gently squeezing both her knees against Twilights sides. “Yep, yeah, I think it worked, heh…”

She was suddenly aware of the fact that instead of before, where the rope had only allowed them to fly about eight feet off the ground, they were now gliding at least twelve feet from the ground this time.

“Mhm, sounds great,” she replied, her focus mainly on the fact that they were edging away from the cliff.

Twilight, taking notice of her hesitance, tilted her head and let out some comforting chitters, trying her best to soothe Danny’s nerves.

Danny closed her eyes and took a deep breath, re-gripping the handles more comfortably before glaring looking back at Hiccup and Toothless. “Promise that you will stay right behind me or I’m taking all of your legs when you sleep tonight.” Was that a threat? One hundred percent, she was not below threatening the Chief.

Shaking his head with a chuckle, he and Toothless lifted up as well, staying just behind Danny and Twilight.

"Not bad for your first time! Just uh, just don't forget to breathe."

His eyes widened, a little surprised by her threat. Solemnly, he nodded. "I promise, we'll be right behind you. Why don't we fly back to the cove? There aren't many trees between here and there, it's a good stretch for a first flight. Then, if you're up for it, we'll go over the ocean for a bit, really stretch their wings."

Giving her options at this point was probably the best way to go. Everyone took to dragon riding differently, he just had to slightly adjust his approach.