#also yes I was in a very dark place at 10 years old what can I say

[shiawasekai]

If there is one author I would be heartbroken to discover they weren't the person they seem to be, it's Urasawa.

Fortunately, according to what I just read he keeps being exactly the sort of person I expected.

[strawberrymitsuriii]

Rules

The mountains have many rules. But out of all of them, five are the most important.

Mitsuri x fem Reader x Obanai

Words: 5.3k

Tw: Dark content, yandere monsters, monster fucking?, dubcon, squirting, fingering, smut, submissive obanai! Kinda don ish mitsuri?, uhhh also shitty smut kinda.

The mountains have many rules.

Of course, to keep the locals and tourists safe when living/visiting here. You remember when you and your parents first visited your grandparents up here in the mountains. Your grandparents made sure your parents told you beforehand about all the rules you had to follow for your stay.

Rule number one: Don’t be/go outside after the sun sets. That’s when they come out.

Rule number two: Don’t whistle once it’s dark. It attracts them.

Rule number three: You don’t see/hear anything. You ignore it and go on about your day.

Rule number four: Always keep your doors and windows locked. Don't let them in, even if they are outside begging to be let in. Don’t. They aren’t what they seem.

And the last and most important rule

Rule number five: If you hear your name being called. Don’t. Respond. Back. It’s not who you think it might be. Ignore it and don’t entertain it. If you want to see the light of day again.

Easy five rules to follow, right?

You always made sure to follow those five simple rules. Growing scared from all the stories the locals will tell little 6 year old you. Your parents also told you to be careful. That yes the woods are pretty, but they aren’t safe.

You haven’t seen your grandparents since you were 16. It’s been a long 8 years since then. You and your parents stopped visiting them after work has been catching up to them and you being busy with school. Of course you did call in occasionally and asked how they were doing and if they have been keeping themselves safe and healthy. Not wanting to grow distant with them since you love your grandparents very much.

But after a while, the calls slowly stopped coming in. Life is getting too busy for you and your parents.

It wasn't until a week ago when your aunt called and dropped the horrible news.

Your grandparents have passed away

You remember the feeling of time stopping right then and there. The cries of your mother going muffled as you just stood there.

The funeral wasn’t any better. Everyone was crying and screaming in agony. Your father was next to your weeping mother trying to comfort her as she cried for her parents. You couldn’t do anything but just stand there. Feeling useless.

The moment you got home you quickly ran to your room. That’s when finally all the tears and pain came out. You cried yourself to sleep that night.

-

Your grandparents left the house to you. Their only granddaughter. Before they died, it was already planned out the day you were born that if anything were to happen to them or if they would die. The house will belong to you.

And the house

Oh the house is beautiful

Think about those beautiful old Victorian homes from the 1800s. That’s the beautiful home your grandparents left for you.

And they knew you loved the area. Besides all the rules and weird things that roam the place. You loved it.

So here you are. In front of the house. With your parents standing behind you.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay? We can stay here with you for a few days”

“I’m going to be okay mom. Don’t worry about me”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes dad. I’m 24 years old, I’m pretty sure I can handle myself just fine” You could tell that didn’t help at all and maybe made it a little more ... .worse?

“Okay….make sure you keep the doors and windows locked! A-a-and to not let anyone in okay?!”

“And no staying outside after the sun sets! You never-“

“Never know what can be lurking in those woods yeah yeah I got it” Your mom sighs before she gives you a kiss on your forehead.

“Okay. Stay safe and take care. Me and your father will check in on you in a few weeks, Kay?”

“Mhm”

After 10 long minutes, they left with a goodbye and now you were left alone. You noticed that the sun will begin to set soon so you called it a day and quickly rushed inside.

The house still looked the same. Same wallpaper and furniture. Your grandparents wanted all their old furniture that they bought/collected over the years to stay with the house. To stay with you.

And you didn’t have a problem with that. In fact, you're grateful they left you with all their old furniture. In this economy, a couch will probably cost the same as your rent-.

Literally

You head back upstairs and decide to buy groceries tomorrow morning.

-

“So, how is it so far?” Your friend eagerly asks.

“It’s not bad. Peaceful actually”

“Mm is that so? Those mountains give me the creeps!” You chuckle as you continue making your breakfast.

“Yeah trust me, I was afraid when I first visited this place. But as long as you follow the rules, your pretty much safe”

“Jeez, don’t know how you do it”

Today you already have a little something planned out for the day. For example, after breakfast you’ll go to the local market for groceries. After that you’ll go visit some old spots that your grandparents used to take you to during your summers and after that you’ll be home!

Simple small plans

“Yeah well for starters, I basically grew up here. And my grandparents were very overprotective of me when I would visit here”

“Well then maybe I should go up there and visit you! You’ll protect me from those things right?” You giggle as you answer her question.

“Of course I will”

“Good. Well I’ll talk to you later! I have a shit ton of stuff to do today” She sighs and you can tell she’s slumped over her kitchen counter right now.

“Well I’ll let you go now. But you better come visit once you're free!”

“You bet I am!” You said your goodbyes before hanging up.

The weather was perfect today for the small things you planned out. You made your plate and sat down at the nice dining table. You scrolled through your phone bored out of your mind as you ate the food you made.

You scrolled through pictures and videos of family, friends, or even random people before coming across an article from the town’s official account.

Two teenagers were found mutilated in the woods today earlier this morning. The two teens were reported missing on September 3rd at 9:46 pm by their parents after the teens failed to arrive home on time.

The teens were found today on September 16 at 7:23 am, two weeks after their disappearance. Local sheriffs said that they received a call from a tourist who had the misfortune to stumble upon the dead bodies of the two teens.

“Jesus” You mutter as you frown.

You always knew stuff like this happens. People not taking the rules seriously and being outside way past curfew and BOOM. Next day found dead.

You won’t lie, but you still get chills knowing that you aren’t the only one’s living here. The creatures that lurk in these mountains aren’t friendly to anyone.

Not even animals are safe as you remember stumbling upon multiple dead corpses of the unfortunate growing up.

Those things are vicious, vile creatures with zero mercy.

The words your grandmother used to tell you before reading you a bedtime story.

And she’s right. Those things show no mercy.

To those unfortunate souls that stumble upon those creatures. May they rest in eternal peace.

-

It’s been a couple weeks since you officially moved in. Life is peaceful living here. And you finally adjusted to life here!

Anyways, you were currently watching some of your favorite movies from childhood while you snacked on a bag of your favorite chips. Your parents left an hour ago after they came to check up on you. You three spent good quality time together before they had to leave for the long drive home.

You never knew living in a quiet area would be great. No more honking of cars or the screaming of people outside!

Just peace and quiet

You quietly munch on your chips as you continue watching the movie. Unaware of the eyes that were currently watching you.

No

It wasn’t in front of your window

It was behind the trees from outside

You continue eating before you frown as you hear a small click.

You ignored it at first, but then you heard the sound of a nail tapping against your window.

That’s when you completely froze

NOPE!

You quickly turned off the tv before grabbing your chips and phone and booking it upstairs to your room.

You locked your bedroom door and checked to see if your window was locked. Once you made sure everything was locked you quickly got into bed and left your chips on your night stand.

Definitely not tonight

You soon fell asleep all the while ignoring the strange noises coming from outside in the pitch dark woods.

1/5

-

People have said that the land was hunted. Curse from the Gods after humans yet again began to be greedy and cruel.

Others have said that the creatures that lurk are aliens or other creatures from space. They mysteriously appeared here one day and decided to claim the land as their home.

And others have said that those things used to be people. People who deceived the Gods and as punishment were turned into disgusting vile creatures who now live here in the mountains.

Anyways, there were a lot of rumors surrounding this place and how it came to be.

But even after all that. The land and mountains are beautiful. The most breathtaking place you can ever step foot in.

But people tend to forget about that when the stories and sightings of those creatures go around and get more attention than the beautiful small town itself.

Besides, the history of this town truly is a mystery

-

“Shit” your eyes kept going back and forth to the watch on your wrist and to the road.

Today you drove out to the city to meet up with your friends to go eat at a very popular restaurant after not seeing each other in a while. After eating, one of your friends suggested hitting up a local bar to just chill and have fun. Obviously you all agreed and went.

But unfortunately for you, you didn’t keep track of time and by the time you noticed, it was starting to get pretty late.

“Shit shit shit!” You were a little buzzed from the few drinks you took while at the bar but that didn’t really matter right now as your number one priority was to get home before the sun fully sets, which is already too late.

You kept your eyes on the road. Not taking your eyes off of it as you finally accepted defeat.

You broke one of the rules

You just hoped by the time you get home you don’t get mutilated at your front door step.

A sigh of relief leaves your lips as your house comes into view. You quickly parked and turned off the car and sat there for a moment.

It was quiet

You quickly snatch your keys out of your purse and look around for anything. Your eyes then turn to look at your front door and you take a deep breath. Keys ready in hand, you quickly got out of the car and ran to your door. You opened the door and quickly rushed inside before locking it.

You stood still for a moment. After what felt like forever you sighed in relief and decided that that will be the last time you’ll ever do that again.

No more rule breaking

You told yourself as you walked upstairs. Unaware of the glowing eyes peering outside your window.

2/5

Nothing bad or strange happened that night. You were relieved to wake up the next morning. You had a hard time getting some sleep after you broke one of the five rules. Thinking you wouldn’t see the light of day if you were to go to sleep.

But by some miracle you woke up fine

Which you were very grateful for after seeing more articles of bodies being found deep inside the woods. It’s been getting pretty dangerous lately as more news of dead bodies being found in those woods has become more frequent.

The townspeople were starting to get worried and scared to even step foot outside. Afraid their bodies will be found next.

When your parents found out about you breaking one of the rules, they were livid!

They scolded you for being so careless and not caring about your safety. It took a minute to calm them down but once you did your mom scolded you one last time before hanging up.

“So what are you going to do?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“C’mon y/n, you're seriously planning on still staying after more bodies are being found and not only that but you breaking one of the rules?! Girl you’re crazy” You chuckled and continued folding your clothes.

“Nothing bad happened after that night. Seriously, I'm fine”

“You’re fucking crazy”

“Am not” She sighs and you could tell she’s stressing.

“Just be careful okay? I don’t want you being found next”

“I promise I’ll be fine so quit worrying before you get a grey hair!”

“Oh fuck you!” You both laugh before saying your goodbyes and hanging up. You finish folding the last bit of clothes before letting out a loud sigh. You were tired after today’s event. You did some grocery shopping and some heavy chores.

And by heavy chores….you deep cleaned the whole house

So now you were straight up tired after running around all day. Before your ass could even hit the bed, you heard a loud knock coming from downstairs. You froze and waited to hear it again, thinking it was just your tired mind playing tricks on you.

Knock knock knock

You looked outside and saw that it was dark.

Who the hell could it be knocking at your door this late at night?

You made your way downstairs and the knocking on the door became louder.

“Hello?! Is anyone home?!”

Your heart dropped

It was a female voice

“Please! Our car broke down and we don’t know what to do! If anyone’s home can you please help us!?”

You stayed completely still

What the fuck do you do?!

You quietly make your way up the door and decide to take a small peek at the peephole.

There stood two figures. A women and a man.

The woman looked frightened as she kept looking over her shoulder and the man beside her kept caressing her back as if trying to calm her down.

They look human

You stepped back from the door

Should I open it? Should I help these people and let them in?

“Please, we can’t be outside at this hour so if anyone’s home please let us in” This time the man spoke up.

The knocking stopped after that. Only the sounds of the women’s cries can be heard.

“It’s no use! Obanai-San we’re gonna die!”

“No we’re not. C’mon, it’s best that we get back to the car and just stay there for the night”

“B-but what if those things get us on our way to the car?! No no no! Please whoever is in there let us in!”

“Mitsuri-“

You opened the door which caused the women to screech and hide behind the male. You pointed your gun at them and the man quickly covered the women with his body.

“What are you guys doing knocking at my door?!”

“We need help. Our car broke down not to far from here and we need a place to stay for the night” The man says as he looks at the gun and then back at you.

“And what makes you think I believe you? For all I know you guys can be one of those creatures!”

“If we were you would’ve been dead the moment you opened that door” He says.

“Please! We really do need help!” This time the woman behind him speaks up.

You looked at the two in front of you carefully. They look like they really need help and they also look human. The man is right, if they weren’t they would’ve killed you by now. You sigh before lowering your gun. This makes the two relax and you quickly motion them inside.

“You know it’s dangerous walking around here when it’s dark right?” You say. Eyeing the two suspiciously.

“Of course we know”

“Where were you guys headed?” You asked. Still skeptical about the two of them.

“We were going to go visit my parents! They live in the next town over but while on our way there our car broke down in the middle of the road!” The colorful hair women cried out. You raised a brow at her.

“Why did you guys decide to walk all the way over here? You could’ve just waited it out in your car”

“That was the original plan. But someone wanted to go ask for help” the man says as he looks at the woman next to him. She goes bright red before speaking up.

“I was scared! I heard multiple stories about this place!” You chuckle. The mountains and town are really popular with its supernatural stories after all.

“You guys can spend the night” The two sigh in relief. Thankful for your kindness.

“Thank you so much! You are so kind!” The woman blurted out as she smiled.

“Yeah….but by morning you guys have to be out”

“That won’t be a problem” The man says. You just nod and show them the way to one of the many guest bedrooms you have.

“Oh my goodness! How impolite of us to not introduce ourselves! My name is mitsuri!”

“This is obanai! Thank you once again!”

Okay she’s definitely not one of those creatures. You relaxed a bit and decided why not also introduce yourself.

“I’m y/n”

“Oh! Y/n you have such a very pretty name!” She says as she smiles.

“Ah, thank you. Your name is very pretty also!” The woman beams. Very happy to hear that.

“Well I’ll leave the two of you alone. Doors and windows are locked so there’s no need to worry about the monsters coming in!” You joke. They both nod. You leave to go back to your room for much needed rest after a long day. You sleep in utter peace. Not knowing that even with doors and windows locked. The monster still made their way inside your precious home.

3/5

The next day you woke up to the two strangers gone. The bedroom that they stayed in from the night before was left cleaned and untouched. Like they never used it.

“At least they made the bed”

You moved on after that. Weeks have passed and the strangers have become ... .Well strangers!

You just got home from work and you were slumped. It was late, yes but you managed to get home before the sun set. You were ready to just fall asleep in the sweat and dirt from today at work until you remembered that you recently washed your bedsheets and covers.

You were currently washing up and scrubbing away all the dead skin and dirt that has built up while also thinking about what you should make tomorrow for dinner.

Your parents are coming to visit tomorrow and are also staying for a few days so you wanted to make sure you have all the ingredients for tomorrow's dinner.

“Maybe I should make some pasta? Shrimp Alfredo? Or maybe some chicken curry? Orrr chicken quesadillas? Or maybe-“

You continue to ramble about all the possible foods you can make for tomorrow’s dinner.

Once you were done cleaning up, you made sure to quickly write down the dinner plans so you wouldn’t forget by tomorrow morning.

“Phewwww! Welp time for bed!” You made yourself comfortable before drifting off to blissful sleep.

Unaware of the small whistle that slipped out your mouth earlier in the shower.

4/5

You managed to wake up bright and early to get the things you needed to make tonight’s dinner. Your parents are coming in a few hours so you wanted to get the ingredients for dinner out of the way so you wouldn’t have to worry about it later.

You went to your local market to buy all the fresh vegetables and fruits first before going to another store to pick up some other stuff that you needed.

You were excited. It’s been some time since you saw your parents so you wanted everything to be perfect. After picking up the last few ingredients you drove home. You also needed to do some last minute cleaning before focusing on the dinner part.

Once you arrived home you saw something strange laying on your front porch.

“Weird…I don’t remember ordering anything” You parked your car before slowly getting out of the vehicle. The moment you got out a stench hit you straight in the face. You wanted to vomit and you quickly covered half of your face.

It was coming from your front porch

Slowly, you walked towards your porch to get a closer look at what was there and you noticed flies surrounding the thing that was there.

“Oh my God”

You took a step back when you noticed what was there.

It was a dead deer

The poor thing was….mutilated. There was a dead mutilated deer on your front porch.

You felt sick

Your stomach turned and you felt like vomiting right then and there.

“So you found a dead deer on your front porch?”

“Yes”

“And nothing else? Dear are you okay?!”

“Mhm yes mom I’m fine” You called your parents immediately after seeing the dead animal in front of your house. The moment your parents heard, they immediately got in the car and started making their way to you a little earlier than what was planned.

“Go inside the house from the back door. Don’t touch anything and keep the doors locked. Stuff like this is usually a threat from those things, we’ll be there in 2 hours if traffic isn’t bad, but just stay inside okay?”

“Yes dad”

“Everythings going to be fine sweetheart, so don’t stress, okay?”

“Yes mom I’m already inside so don’t worry”

“Okay, we’ll be there soon”

And the call ended

Luckily you brought the grocery bags inside the house so you decided to start making dinner a little earlier than expected to get your mind off the dead animal that is still currently laying on your front porch.

You wouldn’t lie and say you weren’t scared. You were fucking terrified. When dead animals are left in front of someone’s house or backyard or land, 100% of the time that person is dead.

It’s a threat. Those things are threatening you and you don’t even know WHY.

You're trying to remember all the things you could’ve done to upset them - or it? You don’t know! You just can’t come up with anything that could explain why such a thing even happened!

You try to let it go and forget about it.

Maybe it’s a coincidence or…a mistake?

Maybe they got the wrong house, yeah?

You sigh and decide to just focus on dinner.

As you were washing some of the vegetables, you heard a faint click.

With the speed of light you turned off the water and stood completely still. You hear the faint sounds of tapping coming from the window of the living room.

Oh God

The sounds of nails dragging against the door is what you hear next. Long. Sharp. Nails.

You hear it before it stops. Then you hear the tap on the window again but now it’s coming from in front of you. You looked up at the window that is in front of your sink. You were lucky you have a small curtain covering the window because you know whatever is behind that window would’ve scared the ever living shit out of you.

You took a couple steps back before your back hit something. Immediately you froze.

You stayed still as whatever was behind you let out a low growl. You feel its long boney hands rest on your shoulders and you could physically feel your heart drop.

The thing then grips your shoulders and that was enough for you to pass out in fear.

Your head is pounding and you feel cold. You slowly opened your eyes and you saw that it was dark outside.

What

Was all that just a dream?

You tried to sit up but something cold stopped you from doing so. You looked up and saw that your wrists were tied. The cold breeze from the open window made you shiver.

Wait

Open window?!

You panicked and tried to sit up but you couldn’t. The chains on your wrist prevented you from moving let alone getting up. That’s when you also noticed that you weren’t fully clothed. Only your underwear was on and you felt scared.

What the fuck was happening?!

And then….you hear it again. The faint tapping sound of nails on the glass window. But this time you could tell it was coming from inside your room. You slowly turned your head to face the window of your bedroom.

There….you saw a tall slender figure.

But something about this…person? Seemed familiar.

The person….continued tapping its nail against the window and something about that gave you an eerie feeling.

Suddenly, it stops.

You hold your breath as its head slowly moves to look at you.

Your heart drops the moment you make eye contact with it.

“M-mitsuri?” You whisper.

You can’t believe the woman standing before you is the same woman you met a month ago.

She looks so different

She looks…taller and her face…her face doesn’t look human at all but it also does….does that even make sense?!

Her hair is loose and she seems to not be wearing any clothes. You quickly look away but the moment you do you look up to see obanai hovering over you while staring deeply into your soul.

He also looked different

But the thing that caught your attention the most was his mouth. You see the long cuts in the corner of his mouth. Giving him a snake-like appearance.

“You're awake” Her voice sounds different. Your heart starts to beat fast and you can feel tears already threatening to fall.

“W-why…w-what are you guys”

You closed your eyes. Not daring to look at either of them.

What the fuck are they doing in your house

“You're so pretty….you look so cute being underneath him” She says as she slowly starts caressing your hair. You whimper as you feel obanai beginning to nuzzle his face on your neck.

He was sniffing you

“Noo no no no please don’t kill me!” You cry out as you struggle against your chains. She just giggles before joining you two on the bed.

“We would never hurt you. Right obanai?” He just growls. You can feel his clawed hands beginning to fondle with your breast and you gulp the more you feel him press himself closer to you.

“No no no”

“Shhhh everything’s going to be fine….” You can feel her hand slowly start to make its way towards your private area. You cry as you feel her clawed finger rip your underwear before slowly playing with your clit.

“No! Please-“ You gasp when you feel the male's mouth on your chest. He takes a nipple in his mouth and you shiver feeling his long tongue swirl around it.

Mitsuri continues playing with your clit and she giggles seeing you squirm underneath her touch.

Cute

She thinks

You gasp the moment you feel her fingers slip inside your hole. You gripped onto the chains and bit your lip as tears slid down your cheeks.

“No wait! N-not there!” She begins to thrust her fingers in and out your hole and all you could do is shut your eyes tight as you tried your best to not make any noise. Meanwhile, obanai was having the time of his life sucking harshly at your nipples. A lewd pop is heard as he finally leaves your poor nipple alone.

“More” he growls. You feel relieved when her fingers leave your poor cunt alone. But that was soon gone when you felt something poking you from down there. Your blood runs cold the moment you look down to see a monstrous cock.

Terrified, you squirm and shake your head knowing what was going to happen.

“No no no! Please! That’s not going to fit, please let me go!”

They don’t even pay you any mind as he grabs ahold of both of your thighs and spreads your legs open. They both coo at you and mitsuri begins to caress your face as she calms you down.

His tip pokes your entrance. You can tell he’s trying to hold himself back as mitsuri starts to also caress his face. He leans against her touch and waits for the green light.

“Be careful. Human women are much more delicate than us” He nods before he starts lining up his tip against your hole. You gasp as you feel him slowly push in.

You were ashamed of how wet you were.

You cry out at the burning sensation you feel. Your poor little cunt is being stretched open for crying out loud! You try scooting back. Not wanting him in. But that soon stops as he grabs your waist and slams you down fully on his length. You scream as you gripped onto the chains.

“There there! Look how perfect you're taking him! Oh I knew you were perfect for us!”

You could feel your face heat up at the lewd sounds of your cunt on his cock and the groans and moans leaving him.

“S-slow down!”

You can hear him whimper as he buries his face on your neck. And no, he doesn’t slow down. In fact, he quickened his pace and you could feel your legs start to shake.

“So beautiful!” Your face burns seeing her staring to play with herself. She fondles one of her breasts while looking at the two of you intensely.

Before you know it, you squirt all over his length. The man holds on to you tight as he cums deep inside you. You breathe heavy, your body tired and sensitive from what it has experienced. You couldn’t keep your eyes open even for a second from how tired you were.

“Shhh sleep now. Don’t worry we’ll take great care of you” You lean against her touch and the last thing you see before sleep takes over you is the chains being cut off before your carefully picked up from the bed.

Your parents arrive at last. Your father sees the dead animal still laying on your front porch and him and your mother both quickly make their way in from the back door.

“Y/n! We’re here!” Your mother shouts. But she was met with silence. Worried, your parents quickly run upstairs in search of you. Entering your room, they see that you aren’t in there and that’s when they both begin to panic.

They search the whole house from top to bottom but only to be met with nothing. You weren’t there.

A few hours later they filed a missing persons report and asked for a search party to help find you.

Unfortunately, upon seeing the dead Animal in front of your porch, the sheriff and people of the town broke the news to your parents about you falling victim to those monsters.

After all

The mountains have many rules. And you broke 5 of the most important ones.

-

[antianakin]

It's probably been around a while and I just haven't encountered it before now, but the "yes everyone would have murdered a village down to the last child in that situation" take is a new one for me! Like would I have been justifiably upset in that situation? Yes. But what would I have done in that moment myself? Probably run. Granted I am not a person with a ton of unfathomable powers and a weapon I have spent a decade training to use that can cut through literally everything, but still. The argument that "well yeah EVERYONE would've done exactly what Anakin did" kinda falls apart when you think about it for two seconds because wow is that not what I would do when faced with being alone in the middle of an entire community of people who just captured and tortured my innocent mother for several weeks.

But it's also VERY hard to argue that this is even how everyone would react to this situation in Star Wars.

They literally have an entire arc where they explicitly have Obi-Wan's old nemesis who killed Obi-Wan's Master come to attack the home planet of someone he loves, captures her, and then murders her right in front of Obi-Wan with Obi-Wan helpless to save her. He then goads Obi-Wan into reacting in anger and Obi-Wan's reaction is to refuse to engage. He very explicitly refuses to even attack Maul because he knows he'd be reacting in anger and he's literally seen exactly where that leads before and overcome it. So when Obi-Wan IS put in an extremely similar situation, he chooses not to just go out and attack everybody as a result. He doesn't give in to his anger and fly to Dathomir to go kill every single Nightbrother on the planet as a form of justice for Satine, which is what this person is arguing is how literally anybody would react when placed in that situation.

Reva Sevander has every reason to despise Anakin, more reason than Anakin had to despise the Tuskens. And yet when she goes after Luke to try to kill him after she fails to kill Anakin, that becomes a line she can't cross. More accurately, it's a line Reva CHOOSES not to cross. So when put in that situation with all the same anger and grief as Anakin had with the opportunity to get her vengeance by killing an innocent child, Reva makes the active choice not to do what Anakin did. So while the impulse obviously was still there with Reva, she was fully capable of choosing not to go through with it. And Reva's been soaking in Darkness since she was about 8-10 years old, getting tortured and broken as an Inquisitor, surrounded by the corpses of her people, with zero support of any kind that she can turn to for comfort or guidance. Anakin had spent the last 10 years in a warm loving environment with people who cared for him and still had most of those people available to him to support him in this time of grief. And yet when faced with the same choice, Reva chose to pull back and let Luke live, but Anakin just kept going and massacred an entire village. It's a CHOICE, not an uncontrollable urge.

You know the only other person I can think up off the top of my head who DOES canonically have a similar reaction to Anakin's?

Aleksander Kallus.

Kallus explicitly states that he leads a genocide against the Lasat as vengeance for ONE Lasat killing a unit of Imperial soldiers in self defense. An entire species is nearly wiped out of existence because Kallus decided to let his anger control him.

But there are NUMEROUS other characters in Star Wars who we see lose people they love and proceed to not go on a murder spree against innocent people and children as a result. And the ones that do are pretty explicitly villains whose actions when in those situations are used to showcase just how villainous they are. Which indicates that it's NOT a normal reaction because otherwise it wouldn't really mean anything as a villain identifier. If it's something just about anyone would've done, it's probably not that villainous. The point of it NEEDS to be that most people WOULDN'T do that, even in justified anger.

[methoughtsphantom]

DP x DC

not me thinking about imaginary scenarios of ten year old Tim Drake in the ghost zone (pariah’s castle)

where Tim thinks it’s strangely soothing that despite being the only one whose steps connect to the ground, there’s not that eerie silence that befell drake manor

strange blob creatures chitter softly and nip at his hair and swooshes and wisps of wind betray the presence of an invisible ghost

which after following he realizes it’s almost like he’s trailing after the black dark shadow that is batman again

which gives him the idea that, maybe, just this one time, he can play the part of robin

that in mind Tim makes out a game of sneaking to the side of ghosts that look like they’re brooding and if they can spot him he loses

most just grunt in response (very in character) while others fuss over him and ask questions which Tim uses to infodump

he also politely asks the ghost that always asks him how he’s doing to instead say the word “report”

(the ghost looks at him weirdly but humors him and besides the answer would be the same anyways)

Tim also(!!)

gets on the case of why the walls lack tangibility when he is the one leaning on them (he doesn’t live down the time he wanted to look cool only to fall through the wall)

hyperfixates on how gravity works in the ghost zone because he couldn’t do a skateboard trick he has pulled off many many times and he’s salty about it

tries to figure out where they are getting human food from (cause it’s hot enough to be homemade but also there’s no kitchen —so how could it be) (also he wants coffee)

finds out the dude that often gives him a side eye when he finds that Tim knows how to do something (math homework), is next in line for the throne and yet doesn’t have a single “mingle and talk people up” bone in his body. (despite it his networking is a solid 7/10)

gets a ghost horse to adopt him what

discovers pretty quickly that there are rooms to which he can’t phase through (a.k.a. he’s not allowed entry) to which he begrudgingly backs off even though that stands in his way of doing a very thorough layout™ of the place (robin would)

sulks over the lack of extreme sports in the place

(Danny takes him to the Far Frozen where they go tire sliding in the snow and where tim learns how to use a skateboard skate and also that ghost ice cream is just as good as normal ice cream)

sulks again cuz he caught a common cold

also because there’s no sun or moon poor Timmy’s already screwed sleep schedule gets more messed up to the point no one knows when or where he will fall asleep

(ghosts find him in the most unhinged of places with a signature purple cloak draped over him every. single. time.)

overall, be a menace

see-> the time he threatened to build ghost weapons he’d somehow memorized the blueprints of cause Danny wouldn’t let him visit the radium girls factory but yes the renaissance period

see-> that time he went through the whole ghost energy and how to work with it book section in the library and half an hour later had a prototype of a star wars laser beam made

(note: bribing only works for hot chocolate, not for letting him keep cool-looking guns)

just tim having the time of his life

clockwork being no help at all (the ghost loves being a cryptid)

and danny trying not to get attached while he progressively gets more concerned over this chaos child he emotionally adopted as his little brother

(to fit canon cause i want it to this would just be until Danny finds the dimension little Timmy is from, then they can safely yeet the child back to the moment he first went missing)

anyways before anyone knows it’s been three months

[cacti-are-like-flamingos]

Better Than Gold

Gojo Satoru x Reader x Geto Suguru

The Cursed Trio | Simple Pleasures

...

Gojo LOVES to take pictures --- he's the sort to have an aesthetic theme when it comes to his MySpace page (Instagram only came out in 2010 bro i feel old as shit rn also I have no idea how myspace works so ye)

(Side Note: Gojos had never really been interested in social media until the day Suguru made an account, back in early-August. Intrigued by the idea of connecting with his bestie over a new platform, he made one. It's quite frankly one of the worse and best decisions ever.)

Gojo has spent an insane amount of time refining both his feed and his page to perfection. Surprisingly, he has a small amount of pictures posted --- around two hundred or so; however, almost all of them consist of the three of you hanging out at random places around Japan

To be honest, you're that one person in the friend group that ends up in random places at the most random of times while Suguru is just one to go with it and Gojo is the one to encourage it.

Gojo has a list of places you or Suguru have shown even the slightest of interest. Although, a few places are added so that the two males can give you a tour of Japan.

Ah, Gojos is the one who likes to take you to trendy places such as Shinjuku Sky, where the views are absolutely spectacular. Especially during sunset. Your face is squished between Suguru's cheek and Gojo's shoulder as the three of you look up to the camera, a sunset in the background as the three of you go down the escalator.

(Side Note: Gojo is the one to take all the group pictures because he has the longest arm, ensuring the best of angles. Shockingly, Suguru is banned from taking pics because he doesn't really know how to. He always gets the ugliest angle. The only type of pics he can take are nature shots. Half of his page is composed of stray cats he finds on the way to Jujutsu High.)

(Another Side Note: While in Shinjuku you were absolutely obsessed with the giant cat billboard. Gojo and Suguru teamed up to tease you the rest of the trip since you wouldn't shut up about it. Suguru took a video of you gazing up at the billboard with a stupid look on your face. He loved it so much, he made it into his profile picture.)

Although not a trendy spot, Gojo likes to take you to see the hundreds of vending machines around the area. It's like a fun little game between the two of you where you have to guess what the next vending machine is selling --- the face you make when you saw the panty-selling machine was absolutely to die for.

Whenever you walk by a particular vending machine (a very specific one too. The machine looks somewhat ragged and old, it's always hidden in a dark corner which is so sketchy but like whatever), you'll buy something for Gojo. Specifically those sugary coffee cans that he likes so much along with whatever sweet treat it sells.

(Side Note: 1. You swear you're like the only person who buys from that machine. 2. Originally, you had dared Gojo to try something from the sketchy machine and, being a man of pride, he did. He ended up loving them so much he bought 10. You had to pry the drinks out of his hands so he wouldn't die from a sugar overload or something. 3. The machine has different flavors, so every day you get him another flavor.)

Suguru likes to take you both to hidden gems like a lovely sushi shop tucked away in some narrow alley deep in some random abandoned street or something (that sounds so sketchy, plz don't do this unless you're in a large group and have some form of defense.)

There's this one shop he showed you, they only serve one specific meal that you never mind considering how well they cook it. Suguru had admitted that he frequents the little shop (since he was a child), so much so that the owner knows him very well.

The owner is this very kind elderly man whose restaurant has been in the family for years, and every time he sees Suguru fast approaching --- he stops whatever he's doing and runs outside to greet him.

When the owner first saw you, he had this wicked grin on his wrinkled face as he teased Suguru for bringing his little lover over. Cue a blushing Suguru desperately trying to explain your relationship while you just smile like a cheshire cat whose been gifted new blackmail material.

Anyways, hanging on the walls of the small shop are pictures of Suguru over the years. There's this really cute one where he's barely 5 years old. His clothes are all stained from the food yet his mouth is open wide to devour it. His hair in a small bun. You liked how he hasn't changed much throughout the years. You just hoped his tired expression would fade away soon

Suguru once took Gojo to a narrow street called Omoide Yokocho, which was lined up with bars and yakitori restaurants. Unfortunately, Suguru had to call you so you could help him with a very drunk white-haired who couldn't hold his alcohol to save the life of him. When you arrived, Gojos greeted you with a tight hug as he kept shouting about how he got you some yakitori to try.

You took a video unbeknownst to him

(Add-on: Gojo really dislikes alcohol so you have no idea what made him want to drink that night. Plus, he obviously knows that he can't handle his alcohol so wtf bro)

Whenever one or the other can't join you and whoever you're currently with, you'll FaceTime the missing person ( yes yes, I know. FaceTime came out in 2010 but like for the sake of me not re-doing this bit, we advancing technology just a bit)

Your MySpace page, while private, was primarily composed of screenshots of these sorts of situations. With either Gojo or Suguru in a corner, posing for the screenshot. (The same goes for when you're not there!)

It should be noted that you were the type of person who posted pictures of others and not yourself. So seeing your own face on your page was a rare sight.

I have no idea how myspace works again

There's this one where you're hanging out with Haibara and Kento at a restaurant surrounded by rubber ducks --- while on a subway train, Haibara had heard whispers of a restaurant that only accepted rubber ducks instead of money. He already knew you'd be down for it, any excuse to explore. The only one who took convincing was Kento, but he quickly agreed Haibara's puppy eyes.

You hung onto both of their elbows the entire way there, joyful at the idea of having your own set of personal bodyguards

Moving on

There's this massive Ferris wheel located in Tokyo where one can karaoke while up in the air --- let me be the first to say that you and Gojo went absolutely ape shit for this while Suguru was just happy to be there.

Considering that you haven't been in Japan long enough to know any of the true classics, actually that's a lie. During those knitting Friday classes with Yaga, Yaga would play classic Japanese hits from the 90's. Either way, the sight of you trying to figure out the lyrics to every song earned you quite the number of cackles

Gojo always chose the catchy ones whilst Suguru chose the cheesy romance ones --- you were the backup singer for the most part

Suguru hit his head alot as he came out of the carriage

I don't remember if I added it or not, but in the beginning, you had this habit of holding onto either Gojo's or Suguru's shirt whenever you guys were walking around crowded areas. (I swear I wrote this somewhere) This little habit of yours had appeared fronting off on Suguru because he now does it. The three of you will be walking through an area and the crowds of people will just watch in amusement as three teenagers walk in front of them holding each other's shirts like a train. You holding Suguru's and Suguru holding Gojo's.

Ah, of course you had to take the bullet train at some point during your whole exploration. For this you were accompanied by both your boys AND Ieiri, who only came along due to Gojo promising to pay for all of your meals at your soon-to-be-reached destination (yep what a sugar daddy)

You were obsessed with how sleek the train looked. The seats were nice and comfortable, mainly because Gojo had bought First Class tickets.

Eventually, you wanted to explore more of the train so you bid the group a temporary farewell as you headed out to the other parts.

Oh my god, there must've been some promotional event on the train because, next thing you know, you're standing in front of some red panda mascot dancing in the aisle while giving out flyers and small plushie keychains of its figure.

Wanting one of the keychains, you approached the giant mascot-wearing person. Tapping their plushie shoulder, the Panda turned around with a soft noise only to stiffen up at the sight of you with a shriek in tow.

"Hi, could I have a key-" In an obvious frenzy, the Panda pushed the merchandise into your hands before barreling through you to the next cart

"Oi! What's the matter with you?" You screamed at the Panda.

And the Panda accidentally gave you three.

"Wait, you gave me two extra!"

But they were already gone

This is an obvious reference to Bullet Train. Fuck you Brad Pitt, hello Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Can't wait for meemaw to let go of you 😏

"Excuse me," a deep voice called out from behind you. Glancing over your shoulder, you sent the light green soul a polite yet questioning look.

His outline is strange. It's fuzzy in some places yet clear in others.

"You dropped this," he said as he held up your wallet in the air. You silently noted how a bag of fish hung around his other one.

(Side Note: You have a recognizable wallet thanks to Kento, who gifted it to you. The wallet itself is in the shape of a black maneki-neko, so everyone in the group knows that it's yours the moment they see it.)

"Oh! Thanks!" Grabbing the item from his grasp, you settled it into your uniforms pockets. You politely smiled at him as you stepped away only to stop when you heard his voice call out for you

"Wait!" Licking your lips, your fingers twitched at you sides as you, once again, turned to meet the guy. "Yes?"

The man actually seemed to squirm upon receiving the end of your rather unnerving stare, almost as if you were staring into his soul

Ha!

"I couldn't help but overhear, they gave you an extra, right? I, uh, know a kid and I figured the twerp would like one."

That is so fucking sus

But like, not your business

Upon hearing his words, you quickly acted, "Oh! Yeah sure! Here." Placing the keychain into the palm of his hand, you strutted away. Heading back in the direction of your friend group.

On the way to your friend's, you came across a Train Attendant who seemed to be having a little argument with a young man who looked dead on his feet --- even his soul had dark circles around his eyes. Might also explain why he's slurring his words all over the place and why the train lady is beyond confused

The closer you got, the more you understood the situation and well, you might as well help while you get the gang some snacks

"Excuse me, I think he's asking for some coffee?" You snorted at the sight of his eyes twinkling at the fact that someone actually managed to decipher his nonsense.

Cute

The scene only got funnier when the lady handed him his cup of coffee and he, out of sheer desperation as well as sleep deprivation, dropped his briefcase onto the floor after reaching out for the cup with his two hands

A literal mess, you mused to yourself.

You had to help him with his briefcase. Plus the fact that he could barely reach his seat without tripping over literal air. He'll, you even helped straighten out his suit, going so far as to rub the golden button on his left lapel to bring it a bit of shine back --- he thanked you profusely.

He offered to give you money in return for your aid but you refused, "You have a kind soul, which is rare. So, don't worry about it. Think of it as me giving back all the good you've done."

Mans was gobsmacked as he watched you leave the train car after ordering a few snacks from the lady

FINALLY YOU REACHED THE BESTIES

As always, Gojo loves to drape himself over people. Specifically, you or Suguru...or both! Both ire better in his professional opinion.

"You were gone a while! Where the hell were you?!" The white haired nagged, brows knitted together to display annoyance only to quell as Suguru drew his long fingers through Gojo's hair.

He'll need a hair cut by the end of the week, Suguru noted.

"Got you something, Ieiri." You threw her the red panda keychain, earning you a delighted squeal from said woman.

"What about us, hm? Don't neglect us now~!" Sugurus teased with a sly close-eyed smile.

And for that, you threw the snacks straight at his face...although, you did feel something else in your bag when you went to throw the snacks

Plopping yourself beside Suguru, who immediately drew his arm around your shoulders as he laid his head on your shoulder, you pulled out the piece of paper from your bag

A simple little thing

Barely any words on it

Fancy though, considering the shiny gold metallic paint adorning it.

"What's that?" Gojo asked, looking up at it from his place on Suguru's lap

You shrugged, "Dunno, must've grabbed it by accident when I paid for the snacks."

As expected, both your boys paid little attention to the card as they started to bicker about something irrelevant to you

But still, the little card in your hands captured your attention. Turning it around, you observed the image painted onto its canvas, your thumb running over it.

Oh, there's a phone number under it.

Huh

Crumpling the piece of paper in your fist, you threw it into your bag to be long forgotten under the pile of random shit you have in there.

(Side Note: Prior to these items ending up in your bag, they'd be with Ieiri, who swore she'd end up finding some use for them. She has this strange tendency to consume trendy things only to never use them in the end, so she'll just give it to you for safe keeping.)

You seriously have to purge your bag now because of that bitch

Suddenly, Gojo smacks the side of your face after having tried to get your attention for the past ten minutes

You look at him, he looks at you.

Iridescent vs. Pearlescent

It gets eerily silent before you shove him to the ground, earning you an angry hiss from the albino Pomeranian.

Suguru is holding you back, albeit struggling. Who knew you had such strength

While Ieiri cheers 'Fight! Fight! Fight!' in the background

What a way to end the day

...

(A/N): August 4 me: This chapter took so bucking long to write. When I finally got to writing, the Benadryl I took started hitting and I had to stop before I passed out on the spot lol

August 5: I just did exercise and my legs are fucking killing me rn.

August 6: I just woke up. My legs don't hurt as much so that's nice. Also I know I dreamt of something interesting but I can't remember so meh. At least, I woke up with an idea of how I wanted this episode to be written.

Originally:

This chapter was going to open with a whole different scene inspired by something I read while researching a bit on Japan; however, I realized that it would be best to postpone the original scene until a later chapter, specifically Artificial Paradise.

You were supposed to come across a certain someone on the Bullet Train; however, I chose against it and decided for the next big thing. Can you guess who it was?

"What about us, hm? Don't neglect us now~!" It was supposed to have been said by Gojo; however, Suguru felt like having a teasing streak so he said it. Additionally, Suguru already knew Gojo rather well so he beat him to it.

Originally, Gojo wanted to give you a pink maneki-neko but he refrained from doing so.

Being a Red Panda mascot is actually Ijichi's part-time job. When Ijichi saw you, he panicked because he knew how close you were with Gojo and he didn't need that idiot of a man to have more ammo for his bullying. Yes, you instantly recognized Ijichi. You were so going to give him a piece of your mind later.

Gojo previously noted how exhausted you seemed after all those missions, and how Suguru was more quiet than usual so he decided a few days of hanging out doing dumb shit would help brighten you two up. Aw, Gojo is trying really hard bro. I almost feel bad for him.

A drunk Gojo must be a funny sight. Poor guy, something must've been stressing him out if he ordered a few drinks.

I missed your interactions with Ieiri so obvs I had to include some here. She's number 1 girl bestie.

Isn't it strange how fuzzy outlines put you on edge, to the point you'd easily defer to instinctive violence at the sight of it?

Who do you think the guy with the briefcase was? His appearance is actually more of a cameo ncjcj --- I'll give you a hint, he recently graduated from law school 🤪

What's the weird image on the back of the card? Who would answer if you called?

Maneki-Neko's are those kitties that wave their arm, they sit in front of shops. Usually. A black Maneki-Neko is designed to ward off evil and provide better security.

No, your eyes are not Pearlescent. In fact, your eyes are whatever color you want them to be, just with a little glow to them. Though, it should be noted, it's just like Gojo's eyes. His eyes are actually blue, but his soul's eyes are iridescent. So while your physical eyes are one color, your soul's eyes are another. (This only applies to cursed techniques that involve the eyes)

Drop a comment!

Feel free to buy me a 🦩

Hope you enjoyed!

[juniorfor2]

I will always find it interesting that for all that people constantly complain about "likable" or "nuanced" villians, wanting "the good old days, where a villain was just a villain and there was nothing more to them," the moment that you open any Youtube video centered on a "nothing but a villain" character, it has at least a few comments making them far more likable and nuanced than they really are. Which wouldn't be of much interest, except for one fact - they all have at least 10-20 thousand likes.

People complain that Disney and other corporations are ruining movies, making characters far too palatable and relatable, but in truth, the same people who complain about such things will also end up liking and encouraging any thinking that characterizes the villains as such. Corporations mostly follow what their viewers want, even if slow or in a bad direction, not the other way around.

Tywin Lannister was an unmistakable bad guy in ASOIAF and Game of Thrones. He was horrible to Tyrion, cared nothing for his family beyond what they could offer to his legacy, and was willing to commit horrific deeds to climb to power. In fact, he demonstrated almost every reason for why "feudalism is bad!" as some people constantly write about. And yet, there are dozens of videos, comments, and social media posts about how Tywin Lannister was misunderstood the whole time and was really a good guy.

He should have been "the good old days where a villain was just a villain!" Isn't that what people wanted? He was an obvious antagonist to Tyrion, one of the main protagonists - perfect, right? Yet instead of grabbing onto this, people turned him into the very thing they claimed not to like.

They could have simply done this with the protagonist. Why not make the protagonist a bit more likable? It doesn't mean much to the story when done, even if it does miss the point occasionally.

But that's not what happens. In fact, the opposite does. The protagonist, the character that's supposed to be likable or nuanced according to them, is turned into the "nothing but a villain" character.

Daenerys Targaryen is one such character. She is very, very obviously one of the biggest protagonists. The first book ends with her, with "for first time in hundreds of years, the night came alive with the music of dragons." She is a bridal slave turned Breaker of Chains. She makes mistakes, as every protagonist does, but still progresses forward.

What's not to like about her? While her circumstances and the hard choices she must make do take her into the shades of grey, she is still so compassionate for those suffering that she never comes anywhere close to the darkness that Jon Snow or Tyrion have demonstrated and progressed to. Making her more likable is easy. That's not what happens though.

Instead, she is villainized. She is determined by others to become the darkest character of all, with no nuance or likability whatsoever. They make her the villain in place of the one they've made palatable.

Some of this, I think, can be summed up to people being somewhat idiots and thinking that their idea of hot means good. I remember watching the first 4 seasons back with a sort-of-friend, and she had a huge crush on Charles Dance playing Tywin (she was 16 at the time and he was in his 60s - no, I didn't understand her, and yes, I took great pleasure in showing her Tywin's death). She was so convinced that he wasn't that bad, and the only reason she thought that was because she found him hot. So obviously that does take up a part of it. But it's definitely not the main reason.

The main reason, seeming fairly obvious, is because the idea that movies/shows/books have social or political ideas is no longer something they can ignore. They'll rave about wokeness, saying that it's in every movie now, and why can't we all go back to the good old days of Star Trek and Star Wars and the Lord of the Rings books that of course had absolutely no themes. Despite them having some incredibly heavy or obvious ideas, people somehow managed to ignore them. But now they can't.

Said people do not want to go back to the good old days of "nothing but a villain." They want to back to the "good old days" where they didn't have to examine why a villain was so terrible. They don't want to see themselves in the antagonist - so they make it so villain is no longer one.

In their desperation to get rid of political themes and ideas, and to cover up their own views that could make them look at themselves as the "villain" of our real life "story," they switch the antagonist and the protagonist, the villain and the hero, to make themselves the hero.

After all, why examine your own faults when you can just make them the correct, non-woke perspective?

[incorrect-riordanverse]

finally reading tsats here are my live thoughts (spoilers, obviously):

i’m so excited because some pages are darkly decorated and its so cool. still don’t vibe with the title though (the sun IS a star and its peeving me)

why are we talking about dating darth vader 😟 where are we rn (anakin is a yes, but DARTH VADER???)

maybe i’m too old but the jokes are not funny 😭

“this whole place feels like my soul. empty and dark. dark as the pit of the underworld.” <- i don’t care if he’s joking nico would never say thissss 🙏😭 we’re only 10 pages in but please stop butchering my fav character he’s not himselffff i am cringing so bad

i know i’m being dramatic but if they do nico dirty in this book i’m going to end it all

oh my god i don’t think i’ve thought about the words “significant annoyance” in so long. bringing back good memories for sure.

i can tell which parts were written by riordan and which parts were written by oshiro. i don’t think their voices are blending very well together…

also, maybe it’s because it’s the start of the book and they’re trying to familiarise new readers quickly with the characters but it feels like they’re making nico the caricature of ‘emo and shadow and ebony darkness dementia raven way 🥀⛓️🖤’ and will the caricature of ‘happy and sunshine and blonde and flower gleam and glow ☀️🌈🫧’ and i usually like this dynamic when it’s not blatantly pointed out every other page. i have faith they’ll show more complexity than this later on though. future yan will let me know by the end. (future yan here, im not at the end but the characterisation def does get more complex thank gods)

oh ok so it is bob the titan

since when was nico’s actual name niccolo??? how did i forget this detail??

“you have to listen if not you’ll share my fate.” “ominous much?” <- ok he’s finally himself again guys it’s all good

the one-sided beef nico has with percy will never not be funny

“cookie monster appeared over the mouth of the jar, reached inside and gobbled up nico like the chocolate-chip cookie he was.” <- nevermind i’ve gone back to hating this book again

“what was one straight boy when you spent your whole life longing for the impossible?” <- i’m reminded of that time a few years back where everyone made ‘having an unrequited crush on percy’ nico’s whole fanon personality, so i’m glad they addressed this somewhat. this boy has been through so much and people really thought crushing on percy was the biggest thing to focus on about ‘nico angst.’

“we made a mistake. you have to fix it.” <- call me a red flag but if i was nico i would do anything and everything to not go. i would medicate myself so highly on sleeping pills that i can’t dream (doctor bf can go kick rocks). i would track percy and annabeth down and haul their asses into tartarus instead to do it. and if i had to go i would only go in to kill bob myself for sending me those traumatic ass nightmares. no thx. bro willingly jumped in himself and now wants me to save him. nuh uh.

not cupid being will 😭 its like his aphrodite 😭 i am not well.

they always have a really good and emotionally moving scene and they ruin it with a dumb joke. let it be heavy 👏👏

something’s really fishy and i have a feeling that it might not be bob calling for him

if this whole “grumpy ball of darkness” thing continues i will actually lose it

you can’t tell me the percabeth pep talk was actually needed. i will forgive it because i miss them though

im sensing tension in the gap between nico’s connection to the underworld and his relationship with will and i’m here for ittttt. give me the dramaaa

who is the gorgyra girl and why is she in their business sm?

oh shit a will solace pov??? christmas came early 🙏

nevermind that whole nightmare sequence was so fucked up 😭😭

somebody HELP HIM i never thought we would get will angst (nico angst fs, but will???)

DONT JUMP IN THE STYX PLEASE

SOMEBODY TELL HIM HE’S HELPFUL OMG

nico strangling epiales in his sleep is so fucking cool he’s literally HIM he’s literally THAT GUY

[sarahsmi13s]

A Sibling's Promise

whumptober day 12: character death

pairing: peter parker x older sister!reader

characters: peter parker, sister!reader, happy hogan, mj, ned, the avengers, may, mysterio

warnings: 18+ MDNI, language, canon events in the mcu, blood, crying, parental death, sibling death, character death, very time jumpy, let me know if i missed any!

word count: ~3.3k

a/n: this is for whumptober! please please please proceed with caution and use discretion, protect your peace

also if you are on the whump taglist but are not familiar with a character, you can skip it will not hurt my feelings!

this is remastered from my wattpad, so i have permission. this is under the title "multiverse pt 1"

whumptober 2023 masterlist

summary: a sibling's promise is one that can stand the test of time. it's a promise that can be fulfilled at any moment, even in death

It was dark and it was hot. You had a hand clamped over your mouth to muffle your heavy breathing. "Come on! Where are you?" Your eyes widened, he was close. "I'm gonna find you." 

He was right there.

Suddenly light flooded your vision. "No! I've been caught by the mighty Iron Man!" You dramatically flopped out of the closet door onto the floor. Peter laughed and placed his feet on either side of your torso. 

You laughed, sitting up to catch the 8 year-old in your arms. "No, now I've been caught," he pulled off his plastic Iron Man mask. "Yes you have, and now I'm gonna use your weakness against you!" "Iron Man has no- AHHH!" You started to tickle him. He became deadweight in your arms, screaming and laughing. You began to laugh too.

He started to fall to the floor. You immediately stopped tickling him and managed to catch his head before it hit the floor. 

You both slowly ceased your laughter, panting a little. "Thanks for playing Iron Man with me, Y/N." Peter hugged you. "Of course, Petey." "Thanks for protecting my head too." You smiled, "I'll always protect you, Peter." You hugged him a little tighter before getting up off the floor.

You brushed off your pants and sighed. "Pete, why don't you go clean up? I'll meet you in the kitchen iiinnn 10 minutes?" "Make it 8." You shrugged, "8 it is." 

Peter rushed to put his toys away and wash his hands. You went to get ready for work.

8 minutes passed and you walked into the kitchen, Peter just finishing up washing his hands. 

He turned, frowning when he saw you in your uniform. "You have to work today?" You nodded, "Yeah, I'm sorry Peter. I got a call, they need me to fill in." "I thought we were gonna play video games and build Legos?" 

You ran your hand through his wavy hair, "How about when I get home, we have a sleepover?" "Can we play video games?" You nodded, "All the games you want." "Even the scary ones?" You winced, "I don-" He gave you the puppy eyes. "Pete- *sigh* I'll think about it." "I'll take it," he hugged you. You laughed and rubbed his back.

"I'm home!" 

"In the kitchen, May!" 

She rushed in, "Hey, you should probably get going, don't want you to be late." You nodded, squeezing Peter's shoulder before you let go. "Okay, I'll be back around 7." 

You walked by Aunt May and she handed you a jacket, "It's supposed to rain. Be careful, and the customer is not always right!" You laughed as you went out the door, shrugging the windbreaker onto your shoulders.

As you move to close the door you turn to Peter. He waved, smiling, "Hi, Y/N." You smile and wave to him, "Hi, Peter."

(SM:Homecoming)

You burst into Peter's room. 

"You're Spider-Man!?" 

Peter screamed and fell out of his chair, "Shhh! Keep your voice down!" He ran up to you, shushing you. 

"You're Spider-Man?!" You whisper yelled as you closed his door. "How did you find out?" "You're not the best at keeping secrets, Pete." He scoffed, offended, "What? I am great at keeping secrets." "Really? You sure? Cause I remember when I got my first boyfriend, and told you not to tell May." 

"And I didn't!" He defended. "You so did! The day after I told you May immediately gave me the safe-sex talk." Peter shrugged, "Everyone needs to hear that-" "I was 17!" "Well, in my defense, you shouldn't have told a 9 year-old to keep a secret." You rolled your eyes, "Whatever."

You sighed and put your hands on your hips, "How long?" 

"What?" 

"How long have you had powers?" 

"Since I was 14." "14!?" He flinched slightly at your volume. 

You sighed and ran a hand down your face, "Did you fight in the Avengers 'Civil War'?" He opened his mouth. "Don't lie to me." He sighed, "Yes, but I-" "Just be careful, please." 

He heard the desperation in your tone and he nodded, looking into your eyes, "Of course." "Because I couldn't live with myself if-" He grabbed your shoulders, "Hey-hey, I'm gonna be okay. I'll be careful, I promise." 

He ran his hand down the side of your head, attempting to comfort you, “I promise.” You nodded, grabbing his hand. "Just please, don't tell May. I don't want her to know just yet." You nodded again, "Of course. Secrets safe with me. What else are big sisters for?" He smiled and hugged you. "Thank you."

It was silent for a moment. "Now I wish I never turned down the internship after the Battle of New York."

(Avengers: Infinity War)

Peter looked at Tony, panic in his eyes. "Mr. Stark, I don't feel so good." 

"You're okay, you're okay." 

"I don't -- I don't know what's happening." Tony caught him as his legs dusted beneath him. "I don't wanna go Mr. Stark, please. I don't wanna go. I can't go. I can't leave her..." 

Tony laid him down, gripping his hand as he dusted away. "Tell her I'm sorry, please. I broke my promise..." "I'll tell her, kid." He looked at Tony, "I'm sorry..."

(between Infinity War and Endgame)

You bounced your leg as you waited for Peter to walk through your door, or Stephen to open a portal in your kitchen. Ned had immediately called you when Peter got off the bus and Wong called you about Stephen. You knew May was gone. You watched her dust in front of you.

Now you waited. Hope still filling your chest as you waited for a sign they both were okay.

When someone knocked at your door, you bolted to it. 

Only for you to open it and find Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff at your door. "Hey, can I help you?" Steve's frown was prominent and Nat's eyes were red. "Y/N Parker?" You nodded, crossing your arms as your nerves set in. "We need you to come with us, it's important." You didn't question it and left with them.

You ran into the Compound, Steve and Nat calling for you to wait. But you didn't hear them, your sole focus was running in there and finding Peter, alive.

"Peter?! Peter!" 

You ran into a room, seeing some Avengers you recognized and a few you didn't. "Uh, hi," you greeted. "Um, have you seen a 16/17 year-old boy? About this tall, brown hair, brown eyes, probably had a red and blue suit on." 

The group gave you a look of sympathy, but not an answer. "Please, I just need to know-" 

"Y/N?" 

You turned to see Tony on a hospital bed. "Tony!" You jogged up to him. "Where's Peter?"

Tony couldn't look you in the eyes. "Tony... Where's Peter?" "I'm so sorry, Y/N..."

You felt like throwing up. "No. No. Tony, this isn't funny. Don't lie to me." "I'm not lying Y/N." You shook your head, not bothering to hold your tears back. "He told me to tell you that he's sorry, for breaking his promise..." Your knees gave out, sending you straight to the floor.

You broke down, clutching your chest as you gasped for air. Nat was by your side, catching you when you tackled her, gripping at her clothes. She rubbed your back in comfort, "I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry." "I promised..."

She pulled you back to look at you, "Promised?" "I promised Mom and Dad that I would keep him safe. That I would protect him. I promised him that I would protect him. That's what big sisters do. They protect their little siblings."

Nat bit her lip and pulled you in again as you cried, sobbing for your little brother and praying this was just a sick dream.

(post Endgame)

Tony called you the moment he figured out time travel, saying that he's not sure if it will work but thought you deserved to know. You were equally grateful and terrified about it.

But now you were pacing your kitchen. Aunt May had called you from a random phone, so you knew it worked. May was on her way, you having moved since the Blip. Tony had a house built for you, feeling like he owed you in some way.

A knock broke your trance and you looked to the door. You hesitated, not being 100% sure it was Peter. Then you heard his voice, "Y/N, Ms. Potts said you would be here. It's-it's Peter."

You broke out into a tear-filled smile, rushing to the door.

You pulled the door open, revealing a very disheveled, but alive, Peter.

You smiled, embracing him. "Pete, oh God, you're back. You're back." He hugged you, crying into your shoulder, "Is-Is May-" You nodded, pulling back to hold his face, "She's on her way. She blipped too…"

Peter's face softened, "Oh, Y/N, I'm so sorry. You were alone, I'm-" You shook your head, "No, Pete, please don't apologize." You smiled, tears falling as you moved his dirty hair out of his face.

He rested his forehead on yours, "I broke my promise…" You shook your head, "It was a ridiculous promise…" He chuckled before falling to your shoulder in tears.

"Peter, what's wrong?"

"Tony's gone… He sacrificed himself to defeat Thanos." You gripped onto Peter, "Pete.. I'm so sorry."

You moved him to the couch, not caring if he was gonna get your couch dirty, he needed you.

(Far From Home)

Peter limped across the bridge, looking for a way to get up to Mysterio. 

"Peter?" He turned, the eyes on his mask widening in panic. 

"No, no, no. Y/N you have to leave, it's not safe." He did his best to hide his limp from you as you looked him over. "Peter," you looked around, taking in the damage. "Are you okay?" He nodded playing it off, despite knowing you can see right through it. 

"Please get out of here, I can't let him hurt you. Please go find Happy," he turned you and tried to push you away. You fought back, "No, Pete. I'm not leaving you." "Please you have to. I can't let you get hurt," he grabbed the sides of your head. "Please. I can't get you killed." You shook your head, "I'm not leaving." 

"Will you please stop being so damn stubborn!?" Peter threw his hands up. "I'm your big sister! I'm supposed to protect you! It's my job!" 

"Y/N... please, let me protect you this time. Let me be a good brother." You looked down, biting your lip with your hands on your hips, "You're the best brother." He hugged you. "Go get 'em, Pete." You couldn't see his smile but you knew it was there.

Mysterio had watched the whole interaction, smiling as he found another weakness for Peter. He smirked as you walked away and prepared for Peter's attack.

Once he had Peter preoccupied with fighting his drones, Mysterio managed to use his illusion tech to lure you back.

"Y/N! Y/N, help! Help me!" 

You wiped around to see Peter on the ground. You didn't hesitate to run back and help. 

"Peter!" You fell to your knees beside him, looking him over, "Where are you hurt?" "Everywhere, it hurts everywhere." 

Just then, you remembered what Peter told you over the phone, All of the attacks are fake. He uses some sort of illusion tech. And you remembered the look on his face, how he had to be sure it was you.

"Peter, did I date during the blip?" It furrows its brows, "Why would you ask me that right now?" "Please, just answer me." 

It sighed, "We've never talked about the blip." You gave him a tight smile, "You're right, I just had to be sure." You and Peter actually talked about the 5 years he had been gone quite often. Just to help him catch up on pop culture. 

This wasn't your Peter and you need to escape it.

Finally you decided to just run for it, "I think I hear medics, Peter. I'm gonna go get them. Just stay here, okay?" The illusion nodded, shifting while groaning in pain. You got up and sped walked towards the exit.

In your escape, you felt a shooting pain in your leg and you fell, "Shit!" "Too smart for your own good, Y/N," Beck sighed. You turned to see the drone. "You won't win," you spat through gritted teeth. "I already have," the drone shot you in the stomach before freeing some rubble above you, trapping you under broken concrete.

MJ ran onto the bridge, looking everywhere for Peter. 

She saw him coming towards her, mask off and limping. 

He looked up and saw her, "MJ." She dropped her mace, "Hey." 

They ran at each other and embraced, "Are you okay?" "I'm okay, are you okay?" Peter asked, hugging her tighter. "Yeah." 

"Everybody else okay?" "Everyone's okay." 

"What happened?" "The-the drones, they were following us. Th-then they just stopped," MJ didn't let go of Peter. "Was that you?" "Yeah." They pulled away from the hug. "Did you get him?" Peter looked down with a small nod, "Yeah."

MJ pointed at the mace, "Well, I-uh-brought that. In case you needed some help." They both chuckled dryly, "Thanks." 

"Anyway-uh- there's this sweaty guy, in the tower with us. I think he works with you, or something." Peter furrowed his brows, confused for a second before he realized she was talking about Happy. 

"He-he -um- gave me this," she held out the broken Black Dahlia necklace. Peter gasped, "No, no! Oh, MJ, oh I'm so sorry. I had this plan, this stupid plan, and I wrote it all down, and I was gonna buy you this, give it to you in Paris-" MJ kissed him, cutting off his rant.

He looked at her stunned and she gave him a small smile. "Aaand you kissed me. What?" "I don't have a lot of luck when it comes to getting close to people...um... so I lied. I wasn't just watching you because I thought you were Spider-Man." Peter chuckled, "That's great."

She looked down at the necklace, "Black Dahlia like-" "Like the murder," they said at the same time. "Yeah," Peter laughed a little before looking at the broken necklace, "I'm sorry it's broken." MJ looked down at it, playing with it, "I actually think I like it better broken." Peter smiled, nodding. 

When are you gonna tell her Pete? - Y/N have got a plan. - Plans are for nerds, Peter. Just tell her.

He smiled as he remembered your words, "I really like you." MJ smiled, "I really like you too." Peter smiled before they kissed, pulling away just to come back and kiss again.

When they pulled away again MJ left to go back to the class. "Hey, MJ?" She turned, "Yeah?" "When you see Y/N, tell her I'm okay, please." She nodded, "Of course." Peter nodded and turned to get out of his suit and meet up with the class.

MJ returned the mace to the tower before running to meet up with the class.

She slowed down when she saw the ambulances and the people getting looked over. 

"MJ, is Peter okay?" She looked at Ned and Happy, "Yeah. Yeah, he's okay. Have you seen Y/N?"

"MJ?" 

The girl turned at the call of her name, gasping when she saw you on the ground. "Y/N!" 

Ned and MJ ran to be at your side. "MJ, Ned, are you guys okay?" They both nodded, looking over your injuries. "Is Peter okay?" "Yeah, yeah he's fine. Are you okay?" You nodded, "Yeah, now that I know you guys are safe."

MJ and Ned looked at your wounds, tears filling their eyes. You had become a big sister to them. And they knew how strong your bond with Peter was. Him and Aunt May were all you had left.

Meanwhile Peter was looking for Happy, "Happy!" 

He ran up to him, "Hey, have you seen Y/N?" Happy gave him a sad smile, Peter being too tired to really see it. "Peter-" 

"Oh my God," Peter saw you over Happy's shoulder. He ran to you, MJ and Ned moving out of the way.

He fell to his knees, taking stock of your injuries. "No... no... no... this wa-wasn't supposed to happen. I-I told you to get off the bridge. Why didn't you leave?" You chuckled, wincing in pain after, "Beck..." Peter noticed your shallow breathing and your heartbeat pounded in his ears. 

"Beck, he-uh-he tricked me... When I noticed it was fake I tried to leave... Then," your back arched as your face scrunched up in pain. Peter shook his head, "Stop talking, help's on the way. Just focus on me, okay?"

He turned, "I need a medic over here, please!" His voice crack made Happy, MJ and Ned flinch.

He turned back to you and your eyes were struggling to stay open. "No, no, Y/N, keep your eyes open. Please, don't- Oh God, this is all my fault." His tears slipped past his eyes, falling onto your clothes. 

You shook your head, "No, Pete, this is not your fault. Please don't blame yourself." "If I would have just kept you in the dark, you wouldn't be here and you," he drew in a shaky breath. "And you would be okay." "I would have found out, you know that," you chuckled, coughing and wincing in pain. 

He nodded, his red and slightly swollen eyes filling with more tears. "What else are big sisters for?" MJ choked out a sob, covering her mouth. 

"That's why you can't leave. I need you. You're my sister, I can't do this without you," his voice went from strong and normal, to weak and a whisper. He cried onto your shoulder, "Please don't go..." 

Happy was looking around, "We need a damn medic! What the hell is taking so long?!" He stomped off, looking for someone to help you.

Your shaking hand came up to run through the short hair at the back of his neck. He sobbed onto your shoulder. "Pete," you brought in a shaky breath. "Pete, please look at me." He looked at you. "I need you to promise me something." He nodded, not trusting his voice. 

"Take care of Aunt May for me." He smiled, nodding, "Of course." "And please, don't stop helping people. They need a hero," you smiled and wiped his tears. "They need you Peter." 

He nodded, closing his eyes and resting his forehead on yours, "Okay." You closed your eyes as well, "And smile, Pete. I'll always be there, okay?" He nodded, "Thank you."

Ned and MJ were crying, both wanting to comfort Peter but knew he needed this. Happy walked up beside them. "Where's the medic?" He shook his head, "There weren't enough ambulances..." "No, she-she can't..." Ned and MJ hugged, crying.

Peter pulled back, frowning at your lack of response. Your eyes were closed, lips parted slightly. "No," he shook his head. "No... no... no... please, oh God, please no."

He shook your shoulders, "No, Y/N, no please..." One of his hands cradled your face, "Please..."

He hung his head, letting out a low, broken, "hello..." Hoping you would say it back, but knowing full well you wouldn't.

Happy sighed, grabbing his shoulder. "Peter, you need to get back with the class..." 

"I can't leave her here." 

"Peter," MJ squatted beside him. "Harrington is looking for us, we need to go..." 

"I can't leave her in a foreign place by herself." 

"I'll take her back. Fury and I will make sure she makes it home, I promise." Peter nodded, squeezing your hand before letting MJ and Ned help him up. 

"Happy?" "Yeah, kid?" "May can't know it was Mysterio... She can't know Y/N was here." Happy nodded, "Of course."

Peter let out a small sob and looked at you one last time, "I'm so sorry."

taglist: @bradleybeachbabe @mayhemmanaged @kmc1989 @lovinglyeternal @horseshoegirl @cassiemitchell @fanboyswhore9 @nightowlalltheway @86laura11 @els-marvelvsp @valmare @startrekfangirl2233

hi, if you're seeing this and are currently not on the taglist and would like to be please fill out the taglist form -> whumptober taglist

i can not stress this enough, but whumptober can have some very serious and heavy topics and i want to make sure i am doing my part as an author to prepare my readers for what they are about to experience and that includes not only warnings above but my taglists as well

so if you want to be added check out the masterlist and read that carefully and fill out the form -> whumptober 2023

[baldurs-writers-3]

Time Skips & Future Fics: A Baldur's Gate 3 Fanfic Rec list

This week, we have Time Skips & Future Fics!  Check under the cut for a whopping nineteen fics that show all our favorite companions and what they’re doing years after the Absolute Crisis. And as always, comment and kudos if you like them!

One Last Crooked Night by Scaryanne (34342, Explicit) Warnings: None Pairings: Gale/Tav, Astarion/Tav

Tav is engaged to marry Gale. Astarion is in love with Tav. Tav is in love with... Astarion. UH-OH

Reccer says: I'm a sucker for reading about idiots in love who could solve so many problems with some simple communication but instead choose to do anything but that. Also it is a nice exploration of what somebody "Should do" verses what they WANT to do.

A Gift, A Curse by El_emit (195161, Explicit) Warnings: Graphic violence, non-con/rape, mind control Pairings: Astarion/Tav

A story in which we discover just how damned an ascended vampire can be, and just how far you will go to save the elf you loved.

Reccer says: A post canon "what happened after we let him ascend" fic. The author does a phenomenal job of world building, tugging on your emotions, making you feel shocked and afraid and excited for what's coming next all at once. Most chapters have left me on the edge of my chair waiting for more of the story to unfold. (Still ongoing!)

Coming Home by MoisopolonOikia (roughlytwentytwofrogs) (15962, Mature) Warnings: PTSD/Anxiety, descriptions of panic attacks and hypervigilance, amputated MC Pairings: Shadowheart/Lae'zel

Lae'zel comes back to Faerûn after the war on Vlaakith is won, a decade after the illithid invasion. She meets Halsin at the grove and travels with him towards Last Light Inn to find her lover Shadowheart and all her old friends there, but she has to deal with the toll the years of fighting have taken on her body and mind on the way.

Reccer says: Very sweet and emotional slowburn with a focus on exploring a post-Vlaakith Lae'zel that came back changed after 10 years of warring. Made me cry more than once (it's a good thing i promise)

The stars in between. by ElleKhen (17795, Explicit) Warnings: Pairings: Astarion/Tav

Years after the events of the game, Withers invites Church, Astarion, and their former companions back for yet another party — a cozy, festive celebration of Simril! Thrilled at the prospect of seeing his friends together again, Church takes the opportunity to indulge in a nostalgic tradition of his old village. But once Astarion realizes that this tradition involves giving gifts, he desperately tries to come up with a last-minute gift worthy enough for his partner with help from their friends and a certain (former) god of death.

Reccer says: I love how cozy and lighthearted and fun it is

Exile (Or: How You Learned to Stay) by Astarionfreak (51877, Explicit) Warnings: Non-con, mind control, graphic violence Pairings: Astarion/The Dark Urge, Shadowheart/The Dark Urge

When you have nothing, and the only one who offers you anything is the vampire you've spurned, what else can you say to him but yes?

Reccer says: A post canon story that explores the cost of seven thousand souls and how far Astarion will go to keep what he wants. This fic is exceptional. It perfectly captures every element of a gothic horror, it weaves together foreshadowing and layers to the story that you don't realize until you're reading the reveal. I have cried and laughed and fell in love with the heroine; it has made me loath a character I love. This isn't a feel good story, and if you're looking for a dark way to take things, this is where you should go.

I'm Feeling For Her What She's Feeling For Me by Zetal (Rodinia) (757, General) Warnings: None Pairings: Karlach/Tav

A cute short fluff fic that takes place two years after the end of the game.

Reccer says: It's short and sweet and I just want to give Karlach a giant hug 💕

turn the lights back on by weatheredlaw (16 104, Explicit) Warnings: None Pairings: Gale/Shadowheart

four years after they parted in baldur's gate, shadowheart arrives in waterdeep with a wish scroll in hand and asks gale for his help casting it. it winds up being more than either of them expects.

Reccer says: There's such a cozy feel to this! All the interactions between all the different characters, the excellent characterization and the musings they have. It's a very interesting little introspection.

As we were by LycheeShark (9363, Explicit) Warnings: None Pairings: Astarion/Durge

Former lovers Astarion and Minx end up back in their old bodies--back when he was Cazador's spawn, not the vampire ascendant, and back when she was still trapped in Bhaal's clutches with all the urges that entail. Together, they must figure out a way back to the future they came from.

Reccer says: It's so engaging!! This fic just hooks you straight off the bat. Great character voices, especially for Gortash and Sceleritas, fantastic premise and things are always happening!

Appetites by SpaceMonkeySalsa (72213, Explicit) Warnings: Suicide, depression, smut Pairings: Astarion/OFC

It's been five years since the Vampire Ascendant Astarion helped save Baldur's Gate. He has everything he ever wanted, and he's miserable. Isolde is nobody, and has nothing. When given the option to become a vampire spawn, her response gives Astarion a moment of pause; “No. Thank you. I think I’ll just die.”

Reccer says: I'm not normally into Ascended Astarion but I love this fic. It's very well written, and shows that Astarion has a bit of remorse about his actions. He has a complicated relationship with the primary character, Isolde; but it's not the only conflict brewing in the story. Features cameos from several other evil-ending!members of the rest of Team Tadpole as well.

she will come back by sevensistersofsussex (14297, Explicit) Warnings: angst with a happy ending, smut Pairings: Wyll/Tav

A decade after a rejected proposal, tiefling Tav sees Wyll once again. Old feelings come back.

Reccer says: I like the emotion and longing between the two characters.

Harper Files: A - Team by Tynithia (17552, Mature) Warnings: None Pairings: Emperor/Tav, Tav & OCs

Four years after the Netherbrain, Ellandra is now a Harper, under Jaheira's cell. She and her Harper Squad are tasked to find the source of some magical occurrences around Baldur's Gate

Reccer says: Fun action/adventure comedy with original characters along with cameos and a plot!

Midwinter in Waterdeep by woodsnweaves (4229, Mature) Warnings: None Pairings: Gale/Tav

After the events of the game, the main character of this fic realizes she's not one for a routine, scheduled life in Waterdeep. She and Gale fell in love quickly and didn't realize how difficult it would be to adjust to a new life together.

Reccer says: This is easily my favorite Gale fic I've read. It's such a great blend of angst and happiness. The way the author conveys their emotions is absolutely tear-jerking and I LOVE IT. I've read this multiple times and still adore it.

Weeping Dawn by Hadesgirl015 (1483, Teen) Warnings: Major character death Pairings: Tav/Karlach, Tav&Wyll

A shortly after the end of the game fic, exploring the deep grief felt when the love of your life is gone.

Reccer says: The grief in this is so well written and explored, and it's such beautiful work for how short and sweet it is. I cried while reading this.

Closing the Fist by aqeldroma (78366, Explicit) Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Pairings: Gortash/The Dark Urge

A month past her victory over the netherbrain at Gortash's side, the Dark Urge, newly devoted to Bane, returns to Baldur's Gate with an urgent mission. But complications are afoot, and tyranny is never quite straightforward.

Reccer says: 75k+ words of post-canon evil intrigue; the Netherbrain as an actual character; the Zhentarim featuring in a big way.

What you made me by Denesmera (11452, Mature) Warnings: None Pairings: Astarion/Tav, Halsin/Tav

It's been almost 6 months since they defeated the Elderbrain. Everybody seems to have found a purpose in life, expect Maeva.

Reccer says: Denesmera crafts a beautiful tale with elegant prose. I love the dynamics of her struggle with her purpose.

the cure for the world is saltwater by Raayide (16871, Teen) Warnings: None Pairings: astarion/karlach

Can Astarion really have a 'happily ever after' waiting for him considering the past 200 years?

Reccer says: Heart-wrenching and heartwarming all at once

Servitude by krapka (10 137, Explicit) Warnings: Dubious Consent, Stockholm Syndrome, Power Imbalance, Master/Servant, Sex Slave Pairings: Astarion/Original Character

It's been 7 centuries since the defeat of the Absolute, and the city of Baldur’s Gate, ruled by a legendary Eternal Duke Ancunin and forsaken by all gods, has descended into perpetual darkness. Aveline is one of the 'faded' - a group of people who this cruel world changed the most. Yet she possesses a unique talent.

Reccer says: Nobody writes porn like krapka. The characters don't even have to fuck before the fucking starts. The tension is always on point, and a lot is done with the world building with few words here and there. I'm so stoked to see where this is going!

Tidal Memories by Irken (4900 atm, it's a freshly-posted wip, Mature) Warnings: Canon-typical violence Pairings: The Emperor/Illithid Tav

It's an adventure/boat trip story 5 years post-game about the Emperor, illithid Tav, and some of the other companions (Wyll, Karlach, Gale, Astarion) going to the royal court of Tethyr to retrieve the Shield of Silvam. They explore both cities along the coast and their relationships with each other.

Reccer says: Irken's prose about being illithid and mind melding specifically is really sweet and thoughtful...

And then we have two recs for:

The Legends of Nexus Vermis by Masterangst12 (84260, Mature) Warnings: Canon-typical violence, torture, past abuse Pairings: Tav/Astarion

A post-game adventure taking place a few months after the reunion party following Astarion and Axel (Tav) meeting up with their former traveling companions.

Reccer #1 says:  The author describes things beautifully, and their OCs are engaging and fun to read about. I love their Tav (Axel) so much, and his relationship with Astarion. Reccer #2 says:  This is one of my favorite post game fics that I'm reading. I've been keeping up with it for a while now and I've just fallen in love with the original characters created for it. The author does such a great job of describing the scenes around them, I always have a very clear picture of what's going on!

The above fanfic recommendations were pulled from our community for this weekly event. Have any questions about what this is? Check out the FAQ! Next week, we’ll be back with a heartbreaking and bloody theme, Revenge Fics!

[jcollinswrites]

FAQ

Is this a one-book story? Yes. I'm currently not planning any sequels. 

How many chapters will there be?  At the moment, I'm planning 10. 

What is the rating of the game? At the moment, maybe 16+. The finished version will be adult only. This is not a Young Adult novel by any means, even if the prose seems fun and goofy in some places. The story will contain heavy and dark themes, mental health problems, violence, death, strong language, and optional sexual content, to only mention a few. The whole list of triggering content can be found in the beginning of the game. 

Is the story historically correct? No.

Are you a historian? No, I'm not. This is only a passion of mine. 

When does the story take place exactly? In an alternate setting that resembles the end of the Second Intermediate Period / the beginning of the New Kingdom era, so approximately 1550 BC. 

Were the characters inspired by real historical figures? Some of them, yes. 

I noticed that X detail is not historically correct... Yes, I'm aware. Magic isn't real either. 

Why do you use modern words when the story takes place in Ancient Egypt? Because I'm writing it in a way as if I was translating the character's words from Ancient Egyptian into modern English. That's also the reason why I use slang, sometimes incorrect grammar, abbreviations, and such. Additionally, English is NOT my first language. Please keep that in mind. 

How does the game grow so fast? Is there a lot of repetition in the text? Do you copy/paste a lot? Do you use AI? No, I'm simply a fast writer, and I don't spend time editing at this point (I will, later). What you are reading right now is the very first version, straight as it came out of my brain. I write out everything by hand. I don't use AI because I don't like AI. The use of AI is against the rules of publication anyway, and I very much want my game to be published in the future. 

I use a ton of *goto commands, so that I don't have to repeat anything in the text. As it currently is, the word count is as minimal as it can be. I couldn't make it any smaller if I tried, which means everything you read on the screen is unique and original, and it's not repeated anywhere else, with the exception of a few sentences that was just simpler to copy/paste than write out *goto labels for. (A *goto command means that the game automatically jumps to a certain part of the text that was already written. You, as the reader, won't see this happening, but from a developer's view, it means that I don't copy/paste chunks of text, I only redirect the flow of the story towards a pre-written part.)

Can I play without romancing anyone? Yes. There is an option that completely disables romance for the entire game. There will also be extra content that you only get if you disabled romance, plus you'll get more screen time with non-romanceable characters, so you won't miss out on the story. 

Will I be able to romance several characters at the same time? There will be one poly route, but other than that, you will get a choice sometime in Chapter 4 that will lock you into a romance route for the rest of the game. The pre-requirement will be only that you have to have at least 2 romance points with your chosen character. 

...So I can't romance several characters at the same time? Why not? Other than the poly route, no. The reason is simply because it would be too much work for me. I already have a massive amount of variables in mind for the game. Planning out different scenarios for break-up/jealousy/getting together again scenes would be too much time that I would rather spend on ensuring the quality of the game. 

Who will be in the poly route? Zaia and Ahmose. 

Why can't I romance XY with an 18 year old character? Because this is not a Young Adult novel. Some of the ROs are older and they simply aren't romantically interested in such a young main character. 

Why can I even choose "late teen" for my character if I can't romance all of the ROs with it? Because one of the ROs is 18, so I wanted to give you a chance to play a main character of the same age. 

Can I romance XY with a character of ...age? The warnings are there in the game when you choose your character's age. If you don't get a warning, then there are no restrictions on any of the romances. 

Why didn't you answer the message I sent you? Probably because I didn't get to it yet. I apologize if it sometimes takes too long. I'm answering the asks in a chronological order, but some of them need more detailed answers than others, and that takes time to write. However, if weeks have passed and I still haven't answered your message, then it could be for one of the following reasons:  A)Your question contained massive spoilers that I couldn't answer without giving away the spoiler. If you suspect this might be the case, turn off Anon and I might be able to answer you privately. HOWEVER, please don't send me messages about things that you found while code-diving, unless it's about a bug or error.  B)The answer to your question can be found in the intro post of the game.  C)The answer to your question can be found in this very FAQ.  D)The message was completely unrelated to the game or myself.  E)The message was disrespectful/ racist/ sexist/ homophobic/ transphobic so it went straight to the trash, where it belongs. 

Will there be a goose DLC? Maybe.

[kugisakiss]

Don't you think it's interesting that Shinichi has only ever personally told Dr Agasa about his shrinkage? Technically, everyone else has either figured it out themselves, or were told by Agasa. And he only told Agasa, not his parents, or his best friends or anyone else.

Even then, Shinichi's first response was to try and enter his house, his empty house, and only when that failed did he tell Agasa, and that may have only been because he ran into him at the specific moment.

yes!! gosho's probably trying to make it more "meaningful" when shinichi tells ran lol. i'm sure ran would be totally understanding and forgive shinichi if he tells her that ran was the only person he really wanted to tell

on another note, I don't think it's that unusual for someone in that situation to try to go home first! I mean, I don't think many of us would run away from the police after being knocked out and fed a weird drug, but given that shinichi had already legged it and it was wet and dark outside and he was wearing clothes 10 sizes too large, I think it'd be normal to just want to go home, get a shower, find some clothes that actually fit and lie in bed for a bit and think about whether this is actually real. Even if no one's home to help you, I think home is the first place I would think of if something that unbelievable happened to me..? it's not like I could go to a hospital?

in Shinichi's case especially, he's so fiercely independent he would've definitely wanted to take some time to think through everything himself first. He values his own ability a lot and would want to have all his thoughts in order with some form of game plan before he turns to anyone.

but I do think that he would've eventually gone to Agasa and let him know! it'll be after acknowledging there's very little he can do as a 6 year old and Agasa, who's a good engineer despite his strange inventions, likely has the resources to help Shinichi out. Stuff like faking a new identity, explaining Shinichi's absence and maybe even help him not be 6 again.

he doesn't tell his parents because his dad is his "rival" of sorts, and all Yuusaku would do is tell Shinichi what to do. To Shinichi anything his dad can think of, Shinichi capable of too. So since neither of his parents are in the country and shinichi doesn't have anything he needs them to help with, he doesn't think it's necessary to tell them. and also like, in a typical teenager fashion, he was caught being reckless spying on someone badly and he doesn't want to tell his parents because it's embarassing that he was not only caught but also now a 6 year old.

[curioushabitforarivergod]

dark(ish) academia books that I don't see recommended enough

I read a lot, both fiction and non-fiction, and a lot of the stuff I've read over the past 2-3 years has had underlying academic tones. I've tried to include books I've at least enjoyed, although there are a few 3 star ratings. All of these books are ones I haven't really seen mentioned in compiled dark academia lists (mainly because some of them fall outside the general scope and are more ✨vibes✨). Feel free to add more less well-known books. I've included my own blurbs of the books but I've got shit memory and some I read like 2 years ago so yeah

Fiction

"Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world." Voltaire

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

Takes place over 10 years and explores family and the destruction left behind after WWI. It discusses the feminine vs. masculine in art and while it can be a little slow to read (took me close to 3 weeks!) theres some really beautiful passages and also some funny ones as well — the characters spend several chapters at a dinner party convinced everyone hates them and constantly hating other people too.

The Dark is Rising (series) by Susan Cooper

Okay, yes this is a kids book series from the 70s/80s but it explores English, Cornish and Welsh mythology and has really good characters and world-building. Even though chronologically the series goes: Over Sea, Under Stone; The Dark is Rising; Greenwitch; The Grey King; Silver on the Tree, it's best to read The Dark is Rising first and return back to Over Sea, Under Stone. Anyway, I love this series and I read The Dark is Rising every Christmas because it corresponds pretty much with the days and is easy to place and that's kind of what makes it feel very cozy and academic. Also, theres some brief moments of time travel to the past.

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

This is a beautiful written masterpiece set across the 20th century featuring plenty of train rides across Europe and vampires. It explores some of the history of Walachia and Dracula, as well as the Ottoman Empire and European politics of the time. It's a hefty read but I loved it because it combines history, dark academia, fantasy and vampires.

Macbeth by William Shakespeare

My favourite of Shakespeare that I've seen so far and honestly murder is so dark academia I don't need to talk any further. Strangely, I don't see this recommended enough.

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

This was quite popular a year or two ago, and honestly for good reason. I think it's only really academic because it's linked to Shakespeare and explores the less well-known lives of Shakespeare's family, but it's very good and I thought I'd include it anyway.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

This one feels really light academia to me, but I think it's mainly because of setting. It's set in this fantastical old and crumbling mansion that goes on forever. It's filled with statues and it floods and only two people live in the world. The story is told entirely through diary entries, but it's so well-written because it defamiliarises the reader entirely. It was a light and easy read for me, which is probably why I'm associating it with light academia rather than dark academia.

The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li

This book kinda mixes chaotic academia and cottagecore academia and is a reflection of girlhood and youth spent in the French countryside in the 50s. There's a toxic relationship between two friends who write a book together before one of them attends prestigious girls' school in England. Also the opening lines are amazing: "You cannot cut an apple with an apple. You cannot cut an orange with an orange. You can, if you have a knife, cut an apple or an orange. Or slice open the underbelly of a fish. Or, if your hands are steady enough and the blade is sharp enough, sever an umbilical cord."

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

Another classic! I love Waugh, and Brideshead revisited is amazing and my favourite of what I've read of his. The book is quite homoerotic — explicitly so at times, which is fascinating for something published in 1945 — and deals with romanticisation. It nestles quite snugly between Picture of Dorian Grey and Secret History in terms of a dark academic literary canon.

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

This is more gothic than dark academia, but it's also a satire of the gothic genre so I feel like it counts. It's definetly not as well known as some of Austen's other works and feels much more raw, particularly because its her first work (although not published until after her death). It's not my favourite Austen, but I love it all the same, especially because of its commentary on warning the romanticisation of other peoples lives and the gothic/dark academia. Although dark academia wasn't a thing in Austen's day!

Possession by A. S. Byatt

I love the main story but because its so metafictive and explores the relationship between two made-up poets (one of whom is bi and cheats on her gf with the second) from the perspective of modern academics, it can get quite hard to read sometimes. It's also really long, but definitely worth reading.

Non-Fiction

I feel like non-fiction is pretty over-looked when it comes to the academia aesthetic which really says something, given that its… kinda the whole point of academia?? Anyway, I read a lot of history books, but I only put down the ones which I found interesting or easy to read, so they're more popular histories than academic histories. Also; essays.

The Year 1000: What Life Was Like At the Turn of the First Millennium by Robert Lacey

This explores early medieval life in England based on the Julius Work Calendar, an Anglo-Saxon manuscript believed to date to 1020BCE. It's honestly a really light and interesting read and it talks about what everyday life was like, which I think is important in history. It's in a narrative style so it's quite easy to read even if you don't consume history often.

Oh, to Be a Painter! by Virginia Woolf

This is actually a short, published collection of Virginia Woolf essays on art. I read the essays all in one sitting because they're quite short, but if you're into art and art academia, I'd highly recommend. There's also an essay on the cinema which provides some interesting insights into todays world particularly as Woolf was writing at the time when cinema was only just becoming widespread and an industry in its own right.

A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift

This is a satirical essay on attitudes towards the poor and it suggests that poor people might sell their children as food for the rich, highlighting the callousness of the upper classes. It's available free online and very much relevant today, despite being written close to 300 years ago.

The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England by Ian Mortimer

Very useful if you ever find yourself stuck in the Elizabethan period! It's read as a sort of travel guide but includes plenty on history as well, providing a picture of what England looked like in the late-Tudor period. Also people will think you're a time-traveller if you carry it around, which adds to your intrigue and mystery.

A Memoir of Jane Austen by James Edward Austen-Leigh

If you like Jane Austen and haven't read this memoir, you should. It's written by her nephew, so it's quite biased and it's not amazing in any way, but it provides a lot of context to her life and is a good light-read or coffee table book. Also my copy was pale pink so win.

Thats it folks. Feel free to include your own less well-known book recs that follow dark/light/chaotic, etc. aesthetics! I'd love to compile a huge list and read more outside my comfort zone.

[dokidokitsuna]

BLADE_Princess

…I’m glad this AU idea came along, because I’ve been in WIP hell for so long…I really needed some reward doodles that I could actually feel motivated to draw~

So about 1 in 5 Kirby AU ideas takes shape as a game concept rather than a normal narrative, and this is one of those, the first one that’s JRPG-inspired. ^^ The main protagonists are a 5-member party of villains, but these two are the central characters, whose choices can affect the outcome of the story.

Blade The title character, who eventually becomes the most powerful in the group…due to a debilitating sickness that slowly destroys her mind and body. After losing her home, family, and entire civilization to similar strains of bio-magical warfare, she alone is resurrected by a strange wizard and his evil allies, and agrees to take part in their plans. During the story, Blade is continually confronted with memories of her past, and the destruction wrought by her happy family on the rest of the universe. She starts to wonder whether they all deserved to be exterminated, as her illness progresses and the idea that she should rejoin them consumes her thoughts. Meanwhile, she gradually loses control over her actions in the present, and in the end is torn between begging her adoptive father for help, or using the last of her self-awareness to take him down with her, for dragging her into this hell in the first place. +++ In this AU I really tried to break away from my usual depictions of the characters, and I think going from my usual portrayal of Dark Matter Swordsman as a classic “crouching moron hidden badass” to this more somber, sensitive character is probably the most dramatic example here. ^^; A little of that old characterization remains, however, as she’s not much of a deep thinker…she only joins the adventure because war is all she understands, and because Magolor really does remind her of her own father. Whether she remains fully loyal to him, or tries to choose a different path before the end, is up to the player, I guess. ^^;

Magolor The secondary protagonist, and the leader of the group. After his previous attempt at world domination centuries earlier, he’s back for a second try, and this time he’s assembled a whole team of formerly-defeated villains to help him out…including a strange alien girl that, until now, he had written off as a failed experiment. During the story, he comes to realize that the universe has changed a lot since his younger days, and that maybe his ultimate goal of taking it all for himself might not satisfy him as much as he’d hoped. Whether this shifts his priorities or makes him more hungry for destruction, desperate to feel something, is up to the player. And whether he decides to show concern for Blade’s suffering, or purposely take advantage of it to accelerate his plans…is also up to the player. ^^ +++ Since I’ve written so many Magolors over the years (I think I’ve done at least 10…I do have a problem, yes) I’ve formulated a basic breakdown of the essential aspects of his character: Charisma, Deception, Sweetness, Fury, and Bloodthirst. So every time I make a new Magolor, I try to emphasize different ones. For example, for Dream Alliance Magolor I downplayed Fury and removed Bloodthirst entirely, creating a very heroic and likeable version of him to serve as the main protagonist. This time, I’m going to downplay Charisma and remove Sweetness…so I’m sure you can guess what this version of Magolor is like. ^^; By default, he doesn’t really care about Blade, and reciprocates her concern for him only as far as it helps him manipulate her. I don’t think seeing her in pain would actually affect him emotionally (he’d probably just be wondering how much longer she’ll be useful…); what would get to him is her flipping the script and lashing out at him, even if she ends up backing down. Y’know, some tangible proof that his influence is having an effect on her, and that, in a strange way…she might be the only person left in the universe who still cares enough about him to truly be hurt by him.

[genderfluidkai]

Misako is a good mother and i will die on this hill

I am stupidly passionate over little lego people, so I am compiling a list of reasons as to why Misako’s actions are understandable and to show that the logic some people use to call her a bad mother is maybe just a little silly. putting it under a read more though bc i am writing so goddamn much

Point number 1: leaving Lloyd at Darkley’s

Most points I see about this is people saying “well why didn’t she leave him with Wu” which there are MULTIPLE reasons for.

1. He had just banished Garmadon, yknow, Misako’s husband. While it was on accident, Misako likely would not feel comfortable leaving her son with Wu

2. Morro. Now, we don’t know when exactly Wu took Morro in, as we’re never given an exact timeframe, however I would put it somewhere between the FSM’s death and a little while before Garmadon’s banishment. Misako full well could have bore witness to what happened with Morro, or could’ve been told about it. Misako is thus very reasonable in not wanting to leave her infant son, the actual Green Ninja, with Wu, as for all she knew, the moment Wu figured it out he would start training Lloyd. She would not want Lloyd to miss out on his childhood while possibly also becoming a self-important prick with a massive ego (bc for how much I love Morro, I can admit that that’s what he became due to the whole Green Ninja thing).

3. If Wu DID realise Lloyd was the green ninja, and then start to train him, it’d mean Misako leaving Lloyd in the first place would have been for nothing. Misako was trying to prevent the prophecy, not speed it up.

And then it comes to Darkley’s itself, and the fact that there are multiple reasons leaving Lloyd there would have been a good option in Misako’s eyes

1. It is a school for future villains. It was likely the ONE PLACE Lloyd could go where he wouldn’t be ostracised by his peers like we see him being in the Ninjago movie, especially because we can guess that Garmadon had a reputation for being evil PRIOR to his banishment, as when the villagers of Jamanakai think Lloyd is saying he’s Lord Garmadon, they’re terrified of him, until they see him and realise he’s Lord Garmadon’s like, 10 year old son. Darkley’s was the one place being the son of Lord Garmadon would HELP HIM

2. She had no way of knowing Lloyd would get mistreated by other students. How was she supposed to anticipate Brad putting fire ants in Lloyd’s bed years before it happened? Also, she had no way of knowing the school itself would mistreat him. She likely wasn’t told he was kicked out/ran away from Darkley’s, or wasn’t given the time to come find/collect him, because she very much would have the common sense to know there’s no one else to look after him

3. For all she knew, Garmadon was the Dark Lord in the prophecy. She had no idea it actually meant the Overlord. She could’ve thought that if Lloyd looked up to his father and wanted to be on his side, and neither of them wanted to fight each other, it could help to stall the prophecy.

And then, we get to the fact that we don’t really see her make things up to Lloyd about the whole “abandoning him at an evil boarding school thing”, which is because Ninjago was originally only supposed to be 2 seasons long, and Misako only first appears SEVEN EPISODES IN to season 2. They had no time to give her any character development or show her bonding with Lloyd, because they only had 6 more episodes left after her first appearance.

Since then, it seems the writers have just chosen to imply she has family bonding time with Lloyd off screen. We can see that they now care for each other as a family, so it’s very likely that she DOES try to bond with Lloyd but the writers just didn’t want to/couldn’t find a way to fit it into the show itself.

She has made mistakes, yes, but she is trying to make up for them and none of the reasoning behind her mistakes was outright malicious. She wanted to protect her son as much as possible, and keep him from having to fight his own father.

[xxsksxxx]

Almost Heaven

Summary:

Mulder’s attempt to find more exciting cases to investigate while stuck in the bullpen turns into another weekend trip to the forest.

Meanwhile, Scully is faced with a tempting offer that could change both her future and their lives.

Notes:

Thank you all for your reblogs and wonderful comments! I enjoyed them all so much.

From the people who shared their reactions to every chapter to the people who left theories of what might happen next or thoughts on whether they agreed with how the characters behaved, it was such a treat to read your comments. 💕

And I'm thrilled that people seem to like this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

AO3 | Back to the Beginning | @today-in-fic

Chapter 12: Take Me Home

J. Edgar Hoover Building, Washington, D.C. FBI Headquarters—Bullpen Thursday, December 3rd, 1998, 10:30 am

Mulder leaned back in his office chair and watched Scully typing away at her report. He pursed his lips and lightly tapped his pen against his chin.

Scully reached over to her right without looking and took the cup he’d placed there a few minutes ago. The coffee was still steaming, and he watched her take a careful sip before she closed her eyes and hummed.

The familiar sight made him smile. If someone had told him a few months ago how happy it would make him to see his partner drink coffee, he’d have opened an X-File on them.

“Mulder, what on earth?” Scully’s coffee appreciation had not been long-lived, and she was staring at her monitor with a disapproving look. “You can’t be serious!”

Mulder grinned. He knew exactly what she had been reading and had waited for her to come across his thinly veiled sarcastic interpretation of their recent interview with a 16-year-old boy. The kid had admitted to hanging out at the Waterfront Resort with some of his friends in the evenings, after sneaking out of his bedroom window with a few cans of his dad’s beer.

‘During our investigation into the highly alarming activities reported at the Waterfront Resort after dark, we conducted an extensive cross-examination with the prime suspect, one Peter Bergtrade, male, 16 years. Mr. Bergtrade bravely, albeit shakily, confessed to the heinous act of having snuck out of his bedroom window late that evening to attend a prearranged meeting with three of his classmates at the Waterfront Resort. He also admitted to the offense of appropriating a supply of his father’s beer. After careful consideration, Agent Scully and I concluded that Mr. Bergtrade contributed heavily to the reported nighttime activities. After confessing to his horrible crimes, Mr. Bergtrade was handed into the custody of his legal guardians under the strict directive to not attend any more gatherings of the kind,’ Scully read monotonously from the screen.

She turned around in her chair, staring at him.

Mulder’s grin widened. “Yes? Anything wrong, Scully? Do you think Kersh will approve of our investigation?”

He watched her open her mouth and close it again with a snap, then she wordlessly turned back around and started typing furiously, muttering under her breath.

Mulder chuckled and turned back to his desk. They might not have the X-Files back yet, but they had each other. And until then, he’d make sure that they’d have interesting cases to investigate to get to the truth. For the first time in months, he felt calmness settling over him. Last weekend had turned out very differently than he could've expected in his wildest dreams. He felt his lips pulling up into a smile. All of a sudden, the future didn’t seem bleak at all. No, he was looking forward to what it would bring. For them. Together.

His eyes dropped to the envelope lying next to his keyboard for probably the 10th time today. Why am I making such a big deal out of this? he thought, shaking his head at his jittery nerves. This is Scully, he reminded himself.

Without turning around, he asked casually, “Any plans for the weekend, Scully?”

Scully was silent behind him, but he could feel her gaze boring into the back of his head. “Well, I was thinking about reading an article or two in the new edition of my medical journal that arrived yesterday. Maybe I’ll even find time to fold some laundry,” she replied playfully, and Mulder felt his shoulders relax.

He grabbed the envelope, turned around, and moved his chair closer to hers, bending his head close so the other agents in the bullpen wouldn’t be able to overhear them. “As wonderful as that sounds, I was wondering whether I could inspire you to join me on another thrilling adventure.”

He handed her the envelope, which she took, a question in her eyes. “Another adventure, Mulder? What is this? And do I have to pack hiking boots? This time, please tell me. My shoes are still drying from last weekend.” She carefully opened the envelope, pulled out a small pamphlet with a two-story building at the sea on the cover, and started to read, her brow furrowing. “Mulder, what is this?”

“It’s a haunted bed and breakfast, Scully,” he explained, and Scully snorted. Undeterred, he continued. “It’s called Aida’s Victoriana Inn, and apparently a former guest died there in the 19th century. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the time to pay his bill before departing this life, so he’s wandering the Inn, trying to leave money for the owner.”

“Well, an honest ghost, one has to love them,” she quipped. She looked up from the pamphlet and glanced around to make sure they were still not being watched, before giving him a look. “A haunted bed and breakfast, Mulder? Really?”

“It’s also considered cozy and romantic,” he added and winked.

To his utter delight, she started to blush and ducked her head. But not before he could see her trying to suppress a beaming smile. “So what do you say, Scully? Want to spend the weekend with me, investigating polite ghosts at the sea? We could leave tomorrow afternoon, right after finishing our exciting day of work.”

Scully looked back up, not concealing her smile, her eyes sparkling with happiness. “You always keep me guessing, Mulder.”

He reached over and curled his hand around her neck, pulling her in, his lips curling into a soft smile. “That’s the plan, Scully. That’s the plan. I’ll always make our lives interesting.”

The End.

[runningfrom2am]

1. in her defense, she had warned arachne and academic pressure makes all the best people a little more unhinged.

2. “lady problems” aka the immense urge to use violence.

3. the fact that her threats are very real when directed at anyone but coryo. she had a weakness from the start.

4. sejanus, r, and coryo are the trio that is not exactly loved but hard to cross because who could dare to do such a thing? i love them.

5. i just know that livia was the one to suggest and insist someone should make sure r does end up in the office.

6. “You’re both lying to each others faces and neither of you knew.” OH!! HOW I LOVE THIS!!

7. did r just sibling-zoned him? that’s not how we run from our problems.

8. i will be thinking about the similarities between r and tigris for the next two business days.

9. coryo is the one to talk about, “gross and dusty and dark” honestly. he would know a whole lot deal about it.

10. “Cozy.” his Peeta Mellark moment!

11. i love how they how have their own ideas about what is wrong about the other but they will die before they make it known.

12. “Besides, an old couple wouldn’t be married if they didn’t at least get along most of the time.” with a marriage of 56 years they actually became this.

hi bestieeee (responses under the cut)

1. no literally (like i said,, that may or may not be based on something i actually did when i was that age lmao- i was like “move or i will hit you” and she was like “as if” and then i did and she had the audacity to be shocked like girl i literally warned you?? anyway lol-)

2. HAHAH like sir just say you don’t understand it’s okay (but also,, yes the urge to get violent is sometimes present)

3. yeah 🥹 she has always loved him and no one can change my mind

4. LOL like they’re not hurting anyone (except for r sometimes as a treat) but yk what i mean lol

5. no for real this is exactly how i picture that going down:

Livia: uhh you’re going to let them go on their own? do you seriously trust that?

Teacher: *sigh* Plinth- go get Coriolanus and send him back, you escort her down”

(and then sejanus doesn’t send coryo back but he does just go with them bc he just wants to be included)

6. and it would be a HOT minute before they ever acknowledge their respective situations in any meaningful way

7. unfortunately she did LOL, like the spirit was there. as we know, flirting is not really her thing ESPECIALLY before she was even conscious of her feelings

8. realllll. also (kinda continuing my last point) i’ve heard that some of the most stable het relationships are between a first born daughter and a last born son. this may not be proven but i’ve read up on it a bit and from personal experience i would agree!

9. like sir why are you complaining it probably reminds you of your house like 💀

10. AHH THANK YOU FOR NOTICING THIS LOL

11. YES and i think this is the beginning of the era where r starts to notice these things about coryo that indicate what’s up with his home life. clearly when this takes place he’s at least semi-aware of her situation already, but like i said she’s just starting to pick up on his. it never ever gets easier for them to talk about though- i wouldn’t be surprised if they ever really do (besides the very little that they discuss or allude to it in the main timeline)

12. sejanus once again being a fortune teller lol and as he should