#always a sucker for creature features

[thatsthat24]

Sanderstober 2024

SANDERSTOBER IS HERE! Once again, my friends and I are creating art prompts for you all to try your hand at for every day of this month, if you'd like! Try one, try some, try all! If you miss a day but still want to do a prompt from a day you missed, please go ahead! This is all just for fun. If you'd like to share your creations, you can use #Sanderstober2024. I'd love to see! Hope you enjoy them! 🍁

October 1: Always gotta start out this day with the traditional prompt! take a character from media or OC and draw how they look on September 30th vs. how they look on October 1st!

October 2: Create a sheet ghost, but featuring the pattern of a sheet/blanket you own or maybe used to own when you were younger. - This idea came from my friend, Andrea!

October 3: A quick Google search of “keyblade designs” (the weapon from Kingdom Hearts) would show you how the weapon changes based off the property the character goes to! Design a keyblade based around any piece of media, as if the main character from Kingdom Hearts traveled there… - This idea came from my friend, Rene!

October 4: There’s a lot of fast food and cereal mascots out there… I think you know where I’m going with this. Take any of those mascots and turn them into a MONSTER or KILLER.

October 5: This one’s a play off a prompt from last year AND it’s a writing prompt! Take any famous character from a horror film, and create a nursery rhyme about them. You can make it completely innocent, or, like many nursery rhymes, remain dark but disguised in pretty language.

October 6: Take your favorite animal… and dress it as your dream profession. - This idea came from my friend, Talyn!

October 7: Take one of your favorite movies and reimagine if it had been marketed as a different genre (e.g. Hellraiser as a family comedy, Goodfellas as a romance, etc.) - This idea came from my friend, Joan!

October 8: Turning things into Pokemon tends to be a favorite prompt of mine, and this year, the category is… fast food! Take any fast food of your choice, create a Pokemon, and name it!

October 9: Take any foreign animation cartoon and draw them in the style of a western animation! - This idea from my friend, Dominic!

October 10: Definitely a sucker for fall fashion and aesthetic, so take any character or group of characters from one of your favorite pieces of content and give them a fall aesthetic makeover.

October 11: Crows collect shiny things… what things might the nest of a crow contain from one of your favorite fictional universes? - This idea came from my friend, Lev!

October 12: Take any color and ONLY use that color in order to depict a Halloween, horror movie, or fall scene.

October 13: A very expressionistic vibe for this prompt: draw the aura which you hope to be walking in during fall or Halloween. - This idea came from my friend, Valerie!

October 14: There’s LOTS of new words and sayings out there (skibidi, rizz, Ohio, ick, etc.). Google some, you’ll learn a couple new ones. I want you to create a Halloween monster/creature/cryptid based off one of these new words, as if they were the names of the creatures themself (Oh my gosh… it’s the legendary Los Angeles Ick…)

October 15: Sure, people are scared of Halloween monsters… but are there things that would be scary to those monsters? Get creative and depict some things/scenarios that would be terrifying to a typical Halloween creature! - This idea came from my friend, Jackie!

October 16: Those new horror-fied versions of fast food/cereal monsters from October 4 need weapons… take a meal or the cereal from the brand you got your mascot from, and create a weapon inspired by it!

October 17: There has been lots of theorizing in the fields of science on how the human body may evolve in order to either perform modern tasks better or survive… SO, imagine up a human evolution that has adapted to survive some environment (fire, spider bites, rejection), or one that has adapted to perform a certain task (tennis, gaming, folding clothes). - This idea comes from my friend, Joan!

October 18: So, Toy Story 5 has been announced… draw the next toy that’s gonna be introduced as a character in it.

October 19: Returning to an annual favorite of mine… take any character(s) from a piece of media and depict them in the style of a Tim Burton character.

October 20: As a play off of Dominic’s suggestion from an earlier day, take any western animation’s characters and depict them in the style of a foreign animation!

October 21: Taking inspiration from the movie, Hocus Pocus, take any character from a piece of media and depict them riding what *they* would probably bewitch into a broomstick if they had to in a pinch!

October 22: They’re giving your favorite background character a spin-off series. What does the poster for it look like? - This idea is from my friend, Dominic!

October 23: Ok… that monster/killer mascot you made on October 4th? The movie has to have a setting. Maybe an appropriate building? Maybe an entire town… Depict that setting…

October24: Take a character from your favorite movie/tv show and depict them as if they were a character in a fighting game like Smash Bros. or Street Fighter! What does their special/ultimate move look like? - This idea came from my friend, David!

October 25: Take any fun/special memory from your life and create a children’s book cover inspired by it. - This idea came from my friend, Stephanie!

October 26: Take your favorite classic Halloween monster and use them as inspiration for a new species of insect… - This idea came from my friend, Dahlia!

October 27: This feels like a classic for any time of year: take any favorite piece of media and cast the Sanders Sides in it.

October 28: [Any of your favorite pieces of media] … and Zombies

October 29: Think of a very important key object from one of your favorite movies or tv shows that the protagonist(s) finds. Now imagine they never stumbled upon it. What would it look like 100 years later? What else may have happened to it if the protagonist never found it? - This idea came from my friend, Chantz!

October 30: Now… we combine the ideas together to make the ultimate new Halloween villain! Take your creations from October 4th, 8th, 16th, and 23rd, and place them all together to create a scene of them terrorizing the main protagonists!

October 31: And, as a classic end-of-the-month tradition, today’s prompt is about celebrating the reason for the season, Halloween! Imagine if Halloween was like New Year’s Eve for Halloween creatures/characters. What would they look like, dressed all fancy for the occasion and celebrating?

Got the list fully completed! Looking forward to whatever you all create! 

[ozzgin]

Quick question, is our octopus lover a hybrid like half human half octopus,or just a full octopus? I've no idea if you've already answered this. If you have my bad. Love you lots.

Regarding Yan! Sea Creature. He's a humanoid hybrid! I was planning to clarify it shortly after the story with a doodle, especially after 🐦‍⬛ anon mentioned chomping on his tentacles, but I was a bit hesitant to start on all those suckers. So here's the final design with some delay.

I always imagined a sort of ethereal, luminescent, and eerie creature you'd see in a deep-sea documentary, lurking in the pitch black trenches of our oceans. He does resemble a human, which is why he's always been fascinated by them. In fact, he will frequently compare himself to you, cautiously feeling for your features and locking his fingers with yours.

But he's also very much unlike you. He doesn't speak, nor can he see the way you do. The light above is blinding, and you can tell his time spent on the surface with you is taxing. He belongs in the depths.

[nekoboydreams]

I came across your game yesterday and it is a delight! I adore Pierret's little jingles when he walks, the character's expressions, the designs! I have many many questions about them, but I'd love to know more about the world as well. You've said it's semi-modern, which is always a fun era ❤️

1) The eyes on the walls at the diner when the lights go out - are those a purely atmospheric effect to simulate the feeling of being 'watched'? (and if so, it does an amazing job!), or might they be a feature of a more literal ability for one of the characters? :3

2) I'm curious if there are more monsters in the world, or is it a setting where the circus are the only creatures turned human? Like there might be other urban myths or legends out there, and most are fake, but though they're few and far between, there are in fact other creatures like those in the circus living in plain sight - or out of sight, if they prefer.

3) What (if anything) would make Harlequinn take interest in a person apart from Pierrot having given them a ticket? Pierrot is amazing, but I am an utter sucker for characters that tease. I would be delighted to know more about the green menace (like how would he react to being called a menace lol). I'll have to wait to see what Harlequin is like later in the story, but so far that scene in the tent where he reads our hesitatation to his question is my favourite!

Thank you! And I'm really happy to hear that! 1) At this point, it's mainly for you to feel closer to the atmosphere MC is experiencing. After so many people warning about the dangers, the lights going out right after you're almost certain there's someone in there... it's the perfect setting to start seeing things that might not really be there.

2) This is something you'll find out more about as the game goes on, so that's all I can say for now.

3) Harlequin would definitely flirt with you if you called him a menace, actually enjoys being one. For Harlequin to become genuinely interested, beyond his rivalry with Pierrot, MC would need to show a clear preference for him. Not many people like Harlequin, so it's really nice to hear that you do.

[rehabresorts]

Double Creature Feature - Millie and Moxxie Knolastname

Okay, real talk, despite the fact that Millie's been treated the same as Vagatha by the narrative I just was appalled about how many missed opportunities she was given but then taken away.

Call me a sucker but I HAD to do something. Because of how she was recently treated and from how Viv always had to do the thing she KNOWS would get people mad at her, I made Millie infertile. It's really upsetting that all Millie's known for is a scrapped suicide plot and a undeserved pregnancy arc. Infertility is something women go through and to know that Viv wasted a potential good story telling and awareness by making Millie more "goonable" I decided to change it. Also women with a huge loving family and a man with a small broken family was also a missed oppertunity too.

PleasantSpark Note: FUCK YOU TUMBLR MY ORIGINAL MILLIE AND MOXXIE POST DECIDED TO GROW WINGS AND DISAPPEAR, DKSFSJFSKLFJSDF FUCK FUCK FUCK IT SAVED AS A DRAFT BUT WHERE IT GO? Anyways OG had a joke where the image was copied from discord but was TOO BIG so I removed it and used the saved one from my GAY ASS PC.

Millie

Millie (nee Knoxford) had grown up into a family filled with loving members. A Trans Brother and a Trans sister with supporting family. It was a warm and loving family that she dreamed of having. Her family was interracial, her mother being Mexican and her father being African American. During an incident at the farm at 10 years old, Millie was burnt like her future boss Blitzo which led to her developing a fear of Fire. Before she married Moxxie, Millie had been in relationships and she found out she was infertile. Though initally heartbroken she decided now wasn't the time to think about something like that. After years of living with her family. Millie moved out and decided to hang around the Greed Ring where she met Moxxie. Moxxie was very shy and very meek. She and him grew close and later on they gotten married. Millie had taken Moxxie's last name, Knolastname and since his father had ties to the Mafia they had decided to join Blitzo's assassination squad.

Moxxie

We all know the stories, a young man growing to love his mother because his father was a piece of shit, yada yada yada, really, Crimson was a piece of shit he gave him shit advice and expected Moxxie to be just like him. Crimson and Moxxie's realationship is summoned best as Arthur and Clay's relationship, instead of seeking approval, he was seeking support and love. Moxxie was very attached to his mother who bailed him out and put Crimson in his place. Moxxie was half Latina and of course his mother was very strict but loving. The last he remembers of her is when she and his father argued and the last that happened was when he pushed a trunk overboard which led into the discovery of his mother's unconscious body there. His mother was killed or at least he hoped she was still alive but... She died probably. Moxxie since then lived with his father who tormented him and blamed HIM for his mothers death. Since then Moxxie ran away and joined I.M.P to get away.

[finxwrites]

strange & grimm, which btw sounds like an urban fantasy affectionately parodic hardboiled detective agency. probably queer.

It was a hot, muggy night in the Enchanted Forest. Everyone with a lick of sense was down in the fairy glens, hoping the Winter Court would put in an appearance and bring a breeze on with them. Lucky me, I’m the sucker who fingered the Snow Queen for the missing persons case last winter, so I’m persona non grata in the fairy glens these days.

Just as well. I couldn’t afford to leave the office, not when it’d been so long since my last case. Though on a night like this, I might as well not bother. It was too hot for crime. Even the leaves on the enchanted trees were drooping in the heat. 

I was just about to call it a night when a dame walked in my door. Tall, blonde, legs for days, with an air of tragedy that could put an unloved stepchild to shame. I looked her over suspiciously for any cheery woodland creatures hidden in her golden ringlets. If she was a princess, I’d turf her right back out of the office, case unheard. Princesses paid well, but they were more trouble than they were worth.

No mice poked their adorable little noses out of her pockets as the dame sank into a chair and fixed me with a hard look. “I hear you’re the best in the business,” she said without preamble. “And I need the best.”

I leaned back in my seat. “Baby, I’m the only one in the business. It’s not a good genre for private dicks.”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, yes, far too child-friendly for any sort of dicks.” Before I could recover from that little gem, she went on, “It’s a child I’m here about. My sister. She’s…she’s gone missing.” She took a deep, shuddering breath. “Please, Detective, you’re my last hope. The royal courts won’t hear me out, they think she’s gone on the lam!”

I nodded grimly. “One of those Bo Peep situations, huh?” I get a depressing number of those. All it takes is one wolf in sheep’s clothing—you’d think the kids would learn.

The dame glared. There was enough cold iron in her gaze to put a fairy off her ambrosia. “On the lam, Detective. On the run. My sister has…something of a record.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Your sister the child? She some kind of crime prodigy?”

The dame fidgeted, looking away. “She’s…” She sighed explosively. “My sister is Goldilocks.”

I whistled, low and long. Crime prodigy indeed—Goldilocks was wanted in five kingdoms for the most impressive string of burglaries the Enchanted Forest had ever seen. No one could ever prove she’d done it, but the circumstantial evidence had piled up higher than mattresses on a pea. No wonder no royal court would take this case.

The dame’s shoulders hunched defensively, but she bulled on without trying to defend her wayward sister. “She’s gone missing, and I know it’s not another one of her sprees. Something is wrong this time.” She turned back to meet my eyes, her lovely features harsh with poorly-suppressed fear. “It’s her first crime come back to haunt her, I just know it is. They’ve always wanted revenge—especially the baby of the family, and he’s all grown up now. What they’d do if they got hold of her—“ She cut herself off with a watery gasp; her eyes were wet with tears. “Oh, it doesn’t bear thinking about!”

I handed her a handkerchief and gave her a minute to compose herself. It gave me a minute, too, to decide if I was really going to be this stupid. You don’t tangle with the big predators, not if you know what’s good for you, and especially not a whole family of them. Families are a dangerous thing in any genre.

But I was her last hope, and I’m a sucker for lost causes. And if I didn’t get paid soon, this business would become a lost cause itself. I said a silent farewell to my good sense as it packed its bags and left for kinder climes. “Alright,” I told the dame, “Give me the facts. We’ll see what kind of a story they tell.”

[hsvh-hp]

Erised 2024 Fic Rec List!

I wanted to put this forward before @hd-erised reveals to maximize the blindness of my recs for this year’s fest!

These were my favourites among those up for offer, in order of posting (note, this is fic only - every single piece of art was gorgeous and is worth looking at it): 

✨ Runaway Train (18k)

This is a cool fic. I can’t think of a better word to describe it. Right from the get-go, the reader is strapped in alongside Harry and we are on a journey. The title fits the feeling of that perfectly. I was not expecting the end result of the mystery, and I mean that in a way that left me with a sense of wonder. It’s so incredibly original. 

I also love a Draco who isn’t afraid post-war of appreciating old magic. There’s nuance in his separation between that which is bad and good! Also, I’m a sucker for when the conflict or tension in a Drarry fic is Harry and Draco versus something else, not them against each other. They make such a great team when allowed! 

✨ At Night All Birds are Black (51k)

This fic put a lump in my throat at the end. The first thing I think about when I consider this fic is the resolution because it brought everything together so beautifully. 

I don’t want to spoil since this is a case fic, but it was just so captivating! The lore and worldbuilding were just incredible. 

✨ Body and Soul (22k)

I find myself rather fussy about both soul mark and creature fics. This one explored the comorbidity of two such things in such interesting fashion that it hit the notes for me! There was also just enough angst to hurt, and the happy ending made it very worth the pain. Bonus points for magical/Healing theory and using framing as a narrative device!

✨ The Pain From an Old Wound (30k)

When it comes to magical theory and case fics, this one continued the trend of me being fed this Erised season. The nature of inheritances and wizarding culture are more tropes that I am very picky about, although this fic did it in a way I enjoy. 

It delved into other tropes that I thoroughly enjoy but don’t see very often in fic, like including things about Malfoy Manor, a bigger role for Narcissa, and (because I don’t want to spoil) THAT SOLUTION to how Draco solves the blood curse placed on Harry. Also, I must mention that I very much enjoyed Ron as a socialite! 

✨ A Soft Place to Fall (142k)

Although the word count on this one was initially daunting, I became very quickly glad that it would take me multiple days to savour and enjoy this fic. It hit so many notes for me that I don’t even really know where to begin. 

The magical theory (again, fed) was incredible, and how it tied in with trauma and healing for Harry. I found it subversive in the sense that it touched upon trauma post-war that I don’t usually see, focusing more on his childhood than the war itself (although of course that is not forgotten). 

It also features a Professors-but-not-Professors AU, with Healer Draco and Harry teaching physical ed. I always enjoy Healer Draco anyway, but I loved seeing the non-explicit ways that he has changed his life since the war. He’s great with the students who end up in the hospital wing. He had a hand in physical ed being offered at Hogwarts, as well as the fact that Muggle sports were incorporated. When he realizes that something is off about Harry (following an incident), he puts aside their initial tension in order to fulfill his Oath. It’s completely organic that he truly begins to care. That is never brought into question for the reader (Harry takes some convincing, but what do you do lol). 

Other things I loved: ZACHARIAS SMITH (it’s possible!), the students (they are so cute), and Harry’s relationship to his trauma and how he learns to love himself. And, of course, it goes without saying, how Harry and Draco grow together. This will be a go-to comfort fic for me, in future. 

✨ Seven-and-sixpence (35k)

There are some tropes that are very difficult for me, infidelity (although it is NOT between Draco and Harry here) and open endings among them. HOWEVER, sometimes a fic will come along with those tropes on offer and I will be pleasantly surprised! 

This fic was that for me. There was something about Harry having such a deep need that going to Draco regardless of his current relationship that really spoke to me. And as for Draco, this is pretty much the only way I like him portrayed when he doesn’t feel worthy of Harry. He’ll still take him, and he’ll build him up, and then his sense of inadequacy only increases because if he didn’t deserve him to start, he certainly doesn’t now. I really enjoyed the complexity of that. 

✨ Prescription (2k)

In contrast to the previous one, very sweet! Also a perfect bite size. Draco is Harry’s favourite Healer, and they go from there. ❤️

✨ Old love don’t rust (20k)

A case fic, although the case (however interesting!) is merely the backdrop. I thoroughly enjoyed the non-linear narrative, and how Harry and Draco’s history was gradually built while they’re dealing with coming back together in a tense, high-stakes sort of way.

I struggle generally with ‘getting back together’ fics, since I have a hard time seeing them letting go of each other once they have a hold, although to me it’s very understandable that life gets in the way, especially when you’re young and just getting started. This was handled in a satisfying way to me. 

✨ Equipoise (88k)

More magical theory! And another case fic! I love case fics when magic itself has something to do with the solution, as well as magical creatures being included. The way magic itself as a quantity is handled in this fic had me spinning up theories and hitting Next Chapter through to the end. The secondary plot, based on a creative play with Unbreakable Vows, was also a nail biter. Poor Harry, but thank god Draco was willing to help him out. 

✨ Victory Lap (4k)

There’s a lot of story here for under 5000 words! The Wizengamot case that Draco was sequestered for is HELLA interesting, and seeing as I’m always a hungry sucker for Established Drarry, Draco and Harry’s reunion was a lovely (and hot) read. 

✨ As Luck Would Have It (12k)

I am very weak for canon divergence Drarry, especially in 6th year. Do you want Half-Blood Prince, but Draco and Harry are weird and unable to stay away from each other? Do you like it when the canon plot is changed in interesting and creative ways, and comes up to an exciting conclusion? Well, I do, so I loved this fic, and if you do, you’ll love it too. 

✨ Storm’s Eye (12k)

The chemistry is on point here, the lore/theory intriguing, and the race against time palpable. I’m a sucker for Draco being protective of Harry, and of calling him ‘love’ and ‘darling’ so naturally. I melted every time (and so did Harry lol). Extremely satisfying. 

✨ Kiss Me, Fuck Me, Love Me (5k)

Yay, more non-linear narrative! This is another thing I am being fed on this year. 

The fic balances being sweet, hot, and funny perfectly and creates an explosion as Harry and Draco ride out the last night of their mutual pining and the first night of their relationship on New Year’s Eve! I realized while reading this that my favourite kind of Drarry mutual pining is when it’s their friends who are suffering, not so much them, lol. Pansy and Ron’s individual theatrics about Harry and Draco was hilarious. 

So those were my favourites! I'm very excited for reveals to find out who the authors are! ❤️💚

[raven-cincaide]

 Pumpkin Carving Contest 

Summary: You enter a pumpkin carving contest without knowing what to carve. In panic you settle for one of Megumi’s shikigami, without much thought behind the choice. In fact, you don’t think much of it…. until your Ex shows up, wanting to know what the hell you thought you were doing.

Pairing: Fem! Reader x (ex) Megumi Fushuguro  Sweetober prompt 3: Pumpkin carving contest  WC: 3.1 K Warnings: Cursing, hurt/comfort, hint at Megumi’s trauma, 

Think of something scary 

You stared at the unusually shaped pumpkin in front of you, your head rested in the palm of your hand while the second free hand nervously flickered through the drawings in your sketchbook. You had given up on trying to design something new and were desperately seeing if any of your previous ideas or sketches could be adapted to fit the pumpkin, which was significantly less jack-o-lantern round than what you were used to. No, it was relatively flat, and oval shaped like a cabbage with a long, thick stem.  

When you signed up for the carving competition and picked out your pumpkin, there were only a handful of pumpkins left to pick from.  All the perfectly round pumpkins and even the more classic, slightly dented ones were taken, leaving behind either abnormally large or significantly deformed ones. In sheer panic, you picked the first pumpkin you saw and stuck with that choice even as the competition administrator checked with you three times to see if he understood you currently. Knowing you were fucked either way, you stuck with your choice. 

This led you to the predicament you were in, sitting on the picnic bench at the event, silently staring at your notebook with the same cheap plastic carving tools that everyone else had. Yours however were untouched, while all around you laid the same tools in various shapes of destroyed. The sound of cracking pumpkins, curses and scraping of insides filled the space all around you. Most of the other competitors were well on the way with their creatuons and would surely be done within the designated three hours. You hadn’t even set on the design, let alone started carving. You may as well count your losses, although you weren’t ready to give up completely. 

What’s even scary to people? 

Three years ago that question would have an obvious answer to you. After being hunted by curses, dating Megumi and being around his Shinigami, the answer was less clear. What was a ghost or a spider in comparison to a house-sized snarling monster? What were bloody handprints when you had seen Megumi’s almost cut off fingers, and claw-sized chunks of missing flesh out of him? What were fake vampires when you had run in with s real soul sucker and lived!? 

You cut off your trail of thoughts as your eyes landed on a competitor's pumpkin that was chiselled out of human-like teeth to accompany the perfectly round Jack-o-Lantern eyes. You didn’t necessarily find it scary, a bit unnerving as your thoughts drifted to the impossible possibility of the pumpkin coming to life. Would it be scary then, or are just the human-like teeth.. Scary? 

Instantly, your mind brought up an image of a creature you had only ever seen once over a year ago. Large owl-like body with dirty orange feathers, huge talons that could carry or shred and a pair of wings. The face was a white mask with eerie human features and human-like teeth. Megumi had called the shinigami ‘Nue’ when he taught you how to make shadow puppets one late afternoon. You had been so excited to learn, doing your best to wiggle your fingers to mimic the shapes he was doing like second nature—dog, bunny and then bird. And even if you’d never be able to summon the magnificent creatures he could, the simple thing made you feel closer to Megumi. More connected. And you’d always make the sign for the ‘dog’ whenever you felt lonely. The memory brought a stab of pain to your heart, and you shook your head, desperate to chase away the pleasant-unpleasant reminders of your ex. Instead you forced your focus back to the pumpkin in front of you

Was Nue scary?

You tried to think back to what you felt when the owl-like beast had appeared. Was it fear you felt? Or just pure excitement as you got to ruffle its huge feathers all you wanted. Yet as time ticked away- and with no better alternative at hand- you sketched the design of the shinigami from memory and began to chisel away at your pumpkin. Using the pumpkin's naturally flattened shape as a guide for Nue’s wings, you carved them to stretch behind its main face, as though the shikigami was in mid-flight. The central focus was the face; the large eyes and the toothy mask clasped, teeth bared so every single one of them was visible. You also split the thick stem of the pumpkin and tried to shape it and hack at it to make Nue’s signature ruffle feathers at the top of his head. You didn’t think it would save your creation, but maybe you would get a little above zero points, 

Maybe even a participation trophy AND creativity trophy. 

Those were your thoughts as you submitted the pumpkin and your number to the contestant before going to wash up and then purposefully forgetting all about it, Nue, Megumi and the competition entirely. There was no point in walking around stressing about a sure loss and questioning whether you had picked the right subject for the right category. Nue wasn’t scary, and even if you tried to make him malicious, you doubted he would stand a chance against seasoned pumpkin carvers. Besides the winner would be announced a week later, at the end of the fall festival giving people, both locals and those from larger towns around, ample time to vote and photograph the dozens of pumpkins. 

The unmistakable highlight of the local newspaper. After all a pumpkin carving contest was the most exciting thing that happened in a small town over an hour from the capital.

By the time Sunday the following week rolled around, you had completely forgotten that you had used Nue as the subject for your pumpkin. You pushed back the memories of carving the creature into the orangy flesh, and the sentimental feelings that wanted to spill to the surface while you carved. You were the same as the way you had been since your and Megumi’s break up; controlled, collected, unbothered. 

Moved on. 

It was a lie, internally you were a total fucking mess who still couldn’t understand why after five years together Megumi decided to call it off. Even being months apart didn’t make it any clearer to you. And it certainly didn’t make it any clearer, or easier, when you saw Megumi standing by the podium where the three winning pumpkins were placed on stands of different heights. His hands in his pockets, face angled up towards the carved creations, eyes focused on the winner: the unmistakable carving of Nue taking flight. 

You must have been imagining things, and your cruel mind was playing tricks on you. He wasn’t there, and you hadn’t won the entire competition- had you? Yet as you stumbled closer and closer, you came to the unmistakable realization that both of those things were true. You won. The honour, a set of carving knives and a small cash price were yours to collect before the end of the day. You won, with Nue, and Megumi was here, staring at the same carving of Nue that you were. He didn’t turn around and leave the second you appeared like he had done whenever he ran into you post-breakup. He stood rooted in place, and so did you, staring at the same damn pumpkin as the rest of the world faded into the background.  

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Megumi’s voice sounded tired and frustrated as if you had done the stupidest thing in the world. It was the same tone he had used with you whenever a date turned into a mission and you threw a rock at a cursed spirit to give Megumi enough time to summon his demon dogs. 

“What?” You snapped back, your voice holding nothing but pure anger. Three months apart, and this was the greeting he gave you, after five years together? Although it served to enrage you, the tiny part of you that still loved this man beyond all words rang warning bells. Plus the annoying bells in your mind told you that something didn’t quite add up.  

“Don’t ‘what’ me” Megumi turned to face you, pure fury in his expression. “You have no idea the kind of danger you put yourself in by announcing your connection to me, and after everything-” He cut himself off and shook his head as if it wasn’t worth explaining what he meant and settle for a tamer “- you pull this type of stunt!” 

You faced him, your mouth set into a straight line so hard your lips were pale while you clutched your fists tightly to prevent yourself from snapping or slapping him for telling you how to lead your life, especially while he still talked in riddles. A deep breath, inhale in- exhale out. You did your best to stay calm, your mind completely focused on that annoying ringing voice that demanded answers, “‘This stunt’ What the hell is your issue anyway? We’re not a couple, I can do and carve whoever I want now” Your voice came out huffier and more bitter than you intended. Megumi narrowed his eyes at you. “Don’t be an idiot, especially after all the hoops and sacrifices I made to keep you safe-?” “-You made?-”  Megumi ignored your outburst and kept talking: “- and instead of quietly going on to live your best life, you’re practically screaming to the entire jujutsu society that you’re involved in our world, with me. You’re putting a target on your back, and I can’t keep you safe.” Megumi took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair, a desperate attempt to distract you and anyone who looked at him from the obviously embarrassed blush on his face. 

You were quiet for a long moment, processing both what he was saying and everything he wasn’t saying, the subtitles that Megumi bore, which he didn’t want you to know about. The things that were part of his world, his reality and which he refused to let you enter even after dating for five years. Although to your advantage, five years was a long time to get to know someone, even as close off and aloof as Megumi. You wouldn’t say you read him like an open book, but you were as close as anyone to being able to read Megumi like an open book. 

 “Then get stronger, ” you said it so casually that it was Megumi’s turn to snort. But now it's you who’s not letting him get a word in; “Let’s face it, Yuji’s just proposed to his girlfriend who can’t even see curses or cursed energy-” 

“ -It’s different” Megumi snapped, his tone grew louder and more frustrated- loud enough to silence you mid-sentence.  Again he ran his hand through his hair as if it could calm his rage. “Yuji doesn’t have one of the three most powerful jujutsu clans demanding him to be their next clan head.” 

You raised an eyebrow at his excuse, your expression unconvinced. “You also don’t want to be part of Zenin”, you shot back instantly.

Megumi didn’t look at you. “It’s not that easy. If I leave, they’ll target you...” he trailed off unsure how to continue. 

It took you all of three minutes to gather yourself, your fingers moving from crossed arms to pressing against your temple in a more subtle facepalm - slash - combatting -the -oncoming -headache look.

“So let me get this straight Megumi,” You utter the words slowly, making it clear you were trying to follow his not-so-logical trail of thoughts. “You broke up with me because what? Yuji proposed to his girlfriend of 2 years, and it made you feel less of a man-” Megumi shot you a dark glare which you promptly ignored “- because for you to do the same, you’d need to break things off with Zenin clan which might take years, you think they’ll target me and think I will betray you-” 

-” I don’t think you will betray me”, he added hastily, and you threw your hands up in the air in surrender. 

“Then what, Megumi? Why did you throw five years out of the window? Then chastise me for carving Nue into a pumpkin. Make it make sense, please!” 

You were desperate now. 

You were desperate to understand his reasoning because his behaviour was the definition of contradictions and illogical. To push you away and coldly break up with you, yet so obviously still care about you and your safety. 

No, the Megumi that stood in front of you at that moment, frustrated and embarrassed, was the polar opposite of the aloof and composed, slightly awkward yet always well-prepared Megumi you’ve come to know and love. You needed to understand why. But he didn’t give you an answer, not verbally, at least. Instead, his eyes flickered down to your stomach, and lingered there for a long moment before they returned to your face. Your mind registered the action and tried to process it step by step. You weren’t pregnant; you two had never even talked about children until he suddenly hinted at it. So why would he suddenly fixate himself with that? 

A look of shame crossed his features; Megumi licked his dry lips, his fists shaking in his pockets. The penny dropped as you realised it wasn’t logic speaking but trauma, an irrational fear that if you were to settle down and get pregnant, then, you, who would automatically get primary childcare- if not by being a mother, then certainly with his long absences as a sorcerer-, would be swayed by Zenin the same way his own father had been.

 Megumi worried you’d sell your future children to the godforsaken clan while he would be helpless to stop it, tying him right back to the Zenin’s. A repeat of what he’d been through.

“You’re afraid.” it felt weird to say it aloud. Megumi has always been strong and always denied being afraid of anything, but now you knew he was afraid; afraid that his clan would somehow turn his and your life into a misfortune, a repeat of his father, Toji’s, life. A pain for you, a horror for him and a torture for whatever offsprings you two made. 

“I don’t want to waste your prime” Megumi’s voice was quiet now, rendered with guilt and the inevitable comparison he was making between your relationship and Yuji and his fiancee. The pair who was already settling down two years into their relationship, while you and Megumi had broken up at the five-year mark. Broke up over a hypothetical ‘getting more involved with each other’ and even more hypothetical children and what would happen if Zenin got involved in your lives. 

“This is so stupid” You breathed, pressing the backs of your hands against your eyes. You didn’t know whether you wanted to burst out crying or laughing. It was like a bad comedy sketch. “First, would you say it’d be a waste of ‘our prime’ if we can’t have children?” You look up from your hands to see Megumi staring at you with a deadpan expression. “No, I’m serious, just consider for a moment that we follow the supposed plan ‘we should be doing’, you know, get married before 7 years together have passed, then try for children only to find out one of us is infertile. Would that be a waste of 7 years for you?” 

He looked lost. You weren’t done yet. “Second, our timeline and relationship are different from Yuji’s relationship. If they want to get married within a year, that’s up to them. In the same way, it wouldn’t make a difference between us if Nobara were to get a shotgun wedding tomorrow. We’re only in our twenties, Megumi. And unlike some, I am not ready to put my career on hold for household duties and changing diapers.” Your voice grew quiet, and the tears you had been pushing back all this time threatened to spill down your cheeks in angry streams. 

There was so much more you wanted to tell him, you wanted to tell him how this was a conversation you two should have had together. You wanted to tell him that a future together, a tomorrow, wasn’t guaranteed. In the same way, his mother had been suddenly ripped away from his father, he could die in battle, or you could be hit by a car tomorrow and perish. 

A day,  week or a year wasn’t promised to either of you; life owed you nothing but that very moment. 

You wanted him to know that so it was pointless to make these huge plans for the future that would most likely not work out. Even more foolish was comparing your relationship with someone else's. To wait five, or ten years to get married might be a curse for one person- but a blessing for another. But you couldn’t voice any of that; you don’t know how, so you settle for a much simpler; “ You’re an idiot, Megumi. A big mean dummy” 

Megumi looked embarrassed, guilty and awkward and turned away from you, back to face the ‘scary’ pumpkins, which judged you from their stands. The blush on his face matched the crimson of his ears. And just like that, you were back from your little emotional bubble and in the real world, suddenly aware of the little audience of curious passers-by who watched your intimate exchange. 

Your own face flushed red, and you looked down, unsure of what to say. 

“You know.. You really hurt Nue’s feelings, carving him as the theme for ‘scary, creepy and nightmarish’ ¨

You realized the olive branch when you saw it, and although you are the one who should be angry and mean, telling him to fuck off, you couldn’t bring yourself to deny that little peace offering. It was hard to throw five years together, primarily because of trauma wrapped in communication issues. The fact of the matter was Megumi broke up with you out of fear and care, not out of spite. Somehow, that fact made him feel more human to you, more relatable in a way. Not so perfect. 

So you just stretched your hand towards him; “Then let me apologise to Nue, in person.” 

Megumi took your hand without hesitation, tugging it into his jacket pocket to keep warm against the chilly October weather before he began heading to a more private spot to summon your muse. 

This conversation was far from over, and things were in no way back to the way they were before the breakup. But at least you both had talked and came to the mutual realisation that you wanted to fix this, to make it work, and you were sure the rest would sort itself… one way or another.

Author note: In my opinion there are just not enough Megumi fics where you've gone past the initial stage of the relationship, moved past the 'getting comfortable together' but before happy hubby stage. You know the uncertain period where you don't know when to propose or even if you should. The no-longer-girlfriend but not yet wife stage. This was me trying to rectify.

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[sarawritestories]

DarkSide of Prythian WIP

Here are some quotes from some of the requests for the Darkside of Prythian "series" I'm working on! Thank you all who submitted a request, my sweet, unhinged little Readers 🤭 I'm going to try to post one of these request once maybe twice a week some of these I imagine are going to be Loooooonnnng so bear with me as I work through them! Alright, enough rambling below the cut is the goods! These are subject to change once I get deep into writing but a treat none the less!

Content warning: Our leading ladies are all tied down and / or silenced in some capacity In these sneak peeks. There is mentions of slipping drugs in food and alluding to mind control.

I Can See You

Stalker Az X Fem Reader

You were the most beautiful creature the shadowsinger had ever seen. Even with tears sliding down your face; your panties stuffed in your mouth held in place by a shadow wrapped around your head. The Spymaster wouldn't want to disturb your neighbors after all. That wouldn't be Polite.

And Azriel was always polite.

You Belong To Me

Dark Cassian X Mated Fem Reader

You tugged at the bonds, keeping you in the chair when rough calloused hands gripped your cheeks tightly, "You are my mate, You belong to me." You whimpered as he placed a chaste kiss on your lips, "By the end of the week, you will accept the bond." He whispered as he released his grip on your face and scooped up a bite of food with a fork. You pressed your lips together, not wanting to accept any food from the general. "You need to eat," he tried to reason. You shook your head, and frustration coated the male's features as he quickly pinched your nose. "Open." He commands with a lethal calm that caused a shiver down your spine that you did what he asked. Not wasting a second, he placed the utensil in your mouth and began to feed you.

The food was delicious. You hated to deny it, but you were so hungry you didn't think twice about whether your fated mate laced it with anything.

To Be Mine...Forever

Dark Azriel X Reader (Rhys' Sister)

Azriel smiled at you, his eyes had a dangerous look to them as his hand grazed down the lace of your gown. Your wedding gown,"You are a vision, in white, my love. I'm sure the heir of Autumn would have loved you in it." You cried out muffled as he had wrapped your veil through your teeth, not wanting to hear your protests. The chains on your wrist rattled as you tried to lunge for him. He gripped your face, "Don't be a brat, I'm freeing you from the lowley confines of the Autimn court. You were never meant to be there. To be with him." He pressed a gentle kiss to your forehead as your eyes brimmed with tears not finding comfort by his touch, "You were meant to be mine... Forever." He pulls the veil from your lips only to seal his lips to yours.

My Best Friends Girl

Dark Rhysand X Azriel's Mate (fem Reader)

A hand clamped over your mouth, jolting you awake. Your eyes met familiar violet ones as Rhysand pressed a finger to his own lips. "Shhh shh shh, It's only me, baby." He whispered, and your heart rate slowed to a normal pace. Your eyes shifted over to the Illyrian beside you. Azriel still sounded asleep in your bed, though his shadows were swirling, trying to wake him up. "Look at me, Pretty girl." Your eyes moved back to your high lord, his hand still around your mouth. "I'm going to take you away from here. Would you like that?" Would you like that? Your body screamed that it was wrong? Though your mind kept repeating:

Stay with the High Lord he will keep you safe.

Rhys, knowing your pretty little head was heavy nodded it for you with the hand pressing down on your lips, accepting his offer to steal you away, to free you. To keep you safe.

SongBird

Modern Mafia AU Cassian X Fem Reader

Cassian's men strapped you to the leather chair, and you struggled to no avail as the leather straps cinched your skin to the chair. The man had a smug look on his face as he sat at the stool a sucker in his mouth, a tattoo gun in his gloved hand. Your breathing became labored. "What are you going to do with that?" You asked.

He pulled the candy out of his mouth and smiled, "Claiming what's mine, My sweet Songbird." You opened your mouth to protest, but instead, the sweet taste of cherry hit your tongue as Cassian shoved the sucker he was eating in your mouth. You instantly closed your mouth on the candy as the sound of the machine rang through the room, and he began tattooing your outer thigh.

Not caring that he was writing, "Property of Cassian," permanently on your skin, you simply hummed thinking about your love for cherry flavored things.

[angel-gidget]

Gidge's Guide to Amethyst

I did one of these a while back, but with reeaallly low-quality images. These days, there’s more Amethyst stuff out there, and that’s worth an update in its own right.

Amy’s first appearance was technically in Legion of Super-Heroes #298 which featured a “pull-out preview comic” to entice people into picking up the maxi-series. I’ve yet to get my mitts on it to confirm if it’s just sample art from the maxi-series, or has dialogue/art never seen anywhere else. Regardless, your best starting point is probably gonna be…

I. 1980’s 12-issue Maxi-Series (+ follow-up Annual)

High jump-through-portal fantasy. Fantastic creatures, creepy villains, magical royalty, intricate world building that explains some things and lets your brain fill in the gaps for others, and consistently gorgeous art. Can’t recommend enough.

The annual shown takes place after the maxi-series and sets the stage for the ongoing series that follows.

Get it by Patron methods: Dc Universe Series Page DC’s Showcase via Amazon or Abe Books (Note: no color art for showcase, only black & white)

Get it by Peasant methods: Over here. 💎

II. 1980’s 16-issue Ongoing Series (+ follow-up Annual)

While there is a lot of fantastic stuff going on with the ongoing series, it is more of a mixed bag.

While I am forever in love with cover of issue #11, I remember turning to page 1 and wondering what the heck happened to the inside art. It’s not bad, really. It just doesn’t meet the high bar of the covers (or earlier interiors). Looking back, I realized the art was getting less detailed well before that, but my reading was all over the place as a kid bc I’d just read whatever issues I could find.

This here, at issue #12, is actually a good place to stop. By which I mean, the next 4 issues + special reek of grimdark edge-lord bs that doesn’t even make sense without reading Crisis on Infinite Earths. However, if you wish to proceed…

The final issue of the ongoing is technically a cliffhanger, and the Special grants the writers the extra pages they need to finish wrapping up their whole Lords of Order & Chaos/Dr. Fate tie-in.

After this, someone in DC editorial raised their pencil and went “Hey! What if we made the Gemworld the origin for one of our Legion of Super-Heroes villains?” And thus…

Get it by Patron methods: Dc Universe Series Page DC’s Showcase via Amazon or Abe Books (Note: no color art for showcase, only black & white) (Also note: Showcase contains both Maxi and Ongoing series)

Get it by Peasant methods: Over here. ⚔️

III. 1980’s 4-issue Mini-Series

This thing is all kinds of whack, but it is gorgeous. I get the impression that when Kieth Giffen and Mindy Newell were assigned this sucker, they just read a summary of the OG series and winged it.

Probably not, since they technically wrote those final issues of the ongoing, but that’s how it feels. Despite this, it’s grown on me like a fungus, and the mind-blowing art by Esteban Moroto is, like, 98% of the reason why.

Amethyst is always at her weirdest when Dc is trying to tie her in with the rest of the DCU. In this case, the mini is supposed to explain how a Legion of Super-Heroes villain has origins that go back to the Gemworld. Why? Idk. But if I remember correctly, it was even part of the advertising for this series.

Get it by Patron methods: … you can’t. There are no re-prints of any kind and it’s tough to track down. If ye crave this treasure, best ye look to piracy, matey.

Get it by Peasant methods: Over here. 🔮

IV. 2012’s DC Nation Amethyst Cartoon Shorts

In hindsight, these may have been made as the advent of the Sword of Sorcery series, but they really were a charming sip of water after two decades of nothin’. A cute lil’ standalone series that turns the Gemworld into a video game. Amy is then, of course, sucked into it.

Fun fact: the producer, @briannedrouhard is on tumblr, and often posts art and further ideas she had for the series.

Watch it: Full Series is officially free on Youtube. 👸🏼

IV. 2013’s Sword of Sorcery: Amethyst

This New 52 eight-issue (9 included the ‘0’ issue, oy) series got my hopes up after all those years, but I gotta admit I was a bit disappointed by the completely new supporting cast. Apart from Amy herself, none of the original characters made it into the series.

It feels likely a completely different fantasy series with an “Amethyst” label slapped on it. That said, Aaron Lopresti’s art is beautiful, and this version of Amy—Amaya—eventually joined the New 52’s Justice League Dark and picked up a bit of a cult appreciation over there.

That said, I’ve had some spoilers for her time on JLDark, and the storyline is just a bit… too… dark for my tastes. So I’m quite content to see her nu52 series retconed, even though I did nearly collect all 9 issues.

Get it by Patron methods: Dc Universe Series Page TPB via Amazon or B&N

Get it by Peasant methods: Over here. 💜

V. 2019’s Wonder Comics - Young Justice: Gemworld

Remember how I said Amethyst always gets weird when she collides with the greater DCU? Yeah, forget I said that. Never mind. Most brilliant combo idea since peanut butter and jelly.

No, I’m not biased not at all bc I’m a big Young Justice fan. Nope. Ok. Maybe a lil’ bit. While the continuity here is it’s own thing, there are a lot of nods to the original Gemworld in the world-building.

Does this series fully explore the potential of all the ideas in it? Frankly, no. YJ fans complained a lot about the lack of breathing space in this series for a reason. But I’m still happy with it and happily re-reading it for the fun ideas it slaps together.

If you are reading this for the Amethyst, however, there isn’t much point in reading past issue 6, aka volume 1 of the trade. After that point, Amy stops getting much spotlight, though she remains on the team’s roster until the series’ end.

Get it by Patron methods: Dc Universe Series Page TPB via Amazon or B&N

Get it by Peasant methods: Over here. ✨

VI. 2020’s Wonder Comics - Amethyst Miniseries

The fact that both this series and the YJ one appear under the “Wonder Comics” label is a bit misleading. They do not share any continuity at all. However, the opening splash page of the first issue references multiple events from original Amethyst continuity!

Later world-building details make it clear that this is a different version of Amy and the Gemworld, but Amy Reeder’s affection for the original series remains apparent.

Get it by Patron methods: Dc Universe Series Page TPB via Amazon or B&N

Get it by Peasant methods: Over here. 👑

VII. 2021’s Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld by Shannon & Dean Hale

This one is actually a kid-oriented graphic novel. Again, with its own continuity and world-building. I think the thing that stands out to me the most about this take is that the Hales give Amy a kid brother and make him quite relevant to the plot.

It’s pretty stand-alone and not really marketed as a comic book per se, but it is charming and the art is quite cute.

Get it by Patron methods: Graphic novel via Amazon or B&N Get it by Peasant methods: Over here.

🏰

In Summary:

“Original” Amethyst Continuity (by Dan Mishkin & Gary Cohn and later Kieth Giffen & Mindy Newell ) is contained in Volumes 1-3. This is made of up the Maxi-series, Ongoing, and Mini-series from the 80's.

New52 Sword of Sorcery Continuity (by Christy Marx) is completely separate and self-contained.

Wonder Comics: Young Justice continuity (by Brian Michael-Bendis) is separate and self-contained, but has many nods to original continuity in it.

Wonder Comics: Amethyst mini-series continuity (by Amy Reeder) is mostly separate and self-contained, but implies that it shares events with the Volume 1 maxi-series.

Kid-friendly properties like Brianne Drouhard’s DC Nation shorts or Shannon and Dean Hale’s graphic novel make for fun additions, though they were not marketed as though they might tie in with any comics.

[blackdollette]

"find me in the club." | spencer reid

a&w. - lana del rey

⊹₊⋆ synopsis: so what if you were a serial killer? a charming smile and a nice pair of tits were all it took to clean your slate.

fill out the taglist form! : @thirtyratsinasuit @auggiethecreator @oliviah-25 @sleepysongbirdsings @pleasantwitchgarden @emma-e-a @bellasprettywords @hiireadstuff

⊹₊⋆ pairing: unsub!stripper!female!reader x spencer

⊹₊⋆ word count: 897

⊹₊⋆ contents: smutty, no sex (sorry folks)

stripclub murders. risque, barbarous, and frankly, yet another reason added to many of why you should’ve quit that job a long time ago. but you didn’t think you were in the wrong for slashing a few throats in order to get to the top.

“is there a problem here, officer?” the batting of your mascara-coated eyelashes, the syrupy sweetness melting your words together, and the way you sat prettily on the barstool at the corner of the club, putting on a perfect mask of innocence as the FBI agent stood in front of you, hands shoved in his pockets. 

spencer had always been a sucker for pretty girls. hell, he couldn’t even count how many times it had landed him in trouble. a pair of pretty eyes and a nicer pair of knockers were all it took to sweep the boy-genius off his feet.

he cleared his throat, pulling out his badge and credentials as he introduced himself. “i’m dr spencer reid, with the fbi. i’m sorry to interrupt your…” he hesitated, the flashing lights and head-throbbing music surrounding him throwing him off slightly. “...business, but i’m here to discuss and ask a few questions about a few murders of your co-workers.”

you feigned an expression of shock, one of deep disturbance and fear. you’d even managed to add a perfect quiver to your voice. “oh gosh… i don’t know how any guy could do something like that.”

that simple statement should’ve been red flag number one: there had been no mention of gender in any of his previous statements. usually he’d pick up on the in the blink of an eye, but how could he with the way your raunchy “clothing” went out of it’s way to reveal a sinful amount of your cleavage, the way you leaned forward with faux-interest making your chest appeal to him all the more. it was almost painful for him to tear his eyes away.

you were almost unable to bite back your smirk. men were simple creatures, no matter how smart they claimed to be. and you couldn’t deny how satisfying it was watching the boy’s IQ slash into pieces.

he cleared his throat, speaking again after an over-extended silence. “um, i hope you don’t mind me asking but would it be possible if we could possibly step outside and you… maybe wear a jacket or something..?”

his self-control was impressive, but murder wasn’t the only thing that got you to become the hottest girl at the function.

you narrowed your eyes slightly, deciding to play the “fake-offense” card. “do you have a problem with all this, doctor? because i can assure you i get slut-shamed by more than enough assholes and don’t need someone like you joining in.”

he shook his head frantically, sputtering out protests. “n-no, not at all, ma’am. i’m from vegas, this is nothing new.”

your eyebrows inched upward. “vegas, huh? then i guess you wouldn’t mind sitting down and having a drink with me while we have this little… discussion.”

his rejection of your offer got caught in his teeth as you subtly pressed your chest together with your elbows. he subconsciously sat down next to you, like a marionette obeying it’s master. you had been talking for less than two minutes and already had him completely whipped. 

you poured him a generous glass of red wine, pushing it over to him with one finger while holding blood-boiling eye contact with him the entire time, your gaze boring into his like you were daring him to accuse you of murder. 

but the boy simply brushed his chestnut-brown hair out of his face, eyes fixated on your features as he struggled to formulate the questions that he had been assigned to ask. and that was your ticket out of this interaction.

you pouted your lustrous lips, slowly trailing your manicured fingers along the rim of his glass, not tearing your eyes away from his for a second. 

“you know, doctor, it’s such a relief having people like you around.” you shamelessly leaned toward him just an inch more, his eyes now glued to your breasts as he let out soft pants and gasps, cheeks tinted with pink. you continued. “i oughta do something in return. to thank you for going out of your way to keep me… us safe.”

you picked up his wine glass, bringing it up to your lips and draining the whole thing in one gulp. a stray drop of the deep red liquid cascaded down your neck, pulling him into a hypnotic state as he watched it disappear into the skimpy fabric of your bra.

“if you ever wanna see me out of work hours, stop by and ask for me. i’d happily treat you to a little something, free of charge.”

a stupid little grin and a blank nod was all spencer could manage to muster as you sauntered away, drool threatening to pour down his lip as the image of you tattooed itself in his brain. if only he could do something about the boner that was now pressing against his pants, pleading for release.

until it was as if an authoritative hand had slapped some sense back into him, and he realized what he had done. 

“hey, wait..!”

he called out into the abyss of loud music and bright lights that had just let the perfect killer get away.

author's note: bon appetitty

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is:  Paryton! @The-winged-doe has 11 fics posted to AO3 in the Stranger Things fandom and 8 of them are in the Steddie tag!

Our anonymous nominator recommends the following works by @The-winged-doe:

The Gemini Paradigm

Lycantunnel

The Dog Next Door

Empty Space

Chasing Ghosts

"Paryton writes extremely compelling, rich, character-driven stories in a wide variety of settings and genres. There's always an element of horror or weirdness in her stories, in a way that feels so faithful to the original tone of the source material, and she doesn't shy from bittersweet or uncertain endings. Every one of her Steddie stories has such a unique premise and we get so many fun POV's outside of Eddie and Steve. It feels like surfacing from deep water to finish one of her stories - it's so easy to get immersed." -- anonymous

Below the cut, Paryton answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

Short answer: Because I love making Steve suffer and letting Eddie be his reward for being my chew toy 😂 (and vice versa tbh). In all seriousness though, I think it’s a lot of little things. It’s their role as rival babysitters, the way their archetypes as Freak and King imply a potential history and dynamic we never really get to see, and I love the juxtaposition of Steve as the stereotypical ‘normal one’ who’s been involved in monster shenanigans for actual years while Eddie is the ‘weird one’ who’s a fish out of water.

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

Anything with supernatural elements is going to get me to read it. The werewolf aus, the ghost aus, the spectacular demo-Steve aus. Also a sucker for a time travel au, this fandom has some great ones.

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

I love writing monster boys, particularly any variety of monster/creature Steve.

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

I have to pick one!?! Oh boy. Well, my most recent fav is In A Mirrored Room, Talking to Myself by entanglednow (https://archiveofourown.org/works/59155105). I swear that fic rewrote my brain, got me obsessed with haunted/monster houses for the entirety of October.

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

I have yet to write a fantasy au, and I have a few D&D style fantasy aus hanging out on the wip concept pile waiting for my attention. But my relationship with writing/reading fantasy is tenuous, so I’m nervous but excited to work my way around to tackling those.

What is your writing process like?

It varies! I have a template word doc that I put together way back whenever that’s pre-structured for setting up my outline, chapters etc., so that helps conquer the terror of facing a blank page, but beyond that who knows. At my most organised, I’ll usually start with a free write to jot down the broad strokes of my ideas, block in a chapter by chapter outline, and will try to start out writing it linearly. That rarely lasts though. I’m very prone to writing chapters/scenes out of order and jumping between fics in the process. Except for The Gemini Paradigm. I don’t know what happened with that fic. It had no outline, no freewrite, was written almost entirely linearly one POV at a time (I wrote all the Outside Perspective scenes, then the Steddie scenes, then the Ronance scenes), and then I proceeded to puzzle all of the scenes out of order until it achieved its ultimate non-linear glory. 🤷

Do you have any writing quirks?

Besides writing scenes wildly out of order (except for Gemini, but it’s an outlier and should not be counted), I’ve also been known to combat writer’s block by writing out scenes on my phone, in bed, when I should be sleeping. The worst culprit turned out to be a full 3,000 words for a fic that I still haven’t finished. It’ll see the light of day at some point.

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

I much prefer waiting to post until a work is already done. With that said, when it comes to my longer fics sometimes I make an exception to help get the creative juices flowing after being stuck alone in my own head for too long. That’s the case with both Empty Space and The Dog Next Door.

Which fic are you most proud of?

I am proud of all of my children… but Empty Space is my baby. It’s the fic that got me back into writing again. I wrote fic as a kid, but I really struggled with the awful guilt/shame feeling that I ran into whenever I fell behind on a project and found myself staring at an unfinished work and losing all drive to finish it. That’s a big reason why I much prefer waiting to post a work until it’s finished (or far enough in that my momentum feels solid). Empty Space was the project that finally made me commit. I was going to write it, I was going to finish it, and I did!

How did you get the idea for Chasing Ghosts?

Some friends made me watch Cowboy Bebop for the first time. It was meh, but the grungy space western aesthetic is absolutely my jam. And because my brain was already enthusiastically in Steddie mode, the broad concept for Chasing Ghosts came together. Plus, there aren’t nearly enough space/sci-fi steddie fics out there.

When writing Chasing Ghosts, what was something you didn’t expect?

Well, it wasn’t supposed to be a multi-chapter fic for one. But I think what was one of the most satisfying surprises in writing it was with the three monster hunts and the way the demogorgon ended up being foreshadowed. I didn’t know I was writing in a demogorgon hunt until the thing showed up and I realised I’d been hinting at it since chapter 1. Gotta love it when things just come together.

What inspired The Dog Next Door?

The AU for The Dog Next Door is an idea I’ve been sitting on since before Steddie, 2019 I think?, and is based on Tablestory’s Nocturne ttrpg live play, which is over on youtube. I’ve wanted to use this magic system and build on these ideas for a while, and it just came together that they fit nicely with Steddie as my apparent designated blorbos.  More broadly, fandom loves to talk about characters being golden retrievers or whatever. So, challenge accepted I guess. Doggy Steve is here 🐶

What was your favorite part to write from Lycantunnel?

The scene where Eddie first encounters the wolves in the tunnels. Where he’s cornered in the dark with only his cheap lighter to see by while Steve and the kids as fucked-up wolves step out of the dark. That was one of the scenes that first inspired the fic, and it was exactly as satisfying to write as I’d hoped it would be.

How do/did you feel writing The Gemini Paradigm?

Absolutely gobsmacked that it came together at all if I’m being honest. When you go in and write a story you don’t expect the last step to be deconstructing the story and then frankensteining it back together. And yet… It was a lot of fun though, and I’m proud of how it turned out. Jumping between outsider POVs is a tactic I really like for approaching unsettling horror, and it was really cool to explore characters I probably otherwise wouldn’t have thought to write. And seeing its final form after most of the writing was done in a very different structure was neat. Made for an interesting creative exercise.

What was the most difficult part of writing Empty Space?

That fic was so goddamn long. Its outline called for it to be even longer, actually; it was split into three acts instead of two. Partway through writing, once I’d already started posting, I realised my outline and what I was writing were diverging and I was gonna need to rewrite my outline or else my pacing was about to crumble. Nightmare. There’s actually about 20,000 words of the scrapped act 3 (which conceptually ended up being condensed into Chapter 23) that exist on a usb somewhere. Rip in pieces.

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

Oh, so many. The Stobin locker room scene from The Gemini Paradigm is definitely one of my favourites. Eddie’s cemetery monologue from Empty Space comes to mind. As of writing this I haven’t posted it yet, but it’ll probably be out by the time you read this, so the house party from The Dog Next Door has some of my favourite horror imagery that i’ve written.

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

Well, as I’m writing this I have two fics currently being posted: The Dog Next Door and The Mermaid That Ate My Best Friend’s Boyfriend. I also have a sequel to Lycantunnel in the works that I’m hoping to have ready to post sometime in the spring (assuming the writing braincell cooperates).

Outside of these questions, Is there anything YOU would like to add?

Big thanks to my nominator! ❤️🥰 And also to the steddieunderdogfics team for putting this together💖

Thank you to our author, @the-winged-doe, and our nominator! See more of Paryton's works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[starlitiris]

“Lilacs” ~ Painter x Reader (Part 1)

Part 2

warnings: angst, character death, mildly descriptive graphic imagery, grief, panic attacks(?)

beginning notes: thank you to cavern-creature for giving me the idea to write this! i’m not too happy with the pacing, but oh well. more notes will be at the end of the story.

word count: ~2.1k

~ 🪻 ~

It’s a beautiful spring day. The sun is high and shining bright, nary a cloud in the sky. The weather was perfect! Or so Painter had been told. He couldn’t feel the temperature himself, of course. He couldn’t feel the soft, gentle breeze brushing over his monitor, either. Or smell the floral aroma coming from the field of flowers him and his friends were in. A beautiful shade of purple surrounded the three on each side. Painter, his creator, and you.

He watched you run out into the field, his creator electing to stay behind so he could set Painter up on the crate they always bring. You came to halt, turning to face the wind, and held out your arms to feel it. The breeze, the sun, the flowers grazing your calves. It was bliss.

You looked amazing. The sunlight shone on your face, highlighting all of your beautiful features. Your clothes, moving with every gust of wind that rushed by, framed you perfectly. Your smile was as bright as always. You looked perfect. You are perfect. Painter was sure of that.

“Hey, stand still!” The AI called out to you. “I wanna capture you just like that!”

You giggled. “Just like this? Are you sure?”

“Exactly like that,” he reinforced, the sweetest smile painted on his screen.

“Okay, but try not to take too long! My arms are gonna start hurting if I have to stand here for hours.”

“I won’t take THAT long! Just hold still, I’ll paint you first,” Painter responded, wiping his page clean to start sketching you.

“He has been getting faster at this lately,” his creator adds, resting his elbow atop the computer.

“Yeah, yeah,” you roll your eyes, even though you’re still smiling. “Let’s just hope he’s fast enough,” you tease.

“Hey, you can’t rush perfection!” He tells you.

You laugh. Banter with Painter is always light and fun. You’re impressed that he already has a really good outline of you done. You’ve seen him paint a hundred times over at this point, but watching his process never ceases to amaze you. It’s kind of mesmerizing. You love it.

You love him. And he loves you all the same.

One of the cameras Painter is connected to picks up on motion somewhere in the blacksite, pulling him out of his daydream. He groans and sets his unfinished drawing of you aside as a draft. Back to work.

Urbanshade just sent down a few more teams of expendables, it would seem. What a drag. At least Painter could try to have some fun while he stalls them.

He doesn’t bother with actually watching them – it serves him no real purpose to do so. He just goes off of motion sensors and does what he can do in any given room the suckers wander into. Luring Z-96 around with the PA system, activating turrets, pissing off Eyefestation when it’s near enough. Fun stuff.

He giggles to himself knowing one of the active teams was just fooled by a false door.

“Moronsss,” he says to nobody.

Things continue this way for a while, like they always do. As the night progresses, all the EXR-P teams are gradually killed off. All but one, that is. That’s all thanks to him, as well as the many other dangers this place has to offer. The motion sensors indicate that the remaining team is down to two expendables. They won’t last long. Painter is certain.

Only one expendable enters the next room.

See? He knew it.

And, would you look at that. This room has turrets in it! Might as well put this poor sap out of their misery. He activates the weapons.

It’s one of the long rooms that has a large window peering out into the ocean, equipt with three turrets to cover nearly every inch of the area. Well, they used to cover every inch. But that was before panicked Urbanshade employees set up tables and lockers for protection. Now they could only scan most of the room. Oh well. The tables and lockers didn’t save those workers, and it certainly won’t save this prisoner.

He takes note that the expendable made it to a safe spot in the center of the room. Barely, though. A laser on one of the turrets grazed their ankle before they made it to safety. The weapon was alerted for a brief moment, then went back to rotating around the room when the person was out of sight.

“Ugghhh,” Painter dramatically groaned in his cage. How annoying. At least this idiot still has the other half of the room to get through.

The expendable warily leaves the comfort of their safe spot to move forward. They only make it a quarter of the way to where they’re aiming to go, though, before being harshly informed by a loud beeping that they didn’t time this correctly. They take a few bullets to their right arm and leg while hurrying back to where they had just been hiding.

“Ngh, dammit! F-Fuck, fuck, fuck…” they curse.

Huh. That voice sounds… kind of familiar to Painter. Weird.

He decides not to waste much time on that thought. There’s no way he could possibly know this person, and he needs to focus.

He has a job to do.

Kill the expendables. Stall for time.

He waits while the bleeding criminal braces themself to make another run for it. They certainly don’t seem to be in a rush.

“Cooome ooon, stop wasting time! You’re just gonna die anyway!” Painter complains, once again to nobody but himself. He hasn’t been talking to these losers as much as he normally would today. He didn’t even feel like taunting them. He was in a sour mood. They interrupted his daydream.

“God, how am I going to do this…?” He hears the person ask themself.

They sound familiar. So familiar. It’s bothering him now. He can’t hear them all that well because of the audio quality and their quiet volume, but there’s something about that voice…

Whatever. It doesn’t matter. Get rid of them.

The expendable is on their feet again. They steady themself against the locker they’ve been tucked behind, and take a deep, shaky breath.

They hold.

They wait.

And they run as fast as their aching, wounded body will let them.

They shout when a bullet pierces their shoulder, and drop dead in front of the unopened door as they’re shot down.

And that’s the last of the EXR-P teams until Urbanshade sends more down in a pathetic attempt to retrieve their precious crystal.

Suckers.

Finding himself with nothing to do again, Painter tries to go back to his daydreaming. That wonderfully beautiful face, amongst that beautiful purple field, underneath the beautiful beating sun. But he finds himself distracted by that voice again. He tries to brush it off and forget about it, but it’s bothering him. Like an itch that won’t go away. Now that he thinks about it, it sort of sounded like…

No. That’s impossible. You were on the surface somewhere, safe and sound. Blissfully unaware of the horrors taking place at the bottom of the ocean. Unaware of the horrible things Painter is doing for the sake of freedom.

You are safe.

Hell, you might even be in that field at this very moment. It may be cold out this time of year, but you three used to agree that it was gorgeous there year-round. That’s why you all would visit it all the time.

That’s probably where you are. Yeah. In the field. Waiting for purple to blanket the ground once again.

… But even knowing that, he can’t shake the anxiety building within him. Just the thought of you ending up here somehow, let alone being killed- by him.

But it’s not you. He knows that. And just to prove to himself that it isn’t you, he’ll go look at the corpse through a camera near the door so he can see that it’s clearly… not…

…

He has to stare for a while to fully grasp what he’s seeing. He shows up on the sign next to the door.

That wonderfully beautiful face.

You’re paler than he remembers. Likely due to the fact that all of the blood that should be swimming through your veins is now a massive puddle on the floor. Your eyes, once bright and warm, now look dull and lifeless. Your face holds no emotion. Blood has seeped out of your nose and the corner of your mouth, contributing to the pool of crimson surrounding you.

You’re surrounded in red.

You should be surrounded in purple, but all he sees is red.

“... No…”

Painter doesn’t want to believe what he’s seeing is real.

“No… no no no.”

All of his anxiety is replaced with panic.

“Y/N! Y/N, wake up!”

He can’t accept that you’re dead. He won’t.

“Y/N, please! I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to! Please!”

He can’t lose you too.

“Please!!”

His voice cracks as if he’s crying.

And he is.

That’s not something he wanted to know he could do.

He starts to desperately alert to Sebastian that something is wrong. Painter can’t do anything for you himself, but his friend can. He can help. He can fix you.

Painter keeps begging for you to wake up, telling you help is on the way. Minutes feel like hours while he waits for Sebastian to arrive at the scene.

When he does arrive, he bursts through the only door in the room not marked by the navi-path.

“What, what?! I’m here, what happened?!” The man shouts, looking around to try to see what the fuss was about.

“Sebastian! Help them, please! You have to help them!” Painter pleads.

“Help who??” Sebastian asked before noticing your corpse on the floor in front of his friend. “Uh…”

“Hurry!! What are you waiting for?!”

Sebastian slithers over to you, a look of uncertainty plastered on his face. He barely recognizes you as one of the expendables that was in his shop not that long ago.

“Uh… Paint? I don’t really know what you want me to do here,” he admits.

“Help them! You have medkits, don’t you?! Use them! Use anything!! Just save them, please!!” Painter cries.

“Why, though? It’s just an expendable, you’ve done this plenty of times-”

“They’re not just an expendable, they’re my friend! I knew them before I was brought here- just, please!! We don’t have time for this!!” He shouts, frustrated that Sebastian isn’t doing anything to help yet.

“You… knew them?” Sebastian asks, now with a look of concern.

“Yes, why aren’t you doing anything?!”

“... Paint…”

“Do something!!”

“Paint.”

“They’re dying!! I can’t-”

“Painter.”

“I can’t lose them, too! I can’t! I can’t- I can’t be the reason- please!”

Sebastian frowns. It hurts seeing his friend in such a state.

“Why are you looking at me like that?! Please…!”

“Painter.”

“Stop saying my name! Why- why aren’t you doing anything?!” Painter sobs.

“They’re gone. There’s nothing we can do for them.”

“No- you’re not even trying! How do you know that if you haven’t even tried?!”

“Look at them, Paint. They’ve lost way too much blood to be saved.”

“That’s not true!! It’s not true! It’s not…” he trails off.

Sebastian remains silent. He patiently waits for his friend to process that you won’t be waking up.

It takes him a while, but eventually Painter is able to speak up again.

“Oh god…” his voice shakes. “Oh god… I killed them.”

Sebastian sighs.

“I killed them. Sebastian, I killed them. I killed my best friend. Oh, god.”

Sebastian carefully makes his way around your body to gently pat Painter’s screen while he continues to weep. He repeats over and over to himself that he killed the first person he ever loved, as if saying it enough times would somehow make it hurt less.

He did this to you.

He couldn’t bear it.

Painter was an inconsolable mess. But even still, Sebastian would stay with him for as long as he needed. He doesn’t mind putting off whatever he was doing before this to be there for his only friend.

Expendable or not, he sincerely wishes he could bring you back for Painter.

He doesn’t believe he and his AI companion can afford to lose anymore than what they have.

Reality was cruel. It proved itself to be, every goddamn day.

What Painter wouldn’t give to see you in that field again. The sunlight shining on your face, highlighting all of your beautiful features. Your clothes, moving with every gust of wind that rushed by, framing you perfectly. Your smile, as bright as always.

Surrounded in purple.

Lilacs were always your favorite.

~ 🪻 ~

ending notes: according to multiple sources, lilacs often symbolize joy, youth, the impermanence of youth, and first love. though, one source also says that lilacs can symbolize old love, stating that victorian widows would often wear them as a sign of remembrance.

Since this didn’t follow the suggested prompt exactly, I’ll likely write a less-sad part 2 for this. Let me know if you would like to see it! (It’s actually out rn if you wanna go read it, it’s linked at the top of the post! <3)

Thank you for reading.

[dopscratch]

My Slugcat Designs

gaze upon the glory of my slugcats, i have gone full mollusk :)

feel free to use with credit! also show me if you do hahaha

fun design details/headcanons under the break

edit: find out why they're all tubemammals instead of felines here

All of them are mostly Smooth Creatures, no fur in sight. Also all of their limbs can be retracted into their bodies because slug. They each have a maximum of 3 fingers and 2 toes, though some have none at all. They are all toothless and instead possess radulae. Some have beaks and some don't, but I haven't decided which ones. The hunter is the only one with a confirmed beak. Beaks are all dark in color.

Monk is Tall because I said so. Lonk. Also I noticed its tentacles are slightly larger than survivors. Also I like the tall little sibling thing because it's funny to me.

Survivor is very average all around. Maybe slightly on the short side.

Hunter is squid. That is all (Not really). Hunter is an absolute beast and I really liked the idea of rotating colossal squid hooks instead of claws. Also squid worked really well for its long legs form :) Edit: As its rot progresses, its orangey color fades (read: parts of its skin start peeling off) and it becomes pinker like its ingame sprite until it becomes that sickly pink of Hunter Long Legs!

I thought the Spanish Dancer really invoked the tattered ribbons of the explosion spears. Also I know it's an aquatic slug and Artificer is terrible in water but I think the flailing to swim around really fits it haha. Also its a skunk because of the whole chemical weapon theme.

Gourmand is an absolute unit. It is very round. I don't have much else to say about it.

I love axolotls but they're overrated, so instead of having the gills of everyone's favorite neotenic Mexican salamander, Rivulet is an octopus. It can use the pink tentacles around its face to hide its big silly eyes if its scared. It can also stretch them out to look bigger. the space in between is webbed, just like in an octopus, though the webbing is not always visible when the tentacles are folded back or in a relaxed position. It has suckers on the back edges and can twist the tentacles around if it wants to use them to grab or hold something near its face. Its arms and legs can extend to great lengths but they cannot support Rivulet on land very well so they usually stay short then (or will only push it up a short height). A siphon on its underside lets it move faster underwater and it may spray water with it playfully.

Spearmaster is also very long like Monk. The spears are pulled from underneath the shell rather than straight out of the tail.

Saint is a sea sheep, complete with the silly closely placed eyes. Its "tongue" is just a tentacle. Also it's short. And a raccoon because I just felt like it fits.

Nightcat is a scaly-foot gastropod because I said so. I think that since it's a pretty mysterious creature it can get a pretty mysterious feature, though with a generally basic silhouette.

Enot/Inv/???/whatever you wanna call it is just cuttlefish. A wild, crazy creature whose colors, shape, number of arms, and texture are never consistent. It is dense and will not float well. Usually its tentacles and limbs have a bit of a curl to the ends.

I think a flamboyant cuttlefish was perfect for its design, and I chose a yellow mongoose because a) silly creature and b) it's not actually a mustelid so it kinda fits how incredibly weird this guy is.

and that is all, hope you enjoy my slugcats.

[entelodante]

When you create your creatures(tm) do you always make things that you find cool/visually appealing or do you try to branch out every once in awhile and make things that are visually interesting but not technically your taste? I tend to only draw things in my personal-interest-sphere and I've been thinking that it's probably good to step outside my comfort zone more often and I was curious about your take on that kind of thing.

Honestly I would say YES you should go out of your comfort zone when making critters. Since I think the BEST way to cut your teeth on creature(tm) making is to cast a wide net. And who knows you could always end up expanding your comfort zone! Buuuuuuuuuut. I am a sucker for certain features and I have such a stellar comfort zone. I would say everything I make ends up kind of being to my taste if only for the fact that I am the one making/tweaking em. I am in a nigh constant struggle to not sharpen the teeth of anything I end up drawing. End of the day as long as it's looking good to you, you're probably good. Though there are benefits to drawing up designs you're iffy on!

[yourfavoritewitchbitch]

I've decided to start doing a monthly fic rec post to showcase some amazing stories that I've read! I don't feel like I see enough of these on here!

These are in no particular order. Just some things that I have loved for the month of July. ❤️ Not as many as I would like, but you know, life happens. A new puppy really has a way of taking up my time. 🤣

Steve Harrington:

Accident Prone Part 5 - a stormy kind of love by @thecreelhouse - this is a StevexOC fic. Seriously, an amazing story by a very talented writer! I have loved the entire thing! Masterlist here!

Ring of Fire Part 3: The Runaway by @bettyfrommars - a biker!Steve au. (What can I say? I love my wayward bad boy) Masterlist here!

One Free Kiss by @bunnyhargrove - porn with some cute plot! Best friends to lovers.

Love and Treason by @strangererotica - gladiator!Steve Harrington (featuring Emperor Geta) - not a happy ending. This one hurt so good.

Could you ever love a creature like me? By @southerngothicchic - demon! Steve. Yes please! Always a sucker for those dark, supernatural fics.

Morning Person by @dearest-nell - soft and sweet adoration between two people utterly in love.

Walter McKey:

I'll Assist You by @thosefuzzywordfeelings - CEO!keys x assistant reader - Superb smut! Chef's kiss.

Gator Tillman:

Animals by @buckysgrace - some raw, rough smut with our boy. Yes please!

Public Exposure by @wroteclassicaly - delicious Gator x Plus size reader smut. (I'm feral after this one.)

[galactiquest]

Hi call me blueberry anon or just blue!

I was hopin to ask with Vash and Knives with an Angel!reader g/n.

Like you know when Vash and Knives show their true selves and reader dont give a shit because they literally have giant ass wings and multiple eyes yknow like one of those biblical accurate angel but more human.

If its too specific just ignore this JDJKDKDKDK (ps when i said show their true selves i immediately thought of those wolf alpha vids on tiktok)

Hello Blueberry Anon~ I'm sorry that this took longer than usual to get to, I promise I wasn't ignoring or forgetting this request! College woes... (´Д｀)

I think this is a super cute idea and I'm always a sucker for a chaotic angel or devil or any sort of creature really. (Probably why I enjoy writing about Vash and Knives being little beasts so much LOL)

Vash and Knives x Angel!Reader: Heaven

Content warnings: None, but the descriptions of multiple eyes/wings might be offputting to some. Otherwise just fluff!

Vash

I take Vash as someone who's really accepting of everyone else's differences--even to the point where he'll feel a sort of disdain towards his own differences because of it.

But when he learns about your otherworldly nature? He's immediately curious. He really can't help himself.

He wants to ask a lot of questions. How do you hide your wings? Are humans afraid of you? Do you have any sorts of powers? Does this mean you're immortal--wait, are you here on a mission?!

Whether you indulge him or not in answers is up to you. He won't pry (but he might whine a little if you tell him it's a secret).

Now that he knows you're different, he wants to embrace it as much as possible. He's always trying to compliment how soft your wings are, how radiant and sparkling your eyes are, etc.

I think this especially goes for the '98 iteration of Vash--the "did it hurt when you fell from Heaven" pickup line. Feel free to respond with "yeah, actually, a lot" to get him sputtering and scrambling to apologize.

Knives

When you explain it to him, he's very quiet at first, running all possible responses through his head. What he doesn't say (but is thinking) is that he's thankful you're not human (because admitting he loves a human is an utterly impossible feat!).

He also hopes, deep down, that since you're inhuman, you might better understand his intentions for a world without humans. (Of course, if you're the kind of angel who's sent to help humans, this goes against your direct orders... cue troubles!)

He has a deep respect for your otherworldly self, being not of the planet himself, so he takes a lot of time to study and understand you to the fullest.

He's especially intrigued if you have repeating features--multiple eyes, pairs of wings, floating motes of flame, spinning golden rings, that kind of stuff. He really enjoys symmetry and repetition. (Vash does, too, but he'll appreciate from afar.)

He encourages you to take your "natural" form more often, rather than sculpting yourself into a more humanoid form. If this more "natural" form is imperceptible/cosmically incomprehensible to him, he won't mind. (Okay, he might be a little sad if he can't see you in all your blazing glory, but he won't make it obvious.)

I think there's definitely a case here for a "fallen angel" type deal--you've fallen from the sins of humanity, and now you've joined up with Knives in order to restore what should have been. Or maybe you find more worth in each other...

End notes: I finished this up on mobile so the formatting might be off. I promise I'll fix it tomorrow!