#and also they link the waiting room anyway haha

[lizeon]

ok between this

and this

and this

i am not gonna be able to think about anything else besides tempus for the next 48 hours

[tennessoui]

Number 19 for the prompt thing. The parents meeting because of their kids. I’m kinda imagining Korkie being like a tutor/school reading buddy for the twins or something but you can just ignore that if it doesn’t match your thoughts on it.

hello!! i thought back as much as i could, and i don't think i actually did this prompt the first time around a couple of years ago, so there's nothing to link to save for the prompt list!

i stuck with korkie as obi-wan's kid and the twins as anakin's, but made the kids the same age and then took...a few more liberties with the prompt haha

(19. parents meeting while taking their kids to class) (sort of)

(2.8k)

“Leia, baby, why do you always decide to get into fights at school when it’s my week with you?” Anakin asks the steering wheel as he buckles himself in and turns over the engine. “They’re going to start thinking I’m raising a truant. Then they’re going to start asking about your home life, then they’re going to bring in experts to ask me more questions, then Padmé’s parents are going to throw their considerable legal weight around and get my partial custody revoked and then where will we be? Is that what you want? To only see me on your birthday and Christmas?”

Anakin pauses and reconsiders. Knowing his daughter, she may very well only want to see him for birthdays and Christmases. It would mean double the presents.

Thankfully the silence of the car doesn’t offer much in the way of constructive critique.

At a red light, he puts his head down on the steering wheel for a long enough moment that the car behind him honks when the light changes to green.

“They’re going to stop letting me leave work to come get you,” Anakin mutters a few minutes later as he turns the car into the school’s parking lot. “I have a partner meeting in thirty minutes that I really can’t miss, baby. Can’t you at least schedule your schoolyard fights around my calendar?”

It’s all rather pointless, but it feels good to grumble and bitch in the time it takes him to leave his office and arrive at the school, before he has to put on his adult face and demeanor to sit through another round of We’re Worried Your Five Year Old Is Too Violent As She Seems To View The Monkey Bars As Sacrificial Zones.

“Maybe she’d like hockey,” he says under his breath as he grabs his jacket from the other seat and swings it over his suit. It’s fucking freezing already, not even December. It’s indecent, that’s what it is. Surely a place as cold as this has a peewee hockey team in need of another angry little girl.

“Thank you,” he says when a woman holds the door open for him on her way out the building.

He’s stil sort of freaked out that the elementary school his children are going to is fancy enough to have an entrance hallway with a chandelier hanging from the ceilingk, but it’s not him that’s paying for their private school education that doesn’t offer discounts for all the collective hours they’ll spend napping on the floors.

To the immediate left of the door is the receptionist’s desk—behind her, the nurse’s room. He’s quite familiar with both. Mrs. Whitsdale even waves when she sees him, which means, unfortunately, she’s just made the shortlist of people Anakin needs to make Christmas cookies for. She joins the ranks of everyone else that’s been made to deal with his son and daughter in the tumultuous year after the divorce.

“Hi, ma’am,” he says dutifully, sticking his head into the receptionist area. “Do I need to sign in or can I just go up?”

She waves him away. “I’ve already got you, sweetheart. You’re late anyway, they’re waiting for you upstairs.”

“You’re a miracle amongst men,” he calls out as he turns instead to the right of the door and up the old staircase that leads to the principal’s office. This is also a route he is incredibly familiar with.

How can he be late? He practically flew here on light feet and broken speed limits. It’s enough to take his mood from bad to worse, which isn’t optimal for a meeting with the principal of the school when it’s his kid who caused the fight. Anakin’s role is to nonconfrontational, contrite to the point of groveling—because he knows his daughter won’t. 

That’s already hard enough when he’s feeling normal. It’s practically impossible when he’s feeling foul.

But Padmé did always say Leia got her stubbornness and temper from Anakin.

Anakin’s always said Leia never really had a chance considering who her parents are. 

After all, someone threw a hairdryer at the hotel mirror before they got divorced and it wasn’t Anakin. But he’s not stupid enough to even think that when Padmé’s around.

The big oak door at the end of the hallway on the second floor is elaborate, looks heavy, and stays closed. He knows that this is the headmaster’s office, but he’s never seen the guy around. He doesn’t even know what the guy does. What’s a headmaster of an elementary school doing every day? 

It’s an elementary school.

But, again. Anakin’s not paying for all this pomp and circumstance.

He takes another right instead, down the corridor in the opposite direction to the principal’s office. The door’s left ajar, and Anakin knocks politely before entering at the call to.

A couple of things bring him up short as soon as he steps into the room. For one thing, it’s not Principal Cinoff behind the desk, but a stranger who has the remnants of a three-piece suit on, jacket hanging neatly on a coat rack in the corner of the room. His vest is a deep red that should do nothing but drain his complexion—all pasty white skin, freckled and sun-starved, paired with his reddish hair and beard. It doesn’t, which is unfair to the point of duplicity. Or–something.

The way he’s sitting at the desk, hands spread wide on the wood and shoulders back, leaves no doubt in Anakin’s mind that the stranger is in a position of power here at the school. And probably in, like. Life. He looks like the kind of guy who gets his groceries on discount even without providing a loyalty card. He also looks like the kind of guy the system bends to accommodate. As a lawyer, Anakin is offended and deeply disturbed. That’s why his stomach does two or three flips in quick succession when they make eye contact.

The stranger’s eyes are cool and focused as they run over Anakin, and he gives him a perfunctory incline of his head. At least his eyes are warmer when they fall to the kids in front of him. 

And that’s the other thing that shocks him.

The amount of children in front of the desk. One pouting ginger kid off to the side, arms crossed and staring down at his light-up sneakers.

And then two very familiar heads of hair on the other side. 

“Luke?” He asks before he can stop himself, surprise dripping from his tone. “What are you doing here?”

At this rate, he’s going to give his daughter a complex, he knows it.

But Luke has never been in trouble before. Sure, they’re only five, and it’s only been three months of school, but in that time, Anakin’s been called down here six times to deal with Leia-related emergencies. He’s always imagined that meanwhile, Luke was in his classroom, chewing on crayons or diligently helping the teacher pass out homework assignments.

The stand-in principal coughs slightly and rises. “Ah, Mr. Skywalker-Amidala. Thank you for being able to join us today.”

Anakin scowls automatically before schooling his face into something far more diplomatic and pleasant when his children whirl around in their seats to look at him. The last thing he needs is for his children to think they can sneer at authority figures, given that he’s one of their main authority figures. 

Luke leaves his chair to hug onto his leg, pressing his small face into the fabric of his pants, presumably seeking comfort and also to wipe his face dry of tears and snot.

Anakin puts a hand on his head and strokes through his hair, darting a curious glance at Leia, who has turned around to glare forward again, arms crossed over her chest.

“It’s just Skywalker, actually,” he tells the stranger. “Amidala is their mother.”

The man’s eyebrow goes up and he picks up a pen to make a note on the papers before him. An actual note. Regarding Anakin’s divorce. “Ah, apologies then,” he says. “Our contact list notes you as the father, Skywalker-Amidala, and their mother as Amidala-Organa.”

Anakin squints, trying to decide if the stranger is just trying to correct a clerical error in the school’s records or fishing for gossip. He gives him the benefit of the doubt. “Amidala is their mother, recently remarried to Organa. Organas. And she’s always been better at remembering to file paperwork than I am.”

The stranger keeps his face admirably placid. “Ah,” he says. “Well, Mr. Skywalker. Should we begin?”

“Uh,” he says. “What about the other parent?”

The stranger blinks at him, both eyebrows raised. “I’m a widower.”

“Uh,” he says. “I meant…” he gestures at the other child, the surly looking ginger kid.

“I’m afraid it will just be us, Mr. Skywalker,” the stranger says. “Please, sit.”

Anakin sits, and Luke is quick to scramble up into his lap with a very plaintative, “I didn’t really mean to.”

“So at recess today, the children were playing on the swings,” the stranger who must be the principal for the day says. “And—”

“Sorry,” Anakin interrupts. “Can I get your name please? I was expecting Principal Cinoff.”

The man pauses. “Sheri has been put on sudden maternity-leave a few months early,” he says. “For the next couple of weeks, I’ll be dual-hatting as both principal and headmaster while we continue to search for a temporary replacement.” He raises an eyebrow at Anakin. Anakin really doesn’t appreciate that. “This was in an email the school sent out to all the parents recently.”

“Yes, well,” Anakin says. “I get a lot of emails.”

The man looks unimpressed. “I encourage you to prioritize the communications from your children’s learning institute.”

Anakin bristles. What a dick. Who the fuck says learning institute?

“I’m sorry, what’s your name?” he asks in his best unimpressed voice.

“Obi-Wan Kenobi,” the man’s unimpressed voice is ten times more chilling than Anakin’s, which is also not fair. “Please, call me Dr. Kenobi.” Anakin scowls. “I appreciate the fact that you feel as though you can cover the extremely busy roles of both headmaster and principal of an elementary school, but I would really rather wait until the other parent gets here so we can most productively discuss the altercation, Mr. Kenobi.”

“Please, Mr. Skywalker,” Kenobi says. “Leave the litigation to the court rooms, we—”

“It’s Esquire, actually.”

Kenobi’s face grows very pinched around the mouth and eyebrows. Anakin feels a vicious thrill course through him even as his stomach flips again.

“I suppose I should have made it clearer at the beginning of this session,” Kenobi says, tone dripping in you idiot. “This is my son, Korkie.”

Anakin’s mouth falls open. His immediate thought is, of course, Korkie Kenobi? And he thought Luke and Leia were too cutesy for twin names.

“Korkie is a family name,” Kenobi adds rather dryly. “My late wife’s grandfather’s.”

Anakin doubts that’s even true. He bets it’s not actually, that Kenobi just plays the dead wife card to get out of judgemental questions about his naming abilities.

But then another, worse thought occurs to Anakin. “Wait a second, you can’t be the parent and the principal!”

“I assure you, I am impartial.”

“Like hel—heck you are!” Anakin straightens in his seat and Luke lets out a grumble, clinging tightly to his front. “I demand a different authority.” “No,” Kenobi says firmly, as if the matter is at rest. This, of course, is absolutely infuriating.

“It’s unfair bias and I will not see either of my children punished in a tyrannical and self-serving institution—”

Kenobi pinches at the bridge of his nose. “Mr. Skywalker, unless you would like to have me call Mrs. Cinoff away from her pre-mature baby, I am the best option this school has. Please. Settle down.”

“Dad,” Leia says, “I don’t want to miss reading time.”

Anakin breathes out in disgust. Shitty, overpriced private school. This sort of thing would never happen at a publicly funded school.

“The fact of the matter is that Luke pushed Korkie off the swings,” Kenobi says with a stern look at both Luke and Anakin. He holds up his hand when Anakin opens his mouth. “An incident that many were witness to. And before you make an accusation, there were many witnesses who were not on the school’s payroll, Mr. Skywalker.”

Anakin closes his mouth sullenly.

“Korkie could have been very hurt, Luke,” Kenobi says, clasping his hands in front of him and looking down at Anakin’s son. “He was swinging pretty fast when you pushed him, and he could have broken his ankle in the fall.”

Luke’s bottom lip trembles. “I didn’t want to hurt him,” he mumbles, turning his face back into Anakin’s sleeve. “He was being mean. I just wanted him to stop.” “I wasn’t!” Korkie cries, sitting straight in his chair for the first time since Anakin’s arrived. “I wasn’t being mean, dad!” “You said Leia’s hair looks like cinnamon buns on her head!” Luke shouts back, pushing away from Anakin’s arms to glare at the other boy. 

Anakin winces. When it’s Padmé’s turn with the kids, Leia always turns up to school with elaborately braided hair, twisted on top of her head in elegant formations that look effortlessly pretty. He knows that’s not Padmé’s work, but he also can’t figure out if Breha or Bail is responsible. It’s not something he wants to ask.

The fanciest Anakin can do, after all, is two buns on either side of Leia’s head. 

That do, truth be told, look rather like cinnamon rolls.

“Ah,” Kenobi says. “I believe I understand the miscommunication here. Korkie, would you like to tell the Skywalkers what you meant when you told Luke that Leia’s hair looked like cinnamon buns?”

If possible, the kid turns even more red, blushing furiously. “I really like cinnamon buns,” he mutters, crossing his arms tighter. “They’re my favorite.”

“He’s started asking for them for breakfast several times a week,” Kenobi tells Anakin with a smile lingering around his lips. “I’ve been wondering why.”

Anakin isn’t sure he likes the explanation. Sure, Korkie can have whatever sort of crush on his daughter that he wants to have, but likening her hair to cinnamon buns isn’t very kind, and he’s pretty sure that if someone else was the judge in this trial, they wouldn’t be so quick to justify the other boy’s words.

Luke seems to agree with him. “Your hair looks like carrots,” he snaps, crossing his arms.

Because Anakin is an intelligent adult who understands that making enemies with the headmaster’s son isn’t the best move, he adds on the Skywalker family’s behalf, “Luke loves carrots.”

Luke, in fact, hates carrots. 

“There is still the matter of Luke pushing Korkie off the swing,” Kenobi says, eyebrows raised like he understands exactly what’s going unsaid here. “We do not encourage physical violence of any sort here, and it was dangerous. Korkie could have been hurt much more badly than a scraped knee.”

The words are very serious and grave, and Luke wilts under the headmaster-principal-father’s disappointed stare. Anakin bristles.

“Well, it’s his first infraction,” he says. “And he was sticking up for his sister. I think that’s fair. He won’t do it again.”

“Hm,” Kenobi says, pushing papers aside and pulling out a glossy leaflet. “Now, I cannot force you to consider this, but I noticed that neither Luke nor Leia are currently enrolled in any of our extracurriculars.”

“They’re five.”

“We have many on offer at Jedi Prepatory School,” Kenobi continues as if Anakin hasn’t said anything. “And I wanted to highlight our peewee hockey league. I think both Leia and Luke would enjoy the rigorous schedule, and they may…benefit from the…structure it offers. And team activity.”

Anakin glowers. He can read between the lines. Kenobi’s just called his parenting style structureless and lazy. It makes him want to grab the pamphlet and rip it to shreds in front of him. “I would have to talk about it with their mother,” he says stiffly instead.

“Of course,” Kenobi says cheerfully. “When you do, please give Bail and Breha my well-wishes as well. It’s been far too long since I’ve had the time to see them, given how exhastingly busy it is to be the headmaster and principal of an elementary school.”

“Right,” Anakin grits out. “Yeah. I’ll let my ex-wife’s new partners know.”

Kenobi’s smile is all teeth. “I look forward to seeing you in the rink, Mr. Skywalker Esquire. My son plays on the team.”

Anakin wonders if there’s another peewee hockey team he can have his kids join. Just so they can beat Jedi Prepatory school and then laugh in Korkie and Dr. Kenobi’s faces.

Yeah. That sounds really nice.

He’ll look when he gets back to work.

This takes priority.

[tallymonster]

Memories of Us Chapter 16

AO3 Link || Masterlist

Tags: @justporo @satanicspinosaurus @sleepy-timaeus @davenswitcher @wayward-hel @hereliesblackdragon @misscrissfemmefatale

Slowly getting my updates out lol sorry for the shitty upload schedule. Blame my depression 😘

Thanks as always to @cheesy-cryptid for blessing me with their permission to use their art as the launching pad to this fic that has helped me deal with my grief. Also to my besties @micropoe10 and @tragedybunny for indulging me and for being my main support system when the sadness takes my mind over. I owe you guys my life. 🫂❤️

Anyway, enjoy!

In the evening, Astarion takes his leave. They part with a kiss as he departs in the cloak of growing darkness. Octavia sits alone in her house, the dull cracking of the firewood soothed the ache she felt. She meant to tell Astarion her secret, but he instead surprised her with one of his own.

Octavia could have never imagined the dinner with Astarion ending in an even more complicated situation. As she takes it all in, she notices the mess around her.

The wine bottles and glasses are still on the table, there are cushions upturned on the floor, and her underwear is still on the armrest. She takes a second to chuckle at the entirety of these last two days. How quickly the tables had turned.

Octavia begins to collect the confetti of garbage around her when she hears a knock at her door. “Oh shit, please don't tell me he came back for something.” she groans. Tying her hair back, she exhales and swings the door open. She's surprised to see Gale of all people, in front of her with a bag.

“Good evening! By the look on your face, I gather you forgot about you asking me to come over a couple of days ago? Maybe you even forgot about the whole ‘showing me the journal you were bequeathed by your mother and revealing more of your past to me’ that you mentioned?” Gale finishes with a smile.

After a few rapid blinks from Octavia, he holds up the bag and says “I brought booze?” Octavia smiles and opens the door wider, allowing him to pass her. “Come on in friend, you and I happen to have a few interesting things to talk about.”

Gale steps through and sees the small disaster area that she calls a living room. He grimaces and turns to her, “This is not what I remember it looking like in here? Are your living quarters usually this disheveled??”

Octavia scoffs and feigns offense. She picks up one of the cushions near the coffee table and throws it towards Gale, missing him. “Damn it!” she laughs, playfully stomping on the ground. “I was hoping I smacked you so I could tell Astarion! He would never let you live that down.”

Gale pours himself a drink, “Haha yes laugh it up at my expense, but when I do things like this-” He snaps his finger and within seconds Octavia’s living room is perfect. “You would be a right mess without me. Admit it.” Gale smirks with a playful laugh, he was right, though.

Octavia grabs Gale’s glass and drinks it, “You wizards and your magic cleaning spells. Show off, probably don't even know how to clean your dishes properly.” He stares at her with a challenging look, he lifts up his hand and places his thumb and forefinger together.

“Please, if you want to antagonize me, I could revert it to your previous standards?” Gale’s eyes turn mischievous, he glances at her waiting for a reaction.

“You wouldn't dare, then I can't show you the book that you wanted to see.” Octavia says teasing his need for knowledge. Gale opens his mouth to say something, but does a double take when he notices Octavia’s bra peeking out of the corner of the couch.

Gale lets out a scandalized laugh, his head thrown back along with his eyebrows. “Wow, with the way your undergarments are stuffed in the cushions, you’d think you had sex with Astarion!” He reaches down and grabs the piece of forgotten clothing and holds it out like a freshly caught fish. “Gods, you couldn't even bother to grab this? If I could have seen it, my spell would have picked it up for you, oh well.”

Octavia snatches her bra back and throws it towards her bathroom. Her face fully flushed, she ignored Gale’s question and walked towards her bookshelf. “Oh GODS! You did, didn't you, Octavia?” Gale followed behind her, dropping the bag softly at the end of the coffee table.

“Octavia, talk to me… what happened between you two?” Gale asks with a softer, yet suspicious tone. Octavia continues to look through her bookshelf picking out a brown, worn leather bound book. She turns back to Gale and sighs.

“Gale…” she starts and grimaces. “Octavia…” he answers. The two of them stay locked in a stare, neither one wanting to crack, until Octavia begins to giggle. Her cheeks flush and her eyes remain closed. She places the book on her forehead shielding her face from Gale.

“Took you long enough. I was wondering if it would happen soon or if two would just keep pining away for another six months.” Gale laughs as he pulls the book away from Octavia’s grasp.

He turns to sit on the couch as Octavia grabs another bottle out of Gale’s bag. She joins him, sitting down calmly and says, “Do you have more in there? I have a lot to talk to you about, in particular…” Octavia opens the bottle and takes a long drink from it, exhaling loudly once she swallows the alcohol. “How long have you known about Astarion being a vampire?”

Gale's eyes widen in shock, he turns to Octavia, his face is completely blank aside from the giant frown on his lips. “WHAT? I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN?” Gale nervously looks around, gripping Octavia’s book tightly in his hands. His eyes darted back and forth trying to focus on something other than Octavia.

“Gale, please don't keep lying to me. Besides, Astarion already told me himself.” Octavia takes her time pouring the wine into the other empty glass on the table. There's so much she wants to know, but Gale isn't the person to ask. “Why didn't you tell me? I thought we were friends, I opened up to you about my family. The least-”

“Stop. Stop right there.” Gale holds up his hand, “That was not my story to tell you, Octavia. You know damn well I wouldn't dare cross any of Astarion’s boundaries. This was something he explicitly told me not to tell you.”

Gale places the book down, giving Octavia the look a disappointed parent gives their delinquent teen.

“Why do you insist on testing boundaries? I get that you feel lied to, but I can't risk my friendship with him for you. He and I have an understanding that I have never had with anyone else. I can't really explain it, but it feels like he and I have been friends in another life. Who knows?” Gale shrugs, and leans back. “Anyway, I'm happy you two are doing well. Next time please grab your underwear before I come over?”

Octavia is quiet, she looks down at the book on the table, she picks it up along with the glass of wine. She hands the book to Gale and takes a sip of her drink. Gale’s eyes linger on Octavia’s wrist before she remembers the two puncture wounds on it. She retracts her hand and covers it up under the knitted cardigan she wore.

She could feel her face flush, how the hell would she be able to explain that away?

“You know what, I’m not even going to ask nor do I care. What you and Astarion do when you two are alone is entirely NONE of my business.” There was a brief pause, Octavia was about to say something before Gale cut her off. “How did it feel though? When he bit you?”

Octavia smirked and shot him a playful look, Gale swallowed and laughed, “You can't blame me, I'm a lover of knowledge, and well….can't say I haven't been a little curious…not many people remember what happened to the vampires in the Underdark. By the change in your expression I'm guessing you don't either?”

Octavia shakes her head, she heard stories from her family about the runaway spawn that were freed when her great grandmother was out on her adventure. Their plight at the hands of that evil bastard Cazador. The way they looked at her with hunger and fear. “I only know a little from stories my grandmother told me, what do you know?”

Gale looks at her with a forlorn stare, he bites his lips and his brows knit in a sorrowful expression. “Those people, the thousands of victims of such cruelty, a lot of them died when they were on their trek to the Underdark. Astarion has told me stories from when he would visit them. He has friends, family, people he knew who didn't make it. You and I were lucky and fortunate enough to have parents, a home, friends, the luxury of a life well lived. He doesn't. At least not one he remembers fondly.”

Octavia is shocked at what Gale tells her, she had no idea the type of horrific events that would have led Astarion to where he is now. “Gods…” she breathes out, her heart aching at the images being conjured in her mind.

“Please believe me when I tell you that I've been pushing him to try to open up to you and trust you. He’s not the type of person to put it all out there immediately.” Gale places his hand on Octavia’s shoulder, “Give him time to feel comfortable and you will get your answers. Now please, can I read this incredibly interesting journal you told me about??”

Octavia laughs softly, she leans over, grabs the book on the table a hands it to Gale. She sighs and takes a drink. Her mind is still buzzing, she can't think about those things and place Astarion in the middle of it. He's such a guarded person and now it was all making sense.

Gale leafs through the journal carefully, stopping and throwing his head back a little. His eyes flit back and forth for a few moments before he glances back at Octavia.

“Quote ‘Gale is nice enough, but he talks way too much. He and I shared a moment in the Weave earlier tonight. I felt this wonderful power flowing throughout my body . Like I was being held in a blanket of pure magic and ecstasy. My mind couldn't help imagine Gale kissing me. I mean he is pretty good looking, not gonna lie, he has these beautiful brown eyes that just seem to burn with his emotions….it's just…I don't really see myself with him…not when there's others who are capturing my attention much more ardently.’”

Octavia and Gale sat in an awkward silence for a few moments before the both of them broke out in a fit of laughter. The irony of Gale hitting on her at the night of the fundraiser coming back to them. “Guess it runs in the family then?” Octavia manages to say in the middle of her giggles, she wipes a tear at the corner of her eye and presses her hand to her cheek.

“That's so embarrassing, I'm so embarrassed for my great grandfather. What do they call that? Secondhand embassment?? Oh gods, have I apologized enough for that? I'm so sorry, I was so drunk.” Gale laughs and flips through the pages some more. He takes a drink and points out another passage.

He pushed the book onto Octavia’s hands, pointing to the paragraph in the middle of the page. Octavia begins to read it as Gale adjusted his reading glasses. “ Tonight, I had a little run in with the newest member of our little group. Turns out he's a vampire!” Octavia almost drops the book in her hands as Gale stares at her.

“Oh my GODS , no one ever mentioned a VAMPIRE in the party? Do you think Astarion knows who it is?? Do you think it could be someone connected to Cazador? I can't believe this..” Octavia’s hands tremble slightly as she looks down at the page.

“Octavia, there's no way he wouldn't know who it was, we could-” Gale begins to speak excitedly, but is cut off by Octavia who curtly responds, “No. We can't open up that old wound. You literally just gave me a whole lecture about respecting his boundaries, it seems very hypocritical of us to go prying into things when all we have is speculation.”

Gale nods and takes the book from her hands again. He flips for a minute until he lands on another passage mentioning the vampire in the group. “Here's another one..’ Tonight he seemed more distant…I figured that he was hungry again, but he didn't want to feed on my blood like the last couple of nights. Maybe I'll see what’s going on when he comes back.

I truly think there's something else going on with him, there's no way he can survive on the little he's been eating lately. Even with the abundant livestock and wild animals around. It seems that after Moonrise he's been pulling away from me more.

I thought it was just the whole thing with that creepy Drow lady or just being in the Shadow-cursed Lands messing with his head but…

I just don't know what to say or do anymore, we have to find out what this all means for him. I love him too much to let him down. We can figure this out together, I know we can.’ Huh, seems Tav was letting this vampire feed on her blood? Sounds like a terrible idea.” Gale passes the book back to Octavia, she places it on her lap and lets her mind wander.

She plays with the edge of the cover, letting the texture of the old leather ground her some. She starts to scratch at the corner with her nail, flicking the material until she feels it crack. Octavia gasps and stares down at the book.

“Octavia? What's wrong? Something else in there?” Gale looks back at her with concern. Octavia holds the book up as the cover separates from the corner. She glances back at Gale who throws his hands up in the air. They both stare at the book before Octavia rips the old leather cover off.

Gale gasps as if someone just slapped his mother, he clasps both hands on his mouth and shoots up on the couch. “What have you done?? That's a piece of history! We could have put that in the museum! I cannot believe you just destroyed-”

Octavia shoots him an annoyed look “Gale, I can destroy as many of my family heirlooms as I want. If you want to scold me on the historical integrity, you can do so after we solve this mystery. Now shut up and look at this!!”

She places the cover face up on the table, the crackled leather has evidence of I'm being tampered with previously. She placed the book cloth lined shell next to it and stared at the symbols and notes drawn all over both pieces.

‘eyes like knives that cut deep from within me. they sunk into me and never let me go. You must find out. I know that if you figured this out, you can find him and put this longing I've had to rest.’

Gale and Octavia stare at each other. In trying to solve one mystery it seems like they've uncovered possibly two more? From trying to find the subject in the paintings, the log book Astarion gave to Octavia, and now this secret that was hidden deep within the roots of Octavia’s family tree.

Octavia grabs her wine glass and throws back the rest of the liquid, swallowing with a hiss. Gale was preoccupied with the book cloth shell, he had his hands clasped together with two fingers sticking up in front of his lips. He had a look of quiet contemplation, serious and determined.

Gale hums and sighs, he sucks his teeth and leans back. “Something fucky is going on with this book…give me a little room.”

Suddenly he lifts both hands, placing them parallel to the table surface. He takes a few deep breaths, closes his eyes, and speaks words in a language Octavia has never heard before.

As he speaks, a faint lilac light surrounds the book and cover. The light begins to glow and pulse as Gale continues to speak. Octavia has no idea what the fuck is even happening but she's too stunned to speak. She watches as some faint words begin to rise up from the paper and cloth.

Gale finishes the spell and exhales shakily, he rolls his shoulders and places his hands down. He opens his eyes and looks at Octavia. She notices little bits of energy crackling along the tips of his hair. He shakes his head and she watches as the sparkles fly off and land in various places along her living room. “Sorry, I still haven't gotten the hang of controlling the energy blasts.”

Gale and Octavia laugh as he blows a little spark off the tip of his nose. He blinks rapidly and smiles at her bashfully. “Let's see what we uncovered, eh?” Octavia nods and turns to look back at the book.

On the spine of the book there were some glyphs drawn, Gale carefully picks up the book and inspects them. His brows shoot up in surprise, he looks at Octavia, his eyes wide as the plates in Octavia’s kitchen.

He turns to look at her, his expression completely astounded. “You have to see this.” He hands her the book as she looks at the cover. Along the spine she sees a string of words written in quick succession.

In this book, I have hidden my truth.

The words are there for you to find him.

I need to know what happened.

My star, my heart.

I await you in death.

However long it takes.

[mybelde]

38: don't get caught challenge: failed ♤

11 March, Friday, 5.35pm

Location: Aether and Lumine's house

You were glad that classes were finally over for the week. What better way to end the day by spending time with your boyfriend. Well, secret boyfriend. Where will you guys be going? His house.

And that was the problem.

Because it was also your bestfriend's house. And she doesn't know that you guys are dating. You tried finding the time to tell her the truth, but there was never the right moment.

Thus, you were on the edge the whole time, as you didn't want Lumine to find out by catching you guys together.

"Hey Aether, where's Lumine anyways?" You asked, trying to sound as nonchalant as you could.

"Hmm? Lumine? She said she has some council duties again, so she'll probably only be back home around 7. I'm surprised you didn't ask her yourself haha."

"Oh ahah I see. Well, she's been quite busy lately so I didn't get to ask her myself.."

Truth be told, you and Lumine were drifting a little. She wasn't texting you as much as she used to before, and you didn't text her as much since you were trying to prevent her from finding about about you and Aether.

You knew it was wrong to hide this from her, but you don't know when and how to tell her. And you don't know how she would react.

Will she get mad at you?

Will she stop talking to you?

Will your friendship with her be ruined?

If that were to happen, then what would Aether do?

He would be caught in between your mess.

You were interrupted from your thoughts as you felt a hand link with yours. You looked up to see Aether looking at you with a worried expression on his face, his golden eyes looking straight at you with concern.

"Hey yn... are you alright? You were spacing out just now..."

"Oh- um yeah I-I'm alright, don't worry. I was just thinking about some stuff, that's all."

"Oh okay.... just don't hesitate to tell me anything, alright? I'm here if you need anyone to talk to. Always."

Hearing his words made you feel a little more at ease, and you smiled at him.

"Thank you Aether, and yes I know that ahah."

Aether smiled back and squeezed your hand a little. The both of you just stayed in that position for a few seconds, before you saw his eyes light up.

"I know what will cheer you up! Just wait here yn!" He said, as he got up from the couch and went to the.... kitchen?

You sat on the couch for a few minutes, patiently waiting for Aether to come back to the living room, when you heard something shatter in the kitchen.

You quickly got up and rushed to the kitchen to see pieces of glass on the floor, and Aether trying to pick them up.

"AETHER ARE YOU ALRIGHT??" You asked, worried that he might have gotten hurt.

"Yn don't worry I'm fine! I just accidentally drop the glass-"

You knelt next to him and grabbed his hand to examine it.

"At least you didn't hurt to yourself, that's good. I'll clean this up while you.... continue with your cooking?"

You looked back at Aether to see him pouting.

Oh god.... how is he so cute???

"Sorry yn... I didn't mean to make you worried, I just wanted to make you your favourite food to cheer you up..."

Your heart melted as you heard those words come out from his mouth.

"Awww Aether.... you're so sweet, but really, thank you for trying to cheer me up."

"Anything for you."

.

.

.

You finally cleared up the last few bits of glass on the floor, and went to see Aether's progress on the food he was cooking.

"Oh wow," You thought, "He..... looks so cute in an apron.."

As if it was an instinct, you sneaked up to him and hugged him from behind. You could feel him tense up, but he quickly snuggled up to you.

He turned off the stove, turned around and hugged you back.

You could hear the soft beating of his heart in his chest, almost rhythemic, and.... calming to you.

"Hey Aether.." You whispered, but it was loud enough for him to hear.

Aether just hummed in response.

"I love you."

You then looked at him, to find him already staring at you, with the most goofiest smile on his face.

"I love you too."

The both of you leaned in, slowly, and soon, your lips connected. The kiss was tender, yet passionate at the same time. Addictive, almost.

However, your intimate moment was interrupted when you heard something crashing to the floor.

"What the actual fuck are you guys doing?"

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we LOVE to see a cliffhanger 🤭

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if your name is in red, it means its not letting me tag you from some reason :( idk why maybe my phone is acting up

tag list — closed since there's only a few more chapters left :)

[roseeycreates-blog]

Back to playing Stardew Valley because I'm not feeling great, haha. ANYWAY, I had this Linzin idea for the Farmer AU. So, imagine this: there’s a traveling merchant fleet docked at Republic City, with merchants from all nations. They’ve got shows, different cuisines at the food stalls—it’s a whole vibe!

Tenzin asked Lin to join him, and she eagerly agreed. They headed to the night market, and Lin was buzzing with excitement. There was so much to explore: free samples, clothing, food, and even seedlings, farm tools, and decorations. As they strolled through the bustling bazaar, Lin’s eyes sparkled at the sight of seedling displays with a variety of herbs and vegetables. She paused to admire a booth selling heirloom seeds and farm tools, chatting animatedly with the vendor about the best techniques for growing tomatoes and cucumbers.

Tenzin couldn’t help but watch her with a smile, noticing how Lin’s passion for farming lit up her face. She picked up a few gardening tools and excitedly demonstrated their features, as if she was right back on her farm. Tenzin couldn’t help but watch her with a smile, feeling his affection for her deepen with every moment.

They stopped to watch some performers bending and trying out a variety of delicious foods. Tenzin noticed a small, intricate clip at one of the stalls and decided to buy it for Lin. She tried to insist on paying, but Tenzin waved her off. “It’s a gift,” he said with a smile. “Celebrating your first time at the night market.” They continued their adventure, visiting a booth showcasing crafts from the Air Temples. The booth also offered refreshing juices and veggie rolls. To Lin’s surprise, she recognized some of the young acolytes from the Air Temple Island who had been with Tenzin the first time they met in Republic City (link).

One of the acolytes offered Tenzin some veggie rolls, and he took them, offering Lin a bite. She hesitated at first but noticed Tenzin waiting expectantly and decided to try it. “It’s delicious,” she said, as Tenzin finished off the rest of the roll.

The acolytes, however, weren’t pleased with the scene. They shot sharp, disapproving glances at Lin. Then, one of them “accidentally” spilled juice onto Lin’s shirt. She said, “Sorry,” but it was pretty clear it wasn’t an accident. The juice stain made her binder more noticeable and highlighted her chest. Tenzin noticed and quickly looked away.

Tenzin handed Lin his handkerchief and took off his jacket, draping it over her shoulders. He then led her to a booth that sold shirts and bought one so she could change. The merchant handed him two shirts, saying they were a couple's set. They ended up buying both shirts. The shirt design featured two flying bisons that form a heart when worn together by a couple.

Lin changed quickly, and as she walked out of the ladies' room, she saw Tenzin wearing his shirt. Lin chuckled at the sight of Tenzin in his shirt and said, “You know, you really didn’t have to wear it.” Tenzin grinned and said, “The design wouldn’t make much sense if only one of us was wearing it.” He tried to hide his blush as he added, “Besides, it’s a nice reminder of today.”

Lin reached for Tenzin’s arm and said with a teasing smile, "Well, I guess we’re a couple now." Her playful comment made Tenzin blush even more. Although they had been dating for a few months since Lin arrived in the city, Tenzin hadn’t formally asked her to be his girlfriend, so hearing Lin say it made him feel overjoyed and his heart skip a beat. Lin then pulled Tenzin over to where the group of girls was and made sure they saw the couple shirts. She flashed a smug smile at them, while Tenzin was still processing Lin’s words and the feeling of her arm around his, along with the fact that they were both wearing couple shirts.

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

Don't Go Blindly Into the Dark

Summary:

To hide that he can't read, Jan Van Eck has been forcing his son to pretend he's blind since he was eight years old. Wylan is now attending Ketterdam University, and meeting Jesper Fahey may very well be about to change his life. But is he safe to tell Jesper the truth? And what will Jesper say if he does?

Jesper is struggling to weigh up his life in the Barrel and his life at the University of Ketterdam, and there's a good chance that his growing debt is about to make the decision for him. He hasn't attended class consecutively for months, but maybe that will change when his newest project includes partnering up with Wylan Van Eck. But can he really leave the Barrel behind him? And how long can he keep up the pretence of who he thinks Wylan wants him to be?

Tags: @justalunaticfangirl @lunarthecorvus

If anyone else would like to be tagged let me know :)

Content warnings for this chapter: death, descriptions dead bodies, blood and wounds, gore, violence, murder, implied sa references, trafficking references

AO3 link

Note: I only freaking went and did it again *facepalm* Sorry, I once again updated on ao3 and left the tumblr post completely written and open on my laptop without actually posting it - but at least this time it's only been a few hours instead of an entire day haha. Love to y'all, thanks so much for reading <3

Chapter 31 - Kaz

“Kaz-”

Kaz looked up from his office door, his gloved hand half closed over the handle, to see Jesper working his way across the room towards him. He sighed and shifted his weight against his cane, leaning heavily against it as he waited for Jesper. The weather had begun to clear up after the storm but the air was still damp and clingy, and his leg never liked the wet or the cold. Convenient, for Ketterdam. 

“I just spoke to Layla,” said Jesper, as he reached him, “About that girl from the Sweet Shoppe-”

“Inside,” Kaz nodded to his office door.

Jesper faltered slightly, but followed him in and pushed the door shut as Kaz sat down behind his desk. He stretched his bad leg out in front of him. 

“I’ve seen her,”

“Layla?” asked Jesper, frowning, “I thought she said-”

“Amethyst,” said Kaz, “I saw her,”

It hadn’t been pretty. Jesper grimaced, leaning back ever so slightly in the chair he’d taken up.

“You mean…” he gestured vaguely up and down his own face, as though miming the place Amethyst had been cut through.

Kaz nodded. 

He’d been to the Exchange just before their job this evening was supposed to start, only there to remind someone what he knew so that they’d agree to update him on which guards would be working over the coming nights. It wasn’t for a while that he’d be needing the information, but they might get ideas of lying to him and if they did then he needed to make sure they knew what would happen to them. He also couldn't afford for the night they chose to be the night he needed to know, so the work would have to begin in advance. Finding Amethyst spilling her innards down the steps had been unexpected - and unwelcome. Kaz hadn’t been prepared. 

“Perfectly,” he added, watching the grim look on Jesper’s face deepen, “Straight in half,”

“Some Grisha can do that, can’t they? They say the Darkling could,”

Kaz shook his head. 

“A weapon specific to very powerful Etherealki, I believe. No frightened runaway in the middle of Ketterdam could have done that, or at least not anyone who’s been flying under the radar for long - and anyway, I don’t think the Cut’s precise enough for two equal halves. I’ve heard some stories,”

Nina had an unnerving habit of dropping such things, things she’d witnessed as a child during the Ravkan Civil War, into casual conversation and being surprised when people were taken aback, but Kaz had heard of it from a couple of others as well. As far as he could tell, the Cut would have been even messier than what he’d seen today. 

“So then, what?”

“I have no idea,”

There was a brief pause, before Jesper ventured. 

“Do you think it’s the same person? Tara - she’s the girl from the Menagerie - Tara and Amethyst, do you think-?”

“I don’t think,” Kaz sighed, “I’m certain. The patterns are far too similar, the murders far too close together, the mode of operation is exactly the same - except the death itself,”

And was there to that? Everyone, Kaz included, had thought that the Leopard, Tara, had been strangled; the bruises around her neck were heavy, inkblots on her too pale skin, and her body was otherwise unmaimed but for scars and the remnants of old injuries. But bruises could have been placed there, couldn’t they, by a Corporalnik? Though Kaz couldn’t imagine any possible motivation for that. None of this seemed to quite make sense. 

“The question is whether they have real motive or if this is just mindless killing - and the answer is that mindless killing, even in the Barrel, is much rarer than people think. In any case it doesn’t get this much attention. Mindless killing is messy, its random - mindless killing is corpses with no connection to each other, usually lower effort, sometimes a more fleeting motivation fulfilled and the victim killed in the aftermath. Mindless killing isn’t premeditated, it doesn’t involve such long-term kidnappings - remember both had been missing for at least a week, Tara for two, but those bodies were fresh. When Tara was first found, maybe we could have struck that up to mindless. The seeming randomness of it, the returning her to the Menagerie, even the method; all of it could have just been Tara’s very bad luck. But looking at it all together…” Kaz shook his head, “You know a girl from West Stave died in a similar pattern last month? From a smaller house, didn’t get much notice; I didn’t start to connect the dots until Tara, but when Amethyst went missing I knew. Something’s happening here, and if something’s happening then someone’s making it happen with intention and with motive. These are setups, and there’s somebody pulling the strings behind them,”

Jesper fidgeted a little, and Kaz saw his hands drift towards his gun belt. He’d swapped his prize revolvers, still sitting in Kaz’s safe, for two sad little lumps of pistols and apparently they weren’t giving him the comfort that his own guns usually did. He always laid hands on them when he was antsy, like a child seeking the comfort of a favoured doll, and now his fingers were dancing over the replacements like they couldn’t quite decide where to land. 

Kaz flexed his gloved fingers and gripped his cane tighter. He could have given Jesper his revolvers back, the safe was right behind him, but he didn’t move. Jesper hadn’t asked for them, he knew the deal was incomplete, and Kaz could admit to himself that part of him wanted to punish Jesper a little. He owed the sharpshooter nothing, and if Jesper hadn’t left her behind then maybe the Wraith wouldn’t have been injured. Kaz may not have lost money on the proposed deal with Wylan, but Jesper’s proposition had cost Inej something more. And it was costing Kaz the loss of her skills these past few weeks, leaving him in the dark on details she could have gathered for him. He was well within his rights to keep the guns, by the deal they’d made at least, but he knew that if Jesper asked for them he would hand them over. But Jesper hadn’t asked, so they continued to gather dust in Kaz’s locked office. 

“Who died last month?” asked Jesper, a little quieter than before.

Kaz shrugged.

“I don’t have a name, but the point is that whatever’s happening here is building up. The first didn’t get attention, the second wasn’t atypical of West Stave it was just showier. But Amethyst? This is new,”

Kaz suppressed a shudder at the thought - he’d never seen a body like that before. Amethyst had been splayed over the steps outside the Exchange, stripped bare, leaking blood onto the stones. Her entire body had been sliced in two, from head to foot, and the open flap of her chest cavity spilled structures Kaz probably couldn’t even name free from the cage of her ribs and flesh and skin. His eyes skirted quickly to her face. It was impressive they’d managed to identify her, he thought, and then a minute later realised that they hadn’t needed to. Her face was smashed and blood-soaked and split into two equal halves, but the dismemberment had left her arms untouched. The Sweet Shoppe tattoo, dancing on her skin in time with the mist. 

Kaz swallowed tightly, stiffening his hand on his cane and readjusting his bad leg. There were more stadwatch on their way, in fact it was surprising the entire place wasn’t crawling with them yet, and Kaz didn’t fancy being the only person around the corpse when they arrived. He didn’t want to look at it any longer, everything in him was screaming to turn and run, but Kaz’s feet would not move. Amethyst’s bulging eyes stared up at him from their unnatural distance apart, and even standing there he could feel the cold skin, taut over bloating flesh, wet beneath his palms. 

“Kaz?”

Kaz snapped back to the present, gaze fixing on Jesper and forcibly anchoring him in the room. He felt an unfair rage fizzing straight through him, crackling down his arms and all the way into his fingertips. 

“This is new,” Jesper prompted, “What…?”

“I don’t know what kind of weapon could do that to a person,” Kaz shook his head, “And I don’t know why someone wanted to kill Amethyst, or the others. But I know they had a reason,”

It probably wasn’t anything to do with the girls themselves. At the end of the day they were easy targets, weren’t they? Heleen and Pekka may even have had some money slipped to them under the table, Kaz wasn’t sure he’d be surprised. Though maybe not, or they might have done a better job of keeping the original disappearances under wraps. It didn’t matter. Kaz didn’t think that Tara and Amethyst, or the other girl, had been chosen individually for who they were. They’d been chosen because they would get no more attention than Barrel gossip, and because no-one was going to expect the stadwatch to solve the murder of an indenture from West Stave. Kaz doubted the first victim had even been reported to them. Who would have said anything? He just didn’t understand what they’d been chosen for. If they’d all been killed like Amethyst was, he’d assume someone was testing some kind of new weapon. But something didn’t add up here, and it was putting Kaz on edge. 

“They’ll do it again,”

It wasn’t a question but Kaz nodded anyway, and Jesper leaned back as he drummed his fingers against his knees. Again Kaz thought he might ask to have his revolvers back, but he said nothing. 

“They’re getting braver,” Kaz mused, “Who says this only started last month?”

And what comes next? 

There was a long silence.

“You were late,”

“I was setting up a sling for Inej,” said Jesper, readjusting on his seat, “And I had to wait for Anika so there was someone to stay with her,”

“How is she?”

“Restless. In pain. Improving,” Jesper shrugged, “You might know better for yourself if you spoke to her,”

Kaz didn’t bother to dignify that with a response. He hadn’t spoken to Inej since she woke up in his office a few days ago. Her sudden panic at waking up in a room she only had hazy memories of dragging herself to through the clouds of pain that were clinging to her, lying on the floor, wearing someone else’s clothes, had been palpable in the air even before she’d scrambled away from him across the boards. As soon as she moved her face contorted in pain and she shuddered to a halt, pulling her arms into herself and pressing into the cupboards behind her as she shook herself properly awake and her dark eyes found Kaz’s. 

“Don’t try to walk until you’re ready,” he told her, “Nina’s outside, she’ll take you back to the Slat,”

Inej watched him for a moment, shaky breaths filling the air between them. Kaz stood slowly and began to walk towards the door, wary of Inej’s eyes on him. 

“The body’s been moved,” he said, feeling something soften in his voice whether he wanted it to or not, “If you’d rather swap to a different room maybe I can-”

“It’s okay,” she whispered, and he couldn’t help but turn to see her, “Thank you,”

Kaz’s heart was in his throat and Inej’s eyes were wide and dark enough to drown in. 

“I’ll get Nina,”

It was all he could bring himself to say. 

[fisherpiers]

Could you do a prompt where Luz and Hunter are not a double date with Amity and Willow (but Luz is a lil nervous about seeing Amity-  whether they broke up or not idk- You can pick) leading to Luz and Hunter’s first kiss or ‘I love you’?

Boy someone’s getting more than I bargained for… you expected a little drabble? Well no sorry just straight up 3600 word one-shot for you. I had too much material. Oh and heads up Flapjack is not dead. Idk where people are getting that idea smh.

Edit: psst. I sorta rewrote this one a little and you can read that version here

Edit edit: pls pls pls read the ao3 version lmao it has like 500 extra words and it flows much better (link above in previous paragraph)

…

Luz didn’t just have a few butterflies in her tummy, she had an entire butterfly conservatory.

Tonight was going to be the first time she’d have to spend an entire evening with Amity since she’d broken things off with her a few months ago. A double date. A double date with her ex… why did she let Willow talk her into this?

Willow had been trying to get Luz and Amity alone in the same room forever. Something about getting along and the power of friendship and yadda yadda..

And Luz really wanted to smooth things over Amity, honest. For Willow’s sake. It was just too awkward.

It’s weird right? When your best friend and your ex girlfriend get together. And you’re happy for them? You’re glad she’s able to make your ex happy like you couldn’t, but also what the hell man.

But it’s not like you haven’t already moved on, too. Uh, well, you sorta moved on before ending the relationship. That was why you broke up with her. So really you can’t be slightly mad here.

But your boyfriend also left Willow for you? And that’s weird too? But you and Willow are still besties bc #Hexsquad4Life and all that?

SO! To make things worse you’re now bringing the guy you broke up with your with ex for, on a double date with said ex, with his ex, and wowsers there’s a lot to unpack here.

It’s just all over awkward! Okay?!

No wonder Gus keeps taking his exchange students on long trips into the human realm. They’re probably giving him ulcers from all this drama.

The good news was that Willow and Hunter were the ones taking care of all the plans. All Luz had to do was show up. Which, is gonna be hard as hell to do in the first place.

She’ll admit, it’s kinda weird that Hunter was still all buddy-buddy with Willow, as well. But Luz wasn’t threatened by that.

She was 100% sure Hunter wanted her, and only her. Their was something about the way he treated her that left her no room for doubt. He was so tender with her. The ways his eyes promised her anything if she’d only ask—

Anyways!

Hunter’s breakup with Willow went so smoothly, in fact it was the most amicable breakup Luz had ever seen (and had been in the middle of). Which, of course. If there was anyone who could’ve actually stayed friends after their romantic relationship ended, it was those two. Not even a snag in their typical antics, their dynamic remained undisturbed.

Which was a little suspicious, now that she thought of it.

She never even once saw them kiss. She never saw them go out (without her or Gus tagging along, that is)…

However, they did hold hands every second of the day without stop. Which made it impossible to talk to Hunter without Willow there and it annoyed Luz to no end. Glued at the hips much? Wait,

It was almost as if they weren’t actually dating, just trying to get under her skin. And Amity’s too, by the looks of it…

Those cheeky buggers.

Well. Maybe things aren’t as weird with Willow and Hunter as she thought. So it looked like she, and probably Amity, were going to be the only ones suffering tonight. Yay.

Luz sorted through her clothes, trying to pick an appropriate outfit to no avail. What do you even wear to a double-date with your ex? Something extra hot to sorta say haha look what you’re missing? Something your new boyfriend bought you because he’ll love to see you wear it and simultaneously tell everyone you’re with him now?

Titan, she didn’t even think about all the people at the restaurant.

What were they going to think with the four of them together? Would it be confusing? Would they be watching for a fight, popcorn ready?

This was one of the many downsides to being one of the most recognizable faces in the Isles, an unwillingly celebrity. Everyone knew you and all your business.

She settled on a simple black shirt and slacks. Classic, right? Dressy enough for the nice restaurant Willow had picked out (probably in an attempt to keep things civil, bound by social contract and all) and not showy. It was an outfit that didn’t say anything. Which was probably for the best.

Just one thing. A necklace, from Hunter. It was a pendant he carved himself, an old light glyph. He gave it to her years ago, when he had just started his apprenticeship and was excited about carving. Amity had hated this necklace. Luz couldn’t ever figure out as to why, until lately. It was such a simple little thing, and it wasn’t like it was ugly.

But now Luz understood, it was a piece of Hunter. He had thought of her and carved her a necklace, unprompted. It was a gift, given on no special occasion. He just wanted to give her something. And she wore it around her neck proudly.

Of course Amity hated that.

She was absolutely going to wear it to this double-date. It’s not like it was one of his earrings or anything. No big deal, but enough to send a message.

Hunter knocked on her door. She knew it was him, with the little pattern he knocked on the wood. The sound comforted Luz.

She glanced over herself in the mirror once again before getting the door. Well, here goes nothing.

Hunter looked as handsome as ever, eagerly waiting with his hands behind his back as she opened the door. Once he saw her, his face lit up.

“You ready, Mi Amor?”

He offered his hand, and Luz took it.

“Mi Amor?”

“Cariño! Corazón! Mi Vida!”

“Okay, okay,” Luz laughed, “I get it you googled ‘pet names Español’”

“That’s where you’re wrong, actually. I’ve had these babies under my belt for years,”

Luz raised her eyebrows at his statement,

“I found them to be very important to memorize back when Gus had everyone practicing our Español everyday stuck in the human realm.”

Luz gaped at him, “Titan, you really meant years, huh?”

“I did indeed,” he looped their arms together, “now, let’s get going to our dinner reservations,”

“Ughhhh,” Luz protested, “do we have to? Actually, uh, I think I’m coming down with something, [cough cough] see?”

Hunter put his hand on her forehead mockingly, “oh you poor baby. Get on the staff.”

Hunter straddled Falpjack and patted the empty space behind him, beckoning for her to join him.

“Fine,” she pouted as she wrapped her arms around his waist, holding on tight as they took off, “but I’m not talking to her.”

Hunter sighed, “that’s fine. You just have to exist in the same space as Amity for a while and Willow will be happy.”

Luz hummed in agreement, pressing her face into his back as the world flew by. One of the downsides of air travel (or at least with The Flash over here) was that you got to your destination quite quickly. So there was no real time to spend staring out at the passing scenery, dreading your arrival.

“Actually,” Hunter laughed, “maybe it’d be better if you don’t talk to her. Then you won’t be able to start any fights!”

“Hey!” She squeezed his ribs, “I can be civil!”

“Then be civil.”

“I will,” she stuck out her tongue at him, despite him not being able to see it.

They touched down outside of the restaurant, which was hanging off of the Left Arm, and Flapjack took his place nesting in Hunter’s pocket. The little cardinal made himself very comfortable, as always, but that meant Hunter had grass and leaves in the pockets of every piece of clothing he owned.

The restaurant’s view was incredible, thanks to the Titan’s new position. All the new buildings on the Left Arm had the most beautiful views now, and the real estate value had skyrocketed. It was even more expensive than the Knee now. Luz preferred Bonesboro, anyhow.

The place was fancy. Going on a date in a ritzy establishment like this would’ve been unthinkable to 14-year-old Luz, but now she was used to getting invited to parties like this. She rarely went to them, but boy, did those rich people like to use her presence as a status symbol. “Look, I’m so popular even Luz Noceda is here” Barf.

She tightened her grip on Hunter’s arm as they spotted Willow and Amity, already at the table waiting for them. Willow waved them over, smile as wide as ever.

She was wearing a beautiful green skirt, that shimmered like an emerald, with a yellow cardigan on top, embroidered with little bumble bees. She must have gotten that from the human realm.

Amity was wearing a simple black dress.

Dammit. She must have had the same idea. And now they match.

No matter. Luz pointedly sat across from Willow instead of Amity. Which left Hunter vulnerable and having to look Ames in the eye, but Luz was allowing herself this bit of selfishness. Hunter was the one who dragged her here anyway. He could deal.

Didn’t keep Amity from locking eyes with her the second she sat down. Damn. She darted her gaze away as fast as she could.

“Hello ladies,” Hunter greeted as he sat down in his own chair, after pushing Luz’s in.

Normally she loved how over the top he was, but right now she needed him to tone it down. She could feel the eyes of every other patron in the dining room on her.

“So, what’s good here?” Luz nervously asked as she hid her face in her menu.

“Not much,” Amity said dryly, “this place is famous for its tiny portions and fancy ingredients that taste like dirt.”

“Shhh, don’t scare them, sweet pea,” Willow pointed to a section on her menu, as Luz tried not to cringe at how close sweet pea was to sweet potato, “Skara says the Selkigris Soup is to-die-for.”

A very vivid memory, of a very strong smell, surfaced in Luz’s mind.

“Uhhh, I think I’ll pass on that one, Willow, because,” she tried to think up an excuse, “uh, I don’t think I can digest selkigris very well.”

“Oh, of course, I hadn’t even thought of that.”

“Yeah uh,” Luz scanned the menu as fast as she could, to make it seem like she had totally been paying any attention to the piece of paper she’d been using as a mask, totally, “looks like they have Griffon Quiche. That’s usually pretty safe for me.”

“Oh that sounds delicious! There’s so many options, how am I gonna decide?” Willow giggled.

“I’m gonna get a spider soufflé, so I can send a pic to Gus,” Hunter joked, “it’s his favorite, maybe he’ll wish he came along.”

Willow stifled a laugh, “that’s mean, Hunter. You know he had to stay behind because Matt is sick.”

“Haha, I’m still going to tease him, though.”

Yeah. Matt was real sick, Luz bet. Dammit. Curse Gus and his ability to weasel his way out of this. She’ll pay him a visit whenever Mattholomule “gets better”.

Sigh, it’s not like she could blame him.

The way Amity leaned back in her chair, taking a really long sip from her wineglass, made Luz sure that she was thinking the same thing.

***

“Okay so a beast-demon, bidped-demon, and a bug-demon walk into a bar…”

Luz had to hand it to Amity, she was right. The food was tiny and gross. Titan almighty, she’ll never understand high-class tastes.

It didn’t look like Hunter minded it one bit, however. All these years later and the boy was still just happy to have anything that wasn’t the castle’s tasteless “nutritionally complete” rations. It was endearing.

It was lucky for Luz, really, because she still wasn’t the greatest cook. But Hunter always cleared his plate and told her he enjoyed it, so genuinely that she was inclined to believe him. Not like when Amity kept baking those horrific fairy pies and she just had to take them with a fake smile.

It was really easy to tell when Hunter was lying. His ears twitch.

Right now, he was laughing with Willow about a joke Luz hadn’t been listening to. She pushed some food around on her plate, bored, wanting this night to hurry and be over already.

This was probably a good enough time as any to excuse herself for a moment. Maybe check her hair in the mirror. She knew she’d been running her hand through it all night so far, it was a nervous tick. Maybe if there wasn’t anyone else in the restroom she could scream.

She scooted her chair out and stood.

“I’m—“

“Going to the—“

“Restroom…”

“For a moment…”

She locked eyes with Amity, across the table. Someone should call jinx.

Fuck, now she had to go with Amity. It’d be more awkward to sit back down and admit she wanted to avoid the other witch. So much for her “little break”.

One look at Amity’s face and Luz could tell she was also mentally going over her options and accepting defeat.

They walked side by side, not talking. The other patrons glanced at them as they walked by. Someone even raised an eyebrow upon seeing them. They kept death-marching in silence. Damn this was awkward as hell.

Luz looked haggardly in the mirror, clutching the sink.

Yeah, she had mussed up her hair a lot. She tried to fix it with some water, but it was a little too far gone for that.

Amity came up to the sink beside her, washing her hands. Luz looked to the ground, anywhere but at her. The restroom tiles were very lovely, actually. Such a nice pattern.

There was a nautical theme to this room. The sinks crafted to look like seashells. Not that strange for an Arm building, but Luz still found it cheesy. Fake pearls adorned the mirrors. Well, now that she thought of it, with this place, they were most likely real pearls.

“Thank you.”

Luz was caught off guard.

“What?”

“Thanks for coming,” Amity swished a piece of her purple hair behind her ear, “I know you didn’t want to. But it means a lot to Willow, you doing this,”

“Oh—“ that’s all Luz could say. “Uhhh. Yeah.”

The walk back to the table was no less agonizing.

When they got back, the dishes had already been cleared. Willow was doing something to the flowers in the centerpiece. The blooms were switching between hues.

“Guys, look,” Hunter kissed Luz’s hand absent-mindedly as she sat back down, “whenever Willow changes the color, the manager gives us a dirty look. She’s messing up his perfect color pallet or something.“

Luz and Amity looked to where he was pointing, and yes, the manager looked furious. Luz couldn’t stop the snort that came from her at the sight.

“We already ordered desert, while you two were in the restroom,” Willow stopped messing with the flowers to turn to Amity, “it’s a surprise now, sorry.”

“I like surprises,” Amity giggled.

Took everything within Luz not to roll her eyes.

Hunter’s hand found hers under the table. He gave her a little squeeze. Yeah, she needed that.

The mystery desert Hunter and Willow had ordered turned out to be just a couple slices of devil’s food cake. Just regular, not bug-filled, run of the mill cake. Because human sweets were all the rage right now, apparently.

And chocolate was a delicacy on the Isles. Luz would know, she spent many a weekend “importing” the stuff with Eda. It was the easiest way to make a quick buck around here, thanks to most witches being to afraid to venture into the human realm on their own.

Hunter held a spoonful from their shared plate up to Luz’s mouth. She bashfully took the bite. This wasn’t the first time he’d done this, on the contrary, he fed her all the time. Even a lot before they were together. Like when he’d feed her chips while her focus was locked onto a video game, or when he’d want her to taste test what he was cooking…

So he probably thought nothing of the action, but Luz was a bit embarrassed he was doing this in front of her ex girlfriend. She picked up her own spoon and made sure he didn’t have the opportunity to do it again.

The waiter had brought them the check with the desert. And once they laid out their payment it was quickly collected and their receipt promptly given to them. The fastest Luz checkout had ever seen. It was hilarious. The manager clearly wanted them gone as soon as possible.

As the group stepped outside, Willow pulled both Luz and Hunter into a hug. The three laughed, smiles wide.

“I love you guys! We should do this again sometime! Have a nice night!” She bid them goodbye.

“Peace,” Amity threw up the sign with her fingers to go along with the farewell.

The couple summoned their palismen and took off into the night. Luz turned back to Hunter, who was still watching their fleeting forms.

“Is this where the night ends?”

Hunter pretended to think, stroking his barely-there beard that he should really start trimming into a goatee.

“Hmm. Nah.”

“Well, then where to next?”

Flapjack flew out of his pocket, transforming into a staff midair that Hunter than caught with a flourish. Luz knew Hunter practiced tricks like this with Flap, so instead of appreciating how cool that actually looked, she couldn’t help but giggle in response. His gap teeth looked adorable as he grinned at her.

“There’s a show in Latissa we could make?”

“Lead the way, hotshot.”

***

Latissa was significantly cooler than the Left Arm. Lack of boiling sea spray.

The garage band played horrendously. Whoever these bards were, they needed to get kicked from the coven. Seriously, what was this. Titan, it was absolutely grating.

There were people standing all around, hooting and hollering. Guess Luz wasn’t the target audience, and with one look at her boyfriend, she could tell he wasn’t either. Hunter was staring straight ahead, spaced out. She tugged on his hand. He immediately gave her attention, scanning her for problems.

“Are you cold? Do you want my jacket?”

Luz laughed, “Actually, I was thinking we could get out of here,

He nodded, as she reached up to him,

“I will take that jacket, though.”

He quickly shrugged the hoodie off and draped it over her shoulders. She took a sniff of the collar out of habit. Hunter looked amused at the gesture.

“There is somewhere else I want to go, before we leave town,”

“Where?”

“You’ll see.”

“Oh we’re gonna be cryptic now, huh?”

“Yep.”

Luz playfully rolled her eyes, “how long then?”

“Oh it isn’t very far. We could walk, even.”

“Sounds good to me,” Luz offered up her arm for him to interlock with his, as she let him lead her to wherever this mystery place was.

He lied. It was across town. Not close-by at all. It was quite the walk, but it was time spent together, so she didn’t mind.

“Where did you even hear about that show? That band was awful. Good thing bards wear a lot of red because they’re gonna get tomatoes thrown at them one day,”

Hunter laughed boisterously, “HA! Yeah, they stunk,” he mimed wiping a tear from his eye, “I just heard about it in the shop one day. Some guys were talking about it.”

“Well those guys have bad taste. They were so bad,”

“So bad,” he agreed, “But it’s fine. I just wanted an excuse to get you to Latissa.”

That caught her curiosity, “why?”

“Well,” he ducked into the alleyway in front of them, leading her by the hand, “we’re here actually.”

“… a dirty alleyway?”

“Our dirty alleyway,” he smirked.

Hunter started climbing up the fire escape, stopping to help her get a foothold as well,

“C’mon!”

Luz had a feeling she knew where they were going. She clambered up after him, finally reaching the top, where she was greeted with a familiar rooftop.

“I can’t believe it’s still up here,” she gasped.

Hunter patted the bricks where the old painted lines of a large glyph still decorated the wall, “I know right, you would’ve thought the rain would’ve washed it away by now, after all these years…”

“Huh,” Luz marveled, “this was a nice surprise.”

He stepped closer to her, wrapping his arms around her waist. She looked up at him, eyes wide.

“Hey,” he began, “I’m sorry about tonight.”

“You don’t need to apologize,”

“Yeah, yeah I do. This was a shitty thing to do to you, putting you through this. I should’ve said no to this whole thing.”

Hunter dipped closer to her, and Luz felt like a magnet was pulling her in.

“It’s okay, really, I,” his nose was brushing hers, “I forgiv—“

He captured her lips with his.

She melted into him. Her eyes fluttered shut, and her hand came up to rest on his jaw. She pulled back just a moment to readjust their noses, allowing her to deepen the kiss.

They parted for air, and Hunter longingly stared into her eyes, lovestruck.

“Crikey,” Luz gasped out, before she heard herself,

“DAMMIT! AGAIN?!”

What was it about first kisses that suddenly made her Steve Irwin??

[thatgirl4815]

So! I just found this picture from when they were filming (https://64.media.tumblr.com/d26d626a15156984abd9294fa66435e0/66e4766c059416ae-a4/s1280x1920/8531ea234eea891f8369b0b6cfc59337310378ed.pnj) sorry for the long link! it kinda seems like Ray has a bruise on his mouth? and it also seems like he has on the same outfit as this scene (https://64.media.tumblr.com/70ec496c388d22b8245c7919d6dbbc03/66e4766c059416ae-15/s1280x1920/a9ac510b38197f0463f428fde77cbce6a3c96cd1.pnj) which i find really interesting! Did something happen after that scene, did they fight? or maybe Ray fight someone else? idk but thought i would share haha

Ooh YES, actually this reminds me of a post I made during filming time (feels like forever ago now!) here which calls attention to that little bruise we see. Since then we’ve seen a bit more of Ray in that shirt—just so we can view everything side by side, I’m gonna include the pics here (in no particular order)…

Ok, I believe that’s every time that white/black shirt appears! With all of those in mind, maybe they spend the day together, then they go to the club (the same club Sand sells his plum wine, it seems), Ray tries to serenade Sand with a song, they drink and smoke together and Ray gets something on his shirt so they go to the dressing room (😶)…and then they get into a fight? Or Ray fights someone else?

The timeline is confusing because Ray is definitely wearing the shirt when he has the bruise, but I don’t see the bruise in any other pic (besides the BTS one). That could imply that he gets the bruise in a later scene. After the dressing room scene, does he put the black/white shirt back on or change into something else?

I’m probably overthinking this, lol. But anyways, yes, I agree that bruise is super interesting and I’m excited to learn how all these scenes fit together! Can’t wait for the episode to air so I can find out how bad my timeline theories are, haha.

[realitymirage]

Testing comic (Test-Tale) is completed!!!

Great news everyone!!! My first sprite comic, correctly named Test-Tale, is finally done!!

I created it so I could show my skills, so that people would be interested and have trust in me!

While it's rather short, it has some very important information about UNDERTALE: Reality Mirage, along with UNDERSWAP, such as the new name of UNDERSWAP, which is...

UNDERSWAP: A NEW DAWN!

Yup, that's right! I finally came up with a title for UNDERSWAP! Took me long enough, haha!

Anyways, the reasoning behind the name is that UNDERSWAP is a 'new dawn' in Reality Mirage Chara, Frisk, and Gaster's lives, along with the characters living within the UNDERSWAP universe. Plus, it sounds peaceful!

Anyways, next section!

TEST-TALE

With Test-Tale being completed, that means the production of UNDERSWAP: A NEW DAWN's sprite comic can finally happen! All I need to do is get sprite work done for the Ruins cast, start actually getting the rooms all made, then production can be on it's way!

As for Test-Tale itself, the only real roles I had set up are;

The Unused Human as Frisk.

Ruins Dummy Ghost as Chara.

Mad Dummy as Flowey + Asriel.

Undyne as Toriel.

Alphys as Asgore.

There's no lore set up either, sadly. It was just a test WORLD, after all!

Also there are a few formatting errors and spelling errors... Text it REALLY hard to use in Paint.Net, but I hope the quality is still good despite this!

Closing Remarks

Well... That's it! I have nothing more to say, other than thank you all so much!!! I can't wait for you all to see what I'm going to make, and I hope you guys are excited as well!!

Now I hate to sound like I'm begging and all here, but... Please be sure to reblog my posts and follow this blog! It helps to get more people to see UNDERTALE: Reality Mirage and helps with my motivation as well!

And now, without further ado...

Fair warning, the links in the Imgur folder are a little messed up. Sadly, there is nothing I can do about that.

I hope you all have an amazing rest of your day, afternoon, or night! and, don't forget...

STAY DETERMINED!

[blood-starved-beast]

More Hades II posting but now looking into the scenery shown so far. Specifically, the focus is on Hekate’s boarding school, of which it is, given that Melinoe calls her Headmistress in this shot where we have Melinoe conversing with Hekate herself

First off, I assume the boarding school shall be this game’s version of the “House of Hades,” where Melinoe would return to at the end of each run. This area in particular, likely a mirror to the “throne room” of the House of Hades, where you could converse with Nyx and Hades, and also links to the other rooms in the house. In addition to talking to Hekate, we can see that she’s surrounded by witch shades, very similar to the ones Zagreus fought in the first

Considering how the majority of witches are punished, per the codex entry of the first game, it’s a wonder what Hades must think his daughter training among them now. Anyways, these witches resemble the splitters from the first game, the ones you’d encounter in Elysium:

only these, with the moon sigil on their foreheads, are devoted to Hekate. 

Other things to note in this room are how it’s filled with cauldrons of various sizes and uses, with a center one glowing with some green fluid

I’m guessing this pot is likely the equivalent of the Mirror of Twilight of the first game, where Melinoe can concoct some brew that’ll make her stronger depending on the materials she collects on her quest. That, or she can upgrade her weapons that way. We see in a shot in the trailer that might suggest it could also allow for teleportation (occurs at 1:32). Given the other cauldrons in the room, this main area is likely a classroom of sorts, where the other students can practice alongside Hekate in brewing magical potions. 

Next room I want to talk about is the Frog room, or more likely, the dormitories.

Here we see two beds off the bat. One with a matress, another of straw. I’m guessing the floor mattress is Melinoe’s bed, on the account that it’s position in a game accessible way that resembles that of Zagreus’s in the first, and also because in the things next to the bed, there is a framed picture of Froggles in the back too specific for it to be anything else but by Mel herself:

Additionally, if spy through Melinoe’s things, we see a case filled with bottles - likely potions, medicines, powders for spells etc. - a suitcase likely with clothes (neat, unlike Zagreus’s haha), books tagged and marked at different places - likely her notes for her magic classes - a mirror with hands? I don’t know what it could be, but likely something similar to this aspect of Mel’s power we see in the trailer:  

Doubt we’ll interact with it though. There’s also baskets of what looks like lavender and a hanging vine of garlic, possibly material for spells. Melinoe in the full shot stands in a ring that likely allows her to teleport from the main room where Hekate is to dorms, I sense that’s going to be a reoccuring thing in the game. 

In addition to having Mel’s things, the dorm room is also where we can talk to Dora, who sits over some blankets next to Mel’s side of the room. 

It’s possible that she’s Melinoe’s roommate and the owner of the unoccupied straw bed we see in the corner. As the goddess of ghosts, Melinoe likely surrounds herself with them a lot, it’s part of her mythology after all. 

Other rooms include a dining room, where we have this conversation with Nemesis:

I say a dining room cause there’s a guy on top that look like Patroclus, but whether it’s him or a placeholder we’ll have to wait and see. 

There’s a ring of stones on top that suggest his area is connected to the main one where Hekate stands, so it’s technically part of the main room.

The other place we know is the area where Moros stands, likely where the walkway we see in the main room connects to, as he’s seen standing next to what looks like a List of Minor prophecies from the first game. 

Which makes sense, as Moros connected to the Fates in the Greek mythologies. Otherwise, this location looks like a main hall, possibly leading to a teleportation device that’ll take Melinoe back to her dorm likely. 

As far as I know, that’s all I have for the scenery. Hopefully we’ll get some more info soon.

[sakvvra]

SenHaku Week 2024

Day: 1

Prompt: First Times

Summary:

After the time machine passes its final test, Senku and Kohaku decide to host their wedding.

Or…

Kohaku takes his last piece of just barely existing virginity the night of their wedding.

Links: https://archiveofourown.org/works/59148793?view_adult=true

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

“Long live the newlyweds!”

Loud cries of cheers and applause reverberated in the venue, the sound of wine glasses clinking with wine glasses following soon after. From the elevated sweetheart table Kohaku could see her sister smiling sweetly at her father right by her side, grinning so widely she worried his face would be stuck that way.

This is the first time in her life where she attended a wedding with the intention that she was the one being wedded. She would be lying if she said she wasn’t panicking.

In just a moment, tonight would be it. Both her and Senku’s virginity would be lost to the other and the two would be forever intertwined. Was she scared? Possibly, she couldn’t help the nerves and overthinking that somewhat overcame her whenever she was reminded of the clock ticking lower and lower. However she was more worried about Senku and his reaction.

He was the one who pushed going the older, traditional way her village has adapted as culture, mentioning how it was not all that different from how they did it in his era. Although he did also say that couples in his era also didn’t have the patience to perform abstinence before marriage.

Kohaku found her cheeks warming at the thought, sitting back down in her seat along with Senku just before the applause died down and everyone engaged in their own conversations.

They decided to wait a while before leaving the venue, allowing her senses to be soothed by the warm smile Senku pointed to her. She squeezed his hand in her lap and he rubbed his thumb over the surface of her fist.

“Are you ready to go?” She says softly, her blue eyes looking for any signs of his appearance that would prepare her for anything that speaks ‘no’.

“Mhm, I doubt they’ll notice us gone anyway. I told Gen to keep them from swarming us when formalities were done.”

He had given them perfect time for the freshly married couple to formally slink away from the venue and make their way to the hotel on-site, allowing the others to drink and entertain themselves to their heart's content.

The hotel room was warm and the lights were dim, there was only one bed of course. Both she and Senku had separate rooms earlier the day to get prepared, and checked into a different room for tonight.

“I want to know if you’re okay with this, we can wait if you’d like.”

“…I wouldn’t want it with anyone else at this moment, I want this.”

Wife and Husband.

“I want you, Kohaku.”

Senku had memorized the way her body was shaped, knew where she wanted him to touch her. He knows what makes her feel good — she knows the same for him, if not more than he knows about his own body. She moved onto his lap, stripping him from his suit and bowtie while he reached his arms around her small waist and started to untie her soft lace corset.

They took it slow, nimble fingers brushing against skin as soft kisses were shared between giggles when he kissed against the flush of her ear.

Kohaku gasps and playfully taps his shoulder with a loud chortle. “S-Senku, stop playing around… haha!”

She’s ticklish behind her ears… He notes in a fuzzy haze, her laugh makes his face warmer and his brain feels like it's spinning — he buries his face even further and presses more kisses along her slender neck.

“Pffft! You're such an idiot…”

Fuck... She’s the only person he’ll allow to call him that.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

His heart pounds, he wants to take in her scent again. But instead Senku helps her slink out the dress, and she lets out an exhale as her breasts are freed. He's seen them for what feels like ten billion times already but everytime still feels like his first.

“That corset wasn't too tight, but wearing it for over six hours is way too much for my chest.” Kohaku sighed softly, he hummed in response and moved his hands to her hips, all that remained was her panties.

“Ready?”

“I can’t say no even if I wanted to.” Senku groans, he grips onto her hips so roughly a small squeak escapes her. “My dick is so hard it’s driving me insane.”

The growing grin on Kohaku’s face nearly made him want to as well in response. “Well then, are you gonna do something about it?”

Damn. He bites back a groan and narrowly avoids the feeling of his cock twitching in his pants. “No, not yet.” He breathes, she looks at him with a confused look before she feels him putting in enough strength to lift her on the bed beneath him.

“I want to make you feel good…”

He’s gone down on her before, but at the time he was heavily carried by his own knowledge of female anatomy and Kohaku’s teachings.

This time will be different.

His eyes flicker to hers and before she can say anything, he lowers his body until his face is hovering her cunt. His warm breath sends chilly breezes over her drenched pussy.

She flinches when she feels his tongue presses slightly on her clit and blows, applying a pinch of pressure that leaves her breathless. “So that’s how you’ll be tonight, h-huh?” She pants, helping him bring her legs over on his shoulders.

He doesn't respond, but gives her one last glance before his crimson eyes narrow down to her slick folds, gaze glazed with desire. The sudden change in his expression makes her shiver.

Not any different from the first time, when Senku eats pussy, he wastes no time.

The first thing he did when he leaned into her space was lick a stripe up her pussy. Kohaku moaned softly and gripped the sides of her legs at the immediate pleasure. Her stomach clenched when he licked a few more times, starting from her entrance to the top of her clit. He made sure to gather whatever slick had managed to collect throughout her pussy, spreading her lips with his two fingers to make sure no surface of her cunt was left untouched by his tongue.

His hand palm faces up as his middle finger is pressed just enough into her sopping hole that the tip of it can feel the way her hole tries to desperately swallow his finger in.

"Mmfgh... ishhh thish good?" He slobbers, deep crimson eyes moving up to her flushed face as he zones in on her clit. Her eyes roll back into her skull as he wraps his lips around the sensitive little bud again, this time letting his middle finger slip in more.

The soft gasp followed by the whimper let out by the intrusion has his mind reeling. “Y-Yes, so good...” She slurs.

“F-Fuh… you got better at this…”

She reaches down and threads her fingers through his hair as he pulls away and begins kissing a trail down her inner thighs near her core, she grabs his hair a little tighter than before and he finally moans against her cunt.

“Mmm?” She hums.

“Mmhmm,” he hums back and the vibration makes her shiver with a sigh. She holds her breath and watches as he takes one long lick of her outside lips, tongue flat against her flesh. He does it again, then a third time, till she finally huffs and makes a fist in his hair; he groans and breaches her lips with his tongue to reach the heat inside. His tongue slides against her inner folds, teasing her swollen clit before swiping back down to circle her cunt.

Kohaku’s heart is pounding over ten billion miles an hour and to make things worse, Senku adds a second finger to her seeping hole. She whines at the feeling, fucking herself on his fingers by pistioning her hips to each one of his pointed thrusts. He moves his attention to her clit again, his brows furrowing and his eyes closed as the hold on his hair tightens even more.

He looks so fucking cute eating her pussy, no doubt his cock was painfully hard as of now. She could see tears pricking the corner of his eyes and she just knew if she wrapped her thighs around his head she would get to see those tears finally spil down that pretty face of his.

No, not tonight. Next time.

Instead she opted to push his head in further, she could feel a muffled moan against her bud. She can hear the slick sounds he makes between her legs. She clenches her thighs with him in between. Fuck, she’s starting to feel the insides of hersex clenching and she comes to the conclusion that she’s close.

He senses it too. How it pulses in flickers when he dips his tongue in. He growls. A few consecutive hard thrusts with his fingers, before forcefully parting her lips back up, rubbing the flat plane of his tongue on her clit in rough motions, edging her towards her climax.

“S-Shit…!”

Senku quickly removes his fingers and her legs flail to his head and tightens. He is shamelessly lapping her up—gladly slurping and swallowing everything she gives him as if he’s on the brink of death and her pussy is the only thing that’ll nurse him back to life. Last time, he let her ride out her orgasm—let her buck and rut against his fingers until she’s satisfied, but tonight he’s impatient.

She wheezes when his tongue flickers back to her sensitive clit, she tugs his hair upwards and at this point he's just allowing her to drag his head anywhere. He’s yanked away with a soaking wet ‘pop’ from her cunt. Oh God, was he seriously going to continue if she didn’t stop him?

Kohaku was left reeling at the thought, her cloudy eyes picking up the sight of him licking every last bit of her cum from his mouth and chin. He looks absolutely fucked out.

“Kohaku…” He whines, pressing his cheek onto her thigh, the desperate look in his eye tells her that he's not waiting anymore.

The bed moves slightly as he pulls up upwards to her, she could taste her slick on his tongue. Senku moans in her mouth, he brings her legs to the side of his waist and his bulge eagerly leans on her cunt, an exhale leaves her. “I’m sorry, you don’t have to wait anymore.” Kohaku presses soft kisses on his cheeks, pausing when she sees a tear and wipes it away.

“Tears?”

His breath hitches, cursing beneath his breath when he blinks and another tear falls. “S-Shit, just ignore it, I’m fine.”

She hums softly and moves to leave kisses on his jaw. “I understand.”

“Are you ready?” Senku whispers, his eyes looking in hers for any sign of disapproval before her answer. After a moment of pause, she nods. “Yes.”

Fuck, he was so perfect for her during all this time. So patient and obedient and now They’ve been through so much shit together and now they were finally safe in eachothers arms.

They both share a gasp when he sinks in, she's so wet it makes his vision go white.

He suddenly chokes, hips stuttering against hers and he's afraid he might buckle down. “Fuck.”

“S-Senku…” Kohaku moans, snapping him out of his foggy daze. Her lips tremor as he pauses, allowing herself to be properly stretched out as her pussy invites in as much as possible.

The hefty length makes her head swirl. When the dull stinging pain shifts to that mouth watering pleasure, she looks up to Senku with a shaky smile and nods. Find your pace. Her gaze reads, and she speaks. “You have to move.”

Right, he can’t fumble this now. He tightens his grip on her thighs and finally moves.

He thrusts his hips into hers, all the air left her lungs and now it's her turn to choke. “S-Shit, just like that.”

He leaned over, placing a hand by her head as his pace started to quicken. “God, you’re so tight.” He moans as he snaps his hips forward. His abdomen pressed deliciously against her clit, providing some much needed friction. She pulled him down into a kiss, moaning into his mouth as he rolled his tongue over hers.

After a couple of thrusts, Senku slides inside of her fairly easily now and she squirms and grunts in his mouth. The friction between her legs feels heightened as her muscles squeeze around him. He starts gyrating his hips, the tip of his cock hitting all the right spots with each downstroke.

He moves and braces his hands on the back of her knees, forcing her eyes wide open.

Then, his hips move faster. Harder. Deeper.

The slap of his skin nearly echoes inside the hotelroom as he just casually fucks the sanity out of her brain with each thrust.

Her senses are overwhelmed by all things–the powdery scent of his skin, his pretty little moans with each push, his smooth skin on hers, his comforting weight, and his thick cock pumping inside of her. With an angle so perfect and a rhythm so right that she wonders if his body was made for her. She squirms and writhes underneath him as the pleasure engulfs her like a flame that he stokes and tends until it’s wild and uncontrollable.

He IS a virgin, right?

“Kohaku, Kohaku, Kohaku, Kohaku,” he slurs, his eyes screwed shut as cute whines collapse from his throat.

Yeah, a virgin like she’d thought.

“Fuck, I-” he chokes out, “I- I love your smile. I love your eyes. I love your body. I love the way that you feel around me. I love how you make me feel. I love how-” his voice breaks again and he buries his head in her neck. She can tell that he’s reached his peak.

“I love you too, Senku,” her heart swells, pressing more kisses onto his shoulder. “You know I’ve loved you for a long time, baby.” She can feel tears finally spilling on her neck, craving more of her touch. He’s so, so close. She feels him nod. He knew, he always knew.

“Y-You wanna cum inside my pussy?” She cooed at him. “Give it all to me, I want to feel you fill me up so good.” Another whine leaves him, sniffling into her heated neck.

The pleasure builds, and builds, and builds, and then it shatters her. Kohaku squirms under his body as her climax rips through and seizes her. White light dances before her eyes and her hearing weakens from the strength of her pulse. Her pussy was clenching so hard around his cock that he nearly exploded inside her—his pre-cum hot and searing like ignited oil.

She felt Senku tense for one last time. Slowing down slightly, he pauses every time he hits her wall. Bringing one of his hands down to her lower stomach, he presses into her to feel the sensation of him inside her. “F-Fuck!” With one last thrust, he’s spilling over, and she can feel thick ropes of his seed coat her insides filling her straight to the womb until it leaks past her plugged entrance. If she felt full before, she’s even fuller now.

Strained whimpers turned to soft, light breaths in the heated room. With a nod in agreement, he pulled out of her with shared gasps and collapsed beside her.

“Holy…”

“…Fuck?” Kohaku grins.

Senku snorted at her antics. “I was going to shit.” He looks at her devilishly. “But fuck sounds executed better.”

She giggles and he lets out an exasperated sigh. “I think this is the last time I'll be on top. I never want to do something this physically challenging again.”

“Oh, suck it up.” Kohaku scoffs jokingly. “You’ll leave me disappointed as your wife this fast?”

The room went silent for a moment, so she rolled onto her left to cradle his arm between hers. He had a thoughtful look on his face before he turned to look at her lovingly.

“Did I do… okay?”

Was he serious?

Kohaku snorted, a grin growing on her face. “Do I look okay? I haven’t come this hard tonight than I have any other time.” She hardened her stare when his eyes faltered. “Senku, you were perfect.”

They shared another warm kiss and cuddled till the sweat on their skin grew too bothersome to ignore.

@senhaku-week

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

[pynkhues]

kJFADKLFJADKL;FAK;DSFKASDKJ;AS;JKDFJA;FJKADJKA;KSDFJADJFKASJK;FA;SFDJKASJDKFASJKDFJKASDKJFAKJDFAJKDFJKASDJKFAKDFJKA;SDFJKA

THOSE ALL SOUND AMAZING THANK YOU SO MUCH YOU ARE A FOUNTAIN OF BENEFICENCE

LOUIS PHOTOGRPAHING LESTAT how has there not been more fic about this?????? I mean you said Louis directing Lestat's photographer lol so maybe he won't do it himself, but just any fic with them involving Lestat being photographed with Louis in charge, yes please.

REUNION FIC FROM YOU truly the gods are good

I CANNOT WAIT FOR YOUR 1.6 FIC!!!!!!!!!!!! maybe this would be getting into too much detail about the fics in advance, but the thing about at least one of the fics being in the same universe as the other two fics made me think of something I've wondered related to that scene in 1.6--the scene is obviously very consensual sex that Lestat is thrilled to have, so there's no comparison between Louis and Magnus OBVIOUSLY, but I have wondered if the rough sex combined with other physical injures would make Lestat think about Magnus during that at all...I could see it either way, that maybe it would, or that his feelings about it are so so different that it wouldn't (and maybe it occurred to me more because he talked about Magnus AFTER that scene). And if he did think about Magnus at all, would Louis pick up on anything? He wouldn't have any context for it at that point. ANYWAY, whether or not there's any shades of that other stuff in it, a 1.6 fic from you is going to blow my mind with hotness--that whole scene was so brilliantly done and begs for more fic to flesh it out--so I am extremely excited.

(x)

Bahaha, thank you, anon!! The cat's lowkey out of the bag with the photography one now, because an anon did send me a prompt that sort of formed the basis for it (but hopefully they see this and know that I'm working on something too, haha).

The reunion fic is one I'm really, really loving writing now that I've found my own way into it. It kind of feels like it's own beast in so many ways, which I've really enjoyed. I've read so many great reunion fics and didn't want to write something until I felt I had something fresh to give this little fandom space, and this story has just opened up to me in unexpected ways and been a bit of a gift creatively. It's pretty different from what other people have done, so I'm sure some people might not like it, but hopefully it resonates with others.

The structure of it has let me weave basically a bunch of Rue Royale-era fresh memories/mini-fics, practically, into it too, which has made me very happy to write, haha.

And yes, the Magnus question is a really interesting one for 1.06 - I've answered something before that I now can't find, but it is really interesting that the show chose to position Lestat disclosing the cliffnotes of his turning after (very consensual, as you said! but also) clearly rough sex + feeding. Like you said too, Louis has no context at all prior to Lestat's partial disclosure (and one Louis has obviously read into what Lestat both did and didn't say given Claudia and Daniel's reaction, and Louis' own behaviour in Magnus' tower). I tend to view the show linking those scenes as Louis seeing enough mmmm, physical and emotional give, I guess, in Lestat to allow him to come home again after his abhorrent act of violence against Louis, but I also think it's partially this performance of compromise.

Like, gosh, the dynamics at play are even a part of why there's room for Claudia to cast doubts on Lestat's honesty, right? But yes, sorry, more to your point, I don't know! The victim-survivor experience is not a uniform one, and how memories surface is anyone's guess. With my writer hat on, I tend to think the dynamics play out so differently, not just with Lestat and Louis' mutual love for one another, but Louis being a character of such warmth and heat, affection and lust, that it would hopefully be enough of a separation to Magnus that Lestat could ground himself. But yeah - - who knows at this point. I've said it before, but in the books, Lestat's a character who just like - - doesn't deal with enormous trauma, which is a part of why Claudia rightfully haunts his ass, so I'm really curious to see what the show does with that.

[roseverdict]

A New Normal

After the events of the Nether Battle, Mango and Purple try to figure out where they stand with each other. When Purple sees Mango as a father figure (and has serious baggage regarding parental authority) and Mango is still trying to regain control of his temper (after all, he'd been in a grief-stricken rage for months beforehand), however, things don't always go as planned.

Sometimes they react on instinct in the worst ways possible.

Also on AO3! link in rbs so tumblr doesn't hide this haha

so. i'm writing abt sticks now. the adhd event is UNREAL this month fdsahfjkslfhlsdj hurt/comfort bc i just Can't Not

〜

Mango flicked through his wallet and grimaced.

As it turned out, a side effect of pouring himself into his quest for vengeance had been focusing purely on that. Not on anything that could have happened after.

(Of course, Mango knew the real reason for his shortsightedness had been far more deliberate, but he didn't really want to unpack all of that quite yet.)

As a result, his spending habits had worked under the belief that he wouldn't need to worry about money once he finished the job. Getting ahold of a command block without going into Minecraft himself had cost him quite a pretty penny, and so had the constant purchases of metals and magics.

And yet, here he was, dethroned, directionless, and somehow done with his plans anyway.

His wallet and the measly handful of bills inside were mocking him.

He would need to figure out a way to build his savings back up, and fast, or else-

"Uh…hey, Mango," came Purple's voice from the kitchen/den/entryway, "did you want me to start on dinner? I think I'm getting pretty decent at boxed macaroni."

Mango closed his wallet and poked his head out from the bedroom hallway. "Sounds good. I'll be right out."

Purple nodded and walked just around the corner, and Mango heard them start running the faucet.

Mango stepped back and slumped against the wall. Hopefully he'd be able to scrape together enough for a grocery run soon; he wasn't sure how many more days in a row he could eat macaroni before he got sick of it.

With a sigh, he pulled out his phone and started scrolling through Stickdeed. There had to be something out there somewhere that paid enough to support two people instead of just one person- and one person who was able to cheat and spawn his own food into reality, at that.

He scrolled almost mindlessly past the dozens he'd already applied for in the past few days, already knowing that any more attempts would get him a "Sorry, you've already applied here!" page and nothing else. There looked to be one from a small, locally-owned business on the outskirts of town that had just opened up recently, so he sent in his resumé and went looking for the next one-

Something crashed to the ground in the kitchen with a clatter and a splat, and Purple yelped in surprise.

Mango was already scrambling out into the main room by the time he fully processed what he'd heard, and by that point he could already see the absolute mess of moist noodles on the floor, the newly-dented pot rolling slowly away, and the completely-frozen Purple standing between the sink and the stove.

No, wait, on a closer look, Purple was shaking slightly.

Oh boy.

"Purple?" asked Mango, carefully stepping forward.

As if jolted into motion, Purple dropped down to the floor and hastily started scooping the fallen pasta back into the pot. "I-it's fine, nothing's broken, haha, I just dropped it but I'll take care of it, I promise-"

"Purple, breathe," Mango pressed, stepping a little closer.

This got Purple to breathe, but much too quickly to be any good. "Y-you don't have to worry, I'll get this cleaned up and get dinner going i-in just a few!"

And in a moment that he immediately regretted, he snapped:

"Purple, listen to me!"

Purple went as still as a statue, then nodded meekly.

Right away, Mango wanted to hit himself. Barely a week after the Incident and he was already blowing it. Good going, genius.

He swallowed, then tried again. "Look, I promise I'm not mad at you. It's probably a good idea for you to go cool down a bit, alright? I'll get this cleaned up."

Blankly, Purple nodded, then got up and walked stiffly away.

Mango dropped his head into his hands.

He wasn't sure which would be worse: if he'd done all of that to Purple himself…

…or if somebody else had gotten the ball rolling for him.

Still, the mess wouldn't clean itself up.

Mango picked up where Purple had left off and scooped the remaining noodles into the dented pot, nearly scalding himself in doing so before he remembered he still had a roll of paper towel on the counter.

How hadn't Purple reacted to the heat of the water? Or of the noodles, for that matter-

-and that was enough thinking about that sort of thing for one night. He was already spiraling; he didn't need to make it worse.

A glint of light got in his eye when he shifted to collect the last few noodles, and when he looked for the source, the framed photo of himself and Goldenrod reflected the setting sun directly into his eyes.

Mango sighed, hefted the pot onto the counter, and picked up the frame.

Goldie sat on his shoulders, draping himself over Mango's head and waving to the camera with one hand. Mango himself was caught mid-laugh.

The two of them looked so happy.

What would his son think of him now?

He let himself sag a little, then steeled himself and marched himself to the bedroom hallway.

(Well, it felt like marching, anyway. To any outside observers, it probably would have looked more like a nervous shuffle.)

His own door was still closed, as it had been before, but Purple's door, usually open save for when they were trying to sleep, was closed as well.

Mango took a steadying breath, lifted his hand, and knocked gently. "Purple? You okay in there?"

"…yes."

Mango bit back the instinctive urge to point out how stilted their response had been and instead turned so his back was leaning against the door. "That's…that's good to hear."

God, how was conversation so difficult?!

"I, uh…I wanted to apologize," said Mango, fiddling with the frame in his hands. "I snapped at you earlier when you were already panicking. I, uh…I shouldn't have done that. I could probably blame it on my temper, but that wouldn't change the fact that I still raised my voice at you when it was the opposite of a good idea. I'm…I'm sorry, Purple."

There was no response.

Mango grimaced. "I…I can't guarantee that I won't slip up like that again. I think I'd been so focused on my plans for so long, it's…it's hard not to slide right back into that mindset. I can tell you that I'll try, however. You deserve at least that much."

Still nothing.

After a moment more, Mango slid down until he was sitting at the base of the door. With a bitter smile, he snorted. "Don't know why you stick around, honestly. I…I hurt you with a lot more than with a frustrated order. You didn't deserve any of it, but I still gave it to you anyway."

His mind helpfully brought up how often he'd snapped at, swiped at, and even (in one particular noteworthy instance) slammed Purple into the ground several stories below.

"You're a good kid, y'know that?" Mango was saying now, no longer quite as able to keep his mouth in check and scrubbing at his eyes with one hand. "You deserve so much better than an angry old man like me. I'm so sorry, kid, I-"

The door opened inwards, and Mango felt himself tip backwards for a moment ("Whoa-!") before he was being twisted around and clung to like a lifeline.

He swallowed the rising lump in his throat and shifted slightly so he could return Purple's hug without his lower back screaming at him.

Purple sniffled into his shoulder, then managed a quiet, "S'okay."

It really wasn't, said a part of Mango's mind that had been all-too-happy to come back to life that day in the Nether. The kid shouldn't be just accepting this, what the hell?! Who hurt them? Besides Mango himself, of course.

"…you wanna go out for dinner?" asked Mango unsurely. "Maybe…I don't know, pizza or something?"

Purple snorted wetly and nodded. "Sounds good. And…you're not that old."

[arcplaysgames]

Yosuke, audibly tearing up: HAHA i bet chie is crying right now lmao ANYWAY I GOTTA GO IRON THE DOG, BYE

I want Chie and Yosuke to accidentally go see a sad movie together and bawl their eyes out and then make a pact to never speak of the incident again. Or, wait, Yosuke would want a pact, Chie would be like "dude have you MET me i cry at the drop of a hat! everyone has seen me cry! i'm not a baby about it like you!" and then they fight about it but Chie agrees not to tell everyone Yosuke cried.

YUKIKO BEST GIRL. man i remember back at the start of this game when i didn't dig her vibe and now i just am happy every time she shows up bc its sure to be good

anyway, everyone celebrates new years together, and I have a full body flashback to another Reverie Vantas, standing at Naganaki Shrine in Iwatodai and the beautiful music that came with the turn of the year as the end of the world was nigh.

I sure fucking hope the end of the world is not fucking nigh AGAIN.

also everyone look at naoto's winter outfit. my god the transmasc swag is off the fucking charts. look at them. that's a BOLO TIE. their pants are plaid print. impeccable. I'm applauding.

Nanako and Reverie make a Teddieman. It's adorable.

Then the game is like "hey go say happy new year to all your slinks" and i thought I'd pop in on Margaret and Marie

(also, Persona, you are a COWARD, let me have a link with Igor. COWARDS)

Marie is gone?????? The fuck.

This sounds like it's gonna kick off the bonus dungeon so good for me hitting the flag? but also what, she's GONE?

My favorite duo arrives because Yosuke has plans for a skiing trip, but also I just am thrilled to be a bystander in the Yosuke And His Annoying Younger Brother He Found In A TV Dimension show. Yosuke literally feels years older when Teddie is around because he's constantly sparking off him in that particular sibling way. It's genuinely heartwarming.

Yosuke: teddie is such a pain in the ass

Teddie: I'll stay with sensei for a few weeks

Yosuke: WHAT WAIT NO 8C

It'll be okay, Yosuke, absence makes the heart grow fonder. Maybe your parents will draw up official adoption papers. Teddrick "Teddie" Hanamura. That sounds awful but we're gonna roll with it!

also thank god teddie is here bc Dojima and Nanako are out of town for a bit so Teddie is the one there when Reverie fucking collapses. WHICH HAPPENED IN P3P TOO ODDLY ENOUGH. Persona be like "oh, ur near the end of the game? inexplicable illness time!"

Weird.

Reverie dreams of Marie standing in front of the bonus dungeon, I assume. I ACTUALLY THINK YOU'RE PRETTY NEAT MARIE SO I WILL SEE YOU LATER! WAAAAAAAIT FOR ME, I'M COMIN' etc etc.

good ol teddie

Margaret calls to inform us that she's on google maps looking for the bonus dungeon and will get back to us as soon as she has directions. the Velvet Room has terrible data reception.

WAIT NO THIS IS PRE-GOOGLE MAPS. she's gotta use MapQuest to plot a route and then find a printer to make a copy of it. That shit takes time.

JUNPEI THIS IS AN EMERGENCY, HOW DOES MY HAIR LOOK wait wrong lightning bruiser i have a terrible crush on. dammit.

[twilightmalachite]

Machina - Test World 2

Author: Kino Seitaro (with Akira)

Characters: Mika, Sora, Makoto

Translator: Mika Enstars

"Cryptocurrency? Digital… money?"

Season: Winter

Location: Information Room

Sora: Sora’s here to play, Yuuki-sense~!

Makoto: Harukawa-kun? I thought you were gonna play outside today.

Sora: HaHa~, Sora did also play with a kite at first!

But today he ran into Mika-chan-san, so he changed his mind~♪

Makoto: “Mika-chan-san”…? Are you talking about Kagehira-kun?

Mika: Nnah, umm…

Makoto: Ahaha, so you were hiding behind the door, Kagehira-kun. Feel free to come on inside, okay?

Sora: Is Mika-chan-san shy? Don’t sorry, Yuuki-sense~ is a very kind person~! ♪

Mika: Nna, that’s not really it… I’m also antiquated with Mako-kun.

I’m not necessarily shy… Nah, it’s really not that at all.

I was jus’ nervous if it was really okay to enter such a big security room like this, really.

I imaged an intelligence room’d be fulla specialized stuff like delicate equipment an’ personal infos, so I was thinkin’ about what if I accidentally broke somethin’…

Makoto: Well, there are quite a bit of wires and stuff around here.

But it’s strong enough that they won’t break if you accidentally step on them. Don’t worry, come and sit down.

Mika: Thank ya kindly. Then, I’ll go an’ take a seat next to you.

So, did’ja also help make this Test World, Mako-kun? Are you involved ‘cuz yer good at games, or somethin’?

Makoto: Yeah, something like that.

I used to be a member of the gaming club, so I was asked by Switch to be a test player.

The Test World is a newly created and hectic place, so they’re trying to get as many gamers as possible to play and help develop the community, y’see.

Sora: Yes! Sora can confidently leave it up to a gamer like Yuuki-sense~!

He spent winter break with Sora immersed in the Test World~! ♪

Makoto: It’s more of a volunteer work thing. But thanks to it, I wasn’t bored at all this winter break!

Anyways. The sun will set before we know if it we just talk.

Let put on the VR goggles and enter the Test World.

Sora: That’s right! Let’s go log in, then!

Use the spare goggles here, Mika-chan-san! ♪

Mika: Ah, okay. Gotcha.

How’m I supposed to wear this, umm…

Mika: !?

Nnah, where am I?! Saison Avenue!?

Mika: Hah, hah… So this is VR now, huh?

Sora: Yes, it is, but… Is something wrong with the goggles?

Mika: No, nothing like that, just… It was so realistic I got surprised, ‘cuz it was a familiar place unlike last time I did SSVRS.

Sora: HiHi~, Sora’s glad it was effective right away! ♪

SSVRS is worked on day and night, so the 3D models are much more precise now~!

In detail, the number of polygons haven’t increased, but rather the goggles have been revised, that way it feels more comfortable and there’s no load on the server~!

Makoto: It’s gotten pretty technologically advanced, hasn’t it? SSVRS’ evolution surprised me too!

So I’m having a lot of fun thanks to that… But really, I want people who don’t usually play games to give it a try.

Kagehira-kun, I’ll be joining you soon at Saison Avenue in SSVRS, so can you put your goggles back on and wait for me?

Mika: Mhm. Sorry ‘bout the fuss, lemme go on back…

Mika: …There we go. How’s that?

Sora: HuHu~♪ It was perfect, Mika-chan-san!

Let’s start off by walking around the virtual world. There’s a lotta shops in this town inspired by Saison Avenue~! ♪

Mika: Whoa… The shops here look jus’ like the real world, but they sell different things.

Trendy clothes and accessories, and furniture too, huh... Oh, and there’s yuru-charas!

Amazing… And all of this was made for VR.

Sora-kun, what’s this VL$ written here mean? Is it different than the L$ we have…?

Sora: Ah, Mika-chan-san has a keen eye! That’s VL$, virtual L dollar… A cryptocurrency that can be exchanged for real money!

Mika: Cryptocurrency?

Sora: Yup! Digital money linked to the real world~!

Mika: Digital… money?

I guess I don’t really get it… What’s the difference between that and real money?

Makoto: Money in the real world is issued by a country and is built on the trust of the country, right? Cryptocurrencies are issued in games and virtual worlds.

…Sorry for interrupting the convo. You guys were talking about something interesting, so I ended up chiming in without a greeting.

Cryptocurrencies are complicated, but in simple terms, it’s like a system where you can exchange in-game money for real-world money.

Since its value isn’t stable and has the disadvantage of crashing like stock prices, SSVRS is keeping it Test World-only as a precaution.

…Right, Harukawa-kun?

Sora: Nice assist, Yuuki-sense~!

Basically, only sales from products sold in Test World stores can be turned into VL$ and used in the real world.

The test players are super active because of that~ They’re creating tons of digital art!

And, if you use a 3D printer, you can even print the things you make in real life! So Mika-chan-san can make lots of things to play with too~! ♪

Mika: Makin’ digital art and making it real… I see. I feel like I’ll be able to keep my promise to Oshi-san then ♪

Alright, I’m motivated to create somethin’ too! Lemme try to make somethin’ in the Test World!

If I can sell it, exchange it for real world money and add it to Valkyrie’s budget, I’m sure Oshi-san will be pleased too. ♪

I’m killin’ two birds with one stone with this. Thank you fer the lesson, Sora-kun, Mako-kun! ♪

← prev | story directory | next →

[amysnotdeadyet]

2023 in review

Just the fannish creations, thanks. I don't want to think too hard about how fucking weird and stressful the year was outside of that. XD

I found some old 00Q art hiding on my hard drive and posted it in Feb.

I wrote a short Inception ficlet for @ladyprydian in April to try to jumpstart my muses. It didn't work.

I binge-wrote a whole-ass Sandman fic with (gasp!) fade-to-black porn in it in May.

July brought the Stony games! I was much less prolific than last year, but I managed a few things, starting with 3 little drabbles about perception.

I did a giftfic for the games! It starts in media res and I, being a troll, titled it In Pornia Res because yeah, this one's just pure porn against a background of worldbuilding.

I posted a longstanding WIP that was 100% self-indulgent trash, with Tony and Steve getting Bucky as their new sugar baby and treating him them right. Absolutely just the fluffiest of trash, but 66K of it!

I posted another longstanding WIP that's really pre-slash (I KNOW so weird) but involves catboy Tony, catboy Bucky, and a puppy Steve who's gonna get both (after the fic anyway).

My last little Stony Games fill was 8-bit pixel porn, because of course it was.

Later in August I did the "write what you want to see" thing and banged out (heh) a very kinky Stranger Things fic with Steve/Eddie and a leather bar. Somehow, it's still extremely fluffy.

I drew! Fanart! With pens and shit! Also Steve/Eddie.

And then I made pixel art of them, because why not.

Another Steddie fic, this time a modern AU with 'lost touch' feelings and also banging the rockstar in his hotel room.

And finally, my MTH2021 fic is posting a year late, and will continue on into the new year. It's all done and edited, I just like the daily posting method for getting drip-fed dopamine and also sitting there posting 29 chapters at once is no bueno.

You can find all of this stuff here, so I'm not link-stuffing the post: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swtalmnd/works

What's Coming in 2024 (besides my blorbos)

I have a few more Stuckony WIPs waiting in the wings, including my MTH 2022 fic, which I hope to finish in time to actually participate in 2024.

I have at least 1 novel coming out and maybe 2? I didn't publish ANY original fiction last year (gah), but I finished 1 draft (the sequel to Hive) and am plodding along on 2 more (Julian 4 and something new). I am so slow these days, tho, gah. I have no idea how some people put out multiple books a year, year after year.

I've got a few more Eeveeon arts to share, which I always forget to do on Tumbls.

I might actually open commissions next year (for art, I don't enjoy fic commissions).

I'm gonna a Stuckony Valentine thing, so you'll get at least one short fic from me in Feb.

I'm hoping something new will sweep me into its fandomy arms, because while I do love my current blorbos (MCU & Stranger Things), neither one is really doing the full fixation dance in my brain and that's sad. OTOH I'd like to finish my MCU WIPs before that spark fully dies ahahaha haha ha.

As far as art goes, I'm keeping up my Patreon sketch cards and not a ton else, but my new-new meds are helping me Get Shit Done, so I'm really hoping that I can get back into larger-than-a-playing-card artwork, both fannish and non.

I'm still gonna do more of my 8-bit bullshit, though.