#and I'm not entirely sure how to fix that

[cherrycheolkat]

heyyyy, could i please request spanking + cheol from your second nsfw bingo 😩😩😣😣😣

oofff you all are popping off with cheol and the nsfw bingo squares - and don't get me wrong, i'm here for it, but i hope we can all match each other's freaks yk

♡ kat

bingo squares: spanking

pairing: choi seungcheol x f!reader

genres: nextdoorneighbor!seungcheol, college student!reader, age gap

summary: y/n is home from college to find her new next-door neighbor is a much younger, hotter man than when she left the fall before (goodbye old mrs. windermere) - but to y/n he seems very lonely and overworked, and she sets out to fix that

word count: 2.2k

warnings: age-gap, smut, voyeurism, oral sex (f. receiving), fingering, squirting, overstimulation, spanking, cum eating

it was a cool, balmy morning, perfect for a run. y/n made sure to stop and stretch outside her next-door neighbor’s house. she always started out with a tshirt covering her sports bra, but by the time she had made it around the entire neighborhood, she would just be so hot and sweaty that she would have to take it off. just in time to see seungcheol heading out for his workday - she thought it was cute that he always waved and said ‘hi.’

besides, why not let mr. choi see what he was missing. why he was all alone in a huge house, y/n had no idea - it felt a bit sad to her - and she imagined he was a bit sad, she felt like he deserved a little show. something he could store away in his man-brain. she liked to imagine that he jerked off to thoughts of her while he showered. 

lately, she had even made sure to leave her curtains open at night when she was changing for bed - her bedroom faced his. she was basically doing him a service. like a good deed or whatever. and the thought that he might be watching only made her put in the extra effort, like wearing her cutest underwear. because, really, that poor man, all alone in a huge house, and no one around to take care of his needs - she couldn’t even imagine how blue his balls must be. 

plus, why not make him ache to be balls deep in her hot, tight pussy. she had always liked the idea of an older man anyway. boys her age were less than ideal - they didn’t know how to handle her. but she was certain mr. choi would know exactly how to take care of her and all of her needs.

not to mention, she had the best reason to randomly knock on his door - she was house sitting for her parents. so she was all alone in a big house, just one girl against all the creepy sounds that could happen, like trees scraping the window or the raccoons that liked snuffling around her mother’s composting area. and what if she heard sounds like someone breaking in? 

she was ecstatic that her mom had already let the neighbors know that she would be home alone that summer while her parents were off doing some research in whatever far-flung country. her amazing mother had even taken her to meet her new neighbor, since he was right next door - the closest in case y/n needed something. he had been so nice too, letting her know that she could drop by anytime. he even offered to let her use his pool since he wasn’t really home to enjoy it himself. 

so far, she hadn’t taken advantage of his offer to use his pool, but this morning, she planned to ask him if it was okay, since it was really hot. plus she was tired of banging around her parent’s. although, she had baked some cookies - she felt like she might take those to him, as well. whatever she needed to do to get to ride his face - she really didn’t care. 

she made her way back, picking up her pace a bit, worried she might miss him - he was like clockwork - she knew when he left and when he came home, always roughly at the same time each day. she made it back just in time to almost collide with him as she walked to knock on his front door. 

she laughed, “oh, i’m so sorry, mr. choi,” she gushed, “i just wanted to ask if it was still okay if i used your pool?” she made sure to stand with a hand on her hip and to do her best to not look out of breath.

he was dressed in a button-down and slacks, his suit jacket slung over his arm, and half a bagel in his mouth. he was so cute - his hair was just the right amount of messy, but otherwise, he looked so clean-cut. he held up a finger to her and unlocked his car, a nice two-seater, and unceremoniously chucked his bag and jacket in before turning back to her.

she watched him take her in for a second, “yeah, the pool - of course - i can give you the gate code if you have your phone?”

she didn’t run with her phone actually - she liked to have her breaks from tech. she smiled, “oh, no, i don’t actually - could you text it to me?”

of course he could, like the darling he was. he took her number and sent the gate code to her. 

“there’s some snacks and drinks in the outdoor kitchen too,” he offered. 

“oh, thanks - that’s so kind of you,” she genuinely smiled because it was really sweet, since she had never seen anyone really come by his house. 

he smiled, “and it’s seungcheol - mr. choi is my dad,” his dimples only grew at the bad line. 

she laughed though - he was cute enough to get away with a few corny lines. she thanked him again and made sure to tell him to ‘have a good day’ and all of the things he should be told before he went off to work his insane hours. she had the urge to kiss him, but instead, she just flashed her cutest smile and walked back home. 

she showered and changed into a skimpy bikini. she grabbed a book and some extra snacks and her phone, and headed through the back yard to enjoy seungcheol’s amazing pool. she swam for a bit and then lounged and read - it was nice to be able to go back and forth between the pool and her book without having to worry about anyone bothering her stuff. 

she did the same thing the next day too. and the next. but friday, she changed course - she stopped him again in the morning, and offered to make him dinner - she knew he would be home at a reasonable hour, plus she did want to pay him back. actually, pay him back because he had been really nice. plus, being inside his home would really progress things. 

he hadn’t seemed as surprised as she had hoped, but he agreed all the same. 

she was a great cook - she was not concerned about that part of things at all. she had planned a menu the day before and made a grocery order for fillets with a pan sauce, potatoes that she would roast, and she was planning a beet salad with goat’s cheese, some bread that she had started the night before, and dessert would be cherry galette with sweet cream - something easy to throw together but eye catching. she was in no mood to half-ass this. 

she only went to the pool for a quick swim, and then she went home to bake and cook. she made  sure everything was perfect and prepped before she went to grab a shower, dress, do some quick makeup, and generally look as perfect as possible. and then she made her way to seungcheol’s house. 

he opened the door, still wearing his clothes from the day - his top shirt buttons were unbuttoned, his sleeves were rolled up, and he had a drink. he smiled, and she couldn’t help but return the smile when she fully saw his dimples. he was just so cute and gorgeous. she wondered if his cock was perfect too. 

he hung around in the kitchen talking to her as she finished things off. he wasn’t distracting, but he did comment a few times that she had gone to a lot of trouble. 

she just laughed, “i’m home alone all day - this was a fun distraction, plus your pool is so amazing and you’ve been so nice to let me use it,” she said with a smile. 

he was quiet, though. she glanced up and noticed the way he was watching her - his gaze taking her in. he nodded, “how could i say ‘no’ to you though?” he asked, voice softer than she was prepared for. 

she blushed, “i mean it’s pretty easy actually - my dad says ‘no’ to me all the time,” she smiled and turned back to what she was doing. 

she glanced back to see him nodding, “i’m sure you don’t do quiet so much to try to please your dad though, do you?” 

she felt the small shivers that broke out over her skin - his voice was so deep. she shrugged, “that’s not really my department.”

“no, you don’t want to make your father happy?” he sounded incredulous, as he gave his drink a small swirl.

she was pulling dishes from the oven, making sure all the times lined up. she didn’t answer immediately. 

instead, she felt his hands on her hips, “does he know the kind of underwear you wear to bed?” she felt his lips brush her throat, “does he know what a slut you are for my attention?” he whispered just beneath her ear, his lips dragging gently over her skin. 

her eyelids fluttered closed at the contact. she felt his hands slide down the front of the dress she was wearing, before hiking it up, “what underwear are you wearing tonight, baby girl?” he whispered, even as his hands traced up her thighs to her panties - feeeling the barely there satin that just covered her pussy. 

she felt the hard way he exhaled, “fuck,” he murmured, he fingers slipping under the fabric, “and already wet for me too.”

she shivered again, letting him pick her up and settle her on the counter, he fit perfectly between her thighs. she wrapped her legs around his trim waist, as he pulled her close, kissing her roughly. she moaned breathily as she returned his kisses. 

when he leaned back, he gazed at her, “you did mean for us to eat though, didn’t you?”

she nodded meekly. 

he smiled, “right,” his fingers traced down her throat and grazed her breast, “you went to so much trouble for me,” he whispered, smiling. 

she shook her head, “it wasn’t trouble,” she reached up, smoothing his bangs from his face. 

“if you just wanted to fuck, i would say it was a lot of trouble since the gate code and the door code are the same,” he watched her as she nodded slowly, accepting what he had just implied.

he pressed a bit closer, “but you want more than just a few gos on my cock, don’t you, baby doll?”

she bit her lower lip, nodding, “yes,” she breathed. 

she was almost surprised that they made it through dinner. by the time she offered him dessert, he pulled her into his lap, rushing to kiss her. his hand sliding easily between her legs. he swiped her panties to the side and stuffed his fingers in roughly, “so fucking tight,” he whispered. 

she gasped softly, trying to control her breath as he began to finger her and kiss her throat and exposed chest. she was almost shocked by how quickly she came, her juices gushing for him - it usually took ages for her to even come with other guys. but before she could really take it in, he was picking her up and placing her on the table. he pushed her dress up past her midriff. she saw him stick his fingers in the cream on the galette - he held them out to her. she opened her mouth, licking his fingers clean, letting him push his fingers farther and farther into her mouth.

“look at you, baby girl, so good for me,” he smiled, pulling his fingers from her mouth and swiping them through the cream again - this time they didn’t go to her mouth. she felt the sudden chilly, stickiness in her pussy - she clenched around his fingers. he nodded, “so perfect, baby, i don’t even have to tell you what to do,” he murmured. 

and then he was eating her out. stretching her and licking the cream from inside her. she fell back onto the hardwood dining table, sure that she had never felt more bliss. and he brought her so close to orgasm and pulled back, he gave her pussy a small smack. 

“seungcheol,” she whined softly as she felt a second smack that landed perfectly on her clit, causing her hips to buck. 

“hmm, what is it little girl? what do you need from daddy?” he asked as he finally pulled her panties off, dropping them to the side. 

“need you - need your cock,” she whimpered. 

he nodded, “i know little girl,” he smoothed her hair, “maybe in a bit, but first i need to do something,” he smiled as he dragged her to the edge of the table and flipped her over onto her stomach. 

she felt him carass her ass, squeezing her cheeks roughly, and then smacking them gently - his smacks were small at first, and then they were harder, open palmed smacks that made her jolt slightly forward against the table. she could only moan and whimper in response. 

it went on for several minutes until he seemed satisfied that she had been spanked enough, “just so you know why i’m spanking you, baby girl, if you ever go running and take your shirt off again so everyone in the neighborhood can see your perfect little tits bouncing, i won’t take it easy on you, i’ll really have to punish you - understood?” he whispered, his hand was gently stroking her reddened skin, soothing her after the fact. 

she nodded, “yes, daddy,” she moaned. 

he seemed satisfied, sighing softly, “good - now we can go upstairs, and i can take care of you the way you’ve been begging for me to all month.” 

she sat up, wincing slightly - he kissed her softly, his hands cupping her face, “you want to be good for me, don’t you?” he whispered as he pulled away.

she nodded, wanting nothing else. 

a/n: i love writing cheol - fr you have no idea how usually when i write a long fic it's cheol-centric - him and his boba eyes and his amazing eyelashes - he is def the definition of sexy 30s

♡ kat

if you want to submit a bingo ask the original bingo, is [here] and new nsfw only bingo is [here] - you can ask for squares from both

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[odileeclipse]

I'm gonna freaking eat your works.....

(this is mildly wordy It's like 2am and I have a lot to say)

I'm a big big BIGGGGG sucker for a good Shmilk or Pure ganilla fic....and wow you delivered.....🤤🤤

Big thank you for keeping me entertained for a good hour, that's a struggle for me LMAO I loved your writing, and the way you wuold describe his voice being all wispy and spooky; really added to the overall vibe of the fic and I really did like it :3

If you don't mindsies, I'd love to request something from you as well (o゜▽゜)o☆ As previously stated in a comment somewhere, angst makes me SO happy to write/read....the in-depth details people can do with emotions makes me so HEAHEHHAEHAEHEHAHEAHEH in a /pos way....

So! I would like to hhhhhhumbly request some good old fashioned Shmilky angst! Or, if you'd prefer to write Pure vanilla that's cool tooo!!!! I don't really mind what *type* of angst, just angst 🤤 I try to give writers creative freedom, but I'd adore some loss/unable to cope with loss of a loved one.....whatever works ;b ANYWAYS! LOVE YOUR WORK AND YOU'RE VERY COOL!!!!! 💥💥💥💥

The Puppet and the Fool

A tragedy in One Last Breath

A/N You're right there's been too much happiness on this blog time to fix that.

You were never supposed to last. From the moment you met Shadow Milk Cookie, you had been a mere curiosity, a spectator drawn into his ever-moving spire, his ever-deceiving carnival of illusions. And yet, somehow, you had done the impossible you had slipped between the cracks of his carefully constructed reality, nestled yourself in the spaces he hadn’t meant for anyone to occupy. It had started as a game, like all things with him did. "Oh? What’s this? A little spectator who doesn’t flee at the first trick? How rare!" His voice had slithered around you, a serpent’s coil laced with amusement and something sharper, something dangerous. Others feared him, reviled him, whispered of his cruelty in hushed tones. But you, oh, you were foolish. Foolish enough to laugh, to poke at his ego, to challenge him in ways no one else dared.

He had never asked you to stay. Never invited you into his world of trickery and taunts. And yet, there you were, day after day, watching his performances with something that was not admiration, not fear just an amused understanding. "And what, pray tell, keeps you lurking about, dear audience?" he would purr, flourishing his staff. "Surely, you have places far safer than my den of illusions." You had only shrugged, smiling faintly. "Your shows are entertaining." "A high compliment, indeed!" He placed a hand over his chest in mock gratitude. "But beware! The greatest trick of all is never knowing whether you’ve already become part of the act!" "I think I’ll take my chances." Foolish. But he liked that about you. And so, your presence became a fixture, something woven into the very script of his performances. He would create grand illusions, dazzling lights and twisting realities, and you would be there, arms crossed, shaking your head with a knowing smile. "Too much?" he would ask, grinning. "You always overdo it," you would reply. It became a game one he never admitted he enjoyed far too much. And, without realizing it, he began making his performances for you.

"I see through your tricks, Shadow Milk. You’re not as unpredictable as you think." That had caught his attention. You played along, indulged his theatrics, yet somehow remained separate from them. You saw through him in ways that unnerved him, as if you knew where the real strings were pulled. But instead of cutting them, you simply held them, quietly watching as he tangled himself in his own illusions. You became a regular in his performances, not as an unwilling participant, not as a victim, but as something else entirely. A quiet presence beside him, a soft counter to his grandiosity. A knowing smile when his lies got too elaborate, a gentle nudge when his mind grew too tangled in its own web. And somehow, he let you stay. Because for all his lies, you never demanded the truth from him. And for all his illusions, you never asked him to be anything but himself. Looking back, the signs had been small, quiet things, easy to dismiss, easier to ignore. The way your hand would tremble when reaching for his. The way your breath sometimes came too short, too shallow, even when you stood still. The way your laughter, once bright and full, became something softer, something restrained. "Tired already, my dear? We’ve barely begun the show!" he would tease, twirling his staff, watching as you paused to catch your breath. And you, ever the fool, would grin and wave him off. "Maybe you should carry me, then." "Oh-ho! A tempting proposition! But I’d hate to spoil you."

He had never thought much of it. Cookies grew weary. They faltered. It was natural. It wasn’t until he noticed the way you hid it the way you swallowed the winces, the way you steadied yourself against walls when you thought he wasn’t looking that something cold and unfamiliar began to fester in the back of his mind. Doubt. A word he despised when it came to you. But it remained. And yet, he never asked. Because asking would mean acknowledging. And acknowledging would mean accepting. So he let the show go on, even as the cracks in the stage deepened beneath your feet. Now, as you lay in his arms, the truth he had refused to see wrapped around him like chains, dragging him into a reality he would not accept. You had always been dying. And he had never noticed. Or rather he had never allowed himself to notice. "You lied to me," he whispered, his voice barely above a breath. You managed the smallest of smiles, though it barely reached your eyes. "I didn't lie." "But you didn't tell me." His grip tightened, his mismatched eyes wild, frantic, unblinking. "You let me play my part, let me prance about like a fool while you-" He choked on his words. "Why?"

You exhaled, slow, tired. "Because I knew you’d react like this." The laugh that tore from his throat was anything but amusement. "You-!" His voice cracked, and he had to swallow down the wreckage threatening to spill. "You knew and you still…" His breath shuddered. "Why didn’t you tell me?!" You hesitated. Not because you didn’t have an answer, but because you did. And he wasn’t ready for it. "Because I didn’t want my last moments to be a performance," you murmured. Your fingers brushed against his cheek, weak, barely there. "I wanted to just… be with you." Something shattered inside him.

All those stolen moments, every laugh, every conversation, every quiet night beneath an illusory sky of his own making they had been real. You had given him something real. And now you were taking it away. His breath came quick, shallow. His grip on you was desperate, as if holding you tighter could keep you anchored to him, to this world. "No, no, no, I won’t let you—" "Shadow Milk." His name had never sounded so soft. So final. You smiled. "I love you." And then, stillness. The silence was deafening. Shadow Milk Cookie did not move. Did not breathe. Did not accept. His jester’s hat had long since fallen, forgotten on the cold ground. The ghostly eyes in his hair flickered wildly, their gazes darting in all directions, uncertain, uncomprehending. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t real. The story wasn��t supposed to end this way. He clutched your body tighter, rocking slightly, his voice barely above a whisper. "You’re still here." A statement. A fact. A truth. Or perhaps, the most desperate lie he had ever told. "You’re just waiting for your cue. That’s all this is." His tone was light, theatrical, forced. "A clever little act oh, how you’ve fooled me this time, my dear!" His mismatched eyes gleamed, too wide, too bright. "But the show must go on." There was no response. Yet he continued, undeterred. "I’ll give the next line, then! What a generous performer I am!" A sharp, broken laugh left him. "You’ll wake up soon. You always do." The world did not answer. But he did not listen. Because Shadow Milk Cookie was a liar, a master of illusion, a weaver of truths and falsehoods alike. And so he told himself the greatest lie of all. That you were still there. That you had never left. That the final act had not yet begun. And as the silence stretched on, swallowing the stage whole, he did what he had always done. He played his part. And waited for you to play yours.

[maleyanderecafe]

Predator's Syndrome (Visual Novel)

Created by: @predatorsyndrome

Genre: Romance/Horror

I'll be real with you, when I first played this game I literally missed the entire yandere section and then just decided to wait for an update, but then @clownboymcchucklefuck basically dragged me back in and became a tutorial guide for me, so now we're here! This is a pretty extensive r18 demo with voice acting and secrets and the Predator's syndrome itself is pretty cool- I love the concept of a yandere disease and I wish there were more works that covered this kind of idea.

You don't actually see too much yandere in action if you play the main route of Predator's Syndrome, but rather the alternative/bad endings of the game. So for that reason, I'm going to start out with those then go more in depth with the mainline of the story since it does give insight to what happens in the rest of the main route.

The story starts out with Phos driving out in the rain after work. They see what looks like carlights before swerving and hitting something. They wake up for a bit in what seems like a very long dark tunnel before passing out and waking up in a bedroom. Phos ends up meeting a man called Pierrot who helps them reorient to their surroundings. A doctor named Darsha comes in as well to examine them, explaining that Phos was in a car crash and was carried here by Pierrot to the place they are right now, Venus Grove. Darsha leaves and after a nice talk and painkillers, and Pierrot leaves soon after, leaving Phos to examine the house. Phos can explore the bedroom, the living room, the bathroom and the kitchen. Upon examining the trash can in the kitchen, Phos finds a wet paper band with the name Scaramouche on it. Phos goes to sleep and wakes up better, though they realize that there is no service. Phos resides in the living room waiting for them to wake up. Pierrot fulfills his promise of making breakfast for Phos and the two talk about how Phos is going to have to stay a while because their car is completely totaled and there's no one close enough to fix it. Phos starts to panic, but Pierrot calms them down talking about how nice the town is. He advises going to the tailor (his friend) to get some new clothes and they agree. Darsha comes in to check on Phos along with a teenager named Tartaglia. When trying to be friendly to Tartaglia, they find him to be very volatile and rude towards them, though Pierrot assures them that he's like that to any adults. They both go out to the balcony to leave Tartaglia alone and they meet Rosaura, the tailor who almost drops her box of clothing she was carrying. Pierrot fills Rosaura on Phos' situation and Rosura offers to make the clothes for free. Tartaglia comes to get Pierrot for his doctors appointment and Rosura brings Phos to her shop and starts measuring them for clothes. After some talking and making sure that Rosura doesn't overwork herself, Phos heads out. If they decide to head back to their apartment, they will find Darsha there and she brings them to her doctors office to make them tea. Darsha mentions that the room they were in was decorated according to their preference, leaving Phos very confused. Darsha seems confused as well, calling someone to get more information and Phos picks up the name Scaramouche when she calls. Phos mentions that they found a paper bracelet in the trash to Darsha with that name. After thinking for a bit, Darsha decides to get Phos out of there, revealing a hidden doorway. She tries to get them into it, but Pierrot comes from behind at hits Darsha with her metal teapot. Pierrot tries to grab Phos but Darsha is able to stun him with a stungun. The two duck into the mysterious hallway that Phos remembers in their dreams. Darsha is frustrated, as despite knowing the risks, she allowed something like this to happen and starts explaining to Phos the reason for this place existing, but Phos ends up passing out. Upon waking up, Darsha explains that the town they were in was actually a place to treat the syndrome called Predator's Syndrome, which causes someone to become violently obsessed to a person they're attracted to (basically a yandere disease). We can learn through asking questions through Darsha that Predator's Syndrome is often confused with other similar syndromes, that Scaramouche was the original patient that was supposed to come here, but Pierrot purposefully lied and use the armband to pretend Phos was that patient before trying to get rid of the evidence, that the names are all code names that the patients use for each other and that Phos has no recollection of ever meeting Pierrot before. Phos can also read through some folders found in this room which explain the following :

There are stages to Predator's Syndrome, with younger patients being more aggressive while adults are more manipulative and relaxed. The four stages increase the hallucination and danger that the patients are and in the last stage, they are temporarily stronger, though more sensitive to stress, as well as become much more violent. It seems that the last stage can immediately activate when the patient meets their "prey" (or darling) and there are cases where patients will essentially scratch and bleed themselves to death. Predator's Syndrome seems to be something that has been around for a while, though the origin states about a legend with a goddess trapped inside of a doll. The temple it was in was maintained by two orphaned siblings, and the brother started talking to the doll as a way to ease his loneliness. This causes the goddess to fall in love with the brother, though unfortunately one day, the sister ended up breaking the doll by accident. While they tried to hide it, the goddess ended up invading the brother's dreams, slowly weakening him. After finding out the two siblings were able to trap the goddess back in the doll, which lead to her cursing the sister, stating that any offspring she had will carry a curse. Finally, the last folder seems to be a diary of a Darsha who is taking care of the patients, noting things like giving an artificial ear to Pierrot to replace his missing one or her feelings on making Columbina and Arlecchino roommates.

The two are able to make their escape by going up an elevator and escaping to a nearby gas station outside of the town. There we meet up with two coworkers there, Judy and Toby, who seem pretty rattled seeing the state of the two there. After grabbing the medical kit, we can talk to one of the characters as Darsha uses the phone. After a bit, Phos will go to the bathrooms to splash some water on their face. upon this they start hearing a commotion outside including the sound of gunshots. The door is locked and Phos can either try busting through or giving up. If Phos gives up, they will hear three other gunshots and Pierrot opening the door covered in blood. He tries to reassure Phos who is angrily yelling at him though Pierrot takes them in the end. If they try to break though the doors, they will fail until the last gunshot is heard. After breaking out, they find a trial of blood and the sound of Pierrot muttering. Phos stands there horrified as Pierrot talks to them, stating that he was the one who locked them in the bathroom. Phos starts to freak out when Pierrot comes closer to them with the gun and eventually takes them.

Another ending happens after leaving Rosura's shop and following a sound that leads near the edge of town. There, they find Tartaglia trying to cut a hole in the wired fence to escape. He tries to get them to leave, and if Phos continues to pester him, he will end up killing them. As they die, Tartaglia yells out that this place won't stop him from seeing her. If Phos leaves him alone, Tartaglia will explain that he has someone he needs to meet and that his parents put him there. Tartaglia explains that he knows another way out of the town as he's been monitoring the place and knows that food trucks come in and out and knows that Darsha has a key to get out. Tartaglia assigns Phos to get this key while he distracts her. Phos is able to get into the office and is nearly caught by Darsha, though they manage to escape quickly. The two end up going to the secret passageway and Phos can initiate a conversation with Tartaglia. The most important thing we learn is Tartaglia's crush on a girl in his class, when he was locked in a classroom, she helped give him food and now he's determined to go back and find her. However, upon reaching the elevator, Tartaglia betrays Phos and uses the elevator on his own. Pierrot appears behind them, telling them that he was using them as a scapegoat so that they would get in trouble, and Pierrot forces them back to the town, happy that they will live together forever.

If you play the normal route, instead of going back or going to find Tartaglia, Phos will instead wander into the forest where they find someone following them. Eventually, they will meet another resident named Sandrone who tells them that they're walking the wrong way. We learn that he mostly resides in the forest and once we get back to town, Pierrot comes to pick us up. After doing some grocery shopping, Pierrot heads back and we find Rosura and Sandrone who have gotten some welcoming gifts for Phos where clean up happens afterwards. Upon attempting to sleep, Phos will wake up to a loud noise, like a scream and goes out to try to find the source of it outside. They meet Pierrot outside and tell him about it, though he seems to deny that there were any noises at all. Phos can either go back inside or decide to go on a walk afterwards. Returning back with Pierrot will have him making hot chocolate for Phos where we can learn more about his biological parents, like how his father was a musician or how he learned to be so perceptive over things. If Phos decides to take a walk, they will run into Sandrome who will bring them to an open meadow spot where he will talk about his family. Upon going to sleep, Phos will have a strange dream about going down a path, landing in the middle of the town and seeing a figure looming over them. Upon waking up, they hang out with Rosura who brings Phos to the town's cafe. There, they meet up with another character named Pulcino who discuss about Sandrome for a bit and how he always is able to help people who get lost find their way out. Upon reaching the cafe, the two talk about Phos's injuries and what happened to them during the accident and meets Columbia, the waiter of the cafe. After ordering, Rosura asks Columbia to hangout with them, but she declines as her boss Nella still hasn't arrived. Nella arrives and while talking, Phos gets a headache and Columbia helps loose then bandage on their head. Everyone chats for a while with people and we learned that Pierrot is taking a lot of pictures lately. Upon leaving the cafe, Rosurna and Phos hear Pierrot and another character, Arlecchino arguing, seemingly with Pierrot throwing a rock at Arlecchino, though Phos sees that it was actually Tartaglia who threw it. Afterwards, Phos walks way, where Arlecchino tries to comfort and apologize to Phos after yelling before eventually Sandrome had to take him away. Phos can either go to visit Columbia to help her with orders or with Arlecchino where they see both him and Sandrome chopping wood. Upon going back to the apartment, we can hear Pierrot, Darsha and Tartaglia talking about Tartaglia throwing the rock at Pierrot and Pierrot accepting his apology.

Pierrot and Phos talk about Pierrot's condition of getting hallucinations with Phos worrying about him. The conversation is interrupted by Pierrot's half brother Flavio, the two have a brief conversation and gift giving before leaving. Phos sends Pierrot home to sleep and they have a dream again in the hallway. This time they meet a shadow kid who warns Phos that their choices will have more consequences and tells Phos to check the roof tonight. Upon waking up, everyone is scrambling to find Tartaglia, who has disappeared. After looking around, Phos remembers the dream and goes up to meet with Tartaglia, who is moping, afraid of being adult as it's his birthday soon. They can decide to help him by talking to him or by leaving him be, either way, they eventually are met with Pierrot who talks to him before bringing him inside. We also end up hearing Pierrot, Phos and Flavio talk about someone in town that is kept away from everyone, explaining the scream that they heard a couple of days ago as well as a brief talk from Flavio's dad and Pierrot's stepdad. After a talk with Darsha, Phos heads back to bed.

The next morning, Phos wakes up to find a lady who gives her mail before running of and they find out its the clothes that Rosura made for them. After putting it on, and three days have past, we get to talk with Darsha and the others to plan for Tartaglia's birthday party. They all plan to do their part and hold the party at the church and Phos can decide on who to help. Each route will give more insight into a character and their backstory as they help prepare for part of Tartaglia's birthday, though since Pierrot is the main yandere here, I'll just focus on his route. After quickly getting the music and Pierrot buying Phos an absurd amount of pastries, they end up spotting a black cat with different eye colors. They decide to catch it and get some food to lure it (Phos also realizes that the cat reminds them of Shadow kid). After capturing the cat, Pierrot is able to clean the cut on the cat's ear, which seems to affect him as he himself has also lost an ear. It seemed to have happened in a car accident and Phos empathizes with him. They end up going to Pierrot's place and the two of them cook a meal together after hearing Pho's stomach rumble. The two of them talk for a while with Pierrot naming the cat Eclissi and Pierrot explains the legend of Rebis, a perfect god who was split into pieces, a legend he was obsessed with as a child. He talks about his past and how he was homeschooled and wasn't really able to socialize that much as a result. Pierrot talks about how his parents basically gave him up, basically leading him to be adopted by Flavio's parents. Pierrot gets scolded by Phos for thinking he really was worthless and they are given the opportunity to hug him. Another person named Malvina comes to visit Pierrot, and gets everyone to go to the church to celebrate. After talking to Malvina for a bit we learn that the two were essentially childhood friends, though she gives of the impression of being very distant towards Phos. After talking and meeting up with a bunch of people and the preparations end, Phos is drawn to one of the doors at the church and finds a gift that they decide to give to Tartaglia. The bookshelf nearly falls and Pierrot (or honestly, whoever Phos has the best relationship with) comes to save them and the two have a moment.

So as I said before, I completely missed the yandere endings when I first played the game and was going to just wait for some updates until Gab come in and made me play it. It is very easy to miss the endings if you don't know what you're looking for, and because I am utterly hopeless without a tutorial, that's what happened lol. The way that the story is written is pretty intricate and has a lot of mysteries, with Phos being able to interact with everyone in the town and seeing how they live lives. Most of the characters who have the Predator's Syndrome has some sort of injury, either a missing part of the body (like Pierrot's ear or Rosura's eye) or have scars or other markings on their bodies like burns, foreshadowing the likely more violent tendencies those with the syndrome have as well as the more tough times that they had in their childhood. There's also the mystery of the screaming/encaged person in the town, the dreams that Phos has with the child, how Pierrot knows Phos and what happens if you stay in the town. I like how we're able to learn more about the various inhabitants in town and their lives, seeing how complex their relations are with others.

Anyways, the general premise of the yandere in this one is that it seems to be some sort of syndrome, and implied to be caused by some sort of curse. Having a yandere disease (as best to put it) is always really interesting and I very rarely see it in stories. This means that in theory all of the characters that are kept in the town (besides characters like the doctors and other services) likely are yanderes in one way or another (though to who is beyond me), which means there's probably about eight or so characters that are yanderes with at least four of them being guys and two of them being confirmed to be yanderes (Tartaglia and Pierrot), which means that there's more male yanderes to come, yippee. There's also way more chance to see the type of yanderes that can come from this, with various behaviors such as being more violent like Pierrot or perhaps clingy, protective or delusional. I would love to see what variations of yanderes might come from those who have this syndrome and who their target (or targets) are and how it affects the narrative with Phos. How they will tie this to the legend is also something I'm curious about since it seems to be the place where it first was documented.

Anyways, we see most yandere behaviors from Tartaglia and Pierrot. We'll talk about Tartaglia first before going with Pierrot, since he has less to discuss than Pierrot. Tartaglia is the only teen in the entire town, and he seems to be very abrasive towards adults, generally cursing, swearing and being a bit nervous around them. He is usually paired with Darsha who watches over him, though most of the town seems to care about him and Pierrot acts as sort of an older brother to him at times and they all come together to throw Tartaglia a birthday, though it seems that none of them are really close enough to definitively know what he really likes given that they seem to be guessing in terms of what he might like (with respects to food and decorations). We also do see that much like any teenager, he is afraid of becoming an adult and is suspicious about the town as a whole. In the ending where we escape with him, it is possible to irritate him enough for him to kill Phos, showing he's not against violence given someone irritates him. We also learn that he has a crush on a girl in his class who gave him food when he was locked in a classroom. Based on the interactions we have with him in the tunnel, it seems his abrasive attitude extends to his normal life as well, being rather uncooperative with adults, which makes sense given he also doesn't seem to have the best relationship with his parents, though we do know that he has a big crush on the girl who saved him, given that she's the reason he tries so hard to escape, and knowing that he is one of the people who has the Predator Syndrome, it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that he is likely yandere towards this girl. He also does betray Phos in the end by shoving them out of the elevator so that he can escape, so he pretty much has no qualms with getting rid of or betraying anyone who gets in his way of getting back to her. It is kind of interesting to see Tartaglia think fondly of someone because even in the main story, we barely get to see him really that happy, even when Phos is able to talk to him on the rooftop. The soft side clearly shows that this girl is very important to him, even to the point of escaping or even killing someone, due to that yandere behavior.

Pierrot on the other hand is generally really kind to Phos throughout the story. He is the one who takes care of them by cooking food. It's clear that he has feelings of abandonment and self-confidence issues, believing that it was right for his biological parents to abandon him as well as the fact that he doesn't take care of himself like not eating or not telling Phos about his condition of hallucination. I'm not sure if part of this is a kind of manipulation on Pierrots part (though I don't doubt that he was telling the truth about a lot of this) given that he seems to gaslight Phos into believing there was no screaming outside when they did hear it, as well as lying to Darsha about their identity so that they'd stay without question. One of the mysteries the story has is how Pierrot lost his ear (stating that it happened during a car accident but he doesn't seem to remember) and how Pierrot seems to know Phos or has fallen for them. It's possible that the two car accidents, the one that Phos got into as well as Pierrot's own car accident are related somehow, though whether it's because that they are somehow related or if it just made Pierrot sympathize for Phos because of it is kind of unclear. Still, even throughout the main story, we do see Pierrot react unhappily when Phos rejects him in one way or another, such as not holding his hand or otherwise doing something else, though its generally pretty subtle. There's also other things like Pierrot getting into photography or constantly doting on Phos that indicate other things too. In the bad endings, we see more clearly his intentions of Pierrot, especially in the ending where Pierrot chases after them after trying to escape with Darsha, with him trying to kill or incapacitate Darsha by hitting her over the head with a kettle, and eventually killing everyone in the convenience store. It's clear that even in this state, he doesn't really want to hurt Phos and wants to prevent them from seeing him kill the rest of the crew ( which is something he does do successfully). Though that being said, it does show that Pierrot is very good at hiding his intentions since he doesn't seem to show his unstable nature that clearly, at least until Phos realizes that Pierrot has been lying about why they're here. In the other ending, he "saves" Phos after Tartaglia ditches them and then drags them back to the town. While it is obvious that part of this is due to the "syndrome" itself, we do see how Pierrot tries hard to create a situation where the two of them can live rather blissfully together, and how sudden his turn is when they try to leave. It makes me wonder what will happen if Phos does try to leave at some point in the main story given that there are many choices that ask the player if they enjoy living in town or if they want to go back to their normal life.

Overall though, the game is pretty impressively long with a lot of detail to things (including a text file that appears in your folder that seems to indicate some sort of ritual, probably associated to the legend), and gets a good look at the relationship with many of the characters. I am curious to see how everyone's syndrome develops and if there will be many yanderes in this game. It is a decently long game, so please try it out if you are interested.

[ditzyblues]

i love your april SO MUCH 💛💛 do you have tips on drawing her???

thank you!! and im not entirely sure what that entails, but i'll try my best :D

i stray a bit far from canon april, mostly in the way i draw her hairstyles, outfits, and body type (the last is just to suit my style, its not a big translation IMO)

FACIAL FEATURES:

there's a few touchstones im always thinking about when i'm sketching her face out:

how wide her nose is (very important that the edges are past the inner corner of her eyes in most angles)

how full her lips are

how thick her eyebrows are (so they don't have to compete with her glasses)

roundness/heartshape to her face

even with all these features in mind, the way she looks can vary. i'm just always making sure these things are accurate, since most are key to depicting her ethnicity, even in the highly stylized show.

i'm also always checking for the relationship between her eye-whites and skin tone, because if its off, i'd be veering away from representing her deep brown skin accurately.

this very important to be mindful of!! and very easy to check and fix! if you're unsure, find a screenshot with a similar lighting scenario and check the values in black and white.

HAIR TEXTURE:

im always aiming for depicting coils, never curls, since i believe that's the hair type being shown in the show.

there's a lot of ways coils can look, but usually, keeping volume and staying away from single strands works. i wasn't always mindful of this tho (example below) and still am very capable of loosening it, even if it's subconscious. this is almost ALWAYS a simple fix as well.

i've see a lot of art of her hair in particular being very loose. like 2b/2c. guys.

and this problem is hardly addressed!! so i am here to recommend finding references for 4b/4c hair, refs are never bad.

MISC NOTES OF VARYING IMPORTANCE:

her skin is cool toned in most palettes in the show, so i stick with cooler skin for her (tho i mostly use warm palettes so it does get lost)

her red glasses usually salvage her recognizability (i know this because i draw her in different outfits/hairstyles all the time)

^^ green and yellow in her clothes does too.

i hope this helps :D, thank u again! im glad someone's asking. maybe this means more April art will be put into the world.

[kitkatorin]

Creating my Skitarii Cosplay! ⚙️💀

I tend to hyperfixate on a lot of my ideas, and if it involves physically creating something, it's so satisfying to bring an idea to life.

So it was with my Adeptus Mechanicus cosplay! The idea possessed mind and I somehow managed to make it a reality in about 2 months just in time for a con lol

I don't have too many progress pics because I was in a bit of a time crunch and worked on it at odd hours, but I still wanted to share the process because this project is very dear to me - this was the first cosplay I ever built from the ground up.

So, the initial sketches!

I remember staying up super late sketching and ironing out the designs. And then going on a spree buying all the materials and pieces. The robes and mask I worked on and finished first!

Before this I had never worked with eva foam but I already committed to using it for the armor. I made the pattern first with tracing paper (thank the Omnissiah that the shapes were relatively simple!) and copied them to foam. The pauldrons and hand armor were finished first, and after seeing how well they came out, I was feeling pretty confident about how things were proceeding!

Then it was the chest armor and backpack 😬 the most involving for sure. Lots of paint and glue, lots of shaping, lots of trial and error in reinforcing and securing things in the right place...

I was honestly surprised how well it came together as a first time experience working with eva! The backpack was HEAVY (I used a PVC pipe for the top part and real plumbing lines), but once I got it on it was OK 😅

Handwriting the purity seals was a lot of fun too, kinda want to make more just to do it. And the very last touch was stenciling the Ad Mech insignia on the robes literally the night before the con.

The final result? Something I'm immensely proud of ☺️

Shame on me for not test running it during the process before wearing the entire thing for the first time. Some things needed to be fixed and readjusted during and after the first wear but overall it held up in two different events!

I'll post some more finalized photos soon~ now that I know what I can do, I already have another cosplay in the works 👀 stay tuned for that!

Hope you liked it! And if you have any tips or suggestions for working on future projects I'd love to hear them!

[bjwmastermind-writes]

ch.1 - fences and cities- dbf! joel miller x oc! miriam

Chapter One of "Fences and Cities" dbf! joel miller x oc! miriam

To check out the series and what it's about click here!

This story follows Miriam, but you can easily step into her shoes.

mentions: age gap (24-47), dad best friend, joel miller is a warning on its own!

Minors stay out or read at your own risk! I'm not responsible for your consumption!

divider by @cafekitsune

Montana

The old, familiar smell of Montana—pine trees and fresh air—mingles with the dust of the small airport parking lot. Her suitcase, heavy and unwieldy, pulls at her shoulder as she trudges toward the terminal doors. Her stomach growls loudly, betraying her irritation. Where is he? Miriam glances at her phone, but there are no texts.

Rolling her eyes, she mutters under her breath, “Where the hell is he?” Her voice is tight, a mix of frustration from travel, hunger, and something deeper—an unease about what’s ahead. Montana was never a bad place, but leaving New York had been… complicated. 

"Miriam!," a voice calls, and she lifts her gaze to see him stepping out of the truck.

The sound of a truck engine rumbles in the distance, and her eyes snap to it. Relief floods her for a moment, but it quickly sharpens into something else as the truck pulls to a stop in front of her. He’s finally here. But, of course, he doesn’t seem rushed. He flashes her a half-smile, like he’s entirely unbothered, and she feels the urge to roll her eyes again.

"Sorry," he calls from the truck, his voice still casual. "Got caught up with some things around here." He leans back against the side of the truck, looking at her in that way that suddenly makes her feel a little off-kilter. It’s Joel, for crying out loud—her dad’s friend, someone she’s known for years. But there’s something about him now, something different.

"It’s okay, just don’t do that again, okay? I waited so long," she says, her voice carrying a hint of frustration, but with a playful undertone.

He grins, leaning against the truck. "Oh, please, it was only a few minutes, Miss New York. Have you forgotten what it’s like here?" His tone is teasing, but there’s a soft warmth to it that catches her off guard.

His smile is the same, his voice the same, yet there's an intensity in his eyes she’s never noticed before. A teasing glint, sure, but also something more—a quiet pull that makes her stomach flip. She never saw him like this before.

As he drives, Miriam can’t help but steal glances at him from the corner of her eye. She’s always known Joel—her dad’s friend, the guy who always had a joke ready or was fixing something around the house. But something’s different today. She notices the way the light hits his profile as he concentrates on the road, the way his jaw tightens when he makes a turn, the easy confidence in the way he moves.

“So, how’s New York treating you lately?” he asks, his gaze flicking to her briefly before returning to the road.

“It’s been good. Work has been killing me, for sure, but there’s something about it I like as well,” she says, leaning back against the seat. “The people I’ve met so far are nice—we go out often. The city is lovely, very loud, but it doesn’t take away from its charm.”

Joel huffs a quiet laugh, shaking his head. “New York is lovely? Never heard anyone say that before.”

Miriam rolls her eyes but can’t help the smile tugging at her lips. “It is if you know where to look. It has this… energy, you know? Everything is moving all the time, and I kinda like that.”

“Sounds exhausting.”

“Sometimes,” she admits, glancing out the window. “But it makes you feel alive.”

Joel hums in response, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel. “And yet, here you are. Back in Montana.”

Miriam goes quiet for a moment, exhaling softly. “Yeah, well, I guess one can get a little homesick after all. Plus, I had to be here for my dad.”

Joel chuckles, a low, knowing sound, and glances at her. “Yeah, I get that.” Without thinking, he reaches out, his hand landing on her shoulder in a brief but solid squeeze—comforting, familiar. His touch is warm, steady, and for some reason, it lingers in her mind even after he pulls away.

The truck falls into a quiet lull, only the hum of the tires against the road filling the space between them. It’s not awkward, but it feels… different. Why does it feel different?

Just as she’s about to get lost in her thoughts, her stomach lets out a loud, unmistakable growl.

Joel smirks, side-eyeing her. “Hungry much?”

Miriam groans, covering her face with her hands. “Oh my god, that was so loud.”

“Loud enough to scare off the wildlife,” he teases. “Guess that answers where we’re going next.”

That makes her laugh too, shaking her head. “Shut up.”

He smirks, eyes still crinkled with amusement. “Guess that answers where we’re going next.”

She peeks at him between her fingers. “Let me guess… the diner?”

Joel grins. “Best damn burger and fries in town.”

She sighs dramatically but can’t stop the smile from tugging at her lips. “Fine. But you’re paying.”

Joel chuckles. “Don’t worry, it’s on me”

By the time they reach the diner, her thoughts are tangled. She doesn’t know why she’s suddenly noticing him differently, but it’s all she can think about.

They slide into a booth, the hum of conversation around them. As they both settle into their seats, she clears her throat, unsure how to bring it up.

“So,” she starts, trying to sound casual but unable to keep the edge from her voice, “When did you turn into this?” She gestures vaguely, not sure how to articulate the thought. “It’s like I’m seeing you for the first time or something.”

Joel raises an eyebrow, clearly amused. “What are you talking about?”

Miriam takes a breath, trying to gather her thoughts. “I don’t know, just... you. You're different. I don’t know if I’m just imagining it, but you look different.”

His smile fades a little, but there’s a glimmer of something behind his eyes. “I’m the same, Miriam. Maybe you’re just seeing things.” He looks at her, his voice quieter now. “Maybe you’re different.” He looks back at the menu like he didn’t just shake something loose inside her.

Her pulse quickens at his words. She wasn’t expecting that response. It hangs between them, heavier than the usual banter, and suddenly, she’s not so sure how to navigate this space between them anymore.

The silence stretches out just long enough for it to feel a little too much, and Miriam, ever the quick thinker, decides to break it. She clears her throat, leaning in a little with a playful smile.

“Hey, did I tell you what happened at the airport?” she asks, her voice light but eager to shift the energy.

Joel looks over at her, eyebrows raised, clearly intrigued. “No, what happened?”

Miriam smirks, her eyes lighting up as she launches into the story. “They took my bagel. Like, actually took it.”

Joel laughs, clearly amused, shaking his head. “So that explains why you're starving, huh?”

Miriam nods, her face scrunching with playful frustration. “You have no idea. I was ready to fight for it, but I just didn’t have the energy after the whole ordeal.”

Miriam is mid-sentence when the waiter stops by, setting down their food with a polite nod. She barely notices, too caught up in the story she’s telling, hands gesturing slightly as she speaks.

“So there I am, at JFK, running on zero sleep and way too much airport coffee, and I swear, the TSA guy looks at my bag like it’s personally offended him. He pulls me aside, right? Starts digging through my stuff like I’m smuggling national secrets, and then—” She pauses for dramatic effect, a smirk tugging at her lips. “He pulls out a single, perfectly wrapped bagel. Just one. Like it’s contraband.”

Joel huffs a quiet laugh, watching her. Not just listening—watching. The way she leans in slightly, how her eyes light up when she’s caught in the middle of a story, how she always talks with her hands just a little.

“What did he do?” he asks, voice low but amused.

She grins. “Looks me dead in the eye and says, ‘Ma’am, I’m gonna need you to explain this.’ Like I’m running some underground bagel operation.”

Joel shakes his head, chuckling. “And what did you say?”

“I panicked! I just went, ‘Sir, it’s a bagel. I swear I’m not dangerous.’” She leans back with a laugh, shaking her head. “I think he was just bored, honestly. But for a second, I thought I was gonna end up on a no-fly list over a poppy seed bagel.”

Joel watches her as her laughter lingers, her shoulders still shaking slightly. There’s something different about her—he’s sure of it now. Not just the way she carries herself, but the way she fills the space around her, like she belongs in it. It’s new.

Joel, though—he’s still looking at her. The story’s over, but his gaze lingers, like he’s turning something over in his mind. Finally, he says, “You always talk like that?”

She raises a brow. “Like what?”

His mouth quirks, but there’s something thoughtful in the way he watches her. “Like you belong wherever you are.”

The words catch her off guard. There’s no teasing in his voice, no hint of the usual back-and-forth. Just quiet observation.

Her heart skips, pulse quickening as she forces a smirk. “Montana air,” she says lightly. “Does wonders.”

Joel doesn’t press, just lets out a small hum, but there’s a weight to his silence now. Something that lingers.

Neither of them moves to shake it off.

They finish their meal in silence, the kind of quiet that’s not uncomfortable but feels different—charged, maybe, or just heavier than usual. Miriam keeps her focus on her plate, unsure of what to say or do next.

After a few moments, she stretches her legs out under the table, not thinking much of it, until she accidentally brushes her foot against Joel’s. Neither of them pulls away immediately. The brief contact makes her stomach twist, and she’s suddenly aware of how close they are, how she can feel the warmth of his presence even through the table.

Miriam glances up quickly, her face flushing slightly as she pretends it didn’t happen. “Oops, sorry about that.”

Joel’s lips curl into a small, teasing smile. “Don’t worry about it.” His voice is steady, but his eyes linger on her a moment longer than usual. The tension between them feels different now, thicker, and Miriam feels a shift in the air, one that makes her unsure of how to move forward.

Finally, breaking the silence, Joel shifts in his seat and looks at her with a more casual tone. “Ready to get going?” He gives her a teasing glance. “Let’s get the bill. Your dad must be wondering what took so long.”

Miriam forces a laugh, grateful for the change in pace. “Yeah, he probably thinks we’re getting into trouble or something.” She reaches for her purse, trying to shake off the moment’s weight.

Joel pulls into the driveway, the sound of the gravel crunching under the tires as he stops. He glances at Miriam, his gaze lingering for a moment longer than necessary.

“I’ll let you settle in, spend some time with your dad. Bet he missed you,” Joel says, turning off the engine.

Miriam grabs her suitcase, struggling to pull it out of the trunk, the weight of it catching her off guard.

Joel raises an eyebrow, still seated in the car. “Need some help with that?”

She shakes her head, forcing a smile as she maneuvers the suitcase out of the trunk. “No, that’s okay. I got it.”

As she manages to free it, she turns back to him. “Thanks, Joel. For the drive. And the food. Good actions, all around.”

Joel chuckles, the sound low and warm. “You’re welcome, Miriam.”

She steps out of the car and starts walking toward the front door, her pulse still a little quicker than usual.

Joel stays in the car a moment longer, his gaze lingering on her. He tells himself it’s just for security—making sure she gets inside safely—but somehow, it feels like more than that. He watches her until the front door opens and her dad steps outside, arms outstretched.

“Miriam!” Her dad grins, enveloping her in a hug. “Welcome home!”

Miriam laughs and hugs him back. “I missed you, too, Dad.”

Joel leans back in his seat and clears his throat, a brief, awkward moment hanging between him and the family. “Take care, Miriam,” he calls out with a quick wave, as he shifts the car into gear.

Her dad waves back, calling out to him. “Thanks again, Joel! Really appreciate the help.”

Joel gives a small grin, rolling his eyes playfully. “Don’t mention it,” he says, mimicking Miriam’s earlier tone.

Her dad laughs as he steps back into the house, and Joel pulls away, disappearing down the street.

Miriam watches him leave, feeling a strange mix of emotions she can't quite place before heading inside with her dad.

Welcome to the first chapter of my series Fences and Cities! I’m so excited to share this story with you. I hope you enjoyed the beginning, and I’d love to hear your thoughts! Feel free to like, reblog, and comment—it really helps the story reach more readers. Stay tuned for what’s to come!

[blu3-ja3]

Chapter 7

Bruce's POV

I think I'm alive, it's hard for me to tell. I can't see, I can see my body but even that is hard to see. Dark greys and black merging into the darkness around me. The only way I can tell if my eyes are open is if I look down but after sometime I have to blink or else everything just fades. I know my body is there but it'll slowly drift to the background almost, it won't be at the forefront of my vision.

I'm breathing or I think I am, there's not really air it's just stagnant. No breeze, no outside sound the only thing I hear is my heart beating. I can't even tell if I'm floating or falling, no up or down. I'm surrounded by nothing. I remember reading about people who stayed in sensory deprivation for too long or the people who stayed in the world's quietest room. I wonder how long before I start being affected by my own mind?

It comes sooner than I thought because I swear there's a face of a woman in the shadows. It's uncanny how clearly I can see her but not what she looks like. I feel nauseous for a moment as I hear a faint whisper of something. I realize a little later that the face is moving, like she's talking but I can't hear anything.

Then the hallucinations become more vivid, I see a small speck of light growing bright and more defined. It's a humanoid and they're moving closer. They're feminine in their features, curly hair and a familiar face, Jillian Rodriguez. She comes closer and closer, for the first time since appearing here there's a change. It gets warmer as Jillian approaches.

The first change leads to a cascade of changes, I can see color where once there wasn't. I can hear distant echoes and voices in a language I don't understand, and I can feel that there's no air in my lungs. I can feel myself suffocating.

The girl drifts to my side and reaches with both hands and places one on the center of my chest and upper back. There's a flash of searing hot energy that pulses through me as my lungs suddenly pull in air. Another pulse and the voices begin to focus and become clear words. Another pulse and I realize what happened to cause the hand shaped burns on the younger girls.

"Enough child, he is alive now," I hear a woman's voice call out there's layers to it like millions of people whispering every word she speaks.

"It felt different, why?" Jillian's voice rings out but it's centralized around her not like the other voice.

"Because his body is here, that is why I forced you to move so quickly. He was running out of time but you stopped the clock," a face begins to form from nowhere then slowly becomes something faceless with no real features. In an odd way it reminds me of my mother...

"I'm flattered child, your mother was a kind woman." I watch as for the briefest moment the featureless face morphs into that of my mother's, then my father's and then back to nothing.

"I've done that before right? Stopped the other girls from whatever was about to happen to him," She doesn't know, of course she doesn't know what's happened to them.

"In a sense, yes," that's ominous, does this thing know what happened...

"What does that mean? Wait don't go!" The face slowly starts to disappear, fading away into the darkness around it. The whispering also follows slowly fading into nothing.

Shit this is unpleasant, all of it. I'm not even sure how to help myself out of this let alone Jillian's soul. I'm guessing this is her soul it looks similar to the one I followed hours ago but there's something different. I can't figure out what it is though, it may just be the environment we're in.

Jillian isn't looking at me, her eyes stay fixed on a certain point like she sees something I don't. Maybe she does I'm not entirely sure how different a soul is compared to a body. Jillian's eyes snap to something above me, and I follow her eye line.

Above me are multiple golden strands that drift and swirl around, some drift off into different directions than the other. Some disappear into nothing while others stretch on for miles, I can't see the end. Looking back down there's a small silver thread that's drifting behind Jillian, it's choppy and fragmented and almost too faint to see.

There's another smaller thread drifting in front of Jillian, it's more prominent going from silver to gold. Following the thread I realize it drifts up and connects with my chest. Jillian doesn't seem to notice it's even there too focused on the threads above me. The young girl suddenly drifts up and reaches out only to hesitate for a moment.

"What's wrong?" I ask seeing clear conflict on Jillian's face. Whatever was causing conflict she seems to resolve because she reaches out and touches a thread.

There's a faint glow from where she touches it that travels through the thread, when it reaches me there's a surge of warmth in my chest and memories of Dick begin to appear in my head. Odd, but not unpleasant. Jillian seems satisfied with something and turns to me.

"Okay Batman, you wanna get out of here?" It takes me a moment to realize that I'm still in my Batman suit and that I am indeed still wearing my cowl. I give a simple nod and the teen smiles at me.

We follow a particular strand for a while,l in the process of traveling I learn that all these different threads are connected to a different individual that I know in my life. There's one for every JL member, one for each of my children and their friends. There's ones for different rouges and villains that I've encountered and civilians that I've saved.

Jillian says the more prominent the string the closer they are. It's like a live wire system of every person I've ever met and as we move I watch it spread and grow. We're following a large cluster of strings, Jillian is keeping a finger on one strand in particular; Dick's. Eventually the end began to appear, it just stopped like it's been cut, there are other strings around it.

As I look I can see my children and their friends, I can see Alfred, Selina and Constantine. As I look closer at one it's strange, like Jillian's it's choppy and fragmented but not silver in color. Roy, Tim, and Lian's threads are all nearby. As I move closer to inspect I know who it belongs to; Jason.

"Okay I think I can get us out of here but I need you to stay in one spot," I looked over to where Jillian is floating.

She's at the very end of Dick's thread, reaching up with one hand she touches something and for a moment I can see Dick, wearing his Nightwing suit. Her other hand reaches out and touches the center of his back and the image becomes more clear. He's talking, gesturing like he does when he's stressed. His brow is furrowed and face pulled into a grimace.

There's a flash of gold as a thread moves and joins the group of threads surrounding Dick. I look closer and see that it's Zatanna's thread. It drifts closer to Constantine's thread.

My attention is drawn back to Jillian as something flashes, looking at the girl her eyes glow a bright purple. She moves both her hands together and clasp them together before moving them to her chest. There's a rush of whispers that echo the words Jillian speaks, it's again in the strange language from before.

Jillian's focus snaps to me bathing me in a purple glow. Moving suddenly the girl is right in front of me, her hands still clasped together. Slowly she opens them and a rift begins to form, it's not jagged and ripped like the others. It's like a perfect door opening, through it I can see the back of my oldest son still wearing his vigilante suit. The door grows and becomes fully formed.

Suddenly Jillian's hand reaches through it and pulls me forwards causing me to tip over and fall through. I land harshly onto the metal floor of the batcave, causing a bit of air pushed out of my lungs. Rolling over I watch as the visage of Jillian steps out of the doorway and glides calmly away towards the infirmary. Her eyes are still glowing the same purple.

"Well, that saves us a trip doesn't it love?"

Time Skip!

Jillian's POV

I'm so tired of waking up in pain it's been like this for almost two weeks, as my eyes open I'm in a hospital...Odd, I can hear the beeping of machines and I can feel the slightest pinching pulling pain as I move my arm. I look to see I'm hooked up to an IV bag as well as a monitor of sorts.

I let my head drop back down against the pillow of the hospital bed, I cringe a little at the feeling of my own hair. I can feel the dirt and grime caked into it, my body feels a little better but not by a lot. I'm also starving and thirsty, quickly I checked and I can feel my feet, legs and toes wiggle.

The door to my hospital room opens and a woman in blue scrubs walks in pushing a small cart with a large basin and several rags and sponges. She freezes when she sees that I'm awake, before I can say anything she's out the door again.

I learned I was comatose for a week and a half, the doctor said it was a miracle I even woke up let alone spoke and moved relatively fine. I'm being released with everything paid for along with a wheelchair to help me get around while I rebuild my strength.

I also learned that the Wayne's had covered all medical expenses and apparently Timothy Drake-Wayne was a frequent visitor to my room. How nice? I don't really care for the gossip, I'm thankful for the money and I'll tell Tim that when I see him again.

It was an awkward ordeal to learn that the clothes that were brought in with me didn't belong to me. Not that I said as much I refused to go home in only a thin piece of paper they call a medical smok. Getting out of the hospital was its own little disaster because they had to call GCPD to sign off as a legal guardian.

Thankfully the man who came Commissioner Gordon was nice enough to offer me a ride back home, while driving he informed me about the open investigation against my sister and her boyfriend... It was awkward sitting in the back seat and driving into Park Row but I'll deal with whatever flak I get for that later. For now I just want to get home and take a shower. The Commissioner saw it fit to escort me to my apartment door as well.

The elevator was thankfully working today, I clicked the button for the third floor and waited patiently. The elevator dinged open and I pushed myself out and turned immediately to my right to go down the hall. I stopped pushing for a moment at the sight down the hall from me.

Standing in front of my door was my neighbor's daughter, she was talking to a man who I couldn't recognize from here. Pushing my wheelchair closer I caught Maria's eyes, instantly her face fell and my stomach opened into a pit.

"Oh Jill, I'm so sorry sweetie," Maria pushed past the man and came closer to me. Please just let Ms. Gonzalez be in the hospital again or maybe Maria finally convinced her to go into assisted living and she moved.

"Why-" My throat tightened as I fought back tears, she was fine. Abuela was fine, "Abuela's fine right?"

I swallowed a cry as Maria shook her head, I closed my eyes and let my head tip back again my wheelchair. I'm going to regret asking this question but I have to know.

"How?" Maria said she'd tell me but only once I was inside, showered and ate. I let Maria push my wheelchair the rest of the way to my apartment.

The man who Maria was talking to was on the phone with someone before quickly ending the call to talk to Commissioner Gordon. I vaguely recognize him as Bruce Wayne and only just noticed Tim with him. I didn't even bother asking questions just let myself be guilded into the empty apartment before moving myself to my room.

I grabbed a change of clothes that would be easy to change into and quickly shower or as quickly as I could give I can't really stand for to long without my legs giving out. I feel a little better with clean hair and clothes, opening the bathroom door the smell of bread and cheese waffed through the air. Maria made me chicken soup and a grilled cheese, well more like she brought over leftovers when she realized I had no food in the kitchen.

"Where's Queenie?" I asked as I haven't heard her call out the entire time I've been back, and usually Queenie is a very vocal ball of black fluff.

"She's with us," I look up to see both the Wayne's sitting on the couch in the tiny living room alongside a woman in a very fancy business suit and the commissioner still here.

"Oh, um thank you," I say half cutting myself off as I stuff my face full of grilled cheese and soup.

It's exactly what I need and Maria is kind enough to make me another grilled cheese that I also polish off. I don't particularly care that there's multiple people watching me eat. Once finished and satisfied I started to move towards the couch, Maria helps me and sits down next to me.

"First I want to know what happened to Abuela Gonzalez," I look straight to Maria.

Maria sighs and tells me how Ms. Gonzalez had passed while I was in the hospital. She was in the kitchen making her weekly batch of bread and tortillas when she had a sudden heart attack. She passed within moments and was found by Maria a few hours later. Maria informs me that I missed the funeral but that I was left with a few things in the will and they were waiting for me.

Maria excused herself to go get said items to get and bring them over. Calming myself and turning my attention to the other group of people in my apartment. I really didn't know why they were here but they are. The woman spoke first.

"Ms. Rodriguez, I'm sorry for your loss," The woman starts off, she moves herself a little closer to the edge of the couch as she talks.

"Thank you, why are you here. Who are you?" I asked, I'm trying to keep my tone polite but I know my smile is definitely tired.

"Well I'm your new social worker, it's come to light that your previously assigned worker wasn't doing his job very well," I couldn't help but roll my eyes, I really was too tired for this.

"I'll cut to the chase, your sister is no longer in a position to keep custody of you," I nod know a little from what Gordon told me, "because of this you are going into foster care-"

"However I'm to take temporary custody of you and allow you a space near home," Bruce cuts in, he smiles as he continues, "I know it's a bit odd but..." Bruce trails off after that.

"It would be short-term, only until the court case is resolved. Unless of course something happens," the social worker continues.

"Court case?" I look at the three adults in the room, making sure my confusion is clear.

"We'll discuss that in a moment, what do you say Jillian? Regarding Mr. Wayne getting temporary custody." I look around me at the nothing that has been my life and shrugged.

"It can't be any worse than this place," Tim looks to his dad immediately and Bruce looks at me.

"If it's alright, my kids are here to help pack your room. I know it's sudden but sadly this apartment is no longer yours or your sister's. I've done what I can but they want you out as quickly as possible..." I kinda nod dumbfounding but I'm not surprised. Mr. Jenkins has always been a tool so of course he wants me out as soon as possible.

Tim hops up off the couch, pulling out his phone and tapping something onto the screen. I kinda sit there confused about what just happened when my attention is drawn to the Commissioner who moves to sit where Tim was.

"There was an investigation done against your sister and her boyfriend. There was a lot of evidence and because of that we were able to take it to court quickly," Gordon starts, he's staring at his hands which are clasped together.

"We weren't expecting you to wake up anytime soon but you have, because of this I'd like to know if you'd be willing to testify against Grace and Daniel?" The Commissioner meets my eyes and oh boy is this all overwhelming.

"I can try, I'm not promising anything right now," I see Bruce nodding his head with an impressed look on his face.

"I appreciate how forthright you are Ms. Rodriguez, truly. I've already discussed with Bruce about having you come down to the station to give a statement and answer some questions," Gordon nods over to Bruce who simply smiles politely at me.

"I don't expect you to go right away, I'd hope to let you settle down first and let you get your bearings. I will say I've taken the liberty to hire a trusted friend of mine to be your lawyer, she'll represent you fiercely I can promise that," Bruce yet again flashes a kind smile to me and I find myself taken aback at the sudden kindness.

"Why'd you do it?" The question slips from my mouth before I have the chance to stop it, to filter it out.

"I'm not sure what you're asking me exactly," Bruce tilted his head to the side, confusion painting his face.

"Why help me? The hospital bill, the fostering, now a lawyer, why help me? I'm sure you'll get some brownie points with the press but this is a little much," I can't stop the words now that the gates have been open.

"Ms. Rodriguez! That is incredibly rude! Apologize-" my social worker was chastising me but stopped when Bruce held up a hand. Still smiling kindly.

"It's alright honestly. Truth be told I'm doing this mostly for Tim's sake, he was quite shaken when he learned of your disappearance," Bruce's voice becomes soft and kind as he talks about his son, I feel myself flush with embarrassment.

"Ah! I'm sorry Mr. Wayne, I-" Bruce holds up a hand and again smiles softly.

"Bruce is fine and it's alright, you've had a rough time recently so I don't blame you for having your guard up," He says before I can respond there's a knock at the front door before it opens.

Six figures walk in, two girls and four boys. The youngest is carrying a small animal carrier crate. Almost instantly I hear the familiar trill of my baby.

"Queenie!"

Part 1 /// Previous /// Next

Cursed Gotham Masterpost

[sigmaleph]

I am a little curious how it'd work out if you made it impossible for the original creator to transfer their copyright to someone else and the only option is licensing, but my guess is it just makes the problems with multi-person efforts prohibitive?

like, if the writer owns the rights to the writing and the artist owns the rights to the pictures they can license them to the publisher, sure, and presumably they signed contracts ahead of time saying they do. and the comic book is a separate work, but who owns that? Not a corporation, corporations can only own intellectual property to the extent the creators, which must be human beings, transfer those rights, and we've established that's not a thing the law would support. Maybe the editor who puts everything together ends up the owner? In any case it's ultimately some specific human being, which means if you infringe on the copyright on the comic book it has to be that specific human being who sues you for it, and sure if they're still working for the company they'd be able to use their legal resources to do that. but if they quit, retire, get fired, die, whatever, then coordination to sue gets much dicier or impossible.

plus of course a competitor who wanted to get a license need only negotiate with the specific human being that owns the rights, not with the corporation.

it'd be an interesting legal regime, but i'm pretty sure it'd make it much harder to profit from creative works that are collaborative efforts between multiple people, and therefore also limit the availability of jobs hiring for that. much like abolishing copyright entirely would.

idk, maybe you can tinker with it to fix those problems, but my expectation is that the possible outcomes are a) you end up with wherever we are now with all the same problems, except with a much more complicated set of legal theories why or b) you end up with corporation's rights so weakened, and creative works so much harder to profit off, that they produce much less creative work and thus hire much fewer people for it, which is not really a win for creative workers. maybe you can thread that needle though.

not gonna reblog that post but like. if your problem with copyright law is 'corporations can pay artists to own their art and then forbid them from using it' then you should perhaps spend five seconds considering why artists are taking that deal and whether that deal not being on the table would be a better or worse situation for them

[peculiardollart]

POV: You are Jin Guangshan, and it turns out your eldest son is a lot more like you than you ever gave him credit for.

... You should have listened when he asked you to be nicer to his brother.

[kaialone]

[kandicon]

On the assumption that any lost body parts of the mechs still exist after removal and don't, like, disintegrate or something:

Note: since the fictions talk about all brains being rounded up and put to work no matter how small or unusable, this poll does not require that the mechs had to have their brains harvested as a whole for a brain to be counted (aka brains collected by a death from head explosion, for example, still count).

The Toy Soldier and Drumbot Brian are not included for obvious reasons, but the idea of ferrymen looking really hard to try and find their brains after they "die" and being confused is very funny to me.

[starrycat123-blog]

tbh I'd get it if it was. This is kinda long so I'm putting it under a read more.

Sonic is shown here to have the metal disease, which infects people through contact, and he's sitting on top of her chair with his shoes dangling just a bit above her head. I'd be uncomfortable just with a person sitting there not infected. maybe I'd make an exception if we were close friends and I felt really secure in my chair's ability to hold them up but I don't think either of those things are happening here. like they're not close and ig sonic probably has really good balance and the chair probably won't break but he's really sitting at the very tippy top of it. I would for sure be worried he'd fall, and that's even without the disease.

And the disease is very much a thing and he might fall ON ME. Which, like. I'll literally die if this guy fell on me and he's right precariously above me??? What do you MEAN my personal space is being invaded by a person who will kill me if we accidentally touch in any way for even a fraction of a second and it's entirely possible that such a thing might happen. and I'm just supposed to put up with it?? Like yeah they're trying to fix things and so much of the world is already infected that they're all kinda screwed unless they succeed in curing the disease but I'd still be pretty unhappy about it.

And to make it even worse, this guy who is in my space and who might kill me is the literal savior of the world and he's kinda my boss or at least his friends are (I won't claim to remember what's up with the restoration's politics at this point in time). Like he's widely beloved and famous and going through a hard time right now bc the world's ending and everyone is suffering. This guy is terminally ill and recently watched a bunch of his friends get hurt and they're sorta dead and they might die for good and he might too. As uncomfortable and scary as it is to have him there, how on earth could I ever ask this guy to move? Worse than that, me talking to him might startle him and make him fall on me. Getting up to move would shift the weight balance of the chair, which could also result in him unintentionally killing me. And anyway I still have a job to do. Not doing my job might mean everyone dies and the world ends. But also I definitely can't focus on bc there's a person sitting above me very close to me who might kill me if the chair shifts at all on accident so really I should try not to move too much or do anything at all really. Just stay still until he goes away. stay still until he goes away. stay still until he goes away. stay still. stay still, stay still, stay still, please leave soon. please leave please please. Please leave please leave please leave please please please please leave please please

Like that'd be utterly terrifying. Super uncomfortable. How do you look the guy in the eye and just start being his friend after that? Even if he did apologize which he probably didn't and like the person above says he probably doesn't remember, I think that'd stick with a person for a while. Maybe he thought nothing of it, and probably anyone you talk to will also think little of it because nothing happened, everyone was so stressed and upset, and obviously everyone loves this guy or feels gratitude toward him so they're inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt, but you were afraid for your life. You were afraid for your life and the guy threatening you didn't care, didn't even notice. And you can't really even complain about it bc he's a celebrity. And the metal virus got cured with his help so he kinda saved your life too. That's so messy, idk if I could ever look him in the eye again, idk if I'd even want to see him on tv. Kinda sucks that Lanolin has to be around him still bc I know I wouldn't want to be.

Like idk I don't hate Sonic for this bc yeah this is horrible and stressful (and also it's fiction so. Lacks that personal impact).

and as far as he sees it (though I doubt he thought about it at all, I think he was just moving the way he normally does without thinking about it) the options are probably just:

1) it's fine and they don't touch and the world gets saved (which to his credit is exactly what happened)

2) they touch but the world gets saved and she's included in that so it doesn't really matter. -> also to build off this, it's probably ok that they're in restoration HQ bc even if he touches her he'll have time to restrain her or get her out or do whatever else is needed to keep everyone else safe and able to keep working on the problem

3) they don't touch but the world ends anyway and eventually someone else touches her and she dies

4) he touches her and she dies but also so does he and everyone else. and so she would've died anyway and it doesn't really matter if it happened a little sooner rather than later.

He also knows his physical ability better than she does, and probably figures he's fast enough to handle it even if she moves and his balance on the chair is thrown off.

Although if I was her I'd be worried in this particular case bc he's sick and might be thrown off his rhythm bc of that so even if I was friends with him and normally trusted him to sit up there I still don't think I'd be okay with him being there in this situation.

Idk it's fictional so. Anyway have a good day y'all

Imagine if this was why Lanolin really hates Sonic so much.

[rhyme-draws-stuff]

the godess selene!

(tumblr please don't make this blurry ;-;)

[shigarakins]

excerpts from interviews horikoshi has given in 2018.

[X] [X]

these aren't the only interviews where he has talked about this, but i don't want to dig up every single instance of him adressing the idea of "everyone has their own unique definition of what a hero/heroism is"' because he was basically just saying the same thing over and over again over the course of the past few years. i think he even brought it up in one of his more recent interviews, but even if he hadn't, i see no reason to believe that he changed his mind at some point after 2018.

i mostly just think it's interesting in how it relates to tomura and tomura's character arc. basically, if your goal is to explore all the different shapes and forms a "hero" can take, you'd naturally ask yourself the question: "can a villain be a hero? and what would that look like?" where tomura is the answer to both of these questions. his brand of heroism is defined by wanting to be a hero for the villains (as a villain) and by destroying for their sake in order to create a future where they can live how they see fit. but that ultimately means that he couldn't ever stop being a villain or abandon his goal of destruction in the literal and most extreme definition of the word since that would have changed his idea of heroism too much in order to turn it into something more "acceptable", when the whole idea seems to be that even tomura's brand of heroism is valid, and that even a villain who is and wants to be a hero for other villains can and has the right to exist. any attempt at "redeeming" tomura or getting him to re-join society on the heroes' terms or re-define what it means to "destroy" or perhaps even abandon that goal entirely would have sort of defeated the point because it would have been akin to "converting" him, and basically forcing him back into a box (essentially saying that, in order to be a hero, he can only have "this type of existence").

but since this is bnha (where, when neither of two parties wants to give up, someone has to die, even a teenage girl's slate cannot, ever, "be wiped clean," nothing can change the fact that people "still became murderers" who cannot be forgiven, etc.), and jail just isn't that dramatic/emotionally moving/exciting of a conclusion, if he was never supposed to stop being a villain, if, in fact, him being a villain (in spite of afo, not because of him) was the entire point of his character, and fighting to "destroy until the bitter end" was the culimination of his character arc, then there was never any other outcome for him but death.

[wereh0gz]

[burning2know]

i made the mistake of looking up Temu on tumblr