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horce-divorce · 2 years

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I keep flirting w the idea of resin and going back to "I wanna make dice" but no. just. no no no. I do want to make dice but It's not happening. Every time I start to think about it again I see some humbling shit about microplastics and suddenly desperately want to repent my sins and never touch plastic again.

I will use the rest of the resin jugs I have now and then I Might sometimes use UV resin as an accent on other artwork, or occasionally cast specific pieces. but I'm retiring the whole idea of Being A Resin Artist. It's cool and fun and I can't fucking keep doing it.

anytime I have to throw away something that didn't turn out, any time I have to use the Dremel or sand down the edges of a new piece, it makes me absolutely sick to my soul what I'm doing. Like I actually honest to god cannot live with myself as a fucking plastics manufacturer. I can't do it. I live on the shores of Lake Michigan and every time I rinse off a sanded down piece of resin im literally dumping plastic directly into that lake. That's disgusting. That goes against everything I've ever fucking believed since I was a tiny little child.

I still can't bring myself to call art resin "evil" on par with industrial plastics manufacturers, but every day I look at how many things around me are already made of plastic and aren't broken down yet- packaging. the handles on brushes. the handles on drawers. phone cases. shoes, tires, clothing- and I think about how much microplastic is already in our fucking bodies, and in the bodies of newborn babies, and in the bodies of fish in the sea, and in the rain. and then I think about how much more is out there waiting to break down, and I wonder, is the plastic in the ecosystem now just the tip of the iceberg? Even if we stopped using plastic globally tomorrow, how much more is still out there, in storage, unused in the basements and closets of our homes-- or currently in use!!-- patiently waiting to turn into microplastics hundreds of years down the line?

and then I look at the shit I'm making with resin and sure it's cool. it's very nice stuff. but absolutely none of it was fucking worth contributing to that. None of it. Not for a moment.

Yes, there are certain types of art you can only make with resin. It has a really cool effect on anything you put into it. It's super useful as a sealant. And for some things, plastic is the ONLY substance we can use for that item. Some things NEED that kind of packaging- notably medical supplies- but there's plenty of certain artwork you couldn't make without plastic, too. I hate the idea of a world without sopopomo's resin sculptures. Like, this is some of the coolest shit known to man, LOOK AT IT??? Im also a fan of those big log-resin tables, and like, those surf boards like rusted indigo does. I wouldn't dream of asking artists like this to stop using this medium, especially when they've clearly mastered it.

But your choice of material does end up saying something in the end. Thinking about the source of your materials and inspiration is part of the artistic process, but I really don't see any other resin artists talking about this... (Probably bc they stopped being resin artists if they felt this way, ig?) I mean I've seen some talk about the health hazards for YOU, because resin is also a freaky scary substance to fuck up with and it can burn your skin and give you lung issues and shit, in addition to being THE most harshly unforgiving art medium I've ever encountered.

But it kinda makes me feel insane? To be the only one wondering about this? Like the art you can make with resin is so beautiful, but it comes at SUCH a steep and ugly cost- and not just to your own health but to the environment and people and animals directly around you (you really need to have proper ventilation and full PPE to work with resin. and even cured resin, though nontoxic, can hurt you. Ever gotten a paper cut from freshly-cast plastic? It fucking SUCKS).

And it's so contradictory to me?? bc so many resin artists market themselves as like these witchy, down to earth, inspired-by-nature type of people, who are selling art to the same crowd. Myself included! There is enormous irony in saying "I love nature :)" and then encasing it in a vacuum sealed toxic plastic tomb. This was not lost on me personally, but I seem to be the only one who wants to like. Talk about it. Or address it as part of my artists statement, even. I feel crazy for it!!!! :/ I'm literally not even saying we should stop using resin as an art medium. I am licherally about to go pour some lmfao. I'm just asking like. What does it say about you as an artist-- what statement are you making with your art-- if that contradiction itself is the very approach? I don't know. I don't have an answer to that question and personally that makes me wanna back off, that's all I'm saying.

Like it's not really a moral judgement on other resin artists. I'm not saying all resin artists should want to quit. I know that EVEN COMBINED, all the individual resin artists in the world couldnt produce more trash than Nestle if we tried. this is about me, not about you.

It's just, after my friends supported me SO much in opening my Etsy shop, there's understandably a lot of questions about why I stopped posting/listing shit. it was admittedly going very well.

I just dont feel good about helping Nestle produce more trash lmfao! I don't think they need my help!

Cus again, who's paying the true cost at the end of the day? It's not just the monetary cost of the resin. If we're paying for Nestles & cos pollution, who's paying for mine? My lungs? My family's lungs? My cats, if they were to ever be exposed or get hurt on resin scraps? The wild animals and plants of this place I claim to love so much, who are just swallowing my garbage whole??

Like nobody else has to consider that if they don't want to. But that stuff matters to me. And it's worth so much more to me than a bunch of plastic keychains and shit that won't even sell for enough to buy me a week's worth of groceries.

Cus I see all the trash *I* manage to produce, as just one guy. then I think about, what about all the unused, unsecured resin in the world from people who didn't research proper disposal? From corporate manufactures who didn't care about regulations? What about all the uncured liquid components that never got disposed of properly! What about when wildlife inevitably gets into all that shit someday?

I walk along the beach and I pick up discarded scraps of plastic and broken beach toys in my spare time. and these days I think, "in 50 to 100 years this is exactly where all my lovingly crafted hard work will end up. with someone just like me picking up the pieces of trash on the beach." that's actually why I called my Etsy shop Rats Trash Stash. It was cheeky, and more about my skill level with resin than anything else, but the more I thought about it, the more it was eerily on the nose.

so anyway. y'all aren't my Instagram followers so you don't even know what I'm talking about and this means nothing to you lmfao... but it kinda sucks that resin as an art form kind of only became so widely available in the same breath as "we need to drastically reduce our plastics consumption."

Maybe in a world where every single thing isn't manufactured in the cheapest most toxic possible way, maybe in a world where corporations were forced to take responsibility for their garbage- maybe in that world, plastic has a small enough impact overall that it wouldn't tear me up like this to do resin art. but we don't live there. and I can't keep doing this shit, I'm literally losing sleep over it.

Anyway I'm writing all this bc in order to finish using said resin I have to go pour some. And it's just turned into this whole Thing now every time I get an idea I wanna pour, I have a whole ethical dilemma to work thru first before I can bring myself to mix a batch. So this is me attempting psyching myself up to go do that lmfao. 💀 I have a journal to finish.

But on that note, Ive actually super enjoyed making the journals and it's inspired me to get back into papermaking and bookbinding, so I think maybe I'll keep doing journals even after I put away the resin for good. We'll see. I dislike the idea of giving up resin tbh but the alternative seems much much worse.

#me

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lostinthewiind · 3 years

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Piss Off Your Parents - Part 3

Ukai Keishin - Haikyuu

Synopsis: freshly turned 18, you want to prove to your parents that you aren’t a child for them to push around anymore. First, get a job at the local corner store. Second, use the store owner’s 26-year-old son with piercings and a cigarette addiction to piss your parents off. Third, accidentally fall in love.

Rating: PG

Warnings: none

Song → 18 by Anarbor

Previous →Part 2

Next →Part 4

Never before had you dreaded something more than you dreaded arriving for work the morning following your incident with Keishin. More than anything, you hoped he was thoroughly pissed at you and had left for work early that day so that the two of you wouldn’t have to see each other, but much to your displeasure and horror, when you stepped into the store that morning, he was sitting at the front counter, waiting for you.

How was he not pissed at you after what you had said to him?

When the sound of the front doors sliding open filled the otherwise silent building, leaving the keys in your hand useless as Keishin had already unlocked the store, you gripped the keys tightly and swallowed hard when he looked up at you. He didn’t say anything at first, maybe because he was waiting to see if you would make the first move, but after last night you were done making first moves when it came to him.

Averting his gaze and dropping your head low, you shoved the keys back into your pocket and headed for the back room to put your stuff away and get this day over with.

Just as you were about to open the door to the back room, Keishin cleared his throat and you stopped in your tracks, head turning to look at him without thinking about it.

“Good morning, Y/N.” This was the very first time he had greeted you first, and on top of that, the very first time he had ever used your name.

You weren’t sure how to respond, confusion and excitement mixing in your body to create an overwhelming concoction. “Good morning,” you mumbled in response before disappearing into the back before he could do anything else out of the ordinary, like God forbid initiate a conversation or something.

You took your sweet time getting ready, delaying heading out to the front of the store as long as possible to give Keishin ample time to leave. After about fifteen minutes or so, you emerged only to find him sitting right where he had been before, newspaper sprawled on the counter and a cup of coffee in his hand.

“Shouldn’t you have left by now?” The questioned slipped past your lips before you even had the chance to filter it through your head.

Eyes wide, Keishin was surprised that you had spoken to him almost as much as you were. “We’re expecting a big delivery today, so I’m sticking around,” he answered. “You’ve never handled one by yourself so my mom asked me to show you how it’s done.”

Your heart sank, your stomach twisted, your knees felt weak. So he was going to be here with you all day long? “Perfect,” you groaned, not even bothering to hide the sarcasm in your tone. “That’s just awesome. Great.”

“Listen, it’s not my idea of an ideal day either, but it is what it is,” he said. “So why don’t we just put last night behind us, chalk it up to exhaustion and the influence of alcohol on my part, and move forward?”

You quirked an eyebrow at him, the fact that you couldn’t seem to figure him out thoroughly starting to irritate you. “How are you not angry at me?” you questioned him. “I was . . . horrible last night.”

You had spent the entire night after getting home thinking about the horrendous way you had behaved. The things you had done and said made you feel awful and you couldn’t understand how Keishin wasn’t on the brink of smacking the shit out of you right now.

“It’s fine.” He flashed a smile, trying his best to prove that he wasn’t dwelling on the past. “I’m a big boy. I can take it.”

Looking around to double check that the two of you were the only ones in the store, you lowered your voice before speaking. “But I put my hands on you. You can really just forget that?” Heat swelled in your cheeks as you recalled the less horrible events that had taken place.

“I touched you too,” he reminded you.

“Yeah, but yours was an accident.” You weren’t sure why you were saying all of this stuff; it was almost like you wanted him to be angry at you. Who knows, maybe you did. “I called you a burnout.”

Keishin let out a booming laugh at that. “Take a good long look at me, kid.” He smirked, gesturing to himself. “You really think I’ve never been called worse?”

“I don’t think that’s the point,” you breathed out.

Keishin opened his mouth to speak, but before he let a word out, he changed his mind and pressed his lips together. In the meantime, he watched you, the cogs in his head obviously working hard. “You’re an odd one, you know that?” He stood up, walked over to you, and set a hand on your shoulder. “I said it’s fine, so just forget about it, okay?”

“Okay.” You nodded, finally giving in.

“Good. Now, get to work, because this place isn’t going to run itself and I’m only here to help with the delivery, so until then, I’ll be napping on the couch in the back. Wake me up when the truck gets here.”

Before you had a chance to respond, Keishin gave you a pat on the head and disappeared into the back room without another word.

You stood in place for a moment, unsure if the fact that he had forgiven you so easily was a relief or not. You didn’t allow yourself to worry too long about that though, because, like Keishin had said, you had work to do and the store wasn’t going to run itself. And, if your memory served you correctly, you had some sweeping to do in the back corner.

For about two hours, you fell back into your normal workday routine, completely forgetting about the events of the previous night or the fact that Keishin was napping in the back. That was, until you saw the delivery truck pull up in front of the store and remembered you had been given the task of waking the sleeping man.

Heading into the back, you moved slowly and quietly even though it didn’t matter if you woke Keishin since that was what you were supposed to do anyway.

“Keishin,” you spoke softly, not wanting to startle him. “The delivery truck is here.”

Of course, he didn’t even budge at that. Nervously, you stepped closer to the couch, unable to ignore the fact that Keishin looked completely different when he was asleep. The usual frown or cocky grin he sported was nowhere to be seen and he didn’t seem as intimidating when his eyes were closed and his breathing was so slow and rhythmic.

“Keishin.” You reached out and placed your hand on his shoulder like he had done to you earlier and shook him slightly. Still nothing. Rolling your eyes, you were unsure what to try next aside from shouting right in his face. If only he had warned you he was a heavy sleeper.

Deciding to try one last thing before you resorting to screeching, you leaned closer to his ear, planted your hand on his chest—a brief memory of how you had touched him last night flashing in your mind—and shook him once more while you spoke. “Keishin, the delivery truck is here,” you said, not whispering but also not being too loud.

Thankfully, the mixture of shaking him and speaking directly into his ear seemed to finally do the trick and his eyes shot open. Immediately, you jumped back, not wanting him to be weirded out by how close you were to him.

Eyes travelling up to meet yours, Keishin yawned and stretched his arms over his head. “Truck’s here?” he clarified.

“Yeah, it just arrived,” you told him, waiting for him to get up. “You should have told me you were a heavy sleeper. I was about to scream or pour water over you or something.”

Keishin cringed at the thought of that. “Well, thank goodness you didn’t. Next time, just pinch my nose or tickle me or something . . . anything but water.”

“Next time?” you asked. “You plan on taking naps on the couch often?”

“It’s my favourite place to nap. You should try it sometime,” he said before heading for the door. “Come on, let’s get this delivery over with. Try to learn fast so I don’t have to teach you again.”

“I’ll try my best.”

As you had pretty much expected, the delivery had been pretty straight forward. After helping the delivery man unload all of the boxes into the storage room and signing off on the delivery, the most time-consuming and complex part of the process was taking an inventory of the new supplies, which you picked up on pretty quickly.

Keishin showed you how to mark down the new delivery on the clipboard kept in the storage room and where to input the total count for each item. From there, all you had to do was make sure you had received everything and had the correct number ordered.

“Pretty easy, right?” He glanced at you out the corner of his eye as the two of you worked together at counting the inventory, keeping an ear open for customers in the process.

“Yeah, it doesn’t seem hard. Just time consuming,” you agreed.

“Exactly. We usually get a big delivery like this about once a month, then smaller deliveries throughout the week for more perishable items, as you already know.”

You nodded, quickly becoming lost in the repetitive task of counting and writing down the amount on the clipboard. Weirdly enough, you found that you didn’t actually hate taking inventory; the simple task was actually kind of calming and passed the time effortlessly.

“50,” you muttered under your breath, jotting down the number in the correct box right after you finished counting. When you turned back to start on the next box, you caught Keishin looking in your direction. “What?” You furrowed your brows at him. “Am I doing something wrong?”

“No, no.” He shook his head. “I was just thinking.”

“About?”

“You,” he responded, quickly elaborating when you shot him a confused look. “Well, more specifically, why you took this job.”

You shrugged as you continued working. “I already told you. I need the money.”

“Right, so you can move out on your own. But why?”

Your hands stopped grabbing items and your mind stopped counting, making you lose track. “Because I’ve been waiting for as long as I can remember to live my own life and now that I have the opportunity, I’m not going to pass it up.”

“But wouldn’t you much rather be going to school? Surely you don’t want to work in a place like this for the rest of your life.”

You sighed heavily. “You ask a lot of questions, you know that?”

“I’m just curious,” Keishin said. “I want to understand you better.”

“I don’t think you could truly understand unless you experienced the childhood that I did.”

Stopping his work as well, Keishin leaned against the shelf and crossed his arms over his chest. “Try me.”

Rolling your eyes, you accepted the fact that he wasn’t going to give up. “First thing’s first, I’m not saying my childhood was tragic or anything. My parents didn’t beat me. They fed me and clothed me and everything a parent should.” You started, waiting for him to nod before continuing. “I was just never allowed to live my own life or make my own decisions. I ate what my parents wanted me to eat, I wore what they wanted me to wear. I took the classes they wanted me to, I was friends with who they thought would make a good friend. They went overboard on trying to get me to do what they thought was best for me. I was never old enough or mature enough to know what I really wanted. I lived in a controlling dictatorship.”

“What about soccer?” Keishin asked, proving that he had actually remembered the conversation the two of you had had on your first day at the store. “You told me you used to play.”

You smiled fondly at the thought of your high school soccer team. “That was the only thing I ever got to pick for myself . . . and it took months of convincing, and in the end, I was only allowed to continue because I was good at it. The fact that I genuinely enjoyed it never came into account for my parents.” Your smiled faded slightly. “Sometimes they even managed to drain the fun from that as well, but I refused to let them ruin it for me because it was the only thing I had that was mine.”

“Do you miss it?”

“Every day . . . but this is more important right now.”

Keishin was silent for a few moments while he processed everything you had said. “Sounds like everything needed to have a purpose.”

“Pretty much. If something had no chance of providing success in the future, it was a waste of time.”

“So the plan is to work so you can afford your own place, then go to school next year? How are you going to afford school?”

“Well, if I had followed my parents plan for me and started working toward a law degree, they would have paid for it. But since I’ve decided to do my own thing now, I’m just lucky they haven’t kicked me out of the house yet . . . so I guess I’ll have to get a scholarship or apply for student loans. I’ll basically be scraping by, so I’ve applied for a bunch of community colleges and I’ll go from there I guess.”

Fishing a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, Keishin lit one before sticking it between his lips. “What do you want to do?”

You laughed slightly at that. “I have no idea. I was never allowed to have hobbies or interests, so I don’t even know what I like. I just know what I don’t like. If I could do anything though, I’d apply for the University of Tokyo. They have a great soccer program. I just want to play soccer again.”

Keishin smiled. “Just soccer?”

“For now, yeah. I’ve learned that I’ll have to take life step by step, so that’s the first major goal. I’ll probably take some first year classes and see what I like and go from there. I think it’s okay to not have a set-in-stone plan sometimes . . . after all, this is the first time in my life I’ve never had my future planned out for me. It’s kind of exciting . . . scary, too, but exciting.”

Keishin sighed contently as he watched your eyes light up when you talked about the things you wanted to do in the future. “Can I ask you something?”

You nodded. “Sure.”

“So what was the point of what happened last night?” he inquired. “And, while we’re at it, the past few weeks as well. How do I fit into this grand plan of yours?”

You felt your heart pound against your chest. “I thought we were forgetting about last night?”

“We are,” he assured you. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. I’m just curious, is all.”

You thought for a moment, unsure how to phrase exactly how you were feeling. At first, you were inclined to take him up on his offer to not answer, but after how nice he had been to you today, you felt you owed him at least that.

“Originally, I was in a pretty messed-up head space and I wanted to use you to get back at my parents,” you told him truthfully, “. . . but after last night, I did some serious thinking and realized that wasn’t the case. What I really want is to prove to my parents that not everything that is different or ‘not according to plan’ is bad. You have an . . . alternative look about you,” you tried to phrase that as respectfully as possible, causing Keishin to chuckle, “but you’re not a bad person or, despite my harsh words last night, a burnout. You coach volleyball for high school kids and you help out at your family’s store and even though I’ve been pretty horrible to you, you’ve been nothing but nice to me.”

You paused, unsure if you should say the last part or not. “I don’t know, I just think that maybe if they met you, they might realize that I’m capable of making good choices for myself even if it doesn’t fit their predetermined mold of my life.”

“You think I’m a good choice?” he asked, taken aback by your honesty.

“Yeah.” You eyed him while he took a drag from his cigarette and let the smoke spill from his lips. “Maybe not the nicotine addiction part, but hey, no one’s perfect.”

Keishin chuckled before putting his smoke out. “Okay, I’ve got a deal for you.”

You cocked a brow at him. “What?”

“If I pretend to be your boyfriend and help you fix things with your parents, you have to apply to the University of Tokyo and follow your dream of playing soccer.”

You were thoroughly perplexed. “Both conditions of that deal only really benefit me. What do you get out of it?”

He just shrugged. “Nothing.”

You scoffed. “Well, as generous and sketchy as that sounds, there is no way I would be able to afford the University of Tokyo on my own and I don’t think any amount of ass-kissing could make my parents agree to pay for me to go there to play soccer and figure life out.”

“Hey, one step at a time, right?” He used your own words against you.

You contemplated his offer for a moment. “You’re really okay with that? Even though you get nothing but more work out of it?”

“I suggested it, didn’t I?”

You couldn’t help the smile that spread across your face. “You’d really pretend to be my boyfriend? Even though I’m just some rebellious kid?”

“Your opinion of me changed,” he pointed out. “Why can’t my opinion of you change too?”

“Fair enough,” you conceded. “Well, if you’re absolutely positive you won’t regret it when you wake up tomorrow morning, I’ll happily accept your deal. Thank you.”

Keishin turned back to the stack of boxes and promptly returned to the task at hand. “You’re welcome.”

You watched him work and quietly hum to himself while he did so. This time, it was his turn to catch you staring. “What?” he looked over at you.

“I just didn’t peg you for such a softy is all,” you joked.

“Yeah, yeah,” he scoffed at you. “Just don’t fall in love with me or anything, kid.”

You smirked. “Whatever you say, old man.”

#haikyuu #haikyuu!!#ukai keishin #ukai keishin x reader #ukai #lostinthewiind #piss off your parents #x reader #reader insert #reader imagine #song fic #part 3 #haikyuu smut #series

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buckysswinter · 3 years

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blank space- two

18+ minors dni

warnings: reader being sad, age gap (reader is 22, bucky is 41)

not edited or beta’d- do not repost

dbf!bucky x f!reader

i had the shiniest wheels, now they're rusting

y/n woke up fifteen minutes before her alarm, the feeling she had last night still hadn't dissipated within her. throwing her blanket off of her body, feet touching the cold hardwood floors; she hissed at the feeling. she made her way to the kitchen, she sat down on the rickety chair, she'd have to fix that. her laptop laying on the table, she typed her password the anticipation to check her emails, she had applied for internships and jobs.

please please please have someone get back to her.

y/n had curated each cover letter differently, her resume was outstanding. she had worked for this moment since freshman year, all her hardships and sacrifices would finally pay off. the decisions of staying in and finishing a paper rather than partying and getting shit faced, steering away from boys that wanted to take her out on dates because she deemed them as distractions; all of this would finally pay off. as she opened her email, there was nothing there- she had gotten desperate and refreshed the page, even going far as checking her spam or junk mail.

it was empty- she wasn't good enough, no job offers, no internships opportunities. she had been a great student, pouring everything she had in everything she had done. and all this was a slap to the face- she hadn't done enough.

tears fell on her cheek, heart aching and suddenly her mood soured. this was a bad day to start her day.

maybe she should go back home- finish her lease that ends in a month and move back home.

y/n's problem was she had a bigger idea of herself more than anyone in her life, she always wanted to outdo herself. she felt like she needed to do more even though she was doing more than enough. she was well aware of this problem but she couldn't help it. what she hated more than not being enough was not living up to people's expectations.

her hands were soon trembling, why couldn't she be good enough? she wanted, no needed to understand as to why.

she grabbed her phone, dialing her dad.

-'hi dad, uhm about your offer. can i move back home for a while?' she knew that no matter what she was going through her parents would be there for her.

-'of course darling, do you need help packing your things? you need help renting a storage locker?' her dad knew her well- he had help her get out of her head many times.

-'thanks dad, i should be fine. see you at the end of the month' she had no choice but to do this.

the heavy feeling in her chest settled once again, her heart tightening from the pain she felt.

if you were good enough then you would have gotten offers.

she was in her head once again, nothing, nor no one could pull her out of her own thoughts. she walked back to her bedroom, wrapping herself in her comforter. hot tears ran down her cheeks, eyelids heavy.

she had fallen asleep without knowing, y/n woke up groggy. her eyes swollen, her nose was red from crying.

she stood up from her bed, warmth leaving her body. she looked around her beloved apartment, and she sighed.

how was she supposed to just pack her life away and move back home? is there room in her old household for her plants?

y/n's thoughts kept pestering her mind as she took suitcases and boxes out and started packing her things. she sorted them into piles of trash, donation and stuff to keep.

the items she held felt heavy on her hands, all these connected to a certain memory she had. tears were running down her face again.

god she needed to stop crying, this was pathetic for her to do.

she leaned back on the wall, cherishing her apartment.

taglist: @turbolisedcomet @tharros-auris-black-asimi @extremelyblackandwhite @bucky-barnes-diaries @ally-18989

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immortalcoelacanth · 4 years

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Between the Walls, Chapter 4: Cheating the System (Dream SMP fic)

God dammit I forgot to post this before I passed out, so it’s a rare super late/early post from me XD

Word count: 5826

Summary: In which Tommy learns about many things. The purpose of the mob farm, what gunpowder is, and that Techno has a horse named Carl.

Over the course of the next couple days, Tommy learned several things. He learned that Techno’s favourite vegetable was a potato, something about it tasting like victory and being easy to grow. He learned that the upper floor of the house, the only space he had been unable to reach since digging upward tunnels was a bitch, housed not only Techno’s bed but a bell as well. Honestly, he was more surprised about the hybrid having a bed than anything else since he rarely seemed to sleep.

He also learned what the true purpose of the mob farm was.

The borrower had been looking out one of the many windows, still a bit anxious about being out in the open but ultimately adapting quite well to his new environment, when he spotted Techno outside. Nothing about this really interested him, he occasionally watched the hybrid gather resources nearby or take trips to the village to trade, but what caught his attention was the fact that Techno was going to the mob farm this time.

Now curious, he leaned against the window and watched as Techno brushed some freshly fallen snow off the ground, revealing a previously hidden trapdoor.

Seeing an opportunity to both mildly annoy Techno and figure out what was up with that random trap door, he quickly ducked into the nearby passage and made his way down to the ground. From there, he shimmied out of the entrance he had made in the wooden framework of the house, winding up on the stone stairs.

Entrances and exits to the house were always the first thing borrowers made. Escape routes were important and all, and he doubted the hybrid had noticed the practically invisible entrance, consisting of nothing other than a sheet of wood that could be moved back and forth.

It was a sliding door, Tubbo called it. He had picked up the design during a conversation with some other borrowers and shared it with Tommy once he got home. They had, naturally, tried it out and built their own special, hidden sliding door and used the space behind it as a sort of secret storage.

Hopefully it was still hidden, protecting the treasures they had gathered over the years. The sparkling red dust that Tubbo liked to mess with, the worn bee plushie, the old jukebox Tubbo had managed to fix up, and the discs they would listen to late at night.

Cat and Mellohi.

He skidded to a halt once he reached the railing, nearly falling off in the process, and quickly cupped his hands around his mouth.

“HEY TECHNOOOOOOO!” Tommy shouted at the top of his lungs. “BIG MAN! WHAT’RE YOU UP TO?!”

While the hybrid didn’t show any signs of being surprised, something that the borrower was just the slightest bit disappointed about, he did see those large, pointed ears twitch before Techno turned to face him. He waved both of his arms, bouncing up and down, and he watched as Techno reluctantly made his way over.

“So, what’s up with those trapdoors?” He immediately asked, leaning forward and peering around the hybrid as he tried to catch another glimpse of the aforementioned trapdoors. “Got some secret room full of women you’ve been hidin’?”

“... I don’t think there are any words in the English language to convey the emotion I just felt, and no.” Techno calmly replied. “It’s for the mob farm. The hoppers and chests.”

“... You keeping frogs down there?” Tommy grinned as he heard the disappointed sigh the hybrid let out in response to his question. He had no clue what a hopper was, but it sounded weird.

“It’d be easier to just show you.” Techno said, choosing to completely ignore the borrower’s question as the last thing he wanted to do was acknowledge it. “C’mere-”

“Wait! Wait! Don’t pick me up! Blade, let me ride on your shoulder!” Tommy exclaimed as he clasped his hands together. “It’ll be cool!”

“Wh-no.” Techno balked at the request. “That is possibly the worst idea I’ve ever heard on so many levels.”

“But I’ll be tall-”

“And that’s even more of an incentive to say no.”

Tommy inhaled and used his backup plan. “Please, please, please, please please, please, please, please-”

His pleading was cut off when Techno reached out and picked him up, yet again without bothering to warn the borrower. He was moments away from shouting, wanting to curse the hybrid for making a habit out of randomly picking him up, but the sudden drop onto Techno’s shoulder cut him off.

Immediately, he found himself surrounded by the fluffy trim of the cape and he impulsively ran a hand through the surprisingly soft material. It was warm, very warm, due to both the body heat the hybrid was giving off as well as the natural insulation provided by the cape. He glanced upwards, noticing the large, pointed ear above him, and a mischievous grin crossed his face.

The borrower quickly inhaled and, without warning, blew a quick puff of air up towards Techno’s ear. He was immediately rewarded with a full body shudder from the hybrid as his ear twitched wildly. That evil look appeared once more, and he quickly inhaled-

Just in time to be met with a sharp flick on his forehead. It was Techno’s retaliation, and he let out a loud yelp before massaging the aching spot.

“What the fuck was that for?!”

“You acting like a gremlin.” The hybrid replied while staring at the borrower out of the corner of his eye. Tommy nervously swallowed. “And don’t do that again.”

“R-Right! Got it, big man!”

With that boundary drawn, Techno made his way back over to the trapdoors. He ignored the surprised shout that came from Tommy as he started moving as well as the uncomfortable memories that roiled in his mind. Moments of people whispering as he passed, pointing at him.

At his ears.

Looks of disgust and distrust, as though he were some kind of freak walking through the streets. The insults and jeers that filled his childhood, eventually turning to words of praise and awe-

He suppressed the shudder and pushed down the images that plagued his mind of a time that had long since passed. There was no point dwelling on such things, remembering them, and in an attempt to distract himself, he opened the trapdoors and jumped down.

Whatever Tommy was expecting when the duo descended into the room connected to the mob farm, it certainly wasn’t this.

He could see the faint glow coming from those weird blocks, something he still needed to ask Techno about, lighting up the small space. The room itself was made out of stone, smelling faintly of dirt, and featured some chests that had been placed directly below the glowing blocks. Some strange, metal devices linked the two, and the borrower briefly wondered whether those were the “hoppers” Techno had talked about.

Before he could ask what anything was, or why the hybrid had decided to make the farm in the first place, Techno made his way over to one of the chests, crouched down, and opened it, revealing all the loot that the mob farm had generated while the borrower had been acting as bait.

There were some drops that Tommy was familiar with, the bones and rotten flesh being the main ones. Back in Borrowton, there had been groups who would go out and scavenge what loot they could find after the mobs had burnt up in the bright sunlight. It had been a dangerous job, but the rewards were worth it.

Especially when the occasional chunk of iron was found. He would never be able to forget Tubbo’s excited rambling about what new tools would be made. Fixing old, broken things was his favourite pastime, even more so when he and Tommy got something out of it, and it was one of the main sources of motivation for Tommy to go out and steal things.

Well, that and spite.

Bones had been surprisingly rare with how common skeletons were supposed to be, but he had always supposed that was because of the local wolf population getting to them first. No one wanted to challenge the local wildlife, even if it meant getting vital supplies.

However, the rest of the items left Tommy scratching his head in confusion as he tried to figure out what they were. One looked like some weird, reddish eye. String, or something that resembled string, was also pretty common and he quietly wondered if that was from the occasional spider he had seen. The only other thing he struggled to identify were the random piles of some strange, grey coloured powder.

Interestingly enough, it was these piles of powder that Techno seemed the most interested in, based on the appreciative hum he let out upon seeing how much had been collected.

“It’s gunpowder.” The hybrid replied. After hearing the confused noise the borrower made, he continued speaking. “Creepers drop it.”

“Oh.” Tommy had seen the large, somewhat fuzzy, green mob before. It was always from a distance since they apparently exploded. “So it blows up?”

Techno just grinned in response as he slowly sorted through the loot, gathering as much of the gunpowder as he could and adding it to a bag, making the borrower instinctively shudder. There was just something about that look, the amount of malice he radiated that made him want nothing more than to run, to hide and find somewhere he would be safe.

He hated it, of course, and determinedly shoved the emotions down. He was a big man, and he wouldn’t show any fear! He was stronger than that!

“Bit of a shit explanation, that is.” Tommy huffed. “Just smilin’ like someone who’s scheming. Are you scheming, Blade?”

“Not at all.” The sarcastic drawl clearly indicated otherwise, but the borrower decided not to press any further. He had his own things to worry about and the last thing he wanted was to get caught up in whatever Techno was hinting at.

Prioritize, Tommy had to prioritize. For as much as he unintentionally enjoyed his time with the hybrid, it would be best if he kept his distance as much as possible and only interacted when he really needed to. Less attachment would make it easier to leave.

It was a sound plan.

Too bad Tommy always sucked at following plans.

The next day, he ended up learning that Techno used to have a horse named Carl.

The loud bang that shook the house, walls trembling before going still, was the first indication Tommy had that something bad had happened. The next was the furious, yet short-lived, shouting he heard coming from the front yard. He faintly heard something about a retirement fund?

He didn’t really care about whatever a retirement fund was as most of his attention was focused on whatever could make Techno sound so angry. It was the first time he had ever heard such anger from the hybrid, which was concerning in and of itself, and he hesitantly made his way out towards the shouting. After creeping through his hidden door, he found Techno pacing in the snow, a somewhat crumpled piece of paper held in his hands.

Maybe that was the source of his anger…?

“Uh, Blade?” Tommy hesitantly called out. He cringed as the hybrid whirled around, red eyes shining with rage, and quietly wondered why he always got himself into these stupidly dangerous situations. “You… lookin’ a bit mad there, bruv-”

“They took Carl.”

“Uh, Carl?”

“My horse.” Techno replied, voice strangely monotone after his enraged outburst moments ago. “He’s stuck in some underground maze.”

“... So, when are we breaking him out?”

“We?” The hybrid repeated, anger fading as it was replaced by confusion.

“Well, yeah! You think I can’t help?!”

“... You’re a tiny person-”

“I am a big man with a big brain!” Tommy retorted as he pointed a finger at Techno. “And I’m great at puzzles-”

That was an absolute lie, Tubbo had always been the better out of the two when solving puzzles or riddles. He was far more patient than Tommy.

“Plus they’re probably counting on you being alone and stuff, not having a master puzzle solver with you!”

The hybrid hated to admit it, but in a way Tommy did have a point. Though he doubted the kid was as much of a master at solving puzzles as he claimed, his diminutive size could come in handy, and the sooner he got Carl out of that maze, the better.

“Alright-”

“Yes!” The borrower cheered, eagerly hopping into the offered hand before jumping onto Techno’s shoulder. He quickly made himself comfy, ignoring the exasperated look on Techno’s face, and tapped the side of his neck. “Let’s go!”

“I have to get supplies.”

“... Let’s go after we get supplies!”

Fortunately, preparing for their journey did not take long, and in no time at all, Techno set out and strode into the tundra. As they were leaving, Tommy noticed how some of the stones that made up the front porch were cracked. He could see the point of impact and how the damage spread outwards.

Had… had Techno punched it?

It took all of his strength to suppress his laughter, and even then he caught a glimpse of the hybrid staring at him in confusion before shaking his head. Nope, Techno was not going to ask about what that laughter was about. He had more important things to focus on at the moment, like getting to wherever the hell this maze was, and ignoring the inane chatter coming from the borrower.

By the time the sun had begun to set, the pair reached their destination.

“So I guess this is where your horse is.” Tommy commented as he stared at the stone entryway leading deep underground. His eyes momentarily lingered on the strange, orange, glowing things in the ground before he looked up at Techno. He couldn’t see much of the hybrid’s face due to his vantage point, but he could easily see how tense his jaw was.

Gritting his teeth as he thought about the best way to solve this maze without losing one of his lives, Carl, or his items.

“Yeah.” He grumbled as he approached the entrance, eyes briefly scanning over the sign that stated only he could enter. A quick hit with his axe split the wooden sign in half, pieces tumbling to the ground as he made his way forward.

“Apparently, if any blocks get broken Carl’s gonna burn to death.” The hybrid explained, descending into the start of the maze. “If it was anything else I’d get someone, probably Skeppy, to do it for me, but I don’t want someone to troll me by breaking a block and killing Carl.”

He then glanced down at Tommy. “And that’s where you come in.”

“... We’re gonna cheat the system?”

“Absolutely.”

“Fuck yeah!” Tommy cheered, throwing his arms up into the air in excitement. “Pog! We’ve gotta rub it in their stupid faces after we get Carl back!”

That got a small smile out of Techno, and he felt his mood lift for the first time since reading that stupid note. The kid could be so damn obnoxious and annoying, but sometimes he was alright.

So, after quickly checking out the nearby chest to see if there was any loot in it and finding nothing, he moved on and investigated the lectern nearby. He picked up the book resting on it, and opened it.

Huh, at least whoever designed this place was nice enough to leave hints.

Techno scanned over the words written in the book as he glanced at the arrows on the wall. “So, they need to be in a specific pattern-”

“I’ve got this.” Tommy scoffed as he cut Techno off. “Just lift me up to one of those frames and I’ll handle the rest.”

Mildly intrigued to see what the borrower had in mind, the hybrid held out a hand for Tommy to jump into. From there, he lifted the kid up to the item frame and watched as he skillfully jammed a tiny knife into the space between the frame and the wall, wiggled it loose, and slipped into the crack.

Suddenly, the arrow on the item frame started turning, rotating in place until Techno heard a click come from it. The borrower stuck his head out of the crack and grinned. “Got it! Take me to the next one!”

This process was repeated with each of the item frames, Tommy prying them open and messing with the redstone behind the wall until the arrow was in the correct position. Hardly any time had passed before the final click sounded and a section of the wall slid open.

Techno grinned. “... So you were a good investment-”

“Fuck yeah!” Tommy smirked while flexing his arms. “Big brain move to invest in these muscles!”

“... I take it back.”

“Hey!”

Progressing deeper into the maze, Techno easily kicking aside the empty lectern that was in his way, he took note of the bed placed in a cramped corner and the sign above it. A warning of death and respawns, and the implications made him snort in amusement.

Him? Die in this stupid maze? Not going to happen when he had Tommy to throw into the dangerous sections. Speaking of which…

“Time for you to do your thing.” He said as he scooped the borrower off his shoulder and placed him on the ground. “Apparently there’s a lot of death up ahead, probably lava. Try not to die.”

“Awwwww, the Blade cares-”

“It’d be a pain in the ass to replace you.”

“... Fucking dick.” Tommy grumbled as he stomped off. “It’d be impossible to replace me, you can’t replace perfection!”

He didn’t bother listening to whatever the hybrid’s response was as, in a mildly unnerving display of attention and focus, he approached the latest challenge he needed to overcome.

Tommy hummed as he investigated the next section of the maze. It certainly looked complicated, with all the pressure plates and strange devices, but there were two things that he quickly noticed that left him grinning. The first was that the pressure plates didn’t really detect him thanks to how small he was, and the other was that not all of the stone blocks were perfectly flush with one another, leaving the occasional gap that was just big enough for him to fit through.

Perfect.

He cracked his knuckles and got to work.

Crawling through the gaps yielded several pieces of information, the main one being that Techno had been correct in his guess that there would be lava. There were tons of spots where it had been used, each dead end filled with the glowing, molten fluid. It was chilling to realize how many times whoever kidnapped Carl wanted Techno to die, and Tommy could not help but wonder why.

Why steal Techno’s horse? Why go through all the trouble?

Something else he noticed was the strange, dark coloured sand with swirls and shapes in it. He had been hesitant to walk in it at first, and when he did he noticed that the sand seemed to stick to his boots, making it hard for him to move at anything other than a snail’s pace. Fortunately, he was able to easily skip these sections and in no time at all, he found himself staring at another lectern.

Fuck yeah!

With a victorious grin on his face, the borrower scampered back through the cracks and gaps in the blocks before finding his way back to Techno.

“You solved it?”

“Of course I did! Big man, I better get a reward for this-”

“Your reward is me not punting you every time you decide to act like a gremlin child.” The hybrid teased as he stepped forward and scooped the sputtering Tommy up. He stepped onto the pressure plate, momentarily disoriented as he was moved around, and then gestured for the borrower to begin guiding him.

Every so often, Tommy would get Techno to pause as he quickly checked to make sure the path they were following was correct before continuing to lead him. He could feel both his pride and ego swelling at his success, even after the teasing from earlier. This maze was easy!

And that thought stayed in his mind for only a couple of seconds before the pair reached the next section. While the borrower did not see the hint, he did catch sight of the smile that crossed Techno’s face once he was done reading it, which made him smile too.

Oh yeah, this next part was gonna be easy as hell-

Or so the borrower thought, until he was blasted in the face by the roaring heat of a room full of lava. The viscous fluid dripped from the ceiling and filled the pit which took up the bottom of the room. Several tiny platforms were suspended above the deadly obstacle, and multiple ladders lined the walls.

“It’s all fucking lava!” Tommy shrieked, voice cracking painfully. “Techno, move!”

“Gimme a sec.” Techno tersely replied as he jumped from the starting platform to the nearest ladder. His concentration was momentarily thrown off as he felt a pair of arms wrap around the side of his neck and a tiny body press itself against him.

It was Tommy, and he was trembling in fear.

Discomfort ran through him, but the hybrid ignored it as he continued to jump from ladder to platform. He carefully dodged the bits of lava that fell from the ceiling and unconsciously raised the shoulder the borrower was on, blocking any potential lava that might land on him.

It was a gesture that only Tommy noticed, his eyes widening in surprise as the protective positioning registered. It was just like back with the librarian. Techno was trying to keep him safe…

Soon enough, Techno’s boots hit stone. This sound snapped Tommy out of his dazed state, and he awkwardly let go of the neck he had been clinging to and looked off to the side.

Don’t say anything, just don’t mention it-

“Welp, hope you don’t mind more lava-”

“THERE’S MORE?!” The borrower wailed as he looked in front of them, taking in the multiple different pathways that were full of lava. “WHY THE FUCK IS THERE MORE?!”

“Bruh, if you’re gonna keep being so loud I’m sticking you in a bottle.”

“Technoblade, you’re subjecting me to this torture again! Wh-what about my emotions?! The trauma?! I’ll never be able to look at anything orange ever again!” Just as Tommy was about to continue his rant, Techno lifted a bottle of some strange, glowing liquid up for him to see.

“It’s a good thing I decided to brew a fire resistance potion, then.”

“... A what?” The borrower blinked in confusion, and the hybrid rolled his eyes before explaining further.

“It’ll make us immune to fire damage for a bit-”

“Immune-why didn’t you use that in the other room then?!”

“I didn’t wanna waste it, duh.”

He ignored the enraged sputtering coming from Tommy and quickly splashed some of the potion on the kid, getting a loud curse in response, before dousing himself with the rest of it. After quickly checking to make sure the fire resistance was actually working on the borrower, a quiet sigh of relief escaping him when he saw those signature orange swirls, he then glanced at the hint book.

He who fails, may lose, but maybe not again…

Again…?

“Two, maybe?” Techno mumbled to himself as he approached the second opening. He both felt and heard Tommy start to panic, listened to the anxious mumbles and felt the nervous shifting on his shoulder, and decided it was best to get this part over and done with.

Without warning the borrower, he quickly lunged into the lava, pushed through it, and found himself in a stream of water. He was immediately met with more shouting courtesy of Tommy.

“What the fuck, man?! Why the fuck would you do that without warning me?!”

“So I didn’t have to listen to your yelling…” Techno started to say, but his voice trailed off as he looked down the next passage and noticed something moving in the distance.

Something horse shaped and wearing diamond armor.

“CARL!”

He immediately raced off, passing the two rooms that had clearly been left open on accident in his haste to get to his horse. Tommy was nearly knocked off his shoulder, but just barely managed to hold on thanks to the fur trim behind him.

“How about a bit of warning, next time?!” The borrower shouted, ultimately being ignored as Techno chose to focus on showering Carl with love and affection instead. He whispered gently to the horse, brushing a hand through Carl’s mane and promising that they would be home soon, that everything would be alright.

Tommy pretended to gag. “Can’t believe you’re going soft, Blade, and over a horse too.”

“I’ll have you know that Carl is the best horse in the world, and deserves nothing less than perfection.” Techno proudly stated. He looked so happy, definitely the happiest Tommy had ever seen him, and it was so…

Weird.

Rather than continue to tease the hybrid further, the borrower just let out a loud, exasperated sigh, arms dropping to his sides. “Well you better finish up your reunion so we can get outta here!”

Unfortunately for Tommy, it was this outburst that caught the horse’s attention. Carl let out a snort and shifted so his muzzle was pointed at Techno’s shoulder where the borrower was. Tommy winced as he felt a puff of warm air run over him before frantically looking at Techno. “What the fuck do I do?!”

“Relax, Carl’s just saying hello.”

“... So I should say hay back-” The pun was cut off by a quick flick to Tommy’s forehead. As the borrower grumbled as rubbed at the sore spot, Techno offered his own suggestion.

“The last thing you should do is offend Carl, especially with any of your shitty jokes-”

“They’re not shit!”

Carl let out snort of his own at Tommy’s objection, as if disagreeing with the borrower despite only having just met him a couple moments prior, making Techno let out his own laugh.

“I can’t believe I’m being bullied by a bastard and his horse.” Tommy grumbled. He was snapped out of his sour mood when another puff of warm air rolled over him, Carl still clearly intrigued by the tiny being. Feeling both curious and nervous, Tommy hesitantly held a hand out towards the horse.

“Hello there… Carl…”

This was insanity, absolute insanity, and the borrower was certain he was going to die. However, his assumption was immediately disproven when the muzzle of the horse was pressed against his hand.

Unfortunately, the affectionate gesture was a bit too strong for Tommy, nearly knocking him over before Techno reached out to steady him.

“Looks like Carl approves.” The hybrid chuckled, getting a half-hearted glare from the borrower.

“At least he’s got good taste.” Tommy mumbled as he gently patted the horse, starting a bit more comfortable. “Everyone approves of me, I’m fantastic.”

“You keep telling yourself that.”

A couple more moments passed with Carl investigating the strange, tiny new creature before the horse let out a snort and shook his head. One of his hooves pawed at the ground, a clear sign that he was more than ready to leave the cramped space he had been stuck in.

Having saddled up Carl and made sure he was alright for the journey back home, the group emerged out of the dark tunnel into moonlight. Techno let out a quiet, relieved sigh, happy to be out of the cramped maze, while Tommy just slumped against the side of his neck. The duo were exhausted and both wanted nothing more than to pass out.

… But sleep was not the only thing on Tommy’s mind. He kept thinking back to the maze, to the puzzles he had helped the hybrid overcome. He had been helpful, very helpful, and it was likely Carl wouldn’t have been saved if it weren’t for him.

He was important, his help had been important, and he wanted to know if…

If Techno realized that.

He wanted the validation, craved it, and despite how anxious he was everything in him begged him to speak up and voice those words.

Ask him, ask him-

“Techno,” Tommy began, looking up so he could catch a glimpse of the hybrid’s face. “Did… did I do good?”

“No,” He felt his heart shatter hearing that word. Again, again someone had not thanked him for his work.

“You did great.” The rough sensation of a finger being pressed against the top of his head and ruffling his hair snapped Tommy out of his spiral, and by the time the ruffling stopped he was able to look up and see the smile on Techno’s face.

A true, genuine smile.

You did great.

Great.

...

Why?

Why had a man who was practically a stranger to him, someone he had known for less than a week, been able to say the words he had been dying to hear from the people who had known him since he was a child?

Why had one of the most emotionally reserved people Tommy had ever met been able to express the appreciation towards his actions that he had only ever experienced with Tubbo?

Why was Technoblade one of the two people he now felt safe around? How the hell had the hybrid managed to earn his trust so fast with how much of a prick he could be?! And why the fuck was he crying over something so stupid-

But it wasn’t stupid.

It was a sign of him being valued, being wanted. A sign that, despite how annoying and obnoxious he could be at times, someone cared about him. It was what had drawn him to Tubbo in the first place, the foundations of their friendship.

The fact that they genuinely cared about one another when no one else did.

I miss Tubbo.

A choked sob burst out of Tommy and he quickly pressed his forearm over his face as he struggled to suppress the sounds of his crying, damn he had been crying a lot.

He was unaware of how the ear above him twitched, Techno obviously hearing the sounds of his distress despite how hard he tried to hide it. He was equally unaware of the look of discomfort that briefly crossed the hybrid’s face before fading to neutrality.

Emotions, the last thing he wanted to deal with.

… Or really knew how to deal with. Years worth of being a social outcast, repressing his own emotions, and just having a general sense of anxiety towards interacting with people had left him woefully unprepared when it came to displaying empathy. The people who mattered most to him, Phil and-

The soothing sounds of someone playing a guitar. That teasing laughter and lighthearted sparkle in his eyes.

Wilbur.

Both of them knew, or had known, when he was trying to help out and show that empathy he struggled with. The words he was unable to say, always out of reach, conveyed through physical acts. The occasional, awkward hug, leaning against them…

Stealing Wilbur’s beanie and ruffling his hair, warm curls bouncing and wrapping around his fingers. The sounds of his laughter.

Fuck.

This was why he didn’t do emotions. Too many bad memories and negative feelings he didn’t want to deal with.

After what felt like an eternity passed, with Techno being seconds away from breaking down and begging the borrower to just stop being sad please I don’t know how to deal with this, he heard the kid sitting on his shoulder let out a shaky sigh.

“Fuckin’ bullshit is what it is.” Tommy bitterly mumbled, arms crossed and posture defensive. Techno let out a soft hum of agreement, and the borrower could feel the corresponding rumble through the neck he was leaning against. He instinctively started relaxing, sighing softly as his eyes closed.

Neither of the duo made any mention of what had just happened, both uncomfortable with the display of emotions for various reasons, but the awkward air lingered.

It was suffocating and only brought attention back to what had just happened, making it impossible to escape from the embarrassing display of feelings. As such, Tommy cleared his throat and decided to strike up a conversation.

“So, what about me?”

“Heh?” Techno blinked and tried to stare at the borrower, only really succeeding in catching a glimpse of his sprawled out legs.

“You’ve got this cool horse and all,” He started to ramble, gesturing with his arms despite knowing that the hybrid had no way to see. “With-with diamond armor, or some crap-”

“I should start trying to upgrade Carl’s armor.” Techno suddenly said, tuning out Tommy’s rambling as he contemplated whether it would be worth it to try and make netherite horse armor. “He deserves it.”

“I am talking, bruv! I thought you had manners?!” Tommy huffed as he angrily jabbed the side of the hybrid’s neck. He openly scowled when Techno started laughing.

“You were talking? I thought that was a fly buzzing around-”

“Prick!”

The insult was followed by more slapping as Techno laughed loud enough to nearly knock the borrower off his shoulder. He just barely managed to grab onto the furry trim of the cape as he glared up at Techno.

“You keep fucking picking on me for bein’ short and shit.”

“I don’t pick on you because you’re short. I pick on you because it’s easy.”

“Well… well your mum’s easy.” Tommy grumbled, crossing his arms and looking off to the side. He ignored how Techno continued to laugh, or he did until he came up with a suitable rebuttal.

“... I think I’d like a moth as a cool animal friend.”

Yup, that got the laughter to stop immediately. “Tommy, you’re not keeping a moth in my house.”

“It’s our house, bruv! And she’d be nice!” Tommy continued, pretending he didn’t hear Techno speak. “I’d have to give her a great name though. How about Clementine?”

“Tommy if you let one moth into my house, I swear-”

The borrower burst into loud cackles, arms braced against his stomach as he threw his head back and laughed. He tilted backwards, nearly falling off of his perch, and just barely managed to righten himself. Due to this, he didn’t catch the faint smile that crossed the hybrid’s face, nor did he see how those red eyes seemed to brighten for a moment, despite the inner turmoil that the owner felt.

Maybe, just maybe, Techno could admit to himself that it was nice having some company.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The fastest way to a piglin hybrid's heart is through his prized, retirement securing horse!

#my story #fanfiction #dream smp #dream smp fic #sleepy bois inc #sleepy bois inc fic #borrower au #dsmp tommy #dsmp techno #borrower!tommy

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sorio99 · 3 years

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Deltarune Chapter 2: Live Thoughts

So, since the new chapter of Deltarune came out, I've played it all the way through, so, here are my thoughts as I had them. Basically a live-blog, but, not live anymore, I wrote these in my notes app before.

NOTE: Obviously there are going to be ALL THE SPOILERS for Deltarune Chapter 2 in this, as well as Chapter 1. Reader discretion is advised.

Wow, okay, so I was wrong about it being immediately explained.

Various descriptions have changed, and I’m not sure if it’s because of the change to a new game, or the one to a new chapter.

I feel like Berdly is definitely a m’lady guy.

Okay, so, we’re not skipping class this time.

I really wish we could call Toriel and tell her we’re gonna be late again, but I couldn’t see an option for that. Maybe Kris told her on the ride to school.

Okay, so, Noelle is definitely adorable, and a huge lesbian.

Susie seems lovestruck too, kinda.

SHE HAD CHALK, AND SHE DIDN’T TELL ALPHYS BECAUSE SHE THOUGHT SHE AND SUSIE COULD GO GET IT TOGETHER OH MY GOD

Okay, honestly wasn’t expecting the closet to work again.

Fricking LOVE the new transition.

Okay, so, Ralsei knows about, the real world? How, why, and what?

Oh, that, makes, a little sense? But also, if we hadn’t brought the toys over to the closet then, would they all be, dead?

AND WHAT IS RALSEI IN THIS CONTEXT?!?!

Okay, but I love the new town.

Holy shit, save points have storage, AND a spare list? Hell yeah.

So, we’re all level 2 now. I guess they moved from EXP based (or, execution point based?) to Milestone.

Love the basement for bad guys, with K. Round standing guard.

Bitch said “Child abusers live in Hamster Cage”.

Wait, he uses the hamster wheel?

I don’t know if I believe the king about his “bluff” or not. I think not, but, I don’t know.

I can see the “Susie moves to Ralsei’s castle to escape her abusive home” fic already.

RALSEI GAVE KRIS A TRASHCAN, AND SAID IT WAS FOR THE MANUAL IF HE GIVES US ANOTHER ONE OH MY GOD IM SO SORRY MY SWEET FLUFFY BOY

And of course, the moss call-back.

Oh god, Susie just said “My own room, huh.” and my heart is ready to shatter.

This girl has one actual food item in her fridge, and it’s just salsa

Oh, scratch that, there’s ice, crumbs, and jawbreakers in there too?

Oh, okay, Ralsei did give her actual food.

Entering Lancer’s room gives the cartoon Splat sound effect from Chapter 1, and his bedroom is identical to Chapter 1.

Perfect.

And the sound effect, plays in reverse when leaving? Okay.

So, explore until we’re ready to leave, huh? Seems, suspicious.

Oh my god, I just realized, the LightCandy is literally the chalk Noelle gave Susie. What the fuck.

So, for giving the Top back his cake, we get regenerating SpinCake that heals everyone for 140. Nice.

Battle challenges, huh? This should be interesting.

So, we can get a ClubsSandwich, $100, or…Jigsaw Joe’s entire life savings. Okay.

Aw, Clover has separate heads in their dialogue box!

Just realized this “dojo” also has their bed. Odd.

Alright, let’s take these challenges!

Oh, so if we act with Kris, than spare with Ralsei or Susie…got it!

He has a mercy meter. There’s a mercy meter now. I love this.

Oh, of course his life savings is exactly one dollar.

I can already tell the Graze challenges are gonna be the biggest bitches.

Okay, so, being able to rematch bosses, with different gimmicks and attacks, but based on the same logic? Always amazing.

I love the little cut-ins from the other characters with certain lines, like Susie and Lancer revealing “for a price” means zero dollars.

“Cookie and Wife”?

The Blacksmith runs a bakery where he can fuse items…okay.

Imma get a Silver Card.

What the fuck, Mr. Society?

Okay, so, we’re “leaving” through the way we came in, so “surely” we’re going back “home” to the “real world” and our “family”. Sure.

LANCER was added to your key items.

Oh was he now?

And so was Rouxls, “even though no one wanted that.”

Oh, we, actually went back to the light world. Huh. Actually wasn’t expecting that.

Jack of Spades, and the Rules Card. Makes sense.

Still LV 1 here, thankfully. No murder yet.

Okay, thankfully I can call Toriel now.

…Undyne, what the fuck?

Also? This, car horn music, I guess? Is, um…interesting.

Oh, the, computer lab. Where Toby was in Chapter 1. Okay. Makes sense.

“Guess this means we can’t start our project.” I’d say the biggest obstacle is more that we have no clue what the hell this project is supposed to be.

Hmm, we could use the computer at my house, or we could have a fun Toby Fox adventure…

My house!

I knew Susie wouldn’t allow it, also, you always wanna jump in big pits? That’s, worrying.

Computer lab time!

So, computer themed, maybe?

Rouxls jumped out, apparently. According to Lancer.

Okay, this build up is creepy, where’s the fluffy boy?!

Who is SHE?!

Was

Was that Noelle’s chatter sound?

Asking for help?

OH MY GOD

ITS THE REINDEER LESBIAN

SHES BEEN TAKEN

NOOOO

And, I suppose, this must be, our queen.

Q5U4EX7YY2E9N. Sure. I’ll stick with Queen, yeah.

Oh, she’s a computer! That…that’s probably not, great?

Oh, those plugs are bad, brainwashers. Okay.

Okay, they’re both tired…but Ralsei isn’t here. Fuck.

Aiming at moving targets is hard.

2 Werewires spared, only 4 to go, I guess!

RALSEI IS BACK, YAY!

Fun Gang, back together, working to save Susie’s soon-to-be-girlfriend!

Rhythm game to start a new bumping song. Nice.

Might live blog less from here, since, you know, the game is starting proper.

God, I love Deltarune’s look and sound, it’s so clean? And expressive, and AAAGH, I just love it!

I love angry Ralsei.

First lose control laughing moment: Kris and Susie squishing Ralsei like a toothpaste tube, to play an arcade game.

Did, did I just play Punch-Out inside an Undertale?

Curing computer viruses with Syringes…sure.

Sweet is the rhythm guy! Nice to meet you, Sweet! You and Toby are great at this music thing.

Hey, Susie can act now! Awesome!

Ralsei too, because of bullying! Yay!

Now the whole gang’s dancing!

(This is where I took my first real break, to process stuff and relax, and also to sleep)

In between thought: it’s kinda interesting that, in Chapter 1, Susie basically had to be forced to care about Kris, Ralsei, and Susie, but as soon as Noelle is in the slightest bit of danger, she’s immediately like, “We have to save her or die trying”, huh?

“Reverse diss-tracks, where the vocalist puts themselves down and praises Queen…or noise music.” That’s some, interesting taste in music.

“All our songs are only 4 seconds long!” Damn, so you’re, like, Vine musicians?

So, the Knight is opening alternate fountains, that create dark worlds out of, more mundane places? Interesting…

So, someone new is leading the rebels. This, can’t go well.

Smorgasbord 2.

Oooh, a TP raising Item! Nice!

Oh, the guy who was already working for Queen is a Werewire now. Okay.

66 up arrows. Hmmm, I wonder if I can retry at some point…

Oh boy. Here’s the queens…wait what?

Oh my god.

Go kart time.

Noelle, you traitor! How could you!

Oh, okay. Berdly I believe more.

Also, “beloved”.

I love how Queen apparently didn’t even ask him.

“Light Nerds” Good one, Queen.

That’s one weird Check for Berdly.

Berdly, for God’s sakes, Noelle is a lesbian, you idiot.

You know, given this villain rant, I think I hate Berdly more than I do King. And I’ve dealt with both bullies AND abusive dads.

Oh god, Roller Coaster Tycoon murder (also Berdly is dead)

Garbage! Saved by it again.

Oh, this place looks glitchy.

Also, Susie, you’re not the king of the trash pile. You’re QUEEN of the trash pile.

Oh god, please don’t tell me she’s dying.

Okay, good, she just needed fluffy boy hug.

Fork in the path, advantageous to split up, huh? But there’s three of us, and, two paths probably.

Okay, I can either go with the Fluffy boy who might secretly be evil, or the mean girl who might get lesbian scenes…hmmm…

I’m flipping a coin.

Okay, Ralsei it is!

Oh, Susie is upset at me getting to pick.

Oh, they’re going together.

Oh, this can’t be good.

If I had a nickel for every indie game with a cat themed metropolis on my pc, I’d have two nickels. You can finish the meme.

I swear I just saw Noelle on the right. Something big in the streets, hmmmm…

Okay, definitely saw Noelle that time. Shame the Poppups, popped up.

…I get it, Toby, but I’m still mad.

Blocked 10 ads…okay, I still love this game.

God, I’m already missing my party members.

Okay, so I still have Lancer, but, I’m really hoping Noelle listens to reason, because Lancer is, not.

Oh god no, don’t fight me now Queen. And please don’t join me.

Alright, nobody likes Berdly. Figured.

God they’re so dumb.

“G-got any room for another truce?” Noelle, I would do a No Mercy run for you, of course I’m going to help you.

I can’t believe “No Triple Trucies” is even an option.

Yay! Noelle in party!

“LV1 Snowcaster. Might be able to use some cool moves.” She’s got Heal Prayer, a more powerful (but more expensive) Pacify, and a damaging Ice move for only 16% TP.

I love her.

I don’t know what a sugarplum is myself, actually.

Noelle, you have a one track mind, and I like it.

Lancer, she’s not a cream, and we’re not making her a bad guy.

Oh, and she’s scared of mice, I love it!

Ah, she’s never been in battle before, let’s see how this goes.

See? That wasn’t so bad, Noelle.

Oh, she’s a natural!

“Needles aren’t scary…” Tell that to anyone under 20, Noelle.

Also, “subtle” pro-Vax message?

Oh my god, I just love her animations.

So, the virus and the syringe are fighting…hm…

Okay, so, first, Noelle’s defend animation, also perfect.

Second, so Ambyu-lance’s bullets block and destroy Virovirokun’s…hmm…

Have I mentioned how much I love Noelle? This funky little Christmas Lesbian can do no wrong.

Oh my god, she can’t even confidently say we’re friends, and hearing Kris say it makes her happy, I love her so much.

Okay, so, Queen drinks Battery Acid. Makes sense for a computer.

Kris is so done with this shit, I can tell.

I am both scared of and loving Queen.

Oh Jesus Christ Berdly what the fuck is that.

That is not greatness that is…I don’t know. I’m pretty sure even tumblr isn’t horny for you, Berdly.

Christ, he’s gonna break Queen by being an idiot and then he’ll be the Chapter boss.

Her eyes say lying. Of course.

“I Did Not Know You Had… Nipples” that’s, a good point.

…Berdly, you disturb me.

Second lost control laughing moment: Noelle’s cardboard robot face, and Queen just saying “Wow Cool Face”

Lancer, what is the “illusory nipple technique”?

Oh, of course the music bots built the statue. Berdly would never do manual labor.

Oh, and, they built the next “big” thing…hmmmm…

Why are we, flavors of tea???

Okay, that should be all the werewires for now.

The, clothing store, sold me, a useless mannequin, for $300. Of course.

I am going to touch the cheese.

Maus!

Cheese maze, purposely ruined to spare more Mices.

Hmm, Berdly talks about Noelle’s crush. $20 says he actually thinks it’s him, or maybe Kris at a stretch.

Noelle is now immune to mice! Yay!

Oh, CD Bagel, Seedy Bagel, just got that.

Okay, sacrifice pacifist run to kill Berdly…I’m tempted.

Uh, Berdly, Noelle just one shot both your allies. I’m not alone, you are.

Jokes on you, buddy, I’ve been dodging A+ for years!

“(He hit me in the face with a tornado…)” Yes, Noelle, and I have papercuts on my eyelids. He do be an asshole.

Oh good, they both made Battery Acid Pies. Now we’re in a car together. Perfect. This is exactly how I wanted things to go.

Potassium

Who is this trash man?

Spamton, huh. Oh boy.

Oh god, this song has lyrics.

Oh joy, a mini boss on my own. Just what I wanted.

Oh, new game over screen! Nice.

Anyways, I hate this guy.

Okay, just one more deal, I think. I wonder what’s next.

I’m not giving you my credit card info, dude.

Oh damnit, 1% more.

Okay, I’m very scared now.

Oh, I lost $51. That’s, fair.

Okay, back in the car.

Oh my god, Queen loves Noelle too. Perfect.

Lancer took the mixtape! Nice!

Oh, he ate it…nice!

DECEMB…

Oh god she’s a little kid.

December.

I’m so sorry, Noelle. I really hope you’re going to be okay. We’ll figure out what to do.

Queen, why does everything you have explode?

Now the prize is on my head.

Susie and Ralsei! You’re back!

She can slightly heal me now…cool!

And she taught him Sarcasm. I love them all so much.

Uh, Susie! You can have it!

Okay, so, now Susie is both gay for Noelle, and suspicious of her. Amazing.

And Noelle is turned on by the threat of being killed. Have I mentioned I love these dorks?

The gang’s all here!

Uh, just got past fireworks, and, where’s Noelle?

Oh, okay. She was just watching Fireworks.

Oooo, catching mice minigame!

Oooo, more elaborate but simpler to control mice minigame!

Oooo, bucket hole!

Also, nice gay Noelle moment noted.

Oh no, please don’t take the perfect girl away from us!

Okay, so, I don’t like Berdly, but, Acid river? Bit much…

Oh, okay. He was never in danger. I hate both of you. GIVE US BACK NOELLE

GOD DAMNIT NOT THE CAGE AGAIN.

Oh, great, now we’re captured too. Except possibly Ralsei.

She only plays mobile games. Burn her.

For once Berdly is correct.

Queen, you are dumb.

Is that the super Mario world fade?

I don’t, next question.

No looking at my Search history!

Oh, hey, we can chat in here.

LANCER TIME!

YES I MISSED YOU YOU DOPE

Lancer, never say Pants hole again, and never say you were inside it either.

Lancer, do you still not know our name?!

So this is how they lampshade the tutorial-Toriel thing, huh?

Oh no, Lancer, please don’t die in here.

Um, are there rooms for all the kids at school?

Asriel…

Puzzle time!

Plot twist: Susie is not Susan.

Berdly is dumb.

Admittedly, I did brute force that second one a bit…

Okay, now Susie has outsmarted both me AND Berdly. This is sad.

Oh god, he’s gonna cry now.

Oh, my god, that’s what December meant. That’s why Berdly cares about Noelle. That’s why…oh god.

Oh wow, Susie’s a gamer. This is incredible Lore.

Oh wow, first Lancer’s face returns, now Berdly is Anime. I love this game.

Oh my god, Ralsei in a tux. I love him.

Alright, so, Lancer needs to go back to Castle Town, and we need to get the heck to Noelle. I hope Berdly’s plan actually works…

Aw, I wanted him to stay tuxedo…

Color Cafe, huh?

Oh god, Rouxls came here. I am terrified.

I love this hype manor song!

Toby Fox, why is there so much 3D Shenanigans in this 2D Top Down RPG???

Note: from here, I end up going to the secret of this chapter. Do not read if you don’t want to be spoiled on that plotline. Skip to where I say Pancake Batter.

Okay, I’m going back, and I’m gonna find this third blue check mark.

Okay, found it, now to get back to the guy…

Yay, fireworks, again!

East treasure’s hallway leading to Basement on 1F…

Oh dear.

So there’s a secret here after all…where is…

Found it!

Okay, how to open this lock, now…hm.

Well, one thing was in the field, so, maybe in the city?

Oh Jesus it’s Spamton.

$28, not a penny more.

KeyGen, huh…

If this is as hard as Jevil, I’m gonna be pissed.

Oh, great, just Kris going in. Again. Fantastic.

Oh what the fuck.

Oh Jesus Christ I hate this build up.

Oh, and I died on the elevator. That’s fun.

Okay, so I hate this elevator. A lot.

Okay! Took like six tries, but I made it past the elevator! Now, let’s see what’s waiting for me…

EmptyDisk…hmmmmmmmm…

Maybe take that back to Scamton or whoever?

…Ralsei, Susie, what are you two doing?

Okay, trash man, you better like this.

Oh Jesus Christ.

Okay, this is not what I expected to follow Jevil’s lead. But, let’s see what happens when I turn this disk in.

Oh, nothing happened. Sure it did. Just gonna walk away then…

Oh, wouldn’t you know it, something happened!

Okay, so big puppet robot man. This is terrifying.

THANK YOU SUSIE!

Roller coaster boss! Again! Oh good!

YELLOW SOUL!

Can’t write notes, gotta kill.

Spamton, oh my god. And it’s Neo’s outfit. How the fuck did I not realize before?

Im terrified, let’s GOOOOOO!

Holy shit is that the Undertale Game Over message??????

Many tries later

Okay, I think it’s actually Ralsei and Susie talking…

Quitting the game so they can get their healing items out of storage and buy some good ones extra later

Okay, third turn, and I’ve only been hit once! Granted, it did almost 50 damage to Susie, but, still, doing better this time!

Even more death later

Did he just, attack himself?

Is he surrendering?

I…I did it! I did it in one sitting! Minus quitting so I could grab healing items that did more than 40 HP!

Oh, he killed him by freeing him…….okay.

Dealmaker, huh? Let’s see what this bad boy is…

+4 defense, +5 magic (even on Kris?), and $+30%…”and…?”

Okay, Ralsei, you get that, Susie get’s Jevilstail, and I get many questions.

Alright, now back to the actual plot!

Oh…Kris has goosebumps, and Susie’s asking if they’re okay…no. I’m saying no.

I love these two so much. Now let’s save the adorable lesbian.

Pancake Batter. Alright, we’re good.

Sorry, Noelle, got distracted.

Mouse wheel!

Tasque manager helped!

Man, this room is big and empty, with an odd exit door and screens on the north wall. Hmmmm…

Toby!

Thank you annoying dog!

Okay, I still love this music. Just wanted to say that. Anyways, PROGRESS!

We’re tea covered now. Except Susie. She’s tea filled.

Oh god, I don’t trust Berdly with Susie.

God, Knight teased.

Duck ride with Fluffy Boy.

Okay, so, puzzle time, methonk.

High Five!

More duck ride!

Ralsei, do you wanna do the kissy?

Oh boy.

Oh jeez.

Oh damn.

Rouxls.

Ralsei, you read my mind.

Oh Jesus it’s the tank from the first game.

Okay, so, we, take houses? Okay.

I can’t believe some people thought this dork was Gaster.

Wow, I beat him in like 3 and a half turns because I blocked him in.

Another God Dammit because SOMEONE didn’t pay attention to what happened to Lancer.

His head is still blue…

Hey, Camera! Peace signs and hugs!

Mostly hugs.

Yay, more Susie and Noelle time!

Oh my god, my heart is breaking.

Okay, I love these adorable girls.

Oh boy, this is, weird.

“Point and hearts come out” or “Eat moss”. The choice of a generation.

Fair point, Susie.

She likes scary things, huh.

Kinky

Have I mentioned how much I love these two? Because I do.

Susie and Noelle are best girls ever, no objections.

Oh good, Berdly, don’t ruin this completely, okay?

I fucking knew it.

Noelle, you’re going to kill him, and that’s okay with me.

Susie, stop squishing him like toothpaste!

Oh boy, I get big “final boss” energy right now…

Werewerewire?!

Okay, so I just stole from Noelle’s room.

Okay, boss time.

Shit, I should’ve healed up.

Okay, so, I died, but, I can fix that!

So, this boss is calling back to how the town’s internet has gone out, a fact I didn’t even learn until watching other content last night when I should have been sleeping, because I forgot to talk to Alphys during the brief chance I had.

Also, now both she and Ralsei have made reference to the real world outside…hmmmm…

So I guess the plot is about Google search being evil…yeah that checks out.

Bitch, did you just funny runny way?

Hmm, I’d say 50/50 odds of him being a drama Queen vs. him trying to trick Susie into caring about him.

Yep, he’s trying to score a kiss. Berdly…get a job.

Alright, let’s save Noelle, and possibly the whole town.

The “Roaring” Knight?

Oh god, the determination…who is this Knight, what is going on, and how involved are we?

Wait wait wait wait wait wait WAIT

When she described the Knight making more darkness, she said they took their blade, and showed an image of a knife. Was…was this…

HOLY SHIT IS KRIS’S NIGHT SELF THE KNIGHT?!?!

Oh. It was a giant robot. Not a statue.

Susie’s dancing!

Oh yeah, he can fly.

Resistance! Yay!

Okay, so, we sentai up in this bitch.

I wonder how the hell this story would go if we didn’t go pacifist then? Because in Chapter 1, all that really changed was how the boss was defeated in the cutscene, and like a couple details later. This is, a lot more than that.

Okay, so, three rounds of HP, punch out for her turns, just keep attacking. Got it.

Two rounds down, one to go!

Yes, eat your own Baseball, bitch!

Oh, suicide attack. Well it was just a robot.

Oh. She still has us.

Oh fuck the robot is Noelle’s mom. Fuck.

Okay, so, Queen is dead.

Oh fuck, don’t take over the world with darkness all of you, please.

The Roaring?

Oh fuck, new legend lore.

Titans, Fountains, enveloping the land in devastation. Oh jeez.

Lost eternally in an endless night…that’s not paradise. That’s hell.

QUEEN IS ALIVE?!?! AND DIDN’T KNOW ANY OF THAT?!?!

Thank you, Susie!

Okay, that’s a good ending for a second chapter, it’s dark fountain time!

Susie, please don’t turn evil.

…

And, we’re in the computer lab!

Wait, Ms. Boom? Does, does Gerson have a daughter, or wife?

Lost control laughing #3: this

I love this game so much. Time to explore town again.

Okay, Alphys does crush on Undyne still, at least.

Oops, I just let all the prisoner dogs out.

Awww, Undyne likes Alphys too!

Napstablook, I love you.

Oh shit, Asgore used to be a pig?

Oh god, this Rudy storyline is gonna be depressing all the way through, huh?

Susie, can we steal the tower of the gods?

Hey, we can actually go back to Ralsei’s dark world?!

Okay, this is gonna be interesting.

Oh thank god, we can save in the epilogue now, cool.

Oh cool, King and Queen together.

Oh my god he calls her Queenie Beanie. I love this.

So, a card and a computer fucked to make Lancer, who is a card. Okay.

Okay, so Lancer DOES know Kris’s name! Just not Ralsei’s!

New battle challenges! Yes!

Might save “Ch. 2 All-stars” for another time, though…

Perfection is the mannequin reaction.

Oh my god there’s a dedicated room for listening to music I love this

Alright, time to skedaddle back to the real world.

Okay, so Alvin is Gerson’s son, and he’s depressed. Fun.

Oh, MK and Snowy are by the creepy bunker. That’s…fun.

Okay, so, Susie scared them off after they insulted Kris, because Kris said something about the bunker…hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…

Hey, Nice Cream Guy is one of the Ice-E’s employees! Nice!

Ah, PizzaPants. Never change.

Oh hey, it’s the little guy, who’s clone is a Gaster follower. And the bird guy’s still in the library, and the donut guy is still in his car…

Hey, Catty and Bratty are becoming friends again! Cool!

Omg, Sans’s store is open. Do I…go in?

Hell yes I do!

Okay, so, Grillby’s music still, but, different interior. Interesting…

Sans, a day and 2 years in this game are not equivalent. It’s a day and 3 years.

The trousle grows further away.

Oh jeez Susie’s been drinking the milk. Oh god.

Cool, Susie’s seeing Onion too!

Oh, never mind.

A song is coming from deep under the water…either Shyren is involved, or this is gonna take a turn.

See you, Su-

Oh! Hey mom! Meet Susie!

Pie for all!

Oh my god, Susie, my heart is breaking.

Okay, so Alphys and Toriel know about the chalk. That, kinda makes Susie thinking she’d get expelled for it, really depressing.

Okay, so, Toriel and Susie are gonna make Pie together, that’s cool. Still, pretty worried about, Kris.

Uh, I just ran the sink, and, uh…

WHAT THE FUCK

OKAY SO MY SOUL IS UNDER THE SINK, KRIS WHAT ARE YOU DOING WHY IS IT BLACK OUT THE WINDOW WHERE ARE YOU GOING

WHAT THE FUCK

…so we get a cute scene with Susie and Toriel, then Susie asks where Kris is and…they do this sometimes?

I’m very concerned.

Okay, Toriel is concerned too, enough to say “hell”. Even Susie is shocked.

Okay, so, they’re coming back, uh, okay, this isn’t good, right?

Stopped the faucet, opened the drawer, and…we’re back?!

Kris what the fuck are you doing

And why couldn’t we find Asgore in the town?

Okay, so, we’re all sleeping in the living room. I, guess tomorrow’s the weekend, probably? I don’t know?

Susie, doesn’t have caring parents, I guess?

Oh god, Susie wants them to come to our world, but, Lancer is a playing card, he can’t…I don’t know. I’ll say it’s “far-fetched”.

There’s a festival, apparently. This seems…suspicious.

I’d take Ralsei, so you could take Noelle.

She’s asleep.

That, might not be good, in this context.

Okay, so, we’re asleep too, I think?

Oh god, Toriel’s tires are slashed, that can not be good, in any way.

Okay, night time, Toriel and Susie are asleep…now what are you doing, Kris?

That, knife…

Okay, so, yep, they’re the Knight, and they just opened Darkness in their living room. This is, not, good. And, the tv’s on, and the door’s unlocked…

What the fuck is happening?

Ending credits song sounds, techno? Is this more of Don’t Forget? Or a remix? I hear the lyrics at least.

“To be continued in Chapter 3” OH IT BETTER BE, TOBY

So, yeah, that's Deltarune Chapter 2. In conclusion: this explains nothing, raises 120% more questions, and overall is still an incredible, wonderful game. I also like how each Chapter so far has been almost as long as a full play through of Undertale, and yet we're still somehow only 2 sevenths of the way through. Oh yeah, did I not mention? After completing it, it brought me to a chapter select with SEVEN DIFFERENT CHAPTERS, only two of which were available. So, you know. THAT'S FUN!

In actual conclusion, please play this game, it's free, it's amazing, and also buy the soundtrack on Bandcamp so Toby can make some kinda living.

#deltarune #deltarune spoilers #deltarune chapter 2 #deltarune chapter two #deltarune chapter two spoilers #deltarune liveblog #shut up sorio #I have so many more thoughts #just give them a while to coalesce into something coherent

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dear-mrs-otome · 4 years

Text

Ribbons & Bows - SLBP (Mitsunari)

Fandom: SLBP Pairing: Mitsunari x MC Rating: No Warnings Summary: What do you get when the perfectly imperfect neighbor and coworker finds out our intrepid heroine can’t wrap a gift well to save her life? Some reluctant help, and perhaps even more reluctant revelations.... ( A quick bit of Christmas-fluff, for a dear friend’s exchange gift. (Hence the named MC) I waffled on even posting this, so far past the season, but figure someone out there might enjoy it too! 2.5k+ words)

She’d recognize that sound anywhere. The sharp, staccato rapping at her door that carried over the sweet croonings of Bing Crosby singing about a White Christmas - too fierce to be anything called as soft as a knock. She knew exactly who it would be on the other side too, and tried her level best not to let her good mood slip away as she straightened up from tweaking the last folds on the gift she was wrapping.

The apartment was small, small enough she had to weave around the boxes of ornaments and decor she’d pulled out of her meager storage on her path to the door. Not so small though that she made it there before a second salvo of pounding followed the opening shots already fired.

“Mitsunari.” She didn’t even have to wait to finish swinging the door open before she greeted the man on the other side. It was already a given who it was. Neighbor, co-worker, thorn in her side...pick a label and run with it. They all fit her particularly handsome cross to bear.

The man in question shook ravenwing bangs out from behind his glasses with an irritated toss of his head, all the better to fix her with a baleful glare. “October.”

Her gaze slid instinctively away from that frigid stare uncomfortably, but it wasn’t much of an improvement given its traitorous preponderance to travel the length of his neatly trimmed frame any time she didn’t keep it firmly locked. A ‘swimmer’s build’, as Jace from the mailroom always drooled aloud. Lean and purposeful, as immaculate in button up and trousers as always - never so much as a spot, or tuck, or crease out of place.

He was hot...especially for an accountant. She had to give her ovaries that. Too bad his personality had about all the warmth of a winter solstice atop Everest, and even less of anything resembling charm.

Neither of which had ever stopped her heart from doing an odd lurch whenever he met her eyes though.

He didn’t wait for her to dredge up any reply. “Surely you are aware that it is - “ He made a show of checking the ever-present watch on his wrist for emphasis. “Eleven at night, on December the first. So why then, in God’s name, am I being forced to listen to Christmas music at jetliner decibels through my wall?”

“It’s not at ‘jetliner’, Ebenezer Scrooge,” she shot back, hackles immediately up whenever this man was around.

“It’s loud enough to get the attention of Ms. Takemura above you I would wager though. You’re lucky she didn’t call the super on you.” He made a small dismissive snort, before his gaze wandered down to the package she had forgotten she still held in her other hand. His eyes narrowed sharply and she tried, to no avail, to hide the misshapen mess behind her back. “What in God’s name is that? Is that supposed to be a present?”

“Yes, it’s supposed to be a present.” A good part of her wanted to be huffier about her reply...but the other larger part knew it was a sad excuse for a wrapping job, and she couldn’t stifle the sigh that slipped free before she’d given it permission. “It’s supposed to be for Hideyoshi too. I should have just taken the store clerk up on her offer to wrap it for me. Nothing like looking incompetent in front of your boss.”

She could feel him studying her for a long moment, though she didn’t dare look up to meet his gaze. Nearly jumping when he thrust his hand out towards her, gesturing with it impatiently. “Give it here.”

Pure reflex had her obeying his chilly command, and when it was in his grasp Mitsunari turned the sorry thing over as he examined it, a moue of distaste curling his lips down as if he were holding a dead mouse rather than a box and some scraps of paper that were clearly suffering delusions of grandeur.

“How did you even manage this?” He couldn��t have looked less impressed if he tried. “You do understand the basic concepts of geometry, do you not?”

“I-”

Her protest was cut short when he brushed past her and strode brazenly into her apartment, azure eyes taking the chaos all in with a few measured glances. “Scissors. Paper. Tape.”

“What?” She knew he was speaking legitimate words - they just made only the barest attempt at coherency.

“Scissors. Paper. Tape.” He repeated himself, louder and slower, as if speaking to someone hard of hearing. “You can’t give this to Hideyoshi as it is. It would be an insult.”

He took a seat at her sofa as if it were his own home, placing the package on the coffee table before him and looking at her so expectantly she was already gathering the requested items, dumping them on the table unceremoniously - more than a little bemused at the odd turn of events. Seeing her frosty co-worker ensconced comfortably in her living room was hardly the way she’d envisioned her Friday night going when she’d woken up that day.

He let out a small sound of approval, stripping her package of its sorry wrappings carefully, before reaching past the gaudy rolls full of penguins in Santa hats and kittens wrapped in tinsel for a classic striped pattern. For lack of anything better to do, she plopped to a seat beside him to watch as he worked - reluctantly admiring his deft, well-shaped hands as he set about measuring a new piece of wrapping for her box.

“It’s not that I’m messy or don’t care,” she said finally into the silence, both to fill it and to soothe her wounded pride. “It just doesn’t seem to matter how carefully I line things up or space them out. They always end up too short or too long, too wide or not wide enough, the tape sticking everywhere…”

“Again - simple geometry.” Mitsunari’s gaze slid her way archly. “Not a skillset I would imagine is in high demand in HR though.”

She pulled a face at his bent head, hating that she couldn’t argue.

It seemed only moments before he’d finished, an impeccably squared box slid along the table towards her, freshly wrapped. He’d even done the thing where he’d managed to line up the stripes along the cut edges too, to her amazement.

“That’s...wow.” She looked up from turning it this way and that to shoot him a beaming smile, admittedly impressed. “Two hundred percent improved!”

She wondered if she only imagined his slight fidget.

“A two hundred percent improvement is a mathematical impossibility,” he frowned.

“Yes. I’m aware.” She stifled the urge to roll her eyes. “Have you never heard of hyperbole?”

“Intentional exaggeration as a rhetorical device?” he replied. She was about to shake her head, until she saw what looked like the faintest of dry sparks hiding behind his deadpan expression. “No, never.”

“Probably not a skillset I would imagine is in high demand in the finance department,” she lobbed back, and enjoyed the way his lips twitched faintly, as if stifling the urge to smile.

The faux-leather of her cheap sofa creaked as he turned to eye the equally sorry pile stacked beneath her cheery little Christmas tree, its lights winking happily in blissful ignorance of the crimes in repose at its feet. “And what are those?”

“The rest of my gifts.” She bit back the ‘obviously’ that tried to tack itself to the end of that sentence. She wouldn’t ruin this rare detente with Hideyoshi Holding’s prickly CFO just for the thrill of a cheap shot.

“Well...hand them over too. No need for you to embarrass yourself more than you already manage to on the regular.” He arched a sardonic brow at her. “I trust you can be relied on for something as simple as nametags and a stick-on bow, no?

“I think I can manage that much.” It struck her belatedly, as the absurdity of the entire situation wore off slightly, that she was being a terrible hostess - even if an impromptu one. “Would you...like a drink? I have water or tea...or I just opened a bottle of wine.”

Why had she said that? Offering a man alcohol, at practically midnight. Oh, God, it sounded absurdly forward, or hopeful, or...something.

“Wine would be fine,” he replied, to her genuine surprise.

She stood and poured two glasses from the open bottle of table red sitting on her small kitchen counter, sipping one cautiously as she handed the other to him and retook her seat.

He accepted it, and then gestured with it to the seasonal trappings decorating her apartment, a small frown creasing the space between his brows. “Why is this all up so early?”

“My father loved Christmas. It was his favorite time of year.” She twisted the stem of the wineglass between her fingers restlessly.

He reached silently for the first of the packages she’d nudged closer, making quick work of it as she waited with poised pen and welcomed the familiar bittersweet patina of nostalgia.

“He always did all the wrapping, because I was so hopeless. Except his own present of course, which amused him to no end. I keep thinking every year, it’ll get easier with him gone. It doesn’t exactly...but I can put these things up and watch our movies, listen to our music, and feel the good outweigh the bad now.”

Mitsunari only nodded slowly. “It sounds as if he would have approved.”

The pile on her side grew larger and his smaller as they worked efficiently through them, until there was only a couple of disasters left. And then Mitsunari picked up a small box - one she recognized all too well.

“Not that one!”

She startled even herself with her yelp, but Mitsunari seemed utterly unfazed, merely fixing her with a single arcing brow as he held the box above her swiping grasp. “Whyever not, Ms. October?”

“It’s fine as it is, honestly.” She lunged again and he only sat up a bit straighter, her fingers brushing fruitlessly against the crumpled underside.

“I won’t give it back until you tell me why.”

He turned it over, looking for a tag, and she rose up onto her knees to make one more desperate attempt - only to watch with a sort of slow-motion horror, almost as if outside her own body, as she lost her balance and sprawled inelegantly across his lap, her cheek planted firmly against an even firmer chest.

They both froze.

“October.” There was an odd, strained note to his voice. “Why is my name on this gift?”

She wanted to die, there on the spot. The only bright spot about any of this was that the crisp weave of his shirt was cool beneath her flaming face, as she scrambled for an answer. Distracted by the balsam notes of his cologne mingling with the evergreen of her Christmas tree, both tickling her nose and scattering her thoughts.

How did she tell him it was for all the times she sat down at her table of one, eating dinner by herself, wondering if he was on the other side of her living room wall doing the same thing at that same moment?

How did she tell him it was for all those times at work she felt absurdly proud of herself for managing to earn one of his quicksilver smiles of praise? The times he held a door, or a taxi, or a stack of heavy files unprompted? The times she heard him come home from the office hours after she had, only to arrive the next morning with an inbox of organized reports, no questions asked?

How did she tell him it was for the face of his she glimpsed sometimes, in that split second when the elevator doors opened on him riding by himself as they passed each other in the course of their daily comings and goings, and she caught sight of what she suspected was the real Mitsunari - the man behind the ice and the vitriol and the acid-etched tongue. Far too young to look so forlorn. As if he’d let a mask slip in the close confines of the tiny space, where there was no one around to notice, and hadn’t quite managed to prop it back up again.

As if it were his default state to look that utterly alone.

“Because I-”

‘Buy them for all my coworkers’ was how she should finish that sentence, she knew. It was the safe answer, the sane answer. The one that sat like sawdust on her tongue.

And then it died at the slow slide of his hand gently flattening itself against her back, keeping her from pulling away. His palm was rock-steady, but she could feel the faint tremor of his fingers bracketing her spine, and wondered just what that small gesture cost him.

She settled for a truth, if not the truth. The one she scarcely dared admit to herself. “Because I wanted to make you smile.”

“I…” For the first time ever, she heard him at a loss for words, as Mitsunari cleared his throat thickly. “I’ve never gotten a Christmas present before.”

It was that confession that finally got her to lift her head, cheeks still hot as she gaped at him, suddenly terrified she offended him somehow. Suddenly even more terrified that the answer was far worse. “Do you not celebrate?”

“I’m not...opposed to it.” There was still a thread of something wound tightly between his words, making a snare of them that kept her rooted to the spot. Counting the hard beats of his heart wrenched out beneath her hand. Five, ten, a dozen as she waited for the continuation she felt vibrating through him. “I’m just not sure what to make of this.”

She could see as much when she steeled herself to meet his eyes - the blue of them looking lost. Emotion moving in their depths, like the flicker of something great passing beneath arctic ice. No less immense for being half-unseen.

“You can make of it exactly what you want.” It was the closest she could come to putting herself out there, coward that she was. Leaving the door open if she couldn’t manage to take that first step herself.

She couldn’t miss the unmistakable way his gaze flickered down to her lips, subliming from glacial to the blue center of a flame in an instant. “And if I want more than just that gift?”

“You can have that too.” Her head tipped up expectantly, in clear invitation.

He didn’t need to be told twice, it seemed. There was a moment, a space squeezed between heartbeats where his breath fanned sweetly over her cheek and his nose just brushed hers - a last chance to pull away, before his mouth sealed over hers and she was consumed.

His lips seared hers, his tongue hot like flame as he sought hers out, the faint taste of red wine still clinging to them both. He swallowed down her moan like the finest of vintages, answering with a tiny hungry growl that set her mind blanking. She clung to his shoulders and felt them flex intoxicatingly as he hauled her to straddle his lap, fingers dimpling hard against her thighs and backside until they were cradled together seamlessly. Bodies pressed in a long line from head to curled toe.

She only tore herself away from the fascination of his kiss when the world began to spin, breaking apart long enough to press her forehead to his and stare into the deep water of his gaze, their ragged breathing knotted together.

“Merry Christmas, Mitsunari.”

It was ridiculous, innocuous. Words dredged up for the lack of any higher function on the part of her brain, although the sentiment was heartfelt.

And it didn’t seem to matter, when he rewarded her with a smile so fragile and fledgling she knew without a doubt it was the first of its kind he’d ever formed, elevating him from beautiful to breathtaking. Her own Yuletide miracle. “Yeah. I think it might be.”

#slbp #slbp mitsunari #my writing #christmas shenanigans #and coworker shenanigans #and mitsunari #three of my favorite things

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fragileizywriting · 3 years

Text

friends (part two)

AO3 | Start Here | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

This… this is not fun.

He wants to be in bed with Marinette.

He wants to be under the thick covers on a cold and freezing morning and curl into her warmth and never leave. Is it the cat part of him, or the demon part of him that means this? After all, demons don’t like the cold— it burns through the hellfire that covers their soul and makes them all almost insufferable. His dad, too, is inconvenienced by any amount of freeze— he doesn’t get snippy but he’s seen the way that frown has transformed his father’s face into a disgruntled god.

But cats are no different, either— making it a habit to curl up in the warmest place and hide until it’s warm enough to move. Winters are hard for Chat when he’s not in hell, and Marinette always teases him for him retracting into his cat form almost for days at a time, trying to use his fur to keep the frost from seeping into his body. The cold and Chat Noir do not do so good.

Whatever it is that makes him hate this, he listens to it, souring his mood by thinking of all the things he’s missing without Marinette near.

Why hadn’t they just invited Marinette along? It’s not like she doesn’t ever come with them sometimes. She enjoys the experience of being on Luka’s boat, even if it is to collect ingredients on her own, and Chat Noir has always very much enjoyed her company. If Luka’s feeling up to it, which he often is, he goes collecting for her. Marinette’s list is never that long, given that she stocks up on everything she can get her hands on, but sometimes she’s in need of more.

Algae, rocks, a specific crystal that regrows every two weeks or so. Snails, any bottom-feeders that Luka can lure and trap for her, and definitely whatever type of ocean or lake plant she’s looking for. Every time Luka resurfaces with a new item, Marinette is so quick to smile and so quick to thank him, turning and spinning around on the deck to show Chat the new item before she puts it in a jar for storage.

But without her, this whole fishing moment is just… exhausting.

Truly, of all things he’s done in the past week and a half— this takes the cake as both the most mundane and the most unnecessary thing to do.

He’s built fence posts, he’s seen his mother and almost passed out from dehydration— he’s seen his father and gotten his whole world tilted onto its side and backwards— not to mention the bite marks and suture in his skin. He’s kissed Marinette— done more than just that, actually— and finds himself rubbing at the tattoo on his chest the more and more he thinks about being away from her. The seal burns purple against his hand, reminding him that he’s far from his witch’s magic, and that his entire body and soul misses her.

Today’s fishing is just too much.

Luka agrees with him— he knows it— because the naga’s eyes are closed as the sun beats down on their shoulders, warming their skin and bodies to the point of laziness. Chat can barely keep his eyes open, looking out to the lake, his eyelids getting heavier and heavier as the sun continues to bake them alive.

Just their luck. The two people who struggle the most to focus when there’s a patch of sun are now subjugated to an entire afternoon of it— what he wouldn’t give to just transform into his cat form and lounge for the rest of the day, yearning to be in his witch’s lap as she pets through his fur.

“Why is it so sunny?” Chat complains into the silence, trying not to close his eyes for too long. This is perfect napping weather— all he has to do is just rest his head and… “Of all days for it to be ridiculously sunny.”

“It’s good for the festival,” Luka answers, looking just as out of it as he is. It’s laughable, of course, that a water creature such as Luka would absolutely go frozen stiff at the prospect of baking under the sun. Even though he’s not a snake— or at least, that’s what Luka always argues whenever he brings it up— he certainly acts like one. He looks ready to lay down and coil up, let his blood be warmed up by the sun, and stay that way for days.

“What’s going on with the weather this week?” He sniffs, not exactly stopping himself from laying back down on the deck of Luka’s boat. The Liberty doesn’t even budge under their weight— she’s a solid, heavy barge that is more long than tall— it offers barely any protection from the elements coming from the sky. It’s a floating platform, essentially, which is perfect for nagas who frequently spend most of their time in the water and have a tough time climbing up the sides of their boats from how slippery they are— and the boat is also long enough to house a superfluous amount of nagas, as well as their long tails comfortably, should they feel the need to curl up instead of letting their tails hang off the boat.

And it fits the fish as well.

Lots and lots of barrels of fish.

“The constellations are starting to move.” Luka answers, almost sounding a bit too serious. The tip of Luka’s tail sways in the water with the gentle current that is too soft to genuinely make a dent in the barge’s lazy course to the middle of the lake. His plumes open instinctually wherever his tail meets the water— a sway of fins that only come out when there is enough moisture. He is more sea serpent this way, than an actual snake— and his tail glitters with sparks of gold underneath the clear water. Fish swim by next to him, curious as to whose fins are swaying like a tree in a breeze, and Chat Noir admits— even if it’s to himself and safely away in his head— that he understands why nagas consider themselves sea serpents instead of just snakes. “There’s a celestial storm coming. Did you not know?”

“This sounds like a horoscope,” Chat doesn’t let the idea settle into his head. “Celestial storm? Don’t pull at my tail, Luka. You won’t believe that my parents are gods, but you’ll believe in celestial storms?”

He snorts. “No one believes you when you say your parents are two divinities.”

“At least it’s more believable than hearing you talk about how a ‘ tornado will come from Orion—’ or ‘ an earthquake has been predicted because of Antares—’”

Luka smiles good-humouredly. “Idiot, nothing of that sort. Naga use constellations to guide themselves across the sea, you pruned lion.”

“‘Pruned lion’,” Chat mutters, resting his clawed hands against his chest. Rubbing and rubbing and rubbing away at the seal. “I’ll show you a ‘pruned lion’.”

“There’s not much paper we can use on the sea. Clay is a good substitute, but they’re too heavy when using as maps, so we navigate by using stars. We can tell when stars aren’t in their place,” Luka continues, as if he’s barely heard him. “And they are most definitely not in their places. Just last night, eight northern constellations moved closer south.”

Chat’s feet dangle off the edge of the platform that makes the Liberty, and his toes sink into the water. It’s lukewarm, heated by the sun that beats down and down and down, but much easier and cooler than the damp and still air above.

He has half a mind to dunk himself body and whole into the water just to cool off, but knows that his hair will dry in the shape of a dandelion if he does that, so it’s a stern no. There’s no way in hell he’s going to worry about how his hair dries while trying to fish with a naga by his side. Besides, getting ready for the festival will take him a lot longer if he has to tame his hair— he doesn’t mind getting brushed by Marinette when she corners him, but his fur usually snags into knots and it’s painful. “Fine, fine. I believe you— you don’t need to get all technical on me. I’ve just never heard of a celestial storm before.”

“Probably not, since you don’t need to use stars to see like we do. The celestial storm just brings indication that there will be a large magical gathering soon— it’s nothing inherently serious.”

Interesting. “You mean like the festival?”

“Exactly. It’s something to be cautious of, that’s all— it just ends up confusing lots of naga who are trying to travel somewhere new for the first time. There might be a lot more naga at the festival than usual, since the stars are pointing in this direction.”

“That’s not too bad— no one has anything against your kind, anyway. Witches and magic-users from all places are coming here to see the infamous Ladybug, after all— they want to get her good wishes on behalf of my mother— so it’s not like a big deal to see more of you.”

There’s laughter in his voice. “‘The one who can cast good fortune on even the sick and the dying’, yes, I know. But unfortunately, no— the magical gathering isn’t the reason for the stars warping. It’s something bigger than that. Bigger than her. Constellations only move when sages or gods show up.”

Well. Well well well. He doesn’t really need to think about it, now does he?

“How long have they been moving?”

“They only started four days ago.”

“Have they shifted back?”

“No.” Chat doesn’t need to look at him to know that there’s a question forming on his face. He knows Luka too well by now. “Your questions are oddly specific for someone that never heard of this storm before.”

“Well, good to hear. You don’t need to worry about all that— but thank you for the confirmation.” He spreads his good arm out as far as he can reach it. He ends up hitting Luka in the chest, and the naga hisses out, startled— but other than that, they match each other by slowly cooking in the heat. Luka’s heartbeat is slow against his palm, and Chat has no real reason to pull away, so he just leaves it there on his jacket. “Everything will go back to what it once was after the festival.”

“I thought you said you didn’t believe in horoscopes. Why are you fortune-telling?”

“Because my dad isn’t going to set the festival on fire just because he’s up here.” Maybe. There’s a strong likelihood he won’t, given that he’s already caused too much mischief.

“Right, right. Your ‘father’. You think Plagg is here?”

“The stars said so, didn’t they?” He flashes a smile, even though they’re not making eye contact. It’s instinctual to try to get a rise out of the man sitting next to him. “Relax. I won’t let him set fire to things— Marinette’s been making all of those charms for the past three months, it won’t go to waste.”

“Remind me to get a handful of them, since I’m going to be spending most of it next to you,” The driest thing in the world is hearing Luka’s voice go flat. “The last thing I need is to catch fire from your terrible luck.”

“Wh— rude. I don’t have bad luck, that’s just a myth— but I’ll gladly walk underneath a ladder for you in order to give you what you deserve. Anyway, I thought you were going to find yourself someone new to fancy? What was the whole point of the molting?”

“The two people that I actually cared to court are currently taken. I’m not disappointed, but I’m rather bored of humans otherwise.” Luka’s breath deepens as if he’s falling asleep at the idea of spending that much energy finding someone else. “If someone were to approach, I’ll at least give them the benefit of listening, but you won’t find me looking for new people.”

“You’d make a good familiar to whatever witch shows up to you tonight,” Chat oof!s hard when Luka’s hand does the exact same and hits him on the chest. He snorts on instinct, thinking a second or two longer on the idea. “Do you have an animal form like I do?”

“I’d rather not tell you, just in case you get ideas. But I would hope that she would like me for more than just a pet, unlike Marinette.”

He ignores his comment. “Most magic users can create some sort of animal form for themselves, no? Humans can’t, but I’m sure a naga could. Are you sure you don’t have a snake form?”

“I’m still not telling you the answer.”

“I’m imagining a faceless witch wearing you like a scarf as she brews,” For some reason, he imagines a white snake wrapped around a neck, even though Luka’s tail is very much blue. “You’d be happy getting to laze around while your lady works.”

“I should give it a try with Marinette one day. You wouldn’t mind sharing, would you, kitty-cat? After all, she doesn’t mind sharing you with me.”

“Funny.” He tries his best not to laugh, but he’s weak to the comedy of this whole day. It’s beyond painful to keep the laughter in, of how this day has been just another bizarre domino in the whole scheme of the week.

“It’s good to hear you laugh,” Luka sighs. “I was beginning to worry you actually hated me. Ever since this morning you’ve been snippier to me than usual— you’re not actually worried I pose a threat of some kind, do you?”

Wait. “Are you insecure?”

“You two are my closest friends.” Luka doesn’t meet his eyes when Chat lifts up from his spot to look down at him with furrowed brows. “After Adrien passed, I didn’t have many people, you know.”

Wait. “Hold on, you knew Adrien that well?”

“I didn’t know you knew who that was.” Luka raises a brow.

“Marinette talks about him.” Never mind the other things…

“He was my first friend when I was very young.” He shrugs, still giving Chat the stink eye like he doesn’t actually believe him. “Naga aren’t as scary as people think, but humans are prejudiced to their own kind all of the time, so it’s not hard to believe that they won’t be to nonhumans too. Adrien brought me into the friend group before he got sick.”

Adrien, Adrien, Adrien. Always Adrien, isn’t it? “Was he the closest friend you had?”

“Probably. Nino and I were always really good friends, back in the day. But Marinette and I got rather close after Adrien’s passing. I would see her almost every day if I decided to stay nearby.”

Oh. Oh. “No wonder you were so uncomfortable with the idea of her moving a demon into her house.”

His eyes go flat. “A girl I liked suddenly bringing a demon home? Anyone would’ve been worried.”

Chat can’t force himself to stop chuckling. “I guess I can see why you were… not the nicest person to me at first.”

“She’s never been afraid of you, but I think that just made me even more worried.” Luka gestures towards Chat’s direction, as if that helps explain better. “It doesn’t take much brainpower to realize what a Ladybug needs a Chat Noir for. Forgive me for not buying the little nonchalant act between the two of you, but I can read the little pearl like the back of my hand, after all.”

“So you know about the miraculous cure.”

“Yes. Anyone with reading eyes can put two and two together, kitty-cat. Information isn’t kept that hushed about it.”

He ignores the needling smile gracing Luka’s features. “How well exactly did you know Adrien?”

“Well enough to know that his sickness was strange. His death was stranger. The smell on Marinette’s clothes was horrid, when she’d ran into me in the woods while stricken with grief and crying. We were all terrified by it, obviously, but Marinette seemed to be the most affected— probably because she was the one to try to see him the day he died. Nino, Marinette, and I were the most affected.” He sighs. “I don’t think Nino’s ever actually talked about it that much, but they were best friends.”

“Smell.” Chat winces. “What smell?”

“Same smell that’s coming off your stitches on your arm. I recognize the smell of hellfire anywhere, it sticks to my nose for weeks. I’ll never forget the first time I smelled it sticking to Marinette’s clothes.” Luka laughs bitterly. “Running down the path in the woods towards the ocean like she was crazed. Death clinging to her dress like she was his daughter.”

“Hellfire. You smelled hellfire? Are you sure?”

Luka’s looking at him curiously, now. “I’m positive. What’s on your mind?”

Adrien’s room had been covered with the smell of… hellfire? That’s just further proof that something definitely happened— one more thing pointing to his own relation to Adrien. One more damning evidence that his past life could be tied to Marinette’s wish. If only he could get his memories back to actually prove it as fact, though…

He flattens his ears across his head, looking back out on the water. “Don’t— don’t mention this to anyone what I’m about to tell you. Promise me you won’t. This can’t start a crowd.”

Luka’s eyes turn to gold as he squints. “Of course.”

“Marinette and I found out that there could’ve been foulness in his death. Odor or otherwise.”

The naga pauses. “Are you saying a demon of some kind could’ve been the reason for the smell?”

“I don’t want to tell you something only for it to be wrong later, but the basic answer is that Adrien most likely didn’t die from an illness after all.” He licks his lips.

“You’re saying that Adrien’s father might have summoned a demon for some reason?”

“No. I have no idea what it could be, but, if there was hellfire involved, there’s definitely something to do with hell in this poor boy’s death. We don’t have all of the information yet, but I think it’s a little bit more difficult than just pointing fingers.”

Luka’s quiet for a long time. There are gears turning in his head too, no doubt, trying to piece together all of the information. “Gabriel could… most likely be at the festival tonight.”

His head snaps up. “What? He will?”

“A couple of my kind saw his ship sailing close by the shore and where our dens are. He left— or, rather, fled, now that there’s an implication that he could’ve been responsible for something to do with Adrien— town years ago, and never came back. It’s been completely silent from him, deciding to even move countries, but I think he’s here for a blessing of some kind by a Ladybug.”

“Shit.”

“Agreed.”

“Shit.”

Luka sighs. “It’s just speculation, of course. I have no idea if he even knows that Marinette is Ladybug, never mind the fact that he might not be stopping by after all. He could just be here to visit family friends, and is using the festivities as a genuine and good excuse. What will you two do? Confront him?”

“I don’t know.” Chat answers honestly. “I genuinely don’t know. My dad doesn’t know much of the story, either— and he’s usually on top of his game on paying attention to these types of things, but got distracted the day it all happened. It’s not often you hear of a human getting caught in the crossfire of hell matters— but we’re all stumped, so it’s not like we can pin it directly on Gabriel with no reason. I’m going to need more information.”

Luka is surprisingly not as agitated with the whole thing as he’d expected. He’d expected surprise, or confusion, not genuine contemplation like he is now. The naga hums at the back of his throat, attempting to piece things together himself. “Do you think Adrien is still out there, maybe?”

“Well… He’s not dead,” Well. Are demons considered alive in the first place? Is this a moral or philosophical question? At what point is Chat Noir even considered alive? And if he really was Adrien, would he consider Adrien to be dead in this case? Rebirthed as Chat Noir? His head hurts. “As far as we know. Maybe in a sort of limbo state. What a mess.”

“This sounds a lot more confusing than I thought it would be. I can’t imagine this is any easy on the two of you. Adrien was my best friend and it’s hurting me to hear about it, I can’t imagine what it’s doing to the little witch.”

“She’s been… a little bit confused about it, too. I can’t wait for the festival and get her to relax about it— yesterday it was nonstop. The both of us, honestly, need to stop thinking about this for just a bit. You and I should keep an eye out for Gabriel just in case. I don’t know what he looks like, but, anything that’ll get us closer to the truth I’ll do it.”

But Luka’s smile is kind, and Chat can sense he’s trying to skirt the subject away and get him to think of other things. “Sure. I didn’t have plans, anyway, so that’s fine. And I’m sure you two managed to distract each other at some point yesterday, right?”

“By the grace of my mother,” Chat mutters under his breath. “This entire week has been monstrous to us, Luka. Every day has been a discovery, I don’t even know what to do or how to handle it. Not to mention that even my father thinks you and I are a good match together, did you know that? The amount of years I’ve aged each day in this disaster of a week would’ve turned a human into dust by now.”

Luka turns, belly-side down, hiding away his pale under-scales in favor of showing his long blue-and-diamond-patterned back. He ends up dunking more of his tail into the water, and those ghost-like fins blossom from underneath his scales like a billowing sheet. The water is hazy from all the glittering gold and those glossy, feathery fins. “Perhaps I’ll listen more often to what you have to say about your family, after all. Is he truly the king of the underworld?”

“Shut up,” Chat really can’t stop himself from laughing, because he doesn’t have any emotional handle on any of this. “If you have any luck, you might see him visit the festival and actually find out. Maybe I’ll have all my friends meet him, so that you all can stop making fun of me when I say it.”

“What in the world is the king doing here?”

“Visiting his son, you noodle.” He slips his eyes shut.

Ah, this is more natural territory for them both, isn’t it? He can almost feel how easy it is for the two of them to slip back into banter. “Careful, now. You’re implying that I’m tasty.”

“And also very easily chewable, what do you think about that?” He’s bit into Luka’s tail a few times, and each time he’s felt how the muscles had shifted under those hard scales. It’s amazing his teeth can even penetrate the scales from how genuinely hardened they are, but he supposes that anything is possible with a jaw strength like his. He cracks back open one of his eyes, looking at Luka, who continues to just look at him with humor swimming on his face. “Hey, how come you aren’t fishing?”

“I am fishing, you idiot.”

“Bullshit. Where’s your fishing pole?”

“I’m not fishing with a pole today.”

“What?” This gets Chat Noir to sit back up, looking around. He blinks hard in the sunlight, willing his eyes to focus without hurting his vision. His pole at the far end of the barge is completely still, resting in a small divot carved into the boat, the fishing wire still swaying with nothing grabbing onto the bait. He narrows his eyes at the single pole, looking around for Luka’s, which is no doubt somewhere on the boat, only to come up with nothing. “Have you been using your net this entire time?”

“And if I have?”

“I thought we said no fishing with nets this time.”

“We said no fishing with Marinette this time.” Luka’s eyes are absolutely vibrant and gold as Chat Noir turns to look back at him in the eyes. He looks a little bit more awake than he does, but that’s probably because Luka’s cooling off in the water with most of his body in it, while Chat continues to bake. “You and I get too distracted around the little pearl, you especially more now. And the festival needs fish— the last time I went pole fishing with you, I got a hook stuck in my dorsal fin.”

“That was your own fault, noodle.”

“Again with calling me tasty,” Luka sighs. “Honestly, Chat Noir, it’s a miracle Marinette’s fallen in love with you when you’re so keen on flirting with me, instead.”

“At least I don’t injure myself while flirting with her, and don’t realize that my hook was next to one of my fins before trying to cast out my line.” He rolls his eyes. He remembers the nasty gash, and how the translucent fin had bled for what looked like to be far too long for a simple cut, and how Marinette had spent so long carefully stitching the feathery membranes back together with suture, willing for the fins to heal. There’s a scar still left behind on that fin, but it’s hard to see unless he’s close enough to really look at the little veins and how they’re slightly wobbly.

Luka snorts. “Of course, of course.”

“That’s what you get for flirting with my Lady.”

“So childish. You’d think I’d be allowed to talk to a good friend of mine without her familiar puffing up his chest.” Luka sighs, unraveling his jacket on the waist. The pearls on his sleeves shine all sorts of colors as his shoulders shift, and he folds the garment carefully with his long claws. Every bead is delicately sown in, and he knows that Marinette has obsessively looked over the pattern work, as well as the stitchwork, with amazement and gluttony.

Would she be happy if he bought a naga jacket for her? Maybe in a dark red color, or a white as similar as Luka’s and a red sash? Something pearlescent, though— a plain white jacket wouldn’t match the paleness of her skin. It would look as if she’s wearing nothing at all.

“Loverboy, I’m going to go check up on my net. Stop swimming in your thoughts and focus on fishing. Cast yours as well, won’t you?”

He registers that he’s been drifting off into thought, rubbing at his tattoo across his chest, still thinking of her. He thinks about what Luka’s said for a little while, trying to remember if he’d been making a point, only to realize: “I didn’t bring mine.”

“Use my spare, then.” Luka laughs. “I’ll be back in a second— try not to get lonely, kitty-cat, okay?”

Luka slips off the boat entirely with a gentle splash noise. Chat watches with mild interest as Luka’s long and elaborate tail starts to plume again, filling out with all sorts of fins now that he’s entirely in the water, disappearing under the boat into the shade where no doubt many fish are hiding. He reminds Chat very dimly of a betta fish, with how gentle and fanish the fins are. No doubt that naga are incredibly good hunters in the water, but Chat Noir can’t help but wonder why they look so delicate and so easily tearable once they’re subjected to a humid environment.

He looks back to the empty barrels behind him with a sigh. Maybe his mother will bless him with good fortune, although, in all honesty— it’s doubtful. Very doubtful. He’s just going to have to do this by hand, it seems, to which he sends a quick prayer to his father— hopeful that instead of blessing him with good luck, he gives Luka enough bad luck for him to win.

And maybe he’ll be able to stop thinking of it for a few more minutes, too.

She finally finishes with the first stack of charms when Alya ends up knocking on the door. There’s a breeze gentle enough to kiss her cheeks brushing up against the windows— she’s let the panels of the house open enough to catch the draft. It’s light, as gentle as a cloud against her skin as she works, and barely stirs the fire from its slow attempt to reignite from the coals. The breeze is good for her heart, she supposes— every once in a while stopping in her attempt to complete her task in order to bask in how content she feels.

Her heart is full.

Of thoughts of Chat Noir, of thoughts of them, of thoughts of being happy. The thoughts she hadn’t given the chance to breed and fester are suddenly in full swing in her chest and mind, allowing her to gaze longingly out the window, wondering about him. There are many things to do in order to get the festival up and ready, and many of them will have to be done at the fields on the other side of town, but she’s certain that she’ll be able to finish a second or third stack of charms before she has to slip out of the cottage and go start the physical preparations.

Alya’s here to collect her, no doubt, just like Luka had said she would.

She’s brought Nino along, too, and Marinette is quick to grin and pull the two close enough to smother them into her shoulders. “Hello!”

“Hello there, Mari!” Nino twirls her, pressing their foreheads together. As like many people in her life, Nino is much taller than her— he makes up for it by bending his back as much as possible to be at her height. “I haven’t seen you in so long. How have you both been?”

“We’ve been well,” She laughs, cupping his cheeks with her hands. He lets her, eyes squinting behind his glasses, looking at her with friendly affection. “Much much better now, recently. The rain finally letting up is much better for the farm— oh, but I’ve missed you both. When was the last time we spoke?”

“Far too long.” He muses, breaking away enough to allow Alya to crush her into another hug. Her friend’s arms are warm, and comforting, and so definitely sweet. Living in the cottage away from town is mostly good, and allows her to work on her potions in peace— but it doesn’t allow her to see her friends as much as she wants to. The two of them are always so busy running their tavern, and renovations to Marinette’s own shop have made her daily check-in to their eatery almost impossible. “Where is Chat? Don’t think I forgot about him— I haven’t seen him in forever, either. Where is that cat?”

“Out fishing with Luka, unfortunately. They’re at the lake, if you’d like to go join them?”

“Absolutely not,” Nino breaks out into laughter as he unlaces his boots. “The last thing I need is to be caught in the crossfire between the two of them. It’s usually fine, I enjoy their banter and their desperate attempts to find reasons to touch each other without making it weird, but I’m trying to look my best for the festival.”

“And I’m sure you can’t do that when you’re in the middle of getting your hair scorched off.” Marinette can’t stop laughing.

“You and everyone else,” Alya rolls her eyes, letting go of her so she can breathe and not cough into her sleeve. Alya hugs like she has a vendetta. “What are you trying to look good for, anyway?”

“The more presentable I look, the more likely people are willing to give us tips in the end, my dearest.” He waggles his brows. Oh, the two of them are so lovely— Marinette watches with a yearning and heartful gaze as Nino bends Alya back in his arms, dipping her low, a firm arm underneath her waist. Even with only one shoe on, and his feather in his cap dangling dangerously low to brushing against their faces through the entire action, he’s nothing short of having heart eyes for the woman in his arms instead of dissolving into giggles like Marinette is. “I may be a good player, but we all know that only the truly most handsome get the money at the end of the day.”

“Then it’s good fortune for us that I have the most handsomest man in the world by my side,” Alya smiles so warmly, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. Oh, the two of them— Marinette is helpless to give a little sigh at how perfect the two of them are. “We’ll be rich in no time.”

Love. Love love love.

By far one of the most important things that Marinette has ever been able to witness firsthand is the way the two of them look at each other— her heart is ready to explode. She hasn’t touched the cookies in a couple of days, still trying to get the bitter taste of love sick out of her mouth and away, and looking at the cookies gives her a slight nausea, but the core principle is still there.

Love.

She’s so giddy and warm.

“Oh! Come on, come into the house for breakfast, join me at the table. I’ll get a new pot of tea out, does that sound good?” It’ll be good for her, too— it’s a good thing she has those herbs on hand, or else she would be worried about any developments in her body she isn’t ready to have— the problem now, of course, will be to make sure neither of them pick up on her dropping additional leaves into her cup. Alya is persistent and keen and notices just about everything there is to notice, which means that unless she’s genuinely distracted by Nino, it’ll be impossible to dissuade her from asking questions.

Marinette readies herself, turns to the kitchen, and beckons the two of them to finish unlacing their boots while sitting the iron kettle on the oven to heat.

“Awh, I’m sorry, Mari. We’ve already eaten breakfast,” Nino has to help Alya, of course, because her petticoats are far too long and her stays are too thick with boning for her to bend properly for her feet.

“Oh? That’s alright. I think I have something you both will enjoy snacking on while I continue working on my stuff.” Marinette grins when they finally make it to the table. She moves the charms away and clears most of the space for there to be enough room for the three of them— she drops the unfinished charms into a corded bag, for now, tying the little string. “So. Do you remember the lover cookies?”

“Do I? The same cookies that made Nino realize that he did, in fact, have feelings for me?”

“Hard to imagine a time that you two didn’t date,” Marinette giggles. “But yes, those exactly.”

“I always knew I loved you,” Nino pouts. “My problem was I just didn’t know how to tell you.”

“Telling me ‘I love you’ would’ve been enough, you know.”

“How was I supposed to know that?” Nino sighs. “We were all so caught up with the loss of Adrien that I didn’t know how to do anything.”

Marinette stops wiping at the table with her apron. Alya and Nino always remind her that she’s not the only one who misses their old friend. She never wanted to bring Adrien back because of her love— she wants to bring him back for everyone’s sake. Luka, Nino, Alya— their friends miss him. So dearly and so much— and talk about him as if he’s simply moved town, instead of being gone forever— but she’s never actually… explained that she plans on bringing him back. And now with the complicated mess of Chat Noir possibly being Adrien…

Oh, her head hurts. Just when she thought she could survive five more minutes not thinking about this tangled web. It’s as difficult to navigate as Plagg’s magic.

“Right, yes— I remember.”

“Mari?” Alya tilts her head, looking at how she massages her temples. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes— yes I’m okay. I just wish he were here.” Marinette smiles small, trying her best to ignore the way the seals on her ears burn. The two of them look at her with knowing gazes— they know she’s consumed some of the cookies herself. What they don’t know is that her heartache is actually pointing in an entirely different direction… or, perhaps, the same direction after all— just the person has a different name now. “I miss his laughter. I miss him— so I made lover honey cookies a couple of days ago, but I’m still in the process of making more, along with the charms. Would you two like to try them?”

Nino looked pained. “Are you making them for the festival?”

“Just in honor of our friend,” Marinette shares a private smile with herself. “It was his favorite, after all. It’s almost been ten years since he’s been gone.”

Alya’s eyes widen, looking down at the plate that Marinette puts in front of her with wide eyes. “Oh, how interesting. A cat shape?”

“Chat’s idea,” Marinette eagerly waits for them to try some, smiling a little bit wider. The cookies don’t snap in their mouths— still moist enough and sweet enough that it’s more of a chew than a crunch. The two of them hum appreciatively as Marinette takes a bit of time to pat off her apron clean of dirt. “What do you two think? Still good?”

“This tastes wonderful.” Alya sighs. “How is it that you make things taste like a whole fantasy? I feel like I’m biting into a cloud.”

“Guess it’s just part of my luck,” She giggles. “What do you think, Nino?”

“I think that, if I weren’t already with Alya, I’d confess my love to her on the spot all over again.” Nino’s face pinks. “This cookie is so strong. Did Chat try some?”

“He did.” She tries to hide her blushing and focuses instead on some dried-up flour on the edge of the table. “We both got love sick from all the cookies we ate. We probably ate a whole batch and a half, honestly— don’t do it. You’ll get overwhelmed with love.”

Alya hums with the cookie in her mouth, sharing a look with Nino. “Oh, really?”

“There’s no need to act all mysterious,” She shies, hiding her hands behind her, wringing her fingers through the laces of her apron. She looks to the single fire lily in the vase, how beautiful the blossom’s orange petals are, smiling to herself. “The cookies don’t make you feel love, but rather just amplify the feeling, and you two definitely know that. It wasn’t hard to put the context of his purring together with why we were getting overwhelmed.”

“Y—” Their eyes widen. Alya gasps. “So— he— you—”

Are there stars in her eyes? It feels like there are stars in her eyes. “We… talked about it.”

And other things. Lots of other things. Where was that bag of herbs, again?

“Chat Noir finally managed to confess?” Nino has to sit down from shock. “Holy hell!”

She sets out three tea trays, ignoring the way Alya looks at her knowingly when she sprinkles ginger root into one of the porcelain cups. Alya will accost her for that one later, that much is certain. “Wait, you— uhm. You knew?”

“Everyone does! Everyone knows that your familiar’s affections for you are much more than just friendly. Chat Noir has always— always— had his eyes on you, and has never concealed it.” Alya rolls her eyes. There’s a glitter in her smile, something that wasn’t there before, just proving to Marinette that she is absolutely going to get hounded the moment the two of them are alone. “I didn’t even need gossip for that one. His eyes follow you everywhere.”

“Oh. So, everyone, huh?” She blushes.

“Anyone with eyes can tell, yes.” Alya takes a seat next to Nino. She grabs for another cookie, nibbling on the tail, “Everyone could tell your affections for him, too. I was hoping something good would come out of it. Good to see that everything is well, in the end!”

“So are you two… together?” Nino doesn’t let Marinette steam behind her hands for very long. “Actually actually?”

“Uhm— well— I hope so. I think so. We talked about it—” Alya’s snorts cut her off, hiding a ‘yeah, and more’ under her breath. Marinette steams harder. “Uhm— and I really do think we’ll be together for a long time.”

“Is that even allowed for demons?”

“I don’t think we’re breaking any rules,” She rubs at her earlobes. Yet another thing to consider… “Uhm. Maybe I’ll have to talk to him about it. Who knows? He could be fine, considering his father—”

“Is 'the king of hell'.” Alya curls her smile. “And so, with a kiss, Marinette has accepted his propaganda.”

They have no idea how confusing it gets, do they? To know that Chat Noir could absolutely be telling the truth, and furthermore— the shenanigans that Plagg caused? She snorts behind a hand, thinking of how to even begin breaching the topic of a god stopping by to prank a witch and his demon son. Even if he really isn’t the king of hell, he’s certainly showing that he’s living up to the name… she can’t stop giggling. “Let’s hope he’s telling the truth. Why don’t you two enjoy some more cookies while I work on more of my charms? Or should we go to the field now?”

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#marichat may #marichatmay2021 #marichat #chat noir #marinette dupain cheng #fire lilies au #fire lily #fire lilies #oh wow i actually finally caught up to all the chapters i've posted!

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fernsplaysthings · 4 years

Text

Here’s about 2.7k words about Birds.

There’ll be more. Eventually.

Be nice to Spider. Be nice to Spider. Be nice to Spider.

“He must know we could just kill him? I’ve killed Gods. He’s just an overstuffed Ether pinata.”

Be nice to Spider. Be nice to Spider. Be nice to Spider.

Roost’s shell shivers like the wings of an agitated insect and he turns his single eye towards his Guardian, squinting across at them in judgement. The ornament, a tiny replica of a Vex Harpy, does make the whole spectacle a little sillier than he wants but the impact, he hopes, will be the same. Nestled in the seat of their jumpship Kestral swings their vision away from their descent into the tattered islands of the Reef to take in the scolding Ghost.

“I’m not going to kill him,” they almost whine defensively, “He just needs to know I could if I wanted to. Especially if he tries anything shitty with you. ”

The impression of a sigh sounds from the little light, “Nothing’s going to happen to me, Kes. I know we’ve seen a lot of loss and pain. Sundance, Sagira, Glint. I know some ghosts - the other kind - are showing their faces and it’s...it’s hard for you to put your feelings together. But…” Roost presses into the crook of Kestral’s neck with some force, finding rest in the collar of fur that covers their shoulders, “...You’ll always have me. We’ll have each other.”

Silence. The Ghost’s eye swivels upwards towards his Guardian’s face after waiting a moment to see if the prolonged quiet pulled a reply from them. Their face was blank and stoney and it took a moment for them to realise they were being watched intently.

Be nice to Spider. Be nice to Spider. Be nice to Spider.

“Stop trying to make me cry while I’m concentrating, you fuck.”

---

“Alright Kestral. The line’s secure. It’s just you, me and Roost.”

The Young Wolf sighs heavily, “Glint is it really a good idea for me to keep coming back here?”

They’d been jumping back and forth to the Shore for a short while now, meeting up with Crow for a run down on the Wrathborn situation and where they were in the general scheme of things. It’d be fine. Once the Celebrant was dead they could part ways and the Young Wolf could go back to their normal day to day activities. And their own normal thoughts. Because holy shit debating the morality of what they were doing and juggling the complex feeling of seeing the former Prince of the Reef’s face regularly, with the fact that the New Light had nothing to do with…

...that.

It was stressful. And not ‘God slaying’ stressful. Not even embracing the Darkness stressful. Wading into the depths and heights of the fabled Deep Stone Crypt, although unique in it’s inflicted trauma - poor Artemis - hadn’t put them in the same situation. Killing came with it’s own special kind of low. Grieving was a totally different monster.

“I understand why you’re worried but he remembers nothing. Plus, he looks up to you,” the little Light sounds concerned, his synthesised voice with a pleading edge. He obviously and proudly loved his Guardian, “You’re the first kind face he’s seen and I - we would appreciate it. A lot, Kestral.”

Another heavier sigh and the Hunter kneaded at their temples, bracing themselves to see that face again. Reliving the moment - moments? - over again in their mind. Cayde’s final rattling words. Uldren’s futile attempts to reason his way out from the sights of Petra’s gun. The new confounding idea that they now felt something aside from pity for the man that had been laid out on the floor unready to die.

“We’ll be in the lair in a few minutes. Let Spider know we’re on our way.”

“Will do, Guardian. We’re looking forward to seeing you!”

---

Coming face to face with the man that inhabited the body of Uldren Sov was a little less jarring these days and, although still entirely uncomfortable and a little like walking on eggshells at all times, they did kind of look forward to the quick wit - without the underlying loathing he’d always had before - and how damn earnest he was. A real Guardian, determined with all his heart to help people around him.

It was endearing. Unfortunately.

Mostly because it reminded them a little of their early Guardian days. Way back when things were somehow both simpler and more difficult. When they’d known that they wanted to help wherever they saw pain and danger but unsure of who they were and what cause they were fighting for aside from the driving urge to protect...

Even when they’d end up carrying the resulting hurt with them when they left.

Long before the ‘Young Wolf’ was an icon amongst Guardians, Kestral had been sweet and earnest themself. Driven but alone. Aside from Roost, of course. And despite the fact that the face and voice of their newest member of the flock had haunted their nightmares for months they still didn’t want ‘Guardian-hood’ to break him down too. For him to succumb to the slow process of losing himself to the need to help, whatever the cost.

Shared burdens and all that.

Plus Kestral liked to think that they had a good bit of experience under their belt to pass on to him so perhaps he’d find himself happily surrounded in the Guardian ‘culture’ one day soon.

“With Savek defeated and a good number of Wrathborn taken care of I think our next target is somewhere near the mines to the north.”

Crow stands over his cluttered desk, a map somewhat resembling the Tangled Shore spread beneath his hands and marked with crosses in seemingly random locations. One of them they recognised, Sjursrest, where the Wrathborn Eliksni Savek had been called. She hadn’t been the worst enemy to fight and Spider had left them alone for a while afterwards. Apparently he was mildly generous after they’d achieved a small goal.

Naturally the generosity only lasted until another of his shipments suddenly vanished and then it was straight back to work for his poor underling.

“You think the smaller Wrathborn might lead us straight to them again?”

He turns his attention to the Hunter at his side, a head shorter than himself - if you didn’t include the nest of hair in their high ponytail - and catches their gaze. They really wanted to hate that glowing yellow stare but...it was softer than Uldren’s had ever been when looking at them. Held less contempt for what they were.

It didn’t feel like he was sizing them up for a coffin.

Realising he’d been looking a little too long, perhaps uncomfortable with the Hunter’s unnervingly steady returned look, Crow cleared his throat, “If you try the lure at the Cryptolith again we can see where it leads.”

“Sounds good to me,” they reply, stepping back from the map and holding out a palm for Roost to transmat into, “I’ll keep in touch. Unless you’ll be joining me this time?”

The slightly clunky sound of Glint’s shell as he twisted in alarm snapped Kestral away from Roost and they arched an eyebrow.

“Crow, I know you want to help but you have to stay out of sight.”

His shoulders visibly slouch and Kestral hated how defeated he looked when, knowing the ache of feeling useless, they understood how much he wanted to be out there. It made sense to keep him secreted away though, just in case a single Guardian out on the Shore recognised his face and matched him to his former life. Just in case they felt the need to let him know that they knew what he’d done. If Kestral hadn’t been sure that Uldren deserved death even at the end of their hunt, this man, completely unconnected in everything but appearance, definitely didn’t deserve the abuse he’d suffered at the hands of other Lightbearers like them.

Why did Glint have to mention them being the first friendly Guardian he’d seen?

Crow straightened up, his momentary lapse in drive apparently a small hiccough and shot a grin over to his Ghost, “I see, you want to keep me all to yourself. I can’t blame you.”

With that Kestral decided they’d seen enough wholesome Light interactions for the day and threw up a lax salute before turning on their heel and heading for the exit.

“Glint has our feed, if you find anything new let us know.”

---

The following week happened to be the beginning of the Tower’s Dawning celebration. Having taken down yet another of the big Wrathborn, a heavy shank that decided to be the biggest pain in their ass, Kestral assumed that Spider could give the newest addition to his collection a small break to enjoy a mini version of the festivities. Since Glint had explained that their last Dawning had been ‘difficult’ - Kestrel preferred the term ‘emotionally scarring’ - they’d taken it upon themself, with a little prodding from Roost, to see to it that Crow at least received some traditional cookies from at least one Guardian.

Sadly, letting the rest of the fireteam know that the body of Uldren Sov walked again and that of all people Kestral, bringer of his demise, was taking him cookies…

Yeah they didn’t have time to unpack that.

So one tin of cookies (varied flavours), a string of tiny lights shaped like engrams, two servings of powdered hot chocolate (marshmallows stored separately) and a small gift wrapped delicately in a bow made their way aboard the jumpship storage before they travelled to the Tangled Shore.

A mote of panic made its way into their mind as they landed and gathered the items; what if he didn’t like any of this? They could just leave the goods on the ship and not have to worry about being mocked...or making him feel patronised by their silly traditions. Roost’s slitted glare forced them to continue though. He completely believed Crow and Glint would appreciate the gestures and Kestral hoped that he’d been speaking with the new Lightbearer’s Ghost to confirm as much. Either that or Roost had far too much faith in his goofy Guardian’s ideas on ‘welcoming’ and ‘festivities’.

Of course all that was immediately followed by the slap in the face that was ‘realising they wanted Crow to be happy’ and decided to focus on fitting everything in their arms instead.

Naturally the easiest way to get everything to the lair would have been to transmat it all at the same time, but something had to be said for riding up with a stack of goodies. Plus Spider hated it when they rolled in on their sparrow and ditched it in the corridor for a while before sending it away. He’d not been impressed on seeing that his (least) favourite Guardian seemed to have something other than work on their mind but he said little about it. Kestrel strode by quickly regardless because any conversation with Spider that could be avoided, should be.

Glint heard them before they’d rounded the corner, floating just out of view of the entrance, little eye lighting up brighter when he realised who’d turned up. And that they had stuff.

“You didn’t warn us!”

Kestrel struck an awkward pose, upper body ladened with their bounty, “Surprise?”

Crow’s head peeked around into the corridor soon after they’d spoken, a small tilt of the head and raised eyebrow as he glanced towards Glint questioningly. The Ghost simply rounded on Kestral and Roost, nudging them into the room before spinning excitedly.

“What is all this?”

Although trying not to meet his confused face - for fear, embarrassment or shame - the Hunter realised they’d need some extra arms to sort things out. Especially since Crow’s work surfaces seemed to be partially covered in machinery and scrap, with the other parts covered in grease and...Hive gunk? No matter what it was, it was no place for cookies. Placing the small stack in his arms Kestral quickly slung the lights over...something...and powered them up.

The small ‘oh’ could’ve come from either Glint or Crow, they weren’t sure.

“Do you have somewhere sort of clean to sit?”

Glancing over to a seat fashioned from assorted stuff Crow made a pained grimace, “Not going to lie I’m not exactly used to having guests.”

No matter. An ‘only slightly ruined dust sheet’ thrown over it and Kestral was satisfied that it would do for something to sit on for a bit. They took the mini festive haul back from Crow and gestured for him to perch as they held out the tin of cookies.

“I wasn’t sure what flavour you like so…” their smile was awkward, “Yeah. I made a bunch.”

“A bunch of what?”

The Ghosts’ simultaneous outbursts made both Lightbearers startle a little and when Glint settled into a very gentle description of Dawning cookie traditions Kestral took their seat beside him, swinging their legs up to hug their knees.

“Dig in. I bought hot drinks too.”

During the time taken for Kestral to find a comfortable position and for Roost to nestle into his favourite resting spot - Kestrel’s fluffy shoulders - Crow had taken bites of, what looked like, one of each cookie flavour and Glint was telling him which flavours they probably were. Once again Kestral found themself forgetting some of the weird past involving the body beside them, and investing themself in how engrossed in trying cookies he was. How much fun Glint was having talking about festivals now that they’d both finally been able to experience a bit. How much more there was to come and-

“Sorry, do you want some?”

The Hunter blinked up at him, “They’re all yours. I don’t want to help myself to your gift.”

“Glint sa-” the little Ghost tapped a point of his shell against Crow’s face and the New Light stuttered, “Thank you, Kestral. Roost.”

A saccharine warmth filled their chest for a moment, Roost’s shell fluttering again at the shared happiness and pride. They wanted to hate it so much. ‘Past Kestral’ screamed internally about grief and pain and weariness. ‘Present Kestral’ was tired of that and kind of liked the soft smile on their companion’s face - just because they knew they’d helped, nothing else of course - and the way his little Light seemed to buzz with the sheer affection at seeing his Guardian content.

“One more thing,” they press the small gift into his hands, “Don’t get too excited.”

The Awoken’s slightly blank stare prompted Glint into another explanation about how ‘the paper’s actually meant to be removed’ and so on, Kestral mesmerised - oh no - watching him deftly undo the bow they’d worked quite hard to form, reel the ribbon into a roll and then carefully unwrap the paper, Glint all the while egging him on to tear it open since ‘gifts are supposed to be exciting’.

It wasn’t an exciting gift but they did what they could.

On the Crow’s lap lay a folded pile of thick wool and fleece, edges neatly stitched into tidy seams. The deep red of the main body of fabric seemed to be the ideal colour based on what he wore but...well, Roost had said it was a good idea. He’d unfolded it with care, running his hands over the plush underside of the item, that same soft smile on his face.

“Aha, a cosy blanket.”

“I’m sorry if it’s not much I-”

“No! No, it’s...nice. Spider doesn’t supply much in the way of luxury, and…” his voice was a kind laugh as he gestured down to his lap where Glint had already made himself a nest in the folds of the blanket, “...I think it’ll be well used.”

Kestral hadn’t intended to spend almost a full day on the Shore chattering with Crow but somewhere along the way, later into the evening, they’d dug out a camping stove, filled a pan with water and made up two hot chocolates by the colourful glow of the string lights. The pair had settled down, opposite ends of the makeshift bench, feet messily thrown somewhere on the ‘seat’ between them, warm cups in hand. And at some point while immersed in talk of other festivals celebrated at the tower, the blanket had made its way from just covering Crow’s knees to being shared across them both.

Underneath the lively Guardians’ conversation the pair of Lights quietly decided that this might become a little more complicated than they’d anticipated.

#destiny 2 #d2 #young wolf x crow #kestral //

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prismarine-blocks · 4 years

Text

modpacks we've played

doubles as a handy list for ourselves and for our followers that want to check out modpacks

(not intended to be listed from most to least favorite but it accidentally ended up that way so uhh oops)

stoneblock / sb2

general thoughts: second one is much more polished and better. definitely good for multiple people to work on at once as a team. random rewards are actually useful and can give you good stuff early on!

thoughts on mods: thaumcraft is useless but is actually pretty cool if you choose to get into it. draconic is *chef's kiss* so fucking sexy, along with tinkers construct. resource chickens are GREAT. fluid cows need some polishing and take a stupid amount of wheat and time to get places with. anything past draconic (project E and so on) terrifies me so we haven't done much with it

thermal expansion is GREAT, the little machines make the best noises (esp. the pulverizer. ahhhh). flux networks is also great and i love the interface! ae2 is a pain but arguably fun to work with. i don't use immersive engineering for much tbh but it's good for making cloches :3

other mods are also useful but these are the ones i know off the top of my head by name

tips:

start chickens early on! they are great for getting loads of resources in the beginning of the game- most resources can be obtained through chickens. also, you can stack up to 16 chickens and breed them up to 10/10/10 in stats- if you do that, they'll give you 3 of their item about every second ago

yes, chicken boxes (nesting & breeding) are affected by the acceleration wand. NO they are NOT affected by imaginary time blocks. sorry lads

DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT CURSED EARTH UNLESS YOU ARE READY. enclose that shit in obsidian and have water buckets ready to turn it off in case something goes wrong. also, a little goes a very, very long way

have at least one cloche for wheat. you'll need both the seeds and the wheat itself (if you have too much wheat and not enough seeds, you can get one seed from 2 wheat in your crafting panel)

don't worry about the inventory crafting extension. it's cool and all but if you're anything like me you'll either forget you have it or hate it because it doesn't use the same interface as crafting tables/stations

the ME system (computer) is super time consuming to build but also extremely fucking useful. do yourself a favor and build that before any mob farms. your storage space will thank you

don't forget to add in optifine if you like to use it, and also be sure to slap this mod (not the rewritten version! that one may not work) in there so you can grow top tier inferium + nether star seeds in the cloches. note that you CAN'T grow neutronium in there, sorry :(

challenge ideas:

actually use thaumcraft lol

don't use the mining dimension. for this you'll need to do a LOT of hammering and sieving- luckily there are autohammers/sieves just for this! :)

---

skyfactory 4

general thoughts: hehe skyblock

really though, fun pack! great for working on as a team. in fact i'd honestly recommend it

thoughts on mods: sky orchards is time consuming but it's a nice way to gather resources! haven't used resource hogs at all, honestly not sure if they're necessary. tinkers is here and i LOVE the porcelain smeltery. very compact, very cute. can't remember a lot of other mods right now but the pack is generally pretty nice™

tips:

you can't smelt cobble in the porcelain smeltery to get seared stone, so try to use petrified resin blocks instead

get hopping bonsais asap! also remember that they need to be on a chest to deposit their contents

slab chests aren't really worth it. slab furnaces and tables though..... Slightly more worth it. i still wouldn't really recommend them except for the achievement tbh

if you don't want a super horizontal base, build up! you have a LOT of room to build upwards, and you have the ability to climb walls (jump, shift + w, then tap shift while holding w to get to the top)

if you're in a snowy biome, put something above your smeltery. snow will break it if it starts building up layers on the inside

slime boots are your best friend! great for if you accidentally fall off. easiest way to get them is building a smeltery and then standing in it for the congealed blood

nether portals don't work, don't spend time on making one! check out the cakes instead (just make sure you aren't making xl food mod ones)

---

compact claustrophobia

general thoughts: literal actual hell in a cube. fun! not the best for multiple people to work on as a team; there are certain places where the quest trees kinda bottleneck and it's difficult for people to work on the same thing. don't recommend if playing in tight spaces actually affects your claustrophobia

and yes. the fart sounds stop being funny after a while. like the second time tbh

thoughts on mods: i don't know most of the mods in here by name- or at least, ones that aren't also in sb2- so i can't give much in specifics. that said, whatever gives you the thermoelectric generators is great and really useful for power. also the autoclickers are 👌

tips:

do yourself a favor and grind for more tiny compact machines. you'll need some later and you'll also want to use them for extra space

autoclickers + vacuumulator + hopper and chest setup works Great, def recommend. also as a note, try to avoid standing in front of autoclickers that are left clicking- they DO hurt you

save your poop and work on getting a farm asap. you can use it as fuel that smelts up to 32 items if you just mix it with wheat

(i haven't played this as much as sb2 so unfortunately i don't have much to say)

challenge idea: only use one room of each size at a time. this is going to be nearly impossible given the size of a lot of machines, but trust me, it's (probably) possible

---

sevtech ages

general thoughts: bullshit. not in a fun way. it's really just complex for the sake of being complex tbfh. you want a challenge that's actually just hours upon hours of suffering? congrats here you go

the only thing that makes this better than rlcraft is the fact that it has an actual quest/achievement line and doesn't absolutely hate its players

thoughts on mods: the only cool one is whatever you build the totem pole and do dances for, that's it. maybe the dark forest place too bc it looks cool even if it IS a pain in the ass as well. tombstones are kinda useful too tbh

tips:

don't play this

if you still want to play this, don't

really though: the saw is useful

the watermill is arguably better than the windmill

try to set your base somewhere close to an ocean or river biome; those are the only places with unlimited water until you get aqueducts

get an autoclicker for grinding stuff with the lever. trust me your fingers will thank you

backpacks will be your new best friends. embrace this

getting through each age takes a LOT of time. don't feel bad for taking breaks

challenge ideas: honestly the game is hard enough on its own, i can't really think of anything that would make stuff harder... outside of maybe smth like "only do things manually, don't use horsepower" or whatever, which is just plain mean at this point

---

rlcraft

general thoughts: don't

thoughts on mods: just don't

tips:

love yourself

do not play this

don't even think about it

i know it's all haha fun youtube right now

but please don't do this to yourself

challenge idea: don't touch this ever

actually serious thoughts: super overrated. incredibly frustrating. another pack that isn't challenging so much as just fucking horrible. it's mean! it hates you! you'll eventually hate it too! i've sunk so much time into this and honestly? it's just not worth it. it really just isn't. nothing you do will ever please the gods of rlcraft and if you're lucky you'll build a nice sexy base that will be gone the next time you die because the game decided your bed wasn't valid :)

if you want an actual challenge, play compact claustrophobia. play packs that limit you in terms of space or resource gathering. don't play packs like this that are only hard because they spawn big fuckoff dragons that burn everything all the time constantly, or that respawn you fuck knows where bc somehow your bed unloaded or """got obstructed""", or that have mobs that will literally go through walls just to commit murder. oh and half the time you can't even sleep because it just randomly spawns a mob that can kill you!! just don't do it, man. your time and energy are worth more than that

#minecraft #modpacks #mc mods #mc modpacks #minecraft modpacks #not blocks #musings #how tf do people tag mod stuff again

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thevoidscreams · 4 years

Note

“death cannot stop true love. all it can do is delay it for a while” with kung lao?

(Yes. Absolutely. I’m so sorry it took this long. But a lot of things came up.)

Losing the love of your life was like losing your soul. Your whole life came undone, pulled out from beneath you like a rug.

Eyes overflowing you desperately tried to grasp what Raiden was telling you. His words didn’t seem to fully register with you as your heart was wrenched from your chest.

Kung Lao was dead, your husband, the father of the child still growing inside you, he was never coming back. Even though he’d been a monk an exception was made for the two of you. He was your soulmate after all so it was immoral to keep the two of you from being together. Raiden had vouched for the two of you and soon after you were married.

It felt like a lifetime ago even if it’s only been a year. Your first anniversary was in a week but now you would never get a chance to celebrate it.

You lost your drive to do many things.

You did pray. It was one thing you did constantly, praying to the elder gods to give you back the love of your life.

Raiden stopped by a lot to check in on you. Even if he was busy he found the time. You were having tea with him at his temple, the air was warm and still, but most of all it was quiet.

“They do hear you. I think it is only fair that I tell you that they have heard you in this time of strife. They grieve for you and your loss, but there is an order to everything and they cannot give him back to you.”

You sipped your tea, tears pouring down your cheeks. Sometimes they simply began and didn’t stop for hours till you were cried out.

“I know. I know I cannot have him back, but I feel like I have to at least try. I miss him more and more every minute he’s gone.”

Raiden felt his chest tighten not only at the sight of your tears but at your words as well. He missed his student more than he could say and you were very dear to him as well. Not only as a human, someone he was meant to protect, but also as a friend. You were kind and good, you did not deserve this pain. The lord of thunder felt he had failed both you and Kung Lao.

Shortly after Liu Kang joined you both and you made light talk about general things, the weather, his training, your friends and plans for the future.

The future. Without him it didn’t feel like a future at all. You hand ran over the swell of your belly and Liu Kang’s eyes became sad. As arrogant and prideful as his friend had been he still would have been a wonderful father. Of that he had no doubts. It was something he would never get to witness.

Raiden dropped you off at home, giving you a reassuring hug. He wasn’t the most touchy feely person but his hugs did make you feel safe and loved. He was like a second father to you, making sure that everything was well and that you were taking care of yourself. You likely would be an even bigger mess without him. When he left you were alone again. Left to your own devices you decided to have a bath and some cake and call it an early night.

It was over a month now. You were showing even more than before, a noticeable waddle now a natural part of your gate.

You were getting frequent calls from your friends and family. Kung Lao's family had even offered to let you stay with them, but you didn’t want to be a burden to them. However you did ask for any little items he might have owned. Being a monk meant he didn’t have much, but there were a few bits and pieces he’d left behind.

The month you had lived was agony and the dull ache in your chest had not yet left you. You had been sleeping with one of his old shirts as a pillow case. His smell had faded but the fabric still brought you comfort. A comfort that was fleeting as it became apparent that you’d never have him beside you again.

The netherrealm was anything but comfortable.

It was full of the dead and evils of the world. Not the most ideal place to set up shop. But for a revenant it was really the only option.

Kung Lao hated it here. He wanted to be with you and your child, he missed you so badly. His memories of your smile and laugh were his only saving graces in this hellscape. Time was different here too, he wondered if you’d given birth yet, if you were holding his son or daughter and telling them about him. He wanted to see if you were well, to see if his baby was well. He loved them more than he could say and he’d not even met them in person yet. Lao did not want to be here, he wanted to tell you he loved you and tell your child that he loved them as well. If he could get out of here he could do just that. But he needed to escape first. He knew Raiden could fix this if he tried. He could return Lao to life and back to normal. The magic that kept him from you was reversible. He just had to find a way out. Then he could hold you in his arms and kiss you. His love, the light of his life, his everything, his wife. He never dreamed he would be able to have a lover let alone a wife. But then you came along and flipped his world upside down in the best way possible.

Could think of one thing but it was risky. As mad as he was at Raiden for letting him rot down here, maybe there was still a way for the guardian to help him.

Kung Lao sat and bowed his head in silent prayer. He hadn’t focused this hard on prayer in a very long time but he needed it to get through. He prayed to every being he could think of and whoever answered first is who’s help he’d take. It didn’t matter to him. As long as he could be with you. Death would not keep him any longer.

It was the middle of the night, dark and peaceful as the rain pelted your windows, falling in sheets that soaked everything.

The worn fabric of your husband’s shirt pressed against your cheek as you watch the water falling down the panes of glass. Your tummy wedge was tucked snuggly under your bump, it was hard to lay down without it now. The little one was restless, moving this way and that, you couldn’t sleep because the tiny boy inside you had decided already that anything to do with kicking was going to be his favorite style. More than once you’d made a mad dash to the bathroom to stop from peeing yourself. You couldn’t be mad though this little person was what had kept you going these past weeks. So lonely and depressed that most of the time you didn’t want to get up. But you had to eat, you had to drink water, you had to be clean and healthy for the little human you loved so much. There were times that thinking about how you would be holding him soon was nearly enough to vanquish the darkness from your mind and heart.

However the darkness would always find its way back into you like a serpent gliding over the slowly crumbling walls into a sunlite garden to hide in the beautiful plants. Striking when least expected even if you knew it was there.

Your eyes became heavy, drooping and ready to fall asleep. A shadow slipped quickly and silently past your window. Someone was outside your house, it was storming but someone was out and about in the rain. This wouldn’t have been too big of a deal if you lived closer to other people, but your little home was mildly isolated.

You were not as quick as you’d have liked to have been as you rolled out of bed in a panic.

You were beyond spooked. You were terrified. The closet had a little crawlspace in which you could hide. You grabbed your phone from the end table and tried as hard as you could to be quiet getting in. You heard the front door open as you got to the closet. Hadn’t you locked it?

You didn’t know who was there or why but your safest bet was to hide and wait it out.

The house was quiet, even for this time of night. The front door had been locked but the stone turtle that hid the spare key had not been moved from it’s spot in the front garden.

The revenant moved through the living room till he reached the halfway to the back of the house. There was no sound but the rain and it was unnerving. He knew you were here though, where else would you be?

He stopped in the nursery, the crib was empty and the night light was unplugged. His heart sank. The whole house was so awfully still it began to scare Kung lao.

The bedroom was the next room over, the carpet masked any sounds his feet might have made. He missed the feeling of something plush underfoot.

When he arrived in the room the bed was empty, the covers were pulled back and unmade. He frowned and placed his hand against the mattress. Still warm.

You were here, you must be hiding, he must have scared you without realizing. He felt foolish and his hope that the deal he’d made to come back to you would be for not.

His eyes caught his reflection in the full length mirror on the wall by the closet. He was a ghastly sight, his gray skin, once smooth was now cracked and his eye once full of life now glowed eerily. He feared you’d want nothing to do with him the moment you saw.

A soft shuffle drew his eyes away from the horror that stood before him. It came from the closet.

He pulled the door open, his movements slow and gentle in case you were in there.

The door to the crawlspace was ajar and he knew that it had to be where you were hiding.

Though it saddened him to think that you were hiding from him it made sense.

Kneeling next to the entrance to the tiny storage room, his knees crushing shoes that he didn’t take the time to move, Lao cleared his throat and heard a soft distressed sound.

As quietly and as sweetly as he could he called for you.

The room seemed even more silent than before. Anticipation hung heavily in the air as the tiny door creaked open slowly. One wide eye peeked out disbelieving at the sight of your dead love in the closet.

“LAO!” The door burst open and your form crashed into him sending you both tumbling out of the closet and onto the bedroom floor. Your stomach made hugging him a little difficult but it did not stop your lips from finding his the moment he landed on his back.

You peppered his mouth, cheeks and nose with kisses, barely managing to get out a coherent sentence instead simply conveying your overwhelming joy in tears and a barrage of affection.

“H-how? Kung Lao, I thought I’d lost you forever. How did you come back?”

He cupped your cheeks in his hands, enjoying the warmth that he felt from your skin in his cool palms.

“Cetrion. She told me that if I came back and you would accept me then I could stay. That I could have life again.”

“Of course I’ll have you back. I’ll never turn you away, how could I? I thought that we would never be able to be with you and it nearly killed me.’ You placed your hand and his on your large baby bump. “I was so afraid I’d have to live my life without having my true love to share it with.”

Kung lao kissed you sweetly and held you in his arms.

“Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while.”

Once you were both able to pull yourselves apart long enough to stand he guided you to the bed and helped you back into it. The rain was softly tapping on the glass of the window, now much lighter than it was before.

Kung Lao was able to rest with you again, he was able to sleep. But he didn’t need to, his dream already came true. He was with you again.

#kung lao #kung lao x reader #kung lao x you #mk11 #mortal kombat 11 #mortal kombat x reader #mortal kombat #mk11 kung lao

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thejolexgroupchat · 4 years

Note

Would love to see a fic of prompt #57 !!! (“So stick that in your juice box and suck it.” ) I have no idea what it would be like but it just sounds fun ahaha

We absolutely LOVE the prompts you all sent us. This fic was written by Nina @doc-pickles and Leya @iamtrebleclefstories

Enjoy the first of many collaborative fics from The Group Chat!

the one with the juice box

It was an unusually hot May day in Seattle, meaning the ER was filled with heat stroke patients that kept everyone busy. Alex had been running back and forth from the peds floor to the ER all day, checking in on new patients while still maintaining his normal routine. To be honest, he was exhausted and all he wanted was to settle in for lunch with his wife. He hadn’t seen her since they’d walked in together almost four hours ago, which wasn’t unusual, but she usually popped by to see him at least once or twice.

Clocking off for his lunch, Alex wandered down towards the main surgical floor in search of his wife. She’d seemed okay when they were getting ready for the day, extreme morning sickness turned to only an occasional swell of nausea now that she was in her second trimester. Still, Alex couldn’t help the worry for his wife that wound itself through his body. He knew that the pregnancy was taking a toll on her, both physically and emotionally, so, although he was sure she was going to be fine, he couldn't help but worry.

After searching and finally asking a few nurses he’d passed, he found Jo laying on an empty gurney in one of the quieter hallways. She wasn’t asleep, just laying on her back and glaring at the ceiling with the most adorable angry pout Alex had ever seen. He smiled because the position she was lying in allowed him to see the tiniest curve of her stomach, so small and barely there that he was probably the only one who noticed.

He came up behind her and pressed a tender kiss on her forehead, “Hi.”

“Shut up,” Jo scowled.

“What?” Alex asked, a puzzled look on his face. “All I did was say hi. You can’t be mad at me for that.”

“I’m not mad because you said hi,” Jo rolled her eyes. “I’m mad at you because you did this to me. You knocked me up and now I can barely stand without feeling like I’m going to fall over.”

Alex wanted to laugh, honestly. But he knew if he did, he’d end up in the doghouse. Jo’s hormones had been a whirlwind lately. Most days, he teetered on the edge of saying something equally snarky back or just taking it in stride. Today, he decided to contain himself, “You’re not dizzy because you’re pregnant. Well, it’s not the only reason you’re dizzy. You’re dizzy because you’ve barely eaten anything all day. This morning when I made breakfast, you almost bit my head off for placing eggs in front of you, and proceeded to tell me how you couldn’t stand the smell and didn’t want to eat anything. I had to practically shove that piece of toast down your throat.”

“It’s still kind of your fault. Because if I weren’t pregnant, then I wouldn’t have weird food aversions that keep me from eating.” Jo pointed out.

“As far as I remember, you’re the one who got us into this situation. You stopped taking your pills, and I told you that I didn’t have a condom but you said and I quote, ‘I don’t care. I’m naked and horny, stop stalling and just stick it in me.’ So really, you did this to yourself,” Alex shrugged.

“Whatever,” Jo glared at her husband. “What do you want?”

“I was wondering if you wanted to come eat lunch with me,” Alex asked sweetly, knowing if he won Jo over with his charm she might not realize he was just trying to get food into her over exerted body.

“I honestly don’t know if I can even get up from this gurney,” Jo admitted, eyes moving up to meet Alex’s. He could see just from looking at her how much of a toll everything was taking on her. “I think I’m just gonna spend the next few months here, then I don’t have to move when I give birth.”

“I’ll carry you over there if I have to,” Alex offered, holding his hand out towards Jo. “Come on, I’ll help you up and hold your hand if you get dizzy.”

“Fine,” Jo huffed and held on to Alex as she let him help her off the gurney.

They got to the cafeteria and Jo wrinkled her nose at the available options. Nothing looked appetizing, prompting her to grab an apple and banana and sit down at a table. Alex joined her a moment later, tray loaded with a burger, a sandwich, two bags of chips, and a fruit cup. He grabbed the burger and bit into it before fixing Jo with a pointed stare.

“Please for the love of god, force yourself to eat something besides an apple,” Alex pushed the tray towards Jo who glared at him. “If you don’t eat any of that, I’m putting you on my service so I can watch you all day and make sure you don’t pass out.”

“I’m not a resident anymore, you can force me on your service,” Jo pointed out, eyeing him warily.

“Dammit. That’s right. You’re a fellow,” Alex wrinkled his nose. “Well, good news is that I’m the chief, so technically I can have you follow me around all day.”

Jo stared him down for a moment, Alex unfazed by his wife’s glare as he bit into his burger. Finally relenting, Jo grabbed a bag of chips and began to slowly eat them between bites of fruit.

“You know I really hate you sometimes,” Jo mumbled as she took a final bite of the apple, a low groan escaping her as she did so. “Bailey would never abuse her power like this.”

“You didn’t know her when I was a resident,” Alex took another bite of his burger. “Are you sure you don’t want anything else? You can have some of my burger.”

“I’m sure,” Jo shook her head, a disgusted look crossing her face as she settled one hand onto her stomach. “Watching you eat is making me feel nauseous.”

Alex sighed, looking to Jo with a serious expression “This isn’t okay Jo. I can’t have you walking around the hospital alone without having eaten anything. You’re with me today, okay?”

“I don’t need to be babysat Alex, I can take care of myself,” Jo whined, crossing her arms across her chest like an angry toddler. “You don’t need to watch me 24/7.”

“You fell asleep on our bathroom floor yesterday after puking for 30 minutes. How about this,” Alex leaned in towards his wife with a small grin. “Shepherd and I have a Peds case together, you can come and help us so it doesn’t feel like I’m just dragging you around to make sure you don’t pass out in a storage closet.”

Jo eyed Alex warily, he was almost certain she was going to fight him on it, but he wore his ‘I’m the Chief don't test me right now’ expression well enough that she finally conceded.

“Ugh… fine,” Jo groaned, standing and reaching for Alex’s hand. “Bailey’s out today anyway, so it’s not like I have anything better to do. But this is a one time thing!”

Alex joined Jo, one arm wrapped tightly around her shoulder as they headed towards the elevators.

“That’s the spirit, your enthusiasm is appreciated,” Alex chuckled as they made their way to the Peds ward. “If you keep eating and stop feeling like shit, maybe I’ll let you do more things on your own.”

Alex led Jo into a patient room, Helm and Shepherd already speaking with a young girl and her mom. Amelia was explaining the procedure to them, so Alex and Jo hung back by the door until they’d finished.

“I brought you something,” Alex whispered, handing a box of apple juice to Jo. “Figured you can keep your electrolytes up.”

Jo rolled her eyes as she snatched the juice box from Alex, sticking it in the pocket of her lab coat. "You're a pain in the ass. Stop hovering."

“Geez, Jo. Why are you so grumpy? I'm supposed to be the grumpy one,” Alex tried joking in hopes of lightening the mood. "You're the nice one in this relationship. "

“Did you forget that I'm literally carrying your genes right now?" Jo stared her husband down. "I am part Alex Karev at this moment and will continue to be for the next five and a half months, so you better get used to this.”

Alex narrowed his eyes at her and reached for the juice box in her pocket. He removed the straw from the plastic and handed both items back to his wife, "Whatever. You can be mean and grumpy all you want, but you're carrying our kid and they need nutrients. So, stick that in your juice box and suck it."

Jo glared at Alex as she stuck the straw in the juice box. She was about to open her mouth in response when her smart remark was interrupted by Amelia calling Alex over to speak to the mom.

“Gracie and Delilah, this is Doctor Karev. He’s the best pediatric surgeon we have and he’s going to help me fix you up Gracie,�� Amelia turned from Gracie to her mom. “Seriously this guy is a miracle worker, you’re lucky I convinced him to come consult.”

Alex pulled Delilah aside, explaining in more detail exactly what Gracie’s treatment plan would look like. He could tell she was worried, but hoped that he and Amelia could keep her nerves at bay.

“Any other questions before we start doing labs?”

“Well just one,” Delilah blushed, eyelashes batting against her cheeks as she looked up to Alex. “Would it be inappropriate for me to ask for your number?”

Now, it’s not like Alex had never been hit on at work before. He had been, plenty of times, especially being a peds surgeon that dealt with scared moms daily. But since he’d been preoccupied with his Chief duties, lately he hadn’t spent enough time alone with moms to have them hit on him. Not to mention it was the first time Alex had experienced this since he’d gotten married. He also didn’t expect for his wife to be standing on the opposite side of the room when it happened.

So for that very reason, Alex blurted out the first thing that came to his mind, “I’m sleeping with her.”

Delilah looked stunned and a bit confused, scrunching her face as she looked to the doctors behind them, “Which one?”

Alex looked around the room and saw Jo standing with Amelia and Helm talking to Gracie. Jo clinked her juice box against Gracie’s and took a giant slurp. Alex turned back around to Delilah and motioned to Jo, “The one with the juice box.”

“Oh,” Delilah nodded, a strange expression on her face.

“Yeah,” Alex laughed awkwardly, his hand coming up to rub against his neck. “That’s my wife. My pregnant wife, sharing a juice box with your kid. Who I’m about to operate on.”

Alex and Delilah stood in an awkward silence that was only broken by Amelia announcing that Helm was going to run labs for Gracie before they prepped her for surgery. Alex quickly said his goodbyes to Gracie and Delilah, grabbing Jo’s arm pulling her out of the hospital room.

“Geez you’re eager to get out of there,” Jo joked, sipping off her juice box as they walked down the hall. “What’s up with you?”

“She hit on me,” Alex blurted out, turning to Jo with a shocked expression. “Gracie’s mom hit on me.”

There was a beat of silence between the two before Jo burst into laughter, holding a hand to her chest as she tried to contain the giggles coming from her mouth. Jo wiped a few tears from her eyes, "What did you say? Please tell me you froze like an idiot."

Alex ran a hand over his face in hopes of disguising his embarrassment, "I told her I was sleeping with the one drinking the juice box."

"Oh God… Alex," Jo's laughter started up again. She laughed in between her words. "Out of everything... that's what you said? Did you at least say that we're married. I don't need patients thinking I'm servicing the Chief."

"Of course. I'm not that much of an idiot," Alex sighed. "I don't need patients thinking that the Chief of Surgery is a man-whore."

"He used to be," Jo muttered under her breath, nudging Alex with a smirk.

"Shut up," Alex stuck his tongue out, deciding to mess with Jo a bit. "I haven't been like that in years. You know that you're the only person I've slept with in the past six years? You can't exactly say the same."

"Hey!" Jo gasped and slapped Alex on the shoulder. "I thought we agreed to forget about that. Me sleeping with Schmidt was a momentary lapse in judgement. And I only did it because I was trying to get over you."

"Well, would you look at how that worked out," Alex poked her small bump lightly. "You ended up with me anyway."

"I know," Jo groaned. "And now I have to put up with you for the rest of my life."

"You love me," Alex bent down and gave Jo a quick peck on the lips. "Come on, we've got like forty-five minutes before we've got to meet Shepherd in the OR and I'm going to try to force a granola bar or something down your throat."

"We've got forty-five minutes free and all you want to do is make sure I eat something?" Jo shook her head in disappointment. "Gosh, being Chief has really mellowed you out. Who are you and what have you done with Alex Karev?"

"Huh?" Alex looked at her in confusion. "What did you want to do with your free time?"

"Alex, come on. You can't be that clueless," Jo looked at him expectantly. Seeing that he wasn't going to catch on anytime soon, she decided to spell it out for him. "Dude. I'm fifteen weeks pregnant and my hormones are raging right now,"

A look of realization finally crossed Alex's face, "Oh… Oh! You wanna?"

"Yup," Jo nodded and looked at him with an expression that could only be described as hungrily.

"I could be into that," Alex whispered. "Let's get out of here before someone sees me and decides that they need the Chief."

#jolex #jolex fanfic #alex karev #jo karev #grey's anatomy #grey's season 15 #grey's anatomy fanfic #jolex babies #pregnancy hormones #apple juice #sentence prompt #velociraptor #iykyk #grey's fanfic #greys anatomy #jo x alex #jolex forever #jolex endgame #the groupchat

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viostormcaller · 4 years

Text

Thinking about it, it kinda sucks just how little new horizons has.

Like... I love the game to pieces and maybe this is just bc im in a shitty mood (which i am) but like... god this is gonna be long and ranty and I'm sorry in advance that mobile tumblr doesnt have the read more feature

For starters, holidays are all scheduled on the company's terms, meaning in 7+ years or so there will be no more in-game holidays because by then they'll probably be thinking about/getting ready to release the next installment of the series on whatever console is out at the time and they won't want to update new horizons anymore. And adding onto this, you need the internet to download the updates. What happens to the players who don't have internet?? Can they just never experience the holidays like bunny day and toy day and turkey day? That takes a HUGE part of the fun of the series out right off the bat. Sometimes making everything rely on the internet is a bad idea. Idk if anyone can like tell me if having no internet means you can't take part in the holidays, but like... god if that's true thats really sad.

They recently took out the hybrid flower and big fish islands, which makes no sense whatsoever why they would do that to a game that has so little, but ok?? It's not like that feature was hindering the gameplay any

There's a lot of furniture but Not a Lot of Furniture, you get me? They took out EVERY set except the classic set (renamed "antique") that you can buy for an insanely high price, and the log and wooden block sets that you can craft, but other that that it's all unrelated items that aren't part of any set, aside from the cute set and diner and throwback sets which as far as I can remember are the only other sets you can buy in the game. No alpine, no ranch, no minimalist, no princess or gracie, no modern or sleek, none of that. And 90% of all the buy-only furniture in the game is just the color variants. You can't even customize them! And it's hard as fuck to find the color variants you want, much less for completing a furniture set

And speaking of which, your starting villagers don't get their default house interiors. Your first three + your two starters from the tutorial days have the same generic layouts. You NEVER see what their houses are supposed to look like, and even if you give them the wallpaper and flooring they're supposed to have (if you figure that out online somewhere), their house doesn't change (I tested this with Sherb and was kinda disappointed).

And stuff is so EXPENSIVE. I know it adds a challenge but my final loan was NEVER 1 mil+ bells in New Leaf. And you can't even expand the extra first floor rooms you get. I'm literally getting less for WAY more. The biggest rooms you get are the basement and upstairs rooms. The first floor rooms aside from the main room really don't have a lot of space and with the different furniture they DO offer, I don't have a lot of room to put things in. But it's not like I can even afford it anyway -- just a freaking air conditioner was 63,000 bells. In New Leaf it was 2500. That's a MASSIVE jump. And the kitchen items are so freaking expensive, as well.

And speaking of houses, for someone who was literally in the real estate industry in the last game, tom nook adds very few house exterior options. And the even more shitty thing is that a lot of the colors straight up don't match. They couldn't even add a plain white roof.

God and the fucking DIY recipes. I know I've said this before on my other tumblr but the RNG for this game is the worst I've ever fucking seen. There is no reason why, two months into the game, I can be given a recipe for a simple DIY bench, which EVERYONE LEARNS IN THE TUTORIAL. Who the fuck am I giving it to?! No one, because literally every player knows it already, and you can't gift diy recipes to villagers! And I keep getting repeats of recipes. My villagers give me fruit DIYs all the time, it's so rare for me to get any new ones. And two days in a row I've gotten the recipe for the deer head mount thing from the same villager. New recipes should 100% take the priority before repeats. This game is slow paced, sure, but that's just frustrating. It doesn't make me excited to learn more recipes, it makes me feel like I'm never gonna learn any new ones because I'll get the same fruit DIYs for a week straight.

And speaking of which, you can't put trees, bushes, or flowers in your storage, which to me makes literally no sense. I can fit a giant ass fountain in my storage but I can't put a flower plant? Really? And speaking of storage, for a game that added 300 whole slots for mail instead of the usual 10, I will never understand why they decided to halve the amount of items a player can order a day from the nook shopping, AND make it so that it takes a whole day to get there instead of making deliveries at 9 am and 5 pm like in New Leaf.

And the fact that they made it so hard to get non native fruit and flowers and shit??? Like they at LEAST added Lief so flowers aren't as much of an issue anymore, but you actually have to travel to other people's islands just to get all the fruits?? I know you have to do the same thing in New Leaf but the reason why this is an issue for me is because you have to pay for online access, meaning most of those nook miles for planting all the fruits are locked behind a paywall unless your villagers can gift them to you. And your mom, when you first start the game, has a chance of giving you the one fruit that's on the non-native fruit mystery island, meaning you'll only get ONE new fruit and not two separate ones (for example, my sis got pears from mom but her non native fruit islands have cherries i believe. I got pears from mom and my fruit islands also have pears. Doesnt help that that's the one fruit i hate lmao). They also took OUT a bunch of fruits, like mangoes, durians, lemons, bananas, lychees, persimmons...

And the fact that your nook miles rewards are ISLAND LOCKED. That is the WORST SHIT. Not everyone has the ability to play with others, bc no internet or no money for the subscription every month. Not everyone WANTS to play with others bc maybe they get social anxiety (like me, which is why i havent asked for things that are impossible for me to get even though i want them for my island or house), or maybe they simply just don't want to. But the fact that each island has their own color variants of the same goddamn rewards that CANNOT BE CHANGED makes me so upset. I do not want nor should I have to rely on others to get the items I want because my game doesn't have my preferred color variations. And it's not like I'm far enough in the game to have anything worth trading for said items, nor do I have the bells.

And Isabelle does next to fucking nothing and I'm really irked about how they made her character in this game. Yeah she's cute, but that's ALL she is. She became more ditzy than anything else. She doesn't let you know about visitors in the town or the plaza or if a bridge or incline was built bc of a completed donation goal. Like really useful info to know would be if Flick or CJ is in town or who is selling stuff in the plaza. Flavor text is nice but if that's all you say 24/7 it loses its charm. In New Leaf she was helpful and hardworking and super focused and on top of things. Idk why they changed that aspect of her. I know her role in New Horizons isn't as big as it was in New Leaf, but still.

And then there's glitches that STILL haven't been patched (as far as I know anyway), like the game-breaking villager corruption glitch (which you'd think nintendo would have made a priority but they're too busy removing other features it seems) or the house exterior glitch.

And it's bad enough that your game saves to your fucking system a la Fantasy Life. But even WORSE, no one can have separate islands on one console. It's not enough to own two copies of New Horizons. Each player has to own one copy of the game and a whole new Switch just so they can play on their own islands. Parents can't usually afford that (aka $360 for each kid give or take) so for a game marketed towards kids, I don't know why they thought that was a smart move (well, I DO know, and that's because money, but still). And to top it all off, cloud saves are not supported normally. If you lose your game or your switch and aren't subscribed to nintendo online, well, it looks like all your progress is gone! And there's nothing you can do about it. And they directly claimed that they did this just so people can't manipulate the game because it's supposed to be played in real time. But people can still fucking time travel by setting the system's clock! They achieved nothing except to make the players frustrated!!! If you make a game you need to accept that the player is going to play how THEY want to. You shouldn't try to make everyone conform to the way YOU want them to play. That just makes you a controlling asshole and the game loses a lot of its fun.

This game was 60 bucks and they took so long to make it and we ended up with less than we got in New Leaf. The main thing they gave us was a shit ton more clothing items (which I really like). Like I said, I love this game to pieces and it's actually one of my favorite games right now. There's so much I love about it -- I certainly don't hate it or anything. But this game has SO MANY flaws, a lot of which are needless. And I think the kid in me just misses the days where you can pay for a game and get the whole game right away. No updates in tiny batches, no content locked behind paywalls, no day one patches, no reliance on internet connection and multiplayer... mainstream companies have all gone really downhill with that shit and it just disappoints me to no end. But because Nintendo is kid-oriented, I think that's where it hurts the most. It was supposed to be accessible, family friendly fun like back during the days of the Wii and the DS. But companies get so wrapped up in competing with each other and trying to make the most money that they forget about all that. I dunno. It just sucks.

If you read all this, god damn I'm surprised XD I got super ranty and I apologize. But I'm in a sad mood and I after learning about features they've taken out I just had to get all this off my chest. It's been weighing on me since the game released, especially since for months prior this game was all I could think about and I was really looking forward to it. It just let me down in a lot of ways, I guess.

#long post #rant #animal crossing new horizons #acnh #vio stormcaller

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uwua3 · 4 years

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hi! first off, congrats on the new blog!! i read that misumi piece and i really enjoyed it hehe,, if it's alright, may i request some domestic fluff with kazunari? mayb looking over old photo albums of each other from when they were kids and laughing and telling stories about what happened in the photos? thank you very much and i hope u have a nice day :D

hi!!! this made me so happy 🥺 thank you so much, i hope to keep this blog running for a long time! also, i saw your reblog of my jealousy hcs and i wanted to say thank you for your sweet comments!!! i go back to it whenever i need motivation, you inspire me to keep writing ♡ thank you! i hope to continue making you proud as a writer :D <3

summary: kazunari had to stop living in the past and make new memories outside of his yearbooks with you

author’s note: this is definitely a much happier piece than my others! this was refreshing to write and i treasure it dearly, it’s definitely much more on the humorous side! no angst today, folks!!! (ok just a little, but it’s barely noticeable!)

this is just a little look into a hoarder named kazunari and his sentimental, nostalgic personality ♡ i, myself, am a marie kondo supporter so i love decluttering! if you are a hoarder like kazunari, honestly go you! you keep those knick knacks that remind you of memories! do whatever makes you the happiest :D

word count: 2,151

music: make you mine – public, tongue tied – grouplove (this song is so Kazunari !!!)

nostalgia.

🌻🎨 miyoshi kazunari

it was that time of year again

kazunari hated spring cleaning with a passion. so what if his art supplies were all over the dorms? he knew where everything was! uh, mostly...

(if you ignore his daily panicked house searches which kept everyone up way too late if he couldn’t locate a very specific paint shade for a big project he definitely procrastinated)

so, it took, so much bribery to get kazunari to even consider cleaning out his entire dorm room

(muku was a very Good Boy and already had his side of the room perfectly dusted and organized)

yes, you had to promise to pose as a model for one of his paintings one day (hopefully, not the type of class you were thinking) (kazunari’s suggestive wink didn’t help)

the thing about kazunari was he was somewhat of a, putting it politely, hoarder

as an extremely sentimental person, it would take the whole mankai company to even force him to throw something away

(“no! it has a special meaning to me! i remember what happened when i got this~” kazunari would whine, holding the useless item between his hands with no intentions to ever look at it again)

so the boys employed you to be kazunari’s rational judgement when cleaning that day

(“please actually make him do something.” sakyo looked like he was on the border of begging; kazunari’s abundance of random knick knacks and shopaholic addiction problem was becoming an issue that affected everyone)

rule #1 of cleaning kazunari’s storage room: don’t open anything because kazunari will become very sentimental and nothing will get gone

so therefore, as a team, you two tackled the rather spotless room. the interior was minimal and modern, just like kazunari liked it with pops of color here and there

(he had one blank white wall and you realized it was the backdrop he used to film all his social media posts [dancing tik toks, fashion #ootds on instagram, daily vlogs on his growing youtube channel])

at first, you were confused where all his stuff went until you opened a closet against his terrible and unconvincing distractions

without time to react, you found yourself buried in tens of books you couldn’t even fathom how it all fit

(“i’ve played way too much tetris.” kazunari would admit later on when asked about his immaculate stacking)

“you’ve got to be kidding me!” you groaned, pushing your head above the surface of book covers that have either never been opened or were way too old to even be functionable

“i’m sorry~ please, forgive me!” kazunari pleaded, immediately pulling you out of his own mess and using all his cuteness to make you roll your eyes fondly at your best friend

you almost started ranting at him about the dangers of taking up too much closet space with useless items before you realized:

wait! stop! he’s trying to get you to forget about throwing these books out! you thought suddenly, crossing your arms as you stared at the pile, trying to figure out how to approach the situation

“you cannot distract me. we are going through this mound and you will be getting rid of something today.” you ordered, seeing his shoulders drop in defeat as he nodded solemnly, but accepting his fate without any arguments. thank god for that

you two bent down and organized all the books into categories. popular photography instruction guides, creative advice columns, and all his past art textbooks kazunari couldn’t sell were put into a seperate group because luckily, they were relevant to his art school

things like old newspapers with funny comics were recycled (you refused to let kazunari read them in fear of invoking some form of nostalgia) (also because he had the whackiest sense of humor ever and would die laughing)

it was going well, until you reached the thickest photo books of them all (you had almost forgotten what you and kazunari’s school mascot was)

but unsurprisingly, kazunari had every single yearbook from each year of his education all the way until his last year in high school piled high to his chest

even he looked somewhat shocked from his mass accumulation from his teen years

“ah! i’m so old now~ look at all this! what else can i do except die?!” kazunari dramatically flopped onto his bed, tired of lifting so much weight. hey! his arms weren’t meant for exercise, he was a painter!

lifting his head to see you were distracted from alphabetically sorting the first section lovingly dubbed, “art shit”, kazunari mischeviously grinned as he leaned down to snatch a random yearbook

flipping to a random page, kazunari smiled as he realized it was the first time he ever met you back in elementary

kazunari sang your name as he sat upwards, having a shit–eating look on his face as he started swinging his legs back and forth

oh no, he was up to something no good, you knew it but humored him anyways

“yes, kazu?” you turned your line of sight to the most horrible picture possible: you with the ugliest haircut in the entire world with kazunari’s black hair taking up the entire photo as you two sheepishly smiled for the camera. it was not a proud moment

okay, maybe it wasn’t that bad, you just couldn’t help but shriek at the sight of your hair

“oh my god! you can’t just jumpscare me like that!” you laughed despite yourself. you knew you had to be serious and focused on decluttering, but one look at your past made you remember all the good times before so–called “adulthood”

“look at your hair!” you cackled, reaching up to playfully yank at his mullet as he yelped and lightly smacked your hand away. rubbing the back of his neck, kazunari huffed childishly and pouted like he was back in his youth

“come on! this was the pinnacle moment i realized, i should not be a hair dresser.” kazunari commented, making you remember how you just let a random 8–year–old boy waddle up to you with safety scissors and advertise his salon business like a professional

(yes, you bought into it right away. your teacher had a heart attack when she saw you with a majority of your hair on the floor and kazunari keeping small talk like an actual hair stylist)

thinking back after the haircut incident, you weren’t allowed to chat with the funny class clown anymore as you were forced to wear a hat every day

(it was either that or go completely bald to fix the job kazunari did to your head)

it wasn’t until you received a very creative and colorful apology letter with tons of sad faces drawn with waxy crayons that you snuck out to play with him on the swings in recess

“i can’t believe we became friends because i wanted free hair cuts for the rest of my life.” you added, staring at the picture with a sense of nostalgia. you kinda got where kazunari was coming from, memories were fun to look at every once and a while

at least, eleven years worth of memories after being inseperable from that moment forward

(maybe, you should’ve held onto it, you thought, not knowing that would be the first of many art pieces you would be gifted by him)

kazunari knew he won. excited, he dropped down to lay on his stomach as you leaned against the bed, watching as he thumbed through the pages with ease, leaning his head on yours comfortably

it was rare to find kazunari quiet, he must’ve been like this all the time when going through his stuff, you thought, at peace for once

lazily smiling, kazunari put his finger against your yearbook pictures as he reminisced on the past. something about everyone ever in your grade, how kazunari knew everyone and had a special memory with each person, no matter how big or small

“—and here, the teacher somehow caught a pic of us swinging wayyy too high for kids our age!” kazunari laughed, breaking your train of thought as you snickered at the absolute joy radiating from both your faces as you two competed to see who could reach the clouds

(kazu won. you fell off right after and had to get picked up from your parents after badly scraping your knee. it took another sorry letter and art of you two holding hands with a heart for your parents to forgive kazunari)

“let’s go back.” you interrupted him, making him sit up confused as you swung your keys out from your back pocket. it didn’t take any convincing for kazunari to nod right away and took the elementary yearbook into his arm

you two only had to exchange a secret look before formulating a plan to sneak out, leaving music on from kazunari’s speakers to act like kazunari was still cleaning

you two giggled amongst yourselves before clambering into your car, speeding off and laughing loudly from your successful getaway. the manager was none the wiser!

during the short car ride, you and kazunari played your favorite mixtape of all time

(“you kept this?!” kazunari yelled, giddily bouncing up and down from excitement when he discovered the mixtape stash)

he slipped the disc in as you two yelled along to childhood favorites with the windows rolled down, letting the entire neighborhood know the best duo were back in town

(seriously, there were so many you stashed away in your glove department. all labeled in sharpie with compelling titles connected to the inside jokes only you two found funny)

arriving at the destination, you two exited the vehicle to see the play pen was abandoned as the teaching staff went home for the day

the sun was setting and it felt like the playground was in another rift of time as you approached it, hearing the weak movement of the swings going back and forth on their own. you sat down, holding onto the chains. you hadn’t been back ever since you graduated. it hadn’t changed at all

kazunari opened the elementary yearbook back to the original page, pulling out his tripod and phone he always had on hand in his backpack as he set it up right across the swing set

“what are you doing?” you inquired, tilting your head as he fumbled around pressing different buttons and filters too complex for you to remember

looking up, kazunari grinned as he set a timer for 10 seconds before sprinting back to the swing next to you

“swing contest right now! i bet i could swing higher than you ever could!” kazunari challenged childishly, quickly kicking his legs for the momentum. you narrowed your eyes, refusing to lose as you two laughed over the sound of his phone taking a burst of photos

you realized what he was doing. he was re–creating your memories together

but you turned to look at him and your heart skipped a beat. you never remembered him looking this, different, in the purple lighting. for a flashing moment, you swore you saw the silhoutte of his black–haired, child self sit next to you before you blinked and saw him. kazunari was the same, just older now

you slowed down your swing by dragging your sneakers against the wood chipped ground. you grabbed both the swings’ chains to hold them together

you didn’t want to live in the past anymore. you wanted to grow up with him, too

“what—” kazunari started, matching your pace before being cut off by your lips against his, the phone going off for one last time

you pulled yourself in close enough just to smile. he smelled the exact same as he did when he discovered cologne for the first time. he never changed

you pulled away first even if he tried leaning forward for more, like he was waiting all these years just for that one moment. like he saw you in the same light, too

“i wanted to do that for years.” you confessed, watching as he took your hand carefully, like he was afraid you were going to leave. for once, he didn’t know what to do, which face to show

“me too...” kazunari agreed, seemingly speechless before straightening his back, like he was about to run away. the hair on your neck stood up, what was he about to do?

“i promise i won’t cut your hair anymore, unless?” kazunari winked dramatically, mimicking the shape of scissors with his fingers as he tried snipping at your hair

he laughed as you shoved him with all your might, hopping off the swing to chase him throughout the school parking lot

now this was a memory kazunari would never throw away, no matter what

(no one thought the two of you escaped until kazunari posted the pics on his instagram, both of you getting a scolding from sakyo this time)

(busted!)

#miyoshi kazunari #kazunari miyoshi #a3! act! addict! actors!#a3!#act! addict! actors!#a3! actor training game #a3! headcanons #act! addict! actors! headcanons #mankai a3!#mankai company #a3! x reader #a3 x reader #kazunari x reader #a3! kazunari #a3 kazunari

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lokischocolatefountain · 4 years

Text

Kitten from Hell versus God

Pairing: Loki x OFC

Rating: General

Word count: 2.6K

Summary: A kitten from hell tricks Loki's girlfriend into loving it and worse, getting a pet of their own.

Part I, Part II

A/N: I saw this video of Loki being delighted by a corgi and couldn't resist...

The creature mewled as she played with it, rolling around on the floor just to earn her amused cooing and awwing. The little shit was desperate for attention and Loki stared it down with contempt from behind the newspaper he was pretending to read. She help up a stick that had a string with feathers attached at the bottom. The kitten lifted its paws up as an attempt to catch it, but was too stupid and lacking in reflexes to succeed. Its display of its helplessness elicited more cooing from her. He glared at the kitten from hell, but it stuck his tongue out at him before blinking innocently at his woman. He rolled his eyes at its reprehensible behaviour and looked away from the pair who were too in love with each other to space him any attention.

Loki had never held as much hatred for such a little thing ever before. He usually hated to see Steven Rogers, but now he was checking the clock every five seconds like a doting wife awaiting the return of her husband from the battlefield. Steven and his boyfriend James Barnes had found the infernal creature in the rubbles after bringing down a hydra base. It lured them into adopting it with its pitiful eyes and soft meows, just like it has enticed his partner into giving it all her precious attention. The men, unfortunately, had been called in to deal with an emergency at the facility. So, his woman volunteered herself to take care of their kitten until they arrived home.

He checked the clock again. They still had three hours until they would be relieved of their care taking duties.

“Loki?”

“Yes, dear?”

“You can conjure anything with your magic, right?”

“You know I can. What would you like?”

“A ball of yarn.”

“Are you an old woman? Would you like a pair of knitting needles with it?”

“Oh, shut up.”

“What are you going to do, knit a sweater for the pathetic creature? Is that what it has hypnotised you into doing next?”

“I don’t know how to knit. But, I might learn just to knit this baby a sweater. Won’t you look adorable in a sweater, baby boy? And some socks to protect your toe beans.” There it was again, the low pitched voice she used to talk to the kitten as though it was a human offspring.

“Could you conjure up a laser pointer along with that?”

He furrowed his eyebrows at the strange request. What was she hoping to accomplish with the objects? He was glad that she wanted to do something other than waste all her energy on the kitten. So, he focused his magic on making the objects she desired and in just a few seconds, he had a laser pointer and a ball of red yarn in his hands. “What would you need the two for?”

“Just watch,” she said, refusing to answer the questing and left the kitten’s side to fetch the items from him. Without sparing him a glance, she left him for the kitten and gave it the ball of yarn to play with. The creature rolled the yarn between it two paws, delighted in itself for having hoodwinked a fine woman to being its slave. He huffed loudly and returned to reading the newspaper, as boring as it was, to keep him from being further enraged. The creature would be gone within a few hours and he would never have to think about it again. It was not worthy of him picking a fight with her and souring their entire day.

Time went by and it had managed to foolishly tangle itself in the yarn. She pitied it and untangled its tiny body, freeing it from its woollen confines. The idiot had not seemed to have learned anything from its traumatic experience with the yarn and immediately grasped it again, but was pulled away by her. The laser pen was the next to come out and Loki peeped at them from being the newspaper again, curious about what she was going to do.

She turned the laser pointer on and focused it away from the yarn, immediately attracting the the kitten’s attention with the red light. It stopped wriggling in her arms and looked at the light with curiosity. She let it be free from her arms and the kitten ran towards the wall to catch the red dot. It jumped up to touch it, but was confused as the dot was now on its paw, not underneath it on the wall. She moved it again, now to the floor, and it followed to capture the taunting dot, but was again unsuccessful as she moved it away from its clutches. Now, this was fun… Better than giving it a ball of yarn to wrap around itself…

“You are torturing a poor, helpless creature with an illusion.”

“Torture? Chill, I’m just playing with him. He likes it!” He!? Since when had the kitten graduated from it to he?

“No, it has mistaken the dot for prey and hence worthy of hunting and consuming.”

“I don’t get why you suddenly care so much,” she said, still moving the laser pointer around to entertain the cat. This was it. It was over. His love had been lost forever to a four legged creature and he might never have her back again. Before he could dissolve into a puddle of self-pity, the doorbell rang. He sat up straight and rushed to the door, praying to the Norns that it was the couple who owned the cat. Sure enough, it was them. He opened the door and they stepped in, looking quite tired from the day of work.

The men greeted the two of them and inquired about the creature’s behaviour. Uninterested in picking a fight and in a hurry to get them out, he spun lies about how well behaved their animal was. He added colourful words and waxed poetic about the magnificence of the creature in a way he had never spoken of anyone- not even his beloved.

She offered to make the men dinner, but the two declined graciously before they left with their kitten.

A week later, Loki was forced to realise that he had been lulled into a false sense of security about the effect the kitten had on his girlfriend. He believed it all to be over. Since that dreadful day, she hadn’t even seen the kitten- who had now been given the name ‘Fuzzy von Fluffykins’- as the men had found a sitter for it. But, Fluffykins’ spell hadn’t vanished as was evident from her words.

He put down the book on World War II and looked up at her, doubting whether he heard her right. “You wish to have a familiar?”

“No, that’s not- I’m not a witch, Loki. I’m getting a pet.”

“A pet? A familiar, I understand. But, a pet? That would just be a useless creature. It would hang around you apartment and do nothing all day long.”

“Just like you, then,” she snapped at him, stuffing her purse in her larger purse. She could fit her entire apartment in that thing. A least he had his pocket dimension for storage.

“I do the dishes!”

“You order the staff to do the dishes, Loki. You don’t even go near the sink.”

“I get it done. What do you expect me to do, wash them myself? I am a Prince.”

“Spoilt prince,” she muttered as she prepared to leave.

He was annoyed that she would want to have some little animal around in the apartment they lived in together. He saw no point in them owning an animal. It was purchased only by parents who wanted to teach their children the bitter truth about mortality. And to fill a person shaped void in one’s heart. Was his companionship not adequate for her? Was he so dull that she sought an animal companion to charm her?

In a flash of jealousy, he followed her out of their apartment, determined to influence her decision. If she was to introduce a new member into their shared space, he would at least ensure that it was worthy of them.

“I am accompanying you.”

“I can’t stop you, can I?”

______________________________________________

They arrived at an animal shelter and Loki had been unsuccessful so far in talking her out of it. He listed every disadvantage he knew on pet ownership. She had perfectly refuted every single one of them. He had used every weapon in his arsenal and was now clueless as to how he would stop her. So, he just followed her into the shelter.

They were greeted by a scraggly, over-enthusiastic teenager when they entered. His voice was as annoying as Fluffykins’ mewls if not worse. Controlling his urge to insult him, he just followed his girlfriend around as she stroked a rabbit who was merrily munching away on lettuce in its cage.

“When I was seven, my cousin had a rabbit just like this one.” She helped it out by moving the lettuce in the corner of the cage closer to its mouth. It paid her little attention before it went to town on the lettuce as though it had been starved for days. Even bilgesnipes did not eat so quickly. “But, I was not allowed to play with Bun-Bun. I’m very close to adopting this one just to rub it in her face.”

“I was not aware you had a cousin named Bun-Bun.”

“I couldn’t have been more clearly referring to the rabbit, babe. The cousin was Karen.”

His nose crinkled in disgust at the thought of that woman. He had the misfortune of meeting her at the last family Chistmas dinner and had to keep from throwing her out of the window. “Karen? Oh, she is dreadful. The two of you are so different, I can hardly believe the two of you are related.”

“You are Thor are related and nothing alike.”

“I was adopted.”

She rolled her eyes at him and went back to petting the Bun-Bun celebrity look-alike. “Anyway, she was dreadful even back then. She didn’t let me play with her rabbit because she knew how much I wanted a pet.”

“You could have gotten your own rabbit instead.”

“No, my parents thought they were useless.”

“Because they are, my dear.”

“Oh, piss off. I couldn’t get a dog either because my dad was allergic. And cats were a huge no because my mom was a dog person who strongly believed cats were evil.”

“Correct, again.”

“Everyone I knew had a pet, but I could never have one. I told myself I would get one after I moved out. But, when I started college, I realised I couldn’t even raise myself, let alone another life. Then, I got recruited by SHIELD and became too busy even for myself. So, it has always been a distant dream. With my promotion, however, I have more free time and I am grown enough to be responsible for one.”

His heart melted as he imagined his girlfriend, little and jealous of her mean cousin who had a rabbit. He imagined her in pigtails as he saw her in an old family picture on her parents’ fireplace mantle, dimpled cheeks and pouty lips. He did not want to ruin her longtime dream of having a pet just because he was a little annoyed of a kitten from hell. Sure, the creature they adopt would steal away a fraction of the attention she gave him, but it was worth it if her wishes were fulfilled. It would be unfair and cowardly of him to eliminate competition altogether, just like monopolies prevalent in capitalism. He would not stoop as low as Amazon of all things. So, he gave up his pursuit and stayed quiet as she stopped by every pet from hamsters to lizards. What was even the point of them!? Doesn’t matter. She wanted one and he would help her out with it.

He walked along the dog enclosures and observed each one, trying to identify the species they belonged to. So far, he had seen Golden Retrievers (who were like his brother in form and behaviour), German Shepherds, Pitbulls, French bulldogs, Rottweilers, and even learned of a new kind called Chihuahua. Its size was inversely proportional to the rage it contained. He never stopped too long to observe any of them, but that changed when he saw a short one with unusually shaped ears.

When he asked the employee about it, he was informed that she was a Corgi, a breed favoured by the monarch of United Kingdom.

He stood knelt down in front of the cage and observed the Corgi as she played with a toy. She spun around in her position, attracting and sustaining his attention. It seemed that she had taken a liking to him. Noticing this, another employee at the store opened her cage. The puppy enthusiastically leaped out and into his arms, barking at him and showing him how wonderful she was at playing with a ball. She quickly climbed off his lap and ran in circles around him. He had to turn his head rapidly from one position to the other just to keep up with her movements. Her tail was inconspicuously small and she had the cutest little butt!

Oh, what a joy she was!

Loki couldn’t recall the last time he smiled so much over something as trivial as this.

She fell over in front of him and showed him her belly, asking to be pet. He pet her belly, bring both the puppy and himself a lot of joy. He was so distracted that he didn’t even notice his girlfriend standing by him, observing them with a huge smile on her face.

“Having fun?” She asked, snapping a picture of him as he looked at her phone.

“No, just biding time,” he said as he quickly rose from the floor, embarrassed to be found in such a position. He laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck as he thought of a way to escape being teased.

“Loki, do you like the Corgi?”

She had an endearing smile on her face, very similar to the one Fluffykins inspired in her.

“Yes, she is quite adorable and terribly fluffy. Not as much as the rabbit by the entrance. We could get the rabbit, invite Karen for dinner. I’ll cook,” he offered, already a little dejected that he would never see the Corgi ever again. “Not the rabbit. I will cook food. Food that doesn’t include a rabbit,” he quickly added.

The creature had already begun pawing his shoes for attention and it took every ounce of his will power to not bend down and lift her up and into his arms. He would not let his few minutes of infatuation with a puppy overshadow her decades of desire for a pet.

“Yeah, it was very clear that you weren’t going to cook the rabbit, Lokes.”

“Yeah, I don’t know why I said that.”

She gasped and dramatically clutched her chest. “Wow, that’s the second time. You usually don’t use contractions. You love the Corgi so much that your mouth is out of control.”

“It slipped!”

“Aww, baby. Lets get the Corgi. She’s so cute and you’re so cute with her.”

“Really? But what about getting a rabbit and rubbing it in Karen’s face?”

“Oh, screw her,” she said dismissively. “I really wanted a pet and both of us like this one,” she said looking down at the puppy with her sparkling joyous eyes. He finally bent down to pick up the Corgi, filled with joy as she barked. When she kissed him, his lips were stretched out in a wide grin and couldn’t even kiss her back properly. She left God and puppy behind to take care of paperwork as the two played with each other, overjoyed to have found love in the other.

Part II

#loki odinson #loki laufeyson #loki fanfic #loki x ofc #loki x reader #loki fic #Kitten from Hell versus God #loki laufeyson x reader #jealous loki #loki is a good boyfriend #loki loves corgis #Loki gets a pet #loki fluff

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