#and now we're in august and it's finally finished

[saline-coelacanth]

Oliver and Wyldfyre Saga Part 14

And that's the end! We did it, we reached the end! I didn't expect to make such a long thing out of this, but it was a lot of fun to work on so I don't really have any regrets there. These comics also just made me love Wyldfyre a lot more. I mean I already liked her, but now I love her a lot.

I might do more comics like these in the future for this au, but it's gonna be a while until I decide to jump back into it. I need time to rejuvenate after all of this, you know how it is.

First - Previous

[ronanlynchbf]

and then an overwhelming sense of dread apear.

[dragons-and-yellow-roses]

Guessssss what time it is??

7am

Guess who's still awake?

Me

Guess who has to feed their dog in two hours, and get ready for work in five hours?

Me

And guess who has to have a camp meeting directly after their work shift? And has to actually be coherent and make a schedule and discuss their ideas and needs for the summer?

Yeah you probs got it

Guess who won't be coherent for it?

Yeah

[dreamescapeswriting]

Best Kind Of Aftercare ~ BC

WORD COUNT: 1.5k

PAIRING: Chan x Fem!Reader

GENRE: established relationships, punishments, bdsm relationshio, soft dom Chan, aftercare, looking after reader whos crying, soft chan

⤜Copyright: © DreamEscapesWriting - August 2023

⤜MASTERLIST

The cuffs weren't too tight on you, they never were, Chan always made sure that you were okay before he went ahead with any kind of punishment that he gave to you and tonight was no different. Well, maybe a little.

You'd pushed him a little too far this time with what you'd been doing and now you were having to pay the consequences of your actions. 

"I said I was sorry." You whined out a little, struggling against the cuffs before realising you couldn't do anything with them. The only way out of this was going to be your safe word and you weren't going to use it, not when you still felt completely safe and happy with how things were going. 

"You disobeyed me, again." He growled out, his hand rubbing over your bare ass cheek before roughly slapping down against your skin filling the quiet room with a loud slapping sound and causing you to hiss out. 

"What happens to girls who disobey?" He questioned, your eyes trained on him as you followed him around the bedroom, he was naked and still hard as a rock - no thanks to you. All you'd done was pull away from him whenever he was about to cum, edging him so to speak. It was something you really enjoyed doing to Chan since it would always send him wild for you. It wasn't something you did often but you knew it was one of the things that would wind Chan up so much it would result in a punishment or in him pinning you down so he could finally finish - either way you adored the outcome.

"They get punished," You did your best to hide the smirk that was playing on your lips, if Chan knew you were enjoying this punishment then he would change it and you didn't want that. Spanking was your favourite form of being punished and you weren't about to let him change it out on you, 

"Good," He reached into the small wardrobe where you kept your toys and you kept your eyes on him, waiting to see the black riding crop the two of you would use when it came to spanking but instead your eyes widened a fraction.

"Don't look so scared now, you were the one who pushed me too far." He chuckled darkly. The previous weekend the two of you had taken a trip into the city and stumbled upon a new toy shop, you found a whole new set of toys you wanted to play with and it just so happened Chan found the perfect opportunity to use his. It was a black flogger that had come in a complete bondage set - the same one that the black cuffs you were currently sporting came from as well.

"A flogger?" You sounded nervous and that was because you were, spanking you'd done almost a million times - maybe that was dramatic - but still. You'd spanked with a paddle before, his hand and a riding crop but never a flogger, the two of you had mentioned it once or twice. It wasn't that you didn't trust Chan with it, it was just it had so many more ways to hit someone's ass than a typical spanking toy and you were a little anxious about it.

"We can try it and if you don't like it, we'll stop," Chan was never going to force you into doing something you weren't comfortable with and you knew if you said no right now all of this would stop and go away but a part of you wanted this. 

"I'm ready." You nodded moving toward the end of the bed and arching your back ever so slightly so that your ass was in the car, Chan's eyes finding yours as a smirk took over his lips.

"We're going to count to ten," He told you as he gently ran his hand over your asscheek before lifting the flogger into the air. The anticipation inside of your stomach was beginning to make you feel a little sick but you braced yourself for this, you could do this. Spanking was something you'd always found enjoyable and you saw no reason for it to change now. 

The first time it came into contact with your skin wasn't so bad but you'd whimpered, pulling against the cuffs on your hands and letting out a strangle whine.

"Fuck," You whispered into the sheets, It was hurting a lot more than you thought it was going to but you wanted to keep going.

"Count," Chan ordered in a deeper tone of voice, your head spinning at just how hot he sounded. 

"One," You mumbled, looking over your shoulder at him and watching as he brought the flogger down harder and faster this time. Hot tears sprang to your eyes and you felt them rolling down your face,

"I said count!" He yelled out rather harshly, you took in a deep breath and whimpered as you tried to get your mind to focus on the task at hand. 

"Two!" This time when Chan raised the flogger you thrashed around and moved away from him,

"DON'T! PLEASE! PLEASE DON'T!" You screamed out trying to move around on the bed but panic began to set in as you realised you were trapped right now and had no chance of getting away from him,

"RED!" You added on, whimpering over and over again. As soon as the safe word reached his ears the flogger was dropped onto the floor and the cuffs were released using their emergency release. You scrambled away from Chan, curling up into yourself at the head of the bed as he watched you closely. 

"Deep breaths baby," He whispered to you, showing you his deep breathing so that you would follow along with him. Your eyes found his as you tried to focus on him being there with you, he wasn't the dominant CHan anymore he was the soft and gentle dom with you,

"I'll grab the creams, you going to be okay?" He questioned as you quickly nodded your head at him and watched as he left the room to go into the bathroom. Your heart was racing as you tried to do your deep breathing, your eyes slowly shutting as you pulled the silk sheets up and around your body.

When Chan returned he found you lying on your stomach, tears rolling down your cheeks as he slowly sank down onto the bed beside you.

"Do you want me to apply the cream?" You already knew which cream he was talking about You nodded, not being able to bring yourself to actually speak just yet. You didn't trust yourself not to start sobbing, 

"I'm going to touch you now," He whispered, wanting you to know everything he was going to do before he did it so as to not scare you in any way. The cream he was using was something you used after every spanking session, it was a cocoa cream and some aloe vera to help try and reduce any swelling that was going to happen.

"Ice packs?" You stuttered out when you noticed them sitting beside his lap on the bed.

"I was reading they can be good after using a flogger." He looked at you with a sad smile and he went back to carefully massaging in the cream before placing the ice packs onto each of your cheeks causing you to hiss out.

"I'm so sorry Yn." He whispered as he lay beside you, your eyebrows forming a frown as you stared at him. Why was he sorry? You were the one that felt sorry since you hadn't managed to make it through the punishment?

"Why? I should be sorry, I couldn't do it for you." You looked down at your hands but Chan instantly took your face into his hands and turned your head to look at him.

"You have NOTHING to be sorry for," He told you as he continued to hold onto you, shaking his head. 

"You should never feel sorry for not being able to do something. You tried, you didn't like it and that's fine. Please don't be sorry," He begged you, kissing your cheek softly as tears continued to roll down your cheeks,

"I shouldn't have sprung this on you, I should have spoken to you more about it and waited until we were both ready." You nodded at him with agreement and he smiled weakly, 

"Stay with the ice, I'll run you a cool bath and we can spend the night doing whatever you want?" He suggested making you smile weakly and nodding at him. Chan was a hard dom when the time called for it but he was also a soft dom with the best kind of aftercare that there was for you. It was specialised for the two of you since it wasn't just the one being punished that needed aftercare sometimes.

Tagline: @chiisaiblog @hanasonmi @sw33tnight @taestannie @acciocriativity @scarletemeterio @halesandy @laylasbunbunny @critssq @lenfilms @btsiguess-kpop @djeniryuu @backintomykpopphaseagain @choisoorin

[punksyeet]

ᰔᩚ Anniversary ᰔᩚ

Plot: A little glimpse into how Gianna (OC) and Josh spend their two year anniversary.

Warning: Hefty flirting and mature language!

** Josh’s POV **

My eyes blink open as the bright sunshine peeks through our bedroom window.

I automatically reach for my phone and look at the time and date.

It's 11:17am on August 18th.

Today's the day. Two whole years with my babygirl.

I place my phone down on the nightstand beside me and turn back around to see my beautiful lady peacefully sleeping.

As she snores her perfectly light snores, I smile and brush a curl out of her face.

My gorgeous girl. How did I get so lucky? And how has it only been 2 years? It feels like it's been forever.

I press a gentle kiss to her temple.

She gently stirs in her sleep, and curls her perfect lips into a beautiful smile.

I smile back. "Good morning. Happy two years babygirl."

"Happy two years honey," she replies, half whisper-half voice, with her eyes still closed.

I cup her face with one hand, stroking her soft cheek with my thumb.

Her lids slowly but surely flutter open, revealing her gorgeous coffee-brown eyes.

I get lost in them every time. She's just so stunning.

She smiles even wider once she sees me and reaches over to play with my messy bed-headed mullet. "You look handsome this morning."

I chuckle and lean in, pressing my lips to hers.

She automatically kisses back, wrapping her arm around my neck and pulling me in deeper.

After a few strokes, our lips separate, and I trail kisses onto her cheek and down her neck.

"So," I begin, pulling away. "I have tonight on lock. What would you like to do today?"

She smirks and puckers her lips. "Well..."

I raise an eyebrow. "I know that look. What do you have up your sleeve ma'am?"

She giggles, reaching for her phone on the nightstand. "Well, since it's our anniversary, I figured I shouldn't be the only one that enjoys it."

I sigh. "Baby you know I enjoy every moment we're together."

"I know," she says, smiling and proceeds to kiss my cheek. "But I wanted to plan something special too."

She taps her screen a few times before flipping her screen towards me.

I lean in and read the words the small print.

Tickets to the 49ers pre-season game today?

Am I dreaming?

My jaw drops. "Babe. You didn't."

She giggles. "But I did!"

I sit there in shock for a bit longer before pulling her into the tightest hug.

She bursts into laughter and hugs me back.

"I love you. So much." I mumble and kiss her cheek over and over and over again.

"I love you too baby," she replies between giggles.

We hug for a bit longer before she pulls away and kisses the corner of my mouth.

"The game is at 1:15, babe. We should probably get ready soon."

I smile and nod before gently grabbing either side of her face and pressing my lips to hers.

We share a few pecks before getting out of bed.

** Gianna's POV **

Josh and I just finished up our shower and are now getting ready for the day.

We recently bought 49ers bomber jackets so I throw mine on along with a black cropped tube top, light denim jeans, my Nike Chicagos, a red headband, jewelry, and a black bag.

Josh picks out his jacket alongside a white 49ers hoodie, black sweats, his red and white Jordan 11s, my favorite silver chain, earrings, and a black beanie.

"You ready to go baby?" Josh calls from downstairs.

"Almost!" I reply, adjusting my hair to my liking.

"Alright! I'll go start the car!" he calls back and I hear the front door close.

I spray some of his favorite perfume, check that I have everything in my purse, and head out.

—————————————————————————————————

The game just ended.

Josh joins nearly the entire stadium filled with fans in jumping up and cheering at the final score: 16-10.

I can confidently say that I had zero idea what was happening the entire time, but the goal was to make my man happy. And boy was he ever!

"Thank you again mama," he coos pulling me into a hug. "I love you."

I smile and kiss his cheek before resting my chin on his shoulder. "You're so welcome lovebug. I love you more."

Hand in hand, we exit the stadium, occasionally getting stopped by fans to take pictures.

The car ride home is filled with conversations about the game, laughs, kisses, and jam sessions.

—————————————————————————————————

Josh made a 7:00 reservation at our favorite Italian restaurant, so we're headed home to freshen up and change into fancier attire.

I pick out one of Josh's favorite dresses on me: a long white one that hugs my body in all the right places, clear heels, and jewelry.

"You ready yet ma?" Josh calls from the bedroom.

"Almost!" I call back, doing some finishing touches on my hair and makeup in the bathroom mirror.

He suddenly appears in the doorway and licks his lips, scanning my body up and down. "Lord, I gotta personally thank your parents one day."

I playfully roll my eyes and giggle as he comes up from behind me and slides his hands up and down my sides.

"You look a lil too fine right now baby," he mumbles in my ear, causing me to get goosebumps and he feathers light kisses on my neck. "And you smell good too."

I smile, biting my lower lip gently. "Why thank you."

"And this ass in this dress," he continues, caressing my ass, and gently squeezing it.

I turn before he can do any further damage, and wrap my arms around his neck. "Baby we're gonna be late."

He sighs and sticks out his bottom lip.

I smile and kiss it. "Don't worry baby. You'll get what you're looking for later."

I kiss his cheek and prance away.

He smirks and slaps my ass then follows me downstairs.

————————————————————————————————-

We just got to the restaurant.

"Table for 2? The reservation is under Joshua." Josh tells the hostess.

She nods and taps her iPad a few times before looking up. "Alrighty! You folks can follow....wait! You guys are Jey Uso and Gianna Nicole!"

I smile warmly. "Yes we are. It's nice to meet you!"

Josh looks down at me smiling and wraps an arm around my waist before looking back at her.

"My sister and I are huge fans! Do you mind signing something....anything for me?" she asks, still fangirling.

He chuckles. "Not at all, love. You got a napkin or something?"

"Uhhh..." she scrambles around the hostess stand and finds a notepad. "Here we go!"

She pushes it towards us and we both sign a piece of paper.

"Thank you guys so much! I'm so sorry for keeping you waiting! Follow me!"

I giggle. "It's no problem at all, girl."

Josh keeps his arm around my waist as we follow her to our table.

"Thanks so much again! I really appreciate this!" she coos, as we sit down.

"Anytime love," I reply and we share a warm hug.

She walks over to Josh and they hug as well.

Soon enough, she's off and back to the front, leaving us alone.

The table is so romantically set up: a bouquet of roses alongside some single stems, a bucket of our favorite wine and two glasses, as well as a gorgeous view of the city.

"Baby this is beautiful," I coo, as he takes my hand from across the table. "Thank you."

He smiles and kisses my knuckles. "Not nearly as beautiful as you. But it'll do."

I blush slightly as our waiter comes over.

I order fettuccine carbonara and Josh orders lobster ravioli.

Once the food arrives, Josh holds up his wine glass and makes a toast. "Cheers to you my love. Happy anniversary."

I smile and hold mine up as well. "Cheers to us, honey. Happy two years."

We clink our glasses together and take a sip before digging into our food.

—————————————————————————————————

We just pulled back up to the house.

I groan and melt into the passenger seat.

Josh looks over with a raised eyebrow. "You good ma?"

I nod. "Everything tasted amazing, but I think I'm in a food coma."

He chuckles and rubs my stomach. "Why don't we get you inside, huh?"

I nod and he gets out, comes around, and takes my hand, helping me out of the car.

I grab the flowers from the back seat.

He kisses my cheek and we walk to the front door.

Josh unlocks the door and as soon as it flies open, so do my eyes.

There's roses and candles everywhere, making a pathway up to our bedroom, and soft music playing lowly.

"B-babe?" I stutter, in complete shock.

He chuckles, takes the roses from my hand, puts them on the tiny table next to the door, closes and locks it, and takes my hand.

"Come with me beautiful," he coos and leads us upstairs.

Still in shock, I follow as we make our way to the bedroom, where there's even more flowers and red heart balloons hanging from the ceiling.

"Baby I..." my voice trails off as he wraps his hands around my waist.

"Shhh," he whispers and kisses my neck.

I lightly moan, holding the back of his neck and tilting my head to give him more access.

Soon enough, he lightly pushes me onto the bed and....let's just say anniversary sex hits different!

I wrap my leg around his, my left hand rubbing his back, and right hand and head pressed to his chest.

His right hand is around my waist, stroking my sides and ass.

"How did you even do this?" I ask breathlessly. "We were home only a couple hours ago."

He chuckles and kisses my temple. "Let's just say we have some very kind siblings."

I giggle softly. "I should've known. This has Trin written all over it."

He nods smiling. "I'm just shocked they didn't put everything to good use before we did."

"Joshua!" My jaw flies open and I playfully whack his shoulder.

He bursts into laughter and cuddles me even tighter.

I grab my phone from the nightstand and text Trin.

Sista 🥰🫶🏽: Thank you guys 🥹🫶🏽

Trin 💋: You're so welcome babygirl 🫶🏽 Now go get someeeee!

Me: You already know I wasted no time 😩

Trin 💋: OOOOOP IKTR 🙂‍↕️☝🏽

I audibly laugh and set my phone back onto the table.

Josh looks down at me and smiles. "Whatchu laughin at?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" I respond, flicking my hair off my shoulder.

He smirks and gently squeezes my cheeks, pulls my face up, and shoves his tongue into my mouth.

Soon enough, we're sharing our 4th makeout session of the night.

And you can't blame me.

Those plump lips and thick ass tongue.

Whew!

—————————————————————————————————

We just finished up our bath, which of course, had more rose petals and candles.

Josh wraps me into a soft and fuzzy robe, smiling down at me. "You're adorable."

I look down and automatically blush.

He takes my chin and gently lifts it, pressing his plump and warm lips to mine.

I kiss back and take his hand, leading him back into the bedroom.

"Where we goin ma?" he asks, following close behind.

"I have another surprise for you," I reply, walking us towards the bed. "Sit."

He chuckles and sits down on the bed, as I head over to our closet and pull out a gift bag.

He takes it and looks up at me. "Baby you didn't have to. The game was more than enough."

I place my finger to his lips. "Shhh. Open it."

He shakes his head smiling and digs into the bag, before pulling out a box.

He raises his eyebrow out of curiosity and opens it, revealing a gold Cuban link chain.

His jaw practically falls to the floor as he looks back up at me.

"It's to match your silver one!" I explain happily, wrapping my arm around his shoulder. "Do you like it?"

"Baby," he begins. "I love it. But this....this is....a lot."

I smile, slightly shrugging. "Sure. But you're worth every penny, Josh. You treat me like a princess and I wanted to show you that I'm forever grateful."

He sets the gift bag down and takes my hands. "You didn't need to spend over a thousand dollars to prove your love to me, babygirl. I appreciate it. I really do. But..."

I cut him off. "Joshua, shush. After all that you did for me today, let alone for the past 2 years we've been together, I can spend a fuck ton of money on you if I want. Now take the damn chain."

He chuckles and shakes his head. "Gianna Macri, I can't with you."

I fold my arms, still pretending to be mad, although it's taking everything in me not to laugh with him.

He wraps his arms around my waist and plants kisses on my stomach. "I love you pretty mama."

Pretty mama.

The one nickname that, he knows damn well, will make me break in any and every situation.

I finally give in, playfully roll my eyes and smile. "I love you too."

He puckers his lips and I giggle, leaning down, cupping his face, and pressing my lips against his.

He pulls me down and attacks my face with kisses.

I burst into laughter and squirm around on the bed.

I love this man so much.

Liked by uceyjucey, trinity_fatu, jonathanfatu, wwe, and 2M others

giannamacri the past 730 days have been an absolute dream. from the second i laid eyes on you, i knew i found the love of my life and the person i'd want to experience everything with. joshua fatu, i thank you. thank you for treating me like a princess, for loving me for who i am, and for allowing me to love you. every day without i fail, i feel like the luckiest girl in the world. they say nobody is perfect but baby, you come close. i love you endlessly. two years down, forever to go. 🤍

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uceyjucey I love you ma ❤️

trinity_fatu Love you both so much 🥹🥰🫶🏽

wwe Happy anniversary! ❤️

Liked by giannamacri, jonathanfatu, zillafatu, rikishi, and 1.2M others

uceyjucey Happy anniversary to my everything, my lady, my queen, my babygirl, my rock, and the love of my life. Getting to wake up next to you every morning and fall asleep with you in my arms every night has been the biggest honor. I'll always admire your work ethic, your kind heart, and your selflessness. I have zero idea what I did to deserve you but one thing is for sure: I'm the luckiest man in the world. I love you mama. Forever us. 🤞🏽❤️

View all 12.7k  comments

giannamacri forever baby 🥹🫶🏽

jonathanfatu ❤️

rikishi Love you both 🩸❤️

Tag List: @uceyliyahh ♡

^^ If you'd like to be added, feel free to leave a comment below! <3

Check out my wattpad and twitter! 💟

Follows, feedback, and reblogs appreciated! 🧚‍♀️

[justwritedreams]

Million Words | Jongho

Idol Jongho x Reader, friends to lovers au! Word count: 3838 Genre: fluff, angst Author: maari Warnings: Mention about Jongho's injury, slight harassment, jealous Jongho, him and the reader are two idiots. Note: The dream I had with him was very different but I really need something extremely cute with him cause I miss Jongho 😭😭😭 Summary: There are millions of words that you and Jongho haven't said to each other yet. Until now. Taglist: @foxinnie8

⩥ Ateez Masterlist

Y/N was too focused on the notes she was making in her notebook, but at a certain point, when she touched her cheek to her hand that had her elbow resting on the table, her eyes began to get heavy.  It was another one of those nights she stayed up to study for finals and she needed to do well.

It was a hard routine in the last few weeks, she wasn't proud of not eating right and much less sleeping the hours she needed but she needed to focus.

As her head fell forward, her cell phone rang shrilly and she woke up from her brief nap, if you could call it a nap.

She looked for her cell phone among the papers and books, and when she found it she frowned when saw Mingi's name on the screen.

"Hello?" she answered, rubbing her weary eyes.

"Y/N, sorry to call you at this time, didn't mean to wake you up." Mingi looked really regretful and worried.

"It's okay. I wasn't sleeping anyway." she admitted, resting her forehead on her free hand, her body feeling heavy with exhaustion.

"I just wanted to make sure, is Jongho with you?" he asked fearfully.

Her eyes woke up, a little more attentive at the question.

"No, actually I haven't spoken to him in a while."

With finals coming up and she knew she would have to focus, she rarely spoke to her friends. She replied when she could, and didn't even see them, but she remembered that Jongho wasn't texting her either, figuring he was too busy with his world tour.

"Wait, aren't you in Latin America or something?" she questioned, receiving silence in response. "How could he be with me?"

"We're in Singapore now, we've finished the tour in Latin America." he sighed and among the papers scattered across the table, Y/N searched for her calendar.

But wasn't it August yet?

She knew they were going to Latin America because the date would be very close to her simulated finals.

Her eyes widened when she saw the date. September.

It had been a little over two weeks since she had spoken to Jongho because she was studying harder than she could.

"Wait, you didn't hear about the announcement?"

"What announcement?"

Mingi took a deep breath on the other end of the line and Y/N felt anxiety rise in her stomach.

"He had a meniscus rupture in August, he had to have surgery." Y/N straighten up in the chair while feeling the heart sink. "He went back to Korea right away. Didn't he tell you?"

Her jaw dropped and she pushed away the papers that now weren't even important.

She didn't know any of that, he hadn't said. Not that he was coming back before and not from the injury, much less the surgery.

"I-I didn't know." her voice came out low because of the lump that formed in her throat. "But why did you call me to ask if he was with me?"

"He doesn't answer the phone or return our messages, the last time I spoke to him he blamed himself."

Mingi didn't need to say anything else, Y/N quickly got up from her chair and searched the room desperately for her purse.

"I'll go to him." she said, determined. "Is he in the apartment?"

"Yes, our manager said he left him sleeping at home."

Y/N nodded even though Mingi couldn't see it and hurriedly left the room.

"I'll let you know when I have news."

"Thank you, Y/N." She tried to smile but she was too worried, her icy hands couldn't even lock her own door.

She felt guilty, especially for being absent at this time, both for Jongho and for the boys. She felt like a terrible friend.

She tried to remain calm while driving, the last thing she wanted was an accident at that moment and the way to Jongho's house never seemed so long, or maybe her nervousness made it seem like everything was happening too slowly.

When she arrived, she felt her heart stop in her throat as she knocked nonstop on the door. She couldn't control her nervous hands.

And a certain relief mixed with concern took over her body when Jongho answered the door, a little sullen with messy hair and a tired face.

But what really caught her eye was the splint on his knee.

Without much thought, she threw her arms around his shoulder in a tight, worried hug, with a tiny bit of guilt.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked, her voice muffled by his shoulder.

She pulled away so she could face him, he was serious and confused, and until then he didn't return the hug.

Not that she thought he would, because she knew he didn't like physical touch.

Y/N didn't wait for Jongho to answer to enter the house, crossing her arms and turning to face him, he was still standing holding the doorknob, looking at nothing.

"Why didn't you tell me about the surgery?" she asked and that made him close the door, turning slowly with some difficulty with his knee.

"Who told you?" he answered with a question, avoiding the answer she expected, still serious and still in the same place.

"Mingi, he's worried because you don't return his messages or calls." He smiled a little acidic and very ironic.

"I was asleep." he answered and started walking towards the room, passing Y/N.

She followed him with her eyes, he walked with some difficulty and she imagined how much pain he was feeling. She had seen him a few times with shorts but knew that by the size of the splint, pants would hardly fit.

He sat on the couch, leaning on the structure so he could take it slowly while being closely watched by Y/N.

"And do you need anything?" She approached in tentative steps, fiddling with the zipper on her purse.

"A little peace." he replied, looking down at the floor avoiding her eyes. "Look, I'm fine."

She narrowed her eyes, his words not matching his expression.

All it looked like was that he was less than fine.

"Jongho." she called him. She rarely said his name, except in two situations. When she was very angry or very worried. "Can you at least look at me?"

He took a deep breath, still reluctant, and did.

His dark eyes were tired and she saw the guilt in them, and worse than that, the loneliness.

Staring into his eyes made her heart sink even more.

"And will you please stop looking at me like that?" he pleaded, closing his eyes for a brief second. "I can't stand you and the members looking at me like that."

Y/N frowned and looked at him more closely.

"Like that?"

"With pity." he spat out the words.

"No, I just-"

"Don't say you don't feel sorry for me, because I can see that in your eyes." he spoke firmly and she hugged her body, Jongho's words were cold.

She was sorry yes but it wasn't for him but herself. Everything she had been doing in the last few days, the effort to do well in the finals, became much less important when seeing that the friend, whom she trusted the most, was carrying all that weight alone because she was thinking only of herself. 

Even if he was always by her side in the most fragile and joyful moments that she went through. And she wasn't giving back the way she felt she could and should.

"I'm sorry." was all she managed to say, feeling her eyes water. "I'm sorry for being such an absent friend."

"I know you're too busy right now, I don't want you to come looking for me out of pity."

Ouch.

Y/N could hear her heart break into a million pieces, mostly from the cold way Jongho spoke.

Although she understood his side, the anger he felt at being alone, nothing she did would change that now and make her feel less hurt.

If he was hurt physically, she was hurt emotionally, and this was the worst time to be in the same room together.

Which was why she left his apartment in silence, still fiddling with the zipper on her purse, sniffling along the way as she fought back tears.

She ended up missing her friend's weary, regretful sigh.

[...]

Days had passed and if Y/N wasn't ignoring Jongho on purpose before, now she was.

She still felt hurt by her friend's harsh words so she knew that talking to him carrying so much hurt wouldn't do any good, that's why she didn't respond when he sent her a message saying he needed to talk to her.

Jongho had talked to the members and Mingi thanked Y/N for making it but both didn't even have the slightest contact after that day.

She was too busy trying to understand the wave of feelings that had arisen with this fight between the two, she had been very upset and angry with him for pushing her away like that. But she missed him so much, it hurt.

She wanted to be by his side following his recovery, because she was sure he was doing very well, she wanted to be able to help in some way, even if it was to watch a horror movie that he had chosen and that she hated - even if she had seen at least about 5 times -, but she liked it because that was the only way she could abuse the physical contact because he protected her with a very gentle caress on the back.

She missed such simple moments with him, things that should have been commonplace but were special.

Maybe she really should talk to him...

They would understand each other, Jongho was the person she liked and trusted the most in life, there was no reason for them to leave for a silly reason.

The doorbell rang and Y/N felt anxiety take over her body and her heart race just thinking about the possibility of being her friend. He was the only person she was waiting for.

She opened the door with a smile on her face, her sweaty hands on the doorknob, but the smile diminished in the same instant when she saw that the face was very different from what she wanted to see.

"Did you miss me, Y/N?"

She tried to reason what was happening but her mind didn't seem to believe it and when she blinked her eyes, he was already at her house, taking off his shoes quickly and going to the living room as if it were his house.

“Charlie?” She still kept her hand on the doorknob, completely paralyzed. "What are you doing here?"

She heard his chuckle and turned to face him, he threw himself onto the sofa and brought his feet up to stretch out on the upholstery.

"It's a holiday in Japan."

Y/N frowned.

"No, it's not. The holiday was last month." he raised an eyebrow, not looking the least bit concerned about being contradicted. "I talk to my brother, you know?"

"And he mentioned you to me, I wanted to see you."

Y/N rolled her eyes, looking at the wall of the house that was far more important than the slouched figure sitting on her couch.

"Go away, I'm busy."

Charlie didn't seem to mind because he crossed his arms and held himself in place.

She took a deep breath.

A long time ago Charlie, one of her brother's friends, was her first kiss. Two years older, he used to be a pretty nice guy but after they kissed the first and only time - because her first kiss was traumatic enough for a 14-year-old - Charlie seemed to have gotten a little more involved than she was. Always acting like they were dating, when she'd never let him take it that way. Afterwards, Y/N had other crushes at school and Charlie became just a memory of a first experience. For her, it was enough. The affection she held for him was far from being a passion and so she entered college and Charlie and her brother went to Japan to study.

But Charlie always insisted on trying to maintain an approach beyond friendship, and at a certain point it started to irritate her. Annoyed, Jongho gave her advice to simply ignore and block him and she did.

But what she least expected was that he would skip class, fly from Japan to Korea to visit her in person.

"Come on, cutie, I traveled all this way to see that pretty face and I don't even get a smile?" he complained and she huffed.

Y/N walked over to the shelf that held her shoes and glared at him.

"Okay" she shrugged. "If you're not going to leave, then I will." She left the house in long strides and heard him laugh, thinking she was joking, she arrived in a few seconds in the elevator that was open and entered, pressing the button for the ground floor hearing him call her name.

When she saw his shadow approaching, the elevator door had already closed and she took a deep breath, putting her shoes on angrily as the elevator descended.

There was only one place on her mind and that was where she was going. She got out of the elevator and walked through reception, irritated because she hadn't had time to get a coat, and her irritation increased even more when she heard Charlie shout her name once more across the hall.

Great, he'd gone after her. Y/N was already on the street when her arm was pulled back with force, forcing her to stop.

She stared at Charlie impatiently and he didn't seem so bold anymore.

"Come on, Y/N? Are you going to leave me talking to myself?"

She laughed sarcastically.

"Did you have to fly all the way from Japan to understand that?"

"I'm not liking this attitude of yours." he warned and she raised her eyebrows.

"Then let go of me and get out of here." she said, pulling her arm for him to release the grip, which didn't happen as he tightened his grip and pulled her closer.

Y/N moved her torso to keep her distance from him even more, not liking the look he was giving her at all.

"Don't you miss that time?" she narrowed her eyes at his question. "That we were together?"

"We were never together." she replied, trying to remove the hand that gripped her arm. "Let me go!"

"I'm sure you're playing this game on purpose."

Y/N glared at him like he was crazy and her free hand braced on his chest to keep him even further away as he started to lean closer.

"Let me go!"

Before Charlie could get any closer, another hand came out of nowhere and grabbed the wrist of the hand holding Y/N's arm.

"Let her go. Now." Y/N turned quickly upon recognizing Jongho's voice.

He had his angry eyes turned towards Charlie and the expression was one of pure anger, she could see the strength he was putting in his jaw.

"That is none of your business, dude." Charlie spoke and Y/N could hear Jongho practically growl.

What happened next caused relief and worry to wash over Y/N's body. Jongho tightened his grip on Charlie's wrist and turned him to the side, making him let go of her arm as he complained.

"Oh, wait, hey!" In another moment, Y/N would have laughed at Charlie's clear desperation but she knew that if Jongho wanted to, he would break Charlie's wrist. Not that he didn't deserve it, she was laughing inside, but she needed to listen to her rational side that said that if Jongho got into trouble now because of her it would be a huge chaos.

And they were in the middle of the street!

That's why she approached Jongho and put her hand on his arm.

"Jongho, please." she asked quietly, trying to get his attention.

He was staring at Charlie like he could kill him with just his eyes.

"Please, it's not worth it."

Jongho took a deep breath and stared at her, mentally debating whether to hear what she was saying. She kept her eyes fixed on him and moved her head slightly so that he would silently do as she asked.

He pressed his lips together in a thin line and turned to face Charlie.

"If I see you 1 kilometer away from her, I swear I'll rip your arm off." he threatened, his voice low and menacing but Charlie kept quiet so he shook the guy. "You understood?"

Charlie just nodded, visibly scared and Jongho let go of him rudely.

"Now get the fuck out before I regret it."

Y/N stifled a laugh as she saw Charlie practically run away without looking at her or back, he even tripped over his own feet as he disappeared.

Jongho turned to face her, his expression a little calmer this time.

"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly and raised his hands to place on her shoulders but stopped midair, afraid of hurting her.

Y/N looked at her arm which was slightly red but she felt great so she nodded.

"Let's go in." she nodded toward her building. Whatever she did to avoid Jongho being seen there, she would do it. He agreed and the two entered, side by side, Jongho was still limping a little.

In silence but without his eyes straying from looking at Y/N to make sure she was okay, they went to her apartment.

He walked in front, a little shy, took off his shoes at the door and walked in being followed by Y/N, who was staring at his back. She closed the door as Jongho stopped by the sofa.

"Do you want something?" she asked, drawing his attention. "Water? Coffee?"

Jongho shook his head and she took a deep breath.

"Then sit down, please." she pointed to the sofa. "I don't want you to get tired."

Jongho did so, resting his elbows on top of his knees.

"But I'm tired, Y/N." he admitted and she approached, worried. "Tired of not talking to you."

She sighed, looking down at the floor.

The feeling was mutual.

"I just did what you asked, I gave you peace." she shrugged, swallowing hard.

"I didn't ask you to ignore me."

Y/N ran her hand over her face, trying to avoid looking at him or else she would end up talking more than she should.

"You got it wrong that day." she crossed her arms. "It wasn't you I was feeling sorry for, it was myself."

She took courage and faced him, Jongho frowned and tilted his head to the side, confused.

"I'm an idiot, you know? You were always there for me at all times and when you needed me the most, I was too busy being selfish."

Jongho shook his head.

"I would never ask you to sacrifice your last year of college to babysit me."

She took a step forward when Jongho got up from the sofa.

"But you don't understand, I wouldn't sacrifice myself, it was just my duty to know what was happening with you!"

"I know you have more important things to do." he said and she shook her head. Finals weren't as important to her as his well-being. “I was very rude to you that day, I understand your anger." he admitted, putting his hands in the pocket of the sweatshirt he wore. "It's just…I didn't want you to see me like that."

"I get it, you didn't want to show weakness." She understood. She knew her friend well and knew how bad he must be feeling for not showing what he strived to be, strong. Jongho laughed softly, lowering his head.

"My weakness is you.”

“What?” Jongho remained silent and that intrigued her even more. “What do you mean by that?" She saw Jongho take several deep breaths before he glared at her, not knowing what to say.

"Why did you come here?" she asked, softly but curiously. "Why did you do that to Charlie?"

She wouldn't scold him, on the contrary she would thank him, but she needed to understand.

"There are a million words I want to say to you but I…" he shrugged. "I care about you. More than I should actually." Y/N felt her legs tremble and her heart race but she couldn't say anything because her voice seemed to be gone, and it didn't help when Jongho approached her.

He didn't quite touch her but she felt his body heat so close.

“What…” "I'm in love with you."

Y/N's eyes widened at the confession, he went straight to the point.

"I said, now I'm going to leave so I don't get any more awkward." He prepared to walk past her but Y/N grabbed his hand. Jongho looked at her very shy, his ears were so red and his hands were cold but she didn't break the contact because his skin was too welcoming. "Are you serious?" she asked, she wanted to smile but still didn't believe what he had just said.

"I never lied to you." he admitted.

Y/N felt her whole body heat up suddenly and then without thinking twice she pressed her lips to his, catching him off guard. It was a simple touch but she felt how soft and warm his lips were, when he pulled back Jongho's face was pure shock and she smiled, feeling her cheeks heat up. "What... was this?" he asked, perplexed.

"I think we have a lot to talk about."

Jongho raised an eyebrow and then brought both hands to Y/N's face, bringing her closer and putting their lips together once more.

Only now it was properly a real kiss, with him taking her bottom lip as Y/N sighed and brought her hands up to Jongho's arms.

It was a calm and soft kiss, to discover the unfamiliar and at the same time familiar sensation of the lips moving, without any hurry. Even when they moved their heads to deepen the kiss and their tongues went into a slow dance, the rhythm didn't change. Y/N felt her legs tremble and smiled slightly when Jongho moved his hands to hold her by the waist gently, as if he was afraid of hurting her, making her take her hands to his broad shoulders.

When the shortness of breath was already unbearable to the point of bothering the lungs, they moved away and still with their eyes closed Y/N felt Jongho run his nose across the entire length of her face, making her laugh lightly. “I guess I'm not the only one who has a million words to say.”

[teshadraws]

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Seekers of Soul

[Chapter 52]

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-

Nia and Tobias have their mission. It's time to plan their next move, and get some training in while they're at the Lexym Guild.

-

Telling Maggie about their trip to Asra and Shivergleam is a tense affair. The meganium stays quiet for most of it, but Nia can see her honey-gold eyes darken after each brush with danger that they skim over, clumsily trying to fill in the gaps left in their story.

Finally, what feels like hours later, they're finished. Quiet falls over the three of them.

With a forced sort of calm, Maggie asks, “Is that everything?”

“It’s all we know so far,” Tobias hedges. “Our plan right now is just to find Xerneas. Hopefully she can prevent any of this from happening. Or at least fix the dimensional border if it does break.”

If she doesn't, the world falls apart, Nia silently adds, knowing she doesn’t need to say it for it to be in the forefront of all their minds. Both the Pokemon world and the human world would be destroyed.

Nia fiddles with the soft fur of her tail, too nervous to look up at Maggie. The silence while the grass type digests everything is heavy.

Finally, Maggie sighs. Nia jumps.

“I’m going to need a hug after all of that,” Maggie says.

Nia finally looks up, relieved, and willingly scoots closer for the meganium to pull her into a hug with her vine. Nia leans against her petals, soft but firm, and breathes in her fresh floral scent. She sees Tobias getting the same treatment on Maggie’s other side.

Immediately, Nia feels a little better. Everything feels less dire when she's tucked against Maggie like this. It's still quiet, but a comforting sort of quiet. It’s only the three of them in the herbalist quarters at the moment, Sage having been politely shooed out of the room to grab some berries for breakfast once Maggie realized that neither Nia nor Tobias felt comfortable explaining their trip with the ivysaur present. Sage had taken the obvious excuse with grace, thankfully, and is taking his time in returning.

“Thank you for telling me.” Maggie says. She takes a deep breath, Nia lifting with the exhale. “I just wish you two weren’t thrown right in the middle of all this mess. You’re so young.”

“We’re not little kids,” Tobias mutters.

“Oh, don’t pout.”

“I'm not pouting!” Tobias says, absolutely pouting.

Nia turns her face into Maggie’s petals to stifle a laugh.

“When were you planning on talking to August about all of this?” Maggie asks.

Nia pulls away to look at Tobias. He seems as unsure as she feels.

“Should we tell him?” Tobias asks, crossing his arms. “We’re getting intel from a banished legendary, if he even believes we're telling the truth. And we don’t know that he’ll actually do anything even if he does believe us. He said he’d look into the fire that happened in Ghatha but nothing ever came from that.”

Nia has to admit that he has a point.

Maggie sighs. “Even if it’s not obvious, I’m sure August is doing all he can to help. And if this is something jeopardizing not only our guild but the entire Pokemon world, I promise you he would want to know about it.”

Nia and Tobias exchange a doubtful look.

Maybe sensing that they’re reluctant to talk to August and worried that they’ll try to put it off completely, Maggie only allows a quick breakfast of the berries Sage brings back before marching the two of them straight to August’s office herself. The rillaboom looks pleased to see them, a soft sort of relief on his face when he catches sight of Nia and Tobias safely back from their travels. His warm smile fades as he locks eyes with Maggie, though, his more casual posture straightening up. He waves them in without a word.

Verene seems to be out, so they’re the only ones present in the spacious office. The leaves weaving in and out of the wooden walls are a lovely gradient of warm autumnal tones.

August takes a seat behind his desk, chair creaking. “Welcome back, Team Scarlet. It’s good to see you both safe. I heard from the crew of the Aqua Jet and that little sableye that you both showed impressive prowess as Seekers yesterday.”

Nia murmurs a thank you. Tobias nods.

“However, gauging by your expressions, I must assume that’s not why you came to see me today,” August says. “A shame. I could do with some good news, for once. What can I help you with?”

Nia looks to Tobias, so he starts them off. Retells the story once more with Nia stepping in on occasion, trading the explanation back and forth.

They mention Asra, first, to explain everything that comes after. Giratina. The protective shell of this world weakening from a preemptive crack in the very fabric of the dimension. Nia and Tobias being assigned to find Xerneas in a desperate bid for hope.

August’s brow knits and falls lower and lower as he listens, chin resting on bridged fingers. By time they’re finally finished, Nia’s throat is dry. The same oppressive silence from before falls over the room, and it feels thick enough to choke on.

August’s amber eyes settle on Nia. “How sure are you that Giratina was telling the truth?”

Nia tries not to let her own doubt show on her face. “W-Well…I guess I don’t have any proof that he was? But he felt…honest. And it makes sense. Or at least more sense than anything else people have guessed for why the world is breaking down, right? Could anything else cause natural disasters and make evolution stop? Or force legendaries to go dormant?”

“You think Giratina would have something to gain from us seeking out Xerneas?” Tobias asks, eyes narrowing.

August sighs, raking his fingers back through his leafy mane. “That’s difficult to say. I’m no expert on either legendary.”

“But surely there’s enough here to merit a deeper look,” Maggie pipes up. “If Giratina is being honest, then…”

August lets a rush of air out through his nose. “It would be disastrous for us to ignore him, yes.”

The quiet returns like an itchy, ill-fitting sweater.

“I’ll ask Alistair and Tawny to look into it immediately,” August finally says. “If they feel that searching for Xerneas is likely to be of help and not just playing into Giratina’s schemes, then I’ll reach out to the other Guildmasters so we can plan from there.”

Nia lets out a breath. Knowing that they aren’t solely responsible for saving the whole world feels like the weight of the Lexym Tree itself being lifted off her shoulders. She kind of wants to cry. “Thank you.”

August nods. “Of course. I’m here for anyone in the guild, but a matter pertaining to the safety of the entire world? That is not to be treated lightly.”

“Speaking of safety,” Tobias says, in a tone that would be casual if it didn’t sound like it was barbed with thorns. “You said you were going to send someone to look into the fire at Ghatha, right? And other human discrimination. Anything ever come of that?”

August gives Tobias a dry look. “Put away your fangs, Tobias. I did indeed look into the matter.”

“And?”

“The investigation into the Ghatha fire has unfortunately gone cold. While they can assume it was a fire type at the convention who started it, Rai’s guild hasn’t been able to determine who was the culprit. They’ve marked it closed for now unless new information arises.”

"Yeah, and I'm sure that decision has nothing to do with the guy not liking humans," Tobias mutters.

August's eyes narrow. "Where did you hear that?"

Nia blinks, surprised, and exchanges a look with Tobias. August doesn't know? "Keegan mentioned it, back when we were in Ghatha."

"The guild's second-in-command," Tobias clarifies. "A ninetales."

"Hm." August looks past them for a moment, locking eyes with Maggie. Before Nia can figure out what the two older Pokemon are thinking, he speaks again. "That's not something I was aware of. What are your thoughts on Keegan? I haven't had the chance to speak with him myself."

"He was nice!" Nia says.

"A little too nice," Tobias scoffs.

August hums. "...Noted. Regardless, for now the investigation remains at a stand-still."

Tobias’ muzzle crinkles, mirroring Nia’s own displeasure. While this news isn’t entirely unexpected, it is unnerving, not knowing the Pokemon who made a very intentional effort on all of the human lives at the convention in Ghatha. What if they try something else in the future? The thought makes Nia feel…uneasy. Unsafe.

“My scouts did also confirm your claims regarding the general perception of humans in Ghatha. It seems the aggression towards them is increasing. Considering you saw the same in Asra, I can only assume the trend continues elsewhere as well.”

“But why?" Nia protests, voice cracking. "We aren't doing anything wrong!"

“I know,” August says, rubbing at his face. “We know you have nothing to do with what’s happening to our world, Nia. None of the humans do. But unfortunately, the natural disasters and mystery dungeons are only becoming more and more common. Pokemon are injured and frightened, and humans are a handy group to shoulder the blame.”

“It’s escalating, isn’t it?” Maggie cuts in, voice soft. “Not just the aggression. The natural disasters. The spread of mystery dungeons. The Haven hasn’t been hit too hard yet, but…”

August hesitates with a glance at Nia and Tobias. “Yes. Which would line up with what Giratina is claiming. The closer we get to the moment when the barrier of our dimension breaks, the more and more dangerous our world gets. And the more that tensions run high, the more rumors spread about whose fault it could be.”

Another silence. Nia can hear the walls of the Lexym Tree creak around them in the wind.

“What about Will?” Tobias asks. Nia looks at him, surprised that he’s even willing to bring up the yamask he dislikes so much.

“Ah, yes. You mentioned wanting to visit him to see if he has any leads in finding Xerneas. My scouts didn’t hear much about his group while in Ghatha, but they also couldn’t find many humans at all, seeing as they’re keeping a low profile.”

“I sent him a letter before we left for Asra,” Nia speaks up. “Telling him about Giratina trying to pull me into the distortion realm through the stream. A-And about me recovering some of my memories. If he’s written back by now, he probably left a way to find him, right?”

“Should we even bother seeing if he has information, though?” Tobias asks, face twisting. “If we know that we’re looking for Xerneas, what are the chances he knows something Alistair and Tawny and the other guilds don’t?”

“Can we risk not checking?” Nia murmurs.

Tobias doesn’t have an argument for that. “I guess just flying straight to see him ourselves would be faster than waiting for mail.”

August's hand strokes at his chin. “I believe Nia is right. We can’t risk missing a potential lead from a network of information outside of our own. If you are willing to track him down, then I approve your travel to seek him out in a few days’ time. I will have the guild cover your flight costs across the sea.”

“Why’re we waiting?” Tobias asks, frowning. “Shouldn’t we leave right away?”

August shakes his head. “I want to first discuss with Alistair and Tawny. If they believe seeking out Xerneas could be as beneficial as Giratina suspects, I’ll have them spread word to the other guilds to start an official search. If they believe we could be playing into a plot, then we’ll put a hold on seeking out any information.”

Nia and Tobias trade an uncertain look, but eventually agree.

The three of them depart the office shortly after, August giving them a distracted goodbye as he turns to some papers on his desk.

“So we have a few days until we can leave,” Tobias says, jumping right into it. “What’s our plan until then?”

“We should probably go to our quarters first, right?” Nia says. “To see if Will even wrote back?”

Tobias frowns, but nods.

They reach the medical floor, and Maggie stops, reminding Nia and Tobias that the meganium has a job to do elsewhere.

“Oh, don’t give me those yamper eyes,” Maggie laughs. She nuzzles the top of Nia’s head, then Tobias’. “I have a job to do as well! And I’ll still be right here if you want to stop in again later tonight.”

Tobias visibly relaxes at the reminder, and Nia thanks the meganium for her help. For listening.

“Of course! Someone has to look after you two, always running off into trouble,” Maggie says with a wink.

Nia turns to head down the stairs, but pauses when Tobias doesn’t follow. The charmander is hesitating, staring at Maggie with a conflicted expression. Then he darts forward to squeeze Maggie’s leg in a hug. The meganium seems as surprised as Nia is by the unusually open affection, but after a beat her expression softens. She lowers her head to return the hug with her long neck and a vine, squeezing him tight.

Ah, right. Tobias had told Maggie about finding the home of the crobat outlaw, too. About finding the crobat's grave, and the loving family he’d left behind. Maggie had smothered him in a hug then, too, but it makes sense that he’s still feeling a bit emotional about it all.

Tobias only tolerates the affection for a few seconds before ducking free and slipping past Nia, calling for her to hurry up over his shoulder. Nia smiles as she waves to Maggie and hurries after her partner.

The two of them head to the Seekers’ quarters a few floors down. Most of the doors are closed since Pokemon are out and about doing missions in the middle of the day, but there are a few lattice windows in the halls that let in glimpses of bright sunshine and whistling gusts of air.

Their own room is just as they left it, save a thin layer of dust over everything. The wall is lined by a few wooden cabinets, along with a bookcase and chest to keep their belongings in. A large window sits on the far wall, its lattice-like roots currently opened wide. A leaf-woven curtain is pulled down over it to keep out the wind, and the sun shines through it beautifully, casting a dim golden-green hue over everything. In the center of the room lies their plush scarlet red rug, and away from the window sits their nests, resting side-by-side.

Tobias dumps their satchel next to the chest. Nia goes to the mailbox set into the wall by the door. She’s excited to find three pieces of mail inside—two letters and one thin slip of paper. She pulls them out and looks at the smallest one first. It reads 20% Off at the Kecleon Brothers Shop! with a cute little drawing of a pair of…chameleons?

“They have coupons in this world?” Nia asks, strangely amused by the thought.

Tobias’ warmth appears at her side as he peers over her shoulder. He snorts. “The kecleon merchants are really well-known. Good quality wares, but make sure you stay on their good side.”

“Um, okay. Why?”

Tobias flops down in his nest. “The last ‘mon that tried to steal from ‘em left with less limbs than they started with.”

“But they’re so cute!” Nia says, aghast, as she looks again at the little drawing.

“So are fairy types, and they’re terrifying."

Nia sinks into her own nest, gently setting the coupon aside. She’s not sure she wants to deal with the shop at all if that’s the reputation they keep. She lights up when she sees the second letter, though—it’s a cute little thing, blue, with Nia’s name written in delicate, loopy cursive.

Tobias rolls over to squint at the envelope. “Who wrote us a letter in gibberish?”

Nia blinks. “You can’t read this?”

“You can?”

Nia takes another look at the letter. At first she thinks the problem is that the writing is cursive, but then she realizes that it’s probably because it's English. Not the native Pokemon language.

“Oh,” Nia laughs, feeling a strange pang of homesickness. “It’s in English. A, uh. Human language.”

She opens the envelope with care, pulling out the stationery and smiling at the letter, which is also written in looping cursive. Tobias doesn’t say anything else, but she can feel his eyes on her so she translates as she skims.

“It’s from Hazel. She says that she can make me a human bed! Oh man, you are going to love it. You’ll never be able to go back to a normal nest. And she’ll even give me the family discount! Aww!”

“She should give you more than that after we saved her mate’s tail,” Tobias says.

“We hadn’t even met Beck yet when I sent the request! Let’s see here…she also says—”

Nia bursts into laughter.

“What?”

“She also says that she’s glad you’re nicer to me now, but that she’s willing to knock some sense into you any time if that changes.”

Tobias straightens up, flushing. “She did not say that.” Nia cackles, turning the page over to his grabby hands. “She did! C’mon, she’s the reason I confronted you in Afon’s Cap at all!”

Tobias makes a face, but he’s still bright red. Nia isn’t sure if it’s because he’s embarrassed to be called out, or because of his behavior during their early partnership in the first place. Either way, he folds the letter back up and frisbees it at her, huffing.

Nia laughs again and tucks the letter off to the side with the coupon. She’ll have to write the old raichu back later. Nia’s amusement dies down as she picks up the third letter.

Tobias sits up as he sees her expression. “…Will?”

Nia nods. Hesitantly, she opens the yamask’s letter.

Nia,

While I’m pleased to hear from you, I wish it was under better circumstances! I’m relieved that you escaped from Giratina unharmed, but concerned that you had such a close call at all. If you do feel unsafe where you are, please don’t hesitate to come join the community of humans we have amassed thus far—we’re growing by the day! We're just south of Ghatha, past Stonebrook and closer to Kaleido Bay. If you can find Stonebrook, they can direct you from there.

“Stonebrook,” Nia murmurs, tilting her head. “Why does that sound familiar?”

Tobias, who had scooched closer to read, frowns as he tries to recall as well. Then he groans and plants his face in his hands.

“What?”

“It’s where your stupid rookidee friend lives,” Tobias says, words muffled.

Nia gasps. “Junie! Oh my gosh, you’re right! We could stop by and see her! She could—”

“We are not inviting her to join us.”

“Aw, why not? I miss her!”

“You miss her because she doesn’t pick fights with you constantly!”

Nia looks at him for a moment. “I thought you kind of enjoyed it. It's like how you squabble with Andyn."

Tobias stumbles over a retort—outright stammers—his face growing red again, and Nia bursts into laughter.

“Oh my God, I knew it! You do like bickering with them! Why do you act like you hate them so much?”

“I do hate them!”

“Mhm.”

“They’re annoying and loud and—”

“They’re your frieeends,” Nia coos, poking him in the cheek.

“They are not,” Tobias hisses, swatting her hand away. “Shut up!”

Nia can feel him heating up with embarrassment so she knows he’s lying, but she takes mercy and backs off, still grinning.

“This is exactly why you don’t need to be spending more time with either of them,” Tobias grumbles, rubbing at his cheek. “They’re rubbing off on you.”

Nia finally tames her delight down to a manageable level and goes back to Will’s letter.

I am thrilled, however, to hear about your returned memories, even if you had to endure a terrifying illness to find them. After speaking with more of the humans under my care who have recovered their own memories, I have to wonder if there is a correlation between severe injury or illness and the recovery of one's memories. Perhaps brushing by Death’s doorstep unlocks a part of the brain once buried?

Huh. Nia has to take a moment to think after reading that. The handful of memories she recovered did only return to her when she was gravely ill, but she didn’t think it was a direct correlation. But Will seems to be implying that nearly dying could be a trigger for that process. If Giratina is correct, maybe it has to do with them getting close to…leaving their new vessels? So the memories that Mew sealed away kind of…loosen?

Nia shakes her head, unnerved by the reminder that she nearly died, and reads on.

I would love to discuss with you further if you do feel like visiting. Know that you’re always welcome. We have exciting developments in the works! Until then, I hope you and your partner are well.

Will

Nia sits back. “Well, he’s open to a visit, and we have directions…”

“Guess it’s settled then,” Tobias sighs. “I’ll let August know tomorrow.”

“August said to give him a few days to run everything by Tawny and Alistair, right? So…what should we do in the meantime?”

Tobias makes a thoughtful sound in his throat, eyes trailing over the faint pattern of leaves forming the window curtain. “We don’t want to wear ourselves out completely before traveling, but we should definitely do some training or missions or something. We need to keep getting stronger, and we need to keep rising higher in the ranks so Pokemon take us seriously.”

“That would give us more funds, too,” Nia agrees. “So I guess for now we just work on recuperating and take a few missions?"

“Then when we’re cleared for travel we go to the flying outpost.” Tobias finishes, a smirk growing on his face. “You excited to get back in the air?”

Nia groans, falling back into her nest. The soft scent of straw and moss wafts up around her. “Not even a little.”

Tobias snorts a laugh. “You’ll survive.”

There’s a moment of quiet where Nia lies starfished in her nest, listening to the wind blow against their curtain. The midday sun has warmed their little room enough for it to feel nice and cozy.

“It’s too late in the day to start a mission,” Tobias says, snagging her attention again. “But I’m going to go see if Azami or Val are around to spar with.”

While he isn’t outright asking Nia to join, the way he pauses to look at her makes the implied question clear. Nia perks up. “Oh! I’ll come with! I’ve been wanting to chat with Val about how my aura’s shaping up anyways.”

Tobias grins, pushing himself to his feet and offering a hand to help her up. The two of them leave the cozy atmosphere of their room to wind their way down the Lexym Tree.

At the doorway leading into the training floor, Nia nearly bumps into a taller Pokemon. She hops back with an apology, craning her head up to meet their eyes. They look interesting—an olive green and tan Pokemon with a mushroom cap and a long, almost kangaroo-like tail. In their bright red claws, tucked close to their body, they hold something like a clipboard.

The mushroom Pokemon starts a polite apology, but cuts himself off as he catches sight of Tobias standing behind Nia. Nia’s own apology trails off as she looks between Tobias and the new ‘mon. Tobias is clearly uncomfortable, an echo of his old, closed-off demeanor resurfacing as he crosses his arms and scowls up at the taller grass type.

“Try to keep everything in one piece,” The new Pokemon finally says, tone clipped, as he slips around them and walks off.

Nia turns to Tobias with a concerned frown. “Who was that?”

“Archer,” He grumbles, good mood clearly soured. “He keeps track of inventory.”

“Oh. Um. Why was he..?”

“I used to be more…destructive, with some of the dummies. They’re flammable.”

“Oh.” Nia stares at him, trying to parse that information. With how often they travel nowadays and how much Tobias has softened up around her, Nia always forgets that there are Pokemon in the guild who aren’t fond of Tobias for one reason or another. This reason doesn’t seem like a very fair one, though. “Aren’t training dummies meant to be attacked?”

“Not when you’re using fire, apparently,” Tobias snaps, moving past her and into the training area with his shoulders tense.

Nia hurries after her partner, relieved when she sees that not only are their mentors present, but that Val is working with Xander’s team. The medicham is listening to something the luxio is explaining, the rest of his teammates gathered around to listen as well.

Azami is nearby, manning a different fighting area. The tsareena is watching a treecko as they attack a dummy, but she beams behind her tall collar when she catches sight of Nia and Tobias. “Spitfire! And little Riolu. Good to see you!”

Tobias ducks his chin into his scarf, but Nia thinks he’s secretly pleased to have such a warm reception after bumping into Archer. Val, Xander and the rest of Team Shellshock turn at the loud greeting as well.

Avery smiles with a delicate wave.

Felix grins, fluffy ears perking. “Nia!”

“Good to see you," Xander says. "When did you two get back?”

“Last night! Sorry, are we interrupting?” Nia says, approaching the group.

“We were actually just saying we need to branch out a bit with our sparring partners,” Xander says, giving Nia a friendly flick of his star-tipped tail. His gold eyes move to Tobias. “Either of you interested in joining us for combat training?"

“Yeah! I’ve been dying to see how you squirts do in a fight,” Kry says. The fraxure cracks her knuckles to punctuate her words, as if her looming presence isn't intimidating enough.

Tobias, however, flexes his claws and steps forward to meet her. “You’re on.”

"Ohoho! Bring it, little 'mon!"

“Oh, this oughta be good,” Felix says, turning to lead everyone to the sidelines.  “C’mon, we’d better clear the field for these two.”

“They’re going to battle right now?” Nia asks, giving Val a wide-eyed look even as she follows. They just got here! Shouldn’t they warm up or something?

The medicham shrugs. “Charmander stepped forward.”

Well, she can’t argue with that. Still, as Nia sits to watch, she can't help feeling nervous as Tobias crouches into a battle stance across from Kry. The fraxure lashes her tail and lowers her head with a sharp grin. Nia doesn’t think the brash Pokemon would actually hurt Tobias, but…

“Battle!” Val calls.

Both lizard Pokemon lunge, Tobias ducking under a slash and spinning to trip up Kry’s footing with his tail. The fraxure recovers with surprising grace and goes on the offensive again. Tobias is forced to backstep, shooting off small bursts of fire to try and gain some distance. Kry leaps right through one of Tobias’ flames as if it were nothing more than smoke.

“Whoa,” Nia murmurs.

“How was your trip?” Xander asks, leaning over to whisper.

“We had an, uh…eventful week,” Nia chuckles. “Solved a mysterious earthquake problem, fought some outlaws, got caught in a mystery dungeon on the river, so fun times all around.”

They also found the grave of a long-hunted outlaw and met with Giratina of all Pokemon, who told them the world was ending, but Nia feels reluctant to drop all of that onto Xander so suddenly.

Felix whistles. The wartortle’s gaze is on the fight, but his fluffy ears are angled her way. “Busy, busy! No wonder Tobias is holding his own pretty well. You two just don’t stop, huh?”

Nia smiles and straightens up, proudly watching her partner continue to dance around Kry. His fighting style is still more offensive than defensive, but he’s playing it smart, relying on his smaller size and speed to keep the fraxure from landing a spar-stopping blow.

“You willing to try a round next?” Xander asks, giving Nia a friendly nudge with his elbow that nearly knocks her over.

Nia laughs, a little nervous. “Sure? But, uh, I’m not as good at fighting as Tobias.”

“Somehow I doubt that’s true,” Avery speaks up from Xander's other side. The kirlia gives her a warm half-smile. “You tend to underestimate yourself.”

Nia flushes under her fur and looks back to the fight, wincing as Kry nearly lands a devastating punch on Tobias. Instead, her fist slams into the wooden floor with enough force to crack it. The fraxure seems to be getting frustrated, but Tobias is starting to slow too, panting hard. He hasn’t used his smokescreen yet, though Nia isn’t sure if that’s a matter of pride or if Kry’s vision would be sharp enough to see through it.

The fight continues for another minute, Tobias landing a few brushes of flames and claws on Kry’s tough hide, but the fraxure is the one who ends it. She clips the charmander with a left hook, and as he stumbles, she slams him hard in the gut with her heavy tail. Tobias staggers, and Kry takes the opportunity to pin him to the ground with her greater weight.

After a few moments of Tobias struggling to free himself—that tail whip must've knocked the breath out of him if he isn't using his fire—Val calls the match. Kry releases him, stepping back, and Tobias sits up slowly, wincing and rubbing at his stomach. Felix calls out a jovial “Good match!” while Val moves to Tobias’ side. At first, the charmander seems reluctant to listen to her, but after a few quiet words he looks at her fully, scowl lessening as he nods. She must be giving him advice.

Kry makes her way over and grins down at Nia, breathing somehow unlabored. “You next, scrap?”

Felix pouts. “You already got your turn, Kry.”

“And I asked first,” Xander says smoothly, standing and moving to where Kry stood before. He doesn’t sound bossy, but somehow even Nia can hear the quiet authority in his voice. While Nia and Tobias don’t really have a “leader” of their team, it’s clear that Xander holds the title for Team Shellshock.

“You up for it, Nia?” The luxio asks, confident expression softening.

Nia feels her heart flutter with anxiety, but Avery gives her an encouraging nod. She pads over to where Tobias is finally getting to his feet.

“Good fight,” Nia whispers to him as she passes.

“Kick his tail,” Tobias says in return, though it sounds less heated than the scathing comments he used to make towards Xander.

Nia nods and gets in position, lifting her hands and crouching just a bit, feet spread wide and stable. She still doesn’t particularly like fighting, even for fun, but she just tries to think of it more like…a friendly sporting match.

Xander spreads his paws wide as his tail flicks. Sparks come to life and crackle across his black fur, like stars in a night sky. Nia shifts, suddenly registering the fact that Xander is nearly twice her size. Usually the thought is comforting more than anything, but facing him as an opponent…

“Show ‘em what you did to that steelix!” Tobias shouts.

There’s a lull in the group's conversation that makes Nia’s ears flatten, embarrassed by the attention. However, the comment does lessen her nerves a bit. Hard to be intimidated by a luxio when she’s faced down a metal serpent the size of a semi-truck. And she did just learn work up in the last mystery dungeon, which should make her more powerful, but that might up her attack too much—she doesn't want to actually hurt Xander, after all.

Nia can hear Felix asking Tobias about the steelix comment, but Val starts off their spar with a loud, “Battle!”

In complete contrast to Tobias and Kry’s fight, Nia and Xander stay frozen in place, sizing each other up. The sparks crackling across the luxio’s fur make her wary to get in close like she usually does—he can probably cause paralysis, right? He is an electric type. But if she doesn’t get in close, then her only option is to—

Xander makes the first move, lighting up with a flash of electricity and sending a test bolt her way. Nia rolls out of the way on instinct, but she can feel the charge in the air prickling at her fur.

Xander’s eyes narrow. He darts forward to attack.

Nia yelps and creates a staff of aura, taking a swing to make him leap back. He does so, but shoots off another electric attack. Nia barely manages to scramble out of the way, rolling and leaping from bolt after bolt. She doesn’t realize Xander is herding her closer and closer to himself until he’s suddenly slamming into her side.

The electricity in his fur stings, and the blow sends her tumbling across the floor as her staff vanishes. Xander hesitates. Nia takes the opportunity as soon as she lands on her knees to charge up a messy ball of aura in her paws and launch it at the luxio. Xander’s eyes widen, clearly not expecting that, before he gets hit head-on in a flash of blue.

Nia winces. Yeah, she really doesn’t like fighting her friends.

“Oh, you learned aura sphere while you were gone?” Nia hears Avery say, excited.

Nia blinks, looking over at the kirlia. “I did?”

Tobias is also staring at Avery. “She did?”

Nia sees Avery’s eyes widen a split-second before Xander bowls into her again. As she rolls to a stop, she notices the tingly current racing through her body, making her limbs feel numb and locked into place. She struggles to sit up but can’t move. Xander takes his opportunity to pin her down, paws heavy on her arms.

He smiles. “My win.”

Nia accepts defeat with a sigh, letting her head drop back. “I got distracted.”

Xander laughs. For a moment his claws flex, and then Nia feels the electricity in her body…recede, as Xander’s own sparks increase. He steps back, and Nia can move again. She blinks as she sits up, rubbing the remaining tingles out of her arms. Did he…take back the paralysis? Like a lightning rod?

“Good fight, Nia!” Felix, ever the optimist, cheers.

“It really wasn’t,” Nia says. “At least not on my end.”

“That aura sphere caught me off-guard,” Xander encourages. “And I have a feeling you were holding back on me.”

“Not on purpose,” Nia assures, even as she keeps her mouth shut about how Xander hesitated too. He reminds her of her brother in the human world, Clay, so of course she doesn’t want to hurt him. She imagines he sees some of his younger siblings in her as well.

As they rejoin the rest of the group, Kry and Felix pass them to spar next. Val gestures Nia to sit at her side, between her and Avery.

“Sorry, I promise I’ve been keeping up with my training. I can fight better than that,” Nia says, shying away from her mentor’s inscrutable gaze.

“So we heard!” Avery says, ruby eyes shining. “You fought a steelix on your own?”

Nia shrugs, ears pinning to her head. “Tobias and Samir weakened him first.”

“It is still impressive, Riolu,” Val finally says. “Do not downplay your achievements. You fight hardest when there is a true threat. That is admirable in its own way.”

Nia relaxes, giving Val a thankful smile. “I just worry about hurting my friends when we spar.”

“Xander can take it,” Avery giggles. “But forget about that—what other aura techniques did you learn while you were gone?”

Nia perks up as she describes her improved control over her aura. She can form a pretty reliable staff of aura now, officially replacing her trusty branch as her main weapon, and apparently even throw something like an aura sphere at a short distance, at least according to Avery. Plus, there’s the way she used her aura to find Tobias in the mines under Asra—like a pulse. A radar.

At that revelation, Avery interrupts. “That could be a really useful skill to master.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely! Other than being able to find Pokemon buried beneath rocks or snow, you could even use it in battle or in the dark if your vision is impaired.”

Nia looks down at her hands, flexing them. She supposes she did kind of “see” Tobias’ aura to find him in the rubble. And she remembers when she was first learning to use her aura that Val’s energy formed a sort of…silhouette of color. Nia hadn’t thought of practicing her aura as a form of vision, but Avery does have a point about it being useful in certain situations.

“Want to try it?” Xander asks, dropping into the conversation from Avery's other side.

“Now?” Nia asks.

“Why not?”

Nia looks between everyone, but they all seem open to the idea. Tobias, sitting on Xander’s other side, looks a bit uneasy as usual at the mention of aura, but he doesn’t protest. Maybe since Nia has already seen his aura once, albeit on a very surface level, some of his reluctance has melted away.

“You…don’t mind if I look at your aura to practice?”

Everyone shakes their head, save for Tobias. He just shrugs, looking down to fiddle with his scarf. That's as close to a yes as she's probably getting.

Well, they’re all waiting for her. With a hesitant nod, Nia closes her eyes, trying to remember what she did down in the mines. At the time she was fueled by desperation, so it feels strange to try and replicate the move in a more relaxed environment. She thinks she just kind of…pushed out a thin pulse of aura? Like a wave.

She tries it once, gently. Her aura barely even leaves her body, brushing against Val’s orange energy and flashing in her mind’s eye before petering out. Frowning, Nia turns up the power a few notches. Not so strong as to hurt, but not so weak that it dissipates immediately.

On her second try, the aura washes over all of them in a single pulse. Colors light up in her mind’s eye, resembling their vague silhouettes. Val’s bright, strong orange. Avery’s calming indigo. Xander’s eye-catching red. Tobias’ deeper scarlet. For an instant, for a moment, she sees them all, before it goes dark again.

“That felt…interesting,” Xander says, making Nia open her eyes. He’s rubbing a paw over his chest.

Nia blinks. “You felt that?”

Avery nods. “Yes! It’s so hard to describe. It almost feels like you…brushed your paw over my arm to get my attention. But…against my mind instead? My emotions, maybe?”

Nia cringes, immediately glancing at Tobias. He was the touchiest about her aura being invasive.

He does look a bit wary. “How does it feel for you? When you do that.”

Nia looks down at her hand, curling it. “I…don’t think I focused on anyone long enough to get a read on anything? But I’m familiar enough with all of you that it was easy to tell who was who. I could still…feel your personalities? But not any specific emotions.”

“If you were to focus your aura more steadily, in a direct connection rather than a radius, I wonder how well you could track an opponent, even with your eyes closed,” Val says, hand at her chin.

“Could you attach your aura in some way?” Avery adds. “Tag someone, so you would have a constant link?”

Nia sits back. Huh. She certainly hadn’t thought of that. She’s glad these two are here to help. “I…don’t know? I’ve never tried.”

“Would you want to?” Avery asks, practically vibrating with excitement at the prospect of experimenting. They clearly wouldn’t mind being a guinea pig.

“Sure? If you don’t, uh. Mind. Any suggestions for how to do this? Since you’re a psychic type?”

“Well, you should probably start out by touching them, right?” Xander says, tilting his head. He glances Kry and Felix’s way when a small explosion goes off from their sparring. Felix is cackling as Kry shouts something at him.

“That would likely be a good place to start, yes,” Val says.

Avery holds out a hand, smiling. Nia hesitates, then takes it, closing her eyes and reaching out with her aura.

Avery’s purple-blue aura, as curious and deep as the night sky, flares to life behind Nia’s eyelids, making up the kirlia’s silhouette. Nia’s own bright blue aura is a strong contrast to it, the two colors a beautiful mix where they overlap at their hands. But when Nia pulls back her paw, Avery’s aura vanishes. She frowns, and touches the kirlia again so the indigo flares back to life. So she does need to…attach her aura to them, somehow. Anchor herself?

Nia can’t think of how to do such a thing, so she tries to let her instincts take over instead. Aura is all about emotion, after all. About her life energy, what she wills into being. So what if she just…wills her aura to connect? Wills her bond with the kirlia to become something…tangible. Something physical. Something more than the surface-level observations of aura that she's done so far, something deeper.

She thinks about Avery’s soft voice and bright eyes and the delicate way they move. How they’re always happy to help Nia think through a problem and how their very presence soothes something anxious in Nia. Warm affection wells up in her heart.

Nia’s aura moves to follow that pull, that connection, latching onto Avery’s instead of just brushing against it. She feels a rush of emotion, of thought, that isn’t hers.

fascinating eager friend proud curious

It’s less a voice, and more a…feeling of each word. Not too different from what Nia has felt in the past, but somehow more intense. Clearer. Nia yanks her hand away, startled, but between them a string of bright blue aura remains, tying her to Avery’s indigo aura and keeping their form visible behind her eyelids. If Nia focuses on it, she can still feels Avery’s emotions, distant. Like a voice from the next room over or a palm radiating warmth through a heavy sweater.

Worry friend okay?

Nia’s eyes snap open, and she feels the connection cut out, leaving her feeling almost…lonely. She’s panting like she hasn’t since the early days of her aura training. Avery, Xander, and Tobias are watching her with mirrored expressions of concerned curiosity.

“I-I think it worked?” Nia says.

Avery lights up, leaning forward. “Tell me everything.”

Nia tries her best to describe the experience as Felix and Kry return to the group, Kry pouting at her loss and Felix ribbing the dragon type with an elbow to her side. As soon as they’re caught up on what’s happening, Felix eagerly volunteers to be Nia’s next test subject.

Nia has a slightly harder time connecting to Felix’s leafy green aura, and frowns as she tries and fails to find a foothold.

“Maybe your aura is too depleted?” Avery suggests.

Nia considers that, but shakes her head. No, her aura isn’t anywhere near gone. It’s just like…trying to stick one piece of cotton to another, with no adhesive to hold it in place. With Avery, it was like there’d been a piece of Velcro to snag onto.

Val, arms crossed and head tilted, flicks her gaze to Tobias. “Charmander.”

Tobias, who had been watching the whole process with an unreadable expression, frowns. “Yeah?”

“You next.”

Nia and Tobias shake their heads at the same time.

“No.”

“H-He doesn’t have to, really!”

“He is your partner,” Val cuts in. “He of all Pokemon should be the one you are most familiar with. If you two are separated, I want to know you have a chance to use this skill to your advantage.”

That is…unfortunately a good point. Except Tobias has been so private with his aura, from the very beginning. Not that Nia can blame him! It’s a really personal thing. But…she also doesn’t want to disappoint Val, and—

“Fine,” Tobias grumbles, scooting over to sit in front of Nia and jabbing his hand forward. “Get it over with.”

Nia blinks at him, surprised. Just like that?

Tobias flushes. “She has a good point. C’mon.”

Nia still hesitates, but after glancing at his face one more time she closes her eyes and reaches out a hand.

Before even brushing against him, her aura leaps from her body to his, latching on like a magnet. Tobias’ emotions filter through the string, somehow…louder than Avery's. Clearer, like the reception is better.

hide hide hide calm down Nia won’t hate calm down will she get it over with already—

Nia cuts the connection herself, recoiling with wide eyes. Tobias glares back at her, none of the turmoil she just felt showing on his face.

“Riolu?” Val prompts.

“You didn’t even touch me,” Tobias grumbles. “Why do you look so freaked out?”

“I-I didn’t need to?” Nia says, more a question than a statement. “I…my aura connected on its own?”

“Without contact?” Avery asks.

Surprised, Nia nods. Her attention is admittedly torn, though, caught on the thoughts and emotions Nia felt when she connected to her partner. He’s…so scared of her looking at his aura. And not because of privacy reasons, like she’d previously thought.

He’s…scared Nia will hate what she sees?

“Hm.” Val looks like she expected this turn of events. “I suspect the depth of your bond with someone influences how easily you can connect to them.”

“Or maybe Nia is just getting better as she goes?” Felix suggests.

Nia can’t give the speculation her full attention like she usually would. She’s too busy trying to tear her thoughts away from Tobias’ suddenly worrying self-esteem, or lack thereof. She…doesn’t think she can really bring it up directly, since they were kind of his private thoughts? But she’s more than a little concerned. She’s confident that the two of them are friends at this point, but he’s still so scared that she’s suddenly going to…what? Turn on him? Just because she gets a better understanding of who he is?

“Try again on Wartortle,” Val says.

Nia manages to focus back on the conversation, at least a little. Distracted, almost without thinking, she reaches out and tries to make her aura connect to Felix again, this time without touching. Her aura strains and reaches an inch or two past her body before snapping back. Completely different than it was with Tobias, where it leaped for him like a long-lost friend.

“No,” Nia murmurs. “I think Val is right. It’s…it feels completely different.”

Felix looks unusually put out by Nia struggling to connect with his aura. Val, Avery and Xander, however, just seem thoughtful. Kry is busy picking at her teeth.

Tobias is staunchly looking everywhere but Nia, face redder than usual and fingers rubbing at his scarf. Embarrassed. Nia supposes she understands how he feels, even in her distracted state. It’s one thing to feel close to him, but another thing entirely to have tangible proof of their friendship. Then again, apparently he needs proof, if his inner thoughts are anything to gauge by.

“If only we could speak with one of the lucario tribes,” Avery sighs. “They must know so much more about aura and what it can do. Psychic energy can be used for telepathy and more physical techniques like telekinesis, but aura is an entirely different matter since it deals directly with life energy and emotions. I’ve heard you can even influence a target's emotional state and manipulate their aura like you would your own!”

Nia leans back, something in her gut turning over as she snaps back to the conversation at hand. Influencing others’ emotions? Manipulating their aura, their life energy?

"That…uh, sounds a little scary, Avery."

Avery seems surprised, but then laughs. “Apologies. I suppose it does. I just thought it was fascinating! And I know you would never misuse your aura, so I don’t fear that kind of power in your paws.”

Nia’s unease fades a bit as she gives them a smile. It’s nice to know Avery has so much faith in her.

“For now, continue to explore this technique, Riolu,” Val says. She tilts her head towards the battlefield. ��Avery. Luxio. You are next.”

Avery looks reluctant to leave the discussion, but sighs and stands with an unreasonable amount of grace. They give Xander a teasing smile. “Think you can win this time?”

Xander laughs, lighting up in the way he only seems to around the kirlia. It’s kind of adorable. He nudges his teammate as they walk onto the battlefield together. “I’ll certainly try my best.”

Val hums, gaze lingering on the two of them as they start sparring without her call. “Charmander, you will battle Wartortle next.”

Nia frowns. Felix just battled a bit ago. “Shouldn’t I..?”

“You can fight if you would prefer to, but I can see you are reluctant. I believe you are making fine enough combat progress to focus on your aura today.”

Oh. Nia would prefer that over sparring, if Val thinks she’s doing all right. “O-Okay! So should I just..?”

“Practice with my aura while I monitor the sparring,” Val says, still watching the battle. “Connect to me, then try stepping away to see how far you can go before you lose the connection. Take a break between each attempt.”

There’s no hesitation in the medicham’s words, so after a moment Nia nods and closes her eyes to connect to Val’s orange energy. It’s not nearly as easy as Tobias or even Avery, but not any more difficult than Felix. A gentle tap to the fighting type’s arm, and the connection, though weak, is made. Val’s thoughts and emotions, calm as a still lake, leak through.

Luxio spark more aggressive Avery work on physical strength Riolu take breaks cannot forget exhaust herself—

Nia tries to channel out the medicham's thoughts, feeling a bit like she’s intruding. The thoughts are still there, but like someone murmuring nearby. She can kind of tune them out, and instead focuses on getting to her feet.

Whoa. She feels a bit woozy, as she usually does when stretching her aura in new ways. After a moment she manages to back away, one step at a time. The string between them stretches longer and longer. All Nia sees is her own aura and Val’s, the orange silhouette of her a bright beacon amidst the sea of black behind her eyelids.

Nia makes it ten steps away before she feels the string…strain, for lack of a better word. A tug on her soul. Then, one more step and it snaps. Nia gasps and stumbles, barely managing to catch herself before she can fall.

“Nia?” Tobias calls, apparently watching. His brow is furrowed.

“I’m fine!” She pants. That feeling just…surprised her. It was as if something she was leaning her weight on suddenly vanished.

“Take a break,” Val calls.

Nia does so, staggering back to Val’s side to sit and watch Xander and Avery exchange blows.

That’s how the training session continues, the others taking turns sparring, Tobias included, while Nia trains this new facet of her aura.

Avery, of course, gently interrogates Nia every time they are on the sidelines, watching Nia’s progress with fascination. The two of them hold a conversation as Nia treads back and forth, getting familiar with seeing the others through her aura. Avery is as curious about Nia and Tobias’ travels to Asra and Shivergleam as they are about everything else.

When Nia brings up how protect and misty terrain stopped the effects of the forming mystery dungeon on their way back from Shivergleam, Avery falls silent. When Nia finishes that round of connection training and opens her eyes, Avery is staring at her in much the same way they did when Nia made the connection between aura and type energy. Like their world has just shifted on its axis a bit.

“Avery?”

“…It’s almost a shame you became a Seeker, Nia. The research community would be lucky to have you.”

“Has no one ever tried to use a move like that in a mystery dungeon?” Nia asks, frowning. It feels kind of…obvious?

Avery hums. “I’m sure someone has, but it’s certainly not a well-documented strategy. The number of Pokemon who know such moves is already small, and the number of those Pokemon who just happen to get caught in a mystery dungeon forming are even smaller. To then also have a calm enough head to try defending rather than running? Even less so.”

“Oh.” Nia suddenly feels very, very glad that her instinct seems to be to freeze and defend, rather than to fight or flee. In this case, it worked in her favor.

“Mystery dungeons are a fairly recent phenomenon, in the grand scheme of things,” Avery continues. “Less than half a century old. And considering how dangerous they are to study as well as how randomly and rarely they appear—at least until recently—many basic facts about how they function are still unknown."

Huh. Nia guesses that makes sense.

"So this is an incredible discovery!" Avery says, excited. "I’ll need to share with Father later and ask him to connect with the researchers and archivists at the other guilds. I wonder why those moves can interact directly with a mystery dungeon? Is the environment itself using an attack somehow?”

Avery’s voice trails off to a mutter, and Nia has to stop herself from responding. Because she knows the answer to that, thanks to Giratina. Knows that the weakening border around the Pokemon world is the cause of the mystery dungeons, and that it’s made of life energy, of aura, just like any Pokemon. It makes sense that moves, which also use aura as their base power, can interact with it.

But sharing that knowledge would mean admitting to her run-in with Giratina. It would mean sharing the news of the world ending, the news that their hopes currently hinge on finding a long-lost dormant legendary. And August is going to talk to Alistair and Tawny anyways, right? Nia doesn’t want to put that burden on Avery’s shoulders. Not when there’s nothing they can do about it. They’re having a good time, training together! There’s no reason for Nia to bother Avery with terrible news. Not yet.

Nia takes a break shortly after that conversation, starting to feel truly worn down. Tobias sits down beside her after his latest spar, panting hard after facing off against Xander. Felix and Avery battle in front of them, while Xander and Kry talk strategy and Val observes.

“Hey, you crazy kids!”

Nia and Tobias tilt their heads back to see Azami hanging over them. She must be done training her own students. The tsareena’s mouth is hidden behind her high collar, but her eyes are crinkled with a smile. “Good to see you back at the Tree in one piece.”

Tobias scoffs, but Nia feels the way he relaxes at her side. “What, you think we were going to lose an arm or something out there?”

Azami laughs. “I never know with you, Spitfire!”

The tsareena takes a seat on Val’s other side to watch the spar now that she’s done mentoring her own students. After a moment, she decides to cheer on Avery. Felix sends her a betrayed look in the midst of battle that results in him getting blasted by a fairy move. Val gets up a moment later to move to where Felix is groaning on the floor, a quiet lecture about getting distracted in battle likely on her tongue.

On Nia's other side, Tobias is now arguing with Kry and Xander about offensive versus defensive strategies. Tobias insists that offensive is best, of course, while Xander leans more towards defensive strategies. Kry seems to be arguing that going on the offensive is not aggressive enough, somehow.

Nia, left to drift in the middle, sits in contented silence, letting her fatigued aura rest. She watches Val talk to Avery next. The medicham’s stoic expression is softened ever so slightly as she directs the kirlia on how they could’ve better dodged a tricky aqua tail attack earlier in the battle.

Azami leans over to whisper to Nia, “You’re one of her favorites, y’know.”

“W-What?”

“Val,” Azami says. She straightens up, but keeps her voice low. “She didn’t have the greatest mentor growing up, so she tends to keep her students at arm’s length. But she always perks up when you and Spitfire are back in town.”

“Oh,” Nia says, unsure what else to respond with. Her ears feel warm.

She…wasn’t expecting that. Val doesn’t seem to hate being around Nia and teaching her, but Nia has a hard time believing that Val holds any particular fondness for her, either. Especially considering Nia’s inexperience with pretty much, well…everything. If anything, she’d thought Val might find her kind of exhausting to deal with. Not that the medicham ever let that slip, but she doesn’t let much of anything slip.

“Trust me,” Azami laughs. “Other than Alistair, I’m the best Val translator in the guild. We’re close.”

Her voice is sly, and Nia glances at the tall grass type.

Azami winks.

Oh, Nia thinks as her brows shoot up. She doesn’t want to assume anything, but Azami isn’t exactly subtle. Does that mean her and Val..?

Val finishes offering advice and returns to sit between Nia and Azami, stopping Nia’s moment of revelation. Still, she can’t help peeking over at the two Pokemon afterwards, trying to figure out if Azami was just teasing her or not. Azami does lean awfully close to Val when they talk, and the medicham doesn’t seem to mind at all. Then again, cool and collected is kind of her default state.

For a moment, Nia thinks, I could connect to Val’s aura to find out.

Then she registers that thought and tears her gaze away to watch the next spar, stomach turning uncomfortably. She’s going to need to be careful with how she practices this new technique. Every time she thinks she’s getting a grasp on her aura, getting comfortable with it, something new pops up to throw a curveball and make her feel like she’s handling a live bomb. It’s just…scary. To know she holds so much power.

Val calls it quits on everyone’s training soon after. Tobias and Xander’s team are radiating exhaustion, and they eagerly agree to break for a late lunch. While Nia isn’t physically tired, her aura is worn down to a fraction of its usual amount and that leaves her ready for a rest and a good meal, too.

“Wanna come with us to the dining hall?” Felix invites, smile broad as he stands and stretches.

Nia glances at her partner. Tobias seems uncertain, but doesn’t disagree immediately, so he’s probably just feeling shy about how to say yes without a fuss. Nia accepts for them both, and the group packs up to head down the Lexym Tree to the cafeteria floor.

As they leave, calling thanks to Val and Azami, Nia spots the tsareena slinging an arm around Val’s shoulders, laughing about something. Val’s mouth twitches into a small smile.

Nia bites back a smile of her own and hurries after her friends.

[crescencestudio]

๋࣭⭑ Devlog #44 | 8.29.24 ๋࣭⭑

why did august feel so long and so short at the same time

And hot girl summer finally comes to an end! Can you all believe we're already getting into September? That's..... crazy.

Before I get into the devlog this month, I want to make a small announcement! It's a bittersweet one, but overall, I do think it's more exciting than anything.

Crescence is FINALLY CLOSE TO GRADUATING!!!!

It's crazy to be able to say this. For anyone who's an OG fan of Alaris, you'll know I basically started game development at the same time I started my Ph.D. program. It's been a wild ride having to balance game development throughout this entire journey. Funnily enough, when I started Alaris, I saw many game developers say a game that was around the same length as Alaris would take about 4-5 years. So at the beginning of my program, I remember thinking, "Ahh... So even though it sounds so intimidating to work on something for 4-5 years, that basically means by the time I finish my Ph.D., I'll be done with Alaris, right? Might as well start then! If I'm going to spend those 4-5 years getting a degree, might as well also use that time to make a game :D"

*Graduates before I finish Alaris alosjdfliasdifj*

inserts a little fanart montage of recent fanart players have made to break up the text

Anyways, it's crazy that I've been on this journey for both parts of my life as long as I have. Both my dissertation and Alaris have equally tested my sanity, but words can't describe how rewarding it is to see the finish line finally in sight for both projects.

The thing is...

If I want to graduate this semester (which I so, so, so, so, SO desperately do), I have to write my entire dissertation (about 60k words) in about..... a 1-1.5 months, haha.....

On the bright side, it's feasible (Crescence says delusionally). On the not-so-bright side, it's going to test my sanity. And if there's a 5% chance I'll be able to make those deadlines and graduate this semester, that chance goes to 0% if I try to balance Alaris on top of that.

Which means...

I'll be taking a two month break from Alaris development, which is the first time in all of development that I'll be taking a break that long. For those who have followed me on this journey, you may know I've worked on my firstborn baby almost continuously since I first started this project. While I've balanced other games during development and sometimes taken short breaks where I don't make as much progress, I've never just Not Worked on Alaris. So it's a bit terrifying to imagine two months not working on Alaris at all.

But graduating this semester is important to me, and at the end of the day, as much as I love game development, it's very much my hobby. I don't talk about my IRL obligations on here too much, but I do have them, and finally getting my Ph.D. degree is one of my biggest IRL obligations and priorities.

So it's with tears in my eyes that I say Alaris will be on a break until the end of October. I'll still be around to answer questions (thank you to everyone who has been sending them in and showing sm curiosity and love for the cast!), and the Patreon will still be up for those who want to play Druk's beta. But aside from that, I'm taking a Full Break on Alaris so that I can buckle down and focus on the final stage of my degree :')

I know this may come as a disappointment to some of you, especially those who have followed me for a while and/or are eager to see the full game release. It pains me to have to step away from Alaris for such an extended time, especially since the weight of full game release does weigh on me with each day lmfao. I want this game out just as badly as the rest of you, and especially because so many of you have trusted me with your money, time, and support, please rest assured that this decision didn't come easy. It's my biggest hope that when I return to game development after finishing dissertation matters, it will be full steam ahead now that I'll no longer have degree obligations hanging over my head.

With that out of the way, let's go into this month's devlog! I'll try to make it as juicy as possible for you all as a thank you for your patience and support while I Get That Degree <3

Thankfully, this past month was much more focused in the writing department! While there was some small editing happening in Fenir and Druk's routes, it was minor changes compared to July. Most of my attention was on Kuna'a, and I'm very excited to say that the first draft of his route is OFFICIALLY FINISHED!!!

THAT MEANS ONLY ONE ROUTE IS LEFT FOR ALARIS TO BE WRITTEN!!!!!! It is so crazy to finally reach the last stretch of script writing. While I'm sure there's much editing to be done, the idea of having the base drafts finished is honestly hard to believe considering how endless script writing has felt.

A sneak peek of Kuna'a's route to celebrate

With how plot-centric the last three routes feel, it's also rewarding in a different way to officially write out a lot of the main plot details into the script, instead of just dropping bits and pieces here and there.

It makes me sad to pause Alaris development right when we're getting into the last meaty bits and pieces, but hopefully this just means when I return to development, I'll be hitting the ground running after missing working on the game ^^

Art has also been making lots of nice progress this month! I finished about half of Druk's CGs and our current CG counter is.... 25 out of 54! Which means we're just about reaching the halfway mark with CGs as well ^^

One of the CGs was so hot, it broke my iPad and almost lost ALL MY ALARIS ART ASSETS!! ha!! ha!! ha!! That was a fun part of this month!!!! Anyways, this isn't the CG in question (that one would be too spoilery to show, though it is on my Patreon for those who want to see it, heh), but this is a CG that I'm particularly fond of that I finished recently---Sneak Peek!

What lipgloss do you use, my man

CGs, aside from sprites, are the last main art assets that need to be done for the game. So knowing that they're just about at the halfway mark really shows that we're getting into the last stretch of the game's development!!

Finally, in extremely exciting news, we launched Druk's beta recently! WHICH MEANS..... HALF of the routes are beta coded for the game!!! WHAAAAT!!!!

Obviously, I'll be going in later to fix up some things, add in more sprite expressions, the CGs, etc. at a later time for these routes. But the fact half of the game is basically coded is so surreal...... I remember when these updates were just me telling you I was still writing and that was literally it LFJALSDJF.

Now, we're here on our third route to be beta tested!!!

everyone thank @minthe-drawings for drawing our beefy boy in all his beefy glory

Druk's beta will be up for a while since I'll be on break from development, but if you'd like to play his beta, sign up for Hydra on my Patreon!

This month, we've also started including drabbles to the Patreon for free members. So if you don't have funds to support through paid tiers but would still like some extra content, I've started writing drabbles that are free for anyone following my Patreon to read ^^

Finally, as one last thank you before I go on my break, we recently reached this milestone on itch.io!!! Y'all have downloaded Crescence games 100k times and played my games over 200k TIMES.... (we technically reached 200k plays a while ago, but I wanted to wait until the downloads number was a pretty 100k).

not to mention the other milestones we've hit. thank you all for your support ;_;

It's crazy to even see this kind of number on my page.... I remember I used to see other amazing devs post these kinds of numbers and I could only dream that one day I'd be able to experience that kind of engagement. And so seeing that number for myself.... it's just really humbling to know you've all supported me for this long and to know I've reached the amount of players that I have <3 Thank you as always for the support and love you've all given my games. One day I will reward you all in kind and release Alaris....LFMALSDIJF

For market research this month, I have been trying to play Fields of Mistria in the small pockets of free time that I have. March and Eiland my beloved. But what I really want to highlight this month is...

No one is surprised that I am, once again, telling you to support @ravenstargames

Lost in Limbo is a phenomenal dark fantasy VN that just released their demo and went live with their Kickstarter. The team is made up of some of the kindest, funniest, most hardworking, and talented people that I know, and I can't recommend the demo enough. The cast is diverse and has so much character (I literally love every character). The writing is beautiful, and the art is absolutely stunning. It's the team's first game, but you wouldn't know it from how polished, immersive, and breathtaking the demo is! Please consider supporting the team, whether it's playing the game or backing the Kickstarter. They deserve every ounce of success they get, and if you're a fan of fantasy and stunning storytelling, you will LOVE THIS GAME!!! Envy stans RISE!!!!

That's all for this month (and for the next two months.... wah.... don't forget about me everyone...)! Hope everyone stays well and warm as we enter fall, and I'll see you all in November <3 I'll miss you all dearly (I say this as if I won't still be around to answer asks), and hopefully when I return, I'll be making my debut as DR. CRESCENCE!!!! \o/

[titleknown]

Gotta say, while I love @mostlysignssomeportents' work, I think I gotta hard disagree with their sentiment that AI art comes "pre-corporatized/gentrified".

Like, that might be true if one treats the one-off images one sees as all you can do with AI art, but from what I've noticed in the people doing what I consider good work with AI art, from @teuthisdreams' work with collage on his most notable comic and general openness about his process, to the layering Shenanigans that @reachartwork does to avoid the Standard AI Art Artstyle, to @therobotmonster's use of good ol fashioned hand-done retouching and photomanipulation and advice on such, the singular image is not the primary artistic use-case for people serious about the tool.

Rather it is that AI art becomes art in its relational capacity, combining with other tools in the nature of Eisensteinian montage and collage, the latter being a bit ironic given the fact that AI on its own isn't really a collage machine like people think it is.

The same way that, say, some stock art for Apple stuff could become the basis for Jerkcity or a piece of stock art of a generic 50s-type guy became the notorious mock-religious-messiah JR "Bob" Dobbs, or how standardized sliders in a video game made the basis for The Final Pam or the Boy-Mayor of Second Life.

Even if the outputs are to be considered generic, the way they are used to relate to other things by the artist, and the way they relate to other things the artist has done, is the way art is found. The humanity is added in the editing and juxtaposition, especially if you're combining it with other mediums.

And I think the way we're trained to treat art as isolated; decontextualized snippets in an algorythmized feed is the actual problem that I think the fears around AI art as an artistic practice are around.

Now, there's a lot to be said about that, from the issue of how the way social media discourages archival/archive-binging is a far greater contributor to the depersonalization of art, to the ways in which algorithms hide artists who can't keep up with them and that needs to be a labor issue we push against.

I have a longer piece on the nature of this that I've got bouncing around in my head that I need to finish after Artfight and Kaijune-in-August at any rate.

But, I think I'll end with the fact that if you're looking for the grungy endearing grassroots jank that Doctorow feels is lacking in the uses of these tools, I think that the best place to look first would be at stuff like this:

[damnasstyles]

I just sent a request but didn't realize i literally sent that same exact one like months ago omg I'm embarrassed. .. but can you do a dad!harry one of his first time alone with the baby 😭

hii!! i’m so sorry it’s taken me forever to write this, but it’s finally here! hope you like it! ❤️

*jesus i'm editing this on august 2024, i had completely forgotten i'd never published this lol, soz. anyways! edited it a bit and finished it so here you go! x*

880 words. Enjoy! x

_______

Ottilie was 12 weeks old and it had been over four months since yn had been out with her friends, whether that'd been for lunch, dinner, a party or just a coffee. This is why Harry had arranged for her to have a day out with her friends. Well, more than arranged, he strongly encouraged her to go out with them. She had been turning them down ever since Ottilie was born, but it was about damn time she got some quality yn time and get away from the mommy role for just a few hours.

This, of course, led to the situation Harry was in right now: covered in puke with a crying and smelly baby who refuses to leave her father’s arms. 

“C’mon, sweet pea, we gotta take the onesie off and shower, alright? It’ll be twoooo seconds” He rocked her back and forth for a few more seconds before laying her down on the changing mat, which caused her to shriek harder than before. “I know, baby girl, III know, it’s alright, it’s okay” He tried to calm her down while getting her clothes off as quick as he can, his hand tickling her belly gently in an effort to cheer her up. "It’s ookaay, babyyy, look! All ready! Let’s take a warm bath to make you feel better, yeah?” He undressed himself at quick speed and opened the water tap. There was no way he was going to bathe her by herself since she was so fussy, not having as much skin to skin contact with her daddy as possible would make her even fussier. Such a daddy's girl.

He leaned forward over her and lifted her up, laying her on his chest, before walking into the walk-in shower. He had grabbed a small towel to cover Ottie with before walking in, so warm water would soak her but not fall directly over her. The warmth of Harry's chest, the soft drops of water on her back and her daddy's heartbeat seemed to soothe her a bit, though she could not seem to settle down fully.

"That's much better isn't it, bug? Hm?" A soft head kiss always made his heart flutter. "We have nice warm water now, and we're getting cleaned uupp" His soft tone never failed to soothe Ottie. From the moment he knew he was going to be a father, he started reading parenting books like it was his new religion. There was one specific chapter he read that stuck with him the most. It focused on the language development of the baby, and how narrating what was happening to them built better language foundations and encouraged faster acquisition. Since he'd read that book, he'd talk to the belly every single day without fail. Most days it'd be for an hour, but even in the most exhausting days he'd never skip at least a 10 minute monologue with Ottie in utero.

"Is your tummy hurting again, little bug? S'that why you got sick all over daddy and did a big explosive poo? That's okay, it happens to the best of us. We'll finish this niice shower in a minute, and we'll do some bicycle legs once you're in your cosy little pyjamas hm? How's that sound?" He booped her nose playfully with a soft and loving smile, making Ottie squint just a bit before letting out a soft sound, a mix between a giggle and a whine.

Once little Ottie was thoroughly clean, Harry stepped out of the shower and quickly wrapped her into a new clean and dry towel, making sure she was well wrapped before he laid her down on the changing table and pulled his dirty boxers back on. He'd get a proper shower and change of clothes once Ottie was more settled.

He put Ottie into a fresh nappy and cosy pyjamas in record time, and took her to his and yn's bed. After he sat himself against the headboard, he laid Ottie between his spread legs, on the mattress. "Theeeee wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round. The wheels on the bus go round and round, aaall daaay looonggg" Harry sang as he moved her little baby chubby legs up and down, one at a time, at the same time, side to side, circle-wise, any way that'd help her release the suspected gas inside her. And it worked! The moment he pushed both her leggies up and against her belly at the same time, gently yet firm, she let one rip that it made the bed covers shake! "Oop!" He said stopping his singing, little Ottie let a cute relieved "ah" sigh before a big smile and squeal appeared on her face. Harry bursted out laughing as she picked her up and kissed her cheek repeatedly. "That was one naaasty gas, bubba! Good job!"

****************

If you want to read more about harry and ottie's adventures, check out my masterlist here and feel free to send in requests!

[yoonia]

Hello^^

This is your annual (monthly) psa from little old me.

I'm sorry for being MIA. I had a ton of fun with my birthday bash event on October and I love that I ended up writing a couple of new pieces at the end aside from giving you guys some lovely moodboards to enjoy, which was a blast.

Unfortunately, on the final days of October, I started getting an allergy reaction from some of my meds, which led to me getting a weird skin infection appearing on my right arm and with a terrible inflammation on my upper arm. I also experienced a symptom similar to carpal tunnel syndrome which I got from hours of designing and drawing for work during the day and playing with canva and photoshop and writing on my computer at night, so I had to take a long break as soon as I finished my event and November came around.

To top it all, I think I'm a bit burnt out. I've been releasing a ton of things since August, and my mind (and I guess, my body) is asking for a break. I've been taking some time off from the internet and Tumblr because of this and have been focusing on recovering (bc your girl has bills to pay and I can't draw anything with this arm *sobs*).

I'm still recovering right now, with my arm still sore and hurting, but I'm slowly getting back to writing and creating some stuff again as I'm doing NaNoWriMo independently (without the site). Here's where we are at so far:

— Nefarious, that was planned to be released at the end of October, is about halfway done. I'm currently focusing on this one to release as soon as I'm done with it (because this won't be the last instalment from In Motion and I want to get the other out on December). Thanks to my break, I was able to open the draft with fresh eyes and...hated at least most of the things I wrote last month lol. so I'm in the middle of rewriting this and I can say that I'm making better progress with this so far.

— Carousel is still on rewriting process, with its weekly update continuing on Wattpad starting this month.

— The Bedroom Hymns is also on progress. I can only write for an hour or two each day due to my condition, so progress has been slow, but we're getting somewhere. I think I can release the new chapter right after Nefarious is released.

— Ever A Never After is continuing. Again, it's a slow progress, and I might release it sooner on Wattpad as small chapters if it comes down to it.

— I have a surprise project to release soon. I'm not sure when it's coming, but I'll be announcing it when I'm ready :)

That's all for now. Thank you for your patience and for making things fun for me back in October that you've given my a lot of motivation to write some new fics. I have a couple of messages waiting for me in my inbox which I'll be answering as soon as I'm available (again).

Be back soon! Take care, lovelies <333

xoxo, Dia

[ikimaru]

just did a quick recount of how many parts/pages are left in the comic and there's a few parts that are scripted but also feel a bit redundant to me now, so if I remove those parts there should be 30-40 pages left, which means I *might* be able to finish it by august(??) next year with a total of 180-90 ish pages, maybe a bit sooner if I do pages faster towards the end but it still feels like. so much lol

but we're actually going towards the final part now!

[redmedic]

And we're finally all caught up! Here are the finished pieces of my recent batch of commissions - thank you all for the support with these and the patience as I was getting these done over the past few weeks. If you're interested in getting one of these yourself, my commissions will be open again late August!

The timelapses for all of these, and more, are all up on my Patreon now!

Patreon | Instagram | Redbubble

Client credit below -

1 - punishedmiqote

2 - cagebirdscollection

3 - creations.by.khidae

4 - raisingcain_onceagain

5 - mocking.birdie19

6 - spaginithethird

[sarahjtv]

My Hero Academia Chapter 426 Spoiler Talk: The Hellish Todoroki Family Conclusion

Whew, what a chapter goddamn. The Todoroki Family, especially Shoto (my favorite character 🩵), is one of my favorite and one of the best arcs in My Hero Academia. We all knew that their conclusion was coming this chapter and now that we're here, let's talk about it:

First off, in case you didn't hear, Weekly Shonen Jump and MHA mangaka, Kohei Horikoshi himself, confirmed that this is the first of the last 5 chapters of My Hero Academia. The series will end in early August with 430 chapters total if all goes well. I made a post about this when it was announced 2 days ago, but I want to briefly say that I am going to miss this series so much. It has had such an amazing impact on my life and surely saved me during many rough times. I will be so sad to see it end, but happy to see Horikoshi finish his beloved story on his own terms after 10 long years of publication. I will make sure to see it through myself.

We start off the chapter with a Todoroki Family reunion. We see the whole family about a month after the war ended. Everyone has burn scars of some kind now with Rei's having the largest that even covers the left side of her face like Shoto's and Endeavor's do ironically enough (I see what you did, Horikoshi). We don't see if Endeavor got any burn scars on his face because it's covered with bandages, but given he has the highest fire resistance next to Shoto, I doubt it.

Also, pretty much everyone got a haircut from their bodies getting torched trying to stop Touya (I'm going to call him that from here on). Fuyumi and Endeavor got a few inches off, Natsuo cut quite a bit off to the point where he's looking like his father again (oh, the irony), and Rei got a significant portion cut off to the point where it's back to the length it was when she and Enji first met. I think Shoto got a slight trim, but it's hard to tell. His hair is definitely scruffier than it was before, though. Honestly looks-wise, they all still look really good. Those Todoroki/Himura genes are doing good work.

But, despite those good looks, everyone is here to see Touya in his own operating tube (?). The doctor says that Touya's slowly dying and Endeavor tells everyone that he's retiring. Both things are what everyone saw coming. There was no way Endeavor was going back to hero work after everything that happened to him during the final war. It was just never possible. Even with prosthetics, I think his own mental state and where he is in life with his family would have prevented that from happening. I'm surprised that Touya is alive at all, but I'm glad to see that he's alive to see his family for a little longer before he eventually dies which I assume may happen in the final chapter of the series.

Also, Touya can still talk! Bro still can't move for shit, but he's conscious enough to talk to his family. He still hates his father and I get it. I don't think there was any way Touya was going to forgive his father after everything that happened. It's good to see that Endeavor still is trying to atone and wants to talk with Touya as much as he possibly can to his eldest son, but that won't change anything right now. The least Endeavor can do is listen to what Touya might want to say.

Fuyumi and Rei try to talk to Touya too, but the doctor is telling them that talking more would be a burden on Touya's heart. And then Shoto asks his oldest brother "What's your favorite food?" and Touya responds "Soba..." just like Shoto. I can't do this tonight, guys! I'm screaming, crying, throwing up! WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN! THEY COULD HAVE EATEN SOBA TOGETHER IN ANOTHER LIFE!!! HOW DARE YOU, HORIKOSHI! I'M IN YOUR WALLS 😭

And right as his family leaves his room, Touya slowly cries tears and says "Shoto... I'm sorry..." I don't need to explain this one. This fucking hurts. Touya has regrets, but it's too late. Touya may be Dabi the murderous villain who ruined a lot of lives, but he's also still a young man who deserved a better life than what was handed to him and does still care for his family even if only a little. All around a tragic character. If this is the last we see of Touya, I think it's a good albeit sad send-off.

As the Todorokis start to part ways, we get an idea of where their lives are going now:

1. Natsuo wants to start a family with his girlfriend (isn’t he only 20 btw and he started dating her like, what, a year ago? I get it, Natsuo, but this is too early don’t you think? 😭) but has no intention of having a ceremony for it specifically because he doesn't want her or himself to ever see Enji again. I don't blame him for this. Even though he helped stop Touya from literally exploding which did save his father, Natsuo made it clear from the start that he was never going to forgive Enji no matter how much he atoned. The reason why he was even born was because Enji wanted a perfect Ice/Fire child, but he didn't get that until Shoto was born afterwards. Natsuo saw Enji hurt and abuse his family for pretty much his entire life and Enji suddenly wanting to fix what he broke wasn't going to change Natsuo's mind on what he thought of his father. Cutting ties with his father is for the best. It's a miracle the rest of his family still want to see Enji at all, especially Shoto.

2. Fuyumi has also quit her teaching job, but a mother of one of her students found another one. This is also understandable. The public slander of her family on her is what probably pushed this and I'm sure her good reputation got inadvertently damaged from it. I hope she is treated better at her new job.

3. Enji is going got continue to pay for his crimes for the rest of his life whatever that takes. He even understands if the rest of his kids never want to see him again either. He will still do everything he can to make sure his kids are unharmed by the whole Dabi thing. He even accepts that he's going to dance with Touya in Hell one day. Honestly, regardless of what you think of Endeavor, I honestly think his atonement/development arc is one of the best in the series. He has definitely become a better man than what he started out as when we first met him during the Sports Festival Arc, but what I love about this is that Horikoshi never let him off the hook. He made Enji face his sins head-on and suffer through every consequence that came from his abusive actions. If Enji Todoroki is going to atone, he's going to atone the very, very hard way. Enji may be a better man and father, but that doesn't mean he's going to see the pearly gates when all is said and done. The best he can do is pay for his sins for the rest of his life and pray that Rei, Fuyumi, and Shoto don't leave him completely too.

4. And finally, there's my favorite, Shoto 🩵! He's going back to school and reassures his parents that he will be fine with his friends as they help him become who he wants to be. This essentially concludes Shoto's arc as well. When we first met him, he was a cold, anti-social teen who didn't want to make any friends. All he wanted to do was to become a hero with his ice alone to spite his father. Since then, he's opened up to his classmates, made amazing friends especially in Izuku, Iida, and Bakugo, rekindled his relationship with his mother and siblings, come to terms with his father and Touya, and finally accepted his Ice/Fire powers as his own. He says he's on the path to becoming the hero he wants to be, but I'd argue that he's already there. Again, it's an incredible development for Shoto and I think this is a great conclusion to his own character arc.

After Shoto leaves, we transition to Hawks! He's still there for Endeavor if he needs him which is nice. He's also the president of the Public Safety Commission! Dude may be Quirkless, but that doesn't mean he can't do anything! I'm happy to see him thrive in this new role of his and I hope he can reform the PSC into something good as opposed to how they treated him in the past.

We also catch up on Lady Nagant WHO IS NOT DEAD 🎊, but chooses to stay in prison for a bit longer. And Gentle and LaBrava are ok and free too! Good endings here!

The final panel shows Spinner and someone is opening his hospital door 🤔

Phenomenal chapter! 10/10 would read and cry over again. Thank you and fuck you for everything, Kohei Horikoshi. 4 Chapters left. Fuck, my hands hurt 😭

[ben-learns-smth]

goals, aspirations and hopes for 2024

academic achievements I'm working towards:

finish writing my thesis & hand it in (finally) DONE!

graduate from my teaching degree (finally)

apply for deaf studies b.a. (postponed)

apply for teacher training ? DONE!

attend workshops about queerness in schools & other interesting topics

what I want to do and learn in my personal life:

improve my german sign language (DGS) skills by attending more deaf&hearing events (weekly sign bar!)

pick up my norwegian again

stand up for myself and set boundaries with family even if it's hard

learn to accept help and work through the guilt of depending on others (life long learning but recovery was a bootcamp)

learn 1 new skill (how to whistle Really Loudly!)

read 60 books (23/60!)

start volunteer work (maybe at an animal shelter or queer youth group?)

start singing lessons

start speech therapy/voice training with a therapist specialised in trans* voices

run 5k

go to the gym twice a week (I made a friend at the gym & we're gym buddies now!)

things I hope will happen / am looking forward to:

So Many Concerts (3/5)

ya boi is getting top surgery (already done!!)

visits from friends! <3 (the joy <3)

making new friends at language classes or joining a sports group maybe (gym friend counts for this!)

going on holidays with my parents in the spring

2 short trips in summer (one to meet a friend irl for the first time, one for an erasmus friends reunion)

working my way through my post-top-surgery bucket list (4/15)

adopting one or two cats (it's time to become a cat parent)

measurable goals/achievements:

hand in thesis & graduate by end of march (graduated!!)

DGS lvl 5 class (spring), DGS lvl 6 (summer)

Norwegian A1.1 class (spring), maybe A1.2 (summer) (postponed)

whistle at a concert in august (my voice is too whacky from being on t to do the wohoo)

read 60 books

try a new café each month (on track!)

cook a new recipe twice a month (2/24)

[darkstrawberrytimetravel]

Why don't you just give in? Pt.2

Fem reader

Pt.1

You

He's looking skinny, or as skinny as a man who's resembled a brick shithouse for the last two decades can be, less toned I suppose more lean. I watch as he turns away, the t-shirt he's wearing allowing for more creases, bagginess. He's forgone his mask, not that he needs it. He needs a shave instead, he almost resembles his Captain with that growth. His dirty blonde hair now sun bleached in parts and his tan somewhat deeper.

You know you want to run your fingers through it, feel the short hairs against the pads of your fingers as your hand moves against the grain. The last time you did that his hands were- My thoughts are both rudely and thankfully interrupted.

“Ohhh blimey you see the lads? Who's that with the scraggly face? The tall one?” I hear Laura beside me. Instantly the table I'm seated at falls into hushed gossip, as they always do when they see the task force. The SAS lads are a common sight around here, but the more specialist unit within it still garners mystique, enthusiastic and borderline obsessive gossip whenever they grace us with their presence.

“Ghost… you really don't recognise him without that rag on his face?” I murmur as I look down and bring my mug of coffee to my lips. Ghost... I still hate that callsign. Nickname. The lore. I mean I know how fucking vicious and brutal he can be. It's not learnt or adaptive behaviour since joining the military. As usual the table descends into the usual gossip, the girls wanting to follow them to the pub they'll inevitably end up at later on. Such is the routine when they land back on home turf, especially since they've clearly been gone a while. Eat, drink, fuck, repeat.

I zone out, leaving the others to continue their usual shite when they talk about the lads. Finishing up, I stand with my tray and head to the tray return carts, Laura shouts and tells me I will be joining them tonight and that it's final. Fuckin’ a! Wherever the lads will be, so will we, the sodding groupies they are. Though it won't take much to be out the way, they're only headed to a pub. No need to dress to impress.

Walking away from my table I steel myself, walking past Riley and his lot. I resist the urge to gob in his food, as usual. I would have done it years ago, but I've risen above that version of myself. I do however afford a quick glance down and I'm met with ochre orbs, his ochre eyes. This time I yield and look away, not wanting to walk into someone with a tray full leftover dinner.

Later I find myself freshly showered, the weather keeps flip-flopping so I decide on shorts with a tank and a hoodie with my favourite trainers. It's still warm and humid enough to warrant the summer gear, but as August stretches through to September there's a chill in the air. I look at myself in the mirror, my hair tousled and low key smokey eyes. I almost feel like I should scrub the makeup off, I'm in my mid thirties, why am I dressing like I'm fifteen years younger.

We all bundle in the taxi for fifteen minutes it takes for us to get to the town centre in Hereford. I listen as the others plan and scheme where the lads are, I give the usual non committal noises they'd expect but eventually I put my proverbial foot down. “Look, I don't want to spend all night with you lot drooling over them. We'll get pre-drinks at The Queen's Arms, some of you will get a quickie I'm sure, and then we should go somewhere better to spend our time.”

I'm met with eye rolls and smirks, it's no secret I'm not enthralled by the lads on the task force, and even under duress when plied with copious drinks I've still not spilt the beans. Finally the taxi pulls over and we hop out, the fare being prepaid since it was a group booking. I stay behind to organise a return journey later before following the girls into the pub. We're met with a wall of sound, almost raucous, as we filter in and find a table. I see Riley actually enjoying himself around the pool table for once.

Pt.3