#and out of those btw. only the fights involved any skin on skin

[zannolin]

unfair actually that caspian got to hug all the pevensies Except peter. why would they withhold this from me. why would they do that.

[johnwickluva]

Hello everyone if you remember, I wrote a fic called Hot Knife. I took it down because I am re working it for the 5th time BUT I started writing The Beginning, which takes place before Hot Knife. So far I have 7 chapters up on my AO3 account. I don’t want to post it because it’s dead dove but I will post the first chapter here.

So, here it is.

Animals

summary: Your father isn’t who he seems and it leads to your whole life being turned upside down, for better and worse. (Mainly worse)

Triggers: FOR THE WHOLE STORY NOT JUST ONE CHAPTER.

Rape

Sex trafficking

Child Abuse

Murder

Violence

Drug abuse (both non consensual and addiction)

Hypersexuality

All not by John btw!

(Probably more)

Word count: 4100

February 1976

The snow crunched beneath your feet as you expertly made your way through the bare forest on your parents property. You were trying to be stealthy since you didn’t want your father to know you were following him. There was a slight breeze, making the chilly air even colder against your skin.

You were bundled up wearing your snowsuit, jacket, scarf, gloves and heavy duty snow boots. The winters could get harsh where you lived in New York but they were nothing like the winter’s back in the USSR. Though you were only five when you moved, you remembered the deep snow and cold temperatures.

You were sure your father knew you were following him since everything you knew was from what he taught you. How to track, hunt and fight. He hadn’t shown any signs though. At eleven almost twelve years old you honestly believed you had enough knowledge to live off in the woods on your own.

Your mother was at home starting dinner as it was going to get dark soon. You’d like to get home before it was completely dark or before your mother found you gone but you had to see what your father was doing.

He’d been going deep into the woods everyday, which was strange because although you still hunted in the winter he didn’t go out so often. Plus he’d usually bring you. This confused your very young mind and when you asked him why he just told you that children had no business being in their parents business.

The way he snapped at you made you even more confused with the whole situation. He loved you, more than your mother did that’s for sure. She was always yelling at you for something. Most things had to do with the fact you were more like your father than her.

You liked to fight, play outside and get dirty. Your preferred clothes were shirts and jeans not dresses. You wanted your hair short and not long, when it was long you could never tell because it would be up or braided. Too much like a boy, not enough like a girl.

Your father was the one who encouraged it. Protected you from all of her little comments and remarks. Her insults, like you weren’t just an eleven year old little girl. Once while your father was at work she confessed to you that she wished she had a real son, not just a girl who acted like one.

You hated her and wished she could just accept you as you were. You’d wear the dresses, occasionally for her even though you’d fight tooth and nail beforehand and let her do your hair the way she wanted. Then she’d be nice to you, then you loved her. In your opinion you just liked to be comfortable and all those things were extremely uncomfortable.

Your father would give you pitied looks and then tell you to get changed, he had to take you out. When your mother would ask him why you had to change he’d say that attire was impractical for what he needed help with. He was your savior.

Maybe a bit too much though. Your father was paranoid, always thinking the worst. You didn’t blame him having grown up how he did, he wanted you to be prepared for anything. Sadly that preparation involved teaching you how to fight at an extreme level. So many times you’d fall down in exhaustion just for him to tell you to get back up.

Your arms would hurt and so would your legs, the burn spreading throughout your biceps to forearms and throughout your calves to your thighs. He’d never fight you but he’d make you practice on him. Knocking him down and punching his padded hands. You’d also use a punching bag and homemade, straw stuffed man. Your knuckles would be raw a lot of the time.

Suddenly you stopped and hid behind a tree. Your father had stopped when he had gotten to the hunting cabin where you would skin your deers you shot. He looked around him and you shot back behind the trunk and held your breath. You truly believed he could hear you in the silent forest. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop and you knew your father could hear everything.

Your face felt warm even though it was cold out. Suddenly you heard the door creeeeak open. That’s when you decided to take a look. What you saw, you were not prepared to see. Your heart dropped into your stomach and you felt sick. In an instant your body started shaking. You couldn’t believe your eyes.

Your father grabbed a man and threw him into the snow. He was gagged and tied up. It looked like when your dad kidnapped him he was wearing bell bottom jeans and a black t-shirt. You wondered how long he had been in your cabin because it was freezing out. Was he shivering from the cold or fear? Probably both.

His eyes looked horrified and you could hear his muffled pleas. Although you couldn’t hear what he was saying, you knew he was begging for his life. Why else would your father have a man tied up in the cabin if it wasn’t to kill him? You felt sick to your stomach but couldn’t bring yourself to come out from behind the tree.

Your dad took out his revolver and loaded it, slowly. He left five of the six chambers empty of bullets before snapping the cylinder back into place and spinning it. You knew there was only one bullet loaded so it would be a game. Your body felt numb and your eyes widened.

Russkaya Ruletka

Also known as Russian Roulette in English.

Was this really happening? It had to be a dream. You swore you’d wake up any moment. He lifted up the gun to the man’s head and pulled the trigger.

Click

You jumped but couldn’t take your eyes away. The man flinched and you could hear his sobs coming through the rag.

Click

You felt the tears well up. Why was your father doing this?

Boom

You gasped. The sound echoed throughout the forest and the bullet went straight through the man’s head. In an instant he was dead. He stopped struggling and laid still on the ground. You could see his brain matter and the snow started to turn crimson. You hid behind the tree.

The tears started to fall as you couldn’t believe what you were seeing. Your father had just killed a man. You were frozen in place. Your chest went up and down up and down fast as your heart almost beat out of it. When you heard the cabin door slam shut you looked back out.

When you saw your dad was gone you made a run for it. It was hard to run in the snow and you felt the burn in your legs but you wouldn’t stop. You didn’t even think about how your father would see the tracks as he walked back. All you wanted to do was hide away in your room.

You got back to the house and slammed the door behind you. The warm air felt hot as you started to rip off your jacket, scarf, gloves and snowsuit. You threw them to the floor and started running up the stairs.

“Don’t slam the door.” Your mother called out in Ukrainian.

You didn’t even answer her as you made your way to your room. Slamming that door too, you could hear your mothers muffled scolding again. You broke down in tears and sat on your bed. What were you going to do? You had no idea, you loved your father but he had just killed a man.

You began to wonder if there had been more when you heard the door slam shut and your father calling your name. Your whole body froze again and fear spread throughout your chest and head. Your eyes widened. What would he do to you? Would he kill you?

Tears were streaming down your face as you stood up. You didn’t even feel real and your mind felt far away. Over and over, you saw the man getting shot in your head. Over and over you saw the brain matter fly and cover the snow. Now you were going downstairs to meet your father. You wanted to disappear.

Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot. You walked towards the door. Lift arm up, grab door handle, twist. Your brain was working on autopilot. Boom the sound echoed in your head. Boom, boom, boom your father started walking up the stairs. To you it sounded like a gunshot every time.

Then you heard a loud bang on the front door. Loud and authoritative. Someone was knocking.

“This is the police! Open up.”

Your heart falling into your chest was just a saying but this time it felt real. You could feel your pulse beating in your stomach. Your legs started trembling and you felt glued to the ground. You had a feeling this would be the last time you saw your father. He would be going to prison and you’d only be able to see him in jail.

The knocking continued and they started to threaten to break down the door. This snapped you out of your stupor and you ripped the door open. Your dad was at the top of the stairs looking down towards the front door. You wrapped your arms around him and hugged him. He hugged you back before grabbing your shoulders and getting eye level with you.

“I love you sweetheart. I’m sorry.” He whispered in his native language and gave your forehead a big kiss.

You didn’t even know you could cry more but you did, you started to bawl. Your dad stood up and grabbed his gun out of his pocket.

“No!” You sobbed.

“Be good for your mother.”

You tried to grab him but he shoved you off. Again you were frozen in your place. Your father was going to try and shoot his way out of this but he knew he wouldn’t win. It’s what he wanted. In slow motion it all happened.

Your father walked down the stairs.

He stopped in front of the door.

Your mother came running in.

The door broke open.

He lifted the gun.

Bang!

Your father shot one of the cops and they immediately lifted their own.

“No!” Your mother screamed just like you had sobbed out before.

She jumped in front of their guns.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang

The shooting felt like it went on for hours even though it was only a few seconds. Echo after echo. You saw the man getting shot in your head again. You watched as the bullets entered your parents bodies. Before you knew it you were falling and your knees were hitting the ground. You were screaming.

“Mama, papa no!” You wailed. “No please!”

Both your parent’s bodies fell back onto the ground with a thud. Your mother on top of your father. She was dead but your father was still breathing. He coughed and blood leaked from his mouth. You heard the gurgling noises and covered your ears and closed your eyes as you curled up on the floor.

Your body rocked back and forth as you sobbed. This couldn’t be real. This was all a dream, a nightmare. You would wake up and everything would be okay. You’d go hunting with your father, your mother would make a negative comment and everything would be normal.

You felt a hand on your shoulder and you jumped. Without thinking you put your palms on the floor and tried to crawl away. You kicked and screamed. Whoever it was, you just wanted them to go away. Your eyes were so closed and you only opened them when you felt your back hit the wall.

In front of you stood a tall detective with blonde hair.

“Hey sweetie, I'm detective Oliver. I'm going to take you somewhere safe.”

*

May 1976

Detective Oliver took you in, feeling bad as he had been one of the cops to shoot and kill your parents. He didn’t want to throw you into the foster system so he did what he thought was a good thing. You seemed like a sweet young girl who would just need a little extra help from the things you had seen.

Instead you had been living with Detective Oliver for a little over a few months and it didn't seem to be going well. He tried to enroll you in public school and your first day you got into a fight with one of the other students. You hurt them so badly had he not been a detective you would have been arrested. Being homeschooled you'd never been socialized around other children. You were better around adults but even then you weren't that good.

Your father kept you pretty secluded. You were getting nasty and acting out against any kind of authority. Which meant the two of you were getting into arguments. Over stupid shit too but you didn't like to be told what to do by people who weren’t your parents. Once you tried to hit him and finally he threatened to send you to a juvenile detention center, which scared the shit out of you.

You knew you could hold your own but you didn't want to be locked up. At last you tried to be nice to him but currently it wasn’t going very well.

“I want ice cream.” You yelled at him.

“Do you really think you deserve ice cream? You scared that poor girl at the park!” He said exasperated.

The two of you had gone to the park for a walk when an older, but still young, girl was staring at you. You had decided the best course of action would be to walk up to her and threaten to hurt her. When the girl wouldn’t back down you grabbed her by her hair and threw her to the ground. Right as you were lifting your leg to stomp on her Detective Oliver had stopped you.

Enough was enough.

“I don’t care if I deserve it, I want it. Plus you killed my parents, they would buy me ice cream.”

Never before had you acted like this but lately you’d been having horrible nightmares of seeing your parents die again and seeing your father kill that man. Now you had to live with what you thought was another killer, even if it was supposedly in the name of “good”. You were tired and depressed and all you wanted right now was some ice cream.

“Don’t you use that against me. You know your father was a bad man.” Detective Oliver scolded you.

The angry look on your face sent a shiver up the detective's spine. For twelve years old you were pretty scary. It worried him that you would end up like your father. You seemed to have no conscience but that wasn’t true. You were just a scared traumatized little girl. The tears started to well up in your eyes.

“It was one man.” You said defeated.

“It was ten.” He confessed.

At this you started to sniffle. He felt bad, knowing he probably shouldn’t have told you any of that but you were getting on his nerves. Sometimes he forgot your age because of how scary you acted. You sat on the floor and brought your knees up to your chest. Staring at the floor you asked him a question,

“Why?”

Oliver brought his hand up to his forehead and sighed. What a loaded question. Sad fact, they had some ideas but they still weren’t sure why. It seemed like your father was just a sick man. He did it for fun and no other reason but it was still early into the case, there could have still been a motive. You looked so much like him, it broke the man’s heart.

No little girl should ever have to go through such pain. Seeing an innocent man and your parents die in one day? That was too much for such a small mind. He gave you a lot of grace but you were starting to test his patience. More than test it, it seemed. He was just about done with you.

“We don’t know. We- I was hoping you could help me with that.” He answered honestly.

Oliver had learned honesty was the best form of communication with you. You could always see when he was lying.

“I don’t know anything.” You said from between your knees.

“I’ve gathered that.”

The two of you sat in silence, an occasional sniffle could be heard coming from you on the floor. After a few moments you spoke up.

“It’s my birthday.” You whispered.

At this his eyes softened. It was your twelfth birthday and your first one without your parents. You felt like your mind was playing a game of tug of war. One one end your father was a bad man on the other hand he loved you. He treated you like a human, he was good to you. But he was a monster.

Oliver suddenly had an idea of what to do with you, but he felt bad. He knew someone through friends who took orphans in and maybe your anger and skill could be… useful. If he was going to do this to you though the least he could do was get you ice cream.

“Alright. Let’s go get ice cream.” He said.

You wiped your eyes and stood up, smiling slightly. If only you knew what was going to happen.

*

Detective Oliver talked to some people who went to The Director. On a cold, rainy sunset you met her. She was young but older than you. Her black hair was as dark as the night. The woman was beautiful in your opinion but you didn’t like her, she looked mean.

She seemed cold and she wasn’t very nice to you. Her first words ever being,

“Her?.”

The Director sounded like she was bored and that the detective was wasting her time. Three kids surrounded her, all of them around your age. One was a girl, like you, the other two were boys. The girl and one of the boys had dark hair like the older woman. The other boy had brown hair and very pale skin.

The two looked bored, but the one with black hair would not stop staring at you. His eyes twinkled with curiosity and you didn’t like it. You hated when people stared at you. He was cute though, at least he had that going for him. Detective Oliver practically begged her to give you a chance. With that she summoned one of her best female fighters.

“Fight her.” She said.

You looked at her with wide eyes and before you knew it the girl had grabbed you and thrown you to the ground. Your hands went out in front of you to brace yourself for the fall and you felt the scraps on your palms. Before you could even get up she grabbed you by your shoulder and punched you in the stomach. You let out a noise of pain but felt pissed.

Your fathers words rang throughout your head.

“Never let anyone treat you less than. Never let them hurt you.”

The girl swung again but this time you avoided it. You got up and lunged at her, punching her in the throat. The second she was doubled over, holding her neck you used both your arms and grabbed her in a hug and knocked her to the ground this time. Her head hit the ground and she squeezed her eyes shut in pain.

You bent down and grabbed her by her shoulders, right when you were about to slam her head against the ground the woman with black hair stopped you. She didn't want you to kill her student but it looked like you were about to. You didn't know how to feel this was all so confusing.

Before you had time to wrap your head around what was happening you were grabbed by your shoulders by the other bored looking student. He didn't seem to like what you were about to do to his friend. The boy picked you up and swung, hitting you in the face. You could feel the blood starting to drip down your face.

The hit had hurt. Then he kneed you in the stomach. That was the second time you were hit in the stomach and you almost threw up. You doubled over in pain, having never been hit so hard in your life and felt scared. The fear started running up. He swung again and this time you ducked.

You felt your heart rate increasing even more. Without thinking you pounced and punched him right between the legs. He yelled out in pain and you stood up. When you went to punch him he grabbed your wrist and spun you around, putting you into a hold. You worked with your instincts and bent your neck, sinking your teeth into his forearm.

He screamed in pain and you just held on tighter with your teeth. You knew you broke skin when you tasted blood. You liked biting. Letting go, you slammed your head back and headbutted him as hard as you could. He immediately let go and you spun around and punched him across the face and kicked him in the chest. When he went down you kicked him over and over again while yelling out.

Over and over you kicked him and stomped on him. How dare he put his hands on you, how dare he make you bleed. All the anger you had been holding onto came out as you kicked, kicked and kicked. You also liked kicking. The boy was badly beaten and bruised when Detective Oliver grabbed you. You started struggling right away even though you knew it was him.

“Fuck you! Why’d you do this to me?” You screamed.

“Calm down. It’s over, it's over.” He tried to reassure you.

After a few minutes you started to calm down. When you pulled yourself together you saw the girl glaring at you and the boy still rolling on the ground in pain. Then you looked at the other boy and he was smirking at you.

“What are you smiling about?” You asked.

“Good job.” He said.

You walked up to him and saw the woman with black hair tense.

“Why don’t you go get me some water? You swine.”

And you spit at his feet. He smiled even harder, he liked you. You were feisty and good at fighting. You'd make a good addition to the team. The Director thought the same thing. Your fighting style was…. Different. Animalistic, brutal and terrifying. You didn't give up no matter what happened.

The Director knew with training you could be good, possibly one of the best. She also knew a current student who was heading down the same path. The same one you called a swine. What a partnership the two of you would make.

“We’ll take her.” The woman said, still sounding bored.

“Take me?” You asked and looked over at Detective Oliver.

Detective Oliver didn't even look at you. You wanted to cry. He was abandoning you and leaving you with this woman who just made you fight two kids. He just nodded and started heading to his car. Although he looked straight faced, he felt horrible inside. You tried to chase after him but the woman grabbed you.

“You bite, you get hurt.” She warned you.

You watched as he drove away. Although the two of you didn't get along he was the person you were closest to and it hurt. The tears started to well up in your eyes but you wouldn't cry in front of these people. You were scared. What would they do with you? Would you have to fight more? In a way you didnt care.

You had to learn to fight all the time with your father. Maybe it would feel like being at home. Still you felt the sting. First your parents were gone and now Detective Oliver. You looked up at the woman and she finally introduced herself.

“You can call me The Director, welcome to your new life.”

And with that she took you into her care.

[dang-orange]

dang-orange makes a list of characters he'd shake inside a glass jar:

i decided to be insane while i wait for the Methylphenidate pill to hit (i was thought to have adhd and still have some leftovers from trying to treat that) so i can study. so i made a list of what i think are kins? i refuse to look up what that actually means so im going by the context that a thousand years of reading tumblr posts on pintrest gave me.

Okay! so:

Kinger is a new one, he seems like such a funny silly guy who is kind of out of it, something i absolutely get! so he goes there.

Izzy Hands has been a cause of insanity for me since season one, but season two got me worse. what a funny fellow. i get the whole being a tryhard thing, and sort of losing it a bit over having to change your ways. havent had to eat own my toes, lost a leg or done drag while singing in french, so those things i just find amusing.

Peter B. Parker! what a funny guy, i didnt expect him to actually come back on the second spiderverse movie. being a cool mentor is something admirable i think, and the scene with aunt may made me spend way too many hours on ao3 as i thought that could have been more of a thing (in my head the movie would have done well as a series, more time to explore the really cool characters they had). Also: him being a version of spiderman ''were things didnt go well'' that doesnt go in a morbid direction is very baller.

Doctor Twobrains i only know of from fandom osmosis. i did watch the series as a kid, but i really cant remember shit. the rat brain is funny, and i love anything involving inventors with a theme (i had to fight myself a few too many times to not include doofenshmirtz). the manerisms and vibe are very silly, the excentricities vibe with me.

Agent Stone was the only reason i watched the sonic movie. i saw a trailer and thought, huh i dont think i remember ever seeing this fellow on anything sonic. turns out, he was a new character and very, very funny. what a guy! i can imagine going that far being a henchman. i, however, do have a deep hatred against the guy that does robotnick, so i havent seen much else other than the first film (that i very much pirated).

Pyro is such a mistery. they just burn things and act jolly, the whole pyroland thing is also so stupid. i mained him when i played tf2, but for now i just save fanart of her burning shit and think about how cool it'd be to have a full body suit, be unintelligible and get to burn stuff. absolute 10/10.

Hazel from The Umbrella Academy was fun while he lasted. The idea of being a time traveling mercenary and still getting shitty hotel rooms is hilarious to me. made me really want to get suspenders, but i dont think that'll happen.

Scar (from Hermitcraft) is such a chaotically silly guy. i wish i could pull that off. going from scam, to huge incredible creations, to changing allies on a dime, to playing games by any other rules than the ones stabilished? i wish i could do that! btw the fanart is by reddit user dead_cricket_ (i didnt want to use a minecraft skin but wanted to make sure that I AM TALKING ABOUT THE FANON CHARACTER NOT THE REAL DUDE THAT MAKES VIDEOS)

Elliot Gussman from The Umbrella Academy was also fun while he lasted. i also have some really, really weird paranoia problems and would act the same if i had alien strangers in my house. there isnt a lot of fandom stuff on him, as he's such a minor character, so i just juggle a few too many head canons on this silly guy.

Aziraphale. hehe. haha. im absolutely normal about this guy. being an angel and having the ideology of heaven hammered into your head, and complying with things you know you shouldnt because you know the consequences and that theres someone all-seeing always watching you? i get that 100%. Two other things: the constant forced smiles that are clearly unnatural and doing silly things you know you arent good at are also relatable.

i really like Abner Krill. this is so long already, but i just, really like him. i wish he didnt get killed, that movie is my favourite and i wish it could get a sequel. i'll be short on the whole thing by saying that being the weirdest one on a bunch of batman villans is very funny, and his powers are very fucked up in a cool way.

Oswald Cobblepot was the only reason i saw Gothan. him going from just a guy to.. The Penguin?? absolutely crazy. i really got the whole bit where he was getting higher on the crime scene by biting small bits and getting big results.

I could write 20.000 words on each of these, but this formatting is ass and i think the Methylphenidate is working (it's been a bit more than 40 minutes between writing and looking up images that werent so bad), so i should go study/work. if anyone wants me to go insane again, dont worry! i absolutelly will. i made an account here for a reason.

[thotsforvillainrights]

I’ve always wanted a match up! So glad I have notifications on LOL

I’m a 5’4 demisexual female, mixed with curly hair. I’m relatively quiet until you get to know me then I barely shut up. Most of the time I’m saying dumb jokes. I’m always ready for an argument, I will give a verbal lashing to anyone that makes me mad, which is unfortunately kinda easy, but hey at least I’ll have peoples backs in arguments. Plus good luck hurting my feelings, I have thick skin thankfully. My love language is cuddles, random facts, and insults (I swear they come from a good place). I’m down to do anything at anytime, especially if it involves food. I’d prefer a Shie Hassaikai member, but whoever you think works with me! :)

(Okay please bear with me. It’s been like 2 or 3 years since I’ve done one...like since 2019 I think? Let’s see if I still got it!)

Match-Up # I lost count so we’re starting back over at One!

-I match you with Hari Kurono!-

headcanon|scenario|imagine|match-up  

-I’m going to let you know ahead of time that you might butt heads when you first meet...or maybe you don’t if you can take his jokes without wanting to kill him lol. He’s the type of guy to tease you a lot but when you first met him you didn’t expect it since he was quiet in the corner standing behind your new boss. It was only because he was shy for the first time in his life (and that he was also checking you out.) He notices you’re rather quiet at first as well, so he’s not sure when to try and pursue you. He finds himself hovering near you any chance he gets. You don’t really do front line work for the Hassaikai. You’re more of behind the scenes handling the funds and money alongside Nemoto and Mimic. Usually when they’re out in the fields you’re alone in the office. This is the main time when Hari finds any excuse to come and bother you. He will literally make up a reason to come in the room where you’re at. It’s usually “Overhaul said have those expense reports written up by Tuesday or you’re on probation” or it’s like “Hey can you can you give me change for a few dollars” all while he flicks your pens off your desk or pinches a bit of your hair (which he loves btw). 

-You start to hopefully catch onto his attitude. If you can give it back then he’s way over the moon. If you return it with annoyance or anger then he figures you must not be interested in him and he stops his pursuit. Let’s say you return his playful teasing back to him full force. Well now he’s in your office everyday that even if Nemoto and Mimic are there. Eventually he gathers the courage to ask you out and you should happily accept it. He only tends to get a little worse about his teasing now that he knows you’re dating and he can push the limits a little more. Unfortunately for you, he’s taller than 5′4 so I’m sure you already know your height is the butt of his jokes a lot of times. Be prepared to hear him tease you about it. You’ll have to come up with something way wittier to get him off your ass about it. With all your jokes I’m sure you can come up with something lol. 

-If you’re always ready for an argument then you’re lucky in the relationship since the two of you don’t find yourselves fighting very often with each other. It can tend to get frustrating sometimes when you do fight because he’ll spout off some smart-ass remark and then he’s done arguing. Like he shuts down and doesn’t reply. He doesn’t raise his voice so it’s like you’re fighting with the wall. Lucky for you that he’s a sucker for you and apologizes first though. This being said, your verbal lashing is highly needed in the work area with the others. Putting up with those men on a daily basis really means that you need to have thick skin. This goes especially when talking to Rappa, Mimic, Deidoro, Katsukame, and sometimes if you can get away with it, Overhaul himself! To be honest, the old man Pops let’s you know how needed you are to keep them in their place. He’s also probably the reason Overhaul hadn’t killed you yet when you lashed out at him that one time...

-Hari is pretty in-tune with your love language for the most part. He isn’t the worlds biggest cuddler but he makes the exception for you most of the time. Besides, this goes double when the winter comes around. He’s cold natured so he needs you to be a space heater lol. On top of that, insulting him and teasing him is basically his love language too, so you’re good when it comes to that. As far as random facts he’s not sure where the hell you keep all that information. That’s something that Setsuno and Nemoto is into so you can have good conversations with them. To show you he acknowledges it, he gets you one of those little daily desk calendars with a new random fact printed on it for each day. As far as showing you how else he loves you, being a foodie goes hand in hand. The two of you spend a great deal of date nights going out and exploring new restaurants with each other. Sometimes its good to stay in and order pizza too!

[zeta-in-de-walls]

Okay, in the wake of the L’Manburg war, allow me to get meta for a bit. 

Now obviously the war, and the SMP server in general, are just for content. The stakes are all fictional - nebulous things like freedom on a minecraft server, sentimental value placed on music discs and all that nonsense.

Bearing that in mind, I want to discuss how it played out.

 Who were the best players? It’s clear who were the most powerful and dangerous as enemies - Dream, George, Sapnap and Punz. (I’m leaving aside Eret for the moment btw)  They all had full netherite armour, planted TNT traps and planned betrayals and ambushes to win the war. They had the upperhand throughout. Meanwhile the other side felt weak and ill-prepared and did very little damage to any of their opponents. 

But you know, being more powerful doesn’t actually make for much content on its own. What makes good content? A good narrative filled with drama, tension and excitement. In those terms, we’re looking at Tommy and Wilbur carrying the server with this war.

 The second they said independence and made some grand speeches, there were stakes. Instead of the server being a somewhat peaceful building simulator, it was in a state of conflict. Alliances were created, flags were made, Hamilton and Revolutionary war references were heard, matching skins and all that were being created. Putting great significance into stuff like a patch of tilled soil, suggesting carrying sticks instead of weapons and wearing no armour but fighting with words - that’s the sort of stuff that made this whole scenario work. Without it, this dispute wouldn’t have been able to call itself a war. They even make ridiculous stuff sound convincing - just the idea of calling L’Manberg its own separate server that happens to be inside another server with the running costs still being paid by Dream. It’s crazy but it works. 

And my goodness, did they have their work cut out for them. 

You see, I feel like Dream and co. weren’t really playing along. They heard ‘war!’ and thought - let’s win. Let’s absolutely crush the enemy! No mercy. 

Now playing the villain can be cool, sure. And it kinda worked here. But only just. Some of their actions definitely irked me. 

See, there are kind of unspoken agreements in stuff like letting people prepare, not attacking too early, that sort of thing. You tell everyone that the war’s gonna take place at 7pm and sure enough it does. And there’s Dream’s server rules: No stealing and no griefing. These rules do get bent in the middle of an ongoing battle - eg battles often involve a lot of placing and breaking blocks and when you’re low on stuff, trying to run to a nearby chest to grab some last minute supplies is going to happen (and later after the battle’s done you’ll probably get yelled at a little before making up) - but generally they are upheld. Especially when others are offstream and you aren’t in the middle of something. 

‘Ah but it was war - rules can be broken!’ one might argue. Yeah, no, this is entertainment. You don’t start early because you’re going to ruin the stream and make the content worse - and the whole point of the war is to make good content. Like, when WIlbur’s stream died - they asked for a pause so WIlbur could sort out technical difficulties before continuing. 

Yeah so Dream and Sapnap basically broke all the rules in order to win. Fundy and Tommy put up insulting signs in different languages. Funny content. Dream and Sapnap burned Tubbo’s house to the ground. Err... okay that’s a bit excessive but we can make it work. No mercy, ha. 

So Tommy asked Tubbo to prep for the war. Tubbo agreed and got to work to try and balance the already uneven odds. At this point, the war’s in a day and all of Dream’s side has full netherite and none of L’Manburg do save Eret. Time is short but that just makes it all the more exciting. 

So Tubbo uses villagers and trading, stealing a frugal amount to get himself started before really getting into it and grinding for diamond armour and makes nine stacks of emeralds - enough to place some high level enchants and even the odds a little and make the fight interesting.

While Tubbo’s offline, Sapnap comes in and steals them, getting books to enchant his own set of netherite armour using Tubbo’s set up. Well then. There goes any hope of a fair fight. And they are trying, you know. They realise the armour discrepancy so they’ve been trying to get potions but even that’s a struggle - when Dream finished his apology stream he logged on to the SMP without warning and managed to kill Tubbo before he could get away while his inventory had been full of potions. (Tommy and Tubbo had been visiting Dream’s base to put a sign in it - an offer of Mellohi for peace. Nothing comes of this sign or any of the other Tommy put in other people’s houses - more potential good content there like demanding Sapnap stay neutral in return for a supply blaze powder (a ref to the drug war that preceded this conflict)). It’s not that Dream killing Tubbo is the issue - it’s more how he logged on basically without warning so Tubbo had little chance to get away as he was mostly unarmoured and ungeared. 

Still, the next day Tubbo is trying to grind back up, to even up things a little. He’s only managed to get 2 end crystals and he has a few sets of plain diamond armour and a few books. So he grinds like crazy in the limited time, trading all his iron, chopping trees, carrots, bamboo, sugar, everything he has into emeralds. But he needs levels. He tries to go to the spawner which the other side has been freely using to grind up exp and they kill him when he goes near. One time, Dream kills him while he has several books on him so he has to trade back emeralds to get them again. And now he doesn’t have a good way to get experience so he can’t even the odds. Punz and Sapnap even combatlog inside the spawner so if he goes near they’d come online and kill him. And yeah, they’re stream sniping. They’ve all streamed very little, hiding all their preparations while taking advantage of the fact that the other side have all been streaming everything they’ve been doing. 

‘Imagine streamsniping.’ Tommy and co. said that at one point during today’s conflict. It’s cheap - it’s not fun, it’s taking advantage - one that’s not even necessary as you’re already all OP. Dream’s side aren’t the underdog, they don’t need every single advantage to win this. Instead it’s more like rubbing salt into the wound. 

And yeah, despite all the griefing that Dream side have done, not once does anyone grief anything of theirs - like the chat was totally asking for them to burn down Punz’s house. No, they just place signs and talk. 

Okay, so Tommy announced the war would be at 7pm. He logs on at 6.45 to say hello and hype all his viewers up, get his music playing and give a rundown of the situation and what’s occurred since he’s last streamed. No sooner has he logged on then Tubbo gets ambushed early! They attacked prematurely! 

...

It’s like there was one rule - war begins at 7pm. And instead Dream, George and Sapnap all attacked Tubbo at his base at 6.45. Tommy is ages away and can’t do anything and Fundy’s in trouble too and Tubbo just barely manages to save the gear he has managed to prep. They’re even more on the backfoot. All their strats are known anyway as they’ve been watching streams so they know all about the potions and endcrystals while Tommy’s side are in the dark about Dream’s side’s preparations. For instance, offstream they filled Tommy’s base and L’Manburg with Tnt which they set off to devastating effect. 

The ‘war’ is as one-sided as you’d expect. Tommy and co. are trying to attack even though they lack arrows and food and are hopelessly outmatched but they put up a pretence of trying anyway. At no point is a single one of Dream’s side even moderately threatened (except perhaps when they ambushed Tubbo early as he tried using harming potions) and everyone knows it. 

Still, Tommy and Wilbur push on - they talk, they rally etc. Finally, Eret betrays them and they’re all killed in an ambush. And they’re shocked by this twist, they react, they call Eret their downfall. (Dream’s side didn’t need to resort to such tactics to win given their obvious advantage.) and Eret being a traitor is fantastic for content anyway so it is a great part of the narrative that they all react to perfectly. Eret seems to have a good instinct for making good content as well as this sort of twist is a good addition. It works because its drama - they trusted him and they never expected him to betray them to the other side after all they’d built together. 

In the end, Tommy finishes it on a high with a dramatic bow duel followed by offering the discs in exchange for freedom. And fittingly, despite have being entirely outplayed in terms of power and tactics, they win the thing they cared about - which was the independence that they started the war for. The content - not anything material. Dream’s side was far stronger and better prepared and they weren’t given so much as a chance to catch up for a pvp conflict. But L’Manberg - they got that. 

-

Okay, so this has been long and I’ll probably rewrite something similar soon - but I wanted to highlight how in meta terms, the war was being played unfairly and its obvious that Dream’s side had different priorities - win under any means necessary rather than continue to make great content for the SMP. They’re treating it like a manhunt or something when its absolutely not and shouldn’t be. They’re lucky that Wilbur and Tommy were so good at making it work as they do all the heavy-lifting for the SMP which ensures its got a healthy lifespan. 

[bloededhoine]

world building cause twn doesn't part 4: elves!

everyone loves elves! they're a fantasy genre mainstay, archery is so sexy, and they have those E A R S. plus, they play a pretty important part in the witcher universe!

series masterpost

colour code cause i fucking love colour codes - already happened/introduced, probably s2, important background info, stuff that might be in the prequel, extras

background

i'd recommend going through the last parts, or at least the tl;dr's first

elves arrived on the continent about 2000 years before humans, and are divided into 5 distinct cultures of varying importance: aen undod, aen elle, aen seidhe, black seidhe, and aen woedde

elves only came to the continent in one group, but not all of that group stayed. the different branches based on where they settled make up the different cultures

the main two languages in the witcher are common speech and elder speech (aka hen llinge), the former used by most humans and the latter used by the elder races

aen undod

the aen undod are the oldest elven culture, having existed years before the conjunction of spheres

their home world faced some huge catastrophe, so the aen undod left in search of new worlds, leaving their descendants to become all the future elven cultures.

the aen undod spoke the oldest dialect of elder speech, laith aen undod, or one speech

aen elle

the aen elle use a language derived from hen llinge called ellylon, in which their name means "of the alders"

they don't actually live on the continent, having abandoned it years ago for their own world.

however, when the aen elle arrived in this new world, it was already populated by humans and unicorns. unfortunately, these elves are notoriously ruthless and both the native species were eradicated.

the capital of the aen elle world is tir ná lia, and is described as stunningly beautiful, featuring open air buildings made of marble, alabaster, and malachite. here it is in the third witcher video game, by djkovrik on nexus. their screenshots are amazing btw.

[ID: screenshot from wild hunt showing tir ná lia. the city is built on cliffs above a sea, there are waterfalls falling from the cliffs and bridges connecting them. there are mountains in the background and the buildings are fairly small and out of focus, they seem to be in the gothic revival style with ornate windows and steeped roofs. end ID]

the ruler of the aen elle was auberon muircetach, king of the alders and aen saevherne (aen saevherne is the honorary title of an elven mage who has extensive knowledge of magic, geneology, history, and many other subjects). auberon was also ciri's 5 times great grandfather. this gwent card pretty much sums up his vibe: scary yet sexy.

[ID: illustration of elven man with long white hair on a brown horse. he has defined cheekbones and facial features and is wearing a gold crown and blue robes with a red sash, gold belt, and leather boots. he is holding a white unicorn head in one hand. the unicorn's horn is cut off, and is bloody around its neck and where its horn was. end ID]

auberon's consort was another aen elle named shiadhal, with whom he had one daughter, lara dorren. lara is so so so important for the witcher, as she is the beginning of the elder blood, or hen ichaer.

hen ichaer is a gene that carries incredibly powerful magic, and those who have it are usually sources. i talk more abt this in part 3.

for better or for worse, lara dorren fell in love with a human sorcerer, cregennan of lod, and left tir ná lia for him. auberon took this as cregennan "stealing" his daughter and therefore the hen ichaer, and developed a pretty hefty vengeance and dedication to "take back" what was his (yikes).

this also set a precedent of people "claiming" the lives of carriers of the hen ichaer

auberon also formed an elven cavalry known as the red riders or wild hunt (dearg ruadhri in ellylon) and he appointed eredin bréacc glas as their commander. the initial purpose of the wild hunt was to travel to different worlds and capture slaves for tir ná lia, although they later became auberon's tool to find and exploit carriers of hen ichaer.

the wild hunt also uses specially trained mages known as navigators to open portals to other worlds, the most notable of these navigators is caranthir ar-feiniel, who doubled as one of eredin's most trusted men.

the aen elle also live a pretty long time, average is around 650 years, so the timelines are kinda hard to keep track of.

notable aen elle include: auberon muircetach, shiadhal, lara dorren, eredin breácc glas, crevan espane aep caomhan macha (aka avallac'h, also an aen saevherne and lara dorren's ex), caranthir ar-feiniel (also avallac'h's foster son), ge'els (the viceroy of tir ná lia), and imlerith (general of the wild hunt)

aen seidhe

put simply, the aen seidhe are the elves that did not leave when the aen elle did

the aen seidhe don't really have a society like the aen elle, they're pretty dispersed across the world. but, there are certain areas the aen seidhe have claimed as their own.

one of these little civilizations is dol blathanna, also known as the valley of flowers. unfortunately, it's not an independent state, as it was conquered by aedirn in the 1150s. however, then-king baldwin thyssen did allow the elves to retain a lot of their cultural identity and live in peace.

dol blathanna includes the village posada and the capital silver towers, which is where filavandrel aén findháil is from. he's that sexy man right there

[ID: photo of white elf man with blonde hair going to his shoulders. he is wearing tattered green robes and is looking slightly to the side with his lips pursed. end ID]

not that anyone cares, but here's him in the hexer. it's not important to the lore or twn it's just fuckin funny

[ID: old man with white frizzy wig. he is wearing a headband that appears to be rocks on a string. he has what looks like a potato sack tied around his shoulders over a green tunic. he is scowling. end ID]

outside of dol blathanna, there aren't really any places where elves can live with minimal human interaction, although the blue mountains are home to a few incredibly powerful elves

side note: dol blathanna is technically part of the blue mountains, but is in the far southern foothills so they're usually treated as separate entities.

the blue mountains are also a natural border dividing the northern kingdoms from the far east, and where filavandrel went to live after he got fed up with dol blathanna.

they're also the home of ida emean aep sivney, who's also an aen saevherne and future member of the lodge of sorceresses.

next season, we're going to meet the beautiful elven sorceress francesca findabair, also known as enid an gleanna (hen llinge for daisy of the valley)

here she is with fringilla vigo (nilfgaardian sorceress) in twn season 2. note that enid is preggers! that's very odd and i will go into detail on it later

[ID: photo of two women walking side by side. the one on the left is black and has black hair in braids going over one shoulder. she is wearing a silver dress with a similarly coloured floor length coat. the one on the right is biracial and has strawberry blonde hair in a braided updo. she is wearing a floor length blue gown with gold embroidery and a metallic brown cloak. she is pregnant. end ID]

enid is crazy interesting and important for the story of the witcher (and confirmed for season two!), so i won't go too in depth about her now

as i mentioned in part 2, nilfgaard tends to favour elves, leading to a lot of militaristic forces allied with nilfgaard. most notably, the scoia'tael, or squirrels. the scoia'tael are an incredibly ruthless and effective nonhuman guerilla force, generally divided into commandos, units that patrol a given area and eliminate the northern (or simply human) threat.

there are a lot of scoia'tael, so i'll just give you the commanders for now: angus bri cri, coinneach dá reo, iorveth, isengrim faoiltiarna, riordain, and toruviel.

you might remember toruviel as this sexy angry lady from twn, and she is possibly going to get a much bigger role later... pay attention to toruviel.

[ID: young elf woman with white skin and red hair tied over her shoulder. she has a bloody nose and is wearing a light green top with a dark brown leather studded belt. her belt is also around an olive green coat. she looks quite angry. end ID]

the scoia'tael were very well organized, but also quite dispersed, so when nilfgaard needed more specific tasks done, they would assemble specific military units (usually led by some of our favourite squirrels)

the vrihedd brigade was the most important of these units. they were especially notorious for their cruelty in the second northern war, so i'm sure we'll meet at least a few members next season.

their leader was colonel isengrim faoiltiarna (aka the iron wolf), and his officers coinneach, iorveth, riordain, and angus.

francesca findabair is not directly involved with either the scoia'tael or the vrihedd brigade, but she does work quite closely with them very often.

also important to note that not all scoia'tael are aen seidhe elves, most (including all higher ranking commanders and officers) are, but there are a number of nonhumans including dwarves and halflings.

unfortunately, the aen seidhe are slowly going extinct, both from years of genocide from humans and their slow reproductive cycles (elves live a Long time, but can only have children towards the beginning of their lives)

that's why it's so surprising to me that enid is preggers! we don't exactly know her age, but by my calculations she was over 150 in twn (pretty far past the age elves can have children).

because of this, elves are pretty divided between fighting against human rule and seeking coexistence. there are arguments for both camps, mainly that humans are colonizers and should not be trusted for the former, and that elves are dying out already and need to live with humans to survive for the latter.

the most prominent stand for the fight was in the 1060s when an aen seidhe named aelireen led an uprising against humans. most of the elders told her that it wouldn't end well, but she didn't listen and led hundreds of young elves into battle. it was an utter massacre, and basically all elves who could have children died.

yikes

unfortunately, the movement for coexistence was just as unsuccessful. it was led by our man cregennan of lod, lara dorren's husband. the poor simp just wanted to live in peace with his wife, but a lot of humans thought he was a traitor because he married an elf, and he and lara were murdered in 1137 in redania.

the last real push for independence was with the formation of the scoia'tael in the 1260s. I say 1260s because the very beginnings of the scoia'tael were right around 1262-1236 (the start of ciri's timeline) but they became majorly important around 1267. although, even the scoia'tael realized they needed humans to survive and began working with nilfgaard.

however, some scoia'tael are less keen on being nilfgaard's attack dogs, leading to further division amongst the aen seidhe.

black seidhe

remember the elves i talked about in part 2 as being the ancestors of the albans? this is them!

the black seidhe are native to the south, more particularly the valley around the alba river. they are practically extinct, but the nilfgaardians carry a lot of their cultural identity in the nilfgaardian language, a variation of hen llinge.

aen woedde

the wood elves, or aen woedde, is the elven culture we know the least about, they primarily live in the areas around nilfgaardian forests and speak hen llinge.

the only notable wood elf is aenyeweddien, or iskra, a member of the rats, a gang of semi violent youths in the northern realms. we'll learn more about the rats in future seasons.

tl;dr: elves, especially the aen seidhe and aen elle cultures, make up a large part of witcher lore. they are most notable for their long lifespans, magical and historical knowledge, and militaristic alliances with nilfgaard.

[saphirered]

essek!!! honestly anything lol but maybe (i'll try to keep it vague for spoiler reasons) after ep 131 or ep 124, maybe a confession fic? if you aren't caught up just a general how a confession would go please! i love your writing and blog btw, all your caleb stuff is so 👌👌👌

Thank you for your request and yes I am caught up. I hope you enjoy this one.

Warning spoilers for Episode 124

Essek’s betrayal hit you hard. Sure you’d considered the possibility but being faced with that truth so upfront hurt, a lot. You’d been able to avoid him for the longest of times thanks to the Nein being taken in different directions. You simply couldn’t face him. After the party in Nicordanas you put on a brave face and you agreed with Caleb wholeheartedly but you didn’t have the strength to say these words yourself. Any interaction you had between then and now had been cordial and straight to the point whereas before there were plenty of pleasantries, some flirting even and the realisation your flirting was rooted within your own feelings. You’re a good enough people reader to know that his, at the very least were rooted in affection and before Nicodranas you might have seen a possible bright future for the both of you. Even after his betrayal was revealed your feelings remained but they were overshadowed by your pain. It felt like your heart was ripped from your chest. 

The trust, kindness, his affections for you, were they all just something to be exploited in a bigger plot. He said at first he was using the Nein but he grew attached so had you just been a pawn in a bigger ploy he felt sorry for? So many questions you had asked yourself over the last weeks, months even at this point and none of them you dared to answer so you didn’t. You pushed them aside and moved on. You pushed Essek out of your mind because it was easier than dealing with the pain. Pushing something away only works for so long. He’d come back into your life sooner rather than later. Aeor came closer in view and after the absolute shit show with the Tombtakers all of you were at your wits end. You didn’t want to pull anyone along into this chaos and especially not a certain wizard who’s proven himself to be prone to his desires for pursuit of knowledge and power; a thing you’d be serving on a silver platter but you really had no better options at this point.

The closer to your destination you got the more closed off you became. Face devoid of emotion and voice monotone, direct and without a single break you’d begun to mentally prepare yourself for your upcoming encounter to the point where you were seriously considering you might actually prefer another encounter with the Tombtakers over facing Essek. Your gradual shift in behaviour must have caught some attention as you quickly had a Jester at your side attempting to make happy conversation and lift your spirit and provide distraction. You tried to play along but the pitying smile from Caleb told you about how good a job you were doing. Nevermind the tiefling never quit and you could appreciate that. Jester cares and you were hurting so she did whatever she could to make it better. 

You eventually made it to the outpost and your ‘official’ mode kicked in taking over for Beau when she started butchering Undercommon. You presented yourself with an air of authority and purpose and that seemed to do the job very well. And there he was in all his miserable glory putting on a similar face as yours. He was caught off guard by Jester running in and hugging him and while he looked at you his eyes quickly avoided. Even though the conversations that followed you had no problem looking at him, sure he could feel your eyes burning but your gaze remained cold and distant; the way he had seen you face an enemy and the way you study when in company you don’t trust, watching the danger like a hawk for every single twitch. In this conversation it was very clear he had a hard time keeping eye contact but he was straight up avoiding both you and Caleb and you could put two and two together; shame. He was ashamed of everything he did and caused that much was sure. 

In a more private setting without the continuous presence of Dynasty soldiers the Nein told him everything that had occurred the past few weeks and slowly but surely his facade faltered, the gravity of the situation kicking in and him contemplating, taking in all the information you provided. You didn’t speak to him directly and only gave your input when it came to queries among the Nein having nothing to add directed at Essek. 

“I’ve spent so much of my life focussed on myself, my climb, all of my selfish needs. I’ve never really been trusted and so I did not trust. And I never let anyone close. I have been clouded in my judgement many times for a lot of my life. When I- when you gave me trust, it gave me a perspective that was so agonisingly striking. So easy to see that I refused to acknowledge it at first, even. I would be lying if I said that our paths crossing hasn’t shaken me to the core and I’m appreciative and thankful for this perspective, but you do not owe me trust for what I’ve done.” Those words hit hard and you found yourself biting down on your lip to prevent yourself from speaking. All the feelings you tried to push away so hard came back up and you were fighting to hold them at bay to prevent yourself from saying something you’d regret. Luckily the others jumped in allowing you to keep your silence. 

The conversation continued and Caleb made some good points making sure to make eye contact with you every so often to make sure you were alright and in agreement. You were interrupted after the mentions of Dagen and some shouting outside. You’d say you were surprised but really you weren’t though the sight of the man holding onto one of the Aurora Watch soldiers while presenting the letter he was told to deliver was quite the sight and made you quickly cover up a snort. Not quick enough apparently as some did catch on. Eventually back inside Jester began to insinuate Caleb should show the red eyes on his skin but you quickly shut that down, the first words you had spoken since you got here.

“What are we talking about?” Essek asks confused. 

“Nothing you need concern yourself with.” Your words were colder than you intended but got the message across clear it seemed. They quickly shifted the subject back to Lucien, Aeor, the Somnovum, Vess being indisposed, gathering further allies until you landed on possibly considering bringing Astrid and Eadwulf into this opposed to Trent himself it was revealed or more like confirmed Essek had had dealings with the man in the past, persuading you all not to go to the Assembly. And because Veth slipped up you had to come clean about Vess’ actual state; dead in the hands of Lucien who killed her without as much as the blink of an eye. You were very much aware he was on the brink of a mental breakdown and you couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. 

Hot cocoa was passed around and you did not refuse Beau’s offer of a good pour of whiskey while the conversation continued in regards to the Beacons and some choice of words and theories around the Beacons that could be considered sacrilege among the Dynasty. You were planning out the delve into the ruins Essek suggesting it would be best to go your separate ways until you were ready to traverse Aeor. The conversation ends and you are about to go your separate ways bedding down for the night until you would travel to gather allies and supplies. Caleb stays at your side aware of how you’re handling things but he stops with you before you leave catching Essek by the forearm. 

“Breathe. Just.. breathe that fresh air mindful of the people about. Time. Time. Not weeks. Not years. It takes time.” He was speaking to Essek but you knew the words were directed at you as well. For the first time you deliberately meet eyes looking over your shoulder as you join the rest of the Nein. You were lead to a reasonably sized room, small for all of you but much more preferable to the ice and snow outside. You take time to settle down and eventually sit down with Beau and Caleb.

“I don’t trust any of this.” You tell them hugging your knees to your chest. 

“I’m with you. It’s just too much. Too many risks. To many cards not yet in play that could shake this whole game up.” Beau agrees. 

“But we have to make a choice and Essek is our safest and most certain bet. Every option is risky.”  Caleb has a point and it’s one you’ve been using to justify and be at peace with all of this. 

“I’m afraid that he’s going to realise the pressure is too much and he’ll bolt. Or the Assembly catches up to him before we get back and they’ll rat him out but my biggest concern right now is for the Tombtakers to travel faster than we’re expecting. What if they get here? Our advantage will be gone.” The rest of the Nein having turned into the conversation had to agree with you there. If your or Essek’s enemies somehow got involved you’d be screwed. 

“You got a point. So how do we solve this? Essek said it’s best to go our separate ways until we got our stuff sorted so we can’t really stick around and we’d still be traceable if we split up. It’s a risk we’ll have to take as it’s the safest for both of us now.” Beau contemplates trying to formulate a better plan. You already had a plan and you didn’t like it for one minute but it was all you got.

“I know how we solve this. You give me the amulet and I stay behind. That way they can’t scry on me as long as I’m here. They can scry on us when we’re together anyway and with only one amulet we’re not going to get very far. You gather everything we need, get whatever help we can get and come back here when you’re ready to leave.” You can hardly believe your own mind could make the decision regardless of your personal opinions. 

“And you’re okay staying behind with Essek to keep an eye on him? What if Lucien and his gang shows up?” 

“Beau, I’ll manage. My personal feelings don’t matter in the bigger picture for now. I can get over myself. As for the Tombtakers, Essek’s gonna be a fat load of good when he can’t use his magic. If they get here before you return I’ll get him out of here and to Aeor myself if I have to. Can’t defeat them but I sure as hell can outrun them for a while.” You assured them, a couple of nods and attempts to protest eventually resulted in the agreement. You’d stay behind. One final rest and everyone would be finishing their unfinished business, say their goodbyes and hellos, get their closure and prepare for the worst. Yet you couldn’t see yourself anywhere but here. Sure you wanted to be there for your friends but they could do without you. You were needed here so maybe your own unfinished business had to conclude right here where you are. 

You said your goodbyes and the Nein were off leaving you alone in the makeshift chamber. You inhale deeply and exhale slowly counting to ten in your head and leave the room. The back of your mind tells you this was a mistake and you definitely couldn’t do this but there’s no way back now so you put on your brave face and make your way to Essek’s chambers. In front of the door you wait, count to ten again and put on your brave face before you knock on the door. The door swings open.

“Y/n. I was not expecting to see you. Please come in.” He speaks glancing around you for any of the guard that could possibly hear him. The moment you force yourself to enter the door closes behind you and you can see him deflate just a little, all manner of composure dropping for a moment before he looks up at you from behind his desk. Up front he may appear composed once more but his eyes tell a different story. Panic, surprise, questions, fear and shame. 

“Have you come to say goodbye?” A slight break of his voice at the last word. Oh Essek you really dropped the ball haven’t you, you think to yourself. 

“No actually. I came to tell you the others have left and I’ll be staying behind.” He goes to protest getting up from his seat. Fear, concern and something you can’t identify peak through. 

“So unless you’re planning to take me to wherever they have gone yourself resulting in you having to get back here with all the potential risks you’ve priorly described, I’m staying here and there’s nothing you can do about it so suck it up, darling.” You mentally kick yourself for using that last word. You didn’t mean to but you slipped up falling back in old habits. 

“You’re putting yourself at great risk by staying here so please let me take you back to the others.” He comes closer to you and you stay your ground. 

“Sorry. Not going to happen, Essek. I’m staying. I can’t be scried upon so I’ll be fine.” 

“There’s many more dangers than the risk of being scried upon.” 

“Which ones would you be referring to? The assassins after you? Or maybe the risk of you being discovered? The person who sent the assassins getting antsy and exposing you to the Dynasty?Being a traitor to your nation and a catalyst in a bigger plot you have no control over? The Tombtakers and their shenanigans? Literally anything to do with Aeor? The alleged death and or plotting of the demise of extremely powerful mages? Keeping secrets and being prepared to find or create a scapegoat to cover up the fact that the peace agreement between two nations which is already hanging by a single thread was based on the lies and deceit of another? Or perhaps it’s your uncanny ability to pursuit the path to your own destruction and your terrible sense of judgement and eye for consequences? Oh or maybe the fact that if we don’t stop all of this the world like we know it will possibly come to an end and we’ll could just end up dealing with yet another Calamity scale event? Take your pick because I’m pretty sure I’m already involved in what? All of them? But please be my guest and pick one!” You lost all composure you had but the more you talk the more you realise you couldn’t keep all of this pent up. It does you no good. 

“My apologies. I won’t ask for your forgiveness as-“ You cut him off. You’re on a roll so you’re gonna get this over with while you’re at it; speak your mind openly without restrained.

“Yet you still have it! For some stupid reason I find it within myself to forgive you for all horrible thing you’ve done but the one; I can’t seem to get over the fact you betrayed my trust. That you didn’t trust me when it mattered and that I was nothing but a pawn in your game and you discarded the trust I put in you so easily.” You can feel your voice crack multiple times throughout your words and you curse yourself for doing so. Essek looks at his feet lips tightly pushed together. 

“Perhaps my expectations were too high.” You spat about to storm out of the room but the door remained closed.

“Essek let me go.” You glared at him. He couldn’t even give you that? A departure with dignity before you broke down?

“You’ve said your part I think it’s only fair I say mine. Though if you wish to leave I won’t hold you here. You’re free to set foot where you please. I know I have no right to but I ask only a moment.” You brace yourself already mentally kicking yourself for coming to this decision so quickly and not even being able to tell yourself why you shouldn’t.

“Fine. I’ll hear what you have to say.” You cross your arms and take a few steps back in his direction.

“From the moment I’ve met you I’ve been captivated by you but I simply couldn’t get over myself and admit to myself that maybe what I’m doing isn’t worth the collateral. You made me feel guilt and regret but I pushed that aside because I there was no way back from what I had already set into motion. I meant what i said, I have grown attached to your little group and I would even go as far as to call them friends something I haven’t been able to call anyone. Not truly without ulterior motives. But you’ve always been something more. I know I will repent for my sins but I will not drag you down that path with me. I love you too much to allow that to happen. So I beg of you, do not put yourself at risk for my sake.” Finally he looks at you without looking away or avoiding your direct gaze. 

“I refuse to let you become collateral in my actions. No matter how much I want you at my side I know you simply cannot be and I have come to accept that. Please grant me the dignity of excluding you from my own demise.” 

“What you want and what you get are two very different things Essek.” You definitely heard the proclamation of love but it was said in the heat of the moment so you let it go for now choosing to ignore it. 

“Believe me I am very much aware. Just as I am aware I have ruined what we had and perhaps even the chance of one day earning your love should you ever give it to me. While I may wish I could change the past I would never change meeting you and the moments we shared. The mere thought of your smile makes me feel a fraction of your warmth in this cold wasteland and I could die a happy man should it be the last thing I see. I believe my worst fear to have come true when it became clear I may never see that smile of yours again. I cannot deny my feelings for you so I won’t and I will assure you I am honest and open when I say that I love you. I’d rather say it now before we both walk into our deaths when we set foot in those ruins.”

“I know I have no right to and I will admit I am a selfish man when I hope you will at least tell me that you might have shared my feelings were the circumstances different.” His feet touch the ground and he studies you for any response but finds none. 

“You are a fool. Hopeless. You are selfish and hardly ever look out for anyone but yourself. You would betray anyone if it were to further your own interests or save your own hide. You’d sacrifice anything and anyone to get what you want, price be damned.” You begin stepping closer to him and you can see him break just a little on the inside.

“That’s what I want to believe but I simply can’t. My own mind argues against all the things it reasonably tries to claim you to be. Yes you are a fool but you are also one of the cleverest and most intriguing people I’ve ever met. You’re not hopeless. You are selfish but your selfishness knows boundaries as displayed by your guilt and regret and shame. You would betray anyone but only if it meant you it allowed you to save what you care about and you’d sacrifice anything and everything to protect it. But I still wonder. Was it worth it? Making the choices you did was it worth putting yourself in this place?” 

“No. Most of the results while desired were not worth the cost.” Again the guilt and shame rises. 

“Then you have learned. So I will give you what you need; my honestly. We both know that these flirtations we’ve had are more than just that. Back then I could have seen a future where you and I could have had something beautiful but I will also admit I have not seen the same thing ever since our last meeting. I do not see a future not because my feelings for you have disappeared but simply because it is unpredictable. It’s fickle much like the Dunamancy you study. And that’s exactly how a future should be, right? Uncertain and unpredictable. What we’re walking into is just that. So if we do make it out alive I’m sure that future will be much clearer once we’re no longer on the brink of destruction.” You step up close enough and put a hand on his cheek making him look you in the eye.

“I don’t understand.” He begins.

“Let me spell it out for you.” You move your lips closer to his and when he doesn’t pull away you place your lips on his in a chaste kiss. 

“Do you get it now?” You say as you pull apart. 

“I think I may need another explanation to make sure I caught that right.” He stumbles a faint blush creeping onto his cheeks so you oblige and kiss him again. 

“I love you.” You say leaning your forehead against his. 

“I love you too.” Both of you laugh taking in the craziness of the situation. You went from being upset to arguing to honesty and a confession of love. This truly must be something recorded in some romance novel in Jester’s collection. Ridiculous but true.

“You may be a fool Essek Thelyss, but you are my fool and don’t you forget.” 

[kusagrasskusa]

Yandere Simulator Delinquents.

They're basically copy and paste. Sooo here's my version of them for future reference! I got too excited writing the last one lol- It's been a while since I've been to inspired to write. This is a nice feeling uvu

Umeji Kizuguchi - Yellow guy

He has blonde, previously pink, hair and golden eyes. He wears a yellow shirt under unbuttoned blazer and carries a baseball bat around. He has a scar over his right eye. Umeji is Oroso right hand man and takes over position while she's gone; these are the cannon versions of him and all that's said.

This is my fannon version of him: He was hurt the most during the bullying and therefore the most fearful of pain. He flinches when touched and gets pissed instantly. He's the most cold and aggressive out of the five and it helped him keep him as the most feared of the delinquents. He works out daily, therefore having a good build and likes bitter foods rather than sweets. He'a quite ignorant and refuses to share his likes out of fear of being judged. He still feels depression but now faces more anxiety than anything. He often cries about it late at night.

But despite his depression, he's so determined to stay as a threat to many. It's the kist alive he's ever felt. He's somewhat narcissistic and has both an inferiority and superiority complex, actually. Sensitive to touch and criticism but damn his ego is big. He uses his strength and speed as another threat to fellow students, to let them know that if they mess up then he'll catch and hurt them.

His home life isn't fun. Parents maybe fighting here and there or gone for work or something. It wasn't abusive in any way or anything; in fact, they get along well when they're together. It's just the parents weren't attentive. As Umeji puts it, "My mom, dad, bless their hearts, but they aren't great." They tend to brush things off quickly and spend too much time to themselves.

Dairoku Surikizu - Blue manz

He has blonde, previously blue, hair and blue eyes. He wears a blue shirt under an unbuttoned blazer and carries around a boten or some shit, idk I couldn't figure it out. He has a scar on his lip and from Mulberry's art, it looks like he's the tallest of the group.

Fannonly, he's the most anxious of the group. He never talks about it to anyone but Hokuto, who brushes it off. Dairoku got his scar a long time ago when his parents were agruing; he hid under his bed when he was nine and started to cry. To calm himself, he started to bite his lip and scratch himself on the forearms and face to calm himself down. He cut himself in the process badly and tried to hide it from his parents so he didn't get yelled at.

His home life wasn't too bad either; his dad left the family not long after that incident when he was nine so his mom has to take on the roles of two people. She never has time for him so the other delinquents make him feel so happy. He likes- no, loves to talk to them but tries to look sketchy in the process.

Hokuto Furukizu - Purple manz

He has blonde, previously golden, hair and purple eyes. From Mulberry's art, he seems to be the second tallest, but very close to Dairoku. He carried around a metal pipe and wears a purple shirt under his opened blazer. He has a scar on his cheek too btw.

Fannonly, he talks most to Dairoku. He usually brushed off what he says, but relates to him most. Of the 5, he desperately wants to be normal and free the most. He was well popular in middle school but his anger once got the best of him and a fight caused him to lose a lot of his reputation. It just got worse as time went on however; but he misses those days so much.

His scare on his cheek came from the fight and serves as a curse mark to him; "The day they ruined my life." He hates looking at it and gets pissed off when people even look at it. He's always been hot headed but his physical appearance is his number one insecurity. Hokuto's homelife is normal and he's goodboi at home. Cleans, cooks sometimes, has an equally good relationship with his mom as he does his dad.

He managed to convince them that his new appearance and signs of depression from last year was just influence from ex friends. Eventually they just took his word for it despite how terrible of a lie that is, so they stopped asking.

Gaku Hikitsuri - Red guyz

According to Mulberry's art, the blonde who once had light blue hair and red eyes is the second tallest. He has a scar on his forehead and carried around a crowbar. His shirt is red and under, you guessed it, an unbuttoned blazer.

He's a genuine tsundere; the angriest of the group. He easily crushes on people like a simp and gets nervous easily, so he acts all defensive and aggressive around them especially. Other than Umeji, he's the quickest to shove people around and assert his position. But for the most part, he intentionally shoves and shoulder checks people he finds attractive or who he thinks is superior than him, which is a lot of people.

He suffers from an inferiority complex that makes him think everyone judges him behind his back and talks about him especially. Therefore, he's the loudest and quickest to insults; he's also very self conscious. He's scared to make noise in class, talk, eat in front of people, and others because he's scared to be judged. Because as long as nothing is brought to the table, there's nothing to judge. His scar was actually from Kokoro, the bully who's just a sadist according to the character files from Yandev, who got pissed at him defending himself and hit him down with a ring. He got cut badly and almost passed out from the hit; but hey, it's not like he can do anything about since she's a girl, and he'd be expelled instantly. The bitch even resulted him with a broken arm at some point.

Home life isn't great; rundown trailerpark, alcoholic dad and whole of a step mom, dead mom, things like that. Damn, if only he got more than a mattress on the floor, a cover, pillow, dresser filled with all his clothes and school supplies to live on. But he can't even get a job without his scar making people think he's worse than what his persona displays.

Hayanari Tsumeato - Grey manz

The grey eyed, blonde hair man with natural red hair who carries around a lead pipe is Hayanari, who's last name "Tsumeato" means scratch mark. He has a grey shirt under his unbuttoned blazer and a scar over his nose.

Fannonly, he was the one with the no fucks given attitude. He was usually straight faced and brutally honest when talking to people, but wasn't necessarily judgemental. It's hard to explain but just because he says, "damn Daniel, you're built like a carrot," doesn't mean he cares about his appearance, even if whoever tf Daniel is actually looks like a carrot or not. He was the daredevil who did things solely for his entertainment.

In a way, it was almost sociopathic or narcissistic; he'd be fine with embarrassing someone in front of anyone because it got a smile our of him. If someone complained, he'd roll his eyes and convince whoever that they were overreacting and that they were the one at fault. He's very manipulative and sarcastic, usually just smiling cockily and speaking innocently. Kinda emo, but he wasn't against that title. He actually liked the occult and for the most part, was down for anything that didn't have too much time needed, like school or family.

He was in the middle of everything; okay with cooking, occult, art, science, reading, anine and games, so there wasn't much a person can dislike him for in terms of social standards. He wasn't appart of a dislikes group like the occult kids or science kids, not with a loved group like cooking or art kids. But when he started to express a bit of interest in the occult was when people could finally pin him down and bully him back for all those insulting jokes that sounded way too serious. And before he knew it, he got wrapped up in the hate and couldn't get himself free.

Home life is something he never, not even to his fellow delinquents, never talks about. But one thing worth noting is that he's never seen without a long sleeved shirt or jacket of some kind. He used to pass out time to time during gym classes because he was overheated due to bringing a long sleeved version of the gym shirt to school and never drank anything. When his parents were called, they always insisted on saying they'll do something about it but they never did, either. The delinquents do think there's some kind of abuse at his house; besides, Hayanari is adopted and those things happen often even if it's more common in the foster system.

His family is something he never talks about. Back in middle school, his friends were able to see his "parents" time to time when they picked him up from school. It was immediately obvious that he wasn't related to them; hell, he rarely called them mom or dad. At home, until adopted, was great. Friends coming over, happy family moments, being able to play games and use electronics, things like that. But when he was adopted was when it wouldn't be easy to just tell someone what was to come; quite obviously, it was abuse. Verbal and physical, nearly everyday. It was worse in the beginning but happened less often as he got older.

His "mom" would call the police a few times him because she felt "threatened." She hit him so he would hit back and yell while doing so, so she has evidence of an attack. But luckily, her skin isn't sensitive enough to show any marks unlike Hayanari's. Other times, his "dad" would get involved and hurt him badly.

[writtenbynightlock]

Hi! Idk of request are open rn.. but could you do a hinata x reader angst? Where hinata walks in on kageyama and y/n in a position where it looks like they were cheating. But in reality it was nothing like that at all! So hinata gets very mad and says really hurtful things to them. Then word gets around school and people start to bully y/n and kags. However hinata doesn’t care. He never stood up for y/n. Then due to bullying going to far y/n loves school. That’s when y/ns best friend yams goes up to hinata and shows him the video where in fact they were not cheating. But it’s too late. Hinat already lost her. Sorry if the request is too long btw!!

Misunderstanding | Hinata Shouyou x Reader

Note: Requests are open 💌 Please be informed here

Masterlist

Warning: Timeskip spoilers

Tagging: @shoyosbitchh (thanks for the request love)

“Do I really have to do this?”

“Yes” you answer as you fix Kageyama’s jersey jacket. 

“What am I gonna do again?” 

“All you have to do is answer my questions. After this segment, I will film you in action with Shoyo. Are we ready, Yama-kun?”

You ask your classmate and the captain of the Karasuno Men’s Volleyball Team, Yamaguchi Tadashi, waiting for his go signal as he was in charge of the camera. You were in your third year in Karasuno High. You are an active member of the journalism club and your specialty is sports writing. You and Hinata have been together since your second year. It all started when you’ve done a coverage of the Karasuno High Men’s Volleyball team ever since the crows were finally taking flight in the Nationals. Pretty much to say you are close with your batchmates involved with the sport which made your job a bit easier. 

You were currently working on a special ad for the team that will be on air in the campus as a way to show support and acknowledgement to the seniors who will be having one last fight --- Yamaguchi Tadashi, Tsukishima Kei, Kageyama Tobio and Hinata Shoyou. In thanks to the manager, you will be also adding a special segment to the woman who’s always been there with the crows, Yachi Hitoka.  

“Camera is rolling in 3..2..1..”

As Yamaguchi gestures for you to start, you have him a small nod and put on your game face on. 

“Hello Karasuno High! The much anticipated Spring Interhigh tournament is fast approaching and our crows will be taking flight once again. With the excitement to the world of volleyball, our players have quite gained quite a few fans. Here I am with the famous King of the Court, the Karasuno Men’s Volleyball Setter, Kageyama Tobio.” 

During the interview segment, things went smoothly due to Kageyama being straightforward with his questions much to your relief. You were glad Yamaguchi was also there to help you. Usually, Yachi is the one who helps you with your journalism when it comes to the team but she had a meeting with Takeda sensei, explaining her absence. 

After the interview, it was time for you to do the final segment which was  getting to film the iconic duo in action. You told Kageyama to change into his volleyball uniform, with the setter obediently following your instruction. 

“Thank you so much for helping me, Yama-kun. Your segment yesterday with Tsukki is great too! I’m very excited to edit it.”

Yamaguchi blushed at your compliment, making him scratch the back of his head in a shy manner. 

“You’re really making it hard for us to graduate, (Y/N)-san. This will be your last feature too, is it not?” 

“Yup” 

Yamaguchi smiles as he saw the gleeful expression on your face. He admired your determination in making the video possible as a tribute to them. Yamaguchi’s sense of determination in leading the team to Nationals has boosted but there was one question bugging in his head.

“(Y/N)-kun, you are a sports writer, right? I don’t recall them doing this extent.”

You stopped what you were doing and looked at Yamaguchi, giving him a sincere smile --- your mind instantly filled with the ray of sunshine that is currently in your life. 

“You don’t know how proud I am on how far you all have come. You five were part of the flightless crows who worked hard to spread its wings again. You were there when people would underestimate the team but you all proved them wrong, along with our seniors who graduated also. We all keep moving forward and now, you are your juniors senpais, helping them keeping the crows to keep flying. Not only that, I am so proud of Shoyo. He’s one of the main reasons why I’m motivated to do this. I’m always here to support Shoyo and to all of you --- no matter where we go after we graduate.”

After your speech, your eyes widened as you Yamaguchi’s eyes were watery and he was sniffling, making you panic a little.

“Y-Yams, are you okay?”

“Don’t look at me, (Y/N)-kun! That was so beautiful- wait I’ll be right back!” says Yamaguchi as he hurriedly went to the nearest bathroom --- not wanting for you to see him bawl his eyes out. With a soft chuckle, you turned around to see Kageyema already in his attire and was now setting up the net. Deciding to help, you went to him and gave him a hand.

“What do you need?”

“Could you hand me that screw over there?”

With a nod, you went to the tool box, grabbing the screws Kageyama.

“Do you think Shoyo will go far with volleyball?”

You ask out of the blue, avoiding eye contact with Kageyama as you just stared at the net. It’s not that you doubt Shoyo’s skills but it is a scary world out there. There will be people who will look down on him for different reasons. You just worry. You care for him so much. You admired how Hinata was able to use the mean comments against him as his motivation for him to improve his skills. His positivity and bubbly personality is contagious. He never fails to make you smile when you’re feeling down. 

As Kageyama finished the net, he gave you a smirk. 

“If that dumbass doesn’t slack, he will. If he does, I’m definitely getting ahead of him.”

A grin made its way on your face. What more could you expect from Hinata’s partner in the court?

As the two of you waited for Hinata and Yamaguchi to come, you and Kageyama had talked a bit about college plans. As the two of you converse, you suddenly noticed something crawling on Kageyama’s jersey shirt. 

“Kageyama-kun, there’s something on your shoulder” you say, pointing at it. At first Kageyama was confused to what you meant but when he finally took a look at it, it was spider --- making his eyes widen and panic, letting out a manly shriek. 

Kageyama was all over the place, jumping and swatting it away --- to the point where he tried to take the shirt off. 

“Kageyama, calm down!”

“It’s on your head!”

“It’s back on your shirt!”

Kageyama felt chills, the hairs on his skin rising as he felt it crawling the back of his neck. The next thing you knew, with Kageyama’s head covered with the shirt that was taken off midway his arms, the setter stumbled onto you, making the both of you fall on the ground with Kageyama on top. Your eyes widen at how close your and Kageyama’s faces are, the setter not able to take in what just happened. 

“Get off!”

“Can you help me put my shirt back on? I-if you don’t mind. My hands are sort of restricted” says Kageyama, pointing out that his arms were trapped in the sleeve holes. You sigh and grabbed the hem of his jersey shirt, attempting to pull it down back but the both of you suddenly heard the gym doors open.

“(Y/N)?!” 

Hearing an all too familiar voice, you quickly shove Kageyama off of you, sitting up from your spot to see Hinata who froze by the gym doors as he stares at you and Kageyama with wide eyes, his heart beating so fast in his chest.

“W-were you cheating on me?!”

“No baby! It was just an accident-”

“An accident?! It looked like you were taking off his shirt! I can’t believe you’re cheating on me with Bakageyama!”

“No, Shoyo! It definitely doesn’t look what it looks like at all!”

“I trusted you, (Y/N)!”

Tears were starting to form in your eyes, getting a bit angry and frustrated that Hinata wasn’t letting you explain your side. Kageyama noticed this and decided to step in --- defending the both of you.

“Boke, Hinata, boke! Why would I even do that to your girlfriend?! Let us explain what happen-”

“No! I’m so hurt, (Y/N)-chan! You’re the first girl ever that made me really happy but this is how you treat me? Is it because I’m not tall enough?! Is this how you repay my loyalty to you? You’re so heartless! You seem so faithful to me but behind my back, you’re a different person.”

“S-Shoyo-”

“Don’t call me that anymore. I don’t want to see you anymore. We’re done.” 

With that, Hinata left the gym, leaving you and Kageyama all alone. You wanted to run after him but you lost your strength and collapsed on the floor, your gaze lingering at the gym doors, tears rolling down your cheeks. 

Kageyama panicked a little, not knowing how to comfort you but he just stood beside you and patted your head as you were hugging your figure, too hurt by Hinata’s words. 

“That dumbass doesn’t know how to listen.”

“What am I gonna do, Kageyama-kun?”

Kageyama glances at you, a frown on his face. He knows how much you care for Hinata. He can’t help but feel frustrated also being in your position. He also felt bad to what just happened. 

“I’m sorry-”

“Don’t apologize, Kageyama. You did nothing wrong. Hinata just misunderstood.” 

“That runt will regret for letting you go. I mean, who else could keep up with him?”

As you wiped your tears, you stood up and grabbed your things, heading towards the gym doors.

“I think we’ll call it a day. I’ll message Yams that our filming is finished. I’ll just ask another sports writer to cover you and Hinata’s segment. I don’t think I can face him for awhile.”

Kageyama frowns as he saw your eyes tearing up again but he just nodded, not wanting to press any buttons even further.

“Okay. Get home safely.”

With a sigh, you left the gym heading home, feeling all too drained and hurt. You can’t believe Hinata was able to say those hurtful words to you. In attempts on calling him while walking home, you let out a frustrated groan as he already blocked your number. 

“Oh Shoyo. It was all just a misunderstanding.” 

Days had passed ever since the incident and break up with Hinata. Word got around fast. You and Kageyama had been the talk of the town as cheaters, making you lose your appetite. People were sending you dirty stares for even daring to cheat on such a pure soul. 

There was one time when you ate at the school cafeteria with Yamaguchi and Tsukishima and a group of girls suddenly went to your table, snickering at you and called you a slut. Between Yamaguchi and Tsukishima, it was Yamaguchi who was full on beast mode, defending you. 

“Don’t waste your time with these fools, Yamaguchi. They just don’t know how to mind their own business” says Tsukishima as he shakes his head in annoyance. You told Yachi, Yamaguchi and Tsukishima the whole thing. Yachi felt really bad at what happened. She was the one also who keeps comforting Hinata. Tsukishima was in charge of breaking apart Kageyama and Hinata whenever the two started to argue, much to his dismay but he just wants the team to be peaceful and focus on their practices and official games. 

Not wanting to eat anymore, you grab your bag and stood up, making Yamaguchi and Tsukishima look at you with worry. 

“Where are you going, (Y/N)-san?” 

“I’m just gonna go get a breather. I’m not that hungry anyway. See you later” you say with a solemn look on your face then left the cafeteria. 

“What are we gonna do, Tsukki?”

“I don’t know. Don’t involve me in their quarrels. It’s tiring.”

Yamaguchi sighs but then he remembers that he left his camera in the gyms while he was in the bathroom. When he returned to the gym, his camera was already battery drained. In hopes to resolve this mess, Yamaguchi checks the contents to see of the camera was still rolling. Much to his relief, it apparently recorded the whole thing. He immediately showed this to Hinata, finally clearing all the misunderstanding.   

Hinata regretted on how he acted. He felt his heart breaking even more. He needs to apologize for his wrong doings but it was too late. The twinkle in your eyes as you see him weren’t there anymore. His words really hurt you and you’ll have a difficult time in trusting him again. The bullying around the school made you feel even more damaged.

You told Hinata its best to cool off from the relationship. You needed space. You need to focus on yourself now. You just wanted to forget the words that come out from his mouth.

It was over.

Hinata Shoyo. You were my sunshine, my only sunshine. You made me happy when skies are gray --- but now, the skies weep with me.

[starlightsearches]

Hux/reader ‘I’ve always loved you all of my life” friends to lovers? No rush btw! Take your time!

Of course, friend! Thanks for this request 🥰

Armitage Hux x GN Reader

Warnings: Angst with a happy ending, mentions of death

Your fingers dig bruises into your skin where they press against your cheeks, but you ignore the pain, determined to stifle any stray noises. Hot tears pour from your eyes over your hand, stinging your skin every time you blink, but you can’t stop, regardless. It’s important to keep your vision clear. It’s important to listen for any sign of the intruders, who will certainly make there way to you at any moment.

There’s no time to mourn your friends now.

The blaster fire stopped a long time ago, but echoes of it still ring your ears so loudly you’re not sure if the footsteps you hear are a hallucination or not—until the door slides open, and you’re no longer alone.

Dead bodies move more than you do in this moment, muscles cramped and aching as you crouch behind the console, waiting for them to leave, waiting for a chance to run. The modulated voices grow louder—practically on top of you now; your lungs scream for one more breath, and you can’t fight the pain anymore.

You choke down a lungful of air between your fingers, and it comes back out as a sob. You know without looking that they’ve found you, and the fierce grip on your arm pulling from the confines of your hiding place confirms it.

It’s been years since you last saw a storm trooper this close, and it’s still not long enough. Like monsters from your nightmares, some of your earliest memories involve the troopers monitoring the halls of your father’s ship, just one sight of their inhuman masks quickens the pace of your heart.

“Don’t shoot,” you raise your arms, shielding your eyes from the blinding light and the stark white of their helmets, “I’m unarmed.”

The troopers—two of them—shift uneasily. Unfortunately, you’re telling the truth. If you had a weapon, they would be dead.

They’re not particularly gentle as they search and cuff you; you don’t expect them to be. Any kindness on there part now would only stoke the emptiness growing inside of you, and you couldn’t let that happen. You didn’t need kindness, you needed hope. And if you couldn’t have that, you’d get by just as well on fury.

You sit with your simmering anger, hardly listening as the troopers speak to each other in low whispers. You catch the most important parts: someone is coming, they’re looking for information, you’ll be the one to give it to them.

Not likely.

They’ve got you in their grasps, one at each elbow, but you ignore the feeling, planting your feet more firmly. Your breathing is hard and fast, lungs heaving in preparation. You’d do whatever it takes—fight, kick, scream, spit. You’d make them regret everything the moment they set eyes on you.

The door opens; you take one last chance to steel yourself. The troopers both salute their commander with their free hands.

When you look up from the ground, your heart stops, the fight gone from your body.

It’s him. The one person you couldn’t save.

Your stomach rolls, legs shaking—you feel like you might be sick. Time had been kind, blurring the startling detail of his features to a dull ache, but it’s all back now, twice as painful than it was before. That final goodbye plays through your mind, his features pained, the way his voice cracked as he begged you not to leave him. It was the first and only time you had seen him cry.

“Armitage,” his name falls from your lips in a pain-laden whisper, just as it did when you told him goodbye. His eyes flash with the same hurt—a fresh wound on an old scar.

Whatever passes between you stays there; the troopers stand at attention, waiting for their orders, and neither seem to notice that the world has been thrown out of orbit.

“We’ve apprehended this prisoner, sir. Should we stay for the interrogation?”

“Leave us,” his voice is strained, but the troopers do as he says. You’re alone with him for the first time since the last time.

He pauses, letting the silence linger. You keep your mouth shut.

“Did they hurt you?” His tone catches you off guard—certainly not warm, but softer than you had expected. It’s at odds with everything else about him, and everything that you had come to expect.

“No.”They had, of course. Your arms are still aching, probably bruised. And then there’s your friends to consider; probably bleeding out in the hallway.

But you don’t want to think about that.

“I-”

“I’m not telling you anything, so don’t bother asking. I’ll die first.” You sound braver than you feel, even with the way your legs shake. Was he willing to hurt you to get what he wanted?

“I’m not going to kill you,” he’s offended that you would even suggest it, features twisted in disgust before he smooths them over, and then there’s a pregnant pause, “it’s been a long time since we last spoke.”

“No shit. Forgive me if I don’t have much interest in playing catch up.” Your nerves are at a fever pitch, waiting for something to happen, but there’s nothing in the silence.

You had thought about seeing him again, before. Waited for the day he would find you, bruised and beaten but alive, and he’d try to apologize but you wouldn’t let him say anything. You’d pull him into your arms and he’d feel more like home to you than any base or star destroyer ever had. 

It’s been a long time since you thought that way. You never meant to give up on him, but given the way things turned out, maybe you already had. Maybe you gave up on him the moment you decided to leave.

“Your father died, a few months after you left,” he paces, orbiting around you, with a fabricated indifference, but you feel the weight of his gaze, measuring the tension in your shoulders, the surprise that registers when you hear the news. He comes around back to the front, closer than before, close enough that you can see the secrets in his eyes.

“Good, and yours?” Your thoughts are a mess—flashes of memories punctuated by blind rage. Bruises staining his skin like paint, his blood smeared on your fingers while you stilled the tremors in his shoulders with your own shaking hands. After all those years, thinking about Brendol still makes you want to scream.

“He died as well, not long after.” You hope it was painful, that he suffered.

“It wouldn’t have brought me back, even if I had known,” it feels like a cruel truth, and you see the way it stings him, but it has to be said. You had never regretted leaving the First Order. You only regretted leaving him.

He nods, eyes flashing away from you, glassy tears catching the light before he blinks them away. 

“So what happens now?”

He pulls the hem of his greatcoat back, reaching for the blaster on his hip, and you flinch before you can stop yourself. He keeps his eyes on you as he rotates it in his palm, extending it towards you, waiting for you to take it.

“You’ll need to hit me, hard enough to bruise. There are fewer guards on the eastern exit, if you make your way into the forest they won’t—”

“I’m not just going to run away.” Not without you. Not again. You push the blaster away, with both hands, and he flinches away from your touch, brows furrowed and eyes pained.

“Please,” he says pushing the weapon towards you again, ignoring your refusal, “I need to know that you’re safe, and that means you have to leave. I can’t guarantee your safety if you’re taken captive—”

“Then come with me.” You know by the way that he freezes that the suggestion floors him, but you refuse to budge, holding his wrist, keeping him close to you even though you feel him pulling away.

“You don’t— you can’t mean that,” years of pain line his face—hurt, rejection, the grief that comes with consistently being measured and never being enough.

“I do. Leaving without you was . . . I can’t do it again, come with me, or take me with you,” you plant your feet, determined. “I’m not going to lose you again.”

You tug at his wrist, turning to go, but he plants his feet, turning you back to face him, closer than before. His fingers trace over your cheek, the leather of his gloves cool against your skin. It’s been too long since he’s touched you like this. You’re surprised it’s just as you remember.

“I have always loved you, all of my life,” his gaze traces your features, years of lost love captured in the fractured green of his eyes. You’d stay like this if you could, caught up in the truth of him. No more mourning, no more lost love.

You’d spent too many years waiting for a chance to save him. You never expected that he’d be the one to save you.

[llvr-92]

DGM Pairing - LaviLena - Part 2

it takes so much time but here is the second part of why Lavi deserves Lenalee the most & why I think Hoshino sensei setting them up as a couple, I hope you enjoy this post. also, you can find part1 under LaviLena tag in my blog:                     

Part2:Noah's Ark Arc:

· So we started this arc with Lenalee getting sucked by Lero into the “Noah’s Ark”, as everyone falls on top of her she was unconscious the first person to go to her & pick her-up is Lavi, just look how he is protectively\closely holding her. (CH90- EP76).

· As they were fighting Debito & Jedero, Lavi told Allen to protect Lenalee and the other “Chouji” until he found the real key (CH100 – EP82).

· After that the crew leaves Krory behind Lenalee wanted to go back to him, Allen stopped her & kind of share a cute Allena moment but Lavi has to ruin it for them, Lavi is probably jealous of how Allen is holding her & how close his face to Lena face isn’t he?. (CH105-EP83).

· Allen was helping Lenalee to climb the stair he is holding her hand and then Lavi commented that “he wants to switch place with Allen”, Allen reply was “your real motivate is so obvious Lavi, he just wants to hold Lenalee’s hand”, After Lenalee letting her thought out loud, Lavi teased her about never finding a lover if she “didn’t think more sexy thought”, which makes her angry & replied to him “its none of your business Lavi” & Lavi’s answer was “it’s none of my business but…”, Lavi seems so lost to put any other word as he was also blushing & frustrated so he had to change the subject, from the way Hoshino sensei drew this scene I think it will return in the future arc you can see Lenalee noticing Lavi blushing toward her in the below right panel with a “?”, maybe she will have a flashback related to this scene in the future. (CH110 – EP84).

· After receiving the bad news about Kanda & Krory, Lenalee was terrified\worried but Lavi reaches out to her squeezed her hand & told her to get a hold of herself, at this point “I love how Lavi knows her personality & how will she react then he just act accordingly to comfort her. (CH111-EP85).

· Lenalee & Chouji are Locked-up, Lavi is the one to fight to free these two & manly to free Lenalee you can see Lenalee apologizing for Lavi as this fight is on away for her sake. (CH112).

· Lavi is shifted into Road dream world, but what Road exactly used to prepare the worst opponent for Lavi, worst dream by reading his record & peering into his memory, his opponent was his former self “Deak” & an interesting conversation started between the two\bookman, this is the important dialogue stated between the two:

· Deak to Lavi “the place of your heart doesn’t exist in this world, no matter whose heart let you in you can only watch them that’s is your punishment”, after this dialogue Lavi reply “I already know that” which is incorrect he doesn’t know as Deak answered him I wonder? Then it just happens that Lenalee appears in the next panel with this text “your eyes of the past were never lit with that weak light” as if it indicated that “Lenalee is currently Lavi’s light” (CH114-EP86).

§  But let's not forget Road real purpose is to break him mentally & for that she used Lenalee by sending her inside a coffin knowing how Lavi will react, perhaps after reading Lavi memories/record she discovers Lavi feelings for Lenalee which at this point “Lavi himself still doesn’t know his feeling yet”.

§  After he saw Lenalee he jumped & rushed to her side & he holds her closely “just take a look at how Hoshino sensei drew Lavi facial expression, how much he is so terrified”, also didn’t Lavi said a while ago this is just a dream/an illusion created by Road Kamelot yet he reacted this way toward a fake Lenalee “Lavi just can’t think rationally when it’s involving Lena” (CH114-EP86).

·  We had a flashback when Lavi first joined the order & his first meeting with Lenalee, again Hoshino-sensei choice for drawing Lavilena encounter is too beautiful, first, she gives us an overall view from the top just to showcase “there are a lot of people on the area”, but Lavi’s eyes set on Lenalee & on the same time Lenalee look at him while crying. “it’s like this is a girl & a boy encounter by fate, Lavi was so far away, yet they look at each other in the same time.

also regarding his encounter with Lenalee I believe it’s related to an answer which Lavi provided in the discussion room here is the question “Does Lavi have a thing for a cute girl with big breast” Allen answered “he’s a menace”, where Lavi had to stop him and answered “Hey, hold on! People think I only care about looks, but I'm pretty picky about personality too, “sometimes you see a girl and it just hit you” & just after this question Lavi stated that he is interested in Lenalee. 

We also seen Lenalee sitting beside him in the cafeteria, she looks comfortable with him even though he is a newbie she even pats his back.

· After breaking Lavi mentally Deak takes over his body, a fight started with Allen, Lavi was ruthless & powerful as the last hope Allen used “Lenalee is crying” hoping to influence Lavi emotionally & bring him to his sense, but why “Allen used Lenalee name, perhaps he knows that Lavi has a feeling for her, he is weak against her tears? “I will write about this in part 3”, anyway instead of influencing Lavi positively, it seems that “Lenalee name triggered him to punch Allen even harder, “just look at Deak gaze when Allen mentioned Lena name”.

why he seems pissed? This is just an assumption but “as Deak is the one taking over, he was furious because the reason why Lavi is changing is Lenalee, he knows Lavi is falling for her isn’t he? otherwise why using Lenalee as the main person to break his heart on Road dream, why Lenalee is one to appear in the flashback, why he is trying so hard to convince Lavi “she is nothing more than a small piece of history?”, falling for her will interfere with Lavi recording as he stated while Lavi’s holding Lenalee “don’t let your heart distract you & interfere with your record”, meaning whatever Bookman clan trying to achieve is at risk as we saw “Lavi breaking his bookman role multiple time for Lenalee sake on the previous arc, this arc & the upcoming arc as well.

·  Then Road stated something important I do think this will also be used on Lavi’s arc “if we ever reach there hopefully” once he becomes the bookman, which is “bookman are just onlookers for the sake of his record, he just walked alongside you guy” “those are that kid’s true feeling, you notice that Hoshino sensei put the text on Lenalee panel, even the anime version when Road said those words the frames were on Lenalee”

first, you see how these words affected Lenalee just look at how Hoshino-sensei draws Lenalee eyes she looks broken/desperate “Perhaps for the first time Lenalee was terrified from Lavi as a person”. after Lavi burned himself, Lenalee was also desperately hitting her leg wanting to save Lavi but unfortunately she didn’t have her innocence, once Allen & Lavi are out from the petrified fire she goes to “Lavi first”, instead of sharing a touchy moment, she gives him her Iron fist of love, but why Lenalee punch him in the first place I know Lavi was reckless, but it’s the same for Allen he was reckless against Tiki he didn’t get a punch, you may call me a biased but “Lenalee punching Lavi seems an act a girlfriend will do when the boyfriend had done risky thing & it’s a different vibe from when she hits Allen in the next chapter ”.

· Lavi lent his coat to Lenalee as she was revealing to much skin, just look how cute she is on Lavi’s coat, also isn’t Lavi acting like he is the perfect boyfriend, not to forget he showed a proactive side toward Lenalee being in a room with the womanizer Cross he had to rush to her with the other boys. “Lenalee are you sure he didn’t do anything to you?”

·  Personally, this arc was my favorite because I got attached to Lavi’s background & his suffering, I also know on this Arc that Lavi is hopelessly in love with Lenalee & not to mention through the years Lavi changed his name 48 times and all the previous persona are the same but Lavi differ before he was disappointed on the human race, didn’t get attached to anyone, he was only concentrating on recording, but all that changes once he encounters Lenalee, Lenalee changed him, did Lenalee changes Allen persona in any way? I don’t think so, we all know what motivates Allen it’s his promise to mana, so I do hope she gives Lavi a chance, but also Hoshino sensei put some elements which make this ship Impossible to Happen, which make me ship them more  T_T.

· I will be happy to receive any feedback positive or negative are all welcomed, BTW Part three is already finished I just need to do the final revision, but I haven’ really thought that it would be the longest one ^_^, what you all think shall I tried to delete some part or keep it long as it’s, I mean I have put extra thing such as why I support this ship, what I hate about it, my point of view about Hoshino sensei writing, an example from different Manga related to couple-endgame…..ETC.

[thecanadianowl]

Batman: Death in the Family Review (SPOILERS)

 This is going to be long.

I originally had no interest in watching this mainly because it's based off a story where its only significance is Jason's death. The thing that won me over was the "choose your adventure" type which is an interesting style to do for this particular event. The three main selections are Jason cheats death, Robin dies and Batman saves Robin. Of those 3, only 1 of them was the most interesting. But before I do that, let me go over why the other 2 were disappointing.

 Robin dies choice is basically a rehash of the Under the Red Hood animated movie only its shortened and narrated by Bruce as he is speaking to Clark Kent at a diner. All it is a repeat of shit we knew. Bruce blames himself for the path he set Jason on and Clark giving a hopeful message of finding Jason. All this choice does is add an extended ending.

Robin cheats death one puts Jason having gone through surgery, having his skin grafted and stitched up from the explosion. The trauma and pain has Jason resent Bruce for the life he been put into and basically becomes Hush. He goes after criminals (btw decapitating Nygma, waay too much) which gets the attention of of Talia Al Ghul where she proposes an alliance with Jason while also taking in baby Damian under his tutelage. The problem isnt the story itself bit that it had so much potential. Seriously it could have been Batman:Hush as well as seeing where this conflict between Bruce and Jason will end now that Talia and Damian are in the equation. Btw Talia fans, this is probably the only ending with the character you are gonna like.

Batman saves Robin okay this is the one with multiple choices involved and goes down interesting paths for some of them. So Batman saves Robin but in doing so, he dies and Robin lives, and Nightwing becomes Batman (cool I guess, too bad they never gave him any dialogue). The first choice given is whether Jason chases/arrests the Joker or Kills him.

Kill Joker option where Jason is at a Diner and talks with this stranger who is revealed to be Joker who is now given up being the Joker because “his” Batman is gone. He recites the ‘2 inmates escape an asylum’ joke that he said in the Killing Joke allowing for Jason to put it together and kill him right there in front of 2 cops who are also in the diner.Immediately after you are given the choice to turn yourself in or run. The run option is the one that matters because Jason becomes Red Robin and begins his killing spree. Which Btw is just recycled footage they used in the Robin cheats death option just with the Red Robin edited over Hush. Really? Was budget that low? But what makes this ending good is that RR is later pinned down by Two Face and given the clean/scratched coin option, Jason is saved by Tim Drake (with a taser) and is reminded of Batman’s code and its importance not only to himself but to the people of Gotham. In doing so Jason stops killing and takes Tim in as a sidekick: BatKid. Seriously, that is the name you chose? Why not have Jason be Nightwing (which he was for short while, albeit to ruin Dick’s reputation) and Tim be Robin? Batkid :Great name for a kid’s Make-A -Wish dream, not so great if you want to use it in more serious context . This is one of the better endings as Jason becomes a better person in the end and the type of hero Bruce would have wanted but at the same time shows that Jason’s past habits were hard to get rid of especially with his father gone.

Arrest Joker has Jason become Redhood to lure Joker out in public. When he does that and unveils his true identity to him, the Joker brags about how he created him and how his rage has lead him down a murderous path, reinforcing the jokers belief of "one bad day". The next decision to be made is whether Jason should kill Joker or not. This decision ultimately has no impact as both decision lead to the same concluding decision set. I chose to kill him because let's be honestly this the path set by Jason really compliments the 2 choice options you have to make in the final one. Where Jason is confronted by Talia with a resurrected Batman who only says “Zur-en-arrh” trying to get Jason to join them but later results in a fight.

Okay there is a lot to unpack here. First: Did Grant Morrison write this? I’m asking because of how he has written Talia during his run on Batman (and how it upsets a lot of fans). You would think Talia knowing first hand what the effects of the Lazarus pit are, would she actually risk it turning the man she loves into a husk of his former self? Yes she would want Bruce to join her on their crusade against the corruption of the modern world but not if it meant Bruce wasn’t in a rational state of mind. Secondly, of all the possible Batman personas/iterations why this one?

I know they give some sort of reason near the end, but it just seemed so out of nowhere. Maybe I am looking too much into this, but if they were going to go this route, I feel like it would have been cooler to see Bruce in the Knightfall suit or have him wear a similar Batsuit that Damian wore in Batman 666.

And thirdly, you would think a fight between Jason and Bruce (where the roles are reversed, sorta) would be the most epic shit ever, but it doesn’t even last a minute it ends with either Bruce getting stabbed or knocked out (depending on which you choose). Before I go with why I think letting Bruce live is the better ending, I would like to say that when Jason kills him, Bruce sets off a bomb killing all three of them and the final shot  of Jason’s corpse is very reminiscence of that comic cover of Jason caught in the explosion. I thought it was cool.

Now the reason why, I liked the save ending (and find it to be the definitive ending for this movie)   is that Jason gives up being Redhood and works with Babs, Dick and Alfred in helping Bruce gain back his sanity.  This  ending encompasses all that was needed for Jason’s arc from becoming Redhood, to killing Joker, to his realization how wrong his methods were to being part of the Batfamily again and finally to save his father. It encompasses the idea that being Batman is more than just pain and suffering, its about hope and being able to become a better person, that your pain/anger doesn’t define who you are/can be.

Overall, I feel that this movie is a disappointing as both a prequel/sequel to Under the Red Hood. Unless you are a huge fan of Jason Todd, wait for a sale or when they release this in a collection with their other movies. The letdown for me is that certain choices have better writing than others and supporting characters aren’t used to their full potential. That being said, the idea of having different choices and giving the audience the chance to explore each of them. I hope they do this with other pivotal moments in DC’s history.

Also do the writers hate Black Mask? I get he isn’t the most popular Bat-villain but damn Sionis gets the short end of the stick in every timeline especially in the first ending of Robin Cheating death, it was so ridiculous that it is borderline hilarious

[bxthharmon]

Never Go Home Again, Pt. XII || JJ Maybank x Reader

Words: 3130

Series Warnings: violence / talking about abuse / toxic relationships / talking about nudes sex and sex tapes / drugs / underage drinking

Pt. Warnings: Guns / blood and violence

Series Summary: A new girl, a shoebox of old memories, a past she’s trying to forget coincide with a hotheaded, but selfless, boy.  teenagers getting in way over their heads

Pt. Summary: Chaos catches up, causing trouble for everyone involved

A/N: sorry for the slow updates, but with the event (tysm btw ily) i’ve been busy. i have a few more requests, and i promise im getting to them. anyway! feels weird, only 2 or 3 parts left. tysm for all this support <3

Chapters linked in my masterlist.

“masterlist”

JJ woke up before you. His face felt stiff from the tears he’d shed the night before, and the corners of his eyes were filled with sleep. He rubbed his eyes, phosphenes decorating his mind as he pulled them open. The window was wide open, curtains fluttering in the light breeze and the sun decorating the room with a natural glow. He became aware of the towel thrown over the dresser and the wet clothes hanging in the window sill, the memories of last night returning. He looked down at you.

You were curled up, one of his tops and a pair of his joggers covering your body as you gripped his arm lightly in your sleep. He blinked, admiring the lock of hair falling over your face, the curve of your lashes and the relaxed smile that adorned your sleeping frame. He brushed the hair out of your face and let it fall. He realised that he was in deep. Somewhere across the room, the ping of a phone notification pulled him from his thoughts. He looked up, seeing the bluish light coming from the floor on the other side of the room. He slid his arm from your hold, careful not to wake you as you unconsciously pulled the pillow into your grip instead. He rose from the bed, careful not to let the bed creak as he left you. He padded across the room, picking up the phone from the wooden floorboards.

The phone awoke as he lifted it, a series of fresh messages lining up under the time. 

Tyler: hey

Tyler: ik i fucked up with us, but i cant stop thinking abt seeing u when u visited

Tyler: can we try again?

Tyler: ik u said u were seeing someone and dont wanna fuck it up, but i still love u

Tyler: let me know. I miss u

He almost choked, heart beating in his ears as he looked back to your sleeping frame, rising and falling with oblivious breaths. He looked back at the phone, placing it on the dresser softly. He left the room, clicking the door shut as softly as he could, and making his way to the kitchen. He rinsed a mug and put the kettle on, rummaging through the cupboards for the instant coffee granules. He pulled the silver pot from the shelf, peeling the cap off and tapping it on the side of the mug so the granules tumbled in, the dark brown contrasting the light ceramic. He poured the contents of the boiling kettle in, watching the hot water consume the granules and turn brown. He stirred and sipped, hissing as it burnt his tongue. He never had the patience to wait for it to cool down.

He studied the cupboards again, finding no edible food, not trusting the bread after his previous experience. He sipped the coffee again, allowing himself to look back at the closed bedroom door. He wanted to know what happened when you went back, but knew he wouldn’t like the answer. After last night, he knew Tyler was an asshole, and wanted more than anything to fly to California and punch him in the face, but couldn’t understand the text. Thoughts were flashing through his head, ideas rushing to his head. He wondered if he should ask, or leave it and wait for you to tell him. He knew you had no obligation to him, but he also knew that you two had something going on. Whatever that something was. He sighed. 

He thought about how he felt when he saw you smile, how much he’d spiralled after your argument, how vulnerable he was around you. It hit him suddenly, an epiphany that took all his air away but made him feel alive, made him feel broken and brilliant all in one moment. He loved you.

Down the hall, on the other side of the door, he heard the bed creak. There was a pause, and then he heard the floorboards moan. Another minute, and he heard the ping of your phone notification. There was another pause, then the door opened and you stood in front of him, hair tousled by sleep and eyes fresh. You smiled at him, reaching out and pulling him in, kissing his temple and stepping away to make your own coffee. His heart pulled, not letting him push you away and reaching out as you left his arms, but not wanting it because of those stupid texts. In that moment, he fights his impulse and decides to wait for you to tell him. Would you tell him?

He draws his attention to you, hopping back onto the counter next to you. He watched you, enamored with the way you moved, the way you brush against him, the way you seem so carefree in the moment. He wants to kiss you, but he knows he won’t until he knows what’s going on. 

Faster than he wants to admit, you’ve finished your coffees and Kie and Pope are awake, moving about after leaving their slumber on the pullout couch, and then setting up the pulley for the well. Your mood changes when they’re up. You’re more talkative, brushing over any mention of the night before, helping when you can. You look back at him a couple of times, and each time his heart flutters.

You can feel blisters working on your skin as you help Pope with the winch, the rope burning at your skin in the force of the friction, but you don’t pay it any mind. You finish with the mechanism, stepping away and sitting down next to JJ, passing some witty banter with Kie, and opening a bottle of beer, the cool glass soothing the hot skin on your palms.

“What does it feel like?” Pope asked, watching Kie as she sat in the can hanging from the pulley.

“Feels good.” she confirms, pulling the rope slightly.

“John B’s pulling a Houdini.” JJ stated, putting his own beer down.

“Yeah, where is he?” you asked.

“I got my scholarship interview in the morning.” Pope reminded, “We gotta get this done.”

“Speak of the devil!” JJ grinned as John B strode past you all without so much as a ‘hello’. “Hey! Dude, I put up the entire winch to pull up the gold and everything.”

“No he did not.” You laughed.

“We did that.” Pope said, gesturing between you.

John B ignored you, and Kie called after him as he entered the Chateau. “Okay, that’s it?” you muttered.

“What’s that all about?” Pope asked, walking to you and JJ.

“I was gonna ask you the same question.” JJ said, you and him getting off the hot tub and following him into the Chateau. When you entered, John B was pulling the house apart, searching.

“You alright, man?” Pope asked, “What’s up?”

“What are you looking for?” Kie added.

“Bro, what’s going on, man?” JJ asked, following him as he pulled the gun from under the cushioning on the sofa.

“John B, what do you need the gun for?” You and JJ stepped forwards, both reaching to take the weapon. John B grabbed your shoulders, pushing you over and shoving past JJ as you all yelled for him to chill and talk to you. Pope tried to block his exit.

“What are you, JJ, now?” Pope asked as you and Kie yelled for him to calm down. John B pushed Pope back into the table as you followed him out, asking for him to explain, or calm down. You ran down the steps, the others close behind. He mounted the dirt bike, looking back at the four of you.

“John B, what the hell?” Kie yelled.

“Ward knows about the gold.” John B spoke for the first time. “He killed my dad.”

You ran as far as the dirt track, watching the bike disappear as JJ swore.

--

“What now, we just go up to the front door and ask, ‘Hey, have you seen John B’?”

The night felt dark, cold, and your boat felt fragile next to the stupidly big boat across the pontoon from you. The shape of the Cameron house was huge and adorned with golden windows on the other side of the lawn.

“Look, he lives in Tannyhill now, it’s plausible.” Kie reasoned, but you could tell she was just grabbing at loose ends. “We can play dumb.”

“Play dumb?” you frowned.

“It’s pretty late.” Pope added.

“Look, I’ve never seen John B like that. We should honestly be going to the cops.” Kie countered.

“The cops? And say what, Kie?” you almost laughed, “‘We’re worried about our friend because he’s going off on a rampage because Ward Cameron killed Big John’? They’re not gonna believe us!”

“Hey, I see Ward.” Pope interrupted you, binoculars up as he watched the house. Kie took the binoculars, checking for herself. “Doesn’t look dead to me, let’s go home.”

“What?” Kie turned, shocked and offended.

“Uh, okay. Obviously Mr Cameron is fine, and even if John B was here, he isn’t now, okay? Plus, I have the biggest, most important moment of my life in six hours.”

“Yeah, well our friend is in trouble.”

“I’m in trouble! Guys, I haven’t been home in three days! My dad’s probably put all my shit on the street by now.”

“Okay, so that’s it? In a time of need you’re just gonna bail? You’re just gonna walk away?”

“Okay, yo, guys.” You spoke from the other side of the boat, “Can we not do this right now?”

“Hey, I have a scholarship interview in the morning.” Pope reminded Kie.

“Okay, well what about John B?” Kie asked.

“Why is it always about John B?” Pope questioned, and you sighed, looking away as Kie looked around, caught off guard.

“It’s not always about John B. You’re so stupid! It would be any of you in this situation.”

“Bullshit!”

“Guys.” JJ tried to stop them.

“This is about friendship!” Kie powered on.

“Bring it down.” said JJ.

“This is about pogues for life!”

“What about forensic pathology, huh?” countered Pope.

“Forensic pathology?” Kie scoffed.

“It’s my life! It’s everything I’ve worked for!”

“That’s your priority?”

“Would you stop with the moral high ground bullshit?”

“Pope, come on.” you cut in.

“No.” he rejected, “No, no. She has no room to talk.” You looked down, knowing you didn’t either. “Where were you when Big John went missing? You weren’t there. You weren’t there for John B. You weren’t there for any of us! Remember your kook year?”

“Dude.” JJ tried, again, to stop the argument.

“Yeah, you forgot about us. Now you feel guilty.”

“Give me a break.” She pushed him, and he staggered but held his ground, you and JJ were up within seconds. “Is that what you need? You need a break? Move!”

You and JJ pulled them away from each other, shouting for them to stop, to cut it out. You held Kie’s shoulders, the both of you breathing heavily. She stared straight ahead, holding eye contact with Pope as JJ looked between them.

“If I’m the one mediating, we’ve hit rock bottom.” JJ sighed. You dropped your hands from Kie’s shoulders. She sat down as you sent Pope to the bow of the ship, sitting down as well.

“Pope, we’ll drop you off.” You said, JJ steering the boat. 

--

You sat, facing away from the group, water washing around your ankles, arms propped up on the wood as you stared at your phone. You were aware of the conversation - the gold was gone - but you weren’t really listening, or paying attention. Your mind was plagued with worries that felt trivial compared with what was going on, but still felt like the world would implode if you didn’t sort them.

Tyler was rejecting your refusals, insisting you humour him. You turned around briefly to look at JJ, who was watching you. You wondered if he had worked out that you’d slept with Tyler, even though you hadn’t mentioned it. But, of course, you hadn’t mentioned it - he couldn’t know.

You broke from your thoughts as Pope came blundering down the path. “Guys!” he halted when he reached you, and you picked your legs up, swinging around to face the group. “Oh, God, I ran all the way here.”

“How was the interview?” you asked.

“Don’t ask.”

“Promising.”

“JB, look, I’m sorry dude. About everything.”

“It’s fine.” John B disregarded.

“But - but I don’t have a lot of time, and I have information that is tactically relevant. So, before I had my interview, my dad said he was going down to the private airstrip to cut palms for Cameron’s big plane. Because it was too heavy, it needed a longer landing strip to take off. So, I’m there sitting in my interview, thinking to myself, ‘Hm, why would Cameron need a longer airstrip to take off? What could be so heavy to weigh it down?’”

“Gold.” JJ turned.

“That’s right.” John B confirmed.

“Exactly! Guys, this is our chance, but it leaves tonight, and we have to go.”

“We can’t give up now.” Kie smiled, jumping down from where she was balanced.

“What’s the plan, big man?” JJ asked.

“We’re gonna steal that shit back.” John B stated.

You smiled, this was going to be a shit show.

--

“We go in there, guns-a-blazin’, make Ward Cameron beg for mercy, abscond with as much gold as possible, and vámanos, get the hell out of there.” JJ summed up.

“Send that shit right down the intracoastal.” John B added.

“Wait for the weather.” Kie reminded.

“Exit to Cuba.” Pope finalised.

“Cuba?” JJ sounded offended at the idea, “No, man, Xcalak, the jewel of the Yucatan. Lobsters so thick, mangoes, no word for money.”

“I like the sound of that,” you hummed, sitting up from where you lay across the back seats, “Let’s do this shit.”

The VW rattled on for a few hundred feet, John B curving into a break in the thicket, the lot of you leaping out of the car to a wire fence.

“What’s the plan?” Kie asked. “Broad strokes.”

“I don’t think we got that far.” John B admitted, Pope pulled out his binoculars.

“They’re loading up the gold.” Pope pointed out. 

John B took the binoculars, watching the scene before him. You were all pressed up to the wire fence, and you could see a car rolling up to the plane. You watched the figures exit, faintly recognisable without the binoculars. John B lowered the black instrument, Kie asking him what was going on.

“It’s Sarah.” 

You looked back at the plane. They played out like a scene in a play, little figurines moving around, until Sarah was being dragged onto the plane by the shape that must have been her father. John B disappeared from your side as the engine began to whir, loud enough to be audible from your spot behind the fence. Behind you, a car door slammed, and you shouted for your friend as he started the engine, forcing all of you to step back as he smashed through the gate, JJ’s “Don’t be a hero!” resounding in the air.

Still shouting, the four of you ran through the gap as he accelerated towards the moving plane, your shouts fracturing the air. Upon the realisation that whatever stupid, reckless thing John B was doing couldn’t be stopped, you waited in baited breath. You watched the van swerve in the plane’s path, the screech of the brakes reaching your ears. You heard and watched the second squeal as the plane halted, barely feet away from the pogue.

Somewhere in the distance, you heard the sirens.

“Guys, I can’t get arrested.” Pope spoke, breaking the shocked silence you had been standing in.

“I’m on probation.” JJ added. 

“We’re no good if we’re all in jail.” Kie confirmed, and you turned to the three of them.

“You serious?” you almost laughed.

“Y/N,” JJ started.

“Go, if you have to.” You nodded, “I’ll step in if he needs me, God knows what’ll happen.”

Kie and Pope nodded,setting off, but JJ stood. “You can’t-”

“JJ, you said yourself - you’re on probation. But they don’t know I’m here, I’ll be fine.” You smiled, stronger than you felt, “Go.”

He followed your friends, and you stepped back into the trees, the sick feeling in your stomach foreboding a turn of events. The blue and white police car was racing down the runway, and you could almost feel the panic in your friends.

You saw the Sheriff get out, and the exchange that led to Ward’s arrest. You watched her get him on the floor, gun pointed at his face, you heard a bang.

The scene froze for a second, but suddenly time sped up, the Sheriff collapsed, and there was another figure. The gun was pointed at John B. You felt yourself move forwards, but the figures were moving - Sarah’s crumpling onto the floor, Ward standing, John B’s moving to help Sheriff Peterkin. You watched Ward and the new figure. Fuck it.

“John B!” you screamed, and he looked up. He was sprinting towards you as the three Cameron’s started fighting. You jogged, the pair of you breaking into a sprint as you got to the woods, fighting your way through the thicket as more sirens joined the melee. Shots were fired, but they sounded numb to your racing mind. He was slightly ahead of you, faded hoodie flashing as you both ran flat out. Before you registered the road, the horn was honking and John B was rolling over the bonnet of a car. You grabbed his shoulders, pulling him up, the pair of you running as the driver shouted for you.

You needed to find the others.

You ran for a while, slowing to a walk as you discussed where the others would be. The junkyard, you thought.

After five minutes, you stopped, forcing him to prove to you that the blood on his arms was only Peterkin’s, and that he wasn’t injured.

Somewhere above you, there was a plane. 

You were walking slowly now, approaching the junkyard. You felt numb, knowing that everything was completely different now. You turned the corner, seeing the three other pogues gathered, Pope taking a hit from JJ’s juul. Weird.

They ran to you, seeing the blood in John B’s hands and your shirt (from your attempts to check his injuries) and immediately began to panic, giving you once overs.

“Who’s blood is that?”

You all ducked behind the clutter to avoid the approaching sirens, allowing yourself a moment to breathe. You glanced at the blonde boy next to you, but as you went to speak, he turned away harshly. What the fuck?

Tags: @tangledinsparkles​ @jellyfishbeansontoast​ @lolitstiana​ @ilikealotofpeople-younotsomuch​ @teamnick​ @thoughtsofthestars​ @obxmxybxnk​ @jjmaybankswife​ @kaelyn-lobrutto24​ @sxcretinhuman​ @alexa-playafricabytoto​ @angvelics​ @badwolf00593​ @coloradogirl07​ @mendesmaybank​ @jiaraendgame​ @5am-cigarette​ @emerald-xcd​ @haharudy​

[hahaedgyman]

Dreamtale: Mirrored Fates

(Note: While this is a Dreamswap-Esc AU, I didn't call it Dreamswap since two AUs with a name like that already exist.)

(Other note: The Spirit of The Tree here is Male, Because Swap. I just thought that'd be a nice touch.)

This is essentially an AU I made based on Dreamswap and SwapDream respectively.

Essentially, it started the same as Dreamtale. However, Dream saw the bullying. He saw his brother constantly being abused, and tried to stop them. Little changed, and he saw how manipulative and dark the people were acting. How apathetic they were to suffering, and after a long time, he began to become apathetic himself. He developed Sociopathy.

Now, don't be hasty. He isn't just immediately a villain. He was still friends with Nightmare, and eventually, Nightmare was able to convince the bullies to stop, and even befriended them. (Insert Deltarune Sans Joke here.) However, one day, the wise old man told a prophecy. Of a final battle of The forces of good and evil. Whilst he rarely told of the future, everything he told ended up being true. Minor or Major.

Sage as he was, he often avoided being vague. He however, created a prophecy. A Hero would rise up, and defeat Darkness once and for all. What form would Darkness take? He was rather unclear. Darkness represented evil, and then he said of the hero that he was a humble man, and not only any man or monster, but an emotional guardian. Now, this reached Dream's ears. Given The Man's often Accuracy when it came to prophecies, Dream of course was rather full of himself. Of course it would be him! Nightmare was Negativity, Evil, and Darkness. Dream would rise up and stop him, and what a fantastic tale it would be!

Dream thought of course, any alternative was impossible. While the evil may not be his brother, he knew he was obviously the hero of the prophecy. He began to get annoyed. Nightmare began to be warmed up to by the people of the village, after they had accepted him. Dream found this unfounded, and declared it openly. Of course, due to his vanity, the villagers grew annoyed, and began throwing objects and insults at him. Dream, enraged, walked over to the tree of feelings, grabbing a negativity apple.

(Btw here, The Apples don't change when touched. They just hurt, kind of like Dream's positivity arrows hurt Nightmare, rather than just being negativity'd.)

Then Dream ate it, declaring that he was an incorruptible spirit. The people of the villagers backed up in fear, afraid of what would happen. Dream however, began to feel pain and suffering. Dream refused defeat, and noticing their fear, staggered up. "See? I am not corrupt!" He declared. The villagers backed up once more, as Dream sat there, waiting for admiration. His face turned to grimace. "Fine, I shall show again then!" He said, as he ate another negativity apple, and another, and another. He became to weak, as he tried to reach for the last negativity apple, only to fall frail, as his body began to melt and dust from all this negative energy. Nightmare, in fear of his brother's death, quickly grabbed a positive apple, giving it to Dream. Dream ate it, and it gave him his strength back. But more than before.

Dream had a taste of power, and he wanted more. He took more positivity apples, consuming them. As he ate more and more, he grew more powerful. Until the tree was almost entirely barren. There was only one negativity apple left. Nightmare staggered back. Dream lifted his arms up, as wings sprouted from his back. He had fused The Positive and Negative Energy; bending it to his will. He turned to the people. The Disgusting peasants, who didn't bow to him. He raised his arms. The Sun glew brighter, as Nightmare tried to stand in its way, shield them with shadow, but he was only but a boy, fighting against The Sun itself. It began to melt the people, melting their very skin and bones, giving them a slow and painful death. Nightmare couldn't help any of them, and could barely help himself as he began to melt. He stumbled towards the tree, begging his father for his strength. He fumbled around, grabbing The Negativity apple. He heard the voice of his father. "Eat it, I have imbued the last of my power into it. It will save you, my son." The voice said. Nightmare listened, his teeth sinking into the apple, as he ate it, it imbued him with its power, as his aura pushed Dream back, as Dream was caught off guard. The Sun turned back to normal. Those who had been hiding behind areas of shade, or somehow evading the sun, turned. It was back to a normal day, but it turned to rain, as Dream and Nightmare circled each other. Dream gloated about the fact he saw as Obvious. Nightmare only held 1/1000th of the power he did. But he underestimated it. In truth, that was the voice of their father. He had imbued his power into the apple. It was much more powerful than any other. But dream still had the advantage. Not only was it day, where he was most powerful. But he still did have many more. Sure it was one strong apple, but it doesn't do much against the unlimited power dream had. Nightmare knew his brother was no more, corrupted by his own inhibition. Nightmare summoned an aggressive weapon, unlike his brother of the original Dreamtale.

A Rapier's handle appeared in his hand.

The two entered a battle for the ages, but it was looking bad. Dream was to powerful, especially with the sun. Nightmare stood no chance, and was barely able to fight back. Eventually, as all hope seemed lost, The Sun exited the horizon, and the full moon rose.

Imbued with its power, Nightmare fought back, and disarmed Dream from The Claymore he wielded. Nightmare slashed Dream across the chest, wounding him. Then, with one last blast of power, he slammed his wounded brother into the tree. Sealing him in there. The energy was rebalanced. Nightmare took up the mantle of his Fallen Brother. He was now The Guardian of both Energies.

But... this would not be eternal.

500 years later, as The Sun rose, a yellow crack formed in the tree, as Dream tore his way out. Angrier than ever. Sadly, Nightmare was resting on the tree, startled to see his brother crawling out, fine, and very very angry.

Due to it being Dawn, Nightmare knew that he stood no chance. He remembered their battle 500 years ago. While he himself didn't want to run, he knew what he had to do. He had to protect Negativity. He fled, evacuating those of the village, which was now a city. It was to no avail. Dream began taking their souls, and puppeteering them. He claimed the souls, and the beings, humans and monsters alike, became soulless husks. Serving Dream's Every whim. Dream felt no remorse, as he destroyed everything. Humans and Monsters were cruel entities. Why should he give them MERCY? They were just weak power sources to him, nothing more. After all, Dream would give them a utopia. The least they could do was assist him in creating this utopia. Nightmare fled from the city, fearfully. The spirit of his father gave him advice, and Nightmare escaped to a different AU, as Dream conquered his home.

Basically,

Dream's a Megalomaniacal Sociopath who believes that he is the being from the prophecy. Every "Minor" thing he does is simply excusable to him. A necessary sacrifice. Due to his Sociopathic State, he doesn't think with morality. Kind of like Flowey from The Original Game.

Now, if you're wondering about AUs, well, that'll take more time to write down. But similar to Dreamswap, The Characters in each AU are different.

The only character that's mostly the same to Dreamswap is Blue. (I call him Underswap Sans mostly, since, I have something of a thing against the name "Blueberry," but if you need a nickname, I just call him Crossbones. Or just call him blue still, lolol.)

Ink is still swapped with Cross

Nightmare and Dream are still swapped

Error and Blue are still Swapped.

however, there are additional swaps.

Underswap Papyrus Swaps with Fatal_Error. (Kind of. Fatal doesn't exist in the story, but US Papyrus is kind of like Fatal.)

Underswap Chara is now CORE Frisk. (Core existed, but they were restored by Papyrus. Long story.)

There are a few other AUs Involved.

Horrortale

Killertale

Dusttale

Underfell

Othertale

Reapertale (Briefly Mentioned)

Aftertale

Alphatale (Doesn't do much, yet.)

Peacetale (Not really, but Infected Sans exists here. So technically Peacetale does as well.)

[tigerkirby215]

5e Illaoi, the Kraken Priestess build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Riot Games)

I’ll take “Champions Everyone Hates” for $300, Larry!

Jokes aside Illaoi was a beyond obvious build with all the Unearthed Arcana subclasses being shown off. With Tasha’s Cauldron on the horizon and recent news that Illaoi is actually getting another skin it only makes sense to make a build for her.

But this is also an opportunity to make something interesting. In particular I see a lot of people online saying that the only viable melee Warlock is Hexblade, and while the Hexblade subclass certainly makes creating a melee Warlock easier it isn’t the only path you can choose. So to prove that you can play other Warlocks with a big ball to slam people with here’s a more melee focused Warlock build!

GOALS

Sheeyutu Nagakabouros - So Illaoi needs tentacles. What? Lurker in the Deep Warlock? I have no idea what you’re talking about.

Broken bones teach better lessons - Illaoi is a buff lady and I want her to crush my head between her thighs... What? Uhhh STRENGTH BUILD TIME!

Many gods ask for worship; they are weak gods - Probably the only hard part about this build is going to be ripping people’s souls out of their body... Good thing I’m honestly probably not going to do that and simply reflavor some stuff.

RACE

League of Legends has its gods and monsters, but the majority of the characters are human. Variant Humans get to start with a little bit more than the average human, but let’s get the normal things out of the way first: increase your Strength and Charisma by 1 to break bones more easily and to find more people who want you to break their bones. You also get a proficiency in a skill of your choice such as Athletics to lug a giant Kraken god head statue around all day, and a language of your choice like Deep Speech to speak to your god through your statue.

But most importantly you get a free Feat, and unfortunately this is a case of me being forced to stick feats into this build for the sake of aesthetic. Illaoi doesn’t wear armor in-game but I could make the argument that her massive arm pauldrons and general outfit could be seen as Medium armor. So even though you could get Heavy Armor “proficiency” thanks to the Eldritch Armor Invocation from the Class Feature Variants UA I’m instead going to suggest taking the Moderately Armored Feat for Medium Armor proficiency and +1 to your Strength score. Feel free to take something like Great Weapon Master instead if you’re okay with actually wearing Heavy Armor at the cost of an invocation.

ABILITY SCORES

15; STRENGTH - Eat your heart out The Last of Us 2 haters. (BTW screw everyone who’s been harassing Laura Bailey on Twitter. I know this is old news but still.)

14; DEXTERITY - Something something Medium Armor, even if Heavy Armor is an option.

13; CHARISMA - Ultimately this is a requirement for the class we’ll have to be playing, but I’m sure there’s a reason this tentacle-lover keeps showing up to ruin my soloqueue games.

12; CONSTITUTION - Illaoi is a tank in-game and while I’d love this to be higher unfortunately we need other things more.

10; WISDOM - Illaoi has knowledge of the old gods which I’d personally consider to be more Wisdom based than Intelligence.

8; INTELLIGENCE - Signing yourself off to be the priestess of some deep sea Cthulhu monster isn’t something you do when you have a high GPA.

BACKGROUND

Fun fact: you can be a priest and not be a Cleric! The Acolyte background lets you grant your service to a god, even if that god isn’t commonly accepted. You gain some Religion proficiency as well as general Insight, as well as two languages of your choice like Abyssal and Primordial to speak to all the ancient beings of Bilgewater.

Your feature Shelter of the Faithful will be a... little odd for your DM to implement. There are few temples to Nagakabouros, but if you can find followers of the Bearded Lady they will provide shelter for you and your allies, and also support you (and you alone) as their Priestess. But regardless you will still be able to find your people in your hometown, and will be able to perform sermons for your god. Even if those sermons involve cracking skulls.

(Artwork by Riot Games)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - WARLOCK 1

Did you enjoy seeing the word “Fighter” a lot in my Garen build? Well you’d better be ready to see a whole lot of “Warlock” in this one. As a Warlock you get two proficiencies from the Warlock skill list so learn about the History of Nagakabouros and also take Intimidation proficiency because I’m pretty fucking intimidated when an Illaoi comes into my lane if you know what I’m saying.

But unlike most classes Warlocks get to choose their subclass at level 1 and low-and-behold we’ll be going with the Lurker in the Deep Unearthed Arcana Patron which will soon be appearing in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. One may ask why I didn’t wait for that book to come out to which I reply “I need to make content.” Regardless you get Scion of the Deep at level 1 to communicate telepathically with (almost) any creature that has an innate swimming speed that’s within 120 feet of you. The creature can understand you regardless of your shared languages and can respond telepathically. Look all I’m saying is that you’ve gotta be able to talk with Nami somehow.

But of course what you’re really here for is Grasp of the Deep. As a bonus action you create a tentacle at a point you can see within 60 feet of you. The tentacle lasts for 1 minute or until you make another tentacle. When you create the tentacle, you can make a melee spell attack against a creature within 10 feet of it. On a hit, the target takes 1d8 cold or lightning damage (your choice when it takes the damage) and its speed is reduced by 10 feet until the start of your next turn. You can also move the tentacle up to 30 feet as a bonus action on your turn and repeat the attack with said bonus action. You can summon the tentacle a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier and regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Yes I did just copy-paste the description of the ability because it’s a lot of words to say something very simple: make tentacle in 60 feet, slam people with bonus action, move it up to 30 feet per round.

But unlike in League you get more than just tentacles at level 1! You also have access to Pact Magic! You can learn two cantrips from the Warlock list: Lightning Lure lets you pull your opponent’s not-quite-soul closer towards you, and Eldritch Blast is an Eldritch Blast that lets you Eldritch Blast; I’m not going to pretend you don’t know what this cantrip is.

You also get two spells from the Warlock list and now it’s time to just take any spell that has the name “Hadar” in it. Arms of Hadar lets you strike everyone near you with tentacles; isn’t it fun to get your ultimate at level 1? For some sort-of Soul Stealing action I’m actually going to recommend Witch Bolt: after hitting an enemy with the spell you can keep hitting them from a distance and they can’t do anything about it! Truthfully though there are a lot of really great spells for this build at first level and I’m sad I can’t list them all, so if you don’t like my spell picks try out:

Hellish Rebuke (Thornmail)

Hex

Protection from Evil and Good

Thunderwave (Subclass-specific spell, otherwise known as “better Arms of Hadar that aren’t tentacles so they’re actually worse)

Yeah level 1 is always overloaded.

LEVEL 2 - WARLOCK 2

Second level Warlocks get access to Eldritch Invocations to improve their abilities, and you know what we still need? A proper ability to rip out people’s souls. Shame we won’t get that, but Grasp of Hadar will pull them closer and Lance of Lethargy will slow them for trying to escape their Test of Spirit. These invocations do stack (IE there’s no rule saying you can’t apply both at once) so you can theoretically pull someone 10 feet closer to you and make them 10 feet slower, resulting in 20 total feet of distance you’re gaining on them.

You can also learn another spell at this level and while there are plenty of good ones I’m going to suggest some Thornmail, or rather Armor of Agathys. The spell doesn’t require Concentration, gives you some bulk, and makes enemies think twice about hitting you. And it scales well too!

LEVEL 3 - WARLOCK 3

So how about we get something big to bonk our enemies with? Hello Pact of the Blade! In short you make a weapon in your hands to fight with, and I’d argue that a Maul is probably the closest to a big two-handed bludgeoning weapon.

I should mention that technically you need the Improved Pact Weapon invocation to be able to cast spells while you have a weapon in two hands, but you can get around this by using a component pouch instead of a focus. (And Illaoi seems the type to cast with squid organs.)

Oh and you can learn second level spells now! Spells like Earthbind to make sure your foes don’t take to the sky to escape the wrath of the ocean.

LEVEL 4 - WARLOCK 4

4th level Warlocks get an Ability Score Improvement so it’s time to invest in your main stat: Strength! What was that? Charisma? No no silly Warlocks use Strength obviously, so put +2 into that.

You also learn another spell at this level, and another cantrip! For your cantrip Mage Hand will let you summon a little tentacle for you to grab smaller things at a distance. As for leveled spells Ray of Enfeeblement will let you pack Exhaust for your foes, reducing their attack damage. It’s a bit of a dirty trick but Nagakabouros doesn’t fight fair.

(Artwork by ERDJIE on DeviantArt)

LEVEL 5 - WARLOCK 5

5th level Warlocks get another Invocation so guess what we’re taking? Yup: Eldritch Smite, pretty much a given whenever I make a Pact of the Blade build. This will let you slam your foes so hard that they fall over! I’m also going to suggest you replace Lance of Lethargy with Thirsting Blade, as by this point Grasp of Hadar is already pulling them close enough thanks to two Eldritch Blasts per turn.

You can also learn another spell at this level and remember when I said we’d take any spell with the name “Hadar” in the title? Hunger of Hadar lets you make an area pitch black and summon a bunch of tentacles in that area. Basically Hadar is this world’s Nagakabouros. "Bearded Lady, Nagakabouros, names don't matter! Action does."

LEVEL 6 - WARLOCK 6

At 6th level your tentacles finally have some lifesteal! And by lifesteal I mean defensive properties. Guardian Grasp lets you use your reaction to make a tentacle shield an ally from a hit, reduce the damage they would’ve taken from an attack by half. The tentacle can shield any ally within 10 feet of it, and it disappears after defending them. Note that this works for spells too, so if someone’s having their soul ripped out of them you can use your abilities to pull it right back in!

Additionally your servitude to the Bearded Lady grants you a Fathomless Soul for the ability to breathe underwater, a swimming speed, and resistance to Cold damage.

And finally you can learn another spell like the Unearthed Arcana spell Spirit Shroud. This spell will let you slow enemies that are near you and also do extra damage.

LEVEL 7 - WARLOCK 7

7th level Warlocks get another Invocation but there’s nothing that particularly interests me. May as well get Devil’s Sight in case you’re playing against a Nocturne.

You can also learn another spell at this level and hey look more tentacles!  Evard’s Black Tentacles is a subclass-specific spell that makes tentacles that can hold people down!

LEVEL 8 - WARLOCK 8

8th level Warlocks get another Ability Score Improvement: increase your Strength by 1 and your Constitution by 1, as those are your two main stats as a Warlock. Definitely.

You can also add another spell to your list, and while there are plenty of great choices I’d opt to rid yourself of the unworthy with Banishment.

(Artwork by Diazex on DeviantArt)

LEVEL 9 - WARLOCK 9

9th level Warlocks get access to another Eldritch Invocation, but again none of these are that particularly interesting so I suppose you could grab Otherworldly Leap for the Jump spell at will?

But you get access to another spell and if you need guidance from Nagakabouros then Commune with Nature will let you gather information to aid you to spread your faith.

Now (or ideally sometime before) would also probably be a good time to replace a lot of your old spells, so depending on your DM here’s some spells you should probably swap out, and what they should be swapped to:

Arms of Hadar (RIP tentacles) with Vampiric Touch (3rd level) for some lifesteal. (Enervation at the 5th level is also a decent alternative that works at range.)

Witch Bolt with Dimension Door (4th level) for a Teleport back to lane.

Earthbind with Synaptic Static (5th level) for a Leap of Faith against your foes. (By that I mean it’s my build and I like this spell.)

Ray of Enfeeblement with Cone of Cold (5th level) for another powerful AoE spell in a teamfight.

LEVEL 10 - WARLOCK 10

At 10th level Lurker in the Deep Warlocks can feed their god’s Devouring Maw. As an action you can create a 10 foot radius sphere centered on a point you can see within 60 feet. Each creature in that area must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be restrained. And then: teeth... this feels like Pyke’s thing. Regardless any creature that starts its turn in the area takes 3d6 cold / lightning damage (your choice.)

Restrained creature can try to get out on their action, and at the start of your turn if anyone is in the area you gain temporary hit points equal to your Warlock level. You can use this ability once per short or long rest, so essentially consider it like an extra spell that’s exclusive to you and your faith.

Speaking of extra spells you don’t get another spell known but your tentacles do more damage now: 2d8 to be exact. You also get another cantrip: Minor Illusion will let you summon more small ghost tentacles, except these ones don’t do anything except for fool the enemy into thinking they’ll have a fun laning phase.

LEVEL 11 - WARLOCK 11

11th level Warlocks get their 6th level Mystic Arcanum, which is a spell you can only use once per Long Rest. Basically it’s a regular spell slot, unlike your Warlock slots which come back on a short rest. Unfortunately there really aren’t a lot of Mystic Arcanum options, and the ones at level 6 aren’t spectacular. Circle of Death is probably the best even if the lore is a little iffy.

You can also add another Pact Magic spell to your list: many say that a Dream is a window into one’s soul, so messing with people’s dreams only makes sense for you to test their souls. Oh and you get a third spell slot for your Pact Magic! Yay!

LEVEL 12 - WARLOCK 12

12th level Warlocks get an Ability Score Improvement but I’m going to instead suggest the Resilient feat for Constitution, increasing your CON to a 14 and giving you proficiency in CON saves. Constitution is one of your main stats as a Warlock after all!

You also get another Eldritch Invocation and now it’s finally time for an invocation we will keep! Lifedrinker will let you add your Charisma modifier as damage to your weapon attacks. I know it’s such a weird thing for Warlocks to have since they rarely use Charisma, but it’s still useful!

(Artwork by sharrm on DeviantArt)

LEVEL 13 - WARLOCK 13

At level 13 you get your 7th level Mystic Arcanum. To test weak souls Power Word Pain will see how much they can take before they reach their limit. If a target is at 100 HP or less they are affected by crippling pain. Their speed can be no higher than 10 feet, they have disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws (other than CON saves), and if the target tries to cast a spell, it must first succeed on a Constitution saving throw, or the casting fails and the spell is wasted.

A target suffering this pain can make a Constitution saving throw at the end of each of its turns. On a successful save, the pain ends. While this may seem weak this doesn’t require your concentration, and can set up for all your allies to break the nonbelievers.

You can also add another Pact Magic spell to your list like Elemental Bane. Here’s the trick: pick a damage type of your tentacles that your allies are also doing. This will make both them and your tentacles stronger!

LEVEL 14 - WARLOCK 14

14th level Lurker in the Deep Warlocks get their final ability, Unleash the Depths. As an action, you choose a point within 30 feet of you to summon a manifestation of Nagakabouros. You then have one of two options:

Transport. You and up to five willing creatures of your choice that you can see within 30 feet of the manifestation point are grasped by spectral tentacles and teleported to a point of your choice within 100 miles that you have visited within the past 24 hours.

Fury. You can direct a barrage of spectral tentacles to strike up to five creatures you can see within 30 feet of the manifestation point. Each target must make a Dexterity saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failed save, the creature takes 6d10 cold or lightning damage (your choice) and is knocked prone. On a successful save, it takes half as much damage and is not knocked prone. The tentacles then vanish.

You can only do this once per Long Rest, so you can essentially consider it another Mystic Arcanum of sorts.

LEVEL 15 - WARLOCK 15

15th level Warlocks get their 8th level Mystic Arcanum and to truly test one’s faith try Feeblemind. You choose a target to damage and force them to make an Intelligence save: if they fail their Intelligence and Charisma become 1 and they become unable to do most things that require thinking. (Detailed in the spell.) This spell lasts for thirty days unless healed by a specific spell, afterwards they can try to repeat the save.

But more importantly you get some more Invocations and sweet Bearded Lady we can finally get some good ones! Grab Witch Sight to know the truth behind one’s soul.

And you get one more Pact Magic spell like Sickening Radiance to exhaust the spirit... because it causes Exhaustion... the D&D status not the LoL Summoner Spell.

LEVEL 16 - WARLOCK 16

16th level means an Ability Score Improvement so it’s finally time to stop beating around the bush: get more Charisma so Lifedrinker is better. There really isn’t much other use for it.

(Artwork by Riot Games)

LEVEL 17 - WARLOCK 17

At 17th level you get your 9th level Mystic Arcanum; the strongest spell you can cast! When a soul is too weak to fight it must die: Power Word Kill will instantly kill a target with 100 health or less.

In addition you learn more Pact Magic: by this point your foes should truly Fear you (and the fact that I’m not allowed to take any spell that creates undead.) Yes most enemies by this point can resist fears, but on the bright side you finally have four spell slots for your other spells! (Or Smites.)

LEVEL 18 - WARLOCK 18

18th level Warlocks get their final Eldritch Invocation: Visions of Distant Realms will let you use the vision of the Bearded Lady to see across all of Runeterra... or at least as far as Arcane Eye lets you.

LEVEL 19 - WARLOCK 19

19th level Warlocks get our final Ability Score Improvement and yeah: Charisma for Lifedrinker... among other things.

And you get your final Pact Magic spell: take Hold Monster as the final option to keep an enemy down as you beat them into shape.

LEVEL 20 - WARLOCK 20

20th level Warlocks are Eldritch Masters. You can spend 1 minute praying to regain all your expended Pact Magic slots. Once you regain spell slots with this feature, you must finish a long rest before you can do so again.

...I mean yeah you could just spend an hour to Short Rest, but being able to get 4 more 5th level spell slots in just a minute could be useful! ...Maybe...

FINAL BUILD

PROS

They need wisdom; they don't need teeth - Even though you only have two attacks as a “casting” class you do plenty of damage thanks to Lifedrinker and your tentacles. (Assuming you’re using a Maul) you’re doing 4d6 + 10 bludgeoning, an extra 8 necrotic, and an extra 2d8 of Lightning or Cold damage with your Bonus Action. If you take the averages of those numbers you’re going to be doing about 44 damage per turn! Not to mention Eldritch Smites to truly break their spirits!

Blessed is motion - Your AC shouldn’t be terrible with Medium Armor, but the real strength is in Guardian Grasp. Being able to reduce the damage of an attack by half is universally useful. Above-average HP (thanks to a good CON mod) definitely helps too.

I am a teacher; Bilgewater will learn - Despite your weak mental stats you have a good amount of utility with proficiency in a number of skills and spells to gather information like Arcane Eye, Commune With Nature, and Dream. Not to mention Witch Sight which will see through any illusions or shapeshifting. This means you’re a fighter who can see through invisibility!

CONS

If I hate something, I destroy it - Illaoi is a big lady, and while her physical abilities may be strong her mental capabilities are a little lacking. Your Wisdom saves are fine enough thanks to Proficiency but your Intelligence and Dexterity saves are rather subpar, and as mentioned earlier your Ability Checks aren’t going to be great thanks to your low mental.

My god is not love; it is a kick in the pants - All the memeing I did in this build aside the focus on Strength over Charisma was probably not the brightest, especially considering that the hit chance of your tentacles is based on your Charisma. See if you can get Point Buy for this build instead to max out Strength and Charisma: Medium Armor was taken more for cosmetic than anything, and Heavy Armor would probably be a better choice. And of course feel free to take Charisma ASIs early if you think you need them.

Something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens - Truthfully while 9th level spells an extra invocations are nice this build would’ve probably benefited a lot more from some Fighter or Paladin levels to get a Fighting Style and subclass features. I built this build Warlock-exclusive partially for flavor and partially to show that melee Warlocks are possible outside of Hexblade, but 5 levels into Fighter or Paladin would get you Extra Attack (so you wouldn’t need Thirsting Blade) along with other class features. And starting as Fighter or Paladin would let you take armor proficiency too, so you wouldn’t need a feat for it! (You could grab something like Great Weapon Master instead!)

But here you have it: a level 20 Warlock build, a melee Warlock that isn’t Hexblade, a devout character with no Cleric levels, a Tasha’s build before Tasha’s comes out, and a powerful melee fighter with good use of their Bonus Action and plenty of utility through spellcasting. As long as you live life to its fullest and grab every combat by the reigns then Nagakabouros shall be pleased. Test the nonbelievers and strike at the heart of corruption! For it is her way... to get camped all game by the jungler... and still get double kills.

(Artwork by epimeral on DeviantArt)

[dreamtalemf]

The Start of The AU

(Note: An Identical Post to this exists. I just reposted it here so that you didn’t have to scroll through my account’s posts to know how the AU started.)

(Note 2: While this is a Dreamswap-Esc AU, I didn't call it Dreamswap since two AUs with a name like that already exist.)

(Note 3: The Spirit of The Tree here is Male, Because Swap. I just thought that'd be a nice touch.)

This is essentially an AU I made based on Dreamswap and SwapDream respectively.

Essentially, it started the same as Dreamtale. However, Dream saw the bullying. He saw his brother constantly being abused, and tried to stop them. Little changed, and he saw how manipulative and dark the people were acting. How apathetic they were to suffering, and after a long time, he began to become apathetic himself. He developed Sociopathy.

Now, don't be hasty. He isn't just immediately a villain. He was still friends with Nightmare, and eventually, Nightmare was able to convince the bullies to stop, and even befriended them. (Insert Deltarune Sans Joke here.) However, one day, the wise old man told a prophecy. Of a final battle of The forces of good and evil. Whilst he rarely told of the future, everything he told ended up being true. Minor or Major.

Sage as he was, he often avoided being vague. He however, created a prophecy. A Hero would rise up, and defeat Darkness once and for all. What form would Darkness take? He was rather unclear. Darkness represented evil, and then he said of the hero that he was a humble man, and not only any man or monster, but an emotional guardian. Now, this reached Dream's ears. Given The Man's often Accuracy when it came to prophecies, Dream of course was rather full of himself. Of course it would be him! Nightmare was Negativity, Evil, and Darkness. Dream would rise up and stop him, and what a fantastic tale it would be!

Dream thought of course, any alternative was impossible. While the evil may not be his brother, he knew he was obviously the hero of the prophecy. He began to get annoyed. Nightmare began to be warmed up to by the people of the village, after they had accepted him. Dream found this unfounded, and declared it openly. Of course, due to his vanity, the villagers grew annoyed, and began throwing objects and insults at him. Dream, enraged, walked over to the tree of feelings, grabbing a negativity apple.

(Btw here, The Apples don't change when touched. They just hurt, kind of like Dream's positivity arrows hurt Nightmare, rather than just being negativity'd.)

Then Dream ate it, declaring that he was an incorruptible spirit. The people of the villagers backed up in fear, afraid of what would happen. Dream however, began to feel pain and suffering. Dream refused defeat, and noticing their fear, staggered up. "See? I am not corrupt!" He declared. The villagers backed up once more, as Dream sat there, waiting for admiration. His face turned to grimace. "Fine, I shall show again then!" He said, as he ate another negativity apple, and another, and another. He became to weak, as he tried to reach for the last negativity apple, only to fall frail, as his body began to melt and dust from all this negative energy. Nightmare, in fear of his brother's death, quickly grabbed a positive apple, giving it to Dream. Dream ate it, and it gave him his strength back. But more than before.

Dream had a taste of power, and he wanted more. He took more positivity apples, consuming them. As he ate more and more, he grew more powerful. Until the tree was almost entirely barren. There was only one negativity apple left. Nightmare staggered back. Dream lifted his arms up, as wings sprouted from his back. He had fused The Positive and Negative Energy; bending it to his will. He turned to the people. The Disgusting peasants, who didn't bow to him. He raised his arms. The Sun glew brighter, as Nightmare tried to stand in its way, shield them with shadow, but he was only but a boy, fighting against The Sun itself. It began to melt the people, melting their very skin and bones, giving them a slow and painful death. Nightmare couldn't help any of them, and could barely help himself as he began to melt. He stumbled towards the tree, begging his father for his strength. He fumbled around, grabbing The Negativity apple. He heard the voice of his father. "Eat it, I have imbued the last of my power into it. It will save you, my son." The voice said. Nightmare listened, his teeth sinking into the apple, as he ate it, it imbued him with its power, as his aura pushed Dream back, as Dream was caught off guard. The Sun turned back to normal. Those who had been hiding behind areas of shade, or somehow evading the sun, turned. It was back to a normal day, but it turned to rain, as Dream and Nightmare circled each other. Dream gloated about the fact he saw as Obvious. Nightmare only held 1/1000th of the power he did. But he underestimated it. In truth, that was the voice of their father. He had imbued his power into the apple. It was much more powerful than any other. But dream still had the advantage. Not only was it day, where he was most powerful. But he still did have many more. Sure it was one strong apple, but it doesn't do much against the unlimited power dream had. Nightmare knew his brother was no more, corrupted by his own inhibition. Nightmare summoned an aggressive weapon, unlike his brother of the original Dreamtale.

A Rapier's handle appeared in his hand.

The two entered a battle for the ages, but it was looking bad. Dream was to powerful, especially with the sun. Nightmare stood no chance, and was barely able to fight back. Eventually, as all hope seemed lost, The Sun exited the horizon, and the full moon rose.

Imbued with its power, Nightmare fought back, and disarmed Dream from The Claymore he wielded. Nightmare slashed Dream across the chest, wounding him. Then, with one last blast of power, he slammed his wounded brother into the tree. Sealing him in there. The energy was rebalanced. Nightmare took up the mantle of his Fallen Brother. He was now The Guardian of both Energies.

But... this would not be eternal.

500 years later, as The Sun rose, a yellow crack formed in the tree, as Dream tore his way out. Angrier than ever. Sadly, Nightmare was resting on the tree, startled to see his brother crawling out, fine, and very very angry.

Due to it being Dawn, Nightmare knew that he stood no chance. He remembered their battle 500 years ago. While he himself didn't want to run, he knew what he had to do. He had to protect Negativity. He fled, evacuating those of the village, which was now a city. It was to no avail. Dream began taking their souls, and puppeteering them. He claimed the souls, and the beings, humans and monsters alike, became soulless husks. Serving Dream's Every whim. Dream felt no remorse, as he destroyed everything. Humans and Monsters were cruel entities. Why should he give them MERCY? They were just weak power sources to him, nothing more. After all, Dream would give them a utopia. The least they could do was assist him in creating this utopia. Nightmare fled from the city, fearfully. The spirit of his father gave him advice, and Nightmare escaped to a different AU, as Dream conquered his home.

Basically,

Dream's a Megalomaniacal Sociopath who believes that he is the being from the prophecy. Every "Minor" thing he does is simply excusable to him. A necessary sacrifice. Due to his Sociopathic State, he doesn't think with morality. Kind of like Flowey from The Original Game.

Now, if you're wondering about AUs, well, that'll take more time to write down. But similar to Dreamswap, The Characters in each AU are different.

The only character that's mostly the same to Dreamswap is Blue. (I call him Underswap Sans mostly, since, I have something of a thing against the name "Blueberry," but if you need a nickname, I just call him Crossbones. Or just call him blue still, lolol.)

Ink is still swapped with Cross

Nightmare and Dream are still swapped

Error and Blue are still Swapped.

however, there are additional swaps.

Underswap Papyrus Swaps with Fatal_Error. (Kind of. Fatal doesn't exist in the story, but US Papyrus is kind of like Fatal.)

Underswap Chara is now CORE Frisk. (Core existed, but they were restored by Papyrus. Long story.)

There are a few other AUs Involved.

Horrortale

Killertale

Dusttale

Underfell

Othertale

Reapertale (Briefly Mentioned)

Aftertale

Alphatale (Doesn't do much, yet.)

Peacetale (Not really, but Infected Sans exists here. So technically Peacetale does as well.)