#and she keeps asking him to do it for her after she's been knighted bc “she can never get the peel off so nicely”

[carrion-art]

Simple moments

[pendwelling]

hello, pen-nim! I just wanted to ask about the "ether children"(!?) that CYC apparently has???? Like holy shit yes?????? They have kids??????????

It's been keeping me up at night ngl sjjsakaks

THEY DO HAVE KIDS and honestly it's so genius. I laugh about it all the time LMAO (anyway please brace yourself bc this ended up becoming a really long post WKFHDJ)

In non-romance fantasy settings, I always wonder about high-status characters like Crown Princes of the like and how they would make/appoint successors—even more so when it's implied that it'll probably be faceless characters who we never even meet (take Alver Crossman in LCF, for example, who iirc also mentioned he would just appoint one of his siblings' children as his future heirs). Even though TWSB is not a romance, its political setting has always played a prominent role and influence in the story, and even long before CYC have their "children", characters such as Cédric (a Crown Prince and future Emperor) and Christelle (previously a Duke's daughter) had been subjected to inquiries about marriage and about fulfilling their duties. Naturally, as these character's are ones whom we've followed for so long and through several trials and adventures, readers of course would want them to be happy with whomever they have to make successors with. But BECAUSE they are character's whom we know and have grown to know, we also know that a political marriage would not make our characters necessarily happy, or that it's something they'd even want (and to readers, would be an unsatisfying outcome to see).

Ham Ga-in Christelle actually isn't that interested in marriage (not to mention has a complicated relationship with and idea of parenting/parental figures, and thus, mothers/motherhood) as has expressed that if she WERE to marry, it being with a close friend where they'd be like roommates or in an eternal sleepover like, say, Yeseo, wouldn't be a bad idea since it sounds fun (such as in that one part when Cédric and her were being questioned by Fred and Aurélie about their fake relationship during Jesse first house arrest arc LMAO). As for Cédric, naturally, as a Crown Prince, he is very understanding and diligent as to what his duties expect from him, as such, even when there were discussions over whom would be the best political partner for him (high-ranking nobles such as dukes' children such as Vérénice Mendy, even affluent daughters of merchant families, etc), he most probably would have accepted anyone his mother and godmother decided would be most fitting as his partner. Love was never really a factor for a Crown Prince's marriage (though, I should notably state that his mom, Empress Frédérique, basically enthusiastically kidnapped(willingly) and eloped with her husband out of love against the wishes of his affluent mage family LMAO), though, that isn't to say that they won't take into account his feelings to—but it's clear that his feelings are, all-in-all, that of duty and acceptance (and buried reluctance, which Yeseo and friends bring up and consider when these talks were happening, and tell him that his feelings DO in fact, matter).

ANYHOW, all this is to say that both Christelle and Cédric (ESPECIALLY Cédric) are characters who qpuld inevitably have to continue their family lines.

So, how does our author Sookym resolve this?

Answer: They basically both respectively end up accidentally making magically-adjacently created magically-genetic babies with Jung Yeseo as the mother (LMAO)

CYC's firstborn daughter is actually an "age-regressed/reincarnated" version of one of their past adversaries, Lynn Isenia, a water-attribute Cardinal-level Holy Knight from the Divine Kingdom of Venetiaan who was part of Wilhelmina Sneijder's apostles. After Christelle and Jibrip Diop defeated her in battle [530s], she ended up activating her stigma which resulted in her physical body melting into water before disappearing. Both Christelle and Jibril presume her to be dead after this encounter. Prior to her "death", Lynn had actually expressed interest both in Yeseo (for his pure and bountiful ether) and in Christelle (for the divine power and ability that the Blessing of the Azure Ocean gave her), so it's many not out of nowhere that her resurrected body became Christelle and Yeseo's "child". (Side note: on the continent, Water has often religiously been symbolic of resurrection and new beginnings.)

So, how was "Lynn Isenia" (re)born?

Prior to her "birth", Yeseo was actually visited in a dream by a little baby expressing how hungry they were ("I need pure ether to grow big!" [693]. Yeseo, blearily under the impression that Rhea is the one asking for ether, eventually gives in, and the baby satisfying responds about how delicious his ether is, before finally thanking him ("Thank you, Dad.") which jolts Yeseo awake. Suffice to say, this was basically conception dream of soon-to-be Mama Yeseo.

Turns out, after using her stigma, Lynn Isenia became a wandering puddle/water-blob existence, and eventually found herself tagging along with Yeseo and Co. She was able to cultivate herself back to a human form by basically using Christelle's water-attribute ether as an embryonic sac, which was then had been further nourished and natured by Yeseo's pure ether. I call Yeseo the mom here because he's also the one who technically(?) "births" her LMAO—as in, she emerges/phases out from his belly and pops into existence in his arms out of the blue 😭😭 Everyone is so shocked by this scene that they pretty much forget that Yeseo has been "forever single", and in her shock, Christelle even asks him if an annunciation(LMAO) just happened, before Yeseo reminds them all, flustered, that he literally physically cannot give birth by himself and that the child couldn't be his 😭

That aside, turns out, the baby was born more water than human and without much of her memories, but she does remembers bits and pieces about being "Lynn Isenia", and so people draw the dots together from there. Despite this, she is undoubtedly her own, new, separate existence from the previous Lynn Isenia, with her own personality, wants, and needs (she is also pretty much just a baby, and not a Holy Knight who tried killing them once lol). This arc was actually super interesting to me, because throughout it, Isenia has shown attachment to Yeseo, but ESPECIALLY Christelle, whom Lynn actually considers very firmly to be her "mom" (since Chris' ether was also what helped nurtured Lynn). I love this arc a lot because it delves even deeper into Ham Ga-in as a person, as well as her suppressed anxieties and traumas regarding her own identity crisis, her outlook on parenthood, and subsequently, her relationship with her new mother-figure, Isabelle and her ever growing and increasing, yet suppressed, guilt over taking over her daughter's place. Christelle actually dislikes the idea of Lynn being her "baby" so much, to the point where she even feels hatred towards her own self for being such an "irresponsible/childish" adult. Of course, her worries are very valid, because Lynn is basically a "baby she never planned for", and even worse to her guilty conscious, one who sincerely loves and admires her so much despite Christelle's aversion. But eventually though, after very well-written emotional build-up and resolution, Christelle reconciles her relationship with her new mother Isabelle (one of my favourite parts EVER of the novel btw) and even more so with Lynn, whom she proposes that they reformulate the nature of their relationship and asks that Lynn instead call her "unnie". In the end, Lynn gets adopted by Isabelle, and officially becomes "Lynn Rambouillet" 🥹 Christelle and Lynn have a very fun and playful relationship after this, now that they can fully open their hearts to each other, and Christelle herself does her best to be an adult figure worthy of Lynn's sincere admiration and love.

So that's the first CYC child! Of course, Chris definitely acts more like an auntie/older sister, but does sincerely comes to care for the baby, and Yeseo, being the one with the most (momCOUGH) older brother instincts, takes to child-rearing pretty much like a fish in water. I think that I should also note that Lynn is very much Christelle's family. The baby takes after Christelle in their disliking and bullying of Cédric LMAOOOOOOOOO (at one point, Lynn refers to someone as very handsome, and Yeseo, naturally, assumes it's Cédric, before Lynn confirms that Jibril's looks are more of her style LOLOLOL and even picks up on the trend of calling Cédric a pig too. I think at one point, she even calls him ugly 😂😭)

BUT ANYHOW, NOW FOR CEDYES'S CHILD LMAO

Surprise~! Congrats to CYC on being the family of another daughter! Tbh, I think it's really fitting, because CYC all feel like Girl Dads.

SO!!

Their second baby is also a reincarnation. This one is MASSIVE SPOILERS regarding character death and some parts of the ending, because this happens like. in Chapter 797 and into the 800s.

Cédric and Yeseo's "child" was actually born from a seed. It was initially empty, and needed a core ingredient in order to germinate. This core would eventually be the body of the deceased Elise Venetiaan, who died at the end of the Riester and Venetiaan war (by whom, i will leave thay to you to find out *winks through tears*. Her death was very well-written and she's such a beloved and tragic chatacter oughhhh). Collecting her body, the Spirit of Eranda of the earth-attribute used it as a vessel to nurture the Seed and looked after it, pouring divine power into it and keeping it safe. It needed much more than just the Spirit's divine power, however, and eventually asked for Cédric to give it some strength. With this request, Cédric uses his abilities to offer it a sacred ether flame, which the Seed absorbs into its membrane [812]. His gift and offering of holy flames was not enough however, and the Spirit eventually reveals that in order for the Seed to fully achieve growth, it would require the "sacred moon" to finally bear fruit, and that no other ether would work. Naturally, the moon in question is our Jung Yeseo. Things gets a bit complicated because there's a lot going on in this arc (it's one of my favourites OUGHHHHH it's so damn good I swear) but basically, Yeseo was pretty much forced home by the powers of the Narrative and the Three Sisters (Bozena), and with that, he also took with him the literal moon of the TWSB world, as well as everyone's memories of Yeseo in the process. So, when the Spirit said that they need to moon to finally bear fruit from the Seed, it further propels Christelle, Cédric, Jibril and the original Jesse's (Losna, whose body he retook following Yeseo's second expulsion from their world) mission to bring back their "moon", gradually recovering their memories of him and growing all the more determined to get him back.

And eventually, they do finally reunite again 🥹 Upon returning back to the TWSB world (and establishing a permanent link between the TWSB world and Yeseo's world), Yeseo is finally asked by the Spirit to bless the Seed. Pouring his golden ether into it, the Seed cam finally begin its process of sprouting, now that moonlight has returned to the world and with Yeseo blessing the red seed [887].

The baby is finally born from the fruit in Chapter 917. Empress Frédérique is actually the one to first hold her, and is instilled with a feeling of familiarity/nostalgia upon holding a baby with hair as dark as Cédric in her arms once again. We can definitely assume she got that dark hair because of Cédric's influence on the Seed, but her eyes are still blue like Elise's were. It's an emotional birth for sure, with Losna and Cornelisse eventually getting their turn to hold her, too, and they both cry over their older sister having finally been reborn with a clean slate—chance to live a now more happier and relaxed life, one that will be full of love, especially with her new very extended family.

Because the colour of the fruit she was born from was red, the baby Elise Riester eventually gained the nickname of 'Cerise' (first coined by Yeseo and then picked up by everyone else)(lmao he really is her mom), which is additionally really fitting because "Cherry" in French sounds really close to Elise's own name hehe. She's a cute baby, and also gets officially declared by Frédérique as a "granddaughter/descendant of the Empire" (basically saying that she has chosen to adopt her, and Cédric has gained a younger sister despite the absence of the Prince Consort wfkfkdkdk but because her birth was miraculous and witnessed by many, it's easily accepted). Maartje, her only genuine friend and reliable adult companion in her life before her death, becomes her Godmother TvT and the Venetiaan siblings always visit her and shower her with love.

Also, you may perhaps wonder why she wasn't made a Venetiaan again, but keep in mind that this is right after the end of the Riester-Venetiaan war, where trials against the main villains have occured, Christanne has declared that she will be stepping down from her position as Queen, and that Venetiaan is now under Riester rule. The Venetiaan Royal Family's mistakes and history are now all basically made public, and while the people are still very loving towards them, the Royal Family themselves acknowledge that their family has done and has allowed many back things to happen to Venetiaan under their rule, and that a lot of cleaning up in the kingdom has to be done. Though, it's implied that Cornelisse will eventually come to be the new Queen, once all things are settled.

"Won't baby Cerise and her siblings be separated, then?" Actually, think of it like a joint household wkwkkkw. It definitely helps that Cerise was born near the Temple of Boundaries, and the (new) Pope's residence (which Cédric has enthusiastically proposed to fund and construct, and even build a new portal that leads there directly from HIS ROMERO PALACE 😭😭😭😭 just so that he, Chris, and friends could always visit Yeseo and vice-versa now that he's Pope)(almost forgot to mention that the portal to Yeseo's home in Korea is also in this location, so Cédric literally offered to build him a new home that is both near his second home in Riester, as well as his first home in Korea so that he can easily switch between worlds....... He's is just like his great-grandfather Romero. A SIMP 😭). Thus, Cornelisse can easily visit her little older sister, and even Losna actually expresses a desire to remain in Riester, too, since he didn't have many good memories in Venetiaan, anyway, aside from his sisters 🥹🥲 So he'll be able to visit Cerise easily! He's actually even been offered to be the stand-in regent of Yeseo's territory estate in Sérénité when Yeseo is away, which works out now that Yeseo will probably have to take up Popal duties now too WKDHJDKDKD

OH I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO MENTION THIS TOO LMAOOOO

Their second child was actually foreshadowed by Jung Hyunseo of all people, who, prior to all the events of these chapters, actually had a conception dream where Yeseo came home with a baby girl with dark hair and blue eyes 😂😭😭😭 Pray for this guy, he's gonna get grey hairs early. Hyunseo was actually really worried that his troublemaking younger brother would actually come home one day with a niece out of the blue.

AND TURNS OUT....... YESEO REALLY DID JUST THAT LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

At some point, Yeseo takes the portal back home with Cerise and Cédric in tow so that he could introduce her to Hyunseo. But for some reason..... this guy....... the way he does it was pretty much:

"Ta-da~ It's our baby!"

(WHY IS HE LIKE THIS 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭)

Hyunseo is literally hacking up a lung from how shocked he is, meanwhile Yeseo is sincerely praising (bragging) about their baby to his dumbfounded brother while Cédric is watching this chaos with a very smug and proud expression (THIS BRAT.... WHAT ARE YOU, THE FATHER?? 😭)((PRETTY MUCH......))

I'm actually really amused by how she might potentially grow up, because so far, it seems that she is really taking after Cédric 😂 She's already a Holy Knight despite being a baby—fire-attribute like her dad!! Hyunseo wondered if she inherited this from Cédric, too, to which Cédric merely responds with more smugness 😭 Hyunseo really hates Cédric, I cannot express how funny this is. His younger brother got caught up with an arrogant guy!!

BUT ANYHOW. SORRY THIS WAS SUPER LONG. Also a pretty late reply bc it just takes so much time to write these LMAOFHDJDJKS but omg. TWSB is really just..... it's so good. Sookym single-handedly solved the Heir Question by making her MCs magically manifest children together that could inherit their families/continue their bloodlines in their stead. Chris is awarded her own title of Marquess after the war, so Lynn is probably set to inherit the Rambouillet family after Isabelle, and if Chris doesn't have kids of her own. As for Cédric, his political and religious partners are most probably going to be Christelle and Yeseo, and since ChriCed's relationship is the cat-and-dog way that it is (HAHAHA) even despite having grown closer and partners, I think it's fair to say that Cerise would be 2nd‐in-line to the throne, and if Cédric never has children, if Cerise ever does in the future they can be eligible to become the next Crown Prince(ss), or otherwise they'll adopt from collateral lines. But in the end, I sincerely hope these girls would grow up with LOTS of love. They both deserve it after all the troubles they went through in their previous lives... 🥲 Elise's wish before death was for the cleansing of her country, too, so in this new world and era of peace, it's SO reassuring and deserving that she could be reborn in families that would give her so much love.

OH I would also like to point out that both girls have similar colour palettes, as in, Lynn has blue hair and dark eyes, while Cerise has dark hair and blue eyes. Sookym has actually admitted to purposefully doing this so that they could really look like sisters, and we as readers can absolutely assume that they will could grow up as such, too... 🥹

(Sookym behind-the-scenes from their blog! This was in reference to Lynn's appearance in the latest official illustration of the Rambouillet family: https://sookym.tistory.com/m/2) :

Anyhow, it's fair to say that they are pretty much spiritually CYC's children, just with the official roles as their adopted younger siblings haha. The sibling relationship is more so with Christelle and Lynn, but Cédric and Cerise..... Dude. I can literally see this guy as a Girl Dad. He's already so smug that she already takes so much after him and that she was born with both Yeseo and his own help, it's so damn funny. LIKE YOURE NOT TECHNICALLY ///ACTUALLY/// HER FATHER, BUT YOU SURE ACT LIKE IT HUH...... 😭 Cerise is going to be the most spoiled and loved baby in Empire for sure, and Lynn will naturally follow too, since they both share a crazy family and have the most powerful people taking care of them hahaha (look how Gerrit is being treated—he's not even a Riester but he's always doted on and gaining absurd amounts of pocket money from everyone, even from Cédric hahaha)

ANYWAY I HOPE THIS WAS ABLE TO SATE SOME OF YOUR CURIOSITY!!!!!!!!

I love the CYC children so much....... their mere existence fills me with such joy, and I hope we see more of them in the upcoming side stories 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

[drenched-in-sunlight]

First off, hiii hello! I love your art and your ER lore posts sooo much, it tickles me whenever I see either on my dash. (I'm still crying over all your recent messy and marika posts)

BUT RN I actually wanted to bring that I saw on twitter in your replies (I stay supporting your work 🫡) that you didn't rly ship messy and rellana and that you read it as being one sided and?? From someone who is as thorough with the lore as you, that made me feel soooo much less insane for feeling that way too hgjgjhgd.

Cuz I've seen quite a few ppl say how, in lore, it's canon that they were together bc there's a room in the shadow keep that's essentially an armory but it's in the style of raya lucaria and... I just dunno... I thought her sword description literally said otherwise tho...

Not that it's bad to ship! Ppl are always welcome to do what they like so long as it's respectful and such, I just felt like I was the only who didn't ship this and who read it as being unrequited.

ANYWAY so sorry for the lengthy ask kjhgdsdjkf I rly hope you have a wonderful weekend!

is "messy" an autocorrect from Messmer afdjdk 😭😭 but it's right

and thank you for your kind words, it's all good! (my reply gets a bit long too so i put it in read more) to me, since she's one of his Generals, it makes sense that there's a room in Shadow Keep modeled after her home to ease the homesickness? Also his Commander (Gaius) also has connection to the Carian (he's Radahn's senior at school).

Messmer is a guy who mourned his friends even when they betrayed him (the Black Knight captain), he let his soldiers who was despairing that they were abandoned by Marika deface her statues (as long as they did not tear down the insignia of the Crusade which is a joint symbol of her and his power, and he protected the only intact one in his throne room), understanding their pain at being forced into this fate (yet he would, at the same time, protect his mother's past trauma and not air it to the world to justify the Crusade), also the whole jar clinic thing?? i feel like he's a very emotional person just like his Mother, so it doesn't signify any special feeling to me if he has an armory decorated in the style of one (two?) of his generals' home).

the vibe i get from them is Messmer trying to avoid or turn her down as politely as possible (hence why she "chased after" him) because no romantic feelings + he knows Radagon is Marika, so he knows she's technically his step-aunt bruh 😭 if there had been mutual interest, i feel like there should be more item description mentioning his feelings, and the marriage that joins the Erdtree and the Moon could just be their marriage?? instead of Marika having to do it herself.

[bookwormbynight]

bookworm-san, dear mutual. do you happen to have any more fem! light headcanons/thoughts? for healing, for the soul……… 😌

Darling. Gimme just a second to reread my posts on the AU and get my brain juices going again 🙏

(Also, fun fact: I do actually have my name in my lil bio bit lol! I don't think most people notice.)

Fem!Light during the Yotsuba Arc may have been more aggressive than canon Light about separating herself from a relationship with Misa, simply because it isn't assumed that "well, I'm the one who must have asked... I just can't figure out why" because that's not how her relationship dynamics work. She doesn't remember saying yes, she can't imagine why she would have said yes, Misa is clearly delusional and can fuck right off. Her aggression might be the only reason why Misa wouldn't white-knight his way into stopping the mutual lawlight murder attempt on their first "date" lmao. I can clearly imagine him trying to heroically interject and protect his girlfriend only for Light to shriek "fuck OFF Misa" so 'unfemininely' that it takes Misa a full fifteen minutes to reboot lmao.

This is me projecting because I'm a 100 pound girl with a-cups but I want Light to have small boobs (also canon Light has a flat ass anyway). Let me sexualize my body type for once, gimme that. Tiny lace bralettes, zero cleavage through a shirt neckline, barely a handful of titty and you can probably fit most of the boob in your mouth, but anybody who's interested in her either doesn't notice or actively likes it.

On a related note, average-ish height, like canon, so like 5'4 or 5'5, but small person. If that makes sense. I want people to be able to just pick her up with minimal effort because that means it would happen more often (I have friends who literally just throw me over their shoulders and walk away without asking me first) and she would fucking hate it and I think that's hilarious.

Flats-only girlie. Coward. Until L bullies her into heels for fetish purposes ONCE and Light has trouble walking and it makes her red-faced angry embarrassed which does NOT deter L in the slightest.

I think she'd wear her hair half-up half-down in a neat little clip in the back with bangs, it's very Professional and Pretty and intentionally chosen. She pigtail braids her hair at night Cinderella-style to keep it nice and L finds it annoying. The only time we would see it down in the canon timeline would be in solitary confinement, and the rain + foot scene and proceeding death scene (because that was immediately after).

For her death scene in particular, I think her hair would start up, as it usually is, but it would definitely have gone really askew and fallen out of the clip by the time she dies.

I really can't decide how exactly her relationship with Ryuk would change based on her perception of gender dynamics but I'm absolutely sure it would, whether or not we genderbend Ryuk as well. Idk, someone else help me flesh this one out bc it's all just a nebulous feeling in my head.

The daddy issues. Dude. The daddy issues would be so bad. Like, we already had "I desperately want my dad to think I live up to his expectations of me + dad is too busy with his job all the time to feel like a legit regular part of the family". Now imagine that combined with the fact that Soichiro just assumes Light has Woman Brain. "It's wonderful that you're top of your class and you're getting a degree, all capable women should go to college, but don't you think you should pick a less demanding career path so you won't have such a hard time having a family one day?? It's really sweet that you want to follow in my career path honey but I don't know if this job is good for girls like you". That scene with Namikawa would happen and L would praise her like canon and Soichiro's jaw would fucking drop. Ugh.

On a similar note I absolutely do not think Light would be able to stomach playing up the "I'm JUST a GIRL I CANT be KIRA 🥺🥺🥺" schtick even to draw some of the suspicion off of herself because canon Light already had such a hard time literally just not showing off and now add in fem! Light's inferiority complex. She would get so salty every single time people suggested it's not possible for her to be Kira ""even though I'm not"". The ONLY times she would be willing to play up the canon ditz act is when it makes her look a little careless, NEVER stupid.

[falling-star-cygnus]

Actually here's another Billy angst idea just with him being a cyborg/robot, what if he glitches out and is out of commission for days maybe even weeks and then he powers on to see everyone's shocked faces

oml, this has been sitting in my inbox for FAR too long. -> i am so sorry TT^TT

side bar, i was just introduced to the wonderful WiseBilly and BillyBelle agenda, so maybe there will be some of that in the future :D -> not in this fic tho, in case shipping isn't your style

someone legit sent in an ask a few days ago asking me to tag my works with 'fanfiction' so that they could block them all 😀 bc 'they didn't want to block a million different fandom tabs' -> BUT THAT'S LITERALLY WHY I USE A 'KEEP READING' CUT. SO THAT IT'S BITESIZED TO SCROLL PAST 😭 Master List

Something was very

very

wrong.

Currently, it was 8:24 in the morning. Nearly an hour past the time Billy normally woke up. And almost excatly the time he knocked on Nicole's door each day to tell her breakfast was ready.

Nothing had crashed yet.

Or shattered. Or banged. Or 'thudded.' Or 'thwacked.'

No one had started yelling.

It was quiet.

Too quiet.

Nicole stared at the ceiling and ignored the growing worry in her gut. It was probably nothing, she conceded. He had used a lot of power yesterday, so... the android was probably just taking an easy morning. God knows he deserved it after everything that had been going on.

Maybe he had found a movie to share with Anby.

...yeah, right. The boss of the Cunning Hares' bursts into quiet giggles thinking about it. Those two couldn't share that old thing to save their lives. It's why the schedule was made.

Her alarm clock buzzes. 8:30.

He'd come knock any second now.

Annny second.

…

8:31 blips on to the alarm’s face.

8:32.

8:35.

Nicole can feel her limbs growing cold- despite the relatively comforting warmth of her bed- and it cements in her stomach like gum.

8:44.

She was being ridiculous.

8:50.

Just because the android wasn’t knocking didn’t mean anything was wrong. Billy wasn’t required to do so by any means, it was just a habit he had picked up to make sure they all ate.

8:52.

…but he did like his routines.

8:55.

Was he mad at her?

9:00.

Nicole throws herself out of bed decisively and slams open her door.

“Where’s Billy?”

He's not with Nekomata or Anby, from what the boss can tell from her survey of the room. The two smallest members of the Hares' were cuddled together on the couch. Which was frankly- adorable. In any other situation.

But she had an android to find.

"Billy hasn't come out of his room yet," Nekomata answers, looking somewhat weary of Nicole's warpath. Anby pauses next to her.

"Really? He hasn't?"

"E-eh?"

The cat thiren suddenly looks very uncomfortable as the Demara's pin her with twin stares.

"There was a rerun of a Starlight Knights special playing this morning, it's why I came to bother you," Anby continues, ignoring her former cuddle buddy's squawk of indignance as she moves to stand up.

"Wh- what? I thought you said you wanted to bond!"

"I can want two things."

"Anby!"

Nicole leaves them to their squabbling, striding towards the android's room with deliberate steps. It was far too early for this sort of worry, he better be fine in there-

His door isn't fully closed when she pushes on it. He didn't exactly have a 'room' like the other Hares' did- he didn't exactly need one- but it was sort of mutually agreed that the garage was his domain.

Billy wouldn't leave it open like this if he could help it- not when it could mean unwanted visitors got inside.

Maybe she had a valid reason to be worried...

Or maybe not.

The android is still plugged in and leaning against the wheel of their car, not a scratch on him. His eyes are slanted in as closed as they can get, and his signature red jacket is hung neatly off the ground.

He looked fine.

So-

Why wasn't he awake? Why would he miss an airing of his favorite franchise? Why couldn't the boss hear the familiar whirring and clicking he always gave off?

Something wasn't adding up.

Nicole is pressing her ear to his chest before she can even process she's moved.

The metal is cold as it bites into her cheek, and it's silent.

Anby and Nekomata peek through the doorway, for once taking due care to make their presence loud enough that Nicole can hear them approach. Probably for the best, the boss of the Cunning Hares' felt like a fraying thread about to snap.

There was a burn under her chest, nestled into her ribs like a hot coal she'd been forced into swallowing. Billy didn't move.

Calm down, she scolds herself, There's a perfectly reasonable explanation for this. He's not dead.

She hoped he wasn't dead.

Wordlessly- because she didn't trust herself to speak yet- Nicole begins checking his dormant form over. The other two join in with a silent nods towards each other.

Anby carefully tilts his head from side to side to examine his neck.

“Wires are fine here.”

There's no damage to his auditory processors either, or his faceplate, or any of the joints visible to them. And they resolutely refused to take his pants off. It didn't matter if he didn't have anything down there- maybe he did, they wouldn't know- that felt... too invasive.

Unless absolutely necessary, that was a bridge that would remain uncrossed.

"Oh-! There! His charging thingamajig!" Nekomata suddenly exclaims, somehow having weaseled her way behind Billy, "It's all burnt around the edges!"

"Burnt!?" Nicole all but flattens the thiren against the wheel as she takes a look for herself.

Sure enough, the silver metal around the cable was a charred black that flaked off onto her fingers. Hm.

The boss of the Cunning Hares finagles the cord out of the port, and yelps when Anby grabs the back of her shirt to fling her away. Nekomata lands next to her.

"Anby! What the hell-" the boss is cut off when she sees the white... powder? Paste? Thing that bubbles up out of the opening. It smells foul, whatever it is, and clings to her tongue in a way that makes her sick.

"That's battery acid," Anby explains, jaw tight in a way that was usually reserved for boss battles, "Given the burn marks, it's likely his battery fried itself and exploded. We shouldn't touch it barehanded."

Billy's battery had what.

"Exploded."

Oh, Nicole said that out loud.

"What do you mean exploded," she demands, getting up to her feet.

The smaller Demara throws a pair of latex gloves Nicole's way in lieu of answering. Out of all the Cunning Hares, Anby really was the only one who knew shit about batteries. Well- Billy did too, of course, but..

"It happens when they get too overrun with electricity. Considering that Billy used a lot of power yesterday, only to get accidentally tased by Phaethon right after, there's a 98.96% chance that he overloaded his battery by charging it. If we take care of it before it can corrode any of his wiring, we should be able to minimize the overall damage."

That... sort of made sense. Right. They had an objective now.

Nicole can feel her title as the boss settle over her like a second skin, clarity cutting through the haze of morning and worry like a cut from a blade. She knew what they had to do, now to execute it.

"Ok then," Nicole nods once, overcome with a false sense of confidence, "You're the expert, Anby, what do we need to do?"

For a moment, things don't seem so bleak. Everything was going to be fine, and Billy would be back to his rambunctious big-brother ways in no time.

They end up not having the means to replace the battery- or the skillset to open the android up and remove said battery- so...

"We can't take him to Grace," Nekomata insists, something like a shudder rolling it's way through her spine and tails, "She's so- so weird about him."

"Agreed." Anby nods, crossing her arms sagely, "Grace is out of the question. But we need to get this fixed somehow, and Belobog is the only group close enough that has the skillset we need."

Nicole couldn't help but agree. The last time they had interacted with the eccentric mechanic of Belobog Heavy Industries she had practically glued herself to the android's hip! It didn't matter how many times he had edged away- or downright hid behind one of the girls, she just kept coming on to him!

It didn't help that she also referred to Billy as an it at first; even if she took it in stride when the Hares' had corrected her. Swiftly and firmly corrected her. Anby style.

Billy was not an it.

"What about Phaethon," Nekomata pipes up, her tails moving in swishing waves, "they might know someone!"

"That's right!" Nicole snaps her fingers, and ruffles between the thiren's ears for her good work, "Our dear proxy is sure to have some better information."

In the spirit of fairness, she pats Anby's head too. The smaller Demara had been the one to point out the problem with the android's battery, after all.

Nicole looks to the downed member of their team.

And pats his head.

It felt... wrong, somehow, to leave him out when he was like this.

"Don't worry, Billy," the boss whispers, in some vain hope that it'll reach him, "We'll get you fixed up in no time."

.../^\...

Nicole doesn't realize how badly she'd miss this part of her routine until it was gone.

It'd been three weeks since Billy had gotten repaired.

Three weeks of waiting, three weeks devoid of Starlight Knight references, three weeks of radio silence.

By all accounts, it should be peaceful. But.. in the end, she just missed him. For all her scolding, it had never really been an issue to listen to him ramble. And his optimism always stopped anything from feeling too hopeless on a mission.

Anby had stopped doing the little braid in her hair, the same as she did when that scrapper had taken the android for parts, and even Nicole had stopped putting her own hair in it's little half-up half-down pigtails.

She'd had them even before Billy came barreling into her life, of course, but there had been numerous occasions where she simply felt too tired to want to deal with the hassle of taming her bedhead.

Two black strips of cloth sit innocuously on her nightstand.

"We have to meet up with that contractor today, remember Boss?" Billy had said one morning, as he began to brush through pink frizz- starting at the bottom and slowly worked his way up until it was all neat and shiny.

Nicole hadn't even realized what happened until her hair was already tied up with cute bunny ear bandanas and the android was clipping in her usual barrettes.

That was the moment that had won her over, she thinks privately, as she fiddles with an errant strand.

Her clock buzzes for 8:30.

Time for another quiet day...

knock, knock.

....huh?

The boss of the Cunning Hares throws herself out of bed, praying to whatever higher power that would listen that this wasn't some sort of cruel joke.

knock-

She flings the door open, with maybe too much desperation, but she can't really bring herself to care when-

"Oh- morning, Boss!"

"BILLY!"

Metal bites into her cheek as Nicole wraps her arms around his lanky build and squeezes until her arms ache. It hurts for a second and it's real, he's real, and he's warm, and he's loud. There's no stench of acid, or charcoal, just the dim whir and click of machinery under his plating.

"Boss-!?" the android startles, hands hovering uselessly around her back before settling gently on her shoulders, "did you.. have a bad dream?"

Something like that, she thinks.

And really, Nicole is more than willing to write it off that way.

bonus: *a few weeks later, after a taxing raid on their resident android* *Billy is sitting in the Remodelling Shop* Enzo, patting Billy's shoulder and wiping his hands clean: Battery's all good. Billy: uh... Boss? Is this really nec- Anby, Nicole, and Nekomata: Yes. Billy: ...okay.

[lucy-frostblades]

ive had this idea for like two years now but its finally come to fruition!!!! the librarians as classic dnd!!

(closeups under the cut)

now have some thoughts bc ive been thinking about this for a while- eve started as a knight, following orders and guarding some sort of artifact, when flynn breaks in and steals it, flirting with her while he does. she chases him down and finds him in a mysterious library (oooo) and realizes what shes doing is wrong and vows to change and help him (and protect him) on the flip side of things, cassandra and ezekiel are adopted siblings (no i will never let this go why do u ask) moving from town to town bc they keep getting chased out bc of ezekiels werewolfness (and thievery) or cass's magic. they both work to find artifacts, mostly for cass to help her control and learn more, and thats how they meet jake, whos trying to find and return a collection of scrolls and manuscripts to shangri-la. the three work together, and run into eve and flynn as they all try to steal the same thing and start working together bc theyre all after the same goal anyway (keep magic out of the wrong hands)

lil details- eve has the seal of the pendragons on her chest plate, while flynn carries excalibur. cass has heterchromia, which is just a fun thing i did to show her two schools of magic, as well as dragon earrings and wing cape clips as a nod to her au with lamia in s1. ezekiel keeps most of his skin covered, hiding most of his werewolf traits, and jake has the tattoos that the monkey king gave him in s3

taglist: @blueskiesandstarrynights @starstruckodysseys @disdoorted-crows @sleepyandbi @genuine-possum @thedragonemperess @depressedtransguy @joshkiszkashusband @thisisverypoggers @canadiankat

[darkwolf76]

Coming with the medieval/regency courting prompt bc that list is full of bangers. Use this how you see fit: "Your touch is forbidden, but I crave it more than all the gold in the kingdom."

Newly knighted after catching some poachers during the royal hunt, the little lordling Blackwood basked in his newfound glory. The boy had buzzed around Deidre the whole feast, like a fly attracted to honey. Criston had itched for the opportunity to swat him away, but his white cloak, feeling heavy on his shoulders, shackled him to his post near the royal dias while all the lords and ladies made merry.

The boy had monopolized Deidre’s time far more than appropriate, making Criston seeth. How fine they looked together, he had had the misfortune hearing of some ladies gossip nearby. The heir of Raventree Hall, ravens and a knarled white tree embroidered his maroon doublet, complimented the Master of Law's daughter so nicely, in her gown of shimmering blue, with weirwood leaves embroidered on her bodice, a perfect match to the young man's sigil. Criston felt sick at the way Samwell Blackwood's bright blue eyes lit up when Deidre laughed at something he said as he twirled her about the dance floor. Twas a blessing sent by the Seven when the Lord Commander came to relieve Criston of his post, for if he had to watch the couple any longer, he did not know if he'd be able to keep from flying into a rage.

He stalked from the Great Hall quickly, not even looking back to see if she noticed or to pilfer an orange as he liked to do from feasts. His feet unconsciously led him deep into the Godswood, to under the shadow of the secluded heart tree. This place had become sacred to Criston, not because of the gods that dwelt there, but because of the secrets he had shared with a woman that would never be his, not in that the light of day, amongst its trees. The sanctity of it diminished, though, with the sight of his lady with another weighing on his mind and the heart tree mocking him, reminding him of the symbol of his unknowing rival.

Criston tossed down his helm and tore off his cloak without reverence. The rest of his armor joined them in an unceremonious heap in the grass as he leaned against a massive oak in just his gambeson. He took reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled out a small wooden figure he'd been working on and his whittling knife. He set to work, very much needing a distraction to calm his racing heart.

She appeared from the shadows, silent as a shade. He didn't look up until Deidre placed her hand on his arm. "Something is bothering you tonight."

He frowned at her, his face hard, and then glanced away from her. "Not at all, my lady. I was simply glad to see you enjoying the feast."

"Criston." Deidre sighed. "Please, do not act like this. It would look odd if I rebuffed every lordling or squire that asked me to dance."

"He was no squire, and he seemed to very much want you to be aware of the fact that he's all grown up, a rich heir and knight now." Criston scoffed and crossed his arms.

Deidre bit her lip at his allusion to the Blackwood boy. Criston knew he was being unfair to her. There was hardly anything she could do about their circumstances, but it did not make watching her bask in admirers' attention any easier.

He did not expect it when she grabbed his face and pulled him forward into a kiss with such force, he stumbled. Slight thing his lady was compared to him, she toppled with him. Thinking quickly, Criston twisted his body so he took the brunt of the fall and did not crush her. He grunted as he hit the ground, a tree root digging into his back.

Deidre blinked down at him and then smiled. When she started to giggle, her green eyes alight with amusement, Criston started to chuckle too. They smiled at each other and their absurd situation as he lay amongst the grass and leaves, her sprawled on top of him.

Criston found it easy to forget about his bitterness when Deidre kissed all over his face and smiled down at him. He reached up and cradled her cheek in his palm, his finger brushing the fringe of her brown curls. She covered his hand with her own and held him there as she whispered, "Your touch is forbidden, but I crave it more than all the gold in the kingdom, or any newly knighted lordling, no matter how wealthy he is." They grinned at each other, their noses brushing, and then Criston pulled Deidre closer to him, so he could kiss her better and forget the world, if only for the night.

[moonyasnow]

It's my bedtime and I really should be asleep by now but I'm not, which means random thoughts

I'm thinking about which fairy tales would fit my ships

So here are some fairytale AUs…with a twist!

Some are gonna be more detailed than others just bc that's how ideas work sometimes

Leomoe

Leomoe is for sure 'Beauty & the Beast' but it's also kinda like the premise to that anime/manga 'my little monster' where the smartest girl in class is made to give homework to the guy who like never shows up and make sure he actually tries to do the work

Maybe it's even Falena who hires her? She originally only agrees just to be able to get a scholarship— and Leona is 100% aware of that—

Less 'beast changing' and more 'beauty learning to see past the 'beastlyness' and see the beast as someone who has the capacity for greatness even when others don't see it'.

Mallina

Mallina is 'Cinderella'

But only really the 'poor servant girl' aspect is kept— no stepmother or stepsisters.

But somehow— maybe someone wanted to be nice to her for once— she recieved a beautiful dress, and an invitation letter to the birthday ball of the prince.

At the ball, she ends up feeling really out-of-place…so she takes a little break in the garden— where she encounters someone else who seemed to also want a break from the festivities, which would be Malleus.

And they instantly start to get along well, and feel drawn to each other, and end up dancing the night away together, and walking through the garden and talking.

But then as the clock strikes midnight, she has to leave.

But after that night she just can't stop thinking about that person she met, having daydreams about wanting to see him again, having no idea it was the prince, thinking he was just another person who'd been invited to the ball.

So when the prince starts coming around to all the families in the kingdom with the shoe she'd dropped (just a regular one) she has no idea it could be her shoe, so she never even bothers to ask to try it on— she'd just be a regular maid maybe working for a minor noble family, after all, so she wouldn't be asked to.

But then for the visit to her employers' house, Malleus is there too, but disguised as just another employee of the crown— he remembers what she looks like after all, so even if the slipper somehow fits on someone else's foot, he'd know by their voice and appearance if it really is her. And he spots her, probably in a moment when there's no one else around, and both of them are really happy to see each other. But now that he's found her, and she still seems to have no idea who he really is, he wants to keep it that way a little longer. So he publically 'gives up' the search for the owner of the slipper, but starts visiting Irina's place of work, still in his disguise, just to see her again.

And at some point, after quite a long time of knowing each other and slowly falling in love with each other, they become lovers.

But when Malleus tells her that he's the prince, her first reaction is tears, because she assumes it's the start to a 'so we can't be together' conversation. Through her tears, she stammers out, in desperation, that she doesn't mind being just his mistress, so long as she can be with him.

But of course, Malleus says that won't be necessary, because he's going to marry her, no matter what anyone says he can or cannot do

Spineige

Hmmmm…

I'm thinking 'Sleeping Beauty'?

OH OH OHHHH

Maybe— maybe Spike is the one who was cursed somehow…maybe for someone he killed to avenge dear friends of his. Like maybe a friend of the people he killed survived and cursed him.

But he somehow survives…and becomes the personal knight/guard to the prince of the kingdom (Neige).

They end up falling in love~ but like, in secret, and Spike doesn't know Neige feels the same so he feels really guilty about feeling those things for him because Neige is a literal prince, and Spike is just his guard, and they're friends but Spike would love to be more than that.

And Spike eventually tells Neige about the curse. So when Spike does eventually fall under the curse, Neige goes to try and save him!

But the person who originally cast the curse is stating very close nearby to make sure no one can wake Spike up— maybe they even decide to kidnap(steal??) his body away to the highest tower of some dark castle or something

Using fighting skills Spike himself taught Neige, in the scenario that Spike wouldn't be there to protect him, Neige manages to defeat the curse-caster!

And then when he returns from having found the cure, which was much closer than he expected it would be(true love's kiss) he kisses Spike, and saves him from the curse. And then for good measure he kisses him a few extra times even after Spike is very obviously awake again.

And though at first feeling a little conflicated about if it's ok for him to have fallen for his liege, he kisses Neige back bc he loves him a lot.

Trenia

Rapunzel

So my idea here is that Junia's mother somehow enchanted her hair? So that it acts like a sort of tracking device? In some way, it binds Junia and her mother to each other, ensuring her mother can control her.

Imagining Tangled but instead of a thief breaking into the tower a baker (Trey) just gets lost on his way back from having purchased supplies in another town and like hurts his leg or something and Junia helps get him up into the tower to care for him. Imagining a really domestic scene of them just making food together…and Trey is the one who's taken care of for once.

And maybe in the time they spend getting to know each other, she ends up finding out just how much of what her mother has told her of the outside world (which she's never seen) is just untrue. And he encourages her to finally gather the courage to try to leave the tower, asking him if she can go with him.

And they go back to Trey's village and she starts living there, and at every opportunity she asks if she can help with Trey's chores— really just as a way to try and spend more time with him— and from here it's just a regular, cute romance story with a fairytale setting

And then Lydia (her mother) finds her and finds out she's gone and fallen for some commoner baker and is not cool with it, and brings Junia back

And ugh my creativity disappears here but in the end, Junia ends up breaking herself out somehow

And like— it's beautiful because even though she goes to thank Trey for helping her, she did all that on her own. So she's nowhere near as incompetent as her mom tried to make her believe she was.

(whyyyy is it so hard for me to write for these twooooooo)

Jacktor

Ok ok hear me out

Little Red Riding Hood, but the wolf is the one going to visit his grandma, and then he's just got this weirdo in a red hood following him around

And the weirdo gives him gifts and always asks to play with him?

And at some point, Victor ends up saving Jack from a hunter— buuut he also cuts off said hunter's head and gives it to Jack as a gift…

But somehow they do slowly become close. And eventually Jack's tail even starts to wag sometimes when Victor flirts with him??? 👀

And when Victor does finally meet Jack's grandma he's kinda over prepared, having brought a gift, and treating the whole visit as though he's at a job interview for the position of 'grandson-in-law'.

Catonica

Catonica maybe as The Snow Queen???

So the plot is about a mirror that shatters, and everyone who gets a piece of said mirror into their heart or eyes only sees and comprehends the worst in everything.

And this boy goes missing and then his friend goes on a YEARS' long mission through some actually pretty scary stuff in order to find him

Maybe this but like coming of age— maybe Veronica is the one who goes missing and Cater looks for her. And like the shards is a representation of all the bad feelings and stuff Veronica just kinda internalizes during that part of her life, and that in the end she does at least START to try to see past them. So like, an AU where Cater and Veronica knew each other as kids.

Artemil

Artemil has 'The Little Mermaid' written all over them for sure.

Artemisia is merfolk— I'm thinking a jellyfish merfolk?— and on Kalim's birthday, held on a big boat on the ocean, she ends up spotting Jamil, and falling in love with him at first sight.

And of course, when he gets thrown overboard during a storm, she saves him, and carries him back to shore, though fleeing just before he can wake up, since she notices Kalim and another one of his servants in the distance looking for Jamil.

But of course, she just can't stop thinking about him. And she NEEDS to be able to meet him, to speak with him, even just once. So she trades her bell and stingers for legs, and the promise that she can see her 'prince', but with the added effect of her every step feeling she's walking on shards of broken glass.

And the reason she ends up never being able to speak to Jamil directly is because she becomes too nervous to be able to form any words when she's in front of him.

And the story keeps going, but with Jamil thinking all that time that Artemisia liked KALIM. So after falling for her, too, he's just been stewing in his own jealousy all that time. When Kalim ends up becoming engaged to someone, Jamil is just bitterly expecting he'll be forced to watch the one he loves be sad about another guy…but also starting to think that now he actually has a chance to make Artemisia start falling for HIM instead…

But to his surprise, she doesn't actually seem that sad about Kalim marrying someone else. And when he asks her about this, and she shakes her head when he says 'I thought you liked Kalim' he's incredibly confused and his mind is spinning wondering why she's still there at Kalim's parents' estate if that's the case…

And then it hits him.

All the time she's spent there— almost all of it has been by HIS side. Immediately looking to HIM when he enters the room but never taking her gaze away from him when it's Kalim who comes in. Generally just spending way too much time with Jamil for her to have any chance at trying to make Kalim like her.

And in a moment of impulse, he embraces her, then says 'you're telling me I could just have done this that whole time?!' and he feels her shyly nod in his embrace. He just sighs, and tightens his arms around her.

And then he feels incredibly stupid, not realizing the person he thought his feelings for were unrequited had felt the exact same way all along and wasn't even trying that hard to hide it.

Idisle

Hades & Persephone for sure

Except 'Persephone' shows up to tell Hades his business' branding fckn SUCKS, and Persephone's gonna fix it for him and Persephone just lives there now??? Hades wants Persephone to LEAVE but Persephone refuses

@mishig for Spineige!

And @babyghoul138 for VeronicAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—

[autisticrosewilson]

WE HAVENT BROUGHT RENA INTO THE LGCU (loser Grant cinematic universe bc we have like five aus now)

:)

Jason is acting weird. Everyone can see it, even people who don't know him as well as she does. He's jittery, restless in a way he never is in English class. She hasn't seen him act this strange since Mr. Napier made him stay after class, all those months ago.

It's a different kind of strange though. Last time, he pushed people away, monosylable responses where he's usually the most vocal, weeks worth of texts left on seen or delivered. Now he's...

Grant is with him, again. The Kane boy always seems to be with him these days. Attached at the hip when he used to trail Jason like a shadow. They're sitting at a table by themselves, knees pressed together, faces close as they whisper to each other. At the table behind them sandwiched between Jason's old friends is Eddie, deaf to whatever Zachary is monologuing about, staring at Jason like a kicked puppy. The spot always reserved for Jason is empty. A few tables ahead, Grayson sits across from Donna, but he isn't listening to a word she says, busy as he is glaring down Grant. The older Kane is gripping his arm tightly, clearly willing the sports captain not to storm over there.

Rena has had enough. And because she's such a good friend, she's going to put a stop to this nonsense. She marches over and slams her tray down on the table beside Jason, practically at the same moment a girl she only vaguely knows from rumors and gossip slips silently from the gaggle of people around them to sit next to Grant. They make eye contact, and though Rena doesn't even know her name, they come to an understanding in a fraction of a second. Rena nods and the older girl nods back, and then they get down to business.

"Jason." She keeps her tone even but firm, leaving no wiggle room for Jason to try to escape.

Jason winces, all the indication she needs that he's guilty and he knows it, and swallows thickly. "Rena." He greets, begrudgingly.

"Jade." Grant grunts, impatient and irritated, all traces of Jason's adoring new organ scrubbed clean.

Jade sniffs, eyebrow raised. "Grant." Clipped and somehow dripping with reproach.

It's quiet for a moment, all of them waiting for someone else to speak up, to explain or question or scold or defend.

Rena clears her throat. "You've been acting weird. Why?" She gets straight to the point.

"I-"

"He-"

Jason is cut off with a sharp, warning look. Jade, less forgiving, has slapped her hand over Grant's mouth to stop whatever white knight crusade he was about to embark on.

"Don't insult my intelligence Jason. You're not as good of an actor as you like to think you are." She crosses her arms.

Something blank and a little mean passes over Jason's face, Something that leaves a bitter taste in her mouth. She doesn't like how it makes her doubt her words.

Jason sighs, runs his hands through his already messy curls. "Me and Grant are dating." He says finally.

Rena blinks at him, unamused. "Yes, I gathered that. What else?" She prods him.

"What do you mean what else," he frowns, "I have a boyfriend, my first boyfriend. That's not a reason for a behavior switch?"

Now she double takes, completely caught off guard. "You and Eddie weren't dating?!" She asks, just a little too loud. She's uncomfortably aware of Eddie's gaze on her back.

Jason glances around in a panic, shushing her aggressively. "Will you keep your voice down?" He hisses. "And no, of course not. Why would you think that?" He asks, like it's completely upsurd for him to have been dating the boy he spent every waking moment talking to or about, a boy whose schedule was - until this week - carefully taped on the inner cover of Jason's binder. It was color coded, for God's sake. If she looked, she's almost positive she'd find it replaced with Grant's. The thought makes her nauseous.

"Why wouldn't you guys be dating?" She retorts, feeling distinctly as though the rug has been pulled out from her.

And then, just to punch her in the gut, Jade cuts her off impatiently. "That's nice. Where's Mr. Napier?"

Rena doesn't get it. What the hell does the anatomy/drama teacher have to do with whatever romcom plot Jason is living out? But Jason tenses and Grant's already cold expression becomes arctic.

Grant muffles something behind her hand, still firmly clamped over his mouth, but she stares Jason down without sparing him a glance.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Jason tells her, something scared and angry in his eyes.

Rena doesn't believe him. Dread pools in her stomach as she realizes exactly how long Mr. Napier has been missing. She's never liked the look in Grant's eyes, something dark and seething coiled behind his blank stare. She quickly grows to hate how it's reflected in Jason's.

Later, she'll excuse herself for bed early when they hear on the news that Mr. Napier is officially considered a missing person. She'll stare at her phone for hours, wondering if she should call in a tip. Two weeks later when the police come to ask the staff and kids questions, she will have made a decision.

She stays quiet.

[doomed-era]

for that ship ask game: mipha x link and midna x zelda?

YAYYY I love miphlink and midzel!!!

ok this is a long one so yay we get a cut.

Mipha/Link:

yeeeesss I think these two are cute as hell. I think there's some exploration to be had with their relationship being explicitly romantic. enough that i've written a fic about them, so. yeah I like it. I don't remember exactly when I got into it, it's been in the back of my mind for a long time since I've always liked Mipha. sidon saying Link looks upset after the Mipha memory still gets me

As for why I like them? I've gone over how I interpret Mipha's character a couple of times before but I'll try to sum it up: Mipha and Link are frightfully similar characters in more ways than one. They are quiet warriors who are willing to sacrifice everything for Hyrule (and, in a way, the status quo), and are treated as larger-than-life heroes before and after their deaths. It's difficult to know what they thought about this, because not only do they not talk about their motivations, Breath of the Wild doesn't really want to dwell on them and instead is happy to just see them as their roles. Link is the brave knight who is faithful to his duty and royalty (barf), and Mipha is the. girl version of this which is basically saying she's treated as saintly and passive and self-sacrificial (barf). I want something better for them!! grabs them both like this!!!

WITH ALL THAT ASIDE. I think the whole unrequited love thing Mipha has going with Link is boring unless Mipha and Link's psyches are explored respectfully (heaven knows Some People think she's better off dead and "lustful and creepy." somehow???? putting them in a relationship filters out a lot of that sentiment/I think pining like that can get obnoxious if it's stretched out.) so. I prefer them being in a relationship and exploring how that affects them. because BOY do I think it would. their similar natures would absolutely make their lives hard because they are AWFUL communicators and are constantly throwing themselves in front of each other. mipha keeps trying to figure out what link's doing and what happened to him while. not actually saying this sentiment out loud. and link's just in knight mode, being his. knightly selfless self while that's not what mipha wants! she KNOWS it's just a facade! meanwhile she's trying to keep up her OWN facade of unconditional gentleness while also being under so much pressure and not wanting to have anyone to lean on because everyone ELSE is under pressure too and link won't confide in her because vulnerability is for suckers and mid-afternoon snacktime. YIPPEEEEEEEE!!!! maybe in a better world they'd figure that out. in a world that accepted them for who they are instead of forcing them to perform. in a world that allowed them to be selfish. and maybe, together, they can learn to be selfish for each other.

also I think sidon being link's brother in law is funny

hot take mipha isn't creepy for liking link now that he's older it's like an aragorn/arwen thing. I understand that it's kind of unusual for someone to think that way about a childhood friend, but I don't think it's morally wrong. leave her alone for god's sake the amount of hate i've seen in the miphlink tag makes my blood boil. I've read fics treating her like some sort of byword. you don't have to like her, and criticizing a female character is okay. mipha's writing isn't the greatest (I mean, no female character in BOTW/TOTK is really written adequately, especially if they get slotted into a love interest role) but I think you all are just being sexist and trying to convince yourselves you're morally correct for it by covering it up with puritanism. you're not slick.

OKAY. SORRY FOR THE TEXTWALL LMAO

Midna/Zelda:

OH I SHIP THEM BABEY!!!! mostly bc of some lovely art I've seen on tumblr and rotating the "your heart and mine were one" line in my head (I am paraphrasing i don't think that's the actual line but MIDNAS FACE WHEN ZELDA SAID THAT. AUGH) also their general familiarity with each other/Midna's quips towards her.

why I ship them? uhh well as mentioned. the lines/their chemistry although not really dwelt upon is good. and also I like both of them a lot and TP Zelda is a lesbian midna is bisexual 100% ok byebye

hot takes? idk I really don't have any. I just kinda like them they're pretty

[journey-to-the-attic]

3rd anni req 17: [DRAGON AU] twins, newspaper club / rescuers

ao3 link

note: requested by @innocent-beano! i got kind of sidetracked/carried away bc i was thinking recently about these other characters' stories in this au, so this might not be 100% what i was meant to do... hopefully i still got a bit of that big dog energy for beel you wanted?

∎ ∎ ∎ ∎ ∎

“Look at this guy! Doesn’t he look like you?”

Beel leans very, very far down and sniffs at the lizard perched over my knuckles. A strange look comes over his face, and I quickly snatch my hand away before he can attempt to swallow it.

Belphie wanders out of the bushes with a low grumble, then shakes himself and ducks down to face me. There’s a tail hanging out of his mouth that I can’t quite identify, but I’d rather not ask, or else he’ll drop it half-eaten at my feet.

“Anything good?” I ask him, helping him pick some spiky berries out of his crest. He snorts, then tips his head back and swallows whatever poor critter he’s caught. “At least you had a snack.”

He grinds his teeth, then turns and clomps off in search of something with a little more substance. I crouch down and gently tip the lizard back into the undergrowth - with a little persuasion, it soon scampers off.

Beel watches it leave with an air of clear gloom. I pat his snout apologetically.

“You’ll catch something better soon,” I tell him as he huffs. “You don’t even like lizard. Actually, do you think that’d be cannibalism?”

He gazes back at me. His big purple eyes are somehow both dizzyingly deep and completely devoid of thought. “...you don’t know what that is.”

“—OFF—”

“...do you hear something?” I ask after a moment, turning to the side. Something buzzes past my nose. “Whoa—”

“—ARGH!”

Beel jumps to his feet so quickly that his claws leave deep grooves in the dirt. A moment later, Belphie comes cannoning back out of the forest, and immediately starts nosing anxiously at my feet.

“Guys,” I say, a little exasperated. “That wasn’t me.”

Belphie blinks up at me, then exhales and quickly sits up straight again. Beel still looks anxious.

I listen hard for a moment. Sure enough…

“—DAMN DOG—!”

Same voice as before - it sounds like it’s coming from the overhang corridor. Lucifer keeps watch there sometimes, but even if he is there, I’m not entirely sure he’d bother trying to help.

“Let’s go check it out,” I announce, seizing one of Beel’s horns and hauling myself up onto his back. “It sounds like someone’s in trouble.”

“Oh, for— GET OUT OF HERE!” hollers a suit of armour - a knight? - as Beel grinds to a halt in the middle of the road. “We have got ENOUGH TO BE DEALING WITH! I am NOT FIGHTING DRAGONS TODAY!”

“Hey, hey, it's alright,” I call, and pause to give him a pat on the back before sliding down his side. “He’s not going to eat you.”

Belphie chooses that moment to drop out of the air and land directly behind me. I’d half expected him to go flapping off back home at the idea of having to get involved in an altercation. “...he won’t, either.”

The knight stares at me blankly. Somehow, despite having their entire face obscured by the helmet, they manage to look completely bewildered.

A split second later, the person beneath the helmet abruptly tears it off, and squints at me in disbelief. “You’re a baby!”

“I’m fifteen,” I say, stung, then pause and look around. Apart from the knight and the three friends they’re still determinedly shielding with their arm (don't knights usually have swords?), there’s nothing else here. “...was that you screaming?”

“Wasn’t screaming,” She says, suddenly evasive, and rubs a little self-consciously at a deep scar across her cheek. “Anyway, love to chat, but we don’t have time for this—”

Belphie - who’s been sniffing curiously at the air - growls softly and nudges my arm. I blink. “...someone’s bleeding.”

“Sorry,” says one of the knight's companions dryly - the one with pink hair and an easy smile, despite the substantial wound in his leg. “Would you like me to stop?”

It’s not an enormous injury, but it’s worrying nonetheless. It looks like something bit him, actually. “What happened?”

The group of four exchanges a look.

“...well, they’re dragons, so…”

“Still, you never know….”

“Oh, come on, as if—”

A woman in a cloak steps out from behind the knight. An odd shiver runs down my spine as I meet her brilliant green eyes. “I’ll keep it short. Mephisto here just got bit by a Huntsman hound, so we’re fairly sure the troops’ll be here any minute to execute us, or whatever it is the king pays them to do—”

“Huntsman?” I repeat. Last I checked, they didn’t go after innocent civilians. Have we walked into something dangerous? “What did—”

“Stolen valour,” She says, then points to the not-knight, apparently. “That’s not Alecto’s armour.”

“It’s not my fault,” Alecto grumbles. “I literally can’t take it off. They ought to have clearance for curses, right?”

“Wouldn’t be the first thing they haven’t thought of,” mutters the last man, adjusting his glasses. Something glints from just beneath his shirt collar as he shifts.

“We really don’t have time for explanations right now,” The cloaked lady interjects, shooting them both a rather testy look. “Best we all get out of here as fast as possible, or—”

She stops dead. Belphie lifts his head with a snarl. There are people coming from below the mountain - people with a lot of equipment. They’ll be here within ten minutes if we’re not careful. It's probably nothing the dragons can't handle, but under the circumstances....

“Get on Beel’s back,” I say suddenly.

“What?”

“Get on his back,” I say, more severely this time, and pat his side until he lowers himself to the ground. “We’ll get up in the sky and distract them. He’ll take you somewhere more hidden. It’s getting dark - you’ll have good cover.”

“That’s an awful idea,” says the lady, but Alecto is already ushering her over.

“We don’t have any other options, do we?” asks the pink-haired man, limping after her. “Hey - Astaroth. Don’t tell me you're staying behind.”

Astaroth - the one with glasses - purses his mouth, then clicks his tongue. I catch his eyes flickering analytically over the dragons, and feel myself tense a little.

After a moment, he starts, “My crutches…”

That’s what you’re worried about?? I sigh and give Beel another pat to get him to stay still. He’s starting to shift restlessly on his claws. “Just take them with you. Beel can handle it.”

“No guarantee this’ll work, you know,” says Alecto, despite the fact that she’s now helping shove Astaroth up Beel’s flank as well.

“I don’t have any other ideas." I watch as she snaps the helmet back over her head. “Besides - if they see a dragon, they have to go after it. It's basically what they do.”

“Let’s hope you’re right,” She replies, then hauls herself up as well. “You sure your buddy here won’t eat us?”

“He doesn’t like the taste of metal— ahem, Beel.” I tap him on the nose, and he quickly turns around from sniffing hopefully at the lady’s cloak. “You’re lucky it’s him, ‘cause Mammon does.”

“There’s another one? You know more dragons?”

“Yeah, but don’t worry about that right now—” I pause. “—um, what’s your name, miss?”

“Just call me Wiz,” She says with a twinkle. Despite (presumably) having never ridden a dragon before, she’s already made herself comfortable.

“I’m Mephisto,” adds the pink-haired man with a dramatic drawl. “If anyone cares. I hope you don’t mind, by the way, but I’m bleeding all over your friend here.”

I open my mouth to respond, then finally realise just how loud the pursuit is getting. “...and I think their hounds are leading them straight to it. Hold extra tight - Beel, let’s go!”

For the briefest of moments, I’m afraid he’ll just sit down again - but Beel snaps straight to action, and thunders up the overpass, digging his claws deep into the mountain to clamber up the sheer face. A shower of rocks tumbles down the pathway, and the sound of footsteps grows louder.

At the same time, without prompting, Belphie ducks down and uses his snout to smoothly flip me onto his back, then kicks off the ground and into the air. The huntsmen are visible as soon as he does, and all eyes turn to us as he climbs towards the clouds.

Their faces are about evenly split between the bewilderment of someone whose payslip doesn’t cover for targets of this degree, and the sharp focus of someone whose payslip most certainly does. Those are the ones move in with almost choreographed efficiency, pointing all manner of weapons up at us, and Belphie rears back in preparation.

But then the white-haired man at the forefront - the one in the captain's badge - throws out an arm, and gestures further up the overpass, holding tight onto the leash of a hound straining to sprint up the ridge that Beel just scaled. As he speaks, though, he meets my eyes, and it seems to stop him in his tracks.

Belphie doesn’t wait for an instruction. He falls upon the moment of weakness as instinct declares, and dives down before it can pass.

The sheer force of the air as he drops pushes me flat against his back. As I attempt to regain my bearings, his claws close around a man at the back of the group - snarling, Belphie swerves up again and throws him, struggling, down into the rocks again. He lands with a horrible thud, unmoving, and he trills as if in victory.

I duck into the fur at the base of his neck as a great roar rises from the men below. This time, they ignore the captain’s orders. There's a hail of darts - some kind of great flaming contraption - spears, a net weighed down by rocks - some of which Belphie only just evades. He guides them in almost a dance, always flying just a little bit more out of reach, forcing them to follow along with his game of tag.

He climbs higher, higher still into the sky, only to dip down again; closer each time, circling like a taunting vulture. He folds his wings in, a cold chill expanding and blossoming as if from his core - and as he makes another ascent, suddenly, I make eye contact with another of the hunters below.

I look into the pale face of a boy who can barely be any older than me - blue eyes narrowed in terrified concentration, drawing back the string of a bow. Before I can finish wondering what on earth he’s doing with the Huntsmen, something hits me in the chest, and the entire sky turns sideways.

Belphie screeches, and it’s only once I take in his silhouette above me that I realise I’m not on his back anymore. The entire rocky mountains and dark forest open up from below, as if to swallow me whole.

Two things happen in very quick succession. Belphie roars - properly, fully roars - and it feels like the atmosphere itself freezes solid, if only for a moment. Then I land on soft fur, and he shoots off into the horizon, leaving behind a vast expanse of white ice.

I don’t look back to see what became of the Huntsmen, or the boy who fired the arrow. Mostly, I’m focused on the arrow itself.

“Shit!” I hear someone exclaim nearly as soon as Belphie touches ground. “I knew there weren’t enough of ‘em after us!”

A cold hand catches me by the arms and attempts to pull me off his back. Belphie snaps at them. “Hey— easy. We’re trying to help.”

“Hello,” I mumble absently as Astaroth - balancing himself on a crutch with one arm, and supporting me with the other - peers into my face. “Where are we?”

“Hell if I know. Somewhere in the forest, I guess.”

That makes sense. There’s a tree over there. “You get here okay?”

He grimaces. “About as okay as we can be.”

I lift my head, then pause. There’s an arrow sticking out of the eye-slit in Alecto’s helmet.

“I know,” She says with a loud sigh. “I think it’s stupid, too.”

I was more worried about her potentially getting shot in the eye, but she seems in decent spirits. She darts forward to help Astaroth lower me to the ground. Isn’t she going to do anything about it?

Belphie lets out a low whine and puffs a blast of cold air into my face, as if to keep me awake. I give his snout an appreciative rub. “...I’m alright, Belphie.”

“So you really did give them names,” says Alecto with a small grin.

“Well, they already had names. They just told me.”

“...you can talk to them?”

“Sort of. Well, not really. But we get each other anyway.” Belphie chooses that moment to release a long, grumbling sigh. “...Belphie’s telling me off for getting shot.”

“We should really do something about that,” Astaroth says, eyeing the arrow.

“It doesn’t hurt that much, actually. If I just don’t look at it…”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” He replies. “That probably just means it’s got venom on the tip. Come on— Mephisto’s building a fire.”

‘Setting random bits of the undergrowth on fire’ seems to be a more apt description for whatever he’s doing when we push through to the little clearing ahead. Beel, watching him with rapt fascination, turns around quickly as Belphie pushes out of the bushes first, wearing the dragon equivalent of a toothy grin. Then he spots me and immediately deflates.

Belphie slinks over to the dark side and the clearing and firmly sits down, tucking his legs beneath himself and setting his head on the ground. His fur flops over his eyes, as if he’s sulking - he only responds with a quiet grumble when Beel attempts to nudge him for answers.

“Goodness,” says Wiz, though she doesn’t actually look that surprised. “I was hoping you’d gotten away. They must’ve split up…”

Beel is circling anxiously around me, and he keeps putting out Mephisto’s fires with each apprehensive sweep of his tail. He opens his mouth as if to snap at the arrow - attempting to get rid of it the only way he knows how - but ultimately can only sit down again, staring at me mournfully.

“It’s fine, Beel,” I assure him. “It doesn’t even hurt much.”

“Yes, the panic will do that to you,” Wiz says a little wryly, gently forces me to sit down, and forms a triangle around the arrow shaft with her hands. “Hold your breath.”

“What? Ow!” The arrow seems to come out cleanly of its own accord. I stare down at the hole in my clothes in bewilderment, then finally notice the odd shimmer at Wiz’s fingertips. “Oh.”

“Oh?” She repeats without looking up, making a motion as if stitching something up. The wound closes before my eyes. “There you are, sweetheart. You’re lucky it didn’t hit anything vital - whoever shot that arrow wasn’t very strong.”

Mephisto, evidently defeated by Beel's flame-quenching tail, finally gives up and sets about building an actual campfire in the middle of the clearing. I catch Belphie peeking at him from beneath his fur as he does. I'm a little jealous of how good Mephisto seems to be at coaxing sparks from rocks.

“You did check for venom, right?” Astaroth asks Wiz. “They use some real nasty mixes, you know.”

“Nothing I couldn’t dilute.” She pats me on the head with a smile and lets me lean back against Beel. “You might get a bit of a fever in a few days, but you should be right as rain after that.”

“...so you’re a witch?” I ask a little nervously. I feel like I should be more surprised, but I guess hanging out with dragons kind of numbs your reaction to these things. “That’s why you were…”

“You didn’t really believe the stolen valour thing, did you?” asks Alecto. “Nah, we're on the run for a lot of things - but not that. Best you don’t know any details, though…”

She seems to spot a question in my eyes. “...I wasn’t lying about the curse, though. I literally can’t take the armour off.”

“For now,” Wiz murmurs, a dark look on her face, then gestures for Alecto to come closer. “Come on, love. Need me to sort that out?”

“Thought you’d never ask,” Alecto declares, and yanks the arrow out of the eye-slit, then sweeps off her helmet to reveal a grin. I flinch a little. The arrow did get her in the eye, and it looks just about as bad as I could've expected it to.

She catches the look on my face again and shoots me a thumbs up. “No worries, tiny. I don’t feel it. Literally.”

“You’re all working me overtime,” Wiz sighs, cradling Alecto’s face tenderly as the magic does its work. “Watch, Roth's going to have a secret scrape somewhere, too.”

I watch her work, unable to look away as the muscle and skin repairs itself before my eyes. If this is what the village people thought I was capable of… maybe I should’ve been a bit more flattered when they tried to burn me. I have so many more questions about what she can do. For something there’s so much fear mongering about, I really don’t know that much about witches.

Meanwhile, across the campfire, Astaroth snorts. “Don't have anything magic can heal, no.”

“You could’ve mended my pants while you were there,” Mephisto sniffs, lifting his leg and gesturing at the very conspicuous chunk missing. The ragged edges are coated in dried blood. “Look at the state of me!”

“We’ll get you new pants when we find a merchant who doesn't want to kill you,” Alecto says, then glances at me. “Where do you live, tiny?”

“Hm? Oh…” I gesture up at Beel, who’s still watching me worriedly. “With the dragons.”

“So the rumours did hold water after all,” Mephisto comments. “There really is a little girl communing with the sky-lizards.”

I look at him for a moment. There’s something almost calculating about his eyes; the sun is setting in earnest now, and in the dark they look more blue than purple. Briefly, his shadow seems to warp into otherworldly shapes on the grass behind him.

“Don’t call me that,” I say shortly. “And they’re not all sky-lizards. Beel doesn’t have wings.”

His eyebrows lift a little. After a moment, his expression softens. “...sorry. Well, we’ll be on our way after tonight. You could always go home now - you should really rest up.”

“No way. The forest’s dangerous,” I refute. “Beel and Belphie can protect us."

"...well, we'd better find something to do before bed." He digs around for a moment, then abruptly conjures a pack of cards from the front of his shirt. "Ever played old maid?"

It's only one night, I reason with myself as the dark creeps across the forest in earnest. They won't miss us too much. Unless Lucifer spots the ice sheet. Which he probably will, actually. But I think he'd actually explode if he realised what happened...

…this all feels weird. I feel like we’ve started something a lot bigger than this.

[fatuismooches]

a girl i liked likes someone else and i mayyy or may not have subjected myself to listening to her talk abt it bc she asked…HAPPY NEW YEAR, SMOOCHIESSSSS!! bc yk who wouldn’t like someone else and then make me beta read a poem they want to send?? MY DEAR HUSBAND PANTALONE <33

insanity he would write reader LETTERS all in the nicest cursive. but imagine when they were much younger, when his writing was less pretty and more chicken scratch. barely knew how to write, but he still wanted to send you personalized letters when you were working too hard. maybe his writing over the years has evolved, both the words he used and the way his handwriting slowly became more refined- the content has not.

(he gets a lil golden box for all of the letters he has been sent back for sure)

YK WHO ELSE WOULDNT MAKE ME DO THAT…MY MAN..CAPITANO ❤️ (he’s my husband and HE KNOWS IT). sure hes the captain of the entirety of the fatui, sure he’s fought in wars and won fights of grandeur. will he happily lift reader up to get a small jar at the back of the cupboards? YES. will he slightly remove his helmet only to give reader a kiss (probably two)? yesyesyes. him on one knee like a knight, promising to forever protect reader? uhm! yes!

- 💌 anon

(x, x) <- (Funnily enough I have some posts similar to this.) AND YES, HAPPY (LATE) NEW YEARS DEAR 💌 ANON! I hope your year gets better though, I'm really sorry that happened to you :( *hugs you tightly*

Pantalone's handwriting when he was younger was definitely nothing special... struggling through poverty, he was barely learning how to write. You would still read through his letters with his less than elegant handwriting of course, because it was from your friend who put in all this effort for you. But that wasn't enough for him, even at a young age he'd decided that you should be awarded only the best, as he already made up his mind to pay you back for everything you helped him with.

So as the years went by, he studied and practiced improving his handwriting, writing whenever he had the time to. Not just for himself and his goals, but for you too. Countless drafts not making the cut because he wanted the best perfection he could achieve at the time to be viewed by you. Picking up on the language from a multitude of books so he could portray your beauty and his love for you in a proper manner which you deserve.

(He keeps the box in his office so he can reread your letters when he needs a break... one could see how old the paper is, spanning from literally decades back, but he still keeps it in as pristine condition as he can.)

After Capitano begins to get over his fear of hurting you, he's the kind of guy who'd be a bit sad and disappointed you pulled a chair to get something instead of asking him... he definitely loves when you rely on him! Capitano may not be good at a lot of "normal" things, but he's always willing to help you. He probably makes you close your eyes when he takes off his helmet to kiss you... despite how much he loves you, it's still going to be a long road to see if he can be vulnerable enough to reveal his true self. But even so, he swears to forever be yours.

[teddybeartoji]

MICKEY'S SELFSHIP STATISTICS: ALTERNATE WORLDS

▹ miji - detective au; he's the grumpy and older, more experienced one and i am the weird new guy who manages to surprise everybody with my skills (i am autistic)

▹ mitoru - con-artists au; aka idiots in crime. we keep fucking each other over but there are no hard feelings other than the lovesick ones. i hate to admit that we do work really well together though......... but we're not partners. we are not. we're not. (he disagrees)

▹ mizai - office au; he doesn't seem to be working ever, just constantly bugging his coworkers instead of actually sitting down to do anything. he's also blatantly following me around the building; if i go to the cafe, he's in the cafe. if i go to the printer room, he's suddenly now in the printer room. he's really annoying and when i realized that i might have a crush on him i actually just slapped myself.

▹ misu - apocalypse au; please don't make me go into detail abt this i don't think it'll end well.

▹ mikuna - pirate au; he's the captain and i sneak on board his ship and just pretend that i've been there the whole time. of course he notices right away, but he doesn't say anything bc he's a little shit like that. gives me some gnarly tasks just to try and push my buttons, he wants to see for how long i'll keep this up before trying to just jump ship the next time we board but i never do. he has an eyepatch. i fear that i am his main entertainment there.

▹ michuu - bodyguard au; he's just trying to do his job but ever since i found out that he blushes kind of easily, i haven't stopped trying to make it happen over and over again. he's really sweet though. i think he likes me<3

▹ mihime - royalty au; the princess and her devoted knight. a brat and her loyal dog. but she's very easy to tease and she gets really easily flustered aswell and i just love love love her cute little angry face. it's very obvious that she has a crush on me:333

▹ misho - partners in crime au; but the crimes are way more serious than mitoru's theft and robbery:33333 let's just say we get our hands dirty a lot, yeah? (something ghostface duo something something)

▹ miwa - volleyball rivals to lovers au; he underestimates my darling smile and gets his ass beat in a match and he's not the same after that. plans for a death rematch but then finds himself getting pushed against the wall in between games with me inches away from his flushed face. (he is a loser)(i will make him my boyfriend)

▹ miten - strangers stuck in a lift together au; this is not an actual au i realize but i am still going to call it that nonetheless. it's only the two of us in there and we're both trying to act very cool bc the other person is so good-looking and so neither of us want to embarrass ourselves. but we are in there for like literal hours and so by the end of it we're making jokes about dying then and there and it's just the perfect way for us to bond, yk? he asks for my number when we finally get out (he stutters just a little).

▹ miromi - meet-ugly au; another one that's not really an au but just a trope buuut fuck it we ball. we run into each other at the grocery store and he drops his carton of eggs all over the floor (and me). and this happens more than once. one time i dropped a can of soda and it just exploded fucking all over the place. oh and btw we both always clean it up ourselves, so now just imagine this tired looking guy in a full suit mopping up soda alongside with a tired looking guy in hello kitty pants. it's uhh.. very romantic<3

[forensic-b1tch-aiden]

could you please tell me about your ocs please?

gdhkfhfkdjfj YES I CAN

they’re from a medieval magical world btw

well first we have odelia shepherd who is a witch and had dark tan skin and black hair and dark brown eyes and is omniromantic asexual and goes by she/her. She grew up super poor and her mother was the royal gardener so she made friends with the prince and princess (who I’ll talk about soon) but when she discovered her magical talents, her mother shunned her and she was banished. When she turned 16, she returned to the kingdom, no one recognising her, and she placed curses on random people and basically caused a lot of chaos (she had a lot of fun)

then she meets Emma Palace, a bounty hunter who had been after her for some time. Emma is aroace and nonbinary and goes by they/them pronouns. They have red firey straight long hair that they keep in a long braid at all times, piercing blue eyes, and pale freckled skin. They and Odelia eventually team up bc they both hate the royal family and they come up with a plan to destroy them.

but when sneaking into the castle, odelia gets caught by the young king, Luca Knight, who has white short curls, pale skin, green eyes, and is gay and goes by he/him pronouns. He instantly recognises her and asks her why she has been doing what she’s been doing. Idk what happens after that but yeah. I also wanna give him a lover but it’s hard coming up with characters sometimes.

he eventually tells odelia about his twin sister, Luna Knight, who had tan away at a young age but everyone though she was kidnapped. She looks exactly like her brother except has very long hair and has one green eye and one hazel eye, and they’re pansexual and go by she/they pronouns.

and that’s all I’ve got so far :)

thank you for asking about them

[nobodypunk]

Do you think Yuki truly loved both Kaname and zero , cause she was satisfied with zero's blood but with Kaname's blood her thirst wasn't entirely quenched ?

A Vampire Knight ask in MY inbox?? *Debby Ryan hair tuck* (Thank you I've literally been dying to talk about VK at any given moment)

So I think that Yuuki loved them both, yes. But if we're talking "True Love" I think it's a lot more nuanced than that. (I'm also going to ignore the FAMILIAL dynamics in this rant bc we already know)

Let's talk about Yuuki's relationship with Kaname:

Kaname saving Yuuki from a "bad vampire" is her first human memory. He visits on occasion and is nothing but kind, caring, if not distant towards Yuuki. Yuuki finds herself seeking out his attention and looking forward to seeing him as it's a rare treat. She has only ever known since she was small that he will a) protect her , b) be kind to her, and c) he's "not like other vampires" because he is her savior. The only identifier of his vampirism she has as a child is his fangs, other than that seemingly nothing else about him is like a vampire.

In middle school, she accidentally sees Kaname feeding on Ruka and this challenges her opinion of him "not being like other vampires". She's introduced to the reality that a) Kaname is a vampire, and b) that she does not truly know him. Much like realizing that though our parents may have raised us, though we have known people all our juvenile lives, it doesn't mean we know everything about them and the intricacies of their character; That they are people, and not the objects of affection that we have placed on a pedestal.

After this realization, Yuuki puts distance between herself and Kaname, using "-sama" and treating him differently due to her anxieties around vampirism and her glorification of his saving her (in her mind, the only thing that separates him from not being the vampire that wishes to feed on her and cause her harm, the "bad vampire").

I feel as though much of Yuuki's feelings towards Kaname at the start of her time at Cross Academy are romanticized anxiety (she has feelings of anxiety and is uncomfortable around him, but those feelings are easily mistaken for feelings of "butterflies", excitement, or attraction). She has conflict within herself: being afraid of Kaname as a vampire, not knowing his true intentions and character, as opposed to her experience of being saved and his kindness towards her. And throughout the series of events at Cross Academy, because Kaname withholds the truth from her, lies to her, and consistently gaslights her, all she has keeping her afloat is faith that he has good intentions. That's not a true or healthy relationship because there is no trust or communication between them.

It isn't until after Yuuki is turned that truth is finally being obtained and Kaname comes clean about his actions for the past 10 years. They are able to build some intimacy between them. He finally shares his vulnerable past with her, as he views this as a chance for her to unconditionally accept him. However, Yuuki remains in conflict, because he has withheld the truth for so long, and she feels personally responsible for his suffering. When she suggests they start over as equals in the relationship, Kaname takes this as her ultimate rejection of him (though they have both consistently tried to bear one another's burdens).

Kaname then sets the stage for his self sabotage and plot to indiscriminately kill all purebloods and to do so he feels he must estrange Yuuki (and Adiou) from him in order to do so uninhibited.

Kaname betrays them (or appears to, even though I feel that's almost worst) and later Yuuki confronts him that she will never abandon him. Which I find to be one of the good examples of Yuuki's love. She will love him despite that which he has done, but she still believes in stopping his destruction and holding him accountable for what he's done.

Ultimately, Kaname tells her that when they were together she couldn't smile from her heart (the motif for true love), but she was the light of his life. He then sacrifices himself for the greater good (which conveniently absolves him of everything he did prior) and he remains a monolith looming over Yuuki's life.

I think Yuuki had great love for him but do I think it qualifies as "true love"? If things had been different, I think they could have had a successful relationship, but ultimately I find them deeply incompatible. Kaname is too depressed and has 10,000 years of firmly rooted self hatred to be capable of having a relationship, and Yuuki will never truly understand him and what he went through, and has immense guilt over it. Did they have love for each other? Absolutely. Did they have trust, open communication, and all that entails with a healthy relationship? Absolutely not. I don't think that either of them could provide the other with what they needed.

Let's talk about Yuuki's relationship with Zero:

Their relationship starts as Yuuki seeing Zero suffering and she decides to be his caretaker, soothing him and stopping his self harm. She recognizes his fear and pain and can sympathize with it. They build a friendship in which they are around each other constantly, and feel comfortable to tease one another, tutor and take notes for the other, and talk about serious topics. They have a friendship. (Which I feel like Kaname and Yuuki never had)

Zero is then revealed to be a vampire to Yuuki in the most literal way, a vampire who drinks her blood. Yuuki again has her reality shattered, but takes the blame for not noticing. She catches Zero trying to unalive himself and she takes responsibility for his life upon herself. And it isn't until later, she learns that Zero will inevitably become a Level E and be ended, that she thinks of the only possible solution: to sacrifice herself to prolong his life. For me this is the ultimate example of her love, that she would put her life on the line for his (especially with her fear and anxiety about vampires).

Yuuki then tries to make their "unforgiveable, forbidden acts" as pedestrian as possible, to put Zero at ease. Zero acknowledges her suffering and takes full responsibility for it. He opens up about his past to her, and she inserts herself into the Shizuka drama to try and save him again. Zero asks her "What am I to you?" because he has always known of her feelings for Kaname, and is confused why Yuuki would sacrifice herself time and time again if she didn't have love for him. When Yuuki tries to answer this for herself, she thinks about how she doesn't want him to disappear, she wants him to smile, and how she should be afraid of Zero but she can't look away.

Zero always encourages her not to pretend or hide her feelings, which is when she asks him if she would be stronger if she was a vampire because she's been feeling insecure about her lack of identity. She's afraid that expressing this fear to Zero has hurt him, and so she WILLS HERSELF TO REMEMBER HER PAST WHICH STARTS UNRAVELLING JURI'S SPELL ON HER.

In this period, Zero does nothing but support her and offer her solutions to find the truth about her past. He tells her that his life is hers, and that she is his priority and she can burden him with her thoughts and feelings, and she has every right to do so. He helps her confront Kaname on multiple occasions.

When Zero comes to check on Yuuki in one of her hallucinations, she admits that being Zero's caretaker was her own selfish way of giving herself identity, to help her compensate for having no memories and no family.

When Yuuki is turned, Zero is blinded by his hatred. They kill Rido together but Zero is in conflict with her. He confesses his feelings, and doesn't expect her to reciprocate, and asks if her worries are gone now that the has her memories. He then promises to kill her then next time he sees her. (Spoiler alert, he doesn't) Yuuki sobs as she doesn't want to be his enemy, realizes his feelings for her, and decides to lock away her feelings about him.

Every interaction they have after that, is stumbling, and awkward. She's admitted to Kaname that her thirst cannot be quenched by him alone, that she desires Zero as well.

When she reinstates the nightclass, she still worries about him but their relationship is different, and expresses a desire that things go back to the way they were between them. They say things like "treasure yourself more" to each other, Zero still shows he cares and his intentions are not to kill her, but he's struggling with his hatred. Then Zero finds out that Kaname has puppeteered him all along, and they team up against Kaname's murder spree.

Then we have the masquerade where they pretend not to know each other, and they share a kiss. Yuuki speculates that if they were both human, that would have been the normal course of action for them. Then she takes his memory because she plans to give up her life for Kaname to be human, and she can't bear the thought of Zero thirsting for her/grieving her. Kaname admits to her that Zero's love for her wasn't orchestrated by him (which both Zero and Yuuki were uncertain about). Zero remembers like two days later, and decides to accept her for who she is, to fight WITH Kaname against the vampire hoards because he loves Yuuki more than he hates Kaname.

After Kaname dies, Zero tells Yuuki that he'll always be there for her and to take her time. He is a surrogate father to Ai, and bloodshares with Yuuki, he is EXTREMELY patient with her and her anxieties around loving after Kaname, and their relationship overall is communicative, loving, and healthy. And Zero makes her smile from the bottom of her heart.

I think that they make mistakes with each other, they've had their pit falls but overcome them, they have an understanding of one another and they ultimately love and accept one another. I think that she was able to experience true, unconditional, romantic love with Zero. Her thirst may not have been quenched fully, but Zero gave a lot more than he took in the end (honesty, communication, reciprocation, etc) .

And she still had love for Kaname after he was gone. It was a love that colored her life. Even Zero acknowledges that the way Yuuki cares for him, was learned from Kaname. It's simultaneously sad and unfair, and beautiful and romantic. We are made up of our experiences, and love in toxic relationships isn't a fault, but toxic behaviour is.

Well anyway, that's my big long rant on that.

[andro-dino]

fuckin uh. zero g fantasy au. this has been brewing around in my head for a while and I’ve been meaning to draw it but I suck ass at designing and drawing fantasy outfits so I’m gonna share the thoughts I’ve had about it publicly in writing instead!!

Basically this all started when I was thinking about the sheer volume of zyronobu’s knight and princeisms and then I was like. what if they actually were a knight and a prince. ****epic autism explosion**** So essentially, Shinobu is a prince who is kinda bored and stuck doing basically nothing a lot of the time, just generally kinda cooped up in the palace. Zyro serves as his personal bodyguard, but is also kinda the head knight of the castle and has a lot of his own responsibilities, and the two of them are both crushing on each other SOOOOOO hard.

- one scenario I enjoy is Shinobu spending a lot of time on a particular balcony that overlooks the knights’ training area and he not-so-subtly frequently watches Zyro do his thing.

- In this au, Ren is also knight in training and takes a sort of apprentice/partner role with Zyro. There has been more than one occasion where Zyro has gotten distracted upon noticing Shinobu watching them/waving back to Shinobu while he and Ren are sparring and she gets really heated at him for not paying attention.

- Because they don’t really get to spend a lot of time together bc they have separate stuff going on, Shinobu ends up contriving a lot of reasons why he needs to go out and have Zyro accompany him. Zyro is entirely oblivious to Shinobu’s scheming but he is very happy every opportunity he gets.

For other thoughts I’ve had, Kite is like an alchemist/scholar and spends a lot of time in the castle library. Because he has nothing better to do, Shinobu also spends a lot of time in the castle library and bugs Kite. Kite hates this. One interaction I’ve had in my mind with them is kite being like “my prince, if you don’t mind me asking, WHY DO YOU KEEP COMING HERE AND BOTHERING ME????” and Shinobu’s like “because I have nothing better to do and you’re one of the only people on this palace who is willing to talk to me like that and treat me like a real person.” and kites just like. gfdi. He hates it (he really doesn’t but don’t tell him that he wouldn’t like it) (they’re besties don’t let them try to convince you otherwise).

I haven’t thought a ton abt eight and maru in this au but they are also there. Eight just hangs around kite per usual and perhaps causes mischief around the castle. Perhaps Madoka is a blacksmith who works closely with the royal family and Maru is her apprentice who hangs around the royal guard a lot.

There’s also a digivalen subplot because I will insert digivalen into any and every au I create. Kite one day goes out for supplies or whatever and encounters a mysterious traveling merchant. They present themself as any other merchant would, but kite can tell there’s something more too them. He senses that they may be a magic user, and a strong one at that, but he can’t get them to reveal anything to him. He’s intrigued though, and after their first interaction, kite just can’t stop thinking about her.

Another thought I’ve had with this au is how the main gang all kinda come together as an adventuring party. Shinobu once again asks Zyro to accompany him as he needs to go run some errands out in town, but Ren tags along, insisting Zyro’s been ditching her too much lately and she needs more experience. Kite also catches word of this, and since they’re gonna be out, insists upon tagging along so he may have an opportunity to meet with that merchant again, and eight naturally follows along wherever kite goes. Maru, seeing such an interesting group all together naturally tags along wherever her heart deems may be intriguing, and suddenly this is a whole group outing when Shinobu just wanted another excuse to go on a date with his cute knight.

The other og cast can also be here n there wherever you see fit. Benkei owns a popular local tavern in town, but he’s also a well renowned knight trainer. While Zyro serves as something of a captain of the guard, all of them, including him, answer to Benkei and he oversees all of their training and is their highest mentor. He’s also formally been a mentor to Kenta, the legendary knight of flame. Gingka too is a legendary knight, now on his own solo journey, and was originally the one to gift Zyro his sword and inspire him to become who he is now.

Tsubasa’s. probably around there somewhere. I guess king would fit as far as his role in the story goes but King Tsubasa just sounds wrong to me.

BUT WAIT, THERES MORE. Another subplot, because my favs are very special and get their own whole side story.

For many years across the land, there’s been a legend passed around, only heard about through rumors and hushed whispers. The details of it aren’t exactly clear, and the story is told differently by every person who tells it, but all anyone knows for sure is that there’s a dragon, a prince, a tower, and a curse.

Naturally, Takanosuke Shishiya, a scrappy young knight in training who’s looking for a mentor has taken from the legend that somewhere out there, there’s a prince who’s been cursed to reside in a tower guarded by a dragon, and he’s determined to rescue this prince in hopes of him potentially being able to help Takanosuke in his search for a mentor. You can imagine Takanosuke’s surprise when he believes he’s found the tower of the legend, only to find it with a giant hole blown through it, claw marks trailing down its sides with scorch marks around the destruction and in the land around it, which he notices create a path trailing beyond the tower.

Okay, perhaps a different adventure than Takanosuke had expected, but he still opts to follow the trail of burns in hopes of still finding the prince.

Eventually, he actually does, discovering Sakyo Kurayami, the cursed prince who as he declares, bears the curse of the jet black dragon. He is, as far as he knows, the only surviving member of his kingdom, as the curse overwhelmed everyone else, including his own family. The last person who was ever able to control the curse was the legendary dragon emperor, who no one knows the real fate of. Some say he died in battle, others say he just disappeared, but all anyone knows is that no one has seen or heard of him in years, and Sakyo has somehow inherited his blade. Now, Sakyo has set about on his own quest, trying to follow in the footsteps of the dragon emperor to try to learn how to control the curse (and maybe perhaps create his own future after a little more character development). Takanosuke insists upon tagging along with him, hoping the two can become stronger together, and while the adventure is off to a rocky start, fate always works in mysterious ways.