#and the fact that oc content get largely ignored just in general. since no one engages a lot with it

[galactaknightyaoi]

they need to invent an oc posting that isn't absolutely terrifying

[yamalegacy]

OVERLOAD & BUNNY GIRL

[ prologue ]

SUMMARY: A new small group of villains is spreading chaos all over Japan and no hero agency seem to know what to do about them — they are perfectly organized, always manage to escape arrest, never cause any casualties and its members remain impossible to identify. All heroes can do is wait for them to strike again and hope that they will be able to capture them. Convinced that she can do a better job than everyone else, a rising Pro, Rabbit Hero: Mirko, dives in head first into an investigation and realizes too late that she might be biting more than she can chew.

mirko x villain!female!oc

   Of all the popular spots in the city, there were few that she found more despicable than the Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall. Unnecessarily vast, stores spreading endlessly under her gaze, bright colors ready to blind anyone who stared too intently or for too long. And loud. It was so goddamn loud, no matter what time of the day she visited that cursed mall, it was always filled to the brim with obnoxiously loud people — the hustle and bustle of life had never been much of a bother to her, but there, stuck in a crowd that she could barely escape when tucked away in a corner, everything was too much.

In spite of all that, in spite of her boss knowing exactly how much she hated that place, he still sent her there for his ridiculous scouting mission. There was absolutely no point in scouting the place when it was so easy to find a map with every store on it, was there?

She let out a deep sigh and rubbed a hand over her eyes. If it were not for this tenuous task, she could have been home, settled comfortably under a heavy blanket to watch videos of superheroes getting their ass kicked, or compilations of the most awkward superhero moments in superhero history, on her phone. But she was stuck there instead, leaning against a pillar, desperately trying to avoid any sort of physical contact with those who passed too close to her.

"You look so stiff your attitude screams super-villain. Relax and live a little, Overload."

The grating voice came suddenly from her earpiece, making her wince. She could not resist the urge to press a hand to her ear, even though she knew it was useless to chase the noise away.

"Don't call me that," she whispered, not bothering to try to hide her annoyance. She had never felt the need to have a Villain name — she was not one of those people who needed to show with their fancy Quirk and their fancy code-name that bore little to no meaning. Obnoxious.

"Then relax and start looking like you at least aren't here against your will." Her partner's tone was teasing, once again a reminder to live a little. "People are staring. But maybe that's 'cause you're super hot."

Her only response was a groan. It was always like that between the two of them. He tried to tell her to not be so stiff, she complained, he tried to flirt, she ignored him for three days in a row. He was far from being a terrible person, not a constant buzzing annoyance, and his playful flirting could be quite amusing at times (but that much she could not bring herself to say out loud, as it would merely encourage him further). He was no good person either, though. Neither of them was. But that was the whole point, was it not?

She looked up at the floor above her, easily spotting his large figure in the crowd. He was leaning over the railing, watching her with too intense eyes, and all she wanted was to show him her middle fingers. But that was impossible. It would only bring attention to their connection, something they could not afford right now. Discretion was the whole point of their mission today. Observing without being noticed — why their boss would send both their tallest male and female members for such a task was beyond her.

So annoying and entirely useless if you asked her.

"Second store on your left. Big one. Looks like there'd be loads of cameras. Check it out."

Even from down there, she could see that he looked pleased with his suggestion. No matter what that store sold, she already knew that she would hate it and want to burn it to the ground. But she did not speak her mind. She simply hummed, took out her phone to pretend to check something, and made her way to the store that Boomboom had indicated.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," she muttered under her breath at the terrible sight that spread under her eyes like an endless nightmare.

It did not take more than two seconds for a loud laugh to echo in her ear, Boomboom much too happy about her reaction to try to hide his — even though he knew that he needed to be discreet and not bring attention to himself, he was laughing like an idiot. Too pleased with himself and the fact that he had guided her to a superhero merchandise store.

She was surrounded by capes, costumes, mugs, figures, posters, and various decorations that were brightly colored and shaped like the Quirk users that the common folk admired more than they ought to. That store was hell on earth, but she could not afford to run away now that she had stepped inside. She needed to spot every camera in the store, that was her mission. A mission that she hated with a burning passion.

So, instead of fleeing the scene as she wished she could, and escaping that nightmare of a vision, she walked around, pretending to examine the contents of the rows of shelves, picking up a mug here and there only to put in back down. She had to dodge several too excited children screaming about All Might and Kamui Woods and whatever other Pro Hero kids liked nowadays.

It was only when she approached the counter at the back of the store that she found something that piqued her interest. Protected by glass panels, stood a little exhibit of figures, statues, pins, and other memorabilia that she could not help but admire. There was a banner that rested above the shelf, white letters on a beautiful shade of muted red; ‘Heroes Of Our Childhood’ it read.

She knelt in front of the display, her eyes moving from one side of the lowest shelf to the other.

“You like vintage heroes, uh?”

The voice belonged an employee she had spotted when nearing the back of the store. He was not particularly tall or handsome, he was not particularly anything, really. A very plain looking man that she would not have even looked at, had it not been for her mission. He had a kind smile, though — a man who seemed like he could be trusted. But she did not trust anyone.

With a deep breath, she brought a hand up to her earpiece and disconnected it, refusing to let Boomboom hear any part of the conversation that was bound to follow.

“Why aren’t Locked & Loaded together?” she inquired, still too entranced by the display to look at the man.

“You know Locked & Loaded?”

There was a tint of admiration and excitement in the man’s voice, and finally, she looked away from the shelf. The man’s eyes were wide open in surprise, apparently caught off guard by her knowledge.

“We’ve had this display up for a bit over a week now, and nobody has ever noticed that Locked & Loaded are on opposite sides of the shelf,” the employee explained, kneeling by her side. “I had this idea that I would sell them at a reduced price to whoever realized that they belonged in a set, since I never expected that someone would recognize them.”

He scratched at the back of his head, the gesture almost bashful.

“Are you interested in buying them?” he asked, his voice barely containing his excitement. “I can do two-for-one, for someone like you.”

He looked her up and down, his eyes lingering just a second too long on the sliver of skin that peaked between her jeans and crop top. Ah. No matter how kind and trustworthy that man looked, he was one of those guys. She could not point it, could not make a scene, had no desire to bring any attention to herself right now, in the middle of a mission, so she merely shook her head at the offer and tried her best to give him a small smile.

“Regular price, please. The names of heroes like Locked & Loaded shouldn’t be tainted by reduced prices.”

What was she even saying? She should not be refusing such a generous offer when she barely made any money, should not be spewing such chivalrous nonsense about long gone Pro Heroes, but there she was, unable to stop herself from talking. It was a good thing that she had had enough sense to cut the connection with Boomboom, or she would have never heard the end of it — the man loved to tease her more than enough as it was, and he definitely did not need more reasons to keep teasing her.

“Wait for me at the counter while I get Locked & Loaded ready for you!”

She stood up, knees cracking inelegantly as she did, and made her way to the counter as the employee disappeared behind a door. The counter was just as obnoxious as the rest of the store, bright young heroes, and their bright costumes; pins, patches, and other small objects that nobody could possibly have a use for. There were tiny figures standing on the counter as well, far from the high quality and details of the statues she was about to buy. Her eyes landed on one that only appeared taller than the others because of the white bunny ears sprouting from its little head. Tan skin, fluffy ears and a body suit that did not cover any of the taut muscles of the female hero.

"Interested in Mirko?" the employee asked as he came back from the concealed room, large box under his arm.

"A bunny girl?" She blinked, unable to look away from the unexpected hero. "Is this what Pro Heroes have come to?"

The man laughed, "we can’t choose our Quirks, right? She's a rising Pro Hero. Really popular lately, super strong legs. She kicks villain butts!"

She only hummed at the words and finally looked away from the small figure. Bunny hero was weirdly cute, in a way. As cute as extremely muscular heroes in a tight and revealing body suit can be (not all that much, all in all).

The employee reached over the register to grab the small figure and placed it in the bag he had prepared, on top of the box that contained the statues that she was about to waste her money on. Why was she even buying them? It would bring her any sort of joy, would it? She had no idea where in her apartment there even would be room for them. What would she do with a mini bunny girl?

Probably sensing her confusion at the gesture, he spoke up.

“It’s a gift. I’m a fan of Mirko, and I was always a fan of Locked & Loaded, so I hope that one day, you’ll look at Mirko the way you looked at these Locked & Loaded statues.”

The smile he directed at her was soft, kind, genuine, but she could only arc an eyebrow at his words.

“I highly doubt I will ever look at any hero the way I looked at them.”

His smile remained. Obnoxious.

“You never know!”

Definitely obnoxious. People who thought they knew better were insufferable and exhausting to talk to — which was why she always avoided conversations with her boss so carefully.

Her money wasted, credit card back in her pocket, she headed out of the store, not without casting a last glance around the place, making sure that she had spotted every camera there. It was what she had gone inside for, after all, not to buy some Pro Hero merchandise. 

“Yo!”

She jumped, every muscle in her body tensing as she readied herself to throw a punch, but Boomboom’s large silhouette was casting a shadow over her, protecting her from the overbearing sun that would have otherwise undoubtedly hurt her eyes.

“You know it’s not good for us to be spotted together, right?”

He only shrugged. Under her questioning gaze, he finally tapped his ear.

“You disconnected. And Bossman said we should head back to HQ.”

Her lips formed a surprised little ‘o’ shape. She had turned off her earpiece to make sure that Boomboom would not hear her talk about superheroes to the employee of that stupid store.

When Boomboom’s eyes fell on the bag clasped in her hand, her grip on it only tightened, and she moved it behind her back, out of his sight, as if it would actually quench his curiosity.

“Whatcha got in there? Don’t you hate Pros more than Bossman does?”

She scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“I bought something so I wouldn’t look too suspicious after looking around for so long. It’s nothing interesting.”

Boomboom’s grin showed too many of his too white teeth. 

“Show me!”

“No.”

“Please?”

“No.”

“Show me or I’ll show myself.”

Boomboom was now frowning, and while she knew that he rarely was grumpy, she was too aware of his insatiably curious personality. She had never minded that particular trait of his; it made him cautious in general and a very good partner for missions, as he never hesitated to do research before going anywhere. But Boomboom also was much taller and had a lot more raw physical strength than she could ever dream to have. If he really wanted to take the bag from her, it would barely take him a minute.

“I’ll show you one thing?” her tone was unsure as she tried negotiation, but Boomboom still smiled, and she knew that it would be enough.

She fished the small bunny girl — no, Pro Hero — figure from the plastic bag and placed it in his large hand. He brought it closer to his face, pushing his sunglasses on top of his head to take a better look at it.

“Mirko the Rabbit Hero?” he questioned, seemingly confused, though he had clearly gotten the name right.

“Yes, bunny girl.”

Finally, he looked away from the small figure to look back at her.

“I didn’t expect her to be your type,” he said, almost too calmly, “but it makes sense. You do seem like you’d like them with abs and big biceps.”

“I look like I would like Pros with abs and big biceps?” It was her turn to be confused.

Boomboom shook his head. “Women. Not Pros.”

She gathered all the patience in her body to let out a sigh instead of unleashing her Quirk at full power in his face. Rather than give him the honor of reacting to his attempt at teasing her, she merely grabbed his arm and started to head for the exit of the cursed mall she had already spent too many hours in. At least it did not feel so bad with him right by her side — no matter how pleased with himself he looked. Boomboom was safe, he felt like home.

[emersonfreepress]

okay so is there content that you had planned for the ROs and story in general but then scrapped cause there wasn’t a good place in the story to stick it in? and if so, can you share what it was? 👀 👀 👀

yes, definitely. *rubs hands together* oh man, you done asked THE question today xD I can't wait to get into this 😁

Academics. I almost decided to have classes and grades be a minor part of gameplay, but the more time I spent designing it the more I realized I wanted nothing to do with it 😂 I haven’t really enjoyed academic gameplay in other interactive fiction because I 1) hate having to choose between studying and interacting with awesome characters, 2) have terrible short term memory, and 3) hate school in general!! So instead I just opted to have the MC be really good at school, point blank period so I could focus on social drama and relationships instead! 😆

Physical skills. I spent literal months crafting the catering scene around setting up stats for stamina/endurance, dexterity, and strength instead of just magnetism, confidence, and persuasion. They had their own backstories with the MC’s parents being overly invested sports parents instead and I think the background choices were like... martial arts, gymnastics, and track? But yeah, I ended up scrapping it all because I was spending hours on research about those individual sports so I could integrate them into the MC’s narrative organically but like... when I tried to think of what use they would be in the actual story, I came up blank. Best decision yet, esp since it means a lot less coding!

Skin tone customization. For one, I noticed that a lot of my favorite IFs don’t offer that customization and it hasn’t impacted my experience at all. For two, I originally realized I might as well not implement it since I am striving real hard not to introduce any customization that won’t actually be mentioned in interesting or meaningful ways in-story. I don’t think it’s really all that common for real life friends (esp in high school?) to comment or compliment each other’s skin and like... when it comes from someone who doesn’t share a similar complexion or ethnic background, that type of commentary gets... d i c e y. So then I wanted to be sensitive to that but what’s the pay-off? An RO mentioning how they love your skin tone once? Awkward sentences with the MC referring to their own skin color? Idk, just wasn’t vibing with it. I’m open to revisiting it in beta or something but for now it’s scrapped.

Singing, Rapping, and Gaming as Hobbies/Talents. I feel bad about scrapping these, honestly 😂 They’re great and I really wanted to incorporate them but it just came down to already having a lot of stuff to code. Plus, I know I can write the Hobbies/Talents I stuck with far better. And for Book 2 purposes, as well!

Leo. as @sourandflightypeaches ​​ asked me about a long while ago, I had to scrap an entire RO 😢 His name is Leo, he was the nephew of wealthy west African diplomats residing in Emerson, and I love him dearly! His backstory was largely based on my mother’s childhood and the circumstances she lived through after immigrating to America. and... ok, i’m about to go on one hell of a tangent so buckle up and bear with me if you can 😅

my intention with this story, aside from writing things that I personally enjoy (graphic violence, spooky woods, social drama, romance, conspiracies ��), is to explore greed, wealth, and how the ways people and families interact with those two things influence young people and who they grow up to be. here i go sounding pretentious af 😝 and here’s where I apply a cut for those who want to preserve a little mystery to the main characters!

With Gabe, we’ve got someone who grew up with very little stability or financial security but who has found unscrupulous methods to gain status and money, with both noble and selfish motivations.

Kile has some of that childhood experience in common with Gabe, having been in the foster care system since infancy, but they lucked out when they were adopted into massive wealth by a caring, loving couple—a couple that uses their wealth and privilege to be far more lenient and protective of Kile than is actually reasonable or responsible.

Jack comes from a prestigious wealthy family on his dad’s side who he loves dearly but there’s no getting around the fact that they love him back as much as they despise his working class mom.

Jessie is a spoiled sweet heiress (being the baby of her family and the only girl) and while she lives blissfully ignorant of the harmful source and impact of her father's income and career, she bears the weight of the expectation to fulfill very traditional gender roles, including her behavior and appearance, but also extending to her career and life plans.

Rain's wealth led to them growing up sheltered and isolated but also extremely accommodated, giving them maximum freedom and opportunity to discover and develop their personal talents and interests. However, they have almost no positive relationship with their parents who have essentially decided to give up on a kid that couldn't be exactly the accessory they tried to mold them to be—both in terms of their identity and personality.

Rupan/Rohan, at their very core, rejects everything about conformity, self-importance, and excessive luxury—which means they have never, ever truly fit in with their peers. Going full non-conformist, however, has resulted in them becoming alienated from much of their family, as well, despite them all loving each other very much. Their history with false friends and betrayals has led them to over-indulge in their vices and reckless behavior to compensate for that isolation. Sometimes, they just get in over their head and many times, they know better. Every time, it's just that the feeling of finally belonging is utterly intoxicating.

Vivian/Vincent has two extremely successful parents who didn't inherit but instead built up their wealth and they aspire to be just like them, to a degree that is well and truly unhealthy. Their mother specifically is an over-achiever and applies mountainous pressure for them to follow in her footsteps, especially academically. Vi is completely capable of achieving what their mom expects of them, but they were already an extremely sensitive perfectionist so this has made them intensely critical of themself. This is a large part of why they are such a rigid, no-nonsense person and that in turn has made them one of the most disliked people among their peers—which is a huge personal failure to them since their father is a very well-liked and socially successful person in town.

And the Emersons are peak privilege: inherent high social status, brains, looks, charisma, athleticism, and massive wealth. They could never have been anything less than extremely popular, just by virtue of their last name and the nature of the town's social dynamics and politics. And they do enjoy that privilege (esp Curt lol). However, it should go without saying that being so high profile, even (or maybe especially) just in the isolated scope of your hometown, isn't always a boon. Their family's and their own perceived failings are widely discussed and privately mocked and/or celebrated. Real friends are scarce while fake ones and snakes are plentiful. Plus their dad is a gigantic dickhead who sees his kids as extensions of his own status and reputation and not much else. Public shortcomings make for an unbearable time at home and the world outside the estate is at once overly accommodating, full of assumptions, and even subtly hostile at times—all unrelated to their own actions or character.

And with the MC, I think the narrative will make it clear there are several ways that story can go. You start off with irresponsible parents that have lost their wealth due to their own mismanagement and material ambitions—how that affects any individual MC should differ based on choices and consequences!

So why bring any of that up when I was supposed to be talking about my cut OC? 😂😂

Leo was going to be the unwelcome recent addition to his uncle’s household, the son of a brother his aunt hates for (petty af) Reasons, and she took that resentment out on him directly by restricting his access to nearly every aspect of the family's wealth. Especially material goods and living conditions. He was basically treated like the help, tasked with playing nanny for his many younger cousins and burdened with doing the homework and providing academic cover for his dumb as rocks cousin in the same grade as you all. To sum it up, he was basically a victim of trafficking at the hands of his own family with his uncle out of town enough to feign ignorance to how bad his wife was treating his nephew and his aunt going out of her way to keep him busy, at home, and isolated. This is sadly a super common form of trafficking in Francophone African cultures (although I don't think most people view it as trafficking. and I’m sure the same is true of other cultures but I don’t want to speak outside of my purview). And like I mentioned above, it’s how my own mom's (and idek how many cousins') child/teenhood went.

It’s a perspective on modern wealth, privilege and greed that I really, really wanted to tell. I am confident in saying it hasn't been explored in interactive fiction yet (though correct me—and direct me 👀—if I'm wrong) and out of all the wealth/greed explorations I came up with, it's the one I have the closest personal ties to and the strongest feelings about. The characters and plans I had for it were detailed and I'm proud of them but at the end of the day... I just couldn't find a place for Leo in the story at large.

Leo was, in fact, the last main character I came up with, when I had already designed and fleshed out the larger story and started crafting the timeline of major events. I think the worst thing I could have done for a story and perspective that I care about this much is shove it into a plot that didn't have room for it at the very base level, regardless of how well the character or his story is written. Shoe-horned characters always stick out. I didn’t want to disservice Leo by having him be the character that did nothing or could be removed from the main plot without affecting it at all, y’know? That’s so much worse than just forgoing the indulgence, imo :((

ugh.... Leooooo 😭 I'm so sorry bb, I failed youuu 😥

[asunshinepuff]

Secrets of the Darkened Seas

🧜🏻‍♀️ Hello! Welcome to chapter two! Please please please give a like and follow to my co-author and best friend Luna ( @epithymiahua​ ) because this story would not be where it’s at without her help!

She’s incredible and deserves so much credit for working on this alongside me cause she works so hard. And I feel horrible that she isn’t getting the credit deserves. Especially since this chapter includes her own oc! All credit for his creation goes to her because she’s worked so hard to create him!

As always, a reminder that there is some lore included within this, however it will be explained over time so no worries. There’s no mention of lore for right now.

The Included lore on different types of merfolk will be taken from the book “The Secret World of Mermaids” by Francine Rose. I will not take credit for it’s writing. It’s a childhood book of mine that I adore dearly and sincerely think you should all check out!

Also! Please let me know if you want to be added to the tag list so that you don’t miss a new chapter!

Anyways, that’s about it. I hope you enjoy! 🧜🏻‍♀️

.

Chapter 2: The Dragon’s Pearl

The man and the young boy made their way to the far side of the docks, the sun was beginning to make it’s descent to the sea. The water rippled below the hull of ships, anchors being lowered or weighing anchors to begin their sails back at sea. Some of the townspeople were making their trek home. Quinn and Remus approach the ship that Remus had seen earlier in the day from a distance. 

But up close, it was truly a sight to behold. The masts that were open, were a starking white, the wooden haul a rich brown mahogany, spotless with not a barnacle in sight. The railings were painted gold like the sun, freshly polished and not a splinter out of place. The bow had a golden nautical figurehead of a creature that Remus had never seen before. With a long serpentine body fully covered in scales, and large horns protruding from its head. A white spherical object clutched in one of its clawed hands. It’s jaws open as if to strike.

Remus’ eyes widened as he gazed upon the ship he had studied earlier. Glancing at Quinn, he couldn’t help but ask, “How has no one tried to steal this ship?”

Quinn chuckles, “Oh they’ve tried, but never got very far. My brother, the captain, is a force of his own that is not to be reckoned with.” He says with a smile. At Remus’ growing concerned face he quickly adds on, “Don’t worry. He might seem a bit… well, rather cold at first. To put it lightly. But he’s not a bad man.”

“How far have they gotten?”

Quinn muses for a moment in silence, as they make their way up the loading dock to the ship’s deck, thinking of the many times pirates - including the Blacks - have tried to take over the ship. “Never past deck.” He smiles at the crewmen preparing to sail as he stands in the middle of all their work. “Anyone seen the Captain?” 

“Last we saw him, he threw Ethan overboard.” A sailor responded courtly. He was dressed in black pants and boots, a white shirt, and a gold sash around his waist. 

Quinn looks to the sailor in bewilderment, “Again? What is that, the fifth time now?”

“Seventh actually, Ethan told the joke about the donkey.” 

“I told him not to do that.” He shakes his head with an exasperated sigh. “Never learns does he?”

A young man with short curly dark brown hair, brown eyes, tanned skin was soaked to the bone in water as he marched back up to the ship. He looks to Quinn.   

“Don’t look at me like that, I told you not to tell that joke. You’ve brought this upon yourself.” The young man rubs his necks as he walks below deck to change. Quinn shakes his head before he turns to Remus as he claps his hands and rubs them together. “It’s harmless really.” The man groans in pain, as if to contradict Quinn. “Eh, mostly.” 

Remus watches the man in pain walk below the deck with widened eyes. He looks back to Quinn and the sailor, “Does that happen often?”

Quinn tilts his head back and forth with his arms crossed, “I’d like to tell you no, to ease you, but that’d be a lie. It happens on more than one occasion, though less often than you’d think.” He chuckles under his breath, “Now come along. I think it’s time to introduce you.” He then turns behind him and just smiles. “Hello, Min-Jun.”

Remus turns to follow, and nearly jumps in surprise. Lo and behold, said Captain was standing right behind them. The Captain was a tall young Asian man, around the age of twenty-one, with an expressionless face, had short straight black hair with part bangs, fair skin, and dark eyes. He was dressed in a well-tailored black coat with a dark forest green vest on top of a white shirt, black pants, and boots. At his hip was a wide sword with a dark forest green sheath with gold accents. 

“Quinn.” He says in a deep monotone. His posture was as straight at a board, his hand at his side, his left hand on the hilt of his sword. His gaze lowers to the boy beside Quinn, narrowing a fraction before he looks to Quinn. “You were at the Taverns again weren’t you?”  

“I will neither confirm nor deny.” 

“So that’s a yes.” A brow rises ever so slightly before it’s gone in the blink of an eye. The captain turned his head slightly to look over the boy. “Apologies for any idiotic schemes my First mate may have dragged you into. He is not the brightest, but his heart is in the right place. Usually. He has the unfortunate ailment of defying gravity. I once caught him upside down on the masts so there’s that.”

“And who put me there Min-Jun? Cause it certainly wasn’t me. I may do many schemes you might consider idiotic-”

“Because they are.”  His head leans to look at Quinn in a bored expression but his eyes held amusement. 

Quinn raises his eyebrows, giving a pointed look before continuing, “But I wouldn’t do that out of my own volition!’

The captain simply looks away, fully content to ignore the auburn-haired man. “I am Min-Jun Hua. The crew calls me Captain Hua. What is your name?” He looks back towards Remus. 

Remus was silent during the whole exchange, internally studying the interaction closely. He was uncertain whether the Captain and First Mate actually got along or if they hated each other, however, he caught the amusement in his eyes within their banter. They did get along. It was as if they were teasing each other. Maybe they actually did consider each other siblings. He noted with his own amusement now that his initial caution has about this new Captain has diminished. They’re so very different. How did they become companions?

“My name is Remus Lupin, Captain,” Remus replies with a curt nod, as he was trying to contain his nerves and seem content in the situation. He was uncertain if it was effective or not, but he seemed to take comfort in the fact that Quinn was so relaxed with the man.

Captain Hua says nothing for a long while as he stares silently at Remus. Completely motionless for what seemed to Remus, eternity, before the Asian finally looked like he took a breath. The Captain turned his gaze to his First mate. “He’ll be under your care for the meantime. Have him bathed, dressed, and fed before you send him to bed for the night. Tomorrow he can begin.” The captain says nothing more before he looks to Remus once again. “Welcome aboard the Dragon’s Pearl.” He gives a curt nod to Remus before he walks away to resume his duties. 

Remus lets out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding before looking to Quinn in surprise, “Why didn’t he ask any questions? Wouldn’t he want to know more about me before deciding to let me aboard?”

Quinn merely shakes his head before looking to Remus, “The Captain is an incredibly loyal soul, he respects privacy. If you wish to talk about your past then he will listen, and he will never mention it again without your approval.” He says with a smile. “He cares, deeply. He’d rather have you upon this ship then let you be on your own. That’s what happened to Ethan as well, he’s actually not that much older than you, Remus. He’s turning seventeen next moon.” Looking to the ship, he runs a hand upon the railing gently before continuing. “This old vessel has seen many stray boys board her, and she’s seen many of them become family. The captain only asks for loyalty, truthfulness, bravery, and devotion to family.” 

Remus smiles, comforted by his words. There was always more than meets the eye. He looks around the ship in surprise, “This ship looks brand new. How long has it been sailing waters?”

“Quite a long time. Practically hundreds of years. It’s been passed down through the generations of his family.” 

“That’s incredible.”

“It is.” Quinn remarks with a nod in agreement, before looking back to the boy, “Now, we’ll be embarking at dusk. You want to watch the ship be put to sea?”

The two got situated at a good viewing point for the departure after taking care of duties below deck. It felt rather strange, yet refreshing to Remus to dawn a new set of clothes. Yet his scarf stayed tied around his waist, as usual, at least he could take some part of familiarity with him. The Captain began to call out orders to the crew before he took his place behind the keel, the crew lowered the masts, catching the wind. The colors were hanged, where Remus could see the emblem on the masts and flag of the ship. A gold circle and in the center was the same creature that Remus had seen on the bow of the ship, but from the side. Only without the sphere. 

What sort of creature was that? Remus couldn’t help but wonder in curiosity as he watched the emblem upon the masts and flag of the ship.

“It’s a dragon. An eastern dragon.” Quinn says in reply, with a smirk upon his face as he looked to the boy. It seems Remus accidentally spoke aloud, and for once, he was alright with that. 

A loud shout echoed from a grumbling man who was making his way to The Dragon’s Pearl loading dock. Remus flinched as he recognized the voice of the drunken man from earlier, while Quinn moved defensively to shield the fourteen-year-old from sight. 

 “I know he’s up there! Where is he?!” The slurred words from the drunk captain all but screech out. The hooked nose man stumbled his way on board, his eyes locked onto the auburn-haired man who stood defensively in front of the former deck boy. “You!” 

“Me,” Quinn answered easily with a faint smirk. 

“Where’s that deck boy!?” The drunk captain practically roared into Quinn’s face. To which Quinn’s nose simply twitched at the smell of alcohol that reeked off the man. 

“Behind me, though I doubt you’d be able to grab him.” 

“Where’s your captin’, I ought to have a word with him. You goin’ ‘round stealin’ deck boys, ought to be ‘shamed of yeself.” The man nearly tumbled over.   

“Not stealing when he willingly came aboard. If anyone’s to be ashamed it’s you for your actions.” He retorts with a roll of his eyes then simply tilts his head, “You sure you want to have a word with my captain? You can hardly hold a proper conversation in your state. He won’t take too kindly to that factor.” 

“I wan’ see yer captin!” 

Quinn doesn’t respond for a moment, only looks behind the drunken captain with a bored look upon his face. “Turn around mate.”

“Wha’?” The drunk captain frowns with his mouth hanging open before he turns, nearly falling down when he sees someone standing behind him. Remus couldn’t help but hold a snicker back from behind Quinn as the drunk man flinched at the mere sight of the tall and sober captain. 

Captain Hua looked down at the drunk captain with an emotionless stare but his eyes held a look that screamed ‘How dare you bring your drunken arse onto my pristine and clean ship.’

“You wished to speak to me?” Was the leveled voice of Captain Hua. 

“A-aye.”

“You are not qualified to speak to me.”

The drunk captain staggered at the impassive tone. His face grew red. “Ye think you’re bet’er than me?” 

“To ask that question offends me.” Captain Hua raised a brow. 

“Where’s ye captin’s hat?”

“I don’t need one, I do not need to parade my status on my own ship, nor to ensure the respect of my own crew. They know who I am.” The Captain looked to his First mate. “Please escort this, man back to his ship.” Calling the drunk captain a man was incredibly respectful. Remus thought, truly Captain Hua had a class that was, unfortunately, being wasted upon this drunkard. But then again, Captain Hua didn’t acknowledge him as a Captain either. 

“That’d be Captain Barclay ta ye.” He shrugs the hand that grips his arm.

“No. I think the Captain is right. Mr. Barclay.” Quinn contradicts with a smile, “Now, allow me to escort you back to your ship. I’m sure you embark soon.”

“Not without that boy.” The drunk captain glared at the boy.

Captain Hua looked at the drunkard, then at the boy. “First Mate Sandoval, please step aside.” The drunk captain’s eyes widen at the title.

Quinn ignores the surprised look upon the drunkard’s face and instead looks to Remus. Giving him a small smile of comfort and a look that says ‘Trust us. You’ll be alright.’ Then looks back to his Captain, and with a nod, he steps aside. 

Captain Hua looked to the drunk man. “You can take this child to your ship, if you answer one question. If you answer correctly, you’re free to take him. If not,” His dark eyes narrowed, his left hand gripped the hilt of his sword, this sword was red compared to the first one Remus had seen. It was sheathed in a red case with gold accents. A strong pulse emitted from the sword as the pulse rippled through the ship. The ropes freed themselves from their knots, moving very much like serpents slithering up trees. 

The crew has stopped working and watched openly. “I will throw you overboard.”  

The drunk man didn’t notice the pulse of gold energy, nor did he notice the ropes begin to move on their own. Remus’ young eyes watched in amazement at Captain Hua, who’s sheer presence became overpowering, his aura seeming to infect the ship. Stupidly, the drunkard agreed. 

“What is the child’s name?”

“...” The drunkard frowned, Remus could practically see the mental strain on the man’s face. His brain was too far gone from the rum. “... Bernard.” 

Captain Hua did not look impressed. Not at all. He simply raised a brow before he looked to Remus to correct the man’s answer. 

Remus simply smiles and shakes his head. “Wrong.”

What happened next happened rather quickly, it was really a blur to be completely honest. Captain Hua wordlessly grabbed the drunkard by the collar of his shirt, lifted him off the ground and proceeded to walk, not in any hurry, effortlessly to the side of the ship, and threw the man overboard with ease. Remus’ jaw dropped a bit. 

“Why didn’t you just use the ropes?” Remus couldn’t help but ask in curiosity. 

Captain Hua merely gazed down at the swimming crewmembers from the drunk captain’s ship who threw themselves overboard to ensure the man didn’t drown. “And deprive myself of the pleasure of doing it myself? Never.” Captain Hua’s stoic face gave a smirk in delight. “I would never disgrace The Dragon’s Pearl to so much as even touch that drunk. It was painful to watch an alcoholic parade around with a captain’s hat and acting like a child throwing a temper tantrum.”  

“... How did you know he didn’t know my name?” 

Captain Hua looked down at Remus. “I have two answers. One; most people who make port hardly ever ask for a deck-boys name.” The captain began to walk away from the railing, Remus followed. “Two; even if by the off chance he did know your name, he would not have the sentimentality, nor the intellectual capacity to remember your name, especially while drunk.” He turned to look at Remus. “I would not have made that wager had I believed for a second he would be able to say your name. Not when he preferred to think with an organ that he did not have instead of his brain. Not to mention your name is unusual. I am not one to gamble. Especially with someone’s life.” 

Remus pauses for a moment taking in the Captain’s words, before asking the question he was truly reluctant to hear. “... What if he did say my name?”

Captain Hua looked at Remus for a long time before he looked away to the setting sun. “Then he would have won.” Captain Hua looked back to Remus. “It may seem cruel, but I will not lie to you, Remus. I do not break my word.” Captain Hua looked to the sunset once more. “I would have just challenged him to a duel if that was the case. The man couldn’t even walk straight let alone hold a sword.” Without another word, he walked away.  

Remus stood silently as he watched the Captain walk away, and looked out to the sunset once he was out of view. There was no relief of tension like he had initially anticipated when he first heard the words of the wager, as if he already knew he was safe. How exactly he determined that conclusion, he had no clue. But in his heart, he knew that was the case. 

He watched the shoreline of the port town he had always known, grow smaller and smaller with every glide of the ship, until it vanished from view- it was the start of a new life. A new chapter. Like each morning rise and evening set of the sun upon the sea.

.

Tag List: (Let me know if you wish to be added!)

@whataboutmyfries

[uncrownedmox]

Heated

Prompt - “I can smell it! You’re in heat.”

Characters - Jon Moxley x OC [Lexi Omega]

Word Count - 3089

Type - One Shot

Rating - Smut | NSFW | No One Under 18+

The Rigmarole: The fiction below contains adult theme and sexual acts. If you’re underage consider yourself forewarned and process at your risk. Some warnings are foul language / body fluids and the general sexual noises. If this you keep on going then please enjoy and remember if anything delights you that’s on me however anything that might surprise you is on you. winks

You, w e r e warned my friend, anything else is just pudding. 18+ only content

                                        I N S P I R A T I O N S Q U A D              

@snarkwriteswrasslin : @dilfmoxley : @ofdreamsandomens : @thewrestlingobsessor : @writingrose

 Heated

Glancing around Lexi weakly tried to duck out of the hallway, not caring who’s dressing room she just slipped into and giving her current state she should have been more careful. Dialing Kenny again she almost hated her big brother when he got tunnel vision.

“Come on, pick up. Asshole, pick up the phone.” she whimpered and slammed her finger down on the screen when the voicemail kicked in.

“Fantastic. Fucking fantastic.” Looking around the dressing room she let out another longer whimper when she saw absolutely nothing to help in her quest to construct a suitable ‘nest.’ Since she would be getting no relief tonight the urge to nest was and hide was biting at her heels. There were no sheets or covers, pillows to wrap around nor large clothing to curl up in. Whimpering long and loud she sunk to the floor as a warm heat shot throughout her body and the aches started in earnest. 

Crawling over to a bag that had a cookie-ish smell to it she reached into her own jeans and pulled out a scrunchie and twisted her long blonde hair into a messy bun and bit her lower bit. It was rude and disrespectful to go through the talents personal stuff but the cookie-ish stuff was deep, relaxing, and smoothing to her frazzle nerves. She wanted that smell, sadly to say like her brother she usually got what she wanted.

“C’mere yummy smell, Iz promise Iz will treat you nice gently like,” so focused on debating on the smell she had missed the opening and closing of the door and of the man that now stood behind her. As she began to reach into the bag, intent on getting whatever held the yummy smell when a pair of strong masculine hands reached out to grab her by the waist and pulled her back and away.

“No no. So close, mustn’t let it get away.” Her phone is ringing but she isn’t interested in that, nor the yummy smell in the bag anymore because now there is a larger pool of the yummy smell behind her and it smells even more delicious than the little tidbit that was in the bag. 

“Oh, score for me. So delicious.” Trying to turn around to see the source of the yumminess she finds herself suddenly flipped across a pair of strong legs and it comes to her what is about to happen, what is actually already happening as she yelps out as a strong hand smacks her on the ass for a second time. 

“Wait my delicious, I can explain.” The hand does not stop and instead she props herself up on a hard thigh and mumbles out a count under breath, trying to ignore that her panties are becoming soaked as the hand lands for a total of five times. Then it stops, whether because her delicious has realized she isn’t affected or because she is actually amused she doesn’t know.

“Cheeky ass brat,” blinking, she realized her delicious has a grainy voice. In fact, swinging up to look at the face that she had desperately tried to get a glimpse of just a second ago only made her moan in agony now. Reaching up to trace his lips with fingers that shook a little she sniffed the air again and wanted to cry. The yummy smell she had been after definitely belonged to one Jon Moxley.

“You’re the yummy smell.” He blinks at her for a moment then as she moves off his lap her scent hits him and his eyes dilate. His lips peel back off his teeth and he makes a grab from her again, she doesn’t resist him. He takes his time in carefully sniffing her body, when he brings her a stiddle of his own lap he moans as her scent radiates the room. 

“I can smell it!” You’re in heat.” Nodding slowly she hummed as her hands dropped to play with the belt around his jeans. Murmuring softly she tells him, “you smell delicious.” She takes a moment to build up her courage because she has never dared to approach an alpha like Jon Moxley, she had always sought out betas for her heats. “I want to taste you.”

He only takes a moment, uses a finger under her chin to make her look him in the eye and asks. “What’s your name princess?” She freezes, if tells him the truth it’s possible he will send her away. Her need regardless. Biting her lower lip then his eyes darken and she can see the emotion bubbling up. Letting her hands work his shirt up and over his head she gasped, anger poured off of her. 

“Who did this to you?” There was a playful smirk on his lips as his hands returned the favor and rid her of her own shirt. “No worries princess Omega will get what’s coming to him soon enough.” It was her turn to freeze at the mention of her brother's name, blinking she almost pushed herself off of him. “Kenny did this to you?” His eyes hardened as he grabbed her hips and brought her back snug against him, “him and his pussy Bullet Club.”

Eyes wide she couldn’t help the laugh from bubbling up but a growl and nip at her neck turns the laugh into a moan. Wanting to be fair before this got any deeper she weaved her fingers into his hair and pulled. “Jon to be fair, I am a member of that pussy Bullet Club.” His eyes flare and he stands, she eeps and locks her legs around his waist. The next moment she is sandwiched between him and a wall.

“How princess?” Swallowing as his fingers reach around to unhook her bra, his lips descending on a hard nipple the moment he frees her breasts. Gasping out she thrust up against him, “tell me princess and you can have all the cock you want.”  Moaning as she tries to work her hips against the hardness of his jean encased cock she sobbed out. “Kenny, he’s my br, please sir can I taste you.”

Jon’s voice is tight and hard, “Omega is your brother. Is that what you were going to say princess?”  She can only nod and when she does he rips himself away from her and takes a deep breath then he looks at her and slowly starts to unbuckle his belt. His eyes never leave hers, his voice is low and tight when he speaks. “C’mere princess,” She moans in anticipation.

When she reaches him she doesn’t wait, dropping to her knees and unzipping his pants she murmurs softly. “Hello delicious.” Carefully with gently hands she extracts his hard cock from his jeans and can see he already leaking for her, the crown of him is swollen and she softly takes her time in licking every drop of pre cum, “that’s it princess don’t you waste a fucking drop.” Pulling back long enough she cheekily told him, “never sir. I was taught to always finish my plate.” 

He moans and she decides she loves the sound, then she decides she wants more of his delicious taste so she opens her mouth wider and swallows him deeper. She gags at first, more like chokes but he catches on to what she wants and has fisted his hands in her hair and starts to thrust into her mouth. “ Gonna fuck your pretty little mouth princess.” His thrust picked up from where she started to gag, he was by far thicker and longer than any male she had ever sucked before but she is undeterred.

He lowers his head and watches her through half closed eyes, “that’s it princess but fuck the sound of you choking on my cock almost makes me cum.” Then he is thrusting down her throat and she grabs his hips, she can’t stop the choking sound nor the slurping when he pulls back. ”Enough princess, the scent of your heat is driving me insane. I need to be in you right fucking now.” All her muddled brain can comprehend is that he wants to rut.

Taking one last long lick from base to tip she gave the crown of his cock one last lick before moving to stripe off her jeans and her soaked panties. There is a slick sticky line pre wetness that coats her and as she bends to kick the stickiness cotton to the side she feels his hands on her hips again. He yanks her backwards and growls when her pre-slickness slips down her thighs, His hands are up and cupping her breasts, “do you have a favorite position princess.” 

Shocked that such an alpha would ask but delight in a new and fascinating way. “Yes sir.” His breath tickled her ear as he nosed her hair, his hands reaching up to undo her messy bun. “Show me,” his voice soft but commanding and the moment she slipped onto her hands and knees he was on her. His hands on her hips, pulling her legs a smudge more apart then she felt the length of cock tease through her dripping pussy. Casting him a backwards glance she whimpered he corrected tightly but softly, “in a minute. I am enjoying this wetness.” Moaning she can only hang her head and thrust backwards.

Then his fingers are in her sticky pussy, rubbing her clit then thrusting into her. Once then twice. “God damn your tight as fuck princess. Do you need a safeword if I am too rough?” Her brain is in overdrive, the heat pains have started and her body has started to clench but still she is surprised he is being so gentle with her. “Stoplights sir.” Letting out a moan when his fingers slip free and there is a sucking sound behind her. Turning to watch in open fascination as he cleans his fingers of every drop of her cream. “You taste so fucking sweet princess but now it’s time I find how you feel around my cock.”

She is aware she lets out a soft scream when she feels the tip of his cock slip through her dripping pussy then he is thrusting hard and deep into her and she doesn’t stop the louder scream that tears from her lips nor can she hold back the explosion of slick wetness that erupts as he slides into her for the first time.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jon is absolutely positively sure he going to hell for this, hands tightening on the luscious hips in front of him he can only growl and fight back his own urge to cum as she soaks his cock in the sweetest smelling (and tasting) cream he has ever in his life had the pleasure of scenting. Let alone of fucking and he is going to fuck her, so fucking hard and deep. Even with her pussy still clenching around him he draws his hips back and grinds his teeth together, she is so damn tight it’s driving him insane.

“Relax princess, gonna fuck you so damn good.” She whimpers and lowers her onto the floor and just thrust her hips backwards at him. His cock is mid thrust when he snaps forward, hard and fast and it has her back arching- her head snapping up and another scream tearing from her lips. Working his cock out of her dripping pussy a little more, watching carefully through hooded eyes to make sure she takes him well and in pleasure he snaps back into her deep and at an angle. “Please sir, fuck me just like THAT,” she is wiggling hard back against and her pussy is drenching his cock.

Leaning forward, at the same time closing her legs completely and pushing her flat onto the floor he murmurs. Almost an apology, “this isn’t going to last long princess you’re too fucking tight and wet.” She only bucks her hips up to meet his downward thrusts, her screams are getting louder and he loves it. The on coming orgasm is unlike anything he has ever felt before. Her scent is suddenly changing and it makes him prop his a hand up by her shoulder, the other stays by her hip. “What’s your name princess?” 

His mouth is on her neck and when she whimpers he reaches up into her hair and pulls gently, exposing her neck and shoulder bare for him. His cock hits her at that angle she had begged for a before and it has her bowing upward into her. She manages out in a soft pant, “Lexi.” Moaning as he thrusts hard, feeling his balls starting to tighten he snarls out. “You tell me when you cum princess, understand. I want to fucking hear it.” She can only nod for him and noses her neck again as his balls warn him he too damn close in coming himself.

Reaching down and under he finds her clit and rubs, she wiggles harder onto his cock and screams when he manages to find a way deeper into her. She is clenching around him suddenly, moaning as she gasps out. “Now sir,” Closing his eyes as he increased his pace he felt his body tense and tighten all over and as  she screamed and her pussy bared down on his cock he snarled and jerked his hips upward and came. At the same time he bit down on her neck and shoulder.

Marking her. Owning her

He wasn’t aware of the minutes afterwards, or how that ended up with him on his ass and Lexi curled up in his lap. But the scent in the room of her heat was still lingering and yet the smell of sex was starting to overpower it. Smirking as he ran his finger through her long blonde hair she nuzzled against his chest, letting his free hand skate down her hip to thighs he smiled when she opened for him without hesitation.  What he felt had him pausing, “princess. We might have a ‘slight’ problem here.” She is trying to barrow deeper against him and he realizes he might actually have two problems. “Whattt?” 

Digging his hand deeper in between her legs he sighs and inspects his fingers when he pulls them free. Raising them to his mouth he licks them clean and sighs. “Want the bad news or worse news?” She blinks up at him sleepy and it makes his heart ‘thump.’ “Well there is a little bit of good news too,” she smiles at this and his hand comes up to cup his bite mark. “Well princess the good news is you probably won’t be suffering anymore heat waves for a while.” She looks adorable in her excitement in this.

“Really that’s great. Wow you give really great sex Mox.” Jon can’t stop the laugh that erupts, the pure undiluted happiness and innocence in that statement. “Glad I please you princess cause you’re struck with me.” She looks at him in confusion and nibbles on her lower lip. She reaches up to push some of her hair out of her eyes and huffs at him, “Mox my brother is going to let me keep you. No matter how badly I may want to.”

Growling at the mention of her brother he smashed her to him and snarled at her in pure annoyance. “I don’t give a flying fuck about your brother. He isn’t my mate.” At the word mate she actually whines and snarls herself, “don’t tease me. Please, you were so good and I never had anyone take such good after care of me before.” She is openly crying now and it guts him and he wraps her up in his arms and rocks her gently back and forth to smooth her, Placing kisses across lips, he murmurs. “I am not teasing princess, you're mine. I fucking knotted you now you probably want to nest.” 

Her eyes go big and her hand jerks down in between her legs and he slams his eyes close and tries not to think about her touching herself. When she gasps he opens his eyes and sees that she examines her fingers. Watching as she brings her fingers to nose, then to lips he moans as she tentatively flicks her tongue out to taste herself on her own fingers. “No leathery cookie yumminess.” Blinking as he reaches out to guide her fingers to his own mouth he asks, “Come again?”

She smirks at him, “your scent. It’s what had me going for your bag. The smell of leather and delicious cookies.” Sucking on her finger he narrows his eyes and nibbles on the digit then pops it free. “You’re sayin’ I’m a fucking cookie?” She only nods at him and barrows back into him, until his dressing room door busts open and Kenny Omega and his pussy Bullet Club come filing in.

Standing up he grabs his shirt and quickly but gently tugs it over his mates head, she huffs at him and pops her head up out of the collar and snaps, “hey now.” Knowing Omega isn’t going to let him dress once he takes in what has happened between him and his sister or takes a good sniff of the air. Smirking when the second option proves to be right.

He watches as Omega sniffs the air, then swings his head to in take the state of his sister then of him and growls. “Alexa what in hell did you DO?” His mate shifts and then brings his shift up to her nose and beams at him. She giggles happily and it hits him that as he reaches for his pants he has made her happy. “I ate a cookie.” That actually makes him choke, seems to confuse Omega so he asks for clarification. “You ‘ate’ a cookie?”

Watching as he zips up his pants, his mate goes to retrieve her coated panties and makes a sour face at them. She turns and throws them into the trash can and he wants to whine at the loss but he is amazed as she just slips on her pants under his shirt and hums at her brother. “Yush,” She tosses him a look and it has his cock twitching all over again. “It was hard and juicy, I decided I am keeping him.” Smirking as he reached out and brought her flush against his body and laughed as he whispered. “Just as long as I get to lick the frosting princess.” Her eyes light up in pure delight.

Remember to drop me a request in my ask 

[jwillowwolf]

Magic and Miracles - Chapter 2

Sanders Sides Big Bang fic, Chapter 2!

< Previous Chapter | Next Chapter > | Masterlist

Summary: “Did you really teach yourself magic?”

“Yes. I learnt from whatever books it could find on the subject.”

Janus nodded. “Impressive."

Warning/s: food mention, fantasy racism.

Characters: Logan, Remy, OC, Virgil, Roman, Remus, Patton, Janus.

Tag List: @theimprobabledreamersworld @remy-please-come-back

Read on AO3

2 | Getting to Know You

Logan followed the group just barely as he found himself constantly distracted by his surroundings. The paintings, tapestries, vases, and statues, there seemed to be nearly no blank spaces anywhere, yet it didn’t feel cluttered at all. Everything was remarkable and expensive looking. And eye-catching.

In fact, he didn’t notice when the group had stopped moving and walked right into Virgil, which caused him to stumble backwards. Thankfully, Virgil caught him before he fell onto his butt.

“Careful where you’re walking, Lo. you don’t want to end up walking into a door,” Remy remarked from the front of the group.

Logan blushed. “Sorry.”

Virgil just helped him to his feet and nodded.

“Okay, now please pay attention. This hall has all your rooms and this one,” Remy pointed to the first door on the right. “Is mine. They’re all identical and I couldn't be bothered to assign them to you, so take your pick. Everyone has an hour to get settled then we meet back here in the hall for a tour. Good? Good. Farewell.”

And with that, he retreated into his room. Roman chose the room beside Remy’s and Remus took the one beside him, then Patton took the last room on the right side. Virgil took the first room on the left, which left Janus, Logan, and Willow in the hallway.

“Um, thanks, for earlier. With explaining the last-names thing,” Willow said.

Logan nodded. “It was no problem.”

“You would be surprised how many people find it problematic to understand non-humans,” Janus remarked.

“Well, I have no such prejudices. Also, thank you for calling out Roman’s behaviour.”

“Of course. I can’t stand elves who believe themselves higher than everyone.”

“You can’t stand elves in general,” Willow muttered.

“And for good reason. Have you seen Roman?”

Willow winced. “Remus was nice… kind of.”

“She called you a dog.”

“It’s a common mistake.”

“You’re too forgiving.”

Willow rolled her eyes and turned to Logan. “They’re such a hypocrite.”

Janus huffed. “I’m right here.”

“You’re being mean though, so I’m ignoring you.”

Janus rolled their eyes then also turned their attention to Logan. “Did you really teach yourself magic?”

“Yes. I learnt from whatever books it could find on the subject.”

Janus nodded. “Impressive. How did you manage to find a tome that explained pronunciation?”

“I didn’t. I sort of figured that part out from watching the testing ceremonies.”

“In that case, why not replicate the simple performances other mages made beforehand? It’s not against any rules to do the same spell sequence as someone else.”

“I didn’t want to waste the opportunity. Perhaps it was a bit… over the top to do the spell I did, but I managed to leave an impression.”

Janus smirked. “I suppose that’s a good reason. Anyway, it looks like we’re the last to pick rooms. I’m taking the one on the end, see you both later.”

With that, the trio split up into their rooms. Janus taking the one at the end on the left, and Willow leaving the choice between the two doors between Janus and Virgil’s rooms for Logan to choose between. He chose the one next to Virgil’s, allowing Willow to have the room closer to Janus.

Inside the room, there was a queen-sized bed with four tall wooden posts that suspended a silky blue canopy. There was a dresser, a wardrobe, a writing desk, and a half-empty bookshelf. The books didn’t seem to be anything special. Logan’s bag was already on his bed. He only now realised that he’d left it in the carriage. One of the staff members must have brought it here. Thank goodness they brought it to the right room.

Wait, that was his bag, right?

He double-checked the contents and sighed in relief that it was indeed his bag. After that slight scare, he began unpacking his things and sorting the room just how he wanted it. He was delighted to find some fresh blank papers on the writing desk and a few sharp pencils too.

Forty-five minutes later, everything was organised just the way that Logan wanted and he was… bored out of his mind. He flopped down onto the bed and was distracted for a few moments by how incredibly soft it was. After that novelty wore off though, he found himself bored again and stared up at the blue canopy.

His mind once again thought of how frightening this was. He was truly out of his depth with the complexities and splendour of high society. Perhaps there are some books he can find on the subject to help him. ‘How To Fit In With The Upper Class’

He got up from bed to check if there was such a book, or at least something similar, on the shelf. To his dismay, there seemed to only be fictional novels and a dictionary. He’d need to ask Everleigh about looking out for something at the library. Was there a library here? Remy said that they’d have a tour later so he supposed he’d find out then. Wait, when was that tour?

He checked the clock and noticed that… barely three minutes had passed since he went to lie on the bed. Darn it, there were still at least ten minutes to kill before the tour.

He could have read the fiction novels, but honestly, none of the summaries seemed very appealing. He wondered if he could write something but he didn’t have anything to write. Trying to take a nap was pointless so he found himself just sitting on his windowsill.

The view was rather breathtaking actually. Below there was an array of cobblestone paths, lined with green shrubbery, some of which were dotted with white, pink, and purple buds. There was a hedge in front of the iron fence that lined the property, and beyond that was the dark spruce forest that grew high and looked thick and full of secrets.

Logan wondered briefly what secrets really were hidden there in the forest. Creatures? Monsters? Come to think of it, what was hidden here in the manor. Sure, the students had been permitted to explore the entire estate, but Remy had said that they couldn’t go to the tower. What was in that tower? Books full of forbidden knowledge? A porthole to another realm? A gnome that could turn thread into gold?

No, that was stupid, gnomes don’t like being indoors and surely the Royal Family wouldn’t keep anyone hostage in their private estate. But still, what could be there? It must be something important if even Remy wouldn’t let them know what it was.

“Okay, Tour Time, come on out or get left behind!” Remy called from the hallway, causing Logan to practically fall back into reality as he fell off the windowsill.

He groaned in pain as he got up then went out into the hallway to find Remy and the others waiting for him.

“Alrighty, we’ll begin here. This is the east wing, also known as the guest wing. This particular hallway has been cleaned up for us to use this year so please respect your rooms. The other bedrooms are locked so don’t bother looking at what is inside of them. Now if we go this way...”

The tour lasted for three hours and was mostly without interruption as everyone seemed awestruck by the magnificent manor. Logan was glad not to be alone in his awe as they went through the many different halls and passages. There were countless bedrooms in the east and west wings, private bathrooms on the first floor, several studies, sitting rooms, a library [that Logan clocked for later], extensive several acres of gardens, a ballroom, and a large dining hall fit for royalty, which is where they finished the tour to eat lunch.

There was a variety of smoked meats, fresh loaves of bread, tossed salad, a platter of cheese, and lemonade to wash it all down. Logan didn’t know what half of the meats were but tried a little bit of each. He found that he preferred sticking to the familiar beef slices for his lunch and enjoyed them in the form of a little sandwich.

He noted that while Virgil ate the simple sandwich like him, Roman, Remus, and Patton seemed to prefer the salad, while Willow and Janus ate more meat. Willow preferring theirs medium rare while Janus had used some magic to cook theirs further. Logan wondered if this was to do with their race. Willow was part wolf while Janus was part dragon, making them both somewhat carnivores, so craving a lot of meat seemed reasonable. Maybe he could ask about it later if they didn’t mind.

They had certainly seemed the friendliest to him so far, apart from Patton of course. But Patton seemed the type of person who made friends with everyone. Janus, as Willow had implied earlier, was acting cold towards the twins, and Roman seemed to be returning the same cold energy towards everyone apart from Patton. He even seemed cold to Remus, but more in an annoyed sibling fashion. Remus himself seemed indifferent to everyone, just happily chatting with Pat and sometimes blurting inappropriate thoughts. Willow looked still a bit shy though not nearly as tense as this morning, and Virgil was being silent and mysterious as ever.

“Now that lunch is done, let’s have an icebreaker,” Remy suggested.

“It seems quite warm in here, are you sure the ice needs to be broken?” Patton asked.

Everyone was silent for a moment, either cringing or holding back a laugh. Remy looked like that comment had physically pained him as he stared at Patton.

“Just for that, you’re up first, Patty.”

“Oh, um, what are we doing?”

“We’re going to go around and share a fun little fact about ourselves,” Remy explained.

“Alrighty, well, I like frogs. Sometimes, my brother and I go to the marshes and catch a few to just look at them.” Patton stated.

“You have a brother?” Remus asked.

Patton nodded. “Yeah, my little brother Morgan. He’s twelve and likes frogs almost as much as me.”

“That’s so cool. My brother isn’t even remotely interested in what I like.” Remus sighed.

“That’s because you like gory stories about seafaring hooligans,” Roman said.

“They’re not hooligans, they’re pirates. And I’m going to become one someday.” Remus declared.

Patton cocked his head to the side. “Oh?”

“At least I’d want to do the sailing part, I’ll leave the plunder and pillaging to the others. Unless I get bored,” Remus shrugged.

“I suppose we can accept that as your fact, Remus,” Remy said. “You wanna go next, Rome?”

“Roman, and yes, I shall. I am the best swordsman among the nobility. In fact, I’m to be knighted once I come of age,” Roman declared.

“You need to do an incredible deed to become a knight,” Janus pointed out.

Roman huffed. “Well, I will have you know that my great deed was saving the crown prince himself. Single-handedly.”

Virgil snorted at that.

Roman sneered at him. “And what do you find so amusing, Stormy Knight?”

“You lying about 1, becoming a knight and 2, saving the prince. Everyone knows he’s kept protected in the castle so that no one even knows his face. There's not even a remote chance that you’ve met him.”

“Well, I have. He’s actually quite handsome and much more sophisticated than any one of you. He even personally told me about his idea for this school.”

Virgil just shook his head with amusement.

“I agree with Virgil, you’re lying through your teeth. I suppose we’ll all just have to assume you’re nothing important.” Janus declared.

Roman glared at them. “I am the heir of Lycrest Isle, therefore future governor of the Eastern Ocean. I am a very important person, if not the most important here.”

Janus smirked. “Yet you’re so boring you have to lie about yourself.”

“You-”

“Can go next, Janus, since you’re so eager to speak,” Remy interrupted, steeping between the elf and dragon just in case.

“Alright then. Well, I am known in Evergreen Valley as close to royalty, since I am not only a dragon shifter but also the song of the western governor, Declan the fearless.” Janus stated.

“Cool story kid. Wolfie, you’re up.” Remy announced, ignoring the growing tension between Roman and Janus.

“Um, I grew up with Janus, my eight cousins and two younger siblings, with who I am very close,” Willow said.

“I thought you were part of a pack?” Remus said.

“I am. My pack includes my biological family, and many cousins who I was raised alongside,” Willow explained. “What did you think being a part of a pack meant?”

“Well, if you are a part of a pack, then how did you grow up with Janus?”

“I fostered with the Redrunner pack for most of my childhood,” Janus clarified.

“Oh, so you guys are like childhood friends?” Patton asked.

Willow nodded. “Yep.”

Roman looked over to Willow and said. “I’m sorry.”

“For…?”

“How long you’ve had to stand them.”

“Hey!” Janus snapped. “That is a direct attack against my character.”

“And calling me a liar isn’t?”

“Virgil called you a liar, I only agreed with him.”

“Don’t drag me into this.”

“Yeah, can’t you fight your own battles, Dragon?”

“You want to fight me, Elf?”

“Okay, no, that is where I draw the line,” Remy said in a booming voice that instantly silenced the two teens. “You don’t have to like each other, or get along that well, but there will be no physical fighting while you are under my care. In fact, if I see any of you harm each other, then I’ll send you straight home, no excuses. Am I understood?”

“Yes sir,” everyone replied.

“Great, well, that’s enough fun bonding time for today, I suppose. You can all go back to your rooms now.”

And so, that marked the end of Logan’s interactions with his class for the day, since he went straight to bed once he returned to his room. He had not gotten much sleep the night before due to nerves and excitement, so after everything that had happened, he was more than ready to drift away to dreamland.

Now that he had met his classmates, and gotten to know them if only briefly, he sorely hoped that they wouldn’t cause any disturbances to his learning magic. He didn’t want to fail the second test because of some argumentative teens taking up class time. He would be taking the test alone anyway, so he supposed that it wouldn’t affect him if they all failed. But really, he hoped that was the only fight he’d have to witness this year...

---

A/N: thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this. I'll be posting two chapters a day until the full fic is up, so if you want to be tagged, you can just ask.

I'd love to hear what you thought about the chapter if you wouldn't mind commenting. Thanks again for reading! Here's hoping you have a magical day 💜

[gloves94]

To Be So Lonely [Draco Malfoy] 25

Rating: M Pairings: Draco Malfoy/OC Chapter warnings: Violence! Emotional Abuse!

CHAPTER MASTERLIST

MY MASTER-LIST

Argus Filch, the school’s caretaker, shook his head wearing a large frown as he mopped the corridor in front of the Great Hall. Next to him, also mopping, with her head lowered in humiliation as students passed by and sniggered, was Pansy Parkinson bearing the unjust punishment for something she didn’t do.

“Little harsh?” Tracey whispered to her friend as the three Slytherins walked by. “Harsh. But well deserved,” Theodore said with an apathetic ‘hn’ at the end. “Hope she learns her lesson,” Elowen flashed a sweet smile in Pansy’s direction before walking into the Great Hall.

After the Yule Ball catastrophe -  All the fighting couples, the intoxicated ill students and the flooded bathrooms – people started pointing fingers and the castle was combed for somebody to blame.

It just so happened that when searching the castle, they found several bottles of Spyrit and the ingredients to make a love potion under Pansy’s bed. Which made her look pretty suspicious to Dumbledore and McGonagall.  Who would’ve thought Pansy could do such a thing? Despite how much she denied it and how much she wailed and cried claiming that she was innocent the Headmaster didn’t buy it. Nel had a feeling that Snape knew, but he did nothing about it, instead Pansy was punished. Her detention for the rest of the year having to assist Mr. Filch with his caretaking duties around the castle; everything ranging from mopping floors, cleaning bathrooms, polishing mirrors and even venturing out into the Forbidden Forest at night.

Entering the Great Hall, the three almost ran into Malfoy. He looked pale and had a panicked look on his face. Tracey narrowed her eyes ready for him to spit out a nasty insult but instead he avoided their gazes. He mumbled an uncharacteristic sorry. The tension he carried with him palpable. Without another gesture he side stepped around them and left.

“What-“ Theodore looked over his shoulder incredibly confused. “Was that all about?” He asked with an intrigued expression before he turned back to look at his friends.

“What was what?” Nel gave a blank stared that seemed to successfully fool him. However, the way her gaze avoided his eyes and ears turned a little redder did not go amiss to him.

It wasn’t the first time he had witnessed the peculiar interaction between the two. Ever since the Yule Ball something had been off. No petty pranks of insults were exchanged between the two. In fact, it seemed like the two went out of their way to avoid each other almost as if they were walking on thin ice.

Even earlier today during transfigurations class the students had been asked to pick out a top hat to practice transfiguring it into a rabbit. Both Slytherins just happened to reach for the same one at the same time as a group crowded by the shelf where all the top hats were neatly stacked.

“You take it,” Nel was quick to drop the hat. “You should take it,” Draco insisted raising the hat in her direction.

“Um...” She stammered nervously before reaching for a more ragged and dustier one and returning to her seat leaving the teen standing with the hat in hand.

“I forgot something,” Theodore lied as he turned away from his friends. “I’ll be back,” he said swiftly before following after the suspicious acting blond Slytherin.  

Neither girl thought much about it and they proceeded to take a seat on their House table, Daphne soon joining them confused about Theodore’s absence.

Xxx

Returning to the Slytherin dormitory after dinner the girls were conversing about their winter holidays and the Second Task of the Triwizard tournament which would be coming up in two weeks.

This was troubling since Nel and Cedric hadn’t had a breakthrough on the Second Task and from the looks of it neither had Viktor or Harry. The two suspected the task would take place in the Black Lake and that had been about it. A generous tip from Nathair.

Walking in the trio saw a circular crowd of Slytherin girls gathered around a table ogling at something. Theodore and Malfoy were sitting on the side of the Common Room sitting on two sofa chairs with an ignored game of chess between them. The two seemed to be in a rushed and upsetting conversation unaidable to anybody else in the room.

“There you are!” The Slytherin prefect said turning to look at Nel and her friends with large eyes and a gleeful smile.

“Somebody left these for you, they have your name,” She said signaling to the orphan and nodding her towards the circle. The circle of females parted to reveal a massive bouquet of colorful flower buds. The prefect handed her a sealed note that had her name scribbled on it. Looking at it curiously – the bouquet was half her size. Leaning over she reached for one of the flowers but pricked her finger with a thorn.

“Ow,” She sucked in her breath and brough her bleeding finger to her mouth.  The moment she pricked her finger the bouquet of buds began opening in a vibrant bloom before her eyes becoming a pleasing array of burgundy roses, cyclamen, yellow carnations and maroon dahlias.

The girl’s around her cooed and awed gushing at the elaborate arrangement none ever seeing something to elegant before. “They’re beautiful!” One of the girls said. Pansy who was standing around with her arms crossed over her chest eyed the flowers with disdain. “I bet she sent them to herself,” she scoffed bitterly.

“Who sent them? Who sent them?” Some of the girls elbowed the Slytherin and attempted to peer over her shoulder to take a look at the contents of the note.

‘Meet me at the boathouse after dinner.’

“It doesn’t say,” She answered tucking the note inside of her pocket. Looking up, Nel spotted Theodore and Draco starring from the edge of the common room both looked just as surprised as she was at the gesture.

“Wait. What did it say?” Daphne asked trying to reach for the note which was now out of sight. “You look- disappointed,” Millicent pointed as she looked at the elegant bouquet with a dreamy expression. It was true. Her expression had shifted into a serious one as her lips were drawn in an unsmiling thin line as she didn’t seem the slightest bit elated by the expensive arrangement. “I’ll be back,” The girl responded ominously before walking out, pausing and giving Draco and Theodore one last look before exiting.

It was dark and quiet in the boathouse. She hugged her arms as she attempted to keep herself warm from the bitter winter cold, her breath visible in white clouds as she hugged her coat closer. Having been waiting for some time she again pulled out the note from her pocket and re-read it. She was at the right place at the right time.

Hearing footsteps making the dock’s wood planks creak she quickly turned to face the individual who had sent the flowers.  

Perhaps she was at the right place and at the right time, but it was the wrong guy.

“You,” She drawled out upset ready to return to the castle.

“Elowen,” A thin hand grabbed her arm tightly. “Wait…” Ellar said holding her back. She stopped and looked down at his hand with a cross expression. “Get your hand off me!” She whipped her arm back to her person.

“Please,” He pleaded in a lazy tone. “Hear me out.”

“No,” She reached for the note he had written, wrinkled it and tossed it at his feet. “You played me. You had no interest in actually taking me to the Yule Ball, did you?”

“Elowen,” He shook his head and ran a hand though his curly hair. “I did, I swear, but everything that happened with Diggory and then-“ She began walking away not wanting to listen to his lies for another minute. Nel couldn’t believe she had at one point been so infatuated with this lying prick.

“I won’t waste another moment listening to your lies.” Again, he stopped her by reaching for her upper arm and gripping onto her dark gray coat.

“You didn’t even want to dance with me. And then-“ She remembered what she had caught him doing in the restroom. “There’s that filthy habit.” She didn’t know much about the effects of snorting dragonpuff all she knew was that it was similar to muggle cocaine, except worse.

“Oh? So that’s what this is about?” He stepped forward forcefully taking her hands as he stepped forward with a dancing step. She stepped backwards pulling on her hands as they turned in the chilly boathouse next to the black water which mirrored the starry sky above.

“We’re dancing now. Happy?” He said dryly without compassion.

“No,” She again tried to snake out of his grip or reach for her wand. “I’m not happy.”

“What keeps you unhappy?”

“You.” She scoffed at him. “This. Everything you did at the ball.”  She eyed him warily waiting to get socked in the face like he had done to Malfoy the night of the Yule Ball. “I’m sorry you feel that way.”

After years of living at Wool’s and existing under Cordelia Wool’s thumb Nel had learned a terribly important lesson about dealing with manipulative monsters. Ellar wasn’t sorry. He wasn’t apologizing. Instead he was antagonizing her for her emotions. ‘I’m sorry,’ would’ve been acceptable not ‘I’m sorry you feel that way.’

Feeling an angry fever coming in with gritted teeth she pushed at his body as he forced her to dance with him. His grip on her gaunt hand was so tight she was certain her skin would eventually blemish into a dark bruise.

“What do you want from me? What made you change your mind? You ignore me the entire dance, maybe the whole school year and then you suddenly change your mind?” She marveled at his ridiculous personality change. She had thought long and hard about what his motives could be but couldn’t think of one. His mother didn’t have a problem casting the Imperio curse on her and stealing her body from her. What else could he possibly want?

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Liar!” She pushed with anger baring her teeth. “Elowen, I sincerely have no idea what you are referring to-“ He continued spewing his lie. “Liar. Let me go! You gaslighting, no good, son of a-“ She fought hard against him managing to whip her wand out. Criminally, he stole her first kiss right then and there.

It wasn’t like anything she had imagined. Like anything she had hoped for or like in the movies. No matter how many nights she had stayed up dreaming about kissing Ellar Lestrange in her dreams his lips were softer, they didn’t hurt or crash against her teeth. She imagined it would’ve been a warm feeling not one that left her feeling so void and empty afterwards.

She bit him and mustering all of her physical strength shoved him away from her. The momentum was so much she staggered backwards heel catching on the edge of the dock and falling back into the Black Lake’s ice-cold water.

She sank into the lake her body numb to the cold. Unable to think, act or breathe. The bitter chill seizing control for a moment before a jolt of adrenaline allowed her to kick towards the surface.

Ellar’s hand was reaching down the dock to help her up. She reached for it. “Help!” She cried out spitting out a mouthful of water. Her soaked coat, uniform and scarf weighting down on her shoulders. She reached for his hand, instead her head was once again pushed beneath the water.

Ellar Lestrange’s nails dug into her scalp as he held her head down underwater. Water went inside of her mouth as she gasped for air and desperately clawed at his hand leaving red scratch marks. She couldn’t hear what he was saying to her, she couldn’t see, she couldn’t think. Her lungs ached from lack of breath. Heartbeat strong. Her legs growing weak from the weight as she fought and persisted kicking.

“-Go mad,” She distinguished as she caught a part of what he was seeing. “I want to see you go mad.”

There was a crazed look on his dark eyes as he knelt over the dock and drowned the girl. He kept on murmuring something to himself as he kept his eyes peeled on the dark bobbing head and the rising bubbles in the water. Water went inside her mouth and she choked on the soul tasting water.

Then Nel didn’t feel a weight pushing her head down and managed to claw at the mossy edge of the wooden board and rise up bringing her shoulders to the dock. She violently coughed the water she had swallowed and pulled her body up harshly breathing through trembling cloudy breaths. Her eyes shot open and she raised her wand ready to curse Ellar. She could see his dark leather shoes. Instead a pair of arms reached down and pulled her out of the water.

“Stupid girl,” Snape’s nasal voice could never fool her as he dragged her out of the water like a soaking wet mop. Safe on the boat house’s wooden dock she sat up still heaving leaning her weight on her elbows. Chest aching, throat feeling like barbwire, teeth chattering, body shivering unpleasantly.

Snape pointed his wand at her and did a complicated wave that made hot air stream out of the tip. Her coat and robes began to steam into a pleasantly warm vapor as they dried out.

“Where-Where did he go?” She looked around the empty boathouse with fearful eyes. The sound of distant splashing in the darkness of the Black Lake gave her a feeling that Ellar was a distance away and alone in the lake.

“Coming to the lake with him,” Snape ignored her question and scolded roughly dragging her up to her feet by the arm. Once up he gripped the back of her neck and forced her head down as he led her up the steep stairs of the cliffs that lead to the castle.

“You stupid, imprudent, senseless girl-“ He scolded gruffly.

“Professor Snape-“ She winced at his rough grip her neck straining some strands of wet hair sticking to her forehead. “How did you even find me?”

“Mind your luck I was rounding the perimeter of the sacred Black Lake and witnessed Rabastan Lestrange’s progeny descending down these steps-“ His mouth moved fast as he spoke in a rapid tone she had stopped listening halfway as they descended down the stairs of the dungeon and into his office, he pulled her in by her upper arm now slamming the door behind him.

She turned looking at him with her eyes wide as he let her go and rounded around his desk.

“Why were you down at the Black Lake, Professor?”

“Ministry of Magic business,” He responded curtly sucking in a deep breath.

She remembered what Nathair had said about seeing the Ministry of Magic walking the perimeter of the Black Lake. No doubt her assumption that the Second Task of the tournament would take place there. That was some news Cedric would be happy about.

“What happened to him? What did you do?” She asked frightfully. “We need to tell the Headmaster!” She scattered heart still hammering in her chest from the fearful experience.

He had just tried to kill her. What could she do? What would she do? Could she successfully execute a vengeful plan against him and get away with it? Probably not knowing that his mother was her absolute guardian and would probably do something just as terrible to her. However, would it be worth it? She had after all already physically wounded him once.

“Silence!” Snape snapped shushing her.

She had nothing to lose. She could do it. Make him pay. Just like she had made Pansy pay and all the others before. Ellar was the type of person that didn’t deserve her care or empathy. People – men like him weren’t worth it.

“Mr. Lestrange is enjoying a pleasant midnight swim with the grindylows. I’m sure the giant squid and the lake’s merpeople will keep him company,” he said sardonically.

“Are you going to do anything?” She looked at him with an incredulous expression. Almost a hopeful one. He had almost killed her for Salazar’s sake. Her expression faltered into a wounded one after a moment. Did Snape even care enough to do something about it?

“No,” He spoke after a moment of silence.

Again, Snape had proven she couldn’t trust him. He didn’t care enough. He wouldn’t move a finger to even try and get the bastard expelled from Beauxbatons.

“He was trying to kill me!” She shouted angry. “I couldn’t breath- I could’ve drowned! Do you know how much water I swallowed?! Do you even –��

With a flick of his wand she was silent. Her lips continued rapidly moving as she rambled and kicked the chair in front of his desk before turning and slapping a hand on his desk. She unmuted herself with a charm.

“As much as you enjoy the sound of your own voice Saintday I will ask you to be quiet and listen.”

“He could’ve killed me!” “He didn’t,” Snape silenced her his voice sharp as he leaned over his desk.

He wouldn’t have. Snape was more than certain that the Lestranges had strict orders not to physically harm The Girl Who Died. The consequences would be dire if she was wounded. He gave her a hard look as if pondering his words carefully measuring just what he would say to her, just like he had at the beginning of the year.

“It wouldn’t be the first time Ellar Lestrange was involved in an accident on schoolgrounds. His reeking privilege has saved him from rotting in the cells of Azkaban once already,” Snape trailed up as he brought a pensive hand to his chin.

Again, Ellar wouldn’t have killed her. The consequences for him and his family would be dire if the Dark Lord’s plans were soiled.

She was about to ask what he meant but he instead continued to speak.

“Sit,” He commanded. Keeping her eyes on him she dropped to the chair before his desk. “What I am about to tell you is of imperative importance and I expect you to listen and most importantly obey.”

She said nothing in response and listened attentively.

“And no- you are not allowed to question why.” He added snidely.

Again, she remained still keeping her ears open.

“Stay away from Ellar Lestrange.”

[shadowsong26fic]

Coming Attractions!

First Monday of the month (and year. Thank every known deity in the universe.)

...ahem.

Yeah. It’s been a...well, 2020. But it is now officially a new month and year, and time for a Coming Attractions post!

The big news, obviously, is that I actually finished Precipice. \o/ ...well, the first seven arcs, anyway.

As I’ve discussed before, and explained in my very long author’s note at the end of the final chapter on Ao3, the next steps for this AU are a series of seven one-shots which will be released as ‘Preludes,’ covering the six-year timegap before Arc Eight. These mostly deal with Rebels characters (although I’m slightly rethinking one of them because I should probably include Mara Jade in it...), as well as Sidious’ fifth apprentice and possibly Maul.

I’ll also be starting the sequel, entitled either Protectors or Promises (it’s been Protectors for a while, but now I’m waffling? IDK). Anyway, that picks up with arc Eight, Escalation, six years after the end of Precipice. I’ll probably post a preview snippet sometime this month because Why Not.

There will be a hiatus (an actually Planned one this time, lol...). I’m aiming to start posting in April, but we’ll see how things go.

Anyway, moving on to other plans!

Other Star Wars Projects:

our faces like a mirror

I totally planned to start posting that this year <.< On the plus side, I don’t...think the Siege of Mandalore arc (or the stuff from the Mandalorian) really Jossed anything I had planned? Especially given the fact that it’s set from 5 years pre-TPM (I recognize that Lucasfilm has made a timeline decision but given that it’s a stupid-ass timeline decision I have elected to ignore it) to about 5 years post-TPM, so I wasn’t really expecting it to, but it was a vague concern of mine. Anyway, I’ll rewatch to be sure before I post, probably. But, yeah, I’m all the more excited about my girl Bo-Katan now, so hopefully I’ll get some momentum on this.

2021 SWBB:

I finally figured out a general shape of the plot, lol! And I have about...just under 4k of miscellaneous text in this AU (like, actual Story text, not just random notes and scribbles of which I have. A Lot). I need to get another 2k by Sunday, but that shouldn’t be a problem.

It’s going to be in four parts, plus prelude/interludes/coda, because that is the Structure that my brain at like 4AM gave me the other night, lol. While I don’t know the details, I have a general idea of What Happen in parts one, three, and four; except for tying in some Mandalore stuff and making some Decisions about who I want to draw in at various points. Part Two is also up in the air. I know how it needs to end to set up part three, but not so sure about what should actually go in there. Possibly I’ll end up cutting Part Two and just having a three-part story, but eh, we’ll see.

Anyway, I’m having fun with this, especially since I’ve discovered the Plot, so we’ll see how things go from here :)

Other SW Fanfics:

I am...hoping??? to resurrect Distaff and/or the Ventress outline at some point this year, because I’m very fond of those AUs and they deserve some more love. Possibly also another Devoted story. We shall see.

AtLA Fanfic Projects:

As I’ve mentioned a few times over the past few months, I’ve fallen back into this fandom (which was my primary fandom for...like...four to six years????) And I definitely want to write more in it. I’ve already done one AU outline, and I have plans for a couple fulltext fics (...discounting the super-self-indulgent crossover stuff I don’t super plan on sharing outside a very small circle lol). I don’t have much actual, uh, Text on anything yet, but I’m hoping to start posting one or more of those at some point this year, too.

Project One is an Avatar Zuko AU; Aang is around for reasons that do get explained in story; Zuko finds out a couple months before the duel with his father when accidental water or airbending happens (he’s in a sailboat, there’s a storm, I haven’t worked out the details yet). He decides That Clearly Didn’t Happen and proceeds to ignore it...until he manages to accidentally waterbend again when in the infirmary post-duel. At which point he decides he Does Not want to be just...used as a weapon. He figures he has about three and a half years before the comet, he can use that time to figure out what to do next; maybe come back with the comet and Prove his Worth at that point.

He goes to the WAT first, to see what he can figure out about airbending from any texts/mosaics/whatever that are still there; then he heads to the NWT; then he’ll probably pick up Toph because I love their dynamic. He plans to spend a year on each other element (not enough time for mastery but that comet deadline looms large). Obviously, over the course of those three years, his plans change.

And then things get thrown even more off the rails when Aang emerges from the iceberg before Zuko’s year of earthbending is up.

There will be a fair number of OCs hanging around (both to give him someone to talk to at the WAT and I think he’s going to learn from a less-prominent master than Pakku when he gets to the NWT), as well as Iroh trying to find his nephew, and various other familiar faces from the show.

Project Two is about Lu Ten, and a lover he had during the Siege of Ba Sing Se, and what happens to her (and her daughter) after his death. I’ve talked about that one in a little more detail in other posts, I think, hence the comparatively short summary, lol.

Original Stuff:

I am hoping to get more origfic posted this year than I did last year. I’ve got these universes I love exploring, and I feel like they should get more attention, lol.

...I think that about covers it! At the end of last year, I set myself some Goals, which were. Well. 2020 happened, soooo...

Anyway, because I am an Optimist, I’m going to set goals again for this year. And I guess go over how well I did on the ones I had??? A lot of my goals will probably be repeats from last year, because...yeah.

2020 Goals

1. Finish Precipice; complete Arcs 8 and 9 in Protectors/Promises/Precipice II; put out some level of Arc 7.5/Preludes content.           I did finish Precipice! I did not do the other things. 2. Write at least 10k of origfic content.           Not quite--I ended up with 8,129 words. 3. Start posting OFLAM           Nope, that did not happen. 4. Revive a semi-hiatused fic (i.e., Distaff; Auxiliaries; Phoenix!Verse; one of the BSG fics I keep meaning to go back to if I ever actually sit down and rewatch the series; if I add an actual sequel/companion to Deja Vu… that probably counts…)           Did not happen. 5. Finish updating Lux and Farglass Cycle archives; keep them updated through the end of the year as new content gets added.           Nope. 6. At least four AU outline installments of some kind; preferably including a continuation of Ventress and Her Tiny Time-Travelling Conscience and actually writing up the main part of Let’s Go Steal a Crossover; but any outline will count.           I did put up one AtLA outline, as mentioned before; and I also posted a massive timeline for the Jedi of Valdemar AU, but nothing else. 7. Complete BB submission and keep an eye out for other challenges/exchanges.           Did complete BB, and one giftfic exchange over the summer. 8. Write at least one holiday fic (Valentine’s Day; Mother’s Day; Father’s Day; Halloween; New Year’s; etc.) and post on the appropriate day.           Did not do the thing.

2021 Goals

1. Post Arcs 8 and 9 in Precipice!Verse as well as at least half of the Preludes stories. 2. Write at least 10k of origfic content. 3. Start posting OFLAM. 4. Revive a semi-hiatused fic; preferably Distaff; but Auxiliaries or Phoenix!verse or one of the BSG fics would also count (Serenissima, Other Battlestar, For Sorrow Sung rewrite...) 5. Start posting at least one AtLA fulltext fic. 6. Finish updating Lux and Farglass Cycle archives; keep them updated through the end of the year as new content gets added. 7. Find a title and set up an archive for Untitled Intrigues Story 8. At least four AU outline installments of some kind, preferably including a continuation of Ventress and Her Tiny Time-Travelling Conscience 9. Complete BB submission and keep an eye out for other challenges/exchanges. 10. Write at least one holiday fic (Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween, New Year’s, etc.) and post on the appropriate day.

[subukunojess]

On The Edge of Living (Ch 1)

Archive of Our Own / DeviantArt / FanFiction

Fandom: Beetlejuice the Musical

Word Count: 5,511

Content Warnings/Awareness: Death, Blood, Possible Gore, Mentions of Abuse, Smoking, Suicidal Themes, Giant, Tiny, G/T, People, objects, and animals are getting eaten, Vore (don’t know whether to tag it as such), Fluff, Angst, Adventure, Found Family, Friendship, just everything is wild.

Pairings: Charles/Delia, Past Charles/Emily, hints of Beetlelands, hints of Lydia/OC

Summary: AU. Lydia Deetz knew her life would turn upside down when she moved to a supposed haunted house with her father and life coach. What she didn’t expect were two actual ghosts living in her attic or being cursed to be bound to a demon sealed in some ancient spell book.With a growing emotional demon by her side and the afterlife betting on their future, Lydia will travel from Hell and back to break the curse and find out where she belongs… if her new town doesn’t end up being rampaged first.

Here’s my entry for the Beetlejuice Big Bang!

This was a surprise project I decided to take on when I saw it on my dash and I wanted to challenge myself writing with word count in mind. I knew I wanted to write a Beetlejuice AU with a tiny Lydia and a giant Beetlejuice, so I worked from there. I also wanted to challenge myself by planning and organizing my story ahead rather than take it chapter by chapter. Although it’s been difficult, I managed to pass the required 10 K mark and plan out the gist of my story. As of now, I have the chapters figure out and I have at least 20 K, but at the moment I have three completed chapters. I hope to work on the fic during my free time. 

Thank you, @beetlejuicebigbang for giving me the opportunity to do this! Without further delay, here’s the first chapter of my fic:

Chapter 1: The Curse Begins

In life, people say that only death is certain. For the afterlife? Eternity, any suffering of some kind, and the places the dead end up. Depending on the soul and the circumstances of someone's death, a person could be sent to a variety of realms. There were different versions of Heaven, Hell, Limbo, and in some cases, a holiday world. This tale in particular resides in the living realm, Hell, and the Netherworld.

There were two major details that the living didn't know about the afterlife. The first one was that the Netherworld was like a creepy airport for the recently deceased, only that it was really a dark abyss that led to who knows where with no way of telling where anyone would end up.

The second thing? Demons are really huge compared to humans, dead or alive. In the living realm, they blended with humans physically to make situations easier. But in Hell? A demon's true height could range between seven feet to hundreds of feet tall. And Hell wasn't just a cavern of fire and brimstone either. It was the dark, grimy underworld of a city where slum lords lurked in the alleys and the air was polluted with a fiery, red haze. It was nine circles of everlasting torture ruled by cardinal sins and vices. And for a certain demon who spent most of her afterlife in the Netherworld, it was an empty and bleak waiting room in a large office building with the walls decaying and the air smelling of burnt socks.

Juno Shoggoth scowled as her heels clacked against the tiles of the hallway, walking to the waiting room while trying not to hunch over as usual. Once she had signed in with the receptionist, she took her seat and briefly pulled the cigarette out from her lips, letting the smoke ooze out from the slit on her neck.

"Why did he have to call a meeting now of all times?" Juno hissed, crossing her legs. "Doesn't he know my work schedule in general?"

As director of Netherworld Customs and Processing, it was her job to make sure that the transition from life to the afterlife went smoothly for the dead. Sure, the work was tedious and the woman would rather smoke for eternity than deal with tiny annoyances, but she was assigned to the position not by choice. She literally and figuratively grew from a civil servant spirit to a powerful demon overnight; one of her proudest achievements she had to admit.

Her biggest mistake was Lawrence.

Lawrence Betelgeuse Shoggoth. Just thinking about his name made her blow another smoke ring and want a shot of alcohol. Like most other demons who were born dead rather than turned into one, Betelgeuse appeared after Juno had affairs with a demon and the demon left. She didn't like children to begin with, let alone raising something that acted like one. Regardless, she didn't have a choice either when a dead-born was involved. Dead-borns were powerful shifters with abilities no one dared imagine and capable of changing their size more smoothly than regular demons, hence the curses placed on them and the mandatory supervision. If every realm in existence turned upside down and the blame traced back to Juno, she would never hear the end of it.

"Lucifer is ready for you now, Miss Juno!" The receptionist's shrill, but deep shriek interrupted her train of thought.

"It's about damn time." Juno muttered under her breath as she threw her cigarette away and stood up. A red line of energy was drawn in front of the demon out of nowhere before splitting in two and opening as a doorway to Lucifer's office. She walked through the portal, the line disappearing as soon as she entered the room. Although she got used to the afterlife, Juno would admit that she didn't know whether it was a relief or unnerving that the room was a typical office one would expect a boss to reside in with a chair and desk, save for the hazy landscape of hell on the other side of the window in front of her. At this point, she didn't even bother wondering.

"Have a seat, Juno." A deep, gruff voice commanded from a leather swivel chair in a calm tone, causing a slight echo in the room. Juno sat on the wooden chair without fanfare, glaring at the window.

The ruler of Hell was arguably the most massive demon ever known, probably rivaled by Leviathan if they got into a mood. Big horns? Monstrous? Usually dwelled at the very bottom of Hell? Most of the rumors were true along with the fact that everybody knew not to mess with him unless they had a wish worse than death. Despite such knowledge, Lucifer appeared from the swivel chair on the other side of the desk, much smaller than normal and dressed for business. A simple black suit and dark red tie with golden cuff links. Dark grey medium length hair with large twisted horns of ivory adorned on top of it. Yellow eyes with pupils akin to a goat's narrowed as he fixed his collar and cleared his throat.

"I have a feeling you know the reason why I called you here." Lucifer stated, raising an eyebrow. Juno returned the action.

"You usually don't call me unless A) you’re redesigning the Netherworld in some way or B) Beetlejuice is involved. Something tells me it's the latter."

"Come on, Juno. Don't sound like I keep calling you because of that! You're a good worker. No nonsense. Telling it like it is while sorting out the souls. You're one of the few demons I could tolerate." When Juno didn't respond, the ruler of Hell continued.

"I just wanted to discuss what our plans are for Lawrence in the future, that's all." Lucifer shrugged. "Just to prevent repeated offenses from happening. Despite his... flaws, your son still has potential. Deceit. Torture. Power that some dead-borns don't have. I wanted him to become an official exorcist demon, but you insisted on having him as a Netherworld guide instead, even though he hasn't done it properly in centuries!" He brought a fist down onto the desk, the whole room seeming to tremble at the action.

"With all due respect, sir, we cannot give any more power and ego than the fool believes he has." Juno hissed as she pinched the bridge of her nose briefly. "If we do, both the Netherworld and Hell would be in shambles. And I believe you just want him to annoy one of your own headaches."

At that, both demons glared at each other and crossed their arms as they leaned forward. They stared at each other down for a while until Lucifer pulled back up with a sigh.

"... You're smarter than I thought." Ignoring the woman's tiny smirk of victory, Lucifer turned his back to her as he stared at the hazy city before him.

"You're not wrong. You got Lawrence and the Recently Deceased, I got the souls of the damned and the other cardinal leaders bothering me. Beelzebub especially. Always gloating that he's more powerful and mainstream than the rest. I figured that if he's with someone just as annoying as him, he'll settle down and we both get them out of our businesses for at least a decade or two. Maybe a century if we're lucky."

Juno scoffed. "That's going to be a problem since I banished mine to the world of the living."

"And how's that going for you?" Lucifer glanced back at the director, almost knowingly. "Knowing him, he'll find a way back to the dead. He always does."

“I can assure you that Lawrence is stuck at the surface with the living and suffering for it.”

Meanwhile in one of the several downtown areas of Hell, something was going down on one of the top floors of a ten-floor apartment.

In front of the building was a black Mercedes Benz with a fly painted on the hood, idle as the driver waited for someone. Inside the car, black sharp nails drummed against the wheel at a scattered and quick pace while the owner of said nails exhaled a buzzing breath.

“Why is he taking so long? There won't be much time left!” The driver growled in a high baritone voice that sounded as if it were melting like butter. His unruly, spiky orange hair seemed to hover over his pointed ears as his bright orange eyes narrowed at nothing specific on the street. He was tall, had dark tan skin, and a bit chubby around the edges with a pot belly held back by a sleeveless maroon shirt and ripped black jeans. The large fly wings on his back hummed against the seat, almost impatient. It was supposed to be a quick stop of supplies and nothing else. What was going on in there?

Just then, there were some muffled shouts until someone burst out through the front door lugging an overfilled burlap sack over their shoulder. The demon was a bit more than five and a half feet tall with golden eyes, pale skin, and wild green hair along with some yellow strands popping out. They wore a dusty dark grey coat over their black and white striped suit and green tie.

They then exclaimed in a masculine, gravelly voice as they scrambled into the front passenger seat, "Step on it, Bee!"

"It's about time!" The orange-haired demon groaned in relief as he slammed the accelerator and the car sped off, causing the other to almost fly out to the backseat, but he held on.

“What took you so long, Beetlejuice?! I’ve been waiting here for decades! Did ya get everything?” Bee inquired with a smile.

Beetlejuice chuckled and nudged an elbow to Bee, “It hasn’t been that long and you know it, Beelzebub. I should know; I’ve been waiting for centuries. And it isn’t my fault this time! A couple o' demons were late, some of the items were wrong, and I kinda-sorta pissed some of the demons off with a femur. Don't ask."

“Damn… my bad. We wouldn’t have taken this detour if dear old Satan and the rest of my ‘family’ didn’t seal some of my powers away! You take over a few séances and possess a large group of people for three weeks and suddenly, you’re the bad guy!” Bee snarled and shook his head before making a sharp left turn at an alley once he saw some shadows at his rear-view mirror.

“I know, right?” Beetlejuice scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Sounds just like my mom. ‘Beebleboose, stop bothering the recently deceased and get a job!’”

Beelzebub laughed as he elbowed the dead-born demon, the yellow colors fading back to green. “See? We get each other, BJ! The only other demon who gets me would be my twin, but he’s more about locking his stash away and never using it. Not us. We gluttons know how to have a good time! Why don’t you move down here for the rest of eternity? We could be neighbors, roommates even!”

"As much as eternal suffering sounds awesome, it kinda loses its touch after a while, ya know?" Beetlejuice leaned back in his seat. "Doesn't it get boring torturing and killing souls over and over and they always come back? It's gettin' to a point where everyone expects it. I just wanna get out and have my kind of fun for a change! I wanna be with the living! I don’t want anyone or anything tying me down ever again."

"I hear ya, Ant-Wine. There's just something about the living that's so damn addicting. And I ain't just talking about tastes either! Why do you think I keep risking my existence for the biggest gluttons out there? And what's your job on the surface again? It sounds hilarious!"

"A bio-exorcist. Y'know how the living try to take out demons? I, a demon, take out the living for the dead." Beetlejuice jerked a thumb to his own chest with pride, then shrugged after thinking about it. “Granted, I can’t affect the living and I’m getting ghosts to make the living say my name, but it’s a good gig.”

“Well, ya don’t need to worry about that anymore once we get to the spot!” Bee assured him as he checked to see if anything else were following them, then sighing when they were in the clear. “I got some of my followers on the surface getting themselves into position. When we get there, I possess the leader, say your name three times, and we both get summoned into the land of the living. We scare and eat as much as we want, grow as we please, and we split the world and possibly the universe fifty-fifty!”

“Eighty-twenty.” Beetlejuice challenged.

“Seventy-thirty.”

“Sixty-forty, plus I get a Broadway musical and say-so on the merch!” The green-haired demon pointed finger guns at the other while winking.  

“Deal!” Both demons shook on it.

“Ay dios mio, is that what you were planning all this time?!” A tiny, muffled voice squeaked all of a sudden that almost made the two demons jump. Hearing the source near him, Beetlejuice blinked and glanced down at one of his shirt pockets. He reached to open it when a small head poked out of the pocket. A blueish-green head with long red hair that Beetlejuice recognized from anywhere.

"Teresa?! What are you doing here?" He exclaimed as he almost fell backwards in his seat. The woman in question stood up from her spot in the pocket and lifted her arm to point up at him.

"I could ask you the same thing, mi canalla! Here I am, riding and sliding in your pocket instead of taking my well-earned, once-in-a-death time break! Do you know how much paperwork I needed to file to get it approved?!" Teresa scolded while almost ripping strands of her own hair out, then sighed as she pinched her forehead and muttered in Spanish briefly. "I saw you leaving the Netherworld and I got worried, so I followed you and hid in here while you shifted."

At that, the dead-born demon scowled and crossed his arms. "There's nothin' ta worry about. I'm fine on my own!"

Beelzebub glanced from the wheel to see the tiny spirit and gave a slight smirk, reaching to poke her with his pointer finger. "Huh... So your guardian ghost is Miss Argentina?" At that, Teresa snapped her fingers and pushed the large appendage away.

"That's Miss Teresa Maria Argentina to you, buster! No touching!"  She craned her head up to the giant that carried her. “Who does this guy think he is, anyway?”

“This guy is the demon prince of Gluttony.”

Teresa scoffed, then did a double take and stared at Bee again. "Huh. Not what I expected for the king of all pigs."

"La adulación la llevará a todas partes, Señorita. And there's more to gluttony than just eating." The demon crooned, focusing back onto the street. “We’re in the age of excess, honey, and you’re a part of it whether you like it or not.”

“Oh no, I’m not going to be in your little scheme of yours! Which, by the way, will backfire!” Miss Argentina pointed out before crossing her arms in disapproval.

“You can come to the land of the living with us?” Beetlejuice offered with a grin. Before Teresa could reply, both she and the dead-born jolted forward when Beelzebub suddenly on the brakes. The three looked out the window to see an entire row of demons barricading the street. Some demons had motorcycles and their own cars while others stood with their hulking bodies alone. All of them came in different shapes and sizes. A particular demon who looked more like a chubby dragon in form stepped forward from the crow of angry demons.

“Beetlejuice, we got ya surrounded! Come outta the glutton's car. We just need ta talk!” The dragon demon bellowed with a brash voice.

Beetlejuice let out a laugh, his hair turning a bit yellow at the tips as he opened his window and waved. "Heeeeeey, Rosco! How's the femur?" A growl and glare was his only reply.

"Go on ahead! I'll see if I could blow these guys off and contact Mintaka to back us up! I'll catch up with you two when I can." Beelzebub ordered. Without waiting for an answer, he revved up his engine and made a sharp 180 turn. Magma spewed from between the wheels and created a large wave of molten rock, causing the line of demons to scramble away from it.

“Now!” Beelzebub shouted as Beetlejuice's door opened by itself. The ghost didn't need to be told twice. He flew out of the car and landed on his feet before he ran into a nearby alleyway. A few demons and imps who had avoided the magma followed him.

Teresa clung to the edge of the shirt pocket for dear afterlife as her giant mode of transportation moved quickly. Yes, she was dead, but that didn't mean she was immune to pain. It was also a force of habit.

Beetlejuice cursed at himself. It would've been much easier if he were at the surface and he could just teleport himself away. He didn't have that luxury in Hell. Seeing a wired fence up ahead, he had a plan. He pulled at his hair three times as if grabbing something, then he seemed to throw something invisible to his pursuers. All of a sudden, three clones of himself appeared in front of the demons, blocking them from their path as he leapt onto the fence and clambered up to the other side.

"Damn that rat!" One imp exclaimed in frustration. Beetlejuice smirked and continued moving. After a while, he came across an open clearing and an entrance to a burning park covered in glowing stalagmites. They were close to the summoning spot. The ghost with the most cheered, jumping into the air and pumping his fist. Nothing could ruin his moment! He took a few steps forward...

... only to get tackled by a large dust cloud consisting of Rosco and Beelzebub clawing and gnawing at each other. Beetlejuice snarled as his nails and fangs sharpened, trying to push both demons off of him while biting and scratching anyone who came too close. Teresa ducked down to the safety of the shirt pocket, questioning her afterlife choices. The ball of fighting seemed to stop when both Beetlejuice and Beelzebub grabbed Rosco by the shoulders and slammed him to the side of a building.

"Ha!" The two demons exclaimed in victory. The impact was so great, it caused the building to break in half and topple over, hitting the building next door. And the one after that. And the one after that. Soon, there was a giant building version of dominoes falling one by one until it stopped at a particular office building where two demons were having a meeting.

"BETELGEUSE/BEELZEBUB!" Two voices roared suddenly, echoing all over Hell and possibly the Netherworld as well. Both demons in question stood up straight, let go of the dragon demon, and winced in unison.

"Oh crap."

Before either of them knew it, the two demons and the spirit found themselves in Lucifer's domain, tensed and unaware of what would transpire. As Bee got dragged away in chains, Beetlejuice stood in the middle of the hallway and averted his eyes from Juno's sight, his hair and outfit turning a gloomy violet as his wrists shifted from the handcuffs behind him. Teresa stood on the director's shoulder, not saying a word.

"Why doesn't this surprise me one bit?" Juno stated calmly, only to shriek when Beetlejuice opened his mouth to speak. "You damn fool! You couldn't give me just one year of peace without screwing it up!"

"But mom-!"

"BUT NOTHING! I'll deal with you later." Juno raised the palm of her hand, causing Beeltejuice to stumble backwards and freeze. Without delay, she then took out a piece of chalk from her hair and drew a tiny door on the nearby wall. She knocked on the door three times with her pinky and the door opened up to reveal green mist. She then aligned herself so the ghost on her shoulder was in front of the entrance.

"I take it you enjoyed your relaxing break?” Juno asked in a saccharine tone. Not waiting for an answer, she exclaimed. “Now get back to work! We just got a bus load of casino gamblers who are probably going to fight with the football players and do who knows what. And no word of what you saw here to the others, understand?”

"Yes, ma'am." Teresa nodded as she held herself while trying to look as professional as possible. She strutted to the door, but stopped just as she was about to enter. She turned her head to look back at Beetlejuice who tried not to make eye contact with her. With a sympathetic frown, she gave a slight wave and made her exit, the door shutting behind her. Beetlejuice looked to the door and sighed, only to yelp when his handcuffs tugged him forward.

“Come on, Lawrence. Satan’s waiting for you.” Juno ordered, walking ahead past her son. She beckoned her finger and the handcuffs tugged again, forcing Beetlejuice to follow her. They went down the hallway and entered the last room which was filled to the brim with demons and imps like a courtroom. Most of them were either involved with recent events or were nearby. There were conversations between their groups until the Shoggoths entered the room, causing the room to become silent.

Juno took Beetlejuice to the front of the stand where the Cardinal Council sat in tall podiums waiting for him. The Cardinal Council consisted of powerful demons who embodied the seven main cardinal sins known to humans. Belphegor of Sloth was dozing off in his seat. Leviathan of Envy was writing a few notes to themselves. Asmodeus of Lust brushed his pink long locks with a comb and some help with a breeze he summoned. Mammon of Greed fidgeted with his coins like always. Beelzebub of Gluttony managed a subtle wave to the dead-born. Last but not least, Lucifer stood at the tallest podium. Despite popular belief, he had the honor of having both Pride and Wrath in his repertoire. Nothing changed about him except that he had more fur and goat features at the moment. Beetlejuice took his place in front of the council, but felt the force from his mother staying with him. Once everyone was accounted for, Lucifer cleared his throat and drummed his claws on the podium.

“Out of all the dead-borns we have in Hell and all over, you have got to be the most stubborn pain in the ass I ever met.” He started, glaring down at the dead-born.

"Lucy, hey! How ya doin'? Your horns look extra-curly today." Beetlejuice casually greeted with a wink.

"Flattery will get you nowhere with me, Lawrence." The goat demon deadpanned. Beetlejuice felt his handcuffs tugging him back and he glanced to see his mother's disapproving frown. Swallowing the negativity for now, he returned his attention to the one in charge.

"C'mon, Lucifer. Let's talk demon to demon, huh? Sure, I snuck down here to hang out with one of the most powerful demons in Hell and destroyed a few things, but what demon hasn't?" The ghost with the most laughed and shrugged. "Besides, it's not like the first few times I messed up here."

“Oh, where do I begin with that?” Lucifer asked in a sardonic tone before he pulled out a large scroll from behind his back and unraveled it. The paper dropped on the ground and continued to roll onto the ground, stretching out of the room and seeming to continue rolling. Yellow strands of hair started to appear on Beetlejuice’s head.

“Surely, you must be exaggerating!” An imp who stood below the podium exclaimed in disbelief, leaning over to read the long scroll.

“This is Beetlejuice we’re talking about. Am I? Let’s read a few random ones, shall we?” The ruler of Hell took out a pair of eyeglasses and placed them on before skimming to a random spot on the list. “There was the time that he and another dead-born managed to freeze all of Hell for a while because, and I quote, ‘We need to have a snow day’.”

"We really needed one!" Beetlejuice shot back in defense. "I've seen breathers enjoy those all the time and Mint owed me one!"

Lucifer chose not to answer as he continued, "You let all the hellhounds loose and insisted that Cerberus should go on a 'play-date'."

"Hey, what Spot and I have is something special! They and Sandy would get along great eating souls and all."

"They are MY pet!"

"Eh... you say 'pet', I say 'furry and fun three-headed acquaintance'."

"And let's not forget the 'food' incident when you somehow managed to make the Netherworld smell like coconut, Hell smell like guacamole, and nearly consumed a hundred souls assigned to a specific place in Hell!" Nearly every demonic being in the room shuddered at the memory.

At the last offense, Beetlejuice shuddered as he nodded in agreement. "Okay, now that was a mistake I will never do again. The last time I would ever make anything in the Lust district. We'll leave it at that! No offense, Azzy."

"None taken." Asmodeus muttered from his seat, not knowing whether to bleach the memory from his brain or keep it.

"The point is you've been causing trouble both here and the Netherworld for centuries despite your curse and I'm at my limit for the last time!" Lucifer sneered, rolling the scroll of crimes back up and making it disappear.

The demons, imps, and four members of the Cardinal Council talked amongst themselves. No doubt they were talking about Beetlejuice and how annoying he was. Beelzebub raised his hand.

"Hey, Satan. It was my idea in the first place. B-Juice was just going along with it. Can't we just lock him outta Hell for a while and curse me instead?" The demon of Gluttony offered. The demon of Pride and Wrath glared at him.

"Oh look at you, trying to act all noble!" Lucifer's voice went up a pitch as he clasped his hands in mockery before he dropped the act and adjusted his glasses with a frown, earning a glare from Bee. "Don't play cute with me. He'll just somehow come here and you two will cause mayhem again!"

"You took the words right out of my mouth." Juno commented drily. The mutters and clamor resumed until Lucifer smacked the side of the podium with his tail hard, causing the room to be silent.  

"What we need is a more... proper punishment. A curse that'll make sure you get the message through that thick skull of yours." With a wave of his wrist, a hefty folder of papers stamped with Beetlejuice's name on it appeared on the podium. Lucifer then started skimming through the file. This continued for a minute or two until his eyes widened at a particular page. He glanced at the dead-born.

"You're obsessed with humans, right? I believe you call them breathers in the Netherworld. You and Bee have that much in common."

No one said a word. Beelzebub averted his gaze from everyone, sinking into his seat as he wanted to be anywhere but there. Juno blew a smoke ring, keeping her thoughts to herself. Beetlejuice continued to glare at the ruler of Hell from his position. Lucifer placed down the stack of papers and took off his eyeglasses to stare at the other. He was silent for a moment until he gave a slight smirk.

"Since you like breathers so much, I should give you what you want. It is what you deserve, after all." He rubbed his claws against his chest before he pointed one at the dead-born. "Lawrence Betelgeuse Shoggoth, you are still banished to the world of the living and cannot say your true name, but I'm adding a few details so you'll stay put. The first one? I'm sealing you to the one item that'll be your downfall."

Lucifer snapped his fingers and a flame burst up from the ground, forming a specific shape. When Beetlejuice noticed what the shape was, he paled.

"No... Not that. Anything but that!" He exclaimed.

"Oh, yes that. Congratulations, you're going to be... LITERATURE!" The flames died down and a large book with a black cover floated in the air. Upon seeing it, Beetlejuice dropped to his knees and screamed dramatically.

"But I can't spell! You maniac!"

"And that's not all! You will be sealed inside this book for all eternity unless you can bond with a living person. It could be any type of bond as long as it's genuine and strong. I'll add some more rules for you to read at your leisure. Until then, only a breather who can read your book could set you free and we all know the chances of that happening!" Lucifer laughed, causing everyone to join him. He then turned to Juno, raising an eyebrow. "This curse alright with you, Juno?"

"Beetlejuice becoming the very thing he destroys? Now that's something I would like to see." The director of Netherworld Customs almost grinned at that. Her son stared at the ground, the purple on his body and hair getting deeper. Seeing that Juno had no complaints, Lucifer then addressed everyone else.

"All those in favor of turning Betelgeuse into a book and throwing him out, say 'Eye'."

"Eye!" Everyone in the room except Beetlejuice and Beelzebub raised their hands, some of the demons even held up their own eyeballs. Lucifer took a quick scan and grinned.

"It's settled. Majority rules. Time to go. Bye, Bug-Beverage!" With a sadistic glint in his eye, the demon ruler snapped his fingers. The large book floated in the air and opened itself, its pages flipping and glowing until it stopped at the center of the book. Once it stopped, a swirling vortex appeared on both pages, acting as a powerful wind current as chains shot out from the book and connected with the ghost's handcuffs to pull him in. Beetlejuice panicked.

"No, wait! I'll behave, I promise! Not this, anything but this! Satan, the things I do ta get a different beginning from the original source material!" Beetlejuice cursed as he gripped at the ground to hold himself from the wind current and chains pulling at him.. It only increased the suction, causing some demons and imps to brace themselves.

His claws dug deep onto the floor as he was dragged by his chains towards the book. Gritting his fangs, Beetlejuice reached out to Beelzebub and cried out, "Tell my story!" Before the gluttony demon could respond, the ghost with the most was sucked into the book and it slammed itself shut.

Everyone in the room applauded and let out a sigh of relief. With a deadpan expression on his face, Beelzebub got up from his seat.

"Well... that was fun." Bee yawned and rolled his eyes, pointing to the other side of the room. "I'm out!"

"Ah-ah-ah. Not so fast!" Satan crooned and grabbed the orange-haired demon by the shirt collar to stop his escape. "I haven't forgotten about you nor my original plan. Just need to put the finishing touches..."

Without any explanation, Lucifer pulled Beelzebub's arm towards his face and bit at the other's thumb, causing the latter to scream. He then slammed Beelzebub's left hand onto the book. Black blood seeped from the thumb and spread onto the entire book, glowing orange upon contact. When he felt that there was enough, Lucifer took off Bee's hand and waved over the book, causing the glow to fade. With that, the seals were complete.

Having watched everything, Juno stared at the book her son was in, her face expressionless. She then took a drag of her cigarette and glanced away, almost relieved. "Let the living deal with him now."

"Where should we drop 'im, boss?" An imp asked as it hopped next to Lucifer, ready to complete the deed once and for all.

"The one place rarely anyone would find it so easy." The ruler of Hell replied after a bit of thought. "A place no one would ever expect such a powerful book to be!"

Late at night on the surface where the living dwelled, a red portal opened up above the sleepy town of Winter River, Connecticut. The black book fell out from the portal, its blank pages fluttering with the air as the portal immediately closed back up. The book continued to fall until it reached above an old tall house on a hill, going through the roof and landing right inside the attic of the house where it waited for someone, anyone worthy, to open and read it.

[we-are-only-halfway-home93]

Beautiful Trauma 1- We Burned So Bright- [Billy Hargrove x OC]

Summary: The worst way to miss someone is for them to be right beside you and you know you can’t have them.

Characters: Billy Hargrove x OC, Steve Harrington x Nancy Wheeler, Jonathan Byers x Nancy Wheeler, Max Mayfield, Will Byers, Lucas Sinclair, Dustin Henderson, Mike Wheeler, Eleven, Joyce Byers, Jim Hopper

Warnings: Child abuse, underage sex, underage drinking, implied cheating, step-sibling incest, secret relationship, violence, language

Word Count: 2162

Author’s Note: I’ve had this idea rolling around in my head for a while and after the ending of season 3 I felt like I had to get it written. I wanted Billy to have someone who understood him and I felt like the best way to represent that was to have a character who knew him before Hawkins. I gave Max and older sister, Valerie, who loves Billy in spite of who he is and what he does.

“I believe I am in hell therefore I am.”

~Arthur Rimbaud

Valerie jerked suddenly when the Camaro came to an abrupt halt. She lifted her head and glanced at Billy but he didn’t look at her. He got out of the car and slammed the door so hard that the glass in the frame rattled. She sighed and looked out the window up at the house in front of her.

It was October and her mother had just moved her and her sister to Bumfuck Egypt in the middle of Nowheresville America following her wedding to Valerie’s new step-dad, Neil Hargrove. Neil had an infuriating son, Billy, who had gone to school with Valerie in California. They had been close before the wedding. To say the marriage changed things was a bit of an understatement.

The marriage had been a bit of a surprise. One minute Billy and Valerie are enjoying their time together, their respective parents ignorant of their after-school activities when Susan asked her and Max to dress nice because they were having dinner guests.

Valerie was surprised when her boyfriend and his dad showed up with a bouquet of flowers and a bottle of wine. Billy’s face betrayed very little but Valerie had gotten good at reading him in their time together. He was just as surprised to see her as she was to see him.

Susan had ushered them in and they sat down for a lovely, if somewhat tense, dinner. During dessert, Susan had stopped eating and reached over to hold Neil’s hand. Valerie felt her heart rate pick up at that and could hear her blood pumping in her ears. She felt the hairs on her arms stand on end. She tried to keep the apprehension off her face but she didn’t think she did a good job.

Susan announced that she and Neil had been seeing each other for several months and were ready to announce their relationship to their children. Max was the only one who expressed herself verbally. She told her mother she was happy for her when her face expressed pretty much the opposite.

The rest of the night had been tense and Neil and Billy left soon after. Several hours later, Billy was knocking on her bedroom door, ranting about his father and his sudden desire to date again. Billy’s mother had been gone for nearly seven years and in all that time Neil Hargrove hadn’t dated a single woman. Not one woman until now and it was Valerie’s mom. The universe must’ve been playing a dirty trick if this was their lot.

Valerie had shushed him and held his face in her hands. He had a new black eye and hers started to burn. Billy brushed her off was tender hands and settled them on her bed. He held her until she was asleep and he was gone when she woke up that morning.

Six months after they announced their relationship, they announced their engagement. Valerie cried every night after that. Billy would come to see her sometimes but he never stayed long. They spent most of their time together at school but even then it was few and far between. It was like the engagement created a rift in their relationship.

Susan and Neil made quick work of a wedding. Four months after they announced their engagement they were wed in front of their closest friends and family. Less than one hundred people. The reception was held in the basement of Neil’s country club with even fewer people.

Life moved pretty fast after that. Neil and Billy moved into their house and within two months they announced their move nearly halfway across the country. Some podunk town in Indiana.

Valerie had never been angrier at her mom.

They sold their house and backed their things in record time. The new school year had been in session for almost two months and Valerie just knew that she would be treated like some rare oddity, some hidden treasure newly discovered to be gawked at and observed. She was from California, after all, and, if she had to guess, she bet that no one in this tiny town had ever left.

She heaved the last of her boxes into her room. Neil and Susan had at least had the decency to purchase a four-bedroom house so that she and Max wouldn’t be forced to share. That had been a nightmare for the few months they did it in California.

She turned to the door and watched Billy stalk by with his own box, a set of headphones draped over his neck blaring Metallica. He ignored her.

She took a deep breath and swung herself outside her room, heading towards the end of the hall to Max’s. She leaned her shoulder against the door frame and watched her sister toss various comic books and cassettes on the dresser. All her boxes labeled ‘clothes’ were stacked in the far corner and all her personal possessions were currently being rifled through.

Max looked up and met Valerie’s eyes. Neither of them said anything, content in the shared displeasure that arose from their situation.

Valerie shoved off the door frame and ventured back to her room. She glanced in Billy’s room as she did and ripped her eyes away quickly.

Life was already painful enough.

~*~

Valerie hated Billy’s music.

She didn’t mind it when they were dating but now it was next to insufferable. It might have had something to do with the fact that he listened to it at near-deafening levels but she wasn’t one hundred percent sure.

It was Monday morning at hers and Billy’s first official day at Hawkins High School. Max was attending Hawkins Middle School just down the street and brought her skateboard along to ride down the block.

The engine rumbled as Billy pulled into the high school parking lot. It cut off with a stutter when Billy killed the engine. Valerie turned to him but he was already out of the car before she could speak. She huffed and glared at his back.

She turned then to Max and gave her a forced smile. Max rolled her eyes and pushed at the back of her seat. Valerie stayed put and turned in her seat.

“Do you have everything you need?” Max rolled her eyes again and nodded. “I’ll get whatever books I need today. Mom got it all set up with the counselor.” Max’s tone was exasperated.

Valerie nodded and pushed out of the car. She pulled her seat forward and Max leaped out, dropped her skateboard and pushing away down the broken pavement. Valerie watched her go and slammed the car door shut.

She shuffled around the front of the car and eyed the girls oogling Billy’s ass.

Admittedly he had a nice ass but she felt a certain possessiveness. He hadn’t been hers for a while what with their parents' marriage but they hadn’t exactly broken up either. Mutually, they came to an understanding that being together while living under the same roof was not a good idea, especially with Neil’s temperament. They agreed that it was best for them to ignore their feelings for each other.

To call what she felt for Billy ‘feelings’ was a gross understatement. What she and Billy had was beyond basic teenage emotions. They understood each other. They complimented each other. He brought out the best in her and she in him. For life to come and rudely rip it away from them was cruelty in its truest form.

There were lots of tears shed during their agreement. She had cried for days and Billy had started multiple fights at school.

Neither one of them had been happy since before the wedding. Hell, really since before Susan and Neil announced they were dating.

Valerie pulled up alongside Billy and tried not to be hurt by his refusal to acknowledge her. She knew that this was hard on him but it was hard on her, too. He wasn’t making it easier.

They stopped in the office first thing and got their schedules, locker assignments and combinations. As soon as they were done in the office Billy walked in the opposite direction as her even though their lockers were in the same hallway. She watched him go and felt tears rush to her eyes. She turned with sharp precision down the hall and headed towards her locker.

She twisted the dial with shaking hands and stuffed her back inside, pulling out only a notebook and a pen. She jumped when a load shriek echoed four lockers down from her.

A petite brunette had a tall boy pressed against the lockers. His dark hair was styled in neat swirls across his forehead and along the sides. He was clean-shaven with broad shoulders and long legs. He held himself with an ease and a confidence that was foreign to most high school students.

Billy had it and it was largely what attracted her to him. His confidence with his surroundings and the general high school drama. Both acted as if nothing could touch them. Everything just slid right off their backs like oil in water.

She knew that with Billy it was largely an act, a front he put on to protect himself. She wondered if this boy was the same.

The girl glanced over and saw her looking. Valerie blushed and looked away, into the depths of her locker. She closed her eyes when she felt a presence come up beside her.

“Hi! I’m Nancy. You’re new, right?” Valerie turned her flushed face to Nancy and nodded, taking her offered hand. “Yeah, I’m Valerie.” They shook hands and Nancy turned slightly to gesture to the tall boy she was swapping spit with earlier. “This is my boyfriend Steve.” Valerie shook his hand as well and continued to admire him.

He had an angular face and the shadows dipped in all the right placed. He had a long sloping nose that accented the sharp lines of his jaw and cheekbones. His forehead was strong and framed his eyes in a way that made him look older. He had deep-set brown eyes that looked like they’d seen a lot in their short time. Valerie wondered if he and Billy were so different.

Physically so, yes, quite a bit. Billy’s hair was light were Steve’s was dark. Billy had hard eyes and Steve’s were soft. Billy was shorter but broader, compacted with muscle. Steve was taller and leaner.

She could appreciate Steve’s beauty but he wasn’t Billy.

She sighed and shut her locker. “So, maybe you can help me find something to do in this town.” Nancy smiled and glanced up at Steve. “Actually, I might have something that’ll interest you.” She watched Nancy pull a bright orange sheet of paper from her binder.

~*~

The car ride home was tense. Valerie could count on one hand the number of times Billy had spoken to her since the move

Once. One time and it was to tell her to “Get in the fucking car or you can walk home!” She felt a rage so potent simmer beneath her skin that she was sure he could feel it.

Max hadn’t said anything when she got in the car and Billy peeled out of the parking lot, speeding down the road to their house.

Valerie glared at the side of his head until he looked over at her. “What?” She snorted and shook her head. He slammed his hand on the steering wheel. “Goddamnit! What? Why are you staring at me?”

She scoffed. “I’m just trying to figure out why you’re being such an asshole.” He glared over at her and intentionally jerked the car to the side. She gasped and had to grab the Jesus handle to keep herself from hitting her head. Max cussed.

Valerie shoved his arm and he gave a malicious laugh. “Baby, I’ve always been an asshole.”

Her nostrils flared and she reared back.

It was true. He hadn’t been particularly nice in California but it was familiar anger. Something that was seen often at their old school in their old town.

Here, in this place, his rage was unfamiliar. It was new. There were new reasons for it.

She shook her head. “Not like this. We used to be,” He gave her a sharp look when she started that sentence. Valerie glanced briefly to Max in the back seat but she was focusing too much on trying to stay still from his dangerous driving habits to pay attention to their conversation. Valerie amended her statement anyway.

“We were friends. At least then I could tell why you were angry. Now you’re just cruel.”

Billy smirked at her and gave her a mocking kissy-face before speeding up and flying over the hills. Valerie shook her head and turned away from him. If he saw her tears he would laugh.

[draayder]

I'm curious to see you answer all those OC asks for Kanemoto. Or as many as you can.

oh boy here we fucking go

What is your OC’s favorite color?Purple, but he generally likes anything in the cool range

Does your OC collect anything? What do they collect?He started collecting coins with his dad when he was a kid and while he’s not an avid collector he’ll still pick up a neat one if he finds it

What kind of things is your OC allergic to?he’s mildly allergic to dogs

What kind of clothing does your OC wear?he’s pretty much always dressed up, colored suits are about as flashy as it gets though

What is your OC’s first memory?He’s got flashes of a family breakfast when he was very young, though he can’t remember his mom’s face anymore. She left shortly after that

What’s your OC’s favorite animal? Least favorite?He likes cranes a lot, and thinks frogs and toads are gross

What element would your OC be?Water/Dark

What is your OC’s theme song? fuck dude I suck at these

Do you have a faceclaim / voiceclaim for your OC?nope I don’t ever do those

What deadly sin would best represent your OC?man that’s tricky for Kanemoto.... probably greed since he easily had enough money to just stop being a yakuza and still pay for all his dad’s treatment when his last like 3 families fell apart but he just keeps joining back up. He’s got this hangup about being absolutely sure he could cover ANYTHING that comes up 

What are your OC’s hobbies?He likes to read, historical fiction is a favorite because he is a big nerd. He also has a few pet beetles and when he’s busy he sends his boys around to take care of them

How patient is your OC? How hot-headed are they?he’s pretty damn patient, he knows he ain’t great in a fight so he doesn’t jump into them often which Saejima appreciates as a leadership quality

What is your OC’s gender / sexuality / race / species / etc.?Japanese Bisexual Cis Man

What foods does your OC like to eat? What are their least favorite foods?Surprisingly he likes pizza and has a fondness for mochi. He does not like ketchup which Akanishi takes great personal offense to

If your OC could have any pet, what would they choose? Why?He’s already got a few beetles which he considers ideal because they take up very little room, make very little noise, and he can buy beetle jelly at donki 

What does your OC smell like? he wears nice colognes most the time and favors citrus scents

How do they make a living? What kind of job do they want / not want? What is their dream job? What do they think of their current job?Kanemoto is yakuza babey. He got accepted to college and was on his way to becoming a lawyer but his dad’s medical issues forced him to drop out and the cost of everything pushed him into that line of work, so he kind of got stuck in a “being a yakuza is my job and my only option” mindset even after he had plenty of cash. He enjoys the business side of things and runs things fairly legit if you ignore the massive money laundering and tax evasion. He would rather die than work in fast food again

What are your OC’s greatest fears? Weaknesses? Strengths?He’s got this irrational fear that everything’s gonna fall apart financially. Outside of that he’s got the usual job fears of getting shot or knifed in his sleep, but he’s more scared of the pain than the dying part of it. His strength is that he’s got a rock solid grip on his composure

What kind of music do they listen to? Do they have a favorite song?he’s a whatever song’s on the radio kind of guy. He was so busy with school and then work and then yakuza that he feels like he kind of missed the bus on a lot of songs guys his age are really into, and he struggles to concentrate if music is playing so his musical knowledge is pretty limited

If they came from their world to ours (if not already in our’s) how would they react? What would they do?n/a

What personal problems/issues do they have? Pet peeves?puts up with stuff for too long, a big “lying for their own good” kind of guy, a little judgmental. he does not like these freshly recruited chinpira who won’t learn their damn manners and think since they’re yakuza they shouldn’t try to play by business etiquette when dealing with civilians 

What kind of student were they/would they be in high school?he was a stellar student and a total dweeb

What is a random fact about your OC? He and his ex-wife split amicably and she runs a lgbt bar now which he frequents

What is their outlook on life? What is their philosophy / what do they think in general about living?He thinks a lot about the meaning of it all and decided it’s about how you treat those you care about, so he’s gonna give it his all 

What inspired you to create them / how did you create them? Were they originally a fancharacter? What was their personality / design like when you first made them?honestly he was 100% someone to bounce Akanishi off of that no one could accuse me of making OOC when I did

Who is the most important person in their life? Why? Who is the least important to them (that still has an impact) and why?He’s got a couple, his dad was obviously a huge influence on him and he was proud to give him as long of a life as he did, Saejima’s his first boss after his father passed away and let him leapfrog a lot of the normal drudgery he’d have to do starting from the bottom, and Akanishi has become very important whether he wants him to be or not. The least important to him was probably Dojima who was his first boss but also died within a year of him joining up

What kind of childhood did your character have?His mom left when he was about 4 or 5, he’s not really sure where she went or what happened and he’s content enough not knowing. His dad was a great father and did amazing as a single parent, they didn’t have a ton of money but it was enough

What kind of nervous habits do they have? Do they stim? Do they have any kinds of addictions?tends to pull at his tie/collar when particularly nervous but he’s got a pretty strong grip on himself

If they could choose their epitaph for their grave, what would they choose?oh fuck that’s a hard one..... I think he’d go simple with like “Kanemoto Sho, loyal friend, devoted son”

Do they want to get married? Why or why not? Would they ever want kids? Do they have kids? Why?he’s been married and would definitely be open to it again but he hasn’t really pursued anyone, it doesn’t line up with his line of work and anyone in the yakuza tends not to be the marrying type. He’s too old for kids at this point and once again the line of work just doesn’t agree

What is their most traumatic memory/experience? What is their favorite memory?the first time he properly got his shit wrecked as a young yakuza in a street fight, he had to lie to his dad and say he got mugged and sent to the hospital. It kind of set him up to think he never wanted to be in a position where he had to fight. His fave memory is a fishing trip he took with his dad during high school

If they could have one thing in the world, what would it be?now you’d think the answer would be “his dad back” but he’s a pretty big believer that when it’s someone’s time that’s just how it is and that he provided the best life he could for him. If he could just snap his fingers and make it happen it’d definitely be getting strong enough to be a real contender in the yakuza realm. If that wasn’t possible, he’d like his scar and hearing fixed

Would they ever kill someone? What would someone have to do to push them to kill someone? If they would kill someone, why? he avoids it when possible, but he has shot a few people in very high stakes negotiations. He’s a good shot but prefers not to carry a gun due to the police risk

What social groups and activities does your character attend? What role do they like to play? What role do they actually play, usually?the Saejima family has drinking nights and occasional other excursions but they’re fairly laid back. However he gets dragged to most of the Majima family events by Akanishi and ends up playing baby sitter with Nishida when Minami is breathing fire and Akanishi is lighting sparklers off of it and oh fuck oh god Majima brought fireworks????

How is your character’s imagination? Daydreaming a lot? Worried most of the time? Living in memories?He’s not super imaginative but is a worrier. Can’t really blame him with how many times the family he’s in has crumbled around him

What does your character want most? What do they need really badly, compulsively? What are they willing to do, to sacrifice, to obtain?he does not need more money but he still spends a lot of time getting more, tho now it’s more for the family than taking much of a cut for himself. He’s willing to work his ass off for that

What’s something that your character does, that other people don’t normally do?So Kanemoto has a big complicated money laundering scheme that Saejima doesn’t fully understand but it gives the family a lot more clean money to use than anyone really expectsHe owns several real estate firms, and the employees are ‘encouraged’ to eat at the restaurants across the street that he also owns, and to spend time at the hostess clubs he owns. They’re given large bonuses to go out to these clubs via happy hours. They also are encouraged to spend time at the golf club that Kanemoto owns, and the hostesses are told to bring their dates to there as well. A cut of the profits of everything gets taken back in by the family as it’s now been successfully laundered and very very hard to trace 

What would your character do with a million dollars? what he’s currently doing with a million dollars, making it into more money

What is in your characters refrigerator right now? On their bedroom floor? Nightstand? Garbage can?he’s got an embarrassingly bachelor fridge with some leftovers and beer, he is not a good cook and spends most of his time out dining with business people or working late and ordering in. He keeps his room clean, his nightstand has whatever book he’s currently reading and a pair of readers that he isn’t thrilled with needing to wear. His garbage has a surprising amount of condoms

Your character is getting ready for a night out. Where are they going? What do they wear? Who will they be with?Akanishi is dragging him to a bar for karaoke and he doesn’t bother dressing up more than usual, but then Saejima is there and he regrets it

What does your character do when they’re angry? Why?it takes a lot to get him really angry but when it happens he is like incoherent rage and yelling (see here)

Does your character have any scars? Where did they get them from? he’s got some minor ones from a couple scuffles but the major one on his head is from a grenade that went off near him. He’s completely deaf in that ear and is annoyed that he’s lost his normal business man look and is more clearly a yakuza

What was the most offensive thing your character had ever said?this is more dumbass than offensive but he had very little experience with trans people before he got assigned kyoudai with Akanishi so he definitely said some stupid shit. He had a handle on MtF since he’d been around some trans women and other gnc individuals at his ex-wife’s Sachiko’s bar Oniyuri but didn’t put two and two together to figure out that FtM was also a thing, which lead to some major confusion when Akanishi said he was trans Akanishi, dropping his pants at the hot spring the first day they met: Oh yeah I’m trans that ain’t gonna be a problem, right?Kanemoto: so you’re... a woman?Akanishi: No!!!!Kanemoto: Oh sorry, so you’re a man...Akanishi: Yes!Kanemoto: ...who’s transitioning to female?Akanishi: NO!!!!! Literally the opposite get it together man!

How does your character react/ accept criticism?Depends on who it comes from, but he takes it pretty seriously. 

If your character was given a slice of pineapple pizza and they HAD to eat it (or something bad would happen), how would they react? Do they even LIKE pineapple pizza?he likea the taste

Your character is given a voodoo doll of themself. What do they do with it? Do they see if it actually works?yeah he’d try pinching it to see if he felt anything and then probably keep it around to scratch his own back (and hide it under as many locks as he can so Akanishi can’t get his hands on it)

Can your character draw? What do they like to draw? Do they doodle?he has no talent for art

What were their parents like? How has that affected how they are as an adult?as mentioned previously his mom left when he was young and his dad raised him as a single parent, his dad was hugely impactful on his life

Does your character like candy? Do they get sugar rushes? What are they like when they get a rush?he’s got a sweet tooth but never really got sugar rushes

If your character was presented with imminent and unavoidable death/fatality, how would they react? Would they try to avoid death anyways? Would they try to make their last days count? If he knew with certainty that he would die in 3 days he would spend every minute getting everything in as much order as he could to keep the Saejima family secure and just spending time with his closets friends. He’d rather leave a positive impact on them than try to avoid death, he’d consider doing so to be unforgivably selfishHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOGH that was a lot

[jaimistoryteller]

OC/Author PrideFest Question Mess Part 2

Thanks for the tag @raevenlywrites! I am now up to all the people who liked my post with the link character list having received at least one (mostly more) questions from me.

Rules I am going with: answer the questions you know or are comfortable sharing, tag others, add a question if you feel like something is missing.

Note: I will be answering in three different posts, one per section, rather than all together because of how many questions there are.

Questions for you:

Introduce yourself! Tell us a little bit about you and what you write

Why do you write LGBT+ characters?

Have you always written LGBT+ characters? If no, what inspired you to start? Is it a deliberate representational choice?

Do you use modern labels in your work? Why or why not?

World builders: do you have any neat societal twists? (unique names for IDs, different marriage practices, etc.)

Do you write outside your own experiences? (cis writing trans, wlw writing mlm, etc.) If yes, how confident do you feel about it?

Tell us about a favorite book/character someone else wrote that inspired you (or just plain gave you a warm and fuzzy)

Any advice for someone else writing LGBT+ characters?

Would you like people to ask you more questions when this is over?

Free space! Wax poetic about something near and dear to your heart.

Questions for your Ocs (in character or out, dealer’s choice):

Going to answer these like I would a Q&A post, with the first three characters that comes to mind for each question. 

Say hi! Let us get to know you, you big beautiful person, you!

Sparks  *grins and waves* I definitely qualify as big at 6′9, sadly I lost some height due to my teenage activities. Sitara and Aither both think I look good, though really I don’t see it half the time. 

Lettie *snickers and gives a graceful bow* I always startle people with the fact I am not clumsy. Too many skinny and slender folks need to get the idea out of their head that big does not equal able. I enjoy having clothes altered for me and enjoying as people stare at how perfectly I carry myself. 

Lo *smiles and invites everyone in for tea or other beverage of choice* what would you like to discuss? There are plenty of things I know, both about the Network and the world in general. *they play with the many bracelets on their left arm*

How do you feel about the world your author has created for you?

Aither - it’s better than the world the author lives in. Seriously, the author needs a few people like myself and Jon to help deal with some problems in the government, and if our more diplomatic (aka hacking for those who don’t know) methods don’t know, well, we have access to bunch of assassins, not even counting our significant others. 

[Author: seriously Aither?]

Lo *listens to the question as they settle on their seat, adjusting their robe like outfit to fan out* there are times I wish it was a bit more accepting of people like myself. However, Aither is correct in saying it is much better than the one the author is from. 

[Author: this is going to be a thing.]

Tichina - I am a solidly built WOC in a position of power and respected. While there have been struggles in my life, there have been a lot of times that are better than expected. I am able to save my kids (the teenagers and young adults on my sports teams and in my neighborhood) from the gangs and lives of poverty through education and opportunity. That counts for a lot considering out parallel world is not nearly as forgiving from my understanding. 

[Author: *sighs dramatically* this is what I get for being honest with them.]

Are you out? To whom, why or why not, etc?

Jon - pretty much everyone who has ever met me realizes that I am not quite like  the majority of people. Particularly if they start talking about how hot or attractive someone is. 

Isaac - I came out to my family as genderfluid and was promptly kicked out, since then I don’t really talk about it, I just live it.

Nazreen - only to my soulmates am I out. To everyone else I tell them to mind their business.

Tell us a little about your journey. Have you always IDed the way you do now? Are there parts of you you’re still figuring out?

Vasilia - I spent my childhood perfectly content as a boy, it wasn’t until I started going through puberty that I started feeling off. At which point I started lashing out. 

At everyone. It was the guard, Isa, that actually helped me realize what was going on as I watched them move around with complete confidence in the fact that they are not a man or a woman. 

Uncle Akaal put in some huge libraries in the building when we first moved in that are always being added to. Actually, those might be from Uncle Isha and Luc, and Aunt Aither. Anyways, I was able to do some research in them. I went through several labels before realizing I am a transwoman. My siblings and cousins were supportive along the way, and Uncle Akaal made sure I had everything I needed or wanted to try. 

Isaak - I’m still figuring myself out. I’m pretty sure that I am uninterested in sex, not sure if it’s because I am demi, ace, or simply haven’t met anyone I find appealing enough because I am picky. Or maybe it’s because of how focused I am on my studies. I’m not sure. *shrugs* at least I know my family will be supportive no matter how it goes. 

Marie - the first thing I realized when I entered puberty is the fact I like women, not men. My parents trying to have the safe sex talk with me was a hoot, at least looking back on that talk it was. At the time I blushed up a storm. 

Do you feel settled in your ID, or do you think it might change as you and your author go on?

Isaak - it’ll probably change since it’s not firm at this point. Besides, I’m four when the author meets me, and in my late teens when I start babbling about what I want with my future, there is plenty of time for growth and discovery. I have an entire book, maybe more to grow in! (thank you @lady-redshield-writes @essagandana @raevenlywrites and @ratracechronicler for encouraging the author on that. I love the fact I get a moon base farm!!!)

[Author: *sighs*]

Ioanna - I don’t know who I am. I hope to find out at some point, right now I am simply hurt and confused most the time, so I hope it will change as we go!

Diego - I like growing and changing, and hopefully I will continue to do so. I also like surprising the author, because it’s fun! Beside, the very nature of science is change. 

[Author: does anyone else’s characters make a point of driving them up a wall?]

Did your author always know you were [blank], or did you have to tell them? If yes, oh please, please tell us how! :3

Nazreen - I had to inform the author of my nature and I took my time doing so because I don’t like to talk about myself or share private details. The author only figured it out because I am sex repulsed and have a male soulmate who is not. Though he has been very good to me, accepting my boundaries in a way my ex-husband never did. 

Aither - oh yeah, the author always knew I was pan, even before knowing the actual word for it. Back then omnis-nihil which is extremely choppy Latin for ‘all-any’. 

Arona - no, the author didn’t always know, that detail was figured out when I had a freak out over the fact that I’m intersex and that’s why I haven’t gone through puberty like my sisters. It also happened to be the day my first soulmark started to appear. 

Is being [blank] particularly hard in your world? How does your society treat you differently than ours might?

Lo *makes sure everyone has drinks as they consider the answer* for the most part I am left alone and to my own devices. From my understanding of the author’s world, I would have probably ended up leaving my home and becoming a traveler trying to find a safe haven. Although, I have a feeling I wouldn’t be able to unless I bought an island in the middle of nowhere since things seem to be getting worse in the author’s world, not better.

[Author: really Lo? You couldn’t have just left it at ‘my world’s better?]

No. 

Isaac - being genderfluid can be complicated. It’s not one of the socially accepted ‘norms’ so people can be idiots about it. In a lot of ways they are the same, I can’t think of anything major different. Maybe I wouldn’t have been able to get a job quite so easily? Dunno. 

Aaron - it’s considered perfectly normal, so it is ignored by most. In the author’s world I might have had to worry about bigots or conversion therapy. The fact I am markless is more tricky than my orientation. 

Tell us a little about your unique experiences with your ID. Do you experience dysphoria? Is it impossible to find a date? Just want to find that special someone for snuggles but everyone expects sex? Unload for a minute, it’s okay to struggle sometimes.

Jamie - while rare, there are times I have to deal with dysphoria, that happens more on days I have a sudden shift from masculine to feminine. Particularly if the shift involves feeling like my chest is suddenly too flat. 

Dates are generally easy for me. I’m good at getting people to take me to dinner, dancing, movies, whatever sort of activity I feel like doing that night. 

I enjoy sex but get tired of having to explain myself first, so it doesn’t happen often. I don’t really trust people, so finding someone to snuggle with gets complicated at times because of that little detail. 

I work off a lot of frustrations in my grifting. Particularly on jerks who like to cause problems for people like me. It’s actually how I met Aither actually.

Vasilia - my dysphoria was a large part of why I was lashing out, as soon as it was identified Uncle Akaal made sure I got what I needed to help with it. There was some trial and error as we figured it out, and boy did I feel awkward discussing it with my Uncle, so he talked to Uncle Isha who then put me in touch with some other transladies. 

I’m a teenager for most of the story, and working on figuring out who I like so those don’t really apply yet?

I have bad days where I wish I would have been born a lady without having to go through all the processes to become one. I sometimes wish that I could have children, even though I know it’s probably never going to have. I want to be the carrier mother, even if I can’t be. Those thoughts are more common as I get older and my soulmarks start to appear. A lot of times on those days I end up curled up with my sister. She holds me while I cry and mourn what I can’t have. 

[Author: none of the others feels like discussing it right now.]

What’s the best part about being [blank] in your world?

[Author: no one is answering...really? I got over 500 of you peeps and no one wants to answer? Fine. Moving on.]

Do you like getting fan-mail? Would you like people to ask you more questions when this is over?

Lo *beams as they check that everyone still has their refreshments* I would love fan-mail or to have people asking me questions!

Sparks - ask away, I’m sure I am the most boring one in the bunch, but I know a lot of things due to years of working for and dating Aither. 

Vara - I dare you to ask me things.

Grab that mic! Drop some truth on us, something you’ve just been dying to share! Shout out to your besties!

Mara {I didn’t like all the traveling with my handler but I love my human. My human needs me. My human often thinks he isn’t a good human but he is. His mates think he’s great and scent mark him often to reassure him of this. I don’t think he understands. He will in time. I’ll help him.}

[Author: apparently Iov’s service dog would like you to know she love’s her human.]

Sela - my twinlets are awesome! They could have been jerks about the fact I am technically two days younger, instead they declared the three of us have the same birthday. I hope they know how much I love them. 

Pyotr  *rubbing his neck nervously before straightening up to sign* I adore both my soulmates. Never sould I have guessed having a platonic soulmate, a non-romantic platonic soulmate would be in the cards for me, but it’s just right. We’re the best of friends, and I wouldn’t trade Marie for anyone else in the world.  

Questions for either you or your OCs:

What’s your orientation and gender? Wave that flag!!!

When did you realize you were LGBT+?

What makes your heart melt?

Do you have a favorite LGBT+ song? Movie? Book? Artist? (comic?)

Do you have a secret crush outside of your own work? Some wild crossover OTP?

Tell us about your LGTB+ headcannons (I’d really love to see someone’s character answer this)

What’s your favorite thing about being LGBT+?

Is there a cool place you like to hang out with your squad? Maybe an LGBT+ meet up?

What are some things you do to keep positive?

Do you have any advice for young LGBT+ people?

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Tagging some peeps I am getting to know off the writer peeps spreadsheet so they can see my answers or do them as they feel fit.

@racqueljoneswritings  @paper-shield-and-wooden-sword @minor-writer @lexa-scribbles and @ally-thorne

Part 1 and Part 3

[worryinglyinnocent]

Fic: Haven (21/50)

Summary: They say Resembool is a haven, and they’re right. Lush pastures, quaint country town, farmers’ markets on Saturdays: a bucolic paradise.

But it’s more than that. Resembool is a haven for the runaways, the deserters, the people who don’t want to be found…

The Resembool community knows there’s something odd about Hohenheim, but they’re not going to let that stop them helping him out. This is Resembool after all, a place where no one has to hide and neighbours help neighbours, be they building a fence, chasing a sheep, or trying to save the country from an evil they inadvertently helped release centuries ago…

Or: A series of slices of life in an AU in which Hohenheim never leaves, and several broken state alchemists find hope and home in Resembool.

Rated: T

==

Haven

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [AO3]

Summary: Having been sent home from the Ishval front in disgrace, Alex Armstrong decides not to go to Central. 

Characters: Alex Armstrong, Joe (OC: everyone’s favourite stationmaster-slash-psychotherapist)

Content Warning: Discussion of attempted suicide.

==

Alex is well aware that if it wasn’t for his family name and the fact his father is a retired general, he would have been court-martialed and shot in an instant instead of being sent home from the front with a reprimand and several black marks on his record making him completely ineligible for promotion. 

He hates it. 

He’s glad to be alive, that’s not the issue. He’s not glad that anyone else in his position, anyone else who sees the horrendous cruelty of what they’re doing and simply cannot bring themselves to act, cannot make themselves move, will not be as lucky as he is and will receive a bullet from an unscrupulous brigadier general for their moral crisis. 

As he sits on the train back from the front to Central City, he tries to think about it in a different way. He’s been given an opportunity here, an opportunity that no one else would ordinarily have. People have deserted the military before, Alex is under no illusions about that. His own commanding officer deserted. (He can’t believe that Sherman was shot, he’s been believing that she got out under her own steam somehow for months because he can’t stomach the alternative.)

But Alex is in the unique position that a disappearance on his part would not be noticed for a while. He’s not supposed to be at the front, and everywhere in Central is so frantically understaffed since all able soldiers are being sent to the front that no one would pay any attention to whether he clocked into his new desk job on time. Or at all. He has a buffer, a window in which to disappear. 

He doesn’t quite know what he’ll do when he disappears, but he’ll do something. He’ll find somewhere. 

All he knows right now is that he will not allow himself to be used like this again. This career, this alchemy, it might have been handed down the Armstrong family for generations, but it is going to stop with him. 

Alex says no more. 

Alex isn’t entirely sure what he’s doing when he steps off the train in a small station in the middle of nowhere, a village called Resembool. He doesn’t know anything about the place, and from what he can see of it off the end of the platform, its population seems to consist mostly of sheep. 

He sits down on a bench on the platform, trying to gather his thoughts. Inevitably, every single thread always comes back to Ishval and what happened there, and it freezes him in place just as it did on the battlefield. He stays there long after everyone else has left the station and the train has pulled away, leaving him at the metaphorical crossroads. He’s not surprised that no one pays him any mind - they must get a lot of soldiers coming to and from the front along this route. He’s hardly anything new, although the fact that he’s travelling alone might cause some raised eyebrows. 

He can’t see any raised eyebrows. Mainly because he can’t bring himself to meet anyone’s eyes.

“Are you all right there?”

He looks up to see the stationmaster peering around the waiting room door at him with a concerned look. 

“I…” Alex has no idea. He’s in a state of limbo, having no idea what to do with himself or where to go. “I don’t know.”

“Ok.” The stationmaster comes and sits beside him, stretching his legs out. “I’m just slightly concerned about what you’re going to do when the next train comes along the line.”

There’s a complete calmness in the stationmaster’s voice, and he remains sitting beside Alex for a long time with neither of them speaking. Alex gets the impression that this is not the first time he’s sat on this bench next to someone contemplating their life choices. He’s not quite sure what he would do if Alex did decide to throw himself under the next train - he must weigh about a third of what Alex does, but there’s something in his calm demeanour that gives Alex the reassurance that he’s in safe hands. 

“Has that ever happened before?” he asks eventually.

“Not on my watch.”

 They sit together in silence for a while longer, and Alex’s thoughts come full circle back to Ishval again, and to this strange opportunity for redemption that he’s now been given, and he wonders how to move on from here. 

“Let’s just say that you’re definitely not the first person I’ve found in deep thought on this bench,” the stationmaster says eventually. “Some of them have come from the direction you’ve come from.”

Well, it makes sense, Alex supposes. The deserters who don’t wander into the desert have to go somewhere, and this does seem to be the first inhabited place once the border’s crossed and the contested areas are no longer contested. 

“I’m lucky,” he says eventually. “They won’t notice I’m gone for a while.”

“I see.” There’s no judgement in the stationmaster’s voice, and Alex wonders just how many people he’s seen come away from Ishval, broken in body and even more so in mind. There’s only sympathy in his expression. “Well, if you want to make the most of your head start, then this is as good a place as any in which to do it.” He nods towards the pocket-watch chain that dangles out of Alex’s pocket. “We’ve got a couple of your colleagues already hiding out here.”

It’s good to know that at least some of them have made it to safety after going awol from the front lines. 

The stationmaster gets up then and goes back into the waiting room, and at first Alex thinks that this must be it, he’s off suicide watch for a while - or maybe there just aren’t any trains coming any time soon, this isn’t exactly  a large station, after all - but then he returns with a slip of paper, handing it to Alex. 

“If you feel like staying, then you might want to try knocking on that door. I think you’ll be welcome there. What’s your name?”

“Armstrong. Alex Louis Armstrong.”

“Welcome to Resembool, Mr Armstrong.”

Alex stares down at the address for a long time. It feels like hours before he moves, the stationmaster giving him a knowing nod as he moves off down the platform towards the exit, and he finds himself in the main street. It’s dusk, orange twilight slowly giving in to darkness, and there aren’t that many people around. Those that are give him looks that are half wary and half curious. He tries to ignore them as he makes his way through the town, occasionally stopping to ask directions before he finds himself in front of the front door on the piece of paper. 

Alex knocks. 

He’s extremely surprised when Tim Marcoh opens the door, but he can’t think of a face he’d rather see.

[jojuarez26]

We found love in a hopeless place part 3

Divergent fanfiction: Eric/OC

Mature content and strong language

I do not own any Part of Divergent

@pathybo @tigpooh67 @beautifulramblingbrains @clublulu333 @frecklefaceb @lunaschild2016 @jaihardy @captstefanbrandt @kiiiimberlyriiiicker1995 @sparklemichele @ericdauntless @ariwolff14 @badassbaker @mom2reesie @readsalot73 @dani5102 @scorpio2009 @kenzieam @emmysrandomthoughts

I sat in utter disgust horror and blind rage as Max told me the story of the sins of a husband, father, brother and son. It took every last bit of self restraint I had to not load my unregistered, non-service pistol and marching to Candor and sending those sick son of bitches straight to the depths of hell.

However it took an even greater strength to not obliterate half of a factions for allowing the continued blind devotion to corupt morales and truly vile, disgusting human beings.

So hard in fact I picked up the phone to give Jack Kang a rather large and nasty piece of my mind. It took Max physically man handling the phone away from me and threatening to make me factionless, to stop me.

I was actually fully prepared to deal with the repercussions of my actions until he made me see that it would be better to serve a scorching hot justice that will change society as opposed to a cold justice that changes nothing.

To add insult to injury on a rather emotionally taxing day I received the first solid, concrete evidence to my personal investigation.

I am relieved that I do somewhat hold to the belief that patients is a virtue. I want one hundred percent proof of the treacherous bitches betrayal, lies, extortion and fuckery of other people's lives.

When I did have it all, she will wish she was dead when I am done with her. Brutal, cruel and life devastating revenge is after all my speciality.

It was getting late and I was starting to come close to refusing to have a rational mind and sound judgement. So I shut it all done for the day and headed for the mess hall.

The entire faction became infinitely more silently than normal when I made my entrance. You could've heard a pin drop in the faction known for and synonymous for it's loud, rowdy and over the top way of life.

Every set of eyes where on me as I marched to the chow line. Normally it gets ridiculous quiet for a moment or two and the faction carries on with business as usual.

Not this time. I seen a display of every emotion from pride, loathing, fear, curiosity and every fucking thing in between.

What.the.fuck? Have they all finally gone brain dead from their ignorance and taking one too many blows to the head.

"What in the hell are all you obnoxious, dumb fucks looking at!" I roared letting my murderous gaze scan the large room. My hand crept to the weapon holstered on my hip.

A strong large hand came down on my shoulder.

"Eric, don't." Max commanded in a deadly tone

Max turned and addressed our temporarily brain damaged faction

"I don't know what is causing all you idiots to have a temporary brain malfunction, but if you don't all go back to minding your own boring, sorry excuse business, I will fine every idiot in the entire faction seventy- five points for insubordination."

The cafeteria instantly roared back to life. I turned with a deadly expression demanding immediate explanation. Max's eyes and body language gave nothing away

"Not now. Grab two trays and go enjoy a peacefully meal with Samantha. That's an order not a request soldier," he said with a solemn look on his face.

Begrudgingly I nodded and followed my commanding officers orders. I still felt uneasy as the weight of my factions stares and whispers started to bore holes in my self control. Never in my entire life have I felt so unnerved by other people's thoughts or opinions of me. But this, this felt different. This felt like a conspiracy theory and I was the guest of honour. Quickly I grabbed two trays and stormed off in the direction of the infirmary.

I was thankful that most of my anger had faded by the time I arrived at my destination. Samantha didn't need or deserve the side affects of my frequent paranoia or the hostility I carried around like a child does their favorite toy.

I stood in the doorway examining her features with my Erudite curiosity on full display. Usually I fought and controlled my ingrained tendencies of my former faction. Not today, not in this moment. I indulged in a deserved moment of giving into my natural urges.

Her dark hair was splayed out on the pillow like a halo. I took in her soft feminine features and reveled in her simple beauty.

I knew instantly why she had never caught my attention in the past. She carried herself in a manner that manifested as forgettable or unremarkable to keep unwanted attention at bay. However, once she did catch your attention is was quickly realized she was anything but unremarkable.

She had been twitching restlessly since before my observations started at the door.

By midday with the lowering of anxiety meds and meds to help ease symptoms of withdraw she had become agitated and aggressive

Samantha had tried to check herself out and attempted to engage in potentially physically harmful behavior.

Right now she looked sad and terribly small. As if she felt my eyes on her she had started to stir. Her eyes flung open with fear and confusion.

When her gaze landed on me you could visibly see her relax and recognition of her surroundings. A small smile pulled at the corner of her lips.

Her eyes brightened as I slowly approached her. She tried to hide the excitement building in her eyes as she became aware of my presence. I set the trays of food down and stood next to her. Slowly and carefully I reached out for her hand.

"You came back," she said quietly with surprise in her eyes and gratitude in her voice.

"Of course I did. If nothing else I am a man of my word."

I used my thumb to draw small circles on the back of her hand as a small sign of reassurance.

" I never got a chance to thank you for last night."

She lowered her eyes and turned her head. I can see embarrassment and shame slowly start to settle in her eye

"Sam. Samantha please look at me," I gentle squeezed her hand. I tried to use a calm soothing yet serious tone.

As stubborn as she was Sam thought closing her eyes in defiance would really get her somewhere. My lips quirked up slightly and I laughed to myself in my head. Cute. She must have forgotten who Eric the leader of Dauntless was.

"Samantha that was an order not a request," I stated in a flat tone.

With a small sigh and an irritated huff as a last little act of defiance, she blinked her eyes several times before finally meeting mine.

A sea of stormy emotions raged in two beautiful deep emerald eyes. I could see she was trying to slam a brick wall into place preparing for disappointment and rejection. After years of being let down and brutal rejection she was terrified to even hope someone might actually give a shit if she lived or died.

I ran my hand down her cheek before gently gripping her chin to keep her head up and eyes on me.

"Samantha do not ever thank me again for my support, kindness, lended strength or otherwise do you understand me. When I said you would never be alone again I meant it. Do you understand me."

"Eric, I won't hold you to a promise you made to a lunatic girl while in the heat of the crazy moment of trying to save her ridiculously weak minded self."

She tried desperately but unsuccessfully to turn her head away from me, settling on just closing her eyes when she realized her attempts where in vein. I gave her a brief moment to gather her composure before I spoke again.

"Are you done wallowing in your self inflicted pity party?" I asked sternly.

Her eyes snapped open anger slowly replacing sadness and defeat

"Good. Now you listen and you listen very carefully. I will only tell you this once and I will not repeat myself. Do you understand me?" I stared intently and demandingly in her eyes.

When I seen I had her undivided attention and complete understanding I continued.

"When I looked into your eyes for the first time last night I seen a lonely, broken girl desperately hoping that somebody, anybody would give a damn if she lived or died."

The tears where welling in her eyes and I suddenly had to pause. My chest started to feel like it was caving in on itself. My instincts where screaming at me to shut down and not reveal anymore of myself to this stranger.

I began a silent war in my head. My conscious, something I thought I had long since killed and buried, was begging me to keep going, let it all out. Learn to trust again it said. However the side of myself that protects itself and had long since built a wall around itself, was all but putting a deadly choke hold on my tongue forbidding me to utter the words stuck on the tip of my tongue.

I looked back into Samantha's eyes and seen doubt and self depreciation clouding those beautiful emerald eyes. Fuck it. I'm Eric fucking Coulter, no one is ever going to hurt me. I forced myself to continue.

"I will be nothing but honest with you. I am a cruel, selfish bastard who generally doesn't or won't give two fucks about someone else," the tears started to gather in her eyes.

"But for some reason the universe has a different plan when it comes to you." Now confusion.

"I give a damn about you. I have no idea why, but I do. I will never leave you alone again. Don't be mistaken, I do not promise to be nice, I'm not. I don't promise to be sweet, considerate, to put your feelings before my own or any of that shit. I'm just not that person." I felt a weight lifting off my chest as I continued speak.

"What I do promise is to never leave you alone, protect you from everyone, including yourself. I will demand for you to be strong, brave, loyal and honest and accept nothing less than one hundred and twenty percent. But, I will never let you fall."

The tears that had been gathering in her eyes finally released themselves and slid down her cheeks. She sat up and threw her arms around my neck in an iron grip. I stiffened at the initial contact. Not a person who usually wants to give or receive physical contact other than purely sexual. Viewing at as to personal and intimate.

But something strange shifted inside of me while Samantha clung to me as if her life depends on it. Without my permission my body reacted against my will. My arms wrapped around her and held on tight. My desire to keep her safe and feel cared for overriding my self preservative instinct to not let anyone get to close.

Slowly I let her go and leaned back to look at her. The sheer power of raw emotion on display in her eyes was too much. The fear of someone actually evoking enough emotions in me to have the power or capabilities to hurt me was suddenly entirely too much.

I abruptly stood up off the bed like her touch just set me on fire. Sam's eyes went wide.

"Remeber. I told you I am not a nice guy. I will see you tomorrow."

I bent over places a ghost of a kiss on her forehead and all but ran for my life to get home. What in the actual fuck am I doing?

[dekuinthelake]

Healthy Tips on Being in or Around a Fandom

I kinda wanted to eventuate my point about Rick and Morty on a wider scale-- that is, addressing the nature of fandoms themselves.

I've been a fan of games and media basically all my life and even once (though I'm a little embarrassed to admit it) I was a rabid preteen Naruto mega fan. I wore head bands every day at school (until they ban them for being "gang attire"), I had an OC... I even fucking larped fighting tournaments at a friend's house that were actual block fights. Kids fucking bled. I literally sharpened my nails to a point to cosplay my "half wolf demon" OC.

Yikes!

In the years since I've calmed down, largely to the fact that my love of that anime dwindled rapidly as I became disinterested in the show. For the first time, I was experiencing a slow smolder of fanatasism, and it clued me on to realizing... everything has flaws. Even if you adore a piece of media, it's going to have something not perfect in it-- and that's totally okay.

Liking anything, people, comics, games, totally depends on your ability to suspend your disbelief and ignore things that would otherwise be a deal breaker, though when you are young, it's hard to define a middle line because you may have yet to encounter it.

Being that social media is acessable to anyone, including youth which will always be in greater numbers than the previous generation, I surmise that right now the bile we are seeing is due in no small part to less experienced people latching on to media as identity because maybe they haven't had an experience to show them it's fine if things are flawed, or just not in line with other people's tastes.

That isn't to excuse adults, either, mind you. I know plenty of mega fans years older than myself who seem to lack that deeper understanding as well, and really it's kind of a self perpetuated thing that won't get better until someone defines the rules.

What I propose are 3 basic rules of conduct regarding Fandoms to keep things as civil as possible... to give some kind of general understanding of all sides, hopefully.

1. Anyone can express their love for a thing as they see fit, so long as it's not harming another person physically or psychologically:

It's human to look at something and be like "Wow, that's dumb" when you see something that strikes that particular chord. And that's fine, so long as you are aware that your opinion isn't the ultimatum, the "ideal opinion". There are infinite amounts of perceptions and something AMAZING to you might look idiotic to someone else. A good rule of thumb is to just turn your head and find something you actually like. If they are looking for critism, then offer your opinion but be sure it's constructive and that you've considered why you think it's dumb to begin with.

For fans, please feel comfortable expressing your love for media in whatever way you like, be it cosplay, fan art, rp or whatever. You do you, but be sure if the thing you love becomes part of your identity, you aren't flustered when someone has flaws. Get to know your passion, good and bad. You can have more meaningful discussions that way, even with people outside your interest group. If your enthusasm makes someone uncomfortable, remember that you can always share it with people who share that level of excitement with you.

2. Try to temper any fanatasism with rationality and variety

If you watch a cartoon, play a game or are even into sports, ponder why. You'll get to know more about your own tastes and be able to explore more contemporary options as such. Never just be content with one thing, and don't let companies trick you into becoming their brand. Remember, you consume media, not the other way around.

3. Be inclusive!

Share anything you love with friends or people who are asking for suggestions. Be willing to take the chance to look at something new, or maybe something old in a new way. Entertainment media are ideas in motion. If we compare and contrast as a collective, we can uncover more ways of doing things better. Let's always be willing to open up a dialog with each other, but be respectful of person specific limitations.

All and all, understanding leads to peace in practicality. So let's just try and be peaceful, even if our opinions are different.

[thehuntedhuntress]

THE RULES

//Oh for the love of... Tumblr get your freaking act together and fix your damn mobile app. 

Rules under the cut because they’re hella long

((First off, I’d like to apologize for the length of this page. I tend to add more stuff as it becomes an issue, though the top section usually holds a succinct summary of my most basic rules to roleplaying with me. Here are those rules:

One of the most important things in the roleplay community is respect. If you respect me, then I’ll respect you. I don’t mean character to character, but Mun to Mun. I understand that some characters are simply jackasses, and that’s a part of who they are. That is perfectly okay, and even welcome. But if you start disrespecting me as a Mun, I will cease to respect you, and therefor cease to roleplay with you. Part of this respect involved respecting the rules laid out here. That is why this is rule number one.

If you are not an RP blog, or are not a part of the thread I an roleplaying with another person, please do not reblog threads you are not involved in! It messes with my tracking system. You can like the threads all you want, but please, please do not reblog if you are not the partner or partners I am RPing with in that particular thread. This is my one exception to my three strikes rule. If you break this rule, I will block you immediately, no questions asked. I’ve had too many people break this rule now, and I’m not going to be lenient anymore regarding this. As a sub-section of this rule: If I make a starter call for mutual followers, I will also block any non-mutuals that like or reblog the post. Again, no questions asked.

I am a selective blog. This means that I prefer to roleplay with mutuals only (a.k.a. people who follow me with whom I am already following). That being said, if I am not following you, you’re free to send me an ask regarding roleplaying together. Be advised, however; I’ll usually take a brief look over people’s blogs when they follow me and see if they look like someone I’d be willing to roleplay with. Please note that I don’t mean a starter. I mean an ooc request to roleplay. I also reserve the right to decline roleplaying with anyone if I don’t feel I’d enjoy roleplaying with them. Please see the F.A.Q. section below the rules for more information on my roleplay style and pet peeves.

Regarding the above rule: If I don’t wish to roleplay with you, then I don’t wish to roleplay with you. Every person has their preferences, and I have just as much right to refuse a roleplay, since I do this for fun, and it’s not a job. Harassing me, trying to force roleplay interactions, or sending either myself or my roleplay partners hate will not be tolerated.

I do not follow back every person that follows me; however, I will usually take a brief look at most of my followers blogs to see if they are someone I would like to follow back. I only follow those whom I either enjoy reading what they write with others, or I wish to interact with myself.

Do not assume that just because I once followed you in the past that I am still following you. I frequently go through my list of people I follow and clear out people who either haven’t posted in a long time, people I don’t think I’ll ever actually roleplay with, and people I no longer enjoy following anymore for one reason or another. If I have not interacted with you in a while, or if I seem to consistently not respond to asks/replies/likes, you may want to check to see if I am still following you.

IC does not equal OOC. Just because my character may dislikes yours, it doesn’t mean that I dislikes your character, or you. In fact, at least a couple of my favorite roleplay partners plays characters that mine simply does not get along with.

OOC communication is important. If you have a question or concern, bring it up. I can’t fix something if I don’t know about it.

Regarding the above rule, no one is a mind reader. Don’t assume someone knows what you’re thinking. Use your words!

Don’t god-mod, meta-game, power-play, or auto-hit without permission. That’s all sorts of rude and I guarantee it’ll make people dislike playing with you. Myself included. (Hover for my definition of each item.)

Please respect the canon of my character, and don’t force your canon (relationship status, sexuality, etc) onto her. I’ll do the same for you. In such a case where there are clear canon issues, such as AU’s and reality crossings, talk to me ahead of time so we can determine how best to go about it.

If a Roleplay starter is marked private/closed — or if it is marked for mutuals only — ask before jumping in! I can be semi-selective with who I roleplay with, but if you ask me, and I honestly think our characters might be able to work together in an roleplay, then I may be willing to give it a shot.

Please don’t harass me for a reply. It’s okay to ask if I got your post, but don’t nag me for it. I’ll get to it when I get to it. Roleplaying takes inspiration and interest and free time. You never know if I’m busy IRL, or how many other roleplays I have waiting on me.

Any thread that has been left unanswered after 2 weeks (14 days) by either myself or my partner will be considered automatically dropped. If for some reason my partner really wants to continue the thread, they are free to send me an ask so we can discuss continuing it.

Please respect my boundaries. If I don’t want to do something, don’t make me. Be it a kink/fetish, a relationship, or even a simple interaction.

And finally, when it comes to smut: As the Mun, I am well above 18+, and have done smut before. However, I will not, I repeat, WILL NOT do smut with another Mun who is a minor, regardless of the character’s age. Not only is it wrong, it’s illegal, and I could get in trouble for that. So if I even suspect that you are under-aged, you can forget it.

Because I have had problems with people not following my rules repeatedly, if someone ignores my rules more than three times, then I will be blocking the blog in question. If you have any questions, thoughts, or concerns regarding my rules, feel free to message me. Other than that? Happy Roleplaying!))

((Things to know a.k.a the really long and detailed section))

((For those who have been watching my posts, you can probably see that I tend to be a para to multi-para poster. However, this does not mean that I expect the same of you. It also doesn’t mean that ALL my posts will be para-posts. Simply put, the quality of my posts depends on 3 factors: my inspiration, time, and the post I am replying to. If you give me only a couple lines, I’m more likely to only give a couple of lines back unless I get whacked upside the head with the inspiration stick. Which does happen on occasion.

I primarily at this point Roleplay mostly with mutuals. However, I will Roleplay with just about any type of character, whether they Para-post or not, as long as you follow the rules of engagement as listed above, and will message me politely regarding the possibility of Roleplaying with your character. Look down at the F.A.Q. section for more details.

Given that Valerie is being played uniquely with each individual character he interacts with, unless otherwise agreed upon, I will assume that each interaction exists in it’s own sub-verse within it’s general verse. It might cause a few hiccups now and again, but I’m willing to work through things if the other person is too. So long and short of it, don’t be afraid to message me if you want to roleplay!

F.A.Q.

“Where did you get your icons?”

//Most of my still icons were collected from various free to use icon dumps, though a growing number were made myself from screenshots and using either Krita, Avatarmaker, or ezGifs. Nearly all my gif icons were resized and edited myself using a combination of GifMaker and ezGifs. All official art is property of Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon, and any icons based off of fan art, the art is property of the respective artists. You can find the list of artists whose art I’ve used in icons here.

//No art on this blog is mine unless otherwise specifically stated.

“How open are you to OCs and characters from media you’re not familiar with?”

//It largely depends from character to character. I have several people I role-play with that are Original Characters, and I am slowly branching outside of the fandom my character originates from. However, I do tend to be a bit more picky when it comes to OC’s and characters from fandoms I’m not as familiar with.

First off, if they don’t have a fairly detailed “About” page, then I won’t role-play with them. Period. I need to know at least a little bit about what I’m getting into when role-playing blind. If I cannot honestly see how our characters would interact, I may decline role-playing. I also tend to judge based on what I’ve seen them roleplay with others, and I’ll make no secret that I’ll go through a few pages of their blog to look at how they role-play; if they roleplay in a style that I don’t feel will be compatible with mine, or they have the little things that would really bug me as a role-player, such as frequent improper spelling and lack of capitalization and punctuation, then I am just that much less likely to want to role-play with that character/mun.

I should make a note that I will NOT, under any circumstances, rolelay nsfw content with someone who I am not certain isn’t a minor. So if there is nothing listed on the blog and I have no way of confirming, then smut will not be happening. And even if someone claims to be of age, but the way they type makes me believe otherwise, then I’ll err on the side of caution and deny doing any nsfw roleplayinging.

That all being said, some of my favorite people to role-play with are actually OC’s or cross fandom people. And I know that some people complain about role-players being too picky, but to put it frankly, I do this for fun. If I don’t think I’ll have fun playing with a muse, whether or not they’re Canon, OC, or Cross Fandom, then I’m simply not going to try and force myself.

I’ve been role-playing for 18 years (since summer of 1996). That’s longer than some of my roleplay partners have even been alive. I think I’ve earned the right to be a little choosy now and again. And while I know that I am by no means perfect when it comes to role-playing, and that even I continue to learn and evolve my style as I go along, there comes a point when I am simply not willing to go through the mental struggle of roleplaying with someone I have no interest in roleplaying with. If someone is willing to learn and improve as they go along, I may give them a chance. But if I can see that they’ve been roleplaying for a while, and there is absolutely no visual improvement on how they roleplay when it’s a style that doesn’t jive with my own, then I’m not going to waste my time and energy.

Because yes. I put time and energy and thought and feeling and all sorts of other things into my roleplays. And if I get stuck with a partner that isn’t willing to put at least a decent amount of effort into what they’re doing, then I feel like I am wasting my time.

TL:DR

Yes, I’ll roleplay with OC’s and other Fandoms, but I’m very choosy. Your best bet is to send me a message requesting an roleplay together, regardless of whether you are an OC, In fandom character, or out of fandom character. I’ll give your character a look over, and if I think we can make it work, I’ll give it a shot.

I would suggest something a little more than just a “wanna rp”, or an opener with just the word “Hello”, however.))

“Are there any blogs you won’t roleplay with?”

//I have a couple types of blogs that I can guarantee I won’t likely roleplay with right off the bat. The first of these is multi-fandom blogs. Because I follow every person I roleplay with, this means that anything those people reblog end up on my dash. Many multi-fandom blogs tend to have at least one or two fandoms that I don’t want appearing on my dash. Plus, most of them have what feels to me like an excessive number of characters, which makes it hard to follow what’s going on, or know who you’re going to end up interacting with.

I will on occasion RP with multi-character blogs as long as the characters are from the same fandom, and there isn’t a ridiculously excessive number of characters. If you’re a multi-character blog who is literally roleplaying every single character in a game/anime/book/etc., then I probably won’t want to roleplay with you. Sorry.

Other than that, blogs that I see doing nothing but an excessive amount of smut roleplaying, I probably will not want to roleplay with either. While I don’t mind occasional smut, I don’t like jumping into an RP with someone with the expectation that it’s going to happen every RP. I like relationships to be organic, forming naturally, and, well, I don’t see my Valerie just jumping into bed with anyone and everyone.

“What does it mean when you roleplay with mutuals only?”

//While this was somewhat covered in rule 8, I’ll go ahead and put it here. Simply put, a mutual follower is someone who follows you, who you also follow back. I don’t follow back every person who follows me. I like to keep my dashboard clean, and typically only follow blogs that are relevant to my interests, or I would like to interact with. So simply put, if I follow someone, I’m interested in talking/roleplaying with them.

The longer I’ve roleplayed, the more I’ve found myself becoming selective. I’m a cranky old coot and somewhat set in my ways, and I’ve gotten to the point where if I don’t feel like I’m going to have fun roleplaying with a person, I’m not going to go through the hassle of going ahead and giving them a shot only to have to tell them I’m not having fun. That tends to get people all upset, moreso than simply declining in the first place.

As I mentioned before, I make no bones about going onto someone’s blog who has asked me if I’d like to RP, and judging their roleplay based off of how they roleplay with others. And I’ll look through a few pages worth. If I see things that fall under my pet peeves, or I just simply don’t think I’ll enjoy trying to have my character interact with this person, then i’m going to decline roleplaying.

“Do you roleplay with people who don’t write super long replies?”

//Absolutely. I am well aware that my replies can often times get very, very long. I do not, however demand that anyone ever match my length. I do request that in whatever length of a reply you do give me, that you give me something to work with, be it dialog or action. My character needs something to respond to, and if all you give me is “S/He smiled.” I have absolutely nothing to work with. I’m not asking for people to give me a college dissertation in response to what I do, but if I’m giving a longer reply, I would like something more than a one-liner, please.

As a side note, however; I roleplay with the intention of creating character interaction and hopefully development. One of my biggest pet peeves is people starting a thread with me, only getting 1-3 replies in, and then the other person dropping it out of nowhere. I’ve had it happen a lot with a few people, and if I see it become a trend, I will unfollow. Sorry, but it’s something that frustrates me to no end, and rather than get upset about it, I’d rather just not roleplay with people who do that frequently to begin with.

“Do you have any triggers and/or subjects you will not role-play?”

//I don’t have any particular triggers, per say. At least not in the classical sense. However, I do have to be careful about the level of gore, or the intensity of angst, as it can negatively affect my mood sometimes. But I can tolerate it pretty well, at least in written word. If you want to use images, however, I would suggest talking it over with me first.

//As for subject I will or will not role-play, I’ve actually done a lot of triggery materiel before, including abuse, self harm, suicide, rape, and death, though not all necessarily on this particular muse. I do these somewhat sparingly, and only if my partner has not only agreed, but that we have discussed at just what point will we take it. All triggery materiel will be tagged and put under read-mores in deference to my followers.

//At the risk of sounding redundant… if the other mun isn’t at least 18 years old, I will not do sexual nsfw materiel. Period.

“Do you have any particular Role-Play pet peeves?”

//Yes, I do. They fall mostly under the category of technical issues, and role-play issues. The technical issues are things like not using proper capitalization, punctuation, spelling or grammar. Now, I know my own grammar is not the best, and sometimes it’s intentionally so. I write as I think, or as someone would speak. And very few people naturally speak grammatically correct. But if I have to spend more than 5 minutes just trying to decipher what in the heck you said, I’m not going to want to role-play. And I personally feel no one has an excuse for obvious spelling errors, save for those odd typos that spell checker doesn’t manage to catch because you technically spelled a word that exists. For everything else, Google exists for a reason, and most computers have an automatic spellchecker in place.

// In addition, I do NOT RP script style, and don’t really like RPing with people who do. This is the style where you annotate actions using asterisks (*). Example: “ *wanders into the building* wow it sure is dark in here. ” To me this style is very clunky, visually unappealing, and doesn’t lend itself to my preferred methods of roleplaying, such as para and multi-prara posts. Having those symbols in there disrupts the flow of the roleplay, and is very distracting.

//Also, please don’t put out of character comments within the RP post itself. That’s what tags are for. It really throws the thread off to see OOC commentary in the post itself.

//I also highly dislike when people frequently use the wrong words for things, such as the “they’re there their” trio, or words like sore and soar. I get very irritated by things like that, so if it’s a frequent occurrence in someone’s writing outside of maybe an occasional typo, I’m going to be disinclined to RP with that person.

//Also, for the love of God, please trim your threads! There are ways to get around it on mobile, and if you’re on a computer you have no excuse whatsoever. Or ask your partner to do it for you. At the very least, if you can’t cut a thread, then put the whole thing under a read-more so it doesn’t clutter people’s dashes. There is nothing more annoying than having to scroll down several pages worth of one-liners because someone wouldn’t take the effort to try and trim their posts.

//Role-play issues involve the typical things like God-modding and auto-hitting. I also greatly dislike insta-shipping. If you come up to me before our characters have even met and ask me if your character can be my character’s boyfriend/girlfriend, I’m going to tell you flat out no. I will not just have my character instantly be in a relationship with yours. I want the build up and anticipation, if such a thing is even meant to be. And sometimes it isn’t.

//Another roleplay issue I have is replies. While I never expect someone to match my length, it is really disheartening to have written out several paragraphs, and be given a one-liner in response. I purposefully try to write in such a way that gives the person I’m roleplaying with plenty of opportunities to react, respond, or even initiate new action in the responses I’ve given. While I do occasionally do one-liner threads, those are usually lighthearted, and not very emotionally invested for me. And I’ll be blunt; if I look at someone’s blog and ALL they have are a ton of uncut threads filled with nothing but one-liners, I’m probably not going to RP with that person.

As mentioned above, I also highly dislike it when people drop a thread only a few posts in, before the characters have had much of a chance to interact. This is something I find very frustrating, and if it is something that happens frequently, I will likely unfollow because of it.

//Valerie has a mind of her own. Sometimes I will ship something, and she will absolutely refuse to go along with it. I’m not going to try and force her into a ship just to appease someone else. Tried that once, regretted every moment of it.

//Finally, I tend to have issues if I check a blog and find a complete lack of a Rules or About page. Those are major red flags to me regarding RPing with someone, because then I have no idea what I’m getting into if I decide to RP with someone. I often will refuse to roleplay with someone who has no rules or about page.

“How long are you willing to wait for a reply?”

//Due to the nature of how I typically reply, I have a tendency to limit how many threads I actually have going at any given time. I greatly dislike having people wait a long period of time for me to post, and I know that getting bogged down with too many replies at once can be rather daunting and make it that much more difficult to have the desire to get to my posts. Because of this I set a limit on how many threads I will have going at any one time. This limit usually wavers around the 20-30 active threads.

//However, this causes a problem. I am finding myself frequently stuck waiting for my partners to reply, to the point where sometimes it’s been weeks, and in a few cases even over a month since I posted my last reply to a thread. This seriously limits what I am able to do, since as I’ve said I try to limit how many threads I have going at any given time. The times when you seem me with long stretches of inactivity is often because I am literally waiting on ALL my partners to reply.

//Because of this, I decided to implement a new rule: From this point, any thread that has not been replied to after 2 weeks (14 days) I will consider to have been abandoned and officially dropped. It becomes very difficult at times when I receive a reply out of the blue to a thread that hasn’t been answered in ages, and I’m having to try and look back to see what was even going on in that particular thread.

//This rule also works in reverse. On the rare times that I am the one who has a draft sitting in my draft folder and cannot for the life of me think of how to reply, if it’s been over two weeks since my own reply, you can consider the thread having been dropped as well.

//I understand that people are busy, with real life commitments and other interests that they get involved in. I understand that sometimes a muse just isn’t there for a thread, or that a person might be in the mood for a different type of roleplay. This is not an attempt to guilt any of my partners. This is to help me be able to openly interact with more people, or to be willing to try and start new threads. Given that not too many people respond to any memes I’ve posted of late, that often means that I myself would have to send out asks, and I have a tendency to hesitate to do so when I know I’m waiting on a reply from them, for fear that they will think I’m trying to hassle them for a reply.

//This also meant to hopefully serve to help out some of my roleplay partners. I know that many of them do get bogged down with a plethora of replies. So if any of my current partners have replies out there that are between our muses that are beyond that two week time limit, here’s your chance to weed them out of your drafts.

//That said, if there are any threads that you really, really want to keep roleplaying, don’t hesitate to shoot me an ask so we can discuss it. Depending on the thread, and depending on the circumstances at to why you may not have replies, I may be willing to keep it going. If a thread I am particularly interested in continuing seems about ready to expire, I may send one final notice to my partner to let them know the thread is about to expire soon.

//I’m sorry if this seems harsh, and I apologize for the inconvenience, but to be entirely honest I’m tired of feeling like I’m having to beg people to roleplay with me. And I’m tired of feeling like I’m limited because I don’t want to chance everyone suddenly replying all at once, which has happened before on occasion. And it isn’t fair to me to have to sit on my thumbs waiting for partners to reply who seemingly have no intention of ever getting around to it.

//If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to shoot me an ask. Thank you all for your time.

“What is the best way to contact you, as the Mun/Mod/Player?”

//My ask box is always open, so you can always feel free to drop me a line that way. Mutuals are free to ask me for my Skype, Kik and/or Steam usernames.

//If you actually read through this entire wall of text, I will be very impressed. The password is “Rubber Baby Buggie Bumpers.” Just a note, you don’t have to send me my password, though I do appreciate knowing when people have read through my rules. Sending me my password in no way affects the likelihood of me either following or roleplaying with someone.