#anyways this fic is much more from my summoner's perspective but since they exist because of gunter he is very relevant <3 <3

[lululeighsworld]

and for Gunter's birthday fic this year I finally ended up writing Leigh's love confession to him; I promise his birthday is relevant!! 💜❤️

Read the story here on AO3

[acerace]

...you have opened my eyes to a vast universe of VintageBeef lore that I was unaware of. I knew about the New Hermit Order, of course, and the UHC invention, and I've watched a few of his CTM things but -- I will take all the info and lore you feel like giving out because Beef is amazing and my knowledge is so small.

Vintagebeef my beloved <3

So the thing is, right, until about 2016 I only watched two (2) youtubers- Vintagebeef for Minecraft and aDrive for Pokemon (and funnily enough both of them are named Dan irl). So I've watched most of Beef's videos over the years and have a general knowledge of most of his stuff, except because it's been like a decade I don't remember where most of the lore comes from XD

The thing with him is that he doesn't do Lore tm the way other mcyters often do lore- he doesn't have an extensive RP series to draw from like Grian, doesn't have a solo world with steadily increasing amounts of lore like Etho or Zisteau, and while he's played on SMPs and been involved in storylines before it's not really the focus of his episodes unlike with Evo or Legacy or Empires

So where does that leave us?

IRL, Beef always has multiple series running at the same time. Often he's playing on an smp while doing a singleplayer, often modded, series as well as a CTM or modpack with a group of friends. For example, right now he's playing on Hermitcraft, doing weekly Pixelmon and Building a Zoo episodes, and a CTM map with Slip. And to me, this translates to one thing: Beef is an adventurer. He travels frequently- he explores a world and when he decides he's done, he leaves for the next one. That's the basis of my personal interpretation of his series and his character for my writing.

Ok so reading this back, this got extremely long and didn't explain much in the way of lore, somehow? If anyone has any additions to add please do so, I am very definitely leaving out a lot and would love to see what other lore people remember and are using for Beef! I didn’t include the Hermitcraft stuff since my memory of season 4 is blurry (his base was themed after the Martian, that much I know, and he and Iskall were buddies :D) and most of the s5 NHO lore is best watched from Bdub’s perspective from what I remember, and the only s6 stuff is a single line in Hermitgang and then the Area 77 arc with its possibility of an NHO reunion which we did not get rip. And s7 of course had the cloning machine and also the Podzol Party as the main lore. So all the original rambling is still below the cut though it is very long, and I'm gonna bullet point the main stuff here instead:

Actual canonical things:

Invented UHC and was the only survivor of the first ever uhc (Mindcrack UHC s1)

Married to an ender dragon (one of the UHCs I think), later father to a different dragon (Mindcrack season 3? I think?)

Might not have legs if you choose to take that joke as canon (Mindcrack s2)

Was a wizard (RAD)

is a zookeeper (Building a Zoo) 

Had a wife and kids (Sims in Minecraft)

Part of the Trial of the B Team court case (Mindcrack)

NHO founder, founder of the Podzol Party (Hermitcraft)

Created a cloning machine that sort of works (Hermitcraft)

Played the Forest which is I believe the first time he and Keralis played together (look up the trigger warnings for this one, it's a horror game)

Was the creator/owner of Sourceblock SMP (featuring some familiar faces if you know Legacy, Empires, or MCC) and there is literal magic from a mysterious sourceblock of water that teleports people and summons mobs and probably more stuff that I haven't seen yet since I'm still watching it myself

Things you can infer:

Good with animals (Life in the Woods, Pixelmon, Ark)

Is a car nerd (irl and all of the car games he's played)

Is a highly experienced adventurer who has traveled through dozens of worlds both vanilla and modded, across multiple dimensions (Twilight Forest, the Aether, the Betweenlands, Limbo), completed dozens of monuments, fought in blood sports, survived apocalypse after apocalypse, tamed dinosaurs, and played a lot of prop hunt and golf with your friends

If you're looking for what to watch for lore purposes, I'd say the Mindcrack UHCs and Team Canada's RAD series are pretty good, definitely Sourceblock and HC s5, plus the Diversity CTM maps and Ruins of the Mindcrackers maybe? And Mindcrack Prank Wars for the chaos and the origin of Team Canada. And if you can handle horror than the Forest is fun and if you don't do horror you can watch the Pojkband play golf or prop hunt they're hilarious I love them sm I want a Pojkband reunion So Bad 

Beef's first series was a singleplayer series in beta 1.4_01 though he had played the game extensively before that, and was a big fan of Guude, having watched his own Minecraft videos. The series was functionally a hardcore one where if he died Beef would delete the world and start again! I haven't actually Watched this series so idk if he died or how often lmao. When Guude made Mindcrack, which was btw one of the very first Minecraft SMPs, he also hosted a competition for people to join, and Beef submitted a video (which is still viewable on his channel I believe!) and won, and was added to Mindcrack in season 2 :D (fun fact, Guude said that even if Beef hadn’t won he would have added him anyway) 

Two running jokes emerged from Mindcrack- pulling a Vintagebeef and Beef doesn't have legs. The first is a reference to Beef dying of fall damage (I believe the exact instance was him trying to jump into his swimming pool and failing spectacularly) and after the incident, every time someone died of fall damage they were pulling a Vintagebeef. The second joke comes from Guude, who joked that the reason Beef wasn't going to a convention was because he didn't have legs, and then he pranked Beef's base by building a giant pair of legs at the entrance to his castle so you had to walk between them to get into the base. This joke has long since died and both Beef and Guude feel pretty bad about it iirc because there were people who genuinely thought Beef was disabled and were emailing him supportive messages and stuff oops. So if you go looking on the Salad or find old Mindcrack fics, you might see references to Beef having prosthetic legs!

Mindcrack also brought about the creation of several Player groups- Team Nancy Drew, Team Canada, and GOB to name a few relevant to Beef. Team Nancy Drew consists of Beef, Pauseunpause, Guude, and Baj, who formed to investigate a prank on one of the members but I forget who. They're named Nancy Drew after the detective! Team Canada also formed in retaliation to pranks, with it consisting of Beef, Etho, and Pause, the three Canadian members on the server (not including Adlington who moved to Canada but never joined the group). There was also a Team America who pranked them with American flags everywhere. GOB is Guude, OMGChad, and Beef, who played stuff like the Ragecraft, Pantheon, and Monstrosity ctms together but that's way down the line lol

Team Nancy Drew is also notable for inventing UHC. It was Beef's brainchild but it was the four of them who first played it! The first UHC had the four of them working to kill the dragon with no natural regen, with everyone dying but Beef, who "won" the UHC. The second uhc was still dragon focused and iirc is where Beef married the dragon? Memories are hazy but they do kill the dragon in this one I think. UHC was then revamped as a pvp event and became a regular Mindcrack game every few months, featuring most of the Mindcrackers and several special guests, including Dinnerbone, who as we know Thanos-snapped Doc's arm out of existence as a result of Doc killing him in one of them

In one of the seasons of Mindcrack, Beef invited swedish Mindcracker and good friend Anderzel to go caving with him and invented ABBA Rules caving, where the winner takes it all. ABBA Rules is a game where each ore (and also dungeon loot like nametags) is assigned a point value and the person with the most points at the end wins and gets to keep all the stuff collected from the game.

In Mindcrack season 3?, Beef punched the ender dragon in an... awkward area, so when the dragon died and left the egg behind, Guude said Beef was the father of the egg XD I don't remember if I watched s3 so I have no idea if anything Happened with this concept but *history of the world voice* you could make lore out of this!

So Team Canada has played a Lot of CTM maps (which fun fact were pretty much invented by another Mindcrack member, Vechs, with his Super Hostile series! Super Hostile has a bunch of things called "Zistonian", which are references to another Mindcrack member Zisteau, who has a very wild singleplayer series with even wilder lore but I digress). In Ruins of the Mindcrackers, they had a running joke that Beef was Etho and Pause's mom, which is a joke we can leave in the past actually /lh. They also played all the Diversity maps, Sky Factory, Terra Restore, Uncharted Territory uhhh and a couple more ctms and adventure maps! Each map kinda has its own story so in Diversity 3 for example they were trapped in a simulation? I think? Team Canada also recently played the Roguelike Adventures and Dungeons modpack, aka RAD, in which Beef was a wizard with a magic staff that could do anything from summon lightning to control hostile mobs.

Sourceblock SMP is a vanilla survival 1.14 series that ran for one season and the series starts with each of the Players being drawn to a strange sparkling water source that, once they touch it, brings them to the Sourceblock world. It also summons a giant zombie at one point. There's probably more lore for this series but like I said I haven't watched it all the way through yet 

He has a Patreon server called VintageCraft and has done a series or two on there as well, and played a few UHCs with them, so lore that how you will! 

Beef also played a few popular mods, notably Pixelmon, Life in the Woods, and Feed the Beast, with LitW being singleplayer and the other multiplayer. He's also recently played the Zoo and Wild Animals mod a lot. He did a short series with the Minecraft Comes Alive mod where he married one of the villagers and had two children, so that's canon now :D he’s played a Lot of Pixelmon starting when the mod first came out iirc (he chose Turtwig in his first series and built a Grass gym, then made a Normal gym in another series in uhh 2016) and he still plays to this day. Quite a few Hermits played on his Pixelmon servers with him, like Wels, Etho, Iskall, Stress, Slip, Zueljin, and also Guude and Phedran (a Mindcrack adjacent player and creator of the LitW modpack) and a few Mindcrackers on the older servers 

Mindcrack and friends played a lot of other games too- 7 Days to Die, Ark Survival Evolved, Unturned, to name a few, so you can pull a lot of lore out of these as well. Speaking of friends and non-Minecraft games, Beef teamed up with Pause, Keralis, and Slip (a former Hermit) to play the horror game the Forest, which saw them stuck on an island trying to survive against terrifying mutated human... things. They played it a few times as the game updated but as afaik it's the first time Beef played with Keralis and possibly Slip and since the game starts with the Player's airplane crashing, that could totally be how Beef first met them in-universe 

I... think? that’s everything I mentioned in the tags? There is probably way more stuff I’ve forgotten that stems from inside jokes and things that happen within each series, but I hope that was a) helpful and b) at least somewhat comprehensible lmao 

[seimeinotaka]

Rêverie (An OberonXGudako fic)

MASSIVE LOSTBELT 6 SPOILERS INCLUDING OBERON'S PROFILE AND BOND CE

Summary: Oberon has been unexpectedly summoned to Chaldea. He wonders why he is even there as he reminisces what happened in Avalon Le Fae. But it seems Ritsuka isn't leaving him alone, much to his annoyance.

Thanks to jellyfishy for beta-reading this!

Once again, the story has major spoilers for LB6, Oberon's profile and Bond CE, as well as important plot points of Solomon, LB1 and LB5.

There's implied one-sided love, mentions of heavy topics such as loss, and mentions of deceased characters.

"Master, Master, you've gotten better at this!"

"Thank you, Gogh! I've been practicing a lot using the tips you and Oui gave me. Even Jeanne Alter praised my background, hehe!"

"Hey, I said it was passable. Pas-sa-ble!"

Ritsuka Fujimaru has been drawing something in the cafeteria, surrounded by many servants that come and go. No one asks what she is doing, they all seem to know or if they don’t, they don’t bother to ask.

It is so bothersome. Annoying.

So many people surrounding her, like an ultraviolet lamp that attracts all the bugs. Never mind that they end up getting zapped the moment they ever dare to touch it.

The people, the sound, the merriment, it all annoys Oberon, who only watches in silence as he eats some ice cream with melon.

To be able to smile like that, even after discarding all of those stories...Oberon doesn't hide a crooked smile. In the end, the lostbelts are no more than faint dreams doomed to end, forgotten by the winners, the panhuman history citizens. Ritsuka Fujimaru isn't different. For her, it's like reading the doujin the swimsuit berserker is making. Once the pages are closed, the story ends and it ceases to exist. She can choose to forget.

Truly detestable.

-

Oberon stares and then walks away, just as Ritsuka lifts her face. She looks around, the feeling of being watched faintly breaking her concentration.

But in the end he doesn't say a word as he leaves.

-

“Hey, you keep looking at Master!” Jeanne Alter slams her hands on the table where Oberon is sitting. Said Master is working again, too enthralled talking with Gogh to notice Jeanne Alter slipping away to talk to him.

“Does it bother if I do?” He gives her a crooked smile as she huffs and scowls. Though of course her face turns slightly pink.

“Tch, of course not! It's just your stare is getting on my nerves! Wouldn't you get distracted if someone is looking at you intensely?”

“I am a creation, not a creator. I wouldn't understand what you're saying. Besides, I wasn’t looking at her or you anyway,” he says mockingly.

“Hmph, whatever you say. Leave when Master is drawing, what she is doing is very important and I won't let you make it messy.”

“Hah, a page of your little comic? As if you need a lot of care. But fret not, I am certain that with your keen insight and guidance it will be something so memorable, up to the level of the famous writers here in Chaldea.”

“You bug...Bring it, I will burn you to a crisp! Moths do like fire, don't they? Surely you will feel at home then!” Jeanne Alter laughs. “I'll let you know that it is something so impressive that it would make you cry, if you're capable of that anyway.”

Though her Saint Graph right now is one of a Berserker, it seems the insight of the Avenger still exists deep within. After all, only those who are similar can recognize each other. Fake recognizes fake. Emptiness recognizes emptiness. Hate can only recognize hate.

Though come to think about it, Ritsuka has always been writing, he noticed she kept a small book on her, during quiet times. Perhaps a diary of sorts. It wouldn’t be surprising, to record everything she has experienced, as the writer of the winning history.

-

When we die, we'll become like those stories. Our lives are stories that might be discussed and forgotten, so it's not that different from your midsummer night dream.

A dream you forget once you wake up from your slumber.

“You're a tsundere,” Ritsuka says flatly as she rests her chin on her hand. She even dares to give Oberon a shrug and a smile, as if she can tell the truth between the lies.

“Ah, you're annoying.”

“That's exactly what I'm talking about, hehe!”

An obnoxious smile continues to be on her face, and he simply looks at her with unveiled disgust and apathy.

“Why am I even here?”

“Well, you answered the call, so you can only blame yourself for that.”

“What.”

“The rayshift system call can be refused. That's an inescapable truth. You lie a lot but there are some truths in your words. Or actions in this case. You wanted to be in Chaldea, even if you don’t want to admit it.”

“Ah there it is, your virtuous nature shining through. One day you'll be fooled by someone who is pretending to be your ally...ah, my bad, that has already happened, isn't that right? Maybe you should learn your lesson.”

“Ah, yes. But it doesn't change that you are here. And because you lie often, that means I can just take it whatever way I like. You'll just deny it even if I'm right. But you can't deny we get along pretty well!”

“We do not!”

“See, that's a lie!”

“Ah, I'm going to the cafeteria! Don't follow me!”

Yet we thrive on dreams, don’t we?

“How long do you think I've been in this business? Have you interacted already with some of the servants here? I can tell you don’t mind my company.”

“I quit, I'll break the contract!”

“So, one cube or two?” Ritsuka dares to offer him the sugar cube container, even holding some tongs, just to put the amount he requests in his cup.

“You really want a poisoned tea, right, wonderful Master?~”

Even if they are something that doesn’t exist, we yearn for them, even to make them a reality. No matter how impossible. No matter how painful.

That is why we can never get rid of them.

Even if we forget once the veil of dawn has ended, something of it remains.

-

“There's so much that is subjective. For example, you were Artoria's Merlin, weren't you? For a moment you were Merlin, that was her truth. There's different Merlins, I mean we have different Artorias here from different eras and classes. You were a different Merlin than the one I know.”

Ritsuka is busy trying different colors. Oui and Gogh got into a discussion on how to best get the tones she was aiming for, and they even went to do some research on their own. The reds of a forest seem familiar yet not quite right, not that Oberon was looking at the notebook.

It has to have a dreamlike feeling, that’s what she wanted, but that’s not easy to pour into a painting.

“What we see as a lie or as truth, it changes with our perception. Your lies and my truths might be different, but it's ok. In the end we have only one perspective. That's why lies and truths can mix, that's why contradictions exist. I mean, that is why you are here.”

“Here's some advice from the bottom of my heart, don't quit your day job, Master. Stick to the world saving and leave the philosophical dissertation to virtually anyone else.”

In the end, does the truth really matter?

Something that can change when you close your eyes. Something that is as fleeting as a moth's life.

Would anything change in the grand scheme of things?

To protect Ritsuka, Chaldea forged a story, one where Romani Archaman was at fault for everything that happened.

To the world that is on the verge of disappearing, that became the truth.

To everyone in Chaldea, the truth is that this girl worked harder than anyone to protect this world.

That was what Sherlock Holmes said once they met. Oberon didn’t like him, but in a way he seems familiar. Holmes is a great detective, but since he keeps everything to himself, he might be wrong the entire time until the last minute.

So it’s not like Oberon can take him that seriously.

Even so, he told him the story of the great journey before Panhuman History was at risk by the Alien God. A story of which he was somehow aware, but it seems different when it is told by someone else.

To Oberon, it was a story of selfish survival. A fitting story of those who fight in the mud to continue existing.

To Holmes, it was a story of humanity bravely fighting to avoid destruction. An unlikely event that might have inspired others. Or rather, that is how the Leonardo Da Vinci from that time would have framed it, since Holmes isn’t an author and the current Da Vinci is someone different now.

The events are there, what changes is our perception of them. Perhaps this is where truths and lies take root, the lie of today becomes the truth of tomorrow.

The lie allows the fake existence to continue even when the dream has already ended.

But in the end, everything will fade, so nothing really matters.

-

"Well, I don't know if it has a meaning, but doesn't that mean you can give it your own? Just like how I can take your lies the way I want."

"Aren't you a simplistic one? No, perhaps it is that kind of thinking that has let you get this far. What a naive Master Chaldea has. Though it helps you accomplish your goals. "

He is not sure why they are taking tea while chatting, but here he is. Perhaps it is to hide his annoyance, the Master won’t stop until she gets what she wants anyway, so he is just avoiding a pointless squabble.

"You can think whatever you want~ and in any case, even if the feelings of today will be nothing in the future, that doesn't mean they are worthless. Because they affect the you of today and that is the moment when you are alive.”

The joy of living, that is something Oberon can’t understand nor tolerate. It angers him.

Of course, he is an entity of the abyss so how could he comprehend that?

The will of self-destruction, the cessation of existence. That something is so fundamentally wrong that it must wiped out, for there is no way to fix something that crooked.

Faerie Britain wished for him because it had to be wiped away from all records, because it had no way of being salvaged.

Therefore, he can only listen to those words.

(Perhaps it is the envy of not having something? Perhaps it is the bitterness of no longer having something to do, to dream for? Or simple ennui that no matter what, in the end it doesn’t matter?)

Ritsuka ignores his silence, as she continues.

“I don't know but for someone who likes stories you don't seem like you're actually enjoying them.”

“Would you enjoy a story where you fade away like everyone in the lostbelts you have erased? Ah, my bad. Surely, as the winner you can afford to disregard those stories. Silly me, of course you would be able to believe that as the victor you can claim to be the true history. Panhuman history is in the end mankind's right path, after all, and everything else can fade into the abyss.”

Her smile is complex, almost a facade. From one angle it looks like a forlorn frown, from the other a faint smile. She plays with the spoon on her table.

"Hmmm, I wonder..."

 Dr. Roman, we finally beat the British Lostbelt. It was unlike any other places we were, and I keep thinking of Percival's words...

   I wish you were still here.

The sacrifice of someone can mean the whole world for a single person. The sacrifices of millions can become a mere statistic, a simple cold number to show how bad an event was. In the end, it doesn't matter.

What was once lost will never come back.

The void left in one's soul will never heal, it only becomes more bearable with time.

But even so, that lingering pain is the proof that someone was alive, that they left a mark on the others they met as one looks at the twinkling stars and reminisces of the never-happening-again past.

“Did you know the true opposite of love isn't hate but indifference?”

“Haaah? Perhaps you didn't think so but I was being honest about my suggestion. Thinking too much will only hurt your head. You should only focus on what's in front of you.”

“Whether you love or hate, you end up putting a lot of attention to the object of your affections, but if you're indifferent to it, it ceases to exist. Perhaps your hatred of everything is because there's something you cannot afford to lose.”

Titania was the wife of Oberon in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream. She was the only one who could accept the king's eccentric personality.

But in reality, she was just a creation for the story, a being who was never real.

Of course, there isn't a person like that in the world.

Someone who accepts a hollow entity like me.

“I don’t know, if Arjuna Alter was able to come to terms with his own humanity, well...nevermind. I was just thinking aloud.”

(Ideals are just that.

A concept not belonging to this world.

It is when you reconcile with the flawed reality that you can grasp your happiness, the one you have.)

“Heh-Hahahaha, that's rich, Master!”

This is so sickening.

Only Titania could have loved(tolerated) such an unpleasant existence. Only Titania could have loved(tolerated) a being born of hate, a destructive force whose only purpose is to rend everything to ashes.

But the fact is, Titania doesn't exist. This means no one could accept someone like him.

That is the unpleasant truth.

That is why people are entranced(poisoned) by falsehoods, lies to sweeten the body and protect the soul. It's a sweet elixir to hide from the harsh reality, the ultimate end of the journey of everyone, a pointless, worthless life. Because at the end of the dream, no matter what one has accomplished, it doesn't change the finale of this story and it is doomed to be forgotten. 

Just as the one princess from before, who also fell in love with the Fairy King. The one who tried to give fire to his cold body. But he didn't notice this, not even when her snow body had ceased to move, a protection of love.

So in the end, if it's not acknowledged, it is the same as it never had happened.

“Tell me, does it matter to you? Are you going to tell me you know how I feel? That you understand what I'm going through? Come on, tell me your important story, that everything is going to be alright as long as I'm not alone-”

“I can't. I don't know how you feel. Even if we had suffered the same, I wouldn't know how you feel.”

Her words or her smile, the same as before. He doesn’t know which but it cuts him short.

“All I know is the pain of losing someone important to me, but that's not what you're feeling, right?”

The Titania I wish for doesn't exist in this world. The Faerie Britain that gave birth to me no longer exists, even if I have accomplished my goal. 

I am merely a dream whose purpose has been fulfilled and thus, the curtain shall be down as I exit the stage.

The things I yearn for are merely dreams. Even so, I hope, because I saw it existed for someone else. For another Oberon, not the one I am.

The illusion of happiness, the hope of a love.

I don't know how it is to not be Oberon, the lying king. The king without any other purpose. The villain that has exited the stage having won, but now even that victory is pointless.

Then, why am I still here? 

“For what it's worth, I like you. You're nice company, lies and all.”

“You’re an odd one.”

“I've been told that often.”

“It's not a compliment, you have no taste.”

“You know, for Panhuman history I am the hero, ensuring our world survives. But to everyone else from every lostbelt erased...I am the worst of the worst, the villain that destroys their world.”

Ritsuka traces the notebook on her hands. The contents of the rest could be disclosed but Oberon doesn’t open any of the other pile of notebooks, so they all lie on her bed.

“Patxi cursed me for showing him a world that he thought was happier than his.”

Tears fell from her eyes as she smiled weakly. “I wonder if that was ever the right choice.”

“Panhuman history isn't the perfect utopia you can imagine. Humans seek hatred and war, there's suffering and agony. While some can lead happy lives, there's so many who can't even enjoy a warm meal or think of a future. Kirshtaria saw that, he wanted to make a better world because ours was so imperfect.”

“Why are we still going?”

“Why was ours the correct one?”

“Even now, I don't know. And I'm not sure if I'll ever know. Any justification might seem a rationalization, something to feel less guilty for killing all those people.”

“That is why I cannot forget, I cannot let the history of those lostbelts be erased. Even if I'm the only one who remembers,” her grip on the notebook tightened, “I can never forget them.”

Like a dream, one time Oberon caught sight of what she was drawing, finally reaching the dreamy red hue she long sought, depicting the autumn forest Oberon knew and hated.

The words depicting what happened in Faerie Britain, the stories of Artoria, Morgan, of Barghest, Baobhan Sith and Melusine, of Aurora, of Mike, of Ector, of Knocknarea, of him.

“Even if the rest of the world forgets, I cannot. That's why I want to record as much as I can. I caused them to disappear, remembering all of them is the least I can do.”

“That's guilt for you.”

“...Yes, I can't deny that. I've caused many people to suffer, that is why I cannot stop.”

“You're an idiot. Pursuing a fleeting dream that will only cause you to hurt, as your heart tears itself apart with these thorns you surround yourself with.”

“I guess. But someone has to do it right? But even so…

“I enjoy the moments with everyone here in Chaldea and I can say I'm happy.

But I also feel deep sadness for everything that I have done and continue to do.”

There are many contradicting truths, woven into each other.

Like overlapping threads in a beautiful(horrible) story.

“I could think Panhuman history is the correct one because it was there. There was a reason why it was chosen.”

“And if there isn't? If there is truly no meaning to your journey? That the reason your world was chosen was a mere whim of fate, a sudden lucky roll of the dice? That there is nothing special to your world that makes you worthy of the title of proper human history?”

“Then I guess I will have to make it so that there is one.”

“And if you can't?”

“Just because I can't doesn't mean I shouldn't try.”

“Trying doesn't mean you will succeed. Morgan tried her hardest, but in the end, she still failed, crumbling in despair as her Faerie kingdom burnt to ashes.”

“Well, that will come bite me when the time comes, but for now, that’s all I can do, right?”

In the end, as long as it entertains, does it matter?

What is the purpose of a story? To bring joy(tears)? To break one from that moment of boredom, of despair, and heal the soul even if just a little?

And in the end, does it even matter?

-

“I like this Saint Graph more.”

It’s been a long time since he has donned the clothes as King Oberon. Once the façade was over, once he could ascend, he has never worn anything but the colors of the depths of the abyss. Anyone else would think they are unsightly, hateful, depressing.

After all, the warmth of King Oberon’s butterfly wings makes children smile, makes people trust him. His monstruous limbs right now are not enchanting.

“I thought you were a butterfly girl. And I have been wearing these ever since, why are you even saying this up until now?”

“I just wanted to say that. I like the fluffy cape and the butterfly wings, but you sound less pained right now. And this outfit is cool too.”

In the end, perhaps Titania isn't meant to be someone who brings the sun to your eyes, with laughter so contagious that she makes the bitterness of a day go away. She's not a neverending warmth on a cold winter, nor a guiding bright star up in the dark sky. She's not the simple to your complicated, the light to your dark, the smile to your frown, the opposite of your miserable existence that brings joy to your life. An illogical being that accepts you in spite of your incompatibility. 

Was I wrong all along? 

A companion when watching a wonderful(decadent) play.

Someone who walks by your side in a crumbling world.

Someone whose company makes the poison more bearable and hell, tolerable.

Someone who simply loves me for who I am. Who gazed at the abyss, saw the void yet didn't run away.

Ah, this is so laughable, an amateur terrible tragicomedy, a hideous play with no sickeningly sweet ending.

(Perhaps it is because Titania is a wretched creature herself. Or perhaps because Titania's wings have been torn off that she understands a small fragment of you. Even if true understanding is a lie, a pipe dream. Titania has seen her own hell and can sympathize with yours, with the emptiness and resentment you hold. Not fearing it, not judging it. Just accepting you as the flawed existence you are.

If that is the case, then there is nothing beautiful about Titania.)

But even so...

"...You are..."

"Did you say something?"

"No, nevermind."

Ritsuka smiles as Oberon looks away. He grumbles about the cramped space as he hoards the bed, swatting a mosquito away while she writes in her diary. The boring stories she writes that he doesn't care about even if his fingers have traced those letters.

But even so, he stays.

Ah, love is a bothersome thing.

-

Thank you for reading!

Now, OH BOY WHERE TO BEGIN. Title comes from Debussy's Rêverie. I wanted to play with it, seeing that Oberon's Bond CE is called Pavane for a Dead Princess, which is the title of a melody by Ravel. I am sure it is no coincidence. Both Ravel and Debussy were considered the cornerstones of Impressionism in music, however, they both HATED being labeled like that.

Pavane for a Dead Princess is one of Ravel's solo compositions for the piano. However, unlike what the title implies, Ravel specifically said that it wasn't meant to be a melody of a funeral, but he wanted to evoke the idea of a princess dancing to the pavane. However, some people didn't really listen to him. So in this case, I think that rather than to see Oberon's CE as a funeral to Blanca, it is a way to celebrate her story, even if it didn't end on the happier note we would have wished. You can listen to it here

Now Rêverie is by Debussy and it's meant to feel like a dream, hence the name. The melody became a massive hit, though Debussy later hated this piece because he felt that he had written better pieces but this one was the one that made him famous. Since it was written when he was young, he felt he was still lacking a lot, but the melody became one of his most popular compositions nonetheless. I think that story ties nicely with what we perceive vs what others perceive. You can listen to it here

Now onto the actual fic, I had this vague idea when part 3 was released, especially after all the spoilers about Oberon's true identity. I really wanted to get him, and I was super lucky. In between getting him, his profile and bond lines being translated, I just got possessed to write this as a way to honor and thank him for coming home AND to give him a sort of happy ending after Avalon.

Oberon in that bed is thanks to that comic on Twitter where he is eating chips without any care and the kind reminder of his voice lines that in spite of him constantly complaining, he spends an awful lot of time on our room. Hehehe.

Best of luck if you are pulling for him! And once again, thank you for reading!

[nekoabiwrites]

Battle Bonds

Ahhh! It feels so good to be back and writing again! Panto was great fun and I’m kinda missing it but also, I’m so happy to not have to watch the same show 60 times anymore...

Anyway, this fic was inspired by a freaking adorable piece of art by @artistictaurean with Roman and a lil cute Swablu: https://artistictaurean.tumblr.com/post/190329454010/holy-crap-i-actually-finished-something-just-a  Mega thanks to them for not only being super talented at making such darn cute art, but also for being chill with me writing this (even tho I was on anon asking but mehhhhhh details)

AU: None Pairing: None Words: 2644 Warnings: Remus and Deceit are in here. Anything else, please let me know!

Summary: Thomas has been on a bit of a pokemon kick recently and it has affected his imagination more than he would ever think of...

---

Due to the recent release and information about new titles in the Pokemon franchise, Thomas had been thinking about and playing a lot of the series – much to Logan’s dismay. It had just been something he was doing, not once did Thomas even give a thought to how his gaming habit would affect his sides.

Roman lightly chewed on the end of his pencil as he tried to work out the perspective of the next detail to his sketch. It was rare to have all of the sides in the imagination with him after all, even more so that it was for social reasons rather than important ones. He dropped his head and added detail to the figure of Logan in his artwork, doing everything to capture the bewildered expression that was currently resting on the logical side’s features and the open book in his hands.

The prince couldn’t fault Logan for this, as he could hear the excited squeals of Patton off to his left as he discovered yet another new species that he didn’t realise existed.

“IT’S A PUPPY!” The paternal side yelled, holding Rockruff high above his head in order to show it off to the others. An amused snort and swishing of grass told Roman that Virgil was heading towards Patton to get a closer look at the small animal.

Time passed leisurely as the cycle of Patton finding new species, calling out that he found a new one and then being told which pokemon it was continued to repeat itself, all while Roman continued sketching. Eventually, Patton and Virgil settled down in view of Roman, allowing him to finally add them to his piece. Then there was an odd breeze that ruffled his hair and a weight was added to the top of his head.

Roman dropped his sketchpad and held his arms up, yelping loudly in surprise. He knew deep down it was fruitless to try, but his instinct was to attempt to look up and see what was perched upon his head.

Another Patton squeal had Roman freezing in place. The moral side jogged on up to Roman and coo’d at the creature on his head, “It’s so fluffy and – Oh! – It’s just like a cloud, and its so soft! Virgil, Logan! What’s this one?!”

“If memory serves, it is a swablu, Patton.” Logan approached, flipping the pages. It took seconds for him to find what he was looking for and he began to read aloud, “It is a primary normal type with a secondary flying type that was introduced in the third generation. Its category is the cotton bird pokemon. According to several entries in the pokedex of various games, swablus are very concerned with cleanliness and enjoy perching upon the heads of people.”

“I thought you didn’t care about this stuff?” Virgil asked slyly, gently brushing a finger along the tops of the swablu’s fluffy wings.

Logan flushed slightly and cleared his throat, “I do not recall saying that I didn’t care about it. I was simply attempting to get Thomas to understand that playing such a game for long periods of time is unproductive and-”

“I was just messing with ya, Logan. It’s okay.” Virgil snorted and rolled his eyes good-naturedly.

Roman was remaining fairly motionless as the others fawned over the pokemon perched upon his head. After getting confirmation on what pokemon it was, he’d regained his composure, sure that there was little to no threat. The prince reached up to pet the extremely friendly pokemon, feeling the cloud-like wings for the first time while also bringing the attention back down to himself with an exaggerated clearing of his throat. “Not that I mind being surrounded by attention, but my art was almost completed and now you have all moved from your positions. I place the blame upon you all if this turns out absolutely horrendous.” He gestured to the forgotten sketchbook resting in the grass.

Shortly after Roman had begun yet another round of bantering back and forth with Virgil and Logan, Patton saw a new pokemon that excited him, and he ran off. Virgil trailed behind, watching with amusement. Logan eventually moved in the same direction once Patton called for him yet again. Roman was now alone with the creature atop his head.

He summoned a floating mirror before himself and saw the blue bird for the first time. It looked to be starting to dose off, clearly comfortable in its position. The royal reached up again and gently stroked the bird, who seemed pleased with the gentle attention as it chirped in response. “How do you like the name Alto?” Roman asked rhetorically. The swablu perked up and flew in a small circle, just above Roman’s head, before seating itself again and almost nuzzling into the creative side’s hair. “I’ll have to take that as a yes.”

It wasn’t long until the hype died down and Thomas went back to his usual level of enjoyment of the series. This meant that if the sides wanted to keep all the random pokemon, Roman would have had to start working extremely hard to keep them all around. Thankfully, Patton wasn’t going to push his fellow side like that, and they all compromised on only keeping certain pokemon that they’d all become attached to – mostly due to the fact that their attachments would take some of the strain off of the creative side.

Out in the dirt courtyard of the castle located near the entrance to the imagination, Roman had placed a battling area for the pokemon, giving all of them a place to battle in a regulated, enclosed space.

“Servine is unable to battle.” Patton called out, “All three of Deceit’s pokemon have fainted! Roman wins! Yay Roman!” The moral side applauded, causing the Lillipup currently resting in his lap to yap alongside.

Roman laughed heartily, “Of course I won. What were you thinking, putting your grass type out against my superior flying type?” Alto soared over to rest upon Roman’s head, allowing her trainer to give her well earned scritches.

Deceit rolled his eyes, “It was because I have no knowledge of typing and most definitely had nothing to do with the fact I only had one pokemon left and therefore had no other options.” As he spoke, he returned the pokemon to its pokeball

“Now Deceit, be nice…” Patton chastised.

“Apologies.” Deceit sarcastically responded before stalking off to who knew where.

Patton went to say something to Roman, but was cut off by the creative side, “It’s quite alright, Patton. Not even the attitude from a slippery snake can dampen my mood!”

“Well, good! Let’s heal everyone up before the final match!” Patton hopped up from his cross-legged position on the ground and took Roman off to the side. Instead of battling on his own, Patton had taken the role of judge and healer. He found it was far more rewarding to help the fainted and injured pokemon than be the reason why they were hurt in the first place. Due to the fairly decisive victory, Roman’s pokemon took very little time to heal.

“There you go! All better now!” Patton handed the pokeballs back over to Roman, who replaced them back into their places on his belt. The moral side then looked around and bit his lip a little in worry, “I’m sorry, kiddo… but I need to go and find out where Dee went. Are you alright to wait just a little longer?”

“Of course he is!” came a third excited voice, who made both sides jump with his sudden presence and arms over their shoulders.

Roman’s smile fell and he sighed heavily, “I hate to admit this… but, for once, my brother is right… It’s more than fine for you to attend to business, Patton.”

“If you require a moderator, I am free to fulfil that role in Patton’s absence.” Logan cut in.

“Ooo! Yes! Let’s murder both of these birds with the stone!” Remus gleefully clapped his hands and hopped in place, whilst the other sides simply agreed to Logan’s proposition.

The two sides of creativity took a spot at each end of the field, staring each other down; Roman with a hardened glare that aimed to strike fear in his brother, Remus with his signature unhinged grin and twitching fingers hovering just over the balls resting against his side.

“The usual format and rules apply. Three pokemon per user, first to have all three faint is the loser. Are we agreed on this?” Logan called out. Both of the participants nodded. “Let the battle commence!”

Roman tossed out his first ball, summoning his precious swablu onto the field. Both looked as determined as the other. Remus, on the opposite side, released his first pokemon and everyone in attendance immediately grimaced.

“What in the heck is that thing?!” Roman yelled.

“It’s an Arctozolt! Isn’t he just a precious little monster?” Remus coo’d, making kissy faces at the abomination before him.

Logan’s eyes darted between the two for a moment, clearly having knowledge that Roman did not. The prince was going to ask what had the logical side looking as though he was nervous for him but decided against it. Instead, he steeled his resolve.

“Alto, Cotton Guard!”

Using her wings, Alto managed to surround her entire body in layers of almost invisible cotton, using it almost as a shield against anything that would attack her. She then seemed to brace herself, watching the pokemon before her carefully.

“Thundershock!”

Time seemed to stop for a second as Roman heard the command. He hadn’t even considered the fact that Arctozolt had the type advantage, especially since he’d never seen it before. Now that he was helpless to do much other than stare, Roman managed to notice the thunderbolt-like growths on the pokemon’s top half and that it was shivering, which may indicate that it was also partially ice type. His thoughts were cut short as Alto screeched in pain as the electric attack hit her square on.

“Alto!” Roman cried out. He watched as the swablu dropped in the air slightly but managed to catch herself before hitting the floor. He let out a soft sigh of relief, “Shake it off and use Round!”

Alto did just that, physically shaking her body to clear herself of the shock before soaring in circles for a few seconds, ending up heading directly for Arctozolt, hitting it square in the chest. The odd pokemon recoiled slightly after the hit, but still seemed to be feeling alright. The same could not be said for Roman as he saw the smile on his brother’s face grow even larger.

“Arctie, use Avalanche!”

Once again, Roman cursed himself internally. “Alto, avoid as much as you can!” He called out, trying his best to get his beloved swablu to not take as much damage as humanly possible.

It was effective somewhat as Alto did avoid several hits, but it always put her in the path of another part of the attack. Overall, it was a severe hit and Alto’s energy seemed to be waning as she was taking far more effort in order to keep herself in the air. Thankfully, the cotton that surrounded her body did help in staving off some of the damage.

Racking his brain, Roman tried to think of the best way to win the battle that seemed almost completely impossible.

“What’s wrong, brother?” Remus jeered from the opposite side of the field, “Having problems?”

Roman glared harshly at Remus before issuing another command, “Alto, sing!”

Alto responded immediately. She swooped in to hang in the air just a short distance from Arctozolt and began to sing a soft melody, attempting to put the creature to sleep. However, before it could really take effect, Remus called out for Arctozolt to use another move.

“Use Echoed Voice!”

The abomination began to screech loudly, the sound causing most everyone in the surrounding area to cover their ears. Alto drifted backwards, clearly in pain from the hit to her senses, her song being cut short. She began to float downwards towards the ground, looking as though she were about to admit defeat. She turned slightly and was able to notice Roman staring at her, worry coursing through him. Her eyes started to shut as she fell closer and closer to the ground.

“Alto, no!”

Her body touched the ground for a brief second before erupting in a flash of light. Yet again, everyone in attendance flinched and avoided using one of their senses until the light died down.

Remus’ grin dropped completely off of his face as his mouth fell open once he’d caught sight of where Alto had once been.

In place of the small round fluffy-winged bird was a far larger version. Its neck extended upwards, causing her to look far more intimidating as she could look down upon him and its cloud like wings curled around its lower body, looking as though the wings were what made up the creature instead. Just behind, his brother was also as shocked.

“Uh Logan. Information please!”

“Alto evolved into her final stage, that being an Altaria. Her typing has now changed, becoming a primary dragon type with the same secondary flying type as its pre-evolved state.” Logan offered.

“That has to be cheating! That’s his second pokemon now, right?!” Remus pouted, stamping his foot like an angry child.

“Not at all. Evolution is a natural process of the pokemon species as a whole and it cannot be timed, at least in the case of the majority of evolutions. In terms of our ruleset, it is the amount of fainted pokemon that provide us with the final result. As Alto has only evolved and is, in fact, still very much present and aware, it still counts as Roman’s first pokemon.” Logan side-eyed the moustached side as he explained.

Roman was still a little surprised but was more than ready to fight back with his now larger cloud bird. Something in him just knew that Alto had learned something new, so he acted without much thought, “Alto! Dragon Breath!”

Alto reared back as she took in a large breath, physically puffing herself up in preparation. She stared straight ahead at the Arctozolt before letting the blue flames pour from her beak, engulfing the odd creature entirely. Remus also yelped and attempted to shield himself as the edges of the attack came close to reaching his position. The flames dissipated after a moment and Arctozolt seemed to be wobbling back and forth slightly before it fell over and was removed from the competition.

After two more quick battles, Roman was declared the victor of the small tournament and Remus went off to lick his wounds – everyone was sure that wasn’t just a turn of phrase when it came to the intrusive side. Patton returned shortly after the match and was more than a little enamoured with the giant cloud bird. Shortly after, the sides returned to their jobs and things went back to normal.

Later in the evening, Patton headed back into the imagination to call Roman for dinner, since he was nowhere to be found in the regular mindscape.

“Roman? Where are you? Dinner’s ready!” Patton called out into the distance as he wandered around the edge of the castle. He rounded a corner and had to clamp a hand over his mouth in order to muffle a happy squeal.

Alto was sleeping soundly, resting at the base of a tree on the edges of the forest. Curled up in her cloud-like wings was the figure of Roman. Evidently, he’d tired himself out and Alto had offered her soft wings as a base for him to nap. Patton quietly headed back, making a mental note to put Roman’s plate in the fridge for when he woke up.

---

My other stuff: http://nekoabi.tumblr.com/myworks Mobile Accessible Masterlist: http://nekoabi.tumblr.com/post/181954641376/fic-masterlist

General Tag List: @not-so-innocent-bi-sander @didsomeonesayprince @llamaly @justanotherpurplebutterfly  @iaminmultiplefandoms @ultimate-queen-of-fandoms2 @lowkeyvirgilobsessed @louisthewarlock @fangsandrainbows @xxladystarlightxx @sleepyssnail @ao-koshka @notalwaysthevillian @pumpkinminette @doces-e--tuga @coloursintheblur @safesandersides @hogwarts-my-love

[hergan416]

Katakuri Challenge

Continuation after this post in my Seek and Ye Shall Find universe. Written for @straycrayoncrypt's Katakuri-day challenge in the MF discord server.

The main fic is rated M, but this segment is rated T.

Some notes not apparent in this text: time in Domino and time in One Piece's world do not travel at the same rate. It has been much less time for Katakuri by the time this happens, than it has been for Yugi and Ryou.

Featuring questioning Katakuri, and a bit of light pain re: Kata's relationship with the Big Mom Pirates (as seen from an outside perspective.)

Read more under the cut:

Life in Domino had mostly returned to normal since Katakuri’s sudden disappearance. It had only lasted a few days, but the city was shaken by the upstir. Pegasus was amused, Yugi was curious, Kaiba furious. Yugi chose to put the mirror Katakuri had left behind on his desk in his room for safekeeping

Jounouchi was understandably hostile towards the man, considering the damage that had been done to Seto, and the fact that he had to defeat the man himself. He refused to go in Yugi’s room with the mirror, knowing that was how Katakuri seemed to appear. Yugi didn’t necessarily blame him, even as he tried to reason with Jou that his room was too small, and Katakuri appearing through it was highly unlikely.

“He went back through it though,” Jou would say. “What if he’s spying on you?”

“You sound like Seto,” Yugi replied.

“Sometimes, Seto is right,” Jou defended, crossing his arms over his chest.

Jou wasn’t wrong per se. Yugi had a nagging feeling in the back of his mind after the whole incident that just because it was over didn’t mean it was resolved. Yugi felt like keeping the mirror around was the key to everything, so he kept it, whatever Jou felt.

Ryou seemed even more curious about Katakuri than Yugi, almost as though Katakuri was finally proof that others could see that the supernatural existed. Ryou was excited about the encounter with the oversized man, and on more than one occasion offered to take the mirror off Yugi’s hands. Yugi had declined, if only because Katakuri had handed the mirror to him. As illogical as it was, he felt that he had been handed the mirror for a reason, much like he had been given the millennium puzzle, although he did not voice those feelings to Ryou. (Ryou’s experience with the millennium items had, of course, been much different than Yugi’s.)

Instead, Yugi regularly asked Ryou to visit the mirror in Yuig’s room. It wasn’t as though having his partner over was out of the ordinary, but their activities over the past few months had begun to include a routine of performing various rituals and experiments on the mirror. Sometimes Ryou would experiment alone while Yugi watched, sometimes they’d try something together. Regardless of who was in charge, however, it seemed that all of their experiments had been a bust.

This was certainly true of their most recent one, involving lighting copious amounts of incense, and chanting various chants that Ryou explained were meant to be summoning spells.

“It doesn’t seem responsive to us,” Ryou said at the end of all of it. “We can’t summon anything. I thought I saw the shade of an old lady walk past the mirror, but I must have been mistaken. She didn’t seem anything like Katakuri, and you never saw her.”

Yugi nodded along, furrowing his brow, his mind wandering to ponder whether he’d ever find out how Katakuri’s mother had liked the sweets they had picked out.

By the time Black Friday rolled around, Yugi had forgotten the mirror’s existence entirely. Ryou was out of experiments, and work had picked up, leaving little time to deal with the mirror anyway. He plodded up the stairs to his room, exhausted from a long day at work. The game they were beta-ing was not his own design, and there were a number of balancing issues before the game would be ready for release. Unfortunately, the small company he worked for seemed keen on releasing the game “in time for Christmas,” so it was all hands on deck and mandatory overtime until then.

He paced to his closet, intent on changing out of the stuffy suit that he had worn to the office, walking past his desk as he trekked towards comfort. A tapping noise from the area to his right stopped him.

Tap tap, tah-tap tap, TAP TAP!

He turned towards the desk, concerned, eyes widening when he saw Katakuri’s head and one of his arms sticking through the mirror, gaze trained on Yugi. His hand tapped the pattern out on the pile of binders full of Yugi’s work notes that now covered the desk’s surface and nearly obscured the mirror.

“Hello,” Yugi greeted nervously, moderately concerned that Jounouchi had been right.

“Hello,” Katakuri returned politely.

Yugi softened his startled expression upon hearing Katakuri’s tone. “What can I do for you?” he asked, approaching the mirror quietly. “Do you need me to put you outside?”

“Not yet,” Katakuri replied, his eyes looking thoughtful to Yugi. “I wanted to ask you some questions.”

Yugi nodded carefully. “Sure thing! We can talk!”

“Your friend, Ryou,” Katakuri asked carefully, eyebrows furrowing uncharacteristically. “What makes them a them?”

Yugi blinked. That had not been the turn of conversation that he had been expecting.

“Ryou is just a them,” Yugi explained, a bit defensively. “They are non-binary, so they don’t identify with either gender.”

Katakuri nodded, his eyes betraying that he was having a hard time processing the information. “Do you need... any specific parts to be a them? I’m supposed to be a he according to my family but…”

Yugi smiled widely, suddenly realizing why Katakuri was asking. “You don’t need to be born any specific way to be a them, no,” he explained. “Would you want to talk to Ryou about this? They might be able to give you better information.”

Katakuri seemed to swallow, the scarf around their neck moving up and down. “I … don’t know. I don’t have a lot of time to keep talking about it.”

Yugi nodded in response. “Well, you can be a they over here, if that helps, even if you can’t wherever you are right now,” he suggested, and Katakuri’s eyes widened. “Or a she,” Yugi continued. “Experiment here, and figure it out, see what makes you happiest.”

Katakuri nodded, looking thoughtful. “Do ‘theys’ still have to be big brothers?” he asked, voice quiet.

Yugi picked up on a lot of pain in that statement, and he wondered exactly what kind of world Katakuri came from, to elicit such a response. “Your gender doesn’t make you have to be anything. You’re a big sibling if you choose to take care of your family,” Yugi replied, trying to be helpful. “But you don’t have to be called a brother if you don’t want to. I bet your siblings will understand.”

Katakuri’s eyes looked pained, like he wanted to believe Yugi, but couldn’t.

“Did your mom like the candy?” Yugi asked, trying to change the subject, thinking the conversation would be more light hearted.

Worry crossed Katakuri’s face instead, plain as day. Then he nodded. “Yes, she liked it a lot.” His eyes looked like they were trying to smile, but it was forced, and Yugi wondered once more about the man’s strange situation.

“That’s good to hear,” Yugi replied uncertainly. Maybe it was better to stick to the topic Katakuri had breached. “If you have more time later, maybe I can work out a time for Ryou to talk to you?”

Katakuri nodded, but the action was distracted, like he was listening to something else. “Sure. But I have to go now. Could you do me a favor, and get some more of those dragon-shaped cookies? Maybe… five dozen? Bring them to the mirror as quickly as possible, it’s a bit of an emergency.”

Yugi nodded, eyes clouding with confusion, but willing to help anyway. What would make cookies an emergency?

“Sure! Should I charge Pegasus for these ones too?” he teased, hoping to get more information about where he was supposed to get the money for the cookies. But, Katakuri’s head had already started to slip back into the mirror, and disappeared by the time he was done with the phrase.

Yugi exhaled, confused, slumping against the desk chair. If this mirror had come to him for a reason, he sure hoped he’d find it out quick.

[lovehotelreservation]

I Fancy You - You Can Be Happy Like A Dream

Summary: No matter how much one may desire, a wish was just hope for something to come to realization.

And as Alfonse and Líf wish for nothing more than to have you stay, they resolve to do whatever it takes to make sure you never leave them.

Rating: NC-17

Pairing: Alfonse/Reader/Líf

AND ON THE FIRST DAY INTSYS SAID LET THERE BE LIGHT

AND THEN THERE WAS ALFONSE

AND ON THE SECOND DAY INTSYS SAID LET THERE BE HONRY

AND THEN THERE WERE 2 ALFONSES WITH ONE SIGNIFICANTLY BIG AND EMO

ANYWAY THANK U INTSYS FOR THE CINEMATIC MEAL BY THAT CONFRONTATION BETWEEN ALFONSE AND LIF

PLEASE ENJOY!!!

**Warning: this fic contains themes of unhealthy behavior in a relationship, imprisonment, overtly possessive behavior and allusions to which can be seen as dub-con. Please take discretion while reading!**

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

Two flickering candles upon a simple but lovingly decorated cake.

With two puffs of breath, the flames were soon extinguished.

Two men rose from their hunched positions, one looking sheepish while the other was in a muted fluster.

Between them, with both arms linked onto theirs, was you.

Their source of utter joy.

Today was one for celebration. While there was going to be a raucous feast that would sweep over the entire headquarters later in the day, for now, in this quiet afternoon, the three of you opted to have a small and intimate gathering together in your private quarters.

As you watched the delicate trails of smoke emit from the candles, you shifted your head to gaze up to one side, a tender smile on your face as you asked,

"What did you wish for Alfonse?"

Your prince looked astonished at first. While he let out a small and shy chuckle, there was a guilty flicker in his gaze. His fingers found their way to yours and intertwined with them, squeezing with affection. "If I said what I wished for, it wouldn't come true, right? That's what Sharena would always tell me whenever I'd ask her on her birthday while growing up."

Still ever so curious, you cheekily responded with, "Just think of it in the mindset of speaking your wish into existence."

Alfonse froze for a moment, almost tempted to go along with what you said if just to hopefully ensure that his wish came true. However, he still refrained, his expression softening. "Ahh, I see. I like that sentiment." He leaned forward, his lips meeting yours in a quick but sweet kiss. "If it does come true though, I'll tell you then, alright?"

The look on your face turned pouty. With how he was behaving, it only piqued your curiosity further. However, you relented for now--knowing him, he wouldn't go back on his promises.

It was then that you turned your head to the other person in the room, your hopeful expression gleaming at possibly getting an answer.

"And you, Líf?"

Having been silently spectating your back and forth with Alfonse, your knight only closed his eyes as he calmly uttered out, "...The same as Alfonse's." Upon then bringing his hand to your cheek, he proceeded to lightly pinch your cheek with teasing affection as a hint of smirk pulled at his lips. "And no, I'm not saying it either."

You looked aghast just before your poutiness returned fully as you whined, "So cruel--the both of you! Now I really want know what you wished for! Especially since you both want the same thing!"

Swiping at the cake frosting that you spent all of last night applying, Líf only brought his finger to your lips, hushing you as he remarked, "You'll find out in due time, darling."

As he embraced you from behind, Alfonse rested his chin would your shoulder as he chuckled, "For now, let's celebrate, okay? This cake looks delicious!"

"Fine fine," you huffed after begrudgingly licking off the frosting from Líf's fingertip.

Lighthearted as the moment was, the wary but understanding look that Alfonse and Líf shared towards one another spoke of the growing darkness that lingered behind their loving intentions.

A year had passed since that day.

And so marked another year of life to Alfonse and Líf.

There was to be a celebration surely. Albeit the amount of people around to join the festivities were nowhere to be found.

With the war against Embla having at last reached its conclusion, all the Heroes were now free to return back to their respective worlds. Before Fjorm and her siblings were to return to Nifl, Sharena insisted that they come by Askr, happily offering to be a tour guide while also wishing to practice playing host to visiting nations. Overall, it had only been just a few mere weeks since the Order of Heroes had peacefully dissolved and everyone had departed after much joyous celebration and bittersweet goodbyes.

Save for one.

Though, even with far less people to celebrate, Alfonse and Líf weren't distressed or downtrodden whatsoever.

On this birthday, the two weren't wishing for anything too extravagant.

All they wanted was your presence.

And the shattered fragments of what once comprised the Breidablik.

A feat achieved by the combined might of Fólkvangr and Sökkvabekkr.

Per the responsibility that bound you to the divine weapon, you would remain in this realm to fulfill your role as Summoner to assist the goals of the Order of the Heroes.

With that task now accomplished, you--much like the other Heroe--were now allowed to go back home.

Allowed in all but the eyes of Alfonse and Líf.

Alfonse did have you swear and promise to him that you would always warn him if you were to ever leave, an oath he had you reaffirm all the more once the two of you became lovers. And even though you--tearful eyes and a loving but melancholy smile--did as he asked, he just couldn't bear the thought of standing by and watching you approach the summoning portal and step out of his life.

The sentiment was shared by Lif. After the complete and utter agony of having to cradle your limp form as the warmth of life drained out of you, to be able to reunite with you once again was his salvation from fully crushing the remnants of his heart by his own hand. Though he knew you would be safely returning to your own world, he would truly know no joy if you left him again.

And so came about their plan.

The most ideal way to celebrate their birthday.

There was no need for a huge party at the dining hall packed full of cheerful comrades, scrumptious delights and extravagant decorations.

Even within the now vacant meeting hall of the Order of Heroes headquarters, the two had all that they desired:

You.

Remaining between them, in the middle of their watchful eyes, at the center of their hearts.

Though, compared to how joyful and preciously pouty you were last year, your demeanor on this day was much different.

You were trembling.

If not because of the burdening gravity of the realization that you would never see your home world again, then it was because of how overwhelmed and overstimulated you were from having both of your lovers ravaging you at the same time.

Seated upon the marble step that lead up to the humble platform where you used to lead meetings with the rest of the Heroes was Líf. His body--thick with muscle, painted with scars, discolored to a grey hue around his lower torso as a reminder of his servitude to and survival from Hel--was your support, his arms cradling you close to him. While one heavy arm was hooked beneath your thigh to keep it parted the the side, the fingers of the other fondled your breasts all while he stuffed your ass with the heavy girth of his cock.

Your other thigh was gripped onto by the tight hold of Alfonse. He loomed above and before you, happily taking the space between your legs and being able to have a full unobstructed view of your face. With his build lean and athletic, his growth as a warrior and king reflected by the scars he bore on his skin, his expression ever so needy, he continued to pummel his cock inside you with a near desperate vigor, all while his mouth suckled on your nipples while his fingers circled over your clit.

There was much that the two were going to have to address and properly discuss with you. But for now, the two were quick to keep you hushed with their lips. When Líf wasn't making his claim on your neck with bites, he had you locked in hot, messy open-mouthed kisses. Once Alfonse had his fill of the taste of your breasts, he was smothering your lips with his needy, indulgent kisses.

Though, for as little word they had you so much as mewl out that wasn't their names, they didn't want to wait to hopefully have you start seeing matters from their perspective.

"Summoner, my summoner, my..." Alfonse panted out your name with absolute rapture, his face flushed red with heat and his expression twisting from pleasure to forlorn. "I don't want to even think of a world where you're not around."

"And my sanity will surely shatter if I have to witness you leave me again." Líf confessed into your neck, the tone of his voice cracking slightly at the thought. "Not after you've restored it by our reunion, my beloved."

Whereas the tempo that Líf was fucking into you was slow yet deep, Alfonse was hammering his cock into your core with nothing short of intensity. And even so, despite how the two contrasted, the two gradually started pushing into you in tandem, their unison leaving you mindless with ecstasy.

"In due time--isn't that what I said to you?" Líf asked just before his tongue dragged over the side of your neck, only to follow up withe tender nibbles to your skin. "Our wish--"

"As it was then, as it is now," Alfonse continued while lifting his head from your thigh to instead cup your cheek. "It's already happened.

And so, without ever having to speak out their desire into the universe, their wish came true.

May nothing ever keep me away from my Summoner.

[statusquoergo]

Credit where credit is due, Gabriel did a nice job directing this episode. He had more screen time that I’m used to from actors pulling double duty, and he seems to have handled the extra workload well.

That’s not to say the episode was flawless. Yeah, by Season 9 standards, it was pretty good overall, but I mean. Season 9 standards.

We start off at home with Louis and Sheila having a terse exchange over tea as I wonder, yet again, why they’re together at all if they’re always so goddamn pissy about everything. Louis bemoans his demotion as Sheila irritably directs him to drink his rooibos and asks him what the big deal is, being that he didn’t even want the job in the first place (true). Louis parries that he only said that because Donna offered it to him the same night he found out about Sheila’s pregnancy (true), but at any other time in his life, he would have taken it (false). On the contrary, you may remember this fairly unambiguous exchange from “Pecking Order” (s08e02) between Doctor Lipschitz and Louis: “As I recall, you accepted Harvey becoming managing partner after Jessica left.” “That’s when I realized I didn’t want to be managing partner.” I suppose I’ve never accused this show of internal consistency before, why bother starting now?

Louis then delightfully compares himself to a ball-less cat and laments that though “the job wasn’t sunshine and rainbows, [he] was getting really good at it,” and excuse me but what? Forget that disastrous hearing that summoned Faye to their doorstep, his most recent acts as managing partner include trying to bully Professor Gerard into letting him be the keynote speaker at Harvard’s Ethic Conference to talk up his failing firm, and going completely off the rails trying to fire the poor IT guy for failing to digitally break into the New York State Bar Association. Louis sucked at being managing partner.

Next up is a reminder that I need to be careful what I wish for as Donna and Harvey discuss his reflexive support of her impassioned but quite incorrect argument against Louis trying to fire Benjamin, and how much she didn’t appreciate it. Turns out it wasn’t so reflexive; he did it because she thought she would like it, which is its own magnificently flawed concept—thinking she’ll get mad at him for disagreeing with her doesn’t say much for his respect for her integrity—but then Donna realizes that he’s afraid she’s going to leave him if he doesn’t unconditionally support her, and you just know the writers thought they were being real clever with this. (Wait, isn’t one of Harvey’s defining character traits his ability to read people? “You read books, I read people” was actually one of the first things he said to Mike in the pilot… Gosh it’s been a long time.)

As I was saying about this show’s internal consistency, two things about this whole exchange: One, all through Season 7, Harvey had no trouble calling Paula out when she was being ridiculous and disagreeing with her about all kinds of shit. Two, as recently as “Everything Changes” (s09e01), Harvey cooed that “[he’s] finally where [he’s] supposed to be” when he’s with Donna, to which Donna replied “We both are,” and like, are they a match made in Heaven right out of the box or what? His trust in their relationship is wildly inconsistent. Unless he wants to forfeit his autonomy for some reason? I don’t know, it’s weird and I don’t like it.

I also take issue with Donna’s dismissive “Oh, my god. Of course. Harvey, I’m not gonna leave you.” This has been an issue for him since forever, as she well knows, but rather than ask him what’s wrong—is he really afraid she’ll leave him over something so small?—or point out that he needs to go to therapy (if she wants to be tactful, she could ask if he wants to “talk to someone” about this), she treats it as an endearing character quirk, and someone needs to save Harvey from all this shit yesterday.

The interruption to this…reconciliation isn’t quite as cringy as the can opener bit from the last episode, but I’ve gotta call it out for being just some truly lazy storytelling. Gretchen appears out of nowhere to tell them they “need to go see Louis,” on account of his demotion, and Donna’s deer-in-headlights response is “Oh, my god. We need to go to him right now.” Yeah, no shit, that’s what Gretchen just said, except this framing affords Harvey the opportunity to mount his noble high horse and declare: “No. You go to him. I need to go see Faye.” Which he does, dramatic music and all, declaring that “dammit, not everybody has to do everything by [her] book,” and I must point out that she demoted Louis for trying to fire the employee who he asked to perform an illegal activity that he failed to perform only because he was caught; in what book is that okay? He then asserts: “You want consequences, I’ll give you consequences,” which is delightfully reminiscent of that old classic, “I’ll give you something to cry about,” in that it makes absolutely no sense, and Harvey, you adorable impetuous dumbass, if your goal is to convince her to leave, I think you might be going about it in a little bit the wrong way.

Roll title crawl! (No seriously, that was all just the cold open.)

Anyway Donna does go to comfort Louis, already treating herself and Harvey as a unit when she assures him that “if [he] ever [needs her] or Harvey during any of this Faye bullshit,” they’re there for him, and dropping the much more interesting detail that she has a much older sister she doesn’t want to talk about who “turned every man she was ever with into an emotional doormat,” which I don’t have time to fic right now but I feel like might explain a lot. Then Alex and Samantha have an endearing little exchange wherein Samantha proposes doing something to help Louis and Alex clarifies that it has to be ethical, and it’s nice to know that at least a couple of people around here aren’t completely insane.

Speaking of things being insane, I won’t fault Gabriel for this because the direction itself is fine, but from a writing perspective, the narrative construct of this next scene is terrible. Harvey shows up at a meeting with Some Guy whose nondescript company is apparently, thanks to his board and the company’s lawyers, being taken over (by someone) against his wishes, and the only hint of context for any of this is that “the people” orchestrating this takeover are “related” to Faye. The obvious conclusion to this exchange is that Harvey is going to help this guy, who is apparently the CEO of this random organization, sue the company by acting as a shareholder rather than a C-level employee, and I still have no idea what the fuck is going on.

Back at the firm where I do kind of know what’s going on, Susan the Associate approaches Katrina with a problem she found in the VersaLife case Katrina’s working, and as soon as they gave her a name in the last episode, I know she was going to be important. More to the point, it looks like Katrina’s got herself an associate! (Remember when senior partners were required to hire their own associates? It was a whole big thing back in Season 1, I think.)

Next up, Louis is having lunch with an old friend, Saul the Judge, who informs him that some other judge is retiring or being fired or something, and offers him a judgeship, and there is so much wrong with this scene that I don’t even know where to begin.

Yes I do. Since when has Louis’s lifelong dream been to be a judge? This is literally the first time he’s ever expressed any interest in it, at all. And another thing, that is not how judicial selection works.

In New York State, judges, depending on the court, are either appointed by the governor and confirmed by the State Senate, nominated by a commission and approved by the governor, chosen at a partisan nominating convention and elected by the voting public, or appointed by the mayor. Qualified individuals can apply to be considered, such as by the Mayor’s Advisory Committee, but there’s no one-and-done offer/acceptance transaction between someone currently on the bench and his lawyer pal, so either this guy is offering Louis a job that doesn’t exist or, more likely, the writers don’t know shit about the New York City legal system.

Moving on. Harvey shoves a recusal form in Faye’s face as he informs her that he “got” a case against her old firm, and he’s “taking it,” as though he didn’t go way out of his way to hunt it down in the first place. He then throws a stupidly juvenile hissy fit, claiming he’ll use whatever he fucking has to to “win,” and prove his system his better than hers, but he won’t have to cross any lines because she de-balled (second reference, just as charming as the first) the guys at her old firm so much that “they’re shaking in their boots” at the mere threat of lawsuit. This whole exchange is basically a showcase of Harvey acting like a spoiled child, and I know he’s a passionate guy but I gotta say, I’m getting tired of this whole act.

Back to that clusterfucking disaster of a judgeship offer, Louis fesses up to Sheila but admits that he doesn’t want to accept the drop in salary with a kid on the way, or leave his friends in the lurch, and she in turn fesses up that she asked Saul to make the offer in the first place because “being a judge has always been [his] dream.” (SINCE WHEN?) Louis is incensed until she tells him that it was basically Saul’s idea, but that if he doesn’t take it now, he’ll never get the change again, which… Why? Well, I guess they haven’t pointlessly manufactured any tension in awhile. Anyway, Louis promises to sleep on it.

Elsewhere, Samantha proposes committing conspiracy to get Faye out of their lives and Alex shuts that shit right away, and I’m actually really enjoying their dynamic right now. Susan asks Katrina what she should do about a smart, funny paralegal she clicks with; Katrina, having “seen that before,” recommends finding a new paralegal, and I’ve never had this question before but is Katrina anti-Machel for some reason? Doesn’t matter. Susan proposes reaching out to opposing counsel, who just so happens to be an old family friend, and Katrina wisely tells her not to, but somewhat less wisely starts and ends her rationale with “Because I know,” which I’m sure won’t motivate Susan to act in any sort of way.

Now, I’m no dream theorist, but luckily this show has all the subtlety of a Liberace action figure, so it’s not too difficult to figure out what Louis’s subconscious mind is trying to say: He wants to humiliate Faye (for demoting him and taking over his firm), he wants to bang Donna (and maybe also Alex), he thinks of Harvey as his peer but also his inferior (who he wants desperately to impress and probably also to fuck), and his confidence is mainly derived from the approval and admiration of others. Also he wants to have sex with basically everyone. Maybe not Gretchen. But everyone else.

Dr. Lipschitz, to whom Louis was evidently relaying the events of this dream, finds the whole thing quite amusing, but points out that if Louis takes the judgeship, he won’t have his friends around him anymore. Double-edged sword and all that.

Part II

[dreamyarcana]

Injured!MC x Asra

THis hELL OF A PIECE TOOK ME FOREVER TO COMPLETE AROUND SCHOOL

if it were up to me, writing shitty fanfiction about my fictional husbands is what i would do for the rest of my life, sometimes. because high school sucks xD and the arcana and midnight cinderella (another fantastic dating sim!) are why im still existing and its been less than a month since school starts ._.

honestly, it think it’s actually one of my better works but hey XD

anywho, again, i do try to write from they/them nb perspective but sometimes it does come across as she/her perspective unintentionally.

If you see any mistakes or have suggestions for other fics, please do suggest :) I’m trying to learn to write for Julian, but I’m not sure I’m quite there yet. Maybe soon! Please enjoy haha

dedicated to @rosehardt​ for their sweet comment on my last Asra fic <3

Gasping, I stopped to rest in a dark alleyway. My heaving breaths were noisy despite my attempts to quiet them. I prayed that my pursuer will go away and leave me the hell alone. For the first time, I gingerly took a peek at the wound made by the hooded figure's knife. It was rather severe; blood was seeping all over, completely soaking my linen shirt. The captor had cut my just below my chest down to my waist. "How did I get here?" I moaned in frustration. But I knew perfectly how I had gotten here.

I had been taking a night stroll, thinking about my master, the Arcana, and his familiar. It was a fantastic night - the kind of night where you could see millions of stars wherever you went. My favorite shawl concealed my hair and to an extent, my face. The soft material looked like it could've been made from the same sky that blanketed the earth. The rest of my outfit was selected around it. Even at night, the marketplace was lively and bright. Venders offered me various goods from sweet fruits to homemade crafts. I shook my head politely before making my way past a mysterious black tent. Suddenly, someone grabbed my wrist and yanked me hard into the tent. I gasped and yelped in surprise but another hand covered my mouth. "So you're Asra’s famous apprentice everyone talks about?" sneered a low voice. "Maybe you've should've foreseen this happening to you." I attempted to get away, tried to pull away, but the grip just tightened on me. I could feel my shirt being lifted and resisted more, trying to yank myself out of the hand. Something sharp was being traced against my skin. Panic rose in my throat and I cried out in his hand. "Not so fast, young one." the figure admonished gently, as if I were a star pupil and my kidnapper was a kind teacher. I kicked and stomped on his feet as best as I could in the awkward position the person had me in. "Perhaps we should just get right into this." Anger was starting to leak into the voice. The knife pierced my skin swiftly and I couldn't do anything but struggle and cry out into the hand. In desperation, I tried to bit the hand as the kidnapper dug it in further. Swearing like a fiend, the hands released me and I shot out like a rocket, desperate to find the exit. I blasted it out of there and somehow ran behind an alleyway.

Wildly, I glanced around, trying to figure out the quickest way to my shop without being spotted by too many people. Slowly, but surely I forced myself to my home and released a sigh of relief as I locked the door behind me. I felt myself slide down to the ground while my vision grew out of focus fast. "(Y/N)?" Asra's soft, melodic voice called out. I couldn't summon any energy to answer as I sat there, panting and trying not to disturb my oozing wound. When I didn't respond, his light, graceful footsteps approached the door and although quiet, I heard his gasp of surprise. "You're hurt, oh no...please, no..." Asra muttered; this was the first time he sounded so distraught, but I could hardly focus on that. I tried to regain focus and blinked rapidly. "(Y/N), can you hear me?" Asra asked, worry in his voice. I nodded, or at least, I think I did. Gently, he helped me to my feet and lifted me bridal style in his arms. "Asra," I whispered, slightly dazed. "I'm here for you, (Y/N). You're safe now that I'm here to care for you." he reassured. I wrapped my arms around him and leaned in to smell his sweet scent. My eyes shut for a second from the throbbing that started to become prevalent. now that I was safe. 

Asra snatched a blanket on the way to the bed and placed me on it gently. Slowly, he peeled back the blood soaked shirt to reveal the mess of a wound. I watched his face anxiously, but he revealed nothing except concern. Without saying anything, he exited swiftly, probably to get something.

Soon after, he returned with some alcohol, bandages, and some kind of white kit. "Listen, (Y/N), this wound is extremely deep. I'm not much of a, well, doctor, but I do know some basics from previous... occasions." he told me softly, his eyes locking on to mine. "First, I have to clean the wound, which will hurt a lot, and then sew it up as best I can. The stitches won't hurt as much as the actually cleaning will. It’ll probably leave a scar." Asra frowned to himself and his inability to fix this problem. Meanwhile, his hand held mine and I squeezed weakly.

“Don’t worry about it,” I answered shakily, trying not to be a baby about the entire situation. Asra, likes always, could see through my mask and softened his gaze. 

“It’ll be okay.” He reached over and kissed my forehead, stroking my hair softly. “Can you drink some of this alcohol? It’ll numb some of the pain,” he added, looking at my shocked expression. I tried to sit up a bit to drink some and Asra lifted the small bottle to my lips. The taste was dry and stung my throat, but I drank anyways. 

“Do you think we could try to remove your shirt? It’ll be easier to work with the wound.” he explained after he set the bottle down. I blushed, despite the serious circumstances. 

“Uh, yeah, that’s fine.” I replied as casually as I could, breaking my gaze to him. Asra chuckled, which was a sweet sound to hear.

“You’re charming when you blush.” he murmured as he helped me get the blood soaked shirt off as well as the shawl wrapped around me still. I could feel the edges of my vision getting hazy.

“Okay, I’m going to clean it now. I’m sorry for the pain, but try to stay still. It’ll be over soon,” he promised when he returned out of nowhere with boiling water and a washcloth. My gaze drifted to his fluffy hair - it was like a sheep’s and I wanted nothing more to touch it. 

Suddenly, hot pain coursed through me and I cried out when it wouldn’t stop. Asra flinched when he heard my shouts and I tried to quiet myself to no avail.

“You’re doing great,” he reassured me with a calm voice. “Just a bit more.” More of the searing pain? I wasn’t sure if I could handle it a lot of it. 

It hit me again and I writhed around this time while Asra tried to keep me still.

“Please, I’m almost done, it’ll be okay, I’m sorry, (Y/N).” Asra’s voice had a note of panic in it and that caused me to hold still. I think we both sighed in relief when he said, “Okay, I’m finished cleaning, just relax for awhile.”

My mind dozed for a bit while Asra worked. I studied him while he worked on closing my wound up. His eyebrow was furrowed in concentration on what he was doing and his graceful hands worked calmly and steadily. Asra was right; I couldn’t feel any kind of pain or at least none that bothered me.

At some point, I reached out and awkwardly patted him because he took my hand and kissed it gently with his soft lips. I think I smiled.

Soon after he finished he put away the items and took away the blanket, which was now stained with my blood and he changed clothes to go to bed - or rather snuggle with me. I felt his warmth surrounding me cautiously and gently, and automatically nestled in his safe presence. It sounded like he was talking to me while I was half asleep, but also half talking to himself, for so many unknown reasons.

“(Y/N), your expression is peaceful and (beautiful/handsome) when resting. I hope you know how worried I was, you really scared me half to death when you first walked in... I can’t believe how much I’ve come to care for you, and part of me hopes to avenge whoever did this to you. I wish I could’ve protected you... I’m so sorry I had to cause you pain to make it better. Your screams were terrifying and I felt... horrible, like a monster for causing you such pain... Despite this, I still love you. I love you with all of my heart and I know that’ll never die. Sweet dreams, (Y/N).”

Sweet dreams, indeed, I would always have forever if I stayed in his arms.