#anyways this has come out of me needing to talk about witch hat in a way that’s not volume by volume bc. I don’t remember that shit

[magpiesbones]

I’ve been thinking about how I’d section witch hat into arcs and I have a preliminary setup:

Volume 1-3: Introduction; you meet the characters, world, and main conflict.

Volume 4-5: Romonon arc; first conflict with Big Systematic forbidden magic. Also Richeh’s arc: the main conflict is whether it is valuable/worth it to study what came before you (cat man, Richeh can’t fight, Eunice’s preparations) and comes down definitively that it is.

Volume 6-8: Disability arc; not self-contained. Introduces the second main theme aside from education, which is Lack Of Access (to education and to other things). Starts off with beldaruit physically unable to access most of the city he lives in (sealchair too wide for the halls) and progresses onto qifrey (imminent visual impairments and social ostracism) and Tartah and Coustas who cannot access knowledge to improve their lives (medicine and magic).

Volume 9-[ongoing]: Justice arc; addresses who deserves to be able to access magic. Coustas? The knights? The king? The people? Begins to morph the question of deserving magic to the question of whether this is magic that deserves to be done, as in: is this magic something that improves a life, and can you trust everyone’s judgement on what does/doesn’t improve a life?

[mayasaurusss]

Day thirty one: The Witch.

And with this final oneshot, fictober 2024 comes to an end! I 've enjoyed doing this with my whole heart, and I will miss writing this! I hope you will enjoy this and I wish you a Happy Halloween!

The music is loud and the soft lights of the room make you dizzy, making you stumble until you reach the bar. "Hit me up" you roughly shove your money on the counter, sighing as you try to relieve the pain in your head. "Not your best night, right?" you hear someone near you, turning around to see a young woman wearing a witch's costume. It's very beautiful, but the pointed hat that she's wearing makes her seem smaller than she is, and you snort at the view.

"Uh... yes. I've had better nights" you turn to thank the bartender, sipping your drink in a sip. "I don't know anyone else outside of my best friend here, and she ditched me about..." you look at your phone's clock, "...an hour ago".

"My, you really need company" she says, approaching your body and placing her hand on your arm. "May I have the honor of being in that company?".

"S-Sure" you mumble, trying to play cool and to not let her beauty and charisma affect you too much. "What's your name, by the way?" you ask her. Her smile is genuine and light, but there is something malicious beneath it, "I'm Natalie".

During the night, you and Natalie talk a lot. She tells you about her life, her problems and her loves.

As the night of Halloween becomes darker and colder, the affections between you and Natalie become warmer, tighter.

"You should come to my house," she says, tightening her biceps, "I'm sure that being together will certainly be more fun than this dead party".

You swallow your saliva, trying to contain the excitement that is building in your heart. "Y-yeah, I'd love to come to your house", she gets closer to you, so close that her perfume tickles your nose and her hat almost blinds you; she sneaks her arm on yours, leaning on your body slightly.

Your heartbeats are so loud that you almost can't hear the fury of approaching steps getting close to you.

"Don't go with her!" someone yells, and you turn to see a woman standing next to you, panting. Her cheeks are red and her eyes half lidded, the smell of alcohol reeking from her.

"What? Why?" She takes a breath, pointing her finger at Natalie.

"She's- she is a weirdo! Don't you know about the rumors about her?!"

You can feel, no, taste Natalie's anger next to you. "She is a witch! Everyone knows it! She hexes people, I tell you!".

You can feel anger prodding its way from your stomach to your throat, threatening to spill out in unruly ways. "What? What the fuck are you talking about?".

"It's true! How did you even get in anyway?" she says, now talking to Natalie, "Did you blow someone to get a free pass?"

"Hey, cut that shit off" you grab her hand but she manages to pull you away from her. Now you remember; this girl is the one that has been going on crying to everyone how her boyfriend has dumped her for another girl, and as far as you knew she was making shit up about her.

"She's just a man-stealer; a gold digger, a whore!" she screams, attracting everyone's attention. A big lump of fear forms in your throat and you watch Natalie, scared of what's to come. Her body is stiff, immobile, ready to lunge at your friend any second now; "It's not my fault that he left you," she says coldly, "But maybe it's your fault if you're so puny that he got bored of you".

"What did you say you bitch?!" She laughs at Natalie but before her fist can make contact, someone grabs her, preventing from hitting her. "Let me go! I tell you, she's a curse, get away from her!".

Before you can hear any more of that, you escort Natlie outside, away from her screamings.

You walk together in silence, until you find a small abandoned park. Nat sits on one of the benches and you follow her.

The silence reigns sovran, regret in your heart, the prospect of a fun evening ruined.

"I- I am sorry" you say, fear and regret on your tongue. "Don't worry, it's not your fault".

She seems to ponder for a moment, then, that smile of hers paints her lips again. A hum leaves her, "Maybe you're not yet ready for me" she says, a hidden meaning behind her words.

"What do you mean?" she turns, looking at the waning moon that illuminates the starry sky, only slightly obscured by faint clouds. "You're not ready for this yet" she gestures at herself, then looks back to the darkness, thinking, calculating something.

"Now that I think about it, my house is farther than I'd thought it would be," she ponders, gazing into the distance.

"I'll have to call my ride, but sorry, you can't come" she stands up and pushes her lips back with her fingers, the silence of the night interrupted by a loud whistle.

A strong gust of wind blows away the leaves, creating a whirlwind of colors and sounds. You stay confused for a moment, blinking a few times, before you realize what you are seeing.

You walk backwards, hands grabbing at your sides and fear trembling in your veins; Natalie, on the contrary, seems very amused by your reaction, as she rests on the floating broom. "Y-You are a witch!" her laughter echoes in the void, sinister but playful. "They were right!".

"They usually are", she gives you a smile, teasing. "I told you you weren't ready for this". As she approaches you, you cannot move, immobilized by fear. Her breath fawns above your lips, teasingly, making blood rise from your neck into your cheeks. She steals a peck at your lips, so quick you might even say it wasn't real. Her finger comes to rest on your jaw, eyes of the most hypnotizing green glancing at you, cheeks red with shyness.

"Happy Halloween, dear" and with that, the witch vanishes into the dark of the night, followed by moonlight and stars, by mist and the gleaming eyes of pumpkins.

[secretlythepits]

Scary Halloween

My 15 year old struggled with Halloween this year. Same thing happened when my other kid was 15. He couldn’t come up with a costume because the teen side felt too old, while the kid side wanted to go trick-or-treating. He’s always had the offbeat costume everyone talks about and couldn’t just grab something easy, but also couldn’t put the effort into coming up with a cool idea. All month I nudged and was rejected. I think this is the hardest age for Halloween. 14–15, because they haven’t transitioned to adult like parties so they just feel self-conscious but sad because they want to have fun like a kid.

Anyway, I finally got him to admit he would be sad if he didn’t go 2 days ago. We threw together a pumpkin head mask and a witches hat we already had. Dressed all in black, it was pretty cool, but this kid has never worn a mask. He hardly went to any houses before he stopped. It was one of those moments that you know is a mistake (self-sabotage) but I couldn’t prevent him from making it. His older brother wouldn’t take him out with his friends, which I had pushed for (something I never do) and I think that would have helped, but I didn’t feel like it was appropriate to order him to take his brother.

Anyway, kid comes home and is dejected. My husband and I felt awful. Finally thought of an idea to save the night. Let’s watch a Halloween movie, but nothing scary because he doesn’t like scary. Ghostbusters! I’ve never seen it and neither has he. It’s surprising funny. He is eating his tiny haul of candy and we are laughing. I’m feeling so good about this because it was such a turnaround. Husband is enjoying himself too.

Then husband goes to lock the back door. He has a coughing fit, completely loses consciousness and falls, landing hip and then head on the only room in our house that has a tile floor.

So fccking scary!

Two days ago we had a fight. He was mean to me when I pushed him to go to the doctor about coughing. It felt like I got pertussis again last week, which doesn’t make sense because I just had it. Then the kids started getting that very distinctive cough. It occurred to me that perhaps the bacteria was mutating in his body since he hasn’t cleared the infection in 8 weeks. I remembered learning that it’s in immunocompromised hosts that viruses mutate during Covid. Same thing happens with bacteria.

I’ve been to 2 urgent cares this week and fought with doctors over this. Apparently they only test for pertussis at hospitals and we just have coughs that aren’t that bad, so I’m not going there. Anyway, I know the antibiotics you need so I pushed for them. I know the doctors thought of me as THAT mom, but we hardly ever have antibiotics. This was the second and third times in my children’s lives that they’ve gotten them, because I really feel in my gut that it’s pertussis.

My husband hasn’t told his doctors about how bad his cough continues to be. He’s been seeing them irregularly since the main treatment ended and he cancels two check in appointments as a waste of time. I’ve let him be in the driver’s seat. But when we got sick, I told him he really needs to let his doctors know. We can’t just endlessly get sick from him and his medical team is not aware of how bad this is. He got mad because I’m weird about health stuff. This is true, but I also find myself in unique health dilemmas, where I’m just to the side of normal and no doctor will take enough time to listen and get the whole complicated picture. It’s incredibly frustrating for me. I constantly wish Dr. House was on the case, because I need a medical expert who really wants to get to the bottom of what’s going on.

As a side note, I figured out why weird health issues happen to me. There is a perfectly clear reason if you look at my astrological chart (6th house Aquarius) but I did not bring that nugget up to him since that would have sealed the deal on me being crazy about health stuff.

The thing is, I just know I’m right about this. We have a guest coming next week and I don’t want to get her sick. My children attend a school where kids are bussed in from every high school in Miami. It would be wildly irresponsible to not try to stop the spread of a highly infectious disease that is on the rise in our community. Doctors aren’t used to treating it in teens and adults. But we have been exposed to so much coughing from my husband that it is possible that this much exposure broke through vaccinations. Our health care system is so fragmented that no doctor will see our family as the ecosystem it is. My kids had to go to a different urgent care than me because of different insurance. I am the only person seeing the whole picture.

Anyway, my husband apologized yesterday morning. It’s so hard for him to talk. He has been in a dark place with his mortality. He’s been having pains he hasn’t told me about that terrify him. Our disagreement was the outlet for so many bad feelings. He got his medical card and has been taking gummies to sleep. He feels like any time he smiles, he’s faking it. It was very sad.

That was the morning. I figured I’d bring up going to the doctor about his cough again the next day, it being Halloween and all.

Then he fell.

It wasn’t an emergency. He’s still asleep so I’ll see the bruise this morning. An odd angle of his hip took the brunt of the fall. His head didn’t seem to bother him last night.

But like, he could have just crashed his skull open if he had landed differently. How do we live with this?

[queen-of-deans-booty]

Inside Man: Part Two

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~2.1k

Warnings: canon angst and violence, extra angst

Summary: The gang is split into two. Sam and Cas continue to look for the cure for the Mark with the help of someone who will do anything to bring you back. You and Dean face off with Rowena but this time, you're going to show her that you're the most powerful witch there is, and damn her if she thinks she can beat you.

Season Ten Masterlist

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Supernatural. All credit goes to their respective owners. I love seeing any and all comments <3

x

There's a psychic, Oliver Pryce, who is living in town and who Sam thinks is strong enough to connect to someone in Heaven. He's located two towns over so Sam and Cas immediately head over there.

"Who is this guy?" Cas asks.

"So, back in the '50s, Oliver Pryce was a kid psychic. He performed everywhere--carnivals, Atlantic City, you name it. He was the real deal. The Men of Letters were teaching him how to control his powers when they were killed. The point is, he's one of the good guys. He might be happy to see us."

Sam and Cas approach Oliver's house and see a "No Trespassing" sign on his fence.

"Or not," Cas says.

Sam walks past the fence, walks up the porch steps, and pounds on his front door.

"Mr. Pryce? Oliver Pryce!"

No response.

"I'll break it down," Cas says seriously.

"Dude, chill."

"What? I'm helping." The front door opens and Oliver stands there with a slight glare. "Just follow my lead." Cas turns to the older man. "Mr. Pryce? This is Sam--"

"Winchester. You're Sam Winchester, Man of Letters."

"How did you know?"

"Mind reader, remember?" Oliver's eyes look Cas up and down as he tries to figure out who or what he is. "What are you?"

"I'm an Angel."

"No, you can't be," Oliver frowns.

"Why not?"

"I'm an atheist."

"Not anymore," Sam says. Both he and Cas enter Oliver's house and Oliver escorts them to the living room. There are pictures of Oliver during his younger years hanging on the wall. "Is that you?"

"It was me. I don't do the psychic stuff anymore. Being around people, it's kind of... Hell, all those brains yapping all the time drive a guy bananas."

"Because you can hear everyone's thoughts?" Cas asks.

"Well, not yours. All I'm getting from you is colors. The hippie over here? I'm seeing some creep-ass hobbit-lookin' fella and a prison cell?"

Sam frowns at being called a hippie but lets it go.

"That's Heaven's jail," Cas says.

"Heaven's got a fucking jail?"

"Yeah, it does, and we're looking to break someone out of it. We have an inside man but we need your help to talk to him."

"If I say no?"

"You're the mind reader," Sam smirks.

"I'll get my shit," Oliver sighs. Oliver sets his living room up like one of his seance sessions and sits in between Sam and Cas. Candles cover the surface of the table and a small radio sits in the middle of the table. "Do you have anything that belonged to the deceased?"

"Yeah, right here."

Sam pulls out Bobby's hat and sets it on the table. If anyone will have enough motivation to help you and Dean, it's your dad.

"Good. Now shut up and hold hands."

All three men do and Oliver begins chanting something in Latin. The lights start to flicker, the table shakes slightly, and the candles start shooting flames from the wicks. Once Oliver is done chanting, he opens his eyes and nods to Sam.

"Bobby? Bobby, can you hear me?" Silence. "Bobby, we need your help."

"Sam?"

Bobby's voice comes from the radio in the middle of the table. Sam doesn't know how long this connection will last so he speaks fast and tells Bobby everything that has been happening with you and Dean.

"Y/N is turning into a monster, Bobby. She's soulless and pretty soon, your daughter won't be your daughter. She'll be beyond saving. Anyway, that's the short version of what's been happening. Are you still there?"

"Yeah, I'm here," Bobby says thickly. "What about Joanna?"

Sam looks at Cas.

"All I know is that they're safe. She's a witch again, Bobby, which means she can read minds. Dean and I can't know where they are."

"They? There's more than just Joanna?"

"We don't have time to get into this right now, Bobby."

"Okay, just so I'm hearing this right, you have to figure out a way to get the Mark of Cain off Dean before he turns back into a demon and off Y/N before she goes postal?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"So, just another day at the office for you boys, huh? Put Dean on the line."

"Dean's not here. Y/N isn't either."

"Why not?"

"Y/N threatened her kids. She made him promise not to look for the cure or else she'll find her kids and kill them. She doesn't want this cure, Bobby. Dean's distracting her right now. I never made any promise to find the cure."

"Shit," Bobby sighs. "Alright, what's the plan?"

"Each soul in Heaven is locked in its own private paradise," Cas explains. "That's where you are now. You need to escape. You need to find the gate to Earth and open it. Then you and I will find Metatron, the Scribe of God."

"Hey, Sam, you remember when this job was just chopping up some fang and tossing back a cold one?"

"I miss that," Sam sighs.

"Ditto. So, while I'm playing Steve McQueen, is anyone gonna be looking for me?"

"Everyone," Cas answers. "The Angels will not like a soul wandering free."

"Do you have a way to slow them down?"

"Not exactly. I'm sure you'll figure something out, Bobby. You always do."

"Listen, I appreciate the warm and fuzzy, but I ain't exactly playing on the big leagues these days. I'm mostly drinking and reading the classics. Truth is, I'm rusty and maybe there's somebody better out there."

"Bobby, there isn't. I'm telling you, if you love Y/N and Dean in the way I know you do, you'll do this for them... for me."

Bobby takes two deep breaths before scoffing.

"Hell, I'm already dead. What's the worst that could happen? What do I need to do?"

"You need to find your Heaven's escape hatch. Look for something that shouldn't be there, and that's your way out."

"If I find a way out, then what?"

"You'll be in a long hallway with a bunch of doors. The gate to Earth will be behind number forty-two."

"Okay."

Bobby gets off his ass and starts looking around in the small room he always stays in and drinks. Nothing seems out of the ordinary but there is something on the carpet he only notices until now. A small white string is sticking out of the carpet he's standing on. He reaches down and pulls on it, and a doorway opens on the back wall. White light pours from it and he smirks.

"Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in."

The second that Bobby steps through the door into the hallway, the connection to Bobby is severed. Sam and Cas, after thanking Oliver, head back to the playground. They stay stuck in the shadows so the angels don't suspect anything. All they have to do is wait for Bobby to open the gate and Cas can go through without a hitch.

"This better work. I need my brother and best friend back," Sam sighs.

"You sure he can handle this?" Cas asks.

"He's Bobby. He can handle anything, especially when it comes to his daughter."

The second Bobby sets foot into the hallway, the alarm blares and he bangs his fist on the wall.

"Balls!"

If Bobby doesn't do something now, the angels will come for him and ruin everything. He looks at the endless doors in the hallway and gets an idea. He starts opening up all the doors and calling out for their occupants. Before he knows it, a ton of people are wandering the halls looking confused. That's when the angels come including Hannah.

"What? Find out how this happened," Hannah says to one of the other angels. "Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, I need you to return to your Heavens in a calm, orderly manner."

"Oh, yeah? Well, who made you boss?" Bobby says loudly.

"Right?"

"Who the hell you think do you are?" another person asks.

This causes an outrage where the souls are trying to fight back against the angels. Bobby uses this and escapes while the angels are occupied. He slips into another hallway and searches for door forty-two. When he finds it, he pushes it open. Sam and Cas have been waiting patiently for Bobby to find the door. A rift opens from above the sandbox and the two men jump into action. Sam runs to keep the guarding angels back while Cas runs for the door.

"Go! Go!" Sam says and tackles one of the angels to the ground.

Cas jumps through the door of Heaven and slides on the floor right in front of Bobby.

"Welcome to the party," Bobby chuckles. Bobby helps Cas to his feet and pats him on the back. "So, I need you to tell me how bad it really is."

"Um..."

"Cas, what's happening?"

"Dean is angry all the time. Y/N doesn't have a soul. Dean has it. He sucked her soul out of her when Metatron killed him. He tainted hers as dark as his so we're waiting for her soul to purify before we can put it back in."

"Does Dean know you're here?"

"He knows we're looking for a way to get the Mark off. He doesn't know you're involved. Y/N doesn't know anything. If she does, she will hurt your granddaughters and grandson."

"Wait." Bobby stops Cas from walking and gets tears in his eyes. "I have three grandchildren?"

If he doesn't know about Maryann, he doesn't know about Robert and what happened to him.

"Maryann was born two years after Joanna. She was a twin. Robert, your grandson, didn't make it. He was a stillborn. Noah is adopted. Y/N found him at a time when they needed each other."

"I have three grandkids," Bobby whispers to himself.

"You might not if Y/N continues down this road."

Cas leads Bobby to the prison where Metatron currently is. He looks up when the two men enter and grins knowingly.

"Well, howdy, fellas."

"This is the Scribe of God? He looks like a Fraggle," Bobby scoffs.

"I'm gonna take that as a compliment. That was an excellent program."

"Metatron, we are here--"

"I know why you're here, Asstiel, and I'm not interested. I told you I would rather die than let Dean and Y/N Winchester use me as their personal punching bag again."

"Don't worry. They're not involved. You're gonna be my punching bag," Cas glares.

"Ah, the B team, huh? Interesting. Keys are over there." Metatron points to the keys hanging on the wall. "Chop chop!"

"Are you sure this is the only way?" Bobby asks.

"Unfortunately."

Sam killed both angels so they wouldn't blab to the other ones of what Cas did. He's been waiting patiently by the car for the door to Heaven to open again. It's been about two hours when it finally opens, and Cas steps out with Metatron. Bobby isn't with him. He didn't think he would be.

"Sam-tastic! Miss me?" Metatron sniffs the air. "Oh, smell that? That smells like freedom. Well, let's go. I call shotgun!"

Metatron tries walking to the car but Cas pulls him back by his jacket collar.

"You don't get to make demands, Metatron. You're not in charge here."

"Oh, I'm afraid I am. I know about the Mark. I have your Grace. I make the rules. It's called leverage, boys. Learn it, live it, love it."

Sam and Cas look at each other, and the Winchester nods to the angel once. Without blinking, Cas slides out his angel blade and slices Metaron's neck horizontally. It's not to kill him, no, it's to steal his Grace. He did it so fast that Metatron didn't have enough time to react. Before he knows it, his Grace is trapped in a small container Sam brought.

Metatron is human.

Knowing he won't heal from this, Sam takes out his gun and shoots Metatron in the leg. The former angel screams in pain and falls on his ass while reaching for his bleeding leg.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!"

"We have your Grace, Metatron. You're mortal now. So, you will answer our questions or Sam will, what's the phrase?" Cas' voice deepens angrily. "Blow your fucking brains out. It's called leverage, Metatron."

"Learn it, live it, love it," Sam smirks. "How do we get rid of the Mark?"

"I don't know," Metatron stutters. Sam aims the gun at his head and the former angel backs away in fear. "I don't know! It's old magic, God-level magic! Or Lucifer level, but you can't ask him, exactly, can you?"

"What about the tablets?"

"No, there's nothing in them about the Mark," he stutters again.

"So, when you said, 'The river ends at the source,' that was--"

"I was just making up shit, trying to buy time till I could screw you over. It worked before."

"He's telling the truth," Cas says. His eyes darken. "Shoot him."

Sam raises his gun without question, dead set on killing Metatron.

"No, no! No!" Metatron panics. "Your Grace! I wasn't lying about that. There's still some left. I'll take you to it."

"It's your call, Cas."

"I have to get my Grace back, Sam," Cas whispers.

Metatron is relieved that he isn't going to die today. Cas shoves him into the back of the car but before Sam can get behind the wheel, Cas stops him. He reaches into his trenchcoat and pulls out two envelopes.

"Listen, Bobby asked me to give you these. One is for you and Dean. The other is for Y/N. Don't give it to her until her soul is returned."

"Okay. Thanks," Sam whispers.

If he gives it to you now, you'll destroy this and you'd be heartbroken if you destroyed something you can't ever get back.

x

Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary​​​​​​ where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

[sergeantsporks]

Witch Switch: All of Part 1

Part 2

Transcript Under the Cut

[Caleb is driving while Phillip sits grumpily next to him]

Caleb: So... are we going to talk about it, or...

Phillip: Oh, my god, Caleb, they made such a big deal about it when they called, it was NOT that bad! Some of the guys just bet me I couldn't climb to the top of the Noceda statue, and--

C: The guys? Your friends? Did they get in trouble, too?

P: No, of course not. I'm not a snitch, Caleb, but the point is, Principal Hal COMPLETELY overreacted. I was FINE. No one knows that museum and Statue like I do.

C: Hey. I'm proud you've made friends in high school I never had that. So I'm glad you've found a group to call your own. With that being said... promise me you'll be careful?

C: I know you want to impress your friends, but you don't have to do everything they dare or bet you to do. If you know it's dangerous, or wrong, then you need to stand up and say "no, I don't feel comfortable with that." If they're really your friends, then they'll understand. And if not... then you're better off without them, and I want you to get out of there. Stay safe.

P: Yeah, okay.

C: Good. Now that's discussed... I've got a late shift tonight. Evelyn will be coming over--

P: GROAN

C: --with dinner, so don't worry about food. Be good. Don't climb any more statues while I'm gone

P: No promises

C: Pip.

P: I won't.

[Cut to a Silent door]

[Repeated knocking]

[Silent door]

[More Knocking]

Unknown [muffled]: Phillip, I know you're in there! Let me in!

[Silent door]

U: Oh, for...

[Click as the door is unlocked]

[Panel is on Phillip, who is lying on the floor with headphones on]

Evelyn: Phillip, I know you can hear me

[Panel is Evelyn with her arms crossed, Phillip's face (smug) in a bubble next to it]

Phillip: Oh, hi, Evelyn. Sorry, can't hear you

E: Okay, cool. Guess that means you don't want dinner

P: [sitting up quickly] I didn't say that

[Evelyn's face is in a small panel next to him, smiling smugly/evilly]

[Phillip and Evelyn are sitting at table, Phillip with a fast food soda cup in his hands]

E: What are you listening to, anyway?

P: Podcast

E: 'bout what?

P: Kids who got away with killing their siblings' partners

E: Har-dee-har. What is it actually?

P: Gravesfield witch hunts

E: Ah

Evelyn: Heard about what happened today

Phillip: I'm sure you did

E: Pretty awesome that you got to the top.. [realization that she's supposed to be a responsible adult] Uh-- but-- you know-- don't do it again? And all that.

P: [Skeptical] Are you trying to be "the cool one?"

E: [half sarcastic] Oh, no, I could never be cooler than Caleb

P: Damn straight. Anyway, no one has to worry about it happening again. It was just a one time bet from my friends.

E: [with venom] Oh. Your "friends."

P: Yes, "friends." A novel concept to you, I'm sure

E: Oh, very mature.

[Cut: Phillip is now at the door, which is open]

Phillip: [gesturing towards the open door] Okay, thanks for dinner. Bye.

Evelyn: [arms crossed] No can do, Phil. I promised Caleb I'd keep an eye on you while he's--

P: [interrupting, frustrated, throwing his arms in the air] He's just at work! I don't need a babysitter!

E: [surprised and guilty] Yeah... work...

[Cut to a view of a street featuring the Robin's Roast Cafe]

E: [disembodied voice] I'm sure he's just... worried about you

[Panel features Caleb, wearing Robin's Roast apron/hat with a manager bage, twisting his hands nervously]

Caleb: Hey, uh. Thanks for meeting me here

[Panel features Principal Hal sitting grumpily at a table. Next to him, smiling and waving friendly, is Manny Noceda]

C: [disembodied voice over Hal and Manny] You... wanted to talk about Phillip?

[avaelangel]

The idea of Gen V musical episode plagues me. But I really want it to be weird and surreal. Like there's no way to survive but to sing and dance. And everybody is bewildered, doing the routines the can't possibly know.

There is a possibility that everybody would have an original song, maybe even there going to be a TV-themed villain and everything would be broadcasted. Could you imagine?

But I do have some thoughts, mostly about Jordan. I don't know why, but Jordan and few Orville Peck songs I listen to just fused together in my mind.

Imagine a room that sort of resembles a barn with a small stage. Figure in a cowboy hat, with a guitar, is the only part of the room that's only somewhat illuminated. And the moment Marie steps closer through the faceless crowd, the stage illuminates fully, showing Jordan in the male form stuck in the broody-guitarist-cowboy pose.

But the moment Marie is close enough, Jordan can move. They switch and play the first few notes of Roses Are Falling.

The song is rather slow, but the crowd sways softly, starting to dance with their hats and Jordan, while singing, glances to the hat that lays to the side so Marie can join in.

And while the dance progreses, Jordan can move more. They stand up and go to Marie, who sways, maybe even sings along. When the song ends, those two hug, checking that they are both real. And since this is The Boys Universe we are talking about, the crowd probably should turn hostile.

Also, if we are making Derek dance, I really think it should be like almost a ballet number. With Marie or not, but very emotional.

I don't really know what song I would give to Marie herself, but I think many of Florence and The Machine songs would suit her well. Which Witch? Ship To Wreck? You've Got the Love?

I do have a song for Andre too. It's Power by Isak Danielson. I mean, Chance has a nice deep voice. We can't tell if his accent will show, but I think it could be great otherwise.

It's obviosly a song about Cate. Maybe in this number she even recruits him, compels him to go with her, where he tries to pull away and succeds or...doesn't. I think it could be both Andre giving in and saying goodbye to Cate and to Luke too, everything that was easy and seemingly safe about their friendship\love.

This number doesn't need much. Dark room\corridor, soft dance without touching. If Andre doesn't accept Cate's Godolkin rule, he leaves her in the darkness, now looking all bloody and feral, like in the finale.

I also have a song for Sam, which is Dirty Imbecile by The Happy Fits. It's a very easy choice at least because of the line:

'Cause I'm crazy in just too many ways

This basically could be about him being bored and dissapointed with his newfound fame and life. Maybe some of his emotions would come back through singing, we don't really now what else can break through Cate's influence. In case somene might think that I'm insulting Sam, the song, even though upbeat, it's from the persperctive of a scarred person who feels out of place, basically.

Anyway, I don't want to be cured from this hyper-fixation.

[real-jaune-isms]

By Any Other Name

Usopp: Hmmm... well I don't know...

Zoro: The hell are you doing staring at our wanted posters?

Usopp: Just trying to get some creativity flowing. We get these nicknames and epithets from the Marines or other folks we cross, but some of them just don't feel right, you know what I mean?

Zoro: I guess I do, yeah. I've been a pirate longer than I was a bounty hunter, and they still call me 'Pirate Hunter' Zoro.

Usopp: Right. And I like the authority to it, but it puts way too much attention on my poor head to call me God Usopp.

Zoro: Hmph~ So you're trying to think of better names in the hopes we can start getting the word out ourselves and pray it catches on?

Usopp: Exactly! Want to help?

Zoro: Eh, why the hell not? So we start with Luffy?

Usopp: We would, but if we changed his from Straw Hat Luffy then we'd need to worry about changing our whole crew identity and symbol. What would it even be changed to?

Zoro: I dunno... 'Rubberman' Luffy? He's got that new form that's white hot like the sun or something, but the Sun pirates are already taken. 'Sun God' Luffy would be way too grand for him anyway.

Usopp: Yeah I think that one is best left alone. What about you? If 'Pirate Hunter' is out, what do you want the headlines to call you? 'Three Sword' Zoro?

Zoro: Yeah that seems pretty dead on. Might be getting a little ahead of myself, but pretty soon it'll be 'World's Strongest Swordsman' Zoro.

Usopp: *rolls his eyes* Riiiight. I'm sure Sanji would say you deserve 'Mosshead' Zoro or something like that.

Zoro: I bet he would, and I'd be all too happy to tell people he goes by 'Pervert Cook' Sanji. He might actually prefer it to his crappy family name though...

Usopp: Yeah. 'Black Leg' Sanji isn't too bad, but he's been doing his whole flaming legs thing for so long, I feel like that should get the attention now.

Zoro: Then he's 'Flame Leg' now, easy.

Usopp: Alright smarty swords, if it's so effortless then you come up with the rest of them. How about Nami?

Zoro: 'Thunder Witch'.

Usopp: Me?

Zoro: 'Sniper King', embrace the old persona now that you've proven you have the skills.

Usopp: Wow! That's actually really gratifying, thank you. Alright, Chopper.

Zoro: 'Monster Doctor'.

Usopp: Ah, points out both of his strong suits, I like it. Robin?

Zoro: Hmph. 'Bookworm'~

Usopp: Are you kidding me? With everything she can do, you'd give her a nickname for how much she reads??

Zoro: Ugh... 'Flower of Knowledge' then?

Usopp: That sounds like something Sanji might call her, not exactly intimidating to the rest of the world.

Zoro: Fine. 'Demon of the Void Century'.

Usopp: Ooh, now that's a good one. Franky?

Zoro: 'Walking Battleship'.

Usopp: Nice, sounds powerful. Brook?

Zoro: 'Bonesman' would be too on the nose, huh?

Usopp: Not that he has a nose, yohohoho~ ...Sorry, I couldn't resist doing a little impression. But nah, funny as it is, it's probably not a good name for the wanted posters.

Zoro: I dunno then, 'Soul King' is a good name on its own, maybe 'Rattling Swordsman'?

Usopp: Yeah, that could work if we needed an alternative. What about Jinbei? 'Knight of the Sea' and 'First Son of the Sea' are pretty damn good epithets.

Zoro: They are. Maybe 'Tide of Liberation' or something.

Usopp: That's pretty poetic, I like it. Alright, guess I'm satisfied, thanks for the help, Zoro!

*he gets up and leaves*

Zoro: *picking up Robin's poster with a half smile* Heh... maybe I should call her bookworm, it's kinda cute for her. Better than 'Demon Child'... that one sure as hell doesn't fit her beauty. Really, she's more of an angel... 'Brilliant Angel' Nico Robin.

Robin: Consider me swooning, 'Stunning Samurai' Roronoa Zoro~

Zoro: The hell?? How long have you been standing there?

Robin: Since 'Thunder Witch'. *closes the door to the room* Now let's have a little talk about what you like calling me~...

[luulapants]

Why Pumpkin is the Best Palette

There is a poll going around now that leads me to believe this site is MASSIVELY undervaluing the inherent superiority of the pumpkin palette. I have no choice but to speak out on this manner.

Let’s break down the main features of Pumpkin:

I don’t know about you, but if I didn’t need to read anything, my ideal color scheme would be a black screen. This is a close substitute. Importantly, there are almost no blue tones, which we all know is the evil electronics light color that is poisoning our brains and making us insane. Pumpkin with soothe your brain and make you sane again. Pumpkin can fix everything that’s wrong with you. When your computer shifts into the sunset digital wellness mode that you enabled months ago in a fit of desperation to have a sleep schedule, you can’t even tell the difference in pumpkin mode because it is Perpetual Sunset Digital Wellness.

Also, pumpkin theme has this guy:

That’s your messages button.

Compare this to some of the glaring (pun intended) issues with the other themes:

Snow Bright/Cement/Canary/Ghost:

Deranged themes for deranged people who have something wrong with them. People actively attempting to burn their own eyes out of their skulls. People who haven’t blinked since 2007. They hunch in front of their computers, their faces flooded in light as if they are being interrogated in an old film noir. Remember when they told us not to look at the eclipse? These people did. And they liked it. An addiction formed and now they simply cannot stop abusing their eyes.

Oh, and the messages button on ghost?

Fuck off. A) That doesn’t even look like a chat bubble, it’s literally just a ghost. B) Turning a second button into a ghost also? Lame.

And while we’re talking about that, let’s talk about vampire palette having the EXACT same ghost icon next to the (admitted cool) vampire messages bubble.

You’re not ghost theme!! Why is there a ghost!!

But that does lead us into our usual dark mode options.

Dark Mode/Vampire:

The really disappointing thing about dark modes like this is they come SO close. But the white of the text is absolutely blinding. And guess what part of the page you spend most of your time focusing on!! The text!! It’s like having room darkening curtains with a bunch of little pinpricks in them and the bat signal shining directly at the window.

True Blue:

This falls somewhere between the cursed light modes and the dark modes. The background is fine!! But the White secondary and text colors are a crime against me personally!!

Low Contrast Classic:

This one COULD have rights if you just lowered the brightness on this entire palette until the background was black. Loses points for being blue though.

Cybernetic/Goth Rave:

Let’s talk about everyone’s beloved Goth Rave, which I lump in the same category as Cybernetic. Those text colors are WAY TOO BRIGHT! The black background almost makes it worse because it just accentuates the eye-gouging vibrance of the other colors.

Cybernetic COULD have scored points if it actually committed to the Courier Sans text it promises in the palette toggle:

But no other palettes are willing to make the bold font choices you see in Pumpkin and Vampire.

Finally,

Pride

deserves a special shaming. I am not proud of this palette. This palette makes me want to comphet.

Hell is real.

WHAT IS THIS??? Yellow on pink?? I can’t see that! I’ve been blinded by the bright colors AND it’s already impossible to see!! The blue! That horrible blue!

Anyway, I hope I’ve opened some minds and hearts to the truth today. Pumpkin is love. Pumpkin is life.

The account button has a little witch hat <3

[cuuno-moved]

Katherine, no matter what Joey says, is a princess.

Not a normal princess, of course, because Shelby has seen many princesses, and none of them are so hands on and ready to get on her knees in the mud and dirt and work, but she is a princess nonetheless.

She is also a very pretty princess.

Let me set the stage: Katherine's hair is inky black, but the tips are bleached red and blond, either by the sun or by her own hands. She's large - both tall and wide, arms and legs pulsing with muscle when she flexes (which she is happy to do, when requested). She wears pink dresses with gold ornaments over top brown skirts and off-white tank tops. There is something (objectively) beautiful about seeing her pull off the silky pink and delicate robe and becoming a farmer, ready to get her hands dirty.

And, well. Dawn has a dock, okay? Those things are a little hard to come by. So it's not too strange that Shelby parks her boat just on the dock - the thing has to get some use, doesn't it?

Shelby skips up the steps, gun on one hip and sword on the other, both bouncing heavily against her thighs, and then freezes when she reaches the top.

Because, well... Katherine is standing by one of the carrot fields, her pink dress thrown over a fence, and Witch Joey is standing just in front of her. They're arguing.

Witch Joey, is a lot of things. He wears a hat that is far too big for his head, and a cape with fur around the hood, and boots with heels that look almost too high to walk in, which only barely stopped his cloak from brushing the ground, and a long sleeved crop top that did not need to be a crop top! Which is probably the smallest problem, but is also really easy to get on his case about.

The other thing that's easy to get on his case about is the fact that he thinks that Katherine is a witch. Because of honey. Honey! Honestly. Just because they're gathered in the same bottles-! One would think that Joey'd never seen a potion before!

But anyway. Katherine is standing in all her farmer princess glory, and Joey is annoying her, and Shelby does not like this.

She considers running, then figures this may come off as weird, and begins speedwalking over instead. She raises a hand above her head and calls out: "Hello Katherine!"

Katherine turns to her, and the relief on her face is visible even from the distance. Shelby's heart beats a little quicker.

Joey scowls.

Shelby stands in front of Katherine, who grabs onto her hands. "Shelby, oh thank goodness," Katherine gasps. "Can you escort him out?"

Joey makes a noise. "What? No, we were talking!"

Katherine frowns at him, her face more disappointed looking than angry. "We were talking. But I don't think I'm getting through to you, and-" She looks up at the sky. "I need to harvest today. So you will either help me, or you will leave."

Joey's eyes scan over the farmland, then over Katherine's face. They all know what he's going to choose, including him, but he growls about it anyway. "I... Won't be helping. I'm sorry, Katherine."

Katherine sighs. "It's alright. Goodbye, Joey."

Joey tips his hat in her direction, then summons his broom out of nowhere. Shelby's hand twitches towards her sword, and she knows Joey sees it, because he glares at her.

"Goodbye Katherine," he says. And then he kicks off into the sky.

The two watch him go. When he's only a dot in the distance, Katherine turns to Shelby. "Thank you," she says, and Shelby flushes, twirling a stray lock of hair.

"I didn't really do much," Shelby reminds. "But, um, happy to help!"

Katherine smiles, tilting her head. "Would you like to help a little more?" She gestures to the carrot field.

Shelby considers. Glances at Katherine for a second. "Yes. Yeah. I'll help!"

Katherine pulls Shelby's hat off and places it on the fence post by where she put her dress. "Anything you don't want to get dirty, put on the fence. I don't know how much you know about harvesting, but watch me, and ask for anything you're confused about."

And then Katherine kneels and begins pulling out carrots, and Shelby tugs off her coat and folds it over the fence and brushes nothing off the knees of her pants. She kneels down right next to Katherine and presses her shoulder into hers.

"Alright," Shelby says. "What do you want me to do?"

YESYYEYSYSYSYEYSYYSYEYSSHSYSHDHDHSD L OH MY GOD OH MY GOD

[lorddarkkitty]

I just finished reading volume 1 of the Witch Hat Atelier.

I love it. I like the idea that the witches powers comes from drawing sigils. It kinda ties into our world of how there are witches that do spells through sigils. Although not all of them and of course the magic isn’t gonna work the same but I thought that was really neat touch. I also saw that there will be an anime adaptation with this series too. I can’t wait to watch it. But I now have to buy the other volumes. Ahhh but it so hard to choose what to buy cause I’m also reading The Witch and the Beast and I also want to start reading spyxfamily too.

Anyways the love Coco and her starry eye wonder of the world of magic and her I want to say tenacity hmm… for her to learn magic considering the reason why she’s learning magic in the first place is cause she figured out how the magic is done in her world is throught drawing sigils, and then she drew a sigil she wasn’t supposed to from a book that this mysterious witch gave her like when she was five. This, of course caused some chaos and now she hast to learn magic to undo what she’s done.

I have questions of course. WHO is this mysterious witch in the weird getup with the eye and why did she sell a picture book to a five year old to learn magic? Why did you wait five years for the child to learn how to do the magic? Why did you want this particular child to do something or learn?

Second is I find Mister Qifrey very suspicious. I don’t know maybe it cause I seen many anime that has characters like him that turn out to be bad and I don’t want to get my hopes up. It like a trauma.

Maybe it’s his glasses that makes me not trust him who knows lol.

Then there this one

Her name is Agott. And No I do not like her. Upon meeting Coco she immediately does not like Coco and believe she doesn’t belong at the Atelier. Because only Coco, Agott has been practicing and learning magic since she was small. While Coco literally just started to learn, and obviously doesn’t know anything about the witches world. And while Mister Winfrey was away for two days Agott decides to send Coco on the test that apparently all apprentices must take before becoming an apprentice basically. they have to go to this place called a Dadah and pick a very specific flower.  However, she sends Coco hoping she would fail AND WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM QIFREY because it’s that time of season where they don’t normally do this test for newcomers to become apprentices because it is too dangerous. The altitude I guess it’s too high and Qifrey didn’t want to do that to her so quickly cause they kinda need her to find this other mysterious witch and they can’t do that if she dies.  like Coco got there yesterday and in the time frame Coco only learned so much about the sigils and magic.

Like who are you to give Coco a test? You’re not in charge of anything! you are an apprentice you have no authority. The fact that you thought you can do that in the first place bugs the fuck out of me. Like Coco could have died. Why because you had to take the test to and pass. OH and the fact that you can only take the test once too. Agott really believes she better and shouldn’t have to waste time with the outsider has she calls Coco. But then when Qifrey comes back and finds out that Coco went to go do this test. they open up the window thing to find Coco coming back and she presents the flower to Agott. And man does she look pissed that Coco pass at all. Qifrey even told her that it was dangerous for her to do that and she should know better then to preform magic without completely understanding it yet. That obviously she didn’t need to prove herself cause she was already his apprentice. Personally I think he should have talked to Agott too for puting Coco in that situation in the first place without permission or his knowledge especially since she could have gotten hurt trying or died. Something like don’t do that again or your apprenticeship can be revoked and she no longer allowed to be a witch or something. Like Agott can be upset that’s fine but Coco’s here now and there nothing you can do about it. Like she needs to learn this shit so she can save her mom do you really wanna be the jerk to stop her from doing that. Cause I know Agott not gonna try and save Coco’s mom. I do hope she has character Growth within the series.

I can’t wait to read the next volume. Sorry if I rambled on a bit. I’m excited and don’t have anyone to talk too about these things.

[sonicfanj]

While the Alundra like game idea persists for the idea of what should be next, I do have a third story now. Please enjoy🙏

~Journal of Sorcerer Lock~ The Mage of Cards An Amy the Cursed Mage Story

~•~

~Hark ye who have stumbled upon this tomb and know that you have exposed yourself to the personal account of the life of Sorcerer Lock, the Mage of Cards…

~Pft–~ I’m sorry, that’s too much. It’s not wrong, but not entirely right, I’m going to start over.

~If you’re reading this, you are indeed reading the open diary of Lock the Mage. Except Lock isn’t really my name. It’s what people have started calling me though as my reputation has spread, and it naturally has to do with the seven Keyhole Rings that adorn or otherwise float around me. The whole Mage of Cards bit comes about because I use my fortune cards as a conduit for my magic. The thing is though, right now I’m no sorcerer or anything so grand. I’m just a cursed novice who wanted to get better at magic to help refine myself, and well, here I am on a grand adventure to do just that and lift the curses on me.

~I haven’t figured out what all of the curses are, but I have determined the best order to go about it.

~On each of my stary night slipper clad feet with matching tights are one Keyhole Ring each. The curses on these pretty much keep me from using my legs from my knees down. Undoing those Keyhole Rings, I believe will allow me to access more diverse movement magic than what I can manage with my fortune cards alone. Should I undo both I’m hoping to be able to traverse locations that aren’t technically there. That sounds weird, so let me move on to…

~The large Keyhole Rings floating at my sides about as far out as my wrists would be if I still had arms. I’ll get to that, but without the ability to travel places that aren’t there, I can’t project my magic in to map out the keyholes and track down the magic that shares the same shape. When I do though, the hope is to be able to have access to magic that is at least as good as having hands again, or way better. I’ll need it too if I’m going to deal with the next two.

~On my head are two more Keyhole Rings. Despite wearing a flat cap with a veil that no one but me can see through and big earring placed purple gems, both Keyhole Rings on my head are actually on a witch’s hat that normally sits up there too. The problem is that it’s alive and moves about freely. Without being able to hold it down I can’t map out either of those either. When I do, I’m sure I’ll be able to control it and put an end to the curses from it. I’m sure it’s messing with my head and also secretly sharing magic knowledge with me to help me along, but the first part is a problem. I can’t trust myself to go see my friends, even though all of this doesn’t mean anything if I don’t solve it myself. I can’t talk to them either and can’t be sure if even this diary will ever be readable by anyone thanks to it. But I’m so lonely not being able to have anyone see me in this get up that I’m writing it anyway and if you’re reading it, know you’re as much my companion as this awful hat! And I enjoy fortune telling, so I have no doubt someone will read this someday!

~Ahem. Moving on, the other reason I need control of the hat isn’t just for access to proper communication knowledge, but to also get back the key for the Keyhole Ring I made and cursed myself with. You see, the last Keyhole Ring of the curse from the purple cloak with the stary night pattern at its end and fused itself to me as the worlds tightest mouth and arm stealing mermaid dress doesn’t have a normal key. It rests on my chest and the red string of fate trails out of it and around me. On the other end is none other than who I love with every fiber of my being. Sonic the Hedgehog. He’s the last key, but without lifting the other curses, seeing him didn’t end well. I don’t have real person to person communication magic, I don’t have my mouth, and I don’t have any arms. All I could do was float there staring helplessly at him until he almost got himself impaled on the thorns that grow out of the cloak if anyone tries to reach out for me or gets too close. That meeting was a disaster, and I’m sure after successfully running away that the only fate left between Sonic and me has nothing to do with us being destined lovers anymore. I don’t even think we are anymore after that meeting. But before letting Sonic catch up with me or seeking him out again, I’m going to become the best mage I can and make these curses my own. Afterall, if Sonic and I are no longer destined lovers, then he can’t be the key to my heart to finally undo the last lock. I’m stuck in this armless, mouthless, cloak sealed form forever. But I have to at least apologize to Sonic before dedicating the rest of my life to becoming a great mage worthy of the name Sorcerer Lock, the Mage of Cards.

~Oh, that reminds me. It’s part of why I’m writing this. It’s not just to stave off the suffocating loneliness, but so I don’t forget. Like I said at the beginning, Lock isn’t my actual name. But all anyone sees is this get up which is so not my style. They don’t see me in it, and since my ability to communicate is pretty much gone it’s what people have started calling me. But if you’re reading this then please, don’t call me Lock. My name is Amy Rose, so please call me Amy. I don’t want to forget my name too. I’ve already forgotten what it feels like to talk or to use my also stolen voice. I don’t even remember what it’s like having a mouth even though my face is full under the collar of the cloak like I should still have one. It’s not like my arms which I’ve also totally forgotten how to use or what it was like having any. It’s frightening that I have too because the Keyhole Rings at my side only show up if I’m using my cards when they used to always be there before just showing up when I tried to imagine using my arms. Imagining using arms isn’t the same and they don’t respond. I’m honestly scared even using my cards won’t be enough one day, so I need to get them mapped before they disappear forever. It’s not like I can give up on them like my memories of walking and using my legs. Without them I can never undo the Keyhole Rings on the hat and that means that the curse I put on me to keep me from pursuing Sonic can’t be undone either. I wouldn’t be able to apologize then and the rest of my life would be weighed down by that one regret. I can’t do that!

~Anyway, that’s where this record of my travels begins. And you’ll be joining me today as I arrive at a rather cute village isolated here in the mountains.

~Why am I here? Because even though I’ve learned that magic exists all throughout nature, spells were crafted by people, so that means curses too. I have to find a place where magic and spells pool so I can hopefully find a magic match to the shape of the one Keyhole I have mapped out. And with that, let’s go~♥~

Depending on the mountain range, one can find idyllic valleys even in the heart of seemingly perpetual blizzards. It was such a forested location that Amy found herself descending into, her brow furrowing as she noticed a tunnel allowing vehicular traffic into the hamlet hidden in the cozy hidden forest. She did not stay frustrated for long however as vehicular traffic meant modern amenities and she gleefully allowed herself to levitate into town. The sight of a ninety-centimeter-tall armless figure in a purple mermaid dress and witch’s hat with a fortune card orbiting about them floating into town easily attracted attention and it was soon known that the mage had arrived in the small community. It hardly mattered to Amy however, at least until she chose a local coffee shop to delight herself in.

“The Mage of Cards? Here” A lady waiting in line for service at the counter asked, prompting Amy to turn invisible.

“That’s what I heard,” another lady replied. “Lock was seen here of all places. I can only imagine the trouble she’ll bring.”

~If you’re feeling bad about the response to me, it’s fine. It happens all the time. I mean, for as beautiful as this outfit looks, no one can see who’s wearing it so it’s natural to be suspicious. That, and it’s no mystery that Sonic is looking for me. I’m not sure why since it’s been months since that fateful night. Maybe Cream asked him to since I haven’t seen her since before I set out on my little trip of self-refinement. I had been writing her, but when it occurred to me that the curses on the hat probably made my letters unreadable, I stopped. Sending her blank pieces of paper because I can’t use a pen and she can’t read magic inscribed letters just seems silly. Did those envelops I dropped off even go anywhere? Either way, Sonic is looking for me, and people know. Because he isn’t sharing why beyond unfinished business in the few interview clips I’ve seen, people think I’m his enemy. It’s heartbreaking enough anytime I see him on TV or hear his voice, but thinking I might be someone Sonic sees as an enemy now…

~No! I can’t feel sorry for myself. I just need to stay focused on these curses. That and cheering myself up a little.~

The idea of trouble being brought was said in a broad sense by the lady and she was ill prepared for Amy to suddenly appear out of thin air as she looked back at the other lady she was speaking with. If Amy had her voice still, she would have laughed at the look of shocked horror on the woman’s face. Her amusement quickly turned to guilt however when both women started profusely apologizing to her. She could hardly do anything in response and did not know peace until she ordered an herbal tea by pointing at the menu with another summoned fortune care and sat outside to wait for it.

~You’re probably wondering how I’m going to eat without a mouth, and I can assure not with my nose. I’m going to use magic to extract what I need from it to keep myself going. Eating this way is one of the first things I had to learn when I was first cursed. I honestly thought I was going to die if I didn’t figure it out, and I can take from anything I want really. I like herbal tea though as herbs are very rich in magic and helps keep my magic from draining out too fast. If I use too much, I get so sleepy. I can actually sleep for months at a time it turns out if I’m not careful. When that happens, I can’t really stop myself from absorbing from everything around me just to stay alive. Which is kind of a dreadful state to be in because it means even if I wanted to waste away after what I did to Sonic my magic wouldn’t let me. It feels like an extra curse on top of all the rest. I can’t even give it away; I’ve tried but the dumb hat has stopped me. I’m trying to be friends with it, but it’s always causing me so much trouble. I swear it’s doing it on purpose. But I think an example would better help demonstrate what I mean.~

After extracting everything she could from the herbal tea and causing it to dissipate into nothing, Amy set about town in search of a demonstration of her intentions. Her search was for more than a demonstration however and she kept her magic senses on high as she drifted about town ducking into and out of alleys. Her efforts paid off eventually as she found the back door of a bakery where the quickly staling early morning, short-lived goods were being disposed of.

“Get out of there you wretch!” the employee disposing of the wasted foodstuffs yelled at a man in tatters rags who was waist deep in the trash bin in the alley. It put him in perfect position to be kicked in the side and sent rolling with the trash can. “Don’t make me call the cops!”

~It’s awful seeing how people will hurt each other when they could help each other. Maybe those baked goods are stale now, they sure smell it, but this poor man is hungry and hasn’t given up on life yet. That it’s more important to that person to throw out food that could help someone then helping them out makes me want to scream some sense into them. All I can do as I am right now though is try to help.~

From where she had again cast her invisibility spell on herself, Amy looked down the alley to where the beggar was skulking away as the bakery employee scowled after them while being sure to put a lock on the trash.

~Disgraceful.~

Her mind made up, Amy reached into herself and took hold of her own life force before turning her eyes back in the vagrant’s direction. Exactly as she expected, the hat that normally adorned her head was floating in front of her to block her line of sight to the man.

~And this is what always happens I try. This silly hat proves itself helpful and won’t let me hurt myself, not even to help someone else. But there are other ways I can help as I’ve learned. Those baked goods may be under lock and key until the trash collectors come for them, but a simple thing like that can’t stop my magic. I’ll just extract all of the nutrients from every bit of food in there and pass it on to this poor man. I’d like to do more, but…~

Though her eyes were downcast, they still smiled as Amy successfully circumvented the hat and managed to get the vagrant a full meal.

~Sorry you didn’t get to enjoy the taste; I know just how you feel. But with a full belly you should be able to find the strength to try and improve things for yourself. Best of luck!~

The demonstration for whoever might read the open diary she magically inscribed into every reasonable surface she passed while traveling over, Amy resumed her search of town for whatever else there was she had traveled there for through the frozen mountains beyond. But she soon tired and took a seat on a bench to allow her own magic to recharge. She couldn’t help but feel that the cloak that bound her did the same as she caught a slender thorn grow from it to impale a mosquito that dared drift too near. She sighed heavily through her nose at her powerlessness, her earlier act of kindness doing little to help her feel assured of her growth as a mage. Another test soon presented itself though as an explosion rocked the edge of the town.

~What was that!~

Not realizing she was still recording her open diary, Amy summoned up several of her fortune cards, the cards pulling her back to a standing levitation. As they settled into orbit around her, she rushed off after the explosion as people either stood stunned or fled. The tendency of some people to scream in their panic however told Amy immediately what she was getting into.

“It’s Eggman! Run for your lives!”

~Eggman? Here? No, it’s probably just a stray robot. He wouldn’t bother with a place like this unless it had something that he wanted. As much as he torments gods too, I’m sure he has no way to interact with magic.~

Rounding a corner and letting her cards disperse so she could slow down, Amy set about determining what she was up against. While not the nefarious Doctor Eggman himself, what appeared was too much trouble for a town far enough removed from most to not have any Wispon users or even wisps present to help. Waving an oversized drill of a right hand while tossing seeming to create giant bombs that exploded into a rain of smaller bombs the lumbering Eggman shaped mech stared down the edge of town with a glowing smile.

~Is that based on an Egg hammer?~

The robot Amy compared it to the towering machine too shared a similar heavily armored build but typically carried a two-handed hammer. In her own days of wielding toy hammer as her weapon of choice, she could boast about having beaten many of them at their own hammer swinging game. With no arms to swing her hammer and next to no control of her body physically, such feats were beyond the novice mage. Yet that did not seem to matter.

Not noticing Amy’s arrival, the Egg Driller opened up its palm and presented a new bomb for the terrified townsfolk. Tossing it up into the air, it smiled brightly as the bomb exploded into a shiny set of smaller bombs ready to rain down destruction and chaos. Such did not happen however as Amy glided across the ground and positioned herself between the town and the machine, most of the fortune cards that had been orbiting her finding their way skyward and decimating the rain of bombs. That action alone earned the mage the full attention of the robot who she glared down as she sent more fortune cards to push and drag people to safety. Her efforts seemed futile however as the crowd shifted from panic to curiosity at the sight of an unexpected hero. Amy had no time to worry however as she had to focus on moving herself as the Egg Driller lunged at her with its namesake right arm. Summoning more of her fortune cards to get her moving, Amy deftly dodged the attack, but was forced to make a spiraling shield of cards to catch the follow up backhand. As the robot jumped away it launched several missiles from its backpack unit which spiraled wildly after Amy. The rocket powered speed of the missiles forced Amy to retreat rather than destroy them allowing several to crash into the ground and send debris flying with. Not risking more destruction, she took a short hop and slammed down into the ground, her cards catching her. Exploding outward away from her, the recoil sent her spiraling like a pike well into the air. This provided the room necessary for further missiles to curve up after her only to get sliced in half by a magic imbued fortune card each.

Needing to keep the Egg Driller’s attention away from the ground, Amy cast forth enough fortune cards to form two orbiting rings around slowing her descent to a crawl. As she slowly descended, she matched eyes with the towering robot and the next exchange began.

Dropping to a knee, the Egg Driller fired off another salvo of missiles at Amy as it summoned another giant to hand. Rolling the bomb to take up where Amy could next stomp down, it set its arm to use and bored once again into the ground. This left Amy with no target and a need to dodge a spiraling salvo of explosive projectiles, a situation which became an opportunity to dance. Letting her orbiting cards pull her about through the air, Amy summoned several more to intercept the missiles while making sure to also cut the fuse of the giant bomb below her. Trapped within the greater bomb, the smaller ones within still went off and Amy braced herself for her opponent to send it flying into the air after her as it was transformed into a rather volatile spiked ball. Ready as she was, it was no surprise when it at last jetted into the air for her, the damage on the underside allowing the internal explosions to escape and fuel it like a rocket. Amy did not back down however and cast out two fortune cards spinning like a saw blade of growing diameter to split the bomb in half. Cut as it was, the internal explosions blasted the two halves harmless into the mountains that surrounded the town. It was an impressive and flashy display that nearly blinded Amy to her opponent’s spectacular achievement of reaching her elevation. It was not an achievement managed by the Egg Driller under its own power though.

~EH~~~~~!!!!! Why is a guardian statue here! And why is it so big!~

The Egg Driller became a thing of all of no interest to Amy as it was crushed mercilessly in the mouth of a stone dragon, it’s drill falling to ground below, the explosions from its remaining bombs and missiles seeming to have all of no effect on the stone beast.

~Eh-hehehehe… Right! Let’s make this a lesson about guardian statues and magic beasts. Since I’ve been looking for places where magic pools and hopefully where spells pool as well, I’ve fought quite a few. Most magical beasts aren’t too bad as I can just overpower them with an assault of magic, but guardian statues are a very different problem.~

Donning a steely look in her eyes, Amy summoned even more cards and sent them out to strike the dragon statue that closed in on her. Unlike with the bombs she had been attacking before, her cards did not even scratch the dragon, instead seeming to find resistance against an unseen barrier. Her attack proving useless, Amy was fully exposed to the jaws of the statue as the clamped down fast on her.

~The problem with guardian statues, you see, is they have magic resistance, and my magic isn’t powerful enough to penetrate it. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways to beat them.~

Despite the difference in magic power between Amy’s offensive casting and the defenses of her new opponent, the magic Amy used to place cards stopping every tooth of the statue proved sufficient to keep her from becoming its second meal. Summoning  ore cards she retreated backwards out of its mouth and summoned the rest of her cards back to her to increase her speed, but the statue was not caught off guard by the fierce shutting of its jaws and turned over catching Amy full on in a powerful tail whip. The blow sent the purple clad hedgehog careening into the ground and through the forest with enough force to cause a massive dust cloud to billow up. The townsfolk could only watch in terror as the stone beast roared triumphantly, afraid they would be next. But they possessed no magic and did not interest the beast. Instead, it was magic activity in the forest that drew the beast’s attention.

Descending in hot pursuit of Amy, the guardian statue only did not crash into the ground by spreading its wings at the last possible section. The motion seemed to have saved it as several fortune cards flew under it, clearly missing their mark. Not spotting Amy, the dragon landed to better see through the trees, uprooting several with its weight and revealing that the floor of the forest had become a pit of dust. Immediately the massive statue sank, the friction between stone and dust preventing even its powerful wingbeats from lifting it. What it did achieve however was a parting of the trees to reveal the purple clad Mage of  Cards staring it down with green glowing eyes as her fortune cards danced merciless through the ground deepening the pit of dust.

~You see, even with magic there are physical limitations that have to be considered. I’ve taken worse hits from Knuckles when playing around, so I’m fine after a hit like that, mostly, but this thing is too heavy to get back out and once I pull my cards out of the ground, it’ll set instantly trapping it in the ground.~

The roar that erupted from the guardian statue was not one of defeat, and it opened its mouth wide to reveal a growing light between its jaws. Amy held her ground without fear however as she was prepared, a fact the statue came to realize as the Egg Driller’s drill filled the space above its head. It tried to twist out of the way, but the drill was brought down hard, a storm of fortune cards spiraling around it to increase its speed well beyond the limits of the robot that once wielded it.

~The tricky part with guardian statues is that their magical defenses allow them to shrug off most non magical attacks, and most magical attacks don’t work either. So, the best solution is to combine the two and overload its defenses.~

Spiraling around the drill as Amy’s fortune cards were, they served as a forward drill to meet the magic resistance of the dragon. As they peeled away the drill lowered and lowered until card and drill both bore relentlessly against the beast. All the while, Amy watched on with cold, glowing eyes as the beast released another roar. This one would prove to be it’s last as the stone of its head cracked and splintered for only a moment before the drill shattered it into a cloud of dust, the rest of its body following suit and leaving Amy standing alone in the forest, soon joined by a cheering crowd of villagers whose lives she saved from two unexpected threats that day.

~I wouldn’t say this is how my adventures have been going normally. I mean, I don’t usually have people telling me how cool I am after a fight, or how intimidating and frightening I look when staring down an opponent. I mean, I guess I do look cool. And considering my figure is really shown off by this get up I bet I look a lot more mature than I feel. Being called scary though kind of hurts. I try so hard to be cute, but it really is impossible like this. I bet Rouge could pull this off way better than me. Maybe I’ll ask her for some pointers when I finally get that far along. For now, though, I need to check out the magic ruins the guardian was protecting and see if I can’t find any clues or helpful knowledge. It’d be nice to find another mage, but I feel like if there are any this cloak is a sure sign to avoid me. Who knows though, maybe when I find the first key that will change. I hope you’ll be excited when you find my next diary entry. It’s been fun talking, but for now, I need to do secret stuff. If you’re  a mage too, you’ll have to do your own research. Best of luck~♥~

“I’m not a mage, and the research I have to do is figuring out where you went next,” sighed Sonic the Hedgehog as he sat on the edge of the ruin revealing chasm that the guardian statue had emerged from. “How did you not pass out after that when just running from me had you out for months?”

“Lock left no notes on that did she?” an old man asked Sonic as he walked up with his hands clasped behind his back. He eyed the ring on Sonic’s left ring finger, oblivious to it being constructed by burning the letters sent to Cream and having the ashes sealed within the metal. He was further without knowledge of how wearing it where he did allowed Sonic to see the end of the red string that swirled around Lock tied around his left pinky. All the old man knew was that the Ring allowed Sonic to read Lock’s notes since he traveled around the small hamlet touching it to various places where the Mage of Cards had passed through.

“I’d appreciate a hint at least,” Sonic admitted his ignorance to Amy simply absorbing the released magic of her opponent to keep herself going.

“Ho, ho, ho,” the old man laughed. “When Lock arrived, we feared her you know. Your search for her and her never waiting to meet you or speaking for herself and all. But after she saved us, we realized she must have had a good reason to avoid you. Whatever it may be, we all agreed not to betray her kindness and help you should you come through. I hope you can forgive us our kindness.”

“Nothing to be done about it,” Sonic shrugged as he stood up and dusted himself off. “If she wants to lead me on an adventure, I’ll enjoy it until she slips up and I finally catch her. She can’t outrun me forever, I’m Sonic the Hedgehog after all.”

“Ho, ho, ho! Best of luck then. I just hope your unfinished business isn’t to bring her any harm.”

“Heh,” Sonic smirked. “Trust me, I’d never hurt her by choice. Even reading about her fears about her hat I can't believe she's managed to convince herself that I hate her.”

Sonic's last sentence went unheard as he was gone in a blink before saying it, speeding off hoping to stumble upon another of Amy’s diaries. As he ran, he spied a quick glance to his left hand. Whether he was checking the red string tied around his pinky and tracing into empty air and Amy at some distance or contemplating the placement of the ring he crafted with Tails aid to help him on his quest could not be said. Regardless, he allowed himself a smirk and accelerated further. The next chapter of Lock’s journal was out there somewhere waiting to be read and to take him one step closer to the errant hedgehog girl who used to chase him. The adventure was far from over for either of them.

To be continued [?]

Journal of Sorcerer Lock, the Mage of Cards ~ FIN  

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Sonic The Hedgehog Copyright© 1990-2023 SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS

Been enjoying a hiatus, but an idea inspired by @/XenoScarlet on Twitter was just begging to be realized.

More details after the jump!

Design wise, Amy's fortune-teller dress from SEGA of Japan's isekai stories this year is obviously the foundation with Phantom from BlazBlue inspiring the rest of the silhouette and general vibe. The curses accompanying her transformation are all designed to specifically isolate Amy, especially from the way she normally engages with the world. Her energetic, contact driven excitement is completely taken from her in this form. She can't talk, she can't reach out to others, others can't attempt to touch her, she has almost no mobility, her veil stops any form of meaningful emoting, and the hat on her head can't help at all and is more of a hinderance anyway. Well, at least these are all problems physically, since mastering magic will naturally allow her to bypass most of these problems and eventually get the keys for the Keyhole Rings keeping her trapped in this transformation. Despite all the lore though, I have no plans for this idea at the moment beyond making use of Keyhole Rings in my main AU. Still, I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts and hope that you enjoy!

[sashi-ya]

霊圧 + 淫慾. // spiritual pressure + lust. [twoop x sy]

𝐀 𝐂𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐍 𝐊𝐔𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐒𝐔𝐂𝐇𝐈’𝐒 𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐆𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 [P1] 𝐆𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐈 𝟏𝟑'𝐒 𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐔𝐏𝐏𝐋𝐘 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍: 𝐀𝐏𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐀𝐂 𝐒𝐔𝐁𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐒 > 𝐒𝐔𝐁𝐉𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐒: 𝐁𝐘𝐀𝐊𝐔𝐘𝐀 𝐊𝐔𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐊𝐈 & 𝐊𝐘𝐎𝐑𝐀𝐊𝐔 𝐒𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐔𝐈

𝐭𝐰: 𝐍𝐒𝐅𝐖. spicy, but mainly for laughs. will add more characters in the next parts // 𝚠𝚌:0.8𝚔 // 𝚖𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝 // 𝚝𝚊𝚐 𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝: @tealcat001 @dumbbitch223 @bookandyarndragon @ilibili @stygianoir @zell69 @jin-supremacy01 // 𝚌𝚘𝚕𝚊𝚋 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 @the-witch-of-one-piece

“Oi… Nemu…. I think something spilled in the water supply…” “Kurotsuchi Taicho… was that SzayelAporro Granz’s substance?” “indeed, Nemu… well, let’s see how it works by observing our guinea pigs...”

Kuchiki Taicho begins to sweat. He has never during a captain’s meeting. His hands become wet; his hair is bothering him. It’s too hot around here, isn’t it?. The noble’s breathing become haste and he can’t wait until the general captain stops talking… he needs… air… relief.

“Kuchiki, are you ok?” Shinji asks, smiling as he only knows how to. Byakuya opens his eyes, fixing his sharp gaze on the fifth captain’s irritating smirk.  “WHO ASKED YOU?” he asks, loud enough for everyone to hear -and perhaps even the others outside- leaving every captain gawking at his so unusual reaction. 

“Byakuya, are you sick? Go outside and get some fresh air” Kyoraku commands, much to Byakuya’s pride -and embarrassment-. The captain of the sixth squad turns around, with his typical dramatic motion and his flowy garments. He gets out of squad 1 as fast as he can possibly be.

“(Name)” he appears in front of you all of a sudden, completely drenched in sweat. You look at him with a “what the fuck” expression, unsure of what the hell is going on with him. He seems to be running a fever, because his cheeks are red as tomatoes, but he is emanating strong reiatsu.

“What is it, Bya? Are you ok?” you ask, coming closer to him. Your hand barely grazes his cheek when he snatches your arm from your wrist. “I WANNA FUCK YOU SO HARD I CAN’T STOP MYSELF” he screams. Loud enough for the whole Kuchiki manor to hear.

You open your mouth in disbelief, who is this guy and what did he do to the calm and collected Taicho of yours.  “Shh… how do – ok, but- Byakuya” you reprimand him, is not that you are not liking this weird facet of him but… does he really have to shout?

“NO, NO SHH. FUCK. NOW” Byakuya is so horny that his movements become clumsy, he pounces on you with such force you and him end up falling to the pound of koi fishes behind you.

You get your head out of the water, and then he does. His black hair covers his face, and steam comes out of the pond. He needed a little bit of cold water to cool down.

But the problem is… that the cause of that horny behaviour was just now covering both of you… That same night, anybody in the Gotei 13 was able to sleep… why you two have to be so loud?!  

“Does someone know what the hell happened to Kuchiki Taicho?” Shunsui asks, fixing his pink haori. The rest of the divisions began to laugh, making him laugh too… until something inside began to feel fancy

Kyoraku swallows, he is feeling his throat dry and his skin becoming more and more sensitive to his own clothes. He takes his straw hat off, and while he waits for everybody to stop laughing he plays with the hem of it.

He suddenly feels like his teenage years, back at the Shinigami academy. “Nano-chan, can you please bring me sake?” he asks his faithful lieutenant who of course grunts and protests but does it anyway.

Not amount of good alcohol seems enough to drown a dark shadow growing inside him, from his crotch to the rest of his body.

“you know what, the meeting is over. There are no other topics to be discussed today. Go have some rest” he suddenly says, moving his hand to make all of the captains finally leave the place. Despite Nanao’s complaints, she finally leaves too and the general Taicho is left on his own to call you… something is screaming inside him that he wants your ass sitting over his lap. Now.

But, because destiny seems to be playing with him, you are nowhere to be found… and his erection is painfully about to create a hole in his hakama.

“Where the hell is this woman? Was she gone to living world?” he asks to himself, untying his long hair and scratching his scalp. “UGH…” he grunts, opening that communication device he barely knows how to operate… well, not even barely.

He searches for your contact, he remembers that he has a special reservoir of interesting pictures you took specially for him. “Good, I won’t bother her… this should work” he whispers, smirking devilishly as he licks his lips and passes his hand inside his pants towards his aching hard sex.

His phone almost falls, but, he catches it on time and celebrates being able to find your nudes so easily. Shunsui is absolutely in love with you and your body and so, as he takes a good look at those pics he jerks off, to easily brush off his sudden arousal attack…

“ngh… mgh” he moans as his orgasm approaches… but, something scares him away…“SHUNSUI? WHAT THE HELL?” your voice resonates all around his office, but you aren’t anywhere.

“HUH? (Name)-chan? Where- where are you?”

“SHUNSUI YOU ARE VIDEOCALLING ME, WE ARE ON A MISSION IN THE LIVING WORLD!! I CAN SEE YOUR DICK”

“(Name)-chan -.-“

[euthym1as]

losing the 50/50 - jean, diluc, mona

so what if these 3 made u lose the 50/50 bc they were trying to protect you from the fatui??? idk that seems like a common goal they would have. anyways here's this + talk to me y'all (lurkers i see you with no posts on your blog where do you think you are, twitter? nobody's gonna judge u here) warnings: uhhhh discussion of violence briefly in regards to the fatui but i think thats it

characters: mona, jean, diluc

- mona tries to make it to you as fast as her hydro sprint lets her. she finds you in inazuma staring at a sword you had crafted, letting the metal catch the sunlight.

- "don't touch that! that blade style has the fingerprints of the balladeer all over it! the sky told me his past as a wanderer left ruins on inazuma's sword arts, and if you get too close to learning them, he may come back." she seems out of sorts, in a new outfit from when you last saw her. you wonder how she had the mora to pay for that.

- "let me accompany you through inazuma! i'll be able to get us away from any dangers that may arise that threaten your journey. i see things of grand importance in your future, and i won't let that rapscallion take the light from your eyes."

- you assure her that regardless of whether the balladeer shows up or not, you will be okay. in fact, you were kind of hoping for it.

- jean calls you into her office when you arrive back in mondstat, a red witch's hat laying on her desk.

- "do you know where this artifact came from, y/n?" she asks, turning it over in her hands. "lisa said it came from the north of liyue. its style is distinctly mondstatian in nature. i would like to hear your thoughts."

- you knew what this was. this was the hat of the crimson witch, the one you had just defeated in the harbinger of la signora. the gentle way jean cradled the hat, as if it belonged to someone who revered mondstat instead of trying to tear it down, told you everything you needed to know.

- you tell her about the tale of the crimson witch and the black sword knight. jean's face goes white when you connect the legend to signora. you continue discussing her defeat, and her rebirth as a crimson moth. this makes jean get up from her seat and rest her hands on your shoulders.

- "y/n, be careful. the harbingers have no glory, no honor. let me rest mondstat in the hands of someone who can protect it, and let me protect you. consider it a repayment for saving our home, and consider it a dandelion knight's vow from me to you."

- diluc meets you in liyue, on the road from the golden house to the rebuilt jade chamber. the two of you make small talk regarding his business here - wine exports, of course. he seems rather bored.

- a pain in your side flares up as the wound you had bandaged hours ago rubs against the inside of your clothes. you try to hide your hiss of pain from him. it doesn't work.

- "y/n, are you alright?" he drops his scrolls immediately to come to your side, and you stagger up just in time to see his face drawn in a moment of hesitancy so brief you almost forget you saw it. almost.

- when you laugh it off and say you're fine, he instructs his men to take the shipment to the loading dock without him. the two of you stroll through the city of liyue until he sits you both down to have a small snack.

- "you know, i've fought a fair share of fatui in my day. i know what a fatui wound looks like." he says after a moment of silence. you try and say it isn't what he thinks, but he rests his hand on yours.

- "i told myself i was done with them. i swore to not let my revenge addled mind consume me. but knowing you got hurt by them broke my heart more than i thought it could be broken. y/n, let me come with you. i shall protect you from as many of them as i can before my very own pyro vision finally burns out. i see his marks, his attacks on your skin. the very sight is enough to make me take up arms again." he said, and you bite your lip to keep from spilling out the truth.

- you accept his help. you accept all of their help, because they truly want to protect you. but you also know when the time comes you want to rest among the harbingers as one of their own. that addiction to their powers, their delusions, kept you coming back, until you had gathered as many ashen hearts and shards of foul legacies as your soul could carry, waiting for the rest of the harbingers to show their faces.

- you know when tartaglia, la signora, and scaramouche find their way home to you, a reckoning of the ages will dawn. you'll be ready.

[legolasghosty]

“Don’t you think you’re a little too old to be trick-or-treating?” for Willex???

Hiiii, sorry this is so late! Lol, Halloween fics that are presented after Halloween... sorry! Anyways, it's pretty short, but I hope you like it!

TW, there's some referenced homophobia, nothing specific, but Alex has sucky parents that are talked about briefly so... be safe!

When the doorbell rings, Alex straightens his pirate cap and opens the door with a wide smile. The three kids outside, dressed as Tinkerbell, a zombie, and some kind of bandit, grin up at him.

“Trick or treat!” they chorus.

“Hmmm, I’m not sure if zombies or fairies can have candy, and bandits really don’t deserve treats,” Alex muses jokingly, already grabbing the large candy bowl resting on the table in the entryway. 

The kids start to protest, but then laugh when he offers the silver bowl to them. Each child takes a treat and they go running back down the walkway, toward a woman in a hoodie and a witch's hat. Alex waves goodbye and closes the door again. 

The house around him is once again still and dim, just the front lights on to let tricker-treaters know someone is home. He heads back to the kitchen, where his laptop sits open. His mom is right, he really needs to get his English paper done tonight. He can almost hear her words playing back through his head, instructing him to actually do his work tonight instead of always being at band practice or out with his friends. It doesn’t really matter that the rough draft of the paper isn’t due for over another week. And his mom is right, someone has to stay home from the carnival at church to hand out candy.

He can pretend that his schoolwork is why his parents had him stay home, that he hasn’t overheard the whispered conversations between them about how clearly he shouldn’t be around kids, not with his ‘odd phase’ still going on.

Just as he sits down on his bar stool, the doorbell rings again. He sighs. He likes the kids of course, it’s fun to see all the costumes and all. But he wishes he could actually get through the work his mom is breathing down his neck about.

Alex adjusts his poofy pirate shirt and goes back to the door.

“Trick or treat!” 

Alex’s heart rate picks up just a bit at the sight of Willie standing on the front step, grinning through some fake vampire teeth.

“Don’t you think you’re a bit old to be trick or treating?” he blurts out, unsure as to why his boyfriend has shown up at his house. He’d assumed the various stories he’d told them about his family would be a clear sign to keep away.

“Aren’t you a bit young to be spending Halloween alone?” Willie retorts, still smiling. Then he bows dramatically. “May I be allowed entrance to your beautiful home?” they ask, faking a Transylvanian accent.

“I… sure, come on in,” Alex stammers, stepping back.

Willie sweeps into the house, swirling his cape around. Alex can’t help but laugh at his partner’s antics. He closes the door and follows them into the kitchen, where they hop up to sit on the counter beside his still-open laptop.

Alex perches back on his bar stool, pulling one leg up to his chest and giving Willie a questioning look.

“I saw your message in the group chat,” Willie explains quietly, nudging Alex’s calf with his knee. “About your parents making you stay home alone. So I thought I’d come keep you company.”

Alex is torn between being grateful for the company and the knowledge that Willie probably shouldn’t be here. His parents definitely don’t know they’re dating, but if they came home to the two of them hanging out alone…

“Hey,” Willie says, reaching on and placing a hand on Alex’s knee. “Talk to me. What’s up?”

Alex glances up at his boyfriend, takes a deep breath, then responds. “I just don’t want you to get hurt. If mom and dad come home and you’re here. With me. It… wouldn’t be good.”

“We’re not gonna get caught, I promise,” Willie promises softly, shifting a little closer. “They’re at an event, right? What time does that end?”

“9 I think,” Alex answers.

“What are the odds that your parents actually leave when the event ends?”

“No way they’re home before 10:30,” Alex chuckles wryly, remembering all the years of waiting for his parents to be done with tear down at these events.

“Well then, as long as I’m hidden under your bed by 10:20, we’ll be totally fine,” Willie responds brightly.”

“Why are you hiding under my bed?” Alex questions.

“Because Halloween is a night of monsters and scary stuff, and you’ve clearly been deprived your whole life, so I’m here to make all of your monster under-the-bed nightmares come true,” Willie giggles, tapping Alex on the nose. “That’s not…” Alex starts, but is cut off by Willie’s finger against his lips.

“Let me make a sucky situation a bit better?” Willie requests quietly. “Your parents leaving you here at home like this is just plain mean, and we both know it had nothing to do with homework. At least let me keep you company?”

Alex opens his mouth to respond, but just then the doorbell rings again. “Hold that thought,” he says quickly, bolting back to the front door.

After he sends the two stormtroopers on their way with a joke about their heights and some Twix, he returns to Willie in the kitchen. But instead of sitting back down on his stool, he lends back against the bar, his bicep brushing against Willie’s thigh.

“I guess I was hoping I could ignore the issue,” he sighs. “I just wish they’d treat me the same as before I came out.”

Willie nods, removing Alex’s hat so they can gently untangle the knots in his hair. "They're idiots," the skater says firmly, the iron in their tone not matching the careful movements of his fingers. 

"They're family," Alex responds. 

"Family is supposed to love you no matter what," Willie points out.

Alex just sighs and turns to wrap his arms around his partner. They're right of course, Alex knows that. What he doesn't know is how to be okay with his parents' rejection. Willie doesn't say anything else, just holding Alex tightly and resting his chin on the top of his head.

After a while, Alex leans back slightly and looks up at him. "So… we do have the house to ourselves for a while…" he mentions carefully.

A mischievous grin spreads over Willie's face. "Bet we can get all the way through Hocus Pocus before your parents even leave the church."

"You cue up the movie," Alex responds, helping them down off the bar. "I'll grab the snacks and there's this giant thing of apple cider in the fridge."

"Yum," Willie declares, pushing up on his toes to peck Alex quickly on the lips before heading into the living room.

It might not be how Alex had envisioned his Halloween, but he sure wasn't complaining anymore.

[heliads]

A Purr-fect Mixup

Based on this request: “Seamus Finnigan x Reader where the reader gets turned into a cat and Seamus has to help get them back to normal! Maybe with a lot of fluff and some angst about being worried that the reader won’t be able to turn back?”

requested by @bstrones​

masterlist

It’s another morning at Hogwarts, another morning spent at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. You can see students lined up and down the room, chattering away amongst themselves. The air around you is thick with conversation, whispered rumors and shouted lies. It’s all one big magical mess, and you couldn’t be happier to be here.

You’re sitting in between your two closest friends, Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas. Although nothing’s happened to put a damper on the morning, it is precisely because nothing has happened that has caused a rather upset frown to take up permanent residence on Seamus’ face. He slumps forward, morose. “Why is every day the same? Nothing exciting ever happens around here.”

Beside you, Dean chuckles. “We don’t need exciting things to happen, Seamus, you make things blow up every week. That’s all we need for entertainment.” You can’t help but chuckle at that, even as Seamus’ glare turns even more dour. He reaches forward to swat you on your shoulder, which you violently protest. “Hey! I didn’t even say anything!” Dean’s grinning even harder now, but Seamus ignored him. “You laughed at it. That’s worse.”

Your mouth drops open. “Is it? Is it really?” Seamus finally gives in to laughter. “No. You’re just closer than Dean.” You stare at him incredulously. “You’re impossible, both of you. I’m going to switch houses just because of that.” Dean raises an eyebrow. “You can’t switch houses. Once you’re sorted, you’re sorted. Besides, where would you even want to go? Slytherin?” Seamus and Dean erupt in identical shudders of horror at the mere mention of Gryffindor’s most ardent enemy.

You roll your eyes. “There are two other houses, you idiot. And anyway, I’d find a way to switch houses. Maybe I’ll bribe the Sorting Hat into letting me get away from you.” Seamus snorts. “Do you think the Sorting Hat accepts bribes? What would it even use the money for?” You make a face at him. “Anti-explosion protection.” This time, you’re expecting his vengeful smack, and dodge it with a grin.

However, Seamus’ revengeful attack only lasts so long before he sinks back into a morose disposition once again. “Still. You’d think for a magic school things would be a little more interesting. All we have is classwork and homework. I wish Harry Potter would go ahead and come up with some student-risking plot so we could get out of exams or something.” You laugh. “Harry’s not coming up with student-risking plots, he’s uncovering them. Maybe you can stage a coup so he can fight you.”

Dean smirks. “Seamus can set off a small fire and force Harry to duel him in front of all of us lest the castle burn to embers.” The two of you erupt into howls of laughter, much to Seamus’ displeasure. “You’re awful friends.” You grin over at him, utterly unbothered by his words. “Then leave us, dear Seamus. I don’t see you going anywhere.” Dean chuckles at this. “There’s a pretty good reason he isn’t leaving you.” He exchanges a significant look with Seamus, which causes the latter to glare at him. There’s something happening here, something you aren’t a part of and which you’re pretty sure you don’t want to know about.

Seamus, apparently eager to change the subject, brings up the topic of a recent homework assignment, although he casts one last nervous glance your way as if ensuring that you have no idea what Dean was talking about. The rest of breakfast passes by easily, although you can tell that Seamus is still a little restless. Truth be told, you’re pretty sure that you feel the same way. Sure, you’re studying to be a witch, but you’re still in school, and you can only take so much of that before you want something to switch up the usual boredom.

You’re not quite able to get rid of this disinclination to do anything, and apparently neither is Seamus, because less than a week later, he’s pulling you into an empty alcove of the castle, a triumphant grin on his face. You take one look at him and feel your suspicions rising over you like clouds over the sun- he’s got something up his sleeve, and knowing Seamus, it probably won’t be good.

“What is it? What have you done?” Seamus pulls a face. “Thanks for your confidence in me, Y/N. I haven’t done anything at all.” You raise an eyebrow. “Then why are you trying to hide something in your hands, and why are we somewhere no one can see us?” Seamus grins. “You know me too well. Okay, maybe I did do something after all.” He pauses for a second, and you wait a moment before giving in to curiosity. “Alright, alright. Out with it, Seamus. Cease the theatrics and get to it.”

Seamus pretends to be upset with this, but you know just as well as he does that it’s just an act- he couldn’t be truly upset with you for a second, nor he with you. That’s just the way your friendship works, even if recently it keeps being interrupted by lingering glances by either party or both or neither at all. 

“Well, Fred and George happened to leave one of their trunks open, and I was just passing by when I noticed something.” Your hand rises to your mouth, partially out of stunned incredulity and partly to hide the smile you can’t seem to shake. “Please tell me that you didn’t actually steal prank stuff from Fred and George Weasley. At least give me that.” Seamus just smirks. “Hey, we wanted to do something interesting, didn’t we? This will be interesting.”

You fold your arms across your chest, doing your best to keep your eyes from wandering to his hand to figure out just what he’s taken. “You said you were bored, not me.” Seamus shrugs. “You didn’t have to say it, I knew you were. Don’t tell me we’re not close enough that you actually have to say something for me to know what you’re thinking.” This truth, said so confidently in such a close and quiet space, hits you hard for some reason. It takes everything you have to not break into a bashful smile.

To distract yourself from this all too meaningful piece of honesty, you jerk your head towards the small vials in Seamus’ hands. “Alright, you’ve got me hooked. So, what did you get?” Seamus grins, displaying two identical glass tubes in his hands. “Potions, I think.” You deadpan. “No, really? I wouldn’t have guessed.” Seamus gives you a look, shoving you casually with his hand. This touch, so casual, feels like it lands with far more impact than the simple tap it truly was.

“Anyway, I think they’re potions, probably from that joke store they keep talking about opening. Want to try some?” You study the vials in his hands. They’re not labeled at all, except for a few colored strips of paper wrapped around each one. “How do you know what they do? What if we end up poisoning ourselves by mistake?” Seamus rolls his eyes. “Because I know what I’m doing. Do you really trust me so little, Y/N?” Not at all, you want to say. I trust you more than anyone else, more than I should. Instead, you just grin.

“Of course I trust you, I’m just making sure. So, what are they?” Seamus frowns. “Actually, I don’t know.” He holds up a hand to ward off your rising protests. “Okay, I know how it sounds. I know what they could be, but I don’t know what each one is. I think the red ones are Fire-Breathing Fusions, the blue ones are Chameleon Changers, and the silver ones are Metallic Murmurs. Which one do you want?” You study the vials for a while before pointing at the flask containing a strangely shiny ruby liquid. “The Fire-Breathing Fusion. It sounds interesting.”

Seamus nods sagely. “A good choice. Here you have it.” He hands you the bottle, and you eye it suspiciously one last time before downing the contents. You look at Seamus, who’s still choosing between the vials. “What, you haven’t decided which one yet?” Or, that’s what you wanted to say. Instead, no sound escapes your throat at all, because your throat feels as if it’s being yanked apart by invisible knives. Your hands rise to your neck frantically, but it doesn’t feel right at all. When you look back at Seamus, you swear that he looks far taller than before, or maybe it’s because you’re shrinking into something smaller, much smaller, until you don’t think that you’re yourself at all.

Seamus is starting to realize that he may have made a very, very bad mistake. See, he swore that he would be very careful when sneaking into Fred and George’s trunk, that he’d only take what he knew was safe, and he thought he was in the clear. He’d seen those exact vials passed around at parties; hell, he’d taken some himself. All the same, this does not explain why Y/N is no longer standing in front of him, and in her place is something small and oddly furry. If he didn’t know better, he’d say that Y/N is now a cat.

This makes no sense. She chose the red vial, the one that was supposed to make you breathe fire, yet instead she’s meowing indignantly by his feet. Seamus kneels down beside her, fascinated. “Y/N?” He asks, and the cat honestly looks as if it glares at him. Seamus can practically sense Y/N’s fury emanating out from the small animal beside him, and he knows for a fact that if she were able to speak, she’d be cursing him out viciously right now. The thought almost makes him laugh.

Then he thinks about what a mess he’s landed himself in, and his smile dries away in an instant. He’s got to get a cure, and now, before- well, what do you do when your closest friend has been turned into a cat? She’s never going to forgive him for this, is she? And that would be a shame, because Seamus has kind of built his days around being able to see her smile every morning and talk to her whenever he can, so if he has to live without her, it might honestly destroy him, so he really can’t have that.

Seamus straightens up, determinedly addressing the cat. “Alright, Y/N, I don’t know if you can understand me or not, but I’m going to go back to the Gryffindor dorm room and try to find an antidote to, well, whatever this is. I’ll be back in a moment.” He can swear that the cat is glaring at him, but Seamus pretends he doesn’t see it.

Instantly, he’s up and off, practically flying down the passageways until he reaches the Gryffindor common room. Seamus rattles off the password to a very disgruntled portrait, but the Fat Lady barely has time to complain about the hurry before he’s past her, speed walking through to the stairs leading to the dormitories. Luckily, there’s no one else in the boys’ dorms, so he’s able to rifle through Fred and George’s trunks without too much difficulty. Finally, he spots a vial full of a deep green liquid, one that’s marked with the same colored strip of paper as the one Y/N had drunk. He shoves it into his pocket, silently praying that it’s the right one, closes the trunk, and makes to leave the dorm room.

However, just as he’s reaching the top of the stairs, his path is blocked by two identical faces. Seamus groans inwardly when he realizes it’s Fred and George. Wonderful. What would be best is if they simply let him be, but the pranksters have never been able to let go of an opportunity to cause trouble, and they must be able to sense the frantic energy radiating from his every movement, because they move in unison to stop him from going any further.

Fred leans against the wall of the stairwell casually. “What’s the hurry, Finnigan? It’s barely the middle of the afternoon, no reason to go running about.” Seamus winces. “I’m, uh, meeting a friend. Can’t be late.” George raises an eyebrow. “You’re going to have to give us a little more than that. If we didn’t know better, we’d say you almost look-” “Suspicious.” Fred finishes his brother’s sentence. They both grin at Seamus, who is trying his best not to give off any signs that he’s just been rummaging around in their belongings after stealing a cat transformation potion of theirs and its corresponding antidote.

“Well, I, uh-” All excuses are drying up on his tongue before Seamus can find the capability to say them. George inclines his head forward. “Well? We expect entertainment. What’s got you so mixed up?” Seamus sighs. “I’m off to talk with- with Y/N. Alone. I need to see her.” It’s a half truth, but a surprisingly effective one. Instantly, Fred and George exchange significant looks, and grin, catlike. “See, that’s a good reason. We have hope for you, Finny-boy, and we think you could get with her if you wanted.”

Seamus pauses for a moment, baffled. “That’s not- it’s not like that-” Well, in truth, he’s not entirely off-put by the thought. In fact, the thought of being able to call Y/N his is a very tempting offer. Fred rolls his eyes. “Of course you’re not, Seamus, if that’s how you want to play it. We notice things, though, and we happen to think that you’d have a pretty good chance of her saying yes if you asked.” Seamus, who had been trying to edge past the twins, pauses. “Wait, really?” George nods. “Honestly. We know we have a little bit of a reputation around here, but we’re serious.” “Dead serious. You can do it, Seamus.”

With that, they move to the side, allowing Seamus to move on with some mild encouragement and high fives. To be honest, he’s not sure how he feels about the whole incident, but they haven’t found him out and he’s got Y/N’s cure, so there’s not really anything more he can hope to do. He races back to the alcove where he’d left cat-Y/N, and sighs with relief to notice that she’s still there. Evidently, she still trusts him after all.

Seamus holds up the vial triumphantly. “I’ve got it, I think.” The cat glares at him balefully, the question obvious in her eyes. You think? Seamus grimaces. “Well, it’s the best we’ve got. Come one, I wouldn’t kill you.” He uncorks the vial, silently hoping once again that this might actually work. He needs Y/N back. He really does.

Thankfully, the vial is correct this time, and within a few moments, Y/N’s back in front of him, human once more. Seamus grins in relief, but she’s hardly here for a few moments before her fist slams into his shoulder. Seamus stumbles back. “Ow! What was that for?” Y/N stares at him incredulously. “For turning me into a cat, you idiot. That was awful.” Seamus scratches the back of his head sheepishly. “Yeah, but I got you back, didn’t I? Snuck into Fred and George’s stuff for it and everything.”

Y/N raises an eyebrow. “You broke into the Weasley Twins’ trunk?” Seamus grins, almost proud of himself. “Yeah, I did.” Y/N chuckles. If he didn’t know better, he’d say she might even seem impressed. “Wow. You’ve got a death wish for sure.” Seamus smiles. “Maybe. I hope not for long, though, because we’ve got a trip to Hogsmeade coming up soon. Hey, you want to go with me?” This is not at all the way he’d anticipated asking her. In his head, Seamus had pictured something a little more careful, a little more polished, but the words came out in such a tidal wave that he couldn’t pull them back in time.

Y/N looks at him suspiciously. “Seamus Finnigan, are you asking me out?” Seamus nods weakly. “Yeah, I think I am.” All of a sudden, her pursed lips become a beaming smile. “Then I’d have to say yes. I’ll see you then?” Seamus does his best to keep his cool. “You will.” Just like that, he’s done it- and all it took was a mild potion mix-up for his trouble.

harry potter tag list: sorry i missed our meow-rriage (sorry i couldn’t resist) @underc0vercryptid​, @cameronsails​, @chaoticgirl04​, @aleksanderwh0r3​

[hobidreams]

may 1869.

just this once, you let yourself be a little braver.

pairing: joseon king!yoongi x reader genre: smut, angst, fluff? words: 1.4k contains: someone new, something new.

moonlit throne index. this is drabble 20. start from the beginning?

A balmy wind drifts through the open window of your bedchamber, making ripples upon the freshly made spread. You stand in sunlight before the mirror, tracing the faint remnant of the bruise on your collarbone, left by the king’s hungry mouth too many nights before, and wish absently that the mark will stay for at least a few hours more.

As the days grow longer, his visits have become far less frequent, though the minutes he spends indulging in your heat seem to extend ever so slightly in turn. The explanation that leaves your heart intact is that he is occupied by overseeing the administration and results of the national civil exam, the gwageo that took place a few days ago and will bring a new group of eager scholars into the palace. You try very hard not to think about the possibility of his finding his way to another woman’s bed, even though he is well within his rights to. Even though it is expected of a king to have handfuls of consorts in his court. He has, thankfully, spared you of such truths, like he continues to spare you of any details about his life. Theoretically, that makes it easier to not get so attached. Theoretically.

With an exhale, you re-adjust the collar of your blouse to hide the mark and put on your hat before stepping out into the sun, holding a book that you intend to return to the king’s library.

As you walk towards the building, you soon realize there’s a man you’ve never seen before in green scholar’s robes in front of the shuttered doors, pacing back and forth as the dark samo on his head bobs from the effort. What’s he doing? While people may pass by here, they rarely linger.

When the man spots you, his gaze seems to brighten. “Excuse me, uinyeo-nim!”

You come to a stop before him, taking in the wane of his eyes that are like friendly crescents. “Good morning. How may I help you, Scholar…?”

“Park.” He smiles. “I’m one of the newly admitted scholars.”

“Scholar Park. Congratulations on passing the exam.” You return his smile with a small one of your own though you remain on your guard, no matter how kind he seems. Most of the current scholars treat you with disdain (though they at least attempt to veil it on the king’s account, you are certain), as you are a woman and thus beneath them, no matter if the texts you’ve read could rival theirs. This Park must be brilliant though, if he passed the rigorous exam at such a young age.

“Thank you. I’m excited to begin my work! But…” He bites his lip. “The head scholar asked me to obtain a copy of Bang Si-Hyuk’s latest text, and the royal library said that only the king has a copy…” His expressive face falls and you, with a twinge of endearment, think he might be an awful liar if he ever tried. “Would you happen to know how I might borrow from the private library? Should I request an audience with the king? Are there official forms to follow? I really don’t wish to misstep.”

You stare at him quietly, contemplating whether or not you should reveal that you have such access.

He nervously seems to take your lack of answer as confusion. “Yes, I am aware that I should have asked my fellow scholars but they are all so much older than me and I’m afraid that they will take me less seriously than they already do if I cannot complete such a simple task on my own... But no one else has walked by here and I do not want to go back empty-handed and…” He trails off, giving you a look of absolute desperation that warms your heart, despite your reservations.

“Scholar Park. I can retrieve the book for you, if you promise to return it within a few days.” The king wouldn’t notice that it’s missing anyhow, not with how busy he’s been. That, and you get the feeling that the older scholars have been playing a bit of an initiation joke on this poor boy.

“Really? You will? Thank you, uinyeo-nim!” He breaks into a huge grin. “Oh, but uinyeo-nim, how do you have access to the king’s libra…”

You can practically see the moment it clicks in his mind that you are that physician, the one who’s name is irrevocably tangled up with the king’s.

It seems palace gossip is not exempt even from those who have only entered the grounds the day before. You can literally feel the turmoil going on within him as he tries to figure out how to address you, whether or not he should give you the respect of the king’s consort even though you are technically not one in the slightest. Just a lowborn, a hole, even a witch doctor that has bewitched jeonha, as those less polite than this boy have put it when they thought you were out of earshot.

“Hm?” You prompt like a masochist, wanting to see what he says. Wanting to see if it’ll hurt you some more, or if you’ve finally gone blissfully numb.

“N-Nothing, uinyeo-nim.”

You were right. He’s an awful liar.

But you get the book for him anyway, and see him off with promises to meet you back here two days later for the return. Your reality is none of his fault, after all.

That night, the king drops by with little decorum. Opens the door to your chambers and strips off his robes, like he always does. Though this time as he kneads your bare chest in his calloused fingers, pinching the peaked nipples so hard you whimper, you are filled with a need for some scrap of certainty. You want to wipe that coolness from his eyes for even one second, to stoke some intimate fire from him that says he still remembers how you used to be together. How it used to be easier than this. Closer, even though now you know how thick his cock feels as he robs you of air.

“You—ah—you’ve been busy, jeonha?” It’s been getting marginally easier to talk to him like this in the moonlight, his hands making a mess of you. “It’s been quite some time since you’ve come.”

“What, are you that needy for a fuck?” He smirks, but it’s a look more dark and dangerous than playful as he reaches down and finds you soaked. You think you feel the ghost of that word lingering around his question, but it is a small blessing that has not said it aloud since that night in April.

Your face flushes hot. “I-I was just wondering…” You shouldn’t mention it. You really should hold your tongue, but you’re sick of being trapped in your own mind, going in circles with your own insecurity. Just this once. Just this once you want to let yourself ask— “I thought… That perhaps you had taken another conso—oh!” You’re cut off by an abrupt inhale as he sinks two nimble fingers into your cunt. One smooth stroke takes him so deep, only for him to pull out to use the translucent wetness he’s gathered as lubricant along his shaft.

“You think I have time for other women?” He snaps. His stare is intense, but you can’t see a single lie in their depths. “Never have.”

Then he takes you so roughly, you think the bed might break from all the rattling. You have to blink away white spots in your vision when you come and he doesn’t say much more to you for the rest of the night, but you’re smiling almost deliriously all the way through with your nails scratching faint red down his back, the bracelet he gave you dragging over his skin from its home on your wrist. Never, your mind echoes, again and again.

Against all the odds. Against anything you would have expected. Even if he keeps you at arm’s length to the thoughts in his heart, it’s still the chance three-step skip of a grey stone across a rippling pond.

You’re the only one.

a/n: wow. drabble 20. it’s taken us half a year to get here & it honestly feels like a dream that i’ve made it this far. yet there is still so much on the line. so much further to travel together. thank you, if you’ve been here since the beginning. thank you, if you’re just picking up the series 💜 please do come let me know your thoughts on the series as we slide into the present time, with all the tension of the past lingering too closely by. i truly couldn’t have gotten here without all your support ♡